#but then when she grow up she somehow learn it

[fear-is-truth]

Sorry if this is out of character before hand 😔

Anyways!! How do you think Kai would react if he found out !user was pregnant? I know you have one like this already (I think?) but what if they found out it was a girl and not a boy?

Personally I think he’d be pretty pissed that !user wasn’t good enough to conceive a boy or that !user obviously did something wrong. But that’s just me🤷‍♀️

I want to know how you think Kai would react. Sorry if it’s a weird request or if you’ve already done something like this before.

By the way I love all your works and you’ve been uploading so much lately and I love you for that for real🤞

ahhh you’re too kind !! so here’s my take..

kai stands there, arms crossed, expression tense. he’s not furious, but there’s a definite air of disappointment. you can almost feel the energy shift in the room as he stares at the ultrasound screen, jaw clenching. “a girl, huh?” he lets out a slow exhale, rubbing the back of his neck before turning to you with a disgruntled look. “figures.” you blink, unsure of how to respond. “…what’s that supposed to mean?” he just shakes his head, sighing as if the universe has somehow conspired against him. “i guess we’ll have to work with what we’ve got,” he says eventually, glancing at you with a half-hearted smirk. “she’ll have to be as tough as any boy.”

at first, there’s a brief moment of frustration. he has always envisioned raising a son—someone who could follow in his footsteps, take up the mantle, and carry on his ideology with pride. to kai, sons represented strength, power, and legacy. his first instinct is to feel a bit slighted, almost as if the universe had conspired against him.

he doesn’t voice this frustration aloud, though—he’s too self-aware for that. plus he’s not that big of an asshole. instead, he quietly sulks for a while, retreating into his thoughts. this was supposed to be a moment of triumph for him, but there’s no denying that a daughter was never part of the plan.

however, his disappointment quickly turns to a different kind of interest. if there’s one thing kai thrives on, it’s the need to control. and a daughter? well, she would be something entirely different to mold, even if he hadn’t prepared for it. he might have initially imagined her as a liability, but the idea of raising a daughter with the same rigor as he would a son starts to grow on him.

he will insist on the name being gender-neutral or strong with masculine undertones—no feminine names like “lily” or “grace” here. if anything, he might give her a name like “phoenix,” “avery,” “billie” or “taylor”.

when kai first holds his daughter, it’s a totally unexpected reaction. he’s spent so much time convincing himself that this wasn’t what he wanted, that a son was the only option. but when she’s placed in his arms, tiny and fragile, all of those thoughts blur into nothing.

he looks down at her, and despite himself, there’s a tightening in his chest. he hadn’t expected to fall in love so quickly with this new life you’ve created together. it’s not like the way he loves his vision, his plans, or even his movement. it’s the first time in a long time he lets himself feel anything that isn’t centered on you or his own ambition.

he makes it clear that he will raise her to be tough. there’s no coddling in kai’s book. he’ll insist on teaching her discipline, perseverance, and how to manipulate situations in her favour, just as he would a son. she’ll learn to never show weakness, to never bow down.

kai would never ever admit it, but deep down, he’s fiercely protective of her—he will never let her be anyone’s victim. he’ll raise her to be a fighter.

[mafuyussweater]

My Favorite Bingqiu (Bingyuan) fics

Be sure to read tags!

Leave kudos and comments for the authors!

Enjoy ╰(*´︶`*)╯♡ (to be added to as a read more)

lowly disciple's self insert fanfic system by:

Allpiesforourown

Mature • canon divergence

Airplane and Cucumber-bro figure out they are transmigrators earlier on. Shen Qingqius disciples are STICKY. Luo Binghe writes self insert fanfic about his Shizun.

☆彡

Sweet Dreams Are Made of This by: Prudabaga

Explicit • Canon Divergence (fix-it?)

Shen Qingqiu can't help that his dreams all seem to revolve around sleeping with the protagonist. It doesn't make him gay. He hardly has a choice even if he really does enjoy them.. anyone would!

☆彡

Tie Up the Broken Threads of That Old Dream by: Ehann

Mature • Canon Divergence (fix-it)

Shen Qingqiu self detonates and causes the system to go haywire. He wakes up in the past with no system at all and finds Luo Binghe fresh out of the Abyss. He is determined to make things right this time.

☆彡

Remnants of Gold by: Wemmye

Teen+ • Canon Divergence? (No Transmigrators)

Su Xiyan still takes the poison but somehow she manages to survive. Her and Binghe grow up as farmers and she helps her son hide his demon side with a jade pendant. She really doesn't trust cultivators but Shen Yuan, one of the two peak lords of Qing Jings peak, convinces her to let Luo Binghe learn cultivation from him.

☆彡

Tarnished Gold by: Prim_The_Amazing

Mature • Canon Divergence (in a major way)

Shen Yuan transmigrates into the body of Gongyi Xiao and meets a post Abyss Luo Bingge who wants to take his place as Head Disciple.

☆彡

The Divide Between Autumn and Spring by: sareyen

Mature • AU

Shen Yuan transmigrates into a disciple of Qing Jing who shares his same name. He is out of his depth when he realizes this body has a damaged core and also that he is well before canon PIDW with all of the future peak lords being just young teens! He manages to make lots of friends, becomes a beloved head disciple, and saves a few people too.

(This is angsty y'all but oml this is a MASTERPIECE -with a happy end dw)

☆彡

If Marriage Was an Olympic Sport by: anatheme

Explicit • Wife Plot (set during the Abyss arc)

Shen Qingqiu accidentally sets of a "wife hunt" that requires 12 participants to hunt down the "wife". He has from sunrise to sunset to run for his life to avoid being forced into marriage.

☆彡

safe and stranded by: anatheme

Mature• Modern era-ish (fix-it)

Shen Qingqiu self detonation causes the system to glitch and it sends him (and Binghe) to his old life and he has 3 days to experience living in the modern world again before he will be sent back to his body that was fall towards his death.

☆彡

picture you by: wnter_autumn

Explicit • Modern Au

Shen Yuan sleeps with his friend Luo Binghe and freaks out about it because he is straight... right?

☆彡

dreaming you the same sun in a different place by: JRaylin441

Explicit • Reverse Transmigration

Shen Qingqiu disappears and Luo Binghe gets a notification from the System offering a side quest called In Another Life that requires him to find his husband in his original body in the modern world. Unfortunately his husband has no memory of living in PIDW!

☆彡

Stealing Sun From the Flowers by: CherrieBabie

Explicit • Canon Divergence

Shen Yuan wakes up in his mushroom body with no memory of ever being Shen Qingqiu and no access to a system so he thinks he lucked out! Unfortunately as he is roaming around as a rogue cultivator he gets captured in the Huan Hua territory and meets Luo Binghe himself who is really upset that this guy looks really similar to his dead Shizun.

☆彡

Being a 30-Year-Old Virgin Made Shen Yuan a Wizard! By: stormsonjupiter

Explicit • Cherry Magic Au

The Cherry Magic we all love but make it Bingyuan!

☆彡

if you don't have your own boyfriend, rented is fine by: nyoomerr

Mature • Modern Au

Luo Bingge searches for his own nice Shizun and ends up in the modern world with Shen Yuan who is kind of rude and only looks a little bit like Shen Qingqiu.

Shen Yuan thinks Bingge is a poor cosplayer and asks to hire him as his pretend boyfriend to show appreciation for the real authentic cosplay.. that's all!

☆彡

Life is (not) a Hallmark Movie by: mellicindi

Teen+ • Modern Au

Shen Yuan watches this one ASMR cooking channel and finds the video needing some improvements but the guys voice is really really nice! Then he ends up at his friend Shang Qingyuan apartment and sees a familiar countertop...

