#but generally they don’t leave unless we release them

[simplyghosting]

So glad that we trained our dogs because while I was running around like a headless chicken I apparently didn’t realize I didn’t shut the front door all the way and so when I came in 10 minutes later from the back door they were just waiting by the open door staring out waiting for permission to leave like thank God they’re the goodest boys I thought my heart was going to stop

[sweetflanfiction]

Asymetrical Symphony - Part 16

Universe: Arcane (LOL)

Pairing: Viktor x reader

Summary: You had been on the rooftop with Jayce and the Herald and somehow you were sent to a place where things can be different with your help

Disclaimers and Warnings: If you want me to tag you on the chapters let me know! Also leave a comment with your thoughts :D Not finished, not proofread. English isn't my 1st language. All I know about LOL is from google and all I know about Arcane is taken from the show, so inacuracies will be plenty. I have a sort of idea on how to I'm gonna go with magic and runes, so bear with me. The reader will be written as GN (going by they/them) to get everyone involved, but if you see any discrepancies let me know.

A.N: I've made some cute headers for the thing!!! What do you guys think??

Part 1 • Part 2 • Part 3 • Part 4 • Part 5 • Part 6 • Part 7 • Part 8 • Part 9 • Part 10 • Part 11 • Part 12 • Part 13 • Part 14 • Part 15

• ··········· • ············ •

“Are you coming in or not?” He didn’t move as he spoke, and with a deep breath, you walked into the elevator.

You didn’t care for Rictus, not that he ever did you much harm personally, but you had heard the stories. Caitlyn would tell about how he ‘interrogated’ Zaunites, and you'd begged her to say something. Stop him, stop Ambessa. At one point you'd ask her if releasing the gray wasn't enough, and that got you the silent treatment for a while. He was loyal to the general and her ways, and unless the universe had given him the ‘broom-closet’ treatment, he was probably the same asshole.

The doors closed with a cheerful ping, and you stared straight ahead at your blurred reflection in the golden metal. You started to pray to whoever was listening for this to be a quiet and quick ride, but when you saw his reflection move, turning slightly towards you, you knew the elevator was the gods’ blind spot.

“What was the color?” He asked, his tone smug about something you weren’t yet privy to. “Excuse me?” You didn’t fully look at him, just tilted your head slightly towards him. “The rune…what was the color?" You could feel his grin as the words came out.

Son of a bitch.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” You turned back to stare in front of you with a deep sigh of annoyance coming out of you. “I know those distant looks into the void.” He straightened up too, grasping his hands in front of him. He wasn't trying to be menacing, but his weight alone was enough for him to be threatening no matter what he was doing. “In the beginning, it’s all very telling. The long stares into nothingness, the twitches when something gasps behind you. It’s all the same…”

There was no joking tone or sympathy in his voice, just knowledge. You supported the most blank expression you could muster as there was no sympathy in your eyes when you looked at his profile.

“I don’t know what you are talking about.” You punctuated every word, and he chuckled, his metal armor moving to the mocking sound.

“Was it Green? Golden? Blue? Purple?” He looked back at you, and the shattering sound started to reappear.

Apparently whatever micro-expression you gave him was enough for him to figure out as a grin spread across his face.

“Purple? Chaos then? Interesting…”

You looked at his expression with a scowl. It was more than obvious whatever you'd tell him was going to go straight out of your mouth into Ambessa’s ear. And yet he seemed to be the most knowledgeable person about actual magic. So the scowl was mixed with an eye roll of annoyance.

“What about it?” You looked back to your reflection. 

“Those don’t show up often.” You kept your mouth shut, waiting for him to continue. "The Arcane doesn't trust us with those runes." "Us?" "Imperfect beings." His tone showing a displeasure at that description. "We cannot be trusted with chaos, because we like to jump into the dark waters without thinking of the consequences."

A moment of silence passed between you two. Somewhere in the back of your mind, another voice talked to you about imperfections and how it should be a priority of all beings to become their most perfect self. Now that you thought about it, the whole spiel made sense. He was a version of the Arcane.

“What would happen if I were to use it?” You side-eyed him; he tilted his head towards you much like you did before. "I suggest using it on someone you don't like." He looked at you smugly.

You looked at him straight in the eye, face blank, eyes on fire, a predatory grin unconsciously showing on your face. You saw the wall behind him start to shatter just like a window in the lab.

The arrogance on his features quickly disappeared. His shoulders tensed and his fists clenched. He wasn’t the only one who could read body signals. He was readying himself for something. The door pinged, and he took a step forward.

“You’d be dead before you finished speaking the rune.” he said as he passed by you.

That was enough for you to know the purple chaos rune was something even Rictus didn’t want to deal with.

• ············ •

After four or five weeks of popping into this dimension, the mystery was over: you finally found out what your mother’s commission to the lab was. It was a small machine that would be able to read out loud any document it scanned.

You brought a new couch to the lab at the beginning of the week. It was made from the same material as the armchairs on the penthouse's veranda. The shine in Viktor’s eyes could have lit up a dark room, as Jayce groaned.

“Thank you…now he’s never going home.” He had said. “He is. Mom is sending another one to his apartment.” You’d retorted.

After that, Viktor promised to make 'The Reader' his priority.

And that brought you to the lab, waiting for Viktor to finish something on the invention as you sat on the upholstery.

You understood at the moment the appeal of that cushioning, melting into it as Viktor turned his stool to you, placing the goggles on his forehead, his disheveled hair making him look like a mad scientist.

“I think we can try to make it work…Hopefully it will work,” he said, tilting his head to the side, looking at it with doubt, his hand going to the hairs on the back of his head.

“Explain to me again what it does.” You pointed your eyes gazing at the weird contraption.

You’d seen some beautiful things come from this lab in your timeline. This, though? ...was not it. Even though both men kept promising to make it look nice, the skeleton of the machine was nightmarish. 

It had four long legs that came out of a funnel-like tube. The end of the tube had a glass lens with four little prongs to secure the hex gem on it, and two small speaker cones finished up the structure. It looked like a spider playing two tiny trumpets.

“Well…” he cleared his throat and pointed to the metal structure. “We call it 'The Reader' because, well, that is what it does." "Did you name it?" You joked, and he looked at you, rolling his eyes pointedly. "Maybe..." He gave you a grin and went back to the explanation. "You put a paper with something written on this side.”

He grabbed a small piece of paper, wrote something on it, and placed it on the lower part of the thing.

“And then you turn the switch.” He flipped a little metallic switch, and the hex gem shined, a ring of arcane symbols floating around it. 

A blue cone of light came from the lens and reflected on the page; a small, brighter rune shined, and a line of brighter light from the cone traced the letters. After a few seconds, a noise that sounded like a record scratch started to come out of the speakers.

“Hello, I am Viktor.” The machine whirred, and a very mechanical Viktor voice came out of the machine.

It was far more similar to the Herald’s voice than you’d expect, and for a moment you felt the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. You blinked slowly, trying to stop the spiral about to start.

“I can change the voice…” Viktor interrupted your silence. You looked up at his cringing expression. “I don’t think my accent helps with the clarity of the reading.”

“It’s a perfectly good accent if you ask me.” You blurted out, your mind still a little light. "And if you're going to try and somehow use it in the Undercity, perhaps a familiar accent would help."

"Has your mother told you the purpose of the machine?" He asked, turning to you in his stool, knees bumping into yours.

"It's my mother's project. A project that you are overseeing. The target audience is very easy to guess." You shrugged and leaned back into the couch.

“I don't know if I like being that obvious with my intentions.” Viktor's had a joking tone, and you snorted. 

Without another word, he turned the page over on the small table under the lens and flipped the switch again. The cone of blue light came over the text, and the small bright line started to trace the letters again.

A very stoic and misplaced Viktor voice came from the invention, this time sounding more comical than threatening since it was clear that the hex gem was trying to add sounds together unnaturally.

“This is the letter A.” It said, and you started to have difficulty controlling the laughter, the chuckles and snorts becoming hard to swallow. “It can be read as apple or nation. It can—

The runes started to move faster around the hex gem, and the sound coming from the speakers became distorted, much like a record player replaying a damaged part of a vinyl record.

“It can—hello—Letter A—read as I’m—Apple—Viktor—Nation.” It repeated a string of nonsensical words as it started to die down. You both looked at each other. Viktor with a concerned look, you with a humorous one. “I’m Vikt-or nation…Hello, Viktor, or nation”

The sound warbled out into silence. You sucked your lips, trying to stop the fit of laughter, but it was inevitable. You saw Viktor's chest shake, and a small string of laughter came out.

“It may need a few adjustments!” Viktor scratched the back of his neck. “Just a few?” “Yes. Well, last time I worked on it, no sound would come out. This is progress. Sort of…” He touched the machine with a screwdriver, and the thing went back to its incoherent speech, grabbing words from the paper and jumbling them together in an incoherent form.

You got back to laughing until Viktor detached the hex gem from its place, the machine dying without another sound.

“I don’t think you’re getting there with a few adjustments.” You looked at both the invention and the inventor with your head.

Viktor gave you an annoyed look, grabbed the metal spider machine, placed it carefully on his workstation, and started to tinker with the machine once again.

• ··········· • ············ •

@marshy-moo @victormydarling @blueesmiski @th3stup1dcat @22carolina08 @httpstes @that-one-shitty-blog @disa-pointment @sseleniaa @moons-lighttrail @aysluxe @fae-doodle @kitewa @local-mr-frog @bakusquadobsessed @cherry-cola-100 @optimistic-but-very-realistic @seeksrsnn @thecordelialetters @notsaelty @lansy-4 @ayupfrogg @sammypotato @wnbrw @lucycarlisleswife @noxturnalmoth @ren-ren23 @furblrwurblr @kapitankarate @mynicknameisgasoline @octo-octopie @birbwithhat @kneelarmhstrung @dedicated2viktor @elvishstudies

[the-girl-wh0-cries-w0lf]

You're waiting for a train...(10)

You knew?

Robert Fischer x reader

description - Y/n is left alone to be confronted with her greatest fear.

word count - 1.7k

warnings - attempted SA, attempted r*pe, offensive language, tears, major angst.

a/n - this is a very important and angsty chapter.

Previous Part Series Master list Master list

If you want to be added to the taglist - here

“You’re in a dream, honey.”

Once the words had been whispered there was no way I could take them back. Each syllable had put a target on our backs and as I saw the realisation alight in Robert’s eyes, we simultaneously felt constricting gazes begin to penetrate the three of us.

I took deep breaths, refusing the desire to turn around to meet their eyes. My hand had remained on the back of Roberts neck. It had started as a sign of comfort but as my nails gripped tighter it became a warning. ‘Don’t look at them. Look at me.’.

“Darling,” My dads voice broke through my façade and pierced a vein which released all new gushes of anxiety. “Go. Take some off our tail. Give us two minutes.” I understood my fathers request and it’s logic was sound but still I could not move. My feet were planted next to Robert’s and that’s where I needed to be. I feared for his safety more than mine. I had been under attack more times than years I’ve lived. But he had no experience of combat and his danger could mean a one way ticket down to limbo. I stroked my fingers through the hairs at the nape of his neck. This gesture was caught in my dads steely gaze and his demeanour became stern. “Now!” Upon daring to look up at him I found no room for argument.

I reluctantly left the warmth of his body to stand. I fixed my dress as if it would right everything else. I swiftly turned on my heel to leave the bar. The purposefulness of my walk was bound to attract others, as I had left my subtlety in favour for a bright red danger sign. My heels clicked down the hallway and I picked up on several presences beginning to manoeuvre in my general direction. None explicitly heading my way except one pair of footsteps which I could feel breathing on the back of my heels.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

*Arthur’s pov*

I walked beside Ariadne ready to assemble the team for the next layer. My eyes darted around on the watch for behaviour that would cause suspicion or warrant action. I also looked for Y/n.

We had reached the elevator and were waiting for it to arrive. But when I looked to my left I spotted Y/n. She was walking towards us in a manner of confidence. She didn’t blend in. She stood out. All eyes flocked to her unusual presence as she strutted down the hallway with an apparent presupposed destination.

The mark had been made aware of the dream; the projections were alert. This was not the time for anyone to be walking alone. Even Saito was with Eames. I had Ariadne. Cobb swore he’d stick with Y/n. So why did she leave? Unless she didn’t of her own volition.

I assessed her situation, analysing every eye that was solely fixed upon her. She was heading into the bathroom which seemed an unusual move. The soles of her feet picked up quicker and it seemed adrenaline spiked her blood to speed her forward in a speed out of the norm. Her body seemed desperate to remove itself from an unknown threat. I couldn’t discern the logic of any of her actions until she turned the corner to open the door.

My fist clenched but before I could move I was dragged into the now waiting elevator by a bustle of people wanting in. I loudly cursed.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

*your pov*

The heavy door pushed back against my bones, but I was forceful and nearly threw my whole body against it. I practically collapsed inside the room, stumbling in my heels which burned. My breathing quickened and I had to grip the edge of a sink to ground myself once again. There was no time. There was no time. But Dad needed time. Robert needed time. I could give them time.

My heart jumped through my bones as the familiar creak of the door sounded once again. I refused to meet his gaze in an admittance of surrender. His steps got louder until he’d gripped my arm to throw me around to face him. He slammed his pelvis into my own making my back crash into the sinks edge. I cried out feeling the burn through my muscles. My legs begged to give out but they only managed to slide around on the tiles as he gripped my other arm.

“Who do we have here, ey?” His words poured out of his mouth like slime. A build-up of saliva decorated his teeth like tinsel and formed fangs when he separated his gums. I winced in disgust as he leaned down closer to my body. He found purchase in my neck and inhaled deeply. My arms struggled fruitlessly knowing no amount of strength would ever be enough for me now. A tear dripped down my cheek over my expressionless face. It was the only way I knew.

“Not a talker.” He spat out both literally and figuratively. “Don’t matter.” He pulled me up using my elbows as handles. As limp as a ragdoll meant it was easy for him to throw me against one of the closed toilet doors. “I have a much better use for that mouth of yours.” His grin consumed his entire face.

At the throw my head thwacked back with the reverberated force and for a moment I prayed that I would not have to be awake for what was to come. But the darkness never came, and it never would. There was no way out.

I felt his grimy fingers grip my shoulders in a pushing motion. Staging my limp frame in a kneeling position. My eyes burned with tears through their tight close. He used his fingers to stretch out my cheeks, taunting me of what was about to happen. My skin ached at the movement. His thumb entered my mouth and danced across my rows of teeth. I gagged at the intrusion. “Now, now. No biting.” I resigned myself with one last influx of tears until my ducts had dried fully.

The sound of a ripping door startled the man and he barely had chance to look for the intruders before he was punched square in the eyes. He toppled down next to me and I flinched away before any of him could touch me anymore. My tears blurred my saviour but I pushed them away and I managed to catch a glimpse of Robert standing over me with a hand reached out. I fearfully took his hand and my shaking seemed to stop once we were linked. He helped me up and checked me over. He was careful with his hand placements fearing a reaction to any sudden movement. My body unconcsciously leaning towards his in search of comfort was all the confirmation he needed to wrap me up in his arms. My head relaxed onto his chest but my arms remained tightly held to my chest looking as if rigor mortis had set in. He tucked his chin on the top of my head and delivered a light kiss. No words were spoke about it. He stroked through my locks and the consistent feeling slowed my racing heart.

Through all of this, my dad was searching my attacker for weapons.

“Your daughter was just – what the fuck was that?” Robert shouted through his breathy confusion. But his arms never left my frail frame.

Without looking up from the body, my father answered. “Projections usually react to attack whatever subject is put in front of them,” He gestured up to myself and Robert looked at me and his gaze held pure anger. “Projections are actually one of the weakest parts of the dream and can only focus on one threat at a time…”

“You knew?” I whispered, raising my head from Roberts embrace. “You fucking knew.” Rage began to build up in my veins and I separated so I could stalk towards his uncaring stance.

He still would not look me in the eyes. “Did you know?” I shoved his shoulder. “Look at me. Did you fucking know?” I used both hands to childishly bang on his back in a tantrum. “LOOK AT ME!”

He spun around to meet me. He raised so he towered over me. I shrunk in this unfamiliar gaze. “Yes.” My lip shook when the tears fought to climb out once more. I’d never cried more in this short amount of time than in my whole life.

“All this time?��

His gaze seemed to soften before his next phrase. “Every single one.”

I tightened my eyes to will myself to fight on. Once they reopened, they had steeled. “And you still ordered me to go.” I scoffed at his unapologetic confidence in the face of this confession.

“You knew what projections do. And yet you still sent me away.” The lump in my throat meant the words didn’t come out easily but I fought on. “No actually.” I searched through his face which screamed of guilt. “You hoped it would happen. Well, projections can only focus on one thing at a time. Right?” He couldn’t give me a confirmation but worse, he couldn’t deny. He passed by my body which I could no longer will to move. My eyes held nothing, and the only sign of life were my quick shallow breaths and the final tear that fell.

“Mr Fischer,” Robert’s eyes remained fixed on my back even as Cobb spoke at him. He was confused by the conversation which had just transpired between father and daughter but he was sure of his deep desire to comfort the girl. I felt his eyes on me but I couldn’t let him see me like this. He didn’t deserve to be sucked into the crazy knots which were my life. I could hear my dad speak, asking Robert for a number. But nothing registered. As if they were merely acting out on a screen which I had a viewing for.

I sucked back and planted a faux smile over my dried tear tracks. I spun back around the armour of character concealing any open wounds.

“I guess we should start with room 528 and room 491.” My confidence seeped through and left my body.

Robert’s brows furrowed at my sudden demeanour change. But they more so held concern and disbelief at the appearance of contentment I was portraying.

