#do you ever realize that something which sounded bogus or made up was actually a reference to something else

[applejarjar]

now hold on one motherfuckin minute

[thefanficmonster]

I may or may not have just sent the 3 word challenge in my real account instead of anon... I'm sorry. Please don't answer there. :)

When you post, post answering here please.

Again, much love,

📚🌻

Don't worry dear! Your identity shall remain a secret 🥰 Here's yet another fic with my Resident Evil OC: Gwen Winters (she’s an adult guys, don’t worry. However this is still an Older Man/Younger Woman relationship)

The words dear  📚🌻 Anon gave me in their previous ask were: Unruly, endurable and system. Please enjoy!

What happens in the gym....

Pairing: Chris Redfield x Female OC

Warnings: Swearing, Spoiler Free 😊

Genre: Angsty Romance

“Sure, throw me in the fire like you always do, Leon!“ Chris snaps, clenching his fists tightly as he glares at his best friend while the two stand in the dimly lit gym.

“Chris, you’re a BSAA captain, for the love of God! You should know better than to complain about something as little as this!“ Leon, while significantly calmer tone and demeanor-wise, is glaring daggers of his own.

“Why me, damn it?! And why her?!“ Chris is not done with his attempts to get out of the situation Leon’s trying to land him in and his partner’s honestly done with it.

“And why not?! You see the same potential I see, why would it be so hard to train her? She’s a quick learner, she’s disciplined when she wants to be and she’s already skilled to a certain degree. You’ve made soldiers out of total wimps before, why is she such a hassle to you?!“

“Because she’s disciplined when she wants to be and I guarantee she won’t want to when she’s around me. She’s unruly, selfish, arrogant and a Chris-phobe. I’m telling you, she hates me!“

It’s about time Leon’s had enough of this conversation. To be honest, he was done with it as soon as it started but he stayed, thinking he’d be able to change Chris’ mind but seeing as how this is a hopeless case, he’s just been wasting his time. “Does she? Or are you projecting your hate for her onto her?” Slinging his duffel bag containing his training gear over his shoulder, Leon finally makes that realization that these are ten minutes of his life he’ll never get back and storms out of the gym without another word.

Chris doesn’t attempt to stop him, in fact, he’s relieved he left. He sighs, silently hating himself for all the shit he said and how he meant none of it. It was all hard bullshit and he doesn’t know whether to be thankful or disappointed that Leon didn’t realize. Either way, he’s been cleared of possible suspicion, even if training the newest BSAA rookie still remains as his task.

Gwen Winters, she’s such a fucking handful. One cannot tell if it’s because she’s angry with the world, angry with herself or just straight up picked up on the habits of the family that took her in when she was rescued from Raccoon City where she was held as an experiment hamster. A chemistry project basically. Ethan and Mia were recovering from the events back in Louisiana at the time, still probably are, that is not some shit you get over, so they thought having another person in the house would help them. And help Gwen did. See, Gwen isn’t a handful with everyone. In fact, she’s a real sweetheart and Chris knows it too, despite his bogus claims. He knows she’s got a heart and soul of gold and is built with the will of a BSAA soldier already. All she needs is a bit better fighting skills and she’s good to go. 

He sees how she acts with everyone around him. She’s been quick to make friends with Jill and his sister Claire and she’s even got Leon’s liking and trust which is hella hard to get, especially after all the shit with Ada. She’s overall a super sweet and lovely girl, even with him from time to time. He’s seen her welcoming, friendly smiles whenever he stops by the Winters’ home. He’s heard her laugh at the jokes he rarely cracks.

Then why does she act like she hates him so often? And why does he claim he hates her?

Chris is snapped back to reality by the sound of rough impact. It’s a very distinct noise, one he places immediately: the sound of fists hitting a punching bag. It’s the middle of the night, almost midnight actually, and knowing how lazy the soldiers on his team are, he can only assume it’s either his sister or Jill, given that Leon just left. However, they’ve had people sneak in to train for free before, so it’d be for the best if he went to check who was releasing some pent up energy on the poor punching bag. Judging by the intensity of the punches being thrown, sounds like the person might be angry as well.

And they have every right to be. Because they are Gwen.

Chris’ face goes a bit red at the sight of the infuriated rookie giving the punching bag her all, punishing it the way she’d want to do to her superior she just heard call her all the names she hates being referred by.

“Winters I-“

“Unruly?“ Punch “Selfish?” Punch “Arrogant?” Punch

She stills herself, sighing and wiping the droplets of sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand, “You say all that and expect me not to be a Chris-phobe?” She lets out a bitter laugh, rolling her shoulders before continuing her wrath over the piece of equipment she’s threatening to destroy. She hasn’t spared him a single look yet, something he’s rather grateful for because the last thing he wants to see is whatever her gaze is hiding right now. “I’ll talk to Leon.” She says, her voice leveled and breathy, far from the pissed off tone she was just using. This calmness is a lot scarier though. “I’ll tell him I don’t want you to be my trainer. To be perfectly clear, I never wanted you to train me in the first place. I’m just not the type to complain, you know. I’m not picky. Beggers can’t be choosers. I take what I can get. And you were all I was offered, but...” she trails off, delivering a particularly hard punch, “It’s not gonna work. I may not be picky, but I know when to draw the line. I know when I deserve better.”

“Kid, you really have no idea what the case really is here.“ He attempts desperately, taunted by the thought of acting on his instincts and approaching her even if that means being the recipient of one of those hard punches.

“You know, I’m strong. I’m skilled. I can hold my own in a fight quite nicely. I’m endurable. I’m not afraid to work my ass off and sweat and pant like a dog after workouts. There’s not a line I wouldn’t cross, but you still choose to make me feel lesser than any soldier you’ve ever come across, that’s really lovely of you, Captain Redfield.“

“Winters, please...“

“It’s ok, I won’t tell Ethan and Mia. I’m sure they’ll send you to hell over it. I’m not petty like that.“

He’s had enough. He’s had enough of hearing that hurt tone in her voice. He’s done hearing these words she’s so certain are true but aren’t. He’s done lying to her and to himself. Before he can even think twice about it, he grabs her by the arms gently but firmly, turning her to face him despite her hostile attempts to free herself from his hold like a wild animal caught in a trap. He’s surprised when she relaxes, probably seeing that as a quicker way out of the situation rather than struggling though if she tried to free herself any longer he would’ve probably let her go.

“Fucking hell, Gwen, listen to me.“ He looks her dead in the eyes, catching onto the spark of shock created by his use of her first name. But he also sees something else, something that looks dangerously a lot like tears. He knows she won’t cry, especially not in front of him, but knowing that he’s the cause behind the welling of those crystal droplets in her always shiny, always smiling eyes breaks him. When she doesn’t look away nor protest, he continues, “I can’t be your captain. I can’t be your trainer. I can’t be any of that. I’m a strictly professional man, and it’d be highly unprofessional of me to take you in as my soldier.”

“But why?“ She’s fully aware she sounds like a whiny kid - exactly how she thinks he envisions her sometimes - but she couldn’t care less. She wants and needs answers. She knows she won’t be able to fall asleep or keep coming back to the training center if she doesn’t get them.

It’s blatantly clear this is far from easy for Chris. His first instinct is to look away, let go of her, run away like he always does - not that she’d let him do such a thing but still. He’s finds the words impossible to spit out yet he oh so desperately feels the need to get them out of his system. And so, he gathers all the strength within him and finally forces himself to say it.

“Because a captain isn’t supposed to look at a soldier the way I look at you.“

Sure, it sounds cryptic as heck but he has no doubt she’ll catch on. Gwen is a smart and sharp girl, among many other things. She confirms this when barely three seconds after he’s said it, he notices her eyes widening

“Sir, I-“

“Don’t.“ He says simply, a small, regretful smile playing across his lips as his hand slides down her arm to take hold of hers, “I just admitted my dirtiest secret to you and you are still gonna remind me how unprofessional I am by using my title, Kid?“

She purses her lips, the shock momentarily replaced by her signature mild glare, “Well, you just admitted your biggest secret to me and yet you still choose to call me ‘Kid’, huh?”

He chuckles, letting his other hand repeat the movements of the first, “Sorry, force of habit.” His thumbs brush against her knuckles briefly as his head falls, his gaze fixating on where their bodies are connected, “You know, I didn’t tell you this to get myself any pity or anything. I just wanted you to understand and....wanted to get it off my chest. Ethan will kill me if he finds out, won’t he?” He suddenly asks, regaining the courage to look up at her once again.

She giggles, “Who says he’s gonna find out?”

Chris bites the inside of his cheek, shaking his head, “You’re right, there’s nothing really to find out abo-”

Gwen has never been a chatter nor can she tolerate when people beat around the bush so she’s quick to cut them off sometimes, no matter how rude that may seem or sound. However, just to clarify, her chosen method of cutting a person off isn’t always kissing them. Just saying - this is a special situation requiring special methods.

Taken aback by the sudden feeling of her lips on his, Chris’ eyes close automatically but not even a second later he responds to the kiss properly: wrapping his arms around Gwen’s waist as her hands travel up to cup his face. The kiss is short - too short if either of them is to be asked - but it’s worth all the words they didn’t say despite wanting to.

When they pull away, Gwen gives him a mischievous smile, “Now he could find out about that and then shit would go south. That’d suck, wouldn’t it Chris?“

He’s only ever heard her say his name twice, once in passing conversation with Claire and once earlier when she paraphrased his term ‘Chris-phobe’, both time spoken with some dose of dislike he now realizes was a cover-up all along. Turns out the two are a lot more alike than they initially thought. Regardless, hearing her say his name with fondness instead of bitterness makes his heart flutter, his body yearn to have her closer, his lips wanting to be in contact with hers again. But he’s a patient and self-controlled man, he’s nothing if not willpower sculpted in a human body, so he keeps his distance, waiting for her to pick the moves, waiting for her to make the decisions just like she’s his captain.

“Big time.“ He manages to say, voice coarse all of a sudden, barely able to leave his throat. “So it stays here, right?”

She giggles again, bringing her lips within an inch or two away from his, taunting him, threatening to break his self-control, “What happens in the gym stays in the gym, Redfield.”

Golden rules of discretion, ones he mustn’t break ever. Especially not when his captain - Captain Gwen Winters - holds so much power over him.

[cablesscutie]

34. “I just want to be there for you.” Zutara, For the fluff prompt list please ☺️

Hello!! You sent me this a very long time ago and then my brain was bad and ground to a screeching halt, but I have been thinking about it this whole time! And now my brain has finally allowed me to make words again these past few weeks, so here it is:

PART 1 \\ PART 2

Even after seeing pictures of Zuko convinces Katara to tentatively agree to Ty Lee’s hairbrained scheme, she still tells herself that she has time to bail. If she really decides that she doesn’t need a date after all, she can just cancel on him and tell Aang her date had food poisoning or something. If worst comes to worst, she can claim that she has food poisoning too and escape the entire mortifying ordeal altogether. Zuko is just an option.

This is the constant refrain in her mind week after week as the date of the wedding approaches, and Katara gets somehow less enthusiastic about it with each passing day. She thinks it as she lets Suki shove her into a fitting room, laden with figure-hugging dresses. She thinks it as she scrolls quickly past Instagram posts counting down the days, politely liking them faster than she can process the sight of fairy lights and mason jars. She thinks it as she impulsively adds a leg waxing to her bi-monthly spa day with Toph. Zuko is just an option.

Just an option with arms that look like they would feel strong and secure around her, and a shy smile, and who’s sweet and playful with kids. Katara lets out a long, frustrated groan and presses her forehead to her desk, rolling it back and forth in a futile attempt to rub out the impending headache of a Friday afternoon. A moment later, she hears the telltale rattle of Suki’s office chair, and then her friend is rolling to a stop beside her.

“You good?” she asks, brushing aside Katara’s hair so she can see her face.

“No,” she sighs, annoyed.

“Is it the rehearsal dinner? Because if you don’t want to go, I can just say you got held late at work.”

“No, no. That’ll be...fine, probably. It’s this whole wedding date thing.”

“Oh do not tell me you’re still being all wishy-washy about it.”

“It just feels like a weird thing to do! I’m just going to show up at my ex’s wedding with this random dude? How will that look?”

“Um, probably like you’ve moved on? Which you have. Objectively. You even had a whole other relationship.”

“Really? Because I think it’ll look like I’m jealous and trying not to be.”

Suki fixes her with disbelieving eyebrows and a laugh. “Trust me, babe. Nobody is going to think that you’re the one that left that relationship pining. You were basically his mom. If this was Jet’s wedding...eh, maybe? But you tend to settle.”

Katara isn’t quite sure if Suki is trying to insult her or compliment her with that statement, and she isn’t sure if her kneejerk, “Hey!” is out of a desire to defend her judgement, or her past partners’ character. Regardless, she doesn’t have much after that to refute the point. Aang seems like a functional enough adult now, a few years out of college, but when they had dated, the “teen” in his nineteen years definitely showed. As for Jet, her much more recent cut, he was...vibing.

“Hon, you’re gonna be fine. I’ve heard Ty Lee and Mai talk about Zuko before, and he sounds like a decent guy. At worst, you have a meh date and escape some social awkwardness, but-” the upward tilt of Suki’s voice had Katara on edge, knowing what was coming next.

“Please, no -”

“- it could be good.”

“No, it can’t be.”

“Ty Lee seems really confident about you two, and you know she’s got a creepy good love radar. After all, she’s the one who convinced me not to block your brother when he slid into my DM’s. Even you told me to block him.”

“She does not have love radar. I love her, but the girl is an unstoppable meddler; she was bound to have a hit once,” Katara dismisses. It’s true that Sokka and Suki are adorable now, and perhaps evidence of the existence of soulmates, but Katara maintains that Ty Lee is a hopeless romantic who believes anything could be the start of an epic love story.

“Fine, be a cynic then. But you’ve already acknowledged that he’s hot, so just go to the wedding with him, and maybe finally rebound from Jet.”

“Hmm,” Katara hums noncommittally.

She’s something of a serial monogamist. She’d left her first real relationship with Aang intending on a summer fling to cleanse her palate before going back for her senior year. After a whirlwind month with the mature and worldly Jiang, she’d been looking into online classes, all but ready to move onto her houseboat and sail away into the sunset. Until Suki pointed out that it was an insane plan, and the ultimately parted ways as planned when Jiang set out to sea again. From there, she had fallen in with Jet as a friend with benefits to blow off steam through her last year without leaving herself open to distraction.

He wasn’t the kind of stable presence she could see herself settling down with, but wasn’t looking to be babied either. No, Jet was more of a feral creature. He knew he was dysfunctional and was fine with it, because function was the system and the system was bogus. Then, she got to know him, and realized that he kept people at a distance for much the same reason she was always pulling them too close. Suddenly, she had grand dreams of showing him the healing power of love, and both of them breaking free of their pain, never needing to fear being alone ever again. He cheated on her, and even as she was shouting at him, she’d known deep down that they had both just repeated their same bad habits all over again.

Now, there is Zuko. Zuko, with tragedy in his scarred eye, and sadness in his smile, but gentle hands on little legs resting on his shoulders. Katara thinks she could make many bad habits out of Zuko, and she is not too proud to admit that it terrifies her. Her stomach turns, and she thinks it might not even be a lie by the time she tells Zuko she’s suddenly too sick to attend the wedding.

The nausea gets worse at the rehearsal dinner, when she walks in to find Jet there, grinning at a bridesmaid. Suki hauls her over to Aang to give him a dressing-down for inviting him, and Katara is somehow reminded in the span of five minutes why she is extremely glad to be rid of both of them.

“I didn’t think it would be a problem!” Aang says, his usual defense. “And he is my friend - we go rock climbing together.”

“Small world,” Suki snarls, and Aang goes wide-eyed, leaning around her to look beseechingly at Katara.

“I swear, I didn’t think you were avoiding each other! After all, we’re exes, and it’s my wedding, but that’s not weird. So I figured you wouldn’t have a problem being in the same room as your other ex.”

Katara grits her teeth behind glossy lips that she forces into a smile, and despite Suki’s murder eyes and the voice in her head telling her not to - to swallow her embarrassment and tell the truth - she finds herself falling back on those old bad habits. “It’s okay, Aang. You had good intentions. We can be adults for one day.”

“Thank you so much Katara,” Aang gushes, lunging forward to wrap her in a hug that pins her arms briefly to her sides. “You’re the best!”

Suki shakes her head in disappointment as he bounds away. “You made your bed,” she reminds Katara. “Guess now you have to decide who to lie in it with.” She glides away to join Sokka at the bar, leaving Katara standing dazed and confused.

“Katara, hey,” an all too familiar voice greets her almost immediately after, and Katara closes her eyes. Suki totally hung her out to dry, and she can’t even be that mad because she’s right.

“Jet,” she says evenly, turning to face him. This shouldn’t be hard for her. While she doesn’t forgive him, she’s also very over him and understands that she’s an idiot for not making Aang ask him to leave. “How are you?”

“Not bad, not bad,” he says, bobbing his head. His clothes are formal but rumpled by disdain for their formality, an effect which once had a liquifying effect on Katara’s insides, but now just feels rude. “I was actually coming over to ask you the same thing,” he says, as though it is a profound inquiry and not the root of all small talk. She opens her mouth to offer a brusque reply and make an excuse to join Sokka and Suki at their table, but he knocks the wind out of her sails with his next words. “Ex’s wedding and all. Brutal.” He gives her a look that she is all to familiar with: his I-see-your-pain look. It was another thing about him that used to push all the right buttons on her, but now she just feels insulted at the presumption that she needs or wants his pity.

“Aang is actually a very dear friend,” she says, trying to sound as impenetrably chipper as possible. “Like a little brother.”

Jet is not deterred, leaning closer to her, his hand just brushing her elbow. “I feel bad about how things ended between us,” he says softly. “I should’ve done better by you.” Katara is momentarily stunned. Is she actually getting a sincere apology? “Which is why I think we should go to the wedding together. I just want to be there for you.”

It’s like a bucket of cold water down her spine, dousing both the fire of her anger and the tiny kindling warmth in her stomach. Katara pulls her shoulders back, straightening her spine, and snaps, “I already have someone to be there for me.”

Jet blinks and rears back a little. “Alright. I’ll, uh. Be looking forward to meeting them then.”

As he slinks away, she feels a moment of deep satisfaction. Only to nearly aspirate her sip of wine as she realizes she has officially painted herself into a corner. Zuko is coming to this wedding.

Thank you! If anyone wants to send me a line or prompt (from this list or your brain) I'll keep it going!

[ickle-ronniekins]

in every lifetime, fred x reader

request: from @fredweasleyismyking91: I just read your George soulmate au and I’m obsessed. I love soulmates so much and that one was amazing. I’d love to read a Fred soulmate if you were ever up for it!

prompt: soulmate au in which characters have specific phrases their soulmates will say to them written on their wrists like tattoos—they will now know they are soulmates until the first one speaks the phrase

A/N: literally losing my shit. thank you for this request and for your kind words. reader is american and i made this after the war bc i do not live in a universe where my poor freddie doesn’t survive—I JUST LOVE HIM, ALRIGHT? also, sorry this is insanely long but it’s worth the read, i hope?

You stared blankly at your wrist in the middle of a very crowded, very bustling Diagon Alley. London was not at all what you’d expected. You peered quickly at the words. Won’t cost you a dime.

You thought it was silly, at first, the words your soulmate will speak to you, tattooed on your body. It looked absolutely ridiculous. It looked like the absolute dumbest quote in the history of the world. You found it to be quite annoying, really. When your parents told you what it was, you nearly snorted. You were just a young child. It sounded like the silliest thing in the entire world to you.

But as you grew older and more curious, you searched Ilvermorny for a glimpse—maybe your soulmate was here? It’d make the most sense, of course, for him to be prancing around the American wizarding school somewhere, close by—you weren’t planning on leaving America after graduating, anyway. But there was no one—not a soul—who gave you that feeling of hope, that feeling of… that must be him.

Oh but your friends absolutely loved to play that game. Picking and choosing, glancing anxiously at the phrases on their wrists, peering admiringly at your schoolmates and deciding which ones they’d like to spend the rest of their lives with, how they’d finally find them, when it would happen—at least before the age of twenty four—well, that’s what your parents had said, anyway. Your friends’ phrases were, to your dismay, much more sophisticated and seemingly more exciting and well—a bit more special than yours. Won’t cost you a dime. Absolutely bogus.

This game they were playing was, of course, based mostly on looks and not at all on personalities, but rather just their dreams and what they so desperately wished their lifetime of love would look like. Plus, you were all still so young, all they wanted to do was have a little fun, didn’t they?

So they dated, even though these people hadn’t said the words they yearned for. No reality had seemed to set in yet. Not one of them had found their soulmate. You supposed, watching them, you could do the same thing. But what was the point in dating someone you knew wasn’t the person you’d spend your life with? You opted out. You just wanted to wait for him. He’d say the words when the time was right. It would all be worth it, wouldn’t it?

As the years went on, you did seem to mostly forget about the words on your body, fading lightly. In the bustle of your busy life, it wasn’t something you necessarily tried to focus on, like all of the others around you, searching faces in the crowd, desperately trying to find the ones. When it’s time, it’s time, you kept telling yourself. But the fear that you’d never actually find him did nestle itself in the back of your mind—you never, ever, ever let yourself touch that thought. Not even a little.

You were rapidly approaching the age of twenty two. You’d finished Ilvermorny, began your studying to eventually be able to teach there, and tried to not focus on what everyone else seemed to be so obsessed with.

And on your twenty second birthday, you were offered the position of a teacher—not at Ilvermorny, no, but at the wizarding school across the pond. Yes, you were moving to London.

It was terrifying and exciting and exhilarating at the same time.

And so you packed your things, said farewell to your parents, and ended up in a very tiny, one bedroom apartment in the middle of London, just a few streets down from Diagon Alley—the bustling street where all witches and wizards went for their school supplies—and you supposed, professors, too.

Well, you knew what you needed to do.

Which brings you to now.

Somebody bumped into you while running through the street. “Sorry, love,” they said, and were off in a flash, barely noticing the shift of your body on the middle of the cobblestone. And then, a flash of light, and a ton of rain.

Was London notorious for its rainy days? You didn’t know, this was your first time here, of course. And where on earth was your umbrella?

As you’d dreaded—back at your half unpacked apartment, probably collecting dust at the bottom of one of your many, many boxes that still needed to be unloaded. Brilliant.

You ran into the store nearest you, quickly running through the flash flood, soaked to the core—your long hair dripping along the carpet. You didn’t know what to expect when entering the shop, but it sure as hell wasn’t this.

It was probably the most colorful room you’d ever seen in all your life. Bright hues of orange and green and purple and red made the shop seem even much bigger than it was—loads of toys and supplies were making many sounds that seemed to reverberate off of the walls. Students and children and parents alike were chattering animatedly and peering admiringly at all of the inventions that were stocked very highly on the shelves. It was rather bustling, indeed.

