#blueprint jasmine

[lymphomalass]

Who doesn't like a botanical print in cool blues...!

This one of a jasmine stem in flower, from my garden, is available printed on all kinds of lovely things at: https://www.redbubble.com/shop/ap/121976032

Thanks!

Sam aka LymphomaLass xx

#jasmine #JasmineTop #sleevelessladiestop #sleevelesstop #bluesleevelesstop #BlueJasmine

[gctawaygirl]

open starter : slightly older m muse : jasmine baker (23, heterosexual) plot : abandoned by her friends at the club, jasmine is hit on by some creeps and is rescued by a scary-looking older guy (who's actually a teddy bear) who pretends to be her boyfriend and they end up going home together (either to hook up or bc he walks her home)

jasmine didn't know why she did this. every time she went out with her friends, she ended up sitting by herself. she was happy to drink a little and dance with them but when they started dancing with prospective partners for the night, she stuck out like a sore thumb and ended up at the bar by herself. maybe she needed to get new friends... as she sipped on her drink, a man came up to her with a strange smile on his face, "hey sweet thing," he greeted and jasmine's entire body tensed up. "sorry, i'm not interested," she replied but this guy seemed persistent.

[gctawaygirl]

"one kiss," jasmine repeated. she was trembling, trying to keep herself together and hold back any tears, "one kiss?!" she said again, her upset coming out as anger, "yesterday, you were saying you wanted me and today, you're kissing my best friend? what the fuck is wrong with you?!" she did not curse. ever. it was usually an indication of how angry she actually was.

muse - greer ikeda , pro skateboarder , he / they . plot - maybe greer cheated on your muse orrr they were on a break.. or he kissed someone important to ur muse idk open to - any , f/nb , 20 +

"jesus, don't be so dramatic.." greer huffed, running a hand through his hair casually. "it was one kiss."

[punkpandapatrixk]

🍯New Age Money ♦︎ Timeless Pick A Card

‘When I was small, God was around and curiously granted my every wish. Now a grownup, I still believe that miracles do happen and that alone gets me up in the morning with such gladness.

And if I am enveloped by a peaceful sun filtering through the branches as I open my curtains, I am sure, everything before my eyes is a message.

When I was small, God was around and sent Love my way every day. And now, it is time I opened that precious box that’s been forgotten, kept hidden in a corner of my heart.

And if I am enveloped by the soft fragrance of cape jasmine in a garden awash by rain, I am sure, everything before my eyes is a message.’

– When I’m Surrounded by Kindness from Kiki’s Delivery Service (1989)

あなたの特技！Surely everybody was born into this world carrying some precious boxes of God-given talents. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to open those boxes and monetise such talents with Soul?

SONG: Yasashisa ni Tsutsumareta nara by Matsutoya Yumi

MOVIE: Kiki’s Delivery Service (1989)

[PAC Masterlist] [Part 2] [Part 3]

[Patreon] [Paid Readings]

☆♪°・. ☆♪°・. ☆♪°・. ☆♪°・. ☆♪°・. ☆♪°・.

Pile 1 – ‘Harry, you’re a Witch!’

untapped divine talents – Queen of Cups

Hey, magical creature~ You literally possess mystical powers but you probably didn’t even know~! You’re a sensual being, like a siren, who has an innate ability to feel what others can’t easily perceive. Naturally, this translates into your being highly intuitive, empathetic, imaginative—and you might’ve felt like this world wasn’t made for you. Psychics are incredibly sensitive people and you could’ve felt out of place most of your Life, but as the insightful Jiddu Krishnamurti said: sensitivity is the highest form of intelligence. We’re talkin’ EQ here😘

Someone like you was definitely not built for any kind of money-making endeavour that doesn’t allow you to be sensitive to the needs of others. There’s meaning in your being emotionally attuned and imaginative; even if—for example—you feel that your calling is to become an author, even in your writing it’s clear there’s a purpose of healing those who come into contact with your Art. If you’ve chosen this as your main pile, you literally possess some innate ability to heal others and this explains why you’ve always had the urge to make the world a better place🌍

You see, back in those long-gone days, those who were called witches were really scientists, teachers and healers. The word ‘witch’ comes from ‘wicca’ which means the wise one. Wicca (male) and wicce (female) were the knowledgeable ones who sought to apply their wealth of information and perspectives for the betterment of others as that’s how knowledge becomes wisdom. There is an untapped divine talent resting in you and it is your ability to feel through your psychic senses what society is lacking in terms of its maintenance of its own sanity🎭

YOU, literally hold all the ingredients necessary for a once in a lifetime breakthrough that could potentially heal all of Mankind for centuries to come~🌻

karmic/dharmic opportunities – XIII Death

I betcha you have significant Scorpio influences or 8th House placements or a specifically strong Pluto/Neptune presence in your natal chart. It could be that shortly before you were born someone quite spiritual/religious/magickal in your bloodline had passed away and it almost feels like you were born to pick up the pieces they had left. I betcha that some of your innate interests since childhood or pursuits you feel very strongly about that may have developed later in Life were inspired by or related to that relative/ancestor, one way or another. Like you just share similar patterns of behaviour, interests or even thought processes🦜

What you can really take away from all of this is that you have a purpose higher than yourself. That you came with specific blueprints and that your whole Life, your sense of purpose or mission, all of that is a group project you share with many Souls in the Higher Realms. Only high-vibrational peeps will really resonate with this message😊And that in itself is confirmation for you to know you have many opportunities in the healing and creative industries.

Seriously, you needn’t even have to worry about how you’re gonna make money with these opportunities even if they sound out of reach at the moment. Because it is your Destiny to be a cycle breaker—to start something completely new on your own—a path will be made for you just to fulfil your Destiny. And you can wholeheartedly trust in that to save yourself from excessive worry/anxiety🍷

the future of jobs – 5 of Pentacles

In the industry you’re meant to be part of, there will be a lot of chaos right before you make your debut. Like things are just falling apart and many of the players aren’t even sure what they’re there for anymore. There’s a lot of disillusionment that’s needing to be felt to the max until a breakthrough can really have any meaning. Either that, or some of you could be the one creating more chaos in the industry as you enter it LMAO We call you an industry disruptor, alright? You’re that breath of oxygen everybody was needing because they had been suffocating themselves with their own stupidity🍭

If you’ve resonated with this pile thus far, know that you’re meant to bring some healing—even enlightenment to some extent—to whichever industry you feel a calling to. And this is totally not a one-man’s show; you will be meeting a lot of kindred spirits in that industry and others associated with it. You’re meant to have an audience and serve a greater spiritual purpose for all involved. Bring back all those people into OG spirituality. All of this for what? For people’s mental health, obvi~💕

How does every one of these people expect themselves to be truly happy and abundant when their viewpoints are marred by childhood traumas and the excessive need for revenge? You of all people understand the innate darkness of the human psychology and the future of jobs within the industry of your calling is dependent on its people transcending above trauma and lack mentality so that a new, healthier paradigm can be established. Out with addictive behaviours; out with destructive habits; in with purer intents~ That’s the kind of New World you’re meant to be a part of to earn your keep in the most high-vibrational way👒

CURRENTS OF CHI (currency)🔻💛

being of service to Mankind – Gold Physician (Hippocrates)

delights of Life – Priestess of Contemplation

Access full reading + cards on Patreon🌸

☆♪°・. ☆♪°・. ☆♪°・. ☆♪°・. ☆♪°・. ☆♪°・.

Pile 2 – Paths Least Travelled Lead to the Greatest Stories

untapped divine talents – 9 of Cups

You…need to go and carve out a LYFE of your own, honey. Since you were quite young, you’ve always had this desire to go explore strange territories and come back to share grand stories only you could tell. A unique Life of your own that sets you apart from your family/community. Try to check what numerology has to say about, for example, your Life Path, Soul Urge, Expression and all that; there may be something there that validates this desire to be unique, to be different, to be a fucking unicorn, and perhaps, to be the FIRST to discover or invent something🦄

You have what it takes to thrive alone, that much I can assure you. Some of you probably even have Jupiter in Pisces/12th House or Neptune/Uranus in 9th House. Whatever it is, your Soul does intend for you to travel paths least travelled and discover magical things only you could have access to. What is this strange narrative for? For discovering your Soul’s heritage. I know it sounds weird. But you’ve come from very distinct bloodlines and I sense many of you have a strong affinity towards the faery realm? There’s a lot of historical truths to uncover as you walk the lonely path of the eccentric hermit🏞

The New Age of Aquarius is changing the way we receive truths. It’s such a glad thing that people are now more open to seeing things for what they truly are no matter how politically ‘incorrect’ or heartbreaking the truths are. Your untapped divine talents will naturally bring you towards avenues where you will arise as some kind of a whistleblower or you will be unearthing ancient esoteric wisdom and sharing it with the public. Your life path is definitely very exciting and will take you to wonderful places and meeting the most unique people in the world!⛵️

karmic/dharmic opportunities – 7 of Wands Rx

In many regards, your life path could even lead you to meeting some of the world’s most distinguished individuals OMO But the path is understandably not easy. This kind of calling will require a great deal of character and tenacity. You will be rocking the yachts of the Devil, right? Your Life Stories could get extra absurd and your discoveries might lead you to some dangerous encounters. Nevertheless, if you are nudged by a sense of being of service to Truth, you will decide it’s all worth it. When we die, our Souls carry only stories and memories of our heroism anyway🧬

You will have friends though. People who share your passion for the real re-education of the people. I see professions in journalism, philosophy, psychology, anthropology, criminology, even celebrity exposé stuff that reveal the scammy behaviours of the evil rich and famous. You could also be drawn intuitively to the studies of the REAL history of Planet Earth, her extraterrestrial history and the truths of the lost civilisations that have shaped the wars of our Time. You could secretly (or not so secretly) be part of the disclosure movement😉

The studies of Astronomy and Astrotheology will benefit you a great deal if you’ve resonated this far with this being your main pile. In everything that you do, there is a panacea for the brokenness of Humanity. Your sharing of outlandish discoveries and suppressed information could be what Humanity needs for it to mature and choose global peace and harmony. It will be a lifelong effort that may not end with your lifetime though. So make sure you leave enough material as your legacy for the next generations to continue on🍁

the future of jobs – King of Cups

I suppose it’s pretty clear to many of us now that the world is run by psychopaths. Indecent human beings with terrible hobbies that hurt others and the sheer disregard for the sustainability of the Planet and the livelihood of her inhabitants. With you, you will see for yourself pretty soon that the world is choosing to move to a more compassionate space, and you will have a role in giving a voice to those whose intentions for their societies are more honourable. You could be one to contribute an invention or two yourself; perhaps an exposé book, perhaps a channel, a website~ Idk, what do you feel called to?🎪

In the future you will be part of, you will see evil leaders getting replaced, thwarted even, by compassionate leaders of the New Age Money. Down to anarchy; we want real peace. Down to young psychopaths rebelling against old psychopaths only to start a new cycle of abuse. The future you will be seeing will see that those with a genuine heart rise to the top and begin taking charge of the wheel of society. Leading with a heart. People before profit. It’s really not that difficult to sow the seeds now~🌱

You yourself, and the people who share the same passion, vision and mission as yourself, you are a bunch of experts who will glue together different factions of society who want to work hand-in-hand to remedy all the destruction caused by the powerful psychopaths. There is diplomacy in what you share with the rest of the populace and there is kindness and grace. People’s mental wellbeing will be put at the forefront before profits are made. And if we really did go into a WWIII…

CURRENTS OF CHI (currency)🔻💜

being of service to Mankind – Red Astronomer (Johannes Kepler)

delights of Life – Priestess of Solitude

Access full reading + cards on Patreon🌸

☆♪°・. ☆♪°・. ☆♪°・. ☆♪°・. ☆♪°・. ☆♪°・.

