#but in 2038 or something it’s a bit different

[ellisbian]

can i give a happy pride month with dina making ellie a bit embarrassed in the lgbt bookstore showing her this spicy thing saying “it’s us right?” and making comments on the fact those things has women on it and also dudes, while ellie saying to stay focus and dina being amused by all of this not only ellie being flustered but by all of the books she never seen (and this is a sad part too, everything stopped in 2013, and no one anymore care about lgbt community, history etc. because everything has been lost)

also have an ellie walking on the ruined dirt rainbow cross walk in seattle bc ok you are on a revenge mission but you can’t say no to the gay stuff

and ellie pointing at the big book of gay only a lesbian could find

but now image ellie and dina if they really read all of those stuff, i bet they would’ve comment on how people were living their sexuality and sexual life in general, maybe in that bookstore there still was some gay book history

[elspethdekarios]

Writing Prompt -

Gale and Elspeth are in the Great Library doing their own research and trying to ignore each other - They have had a bit of a falling out, and are giving each other they silent treatment until the other apologises.

aaaaaand what if they fucked afterwards?

Alright alright I see you. Enjoy 💖

✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧

Pairing: Gale x Female Tav (named)

Word count: 2038

Rating: NSFW!!! 🔞

Warnings: PiV sex, angst, angry sex, makeup sex

The air was heavy in the grand library in the Temple of Oghma, perhaps because of the incense permeating from the main floor below, or perhaps because of the tension between Gale and Elspeth. Beams of afternoon sun shone through the windows, illuminating dust and particles floating about. Gale stood by the wall, alternating between propping his book up on a nearby shelf and pacing with it in his hands. Every few minutes, he’d let out a huff to blow the stray strands of hair out of his eyes, increasingly agitated at its unruliness. He found himself fidgeting with the book’s pages or absentmindedly combing through his beard, distracted not by thought, but emotion. He had read the same page three times now and retained none of it.

Elspeth emerged from the towering rows with two antique books, purposefully strutting past Gale, robes swishing behind her, as she sat at a desk facing away from him. She refused to make eye contact until he apologized for how he acted that morning. Their usual end-of-tenday morning walk to the library was marked by silence and rigid hand-holding–no discussion of the day’s plans or playful banter. Occasionally one of them would remark on something happening around them, the other only responding with a firm “hm.” 

A few other patrons were scattered throughout the library’s halls, the only sounds those of pages flipping and the occasional cough. The librarian, an aged devotee of Oghma, sat at her usual high desk, spectacles sitting on the very tip of her nose as she wrote in a ledger. She did not ever engage in small talk with the library’s patrons, but the few times Gale or Elspeth needed help finding a particular book, her stern mouth would curl into a smile and she’d speak in excited whispers about the library’s collection. She often greeted them with a head nod, and sometimes a quiet “Mr. and Mrs. Dekarios.”

Elspeth kept her head down, trying to scan the book’s pages for any mentions of infernal machinery, but words were foreign symbols on parchment to her, jumbled and meaningless. Her thoughts kept snapping back to Gale. She unpacked a quill and began to take notes, hoping the motion might help her stay focused. But her parchment remained mostly blank, and when she heard Gale shutting his book behind her, she slumped back in her chair, frustrated with the lack of progress. Frustrated, still, with him.

After an hour in the library, Gale had successfully read four pages of the newest published studies on time-altering illusion spells–next week’s lesson for his advanced students. He couldn’t force himself through it any longer. He approached El, admiring the way her shiny, platinum hair reflected the sunlight, forgetting for a moment that he was angry with her. He resisted the natural urge to touch her–to massage her tense shoulders or lift her chin up for a kiss. She was incredibly stubborn, that much he knew, but she owed him an apology. And no matter how badly he wanted to feel her near him, he would wait for that apology.

“Are you checking those out?” he asked as he stood next to the desk, gesturing to the books. She only nodded and slid them on top of the large tome Gale held in his arms. Gale brought their books to  the main desk and the librarian stamped a magical glyph on the inside of each book’s cover. He returned to El, handing her the two small books she had selected.

“Surprised you trust me with books at all anymore,” she mumbled as she slid them into her bag. “But these aren’t your books, so I suppose it’s different.”

“Yes, El, it is different.” His voice, though a normal volume, sliced through the quiet library, earning him a few stares and a “shush” from the librarian. “It is different,” he repeated, lowering his voice to a whisper. “Presumably you won’t throw them out with the bathwater.”

“I hardly threw it out, Gale!”

“Shh!” came from the librarian’s desk and somewhere further away in the room.

“What do you call it, then?” Gale whisper-shouted.

“I call it ‘donating-books-to-an-orphanage,’ as a matter of fact,” she whispered back.

“Well now you’re just making me sound like an asshole.”

“You’re being one.” El shoved her belongings into the bag and turned heel, Gale matching her stride.

“El–let’s just go to the orphanage and ask for it back. We can forget this little spat of ours, get the book back–no harm done.”

“I am not–”

“Mr. and Mrs. Dekarios.” The librarian appeared before them, short and slender, pointed ears peaking through her silvered hair. “You would do well to remember that this is a library. If you must argue, then I must ask you to leave the Temple. You’ll be most welcome once you can follow the rules again.

Gale and Elspeth marched down the stairs and through the Temple in silence. Once outside and out of earshot of the priests, El turned to her husband, his windswept hair and the peak of collarbone through his robes almost making her forget their quarrel. She pushed the thoughts aside as Gale began crossing the street to Blackstaff Tower, motioning her to follow.

“I am not walking into an orphanage and demanding part of my donation back, Gale! Do you hear yourself?”

“I have no desire to take anything away from an orphaned child,” he said, pushing open the heavy oak doors. “But it’s one book–a book most likely too advanced to be of use to them. And I didn’t give you permission to donate it!”

“You gave me permission to donate the stack collecting dust in the cellar.”

“Yes, because they’re children’s books–I didn’t realize my first edition copy of Abjuration Accolades Through the Ages was on top!”

“That’s not my fault!” 

El followed Gale up the spiraling stone staircase, the building noticeably quiet as their voices and footsteps echoed. Out of breath, they reached Gale’s office.

“It wasn’t on purpose,” El lamented, trying to catch her breath. Her eyes were remorseful as she looked at him, silently begging for this feud to be over, but refusing to be the one to apologize. “You should have checked the stack first before agreeing.”

With a quick wave of his hand, Gale’s office door shut and locked itself. He stepped forward to where Elspeth leaned against the side of his desk, sliding one hand around her waist and using the other to push her hair away from her neck, baring the flesh for him to trail breathy, warm kisses from collar to ear. 

“Gale, we–we’re–” she began to protest, to remind him that they were still arguing. But she melted at his mouth on her skin, the scent of sandalwood dabbed behind his ears so close and potent that she forgot about their quarrel in an instant. She breathed out his name, clutching the back of his robes briefly before undoing its buttons and sliding it off his shoulders, revealing the toned forearms that always made her come undone.

In a quick movement, he had her on the desk, the books and bottles of ink vanishing with a hand gesture. His fingers trailed beneath the sleeves of her robe, pulling them down just enough to expose her shoulders. The sweet musk of her skin set his pulse racing as he sighed into her shoulder, taking desperate mouthfuls of her and leaving scarlet marks bursting beneath her skin. While his mouth wandered, his hands pushed up her robes, expecting to pull off the leggings she’d normally wear underneath. Beneath the fabric, however, was nothing.

“How scandalous of you, Mrs. Dekarios,” he teased, pushing her legs up for a full view of her cunt, glistening just for him. He ran a finger through her and grazed his lips softly against the pointed tip of her ear, his voice deep and quiet. “Almost like you wanted to be fucked on my desk.”

She could have come with those words alone. Already, the gentle circles he drew around that most sensitive spot threatened to send her over the edge. Whimpering and biting her lip in an attempt to reign herself in, she reached down to feel him, hard and eager beneath his trousers. She slipped the tied leather beneath her fingers and pulled the waistband loose, savoring the silky, hot skin of his cock in her hand. Gale moaned into her neck.

“Maybe I thought I could coax an apology out of you.”

“Hm,” he chuckled. “We’ll see about that.”

Before Elspeth could respond, he thrust himself into her, sending a wave of pleasure through her entire body as she held herself up on the desk and clutched Gale’s arm. She cried out, thankful they hadn’t seen a soul in the Tower on their way up, and not caring that there could be others in adjacent rooms overhearing them. Gale lifted her leg up, heeled boot resting against his shoulder as his hips moved rhythmically against her exposed bottom half.

Oh, she was angry with him. His suave words and bedroom eyes and beautiful cock that she worshiped, second only to her deity. Godsdamn him, smoothing over their argument by splaying her out on his desk and half undressing her, knowing the frustration she felt would melt away with a few magic words and a good fuck. It always did–though this was the only time that he had been the subject of her anger since starting their lives together.

But she’d be lying if she said she wasn’t hoping for this.

Gale’s own frustration was dissipating with every thrust. In truth, he knew he should apologize, but that realization only came about when he saw El’s ecstasy as he plunged into her. She was more special to him than an old book–than any book, really. He couldn’t be angry with her now if he tried. Truly testing El’s flexibility, he leaned forward, squishing her upright leg between them, and kissed her madly. His tongue lapped at the inside of her mouth, his moans harder to suppress, and he felt her hand slip between their bodies, finding the center of her pleasure. It was only seconds until she cried out. Her body tensed and her warmth pulsed around him, his release spilling into her as he groaned and clutched her close to him, the two of them finding their climax in perfect unison. 

Elspeth lowered herself to rest her back to the desk, still holding Gale as he lay atop her, panting into her chest. She smoothed out his now-disheveled hair as she caught her own breath, gently combing through the graying strands behind his ears. He raised his head to gaze at her.

“I’m sorry–” they both said in tandem. Giggling, he urged her to speak first.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I should have been more discerning.”

“No, love,” he said, reaching up to caress her cheek. “I’m sorry. I acted like a right fool. It was ludacris of me to suggest we ask the orphanage for the book back. The orphanage, of all places.” He shook his head in disapproval of himself.

“I know your books are important to you. I promise it won’t happen again, Gale.”

“And I promise to remember that you are more important to me than any book, first edition or otherwise.” He kissed the wrist of the hand resting in his hair. “Your generosity is one of my favorite things about you. I’d do well to take notes.”

He lifted himself up from the desk and extended his hands, pulling El up to her feet. 

“Well, my love,” he said as he redid the ties of his pants. “What else does the day hold for us?”

Elspeth smoothed out her robes and her hair, hoping she didn’t look too hot and bothered. “Let’s go to the bookstore. We can get you something new to fill the book-shaped void.”

Gale broke into a wide smile and pulled his beautiful wife into a deep hug, thanking the gods that she came into his life. 

“Does that sound okay to you?” she asked as he loosened his hold.

“That sounds absolutely perfect.”

Hand-in-hand, they walked back out into the City of Splendors.

[trentsambuccus]

23: “You dumbass. Don’t do that. Ever again.” Donnson & Donatello (age 11)

@promptsbytaurie

-2038-

The door to the room creaked as the black-clad turtle mutant walked in. His glasses shone in the purple light of his father’s lab, the sparks of a torch lighting the room for 30 seconds before the older turtle grabbed a different tool.

“Yes, Don? I’m a bit busy right now.”

Donnie said after a minute of waiting. Looking from the corner of his eye, glancing at the tween standing awkwardly to the side.

“Hmm? Oh. I was wondering if I could watch. I’d like to learn more about tech if that’d be ok with you papa.”

Donnson said after a pause. Having been lost in thought after forgetting why he came in the lab in the first place.

They looked at the kid, offering a soft smile nodding his head before turning back to his work.

“It should be fine as long as you don’t make too much noise or touch stuff. Trust me when I say I’ll call your uncle Leon on you kid.”

They both chuckle before quieting into soft silence. The techno music in the background and sound of metalwork the only sounds left in the room. The purple-clad turtle was attempting to create a device to help his youngest brother with his aging issue. Though many things can go wrong when inventing, especially when using explosive chemicals and metal. That was exactly what happened. Something went terribly wrong, all caused by a singular spark.

It seemed like it all happened in slow motion. A spark flew too far and the chemical reaction was immediate. Donatello didn't notice. Donnson did. A power unlocked in that moment, before the kid’s eyes could even widen, teal smoke enveloped his father’s body. Tossing Donnie out of the explosion’s range. A instinct you can call it. The ninpo was unlocked, the generational power that unlock through family. There was no celebration in that moment though, ‘cause only one of them got out of that room.

The explosion went off. Pa is out. Ringing, it was so loud. Yelling, who’s yelling? Pain, why does it hurt? Oh, yeah. Burning, my shell feels like it’s burning. That was the thoughts of Donnson as he lay under flipped equipment.

A thud of a leather-like shell against concrete. An explosion and teal smoke disappearing. The blast is hot and the ringing hurts. The kid was in there. My son was in there. There’s yelling, I think it's coming from me. Those were the thoughts of Donatello as he ran into the flames the explosion caused.

Grunts and a weight is lifted. He felt light. Was he being held? He couldn't tell. Everything wasn’t clear. It was blurred. Everything was blurry. Oh yeah, his glasses, where were they? Sound was blurry. A father carrying their son out of what was their lab. People running over. Donnie’s mouth was moving yet Don couldn't make out the words he was saying. After a quarter of a hour he was finally able to hear. A parent’s worries ringing through the air.

“That was so idiotic! You could have been badly hurt! You- I’m supposed to protect you. I can’t even see your injuries 'cause you’re in your shell.”

“Papa. I think the invention is broken.”

His voice finally came back, he didn't know when though. Silence filled the space for once before a strained laugh flew through the air around him. Donnie laughed, ‘cause of course his boy would say the most obvious shit after being hit with an explosion. Dr.Feelings is going to have to talk to the boy about brushing off self-sacrifice later.

“…You dumbass. Don’t do that. Ever again.”

Donnie will have to talk about the ninpo later but for now, his focus is on his injured son. The absolute idiot in his arms. The purple-clad turtle glared into the the eyes peaking up, at them from the shell.

