#conditioning backfired what do we do now boss

[ash-and-books]

Rating:5/5

Book Blurb:

Should I have trusted my tyrannical boss when he promised he’d get me home for the holidays? Absolutely not.

He gassed up his private jet and decided he’d be joining me so we could close this massive deal before the new year.

There are three conditions to him coming home with me:

1. My family can’t know that he’s my boss (See note above about him being a tyrant) 2. I will absolutely be getting a big fat raise 3. He has to help me with my holiday wishlist

What’s worse than my boss stealing Christmas? Him pretending to be my boyfriend.

Since he’s faking being in love with me, my mom put us together in my childhood bedroom with just one bed to share.

When the mistletoe comes out, I can’t help but wonder what would happen if my hot as coal boss and I were underneath.

Jack Sinclair is nothing but determined to get everything he wants this Christmas, and it looks like I’m at the top of his list.

Review:

What happens when your grumpy grinch of a boss tags along with you for your holiday visit to the family and pretends to be your boyfriend? Apparently a very cute Christmas romance. Jack is a billionaire CEO and a bit of a grinch, he's demanding, cold, and a workaholic. Presley is his assistant, she's sweet, kind, and in love with Christmas. When Jack demands more of her time despite her heading home to her two week vacation ( she has not taken a single day off), Presley tells him she's not staying... so he decides to go with her to visit her family so she can work with him. To make matters worse, he tells her parents he is her boyfriend... and gets to her from them how much her parents dislike her tyrannical boss. Jack and Presley are forced to share a room, and a bed.. and now they both are dealing with the feelings and tensions that have been growing in them for three years. Jack has been in love with Presley since the first moment she stepped into his office but tried to maintain a professional relationship as much as possible, however that kind of backfired on him as she thinks he's cold and aloof and just wants to make her miserable... he'll just have to prove to her that he is very serious about wanting a relationship and if that means this grinch is gonna grow his heart three sizes, so be it. Jack is determined to do everything on Presley's wishlist and show her just how in love with her he is. This was an adorable Christmas rom com with a grumpy x sunshine couple. Super cute and spicy and I had a blast (plus I would love to red more romances from this author about Presley's brothers).

[mastomysowner]

The sad tale of the Kurozumi Family

If things had gone differently, Orochi could’ve been a good person. Wait, I’ll explain.

Orochi first met Higurashi over 41 years ago, when he was still a teen. Apparently, he lost his family. He was also forced to live in a terribly decrepit shack in a graveyard for who knows how long. Talk about creepy.

Higurashi’s entrance had an appropriate level of creepiness. She may have chosen the exact day for the lightning and thunder sound effects to be available. This granny must've had a knack for theatrics, hasn't she? This fits well with this arc’s theme of Kabuki stage plays. Not only that, by doing this, she showed who's the boss and made Orochi scared, confused and vulnerable to manipulation.

Orochi didn’t even know what crime his grandfather had been punished for, but he was still sure the punishment was just. Prior to meeting Higurashi, he blamed no one for his misery, oddly enough considering how much injustice he’d endured.

Orochi seems shocked to hear the story of his grandfather's misdeeds. Also, it was believed that they were killed in a civil war? Looks like we don't know a lot about Wano's history.

She didn't mention that not only their property was taken. The idea that someone could be guilty of being born was nothing new to Wano Country.

Interestingly, at that time, Orochi's dreams of becoming a shogun were simple and childish, there was nothing evil in them. They were kinda similar to the dreams of Denji from Chainsaw Man. 

Higurashi only offered the Devil Fruit to Orochi if he obeyed. He wasn't shown to be anything more than a tool to her.

Above all, she valued power and promoted this idea to both her family member and her future killer. Orochi felt nothing when she died, her own ruthlessness leaving a mark on him after many years of her being his only close person.

But it’s not a fact that Higurashi was always like that. She had to leave the country not only because of revenge, but also to save her life. There’s no doubt that survival in the unknown lands was indeed a terrible ordeal.

In any case, this was the beginning of their 20 years of collaboration, during which Orochi's attitude changed dramatically.

His clothes also changed. It's unknown if his living conditions also improved or if this was the only change (after all, a servant of the shogun should look appropriately). He stole much money, but they were used on producing weapons.

At that time, it wasn't clear how far the persecution of the Kurozumi clan had gone, but after it was shown, it seems weird that Yasuie asked why Orochi hid that he was a Kurozumi.

Most likely, it wasn't only a matter of self-righteousness. Throughout history, entire clans had often been wiped out to get rid of would-be avengers. The people of Wano wanted to get rid of any potential problems, and this backfired on them.

By the way, here Orochi says that if his clan only lost their social position, he wouldn't take revenge. Like, indiscriminate murder is counter-productive. It’s sad that the people of Wano didn’t understand this.

Orochi’s logic is terrible, but it is... logical. Why should I care if they die of starvation and disease? They didn't care about me when I lived in the same conditions! Why should I worry about their children becoming victims of my revenge? They think a child can be a criminal too!

There’s also this little, but very sad story of Kanjuro. It's possible to build many theories about how he lived, but the point is that no one extended a helping hand to him.

The persecution of Kurozumis isn't the only example of the callousness of the Wano citizens’ hearts. No one offered a helping hand to Izou and Kiku when they were left on the street. Fortunately, they met Oden, but they might not have met him.

And now the new shogun Momonosuke must deal with all this legacy. Let's see what the phrase “opening of the country’s borders” means to him. One thing is certain, when this happens, Wano Country must change its way of life. Maybe it’ll be more... more merciful? Maybe it’s too naive... Okay, I want to believe in Momo.

Even if Orochi and Kanjuro were too far gone, Momonosuke must make sure that things like this never happen again.

[gale-gentlepenguin]

ML Fic: Nathalie’s Gift Part 1

She sat up in the middle of the night.

She took a moment to let her eyes adjust to the darkness. She knew it was late, likely an hour or two away from sunrise.

She examined her surroundings until she saw him. There he was, sleeping in the chair at the end of the room. Gabriel Agreste, her boss, her ally, and the one she had fallen for, was asleep in a chair several feet away.

Ever since the defeat of the guardian and the plan to use Chloé to get the miraculous, she had been far too weak to be as mobile as she was in the past. Gabriel had set her up in his quarters, despite the mansion having dozens of rooms. He had reasoned that Adrien would never walk into his room without permission, so that it would never become apparent how her condition was deteriorating.

His logic wasn't entirely unfounded. She was constantly teetering towards the brink. Overuse of the once broken peacock miraculous has left her bedridden most days. Despite the miraculous no longer having such a negative effect now, she knew the damage was already done. 

Yet he hasn't discarded her, was it out of loyalty that he felt the need to care for her despite being more of a burden? Did he perhaps start to feel something more for her as this whole debacle went on.

The later of which was unlikely, she knew better than anyone that Gabriel was far too loyal to his wife to entertain such a notion. So long as he believed there was a chance of bringing her back, he wont stop. She could never be Emilie Agreste, the love of his life and mother of Adrien. She was Nathalie Sancoeur, trusted assistant, and partner in crime. 

She forced herself out of bed. Moving quietly as to not awaken the sleeping mogul.

She snagged her tablet, and the peacock miraculous that was next to it.

She moved to the office and sat in the office chair. Perhaps she could get some work done while she was awake. And should she feel the need to speak to someone, the blue bird Kwami would be a fitting companion.

She started looking through work but her mind kept wandering to one thought

So long as Emilie could be brought back, he could never love me. I could never replace her.

She coughed.

“Not that it matters, I am on borrowed time as it is.” She commented to herself.

She stopped herself as she let her own comment sink in.

She was on borrowed time.

With how she was now, how much time did she have, a few months? A year? Maybe a decade if she really tried to take care of herself. But it wasn't like she was sick with a normal illness. But would Gabriel be able to get the miraculous? Even with everything they had, Ladybug and Chat noir always seemed to best them at every turn. At the rate things were going, she would likely end up in a glass coffin as well, and if Gabriel fails...

In that moment of worry. An idea that could fix everything slipped into her brain.

It was a long shot sure, there was a possibility that everything will backfire. But she needed to do it.

She exited out of her work and went into the security feed using her tablet. She disabled the secret camera hidden in the lair below.

She started making a few preparations.

_______________________________________________________________________

Gabriel awoke to his phone’s sudden vibrating.

He quickly shook himself and looked at his phone.

“The alarm was tripped. Someone damaged Emilie’s chamber!”

The fashion mogul rushed out of the room. His thoughts were firing through his brain a mile a minute.

Who found the lair? Was it one of the heroes? A spy? Who would dare desecrate my beloved wife’s container?

The fashion mogul made his way to the secret elevator.

A purple Kwami emerged from the pocket of the rushing fashion designer.

“Is something wrong master?”

“It appears there is an intruder in the secret sanctum.”

“What are you planning to do?”

“Im going to show them the error of their ways. Nooru, Dark wings rise.”

Gabriel transformed into the villainous hawkmoth, His face covered by a silver mask, and is candy cane color scheme replaced with a purple suit. 

He was armed and ready to fight should. 

As the elevator reaches the bottom. Hawkmoth dashes out as soon as it opens.

He would strike quick, and take care of the intruder before they realized who they were facing.

As he approached, he stopped dead in his tracks. As he noticed someone standing infront of the Glass container.

“Hello?” The figure called out. Her voice having a familiar tone that caught the butterfly villain off guard.

As his rage diminished, he felt his vision clear and noticed the shattered glass on the floor, along with the glass container that was now broken.

“It... It can't be...” Hawkmoth’s words escaped as he realized who was standing in front of him.

“Can you tell me where I am? I woke up in this... thing over hear. Im not entirely sure what’s going on.”

“Emilie... is that you?” Hawkmoth questioned, unsure if this was a dream, or if by some miracle the love of his life was indeed back from the abyss.

“How do you know my name Mr. Masked man?”

“Nooru, dark wings fall.”

The blond woman watched as the costumed stranger revealed himself.

“Gabriel? Is that you?”

A tear spilled from his eyes as he rushed to her. 

“You're here. How is... How is this possible?”

“I... I dont...” She started to stumble as she walked towards him. Her vision was starting to fade and the world was spinning.  

Gabriel quickly moved to catch her as she suddenly fell.

He felt his heart panic, but he could hear her breathing. She was simply sleeping.

“Perhaps it would be best to take her out of her.”

Gabriel walked to the elevator, his wife in his arms, asleep yet very alive. 

His mind had 1000 questions, but in this moment, he didn't care. He was holding the woman he loved in his arms again, and thats all that mattered.

___________________________________________________________________

“Gabriel!” She cried out as she woke up.

Sunlight was beaming from the window, it was clear it had been bright out for sometime.

She felt sheets underneath her. What she expected was a hard floor in a weird sanctum but now she felt the comfort of a room that felt familiar.

She heard the door open and looked to see her husband carrying a tray.

“Oh good, you're awake.” He spoke with soft relief.

She looked at the tray.

“Are those.”

“Lemon tea cookies. Your favorite.”

She smiled at him as he brought the tray to her bedside. Allowing her to snag a bite of one of them.

“So good!” She said as she finished her first cookie. “I feel like I haven't eaten in years!”

Gabriel’s expression faltered. She could see the pained expression as she said that.

“Gabriel... how long was I gone?” Her question verbally stabbed him.

He took a moment to process the curious expression on his wife’s face as she continued eating the tray of treats.

He looked down at his hands.

“A year and 6 months.”

She gulped down her cookie hard at the revelation.

“Wow... I've been gone for so long... Adrien must be taller then... ADRIEN!”

Emilie grabbed her husband by the collar.

“Where is Adrien?!”

“He’s at school” Gabriel answered.

Emilie blinked.

“School? You mean he is no longer being homeschooled?”

“He still has some lessons, but he was insistent on trying to go to school like other children his age. It was more ideal for him to go out than for him to be stuck here most hours of the day.”

Emilie processed that information.

“I see, I am surprised you said yes. You always said you hated public schooling.”

“I still believe the school systems are... inferior, but Adrien’s grades haven't faltered according to Nathalie. So I don't bother intervening.”

“My boy has grown up so much since Ive been gone. Wait, is he dating yet? Please tell me I didn’t miss his first crush!”

“Emilie, I am sure that you didnt miss anything. You and Adrien can catch up once you are rested and he is back from school.”

Emilie took a deep breathe.

“Okay, You're right. It will be nice to hear everything from him.”

She looked around the room a bit and noticed the vase full of roses.

“Oh, fresh roses. Gabe-y you cheesy romantic.”

Gabriel felt his cheeks go pink.

“It was... the room needed some color in it.”

“Much like those red pants you insist on wearing.”

“They are fashionable.”

“If you were in charge of candyland perhaps.”

Emilie loved to tease him about is fashion calls.

“Who is the fashion designer here?” He said with a mock stern tone.

“Speaking of fashion, that costume that you were wearing. That didn’t look like the peacock miraculous.”

Gabriel’s tone shifted to genuinely serious. He figured the time would come to answer that question.

“It is the butterfly miraculous. After your...departure. Nathalie and I investigated the temple where you and I had found the peacock miraculous. We discovered a new miraculous, one that wasn't damaged.”

Gabriel felt a twinge mentioning Nathalie. When he had rushed to bring Emilie up here, he felt guilt and relief that his assistant wasn't in the bed. He would have quite a difficult time explaining that one, even if nothing happened.

“So with that miraculous you were trying to find a way to bring me back.”

“It was a means to an end.”

Emilie processed the information she was told.

“Gabriel, I want you to do something for me.”

“Anything.”

“No more miraculous. None.”

Gabriel blinked.

“But...”

“Those jewels are nothing but trouble. It has only caused our family suffering and pain.”

Gabriel was surprised by the claim, but he knew she was correct. The miraculous have been quite the curse on the family, despite the powers they gave.

“It will take time for me to stop using it outright, there is a... situation with how I’ve been using it. Your sudden appearance and the disappearance of Hawkmoth might be suspicious.”

Emilie looked at Gabriel intensely.

“Hawkmoth? Gabriel what did you do?”

“Well... in order to try an bring you back, the butterfly miraculous wasn't going to be able to accomplish that goal. So the only way I could bring you back with certainty was to attain the ladybug and Cat miraculous.”

The former actress listened as her husband explained how he became a super villain for the sake of getting the jewels.

“Unbelievable.”

“I admit, explaining it makes it sound a lot worse than it actually is. I planned to fix any damage caused once I got the jewels”

“And what if people found out your identity!? You would have been thrown in prison and left our son an Orphan!” Emilie pointed her finger in his chest.

“It was the only way I could think of to attain the miraculous. How else would I have been able to confirm the miraculous were in Paris?”

Emilie was ready to let him have it. But she felt herself calm down. She had to admit, in a weird way, it was quite romantic. Something out of a tragic romance novel.

“I should be angrier with you, but I know if the situation was reversed and I had a way of bringing you back, I would have likely tried the same thing, albeit in a smarter way.”

Gabriel felt a bit of relief seeing his wife not so cross with him.

“So we figure out how to orchestrate your ‘Defeat’ and then we say good bye to the miraculous for good.”

“We will plan it out when you are completely better. Though this does raise the question. How are you back?”

Emilie pauses, she tries to think back.

Protect the Agreste family... no matter what.

She heard that phrase echoing in her head. But she couldn't figure out why. Who said that to her. Why is everything so fuzzy?

“I don't know... I remember hearing glass shatter, and a flash of blue. But the next thing I remember was... seeing you.

Gabriel looks at her, he could tell from her eyes she was telling the truth.

“I will look into that later. In the meantime, you should rest. I will check on you in a few hours.”

He moves the empty tray from the bed.

“Wait.”

Gabriel stopped.

“Get Adrien here. I want to see him now.”

“Dear, he is in school. It will dismiss in a few hours. Besides you should rest.”

Emilie got up from the bed.

“Nonsense. Ive been resting long enough. I am sure Adrien can miss a few hours of school. I want to see my baby boy.”

Gabriel wanted to find some way to dismiss her request, but he knew he couldn't say no to her. She was far to headstrong and determined... and man did he miss her.

“Okay, I will have his driver go an pick him up.”

“You aren't going to pick him up yourself?”

“Emilie I have work to do. Besides that is why we have...”

“You can take some time off to bond with your son. Seriously, you need to stop putting up walls Gabe-y.”

Gabriel took a calming breath to compose himself.

“Very well. But do use this time to rest.”

She moves to kiss her husband.

“I promise.”

Gabriel’s expression turned into a soft smile.

“I will be back with our son shortly.”

Gabriel left the room to go pick up Adrien.

Emilie smiled as she moved to vase of roses. She picked on up and sniffed it.

The rose in her hand began wilting and shriveled up.

She looked in the mirror.

“Everything went perfectly.”

______________________________________________________________________

End of part one

(Should I continue? Let me know your thoughts)

[thecasperanfamily]

Can we get a sock monkey part two? Maybe taking place in the present?

