#ditch sch

[scarlet-abyss]

Delinquency for life

My civics tutor said an iconic quote today.

"Statistically speaking, Thursdays have the most number of absences."

It's only cuz thursdays are the longest days, and assest days lol. It's why me and my friend @whichawayay and i congratulate each other when we turn up to school. It's fucking hilarious when I get told "Omg you turned up to sch tdy! Good job."

And this boy in my class said ditching school on thurs shouldn't require mcs or paernts letters, cuz the civics tutor have a hard time on friday since the mc and parent letter piles are taller than our chem equilibrium notes lmaoo.

We laughed so hard. I'm in a class of rulebreakers, and I love them for it.

[thegoldheartlocketandkey-blog]

911 Spoilers Season 4: You’ve been warned. 😅 Buddie Rewatch

Cross Over Episode 9-1-1 Lone Star Season 2 Episode 3: Hold the Line

Buck is a sleep, with his head pressed up against the glass of his window.  He’s abruptly woken up by Hen, and his drool is all over the window. He wipes his face and opens the truck doors. Hoping out of the truck and immediately complaining about the Texas humidity.

Eddie walking over, telling Buck the wet air he is feeling is called humidity, and welcoming him to Texas. The camera does a slight zoom on to Buck’s annoyed face as he glares at Eddie.

Hen, Buck, and Eddie are standing together off to the side during the debriefing. They all are about a foot apart from each other. Eddie with his arms crossed. Bucks with his arms to the side. Hen with her hands in her pocket.

Buck is aggressively looking over at Marjan. Buck does not have a subtle bone in his body, Hen calls him out for staring. Buck tries to deny he his staring, Eddie interjects and agrees that Buck is staring.  TK who is near Marjan points out that Buck is staring at Marjan. He looks creepy in this moment.

Hen really laying it out on Buck that he’s being creepy. Buck’s eyes go wide, it’s obvious he is not trying to be, but he recognizes her from somewhere and can’t figure out from were. Eddie lightly punches Buck on the shoulder, as if saying get it together.

Eddie wandering on his own, overhears a rescue team being formed to rescue a bunch of kids in the danger zone. He offers his assistance as a medic and introduces himself from the 118, Los Angeles.

Marjan asks if he is a medic, he clarifies he’s a firefighter, but was a medic in the army. Jud calls, Eddie, Hollywood, and tells him to pack it up and get ready to go. Eddie takes a sip of his drink and says “Copy that.”

Buck is at the Fire Engine, pulling out stuff. He immediately gets defensive and asks Hen where she was when she approaches the engine. Buck has no idea where Eddie is and vocalizes that he felt abandoned.

Buck is complaining and not understanding why they aren’t using the truck to there full potential, Hen proceeds to explain protocol and tosses Buck a shovel. Buck proceeds to ask where her shovel is and she reveals that she volunteered for the medical unit.

Eddie walking past Buck and Hen really quickly to gather his things. Buck walks up to Eddie explaining how Hen isn’t hiking up with them and she practically ditching them. He looks down at Eddie gives him a slight smile as he says, “Just gonna be you and me.”

Marjan pulls up at the exact moment, Eddie looks over at her and she asks, “Are you ready, soldier?” The proceed to have light banter and Marjan tells him to hurry it up, driving off. Eddie is smiling with a big grin, as Buck is in the background visibly confused. Buck steps closer to Eddie quietly asking Eddie if he is going with her.

Eddie shuts the engine door and proceeds to walk away, responding with a quick yeah.

Buck stands there for a moment, looking over at Marjan. It finally hits him and he calls over to Hen and Eddie excitedly announcing how he knows her. Eddie stops walking and turns around. Hen and Eddie look at each other as Buck states, “She’s fire fox.” Both confused and ask Buck to elaborate.

Buck repeats the nick name, as if that would get them to understand. Eddie continues to put on his backpack and shakes his head. Buck explains that she’s gone viral a few times and is a known bad ass. Buck admits to following her on Instagram, and awkwardly admitting she didn’t follow him back.

Eddie giving a slight smirk and signaling to Hen that they have to get moving. Hen reminding Buck not to forget his shovel. Eddie and Hen run off to their respective teams. Buck is standing there, slightly annoyed and calls the abandoners.

Eddie is passenger in a four-wheeler being driven by Judd. Judd is making jokes leaning into Eddie being from LA. Eddie quick to mention he is from El-Paso. Judd moving on to make fun of Eddie’s old high school, and how his school would always win against their team. Eddie joking about how he thought they would be friends. Marjan drives past like a wild woman with Paul in the passenger seat.

Eddie asks Judd if Marjan is always like that, he confirms that she is.

The group approaches the group of kids they set out to find. Eddie is quick to note that they are short one kids. Eddie starts to exam the kids as the team deliberates on the missing child and missing counselor. Eddie spots the counselor walking back, coughing. The counselor stops breathing and Eddie takes the lead in providing medical attention. He instructs Paul to hold the saline, Marjan using the pump to provide air.

Eddie moves to do an escharotomy, which means to cut scar tissue, too allow the chest to rise. (Not the exact definition, but that is ultimately what he does) Before he cuts into the man, he looks at Marjan and states, “I hope you’re not squeamish.” The man is revived. Eddie revealing that he knows she goes by Fire Fox. Marjan slightly taken back by the reveal.

 Buck is along a path, digging, Mateo when starts asking him a lot of questions about LA and if he knows his cousin, Marvin. Buck is tired and really only giving one-word responses.  Mateo asks if they get a lot of crazy calls back in LA. Buck responds with, “You have no idea.” Tk interjects and states they get their fair share of crazy call.

Mateo asking if Buck has had any calls at Disneyland. Buck states it’s a different county, and is a little annoyed when Mateo says still LA. Buck proceeds to tell the story about a rescue at an amusement park. He’s proud to say he scaled up a roller coaster to try to save a man hanging by his bare hands.  The conversation getting a little awkward when Buck admits that he didn’t rescue that man because he let go.

TK being sympathetic to Buck’s story and revealing that he almost had a woman drown in less than a foot of water, during a bus rescue. Buck immediately talking about how they also had a bus rescue, but that it was sticking out of a 5th floor office building.

This moment of back and forth is not only a dick measuring contest, but obviously a way for the writers to basically compare the two shows and point out that they know there are a lot of similarities as well as a ton of differences.

TK notices a vehicle that is on fire rolling down the hill, in Buck’s direction. Buck too distracted by the conversation doesn’t notice, and TK runs towards Buck, pushing him out of the way of the moving vehicle. Buck and TK hop off the ground and move into action to save the driver in the vehicle. They work quickly and swiftly as a team to get what turns out to be a dog out of the burning vehicle.

Buck approaching TK, dude really does not understand the concept of personal space, vocalizing that the situation was weird. TK agreeing with him. Buck pats TK on the shoulder and runs off. TK is visibly confused and processing the moment.

I believe this is the moment that TK starts to believe Buck is interested in him. I mean I don’t blame him, Buck just naturally comes off as flirty.

Eddie over the radio describes the situation, explains they are bringing down 1 injured man and seven kids. Hen overhearing this walk over towards the radio and asks for clarification, on what happened to the 8th child.

Eddie is standing a foot away from Marjan as he explains one kid is still missing, the other half of the team is still searching. Hen stressing to Eddie that given the conditions, they only have two hours to find the kid. Eddie admitting that the conditions are becoming less desirable, but that no one on this team seems like the type to leave without finding him. Eddie making a remark about how they remind him of some other people he knows.

Eddie and Marjan sitting at the campsite. Marjan wanting to go help search, but Eddie stating they should follow Judd’s orders and stay.

Marjan asks how Eddie can be so calm under literal fire. Eddie responds with at least no ones shooting at us, implying the situation can always be worse. Eddie pulls out his phone and follows Marjan on Instagram. Marjan receives the notification, and asks if he’s being serious.

Eddie justifies the decision by stating he heard she puts a lot of work into her insta and he was just curious.

I already stated that Buck is a natural flirt, but Eddie also has this natural charisma about him that is flirty, but a little awkward. You really get to see that here as he interacts with Marjan. I do not necessarily think he’s trying to flirt, it’s just the vibe he gives off during their interactions.

Marjan suggests she’ll show him her insta, if she shows him his. Eddie quick to state that he doesn’t really use social media, and that his last post was probably 9 months ago. He suggests his page will be kind of boring and she responds with she’ll be the judge of that.

They accept each other’s request and both start snooping. Eddie interested in a cool looking rescue. Marjan pulling up a selfie of Chris and Eddie and asking if that’s his kid. Eddie confirms and goes into detail about how Chris is his world and being a single dad.

Marjan looks at Eddie up and down, in a way that I can only describe as processing the single dad comment. Marjan pulling up the skate board picture and asking if he really built that. Eddie quickly adding with Buck’s help.

Marjan asks if Buck is “that creepy guy that was staring a me before.” Eddie chuckles and says Buck is mostly harmless. That when the radio goes off and reveals that air support is will be helping in the search. Eddie asking who is crazy enough to fly in this.

Eddie biting his lip as he concentrates on listening to the radio.

Eddie vocalizing his concern over finding out that Hen is in that helicopter.

Eddie being proud of Hens little victory. His face shifting to full on concern as he hears on the radio they are losing control.

 Mateo, Buck, and TK happily walking back to base. They are still having a dick measuring contest, that Mateo points out. They’ve obviously bonded and haven’t heard the news.

TK and Buck start to try and joke around with the Strike team, but instantly become concerned when they observe their sad faces. Marjan breaking the news to them that Hen and Owen are trapped in the fire after the helicopter crashed.

The 126 and 118 are being told they can not go up into the mountains to rescue their team. They vocalize that they are ready and willing to take the risk. They aren’t asking any one to risk their lives. The acting commander repeating himself by stating no one is going out there.

Buck learning that the captain is TK’s father and watching him storm off.

TK is alone and, on the phone, with who I assume is Carlos because he ends the call with “I love you.”

Buck cautiously approaching TK with a box of pizza. TK denying the pizza and gets up. He’s about to walk away as Buck sits down and states, “they survived the crash.” Buck stating this as fact simply based on his belief. He mentions that his dad is with Hen so he’s in good hands. Tk stating, “so is she.”

Buck starts to talk about Bobby and explains that Bobby may not be his biological dad, he’s a father figure to him. How his captain never gave up on him, even when he stole a fire truck. This story gives them the idea to go steal a fire truck to go rescue Hen and Owen on their own.

It’s of course Buck’s idea to go steal the fire truck, because he pulls out a set of keys he had in his pocket.

Buck and TK are whispering and sneakily looking for the Truck. TK mentioning that Buck doesn’t have to do this, they both don’t need to risk their jobs. Buck stating, he must, his friend is up there too and she would do the same for him.

TK thinking Buck stole the keys to the 118 truck, Buck clarifying that he stole the keys to the 126 because Bobby would kill him, if he got a scratch on their truck.

Judd screaming out to both of them, calling them idiots for not thinking about the consequences. Eddie and Marjan coming in from the other side, joining in on ridiculing TK and Buck. Buck and TK both thinking the team is trying to stop them, but they quickly correct them and state they are going with them.

TK and Buck stand there momentarily confused. They hop into the truck and head off into the mountains.

Buck and TK being the first ones to run out of the truck and exploring the site of the helicopter crash.

Buck and TK being the first to run into the mine, to check on Hen and Owen. Buck and Eddie are the ones to carry Hen out of the mine.

Judd walks Eddie over to the Truck. As Eddie is putting his stuff away, Judd is sudgessting food places they can stop at as they leave Texas. Eddie thanking Judd for the suggestion, but the plan will likely be to stop at Eddie’s parent’s place and eat there. Eddie and Judd say their good byes, as Marjan makes an entrance. He asks Marjan for a photo, stating he may not get another chance at taking a photo with “Fire Fox”.

Eddie definitely took this photo so that he can rub it in Bucks face.

Paul walking over and commenting that that selfie is just too much pretty. Eddie giving him a proper goodbye. Before Marjan drives off, Eddie makes it a point to plead with her to accept Buck’s Instagram request.

Mateo is walking Buck to the truck, telling him to reach out to his cousin, Marvin. Buck laughing and promises to keep his eyes open.