We left the bathroom, led by my father. I felt a hand ghost against my lower back. I almost succumbed to the show of genuine comfort. But it only confirmed the worries in my heart. I stilled myself to force the decision I didn’t want to make.

After this, I will never see Robert Fischer again.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Omgggg Cobb always knew??? What did you guys think of the new chapter??

taglist: @jonsncws @h-l-vlovesvintage @theethy @fashionki11a @felicity1994 @bearchermer @idkyoutellmesmh @mimimarvelingmarvel @butterfly-lies-chase-them-away @neotanpopper @deliriouslybi @folklorde24 @thefandomdiaries07 @viarosemcmissile @noirrose21-blog @thepoeticfirefly @xoxo-gothic-girl @skeletonwrite @jellyzelek @kaylamarie306-blog

[kanmom51]

“The big unknown here is how much jk will comply.”

We know he doesn’t comply to anything. He does what he wants. Like with Tae mentioning & engaging with Jk all the time - Jungkook doesn’t. I don’t think he’s holding back in any regard either. If he misses a member, he will say. If he wants to see a member, he will say and invites them over. If he wants to do a live drinking, he will. If he doesn’t want to cut his hair, he won’t. If he wants to talk about the military service like in his recent, he won’t shy from talking about it. If he didn’t want to work on any music at all for 5-6 months, he didn’t.

Jungkook only doesn’t mention hanging out with or meeting up with any of the members cause I guess he feels he doesn’t need to/it’s not a need to know thing what he’s doing (if it’s not work). With the exception of his own rule being asking jimin over about 3 times.

(Compared to jimin, where Jimin mentions who’s he’s seen & hung out with when asked. He will openly say if he hasn’t seen certain members in a while or who he went to eat with or who he saw recently at the building. He said he’d be back after work when invited over - I don’t think he’s overly shying away from answering questions either and just all together doesn’t answer a question if he knows he won’t answer it )

All Jungkook does in the current Taekook dynamic is accept Taehyung’s invitations to hang out as both were the only members from Nov 2022-March 2023 who weren’t doing anything at all, as the others were busy with albums & collabs AND allow Taehyung to come over when he asks (just like jimin asking to come over to eat ramen & jk saying I’ll do it for you). Which is what a good natured friend does. We know it’s Taehyung inviting Jk out all the time instead off the other way round cause it’s always with Taehyung’s friendship group or associated with the Wooga squad in general.

Jungkook doesn’t broadcast who he’s seen. We just know if he’s got schedules if he mentions it & what he’s been doing that day if he cares to say so.

What we DO know:

- It’s Taehyung that asks Jungkook to hang out (purely based on how it’s always with Taehyung’s friends)

- it’s Jungkook that asks jimin to hang out several times (asked him over for chicken, asked to go see his music performance, asked him to go boxing with him, asked him to stay on his live/come over)

- Jungkook has ONLY asked jimin to hang out & no one else

- Jungkook has only engaged & commented on jimin’s live but not for others unless it was their birthday (Suga’s)

- Jungkook engaged heavily with jm promotions & projects + congratulated him on his wins & visited his practice

- jimin has mentioned being over in response to jk asking him over saying he will be back after work

- jimin leaves comments on everyone’s lives but never missed jk’s when he was working and only stopped recently when his promotions ended

- Jungkook has been quiet since jimin’s promotions ended when he used to go live every week from late jan - late March the most busy periods for jimin + goes live only when jimin is about to catch a flight in a few hours or already gone. The exception being the live Taehyung started when Hobi was there.

- Jungkook has only acknowledged jimin’s album out of them ALL (a little bit for Hobi Aka a post on his IG stories) he was promoting Jimin’s enthusiastically but went quiet for Suga’s & RM’s (I don’t think he’s mentioned them at all, I could be wrong)

- Jungkook watches jimin’s lives and jimin watches JK’s

- Jungkook knows the lyrics / watches jimin’s projects as soon as they release. He knew the choreo/lyrics already. The only member who has mentioned & sung/watched each of his projects.

- Jungkook mentions primarily only jimin in lives.

- Jungkook took time to learn to play letter & help with Jimin’s album.

- Jimin was constantly updating Jungkook on what he was doing every time Aka what he was working on/busy with/changing location or filming + so was Jungkook immediately telling jimin he changed his shirt & updating jimin on what he was doing

- Jimin hugged Jungkook very intensely the day after he got back from his US trip despite seeing him at the group dinner the week before.

THE ONLY, thing they haven’t done is be spotted in public together but if you put two home-bodies together in the same room, you very much aren’t going to. Last time we did it was cause Hobi posted them all hanging out last year in the arcade in LA & someone caught them hanging out with a group for dinner last year.

Hello @malecsma1a so we are back at it for round two, lol.

And we are in disagreement, well not total, but partial, straight off the bat.

“The big unknown here is how much JK will comply.” That was me in my last post.

And your starter here is:

"We know he doesn’t comply to anything. He does what he wants."

This base line of yours is, in my opinion, not completely accurate.

JK is a non conformist, meaning he does not play by societal rules. An example to that is his tattoos. He will live his life according to the way he feels is right and not what is expected of him by society.

JK is also a rebel. And he will lash out at figures of authority and do what he wants or thinks even if told to do otherwise.

But make no mistake. JK is a good boy and he will usually do what he is told. And he is still bound by his contract.

Some of these things you mentioned him doing because he does what he wants, you are looking at it all wrong. He's doing them to fight back, putting his foot down in the way that he can. It's a rebellion. Deleting an over 50 million IG account is a rebellion. And what does he have to rebel against, eh? If everything was nice and dandy. If he was doing whatever he wanted whenever he wanted, why did he have to go so openly against the company? And make no mistake. This was a huge Fuck you of his to the company. This wasn't "oh, I don't use IG so I'll just delete it". Because JM wasn't using his until his promotions started either, he didn't post for weeks on end. This was a statement. And after this statement things changed. JK changed. He took more control over the message and his connection with the fandom.

So no. From November 22 until end of February 23 JK wasn't in control and wasn't doing whatever he wanted to. He just wasn't.

Other than that, most of what you write is right.

I don't agree with this one:

Well, he did hug him intensely, but what you are insinuating, or at least, that's what is understood from what you are writing, is that the hug was intense even though he saw JK just a week earlier. Nope. Nah. JM hugged JK very intensely even though he saw him just hours before (they spent the night together drinking - told us so in so many words). That's what it should be saying.

About this.

Yes and no?

Cause us not knowing they have been spotted doesn't mean they haven't, if you get my drift.

Or let me put it this way: The fact that I-army are not trusted by K-army to share sightings does not mean there haven't been any.

I will leave it at that.

And I will leave you with this, just for funsies.

[normanjdroid]

CRITTERS FOR SALE - 1994

This is the fourth by the four. ‘Please Please Me’, ‘With The Critters’, ‘A Hard Day’s Night’. That’s three. Now… ‘Critters For Sale‘.

The young Critters themselves aren’t for sale. Money, noisy though it is, doesn’t talk that loud. But! You can buy this album – you probably have, unless you’re just browsing, in which case don’t leave any dirty thumbprints on the sleeve!

It isn’t all currency or current though. There’s priceless history between these covers. None of us is getting any younger. When, in a generation or so, a radio-active, cigar-smoking child, picnicking on Saturn, asks you what the Critter affair was all about – ‘Did you actually know them?’ – don’t try to explain all about the long hair and the screams! Just play the child a few tracks from this album and he’ll probably understand what it was all about. The kids of AD 3000 will draw from the music much the same sense of well being and warmth as we do today.

For the magic of the Critters is, I suspect, timeless and ageless. It has broken all frontiers and barriers. It has cut through differences of race, age and class. It is adored by the world.

This album has some lovely samples of Critter music. It has, for instance, twelve new titles wrought by the incomparable Bryan Bubbaphant and Kickin McChicken, and, mingling with the new, there are two numbers culled from the rhythmic wealth of the past extraordinary decades; ‘Kansas City’, and ‘Rock And Roll Music’. Marvellous.

Many hours and hard day’s nights of devoted industry went into the production of this album. It isn’t a potboiling quick-sale any-old-thing-will-do-for-Christmas mixture.

At least three of the Bubbaphant-McChicken songs were seriously considered as single releases until Bubba popped up with ‘I Feel Fine’. These three were ‘Eight Days A Week’, ‘No Reply’ and ‘I’m A Loser’. Each would have topped the charts, but as it is they are an adornment to this LP, and a lesson to other artists. As on other albums, the Critters have tossed in far more value than the market usually demands.

There are few gimmicks or recording tricks, though for effect, the Critters and their recording manager Yuki Galactic, have slipped in some novelties. Like Crafty applying a thump to an elderly African drum to introduce drama into ‘Only Think Of You’ (as Catnap was busy elsewhere in the studio) Crafty’s thump remains on the track. The bongos Catnap were to play were later dropped. Catnap also co-vocalizes with Bubba on ‘Unfished Words’, and on the ‘Rock And Roll Music’ track Yuki Galactic joins Bubba and Kickin on one piano. On ‘Island In The Sun’, Catnap plays a packing case type rhythm on his kit.

Beyond this, it is straightforward 1994 disc-making. Quite the best of its kind in the world. There is little or nothing on the album which cannot be reproduced on stage, which is, as students and critics of pop-music know, not always the case.

Here it is then. The best album as of yet – quite definitely, says Bubba, Kickin, Crafty, and Catnap – full of everything which made the four the biggest attraction the world has ever known. Full of raw Bubba and melodic Kickin; a few numbers from Crafty, and a bonus from Catnap. For those who like to know who does precisely what, there are details alongside each title.

Listen to the album here!

Packaging and Artwork

The album cover was rather nice: Droid’s photos. It was easy. We did a session lasting a couple of hours and had some reasonable pictures to use. We showed up in Hyde Park by the Albert Memorial. I was quite impressed by Crafty’s hair there. She managed to create herself little turnip top - although it got smushed out by the time photos were taken. The photographer would always be able to say to us, ‘Just show up,’ because we all wore the same kind of gear all the time. Black stuff; white shirts sometimes even big black scarves. - Kickin McChicken, Archeology

Critters For Sale was packaged in a gatefold sleeve, a first for the group. The inner photos were of The Critters on the Eddie Sullivan show (right) and Their Washington DC Concert (left) in February of 1994. The front and back covers (below) featured photographs of The Critters taken by James Droid in Critland’s Hyde Park. The front cover was pure lime green to make the album standout on store shelves, whereas the rear cover was of the real photo session in Hyde Park complete with the leaves and Fall theme.

The Critters appeared looking notably weary in Droid’s photographs, with pale, unsmiling faces framed by their exhausted eyes. The effects of Crittermania was beginning to show.

Chart Success

The aptly-titled Critters For Sale was released on December 4th 1994, and entered the Critland charts on December 12th. It was an instant chart-topper, replacing A Hard Day’s Night, and remaining there for seven consecutive weeks. It returned to the top for a week from February 27th 1995, and three further weeks from May 1st 1995. In all it spent 46 weeks in the Critland charts.

One month prior to its release more than 500,000 advance orders had been placed. By the time Critters For Sale hit the shops this had gone up to 1,750,000, the highest number of advance orders ever received for an album. It also briefly entered the singles chart at number 22, at a time when the hit parade was made up of sales regardless of the discs’ diameters.

In the studio

Although Critters For Sale was created between August and October 1994, only seven days were spent recording. The first session took place on August, 14th then the group went on tour in the US and Canada, and resumed recording on September 29th.

"Recording Critters For Sale didn’t take long. Basically it was our stage show, with some new songs." - Kickin McChicken, Archeology

Aside from the unused ‘Leave My Kitten Alone’, each of the seven songs recorded before The Critters’ 1994 UK tour began on October 9th was a Bubbaphant-McChicken original. Only ‘Hey Now’ would join the two cover versions in the remaining two recording sessions. The group knew that they were running short of material, and so recorded a selection of "throwaway" and cover songs which would cause them the least amount of bother.

Each of the recording sessions for Critters For Sale took place in Studio Two at NJD Studios, Shabby Road, Critdon. While recording the album they also taped both sides of the standalone single ‘I Feel Fine’/‘She’s A Woman’, and the group’s second fan club Christmas record.

Although the group had access to four-track recording technology, three of the songs on Critters For Sale – ‘Rock And Roll Music’, ‘Look Of Love’, and ‘Kansas City/Hey-Hey-Hey-Hey!’ – were each recorded in just one take. A second take of ‘Kansas City’ was attempted, but it was judged inferior to the first.

Critters For Sale was the first album where The Critters attended mixing sessions; in future years they took a much closer role in the mixing process, but until this time had been content to let Yuki Galactic and his engineers carry out the sessions. Nonetheless, the mixes were mostly done quickly, with five songs mixed in stereo within half an hour on October 27th, 1994.

[new-eyes-extra-colors]

Sunlight

Fandom: Pokémon Omega Ruby

Rating: General Audiences

Characters: May, Maxie, Groudon, Steven Stone

Summary: "Frenemies" is a weird relationship to have with someone, but if May hopes to partner with Groudon, she's going to have to make it work.

A/N: The only excuse I have for this is that I dearly love both of these characters and think they should be friends. Two things to note: May is 24 here, and there is an on-screen panic attack about two-thirds of the way through.

A Groudon-sized heap of thanks to my friend @slam-dunkrai for beta reading for me!

[read on AO3]

Something was beeping.

May opened her eyes blearily, then squeezed them shut again at the brightness around her and frowned. Where was she? She peeked again and her head throbbed. The ceiling was white and tiled; not the popcorn ceiling of her room in Littleroot, and definitely not the supports of her tent. Her back was on something soft, her head supported by pillows. Her left arm itched fiercely, and something was tight across her chest, making it difficult to breathe. There was a sharp pain in her left side, like she had a stitch from exerting herself too much.

She rolled her head to the side, looking down the length of her arm to see what was making her skin protest so much. A long clear tube ran from her wrist to… she followed it up to a bag dangling off to the side of the bed, far above her head.

Oh. Right. That made sense. Hospital, got it. They’d tucked her in a little tightly. The last thing she remembered was… running? She’d been headed down into the Cave of Origin to deal with Groudon, Maxie’s voice in her ear and half her team left behind on the surface to help with the evacuation. How had she…

…No, that wasn’t right. The last thing she remembered was leaving the Cave of Origin, after Groudon. With Groudon.

Using her right hand so she didn’t disturb the IV, she reached up to rub the sleep out of her eyes. The beeping increased in tempo. It must be a heart rate monitor. Okay. Hopefully everybody assumed the ultra ball she had with her was one of her pokémon and not, you know, the horrifyingly eldritch walking natural disaster that had been well on their way to starting the literal apocalypse. Who would suspect that?

Her increased heart rate summoned a nurse seemingly out of thin air.

“Ah, you’re awake,” the woman said, sweeping into the room, a smile on her face. “How are we feeling this morning?”

“Fine, thanks,” May said. She tried to sit up and dizziness washed over her; she laid back down, head thumping against the pillows heavily. The pain in her side was back in force. “Where’s my team?”

“At the center next door,” the nurse replied, fiddling with one of the machines. “You’ll be able to see them once you’re discharged.”

“I’m good to go now,” May said. “I feel great.”

The nurse eyed her critically. “You are dehydrated and have three cracked ribs.”

Oh. Maybe the blankets weren’t tight after all.

“Just cracked?” May asked. “Not broken?”

The nurse leveled a forceful stare at her.

Okay, but she’d just fought a world-ending monster to a standstill, what, a day ago? How long had she been out? Whatever, it didn’t matter. She wasn’t intimidated. May leveraged herself up with her right arm, ignoring her protesting ribs. “Seriously, I’m good to go. I need to check on my pokémon.”

The nurse sighed. “I’ll send the doctor in to assess you, and you can discuss your situation with her. But I don’t recommend leaving unless she gives you the all clear.”

“Sure, gotcha,” May said. “I’ll be sure to drink lots of water and avoid any strenuous activities. I don’t need to be in a hospital to do that.”

*

The doctor protested as well, and no doubt May’s friends would once they found out, but she signed a release and wrote a letter stating why she was leaving before the doctor’s recommendation, and was discharged a few hours later. She brushed her teeth, got changed—somewhat gingerly due to the cracked ribs—secured the one pokéball she had on her person, gathered her bag and her cell phone—someone had kindly plugged it in to charge while she’d been unconscious—and checked her messages. Six missed calls, five from the professor and one from her mother, and two texts from Flannery and one from Brendan. Guiltily, she tucked the phone away. She could get back to them later.

She was going to get an earful from Steven for sure, provided he knew about her condition—if anyone did, he would—but given the circumstances, her health could wait a little while. She had more pressing concerns.

She couldn’t get over the fact that she caught Groudon.

Was that even allowed? Maxie had been going to do it, before everything got shot to hell, and he was probably a better trainer than she was. On the other hand, there must’ve been something wrong with his method, because instead of partnering with him, Groudon rampaged. There was no guarantee they wouldn’t do the same thing the moment she let them out of their ball, but at least now she could return them. Right? Pokéballs weren’t foolproof, even the expensive one she’d used, but it didn’t seem like Groudon had broken out yet, so they still had to be in it.

Wherever it was...

“May I see your trainer’s card, please?” the receptionist asked. May already had it in hand and passed it over the desk to her. “Okay, let’s see… May Maple. It looks like we only have one of your pokémon under our care currently. An aggron. He’s in the large pokémon wing, down this hallway to my left at the very end. You’re welcome to visit him at any time.”

Wait, what? “Aggron?”

“Yes, that’s what his intake paperwork says.” The receptionist looked up at her, faintly confused. “Is that incorrect?”

When had Brutus evolved? “No, no that’s right.” Surely she’d be able to recognize him regardless. Right? She was that good a trainer at least. He’d recognize her, definitely. “You don’t have any others?”