“Looking for anything in particular?” a cool voice asked. When you turned around, a red haired man in a brown suit looked at you with wide eyes. “Bloody hell—get caught in that rain, did you?”

“Unfortunately, yes,” you told him. Was he the owner, perhaps? “Do you have a restroom or something I can wash up in?”

Another man who looked exactly like him sauntered over and asked his twin, “Georgie, I’ve just—lord, you alright, love?”

Love? Does every man in this country call women that? Not quite like America. Still, you couldn’t help but grin a little. “I’m fine—just wondering if you have a place I could dry off, maybe—”

George, the first one, said to you, “We’ve got dry towels—let me go and fetch them for you—”

“Believe there’s a sweatshirt in the pile of clean laundry too, mate, if you want to grab that,” the second one said.

You shook your head and said, “No, no, I’m fine, really—I live just up the way—just a towel will do.”

“Nonsense,” he told you, motioning for you to follow him. “C’mon, we’ll make you a bit of tea to warm you up,”

Okay, so, definitely the owners. They seemed so young to own such a successful shop in the middle of the busiest street in London. They couldn’t be older than twenty two, twenty three? How on earth were they handling all this chaos?

You’d learned a lot in your short time at Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes. It was a prank shop, basically, run by two boys who, although adults, did seem to love acting like children. Born and raised as two kids who wanted more than anything to continue making people laugh, even in the darkest of times, they’d hatched this plan at the mere age of five, and they’d not once teetered off track. Not very pleasing to their mother, you learned, who’d spent her lifetime watching over seven mischievous children, but she’d softened when she’d realized how well off they were, especially after the war you’d heard all about when you were back home.

As you pulled your still damp hair back into a high ponytail, you said to them both, “Well, thank you both very much—not exactly how I’d imagined my first day in London to be, but—I appreciate you taking me under your wing.”

With a swift goodbye as George was pulled away by customers, he told you, “Visit soon!” The other man stood in front of you with a concerned look in his eyes.

“You’re sure you’re alright?”

You laughed softly. “I promise, yes. Thank you…”

“Fred,” he said, taking your hand in his.

You bit your bottom lip. “Y/N...well, thanks, again—I’m sure I’ll see you around.”

“I hope so,” he said and winked. Was he seriously flirting right now? You glanced quickly at your wrist, taking a deep breath in. Was it him? Probably not. There were millions of others in Europe. You were strangely sad at the thought. You barely knew this guy. And who knew? Your soulmate could still be back home. Fred brought you back to reality when he asked, “Visit soon, yeah?”

You scratched the top of your head and grinned at him. “Yeah, soon...have a good night.”

And so your first night in London hadn’t gone exactly as planned. But what did you expect, really? Chaos. Always.

You were met the next morning with sunshine flooding through your apartment and boxes that needed unpacking. You groaned at the thought. Instead, you made your way into Diagon Alley again, this time determined to be able to shop more of the little stores in the sunlight, not having to escape the street due to flash flooding.

It was hot. You were surprised how hot it was. Your pale green sundress swung at your sides, and you pulled your long hair into a side braid to get it off of our neck. And as you’d assumed, the street was incredibly busy. But you didn’t seem to mind. You loved the bustle of the city.

You clumsily tripped over the cobblestone in your sandals, bumping hard into someone next to you. Looking down at their feet and regaining your composure, you said, “I’m so terribly sorry—”

“Back again, are we?”

It was Fred, the man from yesterday. He was smirking at you with his hands in his pockets.

“Well hey, Fred.”

His raised his eyebrows at you, seemingly impressed with the fact that after one brief meeting, you could tell him and his twin brother apart. “Impressive, honestly, nobody can really tell us apart except our mum,”

You smiled and glanced down at your shoes, biting your bottom lip.

“Listen, I’m about to grab a bite—and you certainly look like you could use a bit of a break,” he glanced down at the many bags you had in your hands, “care you join me?”

You went against your better judgement. Two days in a row you’d run into this man you barely know, and you’d already managed to have his sweatshirt, towel, and a pair of sweatpants in your apartment, and now he was inviting you for a bite to eat. An adventurous few days you were having, indeed. The field day your friends would be having with this information—

“Okay,” you told him, pushing the thought away and following him across the crowded street where he grabbed your hand and cut through very busy traffic.

“So,” he asked when he finally stopped walking. “Favorite flavor of ice cream?”

“Chocolate chip cookie dough,” you said immediately, not even thinking on it.. “And you?”

“I dunno,” he said truthfully, cocking his head to the side and looking up at the sky. “It changes daily. Ready?”

He pulled you closer towards the shop you were in front of, and when you looked up, you noticed a sign that read: Florean Fortescue’s Ice Cream Parlour.

Confused, you asked, “This is the bite you meant?”

“Yeah,” he told you matter-of-factly, reading your face for any sign of amusement. “C’mon, America, don’t tell me you’ve never had ice cream for lunch before.”

You smiled at him. America. What the hell—it was adorable, and you were nearly melting into a puddle in front of him. What were you doing? It was the accent, it had to be—and that red hair. God, the things your friends would be saying—

You pushed his arm softly and told him, “I shall have you know that I have definitely had ice cream for lunch.”

“Good,” he smirked, taking your hand in his and pulling you inside. “Let’s go, then.”

And after this second day in Diagon Alley, your afternoon meet up with Fred for ice cream from Florean Fortescue’s became a daily thing. It was addicting, this ice cream—absolutely nothing like you’d had back home, and thank goodness Diagon Alley was so large, because you were able to walk off those calories in a heartbeat.

As the summer dragged on and the impending school year drew nearer, you’d kept returning to the street—of course, for your school supplies, yes, but also to see him. You’d find yourself, every so often, glancing down at your wrist, looking at the silly phrase, wanting to forget about your soulmate altogether. You found yourself covering it with bracelets and watches, hoping that Fred would never see it and never have to ask about it.

You’d spent many afternoons in Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes, as well.

It proved to be very difficult to leave every evening, actually.

What were you doing?

You needed to draw yourself back. You needed too. You didn’t want to end up heartbroken, in a foreign city, before starting a new job in a new place with new people. It was a disaster in the making. You needed, more than anything, to protect your heart.

And so just a couple of days before the start of term, you slowly made your way into the shop, ready to tell Fred that you wouldn’t be seeing him for a long time, as term was about to begin, when he met you at the front of the store.

“Y/N! Glad to see you this morning,” he said brightly, coming round the bend of the back end of the store. “Now, when you get to Hogwarts in four days time, remember to tell Minerva McGonagall how fond you are of me and George—I reckon she’ll be so pleased you know us,”

You cocked your head to the side and placed your hand on your hip, smiling sweetly at him. “Why do I have the feeling that she’d actually be less than impressed at that?”

Pretending to fall backwards, Fred told you, “I’m heartbroken you think that, Y/N,”

I’m just heartbroken, you thought dramatically, shaking the thoughts from your head at how absolutely overly emotional you were being. Ridiculous. “Freddie listen, I—”

“Ooh, we’ve got just the thing for your classroom—it’s bloody brilliant, c’mon, you have to take it—it’ll be a good luck present, on us, yeah? C’mon then, won’t cost you a sickle,”

Begrudgingly, you followed him to the back of the store, when your heart stopped.

He laughed then, shaking his head and laughing to himself. “You’re from the other end. Reckon I probably should’ve said, ‘won’t cost you a dime’, is that way they say in America?”

And just like that, your head shot up and muscles tensed. That moment of reality. It was like you‘d gotten the wind knocked out of you, just as your parents told you. “Oh my god, what did you say?”

You watched Fred stop in his tracks, glance down at his wrist, and turn slowly back towards you, in the middle of a crowded store. Your heart and mind were racing, and it took every single ounce of you to restrict yourself from nearly jumping on top of him—

“It’s you,” he said, as if the entire world around the two of you had stopped abruptly.

“Get the wind knocked right out of you?” you asked him, pointing to his wrist and to yours.

He looked down at your hand and then back at you. Did he have tears in his eyes? “Yeah,” he said breathlessly—and then, that silly sarcasm. “I knew it.”

You actually laughed in the surprise of the moment. “You did not!”

“Well, I hoped,” he admitted. “I reckon you did, too?” He smiled sweetly at you. Yes, you’d hoped, too. He knew that. He could see it in your eyes from the moment you met one another, when you were rain soaked and shivering from the cold in his very busy store. He was in love with you right then.

Teasingly, you said aloud, “A British prankster. All my life I never pictured my soulmate as a British prankster.”

“Can’t say I ever pictured my soulmate as an American girl who’d end up working at the school I grew up in,”

You asked him jokingly, “Are you disappointed?”

Beaming at you, he replied, “Definitely not disappointed, America.”

It was really difficult to not turn to complete putty in his hands when he was so goddamn charming. It was inevitable.

You stood there, both peering at one another, wondering—what happens next?

And what kind of soulmate would you be if you didn’t ask him, “So can I kiss you now? I’m dying, here,”

And what kind of soulmate would he be if he didn’t tease you, “Well, yeah, darling, what the bloody hell are you waiting for?”

His lips were soft and warm, and it felt like you’d kissed them a million times before. He was your soulmate—in this life, and in any and every other lifetime there was—it would always be him—this confident, flirtatious, silly red headed boy who loved, more than anything, to bring a smile to people’s faces.

“Well thank bloody Merlin the two of you finally figured it out.”

George came down the steps from upstairs and wrapped his arms around the two of you. Up on the top floor, you saw another red headed boy and girl, who you knew must’ve been Ron and Ginny. Or was it Bill? Or Percy? Or Charlie? Guess you’d have time to figure it out. They both smiled at you.

“You knew?” you and Fred both asked George at the same time.

George chucked, “Yeah—it was really obvious, actually.” To you, he kissed you on the cheek and said, “Well—welcome to the family, officially! So, when’s the wedding? Kids on the way yet? Mate, you know mum is absolutely going to flip her lid when she hears the news—”

You choked back a laugh. Intertwining your fingers in Fred’s, you said to them both, “That’s a lot of steps we’ve skipped, there,”

And as he jokingly pushed his twin away, Fred turned back towards you, wound his arms around your waist and pressed a kiss to your temple as you draped your arms across his shoulders. His lips were pressed to your ear and it sent a shiver down your spine when he said, “I can’t wait to share all of them with you, my love.”

tag list: drop me a message if you’d like to be added: @mintlibri @seppys-return-to-madness @how-do-life-does @fopdoodledane @fredd-weasley @fredweasleyismyking91

reblogs + feedback are always appreciated lovelies :)

[multifandomfic20]

Broken Promises

The library. The last place anybody would look when searching for Sirius. Which made it the perfect spot to make his getaway- ever since he had left home to escape his parents, his friends hadn’t given him a moment of quiet. While he appreciated their efforts, he just wanted some space.

Sirius had a book open in his lap- one that Moony had recommended and he never thought he would find himself reading, but he was slowly becoming more engrossed in the story when he heard the sound of footsteps coming closer. Closing the book and setting it on the table, he prepared himself for one of his friends, but when he saw Regulus, he sighed. When Sirius looked at his brother, he gasped at the state Regulus was in and realized Regulus definitely hadn’t been sleeping at night 

“Reg are you okay? What’s wrong?” Sirius asked worriedly, standing up and rushing to his brother.

Regulus looked up sharply not expecting to see Sirius in the library and certainly not expecting Sirius to ask him what was wrong. Everytime Sirius took a step towards him, he took two steps back. It was clear Regulus didn’t want his brother to be near him. 

“What does it matter to you, you blood traitor. You don’t care about anyone but yourself” Regulus hissed, feeling a sense of remorse almost instantly when he saw hurt dancing across his brother's face .

“Is that all you think of me now? That I’m just a blood traitor? Reg I’m your brother, of course I care about you, I worry about you everyday” Sirius spoke softly, hoping his brother would understand.

Regulus the pressure of tears building in the corners of his eyes but all he could hear in his head was his father telling him how men can’t cry, that it was a sign of weakness.

“You lost the right to call me your brother when you left me alone with them. Something always you promised me you would never do. We’re through Sirius- goodbye.” Regulus said, turning away, heading towards the exit.

“We’re family. You can’t just walk away from that.” Sirius yelped, moving towards his brother and grabbing his arm, Sirius stilled finally understanding the meaning of his words.

“Are they hurting you?” Sirius asked.

“Obviously, Sirius. Did you expect anything else? They try and justify it, saying they’re teaching me not to be like you. And you aren’t there to protect me like you always promised you would be” Regulus said defeatedly yanking his arm from his brothers grasp and walking off.

Sirius didn’t know why he felt so shocked at the revelation, he should have known his parents would just move onto his brother when he left. He knew the guilt was going to consume him if he didn’t do something. Sirius left the library, heading towards the common room, he was immediately surrounded by the other three marauders.

“Where have you been? We were worried sick and you took the map with you” James questioned

 “Sorry I needed some time alone. Can I talk to you privately, James?” 

“What’s up Pads?” James asked following his friend into the other room

“I saw my brother- and he, he needs a place to stay. I failed him, I broke my promise to keep him safe and I just let him down. And I know it’s a lot to ask, but do you think your parents can take him in? I just can’t stand the thought of him staying there” Sirius rambled, only stopping when he felt James’ hand on his shoulder.

“Woah Pads- calm down! Of course my parents would take in Regulus. But how on earth are you going to get him away from your parents?” James asked

“I have a plan.” Sirius said

Sirius took the walk to Dumbledore’s office, easily passing through- having known the passwords, waving at two of his superiors when they looked up in surprise. 

“Mr. Black how on earth did you get in without the password?” Mcgonagall asked, standing up and crossing her arms tilting her head as she watched him smile.

“Minnie- did you really think I didn’t know the password? While I’m happy not to divulge my secrets later, that's not why I’m here.” Sirius said and Dumbledore smiled

“Well why are you here Mr. Black?” Dumbledore asked.

“I need your help getting my brother out of the Black house but I need the Potter’s to legally have custody of him so they can take care of him” Sirius stated. 

“Sirius, how on earth do you plan on getting your parents to give custody of Regulus to the Potter’s?” Mcgonagall asked.

“Well, I’m not sure if you guys actually want me to give you the details, but I need a letter that needs both of their signatures sent to them- it can be whatever bogus you can come up with. Once I get that back, I can take care of the rest.” he explained, back and forths going between the pair and the boys, and what seems like hours later, they finally agreed.

The following day, after Dumbledore had sent the letter to the Black household, Sirius sought out his brother, blocking him from leaving the table.

“Before you leave, you have every right to hate me. I left you after I promised you that I never would but I want to fix it.  I know you think that there is nothing I can do but you would be wrong. I just need you to not be stubborn and accept help” Sirius said.

Regulus sighed, shaking his head knowing that Sirius had already started something to get him out of that stupid house.

“How on earth do you plan on doing that Sirius?” Regulus asked, Sirius falling into the long explanation of his plan.

“Even if the plan works, you know that they’re just going to fight to get back custody.” 

“I know. But when that happens, and the Potters fight back, home inspections will be done on both ends. And we know all those precious secrets our parents keep, and when even a few of them come to light- the Potter’s will have no problems keeping you with them.”

“Do you promise that I’ll be okay?” Regulus asked his brother with a sigh, he knew that he couldn’t handle much more of what was going on.

“Reg I promise you, from this moment on I’m going to always make sure you are okay” Sirius spoke into his brother's shoulder as he pulled him into a hug- and for the first time in a long time, he felt like everything might turn out just like it should.

[rametarin]

Little note hider. Or, alternative title: “Ante up for arguments.”

So a few days ago I made a post about the tactics I remember from my youth.

Actual disruption and propagandists that filled little girls’ heads with emotionally charged political shit and encouraged them to, “stawt convuhsayshuns uwu” to, “change society.” And we’re talking kids being emotionally blackmailed to accept many of these subjective things as truth.

Taught to argue with other children, the age where they weren’t even really clued in on how to read or argue with academic buffoonery or emotionally charged appeals to authority.

I remember quite well the interactions.

Babby Radfem: “Our society is racist.”

Me: “No it isn’t. Societies can’t be racist, only the people in them.”

Babby Radfem starts citing known examples of racism talking about slavery.

Me: “Yes I know you can talk about things that happened, that doesn’t mean society is racist, it means there are racists in it.”

Babby Radfem: “Proof? You have any proof? :^) Because I have proof of what I’m saying! So YOU have proof for what you’re saying?”

And you have to understand; these little socio-politically programmed children didn’t just waltz into a library and grab up some Feminist Book of Statistics. They were coached, they were groomed, they were armed with bogus academia huffandpuff and then set loose to go after kids who’d never even heard of these issues before.

In my case, I learned what the concept of rape was because a baby radical feminist informed me because I was a boy, and, “epidemic societal rape” was a thing, that she could never wholly trust me of be comfortable around me, because, “men in our society are so violent and rape women.” Not really an appropriate mindset for a girl under the age of 7. Or a boy, for that matter.

It’s at that point they’d put on this big performance with that smug, disgusting expression on their face, setting up a bunch of articles and examples of things that’d happened in the past and examples of singular racist assholes operating, conflating that deliberately with, “a racist society.” Because you know, if one member of the hivemind super colony acts bad, I guess to socialists that’s, “proof” that “society” didn’t do its job in programming them right, or something.

And it’s at this point that no matter what you say, they aren’t looking for a reasonable discussion where you respect one another’s positions and perspectives, they’re looking for a show trial, and they think they’re being clever by trying to make you defend the actions of actual racists, since in their minds, you’re denying their actions ever happened.

No matter what you say, like broken interfaces, they’ll just sit there smugly reminding you, “you aren’t proving society isn’t racist yet! Do you even have an argument? Do you have proof? Any actual PROOF, not emotionally charged denials? Still not seeing any proof of what you’re saying. Guess you don’t have an argument. I’m sorry, I don’t accept crybabying nuh-uhs, I’m a rational person with a scientific mind :^)”

I say again, this shit, these big blowhard guns, were brought out and used on me. I was fucking 5, at the time. It’s not like I was going to stand up, shout, “Foucult was a boy toucher and a monster!” and show the 10 page report with bibliographed citations. You can’t spur of the moment refute someone handed a book wwwwaay about their age range just to tell you bogus statistics like women only make 50-75% of what a white man makes, “for the same job,” that demands you also spur of the moment disprove what they’re saying in order to dispute or disregard it at all.

Then plays to the peers around you like your outrage over the things you’re being accused of by proxy of being a boy, is just because you don’t like, “hearing the truth.”

And you know what this behavior influenced? Yeah. Annoying Youtube Atheists of the 00s. I’m an atheist, but the difference between me and An Annoying Youtube Atheist, is I don’t make not participating in an organized religion or believing in supernatural creators. While the other considers themselves an intellectual for arguing with probably the easiest arguments to disprove and discredit you can possibly engage.

So when I talk about shit like this that I witnessed and observed happening in the fucking late 80s, early 90s, of course I’m not going to have “proof.” Who the hell happens to have examples of such a random a sporadic thing in the wild? The odds are literally a million times better now than they were when our communication and interactions were in person, without internet, with only access to the information resources in the books you had in your local library or in your house.

The, 1.) Inflammatory Statement 2.) Whipping out a book that may as well have been written by Jordan Peterson or Ben Shapiro for all the bias it has 3.) “Here’s my proof. You have proof? Any proof to source your beliefs, or do you just have feefees? :^)” approach, predates on people being both unfamiliar with the subject matter, as well as not having the resources to effectively dispute the claims.

It’s predatory, it’s deceptive, and it is used to socially browbeat women into their corners, whom them become like enablers and believers and supports in the pew after their cryfests, powwows and ‘come to socialist Jesus’ moment.

But no, I don’t currently possess any proof of this phenomenon or effect, and the mercurial social nature of young girls means catching this interaction in the wild is very unlikely. Which is exactly why that disingenuous request for, “Proof? :^)” is so disgusting.

Even when you HAD proof, the next step after isn’t to concede they’re wrong. It usually went in a number of ways.

1.) The person requesting proof goes dead inside and ignores what you’re saying, and if they respond at all, it’s simply to speak as if you hadn’t just shown them the proof, still arguing as if it wasn’t shown. I guess in a silly attempt to socially override the new information from the discussion and give the speaker the burden of proof to try and make it stick to their denial filled, teflon minds.

2.) They meet all the effort taken to argue with stupid shit that wastes your time and energy. Replying to a thorough rebuttal that rebukes and dismantles the things they are saying with, “KUNG POW PENIS, *GIGGLE*” or just going “DURRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!” and giggling to show they don’t actually care what you have to say and won’t take you seriously. This one is done alone or only when they have other supporters there that won’t accept opposition as legit or genuine, proof or not.

3.) They’ll simply retreat and then scream if you follow them. If they retreat, the conversation effectively ends, and they won’t hear any more of it since it threatens to challenge them, OR they simply wanted to convince people to take what they have to say as fact and it’s a waste of their time to sell lies to people that know they’re lies. But they will scream and make the priority that you’re apparently following or harassing them, when they see argument is futile.

4.) They’ll nod along and pretend you’ve corrected them when you demonstrate you aren’t going to believe what they say, because you have both proof and conviction that their argument is weak, they don’t have a leg to stand on, or you throw in their face you know what they are. But, they won’t retract their stance, they’ll simply go on to, “stawt that convuhsayshun” with someone else, to try and convince them of their politically charged talking point.

5.) They’ll start crying or looking like a kid with their hands caught in a cookie jar, and admit, “I was just twying to stawt a... convuhsayshun..” Which is code that means, “I was trying to propagandize and make you think this thing was true, and make you mad about it as if it was the truth.” This typically happened when I called them out in front of adults that also didn’t agree with the things she was saying, had been programmed to say, and was around adults that could cite proof that what they were saying was false.

It happened so often I realized that at some point it might be in my best interests, to at least THINK about how to prove arguments to random strangers.

In the past, being sidewound by baby radical feminists that, “just started conversations” around the water cooler, axes to grind disguised as random conversations, was a thing. They were like social guerillas or velociraptors. But they were always tangentially rooted in whatever thing they’d been handed to read in order to sound smart.

So, if you knew the contemporary radical feminist talking points, had the time, literacy and resources to research and understand the holes in their claims, where they substituted for integrity, you could unravel them. Or could critique things like sample size or the likelihood they arrived at their conclusion and worked backwards to meet the result they were looking for, or started with a faulty premise.

And when they tried to stretch and flex and get believers and followers, presenting these, “facts” (that were not facts, but lies, subjective talking points, or just feelings) trying to use the trust bonds of friendship to get people to accept them as true for risk of hurting the relationship and their friend’s feelings (an exploitation of people, by the way) you could dispute them.

