#but also we're looking to the future here. yeah the past will inform us of the future

[kalosian-woods]

This may be treading into spoiler territory, but I want to ask, do you have anything planned for Shauna, Trevor, and Tierno?

Heyo and thanks for the question heh :D Dw, there's plenty I can talk about without treading on some secrets (espeically since I love the Rival Trio pls they're so good)

It's actually kind of weird how I have some crystal clear ideas for some of them and just ~vibes~ with other moments of their journeys lol. I can tell you (well, not exactly, but you get the gist) the team that I've assigned to Trevor and at least one mon that I really want to give to Shauna but Tierno is just 'please get something other than 3 Water Types'. Okay, but seriously, they're so full of potential and fun stuff all around!! They're (presumably) childhood friends that started their journeys on the same day and split paths, but still have contact with each other!! They all have different dreams and are finding their own way in the world and yet they still make time to support each other whole-heartedly!! It's such a fun spin on the usual dichotomy where people either travel together or not at all and I love that for them. The amount of mental essays and potential fic docs I get thinking about them is incredible in and of itself ngl.

For starters, I'm definitely thinking of putting the Summer Camp Arc way earlier, a little after the second Gym this time. It always confounded me whenever I think about the actual timing of that arc, like why did Ash think about getting ready for his battle with Korrina and 4 eps after he's already at camp (where he learns and then unlearns something), Serena finally commits to something without too much thought (the whole finding herself is cool on paper but there wasn't much focus on it with the actual eps beforehand pls) and lord knows what Clemont was doing. And right after that they teleport to Shalour, no joke. Going back to the Rival Trio, meeting them earlier on gives us more time with them, which everyone can benefit from lol. I have this whole thing with the camp but some points are:

More interactions overall with all of them, and I don't just mean Ash and Tierno + Serena (and Bonnie??) and Shauna + Trevor and Clemont (don't get me started on these two). I want Trevor asking Ash about all of the Pokemon that he's seen. I want Tierno dragging Clemont out of the corner because he's already had experience with Trevor doing the same. I want Serena taking up the dancing style of Tierno for funsies and Trevor trying to stop his Charmander from provoking Chespin (who knows he can't win but will battle anyone who messes with him). I want more stuff overall, more of them mixing and talking around and actually doing camp stuff together and against each other in friendly competition-y ways (edit: and also what was wrong with me why didn't I finish this lol)

Actual activities please, the one thing that always gets me with the Kalos Summer Camp vs the Sinnoh one is that A) the teams aren't that much fun, and maybe it's because they're way too small?? And no one really gets to interact with others outside of already established friend groups, even the npcs B) the activities were less, idk, interactive?? We got warm-up battle with our own mons, Pokevision, that one off-screen fishing competition, orienteering and then group battles at the end. Compare that with Sinnoh's Day 1 (getting used to a new mon and then battling with it the next day), observing Pokemon in the lake and writing up a report (and you can team up if you want), a night time race and then a triathlon.

Continuing from the last point, I enjoy the way that Sinnoh allowed everyone's own mons to shine in their own ways, while showing how people influence other Pokemon and each other as well. Angie's introduction and subsequent on-screen time was impeccable in this arc, Conway in his own team was great (even with his moments) and Jessie in the last team actually made me appreciate her a tiny bit more. They're actually going through Pokemon stuff in this camp and learning new things in fun ways, while also having the catastrophic problems that is bound to happen.

I feel like for the Kalosian variant to have that same impact that the Sinnoh one did, it would need its own standing out points. Maybe this one is more fun-orientated and based on interactions with your own Pokemon as well as the Pokemon that your team members have (and obviously people as well). Maybe we can have activities where they can swap a pokemon with a friend for the day, or go through an obstacle course, or have to find a prize with only one piece of a map. Have slightly bigger teams and have more fun team names! Why couldn't we get a Team Lugia or a Team Porygon and Porygon2, huh?

Team Rocket overall. I'm not elaborating.

There's more stuff but yeah, I feel like having a really good first arc with them would go such a long way in actually establishing credibility for the Rival Trio as a whole. We remember Tierno as the rhymthic battling style guy, and we sort of remember Shauna for introducing Showcases to Serena. But I think it says something when I couldn't tell that both Tierno and especially Trevor were gunning for the league from this arc, and ngl it felt like Shauna wasn't fully sold on Showcases until after the camp, as she was researching at the time of the camp and Serena asked if she registered in the Pancham ep (which could've been a cool plot point if we talked about it, pokeani).

I want to see Trevor learn to connect with Charmander and both of them going beyond with the merging of both their dreams (to be strong and to see all kinds of Pokemon) with both of them balancing courage with sense. I want to see the other side of this with Tierno, of a determined dream with his buddy Squirtle but not so much of a direction or an idea of where to take his dancing skills (and maybe Ash being interested in it along with Serena taking it to heart will inspire him at the camp). I want to see Showcases from Shauna's side, to see how she got into it, the highs and lows, rivals and Pokemon and the climb upwards (instead of being perfect one ep and then okay in the rest). I want the camp to change them just as much as it changed the main gang. And as time goes by they get stronger and more wiser for it, we see their teams grow alongside them, the finals with the Master Class and the League.

And speaking of the camp affecting them as much as our main group, I also want them to have their own wacky adverntures and death-defying feats. Meeting with Legendaries and Mythicals. Getting losts in forests. Trading Pokemon and joining each others side quests. Training montages and new rivals and other friends and so many accidents (and evil teams wait who said that). Ash and co are not the only main characters around here and I hope I get to play around with these goofers as much as everyone else in the really (really) big Kalos and XY overall. So do I have a concrete plan? Not exactly, but I've got some big plot points in my mind and the rest should fill itself out. Hopefully that makes sense?? I've been pooped these last few weeks so that's why it took a while with this response and the more I look at it, the more confused I am with my own response lol. But yah, seriously dw anon, you've been great!!!!!!!!! Loving these questions fr <33 Hopefully you're having a good day sans my late reply :'D

[rebeccathenaturalist]

ETA: I wrote up a guide on clues that a foraging book was written by AI here!

[Original Tweet source here.]

[RANT AHEAD]

Okay, yeah. This is a very, very, very bad idea. I understand that there is a certain flavor of techbro who has ABSOLUTELY zero problem with this because "AI is the future, bro", and we're supposed to be reading their articles on how to use AI for side hustles and all that.

I get that ID apps have played into people's tendency to want quick and easy answers to everything (I'm not totally opposed to apps, but please read about how an app does not a Master Naturalist make.) But nature identification is serious stuff, ESPECIALLY when you are trying to identify whether something is safe to eat, handle, etc. You have to be absolutely, completely, 100000% sure of your ID, and then you ALSO have to absolutely verify that it is safely handled and consumed by humans.

As a foraging instructor, I cannot emphasize this enough. My classes, which are intended for a general audience, are very heavy on identification skills for this very reason. I have had (a small subsection of) students complain that I wasn't just spending 2-3 hours listing off bunches of edible plants and fungi, and honestly? They can complain all they want. I am doing MY due diligence to make very sure that the people who take my classes are prepared to go out and start identifying species and then figure out their edibility or lack thereof.

Because it isn't enough to be able to say "Oh, that's a dandelion, and I think this might be an oyster mushroom." It's also not enough to say "Well, such-and-such app says this is Queen Anne's lace and not poison hemlock." You HAVE to have incredibly keen observational skills. You HAVE to be patient enough to take thorough observations and run them through multiple forms of verification (field guides, websites, apps, other foragers/naturalists) to make sure you have a rock-solid identification. And then you ALSO have to be willing to read through multiple sources (NOT just Wikipedia) to determine whether that species is safely consumed by humans, and if so if it needs to be prepared in a particular way or if there are inedible/toxic parts that need to be removed.

AND--this phenomenon of AI-generated crapola emphasizes the fact that in addition to all of the above, you HAVE to have critical thinking skills when it comes to assessing your sources. Just because something is printed on a page doesn't mean it's true. You need to look at the quality of the information being presented. You need to look at the author's sources. You need to compare what this person is saying to other books and resources out there, and make sure there's a consensus.

You also need to look at the author themselves and make absolutely sure they are a real person. Find their website. Find their bio. Find their social media. Find any other manners in which they interact with the world, ESPECIALLY outside of the internet. Contact them. Ask questions. Don't be a jerk about it, because we're just people, but do at least make sure that a book you're interested in buying is by a real person. I guarantee you those of us who are serious about teaching this stuff and who are internet-savvy are going to make it very easy to find who we are (within reason), what we're doing, and why.

Because the OP in that Tweet is absolutely right--people are going to get seriously ill or dead if they try using AI-generated field guides. We have such a wealth of information, both on paper/pixels and in the brains of active, experienced foragers, that we can easily learn from the mistakes of people in the past who got poisoned, and avoid their fate. But it does mean that you MUST have the will and ability to be impeccably thorough in your research--and when in doubt, throw it out.

My inbox is always open. I'm easier caught via email than here, but I will answer. You can always ask me stuff about foraging, about nature identification, etc. And if there's a foraging instructor/author/etc. with a website, chances are they're also going to be more than willing to answer questions. I am happy to direct you to online groups on Facebook and elsewhere where you have a whole slew of people to compare notes with. I want people's foraging to be SAFE and FUN. And AI-generated books aren't the way to make that happen.

[viktorpartner]

✨ THE DAN AND PHIL LORE pt. 3✨

CHECK OUT PART 2: https://www.tumblr.com/ashleyeveerson/760707933651746816?source=share

Phil ALSO comes out! (yeah no i'm not crying what? not them feeling comfortable enough to be themselves yeah). 2019 also brings us the adoption of a fish named Norman (a cutie) AND they also post pictures about their recent trip to Japan [the photo of Phil looking up to Dan behind the camera? yeah i am so normal about it, i swear]. There is hope in the horizon still for a Dan and Phil comeback...

BAM! A certain virus runs wild and forces everyone to stay at home. Phil continues to upload solo videos which distracted so many of us during these dark times. Dan, however is AWOL and the only pic we have of him is a shitty screenshot of him in glasses and a mask helping Phil rescue an injured pigeon (lockdown was WILD).

Also, my boy Dan post a cryptic tweet that leads to the announcement of a self-help book named YOU WILL GET THROUGH THIS NIGHT (because you will <3). Nah but I can't count how many times I've sobbed reading it, just him trying to help out others who have also struggled with mental health... istg i love this man

Hey so THEY BUY THEIR FOREVER PHOUSE TOGETHER they're gonna kill me one day istg. "Dan and Phil just decided to pay a mortgage together", top 10 sentences that would kill a 2016 phan. They are slaying, they are glowing... also rip Norman the fish you will not be forgotten

So during 2014 the fates (aka a random youtuber) foretold that Dan and Phil would be married in 2022. Since that clearly didn't happen the meme PHIVORCE united the phandom once more. ALSO Dan is out there shitting on youtube (as he should) and going on his solo tour WE'RE ALL DOOMED! Which i love with all my heart and also Phil being there for him every step of the way... AHHHHHHHH

Anyways a certain video called Dan and Phil finally tell the truth hits the internet and let's just say GOD DAMN. This also starts a wonderful trend amongst Dan and Phil in which they make fun of their audience (we deserve it ngl) and absolutley SHOCK US with new information about bonkers shit from their past [apparently they were offered a threesome MULTIPLE TIMES???]

It's the end. They've decided to give up their channel "Dan and Phil Games" forever... let's take a moment and silent and mourn with a compilation of Heart eyes Howell

...

SIKE! We're back baby and we're better than ever!!! The goodbye video turned out the be an ANNOUNCEMENT of their comeback. They are back, Dil Howlter is here and Phil confesses to having dyed everything green in the house when Dan went on tour bc he missed him (OH GOD). Also, the Halloween baking video introduced us to the icon that is.... *drumroll please*

SISTER DANIEL, the queen of making everyone reconsider their sexuality... she is the moment, she is an icon and she is serving astronomical levels of cunt at all time [jokes aside, Dan being comfortable enough to do drag in public, fuck they've come so far i'm so proud of them <3].

And here we are in the future, it's present day and they are queerer and happier than ever. THE PICTURES I CAN'T ISTG. Also Dan's Birthday stream is beyond iconic. First of all my unproblematic kings make it a charity stream to donate to the Palestinian Children's Relief Fund (using their public influence for good hell yeah)... And how did they raise the money you ask? WELL BY HITTING IS WHERE WE'RE WEAKEST. Sister Daniel makes a spectacular comeback, FATHER PHIL is introduced and Dan even dyes his hair red to be more Good Omens coded... which timeline are we living in again? like how is any of this real?

Also them drawing the PINOF whiskers on their faces again... they're literally growing old together I'm gonna go sob in a corner. Also the fake apology video bc they have no fashion sense in the Sims 4 is hilarious as fuck. HOW CAN THEY POSSIBLY BE SO MUCH HOTTER ON THEIR THIRTIES EXPLAIN??

anyways the phandom is still speculating wether they're erasing "i love you's" at the end of their text when they show them on videos... guess some things never change. Nah but the vibes are COMPLETELY DIFFERENT NOW, they are more open than they've ever been and participate on the phan culture FULLY to the point that they're the ones terrorizing us now.

QUICK DETOUR TO TALK ABOUT PHIL'S FAMOUS BAD LUCK (and then they wonder why he's always dying in the fanfics). Nah but my poor man has had his fair share of medical problems, the most recent being...

OH GOD WHY WOULD YOU ANNOUNCE SOMETHING LIKE THAT THIS WAY?? nah like using humor as a coping mechanism and all but do they wanna gives a heart attack?! iconic i fear however

So yeah the video where they talk about it is WILD (funniest shit about the whole ordeal is that a nurse mistook Dan as Phil's son). Also I saw a tweet speculating about Phil having a hickey like... first of all what is it? 2009? Second of all IT'S MOST LIKELY A POPPED VESSEL FROM LOSING ALL THAT BLOOD YOU KNOW

They still were able to go on their vacation (aka the rodent boy summer) which gifted us with this iconic pics... ALSO they dropped a new Dan and Phil beats for summer go check out the names of the tracks istg they wanna kill their fans.

Nothing is sacred anymore, they've infiltrated twtphan, they're actively reposting memes and writing fanfiction about themselves. It's the wild west, everytime you get a notification is like playing Russian Rulet. Cringe is dead and Dan and Phil ARE COMING NEAR YOUR CITY on a tour named "Terrible Influence" where Phil's spent 300€ on silicone. It's a wonderful time to be a phan.

OKAY SO here's some stuff that didn't make the cut but that i find too hilarious to not mention. In no apparent order: DAN DRESSING UP AS A CATBOY, Dan and Phil playing technicians 1 and 2 on Big Hero 6 and two brothers on the Lion King (wtf was that also they gave the gorilas matching fringes), Dan dressing up as a golden pig (my boy has RANGE) and finally Dan being too embarassed to admit he stalked Phil and telling a reporter he was only asking for "editing tips" if you know what i mean

Also a short compilation of Dan and Phil losing the idgaf war against eachother THEY ARE SO THOUGHTFUL ABOUT EVERYTHING. Special mention to Daniel's 🧡 when Phil praised "We're all doomed!" and Dan's ranch metaphor to describe their relationship (just go watch the mukkbang video OH LORD)

SO, in conclusion... Dan and Phil's refusal to belittle their past and instead embrace it as part of their story while actively moving into the future alongside the phandom YEAH THAT SHIT MEANS SOMETHING. They're simultaneously healing our inner child while embracing us as the adults we've become i have many feelings about them

So what are they?

They're just Dan and Phil.

[utilitycaster]

spoiler policy for interacting with my posts

posting this now just because 1. winter break no obligations becoming a couch etc etc and 2. It will be useful to outline this, both for me and for my followers and for the post I'm going to make on Sunday of "hello. are you here because you followed me over a viral poll about how you see your blog. here's your warning about what to actually expect."

I am super, extremely, abnormally spoiler averse, but particularly regarding spoilers that are forced upon me (ie, in my notes or askbox) vs. things I accidentally stumble on. I want to be abundantly clear on the following: This does not follow any clear rationale, though I can explain my process, but yeah, on my blog you do need to follow my rules and whims lest you be blocked.

Whether or not I'm avoiding spoilers is a wild-ass illogical ride you cannot predict so on the one hand don't feel bad if you don't but on the other if I tell you to stop I'm not looking for you to explain how you didn't know. I know you didn't know. That's why I'm telling you to stop. Just stop, please. With that said rule of thumb is "if I haven't said I'm finished or given clear indication I am, assume I'm not and act accordingly." And again: you can do WHATEVER the fuck on your blog, where I hold no power. This is specifically things that will appear in my notes. If I see your post because you didn't tag or I didn't filter well? that's my responsibility to deal with, not yours; you are free. Explanation below, but you can stop reading here.

In general, for something that's been out for a while, I may have seen spoilers elsewhere before I realized I wanted to avoid them, so it's really a crapshoot and you shouldn't take your chances (unless you're a mutual and we're talking about this but let's be real, this post isn't for you, you know the deal).

I don't want spoilers for two reasons. The first is that I would vastly prefer to learn this information as creators presented it, ie, through experiencing the work as created, not through some random saying WHAT DID YOU THINK ABOUT THE BIG EXPLOSION and me going "what big explosion?"

The second, weirder one is that I have a number of stupid hangups about chilling out and enjoying myself and doing something purely for pleasure without any productive elements. I am working on that, but if you say "oh you're going to really like XYZ, I can't wait", instead of my brain being fucking normal about this and saying "oh nice! good to know" it goes "nothing matters until we get to That Part. when are we going to be at THAT PART." This, understandably, kills the vibe. (Also if we aren't like, people who have really interacted much, this often reads to me as overfamiliar, which I ALSO do not like and which I am not working on because I think this is a normal reaction to have vs. the spoilery one which is, admittedly, a lot).