Pile 3 – For You, It’s Never, Ever, Been About the Money

untapped divine talents – Queen of Pentacles Rx

Of all the piles, you’ve always resonated with loving being of service to the world since you were tiny. You could’ve been attracted to the service and hospitality industries since you were quite young, too. You were probably quite social when you were a kid and liked the idea of working jobs that would ensure other people have a good time, have a good experience with excellent customer service—basically, you liked the idea of helping/assisting others. If you could make your own choices, you’d rather have these types of job🩹

Unfortunately, growing up you were told that such jobs had no money or glamour. Some of you reading this could’ve come from a wealthy background in which working to service others is seen as uncool…even low. So this could’ve caused a great deal of psychological conflict in you. What you want and what your society deems worthwhile seemed to be in conflict. But let me tell you that your heart really knows what’s intended for your highest good🦉

From a very young age, you were already able to see that this world is sick and needing a lot of help when it comes to healing and transmuting negative aenergies. Your child brain couldn’t have verbalised that but your higher intuition knew you were put on Earth to tip the scale. You didn’t want to care about money; you wanted to pursue an authentic Life where your existence could be of some use to somebody👑

karmic/dharmic opportunities – III The Empress Rx

Some of you could’ve come from a rather impoverished background. This is easy to deal with. You were born face to face with this Devil called ‘lack’. But some of you could’ve come from a wealthier background or at least you weren’t necessarily starving and your society could’ve expected a lot from you. If the latter is the case with you, at some point in Life your Higher Self and team of Spirit Guides will force you to get down from the high horse of your inauthentic environment and have you experience Life from the perspective of those who haven’t got much in Life🐛

When this happens, your eyes will be opened to what truly matters in Life. That essentially, everybody in this world is sick to the bone because they’re trying to fill a hole in their hearts with weirdass purchases and hobbies. Part of your karmic reason to be born at this passage of time is to help Mankind transmute its unhealthy affinity towards excess indulgence via obtaining things that are truly fleeting. When you learn to overcome your own traumas and addictions, you help the collective conscious of Humanity transcend above that, too. This is very noble and you deserve a big bear hug just for existing in this realm~🧸

Rest assured, it is in your Soul’s blueprint that you must end up abundant yourself when all’s said and done. You’re destined to be very wealthy, from doing things that are high-vibrational and fully in alignment with what your Soul wishes for you to express as a Human being. You’re meant to set an example of what it means to do a job with Love~🎀

the future of jobs – 2 of Pentacles Rx

Many of you grew up in societies that taught you: passion doesn’t put food on the table. And you’ve observed many real examples of those who prioritise good deeds end up not having much money, indeed. And you could’ve believed that Life is about choosing between passion and duty. Bullshit. If people can’t thrive doing what they love, it’s the society that’s broken; how can there be no money to be made in those endeavours that are more exciting, more meaningful? You realise now that the System was designed to depress the common people in the pursuit of serving the Devil😰

You and your kindred spirits are the free spirits that are going to usher in an era of New Age Money where people no longer need to ruminate over sacrificing passion or freedom for a stable income. Back to before Industrial Revolution, maybe? Let’s reset the paradigm so we can recalibrate ourselves towards something more of a Solarpunk Society, or a Steampunk Society, that’s cool, too🍵

For you, it’s never ever been about the money. Career endeavours that would suit you most are whatever you feel an innate calling for. Many of your natural talents you’ve got since birth can be monetised in the service of your community, and better yet, online community. Some of you may feel a calling for being in the hospitality business, engineering, have an online presence or be a social media influencer, and some others may simply work in the aviation or F&B business, while some could want to become an eco-farmer or something. Whichever it may be, know that you have the unique power to elevate many aspects of the industry you are part of~🏹

CURRENTS OF CHI (currency)🔻💚

being of service to Mankind – Silver Astronomer (John Dee)

delights of Life – Priestess of Faith

Access full reading + cards on Patreon🌸

☆♪°・. ☆♪°・. ☆♪°・. ☆♪°・. ☆♪°・. ☆♪°・.

[PAC Masterlist] [Part 2] [Part 3]

[Patreon] [Paid Readings]

[unadulteratedsoulsweets]

A DC X DP IDEA #11 The Ice Prince

Imagine dis….

 The plot is always Clockwork reversing Danny’s age to a toddler’s or a child’s age to be found in the grimy alley of Gotham City, to fix a broken family, an overdue vacation, or is it because it was meant to be? But what if they found a child who is nothing more than a mere babe?

 …

 War has consequences whether you are on the right side or not, consequences will come up to you. Death, injury, sexual violence, hunger, disease, and disability are some of the most dangerous physical repercussions of war, while PTSD, despair, and anxiety are some of the emotional consequences.

 Danny experienced all, from the physical damages he had taken to protect his citizen to the emotional as well the phycological effects that will haunt his mind throughout his immortal life.

Jack and Maddie Scientists and the GIW had done it, waging war against the Infinite realms.

 Using ectoplasm, the very being that they have despised to use as weapons to aim and maim.

 Humans tend to hate and fear what they don’t understand.

 In this case, fear caused this war.

 Unlike in the history books whose wars started due to greedy politicians or even the thrill or greed to attain new land, this war was caused by fear.

 The fear of the unknown.

 At 16 years of age, Danny is crowned and alongside his trusted friends as well as his former enemy Vlad Masters all gathered their things and went back to the Infinite Realms to prepare for war.

 At 16 Danny witnessed the horrors as well witnessing the lines humans will cross to satisfy their greed.

 Each day that Danny is planning or even fighting alongside his friends, family, and even ex-rogues for their home and the universe’s and multiverse’s balance, he would feel the pain, sorrow, and sadness of each of his citizens who were captured or even used to be the battery to be used against their people.

 At 16 Danny watched his very own parents, Jack and Maddie, cut open their former best friend to better understand ghost biology all in the name of ecto- science.

 Danny saw the betrayal and grief as well Vlad’s vulnerable state on how Maddie, the kind and caring Maddie whom he fell in love with, do such cruel things to innocent blobs of ghosts, do such inhumane things to him. Cutting him open like a frog in a dissection table, using large hooks to keep the two skin that were cut to show his ribcage, apart to keep them from healing.

 At 16 Danny joined the war alongside Frostbite, Pandora, Dora, and many more. Even Dan and Dani had joined him on the front lines to fight their parents to fight their inventions, their creations, the agents...etc, as well as rescuing many, many ghosts who were captured before this war even started.

 The first one to fall was his beloved sister Jasmine No-Name, who captured and was taken to the basement at the household of the Fenton’s. Each scientist kept drawing blood and kept poking her with needles to “cure” their daughter from any form of ectoplasm possession or mind control. Despite being liminal she was still mortal, freeing the innocent ghosts that were cruelly captured and caged by their parents destroying the lab, taking the blueprints, the weapons, and even the portal at the cost of her own life.

 Brother and sister, together as friends, ready to face whatever life sends.

 Next, was Sam Manson, her mentor Undergrowth and her going to the annex side of the building to create a massive distraction for the rest of their allies to destroy this particular lab as the lab that they were about to destroy is a cornerstone of the ongoing battery flow between the agents thus making this mission top priority. Blood Blossoms were involved causing great pain to both ghosts, as the agents were getting closer, they heard the explosion in the direction of the targeted lab, they were successful, and now all that is left is to retreat. But the pain as well as their inability to move is impossible and even more impossible to fight off the remaining agents who were exclaiming and shouting about the destroyed lab. With what little strength Sam had left in her, she stood up and commanded the plants to rescue Undergrowth as without him nature and flora would have died alongside him. As she saw the silhouette of her mentor/ father she made her last stand as one of the few friends of Danny now her King.

 Last to fall is Tucker Foley, his best friend, leading an army made out of entirely Egyptian culture. Being the right hand of the High King as he led another attack towards their government not only did their government bury their heads in the sand, but instead of diplomacy they have chosen to continue this war. As they were fighting by each other side, Tucker noticed an agent creeping closer to his King/ friend whose head was turned and busy due to the number of agents that kept him busy and unguarded. Tucker Foley did what any friend would do in that situation; he took the bullet aimed fatally at his best friend. Danny seeing that his best friend had just turned limp released his ghostly wail that contains his anger, sadness, grief, and horror as he cradles the body of his best friend as he held his last breath in the arms of his King and friend.

 We’re more than friends but less than a couple

 The government was getting desperate as each day the “ghosts” kept pushing them into a corner as their numbers dwindle each second while the other side’s army kept growing each passing day.

 Didn’t you know, A cornered animal is almost as dangerous as a wounded one?

 A Nuke, they have created a nuke. A nuke that has the combination of Blood blossoms as good ectoplasm as fuel and weapon, that was aimed and trajected to the Infinite Realms.

 But, who spoiled their plans?

 Blobs of ghosts gathered at the hidden base of humans and set off the nuke at their base.

 Blobs that were rescued by Princess Jasmine of the Infinite Realms.

 They didn’t expect the aftermath of such a weapon.

 The shockwave didn’t just end their world’s dimension but it reached the Infinite Realms almost wiping them out, it wasn’t for their King, Danny, who took the brunt of the aftermath and shock to protect the Infinite Realms where his remaining family reside.

 As a result, his form and core almost crack at the mere pressure, and result, Clockwork as his last card to protect Danny from disappearing for eternity turned him into a baby whose age could be merely a month old.

 Now that horrid dimension was gone, permanently, it is now up to the ancients and ex-rouges as well the rest of his family to raise Danny to the best of their abilities as he, Danny Nightgale is the bridge as well the very representation between the two worlds.

 The yetis that have lived in Far Frozen went and found a perfect dimension that has ectoplasm for their young King’s ghost half and human needs for his human half.

 Building a small castle made out of ice in the deepest part of the Arctic region, complete with rooms as well as things that will keep their young King’s attention in case he ever be bored.

 …

 Between the time they thought of settling down in the new dimension, in the DC universe, it had been thousands of years since the ascension of the High King Phantom. For those who have participated in the war it has been only a few months while in DC it has been thousands of years, to the point each magician in the JLD and Shazam knew about King Phantom, his benevolence and mercy shows no bounds. King Phantom who was a ward of the Master of Time and defeated the Pariah Dark to end his tyranny.

 …

 Alarms blared throughout the base of the JL and everyone was at the edge of their seats seeing that the alarm originated from the Fortress of Solitude, the base of Superman containing all the knowledge from his planet Krypton.

…

 Superman alongside Batman flew to the Artic to find out who trespassed, Superman fears the knowledge of Krypton falling into the wrong hands.

 As they were searching around the Fortress of Solitude, they came across a castle made entirely out of ice, Superman tried to look through it but received a headache the moment he tried to use it.

 With no choice left, both Batman and Superman went inside the castle to investigate.

 Passing through a large double door greeted them a large spiral-shaped staircase with the finest designs out of ice. Decorations and sculptures that decorate each nook and cranny of the castle are made out of ice that has the finest details to be mistaken as the real things. The largest chandelier hangs above them that seems to sparkle each passing second due to the little sun that bounces off each glass/ice. That creates the illusion of twinkling stars.

 Hearing footsteps from afar made both Batman and Superman hide in the closet that contains the cleaning supplies, looking through the smallest of cracks, they saw ice-shaped people that have sculpted hair and eyes but no mouth or nose wearing maid and butler outfits carrying books, toys and large folded sheets of clothes.

 All going in the opposite direction of which they have hidden.

 After making sure that those footsteps were no longer heard both Batman and Superman got out of their hiding place and went further deep the castle to investigate further.

 As they are walking along the endless hallways, they suddenly heard a small humming of a tune coming from another large double door with designs of space and stars embedded on the door.

 Peeking through a cracked door there they saw two green-skinned humanoid creatures with dragon-like features looking down, cooing, and humming to something. Due to their large size, they couldn’t see what they were looking for but after a few minutes, one of the human-dragon people turned off the lights and revealed their large wings, gave a few flaps and flew out alongside their companion using the large windows made from the most beautiful stained glass as an exit.

 Making the coast clear Batman was the first to go inside the room while Superman looked for the switch to turn on the lights. Through his cowl, Batman tried to guess the room that their two unexpected guests could have.

 The moment Batman’s eyes adjusted due to the sudden light invading his sight they immediately flabbergasted at the room could be.

 A playroom, complete with safety mats and toys that are either made from ice or silk.

 Looking around there they saw at the very center, a crib made out of glaciers with a space-themed mobile that seemed to spin around above the crib while releasing, looking closer there they saw a few months old human children, if the physical appearance of the child could go by.

 Black hair with the faintest of freckles across his face accompanied by his light skin that can be mistaken as dead.

 Warped in the finest silks as blankets while wearing some sort of Greek clothing as a means to cover the child.

 Fearing that the child was dead Batman turned to Superman to silently ask whether the child has a heartbeat or not.

 Superman stated that the child has a heartbeat a bit slow for his life but a heartbeat none less.

 Superman picks up the child with the resolve to return to the JL base to give the child a full check-up as well as to return him to his rightful parents.

 Batman countered that the humanoid-dragon-like people could be his parents but before Superman could even counter his claim flaps of wings were heard from a distance.

 In a panic, both Superman and Batman fled the room unknowingly carrying the infant.

 …

 At the JL base, Batman is scolding Superman for taking what could be a human-like dragon people’s child. Superman may have countered that the child he was carrying has no features from either of the possible parent and could be a kidnapped infant from the earth so that those humanoid dragons could play house.

 The Green Lanterns try to look for any planet that could be the origin of those dragon people, while the rest of the League are split in siding with Superman or Batman.

 With each passing second the volume of their argument kept getting higher and higher thus waking the infant still on Superman’s arm.

 Blue eyes like the sky and ice greeted them as the infant yawned as of saying that they have disturbed his nap time.

 Flash who was vibrating on his skin to coo at the child immediately ran up to Superman to take the infant.

 But the moment Danny saw the faintest amount of electricity that was being emitted from the Flash immediately started to wail.

 Loud but not loud enough to level the JL base, every JL member present with enhanced hearing covered their ears instinctively due to the noise the unbearable noise.

 Batman immediately snatched the child from Superman’s arm and began calming the child.

 After calming down the infant till he is only whimpering a very pale Constantine, Dr. Fate and Zattana burst into the meeting room scanning each nook and cranny till their eyes landed on the child that was still whimpering in Batman’s arms.

 Constantine demanded why on earth they have a child from the Infinite Realms and began to panic.

 As Constantine was out of commission for panicking Dr, Fate explained what the Infinite Realms is.

 As they were about to get back the child to where the ice castle was located another alarm blared at the JL base.

 Cyborg who was immediately typing across the computer for further explanation as see whether they have another world-ending threat made them double take.

 A blue-skinned man whose hair is unbound by gravity and floats upwards as if it was flames accompanied by two more people.

 One who looks like a vampire removing the avoidance of the sun as well adding a blue tone to his skin. Another looks like a female version of the first one aside from the green eyes and dark skin tone.

Zattana stuttering asked herself in a whispering voice why on earth King Phantom is destroying government facilities alongside the Count Masters as well the Princess of the Infinite Realms in the human world.

 Each time they demolish a facility down to the dust and rubbles they began scanning the area for what?

 A clapping and sound removed them from the carnage shown on the screen and saw the infant still in Batman’s arms reaching toward the people on the screen.

 Constantine mumbled something and began looking at the screen and the infant, and started widening his eyes as if he had just connected the dots.