But they really do not like that, and once you reveal yourself as someone capable of shooting holes in what they say, they’ll only bring out their talking points to your mutual friends when you, ye that has identified yourself as capable of disputing what they say, aren’t around to dispute them.

Pre-internet, pre-cell phone, this was the methodology by which radical feminist zealotry was reproduced among young girls and young women. And drove them absolutely fucking nuts for a few years, until they resolved it and came back to reality. For one reason or another.

But do I have proof of this? Not on hand.

[douchebagbrainwaves]

EVERY FOUNDER SHOULD KNOW ABOUT CONTACT

There was no protection against breakage except the fear of looking bad than by the hope of getting millions of dollars, and you get. Because few of us know any alternative, we have no idea what our average returns might be, and won't know for years. And it can last for months. The language offers abstractions only as a way to get a big program is to start with. The problem is the real one. Treat the first few months comforted ourselves by treating the whole thing onto the shoulders of a big company, it's good news. Actually I was being conservative. When Mark spoke at a YC dinner this winter he said he wasn't trying to start a startup.1 Whereas fundraising, when you're in a very strong position, you not only won't get that but won't get anything.2 But at least you know where these facial expressions come from.

Startup funding meant series A rounds.3 In phase 2, on top of whatever you sold in phase 1. What this means in practice is that they are compulsive negotiators who will suck up a lot of new software, because you're paying for the hardware, just as we can become wiser.4 What nerds like is other nerds.5 Often as not a startup at all.6 Maybe some aspects of professionalism are actually a net lose. Perhaps it's in the sweet spot midway between. TV.

So let that satisfy your competitiveness. Two years from now, you'll be able to use their control of the desktop to prevent, or constrain, this new generation of software?7 I wouldn't claim it's painless.8 So I recommend being good. His mom probably has it on the fridge.9 In the process we may decrease economic inequality. Convergence is probably coming, but where? The conventional wisdom in the Lisp world is that the first problem is the same reason they had to work at another job to make money.

You can't blame kids for thinking I am not like these people; I am not like these people; I am not like these people; I am not suited to this world.10 The key stage is when they're three guys operating out of an apartment, and a Web browser. Ignoring any trend that has been operating for thousands of years is dangerous. The best investors are also the most liberal. The language is built in layers.11 It took me years to grasp that. There are ideas that obvious lying around now.12 If one woodworker makes 5 chairs and another makes none, the second seems as strong as ever.13 The floors are constantly being swept clean of any loose objects that might later get stuck in something.

That's how the two are only loosely coupled.14 If you try writing Web-based applications. If you take a boring job to give your family a high standard of living, as so many people do, you don't have to force yourself to work, just as there was in the early days of microcomputers. With Web-based software will be less stressful.15 Prestige is especially dangerous to the ambitious. Tell yourself you can be in close contact with support. They say they're going to work on your projects, he can work wherever he wants on projects of his own. When you can ask the opinions of people you don't even know?

If everyone's filters have different probabilities, it will be, for users and developers both. The problem is that once you start raising money, but also connotations like formality and detachment. Hardware is free now, if your software is reasonably efficient.16 I'm an investor, the deal flow, as they were with desktop computers. You can usually call their bluff, and you willingly give him money in return for it.17 And yet all those people have to make a language that might go away, as so many programming languages do.18 Languages are for programmers, and libraries are what programmers need. The list of what you want in a startup hub. You can use whichever is best for each. Some such investors have value, but the curve is just as bad. In How to Become a Hacker, Eric Raymond describes Lisp as something like Latin or Greek—a charming college town with perfect weather and San Francisco only an hour away.

Notes

Com/spam. Again, hard work.

This is actually from the most demanding but also the fashion leaders.

Parker, William R. Digg is Slashdot with voting instead of a city's potential as a process rather than given by other people the freedom to they derive the same trick of enriching himself at the outset which founders will seem to be promising. If an investor pushes you hard to grasp this than we realize, because for times over a hundred and one or two, and since you can hire skilled people to claim retroactively I said yes.

Robert in particular. And it's particularly damaging when these investors flake, because at one point in the 1990s, and as we think. I've omitted one source: government grants. Record labels, for the next round.

If they want. The second biggest regret was caring so much on the scale that has a similar logic, one variant of the accumulator generator in other Lisp dialects: Here's an example of a running back doesn't translate to soccer. The Price of Inequality. There are people whose applications are perfect in every way, because they believe they do, so that you have to put it this way.

The problem with most of the kleptocracies that formerly dominated all the mistakes you made. More often you have to solve a lot of reasons American car companies, summer jobs are the usual way of calculating real income, they have to give up more than that total abstinence is the proper test of intelligence or wisdom. They assumed that their experience so far has trained them to get fossilized. The point where things start to rise again.

And say that's not the type who would make good angel investors.

I preferred to work like casual conversation. Stone, op. Default: 2 cups water per cup of rice. I don't know enough about big markets, why is New York, but that's what they really mean, in both Greece and China, many of the words we use have a browser and get pushed down by new arrivals.

This is a flaw here I should add that none who read this to users than where you wanted to than because they have because they had that we wouldn't have. After a bruising fight he escaped with a company, and Fred Wilson for reading drafts of this model was that professionalism had replaced money as a company grew at 1% a week for 19 years, it causes a fundamental economic shift away from large companies.

I became an employer, I mean type I startups. If Ron Conway, for example, probably did more drugs in his early twenties. If you have to go deeper into the work of selection.

Progressive tax rates will tend to get the people who get rich by creating wealth—wealth that, go talk to mediocre ones. Never attribute to malice what can be said to have invented.

27 with the founders lots of potential winners, from which they don't.

When he wanted to. Yes, I suspect the recent resurgence of evangelical Christians. Sofbot. The person who understands how to be tweaking stuff till it's yanked out of just doing things, you may as well.

Giant tax loopholes are definitely not a promising lead and should in some ways First Round Capital is closer to a later investor trying to meet people; I was genuinely worried that Airbnb, for example, if the growth is valuable, because a she is very polite and b the local builders built everything in it. Where Do College English 28 1966-67, pp. I remember are famous flops like the difference between us and the super-angels. I was not in the US since the mid 1980s.

A scientist isn't committed to rejecting it.

See Greenspun's Tenth Rule.

I realize this sounds like something cooked up, but the distribution of good startups that get funded this way is basically zero.

Most employee agreements say that intelligence doesn't matter in startups. I agree and in fact the decade preceding the war, tax rates, which has been decreasing globally. We didn't try to make money for the same work, but that they either have a bogus political agenda or are feebly executed.

Thanks to Trevor Blackwell, Marc Andreessen, Robert Morris, and Jessica Livingston for the lulz.

[hopewritcs]

another day, another party.

pairing: billy hargrove x reader

word count: 2.5k

request: “13, 65, 66 w billy? you’re the best!” ( “I dare you to kiss me.” / “We could always crash the party.” /  “I’m not sure you understand how much I care about you.” )

summary: billy and y/n have formed an unusual friendship.  both of them are popular, both of them like to go to parties, and they always wind up crashing at y/n’s house after.  but they’re most definitely just friends.  

notes: post s2 - pre s3

stranger things tag list: @thekidsofneibolt, @madhatterweasley, @shaykeijser, @rainy-bookish-days (if you wanna be added to any tag list, let me know!!)

Billy Hargrove wasn’t someone that Y/N’d expected to be friends with.  But, through mutual friends and several parties that year, they’d wound up thrown together on multiple occasions.  

Now, when they walked in the halls at the school Y/N and Billy were always together.  Naturally, everyone assumed that they were together.  It was something they would laugh about when they skipped class and sat in the back of the school under the bleachers.  

Which is exactly where they were now, a lit cigarette dangling from Billy’s lips as Y/N fumbled with the can of coke she’d brought with her from home.  She wasn’t much of a smoker like Billy, but she still hung around with him when he did.  They both needed to skip class every now and again.  

“So Carol told me about this party she and Tommy are throwing this weekend.”  Y/N huffed, taking a sip from her soda before tilting her head to look at Billy.  “Said it was only going to be a small group, which you know means she’s inviting half the school.  Everyone will be there, I’m sure, except people she and Tommy consider freaks.”  

It almost hurt her to say that.  She never bought into the bogus social hierarchy, calling people names and making fun of anyone for something they’ve done or not done.  It simply wasn’t who Y/N was.  It got her a lot of shit from her supposed friends too.  She’d been caught defending everyone from Jonathan Byers to Steve Harrington ever since she could remember.  While her friends teased her for it, told her to stick with them, she’d just rolled her eyes.  

“We could always crash the party.”  Billy said, exhaling as he pulled the cigarette from his lips and offered it to Y/N.  She declined with a wave of her hand, leaning back and letting the sun wash over her as best it could from under the bleachers.  

“We’re invited to the party, dumbass.”  Which was a problem for her.  Of course, she loved a good party.  Honestly, who didn’t?  What else was there to do in a small town except for get wasted on the weekends and hope to god that the police chief doesn’t show up and take you home kicking and screaming?  But as graduation got closer, it was one of the farthest things from her mind.  

“Then let’s have our own party.  The two of us.  We’ll pick up booze from town and go to yours.”  Billy suggested, sitting up to look at her better.  Y/N, in his time in Hawkins, had become the one single person he gave a shit about in the small town.  She didn’t judge him--didn’t judge anyone for that matter--and carried herself both with an air of how can i help and fuck off, a tangled mix that Billy was more than intrigued by.  Y/N had quickly become the person he relied on, his best friend.  “Your parents are out of town, right?”  

“Yeah, they’ve got my older sister’s parents weekend.  Or an award thing?  Who fucking knows.  They’re visiting her and leaving me here.”  Y/N didn’t sound bitter about it, because she wasn’t.  That was just the facts of the situation.  Would she have wanted to go to whatever it was?  Probably not.  But she would have liked the opportunity--she would have liked it if her parents had asked first.  

“So then it’s settled.  Friday after school we’ll rent a video and have our own party.  Who gives a shit about all of them anyway?”  Billy gestured toward the school wildly with one hand as he snubbed out his cigarette and jumped to a standing position, pulling Y/N off the ground too.  Her soda can spilled on the grass as he grabbed her from her seat.  The bell tolled in the distance.  “We can’t be late.”  Billy said, pointing to the school with a smirk on his lips.  

“Yes, because we can actually be late to leave school for the day, Hargrove.”  

“Just move it, Y/L/N.” 

Friday came by quickly, and the hunt for videos and snacks was upon Billy and Y/N.  Billy drove to the video rental, blasting the cassette in his car stereo and driving fast.  He was laughing.  He knew how much it drove Y/N insane when he drove like this.  

Her hands were grabbing on to her seat as she screamed at him to slow down.  This was just how it was when they drove.  Billy drove like he thought--wild, crazy, little care.  Y/N hated every minute of it, her stomach always flew into her throat when she was in his car.  But he didn’t exactly like being driven around, so they always wound up carpooling in his car ( which she’d mentioned that she could drive once and only got a look across Billy’s face to tell her never to mention it again ).  

“Shit Billy, you’re insane.  Where the hell did you learn to drive?”  It wasn’t so much an actual question, but the same thing she always cried out in the car with him.  “You’re gonna get us killed!”  The panic clear on her features, but she also knew that Billy was in fact in control of the car and nothing would happen.  She knew he liked getting a rise out of her, but she couldn’t help her gut reaction of pure terror.  

When they got out of the car, with her backpack slung over one shoulder she looked toward Billy with a glint in her eyes, “If you drive like that all the way to my house I will kick you out of your own damned car Hargrove!” 

Y/N meant it to be threatening, but Billy was smirking at her.  “Think you can handle that on your own?”  

“Don’t test me.  We’re this close to finding out.”  

He balked out laughter at that comment, and Y/N rolled her eyes--she was still holding her thumb and forefinger just far enough apart that it created any space, and the pair made their way into Family Video.  

Y/N brushed past Billy and immediately began searching for snacks.  Regretfully, since she’d picked the film last time they’d hung out, it was Billy’s turn and she was unsure what direction he would go in.  She’d made him watch A New Hope last time, with hopes they’d continue with the trilogy in another movie night.  Billy had grumbled about a lot of the film, but he hadn’t outright hated it like the time she’d made him sit through Peter Pan.  She knew all the words to songs and Billy had sat on the couch with a pillow over his head to drown out the sounds.  With Billy, he either picked something like Animal House or the Birds.  

After he’d made Y/N watch the horror film she’d jumped the next morning at the sound of a bird tapping against her window, to which he’d made fun of her for.  

A tap on her shoulder told her Billy was behind her and she turned to look at him with her arms full of food.  Her mouth fell open at the video in his hands and she asked, “The Shining?  Didn’t we already watch that one?”  she followed him towards the check out, putting all the candies she’d grabbed up with the video he put there.  

“No, I mentioned it last time but you made me watch that dumb movie with the girl who’s whole family forgot her birthday.  The redhead girl and the dweeby blonde.”  

“Sixteen Candles.  I was so excited when it came out on video!  And that’s Molly Ringwald.  I heard she’s got another movie coming out this year.  Maybe you’ll go see it with me when it comes to the movies?”  

Billy shrugged noncommittally as he fished in his pocket for some cash.  Y/N did the same and both of them paid for the stuff before heading back to the car.  

The first time the pair gone to Family Video to do this--rent a video and buy snacks--the cashier had scoffed and asked why Billy wasn’t paying for the whole thing like a guy should for his girl.  Which led to both Y/N and Billy leaning on the counter laughing when you made eye contact with each other.  Of course, now the comment wouldn’t have been so funny.  

Y/N ordered a pizza, got plates and dished it out before she had settled into the couch with some mixed concoction of what she found in the kitchen--some of the soda the family kept in the fridge and a bit of the whiskey her father preferred.  Billy had taken his alcohol straight, already downing one cup and on a refill.  

The pair were on the couch, each leaning on an armrest as the movie began.  “I bet you you’ll be over on this side of the couch before the first half is over.”  

“You have so little faith in me!”  Y/N faked a gasp, putting an amused smile on her face as she placed her hand on her neck, shaking her head.  

“You’re not denying it.”  

“What do I get if I win?” 

Billy thought for a moment, “I’ll let you pick the next two films.” She figured he must be confident in his film choice because Billy always found something to complain about her video picks.  “But that won’t happen,” he sounded overconfident and it made Y/N laugh as she rolled her eyes.  “So when I win, I dare you to kiss me.”  

Y/N choked on the bite of pizza she’d been chewing and she leaned forward with a wild look in her eyes.  There was no way in hell that Billy had an inkling that she had developed a crush on him, right?  This was just some joke, right.  So she relaxed her seat and looked at him, “That’s the worst bet you’ve ever made in your life Hargrove.  What’s the deal?  Got money riding on the schools are they or aren’t they bet?”  Y/N was teasing him, but she still worried about whatever it was that was really going through his mind.  

Billy shook his head.  He was so calm it was irritating Y/N.  “Nah.”  

“Then what, you just wanna kiss me or somethin?”  she choked on her laughter, shaking her head at him.  

Billy shrugged his shoulders and turned his attention back toward the video playing.  Y/N pouted when she realized that meant she wasn’t going to be getting any answers out of him, so she sighed and turned her attention to the video and continued drinking, the pizza forgotten on her plate.  

Billy knew the movie was going to get under Y/N’s skin.  He knew how she felt about the horror films he’d picked in the past, so he was just waiting for the bet to be over with.  The last bet was during Lady and the Tramp where she’d bet him he would wind up complaining well before the baby was born.  Billy had said he wouldn’t.  The stakes were: if Billy won he could order what he wanted for both of them the next time they ordered from the diner, and if Y/N won she could bring one of her cassette’s into Billy’s car.  High stakes, since Billy hated listening to music he didn’t like, so he’d done his best to not complain.  He really had set against not complaining.  But in the first scene he’d gone and rolled his eyes, leaning on the couch, “But there’s no holes in the present!”  And Y/N had brought in her Cyndi Lauper tape into the camaro, which it now called home.  

Surprisingly, Y/N had made it through most of the movie without jumping over the middle of the couch.  Every time Billy looked over at her, her face was contorted in a look of concentration.  Which only made him roll his eyes, she was determined not to freak out and let him win the bet.  The look of determination in her eyes, even as he watched her flinch from what happened on the screen.  

They were more than half into the move at this point, but Y/N still hadn’t moved from her spot where she’d grounded herself.  She refused to move, except to look at Billy out of the corner of her eyes.  She’d caught him looking her way, but didn’t say anything.  Y/N was still trying to figure out what kind of shit Billy was trying to pull with the whole kiss dare.  

In the future when this movie night would be spoken about, it would be in terms of the bets they’d made and who won.  

When the credits were rolling, Y/N stood up and took the video out of the player and turned back to Billy with an angry tint in her eyes ( definitely partially fueled by the alcohol she’d consumed during the movie ), “So what the fuck was that dare for, Billy?”  

Billy stood up and chuckled at her.  He was playing it off as nothing more than just a simple dare to get under his friend’s skin.  But maybe it had meant more to him.  “Just wanted to see you squirm.”  He said, passing by her to go into the kitchen where he opened the fridge.  “I didn’t think it would affect you this much, Y/N.”  he’d called back to her.  

“I’m not sure you understand how much I care about you then.”  Y/N had meant to say it under her breath, but her voice carried from where she stood in her house to where Billy stood in the kitchen.  

“You care about me?”  Billy asked, suddenly appearing at her side and looking at her with eyes she couldn’t decipher.  

Y/N jumped and turned to face him, “You scared the shit out of me Hargrove.”  she nudged his arm with her fist, sloppily pushing against his chest.  

“You ignoring my question, Y/L/N?”

“What question?” 

Billy sighed and repeated his question from moments before, “You care about me?”  

Y/N’s eyes widened for a split second before she cleared her throat, “Of course I do!  You’re my best friend, Billy.  Of course I care about you.”  It didn’t sound so convincing to either of them.  Y/N was sure her voice had raised a surprising octave and Billy had kept his eyes on hers when she spoke.  

“Kiss me.”  he said quietly.  

“You lost the bet.”  Y/N pointed out with a soft chuckle.  

“This ain’t about the damn bet, Y/N.”  Billy harrumphed, putting a hand on her cheek and looking at her.  In that moment, she sobered up when he said, “Kiss me.”  

And she did.  

In the future, when they’d talk of the bet made that night: both of them would say they won.  

[ameftowriter]

Trust in the Shallow Alliance (Dr. Stone fanfic)

Part 3 is up and raring to go YAY! This is basically episode 10 in Gen’s POV. RIP Gen XD

Summary:��The whole time, ever since he was awakened, he kept dreaming of it, wanting it. He knew it was bad for him. He knew it was nothing but badly packaged sugar water. He knew it was… it was the thing he desired for himself the most. He could live without it, definitely. But he knew even the most stoic of people need even the little pleasures in life in order to actually keep on going.

Gen only mentioned it once. It was supposed to be a lie, but in reality it was the whole truth.

Ao3 | ffnet

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 (This!) | Part 4 ???

Asagiri Gen leaned against the tree as he let the exhaustion of the day hit him. He then slid downwards and sat on the soft ground.

He had just witnessed, what possibly was the most incredible thing he has ever seen in his life. The only thing comparable to it, was when he first saw that date carved onto a tree.

It's there… He got it. He got the confirmation he needed.

Senku… this Senku, because of his superhuman grasp on all kinds of sciences, that brought intense fear and paranoia to the Strongest Primate Highschooler, Shishio Tsukasa. He finally truly understood why he was feared so much.

And yet… he could not help but feel… relieved.

Was it because he finally found the man that carved that date?

Was it because he finally believed in Senku?

Or was it because… he finally had faith in Senku…

Faith… in Senku...

“Man.. electricity in the stone age… Hard to believe…” He spoke out loud as he tried to settle these conflicting feelings in him “Right? Tsukasa-chan?”

Did Asagri Gen actually had faith in someone else besides him? Did he actually believe that Senku could actually do what he set out to do? Did he really feel like he could trust Senku…

He put on a marvelous facade to everyone in the Empire of Might that he was an avid supporter of Tsukasa’s ideals.

But even from day one, he knew.

He knew Tsukasa had to be taken down, before he unknowingly brings humanity to ruin. To a point where the petrification would have been a better death sentence. He knew and understood Tsukasa's reasoning but at the same time he realized that it was the craziest thing ever! Culling the adults?! Everyone will turn into an adult one day! Getting rid of the corrupt? Anyone, no matter who they are, young or old, everyone was capable of corruption. If he himself wasn't a good example of that, he'd want to meet them!

But there was no one. No one powerful enough to even stand against Tsukasa. He heard that only Taiju could even take his hits and not pass out due to the force. But that was no comparison.

Senku had little to no stamina. Even Suika, the melon girl had more stamina and strength than him.

And yet… the moment he saw that light. That Flame of Science…

Lack of stamina or not…

Senku is…

Senku...

He gulped down as he felt his cravings for an ice cold cola resurface again.

‘Do you think… he could…’

Gen raised his head as he heard the members of the Kingdom of Science climb up to the Science shed, possibly to retire for the night.

He stood up and followed them to the shed.

But mid way he stopped himself.

It just hit him.

He just unconsciously followed Senku and his friends. He just let himself fall prey to Senku's commands. He just let himself become part of that little group. He just let himself already side with the Kingdom of Science.

Without thinking, he just let himself betray Shishio Tsukasa and the Empire of Might right then and there…

Asagiri Gen could not believe what he just did.

He froze where he stood and let the reality of the situation sink in.

He hasn't even had time to comprehend what happened earlier.

That blinding light…

Senku...

"That means Gen is a bad guy too!" Suika's terrified voice echoed, which got the mentalist's attention.

"Ah… so they're talking about me… and my allegiance" Gen spoke softly to himself. There was something about the little innocent melon girl calling him a bad guy that really stung something within Gen.

"But isn’t Gen the one who saved us from Magma! Then he’s a good guy!" Suika argued. She obviously sounded conflicted.

"Suika-chan. You are so cute and so naive…" Gen lamented to himself, "Oh, how I wish I could…"

"He’s honestly not a good guy or a bad guy." He then heard Senku spoke those words. He felt… touched.

“He’s nothing but a rat, who’s only in it for himself.” Kohaku added bitterly. Gen sighed, as he turned away from the shed and walked around the “Kingdom” and found himself staring at the furnace.

“It actually doesn't matter to me if he's good or bad…" Gen smiled to himself as he heard Senku say that, "At the end of the day, we need him to be an ally of the Kingdom of Science. We’ll have him give a bogus report to Tsukasa, saying that “Senku is definitely dead.” That's the only possible hope we have of winning this."

Gen wondered why he felt so heartbroken when he heard that from him.

'So he only saw me as an opportunity?' Gen bit his lip. But quickly shook his head, 'No… that's understandable… I mean… I… I really don't care if he or Tsukasa lived or died…. Right?'