☆彡

Tell Me Your Heart Doesn't Race for a Hurricane or a Burning Building by: Bluethursday

Explicit • Modern (stalker Au)

Shen Yuan opens his door to a handsome stranger who says "Hi, are you Shen Yuan? I'm Luo Binghe, your new live-in caretaker"

☆彡

Mightier than Waves by: bedesbummie

Explicit • Modern Au (kinda stalker ish)

Shen Yuan goes to pick up his sisters backpack from the rec center and when no one seems to be coming to help him, he searches for an employee and runs into shirtless and overly handsome Luo Binghe. After that day he can't help but find himself back at the rec center to get another glimpse of Binghe. Under the guise of wanting to improve his physical health.

☆彡

a thousand jars by:tagteamme

Explicit • Post Canon

Shen Qinghua finds himself feeling incredibly jealous. There is porn. That's the fic (it's so good)

☆彡

Starstruck by: Camorra

Explicit • Modern Au (musicians)

Shen Yuan, who is known for making videos playing bass in accompaniment to Luo Binghe's songs, gets a message from someone saying they could get him in touch with famous musician Luo Binghe. At first he doesn't believe it but then he receives a photo of his bandmates taking a selfie and decides to not let this opportunity slip by.

☆彡

Halasana by: The Feels Whale (miscella)

Explicit • Modern Au (yoga)

Luo Binghe (known slut) makes a bet with his coworker Sha Hualing that he will stop sleeping with his hot clients to prove he doesn't /need/ sex. And then it all goes to shit when Shen Yuan comes waltzing in for their one-on-one session.

☆彡

# KissingTheHomiesGoodnight by: knothim

Explicit • Modern Au

Shen Yuans "no homo" mental gymnastics his way into messing around with Luo Binghe using the dumbest logic only he could come up with.

☆彡

[moonlight-tmd]

So I said that in this Dadimus Prime AU post, Optimus is not Bee's biological sire... but what if he was?

So the story so far is that Optimus found Bee on the streets and adopted him. There wasn't any information about Bee's creators so he never tried to check it...

But what if he had them and never knew about it?

One day when the Autobots were fighting the 'cons, Blackarachnia (who was still with them at that time) kidnapped him and brought him to her own private lair that she found. She was lacking test subjects and the mini was right there, offered on a platter almost.

Bee woke up in the cave, tied up in web, after he's been injected with tranquilizing poison and threatened her. Arachnia didn't think any of it and found it amusing that this little mech has such a cocky blabbermouth. But then he said something unexpected, he started thretening her with his team and more interestingly, his sire.

"When my sire gets here, you're gonna regret ever seeing me!" Bee yelled, still trying to wriggle out of the sticky cocoon.

BA was growing annoyed of this but also intrigued. "And who is this sire of yours, huh?"

"Optimus!" That single name made her freeze up. "He's the best warrior ever and he's gonna kick your aft miles from here when he gets here!"

"...Optimus is your sire?" He voice was cold but there was something about it that sounded... broken. Bee never noticed and continued to threaten her. She just stood there, hearing but not listening to his words, At some point she turned to watch him.

His plating, his helm features, his optics... at some point she left somewhere. When she came back Bee was no longer there, he must've cut the web somehow and escaped. She didn't find him again.

Her processor couldn't stop thinking about it... It wasn't- it couldn't be... Could it? No, he didn't... he-...

She found herself going around the city at night, spying on whoever of the autobots she saw, but most importantly Optimus and Bee.

One time she swung by and managed to lure Optimus away from his patrol route. Of course, he was sceptical when she appeared and said she only wanted to talk- he tried to apologize and persuade her when they first met again but she rejected him... but, maybe she changed her mind?

It wasn't a long talk, they mostly explained their situations right now asked what the other did when they were apart- BA was quite shocked to learn Sentinel demoted Op from a high ranking Elite Guard to a repair bot.

They parted shortly after, Arachnia found herself recalling the memories of her previous life as Elita... She took less and less part in Decepticon activities but still server them as a medic, she met up with Optimus sometimes and began to open up a bit.

On one of their secret meetings, she asked about Bee. She told him that he threatened her with his sire coming over and chopping her in half with his axe. But then she brought up a shared memory of theirs... the party after one of their missions. They both got drunk and slept together.

Optimus couldn't help but blush remembering that, they weren't dating but there was definitely some chemistry going on between then back then. That was unexpected, but what was more unexpected was Blackarachnia telling him that something happened that night that she never told him.

She got sparked. She only found out a week after the party and didn't know what to do. She wasn't ready to be a parent, so she chose to give away the newspark. She went to the clinic that was supposed to keep it alive and put it in a new protoform once it matured and left it there without giving any information. Optimus was the sire.

She wasn't completely sure but when Bee mentioned him being his sire, the memory of that flooded back to her. Optimus just sat there in shock, trying to process.... could it be that the bitlet he found was actually his biological sparkling?

He wasn't sure what to do, he tried his best to not act odd around others and Bee... but he certainly didn't sit there doing nothing.

He dug up the old files Bee had in his folder. He knew the carequarters and the medical info, after a long search he dug deep enough and found the forging files and the minimal information provided from the clinic; Bee was given to them as a newspark in early growth stage, the donor was unknown. He only saw a mention of a femme in the document.

He thought about what should he do about it...

One day, he came to Bee's room to talk. It was like the usual, he asked about stuff, things he did recently... then he changed the tone of the conversation.

"Say... how would you feel if I said that I might be your biological sire?" He asked unsure. Bee paused whatever he was doing and looked at him, smile falling into a more serious expression. "But- i'm from carequarters?"

"Back when I was still an Elite Guard, I knew a femme named Elita." Bee knew about her, Optimus told him stories about her more than once. "But I thought you said she died?"

"Well, it wasn't entirely the case. At least, I learned so recently."

Bee listened carefully as his sire spoke. "One time we were celebrating after a successful mission, we both got drunk and... well, apparently she got sparked and never told me."

"She wasn't ready to be a parent so she gave away the newspark... Then the mission on Archa-7 happened and we thought she was dead." He spoke with saddened fondness, remembering both the intoxicated night and the mission at once. "Then a couple days after I returned to Cybertron, I met you... I aways thought there was something familiar about you that I couldn't quite place."

Silence filled the room, both mechs thinking about the situation. Bee spoke up after a while, in an unsure but soft voice. "So, you're my... real creator?"

"Maybe, we'll have to do a test to know for sure... only if you want to of cou-" He was cut off with Bee holding onto his arm, the look of desperation to know in his eyes. "I wanna know." Bee always wanted to know if he had any biological family, if his adoptive sire was in fact his creator then he needed to know.

As soon as Ratchet got back to base they both went and asked him to make the code comparison, he sure was confused as to why they would do want to do it right now while also knowing Bee is adopted.

Optimus only told him they learned some new information and to just do it. The results took a few hours to process but once they got them... 87.9% match.

The old docbot left them be to talk about the new discovery, as soon as Optimus sat down on one of the berths Bee climbed on and hugged him.

Blackarachnia in the meantime was sitting restless in her lair. Optimus hasn't spoken to her yet, she didn't know if anything she hoped- she thought could be true was in fact true... Growing tired of waiting she decided to find out.

She still had a vial of internal fluid from when she kidnapped Bee, she took it from his life lines to see if he could be a good match for the experiments... She never used it and now was the time to do so. She got her own fluid and ran tests...

65.8% match. It should've been higher but considering what fate she endured after giving up the newspark it still was much higher than if it wasn't matching. She leaned against her desk heavy, there was no point in denying it...

