#dad and grandpa... they're here in my heart

[ministarfruit]

shinigami

[dio-niisio]

(English is not my first language, so please ignore any mistakes! :-))

Ok I've been imagining a scenario that for some reason Martha and Thomas Wayne are brought back from the dead...

One day they are dead and the other they are starting at their graves, reading their names and being very confused.

Alfred probably finds them first, he looks out the window and sees two people standing in the family cemetery, Wayne Manor had problems in the past with grave robbers, and he would be damned if he let that happen with their grave. So poor Alfred runs, grabbing some old shovel on the way (just to scare, not to harm!), ready to give an ear full on these people. That's when he sees. His friends.

He's surprised to say the least. They don't look young, the years they were gone caught up to them. Thomas has mostly grey hair and Martha had a white strip of hair right in the top of her head...

Alfred doesn't know what to do, so he brings them inside. And starts to prepare some tea while he tries to explain the past 30 something years.

The next person who sees them is Dick, he smelled the tea and was going to get a cup, then he saw the people in the painting on the top of the stairs. And he panicked. Cuz he knows what that implies, and he is worried for his dad.

He introduces himself as 'Bruce's son' which gets them to be a very happy set of grandparents, he tells them the story of when Bruce adopted him (cuz grandpa wanted to meet his mom, in the end he got a nice and tragic story of the flying Grayson's)! And how he always wanted to meet them! He also text Jason, telling him to get his ass downstairs and talk to his family.

Jason almost had a heart attack, he thought that Dick wanted him to talk to Bruce not grandpa and grandma, he's very happy of course, but he's worried for them, resurrection isn't something nice, but they assure him they are as good as they could be. And it is his turn to explain that he's also adopted (they laughed at the tire story, he told them it was one of Bruce's "fancy cars"). He comments that he and Martha have matching hair (both with a white stripe right in the middle).

Tim comes home around noon, he's been spending time with some school friends, and when he hears some commotion in the kitchen he goes to investigate, that's when he sees them and thinks he's hallucinating (again), but he's reassured by a very happy grandma. He tells them he's 'Tim Drake-Wayne', and is his time to explain that no Bruce didn't marry a Drake, he is his legal guardian (aka Dad) cuz when his parents died on a archaeological excavation his uncle was not fit to be his guardian so Bruce stepped up.

Thomas and Martha are so happy in a couple of hours they went from being dead to having 3 beautiful grandchildren! They are very proud of Bruce for making a difference in these boys lives!

That's when Damian walks in the kitchen he just wanted Alfred's help with something, he looks just like Bruce when he was that age (or what they think Bruce would look like), he doesn't look surprised or excited, he just says that he's Bruce's 'biological son', which gets one of his ears pinched by Dick with a very stern 'be nice'. Before they can ask anything they're being hugged by Damian who says that it is nice to have them in here.

When Bruce comes home he's very tired™, he had a day full of meetings on Wayne enterprises and he still gotta do Batman stuff. He passed through the kitchen and saw that his kids had guests over. He doesn't think much of it until he gives a good look at them.

"Mama? Papa?"

And the world stopped spinning. That's them! All he wanted to see since he was an 8 year old little boy. He just doesn't believe it.

He looks just like his dad. Probably a bit shorter (and not rocking the mustache), but he has his mama's eyes. And her smile. He missed her smile so much! He missed his papa's hugs, he missed the lullabies his mama used to sing, he missed playing pretend with his papa, he missed them.

And he can't say a word. He just cries. He hugs them and he cries. His mama and papa are really back! They are back home!

And now it's his turn to catch up! And boy he's got a lot to say!

As they move to the living room Thomas gives this look to Alfred, smiles and says "Thank you for caring for our little boy, old friend!"

"Little boy? I'm sorry Mister Wayne, but that's an understatement. He's almost taller than the cabinets!"

[ouranbutworse]

Kyoya: I spend three hours every day deleting hateful anonymous comments from our website.

Hikaru & Kaoru: And we spend six hours each day posting that hate!

Hikaru: I'm here for you if you need moron support.

Haruhi: ... Don't you mean moral support?

Hikaru: Nope!

Fuyumi's kid: Hey uncle Kyoya, mom told me to ask you if you have any old furniture 'cause I'm moving into the attic.

Kyoya: The attic?

Fuyumi's kid: Hey, at least it's big. Grandpa said you used to live in a closet.

Doctor: Here's your baby's heartbeat. Oh, wait... there's two.

Tamaki: Our baby has two hearts?!

Haruhi: Oh Tamaki....

Haruhi: Four hotdogs please.

Tamaki: Oh, no thanks! I'm not hungry.

Haruhi: Okay. Four hotdogs please, and none for my boyfriend.

Hikaru: Look, look! Every time I move my arm, it costs the animators money!

Kaoru: Stop it, if we do it enough then we won't get a second season!

Kyoya: Got any life advice?

Yoshio: I'll keep it short and sweet: family, religion, friendship; these are the three demons you must slay if you wish to succeed in life.

Kyoya: ... Thanks for coming to my wedding, dad.

Honey: People in horror movies really just go to bed after a haunting. I once stayed up all night paralysed with fear because I heard snoring beside me and forgot I was married.

Satoshi: I wanna do an eating challenge, can you eat fast?

Yasuchika: Hey, I grew up with Mitsukuni. If you didn't eat fast you didn't eat.

Akito: You don't wanna mess with my little brother, he'll wear down your self esteem over a period of years.

Hikaru: I'm exhausted by all this drama. Do you wanna go buy a yacht?

Kaoru: Let's get matching yachts!

Kyoya: I like a dominant person. Not because I'm submissive, but I'm autistic and they're always direct with what they want.

Ranka, crying: I'm sorry for being so emotional, I'm just so happy that you're all grown up, I keep remembering your first haircut.

Haruhi: I gave you bangs.

Ranka, crying even louder: Hideous bangs!

Mori: Honestly you people, and by that I mean straight people, are so exhausting.

Kyoya: It could be worse, Haruhi. You could piss off someone, and they could go and buy a bike lock and lock yours and your twin sibling's bikes together and then throw the key down a drain.

Kaoru: You did that?!

Hikaru: Psychopath!

[vaguely-concerned]

I am absolutely positively irreconcilably LOSING MY MIND over what this:

(also... omg they're so cute here in their teeny tiny car)

is doing thematically when put up against:

the WEIGHT. the WEIGHT added to all of that when you realize that Lupin CHOSE to be Lupin the Third, and the first thing he chose as Lupin the Third was Jigen (Jigen's HEART, something a teen/tween Jigen seems ready to already half-believe doesn't even exist anymore fhsdfjka). recognizing something fundamental of himself in Jigen was what made him choose to be Lupin as we've known him all this time -- that one moment of connection, of true resonance, of 'whatever souls are made of, yours and mine are the same (utterly unhinged)'... after all his dad and grandpa each did to try to shape him in their image, that one moment of honesty from Jigen was what made him decide to be himself. and keep choosing that. for the rest of his life. he said 'fuck it, it IS a story, it's MY story, and I want my story to be with you if you want to come along for the ride'.

(and then from Jigen's side -- he's been pulling back from Lupin again and again in Zero under the reasoning that he's a bad influence, that he'll tarnish his life eventually because he's got something indelibly stained and broken about him already that he doesn't want to get all over Lupin as well, you sort of get the feeling that admitting how fighting a worthy opponent gives him a rush like nothing else was half meant as something to push Lupin away for good... and then to see Lupin just come to life because of it instead!! Lupin walks right past his gun and his skills and puts his hand on his chest and says 'no, this is the part that matters, this is what I want, the rest is just a fancy trinket', after pretty much every person we've seen Jigen interacting with thus far has only been interested in what he can do for them, as if he were nothing more than the gun. I mean. what was he supposed to do, not fall desperately and fathomlessly in love with this dude for the rest of his life??? unrealistic honestly he had no choice at that point. and despite all his fears Jigen goes on to be the one most stable and steady presence in Lupin's life, protective rather than corruptive. what a fucking relief that must be honestly, that not only did he not hurt Lupin by allowing himself to be closer to him, he helped him discover something wonderful -- with all his sharp edges he brought him joy instead of blood, and Lupin takes him along on that joy right through their lives, all the way up, through Part 5 and beyond. what the fuck. help. there aren't enough italics in the world to express what I feel here)

I thought I couldn't love this part 5 scene more than I already did but oh my god they've retroactively put in place the setup it's the payoff for and now I'm on my knees

[aroaceleovaldez]

thoughts on leo valdez? headcdanons? i

[stares at own url] ...I'll give you one for free, lol

Aro/ace Leo.... listen. He explicitly states that he plays up his false persona in aspects that he feels are lacking in his actual personality in an effort to make people like him more, and in his POVs we get a lot of him doing acknowledged-as-nonserious joke-flirting as part of his false persona. Guy who doesn't realize he's aspec trying to overcompensate for his lack of attraction by excessively hitting on people to hide that he doesn't feel attraction towards anyone? Him wondering if he's broken in a whole bunch of ways and trying to make up for it externally while having an identity crisis about that? Something something metaphor about him wondering if cause he's a Hephaestus kid he's a little too much like a machine/robot and can't feel love or The Right Emotions In General™ because of that cause he doesn't know about aspec stuff yet (or that he's autistic)? Can anyone hear me.

Related to that: Leo landing on Ogygia (island of unreciprocated love) and meeting Calypso, who (probably through love magic) actually seems to be attracted to him? And him trying to force himself to reciprocate because he figures that's just how it's supposed to go and maybe for once he's actually experiencing romantic love? And he's so desperate for someone to like him and to feel useful to someone (re: 7th wheel)? But it fizzles out almost immediately after they leave the island, because the heart-eyes wear off for Calypso, especially once she technically no longer needs him, and Leo can't keep up trying to make himself reciprocate (and can't keep up trying to put his mask back up for her, especially now that Calypso seems to actually care about it). I am literally always thinking about this.

Short king,,, I don't care what anybody says he is NOT 5'6" that is way too tall for him. My guy is 5'5" absolute maximum. I usually place him at 5'3". Tiny guy. Made of pipecleaners. Built like Bilbo Baggins...