Anyway: if I say "hey, please don't do this" I am not expecting you to read my mind! I understand this is all very strict! HOWEVER if you push back and whine about how you couldn't have known 1. now you do, and 2. that's irrelevant, I'm not telling you that you must undo the past, I'm telling you to change the future now that you ARE aware. I am not mad at you for a first offense! I just would like you to stop and I am informing you so that you will. your defenses are annoying. I don't want an excuse and I don't even want an apology, I simply want this to not happen again.

[melishade]

Attack on Prime The Future Anthology: Thanksgiving

Main Story

Dia de los Muertos

StrongArm and Sideswipe I

Strongarm and Sideswipe II

Let's see how fast I can spit this out!

Paradis

"You know it was a real dick move for you to exclude the two of us from that 'Day of the Dead' celebration," Ymir mockingly huffed.

"It would have been nice to actually take a break and see that colorful festival," Historia openly sighed in defeat, "Demands regarding Paradis have been tiring."

"Well...how was the food we brought?" Armin asked.

"Oh, food was great," Ymir declared.

"So spicy, but in a good way," Historia hummed with delight.

"Well, be thankful that we're doing Thanksgiving here!" Jack called out as he continued to stir the pot for the collard greens.

"Taking another piece out of our paycheck, but we want to do something nice for you guys," Rafael sighed as he walked past holding an aluminum tray full of food.

"What's Thanksgiving?" Historia asked.

"It's a holiday on Earth where people get together to eat and be grateful for what we have," Jack explained.

"There's also genocide involved," Rafael added, "It technically shouldn't be celebrated."

"Well we're doing it this year because at the very least, Sasha will be happy to eat a whole turkey!" Jack pointed to Sasha, who's mouth was watering at the sight of the mashed potatoes. Sasha was ready to steal it altogether, but Mikasa quickly grabbed her shirt and pulled her back.

"Why do you all do this to me?!" Sasha whined.

"Because you're a glutton," Ymir crudely replied.

Armin heard the familiar sound of a spacebridge opening up and looked behind him to see Bulkhead and Arcee driving through it. Bulkhead opened his door to let Miko out of his alt mode, while Arcee transformed into her bipedal mode.

"I got good news and bad news!" Miko informed as she opened the trunks and pulled out more trays of food, "Good news! I got the remaining food!"

"Bad news?" Rafael asked.

"No turkey," Miko answered in defeat.

"WHAT?!" Sasha screeched as she bolted over to Miko, "You promised?!"

"Turkey's cheap this year! Everyone's scrambling to get it!" Miko exclaimed.

"So what the hell's gonna be the main dish?!" Jean demanded.

"Well..." Historia trailed off.

"Well what?" Jack asked.

"Do you remember that large boar that you killed before the attack on Trost, Sasha?" Historia addressed her.

"Yeah, why?" Sasha asked.

"Well, apparently there's another one," Historia explained, "Some are speculating that the previous boar had a child, but regardless, the boar got displaced during the Rumbling and has been running rampant in the forest in what used to be Wall Rose."

"We can kill it!" Sasha shot to her feet and grinned with excitement before Bulkhead transformed into his bipedal mode.

"Wait, how big is the boar?" Bulkhead asked, "I don't know if it's safe for you to go hunting it."

"You realize that we've all fought titans, right?" Jean rhetorically asked.

"And I think it would be good for you to not put yourself in danger like that," Bulkhead reasoned.

"I'll go with them to provide back up," Arcee offered.

"Great!" Sasha grinned, "I'll get my gear! Armin, you want to tag along like last time?!"

"Um, I guess," Armin shrugged.

"I wanna join!" Miko volunteered.

"Great!" Sasha declared, "Let's go kill a boar and cook it up!"

"I think that the vegetables in my garden are good now," Mikasa commented, "We could make some stew."

"I'll help you with getting it," Rafael offered.

"Thank you," Mikasa said.

"Anyone else wanna help out with preparations?" Jack spoke up.

"I could go and get pies," Historia offered.

"Probably the easiest thing to get," Ymir agreed, "And the kids seem to be in good hands with Levi and Erwin."

Levi merely passed by all of them in his electric wheelchair, with a few children clinging onto to the chair and laughing with delight. Meanwhile, Erwin was letting children take turns to dangle from his cybernetic arm.

==

Later

"Are you sure you want to pursue this thing?" Arcee asked, surveying the destruction that the beast had caused. The four of them were met with the sight of broken trees and upended soil.

"Pursued one last time," Sasha shrugged, "And Armin and I have our 3D gear.

"I still think this is a terrible idea," Arcee declared.

"Also, wouldn't it be better to use a gun instead of a bow and arrows?" Miko asked as she cocked the rifle in her possession.

"Call me traditional," Sasha shrugged. Suddenly, Sasha winced a little, experiencing a rather sharp headache. She rubbed her eyes to ease the pain, and when she opened them, she gasped at the strange sight.

It...it was just like when she was tracking Mikasa, and when she fought that Decepticon. The energy, the life force of everything, had returned to her vision. Black energy had surrounded the dead trees while green surrounded the living ones. She heard Arcee speaking and looked over at her, and was stunned to see bright blue energy exuding from her body. It looked rather rigid and stiff like a tree. She looked over at Miko and saw a mix of green and pink. Sasha saw jolts of energy poke out from time to time, reminding her of the harsh metal music that Miko plays.

Sasha then turned her attention to Armin, and his was blue...and fluid...like the ocean. It was actually beautiful. Sasha froze when she saw a trail of scarlet red appear in her vision. Her eyes followed the trail, and she saw the pathway go down the animal made trail. She wordlessly drew her bow and followed the energy down the broken trail.

"Okay, I guess we're just jumping in!" Miko exclaimed as she, Arcee, and Armin followed Sasha. As Sasha continued to run, she noticed the hoof prints left in the ground, exuding that same red energy. She noticed brown tufts of hair that got caught in the branches, exuding red energy as well. It was the boar; it had to be.

Sasha slowed in her step when she saw something beyond the clearing, right over the small cliff. She slowed to a stop and peered over the rocks to see the massive boar below. It was bigger, definitely bigger than the last one she had taken down. And it had more scars. She had wondered what Connie would have thought looking at the size of this thing.

Sasha shook her head. There was no time to dwell on that now. Now she needed to get that boar. She drew her bow and aimed it at the boar's head. She took a deep breath and was prepared to fire, but jolted when she heard a loud crunch behind her. She snapped her head back to see the other three frozen in place, with Arcee's pede crushing some wood that Sasha had instinctively avoided.

"Maybe that wasn't too loud?" Armin whispered.

Sasha noticed the energy emanating from the boar grew more restless and violent. It blazed like fire as the boar got on its legs and stood up. It snapped it's head towards Sasha and blew air out of its snout before roaring at her.

"Damn it, Arcee!" Miko yelled at her.

"I'm sorry, okay!" Arcee snapped back.

"BRING IT ON!" Sasha screamed at the boar.

===

Mikasa's home

"Wow, your garden has a variety," Rafael praised as he looked at the basket, "Carrots, potatoes, eggplant? We should have just come to you instead of just buying the ingredients."

"I wasn't even sure I would produce results," Mikasa admitted as she continued digging through the dirt of her garden to pull out another carrot, "I've been focused more on my recovery and rebuilding that I was expecting the garden to die when I started checking on it again."

"Well these look great. You've managed to pull it off," Rafael praised.

"Thanks, Rafael," Mikasa said as she gathered the last of the vegetables and put them in her own basket, "So....do you like Thanksgiving?"

"Why do you ask?" Rafael asked her.

"Well, you....brought up the fact that there was a genocide involved?" Mikasa recalled as she stood up.

Rafael sighed. "Yeah. U.S. History's got a lot of complications with it. Thanksgiving is one of them. And yeah, Thanksgiving is festive now, but...people died because of it. Sorry, I'm just being cynical."

"...I don't think it's wrong to acknowledge what happened," Mikasa agreed, "Our Eldian ancestors committed genocides of their own. I'm sure you have a right to be angry at the lives that were taken back then. It just...seems like the only thing we can do right now is move forward and try to create beauty from the cruelty."

Rafael hummed in agreement. "Maybe one day, it'll get better. Let's go back to party."

===

Arcee trailed the boar from behind while Armin kept his eyes on it from the side. Sasha used her 3D gear to cling to the beast for dear life. Miko, riding atop of Arcee, aimed her rifle at the hide of the boar as it continued running through the forest. She fired at the beast, but shot missed and hit a tree trunk instead.

"Damn it!" Miko swore as she reloaded and aimed her rifle once again. She was about to fire, but yelped when Arcee swerved to avoid some rocks. The shot missed and flew up to the sky instead.

"Arcee, stop swerving!" Miko shouted at her.

"I thought you were training! What happened?!" Arcee snapped at her.

"Jack is a better shot than I am! I'm a brawler! You should know that by now!" Miko yelled at her.

Sasha managed to pull herself on the hide of the boar and clung to the fur for dear life. It really was the same as last time. It was both nostalgic and saddening. She did miss those days. She snapped out of her thoughts and instinctively shut her eyes when more red energy flung outwards and blinded her.

It was too distracting. She needed to gain some distance and shoot it in the head like last time. But...she didn't need to do that. She had Arcee.

"Arcee!" Sasha shouted, "Get in front of the boar to stop it!"

"That's Bulkhead's department! Not mine!" Arcee retorted.

"Just do it!" Sasha screamed.

"Fine!" Arcee screeched to a stop before addressing Miko, "Get off!"

"Aw what?! You're going to make me-!"

"Do it!" Miko yelped and hopped off before Arcee drove forward. She bolted past the boar and stood directly in its path. The boar ran faster, charging directly at her. Arcee crossed her arms to protect her chassis and planted her pedes into the ground. The boar rammed into Arcee, trying to knock her back and use his tusks to throw her, but Arcee stood her ground, her pedes digging into the dirt. She twisted her servos to grab the boar's tusks and lift. Sasha quickly flew off the back of the boar as Arcee threw it high into the air. Sasha looked up to see the boar's underside, and she noticed that there was no energy exuding from the underbelly. It was open. It was a weakness many would dream of exploiting.

Sasha grit her teeth before drawing her bow once more and firing an arrow directly at the boar's stomach. The boar whined in pain, and Sasha noticed the color of the energy surrounding the beast changing. It was slowly fading from red to black. It...it was dying, but it wasn't dead yet! Sasha aimed another arrow and screamed before firing. Her arrow pierced the boar directly through the heart, and the red energy permanently switched from red to black. The boar crashed into the ground while Sasha hooked onto a tree and lowered herself to the ground.

"Sasha, are you okay?!" Armin asked as he landed right next to her. Miko huffed as she finally managed to catch up to them on foot. She gawked at the sight of the dead boar before turning to Sasha.

"You guys really are a different breed," Miko quipped. But Sasha didn't care. Her face broke out into a grin before pumping her fists into the air.

"TWO FOR TWO!" Sasha cheered.

===

Later

"Wow, your garden came out well," Jack praised as Mikasa and Rafael arrived with the vegetables, "If you want, we can get you some seeds from Earth so you can grow fruits."

"Like strawberries?" Mikasa asked rather eagerly.

"Yep." Jack smiled as he tapped the ladle against the pot, "The green beans look done. We can start the table prep. Bummed that we couldn't get a turkey in time."

"Jack, can someone call a spacebridge," Arcee called him through the comm. link.

"Um, sure," Jack spoke in confusion before making that call.

"Bulkhead, we need help," Arcee contacted him as the spacebridge opened, "We managed to kill the boar."

"Wait, really?!" Bulkhead sprinted through the portal.

"So how big do you think the boar is going to be?" Rafael asked.

"When Sasha killed the boar last time, it was able to feed a good portion of Trost," Mikasa recalled.

"Comin' through!" Bulkhead called out as he dragged the boar through the spacebridge. Armin and Arcee merely walked through while Miko and Sasha were standing proudly on top of it.

"We're gonna have a feast tonight!" Miko cheered.

Everyone else could only gawk at the size of the boar.

"We're gonna need a bigger pot," Jack declared.

===

Later

"So...now we're just doing a soup kitchen?!" Fowler exclaimed as he saw a few members of the Survey Corps serving some of the stew they made from the boar to a long line of people on Paradis.

"Gotta give the people something to be thankful for!" Miko grinned as she handed a bowl to another person.

"It was spontaneous," Historia agreed as she handed a bowl to one of the orphans, "But it's nice to give people something to look forward to."

"Although, Sasha is heavily guarding the portion of the boar that we're going to eat for this Thanksgiving Dinner." Ymir pointed to Sasha, who was marching in front of Jack with a bow in arrow in hand. The eldest out of the Jasper Trio was helping prepare the meat while Sasha was ready to shoot anyone that got too close.

"...Do you guys want help?" Fowler asked.

"Yes, please!" Armin pleaded.

===

That night

The Survey Corps gawked at the large table full of food. Mashed potatoes, mac and cheese, stuffing, cranberry sauce, vegetables, it went on.

Jack placed the tray of roasted ham onto the table. "Alright, let's eat!"

The Survey Corps gathered around the table and took their respective seats. Ymir blushed when Historia pulled her seat for her.

"Still a bummer that we couldn't get turkey," Miko commented as she opened a bottle of wine.

"I hope the ham's good," Jack said as he started cutting it up, "Pick and choose what you want."

The Survey Corps quickly and eagerly got what they wanted from the dinner table. Some of them began to cheer as Miko started pouring the wine, happy that they didn't have to deal with drinking laws.

"Cheers, everyone!" Miko yelled as they all touched glasses for a toast. As they all continued to eat, Sasha scarfed down a huge chunk of meat. She paused in her tracks when she noticed the energy had returned. It surrounded everyone in all different colors and shapes, but despite it, the energy shined brighter around them, as if...they were happy.

Sasha blinked and her vision returned to normal. She was tempted to tell someone about this, but refrained from doing so. Maybe it was just her imagination.

(...Look I have been busy this week and reeling! I know this is super rushed! I'm just happy I got it out! Happy Thanksgiving!)

[tobiasdrake]

Alright. We have one friend in trouble and one friend who left that's decidedly past trouble.

I am no longer as confident in my Wishful Thinking theory that there are multiple sets of the Master Detectives thanks to being UG homunculi rather than Amaterasu homunculi, so our versions of them are fine. But even if that's true, it still sucks that this fate befell the others.

Though whether these are our friends or not, if they are UG homunculi, then they'll regenerate fine. Only Amaterasu's shitty off-brand homunculi are defective, to our knowledge. We know Amaterasu homunculi have to consume human flesh in order to avoid going feral, and instantly and irrevocably go feral the first time they regenerate. But we know the latter does not apply to UG homunculi, and don't know if the former does or not.

But if they're human, then they're just fucked. Sorry, guys. Hope you'll get well soon.

Oh, we're about to learn about UG homunculi. Wanna bet Makoto's the first homunculus?

Sure sounds like she's talking about Makoto here. This would explain why he so adamantly shut down homunculus research at Amaterasu as soon as he seized control of the facility.

But if Makoto didn't create the Kanai Ward homunculi, who did? We can be pretty sure at this point that the feral homunculus outbreak from the facility is responsible for everyone dying, and then being remade as defective homunculi.

But who did that? If Makoto isn't responsible, then what happened during the Blank Week?

She's safe! And non-feral!

You probably did. Aiko died six months ago, but Blank Week was three years ago. So Aiko would be wandering around this place as a feral too. So would Karen, as a matter of fact. Basically the entire theater club is now roaming the Restricted Area as ferals.

...that's really sad. Those girls had hopes and dreams and futures. T_T I hope Feral Aiko meets up with Feral Waruna, Yoshiko, and Kurane, and they can form a pack.

God, this chapter is the bleakest thing Kodaka's ever written. And trust me, as a Danganronpa aficionado, that competition is steep.

Kurumi's taking all of this in stride. Her emotional fortitude is amazing. "We're surrounded by the zombies of everyone who's ever died in Kanai Ward? Wow, that's so interesting. OH, MY DEAD BESTIE! Hey, let's catch up!"

Put her in the "10/10 Would play a spinoff starring them" category alongside Halara and Fubuki. Also Vivia, technically, but why would you do that? Let the man rest.

...that's interesting. So maybe it's not everyone who was made into a homunculus. Vivia's report said that you can distinguish homunculi from humans based on undisclosed "special characteristics of their blood".

But if some people were human then they wouldn't have missing memories of the Blank Week, right? They'd remember what happened to everyone else. Wouldn't they?

They were taking this homunculus-testing deadly seriously.

Her grandpa also knew about the homunculi. Kurumi was the first person to tell us about them; She got that information from her missing grandfather.

So. Maybe. He was a human survivor of the Whatever Killed Everyone. Instead of testing for homunculi, the Peacekeepers may have been testing for humans hidden among the population. People who would know and remember what happened. People who were a threat to Yomi's information control.

Multiple people avoided the tests!? Who were the others!? Are they alive or did Yomi get them too?

Yeah. Okay. They were witch-hunting for human survivors.

Definitely feeling Yomi for the person responsible for the necropolis. He's a fascist but he was working directly with Huesca to sell company secrets for years. Maybe he knew enough to make this happen, but not enough to not make a city full of defective homunculi, oh my god.

Could that be--

... O.O Oh. My. God.

Oh my god.

Oh my god.

The blood tests were before the Blank Week. They weren't looking for homunculus or human DNA. They were taking samples. Samples for Huesca's rushed homunculus project, which created the defective homunculi that killed everyone.

