#cause i remember sydney being the only child

[afrofairysblog]

I know S3 is going to be full of angst, but.... I want these two weirdos to have fun, and I just know they are going to have fun in their own way like it's their own secret tehehee

btw it's extremely important for sydcarmy to be silly together bc carmy's never had someone to do shenanigans with before

[katelynnwrites]

She Was Sunshine (I Was Midnight Rain) | Sydney Lohmann

warnings: angst with an a!

word count: 1592

summary: sydney is sunshine and you are midnight rain, you broke her heart cause she was nice

a/n: fairly different from my usual kind of writing but i tried, part two can be found here

Sydney Lohmann is sunshine personified. She is the walking definition of sunlight on the clearest of days.

Anyone who has ever met her will tell you that and everyone who has known her since she was a child will tell you that she always has been.

You are incredibly lucky to be one of the latter.

Moving from England to Germany was tough, especially since you were only ten. Your parents’ had divorced and your German mother had chosen to move back to her hometown in Upper Bavaria, taking you with her and in doing so, away from the country of your birth.

You didn’t speak German and definitely did not fit in at school because of it.

Everything was new and hard on you.

You were struggling and your lifesaver comes in the form of a blonde with messy pigtails.

You’ll always remember Syd kicking a ball over to you as you sat on a bench bordering the playground.

She gestures at you to join in, walking over to you and dragging you with her when you shake your head shyly, absolutely refusing to take your no for an answer.

You didn’t know how to play but Sydney tells you that all you have to do is pass the ball whenever you get it to her. She confidently told you that she would do the rest.

And she did, putting all the other children to shame, even the older boys by scoring goal after goal.

It became a regular thing and her bright smile as she celebrated them with you became the thing you most looked forward to each and every school day.

Sydney was your sunshine then and she still is now.

Over the years, you did learn how to play football and by sixteen, you have joined the youth department of Bayern Munich with Syd and more importantly, shared intimate kisses with her.

******

Being the blonde’s girlfriend is a joy.

There is no other way to describe how happy she makes you. From the tentative first kiss you had with her at fifteen to where you are now, playing for Bayern’s senior team together, you have been hers and she yours.

You can’t pinpoint the exact moment you started to want something more.

Munich is your girlfriend’s home. Her family is there, along with pretty much everyone she has ever known her whole life.

It makes perfect sense that Sydney bleeds Bayern.

Even at nineteen, she has made it clear that she intends on playing for the Bavarian club for as long as they would let her.

You don’t feel the same way.

Bayern Munich might be the club you play for now but as hard as you try to shut it away, part of you wants to go back to England.

You want to play for an English club in an English league. You want to speak the language you grew up speaking even though you have already nearly lost your accent.

But you don’t know how to tell your girlfriend that.

Not when she is so obviously ease at Bayern and so in love with you.

Four years of dating her and you have never felt so afraid to tell her something. The very last thing you want to do is to make her feel like she isn’t enough for you.

You only play football because of Syd. You’re only as good as you are because of her. Sydney is your world so how do you tell someone that important that your dreams are not the same as hers?

It is anything but simple and too difficult to think about when you don’t even know if it will be possible.

So you keep pushing it aside until you can’t any longer.

Chelsea makes an offer for you. One that is too good to resist.

And then it becomes inevitable that you have to talk to your girlfriend.

Right off the bat you know that this will be the hardest thing you have ever done.

You are nearly in tears when you sit Sydney down, trying your best to explain to her why you’re going to sign for Chelsea.

The blonde doesn’t understand, cannot understand why you are doing this. She goes through a whole range of emotions, shock, hurt, sadness, fear and finally anger.

It is with anger in mind when she tells you that if you leave for England, you and her are over.

She knows she is not being fair but she says it anyway.

Her bottom lip trembles and her hazel eyes are welling with tears as she struggles to pull herself together.

All her effort is in vain when after a beat of agonising silence, you whisper, ‘I guess this is goodbye then. I love you sonnenschein, I’m sorry we’re ending this way.’

Your former girlfriend flinches and the raw pain in her expression will haunt you for the rest of your life.

It certainly is at the forefront of your thoughts the entire time you pack up your things.

It is the only thing on your mind as you board the plane.

You keep hoping that the blonde will appear, text, call, hell even email to just say something. You’ll take anything over the silence she has given you ever since you sat across the table from her.

But all your hoping is pointless and you leave Germany with a broken heart.

You guess that Sydney wanted it comfortable and you wanted pain. You can’t fault her staying at Bayern because after all, it is her home.

It just isn’t yours.

******

Pain is what you get when you land in England.

London is not as you remember it to be, through the perspective of a child.

Nine years is a long time to be away and you have to adapt all over again.

It is an enormous challenge, practically a whole new country, an unfamiliar style of play and strangers for teammates.

You do however have a steely determination to make it work. You may be all of nineteen years old but you refuse to have lost your sunshine for nothing.

While Sydney continues to make her name in Munich, you make yours in London, chasing that fame you have only ever heard about.

******

You spent three seasons with the Blues, winning the WSL three times in a row. Your club even wins the domestic treble in your second season.

In those three years, you do what you moved clubs and countries for. You do everything you can to prove yourself and it pays off.

By the time you leave Chelsea, you’re well known as an up and coming young star.

Enough so that Barcelona is among the list of clubs who have shown interest in you.

With the Spanish club, your career only soars.

You win the Champions’ League the very first season you are there.

It is a promising start and you think you made the right decision in joining them.

******

Sydney stays the same.

Despite your own growing fame, you keep tabs on the blonde.

Bayern Munich is good to her and you watch with pride as she goes on to become a regular player for Germany.

It was with overwhelming guilt that you sat in the stands the day of her senior debut.

You’d once promised her that you would make your senior debuts for Germany together.

‘A pinky promise means forever.’ Syd had murmured when you linked your little finger with hers.

‘I know.’ You whispered and smiled.

But things changed when you left Munich.

Shortly into your time in London, you made the decision to represent England at the senior international level instead of Germany.

While you had been active in the German youth teams, you decided not to continue playing for them and commit to the country of your birth instead.

Sydney never reaches out to you, even when the media publishes it.

You will however, never forget the look on your ex’s face when England beats Germany in the Euro finals. It is one of complete and utter betrayal.

You broke the blonde’s heart cause she was nice and all of you changed like midnight.

Forever as it turns out, is not to be.

******

Sydney guesses that sometimes everyone gets what they want.

She gets to stay at home and play where she is comfortable. Bayern Munich is everything to her and she wears her heart on her sleeve everytime she puts on their jersey.

You get to make your own name and your career takes you places. The German woman knows you had to have suffered and put yourself through a certain amount of pain in order to have become this successful.

She admires you for that.

Syd tries her hardest not to think of you but how can she not?

Especially when you are on the television.

She can’t help but admire the way you play now. Your style of play has come a long way from the school playground.

English football and Spanish football has made it’s mark and you no longer play in an entirely German fashion.

Sydney is some kind of haunted by you. As a teenager she once dreamt of marrying you and she wonders what could have been had she not been so quick to push you away.

What if she had been brave enough to try making a long distance relationship work?

If only the blonde knew that you thought of her too. At midnight and all other times.

She isn’t the only one that’s haunted.

German Translation:

sonnenschein - sunshine

[crowroboros]

CARL 2 anything left to scrape off walls of this barrel before hitting the baseline facts?

Sorry for taking so long to do this, had a lot going on offline lol.

Okay, Carl round 2. I think in the first Carl post I made, I focused a lot on him narratively and how the plot handles his character so I guess I'll focus on being more casual with this one. Just getting out random thoughts, you know?

Carl and Daxton's friendship was one of the best parts of the vn. I would read an entire story of those two just being best buds after Flynn's route.

I kind of want to know what specific irl games (or their in universe equivalent) Carl is into cause in Route 65 Chase says that Carl is playing a "Japanese Tactics RPG" on his handheld and my mind immediately went to Fire Emblem. And idk I find the idea of the Echo gang knowing about Fire Emblem to be very funny for some reason.

I wish we got a bit more Sydney and Carl flashbacks. Both of them were very close to Flynn and Carl expresses discontent over the lack of answers surrounding Syd's death. I just wonder how close they were and what their friendship was like. Especially considering the shit in TJ's route with the "never have I ever killed somebody" or how Carl wanted to do the treasure hunt to get some closure. It makes it seem like those two were better friends than say Syd and Jenna, but we don't really see any of it.

Speaking of Carl's relationships with different characters, we have to talk about Carl and Flynn right? I'm not into the shipping scene much, but "Flarl" is something I can get behind. This post always jumps to mind when I think of their relationship and it is probably the most compelling piece of Flarl content I've ever seen, official or otherwise. Also I occasionally see the opinion that Flynn/Carl didn't have much hints in the prologue and Carl's route. And I can agree with the prologue, but in the beginning of Carl's route, Flynn and Carl was having an argument over Carl spending time with Chase over Flynn.

Chase rationalizes the "making out" comment and the other remarks between Flynn and Carl as a joke (and on my first reading I did as well) but in retrospect yeah wow there were more hints towards their relationship than I remember.

Also wait Carl isn't an only child right? I might be saying bullshit but I swear he mentions a sister in his route.

He fucking does what

who the hell is she? wait she gets mentioned once and then never again what is going on there?

[propertyofkylar]

gonna yap abt amie (dol pc) and her relationships with the LIs because i was thinking abt it in the shower this morning and wanted to share and i only ever talk abt her and whitney and kylar so wanted to expand

whitney: her boyfriend. she loves him so much. they get along well because they’re both loud and violent and love causing trouble. amie is known as “whitney’s girl” and therefore no one ever fucks with her.

kylar: except when they DO fuck with her because no one understands why whitney’s girl also spends so much time with that freak kylar. but amie loves him too. her other boyfriend. she protects him at any cost. most days she heads over to his manor after school. she feels a strong need to take care of him.

robin: since amie has been in the orphanage as long as she can remember, robin has been her best friend since day one. she tried to repress their mutual feelings but couldn’t do it so now they’re together too. another one that amie needs to protect. she supports him in all his endeavors (lemonade stand, crossdressing) and he’s always there when she wants to cry.

sydney: he intrigued amie because of how cute and shy he was. and amie couldn’t stand there being someone whose virginity she didn’t take. so she joined the temple just to sleep with him. and she feels guilty about it. because she does care about sydney, but she’s also literally a demon and he clearly cares more about her than she does him. but she considers him a friend because they spent a lot of time together during the play and working at sirris’s shop. she’s just very conflicted.

avery: this may be surprising but this is amie’s first love. he was kind to her when no one else was, and showed her how good life can be. like she had no money and no friends other than robin and avery came to help her. even now she has more than enough money and no worries, she still spends every saturday with him. he’s the only person she will be calm and submissive with. they genuinely enjoy each other’s company (and now that amie is a famous model and dancer that doesn’t hurt either)

eden: SCARY. amie is scared of her. her worst fear is being trapped with only one person. she kidnapped amie once. amie ran and never looked back. thankfully amie is quick lol so she hasn’t been caught again since.

alex: amie barely knows him. she doesn’t often go out that way (she’s been kidnapped by remy so many times it’s bad memories) but she’s worked at his farm a few times. honestly she’s too busy with stuff in town so she doesn’t have time to go out to the farm. she really just doesn’t care.

black wolf: i think a long time ago amie ended up here and gets along fairly well with the wolf pack. she doesn’t spend a lot of time there but when she sees them in the woods it’s not a bad experience.

great hawk: amie has never met him!!

idk if anyone even will read this but maybe i will write more about her and named npcs too. idk. thinking abt amie a lot lately because she is my child and i love her

[lilysparda]

Devil May Cry OC: Lily lore/headcanons PART TWO:

TRIGGER WARNING! DO NOT READ IF YOU DO NOT LIKE READING ABOUT DARK THEMES SUCH AS AB*SE, CHILD AB*SE OR IMPLIED SA. (I talk about these things with little comfort as a person with some experience in the aforementioned topics, so I understand if people want to avoid this. I don't use too much detail! But even the mention of these can upset or trigger people's own experiences and that's the last thing I want for anyone so please, if you ignore the warning or want to march on, proceed with caution!) -Lily's mother-in-law, Wendy, runs an orphanage. Due to her traumatic experiences with the nuns that overlooked the orphanage Lily had been in, she found it hard to trust Sydney's mom for a while. It wasn't hard to be scared of her as a kid, to be fair. Being 6 and seeing this 7 foot 1 Witch was spooky for anyone, but her kindness and genuine care for the children she looked after made Lily warm up to her. Nowadays, she absolutely adores the only mother figure she's had ever and decides that, if she ever quits devil hunting for some reason, she wants to help run the orphanage. Whilst Lily is very hesitant and wary about having children herself, she does feel fiercely protective of kids and wants to protect any she comes across. -When Lily was 16 and Sydney was 17, Sydney found out her oldest brother (who was 30) had a child he'd hidden away for years and consistently ab*sed and SA'd. He was eventually found out and arrested because a neighbour had heard horrifying screams one night. His daughter was taken away and put in foster Care. Sydney's parents were away on business and could not be contacted, so Sydney lied about her age and took her niece in so that the Foster Care system couldn't take her away. (don't ask how she got away with it and yes I know it's terrible of her to lie about it. I made this part of my lore only because I consistently had shit experiences with foster care and social workers as a kid and wanted to spite the bad system I was in). Lily had been apprehensive about taking in the 10 year old, named Jacklyn, because she knew (as someone who'd been through similar ab*se at the hands of members of The Order on Fortuna) that traumatised children were hard to look after. Nonetheless, she tried her best to be a good aunt to Jacklyn and even asked for help from her dads to help her and Sydney be the best they could for their niece. She and Sydney actually later officially adopted Jacklyn when Lily was 18 and Syndey was 19, this time as parents. -Lily's nickname for Jacklyn was 'Jackie' until the kid turned 13, of which he came out as transgender. From then on she called her son 'Jack-attack'. -Becoming a mom at 17 was surprising, but Lily didn't mind it much. She actually saw her younger self in this kid, someone who was so damaged and hurt but pushed through no matter how hard it got all because they had support. That being said though, seeing so much of herself in her new kid actually affected her negatively as much as it did positively. On one hand, she learned responsibility and cautiousness with others. On the other hand, she would cry to her parents (up until they disappeared) and to her wife because every bad reaction to something Jackie had, she felt guilty for it even when she knew it was just a trauma response (like flinching and crying due to a loud noise, for example Lily once dropped a cup and it smashed, causing Jacklyn to have a traumatic reaction to it), but she also remembered she had reacted similarly throughout her life so far and it hurt seeing that. She so badly wanted to help this kid heal as her dads had tried to help her. OKAY THIS IS ALSO TOO LONG, PART 3 COMING UP, IM SORRY TO RANT, Y'ALL. (Removed artwork because it's very light for this heavy topic post, apologies, will post on a lighter post later!)

[writtcninthestars]

Look who just woke up- is that JOE KEERY? No, I must have been mistaken, that’s DEWEY DUCK from DUCKTALES. I heard they are 23 and stuck here just like everyone else. Even in the 20’s, they still give off a/an HAVING A FAKE TALKSHOW, BEING THE COOL TRIPLET, COULD HAVE BEEN NAMED TURBO impression. They’re known to be quite ADVENTUROUS, but have a tendency to be COCKY on their bad days.