 A union between a human and a ghost are unheard of but the fact that no new life/ afterlife was introduced since Pariah Dark made every life/ ghost in the Realms are now precious.

 But the resemblance between King Phantom and the infant in Batman’s arms is uncanny and so Constantine reached a possible conclusion alongside Dr. Fate.

 Superman just kidnapped the child of King Phantom.

…

PS: If someone out there wanting to continue or make a fic about this you are free to do so don’t forget to tag me though.

[and-so-he-rambled]

“Is this your lab?”

Vlad jumped, cursing in the form of a confectionery as he shocked himself. He spun around in his chair to see the children in the doorway. He wasn’t sure how they’d gotten in to the secure lab, the baby monitor on the table standing silent. He had put them both to bed hours ago and had been too restless to sleep, so he’d gone down to the lab to work on Jazz’s blaster. He hadn’t been sleeping well since he’d gotten the children.

Jazz stood in front with Danny beside her holding her hand. She was pale and terrified as her teal eyes roamed around the partially finished basement. It had likely been a dungeon once, but he’d cleared it out and had started remodeling it. It was sparse, filled with table of blueprints and half finished projects. He hadn’t conducted many successful experiments in the last few years, but the more he learned about himself, the better things he could create.

Danny’s eyes were focused on the gutted portal against the back wall. It had taken him years to build a functional portal, and he’d managed to and was able to explore the infinite realms in the last two years, but his portal was too unstable to rely on. He’d needed to disassemble it and ship the parts to the castle and he hadn’t gotten around to putting it back together yet.

“Don’t make a ghost portal.” Danny stared into Vlad’s soul. “I don’t want you to die too.”

The words washed over Vlad like a bucket of icy water.

He stood so fast his chair flipped, the spinning of the wheels drowned out by the ringing in his ears. He dropped his soldering gun, uncaring as it flattered to the ground.

“Your parents died in a portal accident?” They hadn’t given him details on the accident before and the police had only told him there had been an explosion. Due to the open investigation he hadn’t been able to view their lab or bodies, and only once it was closed could they have a proper funeral.

Both children nodded.

Vlad leaned against the table, hand over his chest as his core shuddered. The children both called out to him, but he couldn’t focus on it. Had Jack messed up another portal? Had they not learned from Vlad’s accident? He was spiraling and he needed to breathe already, what about the kids-

What about the kids?

He was over whelmed with the need to make sure they were okay, that they hadn’t been damaged by the portal collapse. He needed to focus, why couldn’t he breathe? He didn’t even need to breathe, so why couldn’t he catch his breath?

A small hand began to pet his hair.

“You’re having a panic attack, I think you’re supposed to take big breaths. The doctors made me count to five and back, can you do that?” Jazz was standing in front of him, and oh, he was on his knees. “5… 4… 3…”

“1!” Daniel yelled, face smooshed into Vlad’s chest as he snuggled into his lap, gangly lumps in every direction.

“No Danny, it’s 2 next.” Jazz corrected

“Then 1?”

“Yeah, I dunno if zero counts.”

“Do abcs next!”

Hearing the kids talk brought Vlad out of his haze. He stood on shaky legs, holding Daniel still. He shouldn’t put his mental well-being on the shoulders of a child, he thought he had gotten over his panic attacks over the accident. The deaths of his former friends had opened old wounds he’d long since bled dry.

“Thank you Jasmine, I apologize that you had to see that.” He took a shaky breath. “Let’s get you kids back to bed.”

Jazz’s eyes were on him the entire trip back upstairs, gaze far too intelligent. She was analyzing him.

Daniel fell asleep immediately once he was back in his bed, snuggling in to the stuffed aliens he’d happily picked out.

Jazz sat on her bed while he put her brother to bed, bare feet swinging idly.

“You don’t need to be sad, that you got scared.” She said softly as he tucked her in, eyes seeming to glow in the dim light.

Vlad sighed, smoothing her hair from her forehead. A patch of it seemed lighter than before.

“Jazz, I’m the one who’s supposed to be telling you that.” He sat on the edge of her bed, hands folded in his lap. “You don’t need to worry about me, I’m an adult.”

Jazz blinked sleepily at him, snaking a hand out of the blankets to pat his leg.

“You’re an adult, but you’re like us.” She yawned, snuggling into her pillow. “You’re broken too.”

Her tiny hand slid off his leg as she fell asleep, finally relaxing. She only was calm when she was asleep, and even though he knew she had a weapon under her pillow it was a relief to see her calm.

Vlad stared at her sleeping face, a torrent of emotions running through him. He resisted the urge to wake her up and ask her what the hell she meant by that

[noxsn]

Hello!

A dare for you if you want (I'm curious)

Name the more shipkids possible (and the ship they're from) without cheating!

Have a nice day ✨

Anon this is a dream come FUCKING true THANK YOU SO MUCH I CAN MAKE A LIST NOW AAAH. Ive DEFINITELY forgotten a good few people tho

I can describe literally everyone here and I WILL LOVE TO answer questions about them if asked!!!!!!

BUT ANYWAY HERE ARE ABOUT 72 SHIPKIDS!!

@sawdust-flavored-poptarts

Sweetheart (lust/swap)

Cherri (dream/killer)

Other

Paperjam/PJ (error/ink) - 7goodangel

Gradient (error/ink) - askcomboclub

Pallet roller (dream/ink) - @angeutblogo

Goth (reaper/geno) - nekophy

Raven (reaper/geno) - @echoiarts

Shino (reaper/geno) - blue-kohina

Smudge (ink/nightmare) - pixiewritesstuff on tiktok (https://www.tiktok.com/@sanstheskelussy?_t=8o4e192Z1f6&_r=1)

Lux (dream/cross) - Jakei95

Starcross (dream/cross) - lunnar-chan

Crescent (killer/nightmare) - lunnar-chan

Kenza (lust/dust) - nimaruu

Rocket (swap/outer) - jaylaxyart99

Blue screen (ink/error) - 7goodangel

Sprinkle (swap/dust) - 6agentgg9

By Andrew (i think they deleted their blog?)

Debug (error/nightmare)

Dedge (fell/dust)

Rubi (fresh/sci)

Økske (horror/dust)

Raspberry (swap/geno)

Plum (red/classic)

Lurro (lust/horror)

Cabriole (lust/dance)

Eros (lust/fell)

Molpe (epic/dust)

Rem (dream/error)

Somnia (fresh/nightmare)

Lucid (dream/nightmare FUSION NOT CHILD)

Ricin (death/sci)

Nei (horror/swap)

Design?, Aiden, Happy?, and someone else (a DID system made by ink/error)

By @/pepper-mint

Blueprint (swap/ink)

Neon(fresh/sci)

Charm (lust/nightmare)

Orfeo (lust/ink)

Belladonna/Bella (lust/dust)

Al (error/geno)

Morgue (fell/sci)

Ritter (altertale sans/storyshift sans)

Raider (error/nightmare)

Roulette (mafia/??)

Vermilion (lavender/fetal error)

Cloud berry (swap/dream)

Sträke (epic/cross)

Strel (bird/flower fell)

Slash (fell/dust)

Silver(reaper/geno)

Hela (reaper/dream)

Ivy berry (swap/nightmare)

Glasses (horror/fresh)

Noir (killer/nightmare)

Prisma (killer/color)

By cricketkillerz on tiktok!! (https://www.tiktok.com/@cricketkillerz?_t=8o4dy6HrUIb&_r=1) THEY HAVE LIKE A 100 COOL SHIPKIDS GO CHECK THEM OUT!!!!

Delusion (error/nightmare)

White Jasmine/WJ (lust/farm)

Aristotle (swap/cross)

Daring (swap/cross)

Porcelain (lust/geno)

Angel dust (lust/mafia)

Cupid (lust/dream)

XOXO (lust/cross)

Toxic (cross/sci)

Chamomile (flower fell/cinno)

Citrus (nightmare/farm I LOVE HER)

Hound (horror/cross)

Last judgment/LJ (ink/geno/cross thing)

Rosita (fell/lust)

Drip/driper? (killer/outer)

Huntress (shattered/dust)

Anarchy (fell/dream)

Falcon? (nightmare/bird)

Unknown

Nova (lust/nightmare) (i might have made her up myself ngl-)

I might have mixed one of two of Andrew and Mints characters cus they interacted a lot.

Also I KNOW some of the creators have weird ass content but ISTG i found most of these as a bb, forgot about the weird shit, and just made my own tweaked versions pf the characters that are now forever stuck in my brain. I DON'T SUPPORT THE WEIRD STUFF!!!

[radiance1]

Amity Park is an unusual place. Home to the ghost crazed inventors Jack and Maddie Fenton and their two children, Jasmine and Daniel Fenton.

It is a peaceful town, if only when the Fenton's aren't up to their shenanigans, besides that it was a town were nothing to significant happened.

Which is why it was so weird how the town was built right next to a magical leyline.

(His parents are actually weirdly connected now that he thinks of it.)

Now you see, Danny never cared about his parents' obsession with ghosts, nor their apparent 'portal to hell' that's a work in progress.

(Danny is 12 here AGAIN because I'm just built like that)

He did like to invent small versions of the Chaos Emeralds from the sonic comics he asked his parents for. He was honestly completely surprised they managed to get him actual real-life copies of the comics, considering they ceased productions years before he was born.

He isn't even going to ask any questions about the where and how.

So, he read through the books, told his two friends about it and they came over then they read together. Sam was a bit surprised, since even her parents didn't know where to source them from.

So, you give a twelve-year-old access to discontinued comics about a hedgehog who can run faster than the speed of soun and he sees these super powerful gems and has access to highly advanced tech made his parents (mostly ghost centered but eh) and you expect him not to do anything?

So, he, Tucker and Sam came together and sketched out a design for what they wanted this machine to look like to (hopefully) make their own versions of the Chaos Emeralds.

It wouldn't be the real thing, but they just want something close enough that they can look at.

So, they drew the machine, trying to see which parts would be needed in the actual building part of it. To which they kinda grew to a stump at, Tucker is insanely good with computers, Danny is insanely good at building things and Sam has extensive knowledge of the occult and money.

But they weren't good with the actual designing part. The drawing was pretty crude, not as good as his parents' blueprints, but it was good enough. They just couldn't figure out what materials would go where and which they would even need.

Then his parents caught a glance at what they were working on and extended their help, surprising all three of them since this wasn't anything ghost related. With their help the actual parts for the machine came together, and sure the design had to be changed a bit here and there, but it was worth it!

They didn't know where exactly to build said machine though. Until Sam mentioned the nearby forest, and really, it just went on from there.

So there they were, walking through the forest, looking for the perfect spot to build their machine. Finally coming to at a small hill, Danny decided to build the machine here!

It was the perfect spot for a replica of a super powerful, mega awesome giant emerald!

The spot did however feel really weird, like there was something living in the area. Not that Danny minded though, he wouldn't be a Fenton if he didn't ignore something crazy like this!

Sam was honestly just there for the vibe to be honest.

Tucker was persuaded to be here with the newest PDA that came out and practically unlimited data (He was going to be there anyways but who could pass up that.)

So it took a while, having to carry the materials out there (or carrying them in a cart, for the bigger pieces) and then having Danny putting it all together with his friends handing him some pieces here and there, and then Sam and Tucker having to goddamn drag Danny away from the unfinished machine to take a break and play a game.

Most of the time, Sam would distract herself with reading some occult books, while Tucker would surf the internet while Danny built his machine.

After about a week Danny finally managed to bring the machine to life, a giant mold in the middle of it in the shape of the Master Emerald when it came together and 21 smaller molds.

Coincidently, that was also the time his parents finished their 'portal to hell'.

So, Danny closed the machine, pouring the resin for the master emerald into the machine while his friend poured in resin of different colors into the other molds.

White for Danny.

Black for Sam.

Red for Tucker.

And green for the Master Emerald.

After that, well. All that was left was to turn it on, so they did.

At the exact moment the Fenton's turned on their ghost portal.

The magical energies of the leyline flooded into the molds of the gems, it was extremely chaotic and unfocused, its magical energies unable to be controlled.

For there to then be what is basically the perfect vessels for its excess power?

Well, safe to say it took the opportunity as it was.

At the exact same time Ectoplasm flooded into the world from the portal, and the door to the other side was opened.

The world, tilted off the combined events of the portal opening and the leyline finding a vessel for its power.

Shifted.

Then it and another world became one, a relatively smooth transition as barely anyone noticed.

Barely.

But that isn't what we're going to focus on right now. ;)

The entirety of Amity Park experienced city-wide electronic mayhem. Basic household appliances started going wack, as did their phones or anything electronic. Then the power went out as an earthquake ran through the city.

It stopped as suddenly as it began, everything was normal. So the Amity parkers went on about their day as normal too.

Danny, Sam and Tucker were knocked unconscious by the event, to which they then awoke about an hour later and saw the sight of their machine broken beyond repair. Danny ran forward and cried over the loss of his hard work, then Sam and Tucker got him to look up a bit higher to see it.

The Master Emerald in all of its beautiful, rainbow glory, and floating around was 21 gems made alongside it.

At first, Danny was stunned, unable to figure out how the hell the gem replicas are floating when they were made to be just that, replicas and not anything else.

They then floated down to each of them, the reds circling Tucker, the blacks circling Sam and the whites circling Danny.

And Danny, being 12 years old forgot all about that and went fuck it.

They stayed there for a while, playing with their new gems. They tried to be responsible, they swear! But they just couldn't help but test what they could do...