(Link to Part One)

I am sooooo sorry about the delay on this one. First I had a solid week of ADHD Brain Doing Its Thing, then a dentist appointment, then my bedroom flooded, then a migraine...ANYWAYS I hope this was worth the wait!

~~~~~

They say that behind every great wizard, there is a great witch. Whether or not this was a universal truth or just a nice-sounding sentiment someone came up with to discourage squabbling between witches and wizards, Lin couldn’t be sure. But he did know that it was true in his father’s case, if nothing else. Hisirdoux Casperan was an immensely powerful wizard in his own right, capable of feats of magic unlike anything seen since the age of the great Merlin Ambrosius. But he was also what Lin’s mother liked to affectionately call “a mess. An absolute disaster. Gods, it’s a marvel you’ve survived this long.” To which Douxie would inevitably reply with, “The only marvel is you, my love.” And Lin would always immediately leave the room because he had no desire to witness whatever came after that. But Douxie did have a point, albeit one that felt a bit lost underneath all the sap and sentimentality. The fact of the matter was that Master Wizard Hisirdoux Casperan likely couldn’t be a Master Wizard without his wife. Archie could protect Douxie in battle, Nari could heal and encourage him, but Zoe was their last and strongest line of defense. Be it a desperate struggle against an ancient and horrifying monster or simply keeping the household running, when all others fell, she continued to stand, often pulling them back up and keeping them on their feet with her own strength. Douxie once said that he could face his own fears because he knew Zoe was standing fearless by his side.

In hindsight, he really should have chosen his words more carefully. Because when Lin handed his mother his oldest, most beloved toy from childhood and asked her to repair it, “fearless” certainly wasn’t what came to mind when beholding the look of intense discomfort on Zoe’s face as she eyed the offending object.

“...It looks normal to me,” she said stiffly.

“It....there’s a massive rip on her side?” Lin replied hesitantly. “That’s not supposed to be there. And Comet tore off one of her eyes, too.” The boy shifted awkwardly, still cradling the abomination in his hands, since Zoe had refused to touch it. “I-I mean, I know it’s stupid, but Georgina--uh, I mean, this old thing...it means a lot to me. Been with me for a long time, and all. I just--”

“Fine, fine, I’ll patch it up for you,” Zoe blurted, snatching the cursed thing from his hands. “Now go get ready for school. You’re running late as is.”

“...It’s Saturday,” Lin reminded her.

“Then go bother Archie or something. I can’t fix this thing if you’re breathing down my neck the whole time. Restorative magic requires concentration.”

“...I’ve seen you piece a broken mug back together in five seconds flat while also fighting the endgame boss of War Dudes 7.”

“Out, Lin.”

“Alright, alright!” He raised his hands placatingly and swept out of the kitchen, calling back over his shoulder “Thanks, Mom!”

The moment he was out of sight, Zoe pitched the sock monkey as hard as she could against the opposite wall. It landed on the counter with a sad little flop, looking no less abominable for its current state of disrepair.

“I hate you,” she told it quietly. “I know you know I do. I can see it in your one remaining eye. I’ve endured your mockery of me for the past seventeen years for Lin’s sake, but this...” She raked her fingers through her bangs furiously. “...Oh, get a grip, Zoe,” she muttered. “It’s just a stuffed animal. It’s only ever been a stuffed animal. It will never best me. I’m one of the greatest hedgewitches of my time. I am Zoe Casperan, I am she who remains when the masters have fallen, I am--”

“Introducing yourself to someone, are you?”

Douxie was very fortunate that he did not touch Zoe when he spoke up from behind her, because the pulse of electricity that surged through her veins would have certainly laid him flat on his back for at least a week. As it was, Zoe’s wand was pointed at his throat before he could so much as blink, a few angry pink sparks spitting from the end.

“Woah, woah, okay, nope, bad time for jokes, I got it! Take it easy, love.”

“Don’t do that!” Zoe hissed, stuffing her wand back into her belt as her cheeks warmed with embarrassment. “I could have hurt you.”

“Trust me, I’m well aware,” Douxie replied, taking one of her hands and pressing an apologetic kiss to her knuckles. “I didn’t mean to startle you, I’m sorry.”

“Stop being sweet.” Zoe grumbled. “It’s distracting.”

“Distracting you from what, exactly?”

“Lin wants me to patch up that...thing that Barbara gave him all those years ago.” She flapped a hand at the sock monkey sprawled pathetically across the counter.

“I didn’t even realize he still had that,” Douxie remarked, taking in the damage with a critical eye. “Mm. She’s certainly seen better days.”

“I want it to see worse,” Zoe seethed. “...But Lin still loves it, gods only know why.”

“Bit of a moral conundrum, eh? Take your vengeance on your worst enemy and break our son’s heart, or grant her mercy for Lin’s sake.”

“This isn’t funny, Douxie.”

“It is, just a little bit.”

“You know I can’t stand even looking at that reject voodoo doll. How am I supposed to cast a restoration spell when all I want to do is douse this thing in gasoline and throw it on a bonfire?”

“Attempting a restoration spell with that mindset would likely end very badly,” Douxie agreed. “My feelings towards the lady in question are far less hostile. Perhaps I should take this one for you.”

“No! No, I-I...” Zoe sighed and ran a hand through her bangs yet again. “...I don’t want this thing to get the better of me. I’ve never backed down from a challenge before, and I definitely don’t want this to be my first time. Besides, you’re pretty sloppy when it comes to restoration magic. Lin will know right away who performed the spell just by looking at it, and I don’t want him to feel like I let him down.”

“With the utmost respect, Zoe,” Douxie replied hesitantly. “I think Lin would prefer a messy patch job over the many ways this spell could backfire if you’re the one performing it. You do understand that swallowing your pride isn’t the same as cowardice, right?”

“Pride or not, I will not let my son experience the shame of knowing his mother was defeated by an ugly stuffed animal,” Zoe countered. She stalked up to the counter and arranged the bedraggled sock monkey carefully, nose wrinkling in disgust as she ran her fingers over the material.

“Zoe, darling--” Douxie tried to protest again.

“Shush. I need to concentrate.”

“I really think you ought to let me--”

“I said shush, Douxie. I know I can do this.” She brandished her wand and, with a few quick motions, guided her aura to surround the sock monkey, which began to float a few inches off the counter. She pushed back against the wave of revulsion that crashed over her as her spirit made contact with the cursed object, and managed to spit the spell out through clenched teeth. “Refectio.”

The moment the spell was activated, Zoe knew she had made a mistake. The feeling of disgust she had tried so hard to stifle refused to detach from her aura. Her magic flowed out of her in a hot, angry rush, and the sock monkey writhed and contorted as though possessed.

“Zoe!” Douxie pulled her back from the counter, arms wrapping around her as his own aura flared defensively. The sock monkey gave one final shudder, then flopped back onto the counter.

“It’s fine!” Zoe insisted. “Look, see? It’s fixed.” Indeed, the sock monkey appeared to have been restored to mint condition. The rip had closed, the missing eye had returned from wherever Comet had hidden it, and the old stuffing had softened and puffed out again. “I told you I could do it.”

“That could have been a disaster, Zoe,” Douxie scolded.

“Any spell has the potential to be a disaster,” she argued. “But I had to try. And I feel so much better now that--”

The sock monkey twitched.

Douxie’s arms tightened around her, and Zoe instinctively brandished her wand again. The toy twitched again. Then it shuddered. Then it flopped over. And then, like a phantom from a nightmare, rose to its feet and slowly turned to face them, black button eyes cold and lifeless.

“...Okay, yeah, this is a disaster,” Zoe breathed. The sock monkey hovered in place for a moment longer.

Then suddenly, it was zooming across the kitchen. Douxie shoved Zoe to the side, but the vengeful toy didn’t seem to notice her at all. It gleefully slammed into the Master Wizard’s head and began wrapping itself around his face. He stumbled back and fell against the counter, sending a few dirty dishes crashing to the floor as he clawed at the soft little demon that was attempting to suffocate him.

“NO!” Zoe screeched, and before she could think twice, there was a blinding flash of bright pink light and the crackling snap of a thunderbolt. The sock monkey exploded into a cloud of stuffing and fibers that fluttered to the floor and dissolved into ash.

Zoe dropped to her knees, wand still outstretched in her trembling hand. Douxie leaned back against the counter, sucking in huge gulps of air.

“...Well,” he wheezed. “At least you finally got your revenge.”

“...No. Oh, no no no,” Zoe whimpered, dropping her wand and burying her face in her hands. “Oh gods, what have I... Lin is going to... Gods, Douxie I’m so sorry. Are you alright?” She emerged from her hands to see him giving her a thumbs-up and a sympathetic smile.

“The only damage done was emotional,” he assured her. “...At least where I’m concerned.” His gaze drifted across the floor, taking in the ashes scattered all over it. Silence hung between them for a few long minutes. “...What do we do now?”

“...Do you have your phone on you?” Zoe asked. Douxie nodded. “Give it here.” He pulled the item in question out of his pocket and tossed it over to her. She scrolled through his contacts list until she found the name she was looking for, then pressed call. Douxie pulled himself to his feet and began searching for a broom. There was a click on the other end of the line.

“Barbara Lake speaking.”

“Hey, Barbara? It’s Zoe. ...Yeah, I’m using Douxie’s phone. Long story short, we’ve had a bit of an accident and I need to know where you got Lin’s sock monkey from...”

*****

“Hey, Lin.” Lin looked up from his sketchbook to find his mother standing in his bedroom doorway. “Catch.” She tossed a familiar grey and white figure at him.

“Wow. She looks like new,” he observed, turning the sock monkey over in his hands. “...Very new.”

“Yeah. That’s...why it took me longer than usual to fix her. Take good care of her, alright? I don’t want to have to fix her again any time soon.”

“Yep. Thanks, Mom.” He watched her leave, then looked back down at the toy. “...Huh. I don’t remember you ever having these tags, Georgina...” The sock monkey smiled up at him benignly. “Weird.” He shrugged and sat the stuffed animal up on his desk before bending over his sketchbook once more.

Meanwhile, Zoe went to brew herself a very strong cup of herbal tea.

A very special thanks to @poetryinmotion-author and @rikalovesrice for helping me with this one, and to @dreamsarelikedragonflies for beta reading. ✨

[hello-im-not-a-possum]

Hell's Studio fic idea: A pipe bursts and Sammy becomes a toon Imp like Snowflake and Bendy, and Joey doesn't know how to reverse it ASAP, so Sammy is stuck as a toon Imp and Sammy decides to hangout with Snowflake until Joey can reverse the ink's magic (Bonus points if: Sammy gets a uncontrollable stutter as a toon Imp, Susie cooing her small boyfriend, and Sammy drawing with snowflake)

I am So sorry that this took so freaking long, but here you go!

Wally slapped his forehead in exasperation as he heard the pipe bursting from the music department's break room. Then proceeded to go in there, with Snowflake following close behind just in case he needed someone small to check in any holes in the wall that the pipe made in the process.

The sight was familiar, but unwelcome to the pair; a pile of thick ink sliding down onto the floor through the broken pipe peeking through the ceiling. Snowflake was only thankful that it had spilled to the floor instead of the pool table.

“I’m startin' ta think dat eitheah we should completely tear down da music department to put in a betteah pipe system, or just stop fixin' the dang things so dat they at least stop surprisin' us."

The Janitor grumbled as he started mopping up the mess.

"A-at least nobody got caught in it this time."

As soon as Snowflake said that, something under the pile began to move.

“Mmmmh?"

"Yikes, spoke too soon, kiddo."

Wally stated calmly as he started to scrape the excess ink off of what looked exactly like Bendy, except the imp's tie lacked the fun patterns Bendy often wore, and more importantly, he was missing his mouth. So the obvious conclusion the pair made was: The ink ruined his tie by dying it black and also stole his mouth.

"M-mr. Bendy?! are you okay?!"

The formerly buried imp looked at the other one with a perplexed expression before mouthing something, realized that he wasn't saying anything, patting his face where his mouth should've been, and looking like he was about to panic.

"MMMMmmPPHH?! MMMH!! MMPHH!!!"

"Looks like the ink erased your pie hole, boss."

The imp rolled his eyes at stared at Wally in a very sarcastic manner before leaving the room, most likely to visit Joey about this issue.

"...Do you think he's not going to want to do that drawing lesson later?"

"What, Bendy? not want ta draw with ya overah somethin' like this? Nah. It's nothin' fun to wake up to, but I don't think it'll eat at him like it will if it happened ta Sammy."

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

"MmMMmMMM?!?! MMPHH!! MMMPPHHH!?"

Sammy hopped up and down while wildly gesturing to the blank white space on his face where his mouth was supposed to be while Joey flipped through heavily ink-stained spell books. Meanwhile, the real Bendy was still gawking at his doppelganger, still not quite sure whether he should feel flattered or offended that the ink pulled this on Sammy. But also not saying anything because he couldn't find any jokes to lighten the mood with.

It would be one thing if the ink also gave Sammy Bendy's trademark smile (that could make other expressions too). If it did that, Bendy would be making so many mirror and twin related jokes. But it didn't.

"It's going to be fine." Joey repeated almost more to himself than to the hopping mad imp. "Just because an ink flood took out some of my reversal spells, doesn't mean that you're going to be stuck like this forever. Best case scenario, it'll take a few hours for me to find the right one, worst case scenario I'm going to need to order a new book, and that might take a while."

"MMm MmhP?"

"I don't know how long! Some of these are the rarest on the market! Goodness knows how long it'll take to replace if it's ruined and has the correct cure in it..."

The music director let out a heavily muffled, frustrated sigh.

"Yes, I'm annoyed too." Joey sighed as well. "But at least it's not going to be forever."

'Easy for you to say.' Sammy thought to himself as trying and failing to talk was starting to hurt his jaw. 'You're not the one dealing with this! how am I supposed to do my job when I can't speak to anyone?!'

He must've been gesturing as he thought this as Joey snapped his fingers in realization and handed Sammy a notebook and a pencil.

"I know it won't help with the more vocal aspects of your job, but it's better than not having any way to communicate. And much easier than trying to learn sign language in less than a day and with only four digits on each hand."

He tried to write down 'Thanks Joey' but his hands refused to obey him. Confusingly, he instead drew a thumbs up.

"Why thank you! Glad to see that you're taking this better than expected Sammy. I'd better get to work on looking for that spell..."

As Joey left the room, Sammy frowned at the notebook, trying to figure out why he did that. Bendy also peeked at the drawing and felt something click.

"So..." the copied imp awkwardly tugged at his tie as he avoided making eye contact with Sammy. "Just outta curiosity sake, does Snowflake know about this? At least, the fact that it's well, you instead of me?"

Sammy gave Bendy a funny look but nodded anyway.

"Okay, follow up question: ...Is now a bad time to tell you that before you burst in here trying to tell us to fix this that Joey and I were arguing over whether I should go to this meeting with GENT or to give drawing lessons to Snowflake like I promised to, and literally right before you came in I said: 'Well dang it Joey if I could be in two places at once, I would!'?"

Sammy frowned as he saw the guilty yet pleading look in Bendy's eyes, calmly took the newspaper off of Joey's desk, rolled it up and smacked Bendy right upside the head.

"Hey! What gives?!" He sputtered as he rubbed the back of his head.

The Mute music director drew a series of pictures: Bendy putting something in the ink, the ink rising up and flashing him the 'ok' hand sign, Bendy giving it a thumbs up in return and leaving on his merry way, a shift in perspective revealing Sammy as a human having seen the interaction but shrugging it off, Sammy (still human) playing pool with Jack, Grant, and Johnny, the four of them having a good time, the ceiling above them creaking and rumbling ominously, making the four opt to leave, Sammy coming back into the pool room slightly later and keeping an eye on the ceiling, Sammy taking what he came back into the room for, the ceiling above him suddenly bursting and covering him with ink, and the last picture; a bunch of puzzle pieces being fit together, with the picture on the pieces being a lit light bulb.

After showing Bendy his work, he crossed his arms and tapped his foot on the ground.

"What?! You can't seriously blame me for- Okay, yes. I did kinda make a request... but I figured I'D be the one getting drenched! Not you!"

Sammy raised a single eyebrow as Bendy let out a frustrated sigh.

"Look, if I knew that this was what would happen, I wouldn't have done it! But now that it's happened ...would ya help me out with this?"

Sammy's next drawing was his current form with an intentionally bad scribble of Bendy's mouth on the space where he was supposed to have a mouth to indicate it was (poorly) drawn on, and he was trying and failing to do Bendy's job for him as he couldn't speak.

"Of course I'm not going to shirk my responsibilities to make you pretending to be me look like an idiot in front of those big wigs at GENT. I mean, goodness, if this thing flops, who knows what'll happen."

The Musician then showed Bendy a drawing that was so horrible and cold that he wouldn't even dare grace it with a description.

"WHAT KINDA DEMON DO YOU THINK I AM, LAWRENCE?!" Bendy quieted down and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I get it, Damned if I do the thing, damned if I don't do the other thing. I can't let down Snowflake, but if I'm not at that meeting, the studio's relationship with GENT could get bruised! This is why I tried this stunt in the first place!"

He sighed as Sammy just continued to tap his foot in annoyance. "Tell you what, help me and I'll give you anything you ask for! A raise, me not pranking you for a month, more paid vacation days, magic-repelling acetone, name it and it's yours!*"

*Within reason. I'm a demon not a miracle worker!

Sammy showed Bendy an intentionally shaky 'Ok' sign, the closest thing he could think of to a picture version of a hesitant and unwilling 'fine, I'll do it...'

"Oh Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" Bendy practically crushed his doppelganger in a spine-breaking hug. "I really owe you this one Sammy!"

'I hope you realize how goddamned lucky you are that I like that kid.' Sammy thought to himself as he patted his double on the back. 'Otherwise I'd hang you out to dry for doing this...'

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

The music director had no interest in deceiving Snowflake; even if he wanted to follow Bendy's plan to the spirit of his deal, he knew too well that the studio and it's ink would always drag any secret up to the surface. So it would just be easier to come clean at the start before lies had the chance to spiral into something that could completely break the poor kid.

"Hi Mr. Bendy! Are you ready for our lesson?"

Sammy nodded, but gestured for his pupil to wait a second before he flipped through the pages of his sketchbook and showed him a series of pictures: some showing the origin of his new condition, and the others showing his deal with Bendy.

"Oh." The child imp seemed sad, and slightly disappointed, but also not surprised. "So Bendy couldn't make it today either..."

The older imp sympathetically patted Snowflake on the back and tried his best to draw out an explanation, but it's kind of hard to put 'He really did want to make it, in fact, he wanted to so much that he was willing to split himself in half for it! But as you can see, it kinda backfired...' into picture format, luckily he got the message across fairly well.

"I-it's okay, I understand. Thanks for filling in for him Mr. Lawrence!"

Snowflake pulled out his own notebook and pencils.

"Do you think you can show me how to do hands that well?"

Sammy eagerly nodded and flipped his book to a blank page.

[rp-meme-central]

Bone - Vol. 4: The Dragonslayer - sentence starters

1. “This is my bar and I’ll sell beer to whoever I want! You got a problem with that, _____?” 

2. “We have to stay off the road! We can’t take any chances on being seen.” 

3. “Just a little farther, ____. On a clear night like this, we should be able to see the whole _____.” 

4. “This dragonslayer thing is great for business!” 

5. “You almost started a riot the first night! You think riling up a mob is worth it just to win a lousy bet?!” 

6. “Forget the bet - we can’t quit now! Look at all this stuff! We’re getting rich! Don’t forget half this loot is yours!” 