Optimus found her days later, he told her about the test and so did she. Bee was theirs.

Speaking of Bee, the scout wanted to know about his carrier more- what was she like? If she survived then where was she? Could he meet her? All those questions that Optimus tried his best to avoid, he only told him that now wasn't the time and it was complicated.

Until one day. Optimus has taken Bee on a ride late in the afternoon. He drove them to a ruin in the forest, Bee took a defensive stand the moment he saw Blackarachnia step out from behind the walls. To his shock Optimus told him to calm down, Bee tried to get some sense to him cuz hello? Enemy in sight and right in front of them!

His only reaction was to kneel down to his optic level and slowly explain... Elita survived but wasn't herself anymore, and that she was right here... She was Blackarachnia.

Bee was silent for the longest time, shock painted on his faceplate as he stared at his sire. "No."

"No, no no.. No! You can't be serious!" A disbelieving smile appearing as he denied. Optimus tried to speak but he got cut of with a yell. "Her?! She tried to kill us! She's evil!"

Optimus couldn't calm him, Arachnia tried- "YOU SHUT UP! YOU'RE NOT MY PARENT! YOU ABANDONED ME!!"

Optimus desperately tried to calm him, to make him stay when he turned to leave.

"Bee, please wait-" "I'm not gonna wait!... You're both crazy!!" And with that he drove off as fast as he could. Optimus tried to stop him but Arachnia stopped him.

"He's right.. I'm not his parent." She left too, Optimus was left all alone to wallow in his sorrow... How could he fail so bad. All he wanted was to bring the lost family together... Instead, he ruined the relationships with both Elita and Bee.

Bee returned to base, but he didn't go to his room, Optimus would look for him there. He sat on the roof on the far end of base, away from all the holes or windows that could let any sounds into anyone's audials... or so he thought. Prowl caught him crying up there, he tried to comfort him and asked what's wrong. Bee told him about Optimus being his real creator. "That's good news, isn't it?" Yeah... The same can't be said about my carrier though." Prowl was confused, he knew Bee was adopted and thought that him finding his real creators would make him happy. But then Bee told him about Elita... or rather Blackarachnia.

"-and apparently they decided to get back together and expect all of us to be one big happy family. Tch- that crazy bitch tried to kill me more than once!" Bee ranted, he needed to let this out, to share with someone. He didn't know what to do...

As shocking as this may have been, Prowl took it quite well and told him it was perfectly okay to not want to be involved. However if Blackarachnia really was trying to fix her mistakes then it would be fair to give her at least one chance to do so. They sat there till late night, Bee didn't know if his sire came back home nor did he care. Prowl told his to consider his words before they parted for recharge.

Days passed and the atmosphere around base seemed to be heavy. Bee wasn't talking with his sire and it was clear something was up between them. None of them knew what though... All this time Bee tried to get all the things in his helm in order; Optimus was his real sire. Elita- who was now Blackarachnia was his carrier. Blackarachnia abandoned him and tried to kill him later... but, she was trying to fix it now. Was she?

It was so confusing. He felt guilty for screaming at his sire too, Optimus only wanted them to be a family.... Aaagh, it was a mess! He thought about what Prowl told him.... He sighed, for once, he would pocket his pride and follow the advice given.

After many silent days he knocked on his sire's door and went in for a talk. He apologized, offered to give the idea a try-but he wasn't gonna be all nice to BA like nothing bad happened between them in an instant.

Honestly, Optimus was just happy that Bee wanted to talk with him again. He agreed and told him he'll tell her when he finds her- which was easier said than done. After what happened it was like she disappeared completely. Optimus knew she couldn't have left earth and a tiny bit in the back of his processor feared the worst... but at last he found her near the lake one night. Of course, she wasn't really happy to see him. She almost didn't believe him when he told her the news from Bee. She didn't think she deserved a second chance... but she wasn't gonna reject it.

Optimus organized for them to go on a picnic together. It was rather awkward but they managed. They told their sides of the story, Arachnia blamed herself for letting her bitty suffer like this, the others were surprised to learn that the femme quit following Decepticon orders, only helping injured soldiers if they went thru trouble to find her.

They went on those picnics once a week, each time getting easier to talk and simply have fun. Although they haven't expected Arachnia to show up at their base once day and try to bond with the rest of the team. Yeah, it was a long talk explaining what happened. Of course, all of them were protective of Bee and didn't trust BA a single bit. It took a while for them to accept and adjust to the situation but they still weren't that fond of her.

Then, the worst happened. Elite Guard visited as the 'cons began to get rowdy and things got rather heated when they talked. One evening Sentinel decided to take it out on Bee and scolded him for being so useless- even going as far as reminding him he was adopted when Bee referred to Optimus as his creator... to which Optimus protested. He told him the truth, he was his creator. And when Sentinel demanded to know who was the carrier- "I am." Blackarachnia stepped out of the hiding.

They argued, Sentinel keeping his lance pointed to attack her. "You don't know who I am, do you?" She stated. "You're-!" "Elite One Prime."

Those thretening words froze him in place, disbelieving. She told him him she survived and that he was a worthless excuse of a friend. She threatened him to never come back or else he'll be dead in the doorstep. He never appeared in base again, only send Jazz to run errands for him if needed and talked with Optimus outside when it was necessary.

Blackarachnia was slowly but surely redeeming herself and undoing the bitter character she made for herself.

One time Team Prime was in a very rough fight with the 'cons on the abandoned factory grounds outside detroit, Arachnia joined to help them. Both teams were trying to off one another and the Allspark shard was wrecking havoc on top of that. It decame dangerous, they had to run. All did, except Blackarachnia. She stayed behind to help Bee cuz he got stuck. She protected him as the energy exploded and the ruin and nearby area collapsed.

All came together to help, they dug Bee and few others out of the rubble but there was no sight of BA. Optimus began panicking as the search didn't seem to bring fruition, then they heard something pushing, banging. Trying to dig out- the giant portion of rubble broke and revealed a small chamber that formed when the building collapsed- but more importantly someone falling out of it.

She was so sore, her frame felt so weird... She felt something crawl up her intake and coughed out the remaining of the green fluid that was spider venom. She wiped her intake with ther servo- wait, servo..? "What..?"

It was yellow. Like the other one- and the rest of her. She pushed herself up to sit, looking over herself... she was normal. Not a spider. "How..?"

Optimus came closer, soft gaze looking over the frame of his past companion. "Elita..."

She felt herself cracking, tears slipping down involuntarily. Optimus knelt down and hugged her, letting her cry her spark out...

"...Mom?" Elita looked up, Bee- her sparkling, was standing in front of them, holding the same worry in his optics as Optimus. Elita reached out only to pull her servo back in shame. But Bee rushed forward and hugged her too.

The three sat there, comforting one another in a shared embrace. The others decided to distance themselves to let them have some privacy.

Now, they could really be a happy family. Just like Bee once wanted.

Oooooh geez, hello, have some juice after surviving this text wall. 🧃

I am 50/50 whether or not to make this canon, but it's a fun alternate ending per se to this thing.

[sleepymoonlady]

Roevember Day 19: Temper

"This must be important business indeed. Though if it concerns anything so underhand as an assassination, I fear I can be of little help."

Even as the negotiations were well underway, Rose still repeated Lolorito's glib little jab to herself over and over again, gritting her teeth all the while. It had been two years since that fateful night--the Bloody Banquet, in all its infamy. Two years since the Scions were disgraced and very nearly wiped out, all unwitting and unwilling pawns in a game of chess played by two warring factions of Ul'dah's Syndicate.

