#do you think being let off the hook for mistakes regularly helped him build the arrogance he had by Thor 1

[worstloki]

Do you think Thor ever gets tired of the himbo jokes? People always valuing his physical strength like he’s got nothing else to offer but good cheer and a strong swing

[persephonesfill]

choke on me—chapter six

breathe me in (prequel fic)

chapter five

chapter seven

a/n: not much to say about this one, i just hope you guys enjoy it!

rating: explicit

warning(s): this chapter contains smut bc i have no self control

—————

Tony is sore in that delicious way that comes with a good fuck, feels the echo of Steve’s cock pressing into him and splitting him in half. It’s not impossible for a man of Tony’s age to get hard so quickly after an orgasm, but definitely improbable. Were he less desperate, less crazed, he might consider the side effects of regularly sleeping with a super-soldier without a condom, but all he really wants is for Steve to fill him up again.

He wants Steve to tie him down like he promised once and leave more bruises and bites, leave his mark on Tony, until there’s no doubt that Tony belongs to him in a way he has only ever belonged to himself.

He says so, and Steve fucks him again, all slow and deep now that they've taken off the edge. Tony spreads his legs willingly, pouring all of the love he has in his body into every kiss, every caress to Steve's skin. He didn't have the courage to say it just yet, but he wants Steve to feel his love. It takes them no time at all to come again, Tony's toes curling, his fingers sinking into Steve's skin.

"God," Steve gasps into Tony's throat as he pulls out of him. Tony's right there with him, his skin hot to the touch, his legs still shaking from the force of his orgasm.

Steve lifts his head from Tony's throat, and Tony brings him down for a kiss. They exchange languid, sweet kisses like they have all the time in the world. They don't. They don't because HYDRA's back and worse than ever, and Tony knows down to the marrow in his bones that there's something else on the horizon. Something ruthless and out for blood.

He wants to savor this moment with Steve, wants to live in it for as long as humanly possible, because who knows when they'll get another moment like it. Unfortunately, Tony's discomfort wins out.

"We're sticky," he says against Steve's lips and wriggles his hips. Steve pulls away from him and glances down, observing the mess they’ve made of each other; Their come and the lube is starting to dry on Tony's skin, leaving it tacky.

"I'm not sorry," Steve says softly. He runs a finger over one of the bruises he left behind on Tony's collarbone, presses a feather-soft kiss there. He does the same to the hickey on Tony's neck and the bruises on his hips and works his way back up to Tony's lips. Steve tastes like salt as Tony moans into his mouth. His cock gives a half-hearted twitch at the thought of one more round with Steve, but another orgasm might actually send him into cardiac arrest.

Tony breaks the kiss and pushes Steve's hair back from his forehead. Two bright blue eyes pierce him like hooks snagging his skin. "I don't expect you to be. Sorry that is," he clarifies at the look of confusion upon Steve's face.

"Come on," Tony murmurs. "Follow me."

Steve does so willingly, easing out of the bed and taking Tony's offered hand. Tony leads him into his bathroom, trying his best to ignore the heat of Steve's stare on his ass.

His shower is large enough to accommodate five grown men and is more than enough space for Tony's purposes. The water kicks on with a hiss, coming down like a bout of summer rain. "Turn around," he murmurs to Steve. Steve does as he's told, and Tony grabs a spare loofah and his body-wash, working it into a good lather. He scrubs Steve's shoulders and his back, his fingers working on loosening any knots he comes across. Steve carries so much tension like he's Atlas, forced to bear the weight of the world on his shoulders for all eternity. Steve moans, his hands pressed against the marble tiles. He pushes back into Tony's touch, his head falling forward into the spray.

"Why are you doing this?"

"Because I can," Tony says. He lets the water run down Steve's back, washing away the suds before he turns him back around to face him. "Because I want to," he whispers like it's a secret. "Is this okay?"

Steve swallows before nodding. Tony repeats the process on Steve's front, running the loofah across Steve's pecs and the firm muscles of his stomach, delighting in the way Steve seemed to tremble at his touch. He's never done this for a partner before. Usually, Tony's dates didn't stay long enough to cuddle, let alone shower together, with the exception of Pepper. But this...it had never been like this. It's like he's discovering a new element again or building his suit for the first time. Bringing something into being that which the world had never seen before.

Steve returns the favor, taking his time as he washes Tony's body, lingering over scars, old and new. He pauses when he reaches Tony's sternum. The skin is smoother there, newer. Tony can hear his heart beating like a war drum in his ears, and he's almost certain Steve can feel it.

Steve places his palm directly over Tony's chest like he's trying to reassure himself that it's still beating. Tony puts his hands over Steve's, effectively trapping him.

"Can you feel it?"

"I can."

"It's because of you," Tony confesses. "I'm alive, Steve. I made it. This is proof, honey."

The pet name slips out unbidden, but Tony doesn't have it in him to take it back. He doesn't want to anymore. And given how Steve's eyes soften at the name, he doesn't want Tony to take it back either.

"They got close today," Steve says. His brow is furrowed, a scowl twisting his features. All of Tony's hard work, trying to get Steve to relax, down the drain. "Too damn close."

"It's going to take more than a bunch of neo-nazis with delusions of grandeur to kill me."

Steve's shivers. Tony doesn't know if it's from the shower or if it's the thought of Tony's heart stopping. Either way, it's time for them to get out. If they stay in here any longer, they'll shrivel up like raisins.

Tony shuts off the shower and loans Steve one of his towels. He shuffles into his bedroom, his exposed skin prickling. Steve stands in the middle of Tony's bedroom, hunched in on himself, almost as if he doesn't know what to do with his body. An uncharacteristic display of shyness from him.

Tony supposes that their day has come to an end; The sun has gone out of sight, the edges of the sky tinged with a thousand shades of pink, orange, and violet. They should eat dinner, and Tony needs to gather up everyone's armor and weaponry for some much needed updates and—

He doesn't want to be alone. And seeing Steve standing there like he has no place in Tony's room, in Tony's life, makes him want to remediate his mistakes. He wants Steve to stay for as long as he wants to.

"Tony, I—"

"Steve, I want—"

"Sorry," Steve blushes. "You first."

Tony’s suddenly aware that they’re just standing there in their towels, nothing else separating them from seeing each other’s bodies. This time feels noticeably different from all the other times they’ve seen each other in the nude. It’s more than his body being laid bare. "Can you...can you stay with me?"

"Tony?" Steve whispers, a little bit of awe seeping into his voice. Tony holds back a flinch, trying to tamp down on the surge of guilt that threatens to choke him. Had he been so cruel to Steve, so sparse with his affection?

"It ends now," he thinks. He'd never make Steve feel like that again, even if it killed him.

"Please?" Tony asks. "I don't...I don't want to be alone. Please stay with me."

“Okay,” Steve says. His voice is softer than Tony’s ever heard it. It strikes a chord within him, like an electric shock directly to his core, leaving him exposed and bleeding. They change the sheets together; Tony doesn’t feel like sleeping in a wet patch if he can help it. It feels intimate yet routine. Like he and Steve have done this a thousand times already.