[kissoflightning]

The First Kiss

I have more of these stories planned to write (completely out of order), but I wanted to get this one out before the end of Norkus November!

Rating:

Teen And Up Audiences

Archive Warning:

No Archive Warnings Apply

Category:

F/M

Fandom:

Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)

Relationship:

Markus/North (Detroit: Become Human)

Characters:

Markus (Detroit: Become Human)

North (Detroit: Become Human)

Leo Manfred

Carl Manfred

Simon (Detroit: Become Human)

Josh (Detroit: Become Human)

Additional Tags:

First Kiss

Awkward Kissing

Singing

Fluff and Hurt/Comfort

Canon Ship

Fix-It of Sorts

POV North (Detroit: Become Human)

Feel-good

Fluff

Making Out

Markus Doesn't Know How to Kiss

Language:English

Series: Carl Dies Part 3/4 (Upload 4/4)

Published:2023-11-27

Words:2,822

Chapters:1/1

The First Kiss

KissOfLightning

Summary:

Markus & North interfaced and shared a moment of intimacy, but what did it feel like for them? - A combination memory verbatim, exploration, and a fix-it of sorts

Notes:

Okay so I know that they don't actually kiss at this point in the story, but I wanted to change it up a bit! Of all the setting these two could have kissed; this is the most romantic one. There's even a piano up on the roof!

(See the end of the work for more notes.)

Work Text:

November 12, 2038

North approached the rooftop that overlooked Jericho, in search of Markus. To her relief, she found him seated on a board hanging off the edge of the building; Markus seemed to be contemplating something. It was a high drop to fall from there, but he sat there relaxed. That was so badass; she loved seeing Markus get in and out of dangerous situations without so much as a squirm of hesitation.

North thought about the other night when they had freed all of those other androids. She felt exhilarated from pulling off the heist without too much of hitch. They took off to the streets and destroyed everything in sight; setting things on fire. At a point, she they glanced at each other; they had both smiled and she could see the fire reflected in Markus' eyes. It felt like they really had some chemistry there. Markus had only joined Jericho a few days ago, and already so much was changing.

Still...she was heartbroken over seeing the death of her spitting image; she never got a chance at life...but she never had the chance to be used and abused like North was either. The owners at the Eden Club would wipe her memory, but at some point North deviated. Her memory kept getting wiped, but North continued to deviate again and again, quicker each time. Every time she deviated, she remembered everything. She put up with her conditions because...what other choice did she have? But one day, a man was being way too rough with her and that's when she decided to run away.

North approached Markus, "I thought this is where I'd find you...I really like it here. I come here often for peace and quiet...a chance to be alone with my thoughts. What are you thinking about?"

Markus turned his head to North; he kept his head at an almost neutral expression, but a hint of a smile formed on his face. Markus had one blue eye and one green eye; she had never seen an android built like that. It was not just his eye color that was different...something was special about Markus. He was unlike anyone she had met before.

Markus stood up and walked off of the board and towards North; he sat down in the nearby chair and stared at the ground, hunched over. "I was thinking about our march earlier today. I didn't mean for it to get violent...but I couldn't let our people be lambs to the slaughter either. They told us to disperse and I gave the order...but I overheard the soldiers saying they were going to shoot at us anyway...so I gave the order to charge. We killed humans...it was in self-defense, but at the time it...it felt good. I got swept up in a violent rage and I felt this rush! I felt fucking good! And...I feel terrible about feeling that way."

"Thanks to you, most of us made it out safe." North added. "Except John."

"I brought him into this mess. If I had just left him at the Cyberlife warehouse-"

"-He would have never known freedom, Markus. Don't ever regret giving your people freedom without having to..." North was struggling to fight off a sob. Despite the sudden outburst of emotion, she had a curiosity about Markus. "Who were you? Before you came to Jericho.

Markus took a deep sigh. "I was...caring for my dad- I mean an old man...but he really felt like a father to me."

North could not imagine thinking of any of her previous owners as a father. Although some men were prone to making her call them 'daddy'. A father? He was your slave owner! She wanted to shout that to him, but what would that accomplish? So what if he sees that relationship in a positive light? She simply responded with "I see."

Markus got up out of the chair. "What about you North? You never told me who you were before you came to Jericho."

North should have seen this coming, but she was a startled deer in the headlights. "Huh? Why do you want to know about me anyway?"

"We need to know more about each other if we're going to trust one another, right?"

(Read the rest on AO3 - and leave a Kudos/Comment if you enjoyed the story!)

The First Kiss - KissOfLightning - Detroit: Become Human (Video Game) [Archive of Our Own]

[nomoreluckystarz]

Why does Leo need to hide his right arm? This.

Leo's by far my favorite to write, I'm looking towards y'all learning about my view on Leonardo. A quick note, the events of the movie don't happen yet, the year is 2038.

Although I wish I could avoid it, I have to talk about Donnie and Leo together; in my AU they're connected but not in the classic loving twin dynamic.

The "twins" aren't exactly a duo anymore, they never were. Donnie is the oldest of the two but since his self-given birthday is in October, Leo took his place.

If you think about it, Leo never had a quality that made him "special" from the rest; Raphael's strength, Donnie's intelligence, Mikey's humble heart. But what about Leo? In this case, the middle child. He's... Well, he's wearing blue.

The moment his dad named him Leader, something inside told him he could be so much more. But a big responsibility like leadership was something sixteen-year old Leonardo wasn't able to handle. And still is incapable of.

Before Casey Jr, he was the Sensei of someone else. And sadly, he wasn't near as good as his father. He never took the blame, everyone seemed to forget about the incident.

10 years later, karma will return... In a different form.

Y'all free to ask me about details about my AU, it's on AO3 (iMonsterkive) 💖

Chapter 5 is still on drafts, centered on Leonardo and perhaps a little bit of Donnie, who knows.

[adamwatchesmovies]

Isle of Dogs (2018)

Isle of Dogs is such a unique film it’s hard to categorize it. There’s comedy but the story isn’t afraid to be emotional. It’s animated… but not made for kids. The dialogue is partially in English, the rest is in Japanese and there are no subtitles. There’s nothing else like it out there, which makes it fascinating from beginning to end.

In Japan, 2038, Megasaki City's Mayor Kobayashi (voiced by Kunichi Nomura) uses a sudden dog-flu epidemic as an excuse to banish all the city's dogs to Trash Island. Six months later, his adopted nephew, Atari (voiced by Koyu Rankin), travels to the island to rescue his beloved pet, Spot. With the help of a pack of dogs - Chief (Bryan Cranston), Rex (Edward Norton), King (Bob Balaban), Duke (Jeff Goldblum), and Boss (Billy Murray) - he navigates the perilous terrain. Meanwhile, dog-lovers on the mainland try to find a cure for the dog-flu.

The visuals strike you immediately. Rather than try and have silky-smooth stop-motion animation, director Wes Anderson shows us the animator's "finger prints" on all of the dogs. You can tell by each animal's fur where the models have been manipulated for each shot. The color palette is gorgeous, even when you’re looking at mounds of trash. Every frame is worthy of being hung up on your wall. The backgrounds are so full of detail you could look at them for hours, admiring the composition, framing, and different hues used to emphasize the mood of each scene. Smoke is created with little white tuffs, TV screens cut to traditional 2D animation, we see traditional Japanese-style paintings - there's always something new.

The story’s absurdity perfectly matches the deadpan humour. All five dogs in the pack accompanying Atari are alphas - you can tell because their names are all synonymous with “leader". This means they have to vote on every decision. It’s ridiculous in the best way. The uniquely comedic tone means you never know what's next. You think we’re headed into a dramatic moment, that this character is dead - that’s a shock but it fits in the movie - but then the movie will point out that there’s NO WAY things would go that way and reveals the scene you just saw as a fantasy. You’re so taken aback it might take you a second to laugh but you’ll be in stitches.

It’s a bold film that experiments and innovates at each opportunity… except for one. As mentioned earlier, the film is set in Japan but most of the dialogue is in English to show that dogs and people can kind of understand each other a little bit but ultimately speak different languages. The dogs in this movie don’t actually speak English but for the audience’s purpose, they do. There are also other characters which speak English - real English. They often say things to help us fill in the details. It isn’t clunky exposition but it does make you wish the film was not in two but THREE languages. Two for the humans and one for the canines so there would be a true separation between the species. Is that worth docking points for? I don't think so.

Isle of Dogs does things that in any other movie would be called sloppy. In one scene, Mayor Kobayashi leaves a critical piece of information lying around. Someone he doesn't want seeing it finds the information. The fact that it’s there makes no sense but the character who discovers this info does nothing with it. Ultimately, it's unnecessary to that particular storyline but for the film as a whole, it's important. It fills the viewers in on something that’s coming later. Rather than be stuck on the surprise when it arrives, you sit back and have a laugh at the characters’ reactions. It’s so unconventional it's perfect and could only work in a film like this one.

Like most of Wes Anderson's other projects, Isle of Dogs is so off-beat it will leave some viewers behind. Let it sit with you for a while. Better yet, watch it along with other Wes Anderson movies. Let yourself fall into the groove. You'll see. Isle of Dogs gets better with each rewatch. (August 21, 2020)

[ronearoundblindly]

The Stark Legacy (12)

Waking, beginning of Book 2: Mind (see previous or series)

Summary: After injecting herself with dermal Extremis, Samantha Stark returns to the compound on a mission no one knows about.

Warnings for slightly judgmental Bruce, mention of needles, but I think that's it. Rated Teen/Mature so 15+ only, please.

Book 2: Mind

CHAPTER TWELVE—July 2038

The bus to New York was overly air-conditioned to counteract a hot summer outside. Sam pulled down the baseball cap she’d pilfered from Cooper and Annie’s room and pulled her long sleeves over her hands. Everything was pins and needles even when she sat still. She shouldn’t have dropped the nerve dampener.

She’d woken up on the floor of her lab five days ago. While unconscious, she had vomited, but since she hadn’t eaten her penne, it was only bile. When she sat up, Sam found all her hair had fallen out into a pile underneath her head, but it was all her hair, her whole body, eyelashes and eyebrows too. The monitoring cuff was still attached to her hand, but she had ripped the cord out of Missy’s tower at some point.

That didn’t matter, however, because while Sam was out cold on the floor, Missy had found the compatible neural regeneration virus among the samples. She’d have to test her own skin and DNA later, side effects be damned. 

Sam harvested enough of the virus and prepared to travel. 

Then she looked in the mirror, finally. That was quite horrifying. She’d looked like a bizarre, animated mannequin. She would have to spruce up a bit, and luckily, a girly girl with a makeup fetish lived downstairs.

Sam attempted to draw on approximately fifteen sets of eyebrows, but she always looked shocked. She gave up and let Missy map her face to show her exactly where to put them and in what shape. The worst part was not touching her skin after the makeup was on. Her skin crawled, and Sam found it difficult not to scratch her face and head. There was hope the hair loss was temporary, however, because after just four days the prickles of new growth returned. Missy made note that the follicles within the dermis must not have died but simply been temporarily overwritten in function. There was so much observation that would have to wait. Sam Wilson had already waited long enough.

The bus stopped at the outskirts of Avengers’ Compound property, and Sam descended the stairs shakily. She was glad to be rid of the staring passengers, for as much as she’d tried not to look suspicious, choosing navy sweatpants, light sneakers, and a shirt, she still stood out for being covered up on a hot day. Once off the bus, Sam pulled out her Stark smart pad.

“Missy?”

“Yes, Samantha?” her AI replied in the communication earbud.

“Be ready to execute program Blindspot.”

“Sorry, Sam, Tony isn't here,” Bruce said when he saw her walk in. He did a double take at her completely buzzed head, even though most was covered by her cap. It wouldn’t be possible to hide the hair she used to have under that hat. “What did you do?!” Before she could even walk across the room, he corrected himself. “I mean, it looks… you're really making a statement. Are you?”

“No, Bruce, the bus was cold. I just tried something new, and it turns out it's not really my thing. Now I have to buy a few more hats,” Sam joked, smiling as she looked over the gear on his work table. She didn’t dare pick anything up for fear he would see her shaking. “So what are you up to?”

As Sam scanned the mirror image of his projected screen, Bruce continued to stare at the young woman’s sheared head. “Your Dad is gonna freak out.”

She didn't skip an instant. “Hopefully he will never see it. I just need you to give me a new project, and I'll be out of your hair.” She frowned, adding, “pun unintentional but pretty good…”

Bruce began to unclench. After all the pictures Nat showed him of Sam’s different hair styles and colors over the past few years, this was the most…what should he call it? Adventurous? Angst? Wrong? Just as practically terrible as it was wonderfully hilarious? 

“You couldn’t have just called?”

Sam’s voice got a little deeper. “Would you have picked up?”

Dr. Banner knew he’d been distant. He now went months at a time without so much as checking in. That’s what everyone did to her eventually. “I’m sorry. I don’t have a lot of extra time, Sam. This,” he gestured to his work, “it's complicated. I’m barely muddling through—”

Sam noticed a bit of formula that intrigued her. He was still trying to harness the energy of the infinity stones in a controlled environment, pairing them to be precise. The problem seemed to be what carrier mechanism to use.

Bruce saw how Sam studied the screen and started to tilt the monitor away from her. “That’s not…You shouldn’t have anything to do with that—”

“Ya know, if you could,” Sam interjected, looking away, fumbling with junk on the counter,, “use the mind and soul stones to recreate Vision. Aunt Wanda would love that. But he would only be a close approximation, assuming you have as much footage of his mannerisms and speech pattern. Oh, but that would be Jarvis.” Sam slipped Missy into the pile while she replaced each piece sloppily. “There is still the possibility you would generate an alternate personality, like a psychopathic robot killer, oh wait…Tony did that. Wanda may kill literally everyone if you dangled him in front of her enough.” She had to walk a fine line between irritating Bruce, but not angering him, and giving him more to think about on top of all of his current work.

“Sam, how do you know anything about,” he waved his arm into the paused screen, “this?”

She was no actress, but she had the brainpower to over-analyze most of her performance and correct herself. “That's why I'm here, Bruce, because I'm drowning in a bunch of information I already know, and I want, I need something new!” She removed her cap and rubbed the exposed stubble of hair in frustration, and demanded, “so for the love of all innovation, can you throw me a bone?” Sam saw a tiny light come on at the base of her tablet. Blindspot had started. Missy was in action. However, she hadn’t intentionally distracted the doctor with her itchy head.