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀╱╱╱ ┊ biographical information. ╲╲╲ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⌈ designations ⌋

⠀⠀⠀± 𝖻𝗂𝗋𝗍𝗁 𝗇𝖺𝗆𝖾: dewford dingus duck ⠀⠀⠀± 𝗇𝗂𝖼𝗄𝗇𝖺𝗆𝖾𝗌: dewey, turbo, the blue one ⠀⠀⠀± 𝖺𝗅𝗂𝖺𝗌: dewey ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⌈ physical characteristics⌋

⠀⠀⠀± 𝖺𝗀𝖾: 23 ⠀⠀⠀± 𝗀𝖾𝗇𝖽𝖾𝗋: male, he/him ⠀⠀⠀± 𝗁𝖾𝗂𝗀𝗁𝗍: 5′11 ⠀⠀⠀± 𝖾𝗒𝖾 𝖼𝗈𝗅𝗈𝗋: brown ⠀⠀⠀± 𝗁𝖺𝗂𝗋 𝖼𝗈𝗅𝗈𝗋: brown

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⌈ general documentation ⌋ 
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀± 𝗈𝖼𝖼𝗎𝗉𝖺𝗍𝗂𝗈𝗇: student ⠀⠀⠀± 𝗋𝖾𝗌𝗂𝖽𝖾𝗇𝖼𝖾: bondi ⠀⠀⠀± 𝗌𝖾𝗑𝗎𝖺𝗅 𝗈𝗋𝗂𝖾𝗇𝗍𝖺𝗍𝗂𝗈𝗇:  gay⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀± 𝗆𝗈𝗋𝖺𝗅 𝖺𝗅𝗂𝗀𝗇𝗆𝖾𝗇𝗍: chaotic good 


⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⌈ personal ⌋

⠀⠀⠀± 𝗉𝖾𝗋𝗌𝗈𝗇𝖺𝗅𝗂𝗍𝗒: dewey is an attention seeker, that will do anything to get famous and known. being the middle child, he was often overlooked, which causes his longing to be seen. he is adventure seeking and excitable. he often has a difficult time staying still and always needs to be doing something. ⠀⠀⠀± 𝗍𝗁𝖾𝗆𝖾 𝗌𝗈𝗇𝗀: rocket man by elton john ⠀⠀⠀± 𝗊𝗎𝗈𝗍𝖾: “if you can dream it, you can dewey it.” ⠀⠀⠀± 𝗌𝗍𝗒𝗅𝖾: he is usually found wearing different shades of blue. his hair is often styled in the way that is popular in whatever time he is in. when he wears something other than blue, he doesn’t feel like himself, so he tends to try and only wear shades of blue. it’s a force of habit for him since his uncle donald assigned the triplets colors to tell them apart. he is always finding ways within his style to stand out so that he doesn’t just blend into the background. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⌈ character archives ⌋

⠀⠀⠀±  𝖿𝖺𝗅𝗌𝖾 𝗅𝗂𝖿𝖾: dewey was raised as an only child, able to be independent of his brothers and family. he was given a loving home. they didn’t have much, but his family did their best to give him what he wanted. they weren’t able to pay for his schooling, but they do help to pay his rent while he’s off at university. in his fake life, he’s lived in sydney all of his life. in real time, he’s only been there for about four years.

⠀⠀⠀±  𝗉𝖺𝗌𝗍 𝗅𝗂𝖿𝖾: when he first remembered his life, he only remembered wanting to meet his mother. he remembered a majority of their adventures leading up to della coming home, but that was it. now, after running into his mother in sydney, he completely remembers everything from his past life. he remembers figuring out that webby is actually a clone of scrooge, meeting his mother, turbo-duck, all of his adventures with his family.

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

[totouchthcstars]

.｡.:*☆ Look who just woke up- is that ISMAEL CRUZ CÓRDOVA? No, I must have been mistaken, that’s SPOCK from STAR TREK. I heard he is 36 and stuck here just like everyone else. Even in the 20’s, they still give off a A CONSTANTLY INNER BATTLE BETWEEN HIS VULCAN AND HIS HUMAN SIDE; CONSTANTLY LEARNING NEW THINGS ABOUT EARTH AND HUMAN CULTURE; BEING A LOYAL AND TRUSTWORTHY STARFLEET MEMBER impression. They’re known to be quite CALM, but have a tendency to be STOIC on their bad days.

GENDER/PRONOUNS

he/him

HOW LONG HAVE THEY BEEN IN SYDNEY?

memories: 4 years (reality: 3 years)

JOB

scientist

WHICH SUBURB DO THEY LIVE IN?

-

MEMORIES OF THEIR REAL LIFE :

he does remember the new movie verse, as well as things that happened in Discovery and Strange New Worlds

WHAT WAS THEIR FAKE LIFE LIKE?:

Even before his memories returned, like, since being a young child, Spockn always had been different than the rest of his family. Spock's siblings were bright and bubbly, and also often ending up causing mischief, while he was reserved and prefering to read or study instead of going outside playing football.

While his mother was proud of Spock to be so ambitious, she was also worried her son would end up being a loner due to his closed off personality.

Spock himself did not mind, at least, until he became a teenager. Yes, he still was ambitious then. But Spock also became somewhat rebellious, got into a fight with some guys at his school and then also got arrested once due to violent behaviour. Spock worked har don himself after this, however, things only got really better again once his memories returned again.

Spock served some years in the military and now works as a scientist.

[strawberrylemonz]

Masked Crowns

Part 16

Part 17 [CURRENT]

Part 18

@petrichormeraki @applepie1000 @artistconk @ivorylin @sydneys-sketches @snapdragonfirefly @bargledblocks

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

“Theo, stop moving around! Clem, stop fucking around and quite biting my ankle! Hey, don’t use that tone with me, young lad- Clementine!”

Fundy appeared half dead as he laid on the couch, exhausted. He watched as both Theo and Clementine hounded Tommy, who was just trying to make adjustments to their formal wear. Groaning as he hoisted himself into a sitting position, Fundy rubbed his eyes as he addressed his uncle.

“Give it up, Tommy, they aren’t gonna sit still. Wilbur gave them candy this morning.”

“I know, Fundy. Jesus, what the fuck was Wil thinking?!”

“Look at the bright side, you were able to quickly make adjustments to the bot-boys.”

“Only because Grumbot and Jrumbot are saints. I swear, Grian is a better father than I am at times. Don’t fucking tell him I said that- Clementine! What the fuck?!”

Both Fundy and Tommy looked down to the two children, who both appeared to be offended. Clementine huffed as she stomped her kicking foot on the ground, her arms crossed as she glared at her father. Theo did his best to match his cousin’s level of intimidating energy, giving an annoyed looks at his father and great uncle.

“No!”

“No what?”

“Noooo!”

“Ender- Clem, I can’t understand what's wrong when you throw fits, okay? Take a deep breath, collect yourself, then tell me what’s wrong.”

“Hnnnn”

Tommy frowned as he stared at the younger girl, who seemed to grow more irritated by the second. He knew her, though, could read her body language perfectly. She wasn’t angry or irritated, she was hurt and upset. Kneeling down, he held his hands out to his daughter, who glared at them in fury. After realizing her father’s hands weren’t going to combust, she sighed as she placed her tiny hands in Tommy’s bigger ones. Slumping her shoulders in defeat, she frowned down at her feet. Giving a frown of his own, Tommy lowered his head to try and make eye contact with Clementine, to no avail.

“Hey, look at me. Please?”

He watched with slight appeasement as she tilted her head up, her eyes slowly meeting Tommy’s. He gave her a hesitant smile, gently rubbing her tiny hands in a comforting manner as he did so.

“What’s wrong, little moth?”

Clementine didn’t talk much, opting to use her growls and grunts to communicate. This, however, wasn’t a situation where that form of communication would help things run smoothly. Moving her eyes from her dad’s face down to their joined hands, she frowned as her bottom lip began to quiver.

“I’m bad.”

“...What?”

“No good. Bad. Not nice. Not calm.”

As he stared at the sad expression resting on the girl’s face, Tommy suddenly felt small once again. He felt the same way he did when his father complained about him, not realizing his youngest was listening. He remembered the self doubt he felt and the hurt in his chest when his dad would compare him to his older brothers. It had fucking hurt when he was a kid, and it still did. And now? Now he was doing the same to his daughter. He was the fucking worst.

“No-Clementine, that isn’t true. Fuck, I- That’s not what I- Listen-”

Tommy sat down completely as he leaned forward, peering into the sad eyes of his daughter. Fuck, who knew being a parent would hurt his heart so fucking much? He was in his fucking feels at the moment, and it was all because of the toddler that stood before him. He was so scared of hurting her, of giving her reasons to despise and disown him as her father. He had to fix this, he needed to.

“The day I found you, I felt a piece of me return. It’s okay that you’re not like your cousins. You know what? I’m glad you’re not like them. You’re you, and you are being the best you there is. You’re not bad, Clementine, you’re fucking lovely. Don’t ever doubt yourself, okay? You’re a fucking badass, a brilliant one, too. I’m sorry, okay? I didn’t mean to compare you to your cousins.”

The small smile that graced Clementine’s lips was enough to fill Tommy with relief. Pulling her into a hug, he smiled as he felt her cling onto his shirt for comfort. Looking to the side, he hummed as he motioned for his great nephew to join in on the hug. Theo, who was quietly watching it all, happily ran into the hug, pulling his father along with him. So much had happened in such little time that Tommy forgot that kids were easily overwhelmed. From discovering new family, the park’s opening, house renovations, and then personal schedules, it was too much for the two to handle. They got along and enjoyed their cousins, but Tommy and Fundy had forgotten that they needed more than just that. They needed reassurance that they were enough.

“Now, can you two please let Tommy make final adjustments to your outfits? We have a ball to attend to, after all.”

--------

Attending the ball was truly a blast from the past. Tommy snickered as Kristin gushed about the matching outfits her grandbabies and youngest son were wearing, alongside with her own. Most of the members from the Dream SMP just gawked in silence as Lani, who was matching with both Drista and Tubbo, twirled and bragged about how wonderful of a designer and tailor Tommy was.

“Tommy made those?”

“Yup! He sure did!”

“But they’re so...elegant.”

“Oi! Fuck you!”

Laughter erupted from the group as the music played in the background. As the group conversed among one another, pairs began to break off to dance.

“Pa!”

Tommy peered down at Clementine, who held her hands up expectedly. Letting out a laugh, he scooped her up into his arms, smiling as she giggled with every bounce her father caused with his laughter. She smiled brightly at him as he fixed the tiara on her head. She laid her head on his shoulder as he swayed along to the music, both content. After a moment, Tommy felt his daughter’s head lift from his shoulder.

“Cousins.”

He turned to follow her line of sight to see Theo, Grumbot and Jrumbot all waving at him, their suits and hair fixed appropriately for the occasion. Returning the wave, he smiled at his daughter, setting her down with a nod.

“Yeah, you four go dance and have fun. Be careful.”

He couldn’t help but smile as her curls bounced as she squealed in excitement. Giving Tommy a hug, she quickly grabbed a hold of her cousins and rushed to the dance floor, smiling as her cousins argued as to which pair should dance with who. As he watched his only child scurry away with her cousins, he couldn’t help but sigh. The feeling of a hand on his forearm caught his attention. Turning to the side, he saw Tubbo smile at him, Lani and Drista right behind him.

“C’mon, let’s go dance.”

----------

Tommy and Lani were doing their best to not disrupt their dancing with silent wheezes of laughter, they really were. It’s not their fault, everyone was making it so hard for them!

“It’s like he’s dancing with Mount Everest!”

“Holy shit, this is hilarious.”

The pair watched in amusement as Tubbo bossed an awkward, but happy, Ranboo around the dance floor. The height difference in itself was enough to make the sight laughable.

“Tommy, over there.”

Following Lani’s line of sight, Tommy damn near belted out laughter as a grumpy Drista was stuck paired with one of the park’s guests, who would not shut up about her relation to Dream.

“Poor girl, losing her sanity.”

“She’s about to break, it’s fucking hilarious. Should have given her a fork.”

“We’re here to dance, Tommy, not commit a felony.”

“Rich coming from a girl with multiple knife pockets installed into her dress.”

“You installed them!”

“You commissioned them!”

The two began to bicker like the besties they were as their friends and family danced around them. Phil and Kristin danced and twirled as they shared whispers to each other, their smiles brighter than ever. Wilbur and Techno were awkwardly dancing with one another, their empty insults to one another growing louder the longer the brothers were with each other. Grian was teaching Grumbot the proper way to waltz, Bad and Skeppy goofingly twirling around them. Clementine and Jrumbot happily danced off beat, no one even daring to teach them the proper moves. Quackity, Karl and Sapnap laughed as they spun around together, the three pulling George in from the sidelines. Just as Tommy was about to make a comment, a sharp elbow jabbed his side.

“Ow! Lani, what the fuc-”

“Shh! Look!”

“What are you-”

“Just look, it’s important!”

And important it was. There, standing at the food tables, was Fundy. He wasn’t alone, though, not at all. There, making the hybrid blush and stutter, stood a guy. Lani and Tommy exchanged knowingly looks, before dashing over to the nearest hiding spot.

“Move over!”

“No, you!”

“Shh, listen!”

----------

“Go away.”

Theo frowned as the words left his mouth. He crossed his arms as he glared up at the emotionless mask before him, the face behind it hidden well. That didn’t stop Theo from being able to read body language, and the vibes he was getting weren’t necessarily hostile, but they weren’t welcoming as well.

“I just wanted to get a good look at you, to know you. Makes sense, doesn’t it? You are my son after all.”

The word sounded so wrong coming out of the unseen mouth. Son. As far as Theo was concerned, Dream was no father to him. His only dad was Fundy, and Fundy was all he needed for a parent.

“Your crown looks very nice, did you design it yourself? And I like your suit. I noticed that it matches Fundy’s perfectly. In fact, both of your crowns match perfectly with one another.”

Theo wasn’t planning on responding to any of the comments, not that he’d have to try. Dream just didn’t seem to catch the child’s drift, continuing to talk despite the boy not responding. 

“You have my hair color, it looks good on you. You’re obviously a shapeshift, like Fundy. Have you tried shifting to your more humanoid form? Oh, your eyes. You have-”

“My eyes.”

He may have been young, but Theo wasn’t daft. He knew that Dream (he would not call him father) was the reason for him having to live in the burrows up until then. He didn’t know what all Dream did, but he knew that it was enough to make his papa and uncle Tommy hurt very badly. He wasn’t going to let Dream see him with his guard down, not around him. He just stood and glared at the older man, who seemed to not have taken a hint to the child’s body language. Theo just confidently stood his ground as he watched Dream kneel before him, reaching over to gently pat his head, not seeming to care about pushing the crown around. Theo was quick to catch his crown, which fell off his head the moment Dream pushed it off. Much to Theo’s relief, the unwelcomed form of affection didn’t last long.

“Ow!”