They found out that, while they aren't as powerful as the originals in the comics. They were still pretty damn strong, so then Sam had the great idea to train themselves in the usage of the gems like responsible people would.

(Which is basically just an excuse to run over to her books and try out each and every spell she could see.)

Which is how they also found out that the Master Emerald replica also had the ability to render their own gems inert like in the comics after they went a bit overboard with them.

Then they came back home and apparently ghosts are a thing now. They politely kept their new gems and the existence of the giant one a secret.

And like that, two years passed by. All of them now 14 and having very good control over the gems, with the help of the Master Emerald that somehow became semi-sentient and finding out that the reason why it happened is because they literally built the machine on top of a magical leyline.

They took on the role of guarding the gem, just like Knuckles the Echidna. Which also doubles as their hangout spot too, so there's that.

They had super-secret personas and totally cool outfits for when they're guarding it too. Which isn't really necessary since nothing happens, but they don't really care about that too be honest.

Amity Park is a relatively closed off town, new faces only being there in the ways of tourists. It is a peaceful town, minus all the ghosts and the Fenton's in their battles, it is a nice town where nothing too big happens.

Danny, Sam, and Tucker thought so as well. Thought that nobody would find out about their little secret.

They were not pleased when they found some old British guy was walking around the Master Emerald.

The Fenton parents were very pleased when three of earth's greatest heroes, batguy, supersomething and Wondergirl pulled up at their doorstep asking to see their inventions. (They swear they could never quite remember those three's names, what with all the ghost fighting, realizing they weren't quite right in their research and renouncing everything they ever said about ghosts as a whole while also trying to reconnect with their kids after realizing how neglectful they've been over the years.)

[five-rivers]

Life's Great Lie 17

AO3

.

“Oh, thank God,” said Tony, “Bruce is here.”  All the other green, angry looking people were secondary, as far as he was concerned.�� Having the Hulk on hand meant that he didn’t have to play Jonah again.  That had been.  Unpleasant.

A dart of red broke off the crowd of ghosts and angled towards Tony.  Valerie Gray.  And Bruce, too.  As Bruce. 

“Where do you want us?” shouted Valerie. 

“Take your pick!” shouted Tony, even as he lined up more shots.  He was going to be running out of all but the special anti-ghost ordinance soon.  “But—Bruce, you’re going to have to suit up.”

“Of course,” said Bruce, rubbing his face.  “Yeah.  Okay.  You would call it that.  Miss Gray, if you could take me up towards one of those…  big things…”  He gestured vaguely at the space whales.

“Cool!” said Tony, giving them a thumbs up.  “Now, all we need to do is get a shield around the portals, and we can roll up the streets.  No problem!”

“Sir,” said Jarvis.  “You may want to look at the Ops Center.”

What was going on now?  He turned and watched the shield around the airship flicker once, twice, and then go out completely.  The chitauri, who apparently were smart enough to smell blood in the water, regardless of any other tactical deficiencies, changed direction. 

“Well, that’s not good.  Anyone want to fill me in on what’s going wrong?”

“Well,” started Jasmine Fenton. 

.

“What happened to the thing being self-sustaining?” demanded Natasha as she punched out another mercenary.  Where had Loki even found these guys?  They weren’t even mind controlled.  Who in their right mind signed up to fight for the aliens in a literal alien invasion?

“Listen,” said Maddie Fenton, a little testily, “we quite literally built it on the fly.  It isn’t operating at peak theoretical efficiency, but it’s a testament to Jack’s engineering skills that we got it to work at all, much less while also trying to come up with a workable solution for the shields.  Be glad we have enough power to keep the portal open, even.”

“Forget the shields,” interrupted Tucker, his voice crackling slightly.  The Fentons’ communicators weren’t bad, and apparently they worked through the ‘spectral noise’ associated with ghosts, but they left something to be desired in comparison to the crystal-clear communications Natasha had gotten used to while working for SHIELD.  “Well, no, don’t forget them, forget them, we might still be able to—I’ve got— What’s your name again, dude? —I’ve got Selvig up here, and he says that if we can get Loki’s staff, we can shut down his portal.”

“Great!” shouted Steve.  “Anyone have eyes on Loki?”

.

The answer to that was, of course, a resounding no. 

.

“Oi, Tucker, you want to run by that thought you had about the shields again?”

Under other circumstances, Tucker might have been over the moon.  Tony Stark, asking him about something technical!  It was like a dream come true! 

But between the mind control, the alien invasion, and whatever was going on with SHIELD and HYDRA, Tucker’s enthusiasm for anything was pretty much nil.  So. 

“Uh,” said Tucker.  He and Selvig were standing in front of Loki’s portal device.  Well.  Tucker was sort of crouching, and Selvig was… sprawled.  That couldn’t be a good position for a guy that old, but whatever.  “So, Loki got the startup power for this thing from the, uh, the tower’s arc reactor, right?  So, it’s still plugged in.  The connection is live, and it looks like he used standard connectors.  Not, you know, a twelve-gauge extension cord, but Earth-made.  I think maybe we can use it to charge up the shields and use one here as the centerpiece – the power source – instead of the one in the Ops Center.  If it’s, like compatible.  Is that a thing we can do?  Mrs. Fenton?”

“Well, it isn’t impossible,”she said.  “But those portable shield relays – they weren’t made as independent shield generators, and for them to run on something other than ectoplasm – Jack, sweetie, do we still have those blueprints? – Thanks.  Alright, Tucker, you’ll have to make significant adjustments to the shield relay, probably even cannibalize one of them.  Are you able to do that?”

“Well,” said Tucker.  “Maybe?  I’ve got a lipstick laser and…”  He looked over his shoulder.   “Selvig.  Sort of.  But if it’s anything more complicated than rewiring the Speeder’s main gun to fire from the backseat window console, I’m going to need a bunch of tools and a science guy who isn’t dead on his feet.  No offense.”

Selvig waved him off. 

“You’re the one who—?  Never mind.  It is more complicated.  Quite a bit more complicated.”

“I’ll also need, you know, the generators.  Relays?”

“I’m still on my way,” said Romanov.  She sounded… upset.

“And so am I,” said Iron Man.  “Kid, I’ve got all sorts of tools in my apartment.  And dummy, too.”

Okay.  Cool.  Also, what did dummies have to do with anything?  Was that rich people code for something?

“Okay, want to give me directions, or am I supposed to just start pulling out drawers?”

.

“Hey!  Where’re you going?”

“You need more cover,” said Sam.  “This is what I have the jetpack for, remember?  Arrow boy isn’t going to get all of them, and they do have ranged weapons.”

It was true, one well-aimed shot through the Ops Center envelope could send the whole thing down.  They weren’t using hydrogen gas, of course, but an ectoplasm-nitrogen mix, so there was no danger of becoming Hindenburg Mk II, unless the aliens’ energy weapons reacted really badly with ectoplasm, but there hadn’t been any evidence of that yet, so…

Anyway, it didn’t matter.  Jazz was too busy keeping the Ops Center and the portal steady to do much else. 

“Be careful,” she said. 

“Can’t make any promises!”

.

Fury was having a bad day.  A really, monumentally, bad day.  One that was part of an already awful week but still managed to go above and beyond in terms of how completely awful it was. 

Primarily, he blamed HYDRA.  They were very easy to blame and were, in his opinion, responsible for at least seventy percent of the metric ton of crap he was currently wading through. 

But then, then he got a call. 

The call. 

Which meant that he had to take this boat riddled with snakes to fight off an alien invasion over New York.  Peachy. 

If ever he’d been tempted to give old friends a call…  But he wouldn’t.  Not yet. 

“Sir,” said Coulson, joining him smoothly as he walked down the hallway toward the main bridge. 

“What’d you find?”

“We have problems, sir.  Using the head start we were given, I’ve found no less than seventy problem areas on this ship… and some indications that the World Security Council may have similar issues.  We also have to assume there are unseen variables at play.”

Fury did not miss a step.  Benefit of being a cynical bastard.  The WSC was a shock, and a disaster on multiple levels, but the other number was… livable.  “Are there any particular personnel involved in these problems?”

“STRIKE teams seem to have an unusually high number of incidents.  Upwards of ninety percent.”

Fury strode onto the bridge.  “Tell the STRIKE teams to prepare to mobilize and pilots to scramble.”  Uriah gambits were unpleasant… but if he could kill two birds with one stone, he would, and he wouldn’t feel bad about it.  “What kind of air power are we looking at?”

“Significant,” said a comm. tech who was flipping through different news programs.  “They seem to have biologically based technology of some kind, weaponry is mainly energy-based, propulsion… unclear.”

Wonderful.  Fury scanned the other screens, trying to get a better picture of what, exactly, was happening in New York.  What tactics the enemy was using, what numbers they had, what resistance had been put up so far and by whom. 

“Sir,” said Agent Hill.  “The council is on.”

The council.  The same one Coulson had just told him was infiltrated by HYDRA.  The same one that would probably find a way to make their present situation all the more untenable and Fury’s day infinitely worse. 

It was a pity he couldn’t ignore them. 

“Put them on.”

.

Pandora hissed at the sting of the enemies’ weapons.  They were not ectoblasts, no, but there was the taste of something like magic to them, and energy was energy.  Still, they were not enough to damage her unduly, although they might prove troublesome, dangerously so, for the weaker ghosts of their force. 

But that was the nature of war.  Few battles were won without bloodshed. 

Her warriors should otherwise be a match for the chitauri.  The chitauri had numbers, doubtlessly, but her warriors had experience.  And once Frostbite and Dorathea lead their forces onto the battlefield, well… She could not estimate the number of enemies.  She had been told that they came from the stars, and those lands were numerous to the point of being innumerable.  Even so, there was a limit to passage through a choke point, and even the stars themselves may not turn things in the favor of a commander caught in one, no matter their numbers. 

But the ghosts, too, must pass through a portal.  Pandora eyed the slight waver in the portal’s outline with disfavor.  She was no expert in such matters, but many years of existence had given her some intuition for how portals should behave.  This one was stable enough, but not for long. 

All the more reason to resolve things quickly. 

“Hunter,” she said. 

“What?” snapped the mechanical man, the burnished plates of his armor flashing in the Sun. 

“Your task.  Find Phantom.  Free him from whatever compulsion he is under.”  Although Phantom still had much to learn, he was undeniably powerful.  Returning him to his proper allegiance would

Skulker looked away from the beast he was dismembering with some reluctance.  “Fine.  Dog.  Come here.”

The dog ignored him.  As it was Phantom’s, and Skulker hadn’t made the effort to learn its name, that was really no surprise.  Still, Skulker gestured at it.  It, in turn, bounded away, yipping.

“Are you, or are you not, the greatest hunter in the Infinite Realms?  Find him with or without the dog.”

Skulker grumbled but flew off.  Good. 

Pandora manifested a joint in her neck just long enough to crack it and drummed her fingers on the lid of her box.  It had been too long, far too long, since she had engaged in a proper battle against evil, and the more vicious of the leviathans flying through the air looked like they would, at least, give her a challenge. 

.

Thor had become more open-minded since his short stay on Earth, with Dr. Selvig, Darcy, and… Dr. Jane Foster.  Truly.  But he had to admit, these ghosts were unnerving.  Too similar by far to the draugr that had ofttimes haunted the stories of bards – the ones that made his father glare and try to shoo away both Thor and Loki. 

He had to find his brother.  Soon.  With all that had happened, with how, exactly, Loki had behaved, he believed, truly believed Daniel Fenton’s assertion Loki was being controlled, somehow. 

It was a foul thing, to put such a geas on a prince of Asgard…  Although, to be fair, putting a geas on anyone was foul.  It just seemed especially foul to Thor, that someone should do it to his brother. 

Loki had, perhaps, never been quite so good as one might hope, but he had always been… himself, as vague as that description was.  Even when he’d been consumed by madness, letting jotnar into Asgard, sending the Destroyer after people on Earth, he had still been himself.

Thor did not like this new version of Loki, who was very much…  It was like seeing his brother through a warped pane of glass, or in a reflection.  In fact, he liked it so little that he couldn’t even enjoy the utter destruction he was wrecking on the chitauri, lightning, head-crushing, and all.  Not that he had been enjoying combat quite as much as he once did in general.

The price of being worthy, he presumed. 

Alas. 

A bright green flying dog whipped past him at speed, heading towards the tower.  He narrowed his eyes at it.  Most of the ghosts had stayed concentrated around the portals.  What cause had this one to stray?

But he could not go investigate.  He could still hear the screams of the civilians cornered in the buildings nearby.  He would not leave them to fend for themselves until he had cleared this street. 

.

Danny and Loki would both have preferred to use the elevators.  Unfortunately, significant parts of the main upper elevator shaft had been repurposed for extension-cable-from-hell-powering-up-a-doomsday-device purposes, and no one wanted to mess with that, and the military-type guys they still had with them recommended shutting them off from a tactical perspective of ‘there’s more of them then there are of us, and we don’t want to guard them all.’  So.  No elevators. 

Danny could have just dropped them through the floor instead, but Loki seemed concerned about the effect serially dropping through floors had on Danny. 

Or, well, the effect that the effect it had on Danny was having on him, in any case. 

“I refuse to get stuck in a ceiling again.  I am a god.  I am to be treated with some degree of gravitas.”

“It was one time.  You should’ve seen what I was like when I first got my powers.”

“And how long ago was that?”

“Year and a half ago, about.”

Anyway, they were taking the stairs.  Danny wasn’t really upset about it, because it gave him more time to be annoying.  Right now, he was in the midst of a recital of all the ‘annoying younger sibling’ noises he had ever made.  Right now, he was working on ‘long drawn out sighs,’ which had really been a hit with Jazz, when he’d been eight.  Which was to say, she hated them.  A lot. 