TK walking in from behind. He calls out to Buck and leans on the truck Thanking Buck for helping. Buck starts to put his stuff away, but stops and excitedly tells TK that if he’s ever in LA they should get together. TK says yes to the offer, but feels obligated to tell Buck he has a boyfriend.

Buck is momentarily confused, but TK pats Buck on the shoulder and walks away. As Buck is processes what just happened, Eddie comes around the other side of the truck, almost as if he was summoned.

I will be the first to say that TK isn’t being unreasonable in thinking Buck was hitting on him. All day, the two of them participated if flirty banter. When they learn that Owen and Hen are in danger, TK has no reference to understand Buck and Hen’s relationship. So, to him this Man who’s been flirting with him all day just learned that his father was in danger. Buck was obviously walking up to him with that box of pizza an excuse to comfort him. I’m just saying Buck was definitely laying the ground work, he just wasn’t aware that he was.

I made a post a long time ago, about how the 126 could have easily been under the impression that the 118 is full of queer firefighter. Marjan spent the day with Eddie, who is a single father, that won’t stop mentioning his friend Buck, the man she knows helped build his kid a skate board. TK spent the day with Buck, who he thought was spending the day flirting with him. Owen knows Hen has a wife and kids.  All it would take is the 126 talking about their day and they might come to that simple conclusion.

If they elaborate a little bit more they can easily create the narrative about Buck and Eddie and explain their relationship as complicated.

[ener-chi]

I'm going to try and journal on here more often!! It will be filled with my thoughts and ruminations on things, irl stuff, energy work musings and techniques, and spirit work and astral stories. You can read them and more in the #journal tag.

Anywho, read below the cut for: TL;DR observations from acupuncture today, finding out my school might be closing, and guided vs dragged and a reminder to myself to be intentional

I've had the flu (or at least I'm pretty sure what that is) this week, and today is the best I've felt all week. Still was having a slight fever and some cough/congestion, so I went in for acupuncture at my school. Some fun tidbits from my session today:

-TCM diagnosis is an External Heat Invasion, which is what I totally guessed it was! I'm learning (:

-When I had ST36 needled, on both sides my entire stomach/abdomen immediately warmed and lit up, which is a new sensation. Fun fact: ST36 is called "The Ruler of the Abdomen"

-Had my GB20 needled, which felt amazinggg but ouchy it was very tender after. I am interested in doing a Cranial Sacral Technique and some Reiki on this point, and will update more when I do this

-LR3 hurt like a b, which it normally doesn't for me (this is a very commonly used point), and my intern said it was cuz of the heat, which would make sense. (Also everyone at my school calls points that are painful "spicy" which made me laugh cuz the pun of spicy and heat. Anywaysss)

-There's three points on the forearm that when used together are called "Buddha's Triangle." Had it done today for the first time and it was super relaxing actually

Don't really have much more interesting stuff to report from that, aside from what I normally feel. It's always so wild to me to feel the energy pathways connecting to each other when needles are placed in them, like circuits connecting.

Speaking of acupuncture, now for some irl stuff. We all learned some grave news yesterday - there is a good chance that my school will be closing later this year.

Since the pandemic, the enrollment at my school has been incredibly low. My cohort and the year above me only have about 20 people - my school used to average 40-60 people per year.

Because tuition is my schools biggest source of income, these lower numbers puts them in hot water. Don't need to go into incredible detail, but that plus rising costs and the fact that the area the school is in is super rough, which makes it difficult to sell - things are not looking good.

Our president said that it's not guaranteed that the school will close, just a last-ditch option. But my intuition is saying that it will close.

I've had a lot of thoughts and emotions about this. I mean... coming to this school and studying TCM has been a goal of mine for like. 7 years. It's the whole reason I moved up here in the first place.

Naturally, I was upset and panicked to learn this. But after digging into it, it's because I had tied part of my identity to this. Like in the way that people associate "what you do" as a part of you - I had associated going to this school and studying TCM as a big part of my identity and who I am as a person. And when that was threatened to not be a thing anymore, my ego got scared. Who am I if I don't do that? What will I do?

But it reminded me that I am much more than what I do. And something else that I've been realizing and remembering the past couple weeks - the reason I came to this school was to learn about Energy, and Qi.

At the end of the day, that's what I care about. It doesn't necessarily have to be with TCM - acupuncture was just my jumping off point, as it was the first way I experienced Energy in that way, in a way that was also structured.

And so, if this is the Universe redirecting me elsewhere, I'm still having some emotions about it all, but I will do my best to welcome and roll with the change.

That being said, I'm not necessarily being totally hung out to dry. It's not official and there is no information about it yet, but if the school does close, I think they legally have to offer a "teach out" option, which basically means that another school would adopt us and help us finish our degree. So. We'll see what happens.

One other thing that I realized today, is: "In order to be guided, you have to be moving in the first place." You can't expect to be guided or helped without putting in any work or energy or intention yourself. That's not being guided or helped - that's being dragged. And while the Universe does do that sometimes, it rarely does.

So a reminder to myself - stop sitting and start walking, take initiative, be intentional, and stop waiting for confirmation before action, and instead act and let the Universe provide input and correction if necessary.

That's it for now! Hope everyone has a good night!

Blessings!

[redswaberkez]

NOW CAN I HEAR UR HCS FOR P1 AND P2? >:)

NHGRRRR STRAINIG MY BRAIN our hcs also kinda same buutt anywayyyyy

there is kindaa a longread sooo

P1

- Among all dudes only P1 and sch.. sc.. SHTOPOR were at war (p1) or served in the army (shtopor (airbone)) - has sufficient paramedical skills due to military service - his hobbies are playing guitar and singing. Punk-like singing. Grunge-like singing. Not even singing, I would say SCREAMING - he doesnt understand almost all jokes. And if hes trying to make a joke probably its gonna be dark as hell\unfunny\scary\obscure or dad puns*tm (rare) - "You cant sleep now. Monsters are nearby" - can speak german - "Demonic voice wont shut the fuck up. Please help me." - P1 is very diff in comparison to other dudes. He is so serious. He is the one at party who stays in the corner (meme ref they dont know that [...]) - scary mask amd skary voice is only a cover. Deeply inside he is very gentle and caring. But nobody knows this. - He IS an antihorny. He HATES nudity - my todays dream is revealed that he has Cain (like cain and abel ykno) vibes. Im not joking. It was in my dream. and Im gonna stick to it. I DONT KNOW BIBLE THO!!!!!!!!! my mom just once mentioned cain yesterday AND HERE WE GO - he struggles with religion SO MUCH. (im not gonna explain it rn. im doin a fcking comic on it) - Hes always on the verge of a mental breakdown. But he perfer to not think abt it and go VIOLENT that let his true emotions out - migraine survivor - imo he is a cleany one, and his own hygiene is GOOD, altho he doesnt use hairbrush that often. - "Gifted but lazy kid" in the past. "Academic perfomance flew off. You need to show him to a doc. He Could If He Wanted To." - p1 doesnt smoke or drink. He actually doesnt do all these unhealty stuff - oh GOD LORD am NOT your STRONGEST SOLDIER😭

P2

- Can you gib me an ibuprofen. My head are exploding rn (literally) - homophobic bisexual - lit had married his wife cuz he didnt know his bi and thats the reason why their marriage is SHIT - postal dudess (i dont like word doe :/) is his younger sister - he would kill for her and she would kill for him. I love them sm. - also has struggles with religion, but less intense than p1, p2 actually solved them later (gonn explain it laterrrr) - his organism is a fucking garbage but somehow his addictions doesnt damage him that much. - stinky rat. Shower? more like shower of deodorant AHAHSHAH - Hes always perked up, always joking and funny and unfunny, horny, shit, sarcastic etc jokes. - His language is Sarcasm - "im gonna кмs in front of them just to switch trajectory of their lives LMAOOOOO" - Also Lazy Gifted kid*tm - "Evil as weekend entertainment)" - Would like to play drums - p2, p3 and shtopor would drink together - His sunglasses is his trademark, he doesn't go anywhere without his sunglasses. - AND OF COURSE he has his own OPINIONS ON EVERYTHING. Even if hes wrong. He is stubborn as fuck. You can't argue with him. - He can sleep literally anywhere. Even in a ditch (he did). And you cant woke him up. - The three S bingo*tm - stupid sadistic and suicidal - Jack of all trades, master of none - He is very private, when it comes to touch, altho he has a touch starvation - therefore ^ his love language is touch and tactile connection

Idk for now thst all 😖

[crystalelemental]

"megazardx2: I’m so glad you enjoyed it, especially since you didn’t like the Gen 7 games much at all. Can’t wait to hear your thoughts!"

Then this is as good a time as any! Pokemon Sun and Moon anime thoughts, as much as I can stuff in there.

As mentioned in my last recap, the only history I have with the anime is vague recollections from the original seasons, and XY which we watched just before this. And of them, Sun and Moon pretty quickly got itself into top spot. I really like the friend group, and I think Ash works best as just some kid with the others. It feels much more natural to him than the big hero thing of XY, which was overplayed and frankly silly.

This hasn't really gone anywhere. The friend group remains the strongest aspect, I love them. Mallow's probably the favorite of the bunch, but there's not a single one I disliked. Lillie and Sophocles precious, Kiawe and Lana are hilarious, Mallow just vibes the hardest with how I am as a person so like...I get it girl. Even Team Rocket was far more tolerable this season, back to being mostly ineffectual villains with more mild goals and significantly fewer war crimes committed. Bewear helps a lot. I think the decision to swap out their old blasting off routine to Bewear's myriad entries was divine.

Nanu and Acerola had a great little arc. They were a ton of fun while present. I didn't really click with Olivia but she's fine. Same with Hala, who felt like he could've done more. I did wind up liking Hapu, which is very unexpected. Faba's alright, Wicke doesn't really do much, and I have many thoughts, none of them particularly nice, about Lusamine. That leaves the last two clusters.

Kukui and Burnet are a delight. They're adorable, they're hilarious, big fan all around. I am very glad they ditched Kukui's secret just before the final match, I don't know if I would've been able to stomach it through that. The Masked Royal thing was always a bit goofy, and this is naturally no exception. But their whole dynamic is cute.

Guzma. Ooooh Guzma. You got hit with the same bat as Lusamine. From a character in the main games with a lot of going on that you could infer, to...literally just some pissbaby loser who's mad he can't win. Dude, this is like the least compelling villain story. I do like the attempt to use Golisopod as a sort of showcasing of that same mentality, but it's a nice artistic touch on a generally bad approach. I do not like Team Skull at all in this. Or, for that matter, Ilima. Who I legitimately forgot about until this moment. Ilima just doesn't do much of anything. Oh, he's just soft-spoken and nice and talented and all the ladies love him. Sure. But he's no Ryuki. Who wins the award for funniest one-shot character in the series.

The Ultra Beast episodes were solid. I generally like the idea behind it. It's goofy, but it fits functionally. I don't strictly mind why they function in the way they do, but I'd be lying if I said the explanation being "It's the kid in Lusamine coming out" didn't rub me the wrong way given everything else about her character. Mostly I think what the anime nails are character moments. Sophocles getting over his fears and starting to appreciate battles, Mallow getting established as a talented chef in her own right with a strength in reading people's wants, Lana being...genuinely just talented at everything? Like, girl doesn't get enough time to shine because they often pass it off to Kiawe or Ash, but she's legitimately good at like everything they wind up doing.

The tournament was...interesting. I wasn't sure how much I'd like it, given how quickly they belted through top 16 and top 8. But admittedly? It works. It truncates a lot into the critical moments. Watching XY, the battles could be interesting, but often it's sort of a...going through the motions? Like okay, yes, Ash vs Sawyer was generally a good time, but there were plenty of matchups that amount to very little in the grand scheme. Ash vs. Alain, I would be willing to argue, is largely forgettable. Nothing all that interesting happens until the final Greninja vs. Charizard matchup, but I don't really respect Charizard, and I hate Ash Greninja, so it's not like I cared. But it's telling that the entire match and all the episodes in it could've been boiled down to about those 5 minutes with little lost in terms of impact or importance.