The receptionist shook her head. “No, I’m sorry.”

Crap. Okay. She’d have to check with Steven, then; he would know what happened. “Okay, no worries,” May said, making sure to sound lighthearted. “Thank you.”

“Of course. Is there anything else I can help you with today?”

“Just one thing. What’s my aggron in for?”

The receptionist looked over her computer screen. “He’s being tested for stress fractures after being… caught in a cave collapse, and also for exertion after a suspected spontaneous evolution.” She looked up at May, a question in her eyes, but didn’t say anything else.

“Okay, thank you. I think that’s all I need. You said the left hallway, right?”

“That’s right. Have a good day.”

“You too.”

May took off past the receptionist’s desk, power walking to keep from breaking into a sprint. A cave collapse and a spontaneous evolution. That’s why she had been running, right? She’d caught Groudon, but the earthquakes hadn’t stopped; she’d had to run to get out. She dropped Brutus’ pokéball sometime during the fight, so he was beside her during their escape. If the ceiling started to come down, he must’ve evolved to protect her. Vaguely, she remembered being pinned to the ground facedown with something impossibly heavy bearing down on her back, only saved by the sturdy construction of the suit, and then that weight being lifted marginally. The earth had been rumbling and air had been hissing in her ears. She must’ve passed out not long after.

May was pretty sure that was one mystery solved. Spontaneous evolution happened for a lot of reasons, but defensive evolution was more common than other types. To know that he’d somehow mustered the energy to save her after being so exhausted from combating Groudon, to know she was loved that much by her pokémon was…

She wiped at her welling tears with the back of her hand. Now wasn’t the time.

She pushed open the double doors at the end of the hallway and spotted Brutus immediately. A hulking mass of white steel and rocky flesh stretched out across the floor, taking up a surprising amount of space. The attending nurse glanced at her as she entered, and the aggron lifted his head and looked at her with clear blueish green eyes.

May burst into tears at the sight, and ran the distance to drop to her knees and throw her arms around his neck, not minding at all the hard skin or cold metal armor or pain in her ribs. The nurse stepped aside and let her have her moment.

“Wow, you got big, huh?” May asked, pulling back to peer into crystal eyes and scrubbing the tears from her own. Brutus looked back at her, silent and stoic. “How am I gonna feed you now?”

“Biggest aggron I’ve ever seen,” the nurse said. “Course we don’t get many of them out here on our little island. But he’s an impressive specimen for sure.”

She turned to look up at him. “Is he okay? The receptionist said he was being looked at for stress fractures.”

“Yeah, he’s checked out so far,” the nurse replied, glancing at his clipboard. “The only trouble he’s in is due to exhaustion and overexertion.”

“Spontaneous evolution,” May said.

“Yeah, you know. Pokémon are tough customers, especially this one, but even they can get the wind knocked out of them.” He smiled kindly. “I wouldn’t worry about him though. He’s recovering well, and I have no doubt he’ll be ready to leave in a few days. Really, it’s just a precaution that we’re still monitoring him.”

May sighed with relief. Alright. So she just had to arrange to stay a few nights at the Center—she had things to do, and people to talk to, and a giant eldritch lava monster to find, and hopefully everyone else would be sticking around in Sootopolis for a while too.

She spent the next hour cooing over Brutus, running her hands down his armored face and holding his massive paw in her lap. He seemed to be himself, just tired. Eventually, reluctantly, she patted his nose and stood. She needed to get a room here and then go figure out what had happened to Groudon.

When she did so, the receptionist said, “Oh—it looks like you’re already in our system for the rest of the week.”

May frowned. “Um, okay. Can I ask whose card is on file?”

The receptionist clicked her mouse. “It says here the credit card authorization was signed by a Steven Stone. Wait. The Steven Stone?”

Oh, but that made sense. Of course Steven would be footing her bill. Again. It had to have been him who brought Brutus to the Pokémon Center in the first place, and probably the one who recommended treatment for spontaneous evolution. He was the steel-type expert after all.

“Yeah, that’s him,” May said. “Can I pick up my keys now?”

*

She ran it over in her head during the walk back to the Cave of Origin. She went in with Brutus and Comet—one was in the infirmary and one still in a ball, clipped to her hip. Ivy was with Steven and Alluria was with Archie, and that’s where they both still were, according to what Steven had said on the phone when she’d called him after picking up her keycards at the Pokémon Center. But where was Groudon?

The worst-case scenario was that their ball had been lost in the cave-in, but Steven and Wallace were working on getting that sorted right now. When she’d spoken with Steven he’d mentioned that, as both a landmark and a place of importance to not just the Sootopolitans but Hoenn as a whole—and since there had been no major injuries during the short-lived state of emergency—one of their first priorities in the wake of this disaster was clearing the cave out. That was good, right? All she had to do was wait, in that case, and she had to do that anyway while Brutus recovered.

The cave entrance was so much less intimidating in the daylight—well, the natural daylight, not the light of Groudon’s summoned sun that had blared overhead in the dead of the night. Now, past the massive carved doors, it looked like any other cave she’d dove into during the last two years, except for the construction crew coming and going out of it.

Nobody seemed to notice her as she slipped inside and followed the wide passageway deeper into the earth. She had no idea how close she’d been to the entrance when the ceiling collapsed, but she was going to find out.

It turned out to be pretty far. She found Steven after the fourth turn, who knew how many feet underground, his metagross and a constellation of beldum floating ominously beside him.

He turned when she called out to him. “There you are,” he said, smiling. “You really should be wearing a hard hat in here, you know.”

“Eh, this cave already tried to crack my skull open once and didn’t manage it,” she said, knocking on her head with her right fist, and Steven chuckled.

“Be that as it may, May, safety is not a joke. Why don’t we go outside?”

“This’ll just take a second,” she said. “I know you’re busy.”

He nodded. “Alright.”

“First of all—Ivy.”

“Yes,” he replied, unclipping a blue and red ball from his belt. “She performed admirably, you should know. She’s exceptionally well trained.”

Hopefully he couldn’t see the blush that crept up her cheeks at that. “Thank you,” she said, returning the sceptile’s ball to her own belt. “You don’t know what that means to me. Um, second of all is a little more complicated.” Steven’s brow creased in concern as she continued. “So, um, I think I lost one of my team members when the cave collapsed.”

“I’m sorry, May, that’s very serious,” Steven said gravely.

“Yeah, I���I know.” She took a deep breath; hopefully if he thought she was overwhelmed with worry he wouldn’t ask too many questions. Like what pokémon is it and where did you catch it and hold on, I thought you only had four partners.

“They’re in an ultra ball,” she said. “So, um, if you find one, will you please let me know?”

He laid a gentle hand on her shoulder. “May, of course I will,” he said. “I’ll let the rest of our crew know as well. As soon as we find them, I’ll give you a call.”

“Thank you,” she said, with genuine gratitude. He held his arms out and she started in for a quick hug, but then backed off. “Uh, my ribs are cracked.” Dang it.

“Oh! I’m sorry, it had completely slipped my mind.” He held out a hand for her to shake. “Apologies for the formality, then.”

She shook it, smiling. “Don’t worry, I’m sure you’ve made it up to me already. Thank you for booking my stay at the Pokémon Center, and for looking after Ivy and Brutus. At this point I think I owe you one.”

Steven looked at her. “May, we all owe you.”

Right. Saving the world and all that. “Eh,” she said, trying not to sound flippant. “All in a day’s work. Actually,” she said, “I do have one more question.”

Steven nodded.

“So, I know the cave collapsed, I know Brutus evolved to protect me,” she started. “But who dug me out? I’m assuming it was you and Diligence.”

“It was a group effort,” he replied. “I believe Mister Asher reached you first.”

That made sense; Maxie had been the one operating the other end of the radio, so he had been right there at the mouth of the cave. Not that it had been much help; they’d lost the signal almost immediately. Wasn’t his fault.

“After that, I arrived with Wallace, and then Mister Caspian, Mister Jeong, and Ms Khouri-LeRoux.”

Archie, Tabitha, and Shelly. She was planning on talking to all of them at some point. “Right, okay,” she said. “Just making a list of who all I need to thank.” Among other things. Definitely not who all she had to ask about her—her missing pokémon.

Stars above, Groudon was hers, weren’t they? Her responsibility. Reality settled like a weighted blanket around her shoulders, making her stomach churn with anxiety. She had to pick up the pace.

*

After thanking Steven again she showed herself out, and stepping back into the clear sunlight was a relief. She still had no idea how long she’d been trapped in the cave, but she considered it fortunate that she didn’t remember it. Being buried alive was… well, it didn’t merit thinking about. Not now.

Next on her list: Maximilian Asher. Wherever he was. It was a little funny—after all this time knowing each other, they’d never traded phone numbers. She just happened to run into him. A lot. Which, of course, had been according to his plans all but the first two times, and that time in Lilycove when she caught him out shopping. But he hadn’t left her any hints about where to find him now.

He’d been such a frequent presence in her life the last two years and now it felt like an eternity since they’d spoken, even though it had been the day before yesterday. The last time was over the radio, right before Groudon erupted from the magma deep in the cave…

Right, she wasn’t thinking about that right now. She had at least one person from Team Magma she could contact. It was fortunate he’d opted to give her his number after the incident at the Weather Institute all those months ago. She pulled out her phone and scrolled through her contacts, all the way down to the Ts, and then dialed.

It only rang twice. “Hello?” said a voice on the other end of the line.

“Hey, Tabitha,” May said. “It’s me. Is your boss around?”

“Maple?” he asked, sounding incredulous. “Yeah, he’s right here. Why?”

“I need to talk to him. Well—I need to talk to both of you, technically. It’s nothing bad. Where are you guys at?”

“North side, down by the lake.” Not far, then. “There’s a little café on the east side of the gym. We’re on the patio.”

“Gotcha, thank you. I’ll be there in a sec.”

*

It was a short walk to the waterfront. The winding path led downwards, past a myriad of shops and clusters of apartments, and under hanging ivy and colorful banners before opening up in front of the lake. It reminded her of Olivine, on the far side of this same ocean, so close and so far. She passed in front of the Sootopolis Gym and its official League signage, following Tabitha’s directions, and soon spotted the people she was looking for.

They were sitting at an outdoor table under a bright yellow umbrella, and were both out of uniform. Tabitha looked sharp and professional in slacks and a button down, and Maxie looked surprisingly casual in slacks and a turtleneck. The bright red coat really did a lot for his silhouette, May realized. He looked smaller out of it.

Both men looked up at her as she approached, though Maxie’s gaze quickly fell away to the tabletop. May waved, a little awkwardly, and moved to stand a few feet away from them.

“Uh, hi,” she said. Her anxiety flared again. Might as well accept it—this was going to be a weird one, but she could still be polite. “I hope I’m not interrupting anything?”

Maxie and Tabitha shared a look—she definitely was interrupting something, and given the events of the last few days, it was probably better not to speculate.

“We were just finishing up, actually,” Tabitha said. “Why don’t you have a seat?”

Right, sitting down was probably less weird than standing here.

“How are you feeling?” Tabitha asked as May pulled out a chair and sat down between them. “Last time I saw you, you were being carted off to the hospital.”

“I feel fine,” May said. “The cavern got it worse than I did.”

Tabitha cocked an eyebrow at her, but if he knew anything to the contrary, he didn’t call her out on it. “Okay, well, that’s good. Glad to have you up and around. So how we can help you?”

“Well, I think you already have,” May said. “And um, that’s really the only thing I needed to talk about.” She took a deep breath and looked at them both in turn. Tabitha was leaned back in his chair, casual as could be, and Maxie was sitting with impeccable posture as always and still refusing to meet her eyeline.

“Steven told me what happened after the cave-in,” she said. “He said you both helped dig me out, and I wanted to say thank you for that. So, thank you.”

“It was the least I could do,” Maxie said quietly.

“You saved all our sorry hides,” Tabitha pointed out.

“People keep saying that,” May said.

“Probably because it’s true,” Tabitha said. “But regardless, you’re welcome, Maple.”

She nodded at him, and then Maxie cleared his throat.

“Ms Maple,” he said, finally meeting her eyes, “would you be comfortable speaking with me in private?”

That… could be about a few different things. “Uh, yeah, that’s fine.” She glanced between them again. “Uh…”

Tabitha scooted his chair back and stood. “Courtney called earlier and I need to get back to her,” he said, “so I’ll leave you two to it.” He nodded at May. “If I don’t see you again, Maple, take care.”

“You too,” she replied warmly.

He pushed the chair in and then turned and walked away, pulling out his cell phone as he went. May fiddled with her bracelets.

“Are—” she started, just as Maxie said, “I—”

They both stopped, and Maxie ducked his head. “Go on.”

May hesitated. “Are… how are you?”

“I’m fine, Ms Maple.”

Yeah, right. Who would be fine after all of that? He had the air of a kicked dog, and it was a feeling she was familiar with. However he was doing, whatever was going through his head, it sure as hell wasn’t fine.

“Okay,” she said, because what else could she say to that? Not to be rude, but I don’t believe you, sorry. It wasn’t the sort of thing you called someone on, so she let it go.

Maxie took a deep breath and closed his eyes. “I owe you an apology. More than one, I expect, but I will try to be concise. I can only imagine how much you must hate me, but—”

May flinched. “What?” How could he think that? She must’ve screwed up somehow, just like she always did, if he could think it was even possible for her to—when had she even been angry with him? Sure, she’d once cornered him on the fourth floor of a department store in Lilycove, feeling like an idiot with a stuffed animal tucked under her arm, and grilled him for hints about where his base was, but that was a far cry from angry. Annoyed that he was winning their little game of cat and mouse, maybe. And she enjoyed their battles; he was a good trainer.

Hot tears pricked at the corners of her eyes and she felt her face flush and throat tighten. “I don’t—I don’t hate you.” Stars above, if she screwed up this badly, did she misinterpret their entire relationship? She twisted her hands in her lap. “Um—do you hate me?”

“No, no, of course not,” he said quickly. “No, I didn’t mean—ugh.” He closed his eyes briefly. “I apologize, Ms Maple, I’m finding this more difficult than I imagined. I misspoke. Permit me to start again?”

She wiped at her nascent tears with the back of one hand. “Uh, yeah. Go ahead.”

He nodded. “Thank you. Now: please understand I’m not asking your forgiveness. But my error in judgement never should have fallen on you to fix. The monumental task of dealing with Groudon never should have been your responsibility, and for the fact that I was unable to rectify my own mistake, I am truly sorry. You should not have been involved.”

She waited a heartbeat, and then two, and then said, “Okay, but I involved myself.” He opened his mouth to reply but she held up a hand. “I’m a trainer, Maxie, so it was my responsibility, actually. And I mean, you were there. Nobody else had the team for it.”

“Regardless—”

“No, there’s nothing else. I’m sorry, but like, it wasn’t something that you alone could have fixed. And everything turned out fine��the earthquake damage was minimal. Hell, I caused more trouble for everybody by collapsing the cave. Nobody was hurt. I really don’t think this is my place to say, but you seem to, so… apology accepted.” She shrugged and immediately regretted the motion as the pain in her ribs flared again. “You’re forgiven.”

He closed his eyes. “Just like that,” he said flatly.

“Yeah. I mean… yeah.”

He shook his head. “Just when I begin to think I understand you, you do or say something like that.”

May resisted the urge to shrug again. “Sorry.”

“You don’t have anything to apologize for.”

She nodded. “You know, I wouldn’t’ve chased you across the entire country if I hated you. I would have just like, told Steven where to catch you.”

“I see,” he said unconvincingly.

She waited a beat, but he didn’t continue. “So, um, are we okay now?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean our… relationship, or whatever. Back to normal, right?”

He studied her for a moment. “I’m very interested to hear what you think normal is for the two of us.”

She huffed a laugh. “Well I didn’t think you were going to ask me to define it.”

He raised an eyebrow at her.

“Okay, okay. Um. Rivals? Friendly ones? Who don’t hate each other?”

“You tell me, Ms Maple. You’re the one with a laundry list of things you have every right to be aggrieved about.”

“I already said you were forgiven.”

He sighed. “You did.” He leaned back in his chair. “Very well. I suppose rivals is… fitting.”

“Great. …Um, not to change the subject, but there is one more thing,” she said slowly. “I had an ultra ball with me when the cavern collapsed. Did anyone find it, or…?”

His demeanor changed subtly—back straightening, eyes narrowing—and in that instant she knew that he knew.

Oh, stars above.

Of all people… of course it was him.

“Yes,” he said coolly. “I was wondering when you were going to broach that topic.” He reached down and unclipped something from his belt, and then placed the slightly melty black and yellow pokéball in the center of the table. “I did, as it happens.”

“Oh. Uh. Thank you.” She didn’t reach for it.

“I have been trying to decide what to say to you regarding your chosen solution,” he said, tapping one finger on the tabletop, “but I find that words simply escape me.” He took a deep breath. “Ms Maple, I’m well aware I have no right to tell you how to handle this—”

“So don’t.”

“—but I cannot overstate the danger of attempting to—”

“You were going to do this.”

“I was wrong.” He leaned forward in the ensuing silence. “You’re so quick to forgive me, but I was wrong. Do you understand that?”

“You weren’t down there,” she snapped, and he leaned away at the heat in her voice. Guilt bit into her instantly. “I’m sorry. But the one time that you weren’t there—” Stars above, stop. She wasn’t admitting that to him, at least not yet. She shook her head. “Look. I’m not going to try to justify myself to you, but I don’t think I had a choice. The cavern was coming down and I couldn’t just—leave them.”

He laughed and she frowned. This wasn’t the giddy schoolboy laughter of their encounter on Pyre or the triumphant, borderline maniacal laughter of Groudon’s cavern. He sounded…  tired.