That's what happened to Kurumi's grandpa. Nothing happened to Kurumi's grandpa. Or the others who got away from the testing. They got away with it. They never gave samples.

So when the city-load of homunculi were created, they were never copied with everyone else. To the perspective of everyone waking up and going "Huh, what happened?" one week after their human counterparts died horrifically, those select people simply dropped off the face of the universe, never to be seen again.

Kurumi's grandfather is not Number One. He's not Makoto. He's not anyone. He was devoured by ferals three years ago. Nothing more and nothing less.

That was the day you first woke up, in the image of a high school girl that died here.

Right now, my biggest burning question is: What became of the ferals that ate Kanai Ward? How did they come to no longer be eating the city. It's not like they could have simply left. If a roaming pack of regenerating immortal zombies was devouring cities across the globe, we would have heard about it.

Are they here in the Restricted Area with everyone else? If so, how did that happen? Did UG come in and clear them out? Did Yomi do it somehow?

Is that where these music-playing Ama-Pals with KANAI WARD SIGNATURE MEAT BUN steamers came in? Did whoever was left at Amaterasu use these to Pied Piper the ferals out of the city and herd them into the Restricted Area?

We have a strong understanding now of what happened during Blank Week but who and how still eludes us.

Oh, and we also don't know how that is involved. What part of this results in the Forever Rain? We have so many answers and so many questions and none of it links up to "Bizarre weather phenomenon causing endless rain".

Is it the testing site explosion? Did that fuck up the climate or something? The testing site is built over the ocean. Shinigami made a note of pointing that out so you'd assume it's relevant to something and Forever Rain is the only thing I can think of.

We've painted a very strong picture of what's happening here but we still don't know everything. Or why Makoto killed the Master Detectives and is now making us learn all of this.

Does he want us to find all the secrets so we can use the Mystery Labyrinth to kill him or something? Because that doesn't perma-kill homunculi. We've seen the evidence of that for ourselves.

[casspurrjoybell-32]

*Warning Adult Content*

REALLY GOOD - Chapter 10

Naylan

I had asked if I could tell the coyotes we shared territory lines with about the hyenas and Georgiou's had just stared at me, before telling me that I could make the value judgment there.

I sat on the information for a few days, wondering if it was something I should tell Mavis so that he could caution the rest of the coyotes but I kept it to myself, feeding into the idea that paranoia was a lot worse and there wasn't any need to until there was a visible threat.    

Besides, the coyotes were doing fine by sharing food with us.

There was no need to stress a handful of families because Hyenas may or may not be hunting in the woods under the cover of night.

"What's wrong with you?"   

I blinked, looking up to find Mavis staring at me.

He was standing right in front of me with his eyebrows arched and lips pulled into a thin, concerned line. 

I shook my head.

"I'm fine."   

"You seem to be in your head a lot these days," he muttered, letting out a sigh as he backed away a bit.

"You don't have to tell me what's bothering you but I just had to point out that you're not very good at hiding it."   

A sigh left my lips as my shoulders slacked.

"It's that obvious?" I asked, watching his face for a reaction.   

He closed his eyes for a bit, nodding his head.

"Yeah. It bothers me," he said, giving me a small smile.

"My wolf's been clawing at me."   

I blinked.

"Sorry," I stuttered, creating some space between us.

Naylan and I were at the river.

We've more or less claimed the little area as our spot now and met up here every other evening.

Today the waters were calm and the crickets weren't as noisy.

It complimented the weather.

The chills of fall were starting to settle in, meaning insects were starting to go dormant. 

"It's nothing to be sorry about," I heard Mavis say with a low voice.

"We're not that close yet, so I don't expect you to tell me everything." 

Yet.  

I'm not sure why that word made me happy but it did.

Mavis confused me at times.

Sometimes he would be insistent on keeping boundaries and not getting too close and sometimes he was like this... worrying about me and talking as if we were going to have a future together.   

I nibbled on my lower lip, realizing that we still hadn't kissed yet.

It's been weeks since we adjusted to our current agreement but things never really went past intense looks and brief handholding.   

I wondered what it would be like to kiss him.

He had nice lips and he was older so he must have more experience.

I frowned a little, realizing that I had spent so much time putting a pack together and moving that I hadn't had much time for romance before I had met Mavis. 

"What are you thinking about now?"   

"Oh shit, sorry," I cursed, realizing that I had spaced out.

"Nothing special," I insisted, looking at him as my face grew warm with my thoughts.

They didn't stop and my eyes drifted to his lips as I wondered if he had kissed someone before.

There was a high chance he had but this was also the middle of nowhere and I wasn't sure if there were single folks around here.     

"Naylan?"

'Fuck, I'm doing it again,' I scolded myself, groaning as I cursed under my breath.

"Sorry," I said again, looking at Mavis who looked partly confused and partly amused.

"It must be a heck of a daydream," he joked, closing the space between us as he chuckled.

He was joking but he had no idea how spot on he was.   

"I don't know what it is but I feel calm and weirdly content, so it must be something nice, not something that worries you like before," he muttered, reaching out to brush a fallen eyelash away from my cheek.

"You have beautiful eyes," the out of place compliment made me blink.   

"Thanks...?" I mumbled, feeling my heart race as his hand fell to my shoulder.

He gave it a small squeeze as he stared down at his hands with me blank look.

Now I was the one left guessing what he was thinking about.     

"You know, we still haven't kissed," he said out of the blue as he narrowed his eyes at me and put on a small pout.

"What's the holdup? Haven't you kissed anyone before?" he asked, making my eyes widen with horror as I took huge steps back to create distance between us.     

"W-why are you bringing that up?" I was blubbering now.

Partly because of guilt about my thoughts throughout this evening and partly because of the suddenness or Mavis' words.   

"I was just thinking," he said, cocking his head to the side as I paced around in a small circle to try and calm my nerves.   

"Come here, let me kiss you," he said, giving me a small smile as he stretched out his hands.

"Come on, I know you want to," be teased when I didn't move an inch.   

I stood still, with my mouth slightly parted and eyes open with horror.

My face was hot and the feeling of my heart pounding against my chest was making me uncomfortable.     

Despite everything, however, I still wanted to kiss Mavis.

My eyes kept zoning in on his lips and even when I scolded myself and looked away my glance would somehow catch his shoulders and lower jaw.

They looked nice to hold. Nice to be close to.     

"Is this a joke?" I asked in a small voice, watching as Mavis seemed to think deeply about it.     

"No," the older man said after a while.

"I'm just teasing you because I was getting frustrated. I want to kiss you too," he said and I had to let out a deep breath as my chest tightened at his words. 

"I'm sure you won't like it. I'm probably bad at kissing," I let out in a rush, wanting to put my inexperience out in the open so that Mavis didn't get put off by it.   

He shrugged his shoulders.

"I haven't kissed anyone in a few years, so I don't think I'd be able to tell," he said, smiling a bit as I licked my lips.     

"Okay," I said, not wanting to give way to silence.

I took a few steps forward, pausing for a bit before forcing myself to close the distance between Mavis and me.

He stretched out his hands, pulling me into a warm hug.

He held me and I held him, resting my head on his shoulder as my nose flooded with his scent and my ears with the sound of his breathing and beating heart.   

I wasn't the only one that was nervous.

I could tell from Mavis' jagged breathing.     

I raised my head, swallowing air as our eyes locked.

He smiled a little, reaching to rub my cheek with his free hand.   

"You're nervous?" he asked and I nodded, too tense to deny it.     

"I'm nervous too," he admitted, raising his other hand to hold on to my face too.

He pressed his forehead against mine, taking a deep breath as he closed his eyes for a bit.

He opened them again after a while and I watched as he leaned into me, pressing his lips against mine.

He pulled away, before repeating the action a few more times.

It was soft. Delicate. He was waiting for a reaction from me.     

I let out a small sigh as I let my shoulders relax.

My face was hot and I wasn't sure what to do with my lips but my brain was enjoying the pecks he was giving me.     

The next time his lips met mine I decided to move them.

I kissed him back, earning a low groaning sound from him that made my mind fog with want.     

His grip on my jaw became tighter as he deepened on our kiss, opening his mouth and letting his warm tongue coax mine.

I let my hands hold on to his waist because my legs felt shaky and I was scared that I would slump.     

It got intense and for a moment all I could hear was his sighs, moans and the sound of my heart beating in my eyes as my mouth moved against his and my hands found their way up his shirt to touch and palm his back. 

We pulled away from each other when he needed to breathe.

I blinked back a few times as I caught my breath, watching Mavis who was now doing the same as he ran his fingers through his curls.

His eyes were wide and his light brown skin betrayed the redness in his eyes.     

"This mate thing is really intense, isn't it?" he said, after a while of both of us just looking at each other.

I raised a brow at him, not too sure what to say.     

"It was really good," he said, making me smile before chuckling a bit.

"Yeah..." I trailed, turning to face the river again.

Nothing was really funny.

I was just happy.

So happy that the knot and jittery feeling in my stomach didn't fade away for the rest of the day.

We had kissed and Mavis had admitted to liking it.

[alizardbird]

31st December, 2022 | To Lizzy (Age 26)

Hey there! It's me again.

If I told you that the world would be thrown into a global pandemic, I bet you wouldn't have believed me. Yet, that's exactly what happened - in 2020, we were thrust into the COVID-19 pandemic and went through multiple iterations of lockdowns, quarantines, and brief recovery periods on and off for the next couple of years. The worst is somewhat over now and life is returning "back to normal" as we enter into 2023. It is at this point that I'm returning to our little tradition here.

The pandemic years were crazy. I learnt a lot about myself, my friendships, and my family - the good, the bad, and certainly the ugly. I quickly lost the support system I mentioned previously - DL completely cut me off once the pandemic hit. It hurt at the time, but looking back I think we were the support system we each needed to get through the specific hardships of uni. After graduating, there was no longer a need for it and so the friendship had run its course. We're cordial during group hangouts now and that's honestly better than it could've been. I've made peace with it.

While stuck at home, I ended up becoming more involved in church as we ran online services and activities. It felt good to use my audio mixing skills from university to serve the church right from home! I was also able to build a closer community with many, many wonderful people. The term "fellowship" truly became meaningful as I felt closer to God while in this community. This has continued now that we're back to physical services as well! I do wish to be more disciplined in my faith, though. More on that from a future me hopefully!

Let's see... What else is new? Last year I received a call from my lecturer with an offer for a job back at my university! It's not related to what I studied, but instead focuses on project management, social media and publicity work. It has been quite the learning curve (and extremely stressful now that face-to-face events are back in full swing), but so far I guess I've been managing. I don't know how long I'll be at this job, but I can definitely say I've learned a lot and am happy to take these new skills with me wherever I go.

Now, I regret to inform that there is no relationship news to share this time around. I know, I know, this seemed to be part of the tradition, but alas, 'tis not meant to be. I've had some interests in some guys now and again (you know us, we're simps 😂), but it never took off into something more. As I'm getting older and considering relationships seriously, I've decided to just let go and let God. Unless God hits me on the head with a "Lizzy, here he is, please go collect your man", I think I'll just sit tight and work on myself.

Up next, here's an update that would be REALLY surprising to past me's: I go to the gym now! No, I have not been replaced by a foreign life-form, this is real! I've been going 3 times a week, together with AK and M whom we recently reconnected with. Building a habit of exercise has done wonders for my mental and physical health. I'm proud of the progress and look forward to getting stronger in the upcoming year!

So, yeah! I'm sliding into adulthood (albeit haphazardly heheh) and trying my best to roll with the changes that come with it. Truthfully, becoming an adult is pretty scary to me, but I believe God has a plan and I would like to see that plan to fruition.

Until then, take care future me! I believe in you.

[lokis-army-77]

If You Please

Chapter eleven

Bucky Barnes x Reader

Word Count: 3560

This is technically a reader insert but without the (y/n) and all that. She also has no name mentioned so feel free to imagine as you please.

Follow the reader through the events of the Captain America movies and experience her love for Bucky Barnes.

Warnings: none

Note: Honestly, this chapter reads a little weird to me but my friend who helps me edit said it was fine. IDK going from the 40s to 2012 is weird when trying to write.

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Masterlist

Seven months had gone by since Steve and I had been unfrozen. This new world I suddenly woke up in was exhausting. Everything had changed from the simplest thing like manners to complicated things like technology.

Days after waking up, we had been sent to a place called “The Retreat” so we could catch up on the seventy years we had missed out on. There was so much that we took to writing everything down in small notebooks, so we could remember.

I caught onto using the new technology quicker than Steve since I had worked with Howard Stark for several years. Being able to adapt to strange and new tech on the fly was a requirement when working with him.

After those few weeks there, we were both moved into two separate government apartments located in New York. I wish I could say that it got easier with time, but it didn’t. Instead of going to hang out with Steve or actually trying to make acquaintances with anyone, I just stayed in my room, locked away from everything. Coping with being in the future was the easy part, learning to live without everyone I ever knew was hard.

I hadn't known peaceful sleep in a long time. Every time I closed my eyes I am met with nightmares. The softness of the mattress had made it feel like I would fall through at any moment, back into the ice. To try and combat this I pushed my bed into the far corner of the room and made a cot directly under the frame. It felt safer to lay on the hard floor in the dark. The nightmares still came through, sometimes they were battles, sometimes they were of the plane crashing, but most of the time they were about losing Bucky. Every time I woke up in a cold sweat and never went back to bed. I just stared unblinking at the metal that made the bed frame.

One night after a particularly taxing dream I decided to take a walk. It was three in the morning, so I wouldn't have to deal with a lot of people. I changed out of my pajamas into some of the clothes I had been provided. The clothes of the future were tighter than in the forties. It had taken me a while to get used to the feeling of fabric clinging to my legs and upper body. The outside world was quiet except for the occasional car passing by. I kept my eyes to the ground, not really caring where I ended up. I only looked up when I was almost run over by another late-night walker. Peering from left to right, my eyes fixed on an old faded sign hanging above me. The letters were just barely readable and said in large letters ‘Boxing gym’. With another survey of the area, I realized where I was. This was the gym that Bucky used to take Steve when teaching him self-defense. I had tagged along a couple of times before I had joined the SSR, I was surprised it was still here. I smiled weakly and turned to the door. The light inside was on, it couldn’t hurt to see if they were open. The door creaked open and I slipped in quietly. The sound of someone working out came down the long brick hallway. Hesitantly I made my way to the open doors that led to the sparring room.

Stopping just past the threshold, to my surprise, I spotted Steve, who was busy punching the life out of a punching bag. I walked through the small office and around the boxing rings before I stopped again and leaned against one of the columns a few feet away from where Steve stood. I watched him for a while before he landed a hard punch on the bag and it flew off into the distance. I started clapping slowly and he turned around in shock.

“Good job, you broke the bag, but you do know you’re gonna have to pay for that right?”

“Hey kid, I haven’t seen you in a while. I came by your apartment but you didn’t answer.”

“I know Stevie, I just haven't felt up to company since we got back to New York. I hope you can forgive me.” He looked at me with sad eyes and took three long steps in my direction. His arms came out to engulf me in a hug.

“It’s okay, I understand. Promise you’ll tell me if something's wrong, okay?” I nodded into his chest and he squeezed me tighter.

“I couldn't sleep, I guess you couldn't either.”

“No, too many thoughts.” He let go of me and went to get two more punching bags. He hung them up a few feet away from one another before turning to me and asking if I wanted to join. Pretty soon we were both laughing together if it felt almost like we were back home before everything happened. That was until the same dark-skinned man from that day seven months ago showed up. I later learned he was Nick Fury, director of SHIELD.

“I’m glad to find you both here.” He stated.

“Are you here with a mission, Sir?” Steve asked.

“I am.”

“Is this to try and get us back out in the world?” I asked.

“No, I'm trying to save it.” he thrust out an open manila folder. I grabbed it slowly and brought it to where Steve and I could both look at it. The blue cube that had evaporated Johann Schmidt was in the photograph pinned to the first page. In large bold letters beside the pictures spelled out TESSERACT. We slowly walked to a nearby bench and sat down.

“That's HYDRA’s secret weapon. I thought it fell into the ocean that day,” I whispered.

“Howard fished it out of the water when they went looking for you both. He thought what we think, that this cube could be an unlimited sustainable energy source.” Fury informed us.

“Who took it from you?” Steve questioned.

“He’s called Loki, he’s not from around here. We have a lot we're gonna need to catch you both up on if you agree to help. This world has gotten stranger than you already know.”

“I doubt anything could surprise us anymore, right Stevie?”

“Yeah,” he agreed.

“Ten bucks says you’re both wrong.” Fury bet. We both got up from our seats and handed the file back. Steve went and grabbed another bag from the floor and I just headed straight for the door.

“There are debriefing packets at your apartments, read through them and get back to me by tomorrow afternoon. And before you leave, is there anything we should know about the tesseract?”

“You should have left it in the ocean.” Steve and I said at once before walking out of the gym. Once we were outside on the sidewalk we hugged and said our goodbyes for the moment and then went our separate ways.

The walk home felt longer than the walk to the gym, but this gave me time to think about what I wanted to do. Whether I wanted to go on this mission, or if I just wanted to lay low and live my life. By the time I walked through my front door I had almost made my decision, but I was waiting to read the file before I decided for good. With a quick look through the minimal information provided I sighed and threw the papers down onto my kitchen counter. Shaking my head I murmured to myself.

“No, I am not doing this. This cube is not worth it.” Rubbing my eyes I went back to my room and crawled under the bed, not caring that I was still in jeans and a t-shirt. I was not going to walk blindly into anything dealing with that cube again. I lost my fiance and everyone I have ever known because of that stupid blue thing, I'm not going to go anywhere near it again. I laid there quietly for a while before I eventually drifted off into a restless sleep.