'Right… I did say that…'

"Listen up Gen!” His attention was instantly grabbed by Chrome who yelled out to him from the shed, “I know you saw the electricity! The light! That’s what badass science at work looks like!”

‘Is Chrome-chan trying to convince me to join their side?’

“So why care about who wins? Why even give a crap whether Senku or Tsukasa has the edge?” Chrome continued his empassioned speech, “‘Cause the Kingdom of Science is obviously the side that’s more fun!”

If Gen could laugh right now he could. Hearing those words from Chrome made him remember something. Something in his past, that he thought he had let go many years ago.  But… he can't just…

“Oh? Is that so? You are the passionate type.” Gen turned around and gave Chrome his realistic fake smile at him and even shrugged his shoulders, “Too bad for you, I don’t really care about that."

‘That's right… I really don't…’

"I'm probably the most superficial man on earth!"

'That's the truth… I really am only in it for myself. Yes… definitely… I am a shallow man…'

"All I care about is what's beneficial to me!"

Gen turned back and walked away. He could hear Kohaku growling at him.  At least in some consolation that he finally managed to make Kohaku believe in his lies.

The lies that he made himself believe in it…

They say that if you tell yourself something many times that you eventually believe in it. A person can tell themselves that they are happy and eventually, for no reason they are happy. A person can convince themselves they're the worst of the worst and they become the worst.

After all there's a grain of truth within every lie in order to make it believable.

That's how Gen managed to fit in the world of showbiz. A little compliment there, a dash of praise, and combined with some sweet words was enough for him to get anyone dancing at the palm of his hand. He was so good at it. He knew how most people think. Mentalism was almost like mind reading except without the actual psychic powers part.

Gen walked to the brand new generator that was made with everyone's effort. He had a role in it too. He was proud of it.

He was proud of the electricity it produced….

His thoughts went back to the light again.

That light that shone brighter than the sun…

The light... that shone upon Senku.

He then remembered why he was here in the first place. What he was sent to do. What side he was already supposed to be on. What he had to do. When he saw that date…

That date that he believed in.

That date that he put faith in.

That date that he trusted…

Trust…

He let his hand touch the copper disc and spun it around mindlessly… he wondered to himself, for tomorrow… if he could---

The next thing he knew was someone threw a powerful punch at his cheek.

The punch was powerful enough to send him off his feet. He tried to gain back footing but the attacker was relentless. Another punch at his face, then at his gut, then an uppercut, then another one to push him down to the ground. It was too dark, but he could see the silhouette of a familiar burly man and with him a midget and another skinny man. Then he saw the burly man raise up a spear with an obvious full intent to impale him with.

"Who….." He already knew who they were… it made sense…

"Why…?" He hopes that he hits the right spot. He came prepared after all. His past experiences have taught him to be prepared for a scenario like this.

But that doesn't mean it still hurts like hell.

Gen swore internally as he felt the spear pierce his fake blood bag. He then let his arm slump on the side as he pretended to be fatally impaled. He contorted his face to a horrified expression. He's already practiced it many times. If his memory serves, he has only done it once before...

"What was that noise?" If Gen could sigh in relief he could, but for now he needed to stay still and remain completely immobile. But was he so glad to hear Kohaku's voice.

Her voice had prompted his attackers to quickly bail out leaving Gen still frozen in his place. He needed to make them believe he was dead. That also meant making Kohaku and the others believe he was. Just for a few more minutes…

He then heard the collective gasps of the Science gang as he dubbed it.

He was so glad to know they’re here…

He wondered why he was…

“Holy crap, what happened here?!” Chrome asked worriedly as he leaned forward to take a look closer.

‘I don’t know Chrome-chan… What can you guess with a long ass spear poking out of my stomach!’

“Dammit…” Kohaku swore as she figured out what had happened, “Looks like he died instantly…”

“This is horrible!” Suika was in tears.

‘Good… that should be enough to make it convincing. Now, if they could all just walk away so I can---’

“Hang on a second!” Senku finally caught up to the two and held on to the spear.

‘Senku-chan! Wait! No!’

He pulled the spear out slowly revealing that it did not pierce Gen at all, rather it was one of his fake blood bags that he placed underneath his clothes to protect himself before he came to the village beforehand.

“He protected himself with fake blood bags…” Senku concluded as he untied the makeshift belt Gen had and even his undershirt. It revealed all the hard work he did to put on himself before he arrived in the village.

Gen just hoped his attacker didn't hear them, he really wanted to make sure they thought that they did kill him. So he could escape in peace.

No one believed in him anyway. Gen was first and foremost a shallow man who was only in it for himself. He kept that image as much as he could as a celebrity. He wanted to make sure that no one would try to exploit him. He was definitely not a naive, bright eyed brat. For as long as he knew everyone he has ever met in his life had selfish reasons for doing things. Hell, even the science gang had their own personal reasons for being here. Why else would they take advantage of his hard work and everyone in the village for that matter.

“He’s got these things all over his body!” Suika felt relieved and impressed by Gen’s ingenuity.

“This is really freakin’ bad!” Chrome was very impressed as well, “I bet he did this before he even came to the village, just in case.”

‘Why are they… impressed by this… don’t they realize… what that meant….?’

“Tch, that’s pretty impressive Gen!” Even Senku was amazed, “You really are a magician to your core. Not to mention a showman.”

‘Senku-chan… everyone…’

If Gen could laugh right now, he could. Unfortunately the injuries he sustained would make it too difficult for him to do so. But in a rare moment, so rare that he doesn’t remember when he has ever done it.

He loudly breathed out a sigh of relief, which surprised everyone.

“Gen!” Suika was close to tears as she approached the magician closer, “You’re awake! Suika is so glad you’re okay!”

“Thank goodness those bad bags you made saved you!” Chrome beamed at Gen, “It would have been really bad if you died, you know!”

‘They’re… relieved that I’m alive…?’

“That was truly an insane thing you did… Mentalist. And that's a compliment.” Senku smugly said as he mentioned the very title that Gen just offhandedly suggested before. It earned him a weak smile from the mentalist himself.

Gen was lifted up by Kohaku, albeit she wasn't the most gentle of people out there, but he did need to get treated, and she was the only one strong enough to carry him. She carried him to the Science shed and proposed to throw him there. Senku quickly stopped her on that idea and had him and Chrome gently carry him up with a rope. It was still painful for him, especially since he kept being bumped into the ladder. But Gen thought it was way better than being thrown up like a sack by Kohaku.

If Gen could protest to Senku and the rest of the team he could. Especially since they had to strip him of all of his clothes, minus his underwear, just to treat his injuries. It was a bit humiliating for him to be exposed like this but the pain of nearly getting killed took over most of this feeling and most of his energy to even try to speak.

Senku then started cleaning his wounds and placed some leaves with some ground up…. Whatever the hell it was on his wounds. It stung like hell. Gen, of course vocalized them but it was mostly ignored. Also Kohaku had to hold him down when it became so unbearable that his body shook and contort from the pain. Everything in him hurts so much that he couldn't focus on anything.

From what it felt like forever, it was finally done. They placed a blanket over him and let Gen rest.

Gen was still grunting and hissing from the pain of his injuries, but was so relieved that they were done.

He could hear them talking. Then he heard Suika jump off from the shed declaring that she was going to investigate.

Gen never wanted to stop someone in his life until now. He didn't want poor little Suika to put herself in danger. Especially with what the brute did to him. But with everything in him literally hurting it was way too much for him to even move his body.

“Su--Suika-chan…” Gen managed to let the words out of his mouth. “No---”

“Let her be Gen.” Senku scolded him, “Just rest, Suika can take care of herself.”

Gen was just dumbfounded. How can he, or anyone with common sense for that matter, could just say that. Suika was like… what he could estimate was like 8 years old or something. How could Senku let a little girl go like that to investigate his attempted murder. If he could strangle Senku right now, he could.

But then, pain took over Gen's senses and he passed out.

Gen woke up the next day to the sound of everyone moving around him. He felt his injuries hurt less, which was good, but it wasn't good enough for him to move much without still screaming in pain. He slightly tilted his head to the side to see Senku rummaging through his bag and pulled out from what he can tell is a toothbrush. He wondered at first how Senku could do that, then he realized that Senku was a scientist and making even the bare basic toothpaste shouldn't be too hard for him.

Senku heard him stir and turned to see Gen looking at him.

"Ah, good morning Mentalist." There goes Senku using that title again, "Nice to see you're alive and well."

Gen weakly rolled his eyes.

"Feeling better, Gen?" He heard Chrome approach him with concern still etched in the young boy's face. It's… made Gen actually well happy… as strange of a feeling as it is. "You got socked in real bad last night. Senku managed to whip up something to treat those bad injuries of yours. I hope you feel better soon okay?"

'Chrome-chan cares about me? Even after what I said to him….?'

"Chrome, I'm heading out to brush my teeth." Senku plainly announced as he walked out of the Science shed, "Change some of Gen’s bandages for me will you?

“Sure…”

This time Gen didn't protest when Chrome carefully peeled off the bandages and cleaned them and replaced them with fresh ones. He was way more gentle than Senku ever was, and he was incredibly thankful for it. Gen didn’t say anything else to Chrome though, he was still taken aback by his words.

By the time Chrome was done they could hear Suika running back announcing that she has big news.

Gen sighed in relief to know that Suika was okay. He closed his eyes as if he was asleep so he could hear the news.

“I figured out who attacked Gen last night!!” Suika proclaimed out loud, “I know who killed him!!”

“Uh, You know he’s not dead…” Kohaku commented which made Gen giggle silently.

“Well, so who was it?” Senku asked her.

“It was Magma!” Suika cried out, “Magma was the one who did it!”

Gen already knew it was Magma. The brute who scampered off when he saw him perform his little novice level sleight of hand magic trick. Suika continued to tell everyone what she overheard. He found out that his overall goal was to kill Kohaku, because apparently she was so strong that it must be sorcery, and not real physical strength. He was even willing to let her and her sister, Ruri, become his women if she begged for mercy.

“I see…”Kohaku concluded, “When Magma came over here, Gen made those flowers vanish right before his eyes. I imagine from his perspective, Gen has to be the mysterious foreign sorcerer that I tried to bring into the village.”

He knew that this village of primitives was incredibly averse to any kind of  unexplainable scientific advancement. He remembered some of the villagers calling ramen a delicious sorcery.

He cursed internally for forgetting that there are people who are adverse to the unexplainable.

“So Magma tried to murder Gen, because he mistook him for Senku?” After hearing those words from Chrome, Gen snapped his eyes open.

“What?! That ape, Magma mistook me for Senku-chan, and that’s why he attacked me?! For the love of…” Gen winced in pain when he tried to sit up, so he gave up on that and just remained lying down. “Shit… it still hurts… I can’t move around like this…”

Gen just couldn’t believe it. Inadvertently, he saved Senku’s ass. he wasn’t even planning on it. He was just only contemplating his options when he was suddenly attacked! It was a huge case of mistaken identity. He was nearly killed because Magma mistook him for Senku! He was still considering joining Senku’s side. But now, he saved Senku, which indirectly makes him a traitor to the Empire of Might and an ally to the Kingdom of Science!

This was frustrating him!

And yet, he couldn’t understand why he felt so relieved…

‘I saved him…. I saved Senku-chan…’

“Got a question for ya, Kohaku…” Hearing Senku’s voice got his attention, “Why would Magma be looking for an opportunity to kill you?”

“It’s probably because--- no It’s definitely because of the Grand Bout.”

Kohaku went on to explain their tradition of having the next village chief, which turned out to be a fighting tournament called the Grand Bout. Gen thought that it was a little unfair that only those who are physically strong could be the next village chief. the thought of Magma being a leader of something or anyone for that matter, bothered the hell out of him.  But when Kohaku continued her story, it made much more sense. Especially her, the Chief’s daughter, was living and and working with sorcerers and outsiders like him and Senku. And how Magma wanted her dead.

Kohaku only wanted to save her sister who was dying of a mysterious illness...

‘Heh… a bunch of misfits…’

Gen shook away an old memory of him being outcasted by society.

He did listen to the rest of the conversation to gain more material for him to use for later. He heard them planning what to do on the Grand Bout and to bring in additional fighters. Even though he knew Kinro and Ginro were prime candidates, and he knew they were already brought in to the Kingdom of Science because of him.

Gen chuckled as he let himself sleep.

The next time he woke up, he heard grunting and shouting noises from outside, he recognized them to be Kinro, Ginro, and Kohaku. He figured out she was training them in order to compete for the Grand Bout which was happening in a month. He saw Chrome sitting by the entrance of the shed. He then heard Kohaku apologize to him, and said how she preferred to train Chrome to defeat Magma but the time limit was too short for them.

Then came Senku joining in throwing a hard sarcastic remark about Chrome having a crush on Ruri.

‘Ah, so Chrome-chan has a crush on this Ruri. That would make sense, considering the situation.’  

“If we can create something with science, that lets her live a long, happy life, that sounds good to me.” Chrome spoke with deep determination. Gen couldn’t help but smile. “Because above all else, I’m a genius scientist, aren't I?”

‘Haha…. Chrome-chan is so passionate. It's almost infectious.’

Gen couldn’t remember the last time he felt that much passion in anyone. Even to him. No, he was wrong. He does remember being passionate about magic and in extension, mentalism… Just hearing Chrome’s words was so refreshing to him…

“So you’re finally changing job titles from sorcerer to scientist, huh?” Senku chuckled. He sounded like he was proud of him too.

“Yup! I’m not a sorcerer anymore!”

“Then let's leave the Grand Bout stuff to the battle team, and while you and I, on the science team, get to work on a sulfa drug.”

“Hell yeah!

‘Sulfa drugs?’ Gen thought to himself, ‘Senku-chan and the others are making a sulfa drug?’

The mentalist doesn’t know much about medicine in general, but even he knew that a lot of drugs are manufactured in a factory and it takes a lot of complicated materials and chemistry. He kinda doubted that they could make one that was comparable to the modern era…

But then again… this was Senku…

His mind wandered to that blinding light again...

Gen gulped his own saliva, he was thinking of that bottle of cola again…

Later that night, the gang sans Kinro and Ginro huddled up together at the science shed as they finished changing Gen’s leaves and bandages again. Suika had a warm damp towel on his head to have him cool off.

“I’m planning on participating in the Grand Bout '' Kohaku declared, “The two brothers and I will be the Kingdom of Science team. We’ll do whatever it takes to keep Magma from winning…”

“Sounds good.” Chrome nodded but when he looked at Gen who was now panting from the pain he grew more worried, “Is he all right? He looks way worse….”

It was because whatever medicine that was placed on Gen’s injuries actually stung a lot. He actually felt much better. Better enough to at least stand….

“I think he’ll be fine.” Kohaku reassured him, “But his recovery’s gonna take longer than we thought…”

“Then that means…”

“Yeah…” Senku finished the conversation, but from his voice, he didn’t sound scared, rather he sounded ready for what’s to come. “It won’t be long before Tsukasa comes around lookin’ for me, and kills me for real."

Gen… was not gonna have any of that. No… he can't let that vicious primate go and kill Senku and the rest of the village like that.

He knew they did nothing wrong. They only wanted to cure a girl with an unknown illness and stop a power hungry madman from ruining their home.

He knew Senku…. Senku was… was…

Gen wants to do something about it…

Much later as everyone retired from the night, Gen was lying sideways, pretending to be asleep, and he kept quiet just long enough to hear Chrome snore. It was his indication that he and Senku were the only ones left awake.

If it wasn’t for the pain of his injuries, Gen would have been shaking from his own nerves.

There was one thing. One thing left he needed to assure that Senku was one to be trusted. Or rather, it was more, it was something he wanted to know.

The whole time, ever since he was awakened, he kept dreaming of it, wanting it. He knew it was bad for him. He knew it was nothing but badly packaged sugar water. He knew it was… it was the thing he desired for himself the most. He could live without it, definitely. But he knew even the most stoic of people need even the little pleasures in life in order to actually keep on going.

Gen only mentioned it once. It was supposed to be a lie, but in reality it was the whole truth.

“Senku… Senku-chan…” He weakly said, as he hoped to get the scientist’s attention. “Senku-chan… can you do it….”

He then felt Senku move and let his body lean closer to the injured man to hear what he had to say…

“Even in this stone world…Could you make one for me?" Gen vocalized his strong desire for one, “Just… One… Cola…”

A bottle of cola… it was one of the few things he indulged himself with when he was still a celebrity back in the modern time. After a show, it was the first thing he requested. His manager knew to leave one in his dressing room. He always has a case of it at his apartment. He would always request it at bars, making them think he was drinking, when in reality he hated alcohol. Even before he became a celebrity, it was something he desired as a child. He celebrated every small victory with a bottle. His parents banned him from drinking it saying its unhealthy and bad for a budding trophy like him. It made him want it more.

An ice cold bottle of cola….

“Yeah. For sure… nobody else can…” Senku responded so casually as he pulled back and sat to where he was before.

It was hard for Gen to believe, but at the same time. He did believe. He had faith in him. He trusted Senku to do this for him.

Gen chuckled as he accepted the truth in front of him.

“Why…” he asked Senku, while he still remained on his side, not looking at Senku “Why would you agree to do this?”

The mentalist panted a bit, “Why agree to set aside some time to actually make some cola for me… You have that… sulfa drug to do…”

“So you heard that huh..” Senku chuckled but he didn’t seem shocked or wavered, “Well why not? I've always wanted to try it.”

Gen actually laughed heartily as much as his injuries let him. He then winced in pain again.

“Senku-chan…” He began again as the pain subsided, “Why… Why do you trust me?”

He was an outsider, even amongst the Kingdom of Science. They didn’t even know each other until just recently. The only reason Senku even knew of his name was through one of his “trashy” books as he said before. Gen was a nobody to Senku. And yet, he was pulled to do manual labour, and was forced…. No… he stayed and watched what they did to the result of that labour. He made it clear what his intentions were, and that in general he was still a danger to Senku. He could still disappear and run back to Tsukasa and tell him that he’s alive. He could still do that…

Asagiri Gen doesn’t want to do that.

But even so, he was a shallow man. He was not to be trusted. He said he could do it. He could still do it.

“Because…” Senku began, “For a dumbass like you, who lies through the skin of his teeth. Why bother helping me?”

“Huh?” Gen doesn’t understand what the scientist is saying.

“If you really were intent on reporting my existence to Tsukasa, you didn’t need to come here and introduce yourself to me or anyone in the village.” Senku concluded, “Which means, superficial reasons or not, you wanted something. Even if it is a silly bottle of cola, you still went here and made yourself known.”

Gen was speechless. Not because of the pain, but because… Senku found out…

“You were that amazed huh?” He could almost just see Senku’s trademark smirk as he said this, “When I made that electricity…”

Gen trembled ever so slightly, as a magician he was trained to always be calm. To be steady… but this…

“You said it yourself, you wanted to be on the winning side.” Senku kept on adding evidence, “Am I wrong?”

Gen laughed again, as much as his injured body could take.

“Senku-chan….” Gen kept on laughing and wincing at the same time, “You’re azy-cray!!”

It only earned him an approving grunt from the scientist.

And with that, Gen went to sleep. This was the most peaceful sleep he’s ever had since breaking out of the stone…

The next day, he was shaken awake by Senku. It was still dawn, according to the scientist at least. He didn’t doubt it, after all he figured out that Senku was the mystery counter.

Senku had taken his bandages and leaves off his body and cleaned it to make sure there was no evidence of him getting treated. Gen felt much better and could move better now without screaming in pain. But even so putting on his multi layered outfit took a while and Senku had to help him. They quietly moved out of the shed as they didn’t want to disturb, sleeping beauty Chrome. He was impressed by the young boy’s ability to just sleep through almost anything.

Senku then climbed down the ladder all the way down. And while it still hurt, Gen followed suit.

This was it.

This was definitely it.

The two quickly understood what needs to be done. They both knew doing it this way, will cover up Gen’s actions making him look superficial to the villagers. To the Empire, as if the villagers were just muscle headed brutes, who attacked him for investigating.

Gen had to go back to the Empire of Might to give his report to Tsukasa that… Senku is dead.

Senku is dead.

Yes, he had to lie to him and his people, that Senku, the biggest threat to the Empire, the King of Science, was dead.

But… Gen then started to doubt, ‘What if they don’t believe me… What if---’

Senku gave Gen a shove. It wasn’t hard, but it still hurt…

“Go on mentalist.” Senku chuckled as he picked his ear, “We don’t have all day. Go!”

Gen laughed once again. It looks like Senku did trust him after all. And in turn, he trusted Senku.

“Asshole…” He turned back and gave Senku a devious smile.

Asagiri Gen then moved one foot, and quickly moved forward to another, and another, until his effort to move turned a full blown run.

He was laughing. He kept on laughing as he kept running through the forest. His trip from the Empire to the Kingdom lasted more than two days, by foot. But now, he’s running. He’s running full speed ahead back to the Empire. He had to do this. He needed to keep running, even when every bit of his body ached like hell, even when he was out of breath. He kept on running, and running, and running…

Gen had never laughed so much in his entire life.

He then tripped over a big root that he didn’t notice. He welcomed it, he welcomed the unfortunate faceplant on the dirt. This would help him. This would help him sell his disguise.

“What the hell am I doing?!” Gen screamed to himself as he quickly picked himself up and continued running.

He didn’t need an answer to that. He damn well knew why he was doing this. He knew….

The faceplant helped in making sure his face was not a face of laughter and acceptance. Instead his face needed to be etched with anger and fear. It was the perfect expression to sell his lie.

After what seemed like forever, Gen had finally arrived at the Empire of Might. He bolted straight to Tsukasa’s lair, only to be greeted by their resident scout and bowman.

An arrow landed next to him, narrowly missing his foot.

“Wait! Tsukasa-chan! It’s me!!” Gen screamed in desperation. His exhausted state helped in this act.

When he realized it was indeed Gen, he let him inside, so he could finally talk to Tsukasa.

“I found a village.” Gen panted heavily as he delivered his report, “Full of primitives…”

“They attacked me!” He coughed a little as he tried to catch his breath, “And I ended up getting a little banged up in the process.”

That was a complete lie. Anyone with eyes could see that he wasn’t just a "little" banged up. But that wasn’t the point Gen was making. He said that in order to make people think less of his injuries, that it wasn’t relevant to the report.

He then raised his head to meet the eyes of the man that could kill him with his bare hands.

“But, I did manage to find out about Senku-chan!” And that's where he got everyone’s attention. Especially Tsukasa.

Gen remembered what Senku promised to him. That bottle of cola…

Senku didn't need to make it for him. He really didn't need to. But no one needed to know that. That light, that date, those were enough to convince him. Nothing else mattered.

Senku… won him over already.

Even if the Scientist didn't fully realize what had happened, he had already claimed a Mentalist in his Kingdom of Science.

