#but i also think she should be allowed to be frustrated w her circumstances as a woman in the time

[furetzu]

unsatisfied

[sokkagatekeeper]

what do you think sokka and katara would think of bakoda? i haven’t seen much thoughtful analysis of it and it always frustrates me bc they’re clearly somewhat resentful of their father for leaving in their own ways so for him to leave, at least in part or in sokka/katara’s young eyes, because of kya’s murder, and then come back in a relationship with a fellow warrior i feel like would be a lot and i can’t see them accepting that so easily

this is like a month old god bless. anyway!

assuming bato and hakoda enter a relationship somewhat during/recently after the war when the wound is still fresh, i do think katara would be resentful of it, like anon said, not bc bato is a man or anything but bc 1. katara is very attached to the memory of her mother, and often gets defensive when she feels the memory of her is being disrespected or dismissed, like when the gaang had been already acclimating to zuko where katara couldn’t separate the image of him from the man who killed her mother and took it as a personal offence bc to katara everything is personal, or when sokka, who lost the same mother the same way, didn’t want revenge the same desperate way katara thought she did, and 2. katara resents her father for leaving them and tells him so, even though she rationally knows leaving was something hakoda had to do given the circumstances, and that he did not leave them willingly, katara does feel betrayed.

for this, i think katara would indeed feel betrayed and hesitant to welcome bato into the family in that particular way rather than a close friend of her father’s, and i do believe she would feel as if the role of her mother was being dismissed once again. she rationally knows, this is not happening, but katara guides herself through her emotions, as u can see. i think she would try to find a shelter in sokka in that sense (bc sokka is dealing with this in his own way just bear with me) since sokka is keeping pretty quiet about the whole thing, and katara obviously feels more comfortable/at ease/confidant/whatever around sokka than hakoda.

she and bato & hakoda would go through a very turbulent period of adaptation for a few months perhaps? (since the situation with hakoda at the start of book three was more urgent and katara hadn’t seen her father in years, she did miss him and didn’t want to be angry at him for so long, this time around katara would feel more safe in her own anger. in my opinion) until katara is ready to open up about how she feels about the entire situation. after this, things do start to settle down in a sort of peace, although i believe bato would still have to work his way into katara’s trust the way she trusted him before for a couple of years.

and because katara and sokka are different people (which so many of you refuse to understand. for some reason??) i think sokka’s reaction would be somewhat different than katara’s in the sense that sokka would put the focus on bato, rather than kya. sokka looks up to hakoda an enormous deal; in sokka’s eyes, hakoda is the prime example of a man, a warrior and a leader, and everything sokka should aspire to be. while he does unlearn to compare every single thing he does to how hakoda would do them and learns to value his own personal qualities for what they are independant of the idea of his father, the idolization of his person will always sort of be there existing deep down in sokka’s brain.

sokka also deals with a bunch of internalized homophobia throughout the show given his previous belief that women couldn’t be strong and men couldn’t be weak and so anything that broke that norm was fundamentally flawed. the idea of hakoda, sokka’s picture perfect of a man and masculinity, is in love with and dating another man would indeed mess with sokka a little bit. i believe he would need some time to consider the situation and reconcile his idea of hakoda with the man that hakoda actually is, sokka’s own bisexuality with hakoda’s, the entire concept of masculinity itself again, just many dots to connect. he stays quiet about it, maybe cracks a few jokes, represses any conflicting feelings he could have about kya and bato. then again beyond the idolization of hakoda that sokka makes, he also feels more at ease with katara than with hakoda bc they basically raised each other, so he would also put a lot of focus on how katara feels about this entire thing, which hakoda & bato might misunderstand as sokka feeling the exact same way as katara which is. an issue.

sokka comes to his senses eventually, probably after a talk with hakoda about his relationship with bato and how he dealt with the entire thing, and moves on as if nothing had happened. while initially katara would be hurt and angry, sokka would be confused and conflicted. while katara grows more and more accepting and understanding with time, sokka... well!

sokka has a tendency to repress his negative emotions. while he does complain about trivial inconveniences, he never brings up the things that actually affect him. he doesn’t show any resentment towards hakoda for leaving, but he does have reasons to be resentful. sokka’s problem throughout the show is that he doesn’t understand that he’s a child and deserved to have a childhood. he puts all the responsibility he must on his shoulders and deals with it the way he can, he never gets angry about this burden of his like katara does, yknow, like any eldest sibling. it would take a long while before sokka is ready to understand that what he went through was unfair and that he’s allowed to grieve his mother and be angry at hakoda for leaving him in charge of an entire community at the age of 13. while i have my doubts on whether or not sokka would even allow himself to have this (as like, an eldest sibling myself) i do allow myself a little wishful thinking. so when that entire weight of those years of unfairness hit sokka, this might have an effect on his feelings & perspective on hakoda’s relationship w/ bato, but i can’t rlly imagine any specifics of this scenario, merely the reason why this would happen at all. then again this is just speculation, so who’s to say!!

[theflashdriver]

A Measure of Trust

Knuckles' birthday is on the horizon, Rouge had schemed up a surprise costume party for him. Unfortunately, a certain blue blur has taken much too long in picking out what he's going to wear, and a pink hedgehog has taken notice. Written for Sonamy/Silvaze Week 2021, but for the pirates or the knights prompt? You'll have to read to find out!

---

Despite his usual arrogant antics, Sonic wasn’t without his share of weaknesses, that much he could freely admit. His cool demeanour tended to slip when it came to open bodies of water and he did like to the centre of attention more than he was willing to admit, but neither of those issues were plaguing him today. No, today’s grievances were derived from a two related yet contrasting sources; the need to plan and being forced to wait.

His issue with the latter was more obvious, his pseudonym was the blue blur for a reason after all. Sticking around in one place just wasn’t his style, he had to feel the beat of ever-changing terrain beneath his sole and watch his surrounding rush by so fast that he could scarcely make them out. No matter how much people watching he did, tapping his right foot all the while, hanging around outside the third costume shop they’d visited today wasn’t achieving the same purpose.

A sigh slipped through his lips as he readjusted his grip on the overlarge boxes stacked up to his chin, each of them a different colour and sealed with a bow. He couldn’t blame anyone but himself for his present position… but if he was asked, he’d absolutely point fingers at Rouge, Knuckles and the girl he was presently waiting on. His claim for the echidna was admittedly the lousiest, as this was all happening without his knowledge, but he was the central cause. Having heard that the master emerald’s guardian had never had a birthday party, the bat had seen fit to organise one. The bat’s chosen party type of fancy dress was the hedgehog’s reason to blame the girl currently rummaging through boxes and coat-hangers somewhere behind him, trying to pick out matching costumes.

In truth, Sonic knew that his current circumstance was entirely his own fault. Rouge had passed out the invitations months ago and Tails had literally read the letter to him, just to be sure it wasn’t forgotten. The fox had also reminded him of all this last week but there being seven days till he had to act meant seven more days to put it off. It’d taken Amy’s intervention, a mere half day before the party was set to start, to get him on the right path.

To his credit, while running through station square, Sonic had made a mental note of a hat that seemed to be Knuckles’ style and would make for a good enough gift… but the hedgehog hadn’t given a single thought to his own costume. Apparently being fashionably late and undressed for a surprise costume party was too much of a faux pas. Well, he knew it was but that didn’t mean it hadn’t been destined to happen.

Amy had dragged him out to buy the hat on the spot before insisting that she would help him pick out an outfit. The serious yet excited look on her face had left him unable to come up with a quip or excuse. He supposed he could just have run, just as he could now, but he’d told himself if he showed up late after her offer she’d have a genuine excuse to be mad at him. That was what he’d told himself, but the truth was that his inability to refuse the pink hedgehog was third weakness of his, especially when she’d so plainly planned this out. She’d probably known this was how it’d all play out upon first reading her own invitation.

Her aid had come with a few catches, the first being his status as her luggage caddy for the day; that wasn’t so bad, though he couldn’t help feeling the boxes were meant to weigh him down. It was the other two that were filling his stomach with butterflies; he wasn’t allowed to pick out what he’d be wearing, and he had to stand outside while she picked out all the pieces. He’d stepped into the first costume shop and been overly thoroughly measured before being promptly kicked out. Every garb and accessory she’d brought out since was so thoroughly packaged that he had no chance of guessing what was in store.

He’d tried not to think too about it too much, but boredom had made him laps a handful of times. They were here for his costume, not hers, which implied Amy had already picked out what she was wearing. The moment she’d insisted on her plan he’d known they’d end up matching or contrasting in some way, and that’d only fed his potential embarrassment. The most savoury hypothetical that he’d managed to imagine was that he’d be the knight to her princess, at least the visor of his helmet would hide his embarrassment. With Amy at the reigns though, and all the time she’d had to plan, he really doubted it’d be so simple.

Sonic shut his eyes and leaned harder against the side of the building; just how much longer would she take? They’d been to three different costume shops, three! Whatever she had planned had to be elaborate; he would have picked up whatever was nearest the door and called it a day or wrapped himself in toilet roll and claim to be a mummy.

Amy plainly had a vision for what he was going to wear. Maybe she’d pull something specific from one of those corny romantic movies she liked to watch? Perhaps he’d end up more princely than knightly, dressed in some overly restrictive ensemble? That was what bugged him the most, not something he didn’t like but that it’d keep him from movi-

“I should have known I’d find you here, Big Blue,” He didn’t have to open his eyes to know who’d said that; he fought to make his grimace a grin.

“Long time no see, Rouge,” Sonic said, keeping his eyes shut so as to avoid the smirk that was surely on her face, “I figured you’d have already picked out your outfit, given that you planned this whole shindig.”

“Oh I have, you don’t have to worry about that sugar,” The hedgehog couldn’t help but hear another set of footsteps come to a halt just in front of him, “Why don’t you go stand next to him, Shadow. You two are matching after all.”

At that, Sonic’s eyes snapped open. Rouge nigh perpetual flirtatious gaze was present, as expected, but just left of her was a figure more obscured by boxes than he was. If it wasn’t for the dark quills poking out from both sides of the tower, and the presence of some metal boots, identification would have been impossible. Without warning, the figure stepped directly toward him, clearly unable to tell where it was going. Sonic took a step to the left only for Shadow to fill where he’d been standing.

“I’m glad I left sorting Red’s outfit to Tails, Amy must have predicted I’d have my hands full,” That was a half-truth, Amy and Tails had talked the bat into handing over that job after hearing what she’d schemed for the guardian, “I’ll see you tonight then, assumedly on Amy’s arm?”

The bat slinked off laughing through the automatic doors, only half covering her mouth with her hand. As soon as she was out of view, the blue blur returned to his prior head raised and eyes closed position. That was just a taste of what was to come tonight… at least the birthday boy would get a laugh out of it.

He opened one eye, glancing to his partner in embarrassment. Though the black hedgehog was a natural scowler, but the look on his face was truly tremendous. He was staring into the box in front of his head as though he was willing it to explode. It looked like, at any second, he might just faint beneath his own exhaustion and frustration at this whole situation.

Seeing a silver lining to this dower situation, and an opportunity to distract himself, Sonic opened his mouth, “So, Shad-

“Not a word,” Shadow cut him off, “I’ll be dealing with your nonsense enough later, I’m sure.”

“Aww, come on, I want to guess what you’re going as. Rouge has a sense of humour; it’ll be something like a vampire, right? That way it won’t be hard for you to stay in character,” Sonic teased.

For a moment, icy silence hung in the air. The dark hedgehog’s eyes closed, “I don’t care what she’s picking out.”

“W-Wait, you trusted Rouge to pick your outfit?” After he asked that though, realisation struck him. Trust had nothing to do with it.

“I don’t care,” Shadow flatly insisted.

“That’s what your mouth says, but your face says you didn’t have a choice,” The blue blur smirked, “Amy stopped her from picking Knuckles’ costume for a reason you-

The sound of the automatic doors sliding open, and the footfalls derived from a familiar set of boots cut Sonic off. His blood ran cold as a long box was added as a new peak for the mountain he was carrying. He scarcely managed to see a set of pink ears line up in front of him.

“Alright my darling, that’ll do,” Amy Rose had returned, Amy Rose had finished her creation, “Let’s get you home and try it all on!”

“Alright, let’s do it,” He managed to grin as he poked his head around, locking eyes with the girl in red.

Immediately he was of two halves, the look on her face had split him in twain. She was beaming with excitement; the red on her cheeks, the smile on her muzzle and brightness in her eyes was overbearing. The hedgehog was so plainly happy with what she’d made, so overjoyed that all she’d planned had come together. That happiness struck him to his core and made the waiting worth it, but it also brought him certainty that this outfit would be his undoing.

She only managed to walk a couple of paces, her happiness unyieldingly blunt in her step, when she came to a sudden halt and looked to her left, “Shadow? Is that you?”

The set of legs beneath a mound of boxes gave no response, so Sonic spoke for it, “Rouge is picking his outfit for tonight.”

“Oh, Shadow…” The sympathy in Amy’s voice only lasted for a moment, being quickly replaced by a lecturing tone as she puffed up her cheeks, “Well, after tonight I’m sure you’ll have learned your lesson, just as I’m sure my darling Sonic will.”

Up until her last claim, seeing Amy talk down to the once named ultimate life form had been the highlight of the speedster’s day. Instead, it was just another source of conflicting joy and fear. Like two ships crossing in the night, without another word, Sonic walked past Shadow to catch up with Amy.

He wasn’t used to moving like this, walking slow to keep everything balanced. Usually, the only thing he could see was what was directly in front of him, now he was reliant on Amy to carve him a path through the people walking Station Square. Just looking at her from behind all these boxes, the sight of her red dress and boots, was conjuring more theories. He’d ended up a werehog due to one of Eggman’s schemes, would she make herself red riding hood? Maybe they’d visited so many places because she’d been looking to perfectly recreate that style?

Haphazardly poking his head out from behind the pile, seeing an opening, he rushed forward to walk next to her, “So…”

“So?” She cocked her head, plainly already aware of what he was going to ask but enjoying dragging it out.

“Now that you’ve picked everything out, I get to know what I’ll be dressed as. That was the deal,” He reminded her.

“The deal was that I get to pick out your outfit and you don’t get to know what it is,” She responded, rubbing her chin and pretending to be in deep thought, “I don’t remember saying I had to tell you what it was.”

“So, I can just open the boxes now?” He asked, already knowing the answer.

“Well, I didn’t say that,” A sing song tone had entered her voice, “Besides, do you want to reveal my decision with all these eyes around?” That was a fair point, if he was set to be the nutcracker for an evening, he didn’t much want to pull the outfit out now, “My flat’s just a couple blocks away, after all this, I’m sure you can wait five more minutes.”

“Just five minutes till the embarrassment really starts,” He hummed, being forced in behind her by the passing of a group.

“Don’t you trust me, my darling?” She sounded from ahead.

“Ames, I trust you with my life,” Sonic honestly responded, but he wanted to match her teasing, “But I know not to trust you with the little things, you know you can take advantage of those.”

“Well, if my choice really embarrasses you, we can always swap. I’m sure I’ll look quite dashing in what I’ve picked you out, almost as handsome as you would,” She grinned back at him again and he had to duck behind the boxes, for whatever reason his face felt hot.

“Y-Yeah, well,” He muttered, biting his tongue. The only comebacks the came to mind played similarly to the half compliment she’d just given; he didn’t have the will for that sort of teasing right now.

As a result of his heavy tongue, the remaining walk back to her place was relatively quiet and left him with far too much time for speculation. The elevator trip up to her apartment was even more difficult, being side by side with her meant perpetually catching her excited grin and the dual mirrors in the metal box didn’t much help him avoid it. Amy Rose would never truly hurt him, physically or emotionally, he knew that for sure, but teasing was more than fair game. After all the times he’d jokingly run off and talked about dates, this did rather feel like karma.

He didn’t drag his feet though as they alighted the elevator and took the small walk to her door. The instant it was unlocked however, the scent of flowers just about knocked him from his feet. He’d been in Amy’s flat a handful of times, mostly just to escape the rain or crash for a night, and it never failed to perfectly reflect its inhabitant.

It was as if he’d stepped into valentine’s day as he made his way through the door and into her combined kitchen-dining room; pink, red and white were absolutely everywhere, from the tablecloth to the walls to the painted wooden fixtures. Even in the middle of the table, perfectly pristine and unwilted, sat a large bouquet that contained half a dozen red roses and various pink flowers he couldn’t identify. Admittedly only this room was that overpowering, her living room was far more regular looking, but the space’s first impression was certainly strong.

Finally, Sonic managed to set down the ludicrous pile of boxes on the kitchen table. Quickly, he managed to separate out the round ribboned hatbox that contained his gift for Knuckles and set it aside. A cold sweat swept down his back as he looked upon the four other boxes, he’d been made to carry for so long. While only one of them truly had any heft, Amy had made sure to have them sealed as though they were presents. The serious of difficult to carry shapes this had resulted in were not only difficult to carry but truly gave zero clarity regarding their contents. If he had to guess, he’d say the heaviest box contained shoes, but he didn’t have to wait any longer!

As Sonic reached to undo the first bow however, a single finger came down to hold the knot in place, “Not yet, my darling.”

“Eh?” He looked up only to be met with the pink hedgehog’s bright green eyes, “What’s holding up the show?”

“What you said before hurt me so badly,” Amy pouted, “I need to prove that you can trust me with the silly little things.”

“What’re you getting at Ames?” His bit back a stutter, totally lost about what was on its way.

Bounce still in her step despite the theatrics, the pink hedgehog slipped around the table and into her kitchen. She quickly returned with a pink dishtowel in her hands and a cunning look in her eyes. Immediately Sonic understood her plan and an embarrassed, wiry, smile crept onto his lips.

“I said you don’t get to know what your costume is,” When it became apparent that he didn’t understand her plan, she smiled oh so sweetly, “If your blindfolded, you’ll have to trust me to put your costume on.”

“Really, Ames? I can’t even dress myself?” He snorted, trying to play off her suggestion as a joke.

“Well, considering your usual attire, I’m not sure you know how to,” She only half fought back her laugh, “Have you ever even worn a shirt?”

“I’ve…” His mind went blank as he thought back, “Worn jackets?”

“You never even button them up though. You just sling them over your shoulders and decide that’s good enough, regardless of the weather,” She correctly established, but, rather than cockiness or excitement, a certain sincerity crossed her face, “I want your first view of it to be the full picture, everything put together,” She seemed to be aware of just how foolish this was, but it seemed like she’d planned it too, “There’s not that much to it, just some accessories, it’ll barely take me five minutes.”

Sonic hesitated, feeling his face grow warmer. He’d said no to Amy in embarrassing situations like this countless times, she’d ask for a date and he’d run off and she’d follow, that was the way things worked. Sure, he’d let her catch up in the end and they’d hang out for a while, usually doing something close to what she had planned, but by that time he’d have cooled off and come up with quips. With how late he’d left all this, there was no time or space to run. Unless he truly said no to her, he’d just had to face whatever she’d schemed up. Though he said no to her a lot, it’d never been wholeheartedly.

“At this point, what’s five more minutes,” He sighed, running his hand through his quills, “If it’s really what you want, then fine,” It was just so embarrassing, he had to do something, “No pictures or anything until after I’ve seen it though, alright?”

By the time he’d dared look down her eyes were sparkling like emeralds, enthusiasm had claimed her, “Deal!” She pushed the tablecloth into his gut, practically bouncing, “Put it on and don’t peek, I’ll try to be quick.”

Swallowing his embarrassment, the hedgehog tied the cloth behind his head. For a moment there was silence between them, by the wind on his nose he could tell she was doing something to check he was truly blinded.

Suddenly, a set of hands were on his shoulders, “You’ll need to bend down just a little,” He acquiesced immediately, and her fingers left him, “Now, where to start…”

“The beginning probably,” His nerves had forced a quip loose, he really hoped his muzzle wasn’t as red as it felt.

Her snort, followed by the shifting of boxes, only made that heat worse. Something about her contact, so gentle when she knew she could be so strong, struck a chord deep in his gut. Amy rivalled Knuckles in terms of strength, Sonic had seen her swing her hammer hard enough to behead metallic titans. Having her take control away from him and then so gently ask him for something she could take was just so heart wrenching yet surreal.

Her next contact sent the same static up his spine; she took hold of his right hand, raising it to be more accessible. Her fingers went from loosely locked around his wrist to fiddling with the hem of his glove and soon that garment was fully removed. Soon after, equally gently, a glove made from a thicker material with a wider cuff made its way onto his hand.

Reflexively, Sonic raised his left for easy access only to hear, “Thank you,” Uttered in response.

Trying to guess an outfit from the internal feeling of a single glove was foolish at best but when he closed his fist, he didn’t feel pointed nails. Well, that probably ruled out him going as the werehog. Puzzlement crept into his mind again as she finished with the left hand; the gloves were matching, that was clear.

Before he could think any further, her voice caught his ears, “Turn around.”

He spun on his heel, trying to make the action look cooler than it had any right to be. The hedgehog felt anything but cool however when she stretched over his back, pressing a loose shirt to his back before pulling the sleeves along his arms. It took her a little bit of shifting to fit the holes in its back, likely custom cut in the shop to fit his spines. He managed to keep cool until she moved at his neck, plainly fiddling with the shirt’s collar, before reaching around to do up his buttons. Did there have to be so many of them? This was why he never closed his jackets, it felt so restrictive! He was getting hotter and hotter in the face.

Well, it was a fun excuse to think about. She seemed to hang on the top two sets of buttons for a moment, as if debating closing them, before opting not to. Now with two distinct articles of clothing on, Sonic had no idea what he was set to be, but he felt reasonably confident ruling out that they were going as a knight and a princess. The next garb served to confirm that theory, it was some sort of loose waistcoat that she’d slung over his shoulders like he would a regular jacket.

Things got more confusing with the addition of what felt to be a large belt that was tied around his waist. That wasn’t too bad but then he felt another’s buckle on his shoulder, soon followed by her hand slipping beneath the supposed waistcoat and around his back; for whatever reason, she’d opted to bring that second belt out through one of the spine holes in his back. It was so bizarre, was there something on the belt? He was getting the feeling that he was being dressed as some sort of handsome prince when she reached for his midriff again, looping something new across the belt on his gut.

“A-Are we about done?” His stutter caught him off guard and shut him up.

“Very almost,” She sounded so pleased with herself, but that sound was followed by the dragging of a chair across carpet followed by her hands again arriving on his shoulders, “Sit down, the chair’s just behind you.”

He followed her lead only to then feel her, left hand grazing across her shoulders, walk around to face his front. After a little bit more shuffling he felt her hands in his quills and was relatively confident a crown of some sort was coming. The end result was strange though, he felt something pass between his quills and then heard the familiar sound of fabric knotting. As if that wasn’t a strange enough addition, the touch of her hand on his ear was followed by something cool and metallic being left behind. If he was set to be a prince, it wasn’t like any he could visualise.

“Wait right there, don’t peek, I need to get one last thing!” The excitement had put a tremble into her voice, matched only by the sound of the skip in her step as she rushed past him and through a door.

They hadn’t been exceptionally talkative, but something about the still silence her absence brought perturbed him. Once again, he had been forced into a position of patience. There was a reason he was known as the blue blur and not the azure anchor, stillness like this, unless he was snoozing or distracting himself some other way, just wasn’t his style. Though his face felt cooler, his thoughts were lingering on the various sites she’d made contact across his body. Words like intimate weren’t commonly thought of, let alone used, by the hedgehog, but feeling her fasten button after button couldn’t have been described any other day.

She was just so bouncy and jubilant most of the time, capable of throwing herself at him without a care. Amy Rose wasn’t afraid to use her strength, in moments of need and casual excitement, but her potential for softness always hung beneath those efforts. He’d seen her gently look after Cream and handle flowers with such softness. She was an adventure in and of herself, capable of being so surprising. Maybe that was why, no longer how far or for how long he ran, he’d always let her catch him again, eventually.

Sonic heard the door reopen, but Amy’s pace was bizarrely slow. He could hear the rubbing of fabric and the pad of very slow footsteps. Was she wearing some sort of long dress? That would validate his prince and princess theory, but he really didn’t feel like what he understood of his outfit matched it. The fabric rubbing sounded like some sort of strange flapping, it was as if she was waddling in her rapid approach.

“Here’s the final part of your ensemble, just a little something for you to carry!” She shouted bringing his head to snap, eyes still blind.

“Ames, wha-

He was cut off by a sudden form jumping into his lap, a form that weighted the exact same as Amy Rose but was weirdly textured. Whatever she was wearing, it was covered the entirety of her lower half. Anticipation and contemplation built toward climax as he felt her hands on her shoulders again. The feeling of her wrists sliding beyond the sides of his head absolutely renewed the warmth on his muzzle.

While his vision had been very red, the blindfold had been thin enough that his eyes barely had to adjust. He was greeted by Amy’s green eyes and wide grin first, but his eyes were quickly drawn to her forehead and a seashell headdress. From there his gaze was brought down and came to collide with a loose-fitting red shirt. Its sleeves were long rippling, almost like there were waves in fabric. Just beneath her midriff, he identified the source of her slow movement; made of what looked to be a red plastic material, dotted with sequins, was a fish tail.

As he looked down at himself too, it all clicked. Brown mariners gloves for handling ropes, a loose white shirt, a blue overcoat, buckles and belts and sashes. Sonic reached up, feeling what she’d attached to his ear and put through his quills, he was wearing an earring and an orange bandana. She’d made him pirate and herself a mermaid.

“Do you trust me now?” Mermaid spoke with mocking befitting of his stupidity.

“With my life,” The pirate cheekily grinned back.

“What about with everything else?” She asked, putting on a joking pout.

“Well,” He stuck his tongue out, “I trust you with my outfit at least.”

“I suppose that’s a start,” Amy hummed, “I’ll be trusting you to carry me to Tails’ airship and back here tonight, I’m afraid that walking’s not my strong suit.”

“Well, swimming up to a flying island does sound difficult,” He mock rubbed his chin, in thought.

“And I’ve got just the thing to help you,” She reached across and knocked the top off the last, and heaviest, of the boxes. Hitched on two of her fingers, up came a set of brown, “I figured, unlike everything else, you could handle the shoes,” A grin, more teasing than any prior, claimed her muzzle, “You’re used to those after all.”

He took them from her, matching her expression, “Didn’t want to leave the gloves up to chance though, good call.”

“Well, it’s not every day you let me hold your hand,” She repositioned herself, sliding to rest her shoulder on his, “So, seems like I planned this all pretty well then.”

“I can’t deny it,” He shrugged, more than content. Sure it was all a little tight around the chest, but it could be worse and at least his legs were free.

“I’d love to bask in this more, but we should probably get going, the actual party still needs set up and it seems like Rouge could use the extra hands,” The pink hedgehog leaned up and reached for the table, gathering up the boxes that contained their respective gifts for Knuckles and the keys to her flat.

“Only one set of feet though, apparently,” Sonic joked, shifting to hold her before rising, only to be struck with a realisation, “With us decked out like this, Shadow’s gotta have drawn the short straw.”

“Try not to tease him too much, he’ll be embarrassed enough as it is,” Amy half insisted as she was walked toward the door.