I've mentioned it before in a couple of places (i know [here] at least) but I did not like his fake-out death in BoO. Also I'm just mad about his dropped character arc(s) in general. My ideal substitute is that instead of dying and being revived, Festus just crashes in the woods nearby and Leo has overexerted his powers too much a la Nico's shadow stuff and is nearly dead but once they get him to the infirmary he recovers and can start working on recovering from his whole depression arc too. Also maybe he loses a leg in the crash so he can match his dad just for funsies, and so that there's some amount of consequence to his sacrifice to make up for him not dying (not like in canon there were any consequences to him dying and being revived anyways...). Also something something accidental Hiccup HTTYD joke. Leo with a prosthetic is always fun. More Hephaestus kids with prosthetics.

I am very amused by the concept of Leo never having any romantic attraction to Hazel at all, possibly even negative romantic attraction once he finds out she dated his great-grandpa (especially since in canon like 90% of his thoughts about Hazel are just kind of appreciative and genuinely thinking she's really cool, if a little confusing at first), and Hazel pretty quickly gets over her side of things once she gets used to the fact that this is Definitely Not Sammy, he just Looks Like Sammy (and does not actually act like Sammy, that's just a fake persona that is eerily similar by coincidence. Real Leo is actually quite reserved and not so much of a vocal goofball most of the time). So they're just besties after their mutual weird Sammy vision and understanding the deeper sides to each other and are each other's person they're most comfortable letting their guard down around cause they've formed that level of trust. Except Frank's over in the corner seething cause he thinks this is a love triangle but he's the only one who thinks that. Leo just thinks Frank hates him for the general reasons he thinks everybody hates him (which is just an assumption he's kind of used to and expects from people, so he does not question it at all). Hazel knows Frank thinks Leo is trying to steal her from him but she's having trouble trying to keep the two of them from nearly killing each other. It's a very homestuck auspistice dynamic.

Leo and Frank eventually work out their stuff and become very good friends to meeee... let them bond over their mutual fear of fire and dead mom trauma! they have so many parallels and I want the two of them and Hazel to be a funky cute little trio!

Dragonkin Leo! That boy is a dragon!!!! I usually say his stuff is kind of spiritual origin (he doesn't really know how to explain it other than his soul is just a dragon) versus like Jason being a wolf therian with a more psychological origin (being raised by an immortal wolf pack rubbed off on him) (rip Piper being the only non-alterhuman in their trio LMAO). I imagine whatever type of dragon he is probably is very similar to Festus, which is part of why Leo clicks with Festus so quickly - he just sees himself in Festus and it's very comforting to him. He definitely makes himself some fun 'kin gear, like a nice weighted tail and wings and claws to try and help his phantom shifts feel a lil less wonky. Also him having dragon talon weapons just sounds cool. He also totally makes gear for any other alterhuman demigods.

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

book 7 part 4 thoughts!!

***THIS POST CONTAINS MASSIVE SPOILERS FOR BOOK 7, PART 4 OF THE MAIN STORY!!***

Usually I would put this in bullet points, but I have so many thoughts that I have to format it as paragraphs. (If you’d like to watch a rough part-by-part summarized translation, please check out this archived stream!)

Please note: this is NOT meant to be a summary or a translation; these are only my initial thoughts on the events that unfold. There may be details overlooked or misunderstood in this post, so PLEASE do not use this as a translation.

LILIA'S SO DIFFERENT 🤡 His voice is deeper, and he speaks more gruffly. He definitely comes off as more combative and having disdain for humans. HE'S POPPING OFF ABOUT HOW BAD SILVER/SEBEK/GRIM ARE AT MAGIC??? Damn, what happened in the following years to make him change????

The contrast between current Lilia telling Silver "there's nothing left for me to teach you" and past Lilia being like, "there's nothing for me to teach you, are you trying to make fun of me?"

The human faction they're fighting at the moment are the Silver Owls!! There are also people who dress in iron (a metal which harms fae in irl mythology), I'm not sure if they are synonymous with the Silver Owls or not.

IHBFIOASBFIAADSI LORD, THE FAE SOLDIERS ARE ALL MIDDLE SCHOOL NEKO GIRLS HISSING AT US

AYO, SEBEK GRANDPA REVEAL????? ??? ? ? ????? BAL/BAAL/BAUL REAL, I CAN SEE WHERE SEBEK GETS HIS LOOKS AND HIS PERSONALITY FROM

Silver's asking to team up with Lilia and his group (Lilia was about to just leave them there because he's concerned with the Silver Owls setting up camp at the base of the mountain)? Bruh, book 1 we're calming down an angry classmate and book 7 is like, HEY KIDS LET'S TAKE A FIELD TRIP INTO AN ACTIVE WAR ZONE.

Silver's hoping to shock him awake via a fight, here comes a Sebek and Silver tag team battle!! RIP Lilia beats them up a little :v (Sebek. Don't fanboy over his strength, WE ARE FIGHTING FOR OUR LIVES HERE)

Oop, they disorient him with light and Lilia's mask off!! It's treated like a big reveal????? Sorry, but how does Yuu not notice this is Lilia automatically 😅

Lilia voice) you are not my son (and here you can hear Silver's heart breaking/j)

Oh boy, we get to be prisoners of war/j

NOT LILIA ASKING SILVER AND SEBEK HOW THEY KNOW HOW TO FIGHT SO WELL WHEN IT WAS LILIA WHO TRAINED THEM TO BEGIN WITH

"Fae don't go back on their word" AH SO THEY LIKE TO KEEP PROMISES EH

"May the night bless you" seems to be some kind of salute for nocturnal fae?

LOL Lilia's against being called a father OTL THE IRONY HERE IS SO STRONG

Not Sebek's grandpa telling them off for not showing Lilia respect and saying how great he is... Fanboy genes run in the family/j

DOES YUU STILL THINK THIS IS A PERIOD DRAMA OR SOMETHING

BAAL IS CALLING SEBEK A HUMAN KEK

BAL/BAAL/BAUL REAL DROPS THE CROC MASK???? ?? ?? ?? ? He's got SCALES instead of facial hair???? ???? ? ? Oh man, he reminds me so much of Seteth FE3H OTL The scales are a signature trait of the Zigvolt line! Sebek says his mom has the same scales.

NO NOT SEBEK HAVING TO CONFESS THAT HIS DAD BEING HUMAN, IS THIS THE START OF HIS CHARACTER ARC

LILIA TOLD BAAL TO BABYSIT US...

AW Sebek's so excited about seeing his grandpa in his prime... I'm happy seeing Sebek happy OTL

Lilia's dreaming about the past... I wonder if it's because he was thinking about his life and what he has achieved before leaving his loved ones with his legacy...

Lilia first got the invite to NRC 500 years ago??? So NRC has been around much longer than we expected.

Ahhhh, crap 🤡 The return of book 6 limited battles but now with a battle map. There is a new mechanic where HP carries over from each battle; if a card's HP gets knocked to 0, you cannot use them. (5 cards be restored at random if you get to a heart space on the battle map.)

SEBEK'S ACTING AS OUR OLD FAE SPEECH TRANSLATOR (He's throwing his own angry commentary in, which is hilarious)

The humans arrived on a boat ~100 years ago. Now they have a settlement in the east and are mining around Briar Valley + taking the fae's natural resources. (I think this is why Mystium, that shape-shifting magic green ore that Lilia's weapon is made of, is no longer as plentiful; it was likely mined into obscurity.)

Magical creatures are now coming down from the mountain and causing trouble in Briar villages; the fairies cannot handle all of this. Damn, this is just the plot to the first Shrek movie 😂 They're invading Shrek's swamp--

Oh, interesting! So there are different kinds of fae language (depending on the type of fae they are; think of the diurnal fae from Fairy Gala speaking in bell tinkles), but they infuse their voices with magic so they can understand one another. In modern Briar Valley, there is a common tongue. Omg, Sebek speaks it with his mom and grandma! BILINGUAL KING, HE'S SO PROUD OF HIMSELF... Silver tried to learn from Lilia, but he struggled with it; Sebek's dad had the same issue so the problem must be that human ears cannot pick up on the same range of sounds as fae ears can. This is true of real life as well; different creatures have different auditory thresholds and auditory detection ranges.

Bruh, not Lilia sending out literal children to fight for him on the battlefield...

Eh, new character named??? Some human soldiers are talking about Henrich?? Henrik??? Henric??? He's a commander of the Silver Owls who is conceited and dumps his work onto his subordinates. Errrr he apparently also has a little sister named Leia? Lea??? Leah???? Who is rumored to be in a relationship with someone called the Dawn Knight.

More interesting lore????? Kind of???? Some pixies (small fae) come and warn Lilia about something up ahead, then heal them too. This is notable since in Fairy Gala: What If, we learn that diurnal fae (which I believe pixies are) and nocturnal fae (which Lilia and Sebek appear to be) do not like each other. It seems they got along well enough in the past to confront a common enemy?

They reach a Silver Owl camp!! ... Aaand Lilia tells his soldiers to boot them out so they can take over the camp. I mean, it IS technically the fae's land to begin with, so. Uhhhh, yeah I think I'm with Lilia on this one 💦

I don't think iron affects fae negatively in Twisted Wonderland?? Lilia and co. are having no trouble fighting them even when the humans are clad in iron armor.

HMMMM they've named dropped a formidable person on the human side called the Dawn Knight (Lilia mentions them once, then the human soldiers do). The Dawn Knight is the captain of the Silver Owls and even Lilia considers them a strong opponent. Methinks they'll become a key player later...

OH NOOOO 😭 Sebek’s like, “let’s change this fate!!” but since it’s just a dream, reality won’t be altered at all… Then Sebek suggests just. Staying in the dream???? Which makes darkness spawn… The light from Silver’s ring thing (the trinket he got from Lilia as a sign that he is now a full fledged adult) protects them???