She had accepted--bitterly--that Lolorito's bargain was better for the stability of Ul'dah than the vengeance she had been craving since that night. Well, that wasn't entirely true: she had accepted that Raubahn, Alphinaud, and Nanamo all arrived at that conclusion. And out of respect for the wishes of her friends and closest allies, she stood down. But it never sat right with her. Even after he--through Hancock--furnished the Scions' efforts in Othard with a base of operations and more gil than they could spend. Even after Nanamo had come to Rose and told her that they needed his help, for the sake of Ala Mhigo and Ul'dah both. Rose was a woman of many talents, but neither forgiving nor forgetting were chief among them.

Ever since she was a child--even before she lied about her age to debut as a gladiator on the Bloodsands--she had been a person of action. She loathed passivity, couldn't stand to sit by and watch, and had never been good at forgiving--or at forgetting. She solved her problems, more often than not, by beating them into submission. But the problem of Lolorito--that opportunistic little shite--was off-limits. NOBODY should be above justice. But somehow, he kept managing to be just that. Even Thordan and his lackeys weren't.

She needed something. Anything. Some kind of closure. So when the meeting came to a close, she said she needed to speak with him in private. She concocted some kind of lie that felt right in the moment--damn if she remembered what it was. Something about discussing further contributions to the East Aldenard Trading Company no doubt. As Nanamo left the room, Rose kneeled down to be... closer to Lolorito's eye-level, at least. The man turned on his stool to face her.

"I must admit, champion, I'm curious to hear your idea," he said, with that smug half-smile that never seemed to leave his face--or his voice. "I didn't think you had much of a mind for business." Rose felt the anger that had been festering in her chest rising--gods, how did she expect to talk to this little fucker? She had forgotten how infuriating it was--he spoke at you, not to you. You were never his bloody equal. Did he even know that she had helped run her mums' shop growing up? That she had to learn arithmetic just to help them make ends meet? Not much of a mind for business, indeed. If fuckers like him weren't so greedy, maybe things would have been less tight growing up--THEN she wouldn't need a "mind for business."

"Honestly I rather thought it was too complicated a topic--"

Lolorito's next backhanded observation was ended--rather abruptly, too--by Rose's gauntleted fist crashing into his jaw with a sickening crack, sending him flying off the stool and across the room. Before she knew what she was doing--before she could even consider the consequences--she bounded over the table and pinned him to the ground with her left arm, before raising her right in preparation for another blow.

"I am SICK and BLOODY TIRED of this GODS-DAMNED CHARADE, LOLORITO," she snarled through gritted teeth.

"Have you LOST your MIND?" Came the retort from the merchant, spoken laboriously through a broken jaw. "Have you not thought of the CONSEQUENCES of assaulting a member of the Syndicate!? I'll have you--"

"SHUT UP!" Rose punctuated her demand with a raise of her fist. Her mind spun as she stared down Lolorito. This man KNEW what was going to happen that night. He could have stopped it, showed his hand earlier, anything. But he didn't. He didn't. Did he have ANY idea what he did? What that night had cost!?

Thancred couldn't use magic anymore.

Shtola lost her sight.

Min...

Rose's fist began to shake as she remembered. As she turned the sentence over and over again in her head, still afraid to say it to herself after all this time.

Why her? Why couldn't it have been someone else?

Why not HIM?

Shakily, she finally spoke again. "Her Grace has decided that you're better off to her--to us--alive, Lolorito. Out of respect for her, I've kept my peace all this time."

"But make no mistake, you miserable little shite:" As Rose spoke these next words, the fury in her voice could have shattered stone, and the hatred in her eyes--a hatred only the likes of Gaius, Thordan, or Zenos had seen before--shone brightly enough to melt through steel.

"The second you outlive your usefulness to her? The bloody MOMENT I even BEGIN to suspect that you're harboring any foolish delusions beyond your station?

I will personally deliver you to Thal."

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

Hi hey if you made it all the way here uhhhh have a funny:

[scifriskyxy]

I've seen a couple of headcannons about Maria surviving somehow and seemingly ending up being a good person. I don't think that would be the case, tho hear me out

I don't think Maria would have ended up being a good person, but Maria would have grown up to be as bad or even worse than eggman in...different ways to the point it makes,gerald with the new information given is obviously has alot of darkness alot...he wasn't a good person that's what I am saying,like who takes their grandchildren pet experiments on it and leaves it to rot because it ended up being a failure? Guess what bio lizard that's some fuck up shit

Everyone talks as if...he was a good man he was likely never a good person. People always talk good about the dead, always forgetting whatever evil stuff they've done in the past conveniently , he most likely never was one to begin with and he hid more horrible secrets somewhere deep within the ark,the ark is a massive place we only had a glimpse of a certain section on it where shadow was created. A likely sealed off section due to its history,the place is the size of a moon/small by what I can tell, and also he likely has other secrets before that outside of the ark ,on earth maybe on mobious during his brief travels down there

A robotnik always growing up on being a robotnik

The only reason shadow having ended up being a good person...was due to the naive promises of a sick child who likely have barely experienced the world and didn't grow to eventually become the monster that alot of the robotnik family ends up being,what if...she was already developing those tendencies under gerald and shadow being naive never even noticed

What if this is cannon, and we've been just oh nice human child and experiment buddy running around having fun being nice

When budding an absolute sick little monster brat, a big ol monster mostly deceives everyone and poor innocent experiment fooled by the happy times.

If yall gonna make maria survive the ark Give me a old Maria who at first acts nice on first meeting shadow then it slowly unravels SHES A FUCKING MONSTER to the point that eggman pretends she doesn't exist because he's terrified of her and actually knew she was around and he didn't say anything because he knew how she is ,and Eggman EGGMAN didn't wish her upon his enemies like AT ALL he never said anything about them pretending he never knew gerald or Maria as to not mess up shadow even more than he already is ,gerald and Maria weren't the nicest robotnik family members no EGGMAN IS and that's saying alot ,it spins a whole other meaning of gerald and Maria being the black sheep of the family , most see the black sheep as being the nicest person pretty much abused n shit in a family of assholes , but in the robotnik they are the worse of the worse of an already fucked up family

Actually... this is my au Maria. Well, who she had been if she survived the ark,a monster in human skin metaphorically speaking tho she died, she had been already showing signs of the monster she would have become.

Fate never speaks ill of the dead, but she makes very few exceptions, but she never speaks of this to shadow, but now that he's better and gotten over, he's been slowly learning the truth about that family to the point that it's making him ill having robotnik in his own name

When fate and shadow eventually do get married, the shadow decides to take fates, the family name replacing the robotnik in his own, signifying that he's both truly moved on and never wants to ever be associated with that family again and the rose colored glasses on those memories are gone

[bqstqnbruin]

Just Friends - Part 3

Dear GOD this was the last week before break and parent teacher conferences so it has been a long one. I have 39 conferences for who knows why between Monday and Tuesday

Read the previous part here

WC: 3774

Warnings: parental death mention, asshole coworkers, swearing

________________

Emeline’s phone was buzzing so much while she was teaching that her students ended up teasing her for violating her ‘no phones in class’ policy. She tried to argue that while the phone was buzzing, she wasn’t looking at it, but as soon as she did that, she had already lost, sending her lesson into disarray and forcing her to rethink the rest of the unit as she had planned it. Jeremy was texting in the newly formed group chat between the five of them about the girls going to see a game at the Garden. 