The next morning I woke up with a start, almost hitting my head on the bed above me. Furious honking made its way from the street into my room. One thing I definitely missed from the past was how quiet it once was at seven a.m.

Along with the decision to not join the mission, I had also made up my mind about leaving New York. This had been a long decision in the making and the talk with Fury last night was enough to make the choice for me. I couldn't live in this city anymore. The places I used to hang out at were still here, but they had been renovated so many times that they were unrecognizable. Everywhere I turned It was like I was walking through a strange alternate reality. I saw glimpses of the past, like ghosts around every corner, it was worse when it was a place Bucky and I frequented.

When I had gotten back from the Retreat I made the mistake of going to mine and Steve’s old apartment. It had been torn down to construct a bookstore, along with several other retail shops. I broke down in the street when I saw it, waves upon waves of emotions crashed into me. All the memories I had there with Steve, mom, and Bucky had no place to live now other than in my mind. The next mistake I made was to go down the next few blocks to Bucky’s apartment he shared with his mom and sister, Rebecca. It was no longer there either, a bakery stood in its place. I turned and left before the onslaught of tears came. After that day I thought it would be best to go somewhere else, somewhere I had no memories.

I crawled out from under the bed and slowly moved to the bathroom to start getting ready for the long day to come. Once I had showered and gotten dressed I sat myself down on the living room sofa, looking wearily at the telephone on the end table. Hesitantly I picked up the receiver and dialed the number that had been in the tesseract briefing file. It rang twice before Nick Fury answered.

“Mr. Fury, I’m calling to tell you that I won’t be joining your team for whatever mission you have going on. I just want to lay low and rebuild my life and live it quietly without interruption.” I let out a long breath.

“Well, that’s unfortunate. Was really hoping to have you fight with us. If you change your mind, you know where to contact me. Goodbye Agent Rogers.” He hung up quickly after that, not giving me a chance to tell him goodbye as well. The next call was going to be the hard one, I had to tell Steve my plans. I dialed his number slowly as I raised the receiver to my ear. It didn’t even have time to get through the first ring before Steve picked up.

“Hello?” He asked on the other end.

“Hey, it’s me.”

“What’s up kid. Have you called Fury about joining the mission? I called about an hour ago letting them know I’d help.” He sounded a little enthusiastic.

“That’s actually what I’m calling about. I’m not sure how you’ll feel about this but I’m not going to help with the mission.”

“Oh,” he sounded surprised. “Why not? I thought you’d want to help get rid of that thing once and for all.”

“It’s not that, I want nothing more than for the tesseract to be gone for good. I just don’t think I can be a part of it, I don’t want this thing to take over my life if we can’t get rid of it. This brings me to another important thing I need to tell you. I can’t stay here in New York, so I’m moving to DC.” He was quiet for a while after I had said that, the only thing I could hear coming from his side was his breath. I grew more anxious by the minute waiting for him to say something.

“What do you mean you’re moving? Why can’t you stay here with me?”

“Don’t be selfish.” I snapped.

“I’m not being selfish, you are.” he raised his voice. I huffed through my nose, getting annoyed.

“I can’t stay here any longer. I have no idea what it is like for you, but for me, being in this city is torture. I see ghosts from the past every time I leave my house. I can’t go anywhere without seeing him, and every time I see him, I break down. I never got to say goodbye and that day plays over and over in my head. Steve, I’m being tormented with nightmares to the point where I have barely gotten five hours of sleep in the past week. I need to get out of here whether you like it or not.” Tears had started to stream down my face as I yelled into the phone.

“Why didn’t you tell me sooner? I could have helped you, I still can help you if you let me. If you leave I can’t keep you safe, I can’t protect you like I’m supposed to.” He was using his soft “grown-up” voice he always used with me when I was younger to try and calm me down but the tears kept streaming down my cheeks at a rapid pace.

“I can protect myself, we did take the same serum,” I choked out. “I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want to bother you with my problems, I can deal with them myself. Plus you have your own things to deal with, you don’t need to help me with mine.” My head was starting to hurt now and my cheeks and neck itched with quickly drying tears.

“Fine. The only way I will be okay with you leaving is if you promise to call me at least twice a week and you let me help you move.” I gave a strained laugh and nodded, even if he couldn't see it.

“Okay, it’s a deal. I actually already have an apartment lined up, so you can come over and help me pack everything up whenever you want to. I’m going to try and be out of New York by the end of next week.”

“I’ll be right over.” I laughed as I told him that I’d be waiting. I laid the receiver back down in its spot and stood up to go to the bathroom. I stared at myself in the mirror, thinking. I was glad my relationship with Steve could handle an argument, understand one another, then go right back to normal, I don’t think we would be this close if it couldn't. I blinked back a few stubborn tears and bent down to grab a rag from the sink cabinet, I dampened it in warm water then wiped the dried tears from my face. The warm water felt wonderful on my skin.

Over the next week and a half, Steve and I boxed up what few belongings I had and packed them and the furniture into a moving truck. I didn’t own a car so the moving truck would be my transportation to DC. One of the many things SHIELD had us do was take a modern driving test, which wasn’t hard, just a few more signs to remember and more gadgets in the car than there used to be, I ended up passing with flying colors.

By Friday morning we had everything ready to go. Steve would follow me on his motorcycle and I would drive the truck the whole three and a half hours to my new apartment.

We stopped several times on the way down, mainly so Steve didn’t have to sit on the bike for the whole three hours straight. We also stopped for lunch. All in all the trip took us about five hours, with traffic added. We made it to my new home just after two and we started moving my belongings in immediately.

Admittedly the apartment was way too big for just me but I liked the extra space, it was different from the tiny two-bedroom apartment I had grown up in. The first thing I made sure to unpack and put up was the bed. I still hadn't told Steve I wasn’t actually sleeping in the bed, but he didn’t need to know that. After that clothes were sorted through and put in their respective places. With our enhanced strength and stamina, we had the whole place relatively furnished in just under two hours. We stopped for dinner when everything had been brought up from the moving truck.

The day went by fast with us talking and laughing like we used to, it was a good change of pace from my usual aimlessly roaming around my apartment alone. But, all good things have to come to an end and Steve had to leave. He pulled me into a tight hug, almost crushing me, and wouldn’t let go until I pinky promised to call him several times a week. I just laughed and promised him I would. I was sad watching him walk down the hallway to the stairs.

I turned back into my apartment and closed the door, locking it behind me. I stared at the box littering the floor and decided to get to work unpacking the rest of what we hadn’t gotten earlier.

Most of my belongings I found in thrift stores and antique shops around the city. It may have been the twenty-first century now, but that wasn’t stopping me from making my home a comfortable, familiar space. If you walked in from the outside world, you would have thought you had been transported to the past with how much authentic 1940s and before things I had littered about. Some things had been saved from the apartment we lived in in the forties. I learned a few weeks before we came back from the retreat that Peggy had been the one to put everything in storage after they had failed to find Steve and me in the ice. I had gone through all of it and took out what I wanted to take with me and Steve had done the same. I was thankful Peggy had done what she did, otherwise, everything would have been lost to time.

That night as I tried to sleep, I realized it was a little easier to relax. DC was a whole lot quieter than New York, there was no honking or yelling every two seconds to keep me awake. I was left alone in almost complete silence, which for others may be worse than being bombarded with noise, but I didn’t mind. I fell asleep almost an hour after laying down for the night and had a restless sleep. I woke up many times in the night covered in sweat, but I couldn't remember the dreams, anything I could remember dissipated as soon as I opened my eyes.

I woke up again very early the next morning, the clock on my wall said it was four forty-five. It was still dark out, but I could hear birds starting to chirp. I crawled out from under the bed frame and went to put on some exercise clothes. Running always helped to clear my mind after not being able to get any sort of rest. The run itself didn’t take long, even though it was seven miles, any normal person would be exhausted but I had barely broken a sweat. I did get to see some nice places, taking a route around the zoo, to the National Cathedral, and then back around to the Dupont Circle neighborhood, where my apartment was. The sun was just starting to come up as I made my way back into my building.

Although I had just moved in the day before, I was ready to start finding some sort of job. The money SHIELD was giving me to help assimilate back into the world comfortably was appreciated, but I wanted to make my own way in life without their help. Finding a job was going to be harder than it used to be, but I did have expertise in several areas. Upon being unfrozen, along with the driving tests, SHIELD created a new resume for me. I had degrees in history pertaining to the 1940s, World War II, and several of the New Deal programs, with a specialty in the SSR. I was also given a Veteran ID, although I don’t really know how that one works because I definitely was not a part of the apparent ongoing fighting in Afghanistan. I still looked twenty-four, I doubt anyone would believe it.

Anyway, I had interviews lined up for today at the Smithsonian, and hopefully, the resume that SHIELD created and my knowledge would be enough to land a job. I had already figured that I would be volunteering at the local VFW. I knew I could find people there to relate to and hopefully be able to make some friends.

Tag List: @ginger-swag-rapunzel @underc0vercryptid-reads @geek-and-proud @intothesoul @leyannrae @starkleila

[the-priestess-of-dawn]

*shows up a week late to the conversation with coffee* Wait no I swear I have something relevant to say here.

So the only explicit information we're given about how Forneus got divine dragon blood is that it took a long time and was dangerous - "At last, blood from a divine dragon! Although it took some time to cross that dangerous bridge, at least it wasn’t a folly." Alone, that doesn't tell us that much (although I'd say it does tend to suggest that the dragon was not a willing donor. Surely it wouldn't have been THAT dangerous if the dragon simply thought they were making a blood pact, as dragons often do with humans...)

And maybe on its own that's not enough to draw any strong conclusions on whose blood it was, but here's the thing... Naga's power does in fact have a presence in Forneus's workshop. Once Alm and Celica defeat Grima, her Brand appears on the floor, and touching it is how they're able to leave the dungeon. So there's 100% a direct connection there beyond just the fact that Thabes was her domain.

Furthermore, the Valentia Accordion seems to imply that Grima was created AFTER the sealing of Forneus's workshop - "Oftentimes, one can hear a terrifying voice from behind the sealed door. Like a baby, but like a monster…" Now, technically, Grima could have been created beforehand, but people only started hearing Grima's cries afterwards. At the same time, it's notable that Grima's presence is only mentioned here in the Mage's Account. The Senate's Account only talks about people disappearing, their strongest soldiers being sent and not coming back, and them ultimately deciding to seal his workshop away. No mention of dragons whatsoever, although the Senate IS aware that Forneus desired to create a "perfect being."

But going back to the sealing, to the Sage's Shield... Well, it looks an awful lot like a proto-Fire Emblem, doesn't it? Given that Naga is known for sealing away threats, and these were Naga's people, the most likely scenario is that they asked her to help them, right? And so whether she appeared via blood-pacted champion or in person, Naga's blood was very likely involved in sealing Forneus away.

I would even suspect that Forneus was antagonizing Naga on purpose, refusing to respond to the Senate at all except by killing the soldiers they sent. Sure, he presumably also liked having strong soldiers to turn into his undead army, but... A gambit to make Naga attack him would certainly be a "dangerous bridge" it would take a lot of time to cross. Consider that it doesn't look like he ever made any attempts to flee. Consider also that Naga is in fact known for sealing and banishing others rather than killing them (even Duma and Mila were only exiled after the destruction of Thabes, her HOME, the place that would be her "final resting place" - of her body, at least). And Forneus also clearly assumed he would be able to command and control Grima completely, so "Naga won't kill me and I can just undo any harm she does to me with my perfect creation" probably would have been perfectly sound logic to Forneus under the circumstances.

So, yeah, that's why I think Grima's dragon blood most likely came from Naga The timeline works out (Forneus kills Thaban soldiers -> Naga helps the people seal him, loses some blood in the fight -> Grima is created -> Duma finds out that Naga, the liege he's supposed to be protecting, got hurt because of the humans becoming arrogant and goes angry dragon on Thabes -> Duma and Mila get exiled from the continent because Naga had it HANDLED, thank you) and yeah, there are also major parallels to Tiki (who, uh... is probably Naga's reincarnation the way Robin is Grima's... yes I KNOW "Naga" and "Tiki" appear separately and even talk to each other in the Future Past but hear me out, dragons have so much quintessence that it's probably not that hard to fraction up their soul. But that's a TED Talk for another time, maybe).

You know i never really questioned it before but how the fuck did Forneus get his hands on divine dragon blood

I feel like that's pretty hard to accomplish without said divine dragon kicking your whole entire ass

[wanderinginksplot]

Warriors in Red Armor

Previous | Next | Masterlist

Chapter Five

Kai II

"Does everyone understand the mission?" Ransom stared hard in Kai's direction.

Kai scoffed. Just because her attention had drifted off a time or four didn't mean that she was going to be totally lost. "Who needs a debriefing? We're going to do the same thing we always do. I'm going to flirt with everyone until they give me information or get distracted. Ark will slice into their systems and get hard copies of the information we need. You'll be here, masterminding the whole thing."

Ransom stared at her hard for a moment, but Kai met her gaze with ease. Eventually, Ransom gave a little sigh and said, "Yeah, that's pretty much it. But be careful. We've got to get this job right. The merchant's guild has paid us a lot of credits for the information we need. Plus we stand to double our profit if we complete the mission on time. Maybe we should go over the plan again."

"Nah, I've got it," Kai assured her.

Ransom's eyes were like a med-scanner as she used her gift. Kai had always said that Ransom could spot a lie from five klicks with strangers and twice that with friends. Eventually, Ransom must have decided that Kai was telling the truth and nodded. "Fine, but be careful. Are you sure these layout schematics are up-to-date?"

"I'm insulted," Kai jokingly scowled. "Are my schematics ever outdated?"

"No," Ransom begrudgingly admitted. "Even I don't know how you find some of that information."

Kai beamed at the rare praise from her boss.

"You know," Ark started. Kai tensed - there was only one subject that could put that tone in Ark's voice. "We could really use you out in the field on this one, Ransom."

In half a heartbeat, Ransom was as on-edge as both of the other women. "You know that's not an option, Ark." She gave a forced-looking smile and shook her head. "Besides, you don't need me. You're both the best in your respective fields. This mission will be a total success."

The drastic change in mission outlook warned Kai that Ransom was ready to snap. All antics should be cut off immediately.

"Ark and I better go get ready, huh?" Kai said. "Sounds like we need to look the part."

"Comm me when you're ready and I'll activate your earpieces," Ransom said. She always could snap back into professionalism as naturally as taking a breath.

"We will," Kai promised, pulling Ark toward the door. "Ark, bring your outfit to my apartment, would you? You're better at doing hair than I am and I could use your help getting mine to look right."

As soon as they were in the turbolift, Kai puffed out a breath, trying to sound as non-judgmental as possible. "I don't know why you bothered asking her. She never reacts well to it."

Ark looked a little embarrassed. "I was going back over some of her old case files and I just- I got carried away. She was a legend. An actual one. There were stories about how good she was, and she didn't need to divide jobs like we do. She could flirt, slice, get everything she needed, and get out before anyone even realized there was a breach."

"I know, I've read the files, too," Kai reminded her friend. Ransom had been incredible back in the day. Granted, she was impressive now, but before she had stopped going out on jobs? She could have easily run Red Squad alone and made ten times what they were earning now... And then she would have no one to split profits with. "But you're starting to be a bit of a legend yourself… Ghost."

Ark's pale cheeks reddened with the compliment. "I don't even know how that one got started. And it's not good that people know about me at all."

Kai huffed out a breath at her friend. Ark was slender, pale in every sense of the word, and silent. She was also one of the fastest slicers Kai had ever seen… the fastest if they weren't counting Ransom. 'Ghost' was a natural nickname for her. Kai was only jealous that the nature of her designated task meant that she could never get notorious enough for a nickname. Being recognized would be the end of Kai's usefulness to Red Squad.

"Enjoy it, Ark!" Kai encouraged, squashing her own jealousy. "It's a compliment. Speaking of compliments, how is your trooper?"

"You mean Thire?" Ark asked, blushing a bit darker.

Kai chuckled. "Do you have another?"

"No!" Ark shook her head, smiling despite her apparent exasperation. "We talk a lot. Thire is a great guy."

"Are you going to see him again?"

"I'd like to," Ark admitted. "What about you and Thorn?"

"Thorn?" Kai asked, a bit taken aback. "No, nothing going on there. I had fun with him - you know, drinking, watching people on the dance floor, so on - but I don't think there's much of a future in it."

"That's disappointing," Ark said with a frown.

"No, 'disappointing' will be when we aren't ready on time and Ransom kills us both."

A little less than two hours later, both women were ready to go. There was a strange sort of line they had to toe in order to do their job well. Ark had to be dressed to blend in while Kai worked to stand out. All the attention had to be on Kai so that Ark could get in and do her job before anyone noticed what was happening. They had to arrive separately as well. Kai called two different speeders to her apartment, scheduling the second to arrive later than the first.

"So, who hired us again?" Kai asked when she was ensconced in a droid-piloted speeder.

Ransom sighed heavily through the earpiece. "Seriously, Kai? This is why you need to pay attention during briefings."

"The Bespin merchant's guild hired us to find out if the Felucian merchant's guild is spying on them," Ark informed her. Judging by the muted background noise from Ark's earpiece, she was just leaving Kai's apartment.

"They hired spies to see if the other guild hired spies?" Kai asked, chuckling.

"Merchants," Ransom said simply, sounding as if the word had been accompanied by a shrug.

"Arriving at location now," Kai reported. "Estimated entrance: two minutes."

"Two minutes, mark," Ransom replied.

Kai straightened her clothes and took a deep breath before she stepped into the guild hall. It was ornate and overdone, but that was fine: it matched everything she had done with her appearance.