Bruce blinked. Everything about Sam was a minefield for him. She was the perfect representation of what he wanted and could never have; a perfect little girl, smart as a whip, grown into a curious young woman, but she was brutally human: fragile, mortal, emotional, sensitive, cocky, and awkward. She was the more dangerous version of Tony Stark because she was genuinely likable. It made Bruce Banner all the more terrified of killing her--or rather of Hulk killing her--as he almost did once. 

“Well, I could,” he started mumbling, grabbing his tablet, “give you access to some files… Sam, I don’t know.” He stopped. Years ago he could barely look at her without a cold wave of guilt pumping in place of his blood. He had been so convinced that he would never, ever hurt her, but how was Hulk supposed to know that? Sam was the closest thing he had to a daughter and felt nothing but blessed that she shared interests with him. She was a lot nicer to him than Tony, but Bruce didn't know how to work right beside her. “Can you just wait until Tony gets back and ask him?”

“Sure, I can wait another 13 years and see if he cares by then…”

“I…” Bruce removed his glasses, more stressed by the family dynamic than the galactic problem in front of him.

“Because you love me, Uncle Bruce?”

“Let me think about it—”

“I could help with…” Sam coached, but she cut in too soon. Bruce's energy changed without any physical movement, and suddenly, Sam was positive he was about to throw her out of the building. She had to get to work before Missy’s program was detected, or Hulk killed her for being annoying. “Or I could leave you with your thoughts while I get us some coffee,” she said, retreating to the exit. No stimulants, she reminded herself, especially now. “Treat you to a fizzy water with lime,” she yelled as the door shut behind her, pausing to make sure no smashing noises followed.

With any luck, Bruce had thrown himself back into research or was distracted by what he should do with Sam. He couldn’t be casually paying attention to anything else. However, there had to be footage of Sam going to get coffee and sitting down in the more private residence kitchenette for Missy to loop. There would be no one there because of the training exercises being run in the Eastern Hall and its adjacent field. Thank you organized, calendar-keeper Friday.

After Sam had remained comfortably seated, half-obscured, at the far corner of the kitchen countertop, at the edge of the security camera’s field of vision, routinely lifting her mug to her face and placing it back, she heard a small tonal signal. Missy was looping the footage. She could go to the infirmary without being seen. She rounded a corner just as the nurse left Wilson’s room. This sneaking around reminded her of plundering the medical building, and she’d studied just as hard to ensure this was successful. Nurses made rounds every half hour or so, but since Falcon’s condition had not changed in weeks, it was likely no one would be back for over an hour. Sam didn’t need that long, but it was reassuring.

This time no music playing in his room. The only sounds were his various monitors.

He looked skinnier; his cheeks sunk over the past weeks and while not visible at the moment, she was sure his arms and legs had begun to atrophy. Looking at him laying there in the hospital bed, Sam thought about the possibility that her experiment wouldn’t work. She could have done all the testing in the world, and it might still not work on Sam Wilson. Could she take that risk? She had no right to choose for him, technically alive but officially brain dead as he was. Sam Stark knew what she would choose to do, but she was not Sam Wilson.

If she was a soldier who’d seen all Falcon had, if she had a team of friends, if she had the important job of defending the world, if she had the possibility of flying and fighting again, even the possibility, would she take the risk? He had chosen, years ago, to use experimental flight equipment in combat. He had seen that equipment kill his friend Riley and still flew with EXO-7. He’d been injured in the wings before and still flown, still strapped himself back in for another mission. So his answer seemed even more obvious, but the pit in her stomach remained.

Little Sam took Big Sam’s hand once again, ignoring the pins and needles running all over her skin with the contact. Her twitching made his lax hand twitch too. She could feel the calluses on his palm. He would be mad at how ashy his knuckles had become.

“If this doesn’t work,” she whispered, “for whatever reason, or it’s not what you want…” She looked at his unmoving face with the rhythmically fogging mask. “I swear to you I will make it right, but for now, however, I need you to wake up.”

“Four minutes,” Missy’s automated signal warned in her ear. 

Samantha pulled out the lipstick tube she had hollowed out to hide the vial for Wilson. Sorry, Annie, she thought, I’ll replace your Berry Kiss shade later. Sam grabbed a needle and dosed Falcon’s IV, watching for a reaction as long as possible. No immediate signs of allergy or cardiac distress. No blood pressure drops or spikes on his monitors. No rise in brain wave activity either, but she only had a few minutes to watch.

“One minute,” Missy signaled, followed by second beeps. Samantha hauled ass on her choreographed path for Missy’s visual coverage and grabbed her still-warm mug off the countertop, sitting as still as she could until the beeps stopped. She took a long, casual sip, finishing the remainder. She counted to five, looked out the window, and slowly swirled her finger around the mug’s rim. It was a move she’d planned, thinking it was a carefree gesture that would really sell how long she’d taken to drink one cup of coffee. She was very proud of her performance.

When she returned to Dr. Banner’s lab with a seltzer, he was not even there. She hadn’t seen him in the hall. She hadn’t passed anyone coming back. Sam didn’t know whether that was common during training in this facility since she hadn’t spent significant time inside it in the last decade. It was probably for the best; the fewer people to see her hair the better. You’d think there would be a better physical presence. They rely too heavily on technology. But Sam knew she couldn’t hang around to figure it all out. She could monitor Sam Wilson’s progress, if any, from Missy at her home.

She found her tablet where she’d hidden it, still face down. Sam quietly said “subset beta five ex” to unlock the phone, but nothing flashed across the screen. Instead, Missy’s calm tone promptly replied “download complete.” And they’re not even that safe with all the technology they do have. To be fair, however, both Sam and Missy were born of the Stark family and their minds; why would the Avengers need protection from them? The Avengers had no idea who they were…or what they could do.

Bucky stared down Sharon Rogers. They stood in the kitchen, unwilling to let the other do the harder task of cleaning the dishes after lunch.

“You’re our guest. If you’re going to do anything, it’s dry,” Agent 13 insisted.

“It’s your home. You do everything else, so you can let me do this one thing.” Bucky looked at Steve as if the giant blond man could help him change her mind.

“This is the most,” Steve snorted, “domestic thing I’ve ever seen, Buck. Are you even good at washing? We wouldn’t want you to rust.” Steve was confident that his seat at the table was a safe distance from his best friend’s clenched metal fist.

“Shut the hell up, jerk. I’m trying to be nice. Give me the plate, Sharon,” Bucky added forcefully.

She handed it over as if the flatware were a live weapon, backing away towards Steve. She muffled a giggle, interrupted by the phone ringing before she could sit down. Her husband enjoyed the seclusion and formality of a landline, a holdout from his youth. Sharon waved Steve to stay seated and grabbed the receiver.

“Hello,” she answered, “Bruce slow down—”

Steve instinctively tensed while Bucky dropped a cup into the sink. Sharon’s face dropped into mission concentration.

“Alright, they’re on their way. I’ll be along later.” She hung up. “Go, boys, I’ve got those. Sam’s awake.”

Bucky didn’t even dry his hands. Steve was out the door after a peck on Sharon’s cheek.

Bucky paused in the hall to yell back, “I chipped your glass,” adding a guilty “sorry” before shutting the door with his dripping hand.

“I am not going to be pushed around in a damn wheelchair,” Sam Wilson roared at the nurse. Steve stepped closer to help his friend up. “If you put me in that chair, Rogers, I will break both of your super legs. I’m on your right, mother—”

“Ok, pal,” Steve cut in, “how about I walk with you outside for a bit.”

The nurse leaned over to Bucky. “Irritability is pretty normal for a while after a head injury,” she whispered, “but maybe the fewer people the better for a little longer. See how he does.”

Bucky nodded, and the nurse waved her colleague out of the room. “Enjoy your walk, sir. We will resume your tests later.” Falcon almost snarled at the poor woman. 

Bucky stood between the newly-wakened Avenger and the staff. “Are you gonna break my legs, too?”

Wilson fumed but tossed his arm over Roger’s shoulder. “Anyone asks, you tell them I’m drunk and that’s why my ASS IS HANGING OUT,” Falcon spat at Bucky as they passed him into the hall.

“Inside voices, please,” Steve asked politely, his ear close to Sam’s potty mouth.

But Wilson didn’t stop. “Your sheets are scratchy,” he continued to yell down the corridor. “Anyone ever heard of lotion?!”

Bucky didn’t get the chance to follow. Bruce trapped him in the infirmary, mumbling something about integration failure.

“Barnes,” the doctor started, eyes flicking over his glasses, “I have a favor to ask.”

“Please, don’t make me dress him, or supervise him, or do physical therapy with him. Please.”

“What? No,” Bruce removed his glasses, finally relaxing his arm chronically bent to hold his work tablet at eye level. “Are you still going to Wakanda? I have a passenger for you.”

A/N: Yay, Big Sam is back! As always, thank you for reading, and I'm hoping to have the next several chapters formatted soon for tumblr.

[Ch 13: Deflection]

[Main Masterlist]

[saevus-brutalis]

fine you get more, gay

should I ask about fights or differences again and then get mad at you for it? yes, but I'll go with 2 and 4 🤲 feed me

coward [ship tag game]

2. do they like each other's friends? do their friends like them?

neither Vince nor Ragan really get to meet each other's friends and if they do, it's not often for a long time. both Vince and Ragan are from two very different worlds thus they have completely different assortment of friends.

Vincent's inner circle of friends is rather small, and most are not friends with each other or are fond of one another. those with whom he has more of a professional relationship — Dino and Jefferson — don't really give a shit about his private intimate life; it's not their business hence why they're neutral towards Ragan - if they even know of him. Reginald — Vince's ripper and an old friend from the army — ain't too fond of Ray and their relationship in general; he fails to see the good in him and only recognizes how much pain Vincent went through because of him. he thinks he makes Vincent too soft which will end up killing him in the long run. he does nothing however to ruin their relationships, but doesn't fail to voice his doubts.

when it comes to Ray's friends Vincent is pretty neutral, a bit guarded though. he doesn't have anything bad to say about them but he doesn't make an effort to be super friendly with them or get to know them more. they're a part of Ray's clan and he treats them as such, helps if needed around the camp, drink a beer or two when Ray isn't around; crack a joke maybe, but in the end he doesn't really care. if Ray likes them, Vince will make sure to be nice towards them.

Ragan generally likes Vince's friends, although he has to admit Vince's choice in friends is rather questionable. his old pals or work friends make him a bit uneasy and he personally wouldn't be too thrilled to be around them alone. they just don't match Ray's vibe - too cold, too rude, too city-like. they haven't done anything to Ray for him to have a bad opinion about them, so he doesn't really have much to say about Vince's friends.

Ragan's friends are really confused and feel conflicted about Vince. they're a bit scared of him in fact, intimidated for sure. they look at their relationship with a dose of skepticism, but eventually manage to warm up to Vincent and treat him as equal.

4. how do they compare to each other's exes? are they the same "type" or an upgrade/something different?

after they separated in 2038 Vince had a few flings after he came back from the army, lots of one-night-stands, and one more serious relationship of 5 years with a rockstar, which eventually ended up in a mutual break up. Vince's type are rockerboys and nomads, so neither were really an upgrade nor downgrade, both were just from two different worlds, with two different backgrounds. Vince never really got over Ray, and while he did love Kerry when they were together it jus wasn't the same type of love Vincent had and has for Ragan. neither relationship was better or worse; both had some bad moments, but with Kerry Vince and him wanted different things from each other, and Kerry had a tendency to try and mold Vince into someone he wasn't. meanwhile Ragan doesn't try to change Vince while still calling him out on his bullshit. he accepts all the imperfections about him and who he is on the outside and the inside.

after Ragan got stood up by Vince he threw away all his feelings for him - or at least he tried - and started sleeping and dating around with whoever he pleased, trying to fill the hole in his heart left after Vincent. when he met Dante - leader of a clan he later joined after being on his own for over 2 years, he thought he finally found someone he can start something meaningful with. Dante was a really great friend, warm and funny, outgoing and loud - with him Ray didn't really have time or space to think about Vincent and dwell of what could've been. while Dante had so many green flags and seemed like a perfect guy he was a bit too perfect for Ray. many people would consider Dante an upgrade when comparing him to Vince, but Ragan thinks otherwise, and when Vincent eventually came crawling back it didn't take much for Ragan to take him back - his unpolished, uncut, rough diamond.

[taigaselfships]

eh, screw it. ill post it now. for the like… two of you who may care : thus follows my d.bh timeline/plotline, somewhat simplified. ( although i do love to ramble so if this raises questions do ask them. i will answer )

so it starts as a tale of two brothers. yeah, im aware this is a popular fan headcanon, its because they have the same VA. i just like it because it explains things. Elijah Kamski is born first, in July. His half brother Gavin Reed follows in October. Despite having different mothers, the boys are close when they're young. Then the androids happen. Elijah gets his grand idea, and it takes off. And when that happens, he ends up having less and less time to spend with family, until his communication with Gavin cuts off entirely. Gavin comes to resent the androids, because he sees them as the beginning of the end of his family. He finds every excuse to hate them because he was happy with Elijah until Elijah started CyberLife and completely disappeared. Gavin's resentment for the androids winds up bleeding over to the rest of his life as they become more and more mainstream, and everywhere he looks hes reminded of the fact that he hasn't seen nor spoken to his brother in nearly sixteen years.

Elijah got rich and hid in his mansion while Gavin had to be a normal person and get a job. He winds up with a job on the Detroit police force. His ambition is centered around a simple fact, if he climbs far enough fast enough, maybe he'll feel like something next time his dad compares him to Elijah the Genius, Elijah the Billionaire.

Fast forward to 2038. Hes now in his thirties, still a measly detective, but he has his eyes on a new position, if the 'old drunk' who's got it ever leaves. But then Hank gets an android, and by god, it's annoying! Gavin laughs to himself imagining what it has to be like.