Emeline had to ignore the messages until she finally had a free period before lunch, silencing her phone as soon as she could, sitting down thankful that none of her students had asked if they could come in for help during what was probably going to be the only time she had to be alone for the rest of the week. She reads through what seemed like a hundred messages from the four of them, Fran and Maddy already agreeing, John letting them know that the tickets were all ready for them.

They just needed to know if Emeline was going.

She didn’t want to go.

First, it was a game in the city after what would be another long day at school and she wouldn’t have time to change or even drop her work bag anywhere before having to get to the arena. She knew the T well enough to navigate the green line, but knowing the public transit in the city, it would mean she would show up to the game at least an hour late, if not later but the time she got home and back. 

Second, she knew nothing about hockey. She didn’t really want to know about hockey, if she was being honest with herself. She already knew about lacrosse and that was enough for her considering how many other things she had to know. Emeline wanted to instill a love of learning in her students, but at a certain point, she understood when someone just got too overloaded with knowledge. Her dad was the one who taught her lacrosse, never really caring about any other sport besides basketball when she was growing up, the ‘08 Celtics team something he never stopped talking about, but she was still confused about the fact that there were ‘field goals’ in the sport. There was no field, and it was a basket, not a goal. 

Third, it meant she had to see Jeremy.

That day in the elevator was weird for both of them, neither of them acknowledging that it had happened. Emeline wasn’t even really sure what had happened between them. She hadn’t even told Fran and Maddy when they told each other everything. And that meant everything. Keelan still wasn’t pleased with the fact that her roommates had a habit of somehow using the birthmark on his lower back as ammo against him any chance they could.

Fourth, Keelan would hate it.

That last one didn’t bother her as much as it should. 

Before she could even begin to try to figure out why, Javier, one of the other chemistry teachers, pokes his head into her room. “Department meeting after school?”

“For fucks sake, what?” Emeline groans, pulling up her email to see the missed message from Anderson letting them know they were all meeting in his room after school, attendance mandatory. That meant she had to push that lacrosse workout the athletic director asked her to schedule by at least an hour, which meant she would have even less time to get to the game tonight. It actually might not be such a bad thing if it weren’t Anderson scheduling it. “God, I would have willingly taken an overload if it meant he didn’t have to share a prep with us.”

Javier laughs, leaning against the doorway. “Yeah, because you have time to teach the five classes you have as it is.” 

“He really thinks we have no lives outside of these jobs, doesn’t he?”

Javier comes in, sitting at the desk in front of her. “Well, because of him, we don’t.” 

“Any ideas what it’s about?”

“Probably him trying to scold you for your phone going off all morning,” Javier teases, leaning forward. Before she can even ask how he would know, “I’ve heard nothing in the halls besides ‘Pritch’s phone won’t stop buzzing. Do you think it’s her boyfriend? Do you think it’s her girlfriend? Do you think something’s wrong?’” he says, making his voice higher to mimic their students.

Emeline scrunches her face. “Teenagers are too invasive.”

“Is the answer ‘yes’ to any of their questions?” Emeline sighs, giving him her phone. “Free Bruins game tonight? That’s awesome, can I come, too?” 

“I’m not even going,” she scoffs.

“Why not?” Emeline gestures to everything around them as if to tell him anything in front of her could be a reason why. “Tell Anderson you’re sick and have to go home.”

“I have lacrosse after school.”

“We have lacrosse after school,” he corrects her, his not so subtle way of reminding her that she had roped him into being the assistant coach when the previous one moved to a different state for her wife’s job. “I can run the workout, no problem.” 

“You’ve never done that before,” she tells him.

Javier rolls his eyes, tapping away on her phone. “They’re teenage girls. They’ll just sit on the bikes because they refuse to do anything else, anyway. How much do we care? And Jeremy said he can pick you up by 4:30 for the game, which gives you plenty of time to start the workout if you wanted to.” 

Emeline practically lunges across the desks for her phone. “You fucking didn’t.” She reads the messages, ‘her’ telling him she wants to go but has to stay at school late. He even brought up the fact that she wouldn’t get home in time to change and drop her bag off. Fran and Maddy letting her know they would have a change of clothes waiting for her in the car, and that her work bag would be safe there. “Really bold of you to do to the person in charge of ordering the sulfuric acid.”

“You’re not gonna kill me and dissolve my bones, Emeline. The sulfuric acid they sell doesn’t have a high enough concentration for you to be successful, and you know that.” She scoffs. “If I’m not here, who are you going to sit with at these stupid department meetings.”

“Touche.”  

The rest of the day goes by in a blur, Emeline’s phone continuing to light up with messages in the group chat. She knew that Jeremy and John really didn’t have much to do besides prep for a game, but Maddy was in hour ten of her twelve hour shift at Mass Gen, and Fran was normally swamped with meetings all day, every day. Why did they suddenly have all this time to be on their phones texting the boys? And how did they have any energy left to go to a game that was going to keep them out until almost 11 pm? How was she going to stay up past 11 pm when it was a school night? She didn’t even stay up that late on the weekends half the time.

Keelan never texted her during the day. Not even to check in and ask her how it was going for her. Granted, she never texted him either because she couldn’t be on her phone in the first place, but isn’t that something a boyfriend was supposed to do? Even if it was just once in  a while?

Jeremy did.

By the time the last period of the day was over, Emeline was exhausted, and she was sure her phone was, too. Javier swung back by her room as she was packing her bag to head to the dreaded last minute department meeting. Nothing good ever happened when there was a last minute meeting at the end of the day.

“Any idea what this is about?”Javier whispers to Nick, one of the biology teachers, as he and Emeline sit down in Anderson’s classroom. Nick responds with a shrug, something surprising considering Anderson normally tells him everything. 

Anderson claps his hands together, his annoying attempt to get everyone’s attention, just like always. “Alright, let’s start.” He pauses, staring at what Emeline can only imagine are the blank and unimpressed stares of 10 men and herself. “Admin emailed me during first period asking me to remind everyone that phones are not to be used during class unless they are being used for learning purposes.”

Emeline and Javier exchange annoyed glances. “You’ve gotta be kidding me,” Emeline mutters. This could have been an email.

“Which is perfect timing since I heard all about Ms. Pritchard’s phone today in the halls. Care to explain, Emeline?”

Emeline shrugs, knowing that if she tells him off like she wants to, he’ll just use it against her right away for being ‘too emotional,’ or something else stupid like that. Being the only woman in the science department and him being the sexist asshole that he was, he used every minute detail he could to try to argue that she was unfit for being a science teacher as a woman. “I had my phone on vibrate and I was getting messages from my friends during my lesson. I turned it off as soon as I got the chance.”

“Well, no phones during class. And to make sure there are no phones during class, you’re all going to be bringing them to my room at the beginning of the day.” Emeline lets out a laugh while the guys start their protests immediately as Anderson pulls out a blue plastic bin that he taped a piece of paper to with ‘PHONES’ written in his obnoxiously messy handwriting. No one particularly liked Anderson, but he knew how to kiss the administration’s ass, hence the reason he was the department head and not someone who was actually competent for the job. “You can thank Emeline for that.”

“Didn’t you say you were told this reminder this morning?” Nick brings up.

“Yes,” Anderson says, crossing his arms across his chest.

“And my phone wasn’t going off until after that,” Emeline points out.

“And didn’t you just interrupt your lesson to your freshmen yesterday because your wife was calling wanting to know what you wanted for dinner?” Javier asks.

“Yes.”

“So you’re taking our phones away because of you?”

“No phones,” Anderson tries to stand his ground.

“What if there’s an emergency? In or out of the classroom?” Emeline asks. “The phones on the walls were disconnected years ago, how are we supposed to call for help if the only working phones are in your room? Are we supposed to ask a student for theirs? That seems like a violation of privacy and a lawsuit waiting to happen.”