Dropping their towels, they slide into bed together, tossing and turning until they’re somewhat comfortable, both of them unused to sharing a bed after being alone for so long. Tony curls up into Steve's side, tangling their legs together. Steve's hands stay at his sides, not pulling Tony close but not pushing him away either, making his stomach twist.

He doesn’t want there to be any distance between him and Steve, wants to press against him until he can’t tell where they begin and end.

Steve has that cute little wrinkle in his brow when he's thinking hard about something. His skin burns where it’s pressed against Tony, flushed from the heat of the shower...or maybe Tony’s proximity.

Tony’s lips find their way to the shell of Steve’s ear. “Hold me, please?” he whispers. Steve tenses, every muscle in his body coiled like a tiger ready to strike.

“Please?” he says again, a hint of desperation bleeding into his voice.

Steve’s hands hesitate at his sides before he wraps Tony up in his arms, the full heat of his body engulfing Tony. He melts into Steve’s side, letting a sigh of contentment escape. There’s no sound but the sound of their breathing melding together; Tony’s bedroom might as well be on another planet, he and Steve, the sole occupants. It’s a comfortable silence, one that Tony doesn’t feel the need to fill for once with inane chatter. For the first time in years, he feels safe. He feels loved.

Steve strokes Tony’s arm, his touch far lighter than one would expect from a soldier; he touches Tony like he’s something precious, with the soft, exploring hands of an artist. Of a lover.

Steve’s the one who breaks the silence, clearing his throat before he speaks. “Tony,” he begins. His voice is rough, unsure like he doesn’t know what he wants to say exactly.

Tony hums, signaling that he’s listening.

“Seeing you fall, today...it brought me low."

Tony closes his eyes. What little peace they have falls away. He knew the conversation was coming, but he hoped they’d at least have a day to regroup. He’s had the conversation plenty of times with Pepper, with Rhodey, even with Happy. He’ll hear Steve out, but the second Steve even hints at Tony quitting as Iron Man, he’s digging his feet into the proverbial sand.

“It was like losing Bucky all over again,” Steve continues. He’s stopped caressing Tony but still holds him close, a reassurance. “And if they had gotten your hands on you...like they did to him...God, I don’t—I don’t know what I would have done.”

Despite his body heat, Steve’s words leave Tony cold and shivering. He had prepared for Steve to beg him to stop, to step away from the suit. He hadn’t prepared to think about sharing the same fate as Bucky; Battered and broken, only to be put together worse off than he was. A mindless puppet forced to commit countless horrors. And if HYDRA did it to Bucky, what was stopping them from doing it again, especially since their precious asset was on the run? Who’s to say there wasn’t an army of brainwashed super-soldiers somewhere, ready to usher in HYDRA’s new world order?

Tony closes his eyes, pressing his head against Steve’s skin to clear the chilling image from his brain.

“I’m not going to let that happen,” Steve whispers with a fierceness to his voice. Steve frees one hand and grabs hold of Tony’s chin, forcing him to meet his gaze. “You hear me? I’d die before I’d let them get to you. To any of you.”

His heart speeds up again, and given their proximity, Steve can surely hear it, how crazy he makes Tony. With a declaration like that, how can he not love Steve with everything he has?

“And what about you?” Tony asks. “Who’s looking out for you?”

Steve swallows. “This isn’t about me.”

“Like hell it is,” Tony snaps, anxiety creeping up on him like a thief. “You’re not the only one who was worried today. If you’re willing to lay your life down for me, at least respect me enough to let me do the same.”

Steve doesn’t speak. Tony doesn’t know if he shocked him or offended him, or perhaps Steve was just thinking over what he would say.

“Is that what you think?” Steve says quietly, hurt coloring his voice. “That I don’t respect you? That I don’t know what you can do? Tony, I admire you. Not for your looks or your money, but for who you are.”

Tony can’t look away. It’s like there’s some electric current going from him to Steve, and the second they break eye contact, it’ll cease to exist.

Steve pushes on. “You have such a big heart, Tony. The world needs you. I need you. So, I’m not going to apologize for wanting to help keep you safe. I know you can take care of yourself, but if something happened to you...something I could've stopped…"

Steve trails off. Tony doesn't want to think about what his death would do to Steve. On many occasions, Tony had learned to never trust people who said they didn't have a dark side because chances were that they were lying. Steve had been his exception. Steve, who held him when he was lonely and drank hot chocolate with him on the nights when his demons got to be too much. How could someone like that have a dark side?

But Tony remembers how Steve fought by his side like a demon, like the god of war himself. What he saw today scratched the surface of how far Steve Rogers would go for someone he loved.

But did he love Tony? Did he love Tony like Tony loves him? Before his anxiety could get the best of him, he pushed the thought from his mind. Regardless of how Steve truly felt, Tony would still care for him. There was no going back. Hell, Tony didn't want to go back. Steve was in his heart now, whether he liked it or not.

"A promise, then," Tony states. "A pact. We protect each other. We take care of each other."

Steve practically pins Tony down with his gaze. Tony wets his lips and finishes with, "We trust each other. Alright?"

"One condition," Steve replies, "and I'll agree. Just promise me one thing."

"And what's that?" Steve's response is instantaneous."Don't pull away from me."

There goes Tony's heart again, beating like it wants to leap out of his chest and directly into Steve's hands. He hears the unspoken words in Steve's condition, and he realizes that that's precisely what he's doing. Handing Steve his heart on a silver platter.

"Here you go. Here's my soul, too. Whatever you want, it's yours," he thinks.

"Okay," Tony says. "I can do that. I have a condition, too."

"What's yours?"

"Don't stop kissing me," Tony says, feeling silly for even saying the words, but Steve doesn't laugh.

Instead, Steve swallows, and in one fluid motion, he's rolling so Tony's beneath him, his arms bracketing Tony's sides.

"I can do that," Steve whispers, stealing the words right from Tony's mouth.

[popculturebuffet]

The Casagrandes Reviews: Operation Dad

In my first look at The Casagrandes, We meet Ronnie Anne and Bobby’s dad Arturo as Ronnie tries to get him to start working in the city to be closer to them.. and when a genuine honest appeal dosen’t work, shenanigans will have to do. Dad stuff under the cut. 

This is one i’ve had in the works since my labor day catchup binge of shows, but kept getting pushed back either due to regular coverage or specifically timed things like the bi visalblity day review of “What Was Missing.  And with Halloween next month, my time to cover this is running out a bit and I feel it’s a great place to start covering this show so, pitter patter.  The Casagrandes didn’t really hook me in at first: It did have two things going for it: An intresting premise A blended family coming together, with our heroine and her big bro being fish out of water in a new family situation. Wheras with the Loud House Lincoln, and by extension most of his sisters, is used to how his house runs, knows the score and knows how to manuvre around it, Ronnie Anne was being dropped into a new situation, with people she KNEW, but only likely from seeing them breifly. It’s one thing to see your cousin once or twice a year, as I did with mine at that age, it’s another to live with them. It had a lot of potential. The other thing was Bobby Santiago, Ronnie Anne’s brother, and one of my faviorite characters across both shows, an endlessly nice guy who while suffering from a terminal case of dumbass, is utterly likeable, helped by his VA Carlos PenaVega, with the spinoff and i’ts build up only fleshing him out more by giving him his job at the Mercado, and showing he has serious buisness acumen  in addition to his many other talents. 