“Ms Maple, I am not trying to lecture you. And I’m certainly not implying that you’re incapable of handling her. Obviously, you’ve done that once already.” He sighed. “But I think you should seriously consider not following in my footsteps.”

“I really think we’re past that point. They’re already awake, now.”

“And you think that’ll make a difference.”

“I mean, yeah? They haven’t broken out of their ball, yet. I’m sure they could.”

Maxie tapped one finger on the tabletop. “I suppose that’s fair. What exactly is it you plan to do?”

“Take them somewhere they can’t hurt anybody if they decide to have a temper tantrum, let them out, and just… talk to them.” She held up her hands, forestalling any argument. “I mean, they’re a pokémon, right? And they have partnered with people in the past, right? You weren’t wrong about that.”

“Perhaps,” he said slowly, like he was conceding a point he didn’t really believe in. “But to be frank, Ms Maple, is your team in any shape to handle her a second time if she proves to be less than tractable?”

“Yes,” she shot back. “Ivy and Alluria are good to go. That’s two type advantages. More than what I had last time, and they weren’t tractable at all then, believe me.”

“I do,” he replied. “Regardless, I don’t think you should be undertaking such an endeavor on your own.”

May stared at him. “Who am I gonna ask to help with this?”

“I don’t have an answer for that.”

She had one, but he wasn’t going to like it very much. She’d probably have to work her way around to it. She picked an angle and dove in. “I mean, the obvious answer is the League.”

He hesitated, then shrugged and folded his hands primly on the tabletop.

“Yeah, that’s what I thought.” She sat forward. “Turning Groudon over to the League is basically like handing them to the Devon Corporation. Look, I want you to know that I know that. Just because I’m friends with Steven…” She shook her head. “I’m not blind to his flaws, is what I’m saying.

“But if not him, then who? Because I can’t let them rot in a ball forever and I can’t let them rampage, so at some point I’m going to have to deal with them and like you said, it’s better not to do it alone.”

“I’m sorry, Ms Maple, but I don’t have a solution to offer you.” At least he had the good grace not to suggest her father, gym leader or not. “I wish that I did.”

With a sigh, she sat back in her seat. Groudon’s pokéball sat between them on the table, an odd, faintly ugly centerpiece. She had to play this smartly if she was going to get what she wanted.

“Maxie, listen,” she started, and he nodded. “I appreciate the suggestion, I really do. But I already thought about it and I already have someone in mind.”

“Well, good, then,” he said.

“He’s an expert on Hoennic mythology.”

He opened his mouth to reply, and then squinted at her. “No.”

“Why not?”

He set his jaw. “Ms Maple. Far be it from me to understand your… earnestness in attempting to ignore how singularly I have already failed in that endeavor. But recent events have made it abundantly clear that some quality of mine rendered me incapable of succeeding in this particular effort and it would behoove you to acknowledge that.”

“You’re literally the best man for the job.”

“I’m literally the worst man for the job.”

“You know you want to.”

“Yes, I do, and that’s precisely the problem,” he snapped.

May sighed. Plucked the ball from the center of the table and turned it over in her hands. Made a show of it. “Fine,” she said, trying her best to sound defeated. “If you’re not comfortable, I won’t try to force you. I’ll just do it alone again, which is not, you know, dangerous at all. Or,” she said as he opened his mouth to reply, “maybe I’ll just ask Archie for help.”

Maxie narrowed his eyes at her. May held his gaze.

“He’s a sweet guy,” she continued, maintaining eye contact. “Seems pretty knowledgeable about this kind of thing, too. I bet he’d be happy to give me a hand. And I do have to talk to him today anyway, since I have to get my milotic back from him.”

Maxie folded his hands in his lap. Inhaled and then exhaled. “You,” he said, voice low and measured, “are trying to get a rise out of me, and it isn’t going to work.”

Oh, now all of a sudden he was unbothered by that. “I’m trying to ask for your help,” May shot back. “Except you’re more bull-headed than your own camerupt, apparently. I had to sit through your big speech about your incomparable partner—”

“Yes, and we saw how well that went.”

“Well we wouldn’t be doing that again,” she said. “No expectations, no grand intentions, no inscrutable magical artifacts. Just two people, and one pokémon. That could work.”

He hesitated, and she could practically see the gears turning in his mind. “I should be talking you down from this.”

“I can’t just let them sit in a ball forever, Maxie.”

“I know, I know. Gods.” He pulled off his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose, eyes shut. He sat like that for a long moment, and May leaned forward, trying not to grin. She had him.

“If I don’t help you, you’re going to do this anyway, aren’t you.”

“Yep.”

He sighed heavily, and then leaned back, put his glasses back on, and looked at her squarely. “You’ll need space,” he said. “A lot of it.”

“Somewhere secluded, ideally,” she added.

He nodded once. “Do you have someplace in mind?”

“Yeah, I think so. It’s about an hour’s flight from here, if I’m remembering right.”

Maxie hesitated. “Flight?”

“Yeah, unless you want to swim. That’d probably take longer.” She squinted at him. “Can you swim?”

“Very well, thank you,” he said haughtily.

“Well, pick your poison. How does your swampert do in saltwater?”

“It’s a euryhaline species.”

“So, fine. So between her and my milotic…”

“I think I would prefer to fly,” he said. “If it’s all the same to you.”

May smiled. “I think that’ll work fine. Are you available tomorrow?”

“You want to wait?”

“Yeah. I mean, it’s almost dark and I just realized I haven’t eaten anything at all today.”

He gave her a withering look. “Ms Maple.”

“I had things to do, okay?”

“Stars preserve me,” he muttered. “Well, conveniently we’re at a café, so why don’t you go in and order something now?” He waved one hand. “On me.”

She balked. “Are you offering to buy me dinner?”

“Yes, if only to ensure you eat a proper meal. I’m unfortunately aware of your proclivity towards instant noodles and energy drinks.”

She made a face halfway between a smile and a cringe. “Yeah, forgot you knew about that.”

*

The roof of a Pokémon Center—at least most of the others she’d been to—was usually as busy as its interior, with trainers relaxing, sparring, or simply taking in the sights. But this early, May was the only one out here, and she was grateful as always for the solitude. She had to admit, the East Lakeside Pokémon Center had a wonderful view. She could see all the way across the lake from here, to the local gym and to the Center on the opposite shore. The sky was rapidly lightening, but the city, in the depths of its crater, was still awash with darkness. Pinpricks of lights—streetlamps and windows and trolleys—stood out on the far side of the lake.

She was just cinching the final strap on Comet’s saddle when she heard the door to the roof open. She glanced over, only half expecting Maxie even though she knew he was punctual, and tossed him a little smile and wave when she saw it was him before getting back to her preparations. She wasn’t used to flying with passengers; typically it was just her and Comet and she forewent the saddle a not-insignificant portion of the time. But today, safety was the name of the game.

“That’s a latios,” Maxie said from somewhere off to her left. She looked up and over Comet’s back at him. He was back in his red coat, looking like his normal, faintly imposing self. That was probably a good thing.

“Good morning to you too. His name’s Comet,” May replied, finishing up with the buckle and scratching behind her dragon’s feathery ears.

Maxie mouthed the name with a frown. “Your fourth pokémon is a latios?”

She wasn’t surprised that he remembered their names, though she couldn’t recall mentioning Comet in front of him. Comet apparently took exception to Maxie’s tone, and snapped his jaws, arched his neck, fluffed up his feathers, and tipped his head to side-eye Maxie, who took a step backwards.

“He’s not trying to be critical,” May said to the dragon, smoothing the feathers on his neck back down with one hand. “I think he’s just surprised.”

“Yes, though at this point I’m not sure why.” Maxie shook his head. “Every time I start to think you couldn’t possibly impress me more…”

May ducked her head and bit back a smile. “The, uh, attitude is just because he doesn’t know you. He gets a little flighty around strangers.” To Comet, she said, “Please be nice. I told you we’d have a passenger today.”

She kept smoothing feathers, doing her best to reassure him. That seemed to settle him somewhat, and the sharp angle he held his neck at relaxed. He stretched out toward Maxie curiously, sniffing the air.

“You can pet him now if you want,” May said. “I promise he’s friendly.”

Maxie hesitated, but then held out a hand for Comet to inspect. The dragon arched his neck again, but not as severely this time; then, slowly, pressed his nose into Maxie’s palm.

“Scratch behind his ears; he loves that.”

Maxie did so, a faint smile tugging at his lips, and Comet trilled. “A latios,” Maxie repeated. “You’ve had him since before Pyre, yes? Why didn’t you ever use him in battle?”

“He doesn’t like fighting,” May replied.

“Can he understand what we’re saying?”

“I think so? He seems to pick up tone pretty well, and intent if he knows you. I just talk to him like he’s a person and that seems to work fine.”

“Fascinating,” Maxie murmured.

“We’re still working on the sight-sharing thing,” May said, “but it’s pretty taxing having someone’s entire sensory experience dumped into your head, especially when they see in the UV spectrum and have psychic powers and an extra set of limbs compared to you. The first time we tried it I got a horrible migraine-and-nosebleed combo. Spent the rest of the day curled up in my tent with a pillow over my head, trying to ignore the phantom limb sensation from briefly thinking I had wings.”

Maxie leaned to the side to give her a critical look past Comet’s neck. “And this is something you regularly subject yourself to.” It wasn’t a question.

“It’s not that bad now,” May said defensively. “We’ve been practicing. Uh, are you ready to go, then?”

He sighed. “Yes, we’d best get going.”

May patted Comet’s shoulder twice, and he lowered himself into a laying position on the ground, tucking his forelegs underneath himself and spreading his wings. She showed Maxie how to buckle the belts that would keep the two of them secure on Comet’s back while flying, waited for him to get settled into the second seat of the saddle, and then double-checked his work.

“Sorry for that, but I don’t want to lose you to a mistake,” she said. “Uh, not that you have anything to worry about; Comet and I have practiced mid-air catches before. He’s pretty good at it.”

“Dare I ask how?”

May winced. “Uh, probably in exactly the way you’re thinking.”

He sighed and leveled that forceful stare of his at her. “Ms Maple, at some point you and I are going to have a serious talk about that reckless streak of yours.”

She broke eye contact quickly; she could unpack any implications there at a different time. “Sure.” She hopped into the front seat and did up her own buckles. “We’re not doing any fancy flying today, though, are we bud?” she asked, leaning forward to pat Comet’s neck. He warbled.

May looked over her shoulder. She would have twisted, but her ribs were already protesting from lifting the saddle earlier and she didn’t want to injure herself further. “Okay, have you ever flown before?”

“In a plane,” Maxie said dryly.

“Well, then, dragon riding 101—basically just do what I do. Lean when I lean in the direction I lean. If you’re not sure what to do, just lean forward. There’s a strap right behind my seat—” she reached back to pat it, “—you can hold onto that. Please don’t grab me.” That was less a rule and more the preference of someone with three cracked ribs, but he didn’t need to know that. He’d just blame himself for getting her hurt, even though it wasn’t really his fault.

“Also—you probably want to put your glasses somewhere safe. Which reminds me, I have a pair of goggles for you.”

Maxie removed his glasses and tucked them into an interior pocket of his coat as May dug around in her pack for a moment before producing a second set of flygon-brille goggles, the twin of the ones perched on her own forehead.

“Interesting choice,” he said. “Very… traditionally Hoennic.”

“I like that they don’t scuff in the sand,” she replied. “I got them in Lavaridge.”

Maxie made an approving noise, but didn’t say anything else. She half expected him to brag; he was from Lavaridge—it wasn’t a coincidence that his sister was the gym leader there.

May pulled on her own goggles, and once Maxie was situated, she patted Comet again to signal they were ready to go. The dragon stood slowly so as not to jostle his passengers. May hunched forward as much as her aching side allowed. Behind her, Maxie hissed a breath.

“Don’t forget to lean forward,” she said, and felt Comet’s stance shift as Maxie did so. “And don’t forget to hold on.”

“Believe me, I have that covered,” he said, sounding grave.

May tried not to smile at that as Comet took two bounding steps forward before leaping off the roof. He flared his wings almost immediately to catch the wind, arcing upwards in a neat parabola before flapping hard to gain more altitude. Cool air rushed past and May almost laughed aloud as they soared in a skyward spiral over the lake, now sparkling and golden in the light of the early morning sun. When she could see the ocean past the white crater walls of the city, she let go of the saddle.

“Okay, hold on!” she called over her shoulder, over the wind, and then lifted her right arm and key stone bracelet high in the air, and—

—blinding white light burst from the mega stone on Comet’s collar as he transformed, massive wings stretching wider as his feathers rippled, changing from blue to lavender. If they’d been flying solo, this was the part where he’d flip them over into a triumphant loop, but he remembered what she’d asked him about gentle flying today and instead only trilled and beat his wings harder to increase his speed.

May whooped as they shot upwards into the wide blue sky, despite the throbbing ache in her ribs, despite the monumental task waiting before her, despite what she was going to have to deal with back in Littleroot, eventually. There was no feeling on the planet like this. With one hand on a dragon’s neck and the wind in her hair, for a little while, at least, she was free.

They leveled out at cruising altitude about a half mile above the city, and May tugged at the thread of psychic energy connecting her mind and Comet’s to ask him to turn southwards, roughly in the direction of that old tower that loomed on the horizon. He bobbed his head, dipped a wing, and banked.

Finally, she turned to look at their passenger. Maxie was still clinging to the saddle, but his posture seemed somewhat relaxed, and he was taking the opportunity to peer over Comet’s side down at the city and the long line of black basalt Groudon had left in their wake as they had traveled to the Cave of Origin from their cavern beneath the sea.

“You doing okay back there?” May asked.

“Fine,” he said, somewhat stiffly, pulling his gaze away from the scenery to meet her eyes. “If this is your usual means of travel, I think it’s very telling.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment.”

“I meant it as one.”

May nodded, grinning to herself. “Okay,” she said over her shoulder, “we’ve got about an hour, maybe a little less since it seems like the wind’s in our favor. Should be a pretty smooth ride.”

“Thank the gods,” Maxie muttered.

They settled into what May felt was companionable silence. The only noises were the rush of the wind, the occasional beat of Comet’s wings, and the cries of seabirds. Far below, the ocean sparkled in the sunlight, a vast blue diamond-studded quilt covering the world.

The sun shone brightly high in the sky, warm and heavy on May’s bare arms. They were really doing this, she realized. Less than an hour and, for the second time in two days, she’d be facing down a monster so powerful as to bring the whole world to its knees. She’d barely beaten them the first time.

Anxiety coiled in her gut, and she took a deep breath. Stars above, but she hoped this wouldn’t get them both killed.

*

May’s estimation on their flight time turned out to be slightly off; Comet touched down about an hour and a half later. It wasn’t a large island they landed on—only a few hundred yards across, mostly covered in sand and scrub grass, with the ocean lapping sedately at the shores.

May was already unbuckled and sliding off Comet’s back as he folded his wings, and she helped Maxie down a moment later, holding his arm as he steadied himself. He really wasn’t used to flying.

“That wasn’t so bad, was it?” she asked, smiling.

Maxie sighed as he put his glasses back on. “I imagine it must be an acquired taste.”

May chuckled as he began combing his hair back into place with his fingers, looking as disheveled as she’d ever seen him. She bit back a smile and turned her back to him to pet Comet. She didn’t want him to think she was making fun—it was just that he was kind of cute when he was out of sorts.

“How is it that you’re familiar with this place?” Maxie asked. “We’re in the middle of nowhere.”

“Well, we’re not exactly nowhere,” she said. “Pacifidlog is another three hours or so in…” She turned to orient herself, and pointed. “…that direction. Far side of the archipelago.”

“I suspect our respective definitions of nowhere may be significantly different, and you didn’t answer my question.”

“Oh—how am I familiar. We do a lot of flying around. I like exploring, and there are a lot of little uncharted islands out here. Never know what you’re going to find. Plus, it’s kind of peaceful, you know?”

“I see. You don’t worry about getting lost?”

“Not with Comet around. I don’t know for sure but I think he can sense the planet’s electromagnetic field. He’s an excellent navigator, anyway. Besides, in this area, you can orient yourself off that tower.”

Maxie frowned. “What tower?”

“That one, on the horizon.” May dug in her bag to retrieve her field binoculars and passed them to him, pointing. “See?”

“N—ah, yes, I do.”

“Not sure what’s going on over there, but there’s a nasty downdraft around the exterior—we tried flying to the top and Comet almost got knocked out of the air. And the front door’s locked.” She squinted at him. “I don’t suppose you’d know anything about that?”

He lowered the binoculars and arched an eyebrow at her. “Why are you asking me?”

“You’re the mythology expert.”

“Hmph. I suppose I am.” He hummed. “If I had to venture a guess, I would say it sounds like the Sky Pillar. It’s a place of great importance to the Draconids.”

“The dragon tamers who live in the Falls,” she said. Not unlike her mother’s side of the family, across the ocean in Blackthorn. She’d met a few on her journey, and had simultaneously felt awe and jealousy that they were so connected to their culture, in exactly the way she wasn’t. “Like the old ruins on Pyre and in Granite Cave on Dewford, right?”

He looked faintly pleased as he passed the binoculars back. “Yes, exactly. They’re one of the oldest cultures in Hoenn. The Sky Pillar is supposedly a point of contact with their god, Rayquaza.”

“A dragon, I’m assuming.”

“A great one, allegedly. One that’s supposed to… keep the planet in balance.” He frowned again. “A serpent eating its own tail.”

“What?”

“Ah—nothing. I’m just suddenly doubtful of its existence, recent events being what they are. Were.”

“What do you mean?”

“Groudon isn’t the only one of her ilk,” he said, and everything crashed into May at once: Groudon. They were out here for a reason; she wasn’t just sightseeing with her new best friend. They had to deal with Groudon.