Anderson’s face was starting to get red, the way it always did when he was losing whatever battle he decided to fight with the rest of the department. “What emergency out of the classroom could you have? You don’t have any family like the rest of us, Emeline.”

The room goes silent, Emeline sitting there stunned, trying to keep her composure. “I think we’re done. I’m not giving you my phone every day.” 

Javier tries to call after her as she leaves, Emeline barely overhearing Nick yelling at Anderson for going so low and being so out of line because of something so trivial. She didn’t need the department to see her in tears over this. She checks her phone, the group chat again blowing up to let Emeline know that they were on their way. She could just wait outside for them, or she could ditch them altogether and just go home. She didn’t want to go to the game before, and she definitely didn’t want to go to the game now. 

“Em, what’s wrong?” Fran jumps out of the car she didn’t even realize had pulled up in front of her. Jeremy and Maddy jump out before John can even stop the engine, all of them concerned about why she was standing on the sidewalk crying.

“I just,” she stammers. “Can we just get in the car?” She pushes past them and gets into the backseat, the shirt and somehow a jersey Fran and Maddy had grabbed for her sitting there waiting for her.

“Talk,” Fran demands once they all pile back in. “Was it Keelan?”

Emeline hadn’t even been thinking of Keelan. “What? No. Anderson.”

“I’m gonna kill him.”

“You don’t even know why, Francesca.”

“I don’t need a reason if I see Emeline crying on the sidewalk because of him, Madelyn.”

“Who’s Anderson?” John asks before the girls get into more of a bickering match, pulling away to start his drive to the arena.

“My department head,” Emeline explains, forgetting that he was the only one in the car who didn’t know..

“Her department head,” Jeremy tells him at the same time, causing Emeline’s heart to feel like it skipped a beat.

Emeline clears her throat as the rest of them wait for her to continue, trying to ignore the fact that she could see Jeremy’s small smile at her through the rearview mirror. “He threw a bitch fit about phones and said some shit. It’s nothing. I’m fine.”

“Emeline, it’s not fine if this guy is making you cry,” Jeremy says, his voice unreasonably calming to her. “Do you want to tell us what he said?”

He was so different from Fran, who, while meaning well, would demand her to tell them every detail. Emeline takes in a deep breath, pulling her sweater up over her head to change shirts. “He called me out for not having a family anymore.”

Fran and Maddy screamed so loud in disgust that John almost rear ended the person in front of them on Storrow Drive, trying to keep his composure and not hurt them before the game while her two roommates were swearing like the words were about to be banned and it was their last chance to use them. 

“What do you mean?” Jeremy asks over Fran and Maddy, twisting around to look at Emeline in the last row of the car.

Emeline looks down at her lap, hating that this conversation had to happen whenever she met someone new. “My mom left right after I was born, so my dad and his mom raised me. My dad died when I was ten and then my grandmother died when we were freshmen.” 

“I’m so sorry,” Jeremy and John tell her in unison, Fran and Maddy still fuming.

“I don’t know any lawyers, can this be a lawsuit?”

“We can probably use some of my dad’s lawyers after I kill him. I cannot believe he would say that to you.”

“You would need someone who does criminal defense if it’s a murder case. Business law and criminal law aren’t the same thing,” John points out.

“Whatever, just drop it.”

“Emeline-”

“No. I asked you to drop it. I can handle it. Nick was yelling at him and one of the physics teachers always records the meetings so if I really need to, I can get the sound bite from him. Anderson is just a petulant asshole who hopefully will get what’s coming to him sometime soon. There’s nothing to do right now.” 

They drive in silence the rest of the way to the Garden, Emeline staring out the window. She could just text Keelan and ask him to pick her up. Except, he never would. He would bitch the entire time about having to make the drive into the city, especially when North Station was right there. Why should he pick her up when she could get home by herself?

John parks, everyone getting out. Fran and Maddy go ahead with John while Jeremy stays behind with Emeline, a small tea from Dunkin in his hand.

“Do you still want to stay for the game? I can pay for your T ride if you want to go, or I’ll get you an Uber if you want to be in something more private. I’d offer to drive you back but, not my car, would miss the game, would probably be benched for the next few games,” Jeremy rambles.

“I’m fine,” she tries to assure him, not sounding convincing to even herself. She tries to think of something else to say, finding herself just staring at Jeremy. He was dressed up in a suit and tie, something that hadn’t registered to her when they were outside her school. She loved when Keelan had an excuse to wear something nice, but this? She could feel herself short circuiting over this. 

“You have more tattoos that you didn’t show me?” Emeline looks at him confused, pushing aside whatever was going on in her mind as his face turns red. “I swear I wasn’t trying to look but you were talking and I was trying to make eye contact, and I saw some tattoos on your ribs.”

“Oh, yeah.”

“Would you tell me about those?”

Emeline takes in another deep breath, something she found she was doing way more to calm herself down lately. Keelan still barely knew about those tattoos. He knew they were there, but he didn’t know the meaning behind them. He had never asked. “My grandmother and I would always say ‘I love you more,’ after the first person said I love you, so I have that on my right side in her writing. My dad would tell me that I deserve to be loved whenever I was upset about my mom when I was little. So I have that on my left side in his writing.”

“I like that. Are you better now?”

“What?”

“You said the other day that sometimes rambling helps calm a person down, right? It’s not whatever happened in the elevator,” Jeremy says, trailing off, kicking a stone back and forth that had found its way into the depths of the garage.

Emeline laughs. “Yeah. Yeah, it does, help.” 

“And you kind of do have a family, you know.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. I mean, don’t tell me Fran and Maddy aren’t like your family. And you’ve got me, and John, too, if you want us.”

“Yeah.”

“And Keelan.”

Emeline sighs, knowing that the person furthest from her mind shouldn’t be her boyfriend. “Yeah, and Keelan,” she says with a small voice. Emeline looks at him and smiles. Without thinking, she pulls him in for a hug, squeezing him as tight as she could. “Thank you,” she whispers.

“Oh, and here,” he says, handing her the cup of tea. “I thought since you would be out later that you’d need some caffeine.”

Emeline looks at the sticker on the cup, her exact order written out on it. “Thanks,” she tells him. She had told him what she got from Dunkin maybe one time, in passing. He remembered her order. 

The two of them walk in silence to catch up with the other three ahead of them. Emeline’s phone was buzzing again, this time with messages from Keelan asking what she was up to that night.

She could ignore him. She wanted to ignore him. He had her location, he could just look and see that she was at the Garden. But why would he go out of his way to check on her when he could just have her tell him? 

Jeremy and John say their goodbyes until after the game, Jeremy giving a smile to Emeline before disappearing. 

“I’m actually excited for this. We haven’t been to any hockey game together since, what, sophomore year?” Maddy asks, once getting through security and up to the arena, pulling the girls in the direction of the nearest bar, ordering beers for her and Fran and a Coke for Emeline, probably knowing that she needed all the caffeine she could get if she was going to stay up that night.

“I think it was freshman year, actually. BC beat BU in overtime,” Emeline says.

“I got asked out that night by one of the guys on the team, too,” Fran says.

“Who asked you out?” Emeline asks, her heart starting to race for a reason she couldn’t explain.

“Uh, his name might have been Joseph? Wasn’t he one of the goalies? Remember we went on that one date where I ended up leaving because he looked at the check and handed it to me and said, ‘can you cover this?’”

“No, not then. You said you got asked out that night, too. What do you mean, ‘too?’”