7. “I don’t want it. It ain’t honest.” 

8. “Are you all right? Are you sure you can travel in this condition?” 

9. “What good is this gitchy feeling if it warns you about danger, but it makes you too dizzy to defend yourself?” 

10. “That’s interesting... The monsters don’t like you touching my weapon.” 

11. “It’s over, _____. We won’t see any more ______ for a long while.” 

12. “Listen to me, _____. I’m going to tell you the real reason we hid you when you were a child.” 

13. “Please don’t die, ______! We don’t want _____ to know we killed you!” 

14. “Let’s run away and hide forever!” 

15. “You were hidden as a child not because you’re a _____, but because you’re _____! And you have a terrible path before you.” 

16. “You were right! Our dreams weren’t coincidence! Man! I’d like to get my hands on the person who was messing with us like that!”

17. “_____ wouldn’t put me in danger! _____’s my friend!” 

18. “I’m not going anywhere with you. You’re crazy!” 

19. “Listen to you? Why? Everything you ever told me was a lie!” 

20. “Just stay away from me! I’m better off by myself!” 

21. “Here, have a sword.” 

22. “Why’s everybody calling you ‘boss’?” 

23. “The townspeople love us, _____! They can’t give us stuff fast enough!” 

24. “Don’t you have the slightest qualms about profiting off of other people’s fears and paranoia?” 

25. “No, I’m serious! I’m staying here. There’s too much unfinished business.” 

26. “When are you going to get a clue? You don’t have a chance with ______!” 

27. “That’s what you always do, isn’t it? Take care of yourself first! You’ll never change!” 

28. “_____’s up to something - and when it backfires, he’s going to expect me to get him off the hook - again!” 

29. “Were you having one of those weird dreams? ‘Cause, man, it was really hard to wake you up!” 

30. “GET THAT THING OUT OF HERE! THOSE THINGS KILLED ______! HOW COULD YOU BRING ONE INTO MY ROOM?!”

31. “Get it out of here now - or I’ll kill it!” 

32. “I’m doing this out of concern, that’s all. The world is a very dangerous place, and we want to keep it at a distance!” 

33. “You’re not fooling anyone, _____! You planned this whole _____ thing just to put yourself in charge!” 

34. “The dreams are getting worse.” 

35. “What’s happening, _____? Why is everything changing?! Why can’t we go back to the way it was before?” 

36. “I’m sorry, but I’ve made up my mind. I’m going back.” 

37. “Situation normal, _____! Spiraling out of control!” 

38. “You’re a thief and a crook, _____, and one day it’s going to catch up with you!” 

39. “No! No! I want to go home. Please stop! I don’t want to look anymore.” 

40. “We’re here! What’s the matter, _____? You’re not going to lose your nerve now, are you?” 

41. “Suckers! By the time the sun comes up, I’ll have this treasure halfway to _____!” 

42. “What’s wrong with you?! That trap was in plain sight! Didn’t you see it?!” 

43. “Hey! Hey! This isn’t a joke! Those ______ over there are serious! They’re going to want a real sacrifice!” 

44. “I won’t fight you, but I will not let you harm _____!” 

[queenbeelopez]

Chat Para → Change Of HeartII Sanlynn

Tagging → Santana Lopez and Dylan Young featuring Lexie. 

Mentioning: Mercedes Jones, Charice Young, and Chris Murray

Time Frame → December 16  around 10:30 a.m … 

Location → At Santana’s Bar in New York 

General Notes →Dylan goes to invite Santana to the going away party. Only to hear what’s really been going on with Santana.

Dylan: was sitting in his car thinking if he should go through with inviting Santana to the party or not. He knows that if Santana does come to the party, there is a big chance that Charice will go off on not only Santana but him as well. And let's be honest as much as Dylan loves his wife, he is scared to death of her when she gets mad. But at the same time he knows how much his wife truly misses Santana. Sure Santana gets on his nerves but he knows how much Santana means to Charice and he also knows how much Charice means to Santana. Which is the biggest reason why Dylan wants to help. He sighed softly, as he decided to get out of the car. “God please be on my side with this one.” he silently prayed, while walking into the bar. He walked over to the bar where the bartender was cleaning up the glasses. “Hey.. um Can you point me in the direction to where Santana is.” he asked with a smile. The Girl smiled softly at him. “Yeah her office is down the hall. Be Careful the boss is kind of on edge.” she warned. Dylan smiled as he thanked her. “When is she not on edge” he mumbled to him, while walking down the hallway. He noticed that her door was crack, realizing that she was talking to a very upset Lexie. “What the hell is going on” he whispered to him, kneeling down to listen in.

Santana: was sitting at her desk, talking things over with Lexie, who was just now finding out about Santana’s condition. She felt bad from keeping it from her, but she didn’t want to risk Mercedes finding out, not before she was ready to tell her. But unfortunately, Lexie walked in while Santana was on the phone with her doctor about what the next steps were gonna be in trying to make sure Santana doesn’t lose her vocals.  So Santana didn’t have a choice but to tell Lexie literally everything, making her promise not to tell Mercedes. But little did she know Dylan was on the other side of the door, listening to everything. Santana sighed, seeing Lexie tears running down her face. “Lex.. please.. Don’t cry… I have done enough of that for the both of us.” she said sadly.

Lexie sniffled “Does anyone else know?” she whispered.

Santana: nodded “James knows… Chris knows… “

Lexie sighed “So wait.. you told Chris... But nobody else? not even Britt?”

Santana: shook her head. “Chris.. knows me Lexie.. He can basically read me like a book..” she chuckled sadly. “He knew something was off and.. I-I can’t keep things from him... I mean I know I can.. But I didn’t want too.. I wanted to let him know what was going with me.. Not only because he is Tony’s father..  But because, we have gotten so close that.. “ she smiled softly as she trailed off. Thinking about how close she and Chris had become. He has really been her rock and she was so grateful for him.

Lexie: squinted her eyes at her friend “San... Please tell me you’re not falling for Chris again?”

Santana: rolled her eyes. “Lexie.. focus please.. Chris is just a friend.. he is happy with Brittany..and I’m okay with that..” 

Lexie: took a deep breath, letting it out slowly, going back to the topic at hand “So if you don’t do this surgery… you could lose your ability to sing?”

Santana: nodded. “Yeah.. but if I get the surgery. I have a chance.. But if the surgery backfires.. I might not be able to sing ever again..” she said trying to hold back her tears. “I have been going so crazy these past months… that I have been lashing out at all the wrong people… I got lucky with not losing you or Mercedes… But..” she said looking at the picture of Charice, herself, and their kids together. “Charice wasn’t that forgiving.. Not that I blame her..”

Lexie:shook her head. “San.. I know that Charice is hurt.. But she loves you! SO much! If you would just explain.. W-

“NO!” Santana snapped. Her face quickly soften, feeling guilty for attacking Lexie. “I’m sorry Lex… It’s just.. I don’t want to use this as a reason to get out of another mess that I made! I said some hurtful things.. I won’t use this to get out of the drama that I caused…” she smiled sadly. “It's gonna be okay Lex… Please don’t cry…” she said as she got up to sit next to her friend. “I’m gonna be okay.. No matter what I decide.. I’m gonna be okay.. So please stop worrying about me.. And focus on YOU for once…” she said gently grabbing her friends hands..

Lexie smiled softly nodding her head. “ I just know how much you love singing.. And..” she sighed, “I’m sorry.. I’m doing it again.. Just tell me what you want me to do.”

Santana: chuckled.. “Just continue to make my best friend happy!” she shrugged, smiling at the thought of Mercedes. “She has been through so much… I love seeing her smile everytime I see her now”

Lexie: giggled “I really am falling for her San… She is the best thing that has ever happened to me..” she said honestly, but quickly frowned. “You know it's gonna be hard to keep this from her.. I-I hate keeping secret San.. and this is a pretty big thing.” she pointed out. “I’m sure Sam and the rest them know something is off with you.” 

Santana: sighed. “I know I’m asking a lot from you… But I-I’m not ready to tell them just yet..” she said scoffing when Lexie mentioned Sam. “Listen Sam has better things to worry about.. like lasting longer then 2 second.” she said earning a confusing look from Lexie. She chuckled lightly, shaking her head “Ignore that..” she whispered softly, taking a deep breath. “Listen, I promise. You won’t have to keep it from her for long. I’m gonna tell everyone…soon.”

Lexie: wasn’t gonna lie, she hated that she had to keep this big secret from Mercedes. But at the same time she understood that Santana needed more time before she told everyone about what was going on with her.  “San… You have been keeping this from them for almost a year… I know Mercedes.. She's gonna be hurt.. And so will Brittany.. And everyone else..” she sighed, seeing the pleading look in Santana’s eyes. She knew that Santana wouldn't beg her to keep her this secret if it wasn’t such a big deal to her. She took a deep breath “I love you so much Santana..” she said hugging her friend. “I’m always gonna be here for you.” she said softly, kissing Santana’s cheek, silently praying that Mercedes wouldn’t be so upset with her once everything got out.

Santana: smiled softly, returning the hug. “I would be so lost without you.” 

Lexie: giggled. “Yes you would! But it’s alway good to hear you admit it. “

Santana: gently broke the hug, rolling her eyes. “Such a brat!” she said playfully hitting Lexie. “Now go pick up my son.. Please… I still have some stuff to do before I get home.”

Lexie: laughed. “Yes ma’am!” she said getting up from her spot. “Oh! I’m gonna take him to go see Cedes..”

Santana: couldn’t stop smiling when Lexie mentioned taking Antonio to go see Mercedes. It seemed over the past few months Antonio has gotten really close to Mercedes and it made her happy to see that her son was getting attached to her best friend.  “Okay that’s fine.. He has been begging me to go see her.. “ she said getting up from her spot to go back to her desk. She looked at the door, seeing Dylan’s reflection in the mirror that was placed across from him. She got up from her spot silently asking Lexie to be quiet, as she went to the door, pushing it hard, earning a loud “ow” from the man behind the door. She pushed all the way, glaring at Dylan who was now holding his head. “Oh my god.. Dylan I totally didn’t see you there.” she said sarcastically.

Dylan: chuckled nervously “It’s okay.. I ran into the door as you opened it” he hissed, as he continued to hold his head.

Santana: rolled her eyes, shaking her head “You know, didn't anyone ever tell you that you are a bad liar!” she scoffed. She was trying so hard to ignore the fact that Dylan pretty much heard every single thing she and Lexie had talked about.  “How long have you been behind this door spying?” she asked.

Dylan: sighed “Long enough…” he said eyes locking with Lexie who was already starting to worry about everything getting out. “Don’t worry I won’t say anything..” he promised, earning a sigh of relief from Lexie.

Lexie: grabbed her things, giving Santana a side hug. “I’ll see you in a few hours.” she said, walking toward the door. “Hi Dylan.. Always a pleasure.” she smiled softly, leaving Dylan and Santana alone.

Santana: crossed her arms, leaning against the door frame. “Dylan. I know you didn’t come here to ease drop. So what do you want?…” she said walking past him to go sit in one of the booths at the bar, asking the bartender to get some ice and a rag for her.

Dylan: knew for a fight that Santana didn’t want to talk about what he had overheard, and if he was honest he wished he didn’t over hear it either. This was something that had to keep from Charice and he honestly thinks he should go ahead and tell her. But at the same time he was high key scared of Santana and the last thing he wanted to do is not only deal with Charice being pissed off at him for even coming to talk Santana AND having to deal  Santana rage after exposing her secret. He followed Santana, seeing that she had so much on her mind. And honestly he felt really bad about what she was dealing with, it helped him understand why Santana basically ruined her friendship with Charice of all people. “I- I mean Charice and I wanted to invite you to our going away party..” he said as he pulled out the invitation, placing it on the table as he sat down across from her.

Santana: take the rag and ice from the bartender, putting the ice in the rag and wrapping it. She was about to give it to him, but stopped, feeling her stomach turn into knots.“Wait.. you guys going away?” she asked sadly, finally heading him the ice.

Dylan: sighed, placing the ice on his head, hissing a little as he felt the coldness hit his knot “y-yeah.. We just want to start fresh… and go back to Paris...The kids love it there and honestly it's just best if we move back.” he said softly. He didn’t know why but he hated to see Santana sad. Usually he would love to stab her with this kind of news. But after hearing what Santana was going through, and seeing that she was really sad. It did something to him.

Santana: felt her tears form but quickly held them “of course.. I’m sure it was your idea..” she snapped,“I just hope you don’t cheat on her again!” she glared at him.

Dylan: rolled his eyes, trying his best not to get offended. He knew she was just being protective. But of course that didn’t stop him from saying something hurtful back. “Aren’t you the last person to judge me considering you hurt Charice the most!” he snapped back. “I’m sorry.. Listen.. We both came to agreement that we want to start over and we want to go back to the place that was once our home… The kids all agreed on it..” he shrugged, moving the rag in the other hand, placing it back on to his sore head.

Santana: looked at him for a minute getting ready to go off on him, considering everything that he has done. But she knew he was right, and to be honest with everything going on with her. She really didn’t want to argue. “Touche” she sighed. “But since you think I hurt her so bad.. Why the hell are you lying to me telling me that Charice wants to invite me to this party.” she asked, squinting her eyes at him as his guilt was all over his face. “Oh my god.” she giggled. “Why Mr.Young.. Are you lying to your wife already?” she smirked. “Charice has no idea that you are here? Does she?” She taunted. “Maybe I should call her.. You know just to let her know where hubby is.” she went to get up to go get her phone, only for Dylan to quickly get up and block her.

Dylan sighed “Okay fine! She doesn’t know that I’m here.. She thinks I’m out looking for a DJ for the party.” he confessed, sitting back down in his seat as soon as she did.

Santana: scoffed “I don’t get it Dylan.. You tried for years to prove to Charice was such a “Bad friend” she said using quotation sighs “And now that I proved your point and you’re finally getting what you want. Which is me out of the picture. Why do you want me at this party? You know she is gonna be pissed.. Not only at me for coming… But at you for inviting me.”

Dylan: leaned back against his seat, thinking about her question. She was right, he really did try to get Charice and Santana not to be friends anymore. Just because he felt Santana wasn’t a good friend, just from her past mistakes. But as he sat there, he thought about how Santana was there for Charice even when he couldn’t be, and how much all the kids loved her. Especially the twins. He knew that their little circle wouldn’t have been friends with Santana if she wasn’t a good friend. Sure she makes a lot of mistakes and say things that she should keep to herself. But everyone loved her because she was protective above all else and if they needed her she always tried to be there for them. He just wished that Santana would tell Charice what was going on with her. Because then Charice would understand that her best friend was just hurting “I-I guess because I was wrong about you…” he mumbled.

Santana: looked at him in shock, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear, leaning in closer. “I’m sorry.. I couldn’t hear you?” she said

Dylan: rolled his eyes “I. was wrong about you..” he said a little louder.

Santana: smirked as he repeated it again. “A little louder for the people in the back?”

Dylan: groaned loudly “I WAS WRONG ABOUT YOU!” he whined, hearing people Santana’s employees laughing as they fixed up the bar for the night.He put the rag on the table.

Santana: giggled softly “Wowwww! Hell has frozen over! Mr. Dylan uptight Young. Finally praising me.” she said letting out another chuckle. She sighed softly, “Dylan… It's good to hear that you think I’m great.. But um.. Charice doesn’t think so anymore.. So it’s best if I skip out on this party. For my sake and for you and your penis’ sakes.” she shrugged.

Dylan: knew that getting Santana to the party wasn’t going to be easy. But he was going to keep pushing. “Santana.. As you probably already know.. I know about your vocal cord proble-”

Santana gasped. “Nahhhh really?! I thought you were examining the marble floors.” she said dramatically.

Dylan: rolled his eyes at Santana sarcasm.  “Santana.. Look you don’t have to tell me what’s going on.. But.. maybe if you just tell Charice what is going on she will understand why you were on edge.” he pointed out.

Santana: chuckled sadly. “No.. I’m not gonna make an excuse for what I said to her.. I was a bitch Dylan.. The things I said.. Wasn’t right. No matter what I was going through. I should have been there for her. Support her just like she has always been there for..”. Santana tried really hard to keep her tears at bay, but the more she thought about that day. The more her tears spilled out, running down her cheeks. She came into that bridal shop looking for a fight just because she was angry with the way her luck has been running. “I’m tired Dylan” she whispered.. “I’m tired of trying so hard to be a good person… and a good mother.. Only to be hit with these giant dodgeballs that keeps hitting me…”she sniffled, wiping away her tears, taking a deep breath. “Everything that Charice said to me.. Was right.. I’m selfish.. All I think about is myself.. No wonder bad things keep happening to me.. I don’t blame her for not wanting me at her party. “ she shrugged.. “I-I accept that she doesn’t want me to be a part of her life anymore.. And I think you should too. Just be happy with her.. Don’t take her for granted... “ she said, seeing the defeated look on Dylan’s face. “Come on Young.. Don’t get all sad on me…You should be happy.. I mean no matter what good thing you said about me just now. There is some part of you that still doesn’t like me..” she stated, pushing the invitation back toward him. “ Just do me a favor and Tell her you bumped into me…. And I said that I love her.. And I always will.. If she ever needs me.. I will be on the next plane to Paris.” she said getting out of her seat. “Bye Dylan..” she smiled sadly, getting ready to leave.

Dylan: was hoping that Santana would see his point and would quickly accept that invasion to the party just so she could fix her friendship with Charice before they left. But here Santana was, giving up and that wasn’t like her and even though he wasn’t her biggest fan, he wanted her to at least try. He was getting ready to push her once again, but stopped when he noticed that she was crying. He starts to see the hell Santana has been through since finding out about her chance of not singing again. And he honestly felt really bad for her. He knew how much she loved singing and even thought she was amazing. He just hated that she was taking all of this on her own and not telling her friends. He felt guilty when Santana talked about how he never liked her. And knew that he never really tried to get to know Santana and only judged her because of her past.“Santana..”m sorry that I never really gave you a chance.. All I ever did was judge you.. And that wasn’t right on my part.” he admitted “ I used to think you were this god awful person.. But I know you are a good friend.” he admitted once again. “ Santana.. You HAVE to lean on your friends! They are your family!” he smiled sadly. “Charice fights so hard for you… She may not say it all the time. But she loves you Santana.. You are her best friend. That’s why she is so hurt right now…” he pointed out, “I-I know how much you love my wife Santana.. Sure you and I will probably never be friends.. But I want my wife to be happy.. And right now she isn’t happy because she doesn’t have you by her side. This move is harder on her then she likes to admit. Because.. In her mind she is never gonna have you in her life again..” he said sadly. “ That’s why I want you to TRY to talk to Charice.. You two have been through so much hell together.. You're the godmother of Wyatt… Charice is the god mother of Tony.. You guys are forever linked.. Whether you want to believe that or not. “ he pointed out with a sigh as he watched her push the card back toward him.  

Santana: stopped in her spot as Dylan continued to speak. She closed her eyes as tears ran down her face, thinking about everything that she and Charice had ever gone through together. And she knew Dylan was right, whether they liked it or not, their bond was forever. But at the same time she didn’t want to force Charice to forgive. Maybe in a few months or years Charice would want to work things out. But right now wasn’t the time. Or at least Santana thought.

She quickly whipped her tears once again, taking a deep breath “Tell Troubles.. that no matter what.. I love her.. And if she ever needs me.. I’m on the next flight to Paris… no questions asked, not looking at him. “Please..” she whispered. 