But what made me wary was the lead: Ronnie Anne didn’t get the best intro on the loud house. You know this, I know this. We all know this. No sense beating around the bush: She was a bully, who had a crush on lincoln and masked it by pummeling him. And this was seen as okay by the show which isn’t as suprising in hindsight as Chris Savino clearly has messed up views about women and harassment, and is thankfully no longer part of this. She did get slightly better once she actually showed up, getting genuine chemstiry with Lincoln and being shown underneath the bully exteriror was a pretty nice kid who shared his intress. Granted it wasn’t perfect as the show madei t clear he was terrified of her, but it did at least also make it clear he no longer had a reason to be, and while she’d prank her boyfriend, or assits his sister during her dark time once a year in doing it, and if your wondering if i’m ever going to watch or cover the april fools episodes .. yeah i’m just waiting you know.. for april fools. 

My point is it was kinda mixed and their solution was to soften her up a bit but also act like she and LIncoln weren’t intrested in each other all of a sudden instead of you know, dealing with her past actions and having her make up for them. It was sloppy is what i’m saying and the character while not bad wasn’t in the best positoin to tkae the reigns of her own show. They did add some intresting depth with the move though, showing that Ronnie Anne and Bobby were often on their own, and that Maria moved them to the casagrande household simply because she felt her daughter would be happier NOT having to be the strong one or take care of herself all the time and actually have someone look out for her instead. It was a good emotional reason for hte move and both casagrandes showed up ocasoinally, mostly Bobbi whose still with Lori to this day as seen in the season 5 premiere.  It was an okay foundatoin but it would depend on what they did with her character.. and i’m glad to say.. they made it work. The show still has rough edges, mostly having the same problem ducktales and the loud house itself had during season 1 of juggling such a large cast: Most of them outside of Ronnie Anen and Bobby have only gotten 1 episode, and even then CJ feels underutlized despite being amazing, while the adults outside the grandparents feel underutlized.  Buuut the show is funny, intresting, has good pacing and unlike the loud house, having already learned that lesson, while Ronnie Anne does get more episodes than the rest of the family, it does feel more like an ensemble show and the focus on her feels less like the show not knowing what it has and more like easing the viewers into the rest of the cast by using her as a viewpoint.  Ronnie herself is better, the bully aspects gone. She can still take care of herself, and is still fairly indpentent and clever, but she’s got a sharp sense of humor and a clear love of her family and the fish out of water aspect I hoped for, while not used a ton, still comes up in intresting ways.  Overall i’d say the show is off to a good start.. and it has Melissa Joan Heart and Ken Jeong as a married couple and let’s Ken play a diffrent role for once: A dorky, kind dad instaed of any degree of lunatic. That being said given his character her’s last name is Chang, I can’t help but think this and community are in the same universe and that the Changs have just had to put up with whatever insane phase Senor Chang was going througha t the time every time he visted. I mean i’d love to hear Sid tell ronnie anne the time her uncle came over in a napoleon outfit and revaled he’d taken over his community college with the help of a bunch of children.  But i’m getting off topic, I gots an episdoe to cover and out of the ones I watched this felt both like a great re-introduction into the cast and was easily one fo the best with a great emotional core and great jokes and LOTS to dig into. So i’ve jawjacked enough, pitter pater. Again!

It’s with this episode we properly meet Arturo Santiago, Ronnie Anne and Bobby’s father, Maria’s ex, and owner of one hell of a beard. Ronnie mentioned him back in friended aka the pilot because fuck that airing structure but not the time or place for that moving on. 

We see he video chats his daughter once a day, though today she made hte mistake of doing so on a crowded subway while with her best friend and future wife Sid. NOW we can talk about Sid. Sid was introduced in Friended! over on the loud houd house as part of that mini arc I keep yelling about and will again and again. Sid is Ronnie Anne’s clyde: A best friend whose there as her sidekick, emotoinal support and resident goofus, being a bit of a weirdo and given i’m a giant ass weirdo, you can see why I like her/want to keep her safe from the nightmare that is at last half this fandom. Plus she and ronnie anne are adorable together and have more chemstiry than she and lincoln did.. thoguh the two do have OT3 energy together in his one episode, but that’s for another time. 

Anyways as Sid helps her rangle wifi by them by doing the mecha shiva we soon find out Arturo is coming home! Home lord he’s been off in Peru for too longggg. Point is Ronnie Anne is excited, Bobby is excited, everyone’s excited except for Hector who hates him.. and honestly I can see why the contrast. For everyone else, Arturo is a charming, friendly guy who genuinely loves his kids and only is away from them because he has a lot of important work to do and even with that is still an active part of their lives. Buuuut Hector likely sees it diffrently and is likely homing in more on the fact Arturo is barely there in person for his kids and left Maria to do all the raising them by herself, with her own demanding job.  It’s not a black and white situation is what i’m saying and.. I genuinely love that. It’s a complex thing to deal with: A parent who isn’t there for his kids but it’s hard to say if he’s being selfish or not. He’s not david from roseanne doing this so he can feel good about not wanting to deal with being a father or the death of his brother, Arturo genuinely just wants to help those who need him, even if he has to sacrifice a lot to do it.  Ronnie Anne naturally wants him to move here though and convince him during his visit, and her plan nicely shows off the duality of her charcter: She’s clever and can easily think things through, as his originzation has it’s home office in Great Lakes City so he could still help those in need, just more from the organizational end, as well as i’m assuming GLC’s own homeless and needy. But she also has an 11 year olds understading of complex issues and thus thinks the easiest way to convince him is to take him on a fun daddy daughter day that will make him love the city. Bobby is less optimistic about the plan though.. and that’s because he’s been through this with Arturo already. Granted his job for him was at weenier on a stick because it’s bobby, the boy is a peach of a human being but has the plkanning skills and common sense of a basset hound on qualudes.  He just sugest she enjoy the time. And this says a lot about BOBBY too: He’s used to his dad being out of his life, he’s probably been gone for most of it and while he loves him, he’s had ot get used to the fact he’s probably never going to be regularly in his life and while he understands why his sister’s trying this he wants to spare her the pain he went through. It’s interactions like this that to me show the series at it’s best and what it could be: deeper character interactions that really let the characters and voice cast shine, that still mix well with the usual nonsense.  Arturo arrives and everyone loves him.. and again it’s easy to see why: he’s kind, friendly and to the kids, he’s their cool uncle who lives in another country and as someone with one of those, It does feel neat. Hell he was my cool uncle when he just lived in chicago or seattle, but somehow he had to top those by moving to fricking ireland. So I get where they come from and really relate to it.. I mean I met mine in high school, my family tree is complicated, but still.  So while everyone but Hector is happily remeetinmg their uncle Maria shows up. And it’s awkward, the two not knowing how to greet each other, but it’s very obvious Maria and Arturo are on good terms, it’s just hard when theres so much history there.  Speaking of Maria let’s talk about her since this is one of her only scene’s this episode. Maria is one of my faviorites. She isn’t used a ton, but this is more excusable than it is with the Casagrande parents, as the whole point of Maria uprooting her kids to Great Lakes City was to give them company and someone to take care of them while Maria worked the long and varied hours of being a nurse. She’s a good parent, who just picked a rough career, and made the hard decision to uproot her kids, not for her sake, as it can’t be easy living with both your elderly parents, your sister and her husband not to mention 5 kids, a giant adorable pupper and an obnoxious parrot, but so they’d be happy.. which given Ronnie Anne went from having no friends and largely having to be the rock in the house, to having a sizeable friend group plus her cousins, as well as generally being happy while Bobby went from bouncing from job to job to running the family buisness and planning to expand it when he gets older. She’s a good gentle person who still makes time for her kids, and I wish we saw more of her with her spotlight episode, which was about Ronnie Anne trying to spend more time with her, being one of my faviorites so far. I also like the fact that for once in a cartoon a parent with a time sink of a career isn’t demonized for trying to put food on the table and rather than just quit or have a mean boss or the usual cliches, Maria just found a way her kids wouldn’t be alone. She’s awesome.  Ronnie Anne first tries showing him how great the city is with home cooking and a warm bed, but the first while nice is something he still gets, and the latter in a nice touch is just.. too soft for him. Ronnie meant well, but understadably he’s just not used to it and makes a cot under the stars instead.. he’s not trying to be ungreatful, he’s just sued to it. 