There was a noticeable lull in conversation when Kai stepped inside. She wrestled her smirk into a pleasant smile as she accepted a glass of expensive wine from a serving droid. The form-fitting, low-cut dress floated around her, revealing shapely legs and the most delicate high heels she owned. Her versatile hair was done in a flattering updo. While her makeup was bold, it was tasteful enough that it didn't look overdone.

If Kai was honest, the hardest part of every mission was the pretending. She had to avoid all of the things she actually enjoyed in favor of appealing to onlookers as a sexual fantasy. She had to sip delicately at wine rather than guzzle hard spirits, she could only eat small bits of food that would be sure not to stick in her teeth or ruin her lipstick, and the tightness of her dress meant that she couldn't take a full step… or a full breath.

Being the bait was a nice ego boost, but everything else about it was kind of awful.

Even as Kai mentally tallied the negative aspects of her task, an older, orange-skinned Felucian gentleman sidled up to her. Kai vaguely recognized him as Ollo Set, the head of the Felucian merchant's guild. She continued giving her pasted-on smile.

"Good evening." Considering the height of Kai's towering heels, Set only just reached her chest. Undaunted, the Felucian put on a smile he clearly meant to be charming. "How can such a lovely woman be here alone?"

"Oh, I'm here with someone," she said, doing her best to sound both flirtatious and confused. "He was supposed to meet me here, but I haven't seen him yet."

"Well, whoever the lucky man is, he's a fool to miss even a moment of your radiant company," Set oozed. He took her hand so he could bow - very shallowly - and kiss the back of it.

Kai felt a rush of revulsion. She hated when they touched her. Still, she was a rather incredible actress, if she did say so herself, so she pasted a delicate smile on her lips. "Thank you, sir. It is comforting to find such kindness here, even if my date is later than I would have hoped."

Set patted her hand in a way that managed to be both fatherly and lecherous. "If he does not arrive shortly, I shall show you around myself. Your careless date should not cause you to miss meeting these incredible people."

"I may take you up on that offer! I'm Saro," Kai lied.

"Ollo Set," he returned, adjusting the jeweled cuffs of his jacket. "Leader of the Felucian Merchant's Guild. Pleasure to meet you, Saro. I must leave for a moment, but ask anyone to point you in my direction and you'll have no trouble finding me."

"Oh," she murmured, trying to sound impressed as she fluttered her eyelashes at him. Set watched her for a moment, looking stunned, then turned to meet with a group of well-dressed Felucians. The whole gathering shut themselves in a side room, leaving the party raging on without them.

Under the pretence of adjusting an earring, Kai activated her earpiece. "Meeting of the big guys - metaphorically big, anyway. Ark, what's your ETA?"

"Speeder trouble," Ark said, sounding irritated. "ETA: four minutes."

"Four minutes, mark," Ransom confirmed.

Kai circled through the room, chatting and picking at morsels of food while she kept an eye on the entrance. At least she didn't have to be subtle about it - her cover story allowed her to openly watch the new arrivals without looking suspicious.

"I'm right outside," Ark's voice crackled through the earpiece. "Are they still in the meeting?"

"Yes," Kai breathed, managing to work her answer into the conversation she was having with a drunk Felucian female.

Ark made her entrance seconds later. She wore a mousy brown wig and a tan dress tailored to disguise her slender figure. Carefully applied makeup had lent her colorless skin the appearance of more life. As a result, she didn't stand out overly much from the other humans in the room. Ark glanced at Kai, who subtly tilted her head toward the still-closed door.

With that, Ark made her way toward a hallway. According to the detailed schematics Kai had provided, the hall held both the refreshers and several data access points. At the last moment, a serving droid moved into Ark's way, intending to offer her a glass of wine. Ark, busy double-checking the door, tripped on the droid and flailed to recover her balance. Her small bag fell to the floor, spilling her slicing materials onto the carpet as the service droid beeped around frantically, trying to offer help. Kai watched with more than a little horror as the door to the guild meeting swung open. Ollo Set stepped out first, then paused and frowned over at the commotion caused by the serving droid.

Kai rushed over toward him. "Mr. Set!"

His pale orange gaze swung toward her instead, for which Kai was forever thankful. She had seen Ark starting to gather her tools, any one of which was recognizable as being part of a slicing project. Now, Kai simply had to hold the attention of Set and the other guild members, and she knew exactly how to do it.

Tugging at her dress in apparent distress, Kai revealed a bit more of her chest than she had previously been showing and forced tears to well in her eyes. When she reached Set and the accompanying guild members, she leaned down to speak with him. Her posture allowed the best vantage point for Set to see both the tears and the cleavage.

"What's wrong, my dear?" Set asked, looking first at her chest, then the tears, then her chest again.

"I just received word that my date isn't coming after all. He's stood me up!" she told him, letting one of the tears slip down her cheek. "Is there any chance you're still willing to accompany me this evening?"

"Why, Saro," he oozed, "I would be absolutely delighted. May I introduce the other leaders of the Felucian Merchant's Guild?"

Kai chanced a glance backward as she straightened up once more - leaning down in such a tight dress was killing her spine - and was pleased to watch Ark disappear safely down the hallway. Kai relaxed slightly and put a tearful smile on as she turned to be introduced to the other Felucians.

"Wait, I- I recognize you," one of the Felucians, this one a yellow-skinned female, said haltingly.

The smile slipped from Kai's face, but she had rekindled it a moment later. "Are you sure? I don't think we've ever met."

"I've seen your face somewhere before," the female insisted.

"What are you prattling on about, Ethoda?" Set asked, striving for a tone of boredom and achieving one of irritation.

"She's someone I know, and not in a good way," Ethoda insisted. Kai's stomach gave an odd little twist at the thought that someone had finally recognized her. The Felucian female at last said, "I'm fairly certain she's a prostitute!"

Well, that was unexpected. Kai gaped. "What? I'm not a- I am not a prostitute!"

"That's just what a prostitute would say," one of the other males muttered.

"Which is more likely: a beautiful human woman being interested in Ollo or that she's a prostitute?"

"That makes more sense than anything else I've heard tonight."

"I'll notify the Coruscant Guard," Ethoda offered, rushing away.

And that was that. Admittedly, the mission had been to keep attention away from Ark in whatever way was necessary, but Kai had never expected this to be the outcome. It wasn't the proudest moment of her life, but Kai sat quietly and waited for the Coruscant Guard. The only move she made was to 'fix her hair' and activate the earpiece.

"I can't believe I'm getting arrested for prostitution," she muttered. Ark and Ransom's frantic questions and sounds of outrage provided entertainment until the Coruscant Guard arrived.

A clone trooper in red and white armor marched into the room. "Commander Thorn. What's going on here?"

---

Thorn I

"This woman is a prostitute!"

Thorn was always the first to admit that he wasn't a lighthearted trooper. The laughter and jokes that came easy to his brothers weren't part of his repertoire. Still, even Thorn had gotten a kick out of the accusations that were being thrown Kai's way. It had taken him a minute or so to recognize her - especially with a group of Felucians insisting that her name was Saro - but her look of dread at his entrance had been a solid clue.

He had taken down the eyewitness details of the incident with care. Keeping his voice level was tricky, but no one could hear the mocking he knew was clear in his expression. When the long-winded Felucians finished talking, Thorn closed the document so he could place binders on Kai's wrists and lead her to his cruiser.

"I'll take her to the precinct," he told the Felucians.

He had to shut down the external speakers on his helmet when the leader of the group - an orange-skinned male who had introduced himself as 'Ollo Set', followed them outside. As he fixed Kai with a stern gaze and he said, "Let this be a lesson to you, young lady: there is no substitute for an honest day's work", Thorn laughed aloud.

Rather than risk reactivating his speaking and giving away the game, Thorn had nodded to acknowledge Set's thanks. He steered Kai into the back of the cruiser as soon as he could and settled into the front seat himself. They were in the air waiting to enter traffic when he finally thought it was safe to remove his bucket.

As he reached for the familiar plastoid curves, Kai snapped, "This is ridiculous. You know I'm not a prostitute."

Thorn broke the seal that had formed between his blacks and his helmet before answering. "Of course I know that. Do you think I leave the code to my binders in the backseat with every perp?"

"Oh," she said, ire deflating as she grabbed the scrap of flimsi and awkwardly typed the written code into the binders. "Then why-?"

"If I hadn't brought you in for a false claim like prostitution, they may have come up with something more difficult to fight." He met Kai's eyes in the rearview mirror. "Like industrial espionage."

There was no answer from the backseat and Thorn abruptly found the whole situation less amusing than he had previously. Industrial espionage was a nasty business, and he wasn't thrilled to find that Kai was wrapped up in it.

"Care to explain what you were doing at the headquarters for the Felucian merchant's guild?" he asked.

She sighed, looking conflicted. "What do you want to know?"

"Everything. As long as it's the truth. I don't like listening to lies."

"Hey," she said, leaning forward with an offended look on her face. "I don't lie."

Thorn snorted. "You want to try feeding that line to the crowd of civvies back there who told me all about 'Saro'?"

"I lie at work because it's literally my job," Kai snapped. "I don't have a choice there, but I do everywhere else. I am not a liar."

"So your job is to lie and you wear revealing clothing while you do so," Thorn mused. "Are you sure you're not a prostitute?"

"I'm on an information securities team called Red Squad," she told him irritably. "We were hired to get intelligence from the Felucian merchant's guild."

"And they sent you in alone?" Thorn asked with an unfortunate chuckle.

"No, I wasn't there by myself," Kai admitted. "But I couldn't stay, not after having attracted that much attention. I don't even know if the mission was a success or not."

"Another private sector success, then," he said, sarcasm thick in his voice. "I take it that jobs don't always end this way?"

She snorted. "Believe it or not, this is the first time I've ever been arrested under suspicion of being a prostitute."

"It's a small and glorious club," he said. "It also signals the need for a career change. Ever thought about doing anything else? This espionage thing may not be your strong suit."

She grew quiet and Thorn saw her turn to stare out of the window. His heart skipped a beat. Stars, don't let her start crying... He felt an unusual wave of pity wash over him. Kai's day had clearly gone wrong and here she was being taken away from a formal event in the back of a police cruiser. Plus, Thorn's vode had always told him he could be abrasive, so chances were good that he wasn't helping matters.

"Hey, I'm not going to charge you with anything. Why don't you give me your address and I'll drive you home?"

"You can just drop me off here," she said frostily. "I can find my own way home."

"The kriff you will," he shut down immediately. "It's almost midnight. Coruscant isn't safe for civvies dressed like you are at this time of night."

"Maybe at the next intersection," Kai suggested, pretending she hadn't heard him.

"Maybe I'll take you to the precinct after all," Thorn threatened. "That way, I won't be responsible if you end up attacked or killed for walking through dangerous parts of the planet at night, looking like a-"

He cut himself off and Kai leaned forward, a challenging look on her pretty face. "Like a prostitute?"

Actually, he had been about to say that she looked like royalty, but her tart response knocked some sense back into him. "Yeah," he agreed instead. "Something like that."

"You're impossible," she told him, sounding tired. "Just… take me home."

She gave him the address, but Thorn could hardly hear it over the pounding of his heart. Kai probably hadn't meant for her words to sound inviting - far from it - but they had caused a pang of something long-buried in his memory. The feeling of home hadn't been one emphasized in flash training or any day since, but he had always imagined it would be the way he felt when he had heard Kai's request.

Still, he forced his mind back to his duty and plugged Kai's address into the navicomputer on his cruiser. Shortly afterward, they had arrived at a plain-looking building. Kai still hadn't said another word to him, which frustrated Thorn for some reason. They may not have exchanged comlink info like Thire and his girl had, but Thorn and Kai had gotten along at 79's. He couldn't remember a time he had laughed harder than when she drunkenly told an equally drunken Nikto that he had "scored a perfect 30" on the dance floor.

Deciding to make things right once and for all, Thorn shut off the cruiser and got out to open Kai's door.

"Thank you, Commander," she said stiffly. "Drive safe on your way back to the precinct."

"Hold on, let me walk you inside," he offered, injecting enough suffering into his tone that she would think it was a punishment. She didn't say anything to encourage him, but she didn't say he couldn't accompany her, either.

So Thorn found himself following Kai down two flights of narrow stairs to her housing unit. When they arrived at the door, he noted an odd lock keeping it closed. Still, he thought little of it until Kai also frowned and made a confused little sound.

Every instinct Thorn had demanded that he act. In half a second, he had grasped Kai around the waist, spun to place her behind him, and drawn one of his blaster pistols. He ignored Kai's questions and focused on the area, but his HUD wasn't showing any signs of potentially hostile lifeforms. More importantly, the strange lock wasn't bringing up any warnings.

"What's on your door?" he demanded, still scanning their surroundings.

"It's a lock," Kai explained slowly.

"I figured that," Thorn's response was dry. "What kind of lock and who put it there?"

"How do you know I didn't?"

"Body language, tension, and observation, now focus," Thorn commanded. "Who put that lock on your door?"

"Probably Ark," Kai admitted with a sigh. "It's for me to practice slicing."

The answer was so far beyond anything Thorn had been expecting that he actually let the barrel of his blaster drop toward the floor as he turned to face her. He repeated, "Slicing?"

"Yeah, I'm over-" Kai stopped her sentence halfway through. "You know what? I don't want to explain this to you."

"Do it anyway," Thorn advised. "Because I'm not leaving, otherwise."

She crossed her arms, kicking up her chin. Right as Thorn thought he would have to press her again, Kai said quietly, "I'm sick of being the bait. I want to do something useful, like slicing, but I'm not very good at it. Ark is trying to teach me and she's big on practice. She bought me this lock and said it would give me motivation to learn."

"So, she put a practice slicing lock on the door to your apartment. You would have to use your new skill to get inside," Thorn summarized. It sounded like something that his vode would do. He silently supported the endeavor even as he mentally noted the implication that Kai and Ark worked as some kind of team.

Still, Thorn holstered his blaster and gestured at the door. He took a step to the side so she could access the lock. "Well, go ahead. Slice."

Kai looked at him, eyes severe. "I'm not any good at it and I'm tired. Do you know anything about slicing?"

"Not a thing," said Commander Thorn of the GAR, official head of the department overseeing arrests and difficult extractions that often included slicing.

"I could get a hotel room for tonight…" she mused.

Thorn rolled his eyes. She was as dramatic as Hound. "Or you could just try it. Your friend wouldn't put an unsliceable lock on your door, would she?"

"Probably not," Kai agreed with palpable reluctance. She sighed and pulled a small set of tools out from behind a potted plant in the hallway as Thorn watched with growing amusement.

Kai placed the scramble key on the back of the lock, but it was backwards and wouldn't work. "What are you doing?"

"Unlocking the door? I'm pretty sure," Kai told him, poking at the lock. "I don't know why the key isn't registering, though."

"Explain the process to me," he invited.

She turned to stare at him, seeming shocked. "You want me to teach you how to slice?"

"Why not?" Thorn asked. "Teaching a skill is one of the best ways to see if you've learned it."

"Fine," Kai huffed. "First, you attach the scramble key to the back of the lock… oops. That's definitely backwards. Anyway! Once the system has registered the key, it can start running possible combinations. Then your only job is to keep the security systems from booting you out."

Thorn watched the process, trying not to smile as Kai clumsily shut down security checks and shutdown attempts. Her methods weren't pretty, but they were effective, and the lock dropped from the door after a few minutes of work.

He retrieved the lock and the scramble key for her, taking a moment to study the key close-up. Thorn hadn't seen anything like it before. That was impressive, considering how much of his job revolved around slicing attempts. The key was homemade, like all the best scramble keys were, but on a level that told him how well the maker understood the process of slicing.

"Interesting key," he commented, hiding his interest. "Where did you get it?"

Kai glanced at it, unimpressed. "Ark gave it to me. She said it was trustworthy."

So Ark was a slicer. If she had been the one who made that key, she was kriffing good at it, too. Thorn made a mental note to ask Thire about the woman he had been spending so much time talking to. A moment later, that and all other coherent thoughts left his mind as Kai turned back and asked, "Do you want to come inside?"

He stared at her, dark brows furrowed. "You don't like me."

"I don't like when you mock me," she corrected. "But I like you just fine. Plus, you aren't arresting me when we both know you could. I think that's worth a cup of caf. Maybe even a cookie."

"Maybe even two cookies," he joked, following her into the apartment.

Kai gave a teasing scoff over her shoulder. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves."

---

A/N - Poor Kai. That would have to be a pretty hefty blow to your ego! Good thing Thorn was the one to respond - even if he did lie about knowing how to slice. On that note, do you know who knows nothing about slicing? Me. So if anyone is an expert about the process and this reads poorly, I'm sorry! I just started playing Republic Commando and did a lengthy skim on the Wikipedia page about slicing, but that's the extent of my knowledge.

[rueririn]

Episode 6

I feel kinda dumb for not realizing until now that Sanji's jolly roger is exactly the baratie one but the duck replaced with a skull and the curly brow. And stylized a bit more. Also the heart in the P is cute. It's definitely Sanji.

Also YAYY SANJI EPISOOODEE

Aight Zeff using 'an old seaman's trick' to help the kids out is actually a fun way to give us a look into Zeff as a veteran pirate. In mangapiece we only get told about it (and his fighting skills), but the experience of a true old-time man of the seas? This part of opla has the theme of 'the strawhats not yet knowing how harsh the grand line would be', and having garp, mihawk, and zeff give their own ways of showing them the world is so cool to me.

Mihawk making himself comfy on Garp's ship and putting his feet on the desk is actually... hilariously similar to what I like to imagine he is when I'm writing fic

Sanji using the leftover fish to make lunch in the Merry's kitchen is so cute actually. And then he keeps offering food to Luffy to try and cheer him up? The sweet gentleman 'food is my love language' Sanji that I love is here, and I'm obsessed.