Silver fears the dream will tempt him to stay too 😭 He asks Yuu to snap him “awake” if it ever comes to that… Silver, sweet boy… OTL

NOT SILVER AND SEBEK JUMPING IN TO STOP LILIA FROM COOKING FOR THEM (Come to think of it, how have Lilia's soldiers survive this far with him cooking for them???? ?? ??? ?? ?? )

LILIA THINKING THEY'RE GOING TO POISON THEM, THAT'S SO JAMIL ENERGY

Omg... They're acknowledging their Master Chef training (this is the only time they've referenced events in the main story, if I recall correctly)... Silver even prepares a risotto for them all~ (His own favorite food is mushroom risotto, so I like to think of it as he's sharing a piece of himself with the fae.)

asldiuhaodasidba Lilia complaining about the tiny portions in fine dining...

SEBEK PREPARING A ROAST CHICKEN FOR THEM, they're going all out for this one meal??? ? ? ??? ? ?? Poor Sebek though 😭Baal refuses to eat anything Sebek made, he'd rather starve or eat rations than a human's cooking...

AW BAAL BOUGHT SEBEK BOOKS????? And encouraged his love for reading... 😭

Grim taking Baal's portion of food... (Of course... Did we really have any doubts about that?) Sebek really did get his attitude from Baal... Now Baal's going, "Gimme my food back!" after Grim started digging into it... And then Baal has three entire helpings of risotto... THEY HAVE THE SAME INTIMIDATING-YET-ALSO-PATHETIC VIBES

AYO SILHOUETTE FOR MALLEUS'S MOM????? Her name is (Princess) Mallenoa, the only daughter of Maleficia (Malleus's grandma). She lives at a separate palace and commands the military. Lilia also describes her as being extremely powerful, fickle, stubborn, selfish, and easy to anger. He's just tossing out allllllll the adjectives ahdbayodqdq

Ah, so it sounds like humans greatly outnumber the fae??? So they're at a disadvantage. Normally a royal would handle diplomatic stuff like this but for some reason Lilia is being sent? They're traveling on foot to deliver a message to the human encampment to the east; the last messenger (that travelled there via magic?) did not return. Ominous...

Fae nobility are repulsed by the smell of iron? I'm confused, are fae in TWST impacted by iron or not????

Aww, Silver... He's asking his dad to come to school not to learn, but to make special memories there 🥺 Back to "our Night Raven College"...

NOOO NOW THEY'RE FLASHING THROUGH ALL THE DORMS... while Silver and Sebek monologue about how everyone at NRC is very different, but despite how weird they all are, there is a lot that can be learned from their differences. Silver's spreading what he learned from his dad... and the fact that even Sebek pitched in... 😭

Lilia voice) let's make these high school students our pack mules and unpaid chefs and if they fuck up we leave them for dead in these woods where there are monsters lurking about

Man, he's so ruthless????? Lilia will use anyone he can to succeed in his mission... But then the next second he lays into his princess with a smile www

Lilia knew the princess since they were kids ~300 years ago, which puts the current conflict at ~400 years ago from modern day (since present Lilia is ~700 years old).

asdjbasbldbasdi Gotta love the lowkey jabs at classic fairy tales... Lilia says that human princesses may need protecting but not theirs???? (Yet Mallenoa still stays in her castle all day like she's waiting for a prince.)

THE PRINCESS HAS AN EGG... MALLEUS????? IS THAT YOU???? ???? ????? ? ?? ? ? (LOL at Sebek calling it Tamago-sama asghdyqovywqdwp9qbpacpasb) JAHAJAAH BAAL SUS OF THEM BEING INTERESTED IN THE EGG????

Oooh, so dragon eggs only hatch after receiving enough love and magic from the parents??? (Otherwise the egg will not mature and hatch.) The "power of love" is real, you guys 🥺

ANOTHER new character name drop?????? Levan/Revan??? It's a fae that went missing (probably the messenger from earlier??) I-Is that. Is that Malleus's dad???????? (Lilia says that both the princess and Levan/Revan have been pushing their tasks onto him; he has known them both for a long ass time.)

Baal voice) I still don't trust you

Fandom, back at Baal: Sorry (grand)daddy. Sorry. (Grand)daddy? Sorry. (Grand)daddy? Sorry.

Malleus is 178 years old in current day even though his egg existed 400 years ago, so it seems there was a few hundred years of delay before he actually hatched (normally the egg would hatch in 2-3 years). That means Lilia was ~522 when Malleus hatched and ~683 when he found Silver as a newborn (Malleus was ~161). Silver and Sebek think it’s weird that the timeline does not add up; it means Malleus was dormant for quite a while?? Or is the dream world wonky to accommodate for a “happy ending”? Or maybe the history they know is not correct (since earlier in book 7 Lilia mentions how true history can be distorted over time.)

Very sus, apparently there is not a lot known about Briar Valley's history??? Lilia never talked about the past around Silver, and Baal did the same with Sebek. None of the books Sebek read really goes into that history either. In current day, the palace where Malleus's mom resided isn't even there anymore, it's just land. It suddenly became a mystery...

MAN, I've been wondering this whole time why Lilia's happy ending is wartime but maybe. This is the period where Malleus's parents both died???? Maybe his happy ending is saving them??? Instead of them dying and him having to live with the guilt of not being there to protect his friends and his future prince's parents???? (I previously thought it was during war that Malleus hatched and/or Lilia found Silver, but I guess the timeline doesn't make sense there.)

According to Silver, they cannot stray too far from dreamers or else the darkness will return and try to drag them into a deeper sleep.

asdhbasdobasdbas Sebek is SUPER hype to see baby Tamago-sama Malleus...

Sebek points out that Silver is not nodding off (good catch, I actually did not notice this because I was too busy screaming about the lore); sooo when Silver is dream walking, he's consistently alert. It looks like Silver's narcolepsy is an important detail??? (Lilia took him to lots of doctors that didn't know how to help him, Silver does whatever he can to sleep well and to have a sleep schedule.)

OH MY GOD, I DIDN'T REALIZE THAT YUU AND GRIM STILL DIDN'T KNOW LILIA IS SILVER'S DAD. They thought it was a friendly nickname this entire time??? Kind of late to get to that, but alright 😅 We have acquired the Forbidden Knowledge... (SEBEK'S MOM IS WAY OLDER THAN HIS DAD BUT LOOKS WAY YOUNGER?? I mean, I kind of expected that but to have it confirmed just hits different.)

One of the soldiers tells the kids to stfu so they can sleep and so Sebek yells at everyone to stop disturbing them (you know, in his LOUD AS HECK voice).

Water in the Briar Country is cold because it is located up north (it snows a lot!). The lake water usually comes from melted snow. Checks out, I guess?

They're packing up to leave the camp... Reminds me of Mulan!

[Insert boring trek to the Silver Owls' base. Interesting tidbit: some soldiers we run into comment that Silver resembles the Dawn Knight/they didn't know the Dawn Knight had a lover?????? So... that's obviously gotta be an ancestor of Silver's, right??? Also??? The Dawn Knight apparently never removes their helmet, even around subordinates... VERY SUS, SIR

NAYUUURx NOT SeBEK CAViNG TO THE DATKNESS 😭 I feel like??? This is a really big character development moment for him?? He’s always been pretty blindly loyal to Malleus and hateful of humans, but this marks the first time he willingly does something against Malleus’s will and he calls Yuu and Grim by name… Sebek, sweetie… 😭 (Side note: Silver’s been so strong-willed through all of this, but I’m glad that TWST showed he isn’t perfect and infallible; he, too, was tempted to stay in the dream when Sebek started to consider it too.)

bchsheoxndle Something else I enjoy is Baul being so… tsun?? He complains about the kids but keeps an eye out for them anyway (and Sebek in particular)… The paternal vibes are too immaculate to completely squash 😎]

They made it!! Finally!!

UHHHHH THEY'RE FIGHTING A BIG MACHINE AND. LILIA INSTINCTIVELY BLOCKS SILVER?? (He’ll be fine, he’s in his prime 😌)

Oop, Heinrich and the Dawn Knight were supposed to be in the eastern base but they aren't??? Oh no, it looks like. It was a diversion?????? While Lilia and co. are busy at the base, Heinrich launched an attack on the palace where Malleus's mom is???????

AND OF CORUSE THAT'S WHERE WE CUT OFF?????????? BRUH.

OKAY, so this entire update was focused just on Lilia's dream. We have no clue what's happening in Idia's dream or the real world with Ortho??? Which I'm totally fine with; I feel like we learned SO much about Briar Valley's history and important figures in it. That's a very fair trade-off. I loved getting to learn about the conflict between humans and fae, fae culture, and about how Briar Valley (or Country) works. I'm surprised that the characters themselves know so little about the history, but that just makes me worried that that's because it's a dark part of history that was purposefully censored from the textbooks...

There were a lot of new characters introduced in this part, most of them just mentioned by name or silhouette. It really feels like we walked right into the most dire part of a history textbook... So much tragedy has been set up, so many key players put into place... But being that this is Lilia's promised happy ending, surely he must reverse fate and save the day in the end????? Right? Right??? ?????? ?? ??? ? ? ? ? ? ?????? I have my eyes glued to the Draconia family lore and history, I'm READY to absorb it!

Something else I found really fascinating was learning more about Sebek this update! He still has a very arrogant attitude about him (that much hasn't changed), but I loved seeing how he acts different around his grandfather and how excited he gets over little things like seeing Malleus's egg. I think this part also marks the start to his character arc; he is constantly put down time and time again by his grandpa, someone whom he really loves. Sebek is used to his grandpa accepting him for who he is, but now his grandpa is shouting hateful rhetoric and discriminating against him for being half human. It's the same ugly behavior that Sebek slings to other people, but now the shoe's on the other foot and HE'S the victim in these situations. It must no doubt be extremely uncomfortable for Sebek, but it's also forcing him into a situation where he has to look at his own bigotry head-on, and it gives him a chance to reevaluate himself. It's similar to how Vil had to challenge Epel's outdated gender views even when Epel kicked up a fuss every time Vil did. asdhbsaisdbabdil I'm just really invested in Sebek's character arc!!

I think there's a high probability we'll see all of the silhouetted figures in full in a future update, it's clear that we'll eventually be rushing back to check on Malleus's mom at some point. I'm super interested in seeing how Malleus's parents, the Dawn Knight, Lilia, Baal, and Henrik tie together. (And, of course, we NEED to check in with the Shrouds as well.)