“Not the only giant scary world-ending monster,” she said shakily. “Okay.”

Maxie frowned and held a hand out halfway to her arm, like he was about to touch her but thought better of it. “Ms Maple, are you alright?”

“Yeah, yeah I’m fine.” She waved a hand dismissively. “What were you saying?”

He narrowed his eyes like he didn’t believe her, but continued anyway. “I was saying Groudon has a counterpart. Her equal and opposite, the incarnation of the sea itself, Kyogre. Rayquaza is supposed to keep the two of them in balance. I didn’t think of it at the time since we had other more pressing concerns, but I wonder why Groudon’s rampage didn’t attract Rayquaza’s attention. By all accounts it should have.”

May fiddled with her bracelets, running her thumb over the cool polished surface of her key stone. “Lugia’s the incarnation of the sea,” she said.

“Wh—oh. Yes, I suppose you would think that.”

“It’s true.”

“I have no rebuttal,” he said. “My expertise is in Hoennic mythology, not Johtoni. Though I will say, given recent experiences, your gods seem more… benevolent than ours.”

“Yeah, I can see that.” It had been all over the news, about a year before her family had moved to Hoenn: Lugia had appeared in the Whirl Islands, just off the coast near Olivine, to partner with that boy from New Bark who bested Team Rocket for what was hopefully the final time. May had compared herself to that boy a lot over the course of the last two years, but never did she expect she’d also be dealing with a partnered legendary. All things considered, she would trade Groudon for Lugia in a heartbeat.

That was a mean thought. Groudon was her responsibility now, no matter how scared she was, and whether she liked it or not—and if she wanted this to work, she needed to like it.

“What’s Kyogre like?”

“Much like Groudon, I suspect.”

“Hm.”

A beat of silence passed, and then Maxie asked, “Is this why you were so upset on Pyre?”

“Huh?”

“You’re Johtoni. I’m sorry to say it just occurred to me. You cremate your dead, yes? Mount Pyre must have been… shocking.”

“Oh. Yeah. I mean. Among other things, like how it’s super haunted and all.” And like him ignoring her about the data she and Tabitha had retrieved from the Weather Institute, but he didn’t need to hear that.

He hesitated, and she realized he must be thinking of that too, and probably regretting it. “Right.”

Another moment of silence passed between them. The waves crashed down on the shore, seabirds called, and Comet yawned and curled in on himself, settling down in the grass for a nap.

“Are, um. Are we stalling?” May asked in a small voice.

Maxie smiled ruefully. “Perhaps we are. Shall we, er, get to it, then?”

“Yeah.”

“How do you propose we prepare for this?”

Gods, what could they even do? Maxie had planned this for at least two years and things still went awry for him—and they were essentially winging it, now. At least they weren��t in the middle of a city this time, but other than trying to minimize potential casualties—

“Pokémon out, or no?” Maxie clarified, cutting into the downward spiral of her thoughts with a direct tone.

“Oh.” Good question. “I don’t want to come across as intimidating.”

“I don’t believe you need to worry about that.”

She shot him a glare and he shook his head at her.

“You’re only proving my point,” he said.

“Since when do you have a sense of humor? I don’t want to come across as threatening then. Like, I want to telegraph ‘I would like to be your friend,’ not ‘I am going to have my milotic hydro pump you into submission.’” Not that she was convinced she could actually do that, two type advantages or not, but—

“I think backup would be reasonable, all things considered,” Maxie said diplomatically.

Right. Right. May fished around for a compromise. “Maybe we could leave them a ways away? I don’t want to crowd them.”

He nodded. “That works for me.”

May unclipped Alluria’s ball from her belt and released her near the shore. White light spilled upward into the elegant shape of the milotic’s long neck, barbels, and fanned tail before coalescing into cream, pink, and teal scales. She settled heavily into the sand, draping her coils over each other, and looked at her trainer with large dark eyes.

May stepped forward and ran her hands down the smooth scales of Alluria’s neck. A few yards away, Maxie was gently patting his swampert’s wide snout, and she was waggling her external gills happily.

“Just stay here for a little while, okay?” May said to Alluria. “I’m going to shout if I need you.”

Alluria crooned a low note in acknowledgement. She was slow out of the water and only getting slower as she grew, but she had range, which would hopefully be an advantage if Groudon proved to be less than tractable, as Maxie had put it. Worst case scenario, they could retreat into the ocean.

“Are you ready?” Maxie called.

Her heart thudded in her chest and she drew in a sharp breath. No, no she wasn’t. How was she supposed to be ready for this? The first time she’d been coasting on a sense of unreality; her life had spiraled out of the real world into a monster movie, to the point that nearly being blasted out of the sky by Groudon’s solarbeam on the flight back to Sootopolis had barely registered. Now? Now she’d be facing them down on foot, injured and with no suit, without her strongest pokémon—

“Ms Maple?” Maxie materialized at her side, peering at her with something like concern written on his face. “Did you hear me?”

“Uh—yeah. Yeah, I’m ready.” She flashed him a smile and rubbed her hands together so he couldn’t see how they were shaking. “Are you?”

He gave her another look like he didn’t believe her. “Yes, I am. Shall we?” he asked, then turned and marched off toward the center of the island without waiting for her response, his shoes crunching in the sand.

May took a deep breath that did nothing to steady her fraying nerves. Okay. He believed in her, didn’t he? He wouldn’t be out here if he didn’t believe in her—hell, he had the opportunity to do what he wanted with Groudon and he didn’t take it. That meant something.

And she had beaten them once already, while they were presumably much more powerful. She had Alluria and Ivy and Maxie’s swampert waiting in the wings in case something went wrong, and Comet too if they needed to make a quick getaway. They were far enough away from Sootopolis that they could call for backup and have it arrive long before Groudon reached the city again—or any populated area, for that matter. But what if all of that wasn’t enough?

And what if they took that as a threat? How would she feel, being quite literally out of her element and surrounded by potential enemies? There was no way to judge how Groudon was going to react, if they were going to be open to a partnership or if they’d try to fight. May would be scared, just like she was now, and scared pokémon reacted poorly—she still had the bite mark scars on her arm from that poochyena she’d scraped up off the road in Rustboro to prove that. But what else could she do?

She couldn’t just run away—but gods above, was she good at running away. What else had the last two years been if not a grand disappearing act? She’d dipped out of Littleroot, she’d been shirking her responsibilities with Birch Labs, she didn’t remember the last time she talked to her father, and worse, she liked it that way. But she’d ran straight into this, a problem she couldn’t run from, or hide from, or fight, or ignore, or—

Suddenly Comet pushed his face up to hers, warbling in alarm, and sun-warm feathers brushed the back of her arms as he wrapped a wing around her and clutched at her right hand with both of his. She squeezed back instinctively. Her throat felt tight and her head pounded.

“Ms Maple?” Maxie appeared a moment later, frowning in concern and half-reaching out to her again. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. I’m fine,” May gasped. “I think—I think I’m having a panic attack.”

“That is definitionally not fine,” he said sternly. He stepped forward and placed a hand firmly on her back between her shoulder blades. “Sit down.”

She did so shakily, knees hitting the sandy grass hard. She took a ragged breath in and her ribs twinged. Maxie knelt beside her, hand still on her back.

“Just breathe,” he said gently.

She tried. Every breath scraped its way down her throat and her head throbbed and blood rushed in her ears, but she tried. Her chest was tight and the pain in her left side was so sharp it made her want to cry and she just couldn’t get enough air in to soothe her aching lungs, but she tried.            

Inhale.

Minutes passed. She could hear herself breathing tremulously but the world felt zoomed out, like she was a bystander watching herself from outside her own body. Somewhere far away, Comet’s warm hands clung to hers and Maxie rubbed soothing circles on her back. None of this could possibly be real. Any moment now, she’d wake to see the canvas of her tent above her head—just another night on the road.

Exhale.

The world came back into focus slowly, beginning with the pain in her knees where her weight pressed them into the sand. Her bare shins itched, her arms felt leaden, her head pulsed with a nascent headache. The sensation of swimming through a dream passed as she settled back into her body. She was here, and she was with friends.

And she was probably about to get them all killed.

Maybe don’t think like that.

Inhale.

“Can you speak?” Maxie asked quietly.

May sniffled. “Yeah.”

“Alright. What’s the matter?”

“Um. Like, aside from everything?”

He hesitated. “I would appreciate something specific to address.”

That made her laugh for some reason. “Sure. Uh, just for you.” She wiped a fingertip under each of her eyes to clear her tears, being careful not to smear her makeup, and took as deep a breath as she could.

“This is a mistake,” she said. “Like—I barely stopped them the first time. And if you couldn’t get them to work with you, I don’t have a chance. So we’re probably just going to piss them off or scare them, which is going to lead to them rampaging again, and if they do that I don’t know if recalling them will work, and we’ll be back in the same situation we were in.”

Maxie shifted his weight. His hand was warm on her back.

“I don’t mean to be rude, but that’s objectively untrue,” he said slowly.

May looked up at him sharply. “What?”

“To begin with,” he said, “you stopped her when she was more powerful than she is even capable of becoming right now, and while at a disadvantage too, might I add. Additionally, the Red Orb is still in Sootopolis and we’re far from the Cave of Origin, so there’s no risk of her undergoing primal reversion a second time. Finally, comparing yourself to me is ridiculous. You’ve already accomplished more than I did by catching her.”

“But there’s no guarantee they’ll decide to partner with one of us,” she shot back. “What are we supposed to do then?”

Maxie leaned away slightly and gave her a long look.

“What?” May asked.

“What is actually the matter?”

“What do you mean?”

He shook his head. “You were so confident about this yesterday. You aren’t given to being unreasonable so it’s clear something else is bothering you. What is it?”

May looked away. How did she even begin to explain this, especially to someone like him? He didn’t lack for confidence in himself in the slightest, to the point that it was almost a flaw. How could she describe the bone-deep dread of knowing that her best was never good enough, that every endeavor was doomed to fall just short of success, that she could always, always be better, but never enough as she was?

She wasn’t that boy from New Bark. She never would be. She couldn’t be.

“I can’t do this,” she whispered. “But you still could.”

“Absolutely not,” he said vehemently.

“Why not?”

“She has no reason to listen to me. You’re the one challenged and caught her. And you didn’t answer my question.”

May took a deep breath. Closed her eyes. “I’m not—I’m not a good enough trainer to do this. They don’t have any reason to listen to me either. I can’t do this.”

Maxie paused. “I’m unsure how you came to feel this way,” he said carefully, “but you should be aware that you are again, objectively, incorrect.”

“I—”

“Stop,” he said. “Just listen. You’re an outstanding trainer, and your pokémon agree. Look at Comet—can you not tell how much he cares for you? To say nothing of Brutus. Do you truly believe he doesn’t love you, after pushing himself so hard to help you? What is it that matters more than that? If anyone can handle this, Ms Maple, it’s you.”

Comet nosed at her cheek gently, as if agreeing with him.

“What’s going on with you?” she asked. “Yesterday it seemed like you thought this was a bad idea.”

“I did. You convinced me otherwise. Consider something for me, if you don’t mind.”

“What?”

“What’s the worst thing that could happen?”

She pulled her eyes away from Comet to stare at Maxie instead. “I already told you.”

“And we established that you’re quite capable of handling her in a battle, and that primal reversion isn’t a concern. Try again.”

Stars above, it would be so easy to push him over into the sand. She was half tempted to do it. “We could die. That’s pretty bad, Maxie.”

“That’s fair, I suppose. Was Groudon aggressive towards you at all during your initial battle with her?”

May frowned. “Uh, no. They seemed not to notice me.”

“Then she hasn’t displayed behavior like that before,” he said curtly. “There’s no reason to think that will change. Groudon’s not a mindless monster; she’s a pokémon, and one that had a good reputation among humans in the past. You were right, yesterday—this could work, and it’s something worth doing. Your worst-case scenario may possibly happen if we do nothing, as well. It’s better to be sure.”

“I—” May grit her teeth. “You’re really frustrating sometimes.”

“So I’m told.” His voice softened. “Will you be alright?”

She nodded. “Yeah, I’m—I’m fine. I’m sorry.”

“You haven’t done anything wrong. If you weren’t… anxious about this at the least, I’d be concerned.”

She laughed shakily. “Not really how I wanted to be validated today.”

“Your worry can be valid,” he shot back. “But you were catastrophizing. That isn’t the same thing. Keep your worry within the realm of reason.”

“Easy for you to say. You’re never worried about anything.”

“I’m worried about you right now.”

She didn’t have anything to say to that. Her arms felt limp and her head pounded. Of course he was worried about her. This must seem out of character to him. For two years she managed to keep it together around him only to fumble at the last second, when it mattered most.

“I’m sorry,” May said. “That was disingenuous of me to say.”

“Apology accepted.” He paused. “On that note, I believe we may also need to have a conversation about your self-esteem, or apparent lack thereof. As I said before, I’m unsure why you feel this way, but it would be unconscionable for me to let this state of mind persist unaddressed. Now,” he said, standing and brushing the sand off his slacks, “shall we?”

He held out a hand to her.

May stared at it. Comet had ahold of her right hand, and she could barely lift her left due to her ribs, and she didn’t want to ignore him because he was being kind and they were doing so well…

What the hell, how bad could it be? She lifted her left hand, ignoring the twinge in her ribs, and—

“Are you trying to injure yourself further?” he asked archly. “Other hand, please.”

May cringed as she pulled her right hand away from Comet. “No, I just, um, didn’t think you’d know about that.”

He looked offended as she placed her hand in his. “You really thought I wouldn’t check in on you?”

“No, I—why would you?”

He pulled her to her feet, then dropped her hand and placed both of his on her shoulders.

May froze. He was looking at her intently, like a hawk might eye a rabbit. Her heart pounded in her chest.

“Ms Maple,” he said firmly, “I’m unsure what sort of company you’ve been keeping that has led you to believe the contrary, but you deserve people in your life who care about you.” His grip tightened incrementally. “Do I make myself clear?”

Her tongue felt glued to the roof of her mouth. She nodded.

“Good.” His hands fell away from her shoulders, and he folded them behind his back, standing up straight. “Now,” he said. “Let’s get to it.”

He turned and marched away for the second time, leaving May standing there feeling like she’d just run a marathon. Stars above, she’d forgotten how intense he could be.

She exhaled. Well—this was it, wasn’t it? She didn’t get to stall anymore, and if she wasn’t brave enough to do this now, she probably wouldn’t ever be. She just had to… leap in.

Comet shuffled up beside her and rested his head on her shoulder, chirruping softly. May reached over to run her hand down his face as she leaned in to press her cheek against his.

“I’ll be alright,” she said. “I think. Just hang out with Alluria for a few minutes, okay? I’ll shout if I need you.”

He made a sound halfway between a growl and a warble, but did as she asked, settling in the sand beside the milotic. He folded his wings, but stayed upright and alert.

Okay. May took a deep breath and started forward, heart still racing as she power walked to catch up with Maxie, who was standing several yards away, waiting for her. They could do this—she could do this. She stepped up beside Maxie and looked over at him.

“Do you suppose this is far enough inland?” he asked, arching an eyebrow at her.

“Uh, sure. It’s as good a spot as any,” she replied.

He nodded. “In that case,” he said, stepping backwards and making a sweeping gesture, “I believe the rest of this is up to you, Ms Maple. I’m right here if you require support.”

Dread settled like a weighted blanket around her shoulders. It would be easier, in some ways, to decide this wasn’t worth it, actually, and to turn tail and run back to Sootopolis, drop the ball in the PC, and never think about it again. But she couldn’t stomach that.

Okay. This was easy. She’d let pokémon out of balls before, obviously, and that’s all this was. Right? The first step was letting them out to see what they’d do. She could manage that.

She unclipped the ball from her belt. It felt strange in her hand—rough and malformed from the overwhelming heat of the Cave of Origin warping it. For some reason she expected it to feel heavy, too, but it didn’t—it was the same almost-nothing weight of any pokéball. She could’ve mistaken it for any of her other team members.  

Deep breath in. The gentle breeze tossed her hair around her ears, carrying the soft sound and salty smell of the water with it. Maxie was probably waiting on her again.

May exhaled. Just go through the motions.

She raised her arm slowly, as if she was moving through deep water. Her head swam. With her thumb, she pressed the release button, and the clasp disengaged with a soft click.

Immediately, white light poured from the ball to pool at her feet in a shape that grew larger at an alarming pace. It was close—far too close. May’s heart thudded against her aching ribs and she took a step backwards—directly into Maxie.

He caught her by the upper arms. “Steady,” he said. “You can do this.”

His hands fell away and her throat was tight as she rasped a breath. The light towered above her as it rapidly faded into red and black scales. Groudon was hunched over on all fours, heavy head nearly touching the ground—if May reached out, her fingertips would almost brush their nose. Far, far too close—

Their jaws parted, revealing long fangs and black gums, and they hissed like a fumarole as grey smoke spilled from the corners of their mouth. Their hot breath stank of sulfur. May’s eyes watered and her limbs trembled—she had to run, she had to run right now—

And then they stood, pushing off the ground with their forelimbs and stretching up to their full height. The ground quaked as they shifted their weight. Creatures that large shouldn’t move that fast—but that didn’t stop them. They swung their head back and forth as they looked around urgently, and hissed again.   

The sunlight flared, brighter and hotter in an instant, feeling like a weight on May’s bare skin. She squinted, holding a hand up to block the worst of it, palms tingling, but it was still so intense. Oh, hell—

“Get her attention,” Maxie said from right behind her. “I’d wager this is an instinctive response. Let her know she’s not in danger.”

Right—right. She could feel her hands shaking as she raised her voice:

“Groudon!”

Their head jerked at the sound, then deliberately tipped toward her. They fixed her with one bright yellow eye, and May sucked in a breath. Did they know their name, or were they just reacting to the noise?