Between her as the arms and him as the legs, they managed to make it out and close the door, “Yeah well, if he’s hit rock bottom then I can’t push him down any lower.”

Their back and forth over how much to tease Shadow didn’t get very far by the time they’d reached the bottom floor. The moment they arrived there though, the talk didn’t stand a chance of surviving; with Amy in his arms, Sonic shot off like a rocket. He tore across pavement, skidding and weaving around people and over roads as if they were nothing.

In a matter of moments they’d reached the city’s edge and then, a further three moments later, they’d ran across enough green grass to sight Tail’s workshop. Above, just visible from this distance, Angel Island was hanging. He couldn’t help thinking that Knucklehead would probably be surprised he’d shown up on time, let alone with a halfway decent gift and a good outfit. It’d be a surprise within the greater surprise.

The hedgehog duo slid into the open door of the massive workshop, finding the scent of oil quickly caught up with them. At the heart of the space stood the overlarge plane that Tails had modified to transport not only the party people but the party goods. The mechanic himself was to the back of the room and looked to have just finished putting on his own costume. It was jokingly low tech compared to his usual work, plainly made from carboard boxes with slap on buttons made from loose junk, but the youngster had made himself into a carboard robot. He’d scarcely be identifiable if it wasn’t for the outfit’s cut face and tail holes.

“Hey Tails,” Sonic called across, getting his attention, “Cool costume!”

“You look so cute!” Amy shouted from his arms.

“Thanks guys,” The youngster beamed before throwing a knowing look, “I see Amy caught up with you.”

“Well, I mean, it looks more like I caught her,” Once the words fell from his mouth, he realised he hadn’t played this whole situation off as well as he’d planned. Instead, he tried to change the subject, “What did you end up picking out for Knuckles?”

“Oh, I just put the finishing touches on it,” He picked up what looked to be a heavy-duty briefcase, flipping it open, “I figured he’d want something cool and practical, something that could double as a proper gift.”

Inside was a set of ornate hand axes, a metal breastplate, a pair of metal shoes and a traditional knight’s helm. The whole get up was admittedly giving Sonic some very strange flashbacks to events he was only half certain were dreamed, but he couldn’t deny that the metalwork looked superb. It was all exactly to Knuckles’ style and, if that perhaps dream was to be believed, it’d look great on-

The sound of fast moment coming to a sudden stop, punctuated by three quick footsteps, pulled the blue blur from his thoughts. That was a sound Sonic knew well and could only associate with one prickly fella. It was finally time to see what the bat had made of him.

“Hey Big Blue, fancy seeing you here on ti-

In an instant, the prior gloating confidence seemed to hitch in Rouge throat as Sonic turned and the two pairs came eye to eye. The blue blur found his counterpart dressed in red and brown, with knotted ropes punctuating leather shoes and gloves. A belt with a golden buckle, a red overcoat with shoulder flares, a tricorn hat and an eyepatch made for a dissimilar yet still much too familiar view. The familiarity was again shoved to the forefront with Rouge, the tail that’d come to replace her legs was black and she’d opted for a pale crop top with a matching shark tooth necklace, but the intent so blatantly matched Amy.

Somehow, just as they’d ended up at the same costume shop, both girls had settled on the same concept to share with their partners who’d waited far too long to pick out an outfit.

“Well,” Rouge blinked, for once entirely deadpan and serious, “Two of us need to change.”

[marshmallowprotection]

Hey hey, I have a question for you! Would you have liked Ray's AE to have had the same game mechanics as V's AE and the secret endings? That is, chapters instead of chat rooms and the multiple endings, did you find this game mechanic similar to a normal route better? At the time I would have wanted the chapters with a linear story without the BE's hahaha I got really frustrated. But maybe it would have been too easy to get the good ending wouldn't it, Cheritz wanted us to fight to the end! Don't think you're going to have it easy! I guess they would have said it hehe. I wonder... If they omitted the BEs would they have made the story longer? I mean... Maybe I would have liked to see what The RFA had to say face to face to V and Rika (Of course, I didn't want them to forgive them or reconcile haha) But yeah.... I wanted to see how they said goodbye to them.... What Yoosung had to say to his cousin, now that he knew the whole truth. Or also see what V planned to do or where he would go when he got out of the trial What would V do with his life? And on the other hand... A CG of the twins hugging each other while crying T_T I would have cried too hehe. But hey, I can live without that. I can imagine it.

I think that there are benefits to doing them either way. You can get certain things out of one option that you can't get out of the other end vice versa. It's ultimately down to how somebody would want to experience it.

If you do it like the Secret Endings were done, then instead of a chat room or filtered experience, you would experience visual novels set up with different perspectives. There is benefit to that because it allows you to better understand what's going on with that specific character in that moment. It really helps in that circumstance because there is so much going on and filtering between the perspectives allows you the opportunity to see something that you wouldn't have seen otherwise with SE Saeran. 

You get his point of view and that's saying something because you really don't get anything or shoes in the Deep or Casual Routes. You get to see intimate thoughts and feelings. It really allows you to understand why he feels what he feels. It isn't really something that focuses on MC, but you do get to support Saeyoung in the background. For Seven's MCs, they don't really get that much with him and that's kind of the double-edged sword here. You get interactions but you're not really getting anything too far in the future. You're seeing the present in real time. I feel like the Secret Ending could’ve used more MC involvement in some way, especially in part 2. 

Now, with V’s After Ending, that’s not chatroom focused completely, but you get more choices that direct the story. You get to view everyone coming to terms with everything that’s happening in the game. They’re allowed a chance to face Rika face to face. They’re allowed to talk to her and speak their minds and how it makes them feel to see what she’s done to everyone and even herself. You get to see that, and that’s not a bad thing. You’re allowed to be there with the others and share your thoughts and feelings, but where that fails is... well, I don’t like how that AE forces you to forgive Rika to get the “good” ending. Sure, they call it judgement ending and forgive ending, but you can tell what they want you to do. 

That whole mortality thing with V’s After Ending is what really makes it hard for me to enjoy anything. I’ve explained this a hundred times. You are the only one who decides what it means to forgive or not to forgive. You should never feel bad for choosing to do one way or the other. Choose for yourself. When the Judge Ending plays out, you’re almost being shamed for what happens and yikes. I’m so happy Cheritz listened to us after this happened and did the right thing for Saeran’s Ending. But even aside from this, you get perspective with the RFA on Rika and V, that’s good. But you’re not really given those moments with MC and V. 

I think it wouldn’t have hurt to have visual novels with the RFA to talk about all of this. Or, even phone calls after they woke up? I think adding more onto the line where they can confront Rika and V outside of the chatroom would’ve been a very nice take. You get a lot more of them confronting Rika on V’s Route, to be honest since she appears as herself in the Route itself and it blows up from that point. I like Saeran’s After Ending as it is. It’s not what I expected. I thought it was going to be only Visual Novels and be set up like the Secret Ending, to be honest with you. I think they made something good. I might’ve added more with the RFA in there if I made it? But that’s just a me thing. Apart from that, I’m very happy with having Good Endings and Sad Endings and Bad Endings. It gives me so much content to write with. 

[halothenthehorns]

FLIGHT OF THE FAT LADY

Lily took the book with very mixed emotions. Harry was only one week into this school year and already she felt as wrung out and emotionally drained as his other two years. She would also keep a lid on her emotions and not blow up at Snape like she knew they were all expecting. Hoping it just couldn't get any worse, she hesitantly began to read.

After that, Defense became hands down the best class for the majority of students.

Remus couldn't help but beam with pleasure, while James and Sirius were unsurprised and smirking.

Only Malfoy and his select Slytherins found anything to bad mouth Lupin about.

Lily's lips formed a sneer of annoyance; she found it horrid anyone would say something about someone else because of the way they dressed, especially when he couldn't help it.

She saw the boys clench as they fought their disgust, only Remus rolled his eyes, not looking very concerned. He doubted this kid could say anything he hadn't already heard before.

He laughed loudly in the corridors even as said teacher passed, mocking him for dressing like their old house elf.

"I like to think I'm a little better off than an old pillow case," Remus said lightly.

"Wonder what happened to Dobby anyways," James said with interest, still rather wound up at anybody insulting one of his friends, but recognizing it couldn't really be handled right now.

"I'm rather sure I find out," Harry said with as much confidence as he ever could when talking about his future, but he did seem rather sure on this matter, so the others let it go for now.

This didn't concern any of the other students though,

"The good people never do care about such trivial things," Sirius nodded in agreement, always wishing he could help his friend out more if he'd allow it, but grateful that the students had looked past his physical appearance to see the real friend and good person beneath.

as they eagerly anticipated and were promptly delivered the next set of interesting lessons, ranging from all manner of magical beasts over the next several weeks.

However much they all forced themselves to continue ignoring the issue, they all felt just that little bit worse when they realized time was still dragging on and Remus very clearly wasn't going to have that talk with Harry. Why though, what possible reason could he have for ignoring him like this? If it really was Dumbledore stopping him, then what motive could the Headmaster have? Harry deserved an adult wizard in his life, one that would make sure to look after him like Dumbledore himself clearly hadn't. No one could bring themselves to say anything aloud about this topic though, having no more answers now than when this had first come up.

Instead, Harry at least tried to push past that awkward part and asked, "why were you focusing on the dark creatures though? Were we that far behind?"

Remus gave himself a hard little shake, uneasily meeting Harry's eyes as he explained, "well, yes and no. I do specialize in dark creatures, as Dumbledore well knows I enjoy studying them in my spare time. Mostly though that's just what the third year curriculum focuses on, scattered in with the spells used to combat them."

Harry nodded in understanding, while James and Sirius tried not to share an uneasy look. On top of Remus' odd behaviour so far in this, they were also well aware that this was the year when most students focused on how to spot werewolves. That wouldn't be an easy lesson for Remus to teach, and it wasn't any more pleasant to wonder how Harry was going to react to that. He seemed fine with it now, but could they stand it if he had an initial bad reaction to their friend? Of course they were just assuming Harry figured it out like they had, but what if Remus sat Harry down and explained that before hand, it could even be the reason why he was so unsurprised to relearn the news here with them.

More questions than answers, and still none of them dared speak any of this allowed.

Harry just wished that his other classes were going as well, like Potions.

Lily grit her teeth in frustration, before reading on forcefully, already having to use a lot of self-restraint to read in a normal tone.

Snape was acting even worse than usual.

"Bitter old bat," Sirius huffed.

"I wish I struggled to imagine it," James sneered.

He'd clearly overheard the story of his boggart.

Here James and Sirius again didn't bother hiding their laughter one little bit, dearly hoping they never would have to again.

He'd also taken to giving Lupin a death look whenever they were in the same vicinity, while if ever his name was spoken in ear shot that student would receive the same treatment.

"Glad he blames me for that rather than Neville," Remus frowned, "at least I can handle him."

His treatment of Neville had doubled up in bad.

Lily wasn't the only one seething by the end of this; they all wanted to strangle this overgrown child for treating a student like that. It was Snape's own damned fault he was Neville's worst fear, and the subsequent boggart form. It was infuriating for him to still not have learned his lesson. His continuation of the treatment to Neville and the other students was doing nothing to stop future boggart incidents. Lily was going to give him a not very pleasant visit soon.

Divination wasn't going any better, as that teacher now watched Harry with dew filled eyes.

"Oh please," James scoffed with perhaps a bit more acid than normal, still distracted and peeved at Snape's actions.

Unlike Harry though, some of the other students had taken to revering Trelawney.

"Ah the easily fooled youth," Sirius said lightly, finding her rather annoying as well.

Parvati and Lavender in particular began spending their lunch breaks with her, and proceeded to then speak to their fellow students with knowledge bound smirks.

"And Hermione has to share a dorm with them?" Lily asked in disgust, "I feel bad for her now."

They'd also jumped on the bandwagon and began treating Harry like they were at his wake.

"That must get annoying, considering how loud the school can get. Could you even hear them?" Remus asked.

Harry couldn't help but roll his eyes, finding those girls antics rather annoying as he said, "I hardly spoke to them anyways, and no, not really. By that point I didn't care."

Care of Magical Creatures had lost its fun as well,

"Oh no," Sirius frowned, "what happened?"

as Hagrid had lost all charisma after the debauched first class, and had spent the remainder of time teaching them how to take care of flobberworms.

"Ouch," Remus winced in sympathy.

"Poor Hagrid," Lily agreed with a frown.

"Guess I can see that happening," James admitted.

Ron found these classes the most boring thing of all, pointing out how useless the wriggling creatures were while shoving lettuce down its gullet.

"Ron's also got a point," Sirius rolled his eyes, "flobberworms are very self-managing, and they're pretty much just grub for a few creatures. Hagrid's doing the class a real injustice for lingering on these things longer than five minutes."

"I can only imagine the seventh years appreciating this, as if he carries on too long their NEWT's will be a breeze," Remus agreed with a slight wince.

October though brought something new to Harry's plate, as the Quidditch season was set to begin.

"Yes," all four boys brightened up at that, and then Sirius narrowed his eyes dangerously at Lily and said, "I swear if you get to read his Quidditch chapter, I'm going to have a fit. It's high time I've gotten my turn at that."

Lily rolled her eyes at him; personally she was hoping she didn't get it too since she had hardly enjoyed the sport even before it seemed to have gone out of its way to pulverize her son every chance it got. She'd gladly hand over the book to Sirius if he really wanted to read it.

Oliver Wood was well aware of this, using his first bit of practice to go over brand new skills and tactics he'd been thinking on. The narration began to explain that there were seven players in Quidditch,

"Oh here we go again," James rolled his eyes, "the book explaining something we've already gone over."

"Yes well, since it's about Quidditch, I'm willing to allow this," Sirius smirked.

and gave a small overview of the game.

"At least it was brief," Remus shrugged without concern.

Wood was now a seventh year in school,

"Oh that's right," James nodded, "this will be his last year there. Poor kid hasn't won the Cup once as captain has he?"

Harry shuffled a little, feeling personally to blame for this, but the others still wouldn't hear of it and spent a few more minutes telling Harry why this was ridiculous of him to think so. He did look slightly better by the end of it, and still had a personal conviction that nothing should happen this year, he and his team would win that Cup, he hoped.

Hoping to make Harry feel at least a little better Sirius also pointed out, "besides, it's not like anyone who would review him for a professional team could blame any of that on you. They'd look at his statistics of how many goals he's saved, and other such stats."

Harry did look a little better at that reminder, thinking he had won Wood every game he'd been in so far, and ignoring an odd little feeling like he should correct that statement.

and as this was his last year to win the Quidditch Cup for their team, he kept up a constant reminder of that. He began by addressing some of the reasons they hadn't won the last two games, due to unpreventable circumstances,

"See, that wasn't your fault at all, just paranoid teachers," Sirius said bracingly.

"Rightly paranoid," Lily corrected, "but I'll admit you're still right too."

but they had the best team by far of the school, stating the names of the three best Chasers, the unbeatable Beaters the Weasley twins, who kindly flattered themselves at his praise,

"Well they're not modest are they," James chuckled.

and their Seeker who'd won them every game.

"Damned straight," Sirius and James both grinned, having called this way back when Harry started playing, and still convinced until otherwise proven that Harry would never lose a match.

Wood finished with a furious pride staring down at Harry.

"Err, gee, thanks," Lily muttered, though she was smiling a bit too at how happy Harry seemed at such praise.

Then he tacked himself on at the end. Fred and George were quick to agree his own praise was well deserved.

"Glad they gave him his credit," Remus approved.

Then Wood carried on, reminding that this was his last chance to get that Cup before he left school, and he looked so desolate by saying it even the twins turned sympathetic.

"Aw," James and Sirius said with concern.

"Okay, now I'm really hoping you win this year just because of that," Remus agreed.

The team rallied, promising it would be an easy victory, and they began the team practices three times a week, with Harry now dreaming of that Cup himself.

While the boys were still giddy with excitement as well, Sirius was personally hoping this match got put off for another two chapters, feeling it was high time he got his Quidditch game.

Harry returned from one particularly wet flying practice to find Ron and Hermione eagerly looking over something, a flyer stating when their first Hogsmeade trip would be.

Harry went from pent up excitement at the prospect of winning the Cup like he so dearly hoped, to disgruntled at once. In all the excitement of finding out Sirius and Remus were alive, right now he was more than distracted by the matter, but he knew his thirteen year old self would still be beyond upset at this turn of events.

Which would be taking place on Halloween.

Then the four of them winced, having a rather bad track record of that holiday in their opinion, but still more than convinced nothing too bad could happen to Harry this year, or any more years for that matter. Remus and Sirius would get this whole mess figured out, why they hadn't already was still too touchy for anyone to bring up. The point was Harry now had two great protectors who wouldn't let anything too bad happen to him again.

Hermione caught sight of Harry's down turn of a mood, and tried to sooth him he might could go on the next one,

"Did someone magically sign his form?" Lily asked redundantly.

that Black was sure to be caught sooner rather than later.

Sirius winced, but still said in a forced light tone, "that's not why he's not allowed to go, come on Hermione should be able to keep up better than that."

"She's probably so distracted by her butt loads of homework," James reminded.

Ron brought up the old argument that Black wasn't stupid enough to try anything in such a public place like Hogsmeade,

Sirius was making goofy faces at the baby again and refusing to allow himself to react negatively to this continued topic.

telling Harry he should still ask McGonagall if he can go anyways.

"She'll say no every stinking time," James grumbled, "because he doesn't have his stupid form."

Hermione told Ron off for that, saying Harry was supposed to be staying inside.

"They really can't keep him locked up forever," Remus rolled his eyes.

Ron pointed out Harry would literally be the only person who couldn't go, and Harry agreed he'd at least try his head of house. Hermione looked about arguing,

"Argue what?" Lily demanded.

"That I shouldn't," Harry shrugged.

"Hermione's being a bit paranoid this year," Sirius noted, "really, I'm with Remus, she can't expect you to stay cooped up forever."

but was cut off by her cat jumping into her lap, a pre killed spider clamped in its mouth. Ron looked disgusted as his yellow eyes watched Ron while he ate it up.

James couldn't help but snort with laughter at that, the cat was hardly being subtle about its feelings towards Ron.

He told Hermione to keep the cat away from him, he had Scabbers stowed away in his bag. Harry wasn't paying them much attention as he began to dig out his homework, but Ron pushed his finished copy towards his friend.

"Not going to say anything Lily?" Sirius asked, still trying to get a provocation out of her, and being more amused the longer this went on. She was trying so hard not to react to anything.

"No," Lily shrugged without looking up, "I'm not perfect, and I'll willingly admit I had to sometimes get help from others on some homework. I think Harry should have tried first, but there's nothing for it now."

Harry wasn't the only one who gave her a surprised look at that, but he did look the most grateful.

Hermione may have said something about this as well, but then Crookshanks pounced on Ron's bag, claws extended.

"Dang," Remus winced, "is he still after Scabbers?"

"Apparently," James grumbled, feeling all the more annoyed at both cat and girl now.

Ron tried to wrench his bag away, and Hermione told him not to hurt her cat.

"Really?" Sirius demanded. "He's trying to eat Ron's pet, and that's her response."

"Both of them need to learn to keep their pets separated," Lily agreed.

"Kind of hard to do when they spend so much time together," Harry sighed.

Everyone in the room was watching as Ron flung his bag hard, trying to dislodge Crookshanks, but instead sent Scabbers flying away.

"Uh oh," they all muttered, knowing Scabbers was much safer in Ron's bag, not that the rat could understand that.

Ron tried to grab up the feline, but missed, and yelled at someone to catch him! George made a swipe for his tail, but missed.

"Good thing he's not a Chaser then," Sirius muttered without any real humor, feeling just as uneasy as anyone else at how this might turn out.

The rat made quick work of darting between everything and flashed under a wooden chest.

"Where the cat hopefully can't follow," Remus nodded happily.

Crookshanks tried to follow, smashing his face as low as possible and batting at the available carpet, but then the owners arrived as Hermione pulled him into her arms, and Ron had to shove his arm clear up to his elbow to pull Scabbers out by his bald tail.

"At least that went better than I feared," Lily sighed in relief.

"Yeah, but how many more times is it going to happen," James was still frowning, "Hermione should have realized it was a bad idea to buy that particular cat back when this happened before."

None of them could think of anything else to say, all having a very bad feeling this was going to get worse before it got better.

Ron was yelling at Hermione already, saying that cat was slowly killing his rat from stress! Hermione shot back that it wasn't Crookshanks fault, it was in his nature.

"True," Lily nodded, "but she should have thought of that back when she bought him, and not bought him."

"Buying a cat when one of your best friends owns a rat feels like a recipe for disaster," Remus agreed.

Ron insisted it was Hermione's cat though, how it had heard him say Scabbers was in his pack.

"Now he's just being a little ridiculous," Sirius smirked. "'Heard'? Nah, he smelt him obviously."

"Not the point," James reminded.

Hermione told him he was being ridiculous, but Ron wouldn't hear it, telling her off that Scabbers was sick and here first!

"A very good point," Lily huffed, while Remus cocked his head to the side, thinking over that sentence. Scabbers had been getting sick before Hermione bought Crookshanks, so Ron was obviously exaggerating that part as well. This also couldn't be the first time Scabbers had interacted with a cat; surely some other Gryffindor owned one. The truth probably was; Scabbers was getting old, and Ron was projecting his fear of his pet dying of old age on his hatred of the cat.

Then he stamped off towards the stairs, and refused to come down until next morning's class, Herbology, where Hermione's first question was to ask how Scabbers was doing?

"At least she asks," James said still a little stiffly.

"Hermione cares," Lily snipped at him for the tone, "perhaps she's not showing it that well, but it's not like she set that cat on Scabbers on purpose. She'd be just as upset if an accident did happen and Crookshanks ate him."

James backed off slightly, noting that at least Hermione's asking was an attempt at the start of an apology.

Ron snapped that he was cowering at the foot of his bed, while knocking over a tin of beans in his rage.

"And Ron's clearly still holding a grudge," Sirius noted.

Sprout told him off for that, as he ruined a whole plantation that sprouted to life as they watched.

Harry's startled look was enough to make the others laugh, never getting tired of his constant surprise of the magical world.

On the way to Transfiguration, Harry was stewing over how to ask McGonagall if he could go into Hogsmeade

"Know the answer to that already," Remus sighed.

"He's got a point," James nodded when Harry looked like he might try and argue his point. "Unless you outright tell McGonagall why they hadn't signed, which by your track record you won't," he finished in a rather grumpy tone.

Harry sighed, knowing full well he'd never tell a teacher something like that, so remained silent and hoped anyways.

but was distracted outside of the class by Lavender in tears.

"Oh no," Lily frowned in concern.

"She's a girl," Sirius scoffed, "I'm sure she's just exaggerating."

"And here I thought you actually had a heart," Lily snapped at him at once, ignoring his eye roll. Whether he meant it or not, he really needed to stop making jokes like that.

Parvati was clearly trying to comfort her while talking to Dean and Seamus, who looked rather serious.

"Shut it Sirius," Lily snapped at him before he could open his mouth.

Sirius pouted at her, grumbling that she was kind of proving his point about how dramatic girls were, but then James nudged him and convinced him to let it go.

When the three of them approached, Parvati explained for them that Lavender had gotten a letter from home saying that her rabbit had been eaten by a fox.

"Aw," Sirius winced, "okay, poor kid."

"Thank you," Lily acknowledged.

Sirius made sure she could see his eye roll this time, stating, "come on Lils, I'm not heartless. I own an owl; I'd be pretty upset if anything happened to him too."

Lily still didn't think he'd gotten her point, that he shouldn't have made the joke in the first place, but decided to let it go.

Lavender was wailing that she shouldn't even be surprised, today of all days! It was October sixteenth, and the thing she'd been dreading happened, she was right!

"Oh crap," Remus said, blinking in shock.

"I'd honestly forgotten about that," James admitted.

"Wow, honestly, I think that Trelawney might have some real Seer's blood," Sirius said in surprise.

"Really Sirius? One right prediction and that's what you go with?" Lily asked, not bothering to try and hide her disbelief.

Sirius shrugged, personally he found the odds that not only had she chosen the death omen that was dogging Harry this year, but now this? No, he truly was beginning to believe this woman might really have a power, even if she did still annoy him for her use of it on his pup. He said as much aloud, and while he didn't really seem to convince anyone but Harry, the others found the argument to become rather circular after a time. Sirius wasn't letting up and he wasn't convincing anyone else so Lily decided to forcefully read on past him.

The rest of the class looked shocked and downed at the news, but Hermione began hesitantly asking if Lavender had really feared her rabbit Binky being killed by a fox? Lavender stuttered that it wasn't a fox exactly, but she'd feared for him! Hermione then asked if Binky was an older rabbit.

"Really Hermione?" Remus said with a frown. "Now, really?"

"I can see what she's trying to do," Lily nodded in agreement with both the girl and Remus, "but, yeah, wrong time and place."

Lavender moaned back that he was just a baby. Hermione then asked why she was so afraid of him dying. Parvati was now giving Hermione a dirty look.

"A fair reaction honestly," James sighed.

Hermione turned away from her and began addressing everyone as she pointed out that Binky hadn't even died on this day, but Lavender had just gotten the news of it.

"Harry, now would be the time to be a good friend and drag Hermione away," Remus pointed out.

"Before she continues making an arse out of herself like this," Sirius agreed. While he still would have argued the point on the probability of this happening on this day, he more than agreed Hermione wasn't doing it the right way.

Harry just sighed, he'd only observed the scene and hadn't really put an opinion on the matter, but he had felt rather bad for his friend as the rest of the class had been giving her harsh looks.

Plus, Lavender couldn't have been too surprised, since she was so stunned by the news.

"Now that was just tactless," Lily winced.

Ron cut in, telling Lavender to ignore Hermione, since she held no regards for how other people felt about their pets.

"And that was just heartless," Remus huffed.

McGonagall arrived then, cutting off a haughty glare between the two normally friends.

"Finally I can count on her good timing again," Sirius said weakly, more than happy himself to have avoided that fight, and they weren't even his friends.

They marched into class and sat on either side of Harry without looking at each other, and remained this way until class let out. It was McGonagall herself though that brought up the Hogsmeade trip, reminding that no one was allowed entrance without a form. Neville raised his hand hesitantly, beginning to explain he lost his,

"Ouch," all five of them winced, though none of them would admit rather selfishly pleased if Neville wouldn't be permitted to go either. They could hardly get mad at Hermione and Ron for wanting to go, but it would certainly make them feel a little better if Harry wasn't left behind on this.

but McGonagall explained that Neville's grandmother had mailed it to her personally.

"Smart woman at least," Lily said aloud, ignoring the internal wince.

Then she dismissed the class, and Ron told Harry to go and talk to her. Hermione tried to say something,

"Still don't understand why she's arguing that one," Lily shook her head in disbelief. "Harry deserves to have a little fun."

but Ron cut her off by insisting Harry should try. Harry went up to McGonagall's desk, and began to explain that his relatives had forgotten to sign his permission form,

"Forgot," the four of them muttered in disgust, eying Harry in disbelief. They honestly wondered if Harry had told her what really happened if she would have done something about it, but they couldn't say they were surprised at this point either. Harry's bad habit of glossing over this clearly hadn't gotten any better now that he was older.

but stuttering out by asking if he could still go anyways?