Dylan: stood up from his own spot, walking toward her. “You tell her that yourself when you come to the party” he said softly wiping away her tears, giving her a small smile as attempted to walk away.

Santana: sniffled trying her best not to smile at him,  watching him leave “ohhh and Dylan.. If I found out that you hurt my sister.. I will come to Paris and cut your little dick off and shove it down your throat.” she threatened, giving him a look.

Dylan: stopped in his tracks, turning back around to walk toward her “You don’t have to worry about me hurting her. I got another chance with her.. I’m not gonna do anything to lose her again.” he promised, leaning over to kiss her cheek. “See You at the party.” he smiled, rubbing her back before taking his leave.

Santana:watched Dylan leave, thinking about if she really go to the party. A big part of her was thinking she should at least try to say goodbye to her best friend before she leaves. She knows if she didn’t she would regret it. She sighed softly, turning around to see the invitation on the table as Dylan’s words were swimming around her head. “Damn him”she mumbled, sitting back down in the booth. Santana played with the invitation, running her hand over the frabic. “God.. I have no idea what the hell I’m gonna do..” she whispered.

[missjosie27]

Year 3 Part 9- Duel with Barnaby

Hey guys!

I enjoyed writing this one immensely because I feel like JC has butchered or reduced Barnaby down to an intelligence even lower than that of Patrick Star or Forest Gump. I feel there's a lot more depth to him even if he's not the brightest bulb on the porch. And though I give a lot of attention to Merula, he deserves a greater amount of coverage and nuance as well

So for those of you who like Barnaby, this one's for you. Enjoy!

How to approach a potentially hostile Slytherin: that was the ultimate question.

For David it presented a unique challenge, one untested until this very moment. For as long as he had attended Hogwarts, Slytherin House was an enemy, an antithesis to everything he believed in and a hindrance to finding the vaults along with his brother. Merula was the primary source for that picture, but it wasn’t only her. As Bill and Hagrid pointed out, many children of Death Eaters still attended the school, the overwhelming majority of them in Slytherin. And the ones that weren’t tended to be odd, reclusive, self obsessed, or alarmingly ambitious. It wasn’t a coincidence.

And yet in order to win over Barnaby to their side, he needed to drop these prejudices, at least for the moment. He still wasn’t sure this was a good idea but Tulip’s ideas, though often eccentric, tended to see things that others often overlooked. He would trust that instinct for now. The real problem was how to approach him.

Despite the huge Slytherin being seemingly more approachable, David was still quite hesitant. After all, they had opposed each other at least twice already and in both instances Barnaby was left either smelling like foul eggs or on the ground covered in snow. One wrong word might backfire immensely. He opted to try and talk to him in a more private setting but that proved to be impossible, as he was almost always with Merula and Ismelda during and after potions neither of which he had a desire to speak with at the moment.

So he tried a new approach, one more befitting of a Gryffindor but with a reasonable amount of tact. During lunch on a Wednesday, quiet by Hogwarts standards, he took the opportunity to walk over to the Slytherin table (with great caution) when Barnaby was alone and not flanked by the two girls. He was well aware of the dirty looks he received from the older students and some looked ready to curse him into oblivion, but he knew they wouldn’t, not with teachers everywhere. Most seemed content to ignore him.

“Barnaby?”

The teen looked up from his massive pile of roast beef and potatoes and gazed upon David with intense curiosity.

“Wat oo yu ooing er?”

“You might want to try swallowing.”

Barnaby did so and repeated the question though it was not hostile.

“What are you doing here?”

“I wanted to talk.”

“Talk about what?”

At this point, some of the Slytherins were looking over and had their wands withdrawn but a silent hand from Barnaby eased that tension.

“About what’s been going on lately. And the vaults.”

Barnaby narrowed his eyes ever so slightly.

“You know I stunk for weeks after that dungbomb. I’ve never taken so many baths in my life.”

“I’m sor-”

“And I mean three times a day. I didn’t know it was possible to bathe that many times. My mom said just once is usually enough.”

David paused at the childlike reasoning of the giant teen in front of him.

“Err...right. Sorry about that.”

Barnaby shrugged as though it had never happened.

“Tulip promised me a box of Peppermint Toads if I talked to you. What do you want?”

Good old, Tulip. She bribed the moron beforehand

“Do you like working for Merula?” he asked him directly.

Barnaby blinked stupidly at the question.

“I don’t work for her. We’re partners.” The statement sounded more like a question, doubt evident in his deep voice.

“Sure that’s why she considers you lesser than a bowl of tripe. But has she ever let you make a decision? Does she ever share her plans with you? Has she ever thanked you for anything?”

Barnaby thought for a second.

“No...no...and I forgot the last thing you said was.”

Resisting the urge to sigh, David continued on with his case.

“You should work with us, Barnaby. Not Merula. And notice how I said ‘with’ not ‘for’. I don’t treat my friends like objects to be cast aside.”

The Slytherin seemed to be taken aback.

“Why do you think I can help?”

“For many reasons, but above everything else you’re powerful and can duel better than most sixth years. I know firsthand how difficult it is to break into a cursed vault. We could use that kind of strength.”

It was quite clear from Barnaby’s reaction that no one had ever bothered to pay him that kind of compliment before or even if they had, it was few and far in between. He took his large fingers, which were covered in silver rings, and began rubbing his chin.

“Uh..you alright?”

“I’m thinking about your words.”

David made a final appeal to get the message across.

“I’m not going to boss you around or call you names like Merula does. I just want your help to find my brother. That’s all.”

Suddenly, a wide smile stretched across Barnaby’s face.

“I like you, Grant.”

“You do?” David asked, surprised it could possibly be this easy.

“Yeah! We should fight.”

Of course it wouldn’t be that easy

“What?” he said in a nonplussed tone.

“I need to prove I’m tough enough to help you and you need to prove you're tough enough to be my new partner,” Barnaby reasoned.

“But I’ve technically already beaten you.”

“That was three on one,” the burly teen shaking his head. “It doesn’t count. Group fighting isn’t the same as one on one.”

He finished eating the last of his lunch, stood up, and clapped a giant hand on David’s shoulder.

“Meet me on the training grounds this Friday after lessons. If you can beat me, I’ll ditch Merula and help you enter the next vault.”

“Why not just do it now?” David asked genuinely.

“Wouldn’t be fair that way,” Barnaby told him. “We both need time to get ready. See you on Friday!”

The third year Gryffindor could only watch as the Slytherin grabbed his bag and began to whistle cheerfully as he exited the Great Hall. It was only when a piece of bread was chucked at him along with an expletive he realized he needed to remove himself from Slytherin territory.

What he didn’t realize was what he had gotten himself into.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

When Rowan and Ben found out what he agreed to with Barnaby, both cautioned against it.

“Dave, no offense, you’re a good dueler, but Barnaby is the best in our year for a reason. It’s not a good idea to go up against him.”

“What if he seriously hurts you or something?” the blond asked nervously.

“Mates, I’ve explained this already. Barnaby isn’t trying to harm me he’s trying to test me. If I beat him one on one he’ll join us and stop hanging around Merula. We’ve got nothing to lose.”

David was looking over his last bit of notes in the Gryffindor common room before meeting Barnaby for their duel. The weather was surprisingly sunny, and the conditions ideal as you would find in late winter.

“But if wins you’ll just end up in the Hospital Wing and we go right back to where we started from,” Rowan pointed out. “And what then? I haven’t finished deciphering the notebook yet.”

“And Merula will just come after you even more,” Ben added.

David put on his jacket and hat while pocketing his wand. Classes were done and he was ready. Barnaby might be twice as large and physically stronger but he couldn’t back down now.

“You guys worry too much,” he told them with a somewhat cocky smile. “If I can handle three Slytherins at a time, then I’m going to be more than fine against one.”

“Just be careful,” his best friend told him. “We don’t know if we can trust Barnaby yet. Keep your guard up.”

David smiled knowing full well Rowan was just looking out for his well being and he appreciated the gesture.

“I will. Now wish me luck and watch me as I win this duel.”

As he exited and pushed past the portrait of the fat lady, Ben couldn’t help but sigh with jealousy.

“He asked for luck but still has full confidence that he’s going to win the duel. I wish I carried myself like that.”

“Don’t envy everything about Dave,” Rowan said wisely as he read his Magical History book. “He’s more complicated than lets on.”

“But...he’s the most competent person I know save for the teachers. He’s taught me so many things.”

“I’m his best friend, Ben. But even I don’t know all that he’s been through.”

The blond appeared puzzled.

“What are you saying? As far as I’m concerned, he’s a hero.”

Rowan shut his book with a soft thud.

“Even heroes have demons.”

Neither boy spoke much after that but each seemed to consider that the leader of their group had a cocky streak that hid something much deeper.

Even if he would never admit doing so.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Sure enough, Barnaby was there waiting for him upon his arrival. By now the snow on the ground had begun to melt a little and the grass below them was little more than a muddle cesspool. But neither minded so much as the milder weather provided the perfect chance to duel without the howling wind or hail. David greeted him in a friendly manner to start things off on the right foot.

“You showed up,” the Slytherin said simply.

“Well yeah, it’s a duel after all.”

This seemed to cater to Barnaby’s simple way of looking at things as he smiled once more.

“I like you, Grant. You keep being nice. If you beat me in a duel, I know you’re tough for real.”

“And then you’ll stop working with Merula and help us find the next Cursed Vault?”

“I’ll have to think about it.”

David paused for a second, confused, though he tried to be as patient as he could be. After all, Barnaby probably didn’t remember what he had for breakfast.

“It was your idea, Barnaby…”

“Oh, right. I’ll do my idea then.”

David by now knew enough about the gargantuan teen to be aware that he was not taking the mickey and also the sincerity of his personality. Certainly a different kind of opponent than he had taken on in the past.

They took positions about thirty feet from each other and each withdrew their wands.

“I’ll warn you, David. I’ve never lost a duel,” Barnaby said with a confident grin.

The Gryffindor could only grin back.

“That’s funny, neither have I.”

Without warning, however, Barnaby struck first sending a disarming spell his way, which he managed to avoid. But unlike his other opponents, Barnaby didn’t rest on his laurels. Spell after spell and ‘Expelliarmus’ after ‘Expelliarmus’, the barrage was relentless and it was so quick David barely had time to recover and send anything back.

After the six stunner, he managed to fire off a Knockback jinx but it only threw back the Slytherin back a few yards and he stayed on his feet.

“Son of a…”

He never had time to finish the swear as Barnaby sent a slew of ropes towards him which missed but then caught him with a blasting curse, the impact of which sent him sprawling on the ground.

Not giving up, he leapt back up and fired back.

‘Depulso!’

The spell sailed over Barnaby’s right shoulder and he responded in kind.

‘Convulsio!’

The spell hit his left leg and it began spazzing as though he had a charlie horse. The sensation was incredibly uncomfortable but David gritted his teeth and managed to dodge another one of Barnaby’s spells, ‘Restricta!’

Ignoring the pain, he tried to use a time old tactic: distraction.

‘Fumo!’

Smoke temporarily blocked Barnaby’s view but with a wave of his wand, he cast it aside and sent another stunner before David could follow up a blasting hex.

Okay, this isn’t working

The burly Slytherin hadn’t been lying: he was good and it was also easy to see why he never lost a duel. His spellwork was precise and accurate, but also fast and nearly impossible to sidestep. The incantations combined with flicks of the wrist and a strong stance made Barnaby the toughest opponent he yet faced.

As he was forced to dodge yet another spell, this one blue in color, he flicked his wand forward and managed to hit Barnaby in the stomach with a tickling spell in order to buy time. To his shock, however, the effect did little other than to cause him to clutch his stomach.

“Those kinds of spells won’t work on me,” he called out. “I just so happen to be immune to tickling.”

It was the first thing Barnaby said all the while they were dueling, a refreshing change of pace from Merula, but the irrefutable fact remained. The Slytherin’s relentless battering ram style was unlike anything he faced before and only raw brute strength would take him down, strength that was failing him.

David was forced to bend down onto one knee when Barnaby yelled out ‘Stupefy’ in order to stun him. Clearly he was intent on ending this soon as his left leg had already given out.

No, not yet

Taking aim, the teenage Gryffindor did the only thing he felt was available to him. He knew the incantation and though he never attempted it personally, felt there was nothing left to lose. Either he would succeed or Barnaby would win the duel.

‘Stupefy!’

A powerful blast of red light shot forward and caught Barnaby square in the chest, uplifting him off his feet and onto the ground in a massive heap.

Breathing heavily, David limped over to Barnaby with the last he could give on his bad leg and offered his hand to the utterly dazed and confused opponent.

“Wha…”

“Come on, big guy.”

Once returned to his senses the Slytherin pushed himself back onto his feet and almost took David with him, who could barely stand as it was, causing him to grunt with pain.

“Oh, I’m sorry, David.”

Barnaby cast the counter curse and instantly his leg went back to normal.

“Thanks.”

“Blimey, I thought you had to be mean to hurt someone that badly,” the Slytherin spoke aloud rubbing his shoulder.

“Are you alright?”

“Are you kidding? This is nothing. A few of us Slytherins start every day by doing what we just did. They say it gets you in the right mindset.”

“Mindset for what?” David asked, very curious as to what kind of culture he was dealing with.

“To toughen up and be the best,” came the simple reply.

He elected not to press the issue and instead emphasize his victory respectfully in hopes that Barnaby would finally acquiesce and willingly join his team.

“Well there’s no doubt you’re tough, Barnaby. Will you help me with the cursed vault?”

Barnaby smiled, although he was still in some pain from the duel. They both were.

“You’ve proven you’re strong enough to beat me. You have a deal, David. But on one condition.”

Oh Merlin

“And what would that be?”

“We celebrate with a butterbeer,” he said cherrily.

“But there’s no Hogsmeade visit this weekend.”

“I can never remember when those happen,” Barnaby said, scratching his head. “But luckily, I always keep some on hand.”

He summoned two canteens from his back pocket and handed one to David, which he took with a degree of surprise.

“Cheers!” the Barnaby said, clinking his canteen against his and taking a large sip. “Let’s take a walk around the grounds.”

David obliged and together, the two began to traverse around the perimeter of the school, taking in the light breeze and bright blue sky which was beginning to turn into a reddish, gold. The young teen didn’t know what to expect but he indulged Barnaby all the same, who appeared quite content.

“I love a good butterbeer after a duel. They say it heals all bruises and broken bones.”

“Who says that?” David asked, raising an eyebrow.

Barnaby shrugged.

“I can’t remember. I’m sure someone said it.”

Resisting the urge to openly chuckle, David again marveled at the simplicity that his newfound acquaintance operated under. It was stupidly charming in a way. Given this fact, there was a question lurking in his mind he felt he had to ask him.

“You say I’m nice, but you’re quite friendly yourself. Too friendly to be hanging out with Merula. How did you two end up being friends?”

Barnaby’s face turned frank and even a bit solemn.

“We have a lot in common. Both of our parents were Death Eaters.”

David had to resist choking on his butterbeer.

“Wait...really?” He knew Merula’s parents were locked up in Azkaban but this was new information to him.

“Why are you so surprised? Everyone knows Slytherins have the most interesting childhoods,” Barnaby stated as though it were obvious.

“Interesting is one way of putting it I suppose.”

“Do you mean being the children of Death Eaters? Because you’re not wrong. There’s a lot of us in Slytherin. We have to stick together because no one else will.”

David never considered this aspect before. There was something very raw but also very poignant about what the burly Slytherin was saying.

“I never thought of it that way, but you might be right.”

“That’s why I believe Harry Potter will be a Slytherin. Someone that powerful as a baby has to be in our house!”

“Who knows,” the Gryffindor said with a half shrug. “He could be incredibly brave too. Sounds more like my house.”

“It’s power that helps protect yourself and people you care about. It’s better to be strong than weak.”

David suddenly realized these weren’t only Barnaby’s words.

“Look I can’t believe I’m saying this, but not every Slytherin has to be obsessed with being powerful. You don’t seem that way. So why focus on it all the time?”

“Because it’s what my dad taught me. His words. ‘It’s better to be strong than weak.’ Anything that can make you more powerful can only help in that.”

He sighed as he put his canteen back inside the pants pocket.

“You probably think my family is mad. I don’t blame you.”

“Far from it,” David reassured him and suddenly they stopped in front of the Whomping Willow, a dangerous tree liable to strike anything that came near it.

“They were Death Eaters. To be a Death Eater, everyone says you have to be mad.”

“I can relate to unstable family members. Try me.”

Barnaby considered this for a second, silver rings glistening in the sunlight one of which was inscribed ‘Vires In Virtute’. Far from being a simpleton, this time the Slytherin was considering how to properly explain things.

“My family’s crest follows the creed of strength. We’ve also been pure blood for centuries. For my dad, it was an opportunity and a duty to remain both. He followed the Dark Lord more willingly than others….I saw him once, actually.”

David almost didn’t register that last remark. It was one thing to read about the darkest wizard in many generations but to see him? He almost did a double take.

“You saw You Know Who?”

“He stopped by once as a little kid. At first I was afraid but my parents told me if I could become as strong as the Dark Lord, I could be anything. Mum was nice, but dad always said I was slow. It was the best way for me to be good at something. So I’ve spent my entire life doing so, even after they were both arrested.”

“When did that happen?”

“Shortly after You Know Who died. Didn’t take long for the Aurors to catch up. They were well known for doing a lot of horrible things.”

Following the duel in the foggy snow, David remembered feeling a pang of sympathy for Barnaby when hearing Merula insulting him. That pang was now a large wave.

“Barnaby, mate. There’s more to life than being strong. And those other kids aren’t the only ones to take after. You should do what makes you happy rather than what pleases other people...including your mum and dad.”

He looked up at the willow alongside Barnaby, studying its bare branches and thick, gnarled trunk.

“I know what it’s like to try and live up to an older family member. I’m trying to find him right now. And that’s what I need your help with.”

“Your friends won’t hate me? Or think I’m mad?”

“No. If anything it’s the opposite,” David said truthfully. Even uninformed people thought Barnaby to be stupid but not crazy or cruel. “Besides, if I can ingratiate Tulip into our group I can with anyone.”

“What does ‘en-gradiate’ mean?”

David again had to stifle a chuckle but it was not a demeaning one. On the contrary, he was beginning to enjoy the way Barnaby’s mind worked.

“It means that I want you to join our little group...as a friend.”

He held out his hand in a final gesture of goodwill, which the burly Slytherin took, cementing their new friendship in a masculine bond.

“Thank you.”

It was settled. Somehow or another, David had convinced Barnaby Lee to switch sides, a huge victory no matter which way you sliced it. It was one step closer to solving the ultimate mystery they had yet to solve.

[femalechibiblogger]

My Top 10 Most Tragic Villains

1. Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader

Anakin Skywalker is one of the most important characters in the Star Wars franchise. In the first movie, Anakin is only mentioned and is described as being a skilled Jedi Knight, a good pilot, and was also a good friend. Even in the prequels and cartoons that came years later, Anakin is shown to be kind, caring, and determined to save those closest to him. However...no one would have expected a great Jedi and friend to become the most infamous villain in the series. Anakin’s darker feelings, such as anger and jealousy, made him vulnerable to the Dark Side of the Force. When he has visions of his pregnant wife, Padme, dying in childbirth, Anakin is determined to do anything that he can to stop his vision from coming true...including betraying his friends, killing children, and helping a Sith Lord conquer the galaxy. However, Padme still dies, and Anakin becomes the Sith Lord: Darth Vader. Anakin had lost everything...his friends, his wife, everyone...and now all he had left was Emperor Palpatine and the Empire. But for many years, Anakin was unaware that his children had survived: His son Luke, and his daughter Leia. In the end, Anakin chooses to save Luke from Palpatine, and dies knowing that his son never gave-up on him. 

Despite Darth Vader having been a villain, he is only a villain because he was deceived and tormented until he lost everything and everyone who loved and cared about him. For many years, Anakin was haunted by his past actions, and lived in great regret of what he had done. But in the end, we see that he still had some good left in him, as Palpatine could never destroy Anakin’s love for his children. 

2. Arthur Fleck/Joker (2019)

Arthur Fleck is the main character of the original DC Comics story in the movie, Joker. Arthur is shown to be a mentally ill man who suffers from uncontrollable laughter due to a brain injury, who lives with his delusional and emotionally disturbed mother. Arthur worked as a clown, but his dream was to become a comedian. However, Arthur had been mocked by many people in Gotham, which caused him to kill three men who were harassing both him and a woman on a train. Arthur’s actions cause an uproar consisting of people who are either poor, unemployed, mentally ill, or all of the above. As the story progresses, Arthur discovers from shocking truths about his life: His mother had lied about him being the illegitimate son of her former boss, billionaire Thomas Wayne... His mother was actually his adoptive mother, and that he allowed her boyfriend to abuse Arthur...abuse that had caused him his head injury which is the reason for his uncontrollable laughing. Tired of being lied to and ridiculed all his life, Arthur kills his mother, dresses up as a clown, and kills people on live television. Not only that, but the protests that Arthur had unintentionally caused resulted in the murder of Thomas and Martha Wayne, whose murders were witnessed by their son Bruce. 

This is one of the few stories that actually features Joker’s backstory. This movie is not based off of any comics, and is therefore an original story. While Joker is one of Batman’s most dangerous villains, this may be one of the greatest portrayals of his former self. Arthur Fleck had suffered his whole life, until he snapped and would become one of the Gotham’s greatest threats.

3. Simon Petrikov/Ice King

The Ice King was the main antagonist of the cartoon, Adventure Time. Throughout the series, Ice King would attempt to kidnap princesses, especially Princess Bubblegum, and would often fight the two main protagonists: Finn and Jake. However, Ice King’s past was unexpectedly revealed in the episode, Holly Jolly Secrets. At first the episode is comedic and shows videos of Ice King’s hilarity...but it all becomes serious and sad near the end. Ice King is revealed to have once been a human named ‘Simon Petrikov’, who specialized in mysterious, supernatural artifacts. Simon had a great career, and was madly in love with his fiance: Betty. But one day, Simon found a mysterious crown buried in ice and snow. When Simon put it on his head, it gave him visions that made him act insane without him even realizing it. This drove Betty away, and Simon began to slowly change physically, emotionally, and mentally. In the end, Simon was driven completely insane and lost all memories of his past. His obsession with princesses is because he used to call Betty his ‘princess’...though he did not remember calling her that. In the series finale, Simon is freed from the crown’s power and is returned to his old self.

While Ice King was introduced as a comedic villain, and was the main antagonist for most of the series...he is still a tragic villain do to him once being a sane man with a good life, but began to lose his mind because of the crown’s magic. At least he was transformed back into his old self, in the end. 

4. Mr. Freeze

Mr. Freeze is one of the most famous and tragic villains in the Batman universe. Mr. Freeze is, of course, a villain who uses the cold in his crimes. But in the past, Mr. Freeze was a scientist named ‘Victor Fries’ who had a loving and caring relationship with his wife: Nora. Victor loved Nora more than anything in the world. But at some point, Nora was diagnosed with a fatal disease with not long to live. Desperate to save her, Victor had Nora cryonectically frozen in order to keep her alive until a cure for her illness was found. Unfortunately, however, the equipment malfunctioned, causing the lab to explode in ice with Victor in it. Victor survived, but the explosion caused his body to only be able to survive in extremely cold weather. Nora had also survived...but her condition was even more serious than before. Victor created a suit to help him live, and began to commit crimes so he could continue keeping his wife alive.

Mr. Freeze’s motive for his crime spree is his wife’s life. He would go to extreme lengths to save her life...even if it meant becoming a bad guy.

5. Zack Foster and Rachel Gardner

While number 5 on the list consists of a duo...Zack and Rachel make one heck of a team. Zack and Rachel are the two main characters in the anime, Angels of Death, in which all of the characters are, in fact, mentally unstable individuals who like to kill people. 

As a child, Zack had lived with his mother until her boyfriend set him on fire for his own enjoyment. While Zack survived this attack, his mother abandoned him at an illegal orphanage, where many other orphans were mistreated and starved by the couple who owned the orphanage. Zack was forced to bury the bodies of the orphans who died there, and was treated as a pet by the couple. One night, Zack watched a slasher film, which gave him the idea to stab the couple to death while they slept. Afterwards, Zack left the orphanage and was soon taken in a blind, homeless man who was the first and only person to ever show him kindness. However, the man was killed by a couple of sociopaths. Zack found out and killed them. For many years...Zack would kill people who were ‘happy’ and lied to him, thus earning him the title of a serial killer. 

Rachel had lived with her parents before the start of the series. Rachel’s father was a cop who had a drinking problem, which resulted in several fights between him and his wife. Both of them blamed each other for Rachel’s lack of emotions, but only stayed together because of Rachel. Rachel’s father saw her as an insane girl, and her mother hated her and would even beat her. One day, Rachel found a stray puppy and wanted to keep it, but her parents wouldn’t listen to her and just kept on fighting with each other. But later on, she went back to where the puppy was and it bit her. This caused Rachel to blackout, but when she came to...she saw that she had killed the dog without even remembering what she had done. She then “fixed” the puppy by sewing it back together, thus “making it her’s”. When Rachel returned home with the puppy that night, her father snapped and stabbed her mother to death. Rachel witnessed it and ran back to her room, with her father chasing after her with the knife. Rachel took out a gun that her mother had hidden from him, and shot her father in self-defense. Rachel then sewed her parents’ bodies together, as her way of “fixing” them and creating her “perfect family”. A week later, the police arrived at the house and saw Rachel with the sewed up puppy and her parents. The police thought that Rachel was a surviving victim who was in shock, and was sent to a mental institution for treatment. 

Zack and Rachel are quite complicated, as they have both protagonist and antagonist qualities. They both kill people and use each other to escape a building full of death traps and killers...but they also care and understand each other, as they have both suffered years of abuse to the point of developing murderous instincts.

6. Dr. Doofenshmirtz

Dr. Doofenshmirtz was basically the main comedic-antagonist of the cartoon, Phineas and Ferb. Doofenshmirtz is the arch nemesis of Perry the Platypus, and is always making some kind of ‘inator’ device to conquer the Tri State Area...though many of his “evil” plans backfire and are not really THAT evil. Though the reason why Doofenshmirtz is an evil genius, is because of his bad childhood. 

Both of his parents neglected him, he always lived in the shadow of his younger brother, his only friend was a balloon, no one ever came to any of his birthdays, he was forced to wear dresses after his brother was born, and he was even disowned at one point and was forced to live with ocelots. So, yeah...it’s no wonder he turned to a life on crime. 

Doofenshmirtz is quite hilarious and not very evil...but his terrible childhood makes you wonder how he hasn’t killed anyone! At least his arch nemesis and teenage daughter care about him. 

7. Denzel Crocker 

Denzel Crocker is one of the main antagonists of the cartoon, Fairly Odd Parents. Crocker is a fourth grade teacher who is obsessed with catching fairies...which makes the people around him see him as crazy. Of course, there is a reason for his obsession with fairies.

When Crocker was a child, his single mother worked two jobs and left him with an abusive babysitter. Because of this, he had fairy godparents...just like Timmy Turner. His life with his fairies was the only time in his life when he was happy. However, after Timmy went back in time and accidentally revealed that Crocker had fairies, his fairies were taken away from him and his memory was erased several times. People even forgot all of the good things that Crocker had done with his fairies, and was now hated by the townspeople. Because his memory was erased more than once, his appearance changed...but he still did not forget the existence of fairies, only forgetting that he himself had fairy godparents as a child.

Crocker’s obsession with proving the existence of fairies has caused him to become a laughing stock, to the point where he was expelled from Harvard, was denied funding for his fairy research, lost his girlfriend, and he never moved out of his childhood home. Crocker is capable of building extraordinary machines and is quite smart, but he wastes his talents on trying to prove the existence of fairies. If only Crocker had never became obsessed with fairies, he may have been able to live a normal and decent life.

8. Wellies

Wellies are the residents of Wellington Wells in the game, We Happy Few. Wellies are known to be decent citizens in Wellington Wells...but their minds and emotional states are from from decent. They kill or throw out anyone who becomes a Downer (a person who either won’t take Joy, or cannot take Joy due to having a bad reaction towards it). But their villainous characteristics are all caused by denial and drug usage. 

In an alternate timeline, England surrendered to Germany during WWII and the citizens of Wellington Wells were forced to send their under 13 children on a train to Germany. The children never returned, even after Germany lost the war, and all of the townspeople were so traumatized by what had happened that they now rely on a drug: Joy. Joy is a pill that makes people forget the past, and put them in a state of constant happiness. The Wellies are addicted to this drug, as they cannot bear to remember what had happened to the children. To make matters worse, their whole civilization is now on the verge of collapse due to many problems caused by them always being on Joy: Broken machinery, plagues caused by pollution, towns beginning to collapse due to poor maintenance, starvation due to lack of food production, and a government who cannot bear to face the reality of their situation and would rather be on Joy than solve the problem. 

Because of their reliance on Joy, Wellies are completely unaware that the town is collapsing, and would rather be in denial than face reality. 

9. Mary

Mary is the hidden antagonist in the game, Ib. At first, Mary appears to be an innocent girl who claims to be trapped in the Fabricated World like the main protagonists, Ib and Garry. However, it is revealed that Mary is actually a girl from a painting who wants to escape the Fabricated World by replacing either Ib or Gary in the real world. 

Depending on the game’s ending, Mary either replaces Ib or Garry in the real world by leaving one of them behind in the Fabricated World, or is defeated by Ib and Garry and remains trapped in the Fabricated World. 

Mary was the last painting made by the artist: Guertena. She saw him as her “father”, because she was created by him, and was devastated by his death. Mary is very lonely in the Fabricated World, and wants so desperately to exist in the real world. Mary would do anything to become real and have a friend and family of her own. Years of loneliness can make a person desperate and insane.  

10. Zombies

Zombies are always the villains in anything zombie-related. They are undead humanoids who eat human flesh, and drive survivors to do questionable things and fight for survival. 

However, there is something that some people seem to forget: Zombies used to be normal, ordinary humans who did not become zombies by choice. They were turned into zombies either because of a mysterious virus, or a nuclear weapon that mutated them into creatures of the undead. 

Zombies do not remember who they once were, and some even end up killing and eating their own loved ones without even realizing it. They have basically been ripped of their humanity and are now walking shells of their former selves.

[kpopseregi]

flowergirl. Chapter 2

(credit gif to owners)

link to chap 1 -- ( flowergirl. Chap.1 )

* flowergirl. Chap. 2

Genre : Soulmate AU

Pairing : Yunho X Reader / Woosan / Seongjoong

Warning : none except light curse words. 

Recommended playlist : Talk To Me- Red Velvet

Words : 1.7k+  

                The morning came. Yunho has never been so energized like that in his whole life. Even if it just for a moment, it’s already been a colorful life for Yunho’s. Just imagine if they were together. Ah, what a heaven. *RINGSS RINGSS* (sorry im bad at imitating those alarm clocks TT) Shit, he was running late, Hongjoong gonna spank his sorry ass. (He likes it tho :p) He wear his usual boyfriend’s look, to impress his soulmate, Nana. Speaking of her, he curious about that Wooyoung guy. Was he her’s boyfriend? Please no. He waited for her long enough. Damn it! Another daydreaming. He gasped after looking at his watch and races to the door.

-

                He arrived at Hongjoong’s place in 10 minutes with hope that he is not going to get killed by that tiny boss. Just his luck, Hongjoong was also running late. “Ayy lover boy, come here, I need you to arrange what Hongjoong has extracted 2 months ago.” Mingi smirked. Yunho was flustered. “What lover? You’re wish.” Too late, San has already informed everybody. As expected, Reporter Choi San doing his duty. Well,this is a big news as Yunho never has a girlfriend despite all his friend has one before encountered their respectful soulmate. ‘Saying about being loyal.’ Mingi shrugged. Heck! Even clumsy Mingi had ten and more before he met Aisha. Ehem.... for some experience. Damn, that tall girl already dominated Mingi’s little princess heart with her boyish charm. Blessed with great figure and athletic abilities, Mingi was so damn grateful. Suddenly...

                *BANG*  As they were about to do some work, Hongjoong slammed the door. Poor those big babies almost has mini heart attack. ‘Well,his expressions doesn’t seem that great’ Mingi and Yunho exchanged looks and thinking the same thing. (plot twist:real soulmate -.-). “Do I looks like someone who would cheat to you?!” That tiny man ask both of them. They just shakes their head. “Right!? How the hell he get that idea that I would cheat with my customers? How the hell did he even become my soulmate? Aren’t soulmate SUPPOSED to trust and understand each other? Why the hell this world has this soulmate thingy? I should just live in somebody’s pocket,” Hongjoong rolled his eyes. Then he slammed his workroom door. Poor doors. 

               “I didn’t even know Hongjoong have soulmate?” Yunho asked Mingi. “Well, how the hell you would know? They broke up just before you came on your first day. That’s why Hongjoong was a bit mean when he interviewed you. But don’t worry, deep down, he is a kind man. Damn, I cringed at that.” Mingi and Yunho laughed. “But... aren’t you supposed to stay with your soulmate through thick and thin?” Mingi just sighed. “It’s the couple decision to break up or to stay. But in returns, your heart is the one suffering. So it’s better to treat your soulmate well.” Yunho smiled. “Nice words, clumsy Mingi.” Mingi grinned.

                                  The bell rings to indicate new customer has come in. Yunho was about to greet the customer but the customer has backhugged him. He blinked. “Umm... who are you?” Yunho’s heart started to race, this time it’s not that ‘crush-looking-at-you’ kind but ‘shit-is-that-a-burglar?’ kind. “It’s me bro!” San yelled excitedly. Yunho sighed. “Bro you scared me!” Yunho whined. San actually was on his morning break to grab some coffee after his morning weather forecast news but decided to hang out at Hongjoong”s shop instead. “How’s my big babie Mingi doing?” Mingi popped his head from the store room. “Doing well Sannie! Aisha surprised me with a private event last night for our 2nd anniversary.” Mingi excitedly share his story with a dreamy face. San nods. “And you Yunho?” Yunho sighs. “Hopefully I can meet her today tho.” He pouts. “Where is that exactly?” Yunho just shrugged his shoulders. “I met her at the alleyway that goes straight to P.S flower shop.” San squints his eyes. “Is that what I think I heard? She has connection with Park Seonghwa then?” San mumbled. “What?” Yunho asks in curiosity. “Nothing! Oh, look at the time! Chief Kim gonna search for me, take care guys!” San headed toward the door. Yunho and Mingi just waves to his back.

-

                “Yah Nana, look at meeeee!” Wooyoung stomped his foot. “Shut the f up Wooyoung. You know I can’t even look at myself.” Wooyoung suddenly looked guilty. Yeosang nudged him. “Why the hell you said that?” “Sorry! I’m not used to it!” Wooyoung whisper-yelled at Yeosang. “You know she was sensitive about it right? Even she’s pretending like it was nothing.” Wooyoung just sadly stares at her. Yes, even if she was not perfect, Wooyoung still likes her. “Wooyoung, I know you’re staring at me.” Wooyoung just looked away. “When did I do that? You’re mistaken, sis.” Nana rolled her eyes. “BRO, YOU LITERALLY DID THAT WHEN YOU FEEL SAD OR GUILTY ABOUT SOMETHING, I KNOW YOU LIKE THE BACK OF MY HANDS.” 

                                 Wooyoung was startled. “How did you know that?” Wooyoung asked. “Let’s say I use my other sense better after I lost my eyes. Call that intuition. And bro, we literally grew up together.” Suddenly, Yeosang starts to speak, “If you didn’t butt in someone’s business, you probably can still see us you know.” Wooyoung kicked Yeosang’s legs. “Yeosang-ah, don’t be mean!” “What, I speak the facts only.” Yeosang shrugs. Nana bit her lips. “If you didn’t like befriend with someone who likes to butt in someone’s shit, then don’t.”  She left the table. “Sorry Yeo, but you’re being a dick. Wait Nana!” Wooyoung chases after Nana. “I don’t like to befriend with a stupid whose slow with his love life either.” Yeosang sips his tea.

-

                    Nana arrived at the rooftop of her school. Wooyoung quietly closes the door. “Am I being stupid Wooyoung?” Wooyoung shakes his head, ah, he forgot Nana can’t see him. “Nope, no at all, Nana.” “I didn’t even asked to be blind! I never thought it would backfires on me! If only... “ Nana sobbed. Wooyoung hugged her. “No, Park Nana. You did the right thing. You do know that God help someone who helps other people right?” Nana nodded. “Good, and you know Yeosang didn’t mean what he said right? He just worried like me and Seonghwa after the news. He is the one who panicked the most you know? Saying things such as ‘Wooyoung if something happens to my baby while you’re slow driving right now,you’re dead.’ He cares about you like a lot.” Wooyoung shuddered. 

                   “Okay, I should probably search for him.” Nana seems a bit touched and pulled back. Wooyoung saw the snorts attached to his uniform but didn’t say anything. “Sorry for that Wooyoung, to watching me crying my ugly ass” Wooyoung shakes his head. “As long as my princess happy.” Nana smiled. The nickname he used on her still used till today. Strangely, they’ve never fight. Just annoying here and there, mainly Wooyoung started it tho. This special bond they’ve shared till this day never failed to amazed them. 

-

                  They went back into the class. Other students badmouthing Nana right in front of her as they were jealous with how beautiful and smart Nana is before that accident happens. The badmouthing now has worsen since Nana became blind, saying she’s an attention seeker. And Nana just start loosing her confidence. Before, she would retort to those rumors strongly but now she’s scared they will be worsen and she can’t protect herself if Wooyoung and Yeosang were not around. But when Wooyoung came, they changed their attitude. Yeosang can’t stand this kind of behavior. “Hey you bitch one and bitch two. Stand up.” The girls who were badmouthing Nana stands up instantly. If Nana was a gun, Yeosang was a bazooka. That kid never losing a verbal fight even once in his life. Straight up burn everyone with his words alone.  