And Loki didn’t seem to a have a lot of tolerance, either. 

“What,” he snapped, “are you doing?”

“Nothing,” said Danny, enjoying the way Loki’s face pinched up, as if he were searching for a way to order him to stop without really screwing up his other orders…

… speaking of which, could Danny have interpreted ‘get me out of here’ to mean ‘get me out of New York?’  Maybe.  But at this point, there were plenty of reasons to want them both in New York, including-- 

Danny’s train of thought derailed as he noticed the sound of footsteps echoing up the stairwell.  He looked down and then threw himself backwards as a redheaded woman – Romanov – brought a gun to bear on him.  She fired, twice, in quick succession.  Wow.  Rude.  And pretty brutal, too, but then again, New York was being invaded by aliens.  And she knew about his powers. 

(Hecking Fury, telling people about his powers.)

Although, considering trajectories… no, he was too sleep deprived to consider trajectories. 

He grabbed Loki’s arm, intending to drop them through the floor. 

“No, wait,” said Loki.  “Let’s see what the Widow wants.”  There was a malicious, almost cruel, edge to his voice, but there was a hollowness underneath it.  He did want to see why Black Widow, Natasha Romanov, was here, but the tone, the phrasing, was just to rile her up. 

Or to appear as if he wanted to rile her up.  Danny hadn’t listened to all the things Barton and Loki had discussed – too busy freaking out about the whole situation vis a vis mind control and alien invasions – but he hadn’t gotten the impression she was all that easy to rile up. 

But Danny had his orders.  And he still had to defend Loki.  Ice began to spread out from under his feet.  It was a bit sluggish, but it would give him the terrain advantage as far as maneuvers went.  The Widow kicked open the door on her landing and rolled out, into the floor beyond, staying more or less out of direct line of fire for both Danny and Loki. 

“I have eyes on Loki,” she said, out loud. 

.

“Crap,” said Tony, tossing the box to the Foley kid.  “Sorry, got to go, but hey!”  He was already heading for the edge of the roof.  “Maybe we won’t even need that if we do this right!”

.

Black Widow definitely been looking for them, which wasn’t surprising, but what was she carrying?  The bag was bulky and angular.  A weapon?  If so, why hadn’t she used it? 

Loki stepped out past Danny but stayed well within Danny’s ability to grab – or drop through the floor, if necessary.  Making the floor intangible instead was a valid strategy. 

“What is it you want, Widow?  Natasha Romanov?”

Romanov, meanwhile, had disappeared, almost as thoroughly as Danny could.  He tilted his head to one side, listening.  This floor, it seemed, had been imagined as semi-open lab space.  There were long work benches, empty places for equipment, some kind of robotic arm in the ceiling, and a cart full of plastic-wrapped computers, monitors and towers together. 

It was kind of cool.  There were a lot of places to hide. 

“Is this… revenge?  For Barton?”  Loki’s smile was sharp.  “He told me much about you, and I suppose Stark mentioned avenging this place.”  Two false images split off from Loki to prowl among the lab tables.  “It suits you better than it does him.  But don’t you think it somewhat… hypocritical?”

.

“Okay, Romanov, here’s how it is.  Loki likes illusions?  Let’s give him an illusion.”

.

Danny saw a flash of red out of the corner of his eye and angled himself to intercept, but no attack came. 

“After all… you’ve done so much… so much that others would be more than justified retaliating for, don’t you think?  All those regime changes, shall we call them?  And Barton’s no better, really.”  He hummed.  “The things you two did together.  Drakov’s daughter?  Sāo Paulo?  The hospital fire?  And you think taking vengeance on me will change anything?  You think it will make you some sort of hero?  Give you peace?  When you—”

One of the doors flew open, revealing Iron Man.  Who plowed through one fake Loki (Faki?  Fauki?  Fauxki?  Meh, he’d workshop it.) and swerved to shoot one of his repulsors at another.  Romanov popped up from behind a table and threw something at the feet of the real Loki, who crushed it with his heel, ignoring the sparks of electricity that flew up off of it. 

Danny batted Romanov back with a shield, straight into the cart of computers, which fell down on her.  Ouch.  But she’d be able to get back up and into the fight.  The important thing was that, right now, she wasn’t an immediate threat, which meant he could ignore her. 

Give her time. 

If she hadn’t wanted something, she would have run, kept hiding.  Just these few minutes – She was a shield agent, sure, but she had to have some kind of specialty in—

Anti-ghost missiles were a lot harder to avoid in such a small place, especially when distracted.  Danny hissed as one impacted his shoulder and splattered green all over his shirt, but he caught the next, and threw it back at Iron Man.  He tried to phase off the green goo, but it wouldn’t go.  It had to be some of that phase-proof stuff his parents had been working on.  Nasty stuff. 

Although, he had to be grateful it had only given him a bruise and hadn’t been mixed with something that would melt him.  It gave him hope for his future relationship with his parents. 

In the meantime, it definitely limited his options regarding protecting Loki and just removing themselves from the situation without getting into more destructive behavior. 

He hoped Iron Man knew what he was doing… for everyone’s sake. 

The missile exploded right in front of Iron Man’s mask, splattering him with green goo.  Danny had no idea what kind of sensor array he had, but that would probably buy at least a little time as he adjusted it to compensate for the eye-holes of his mask being covered up. 

He turned back to Loki, only to see another Iron Man grab the staff from him. 

Only for that Loki and that staff to dissolve into the air. 

Loki, the real Loki, stopped being invisible and laughed.  “Oh, that was good, that was very good.”  Not only was this Loki real, his smile might have been as well.  “But you didn’t think you could fool me, did you?”

Danny flicked invisible, noting with disfavor that the green goo stayed visible when he did so, and moved closer to Loki, fending off attacks.  Two Iron Men – Where did the second person come from?  Was it Barton, in a suit?  Someone else entirely?  The War Machine person?  Danny couldn’t remember his name.  – and Romanov together was a bit of a challenge for Danny to keep track of, given his present mental state. 

Luckily, however, one of the two suits, the first one, didn’t seem to have nearly the tactical awareness of the other.  He’d say it was Stark in the second suit, the fresher-looking one… the one without any form of ghost proofing Danny could detect. 

Danny swiped an intangible arm through the suit, cleaving through delicate wires as he did so, but leaving warm, human flesh untouched.  Several pieces of armor fell away, revealing a band t-shirt, but not the whole thing.  Interesting. 

Romanov threw a Fenton Ghost Zapper at him.  Loki knocked it out of the air, the sharp end of the scepter cutting it in two as he did so.  Iron Man – the one he was pretty sure was Tony Stark – tried to grab it again, even as Loki pivoted to try and catch Black Widow with it.  Danny used that as a pretext to pull Loki back, away from Black Widow.  They did not need her under control.  Nope. 

But… they wanted the staff.  They wanted the staff now. 

Selvig must have gotten knocked free.  He must have told them, one of them, about his safeguards. 

If one of these three could get the staff, get back to the top of the tower…  Then it would be over.  They’d have won. 

.

“Director Fury, the council has made a decision.”

Fury flexed his fingers behind his back.  “I recognize the council has made a decision, but given that it's a stupid ass decision, I've elected to ignore it.”  It’s what he’d say if he hadn’t learned what he’d just learned.  If HYDRA wasn’t threaded through every element of SHIELD like a deadly parasite.  If this sounded more like a simple fear-driven overreaction and less like a way to destroy one of HYDRAs most famous enemies and his new and very powerful allies? 

“Director, despite your shocking negligence, bordering on dereliction, you’re closer than any of our subs.  You scramble that jet—”

“That is the island of Manhattan, councilman.”  Although considering that HYDRA, in the person of Red Skull, had tried to blow it up in the past, he wasn’t sure that would sway them.  Until I’m certain my team can’t hold them—”

“There are two armies of alien origin, emerging from portals above that island.  If we don’t—”

“I will not order a nuclear strike against a civilian population, much less the densest population in the United States.  And the other army is an ally.”

“Based on what intelligence?  Based on what invitation?  That of someone already suborned by Loki?”

“If we don’t hold them in the air,” added another councilmember, “we lose.  We lose everything.”

“If I send that bird out, we already have.”

.

“Director Fury is no longer in command.  Override order, seven, alpha, eleven.”

“Sorry, sir,” said the pilot, who had just taken his seat.  He watched with some trepidation as Agent Coulson led a pair of his colleagues away.  This was all very irregular.  “I’m not familiar with that code.”

There was a pause.  “What’s your name, son?”

.

Cujo frolicked through the city.  It was loud, yes, but nothing he hadn’t been in training for while alive, and nothing he hadn’t experienced while dead.  So, a non-issue, obviously. 

The actual issue?  His person had just thrown a stick.  Obviously, Cujo had to go fetch it. 

[synergysilhouette]

An alternate take on Asha from "Wish"

At this point, my account has become very "Wish"-centric, despite my annoyance with the film. I'll probably have to purge some posts. In any case, I've made posts about remaking the film and giving Asha a new look, but I did want to mention some ways Asha could've felt more interesting/unique among Disney protagonists in terms of personality and the arc she goes through, even if her movie wasn't as good (in my own humble opinion).

Option 1: Make her perfect and give her cracks in the persona. The whole "she looks like Isabela Madrigal" controversy has been ignited ever since Asha was revealed, but I do think her writers could've taken some things from Isabela. The oldest Madrigal (of the 3rd generation), Isabela is forced to be perfect and lovely, while she'd prefer to embrace new things and be a bit edgier. I like the idea that Asha, like Isabela, has cultivated a perfect image, perhaps being Magnifico's apprentice for a couple years, and has mastered his way of entertaining the masses and charming others. In reality, however, one of two things happens.

She's super selfish (working for Magnifico in order to get her Saba's wish granted and not taking anyone into consideration for who that could hurt)

She's super cynical, being blackmailed into silence by Magnifico or else he'd destroy the wishes he has and harm the people of Rosas, which could potentially kill them (including her Saba), making her believe there's no such thing as dreams coming true. This idea came to me, but I recall @annymation saying something similar (in her case, using Asha to bait Star like Hades used Meg to bait Hercules).

Option 2: Make her wise beyond her years and much more collected, having almost a spiritual connection with the stars while being playful. Pocahontas would be her blueprint, as well as Jasmine, taking the latter's quick-thinking and acting skills (and NO, I'm not saying Asha should be sexualized like either of these two leads). Making Asha a more wise and steady protagonist would be more fun than the adorkable, uncertain lead we've had so often, as well as being distinct from Raya's headstrong and aggressive personality.

[bisexualchrissycunningham]

Readers, I am on the verge of giving up on the romance genre. I need people to recommend books that I won't hate.

Please, I'm dying. I just wanna read cute stories about love without a bunch of regressive gender stereotypes or just straight-up abuse. Is that really so much to ask??? Anyway I'm gonna list things I love and hate about the genre and perhaps some of you kind people could make some suggestions based on that?

Romances I've liked: Emily Henry's Happy Place (I actually cried at this one!); Talia Hibbert's Get a Life, Chloe Brown; Evie Dunmore's A League of Extraordinary Women series; Alexis Hall's Boyfriend Material; Casey MacQuiston's Red White and Royal Blue (although the politics in this one really turned me off the first time I read it); Meg Cabot's The Princess Diaries series (a classic); Sangu Mandanna's The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches (I love a romance that has a lovable cast of supporting characters and some other elements going on beyond the love story!); Jen Wang's The Prince & the Dressmaker

Stuff I hate in romance: Most enemies to lovers (cause the most recent wave of this trope is primarily men abusing women in some way, but if you've got a suggestion that isn't that, please tell me), when Being Tall is treated as a entire personality for men, generally men being So Large and women being So Smol cause it almost always leans into weird gender shit that makes me uncomfortable, super innocent virginal girls who are almost childlike being "corrupted" by mean fuckboys, the entire dark romance genre (are you seeing the trend about things I hate... lol), Instalove (Chanel Cleeton's Next Year in Havana was SO guilty of this)

Romances I disliked/DNF'd: Abby Jimenez's Part of Your World (the female lead was insufferable!); Jasmine Guillory's The Wedding Date (some of the character work was interesting but I just got bored with the story tbh); Heather Cocks & Jessica Morgan's The Royal We (just SO boring but that's what I get for reading Will & Kate fanfiction); anything that started as R*ylo fic cause they, and Twilight before them, are basically the blueprint for what I find fundamentally un-romantic about a lot of romance (I might be willing to give something by Ali H*zlewood a try, as a few Booktubers I trust have said her writing has gotten better with each new book she's published BUT the word steminist is the most cringe thing I've ever heard so maybe not)

Romances that sound interesting but I've been burned so much I just don't know: Helen Hoang's the Kiss Quotient; Beth O'Leary's The Flatshare; Lyssa Kay Adams' The Bromance Book Club; Olivia Waite's The Lady's Guide to Celestial Mechanics, India Holton's Dangerous Damsels series, Nisha Sharma's Dating Dr. Dil

Heeeelp.

[i-love-you-all]

cypher?

So much of how I see him is just to do with his role in Valorant. That, and his relationships with other people. I haven't ever really thought about him as who he is, as sad as that is. I think writing When Will My Blood Turn to Ichor was the only point where I thought about him past his job, and even then, he was very much tied to his work or his relationships with other people. I guess that and chess lol

Idk those are my overall thoughts about him. If anyone has characters they would like me to do this for, feel free to send in an ask! Hope you enjoy :))

5 things they usually see:

Screens. So many of them too. Whether it's a security feed, his own phone, a laptop screen, his actual eyes (which I see as a screen or some sort of display - I mean... they look like fly eyes up close)

Checkered, wooden squares of a chessboard and the finely kept pieces that get placed on the board.