"And stammering on top of everything," Remus sighed.

"I could already tell her answer from the look on her face before I finished," Harry sighed.

McGonagall replied as expected, telling him that no form meant no visit, it was a rule. Harry tried to protest, saying that his muggle relatives hadn't understood it,

"That's what you're going with," Lily groaned, "just tell her the truth, and let's sit back and see how quickly they continue living."

Harry gave her a rather edgy look for her tone of voice but chose not to comment on that.

but if McGonagall gave him permission- she cut him off by saying she wasn't going to. The form stated it had to be Harry's parent or guardian.

"And now I want to cry," Sirius hissed, looking far more deadly than upset in that moment at that stupid reminder they were all Harry had to claim as guardian right then.

Then she gave Harry an odd look, which sort of resembled pity.

"I'd like to think more like confusion," Remus huffed, "since she'd probably be wondering why you really hadn't gotten your form signed."

"With any luck she'll bring it up to you, and you'll investigate," Sirius murmured to him, causing a vindictive smirk to appear on both of their faces.

Then she told them to get along to their next class, and once they were gone Ron spent the time walking calling McGonagall a couple of things that annoyed Hermione.

"The worst part is, McGonagall's still in the right," Lily sighed.

Said girl had a look on her face though that made it clear this was the best outcome, only angering Ron further.

"Yeah, she's not exactly being helpful this year," James sighed.

As the weeks crept on and this was the sole topic of everyone's conversation though, Ron tried to cheer Harry up that at least they would enjoy the holiday feast.

"Not exactly the worst consolation prize," Sirius offered bracingly, and Harry tried his best to give him a smile he didn't really feel.

The rest of the Gryffindors tried to cheer up Harry as well when they found out, Dean offering to forge someone's signature as he was a pretty good artist,

"Now there's an idea," James said, going bright-eyed.

"Except that Harry just got done saying he hadn't had his form signed," Remus reminded.

"Harry could have mailed it back and had it signed," Sirius said, mind now churning with possibility as he came up with a story for this. "He shouldn't give it to her until the day before, gives some credibility to the idea, and he'd have to mail himself something that looks like that in case McGonagall notices how often he gets mail. Most likely she doesn't, but it's a safe backup."

"You are putting way too much thought into this," Lily told him.

"Nonsense," Sirius scoffed at the same time James said, "no such thing."

While Harry didn't disagree with them, he had a sinking feeling that all of Sirius' planning didn't actually come true then, and hardly looked happy about it as Lily read.

Harry turned down the idea though, reminding he'd told McGonagall he hadn't had anyone sign it.

"Well dang, clearly no one in your dorm thinks outside the box," Remus sighed.

"Wish you'd go to the twins for help," James grumbled, "they could sneak you in no problem."

Harry perked up suddenly, his dad's words finally gave him that feeling he'd been missing, and he had a very good feeling this just might be what happened at some point. Still too worried about being wrong on the matter though, he didn't say this.

Ron offered for him to use the invisibility cloak,

"Which might have worked if not for those bloody dementors," Sirius grimaced.

but then Hermione reminded they didn't work on dementors. Percy offered the least helpful advice of all.

"Oh this can't be good," James groaned.

Telling Harry that everyone made a big deal about Hogsmeade in a serious tone of voice,

"Not as Seriously as I could have," Sirius said quickly, clutching the baby to his chest to prevent either of his friends from smacking him.

"You shouldn't be allowed to do that," James grumbled, looking rather disappointed that he didn't have a chance to get at him.

"I think I should claim rights," Remus huffed, eyeing the baby, "you've been holding him long enough."

"I might share if you didn't look like you were about to slap me once I did," Sirius smirked.

listing some of things that were worth seeing, but then adding on at the end that it wasn't that much fun.

"He only listed like a fourth of the good stuff," James huffed under his breath, making sure Harry didn't hear that one so he really wouldn't feel worse.

Halloween dawned with Harry feeling the lowest he had in a long time, but he attempted to act normally, though unable to fool his friends as Hermione promised to bring him back loads of sweets, while Ron agreed. They'd clearly put the fight over their pets aside in favor of trying to make Harry feel better.

"That's when you know you have some good friends," Sirius smiled brightly, "when they put aside their differences for you."

Harry couldn't help but beam right back, trying his very best to smother how much he really missed his friends.

Harry tried to reassure them in an offhand voice that he was going to be fine,

"I get the feeling it wasn't actually an offhand tone of voice," Remus said lightly, "but good effort for trying."

and promised to see them that night. He watched them leave, with Filch checking names off of a list to make sure no one was getting out who shouldn't,

'Which was basically every third year and up, aside from Harry,' they all sighed in their head, but kept that comment to themselves.

and did his best to ignore Malfoy who laughed when he saw Harry wasn't going, asking if he couldn't stand the idea of going past the dementors.

"Of all the bloody rotten timing for him to-" Sirius began, using a bit more of a threatening growl than normal because of his depressed mood for his little pup being left behind.

Harry went back to his common room and went inside, only to find the place diminished to second years and below, and the few older students who had no want to go to Hogsmeade.

Harry grumbled something about he really couldn't picture that. Honestly the other four really couldn't either, it was never worth passing up an opportunity getting out of the castle, with permission the three trouble makers mentally added on.

He was just wondering what to do with himself now when Colin came up to Harry, a boy a year below Harry who always talked to him whenever he could.

"Oh yeah, almost forgot about him," Remus said in surprise.

"Well he clearly wasn't dogging you that year, or he would have been mentioned by now," Sirius pointed out, preeing even more he got to make his own pun again and still no one could retaliate.

"No, thankfully he hadn't memorized my schedule again," Harry said in relief, but repeated, "but he still went out of his way to talk to me." He didn't exactly look pleased, but he had to admit this was still better than last year.

He asked Harry why he wasn't in Hogsmeade, then offered Harry to come sit with him and his friends.

"I don't see that as being at the top of his to do list," James smirked.

Harry told him he'd forgotten to go do some homework.

"Pretty good on the spot lie," Remus appraised.

Then he turned back around and left, with the Fat Lady calling behind him that what was the point of getting her up?

"Because you deserve it for sleeping in the middle of the day," Lily snapped right back.

Harry began wandering through the hallways, but didn't get very far before he decided homework wasn't going to help.

All four of them were wincing in pain, hating how truly upset and lonely he seemed to be right then. 

Harry at least tried to keep their spirits up by refusing to let his own mood sink that low, he had a funny feeling he got some sort of interest happening to him on this day. Maybe he and Remus finally talked? Or he learned something about Sirius? Neither option left a very good omen for him for some reason though, so he still kept it to himself. 

He didn't backtrack too much when he ran into Filch, who snapped at Harry what he was doing? Harry just said 'nothing.'

"You can't ever really be doing nothing," James said loudly, trying to get at least a small smile out of Harry again.

Sirius noticed at once and continued, "yeah, like technically right then you were walking, that's something. Or you were standing, that's something too. You can't ever really be doing nothing."

Harry recognized what they were doing and really did give them a small smile for the effort.

Filch said back that he didn't believe that one bit.

"Funny part is he actually wasn't doing anything wrong right then," Remus chuckled.

"Probably had another flashback to when he caught James like that," Lily pointed out lightly.

Then he demanded why Harry wasn't out with the rest of the miscreants buying everything possible to destroy this castle.

"He just thinks so much of all of them doesn't he?" Sirius snickered.

Harry didn't answer, and Filch told him to get back to his tower.

James rolled his eyes and pointed out, "it's not like it's curfew or anything; Harry can go wherever he wants to in that castle."

"Like that's ever stopped Filch," Remus pointed out.

Harry walked off, but had no intentions of going back there. He was now thinking of going to see Hedwig,

"At least that'll be something pleasant," Lily sighed.

when another voice called him back and Harry turned to see Professor Lupin.

"Yes!" All five of them brightened at once. Surely the fact that Remus had just called out to him meant he really couldn't ignore him this time! Why he had waited until now, months after school had started they still couldn't guess, but now would be the most perfect time to finally have that talk Harry so desperately deserved.

He asked what Harry was doing, in the opposite tone Filch had used.

"Well I should hope so," James agreed.

Then he asked where Harry's friends were, and Harry told him. Lupin watched Harry for a second,

"Remus I will give you all of the gold in my vault right now if you bloody ask him about this," Sirius said, nearly bouncing around in anticipation for what this could mean.

"And Harry actually tells him the truth," James noted.

Remus couldn't help the pessimistic little niggle that Harry had known him for far less a time then he'd even known McGonagall, so why would he tell him something like that? He looked so dejected Sirius finally gave up the baby and passed him along to Remus, which put a smile on his face at once.

then he offered Harry to come inside his office and have a look at his new grindylow.

The two boys refused to let them get their hopes down. So Remus hadn't started off like they would have preferred, but it was finally happening. He and Harry were completely alone with the best amount of time no one would walk in on a conversation that was so desperately needed. If Remus didn't get to it this time, they would know something was up.

Harry walked in to see an odd creature floating in the tank, green in skin color with spiky little horns jutting out of its forehead and trying to hide in some weeds. Lupin explained it was a water demon,

"I always get those confused with kappas," Lily said absently.

"Kappa is Japanese for cucumber," Remus said randomly.

At Lily's blank look he shrugged and said, "when I was first learning about them, I found that a random and interesting fact, so when I got to grindylows it was an interesting distinction."

"Okay then," Lily said with a shrug and a small smile, not having actually expected an answer.

telling that after they'd dealt with the other creatures, this one should be easy to handle, noting its weakness in the strong but brittle fingers. The grindylow gave them a dirty look and dug itself into the sand.

"You are the only person who would actually keep that thing in his office," Sirius snickered.

"It's not that weird," Remus defended. "Where else would I keep it?"

"In the staff's supply room, where all the other teachers keep their stuff, like live animals, they plan on using for class," James said in a duh like voice. "Did it never occur to you why McGonagall and Flitwick don't have a bunch of random animals around their offices?"

Remus rolled his eyes; he wasn't going to argue the point. Sirius only wished they had their own supply office for all the random beasts Remus kept bringing home to study, it was a wonder he didn't come home to find him cuddling in bed with a diricawl.

Then he offered Harry some tea, and Harry agreed with some lingering awkwardness.

Remus grimaced and turned his attention back to the child, hating just how awkward it clearly was for the two of them to be in the same room. He felt lucky Harry had accepted at all, considering the past two DADA teachers had attacked him.

Harry tried to catch his eye and give him a reassuring smile now, to prove he didn't still feel that way, but Remus was clearly ignoring everyone else in the room now.

He began to set up a pot, making the joke that all he had were teabags, but he'd heard that Harry would prefer that to leaves.

Sirius couldn't help but give a little surprised laugh, Remus had obviously been checking up on Harry's other classes.

He caught Harry's eye then, trying to suppress laughter as he explained that McGonagall had told about his first Divination class, and asking if he was worried about that Grim?

"I'm sure you two had a nice long conversation about him," James snickered, having quite the amusement at McGonagall telling Remus all the things Harry had been up to the past two years at school.

Harry looked mildly annoyed at this, not really appreciating the thought of teachers sitting around gossiping about him, but couldn't find it in himself to be to mad at Remus for this, knowing now that he probably just wanted to know more about him.

Harry admitted he wasn't, while considering thinking about telling him that stray dog he'd seen months ago.

"Now that would have been interesting," Lily said, eyeing Remus who did look mildly entertained at how that reaction would go. Most likely, if his assumption was correct, Sirius would have already told him that he'd seen Harry then; but he certainly wished Harry would tell him. It would help ease into the conversation they were all wanting to hear about Harry's past really being explained to him by someone who really knew.

He didn't though, wondering if bringing this up would only reinforce what a coward he was sure Lupin already thought he was after that boggart mess.

Which popped any form of happiness Remus was feeling, and he turned as if to quickly say something to Harry, who waved him off and said, "I know, you already said it now. I didn't know then."

Remus still didn't look very happy, but admitted there wasn't much else he could say right then.

It must have been clear enough on his face though, as Lupin asked if anything was on Harry's mind? Harry's first instinct was to say no,

Remus winced and began bouncing his leg in high agitation now, greatly amusing the baby at least though it didn't seem to be helping him now. He would never not hate just how little Harry seemed to trust him, Harry should have been able to come to him with any of his worries since he could talk, not this nonsense where he was lucky Harry was talking to him at all!

His emotions were written all over his lined face, so Sirius took pity on him and tried to put some comfort into his words as he said, "Let it go Remus. Yeah this sucks, but there's no sense in dwelling on this now that we're going to fix it." Sirius was still rather torn about Remus in the future. His actions were more annoying than anything; what could be holding Remus back, from stopping him from seeing Harry like he should have. But he'd decided to wait until that reason was revealed before he fully passed a judgment on Remus' actions.

Remus didn't exactly look comforted, but Lily decided to read on anyways.

but then he said yes before he could reconsider.

Which made them all perk up as if Christmas had suddenly been announced. It didn't matter what had changed Harry's mind about telling Remus, the fact that he was meant more to all of them then they could have put into words.

He finally asked why Lupin had stopped him from tackling the boggart, and Lupin said he thought it was obvious.

"No, sorry, not really," Harry told him, still smiling faintly.

Remus fidgeted around a bit, but shrugged all the same, still unsure what to say about his future actions.

Harry had been expecting Lupin to deny his actions altogether,

"Now that would have been just stupid, one thing Remus usually isn't," James noted.

"Usually?" Remus snapped without any heat, to which James ignored him.

but still asked why? Lupin explained he hadn't wanted a Voldemort to appear in class, boggart fake or not.

Remus rolled his eyes, he still didn't think this was a good enough reason to publicly deflect Harry the way he had, though his classmates clearly hadn't noticed, he still didn't like the way it had made Harry feel. Then Sirius leaned over and whispered in his ear, "glad to see you obviously still know him so well, even then." Which caused him to smile in spite of himself.

Lily was watching them curiously, noting the change in Remus' demeanor, but kept going when it didn't look like they were about to explain.

Harry was stunned not just because he'd partially guessed his actions right, but because he'd called Voldemort by name.

"I can see why you'd find that so surprising," James said fairly, "since, aside from Dumbledore, you've yet to see anyone else do that."

The only person Harry had ever known to do that, apart from himself, was Dumbledore.

"Whom Remus idolizes, so even if he didn't have his own brain, he'd still do whatever that man said," Sirius rolled his eyes.

Remus scowled lightly at him. Yes he was eternally grateful to the headmaster for everything he'd done for him, but Sirius had made it sound like he had blind faith in the man, which he didn't. Mostly. Okay, maybe a little, a lot, before they had read this, but after all the things the book had implied Dumbledore had done to Harry he wasn't one hundred percent sure on that anymore.

Lupin easily read Harry's face and said he must have misinterpreted it wrong, but it really would have been a bad thing if even a fake Voldemort had come to life in the school, it would cause quite the chaos.

"I can see that," Harry said fairly.

"But it still wouldn't do you any good, even if I had been right. You still should have had practice at it just like anyone else," Remus argued back.

James suddenly burst out laughing, causing Remus' annoyed look to double up on him. "What?" he snapped, his tone far sharper than Harry would have thought.

James hardly looked offended, or even surprised, as he admitted, "you do realize you are arguing against yourself right. How is that not funny?"

Remus paused with his head cocked to the side as he realized what James meant, then gave a wane smile and sat back and cuddled the baby as he gave up on the pointless argument.

Harry then admitted what he had been thinking at the time, dementors. Lupin found that intriguing, telling Harry that meant that he feared fear itself, which was very smart.

"Glad to see you agree with yourself on some things," Sirius snickered, causing Remus to stick his tongue out at the pair.

Then Lupin asked if Harry had really thought he wasn't up for the job of going at a boggart?

"Well you can't blame him for thinking that," Lily defended.

"Oh I know," Remus said at once peaceably.

Harry admitted he had, then began to ask about the dementors, but was interrupted by a knock on Lupin's door.

"Dang it," they all muttered, wondering who on earth could be interrupting them now when they were finally talking!

"What were you going to ask anyways?" James inquired.

"I was going to ask him about the effects dementors could have on people," Harry admitted. "Wanted to ask why I passed out and Ron didn't."

They looked all the more annoyed now, very much wanting Harry to be able to get that answer, so even before the person came in they were in a disgruntled mood.

Lupin called for them to enter, and Snape came in.

"Gah! Can't go one bloody chapter without wanting to hex him lately," Sirius snapped.

"What's he even doing there?" James frowned, "I sincerely doubt it's a casual visit."

Harry was just as curious as the others, thinking back and wondering why something significant might be fixing to happen, so eagerly asked his Mum to go on.

He was holding a goblet, which was smoking at the brim, but froze when his eyes landed on Harry.

"Try something in front of Remus you slimy little git," Sirius growled.

Remus couldn't help but agree this time, if he started in on Harry he'd have every reason to step in, though he somehow doubted Snape was that stupid.

Lupin greeted him pleasantly, asking him to leave the drink on his desk.

"Say what now?" James demanded, doing a double take on that.

Lily was looking down at the page, clearly just as confused as anyone else.

"What would you be accepting from him?" Sirius demanded, looking at his friend like he'd just declared he and Snape were the best of friends.

"Whatever was in that goblet I guess," Remus shrugged, looking just as perplexed as anyone else.

This was such an odd interaction, they were still pretty stunned and no one protested when Lily decided to carry on and hope for a better answer.*

Snape did as told, still watching the pair of them with narrowed eyes.

"Probably wondering if he's concocting some mad scheme with you," Lily smirked.

"He might have been having a flashback to be honest," James agreed with a laugh.

Lupin told Snape that he'd been showing off his new grindylow.

'Wish he was joking' Sirius noted sourly, wanting very much to grumble about how Snape shouldn't have shown up for hours so these two had a better chance to talk, or not at all preferably.

Snape didn't react to the news, telling Lupin to drink whatever was in that cup as soon as possible. Lupin agreed he would,

"Well I obviously know what it is," Remus observed quirking a brow in surprise.

"Wish you did now," James frowned.

then Snape added on he had more and it should be drunk as well tomorrow, which Lupin also agreed to, and thanked Snape.

"The fact that you two are being so polite to each other honestly scares me," Sirius grumbled.

"I'm just waiting for Harry to ask what's going on," Lily sighed.

Snape said it wasn't a problem, but Harry was getting a prickling feeling from the look on Snape's face.

"I don't like any look from him," James agreed, his eyes still narrowed suspiciously. Snape wouldn't do anything too bad to Remus in reaction to that Boggart mess, and Remus clearly wasn't bothered by the interaction in the future. Then again, Harry wasn't the best eyes to go on for that, as he might not have even noticed Remus' tells.

Then Snape left the room by walking backwards, still eyeing the pair of them mistrustfully.

"Be a little more scared if he was smiling," Sirius snapped.

Harry looked back at the drink and Lupin explained Harry's look saying that Snape had just made him a little pick-me-up. He picked up the goblet and gave it a dissatisfied look, telling that sugar didn't make it taste any better as he drank some and shuddered.

"But what is it?" Lily huffed, her eyes narrowed in high agitation that she didn't know the answer to that, though she couldn't help a sneaking suspicion of something it could be.

"Wish I knew," Remus answered with a shrug.

"I don't like this," James and Sirius said in sync, still frowning in concern that Snape might be trying to get some sort of payback at Remus for that boggart stunt. Then again, Remus didn't seem very concerned for this, in fact if they were hearing this right he seemed rather grateful to Snape for whatever that potion was. It was driving them all crazy none of them could figure it out.

Harry began to ask why, but Lupin cut him off by stating he'd been feeling off-color, and he was lucky Snape had done this for him when most wizards wouldn't bother.

Sirius and James exchanged wide-eyed looks at that. 'Off-color' was a kind of inside joke that Remus said when he wasn't feeling well around the full moon, and the 'many wizards aren't up to making it' bit sort of made it seem like it might be about the same thing. Had a potion actually been discovered to help with his lycanthropy? If so, then this was a miracle as much as it was mind-blowing. Neither voiced their suspicions though, wondering if it would give Remus false hope.

Lupin took another drink, and Harry had to fight down the want to throw that cup across the room.

"Can't blame you on that one," Sirius agreed, "I wouldn't trust him not to poison me any farther than I could throw him."

"He wouldn't do something like that right under Dumbledore's nose," Lily said at once, and all of the boys noted she had just so phrased that in the way she hadn't exactly said he wouldn't poison Remus. It was far from reassuring, even if it did mean she really wasn't exactly in Snape's corner anymore.

Instead Harry told him that Snape loved the Dark Arts.

"Which is not a surprise to me, I can assure you," Remus rolled his eyes.

Lupin didn't look very interested, but Harry kept going, stating that he'd heard rumors Snape would do anything to get Lupin's job.

"Glad Harry's so trusting of his potions teacher, really makes me feel all warm and fuzzy," James said with only mild amusement, still stuck on the potion itself.

Lupin downed the rest of it and made an ugly face at the taste, then he told Harry that he would see him later.

Then they all pulled a face remarkably close to how Remus had looked finishing off that potion, Harry noted, but didn't need to ask why. He knew they were just as disappointed as he was that their little talk was clearly over, and they actually walked out with more questions than answers.

Recognizing he was being excused, Harry did indeed leave, though still watching that goblet that still had smoke curling out of it.

"Ominous," James drew the word out, still giving the book a significant and haughty look.

Time skip to Ron and Hermione returning, looking like they'd had the time of their lives as they bestowed Harry with a shop's worth of sweets.

"Please, do anything but tell him what all you did," Lily sighed without any hope.

Harry thanked them for it all, then asked how it had gone, where all did they go?

"Well Harry's not helping anything," Remus grumbled.

Pretty much everywhere.

"And Ron and Hermione clearly weren't pulling any punches," Sirius winced.

They told Harry every detail of the village, all the shops you could go into, and their favorite the Three Broomsticks, where they swear they'd seen an ogre.

"That would have been a fun sight to see," James chuckled, remembering sneaking into there all the time just to watch who came and went.

Then Hermione changed subject to asking if Harry had done any homework.

"Oh yeah, he really sat around and hit the books," Sirius rolled his eyes. "Honestly, doesn't Hermione know him at all?"

Harry instead told them his day, and Ron asked if Lupin was mad when he heard he'd drank that stuff.

"That's actually a fair question as of right now," Sirius agreed sagely.

Remus rolled his eyes at him, stating in as sane a voice as he could muster, "despite my friends, I actually like to argue that from time to time." Even his own face though was showing his misgivings at this fact currently.

They were heading down to dinner now, while Hermione put in that Snape wouldn't have tried to kill Lupin like that, not with Harry sitting there as witness.

"Don't think Harry could really have done much to stop him," James frowned, "or known to do otherwise."

"I still kind of agree with Hermione," Lily said thoughtfully, "Snape's not so stupid to do that in front of someone like Harry, even if he didn't understand what was going on."

"If you're all done deciding whether I'm going to die or not," Remus pleasantly mocked Harry, the pair exchanging amused looks.

James and Sirius frowned, not finding that funny in the least. They'd only just found out he was actually going to survive, the thought of him being killed right now made them want to lash out at anything even slightly threatening. Whether they were right in their guess or not, they still didn't trust Snape to do a damned thing for Remus for any reason.

The feast was as pleasant as always, but Harry felt distracted the whole time as he kept an eye on Lupin through the night, who was acting no different than usual.

"I'll admit, I do find that rather comforting," James nodded in agreement, suddenly putting the date with the act and remembering all over again Harry's spectacular bad luck with this particular holiday. If something bad was going to happen to Remus, he wouldn't even be surprised if it had happened on this day.

Then he switched to watching Snape, who also seemed to be watching the DADA teacher with more interest then was called for.

"Please tell me you are exaggerating," Sirius groaned, "cause otherwise, that is creepy."

The show for the night turned out to be Nick showing off the way he'd died.

"Glad to see they still think that's funny," Harry said, trying to move on to lighter topics, and ignoring the mounting feeling he'd had earlier. He was still so sure something did happen today, but it clearly didn't involve Remus and Snape, so what could he be thinking of?

As they were leaving the halls, Malfoy got one last crack in about how the dementors missed Harry.

"That joke is still not funny," all three boys on the couch snapped, thinking this kid really needed to get a grip, or at least a new book of jokes.

They made it all the way up to Gryffindor tower, but met most of the house crowded up in the hallway. Harry tried to crane over heads to see what was up with the portrait, which was still shut.

"Did McGonagall change the password without telling anyone?" Lily asked in confusion.

"She's only ever done that to us, not the whole house," James disagreed with a frown in place.

Harry was starting to get fidgety again, instinctively knowing something bad was about to happen, and trying his hardest to keep that feeling suppressed.

Percy was shoving his way through, announcing his position for them to move,

"Yes, because that will make them move out of the way so much faster," Sirius rolled his eyes, thinking that even if their unlikely guess was right; Percy would know the new password at least.

but when he reached the front, he froze up as well, before hollering for someone to go and get Dumbledore!

"What, why, what happened?" The boys demanded at once.

Lily desperately wanted to pause and bite at her lip again, fearing that anything that made Percy upset couldn't be good, but read on quickly anyways for her answer.

Said headmaster arrived soon enough, and the parting of the crowd finally revealed that the Fat Lady's painting had been torn to shreds, little bits of canvas all over the floor.

James was blinking spastically like someone had just shined a bright light in his eye, while Sirius' mouth was hanging open in shock. Remus and Harry leaned forward, not wanting anyone to pause and try to guess what had happened, but encouraging Lily to keep going and try to get an answer already.

The rest of the teachers arrived with Dumbledore, and he quickly instructed them all to spread out and find the Fat Lady, but then Peeves arrived and told that would be a chore, laughing at all of them.

James was getting jittery all over, and keeping a paternal eye on Harry as he watched him continually rub at his temple, a sure sign something important was fixing to happen. Who, or what, on earth would have attacked that painting?

Dumbledore asked what he had seen, and Peeves put on an air of respect, even he wasn't stupid enough to mess with Dumbledore.

"Found the other person, besides the Bloody Baron, who Peeves won't mess with," Sirius said, but was ignored by the others.

He began to explain that it had started as a nasty little argument, and the end results was the poor woman running through paintings crying and screaming.

"Running from what?" Remus muttered, though not loud enough Lily stopped to acknowledge it.

Dumbledore asked who had done this, and Peeves told that of course it was none other than Sirius Black.

The book slipped out of Lily's numb hands and landed on the floor with a thunk.

HPHPHP

*I would just like to note before anyone says anything, in chapter eighteen Remus says that the invention of the Wolfsbane potion is 'very recent' which makes me think that it possibly wasn't even discovered until after the events of their deaths. So no, they really don't have any idea what Remus drank.

[my-arlington-academia]

Hi! I love the way you write! I was wondering if you could make a headcanons of the 10 Sweet Elite characters, on jealousy! But not towards a boy / girl but towards a tender kitten who is our great love, an affectionate cat and who will always find the way to receive all the attention, but not by making spite, but in a more subtle way, with purr, meows and ball eyes! Of course, only us and the others are not even considered XD A kiss!