Maddy and Fran look at each other, nervous, passing the soda to Emeline. “Oh, Jeremy asked me out before we left.” 

Emeline tries to hide her shock as she nearly chokes on the drink, the carbonation burning her throat and making her eyes water. “Oh, that’s great,” she chokes out in the most unconvincing way, trying to clear her throat. “When? Um, what are you guys going to do?”

Fran shrugs, Maddy leading the two of them to their seats. “I think we’re going on Friday? It’s the last night before they leave for the midwest on a road trip, or something. I don’t know, I haven’t been on an actual date in so long, and he’s hot, so I figured, why not?”Emeline sits down, Fran and Maddy starting to try to figure out what the actual rules of the game were so they could at least pretend they knew what was going on. They already had a game plan to cheer when everyone else did and yell at the refs when everyone else did,what more did they need to do? Emeline was barely paying attention, only overhearing that there are less players on the ice than there are on the field in lacrosse. She couldn’t focus.

Jeremy and Fran were going to go on a date on Friday night. There’s no reason why this should be bothering Emeline as much as it was, taking her already shitty day and somehow making it worse. She was happily dating Keelan. Who Fran dated shouldn’t matter unless he was an asshole and hurt her in anyway. Who Jeremy dated definitely shouldn’t bother her, point blank, period.

They were both her friends. That’s it.

[saturnniidae]

I think Astrid Hofferson has a bad case of the 'my childhood was wasted, I grew up too fast for something ultimately proven pointless.' Syndrome and that she deserves to get to do silly things she missed out on and take up new hobbies, even if she's not particularly good at them–it's purely for the experience yknow, and learn to finally breathe no longer needing to be on constant high alert and get to be truly happy

[agalychnisspranneusroseus]

Role swap AU in which Sasha ends up in Wartwood, Marcy in Toad Tower and Anne in Newtopia, but Sasha is still a manipulative little shit and Marcy a total sweetheart despite Sasha being with the "good guys" and Marcy with the "bad guys".

It's not like she enjoys tormenting Marcy for sport. It's not like using all her insecurities against her and destroying her confidence brings her joy, but she and her toad friends are threatening her Wartwood and her frog family and oh boy, she should have kept her head down among her books where it belongs because Sasha is not going to let this offense slide.

[deadmomjokes]

Idk how me, a broad and chubby woman from a long line of broad and chubby women, and my husband, an average-height man from long lines of very tiny women and very average men, managed to produce a child so exceptionally tall, long, & lean that she can't wear store-bought clothes anymore without alteration. Yet here I am, dusting off a sewing machine I barely know how to operate....

[welcometogrouchland]

Also in the replies of the Steph concept art on twitter announcing she was gonna be in a new project at DC (posted by Travis Mercer), there were at least 3 comments saying "will Tim be there?" I don't care how hard you ship timsteph I'm exploding you with my eyeballs if you do that on my girls post again

[rexscanonwife]

Ok fun fact about Brea that I don't necessarily share with her is that she is a TERRIBLE cook 😂😂

They don't exactly have home economics courses in the Jedi Order, she knows how to forage and what plants are safe to eat on hundreds of different planets and ecosystems.

But does she know how to soft boil an egg? Absolutely FUCKING not!!

[bronzebtch]

like yes. the concept of making a general fantasy verse or an AU of any kind is appealing until you have to take rhea out of the context of her original verse and then u have no idea who she is 🧍‍♀️

[typheus]

i love sloan and beatrice! what is their interpersonal relationship like? do they have specializations in their witchcraft?

Yes! Sloan n Beatrice have been friends since about middle school age, they made sure to go to the same college n also dropped out at the same time :p

As for specialties. Sloan specializes in offensive type magic mainly with electricity, Beatrice (and Bite) specialized in plants!

Since the earth was made inhospitable about 400 years ago and magic user that can make plants grow are always in high demand, tho keeping plants alive isn't easy :/ and a lot of ppl will try to specialize in plants, most 80% of them end up quiting or switching to something else

Bite did not quit and actually just kinda. Got kidnapped to outer space before she could finish school :p

Sloan n Beatrice quit tho cause uhh story stuff that's a lil too relevant to say :] but Sloan didn't much care for college n was mostly doing it cause Beatrice was there, n Beatrice wanted to go cause goddamn. Like 70% of earth is dead. She wanted to try n do something about that.

[fishofthewoods]

I see a lot of people clowning on the people of Pelican Town for not repairing the community center themselves or clowning on Lewis for embezzling and. like. Those criticisms aren't entirely unfair. But I think instead of coming at it from a perspective of "why can't the townspeople do this" we should be asking "why and how can the farmer do this?"

Like. Think about it. The farmer arrives in Stardew Valley on the first day of spring. By the first day they're obviously different. By day five the spirits of the forest who haven't been seen by the townsfolk in years or generations are speaking to them. By the second week they've developed a rapport with the wizard that lives outside town.

In the spring they go foraging and find more than even Linus, who's spent so many years learning the ways of the valley. Maybe he knows, when he sees them walking back home. Maybe he looks at them and understands that they're different, chosen somehow.

In the summer they fish in the lakes and the ocean for hours on end, catching fish that even Willy's only ever heard of, fish that he thought were the stuff of legend. They pull up giants from the deep and mutated monstrosities from the sewers.

In the fall, their crops grow incredibly immense; pumpkins twice as tall as a person, big enough that someone could live inside. The farmer cuts it down with an axe without even batting an eye. Does Lewis wonder, when he checks the collection bin that night and finds it full to the brim with pumpkin flesh? What does he think? Does he even leave the money? Does he have the funds to pay the farmer millions of dollars for the massive amounts of wine they sell? Or is it someone--something--else entirely?

In the winter, the farmer delves into the mines. No one in Pelican Town has been down there in decades. No one in living memory has been to the bottom. The farmer gets there within the season. They return to the surface with stories of dwarven ruins and shadow people, stories they only tell to Vincent and Jas, whose retellings will be dismissed by the adults as flights of fancy. People walking by the entrance to the mines sometimes hear the farmer in there, speaking in a language no one can understand. Something speaks back.

The farmer speaks to the the wizard. They speak to the spirit of a bear inside a centuries-old stone. They speak to the shadow people and the dwarves, ancient enemies, and they try to mend the rift. They speak to the Junimos, ancient spirits of the forest and the river and the mountain. They taste the nectar of the stardrops and speak to the valley itself. They change Pelican Town, and they change the valley. Things are waking up.

And what does Evelyn think? She's the oldest person in the valley; she was here when the farmer's grandfather was young. (How old *is* she, anyway? She never seems to age. She doesn't remember the year she was born.) Does she see the farmer and think of their grandfather? Does she try to remember if he was like this too, strange and wild and given the gifts of the forest?

And does their grandfather haunt the valley? He haunts the farm, still there even after his death; his body died somewhere else, but his spirit could never stay away for long. Does Abigail, using her ouija board on a stormy night, almost drop the planchette when she realizes it's moving on its own? Does Shane, walking to work long before anyone else leaves their house, catch glimpses of a wispy figure floating through the town? Does the farmer know their grandfather came back to the place they both love so much?

Mr. Qi takes interest in the farmer. He's different, too; in a different way, maybe, but the principles are the same. They're both exceptional, and no matter what Qi says about it being hard work and dedication, they both know the truth: the world bends around the both of them, changing to fit their needs. Most people aren't visited by fairies or witches. Most people don't have meteorites crash in their yard. Most people couldn't chop down trees all day without a break or speak to bears and mice and frogs.