Anyways Ronnie indeed takes him on a montage, with some cab headbonks beacause why use an uber that’s cheeper and safer huh? Anyways our father and daughter do have a montage, and hector gets beaten up by a luchadore because this promotion apparently dosen’t get not to attack the crowd. They really need to stop booking that guy.

Ending on our article image, which is really sweet and a real beautiful shot, Ronnie Anne finally gets to her Ronnie Plan. First Arturo cycles through two diffrent assumptions about what she’s asking him about. He first thinks she’s about to tell him about a special boy or girl in his life, his exact words. He backspaces to include that. She says no which.. I guess okay you have other things in mind but you can’t put off him meeting Sid forever. That aside I do think it’s a good indication Ronnie Anne might be bi, and both her parents just easily accepted it which is great. I could be reading too much into this, and I probably am, but I’ve thought I was before on nickeodeon and look how legend of korra ended. 

The next is just hilarious as Arturo tries to let her down gently that he’s not getting back with maria which Ronnie Anne agrees with and was not remotely her point, but I do like as it shows their well and truly done, and it’s nice to see that sort of dynamic with a divorced couple in fiction where it’s not because of lingering sexual tension or anything, just that their apart but have kids to think about and presumibly the split was amicable if again still awkward. Finally Ronnie asks him.. but he gently refuses, since the people he helped need him as much as he wants to stay.. but part of what makes Arturo likeable, especially since he’s in the REALLY throny situation of not being in his kid’s lives in person despite having the opprountiy now, is that he genuinely tries to compromoise, saying he’ll try to up the calls to two a day, and he’ll visit more often. Ronnie Anne sadly and half heartdly says it’s fine and walks off.  So Ronnie Anne vents to that girlfriend she apparently dosen’t have that he cares more about her patients than him and Sid sidgests that part of that is simple: He dosen’t feel she and bobby need him since, as I pointed out earlier, their doing better than ever. So Ronnie Anne intitates a second Ronnie Plan: to convince him she’s a troubled youth and get him to stay and reasssmbles her cousins to help.  Before we move onto this plan that’s totally a good idea and not a borderline Zach Morris evil scheme, let’s talk about those cousins real quick. Quick fire: CJ is really great, a sweet kid and I wish they’d use him more and generally do nto get why they don’t, Carlota is fine but not all that defined at this point but Alexa PenaVega tries.. and why yes it is kinda weird Carlos PenaVega’s wife and the former star of spy kids is playing his sister. And Carl.. I don’t likes him. I just don’t. He did give me a really good episode, which we’ll be covering next month, but he’s just a little asshole with out the charm of fellow little asshole Louie Duck, who alsos cams people but actually gets consqeunces more often. 

That quickfire done Carl does a forgery which depsite me being eh on him, clearly, is a funny bit, to make Ronnie Anne look like she’s failing, but that fails as you’d expect when he can help her with that from Peru.  So it’s on to the actual plan: Which really boils down to this. 

I mean.. that’s essentially the plan convince him she’s running with a dangerous crowd and is breaking bad, dressing up in punk clothes and making a scene at breakfast. She also gets a really neat new haircut, similar to luna’s but spiky which.. why isn’t this her normal hair? and why dosen’t she at least keep the cool leather jacket? I always get annoyed when a character’s temporary costume change is even better than their default design and htey fail to realize it but whatever.  IT starts to work a little but clearly a breakfast tauntrum won’t be enough so Ronnie Anne enlists Sid.. who is frightend,d osen’t recognize her and dosen’t want to get shoved into a locker. .. who hurt you.. tell me.. I have a box to deliver. Just let me pop a quick H on there real quick. 

Anyways, once Sid realizes “Oh that’s not a bully come to shove me in a locker that’s just my girlfriend in the middle of a zack morris grade elabroate manipulative scheme”, which happens once a week their fine, she comes up with one last plan: Have her friends, who are neat but need more filling out, dress up like punks bullying her friend sameer.  This plan.. makes no sense. For one she was already a bully back home.. granted it was because she liked the kid, which no just no, but it’s heavily implied she did the same to the rest of the lincrew too. .which aside from Rusty isn’t a good look. I mean his face is punchable and he mocked hte idea of them being together despite next season hitting on Lincoln’s sisters, there’s a 1:1 chance he hit on her and she shoved him in a locker as is the natural response to anyone getting asked out by that goober. No matter how hard the show tries to pretend that didn’t happen it did. If her bullying kids didn’t get him to move home back in royal woods it won’t work now. 

So they had behind the fish market for their plan, Arturo is directed there.. and sees through it. I mean she’s probably sent him pictures of her friends, he knows who they are and no amount of costumes is going to fix that. I mean you really only changed Nikki’s hair. Why not just have a dance fight. i’m legitly asking dance fights are rad and this reminds me of the venture bros episode where hank, to impress his date, has billy and white pretend to be a street gang to impress his date. Just do that for sid instead of trying to gaslight your dad into staying.  But no while he pulls her into the car, Arturo knows this was a stunt and asks why. When Ronnie Anne tearfully reveals she just wanted him to stay.. he hugs his child.. and agrees. He realizes that if she’s willing to go to these lengths to get him to stay, she must REALLY miss her papa. So he plans to call the office to transfer.  But then while helping her dad unpack, Ronnie Anne finds something and we get another emotional scene: Ronnie Anne finds the letters he got from the various kids he’s helped, and is moved to tears. Props to Izabella Alvarez for her performance here as she reads the letter and realizes just what her dad’s work does ,and why it means so much to him. He truly helps those who need it and she decides she can’t take that awy from it: Sure her dad won’t be around.. but other kids need her dad more. She has a big family, she misses her dad.. but she can live without her dad. They need a doctor. 