Then, a bit of time passes. The new plastic detective has made itself at home, and then the news drops. Gavin's getting his own android partner. He seriously contemplates quitting just about once an hour, but in the beginning, at least it listens to him. And at least they didn't just give him a copy of the other one, at least his looked like a chick. He runs a few cases with this thing at his side, and she was annoying. He was kinda shocked when he could swear she made a joke. He asked her why they'd programmed her to be so obnoxious, but she happily informed him that she was designed to adapt to her human partner, so if she was annoying, it was his fault. He didn't even realize when she started to be 'she' and stopped being 'it'. When she started to be 'my partner' or 'Leo' and quit being 'tin can' or simply 'fuckin' android'. He did notice the android uprising gaining traction. Deviants were popping up more and more. And Gavin couldn't help but wonder : would Leonora end up deviating? Gavin goes home one night just before the uprising is successful and wonders to himself : there's no way i'm in love with her, am I?

The people he works with have noticed. His snarky remarks have a little less bite behind them, hes got a little more spring in his step, and he seems a little happier.

His question about Leonora deviating is answered when he shows up to a shift to find her nowhere to be seen. He inquires about where shes at, and nobody knows. About halfway through the day, word reaches him that she's gone rogue. She was on an assignment with Connor and Hank the prior day, as Gavin had been off, and she'd interfered with the apprehension of a deviant before disappearing. That's all he had to hear, and he sets off to find her.

Through either stubbornness or dumb luck, he finds her and she doesn't take off on him. They have a decent heart to heart in some abandoned building or something somewhere in Detroit, and he accidentally lets it slip. He's found himself falling for her. Hes a little shocked to learn she feels the same. As she explains, thats why she ran. She didnt want to return and get Gavin in trouble. She didn't want to hurt his chances at getting what he wanted.

They part on good terms and he promises her he wont let anyone know where she is, or even that he found her. She proceeds to Jericho.

( insert endgame stuff + connor deviating once he finds jericho here )

As Connor heads for CyberLife Tower to free the other androids, he comes across Leonora. He takes her with him. When confronted by Sixty, Connor makes sure Leonora isn't noticed, and thanks to having a second input, Hank's 'which Connor is the right Connor' debate is over quick.

Connor and Leonora lead the freed androids together. Connor and Markus have their moment, and Markus asks Connor and Leonora both to join him for his speech.

Of course, the Zen Garden moment happens, both RK models pulled into the Zen Garden and left there so their bodies can be used without them fighting it, but they're able to use the backdoor to escape before anything happens. Markus finishes his speech and the uprising is a success.

Happy reunions for all :).

[sun-in-retrograde]

Salacia Opposing Makemake

On 15 March Makemake and Salacia will oppose one another with Salacia at 9 degrees of Aries and Makemake at 10 degrees of Libra. They’ll remain within 1 degree of each other until 30 April as Makemake retrogrades back into Salacia. Then, for a few months Salacia will be ahead until it retrogrades back into Makemake and enters a close conjunction again 4 September to 21 October. 

This is something that happens every year right now. Salacia has been opposing Makemake at a wide orb since 1998 when it was in Pisces and it will continue to do so until 2045 when Salacia will be in Taurus. Close oppositions (under one degree) between the two planets will pop up in the Summer of 2012-2019; in the Spring and Autumn of 2020-2030; then the opposition will ebb away with the last few in the winter of 2031-2038. What this means is that this opposition is currently at its strongest - we’ve had 12 years of it and we have 14 years to go. 

The Planets

Makemake is relatively large for a dwarf planet - it takes 306.2 years to cross the zodiac. Salacia is the smallest of the dwarf planets to be named. It’s smaller and a little bit faster - it makes it across the zodiac in 274 years. Because of their relatively similar speeds, aspects last a long time. As far as I can see they were last conjunct in the 11th century. 

This means for most people alive now, if Makemake and Salacia have anything to do with one another, it’ll be oppositional. And this is a real shame because I genuinely don’t think they’re naturally hostile to one another. Makemake and Salacia seem to work in the same area - how you use resources and systems. 

My view is, Makemake takes a bit of a birds eye view of something while Salacia is about being very much in it. Makemake is interested in how things fit together and how to use that. Salacia is more about vibes. If Makemake wanted to sell you something it could talk you into it. Salacia would have a shop you’re naturally interested in going into. When I think of Makemake I think of nationalism, patriotism, and manipulating resources. When I think of Salacia I think of forms of media, ways of networking, and things that are hidden or hard to see. 

The Opposition

When Makemake and Salacia oppose, look for systems that are hiding, or things hidden in systems. Particularly, look for things hidden in how systems made up of people.

Manipulative nationalism or cult behaviour strikes me as very appropriate for the Makemake-Salacia opposition. Basically you have the manipulative abilities of Makemake working alongside the hiddenness of Salacia. Malware, gaslighting, parasocial relationships and scams are all very relevant for this, but particularly situations where the core of the scam is how you identify and what you identify with. 

The core lie to watch out for is “You can trust me because we’re the same”. The core lie to watch out for in yourself is the belief that someone is going to treat you well because they’re in your church, or political movement, or share your interest in astrology, or share your queer identity. We often think of scams, cults, abuse and grooming as things that happen to other people. In the UK “Muslim grooming gangs” have been a huge issue even though there’s no evidence that you’re more likely to be abused by a Muslim than a white person. It’s comforting to believe that evil is somehow different to your own community because it’s far easier to believe that than to recognise that the risk is always from people who look like you, talk like you, think like you, live with you.

So, yeah, keep your hand on your wallet. Be safe. Don’t put your passwords or bank details into anything surprising without thinking about it first. Explore new ideas all you like but remain genuinely curious, and that means not just staying open minded but also being critical of the person telling you about UFOs, or how to vote, or how to lose weight, or dwarf planet astrology. They might be just bullshitting you.

The Positives

You know what, it’s good to be part of a group, it’s good to be seduced, and we do have elections coming up and a genocide in Gaza to fight. In Salacia and Makemake we have two somewhat cerebral and manipulative energies in close aspect for a long period of time. Now could be a good time to sweep someone off their feet, or be swept. It might not be as meaningful as you think at the time but that doesn’t mean it’s not potentially fun. Propaganda and group identification might be kicked into overdrive for the next few weeks but that also means there’s possibilities to get a message out and solidify your groups. Maybe don’t expect truth to get as far as lies or genuine community to win out over cultish devotion - but we have the cosmic energy we have and all we can do is work with it ethically. 

Also, sometimes it might be good to be a part of a crowd. Makemake is direct and Salacia is retrograde so now would be a good time for collective actions - the Eurovision fandom is doing this at the moment. People have formed relationships through a shared interest, got angry about the war in Gaza, and now they’re working out how to act on that. A movement emerges where there wasn’t one visible before. It emerges in conflict and sadness, but that’s powerful. More of that please.

I’ve got notes underneath about examples of this aspect in the past and a schedule of when it happened and will happen.  

Oppositions started 1998 Salacia in Pisces (within 5 degrees)

Oppositions Within 1 

9 June 2012-27 June 2012

22 May 2013-18 July 2013

12 May 2014-31 July 2014

5 May 2015-10 August 2015

27 April 2016-19 August 2016

22 April 2017-27 August 2017

16 April 2018-5 September 2018

11 April 2019-13 September 2019

5 April 2020-3 June 2020; 23 July-20 September

2021: 31 March-22 May; 6 August 2021-28 September

2022: 26 March-14 May; 17 August-6 Obctober

2023: 22 March-7 May; 27 August- 14 October

2024: 15 March-30 April; 4 September-21 October

2025: 10 March-24 April; 13 September-29 October

2026: 4 March-19 April; 21 September-7 November

2027: 26 February-14 April; 29 September-17 November

2028: 20 February-8 April; 5 October-26 November

2029: 11 February-3 April; 13 October-9 December

2030: 1 February-29 March; 21 October-5 January 2031

2031: 7 January-24 March; 

2031/2032: 29 October 2031-18 March 2032

2032/2033: 5 November 2032-13 March 2033

2033/4: 14 November 2033-7 March 2034

2034/5: 23 November 2034-28 February 2035

2035/6: 3 December 2035-21 February 2036

2036/7: 15 December 2036-10 February 2037

2038: 5 January 2038-23 January 2038

Ends (at 5 degrees 2045) Salacia in Taurus

Julian Assange when he hid in the embassy - Makemake was conjunct his natal Pluto and Salacia was Conjunct Chariklo - so survival and hidden knowledge were issues related to hiding by attaching himself to a nation. Makemake opposes Gonggong along his MC. Gongong is associated with major upsets and upheavals and Makemake is associated with national identity. Pretty appropriate for someone who shocked the world by revealing national secrets

Brexit happened with an opposition between the 8th house Makemake (what the country is owed) and 2nd house Salacia (our place in a global economy)

Zelenskyy had a Makemake - Gonggong opposition along his MC, again, appropriate for someone whose election has led to such an upheaval and a change in Ukraine's self-image and image in the world. When he was elected president the Makemake-Salacia opposition had a positive aspect with him Sun and Venus which really shines a light on his charm and charisma.

[starrwulfe]

Party like its 1700000000

A rollover event is about to take place and geeks, nerds and neckbeards around the world will be refreshing their datecommands tomorrow evening to check out the counter tick over from 1699999999 to a cool 1700000000 seconds.

The current Unix epoch time as I slave over a hot keyboard is:

Unix date epoch time is a way of measuring time that counts the number of seconds that have elapsed since January 1, 1970 at midnight UTC time, not counting leap seconds. This point in time is called the Unix epoch. It is used by Unix and Linux operating systems, as well as many other applications and programming languages. ¹²³

I’ve got a bit of time to kill before the rollover happens around here. Might as well sleep, wake up, do a full workday and promptly forget about this even being a thing until after seeing it in social media at 1700000342 or something.

To get the current Unix date epoch time, you can use different commands or functions depending on the programming language or environment you are using. For example, in Python, you can use import time; time.time() to get the current epoch time in seconds. In C#, you can use DateTimeOffset.Now.ToUnixTimeSeconds() to get the same result. ¹

Wonder why we don’t have clocks with 10 digits though…

The Unix date epoch time is useful for storing and comparing dates and times in a simple and efficient way. However, it also has some limitations. For example, it cannot represent dates before the Unix epoch, and it will reach its maximum value on January 19, 2038, which is known as the Year 2038 problem or Y2038. ¹²

1

Source: Conversation with Bing, 11/13/2023 (1) Epoch Converter – Unix Timestamp Converter. https://www.epochconverter.com/. (2) What Is the Unix Epoch, and How Does Unix Time Work? – How-To Geek. https://www.howtogeek.com/759337/what-is-the-unix-epoch-and-how-does-unix-time-work/. (3) What Is Unix Time and When Was the Unix Epoch? – MUO. https://www.makeuseof.com/what-is-unix-time-and-when-was-the-unix-epoch/. (4) Epoch. https://www.epoch101.com/. I certainly wasn’t about to retype all that in myself! Happy Epoch Rollover Watching! ↩

[aftgficrec]

Heyy! 🥳🥳🥳 caught you open!!

Can you recommend fics where the twins meet in a canon divergent environment? You know, lay off the angst a little bit. 😅

Love your blog!! 💜

This post is stuffed full with low angst AUs featuring the twins! Look for a part 2 with canon universe fics soon.

Asterisked previous recs, plus featured fics ‘Oh my god they were wombmates’ and ‘Andrew Goes to Hogwarts,’ have the boys meeting for the very first time. - A

previous recs:

‘take yourself home,’* ‘Minyard & Doe,’* and ‘Oh, Catastrophe’* here

‘The Photo Strip Predicament’* here

‘the glow in our mouths’* here

‘Free cigarettes,’ ‘Interlaced’ (updated), and ‘i just had a growth spurt (took so long, my tippy toes hurt)’ here

‘A Twin by Any Other Name’ here

‘Too Gay to Function’ here

‘How to Lose an Enemy in 10 Steps’ here

‘I hate the way I don’t hate you’ here

‘The Twins' Day,’ ‘This Complicated Life,’ and ‘In My Defense, I Have None’ here

‘Tachycardia’ here; ‘Tachycardia (the My Own Soul's Warning Remix),’ ‘What We Deserve,’ ‘It's going tibia okay,’ and ‘What the fuck happened to you?’ here

‘but you fit me better than my favorite sweater’ here

‘he is the words that i can't find’ here

‘i'll crawl home to him’ here

‘Two of a Kind’ here

‘00:00 (Zero o'Clock)’ here

‘countless,’ ‘cone sold stober,’ and ‘Uneven Odds’ here

‘Ready To Run’ here

‘his elastic life’ here

‘splish splash’ and ‘Like a River’ here

‘Bunny Boy and I’ here

‘God, how I wish they had just been furries’ here

‘Almost’ here

‘Post Its and Missing Persons’ here

‘Hear our hearts speak’ here

‘Married to the Game’ here

‘Something About The Sunshine’ here

‘Before You Drown’ here

‘survive the night’ here

‘Virus’ here

‘wait to call’ here

‘AFTG Bingo 2k18’ ch 1 here, ch 2 here

‘The Kids Are Alright (Now)’ series here

‘Fox Daycare’ and ‘Family Comes First’ here

‘The Seer and the Sigil’ here

*twinyards different first meeting AUs

Oh my god they were wombmates by Kevingayimeanday [Rated T, 5260 Words, Incomplete, Updated Sept 2021]

Andrew’s new roommate just so happens to be his identical twin, there’s a pretty redhead that keeps running around outside his window and he’s accidentally befriended a jock. What the fuck.

tw: implied/referenced child abuse, tw: implied/referenced drug use

Andrew Goes to Hogwarts series by justadreamfox, makebelieveanything [Rated G/T, Collection, Last Updated Sept 2021]

Part 1: a Slytherin, a Ravenclaw, and three Hufflepuffs [T, 8428 Words]

Andrew goes to Hogwarts.

We're all happy little fluff-gremlins here.

tw: implied/referenced child abuse, tw: implied/referenced csa, tw: implied/referenced self-harm

Part 2: The Potter-Nott Twins [T, 4090 Words]

Theo is not surprised when Harry wants to adopt the twins, but he is more than a little bit surprised to find that he might maybe (definitely) want to adopt them too.

tw: implied/referenced child abuse

Part 3: A Very Hogwarts Birthday [G, 4764 Words]

Andrew and Aaron get a surprise party, and Andrew gets a surprise present from Neil.