Awww thank you so much!! 💘💘 It means a lot to me that people like what I write even though it's just silly stuff. Anyway... making the main 10 jealous of a cat? 😂 Alright! I guess I can do that much 👌 (Sorry if this isn't exactly what you had in mind but I made the cat a stray in the hcs.)

Alistair

- honestly he is a dog person but he's not the type to argue which are cuter: dogs or cats?

- but when you met that kitten in the street and your voice suddenly shifted to "baby talk" mode?

- at first he doesn't think much of it but later on, for some reason he starts feeling a bit irritated

- wants to show you his puppies from back home but he knows just how childish his reasoning is

- ends up not only feeling jealous but also pathetic

- starts talking to himself

- "Come on Alistair, why are you feeling jealous of a CAT of all things?? That's so stupid..."

- You notice him figeting on the side looking like a sad doggo

- out of pure impulse, you run your fingers through his hair

- he doesn't really get what's happening but he's happy that your attention shifted back to him

- if he really was a dog, his tail would be wagging right now

- "Y/N? W-what are you doing? Not that I don't like it! But uh..."

- "Sorry, you just looked really cute for a sec haha... Well, I mean you always do but um."

- the both of you get embarrassed and move on from this silly situation

Axel

- a dog person as well but he didn't expect to feel so frustrated over... a cat

- in a matter of seconds, he felt like he had disappeared and he didn't like that

- for once that the both of you were alone he didn't want anyone to get in their way

- feels like he's being an idiot

- you continue petting the cat and when you scratch him under its neck, the little kitten starts purring

- suddenly Axel bends over and points to the space under his chin

- "Scratch me here."

- you're so taken aback by what he said that you actually do it... and he starts purring too??

- it sounds pretty identical to how cats purr

- "See? I can do it just as well as this little guy over there..."

- Axel looks down in shame knowing just how ridiculous he must sound right now

- you kiss him on the cheek to cheer him up

- "Come on, you know that you're my favorite!... and honestly, that purring was surprisingly good."

- "Uh-huh, I should try voice acting for cats or something."

Claire

- starts off gushing over the kitten with you

- but quickly realizes that she became almost invisible to you

- all your affection is now aimed at the cute kitty which makes Claire feel a bit abandoned

- she feels horrible for being envious of a cat, especially since she's also the type of person who loses herself in front of cute animals

- "No sad thoughts allowed! Stop thinking about ridiculous things Claire..."

- tries to cheer herself up

- somehow gathers the courage to snuggle her head against your shoulder

- you ask her what she's doing

- "Oh uh! Y-you know... I'm just imitating the kitten! Isn't it just so adorable when they press their little heads against your legs when they pass by?! S-so cute, right? Haha..."

- has realized how stupid she was being and is sad all over again until you do the same thing as her

- her cheeks heat up and she's super embarrassed

- "I-it would be nice if we were allowed to have pets in the dorms, we could've taken the cat with us..."

- "Adopt it? So we can play parents? What should we name it..."

- "W-wait! We can't actually take it with us! Lady A will be so mad..."

Ellie

- is thrilled to find a cute cat in the street!... until you start playing with it that is

- becomes silent and watches how you're smiling like a dumb-dumb

- finds you cuter than the cat and is a bit sad that she has become a second thought to you

- in an attempt to catch your attention (or more precisely get it back) she bends over and tries to imitate the cat's meowing

- at the same time, she moves her arms as if she has paws instead of human hands

- you try to ask her what she's doing but she only answers in meows

- "Meow meow meow 😥😤 Meoowwww 😖"

- you give up and start talking in "cat language" as well

- "Uhhhh... Meow?"

- at the end of it all the both of you laugh about it and make a plan to somehow find a home for the kitty

Karolina

- tries really hard to act like she doesn't give a damn

- but she's extremely annoyed

- "Oh so a cat is more important than spending time with me, huh?"

- is petty af

- keeps on sighing loudly and has had her arms crossed for a solid minute now

- sees that you're not even noticing how annoyed she is

- starts walking away and makes sure to make each one of her steps really loud so you can hear her

- when you try to stop her she's all like "Oh no it's fine. You can go on ahead and have a cup of tea with this... cat, and while you're at it kiss it under the moonlight why don't you?"

- is red of both anger and embarrassement because she knows just how childish she sounds and she hates it

- like a kid throwing a tantrum

- in the end you convince her to pet the cat as well and she gets charmed quite quickly and forgives you

- even gives it a name and refuses to give the cat to anybody else

Neha

- stares at you with a neutral expression ...or so it seems

- that is the face of BETRAYAL

- she's thinking "Seriously? You're ditching me for a cat?"

- starts asking you questions to see if she can distract you

- "So... you like cats too? I had the impression that you were more of a dog person but I guess I was wrong..."

- tries really hard not to sound passive-agressive

- fails at it.

- "Neha um. Are you like... jealous? Haha! No way, right? Sorry it was a dumb ques-"

- when you see the blush on her face you immediately understand what's going on

- you let go of the kitten and hug her

- "Want me to scratch your head too? Haha..."

- "Oh shut up! Don't make me feel more ridiculous than I already am..."

Raquel

- is super thrilled at first

- "Let's adopt it! I'm sure we can hide it in your room since you don't have a roommate."

- quickly changes her mind on the way back when she sees all the attention you're giving to the kitten

- knows exactly why she feels that way so she tries her best to play it cool, knowing how idiotic it is to be envious of a cat

- "So uh. Y'know, I know I'm the one who said that we should take it with us but now thinking about it, it's honestly kinda dangerous, isn't? I mean I don't want you to get in trouble because of me and all..."

- is rambling and rambling, telling you all the reasons why maybe it is actually a bad idea to "adopt" the cat

- you take the hint pretty easily and agree with her

- but in the end you guys manage to shelter the kitty in your room during a week before finding someone in town who'll take care of it

Tadashi

- loves cats but plays dumb when you first find the kitten in the street

- "Cats? Uh. Yeah. They're cute I guess..."

- really wants to pet the cat after he sees you doing it

- you have to push him a little bit

- "All right! If you insist so much then I guess I'll pet it..."

- (side note: you didn't insist at all 😂)

- has a small smile on his face, he's trying to conceal his happiness even though he really doesn't have to

- after a while though, he starts feeling frustrated when he sees that you get along with the kitten better than he does

- but at first, he thinks that he's jealous of you, not the cat

- however it's the other way around

- he tries to catch the cat's attention to get it away from you

- He's shyly making cat sounds

- "N-nyaaa..."

- "What are you doing?"

- "Uh... that's the onomatopoeia for the sounds cats make in Japanese..."

- "Haha! So you're meowing in Japanese? 😂"

- "So what if I AM?!?"

Tegan

- likes animals but he often sees them through a screen rather than in real life

- he's honestly a little bit scared of getting scratched so he stays on the side at first

- but when he sees you having so much fun he gets envious and gets closer, trying to play with the cat

- he's not really successful...

- "Looks like it doesn't like me. I only get along with the villagers in Animal Blessing..."

- is so sad that not only have you been snatched away by the cute kitty, but also he can't join in on the fun

- you trick him into meowing for the cat because apparently "it will feel at ease if it hears you make the same sound as them"

- "Wait, really? You're pulling my leg, aren't you?"

- "Nope. Seriously, you can moogle it."

- "Whenever you bring up Moogle it means that you're lying because you don't have any solid proof..."

- does it anyway

- is super embarrassed when you start laughing because he got tricked so easily

- curses himself for being so gullible

Tyler

- loves animals, but mostly loves how funny they can be under the right circumstances

- pulls out his phone camera to film you playing with the cat

- "A really cute kitten and a really adorable human being side by side, this will definitely gather a lot of views on ViewTube!"

- he's being silly again while flirting with you, that's the part you like about him though

- he gives commentary on every single thing the cat does

- "Oh my GOD! Look at its paws!!! LOOK AT ITS PAWS!! WOOOOOW! That is spectacuLAR LaDiES AnD gEnTLeMeN!!"

- is talking with a nonexistent crowd

- but when he's done filming you keep on playing with it and Tyler feels a bit forgotten

- hugs you gently from behind then SQUEEZES you really hard

- "Tylerr... I can't breath... Hhhhhhhh."

- "Really? Good! You shouldn't ditch me for a cat Y/N! Howww daaare youuuu..."

- is joking about it but he's genuinely a bit jealous

[surveys-at-your-service]

Survey #410

“oh baby, baby, does she take a piece of lime for the drink that i’ma buy her, do you know just what she likes?

Do you put candy canes on your Christmas tree? Ye. Have you ever written/drawn/painted random stuff on your bedroom wall? No. What do you currently hear? A slowed w/ reverb version of "If U Seek Amy" by Britney Spears. Yes, I have a serious thing for these edits of childhood songs, ha ha. Actually, no shame, I still love Britney lmao. What's your favorite flavor of Doritos? Cool Ranch. Do you like bagels? Yep. Do you ever worry about what the world will be like when you have kids? I ain't having any of those, so I don't have to worry about that. Have you ever seen a hippo in person? At a zoo, yes. Are you any good at HTML? Noooo. When was the last time you did something you knew was wrong? Recently, because I'm awful about downloading things illegally. What was the last thing you downloaded on your computer? A picture. Do you ever cry just to get your way? Hi, I'm 25. I at least have SOME adult traits. Have you ever been to any professional sports games? Yes. What's the most boring sport to watch? The only sport I enjoy watching is dance, so. I think golf has to take the cake for the absolute worst, though. Do you like lip rings on the opposite sex? UGH I just love lip rings on anybody. Do you have good or bad vision? Literally awful. Have you ever parked in a handicapped spot when you weren't supposed to? Hell no. That is so fucking inconsiderate and lazy. Have you ever been to a different country? No. When was the last time you finger-painted? Nooo idea. Probably not since I was a little kid. Do you say car-mel or car-A-mel? "Care-uh-mel." When you get out of the shower, do you use one or two towels? One. Are you uncomfortable with changing clothes in front of others? Absolutely yes. Hell, I don't think I ever really changed in front of Jason back in the day, so that says something about how self-conscious I was with a FIT body. Never mind this catastrophe I own now. Which is worse: Runny nose or stuffy nose? Both suck, but stuffy drives me absolutely INSANE. Who's been the most influential person in your life? My mom. Do you have any tan lines? Ha, yeah, no. How many different schools have you gone to? Six. Do you know how to slow dance? I mean, yes? It's not complicated. Have you ever taken The Impossible Quiz? (If not, you should Google it. :D) No, and I'll never waste my time doing that shit. I've watched people play and beat it, but it seems like such frustrating, pointless madness with zero rhyme or reason behind it. Has someone that you liked told you that you are a waste of their time? No. Who is the last person you were in a car with? Mom. In the next 6 months, what are you looking forward to most? Ummmm Christmas, maybe? That's always exciting. Is there anyone who hates you? Probably. Who were you with the last time you went out for food? Mom. If your boyfriend or girlfriend smoked pot, would you care? Eh... I guess if it was for medicinal purposes, I would be okay with it. I'm not keen on dating a smoker of anything. Do you want to start over with anyone? Just Jason, at least sometimes. It'd be really, really nice if we could be friends again and just forget about who we were all those years ago, but I genuinely doubt my ability to be "just friends" with him. Even though I haven't spoken to this dude in over FOUR YEARS, and I'm sure he's changed a lot, just like I have. We might not even be compatible anymore. As much as I may want it, I think it's probably for the better we remain unassociated. Do you eat the crust of your sandwiches? It's what I eat first. Are you completely over your last relationship? Not "completely," no. I still love her, but I'm in a headspace of accepting that now is not the right time with unfit conditions. What hoodie did you wear last? My Pikachu one, which is the one I pretty much always wear. Do you listen to Incubus? Probably surprisingly, no. I don't know if I've even heard a song. Do you wear flip-flops during the winter? More like always. Do you like the smell of Axe? If you don't use an obnoxious amount, yeah. What do you think of feminists? Absolutely necessary as pilots for change. HOWEVER, I do believe some can take the concept waaaay too far. Who was the last person to smoke a cigarette in your presence? Dad, probably. When was the last time you ate a cupcake? Oh my god, GUYS. It was my niece's birthday last month, and she did the CUTEST shit. She used to be very, very opposed to getting even slightly dirty (I mean like a speck of dirt on her would make her cry), and this kid decided to just C H O M P into her cupcake and get the frosting ALL over her face. She had two and got so messy, and that angel was just laughing hysterically about it. That girl is such a damn gift. Safe to say she was bouncing off the walls that night. Did you hug one of your parents today? No. Do you tan in the nude? I don't tan, period. Have you ever put a lot of thought and effort into a gift for somebody, only for them to act like it didn’t really matter to them? Oh god, no. That would really, really hurt, because I genuinely do try to be very thoughtful with my gifts. Do you follow the ‘five second rule’ when you drop food on the ground? NOOOOOOO. It's just a bullshit myth. I am NOT eating food that's been on the floor for a millisecond. If you had to describe yourself using a colour, which colour would you be? Maybe like... navy blue? Kinda dark and somber, but also has a calmness to it. Have you ever had to use another person’s toothbrush before? What were the circumstances? I WOULD FUCKING NEVER. Omg that is so gross. Have you ever crashed a car? No. Do you have a garden? Does it have flowers, vegetables, or both? No. Where do you want to raise your kids? I don't want kids, but if I did, absolutely surrounded by nature and animals. Have you ever been to Cracker Barrel? Yeah, I love it there. Damn, now I want some, lol. Have you ever seen a ghost? I sure as fuck saw something. As soon as you find out you are pregnant, who will you first tell? Who says I'm ever going to BE pregnant? 'Cuz it sure isn't in my plans. But hypothetically, the dad. Have you ever won a game of Minesweeper? Like ever? I've never played it. Who is your best guy friend(s)? Girt. I really should chat with him soon, it's been too long. If you had a tiny scar on your face, would you get it removed or just keep it? I'd keep it. Make me look more badass. ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ What is your hair naturally like? Brown and kinda-sorta wavy. Have you ever stared at a stranger and they said something to you about it? No; I don't stare at people. Is your father very protective of you? I wouldn't say "very protective," no. What would you do if your hero died? ffffffUCK THIS QUESTION HOW ABOUT NO HE'S NOT ALLOWED THAT'S VERY ILLEGAL Where was your first date at with your current lover? I don't have one currently. Are you friendly in the morning, or are you barely awake? Depends on how much sleep I got, but I'm generally in my best mood in the morning. Did your parents force you to go to church? Mom did. What made you pick up the last book you started reading? It was the next book in the series I'm reading, Wings of Fire. When was the last time you went somewhere for the first time? Hm. I dunno. Hypothetically and generally speaking, how would you go about breaking up with someone? Is there anything you would make sure to say, or perhaps not say? I mean it would really depend on WHY I was breaking up with them, but I guess in most situations I'd try to meet them face-to-face and explain why I wanted to cut things off. I think it'd be important for them to hear my tone of voice, and I think physically meeting somewhere would show that I care enough for them to cut time out of my day to see them and try to hurt them as least as possible, given the situation. What do you find particularly offensive? Would you say you’re easy or difficult to offend? DO NOT in even a minor way ridicule mental illness or belittle victims as "weak" or pull the "it's just in their head" bullshit. The misuse of the term "retard(ed)" also genuinely offends me. I wouldn't say I'm easy to offend, either. What was the last chore you completed? Changing my cat's litter. When was the last time someone saw you naked? It's been a loooong time, and it would've only been my mom when I was like, going into a shower or something. If you could bring someone back from the dead and spend an hour with them, who would it be and what would you do/say? Probably Steve Irwin. I'd go on and on about how his family has carried his legacy so brilliantly, and show him aaaaaall the public pictures of Bindi and Grace, especially. God, that man would be so proud of them all. What is the greatest lost you’ve endured? My first "real" boyfriend. How would you describe your current mood? A mix of tired and anxious. I don't feel like going to bed yet, and the storm we've got passing through has me nervous about tornadoes 'n shit. Do you ever drink or get high alone? I've had some light drinks alone. What is the “worst” drug you’ve done? Are there any you will never try, or any you want to try? I've never done any illicit drugs, and I don't want to. What is the most personal thing you’re willing to reveal? Probably that I've had a pilonidal cyst. It's awkward to explain, but I'll share it anyway if there's a good reason to/I'm asked or something. What made you stop talking to the last person you cut out of your life? Her just being the most toxic, drama-filled person with the biggest victim complex of any human I've ever met. Who was the last person to yell at you? Did you yell back? Mom, and my voice was raised. Where do you like to be kissed? This depends on how serious we are. Can go from just the cheek to a lot of places. Which season is your least favorite and why? Summer, because it's too goddamn hot and humid. Who, if anyone, do you compare yourself to most? Probably my little sister. She's on such a successful path, and then there's like... me lmao. Do you have a night-light in your bedroom? If so, what does it look like? No. What is your favorite breakfast food? How often do you get to eat it? Cinnamon rollssssss. I have 'em very rarely, though. I'll eat too many of them, which I definitely don't need. What is your favorite thing about autumn? What about your least favorite thing? AHHHHHH EVERYTHING. I love Halloween and the decorations that come with it, the changing leaves, the crisp air... just all of it. :') Who was the last person you asked for help? Mom, I'm sure.

[fiercestpurpose]

hi u talked about how jean often gets overlooked as a mother, would u be willing to talk more about it? its really curious to me how scott is often associated with the role of 'father' and his relationships with nathan and rachel, how he 'failed them etc, gets talked about to death but people dont talk about jeans as much. anyways would love to hear what u have to say!

Hi! I really have three main categories of thoughts about this: Jean’s relationship with Rachel, Jean’s relationship with Cable, and Jean’s relationship with the idea of family/her own motherhood.

Jean’s relationship with Rachel is… complicated. First of all, Jean is incredibly important in Rachel’s life, but it’s not always our (616) Jean. Rachel is obviously the biological daughter of another woman, 811 Jean, and that woman raised her and was her mother until she died when Rachel was about 8 (well before the rest of Rachel’s X-Men did). Losing a parent that young is frequently very traumatic and defining, and it certainly was for Rachel, so she develops this relationship that is not so much with Jean as it is with Jean’s death. She comes to the 616 and she learns that Jean is already dead, and she vows to reclaim the name Phoenix and honour her mother’s memory (even though 616 Jean is not really her mother). And then, at least twice during the Cross-Time Caper, Rachel has to watch different universe’s versions of Jean die, trying and failing to save her. So Rachel has this whole relationship with Jean as a concept, with Jean dying and leaving her, before she and 616 Jean ever develop a real relationship with each other.

And sometimes, people (fans and writers both) use Rachel’s preexisting relationship with Jean As A Conceptual Mother as evidence that 616 Jean doesn’t really count as Rachel’s mother. However, 616 Jean and Rachel do have a relationship. It starts with Jean rejecting Rachel, denouncing her because she doesn’t accept the future that Rachel represents and doesn’t want to consider her as her daughter. She later apologizes for this, saying that she shouldn’t have pushed her problems onto Rachel because they weren’t Rachel’s problems to deal with. And we see them hug and make up and it’s clear that they consider each other family.

That relationship, the daughter viewing her mother as a concept more than a person, the mother pushing her problems onto the daughter and trying not to accept the future that she thinks the daughter represents, reads to me as a very believable mother-daughter relationship. The circumstances are a little strange, but the emotions are familiar. Many children have a hard time adjusting to seeing their parents as their own people. Many parents have a hard time recognizing their grown children as being their own people and also their children. It’s a very complex relationship that’s certainly worth exploring, and referencing it only when they want to make a joke of it (as X-Men Gold and All-New X-Men both did) is a sign of writers who are not really invested in the emotional lives of those characters.

Onto Cable! In some ways, Jean’s relationship with him is a lot simpler because he is actually and inarguably her child. To be clear, she’s not his biological mother, and we’re going to put her blood relationship to his biological mother aside because it’s not actually that important. Jean is his mother because she raised him. In X-Factor vol 1, she becomes one of his primary caregivers once his mother is out of the picture, largely because she is dating his father at the time. (I’m not going to get into the whole Sinister-creating-Maddy-to-breed-with-Scott thing or the Maddy-living-in-Jean’s-head thing. It’s messy and it complicates things, but it doesn’t change the basic facts of Jean’s situation.) Jean in X-Factor is a co-parent with a day job, a woman who’s responsible for feeding the baby and changing his diapers and helping teach him how to walk and talk and keeping him safe from harm (that time she takes him into a fight excluded, of course). The first manifestation of baby Christopher’s psychic powers is that he and Jean share a special telepathic bond. It’s hard to tell how long this goes on for (comic timelines are, as always, vague and difficult to pin down), but it’s at least several months.

After Simonson’s run on X-Factor, baby Christopher is removed from the picture by being sent off to the far-future — only to be raised by Slym and Redd, who are, of course, Scott and Jean. As a Scott fan, a Jean fan, and a Scott/Jean fan, I’m always surprised and frustrated by how little The Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix gets referenced. This is years of their lives that they spend raising their son. Specifically, twelve years, which is quite a long time, and means that Cable is probably 13 by the time Slym and Redd have to leave. Redd is the mother that Cable remembers when he grows up. She’s the one who rocks him to sleep, who negotiates with his father about how to properly raise their son, who does everything in her power to protect him while continuing to participate in a secret rebel organization. And the telepathic connection he had to her resurfaces, so that they are able to fight together on the astral plane.

(If you ever want to cry about Scott/Jean or Cable’s childhood or the Summers family in general, I highly recommend The Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix. I will forgive Lobdell any number of crimes because he gave us such an excellent miniseries.)

But she isn’t just there during his childhood. Jean has a relationship with her adult son as well. They work together as X-Men many times, before and after she realizes that he is her son. Of course, there are those incredibly cute panels you may have seen of Scott and Jean and Cable all getting together to celebrate Christmas. And after the defeat of Apocalypse, when Scott is believed to be dead, Jean and Cable become especially close. It is Jean that Cable confides in, sharing with her his feelings, his loss of purpose now that his war is over, how hard it is for him to be vulnerable again. And when Jean thinks Scott is still alive but no one else believes her, Cable is the one who comes with her and helps her bring him back. Unfortunately, post-Search for Cyclops, Morrison comes in, and Morrison has no interest in love or families and does have an interest in killing Jean off to further his ship.

Prime Cable is dead now, of course, so I cannot hope that writers will explore that relationship any further. (EDIT: Oh, yeah, he maybe sort of came back again in a comic last month. Clearly that shocking turn of events made a big impression on me.) I did enjoy getting to see Jean and Hope bond after his death over the love they shared for him, and I can wish that the writers will carry that relationship forward. As for Bable (baby Cable), he’s an angry teenager who experienced the events of The Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix #4 about three or four years ago. He’s angry, he’s upset, he’s lashing out by killing his future self. There could be something really interesting there, in Jean’s relationship with Bable, if they chose to remember that he’s still the kid she raised. Her place as the mother of a rebellious teenager is complicated because he’s both the boy who brought her husband back to life and the boy who killed the adult son that she loved. If writers looked past the soap opera of it all to actually acknowledge the emotions involved, they’d see there was an interesting story there, one that is not just about the Scott/Cable relationship but necessarily involves Jean as well.

I’m sure there are things to be said about Stryfe and Nate Grey, but I honestly do not know or care enough about alternate versions of Cable to really have a coherent picture of Jean’s relationship with them, so I’m gonna skip that.

Next, I want to talk about Jean’s relationship with the concept of family. I would like to mention (as I always do), that Jean’s entire family — her parents, her siblings, and her siblings’ children — were murdered by aliens. How she feels about this is a mystery, as the comics have not addressed it at all, but she might feel guilty, because though it’s not her fault, they were killed because of her. She might also feel guilty because while family in the abstract is very important to her, her relationship with them was strained and she wasn’t as close to them as she’d like to be. She might also feel angry as hell that somebody decided to murder her family despite them doing absolutely nothing to provoke it. Any of those emotional responses would influence how she relates to her children and her granddaughter. Maybe she becomes a little more attached and attentive because she has no other family left. Maybe she distances herself from them out of grief. Maybe she rounds up her incredibly angry son and takes him into the stars to attack aliens so they can be angry together. I think any of those, done properly, could be interesting and in-character for her, and I just want some writer to acknowledge Jean as a character with her own history and her own relationships that shape her actions.

Finally, Jean’s relationship with the concept of her own motherhood. Jean is someone who wanted and expected to be a mother. I usually tend to read Jean as coming from a more traditional and conservative family, but I don’t think that’s an adequate explanation. I think Jean genuinely wants children. In X-Factor, she says, “I always thought we’d have a girl,” when talking to Scott, showing that she had thought about children being part of their future. When she talks to Rachel about her upcoming marriage to Scott, she mentions that she thinks it likely that another Rachel will be born. She wants kids, she’s seen them as part of her future for a long time, and then she got them! She got to be a mother, to Nathan Christopher and to Rachel, as explained above. I think a woman who wanted to be a mother and now is a mother should be allowed to have real relationships with her children. This isn’t like Emma, whose distance from the Cuckoos can be read as her viewing herself more as their teacher than their mother, since Emma always understands herself as a teacher. When Jean holds a baby in X-Men Red and winks at the mother and tells her that she’s implanted a psychic suggestion he not cry so much, that’s because Jean has been responsible for a baby before. Being a mother is part of who Jean is, just like it’s part of who Jubilee is or who Sue is, and I wish that writers and fans understood that.

[aliveanddrunkonsunlight]

Samsara - the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth in Buddhism. (Reincarnation fic).

A/N: I’m so sorry this took me two months @rhyejess I am not sure it is what you meant, and it is more angsty than I intended, but I hope you enjoy!

The Blue Knight

Jaime travels to Storm’s End to continue his research. He’s beginning to expect, despite all of history’s objections, that the mysterious Blue Knight was a woman. 

The library at Storm’s End is not as grand or imposing as those in Lannisport or King’s Landing. The building looks as if it has fallen into disrepair. The entrance has floors of marble and a beautiful carved staircase which leads to an upper floor. As he walks across the entryway, there are frequent cracks in the tiles where they are splitting apart or crumbling away, and the dim lighting creates the illusion of a building trying to hide its faults. 

His stomach sinks, frustration rising in his throat. If the place is not cared for, the likelihood of them maintaining good records is unlikely. But he has come so far, searched so thoroughly. If any place has information on the Blue Knight, it will be the Stormlands, for she was a Stormlander. He knows that for certain. 

His footsteps echo through the empty reading room. Jaime is starting to wonder if this was all a mistake, if the library is in fact abandoned, when he finally sees movement ahead. Upon approach, he puts on his most charming smile. He’s learned that it is best to get in the librarian’s good graces early, otherwise she may not be as willing to help with his search. As he grows closer, a blonde woman looks up over her glasses at him. Her eyes are a stunning bright blue. She arches her blonde eyebrow at him. “May I help you?”

A tightness in his chest. Struggles to swallow. He knows her. Jaime has never seen her before, but he knows her. From some past, some other lifetime. The woman says something else and he tries to shake himself out of his reverie, but he cannot. Her eyes grow wide as his hand clutches his chest. He feels as if he is being crushed. A giant weight pressing on him. He can barely breathe, but when she stands, he notices how tall she is. Then she is coming around the desk, reaching for him, and her touch is fire. 