So Arutro heads out with a tearful goodbye and Ronnie Anne leaves him a scrapbook of their time together. We then cut to the Santiago sibs playing cards, and being sad about their dad and all that.. when Arturo calls.. and then shows up in person. He took the Headquarters job after all, though a close friend of his we met earlier in the episode but I ddin’t mention will be taking over in Peru, and from earlier clearly wanted to get back out in the field, so it all works out. And it’s a nice character moment; Arturo realizes while his work is important, and as mentioned he does make sure a compient replacment will continue it.. his family can be too and it’s okay to think of himself and them for once. As I said he’ll still be able to help just in a diffrent way and there are probably needy kids who need him here too, if not in the same ways obviously as a doctors without borders type project. So eveyrone shares a group hug and even Hector bursts into tears. And Maria comes in wondering what she missed whiel Sergio asks who wants to tell her. oh sergio.. why didn’t you stay away when you ran away in a future episode.  Final Thoughts: Not much more to say. It’s a well done episode with high emotinal stakes, great acting and some great jokes I didn’t get to, and while the plot of “Make absent parent stay by pretending things are bad’ isn’t new, it’s done well enough here. Overall just a really good episode that shows what this show can do and why it’s unique family setup makes for intresting stories a lot of shows can’t tell, and validates this spinoffs existnace. The episode also really fleshes out Ronnie Anne’s character, and givne Arutro’s been gone since the divorce if not longer, it’s resonable to supsect her earlier bullying might have been lashing out at her parents divorce. It’s just good stuff. Keep an eye peeeld to this blog for my regular loud house and ducktales coverage , and some more casagrandes this october. ANd until then, Go Team Venture!

[jess-the-vampire]

Sky And The Forces Of The Multiverse, Chapter 32

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Sky still hadn't spoke to Angel. The most she gave him was grump gazes when she walked by, angel having a hard time himself meeting her eyes. Angel for the time being never left the hospital wing, as if he was too scared that maybe the second he walked out he'd be grabbed and gone forever, no following the others and barely much speaking other then judas. Internally he seemed to be happy someone still seemed to like him despite this mess, but he still couldn't help but feel like he didn't deserve it. Like he wanted Judas to hate him in an odd way as a response instead of his usual kindness. He still looked a mess, refusing to wear the clothes judas had put out for him and hadn't taken a shower despite judas telling him he should. Sky was probably repulsed because of him and his appearance wasn't helping. The normally fancy looking angel with his hair tied up behind him still wore the tattered, torn, and dirty clothing from the day it happened and his hair was messy and everywhere, the way it covered his face reminded judas of nora when she was hiding behind it more then angel. Guess it figures despite how different angel was, he was still just as stubborn, though for different reasons this time. With his brothers being grounded, sky and the rest of the girls constantly being dragged to meet with janna and talk more about the situation, and nora giving up her freedom to help out and save a life angel was mostly left as the only person he could talk to.