I think that's what Sun and Moon nailed best in this arc. The battles are just the parts that matter. Ash's Rowlet has one real rival, and that's Hau's Decidueye. Just do those two, and it's a nice, condensed fight. That ends kinda lame because man it really kinda feels like Hau should've won that, or they should've waited to call it a while so it didn't feel like taking something from him. Mallow has low confidence in her battling and tries to shy away from a battle she expects to lose, and Lana calls on her to make an effort. We only need the one Pokemon for that. Sophocles is learning to put his all into battles and wants to stand his ground against Kiawe, and again, we can do that in one. We need a showing of Guzma being a vicious trainer in how he battles, and boy do you get the point in the 1v1 with Lana. They do really well at linking up just the emotional connection part of the battle. Even in 2v2 matches this holds, as they quickly get to Kiawe's ace in Turtonator, and eliminate Scizor in two seconds for a story beat. It's well done! Even Kukui and Ash, which is a much longer fight, leads off the the big emotional showdown of Torracat vs. Incineroar, but both are recalled before a victor is decided leaving you waiting for the return and how that'll play out. Even after that, they manage to pivot into Tapu Koko vs. Pikachu, which was another battle that needed to finish (though I am slightly sad we don't know Kukui's actual sixth Pokemon).

The Pokemon just feel like they have real connections, not just within their team but with their rivalries. Which is...more than I can say for XY. Every major rivalry in Pokemon was Greninja vs. someone else's ace. None of that team mattered otherwise. They had cute dynamics, I really liked Hawlucha and Noivern. But what role did Talonflame play once it evolved? It ceased to matter. Why bring Goodra back? Ash just needed a sixth Pokemon, no other reason. Comparatively, when Naganadel comes back, it doesn't have a strict rival, but it's the first time it's battling and it came back through dimensions to see them again, and you get how much that means. This season did really well with connection and emotional impact for pretty much everyone involved, and it did it in a cute slice of life-y way rather than trying to big up drama to make someone matter. Which I generally vibe with a lot more.

I'm trying to think of other things to talk about but am kinda running dry. I'm sleepy, we did a lot of chores. The point is, Sun and Moon was really good. Big fan. Unfortunately, my wife and I discussed where to go next. And we have reached consensus. My wife never watched anything before this. And Journeys is more of a recap thing from all accounts, visiting characters and places from everywhere. So we will, unfortunately, be going all the way back to the beginning. I have acquired veto power over episodes if I remember them sucking shit. The original Kanto stuff is only two seasons, so hopefully this will go quickly, but from here it's sequential. I think the intent is to actually go through everything. Brace for impact. And salt. Because save for exactly five episodes I look back upon fondly, I don't know how I'm going to tolerate original Ash, or Brock and Misty.

[the-prophecy]

avi di gave sch a nice url idea btw <3

Diti ditchi diti ditchti ditich ditch

[blastedking]

Disclaimer, German pronounciation problems incoming. I wrote this down and recorded it rather quickly - I will clean it all up at a later point to add it to the Teshvo page! (Audiofile because pronounciation is annoying xD)

I do agree on it sounding a bit melodic/soft once one gets used to it (it gets more rhythmic the quicker one can say it without getting ones tongue in a twist xD).  But I do think for the untrained ear the whole array of X Z CH SCH can be a bit harsh - and especially the resulting accent. 

H before a vowels and the beginning of a syllable = audible spoken ( Mezbohan  - but don't listen to those from Mezbohan for that)

h before consonant = mostly silent in newer Teshvo Dialects. More audible in the older variants. 

J before a vowel  is almost like a “chj”  sound  (smotja  = pronounced smotchja) 

Otherwise, if it is found at the beginning of a word it’s indeed a pure J sound (for Ja, je, jax etc for example) 

Y is a much softer j sound without any more fluff.  

Qu is a hard K sound but is usually only found in old old Teshvo.  (like Quadirymir = Kadirymir) 

Difference between ch and sh 

Example razachshel (starlightsilk) 

“ch” is not pronounced the american/english way (like in the name Zach - making it zak). Here it is the softer ch -   here is a very good and short video explaining the softer ch very well (hint it’s not isch either xD thanks thumbnail)) - https://youtu.be/po1SyrEUziA?si=eR0kZia_oizIs7Ly  

The sh is pronounced sch like in “shy” (here shel sounds like “shell”)

So it’s Ra-zach-shell. The ch in the middle there really can only be described as ch - like the video says, there isn’t a suitable comparison in english. But it’s usually not k

It’s all very ch sch heavy 

Like we have X - which is X but can be Sch

And we have J - which is a hard J, but can be Chj 

And SH which is Sch which is different than Ch 

And Ch is usually pronounced soft BUT in older dialects it is actually k sometimes 

Clear as coal!

Mezbohan has a light drawl, noticeable especially in more longer drawn “a” sounds and h is almost always completely silent (even where it is usually pronounced: Mezbohan becomes Mezboaan)

Mezdovat speaks basically “High-Teshvo” as dialect free as it gets. Next to Mezaiz you can hear most letters pronounced clearly in the modern way here.

Mezaiz has the oldest dialect naturally, using many old variants of words too, where the difference between ch and x is getting very small, tending to k sounds most of the time. Also h are much more pronounced and many r have a roll to it.

For example, comparing the two extremes, Mezchinhar - and its root Nhar (Realm/Space = the original name to the space surrounding the Iumzache) is one of the oldest words in Teshvo that exist and is basically pronounced differently in all circles. 

Mezbohan ditches the h completely, focuses on the “ar” in the end, drawing both out. (Mezchianaar)

Mezaiz pronounces the h fully and the ch becomes very hard, making it (Mez-ki-an-harr)

I have Teshvo questions. For one : what is the sound difference between CH and SH. I am also wondering about the origin of the letter H and what its purpose is. I see how it affects the sound in words like Zargothrax and Ralathor but what about Mezchinhar? I might be mistaken but it is silent when I pronounce it there. Is it used solely to get another sound (from C to CH, S to SH)? What sound do we get from N to NH then. Or is it the residue of an old spelling/pronunciation that evolved? Is it to signify that there was something else there before (like the french ^ replacing the old french s)? Or maybe that is the old spelling but the pronunciation evolved and not the textbooks?

@blastedking I know you have answered some of my Teshvo questions before but it's just so fascinating discovering new languages.

Also the pronunciation of Mezchinhar has fully changed to the correct one :) and it sounds so soft ! I know we talked about Teshvo having a more german/Russian sound and harsh tone but it's so soft in my mind between the actual pronunciation of Mezchinhar, Ralathor and Zargothrax

Oh yes! Important one ! (Guy who has only ever learned czech as an eastern European language) I'm getting real czech vibes from the Je/Ja/Jax so I was wondering if it borrowed their pronunciation of the J as well or if it was the english J (dj) or the french J (flat j).

[grocerystore-gf]

how aarnaphobic does the universe have to be. i have offline school AND a six hour coaching class on november 12 😔✋

[littlemarie]

hola nerds it’s gemma again 🤓 on today’s episode i present 2 u miss city gworl bae sumi! she’s a phd candidate enrolled in the joint program between snu and han pharmaceuticals so on the outside u may think she’s smart n has her life tgt, but in reality she’s a lil uhm *nicki minaj vc* messy 💅 also if u’ve read her powers u’ll notice that it reads like a literal demon ( s/o 2 the nara clan and don’t starve together for the inspo ) so u best believe ya girl sumi here is od’ing on ability suppressants bc she is truly not doin this shit today! imma place all further rambling under the cut for all u keen folk but otherwise, pls hit that LIKE to plot!! thank u lov u mwah ♡

p.s. this is a sideblog so im rlly sry in advance but i can’t follow back!! ims will b thru @renegaed​!!

grew up in rural andong! needless to say the view on metahumans there is not nearly as progressive bc it’s no eden! it’s not like metahumans are hated or anyth but as a lil context i do think religion and superstition would have a much bigger role in rural areas, similarly to our world today

anw sumi is the oldest of three siblings! she’s born to a human mother n a father who’s a silent carrier of the metahuman gene, so they were a lil shocked to find out that sumi’s got that sliver of gold in her eyes 🤓 in the end they can’t be too surprised tho, since her dad’s older sister is metahuman ( she’ll come into play later )

as a child, sumi has alw had a really overactive imagination and is v fearful of ghosts n the dark! v typical of lil children her age and her mom doesn’t bat an eye when she’s runnin 2 her parents room at night n tellin em there’s a monster under her bed... bc of this she alw sleeps w a nightlight but yknow this is still p normal, nothin out of the extraordinary

until her power manifests at 5 and weird shit starts happening... like mom walks in n finds the window in her and her brother’s ( subin’s ) room wide open when both her children r too short to reach it, or subin is claiming that sumi beheaded his teddy bear n she’s crying n saying she didn’t do shit tf the ghost did it!! her mom is getting hella spooked n is like yknow what imma go see a shaman

the shaman tells sumi’s mom that sumi is haunted and her bad dreams of ghosts n shit r a bad omen, and that it is likely that her close family members will suffer bad health if they don’t ditch her ass

sounds ridic wtf but also she’s gettin rlly... scared of sumi n she’s not doin a v good job of hiding it... it gets worse when one night she hears her son crying n screaming n when she rushes to their room she sees him FLOATING n notices that sumi’s shadow seems to have stretched n merged w subin’s n she screams

sumi’s mom is rlly not doin well at this point... she has 0 idea what to do n she’s hella scared of sumi until her dad is like wait maybe sumi’s not actually haunted mayb it’s her power? regardless, both of them do not know how to raise a metahuman kid and time is ticking bc they’re afraid sumi’s gna k*ll subin n them w her shenanigans, so they decide that the best course of action is to ship sumi off to live w her metahuman aunt in eden

so now sumi’s livin w her aunt who she’s never met her entire life other than like a facetime every now n then! her aunt is a certified Cool Aunt, has divination as a power n is single n v happily childfree, so she has 0 clue how 2 raise a kid but she’s doin this bc thru her ability to see into the future, she realises that sumi has a.... bigger problem than her powers: that’s right the bitch is a pyromaniac n her parents were so concerned ab her powers that they missed all the warning signs! the stolen lighters.... the hidden ashes in the flower pot that’s actually burnt origami that sumi brought home from sch... the shaman was right sumi would’ve brought em “bad health” by accidentally burnin the whole house down!!!! 

her aunt doesn’t rlly bother telling her parents this tho bc she doesn’t wanna spook them further ( according 2 her they are rolls eyes easily scared so it’s no wonder sumi’s inherited this ) n there was no way they were goin 2 b able to overcome their fears to raise sumi not necessarily right, but like.... without death so she’s like it’s me who’s gotta do it 

to sumi’s defense she became a pyromaniac out of fear of the dark n fire brought a lot of comfort 2 her n it was to the point where whenever she felt scared ab anyth in general she would feel this intense need to light a fire bc somehow she would feel protected by it n that nth could hurt her bc the fire would protect her

anw sumi’s mom says this solution is only temporary but she keeps postponing the date she’s gna come take sumi back so ig sike sumi’s aunt is rlly j her mom now n that’s on that w abandonment issues

it’s for the better tho bc sumi’s aunt is like objectively the better parent tho she doesn’t rlly treat sumi like her kid, kinda is more like an older sis figure!!

so back 2 sumi’s upbringing, her aunt lets her run around the house for a bit n realises that bc she’s alone now n in a new place, her shadow is acting up even more as she sleeps w her nightlight n turnin it off is not an option bc sumi will start 2 cry n want to light fires!!! bit of a catch22 so the aunt decides 2 tackle the easier problem first n buy her ability suppressants so she can at least sleep w her nightlight on!!

w ability suppressants it all starts to go rlly well, sumi’s aunt j predicts when she’ll light fires w her divination n manage to put a stop to it ( she’s not alw successful ofc... sumi ends up accidentally burning the tent she bought for performing gut rituals and other shit but.. the good news is most irreversible damage has been prevented )

it’s rlly j a cat n mouse between her n her aunt n this continues well into her teenage years until she’s sorta calmed down a bit!! fires still bring her a lot of peace and she still lights em every now and then, but she mostly is able to ignore the impulse unless she’s goin thru some like... really bad shit in her life then she’ll start planning fires n it all gets a lil out of control

anw sumi has alw been rlly intelligent and one thing she’s rlly passionate ab is nvr having 2 be around ghosts ( e.g. her shadow ) so she studies metahuman biology in snu as an undergraduate then masters n now she’s doin her phd in metahuman biology!! her research project is on trying 2 make ability suppressants more efficacious ( like safely increasing duration n potency ) n she’s enrolled in a joint program between snu n han pharmaceuticals!! her goal is 2 create a cure that can make her powers disappear permanently ( ty rogue 4 the inspo )

uhh this was a lot of rambling im sry... a lil ab her personality: rn sumi is at the phase of her life where it’s like falling apart but she’s pretending everything is totes fine : ) she’s drinking on a tuesday night n turning up to lab hungover n giving talks ab her project like sis is rlly not doin well... anyone who’s known sumi outside of work will b able to tell she is messy as shit BUT SHE’S FINE!!