“Dickhead! Dickhead!”

Dream pulled his arm back as Theo hid a laugh behind his hand. Standing in confidence was Clementine, who had just bitten Dream’s hand. She just growled and hissed at Dream, taking a protective stance in front of Theo as Grumbot and Jrumbot stood by his side, ready to defend their cousin. Dream just rubbed his hand, before pointing at the emerald jewel dangling from the girl’s necklace.

“I only know one person with an emerald cut exactly like that. You must be Tommy’s brat. What did he name ya again? Clementine? Figured. I guess it’s true after all, trouble attracts trouble. Don’t tell me that you’re just as problematic as your dad-”

“Shut up!”

Theo huffed as he yelled at Dream, who wasn’t expecting such an outburst from the quiet child. Grumbot narrowed his eyes as the man, pulling Theo behind him as he did so. Jrumbot, on the other hand, just mocked the masked warrior.

“-meanie mask man!”

“Fine! We’ll talk once you’ve all calmed down. I’ll see you around, Theo.”

Dream let out an annoyed huff as he walked off, giving a half-wave to Theo. Once he was completely out of sight, Theo was mobbed by his concerned cousins, who were quick to assess him. Clementine began to sniff for any off scents while Jrumbot clung onto his arm, whines escaping his artificial mouth as his older brother inspected Theo. Whilst checking for any possible injuries, Grumbot began to question the younger boy.

“Were you hurt?”

“No.”

“Did he threaten you?”

“Nuh uh.”

“Well, is he as big of a jerk as Uncle Tommy said he was?”

Theo blinked a few times before laughing, causing the worried faces of his cousins to morph into confusion. After a moment, an amused look graced Grumbot’s features. Clementine and Jrumbot only continued to watch in confusion. Finally calming down, Theo responded with a nod.

“Yeah, he is. He tried acting like he was my dad.”

“We should tell your dad.”

“Are you kidding me?! He’s talking to a potential dad! Let’s just go bother Uncle Tommy.”

“No! Spy. Uncle Grian!”

“I’m sure dad won’t mind us bothering him. Let’s get going.”

Making sure they all had their belongings, the four children scurried off towards Grian. As they happily spoke with the father of the bot boys, Theo felt a chill down his spine. Turning around to peer behind him, he noticed a familiar white mask. If he clung onto his uncle a bit tighter than usual, Grian didn’t mention.

:)

[shiftysdogtags]

@liebgotttme I really hope you like this. I went with Lieb because i love him and this is what came to mind. Im not 100% happy with it so any feedback is appreciated. Not my gif.

Promised Proposals

Y/N’s crush on Lieb came out of nowhere. One day she felt nothing but admiration and friendship and the next the way she looked at him changed. While it wasn’t a big deal, she felt different and it scared her. Jumping out of planes into enemy territory was one type of scary but trying to admit that she was falling for him was a completely different thing.

Admiring him and the concentrated look that was painted into his handsome face she couldn’t help but

“Y/N, it’s your turn.” Babe snapped her out of her daydream, swapping the darts in his hand for the drink in hers taking a mouthful. They played against Shifty and Liebgott and if the score was anything to go by Y/N and Babe were by far the better team.

Every so often Lieb would try to encourage Y/N with words of confidence that could double as borderline flirting. A couple of times she has caught Babe side eying her after one of Lieb’s suggestive comments knowing full well she was dying on the inside. Trying to brush them off as being supportive yet an attempt to distract her and close the gap on his and Shifty’s losing streak, she couldn’t ignore the heat rising to her cheeks.

“Remember Y/N,” Lieb placed both hands on her shoulders while standing behind her. He was so close to her, closer than he had ever been before, meaning she could feel his breath on the side of her face as he leaned against her as he whispered into her ear. She couldn’t hear what he said next, trying to focus her attention on the game and not on her wandering thoughts. It’s almost as if he knew what he was doing, trying to take full advantage of the situation she found herself in just so he could win a stupid game of darts.

But she couldn't let him win. She believed if she won the game she would somehow have succeeded in hiding her true feelings too. Her denial was so deep she tried to hide it by encouraging him to flirt with the waitress who had been eyeing him all night.

“If you spent half as much time,” Y/N stopped herself mid-sentence throwing the first dart towards to board. “focusing on yourself as you do me, you would’ve noticed that dame eye-fucking you by now.”

Lieb looked over at the girl, a large smirk crossing his face. The game ended as soon as Lieb skipped off in the waitress direction. He had obviously decided he was better off giving her his attention as Y/N had pointed out.

Y/N took pride in being right, going out of her way to prove a point. The irony of it all was Joe hated that she was right and always wanted to prove her wrong but in this single act he did the complete opposite of that. This time, however, she hated that she was right. She never thought she would want to be so wrong in her life.

For the next few hours, it seemed the girl had abandoned her job, focusing all her energy on the attention Joe was giving her. By all views, she seemed to be enjoying it, she laughed along with him and leaned into him when he tried to wrap his arm around her shoulder.

It bothered her it really did. All strength of her denial was washed further and further away with each roll of her eyes at the squeaky laugh that came from the waitress.

Babe nudged her, trying to distract her. He knew her feelings for Lieb although she never told him. “It can’t get any worse.”

“Do you want a bet?” Babe glanced over to where Y/N pointed to see Lieb down on one knee in front of the prettiest waitress in the bar. He wasn’t the first guy to as her to marry him, she had rejected all of them just as she appeared to be rejecting him too.

Judging by the state of Joe, he was extremely drunk and was in no state to be making life-altering decisions. If she had said yes, who knows how he would react in the morning at the realisation of what he had done.

“He won’t remember any of this in the morning.” Shifty laughed at his friend while sipping his drink. He found it all too amusing. The thought of Lieb proposing alone was humorous but the thought of him trying to be romantic and get on one knew was downright hilarious. It’s not something anyone would expect of him.

“He might not, but I will.” The sight unfolding in front of her made Y/N laugh. He couldn’t look more idiotic if he tried. “And I won’t have any problem in reminding him.”

While it didn’t bother her in the slightest, Y/N couldn’t help but feel a slight bit jealous. It wasn’t premeditated, Y/N knew that Joe hadn’t set out to ask the poor waitress to marry him. He didn’t even know her.

When Joe stood up, finally accepting defeat and rejection, Y/N expected him to be some form of heartbroken. Instead, he wore the rejection as a badge of honour. With one hand over his heart and pretending to wipe a tear away he overplayed his mock hurt, obviously finding the situation humorous.

On his way back to his friends, he high-fived a few of the guys but his eyes lit up at the sight of her. “Did you see that, Y/N?”

“Yes, Joseph, I saw all of it,” Y/N replied. Joe’s face fell a little at her tone of voice, a hint of disappointment mixed with indifference.

Drunk Lieb, when he was in the right humour, was the most entertaining thing Y/N had ever seen. He never failed to make her laugh. Whatever little self-restraint he had left was washed away with each mouthful of alcohol leaving room for bad ideas and good times.

Reaching behind Lieb to get her coat, and for his arm to pull him up, she leaned towards him “I think it’s time for you to get home.”

“I only did it because you told me to.”

“I never told you to ask her to become the future Mrs Liebgott.”

Lieb groaned grabbing the last of his drink from the table. He didn’t need anymore but he was too far gone that one more mouthful wouldn’t make too much of a difference. Before Y/N could snatch the glass from his grip Joe knocked it back against his lips meeting her unimpressed look with a shit-eating grin. He planted a wet, sloppy kiss on her cheek causing him to wobble again. The force of it alone shocked Y/N, and before she knew what to Babe had pushed her and Joe towards the door, helping her get out of there before anyone had a chance to say anything.

Did she ask him what he was doing? Why did he do that? Before Y/N had a chance to form a sentence to try to get her thoughts straight, Joe took advantage of her silence. “I didn’t like her anyway. You’re much prettier than her.”

His comment threw her thoughts into another spin. For once in her life, she was left speechless. Any other time Joe has thrown something at her, she was well prepared to return something his way.

“My Ma will love you.” He hiccuped continuing his ramblings while stumbling on loose ground. “Promise me you’ll come to see her after the war.”

After the war, Y/N thought. Would she still be here? Would Joe? It seemed like a lifetime away and she dared not to think about it. The last thing on Y/N’s mind was the end of the war and meeting Joe Liebgott’s mother was nowhere on her radar. Her only concern was getting him home safe and tucked into bed. “Yeah, sure.”

“No,” He wined and stopped walking. The last person she expected to have a temper tantrum was joe yet he stood in front of her like a child who wasn't getting his way. “You have to promise me.”

“Lieb, Alright. I promise.” With a roll of her eyes, she begged him to keep moving by linking her arm around his. The cold was starting to send shivers down her back despite having Joe so close to her. A content smile as wide as a Cheshire Cat crossed his face and he continues to lean against her as he stumbled closer to the bed that was calling his name.

Truthfully, she would have promised him anything and everything no matter what he asked her. Joe was a very convincing guy when he needed to be and it was only fuelled by the little crush she had for him.

“Y/N, will you marry me?” A gasp caught in her throat. It was the last thing Y/N expected. She never expected Joe to be the type to go around throwing out proposals to anyone who crossed his path. “I know I asked that other girl, but I don’t like her. I like you.”

She scoffed and it was her turn to stop walking with arms crossed against her chest. “I bet you say that to all the girls.”

“No.” The whine that escaped his throat was sure to wake the whole town up. Trying to make him stop and be quiet was useless. Trying to reason with Lieb on a good day was a losing battle.

With a hand firmly clasped over his mouth hoping it would somehow muffle his purring. “I’ll tell you what, if you remember this tomorrow I’ll give you my answer then.”

Joe fiercely nodded against her hand, apparently happy with her answer.

Taking her hand away from his face, she turned the handle to open the door of the house he was billeted in. “I mean, I don’t have a ring or nothin’-“

Y/N pushed him inside interrupting whatever he was going to say next. Of course, he had to say something to ruin the moment.

“Shut up, Liebgott.” She replied with a roll of her eyes and shutting it behind her before he could say anything else.

Her accommodation wasn’t too far away and she couldn’t wait to go to sleep and start tomorrow off fresh.

Surely he wouldn’t remember any of this in the morning, would he?

@curraheewestandalone @liebegott @vintagelavenderskies @inglourious-imagines @happyveday @easy-company-tradition @sydney-m @josephtoye @50svibes

[stxleslyds]

MY TOUGHTS ON PART TWO OF RED HOOD BY CHIP ZDARSKY :)

A DC BOOK THAT TASTES LIKE MARVEL.

You know when you are reading a book and you feel like the story you are reading seems familiar but not really within the context you are reading it at the moment? If you can’t shake the wrong sense of familiarity you search for what it probably the biggest give away, the author.

Here it’s something like that; I have read other pieces of Chip Zdarsky’s work, namely Daredevil. While I could tell you the familiarity is there, in the subject of guilt after taking the life of another person, the reality is that this book doesn’t taste like Daredevil, it tastes like Marvel.

That can be either an excellent thing (because Marvel has amazing books) or something terrible (because DC isn’t Marvel and they don’t work the same way).

As of now I can’t really tell if this Red Hood story is going to be one or the other, but I can tell you that it feels out of place in the DC universe, or at least that’s how I see it. I will explore this particular thought later, I just thought this was a nice way to open this post.

If you would like to read the first post I made about this book I will leave the link here!

Now…let’s begin.

Part two picks up exactly where part one left off, we see Jason calling Oracle so she can bring the police to the place where Jason killed Andy a.ka. that gigantic piece of shit.

Jason is having some thoughts, ones that I think are important.

“I have taken lives before, a lot of them. I have killed guys knowing nothing about them except that they had guns and murder in their hearts. Those ones are easy; I don’t have to think of their mothers getting the news or of kids being...”

Jason is troubled. He is now in front of a reality that he never truly thought about but to be honest with you I strongly believe that nobody in the DC universe thinks beyond what happens in front of them, that’s just how fictional comic worlds are designed.

Anyway, there is a little something that bothers me in this inner monologue of his, like since when have “murderers” been Jason’s actual target? Like Joker was his target but he didn’t kill him, the base of Jason’s morals when it comes to killing has always been drugs, most importantly if you sell drugs to kids. So unless he is saying “murderers” because they were selling drugs that caused people (especially kids) to overdose then I don’t really get what is going on.

Another thing that I also talked about in the first post is that Jason hasn’t killed in a very long time, this man has been sticking to the Bats rule for so long that it’s actually unreal. Even when he shot the penguin and Batman proceeded to almost beat Jason to death the penguin hadn’t died. So once again I am thinking that Zdarsky has some info that he is not sharing right now or maybe he just didn’t read Lobdell's run (in which case, can you really blame him?)

Now let me talk about the other part of his monologue “…I don’t have to think of their mothers getting the news or of kids being...” This is something that I haven’t seen in DC, direct consequences after a hero/vigilante does something, and let me tell you it feels out of place. Is it a good or bad thing? I don’t really know but I have some thoughts on the subject.

I think it's unfair to put a comic character in that situation or dilemma. Jason has basically three reactions to the same situation and they are all valid, but can this situation be handled by a fictional person in a fictional world? Because to be fair I could also ask about the criminals that are put in hospitals after they are beat up by heroes, what if they die in the hospital? Is the hero a killer or does it fall on the hospital? If a criminal cannot pay for the attention given to them in hospitals and they immediately go back to criminal activity to pay for those things, are heroes a good thing? If the Joker bombs a hospital for the third time in four months and Batman does the same thing (take joker to Arkham) only for Joker to escape and do it again, is Batman as guilty as the Joker for the deaths of innocent people or not?

As I wrote it and as I read it again I see that it is a crazy thought because you can simply add more depth to the characters decisions and the consequences that would ensue because of them, but Gotham is a fictional city created to establish that crime is off the charts and that they need Batman because no amount of resources will be able to fix this city’s problems. So putting Jason in this position is new to me…but only in DC (more of this particular thought below).

Going back to the comic in question, I feel like Jason had the answers and the ideas all in his head. In this issue alone he basically says that if the mother does not pull through the boy will be alone, but alone means going into the system (a horrible system that Jason does not trust and needs improvement), but also, Jason recognizes that if the mother died and the father was left alive then that man would have done horrendous stuff. I just simply wouldn't believe that a man that gave drugs to both his wife and son so they wouldn't bother him is just going to change after realizing that his wife died because of him. Even less believable is him becoming an amazing father.

In the big scheme of things, Jason has killed people who fitted very certain characteristics, never innocents (bye, Morrison). What happens after the killing is done? We don’t know because past stories have never focused on that (criminals in comics are by default one dimensional, villains are not)

But here is the thing, Zdarsky is a Marvel writer and Marvel has gone in depth within those situations (like what happens after heroes commit mistakes or kill someone) mostly with Civil War by Mark Millar and more recently in Daredevil written by Chip Zdarsky, but DC hasn't and DC has been plain for a long time, DC doesn't really explain how batman hurts people severely and nothing happens beyond that.

What I am trying to say is that Zdarsky is going for a different and unique route for Jason here but I think the story is out of place in the DC universe.

I promise I am done with those thoughts, they were really difficult to put on paper and to make them make sense, so I apologize if I only confused you, sorry!