Nora was still in the building, though he got the impression her parents were making her stay where she wouldn't be influenced by him or sky like she had been. Though seeing the king and queen regularly visit the ill spider queen left him wondering if nora had been able to convince them and what their conversation had been. Point in case though, with everyone being monitored and rarely getting to speak one on one, judas and angel were practically stuck together for the most part. Well, there was also loki, or coral, but he somehow got the impression they weren't the best people he could confide in in this situation. Angel still had more to tell anyway, and if sky wasn't stepping up, he had to. "Angel....you really should clean up....you look sick....it's not like you", judas entered, alone this time considering a few times sky had been with him when they had been able to meet up, carrying a bowl of stew for the boy. The boy snorted, huddled up in a blanket, "C'mon, i'll even bring you down to the underworld, my room has a bathroom linked to it, you can use it....change into fresh clothes....I know you don't really want to look like this. And you can't go on trial looking like this either...angelus...please?" "Judas give up on my case, it's over, i'm done...you'll only look foolish trying to do anything to let me off the hook for this, I admitted what i did and everyone saw me, there's nothing to defend and you shouldn't be trying to defend me....you'll only get yourselves in more trouble.", he was stern, he was being serious, he was being stubborn. The demon laid out the boy's food and took a seat next to him, "Angel, we know, we're just trying to at least prevent worse from happening to you, if you explained to them that you were tricked, and lied to, and threatened maybe-". "Maybe they won't decrown me?". "Angel, we're doing this because we care ok?". "You care....Sky...I'm not sure about.". "Sky cares, even if she's not showing it..". Angel puffed his hair from his face. "My parents would kill me if I did what you did y'know....yours are.....very forgiving...". "They're....mad with me....don't downplay it...but...they need me to help....they can be more mad with me once we catch the criminal, working with them....is.....weird...It was already stressful with the girls but...working with my parents under these conditions is....messy, they know things we didn't and we know things they didn't....so I suppose it will help...but if neither of us can get ourselves to work together, we might not stand a chance...it feels like...they're one step ahead of us.....are you sure you can't tell us more about their plan?". "Judas, they told me nothing much about why they did anything, I was only given instructions and promises and....threats....nothing more...I never really knew what they wanted....to me...at the time...I just thought they wanted to help...that....maybe they felt like I did, mistreated...and having anger towards those they felt wronged by...at least...it felt that way....how they spoke to me.....", he went soft, "They knew me judas...at least....it felt like they did....they knew what I did.....they....made me feel like they cared....". "I'm sorry angel...". "Why were you even trying to catch them? For breaking into your castles....?". "It's....more complicated then that....but we can save it till after you clean up....angel if you want to help and try and make up for this in the future you can't do it like this...you need to pull yourself together however you can, If you're ever going to speak to sky...or go on trial.....or help....you can do it looking like this....", angel just stared down at the floor, lost in thought about his words, "Hey.....if you go clean up and change....I'll tell you everything about....why we're doing this..will that make it easier for you?.". It actually seemed to make the boy think it over, he sniffled and his shoulders tensed before he relaxed and gave in. "Fine...I'll....clean up....but....can I eat first?". Judas snickered and nudged the boy. "Yeah....". Angel eagerly took the food, chowing down the stew to fill his stomach, "You didn't have to bring me food....". Though the boy laughed as he watched the hungry spider shove more and more of the stuff into his mouth, "Dude, I bring you food about every time I come to visit you now, I know the food they have for patients aren't all that good and you need your strength. Besides....you seem to really like trying new food...I uh...get the impression most of your home dishes involve insects?". Angel gulped more down, "Insects are a tradition in my kingdom, you eat giant bugs yourself, most monsters love them...". The demon caught on what angel was implying and quickly tried to reassure him, "Oh no no, I didn't mean it as an insult, I love them as well....I just meant...I think you like trying things that you don't get to normally eat back home. You might as well try some new stuff while you're here...I'm sorry, I didn't want to assume too much about your home life...". Angel snorted, "It's fine...my life at home is not particularly the best, it makes me wonder if i'm better off being decrowned....the people don't want me as their king. They sure won't want me as their king after this incident, I could live a life on my own...eating this food....maybe I'd be better off not bothering...". He glanced to judas before turning back to his food, "Even if I truly did make up for my mistakes...that doesn't mean they'll accept me back....nor does it mean my own parents would even want me back.". "Angel....do you want to be king...?". "Yes, of course I want to be king!", angel said with such ferocity that judas was caught off guard, "I....I wanted nothing more then to be king and do everything I could to...help us...but maybe It really is pointless...everything is pointless...my plans did nothing, and my people don't even want me around....it feels like being a useless peasant is where people like me best, I can't exactly cause much trouble if I just....sit around and eat food...". "Angel....if you want to be king, you should be king....being king is your passion, even if you screwed up....kings....well...kings make mistakes...c'mon..there are so many mewmans who don't want me to be king and that's not stopping me....I for one, think you have the potential to be a great king. You take risks, you refuse to let others walk all over you, when you care about someone you really make an effort to make them happy and protect them....". "You think that highly of me? Even after all this still?". "Are you surprised?". "No it's....just different hearing you say it....". He finished up the last of his food before standing, "Judas, let's...let's go...I'm ready to clean up and....hear what else you need to tell me.". - Angel had never been in Judas's room before and judging from his reaction, it was more impressive then his own, trudging through as judas ushered him into his personal bathroom aligned with dark tiled walls or red and black and gothic decor, even down to the skulls on the faucets. "You can use my usual towel, it'll be fine, we got plenty of soap, shampoo, conditioner, body wash....whatever you need, you probably would need the horn cleaner so avoid that. Lemme go get some clothes....I had a few sets made for you that you rejected...". "You're being way too kind to me...."., his almost amazed expression turning grumpy. "Would you rather I let something bad happen to you? It's ok to accept someone's generosity...I'm offering....ok?", angel huffed but said no more as judas placed some clothes on the sink, "Hey....I wish it wasn't like this either...because of the situation, everything that goes through you comes back to my parents....I don't like....telling them this stuff because I know it bothers you...but...I don't want you to be like what happened to nora's parents...but worse....nor sky...or...my brothers....or anyone....I just want to figure out what I can do to help....ok?". "It's fine....it's not like anything you get from me won't make them hate me any more....". "We're going to figure this out....for now we're....just dealing with it how we can...it's all we can do..", judas leaned against the sink, "Angel I'm.....I'm sorry I never tried to form a friendship with you before....I....I know you could've used someone and-", though angel cut him off, pressing a hand to his mouth, "You apologize too much Judas....you need to stop......you said it yourself right? You can't change the past....you can only do better in the future". "Right....you're right...thanks for reminding me...", he looked at angel and back at his shower before detaching himself from the counter and clapping his hands together, "Well, I guess I better leave you too it.....uh...let me know if you need anything and just warn me if you're dressed or not or if it's safe to come in...I don't wanna walk in when you're.....yeah....oh and those clothes are already tailored to fitting your legs, so don't worry about that...". "Just....wait for me....right now i'm not comfortable being alone...being alone with everything going on....doesn't feel safe.". "Yeah, of course...I'll be waiting outside...don't worry about a thing.", judas awkwardly gave him a double thumbs up as he backed out and shut the door behind him, breathing out as he heard the lock behind him click. He headed over to take a seat on his bed, pulling out his compact to check for messages, none from sky but he wasn't surprised, being dragged into meetings with her mom took time away from texting. She hated it, she took no joy in working with her parents, or just her one mom at the moment. She was only more stressed and more frustrated then before. He hoped they would get to talk more, he wanted nothing more then to share some laughs with her right now, take their minds off things for a bit. His ears twitched as he heard the water run on the other side of the bathroom door, at least angel was cleaning himself up finally, he at least accomplished that and it meant angel wouldn't look like he crawled out of a dumpster after being attacked by warnicorns anymore. How he was going to explain to the boy about the multiple dimensions thing was going to be rather weird tho, his parents might not find it weird, but there was no telling with Angel. Or maybe Angel did know? If Her was responsible for bringing them her would that be a detail she'd bring up? Angel would've