she’s also v impulsive n will do things on a whim,, like imagine she’s tellin u she has a deadline to meet at 12pm tmr but it’s 2am n she’s in the club n she apparently hasn’t started but it’s FINE!!! will tell u she’s completely over her ex then ask u if ur still awake n to pls pick her up from his house at 2am but yknow what it’s FINE

if anyone insists 2 know sumi will tell u she’s j a bad luck charm ( aka the jinx ability where she brings everyone around her bad luck n it can’t be turned off ) 

ok uhm if uve read this far ilu!!! i will now reward u w some plot ideas ♡

sumi may b an unpredictable messy city girl whose life is falling apart but yknow where all the unpredictable messy city girls whose lives r falling apart go?? u got that right they go to BEAT!! she is there every week without fail so uhm if ur muse is a regular... yknow where 2 find me xo

another BEAT plot: she also cries in the club n cries outside the club so like if ur muse happens 2 walk into that...... idk where this would go but i promise u she would tell u she’s fine her life is poppin but we all know it’s bad when she’s lying to her therapist

being a student at snu n han pharma, it’s likely that if ur muse frequents the place or works there, she’ll likely bump into u!! or if ur muse is a journalist who’s tryna get an inside scoop of what’s happenin at han pharma... sumi knows nth ab the human trials but imagine if one of the researchers working on it was also named sumi n u mistake her for that person 🤡

speaking of snu n han pharma imagine if u only know sumi only in a professional context n think she’s v professional and j an upright citizen,, then there’s some work occasion where ur all gathered 2 meet in a casual setting n there’s alcohol involved n now she’s drunk off her ass n she tells u to pls help sneak her out bc she’s 100% she saw her colleagues staring n judging her

sumi’s aunt used to take her to the children’s park quite a bit when she was p young so!! if ur muse is born 94-98 n also went to the children’s park a lot, maybe they could b childhood friends who met there!!

yeah so imagine sumi starts a fire somewhere n it starts gettin out of hand,,, this can be literally anywhere secluded in the city but uhm pls help she is basically a human w the amount of ability suppressants she’s on she can’t stop this fire

sumi’s also got a burn mark on her forearm from one time when she got hurt from a fire she started!! i assume she went to the hospital for it n the timeline of this is flexible, but if ur muse works at the hospital, mayb she was assigned as their patient n her aunt confessed that she was a pyromaniac that’s how this happened?? this part of her is rlly hush hush n no one knows ab it other than her aunt ( not even her parents ) n sumi is v concerned ab appearing 2 b a certified Cool Girl n this is rlly not the vibe so like... wyd imagine she threatens u

sumi lives in jeoljeong highrises w her aunt!! yall could b neighbours it would b cute!!

honestly sumi is pretty unpredictable so she could turn up at lit any location i could find an excuse for anyth so uhm yeah hmu

aight uhm messy sumi time... so she is v reckless n is also goin thru a bit of a ho phase so imagine yall had a one night stand not knowing who tf u guys are n now u bump into each other in a professional setting or smth... 🥵 wyd r u pretending udk her

alternatively yall met on a dating app n either she unmatched u or u unmatched her ( maybe the sexual chemistry was hella off too ) but now u find out u have mutual friends n they wanna hang n ur at this awkward dinner tgt 🥶 wyd

i feel like sumi is the kinda person who ghosts her ex n that’s on that w anxious-avoidant attachment 🤙 so who wanna be ghosted line up 4 the trauma

[timextoxhajima]

YOU ARE LITERALLY SO FUN

without you i wouldn’t have been interacting with you and your other anons

AND OMG READ HOSTIS loml

and i swearr we would be such good friends if i didnt live like thousands of miles away from you

makes me regret not getting tumblr sooner bc twitter is like too soft for me

so glad to be part of the quintet

and even though i ahem with ahem, thanksss for forgiving me😇….now forgive him

you gave me advice on my hopeless romantics and extremely high standards, never truly shared with anyone before

and you constantly let me rant bout hostis ashjdjf

also, its absolutely ur fault, you spawned miraes and said “i’M iMmUnE tO hIm” well are you immune now?!?!?

and even though im renamed regina george…thats okay

and you wanna fedex me a slap? or hit me with a baguette? thats fine too

its all worth it to torment you till you become possessive over he who shall not be named

or you know do the opposite and then throw him away😒🙄

and i wish you would not gloss over hyunjae and just mention ju whenever i send something jujae🙄

thanks for letting me be a simp towards my boba baby

i hate being a sap and telling ppl they’re amazing cause its awkward,

so ily <3

FIRST OF FUCKING ALL I WROTE HOSTIS BASED OFF SOMEONE'S REQUEST OR LIKE A GENERAL SUGGESTION TO TRY WRITING AN E2L BECAUSE I DIDNT BUY THE TROPE AND SHE ASKED ME TO TRY I WASN'T PLANNING ON SPAWNING MIRAES AND THEN HAVE YALL DICKS UP MY ASSES EVEN AFTER A FUCKING YEAR AND THEN BULLYING ME INTO DITCHING JUBBY

SECOND OF ALL awwwwww you're so sweet <333333 i wish all my anons/friends on here weren't like a billion miles from me either uwu ive made so many friends idt i can go back to sch and think im popular anymore bec i think it's much cooler to have friends from other countries <3

THIRD OF ALL KINDLY leave THE DEMON ALONE since yall keep shoving him down my throat THEN ILL COLLECT HIM MYSELF stop trying to remove him from me TT

[theresa-of-liechtenstein]

an art by em year in review!

2020 was frankly awful but, on the bright side, this has still been a year of firsts: the first year i’ve consistently done art, the first year i actually intentionally explored different art “styles” (frankly i’m still hesitant to call them styles, if only because nothing’s changed except the way i outline and color), and the year i bothered to figure out autodesk sketchbook

some unsolicited commentary below the cut

january: i’m amazed that’s theresa like GIRL u are unrecognizable. so blessed that she moved past her fiona from shrek phase ❤️ i still like the tiara though that took ages for me to do

february: ah yes, the meme picture of the 13th doctor and sacha dhawan master that made me slightly famous on twitter (we don’t talk abt it.) it’s still funny but the inconsistency in line thickness is. oof. i’m glad i caught that later on

march aka when it all went down: first lineless art! barbara is so cool like wtf,,, i remember not touching the first doctor’s run initially bc one of my friends back in c*tholic sch**l had something against him (i literally don’t even remember what at this point) so naturally, not having had access to streaming services at the time, i thought he must not be too good but then i watched it during the phase of the pandemic where everything seemed like an early spring break and barbara reminded me of my favorite english teacher so i—this isn’t even about the art at this point wtf. anyway this took me a long time and really helped me understand layers let’s move on

april: another lineless! this time theresa! the jewelry is literally the same as january’s portrait lol but i switched the dress. i don’t know why but i’ve always gravitated to having her wear blue green. i’m trying to break out of it though. anyway i thought she looked too orange but i had already finished so there wasn’t much i could do about it, but looking back it doesn’t look so bad. only thing i’d fix is that i can’t see her nose if i squint (same issue with many of my other lineless drawings, so i should really get on that)

may: oooo hello aileen, otherwise known as the politiciansona! (god i’m never typing that again) tbh i think this ones a step back from the progress i made in march and april with regard to lineless art, and it shows; after this i started gravitating toward line art again

june: you can see that here! i tested out two new brushes and decided to ditch the realism bent i was treading towards, and i still think it’s really cute! ALSO apparently i didn’t realize eyelid creases were a thing til this month,,, no wonder everyone used to say all the people i drew “looked asian” they just all had monolids apparently

july: the infamous hawaiian shirts cp fanart. i was supposed to color in carolyn’s sunglasses but by the time i noticed i had forgotten to do it, the post had blown up so...i just didn’t fix it. anyway that’s the most people i’ve drawn at once and it was a labor of love

august: here we see the proto-notions of cp characters being filipino in my head, starting surprisingly with herc. my reason being him saying “what a ridiculous dog” about snoopadoop in ottery when he and carolyn meet up. like no “hello, how are you, are you doing well?” he just goes straight to calling snoopadoop ridiculous. that’s got the most filipino vibes. this was verified by my dad

september: ah yes, the politicansona again. i included this one bc i liked the detail work i had put in on the robes,, no i won’t provide context i’ll just say that was for practice,,yes just for practice,,stinky bitch fuck ofF

october: i really liked this picture when i drew it and i even put it as a widget on my phone screen but honestly i’ve fallen out of love with it,,, there’s a lot that just looks awkward. looking back i think this is the point where i realized it may be time for a redesign (reconceptualization? is that even a word????) of the cp fam

november: my first work with my new tablet! otherwise known as theresa doesn’t know how to cook (may be projection idk). anyway it was good practice for expressions. yes that’s a ratio test behind her, because i thought it provided maximum comedic value and also i loved that part of single variable calculus

december: i think this is the best thing i’ve drawn this year. and since this year is the best i’ve been yet, this drawing is probably the best i’ve done so far, ever. i returned roaring to my lineless art and improved my coloring by using references instead of the preset colors in the app. like those are better skin colors. so much better. it makes me choked up a little, because that’s what my skin looks like. that’s MY skin color. i used to be so ashamed of being darker and loved winter bc i looked more light skinned in winter but now i’m so proud to be morena, even when my fam in the philippines are shocked that i’m not pale and skinny like american actresses (i’m not joking my father’s godmother literally said “why,,, are you dark” and i was like “....sun.”) and drawing barong tagalog is so special to me because all the representation we get are crumbs. CRUMBS. if we see someone who looks vaguely southeast asian, let alone wearing a translucent shirt, we go WILD. so this is also one of the most self-indulgent things i’ve ever drawn because i drew carolyn like family. THAT’S MY MATERNAL GRANDMOTHER’S FILIPINIANA. THAT’S MY PATERNAL GRANDMOTHER’S HAIRSTYLE. i never met my paternal grandmother and everyone tells me i look like her. so filipino carolyn looks a lot like her, and also maybe me. and it means so much and hfhrheheuejeh this was going somewhere but uuuuhhhhhh i’m crying looking at my own art it feels so silly but here i am!!! i love being filipino!!! i love cabin pressure!!! i love herc and carolyn!!! filipino herc and carolyn loving each other!!! yeah!!!

happy new year. here’s to getting out of one dumpster fire and being told to put out another. stay safe, happy, and healthy. and let’s do this with love.

[sinsdaycorp]

Would u be willing to list below some of the avalance fanfics?

Sorry that it’s taken me so long to answer this, I haven’t been on a laptop in a long time so I haven’t had a chance to really look at my inbox… 

So, this has also given me a good reason to go through my bookmarks and reread some Avalance (:

Hope these recs are good!!

– –

Forever with No matter where you are (I’ll be there) - moonlitprincess

“She remembers the day Sara changed her name in Ava’s phone, remembers the way the late morning sunlight had streamed in through the windows and fallen on Sara’s bare back so that her skin was warm to the touch, remembered the way the sheets had bunched at Sara’s hips as she lay on her stomach, Ava’s phone in her hand and scrolling through contacts until she reached her own name.

“What are you doing?” Ava murmured, reaching out to trail her fingers lightly over Sara’s spine.

“Changing my name on your phone,” said Sara, locking the phone and tossing it back onto the pillow between them. “I’m now your little bird.”

Ava chuckled, leaning forward to press a kiss to Sara’s shoulder. “Why?”

“So if either of us ever get caught, you won’t get implicated as being associated with Sara Lance.””

OR

an avalance ocean’s 8 au.

– – 

Guns hidden under our petticoats - plinys.

Ava is certain that this is a joke, and if not, the worst possible assignment the Time Bureau has ever given out. The assignment of monitoring Sara Lance - future threat to all of time and history, and currently Starling City’s very own Black Canary - certainly isn’t what she had been hoping for when she’d been promoted, but Ava’s determined to stick to the non-interference rules and make the most of it. Though Sara has been known to throw a wrench into many people’s carefully made plans.