Sanji backstory. Amazing.

I really do appreciate the darker tone of the live action to let us truly depict all the gruesome details of the original. We get the real bckstory of what happened to Zeff's leg and the days of starvation on that rock.

"Have any idea how it feels? Having someone lose a limb to save your life?" The moment of silence before Luffy says "actually yeah, I kind of do." just sent me

ah, I see what the live action is doing. Unlike mangapiece, Luffy actually stays and hears through all of the backstories-- Sanji actually talking about it is unusual in itself-- I still don't know if Luffy'll hear Nami's (him refusing to hear Nami's story but only wanting to unconditionally help when she asked is a core moment, after all) but that's the thing. Manga Luffy specifically doesn't hear any of the storiesbecause his motto is not caring about all that-- and that makes people think his development is slow. opla luffy is a different luffy, that's pretty clear at this point, so I'm really interested to see him take all this information and actually narratively grow from it as a character in a much visible way.

Nami reading Liar Noland's story to Zoro is a very sweet detail. I heard we're getting a season 2 (which is likely be the alabasta saga) so I do wonder if we'll eventually see Skypiea, too. But, that's still far. I always fondly remember Noland's story because it's the one story that continues to connect to the future. From Skypiea, to Dressrosa, to it being the reveal that Sanji was from North Blue.

The theme of 'not everyone gets to follow their dreams'. Nami and Sanji both have something stopping them, while Luffy and Zoro charge headstrong into their own without caring for the consequences. It's a dichotomy I truly enjoy in this situation.

Alright, Arlong in Baratie is a very interesting choice! Now I see why the receptionist is a fishman.

Taking away Krieg's entire involvement by killing him off early-- it's probably done to cut down the drag it would take to reroute us back to the manga predicament, so, I quite like it. Now to wait for Nami and the heartbreaking betrayal to occur.

Luffy awkwardly talking to Zoro is really cute. Reminds me of Nami falling sick past Little Garden and him just staying by her side the whole time until Zoro chases him away to go see the snow.

When Luffy entrusts the ship and the map to Nami, he pats her on the right shoulder before leaving. That's where the Arlong Mark is.

BUGGY'S HEAD ASKJALKSJLA I LOVE HIM PLSSSSS also his ear being in Luffy's hat the whole time? Dear lord Buggy why are you like this.

People always talk about how it's impressive the three-sword style works well in live action-- but I'm a lot more impressed that Sanji's kick style works so well in live action. It looks so fluid and natural the way he kicks and maneuvers. It's awesome!

ahhh there it is. Sanji saving Luffy from drowning is such a pretty scene tho

Obsessed with the fact that Garp put son the silly dog hat specifically for serious situations. Official arrival to morgan's base? Addressing the cadets on his ship before departing? Ah yes dog hat. The dog hat is the official uniform, not the silly mode.

After that whole ramble I did about Luffy and the colours he wears, it means a lot to me that he specifically takes off the hat onscreen-- the hat that symbolizes his captaincy, his direction, his dream, his resolve-- when he solemnly talks to Zoro after losing Nami.

Zoro waking up is the cutest thing ever. Luffy just jumping on him and hugging him and Zoro just clearly cringing because OW, I love them so much.

Words cannot describe how happy the entire Zoro vow scene makes me. It's an extension of the vow he gave to Kuina, same wording and all, and that's so symbolic to me I'm unable to word my emotions right but just love that whole scene so much.

See what I said?? He puts the hat back on when he gets his resolve back and makes the decision to go after Nami! He stops being captain to talk vulnerably to Zoro, then regains his resolve after! The hat is such visual storytelling I am not okay!! I'm gonna cry!

"Why are we bringing the waiter?" "Because we can't boil water." I'm actually dying of laughter right now

Sanji's departure definitely doesn't have the same hit as mangapiece because we don't have the Krieg fight, but oh well. Same thing to Usopp's departure.

BUGGY HEADDDDD!!! Love that he's coming with us to be the exposition device/navigation to Cocoyashi because we don't have Yosaku. Good use of loose plot strings.

I think I can finish the rest of opla tonight.

Pirating OPLA, thoughts

Episode 1

Garp being at Roger's execution is a nice touch

Really like how full Luffy's dinghy is-- crates of fruit, a barrel of fish instead of just one barrel of apples--- all makes sense. All the tiny details removed from manga that are just added onto opla for realism-- like the way the execution stand works, too, with the people cranking the manual lift to get roger up there. It's all very cool and makes the setting feel more piraty than mangapiece.

Our beloved Zoro tried to go to Sixis on a cruise ship. This is a good way to casually mention Zoro earlier (plus that's Ace's first island so it actually lines up on the One Piece map to be around Dawn Island--)

"it's worth more than the rest of our loot put together" a nika mention that can be interpreted as just a devil fruit mention

"You should never let anyone tell you what you can't do. If I did that, I never would have left my village to go find the One Piece." Luffy referencing Garp like this is so funny to me

Unlike mangapiece, Luffy invites Coby along before knowing his dream to become a marine. This makes me sad because now I wish la coby joined the crew

opla Shanks is weirdly more serious than mangapiece Shanks. Not necessarily in a bad way, just different. That's the attitude I'm takign for most of opla anyways.

Adding the Mr 7 and Zoro fight here is actually really cool

Beta Nami outfit aaaaa they moved the pre-orange town ship-stealing scene to serve as her introduction scene and that works so well for her.

I love that they all naturally congregated in Ririka's bar. Everyone congregates and chaos occurs. Really like how they switched things up while never really taking things off course.

"PIRATES SPREAD DISEASE" poster on the wall

Coby sliding under the table once a fight breaks outajslkdjalsijdsakj i love him pls

ADORE the barfight. It's Zoro vs Baroque Works but bite-sized and with everything we love about the most consistently badass member of the crew. Thank you.

Zoro really pulled a reverse on Helmeppo lmao. "Three swords? I only need one" proceeds to get curbed by zero swords

oh! Zoro introduced himself as pirate hunter. that makes him different from mangapiece where he explicitly says at some point that he never called himself that. But it fits the opla characterisation so fair enough.

Luffy popping out of the manhole to yell 'thanks' at Zoro just sends me. Makino taught him well.

Nami being the most independent and capable girlboss up until the second Luffy literally crashes into her life and ruins her plan is actually 100% compliant with the basis of their relationship.

Oh is this the ass naked Helmeppo scene everyone's been yelling abo--- oh it is. ok.

I've never realized how badly I wanted a Nami and Luffy fighting together scene until now. I just realized how little of those we get in Mangapiece. Holy shit.

Romance Dawn trio just has this really satisfying trio cohesion that I can't describe. They're forever my favourite trio in the strawhats and opla does a magnificent job of bringing justice to what the manga couldn't give them with its chapter and page limits, since their only trio time together without being dragged around by handicaps was in the gaimon arc.

Makes me a little sad that Coby's involvement in Shells gets cut down a little, but that's fine I guess, he got plenty of touchup in his introduction scene.

Luffy holding back laughter when he sees Helmeppo's hair. Zoro chuckling because "yeah I might've done that" and Nami just being speechless. They're so stupid i love them

Garp going silent when he hears a straw-hat pirate stole the map to the grand line. I like to think this could imply Roger also stole his map once upon a time, but for now I'm just laughing at Garp internally screeching "that STUPID GRANDSON it's been ONE DAY"

[guigz1-coldwar]

"They need to die": New chapter for "Always for the greater cause..." is out!

Chapter Summary: While two closes friends discuss the situation and the future again, Jess has regained her memories but the effects of it aren't revealed to be positive, discovering again the full extent of what Perseus has done to her...and a mistake leads her to do something...

To read it on AO3, click here!

Taglist: @snowgoldwaylon , @clxudtea , @efingart

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

12th March 1981, 08H02

Eleazar "Lazar Azoulay, CIA

???????????????????

6 days...it's been almost a week that we managed to find Jess hurt but still alive in that field in Ukraine but it's been also 6 days of trying to understand many things about her. We lost her two months ago when Park told her that she went alone to face a group willing to give up information about Adler's whereabouts and our search concluded that she was dead, everything showed that to us but now, we were having her below our feet, trying to remember herself of her past, of what were the things that occurred during those 2 months...it was the primordial task we're having now but with Hudson behind us, he wasn't going to buy us more time.

He wanted results for the 10th but we convinced him to let us more than 3 days to get Jess to remember everything and understand her and if we don't succeed, we will have no choices...but to let Hudson put his hands on her and send her away for something worse. With that threat from him, our visits to Jess starting from that day became more frequent, going to just 1 or 2 persons per day as everyone in a few hours during a single day and hopefully, for us, progress was able to be made for the moment.

Thanks to us managing to help her, she was able to remember some details of her past and a few of that particular period: she said to have been forced to infiltrate the Cheyenne Mountain Complex with a guy named "Naga", that a Perseus agent named Wraith was manipulating her and that Stitch was leading her during those days, leaving us in that conclusion that Jess got forced into working with them under threats...until they decided to dispose of her but something bothered me now as I was going to take a coffee...

Even if that progress was good for us and maybe for Jess, I could see that her scare wasn't going away, her face getting troubled & shocked each time she was discovering more about herself...something isn't adding up...something that she doesn't know yet but an idea getting formed into her head...I don't know what but it might be worst than we all thought...

"Hey, Park," I waved at Park as she was standing near the coffee machine, a few meters from my workplace.

"Laz'," She nodded at me with a little grin, her arms crossed. "How're you doing?" She asked me, arriving near her.

"Fine," I replied to her, stopping in front of the coffee machine and just a word, I wasn't sure that I was telling the truth. "How about you?" I asked her back.

"I'm good," She responded, slightly turning her head around away from me, looking in the direction of the door leading to the basement. "I'm all fine," She repeated but her voice wasn't actually in that mood.

"Jess?" I presumed.

"Yeah," She whispered, directly knowing that both of us were thinking about the same thing. "I'm still...troubled by Jess...and what happened," She declared, thinking the same as me on that subject and turning her head back at me. "Thinking the same?" I nodded at her.

"Something is wrong," I said, forgetting that I wanted a coffee now to lean next to Park into a thinking moment between us, surely about the situation.

"There's always something wrong in that world for me," She told me, putting her hands on the table behind her, her eyes looking away. "I got almost killed by my superior, I almost lost the love of my life...what shitty my life could be?" She wondered to herself.

"Come on, don't be like that," I suggested to her.

"Oh, how I cannot be, Lazar?" She demanded at me, sounding sure about her previous words. "Minutes ago, I've got a call from London, they said that my office received death threats from a Perseus agent," She revealed to me and it took me a few seconds to link that to one of the many things we managed to get from Jess...this Perseus agent Wraith...

"Her?" I simply muttered and she nodded, knowing of what I was thinking of.

"I can't forget what Jess told me about her," She snorted, passing her right hand below her nose, and to look at her, she was sure that something happened between Jess & this Perseus agent...not on Jess willing. "Said to be hating me to death...to the point of giving me death threats by paper at Century House,"

"Shit, that's fucked up," I thought, wondering why she's doing this to Park...why would this agent want to send that type of thing to her? "Do you even know her?"

"No, not at all," She said. "I never worked with NIS agents in the past," She added, this Wraith having been part according to what we briefly found on her, that she worked with the NIS in the past and was named Freya Helvig. "What that woman did...was probably enough to make Jess change," She thought and I was on the same idea too...shit...to think about all of this, a lot of things around are changing.

"That's troubling me to do that type of thing now," I whispered in a low voice, looking around the main room, and in a few days, my ideas of that war we're making got shaken down, forced to interrogate a friend like this...it isn't for me. "I think that...after all of this, I will resign," I revealed to her but she wasn't looking shocked at all as if she saw deep in me.

"Same," She muttered, making my eyes go wide at her word. "When this will be over, I'll be moving with Jess in Australia with her father," She told me, looking at her with surprise & stupefaction about that choice, knowing Park's devotion for her country. "I went through enough to continue, I've done my part,"  She declared before her eyes went on me. "Same as me?" She presumed, talking about why I wanted to leave.

"A lot of things...but I'm getting sick at some point," I said in a low voice, crossing my arms and looking at the dashboard and then to the phone on my workplace. "An hour ago, I've got a call from the hospital where Katinka & Liliya are treated...I've got learned that Katinka got hit near her spinal cord, might be never going to walk again," My voice almost broke down at telling those words, remembering the moment that doctor explained the situation to me.

"I'm sorry, Lazar," Park apologized

"If I survive this, I'll stay with her, I don't know that if she will be walking again but she will need someone," I proclaimed, unable to let Katinka down as she never let me down at any moment, I owe her a lot.

"I need Jess too," Park affirmed, her eyes drifting towards the corner of the main room where Riggs, Jess' father & Wade Jackson were discussing. "I think that...in fact, he & Jess are the only remaining...real family I've got here," She declared, her voice at the urge of breaking down on emotions. "I remember when I was so shy to present myself to him, I was trembling just to talk to him," She explained, looking at her hands that were in a small white shape as if she was feeling cold at the moment.

"And...I think it went okay," I presumed.

"Oh yes, he likes me," She grinned at this, keeping her eyes down. "I'm seeing him as a second father," She proclaimed and by those few discussions I had with Riggs, I can say that she was right into looking at him as a father figure...she lost her parents days after she lost her brother...I can understand this from her.

"As long that you stay happy, I'm sure that everything will go back into order," I hoped a lot to say that and honestly, that was also applying to me, thinking that getting this done would get the both of us better and maybe...thinking of a different life too. "Now, we had to peak our heads of the files that we will soon get," I said with a breath, going to have a lot of work to do during the day.

"Yes, we're receiving everything in noon" She affirmed this, her hands going away from the table. "We might not be able to go see her, I think that Sims would be able to do it,"

"He said that he wanted to check her up on some details so, I think that's okay for me," I admitted, Sims being the doc in the house and she was right that Jess needed to be checked sometimes, not wanting to find her...in bad shape when we go down. "Then, I think that...I'll go back to work," I told her, pointing over at my desk before realizing that I went here at first for a coffee. "Not forgetting this first," I grabbed a little white cup, putting it under the coffee machine as Park looked at me for a few seconds/

"Good, thanks for everything, Laz," She said with a smile, her left hand moving over her scarf, probably thinking of that day before she quickly remove her hand away. "I'm going back to work...we'll catch up later," She said before she turns around, moving to walk towards Riggs & Jackson away and leaving me alone to the coffee machine as I was thinking about the future now...

Things changed for me...I can't do this anymore...

---------------------------

Later that day, 20H45

Jessica "Jess" Riggs, MI6

??????????????????

All of this....those questions...those memories coming back, I thought that it was going to help to remember everything and that I would be feeling good to know what I wanted to know but if I was able to do the first without any trouble thanks to my dad, his friend, Park...her....my love and my friends too, the second part was in fact not true at all but a lie...I couldn't feel alright of what I was discovering inside of my own head...it was shocking enough for me...and...I couldn't bring myself to tell everyone about this...anger taking over me...

I know what they did to me...I remember...they...they fucked up my fucking brain and made me believe that I was russian for all of my life, named Yirina Grigoriev...knowing Stitch for years since those events back in 1968...they made me believe that I was working with them...to do what?...nuke all of Western Europe for their ideals...they made me kill people for that? They killed people who...Liliya Petrov, I can remember...No...When I discovered it, I was filled up with rage but I didn't say anything...something I don't know why but it was sure that...I wanted to revenge this myself...

I needed to get out of here but with that locked door, it was impossible...I needed to go away...but where? The only place I did go in those fucking days weren't big enough...and were far enough...all in the US. Being here was at first scaring me at my most but now that I was getting myself aware of what I did before...what they made me do, this place reinforced my will to...burn down Perseus for their actions...even if I wanted to do it alone...I was feeling better...

"I need to get out," I thought to myself in a low voice as I was sitting on the chair near my bed and then, at this moment, the door got opened, leading me to get my head up to see it wide opened, seeing who was near it.

"Hey, Jess, how are you?" It was Sims, still wearing his signature cap and also having a medical bag in his right hand.

"I'm good," I smiled at him a bit as he entered the room.

"Better than noon?" He asked me, closing the door behind him, having put his bag down next to him.

"Yes," I replied to him, feeling actually better at noon since I didn't eat too much before willing to do it in the beginning of the afternoon. "And you?" I asked him back.

"Exhausted," He said directly, turning around to face, getting his hands on the chair in front of me. "I had to help the others working on files that we received from around the world about Perseus," He revealed, moving to sit down on the chair, his eyes staying on me. "All day, not at the moment I went to check on you,"  He affirmed.

"Only for noon and five minutes in the afternoon," I said, remembering perfectly the moments he came here to verify if I was alright.

"As I told you, we're getting busy to know things about Perseus and about you," He repeated, readjusting himself on the chair before getting his hands on the table, same as me. "Any progress?" He demanded.

"I'm trying," I lied to him, shaking my head and...I don't know why I don't tell them of the truth...I know well now...

"Shit...Jess, you need to know fast," He suggested to me, sounding nervous at the moment. "You know that Hudson will send you away if you got healed up for tomorrow," He confessed to me, giving me a opinion about this Hudson guy...a big asshole...and leaving me short time to think. "That guy is going to fuck your mind to know,"

"I'm trying my best, I swear," I proclaimed again, getting my head into my right hand.

"We know but...try better, okay?" He advised me, nodding a little to comply about this. "No one, even me wants you out of West-Berlin like that," He revealed and suddenly, I got my head off my hand to look at him...my eyes narrowed.

"We're in West-Berlin?" I demanded at him.