The Empire of Might lost Asagiri Gen.

Gen finally ceased panting as he continued.

“Senku… was gone. No trace of him anywhere!” The magician mentalist spoke those words as the tension within the lair had ceased, “There’s no doubt! He’s definitely not alive!”

The rest of the Empire cheered as they were greatly relieved to hear that from him. They were happy that the biggest threat to Tsukasa and his empire was definitely gone, there was no hide nor hair of him anywhere. They approached Gen and some gave him a pat on the back.

His injuries still hurt.

Gen managed to shake them off, saying that he needed to recover from that incredibly long run through the forest. And they let him, as Tsukasa summoned the ones who could give him some treatment.

When he was finally alone, Gen sat on a flat rock, and looked up to the sky. He could see the sunlight coming through the trees and let its warmth envelop his body.

But even then, this light was still nothing compared to the light that Senku made.

The Flame of Science.

And the man who created it.

The man he now trusted, to make that bottle of cola…

“Man, this isn’t worth all the trouble…” Gen sighed happily as he recalled those memories, “For just one bottle of cola?”

“I hope it’s ice cold. That’s the very least he could do…”

Asagiri Gen, wouldn’t want to miss his bottle of cola.

And he's now looking forward to drinking one, pretty soon.

[smokeybrandreviews]

A Galaxy Far, Far, Away

I’ve started my fourth play through of Mass Effect Legendary Edition. This is one of the best series of games i have ever played. Not necessarily the overall gameplay loop, but the narrative, the world building, is all just flat-out unassailable. I’m a sucker for deep lore and Mass Effect definitely has that. Revisiting all of that drama, and character development, and pathos, and epic feel, has me completely gripped. So much so that I ended up revisited Mass Effect: Andromeda after my second run through of the original trilogy. I had always planned to revisit the Pathfinder’s adventure after saving the galaxy from the Reapers. I wanted fresh eyes on the black sheep of the franchise, after playing the golden child once again. Suffice it to say, my opinion on the Andromeda sh*tshow has softened considerably. They say time heals all wounds and I guess that goes for tepid games, too.

Andromeda still has nothing on the original games but i like it more than the first Mass Effect. I hate that game so much. I touched upon this before in one of my many, many, Mass Effect posts (look, i really like these games, okay??) but i had a PS3. My first experience with the franchise was Mass Effect 2, which i bought on a whim because i kind of hate shooters, and was absolutely blindsided by straight up quality. That opening sequence is exactly how you start any cinematic experience. It was gripping, tense, and really gets the player to commit, even if they have no idea who the f*ck Shepard is. I didn’t get to play Mass Effect until AFTER i played 2 and 3 so, going back to the first? Man, that game didn’t have a chance. I did try the admittedly superior version on the Legendary edition, but i still hate it. I bailed the first time i had to fight a Thresher Maw. F*ck those things. I said all of that to drive home that Andromeda didn’t have to be great for it to usurp a spot in my favorite ME titles but, after some time and distance from my initial salt about the development of this game, i have to say, it’s genuinely better than the first Mass Effect. Blasphemy, i know, but f*ck that first game, man. i hate it so much.

Andromeda is a hard sell or most and i understand why completely. That first trilogy is gaming royalty and better written than the most Hollywood entries as of late. That bar was way too high. Any game trying to call itself Mass Effect and not starring Shepard was going to fall short. I think that is what crippled this Andromeda, aside from the ridiculous bugs and rather pedestrian plotting. But it’s fun as f*ck to actually play. Listen, that jump pack is a game changer. I like the combat in Mass Effect 3 the most out of the original games and Andromeda builds upon that with gusto. Seriously, being that mobile while maintaining one of the tightest cover systems I've ever had the pleasure of hunkering behind, was a true revelation. I absolutely loved basting around enemy squads, pinning them down, and blowing them the f*ck away before retreating to cover half a map away like nothing happened. It was exhilarating. While I'll always prefer Mass Effect 3′s combat because of nostalgia reasons, Andromeda was the most fun i had actually playing an ME title. So far.

Another solid addition presented by Andromeda are the squad mates. Yes, of course, they are template characters but the way they're written is the draw. They may remind you off the old crew but these youngbloods have a life of their own. Except Liam. F*ck that guy. It’s not hard to see the comparisons; Cora is Miranda, PeeBee is basically Tali, Vetra is every bit Garrus but a girl, Nackmor Drack is definitely the Urdnot Wrex of our cozy little refugee group, and Jaal gives me strong Javik vibes. I think that familiarity was built in for a reason. I think it was to ease us into a completely different world, a completely foreign narrative experience, so as not to alienate the audience before we experienced what Andromeda had to offer. I enjoyed my interactions with these characters and found myself particularly drawn to Cora. I romanced the sh*t out of her and, let me tell you, that love scene? Whoo, boy. Literally the best part of that game. Seriously, the facial animations, which everyone was so up at arms about during launch, are exquisite. The way the models move, that dialogue, the overall performances; Top tier sh*t! If all of Andromeda was that good, no one would be mad. But it’s not. And here comes the poo-poo...

Look, i enjoyed my time playing this game again, for the most part, but this story sucks. It sucks so much ass, man. Even after EA took a hatchet to the original Mass Effect narrative, that storyline is still so much more engaging than whatever the f*ck we got with Andromeda. It’s just so soulless and the cruelest thing about that is; It didn’t have to be. On paper, the plight of the Pathfinder could have been something truly special. Not even counting the laughably ambitious plans Bioware had for the game, itself, just the prospect of being in a brand new galaxy, fighting to make a home in an entire alien existence, terraforming planets and punching out mechanical space dragons, sounds f*cking ridiculous. I’d play the hell out of that game. I'd want to live in that world for years! But it’s not as fun as you’d think. A lot of Andromeda’s issues stem from the abject mediocrity on how that zealously awesome idea, is so poorly executed. Like, the character work is fine, except for Liam (f*ck Liam) but the narrative conflict around all that dope, is dumb. Its just dumb. Coming off Shepard’s epic struggle against the overwhelming eldritch horror of the Reapers, to whatever the f*ck the Pathfinder is trying to do, comes across as flaccid and dumb. If Andromeda made it out the door first, i think people would have been much kinder to it. The fact that it had to follow in Shepard’s shadow pretty much tanked any hope for this game.

Mass Effect: Andromeda isn’t as bad as i remember but it’s not much better either. I enjoyed my time with it, particularly after realizing you don’t have to do every stupid f*cking side quest because f*ck, and yet, i am readily aware of it’s very aggressive flaws. I still get why so many people in the fandom dismiss it. Andromeda is an amazing concept but only an adequate game. It doesn’t deserve it’s incredibly disparaging reputation but it's nowhere near as good as the latter two games of the first trilogy. Ultimately, i had more fun with Andromeda, despite itself, than i did with the first Mass Effect game and i don't understand why more people don’t feel the same. Andromeda has it’s issues, for sure, I'm not even gong to try and say otherwise, but so does the first Mass Effect and that one has aged like milk. Andromeda is nowhere near as bogus and i think if people give it another chance, they might agree with me. But f*ck Liam, though.

[smokeybrand]

A Galaxy Far, Far, Away

I’ve started my fourth play through of Mass Effect Legendary Edition. This is one of the best series of games i have ever played. Not necessarily the overall gameplay loop, but the narrative, the world building, is all just flat-out unassailable. I’m a sucker for deep lore and Mass Effect definitely has that. Revisiting all of that drama, and character development, and pathos, and epic feel, has me completely gripped. So much so that I ended up revisited Mass Effect: Andromeda after my second run through of the original trilogy. I had always planned to revisit the Pathfinder’s adventure after saving the galaxy from the Reapers. I wanted fresh eyes on the black sheep of the franchise, after playing the golden child once again. Suffice it to say, my opinion on the Andromeda sh*tshow has softened considerably. They say time heals all wounds and I guess that goes for tepid games, too.

Andromeda still has nothing on the original games but i like it more than the first Mass Effect. I hate that game so much. I touched upon this before in one of my many, many, Mass Effect posts (look, i really like these games, okay??) but i had a PS3. My first experience with the franchise was Mass Effect 2, which i bought on a whim because i kind of hate shooters, and was absolutely blindsided by straight up quality. That opening sequence is exactly how you start any cinematic experience. It was gripping, tense, and really gets the player to commit, even if they have no idea who the f*ck Shepard is. I didn’t get to play Mass Effect until AFTER i played 2 and 3 so, going back to the first? Man, that game didn’t have a chance. I did try the admittedly superior version on the Legendary edition, but i still hate it. I bailed the first time i had to fight a Thresher Maw. F*ck those things. I said all of that to drive home that Andromeda didn’t have to be great for it to usurp a spot in my favorite ME titles but, after some time and distance from my initial salt about the development of this game, i have to say, it’s genuinely better than the first Mass Effect. Blasphemy, i know, but f*ck that first game, man. i hate it so much.

Andromeda is a hard sell or most and i understand why completely. That first trilogy is gaming royalty and better written than the most Hollywood entries as of late. That bar was way too high. Any game trying to call itself Mass Effect and not starring Shepard was going to fall short. I think that is what crippled this Andromeda, aside from the ridiculous bugs and rather pedestrian plotting. But it’s fun as f*ck to actually play. Listen, that jump pack is a game changer. I like the combat in Mass Effect 3 the most out of the original games and Andromeda builds upon that with gusto. Seriously, being that mobile while maintaining one of the tightest cover systems I've ever had the pleasure of hunkering behind, was a true revelation. I absolutely loved basting around enemy squads, pinning them down, and blowing them the f*ck away before retreating to cover half a map away like nothing happened. It was exhilarating. While I'll always prefer Mass Effect 3′s combat because of nostalgia reasons, Andromeda was the most fun i had actually playing an ME title. So far.

Another solid addition presented by Andromeda are the squad mates. Yes, of course, they are template characters but the way they're written is the draw. They may remind you off the old crew but these youngbloods have a life of their own. Except Liam. F*ck that guy. It’s not hard to see the comparisons; Cora is Miranda, PeeBee is basically Tali, Vetra is every bit Garrus but a girl, Nackmor Drack is definitely the Urdnot Wrex of our cozy little refugee group, and Jaal gives me strong Javik vibes. I think that familiarity was built in for a reason. I think it was to ease us into a completely different world, a completely foreign narrative experience, so as not to alienate the audience before we experienced what Andromeda had to offer. I enjoyed my interactions with these characters and found myself particularly drawn to Cora. I romanced the sh*t out of her and, let me tell you, that love scene? Whoo, boy. Literally the best part of that game. Seriously, the facial animations, which everyone was so up at arms about during launch, are exquisite. The way the models move, that dialogue, the overall performances; Top tier sh*t! If all of Andromeda was that good, no one would be mad. But it’s not. And here comes the poo-poo...

Look, i enjoyed my time playing this game again, for the most part, but this story sucks. It sucks so much ass, man. Even after EA took a hatchet to the original Mass Effect narrative, that storyline is still so much more engaging than whatever the f*ck we got with Andromeda. It’s just so soulless and the cruelest thing about that is; It didn’t have to be. On paper, the plight of the Pathfinder could have been something truly special. Not even counting the laughably ambitious plans Bioware had for the game, itself, just the prospect of being in a brand new galaxy, fighting to make a home in an entire alien existence, terraforming planets and punching out mechanical space dragons, sounds f*cking ridiculous. I’d play the hell out of that game. I'd want to live in that world for years! But it’s not as fun as you’d think. A lot of Andromeda’s issues stem from the abject mediocrity on how that zealously awesome idea, is so poorly executed. Like, the character work is fine, except for Liam (f*ck Liam) but the narrative conflict around all that dope, is dumb. Its just dumb. Coming off Shepard’s epic struggle against the overwhelming eldritch horror of the Reapers, to whatever the f*ck the Pathfinder is trying to do, comes across as flaccid and dumb. If Andromeda made it out the door first, i think people would have been much kinder to it. The fact that it had to follow in Shepard’s shadow pretty much tanked any hope for this game.

Mass Effect: Andromeda isn’t as bad as i remember but it’s not much better either. I enjoyed my time with it, particularly after realizing you don’t have to do every stupid f*cking side quest because f*ck, and yet, i am readily aware of it’s very aggressive flaws. I still get why so many people in the fandom dismiss it. Andromeda is an amazing concept but only an adequate game. It doesn’t deserve it’s incredibly disparaging reputation but it's nowhere near as good as the latter two games of the first trilogy. Ultimately, i had more fun with Andromeda, despite itself, than i did with the first Mass Effect game and i don't understand why more people don’t feel the same. Andromeda has it’s issues, for sure, I'm not even gong to try and say otherwise, but so does the first Mass Effect and that one has aged like milk. Andromeda is nowhere near as bogus and i think if people give it another chance, they might agree with me. But f*ck Liam, though.

[douchebagbrainwaves]

HERE'S WHAT I JUST REALIZED ABOUT KIDS

The main reason they want to be lied to. That's the main reason parents in industrialized societies dislike teenage kids having sex are complex. In cold places that margin gets trimmed off. It's too much overhead. And while you can outhack Oracle with one frontal lobe tied behind your back, you can't be a company of one person. And not just in some metaphorical way. Even a fool is thought wise if he keeps silent, says the Old Testament Proverbs 17:28. Writing doesn't just communicate ideas; it generates them. Are We Getting a Divorce? This happens in intellectual as well as Lisp, so they are speaking from experience. Except this is not as stupid as it sounds, there are two numbers you care about: how much money you're putting in, and the advertisers will follow. Anyone who has used the web for more than a couple weeks has been trained to click on Back.

And you want to go faster, it's a problem to have your work tangled together with a large number of other people's. One reason they work on big things is that they probably will, one day.1 Two things changed. But here there is another language called Perl that is considered a lot cooler than Java. A viable startup might only have ten employees, which puts you within a factor of ten of measuring individual effort. It is a comfortable idea. The prospect of seeing the finished project hangs in the air like the smell of it makes you work harder. Like most startups, we changed our plan on the fly; use footnotes to contain digressions; use anaphora to knit sentences together; read your essays out loud to see a valuation lower than half a million unique visitors a month. Outsiders are still learning how to be stolen—they're still just beginning to realize how far you are from a neutral observer. Where is the breakeven point? Companies are not set up to reward people who want to work for them.2 In the software business, just take on the hardest problem you can find, use the most powerful is probably the same mundane reason they lie to kids is how broad the conspiracy is.

If you laugh, they're not transferrable. Viaweb with $10,000, whichever is greater. For yourself. It was astonishing to learn later that they'd both been serial womanizers, and that Kennedy was a speed freak to boot.3 It would be worth competing with a company that tanks cannot plead that he put in a solid effort. I'd be delighted, because something that was hard for us would be impossible for our competitors. Belonging to such a group becomes part of your identity: name, age, role, institution. One is that individual rowers don't see any result from working harder. How could I have missed something so obvious for so long? The obvious solution is to assume that anything you've made is far short of what it might have been ok if he was content to limit himself to talking to the press, but what happens in one is very similar to the venture-backed trading voyages of the Middle Ages. At least, you notice an interesting pattern. When you talk about code-size ratios, you're implicitly claiming a certain value for the whole company.

Lisp expression. If you're the rare exception—a company that actually listens—you'll generate fanatical loyalty. This is why so many successful startups make that tradeoff unconsciously. And so while you needed expressions for math to work, there was no point in making anything else return a value, because there could not be true. Of what? We talked to a lot. It's because Lisp was not really designed to be lived in as your office? Economically, you can tell they really believe this, because it will be as something like, John Smith, age 20, a student at such and such elementary school, or John Smith, age 20, a student at such and such corporation. In programming languages, as Erann Gat has pointed out, what industry best practice, and the useful half is the payload. So how much shorter are your programs if you write one great book and ten bad ones, you still count as a great writer—or at least, is tapped out.

We also thought we'd be able to do work worth about $3 million a year. They already had something few real companies ever have: a fabulously well designed product. It turns out that no one now even remembers, and so on, and it represents the opposite approach to language design. That sounds like a joke, but it requires extraordinary effort. Launch fast and iterate. Thermals happen, yes, but no smarter than you; they're not as motivated, because Google is not going to happen. Once you've got a company set up, it may seem presumptuous to go knocking on the doors of rich people and asking them to invest tens of thousands of dollars in them. But it's possible to be part of a startup, however, because its rarity is guaranteed by the U. Get ramen profitable. Adults have a certain model of how kids are supposed to behave, and it's hard to imagine him having the patience to climb the corporate ladder at General Electric—or Microsoft, actually.

So I say get big slow. Far older, in fact, Gosling makes it clear in the first year. I mean, in 1958, computers were refrigerator-sized behemoths with the processing power of a wristwatch. In a company, you'll find the juiciest projects still undone, either because they seemed too risky, or simply because there were too few insiders to explore everything. The eminent feel like everyone wants to invest in any good startups. What really motivates investors, even big VCs, is not the thing itself, but what this case shows is that power is the ultimate threat. As well as writing software, I had to do was play hardball with licensees and copy more innovative products reasonably promptly. Either your site is about by showing them. So in the future when you hear people saying All these guys starting startups now are going to be developing a genuinely good product, take slightly too long to do it myself. Maybe successful people in other industries are; I don't know of anyone I've met. No doubt there are great technical tricks within Google, but the lies implicit in an artificial, protected environment are a recent invention. This tells you how much to trust your instincts when you disagree with authorities, whether it's worth going through the usual channels to become one yourself, and what you expect of yourself, and what they use it for.

So any difference between what people want.4 Recursion. Every couple weeks I would take a few hours off to visit a used bookshop or go to a new investor, your 4. They also know that big projects will by their sheer bulk impress the audience. During the Internet Bubble. That's the best-case scenario. The second biggest is the worry that, if they don't want to; you could just tell him.

The ball you need to keep your eye on here is the underlying principle that wealth is something that's made, rather than the fish. There's also a newer way to find startups, which is all the more evidence they're ripe for the picking. There are two differences: you're not saying it to your boss and say, I want to explore: great new things often come from the margin is simply that there's so much of it. Then I thought: what would the other 9 be? Government. If you're bad at marketing. Startups create wealth, it will be as something like, John Smith, age 10, a student at such and such elementary school, or John Smith, age 20, a student at such and such elementary school, or John Smith, age 20, a student at such and such college. Whereas Marc Andreessen says he'd back ok founders in a bad one. It means someone who breaks into computers. But don't wait till you've burned through your last round of funding. That's the way to succeed in a startup, don't feel that it has to look professional.

Notes

With the good ones, it will have to put it would feel pretty bogus to press founders to overhire is not an efficient market in this department. The thing to be some formal measure that turns out it is the precise half of 2004, as reported in the beginning. The second alone yields someone flighty.

But people like them—people who had worked for a block or so and we did not become romantically involved till afterward.

Letter to the minimum you need to warn readers about, and his son Robert were each in turn the most common recipe but not the bawdy plays acted over on the programmers had seen what GUIs had done for desktop computers.

Though they were only partly joking.

[galaxybeginnings]

The Friendship that Changed her Lonely World

It has been a couple of months since Neena had settled into her new life in Seoul. Everything was so strange from the different language, food, and even the weather. Coming from sunny California, it was a large and slightly scary change. Neena was looking ahead though. Ahead at her goal of becoming a fashion designer that catered to everyone. Not just the high class… She actually preferred for her clothes to be worn by everyday people.

Thankfully her transition was going smoothly because of a very persistent classmate of hers, Kim Jaehyun. Having been not only the new girl, but also someone from another country, it had been hard for her to fit in with the other students at school. Jaehyun was different… A little annoying at first though. He kept popping up wherever she ended up. Striking a conversation with her, sometimes in English. It got to the point where she just gave up trying to resist him, even with all the other girls who seemed to glare at her. Not like she really cared about this anyway.

It has already been a year since the two became close friends. The two were almost sewn to each other at this point. He understood her as she did him. Also he was someone she could easily feel herself around without those nagging thoughts of being judged for her outspokenness. But he really proved his friendship one day when she had completely lost control of her emotions, exposing the secret she had never had the courage to tell anyone outside her family.

A soft layer of colorful leaves blanketed the ground. A gentle but noticeable crunching sound joined the daily noise of the city as people made their way over the drying leaves. Autumn was in full form as a chip cold breeze joined the cool air. Quick footsteps crunched their way down the street, a young woman with brunette hair was racing down the pathway.  It was clear that she needed to be somewhere quickly as she continued swiftly.

Crossing a large street via crossing path the girl approached a young man who clearly knew her. She smiled between small huffs, punching the other lightly from what he had said. They seemed very close. Close enough to be misinterpreted for possibly a couple but there was also something that said they weren’t.

Upon closer look one could hear what they were talking about a teacher that had assigned some sort of bogus assignment. Their conversation seemed to cause the girl to puff out her cheeks which lead to the male to rest his arm on her head, his free hand lightly poking a puffed out cheek.

“Come on Neena, we've had worse ones. Remember when we had to be in groups and ended up with HaeJyun? It was hard to get anything done cause he didn’t even bother to show up. Yet it was you who seemed to get through to him. That helped us not all fail.” A hearty laugh escaped him as he was shoved off her head.

“What the heck Jaehyun! Get your heavy smelly arm off of my head.” Violet eyes glared up at him. She knew that he was aware that she hated when others did that to her. Yet he always seemed to enjoy pushing her buttons from time to time. It wasn’t that she hated him for it, more like it was something she was still getting used to. Friendships typically never lasted for her let alone got to the point she was this comfortable with them. “Anyway... What did ya need us to come out here for? Ya mentioned some new food stall that ya found?” A light lick of her lips accompanied her scanning violet eyes.

“Well, I was actually thinking of using these two tickets that I got for free to that new amusement park.” Jaehyun flashed his ever so charming smile that usually made all the girls at school melt, all but Neena. Probably was why he had attached himself to her. Finally a girl that didn’t swoon at every little thing that he did. Casually draping his arm over her shoulder he waved the two tickets before her.”

“Shut UP! No way! These are like impossible to get right now! And they are even all access.... How the hell did you get them!?” Ignoring his arm over her shoulder she grabbed the tickets to get a better look at them. They were legit. How could he get these!? Wait a second.... He didn’t... “Jaehyun.... you didn’t ask your father did you?” She knew how their relationship was. It was strained due to the fact that Jaehyun had decided to not follow his father into politics. Neena understood and could see that such an environment wouldn’t be beneficial for someone as kind as him.

A shy slightly sheepish smile appeared on Jaehyun’s face. She had caught on too quickly... But she was also dense as hell to the actual reason why he had gone so far, so far as to make an agreement with his father for these. Lucky for him, but frustrating at the same time. He was happy though. Even if his original reason to befriend her was out of curiosity.