said something to him by now if that were the case right? He hadn't been weird about the girls it seemed. Judas fell back on the bed and sighed, he was overthinking things again, he needed to relax and wait for angel and they could get everything out there later. He was starting to freak out again, he raised his arm out in front of him, examining it, the image of his arm chomping and biting a suit of armor still fresh in his mind. He'd pushed this in the back of his mind of course, for good reason, his mind only on the cure, but it still managed to find it's way to the front when he couldn't be distracted from it. Bite marks, implied teeth. His arm, had teeth. Yeah, that wasn't scary at all. It sounded like something from a science fiction movie, or a horror movie, or one of those scary books aimed at kids that melaine tended to love. It was still haunting him despite everything, he'd had the arm since his creation but he'd never seen it with teeth before, that was only the kind of things he'd usually see in his nightmares as a child. Imagining it as a being that could gobble him up and take control of the rest of his body, Judas tended to not like being alone like this, being alone meant being left with a lot of thoughts like this that took over his mind, making him anxious and scared. And boy he already knew what could happen if it drove him too far. He was starting to get anxious again, he already missed angel's company and being far away from him only made him feel worse. He sat back up, getting back up and off the bed and walking back over to the bathroom before taking a seat and leaning on the door instead, at least having someone else here reassured him a little and took away from some of his anxiety. Though dinners these days had before more uncomfortable every new session, his parents would probably ask for a new report after it about anything knew judas had heard or gotten from the prince in the shower though judas wondered how long it might last before his parents no longer wanted his assistance. He banged his head against the door behind him in frustration, why did everything have to be such a mess? He tried so hard to maintain everything and it all went so wrong.....was he doing something wrong? "Prince lucitor?". Judas almost jolted, guess his bang had been louder then he thought it was, though angel was clearly shouting over the water to make sure the demon could hear him back in return. Judas suddenly felt embarrased and quickly shouted as loud as he could back, "Uh YEAH? SORRY I WAS....IT'S NOTHING!". There was silence for a moment and judas was certain the conversation was over but Angel called back from his end, "JUDAS ARE YOU SLAMMING YOUR HEAD AGAINST THE WALL FROM STRESS?!" Great, now it was more awkward, if that was even possible. Judas didn't answer, though that didn't stop the spider on the other side. "BECAUSE I'VE BEEN THERE MYSELF YOU KNOW?! FAILING TIME AND TIME AGAIN...IT'S....IT'S NOT GOOD FOR YOUR WALLS!". Judas chuckled, though he wasn't sure if angel was being intentionally funny. "UH, MAYBE WE SHOULD TALK AFTER YOUR SHOWER IS DONE? I DON'T THINK SHOUTING THIS CONVERSATION IS GOING TO DO MUCH BUT GET SOME SERVANTS DOWN HERE TO COMPLAIN!". He felt a smile creep along his face, at least that brought him some joy. He leaned against the door and closed his eyes for a bit, his hand on his compact as he waited for someone to message him, though about 10 minutes later the only thing he heard was the click of the door and the only thing he felt was the door swing open and he quickly scrambled away. Angel was still slightly damp judging by his hair, but looked a lot better, he looked fresher and smelled like lavender. Even if him wearing Judas's clothing was a little strange since the boy was usually seen in more fancy wear and collared shirts and vests, not so much judas's hoodies, comical shirts, and jeans. In fact Judas would argue he looked pretty nice like this even if he would most likely disagree. Angel looked a little confused at seeing the boy on the floor but didn't question it at all, holding out his hand as judas stood up, "Sorry....I might've fallen asleep.". The prince shrugged and looked away from his eyes, "Your clothes are....baggy for me, but....they're warm". "I think you look good.....your hair looks good down...", angel almost seemed to smile as he looked over to the bed and took a seat, "Again, you probably should not be slamming your head against doors or walls, it just...stings....". Back on topic it seemed as judas sighed and headed over, "Look i'm just dealing with a lot of my own problems...sorry for scaring you if I did...I'm....I'm a mess myself...". Angel patted the bed and judas took a seat. "Maybe you shouldn't be helping me while you're...like this...you have your own issues to be worrying about me....", He eyed judas's arm and judas grabbed it, "It's really not that big of a problem angel, I'll manage, even if nora will be...unavailable to help...her book held most of her research y'know and....hey...what happened to that anyway?". Angel's ears flickered, "Nora's book? It is brown, full of papers sticking out...really thick looking and covered in slime?". "Yeah.". "Her....she used that book to bribe me, saying she had the cure from it, and that I'd get it after I finished her plan....but....I never got it....was....details about your curse inside?", judas nodded and angel's expression became more worried, "Judas...they...know about your....condition....I....I don't like the fact they.....judas perhaps you should be more careful....". The boy elbowed him playfully, "Don't worry, I'm not gonna take any deals with her over it, her deals were probably a load of nonsense anyway, no telling they would've kept their promise anyway and wouldn't just stop your people from doing magic once it was over". "No judas I mean....if she knows about your condition....I just....I don't want her to hurt you....". "I'll manage....ok? I'm here and for now we're safe....we can worry about it later....". Angel was silent, he looked like he wanted to say something but held back as he changed the subject, "It just felt....nice for someone to reach out to me...to feel like they understood me, that they wanted the best for me...I...I was a fool for...for falling for her words....". Judas carefully placed a hand on angel's back, "You were manipulated...it's....it's hard......It's why sky has been so....mad with you...Angel I know you had no ill intent and you screwed up and sky knows it too....she....she just feels as manipulated as you feel....". "I didn't try to manipulate her...though...I....I wasn't trying to...". "I'm sure you weren't but....if you found out she was working for her and was probably telling private and personal stuff about you to her that you trusted her with you'd be hurt too...she....she really hoped you weren't involved with this.". Angel hissed, "Well...I WAS ok?! I.....I'm sorry...I......was stupid...I know i did something wrong and I accept it I'm just....I'm really...I have a lot of feelings right now....", he could feel judas comforting him as she tried to keep himself from crying freely, "I just want to speak to her again, She won't even look at me anymore....". "It's going to be ok....you won't feel like this forever, you'll be able to apologize and wrap things up...". "But when? I don't....If she really does want to talk to me and she cares...why....why won't she speak to me?". Judas watched him cup his face with his hands in frustration. "Angel...she needs time...you...just gotta give her time...". "I know I'm just.......I'm afraid she really won't forgive me...waiting is painful...it's....the worst kinda feeling...I don't know what she's thinking or what she'll do....it's scary", the demon felt that, trying to sooth his worries as best he could, "Y'know, me and sky had a fight more recently...Sky wanted to do something but I thought it was risky and dangerous and had the potential to hurt her, but she wanted to do it because she really believed it would make her life easier and help....and...we had a hard time talking for awhile....she felt betrayed....and I was upset about it for days...and so was she...", angel looked up, "And she forgave you...I know, you've told me you fight...you don't have to remind me". "Well, actually, we both forgave each other, sky said maybe I had a point and I said I should have been more there for her......I'm just saying for now she might need more time to think about before you might work it out, and maybe she'll be able to speak to you about it under....less tense circumstances....I just want to give you hope angel, I don't want you to worry she'll never want to speak to you again. Maybe I am repeating myself but I don't want you to lose faith...", his face became very serious, "I'll remind you every day if I have to that it won't be hopeless....". "Don't you feel hopeless with your own problems?" Angel tugged on some of his hair, the demon could swear his pincers popped out from his mouth a few times, "You've had to have felt that way yourself a few times, the cruel people out there against you....it's not fair to you. I......some of the things they say must hurt....they....they made me mad...but then again everyone beats down on me so much at home I should be used to it by this point". "I'm never fully hopeless....i'm just....not the type to give up....". "Oh that's true....you're stubborn judas...well...we all seem to be actually, but you especially are....". Judas smiled. "Hey....it's going to be ok, it all hurts now...but...time heals...and things will get easier...", angel took a deep breath as he parted his hair, turning to face judas fully, "So.....what is the other half of the story you promised to tell me about? It's....nothing I need to be heavily concerned about is it?". The demon's face shifted and he seemed to be unsure, "Uh....I hope not? C'mon....I'll explain on a walk to our private kitchen...you outta get more to eat and I haven't eaten much myself today....been kinda stressed for obvious reasons...". "Do you......have any...buttered rolls down here?". "That....sounds like a plan judas...", the spider quickly followed him out, staying close by and feeling the most safe he had in a long time. - "-Hekapoo literally went searching throughout the entire dimension of cats with human faces for a lead because I guess she ran out of ideas, It was