Anyway! After the monologue is done we have a flashback where little Jason is being told by his mother to go buy bread (the only thing they can afford) but she is also making him leave so he doesn’t have to be present when Robby (a friend if you ask Jason’s mom, a drug dealer if you ask Jason) comes to the apartment to help her.

Sadly as Jason is leaving Robby is walking up the stairs, now not to copy little Jason but fuck Robby. Jason’s issues with drugs, drug dealing and overdosing is once again shown here but what is also shown is the violence that comes with it. Jason being terrified for himself (and his mother) as Robby pulls a knife on him broke my heart and as he is left there in the corridor to his apartment all we can see is a defeated little boy and that shit hurts a lot.

After that we jump back to the future with none other than Batgod…I mean Batman. Batman is following a man called Sydney and apparently he disappointed Batman because B told him to stop being a criminal, like come on man if I ask nicely or if I break both of your arms you will surely stop, right? Yeah, no.

I feel like I mentioned something about this while my brain decided that DC never usually explains what happens with criminals after they get caught or killed and now here we are. Consequences. Batman scares a man off of working for Scarecrow but the man still needs to work (does he have a family to provide for? We don’t know. Does he do it because it’s the only job he can get? We don’t know.)

This Batman intermission ends up with Oracle telling him that Jason might be in trouble.

So we find ourselves back with Jason and Tyler in his safe house, Zdarsky does not hesitate and first thing he does is give us a couple of very angsty panels.

I love the way it hurts.

Jason honey, my sweet chonky boy…what are you doing?

Well at least I am not the only one asking that because Jason is having a moment to reflect about what has happened, what is happening and what could happen in the future. In this monologue he says the following:

“Dammit, Jason, what the hell are you doing? You can’t take care of this kid! But you can’t put him in the system either! Just waiting for some obsessed militaristic billionaire to adopt him? Dammit. His dad was scum, he hurt Tyler, he hurt his mom. But if Tyler’s mom doesn’t pull through…I just made this kid an orphan. He is my responsibility, he is too young to really see what he’s gone through, he can still be saved…unlike…”

Yeah that’s some really angsty thoughts, he is really going through it and I understand it. He lost his cool after what that horrible human being said he did and killed him and now he has to face the consequences of his actions, he recognizes that if the boy is left truly alone he will have to step up…but here is the thing, does Jason really want that? It seems to me like Jason is deeply against the idea of children working as heroes, and here he is as an adult that is a vigilante with an impressionable child that sees the Red Hood as his hero, I don’t know, it looks like the perfect recipe for a disaster.

But we don’t get to see what Jason does right away because its flashback time.

Jason only moved from his spot in the corridor of his apartment door to get the bread but as Robby comes out of said door Jason is there waiting. Robby teases that he and Jason’s mom ended up sharing the “medicine” and that she will be sleeping for a long time, and that seems to be it for Jason because next thing you know Robby is falling down the stairs.

Aw, shit.

Jason from the future continues his monologue while he remembers what happened on those stairs.

“I never had a chance, not for one second. But he does, Tyler has a chance. I can help him, help him be okay. This doesn’t…what I did…what his parents did, it doesn’t have to define him.”

So Jason wants to make things right for Tyler so he doesn’t become like Jason. Now I don’t truly know what Zdarsky is going for but I will go for the unconscious route, little Jason pushed Robby (that fucker) down the stairs and he was left unconscious there.

In Jason’s eyes Tyler is still a good kid that deserves only the best (like you Jason, please don’t think so low about yourself) and that can be saved from a life of vengeance, justice and trauma. But whatever Jason was going to actually say to Tyler we don’t know because Tyler informs Jason that through the Red Hood mask there is someone telling him that Batman is coming.

Batman appears out of nowhere as he does and starts talking shit.

Honestly Batman what is with that “not my town” bullshit? Baby this isn’t the medieval times, you are not a king and as far as I know not only is Lucius Fox richer than you but so is Dick so sit your ass down and shut the fuck up.

Luckily Jason is giving the outstanding amount of zero fucks and tells Batman exactly what he needs to be told, sadly Jason’s big brain time doesn’t last long because he absolutely loses his cool and starts a fight. So you know what that means, monologue time!

“This was a mistake, but I can’t help myself, he gets under my skin. His sanctimony, he acts like he’s God, all knowing, all seeing when really…he’s just another failed parent.”

Amen. Jason knows many languages but he chose to speak facts.

As the monologue ends Batman is standing over Jason like he is about to murder him but no such thing happens because Tyler, who was quietly watching them fight, jumps in to protect Jason. Yep, there goes my heart, goodbye.

And this is it. The issue ends with Tyler putting an end to the fight and telling batman that he has to leave the Red Hood alone because he is a good guy. Jason of course is thankful and promises that everything is fine.

 I don’t know about you guys but so far I can’t say if I like the book or not. Both parts left me with mixed feelings. I obviously want to see how it ends but I honestly think that there is only one way this story can end with a happy ending, which I think it would be Tyler going back to his mom and Jason somehow working to help her with her drug addiction, maybe even have Dick involved so he can help them economically.

Things that I surely do not want to see are Jason backing down again and limiting himself to the Bats rules. I also absolutely don’t want Zdarsky to go all Geoff Johns on us and make Jason think that he should give up the Red Hood mantle.

Jason really needs to gain his confidence back, he was smart, calculated and strategic and now they have taken those things away to accentuate his “daddy issues” and “inferiority complex”. Why the quotation marks you ask? Oh, because those things are bullshit and there is no room for those things in Jason’s characterization other than to add more angst to the plot.

Let me know how you felt about the issue and my review! Are you excited about what the four next issues are going to bring to the story?

Also if you read Marvel, did this issue taste like Marvel to you too or am I going crazy?

[saviorsbookcafe]

The Savior’s Book Café in Another World: Chapter 6

INDEX || PREVIOUS || NEXT

Chapter 6: A Visitor and a Change

Translated by: sydney Proofread by: Necro

The day after I gave Ill the book cover as a gift, I was waiting excitedly for him to come while at the counter, organizing coffee beans and tea leaves.

A sound rang in my head to notify me of a customer, and a smile came onto my face reflexively.

“Welcome.”

I had assumed it must be Ill, but this time the person who entered was a man I’d never seen before.

He looks around the same age as me, but he has the smile of a mischievous child on his face.

He has a very different look from Ill, but with his bright and amusing features, he looks like the popular type.

“Hey, looks like everything’s going smoothly.”

Having someone I’ve never met before speak to me as if we were close friends leaves me bewildered.

In this world, the only person I know should be Ill.

Just as I thought that, I realized that there’s one more person, although I don’t know if I should count him as a person, that I know here.

He may look different, but I remember this atmosphere.

“...God?” I asked softly, and the man looked at me, his smile growing wider.

He walked over to me with that same smile and took a seat at the counter.

“Sorry for the sudden visit. Don’t worry, it’s not like you called me, I just decided to come here, so this won’t be included in the three wishes I gave you.”

I was relieved to hear something along the lines of what I was expecting.

I was afraid I might have just called a normal person “God” otherwise.

“You’re really...God?” I asked.

“Yeah, I decided to change my form to match the humans here.”

I wasn’t sure if God could drink anything, but I offered him some coffee and he drank it normally.

His long light-colored hair was braided loosely beside his face, and his clothes were distinctly from this world, but he had an other-worldly aura that seemed like it would follow him if he walked around the town.

“Are you just checking up on me like you had said you would before?”

“Well, that too. Oh, and you don’t need to be so formal with me.”

“O-oh, okay.”

Since he didn’t seem to mind at all, I decide to talk casually, and look at his face.

He takes a sip of his coffee again before opening his mouth.

“The reason I’m here today is because it looks like we’re going to have a bit of a problem soon. It’s related to the other Savior in this country, so that’s why I came to you.”

“Other Savior? Wait, there’s another Savior in this country?”

“Huh? Did you not know?”

“Not at all.”

At my response, God’s expression changed to an indescribable, almost sorrowful expression.

“You know, you should really go outside, even just a little. Well, certainly in your situation I can understand hiding away, but still.”

I averted my gaze, unable to say anything when I know he’s right, and God continued with a wry smile.

“In this country, there’s another Savior besides you. I sent her here shortly before I sent you, but she’s living in the castle. When someone in this country mentions a Savior, they’re usually talking about her.”

“I see, is something wrong with her?”

The castle, that’s where Ill lives, isn’t it? I wondered, as God continued talking with a grave expression.

“I said it looks like there’ll be a problem soon, right? The Savior living in the castle is a young girl, announcing that she’s a Savior and refusing to learn low-level magic, let alone Great Magic, spending all her time playing around in the castle.”

“Huh, but isn’t she there as a Savior?”

“Yeah.”

“That’s...kind of amazing.”

If I were in that situation, it seems like I’d end up leaving my intentions behind, be considerate of those around me and be swept away by my surroundings to work as a Savior.

And I know that if I failed to do that, I’d hate myself.

Which is exactly why I’m hiding away in here, making sure no one knows, and so that not only do I not have to work, but I don’t have to worry about getting dragged into anything weird.

“She’s young, or perhaps ‘childish’ is a better word for her. You don’t want anyone to find out that you’re a Savior, so you’re hiding away deep in this forest. It’s almost certain that if the humans here knew, they’d throw a big festival to celebrate you and cause a big commotion. Certainly, you have no option but to hide that if you want to live normally. But like I said earlier, the other girl is loudly proclaiming that she’s a Savior, and spending her days playing around in the royal castle.”

“Wow.”

I’m the same in that I’m not cooperating as a Savior, but I certainly don’t have the courage to refuse to cooperate while announcing that I’m a Savior.

“So, is something going on with her?”

“Yeah, today I’m here with a warning, or information, something like that.”

“I think whichever one of those it is will change the meaning,” I say.

“Whichever you’d like to take it as depends on you. First, I told you that she hasn’t learned a single spell. Her wish when she came here was to be pretty, and she doesn’t have an ounce of fight in her. I’ve granted a lot of wishes, but I still don’t understand how humans think.”

“Huh....”

Excluding any case where people knew they could wish for multiple things like I did, if you could only wish for one thing and you were going somewhere dangerous, would someone actually be okay with wishing for that?

No, it’s not my business anyways.

“Separate from the fact that she hasn’t learned any magic and is only being protected there, she’s been doing whatever she wants in the castle. Not only has the Second Prince been fawning over her, but a Savior who has powerful magical abilities but hasn’t learned any spells is too much for the castle, and it’s not like they can hand her over to another country,” God continues.

I wonder if the reason Ill has been so tired is because of that Savior.

I feel a chill go down my spine.

“She was an only child born to a rich couple who had been wanting a child, so in her old world she was doted on and generally listened to her parents. That’s why she hates having to put up with anything she doesn’t like.”

“If she were rich, it seems more likely that she’d put more effort into being educated.”

“Well, that depends on the person.”

God placed his cup on the counter and sighed before smiling wryly.

He leaned his head onto his hand and looked at me with a seemingly pleasant expression, but he also seemed troubled.

“I mentioned it before, but as long as a Savior is in this world, balance will be maintained. I don’t know about those around her, but I generally don’t care how Saviors spend their time as long as this world’s balance is maintained. But she’s being far too selfish. I’ve sent plenty of Saviors to this world before, but this is the first time I’ve seen a Savior so unwilling to learn magic.”

You should have a little consideration for those around her.

Although as someone who’s also not working as a Savior, it’s not my place to say.

No, if I look at it from this God’s perspective, I’d probably end up in the ‘working’ category.

“While there is the fact that she got anything she wanted while growing up in her old world, it seems that somehow because of that, things are starting to head in a strange direction.”

“A strange direction?”

“First, there’s the fact that the Second Prince is head over heels for her, which could be either that he’s just taken with her herself, or that he’s drunk on some very strong magic. There’s never been any case of someone being drunk on magic for a Savior before, but that Prince is very susceptible. It could be that the appearance she wished for is having an effect on him similar to charm magic. It’s most likely because that Prince is approving of her that she’s being tolerated, but....”

He looks at me, and I falter slightly as I return his gaze.

“You’ve learned quite a bit of magic, haven’t you.”

“Huh? Well, it’s fun to learn something that didn’t exist in my world. That and it’s convenient.”

“All the other Saviors until now have been like that too. Whether they want to save the world, learn Great Magic, or simply because they’re interested, no matter the reason everyone’s learned at least one spell. Do you know that magic is influenced by the user’s mind?”

“Yes, I know that.”

“Frankly speaking, what I’m concerned about is this Savior losing control of her magic.”

“Losing control of her magic?”

I don’t like the sound of that.

God’s serious air and expression only encourage that feeling of dread.

“Normally, by using smaller spells like you have, you gain more control over even the Savior’s most powerful magic. Even without that, a reasonable person would try to restrain their magic. But the Savior at the castle doesn’t have the reason to control herself. If she hates something, she won’t do it no matter what the situation is. A mind like that and powerful magic she can’t control. If something happens and she loses control of herself, she’ll lose control of her magic as well. And when powerful magic goes out of control, there’s only one outcome.”

God stared straight at me, gaze unwavering, and I somehow understood what he wanted to say.

His expression didn’t budge even as my face froze.

“It’s happened once before, though it wasn’t over something as trivial as this. But the scale of damage was the same. If a Savior’s magic goes out of control, it’ll cause a catastrophe capable of blowing away an entire country.”

Unable to think of a response, God and I stared at each other.

The music that always builds the peaceful atmosphere of the café played in a space that had gone cold.

“...are you going to leave that dangerous girl here as a Savior?”

“If I could return anyone to their old world at will, I would have sent you back when you were being so difficult. In any case, right now this is all hypothetical. The only times I could retrieve a human I had sent to this world would be if that human has died or if they have caused grave harm to this world. If nothing happens, I can’t do anything.”

“I don’t know how ‘retrieving’ works, but hasn’t she caused quite enough damage to the people at the castle?”

“I told you, no matter what a Savior does here, as long as the world’s balance is maintained it doesn’t matter. But if the world were to be destroyed because of the selfishness of a Savior, then I’ll have failed to recognize what’s actually important. Let’s see, for instance, if someone powerful borrowed the power of a Savior to try to unite the world and started a war, I wouldn’t get involved. Of course, if it were at a level that the world would go to ruin, I would consider doing something. But if a Savior themself tried to bend the world to their will and destroyed it, then there is no question that I would retrieve that Savior. I can only do what I like here so far as it is relevant to me as the head of it.”

“So you’re saying you dragged us here, but you can’t give that same power to the people in this world?”

“That’s about right. It may sound cold, but I intend to grant wishes for everyone who is brought here. Along with that, Saviors here are celebrated just for existing, and while I keep watch over the Saviors that are brought here, as of now there haven’t been any Saviors who have been sorely inconvenienced in their lives either. I think it’s an extraordinary response.”

“If you would exhaust yourself granting wishes for everyone else like you did for me, then I might feel that way.”

“Yeah, that’s the first time I’ve gotten tired just from granting someone’s wishes.”

I let out a small breath at the feeling that the cold air in the café had dissipated with God’s wry smile.