He tries to tell her, “I know you.” But there’s only a high pitch ringing in his ears. His hands and feet are tingling. He should be terrified, but she is there. Protecting him. She races to her desk and back, a phone in her hand, Jaime only able to watch her worried face nearly crumple as she places the call. He tips his head back, still trying to catch his breath, closes his eyes for a second, and when he opens them again, she is there. The blue armor reflecting the dim light, her blonde hair blowing in the wind, a scar on her cheek, a sword glinting in her hand. Brienne.

The world goes black.

When he wakes there are bright lights and muted voices. Maybe he is being born again. Except when he finally opens his eyes, he sees her. Maybe this is heaven. Perhaps he is dead. 

There is a dusting of freckles over her nose and across her cheeks. She’s removed her glasses, and her eyelashes are such a pale blond he expects she’s wearing no makeup, other than her wide lips painted red. She does not need it. Her pale skin glows, as if lit by moonlight. “You’re awake.” 

He swallows, his throat raw, but manages to ask. “Who are you?” 

“Brienne.” Somehow he already knew the answer. 

“You’re her.” 

She frowns. “Who?”

“The Blue Knight.”

“The Blue Knight was a man.” Her reply is firm.

“No,” he shakes his head. 

“You should rest,” she tells him, her forehead creased with concern. 

*

As soon as she saw him, she knew. 

It was always the same. He was always the one to find her. She was the one who remembered. Was born knowing she would meet him again in a new life. It had happened countless times before. On and on through the annals of time. Destined to find each other. 

It used to frustrate her, being the one who knew, who always had to delicately explain. He would often balk, she would be hurt. But she began to revel in it, to enjoy watching his slow realization, to know there was nothing he could do or say to sway their connection. Sometimes she played into it, aggravating him, just as he had done to her during their journey through the Riverlands. 

But this time was different. This time he knew about the Blue Knight. 

When he’s released from the hospital, she takes him home. Jaime sits on her couch, nursing a cup of tea. “Is it usual for you to bring strange men home?” 

“What’s it to you if I do?” she replies, trying to hide her smirk. 

His face falls. “I’m sorry. That was rude of me.” But then he glances up, his face breaking into a beautiful grin when he notes her smile. There he is. Jaime. “You’re teasing.” 

“Do you want more tea?” she asks. He nods, handing her his mug. She goes into the kitchen to grab the kettle, wondering how to tell him this time. The doctors concluded that he had suffered from a panic attack. From the way he was clutching his chest, Brienne thought it was his heart. Don’t you leave me already, she begged as her shaking hands dialed, calling for an ambulance.

When she returns, both of their mugs steaming, she asks, “Do you feel well enough to tell me about the Blue Knight?” 

His face lights up at the idea. She listens as he carefully explains his research, laying out his reasoning for why he thinks the Blue Knight may not be a man, as everyone suspects, but instead a woman. 

“Why did you become interested in him? Or her?”

He’s quiet for a long moment. “I don’t know. It’s something I’ve been interested in since I was a little boy. Drawn to it, really.” He looks up at her, his eyes familiar and strange all at once.

“I think we should go to Tarth.” Brienne sets her mug down.

Confusion clouds his face. “Because you’re in the mood for a beach holiday?” 

“Because your research is correct except for one thing. Brienne the Blue was not from Storm’s Landing. She was from Tarth.” 

“Wait.” Jaime practically jumps up from his seat. “You knew. You knew she was a woman.” His eyes are wide and she cannot say anymore lest she send him into another panic attack.

“I know a lot of things,” she replies, trying for a flirtatious tone yet it comes out more mysterious than intended. “And you’ll find them out in time.”  

*

On the ferry to Tarth, Brienne falls asleep, her head propped against the window. He tries not to think about what it would be like to slip an arm around her thick waist, to rest his chin on her shoulder, to have her long, slender fingers rake through his hair. 

And yet, it’s all he can think about. When he closes his eyes, he can see them. She wears her hair short, the scar on her cheek is present again, as are marks along her collarbone, like she was struck by a wild animal. He holds her close, his tone light as he teases her, saying she is his only protection against the cold of the north. Her fingers reach back, brushing through his beard, as he presses kisses along her neck and shoulder. “Jaime?” 

“Mmm?” he murmurs into her skin, his fingertips tracing the freckles which dust the tops of her shoulders and spill down her arms. 

“You will stay, won’t you?” The uncertainty in her tone makes Jaime’s heart feels as if it’s being crushed. 

He stills his movements and props himself up on his right elbow, studying the outline of her face. The doubt he heard in her voice does not show on her features, her jaw is as firm as always, but she doesn’t look at him. Instead, her gaze remains fixed on the fire in the hearth. “Brienne,” he says softly, waiting for her to slowly turn her head and look at him. When she does not, he continues. “When I chose to come here, I understood what that meant. That I would not be able to go back. I would not alter my decision. This is my home now.” 

“Casterly Rock still stands, does it not?” In the North, the chill never really leaves his bones, but the ice in her voice makes him shiver.  

“Yes,” he sighs. “But it is not my home. They are not my family.” 

“Of course they are.” From the irritation in her tone, it’s a conversation they’ve had before. “Your brother…” 

“My brother is safe with the Dragon Queen. And I am safe here with you.” He leans forward, placing a gentle kiss to her scarred cheek. 

Brienne finally stirs then, looking up at him with tears in her eyes. “Are you certain?” 

“I am.” He nods, unblinking, his green eyes firmly rooted to her blue. “That is, if you will allow me to stay, Lady Brienne,” he continues, the teasing creeping into his tone again. 

This time, she smiles and reaches up to tug at his tunic, drawing him closer, murmuring, “yes.” Tilting her chin up, she captures his lips with hers.

*

As they dock at Tarth, Brienne blinks awake, only to find Jaime also rousing from a nap. An embarrassed look crosses his face when their eyes meet and doubt seizes her, as if someone had reached out and snagged her by the collar. There is no reason for him to believe her. As time has passed, their various iterations playing out, she finds it more difficult to explain their connection. Some larger force may push them together, but in these modern times, there are not the same circumstances in place–societal rules, family obligation, duty–which tie their fates together. 

He follows her around all day, as the two of them study the ruins of Evenfall, asking the right questions, listening as she tells him of Tarth’s history. They are settling along the cliffs to eat lunch, her gaze focused on the sea crashing into the rocks below. “How do you know so much about this place?”

She chews her sandwich slowly, puzzling out an answer. “My family is from here.” 

Jaime has just taken a bite of his sandwich, but his mouth falls open before he remembers his manners, closing his mouth to chew and swallow. “Are you a…” he glances around, as if someone might overhear. “A Tarth?”

She puts her sandwich down on the wax paper wrapper. Brienne draws her knees up to her chest, wraps her arms around them. “Jaime, I know we just met-” 

“We were together before, weren’t we?”

Now her mouth is the one to fall open. “How did you know that?”

“I saw it. Or dreamt it.” He squints into the sun, looking at her. “It was a different time.”

“Yes,” she nods. “Could you see where we were?” 

“A room. There was a fire. And furs on the bed.” 

“Winterfell,” the word whispers from her lips. 

“Winterfell.” His tone is reverent, as if he is remembering. They are both quiet for a long time, the rhythm of waves crashing against the rocks the only sound. Finally, Jaime asks, “Was she the Blue Knight?”

“Yes,” she nods. “And no. She was a knight and she did brave things during her time. Fought in battles, commanded during war. But no called her the Blue Knight. Not back then.”  

“And we were…?” he gestures between them and she glimpses a look of awe on his face. 

“Yes.” She takes a breath, knowing she has to tell him now. “But not just in Winterfell. In every universe. We are drawn to each other.” This should not be so painful for her, not after all this time, but it always is. There are tears in her eyes, so she blinks, looks away. 

“Magnets.” When she glances back at him, he looks a little shell shocked, but he’s nodding, as if he understands. And maybe he does. After all, he saw them. That’s never happened before. 

“When you saw me at the library, what happened?” 

“It felt as if I knew you, but I didn’t know why. I couldn’t breath, as if something heavy was sitting on my chest.” Gently, he places a hand over his heart. “Well, you know. Panic attack.”

“But you’re remembering things?”

His eyes widen. “Yes. I saw you. I mean, her. Standing over me.” 

“That’s never happened before. You never remember.” I’m the one who remembers. 

“What happened? In Winterfell?” His face is so earnest, but a bitterness washes over her. She reaches for the sandwich, wrapping the paper carefully around it and placing it in her bag. 

“It’s getting late. We should take the ferry back.” She stands, shouldering her tote bag. 

“Brienne.” It’s the first time he’s said her name. Her knees go weak, her pulse quickens. He is not even close, but it’s as if he’s touching her, she can feel the heat from his hands all over her skin. 

She shakes her head, turns on her heel, and walks away. Then there is a hand on her arm, Jaime turning her towards him, and the soft way he’s looking at her hits her deep in the chest. Unable to draw herself back from the brink, tears spring to the corners of her eyes. 

His hand squeezes her arm gently. “Tell me what happened.” 

“You couldn’t stay. You never stay.” He steps towards her, tentatively wrapping his arms around her and drawing her close. She allows herself a release then, her body shaking with sobs, allowing herself to feel his loss, to mourn him. 

He leaves to sacrifice himself for the greater good, to protect her. She never doubts his love for her. He gives his life away so she can carry on, so she might be happy, but it tears her apart every time. A wound which never heals.

She has held their secret, their history for so long. And yet she still believes him, in every universe, when he promises to stay.

[gibberingcultist]

The Forgotten Age

We think we know the history of the Earth, but there are secrets that lie beyond our reckoning and truths that could undo our entire understanding of the universe. When renowned historian Alejandro Vela discovers one of these secrets, the ruins of an ancient and forgotten Aztec city, it sets into motion a plot that could unravel the very fabric of time.

Designers: Matthew Newman Artists: Andreas Adamek, Justin Adams, W. T. Arnold, Borja Pindado Arribas, Cristi Balanescu (cover), + 55 more! Players: 1-4 (best at 3 per BGG). But I would say Arkham Horror LCG is always best at 2 players. Playtime: 60-120 minutes per scenario. BGG Weight: 3.86 / 5 Mechanisms: Action Point Allowance System, Cooperative Play, Deck / Pool Building, Hand Management, Role Playing, Variable Player Powers

I am so far behind schedule on all these Arkham Horror LCG expansions and mythos pack reviews. The Dream-Eaters Cycle was recently released and already FFG has two more Arkham Horror LCG box expansions planned for the near future. The Innsmouth Conspiracy and potentially something called The War of the Outer Gods. We shall see if that second title is accurate or not in due time. Either way I can already see the money draining from my wallet like venom from a serpent’s fangs.

This will actually be my second time playing through The Forgotten Age expansion. The first time was with a party of three and we had no idea what we were getting ourselves into. I found my first overall experience with TFA to be a incredibly frustrating. It was a grueling, torturous journey through the Mexican rain forest. We picked all the wrong supplies for all the wrong characters it seemed.

So after it was all said and done, I was pretty sure that I wasn’t ever going to play this expansion again. But with recently finishing The Circle Undone and not having all the mythos packs for the Dream-Eaters Cycle in my possession, I caved and returned to base camp to go on the expedition all over again. This time with a better idea of what will be needed. Characters with very high agility and well…. blankets. Why didn’t my first expedition group take basic bedding with them?! I’m surprised we even had boots on our feet, we were so unprepared for survival in the outdoors. Hopefully the second time through will be a little smoother.

We think we know the history of the Earth, but there are secrets that lie beyond our reckoning and truths that could undo our entire understanding of the universe. When renowned historian Alejandro Vela discovers one of these secrets, the ruins of an ancient and forgotten Aztec city, it sets into motion a plot that could unravel the very fabric of time.

So as I already mentioned, knowing how important agility is for your investigators; my girlfriend and I selected the two investigators from the The Forgotten Age campaign with the highest agility (feetsies). These two also seemed to have the highest potential for the most bonus actions in a round, which is always a good thing to have in this god-forsaken game. We chose Ursula Downs and Finn Edwards. We can’t help but think that Finn is really just allowing himself to be employed by Ursula to get himself away from some sort of shady business dealings back home. Or to make a hefty profit selling all of our equipment and provisions. Because why else wouldn’t we have blankets?! I swear that stuff is getting stolen from under us.

“I have had it with these motherfucking snakes in this motherfucking jungle!” The pit vipers aren’t too bad as long as you are as spry and nimble as Ursula and Finn. We were able to stay ahead of the sneks by constantly moving and clearing each location of clues as quickly as possible. The Boa was a bigger concern as he was hunting us through most the scenario. We don’t plan on killing anything with vengeance points. IF we can help it that is. Neither of us really had any weapons readied during this scenario anyway. Just the trench coat on our backs and the track shoes on our feet. We were bouncing all over the jungle like gummy bears hopped up on Ayahuasca juice (is that a thing?).

Once confronted by Ichtaca, Keeper of the Etzli, we really had no choice but to parlay with her. I’m not sure why Alejandro Vela is so opposed to working with the locals (at this point in the game). Sounds like he’s part of the White Savior Industrial Complex. We discovered the Etzli ruins, thanks to Ichtaca and left behind a wake of snakes (very much alive mind you) and watchful Guardians. Rushing exploration and clue gathering was the way to go for this scenario. Very thematic and fun.

In this first scenario, one gets introduced to the exploration deck. Where one could potentially lose his/her movement actions based on what cards are randomly drawn from a small shuffled deck. A deck consisting of a handful of treacheries mixed in with a variety of potentially discoverable locations. I guess I don’t mind the exploration deck mechanic. More times than not, we will unluckily draw all the treachery cards rather quickly. So we take the explore action early knowing full well that we are going to draw treachery cards. After all the treachery cards have been randomly drawn and discarded, THEN we can explore without fear or consequence. And that’s a great feeling.

Welp. So much for trying to maintain zero vengeance points. Yig’s fury went from 0 to 5 in just one scenario. We were rapidly overwhelmed with serpent humanoids and barely got out of the Etzli temple with the Relic of Ages in hand. It’s almost as if investigators were meant to die/lose this scenario. Ursula suffered a mental trauma after being hounded by Yig’s minions every step of the way. Her treachery card was what did her in though. She was unable to heed the Call of the Unknown after taking such a beating from the treachery filled exploration deck.

We both found this scenario too frustrating. The difficulty ramped up to 11 and we were still ill prepared for such things. None of our weapons were even drawn during this game, so once again we just had to keep moving. Trying our best to stay ahead of the wave of snake creatures. The only reason Finn was able to get out of the temple, after snagging the Relic of Ages, was because he was lucky enough to draw his I’m outta here! card right when he needed it most. There was no way he was going to make it past the 7 or 8 monsters in his linear path. This relic better be worth it.

….Aaand it’s gone. We lost the relic. Or Harlan did. Whoever the fuck he is. We chose to keep the relic safe by giving it to some rando in passing. Then we are shocked when the supposedly trusty vagabond up and leaves town. Great.

Threads of Fate was another rather frustrating scenario with a ungodly amount of enemies. The moment we were able to eliminate just one of the Haunting Nightgaunts terrorizing us, we would advance the agenda deck, reshuffle the discard pile, only to draw the very same Haunting Nightguant! GAH! These guys are tough as well, 4HP, running away from them is hard due to doubling the negative modifiers. Terrifying creatures.

It was neat that there were multiple Acts or multiple storylines (threads) to follow and investigate. We were only able to fully complete one of the three but at least the scenario still rewarded us for making an attempt at the others. In that you receive some bonus experience points for just getting past Act 1 of each deck. Alejandro Vela was rescued and now resides in one of our decks. I would have preferred to have the Relic but circumstances prevented us from making it so.

Wait, it was all a dream?! But I consumed actual gas in driving to this fever dream. I want my gas supply point back. The Boundary Beyond would be strike 3 for us. Another overly frustrating scenario with too many monsters and a damn near impossible end goal. We were suppose to lose weren’t we? Considering we only managed to get 3 out of the 6 locations explored correctly, and then wiped of clues before being overwhelmed by enemies. The added penalties for exploring was very rough and we felt it… hard. Like for instance, one location forced you to take a physical damage to take the explore action. Which inevitably resulted in drawing a treachery card, making the damage you received to draw the treachery even more painful. So consume another precious action, take another physical damage, and try your luck again!

The Harbinger of Valusia once again made his appearance known. A damn near impossible enemy to combat while also trying to achieve your necessary win condition. With Alert and Retaliate active even when exhausted, the Harbinger is going to just decimate anyone interested in doing any amount of damage to him. Especially book nerds like us. We were able to inflict 2 damage on him though before getting TKO’ed. 2 damage out of his 20hp! I feel like we should be further down on his health track. Ugh.

During set-up, players are instructed to set aside the Agenda 3 and Act 3 cards. I imagine this is to mislead the players about the intended length of the scenario? And well… it worked! During what we thought was our very last turn (before the agenda would advance), we both made some hail mary plays to try and acquire as many clues/locations as possible before ending the scenario. Only to find out, the scenario wasn’t over. By the time we realized we had more rounds at our disposal, we were either already eliminated or stuck in some impossible situation. I can see that designers are looking to subvert players expectations in whatever means possible, but this ended up just frustrating my girlfriend to the point that she considered quitting the campaign all together. She is calling AH-LCG an abusive relationship. Wondering why we keep going back to it.

The Story So Far

Wait. Why are we back in the jungle again?! Let’s recap. Going back a few scenarios, we uncovered information on a secret cabal, called the Brotherhood, who had interests in the Eztli relic (missing!). This Brotherhood also had a great deal of information on Alejandro’s previous expedition into the Mexican rain forest. According to Ichtaca, the Brotherhood is seeking a place called the Nexus of N’kai. OK fine. So without any other bit of information given by Ichtaca, we set off on another expedition back to the relic’s original location. For what I imagine is to seek out additional clues in regards to the power behind the relic.

During our road trip to Mexico City, Alejandro voices his opinion that the documented symbols adorning the relic is not of Mayan or Aztec heritage. Hmm…ok.

We putz around Mexico for a while, eating lots of fish tacos and drinking lots of margaritas (or so I imagine), but doing not much else. A week later, Ichtaca FINALLY decides it’s time perform some sort of cryptic incantation, alone in her room. An event that results in a dream like scenario which gives us some insight. Insight into (Tenochtitlan locations?) a cave that Ichtaca believes is the path that leads to the Nexus. She wants us to go with. Do we have time to grab some Pozole before we go? I think so.

Part 1

The first half of the Heart of the Elder’s mythos pack seems more of a catch-up scenario. Because we only received insight on 3 of the 6 paths/stone pillars outside the cave, we had to spend some days trying to decode the other 3. The stone pillars are essentially the lock tumblers allowing access to the cave maw.

I find it hard to believe Ichtaca had been running all over this jungle, secretly protecting the relic from outsiders, and never once discovered or learned about this cave. And if she did know of it, why did it take so long for her to explore it? And it she did explore it, why didn’t she know the 6 paths from the start?! Gah!

We did not like this part of the scenario. It felt like another throw away scenario that really wasn’t needed. It took two attempts at it to get the remaining 3 paths. Our first day/attempt resulted in no additional paths and Ursula ended up dying to the snake monsters. On the second day, a replay of the same scenario mind you, we had much better luck in not drawing snake monsters to hound us the entire time. So that helped us focus on clue gathering. The whole idea of playing the same scenario over and over again until you achieve some specific goal, rubs me the wrong way. Repetition in this regard is no fun. We also were annoyed that progressing the Act deck, which is normally a good thing to advance, significantly hampered our overall goal. So on the second day, knowing that it would be detriment to advance the Act deck, we advanced it only when we were ready to take on the additional headache.

Part II

After we gained access to the cave, we had a good spelunking time getting clues and discovering locations. It’s as if clue gathering is what we excel at. We lucked out on drawing a minimal amount of enemies during the mythos phase. Which helped us deal with everything else thrown at us. We felt like we had plenty of time to achieve the overall objective and we got a heck of a lot of XP from this scenario (both parts 1 and 2). Which makes the sting of part 1 a little less so. Part 2’s flavor text alludes to a Journey to the Center of the Earth type inner world, taking place below ours. Which is kind of neat.

The end of the scenario was a little confusing. Alejandro betrayed us?! He was working in unison or is commanding some sort of alien race to find and gain access to Yoth, cavern of the serpents? Why? I take it Alejandro is a member of the Brotherhood, which would explain why they had information on Alejandro’s expedition. It was information of the inside variety lols. My girlfriend thought the entire campaign was over after reading “It is your last human memory.” So we just died?! Not quite.

Alejandro was working with scientific, alien creatures? Hah! So we got mind-swapped with a couple Yithians and mentally transported to some unknown location beyond space and time that acts as a mass-information compiler. What are the aliens doing with our physical bodies right now? The other aliens didn’t seem to mind us wandering around their utopian society. That is until we fucked with their experiments. I suppose we would be the real aliens at this point. We had a lot of fun playing this scenario. This would be the first time, in publication order, that your investigator’s card gets swapped out for another scenario specific one. The next instance of this taking place during the prologue of The Circle Undone campaign. Both enjoyable experiences.

We slithered around, doing our best to hold on to our items with our noodly appendages. We did manage to perform all six of the necessary intellectual pursuits before mind-melding back into our original bodies. AKA we were a rightful pains in the ass. 9 xp from this scenario! So that’s very nice. This scenario required a lot of card-play. Mostly we used our cards just for the modifier icons to pass tests. As your Yithian character card allowed for the doubling of icons for one card per test. This coupled with our ever reducing max-hand size, made the end goal of holding 10 cards at once a rather tricky puzzle to figure out. We would not have achieved this goal had it not been for our new pen-pal, the Custodian, and the best room in the house, the Yithian Orrery.

What were we suppose to do with the Out of Body Experience treachery cards? I was never instructed in the setup but I feel like these should have been shuffled into our decks at some point. The backside of the Yithian investigator cards have Do you remember…? in the Deckbuilding Requirements section. So maybe it was a mistake in that these treachery cards should have been included in our decks to start. Not sure. We didn’t utilize them. This will probably be corrected in the Return to.

Now lets see what Alejandro and his alien buds were up to while we took a mental holiday.

I hear people play this scenario just to see how far down into the depths they can get before they are torn to shreds. We got to level 5 (the bare minimum) and immediately got the hell out of there! One could get a significant amount of XP on this scenario though. If everyone is well suited for fighting monsters and dealing with the ever growing pain that is the chaos bag. We on the other hand are NOT well suited for dealing with monsters. Besides running away from them. Finn Edwards recently purchased a Ornate Bow which has been pretty damn effective at eliminating a bunch of annoying or persistent enemies. Enemies with the Hunter trait mostly. Lets hope the next scenario is more about getting clues and not fighting a Boss of some kind.

The Depths of Yoth is an alright concept for a scenario but just like in a previous scenario (The Heart of the Elders Part 1) you essentially just play the same mini-game multiple times. At least with this scenario, with the reset between floors/levels, the locations are randomized. Your starting location and which locations are available will be slightly different between floors. We quickly learned which icon to look for in order to find the Steps of Yoth (how to progress). And I’m so confused on what’s going on in the over-arching story that we don’t even care anymore. Both Ichtaca and Alejandro have turned on us and want the Relic of Ages for different reasons. Ichtaca, I believe wants to awaken Yoth for some terrible reason. Hopefully it will all make more sense after the next scenario.

We finished! …thank God/Yig. We did get an above-average ending. Resolution 1 if that does anything for you. We lost the original Relic of Ages so we didn’t get the best ending but we refused the tempting offers from both Ichtaca and Alejandro Vela and went about mending the tear in the fabric of time…ourselves somehow. Luckily for us, The Relic of Ages was rediscovered in A Pocket of Time which I suppose makes sense that we traveled through time and found a earlier/later version of the one we lost. I’m always impressed with the final scenarios of each of the major campaigns. This one was no different. The story seemed to come together. Both Ichtaca (Yig worshiper) and Alejandro (Yithian in disguise) had ulterior motives which is understandable. I liked that we could have sided with either of them to change the world as we know it forever.

We didn’t kill a single enemy this scenario. Besides those EZ-PZ cultists. So we were once again dogged by a myriad of serpent & elite enemies. We were use to though after the sixth or seventh scenario where that happened this campaign. Finn Edwards handled running away from 5 different monster enemies himself, each round for two or three rounds. One free evade, three normal evade actions, and a Leo De Luca evade action. While Ursula Downs worked vigorously at exploring and clearing clues from as many shattered locations as possible. Taking damage and horror when necessary. It worked. I can’t wait to go back to playing some Guardian and Survivor class characters. Or really anyone with dynamite

We don’t officially get to play the bonus, secret mission because we lost the Relic of Ages from our timeline but we will play it anyway just to see what it’s like. Going on the assumption that we didn’t hand a complete stranger one of the most powerful objects in the known universe. So we will play that next and I will report on it here.

Man, fuck this game. We got devoured by Yig pretty quickly in our attempt to undo our past mistakes. Turn Back Time has a cool concept but this scenario is not designed with pacifists like us in mind. It’s tough! Arm yourself to the teeth before entering the Eztli Ruins again! We didn’t REALLY deserve to unlock this scenario and we are going to continue acting like this scenario never happened. Our own form of time travel.

Now that we are done with this campaign we will play a Return To… or start The Dream-Eaters cycle and hope that our last Mythos pack gets delivered very soon.

In Summary

Of all the Arkham Horror campaigns that I’ve played, The Forgotten Age is and will remain my least favorite. With that said I was impressed by how many of the scenarios ended up having a decently high personal rating. This tells me that the scenarios themselves aren’t bad but the over-arching story and mechanisms introduced are what leaves a foul malignancy festering in my mind when contemplating The Forgotten Age. Mainly due to the frustrations with the exploration deck, the supply point system (never having what you need), and having to suffer the ridiculous amount of serpent creatures all looking to settle their poisonous fangs into your meaty neck. The Harbinger of Valusia is still out there, slithering around the jungle with a whopping 18 HP! Good luck with that Mexico.

Final Score (Avg)

[night-raven-dorms]

Scenario where the reader is a quiet yet sincere person and wishes to express her feelings towards the one she loves, aka: Vil (can she be a part of Heartslabyul and Riddle is like a brother to her; he wants what’s best for her, but doesn’t trust Vil enough to be her guy? He also catches Vil speaking w/ another girl and assumes he’s leading the reader on? Something along the lines of Romeo and Juliet, but w/ no bloodshed)? Hope this is a good enough request, GW. BTW, keep up the good work!

Apple Blossoms

Vil Schoenheit/Reader

Love will always bloom. Not matter the circumstances.

~

It had all started because of a tea party.

It wasn’t a grand and magnificent party. Simply a small one, specifically one for six people. Even more specifically, it was a rare tea party hosted by the dorm leader himself and the attendees were his for aces and you. His darling little not-sister. The four were shocked to say the least. Riddle Rosehearts, the second year dorm leader with anger issues, had a sweet, sincere, adorably quiet best friend that he considered a little sister. What was even more shocking was how quickly you were able to calm him down after Ace jokingly gave you a wink. It was like watching a fluffy white rabbit taming an angry chihuahua.