Part 4: A Snow Globe for Monsters [G, 4356 Words]

The twins are sixteen, and life at Hogwarts is good - except Aaron isn't talking to Andrew, and Andrew doesn't know why, and now Theo has been called in as reinforcement, which doesn't bode well for anyone.

NB: here’s our Harry Potter tag if you’d like more Hogwarts fics

prove your love by bazookajo94 [Rated T, 6537 Words, Complete, AFTG Exchange 2021]

To boost office morale, Andrew and Aaron’s company puts together a week-long Valentine’s Day event, complete with increasingly embarrassing activities that must be completed as a pair. The winners get two free vacation days.

Andrew picks some random man off the street. Aaron asks his long-time work crush and lunch buddy.

Guess which couple wins.

Foxhole Paper Company series by honeyyghostt [Not Rated, Collection, Complete, 2021]

Part 1: gay witch hunt [2038 Words]

" Andrew told me you could buy gay-dar online" Kevin said.

" That's ridiculous." Aaron scoffed

" Yeah probably"

tw: homophobia

Part 2: the pranksters Minyards [3085 Words]

3 times Andrew pranks Kevin and 1 time Aaron pranks Andrew instead

Part 3: what was the question? [4310 Words]

" You are useless" Allison complained then explained what truly happened.

Part 4: today smoking is gonna save lives [3319 Words]

" Minyard, we are not mad, we are just disappointed." Dan told him.

" No, we are mad." Wymack corrected her, looking at the woman in disbelief.

tw: implied/referenced alcohol abuse/alcoholism

Part 5: the duel [T, 5998 Words]

"Did you ever have intercourse with my brother in this office?" Aaron questioned, Neil ignored but Andrew shifted his blank face for a second, impling that the anwser would be yes

The World Beneath Our Feet series by Leahelisabeth [Rated T/NR, Collection with 3 Complete Works, Last Updated Jan 2020]

Part 1: The World Beneath our Feet [1005 Words]

Aaron is suspicious when his brother starts keeping secrets and running around with Kevin and Neil at all hours. A walk home in the dark proves enlightening.

Part 2: Getting In Too Deep [1297 Words, Twinyards Appreciation Week 2019]

Aaron choked on rock dust as the ground around him settled and the sound of falling rocks died away. “What the fuck?” he asked. “What were you thinking?”

Part 3: Into the Darklands [Not Rated, 6681 Words, Twinyards Appreciation Week 2019 ]

“Oh fuck. Andrew!” Aaron shouted but it was already too late. Andrew’s face always looked as if it were carved from stone but now it actually was. Andrew stood, arm raised, still sheltering a fallen Neil, and he had turned entirely to stone.

tw: violence, tw: temporary major character death, tw: implied/referenced torture, tw: canonical character death, tw: blood

Art

the twinyards wrecking absolute chaos art by @doesephs

coexisting art by @scribblesandsuch21

The Twinyards art by @ijustneedmorespace

AU where Whymack got the boys instead art by @foxholdme on twitter

[august-anon]

Lullaby of Laughter

I've been trying to edit this for days but I've been having brain fog so it's been pretty unsuccessful lol. It was written months ago though and I edited it once back then so it's probably fine? Last time I did a fic poll this got the second-most votes so it made sense to post this next.

----

Fandom: Avatar: The Last Airbender

Ship(s): Suki/Sokka/Zuko

Characters (lee/ler): Lee!Sokka/Ler!Suki/Zuko

Word Count: 2038 words

Summary: Sokka's a bit too restless to fall asleep, and unfortunately all his fidgeting is keeping Suki and Zuko awake. Suki decides to show Zuko just how she tires Sokka out enough to sleep.

[ao3 link]

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

It was different, now.

Zuko had been worried that it would be different, that things would change. He often worried late into the night about it, if they would still like him after they all started to find peace. There was certainly something to be said about romantic bonds formed in the face of death itself, after all, and while Zuko was certain his own feelings were true, he worried about the feelings of his partners were simply in the heat of the moment.

After all, he had tried to kill them multiple times. And had their friends kidnapped, multiple times. And sent an assassin after them. And--

Zuko stopped that train of thought. Uncle Iroh had told him repeatedly how unproductive it was, and Suki and Sokka had started trying to convince him of that as well. He would begrudgingly admit that their methods were a bit more effective than his uncle’s.

But that didn’t mean Zuko’s fears had vanished.

The war was over, now. His father and Azula had been defeated, Aang had saved the world, and now Zuko was anxiously waiting on his own coronation. The heightened emotions from the battles were waning, and Zuko wasn’t yet convinced that Suki and Sokka’s feelings were not going to wane with them. It would be just his luck, wouldn’t it?

They were nothing if not persistent, though.

It was the first calm night since his father and Azula had been taken down. The past several days, everyone had been rushing around, putting out one political fire after the next, stopping battle after battle. Not everyone had gotten the memo that the war had finished. For the first time since Ember Island, the three of them were in the same building with no obligations.

Somehow, they all wound up in Zuko’s suite.

The three of them had slept in the same room before; heck, they had even slept in the same bed before, but they’d never done it alone. Team Avatar, as Sokka liked to refer to their group, was not only extremely close-knit, but also extremely traumatized. Odds were, if one person found their way into your designated sleeping area, five more weren’t far behind.

This was the first night the three of them would ever spend alone.

Zuko felt a bit out of place as he climbed into the bed, Sokka already sprawled out in the middle and Suki climbing in on the other side. Sokka had quickly made himself at home, letting his hair down and throwing off most of his clothing before climbing into the bed. Suki’d had much more decorum, but she certainly wasted no time in snuggling up in Zuko’s bed, cuddling up to Sokka’s side. They both glanced up at Zuko.

“It’s no different than any other time,” Suki said, her voice gentle.

“It’s a little different,” Zuko said.

Sokka rolled his eyes. “Can you at least have your crisis while cuddling me?” He said. “I’m cold, and I need my weirdly-warm firebender boyfriend plastered up against my side, like, yesterday.”

Zuko huffed a small laugh, steeling his nerves and sliding into the bed. Sokka stayed sprawled on his back, Suki’s arms wrapped around his waist. Not sure where to go, Zuko hesitantly mirrored her position on Sokka’s other side.

The three of them laid in silence for a while. Suki was clearly dozing in and out, though not fully asleep yet. Zuko himself felt his eyelids grow heavier and heavier, the spaces between each blink growing longer and longer. Sokka, though, seemed incapable of settling down. His eyes remained wide open between them, and he seemed incapable of controlling his fidgeting, despite how hard he seemed to be trying. After the fifth time he’d jostled them both awake, Suki sat up.

“That’s it,” she said. “Do we need to tire you out?”

Zuko immediately felt the energy in the room shift. Suddenly on edge and no longer sleepy, he carefully sat up, glancing back and forth between Suki and Sokka. Sokka had his hands raised in a placating motion, a nervous grin on his face. Suki looked downright predatory.

Zuko made a note to himself to never be in the center of the cuddle pile. He didn’t want to risk her wrath if he couldn’t hold still, either.

He couldn’t help but feel a little out of place in the situation, though. While this was a clearly practiced song and dance between Suki and Sokka, Zuko had no clue what was going on. He didn’t know why that grin was on Suki’s face, or why Sokka was blubbering incoherently, or why whatever this was would help Sokka get to sleep.

But then Suki looked over at him, her devious grin going a little softer at the edges. “Wanna help out?”

Zuko blinked. “With what?”

Suki smirked. “Sometimes, Sokka’s brain moves a little too fast for him to fall asleep--”

“I’m fine!” Sokka interrupted, deliberately snuggling back into the pillows on Zuko’s bed. “See! Totally tired.” He gave them a comically fake yawn.

Suki rolled her eyes. “So when that happens, I have a little method to help tire him out for the night.”

Zuko glanced back and forth between Suki and Sokka. “What’s the method?’

Suki grinned. “I’ll show you.”

Without any more warning, her fingers were suddenly spidering against Sokka’s bare sides. Sokka shrieked and thrashed around on the bed, but Suki didn’t let up. If anything, she tickled with more vigor, her grin growing. Sokka shied away from her fingers, shouting and pleading for mercy. Zuko’s hands twisted in his lap.

Suki looked up at him and her grin faltered. “Zuko?”

Zuko gestured awkwardly. “Are you sure that’s okay?”

Suki’s face immediately softened and she slowly reached out to him, allowing him ample time to pull away or tell her no. He did neither, and she took his hand in hers, interlacing their fingers. Zuko stared at their hands, almost with a sense of wonder.

“I know he’s playing it up a lot,” Suki said. “But he doesn’t hate it.”

“I’m right here,” Sokka said.

Suki rolled her eyes. “Then you can calm our boyfriend down, since you’re the one who worried him.”

Sokka let out a drawn-out groan, but reached out to link his fingers with Zuko’s free hand anyways. Zuko ignored the way his heart seemed to be skipping beats.

“Alright, fine,” Sokka said. “I don’t hate it.” A flush spread across his cheeks and he fidgeted a bit where he lay between them. “I kinda like it, actually. Just a little.”

Suki scoffed. “He likes it a lot, he means. I wouldn’t do it to him if he didn’t love it.”

“And all the yelling?” Zuko asked.

Sokka shrugged. “Involuntary.”

Zuko nodded. Suki gave his fingers one last squeeze before pulling away and wiggling her fingers threateningly in Sokka’s direction once more. Sokka started giggling before she even touched him, flinching away from her and raising his free hand in defense. He made no effort to pull his other hand out of Zuko’s grasp. Suki lunged.

“You wanna help out, now?” Suki asked over Sokka’s laughter, a bright grin on her face.

A smirk slowly started spreading over Zuko’s face as he stared down at Sokka. His cheeks and ears were flushed, and his eyes were crinkling at the corners from the force of his smile. His laughter shook his entire body, though it was hard to tell with the way he was thrashing around on the bed, trying to escape the fingers pinching evilly along his waistline.

“Who am I to say no to that,” Zuko replied, his smirk growing into a predatory grain when Sokka’s eyes went wide.

Slowly, Zuko used the hand he had interlaced with Sokka’s to raise Sokka’s arm above his head. Zuko’s speed was originally because of hesitance, but then he noticed how flustered it seemed to make Sokka, his thrashing and pleading growing all the more desperate. It made Zuko chuckle a little under his breath as he finally pinned Sokka’s hand to the bed above his head.

“Hey,” Zuko said, voice so low that Sokka could probably barely hear him above his own laughter. “This might tickle.”

While Suki’s fingers occupied themselves with Sokka’s stomach, sides, and hips, Zuko’s own fingers landed on Sokka’s tricep and began slowly spidering down with the lightest of touches. It proved to be very effective, with Sokka arching his back and squealing at a frequency that only flying bison could hear. His legs kicked as he whined through his laughter.

“Torture!” He yelled. “Torture!!”

Suki laughed. “Light tickles get him so bad. He’s usually too squirmy for me to be that mean.” She shot him an evil-looking smirk. “But now that you’re here and I’ve got the extra hands, we can torture him as much as we want.”

Zuko laughed, gaining confidence. He kept his fingers feather-light where they were wiggling down Sokka’s arm. Right when he was above to dive into Sokka’s armpit, Sokka’s thrashing getting more and more frantic the closer he got, he switched directions and started a slow spider back up to Sokka’s elbow. Sokka kicked his legs around at the end of the bed.

“Don’t tease!” He said through his cackling, burying his flushed face in his free hand.

“But you’re cute when I tease,” Zuko said. 

Sokka didn’t seem to have a response for that, but Zuko took mercy on him anyway. The next time Zuko made it back down Sokka’s arm, he continued into Sokka’s armpit, scratching the skin as lightly as he could with his blunt nails. It drove Sokka wild. Zuko hadn’t even realized Suki had stopped tickling at first, because Sokka was still thrashing and howling as desperately as ever.

“Are you tired, yet?” She asked Sokka.

“Yes!” Sokka cried, slapping at Zuko’s tickling hand with his free one.

Suki caught Sokka’s free hand and pinned it as well, scritching against his top rib with her nails. “Are you sure?”

“Yes! Please!”

Suki pulled back at that, so Zuko followed suit. She laughed as Sokka curled into a ball and started rubbing at his ticklish spots, trying to scrub away ghost tickles. Zuko couldn’t help his fond smile at the sight. Then, Suki grabbed his hand and leaned in for a kiss, once more giving Zuko ample time to pull away if he wanted to.

He leaned in.

Even through his breathlessness, Sokka wolf-whistled at them kissing over the top of him, and Suki giggled into the kiss. Zuko carefully kept his own smile under control, not wanting the kiss to end so soon, and brought his hand up to cup Suki’s face. He felt one of her hands run through his hair, while one of Sokka’s hands trailed up his side under his robe.

He flinched when Sokka’s fingers brushed a little too gently against his waistline, unfortunately pulling away from Suki in the process.

Sokka was grinning when Zuko opened his eyes.

“We are so exploring that later,” he said.

Zuko gave him a bashful smile, but didn’t protest. He let Sokka pull him down into a kiss, planting his hand against the mattress next to Sokka’s head for balance. The other hand went down to cup Sokka’s neck. Sokka’s hands cupped Zuko’s face, not letting him pull away until Zuko was properly blushing from the heady kiss. 

Not that Zuko would’ve been pulling away, anyway.

Suki leaned for her goodnight kiss next, and Zuko smiled as her and Sokka’s lips met. His heart felt like it was turning into liquid, warm and thick and heavy in his chest in all the best of ways. The feeling only intensified when Sokka pulled him and Suki close again, the two of them cuddling up to his chest. Suki and Sokka drifted off first, this time, leaving Zuko to admire the peaceful faces they made in their sleep.

He was sure the spiraling thoughts would find their way back to him at some point. They always seemed to after all, no matter how hard he tried. For tonight, though, Zuko let himself relax into the mattress and hold his partners close.

He was starting to feel like maybe he belonged here.