Despite intending to land in a peaceful country, it seems that a Savior from the same world as mine has made this country dangerous.

Ill’s face appears in my head.

I don’t want this place to disappear.

“Can you really not retrieve her or do anything else about her?”

“Right now, there is nothing I can do. But, let’s see, if for example her magic went out of control but you were able to contain it with your barrier magic, then it would be possible for me to retrieve her without the country being destroyed. Even if the country was ultimately saved, it would mean she had still nearly destroyed it.”

Across the ocunter, God smirked.

When I first met him, I felt that he might not be a very good person, and now it certainly seems like I was right.

He seems kind but is cold, different from humans, like the kind of God you see in stories.

“So you’re telling me to stop her?”

“No, I’m not saying that. A disaster is only a possibility, but even if it happens then whatever you decide to do is your choice. This isn’t something I can force you to do.”

I was silent.

“I told you, this can be a warning or information.”

God’s eyes were completely serious.

In other words, there’s a fair chance of it happening.

After worrying for a moment, I figured that if I asked a question now, God would probably answer me.

“I wanted to ask, if two Saviors use their magic against each other, who would win?”

“Who?”

“Saviors have the most magic in this world, right? If two people with the same amount of magic, say, if that other Savior uses offensive Great Magic. If I try to defend with my Great Barrier Magic, who would win?”

“There are a lot of factors involved, so I can’t say for certain, but I think in the end both types of magic will disappear simultaneously. The offensive magic will lose it’s effect, and the barrier will also disappear.”

“In that case, then as the person who’s putting up a barrier, I have the advantage, right? The barrier will disappear, but the offensive magic I wanted to defend against will disappear too.”

“Yeah, and what’s more, if you’re up against her, then from the moment you learned to control your magic, you’ve been at an advantage. Learning magic has both increased your total magic and improved your ability to control it, so the barrier might stay up instead of disappearing. At that point, as long as it doesn’t take another hit from a Savior, the barrier will probably hold for some decades.”

“I see....”

“Like I said, whatever you decide is your choice. You should live as you like. If it goes too far, I might warn another Savior like I have with you. Well, it shouldn’t be a problem for you.”

Having said that, he finished his coffee and stood up, at the same time as the music played to alert me of a customer.

It felt a little early, but not so much that it was a surprise for Ill to arrive.

Entering the café like usual, Ill’s eyes widened at the sight of a customer besides himself.

Oh right, there haven’t ever been customers besides himself before.

Speaking of God, he looked between Ill and myself before letting out an interested, “Oh?”

Then he said to me, “I’ll be off now. Well, if you need anything then just call me. I just came to talk this time.”

“Oh, yeah. Thanks.”

God waves, saying, “See you,” as he walks towards Ill, stopping once beside him before slipping past.

I feel like I was just given some pretty dangerous information.

I hope that doesn’t turn into something troublesome.

Ill lets out a sigh, still standing in the doorway and watching God leave, and I call out to him.

“Welcome, it’s cold out, you should come inside.”

“O-oh, yeah.”

“What a surprise, huh? No one besides you has come to this café until now.”

Although I don’t know if he really counts as a visitor.

“...yeah, was he, um, someone you know?”

“Well, he helped me out before.”

Normally the conversation would end there, but the way Ill was looking at me made it seem like he was waiting for me to continue.

Wondering how to explain, I remember the backstory I had decided on before coming here.

It’s a little difficult to talk about, but if I include things about my actual past, he probably won’t question it.

“I’m...originally from a village that burned down during the war. My parents passed away early on, and I was raised by my grandparents, but they’re both gone too. They passed away when I had already begun working, and they left me quite a bit, so I didn’t have any trouble living on my own, but ultimately during the war, the village burned down and I was the only one who survived. The man who just left was the one who helped me set up this café after that.”

By the way, most of that was true.

The fact that my parents passed away when I was young, and that I was raised by my grandparents until I was of age, and that they left me an inheritance so I didn’t have much trouble, that was the past from my old world.

God is the one who gave me this café, so I didn’t say anything false there.

“I, see....”

He hangs his head from having unintentionally touched upon a difficult subject, a bit flustered.

Honestly, my grandparents passed away after I had become independent, and because of their age, they passed away peacefully, so it wasn’t much of a shock.

The atmosphere felt a little tense after explaining, so I passed him the menu to change the topic.

“It’s nothing to worry about, my life now is very full.”

He took the menu and I nudged him towards a seat, and finally I felt the atmosphere return to normal.

I still have to think about the Savior at the castle, but for now I want to focus on spending time with Ill like usual.

As of now, nothing’s actually happened.

Even Ill, who seemed a little awkward, was acting normally by the time I brought him his food.

After he had finished eating and some time had passed, it looked like he had finished his first book and was going to pick up a second one as he walked towards the bookshelf, but then was reminded of something and came towards me instead.

“Do you have a moment?”

“What is it? Did you want to eat something else?”

“No, actually, today we had some vendors at the castle. I don’t know if it’s to your liking, but you’re always taking care of me here, so could I give you this?”

As he said that, he offered me a neatly wrapped box about the size of the palm of my hand.

“Oh, you don’t have to....”

“I wanted to.”

“...then, thank you.”

I carefully take the box, and it’s light.

I like the neat wrapping, it’s a design that makes me want to hold onto it.

“Um, I’ve never given a gift to a woman before, so I hope you like it.”

My heart beats at his shy smile, and I ask if I can open it before touching the wrapping paper.

I want to see what’s inside, but it feels like more than I deserve, so I open it carefully.

After all, this is the first time I’ve ever received a gift from a man.

My history with love only extends to being swept along by the flow and dating when I was in school a little bit, and since I started working, I’ve been too busy to even think of finding a boyfriend or anything.

Not including the fact that it isn’t high on my list of priorities in the first place, as I can’t imagine giving up my time to read books to spend it with a partner instead.

No, why am I thinking about love, it’s just a present, the thought passes across my mind as I open the wrapping and the box inside it.

A simple hair-tie with a larger white flower attached to it sits inside.

This flower looks similar to a lily, but I’ve never seen it before, maybe it’s a flower from this world?

It’s not flashy, so it looks like something I can use everyday, and it’s a design that wouldn’t be strange for someone of my age to wear.

Frankly, I love it.

“Wow, it’s so cute. Can I really keep this?”

“Yeah, I’m glad you like it.”

“Yeah, I really like this kind of design. I’ll take care of it, thank you.”

I know I’m getting really excited, but I’m happy about this.

It feels really nice to have someone pick something out just for you.

Upon noticing that Ill was smiling happily in front of me, I felt strangely embarrassed.

It felt like all of the coldness in the air after that conversation with God had suddenly cleared up, and I gently clasped my hands around the hair-tie.

The next morning, not because God told me to, I decide to go look around the town, and pull out a stone I had learned about that acts as an intermediary for teleportation magic.

Apparently without this stone, I wouldn’t be able to use teleportation magic, so I summoned it yesterday with my pendant.

This pendant can summon anything and everything, but that doesn’t mean it’ll suit all my needs.

Apparently with teleportation magic, I have to use my magic to set my destination, so even if I’ve summoned the intermediary stone, I need to use my own magic to set it up.

It seems there are specific rules, so even though I was able to summon the fireplace with magic in it, I can’t do that with this.

As of now, I haven’t been particularly inconvenienced, so I don’t pay it much mind.

Looking at the map of the town, it looked like there were a few shops lined up near the entrance, so I decided to survey the situation over there briefly before coming back home, and squeezed the stone.

My destination is in the shadows of a subdued building a little distance away from the entrance to that town.

Ill will be here in the afternoon, so I should make sure to be back early.

If I see something interesting, I can always go back later.

Since I’m going out for the first time, I tie my hair with the hair-tie Ill gave me yesterday, and check that I have my wallet just in case.

The money inside it is money Ill paid me at the café, which leaves me with a strange feeling.

Not only do I have no intention of summoning money just for fun, but I also don’t have plans to go shopping much, so even though my prices are low, since Ill always comes here I have more than enough.

Despite being able to summon anything I want, summoning money seems somewhat unfair to the other people of this world, so I probably won’t do it unless I have no other choice.

When I put some magic into the stone, it glows a little, and after a momentary feeling of weightlessness, I realize I’m in the shadow of a building I don’t recognize.

I’m wearing snow boots and a cloak to keep me warm, but it’s definitely colder out here.

Even so, I’m excited upon hearing people other than Ill and myself talking for the first time in a while, and about the various things I see as I approach.

Rather than a shopping street, it’s composed of really only just a few stores, and all of them seem to be selling daily necessities.

Out of all of them, one store seems to have hand-crafted items, and I enter that store.

“Welcome.”

It’s been awhile since I’ve heard that from someone else, I think as I decide to look around for some cloth that might be good for making book covers, and go to the fabric corner to compare several different types.

Near the register, a shop clerk and a customer were talking, but perhaps because I came in, they began speaking in hushed tones.

Within their whispering, I heard the word ‘Savior,’ and I jumped.

Luckily, no one seemed to be paying attention, but it didn’t look like the conversation the two were having was a particularly good one.

I hear words like ‘at the castle,’ and I realize they must be talking about the other Savior, and haven’t found out about me.

Feeling somewhat uncomfortable, I selected a few fabrics and took them to pay and quickly left the store.

Perhaps because I had just stepped out of a store with heating magic, it felt even colder than before.

I watch where the breath from my sigh was visible in the cold air, and realize that there’s someone I recognize in that direction.

Black hair with some white snowflakes in it and a sword at his hip, from what I could hear, the tone of his low voice sounded colder than what I normally heard in the café.

It’s Ill, I realized, and my mood brightened.

I wonder if he’s doing work for the Knights right now, I think, as Ill, who was wearing a cloak to protect himself from the snow over his uniform, gave some orders to his subordinates.

This is the first time I’ve seen Ill as the Knight Captain.

His eyes, more sharply narrowed than in the café, were honestly very handsome.

I’m glad I came to the town at this time today, I think, a smile breaking out onto my face.

If something like this hadn’t happened, I probably wouldn’t have been able to see him working.

I can’t interrupt him while he’s working, so I’ll just wave to him if he notices me.

I watch him as I think that, only to see him turn as though someone behind had called to him, and I can no longer see his face.

Oh well, I think, slightly disappointed, before stiffening at the sight of the person who came running up to Ill.

...what a beautiful woman.

With skin as white as snow, and hair almost just as light.

The people in this country seem to generally have light skin, and I’m jealous.

I can’t see Ill’s face, but their conversation continues.

I only know the Ill that comes to my café.

But of course he would have plenty of other acquaintances outside of my café.

What is this...uncomfortable feeling.

I gently pull my hand to my chest.

My high spirits from earlier have dropped into this lonely feeling.

But this too is only for a moment, as the woman soon leaves Ill’s side, running back to a man in a Knight’s uniform farther away.

Next to the man is a little girl that looks just like the woman.

As she returns, they hug her happily.

No matter how you look at it, they’re clearly a family.

“I guess I was jumping to conclusions....”

I pressed my hands to my face, feeling my cheeks heat up in embarrassment.

I hear the little girl yell something, and from it I learn that the woman was greeting Ill as the Captain on her way to meet her husband who was also a Knight.

That makes me even more embarrassed with myself.

No, why did I even feel like that in the first place?

Those certainly aren’t feelings you have upon seeing a friend.

“...wait, wait a minute,” I whisper in a voice so small and pathetic it barely made a sound.

Earlier when Ill was talking to the men that I assume are his subordinates, I didn’t think anything of it.

It was only when it was a woman he was talking to that I got this lonely feeling, there’s no way not to know what this feeling is.

The only person I know in a world of people I’ve never met before.

The person I spend time together with almost every day, and share the same hobbies with to talk about.

The person who I am now giving up my reading time to dedicate it to studying magic to help, despite never wanting to give up my reading time or do anything for someone else until now.

“No way.”

After all, this kind of feeling has never happened to me before.

A worry big enough to make me forget all my other worries until now.

I’m silent for a moment, before I lightly hit my cheeks with both of my hands and sigh.

Just calm down, it won’t help to rush right now.

Once I get home and clear my head, I’ll think about it.

It’s far too early to get an answer.

I leave it at that, my heart calming down, only to see that Ill has turned around and is looking at me.

His eyes that have been on guard until now widen a bit.

Good thing he turned around after I calmed down, I think, smiling and giving him a small wave.

...I wonder if I’m smiling properly.

I watched Ill return my smile, and I mouthed, ‘See you later,’ before turning on my heel and beginning to walk towards the path that stretches out behind me.

I reached the shadow of the building where I had originally used teleportation magic to arrive.

That’s where I was intending to return to the café from.

“Tsukina.”

“Huh, Ill?”

What I hadn’t calculated for was Ill following after me.

Even so, my mind that I was able to compose fortunately didn’t fall apart.

We were a short distance away from where we were before, so I didn’t see anyone else nearby, but from what I could see of the knights in the distance, they were looking over here surprised.

“Aren’t you in the middle of work?”

“We’re patrolling the town, but right now we’re switching shifts. The next shift is running late, so we’re a little disorganized handing it over to them. I’m already on my break now though.”

“Oh, I see.”

“Are you shopping?”

“Yeah, I don’t come to town often but I happened to today. Usually I stay in the café.”

“I see, certainly with the collection of books that you have, it’s hard to want to leave.”

As Ill agreed, his gaze moved to the side of my face, and a light smile appeared on his face.

“You’re wearing it,” he says.

“Yeah, it’s easy to put on and it’s cute, so I like it. Thanks,” I say as I touch the hair-tie that he’s looking at, trying to hide my embarrassment.

If he’s going to be this happy that I’m wearing it, then I’m glad I wore it today.

“Tsukina, how did you get here? You don’t have a horse, right?”

“I used teleportation magic. Although I’m on my way out.”

I show him the intermediary stone, and after a moment of surprise, he smiled wryly with understanding.

After a moment, the atmosphere changes to a somewhat serious one.

“I think that’s fine then, but try not to take too many detours on your way back.”

“I’m planning to go straight home, but did something happen?”

In response to my question, he looks around, seemingly concerned, before leaning in a little and replying in a quiet voice.

“We haven’t told anyone, but there have been more reports of monsters showing up in places they don’t normally. It was in a place unrelated from here, but it’s certain that they’re moving differently. It’s better safe than sorry, and you don’t have any way of attacking, right? So you should probably avoid any walking around in the forest alone for now.”

At first I was flustered with Ill’s face and voice so close to me for a moment, but then I felt a cold chill in my heart at his words.

With my quiet lifestyle, it was easy to forget, but this place was still far more dangerous than my old world.

“Okay, thank you. Do you think you’ll be able to come to the café today?”

“Yeah, I’ll be there at the normal time.”

“Then I’ll be waiting. Good luck with work. You be careful too.”

“Yeah, I’ll see you after then.”

Despite being on break, Ill probably wasn’t able to go very far, but he came over to talk to me, which I thought about happily as I watched him return to the other knights.

Seeing a blond man run over to Ill and begin talking to him with so much energy, something seemed strange, but as soon as Ill showed him his watch, the energy of the other man went away and he became serious.

The two of them talked seriously, looking at their watches.