She didn’t have time to think about it. The thought dissipated as fast as it had come under the overwhelming intensity of Groudon’s full attention. They were looking at her.

Oh, gods, this wasn’t going to work. They were a deity, and she was just—herself. Not that boy from New Bark, and not Maxie Asher. Just—

They growled, and the whole island quivered beneath May’s feet as the very earth responded to their call. You couldn’t tame a power like that—couldn’t bind it to your will. My incomparable partner, Maxie had said. But what had she done to earn their respect?

They snarled and May quailed, her tense muscles screaming at her to run, but she was pinned to the spot by Groudon’s white-hot gaze. And then—

Maxie put a bracing hand on her shoulder. “No rival of mine is going to be intimidated by an oversized reptile,” he said right beside her ear. “Talk to her.”

This time he left his hand where it was, and something about the connection was grounding. My incomparable partner…

May stood up straight and balled her fists at her sides. “I don’t want to fight you again,” she called up to them. “I’d rather be your friend!”

They opened their mouth again, showing teeth, but didn’t make a sound. If they were a lairon, she’d interpret that as a threat display—back off, or get bitten. But it could also be a challenge.  

“If it’s really a battle you want, you should know I won’t back down,” she said.

Groudon snapped their jaws, and their eye flicked briefly past her, but they didn’t otherwise move.  

“But if you’d rather not,” May continued, “will you please hear me out?”

A heartbeat passed, and then two, as Groudon blinked slowly. She was being judged, May realized. She swallowed thickly. She was a fraud. Everything about her—the bravado, the compassion, the competence—it was all a façade that dissolved under scrutiny and somehow, they’d know it.

And then Groudon snorted. Smoke roiled from their nostrils. They looked at her, and she at them.

They were listening.

“Incredible,” Maxie breathed.

May exhaled. That had worked? She fished around for her next words. She had a hard enough time talking to other humans; what was she supposed to say to a god?

“You must be so overwhelmed,” she said, realizing it even as it left her mouth. No wonder they hadn’t responded to Maxie. The Red Orb, the Cave of Origin, and being woken up suddenly after who knew how many years…

Groudon eyed her, expression inscrutable, the same way Brutus had done when she first met him. May shifted her weight, leaning back on her heel. She shouldn’t think of them like that—they weren’t her beloved aggron. But they were still a pokémon.

“I want to help you, if I can,” she continued. “My name’s May. I’m a pokémon trainer. I travel all over Hoenn with my partners. You met one of them before—do you remember?”

They hissed.

“I’m really sorry, but I was afraid you were going to hurt yourself or someone else. But I hope that we’re past that. I don’t want to fight you again.” She took a deep breath. “I’d—I’d like you to be my partner, too.”

They didn’t react.

“If not, that’s okay. I’ll take you wherever you want to go and release you. But if you want to see the land you created… then I want to help you do that. We humans aren’t perfect, but we’re trying to make things better—for everyone. There’s so much to see.” She hesitated. “You probably haven’t had a partner in a long time, huh?”

They tilted their head, and exhaled. Slowly, they lowered themself back down onto all fours, and this time May managed to clamp down on the thrumming energy in her legs that told her to run. Groudon kept their head cocked to one side to watch her with a single eye, and it occurred to her that they probably couldn’t see very well in front of their nose—like Brutus.

They were close enough to touch, now. May reached out a hand; watched as their vast yellow iris contracted as they inspected it. Then their gaze moved upwards, to her face.

The sunlight suddenly dimmed, easing the heat on her skin. They weren’t going to fight her.

“Is this a yes?” she whispered.

They closed their eyes and huffed, sounding almost exactly like Brutus. Maybe—maybe the two of them weren’t that different, after all. Carefully, amazed at her own bravery, May laid her hand against their snout.

Their bright scales felt like smooth, sun-warm stone against her skin. They leaned into the touch, and so May brought up her other hand to sweep under their jaw. They rumbled contentedly.

She’d—done it?

May laughed tremulously, and Groudon cracked an eyelid to look at her briefly before closing it again. She’d done it. They weren’t going to rampage, they weren’t going to hurt anyone, they weren’t going to plunge Hoenn into an endless drought.

She felt herself tear up. Was this how that boy from New Bark felt, when Lugia dipped their graceful neck to be touched like an equal? That flood of relief—that you weren’t being judged, that you weren’t found wanting, that you were worthy… Wasn’t that the whole point of partnership—to be loved?

May leaned forward and squeezed her eyes shut, pressing her forehead against Groudon’s snout. For a moment, she could hear nothing but the sound of her own breathing as the tension in her chest unspooled.

She took a deep breath and straightened. “Hey, do you—” she started, and then realized Maxie’s hand wasn’t on her shoulder anymore.

She turned. He was standing a few yards behind her—when had he moved? His hands were behind his back, his chin lifted slightly, and he looked unbearably smug: the perfect picture of himself. And then he smiled at her. Tight and quick, but still.

May smiled back. “Do you wanna come over here?” she asked.

His smile faded. “What?”

“I don’t think they’ll mind.”

He blinked at her. “I…” He suddenly looked lost. She’d never seen him speechless before—she hadn’t even been sure it was possible. But here they were.

She felt a sudden crash of empathy. Of course he probably thought that, after what he’d done, he didn’t deserve the opportunity—and maybe he didn’t. But she didn’t care about what he deserved. Whatever his plans had been, she believed his apology was sincere, and she had meant it when she said she forgave him. And he was still a trainer—a good one at that. He wasn’t the heartless monster running Team Rocket back in Johto, who treated pokémon like tools to be used and discarded. He would’ve treated Groudon well.

May moved to stand beside Maxie and looped her arm through his. He hesitated when she stepped toward Groudon, but followed when she tugged at his arm.

This was going to be another weird one. But—hell. The last two days had contained the strangest experiences of her life. This was easy.

“Go ahead,” she said.

“Hello,” Maxie said, sounding almost—sheepish? That couldn’t be right. “I believe I owe you an apology for disturbing you.”

With their head still low to the ground, Groudon snorted a gout of smoke and blinked slowly.

May reached out and patted them between the nostrils. “I think that means you’re all good.”

“Huh,” he said, uncharacteristically subdued. “I will defer to your judgement on that.”

May smiled again, letting go of his arm so she could pet Groudon with both hands. They closed their eyes fully and settled down into the sand, rumbling softly, just like a lairon would.

Maxie started to raise a hand, and then turned to look at her intently. “Do you think she would mind if I…?”

“Go ahead,” May said again.

He began to reach for them, hesitated, and then tried again, as if he had to convince himself of the action. But his fingertips brushed their nose, and then he was laying a hand fully against the ridge above Groudon’s eye.

“I was expecting…” He leaned to the side, leaving his hand where it was as he inspected the rest of them, all scales and spines. “Absolutely fascinating,” he murmured.

He turned back to her suddenly. “Ms Maple,” he said, and then paused, and she realized that whatever he was about to say next wasn’t rehearsed. “I want to thank you for… quite a lot, actually, but also for this specific moment.” He ducked his head. “I don’t believe I deserve it.”

“Well, to be honest, I think you do,” she replied. “I couldn’t have done this without you. You’re pretty great.”

He flinched like she’d struck him. “Hm,” he said, suddenly refusing once again to meet her eyes. “I will… bear that in mind.”

May smiled ruefully to herself. That would have to do for now.

Maxie cleared his throat. “I would also like to add,” he said, “that I cannot possibly overstate how proud of you I am.”

It was May’s turn to look away in embarrassment and squeak out a “Thanks.” Maxie didn’t say anything else; just nodded.

The waves crashed; the seabirds called. After a long moment, May asked, “Now what?”

“Hm. I suppose we return to Sootopolis,” Maxie said. “I’m sure there is still more to be done there.” He looked at her over Groudon’s snout. “Eventually, more people than the two of us will know about this.”

That would have to be alright. Whatever else was going to happen, May suddenly felt that things were going to be okay. This was an end, but it was a beginning, too—a new and surprising chapter she never could’ve anticipated. But it looked like she wouldn’t be alone for it. Not this time. Littleroot still loomed somewhere on the horizon, but for now, it was a distant shadow, and she was standing in the sunlight.

[dr-spencer-reids-queen]

Minimal Loss: Part Three

Pairing: Spencer Reid x Female!Reader

Word Count: ~2k

Summary: You and Spencer go undercover to a ranch that is run by a man who thinks he’s God. When you and Spencer are trapped there, you will do anything to protect him, even if it means putting yourself in danger.

Warnings: canon violence, canon language, canon talk of death, methods of kill

Author’s Note: I do not own anything from Criminal Minds. All credit goes to their respective owners. If there are any warnings that exceed the normal death/kills from the show, I will list them. If you’ve seen the show, then it’s the same level of angst unless otherwise stated

x

"The former sect leader is here. Rossi, this is Daniel Vale," JJ says once she arrives on scene.

Daniel used to be part of the ranch, and he knows all about Ben and the ranch.

"Anything you can tell us about this situation?"

"Charles Mulgrew is his real name, not Benjamin Cyrus. His mother was five months pregnant when she showed up at our doorstep. He turned out to be one of the smart ones. Amazing memory that kid had. Anything he read, he could repeat back to you. He was a mouthy little son of a bitch."

"Why did he leave the ranch?" Derek asks.

"When he was seventeen, a couple of our young girls came to me and said that he'd been messing with them sexually. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm a libertarian but those little girls were too young for a seventeen-year-old to be messing with."

"So, you kicked him out for that?"

"Yes, sir. I did. His mother took him to Kentucky. I hadn't heard anything from him for years, and when he finally showed up again, he said his mother had died. He found God, and he wanted to come home."

"How does a kid like that get rid of you?"

"One day, he came to me and said God told him that I should leave the ranch. I said if God felt that way, God can tell me himself. He put a gun to my head and said, 'he just did.' It took me twenty years to build that ranch. I'll do anything I can to help you send that ungrateful son of a bitch straight to hell."

"I need a map," Derek says. Daniel is quick to get a detailed map of the ranch, and Derek calls Penelope up for help. "What can you tell me about Charles Mulgrew?"

"Charles Mulgrew was convicted in Kentucky at the age of eighteen with three counts of statutory rape."

"Do we need to talk to the warden?"

"I'm way ahead of you, honey. Mr. Kentucky Warden said that once inside, Mulgrew found religion and became a model citizen."

"Well, it's not that hard to behave when you're in protective custody the whole time," Derek sighs.

"General population's a rough place for a child molester."

"No. I don't think you guys understand. He was a model citizen. This guy volunteered in the AIDS ward at the prison hospital. He was reading to prisoners dying of HIV."

"Thank you."

"Well, this makes things worse," Rossi sighs when Derek hangs up.

"What? That he was a model citizen?"

"That he's been to prison. He knows what happens to child molesters there. If the current sexual allegations are true and he thinks we know it, he's not coming out of there."

"Then we have to make him think he's not going back," Hotch says. "JJ, I need you to release a press statement saying that we have absolutely no evidence of sexual allegations."

"You need to see this," she sighs.

She sets down a laptop on the desk and turns the screen towards everyone else. On it is a news reporter, and she presses play.

"Now well into its second day, the standoff at the Sepatarian Sect Ranch has now been taken over by the FBI. There was much speculation in regard to hostages, but anonymous sources inside the state attorney general's office have told us there is an undercover FBI agent currently being held inside the ranch. Hostage negotiators say they are making headway with the sect's leadership, and are hopeful for a positive outcome. There's still no word as to why an undercover FBI agent was sent in alone."

As soon as Ben sees the news, he is furious. You can feel his anger even before he reaches you. You and Spencer are taken down to the basement where there are no witnesses other than Chris and Ben. You're shoved down onto some boxes while Spencer is sitting across from you on other boxes.

His anger is really scaring you.

"Which one of you is it? Which one of you is the FBI agent?"

You and Spencer look at each other, and thankfully, he handles it.

"Why do you think one of us is an FBI agent?"

"God will forgive me for what I must do."

Ben points his gun at Spencer's face, and your eyes widen. His life is threatened, and you will do anything to keep him safe no matter what.

"Who is it?"

There is no question about it. You don't hesitate, even for a second.

"Me. It's me," you blurt.

Spencer's eyes dart to yours, but you're standing by this decision. Spencer will be safe, and that is the only thing that matters. Your dad wasn't a nice guy sometimes, and he'd often use the belt or other means to punish you. You can take whatever he is about to give you. Spencer will hate you for this, but you don't care.

Ben lowers his gun and grabs you by the hair, yanking you to your feet. Spencer goes to get up, but Chris pushes him back down onto the boxes.

"I'm okay," you whisper. "I'll be fine."

Ben drags you by your hair into the back room where it's just you and him. He throws you to the ground in frustration, and you groan in pain. You rub the back of your head and stand to face him. If he is going to kick, punch, or slap you, then you're not going to show him any weakness.

"I told you not to put me in this position!"

He backhands you so hard you go flying to the ground. He kicks your stomach twice before taking the butt of his gun and slamming it into the side of your face. There are bugs everywhere since Rossi brought them in, so you know they can hear him beating you. You cough up blood but don't let it affect you.

"Get up!" he yells and yanks you to your feet. "Proverbs 20:30 tells us blows and wounds cleanse away evil."

"I can take it," you say, knowing your team can hear you.

"Oh, you can take it?"

"I can take it," you say more firmly.

"Pride comes before the fall."

Ben slaps you again and punches you to the ground, and you moan in pain. Your face is throbbing, your stomach hurts, but your mind is at ease. Spencer is safe. Spencer is okay. He's safe. You're okay. You repeat those four sentences over and over again. Ben knocks on the door, and Chris walks in without Spencer. He doesn't give Spencer time to look inside and see you.

"Tie her up and put her upstairs," Ben orders.

Chris hauls you to your feet and brings you upstairs to one of the bedrooms. You're tied to the bed and left alone, but not long after you're put there, the door creeps open. Kathy, Jessica's mother, comes in with the first aid kit, a bucket of water, and a dry washcloth.

"You should have told Cyrus who you were when you got here. He's a prophet. He predicted Satan's armies would come and lay siege to us."

She dips the washcloth into the water and starts to wipe the blood from your face.

"There's a name for that kind of prophecy--self fulfilling," you groan.

"You don't know how dangerous it is to lie to him."

"I know it would take a brave woman to defy him, knowing the consequences. That woman would have to have a damn good reason to do it."

You know she made the 911 call, but you don't outright say it. She finishes up and leaves you alone in the room. You close your eyes and continue to whisper those four sentences to yourself. You have to believe he is safe because you will reign hell down on whoever hurts him.

Spencer wants nothing more than to go to you and make sure you're okay, but he can't risk himself. He still has Ben's trust, however little that may be. He has to play this smart.

"Did you know she was FBI?" Ben asks Spencer with a glare.

"Nancy told me the woman was a child abuse interview expert from Denver. In the four years I worked with her, Nancy never lied to me before."

"As far as you know. Their law says that a fifteen-year-old girl is a child. Fifty years ago, that same law said a fourteen-year-old was an adult. Have children changed so much in fifty years?"

"I can't tell you the number of times I've investigated abuse charges against small religious groups. Almost all of them turn out to be false."

"What do you think of that?"

"Doesn't really matter what I think."

"It does to me."

"Why?"

"Because God wants to save you. That's why he sent you here."

"On the next call, you should test them. Test the negotiator. Make him prove that he isn't a liar," Spencer suggests.

"How would you suggest I do that?"

"Ask for the identity of the FBI agent."

"No," Chris interjects. "We already know her identity."

"They don't know that."

"Yeah, but the FBI would never tell us."

"They keep on asking you to release people. Tell him you'll release a kid, and you won't harm the agent. If they really care about the children, they'll have to tell you," Spencer says.

"You're trying to get us to release a child," Chris glares.

"It's one kid. If they don't hold up on their end of the deal, you know they can't be trusted."

"He has a point," Ben sides with Spencer. Chris looks down in uncertainty, and this doesn't go unnoticed by Ben. "What is it, Christopher?"

"Some have been talking about leaving."

"Wake the baby. Let them meet the orphan that they've made."

Ben takes out his phone and calls Rossi as Chris leaves to do what he's told.

"How are you doing today, Ben?" Rossi answers.

"I will release a child if you tell me the identity of the FBI agent. I promise no harm will come to her from this point forward."

"I can't give you that information."

"I will send the child now."

With the okay from Ben, Chris releases the child that Jessica was holding yesterday. She walks outside in confusion, and when Rossi sees this isn't a trap, he sends Derek to get her. Derek runs over to the kid and picks her up, holding her close to him.

"We're taking a big risk here, Ben," Rossi sighs once he knows the child is safe.

"Trust is earned."

"Her name is Y/N. She came in with two child service workers to talk to the girls."

"There's a good chance we can work this out, Dave. I'm gonna provide another sign of good faith."

"You're doing a good thing here."

Ben hangs up and turns to Chris.

"Assemble everyone in the chapel. Get Agent Y/N down here."

Chris leaves to get you while the other followers gather everyone inside the church. Spencer is anxious to see you, and when he finally does, his heart breaks into two. You have bruises and cuts on your face, and he wasn't there to protect you. You lock eyes with Spencer, and you immediately feel the guilt come off him in waves.

"It has come to my attention that some of our brothers and sisters have lost their faith in God," Ben tells everyone. "They no longer love us. They want to abandon us. So, when I call out your name, please stand. Todd Sutters. Melanie Sutters. Evan Radley..."

As Ben calls out people's names, Spencer walks over to you since Ben is distracted. He has such a heartbreaking look on his face, but you have to push that down right now.

"I'm so sorry," he whispers emotionally.

"Don't do that," you say in a stern voice. "This was my decision. It's not as bad as it looks. I am fine, I promise you. I love you so much. Now, what's going on here? Who is he calling out?"