I have heard people say that Henrik may be a reference to King Henry from the live action Maleficent? Then that means that the Dawn Knight may be TWST's equivalent to Stefan/Stephan (Aurora's dad) and Henrik/Henric's little sister is Leah/Leia (Aurora's mom)??? Then I've heard other theories that since Malleus's dad vanished, we have no corpse to confirm he is for real dead and maybe he's actually Crowley who went off to buy some milk and never came back???? (Because “Levan” sounds like “raven” and you know who else is a black bird? CROWLEY. Is he. Is he really going to be the Ultimate Absentee Dad by pulling off his mask in front of Malleus and go, “Luke, I am your father” at him????) And then there's those of us who are drooling over new character designs and screaming about how hot Sebek's grandpappy is. Point is, there are so many wild parallels, theories, ideas, and thirst posts flying around right now. I love how this wild update reinvigorated the whole fandom into a new period of theory crafting and other creative works. asdhabsdasdbasdi Every new book 7 update gets more and more hype... I just hope we get part 5 in July!!! Super intrigued by the history of the Briar Valley~

[youeverjustmarryabountyhunter]

Recently became obsessed with cowboy au's again so I did what any reasonable person would do and made a silly Clone Wars au for pure self indulgence.

Please enjoy my silly little headcannons and maybe one day I'll actually write the thing (I've said this several times before...but one day!)

•Usually with modern au's I try to justify why Jango has so many damn kids but not this time. The man just does okay? Also he's not attracted to women so like..who knows! My favorite plot point is Jango just has a bunch of kids and no one knows why and they just have to accept that

•Jango/Myles supremacy. They're married, thank you. Silas is their third wheel that's just always sorta there.

•Good dad Jango! Always good dad Jango. I just love him okay? It's like a little treat for myself.

•Ages are like...semi...cannon? For the clones the alphas are all adults, as are the commanders. After that, Rex, Kix, Jesse and whoever else I deem to be in that like age range- are 18/19/20. Domino squad, are teenagers. Tup, Dogma, Wooley, Comet are like..ranging from preteen's to 8. Boba is the baby at 3 years old. Don't ask me about Omega or the bad batch please I haven't decided what I'm doing with them yet, probably gonna make them Arla's kiddos like the other modern au of mine. These are also like..just a general guidelines of ages I haven't really fleshed anything out.

•Boba LOVES animals. It's a good thing they live on a farm. He just..befriends all of the animals even the ones that he isn't supposed to (raccoons) Jango nearly had a heart attack. Boba was fine though, just a little grumpy that Jango took him away from the raccoon.

•It's a miracle Boba knows how to walk because he's just constantly being carried/demanding to be carried. If he has the option to be in someone's arms he will be. Spoiled little thing. Honestly all of the Fett kids are probably spoiled, but they like to tease Boba about it cause he's the baby.

•Real talk though, I think Boba is a little sweety. He just loves his aliit(family) so much and wants to spend all his time with them.

•Mando'a is a language because I said so. Mandalorians are still a culture. That's just my go to for all modern au's tbh.

•Jaster is the best grandpa EVER. He's the reason they're all spoiled. Auntie Zam ALSO spoils them rotten. Uncle Bossk does as well it's just a lot less. Hondo...is Hondo let's be honest here. They're spoiled sure but Jango would really like to know WHERE Hondo got everything from (he would not like the answer)

•I haven't figured out how or anything but Codywan IS happening. Same with Blyla (is that Aayla and Bly's ship name?? Gonna pretend it is-)

•In the vain of keeping ages semi cannon Fennec is 19 and a farmhand 👌. She's like..not legally adopted but she might as well be. Jango's baby girl right there. Boba follows her around like a puppy and it only annoys her a little. She's definitely the reason he knows bad words let's be honest.

•I'm leaning towards most face tattoos are just birthmarks. As far as names go those are just their names. No one ever said Jango was good at naming things. Isn't there a comic in legends where they have a pet eel and it's name is just eel?

•Everything I know about 3 year olds comes from the times I have babysat actually 3 year olds and google. So in that spirit, Boba does have a paci in the art depicted below simple because I wanted to draw a pacifier- but Jango is also trying to ween him off it so he doesn't mess up his teeth.

This au has consumed me like..ugh I'm obsessed with it. There may or may not be a pinterest board just entirely dedicated to it. You don't understand how in love with this silly little au I am-

If you made it this far through the post- have some traditional art that may or may not get turned digital eventually! (There was one of Myles and Jango but I literally cannot decide on Myles hairstyle and couldn't erase it anymore for fear of ripping the paper so...)

Join me next time (maybe-) for when I inevitably think of more headcannons for this au.

In order: Jango and Boba, Jango braiding Fennec's hair, and Cody!

[crystalofmoon19]

Día de los Muertos (Day of Death) - Striker x Mexican Catrina Reader! 🌼🌹💀

POV: You invited your boyfriend, Striker, to the Día de Muertos celebration with your family. Striker doesn't know much about the holiday, luckily you were there to help him.

"So you're saying you don't celebrate Halloween, darlin'?"

"No, mi amor, I celebrate "El Día de Muertos" with my family."

"The what?"

"The Day of the Dead, as they usually call them on this side of Wrath."

"Oh yeah, The Day of Death, I've heard of that. Is it the day where they dress up like skeletons?"

"Those are called the catrinas and the catrines, mi amor."

Striker looked at you a little confused, to which you just laughed, you had invited your boyfriend to celebrate the "Day of the Dead" with your family. Your grandma was preparing the food together with your aunts and your mom, your dad was preparing the altar with your uncle, your younger siblings were playing while painting their faces like skulls and you and your siblings close to your age were decorating your home. Around him, more people came to see the wonderful altar that you and your family had made together.

Striker, although he had accepted your invitation to spend the night with you and your family, he was still confused about the holiday, he knew of its existence but did not understand the great background behind it.

Luckily you were there to help him.

"What do you want to know about "El Día de los Muertos", mi amor?" .- You said caressing Striker's cheek, which made him rattle his tail like a rattlesnake and laugh a little, you knew how to make your boyfriend happy when he was disconcerted.

"Well, sugarcube, I'd like to know what exactly you're celebrating? And why are you celebrating death?"

"You know what? I think I'd better show you! Come on, Striker! Do you want to see my family altars?" .- You took your boyfriend's hand and your eyes lit up like stars.

"I'd love to, darlin'. Besides, I can't say 'no' to your pretty face."

"Okay let's go!"

You led Striker running out of your house and took him to where your father and uncle were, they greeted you and your boyfriend, you told them that you were going to show Striker your family altar. To which your dad, a little distrustful of Striker, admitted that he doubted your idea, but in the end you convinced him to give in so your dad and your uncle left for a moment; although your father gave Striker a questioning look and made him adjust his hat a little nervously but you comforted him by taking his hand.

"Look, Striker, this is the tradition of the Día de los Muertos, the altar; here we place a photo of our relatives who have passed away and on this day it feels like they come to visit us. Because as long as we remember them, they will continue to live on our hearts!" .- You put your hand to your heart while you continued explaining.

"In addition to the photos, we place candles to light the way of their arrival, we put the cempasúchil flower..."

"The flower of what...?" .- Striker interrupted you, confused about the Spanish name of the flower, to which you just laughed.

"It's the marigold flower, Striker!"

"Oh, good. Go on, darlin'."

"The name of this flower means "twenty flowers" or "several flowers." Its yellow color made our ancestors associate it with the sun. That is why they always placed them in their offerings!" .- You explained, putting a cempasúchil flower in your hair and smiled. Now Striker had no doubt that you were a radiant sunshine in his eyes.

"We also place typical food of the festival such as bread of the dead, tamales, hot chocolate, candy skulls and the favorite food of the beloved one who has the altar. For example, my grandpa loved my grandma's enchiladas, that's why they're here! So you better not try to eat anything!" .- When you looked towards Striker, he was already about to take one of the snacks from the offering. His snake-like appetite may have gotten the better of him but you weren't going to allow him to eat anything.

"Striker!" .- Your hand slapped Striker's hand who was about to steal a candy skull.

"What? We can't waste food!"

"It's not wasted food if it's for those who come to visit us! Plus if you're hungry we can go eat, I'm sure my grandma already has the food ready."

And said and done, your grandma called everyone to eat, with this you indicated Striker to follow you to the dining room of your house. So when they entered, the table was full of delicious food, which included pozole (a broth seasoned with vegetables such as corn, chili and meat), mole (a sauce that is a combination of several types of sauces seasoned with chili peppers and spices), and tamales (food made from corn, filled with various ingredients, cooked in a package of vegetable leaves).

"Hey darlin'?"

"Si, mi amor?"

"Are you sure your family isn't from Gluttony, instead of Wrath?"

"Why do you ask, mi vida?"

"Because I see that you and your family eat a lot, and you have also served me a lot of food." .- Striker said, satisfied with his food but that he still had not been able to finish his plate. To which you just laughed.

"And wait until you eat the bread of the dead with the atole, mi amor."

"IS THERE STILL MORE?"

"Ay mijo, you are so thin, you should eat more!" .- This time your grandma spoke, serving Striker more pozole, which made him throw his head back, although she thanked your grandma for this. You just laughed softly.

"If you're not from Gluttony, then you must have like three stomachs, right?"

"Yeah, something like that." .- You said enjoying your food while your family also ate theirs. Although Striker still couldn't stop looking at the huge appetite your family had, he had seen many Wrath imps be hungry, but you and your family were on another level.

However, Striker did not mind this trait of you or your family, on the contrary he was grateful that your family was very warm to him (perhaps with the exception of your father) since they let him be there as part of one of them, He also felt that this had been one of the best meals he had had in a long time. There were days when he would only eat a can of beans or instant noodles for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and now having an entire feast with you and your family was something that had warmed his heart as well as his stomach.

So Striker took advantage of the fact that no one was looking to hold your hand under the table, which made your cheeks turn pink, and you also held his hand while they ate.

Later, when they finished eating, it was already starting to get dark and you told Striker to take care of your little brothers while you waited in the living room. Clearly the rattlesnake demon was quick to protest.