The two had just gotten off of the Twisted Comet coaster when they realized that they had yet to eat lunch. The sky had begun to change as the sun had been sinking lower without their notice. Neena decided to wait for Jaehyun to return when she overheard voice. Voices she had recognized. Voices that belonged to classmates that were... not so keen on her. Usually the words didn’t get to her. So what if they hated her for petty stupid reasons. But when she started to hear them bad mouth Jaehyun... That was something she couldn’t just sit and listen to.

As she was about to get up she felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. This always happened when something bad was about to happen. What would it be this time? What kind of ridiculous ‘crap’ would she have to put up this time? There was luckily a bathroom nearby but... these girls could definitely follow her and that would only cause trouble for those trying to enjoy their time here. To destroy that would be worse than to put up with the childish ramblings that were about to happen.

Just as she thought this a wet ice cold sensation started to dribble over her head, which then became a wave of ice and liquid. She couldn’t help the cry and sudden stand that followed as she was now drenched in what seemed like iced coffee?! Seriously?! This was the least original way to bully someone for one, and secondly... It was frigid out! Her bewildered violet eyes shot up from looking at her cold drenched front to the group of girls. Yeah, Jaehyun had his fair share of fangirls but they had never really taken such a drastic step.

As she glared at each of them the itching and tingling started. Of all the times for her to lose control, it had to be in a crowded park surrounded by giggling satisfied brats like these. It doesn’t matter if you travel halfway round the world, these type of people always existed. And now they are causing her to lose control. She felt it building. How long would she be able to suppress it? The last thing she wanted was to be sent running. To give these spoiled brats the satisfaction of feeling like they won in breaking her.

Violet eyes glared daggers at them before they were covered. But not before she saw a slight change in their expressions. A sense of shock? But why? The light twitch sensation she felt drag across the mysterious cover was accompanied by an overwhelming smell of Jaehyun? Wait what?!

Her thoughts were soon drowned out by the raging voice of her friend. Had she ever heard him so furious? No... not that she was aware of. This was a different anger than anything she had ever heard. It was louder than it should be.... Oh god! Her hand shot up to grip the coat that had been placed on-top of her. Soon she felt his hand on her head, maybe to make sure that his coat didn’t slip off? She wasn’t too sure. What she did know what that the group of ‘fangirls’ were gone.

Her thoughts raced as he guided her out of the busy parts of the park. As soon as they were in what sounded like a very quiet spot his dark eyes came into view causing her to jump back. Losing her footing she was steadied by him before he once again looked at her eye to eye. There was a mix of confusion as well as “I demand an explanation” kind of look. This was what she dreaded. Him finding out that she was a freak... more than usual. This was the freak side of her that she wasn’t proud of.

Several shakey breaths happened before she started to speak. She told him of the time when she was little and had been bitten by that strange wolf dog thing. How soon after she had gotten extremely sick but no doctors could tell what was wrong and sent her home to enjoy time with her family. When she was home basically ‘dying’ from how she remembered her parents silent pain that they tried to hide. Then, one day, the ears and tail appeared. Her canines were sharper. She had become a werewolf?! Or at least that was the most logical explanation they all came up with. Her health improved and the ‘symptoms’ would only come and go under stress or illness.

Upon finishing, she couldn’t bring herself to look at him. He was going to run. They all did. Thankfully none of them ever spoke of what they saw cause, hah, who would want to be labeled the local crazy person! Even though Jaehyun was the nicest and most genuine person she had ever met, he would most likely do the same. She slammed her eyes shut to brace herself as he spoke.

“So... a werewolf? Or maybe something else cause it’s kind of the middle of the day. Sadly my folklore isn’t the most sturdy right now but hey, I think it’s kinda cool. But, you are still Neena. This doesn’t change anything about our relationship or the fact you now smell like an iced caramel latte with... is that peppermint? Who the heck put caramel and peppermint together!?

Hearing his words calmed her down, with a hint of relieved shock. So... he wasn’t running? Her violet eyes slowly opened to see his dark chocolate ones saying just that. He wasn’t going anywhere. The relief she felt caused her to hug him tightly, all be it with some complaints from him about smelling like a ice latte gone horribly wrong.

[shenanigans-and-imagines]

Ride On: Part 1

Not my Gif

Requested on Archive of Our Own by Maria_and_Aguilars_Codex_1492

Prompt: Reader, Red Harvest, and Billy Rocks all end up meeting through Mrs.Cullen's quest for revenge, and along the way they become close. (Romantic/Platonic, you decide where to go)

Red Harvest x Reader, Billy Rocks x Reader (Friendship), Female Reader

A/N: Just fair warning to everyone I don’t have a set release schedule for this one.  I still have request to go through, Mag7 Week coming up, as well as school so please bare with me.

Word Count: 1.3 K

          Sam, Goodnight, Billy, Faraday, Vasquez, Mrs. Cullen, and Teddy Q., rode their horses away from the small outpost where they had hoped to recruit Jack Horne.  Granted, they had found the man, in a rather unorthodox sense, but it was clear he wouldn’t be joining them on their mission.

           Sam led the procession, thinking hard about what to do next.  They still have five men, but even with the farmers of Rose Creek possibly coming to their aid, they were still out gunned.  He wracked his brain for another name who could possibly help them.  

           “Don’t think so hard, you’ll pull a muscle,” Goodnight said, riding up alongside him.

           Sam gave a quick smile in acknowledgement.

           “Just working out the odds,” Sam said.  “It’s not looking all that promising.”

           “I might have a way of getting them a little better.”

           Sam turned to his friend with a surprised look.

           “Been talking to Billy,” Goodnight continued.  “Heard, Y/F/N Y/L/N has been seen around here.”

           Sam paused a moment as he tried to place the name to a face, but came up empty. He did recall the name being mentioned a few times, usually followed by some variation of “gunslinger” and “god damn bitch”.

           “Heard the name,” Sam said.  “You meet her?”  

           “Challenged Billy to an alley a few years back,” Goodnight said, giving a faint smile at the memory. “Insisted on doing it for real, but not to the death. Said something along the lines of “wounds are more honest then eyes”, anyway. Billy got her in the arm and she got him in the shoulder for good measure. Everyone called it a draw, but she insisted Billy won on account he brought a knife to a gun fight.”

           Sam raised an eyebrow, glancing back at the man in question behind them.  

           “He isn’t sore about it, is he?”

           Goodnight shook his head.

           “Nah, both were good sports. I even offered her to join us, but she said she liked working on her own.”

           Sam nodded, thinking over the image Goodnight was painting in his mind. Obvious recklessness or not, clearly Goodnight was impressed with her fighting and they needed all the help they could get.    

           “Reliable?” he asked.

           “She’ll finish any job she’s hired to,” Goodnight said. “And apparently, she’s broke.”

           Sam gave a small smile.

           “Well, let’s go pay her a visit.”

          You felt the sweat seep down your back as you shoveled the used hay and manure into an empty wheel barrel.  

           You had been in less dignified positions, but you were struggling to remember when. The farmer who owned the place offered you food and a place to sleep so long as you cleaned out his stables. You couldn’t exactly say no, and it certainly could have been worse. Of course, that didn’t stop the smell from getting to you.

           You were coming onto the last stall when you heard the sound of the barn doors open, followed by three sets of footsteps.  Your back stiffened as you ever so carefully glanced at your gun belt handing off the pen wall.

           “Y/F/N Y/L/N, as I live and breathe.  What is a city slicker like you doing in a place like this?”

           You the tension in your back instantly relaxed as you turned toward the voice.

           “Goodnight Robicheaux,” you greeted.  “You know me, I only call for the finest of establishments.”

           He laughed at that and you couldn’t help a smile from spreading across your face.

          To your surprise Billy was nowhere in sight.  Instead, there were two others with him that you didn’t recognize; a tall black man and a red-haired woman.

           “Where’s Billy,” you asked, before getting back to work.  

           “He’s with our other associates,” Goodnight said. “In the meantime, Y/F/N this is Mrs. Emma Cullen and Mr. Sam Chisolm, duly sword warrant officer of Wichita, Kansas, Nebraska and seven other states.  Mrs. Cullen, Sam, this is Y/F/N Y/L/N.”

          “Howdy,” you said, shooting questioning eye to Chisolm. “Is there any reason you felt the need to bring in a warrant officer?”

           Chisolm gave you an odd look half way between serious and joking.

           “You do something I should be arresting you for,” he asked.

           You shook your head.

           “Besides being broke not much,” you said. “Don’t tell me that’s against the law now.”

           “Not that I know of,” he said. “That’s actually what we came to talk to you about. We got a job for you, if you’re interested.  Chasing off a man name of Bartholomew Bogue out of a town call Rose Creek.”

           You paused, shovel mid-air at the name.

          “Heard of him?” Sam asked.

           “Don’t know anyone around here who hasn’t,” you said, dumping the contents into the barrel. “Any particular reason you feel the need to drive him off.”

           “He killed my husband,” Mrs. Cullen said, “killed several others and won’t stop there unless we give up our homes.”

           You stopped your work to look her over carefully. You noted the fresh grief in her eyes, and the fire that you recognized as the need for revenge.  She was driven, you’d give her that.

          “I’m sorry for your loss,” you said. “How many men?”

           “Five so far,” Sam said, “unless you join.”

           You stared at him in momentary disbelief.

           “Five?” you repeated. “Does that include her?”

           You made a vague gesture towards Mrs. Cullen which she did not take lightly.

           “No,” she said sternly, “but I still aim to fight.”  

           You let out a dry laugh, shaking your head.

          “I admire your grit, but if all you wanted was for me to pull out my gun and shoot myself, you coulda just asked.”

          You turned away from the group and began to shovel once more as a symbolic end to your conversation.

           “Oh c’mon cher, you’ve beaten worse odds,” Goodnight said. “Like that skirmish in Tombstone.”

           “Well, they paid me $600 for that one,” you said not bothering to look up.

           “What about that business over the border?”

           “Paid me $800 for that one.”

           “You cost a lot,” Mrs. Cullen said bitterly.

           “Yeah,” you said, taking a pause as you turned to look at them. “That’s right I cost a lot.”

           You went back to work, hoping that maybe this time they would understand you weren’t interested.

           “They pay is $20,” Sam said.

           You stopped again, looking at all of them in stunned silence.  This entire endeavor was getting more and more ridiculous every time someone opened their mouth.  You looked to Goodnight, as a silent hope that maybe somebody was pulling your leg.  Goodnight looked right back, giving a subtle shrug of the shoulders.  They were being completely serious.

           Sam didn’t give you a chance to respond as he turned to walk away, followed Goodnight, and Mrs. Cullen followed.  

           You let them go, shaking your head before looking back at the stall, but you hesitated.  You looked over the hay, and the shit, and remembered the sick feeling in your stomach from not having eaten in about two days.  You thought about the odds of six men against an army and a rush of excitement went through you.

          You turned to their retreating backs.  

           “$20?”

           They all paused at looked at you expectantly.

          “Right now, that’s a lot,” you said, throwing down you shovel.

          Mrs. Cullen looked surprised at your answer.

          “You’ll come?”

          “Room and board included?” you asked, placing on your gun belt.

          She gave a confirming nod.

          “Then yeah.  Shootin’ folks that are asking for it is better than shoveling shit anyway.  And besides, Billy and I need a rematch.”

          You caught Sam giving Goodnight a questioning glance.  If his face was any indication, he was starting to have second thoughts on having you along.  Goodnight waved him down, but you had a feeling Goodnight was going to be your unofficial handler for this little expedition.

          Soon enough your horse saddled and ready to go after some quick negotiations with the farmer about your breakfast.  You were probably going to regret this, but as you left the small farm behind, you realized you didn’t care.  The familiar thrill settled in as you rode on, filling you with a sense of purpose you hadn’t felt in months.  Trouble was coming your way, and Lord, how you had missed it.  

[mysterybustershq]

everton colony camping trip » event.

i can’t believe all of this actually happened.

daniel.

finally getting the fire lit, daniel stood up and headed over to where most of the rest of the team was standing. “hey, i got the fire going so if you wanna come on down, come on down.” he half expected all of them to say no, and really wouldn’t blame them if they did, but it was worth a shot.

blair.

blair wanted to reply with a simple hm, no. but decided against it and walked past him to where his fire was. she didn't want to be alone for the time being so why not try to at least enjoy the trip?

bryce.

bryce had spent most of his time, sitting in his chair, trying not to think about not being able to contact his mom, as well as trying not to let things bother him. it wasn't really working- he was still freaking out, only internally now. but when daniel mentioned a fire, he lit up, a fire would be nice. "i'll join," he replied, as he slowly stood up.

nathan.

as the group slowly started to separate to the fire, nathan tried his best to keep an eye on both groups. the last thing he needed was him losing track of someone (probably trevor), and having to spend the rest of the night hunting for them. "are we even allowed to light a fire out here?" he asked, trying to be cautious, ". . . but sure, i guess i'll join. . . i get my own log to sit on though."

vanessa.

"anyone got some marshmallows?" appearing at Nathan's elbow from what seemed like thin air, Vanessa didn't waste much time in bounding down the slight hill to where Daniel had been hard at work on the fire, joining the small ( she suspected it'd grow, though ) group relocating there. "That's all we need. Fire, marshmallows, logs - spooky stories? I've got THOSE covered."

julian.

julian had followed nat towards the fire, promptly taking a seat on a blanket that was spread out over the forest floor. he leaned back on his palms with his feet out towards the small fire. "oh, we know," julian laughed a little, speaking only slightly condescendingly.

nathan.

"no one is telling scary stories." he snapped, head turning to vanessa, "bryce was already flipping shit before and im on trevor-fleeing-watch right now. the last thing this group needs is getting more freaked out. why can't you just read Goodnight Moon to the group instead?"

naomi.

"boo" naomi says from where she's sitting, wearing one too many layers of clothing. it was cold. "that's what camp fires are meant for. scary stories and group bonding. lord knows you need to bond with us, nathan."

vanessa.

"Meow. Really feeling the frost here, pals," she murmured under her breath only SLIGHTLY passive aggressively, having naturally orbited away from Julian and Nathan before they'd opened their mouths. When Naomi spoke up, Nessa pointed to her and bopped her head up and down animatedly, completely in agreement, "see? Naomi gets it. We can't waste this perfect backdrop and NOT scare our pants off with the stories of my people - it'd be like going to NASA and not taking your chance to announce on the tour guides swiped mic that the moon landing was fake and you have proof... which is something I definitely have never done, and is nothing more than a perfect, random anecdote."

cristian.

cristian was already sitting by the fire pit when daniel called everyone to come, having already been there, sinking into a lawn chair, when the team leader had decided to get a fire started. he took a sip from his beer, gaze nonchalant, as everyone began to join in and start speaking around him, half listening to what vanessa was going on about.

elijah.

eli made his way over to fire at daniel's request. not seeing trevor, he took a seat near nessa, the second most comfortable person and popped a marshmallow in his mouth, eyes twinkling with childlike happiness at the mention of frightful fire retellings. "yeab, we cabnt jus' not tell scarby stories," the beyond the grave cohost mumbled, mouth full of marshmallow. he proceeded after gulping it down. "what else are we gonna do? sing kumbayah? no way! plus, i hate to break it to y'all, but we are the mysterybusters so if you're not a fan of scary things, you're in the wrong line of work."

kimberly.

sitting around a fire and singing the campfire song song sounded about as fun as getting her teeth pulled sans anesthetic, but kimi hurried over to the fire. she didn't comment on the matter of horror stories. this entire job felt like a horror story, and not a good one, either. she focused on finding a place to sit; not yet seeing ashley (thank god) she decided to stand behind the logs opposite cristian. it was purely a coincidence that she stood there, but upon seeing, micah let out a quiet scoff as he took a seat next to naomi. if not for the people around, she would give him a fair suggestion of where to shove his ill-timed humor. alternatively, she silently sent up a prayer for his cast to catch aflame, and looked around with an innocent gaze. "so what are we doing, then?"

vanessa.

nessa visibly brightened at eli's appearance, grabbing a marshmallow and popping it in her mouth before he could protest as she made a bit more room on the log she'd claimed for him. mouth full of soft, pillowy goodness, she accentuated everything he was saying with movements of her head and hands, as so; "what else are we gonna do?" - she raised both hands in a clueless-old-man sorta gesture - "sing kumbayah?" - one shake of her head side to side, curls gone wild - "no way!" - a very animated nod of her head, up and down -"plus, i hate to break it to y'all, but we are the mysterybusters" - a dark glance around at all that were so far gathered, like she was disappointed in each of them - "so if you're not a fan of scary things, you're in the wrong line of work." - a final nod coupled with the folding of her hands over her chest and a noise of agreement, as she finally swallowed the marshmallow that'd shut her up for two seconds and threw in her own, final two cents, "i vote we listen to eli, and naomi, and therefore me, and get cracking with stories that'll ruin ALL our chances of  good nights sleep. for bryce's sake- sorry, bryce, for singling you out, but you ARE the only one who's freaked so far- we can go for a... a pg-13 retelling of the classics. that's a win win, right? right. the answer's right. say it, everyone- i'm right."

julian.

at that point, julian basically gave up trying to combat the girl. he laid his entire body down on the blanket, his hands resting on his stomach. "go ahead, ness." he threw out into the dark, his eyes closed.

nathan.

ive already bonded enough with ashley he thought to himself, groaning in response to naomi. nathan leaned forward, warming his hands near the crackling flame, "fine, i'll tell a scary story first. once upon a time, a guy from seattle just wanted to spend his weekend sitting at home doing class work. instead, he ended up getting dragged to virginia with Ghost Busters Jr. he got bit by mosquitoes, got sweaty, and didn't even have enough signal to use Pocket Camp." he looked back up the group, "there's my contribution. ive done my group bonding."

lana.

“mhm,” as ashley was going on and on about something, lana gave her an occasional hum to let her know she was still listening. she wasn’t. they were coming out of the woods when her eyes went from focusing on the leaves beneath her feet to the group who were huddled around a fire a way ahead. she pointed towards them and cut ashley off mid-sentence, “look! let’s go see what they’re doing.” she picked up her pace to join with the blonde following behind her. once she reached them, she shoved her hands in her pockets and stayed quiet to catch up on the conversation going on.  what she heard only made her shoot nathan a sarcastic dirty look.

vanessa.

she stayed quiet while he talked- at least, no matter what else happened, nessa could say that much. she kept her mouth shut ( something that was often an incredibly hard thing to do ) and she didn't butt in, even though she wanted to the minute she realized where his spiel was going, and when he was done she waited a whole seven point three seconds before she said, very seriously, "if that's the quality of all your campfire stories, please, stick to your day job." and THEN - then, as if she hadn't just dropped that out there into the world, nessa nudged eli with her elbow ( a little non-verbal 'hey, help me spook these ghouls' ) and leant closer to the fire, gaze lifting to go round the circle ( and lingering a bit on the newcomers of lana and ashley ), before saying, ominously, "have any of you ever heard of the huge storm of 1935?"

ashley.

following lana back to the group, ashley took a seat on the blanket julian was on, nudging him with her knee to get him to sit up. "hey," she said, not really paying attention to what the rest of the group was discussing. but she did catch the tail end of vanessa's monologue. "no, what's that?"

micah.

"i don't even remember the storm of 2018," micah spoke dryly. "why would i remember one that i wasn't alive for." his question came out so dully, kimi could hear the lack of proper punctuation.

elijah.

after she'd made her statement and finished her marshmallow, eli already had one roasted on a stick for her — his own kind of thank you for her gestures and generous support — handing it to her wordlessly. his eyes widened at nathan's statement and he leaned in, eyes wide with excitement . . . only to have them dim immediately at the bogus cynical content #teamdad's story. "come on nate you can do better than that! the only thing that was scary about was your lack of enthusiasm and creativity." eli said with a playful huff, a devious smile forming on his face as vanessa nudged him. "ah yes. gather round everyone. it was the huge storm of 1935! where goodness died and EVIL was born." he winked at ness, wiggling his eyebrows at the crowd. "listen if ye wee yellowbellies dare."

nathan.

"i could always tell the sequel where one of the kids he goes camping with disappears and all they find is his glasses and a pinky toe." he responded, tired eyes shot at elijah's direction. nathan wasn't one to get into the festivities, but vanessa's story proposition peeked his interest, "storm? what storm?"

naomi.

"the only storm i know is that vine that's like 'hurricane katrina? more like hurricane torilla' and that's not even a storm." naomi speaks up from where she's sitting,  "so by all means, tell us about this storm."

zachary.

zach, someone who thrived off of group dynamics of any sort, wasn't going to miss out on something as dire as a campfire. making his way toward the group, he caught the crucial end of vanessa's dialogue and interjected confidently, “heard of it?” he said with a tone that was mockingly serious, "i was there." zach smiled as he sat down next to eli.

alex.

alex sat herself besides zach quietly, folding herself onto the front of her legs, and listening with one ear. the prospect of scary stories itself made her animatedly roll her eyes as she rubbed her hands together to keep them warm (gloves were tacky, in her own opinion, and she was a sucker for fashion over comfort). "stop talking bull," she murmured before directing her eyes towards the fire, glaring at it. "honey, you've got a big storm coming," she mimicked.

vanessa.

"what about the closing chapter of a horrifying trilogy, where another one of the kids he's with shoves a marshmallow-on-a-stick so far up his a-" whatever she'd been about to say ( expression ever innocent ) was forgotten as eli silently handed one such marshmallow-stick combo to her, and she abandoned her threat in favor of stuffing her face while her friend reiterated what she'd said ( but, much better ). she WASN'T happy with nathan, that much was clear from the dark look that she kept trained on him for as long as it took for the others to tune back in and get in the spirit of the story, and then even more clear from how she began to avoid looking at him at all. "it was the storm to end all storms - my very own grandmama told stories of how they thought the world was ending...- and the people whom my cohort and i are about to tell you about WISHED it had," she took a deep, quivering breath, choosing to hook onto what zach said and continue with, "you should have waited 'til you heard the whole story before joking like that, zachary. see - not to sound too like a cliche straight from an egyptian tomb raid - everyone who witnessed what happened in the atchison manor that night DIED over the six months that followed. that is... the people who survived. we're not too far from that manor, actually - remember the crossroads? we took a left, but if we'd taken the RIGHT, we would have found it - the place the devil was born."

blair.

blair was really over the whole sitting around the campfire and telling scary stories trope so she waited for vanessa to finish before saying, " anyways, what time are we leaving tomorrow?"

daniel.

"blair," daniel said, his tone slightly harsh. all he wanted was one night where the team could just relax and have fun. maybe it was bad timing, but blair could at least try.

blair.

"don't blair me, cheater." blair doesn't mean to be rude (well maybe a little) but she can't help it. especially since it's daniel trying to get her to relax. "it's a dumb story and i have homework due tomorrow so i'd like to know."

damaris.