"Yeah, the 'Die Landebahn' safehouse," He confirmed to me, sounding confused that I didn't know this before. "What, the others didn't tell you that we're hiding here?" I shook my head at this and at this second, I got my head back into my hands...a little troubled.

"She'll be ready soon for transport,"

"Bell, welcome to East-Berlin!"

"Bellamy Petrov...needs to die!"

"Ouch..." I growled at hearing those voices in my head...West-Berlin...East-Berlin...the Perseus safehouse...D8...I know where it is...I can go there...but how?...I need to get out...I can't tell them...

"You're good?" Sims' voice sounded a bit worried at the moment.

"No...got a little headache that came back," I proclaimed, lying again to him before I get my head up...suddenly feeling a wet thing on my left hand...something going down on the left part of my nose...blood.

"Aw shit, you're bleeding from the nose," Sims affirmed, looking at me with curiosity. "Should be something that I should have seen closer before," He said, examinating my nose closely before he got up from his chair, me moving my hands to pressure my nose and stop the blood to flow down. "Get on your bed, I'll get what I need in the bag," He advised and I nodded as he turned around to reach his bag.

"Okay," I complied to it and slowly getting up before...before...I saw an opportunity here...it was maybe my only chance to get out and...try to reach that safehouse on the other side of the town by my own...why...I need to tell them...no...I need to kill...Bellamy...Petrov...Stitch...Wraith...they all need to die...

I got up from the chair, closing my nose with my hands before I got them off it, looking around for something to grab and the only thing I saw...big enough was the chair near me...and without any choices in front of me, impossible to back down, I decided to get my hands on the chair and to slowly advance at Sims, kneeled down on his bag to take what he needed and then...without no hesitation from me and...I prepared myself and give a big hard blow with the chair behind Sims back, hurting him enough on his back that he immediately fall down unconscious...

At first, I was afraid of what I have done, just having hit a friend in the back like this...because...I don't know...but it was too late to back down on what I have just did to him...he was still breathing but the strike was enough to get him out, leaving me alone to...go...leave this place to...get my revenge on those Perseus wankers...Bellamy Petrov, Stitch, Wraith...they need to die, I heard it, I need to do it now...no matter what and even if my friends are up here...no, I'll do it alone...I'm...I'm a Riggs, my father told me that...

"Shit...sorry...Had to take this," I then decided to bend down and steal Sims jacket & hat for myself after removing by force the bandage around my head, putting those clothes on me and not forgetting to take his gun along with his keys and then, once I was ready, it was time for me to do the impossible... "I need to go to East-Berlin..D8...Perseus safehouse..." I talked to myself, closing the blue jacket I just put on with Army insignia on it and then, getting out of the cell, discovering a hallway and directly going on my left, seeing a little panel indicating a safe exit and after following that path, I arrived to a door...leading to the outside...a big rain falling...and a little view of the city from here...I then started to run away...

Bellamy Petrov...Stitch...Wraith...they need to die...East-Berlin...D8...¨Perseus...They need to die...

[lovingthereign25]

Never say Goodbye

Part 7

Baby, I got to go Jules  is here crying" I lie 

"Okay Mama I love you call you later" Derek says

" I love you too," I say hanging up.

"What're you doing here?' I say

"Y/n, it's Lyndsey, she in the hospital" Joe says

"What?, Why? " I panic

"I'll explain on the way, grab your things I'll grab Noah.

Joe explain the Lyndsey passed out at work and hit her head pretty bad

"When Josh called me you automatically came to my mind, you two are closer than anything" he says placing his hand on yours.

"Thank you, I appreciate you coming to get me and Noah" I say

When I  arrived at the hospital, I was greeted by Josh and my parents telling you Lyndsey was stable but couldn't remember much and was asking for me.

"Joe can you please sit with Noah" I ask 

"Of course" he smiles, taking Noah from me.

After I saw Lyndsey, I stepped out to call Derek noticing I had a missed call from him.

"Yea Y/n, how's Lyndsey?" He asks

"She's…..wait how'd you know? I ask confused

"When you didn't answer, I called Julianna and it turns out she was at the hospital already waiting to get in touch with you, so my question is where were you?" He asks

"I was at the hotel on the phone with my husband, they sent Joe to pick Noah and I up" I say

"Yea of course, Joe ...is this always gonna be a thing Y/n?" He asks

"What? I ask

"This you and Joe shit, I thought when we got together you were over him, he was past was the past and we were the future, but now it seems there's situation with you and Joe" he says annoyed

"Derek, there is no me and Joe, we are friends, that's it and that's all" I say 

"I gotta go, the team is waiting for me" Derek says hanging up not even saying " I love you" .

*A few weeks later* 

I was sitting at home planning Noah's first birthday while he was napping when I heard our  front door open. 

"Hey," Derek says walking into the dining room where I was sitting.

"Hi," I reply looking back to the laptop screen of party supplies.

"Where's little man?" He asks

"Napping finally, his back teeth are coming in pretty bad" I say

"Damn poor kid" he says, grabbing water from the kitchen.

After a few minutes of being silent, which was nothing new in the last couple of weeks ever since Joe brought you to the hospital to see Lyndsey.

"You working?" He asked

"No, just planning Noah's party" I smile

"Without me?" He asks

"It's not official just themes he would like, places, and guest list" I explain

"I was joking Y/n, so what're we looking at here" he says sitting beside me

"Well he's into Mickey Mouse and…"  I was cut off by Derek's phone ringing

"Hold that thought"  he says looking at his phone and leaving the room.

Later that night I just finished putting Noah to bed. I went into our bedroom, Derek was on his laptop.

''Don't forget to send you mom her ticket for the he plane ride to Florida for Easter" I remind him

"Shit, I completely forgot, there's a big case in Colorado we're we wanted for,  I leave tomorrow." He sighs

"What? Derek you just got home a few hours ago." I say

"I know baby, but it's part of the job" he says 

"Fine I'll send her the ticket information, will you at least be here for Easter ?" I ask

"Can't promise anything," he says closing his laptop.

Easter had come and gone, Derek of course was still away now on a new case, spending a few extra days in  Florida I ran into an old friend  who wanted me to design her wedding dress and bridesmaids dresses. Of course I accepted, she also told me about a small boutique her fiance's mom was selling.

" I immediately thought of you, and how incredible it would be for to to be able to sell your designs, Y/n you're so talented everyone should see it " she smiles

"Awe, thanks Trish I'll definitely think about it, this would be a dream come true for me to have my own shop" I smile

When I arrive back home Derek is already home, he takes Noah as I grab our bags bringing them into the house.

"How was the case?' I ask

"Exhausting, miss my boy" he smiles at Noah"

"Oh, yea thanks, I missed you too" I joke

"Like you didn't have a good ole time in Florida, I'm sure Joe was around" he says

"What the hell's that supposed to mean?' I ask

"Nothing forget it" he says 

" Derek, how long are you gonna keep throwing what I did with Joe up in my face, I've apologized countless times, I don't know what else to do'' I say

" Make a decision our family or Joe" he says

"You're not serious, Derek that's crazy" I laugh 

"I am serious Y/n, Noah and I or Joe" he say again

"Derek, you and Noah are my life, there's nothing between Joe and I, he's  my past like your exes are your past" I say stepping closer to him

"Good, whatta say we go out to eat, just the two of us, I'll see if moms can keep Noah" he smiles kissing my head

All I did was not, trying to register how in the hell I was gonna cut all ties to Joe.

At dinner I tell Derek about running into Trish, about her wedding and the shop.

"Congratulations sweetheart, but how are you gonna run a shop in Florida from Virginia" he asks

" That's the problem, I'll to be in Florida until I get the shop fully staffed and running properly" I say

Just as Derek is about to speak I get a awful pains in my abdomen hitching over in pain

"Y/n, are you okay?Baby Girl talk to me"  Derek says but I can't answer the pain is too unbearable. 

Next thing I know I wake up in the hospital. 

Derek and I lost our baby.

*October 2016*

Noah's birthday was emotional, and wonderful. Derek's sister Desiree, Lyndsey and I planned the most amazing sesame street birthday party. 

All of my family and Derek's family came to celebrate our favorite boy. 

I had rented a house in Tampa, so I can be close to the shop and my family. Derek flies down as often as he can. The shop is coming along great, I hired a few girls to help run the shop, and Lyndsey is  the manager.  I was setting up a manikin with a gorgeous sun dress I had recently designed when I heard a tap on the window.

I look up seeing Joe.

"Hey stranger how's it going?'' he smiles

"Hi, yeah sorry been a little distracted" I smile.

I know what you're thinking, but I couldn't do it, I couldn't cut all ties with Joe he meant to much to me, and after talking to Lyndsey she had suggested that I tell Derek what he wants to hear and pretend to cut all ties with Joe but really I would be discreet about still being friends with him.

"I see that, the shop is coming along nice, oh by the way this is for my buddy Noah, sorry I missed the party" he smiles handing me a gift bag.

"Joe you didn't have to" I say

"I wanted too" he says 

"Thank you" I smile 

"Hey," Joe says grabbing my hand." Sorry to hear about the baby, if you need anything I'm here,"

"Thank you, that means a lot," I say .

"Oh, before I go I'll have Jojo this weekend, she's been bugging me to see Noah..maybe we can set something up?' he asks

"Yeah of course, I'll call you" I say .

*March 2017* 

The shop was getting more business that I could ever imagine, I was originally supposed to give up the rental house a few months ago but with the business I had to postpone that plan, Derek helps when he can, which hasn't been very often so I left Lyndsey in charge of the shop and Noah and I headed to Virginia to see Derek. 

"Y/n, what brings  you here?" Erin Derek's boss asks as I enter the office with Noah.

"Hi, Erin, just came to surprise Derek" I smile 

"He got so big, looks just like you and Derek, and he's in his office" she smiles 

I knock on Derek's door.

"Come in" I hear him say

As I enter in, I see Derek at his desk and a blonde woman sitting in a chair in front of his desk.

"Sorry I didn't know you were busy we can wait" I say

"No Y/n, it's fine we were just finishing up paperwork on a case come in… and this Nina she's a new team member here."  He says

"Hi" I greet her

"Nina this is my wife Y/n, and our son Noah" he smiles picking up Noah

"Hi, Derek he's adorable!'' she smiles

Derek takes Noah and I for lunch 

"So how'd you like Nina?" He asks

"She's nice" I say cutting Noah's food

"Glad you like her, she's my new partner" he says

"Wait what about Kevin?'' I ask

"He's out on leave, and with no given date on his return I asked for Nina" he says

"Hold on, you asked for her?, And why was that?" I ask 

"She's a great cop, she basically ran a whole unit in Colorado" he shrugs

"Reassign her'' I say

"What? Y/n are you crazy?" He snaps

"No, I'm not crazy. I saw the way she looked at you Derek" I say

"Y/n, come on you're being ridiculous" he says

"Are you sleeping with her?" I ask

"What? Y/n this is nuts!" He says

"Answer me, there was a big case in Colorado was there?, You went to meet her, are you sleeping with her Derek" I almost yell

"Y/n, I think we need to discuss this his at home" he says .

"No, Derek I don't we do..I think I just got my answer" I say grabbing Noah and walking out of the restaurant.

[fascinatingbonanza]

Bonanza chronology

(so far, which is the first 5 seasons)

As someone quite interested in history, I always enjoy stories set in the past and I always like to know when exactly in the past they are set. So recently I found myself trying way to much to figure out when does "Bonanza" actually take place. And It seems to be a far more difficult problem than I initially thought. But here's what I've got so far, after watching 5 seasons.

But then, as I was watching the series episode after episode, I quickly realised, that this 'canonical chronology' is bullshit and that time in "Bonanza" works in mysterious and extremely convoluted ways.

Generally the series takes place roughly somewhere in the 1860s. The first half of the decade to be a bit more precise, somewhere right before and during the American Civil War (something that is occasionally brought up in the episodes). That's literally what wikipedia says. However, as I dived a little into the fanpages and whatnot, I discovered that there seems to be a some sort of a more specific, canonical, chronology that basicly says that the pilot ("A Rose for Lotta") is set in 1859, then the first season is 1860, the second - 1861, the third - 1862 and so on.

(To be honest, that's quite cool actually, because it would mean that the series takes place exactly 100 years before it's premiere)

To realize that the canonical chronology just doesn't apply to the actual show, you only have to watch the first two seasons, where some episodes have literally a written year at the beginning.

We have it in season's one "San Francisco":

And that's ok, I mean, yeah, the first season (supposedly set in 1860) is coming to an end and now we are getting into the next year. It makes sense.

It still makes sense in the second season where we have "The Courtship", again with a date at the beginning:

Don't know why would they say it again, but all right, it's still 1861, no problem here.

And then, just two episodes later, comes "Bank Run" with this audacity:

What on earth happened here??? They just totally skipped 1862 and now we're a year later, with no explanation or a reason. And that's the moment when you realize that there is no such thing as 'linear chronology' in "Bonanza".

Especially when you also take into account all those stories involving real historical figures which were quite often in the first season. Sometimes the show just doesn't really care about historical facts and for example Lotta Crabtree (from "A Rose for Lotta") in 1859 would be only 12 years old. "The Julia Bulette story" is a bit closer to history altrough Bulette's death was changed a lot as in reality she died in 1867. Mark Twain, who appeard in "Enter Mark Twain", in reality visited Virginia City in 1863, so again, why is this a part of the first season which takes place in 1860?

Then you also have episodes which literally bring up real historical events, but they do it in such a clumsy way, that it's just painful. The one episode that strikes me the most with it is propably "A House Divided" which obviously quotes Lincoln's famous speech. Ben Cartwright even reads this speech in a brand new newspaper, but guess what, it's a speech from 1858, which is before the Comstock Lode was even discovered, so how can this whole episode be set around supplying the south with silver?! (But since it is about supplying the south with silver, I assume it must be around 1861, right at the start of the war)

After the first season "Bonanza" slowed down a bit with those 'history lessons', so in the second one there isn't really anything that could suggest any particular date (apart from "The Courtship" and "Bank Run" that I mentioned earlier). And maybe events from the second season do actually happen in 1861, as the canonical chronology would like it to.

But then comes my beloved third season, and boi oh boi, does it make an even greater mess. In "The Frenchman" the title character (apparently a reincarnation of Francois Villion) reads his last poem and starts with:

So we go back in time now? How nice. October 17th 1860, they couldn't be more explicit with it.

Towards the end of the season, we also get a little throw back to Bonanza's history lessons with "Look to the Stars" which tells a story of young Albert Michelson, future physicist and a Nobel Prize winner, who happend to live in Virginia City somewhere in the 1860s. The episode specifically focuses on his efforts to become a student at the Annapolis Naval Academy, which he started in 1869, so we can assume that this episode takes place around 1868-69. That's again a long jump in time.

The fourth season gives us even more specific dates and events to go over. First of all, right at the beginning, we have "The First Born", personally one of my very favourites, but that's not important here. The important thing is that Clay tells Joe that he was fighting in a war in Mexico:

But you know, that war in Mexico was kinda spread over time (from 1861 to 1867) so just mentioning it isn't quite enough to give us a more narrow period of time. Fortunately, Clay later tells just enough detail to do it:

So it's not all over yet, it's just that moment when the royalists won and the French took over Mexico for a while. From my very general knowlege about this I can guess that it's somewhere after 1863 then. Not much though. I like to think it's 1863 or 1864.

But all right, that may be to much guessing. Let's focus on those more obvious hints.

"The War Comes to Washoe" is one of those episodes that mention the Civil War and this time it tells a story of Nevada becoming a state. There's that voting and all, and basically it means that it's 1864, because that is when Nevade became a state (or maby 1863, because from thet voting to actually becoming a state it could've been a longer process). Just like that.

But the one episode that surprised me the most with the fact that it gives us a specific date is "The Last Haircut". And you can miss it, but right at the beginning we see an interesting banner:

So it's February 2nd, 1868... Well, that was easy. But again, a huge jump in time.

The fifth season greets us with another completely nonsensical historical figure appearance in "A Passion for Justice". From what I know, Charles Dickens never went west during his visits to America, but whatever. They wanted Charles Dickens in Virginia City so they put Charles Dickens in Virginia City. For the record, he was in America in 1842 and in 1868, so I guess we can pretend it's his 1868 visit. But still, it's just absurd.

But this season is mostly known for it's Laura and Will subplots, and you know what? We can actually precisely tell when it takes place. At the beggining of "The Waiting Game" we see Laura's husband's grave:

And look! February 20th, 1861! So that's when it all started. Later Adam says that it's been four months since Frank died, so we have June 1861. Then in "The Pressure Game" they celebrate the 4th of July, and in "Triangle" it is said that it had been a year since Adam gave Peggy her pony so now it must be around June 1862. And since at this point it all conects to Will's subplot, then "Return to Honor", "The Roper" and "The Companeros" must've happen somewhere inbetween.

Meanwhile there's also "The Prime of Life" about building the transcontinental railroad, and since we know that it reached Reno in 1868, then I guess the episode must be set somewhere right before that.

And to top it all off, in the season's finale, "Walter and the Outlaws", we get that one useless piece of information that Obie had last seen his sister in 1843, and it's been 16 years since then. So by easy maths we can say that the episode is set in 1859, just like the show's pilot.

And that's all for the first five seasons. What we get form it, is that "Bonanza" diefinietly doesn't have any chronology and that this canonical one is just right out of the blue.

To sum it up I can say that this show is just made out of random Catwright's adventures from several years and in no chronological order whatsoever. It's funny when you start to think about it and for example realise that when the Laura/Will story takes place, many of the adventures from previous seasons hasn't even happen yet.