Ill said the next shift was late, so maybe that’s what they’re talking about, or maybe it’s about the monsters.

I feel a little bad for interrupting already, so this time I make sure to go into the shadows of the building and activate my teleportation magic.

Who’s that man Tsukina’s talking to?

Gently touching the gift I bought for her in my pocket, I look back at the man in the café who’s looking at me.

I had just opened the door as usual after rushing here with the gift I plan to give her in hand and leaving my horse to run around in the paddock she loves.

I had no doubts that our space in the café was filled.

Upon opening the door, two pairs of eyes looked towards me -- her and another man.

He seemed to be on his way out, having just stood up from his seat at the counter, and he told her to call him if she needs anything, before walking towards the doorway I was in.

He seems around the same age as me, until now there hasn’t been anyone else here but me.

I wonder if he’s close with her, I thought, noticing how casually Tsukina was speaking with him.

Maybe he’s actually been coming in the mornings when I’m not here.

An indescribable feeling spreads through my chest.

I only got to know her recently, of course she has a past here.

It’s obvious that there are other people she’s close with that I don’t know.

“At our age, almost everyone already has a partner,” Beork’s words echo in the back of my mind.

My mind hazy, the man moves to pass by me to exit the café.

I step to the side and as he walks past, he whispers to me quietly enough that Tsukina won’t hear.

“If you want that girl, you should make a move. I’d welcome more reasons for her to get attached to this place.”

I turned around unconsciously, only to watch him walk out without turning back.

Want?

Her?

Me?

My disorganized thoughts were quieted by her calling out to me.

I asked her if that man was an acquaintance of hers, to which the answer was a completely unexpected story of her past, which made me feel bad for asking.

I didn’t know she was an orphan.

She said there isn’t anyone left from her village, so I wonder where she met that man.

I wonder why he helped her set up this café.

It was a difficult question, so I couldn’t bring myself to ask her, ultimately leaving me with a feeling of uncertainty.

Even when I began reading my book, I wasn’t able to focus, so I read significantly less than usual.

Once I realized I hadn’t processed anything, I reread the same part, before deciding to leave it unfinished and closing my book.

I let my mind wander only for that man’s words to echo in my head.

I certainly won’t be getting anything out of reading now, I’ll need to borrow this book another day.

As I thought that, I stood up, taking the book in my hand back to the shelf.

Should I pick a different book...? Though I get the feeling I won’t be able to concentrate.

As I stood in front of the bookshelf thinking, I remembered what I had brought.

The hair-tie I had intended to give Tsukina, that until I arrived was the only thing on my mind.

I looked over to her sitting at the counter, where she was reading just like usual.

Hesitating for a minute, I took out the gift I had brought and walked over to her.

I wonder why I’m so nervous over just giving her a gift.

She asked if I wanted to order something else when I offered her the gift, and she took it uncertainly.

Watching her open it carefully, I feel more nervous than I’ve ever felt before, even at a subjugation.

I was tremendously relieved when she seemed to like it and smiled at me, saying she’d take care of it.

That was when I finally felt the usual calmness throughout my entire body.

I watched her clasp the hair-tie in her hands happily, and I was glad that I’d picked it out myself.

The next day, as we were patrolling the town, I got a less-than-pleasing report from one of my subordinates.

It was a monster sighting in an unusual location.

Maybe it was a good thing we reinforced our patrols, I thought as I waited for Beork to show up with the next shift, but even as it approached time for my unit to take a break, he hadn’t shown up.

After receiving a report that the next shift would be a little late, I decided to take my break, leaving only a few members to keep watch since I was going to stay in sight.

One of my subordinates’ wife had come up to say hello, and I greeted her before turning around to meet eyes with Tsukina, standing a short distance away and looking at me.

It surprised me, and she smiled at me and gave me a small wave.

I felt the usual tenseness from being on guard at work suddenly lighten up, and I smiled back at her.

Good thing I’m on break.

I see her mouth ‘See you later’ to me and turn to leave, and after checking if I have a little time to talk, I tell one of my subordinates nearby that I’ll be right back and I follow her.

When I call out to her, she turns back to me, surprised, and when I see her smile, I feel the same calmness, almost as if I’m in the café with her.

Along with that, she’s wearing the hair-tie I gave her yesterday in her hair.

Remembering that uneasy feeling yesterday, this happiness far exceeds that.

I didn’t realize that seeing her wear something I gave her would make me this happy, and that hearing her tell me she likes it would make me even happier.

I have to return to the castle during my break, and once I do, the Savior girl will probably be causing more trouble.

It was just as I was thinking along those lines, my stomach beginning to hurt, that it feels like I was saved by this surprise.

Even though I’m on break now, since the next shift hasn’t arrived yet, as the Captain I shouldn’t stray too far.

Tsukina tells me she’ll be waiting for me at the café and we part ways, and as I return to where I was before, I see Beork running over with a tremendous amount of energy.

It’s strange to me that my other subordinates are looking at me too, but I watch Beork stop right in front of me, out of breath as I tell him, “You didn’t have to rush like that.”

“You, you were, just, just now, with....”

Being overwhelmed by Beork’s energy as he tries to tell me something, despite being so out of breath, I remember the report I received earlier and take out my watch.

“Beork, we got a report.”

“A, a report?”

I bring up a map from the compass on the side of my watch and point at a specific place.

“A monster was spotted here.”

“Huh?”

Beork, who had been cloaked in a joking air until now immediately straightened up and looked at the location I had pointed to.

It’s a place where monsters would usually never be seen.

“A big one?”

“No, it was small. But it might be a good idea to investigate there. I’ll go to the castle to report and get permission to investigate. After my subordinates finish their break, can you take charge of them?”

“Yeah, got it. Sorry I was late. It looks like there was a small snowslide, so I got a report of that.”

“A snowslide?”

“Yeah, maybe it’s related. It was here.”

Beork uses his magic to put a marker on the map that’s up in front of us.

It’s a place that would usually never have anything like a snowslide.

“I’ll report that too,” I say.

“Yeah, thanks.”

I leave the rest to him and get on my horse, heading towards the castle.

It seems I can no longer just say I don’t want to go.

Depending on the results of the investigation, if it turns into a subjugation, I might not be able to go to Tsukina’s café for several days.

I hurried to the castle, feeling disappointed about the possibility.

Translation Notes:

“you don’t need to be so formal with me”: I made a TL note about this in chapter 4, but essentially here, Tsukina was using polite language (God was not) and he told her she doesn’t need to use polite language with him, and so she switches to casual language (this is also part of why Ill comments later that the two of them were speaking so casually and wonders if they know each other)

[svltairs]

*   🌎  𝒂𝒖𝒈𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒃𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒐𝒘

* sydney park, cis woman + she/her  | you know august barlow, right? they’re twenty four, and they’ve lived in irving for, like, twenty four ? well, their spotify wrapped says they listened to good days by sza like, a million times this year, which makes sense ‘cause they’ve got that whole tote bags made out of recycled material with buttons supporting your favorite causes littering the straps, shoving down your feelings into a smile, sitting on the beach til sunrise drinking in the serenity of it all. i just checked and their birthday is march 17, so they’re a pisces, which is unsurprising, all things considered.

trigger warnings: car accident, death

*   🌎   ABOUT  AUGUST  .

august was born and raised in irving, the first daughter of beloved local olivia barlow. olivia was a science teacher at the local high school and was very involved in advocating for the community that she was a part of. she cared deeply for irving, it’s residents, and particularly it’s environment. it’s a love that she passed on to her daughter as well. august and her mother would often be spotted on the weekends down on the beach, looking at the creatures that swam around in the tide pools, and even cleaning up trash that washed up or that tourists littered on the shore. for a long time, it was just the two of them. olivia didn’t make much as a teacher, but it seemed that she was always able to give august everything she needed and then some. 

when august was seven, olivia brought a man into their home for the first time. his name was jerry and he was a new social studies teacher at the high school. he was kind to august and the only sort of father figure she ever had in her life. and he had kids of his own, jerry being a widower, and soon they became something of a blended family. jerry and olivia got married finally when august was ten. she’s very close with both her stepfather and her stepsiblings. they continued to live in the home she shared with her mother in her younger years. it was crowded, but full of love. 

august. spurred by her mother’s own passion, has always cared deeply about protecting the planet and the creatures that inhabit it. her mother showed her the beauty of nature and from a young age, she has always vowed to protect that beauty. as a teen, she started up various projects around town, including weekly beach cleanups, a local awareness campaign and watch during the time when baby sea turtles hatch, making sure to keep people away from the scene so that they would not disturb, and even got the high school to start composting! 

it was hard for august to leave irving behind for college, but she had impressed the admissions committee at stanford and earned herself a full ride to the school, to receive her bachelors in earth systems, with a focus on oceans, atmospheres, and climate. while at stanford, she threw herself into her studies and into activism work. it made it difficult to come home on breaks and as the years went on, she came home less and less. at stanford, she also fell in love with a boy who she thought was as passionate about the cause as she was. she was a bit moony-eyed over him and tended to only see the good, when there was a lot beneath the surface that wasn’t exactly good. 

during august’s senior year at stanford, she received a call from her stepfather, saying that her mother had been in a terrible accident and that things weren’t looking good. she was on the next plane back to north carolina, but by the time she got home, it was too late. her mother had passed away. 

before the reading of her mother’s will, her stepfather pulled her aside to warn her of some information that was contained within regarding inheritance. it was something her mother had always planned on telling her eventually, but they were so happy as a family and she had never inquired much about her father, so the timing never felt right. she was told that her father was ewan cho, an international business magnate, and that she was the product of a summer fling between him and her mother. the reason her mother was able to support them through all these years was because of the child support and hush money ewan sent her way to care for august and to keep olivia quiet about the affair. 

this news truly turned august’s world upside-down and she wasn’t quite sure how to process this all. originally, she had planned on taking some time off from school and being with her remaining family back in irving while she grieved, but after all she learned, she went straight back to stanford after the weekend of the funeral, and worked herself to the bone ‘til graduation, all while periodically avoiding calls from her stepfather and stepsiblings, who were just worried about her. 

upon graduation, august had some incredible job offers, but her and her boyfriend decided to join up with greenpeace, traveling the world and fighting to save their planet, one project at a time. she loved the work, was passionate about it, but was missing home more and more with each day. 

after about a year with greenpeace, august told her boyfriend that she wanted to continue their work back in her hometown of irving. she felt it was time to reconnect with her family and she knew that the small costal town could benefit from their activism. she asked him to come with her and he called her selfish for it. needless to say, they broke things off and she’s still mending her broken heart. 

august has been back in irving now for about a year. she lives with her family in the same home in delphinius heights that she grew up in. it feels strange, being there without her mother, but she’s reconnecting with her family and she’s grateful for their support and that they’ve stuck by her, even when she felt a bit lost. she’s also come to the decision that she does not want to know more about ewan cho. he isn’t her family. jerry is. his children are. they are who matter to her. 

august’s latest project is opposing the renovation of the old poseidon hotel. all environmental reports on the project show that the renovation could cause a huge ecological disruption in irving, displacing many animals that have made their homes around the structure. she’s determined to get the construction to halt. what she doesn’t know, yet, however, is that it is a cho who is determined to get this project off the ground. 

tl;dr: do gooder girl wants to save the world. finds out her birth father is rich & says no thank u. continues to want to save the world, but will soon find out her big bad half brother is standing in her way

character inspiration: kiara carrera ( outer banks ), other chars i can’t think of right now but they’re on the tip of my tongue and when i remember ill add them to this list 

[memory-mortis]

Diamond is Unbreakable OC

You can now interact with my new baby! Also I’m gonna tag @mistaeq​ here cause they might be interest in her- I took the concept of ballet dancing and sort of changed it up, because I didn’t want her Stand be a straight up copy of Adonis’s oop

Name: Ava Isogawa Age: 22 Date of birth: 13th March Zodiac sign: Pisces Ancestry: descendant of Japanese immigrants in Australia Sexuality: bisexual Pronouns: she/her Personality: empathetic, usually somewhat quiet and relaxed, her rage is silent, dreamy, creative, distrusting, maladaptive daydreamer, observant Likes: the colors blue and black, sword fighting, fantasy books, bubble tea, Josuke, Jotaro, stargazing, more to be added Dislikes: loud crowded places, ballet, being underestimated, inconsiderate people (aka Rohan) Height: 163 cm Weight: 68 kg Appearance: athletic, very fair skin, light blue eyes, always wears blue lipstick, white shoulder-length hair with black ends in the back (usually worn in a low bun), hand bracelet with a sword pendant, due to old cuts on her fingers she wears bandaids over them Stand name: Kashmir (reference: Led Zeppelin) - tall, muscular woman with a long skirt, bandages around her chest, gloves and a valkyrie-like helmet, long flowing hair that turns into shadowy smoke and dissipates at the ends Stand power: great speed and agility, dances with a one-handed sword, can blind a person for a certain amount of time by swiping a hand in front of their eyes Background:

Ava is the firstborn child of the rich Isogawa family in Sydney, Australia. Ever since she could remember, her parents had very high expectations of her. She was homeschooled, had a generally very strict upbringing and despite her very creative and dreamy nature, she was expected to become the heir of the business. She struggled with focusing on subjects like maths and economy, constantly being punished for zoning out or daydreaming, when such things were to be expected from a child.

Hoping to somehow sate her creative needs, when she was 6 years old, her parents signed her up for ballet classes. Ava hated every second of it, not only because it was incredibly boring to her, but also because she was forced to have a very strict diet, causing her to become dangerously thin. She was constantly tired, which made it even harder for her to concentrate on studying. 

At the age of 12, however, she found a new passion: books, more specifically of the fantasy genre. Tolkien quickly became her favorite author, and as she got more and more consumed by the fantasy world, she grew enamored by the image of a strong, powerful warrior woman. Often she would stand in front of her mirror, studying her frail features. This wasn’t who she wanted to be. Becoming a businesswoman was not her calling, and she would rather die than get stuck in an office staring at a computer five days a week.

As her other 2 siblings were born, she could feel her parents’ attention on her slipping. She began to have more freedom, more space to get away with things. She used that to her advantage and started skipping ballet classes. With the help of her closest friend, her maid, she instead started going to the gym, took up martial arts and gained some weight. She also got a secret job, and finally by the age of 22 she had enough money to escape her family.

She moved to a small, friendly town named Morioh Cho in Japan. Thanks to half of her family speaking Japanese, there was no language barrier, and she could fit right in. The small town was perfect for her - somewhat quiet, or at least on the surface. One day while she was people watching at a park, gathering some material for her possible future book, she was shot with an arrow. Yet to her surprise, she didn’t die. Quite the opposite, something within her awoke and she soon stood face to face with a strange being, her Stand. A blonde man named Nijimura Keicho and his younger brother Okuyasu approached her and tried to persuade her into using her Stand on their sick father, but she refused to and even won a fight with them, quickly learning how to use her new powers.

She soon got to meet Kishibe Rohan, another creative soul like hers, though he was very different and very unbearable. He used Heaven’s Door on her and she took away his sight in return, making him swear not to do that again. Their relationship is somewhat neutral now, though she doesn’t really hang out with him unless she has to. Thanks to Rohan she met Josuke and Jotaro, who were much more likeable, and she even grew some sort of admiration for Jotaro.