When the tea party was over, Riddle had ordered the four to “clean up the mess” while he allowed you to go explore the rest of the dorm grounds (all while a certain Ace of hearts was whining about special treatment). After giving your not-brother and his friends a polite curtsy, you went straight to the place that intrigued you the most: the rose gardens.

The Heartslabyul dorms had an impressive rose garden that was properly cared for and perfectly grown. The beauty of the roses wasn’t the thing that attracted you in the first place. Rather, it was the mysterious hedge maze that winded away into oblivion, and you were determined to find the other side. Upon arriving at the entrance of the maze, you noticed a large black dog with it’s back towards you. Noticing your presence, the dog looked at you, back to the maze, and back at you before running in. You called out to it before chasing after it wondering where it came from.

After several twists and turns, you made it to the other side and into an apple orchard. You looked around trying to find the black dog. However it seemed to have just disappeared into the forest of apple trees. Sighing, you knew you had to head back, but you turned and slammed face first into someone’s chest. You would have fallen over too if it wasn’t for that someone to catch you and keep you steady. “My, my, I must apologize if I startled you miss,” a smooth voice said.

When you were able to get your bearing back, you tilted your head up to see the most beautiful man you have ever laid your eyes on. He let you stand on your own and you took a step back. He spoke up before you could, “Well, you’re a face I haven’t seen before! You must be new here. My name is Vil Schoenheit, and it is a pleasure to meet you.”

He gave a bow. “If I may ask, who are you?”

You gave your own curtsy to him, “My name is (y/n). And you’re right. I’m a new transfer here... um, what is this place exactly?”

Vil gave another charming smile, “This place is the apple orchard in the Pomefiore dorms. It seems like you’ve found the connecting area between the two houses.”

You wanted to ask more questions. A lot more, but you suddenly became aware of how late it was getting. Not wanting to worry Riddle about your disappearance, you both exchanged your good byes before you sprinted back out of the maze and into the familiar territory of the Heartslabyul.

Riddle was waiting at the front of the maze by the time you found your way out. “I had a feeling you were in there.”

“Sorry Rid, I was just-“ he shook his head, cutting you off from continuing.

“Don’t worry I’m not mad at you, I just came looking for you since break will be ending soon. Come on, we can walk back together.”

As the two of you walked, you looked back to the maze. Sitting patiently at the entrance was the black dog that lead you to the Pomefiore dorms. It seemed to smile as it happily wagged its tail. Riddle noticed your gaze and looked back at the hedge. Nothing was there but you continued to stare as if wanting to go back. “Hey, is everything okay?” He asked.

You looked at him and blinked. “Yeah I’m fine. I... I thought I left something there but I guess not.”

He raised his eyebrow. You smiled and shook your head, “Let’s just go back, you need to show me around the dorms right?”

“... yeah...”

You continued to walk side by side until you made it back to the dorm. While you walked into the giant castle to find your bedroom, Riddle went to find Trey. He needed someone to check the maze.

...

For the next couple of days, the you had fallen into a routine with Vil. Everyday you would sneak away after class with small hand made goodies – ranging from baked goods to flower crowns to trinkets – and meet Vil in the apple orchard. The both of you would spend time together and talk about anything.

Today you were sitting in his lap as he played and styled your hair. Next to you, was the basket of heart shaped baked treats you had baked in the morning. In all honesty, you would be lying to say you hadn’t developed feelings for the Pomefiore dorm leader. He was so gentle with you and treated you with so much care, and in all honesty, Vil was also falling for you as well. Those hours spent together soon became both your favorite past times. “Vil, can I tell you something?”

“You can tell me anything my sweet little apple.”

You blushed at the nickname. “Vil... Thank you for spending time with me.”

He hummed, “I should be saying that to you.”

You smiled as he finished with your hair and wrapped his arms around your waist. “You’re one of the only people that has looked passed my beauty. You actually cared to ask how my days are and made it an effort to see me everday.”

You leaned back into him enjoying the comfortable silence. Unfortunately all good things must come to an end, “I better get going, Riddle will be worried.”

Vil laughed and helped you to your feet, “He must care about you a lot to be worrying this much.”

“Well, I am his ‘little sister’ after all.”

“Or so you say...”

You pouted as he pushed a stray hair behind your ear, “I’m only kidding. I’ll see you again tomorrow?”

You nodded in response. He walked you to the entrance of the maze where you traveled back to the dorms. Unknown to you that a couple of cards were watching your retreating figure.

“What do we do now?” Ace asked.

“We report it to Riddle,” Deuce replied, “he trusted us to find out where she goes everyday remember?”

“Yeah, but doesn’t she look happy with him?”

Deuce only stayed quiet and walked away leaving Ace standing there.

...

The next morning you were woken up by Riddle angrily yelling at you through the door of the bedroom. You were confused to see Riddle, Deuce, and a pretty guilty looking Ace on the other side. “Huh? Whas going on?”

“You’ve been sneaking off to see Vil?”

You froze on the spot. How did they... you looked between Ace and Deuce and groaned. “You were spying on me?”

“Yes I have because I’ve been wondering where you were whenever you disappeared. Tch, had I known you were seeing Vil I would have stopped you a lot sooner.”

You squint your eyes at him, “What do you even have against him Rid?”

“What I have against him is the fact that he’s particularly popular with the girls. I just don’t want you to be heart broken if you find out he’s leading you on.”

“He’s not leading me on.”

“And how can you say that so confidently?”

“How can you not trust me?”

“Listen (y/n), I’m only trying to protect you. Besides, a first year and a third year? Sis, do you know what people would think of you? I’m only trying to make you happy.”

You were getting frustrated and screamed out, “WELL MAYBE I’M HAPPIER WHEN I’M WITH HIM.”

You slammed the door in his face and he stood there stunned. You were always so sweet and nice. You never, if only rarely, raised your voice to yell. The look on your face is what shocked him the most. After all his years of knowing you, you had never looked so betrayed. It was at this moment, he knew he may have messed up. May have. Okay, he did a big mess up. He stood there and rubbed his temples. He hadn’t meant to make you upset (and more than likely cry), he was just trying to keep you from being heartbroken.

He sighed, “Ace, Deuce.”

The two first years looked at him. “We need to go shopping.”

...

Sam the mysterious shop keeper was more than just the go to guy for goods. He was also, surprisingly, a wonderful advice giver. He simply smiled when the three walked into his shop. “How may I help you gentlemen today? Wait, let me guess, is this about the little princess of Heartslabyul?”

Riddle deadpanned. Sam laughed, “I’ll take that as a yes.”

The shopkeeper pulled out a deck of tarot cards from under his counter. He gave it a good shuffle, making a spectacle that left Ace and Deuce awed. He fanned out the cards for Riddle to pick. “Pick three,” Sam said with a wink.

Riddle grabbed them and handed them back to Sam who put the thick deck away. He flipped each card over. The first one depicted the vice dorm leader of Pomefiore, Rook Hunt, with a black dog. The second depicted a heart with a tiara wrapped in thorns and roses to protect it. Upon closer look, the heart was bleeding. The third showed an apple tree with small apple blossoms in bloom. Sam explained, “The past, present, and future. It seems like the little princess first met Vil through Rook. Now it seems like she’s heart broken. Not because of Vil...”

Riddle furrowed his brows, “It’s because of me isn’t it.”

Sam only gave a nod, “based on what I see, she feels trapped. She knows you care, and she knows you protect her. Just a suggestion, and it’s up for you to take, but I believe you should let their love grow.”

He gestured to the third card with the apple blossoms which magically changed to grow ripe red apples. Sam picked up the card and handed it to Riddle who stared at it. The dorm leader abruptly turned around and began walking out. Sam quickly asked before he could leave, “Where are you going?”

Riddle stopped at the door. “I need to have a talk with Vil.”

...

Later that day, you were called into Sam’s shop only to find Riddle waiting (rather impatiently) with Sam. Your figure slumped a bit as you walked closer to them. ���Am I in trouble?” You asked.

Sam gave a laugh, “Far from it! We called you here because you’re transferring dorms.”

You were shocked to say the least. Transferring dorms? Where would you go? You looked at Riddle for answers. “Riddle... where am I going?”

Before you could answer, the door of the shop opened. Vil had walked into the shop. “I apologize for being late.”

“You’re lucky my patience didn’t run out Schoenheit.” Riddle said glaring at him.

If you were confused you were even more confused now. Riddle sighed and began explaining the situation, “I had a talk with Vil and we came to an agreement. From this day forward you’ll be transferring to the Pomefiore dorms... so you don’t have to keep sneaking off dorm grounds to meet with him.”

You blushed from embarrassment at the last part, but you still hugged him and thanked him with all your heart. Sam had sorted everything out and gave you your new uniform for you to wear, and soon enough the three of you traveled to the Pomefiore dorms. Waiting at the entrance was a tall man with a bobbed haircut; next to him was an awfully familiar black dog. The three of you stopped so you could give your good byes. “Thank you Riddle. I promise I’ll visit you so you don’t miss me too much.”

“You had better,” he demanded, “and you better come over when I host tea parties. Or if I invite you over in general. If you don’t I’ll Trey or Cater to bring me your head.”

He turned to Vil, “You better remember our deal.”

The blonde replied with a smile, “Of course. I wouldn’t dream of breaking it.”

You and Riddle shared one last hug before walking you walked away hand in hand with Vil. As Riddle walked back to his own dorm, he took notice of the countless apple trees the bordered the dorm. All of them in full bloom, showcasing their beauty.

~

A/N: This came out longer than I expected. Still, I hope you enjoy it and hopefully I did it correctly! Also, thank you for the compliment – and I’m talking to everyone when I say this – they really keep me going.

-GW

[yandereshit]

"See, I've stalked you for some time before snatching you up!" or "I usually like to get to know my victims a little before I kill them." for Izaya Orihara please! I figured they fit him perfectly and I'm in such a dark mood so I'm down for whatever you want to throw at me! I̶ ̶w̶o̶u̶l̶d̶n̶'̶t̶ ̶b̶e̶ ̶a̶g̶a̶i̶n̶s̶t̶ ̶s̶o̶m̶e̶ ̶i̶n̶t̶e̶n̶s̶e̶ ̶p̶s̶y̶c̶h̶o̶l̶o̶g̶i̶c̶a̶l̶ ̶t̶o̶r̶t̶u̶r̶e̶ ̶t̶h̶o̶u̶g̶h̶~̶

FYI I have NO CLUE how long has this been lying in my drafts but I noticed it like now oasihfoiasdhoias

Izaya Orihara x Reader: relatively innocent.

Warnings: mentions of death, mind games, torture.

˙·٠•●♥ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ ♥●•٠·˙

A simple, textile bag had been torn off your head, and your sight finally returned, giving you a very short-living sense of relief.

Your wrists were tied tightly behind your back, and you were sat on some sort of chair. Your head was still dizzy as you moved, trying to get a hold of your surroundings and the situation you found yourself in. The room was dark, with only two bulbs to allow you to see anything, yet their light being not strong enough to let you make out the exact contours of the room.

Undoubtedly, you weren’t in the room alone. On the wooden chair opposite of yours, a silhouette sat, holding the bag and staring forward at your terrified self, not bothered much by the tears that showed themselves on your face, having flowed down your cheeks sometime ago and then dried out. Maybe if the lighting was better, he could actually see them clearly. But your quiet sobs were enough of a proof, and your face didn’t have to be visible for anyone to know what state you were in. 

You wondered about his own face, but it was too dark for you to make out anything specific. But the man didn’t seem to want you to memorize him, and you had a feeling that it’d be safer for you if you didn’t. 

Once your sobs calmed down a little, his voice echoed in the room, making you almost jump when it rung out of blue, after such a long silence you’ve been stuck in.

“I suppose you’re good enough to talk now” he announced. He was smiling, that much you could tell from his tone alone, his white teeth only slightly visible, giving you a brief image of how he grinned.

“What do you want from me?” you snapped, but your voice betrayed you, clearly trembling through the whole sentence.

A short silence fell upon the two of you, and as soon as the man spoke again, you wished he never did.

“I usually like to get to know my victims a little before I kill them.”

You could swear your heart stopped beating for a second, and you stared dumbly at the other, waiting for him to continue, to explain what exactly he meant, clearly still not believing in such words, because how could you - it sounded too simple, too straightforward to be true, didn’t it?

It didn’t.

As your eyes adjusted to the darkness, you were starting to make out the contours of your surroundings, and your kidnapper’s wicked smile was one of them.

What kind of psychopath was he…? What did he want to do with you? Just why, out of so many young women or people in general living in the crowded city of Tokyo, you were the one who’d been chosen by this man, a complete stranger you’ve never seen or heard of, even after having been raised in the comfort of knowing Japan as the safest place to live on the earth?

“Who are you…?” you finally uttered, your voice weak, still disbelieving, still unable to proceed what was happening.

“Me?” The man seemed genuinely surprised with your question. “I assure you it’s meaningless right now. I’m no one you should be concerned about. For your information, I’m not your enemy. You’ve never done anything to me or anyone I know. So don’t try to make up any reasons, because there’s really none.”

Out of all the people in this forsaken city, you were the one who fell victim to this man. No reason, just… lack of luck, it seemed.

Yet, how could you just accept it? It was your own life that was on line here, and the perspective of losing it out of a mere accident was not what you’ve aimed for ever in your lifespan.

A quiet, frustrated sob escaped your throat.

“W-what do you want?” you asked again. “W-why would you… want to…” The words wouldn’t go through your throat, their weight - suffocating.

Not waiting for you to finish, the man shrugged, unbothered.

“Absolutely no reason. I just thought, why not? I can kill someone without getting caught, so why not do it? Oh, look, there’s that girl passing by. Wonder what she’s up to. Wonder how she’ll react if I take her, will she be scared? She sure will. Will she start yelling at me? Screaming for help? Beg for her life? Try to bargain me in some way? I was just so, so curious about her.”

His words wouldn’t make any sense in your head. Just what kind of person does that? Just what kind of person is he? Even criminals have their reasons. But this one? He seems to not have any greater purpose, other than his own twisted thoughts or desires. 

“F-fine!” you exclaimed in a shaky voice. “Just kill me, then!” you yelled, more of emotions than any sort of actual wish. 

“So quickly? Come on, we still have so much time. At least I do, I’m not hurrying anywhere. Seriously though, I haven’t even hurt you yet, and you’re already begging to be killed?”

“Just tell me what the fuck you want from me!” 

A short silence fell upon you two, the air filled with your emotions, so strong and vivid, your fear mixed with anger, impatience and annoyance. You were like a wild animal caught in snares, still dangerous to whoever would want to set you free. 

In the meantime though, the man seemed terrifyingly calm and composed. He crossed his legs elegantly, observing you with a small, polite smile on his face, completely unbothered with your rage, as if you were nothing but a random show on TV, unable to harm him in any way, and meant to be only watched until its end, and then probably forgotten.

“Let’s play a game” he suddenly spoke, smiling politely. You tried to, but couldn’t make out any more of his face features, and you came to a conclusion he just really didn’t want you to be able to see him well. Maybe you could recognize him if you did? Yet, he seemed unfamiliar. The aura he gave was nothing you’d recall, yet, along with lack of opportunity to see him whole, it added to the terror and uneasiness he caused in you, your primal instincts just screaming to run away from him - as if you could.

“What game?” you decided to ask, although your voice was quiet and weak at this point. 

“Well, I’m going to ask you three questions. If you answer all of them, I’ll release you. If not - I’ll kill you. Any questions?”

“You’re insane.”

“It’s not a question, it’s a statement.”

“A pretty fucking accurate one” you snapped. 

The man burst into laughter, pretty much confirming to you what you just said. But he didn’t seem bothered, instead continuing his previous monologue.

“Okay then, seems like you’re ready. Don’t worry, there’s no time limit, you can take as much as you need to reply.” He cleared his throat, switching his position a little to get more comfortable. You stared at him uneasily, focusing as much as you could on whatever he’d have to say. “First question! Who’s the prime minister of Japan?”

Was that it? It sounded simple. The name instantly appeared in your head, but then you thought - what if it’s wrong? Your life was on the line, you couldn’t afford yourself to be mistaken. Could you just trust your instinct? Maybe you should think more about it?

“Come on, this one’s easy, everyone knows it” the man said, laughing in a manner that could go as genuine if not the circumstances it was done in.

“Shinzo… Abe?” you answered, the end of the reply hitching in question though, as if you weren’t sure of your own words.

“You see? It was a simple one! I made it easier for you on purpose, so that you wouldn’t feel too scared. Hope it worked!” He smiled widely. “Second question. Who am I?”

Your breath got stuck in your throat for a few seconds, and there was a tense silence, the one you forced yourself to break a moment later.

“H-how am I supposed to know that?! You said it yourself, we’ve never met before! How can I answer your question?!”

You could have predicted that. The first question was too easy, to give you a false impression that he’d really go easy on you. But he wouldn’t, he never planned to, the questions he picked weren’t the ones you were supposed to know the answer to.

An unwitting sob escaped your throat, and tears streamed down your face once again.

“I-I don’t know…”

“Should I take it as, you give up?” the man asked, his face twisting in displeasure. 

“…No…” you added quietly. You couldn’t give up your life, you were sure of that. You fixated your eyes on the floor, biting on your lip. “…My kidnapper. That’s whom you are to me” you finally announced, dreading for his reaction, yet fully aware that there’s nothing else you can say now. It was the only thing you knew. And it was… 

“…Correct.” Said kidnapper chuckled, tilting his head. “You’re definitely correct here. I won’t break my own rules, will I? I didn’t specify what kind of information I demand from you. You’re correct.”

Your eyes blurred with tears and your breath got heavy. For a few moments, no sounds would reach you, but you couldn’t tell if the man was saying anything, you felt like your consciousness slipped away for these few brief moments, the rush of adrenaline, stress and anxiety making you pass out for seconds. 

When you came back to your senses, everything was right as you remembered it. The man sat in front of you, observing you calmly, patiently waiting for you to be able to proceed. And once he was sure you were listening to him again, he also spoke.

“Last question. We’re almost there, you see? Only one question, and we’ll know what happens to you. Ready?” You sluggishly nodded your head, to which the man grinned. “So, what’s the length of Congo River?”

 “What…?”

It took you a few moments of complete bewilderment, during which you only stared forward, absolutely dumbfounded. 

The length of some river you recognized as African sounded like common knowledge. Probably more people knew of Congo River’s existence than they knew the name of Japan’s Prime Minister. 

Yet, you didn’t know the answer. Your mind went wild, and you thought vividly of all the possible comparisons you could find. But you couldn’t even place the river anywhere on the map to even compare the lengths, and was it a long river? It had to be, since you’ve heard of it. What was the longest river in the world? How long was it? You surely had to be told it before, during geography classes. The longest river in the world… Around… eight thousands of kilometers? Did it make sense? It sounded like it did. Or maybe not… Five? Five, it had to be five.

Congo River had to be shorter, but how much? You had no clue. It wasn’t that known, the difference had to be meaningful. Half of the longest river? More? Less? Maybe less. Two thousands? He definitely didn’t expect you to know the exact number, but maybe you were remotely right?

And maybe no matter what you said, he wouldn’t let you go, anyway?

“T-two thousands kilometers” you finally voiced, staring at him intensely, waiting for him to either confirm your words or to bury your last hopes for freedom.

The man took out his phone, and the light for a short time highlighted his features, but then he turned down the brightness and you were left in almost the same darkness as before. 

After a few seconds, he spoke.

“The Congo-Lualaba-Chambeshi River system has an overall length of 4,700 km.”

The breath escaped you and your head fell forwards, sobs wrecking your body and your head aching, your heart beating so fast you felt like you would die from a heart attack before the man would finally end your sufferings. 

Without hurry, he stood up. You didn’t dare to return his gaze, but in the corner of your eye, you saw him pull out a small knife. Your heart only beated faster as he approached you, and then stood behind you, disappearing from the range of your sight. But maybe it was for the better, you thought. Maybe it was better you didn’t have to see him.

Would he make it fast? As painless as possible? If he sliced your throat, the agony would only last a few minutes, before your body would go completely numb from the bloodloss. Maybe it’d be worse if he cut through your windpipes, you wouldn’t be able to breathe, but wouldn’t it make it last even shorter? You hoped it would. You didn’t want to die in agony, but the shorter it lasted, the better. 

What was afterlife like?

“Here.”

You heard a sound behind yourself, and soon enough, you felt the blood rush back into your hands, the rope that kept you tied to the chair falling to the ground, leaving you confused and dumbfounded. 

You panted in a newfound sense of panic. Would he take you somewhere else? Make you suffer in another way? Take his time bringing you to your promised death?

“The door’s on your left” the man announced, his voice echoing in your ears for how close he was to you, standing right behind you, way too close for your comfort, if there was any of it left.

“W-what…?”

“Just go, I suppose you have other plans for today” he shrugged, pushing the blade back to his pocket and going in the door’s direction himself, as if completely uninterested in whatever you’d do.

“B-but why…”

His frame shook in a silent laughter as he stood by the door, barely visible, but apparently ready to leave the room, to - finally - leave you alone.

“The game’s rules said, I’ll release you if you answer all the three questions. You did it, hence why you’re free. I never specified I want the answers to be correct, though.”

The light of the outside world blinded you for a few seconds when the man opened the door, stepping into the outside world. The door never closed though, and you were positive by now, that it wouldn’t.

And it was never supposed to, because for all Izaya Orihara was, he definitely wasn’t a killer. A kidnapper - yes, but a relatively innocent one.

 ˙·٠•●♥ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ ♥●•٠·˙

[bringmetolife-pwff]

Part One: Chapter Five - The truth of the matter

Evelyn was back at her sister's apartment that she was staying at with her after having a nice night with her parents and dog, Bran.  She had received Jake's message and was quite nervous.  

She was meeting up with Jake today, to be honest a little afraid of what might come from this.  

"Hi Jake," she greeted him with a small smile as he hugged her.

Jake was older than her being thirty-two years old.  He had short curly brown hair, he was tall, had a long nose, defining cheekbones and a muscular build.  All in all, he was handsome.  

"Evelyn," he greeted back.  "I would say it's nice to see you again but given the circumstances..."

She would have laughed at that if she hadn't known what this meeting was about.  It was about Liam and Blair.

Evelyn and Jake took their seats and scanned over their menus.  He kept glancing at her, unsure of where to start with why he wanted her here today.  The waitress came to order their drinks and their food.

"Mind if I smoke?" He said wanting to check with her first.

"Go ahead," she nodded her head as she watched him take a cancer stick out and lit it, slowly puffing out the smoke as he fought with how he should go about this.

"So," Jake cleared his throat.  "I'm sure you're wondering why I called you here."

"That might have crossed my mind," said Eve.  "But I figured it had to do with Blair and Liam."

"The truth of the matter is that we both got the shitty end of the whole debacle," Jake concluded to his good friend as he shrugged his shoulders taking another sip of his beer.  "You know as well as I do that we have never shagged.  Not once," he hold up his pointer finger to make a point.  "Bloody hell if I'm going to just sit back and take it."

"What do you reckon you're going to do?" Evelyn asked with curiosity and slight annoyance.  She wasn't sure what she was more annoyed at.  The fact that she hadn't seen it sooner that her ex-best friend used her or the fact that she was blind enough not to see it.  "Go to the tabloids and have a tell-all interview?  That won't go down quite well, will it?"

Evelyn was never one to complain especially to the tabloids.  Damned if she would sell her soul that far to the devil.  You'd have to be an idiot bloke to do that!

"Why's that so bad, hm?" Jake questioned her.  "It's letting the media know what really happened."

"Jake, regardless of what happened, there's always going to be people who believe those bloody tabloids.  No matter what.  You can't make everyone happy.  It wasn't just you this happened to.  It was me too."

"I know," he let out a frustrated sigh as he rubbed his face frustrated with the dilemma they were put in but also understanding Evelyn's point of view.

The tabloids were told lies about not only their character but also were possibly destroying their reputations knowing fully that there would always be people who believed them.  They didn't care who they hurt as long as they got a story out there that was interesting and would make money.  She had learned from her dad at an early age never try to take it personally what they say about you.  Although sometimes she did.  Especially this.

"Well even though I don't know what will come of this, I do know one thing.  You deserve the best, Evelyn.  You really do."

"Thank you Jake," she said with a small smile.  "You deserve the best too."

Now that she thought about it, she remembered that she always did feel bad for Jake when he was dating Blair.  Even though she loved Blair she always felt like he got the short end of the stick in the relationship.  

They finished the rest of their lunch catching up on each other's lives and what the other was up to right now.  It had been months since they had seen each other and it was sad that it took this for them to reach out to each other.

***

As she lay in her bed she was eating a box of her favourite chocolates watching reruns of I love Lucy and Breakfast at Tiffany's.  At the moment it was Breakfast at Tiffany's.  Whenever she was sad or down she these were the movies she always turnt to.  

It was the scene where Holly meets Paul as she ate her chocolates with tears streaming down her face from her blue cerulean eyes.  

Evelyn heard the door open and knew that her sister, Vivienne, was home now.  

"Shit, Evelyn," Viv said to her sister.  "What the hell happened?"

Evelyn paused the telly as she finished a bite chocolate.

"I had lunch with Jake."

"Our brother Jake?" Vivienne said confused as her eyebrows furrowed.  "What could he have possibly said to make you upset?"

Although Jake and Evelyn weren't as close like she and Eric, they still deeply admired the other.  Wanting only the best for each other.  Vivienne on the other hand was closest to Jake and sometimes found it hard when Eve and Jake got in rows with each other.  

"No, not that Jake," Evelyn laughed as she shook her head.  "Jake Levingston.  Blair's ex."

"Oh," Vivienne scrunched up her nose in distaste.  She honestly didn't want her sister to have anything to do with any of them.  Not that she didn't mind Jake but he was linked to Blair.  Vivienne was different from her sister.  Once you messed up horribly, it was hard for her to forgive them.  This was the first time that Evelyn wasn't going to forgive Blair and Liam.  There were some things that just weren't forgivable.  "Again, what did he want?"

Vivienne had met Jake quite a few years ago.  They had been in similar social circles but had never met until her sister knew him.  She liked him when she first met him but felt as though he had been tainted by Blair and was no longer deemed as attractive in her eyes.

"We were discussing the rumours of us sleeping together and how he believes that Blair and Liam are behind them.  I know you don't like Jake, but trust me, you don't have to worry about him.  I know that you think because he was with Blair he's not as attractive anymore but he is not who we have to worry about.  He's a good friend."

***

On her desk the next day as she arrived to work she was confused and shocked to see a beautiful bouquet of flowers including carnations, scabiosas, snapdragons and ruscus sitting on her desk in a vase with a card.  Walking closer toward the vase she took the card out of its place and read it.

Thought you could use some cheering up.

- W

She tried to rack her brain who W could be.  W?  Who the bloody hell goes by W?  She had her friend Warren but he was married to her good friend Elise.  It dawned on her that these were from William.  Evelyn smiled as she shook her head wishing she could talk to him.  They arrived at the perfect time.

With all the shit that has gone down its amazing that Evelyn is still afloat.  It seemed as though it was bad news after bad news.  

Evelyn had another busy day at work but to her busy was good.  Being busy meant that business was booming.  That she was able to provide for her employees and that people were still making her dream come true.