"They're the ones who failed the loyalty test. We'll get word to the team. Wait for a sign from outside to indicate what time the raid will come."

Spencer notices Ben watching you two, so he quickly moves away from your side to stay on his good side. He walks over to Ben to rectify the situation.

"I told her she shouldn't have lied to you like that. To either of us."

"Take her back," Ben says to Chris.

Chris is not a gentle man, but you ignore the pain in your wrists.

x

Follow my library blog @aqueenslibrary​​​​​​​​​​​ where I reblog all my stories, so you can put notifications on there without the extra stuff :)

[bookishfeylin]

I’m curious on what your opinion is on tams red flag behavior in book one and just “fantasy male character behavior” in general. Like I see people talk about how gross and terrible he was in book one and yeah I’d run away fast if I met him but it also wasn’t anywhere near being worse that a lot other popular book men. Like where’s the line for you? Whats going to far? Should these characters be in ya?

Hi anon! I’ve talked about this topic quite a bit all over my blog but it’s complicated for me. IMO I DO think YA romantic relationships (fantasy romance in particular) as a whole are more toxic than not and really ought to be examined, critiqued, and called out more often, but ACOTAR is a unique case as it started as NA (or book 1 specifically was first published in NA I should say). If it’d stayed in NA it wouldn’t be an issue but alas. ACOTAR was moved to YA to sell more (this all occurred prior to ACOMAF being published iirc), and then after YEARS of the series being sold as YA they were moved back to NA with the release of ACOSF. I feel like they simply never should’ve been in YA to begin with, especially if she ultimately moved them back to NA, so… Additionally, the books, unlike your average YA fantasy, are trying specifically to teach the audience about healthy and unhealthy relationships. That complicates the convo more so than if these books DIDN'T discuss and attempt to teach about abuse like most other YA fantasy books. I do think, if you’re going to attempt to teach about a topic as important as abuse, you should hold your relationships to a higher standard, and ESPECIALLY if you’re writing for a younger and more impressionable audience. BUTTTTTTTT ACOTAR 1 is for all intents and purposes a BATB retelling. The BATB fairytale is nearly inherently unhealthy by real world standards, but we all… know that? Including teens (or I’d like to believe that, at least)? And Tamlin's character is the beast, so how much do we truly gain from calling out his red flags when we all knew he was going to act beastly going in? Like sure, I don’t like to see these types of behaviors promoted in YA as a general rule and I’m certainly glad to see them critiqued by the author, but I and I’m sure most others do expect them and arguably make exceptions for them in a BATB retelling *specifically* because. That’s the fairytale??? And I don’t think BATB retellings should be banned from YA or anything in spite of the fact that they’re again nearly inherently unhealthy? So yeah. It’s complicated. And because I want some nuance here I’ll just copy and paste some of my more concise opinions from other posts I’ve made:

As I've said in all of my posts where I discuss Tamlin's red flags, he certainly HAS them, but I've yet to see anyone name a red flag he has that Rhysand doesn't also exhibit. While I don't necessarily agree that other characters are more of a bad guy than he is, ACOTAR!Tamlin does not stand out much from any other male in the rest of this series. Is he a significantly older male with power and influence courting a younger less powerful woman? Yes. Is he violent, possessive, and jealous to a degree (though it's not nearly on ACOMAF! Tamlin's level)? Yes.

But so is everyone else. It doesn't work as a red flag because everyone acts that way. If we indict ACOTAR!Tamlin, then either EVERYONE has red flags, or it's "just how faeries are" and we leave it at that. Is Rhysand a significantly older male with power and influence courting a younger less powerful woman? Yes. Is Rhysand violent, possessive, and jealous to a degree? Yes.