Currently she works at a bakery.

[scientistowengottlieb-newtkelly]

Thoughts and feelings about Pacific Rim 2?

you sure you wanna open up that particular can of worms?

movie review time! be warned i'm not in a good mood as i am shaking in pain, however this review would have been scathing regardless. and none of this is to say pacific rim is perfect, it's not, but... aye, i have no words for the world of difference there. oh wait! i do:

so. first and foremost, i hate it. as both a movie and a sequel. did i find it entertaining? yes, mildly, so i suppose it did its job, however the only thing that keeps me watching it is because, simply, it's part of the pacific rim franchise whether we like it or not. therefore, i squeeze as much salvageable content from it as i can, such as how one might analyze the precursors, how we are to view hermann and newt as characters pre-, during, and post-uprising, what we are to expect from drifting (though this one i take with a grain of salt, there is a whole other rant preserved for the joke of an attempt to develop that shit within the movie)

one of my biggest issues with pacific rim is really simple: it plays out like DeKnight did not watch the first fucking movie or was scrolling through twitter while doing it and decided he'd make a cash grab since the first one was relatively popular. "haha the kaiju were going for mount fuji the whole time!!" bitch no they weren't!!! why the fuck did they end up anywhere near sydney, australia, then!!! why did they turn tail on places like manila and san fran instead of heading straight for japan!!! WHY DID THE ONE THAT WAS IN JAPAN NOT SUCCEED, THERE'S NO WAY WITH THOSE MARK 1 JAEGERS THEY'D HAVE BEEN ABLE TO REASONABLY FIGURE OUT THEIR PLAN AND WHERE THEY WERE GOING IN TIME TO STOP THEM!!! newt literally lays out what they are doing in the first movie and they completely ignored that!!! not to mention, if the destruction from elements found in mount fuji would have been enough to terraform the earth, WHY DIDN'T THEY JUST FUCKING DO THAT WHEN THEY WERE SUPPOSEDLY ON EARTH AGES AGO??? THERE WERE VOLCANOES WITH THOSE SAME ELEMENTS BEFORE RIGHT NOW, VOLCANOES ARE NOT A RELATIVELY NEW THING EARTH CREATED SUDDENLY AND I WOULD IMAGINE NEITHER ARE THOSE ELEMENTS!!! IT MAKES NO SENSE!!! and.... okay the fucking drones. how did those bitches make breaches??? we know the breach is some result of precursor/kaiju technology, apparently they know the breach's atomic structure as hermann said in the first movie, but how tf some kaiju organs and tech from earth only is ALL it takes to open a breach... illudes and confuses me... why were no more breaches made by the precursors once they realized how long and how many resources it was taking to kill the humans off??? if it's??? shit they could do with simple earth materials + their own biology??? they could have ended things much faster??? shit just doesn't add up, idk, that was Vague and Annoyed Me

and the jaegers.... were....... strange? the fight scenes were so underwhelming, i could count on one hand the number of maneuvers—NOT SCENES, MANEUVERS—i thought were badass and moved well. their fighting was confusing and paced really weird and some of the moves they pulled... don't... work like that... like some of those scenes were just hand-to-hand combat but in big robot form and they didn't sit right with me at all.

and the characters......... oh my word, the characters. look: i love jake pentecost with all of my heart and soul and john boyega's beautiful acting just barely saves the movie from its poor writing. i do love him as a character. but can someone explain to me why in the world they thought it was a good idea to make the only black guy a black market thief/runner, deep-record criminal with daddy and authority issues, and who they dare try to play off as some kind of lazy??? they made him every stereotype they could and said "yeah let's go with that". i'm- aaaaaaaaaaaaaa and what was with the child soldiers??? ROBOCOPS?????? mako....... character assassination at its worst........ my baby......... but the movie was paced so GOD DAMN POORLY I GOT BORED AND LITERALLY MISSED HER DYING THE FIRST TIME I WATCHED IT. and i couldn't tell you the names of half of those poor damn kids, i really couldn't. and can i also say they killed off one of the only two darker skinned kids?? like y'all???? the other darker skinned kids (one of the children i can't remember the names of because it was uttered ONCE in the entire movie or some shit) didn't even GET characterization. my whole heart goes out to her and those other underdeveloped fucks. speaking of...... i am ashamed about jules. from the movie that brought us the mako mori test, they threw in a girl simply for the sake of some shitty, awkward, and unexplained love triangle between jake and White Angst without much else to put to her name. she deserved better. amara was... a decent shot, but very hit or miss because of the writing. i, personally, am very neutral about her leaning towards liking her, but i know people who swing love and who swing hate. liwen was like,,,, they tried really hard to make her unlikable at the beginning because "oh no, she must be the villain! GOTTEM plot twist!!!" and then suddenly she's no longer. threatening everyone except newt. idk i feel like they leaned to heavily one way and i got whiplash when she's actually another but there was nothing to... portray that. at all. i do like her character, and that says a lot because they got me to sympathize with a capitalist without actually regretting it later, but there could/should have been More there. she was powerful, though, in multiple different aspects, and we saw that from her CONSISTENTLY and i 😳🥵👀💕 mako mori test pass for her

now, let's talk about hermann (and by extention, newton, however he'll be getting a section all his own the rat bastard). that man is one of the single instances of decent cross-movie characterization i saw in the whole god damn film. the idea that he takes on newton's roles, that he is more outspoken for himself, that he is just slightly more unhinged after his drift with newton: THAT is on point. he's himself, you can see it, you still know that he's hermann with ever step, but there's something that has shifted in him in those 10 years and it's good without being too much. the "i still get nightmares" scene, the way he presents himself, that scene gives me chills because god bless burn gorman and his acting ability. every face and intonation of his voice is just wonderful and i think his performance was great for what he was given. king shit.

the biggest disappointment of my life came in the form of a kaiju vest wearing bitch at work. at his corporate job. as a boss. for a tech company that undermines all of his and, frankly, hermann's work over their lifetimes. 10 years older and exaggerated to the teeth. newton "move you fascist" geiszler. let me preface this by stating for all to see that i do not hate the idea of newton being the villain. story wise it was a bold move and there was something possible there. BUT THE IMPLICATION THAT ONE OF THE MOST OBVIOUSLY NEURODIVERGENT CHARACTERS IN THE WHOLE FUCKING FRANCHISE, ESPECIALLY GIVEN THAT HE HAS BEEN CHARACTERIZED AS HAVING A "BORDERLINE MANIC PERSONALITY" AKA HAVING ONE OF THE MOST DEMONIZED MENTAL ILLNESSES OUT THERE, ENDS UP ACTING AS THE GOD DAMN VILLAIN OF THE STORY IS A HOT GARBAGE TAKE WHEN YOU FACTOR IN THINGS LIKE POOR WRITING NOT MAKING IT CLEAR WHETHER OR NOT NEWTON IS EVEN IN CONTROL OF HIS OWN FACULTIES AND THE VAGUENESS OF "WILL HE BE 'REDEEMED' OR NOT" BEING UP IN THE AIR LIKELY NEVER TO BE CANONICALLY FUCKING ANSWERED BECAUSE BECKHAM AND DEKNIGHT SHAT OUT A MOVIE THAT BOMBED IN THE BOX OFFICE. we aren't even gonna TALK about the fact that this bitch got AWAY with it despite not even acting in a remotely stable way comparable to himself in the first movie in the 10 years he supposedly dropped off the map from all of his friends because, clearly, hermann hadn't seen him or he wouldn't be so excited with a picture of the two of them on his desk, nor would he have to tell newton about his idea for rocket thrusters with kaiju blood fuel because he would have simply written to him about it. for some strange reason people see his ass show up decked out in a suit he wouldn't even wear for Stacker Fucking Pentecost and a behavior of "Haha Gotta Listen To The Boss" and think "ah, yes, well, time changes a person. THIS BITCH HAS APPARENTLY BEEN LIKE THIS THE WHOLE TIME, YOU THINK HE GOT A JOB WITH LIWEN LOOKING AND ACTING LIKE HE DID BEFORE AND THERE WAS A SHIFT OVER TIME? NO, HE HAD TO HAVE CHANGED IN A SPLIT DECISION AND LIED ABOUT HIMSELF THROUGH HIS TEETH AND NO ONE CONTACTED HIM, OR WAS WORRIED ABOUT HIM, OR DECIDEDLY THOUGHT "YOU KNOW, HE MAY BE EMBOLDENED THAT HE SAVED THE WORLD, BUT I THINK SOMETHING LIKE THAT WOULD HAVE THE EXACT OPPOSITE EFFECT ON HIM AND HE WOULD DO HIS BEST TO AMPLIFY HIS CURRENT STANDING TRAITS. LISTENING TO AND KISSING THE BOOT OF AUTHORITY FIGURES? DIVORCING HIMSELF FROM HIS WORK WITH KAIJU XENOBIOLOGY THAT EVEN HERMANN PICKED UP? TO BECOME THE THING HE HATES? AND FOR WHAT? MONEY? FAME? BITCH WHO ARE YOU?" unreasonable. ridiculous attempt to do this just for a plot twist that was underwhelming at best. i've decided to stick to the fan theory that he was not in control 99% of the time but literally that movie causes such a hellfire path to appear in my wake as i think about it because i know people who don't take it like that and think newt wants what's happening because "haha horny kaiju man" and i wish to scream at the top of my lungs because this is exactly WHY you CANNOT spare ANY EXPENSE to the GOOD, PROPER, INTRICATE directing and writing of a character who is neurodivergent and also ONE OF THE CENTERS OF NOT JUST THE MOVIE YOU'RE WRITING, BUT THE FUCKING MOVIE AFTER THAT. i could go on but i sincerely don't fucking want to, despite how long i've been waiting for someone to willingly hear me out on all of this. all i'll say is if by some miracle they are greenlit for a third film and deknight's working on it and i see ANY sign of a bury your gays end for newt, i'm going to commit the first hate crime against a cishet white male.

to end, the only valid kaiju in that movie was the mega-kaiju, i don't remember the appearance or the names of the three that got through the breaches but the mega-kaiju could kill me and i'd die happy 🥰 beautiful design, that scale comparison when it came face to face with newt? amazing, chills, *chef's kiss* there are exactly two things i liked about uprising and that bitch is one of them.

sorry if this isn't what you wanted, but as i said i am in a bit of a bad mood and have been curled up in bed trying not to think that i'm dying and i've repressed all of this for a couple months now and very few people have actually heard PORTIONS of my frustration so. here it is.

[goliath-de-senfina-sango]

Danny takes a look in the weapons vault for something useful, Tucker gets some info, and Sam has a moral debate in her head instead of out loud.

To say that the situation between Danny and his parents was tense would be to say that space was a little dark and a touch chilly. Ending an argument by passing out was dramatic, yes, but not conducive to following that argument up with maybe something calmer, more reasoned out. On one hand, Danny was never going to be reasonable about the idea of committing genocide on the dead, a feat he was almost entirely certain was impossible and yet even if it was possible, it would be akin to setting off all the nukes on Earth at once. It was a horrible idea, and if he thought about it any further Danny knew he was going to start causing things to float and go icy cold and dark. He may have accidentally frozen part of his room when he got home from the hospital.

So, instead of asking his parents ‘hey Mom and Dad, have you made any tools or weapons to expose a shapeshifting ghost?’ like he would’ve in the case of a slightly less tense relationship with his parents (he could see the threads that bound him to them, and they were strained, thinner than before, and that frightened him), Danny had to check himself. Which meant going into the kitchen and heading through the door, down the stairs and ignoring the second flight of stairs that’d lead to the lab (to the portal, to his Death, to his Undeath, to all the hurt he’d ever experienced compounded over itself all at once). He instead kept going down a hallway, one that held two doors, both sealed up. One was the Cursed Artifacts vault, and it didn’t surprise Danny that he could see light pulsing at the edges of the door, calling out to him in a way that he could see but not hear and yet knew was a cry all the same.

“I bet there’re dolls in there. Not even because they’re actually cursed but because they think they are.” Instead of finding out how cursed anything in there actually was, Danny turned to the other door, opening it up and looking out across rows and shelves of weapons. The walls were honeycombed with drawers like file cabinets. The ones that were open were typically the more experimental ones, while the rest were connected to the Portal Pockets so that they could be summoned on the fly whenever needed. Checking over the experimental shelves, Danny tapped his fingers against his arms and legs, trying not to think too hard about any of these things being used against him.

“The Fenton Ghost Gloves,” Danny read from the notecard written in his mother’s patient script. “When activated the gloves release a steady current of metaphysical energy (hereby referred to as ecto energy) across their surface, facilitating tactile interaction with a ghost regardless of the ghost’s selective tangibility. Concept derived from the Specter Deflector™ as suggested by Tucker Sazad Foley.” He put the card back and sighed. “Not what I needed but good to know about. Maybe Tuck and I can make some of these of our own - if it’s in the experimental phase then it’s fitted to Dad.”

Danny walked over to the Next New Thing. He groaned, running a hand through his hair and tugging on the curls. “Looks like we need a new mixer. That was mine! Just cause Mom can’t make anything but cookies or fudge doesn’t mean that they should just. Argh.” He huffed and then picked up the card for whatever his precious mixer had been sacrificed to make. “The Fenton Ghost Peeler. Oh, wow, they couldn’t get a potato peeler for this one? Capable of… stripping a ghost layer by layer, peeling them like an onion, so as to weaken it for capture or for examination post-capture. Yikes.” Setting down the card, he picked it up and examined the buttons, keeping the obvious business end away from his face. “That sounds painful, probably even sadistic, but I guess this is what I’m after.” He pocketed it, placing it not with standard weapon storage but his own private little pocket that only he had access to outside of emergencies.

Making sure the door was locked, Danny walked to the stairs and ignored the plethora of colors radiating from the tiny seams of the Artifacts vault, and the star-like pull tugging him downward, deeper, toward a world still unseen. He had this world to worry about, and the next one could wait.

Flying his way to Agatha’s soup kitchen would’ve been faster than using his skateboard but if Hunter had taught him anything, being subtle could be a life or death thing. With that shapeshifter on the loose, Tucker felt being subtle was the right path to go down while alone. Tucker moved with an ear and both eyes open for trouble, which he felt like he was going to get. When he got within 2 blocks of the kitchen, however, that feeling vanished, replaced with an acute awareness of how hungry he was and how little ectoplasmic food Danny had eaten. That surety that he was being watched and hunted faded away and Tucker stopped, looking around. “Note to self, shifter won’t approach Agatha’s territory.”

When he actually got there, the volunteer at the door was one of the same ones who had to be convinced to let Agatha in without calling the Fentons. She had dark skin, bright brown eyes, and long curly hair done up in a bun. She smiled when she saw him, waving. “Hi, there! Tucker, right? You were one of the kids that brought Aggie to us?”

“Yeah, though most people call me TF for Too Fine.” He shot her a pair of finger guns with a grin and a wink, not even flinching when she laughed at it all. He was hardly serious about that right now, and even if he were everything took time.