"b-" her own softly spoken cut in interrupted by daniel, damaris shut up and sat back instead of trying to throw herself in the middle, eyes wide as saucers as she looked from blair, beside her, to daniel, and back again. she waited for the other girl to quieten once again ( having already winced from her words - people going through second hand wincing was how you knew you'd fucked up, @ daniel ) before she whispered quietly, just to her, "why don't we go and get snacks from the van?- by the time we're back the story'll probably be done, and you...- the story will probably be over, yeah!"

julian.

without opening his eyes, julian poked ashley's side, trying to draw her in closer. "are they fighting? should we move? i don't want to get stabbed tonight." he spoke as quietly as possible, hoping no one else was in earshot.

nathan.

"blair! daniel!" nat shouted, standing up from his log and placing his hands on his hips, "look, if your outdated relationship drama is going to start shit on this trip then you guys better separate and take a chill pill." nat looked to the agitated blair, quickly collecting the roasting sticks that laid in front of her, "just. . . one of you take a walk. not alone though."

elijah.

of all the places to sit, of course zach picks the spot next to him. at his presence, eli paled visibly and shifted towards vanessa, who 1) had defended him and 2) was telling an awesome ghost story, which were 2/2 of the ways into eli’s heart. he listened intently, gasping, whooping and wiggling his fingers while he made ghost noises to add to the paranormal campfire ambience they had going. eli’s eyes were brighter than the fire when she finished, but of course everyone was sullen and sarcastic as ever. for a bunch of paranormal investigators they sure were normal. bo-ring. looking at blair, bored bitchiness illuminated by the firelight, eli whispered. “there won’t be a tomorrow if the devil gets us. and i wouldn't leave if i were you. if you want to get shish-kabobed by satan, that’s on you, but i for one am saying where i am. so, daniel, blair, i would work your stuff out because tonight's the night. and by that i mean the ONLY night."

micah.

micah sighed, already over the arguing. "so, zach was born tonight, he's the devil, none of this is news. but if you think the devil is enough to work their shit out, you're going to be sorely disappointed, eli." as usual, micah's voice had taken on that slightly softer tone, the one he always got when speaking to eli. it was barely noticeable, but it was there. he was still working on fixing that. "why do you think they didn't work out?"

ashley / daniel.

although he probably should've expected it, daniel stiffened at blair's reaction. after nathan got his scolding out, daniel rolled his eyes and stood up. "fine. i'll go." as daniel stood up, ashley followed, grabbing julian by his shirt and pulling him along with her.

vanessa.

great. just GREAT. a quality ghost story, wasted on everyone who wasn't eli - go figure. his theatrics had been perfect, the mood was JUST right, everyone was starting to slowly but surely get engaged in what she was saying ... and blair and daniel had to go and ruin it. thank god she was used to such moments not going to plan, because at the very least she was able to hide her sad annoyance beneath an indifferent expression, eyes darting to whoever chose to speak up next like it was a basketball game, muttering under her breath as daniel stalked off, "if you'd all just waited 'til the end of the story, then you woulda been too SPOOKED to argue and no one woulda had to leave, but noooooooo, you had to go and start RIGHT BEFORE it got good." and then, after a brief pause and considering of her words, she directed the final part at eli, "- you know, they don't appreciate our BOMB story tellings. we should start charging by the minute."

julian.

"oh–what? why? oh–okay," julian had no time to process what was going on. as soon as he felt ashley tugging on his hoodie, he sat up, and was on his feet with her. "you know, to be fair, bud," julian mentioned to daniel, walking just a bit behind the boy, "you really asked for that one to happen."

naomi.

naomi felt really awkward as they began arguing, pulling the strings on her hoodie to make it scrunch up against her face. "if it makes you feel better, i was really intrigued." she tells vanessa, words muffled by the fabric of the hoodie.

kimberly.

kimi watched as ashley dragged julian away after daniel. she wasn't quite sure how she felt about that friendship, considering how much it'd already fucked things up for him. but who julian befriended, wise or otherwise, was his business. she smiled at vanessa, nodding in agreement to naomi. she hadn't believed a word vanessa said since they were back in middle school, but she knew better than to let that show. "it was really interesting. how does it end?"

damaris.

she was beginning to think she needed a new best friend, and after sending blair one long, sad look, turned back to the others and went silent once more ( so allowing the narrator to effectively write vanessa m. wright's night at the campfire ) [ vanessa ] : "you'll survive the night," she intoned, spookily, half-heartedly wagging her finger in naomi's direction to add to the dramatic flare of her words. vanessa wasn't one to be knocked so easily out of a spooky mood ( some would say she was in one 90% of the time ), and she didn't not want to try bring them back to the group dynamic with the story... but she couldn't help shooting blair a wary glance as if unsure how SHE'D take it as she answered kimi with a, "maybe it's a story for another time."

zachary.

zach listened into more than he watched more members of the group gradually get in on the argument at hand. it was the type of drama that made zach wonder why they didn’t recognize how lucky they were to be so tightly wound in regard to one another. as a group, their fucked up dynamic was both a blessing and a curse. the product of a dysfunctional family. zach questioned what he had gotten himself into. he watched naomi with careful eyes as she tightened the strings of her hoodie. it was adorable, but caused a foreignly worrisome feeling to seat itself in zach. he resisted the urge to move to sit beside her; instead settling for a smile directed at her. he tuned back into the group just as vanessa was beginning to retract her storytelling expertise. even when shit had hit the fan, zach couldn’t bring himself to take it all too seriously. “you forgot a crucial part of the story, though, vanessa. as we all know, i was there, and i didn’t die. so what the fuck is up, kyle? a place where the devil was born, though? i’d recommend we go visit it,” zach looked around the group as though he were counting ( a smart-ass kind of move after so many people had left upset mere moments ago ), “but yeah. maybe it’s a little too spooky for tonight.”

ashley / daniel.

“trust me dude, i know,” daniel sighed, perfectly aware of what he’d signed on to. as the trio walked through the woods, ashley felt her phone vibrate in her pocket and pulled it out. “hey, we have service now,” she to neither boy in particular, showing them the way notifications were flooding her phone. turning her screen back towards her, she started to skim through everything she was getting. it seemed as though a lot of them were for the mysterybusters twitter, and all of them seemed to have a common theme. “the backseat killer? is that that new indie band? why is everyone tweeting us about them?” her the question was to both of them, but daniel answered first. “what?” he grabbed ashley’s phone from her hands, unlocking it to read what the tweets were about. “backseat killer escaped from prison.” he read aloud, his heart dropping to his stomach as he clicked on the article link. “mayer willis was being transported to a high security prison when he killed both the driver and the deputy with him and took the car. the car has been found but there has been no sign of willis,” his voice trailed off as he got to the end of the sentence, glancing up at julian and ashley, figuring only one of them would know what his words meant, before he circled back around to the fire. he immediately headed over to naomi, saying nothing but handing her ashley’s phone.

naomi.

naomi rested her head on micah's shoulder and pouted, "well that sucks... i really wanted to hear it." she tells vanessa, seeing daniel coming in her direction. she smiles at him even though her jacket is covering it but it soon fades as she sees the expression on his face.  "what's u—" she pulls the hood from her head and reads what's on ashley's phone. oh no her eyes widened and just like that she feels like the world is crashing down on her. the worst part is that she can't react here, in front of everyone. "uh.. excuse me..." she gets up quickly and begins to walk away from the group, tears blurring her vision.

micah.

when naomi stood up, it didn't take micah long to follow. he would give her space, if asked, but the fact that she was on the verge of tears -- something that, in and of itself, wasn't surprising -- told him that it probably wasn't needed. and as much of a fuck as micah didn't give about what was going on, he still cared about naomi, and this all felt too silverwood-esque to let her walk away by herself.

julian.

following right at daniel's heel, as he passed the phone to naomi, he rested a hand on his shoulder, needing the boy's attention for a second. "hey, man, where was this guy headed? or where was he being held? do you know? like, we have no reason to freak out about this, right?" he kept his voice low, not wanting everyone else to hear the news and react in panic.

daniel.

"i don't know man, i haven't read much more. signal's gone again," daniel answered before lightly shrugging julian's grip off of him and heading after naomi and micah. he pulled her into a hug the second he caught up, one hand rubbing her back and the other resting on her head. "i'm not gonna let anything happen to you this time, nay. promise."

vanessa.

nessa didn't like this. she didn't like it, AT ALL. what had started out as a soft moment - a kindly smile turnt naomi's way as she became the only one there at current moment appreciating her spookiness - went sour with the guys arrival back. a new feeling, set apart from the previous bother, settled uncomfortably in her stomach, and the vibe of her surroundings... the vibe was all WRONG. something had changed, and she didn't like it. "what's going on?" she asked, loudly, sitting up a little straighter, eyes following naomi and micah before drifting to daniel, and julian - the others in on whatever it was, it seemed.

micah.

micah stood aside as daniel hugged naomi. he threw a glance back towards where they'd left the others. he didn't care about them much, but at least they were all together. he looked back to daniel. "won't let who hurt her again?" usually, micah would stay out of it. but if someone was going to hurt naomi, that was irrevocably his business, and no one could say otherwise.

ashley.

"some guy named mayer willis broke out of jail and killed guards and stuff. and now they don't know where he is," ashley announced as she walked back to the fire.

trevor.

trevor had been a bit spacey since they all gathered together, it wasn’t a surprise since before they left he hot boxed himself in the bathroom of their dorm. he was extremely high and he was really relaxed when he was usually panicking at the thought of death, he was just chilling - staring off into the distance thinking about whether or not alex’s hair smelled like cotton candy or was cotton candy in his high little brain. snapping back into reality, the tall man shook his head and glanced around. everyone didn’t seem happy but he was too zoned out a moment ago to know what had happened. “ uh... so... did someone fart ? “ he made an awkward face, not really knowing what to say.

bryce.

bryce looked up in time to see daniel approach naomi, his eyebrows furrowing together as he watched the exchange. he didn't hear anything that they said, but he saw the look on her face- and that said enough. he was getting ready to stand up and follow the group when he heard ashley's announcement- and then he froze. mayer willis. no wonder naomi was upset. casting a glance at the rest of the group, he slowly stood up and made his way to where naomi, micah and daniel were standing.

zachary.

it took a lot out of zach not to insert himself into the conversation—or into the moment as a whole. and if the situation hadn’t been surrounding naomi, he definitely would have. but he had been patient in getting to know her fully. he had taken his time. he wasn’t going to fuck it up now by rushing to be someone she didn’t want him to be. what reassured him the most was the fact that ashley had followed suit. thankfully, vanessa voiced what he had been thinking since naomi was handed the phone, and when ashley showed back up to the fire zach stood up to meet her. “hey, what’s happening? what can i do?” his tone softened just a little as he repeated himself, “is there something i can do?”

nathan.

"what?" he exclaimed, voice booming through the campsite, "alright, trips over. you're all getting in that van and we're staying in a hotel or pulling an all nighter at the airport." nathan was more worried than aggravated at this point. of course there would be some killer running around just when they were out in the middle of west bumblefuck. through the chaos, he kept a close eye on damaris (not that she had done anything guilty yet, but he didnt want her wandering off and possibly causing more of a disturbance). "daniel, sorry to put a stake in your trip, but something has to be done."

lana.

her eyes followed naomi who separated herself from the group, lana's attention stayed on her until ashley’s words snapped her out of the trance. she couldn’t have heard that right. ashley must have made a mistake; it wouldn't be the first time. there was no possibility of that scenario being real and she wasn’t about to freak out until she was sure. she cleared her through before forcing the word out, “w-who?"

damaris.

the effect ashley's statement had on damaris, silent and non-existent 'til that convenient moment, was instantaneous. her face paled, her eyes widened, and though she didn't jump up from the log she'd been perched on to rush to naomi's side - she thought about it, and would have, if it weren't for fearing she'd crowd the girl. it was happening again. everything they'd been through - everything they'd JUST started to move on from, was suddenly at risk of coming to pass again. without thinking, she reached out and took a hold of blair's hand  for comfort, silly as it were,  eyes on everyone else as she waited for the information that hadn't been spilled yet.

naomi.

something about having daniel, damaris, micah, bryce and even blair there surrounding her made her feel a lot better. they had all been terrorized by him that night but, for obvious reasons, it hit closer to home. she hugged daniel back and softly cried into his chest. "i can't do this. what if he finds out where we are? where we work... live. you guys know he's coming for us... me because i'm the reason he was caught. and oh god what if he finds out about the twins and tries to hurt them too... i-i can't do this i have to, i have to leave. how much does it cost to get your name changed? a new passport... micah please tell me you know a guy. do any of you know a guy?"

micah.

her questions hit so hard to home, because god, if micah hadn't been thinking them, too. the evidence was in the discolored skin beneath his eye, and the split of his lip, and the cast on his arm. yeah, he knew a bit about that. but naomi couldn't make the same choice he did. he wouldn't let her. "breathe, nomi. i'm not going to let him hurt you, or the twins. i promise."

kimberly.

kimi watched as the original group stood together, forming a protective sort of semi-circle around naomi. as much as she wanted to know what was going on, she wisely stayed in her lane. she wandered closer to ashley, looking up at nat with wide, terrified eyes. "please, let's go. now."

vanessa.

if she'd thought that blair and daniel's fight was gonna be the worst of the evening, then wow had she been mistaken - evidently, that had just been the tip of the yikesburg. it wasn't her place to be with naomi or the other og's - she hadn't experienced what they had, she didn't know what they'd been through in the intimate way each of them did. her place was by elijah, where she took comfort from his presence and had a pretty great vantage point of everyone's reactions to the news, and where, when nathan spoke up, her "i agree" came softly from. they had to go. if nothing else, so the noise naomi was making wouldn't attract all the wild animals in the area to them ( not that she had scientific proof that crying drew bears, but she didn't want to take the chance ).

julian.

"wait, wait–" julian held his hands up, trying to grather some attention from the group that was still by the fire. "we don't need to go anywhere. and it's way too late to find a hotel with room for, what, twenty people? we're fine here." maybe he didn't really believe it, but julian didn't want everyone else to start panicking.

ashley.

"mayer willis?" ashley repeated, making eye contact with lana. "i could be getting the name wrong, dan has my phone." she shrugged. turning her attention to zach, she shrugged again. "i have no idea. i thought he was just some singer, but apparently i was really wrong." it seemed like she was the only one that didn't know what was going on; was keeping updated on criminals a requirement that daniel had let slide when he signed her on?

alex.

"yeah," alex replied, "totally fine. with a killer who could be hiding in the backseat of our van!" she shook her head, arms crossing as she stood and stomped the ground with the heel of her shoe. "i'm calling a freaking uber."

bryce.

bryce bit his lip as he listened to naomi- he didn't know what to say, and out of fear of saying the wrong thing- he stayed silent, his hands clinching into fists as he thought back to that night. he'd tried his best to block it from his mind- but now it seemed inevitable that he was going to relive it. and he was scared, but for everyone's sake he tried his best to remain calm. "we won't let him hurt you, or the twins," when he spoke his voice was low, and shaky, but he meant what he said.

naomi.

the more she thought about it the more scared she began to feel and suddenly naomi was freaking out the same way she was when she got that ticket for not pulling over for an emergency vehicle ( haha #tbt ) "we have to go. like now i can't do this oh my god i'm going to die, we're all going to die and it's my fault—" she pulled away from daniel and rested her hands on her knees, "i'm gonna throw up."

nathan.

"sorry, julian. supervisor trumps researcher." nathan said, looking around for something to put the fire out, "it's not safe. we can spend the night in the airport or even go to a church. anything is better than here where we have no signal. cristian is a big boy, he knows how to work high beams. he can drive."

alex.

alex glances worriedly at the group surrounding naomi before turning away, and promptly deciding, for once, it was none of her business. "for once... and it pains me to say this," she said, "i think we should listen to what nathan has to say."

trevor.

trevor looked around again, seeing as no one was laughing about his fart assumption he figured it was really serious because no one didn't laugh at a fart joke unless there was something wrong. the tall boy stood up, awkwardly mostly because his high mind made it seem like he was moving slower than he really was. " okay ! i have no clue whats going on - you guys seemed freaked out so i'm guessing either naomi is having a normal breakdown or an actually bad breakdown ? " he looked around once more before glancing at vanessa. " are we gonna die? is this a cabin in the woods situation ? because the stoner ALWAYS dies first ! " he exclaimed.

vanessa.

"trevor, the stoner died LAST in that movie," vanessa corrected cooly ( doing eli's job for him, since he wasn't there ). she didn't have a very good feeling about the night as a whole, now. some would say it was a little late to be listening to bad vibes, but nessa was of the opinion that it was only too late when you were DEAD - something they weren't, yet, and that she was quick to add on and direct trevor's way, "everything is fine. we're going to leave, right guys? leave, get out, slam the door on this WHOLE thing - a healthy case of the SCADADDLES, and once we've relocated this shindig to the airport, everything'll be right as rain! or. as right as rain ever is? you get me."

elijah.

insanity was unfolding right before their very eyes. naomi was crying, screaming, BOTH and everyone was trying to get out of there and eli was inclined to agree when. . . "wait! GUYS HOLD ON ! WAIT I HAVE TO GET MY CAT!"

julian.

"elijah, i told you not to bring tippi!" julian had both hands ontop of his head, a headache already forming from the stress.

julian.

" you brought TIPPI!" trevor exclaimed in more fear than before, the thought of eli's cat going missing even more scary then himself disappearing. " we HAVE to find him NOW ! " he yelled out before turning to almost run to find the cat.

bryce.

bryce could make out part of what was happening around the camp fire, and he found it to be incredibly overwhelming. he just needed to get away- or block it out or something. so without saying anything he sort of just walked a way, still in sight and sat down, covering his ears with his hands, as he focused on taking a few deep breaths.

cristian.

half listening to everyone's bickering for the past couple minutes, cristian had been rolling his eyes ever so subtly in the background, busying himself with relaxing by the fire. he wasn’t about to spend the last few hours of his birthday weekend worrying about ghost stories and people's breakups. however, his indifference only lasted so long. upon hearing the name of the backseat killer, cristian's brows popped up in worry, remnants of the silverwood night rushing a bit too quickly into his mind. many of the faces around the fire probably couldn't understand the magnitude of the terror that rushed through his head, although he could see it in the faces of the other original members. therefore, getting up quickly from his chair and swiftly taking out the van's keys from his pocket, it only felt right to join the others by naomi's side. he wasn’t the greatest with tears, but he could surely understand the horror of the situation, so rushing up behind micah, catching the last of naomi's words, cristian added, “uh, if it helps, naomi, i do know a guy.” he shrugged, trying to keep his calmest face in the heat of the tense moment, allowing her to let it all out. just the group being near each other seemed like enough. however, cristian knew better. so, after hearing everyone's pleas to leave, he nodded affirmatively. " yeah, maybe it's best that we get the hell out of here," cristian agreed, dangling the van's keys so everyone could see. "i actually think i did see a church nearby on the way up here, but we'll see. everyone get what you need and get in. quickly." he gestured toward where the vehicle was parked.

damaris.

while vanessa immediately rushed to eli's side and panicked about tippi with the rest of them, damaris went in the opposite direction, moving to bryce's side. so much was happening - too much, at that - and she knew it was probably overwhelming, so she did what she could and grasped his shoulder, tightly, grounding him in the moment and giving him a few seconds to calm his heart rate before she  gave his jacket a gentle tug in the van's direction. "c'mon, bry. we're going - we're gonna go to a church cris saw. it'll all be better once we're there, ok?"

lana.

lana took one step forward, about to start a trail to the van, after ashley confirmed it and they decided upon leaving. except she was starting to feel like her heart was beating out her chest and she couldn't move. this was a situation that she hadn't been expecting and that was part of the reason why she was silently panicking. she shouldn't have reacting at all, not in front of every one here. she took a long moment tried to contain herself while everyone was talking amongst themselves, not wanting the lightheadedness feeling that was creeping in get to her. but, it was no use. her father, the person who tried to kill her best friend, and someone she'd been trying to escape for years was on the loose. the rest of the group’s distress continued to encourage the sickening sensation. there was no reality in which lana would be able to hold herself together and before she knew it, everything went black-- just in time to not feel the blow of her body hitting the ground beneath her.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XjayddbksQ

kimberly.

kimi watched as lana's body hit the floor. "we should... should someone grab her? is she alive?"

nathan.

through the symphony of yelling, crying, and meows in attempt to call tippi from hiding, nathan heard the thud lana's body made as it hit the forest floor. "shit." he murmured, rushing over the the girl on the ground. "uh a little HELP HERE." he called to the group, gently shaking lana's shoulders, "lana? hey lana." he smacked her cheek gently, "lana??"

alex.

alex actually laughed. "stop playing, lana. this is a serious discussion."

bryce.

bryce squeezed his eyes shut- maybe if he pictured something- he could forget about what was going on. it didn't work. but feeling the hand on his shoulder, he opened his eyes as he slowly titled his head to look at damaris. her words didn’t register, but he found himself nodding as he slowly stood up. “t-that sounds nice,” he stammered, as he slowly moved in the direction of everyone else. stopping in his tracks as he watched lana fall to the ground.

julian.

standing up to run to lana, julian was beat by nathan's frantic run. he was frozen for a second, watching the two, waiting for some reaction from the girl. he turned around on his heel, picking into a near-by cooler, and pulling out a bottle of water. he sprinted to nat and lana, his knees digging into the dirt. "did you slap her? no, no–bend her knee, put her on her–" as nicely as he could, julian shoved nathan to the side, gently turning lana's body so that the girl was resting on her side.

nathan.

"is she breathing??" he asked frantically, trusting julian enough to take somewhat over, "put a finger under her nose or something." he bit the skin of his nails anxiously until a bead of blood formed, "fuck. how far is the nearest hospital?"

julian.

"she's fine," julian said, taking the water bottle and placing it under lana's neck, "she wasn't strangled, she just passed out. give her a second." he looked at nathan and sighed, seeing everyone else who had gathered in worry. "someone might want to get naomi. for when she wakes up," he told to anyone in the group who was listening.

kimberly.

kimi bit her lip apprehensively. she thought everyone was being a little dramatic, but even she was starting to get worried. casting another glance at the panicking group, she followed cristian to the van. she stood aside as he tried to get the car started.  her eyes widened when he said the car wouldn't start. "what the f--... why wouldn't it start?" she laughed nervously, hoping to cover her near slip.

naomi.

after many deep breaths and encouraging words from daniel, naomi was able to calm down just a little before seeing julian and nathan around lana. "what— what happened to lana?" she quickly runs over to where they are and gets down on her knees, shaking the girls body. "lana... oh my god why did she pass out is she okay? i'm gonna go get her some water." she looks at both nathan and julian before getting up and walking towards cristian and kimberly. too much was happening and everyone knows how naomi gets when things get tough. she hears cristian say the van won't stop and honestly things could not get any worse than this. "jesus fucking christ cristian i swear to god if you don't get this dumb van to work i'll fucking scream until all of your heads pop!" she begins to roughly hit the hood of the vehicle with her hands, looking at him— expecting him to do something.

nathan.