Blueprints, pictures, and the notes he makes for himself. (Physical is best sometimes when it comes to secrets and the not so secret like his little to do list Brimstone assigns him)

Fluorescent lights above his head as he does all his monitoring. This includes the cold wash of light they give everything around him.

Kingdom logos. They're hard to avoid when they're on every window, building, and even the weapons they use. And each time he sees the 'K', he's reminded of how his home is being torn apart for some radianite.

4 things they usually feel:

The steady motion of his tripwire as he spins one around his fingers as he's lost in thought.

The sleek feel of his Ghost. Sometimes it's in his hand, but oftentimes, it's along his chest, easily reached yet out of sight.

The slight resistance of his keyboard as he flies through the web. His typing speed is particularly useful when it comes to the paperwork that comes with his position.

The warm noon heat of a Moroccan sun. Depending on the time of year or where exactly he is, this is sometimes accompanied by the rising humidity of moisture meeting the same temperatures.

3 things they usually hear:

The faint humming of machinery all around him at all hours of the day. Whether it's the clicking of his suit, the clacking of his keyboard, or the buzz of a security feed, he's constantly reminded of what he surrounds himself with.

The voices of all the agents around the base. After all, it is his job to keep track of them. More than once, he's heard something he wishes he didn't (things that are terrifying, disgusting, and embarrassing)

The high pitched laughter of a child. When he desperately looks around for the source, he realizes it was all just a dream. One he still needs to work to attain. (and if he gets there, will it be in time or will he have sacrificed so much that he loses his chance at fulfilling the dream, so by doing his job to secure the future, he ends it?)

2 things they usually smell:

Stale air that hangs around in his office like a slow alarm reminding him that there is life outside his walls and door.

Sweet jasmine candles that he'll light when he's in his room (on the rare occasions he sleeps there). A small reminder of his home. Sometimes, when he smells it in combination with something else, often random and unpredictable, it unlocks memories. Of Nora holding his hand as they walk a long a dim street, of street vendors who shout out to those who pass by, of a room in which he saw someone... Blood was never really meant to smell that sweet.

1 thing they usually taste:

A good green tea with mint, freshly brewed, or just prepared. The sharpness along with the general earthiness of the drink grounds him to what is at stake: his home, and by extension, his family. Refreshing :))

[chaserainbows]

Week 7

(being catty and mean is a talent if you can do it right)

Verris sees that he's no longer in the lead and that reignites his competition mode so here he uses all of his knowlege about balls to pull into the lead again

The next challenge is a roast though and as it turns out no one can do catty and mean quite like Lysandre (Koko comes close though) he IS the blueprint

Technically he did already win a stand up challenge before as a duo with Barry so we know he does have the comedy chops

Kim is either incapable of being shady or just really not funny jury's still out

This is really not a good week for Kim maybe she wanted to hold back since she's blocked maybe it rattled her a lot more than it showed

It's a REALLY good week for Lysandre though his second win and third star are practically certain by now

Our top 4 is completed by Grusha and Jasmine I was expecting Verris and Emmet due to the runways but it's still valid

But in the end the top 2 was clearly Lysandre and Koko

Lysandre's in the lead right now and Koko finally gets a star after being robbed in ep3 they are LIVING

And now the real challenge of the season

Can they hit an Ariana Grande note

LYSANDRE CAN

Lysandre gives us a reminder that he was part of the best lipsync of season 3 we love that for him

He also blocks Vlad again which is an intriguing choice is there beef we don't know or does Lysandre think that Vlad is the biggest competition

Meanwhile in Untucked we have the beginnings of a potential ship and also pure delusion

verris your lipsync success rate so far is 0-4 please sit down

VLAD'S A FUCKING LIAR HE'S MAD

HE'S MADDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

HE IS MAD

also yes koko and grusha still hate each other

Lysandre's experiencing a huge positive streak right now over the course of 4 episodes he went from last place to first place and practically has a guaranteed finale spot

His talent is being mean and we love that for him

[whispersafterdusk]

Heart of Stone - ch 6

The next day he assumed he'd see her in the yard working on the hydrogel but strangely each time he passed by on his rounds the yard was empty.

Sure, the furnaces were going and a few things were being processed the first and second times he went by, but by the third pass everything was quiet and there was no sign of the woman anywhere.  As the hydrogel was so important it seemed odd that she wasn't there working on it.  Wasn't Qi supposed to have gotten those blueprints to her this morning?  He was pretty sure that's what she'd said last night.  Maybe Qi didn't have the blueprints done in time? It was on his fifth trip passed that he realized she was probably off gathering materials and felt a bit silly -- he checked around the workshop and yard and didn't find any worrisome signs or hints of geeglers so yeah, it was likely she was just off sifting through scrap or quarrying and he was just being overly paranoid with all this geegler nonsense going on. ((Continued below cut))

After that his day was pleasantly uneventful; he had pulled an iron sword out of storage at the Corps building, oiled the leather sheath and sharpened and polished the blade, and now it was leaned against the wall near his bed waiting for their lessons. He'd also tracked down Pen and politely asked him to quit bothering Dawn.  Pen had blustered and seemed insulted at first but eventually promised to tone himself down around her, though he'd framed it around himself as usual -- 'it was no surprise someone would be so in awe of such a specimen' or something like that.  Once he'd gotten him to promise to stop pestering her he'd sort of tuned the man out afterward and gotten back to his patrol, and he finished out his day by meeting up with Justice in town square; neither of them had anything to report to the other - it had been a pretty normal day.

They were about to head to their respective homes when they heard Mi-an shouting for them; she was running down the stairs near city hall and waving her hands over her head to grab their attention.

"Huh...wonder what's up," Justice muttered beside him. Unsuur mentally echoed the sentiment -- it wasn't usually a good thing when people came running for them.

When she got over to them she wiped a sweaty face on her sleeve and was out of breath, and she took a few moments to compose herself before speaking.  "H-have- whew, have either of you seen Director Qi?"

"Qi?  He's not in the research center?" Justice asked.

Mi-an shook her head.  "I checked there earlier this morning and he wasn't home, and he hasn't been there the last three times I've checked.  He almost never leaves the center so it's really odd that he's not been there all day."

Justice grunted thoughtfully, crossing his arms.   "Uh huh...  That's definitely not normal - you usually have to drag him out of there.  Have you checked anywhere else?"

"I just checked at the clinic and earlier at the saloon but neither Fang or Owen has seen him today either."

"Right...  Well, I haven't seen him - have you?" he asked, turning to Unsuur.

"I haven't.  I know he was supposed to be sending the rest of the hydrogel blueprints to Dawn this morning but I doubt he would have personally delivered them.  Maybe Jasmine's seen him," Unsuur replied.  Seeing Qi outside the research center was rare so he was absolutely certain he would have noticed him.

Justice nodded. "Worth a shot.  Thanks, Mi-an - we'll look for him."

"I can come along to help?  I have his commission, so..."

"The more eyes the better.  Let's go check with Jasmine and then we can all split up to keep looking if we need to," Justice said, gesturing for them both to follow him as he walked down to Vivi's.

He and Mi-an waited on her front porch while Justice spoke to her and Jasmine inside; he came back out rather quickly though.

"So Jasmine says she stopped by the research center this morning for her usual outgoing mail check and didn't see or hear Qi.  She didn't go upstairs at all so it's possible he slept in but I can't see him doing that knowing how pressing this hydrogel problem is.  ...not to mention I don't think the man sleeps," he added with a chuckle.  "Looks like we got a missing person case on our hands, pardners."

Unsuur nodded - so much for an uneventful day.  "I know I didn't see him on my usual patrols.  I can go check with Dawn to see if he stopped by there this morning."

"Good thinking.  I'll go check with a few other folks, see if anyone knows anything -- Mi-an, stick with Unsuur for now.  We can all meet up near Dawn's place in an hour."

Unsuur, with Mi-an in tow, headed down main street as Justice went to saddle his horse; they had just passed the saloon when a little ball of worry bubbled up in his stomach as even from here he could tell Dawn's yard was still empty and dark -- she definitely should've been home by now, right?

"Have you seen Dawn today?" he asked.

"I haven't -- usually we run into each other every morning at the guild building but I've been so busy getting all that glass made that I didn't have time to grab any commissions today."

"I thought you said you had Qi's commission?"

She rubbed at her elbow, laughing a little bit.  "I do, but, it's from yesterday.  The moisture farm repairs need a LOT of glass...  I've done nothing but that since the attack and just hadn't gone by to drop this off to Qi yet.  I try to get commissions done same-day but..."

"It's fine.  We were used to longer turn arounds with Mason here before.   Come on."  He jogged across the tracks and through Dawn's gate and after his knock at her door went unanswered he stood in the middle of her yard looking around at the silent machines while trying to squash that rising sense of concern -- maybe he should have considered it odd after all when Dawn hadn't been home all those times he'd passed by earlier.

Mi-an walked over to the makeshift work table and looked over the notes and blueprints, then picked up a few of them.  "Wait...these are the hydrogel blueprints right here.  See?"

She held up one of the pages to him; there was some kind of meticulously drawn out technical plan of a complex machine on the paper.  He looked it over out of politeness though he really had no idea what he was looking at - if she said that was a hydrogel then he'd believe her.

"If the blueprints are here then that means Qi had to have come here this morning.  The question now is where did he go after he came here?" Unsuur asked, mostly to himself but Mi-an nodded thoughtfully.

"I bet if we find Dawn then she'd know..." she murmured, setting the blueprint back down.  "Let's see -- I feel awkward about rummaging through her things but maybe if I see what she has and what she needs to put this hydrogel together, I can figure out where she's scavenging."

Along the side of the metal assembly platform that took up an entire corner of the yard was a series of bins and chests, neatly labeled and secured; Mi-an tore a blank page out of one of the notebooks on the makeshift table and began sorting through the other notes and blueprints, scribbling hurried notes on the sheet in her hand before going over to the bins and squatting down on her heels.  Unsuur waited (somewhat) patiently as she scooted along in a crouch, or sometimes on her knees, looking inside each container and doing...whatever she was doing.  Finally she stood up and looked over her notes.

"So it looks like she's going to need some piping, some gaskets, and a fair amount of copper still to finish off this inner part - all of which can be found in the abandoned ruins behind the salvage yard."  She looked up to Unsuur with a wide grin.   "Luckily, Rocky was letting us in there for cheap as a thank you for getting those lifts finished quickly so our weekly passes are still good and we should be able to walk right in.  I'm almost certain we'll find Dawn somewhere around there -- assuming she's not already on her way home."

Unsuur turned and looked up the hill toward the salvage yard -- definitely no sign of Dawn, so she wasn't on her way home.   "Let's go ask if they've seen her.  Or Qi."

They hurried out of the yard and up to the salvage yard office, getting there right as Rocky and the rest of his crew were heading out the door -- it was their end of the day too.

"Hi Rocky!  Have you seen Dawn today?" Mi-an asked.  She and Unsuur stepped aside to let the others file passed them but Rocky stopped to stand with them.

"Sure did - she was by earlier this mornin' and headed down into the ruins.  Why?"

"She's not home yet.  And Qi is missing-"

Rocky snorted.  "-ah, him too.  Came in bright and early babblin' about one thing or another.  Couldn't make heads or tails of it but he paid for the pass so the boys let 'em through."  After a pause he got a serious look on his face.  "So you're sayin' neither of 'em have come back outta there?"

Unsuur and Mi-an both nodded; Rocky grunted and scratched his chest, looking over toward the main gate that led into the salvage yard and the ruins beyond.

"I trust the builder down there - had my second thoughts, and a few third ones, about lettin' that guy go in, but, ya know, there's nothing dangerous down in the areas they were goin' to so I didn't think much of it.  'EY!"

Mi-an flinched at Rocky's shout; Unsuur found it unpleasantly loud as it was essentially right in his face but shortly afterward from behind them he could hear a chorus of responses from the salvage yard workers.

"Any of youse seen or hear the builder come back up yet?"

There was another smattering of voices from behind -- all of them were some variation on "no."

"Guess we're heading down there to look then," Unsuur said after a moment.  He took a few steps toward the gate and then stopped to glance back at Rocky.  "You aren't going to charge me to go in are you?"

"'course not - especially not when we've got a possible emergency.  Head on down, I'll hang around in case you need more help."

"Thanks Rocky.  We'll be back soon!  ...hopefully," Mi-an added quietly.

Unsuur pushed through the heavy metal gate and walked with Mi-an over to the lifts; one was already down at the lower level and Mi-an called it back up to them with a buttoned panel near the motor and winch.  While waiting on it to come up Unsuur peered over the edge -- that was an awfully long way down, and wasn't even the deepest part of the ruins here.  Off in the distance along the tops of other buildings he could see a few wandering AIs; for the most part these malfunctioning robots stayed to very predictable paths and areas and so long as you stayed at a distance they didn't even register your existence, so he wasn't worried that Dawn or Qi had been attacked.

What he WAS worried about was unstable ground or an unexpected fall somewhere inside the main building that was open to ruin divers.  That little bubble of worry from earlier had solidified into a solid knot that he was doing his best to ignore; if they were about to mount a rescue operation he needed to be focused.