It was now the end of the day and she headed back to the apartment.  It was cosy but she also knew she wanted her own space.  She loved her sister, but she knew she couldn't live here forever, although it was great in the meantime.

It was a rainy day in London as she walked along the cobblestone streets feeling some of the gaps between the stones between her pink heels.  Her mobile rang as she reached in her coat pocket for it having just finished with work.

"Hello?" said Evelyn as she was fishing for her keys as she walked to her car.

"Eve, hi!" Elise's chipper voice rang through the mobile allowing her to smile at the familiar, friendly tone.  "How're you?"

Elise had also been one of Evelyn's good friends since primary school.  She was the complete opposite of Evelyn.  She was taller than her.  Elise had fiery red hair and a personality to match.

"I've been okay.  And you?"

"I'm fine, thank you.  I was just curious.  What do you think about taking a short holiday?"

***

"Twice in one day, Lieutenant?" Evelyn said with a casual smirk as she answered her mobile to William as she was finally home.  "Aren't I lucky?"

"Lieutenant, huh?" William joked back.  "That's a first.  But no, I wanted to see how you were doing and to let you know I'll be in London in a few weeks."

"Really?" A big grin made its way to her face as she thought about seeing William again.  "Well, you'll have to let me know what day so that we can have that dinner..."

"Oh no," William laughed liking the fact she seemed to be in a better mood.  "I can't let you know yet."

"Why not?"

"Because it's a surprise."

"Well, I should let you know then I'm taking a short holiday."

"Really?  How long will you be gone?  Any idea where you are headed?"

"I'll be gone for a week with my good friend Elise.  We're headed to Shere, Surrey.  Ever been?" She asked him curious of all the places he's traveled to.

"I can't say that I have," he told her honestly.  "Isn't it a quiet little village?"

"It is," Evelyn nodded her head even though he couldn't see her.  "It'll be nice to get out of the city for a bit.  Thank you for the flowers, William.  They were beautiful."

"It was my pleasure," he said sincerely.  

Because he was away with the military at the moment he asked his father if he could order a bouquet of flowers and send it to her address for her.  He already knew what flowers he wanted he just needed his pa to send it and he was grateful to him that he did.  No questions were asked - no curiosity.  Charles did it knowing that it must mean something special if his son was sending flowers to a woman seeing as he didn't send flowers to just anyone.  

He knew he would tell him in due time.

[lockdaisy]

Unpopular Opinion: Shinobu's Ultimately in the Wrong and Law’s Justified in his Feelings of Anger against Her

Ok, since it seems like everyone and their mother in the fandom and in the narrative itself has set up a Shinobu defense squad and is 100% devoted to shutting down any criticisms of her, I know that this is going to be an extremely unpopular opinion, but still, I just wanna say it

Honestly, I don’t think any of Shinobu’s treatment of Law in the past few chapters (accusing his crewmates of betraying the alliance and threatening to kill them) was justified in any way whatsoever, and I believe that Law’s right in feeling angry at her

I mean...

1. It’s at least partially Shinobu’s fault that Penguin, Shachi, and Bepo were captured and are being tortured

Before they were captured, Bepo, Penguin, and Shachi were dutifully laying low and carrying out their part of the plan in the Flower Capital. However, most likely because of the heightened security at the Flower Capital, they ended up getting captured and tortured. Now, pray tell, what caused this heightened security in the first place? Why, it was caused at least in part by Shinobu, Nami, and Robin causing chaos in Orochi’s palace and messing around in the bathhouse for no discernible reason. Consequently, Shinobu’s at least in part responsible for Law’s crewmates being captured and tortured

Granted, Shinobu didn’t mean for that to happen. Nevertheless, regardless of whether she meant for it to happen or not, she should take at least some sort of responsibility for the suffering that her fuck-ups helped inflict on Law’s crew

And just... listen, Shinobu blaming Bepo, Shachi, and Penguin for being in a situation that the consequences of her own mistakes are at least partially responsible for putting them in is a really bad look, ok??

2. The emotional reasoning underlying her accusations and threats falls flat because of her actions

Apparently, according to literally every character who was present at the scene, Law’s anger at Shinobu is overblown and unreasonable because the reason why she did what she did is that she’s frustrated over seeing the plan 20 years in the making go awry and that all of them have to take any and all precautions whatsoever to prevent their plans from falling apart since “this isn’t a game.” 

On its own, this statement seems incredibly fair. However, just two chapters before she accused and threatened Law’s crew, Shinobu was just messing around in the bathhouse for no reason and ended up getting exposed because of it (which, as I mentioned before, helped cause the heightened security that led to the capture and torture of Law’s crew). As a result, because her cavalier actions contradict her assertion that “this isn’t a game,” Shinobu herself makes it seem like the situation not only isn’t all that dire, but that it certainly isn’t serious enough to threaten to kill Law’s crew, which is never a declaration that you should throw around lightly. Similarly, because her carefree and risky frolicking at the bathhouse contradicts her assertion that that they have to take any and all precautions possible to prevent the plan from getting ruined, Shinobu not only comes across as a massive hypocrite, but it also seems like she’s selectively picking and choosing which types of risks she’s willing to allow, and apparently while messing around in the bathhouse is an “acceptable” risk that isn’t worthy of censure, Law’s crew getting captured is worthy of death

3. Out of all the allies that were captured, Shinobu specifically and only accuses Law’s crew of betraying the alliance

Like... pretty much any of those captured allies--and many who weren’t--could’ve leaked the plans, and yet she automatically accuses specifically and only Law’s crew of betraying the alliance!! 

Granted, in comparison to the other allies, who are presumably people she knows very well, the Heart Pirates are practically strangers to her, which might explain why she’s much more willing to lay the blame on Law’s crew rather than on any of her other allies. However, she doesn’t even entertain the possibility that it could’ve been one of them and that Law’s crew is innocent. Like, it’s not a case of her going “oh, there must be a traitor, and because I’m almost completely sure that it wasn’t any of our Wano allies that leaked our plans, do you think it’s possible that the Heart Pirates betrayed the alliance?” Instead, it’s a case of her going, “It’s 100% certainly a fact that Law’s crew betrayed the alliance, and I’m going to kill them for it.” And listen, considering the weight of these accusations and the fact that she’s apparently planning to kill whoever snitched, it looks really bad that she’s just immediately rushing to blame Law’s crew of betrayal

Also, her immediate accusation of Law’s crew looks even worse when you consider the fact that she never even entertains the possibility that other non-Wano allies that she doesn’t know all that well--such as Luffy--could’ve been the ones to leak the plan instead!! Yeah, Shinobu saw how strong-willed Luffy was when he attacked Kaido, but she still doesn’t know him well enough to know that he wouldn’t squeal if he were tortured. And while we as an audience know that Luffy would never do such a thing, Shinobu doesn’t, making the reasoning underlying her insults against and apparent decision to kill Law’s crew seem even more arbitrary. I mean, she’s just singling out the Heart Pirates for pretty much no reason by now!! And considering that she’s seemingly arbitrarily singling them out for the purposes of accusing them of being traitors and threatening to kill them, it just looks really, really bad!!!

4. Shinobu never took back her words or apologized 

Listen, I understand that Shinobu said these things in the heat of the moment out of frustration and panic. I understand. But listen, accusations of betrayal and death threats against one’s crew are never things that should be said lightly. These are serious and grave things that can pretty much amount to a declaration of war. So if Shinobu took back what she said and apologized to Law after she got scolded by Kanjuro, while I would be thinking that she’s playing a real dangerous game saying such serious things, I could ultimately view her actions as not being damning

However, the fact of the matter is... she never took back what she said or apologized. As a result, Shinobu is essentially sending Law the message that she not only isn’t sorry for insulting and threatening to kill his crew without any real justification, but that she stands by it and that she really did mean every single word of it

Like can you imagine if Shinobu not only insulted but threatened to kill members of the Straw Hat crew who were captured and being tortured, but also refused to apologize after the fact?? Luffy would be furious. Like, Law’s in this exact same situation, and??? Honestly??? I don’t blame Law at all for getting upset

5. Speaking of that, think about how Luffy would’ve reacted in this same exact scenario and how we as a fandom would’ve reacted as well

If it were Nami, Zoro, and Sanji instead of Shachi, Penguin, and Bepo who were captured and being tortured, and Shinobu were accusing them of being snitches and threatening to kill them, Luffy would be unimaginably pissed at her. Not only that, but the narrative would be treating her as a bad guy as well, and we as a fandom would rake her over the coals. But apparently, if it’s Law’s crew that it’s happening to, then all of a sudden the narrative and the fandom and narrative as a whole decide to bend backwards in order to justify everything that she said??? What??????

6. She did the exact same thing she accused Law’s crew of doing and that she threatened to kill them for

Shinobu accuses Law’s crew of leaking valuable intel to the enemy and threatens to kill them for it, yet like 15 minutes after Law leaves she basically spills all the plan’s details to someone she outright admitted she doesn’t even know??? What???? Listen, this is another case of Shinobu seeming like a hypocrite--apparently if she or one of her friends does it, it’s forgivable, but if Law’s crew does it, then they’re worthy of death smh

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Overall, you gotta admit that, on every front, it makes Shinobu look bad and it makes the narrative’s depiction of them being in a “they’re both right, so you can’t blame either” situation look... really unfair to Law at best, let’s be honest here

Also, another reason why this annoys me so bad is that the narrative is??? doing everything to make Law look unreasonable in this situation???? Like

1) Nobody backed Law up during the argument at all. Shinobu literally threatened to kill his crew, but apparently nobody aside from Law was upset by this or felt the need to have Law’s back in this situation 

2) Contrastingly, several characters leapt to Shinobu’s defense by trying to rationalize her behavior by saying “don’t be angry at her, think about her ~feelings~ in this situation” 

3) The way several characters discuss Law after he leaves (“geez/sigh, he just stormed off”) basically makes it look like they’re portraying Law as an unreasonable drama queen throwing a hissy fit just because he’s angry that, y’know, Shinobu threatened to kill his crew 

4) The casual way that they’re talking about Bepo, Penguin, and Shachi’s situation, aka conversationally musing over how long they would last if they were in their shoes, really trivializes the direness of their circumstances and makes it look even more like they think Law’s getting angry over nothing

Just... I absolutely love the Straw Hats, and I absolutely love Law (Law, Sanji, Nami, Usopp, and Luffy are like in my top ten faves of the series). So I hate how uncharacteristically callous the narrative’s defense of Shinobu makes the Straw Hats seem to be right now in regards to Law’s feelings and the safety of their Heart Pirates allies, and I hate how this basically makes many of Law’s interactions with others in this arc cases where Law has genuinely been treated like garbage by his allies when before it was more of a lighthearted “oh, Law’s suffering because of the alliance” gag 

[jbuffyangel]

Selfless: Arrow 6x23 Review (Life Sentence)

Arrow delivers an emotional, but unsurprising finale. There isn’t much we didn’t see coming, but thankfully Stephen Amell and Paul Blackthorne, in particular, brought their A games and made me feel all the feels.

And oh yes, you can bet your sweet bippy we’ll be discussing the whole Oliver-didn’t-tell-Felicity-he’s-going-to-prison-for-life situation.

Let’s dig in…

Preface

Arrow Season 6 is similar to Season 4 in the sense there were certain tent points the writers were trying to hit. It resulted in pushing the story a certain direction rather than letting it develop organically. For example, the Olicity break up was easily avoided just like Oliver going to prison is easily avoided.

However, if Olicity breaking up was the only possible outcome then lying was the lesser of storyline evils. We have to suspend logic for prison to become the only possible outcome like we did in Season 4. Does it make great writing? No. It doesn’t, but that’s the way the cookie crumbles with Arrow sometimes.

The primary issue with Season 6 is the Big Bad. Arrow lives and dies with their Big Bad, since 75% of the story is built around stopping this person. Ricardo Diaz is easily Arrow’s worst Big Bad ever. Supposedly, it’s impossible for Oliver to stop Diaz on his own because he’s always two steps ahead and has the city on lock.

Umm… no. There’s almost nothing in the way Arrow has built or presented Diaz that makes him a viable threat to Oliver or the city. He’s a poor imitation of a gangster who screams a lot. The only reason Diaz is a few steps ahead is because the other characters reacted illogically or stupidly to him. Oliver should have been able to take this guy down long before 6x23. Hell, Diggle should have taken him down in 6x06.

We have to believe Diaz’s is an unstoppable Big Bad, which requires Oliver to ask the FBI for help and make this deal. 

Unfortunately, this is just not true. If this was Adrian Chase as Prometheus then we can absolutely understand why Oliver would go running to the FBI. 

Diaz? Not so much.

The intent of this preface is to acknowledge I see the Grand Canyon sized plot holes. 

Yes, prison is easily avoided. Yes, Ricardo Diaz is the worst and can easily be taken down without all this extra “help.” Or if “help” is required then get it from someone who doesn’t demand 25 to life.

Olicity

No beating around the bush. Let’s dive right in. Oliver has secured everyone immunity (Yeah!!!) and spends the better part of the episode casually dodging Felicity while he goes on a farewell tour with the other characters.  Felicity picks up on it because 1) she’s Felicity and 2) Oliver is ridiculously obvious about it.

Felicity wants to know what Oliver gave Watson to secure immunity for everyone. Rather than patiently wait for Oliver to fess up like she normally does, Felicity offers a guesses - Oliver agreed to give up the Green Arrow. This guess conveniently gives Oliver the opportunity to lie without really lying. He sidesteps the truth by answering, “Sort of.” 

Sure, giving up the Green Arrow is all part of life in prison, my forever gumdrop. Anything else you’d like to know? Of course, Oliver should have fessed up immediately. Lies of omission are still lies and we danced this dance all of Season 4 and Season 5 Oliver Jonas Queen! Learn fool!

Felicity’s reaction to Oliver giving up the hood is something we should make note of.

Source: @callistawolf​

We can insert this gif for every stupid decision Oliver has ever made.

What irritates me about this scene is an argument snowballs on false pretenses. Oliver doesn’t tell Felicity what they are really fighting about. He is giving up being Green Arrow because HE IS GOING TO PRISON. Oliver no longer believes in becoming his best self because HE IS GOING TO PRISON. Watson isn’t stopping Oliver from being who he is because it was OLIVER’S IDEA TO GO TO PRISON.

This is like picking a fight over laundry when you are really arguing about money. Stop talking about detergent when you’re really throwing down over the 401k. I’m also having trouble wrapping my head around prison being Oliver’s idea, 

but of course it was because 1) Oliver is the stupidest to ever stupid and 2) he is that selfless. 

We are led to believe Oliver is just about to tell Felicity the truth, but they are interrupted by Curtis because he insists on annoying me every single episode.

Watson officially arrests Oliver while he waits in the hospital for news on Quentin with the rest of the team. 

He explains to everyone (primarily Felicity) he’s sorry he hasn’t explained what’s going on, but there just wasn’t any time. Umm… how about those few minutes you’ve been sitting in a waiting room with your wife, Oliver? Seems to me there was plenty of time to fess up.

Me: Yup, that’s right. Look away in shame you big, dumb, guilty oak tree!

Also me: My poor-honorable-yet-misguided-selfless-cupcake-in-perfectly-accentuated-leather-pants.

Oliver didn’t confess because he didn’t want to confess. Telling Felicity makes it real. Telling Felicity means Oliver has to face everything he has given up. He’s kept it together as he hunted down Diaz and said his goodbyes to Diggle, Quentin, Rene and Dinah. But now it’s just Oliver and Felicity in a room. He has to tell his wife goodbye and Oliver can’t keep it together anymore.

Felicity is ready. She has a plan and promises Oliver she will break him out of prison with Diggle’s help. Oliver explains he’s being transferred to a supermax. A breakout is impossible.

Source: oliverfelicitygifs

Felicity argues Oliver kept his identity secret because he wanted a life beyond the Green Arrow. This confession, this agreement, sacrifices that dream. It sacrifices a life he was so close to living. Oliver understands that. 

He wanted to save the city more. He wanted to protect Felicity and William more. Without them there is no dream. There is no life. He would have nothing. Oliver would sacrifice anything to keep his wife and son safe, including his freedom.

Source: oliverfelicitygifs

Marc Guggenheim explained in an interview the reason why Oliver did not tell Felicity about the deal he made with Watson is because she would talk him out of it. I agree this is true. I cannot imagine any circumstances in which Felicity Smoak would agree to her husband spending life in prison. Can you? 

Look at her reaction when she thought Oliver was only giving up the hood. Felicity almost had Oliver convinced then and she didn’t even know what they were really arguing about.

Felicity would have convinced Oliver to forego this lunacy because he doesn’t want to make this sacrifice. Oliver wants to go home, make dinner for his family, play a video game with his son, put William to bed, and then make love to his wife. Oliver doesn’t want to go to prison. He’s holding on by a tether. One slight push in the other direction and his will would break. It’s not difficult for Felicity to change Oliver’s mind because he wants her to change his mind.

That doesn’t make what Oliver did okay. He absolutely should have discussed his plan with Felicity prior to making a deal with Watson. Felicity would have argued passionately against it and Oliver would have either listened to her (likely) or did it anyway (less likely, but he can be a stubborn mule, so possible). 

However, my husband doesn’t get a free pass to lie to me simply because he knows I am going to disagree. That’s not how marriage works. This is Felicity’s life too and Oliver made a monumental decision for her rather than with her. I simply understand why Oliver did it. Both things can be true at once.

I suppose my Buffy/Angel history is coloring my opinion. 

Angel became human once, but chose to become a vampire again by the end of the episode. I’m still mad at him over it and it’s been 20 years.

Angel sacrificed the one thing he always wanted, a happy and human life with Buffy, to save her life and the lives of other. 

Unfortunately, Angel didn’t discuss the decision with Buffy beforehand. He made a life altering choice for her rather than with her. Why? Because Angel knew Buffy would change his mind. Where Whedon succeeds is where Guggenheim fails. ANGEL TELLS BUFFY THAT.

“I couldn’t do it if I woke up with you one more morning.” (Angel, “I Will Remember You”)

See? It’s so simple. 

One line explaining a character’s thinking rather than relying on an interview post airing to explain it. It doesn’t mean Buffy shouldn’t have a say, but it made Angel’s choices a lot clearer. At the very least, Oliver needed to explain why he didn’t discuss prison with her. Oliver needed to say he feared Felicity would change his mind. We needed a line like, “I couldn’t do it if I woke up with you one more morning.” Hell, just plagiarizes it. 

Despite Stephen’s assertions this was the most emotional scene ever between Oliver and Felicity, I didn’t feel it. 

Maybe it was the way the scene was shot. Felicity kneeling, rather than sitting across the table and holding Oliver’s hand, felt awkward. Stephen Amell tends to like the scenes where he’s allowed to emote more. The airplane scene in 3x20 is a great example of this. I thought Emily and Stephen’s acting was wonderful, but something took me out of it.  My issue was probably with the dialogue – not with what was said, but what wasn’t.

My frustration with Marc and Wendy’s writing is there’s often things left unsaid. We are so close to the characters saying what needs to be said, but ultimately they fall short. I needed Oliver and Felicity to have their “I Will Remember You” fight, but the scene didn’t even come close. 

Maybe they will pick up this fight/discussion when Arrow premieres in Season 7, but I believe the time for Felicity to voice her anger over Oliver’s decision was in 6x23. Arrow is constantly putting Olicity discussions on hold because of storyline carryover/cliffhanger shenanigans and it gets frustrating. It seems odd for Felicity to say six months later, “Hey remember that time you made a life altering decision for me, went to prison for life, and left me alone to raise our son? That sucked.” But that’s Arrow for you.

I don’t view this lie in the same lens as the lie about William.

I know I know, but I have reasons. Samantha gave Oliver an ultimatum and I wouldn’t have much respect for the man if he walked out on his child. 

However, there was something selfish in Oliver’s lie to Felicity. He was able to spend time with his son and maintain his relationship with his fiancé without dealing with any consequences. The lie allowed Oliver to have his cake and eat it too.

There is no cake here.  There isn’t even a can of frosting. 

Source: olivergifs

Oliver is giving up everything and everyone he’s ever loved. The very definition of selfless is putting the needs and wishes of other’s above one’s own. The William lie exposed trust issues, Oliver’s guilt over Robert Queen’s death, his never ending need to self destruct, and a refusal to let Felicity all the way in. I don’t see any of that present now. This is good because it would unravel all the hard work Oliver did in Season 5, particularly 5x20.  

This isn’t about trust, or being afraid of the darkest parts of himself, or self destruction, or refusing to let Felicity all the way in, or unworthiness. This decision is 100% about falling on the sword and protecting those he loves. Okay, let’s agree it’s 90% about falling on the sword and protecting others. The other 10% is Oliver “Everything Is Always My Fault Even Though It Really Isn’t” Queen. Guilt is absolutely playing a role in Oliver’s decision.

Oliver: I had to look at the way I’ve been doing things. It’s not working. I lost my city. I lost my team. There’s a penance for that. 

What’s so sad is Oliver truly did nothing wrong. What happened with the city and the team was mostly out of his control. His team abandoned Oliver primarily because they all regressed to a toddler like state and threw a never ending tantrum. Oliver offered apologies long ago that were refused. The newbies, and Diggle, chose to leave and that choice was outside Oliver’s control. 

But Oliver always looks inward rather than place the blame on others. He’s much more comfortable holding himself accountable than he is holding others to the same standard. This is why Oliver is more than a hero. He’s a martyr.

I do not believe Oliver is hitting another self destruct button on his life like when he slept with Sara and brought her on the Queen’s Gambit or when he lied to Felicity about William. The darker parts of Oliver’s soul are not driving his decision - his light is. Oliver’s protectiveness, self sacrificing, and honor led him here. He’s not running from who he is. Oliver is being the very best version of himself. This is what a hero looks like.

Source:  arrowdaily

But that doesn’t make it any easier on Felicity. 

Source: oliverfelicitygifs

I went back and reread some of my 5x20 review and landed on this:

If Felicity gave it time, if she let things continue the way they were, then she’d fall right back into his arms. It’s so easy to love him. It’s so easy to lose herself in him. Felicity couldn’t do that because she didn’t want to wake up twenty years later, with her marriage crumbling around her, because Oliver Queen abandoned her again to another lie or another choice that didn’t include her. Felicity doesn’t want to become a ghost in her own life.

But isn’t that exactly what happened? Didn’t Oliver abandon Felicity to another lie, another choice, that didn’t include her? Didn’t he leave Felicity on an island all over again? 

Yes, that’s exactly what happened. I expect Felicity will express some anger towards Oliver when Season 7 premieres. She sure as hell is entitled to it.

However, it won’t be a deal breaker like it was in Season 4. Felicity isn’t walking away this time because she knows exactly what she walked into with this marriage. We already know Felicity’s stance because she told us or, that is, she told William in 6x11.

This is probably the most important monologue of Season 6. Even though Felicity is talking about Oliver the scene isn’t really about him. This scene is about how Felicity views loving Oliver, marriage, and making peace with the life they’ve chosen. 

Felicity knows, without equivocation, what it means to be married to a hero. The fear of losing Oliver is what kept Felicity from marrying him. 

She thought if they could just keep the status quo and not rock the boat then she would never have to face losing him again. And Felicity has discovered there’s many ways to lose Oliver Queen. 

However, she remembered life is precious. 

Felicity would rather live knowing everything can be taken from her in an instant, while holding on to Oliver, rather than live life without him.  

But Felicity recognizes Oliver’s imperfections. 

He’s made many mistakes that have torn their relationship apart. Oliver swore he would never lie to Felicity again and yet… here we are.

Felicity predicted this day in her break up with Oliver and Felicity Smoak is never wrong. Back then it was a knowledge Felicity couldn’t live with. It’s the reason she walked. She couldn’t be married to a man who at any point would leave her on an island. She couldn’t be married to a man who would exclude her from decisions. She couldn’t be married to a man who would lie to her.

Or can she?

The truth is we all have pieces of ourselves that are hardwired a certain way. We all have imperfections that creep up no matter how hard we work on them. Those imperfections rear their ugly heads in our relationships and, for better or worse, we argue again and again over them with our partners.  There is no perfect human being. Love is about dealing with the bad in our partner as much as it is about loving our partner for all the good.

For all of Oliver’s faults, and there are many, what remains hardwired is his protectiveness. Oliver Queen loves deeply and there are no limits to the lengths he will go to protect those he loves. Oliver will make sure that he is the one to fall on the sword because there have been too many times he’s watched loved ones fall before him.

I joked in my 6x22 review it was almost as if Oliver and Felicity were competing over who gets to die for who. This is a competition Oliver will always win. He will lie, cheat, beg, borrow, steal and, yes, even kill to ensure Felicity’s safety. There is no line Oliver won’t cross. 

Felicity danced with her darkness in Season 5, but she still didn’t come close to Oliver and that’s the way he’s determined to keep it. He will sacrifice his light to save hers. The only thing more unbearable than going to prison is Felicity going to prison. Oliver doesn’t fear his own death, but the deaths of those he loves. This is what will always drive him. There is no changing this. This is simply who Oliver Queen is.

What happened just before Oliver went to Agent Watson? Felicity almost suffocated from smoke inhalation. Oliver was carrying her lifeless body in his arms. She was prepared to die to stop Diaz and almost did. So, there are no limits to what Oliver had to do to make sure that didn’t happen again. And yes that includes lying.

Does it make lying okay? NO OF COURSE NOT.

I’m saying this is an imperfection in Oliver. He has a God complex. All heroes do. 

Felicity told Oliver post coital in 5x20 if she could understand why he lied then maybe she could find her way back to him. Felicity understands why Oliver lied then and she understands why Oliver lied now. 

He is imperfect, but it comes from a pure place. His choices are not always good, but his intentions are. Oliver Queen is an imperfect heart trying to love perfectly.

Source: oliverfelicitygifs

Felicity knew there would come a day where Oliver would sacrifice it all for the greater good because that’s what this life requires. That’s what it means to be married to a hero. Oliver Queen is selfless. 

Source: oliverfelicitygifs

That selflessness means sacrifice for Felicity too. It means there will be times she is alone on an island. Felicity said I do anyway because an imperfect life with Oliver Queen is better than a life without him. Oliver’s selflessness is what Felicity loves most about her husband… and what she hates most.

Derek: I promised that I’d love you –

Meredith: Even when you hate me.

Derek: Even when I hate you. (Grey’s Anatomy, 8x03)

Felicity allows her husband to be who he is. She loves Oliver for who he is and in spite of who he is. She shares this man with the city he’s sworn to protect. Felicity understands Oliver will never entirely belong to her or the life they’ve built together as long as he’s Green Arrow. The mission will always come first.

But Felicity chose this life and Oliver Queen.  She will go into witness protection, with her son, and face this island. She won’t be entirely alone. Felicity will have William and he will have her, but that’s a cold comfort to what lays before her – a life without Oliver.  

Source: oliverfelicitygifs

This will be a long, dark, lonely and painful journey for Felicity. A journey she wasn’t given a say in. As angry as Felicity will be at Oliver, and she should let him have it, she will also understand why because she would do the same. Felicity would do anything to protect her family and city. Her sacrifices are equally selfless as Oliver’s. It’s why they are a perfect match. They are both heroes.