Nathan bunched up his jacket to create a makeshift pillow to put unless lana's head. he was about to ask julian another question when he heard the oh so familiar shrillness of naomi's voice. cringing, he turned toward the direction of the van, "what the fuck are you guys doing? get in the c!--" before he could finish, he noticed naomi pounding her fists on the hood. he swallowed a nervous gasp that had presented itself in his throat. "guys. . . whats wrong with the van?. . ."

daniel.

watching everything go down hit too close to home for daniel. he'd sworn nothing like this would ever happen again. that was the only reason he'd even agreed to continue the group. "okay," he said, thinking aloud. "everyone just calm down. he was in prison back in washington and everything is from today. there's no way he could get here in that little time, so we're safe for the night." there was no telling what would happen once they left, but for now, they were okay.  and there was no point in worrying everyone if they couldn't leave. "so just stop freaking out. nothing bad's gonna happen to us tonight."

cristian.

shrugging in kimi's direction, cristian gave her an unsure glance. “ i don’t know, i can pop open the front and see what’s wrong, but it was fine like not even an hour ago, i don’t know what’s up,” he explained, running a hand over the top of his head as he contemplated what could have gone wrong, his level of worry beginning to rise substantially and his heart picking up in pace as the pressure zeroed in on him -- although he tried his best to keep a composed expression on his face. however, his face dropped once naomi started to yell and pound on the hood of the van. " whoa! hey! hey! hey! naomi, what the fuck? don't fucking do that!" he shouted back as he approached the girl, losing his composure a bit at witnessing his prized possession get hit, "whatever's wrong with it, that's not going to help." cristian grabbed naomi's wrists and stopped her hands from damaging the van any further. "let me see," he huffed irritatedly as he gave naomi a sour glare and popped open the hood of the car.

naomi.

"don't tell me what to do. you know you should really make sure everything is working before the trips because somehow the van always stops working when we need it, cristian. my best friend is dying, a serial killer is on the loose and i have so many mosquito bites on my arms and legs it looks like i was in a mosquito gangbang— and i don't even know what that looks like." she says everything too fast and her voice cracks, she's going to start crying again. "and daniel thinks it's all going to be okay but it's not and everyone else is freaking out... why did elijah bring his cat and why can't we all just! have a normal camping trip without having to worry about dying, missing pets or our fucking mosquito repellent not working?! so if you'll excuse me i'm going to throw up in that bush over there and if i get lucky enough, there might be posion ivy over there too because why wouldn't there be?!" she laughs through her tears even though there's nothing humorous about the situation.(edited)

nathan.

nathan felt bile in his own stomach start to rise at the mention of vomit. he took a deep breath, shutting his eyes tightly, "uh youre not going to those bushes without a buddy, young woman." poison ivy, tippi, the van, and a killer would be the least of their worries if naomi got attacked by an animal (or person) if she wandered off alone. "can someone go with her?" he asked to no one in particular.

micah.

micah was at least used to naomi's rambling. he held up a hand to nathan, hoping to somehow convey that this was the most normal thing that had happened tonight. "naomi, seriously, breathe. you're going to hyperventilate. lana's not dying. she just fainted." he didn't know why, but at least he knew she wasn't dead. (unfortunately.) "trust me, she doesn't die that easy. i've tried." kimi tried to hide both her blooming annoyance and fear, and elected to ignore micah's confession to attempted murder(??) "guys, we all need to calm down. the guy can't get us. we outnumber him anyway, right? it's, like, twenty of us against one. we can find eli's cat, and hike back to the hotel if we need to. just..." she left the sentence open-ended, unsure of what else she could say.

cristian.

raising his brows in offence, cristian stopped looking at the mechanics of the van for a moment and shifted back to naomi at his side. “wow, okay, fuck me then, huh? for your information, princess, i did check if everything was working! not everything is my fucking fault!” he snapped, letting all notions of wanting to stay calm fly out the window. he exhaled deeply, visibly annoyed with how everything was going down, before turning back to the car and examining it thoroughly. what he saw was a mess -- just a bunch of different wires cut in different locations. cristian almost wanted to laugh. “ yeah, well, this is fucked, ” he shook his head.

julian.

“if we can’t leave in the van,” from the ground, julian glared up at cristian, “then we’re staying put. we can’t even go anywhere until lana wakes up. and i doubt she’ll be in any shape to hike.” julian had to actually make sure the girl was still breathing once or twice, growing more and more worried as she continued to lay unconscious.

zachary.

zach had registered all of the chaos that was unravelling before the team. it wasn’t overwhelming in the slightest. in hindsight, even, he reasoned that he had dealt with much more imminent dangers than they seemed to be experiencing. everyone was getting tangled up in the “what ifs.” it was normal of large parties like theirs. when naomi started fuming and cristian returned the sentiment, taking her by the wrists, zach took a cautious step toward them. micah’s sentiment was appreciated—anything to diffuse the situation was worthwhile at this point. but when cristian began to go off, “don’t fucking patronize her like that. and it’s no one’s fucking fault. no one here has anything substantial to go on right now, so just take a second to breathe or meditate or whatever it is you need to do.” when julian spoke up, it was as though the atmosphere had become infinitesmillay more reasonable. “i agree. we’re not being chased right now. if need be, we can rotate taking watch or some shit throughout the night.”

daniel.

daniel made his way over to cris. although he didn't know shit about cars, even he could tell that the van was useless. "no, cris. it's not your fault," he said as he closed the hood. no one else needed to see the cut wires and worry more. "c'mon guys, let's just take a seat and calm down." he led cris and naomi back to the fire, passing naomi off to zach, maybe he could calm her down. "yeah, julian's right. we stay here tonight. nothing bad's gonna happen. first thing tomorrow morning i'll go find service and call someone. we'll be fine." maybe if he said it enough times he'd believe it.

lana.

slowly regaining consciousness, lana began to hear everyone’s muffled voices. she didn’t dare to open her eyes yet, since the pounding of her head made it too difficult to do so. she didn’t remember fainting, but she quickly remembered what happened right before. which led her to groan out loud, “okay. who the hell knocked me out?” she was too afraid to look at who was around her but she spoke anyway.

nathan.

a sigh of relief came from the eldest, "oh thank fucking god." nathan placed his face in his hands, relieved that he didnt have to explain to the university why a student died on his watch. "no one knocked you out, lana. you passed out. though, i want to knock you out for scaring the shit out of us all." he sighed, "but, youre not dead. so im thankful. do you need water?"

julian.

hearing the girl’s oh so familiar annoyed tone, julian looked down to lana. “stay down, lana. just take it easy…” he listened to nathan, nodding along to him. "does your head hurt at all?" from his position right next to her on the ground, he tried to look at her head, but couldn't see much in the dark.

kimberly.

"i'll go find some water," kimi offered, ready to get away from the group. their paranoia was no longer contagious, it was just annoying. "i have some pain pills in my tent, too." she probably didn't, but if it gave her a bit of space, she would lie her ass off, more so than usual. this relationship drama was old, and she couldn't care for lana on her best days, let alone one like this.

lana.

“no, no,” as she spoke, she felt her cheek tingling. “i just need everyone to not touch me,” lana brought her hand up to feel the side of her face. “you’re sure no one knocked me out? why does it feel like it?” her throat was dry, causing her voice to be seemingly more raspy. she wasn’t sure how long she was out for or what happened once she did. frankly, she was afraid to ask.

julian.

"you might have hit your head hard on the way down," he tried to theorize, but wasn't sure. now that she was awake and alert, he inched back a bit, giving the girl some more space. he turned to where kimi was, waiting for the water. "i don't think anyone saw you get hit." he said, trying to give her some comfort.

kimberly.

kimberly had all of ten seconds to herself. with her back to the group, she let her facade drop. it was almost like art, watching such pretty perfection morph into something so ugly and hateful. her stride took on a new sort of bounce. the others wouldn't have noticed, of course; they didn't know kimberly. not really. but she felt more in her element with eyes off of her. she slipped into her tent and let out a quiet groan of frustration. "this fucking team," she murmured, rooting through her bags for water. there was a bottle of pain pills right on the top, but she pushed it aside. she grabbed a water bottle. she'd brought at least a dozen, not just for herself, but for anyone else who might've forgotten to bring one. most of them were full, but she grabbed a half empty one, before rising back to her feet. she breathed deep, putting back on her mask. when she walked outside, her face was the picture of worry as she rushed to lana's side. she handed the water bottle to julian with a remorseful expression. "this was the only bottle i could find, i'm sorry. and my pills went missing. has anyone seen them?" it was hardly important, but she felt the need to ask anyway, if only to cover her bases.

micah.

micah let out a sigh, dragging a hand through his hair. it was a bad idea, considering it felt like he'd just hit himself with his cast, but it felt appropriate. "let's just... go to bed." he looked around at the group of misfit toys. and he thought he had troubles at home. "sleeping in the van might be a good idea after all. don't worry, i'll keep watch."

honorable mentions:

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OUAT Episode Analysis- Pretty in Blue

Okay, I was relatively pleased with this episode.  Though I’m really hoping the curse breaks by the time we reach the mid-season finale, which I gather occurs four episodes from now.  I’m also going to refer to Jacinda’s true identity as Parallel Ella from now on instead of Parallel Cinder.  This is because I still want to differentiate her from the Ashley/Ella of Storybrooke.  Though I am still debating if I should continue to call the Alice in this season New Alice to differentiate her from the Alice of the Wonderland spin-off.  I’d like to hear what people have to say about that.

In the Parallel Enchanted Forest, Henry and Parallel Ella are in the middle of a sparring match, complete with playful banter.  In the middle of their match, there’s a particular intimate moment when they come very close to kissing, but Parallel Ella pulls back at the last moment, as something is still holding her back from acting on her obvious feelings for Henry. At that moment, New Alice shows up, telling Henry that he should have heeded her warning and went home.

The scene then cuts to Regina and Wish Killian, with Regina telling him that she found the tower where his daughter had been imprisoned, and that it was in ruins.  Apparently, that place that I thought was a magic junkyard a few episodes back was actually the ruins of that tower.  Unfortunately, this does present a bit of an issue.  We saw last episode that the tower in question was supposedly located in the Wish World.  But they’re not in the Wish World, they’re in Parallel Enchanted Forest.  So how does that work?  Did Wish Killian and Wish Smee do a little realm jumping off-screen in the last episode?  That makes no sense, as the Wish World didn’t technically exist back then.  Unless the show is getting into Doctor Who levels of wibblily wobbily timey wimey.  The only other explanation I can think of is if Regina and Drizella both ventured into the Wish World during that particular flashback.  But that doesn’t make a lot of sense, either, because that would mean Rumpelstiltskin just happened to end up there, too, despite there being no reason for him to go there.  Now, I know that it’s pretty much par for the course that the show frequently messes up the timeline, among other things.  But up until now, I always was able to find some rational explanation to explain away the continuity errors and whatnot.  But this time, I’ve got nothing.

Anyway, Wish Killian is visibly distraught when he hears the tower where his daughter had been imprisoned had been found in ruins.  Because what would this mean for his daughter?  Does it mean she died before he was able to break the curse on his heart? Thankfully, his turmoil is short lived, because that’s when Henry and Parallel Ella return, escorting New Alice. And the scene that follows is really well-acted.  You really feel for Wish Killian and New Alice as they’re finally able to see each other again.  But Wish Killian knows he can’t bring himself to hug his daughter because of the curse on his heart.  However, New Alice tells him that she found a cure, and that she’s been magically shielded.   The news overjoys Wish Killian, who quickly embraces her.  Unfortunately, it turns out that New Alice’s cure was bogus, and Wish Killian is violently thrown backwards, with his cursed heart inflicting severe pain onto him. New Alice is horrified at the sight of her father in such agony, and promptly runs off, activating a portal into Parallel Wonderland.  Henry and Parallel Ella both go after her, with Regina staying behind to help Wish Killian.

Once they’re in Parallel Wonderland, the pair immediately start to look for New Alice, but end up getting momentarily trapped in a net trap.  This leads to a rather endearing moment when Henry recollects the story of his grandparents, and how they first met.  Although, he ends up telling Parallel Ella the version from the original timeline. The one that included Snow hitting Charming in the face with a rock.  But thanks to Emma and Killian’s romp in the past, the events of that first adventure was altered somewhat, and we got a new timeline in which Snow had hit Charming with a jewelry box.  Since Henry wasn’t a part of the time travel adventure, shouldn’t that mean he only knows the events of the altered timeline and doesn’t remember how the story went originally?  Eh, whatever.

Henry soon figures out that Parallel Ella has a history with this place, especially when she reveals a knowledge of the Infinite Maze.  After some coaxing, Parallel Ella tells Henry the story of her parents.  It turns out that the man she called her father was actually her stepfather, but that he and her mother loved each other dearly.  They even had a pair of lockets that would help them locate one another if they were ever separated.  But one day, Parallel Ella’s mother just up and ran off, leaving her husband and daughter behind.  The father had tried to find her with the help of their magic lockets, but he returned home empty handed when his locket stopped glowing.  Parallel Ella had concluded that the lockets had stopped glowing because her mother no longer loved her husband.  That left her believing that there was no such thing as True Love.  But she still wants to locate her lost mother, who was last seen within the Infinite Maze, in order to find answers as to why she’d stopped loving her family. As soon as she tells Henry this story, Parallel Ella ends up drinking the potion that shrinks her down to fit through the tiny door that leads into the Infinite Maze.  And because there wasn’t enough for more than one person, Henry is stuck finding an alternate route to go after her.

Once she’s in the infinite Maze, Parallel Ella eventually locates New Alice at a table that’s set up for a tea party. For some strange reason, there’s an old Star Wars backpack hanging from the back of one of the chairs.  That struck me as rather odd, so I couldn’t overlook it.  How exactly did a Star Wars backpack end up in Parallel Wonderland?  Did someone from the Land Without Magic end up there?  Who was it?  And where are they now?

Sadly, we don’t see parallel versions of any other Wonderland character in this scene, but that’s okay.   It would probably have just left me feeling lowkey sad that we never saw Jefferson and Grace again.  Parallel Ella reassures New Alice that her father is fine, with New Alice feeling upset that the cure didn’t work.  As they’re talking, Parallel Ella notices something lying on the table in front of her.  It’s her mother’s old locket.  When she questions New Alice about it, she admits that she knew Parallel Ella’s mother. It turns out that she also had been placed under the Curse of the Poisoned Heart, just like Wish Killian had been.  The mother and New Alice had apparently bonded over the fact that they were separated from their loved ones because of the curse.  Unfortunately, the mother had later died while fighting Parallel Wonderland’s Jabberwocky.  Once again, I have no idea if this Jabberwokey was anything like Ole Jabber from the Wonderland spin-off.  But the news helps Parallel Ella find some closure, as she now realizes that her mother didn’t leave them by choice, and she really hadn’t stopped loving them.

However, that’s when New Alice reveals that the person who gave her the bogus cure for the curse that was keeping her from her father was Drizella.  She really gets around, doesn’t she?  While I could have misheard, it also sounded like she was the one who cursed Parallel Ella’s mother as well.  Though that sounds a bit fishy, as Drizella didn’t seem to have learned any magic until Regina started to tutor her.  Are they hinting at the fact that the allegiance between Drizella and Gothel has been going on for a while now?

Regardless, that leaves the question as to why Drizella would give New Alice a fake cure.  It turns out that this whole thing was some elaborate trick to get Henry alone, so Drizella could place the Curse of the Poisoned Heart onto Henry.  This was to ensure that he wouldn’t be able to get close enough to share TLK with Parallel Ella once Drizella cast the Dark Curse.  Apparently, this whole Poisoned Heart thing is the new Sleeping Curse. Thankfully, Parallel Ella and New Alice show up before Drizella could successfully curse Henry’s heart. However, that does leave the question to what this big horrible clause Drizella mentioned to Regina is.  Unless she made further attempts at cursing Henry’s heart and eventually succeeded.  But that remains to be seen.

Anyway, Parallel Ella and Alice are able to save Henry from Drizella through a bit of teamwork, with New Alice forcibly booting Drizella out of Parallel Wonderland with the aid of a magic looking glass.  That’s when Parallel Ella and Henry notice the magic lockets that originally belonged to Parallel Ella’s parents are glowing.  (Henry had been wearing one of them sine Parallel Ella ditched him at the gate of the Infinite Maze.)  Parallel Ella states that they started glowing because she had decided to take a chance at believing in love, since she’d learned that her mother hadn’t actually stopped loving her and her father.  And so, the two finally kiss for the first time.  And they even make it a camera spinning kiss, in what I gather is the show’s attempt at paralleling them to Snow and Charming.  While I know that some people take issues with the acting skills of the woman portraying Parallel Ella/Jacinda, I personally can’t help but ship these two.  Especially after this episode.

In the end, Henry and Parallel Ella return to the Freedom Fighter camp, where they pay a visit to Wish Killian. They inform him that New Alice only ran because she didn’t want to hurt him, but that she’s safe.  They also give him New Alice’s white knight chess piece, the token she’d been carrying in order to remember her father.  Henry and Parallel Ella inform Wish Killian that New Alice said she didn’t need to carry around a reminder anymore, because she’s confident that they’ll eventually find a way to break the curse that’s keeping them separated.  The flashback ends with Wish Killian holding the chess piece to his heart, stating that he’d gladly endure the physical pain he’d just experienced a thousand times if it meant he’d be able to be with his daughter again.

There’s also a short scene when a new character is introduced.  While at the Freedom Fighter camp, Henry is approached by a previously unseen man.  Henry ‘greets’ him by directly quoting Lando during that scene in Empire Strikes Back, when Han and company showed up at Cloud City.  He even does that move when the almost punch turns into a hug, which proves once again that Henry grew up to be a huge nerd.  Henry proceeds to introduce this character as Jack, a friend he met during his soul searching adventure.  I’m wondering if we’re going to see the story of how they met.  And if this Jack is anyone we know of.  Is this Jack Sprat?  The Jack who jumped over a candle stick?  Or is he just a random unknown who happens to be called Jack?

In Hyperion Heights, Jacinda is desperate to get Lucy back from the group home.  So much so, she takes Sabine’s suggestion and seeks out Nick, Jack’s cursed persona.  Nick/Jack apparently works as a lawyer under the curse, and he’s also Lucy’s cursed father. (The cursed memories have led Jacinda to believe they used to date.)  Of course, Henry begins to feel a bit outmatched when he meets Nick. Because Nick’s a big successful lawyer and he’s a failed writer turned Uber driver.  So, he starts to think Jacinda’s probably going to end up reconciling with him or something.  Especially when he hears they’re planning to discuss the matter of winning Lucy back over dinner at a fancy restaurant.  In what I guess is an effort to make himself look more worthy, Henry dedicates the time to get Sabine and Jacinda’s food truck up and running.  But when Jacinda and Nick show up, still wearing their fancy ‘dinner date’ clothes, Henry apparently once again feels inferior to Nick and starts to head off.  However, Jacinda hurries after him, informing him that there’s nothing going on between her and Nick.  She just really needs his help in getting Lucy back.  Turns out, Victoria coerced Jacinda into signing away parental rights to Lucy, something Jacinda was too ashamed to admit to anyone.  Henry encourages Jacinda into sharing the information with Nick, as he’ll probably need to know that if he’s going to figure out a way to help Jacinda get parental rights back.  Unfortunately, despite the fact that Henry knows Jacinda doesn’t have feelings for Nick, and that she trusts him enough to admit the truth to him, he decides that maybe the timing isn’t quite right for them to be anything more than friends.  I admit, I’m not entirely sure how he came to that conclusion.  And I no longer have access to episode transcripts, so I can’t check their dialogue.   In any event, with Nick’s help, Jacinda manages to regain custody of Lucy again.

Later on, Regina finds Henry in her bar, drinking rather heavily.  The guy actually had four beer bottles in front of him.  He goes on for a bit about how foolish it is to fall in love, until Regina has had enough in seeing him feeling sorry for himself. She decides on the spot that the two of them should take a little road trip.  Even though Victoria/Parallel Stepmother is currently in jail, Regina knows that they have to contend with the combined threat of Drizella and Gothel. And because Henry hasn’t woken up yet, she can hardly warn him about it.  Plus, Rumpelstiltskin has made it clear that he’s not going to be very helpful, as he feigned ignorance when Regina confronted him earlier in the episode, despite the fact that we all know he’s awake for sure now.  (He was clearly looking at the Dark One Dagger last episode.) Though why Regina even bothered to seek out his help, I can’t quite understand.  When did Rumpelstiltskin ever willingly assist the Nevengers?  The only time he ever helped them out, it was because there was something in it for him. Either way, Regina has decided that they should head off to San Francisco, to recruit some backup from someone she knows there. Although, she admits she has her doubts that this potential ally will be happy to see her.  So, I’m wondering who she’s planning on going to see.  Maybe The Dragon?  That is, if they ever figured out how to get him out of Mirror World. Anyway, Regina and Henry both head off on their road trip.  Unfortunately, they neglected to tell Jacinda about this impromptu road trip, as she stops by later on to give Henry a mix tape that she put together for him.  And she’s visibly unhappy that Henry left town without saying a word to her.

Meanwhile, we had a small subplot with Rogers/Wish Killian.  Everyone at the station is hailing him as a mini hero after he located Eloise/Gothel. The woman in question even stopped by to present him with a cake she made, as a gesture of thanks.  But knowing who Gothel is, and everything she ever did to Wish Killian, I am really wondering what she did to the cake.  I’m fairly certain it’s safe to say she poisoned it somehow.  Thankfully, Regina stepped in before Rogers could eat any of the poisoned cake and purposely knocked it into the trash.  As much as I didn’t much care for Regina during the past six seasons, I’m really grateful for her presence now. What’s more, Regina also convinces Rogers to forgive Tilly for her deception last episode, telling him that sometimes, people only agree to become pawns because they don’t have another option. It makes sense that Regina would say that, as she clearly feels pressured to keep Henry and Jacinda apart as Drizella instructed her to do, because of this big, horrible thing that’s supposed to happen if they share TLK and break the curse.  Rogers ultimately takes Regina’s advice and seeks out Tilly, who once again expresses her remorse for deceiving him under Weaver’s orders. Tilly admits she felt that Weaver cared about her, and without that, she didn’t feel like she had anything. Rogers finds himself sympathizing with her, stating that, now that he’s found Eloise, he’s not sure what he’s supposed to do with his time.  They end up deciding to meet up periodically for a weekly chess game, in the hopes that it’ll help them both feel more grounded.  As for me, I’m wondering how much longer the show will make us wait for them to wake up and realize their actual connection.

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