                   “Wooyoung and me didn’t fail our last year final exam on purpose and retake this year just to hear you bullying Nana. Your face doesn’t get approved even if you just wished to be our girlfriends. Even a tons of make up and plastic surgeries will not cover your ugliness because that comes from your heart. Yet you call an ulzzang and natural face like her an ugly woman? Apologize.” The girls were speechless and stuttered but before Yeosang could raise his voice, Nana grabbed his arm. “That’s enough, let’s go Yeosangie.” Yeosang just let her drag him away to their seat. Just in time, the teacher came in and the class starts.  “I’m sorry for earlier Yeosangie.” Yeosang just smiled and patted her head.

-

                 After the school ends, Nana went straight up to Seonghwa’s flower shop. She called for her brother, well, no one is answering. But, after a while, her heart started to beat fast. ‘Shit,not this again.’ She quickly went to hide behind the counter. The door’s bell were ringing and someone sounds breathless as if they just ran. ‘Fuck, I’m not ready to meet him yet!’ “You’re here right? And you can feel it too. Please, I’ve been waiting to get to know you..” Nana’s heart just a bit melted by his sweet voice. “Sorry, but I’m not ready to meet you yet. If you were willing, can we just exchanges name for today? We can take it slow.” As long as that is what his soulmate wants, Yunho obligated. Even if he’s already know what was her name. (Doesn’t want to sound like a stalker~) “My name is Jeong Yunho, and I’m waited for 20 years to serve my beautiful soulmate.” He said it so cheesily that Nana starts to blush. “My name is Nana, I’m sorry but I don’t want you to see me in this condition right now. Can you please leave? You can come when I’m stabilized myself tomorrow.” Yunho just confused and agreed with it as he doesn’t want to come off as pushy soulmate in their first meeting. After he left, Nana released her breath. She didn’t even realised she was holding her breath this whole time. But, she kind of wondering, what kind of face does he has? Dog-like? Cat-like? Doesn’t matter, she can’t see them anyways.  

[llodblinky]

Chapter 1

Tch, a simple job huh? What kind of simple job leads to a hostage situation!?

Llod had taken up a job just to make ends meet, all he had to do was pick up Julianna’s niece and bring her to the marked residence. A young Vieran girl, about 11, with auburn eyes and black-tipped ears named Ysera. She’s staying with a family friend of her’s at Camp Drybone to the east. Llod sets out to retrieve her, he needs sustenance after not eating for the last two days after all. He sets out for Eastern Thanalan to escort Ysera to her aunt.

Meanwhile, Cirina sets out with Perimu on investigating a lead they were given regarding the so-called ‘benefactor’ of this shadow group they’ve been tailing since Limsa. From what they were able to gather so far it’s that he’s at least a member of Thanlan’s wealthiest citizens. They’ve ruled him out as a member of The Syndicate, but with his friends set on destroying Limsa they can’t let him continue. They set out for The Silver Bazaar in the western region to gather what other information they can.

X’tolzia is in the midst of furthering her training, Hamon Holyfist sent her to the eastern region to seek out her path and strengthen her mind. X refuses to train under weaker conditions, constantly pushing her body to the breaking point. Moving rocks on her back three times her mass, punching holes in these same rocks with her bare hands and not settling unless she punched holes clean through. Sometimes she’d be found by the townsfolk nearly passed out from exhaustion. She’s as stubborn as she is strong, and fails to understand this being too prideful to admit it.

Upon his arrival, Llod doesn’t even know where to begin looking for the girl, as Julianna didn’t specify where in Drybone she was staying. Time to search around and ask the locals, good thing not many Viera live in Thanalan’s territories so it’d at least be easy to spot Ysera. After hours of searching and asking around, Llod decides to retire to the inn and try again the next day. On his way, he noticed some unsavory characters walking through the middle of town and in their midst noticed a set of odd long ears. Is that the Vieran girl Ysera!? He thought to himself, and proceeded to follow them. What were they after? Why would they have her with them? And furthermore who are they?

“Why we gotta do this grunt work? I hate watching over kids.”

“How else are we gonna get the artifact without drawing unneeded attention to ourselves? We trade the girl for what her momma’s in possession of and we head back to the boss. Simple as that.”

What the hell are they talkin about? Llod continued following them, but felt uneasy whilst doing so. Not for fear of being found, but it seemed he was also being followed. He couldn’t tell who she was, but never lost track of her since she wasn’t doing such a great job of being hidden. After they stopped, Llod continued to spy on them and figure out a way to safely get Ysera out of their hands. But soon the mysterious woman attempted to attack him while his guard was down, unaware that was his intention. He clutched her arm and restrained her against the boulder he was hiding behind. Ttelling her to keep quiet while she struggled intensely in his grasp, he pulled down her hood and saw it was the woman from the coliseum whom he had fought, X’tolzia.

He again asked her to remain quiet, he’s on a job and a little girl may be in harms way. X’tolzia relaxed and he released her, then he explained what he had overheard.

“Jeez, it seems I can’t keep from finding trouble.” X’tolzia remarked

“Well you did attack me first off, second, I’m not gonna ask for your help. This is my job and I’ll see her safe to her aunt.” Llod explained. He didn’t want to put someone else in danger and was more than ready to deal with them on his own. But she smirked and wasn’t willing to back down.

“Oh c’mon, I can’t just leave now when you said there was an innocent girl involved. I’ve got sisters, and I’d give my life to protect them, safe to say I’d do the same for that girl over there.” She said with a smile strewn over her face. “You’d also do better with an extra set of hands, ‘specially when someone is offerin. And when all is said and done, I want a rematch you hear me?”

Llod was a bit taken aback from her resolve mixed with the battle invitation. He simply nodded with a slight smile. Together they continued tracking this group, seeing one break off for Ul’dah most likely to make the exchange offer. Coming to an end at the Sultanna tree, they took in their strengths and weaknesses and began formulating a plan to free the girl.

Soon afterwards a man along with a woman arrived, Llod recognizing her as Julianna, the same woman who had asked him to bring her niece safely to her. They had very little time to do something now and time was waning. During their planning, multiple small explosions were heard near the exchange and smoke littered the area. Two masked brigands wielding daggers dashed toward the smoke, their motives unknown. X’tolzia caught a glimpse of the eyes of one of them before they had vanished within the smoke, and she began to shake. C-Cirina!? What in the seven hells is she doing here!?

Some odd hours ago, Cirina and Perimu had been gathering intel at The Silver Bazaar where they hoped to gain more info on the mysterious benefactor. While asking around, Cirina noticed a Lalafel and Hyuran man conversing rather suspiciously as the Lalafel was looking around quite often. She moved closer under the guise of shopping for food and overheard some of what they were discussing.

“My men are grabbing the girl as we speak, just make sure that once the exchange is made you can move it with non the wiser. The captain will take care of the rest.”

“Are you absolutely sure my involvement will be unknown should this plan backfire?” The Lalafel remarked.

“Backfires? You really think we’re gonna fail? Hahahaa, oh that’s rich. If we thought it would we wouldn’t commit so wholeheartedly as we have. Just keep your end of the deal and you’ll have nothing to worry about!” The Hyuran was mighty stoic in this plan. Whatever it was, at least now Cirina and her companion could figure some of the finer details out. After the Hyuran departed, she found Perimu and informed him of what she had heard. They couldn’t let him slip away and began tailing him at once until he was alone, they cornered him and demanded he spill his guts over this whole conspiracy he was backing.

“I-it wasn’t my idea, I was just asked for money to support it. And in return I’d be welcomed with untold fortunes. I swear, that’s all!”

“What’re they after, friend? What’s so important that they’d need a harmless little girl?”

“Well, y-you see, her family unknowingly is in possession of a relic that when combined with two others can wreak devastating power, much like an enormous cannon blast or bomb. They call it the Black Sarcophagus and already have the other two pieces.”

“And once they gather this last one they’ll be able to ‘liberate’ Limsa is that it? But why attack it?”

“They’d have to strike a key structure, really hurt the forc-......THE COMMAND CENTER!! They’ll blow Merlwyb’s command center to the sun, and cause most of Limsa to crumble and sink!”

“We better hurry and save that girl then if we wanna keep the piece out of their hands! C’mon Perimu.” Cirina took command of the two and headed to Eastern Thanalan to find this girl and make sure she was safe.

They traveled as fast as they could only to discover that they were too late, the girl was already taken by several men claiming to be taking her to the aunt in Ul’dah. They learned the group had headed towards Central Thanalan and they made haste to catch up with them. Asking around Camp they found out that a group with a young Vieran girl headed southward, thanking the kind man they set out again as dark was beginning to fall. At least it’d be easier to free her under the shadows of night. On their way they noticed a blank faced man with a woman who looked like she was sobbing carrying something wrapped in cloth.

“Perimu, you thinking what I’m thinking?”

“Mhmm, that must be the last piece for the Black Sarcophagus.”

They tracked the two all the way to the Sultana Tree and saw the rest of his friends and the girl they took. Seeing they were starting the trade, the two seized the opportunity to strike while their guards were down. Tossing a couple of smoke bombs near Ysera, Perimu moved to get her to safety and Cirina would stall the men.

Taking advantage of the situation, Llod and X’tolzia made their move.

“I’ll grab Julianna and get her to safety, you help that girl with those guys, I’ll be back as quick as I can.”

“You got it Llod, just don’t keep a girl waiting k?”

He smiled and the two went to work, with him grabbing the woman by her arm and escorting her to safety some distance away.

“My niece, where is she!? You said you’d bring her to me safely!”

Then Perimu appeared relinquishing Ysera to her aunt, and asked Llod what he was doing here.

“Well this is quite the crazed situation ain’t it? Perimu’s the name, sorry your family got involved miss. And what’s yours friend?”

“I’m Llod, I gotta head back and help those two. Can you watch over them for me?”

“Are me stabbers as sharp as the finest Lominsan steel? Of course, you just make sure Cirina’s okay for me alright?”

With a nod Llod rushes back into the fray to help X’tolzia and Cirina deal with those men as they were outnumbered four to one. After returning he sees half the men on the floor, but the girls are looking exhausted.

(fill this with part of the battle)

“Sorry I’m late X’tolzia! But it seems like you didn’t really need any after all.”

“Are you kidding, with my sis by my side how could I lose? But introductions will have to wait, we’re not done just yet.”

Even with X’tolzia and Cirina slowing from exhaustion, together the three of them can manage the remaining enemies.

In a flash, Cirina is struck in the side of the head by a thrown hammer and sent tumbling toward the Sultana Tree. Unconscious, Llod an X look over to see a towering brute of a Roegadyn as dark as the night sky.

“I-it’s the boss, Aisibhir Badwind!”

The duo are shocked and their fears only further rise as he begins to approach. He let’s out a menacing chuckle.

“Bah ha ha hahaha, these are the ones that have caused a delay in our negotiations are they? Well, alls the pity to have to spill blood needlessly eh boys?”

He reaches for his axe and lunges for Llod. He barely manages to get out of the way in time, Aisibhir’is great strength splitting the ground with ease, stepping forward and spinning going for Llod a second time. Bracing and standing his ground, Llod takes the blow guarding with his shield.

X’tolzia leaps up behind him and delivers multiple strikes to the brute’s backside. Enraged, he pushes off of Llod’s shield and mule kick’s X’tolzia right in her chest and she is sent flying into the Sultana Tree, landing beside Cirina. The remaining members of Aisibhir’s group surround Llod leaving him no room to escape. The behemoth of a Roegadyn turns toward Llod and cackles to himself.

“There’s nowhere to run boy, you can always surrender. I’ll end your life quickly if you do, and I promise the girls will come to no harm. Might even fetch a nice price too.

“Piece of-...”

Laughing and cackling breaks out among the other goons, mocking their futile resistance.

Another set of blasts go off around Llod and the other men, blinding everyone. Two agonizing squeals are heard right before Llod is quickly pulled out by a Miqo’te dressed similarly to Cirina.

“H-hey, who are-”

“No time to talk, just hurry and follow me!”

Llod sharply looks toward the Sultana Tree for X’tolzia and her sister Cirina, only to see that they’re both gone. He turns back to the mysterious woman and nods, following her safely out of Aisibhir’s clutches.

She leads him to a nearby cavern where the others are waiting. Another mystery man is also here along with everyone else, after some discussion, it’s revealed that the two are Jacke, the head of the Rogue Guild of Limsa Lominsa, and V’kebbe, a member of the guild. Perimu and Llod share information with everyone as to what had transpired this day, and Jacke grows more worried.

“I see, I apologize for letting this situation get out of hand here Llod, but something is troubling me still. Miss Julianna, the item you were to exchange, do you still have it?”

She reaches into her satchel, trying to find it, but comes up empty handed. “I...I must have dropped it somehow in all the confusion! I’m so terribly sorry everyone.”

“Damn, that’s a huge problem alright but it can wait for a bit. Right now we need to get these two to a doctor. I trust you can show us to a good one in Ul’dah then Llod?”

“Of course, let’s hurry.”

Julianna approaches Llod alond with Ysera, “Llod...please forgive my outburst earlier. You put yourself in harms way to save my little girl and I’m grateful for that. Thank you.”

Ysera looks up at Llod, “Thank you mister.”

Llod smiles at them, taken back a bit “N-no need to apologize ma’am ehehe. Just doing my job and what’s right afterall. Would you mind helping us with our friends?”

“Of course! Come Ysera.”

The group haul X’tolzia and Cirina to Ul’dah with all haste and bring them to the healers in town. Meanwhile, Aisibhir after taking account of the casualties he’s suffered, notices a dark black figure in the dirt near the Sultana Tree. Picking it up, he grins to himself and orders his remaining men to leave the bodies and head back to the ship.

“Soon, Limsa will be free again.”

End Chapter 1

[merluca-ga]

I’m sure there are quite a lot of us who are anxious! Especially after seeing that sneak peak that was released. But at least we only have a few more hours to wait.

As for why Meredith and Carina haven’t said anything, I guess there are probably a number of reasons at this point:

1) Meredith literally just found out from Carina that this is a possibility. Up until now, it doesn’t appear to have been a thing she even suspected. And I suppose we can assume that 16x15 won’t take place that long after 16x14, given how fresh Andrew’s anger still appears to be. Meredith needs time to process what’s she’s learned and what’s happened - and where she fits in, given that he’s told her that he’s done.

2) While Carina has suspected Andrew’s condition, that’s not to say that she’s right <i>or</i> that she has any right to disclose Andrew’s medical background to anyone else - especially when there is nothing officially diagnosed yet. It would be a different story if it was confirmed, I guess.

3) Even if it was confirmed, it’s a big step going to the Chief and saying they don’t think he’s fit to practice medicine. Because if you think about it, up until now, Andrew hasn’t really shown any signs of being a danger to his patients. All the instances of “mania” that Carina referenced were mainly to do with his personal life (Sam, Meredith), or instances when he was on a high from doing something well at work (putting out the fire). In fact, there haven’t been any instances of Andrew messing up medically for several seasons now (that I can recall), so it would be hard to argue up until this point that he’s been “a danger to patients”. There’s no evidence of that. With Suzanne it’s clear that even though he was tired and he went against Meredith, he was still right in his diagnosis, and had Dr. Riley’s blessing throughout. 

That’s said, I do understand what you’re saying. And it might be that Meredith and Carina will have to make a decision as to whether they share what they suspect with Bailey. But given that the plot line has only just been introduced, we need to give that time to unfold (if indeed Andrew is bipolar). Remember how long it took Derek to confront Richard about his drinking? And that was a far clearer problem than this so far.

Certainly I think that Meredith and Carina are going to have to wrestle with what to do. That might be that they persuade him to help himself, because forcing someone who doesn’t think they need help into getting it can backfire too. Meredith’s on the back foot also because for all intents and purposes, they’re broken up and Andrew’s clearly still very hurt and mad about what Meredith said to him. He’s not going to be very receptive to her interfering (as he’ll see it) in his life and career (even though... she is his boss and has some right to). 

This is all supposing that Andrew does have a mental health condition, and isn’t just highly strung when he’s tired and stressed, of course (although I do suspect the show will go with the former scenario).

I guess we’ll find out!

[96thdayofrage]

WAR DAY 7️⃣1️⃣0️⃣3️⃣ 🍵 "Secretary of State Anthony Blinken might have been 'outraged' by a rocket attack on a U.S. base in northern Iraq – that killed a foreign contractor and wounded an American service member and several other contractors – but he shouldn’t have been surprised. After all, it’s the muddled US military mission and on-going troop presence itself that creates nearly all the conditions for current crisis. That this particular truth tablet might be rather uncomfortable to swallow doesn’t make it any less so.

"If Blinken’s boss needs proof, he might consider applying what we could call his very own 'Biden Rule:' that staffers should avoid overly academic or elitist language in memos or policy papers. 'Pick up your phone, call your mother, read her what you just told me,' he reportedly tells aides – 'If she understands, we can keep talking.' Well, does Joe really think most American mothers, or fathers, or other lay citizens, could honestly explain just what the heck US troops are doing – and may well die doing – in Iraq, almost 18 years after George W. Bush’s initial invasion? Give us a break! All that Washington wish-wash about avoiding ISIS-resurgence, 'building partner capacity,' and balancing Iran, is liable to get even a hometown boy like Biden laughed out of a Scranton pub.

"Nevertheless, such attacks could very well derail Biden’s announced intent to reestablish Obama’s Iran nuclear deal, or even lead to a military escalation. After all, earlier this week, NATO agreed to an eight-fold increase in troops for its training and advisory mission in Iraq, and Secretary Blinken has himself begun a review America’s Iraq policy – to include feedback from the Pentagon – which may reach the White House as early as next month.

"There’ve actually been three separate rocket attacks on US bases in Iraq over the last week, one targeting each of country’s distinct communal regions – Erbil in semi-autonomous Kurdistan, another on Balad in mostly Sunni Salah al-Din Province, and lastly on the Green Zone in Shia-heavy (especially since the 2005-08 civil war’s ethnic cleansings) Baghdad. It seems American troops and – more on this soon – contractors still aren’t safe anywhere inside Iraq.

"Odd, that, since I recall plenty past (premature) pronouncements that 'the surge worked,' and that 'we have defeated ISIS.' Well, the first [surge success] bit was always a farce, and, while the second suggestion is basically true – despite mop-up-ops that Iraqi and invested regional forces can handle – it ain’t ISIS that’s set to take the blame for the recently raining rockets. No, that supervillain stature shall – as ever – belong to Iran."

Bogus Boogyman Iran

"Iranophobia and Tehran-alarmism are gifts that keep on giving – if mostly to the likes of Lockheed and Raytheon – in Washington. Only there’s hardly any basis to the threat. The whole thing’s political theater, a false binary blame game meant for domestic consumption and signal-sending to America’s Israeli and Gulf Monarchy mates. Thing is, real people die behind such drama.