"Hey, I'm not gonna-!"

"Do it!" .- You gave Striker an angry look and how he already knew that if he didn't obey you it would end up with him sleeping on the couch for a week or more.

"Fine." .- The rattlesnake demon said resignedly as he watched you climb the stairs of your house in the company of your sisters.

"Just wait until I finish getting ready. I won't be long!" .- You told Striker until you went up to the second floor of your house. But Striker knew that when you said that, it was actually going to take a long time, so he just resigned himself to taking care of your little brothers while he waited.

Which wasn't an easy task, Striker wasn't one to take care of children, but your little brothers were getting on his nerves. Since they started running around the room and even though the cowboy scolded them not to do it, they did it anyway and one of them stole his hat.

"Give that, you little one!" .- Striker said annoyed while only your little brother made fun of him by sticking out his tongue and putting on his hat even though it was too big for him.

The only one who didn't seem to cause Striker any problems was your little sister, who was the youngest of the family, barely being about two years old, as soon as she had found Striker's leg she clung to his. For a second Striker calmed down a little for the baby, he even carried her to his chest, everything was fine until the baby started crying.

Striker complained loudly, he swore that he would be careful not to have as many children with you, at least in the amount that your parents had. He really felt that time flew by when he was taking care of your little siblings, although he was able to retrieve the hat from him he still wasn't enjoying this and when he was close to catching one of them that's when he saw you coming down the stairs. stairs.

You were dressed as a catrina, where you had made up your face as if it were a skull, you combed your black hair in a braid and you were wearing a red dress with an opening on your right leg that was decorated with yellow flowers very similar to the cempasúchil flower that decorated your entire outfit. You were also wearing red shoes along with a red hat that matched your dress and was decorated with flowers and pink feathers.

Striker when he saw you, his tail stood on end and his eyes widened when he saw how beautiful you were, you had practically left him speechless by your beauty.

"Y/N! You look so pretty!" .- One of your little brothers said when he saw you.

"Gracias." .- You thanked your little brother as you went down the stairs and headed towards where Striker was.

"How do I look, mi amor?"

"You look like a real angel in hell, darlin'." .- As soon as you approached him, Striker had taken your hand to kiss it, to which you laughed.

"Gracias, mi amor." .- You smiled at your boyfriend, who now approached to kiss you, but you stopped him with your hands while you laughed.

"Eww!" .- Your little brothers said in chorus for the show of affection.

"Not in front of my little siblings, Striker!"

"Why not? They are not your dad."

Without warning your dad appeared and stared at you and your boyfriend, this made Striker eat his own words and with that he distanced himself from you. You reassured your father that everything was fine and with a lot of effort on your part, you managed to get your father to leave you alone, with this done you had fun with Striker for the rest of the night.

There was a moment when you returned to your grandpa's altar, there you noticed that Striker behaved differently than usual, so you asked him what was happening. To which he in response tipped his hat to you.

"Is something wrong, mi amor?"

"I... I'm very grateful to you and your family for showing me the "Día de Muertos" holiday, did I say that right?" .- He asked you, seeking your approval in the pronunciation of his Spanish.

"Yes, that's fine."

"Well, I also enjoyed how well your family treated me, the delicious food I ate, and seeing you more beautiful than ever." .- He said caressing your cheek to which you smiled and took the hand he was caressing you with.

"Oh, mi amor, I'm glad to know that you liked the celebration."

"And I want to show you somethin' too, darlin'." .- He removed his hand from your face to take out a somewhat neglected photo from his jacket pocket and showed it to you.

At first you couldn't tell who it was, it didn't look like anyone you'd ever met, until when you looked closer at the photo you noticed that it was a snake demon. She was a young woman, with a green scale and snake fangs but she had white hair, when she saw her eyes that were an intense yellowish green you immediately knew how much the woman looked like Striker.

"Striker, is that your…?"

"Yes, that's my ma'." .- Striker answered you before you finished asking.

You looked closer and compared her to Striker, the resemblance was undeniable, you were sure that if Striker was a full snake demon she would completely resemble his mother.

"Mi amor, I haven't seen your mother before, what happened to her?" .- You tried to sound as soft as possible, but you still couldn't stop Striker from lowering his gaze a little.

"She was murdered by royalty." - Striker said with some resentment in his voice.

"I'm so sorry, mi amor. I had no idea." .- You put one hand to your mouth and another to your heart surprised.

"It's okay, darlin'. I didn't want to tell you about my ma' before either, because I didn't think you were close to those deceased relativies until now." .- This time Striker sounded a little more understanding, leaving his resentment for royalty aside and he did something you hadn't seen him do before; he took off his signature red handkerchief and handed it to you.

"Striker, what are you doing-?"

"This used to be my ma's and she gave it to me when I became independent enough from her." .- Striker explained, adjusting his hat again while he looked at you.

"Listen, darlin'. Before I met you, I used to think that life was something to be taken for granted, and death was the only way to give value to a life. When I was in a near-death situation I would run away fearing for my life; but when I met you, you gave value to my life and taught me the purpose of this holiday, I remembered ma' and the good times I had with her." .- You noticed how your boyfriend's tone of voice had changed and it was the first time that he was vulnerable to you in this way and you were going to support him.

"Your mother is here, Striker. She will continue to live as long as you remember her in your heart, and when you remember her you will always feel the warmth of her, but it is similar to the love you feel when you are with your loved ones." .- You said, putting your hand on Striker's chest and smiling at him with your warmest smile while still holding the photo and his handkerchief in your other hand.

"Can you feel her?"

"I think… I can feel her."

You smiled as you silently handed Striker the photo of his mother and placed his handkerchief around his neck. The rattlesnake was nostalgic. This gesture had not worn his handkerchief like that since he was a child. It reminded him of his mother, you may not have been a snake demon like her but you still had the same love that she gave and you gave it to him as his lover.

Striker moved much closer to you and you gladly accepted it, moving closer until his lips were a few centimeters away.

"Can I-?"

"Yes, you can." .- It was your turn to interrupt your boyfriend so that you could give him a kiss on your lips and he gladly reciprocated while both of you put your tails together and your hats fell to the ground but that didn't matter to you now.

You had a "telenovela kiss" with Striker, like he was taken from a clip of a Hell-a-Novela episode with Gabriella kissing Alejandro. After the party you told Striker that next year you were going to prepare an altar for his mother and he couldn't but agree with that and even told you that he was going to help you do it as long as you told him how to do it. one.

Thanks to you he not only now had a new favorite holiday and now he could always honor the memory of his mother thanks to you.

[smiley-star]

Overwhelmed

OH MY GOSH CLASSES ARE MURDERING ME.

I got more stuff on the way, I promise!!!!

This was supposed to be a comic, but I'd rather not fail my classes ಥ⁠‿⁠ಥ

For the incredible: @xavitron883

Teddy Bear duo! :3

There's going to be a part 2!! I HAVE to write more of this duo, they're so wholesome!! 🥺ಥ⁠‿⁠ಥ

I got another short story on the way soon!!

The city was loud.

Loud-loud.

Extremely loud.

Casey shuddered as someone shoved past him, nearly making him trip.

Everything was different.

Now, it was a good different! They'd saved the world! They defeated the Krang!

But…

There wasn't that sense of unity.

People didn't care for people that way. They didn't need to.

Seeing another person alive wasn't some great news.

Helping someone up wouldn't help in life or death.

Shoving past someone wasn't a big deal.

Well, not to them at least.

Casey rubbed his aching shoulder, muttering under his breath as he walked. He remembered getting shoved to the floor once and his Mom nearly jumping the child that had accidentally done it.

Mom.

His eyes stung a bit at the mere reminder.

Mom.

Dad.

Uncle Raph.

Uncle Donnie.

Uncle Mikey.

Grandpa Draxum.

Grandpa Splinter.

Gone.

All gone.

He choked down a sob. His head hurt. Everything seemed too bright. The lights reflecting off the parked carts, the bright, flashing ads playing on the sides of buildings.

They all seemed to be stabbing into his eyes, making his head pulse as he fought the urge to cry.

Cars honking. The squealing of tires. Slamming of breaks. Yells. Music. Coughing. Talking.

Casey heaved a breath, turning and sprinting down an alleyway. He gasped, heart pounding and head spinning as it ached and his heart- oh gosh. Stop beating so fast!

It didn't seem inclined to listen, as his heart pounded faster while his breath came in quick gasps.

Panic attack.

He'd had many before and seen even more.

He heaved, gasping as he wrapped his arms around his trembling frame.

Gone.

Gone.

Gone.

The grief threatened to choke him along with the overwhelming sounds and sights.

His ears roared with a rushing sound, his heart pounded so much he worried it'd break from his chest.

“Casey?”

Casey jumped, turning to squint through blurry eyes at the large form standing at the entrance of the alleyway.

“Raph?” He croaked out, the sound of his own voice grating to his overstimulated hearing.

“Woah- you're not looking too good, bud,” Raph said gently, walking over and sitting down beside him, “You able to talk?”

Casey shook his head, sending it spinning worse and making him whimper.

“That's okay,” Raph said in a calming voice, putting his hand on his shoulder, “We can breathe.”

Raph began exaggeratedly inhaling and exhaling, making it so Casey was eventually able to catch on.

His heart slowed a bit, his breathing evened out, but his head was still aching.

“You're okay,” Raph said softly, “Raph gets overwhelmed sometimes too. Especially in my bad eye.”

Casey leaned his head against his arm.

It was so familiar. And it hurt yet was so calming all the same.

“Here,” Raph said, and Casey felt something soft get placed in his hand.

He looked down in confusion, seeing a stuffed bear resting in his arms.

He'd been given a bear by his uncle when he was little. It was well-loved and worn down, but he'd kept it. If he been able to go back, well, forward, he'd find it on his bed in the base still.

“Thank you,” Casey managed, a few years starting to fall down his face.

“It's alright,” Raph promised, tugging him into a side hug, “Raph's right here. He's not going anywhere.”

And as Casey leaned into the hug and let out his grief, he felt a lot less alone.

And while he couldn't see the massive, red-glowing figure next to him, it was as if he could feel his presence.