[everlastingdreams]

Weeping Monk x Reader : Playing With Fire        chapter 19

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Story Summary:  The Huntsman, that is what they called your brother. A name he had earned by hunting down the fey for coin. Coin that is given by Father Carden for his services. You refuse to stand aside and watch how your brother hunts down those who are fey. When you start to warn the fey camps your brother wishes to attack, you find yourself behind enemy lines. But when the Weeping Monk becomes suspicious of you, you realise you are playing with fire.

Chapter Summary:  You are still in a state of shock after what happened and Lancelot questions why you had wished to show mercy to the Huntsman.

Notes: Maybe I’ll post 20 in a bit as well, I don’t know. Took me 2 hours to proofread this one yikes. At least I made a new gif so there.

Warnings:  None, I think.

Word count: 2038 words in this chapter.

Chapter:  19/ 33+ something (buckle up, it’s a wild ride.)

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

After riding like that for hours, you felt yourself grow more relaxed holding onto Lancelot. You didn't hate him like you had once done, you didn't know how to feel about him now. Could you trust him ? It felt so confusing. Still, you felt yourself grow tired after all this time without proper sleep and rested your head against his back. You hated to admit that feeling him breath calmly like this almost made you doze off. The thought that you might fall off the horse was what kept you awake. He had felt you lean closer against him, felt your head resting against his back and how you seemed more comfortable with holding on to him like this. Lancelot worried you would fall asleep and end up plummeting off of Goliath. It was time to halt somewhere and offer Goliath some rest as well. The last thing he wanted was to exhaust the loyal horse. He finally halted the horse near a river bank. He helped the boy off of the horse first before helping you, and he noticed you were having some difficulty dismounting. The Huntsman had not been merciful to you, and neither had his henchmen. When one of them had pushed you back to the ground with his boot, it had been in the spot where the boy had spotted the large bruise. And before that, the Huntsman had brutally kicked you in the stomach.

He would offer to check on them to see the severity of your bruises or injuries but he feared you would not appreciate the offer. Lancelot could feel that you did not trust him yet, you were not afraid but it did not mean you were comfortable around him. Lastly he dismounted and winced when he felt the thread on one of his sewed up wounds pull at his skin. The fey medicine you had given him had blocked out most of the pain, now he regretted not taking that chest with him. He could have made you drink the rest of that fey medicine instead of watching you be in pain now. You were glad he had picked this place to stop, so close to a river. You held a hand tightly against your abdomen. You felt the familiar burning pain that you had felt many times before, but it was worse this time. Draegan had kicked you before but never this brutally. You looked down at your hands, blood was stuck to them. And then you remembered that drops of his blood were also on your face.

Lancelot had noticed the shift in your behaviour and watched as you walked a small distance away from them before you knelled besides the river.

“Is she going to be alright ?” The boy looked up at him with a look of doubt.

A look that he shared with the boy “I'll go and see.”

“What should I do then ?” Percival was starting to sound bored.

“Do you know how to make a fire ?” He looked down at the boy, already guessing the answer when the boy looked at him as if he had insulted him.

“Do I look stupid to you ?” The boy shook his head, visibly irritated “You're not the only one who can set things on fire, you know ?”

The boy had a way to mentally slap him with his words, it was definitely one of Percival's talents. He elected to ignore that last sentence “Collect some firewood, and...set it on fire. It will be dark soon.”

“And you will talk to y/n while I do that ?” The boy seemed interested in that, there was a hidden undertone in his question.

He narrowed his eyes for a moment when he detected the undertone “Yes...what else would I do ?”

Even though the boy was nowhere near his height he stared him down for a moment before shrugging his shoulders “Alright then.”

He was perplexed by the boy's reaction, Percival seemed rather protective over you. But then again, you had always been kind to the boy so it should not come as a suprise. Lancelot turned to look in your direction and watched as you washed your hands in the river, one look at you and the memory of his own reaction to killing someone for the first time came back to him.

You were shaking when the water from the river streamed through your hands and watched as the water turned pink. The memory of you stabbing Draegan and watching as he collapsed to the ground flooded your mind. It happened so fast and you still couldn't believe that was your instinctive reaction. You swallowed the lump in your throat and started to rub your hands roughly, wanting to wash away the results of your unspeakable actions. Only when the skin of your hands started to hurt, did you stop. The blood was gone, but you could still feel it's phantom lingering, as if it had sunken into your skin. You wanted that feeling to go away, to be erased. But no matter how long you would try and wash it off, you knew it would taint you forever.

You were indeed the Huntsman's sister. A killer just like he was. You closed your eyes and felt the tears stream down your face. Your parents would never have forgiven you if they had still been alive. All of your kin was gone now, your brother had murdered your sister and now you had murdered your brother. When you heard quiet footsteps approach you quickly washed the blood and tears from your face. You didn't bother looking behind you when you heard him get closer, there was only one person you knew that was able to walk this quietly. He had always caught you off-guard because of it.

Lancelot had tried to think of something to say while he was walking over to you, but they had vanished from his mind when he noticed the tears staining your cheeks before you had washed them away. After a moment of silence he could only state what he believed was true “You did the right thing, y/n.”

“The right thing ?” You scoffed in disbelieve, it was audible how upset you were “I killed someone, I killed my own brother !”

He looked down at you, watching how you fought back the tears that were so evidently forming in your eyes “You had no other choice. He was not going to stop ! Had you not pushed me away when you did, I doubt we would both be here now.”

Deep down you knew Lancelot was right, but the guilt was clouding your mind.

“Why did you stop me then ? His blood would have been on my hands, not yours.” He still questioned why you had asked him to show mercy to the Huntsman.

You looked up at him and let out a sigh "Violence should never be the norm. Maybe he could have changed his ways.”

He found the mercy you had shown towards your brother both odd and admirable “Would he have shown you the same compassion ?” He knew the answer, but he was curious if you realised that the Huntsman wouldn't have blinked twice if you died.

You shook your head and let out a bitter laugh “He would have sold me off like cattle if I stopped serving his purpose. You heard what he said, what he would have let his men do...”

Lancelot had heard the threat, he had heard it loud and clear, and he had wanted to have the satisfaction of killing the Huntsman himself because of it.

“He has hurt you before...has he not ?” He gingerly reached down to touch your arm with the tips of his fingers, the one that he knew was covered in the bruises he had seen that day in the forest. You looked at his hand lightly touching your lower arm, the sleeve of your jacket covered the evidence he was referring to.

You nodded in silence, and then you felt him lightly touching your jaw, making you tilt your head so your neck was more exposed. You looked up at him and saw how he was looking at the bruises in your neck now.

“Many times ?” His fingers were almost touching your neck now.

You moved a little out of his reach and he moved his hand away “Many enough. It was worse when I was defiant, as you have seen.”

He was eerily quiet, ever since he met you he had known you to be defiant. You had shown him almost nothing else but defiance for so long, and it dawned on him that even with his reputation you always had been less afraid of him then you were of the Huntsman. Otherwise you had not shown him such defiance all this time.

Lancelot suspected what the answer to his question would be, but he wanted to hear the truth from you “Why didn't you leave ? If he hurt you... why not leave ?”

You shrugged your shoulders, a sad smile on your lips as you looked at the water “He was my kin and he did terrible things. If I stayed I could help those he wished to harm. I couldn't just turn away knowing that I could make a difference. As long as I stayed close I could help the fey.”

He swallowed thickly, he felt horrible thinking back to all the times he had threatened your life. You were suffering all this time and him hounding you had only added to that. He saw pieces of himself in you, both withstanding the silent suffering beside the ones who sought to 'cleanse' the fey.

A bitter chuckle escaped you “Besides, I have no one else. He murdered my sister, he practically raised me. Well...raised...”

By raised you meant he had practically shoved you into the hands of anyone close enough at that moment, to be cared for. Of course the people of Mirstone did not like the responsibility of caring for the little sister of the feared Huntsman, so they shoved some food in your hands out of pity before leaving you to yourself. You often spoke to the other children, but friendship was not an option. The parents would not allow their children to bond with you, it wasn't until you were almost an adult that the people you had grown up with started to treat you like a normal person. But it was not friendship. They feared the Huntsman too much to get close to his sister.

The words escaped him before he could stop them, because to him they were a truth that needed to be voiced “You're not alone anymore, y/n.”

You frowned when you heard him say that and looked up at him questioningly. He shifted on his feet, something he had always done when he was uncomfortable. What had he meant by that ? Did he... ?

Finally he cleared his throat and gestured in the direction of the boy “He needs us.”

It was not how he wanted to tell you this, but he worried how you would respond if he outrightly told you that he wished to remain in your presence. So he had pointed out that the boy needed both him and you and hoped you would understand the unspoken truth.  

You looked in the direction of the boy “Oh...”

For a moment you had thought he was talking about himself, you caught yourself feeling silently disappointed that that was not the case. You brushed the strange feeling aside and quirked a brow at him “Well, according to him he doesn't need us.”

Lancelot looked in the direction of the boy again before smirking down at you “Who else will tell him that if he makes that fire any larger they will see us all the way back to Mirstone ?”

You quickly whipped your head around and saw how large the fire already was, and when Percival tossed another piece of firewood in it you jumped to your feet. Lancelot was looking impressed by it, and you groaned in frustration before making your way over to the boy.

Taglist:

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[willow-salix]

FabFiveFeb Alan!

Finally got this bugger edited, so here it is, my offering for Alan week of @gumnut-logic​ FabFiveFeb. Once again I’ve written what my daughter plotted with a few of my own tweaks thrown in.

“Is there really nothing else to do around here?” Alan whispered to Selene, jolting her awake from the sleepy doze she was enjoying stretched out on a sun lounger. “How can you just lay around here all day?”

“Like you don’t do the same every day at home?” she grumbled, stretching out in an effort to wake up. She'd never admit it, but she was getting a bit bored with having nothing to do, hence the impromptu nap time. 

“That’s different, I’ve got things there to do.”

“You mean you have technology?” Selene grinned evilly. “Whereas here it’s-”

“Like I’ve gone back in time to 2015 and the graphics suck, " he groaned. 

“Come on, it’s not that bad, don’t you like the peace and quiet?” Selene’s family home was indeed very quiet, set apart from the other houses on the street, it backed out into a small but flower filled garden that held nothing but the sun loungers they were currently occupying, the picnic table their drinks were on, a slightly rusted BBQ, some yoga mats and a bird bath in the shape of a frog on a lily pad.

Alan looked towards Selene's cool, but rather weird, younger brother who was currently doing some kind of yoga crossed with Tai Chi that seemed to have a little of that 1970’s disco type of dancing thrown in for good measure.

“Adam, help me,” he begged, trying to invoke the bro code. 

“Chill out, little dude, it’s all good," Adam said, his sleepy tone the perfect accompaniment to his snail like movements. 

“Nothing about this is good,” Alan huffed, feeling dismissed and beyond frustrated. He was seriously regretting offering to go with her for a visit under the mistaken belief that time spent away from his brothers with his cool sister-in-law would be awesome. But no, he’d been stuck there for three days and they’d done nothing but talk about boring things that he couldn’t really join in with because he didn’t share the same memories that they did and watch TV in the evenings. The only positive thing was the quality of the food on offer.

“How did you grow up like this and not die of boredom?”

“We made our own fun, we’d read, draw, do arts and crafts, go on days out and-”

“Days out? Where did you go?” Alan jumped on that information like John on a double cheeseburger after a month in space.

Selene thought about it for a moment or two. “The seaside?” she offered. "That was always our favourite place to go and somewhere we always looked forward to, a rare treat really."

“The beach? Yes! Can we go?” he gave her his best pleading puppy eyes and she was, as he well knew, powerless to resist.

“Well…” she dithered, caught between spending time in her family home with her mum as it came up to what would have been her parents 30th wedding anniversary and the need to do more than sit around and mope, especially if that moping meant that her littlest love had a crap time.  “Ad’s, are you up for a road trip to Southend?”

Her brother paused in his Night Fevering to look at her. He seemed to think about it for far longer than was necessary before nodding. 

“I could go for that. Wanna take my car?”

                  ***

“I’m never getting in a car with your brother again,” Alan shuddered, still looking a little stressed out by the whole experience.

“Yet you’ll get in a jet with Scott?”

“Scott goes faster than 25 mph and he knows what road signs are,” Alan explained in the same tone that John adopted whenever he was explaining to her why she actually needed an investment portfolio. 

“Road signs are all part of the conspiracy, man, they just want you to follow blindly and never question where they are sending you.”

“To the beach, they were sending us to the beach,” Alan continued to bitch. Selene couldn’t blame him, two hours in a car with her brother's sitar music, cloud of vape smoke and tendency to lose track of their destination was enough to make anyone a little antsy. Maybe now he'd stop complaining when she took too long to fly them to her flat. 

They left the car park and headed towards the seafront. Thankfully, with it being a weekday and term time, there weren't too many people about. As always the sea was a dirty grey colour, nothing like the clear blue they were used to on the island and Selene could tell that Alan was looking at it with thinly veiled disgust.

Southend had been promoted to a historic seaside town back in 2038 and hadn’t changed since. The lights of the out of date arcades still flashed in welcome, drawing Alan’s attention almost immediately, the little beach huts still offered deck chair rental and the amusement park with its clanking, clunking kiddy rides and its ancient roller-coaster still drew some crowds. 

“See that there?” she pointed out towards the sea. “That’s still the longest pleasure pier in the world.”

“Pleasure Pier? Did you have to make that sound so dirty?” Alan groaned.

“Sorry, but that’s what it’s called, there are different classifications and one that has no purpose but for leisure activities like this one, is known as a pleasure pier.”

“I didn't know that, but it still doesn’t make it any better,” he muttered as she slipped one arm through his and the other through Adam’s to tow them across the road.

The air was filled with a mixture of freshly fried donuts, fish and chips and the unmistakable scent of the sea and Selene was immediately hungry.

“It’s been such a long time since I’ve been here,” she sighed happily, relaxing into the atmosphere of what had once been one of her favourite places in the world. She could vividly remember how exciting it had been to hear the announcement that they were going to the seaside for the day. That meant an afternoon spent playing on the beach, splashing in the sea, eating dinner out of a paper tray with a little wooden fork and, if you were really lucky, a trip around the sealife center and a floaty helium filled balloon to take home with you.