"It all starts with what should be suspicious certainty of bipartisan policymakers and media pundits that Tehran’s tugging all the rocket-flingers’ strings. Take Ned Price, spokesman for Biden’s polite liberal State Department. He said, after Monday’s attack on Baghdad’s Green Zone that the US holds Iran responsible for the recent rocket spurt. Then there’s Trump’s former assistant secretary of state for Middle East policy, David Schenker, who was sure – after the initial Erbil attack – that: 'Ultimately, this is all about Iran – the missiles, the weaponry, the funding, the direction all comes from Tehran.' Then again, it’s always worth considering the source. In this case, Mr. Schenker is now a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy – which is known for its fiercely and uncritically pro-Israel stance, and was initially funded by the Israel Lobby-top dog AIPAC’s donors, staffed by AIPAC employees, and originally located just one door away from AIPAC’s D.C. headquarters.

"Then throw in Douglas Silliman, formerly US ambassador to Iraq from 2016 to 2019, who asserted after the Erbil attack: 'I have no doubt who’s behind it. It is the Iranian-supported Iraqi Shia militias who are behind this.' Only here again an astute observer must channel the street-wisdom of Queens’ own rapper 50 Cent and thus – 'step up in' the Washington 'club' and ask 'Who you wit?' In Silliman’s case, it isn’t 'G-Unit' but the Arab Gulf States Institute that’s now his post-government service 'clique.' In fact, he’s president of the damn thing. Keep an eye on that, it might matter – seeing as from the think tank’s 2015 inception, it was funded entirely by UAE and Saudi sources. You know, it’s enough to make you wonder whether Silliman’s Gulf autocrat paymasters – locked as they are in perennial quasi-war with Iran – might have some investment (pun intended) in having ol' Doug pin the latest bombs-over-Baghdad squarely on Tehran.

"Still, setting such conflicts of interest aside for the sake of argument, both Schenker’s and Silliman’s Iran-the-omniscient assertions strike as just a little too neat, too convenient for Washington’s hovering hawks. Maybe these specific guns did flow from Iran; maybe they didn’t. However, Tehran’s aren’t the only tools available. Iraq has long been awash with weapons, as anyone who ever walked a Baghdad beat – or frightened a few families with aggressive late-night house searches – knows all too well.

"Furthermore, despite Washington’s bipartisan propensity to 'create the enemies it needs' [in order to reap profits and power, that is] – by fabricating foes that seem ten-feet-tall and bulletproof – the truth is Iran hasn’t half the armed strength, or clear control over Iraqi proxies, as the hawks would have you believe. On the military side, Tehran’s mostly weak and unable to project any real power very far at all. Furthermore, as I noted in a 2019 Defense Priorities analysis, Iran’s American-allied regional antagonists – Turkey, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and the UAE, for example – militarily outspend Tehran by a factor of ten!

"As for Iran’s ostensibly ironclad grip on the Iraqi militias allegedly launching all them rockets – if not exactly a mirage, the situation is definitely far more complex and ambiguous than all that. This much even some senior military officers occasionally admit. For example, after the Erbil attack, the U.S.-led coalition’s counter-ISIS mission deputy commander for strategy, British Army Major General Kevin Copsey, surmised that the fusillade was likely the work of an offshoot, not the core, of the mainline militias typically linked to Tehran. He also noted the crucial – if oft-ignored – concept of local agency: that paramilitaries and their associated politicians pursue personal motives and interests when deciding whether to take violent action.

"Copsey described it thus: 'You have your main militia groups, which arguably have their influence back into Tehran, and then you have these splinter groups that are self-interested. And they’re unpredictable and they’re out of control.' Allow me to surmise that the key words there are 'arguably,' 'self-interested,' and 'unpredictable.' In rebellions, proxy conflicts, and civil wars, matters are rarely clear, and always contingent.

"Here’s the basic rub: The ill-advised and illegal 2003 US military invasion caused most of the current madness; Trump’s 'maximum pressure' sanctions and saber-rattling predictably and demonstrably backfired; Iran’s offensive military capacity is actually rather limited and wildly exaggerated. Yet the one weapon it does have – as do the militias Tehran may or may not have sway over – are several variants of ballistic and cruise missiles.

"To review, then: America’s murky, no-exit, mission plays right into Tehran’s only viable military hands – not only strengthening the hardliners in their government, but turning our ever-adulated soldiers into little more than bewildered rocket-magnets."

Context Counts

"If Biden bolsters the US military’s anti-Iran proxy combat mission – which masquerades as ISIS-elimination – it will, by my count, constitute the fifth phase of America’s 30+ year war on or in Iraq. Call it Iraq War IV. Kind of has a nice ring to it, and ask any movie producer – sequels sell, even if they usually make for awful art (Godfather II aside, naturally). The cost of the running franchise has been fatal for some 2.5 million Iraqis – bombed, shot, starved, or diseased – over those three old school-imperial decades.

"Here on the tail end, in January 2020, the Iraqi government’s American friends went so far as to assassinate the top Iranian political and military figure Qasem Suleimani – on Iraqi soil, without informing the Baghdad government – thereby challenging and insulting Iraqi sovereignty. This triggered (imagine that) a not yet broken wave of political fury within both neighboring countries. In response, the Iraqi parliament voted to require the government to 'end any foreign presence on Iraqi soil and prevent the use of Iraqi airspace, soil and water for any reason' by foreign troops.

"Washington promptly ignored the democratic will of the Iraqi democracy it claimed to have built via its absurdly titled 'Operation Iraqi Freedom' 2003 invasion. There may (for now) be only 2,500 uniformed Americans in country, but these days, a big part of what’s long-bothered average Iraqis is Washington’s use of sundry – and often unhinged – civilian security contractors to do much of the occupying."

Mercenary Camouflage

"Given the tortured track record of America’s mercenary misadventures, perhaps Iraqis can be forgiven their frustration with the ongoing US presence in their country. Anger tends to come in waves and flared again last month, when dear Donald pardoned four American security contractors – from the infamous Blackwater outfit – for their roles in massacring 17 Iraqi civilians around Baghdad’s Nisour Square in 2007. I was in town for that sick show, and we in uniform sure felt some of the understandable blowback. Clearly, American policymakers aren’t exactly known for their self-awareness. Still, it hardly seems as outrageous as Secretary Blinken claimed that some locals might fling a few rockets at a few foreigner bases – and many more countrymen view it as legitimate resistance – when their own government’s Washingtonian 'friends' just let four Iraqi-child-killers off the hook. I don’t know, call me crazy.

"Either way, all this raises the not-so-minor matter of America’s shadowy security contracting apparatus in Iraq – an occupation-outsourcing as old as the adventure itself. The combat and logistics privatization factor is exposed in the composition of casualties in these ubiquitous rocket attacks. Over the last few years, more often than not the majority of the dead and injured have been contractors. For example, Saturday night’s strike on Balad airbase reportedly wounded a South African – I know, a bit on the nose for the mercenary game – employee of the US defense company Sallyport.

"This subsidiary of Caliburn International LLC – which has no less than five retired generals and admirals on its board, including former Trump White House chief of staff John Kelly and former Bush-era CIA director Michael Hayden – had been contracted to provide base services supporting Iraq’s F-16 fighter program. Caliburn is perhaps better known for another of its subsidiaries operating America’s largest facility for unaccompanied migrant children. However, as of 2018, the US government had reportedly paid Sallyport itself over $1 billion since 2014 to provide security, life support, and various training at Balad Air Base.

"There, Sallyport has been mired in past scandal. In 2019, a Daily Beast report indicated that The Department of Justice was investigating the company’s earlier alleged role in bribing Iraqi government officials in exchange for contracts costing American taxpayers billions. The Daily Beast’s earlier 2017 investigation also exposed that a clique of white South African security guards – the very nationality of the employee reportedly wounded in the recent rocket strike – had been promoting apartheid and abusing Sallyport’s minority members (along, apparently, with the base’s local dogs). By the way, the irony of Washington – amidst an era of renewed racial turmoil at home – hiring thousands of ex-apartheid soldiers to man its conflicts across the Middle East and North Africa: well, it almost defies imagination.

"So sure, there are key – if rarely reported – contractor connections to the recent rocket attacks. Yet, widening the aperture reveals far the broader and systemic mercenary madness masking – and underpinning – America’s entire enterprise in Iraq and the Greater Middle East. And unless Status Quo Joe, and a largely bought & sold (by defense industry campaign contributions) Congress, address this invisible enemy, then messing at the margins with uniformed boots-on-the-ground counts won’t measurably alter America’s two-decade-old regional adventure-fiasco. Oh, and speaking of those masters of the military-industrial complex contributions to the very congressmen with the power to end this entire hopeless crusade – recall that the F-16s Sallyport secures for the Iraqi Air Force are produced by Lockheed Martin. In the 2018 midterm elections alone, Lockheed bestowed $2,865,014 in blood money on the Capitol Hill crew.

"Only that ain’t the half of it. Consider the scale of the US contractor apparatus, by-the-numbers: In 2019, the Pentagon spent $370 billion on contracting – in other words, more than half its total discretionary spending. By the DOD’s own reckoning – during 1st quarter of FY21 – that translates to 38,164 contractor personnel supporting Pentagon operations in just the US Central Command (CENTCOM) area of responsibility (AOR – from essentially Egypt to Afghanistan). That includes 4,677 in the Iraq-Syria sub-theater – 2,300 of them American citizens. Which is to say, contractors now maintain more than a 2 to 1 ratio over US military members in the CENTCOM sphere.

"There’s a design, and a cost, to all this. According to her June 2020 report, what Heidi Peltier of Brown University’s Cost of War Initiative called the contracting 'Camo Economy,' has been used by the US government to conceal the costs – in cash, killing, and American blood – of its endless, meandering, military missions. The proof is in the mortality pudding: since 2001, some 8,000 US contractors have died in America’s Greater Mideast adventures – that’s actually more than the Pentagon’s official tally of 7,056 uniformed troop deaths.

"That few people know this, exposes its enduring political utility. A one minute Google search offers precise, to-a-man and up-to-date, statistics on US military deaths – but I wouldn’t wish the required Department of Labor archive-mining to find contractor casualty details on my worst enemy. Take it from me, it’s a maddening enough rabbit-hole-spiral to garner a grin from Kafka. And, as matters now stand, more deaths of those once invisible contractors could end up pulling the US into yet another phase of hopeless, wasteful war in Iraq. Now that’d deserve the American foreign policy tragicomedy award for 2021.

"Look, I like context and nuance as much as the next guy, but sometimes the simplicity of 'Sutton’s Law' – a medical mantra that, when diagnosing, one should first test for the obvious – is the best policy prescription. The dictate derives from real-life famed criminal folk hero Willie Sutton, who when asked why he robbed banks, replied – perhaps apocryphally – 'Because that’s where the money is!' It’s a hell of a story, the sort Biden’s sure to like.

"And in a sense, it tracks today’s mess. Ask an ayatollah or a local militiaman why he allegedly attacks US bases in Iraq – and a clever one might accurately quip: 'Because that’s where the Americans are!'

"In other words…because we’re there."

###

Danny Sjursen is a retired US Army officer, senior fellow at the Center for International Policy (CIP), contributing editor at Antiwar.com, and director of the new Eisenhower Media Network (EMN). His work has appeared in the NY Times, LA Times, The Nation, Huff Post, The Hill, Salon, The American Conservative, Mother Jones, Scheer Post and Tom Dispatch, among other publications. He served combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan and later taught history at West Point. He is the author of a memoir and critical analysis of the Iraq War, Ghostriders of Baghdad: Soldiers, Civilians, and the Myth of the Surge, and Patriotic Dissent: America in the Age of Endless War. Along with fellow vet Chris "Henri" Henriksen, he co-hosts the podcast “Fortress on a Hill.” Follow him on Twitter @SkepticalVet and on his website for media requests and past publications.

_____

🍵 All Risk, No Reward: The Perils and Absurdity of Iraq War 4.0. By Maj. Danny Sjursen, USA (ret.), Antiwar.com, Feb. 25, 2021.

https://original.antiwar.com/Danny_Sjursen/2021/02/24/all-risk-no-reward-the-perils-and-absurdity-of-iraq-war-4-0/?fbclid=IwAR0URXJQNDvEP5zpVqk6hlEiAGapknSZ6vhg5jHMZ_1nI-Zg7Y0h3uyuRjk

[izayoichan]

“I used to hate because of my father. But I have come to learn, magic is only as dangerous as those who use it. So... when I was a kid I set myself on fire... “

Rylan looks at River, oddly reminded of the first time he and his brother hurt someone with their spell, fireballing their own dad. 

“Me and Hayden hit our dad with a lava bomb in the chest, that's how we learned we had fire spells in us...As he is an ice dragon, we thought we killed him. He had a burn that looked like your scar for a very long time.”

Must have been terrifying.”

Touches his chest

“I also thought I was going to die when that happened. I was a kid, I wasn't even supposed to know magic already. My father wanted to be a sage of three schools, and wanted me to be like so, so he forced me to use untamed magic. Children don't use magic, but I did, I can mute cast, so I don't need to word spells or use a wand. I can just cast out of will. But, like normal magic, it sometimes backfires. My infernate spell backfired and I set myself on fire.” “Is that why your mom wants you to be a sage?”

He hears River sigh, leaning his head on his shoulder gently, these were just a whole lot of things he never knew anything about. 

“She blames herself, thinks it's her human blood that makes my magic wild. This isn't the first time it happens either. She thinks I need to become a sage, a proper spellcaster in order to control my magic.” “But that's not what you want right?” No... Not anymore.” 

Sighs and rubs arms. 

“Something happened... I... don't remember all of it... But I think I hurt someone.”

Rylan reaches out, putting a hand on Rivers, feeling the slight static that seems to be on his skin. 

“I... don't need to use words to call a spell, just a strong want to... And sometimes, especially when I am more emotional, my magic starts to burst out... And... I... I don't remember... But something happened, I think I hurt someone and... I don't remember... I don't even know why I was out there... all I remember is lightning and being electrocuted... And I know electrocuted myself... but... I think I hit someone else... “ 

His voice trails off as Lobo comes up to them, putting his head on River's lap, whining slightly wagging its tail as if to comfort him. 

“It hurts so much... I electrocuted myself and... someone else... but I'm a spellcaster and he wasn't...” “You never found out if they were okay? I mean, I'm guessing you were hurt pretty bad too so.. “ “My body is covered in those veins because of the electricity. Uncle Simeon said I hit myself with enough voltage as if I had been hit head-on by lightning... “ 

Rylan nods, knowing form watching the pain his brother has that he has an inkling of an idea how much it can actually hurt.

“ What I mean to say is... I have blamed me and my magic for this all endlessly.... but... I have come to understand, I cannot be blamed over something I have no control over. I train alone, I do better training and practicing on my own and I prefer to focus on the magic that can help others than harm... but I know there will be times it will backfire on me or get out of control” 

He looked over at Rylan who gives him a slight smile back, not quite sure what to say to all off it, but happy he told him.

“And at this point, I cannot be blamed for what might happen if I am driven to lose control over it...Your brother's condition... you have no control over it. Don't blame yourself.” “You sure you haven’t been talking to my dads... cause that last part was like listening to them... so no more missing school okay?” “I'll try not to, your highness. Who'd rescue his fair maiden on the next dungeon?“ “Still the game master, it's not my ass you'll be saving. Now come out with me for a bit.. we could both use the fresh air.”

He pulls River with him outside, the snow slowly falling around them, Rylan sitting on the fence watching some of the dogs play in the snow, Lobo joining them playing. 

“I do mean it though, don't get sent away.” “I won't, but if I get sent away, uncle Simeon will have a whole hand of work trying to keep me away from here.” “I'll hold you too that, boss.” “Wouldn't expect it any other way, princess.”

Rylan smiled at him, pulling him into a kiss, River turning around so they’re facing each other. 

“You are magical you know princess.” “I am?” “I never told anyone what I just told you.”

Rylan blushes slightly as he finds himself pulled into another kiss by River.

Begining - Previous - Next

[silverquillsideas]

Hi:) May I ask what your personal interpretation of the Bf ending is? Did Ash chose to die or not? If he did, what do you think was the reason for his decision? And did he believe Eiji's letter? Sorry if this has been asked before and I bother you with these questions...

Hello Anons! It’s not a bother at all! Thanks for asking! I’ll club these two together since there’s going to be a lot of overlapping parts.

I feel like the more I try to delve deeper into why and how the ending was written the way it was, the more number of interpretations open up. I’ve talked about my views on the ending in the above posts, and as for whether he believed Eiji’s letter, my answer is yes, definitely. I’ll elaborate why below.

First off, when I read the manga and later, GoL, it always occurred to me that Ash’s death wasn’t immediate, that he had time to drag himself back to the library and collapse slowly from blood loss, and the same is repeated by Sing in his musings in GoL “in the long long hours before death, as blood slowly drained out of your body”….so, I believe that the stab wasn’t lethal, and that Ash’s death was, ultimately, by his choice.

Now coming to why he chose what he did. These interpretations are entirely my own, and they are called ‘interpretations’ for a reason, there will be other equally valid points held by the fandom, and that’s completely okay. This is just how I see it. I re-read the manga recently, and this time, I tried to look closer at all the subtle hints at how the ending was kind of… foreshadowed in a way?

I’ll begin with the way Ash was constructed as a character : he was multifaceted, complex, a genius with superhuman reflexes and intellect, he rejected all kinds of authority and the law, since he never had reason to trust them all his life. Ash conditioned himself to be ruthless and put on a hard front at all times, since that was the only way he could have survived in the world he was thrown into from the tender age of seven or eight. He used his physical beauty as a weapon, a shield to disarm opponents, so that they never got any hint of his lethal side until it was too late; it was simply another tool in his fight for survival. Eiji is probably one of the first and only ones to get a measure of what Ash really is like, by the time we get to the arc of Shorter’s death. He comments on this :

Curiously enough, we, as readers get to know this along with Eiji, that Ash has this duality to him : on one hand, he is the cold and ruthless killer and gang-boss, the wild, untamable Ash Lynx. on the other hand, only with Eiji, he can be the carefree 17 year old Aslan, the little boy Griff loved, who’s scared of pumpkins and gets flustered when teased, and loves to bicker with Eiji over silly things.

Its this humane side of Ash we all latch onto. The facade of a killer that Ash has to put on for the rest of the world, falls apart when he’s with Eiji, and we can see that : we realise that it’s a shield he has to hold up for his survival so that the truly compassionate, softer side of him can survive. Eiji sees through it, we see through it. But does Ash? His self image is exceedingly negative.

This becomes a recurring point of arguments between Eiji and Ash throughout the manga. A constant pull and push of opinions on who Ash truly is, who he can be. Eiji tries so hard to pull out the humane side of Ash, the one who is Aslan, back to the surface, so that Ash Lynx may not forget who he really once was. Eiji lets Ash be vulnerable, he makes him laugh, allows him to be silly, he tells him that it’s okay to be scared, to be hurt, because Ash is deeply hurt, only he has trained himself to never acknowledge that even to himself.