Source: gothsmoak and  olivergifs

Quentin Lance, Black Siren and Oliver Queen

Quentin finally dies for his fake daughter due to his overwhelming guilt over his real daughter’s death. A few therapy visits would have helped immensely and would have been far less costly Q, but go off I guess. 

Arrow failed to write any meaningful storylines post L*urel’s death for Quentin. I had hope when he dated Mama Smoak, but that went nowhere. He was reduced to a prop for Bl*ck S*ren this season and I’d rather see him gone than used like that.

Arrow keeps flip flopping back and forth between Bl*ck S*ren being Quentin’s daughter to Bl*ck S*ren not being Quentin’s daughter so much I have to take migraine pills. 

Sadly, the flip flop is all they have with the character. This push/pull with the redemption arc is all Bl*ck S*ren has going for her. If they settle on evil then it renders Quentin’s sacrifice pointless. If they settle on good then the writers are back in their LL writing box and I firmly believe they’d rather eat their young than go back there. 

So we flip flop. Sometimes Bl*ck S*ren is acknowledged as Quentin’s daughter. Sometimes the other characters go out of their way to point out Bl*ck S*ren is NOT his daughter. Sigh. I just don’t care anymore.

Let’s be clear that BS is an absolute waste of character space regardless. 

Source: katie-mcgraths

The entire reason Felicity and William are going into witness protection is because she decided to use her Canary Cry against Diaz for the first time all season and at exactly the wrong moment. 

Did BS really believe the fall off the roof would kill Diaz? It looked like she pushed him off a waterslide. I guess we can add stupid to the long list of unpleasant characteristics. 

The only upside of that scene was seeing Oliver’s crazy angry eyes. I’m gonna abuse this gif.

Source: katie-mcgraths

He wanted to throw her off the building right along with Diaz. Have at it, big boy. God bless.

Before Quentin runs off to save Evil L*urel, he and Oliver reminisces about how long they’ve known each other and how far their relationship has come. Yup, we get it Arrow. Quentin is going to die. No need to hang a neon sign.

Quentin not so casually mentions his pacemaker to Oliver (Ha! Remember that 2x23-3x01 plot line that was never spoken of again until now?!), so Felicity is able to track Quentin’s and thereby zero in on Diaz. It’s one of the few times Quentin’s crazy actually made sense and proved useful. Way to out on a high note Captain.

Unfortunately, he’s a moron because he jumps in front of the bullet meant for Evil L*urel. He just stayed put and BS moved a little to the right we would have a mortal wound. A girl can dream.

Quentin’s willingness to put it all on the line for his fake daughter leads to a very nice goodbye scene with Oliver. 

Source: @olivergifs​

Both Stephen Amell and Paul Blackthorne brought their A game. Oliver tells Quentin he’s like a father to him and it made me feel all the things. Yup, I was a sobbing mess.

See? Oliver didn’t need to marry LL for this father/son relationship to develop between these two men. 

That road began in 1x23 when Felicity defended The Hood to Quentin and he began to see the vigilante in a different light. Oliver and Quentin managed to carve out a relationship that had absolutely nothing to do with L*urel and it’s one of the series best arcs.  

All Oliver Queen ever wanted was to earn Quentin’s forgiveness and respect. It was a long, difficult and painful road, but they eventually arrived at a place Oliver never dreamed possible. 

Not only did Quentin forgive and respect Oliver, he loved him like a son. 

It’s easy to forget Oliver Queen is an orphan. Quentin was Oliver’s foster father in more ways than one. Everything Oliver said to Quentin was true. One of the primary reasons Oliver is a good father to William is because he had Quentin Lance as an example. One of the reasons Oliver is the man he is today is because Quentin Lance was in his life.

So this is goodbye Quentin. 

I believe it was time to let the character go, but I will miss his snarky yet on point remarks about the ridiculousness of Arrow and his sage wisdom. 

I’m sorry Arrow didn’t give Paul Blackthorne more to do because he is an acting rock star who had the power to make me cry whenever he felt like it. We’ll miss you Paul, but I am excited to see what he does next.

Source:  sirenfrost

One thing I am super ticked off about is Sara didn’t get a goodbye scene with her father, ya know, his ACTUAL DAUGHTER.  The real one who is alive and standing in the hallway!!!!!

What was the point of having Caity Lotz on the show if she didn’t get a scene with Paul Blackthorne? I’m a big Sara/LL fan, but that little chat with BS in the hallway could happen anytime. Rene rated a goodbye scene with Lance, but nope, not his daughter. Honestly, this show makes absolutely no sense sometimes.

John Diggle

Oliver makes up a second Green Arrow suit (I want to know who makes those. I feel like this is an important character we are not meeting) and offers it to Diggle during his farewell tour. Diggle turns it down because their “disagreement was never about the uniform.” 

This is true. It was about Diggle’s mid life crisis.

Diggle: I really thought I wanted this mantle. It means something. You’ve made it mean something. When our city looks at it – it gives them hope Oliver. It would be diminished if there was more than one.

So now Diggle doesn’t want to be Green Arrow? Or he wants to be Green Arrow if he’s the only one? My head hurts. Can we just move on from this ridiculous storyline? 

Put on the Spartan suit Diggle and come home. As far as the Green Arrow giving hope to the city – we are talking about the same city prosecuting Oliver right? The sentiment is nice, but Diggle doesn’t exactly have his finger on the pulse on the will of the people.

Oliver became almost everything Diggle ever asked him to be. He was a husband, father, mayor and vigilante all at once. Oliver becoming the best version of himself caused Diggle to spiral. If John is not counseling Oliver on how to beat back his demons then where does that leave him? John Diggle’s mission was Oliver Queen, but the student became the teacher this season and John couldn’t handle it. Diggle lost his way when Oliver found his. He no longer knew what his purpose was. Diggle couldn’t see that even though Oliver may need him differently it doesn’t mean he needs John any less.

Hopefully, Oliver selflessly going to prison for everyone on the team and securing them immunity, will remind Diggle who Oliver Queen is. He is a man worthy of John’s respect, admiration, friendship and love. Prison will present a huge emotional challenge to Oliver and he’ll need Diggle’s guidance more than ever.

However, when Oliver emerges from the darkness of prison and finds his way back to the light of heroism, I hope John emerges from dark as well. Hopefully, John is able to move past his mid life crisis and find a purpose beyond Oliver Queen. Maybe Diggle will realize being Spartan is plenty of purpose. Maybe he’ll discover something new like Felicity did with her company. I want Diggle to find whatever he’s searching for because Oliver Queen casts a long shadow. Oliver’s light should illuminate the man Diggle helped mold rather than blind him. Diggle will see Oliver clearly again when he sees himself clearly again.

The Newbies

Does anyone understand why Oliver is apologizing so much? What in the sweet mother of freaking Moses did he do that requires this much apologizing? 

Source:olivergifs

Dinah and Rene finally cough up a sort of apology and admit to admiring Oliver, but only after he apologies to them for what feels like the tenth time. Why did it take so long to get here? The simple answer is a 23 episode season and there couldn’t be “peace” until the final episode. But there is very little difference between Oliver’s apology in 6x10 to his apology now.

The newbies acted like entitled, whiny and violent brats for the better part of the season. Suddenly flipping the off switch to their petulant behavior and offering Oliver a couple measly compliments doesn’t get it done for me. 

There wasn’t even a conversation with Curtis, which can be viewed one of two ways. 1) He’s not a blip on Oliver Queen’s radar screen and the character doesn’t rate a conversation or 2) The writers are blind to Curtis’ abhorrent behavior and think he has nothing to apologize for which is INSANITY.

These people do not deserve Oliver Queen’s selflessness, but he didn’t do it because they deserved it. Oliver did it because the newbies needed protection. It says far more about Oliver’s character than it does theirs.  

My sincerest hope is they feel an extreme amount of guilt and realize what jackasses they are. Their finger pointing, fits, and fighting all contributed to Oliver ending up in jail. Rene’s betrayal is the primary reason the FBI zeroed in on Oliver in the first place. The newbies have a massive uphill climb to redemption and I remain skeptical the damage done to the characters can be repaired. Time will tell.

Stray Thoughts

Oliver giving up his happy life with Felicity and William, a life without the mask, just sets up his endgame even more (or what I think will be his endgame).

I’m hoping there’s more to this “deal” Oliver made with Watson. Maybe some undercover work like my buddy @callistawolf suggested.

Anatoly’s excuse for missing the raid is Big Belly Burger. That is all kinds of awesome. Never change Anatoly.

Longbow hunters mention! Hello Season 7 villains!

Quentin should list L*urel as “Evil L*urel” in his phone to help him tell the difference BECAUSE THERE IS A FREAKING DIFFERENCE.

“Or L*urel dies a second time.” YOU CAN ONLY DIE ONCE YOU TWATWAFFLES. THIS WOULD BE THE FIRST DEATH FOR THIS L*UREL BECAUSE SHE IS A DIFFERENT L*UREL.

“I gotta say they are a lot easier to operate when they aren’t being hacked.” I love this perfect cup of fruit salad.

Rene did make me cry with that goodbye call to his kid.

How stupid are you FBI agent? You don’t stand there and look at the fire as it comes blazing toward you. WE CALLED THESE GUYS FOR HELP? WHY????

“From what Oliver tells me she’s not even your daughter.” Don’t you love how on Oliver’s “I was wrong about everything” tour he sticks to “BS is not L*urel and she is evil.”  Awesomesauce.

“Would you be taking this risk with our L*urel or was this the kind of risk that got her killed in the first place?” Quentin needs to rewatch Season 4 because it was time for LL to go.

Oliver stops Diaz with a few measly punches and IT SHOULD HAVE HAPPENED WEEKS AGO.

The FBI didn’t help very much. Oliver and Felicity figured out a way to get the list of all Diaz’s city officials. Watson brought some man power to the raid on the precinct, which Oliver could have gotten from the many superhero shows he’s launched. Furthermore, I thought the whole point to expanding the team was so that Oliver had help. So, why are these dingbat newbies around if they can’t take down a couple cops?

Sara & BS scene only bolstered my belief that BS belongs on Legends of Tomorrow. 

Disclaimer: Any gifs on the blog are not mine. If you would like a gif removed from my reviews, please message me. 6x23 gifs credited.

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Ascendance of a Bookworm – 081

Blue Robes and Differences in Common Knowledge

"Lu~utz!"

The instant I see Lutz's face, the sheer sense of relief over having returned to a world where my own common sense prevails makes me feel like all the strength is leaving my body. I race down the stairs towards him, grab his arm tightly, and burrow my head into him.

"I'm so exhausted, Lutz!" "Yeah, you look kinda pale. Rough day, huh?"

He gives me a sympathetic look as he pats me on the head. What I did today was basically just read a book, but it seems like being with me is my attendants' entire job, so the basically the entire time someone was standing near me, constantly watching me.

Of course, when I'm absorbed in a book, it's typical for me to be completely and utterly unconcerned by my surroundings, but every time I came to my senses I could feel someone's gaze fixed on me, which made me really uncomfortable. You could call those stares painful, or heavy, but either way being constantly watched is a huge burden. It's left me exhausted.

Man, nobles are amazing. How long does it even take to get used to that?

I'm just happy because I get to go home in order to sleep. If I had to deal with all that from "good morning" to "good night", I would go insane.

"Hey, Lutz. I want to meet with Mister Benno today, is he at the shop?" "He actually just got back right when I was leaving, so he should probably be in right now, I think? Why, did something happen?"

He looks worried, so I shake my head.

"No, I just need to go to the merchant's guild to withdraw money for my donation and bring it to the head priest. I figured I should tell him about it in advance..." "Hmm! Alright, let's go."

When he says that, for some reason, the trio of attendants behind me starts heading with us at well. I don't even want them following me around in the temple, so I really don't want them following me around outside, too! I really don't want to be stared at.

"...You don't need to come with me, you know?" "I'm afraid I cannot leave you," replies Fran. "I am your attendant, after all." "That's right!" adds Delia. "It's impossible for you to meet with anyone without your attendants around."

Since it's not just Fran telling me it's impossible, but even Delia too, I guess it must be common knowledge that a blue-robed priest never meets with anyone without their attendants. I'll have to add this to the list I'm keeping in my head.

"Hmm?" says Gil. "Well, if I don't have to go, then yeah, I'm out of here. I'm starving."

As I thought, Gil, who's disinterested in even an attendant's common sense, shoots me a resentful glare as he turns his back on us and starts heading back inside. The other two, however, aren't following suit. If I had to compromise and bring someone along, Fran's the only one I'd be able to have follow me around. Even still, I'd be able to relax a lot more if I didn't have any of my attendants following me around. Plus, I'm just going to the Gilberta Company, where I go all the time, and since I have Lutz with me I don't have any particular use for an attendant.

...Can I just drive them off?

"Oh, Delia," I say. "Could you go tell Father Ferdinand that I'm going to come back with my donation once I'm done talking with Mister Benno? I really need him to know about this. I'm relying on you!" "Hmm? You really need it? Alright then. I'll make absolutely sure to go tell him right away."

The wide smile she gives me is unbelievably easy to read. I wonder, is she just going to do literally nothing, or is she just going to go straight to the temple master instead? She turns around, looking the happiest I've seen her all day, and goes back into the temple.

I breathe a sigh of relief over having managed to drive her off. Fran, however, grimaces in displeasure, looking back and forth between me and the departing Delia.

"Miss Maïne, if you would like a message delivered to Father Ferdinand, I would be happy to do so. Please allow me to accompany Delia." "Fran, I've already sent Delia. If you're telling me that I have to have an attendant with me, then would it really be okay for you to go with her?"

Fran shakes his head, his displeasure still clear on his face.

"But, I can't say if she'll even go see Father Ferdinand..." "...I have Lutz here with me, so I'll be fine if you go tell Father Ferdinand, you know? I really do need someone to go tell him about this."

As I say this, I grab Lutz's hand and start walking. Fran stands in the temple's entranceway for a while, turning indecisively back and forth, but he ultimately seems to decide that he'd prefer to report to the head priest, and heads back into the temple.

"Maïne, are you sure that's alright? Isn't he supposed to be learning how to keep an eye on your condition?"

Lutz looks over his shoulder, tilting his head as he looks back at the empty temple entrance. Come to think of it, I was told to let my attendants monitor my health, wasn't I? As I think that, I let out an enormous sigh.

"...Hmmm. He is one of the attendants picked for me by the temple, but I still think it'll be difficult. First off, he really doesn't have any enthusiasm for it." "Huh?" he replies, disbelievingly. "I think that, probably, he really wanted to serve the head priest, but he got told that he was being assigned to me instead. He always looked like he was doing things kind of begrudgingly, no matter what we were doing. If I could maybe make him consider me his master more than the head priest, that might change, but I'm pretty sure that's hopeless, right?" "You, a master... don't you need, like, dignity and presence for that?"

He laughs teasingly at me, and I can't help but start laughing too. I feel so much better now that I'm back in such a comfortable environment.

"Good afternoon, Mister Mark," I say. "Is Mister Benno in?"

As Lutz opens the door to the shop, I see Mark inside and, as I always do, wave as I call out to him. The instant he sees me, though, his face turns pale.

"...Maïne, quickly, please come in." "Huh?"

Mark, in an atypical hurry, rushes to show the two of us inside. Under ordinary circumstances, when we drop by without having made arrangements beforehand we're usually asked to wait inside the store for a while, then are brought into the back room when Benno is able to see us. Today, however, Mark immediately opens the door to the back room and pushes us through, his face still drained of blood as he calls out to Benno.

"Master Benno, Maïne has come to see you. I'm showing her in." "What's this now, Mark?" replies Benno. "Why're you being so hasty when it's just Maïne... dropping..."

Mark shuts the door behind us as Benno looks up from his desk. When he sees me, he just stares at me for a moment, then immediately flies into a rage, his eyes wide.

"Maïne! You! Idiot!"

I squeak in fright, covering my ears as I recoil. Lutz flinches too, his breath audibly hitching as he steps back.

"Uh? Huh? You too? What now?!" "You thoughtless little kid! You came here looking like that?! Don't tell me you walked here all the way from the temple wearing that?!" I look down at myself, then tilt my head curiously. "...Yes, I did, is there a problem with that?"

Lutz tilts his head too. Benno looks at the two of us, sees that we aren't able to understand why there could be a problem here at all, and scratches his head vigorously in frustration. Mark closes his eyes, rubbing at his temples.

"Maïne," says Benno. "You're wearing the clothing that a blue-robed priestess wears, aren't you?" "Yes," I reply. "Ordinarily, blue-robed priestesses are nobility." "That's right," I reply. "When the nobility have to travel, they ride in carriages. They're not able to just wander around the city on foot. Can you tell me why that is?"

I tilt my head further as I consider his question. I think back to the few times I've ridden in a carriage. It shook a lot as it was moving and felt pretty terrible to ride. However, riding in one is something that us commoners never really get to do often. All we can do is stare yearningly as they ride past. So, it's a great way to instantly show off how high your status is.

Back in my Urano days, I had a car, of course, to use for transportation, but I didn't use it all the time. It made sense for when I went shopping and knew that I was going to be buying more than I could carry, or when I was going on long trips. I also drove when the weather was bad enough to make walking difficult.

"Ummm... because walking is too hard and not ostentatious enough?" "Wrong! If they're staggering around on the streets, then they will be abducted and held for ransom! So if you don't want to be abducted, then don't wear that robe outside of the temple!" "Y-y-y-yes s-sir!!"

I immediately start taking off my robe on the spot. Since I already have my apprentice wear on underneath, it's as simple as undoing the sash and pulling the robe over my head.

I've always been the child of poor people. I hadn't even considered the idea that anyone would want to kidnap me and hold me ransom.

I see now. I've been thinking of this blue robe like it was just another kind of uniform, but to other people I'm basically wearing a sign that with "HELLO, I AM NOBILITY, I HAVE MONEY" written on it in big, bold letters.

After I finish neatly folding my robe, Benno sighs exhaustedly, looking down at the bundle of cloth in my arms with a complicated expresion.

"Well then... why are you here, Maïne? Surely you didn't show up here just to try to scare us to death, right?" "Right. I have a favor to ask. Would you mind accompanying me to the merchant's guild, and then after that to the temple?" "What for?" he asks, his head tilted in incomprehension. "I'd like for your help in withdrawing five small gold coins for my donation and bringing it to the temple. I've already asked the head priest, and he said it was okay." "Why me?" "All of my large transactions so far have been done through my guild card, but the head priest doesn't have one of those. I'm kind of scared of walking around with that much money on me. When I told that to the head priest, he told me to have my attendants take care of it, which actually surprised me a little." Benno frowns, his eyebrows knitting together. "What's surprising about that? That's an attendant's job, isn't it?" "...I genuinely, completely, thoroughly distrust my attendants. The thought of trusting them with a large amount of money is utterly terrifying."

Benno pauses for a moment, eyes wide, then blinks a few times.

"So, the girl who never thinks anything through, who constantly just shrugs her way through problems, who is so resistant to learning from her mistakes that she still goes to the guild master's house after being so massively deceived, has finally found someone she distrusts? Please, tell me, just who are these individuals?"

I'm still going to the guild master's house because it's beneficial for me, though. I get to trade recipes for sugar, and even though the guild master had deceived me about the magical tools there's no question that he saved my life. Of course, I don't have enough trust in them to let them carry my money for me, but if I'm dealing with them as partners in a mutual transaction, then I'll shrug my way through that particular problem.

There's no way that I could ever trust someone who flat-out say so my face that they're going to intentionally cause trouble for me.

"Out of the three attendants I was assigned, one of them is a spy for the temple master, one is a spy for the head priest, and one of them is a problem child who seems like he was assigned to me purely as harassment. I don't even want them loitering around near me at the temple, much less carrying any amount of money for me." "That's... I'd thought this might happen, but you really made some enemies over there, didn't you."

I groan a little at how accurately he hit the nail on the head.

"Back when I thought that I only had half a year left to live, I was thinking that it didn't matter how well-liked I was as long as I got to read books, but if this is going to go on for a while then this is really going to be a problem." "Circumstances really are different now. So, for the spies, all you can do right now is try to improve your surface-level relationships with them. You don't need to trust them, but figure out what exactly you can trust them with. ...And for that problem child, you're basically going to treat him like you'd treat a wild animal.

The image of Gil as a wild baby monkey atop a tree, clapping his hands and shrieking down at me, floats through my mind.

"People aren't animals, though?" "They're basically the same thing. If they don't do what you say, give them a lashing. If they do, give them a treat. If you want him to know who his master is, you'll need to beat it into him."

That sounds less like building a healthy relationship of mutual trust and more like just forcing him into subservience.

"...That sounds like it would take a lot of time that I would rather spend reading, though." "Don't be lazy! Being in noble society and not knowing how to use your attendants is a serious issue!" "Ngh... Okay, I'll think about the future."

Benno lets out a long sigh, then lightly shakes his head as if to reset his thoughts.

"We've gotten off topic. So, when are you going to be delivering this donation?" "That's what I'm here to discuss with you, though? I told my attendants that we'd be back with the money as soon as it was convenient for you—"

The color instantly leaves Benno's face.

"—Which means you basically said 'immediately'! Mark, get things ready! We're going to the temple!" "At once, sir!"

Mark leaps out of the room, ghastly pale.

"Uh, um, so, then we're going to the merchant's guild?" "No time to waste on that. We don't actually need to go. Card?"

After we tap our cards together, Benno tells me to put my robes back on since we're going to the temple, then disappears through the inner door, bounding up the stairs.

I unfold the robes that I had taken off just moments ago, then slip them back over my head. I tie the sash around my waist, then let my head hang dejectedly. I didn't think it would turn out like this. I just told my attendants that to get them to leave me alone, and it looks like that's just made a whole lot of trouble for everyone.

"...What did I do now, Lutz?"

The subtle implications of phrases and the way that promises are made can change depending on what organization you're part of. It's such a simple, obvious thing. I knew it, but I didn't understand it.

Lutz pats me comfortingly on the head. "We don't know anything about how the nobility work, do we?" "...Yeah." "Sure, you messed things up this time, but use this opportunity to fix your weak points." I tilt my head. "My weak points?"

Lutz nods emphatically, looking at me with a little bit of strictness in his eyes.

"Look, I know you love books more than anything else, and I know you've been wanting to read them for so, so long, but, before you can do that, you need to learn the way of life over there, which means you need to be asking everyone around you even the tiniest little questions you have." "Their way of life?" "...Like, right now, there's so much stuff I don't know about the world of merchants. It's all sorts of stuff that everyone around me thinks is obvious, but I've never heard of it before. So, I've been asking about everything I don't understand, no matter how small it is. When I do that, then it doesn't matter if it's just the other apprentices or even Mister Mark, they'll all teach me what I need to know. If you don't put in the effort to ask, then you'll never learn anything."

His words strike home. He's a son of craftsmen, throwing himself into the world of merchants. I know full well just how hard he's been having to work to get familiar with how things work in a shop. Despite knowing that, even after finding myself in basically the exact same situation of having thrown myself into the unknown world of the temple, I've been putting no effort into learning anything about the common knowledge of the temple, even beyond just wanting to spend my time reading books instead.

"I'm planning on working as hard as I possibly can so that I can live as a merchant. If you want to go to temple and read books, then first off, you need to learn how they do things at the temple. It's gonna be okay, though. I know you can do it. You're really smart!" "I'm not, though! I'm always so thoughtless. You're way smarter than I am."

There's no way that I'm actually smart. Just like Benno always says: I'm thoughtless. I've got a bunch of prior knowledge, sure, but I wouldn't say any of that makes me smart.

"Yeah, sure, but even if you're thoughtless, you're still the kind of person who can always blast your way forward towards your goal, right? So, if your goal is to be able to read books without anything bothering you, then you'll be able to do whatever you need to make that happen, right? You just need to work hard to make sure you can read your books in peace." "Ngh... you know me too well."

As soon as I start thinking a little more about the future, I hear the clatter of footsteps coming down the stairway. The door creaks open and Mark steps through. He's wearing a long-sleeved garment that seems like it's been made from a material light enough to still keep him cool.

"I am sorry to keep you waiting," he says.

Unlike his usual work clothes, the sleeves on his white coat are long and fluttering, with enough extra cloth hanging from them that it almost reminds me of a long-sleeved kimono1. The hems of the coat are embroidered, primarily with blue thread, and hang low, reaching down to his knees. Beneath that, he wears a comparatively crisp set of slender trousers. The overall outfit gives me the impression of a much more extravagant version of the nice clothes kids wear to their baptismal ceremonies. The quality of the material is much nicer too, so it's clear to me that this is clothing worn when dealing with the nobility.

"Thanks for waiting," says Benno, coming down the stairs shortly afterward.

The sleeves on Benno's large, white coat are even longer than Mark's, and the hem of his coat falls all the way down at his ankles. The quality of the embroidery on his coat is leagues above that of Mark's. On top of his coat, he wears a thin cloak, clasped shut at his shoulder by a golden brooch, set with a blue gemstone. In his hand, he carries something that looks like a flower. He's also put some sort of pomade in his usually quirky, milk tea-colored hair, fixing it in place. He looks like an entirely different person.

The sudden reminder that interacting with the nobility requires so much attention to be paid to even such things as clothing causes my throat to run dry. I'm gripped by the terrifying realization that I have just blundered my way into a world I know nothing about. I shouldn't have said anything to drag anyone else into this mess with me.

"I'm really sorry, Mister Benno," I say, as I rush over to him. "I didn't know that I'd get you caught up in all this..." "Don't worry about it," he says, grinning his usual fearless grin. He holds up the flower ornament. "This is a new model," he says, then sticks it in my hair next to my usual chopstick.

"My motto is that you find your best opportunities in your biggest predicaments. If we can safely deliver your donation while comporting ourselves as we should around the nobility, then that's an opportunity for us to demonstrate just how quick and thorough the Gilberta Company's services are. Let's go."

Benno's confidence is no lie. I have no idea what sort of chain of command there is in the store, but in the time Benno and Mark were out getting changed, the employees assembled a small wooden jewelry box with my donation inside, a roll of cloth, a small jar, and three cloth-wrapped packages. Then, when we go outside, there is already a horse-drawn carriage waiting for us, big enough to fit four adults, with sharply dressed coachmen waiting for us to embark.

When did this happen?!

As I stare, dumbfounded, Benno lifts me up, much more courteously than usual, and helps me into the carriage. As I look around the obviously expensive carriage, my stress level only starts to rise. When I worriedly look up at Benno, though, he flicks me in the forehead.

"Right now, you're a noble. I know what I'm doing, so I'll make it all work out, but what I need you to do, no matter what happens, is to not get flustered. Just smile. Be dignified. And never hang your head. Can you do that?" "...I will do that," I respond.

Through the window in the carriage, I see Lutz yelling something to me. I can't hear it, but his lips are easy to read. "You can do it," he says. I nod back, as exaggeratedly as I can so that he can see.

Mark climbs on board and shuts the door behind him then, after a moment, the carriage starts slowly moving forward. The clattering of the wheels matches the unsteady rhythm of my heart as we head off towards my first encounter with noble society.

Translator's notes for this chapter:

1. The coat more specifically reminds her of furisode, a style of kimono with long, voluminous sleeves.

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