The farmer is different. The rules of the world don't work for them the way they work for everyone else. The farmer goes fishing and finds the stuff of fairy tales. The farmer goes mining and fights shadow beasts and flying snakes. The farmer looks at paths the townspeople walk every day and finds buried in the dirt relics of lost civilizations.

The farmer is a violent, irrepressible miracle, chosen by the valley and destined to return to it someday. Even if they'd never received the letter, they would've come home.

They always come home eventually.

[fallingskiesandrisingseas]

But what was most baffling to all that met the Pevensies after they came back was that they were kind.

Really. Not pretending, not because they were insecure. True, empathic. Far too understanding for children their age. They all have music in them.

Peter’s hands feel too small for him, but he shakes hands all the same. Gentle pressure. There is nobility behind those eyes. Eyes that always border on the supernatural sort of blue, especially in the dark.

He plays the guitar, gently coaxing otherworldly sounds out of an instrument that did not know it could be played like that. He helps his siblings with their homework, is taller much faster than his peers. Seems to take up more space, even though no one understands how a teenage boy manages that.

He doesn’t like doing nothing, ever. He instructs his classmates in grammar, gives away figures he cuts from wood with a knife that seems too sharp for a boy that small. He never hurts himself, though.

As the years pass, Peter grows strong. But he is gentle. He does not seem to be brash, even when many of his friends are. Peter keeps his emotions in check. Noble. Not undangerous, but not belligerent. Peter only ends fights, and only with people that deserve it.

He offers advice, a pat on the back. Teachers wanna dislike him, some do not like the look behind those eyes. Most find they cannot. Peter is popular with both adults and children, speaks sense and laughs often.

Peter is kind. Pious, devout. His faith is unmovable like rock. Did the kids meet God on the estate of their uncle?

Edmund plays the violin. A sad Edmund is a rare sight, but when he plays sad he can keep his whole floor awake. Somehow, Peter always finds h him quickly, effortlessly attuned to his brother’s moods. They play chess, then. Their chess master must have been a champion, Ed beats people with ease. He’s usually not smug about it.

Ed speaks politics and war in earnest, accepts critique graciously, is elegant in a way Peter never manages. Peter speaks frankly, but Edmund can wrap words up real nice. He doesn’t mince words, but his classmates grow into liking the sound of his voice. They appreciate that Edmund does not lie, even when speaking tactfully. Edmund can dial the temperature in a room, change it to suit himself.

He, too, laughs often, but Edmund is known to smirk. He likes being right and he often is. He’ll entertain anyone with a good story, always seems to have the right information to help you out. Remedies to illness, connections, job openings, how to sneak out of PE.

He’s a spider in a web. A bit reserved for a 11 year old, and oddly well-connected. A real ghost when he wants to be, but he never scares people with it.

Aslan would not approve of that. He believes in God as well, but much more intellectually. He’s got the intelligence to back it up and wit to match. A scholarly belief, but not lacking conviction.

Teachers like his enthousiasm, remember a moody nagging child when he left and see a secure young man come back.

Edmund will stand up for what is right. He gets into some trouble like that, but his verbal agility saves him always. Edmund has strong principles and will not bend them for anyone. No matter the trouble he gets in.

The bond with his brother is unbreakable. They even walk the same, chest out, left hand on their belt. They seem most at ease when fencing.

Susan was always warm and tenderhearted, but when she comes back there is a difference.

She seems to have gained authority. It’s real strange watching a 13-year old use her beauty like a grown woman, but Susan has learned to wield it, to stun people so she can creep under their skin. People LISTEN to her now.

Her wit is like a knife, but she avoids cutting deep. Susan is reasonable, and strong, and principled. The little drama others get involved in does not bother her, and she seems immune to petty insults. She has killed before, with her hands.

She will do it with kindness now. She is not very approachable ( that would be Lucy ), but she is kind. She used to mother over her brothers and sisters, but now that they have raised each other in a court full of magic she has gotten more relaxed. They listen to her on important issues, trust in her judgement. Her brothers does not deem himself more important, she is both well-spoken and well-respected by her siblings. Equal. It baffles the old men that teach her. Irritates them, too.

There is an air of mystery around her. Half a look is enough to get what she wants, Susan’s friends laud her security in herself, her Mona Lisa smile. She seems to temper moods easily, makes people feel at ease.

She most of everyone exudes royalty. It’s the grace. Susan plays the harp, her long fingers dancing across the strings like she’s had a lifetime of practice. She’s elegant, never caught off guard. Jamais faux pas.

She does not get angry. She knows who she will be. She is anxious to become an adult, yes, but she only wishes to look how she feels. Not to look differently. Yet the wish to be taken seriously, to have someone see you as an adult, it makes her surprisingly similar to her peers.

Her friends have not been old yet, is all. But Susan is calm and collected. People see her as someone you can tell a secret to. She never hurts someone, is usually a neutral party, speaks sense to adult and kids alike. She is not ignorant, however, will use every trick in the book to keep the peace. She knows when to go nuclear. Vis pacem para bellum.

Lucy is a sun in human form. She has a joie de vivre that is unmatched, is gay and golden-haired and never in a bad mood.

Lucy is kind by default, does not turn it off, does not turn it down. She’s witty and funny and quick on her feet. She has been grown before, yes, but enjoys being young for a few years more. She dances, sings old tunes. Her voice is her favorite instrument, you can usually hear Lucy coming.

Whistling a tune in the halls is known to improve the moods of everyone who hears it immensely. Young girls need to figure out who they are, but Lucy knows, knows what she’ll be and who she likes and what kind of people she wants to be around. She is not pretending, never moody. She can get sad, of course, but her older brothers and sisters are always nearby when that happens.

Lucy is genuine and fierce and convinced, immovable at times. Admired for her drive, but respected for her empathy. She speaks to everyone, often distributes flowers. There’s no naivite in her at all, she simply wishes to be like this so that the world may imitate her. She likes to see people prosper, is the first with praise.

She will go far, is the consensus. There’s steel beneath the soft exterior, Lucy has fire below the flowers. She’s well-liked and well-loved. She has love in spades, it seems, animals and stragglers and misfits and outcasts. She’s popular, her room is a good place to get a cup of tea and someone who will listen to you for some time. After a while she no longer bothers with the door.

That a heart that size fits in a girl that small is a mystery to many. Lucy does not think it is a mystery at all. It is the heart of a lion.

Her faith is as vocal as the rest of her, she sees it confirmed in all that is beautiful, all that is kind. She never tries to convert anyone but there are several people who have told her that version of God is someone they would like to know.

The Pevensies often see each other at parties, where they like to stand together. Edmund knows about everyone, everyone knows Peter, everyone likes Susan, but it is Lucy who knows everyone.

They are kind, but not weak. Peter gets his knuckles bloody sometimes, Edmund does not abide by the rules of unjust teachers. Susan and Lucy solve their problems differently but no less effective. Kindness is their usual way of operating, but they are still kings and queens. They will not allow cruelty, will not let bullies go unpunished.

They are sure of what they are and sure of what comes after death and this makes them kind. Kind , not harmless. Kind, not spineless. Kind, not ignorant. Kind, not naive.

Kind despite. Maybe kind because. The kings and queens of Narnia are proud of what they are, honour the teachings of their lion friend. Kind.

When the crash happens and three siblings die, everyone they know mourns deeply. Without them, the world is less kind.

[moeblob]

"Maybe I'm a broken man, but I still work"

Aka here's the secret phrase C:

v quick coffee shop doodle - there's a secret phrase on the back but I do not have time to draw it rn cause I gotta pack up and go

(I have been listening to the song "Broken Man" a lot lately ... as I found it out like three days ago. and it really fits Right)