Does Ash consider himself entirely worthless? I beg to differ. He relies on his intelligence, his skills and capabilities, and he had confidence in them. He has his gang members to protect and lead, even before Eiji shows up. He has his pride as a boss, and his constant refusal to be controlled by Dino or other characters who hold authority (and consequently, abuse their powers to further their own greed). 

But was that enough to hold out till the end? More than the battles with Dino or Mannerheim or Foxx, I think Ash had to fight bigger battles with himself, about his own perception of what it means to be accepting of who you are as a person, and what you choose to believe in within yourself. Throughout the manga, we see this constant warring : we have literally everyone telling him that keeping Eiji by his side, is him being selfish, that Eiji isn’t there to salvage Ash’s guilt, that letting him go would be better for both of them. And Ash is conflicted, he wants to have this connection, this friendship with Eiji above all else, it becomes his single motivator in the entire second half of the manga : to protect and keep Eiji safe

By the time Yut Lung manipulates Ash into giving up Banana Fish and go into Dino’s captivity for Eiji’s safety, Ash is already too far gone on his bond with Eiji. he pulls the trigger without a moment’s hesitation. If it meant keeping a loved one safe at the cost of his own death, Ash was ready to make that choice, perhaps for a very long time.

Ash was someone whose actions always did the talking. The fact that he had allowed himself to care, to demand or crave for himself the comfort of a selfless friendship, or even love, is more of an indicator of him slowly growing to value himself as a person, to try and love himself a little more. He acknowledges this openly to Blanca : that there is nothing that made him happier than being with Eiji, of knowing that at least one person in the world had tried to see himself for who he really was, had tried to make Ash see that too.

The conversation between Ash and Eiji about the leopard in the mountaintop, about Ash’s views on death and what it means to live, is one of my favourite moments in the manga. Ash had never feared death, but he had never wanted to die himself. Even though, at numerous points in his life, death had seemed like a peaceful, enticing alternative, compared to the hell he was going through. Ash states that he views himself as the leopard, trudging on and on upwards to the summit, until it collapsed. His conflict was on whether the leopard was facing downwards or up? Was he trying to came back home, or simply go on until he could no longer carry on?

The journey of the leopard paralleled Ash’s own. All his life, he had been forced to go on a steep, uphill climb, against whatever harsh trials his life threw at him. In the end, would he be too tired to carry on? Too tired that he would want to give up? Or Would he still have the strength to try and find his way back down?

Eiji pulls him back once more : he reminds Ash of his own humanity, that people were not obligated to remain as the leopard in the story forever. In the end, we are all human beings who can have a choice, to find our way back home. And Ash, after a thoughtful pause, agrees with him.

But agreeing with an idea on principle is a far cry from putting that into practice.

As the arcs progress, Eiji gets shot, and Blanca again harshly reminds him of what his reality was, that Ash and Eiji’s worlds were, as he saw, too far apart for them to exist together. And Ash is torn by guilt. His one objective, of keeping Eiji safe, had somehow started backfiring. He pleads with God, to take him instead, in exchange for Eiji’s safety. And that was when I personally got the foreshadowing, that maybe the ending could only be either one way or the other.

It’s interesting that Eiji voices almost identical words, that he’d take Ash’s place any day if he could, that he wished Ash would never have to hold a gun anymore, before he takes a bullet for Ash without a minute’s hesitation

There was always a residual sense of guilt with both Ash and Eiji about Shorter’s death. Eiji breaks down crying in front of Sing, and he wasn’t even an instigator in all the events that happened. I can’t imagine how much more Ash would’ve been carrying around with the knowledge that he was the one to pull the trigger, under extreme duress or otherwise.

That brings me to the involvement of Lao. Shorter’s death had triggered a mistrust between the Chinese gang and Ash. Even though Sing, because of knowing the truth, had ceased blaming Ash altogether, Lao didn’t go anywhere near. His only goal was to protect his brother, and his hatred for Ash magnified when Ash pointed a trigger on Sing in the mad rampage immediately after Eiji was shot. Sing understood Ash’s rage, and he apologized and desperately attempted to make up for what he saw as a ‘betrayal’ from the Chinese side. But Lao, stubbornly refused to acknowledge Ash, even though Sing tried multiple times to reason with him. Had Yut Lung’s childish grudge against Eiji not prompted him to abuse Lao’s familial ties with Sing, had Lao been more reasonable, had Sing communicated with him better after the end of all the fighting…. The list of ‘what ifs’ go on.

In the end, Ash’s decision was prompted by all these moments adding up together. He had vowed just the day before to Blanca, that this time, he’d never see Eiji again, in order to keep him from harm’s way. Did that mean that ultimately he never learnt to love himself? That’s difficult to answer.

I believe that to some extent, he did realise how much he was valued as a person : by his friends, his gang, Max, Blanca, Cain, Shorter, and most of all Eiji. He never admitted out loud how much Eiji meant to him and vice versa, but it was always proven by their actions and confirmed by the words of those who were close to them. 

Ash knew how much it hurt him to see Eiji wounded because of him, and I get the inkling that he could at least guess that Eiji would be equally devastated if their places were reversed. But he ultimately chose to eliminate himself from the equation : the solution, according to him, that would keep all the danger away from everyone he wanted to keep safe. That is the dark side of love, of how far you’re willing to go to protect those you hold dear.

Just as Eiji took the bullet for him, just as Ash himself had no hesitation in pulling the trigger back then, I see this last choice also as a final act of sorts, keeping good on his prayer to God : Eiji’s safety in exchange for his own. It wasn’t a perfect decision by any means, there were n number of ways a different choice could’ve been as good, but I feel than in his final moments, Ash was really too weary to keep on pushing forward.

It brings me to your question, anon, in the end, was love enough to save him from himself? Did Eiji’s constant attempts to bring out Aslan, win out against the shackles Ash Lynx put on himself?

In those few moments immediately after reading Eiji’s letter, we see the way Ash reacts : his eyes fill with hope, disbelief, love, and a hundred other emotions as all thoughts other than Eiji’s words flee his mind. Eiji’s reference to the leopard was especially important : he gave Ash a reminder, once more, that even lost souls have a way of coming back home, and that one’s humaneness was something we discover throughout our whole lives, it’s not just expressed by a handful of actions. Eiji reminded Ash once more, that it was okay to hope, to dream, and to live for himself. And that was what prompted Ash to take off running. In those few moments, it really looked as if Ash had finally broken free of all that was holding him back.

But at the end of it all, I feel that Ash Lynx won out. The question of saving us from ourselves, of realising our self worth, is a complex one. Ash was happy in the simple knowledge that Eiji had loved him back unconditionally. All his life, it was the one thing he had never received, and in his final moments, that mere confirmation was like a closure of sorts for him. It wasn’t fair to either of them, but it was how things finally ended.

In an ideal world, we’d have no doubt seen Ash and Eiji having their happy forever after, given everything that happened, but sadly, the author chose to write in Lao, as if to prove a point : that more often than not, dreams and reality are separated by just one moment of carelessness, one second of letting your guard down, and for Ash, that moment was fatal.

[sass-and-suspenders]

His Heart (Part 1)

GIF from Grimesthangs

Pairing: Rafael Barba x Reader

Words: 2,302

Prompt: This was based on the song Straight Through My Heart for @thefanficfaerie‘s Backstreet Boys Challenge (I take no responsibility if you decide to listen to the song and get it stuck in your head)

Author’s Note: Shout-out to @madpanda75 who provided the support I needed to get this story done (especially when I got a paper cut). Thanks for listening to me complain about procrastination, my ill-advised caffeine intake, and my typo-prone monkey brain. We both played chicken with this deadline and came out stronger because of it 

The heat wave that currently enveloped New York City had barely been on Rafael’s radar these last few days. Sure, he had made small adjustments to his routine, drinking iced coffee and favouring linen suits, but the near Arctic temperatures of his air-conditioned office and apartment made it possible for him to nearly forget about the muggy New York air.

That is, until tonight, when his air conditioner stopped working. And now, the stifling heat was the only thing on Rafael’s mind, making it nearly impossible for him to fall asleep. Opening all of his windows and turning on his sad little fan did little to combat the subtropical temperature of his apartment; if anything, it may have made it worse.

After tossing and turning for hours, and being too stubborn to admit that getting a good night’s sleep was futile at this point, Rafael drifted off into an uneasy slumber. He felt your lips on his neck moments after his eyes closed.

“I missed you,” you mumbled into the crook of his neck.

Rafael smiled at your words, pulling you closer to him; the heat no longer a concern. You continued kissing his neck, working your way up to his face. When you reached his jawline, Rafael turned his head so your next kiss would land directly on his lips. Rafael felt you smile against his lips and he thought about how lucky he was to be with you. You trailed your fingers down his chest, pausing at the waistband of his boxers and glancing up at him. Before he could nod his assent, a car outside backfired.  

The noise jolted Rafael out of his dream and back into reality. Tangled in his sheets, damp with sweat, Rafael looked around his bedroom. The soft glow from the lights outside made it undeniable that he was very much alone in his bed. He stared up at the ceiling and let out a frustrated sigh.

It had been 239 days since Rafael had fallen in love with you.

239 days, 7 hours, and 11 minutes to be more precise.

And they had all been agonizing.

It wasn’t just the constant ache in his chest that made all of this unbearable. No, he had become used to that by now, regarding the feeling as an old friend. It was the fact that the person he loved was the one person who had despised him since he transferred to the Manhattan DA’s office.

Rafael let out another sigh. Whoever equated falling in love with being hit by an arrow had clearly never been in love. The throbbing pain in his chest felt more like the aftermath of a bullet that passed straight through his heart rather than the work of some measly arrow.

The pain had shocked him at first –he never expected to feel this way. His experience with Yelina had closed him off to the possibility of falling in love again. In fact, he had actively tried to avoid it. If it were possible, he would have put his heart in a box, locked the lid, and tossed it into the depths of the Pacific. But then you walked into his life, making the world seem more vibrant, and his resolution gradually diminished until it ceased to exist.

He hadn’t told you any of this, of course. What would be the point? You made your feelings about him very clear. So, rather than acknowledge the gaping hole in his chest, Rafael chose to soldier down and throw himself into his work. Despite working in the same building, he only saw you at monthly meetings or the occasional gala. Sometimes, he would run into you while getting coffee -he would think about these accidental encounters for days.

It appeared to work, this strategy of all work and no love, for a time. However, after the meeting he just had with his boss, Rafael knew this strategy was no longer viable.

Biting the bullet, Rafael strode into your office, secretly relishing the fact he had an excuse to see you.

“Cutter told me to get your advice on one of my cases,” he said in lieu of a greeting before you even had a chance to look up from the files spread out in front of you.

Rafael was never certain what triggered your disdain for him, but he made sure to act as if the feeling were mutual. He matched your caustic quips with his own, feigned boredom whenever he was forced to make small talk with you, and pretended that whatever praise he gave about your performance in court sounded as if it were being pulled out of him.

What no one seemed to notice, however, was how impressed he was by your shrewd quips; how he could listen to you discuss a topic as mundane as the weather and never get bored; how his eyes brightened whenever you walked into a room; how highly he thought of you, not just as a lawyer, but as a person.

In a way, he was glad you hated him. It made it easier.

“Wow, I never thought I’d hear you say you need my help,” you answered, putting your pen down.

“I didn’t phrase it like that.”

“Well, you should phrase it like that or you'll be on your own,” you said as you leaned back in your chair and smiled smugly.

“Fine, I need your help,” Rafael grumbled. “But just because you’re the only ADA in this office who has experience in corporate law.”

“Hmm, I feel like the wording of your request could have been more complimentary. I won’t push it, though, as I’m already afraid you admitting that you need my help might cause you to spontaneously combust.”

Rafael rolled his eyes. “So, you’ll help?”

“Sure, just let me mark in my calendar that today is the day Rafael Barba finally asked someone for help. Hey, what do you think the current rate for a commemorative plaque is? I should probably put one up in my office seeing as this is a historic occasion. How do you feel about the wording, ‘The great Rafael Barba once asked for help in this humble office’?”

Rafael pretended to shake his head in annoyance so you wouldn’t notice the smile threatening to appear on his lips.

When Mike Cutter walked into your office twenty minutes later, he found you and Rafael sitting on your couch, hunched over a police report.

“I’m glad to see you haven’t killed each other,” he greeted. “Especially since McCoy and I just decided to have you work together on this case.”

“What?!” You and Rafael exclaimed in unison.

“Mike, I have the upmost respect for you and Jack, but that is a horrible decision,” you added.

“Barba doesn’t have your experience with corporate law, and it doesn’t make sense for you to take over the case since you need to focus on preparing for the Zeller trial.”

“You do realize that you’ll be out an ADA when one of us murders the other, right?” you muttered.

“Two ADAs,” Rafael corrected. “The other would be stuck doing 30 to life.”

“No,” you shook your head. “The jury would definitely acquit me.”

“Why am I the one getting murdered in this hypothetical, but very plausible, scenario?”

“I think it’s obvious why.”

“It’s non-negotiable. This is a high-profile case that we can’t risk losing,” Mike cut-in, looking pointedly at both of you. “I’m confident that this won’t end in murder. Although, if it does, I do have a large stack of résumés sitting in my office.”

You and Rafael reluctantly assented, not seeing how you could change Mike’s mind. Since you all thought that having a second chair would send the message that the DA’s office was struggling, you agreed to help Barba behind the scenes, providing advice and aiding with trial prep when necessary. Once the details were confirmed, Mike said his goodbyes.

As soon as he was in the hallway, you and Rafael resumed squabbling. Mike chuckled to himself; Rafael might think that no one noticed the way he looked at you, but Mike certainly had. And while there was a good chance that pairing the two of you up on this case would end in murder, he thought it was equally likely to end in romance. His money was on the latter.

A similar conclusion was reached at the precinct later that day when Rafael stopped by to inform Olivia of Cutter’s decision. Even though you had never met Olivia, she had heard of you. The Homicide detectives you worked with spoke highly of you and she often saw your commendations in the paper. You had a reputation as an ADA who radiated quiet strength, who went above and beyond for the victims. You weren’t as theatrical as Rafael in the courtroom, but your track record was equally as impressive.

“You know, for someone you say you don’t like, you sure do talk about them a lot,” Sonny commented, butting into the conversation.

“No one asked you, Carisi,” Rafael scowled.

“Alright, alright,” Sonny held up his hands in mock surrender. “All I’m sayin’ is that when I was eight, I pulled on the ponytail of the girl I liked and called her a boogerhead instead of tellin’ her I liked her.”

“Thank you for that astute insight into the mind of an eight-year-old, detective,” Rafael said, glowering at Sonny until he walked back to his desk.

“He’s right, you know,” Olivia commented once Sonny was out of earshot.

“Carisi? Hardly,” Rafael scoffed in a half-hearted attempt to veil his true feelings.

“Think about it, Rafa. It might be good for you,” she said with a knowing smile.

As the days progressed, you and Rafael fell into an easy truce. The bickering still continued, of course, but it no longer constituted the primary portion of your conversations. Slowly, you became more relaxed around Rafael, allowing your guard to drop a little. In the corner of Rafael’s mind, however, was the ever-present fear that you would uncover his true feelings and reject him (if Carisi had suspected them, then surely you would as well). This never came to fruition, though, as you always seemed too preoccupied with your own thoughts to ever comment on his stolen glances at you or question why his fingers tended to brush against yours whenever he handed you a file. He knew he shouldn’t indulge in these little pleasures, but he couldn’t resist. He would take whatever crumbs he could get.

Olivia’s comment (as well as Carisi’s, much to his dismay) continued to linger in the back of his mind. He might not have to settle for little crumbs if he just told you how he felt -‘might’ being the operative word. These thoughts remained in the background, growing stronger until they bubbled over into the forefront of his mind one night.

“I don’t know,” you answered Rafael’s question of whether you should put the victim on the stand, running a hand through your hair.

You and Rafael were walking down the courthouse steps, having finished an intense trial prep session. The pavement was still wet from a summer storm earlier in the evening.

“What, they didn’t teach you common sense at your inferior law school?” Rafael teased.

You scoffed. “The University of Chicago ranks in the top five law programs in the U.S., but I could see how you would make that mistake –your fancy pants university probably cut the class about how to take your head out of your ass in order to make room for one on being pretentious while drinking scotch.”

“Scotch and The Art of Pretension is actually an undergraduate class,” Rafael smirked.

“Oh, my mistake. Were you able to fit it in your schedule or did it conflict with Yacht Fashion and Etiquette 101?”

You shot Rafael a smile and he felt his heart clench. Would knowing how you felt really be that bad? Even if it ended terribly, he could at least start to move on.

“Why don’t you like me?” He blurted out, catching you off guard. “Ever since we met, you’ve made it clear that you hate me and I don’t know why.”

“I don’t hate you,” you quietly replied, focusing your attention on a small crack in the granite.

“Then what?” Rafael asked, his heart feeling very exposed.

You took a moment to answer as an internal struggle waged between your heart and your head. In the end, your head won.

“You took my coffee.”

It wasn’t the whole truth, but it was the only part that you were willing to give him.

“What?” Rafael’s brow furrowed as he tried to recall the catalyst for your dislike of him.

“We were both at the same coffee shop one morning when you cut in front of me and took my coffee from the counter.”

“Why didn’t you say anything?”

“Obviously, I tried,” you gave him a wry smile. “But you were already half out the door and didn’t hear me call your name because you were on the phone.”

“That’s it? That’s why you don’t like me?”

“Wars have been founded on much less,” you shrugged, beginning to walk down the rest of the steps.

“Aren’t you going to ask me why I don’t like you?” Rafael called after you, Olivia’s words at the forefront of his mind. If you said yes, he would tell you everything.

His question made you momentarily pause at the bottom of the steps. You glanced at him over your shoulder, a sad smile on your lips.

“Goodnight, Barba,” you said before turning away from him and continuing on your way home.

Rafael remained on the courthouse steps for quite some time after you left, an idea slowly taking root in his mind.