– –

A million miles away - plinys.

Sara upgrades her phone to the latest OS - meant to be innovative enough to seem nearly human - and finds herself falling for the voice that’s always in her ear.

(A Her. AU)

– –

Forever with your hands in my pockets - plinys.

“If only there was something I could do to help my grade,” Sara says, her voice sugary sweet, “I’d do just about anything?”

“Well, you could start by doing your homework.”

(Or: Sara’s five step plan to seduce her political statistics TA into giving her a good grade.)

– –

Summer slipped us underneath her tongue - plinys

“Wait, you didn’t think that I wore my Bureau suit around the house, did you?”

– –

Silence - plinys.

“We should play a game,” Sara insists.

“How about the silent game,” Ava suggests.

– –

BASICALLY ANYTHING BY PLINYS!!! 

– –

Don’t you like you, cause I like you - CoffeeAndArrows, moonlitprincess

But before Ava can turn to run away from the door, it swings open to reveal Sara Lance standing in front of her. Her hair is bundled into a messy bun on the top of her head, two stray strands framing the sides of her face. She’s wearing a SCHS soccer hoodie and skin tight shorts that only come halfway down her thighs, revealing muscly, freckled legs that Ava has to work very hard not to look at. Her feet are adorned with grey fluffy socks which Ava is avoiding calling adorable in her head in fear of starting to associate Sara with any word remotely cutesy and affectionate.

Sara’s expression is genuinely surprised for several moments, eyes wide and startling blue. Her lack of makeup and the dim, golden light of the corridor highlight the freckles that are littered across her face.

Her eyelashes are really blonde, thinks Ava. How did I never know her eyelashes were blonde?

OR

a high school au in which sara and ava have been each other’s arch nemesis since freshman year, but when ava’s parents react badly to her coming out, it’s sara’s doorstep that ava shows up on when she doesn’t know what to do.

– –

The day before you came - Phoebmonster

“So, the brief is …” She tapped her fingers on the wheel. “Make your Mom believe you’re really gay and give you some peace and quiet next year.”

Ava nodded, and Sara grinned.

“Right, I can do that.” She said, more to herself than anything.

aka the ‘i’ve hired you to pretend to be my partner to annoy my family at christmas but i think i’m really falling for you’ AU that Absolutely no one asked for.

– –

Cause I see sparks fly (whenever you smile) - mrsavalance.

“Excuse me, one of the flight attendants said that this seat was still free. Is that correct?” You are frozen in place when you find Sara Lance staring at you with those piercing blue eyes. You cannot help but stare at them. They seem to appear to be even bluer now that she is standing right in front of you, than they are on screen. You quickly avert your gaze to the empty seat next to you, which you had placed your bag upon as soon as you figured out that no one was going to sit there, and if she noticed you staring, she doesn’t comment on it at all, which you are immensely grateful for.

or

The Avalance celebrity au, nobody asked for.

– –

i just wanna spend the nights with you - moonlitprincess.

based on a tumblr ask: “i had been on a few casual dates with this girl and we went back to my place yesterday and we were gonna y’know…fuck for the first time. anyway she takes off her shirt and it turns out she has a six pack (an honest to god could grate cheese on it six pack) and i was so surprised/turned on that i couldn’t breathe and passed out, hit my head and she had to drive me to the er. i have 4 stitches. she’s probably never gonna call me again lmao”

OR

college au where ava is only MILDLY crushing on campus heartthrob sara lance and can totally 100% be chill with a casual hookup … until she realises sara has abs. (ft. our favourite ladies being useless gay disasters & plenty of unexpected feelings)

– –

The One With the Bet - WardenRoot.

Ava loses a bet to Sara, the terms of which states that the loser has to do whatever the winner says

– –

Scars - WardenRoot.

Ava sees Sara’s scars for the first time

– –

What if I’n weak and I need you tonight - WardenRoot.

Ava finds Sara crying in her room after a not so successful mission and tries to comfort her.

– –

Will You Be My (Fake) Wife? - WardenRoot.

“So what you need from us is a date?”“A fake spouse, yes.”

When an object from the future gets displaced, Ava needs the help of the Legends to go undercover and retrieve it

– –

So, I guess I’m trying to say, anything by WardenRoot also? 

– –

Sweet Girl - TML9115

Sara is turned into a five year old. The legends with the help of Gary convince Ava to watch her.

– –

More than a Clone - StoryChanger

Ava is attacked in her own apartment and barely escapes to the Waverider. Sara and her team work together to figure out why she was attacked and discover that someone close to Ava maybe a traitor.

– – 

The Holiday Party - ffgirl21

In a last ditch effort to help Sara get over her recent breakup, Laurel drags Sara to her law firm’s Thanksgiving party where she runs into Ava Sharpe, a corporate lawyer at Laurel’s firm.

– – 

Nailing The Canary - notthegoblin

Ava Sharpe is a spy tasked with capturing the elusive Canary. Can she keep focused on her mission when Sara Lance catches her eye?

– –

A Special Kind of Real Fake Love - karadanverz

In order to catch a time-traveler that’s trying to erase the Time Bureau from existence, Ava and Sara must go undercover at a couples retreat for a week so that they can catch him.

– –

Camp Waverider - Notabeautifullittlefool

The summer camp AU that I was literally the only one to ask for.

– –

all these roads lead back to you - Phoebmonster

She could feel it now, something that wasn’t there before, clear and mysterious like the pools of water in the caves, sat at the edge of her mind. If she just reached out -

(An artefact gives Sara and Ava the ability to read eachother’s minds. it goes about as well as you would expect.)

– –

So, I went through all my bookmarks and took out a lot of options from this list because they weren’t all complete. 

I hope you enjoy these fics, because I surely did! 

Also, if you have a twitter, there’s A LOT of SMAU’s on there that have me in stitches.

– –

https://twitter.com/jesmacalIans/status/1124792102557290498?s=20

– –

https://twitter.com/saviourxsara/status/1111513658209624065?s=20

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https://twitter.com/katlikescats_/status/1122598940162052097?s=20

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https://twitter.com/Iegendsofau/status/1038175307839225856?s=20

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https://twitter.com/plinys/status/1079173574781530114?s=20

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https://twitter.com/katlikescats_/status/1080932001941766144?s=20

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https://twitter.com/mrsavalance/status/1092893264473194498?s=20

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https://twitter.com/jesmacalIans/status/1080450697915781120?s=20

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https://twitter.com/jesmacalIans/status/1088810889632010240?s=20

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Hope you enjoy each and every one of these as much as I did. 

[burning-clutch]

The Phantom Always Rings Twice

Read on A03: Here Pairings: None Trigger Warnings: None Total word count: 3301 Author: @burning-clutch (Team Ghost) Prompt by:  Dalv-co-official  AO3: betelgeuse

It started with small things. Little things that could be misconstrued as happenstance and coincidence, and then it evolved into something more, something bigger. And, well, William Lancer always did love a good mystery novel.

------

 It started with small things. Little things that could be misconstrued as happenstance and coincidence. Things that could be written off easily with little thought or without really thinking into it too hard.

 And while William Lancer took notice of the oddities and inconsistencies that seemed to fill one Daniel Fenton’s life, he couldn’t piece together exactly what was happening within the greater story.

 A story that he wanted to see unfold fully.

 It was like a mystery novel in a way. One would need to read through each chapter, each paragraph carefully to be able to find the breadcrumb trail left by the author to be able to figure out the final twist at the end in its entirety. As of now, he only had the pieces that were left out in the open.

 The pieces he had seen that were left behind to be seen were large and obvious, meant to throw one off the trail of the deeper lore in the pages. With glaring arrows and flashing lights, they were meant to attract your attention so that you failed to notice the tiny crumb on the floor just off to the side.

 And it worked well for a time until he had started to take notice of the crumbs. He had looked away from the glitz and offered a story on the platter and taken notice of something small, insignificant. A bruise under the boy's eye, a small garish yellow thing. He had the boy in the morning and noticed it as he went around to collect the homework he’d assigned, and of course, Fenton hadn’t done it. When he had seen the boy once again later that day the bruise was gone. There was no indication that there was any makeup used to hide it either.

 After that point, the teacher had made a point to follow the breadcrumbs. The small bits of the trail that were left behind to indicate something more. He had gotten a taste, and he wanted more. He had to solve the conundrum that was presented before him.

 So, he watched. He listened. He learned and he researched.

 He saw the boy limping to through the lunch line, but had not seen any instance of bullying that would have caused it, and once again by the time the boy was in his class once again that day, no semblance of it ever had happened.

 Abuse at home was quickly ruled out as a good portion of the things that happen to him seem to be at the school.

 He had tried to confront the boy about him clutching his chest and his rattling breaths, as though he had broken a rib or some other such thing, and simply was waved off.                  “I’m a clutz, I fell down the stairs” Daniel had said to his inquiry, dodging the question smoothly. He had seen the boy many a time simply stumble over his feet on flat ground, so tripping downstairs was not something too outlandish to believe.

 And yet in the same breath, he had also seen the teen pull off amazing feats of coordination when he believed no one was watching him. How he gracefully slid around corners to escape the quarterback’s cajoling, or how he had leaped over a railing into the back garden of the school, rolling to disperse the energy in such a way any master of parkour would be proud to see.

 He would entertain the idea of seeming smaller then he was, too. He had noticed it during a presentation when Daniel came to the front of the class. When Dashiel stuck out a foot to try to trip Daniel. Daniel’s eyes flickered for the briefest of moments to the other’s leg before hooking his ankle and preforming a marvellous pratfall. But as he lay prone on the ground he was stretched out showing his full height.

 When he regained himself and moved to the front of the class once again, Daniel had curved his back and dropped his shoulders inward, doing a wondrous impression of the hunchback of Notre Dame.

 Why would Daniel want to appear smaller? Surely appearing larger would help stop those such as Dashiel from bothering him as much, so why? What purpose did this serve?

 Then, of course, there was the matter he had seen the other’s attempt to trip him up, and instead of simply walking over the trap, he fell into it headfirst, let the class laughed at him before continuing on with whatever charade he deemed necessary to fulfil.

 Why bother with such nonsensical things when he could have easily rolled jumped or any other manner of things to avoid making himself into a laughing stock. Perhaps he didn’t like attention then?

 Well, it would be a simple theory to test. William had dabbled in sciences before majoring in English and history after all...

 Putting the attention on Daniel was an easy feat. A simple manner or pointing out his lacking marks and offering a simple way to make up the credit. A public speaking competition or a talent show. Surprisingly the teen had chosen to help out with the talent show. A Stagehand true, but still. He had no problem running out onto the stage to check microphones were working, plugged in correctly, or had good battery depending on what was being used.

 The eyes on him didn’t seem to hinder his performance, so long as he had a purpose to hone in on… so why?

 Perhaps the opposite then? Did he enjoy the attention and figured that being a laughing stock was a way to be noticed? Well, that theory was quickly squashed when he saw the teen have his clothes get stolen in Gym, and doused in pink dye turning his usually white shirt a rather flamboyant shade of flamingo.

 All eyes were certainly on him.

 Still, the teen spent a good portion of that school day hiding within his friend’s hoodie and opted to wear his Gym shorts. It was the middle of February so it was still rather cold. And with only a hoodie Daniel still braved the outdoors with little notice.

 And that was his next crumb.

 The boy didn’t seem to notice the cold.  

 The teacher had seen the teen arrive at the school the following week when a freak blizzard popped up, wearing no coat and very little protection beyond that from the frigid temperatures outside.

 He had heard of people being ‘warm blooded’ and not having the cold climate bother them too much but this was within the realm of ludacrisy! Surely his body was under duress of some kind! Was he ill?

 When asked once again Daniel had waved off his concern, “I’m good. I’m not sick just a little sleepy is all” He had deferred once again pushing off the concern and offering an easy way out, a fake map on a silver platter that he was expected to follow.

 He took the offering. If for no other reason then to throw the teen off the notion that he may be tracing his footsteps.

 It seemed to have worked as intended, though the boy still seemed ill at ease in the classroom. He had noticed Daniel shiver and for the briefest of seconds, he could have sworn he’d seen the boy’s breath.

 Sure the classroom was chilly, the school board being too cheap to allow them to turn up the heat any higher than the current brisk twenty celsius, but that was still far above where one would start to see the condensation of someone’s breath.