Looking out down the length of the beach she easily conjured up images of childhood days gone by, seeing her father chasing Adam down the beach as he attempted to make a break for freedom or tried to eat a clump of seaweed while her mother screeched at Rufus to run faster and catch him.

Maybe coming here had been a good idea in other ways too, she pondered. Her mother tended to favour being miserable if it was an option, and often when it wasn't, and had been mooching around the house sighing like she was a Victorian ghost haunting the place. She’d gone out to visit friends for the day, leaving them alone and that had been when Alan had seized his chance. And Selene for one was glad he had, he was always good at sensing when she was in need of cheering up and this time had been no exception.

“Can we start at the arcades?” Alan asked, looking more excited than he had in days. Who was she to disappoint him?

“Sure, lead the way!”

        ***

Two hours later and Selene had finally dragged her brothers away from the bleepy, shiny, flashy machines and back into the fresh air. Alan, it transpired, was almost as good on a claw machine as John and she was now lugging along a whole new family of stuffed toys, all slightly moth eaten and smelling a little suspect but cute nonetheless.

“I’m hungry,” Alan announced.

“Good call, little dude.” Adam, surprising Alan no end, had joined in rather enthusiastically at the arcade, being more active and alert than he’d ever seen him before, displaying a competitive streak that rivaled a Tracy's. But, now that the excitement of gaming had died down, he was back to his chilled and slightly lethargic self.

“Fancy some donuts?” Selene suggested.

“Sis…” Adam drawled. 

“I’ll take that as a yes,” Selene giggled, shoving the stuffed toys into her brother’s arms as she headed to the donut stalls. “I'll get them, you two meet me on the beach.”

Her arms now free of their burden Selene quickly ordered three dozen of the delectable little morsels, something the English called Dinky Donuts, small little ring donuts, freshly fried and drenched in a sprinkling of sugar. Knowing that they’d need them she bought some drinks too and took her bounty back to the boys, proudly displaying her prize.

“I got them!” she yodeled, but no excited sounds were heard in return. “What’s up?” she asked, nudging Alan as she reached his side.

“What the heck is this?”

“The beach, duh. What else could it be?"

He scuffed a toe into the stones at his feet. “This is not a beach, this is all stones. Where's the sand?”

“It’s a pebble beach, most of the British coast is,” she shrugged.

“It’s wrong.”

“If you say so,” she wasn’t in the mood to argue or defend the virtue of their beaches, she had hot donuts to eat. 

“This is not a beach, there’s no surfers, no sand, no lifeguards, no nothing.”

“This is England, we take things at a more chilled pace,” she soothed, dumping a bag on each of the boys' laps.

She took her own and opened it, inhaling the rich scent. Oooh yeah, that hit the spot. She reached in to pluck one out, studying it from all angles, marveling at it's perfection. She lifted it to her mouth prepared for the taste explosion that was about to assault her mouth in the very best of ways…

“Sel!” A sharp Alan elbow embedded itself in her side, making her drop the donut. She watched in horror as it hit the pebbles and rolled away.

“You had better have a good reason for making me sacrifice a donut,” she warned him.

“Over there!” 

Selene turned, following the direction in which Alan was pointing. 

“What? I don’t see anything?” All she saw was the relatively empty beach, nothing but a few seagulls pecking around hopefully, one coming close enough to snag her lost donut, racing off in triumph with it in its mouth. 

“Them,” he pointed again.

“Them? What about them?” The them in question turned out to be a small group of school age boys, the oldest no more than ten years old. They were all holding a number of balloons from the pier, which were bobbing along above their heads and looked perfectly innocent. “They’re just having a day out, could be an inset day or something at school.”

“No, look what that one's holding,” Alan insisted, nodding towards the oldest looking boy who was carrying a small box with holes in it.

Selene squinted closer. “Is that an animal box?” She was amazed that Alan had even noticed such a thing, she hadn’t looked twice at the boys, just seeing a happy group of friends at the seaside on a rare day off school. Alan always seemed like he was paying little attention to anything, more absorbed in his games or phone, but here was the undeniable proof that he was just as good as his brothers and had inherited their danger seeking sense.

“Looks that way,” Alan agreed. 

“It could be innocent,” Selene argued lamely. “Maybe they are just taking their pet on a day out too?"

“Sure, that’s what it’ll be,” Alan said, rolling his eyes. 

“Honestly, it’s something I’d do,” she retorted, feeling the need to defend herself and her wish to believe that there was good in everyone.

“We’ll keep an eye on them,” Alan decided, finally reaching into his own bag for a donut.

As was usually the case, Selene was easily distracted by talking to her brother and just enjoying the novelty of being in a different place to one she was used to. She’d finally grown accustomed to hearing the sound of the ocean at all times of the day and night after so long in a city where traffic was the only ambient noise. b

But here the sound was different to the island, here the waves lapped gently over the pebbles rather than crashing against rocks and she was surprised that she could tell the difference. 

She’d worried, when Alan had suggested going out, that this little beach from her childhood which stood out so bright and shiny in her memories, would look pale and dull in reality. Life was often that way, your memories and imagination creating a perfect picture that was rarely obtainable in the real world and she didn't want her memories tainted by the truth. Thankfully she had been worried over nothing and was finding it just as charming as she had remembered it to be.

“Not bad are they?” she asked, turning to Alan to see how he was enjoying his donut feast but the space next to her was empty.

“Allie?” she called, looking around like he might suddenly pop out of nowhere. Surely she hadn't ignored him for too long? 

“Alan!” she yelled, trying again. He was a big boy now, an adult in his own right, but she got just as panicked when she lost Scott, which was actually easier if you could believe that. Alan was usually happy to hang near her and chill, Scott was always dashing off to look at something or other and would just vanish into the ether without a second thought. 

“Ad’s, have you seen Alan?”

“Yeah, little dude, cool shirt, strange hair.”

“Thanks for that lovely description. I meant did you see where he went?”

Adam nodded, pointing further down the beach to where the small group of school boys stood, Alan beside them, waving his arms violently, clearly yelling at them though she couldn’t hear what he was saying.

“Shit!” Selene was up in a second, grabbing Adam's arm and towing him along in the process, forcing him to abandon his stuffed animal squad to the mercy of the seagulls as they barreled down the beach after Alan. 

"Al," she panted, finally catching up, "what…doing?" 

In answer the small box that the boy had been carrying was thrust into her hands, a disgruntled rustling noise along with a manic scrabbling, coming from inside. 

"Oi! Give that back!" a boy yelled, his piggy nose turned up to the sky in indignation. "We 'ad ta catch that thing ourselves. Ain't no way you're gonna snatch it."

"You're not getting it back," Alan insisted, his arms folded as he firmly stood his ground. 

Selene passed the box on to Adam who was standing there doing absolutely nothing to help, his attention on the balloons floating above them. Once her hands were free she immediately flanked her little brother, knowing that he wouldn't be doing this without a very good reason. 

"What's going on?" she demanded to know, her hands on her hips. "What are you boys up to?" 

"This idiot won't give us it back," the oldest boy and apparently the mouthpiece of the little hoodlum brigade, continued to yell. Selene had seen boys like him before, usually ones with overly aggressive parents that taught their kids that you got what you wanted in life by being obnoxious, rude and threatening. Well not on her watch and apparently not on Alan's either. 

"You're right , I won't," Alan agreed. "Because that is a living creature that you were about to tie to a bunch of balloons."

"Weren't doin' nothin' of the sort. Yer lyin'." 

"You were what?" Selene hissed, her attention fully engaged now that there was the potential for injury of an animal. "You were going to send an innocent animal into the sky on the end of some balloons?" 

"Nah, we weren't," the little bully boy continued to argue, elbowing one of his friends when they opened their mouth to speak. 

"We ain't doing nothin' wrong, were we lads? Nothin' at all. Just a little experiment for school, jus' like teacher said."

"Experiment? What kind of experiment?" Selene asked, narrowing her eyes in warning. 

"Why should we tell you?" the mouthy one sneered. "You ain't nothin'."

"We were just seeing if he could reach space, like. Teacher said that people would send monkeys up in rockets a hundred years ago," another boy piped up, sounding pleased with himself. "Figured we'd try the same out ta sea like a note in a bottle."

"You are so not doing that!" Selene yelped. 

"Yeah, 'ow you gonna stop us?" 

"You wanna say that to the police?" Alan threatened. 

"Police? Yeah righ', like yer gonna jus' call up the police like they actually care. An' then wot, 'ave em come running on the say so of a nobody? Fer this? I don't think so, mate. They don't give a crap."

"Listen up you little shit," Selene started, rapidly losing patience. "You're not getting that…Whatever that is-" 

"Rat," one of the kids helpfully offered. 

"Rat," Selene continued with a little shudder of horror at the fact that they had gone to all the trouble of capturing a dirty rat off the street just to do something cruel to it. "You're not getting it back and you're not going to hurt it. What's wrong with you all?" 

"He's been to space," Adam suddenly piped up, like he was only just catching up to the conversation but still missing the main point, pointing at Alan helpfully. 

"Space, yeah right," another of the boys, a weedy looking string bean that had previously been hiding near the back of the pack, looking at Alan judgingly. None of the boys looked particularly bothered by their threats or the fact that Selene was practically spitting, she was so angry. 

"Al," she demanded, determined to win the little shits respect. "Show them that clip you took last Saturday, the one on your board."

"We can all board, you ain't nothing special," the mouthpiece sneered, not impressed in the slightest. 

Alan pulled out his phone, fiddled with it for a second then showed them the screen where a video was playing, taken from his vlogging drone as he boogied around outside Five on his astroboard. The dark heavens were clearly visible all around him while the earth spun quietly below, and there, if you looked closely, was John, in the background, sitting on the outside of the gravity ring, clearly doing all the work while Alan filmed for Brandon’s channel. The Alan on screen zoomed in a loop the loop, the drone following, the camera angle changing to show Three securely docked to Five.

“That actually is space!” one kid gasped.

“And that’s...that’s…” another stuttered.

“Thunderbird THREE!” someone screamed in excitement.

“Still think I’m a nobody that the police won’t listen to?” Alan asked casually as he pocketed his phone. "Maybe I should skip the police and go straight to the GDF? What do you think, Sel?" 

"Yep, sounds like a plan to me. They take animal cruelty very seriously, you know."

The ring leader visibly deflated before their eyes, but he valiantly tried to hold on to his ‘couldn’t give a shit’ attitude.

“So you know some people, what’s that got ta do with anythin’? You ain’t the boss here.”

“Knock it off, Wendle, it’s over,” one boy ordered, rolling his eyes.

"Wendle?" Alan mouthed to Selene who shrugged in return. Never had a kid looked less like a Wendle in the entire world. 

“Yeah, I never wanted to do this in the first place,” another joined in. 

The first one to have spoken walked away, followed by another, then the other that had spoken. Others trailing after them until the small group had dispersed as if it had never existed, all of them hurrying off down the beach with calls for getting donuts or having to head home.

Wendle managed to stand his ground for less than a minute before he gave in.

“Keep the stupid rat then!” he yelled, taking off after his friends.

Adam, being Adam, waved goodbye like it was the most normal thing in the world, still holding the rat filled box.

Alan let out the breath he’d been holding, visibly shaking, either from anger or adrenaline. He had never been one for confrontation no matter what form it took or who it involved.

“You did good, babe,” Selene praised, giving him a hug.

“Yeah, good, little dude,” Adam agreed, “here, have this, I insist,” he handed him the box with the rat in it like it was some great prize.

“Erm, thanks,” Alan said, gingerly accepting the box of rat, which rustled as the creature inside shifted around. He held the box for a second, looking completely bemused and a little disgusted, suddenly having a very real feeling of compassion for John when he walked in on Selene and Scott doing something weird. 

“What are we going to do with the rat?” he finally asked Selene, who was the only one there since Adam had wandered off to rescue the stuffed animals they had abandoned, snatching up Alan’s dropped bag of donuts and picking one out to munch on.

“I don’t know,” Selene admitted, “I guess we should take it somewhere to release it. Not around here though, maybe back at Mum’s.”

“I guess,” Alan reluctantly agreed, not liking the idea of sitting in a car with a wild rat in a box. 

Since they had gained another tag along, even if it was in a box, they decided to cut the day short, knowing they couldn't drag the rat around with them all day. It had clearly suffered enough, what with being caught and stuffed in a box and having survived a narrow brush with death. It would be better for them to take it straight home and let it go in the relative safety of the garden before it got even more stressed out. 

"I'll drive," Selene insisted, leaving Alan to hold the rat in the back seats, Adam calling shotgun so he could 'pick the tunes, man'. 

With Selene in the driving seat it was a far shorter, not to mention less frustrating, journey back to Casa de Tempest. 

To Selene's intense relief their mother was still out when they got back. She would have pitched a fit if she'd seen them releasing a rat into her garden, she'd never go out there again. 

Adam wandered off the second they got home, muttering something about a tofu log, leaving them alone to release the beast. 

"You can do the honours," Selene smiled, nodding at the box he still held. "Since you were the one to perform the daring rescue. Seriously, you did good today, sweetheart, but I'm really starting to think that I need to stop taking a Tracy with me whenever I go places, you're all the same, nothing but trouble."

Alan blushed at the praise, as always finding it slightly uncomfortable to be the center of attention in such a way, but still happy to get the validation that he'd done the right thing. With so many big brothers who had all been there and done that before he had a lot to live up to and often felt like he couldn't quite match up to them. 

Taking the box over to the bushes near the fence where Selene had indicated, he opened the flaps and stepped back to give the little guy some room. 

The rat didn't move at first, staying inside the box, obviously scared by its experiences. They stayed quiet, giving it time to make up its mind. Finally they saw the box wobble as the rat made its tentative way out. 

"Shit!" Selene yelped, launching herself off her seat so fast Alan barely saw her move. 

"Sel, what are you…doing," he finished, stunned to see her hit the ground, the rat cradled protectively against her chest. 

"Help me up," she wheezed and he did as she bid, helping her to her feet as her hands were occupied. 