When I get some free time, I'm gonna make a drawing for this fic!! :3

All ideas and inspo to this fic goes to @xavitron883

They give so many INCREDIBLE ideas!! I just write them!! XD 💙⭐💙⭐💙⭐

[tokyo-daaaamn-ji-gang]

There's been something going on in my head lately. This topic is about Shinichiro and I feel disappointed. Because Shinichiro is a man who I see as the ideal older brother and parent, who is really good-hearted and loves his siblings more than anything. This is definitely Shinichiro. He is a really good-hearted man who can be easily trusted. But today, some of the things written in Izana's letter confused me a lot. We had discussions about this issue on Twitter and many things came to my mind. Our topic is this friends;

Shinichiro knew that Izana was brother to Emma, so he went to the Philippines to pick up his brother. He picked up his younger brother and went back to Japan. He gave Izana an incredibly beautiful day on the first day, and in fact, in Izana's words, gave him the best day of his life. He gave her the opportunity to live her beautiful day. Afterwards, she continued to take care of him and spend the day with him. What bothers me is that Shinichiro knew that Emma and Izana were sisters. Why didn't he come and tell Emma this in the first place? Was it such a difficult thing to say that you found your brother? For God's sake, he wasn't just Emma's brother, but theirs too. As soon as he found Izana, why didn't he bring her home and introduce her to Grandpa? Why didn't he take Mikey and Emma to their orphanage visits? Why did he promise Izana an empty family?

so apparently, from the letter we saw in the trailer, we find out that shinichiro actually /knew/ that emma and izana were related and still kept them separate when he could have adopted him...shinichiro, that's so sick and twisted shit is there an adult who didn't do izana wrong?The adoption process is surely hard but at this point he could have simply brought emma to visit him and introduce izana to mikey when he got to see him at the orphanage. Mikey was positive about the idea (as we see in the manga) so why didn't Shinichiro do anything about it?When he talks to mikey asking him his opinion on having another brother , he was already an adult, so why didn't he do anything? It's like he kinda forgot about izana because they're not "related", but at that point, why did he get izana's life in the first place? Because he was Emma's brother? And like this we get to the initial point again: he could have, at least, introduced them all

Well firstly I'm pretty sure Shinichiro didn't pick Izana up from the Philippines at all. Since Izana was in a foster home adoption type place and then juvie in Japan (that's how he met Kakucho at the foster home and then the S62 at juvie). I'm also not sure how a Japanese teenager would've been just allowed to take a kid from the Philippines to Japan like that. Actually Izana doesn't even seem to have known he had family in the Philippines until Karen told him. He thought she was his mum and that he had the same dad as Shinichiro (not clear if he knew the guys name or what he looked like though).

I agree though, from our perspective it does seem like Shinichiro made a big mistake here with not introducing Izana to the others or at least telling them. However Shinichiro didn't have our perspective. Shinichiro had no idea what was going to happen or what the consequences of doing that would be. I feel like this is one of those things which will divide the fandom, with some ageeeing and some disagreeing (both are totally fine though).

Like I think Shinichiro was right not to rush into things here, taking on the care of another child is a big responsibility and Shinichiro was already practically raising two, not to mention what kind of impact a change in environment could have on Izana's mental health, a kid he had known for a few hours at this point. I don't know a lot about the irl adoption process but I'm pretty sure you have to spend more then a few hours with the kid before deciding anything. I think that's why they then started exchanging letters, as a way for them to get to know each other better and get more comfortable with each other.

I'm guessing the next part of Shinichiro's plan was to get to know Izana better and get Izana more comfortable with him before introducing him to the others. We know Shinichiro was at least thinking about introducing Izana to them because of the question he asked Mikey.

But then I'm guessing what stopped him was all the complications. Aka Mikey ripped Sanzu's face open and Izana beat up a bunch of kids and then basically forced one to take his own life. Put them together and they don't get along and you're going to have a big problem on your hands. Like I understand why Shinichiro wanted to move slowly here, this isn't something that should've been rushed. Not to mention the warning signs Izana was already showing towards Mikey by asking Shinichiro to stop talking about him and saying hearing about Mikey gives him a headache.

I'd say the main mystery here is why he didn't tell Emma/ bring Emma with him to visit. I'm not sure if he didn't wanna get her hopes up or if he wss worried about her or Izana's reaction (though they both seem like they would've been positive), or if he didn't want to make Emma keep the secret from Mikey but didn't want to let Mikey know yet. That is a bit of mystery.

Also to be completely fair to Shinichiro I don't think he ever would've expected things to play out the way they did. He was only a teenager himself when he first met Izana and even as a young adult it's a big responsibility to bring Izana into the house and make sure all his siblings were doing ok. He clearly wanted to unite them all but wanted it done in the correct way. Shinichiro has only been shown to want the best for his siblings so I'm sure he thought he was doing the right thing here. Though obviously this is just my take and we're all going to have different opinions on this.

[themultifandomgal]

Matt Casey- Fight For Us Pt1 (rewritten)

YN and Matt have been married now for 5 years. They have a little girl together who is the spitting image of YN, but has her dads mannerisms . They love one another, they truly do, but after their best friend Andy Darden died they drifted apart. YN Andy and Severide all went to school together. They've known each other since kindergarten and been best friends since. Matt really struggled with the loss of his Andy, blamed himself for his death, your best friends death, which led to pushing his wife away.

Things have been getting better for the pair and for the first time in 2 months they are finally in a good place again. Of course they're both still dealing with the loss of one of their best friends but they know that together they will get through it.

"I wish you and Kelly would sort out what's going on between you both" I sigh washing up the breakfast bowels while mine and Matts 5 year old daughter is getting ready for school

"Yeah well he's blaming me for Andy's death"

"I know and I'll speak with him, but we were best friends. All wanted to go through the academy together. If it wasn't for my asthma I wouldn't be a paramedic"

"The best paramedic" I pass the bowels to Matt to dry and raise my eyebrows

"Dont change the subject. Look all I'm saying is Kelly is angry, upset, hell we all are, but he needs to blame someone and if it's not you it will be himself. At least you can take it"

"Momma I'm ready" Ella calls from the hallway

"I'm coming" I call back "I'll drop Ella off at school. I'll see you in a bit" I peck Matt on the lips and turn to move, but before I can get to our daughter he pulls me back to him

"We're good aren't we?" he asks looking into my eyes

"Course we are" I give him another kiss then leave the house with Ella.

Almost immediately after I arrive at the firehouse we're on a call, a huge car accident has happened. I run over to one car where there's a little girl inside just a little older than Ella

"Hi sweetie I'm YN. Can you tell me your name?" I ask

"Madeline"

"Ok, listen, Madeline, I want you to see if you can

turn your head toward me" the little girl does as I ask. She has a huge gash on the side of her head. Once the mom is out I jump into the car through the drivers side "hey, your going to be ok"

"It's dumping gas" mouch shouts as the car in front starts to flam. Madeline starts to whimper

"We're ok. Look my partners coming now to help me get you out" Leslie opens up the door and starts to move the little girl out

"Wait. Her jugular" I take out my stethoscope "Muffled heart sounds.It's Becks triad" I give Leslie a worried look as she picks Madeline up

"Come on, sweetie" Leslie puts Madeline in the back of the ambo. I jump in with her while Leslie shuts the doors and speeds towards Med.

Thankfully we get her to the hospital in time.

"Was the little girl ok?" Ella asks

"Yes luckily she was"

"My momma and daddy are superhero's" this makes me chuckle. I glance at her in the mirror, she's sat in her car seat swinging her feet with a huge smile on her face. I pull up the the fire house when Ella asks "will grandpa be here?"

"Yes angel he will" I reply turning the car off and jumping out. I open up the car door and help her out of her seat

"And daddy?"

"Yes and daddy and uncle Kelly"

"Daddy and uncle Kelly don't like each other any more. Why?" Ella asks taking my hand in hers as we walk past the trucks

"They do like each other, it's just their jobs make it a little harder to be friends. Remember Kelly was my best friend before I met daddy"

"And uncle Andy" she stops and points to a picture we now have up of him. I lift her up into my arms

"Yes and uncle Andy"

"I miss him momma"

"I know, so do I. And. So does uncle Kelly and daddy. Which is why they are having a little argument now" I place a kiss on her forehead when I hear a familiar voice

"YN you best hurry up, Casey's cooking" Severide says smiling with hands on his hips

"Uncle Kelly!" Ella practically jumps out of my arms and into her godfathers arms

"You hungry little one?"

"Yes! Momma can we have some food?"

"Yes angle. Course we can" I follow behind Severide and see Matt behind the kitchen counters. Dad, also known as chief Boden gets up from the table and walks over to me giving me a hug "hi dad"

"I'll bring a plate over for you and one for Ella" Matt says to me grabbing 3 plates. Severide places Ella down and she runs holding my dads hands to sit next to him. I then watch the awkward interaction between Severide and my husband. Not only is Matt blaming himself for Andy's death, but so is my best friend. I look over at my dad for some guidance, but he just sighs and gives me a small smile

"I bet uncle Andy would have wanted us to all be friends" the room falls silent. Trust the child to make everyone uncomfortable. I watch as Severide takes an orange and walk out of the room "momma did I upset uncle Kelly"

"No angel. He'll be ok"

Later that evening were called out during the night to a building fire. Matt and Herrmann both are knocked out during their search but thankfully Kelly manages to get them both out with the help of the others. So the rest of our shift was spent in the emergency room waiting to hear how Herrmann is doing since he was worse off.