 He was drawn out of the musings of this current conundrum by the very topic of his brain’s musings. Hand shooting high as he wiggles in his seat, Daniel looked determined suddenly, and flighty. This was not a new occurrence either. Since the start of the youngest Fenton’s schooling career, he had been randomly ditching class. Sometimes it would be brief, entertaining the simplest of needs it would seem, other times he would not be seen for hours by any teacher in the school only to come back a while later dishevelled and out of breath as though he had run a marathon.

 William sighed and waved Daniel off. It was no use disallowing the boy to exit. He would simply leave the first chance he was given to take his leave. This has happened not only to himself but other members of the staff it seemed.

 Daniel could be as quiet as a mouse when he needed to be.

 His next trail on the line of crumbs was much larger, much more succulent. Almost like a cake crumb instead of a bread crumb. It was sweetened with honey and made him crave the full buffet table all the more.

 Hm, perhaps he should break for lunch… that was many more food allusions then usual. He must be hungry.

   As he made his way down the hall once again he saw, Daniel. He was not in his morning classroom today, though that was hardly a surprise, given the boy’s record… still, he couldn’t deny the interest he had taken in this scenario. Dashiel had cornered Michiel threatening him with a ‘beat down’ which made the man frown deeply.

 He hated how much their school funding relied on the sports departments to do well. What he wouldn’t give to have a few new books in the school. Prefibily something from the twenty-first century.

 Of course, this meant that Dashiel was able to get away with almost anything being how well he performed on the field, carrying the Casper High Ravens to the playoffs. As such a warning would be the most he could really receive for ‘roughhousing’ as it were…

 Still, before he could step in, Daniel did, dryly commenting on Dashiel’s brain capacity and quipping out a few other rather boorish insults. “What’s the matter Dash? Is your shoe size larger than your IQ?” Dashiel threw a textbook towards Daniel who ducked, only causing himself to draw more ire. “Ha, what was that? Ya missed me! Honestly, a star quarterback and can’t hit the broad side of a barn!”

 With that Daniel took off, thus getting the larger teen to give chase and letting the poor hapless nerd go in favour of a more fit target. All in all not too much by itself, but William had found the conjoining piece after classes were done and he was heading to his car.

 There was a ghost attack. Nothing new there, as they were rather common around the school, being as there was always a large congregation of people. Ghosts seemed to hit those places the most frequently after all. The leading theory was that they had more chances to gain their food source from the emotions of humans.

 This was also the main point of controversy for why Phantom was not a hero but more akin to an animal protecting its food source. Regardless of the reason, William had seen first hand the ghostly teen do his routine and had to admit, things would often be much worse without the Phantom ‘protecting his food source’ all the time.

 Regardless that thought was neither here nor there as he snapped himself out of his musings to watch for an opening to speed away in his hatchback and try his best not to damage his already thrice repaired vehicle.

 The ghosts twisted and turned around one another in a ballet that could be something akin to a world war two era dog fight, as Phantom blasted the hunter ghost from behind only to zip away from the other’s shots or expertly deflect them.

 In a way, it was mesmerizing to watch the ariel promenade, as the two spun and did their sword’s dance along the razor blade of death. However, that was not what caught his attention today. No, it was the words being spewed back and forth between the ghosts.

 “What’s the matter, Skulker? Is your shoe size larger than your IQ?” Phantom laughed out before dodging around a laser of some kind. “Ha, what was that? Ya missed me! Honestly, Zone’s greatest hunter? You can’t hit the broad side of a barn!” He quipped before flying skyward leading the ghost away from the school building by drawing the ire…

 William Lancer was not a man who was unobservant or unintelligent, and he was also not a man to ignore such coincidences such as this. Not only was it the words spoken from the ghost, but it was the      way     it was spoken as well that gave him pause. The same inflection and same tone he had heard on Daniel just a few hours prior.

 And the more he focused on it the more similarities he found.

 They had the same voice when they spoke. An easy enough fact to find and notice when compared side by side. A discussion in English class on media reporting, under the ruse of looking at the language used by the newscast, and a recording of a night's broadcast where Phantom was clearly picked up by the microphones. He had told the kids he wanted them to do a piece of mock news, a report on something in their life using the wording examples they had seen.

 The video played and he paused it right after Phantom’s smile and cheesy eighties slogan of ‘don’t do drugs’ was finished hamming up into the camera. It was then he called on Daniel to see what the teen noticed in the language used. And sure enough, the voices sounded identical, save for the echo like Phantom was talking into a tin can, but never the less it was a clue.

 And when he started looking into other things that would compare the meek child in his class to the ghostly hero that flew, fought and patrolled the town well… he became worried.

 When Daniel stood up straight, he was the same height as Phantom. When Daniel was forced to wear a proper Gym uniform, one where he couldn’t hide in a hoodie or long sleeved shirt, he was the same build. Then there were more subtle things, like the pair having the same laugh and same facial features, same windswept hair, same well… almost everything.

 But what does that mean then for Daniel? He had seen ghosts that have a shapeshifting ability before, most notably that awful ghostly therapist and the assistant they had brought in. So did that mean Daniel was a ghost? What were the implications of his death then? And when had it happened…?

 His true lucky break came when he was taking over from the principal, and thus was not teaching his classes for the day. He was in the back staff storage closet, a small tight area with notebooks, chalk, and markers in a narrow L shape. He was simply taking inventory, a dreaded procedure that he had little doubt was left to him purposefully for when Iroshima had to attend the meeting with the school board.

 Regardless he was in the furthest section from the door around the tight corner when he heard it. The door opened and in stumbled Daniel Fenton. The teen heaved a sigh of relief, and just as he was about to reprimand Daniel for such delinquent behaviour, it happened.

 The truth, the piece he had been theorizing and grasping at, laid out before him.

 A bolt of light erupted from the teen’s waist in a hoop of iridescent stardust. It shone and glowed brightly as though someone had suddenly turned on a sun lamp. The ring split and diverged up and down, travelling quickly across the boy’s body in a ripple of power. As the rings passed the human guise of the teen it revealed a familiar jumpsuit, and even more familiar ghost beneath...

 He could only watch bewildered as Phantom, no, Daniel took flight and headed off through the ceiling of the closet. He had been right? He had been right! Oh lord, he had been right…

 Being right had never felt more wrong…

 This teenager, this child… he truly dd carry the world on his shoulders, or at least the town. The boy who would sometimes limp to class and ignore his lectures on doing his homework to secure a relatively well off future, or at least a decent college acceptance… He had always looked as though nothing he said mattered, and well, he supposed given what he knows now that’s not far from the truth.

 Why would a child who was already dead, passed on and returned, care about his future as a human? Why would it ever be something that Daniel would take seriously when he literally had no future on this earth?

 Though it still begged the question why was he still bothering with school at all? Wouldn’t it be better to live as a ghost? He could patrol, fight and, well, do whatever it is that ghosts do in their spare time, all without the worry of his human habits and responsibilities getting in the way of his clearly favoured ghostly ones.

 Though the more he thought on it the more he realized that this new line of questioning was not as complicated as he was tempted to make it out to be. Daniel had died and was a teen who never got to grow up. Perhaps that was all he was trying to do?

 Despite the limitations on his body, or perhaps lack thereof, he wanted to still be a teen. He wanted to spend time with his family and friends and experience the life that had been taken from him.

 He was given the chance to allow him such simple mercies after all. It would make sense he would take it.

 From that standpoint suddenly Phantom’s aggression and heroism took on a much sadder note. One of a teen that simply wanted the others of his breed to leave him be so he may fulfill whatever obsession is keeping him grounded here, experiencing life.

 And perhaps that’s what all the ghosts really wanted. From the Box Ghost to the King of the realm of the dead. Perhaps that’s what connected them all? To live out the rest of the life that had gotten taken from them from whatever it was that took it. Be it a fire disease injury or… whatever had taken Daniel.

 Wiliam appreciated the new standpoint and views he had gained. He was a teacher after all, and part of that was due to the love of learning he had that thrived in his very soul. It did make him wonder though. If he were to be struck down, would he have the strength of will to continue? To push past his own death to try and regain some semblance of what was taken from him?

 Somehow he doubted it.

 Yet at the same time, he was alright with that notion. He was making a difference here and now and planned to for many years to come. Though for right now he would do his best to help the ghost boy in his homeroom class to live out his purpose. A makeup test here, extra credit there, and with any luck, the ghost would be able to graduate and live out the life he had lost.

 After all, William Lancer was a teacher at heart, a mentor.

 He was happy that he could just play a bit part in the background of the stories his students were living. A small thread in the tapestry that weaved their lives.

 What more could a teacher ask for then to see his students succeed? After all, even dead teenagers seem to need help time and again.

   -.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

 Complete

 Total word count: 3301

[tcheschire]

Business time! 1, 12, 48, 99

1. The meaning behind my url:

So the Cheshire Cat is like. My favorite character of all time, across all media. And the soft English “ch” and “sh” sounds are written as “tch” and “sch” in German (which I am).

12. Ideas of a perfect date:

Making a pizza together and sitting down with a six pack of beer to play a video game together. Broforce and Battleblock Theatre are incredible for this, tho others are acceptable too.

48. Have you ever ditched school to do something more fun?

I think I ditched school maybe twice? And it wasn’t for a specific activity, because my city is disgustingly unwalkable, it was just because I was fucking exhausted and needed a mental health day. Lmao I’ve definitely ditched work for fun things tho, like camping or hiking.

99. Have you ever met someone who didn’t seem real?

There was this 6’4 black dude who came into the Starbucks that I worked at over a decade ago, he wore an eye patch and like clearly expensive tailored suits with a nice wool coat he only ever wore over the shoulders. His cane had a bird head topper, and he only ever ordered the Calm tea (except for once, he said he had a sore throat so he got whatever the mint one was called, with honey). I’ve never been more convinced of someone being a pagan god or otherwise fae in my life, his vibes were impeccable and ethereal and wholly out of place for the area we were located.

(Get In My Business!)

[bookandcranny]

Stone Heart Gambit

Part 1 - Chapter 1

Soso likes her town, but she’s starting to think she’s never going to find a single interesting thing about it. There’s a supermarket, a park, a few family-owned shops and eateries that haven’t yet succumbed to the pressure put on them by the encroaching chain franchises. Pretty standard small-town fair, not unlike the one she grew up in.

Therein lies the problem. She’d been so excited to leave home for the first time all those semesters ago that she hadn’t considered that change doesn’t always equal improvement, and putting a hundred miles of distance between her and her old problems didn’t guarantee her a perfect new life. She doesn’t particularly miss living with her parents, rather she finds herself feeling homesick for a place she doesn’t think she’s found yet. There’s a restlessness in her-- her mom claims she gets it from her dad, and vice versa. It’s plagued her in small ways all her life, in the way she finds new friendships but struggles to make them last, in the way she throws herself into new passions only to grow bored of them within weeks, in the way college had seemed so thrilling and full of promise when she was a bright-eyed freshman and now here she is, on indefinite academic leave, struggling to remember what it was she saw in the place that was worth a lifetime of student loans.

She only has so long to figure it out too. She wants to finish her degree, she does, but art requires inspiration and there’s only so much to photograph in a town whose main export is cow shit and stale gossip. If she changes her major again at this point her advisor is for real going to mount her head on a pike outside the bursar’s office, so she has to at least try.

It doesn’t help that she’s pretty much limited to the immediate vicinity surrounding her housing co-op until she either manages to get herself a car or the bus drivers union wins their latest standoff with city hall. Cars cost money though, which means getting a real fulltime job, which she expects will spell the end for any lingering chance of her going back to school anyway. The snake devours its tail, and Soso commutes by bike.

Soso’s handy; she’s confident she can fix anything given enough time, the right tools, and a couple reliable video tutorials. That, among other odd jobs, is her main preoccupation right now. It’s something, but she can’t picture herself changing tires and cleaning out gutters for elderly neighbors to support her Chinese takeout dependency forever. At the rate she’s going, her best customers are going to start dying off before she graduates.

On that morbid note, Soso decides she needs to get out of the house. She slings her bag over her back just in case she manages to run into something photo-worthy and grabs her bike. It’s a brisk autumn afternoon and the fresh air is just what she needs.