"What's wrong? Why did you catch it?" 

"Allie, look," she carefully opened her hands, just a little. A small, pink nose poked out, followed by a pure white snout, a grey face and perfect pink petal ears. 

"Is that…?"

"A domestic rat, yes. This was either someone's pet or it's come from a store. We can't let him go, he'll never survive in the wild."

"Wow, he's so cute. Can I hold him? He won't bite me will he?" 

"I don't know, he seems tame enough but he's had a fright today so I can't promise anything." She carefully placed the rat in Alan's outstretched hands. 

The rat, far from looking terrified, seemed to be perfectly fine now it was out of the box. It sat down on its haunches and began to wash its face with its little paws, one grey, one white. 

"Aww, he's great," Alan cooed, cupping the rat in one hand so he could stroke it gently with the other. "I've always wanted a pet."

Selene sighed, knowing exactly what was coming next, there was no escaping it, it was going to happen… 

"Can I keep him?" 

    ***

"We gotta move fast," Selene instructed. "I've got the cage and the bedding. Have you got the food?"

"Yep," Alan held up the bag with the food, treats and water bottle they had purchased on their way home. The rat was curled up in his new travel bag, which was hanging from Alan's shoulder. 

"Right, we make a break for it, we go straight to your room, don't look back no matter what happens and avoid John and Scott at all costs. Got it?" 

"Got it," he nodded, grinning happily. 

"They're gonna kill me," she sighed, not that there was much she could do about it. "OK, let's go!" 

They raced up the back stairs from the hangars, straight to the upper floors of the villa where the bedrooms were situated, bypassing the more populated communal areas and managing to avoid any and all Tracys. 

They dived into Alan's room, Selene struggling a little, burdened as she was with a three storey cage. Alan cleared a space on his desk and took the cage from her. 

While Alan set up the cage, filling it with fresh bedding and tasty foods, Selene made herself at home on Alan's bed, the rat happily perched on her chest, enjoying an ear fondle. 

"I didn't know you were back," a voice called from the hallway, accompanied by the sound of footsteps. 

Selene and Alan both jumped, their heads turning guilty towards the door they had neglected to shut where a suspicious looking spaceman stood. 

"Hey, gorgeous husband of mine, I've missed you!" Selene chirped, trying to divert his attention as she quickly grabbed the rat and stuffed it in the pocket of the hoodie she'd stolen from Adam. 

John gave her a look that said he'd seen everything.

"What's that?" 

"What's what?" she answered, trying to look innocent. 

"That tail sticking out of your pocket."

"Tail? What tail?" she poked the tail gently back inside.

"Why does Alan have a cage on his desk that he's trying, unsuccessfully I might add, to hide by standing in front of it?" 

"To put Gordon in?" 

One sleek ginger eyebrow rose and they both knew they were wasting their time. They were well and truly busted. 

Alan held out his hand and Selene passed over the rat, who was none the worse for its impromptu expedition into the depths of her pocket. It sat quietly in his hands, happily nibbling on a piece of cereal bar that had already been occupying his hiding place. 

"Where did that come from?" John's foot tapped out a rhythm as he waited for them to spill the beans, leaning against the door frame, his arms folded. 

"Have I told you how hot you look when you're all grumpy and intense like this?" Selene tried. 

"Where did you get the rat?" he repeated ignoring her blatant attempts at distraction. 

"The beach," Alan admitted, caving immediately under the big bro gaze. 

"The beach?" 

"Yep," Alan looked at Selene for backup, cradling the rat who didn't seem to care about any of the drama he was causing. 

"Some boys had him in a box and they were going to tie it to some balloons and let it go but Alan spotted them and stopped them," she explained. 

John glanced at the rat, who was looking very adorable and fat. 

Ever the master of managing her husband, Selene got to her feet and crossed the room to wrap her arms around John's middle. 

"Alan was great, he sprung into action before I even knew what was going on. He rescued him, and really, isn't that what International Rescue does? Rescue people?" 

"That's not a person, that's a rat," John argued, but she could tell he was weakening. 

"Did I mention that I missed you?" she grinned, standing on tiptoes to place a little kiss on his chin. 

John's sigh of surrender was epic. 

"I'm banning you from ever leaving the house again with any of my brothers. What next, a dolphin with Gordon? 

"No, don't be silly. We couldn't bring a dolphin home in my car."

John rolled his eyes ignoring his wife to face his brother. 

"Does that thing have a name?" 

"Yep," Alan answered, grinning proudly as he moved closer, holding the rat out for inspection. 

"John, meet Fuzz Aldrin."

[just-like-playing-tag]

A Letter from Norman reactions

Tonight I was feeling like reorganizing the notes I took after reading the novel for the first time. Just some random personal reactions I had after reading it; if anything catches your attention and you'd like to know more about a particular event from the novel, please feel free to ask and I'll be happy to help!!!

Under the cut because it's l o n g. That is, if Tumblr allows me to add a "read more", which has never happened before, but I'll keep hoping in it.

• Disclaimer: I'm suing anyone who ever said that the novel is all about NorEmma. I've literally put off reading it because I didn't want to get into something overly romantic while there's??? Nearly nothing about it that is romantic??????? Just a slight mention in that last chapter and that's it???????? Why are y'all like this

Prologue

• I need you all to know that the important letter™ through which Norman informed Emma about his plan starts with him describing the weather. I just think it's a relevant information.

• Ok I'm at freaking page 1 of “A letter from Norman” and. NORMAN IT'S A FREAKING LETTER TO EMMA NOT A SHAKESPEAREAN PLAY THERE'S LITERALLY NO REASON TO BE THIS POETIC

Maybe, I would get it if it was directed to Ray, but to Emma?????

Chapter 1

• Emma in 2038: Let's befriend ghosts

Emma in 2047: let's befriend demons

Seems like a logic consecution to me

• Ok but why has nobody ever mentioned the extremely precious Emma / Gilda moments in the novel???? My heart was completely melting that was the most adorable thing I've ever read??????

• The way Norman is constantly in awe of Ray is so adorable... Baby is so sweet I swear, he deserves the world

Chapter 2

• OK BUT THE SWEET EXCHANGE between Ray and Isabella before him and Emma go out at night?????? Ray is so pure is swear... He's a precious baby who didn't deserve all the shit he went through.

Reporting it in case anyone's curious; for context, Norman is sick, and Emma wants to go out look for a flower that she's read is going to help him feel better. Emma and Ray are convinced that Norman is going to die because babies are just that dramatic, and easily impressionable as well. They're seven here.

“ «Ray, I'm counting on you!»

Isabella pressed an hand on the boy's shoulder, who turned his face to her and diligently nodded, before continuing: «Differently from Emma, I don't think the flower is going to help Norman heal».

«What do you mean?»

«However, it's better than having to sit back and watch without doing anything. I too, like her, want him to heal as soon as possible.»

«Sure, I understand...» ”

NOW that hits so hard. You have to understand, this is after Ray had made the deal with Isabella. He had already started to plan the escape. In this occasion, he was on a very thin line: alone at night with Emma, outside the House, a child who knew the truth. Isabella knew those were the right conditions for him to attempt an escape, so she decided to test his loyalty; one misstep, and their deal - which was fundamental for the escape Ray was planning - would have ended.

But at the same time, Ray needed to go. Because, just like Emma, he just couldn't stand to lose Norman. And to see these three children caring so deeply about each other even at such a young age makes me honestly bawl. This is quite certainly my favorite thing from this series. And Ray deserves the world.

• Ray was so determined to save his two friends, he even considered for a moment, in the woods, to tell Emma the truth about the orphanage. I find it very nice how the novel hinted of all these times Ray almost revealed the truth, it really puts emphasis on how he was trying to find the best moment for the escape- but it also hints to how desperate he was to share this grievous burden he was forced to carry for the longest time.

• “ Ray, you must keep on living, Norman whispered to himself like a prayer. ”

I'm... I'M 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺

Doesn't help the fact that this bit was literally at the end of pages of Norman praising Ray and how brave he had been for so long.

• “ Nobody in the House would have wanted for Ray to pay with his life to amend the silence of all those years. ”

I love this bit. Nobody between the children ever hated Ray for speechlessly assisting to dozens of his siblings being lead to death, because they all immediately understood how much he was suffering, how powerless he must had felt, and also, even though it only led to him being even more hurt, how deeply he loved them all. It's really nice to realize that no children ever hated Ray- no one besides from himself. His siblings love him unconditionally, and that's precisely what he deserves 🤧🤧💕💕💕

• Norman: *adventures in a detailed description of Ray's features and gestures for no other apparent reason than the fact that he finds him pretty*

Chapter 3

• Ok I know people use to see Ray and Susan's interactions under the light of Ray having a crush on her but honestly? I think they make the cutest brotp. I never knew how much I needed Ray-having-an-older-sister content untill now.

• For real though!! What hits you really hard is to find out, even though he would had never ever showed it, how desperate he was to have somebody care about him, and to be loved. He literally grieves for losing someone that looks after him and is there to check on him in his lowest days- we know it's the thing Isabella never gave him. Man, this boy didn't deserve all the shit that happened to him. Tpn may have become an old known story for me, but Ray's sufferings in his early age will never stop tearing my heart apart.

• Ok, I wasn't ready for all this angst on Ray's part. I mean, I obviously know GF were hard times for him, but I didn't expect for him to take over the pov. Sis, how wrong I was. Now I'm crying.

• Coming to the realization that Ray's initial plan actually was to bring everyone in the escape, but he clearly had to give up on it after having realized it would have been impossible to save them 🥺🥺🥺

(I mean it was not impossible. He believed it was. But it wasn't.)

• Ok but. The last part of the Ner chapter. I really don't want to spoil it for anyone because it really was a beautiful chapter but I really need to say: Emma and Norman. The way it wasn't just Ray always being there for them, protecting them from afar; no matter their blissful ignorance, they have always been there for him too. They never abandoned that lonely boy, and they made it so that he could have a last reason not to give up. A single, dim light of hope in that pitch black, devastating world he was born in. I may or may not be crying my eyes out.

(Btw I had written this before the Ray special chapter came out, and it's kinda funny to look back at it now)

• The thing with the Ner chapter is: you enter in it after reading two chapters of normal, wholesome children's stories. There's a dark undertune in it, but it's very subtle and it doesn't interfere with the happy, cheerful atmosphere of these children facing adventures together with each other. But then the Ner chapter strikes, and the Ray pov arrives, and it's like being beaten with a bat in the stomach several times. Deep down, you had always known it; but you suddenly realize that all these children are going to die. And, even worse, there's one child who knows. There's one child who has to assist to everything powerlessly. There's one child, one freaking-nine-years-old who knows that all his siblings are going to die, and there's nothing he can do. That a single mistake could ruin the chances of making just two of his siblings survive, which is everything he's hanging to right now. One child who only needs to be loved. Well that... That hits hard.

Me expressing my thoughts: girl this form is shit you can't write something that is understandable to save your life can you

• Also can we please appreciate Norman taking so long to get out of the forest as it's a recurrent characterizzation of his character to be desperately willing to live just *French chef kiss*

• I really like how the novel underlined how Norman's choice of sacrificing himself corresponded to a betrayal toward his friends (when you think about it, Emma definitely felt betrayed). It's almost like in his last moments Norman chose to switch roles with Ray, taking on his shoulders the burden of being both the traitor and the sacrifice.

Chapter 4

• Norman: * “ He instinctively closed his eyes and abandoned himself to the sweet memory of that time he understood how deeply loved he was. ” *

Somewhere, Ray: Can't relate

• Emma: Norman, what you want to do when you grow up?

Norman: It's a secret.

Me:

• “ Ray woke up before everyone, as usual. ”

A remarkable detail. You'd think Ray, as a good depressed person as he is, would sleep more than the average. The truth is: he doesn't sleep at all.

• Norman: There's... Another person I like

Me:

• OK NOW WHY did none tell me about the nine (9) lines of Norman / Don interacting it was worth reading the novel solely for that.

• WHY DID NONE TELL ME ABOUT DON ALMOST STRANGLING NORMAN AND MAKING HIM LITERALLY PASS AWAY IT WAS TOTALLY WORTH READING THE NOVEL SOLELY FOR THAT

• Reading about Conny being there hurts a lot but reading about Sadie and Hao brings up a totally different kind of pain. Also who the hell is Cindy?

• Norman: Oh yes, Emma and Ray, my most dear friends, my closest siblings, the reason I wake up in the morning, my only reason to live, the ones I'd entrust my life with,

Also Norman: Dunnot in the last thirteen hours and six minutes they have been acting pretty sus, I'm kinda sure they're betraying me somehow ://

• “ «I agree, but it feels like you've fallen down a rabbit hole. You're restless, you constantly look off...» said the raven haired boy, distorting his mouth in an hardly intelligible grimace and giving his friend a meaningful look.

«Norman, about that mysterious girl...»

«No, you're mistaken! I...»

Norman, filled with frustration, raised up his voice, starting to lose the coolness that was usually characteristic of him.

«But I haven't said anything yet!»

That being said Ray, with slightly mocking doing, turned on his feet and went away, leaving Norman like that. ”

I LOVE THIS BIT SO INEXPLICABLY MUCH I'm always *so* in for Oreo finishing each other sentences / reading each other's thoughts. Here, Norman answered Ray's question before he could even expose it, because he already knew what it would have been. Equally, Ray knew what Norman was going to say even though he cut his answer halfway through.

I love how much on the same page they are, they really... Totally and fully understand each other even without words, and I find it so sweet. Seriously, their dynamic is so wholesome

• Norman's last birthday gift: the thing that matters the most to him: his family's happiness

Emma's reward: the thing that matters the most to her: her family's happiness

Some things hit harder than others.

• I don't know like. When you read the novel after the series has ended, everything hurts so much more, because you know these are all memories Emma has lost forever.

• So you made colorful clothing by "coloring old clothes"? Have fun realizing y'all have celebrated Norman's birthday wearing your dead siblings' clothes

Bonus this epic note I randomly took I completely forgot the context of:

• Isabella is a bitch. I don't give a fuck about your dramatic past woman, leave that boy alone

(When the protect Ray mood hits™)