[youremyheaven]

Behen ab aapko apna manifestation routine spill karna padega kyunki

You 🧲 Venus men

Meanwhile me:

Me 🧲 underage boys (no I'm not a pedo. This just happens on its own I swear 🥲)

LMAOOOO 😭😭😭😭

fr it's crazy bc a Bharani stellium guy from college who I haven't spoken to in YEARS started messaging me recently 😭😭 I am fr a Venus man magnet

I also think I'm a very powerful manifestor ngl and i think I've been unconsciously doing it ever since I was a kid or something but here's my routine/tips:

1. Self concept

I'm sure y'all have heard of this already and there are a million people talking about this but this is kind of the beginning and end of manifestation

What is manifestation? It's creating your reality

How do you create your reality? With your mind, duh 🙄😜

I have always believed that I'm a 10/10 baddie, a complete and total catch, any man would die/kill to have me and I'm the bestest gf anyone could ever wish for and this has been my mindset since forever and guess what? 😌🤪That's exactly how I'm treated and the kind of experiences I have 🤪🤪 (sometimes to a crazy extent, one guy actually tried to kill himself when I rejected him 😳😳 so pls be very careful with this 😔)

I've always believed that I'll be adored, helped, taken care of and provided for no matter where I am. When someone tries to tell me about how hard things can be or how slim the odds are, I have to laugh like GIRLLLL ur making things hard for yourself and I'm not and will never be you 💅 I'm ME and things are ALWAYS easy for ME. that's just my mentality and attitude and NO ONE can tell me otherwise. i have had many crusty ass people tell me I'm delusional and guess what they're rotting rn and I'm not 😌💅

I've heard some people speak about life/love/career/finance etc in the most negative pessimistic way and they wonder why they have no friends, no boo, no money nothing GIRL UR THE PROBLEM 🤧🤧

why is my dating life so different from many women? why do I get princess treatment? it's because I BELIEVE this is what I deserve.

that means, rejecting anything BENEATH this. there will always be creeps, low effort men and assholes, it's up to you whether or not you want to put up with that. it's not that low value men never approach me, it's that I pay NO MIND to anybody who isn't worth my time 💅

others can sense your energy. it affects the way you carry yourself. you think you're being nice when you act low maintenance but you're actually repelling men bc they want to be with someone who is hard to get and hard to keep, bc they like the challenge. I was known throughout my college years for being the girl no one could have 💅 bc no crusty man could ever touch even the tip of my pinky nail and that exclusivity means that you have to be special enough for me to pick you and that makes the men compete 💅for you

BUT HERE'S THE IMPORTANT PART:

by having this mentality you can attract many men for sure but there's no guarantee that they'll like you as a person once they get to know you

I have this self concept of everybody bending over backwards for me and dying to be with me but I am (and this is another personal belief) a very warm, kind, sweet person so I'd never take advantage of anyone's generosity or toy with people's feelings.

WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT?

because karma is real

You can manifest winning the lottery but you could get into a car accident two days later and never live a life of wealth

This is to say that life does not end with manifesting something. Our character, our virtue, how we treat others and our intentions ALL MATTER. You can manifest something amazing and then have a horrible time experiencing it. So it's always important to keep a clear heart 💛 if you want to enjoy the fruits of your labour/manifestation

I'll give you my grandpa for example

After my grandma died, he went and got married in less than a year and it really hurt my dad's feelings (my dad was like 25 when it happened tho) and my grandpa said that he really wanted company in his old age and it's hard to find a widow around his age from the same community so he jumped at the first one he found and thought it was fate lmao aka Dadu (paternal grandpa in Hindi) thought he manifested that baddie but GUESS WHAT, she dumped his ass a few years in and he was all alone in his old age with no one except my dad to take care of him.

So you can manifest marrying a baddie but how that marriage works out will all be dependent on your karma 🫶

2. Embodying your beliefs

Look at your lifestyle. You want people to give you princess treatment but do you live like a princess?

Maybe the thing standing in your way is money but let's start there then. Manifest money. India has 1 billion people , if you can get 10 people to pay you for a service you can still make 10k + every month for pocket money

Do what you gotta do to live the life you deserve and don't make excuses

You want princess treatment but you act like a broke scarcity minded kanjoosi girl ??? Not gonna work 😔

3. Have faith

This will help you detach and not obsess over outcomes or be desperate

Are queens ever desperate?? No 💅 neither should you be

Have blind faith (easy for me bc im delusional) , it gives you a sense of entitlement maybe but a healthy entitlement 😌🫶bc you know you got God on your side ✨

4. Persist

Don't change your mind , keep believing even if you don't see results yet.

It's like placing an order. It might be delayed but it WILL come

Happy manifesting ✨🫶💛

Hope you attract everything you've ever wanted

[cowpants147]

I'm watching the Teen Wolf movie and I think I'm a masochist

Liam being in Japan is so fucking random.

Him having the Nogitsune jar is even more random. Why would they trust that to Liam who wasn't in that season.

Why is Mason a deputy?

Eli has my entire fucking heart.

Dylan O'Brien took the Jeep from the set apparently so I love the idea of them having to recreate it for the movie.

Season 3 is a work of art and they're milking it for all it's worth.

"Why is Jackson here" - Scott but also me but then he won me over five seconds later.

Jackson & Ethan are still togeter. I love that so much. All my other ships might be dead but at least they're still standing.

Lydia hugging everyone is so wholesome

Malia and Parrish!! JUMPSCARE!!! I did not need that much nudity from them.

Why is this giving DCOM vibes? Seasons 1 & 2 had better production/effects than this and that is saying something.

Melissa. My Queen. I love you. You are top tier TV mum.

Do you think Derek asks for parenting advice of the Sherriff? Sherrif is giving grandpa vibes.

I would have preffered an entire movie about Coach - I have many suggestions.

Malia's one liners can stay.

Second Jumpscare: Allisons mother. She always scared me the most out of all the villains ngl.

Eli passes out when see's his own fangs. That's it. I'm adopting him.

How the hell does BEacon Hills manage to hire new deputies? Most dangerous job in the world.

Peter was holding in revenge for Derek using a blowtorch on him in season 4. I know Jeff did not think of this but I enjoy this easter egg my own brain has created.

Jackson being worried about his own tail. This man only has one personality trait but ya know what, I love it.

Chris Argent has always been quite level headed and I appreciate that about him.

"I have to try and get through to her" "she's trying to get an arrow, through you" - are we sure this isn't Stiles' kid?

They really replaced Kira but gave this new character literally 0 personality. We only just found out her name.

"I can do this" immediately gets impaled.

The cut to Peter just vigorously sniffing the ground made me snort.

Can't believe I'm saying this but ... Jackson is the high light of this movie for me.

Derek is such a supportive dad. Why couldn't we just have a spin-off of Derek raising his late bloomer werewolf child.

Since when did Beacon Hills have a college. This town has exactly 4 locations: school, hospital, sherrif station, ice-rink.

"How the hell am I supposed to see my eyes they're the things I used to see" followed straight away by "do you like riddles" "nah I'm more of a limeric guy, more rhymey". I love it.

"He kinda looks like our old chemistry teacher" "I was your chemistry teacher JAckson you complete imbocile" I'm sorry I'm dead.

People are gonna die and yet Scott is playing lacrosse.

I zoned out of most of that ending sequence.

I also skipped Derek dying in its entirety because in my mind that did not happen. I do not accept. Moving on.

If I did acknowledge that Derek was dead I'd wonder why the fuck Scott is now raising Eli instead of: Malia, Cora, Peter, Sherrif Stilinksi, literally anyone else.

Anyways. I hated everything besides Eli and JAckson. I'm gonna go read some fanfiction now instead.

[anukkuna]

Vincent's Ring

Alright people... I got headcanons on Vincent's ring but most of them are a bit tragic! My mushy brain can't decide what it likes best... and I'd love to hear if any of you got similar ones?

(trigger warning: mentions of mental health and family issues & suicide as well as a spoiler warning for the latest episodes)

1. It's a wedding ring, but V's spouse passed away

Meaning: Vincent is a widower. In my hc V was married (maybe legally, maybe not; it might just have been an informal ceremony, doesn't matter) to another queer/enby/trans person but their spouse died. I felt like V was quite affected by Dirk's choice to jump at the End of "Abrgund"... maybe because their spouse took their own life (which can be quite hard on the one who feels left behind). They might feel guilty, like they didn't watch out for their spouse enough or like they weren't good enough. That might have been part of the trauma Vincent had to work through. (Might also explain why V was so angry with the manipulative culprit in "Gott des Bankrotts" for how the guy pressured all these people to take their lives). Anyway V loved their partner and always wanted to keep them close to heart.

Part of that hc for me is that Vincent's spouse's biological family wasn't supportive of them at all... neither as a person nor of their relationship with Vincent (like: very queerphobic and maybe religious parents) and Vincent tried to be their rock but ultimately their spouse decided to leave this world anyway.

Because Vincent had to deal with someone leaving and feeling so bad about it once before... well, Adam leaving just hit the same spot. On the one hand V's is like 'oh fuck, not this again, why me, why can't I be enough, why didn't I see the signs, why didn't I help him more' - on the other hand they're like 'I know, if someone really wants to leave there simply is no way to stop them and I have to respect their choice'... so Vincent already has some tools to deal with the feeling.

2. It's a (dead) family member's ring

I actually like this hc better than the first one because it's a little less dark, but since Vincent kissed the ring in "Abgrund" I'm not so sure... anyway: here the ring would belong to a family member like a parent or a grandparent.

Maybe, Vincent had a grandpa or grandma who loved them dearly and was always supportive of them, even though they were by far no ordinary or gender-conforming kid. The respective spouse (so, depending on what you choose the matching grandma / grandpa) was grandpa's one true love. Grandpa is very romantic and was maybe the odd one out himself as a kid... but he encourages Vincent to always be himself. Grandma was his one true love and when Grandpa dies, Vincent keeps this ring to remember him and how he believed in him - and in true love.

Another version of this hc is that the ring belonged to a parent gone missing or passed away. More likely V's mother... and when their dad remarried, Vincent asked for the ring to keep her memory.

3. The self-love head canon

A bit strange, maybe, but the most positive one. Here, Vincent's family was quite religious and V was supposed to marry rather young (maybe someone was picked from the religious community, maybe there was not specific partner picked at the time, dunno). However, V realized that they couldn't live this life any longer and they ran away from home and only took the few belongings they had with them. They ended up in Berlin, maybe graduaded there, studied psychology but later decided to become a cop to stand up for those in need (and ofc at some point in Berlin Vincent met Adam Schürk).

Now, why would Vincent wear the ring around their neck and even kiss it? After all, it was supposed to be a wedding ring for a forced marriage. Well, V keeps it as a reminder to always love yourself, to listen to what your heart tells you and to free yourself if needed.