Of course there's also four prequels that tell the stories about Ben's wives, but I think I'll leave it for some other time, because while talking about it, I would also have to talk about the ages of each Cartwright and generally it's a whole different complicated subject.

Also, if now there are episodes happening as late as 1867 and 1868, then when exactly did Adam leave the Ponderosa? Well that's something I'll have to think about while watching the 6th season. I hope there will be some answers to that.

[English isn't my first language so please excuse any mistakes. And I know there must be some.]

[littlemspeachy]

This Conversation is Getting Older and Older

Part Two of You Keep Me Waiting 

Warnings: Cursing, Mentions of Murder, A character is racist 

Word Count: 3.8K (Yup y’all are getting more to read)

Draco stares at where Hermione was once stood and sighed before muttering a repairing spell that fixes the broken picture frame, then came organizing his notes for Yazmeen while he was out.

"Hey, Draco, it's Yazmeen. I came for your notes on the death eater case," Yazmeen announced, peeking into his office.

Draco shot the younger girl a smile. "Yeah, I was getting them cleaned up for you. I know how much you hate having to work with illegible writing."

She laughs and shakes her head. "It's fine, you're fine. It's other people on this floor I have to worry about. But um.."

Draco looks up at her, an eyebrow raised.

"Nevermind, I'll talk to you when you get back."

Draco nods and hands over his revised notes. "Take good care of them. They're the only kind."

"I'm pretty sure that I can read your actual notes. But thank you anyway."

Draco smiles at her and watches her leave before grabbing his things and following after her.

"You know, for such a smart wizard, I came in here easily." She says coldly.

Draco pauses in his living room, unsure how to start the conversation.

"Daphne, I made it sure you could come in."

"You need to sign them," Daphne says, pulling a pen from her purse and setting it down on the divorce papers laid out before her.

"Not before my father dies," He responded, voice tight.

"I don't really care about your feelings about your father, and he's practically a shell of a human anyway. Why do you think he's back at the manor?" She shot back, staring pointedly at Draco.

Draco stays quiet because she's right: His father doesn't do anything but look outside to the garden, and he isn't improving his mother's health either in fact, she's gotten worse because of his father being back/ He was thinking of killing him, but after working in law enforcement he wasn't sure how that was going to work.

"Just sign the papers. This isn't for you; it's for me, so get over yourself." Her voice annoyed at how long this situation was taking her.

He sighs because she was right: He was being selfish. Making them stay married even though they haven't been in the same room for longer than 10 minutes in the past 8 years unless it was an event that was centered around his mother. So he walks over to sign the papers.

"Your mother misses you, you know, and she wants an explanation."

Draco pauses the signing of his last mane to look at the woman in front of him before he goes back to signing his last name.

"I don't know why you continue to visit her."

"Because at least one of us to maintain the image of a proper person. We all can't go running around like children on the playground."

Draco rolls his eyes equally as annoyed at his now ex-wife. "Listen, here're the documents, just send me an owl with a court date, and I'll make sure to be there."

Daphne just sighed and slipped the papers into her purse, and leaves through the front door. "You need to talk to her. Also, I poured out the tea. It was getting old.

Draco simply stares at her leaving, leaving his house and his life.

Maybe it was better this way.

He steps out of Hermione's fireplace and into a living room. A room that he knew way too well for simply being fuckbuddies with her roommate.

"I thought you had better wards up 'mione." A familiar voice commented from the other room.

"I did. It was Yazmeen who let him in." Hermione said, watching Draco step out of her fireplace. Fred followed her gaze and watched as Draco got reacquainted with the apartment. Draco noticing their gaze on him.

"Are you two just going to stare at me? If so, I could've met you at the train station," Draco commented, annoyed.

Fred laughs. "Some people never change. I'll see you when you get back," Fred said, smiling at the brown-skinned woman. He pauses at the door. "Keep her safe, Malfoy."

That, for some reason, catches him off guard, but he manages to get out a quick, yeah.

Hermione watched Fred leave before turning back to the blond-haired man who has moved out of her living room.

"You ready to go? I need to call a cab." Hermione asked.

"Yeah, I'm good. Don't know about you, though... Seemed a bit preoccupied." He shrugs, back turned away, looking at some artwork on the wall.

Hermione doesn't validate the statement and instead goes to call a cab. "One is in the area, and it'll be here in about 3 minutes."

Draco doesn't respond, so they exist in silence before Hermione asks, "You've been here plenty of times.. You don't stay over like you used to?"

Draco turns quickly to face the curly-haired woman. "Yeah, unlike like some of us, we have work to do."

"Now, what the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"It's obvious half your stuff isn't here, and with Fred being over, I'm going to assume it's at his place?"

All Hermione does is glare before going to look outside to her window. She notices the yellow cab outside, and instead of telling him of the new development, she simply grabs her bag and leaves but unfortunately for her, Draco is a smart man, and he quickly follows after her.

The ride to the train station is filled with tension and silence. Draco likes to think that he wondered if he overstepped a boundary, but then he remembered that he could care less about how he picked at her sex life. If she wanted to do that to him, he could do the same to her. But due to that pettiness, nobody spoke until they were on the train and even then, there wasn't much talking done.

"How are you?"

Hermione glares at him from her seat before rolling her eyes, annoyed at the question "You left me Draco,"

"You left me too; this wasn't a one-person thing,"

"So when were you going to tell me you were married?"

"I wasn't then, and I'm not now."

"Tell that to the gossip magazines."

"Tell that to the gossip magazines that wrote back to back articles about you and Krum? Since when did you listen to them? Also, when did you start caring for me outside of the bedroom?"

"I don't know but stop asking like you weren't the one knocking on my door at first."

The silence informs them both that neither of them have been good. Not that they were ever good, especially not back in college. Running to each other to find something familiar only to go back to hating each other the next day. That's what made the sex good, they both think. Too much passion made anything feel good during the moment, but it's in the morning that you have to wonder whether it was really worth it.

"So are you with him now? You hop from one ginger dick to another?

"Oh, I didn't know you were ginger, and it seems like we're both following patterns."

That one shuts him up because he realizes that he hasn't changed and only moved on to her intern, whose skin looks like the woman's sitting in front of them when the sun hits it just right.

"Also, I don't mind you having sex with Yazmeen, but having sex with every black woman in our office is.... A bit suspicious."

Draco doesn't know how to respond to the claim, so he simply changes the topic "Are you going to Harry's wedding?"

Hermione's eyes snap from the blond man to the window across from him. "Of course, I'm the maid of honor."

Draco isn't really surprised by the admission, "What an Honor. But you know it's surprising that she gave birth before being married."

"Not really.. Might have been going at it for a while, but unlike you, he can stay committed."

"What are you so mad at me for?"

"I don't know?  How about we start with the fact that you left Daphne right after getting married, only to start sleeping with me 3 months later. And then lying to her about it. She thought you loved her; I mean, sure, we all knew it wasn't going to last. But she wanted to at least make it work. But there we were fucking in the backseat while she was in the store."

"Listen, it takes two, don't pretend like you're innocent." He shot back-way too quickly for a man who wanted to seem unaffected from the claims.

"That would be a good claim, but there you were in my bed way past time for you to go, talking to me about the future and how uncertain you were and all that other bullcrap only for you to be in a dedicated marriage. It'd be a bit different if you both didn't give a damn."

Draco sat in silence because she was right. Always right.. Never wrong. Never wrong in the classes they were and certainly never wrong about the life they lived

"Well, we're getting a Divorce... to legalize the situation."

Hermione glares at him. "So that's what makes this better? A divorce after what? 5 years?"

Draco wants to say yes, but after knowing the woman sitting next to him for the past 18 years, he knows a warning sign he sees one, so he drops the subject.

They both know that they'll need to talk about this again, and they didn't need to read tea leaves for that. But just like tea, it can only steep for so long before becoming bitter, or maybe they were past that stage, and it just needed to be poured out.

The train comes to their stop, and they go to a cab that was already waiting for them; they both think that even though Sanchez is annoying and strict, he still knows how to be hospitable if hospitable meant a very homely looking hotel.

"Is this it? The place we're supposed to be staying?" Draco asked, voice full of disgust.

"Yea, this was the address given to me by Sanchez."

Hermione and Draco stared at the small white and brown homely inn that looked like its been around since the dark ages.

"Let's go. It's only a night." Hermione whispered, giving a nudge to Draco.

They climb out of the car and were preparing to go in before the driver rolled down the window. "I'm going to be here by 6 tomorrow evening to take you back to the train station and if need to floor just tell the lady at the desk and she'll help you. Good Luck."

They nod before walking in and realizing that the inside looks exactly like the outside. Homely and cold-one of the great perks of being in a city next to the water.

"Check-in for Sanchez," Hermione said, smiling at the hostess.

Draco stayed in the back and looked around, hoping to see something that would indicate the age of this inn, but unfortunately, nothing stood out but a pattern in one of the supporting beams.

"Hey, got the key," Hermione says, jingling the key in his face before walking down the hallway where the supposed hotel room was.

"15, 25, 35, and 45 is the lucky number."

"Why are the doors numbered like that?"

"I don't know you're the pureblood you tell me,"

Draco rolls her eyes at her response. "Why the hell would I know that?"

"The wizarding world is a weird place, and rich kids are supposed to be cultured," Hermione joked before seeing their bedding situation. "Of fucking course, how brilliant."

Draco was confused by her sudden change of tone until he saw what she was talking about: One bed.

One medium-sized bed in a room that was freezing cold.

As Draco starts to say something, Hermione cuts him off. "Listen, we can talk about this later," Hermione sighs before setting down her bag. "I'll go down and call us a cab to the station."

Draco watches her walk away with only her purse, confused as to why she never lets him talk. But he dismissed the thought when he casted a quick charm to keep their bags safe.

They get to the station and head over to sign in at the front desk "Officer Granger and Officer Malfoy is here to talk to... Your head officer, officer Pearce I believe, is the name, about the recent killings." Hermione says confidently while leaning slightly on the wooden desk.

"Why does he look so confused?" an officer asks while coming up behind the secretary that was checking her computer for confirmation.

"Listen, he doesn't do fieldwork; he does office stuff. This is his first time. Give him a break," Hermione confides, laughing slightly at the Blond man's facial expression.

The officer laughs and checks the computer that shows the confirmation. "Alright, let me check your IDs, and I'll get you guys back there." Draco and Hermione gave their IDs to the officer, and he nods that suggests they follow him to the back.

"Have you seen any pictures of the body? or any of the bodies?" Draco asks. He hasn't seen a dead body since the war, and even though it's been 10 years, the sight of them still can keep him up for days. He wonders how Harry moved on. He thinks he should ask him.

"No, we were only asked to get the statement from the old lady, and even then, it's a bit spotty."

"Well, can you fax a copy to our office so that we have a hard version in London? We're not going to take long." Hermione says, her voice more determined than usual.

"Yeah, I can do that for you. Alright, here's his office, by the way, he doesn't like this kind of stuff, so... You gotta be smart." The officer they were following says before knocking on a door that had the name of Anthony Pearce.

"Come in." A baritone voice commands from behind the door.

"Alright, good luck."

Hermione and Draco give the optimistic officer a nod before heading into the office.

"Hello Officer Pearce, we are investigators sent from London to talk to you about the report that was given to you after a recent murder against a young woman," Draco says, looking around the office before landing on the officer's face.

Hermione thinks that the officer looks like one of the men from Mama Mia.

"So when did they start sending in young ones with fancy outfits to deal with murder cases?" He inquired before lighting a cigarette.

"We aren't dealing with the murder it's self we're just trying to find out about the... uh.. designs being left on the bodies of the victims. I'm officer Malfoy, and this is my partner Granger." Draco shoots back at the man. He knew they were young for their field; there was no denying that, but they were good at their jobs, and there will be no one that questions that, muggle or not.

Officer Pearce raises a brow before tapping his cigarette into the ashtray. "Is that so? If you're only dealing with the designs, why do you want the lady's statements?"

"We want her statements because she was the last one to talk to the lady that was most recently killed, and she could possibly tell us some information that could help us understand what's going on," Draco responds with a slight huff.

Hermione rolled her eyes at Dracos body language 'how immature. You don't hold any power out here, pretty boy.'

"If that's the case, I could've just sent the report to your office. Why come all the way here for something we could've faxed you?" The older man responds, a demeaning edge to his voice.

"Because we're going to interview the woman tomorrow, and since we were in the city, we decided to question you directly. But if you don't want to comply, I can and will have you arrested for obstruction of justice." Hermione responds, a clear tone of annoyance in her voice.

Pearce stares at Hermione and then looks at Draco. "You should keep her around; she gets stuff done. And I'll get you the interview report, and I can't tell you anything because I didn't conduct it and what was said was nothing out of the usual... But I have received some pictures of the, uh, drawings." He says before going through a drawer and bringing out a manila folder.

"Can we look at them?" Hermione asked softly.

"I can make you a copy," He says, putting out his cigarette before heading over to the printer. "Now, why'd you come here? These murders have been happening for a while."

"It's because our office thought these were stand-alone cases. It's London.. And unfortunately, people get killed all the time." Hermione says slowly, making her seem sadder than she actually was.

"Understandable, but Liverpool does have its crime.. Luckily we're not in the city, so it's a bit easier for us." Pearce says before handing Draco the first page.

"If you don't mind me asking... Why were you so resistant to us knowing the information?" Draco asked, passing the page to Hermione.

"Because whoever is doing this is getting off scot-free. And they're sick cunts too. Imagine, instead of just killing the bloke, you carve patterns into their skin. I tell ya it's some of them, refugees."  Pearce says, handing them the next two copied pages.

Hermione looks up from the pictures. "Sir, this is obviously not Arabic. And it's interesting that a cop that is supposed to serve his community has those kinds of feelings for the people he's supposed to be protecting."

"Nah, none of them live around here, and a good thing too. Don't want them to be committing crimes and stuff." Pearce says, walking back to his desk and lighting another cigarette.

Draco noticed the fist tightly wrapped around the paper before speaking up. "Thank you for your time here, sir... If we hear anything thing new, we'll make sure to let you know."

Pearce simply nods before going off into his own world as they left.

"What a fucking bigot." Hermione angrily whispered. Draco stayed silent shocked at the bluntness of the officers' rudeness, but then he realized that his father was the same towards muggles.

They walked to the front and thanked the secretary, and then went to an empty-looking coffee shop across the street.

"My father was like that, wasn't he?" Draco asks while they were sitting down in their chosen seats.

Hermione looks up from the small menu provided at their table. "You think?"

Draco drops the subject before reaching over and grabbing the files.

"How may I help yous?" A bubbly waitress asked Hermione, almost completely ignoring Draco.

"I would like a cup of coffee, straight please." Hermione says with a smile that makes the younger girl blush.

"And I would like a cup of earl grey and some of the strongest stuff you have." Draco says dryly.

The waitress doesn't respond but jots the items down. "That'll be right out."

Draco watches the waitress retreat to behind the bar. "What the hell was that about?"

"Aww, are you mad that you didn't get attention?" Hermione teasingly giggled while picking up her well used legal pad.

Draco didn't respond.

"Hey, Malfoy, do you work with still work with ruins, or are your college years being wasted on artifacts?" Hermione asks, laying out the pictures in front of her.

"Mainly artifacts and studying the charms people put on them," He responds before the waitress came over.

"Here is your drink and alcohol, and your drink, ma'am, is still being made." The waitress says in a light, bubbly tone.

Hermione nods in recognition, but her brows stay furrowed in concentration.

The waitress leaves before Draco speaks up again, clear liquid in hand.

"Don't drink that right now," Hermione says, quickly looking up and snatching the glass of clear liquid. She sniffs if before confirming. "It's moonshine.. That's some powerful stuff, and if you want to coherent while researching, then I suggest you leave that for later." Hermione informs before pulling out an empty flask.

Draco looks at her curiously before pouring the clear liquid into the flask.

"Look, they didn't die graphically. There's no blood if that what you're worried about." Hermione says, looking up at the blond across from her.

"No..That's- I just.. If something big happens when we're on this case, we're going to become much more than researchers, and I just- I left the field for a reason, and I really don't care to be put back in. I was perfectly fine at my desk and perfectly capable of what I was doing."

Hermione looks at him deeply at him before looking back down at the ruins. "That's wonderful to know, and I understand I really do, but we've been working under Sanchez since our internships. And I know that he's smart enough not to let his head researchers go into the field blindly just to get killed. He knows we can handle ourselves out here. Meaning you gotta start trusting yourself. Plus, after this, we'll probably get a nice vacation offering once we're done, so suck it up and let's figure this out before more people die."

Draco sips on his tea, considering the words of the intelligent woman in front of him.

"Here's your coffee, ma'am... Buy the way it's on the house." The waitress interrupts, setting down the requested coffee.

Draco rolls his eyes at the "sincere" action before grabbing his wallet and handing the young woman 100 pounds. "Keep the change."

Hermione gawks at the exchange but doesn't voice her comment until the woman goes away.

"Do you know how much money that is?"

Draco sends her a confused look before replacing his wallet with his glasses. "All right, what are we looking at."

"Well, firstly, you're starting to look like Harry for one. I get you both are basically office mates but geez. And secondly, I think it's Egyptian. Like something found in tombs, but then there's more stuff that I can't really think of... Maybe Mayans?"

Draco grabs a pictured and stares before shaking his head. "Possibly, but there seems to be a mix of several curses among the charms. Those are most certainly from Egypt, and that's probably how the doctors died," He says before grabbing another picture. "Yeah, because they look like hieroglyphics, and so they decoded them and then cursed themselves. But how he got them on the body is what's' really confusing."

Hermione nods before asking, "Don't you have tea with you?"

"Yeah, but I know it's cold, and so I got a new cup."

A new cup indeed.