The lift ride down was smooth and quicker than he was anticipating, and Mi-an led the way into the ruins.  There were what looked like original Old World lighting fixtures along with some makeshift ones strung up along the walls in this first room and Unsuur could see clear signs of quarrying and scavenging -- whatever had happened on the Day of Calamity had left a lot of places full of natural resources thrust violently up from the ground below and deposited almost at random throughout a lot of the ruins that covered the continent.  The room seemed pretty thoroughly picked over of anything useful with from some clay spilling out of a nearby wall and piles of stone everywhere, and he could spot crates full of rope and some canisters of power stones left sitting along the walls which he assumed was left there by Rocky and his crew to use deeper in as they needed them.

Mi-an headed in further, peeking through the only other doorway that led out of the room.  "I should have run home for my ruins gear... These top floors are all still lit, and Rocky's crew KEEP them lit, but if we head into any new areas they've dug into there might not be any light, and without a jet pack we might be a little limited in how far down we can go without getting stuck ourselves."

That was a good point...  Well.  Rocky at least knew they were in here so if they also didn't come out someone would know where to look.  And surely Dawn wouldn't have come in here without proper preparation.

"All right!  So, follow me, we go through here and then across the room and 'round the corner to the first set of stairs down."

The ground Mi-an was leading him over was dirt and dried clay, compacted down into a solid mass by Peach-knew how many booted feet over the years.  This part of Paradise Lost had already been cleared of anything dangerous before Unsuur had even come to Sandrock so he was content to let Mi-an guide them through buckled doorways and reinforced, mined out steel and stone walls, though he wasn't the biggest fan of how quiet it was down here because that meant the hum of the Old World lights was audible and just...sort of everywhere, and somewhat annoying to have a distracting buzzing right at the edge of his perception.

They crossed a circular room and went through another hollowed out dirt doorway, then came to a metal landing that had clearly once had a staircase going down but now that part of the building was missing and they were looking at a sheer drop of about twenty feet to reach the next floor down.

"Oh...right, this part.  Hmm," Mi-an hummed, looking over the edge.  "Normally we just glide down and boost back up.  I'll double back for some of that rope we passed."

It didn't take her long to come back with the rope and Unsuur secured it to one of the railings that ringed the landing, then swung himself over the side and nimbly rappelled down to the landing below where the staircase was still intact.  Mi-an was not quite as skilled at it as he was and he more or less caught her as she clumsily came down the rope.

"Going back up should be easier," he said when he caught sight of her bright red face.

"Right...  All the upper arm strength in the world doesn't mean much if you're not used to what you're doing!  Anyway- hey wait a second, do you hear that?"

Unsuur paused and listened; there was that annoying hum still, and he could hear Mi-an breathing next to him--

Aha, wait.  He could hear the trickle of dirt and sand moving somewhere ahead of them.

"Should I be hearing that?"

Mi-an shook her head.  "Nope.  Something must have collapsed somewhere ahead and I bet I know exactly what part did.  Come on!"

She hurried down the intact stairs and hopped the last bit of railing at the bottom, then headed toward another doorway that had been excavated back to its original metal framework and floor.  Just beyond that door the metal all gave way to what looked like a natural cavern; the ground began to slope downward, increasing in angle the further they went, and the stalactites and stalagmites were getting closer together and more numerous.  It was a very claustrophobic space but Unsuur could see a well-lit area at the bottom of the slope, and also a gaping hole just before it.

"That's new," Mi-an whispered.  She shifted to sit on her backside and began to creep slowly toward the open hole.  "If they fell down that I hope they aren't too hurt..."

"Me too," Unsuur said.  He dropped down to a crouch but didn't sit down all the way as Mi-an had; the ground beneath his feet felt stable but he wanted to be able to leap for safety if it gave way.

There was a small but steady stream of loose sand trickling down the incline and disappearing into the hole; he and Mi-an were able to avoid it and keep their footing, and were almost to the edge when two jagged-tipped poles of steel suddenly thrust up from below and slammed into the hole's edge.   Mi-an jumped and slipped a bit but caught herself quickly.

"What is that?!"

Unsuur opened his mouth to answer but then stopped as beneath the whisper of shifting earth he swore he could hear voices.  He gestured for Mi-an to stay put and let himself slide toward the two poles; the closer he got to the edge the louder the voices grew, and he was immensely relieved to recognize one of them as Dawn's.  He came to a stop next to the two pieces of steel and looked over to find himself staring down the length of a VERY slap-dash ladder, where at the bottom-

"Dawn!"

The builder below looked up in confusion at her name, and surprise was plain on her face as she caught sight of him at the ladder's top.   "Unsuur?!  What are you doing in here?"

Qi was standing with her but the man didn't bother greeting him or even looking up, instead moving to start the long climb up the ladder; Unsuur grabbed the top, being careful not to cut his fingers on the sharp edges, and held it firm against the side of the hole to keep it steady as Qi climbed.

When he crested the top of the ladder Mi-an helped pull him away from the edge; Qi looked...rough.  His hands and face were bruised and bloodied, his shirt and pants had a few tears, and he looked wholly exhausted.   Unsuur went to look over the edge again and heard the scream of the jet pack moments before Dawn shot up over the edge and landed further up the incline over his head, blasting him with hot air and a spray of dirt and grit.

After she'd gotten her footing she turned to them, irritation clear on her face. "And WHAT did we learn today, Director?" Dawn growled, standing there with hands on her hips as she stared the man down.

"That my hypothesis was correct and the relic I seek-"

Dawn cut him off with a sharp, cutting wave of her hand.  "WRONG.  The correct answer is 'don't go ruin diving without being prepared!'  You're lucky I was in here and heard the ground give way or it might have been days before someone found you!"

Qi adjusted his glasses and gave her a sour look.  "The proprietor of the salvage yard knew I had entered the ruins."

"Rocky and his team are good but they don't always notice someone coming or going," Dawn sighed, rubbing at her face.  "They wouldn't have had any reason to think you were still in here."

"...she's right, you know," Unsuur said into the silence that followed.  "And if Mi-an hadn't been trying to deliver a commission we wouldn't have known you'd gone anywhere at all."

Qi threw his hands up and began to head up the incline; Mi-an offered him a steadying hand but he ignored it and kept going.  She shrugged at Dawn and Unsuur and began to climb up behind him.

When they were both almost to the top Unsuur turned his attention back to Dawn to get a better look at her; aside from being dirty and looking a bit tired he couldn't see anything alarming.  He felt his insides start to unknot themselves.  "Are you injured?"

"Injured?  No.  Annoyed?  Very.  I'm also hungry.  What time is it?"

"It was getting dark when we came in."

"That's what I thought," she sighed.  "Entire day wasted...  Well, I guess that's kind of harsh.  Saving someone in trouble isn't a waste.  But it took me hours to scavenge and piece together that ladder -- it's way harder when you don't have the proper tools on hand and you're in an area that's been combed over thousands of times for the useful stuff."   She inhaled and exhaled slowly.  "I wanted to come up and get help but he was insistent on looking for this relic thing he wanted before he'd leave - because we were 'already there and almost done.'   He'd found most of what he was looking for before I found him and was convinced it wouldn't take any time at all to find the final piece, and I didn't want to leave him looking for it alone so...here we are. And we didn't even find the last piece!"  After a few more breaths Unsuur could see the annoyance melting away until she wore a tired half-smile.   "Sorry.  I'm annoyed at HIM, not you, so you're not the one I should be ranting at."

"It's all right, you've had a long day.  What relic was he looking for that was so important?"

"Some telescope thing.  I finally got him to agree to leave in exchange for me looking for it later, AFTER I've fixed the hydrogel.  Speaking of leaving...let's get out of here."

They clambered up the slope together; Mi-an and Qi were nowhere in sight -- no real reason for them to wait for him and Dawn, he supposed (and Qi was probably more than ready to go home).  It was a straightforward walk, a short climb for Unsuur and a quick boost for Dawn, then finally they were outside; he hadn't realized how stuffy the ruins were until he was back out in the fresh air and was glad to be away from the irritating humming of the lights.

They rode the lift up and outside the gate to the salvage yard they found Justice talking to Mi-an and Rocky.  Mi-an spotted them coming and waved.

"Hey guys!  Qi went home - I think.  He really should go see Fang but I think he was more embarrassed than anything."

Rocky crossed his arms, looking annoyed.  "Don't know how he did it but we'll get in there and get that hole covered up in the mornin' - for our safety as much as anyone else's."

"I heard a bang before I heard the drop," Dawn said.  "You might want to check for a ruptured power line while you're in there.  I didn't see any myself but I also have no idea what might have caused the cave in.  That area has been cleared of traps and hazards for awhile now."

"We'll figure it out - thanks, builder." Rocky flashed her a thumbs up, clapped a hand to Justice's shoulder, then turned and headed off toward town.

Justice chuckled as he watched the man walk off.  "I think the big guy was really starting to worry there.  That was some good rescuing, folks."

"It was all Dawn," Unsuur said, smiling down at her.  "She put together a ladder and everything."

Dawn's face immediately flushed red.  "I-I just happened to be in the right place at the right time, that's all..."

"The sentiment still stands," Justice replied, patting Dawn's shoulder.  "Good work today."

When Justice let his hand fall away she swung the jet pack off and rolled her other shoulder, grimacing.  "I may as well leave this here at the gate since I'll be back tomorrow morning..."  She trotted over to leave it along with her pickhammer and a large satchel at the gate's edge.

"Will you need some help?  I'm almost done with all that glass," Mi-an called after her, looking worried.

"I might.  Qi's little adventure just set me back an entire day."

Unsuur was surprised when Dawn came back over and looped an arm through his; a moment later she slid her other through Mi-an's arm, then turned to look up at Justice.

"I am starving.  Let's go get dinner at the saloon - all of us," she added firmly.

"Hehe, no arguments here.  You paying?" Justice teased.

Dawn paused and Unsuur felt her stiffen next to him; Justice's grin faltered a bit.

"I was uh, I was joking, Dawn, you don't have to-"

"-well," Dawn said, drawing the word out.  "I actually need a favor so if buying you dinner will help..."

Justice blinked at her for a second or two, then a look of suspicion replaced his smile. "Oh boy...  What do you need?"

"...to build the new hydrogel I need a condenser and the only place I'm going to find one is in the Breach because it hasn't been picked clean like the rest of the open ruins around here so Qi is certain I'll find at least one still intact in there," she answered, the words coming out in a hurried jumble, and Unsuur wondered how she'd managed it in one breath.

"You need to-- the Breach?!  I can't let you in there, that place is dangerous!" Justice sputtered, staring at her.  "Do you even know how to handle yourself in a fight?"

Dawn opened her mouth to reply but Unsuur took a tiny step forward (not enough to dislodge her from his arm but enough to grab Justice's attention), as he was seized by a sudden idea.  "What if I go with her?"

"What?" Dawn asked, staring up at him.  "You don't have to-"

"-we already had plans to do some combat training," Unsuur went on.  "I have a sword waiting for her in my house.  If I go with her I can both protect her and also teach her to fight."

"NOT getting a condenser isn't really an option, is it? If it's the only thing that'll make the new hydrogel work," Mi-an added.

Justice tipped his head back, closing his eyes and inhaling through his nose.   "...I guess this IS a matter of life and death for us, isn't it?  ...all right.  IF you take Unsuur - or me! - with you, I'll open up the ruins for you.  But be prepared - we still don't know why monsters suddenly showed up again. -- and yes, for giving me a few new gray hairs, I think a free dinner is in order," he added after pause, lowering his chin to wink at Dawn.

She laughed and tightened her grip on Unsuur's and Mi-an's arms.  "I'll pay for dinner, don't worry.  Let's go!"

Dawn kept them arm in arm up to the saloon's door where they had to unlink to fit through the doorway; it was decently busy but there was a group getting up from a table with a pair of couches against the far wall so once Grace had cleared the dishes away they all sat down -- Justice slid in on one side and Mi-an sat next to him, and before Unsuur could gesture for Dawn to seat herself first Owen called to her from behind the bar.

She gave them an apologetic look, a quick "I'll be right back," and then disappeared through the crowd.

Well.  Guess he'd take the spot closest to the wall then since otherwise he'd be left standing here awkwardly waiting for her to come back.

She wasn't gone long and as she was slipping into the seat beside Unsuur Amirah came up to the table, giving them all a little nod and a half wave before focusing her attention on Dawn.

"Hello Dawn.  I'm sorry to barge in on your dinner group but I couldn't find you at all today."

Justice and Mi-an both grinned as Dawn blew out a sigh that trailed into a raspberry.  "Yeah, that was...  An entire thing.  I'll fill you in later.  Do you want to join us?  We can make room."

"I don't want to impose - I just wanted to ask if you had thought about the arrangement I'd proposed?"

"Oh, yeah, I'm happy with it if you are."

As the two women talked Mi-an scooted over, gently elbowing Justice to move as well; it made more than enough space for Amirah to sit down on that side.  There should also be plenty of room if Dawn wanted to move closer to Unsuur as well...though, he'd already felt Dawn's knee brush against his twice since they sat.  He was more aware of her proximity than he really should be...

"Excellent.  I'll let you know when I've materials to trade." Amirah had a little satisfied smile on her face as she tapped her fingers against the tabletop, then stepped back as though she was about to leave.

"You can sit, Amirah - we made room," Mi-an said, patting the spot beside her.

After a moment to consider (and possibly because Grace had come back over and was standing there waiting for her to make a decision) Amirah seated herself as well.  They all ordered and chitchatted a bit as Hugo and Cooper started setting up on the stage, and by the time the music started their food was delivered and the conversation paused as they tucked into their meals.

It had been awhile since Unsuur had sat down with a group and had a meal; a lot of the time he ate alone, at home, due to his schedule or a general lack of invitations to do anything.  Sitting here, with his friends, and...with Dawn... She was a friend but his mind wanted to place her in her own category, and being here with her and everyone else was nice.  Comfortable.  Something he could - and wanted to - get used to.