4. Vincent is actually a Hobbit and on the road to Mordor

Selfexplanatory... and V certainly has the hair for it. (And have you seen the Gollum rendition... Queen, I cannot...)

Sooooo... what did I miss? Which headcanons are already out there??

(Gerne auch auf Deutsch und ich kann's auch auf Dt. nochmal erläutern, falls Bedarf ist.)

[welcometoteyvat]

random but have you thought abt gaming and hutao?

funny story anon, when I was writing ga-ming's fake voicelines and needed to give him more characters to talk about, I was considering adding a hu tao voiceline, but decided against it because I didn't really see a reason for them to meet (besides via friends (new liyue 6ang addition?!?!?!)). lowkey I now feel validated bc they don't have any in-game voicelines abt each other, but this would be a very boring ask if it just stopped here lol.

there's something to be said about gaming and hu tao's family baggage vs their cheerful external demeanor vs both doing a job that isn't super well received (?) by people in liyue harbor. but hu tao leans into her eccentricities a lot more while gaming is on the 'likeable by everyone' grind LOL also the dad similarities might increase if we ever get 76th funeral parlor director lore: hu tao's parents have been conspicuously missing forever, where did genshin put them? an interesting possibility would be if the 76th somehow split off from the family trade and subsequently got wiped from the family tree bc of ideological diffs (like ht's beef with baizhu), which could increase gaming and hu tao's possible shared father(?) troubles. but besides that I feel like there's not too much similarity there. They're both enthusiastic outward facing individuals, but idk if they'd have an interesting dynamic if they met.*

Although, you know that voiceline where hu tao does a magic trick and makes a butterfly of fire? and also how she plays with those lion statues outside the ministry of civil affairs? those two things would be straight up gamings alley ngl like he'd be so down for that kind of whimsy and playfulness. also hu tao would be a good candidate for a 2nd lion dance partner. she'd be completely down for doing odd jobs and this is absolutely a fun odd job, at least until she gets tired of it or has to focus on official business lol. idt she's the type to work hard at it; she's just there to try it out because it looked cool but gaming appreciates the enthusiasm regardless. would request to be the lions head in order to lunge at people and also pick greens. also there's potential for a gaming yun jin xingqiu hu tao tea appreciation club

oh also i think smth underrated abt hu tao is how shes like cheery and eccentric but takes her job seriously and has unidentifiable but occasionally present baggage .... which i already mentioned before is similar to how 75% of gm's voicelines are cheery, and then the other 25% is emotional conflict. idk! maybe under the right conditions, they could open up to each other and sympathize

*addendum: imo, hu tao has mostly moved on from her grief over her grandfather's death, and she doesn't have any regrets about the state of their relationship when he passed away, since they were pretty close and never on bad terms. My personal hc is that she still has some things she wished she said, ie. sincere thoughts and feelings from the heart that she usually avoids talking about (she would say "nice speech, but that kind of killed the mood" if someone made one of those anime protag power of friendship monologues). in my head, her grandpa taught her everything about death and funeral customs, played with her/listened to her poetry, pretended to go along w her pranks, and was in general a very loving person, but I don't think hu tao ever explicitly told him "I love you" before he died. she canonically tried to find him right after he passed away but knew that he wouldn't be there. by now i think she's made peace with his death, but still has a certain wistfulness about things she didn't think of saying. and then on the flip side, if ga-ming could see his mom again, he'd probably spend a whole day talking to her i think. he's also not someone to get drunk on grief or regrets, but i don't think he's quite gotten over it completely, and his rocky relationship with his father (before lantern rite 2024) makes this more emotional idk. not sure where I'm going with this, but maybe hu tao would be able to talk him through a bit of this messiness and urge him to simply continue with his own life. or show him that his mother was not at the border, perhaps never lingered there, because she didnt think there was any unfinished business with him or his father that she needed to worry about. the annoying thing about death is that even if the dead person was free of regrets, those who are still living will still miss them. maybe both gaming and hu tao would be able to understand that and/or sympathize with it. or maybe they'd just be silly together who knows, up to you

edit: it'd also be so funny to have gaming call hu tao "boss hu" 胡老板～～～～～～～

[theresnoturningback]

YEAR ONE – SUMMER – SWEET PEAS

A/N: She's got a name! Thanks to everyone who voted because I really couldn't decide by myself...and it's such a pretty name, too!

Okay, so things are slow but I'm taking every free moment I have to write. As usual, if you like it, please consider reblogging. It means the world to me.

Writing for Abby was very fun. I think she's very underrated.

I'm trying to make these short so they're easy to read and write.

word count: 1151, not proof read

Dahlia woke up early that morning with a detailed list of the things she had to do. First, clear up a small portion of land so she could prepare the soil to plant the parsnips Lewis gave her the previous day.

“Well, that wasn’t so hard” she said with a tired smile once she was done. A long sigh escaped her mouth as she sat down on the thin steps of her porch. She looked back at her new home. It certainly smelled worse than the apartment she used to rent; it was clearly abandoned after her grandpa died. Even though Lewis and Robin did their best to prepare it for her arrival, the signs of neglect were hiding in plain sight. At least this place was hers. Having it fixed was a challenge she was determined to overcome.

A rumble in her stomach stopped her train of thought. She headed back inside and opened the fridge “Oh, right” She grimaced “I forgot to buy food when I got here”

After washing up, she made her way to town. Robin told her there was a JojaMart crossing the bridge, but she could get better quality items in a place called Pierre’s General Store. Her farm was relatively close to the rest of the town. She decided to take the path that led to the bus station, since it was the most familiar. She stopped for a couple of minutes to pick some sweet peas to decorate the old basket she found by her chimney.

When she finally made it to the store, she noticed a sign hanging from the door.

“Of course it’s closed” Dahlia huffed and turned around with her arms crossed in front of her. She was already starting to feel too tired to wander around town trying to find the JojaMart Robin told her about.

Suddenly, a little bell chime made her turn around and a purple haired girl bumped into her, making her drop her basket full of sweet peas.

“Oh- sorry! Are you okay? Let me help you with that” They both put the flowers back in the basket

“Yeah, sorry about that too, I shouldn’t be in the way” she offered her a sweet pea in gratitude

“Thank you” She said accepting her gift

“I’m Dahlia”

 “Oh, that’s right…I heard someone new was moving onto that old farm. I’m Abigail, by the way. Are you taking a break from work?”

“Um, kind of…my fridge is empty, so I wanted to do some shopping, but the store is closed”

“Don’t worry, we open at 9. It should be open anytime now”

“We?”

“Yeah, my dad is Pierre from Pierre’s General Store…” Abigail shrugged and laughed sheepishly

“Oh, I see” Dahlia laughed along “So, I’ll be able to have lunch after all”

“He closes on Wednesdays, though. If you get hungry you can always drop by the Saloon”

“The Saloon? What’s that?”

“The Stardrop Saloon. It’s right across the store” She pointed to a rather big building “In the heart of the town, you can’t miss it”

“So, they have good food there?”

“You bet! Gus is the best, you must try the spicy eel, it’s delicious!”

“I’ve never had eel, it sounds slimy”

“Don’t knock it till you tried it” Abigail’s eyes suddenly widened “I have an idea. Why don’t you join us? I’ll introduce you to my friends!”

“What, now?” Dahlia looked down at her dirty clothes.

“No, no…Friday evening, we all hang out there, it’s kind of like a Friday tradition, I guess…”

“I guess I can—”

“No, there’s nothing to think about. Just be there” Abigail insisted “You’ll have fun, I promise”

“Okay, then” Dahlia gave in.

Behind them, a tall man turned a small sign to indicate the store was now open.

“I guess you can go in now. I must go anyway. It was nice meeting you, Dahlia. Thanks for the sweet pea, I’ll eat it on the way!” Abigail turned around and started walking away.

Did she just say she’ll eat a flower? Dahlia frowned, looking down at her basket. She picked one and put it in her mouth figuring it wouldn’t do any harm to try something now.

“Well, she’s either a liar, a joker, or a crazy person” She mumbled after she spat it out.

“She’s certainly a bit of everything” A voice spoke behind her. Dahlia turned around to see the same man who opened the store

“Ah, you must be Abigail’s father” She smiled, a little embarrassed.

“I’m Pierre, owner of this store” He nodded.

“I’m Dahlia, I moved in a couple of days ago from the city”

“Mrs. Dahlia! The new farmer! Come in, come in, the store is open” He led her inside the building.

“Miss Dahlia is fine. I’m not that old, and certainly not married” She laughed. Once inside, she took in the sweet aromas and intense colors of the different seasonal fruits and vegetables “Wow…I can only hope to grow these kinds of beauties one day!”

“Well, if you're looking for seeds, my shop is the place to go. I'll also buy produce from you for a good price! A little agriculture could really inject new life into the local economy!”

“I don’t think I’ll harvest in a long time, though. I only have some parsnips in there”

“Don’t worry about that, you’ll see the fruits of your labor sooner than later. Trust me” Pierre stood behind the counter “Now, what do you need?”

“You see, I’m a little short on funds” She confessed “and I need seeds. Do you have something that’s, you know, affordable?”

“Sure thing, we have the best prices in town. Can I interest you in some pepper seeds for 40g?”

“Two, please” A rumble in her stomach reminded her of what she really wanted. “I’m going to need some ingredients as well: Rice, oil…flour, sugar…do you have any eggs?”

“Sorry, we’re out of eggs right now, but you can talk to Marnie, she’s our primary provider.” He took out a map of the town and showed her a point near a forest “She lives not far from here”

“I live just across that forest”

“So, there’s no way you’ll get lost. Take the map, just in case” He folded the piece of paper and handed it to her. He took a box from behind the counter “Take his, too. It’s fertilizer, it’ll make your work easier, just remember to mix it with the tilled soil before planting your seeds”

“You’re too generous, thank you very much” Dahlia took out the flowers out of her small basket and pushed her purchases in it “I’ll be back for that beauty soon” She laughed, glancing at a leather backpack.

“You’re always welcome, have a nice day!”

She walked towards her house, ready to cook some rice and continuing clearing the farm to prepare a good soil for her new crops.