On the way out she runs into one of her housemates, Carmen the highly caffeinated, returning from campus looking frazzled. Soso isn’t particularly close with any of her housemates, frequently as they tend to come and go, but that doesn’t stop her from offering her sympathies.

“Any luck with the research?”

Carmen groans. “My paper is doomed. Remind me why I thought ‘modern impact of classical mythology’ was a good choice for my level 300 history course?”

“Uh, beats me.” In reality she thinks it sounds like a fun subject, but it doesn’t feel her place to say so given that while Carmen’s been slaving away at the school library, she’s spent the better of her day half-watching questionable documentaries on alien conspiracies.

“Ensfield is full of weird old superstitions and legends,” she goes on frustratedly. “The old bridge makes it on one of those ‘top 10 spooky locations’ lists like once a month. Complain about a cough to the wrong person and suddenly you get people telling you you’re hexed and you need to walk in a circle counter-clockwise under the new moon to get rid of it.”

She’s pretty sure that’s not a thing, but nods anyway, waiting for the point she hopes is coming.

“You’d think the library in a town like this would have better sources on mythology. But no, all I get is a shrug and the same three books everyone else in the class is using. If I want to bump up my GPA, I need something you can’t just find on Wikipedia.”

Another one of their housemates crawls out from the shrubbery by the porch. “Maybe you should try that other library.”

“Jesus!” Carmen jumps. “What are you doing down there?”

Phoebe brushes dirt off her knees. “I saw a black cat go into the gap.” She points at a thin crack in the woodwork. “Halloween is coming. Any cats, especially black ones, you see wandering around need to be brought to the shelter pronto. People do terrible things to them if they see them wandering around this time of year.”

Soso squints. “Looks too small to fit a cat.”

“I saw what I saw. Anyway, there’s supposed to be an old town library way past the woods, thataway.” She points. “Guy who works there is really weird I heard but almost no one goes there anymore so you’d have first pick.”

Carmen looks thoughtful. “I think I’ve heard of it. I kind of thought it was just something people made up.”

“Nah, it’s real. My brother’s fraternity brings freshman there to haze them. They tell them to go up and throw eggs at the place and then ditch ‘em in the woods.”

Soso blinks. “Why?”

She shrugs. “It’s just a thing they do. It sucks and it’s totally immature but no one ever accused those guys of being creative.”

“Whatever,” Carmen says. “I’m done with books for today. I’m gonna go inside and enjoy some nice brain-rotting TV.”

“Good call, honestly. If you get caught hanging around that place too much they’ll probably start egging us next.”

Carmen heads inside and Phoebe goes back to making little coaxing noises at the gap in the porch. Soso frowns to herself. Sometimes she feels like people in this town purposely go out of their way to ruin anything that could be the slightest bit different. It’s probably just a normal library that happened to be in a weird spot, run by a typical cranky old librarian. Even if it is nothing it probably has more to offer than spending the rest of her day throwing french-fries to birds and squirrels in the Burger Beast parking lot.

“Hey Phoebe,” she says. “Where did you say that library was?”

 --

 The trip is longer than she had anticipated. Her legs are strong but the sun’s getting low enough that she worries she’ll be riding home in the dark. A generous part of it she blames on Phoebe’s vague directions, scribbled into a patchwork paper map of hear-say more than anything else. Despite this she continues. She’s snapped a few pictures of the foliage in its brilliant reds and golds, so if all else is a bust at least she won’t have completely wasted her time. Worst case scenario, she returns home with a little extra muscle on her calves from all the pedaling.

Well, the real worst case scenario is probably more along the lines of her getting caught by an axe murderer and left to rot in the spooky woods, another ghost for the local repertoire. Even then, at least she won’t have to worry about the next family phone call if she’s dead.

Grim musings aside, she loops back and manages to find the correct path, a trampled dirt road half-hidden under the leaf litter, and at last make her way to the fabled “other library”. It’s one of those old brick buildings, surrounded by a low fence that struggles to hold its own against the climbing vines and insects nibbling at its posts. It’s early enough in the season that their collective buzz-chirp-hum still fills the air, though otherwise it is almost eerily quiet. It’s strangely peaceful, Soso thinks as she wades through wild patches of tall grass, as if she were returning to somewhere familiar.

The place is clearly abandoned, she decides, sunlight refracting off the firmly shuttered windows. It’s a cool discovery to be sure, but she ought to have known a mysterious library in the woods with an equally mysterious shut-in tending it was too much to expect from a town like Ensfield. That doesn’t stop her from exploring though. She likes it here, and she especially likes the gorgeous, ancient-looking gargoyle that sits in front of the steps leading up to the entrance, like one of those stone lions that stand guard outside of libraries of greater fame than this one.

The thing is magnificent, as well as truly hideous, its face twisted in a snarl so visceral and strikingly lifelike that it sends a genuine chill down her spine. The attention to detail, to carving out each individual wrinkle of flesh, is astounding. The stance the stone creature is frozen in comes off much more threatening than the regal intensity she might have expected, and it seems to her a counterintuitive choice of décor, but one the artist in her wholeheartedly approves of.

Propping her bike up against the stairs she crouches in the shadow of the gargoyle to get a better look. Organic shapes like vines encircle the beast, so lifelike that feels compelled to touch, as if they might fall away under her fingertips. Just as she reaches out however, the front doors of the library swing open and a stout, middle-aged man rushes out.

“Don’t- who- don’t touch that! It’s- it’s not-“ he stammers. “It’s an antique. Very breakable.”

The man is well-dressed, but his head of yellow hair is mussed to one side, like he’s just woken from a nap, enforced by the wrinkles he anxiously tries to smooth out of his vest. His eyes are a shocking shade of spring green.

“Sorry?” Soso offers, still recovering from the fright. She pulls her hand back guiltily and he seems to relax. How fragile could something made of stone be, she wonders, that he would work himself up into such a state over it. “Uh, is this the library?”

The man finishes straightening himself out before he responds. “That’s what you’re here for? Books?”

“What else?” she asks. His eyes remain narrow with scrutiny, so she adds, “Books on mythology. It’s for a school project. I heard… I am in the right place, right?”

There’s a copper plaque by the door that reads “North Ensfield Public Library”, but at this point she’d be as willing to accept that she wandered into a random person’s front yard, for how he looks at her. After another awkward pause, the man turns back towards the entrance and gestures for her to follow.

“Sorry about that. I don’t see many regular patrons anymore, not for a while now. Pardon the mess.” He speaks quickly, not leaving any room for interruption.

There isn’t much mess to pardon, not really. In fact, the shelves look well organized, if a bit dusty, and the space isn’t as cramped or cluttered as she had expected from the outside. A certain saying about books and covers comes to mind, but she doesn’t think her host would appreciate the joke. It’s no wonder he doesn’t see many people if he acts this way with everyone. Soso bumps into a table and nearly upsets what seems to be a pyramid assembled from various glasses, topped with an upside-down teapot.

“Do you live here?” she asks before she can curtail her curiosity.

“I’m a librarian,” he answers. “This is a library.”

“Right, but that doesn’t…” she fumbles.

“Do Canadians not live in Canada? Do Norwegians not live in Norway?”

“Vegetarians don’t live in vegetables,” she counters.

He considers that. “Well-played.”

Soso laughs despite herself and, to her surprise, things seem to go more smoothly after that. She continues speaking with the librarian and learns that his name is Surehouser, though if there’s a first name attached to that one, she doesn’t catch it. He’s certainly as eccentric as the rumors had led her to believe, but he seems harmless, and quite frankly more than a little lonesome. She doesn’t know how a person could be anything else, living like this.

He’s not friendly or unfriendly; his words have a measured quality to them, as if he’s afraid of saying too much. Soso gets the impression, as the sole carer for this seemingly ancient place, his occupation is more out of a sense of obligation than a passion for literature. He looks the part of the academic for sure, down to the silver that threads through his hair and the half-moon reading glasses folded in the front of his shirt, but his eyes track her as she browses like he doesn’t know what to do with someone who actually wants to check out a book.

“Do you have an idea of what you’re looking for?” he asks after she’s been at it for a while.

She doesn’t want to admit that not only is she not sure, since it’s not really her class she needs it for, but that whatever organizational system is in place here is totally incomprehensible to her. “Anything you have should be good.”

Which is how she ends up checking out way more than she meant to, sending up a tiny prayer that her comparatively tiny backpack can rise to the occasion. Surehouser gives her a look like he knows what’s going through her head as he leads her to the front desk. There’s no computer in sight, just a leatherbound book of names and dates and a thick rubber stamp.

“On my way out, would you mind if I took some pictures of that statue you have out front? For my project.” She adds that last part as an afterthought, then regrets it right away. She’s a notoriously terrible liar and the more she enforces the threads of this pointless story she’s weaving, the more awkward she feels.

He frowns and says, more to himself than to her, “I always thought that old thing was a bit gaudy myself. I’d have gotten rid of it ages ago if I could.”

Something about the way he says it strikes her as strange. Not knowing how to respond, she simply says, “I don’t know, I think it’s cool.”

He laughs. Or, she thinks that’s what it is. The sound is gentle but rusty at the edges. “I suppose you would. Feel free to do whatever you want, only do not touch it, and be careful.”

She walks down the stone steps, her haul unexpectedly light on her back, and pauses to look at the gargoyle once more. The light isn’t any good right now, but she’ll be back.

“See you later,” she tells it.

Sure enough, the next day she’s back. She hadn’t actually planned to be such a regular, but she’d been unable to keep the place from her mind, and it wasn’t as if she had anything better to do. Carmen had looked about to cry when Soso showed her the books she’d picked out. The ones she didn’t need for her paper, Soso decided to flip through herself and had found herself more invested than she’d counted on. The book on obscure pagan deities she’d selected, though dense and confusing in places, was particularly interesting. Before she knew it, she was finished, and thus had the perfect excuse to go back.

“This guy kinda looks like you, don’t you think?” She holds the page open so that the gargoyle could “see” it. Despite arriving at noon on a Wednesday, the library seems to be truly closed today and no amount of knocking had managed to change its mind. Since she’d already come all this way, she figured she might as well find some other way to entertain herself before heading home.

“The horns are all wrong, but the general look is there. He could be, like, your second cousin,” she tells the statue.

The statue doesn’t respond, obviously, but Soso likes talking to it regardless. She adjusts her position so she can keep reading while keeping the book within its line of sight. When it’s time to leave, she turns to it and says,

“Keep an eye on that guy who runs the place for me. He’s weird, and should really keep more regular hours, but he’s nice, and I think being alone out here is making him a little…” She makes a spiraling motion with her finger. “Guess I’m not one to talk though. I’m chatting with a hunk of rock.”

She doesn’t stop though. Maybe it’s the boredom, maybe it’s something just fundamentally Soso, but whatever the reason, she keeps coming back. Partially for the library, yes, and for the company of the strange librarian that dwells within, but primarily to have a quiet place to vent her frustrations and speak her mind, where often the only one around to judge is one who’s incapable of talking back.

Surehouser is an acquired taste, and they don’t have much in common, but he never turns Soso away on the days when her visits magically coincide with the hours of operation. He always seems to have snacks on hand and is content to let the young woman ramble on about whatever latest subject has caught her interest, which as much as she could ask of anyone really. He still speaks frustratingly little of himself, but she believes she’ll get it out of him eventually.

She’s moved from taking pictures around the library to breaking out her old sketchbook, sitting on the steps and muttering to the empty air as she tries to map the contours of the stone body before her. She’s always been visually minded, for whatever good it does her.

“My mom keeps calling and asking if I want to come home for the holidays,” she complains, holding her knees to her chest. “And I know that’s months away but if I say yes that means having to see my family in person while they interrogate me about my future. I’m not even sure I have a future.”

She paces around for a minute to work out some pins and needles and brushes back her hair where it’s been falling in her face. Feeling playful, she imagines she can feel the gargoyle’s gaze watching her.

“Oh this? Yeah, I did get a haircut, thank you for noticing. Just a couple inches off the bottom but I think it’s nice.”

She tosses her head. Nestled among her dark hair, a tip of pointed ear pokes out and she worries idly at the cartilage like she used to do when she was younger.

“You noticed that too, huh. I was born with this itty bity point to my ears. They used to stick out when I was a kid. I was kinda self-conscious about it, actually. I dreaded whenever we had a course in school about fairytales because the kids in my class would call me an elf. I started making my mom do my hair so that they were hidden and just, never grew out of the habit I guess.”