“Kid, I’m 21. That’d be the creepiest thing under the sun for me to call you.” Tucker laughed with her then and they shook their heads together. “What can I do for ya?”

“I uh need to speak with Ms. Reece. If she’s available.” Tucker knew he wasn’t Danny and that Agatha had no explicit reason to talk to him, but he hoped that his being best friends with the kids who’d gotten her into this place would be enough. He wasn’t a researcher on Sam’s level but he knew she’d need some description beyond ‘malicious supernatural entity’ to figure out what Spectra was.

Daisy - and that was her name, he remembered now - blinked and shrugged before patting Tucker on the shoulder and leading him over toward a door marked Staff Only. “You wait here and I’ll see if Aggie can meet with you.” Tucker nodded and leaned against a wall, scrolling through his phone and looking over Spectra’s staff profile again. His eyes narrowed at the mention of an assistant, wondering what a school counselor needed with an assistant.

Before he could look into this Bertrand Baxter, however, a white holographic head poked through the door and Tucker jumped to attention, Wrist Ray™ aimed and charging. He took a deep breath, put away the weapon and offered a shaky smile at Agatha, who managed a sheepish one herself. “Sorry about that, child. I’ve just been in the habit of it and everyone round here has gotten used to me doing that. How are ya deary?”

“Hello, Ms. Reece,” Tucker said with a wave. “I’ve been better. And you?”

“Oh, I’m doing well! I just wish I could do more.” She frowned. White rippling edges began to tint green. “So many people are out there just like these dears, who can’t get a good meal.”

Tucker frowned as his brain worked double-time to figure something out. He didn’t want Agatha to grow unstable and dangerous because she realized the limitations of being in one place. What did he learn by proxy as Danny’s best friend? Ghosts can do things to satisfy their desires in efficient ways on scales grand enough to terrify. They curse objects to spread their malicious machinations beyond their haunts do things they normally can’t. They- “What if… you made lunch boxes that always restored themselves? Always have a healthy meal inside of them? Then you can give those out to people all over as fast as you can make em, and feed just about everyone.” Tucker had no clue if she could even do that but he dearly hoped so. Not only because he was worried about his own immediate safety - though he was - but also because if she could do that and managed it, then that would be unbelievably great for pretty much everyone in the world. He may not have Sam’s grand, overarching passionate goals as he was very much grounded in the real world not the ideal one, but ghost powers made everything possible.

In any case, Agatha stopped turning green. Instead, for a moment, Agatha didn’t look like a ghost the way Tucker knew them to look. Her skin was a warm brown, her uniform pink and white with thick yellow rubber gloves and her eyes were full of life in a way that Tucker hadn’t ever seen in her or Sydney.

For a moment, Tucker got a clear glimpse of what Agatha was like when she was alive.

She flickered back to that holographic quality and beamed at him. “Oh, Tucker! That’s a wonderful idea! I’ll get to work on that in my Cafeteria! But you came for more than solving my problems, didn’t you?”

“I’m happy to help, Ms. Reece, but I did need to ask you about someone.” Tucker cleared his throat and braced himself. “Do you know about Penelope Spectra?”

Agatha’s hair ignited, eyes turned into red pits of fury and her body shone lime green. “What bout that ishka? ” Oh, Tucker almost disliked that icy cold tone as much as he did the sound of Agatha’s fiery and immediate rage.

“She isn’t human, but she is back at Casper high and Danny, Sam and I need to know what she is to get rid of her.”

“ Hod that filthy, joy suckin- ” Agatha went on a list of what Tucker could only say were old Minnesotan Not Swears. He was impressed that she was refraining from swearing up a storm with how long she went on, but a lack of lungs made ranting names about someone pretty easy, he guessed. “ -get back without my notice? ”

“You were a touch busy with us,” Tucker soothed. “Do you know what she is?”

Agatha took a breath and closed her eyes, the fire that was her hair snapping around waspishly. When she opened them they were focused on Tucker like a microscope. “The Infinite Realms are called that cause they’re endless and infinite. Every kind of world you can imagine and all the ones you can’t exist, and some of theirs end up here. Spectra ’s from what ya call the Abyss. The Ocean of Dark.” Agatha shuddered.

“ Penelope Spectra is a rippling, inky darkness that pulls your greatest fear, your greatest sorrow, the darkest worst thing within you that you resist day after day, or even that you don’t up to the surface. She makes you face everything you think is wrong with you, even the tiniest flaw in the back of your head that you know better about yourself, and spits it back at you with all the force of a wave crashing down and drowning you in misery and self-doubt. And then she feeds on it like a festering parasite.” Agatha’s face twisted up in disgust. “ She is suffering and fear and misery, and she wreaks it upon her victims to feed herself.”

“That’s… quite the description.” Tucker didn’t dare take his phone out to take notes just yet, all too sure that’d look like disrespect to the ghost.

“That Ishka got me and half of the school killed! I’m bein rather generous in how I call her.”

“Understood.” Tucker nodded and took a step back. “Thank you for your help, ma’am.”

“And thank you kindly for the idea, Tucker. Stay safe and aim well.”

“Damn, that’s a description,” Sam muttered, pages flipping in her hands and herbal tea resting half drank next to her. She was slowly recovering from both a bug that seemed to be going around and the drain from her spell. Still, she had a feeling that unless she found some powerful artifact straight from the Infinite Realms it was back to her martial arts and Fenton Weapons for all defenses. Fine against a meathed like Dash, but not so fine when it came to dealing with an emotional vampire.

“It sounds to me like she blames Spectra for what Sydney did,” Danny said, “Which is probably something Sydney might need to hear. After all, if Spectra’s track record is something to go off of then…”

“Let’s save that for later, please and thanks.” Sam sighed. “I don’t need to think about that right now. What I do need to think about is… aha! Alright, thanks to a bunch of internet searches and checking through a few translated books, I think I have an idea of what Spectra is.” She finished her cup of tea and made a face at the strong taste. Regardless, it should help. “Agatha said something about the Dark Ocean, right?”

“Yup.”

“So, while she could be a few things I think the closest match is a Fomorian from Irish myth. Seafarers from the Middle East that came to Ireland centuries before Tuatha Dé Danann arrived there. The Tuatha De Danann are gods,” she answered before Tucker could finish asking. “With our admittedly limited knowledge on ghosts, I’d say that a group of monstrous entities from a dark ocean finding their way here through a portal of some sort and becoming part of legends makes sense.” Sam sighed, leaning back against her wall of fluffy lavender pillows. “If the Infinite Realms are really that and beings from other realms can just make a portal here whenever they feel like it, how many myths, legends, and religions can be traced back to something from another realm hopping over to Earth?”

No one said anything for the longest moment and Sam sneezed into a tissue. Tucker cleared his throat and pushed through a near palpable wall of awkwardness that Sam had established. “What kind of things do the myths say we need in order to hurt her?”

“Well, fighting a Fomorian effectively sort of requires you to use a magickal weapon of some sort. I’m pretty sure that magick is just ectoplasmic energy at this point, so we’re good there.”

“Now we just need an excuse for me to shoot a staff member with an experimental weapon made by the town crazies.” Danny huffed and Sam sucked her teeth at that. How would they corner her without anyone stopping them? Finding her at night sounded like a horrible idea if she was from the Dark Ocean, and dealing with her during the day likely meant at lunch, which would mean the entire school would be available for her to use against them.

Tucker grinned on her screen and puffed out his chest. “Well, that part’s actually covered by Spectra’s own bullshit planning. She has an assistant registered with the school, and you’d think someone with such great planning skills wouldn’t have an assistant with living family members come with her to the school where his grandson goes to.” Sam’s eyes widened and she leaned forward as Tucker sent a link and a picture of a man captioned as Bertrand Baxter. “Yes, that Baxter.”

“Holy shit,” Sam whispered. “All we need to do is get Dash to expose his grandfather as dead and we’d have Spectra dead to rights as either an accomplice in a haunting that’s been hurting the school at the very least. If we can line up the shot right we-” Sam cut herself off with a violent fit of coughing and sneezing and leaned away from the screen with the force of it all. Once she was done attempting to cough up her entire lung, Sam wiped her face with a fresh tissue. “Ugh, I guess I mean if you can line up the shot right. I feel utterly useless like this.”

“Well, if it’s alright I may be able to help with that.” Sam didn’t have the energy to jump like her body wanted to, but she did turn quickly to see Sydney Poindexter floating sheepishly in front of her, head turned to look off into the nearest corner. “I uh. I’ve always wanted to be a nurse, and after you and Danny showed that he can heal people with a little effort, and after a little talk with Jazz, I thought maybe. Maybe I can try? I have more energy to spare, at the very least.”

For a second Sam considered telling Sydney to leave. After all, he’d flat out admitted to what the rumors about him had stated: he snapped and shot up the school. That was inexcusable. And yet, a soul-sucking misery demon looking to feed on every ounce of negative emotion that she could had been an influence, hell might’ve even been the whole driving force. And Sydney had basically been put through torture before and after. Part of her felt that he should be pushed away, shoved in a thermos and returned to the Realms and the other remembered that Agatha, one of his victims, blamed Spectra for what happened to him. Sam would’ve let this moral debate in her head go on forever if she could, really.

But then her lungs had another fit and she decided that pragmatism won out here. So she held out her hand and sniffed when she could. “Go ahead, not like this can get any worse.”

Sydney beamed, his form sliding further into focus and opacity, and he took her hand. His tongue stuck out of his mouth as he concentrated, so much like Danny she wanted to laugh. But then she felt how different from Danny he was. Danny’s energy was vast light bright protection and Sydney felt more gentle cautious guilt warm soft in a way that Sam was hard-pressed to define. But then that warmth spread slowly and steadily through her body and it was like a fever but five times as intense. And then the energy cooled, stealing away the extra heat to soothe her, and Sam felt bone tired. Her sinuses were cleared and all that, she could almost certainly tell, but she was so tired . “Oh gosh, I’m sorry. I guess I was able to knock out your flu but you’ll need your own energy to handle any sort of restoration?”

“Let Sam rest a couple days, Syd,” Tucker said at the edges of her awareness. Sydney pulled her up in her bed and her protests died on her lips as warm comfy blankets were tucked around her. “We’ll take on the shadow lady when we’re all at 100 percent.”

“Fine, I’ll rest, but I want a new weapon to compensate.” With that demand gotten out, darkness overtook Sam and the sound of Tucker instructing Sydney on how to turn off her laptop correctly faded out.

[drunkcnsunlight]

Introduction to Maggie Rhee

“When we were fighting the SAVIORS, you told me that soon, you’d be the one following me. But you didn’t. ‘Cause I wasn’t someone to follow. THAT CHANGES NOW.” 

[Look who just woke up- is that LAUREN COHAN? No, I must have been mistaken, that’s MAGGIE RHEE from THE WALKING DEAD. I heard she is 27 and stuck here just like everyone else. Even in the 20’s, they still give off a COMPASSIONATE LEADER, FEROCIOUS MOTHER, WICKED WIDOW impression. They’re known to be quite KIND, but have a tendency to be STUBBORN on their bad days. (alissa, 22, she/her/hers, est)]

Gender/Pronouns:

Cisfemale who uses she/her/hers pronouns. 

How long have they been in Sydney?:

As far as Maggie remembers, she has only been in Sydney for a handful of months, and that timeframe is less than six. 

Job:

Maggie is currently working as a makeshift social activist and quasi-politician. These are not the exact terms that describe what she does, but they come close enough. 

Most of all, she is interested in public and social policy, and in renovating the neighborhoods around Sydney to ensure that people are well- housed, fed, employed, among other factors. 

She spends some time volunteering at the fresh fruit and veggie markets, given that she will always be a farmer’s daughter. 

Which suburb do they live in?:

When Maggie arrived in Sydney with her six-month-old son Hershel, she moved into an apartment in Parramatta. 

She will move in with her revived husband, Glenn Rhee, once she comes across him once more, and the pair of them will decide together, where the best location to raise their child will be. 

Memories of their real life:

For those who do, and do not, know Maggie Rhee, she is a cisfemale from The Walking Dead show and comic universe. I mostly pull her characterization from show!verse, although I do have some limited knowledge of the comic series. 

She is the daughter of Hershel Greene, and her mother Josephine passed away when she was a bit younger. Her father remarried, and she came to have a sister named Beth. 

Maggie was raised to value family and faith first and foremost; prior to the walker apocalypse that changed her life forever, she was a strong-willed young woman, who enjoyed rebelling against her father’s expectations. 

She was hurting from numerous losses, and often dated and slept around; smoked, drank, and used drugs; and refused to attend church sessions. Maggie was often referred to as a wildcard. 

In terms of memories from a show of ten seasons, Maggie recalls all of the events that are depicted from S1 through the latest installment.

She lost all of her biological family members, including her father and sister. She lost her husband, Glenn. She lost her adopted daughter, Enid. She lost more adoptive family members than she can hope to name, although she does her best to keep them alive in spirit and memory. 

Maggie is the former leader of a community called Hilltop; she has many nicknames across groups of the living, including The Widow. 

Her only blood left is her son Hershel, whom she and Glenn conceived, prior to his death at the hands of the Saviors. 

I mostly keep Maggie’s life and characterization the same as she is presented in the television show. However, in my writing, as one minor revision, Maggie never went to visit Negan in his cell. If she had done so, then she would have killed him. 

As I write Maggie, she will never be able to forgive Negan for the horrors that he caused her and her family; there is no reality in which the two of them make amends. Personally, I find any future directions in that regard to be quite ableist, sexist, and frankly, frightening. 

Maggie’s latest memory from her real life is that she received letters from Carol, and was on her way back to the communities, when she arrived in Sydney. When she arrived here, her son was mysteriously back to being his small, six-month-old self, as we last saw him on the show. 

What was their fake life like?:

Maggie’s fake life is quite similar to her real one. 

She was raised by a religious father, and her mother died when she was quite young. Her father remarried, and Maggie struggled to accept her new sibling, and her new mother figure. 

In her fake life, Maggie was also quite rebellious. She acted out all of the time, because she was in pain, and she struggled with how out of control she felt when it came to the events of her life. 

However, she never met a Glenn-type figure. She never found her one true love, as she finds him in her real life and experience. 

Maggie was raised on a farm, as she was raised in her real life, but she never planned to move off-grounds. Instead, she intended to assist her father with his tasks, yields, and responsibilities. 

She did not plan far ahead, and she aimed to become a farmer, and to assume her father’s role once he felt prepared to retire. 

The workers on her father’s farm respected Maggie, and they found her to be quite industrious. They acknowledged her to be a doubtless leader, and some claimed that nothing could shake her. 

Maggie found passions in a few things, despite her rebellious nature. She enjoyed riding horses, and whenever she did, she felt as if she was free, and as if she could fly. She also liked to sing with her sister, even though her sister was much more talented at that hobby than Maggie was. 

In her fake-turned-real life, Maggie is beginning to make friends, although this is a slow process for her. She is slower to trust, after living and losing as she did across the walker apocalypse. 

Maggie has her son Hershel with her, and she is soon to reunite with her husband, Glenn. One of her dearest family members, Daryl, is here with her as well. And she is eager to reunite with all of those others whom she has known, lost, and loved.