"THERE you are!"

Whether on purpose and by sheer coincidence Elsie yelled across the saloon right as Hugo and Cooper ended a song; it drew the attention of everyone in the room, pausing conversations and making the place seem even quieter and her even louder. A few seconds later she skidded to a halt at the edge of their table.  "Have any of y'all seen some horses wanderin' around?"

"I haven't been home all day," Dawn answered, as Mi-an shook her head.

"Can't say I have, Else - sorry," Justice replied.  "Did Cooper ever get that fence fixed?"

She growled and swung a fist in the air.  "Dang it!  Yeah, Pa got it fixed but we woke up this mornin' to three horses missin'."

"Big day for missing people.  And horses now too," Unsuur said.  Beside him Dawn nodded silently.

"Seems like it.  No open stall doors, gates, nothing?" Justice asked.

Elsie shook her head, then turned her attention to Dawn and poked her in the side.  "Scoot, lemme sit!"

Dawn blinked at her then looked between her and Unsuur.  "I'm over about as far as I can be-"

"Scooooot," Elsie repeated, dropping down over the arm of the couch to try and wedge herself between it and Dawn.

Dawn moved over and now from hip to knee she was pressed up against Unsuur. He felt a hint of heat in his ears - she was really close now.  What if he elbowed her on accident?

"C'mon, more than that!"

"Elsie," Dawn said with a bit of a nervous giggle, "if I move over any more I'll be sitting in Unsuur's lap.  How can you not have enough room?"

"I don't know!  You take up an awful lot of space for someone so small!"

There really wasn't more room for Dawn to move over at the moment (and thinking about the lap comment made him feel a little flushed, but also, there wouldn't be enough space between their laps and the underside of the table, so even if -- even if that were an option, it...wasn't?).   Elsie could go get a stool from the bar if she was really that determined to sit down with them but between her and Dawn lightly arguing over space and the music picking back up he didn't think she'd hear his suggestion.

...well, maybe he could still make more room, if... He turned in his seat to aim his shoulders at the wall for a moment, with the arm of the couch digging into his lower back, just long enough to carefully get his arm out between him and Dawn, and then he lifted it to rest across the back of the couch cushions behind her.  He shifted his hips to nudge a wrinkle in the cushion fabric out of an uncomfortable spot but then he was settled against the armrest and...there, another couple of inches, and this wasn't too uncomfortable.

Physically, anyway.  That flushed, nervous feeling was mingling with that usual warmth he felt around Dawn, with a pinch of uncertainty -- he knew she didn't like being picked up or moved against her will, but...  Maybe he should have asked before he moved, because he wasn't technically touching her but it could be just as unwanted.

Then again...she'd already taken him by the arm twice.  Was this much different from that?

Fighting to keep his expression neutral he lifted his gaze to look at Dawn; her face was steadily growing  red -- not that he expected her to somehow miss how he'd re-positioned himself, but what would she say?

"Is this...ok?  Do you have enough room now?" he asked quietly.

She bit down on her lower lip, a quick nibble and then it was released with a shy smile.  "Y-yes... Thank you," she whispered.

Unsuur nodded and went to stare at the table in front of him, feeling a rush of relief; at the edge of his vision he could see Justice giving him a look - cocked eyebrow, mouth slightly agape, leaning his head toward him slightly.  Were Mi-an and Amirah staring too?  He didn't want to look, and took a drink out of his glass to hide his face when Dawn moved over and pressed their legs together again.

"Finally!" Elsie grunted (and the back of the couch stopped shaking as she stopped wiggling into place too).  "Anyway - nah, there wasn't any open gates or anythin'.  Ma was still out there lookin' for them earlier but Pa was up in arms about horse thieves and whatnot - heh, Ma made him come here tonight to sing and cool his head.  I'm hopin' we got another break in the fence somewhere and they've just wandered off, even if that ain't normal for them.  We've left those gates open plenty of times and it's never been a problem."

Clearing his throat Justice moved his attention from Unsuur back to Elsie.  "Right, right...  Well, sad to say it's too dark now to go looking for any missing horses.  First thing tomorrow morning Unsuur and I can-  Ah, wait, sorry-" he cut himself off, glancing to Dawn.  "I'm betting you'll want to get after that condenser as soon as you can, right?"

"Um, that w-would be best, yes...  The longer it takes me to build it, the worse the food situation could get," Dawn answered.

Her voice had a little waver to it -- he'd made this awkward but she was too nice to say so.  He knew it.  He shouldn't have-

"-so I'll handle it in the morning," Justice continued.  "You and Unsuur get to that condenser bright and early.  If I need to I'll rope Pen into tracking down any possible thieves."

"All right -- oh!  If that's all right with you," Dawn stammered, turned her head to Unsuur.

If she were just a bit taller it would have almost put her head on his shoulder.  Perfect height, he thought, and his ears grew a bit warmer.  He took another drink before answering.  "That's fine.  I want to teach you a little bit with the sword before we head in.  I'll come get you at sunrise?"

She nodded and quickly turned back to the table.  "Sounds like a plan.  Which horses were missing, Elsie?"

"The white one I taught you to ride on, and two tan ones -- one of 'em has a little brown mark on its neck like a pawprint, and-"

He inhaled slowly and tried to clear his mind - to let things reach and flow around him, like usual. ...white horse, tan horse, brown marking, liked dried sandberries, answered to Sugar... Dawn's leg twitched a bit and her knee rubbed against his leg as she readjusted her feet under the table.  The chatter was picking back up as Elsie switched from missing horses to the upcoming festivals. They had all finished their dinners before Elsie had shown up so when Grace came back around they all got another round of drinks while Elsie ordered food.  Dawn's hair, up in its usual bun, brushed against his jacket sleeve and bare forearm from time to time when she leaned back into the cushions.  Cooper and Hugo switched to a loud, rowdy song and conversational volumes were adjusted to make up for the music and the surge of voices joining in on the chorus.  His fingers kept straying down toward her shoulder and he'd catch himself and flex his hand to disguise the movement as something casual, natural, then had to stop when his wrist popped loudly and started to hurt.   Grace cleared away their dishes and Amirah excused herself as Arvio came in -- he'd gone up to the bar but noticed them from across the room and for one brief moment Unsuur made eye contact with the man and was surprised to see an absolutely bewildered look on his face as he took in the table and those sitting at it.

...all right, trying to clear his head wasn't working tonight.  Too many things - way too many things - going on around him.  Too many distractions.  It wasn't the worst thing but it did mean it was going to take forever to fall asleep later.

Finally Elsie got up and left and Dawn slid away to put some space between them.  A tension in his shoulders, like a tightly wound spring he hadn't realized was there, was starting to release; there was an underlying sense of disappointment with it, and then a feeling of needing a deep breath or two.  He sucked in a breath, as much as his lungs could hold and as silently as he could, and felt a little better as he let it (and a bit of his anxiety) out.

There was another pause in the music and Justice half-yawned, half-stretched where he sat. "Well, think I've had enough fun for one night, and seems like I'll be having an early morning tracking some down missing animals.  Thanks for the dinner, Dawn, and be careful down there tomorrow, all right? Both of you," he said, pointing a finger at them.  "Don't get in over your heads.  We can always go in with more folks if it ends up being more monsters than expected down there."

"We'll be careful, sheriff," Unsuur replied.  He glanced at Dawn quickly and then back up to Justice.  "I won't let anything bad happen to our builder."

"Good man.  Mi-an, budge yourself - I'm headed home."

Mi-an giggled and stood up.  "I should probably head home too -- we should do this more often!  Maybe on the next story night?"

"If I'm not up to my eyeballs in work," Dawn laughed.  "Night, you two!"

When they'd both gone Dawn leaned her head back against the cushions and let out a sigh.  "...what a day."  After a pause she tilted her head to smile at him.  "I guess we should get going too.  Early day tomorrow and all that.  ...Mi-an's right.  We should do this more."

"I'd like that," he blurted out quicker than he'd intended.  "Just tell me when." He finally brought his arm down from the cushions and flexed his wrist around with a small grimace.  It was still throbbing a bit from popping earlier.

Her gaze trailed down to his hand.  "You didn't hurt yourself climbing around in the ruins today did you?"

"No.  This is from drawing all those wanted posters.  It'll stop hurting eventually."

He watched as her soft expression turned to one of confusion that then further deepened into a look bordering on horror as she sat up and stared at him.  "Drawing the wanted posters?  You DREW them all?  By hand?!"

"I did.  We don't have a printing press that can handle paper that size.  I drew hundreds of them."

His eyes widened as she reached out and grabbed his hand in both of hers.

"That's- that's insane!  You could have permanently damaged your wrist doing that!" she exclaimed.  "Where does it hurt?  It is a sharp pain?  An ache?  Is it throbbing?"

"Um."  He was trying not to twitch too much as she began to gently press the pads of her thumbs into his palm and on his wrist.  "It aches but not too badly, sometimes it feels a little numb.  A few days of not doing much with it is all it takes to go back to normal."

She let out a heavy sigh and closed her hands over his.  "Unsuur...  One of the things we learned in builder's school were all sort of stretches and exercises, for various parts of our bodies, to help avoid injuring ourselves while we worked.  Tomorrow, after we find that condenser, I am going to teach you some of the stretches for your hands.  All right?"  After a pause she looked up to him and there was red creeping across her cheeks.

Briefly he had the wildest, almost irresistible urge to twine his fingers with hers.  They were...they were right there.  He forced the urge down with a smile. "All right.  But, you don't need to worry about me. No distractions tomorrow."

With a nod she let go of his hand then stood up quickly.  "Tomorrow, right!  I'll see you in the morning - sleep well, ok?"

"I will."

Dawn headed over to the bar to settle the bill with Owen and Unsuur quietly left through the saloon's other door.  Outside was quiet and calm, and the night air was cool against his face; he could still feel her hands on his, and her knee, and the brush of her hair against his arm.  He headed up the street a ways then took a hard left to detour toward the oasis where he sat down on one of the benches and ground the heels of his palms into his eyes.

There were...a lot of things going on inside him at the moment.  A bubbly, giddy sensation.  That warm and fuzzy feeling he was growing used to.  And some lingering worry and awkwardness over what he'd done tonight.

But.  Surely if Dawn took offense to him putting his arm mostly-but-not-quite around her, she would have said something.  She was polite but didn't strike him as a pushover -- he couldn't see her tolerating unwanted contact for very long (and he literally had seen her not tolerating it from Yan).  Did that mean...?  Or, should it mean anything at all?  She'd taken him by the hand too, now. It HAD been to check his wrist but then she'd just...held it afterward, when she could have easily let go sooner than she had.

He leaned back against the bench, head tipped back to the sky.

"Crushes are hard."

[abbybutinspace]

Adding The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri and The Blueprint by Rae Giana Rashad

PLEASE for the love of the universe read anti-colonial science fiction and fantasy written from marginalized perspectives. Y’all (you know who you are) are killing me. To see people praise books about empire written exclusively by white women and then turn around and say you don’t know who Octavia Butler is or that you haven’t read any NK Jemisin or that Babel was too heavy-handed just kills me! I’m not saying you HAVE to enjoy specific books but there is such an obvious pattern here

Some of y’all love marginalized stories but you don’t give a fuck about marginalized creators and characters, and it shows. Like damn

[lemonberry-soda]

The teachers, wearing outfits based on squishmallows that share their names!

I'm genuinely so proud of these designs. This is literally the first time I've ever drawn Agatha and Harold or finalized a design for Lilliana, and I'm so happy with what I've made up :D

extremely quick lore TL;DR

Vlad - Vladimir Relixe, science teacher. Was kicked out from his college for using school materials for his own extremely dangerous experiments, and is laying low at Clich Memorial High until he can find a new place. Has bottlecap glasses due to a failed experiment but that does NOT keep him from driving to school even if he forgot them at home. Will happily run towards the danger in order to collect samples. Cool guy

Jasmine - Jasmine Pastille, school nurse. One of the members of the old animation team (who have since gone bankrupt and went on their separate ways) previously made erotic DD:DOE NSFW content centered around a version of Jasmine. When he was hired on, he decided to make her an easter egg. She remembers it all. Wanted to be a doctor but the combination of trauma and being belittled for her body caused her to lose the confidence. Thankfully the other teachers (namely Vlad and Lilliana) have been strong support beams in her life. Cool lady

Lilliana - Lilliana ???, biology/botany teacher. I don't have much about them yet, just that they're pretty loudspoken and a hippie. I originally had her last name as Coelus but I think that's kind of dumb now. She's cool

Agatha - Agatha Gala, english teacher. Currently going through an intense mid-life crisis as well as a vitriolic divorce, who is making the court proceedings hell. Very tired, very deadpan, she's a cool and loyal teacher always willing to stick up for her students, but she asks for respect and obedience to the rules in her class, and as such the loudmouths hate her. Kind of separate to the other teachers, trying very hard not to fall into substance abuse, and really could just do with some pampering and kindness sent her way. Cool lady

Janitor Harold - Janitor Harold. Janitor. People think he's kind of creepy but most of that behavior is purely accidental or coincidental. He actually does clean the place, he actually is an avid bird enthusiast, he actually is just walking home. He's been married to his husband for at least 30 years and has loved every second of it. If he appears out of nowhere it is only as a protecting force or to lend a hand or ear. Cool guy

I have a few more teachers (Gym notably, principal and VP) but they are a LOT more in the blueprint phase than the others. But yeah! Next batch will be villains!