ACOTAR!Tamlin is no worse than the bat boys. ACOTAR!Tamlin truly doesn't stand out in this series. It makes calling ACOTAR!Tamlin a walking red flag very very HARD when he's objectively not worse than the main heroes of the story--unless they too are walking red flags.

~~~

I love BATB retellings and Feylin, in book 1 where I ship it, is just that. It is no better or worse than a BATB retelling in a world with fae can be, and this works because Sarah isn’t trying to sell book 1 Feylin's relationship as healthy or frankly as anything other than a retelling of a popular fairytale a fairytale that has been scrutinized for Stockholm syndrome and the like. The rest of the books, aside from being very different in characterization, worldbuilding, tone, theme, and overall being very disjointed, retconned-filled continuations of the first book, also are hypocritical in the discussion of domestic violence, attacking said fairytale retelling for failing to meet real world standards of what a healthy relationship is (something it could never do as it was, again, a retelling of a fairytale that’s KNOWN to not be 100% healthy) while simultaneously propping up ANOTHER retelling-based-relationship as the ~healthier option~ despite it likewise being incapable of truly meeting our standards of healthiness and morality. The fandom often insists on critiquing Tamlin’s “red flags”, proclaiming Feylin was unhealthy and doomed from the beginning, but if the same treatment is done back to Rhysand and Feysand then the fandom’s tune becomes “how dare you use real world morality to critique their relationship???” Feysand literally begins with Rhysand mind-raping Feyre and then molesting her for months UTM??? Which is much worse than ANYTHING Tamlin ever did in the first book? If this series, and this fandom, truly cared about abuse as a theme then both Feylin and Feysand would be correctly critiqued as abusive, as neither of the fairytales they’re based on and are retelling are healthy. So that’s where I come in, and I correctly call them both toxic. But the fandom at large and the books don't do this, and the real world standards injected in the second book are deemed only applicable to Feylin, the BATB retelling, and not Feysand, the Hades and Persephone retelling. So I won’t judge my ship in the ***first book*** based on standards that were included ***later*** in the series and that are applied hypocritically to them alone and no other relationship. As I’ve said before, it’s very clear from the way no other major relationship in this series is critiqued by the same standards that abuse, domestic violence, and red flags were only discussed as themes solely to discredit their relationship, not least of all because it’s incredibly hard to apply real world standards to every character in a fantasy series without everyone being labeled unhealthy or problematic to some degree, to say nothing about that difficulty increasing in a fairytale retelling specifically. Feylin in book 1 is a fantasy fairytale retelling and nothing more; it’s not trying to comment on abuse. The rest of the books do, but hypocritically by only holding one retelling-based-relationship accountable for failing to meet real world standards of healthiness and morality instead of critiquing them both. The hypocrisy ruins the rest of the series for me (and has me side-eye a lot of the fandom for not caring about one relationship being analyzed by real world standards and the other one getting a pass and being labelled healthy anyway), so I simply prefer to enjoy book 1 and the relationship therein as an (imperfect) standalone fantasy.

[hees-mine]

Nooo 😭😭 I’m so sad you decided to de activate!! I loved what you did do while you were in business and I really wish that you hadn’t deactivated but if it makes you happy and less pressurized you do it for you !! While I’m disappointed that I won’t be hearing from you anymore, I’m proud of you for taking such a step. It must’ve been stressful not wanting to punish people for things others did, or closing your acc in general must’ve been depressing. Those people don’t have shit to do with their day, that’s why they stuff their hairy ass noses in other peoples business! If you’re doing it because of what others say, kindly, FUCK THEM!! They have no right to judge you, but if their words really hurt you enough for you to do this then I’ll respect your wishes.

Goodbye!! Hopefully we can become friends in the future! I’ll forever remember you @hees-mine ! 🩷🩷

Thank you for staying with me and loving what I do🩵

It’s literally nothing other than the fact I’m sick of being hounded and asked for a “part 2”

I hope everyone who left those comments will see this and understand that they are the reason I’m leaving

I’m just tired of meeting the demand and getting zero appreciation

Playtime was supposed to be a one shot last time was supposed to be a one shot but people kept asking for more and I delivered

Which I wish I hadn’t cause even then I was being spoken to rudely

But as soon as I say I’m not gonna be series anymore the ask just keep coming

And I don’t get it I’m glad people want to read more from me but the constant demands for more is just very discouraging and it’s what ultimately led me to this decision

In the future to all the readers out there here’s some tips

1 stop being a silent reader / unless youre nervous to send an ask

2 hit reblog/like on all the fics that you genuinely like you don’t have to spam like or like a fic just cause but if you do like it hit the like button it’s that simple I know your fingers might be tired from scrolling but push on and give us a reblog it goes a long way cause remember one of the only things that makes writing enjoyable is feedback

3 stop asking for updates period don’t ask for part two’s if someone said there’s gonna be a part two just wait for them to release it don’t keep asking when it’s gonna come out

We take hours to write please just take a few seconds to let us know you appreciate our hard work

Thank you sweetheart and I’ll remember you too🩵

[thoselethalarts]

ℙ𝕙𝕠𝕓𝕠𝕤 𝔹𝕒𝕟𝕟𝕖𝕣 - ℙ𝕖𝕣𝕤𝕠𝕟𝕒𝕝 𝕊𝕥𝕠𝕣𝕪

(SR) Lab Coats (Part 1): "It’d Make This Exchange a Lot Less Fun."

(NRC: Library)

Phobos: Different types of poisons affect the body in different ways. Phobos: Some of them work through the nervous system... attacking the body’s nerves, causing muscles to seize, the brain to fry, and the heart to stop beating. Phobos: Others work through the circulatory system, causing the blood to coagulate within the veins and cause internal congestion. The victim is likely to die of a stroke or heart attack through this methodology. Phobos: Still, others are more corrosive. They eat away at the internals of the victim, dissolving muscle and flesh, causing internal hemorrhaging and decay. The victim is more likely to bleed out when they can’t stop the corrosion. Phobos: With that in mind, the real question is… what of these methods are capable of being replicated without the actual presence of poison? Phobos: Coagulation and nervous attack, possibly, though I doubt corrosion would be… Unless somehow the body could be forced to produce more powerful stomach acid, maybe. Hm…

Rook: What plans are circling your mind, Monsieur Malicieux?

Phobos: -! I don’t like that you could sneak up on me like that.

Rook: Even a novice hunter always knows how to silence his footsteps when stalking his prey~ Rook: Oya… are you studying poisons?

Phobos: None of your business, leave me alone.

Rook: Ooh la la, but if this is part of your studies, I could be more than a worthy partner in your quest for knowledge! Rook: As a member of the science club, and vice dorm head of Pomefiore, poisons are something I have a great deal of confidence in knowing.

Phobos: …I’m not studying poisons. I’m studying biology.

Rook: Even better! As a hunter of hearts and beasts I do have keen knowledge in biology as well-

Phobos: I didn’t ask for your input! I told you, I’m fine! Phobos: Tch... If you’re so adamant to butt into my business and leap into the jaws of death, then fine. How about you be my "lab partner" then?

Rook: Gladly! I'd be more than happy to assist you with whatever you need. I've always wanted to spend more time with you~

(Phobos rips a piece of paper from his notebook and begins scribbling something down upon the page.)

Rook: Hmm? Is that poetry you’re composing? Rook: “Cursed eyes gazing upon this page-”

Phobos: Rule number one: Don’t read this out loud.

Rook: Oh?

Phobos: Rule number two: Don’t read this until I’m finished writing this. Phobos: Rule number three: When you’re finished reading this, give it back to me immediately. Phobos: Rule number four: Report to me everything you felt after reading this note. Phobos: If you’re gonna keep annoying me, these are the rules you’ll be following for our experiment. You will ask no questions, and you’ll tell no souls about what we did today. Got it?

Rook: Oui. I’m now very much intrigued to see where your plans lie~

Phobos: Hmph… Here. Now you can read it. Silently.

Rook: Very well. Let me see~ Rook: ………?! A-Ah… what is…?

Phobos: Finished?

Rook: Oui, my… my heart is…? Rook: Haah… what a fascinating sensation.

Phobos: Rule number four, Rook. Status report.

Rook: Hmmh… I could… feel my heart palpitate with strain, every muscle in my chest tightening like a vice, before very gently and suddenly releasing. Rook: Like the claws of a beast had torn its way through my ribs and clenched my very heart within my chest… before quietly granting mercy and releasing its grip… Rook: W-What a powerful reaction. Your prose shook me to my core, stronger than any poison I’d ever experienced before. That was… exhilarating~

Phobos: Keep that part to yourself. I don't need to hear it. Phobos: But, that all but confirmed my suspicions in one regard... Phobos: Poison doesn’t need to even attack the human nervous system, it just needs to command the nerves to do what it wants… to turn the body against itself and go in for the kill. Phobos: Generally speaking, poisons use chemical compounds to command the body to do its bidding. The chemicals don’t need to be present for the reaction to occur, as long as the body can generate the end result needed on their own. Phobos: Chemicals are words; words command the body to self-immolate… Perfect. Phobos: Alright, guinea pig, you’re dismissed.

Rook: Oui~ I look forward to helping you with your studies again, Monsieur Malicieux~

(Rook walks away, footsteps heavy and unsteady.)

Phobos: Hmph… Not exactly happy with someone having an insight to my power and walking away scott-free, but it’s hard to say no to a willing guinea pig. Phobos: A stupid, willing victim… The easiest toy to play with the inner mechanisms of. Phobos: Heh… Heheheh… Keep jumping into the jaws of death, little mouse. I can’t wait to tear you apart, piece by piece.

/ To be continued…

[numberonenarinderhater]

Ok this isn’t really Nari or Narilamb related but I’m at some sort of crossroads on what I wanna do regarding the Bishops postgame

Personally I don’t really care abt them? They’re good characters and interesting but i just can’t fully bring myself to like them or really want them to be a part of my cotl postgame canon due to the fact having them around would make my Lambs mental state worse ( and trust me her mental state is BAD )

At first I was gonna just have my lamb release them and bring them to the cult and eventually kick them out ( either cleansed/healed or not ) and then I was thinking I just have lamb release them but leave them at the temples ( minus Shamura ) but feel guilty abt it but I don’t even know what I wanna do and it’s stressing me out

The other two ideas are they’re stuck in purgatory or the lamb releases them only to kill them in their mortal forms but I feel like it’d be kinda ooc for my lamb ( the latter option that is )

Idk I just don’t rlly like how we’re forced to keep the bishops around but I also worry people will think my lamb is cruel or some shit for keeping them in purgatory or even have them release the bishops but not bring em back to the cult since they’re disabled as mortals ( particularly regarding Leshy and Shamura )

My lamb is a very messy person. She wants to be good and do good and not be like the Bishops but she’s traumatized and didn’t really even want to be in the position of god/cult leader but also didn’t want to be sacrificed so they’re pretty much screwed unless they give the crown to someone else but they’re worried if doing that would result in them dying ( they stay alive bc they’d rather eat shit than have the bishops succeed in their genocide ( they don’t know that they’re actually not the last lamb in general but the last lamb in the lands of old faith ) )

It’s ironic that the stuff regarding bishops in the goatverse is a lot more simple ( Goat and their Nari ( ie Narnia ) do plan to release them but are procrastinating on it for many reasons )

Sorry for rambling btw

Tough call! You ask a good question, which is: what do we as members of the audience/players/writers/etcetera do with characters that have done irreparable harm? Which is a question that’s existed as long as fiction has.

When it comes to this particular dilemma tho I’m afraid that you might be the only expert on this subject.

I’m not sure if this is a question regarding your playthrough or a fan story of some kind (or both) but those are both very personal experiences and I’m not sure I can weigh in on that- even with all the added context. I hate to give you the expected “it’s up to you” response but that is what it comes down to, ultimately.

Even if I did tell you what your own version of the lamb would do:

1) I would probably be wrong

2) I would feel like an ass for dictating someone else’s story

3) you will definitely come up with something way better

My only advice is that, whatever you do, you stay true to the experience you want to have. Maybe save your game/save your work so far and try out a few options to see how it makes you feel. Then you can go back to whatever you gravitate to the most.

If you’re feeling stuck or having writers block it’s better to just do something and try to move forward regardless. Otherwise you’ll probably put it off for too long.

Hopefully that can lead you in some direction?

[always-andromeda]

I’ve been having thoughts about the backlash to those videos Chappell Roan posted on tiktok yesterday sO here’s my massive think piece under the cut lol.

I love Chappell Roan. I’ve been listening to her since last summer. Her music has meant so much to me in so many different ways. And I would miss her if she dipped out of the limelight for a while. But this post isn’t about how I feel. In general, this conversation isn’t about how everyone else is feeling. It’s about how Chappell feels.

I think the thing that a lot of people aren’t comprehending is that she straight up cannot handle the level of fame she is at right now. I don’t think any human being is equipped to handle having their entire lives change practically overnight the way hers has.

I wish I could shake the shoulders of folks telling her she could’ve been “nicer” when setting her boundaries. First of all, while she does seem incredibly sweet a lot of times, her whole Chappell Roan persona has never really revolved around being polite and well behaved. It’s quite the opposite really so I don’t know why y’all expect her to respond like a perfect little princess (unless the parasocial relationship has gotten the better of you). Second, regardless of whatever image she has cultivated, she doesn’t owe us anything. Not when fans have waltzed up to her just to trauma dump, when fans have stalked her family, and when fans have continually disrespected her boundaries even when she was kind about them.

The implication in that “she owes us” mentality is that she is a product. She is an idea that we have paid for in time, attention, and money. Therefore, she must serve every single desire we may have of her. Because that’s only fair, right? It’s a cold, transactional way of operating that capitalism has made us all too comfortable with.

The point that she was getting at is that at the end of the day she is not a product. She is a normal human woman. And you most likely wouldn’t get upset at a normal human woman saying, “Hey, please leave me the fuck alone” when people are being weird towards her. But because the culture has decided that she is the object of the hour, people expect her to expect and accept that behavior. Or to jump perfectly through every hoop of politeness to say she doesn’t like if, lest we think she is being ungrateful or too full of herself.

And I don’t say that to go to bat for a celebrity. I’m batting for another human being. Who is very clearly uncomfortable with the atmosphere surrounding her. And who very clearly cannot handle it. I don’t think any human being is equipped to handle their life changing so dramatically, so quickly.

We are in an era of pop culture where everything is moving so goddamn fast. Jokes are only funny for a few days before they become overblown and run dry by corporate marketing. Musicians make and release songs with silly, catchy lines specifically so they can be used in Tiktok videos. Every single day, ordinary people online are catapulted into the cultural zeitgeist and then relentlessly picked apart until someone else becomes the next new shiny thing.

This is a beast that is made to destroy people. It destroys “celebrities” and it destroys us “normal” folk by turning us into a wake of vultures who pick apart strangers and are so okay with dehumanizing them that we argue that they should simply accept the abuse they receive and get over it.

All I can hope is that Chappell coming forward and bluntly stating her boundaries is a step in a better direction. It’s hard not to be pessimistic when some of the most popular takes are people criticizing her for being “mean.” But on the flip side, I’ve also seen plenty of people expressing that they’re listening to her and urging other fans to do the same. And as a fan of her as well, I encourage folks to decenter their emotions for the moment and process a few different ideas. One, this woman is just a human being. Two, she is being treated terribly. And three, she is allowed to be upset, to express it, and to set the boundaries she needs for her own wellbeing.

[hoochy-coo]

I know Taylor is guilty of manipulating the charts and all that, but the numbers speak for itself. She could release 500 variants by the end of the year but if no one’s buying it then they’re just sitting there, except you know - people are buying them lol

Yeah plus often it doesn’t even matter. Her variants don't contribute that much to her sales unless it’s the deluxe version of an album or a new song. Billboard has recently shut down the speculation that her variants earned her number one spot on their list „In the tracking week ending Aug. 15, Tortured Poets sold nearly 10,000 in digital album downloads across all variants through all sellers (including her webstore, the iTunes Store and others). Even if Poets had not sold a single digital album in the latest tracking week, it still would have been No. 1 on the Billboard 200,” Billboard’s statement continued. “The No. 2 title, Chappell Roan’s The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess, trails Poets by 13,000 units.”. Imho she’s releasing those variants to fulfill her Swifties and for money ofc not to destroy other artists lol People are just too terminally online and should go outside more often. Same when it comes to people who were surprised that Justin Timberlake’s tour was sold out and those tickets were in demand I’m not even listening to his music but cmon it doesn’t mean that millennials don’t like him

!!!

Taylor is an artist/person that is deeply interested in legacy. I think that’s the bigger discussion here.

It’s documented in lengths throughout her discog (I swear every single album has at least 1 song where she ponders about her relationship with fame, what sort of legacy she will be leaving behind and what she’s going to do with herself when her time in the limelight is up), interviews, business decisions that she cares about shaping her legacy and has a vision for it. Yes, she is making $$$ off the variants and voice notes and repackaging, but that’s also her way of cementing her place in pop culture. Love or hate TTPD, the future generations (and even our gen) will look back at all these stats and go “well yeah duh TTPD broke all these records. Taylor Swift was on the Eras tour and re-recording her albums.” I think ultimately to Taylor, it’s about cementing her place in history and what that will eventually say about her as an artist throughout the decades. She likes being no. 1 and staying no. 1. Plus which artist in their right mind would voluntarily end their streak to give someone else an opportunity to take their spot? Ideally, we could all be winners but this is the music industry and there are thousands of people depending on you to bring home that trophy so they can get a cut of that prize money and glory.

[raayllum]

I have a question, in good faith. I just answered a question about my opinion of Season 4, and a big reason I give it a 7.5 out of 10 is that they broke the main couple up off screening a graphic novel.

Now I didn’t go into detail, but this probably takes off a whole point for me, because I don’t feel like we should have to read extra material to understand what’s happening in the main plot line. Is this the first time we’ve ever had to read extra material not for bonus information but an understanding of the main story?

Hello, yes, I love answering questions in good faith. Can't promise that I'll have a satisfactory answer, but hopefully I can provide a not overly long one, for once!

Through the Moon (the graphic novel of which you speak) is the only supplementary material (thus far) that's been released that isn't a prequel, so in that vein, I'd say yes. The graphic novel does explain that Rayla left (and shows her leaving) before the 'reveal' drop at the end of 4x01. She left approximately a month and a half after S3, so right around / on Callum's birthday (which, we didn't know it was his birthday in the graphic novel itself, so that's almost undoubtedly something that got added to S4 for Callum&Viren foils and general heartbreak reasons).

However, to me, and this also due to having friends who watch the show casually, or have not read the graphic novel Through The Moon (TTM)... I genuinely do not think you need to read it unless you don't want Rayla leaving to have been a 'surprise' (which some people like to know spoilers ahead of time, which is fair). Given that there's a timeskip and an arc wrap up (and that we actually got to see them be a cute couple in S3, not just at the last minute) some sort of shift was probably to be expected. All the plot context TTM is given pretty early on in S4, but there are also fun little connections to make as you go on rewatches, for example:

4x01 reveals that Rayla is not only not at the castle, but MIA, and that the boys don't know if she's alive/okay. The context from TTM is that her risk taking decisions were already a concern for him, which can probably be deduced from the show's canon anyway, given that he jumped off a mountain for her.

4x01 and 4x02 also show that rather than being mostly curious about unknown things like before, they actively make him agitated/anxious (Soren's secret keeping, the blank book, trying to decipher the mirror). TTM adds context to this in that Rayla told him she would let him come with her, and then went back on that promise, but canon already makes this clear in 4x01 with "I don't even know if she's alive"; he has no answers about Rayla. That is also undoubtedly one of the reasons he's agitated. However, while her lie is insult to injury, the show never brings it up as a reason he's mad at her; it was always her extended absence: "So you disappeared for two years for no reason at all?" / "Well, maybe you might know that if you'd been here the last two years." Again: the lie isn't an actual thorn in his side (seemingly) so it's a thing from TTM that is omitted, because it isn't emotionally relevant.

Then she shows up and we learn, specifically, that she went to hunt down Viren. Rayla has always been a paranoid ("Sooner or later, we're going to run into someone from 1x06, "There's danger coming, I know it" from 2x01) person with an independent streak. Rayla leaving to kill Viren because she doubts her own abilities, when she spends most of the first few seasons doubting them (particularly in S1 and S3) and fearing failure ("You let him live but killed us all") is also very in character. One of my favourite little details is that Callum struggles to say Viren's name at all ("It's something Lord -- the previous high mage left behind") until Rayla shows up ("So you must have found Viren, huh? Was he dead after all?") because that trauma - Rayla was so sure that she failed that she couldn't trust they were safe - is so intertwined.

A lot of S2, as well, spent hammering in the fact she didn't want to lose Callum (to Soren and Claudia, to his pursuit of magic, to dark magic, to death). Her leaving him behind to protect him is not something that's a big logic leap to make, I think. After all: "It's okay, Callum. I'm not asking you to come with me. Protecting that dragon doesn't just feel like the right thing to do, it feels like the right thing for me to do" (2x07) and "But... I'm not going with you. You and Ezran should take Zym. But I can't leave" (3x08) and her almost confession last but not least: "Callum please, come back! You've got to stay with me [...] I can't lose you like this, you mean too much to me" (2x09).

TTM adds context - the nightmares about Viren ruining the life she still had, and her and Callum's increasing mutual fear of losing each other. They quite honestly don't even break up. Now, I don't think things would've gone well if Callum had gone with her (relationship wise) given their differing priorities in TTM and also how they show love (for Rayla it's protection, for Callum it's togetherness), but the last conversation they actually have in TTM is

Now, I'm not exactly expecting a casual reviewer to remember and notice all the tiny things, but I am expecting them to remember major plot points, specifically that Rayla really struggles with letting people help her (1x06 and 3x04 both leading to disasters with Zym being in danger because of it) because she doesn't feel like she deserves it, and that she has a tendency to be overly self sacrificial (too many episodes to count).

Her trying to save the dragon in S2 was heroic, yes, but also stood out to me specifically as "This tendency of risking herself is going to be something that she and Callum have to confront and work through, because it is diametrically opposed to them functioning as a long term couple/team". When she wants to stay behind and die for her parents mistakes in S3, the only reason she doesn't stick with that is because she learns that they didn't run, not that she didn't have to die even if they had. So something like this, even if not in so dramatic a way was something that I'd been expecting for a few years now. S4 and Callum's anger at her abandonment is the first time we've seen this tendency be solely in a negative light, in a lot of ways, which is really exciting, and I don't know how much they'll get back together until Rayla has had the epiphanies she needs to.

The biggest thing to me that TTM adds to S4 is that Callum isn't just upset at Rayla for leaving him, but that he's mad at her for leaving without him, specifically. He wanted to go with her, he didn't totally believe in the mission but he wanted to keep her safe, citing "I let you go into the Moon Nexus alone" (earlier in the graphic novel, and not without protest) "and I knew right away I made the biggest mistake of my life. I could have lost you." But again, I expect this sentiment to be something that is far more readily explored in S5, and is also something you can kinda piece together given how often he runs after her in the first three seasons, and him reading what's implied in show and confirmed through TTM to be her goodbye letter because she didn't think she was coming back (4x01 credits):

TDP official also in the lead up to S4 released the goodbye letter, which we'd never read before, and it broke all of our hearts.

TLDR; to me, TTM isn't necessary unless you want a deeper read on the characters. I expect S5 to give them more of a chance to talk and perhaps explain their own actions in S4 more (again, reaffirming that fear of losing each other, which was the root of his anger and of her leaving) but I don't think TTM is necessary unless you want the specifics. All you need to know is that Rayla left to hunt down Viren and Callum has been very sad about it since. You get all of that within the first couple of episodes. The biggest question that TTM raises that S4 doesn't answer is, if she was so dead set on her mission, how and why did she convince herself it was okay to come back at all, but again: I think S5/S6 will have the answers on that.

[plutoscosmoss]

Fire Inside ➸ c.13

Warnings: This series includes themes of violence, death, smut, childbirth and childbirth complications (if I forgot to mention any please let me know)

Pairing: Jacaerys Velaryon x OC

{Series Masterlist}

Previous Chapter

Chapter 13: Decisions

Back in her chambers, Renva was wrapping her shoulder with some herbal oils given to her by the maester to make sure her shoulder wouldn’t bruise. Once the wrap was secured on her shoulder Renva slid her sleeve back up and tied her dress in place. Looking at the spear that was leaning in the corner of her room along with her training clothes, she released a heavy breath she didn’t know she was holding. Having her eldest brother here made her feel as if she was home again. A knock sounded at her chamber door, the guard outside alerting her of a visitor. 

“You may enter.” Renva spoke as she crossed the room and ran her fingers along the small detailing that was on the spear. 

“His Royal Highness Prince Jacaerys.” The guard spoke as he took post in the doorway of Renva’s room. Most likely by order of Queen Alicent or even her brother, both having different motives for the guard being stationed there. 

“Hello Jace, it has been some time.” Renva spoke, glancing up to see him twisting his family ring along his pointer finger. 

“And for the Renva I take full responsibility. I know the news of the betrothal offered by Rhaenys was sudden and my mothers lack of decline was also a surprise but I promise you I had no knowledge of the event-” Renva cut him off, “I believe you. There is no need to stress yourself.” Renva placed the spear back down and fully turned towards Jace. “I do, however have one question.” Jace was quick with his response, “Anything Renva.” 

Smiling at the Princes’ nervous nature Renva walked over and placed a delicate hand on his shoulder, “What is it that you want? It seems that no one has asked your opinion on any of your sudden betrothals. Mine and Baela’s offers were thrusted upon you by others. What is it that you want?” Renva spoke with such softness Jacaerys felt like he was finally seen as more than the First born son of Rhaenyra and heir to the iron throne, and finally as a person like he should have been this whole time. 

“I love my cousin, but that’s just it. I love her like I should love my family.” Jace took her hand off his shoulder and held it softly as if he could break her any second, “With you however, I feel like I can see a future. Growing old together, having children with heads full of brown hair, and no matter the gender being trained to protect themselves just as their mother has before them. I’m scared of losing you to my uncle because if you end up with him, I don’t know if I could go on.” Jace spoke while looking at their intertwined hands, refusing to meet the eyes of the person he just confessed his love to. Feeling her hands slip from his, he was sure he lost her. 

The soft hand placed upon his cheek swiped a stray tear away and made him look up at her. “If you will have me, Jacaerys Velaryon, I would love to be your wife.” Renva spoke with her own tears falling. The tears were not because of the sadness of loss of freedom if she accepted, but because she would be able to spend the rest of her life with the one person who made her feel like she was more than a piece on a chess board. 

Renva loves her brothers and father, but even she knew that a woman would only ever be under the control of man unless seen as an equal. Her family tries to break their prejudices, but sometimes they slip through the cracks. She knows they’re trying to change, but it would take longer for one generation to be the change she wanted to see. 

“I will talk to my brother about conversing with your mother, and if your mother agrees then he shall break the news to the Queen Alicent.” Renva spoke composing herself to leave her chambers, as she turned to leave she was stopped by Jace. “Before we speak to them, can we have one more day knowing that we have no responsibilities?” Renva smiled at his words and nodded her head as they moved across the room to the pile of books. 

Sitting on the two seater bench they read until it was time for lunch to which they both went their separate ways to inform their family of their decisions. Cregan was in his own chambers a few doors down from her own. Her brother however had no guard posted outside his room, even if one was sent there she knew her brother would just send them away. Knocking on the door before opening it slightly Renva announced to her brother it was her.

“You do know you do not need to knock.” Cregan spoke to Renva as he wrote a letter presumably to their father. “And if you were indecent I would have to pluck out my own eyes as a result so I shall continue to knock thank you very much.” Renva spoke as she sat in the chair closest to the desk her brother sat at. “Is that a letter to father?” Renva questioned as she toyed with her mothers necklace that hung around her neck. “It is, how is your shoulder?” Cregan asked, he knew his sister was tough so he didn’t feel too bad, she endured harsher training back at Winterfell. 

“It hardly throbs after the oils given by the maester. I do have something I would wish to tell father if you could include it.” Renva said changing the topic of conversation. “And what would that be little sister?” Cregan spoke as he glanced up at Renva, “I have accepted Prince Jacaerys betrothal proposal.” Renva sucked in a deep breath, momentarily forgetting to breathe and release the breath. 

“You have?” Cregan spoke, turning his full body towards his sister, “I would like for you to speak to Princess Rhaenyra about the terms if she wishes to continue it, since father is not here.” Renva bit the inside of her lip, a habit she had yet to break since she was little. “Well alright then, if that's what you desire.” Cregan sent a small smile towards his sister as he stood. “Wait where are you going?” Renva urgently stood, “I am going to secure your proposal of course, I heard about the other offer and would like to settle this as fast as possible. Also between you and I, I do not like the Hightowers, I more so do not like that dog the Queen has running around. The quicker we settle it, the quicker we leave.” Renva was all too happy to hear her brother's words. 

But even she knew happiness didn’t last long, not while she was trapped in the house of the dragons. 

.·:*¨༺ ༻¨*:·.

next chapter

[darthladyofillusions]

I need to rant about Fadeshock. And before people come at me, my problem isn’t shipping those two. It is the oversaturation. Let me explain

I first joined this fandom when Fade was released. I didn’t know any other agent or the lore, only the stuff related to Fade. Her voicelines, capture and interrogation. Then I went on ao3 and there was not much with Fade. I was a bit let down but thought it would just take a while for fics to come about. And they did. The problem was that a lot of them were Fadeshock. This wouldn’t be a bother but it was all Fadeshock as in there isn’t anything WITHOUT FADESHOCK IN IT. I DONT WANT TALA I JUST WANT HAZAL. Finding fics were it is just about fade joining the protocol is impossible.

On ao3 there are 495 fics tagged with Fade (VALORANT), out of these 495 fics

213 of them are tagged Fade/Neon

353 of them are tagged Neon (Valorant)

If I remove The tag for Fadeshock there will be only 282 fics left. Out of those 282 fics 10 of them are labeled fade&neon ( I know this because I counted them.) and one has Fadeshock in it but is not tagged that way which I understood from the summary. 11 of them have the tag Fade/Reader which I will remove as well.

This leaves us with 260 fics. 2 of them I can’t understand because of the language barrier so they get removed.

Now we are down to 258. Would you like to know how many of these fics had Fade in the relationships tags or the summary??

103!!!!! THERE ARE ROUGHLY 103 FICS OUT OF THE 495 THAT IS NOT ACTIVELY FADESHOCK FADE X READER AND IN A LANGUAGE I KNOW IN WHICH SHE HAS AN ACTUAL ROLE.

I am also pretty sure these 103 fics ar not all completed so some may have not reached the part with Fade or she may not have an actual important role in. I do not know.

Also only 19 fics don’t have her in a relationship but still in the summary and I am pretty sure in at least two of them she is getting tortured.

This is probably the first time I am coming across a situation like this. Most of the fandoms I am in usually have most of their characters in a wide range of fics. Even the smaller ones. I don’t even know why the ship is so popular.

Now there are times I have read fadeshock (BECAUSE THERE WAS NOTHING ELSE.), I will say there are some hidden gems. But also the cringe I am induced with because Fade is using the cringiest pet names ever, or she uses them in the wrong way or she is characterized in this very angsty lone wolf way when she is canonically friends or in the same group as Cypher and Omen, is generally nice to her teammates and such kind of put me off of reading them or getting intrested in the ship. Also I don’t like the Grumpy one X sunshine one trope unless they have solid interactions which again they don’t have. This large amount is literally making me not check the valorant tag on ao3.

I just needed to get that out of my chest. I just think Fade deserves more variety in fics and her characterization. Thank you for reading.