The gargoyle is without comment. She smiles.

“I knew you’d understand, dude. Us freaks have to stick together.”

The following week is a flurry of last-minute Halloween preparations. Soso herself hadn’t been planning to dress up, not having anywhere to be other than planted firmly on the couch in front of a horror B-movie marathon, but the other girls insist they decorate, as there’d been whispers in their neighborhood of pranks planned on those deemed not festive enough. According to Carmen, who had become the resident expert on local tradition since she aced her last history test, the custom of shunning those who didn’t partake was almost as firmly rooted as the decorating itself. It stemmed from a belief from ye olden days that the festivities helped to fend off ghosts and goblins and the meddling of the fae on the day when the border between their worlds was the thinnest.

“Wait, do ghosts come from the same place as fae, or do they just, like, carpool here?”

She snorts. “It depends who you ask, but a lot of people around here believe that anything that’s magical or ‘otherworldly’ in origin is technically ‘fae’. Ensfield has a whole history of convoluted fae-based superstitions. Did you know some people still leave out bowls of fresh milk for house spirits?”

“House spirits?”

“Like, brownies.”

Soso nods. “I love having milk with brownies.”

Phoebe pipes up from the kitchen. “I had a girlfriend in high school who left out offerings when she was doing her SATs.”

“Did it help?” Carmen asks. “I’ll try anything.”

Soso is no skeptic, but she’s more inclined to believe that leaving food out overnight will attract more mice than faerie blessings. The sentiment is nice, but it’s hard for her to take comfort in fairytales without remembering her childhood teasing. How much worse could it have been if it had been more than just a joke, if her ears and her daydreaming demeanor were enough to get her labeled as an outsider for life, rather than just for the span of third grade.

“Are you doing anything special for Halloween, Soso?” Carmen asks.

“You mean like leaving out bowls of milk?”

She laughs. “No, like going to a party. You can come with me to Katy’s if you want. It’ll be lowkey.”

Carmen has been making more of an effort to get to know her since she got her those books for her paper, but while Soso appreciates the thought, being a plus-one at a stranger’s party where everyone knows each other from the classes she’s still not attending doesn’t sound like her idea of a good time.

“No thanks. Someone’s gotta stay and hand out candy to the trick or treaters, right?”

“Good point. Did you pick up candy?”

“Not yet, but I’ll do it.”

“Just don’t put it off until the night of.”

“That’s not going to happen.”

That is exactly what happened. October 31st finds Soso standing in line with a back of candy under each arm. Their neighborhood isn’t exactly kid-heavy, but better safe than TP’d she figures. She’s nearing the register when a pair of college-age boys stumble in, looking conspicuously red around the whites of their eyes. She sighs inwardly as they wander around, talking just a bit too loud for comfort, and does her best to ignore them even as they get in line behind her. Looking out of the corner of her eye, she notices that there is nothing in their baskets except a two-liter bottle of off-brand soda, a box of marshmallow snackcakes, and about four cartons of eggs, each.

It almost doesn’t click for her until she remembers what Phoebe said about the frat bros and their hazing. That paired with it being a night notorious for pranks by idiot teens is enough to get her nervous. After making her purchase she lingers outside the store for a moment and watches as the boys climb into a car and drive away in the direction of the woods.

It might still be a coincidence, they might be heading to some other destination that just so happens to be in that direction as well, but the image of some stupid stoners invading her sanctuary makes her hackles raise all the same. She starts pedaling after them, following just far enough behind so as not to be spotted in the swiftly fading light.

[noreasonjustbored]

You Can Never Run Fast Enough

It had been a few weeks since escaping the lion’s den. Literally and figuratively. And all Henry wanted to do was forget about Charlotte. But that was almost impossible because his best friend was always around. He hadn’t noticed how intertwined their lives were until he wanted to escape her. They walked to school together, they had classes together, they ate lunch together, they worked together, they walked home together.

It was never a problem until it was. Now it was a BIG problem. Henry wanted some time alone to process his emotions and decide if what he was starting to feel was genuine. They say absence makes the heart grow fonder right? Well he needed some absence and quick. Because all of this time around Charlotte was not helping his confused heart. Every interaction seemed forced and weird. Or maybe it was all in his head, he couldn’t tell. It was as if the world had been flipped on its axis but he was the only one that felt upside down. Everyone else was just living their life the same way they had been but to Henry it was like everything had changed.

As a last-ditch effort to get time away from Charlotte and some much need help with classes, he signed up for peer tutoring in every subject available. Being constantly distracted by his beautiful friend unsurprisingly meant that Henry wasn’t exactly thriving when it came to school. Tutoring would give him two hours alone everyday, well alone with the tutor, before he had to go to Junk N’ Stuff.

He had talked to Ray and told him that his grades were slipping and that he was going to start staying after school for help. At first the older man blew him off, saying that “School was for suckers” and to report to work as normal. That was until Henry explained that if he failed any classes his parents would make him quit. Ray’s tune switched immediately and he agreed to the change in routine.

On the first day of tutoring he was at his locker putting his books into his backpack when Charlotte and Jasper walked up to him.

“Hey dude, ready to go?” Jasper asked.

“Actually... I’m staying behind today.” Henry replied.

“Why?” Charlotte asks.

“Peer assistance” Henry says.

“That’s cool Hen. We’ll just catch you tomorrow then” Jasper responds.

“Actually...I have tutoring after school every day from now on” said Henry.

A confused look crosses Charlotte’s pretty face. “Why didn’t you just ask me to tutor you? You know I have the highest GPA in our grade.”

Henry starts stammering nervously. Of course he would have asked Charlotte under normal circumstances. But these were not those and he couldn’t just say, ‘I think I have massive crush on you but I’m not 100% sure so I’m trying to get away from you for a second.’ Yeah that would go over great. Not.

“B-because I didn’t think you would want to. I learn kind of slowly and it can be annoying. I didn’t want to bother you” Henry replied.

“We all process in our own ways Hen” said Jasper while placing a comforting hand on his friend’s shoulder and squeezing lightly.

“And I would never judge you for how your mind works. Plus I already know how you absorb information Henry, we’ve studied together for years. You’re mostly an auditory processor with emphasis on personal repetition for understanding” Charlotte countered.

Having no other reason to give besides the fact that he was running away from his feelings for her, Henry glances at his Wiz Watch and exclaims “Would you look at the time? I’m about to be tardy for tutoring. See you guys later!”

Looking at each other confused, Charlotte and Jasper decided to shrug off their friend’s weird behavior and made their way to work.

A few more weeks had passed with this new schedule. While the tutoring after school had succeeded in separating Henry from Charlotte for a short time everyday, it hadn’t separated Henry from his thoughts about her. But instead of confronting his feelings head on, Henry suppressed them. He attributed these newfound emotions to hormones. He didn’t want to date his bestie, he just finally noticed how gorgeous she was. Yeah that was it, it was only puberty playing tricks on him. Even though he had gone through puberty years ago, Henry reasoned that he must be having a second round. That happened, right?

Truly, he was just afraid to throw another wrench into their friendship after navigating the recent dream fiasco. They had both agreed that their subconsciouses were whack and that they didn’t like each other that way. So what was Henry doing liking her that way? Each time he interacted with Charlotte, his heart rate increased and his palms started sweating. Whenever she touched him, goosebumps erupted on his arms and his mouth went dry. Henry couldn’t control his body’s reaction to her presence and it was starting to get on his nerves. However, Henry was getting better at ACTING as if everything was normal.

One day at lunch it was just Henry and Charlotte at their table. Jasper had started a club for him and his fellow “Bucketeers” that met during lunch on Fridays which today was. They had already eaten and discarded their trash a few minutes prior.

Charlotte was telling Henry about the upcoming dance and what kind of dress she was thinking about designing for the occasion. Henry started to zone out when she went off on a tangent about patterns and fabrics. He was staring intensely at her moving lips when he noticed an approaching figure behind her.

A guy that Henry hadn’t seen before walked up to Charlotte quietly and placed both his hands over her eyes. She jumped in surprise at the sudden contact, then the stranger leaned down and whispered into her right ear.

“Guess who?” He questioned in a deep timbre.

“Clark Kent?” Charlotte responded with a giggle, obviously recognizing their voice.

“You wish sweetheart” the guy said and sat next to Charlotte. The dude was tall, but not taller than him Henry noted. He had black hair and brown eyes. He looked similar to Taylor Lautner from Twilight. He proceeded to wrap his arm around Charlotte’s waist causally. Watching this whole interaction with wide eyes, raised brows and a pit forming in his stomach, Henry struggled to reign in his jealousy. Who is this guy? And why is he touching my Charlotte?

“Who are you?” Henry asks the mystery man with a little more malice in his tone than necessary.

“Oh! Henry, this is my friend Jacob. Jacob, Henry.” Charlotte said easily.

“Sup man.” Jacob addresses Henry with a head nod and barely a glance in his direction before looking back down at Charlotte.

“So are you still coming over tonight?” Jacob inquires.

“Yeah I’ll be over right after sch-“

“So how did you two meet?” Henry interrupts her statement loudly.

“We have chemistry together” Char explained.

“That we do” Jacob said with a smirk.

Charlotte giggles again and slaps his arm. “You’re so dumb” she tells him.

“Only for you” he replies in a soft tone of voice while staring her in the eyes.

What is happening?! Henry questions himself. He did not like whatever this display was AT ALL. And what was with all the giggling? Charlotte does NOT giggle.

She clears her throat and finally breaks their eye contact. “Like I was trying to say earlier, I’ll come over again before work today.”

Again? How many times had she been over?

“Cool, can’t wait. Text me” Jacob responds while standing up from the lunch table. He smirked at Henry before sauntering away.

Henry glares at Jacob’s retreating back before turning back to his friend.

Charlotte sighs and bites her lip to hold back a smile.

“What was that?” Henry asks impatiently.

“Hm? What was what?”

“The whole exchange. The giggling, the touching, the eye contact? Do you like this guy?”

“I’m not sure yet. He’s attractive and smart but right now it’s just harmless flirting. Why?”

“Uh...no reason. I hadn’t heard anything about him then suddenly he’s all in your face.”

“I thought I did tell you about him? Oh you know what? I told Jasper. Yeah, when we were walking to work the other day. Guess I just forgot to mention it to you.”

“Huh. So why do you need to go to this guy’s house? Multiple times?” Henry asked.

“We had an experiment in class and we’ve been working on the lab report together.”

“Interesting. When do you think that’ll be done?”

“Probably tonight? Why does it matter?”

“Just curious.”

“Oooookkkk” Charlotte says while giving her friend a puzzled look.

The bell signaling the end of lunch rang and both teens stood up.

“I have Chemistry now so I’ll catch up with you later” Charlotte said, turning in the direction of her next class.

Henry grabbed her hand before she could walk away. Tingles radiated through his palm from the simple touch. He pulled her gently to him before hugging her tightly. It took Charlotte a second but then she returned the affection. A feeling of contentment washed over Henry as he held her in his arms for a few seconds longer than normal. “See you at work Char” Henry whispered to her, lips brushing the shell of ear with every word.

A small shiver ran through Charlotte at the contact. Since they were still hugging, Henry felt this and pulled back to look at her. His hands were now wrapped around her hips instead of her waist. Henry’s thumbs involuntarily started rubbing small circles on the exposed sliver of skin where her shirt had ridden up. This caused Charlotte to shiver lightly again.

“Are you cold?” Henry questioned.

Stepping out of his arms Charlotte shook her head “No I’m fine, don’t worry about it”.

But her tall friend was already shrugging out of his jacket and placing it on her shoulders. He adjusted the front and smiled satisfied. “There. Now you’ll be covered if you get cold later. I better get going, my English course is on the other side of campus.”

“Alright, see ya.” Charlotte responded.

“You look good in my clothes Page” Henry stated while scanning her body up and down slowly. Before she could respond, he threw up a quick wave and walked away.

As he was making his way to class Henry wondered how that Jacob dude was going to respond to Char wearing his jacket. He’ll definitely recognize that it’s mine since he just saw me wearing it. That’ll show him not to mess with my girl. Henry realized that if he didn’t make a move soon, he could loose Charlotte to that Teen Wolf reject. It was time to accept that he liked her as way more than a friend.

Game on.