kinda funny though, she came back covered in cat hair and she was so PISSED, though maybe that was because one of my bucket pranks got her like...right after and put out her flame.", Janna seemed to be looking back fondly on the memory as sky looked like her mom had shapeshifted into a extraterrestrial being. She came here to exchange notes to help with their further investigation together, not listen to lousy stories about the high commission being morons. "Ok, but what does that have to do with this investigation?", she asked impatiently, she could be talking to judas right now, or trying to avoid being arrested, literally anything would be more useful then sitting here having her mom waste her time. The queen smiled contently, "It rules out a dimension from having anything to do with our case, also it's just funny.". Sky grumbled, "All you guys seemed to do was tighten security and go to other dimensions or figure out what was going on....". "I mean, we did check mewni, you just gotta check everywhere, also it gave me a reason to grab some fun souvenirs, so that was sweet." Sky looked even more irritated, "Are you serious? C'mon this is is kinda serious? Why are you treating it like it's nothing?". Janna only chuckled, "Sky c'mon, I am serious...but we got this, your mom's amazing at this kinda stuff, me, her and those lucitor dweebs? Been through all kinds of messes, doesn't mean you can be miserable throughout all of them, chin up...". "You sound WAY too confident about this...you guys have supposibly been on all kinds of dangerous adventures....aren't you like..scared? Jude's parents freak about this stuff, shouldn't you panic that...she could...hurt us? She...he...they....they got into the castle before, I came face to face with them! They could've hurt me! You saw what they did to angel, he's real lucky to be alive right now! Like I saw them, they full on intended to wipe his memory or kill him and this isn't time to be making jokes!". Sky saw a glow and only just realized her wand was faintly glowing green before slowly fading back to it's normal pinks and purples as she shot her mother another look. "I just want you to be serious....I....This stuff really bothers me....ok?". Janna sighed and took her feet off her desk, sitting normally now as her arms laid on the desk, "Alright, If it really bothers you that much....sky, c'mon...you're a brave and badass girl....we're going to make it through, you're about as cool as star was....maybe cooler, star never had a secret organization.". Sky huffed, "I wasn't the leader or anything, judas and luna handled this group more then I ever did....I was around to...talk to angel or help occasionally...they came up with the plans and everything...". "C'mon, you won't give yourself credit for anything? I highly doubt you sat in the back and contributed nothing...". "Well It's hard to feel useful when you're surrounded by better magic users and people with useful skill sets...I mean I guess I...helped a monster kid and....I helped nora and....met with katrina....and....befriended angel but....I dunno...". Her mom smiled, "Sounds pretty cool if you ask me...never thought i'd see that kid give up on his protests for you, though i'll admit, i'll miss him being a burden.....it was kinda entertaining sometimes with his antics...". "Wasn't funny to me...". Janna laid her head on her fist, "You're being too down on yourself, you did a lot of things on our own free will you rarely could do before....".The princess shot her a look, "Yeah, but I didn't capture a criminal or save the magic or do anything like you guys did...when people look back on me, they're gonna remember me as the princess or queen who did a few cool tasks but is completely unremarkable in any way whatsoever...or maybe i'll be arrested and dethroned....oh wait, there is already a certain queen with spade marks who got the same deal, so I'll just be queen number two.". "Is that really the main reason you did a lot of this? For recognition? Cause I love you Sky but you make it sound like you did this because Star made you want to be recognized for some great queen thing". "Well, not all of it....of course I wanted to help...I dunno...I guess I thought...maybe this was my chance to really prove myself....like mom had these bad things happen and she got through and it and fixed everything and...I don't see it as a good thing I....", she suddenly felt really embarrassed, "Do....I really sound like i'm treating something bad that happened as an opportunity to...look good? I just....I just wanted to be useful....and...feel useful...I didn't mean to make it sound like...I wanted it for personal gain, I mean...I do wanna help my sisters, and judas, and nora....do...I really sound like I'm doing this for no one but myself?". "Sky....". She sighed. "I'm sorry....I'm a mess....". "Sky, we're all kinda a mess, I might look like I'm not worried, but....I do hope star makes it back ok....I trust her to be ok, but you never really feel better unless she's actually back. She's been on missions before though where she's been gone for days...I just gotta trust her, she wanted to go about this alone while I stick here. Best not to focus on all the misery, you focus on all the misery and you never get things done and have a harder time recovering....I mean you wanna really do this right?". "Yeah...". "Then don't spend so much time wallowing in self pity.....you gotta pick yourself up and keep going, it's not the end. You won't be able to do anything if you keep blaming yourself....you're just lucky you have such cool moms that didn't put you before the Magic High Commission for hiding princesses from alternate dimensions behind their backs.". She winked, "Though we kind have to punish you, so we'll punish you like....after we don't got some creep running around, I mean, as your parents we kinda have to ground you for doing this, but no point in punishing you if something happens to us.". "Well we aren't going to make a lot or progress if you don't share more useful information....right now i could really use something that y'know....actually really helps us?". Janna seemed to be thinking and shrugged, "Well, we tried searching for them anyway we could, spy spell, omni, we sent people after them, had spies actively look for them...but they seemed to evade us constantly...they're sneakier then me, which is really saying something...the weird thing is...they gotta know everything I do if they wanna slip past us that bad...". "They were using old tunnels, it's how they got around if they didn't want to be seen...". "Tunnels don't sound very magical...". "But it does work.....I mean, you would know.". "Touche". "But It's hard to track them...I'm not sure angel even knows where they normally hang out, Mewni is....kinda a big place. They could even be in another dimension besides mewni....ugh...tracking them down seems pointless, we had an opportunity to get them and they had a backup plan." Janna opened one of her drawers and put a file on her desk, "Yeah, about that explosion, since they got smart enough to try and blow everyone up we went out of the way to see what they used....". "And?". "Magic crystal...like the stuff that powers your wand...i mean, the crystals appear when the wand changes but there are forged ones made out there, people just can't really channel magic into them unless they actually use magic, which...they can clearly do. Though this kinda means there's a good chance they have more of these little suckers if they want to make a speedy little getaway, these things are kinda rare though, so where they got them could be anywhere..". "So basically she might be carrying bombs with her then? Fun....", sky leaned back in her seat, "Ok so...the butterflies know about this spell and....well toffee did...but...who else? We don't exactly tell this kinda info to just anyone....so..where did they get it from?", Her mother stood up, handing sky the file, " Honestly, who knows, it could've come from anyone in this family or they could even be a toffee supporter who got it from him, but that's just guessing, we never really knew if toffee was ever associated with anyone besides ludo, and like he'd tell him any of this information, that lizard never trusted this info with anyone.". "I guess maybe in the end...it doesn't matter who they are as long as we can get them....right?", janna simply just shrugged, "You go one way or the other, you figure out who they are and catch them that way or you catch them as is and figure out who they are after, but it seems like trying to find their identity has been harder then it needed to be....but i mean, we got our guards to start interrogating star's family so....I guess that's a good starting point". "How much...do....they have on me?", Sky didn't really want to know but at this point she could use any info she could get to get her off the hook for any potential issues, "It's not that much is it? It's not....too definitive?". Janna made a face that didn't reassure her very much, "Well, your outbrust awhile back already put them on edge, especially with the fact the masked being is some weirdo magic user and green magic has mostly been their signature...". "But that's not-". "Hold on, they also found your hair at some of the crime scenes and evidence of your fingerprints...". "But that's not definitive either, because i went to all those locations during the investigation!!" she stood up and slammed the file on the desk, "To say that had to mean it was me is still.....weird....". Janna eyes the side, "There's....more actually, with you being friends with the lucitors, you being familiar enough with their valuables and their dog is highly possible, you're allied with angel, and you were caught at the scene, at the very least it's hard not to think you're associated, everything kinda comes back to you..". "Nora's parents?". "Agenda against them for never wanting you around their daughter, and wanting the book so you could cure judas....or even you and nora were in on this together and this was your way of getting the book and her to stay here with you....it might've not been intentional....but it all ends up coming back to you in their eyes. They're jerks for trying to convict you so badly and we think they're wrong, but there is a bit stacked against you and it's hard to find anyone else more fitting for now.", she held her hands up,"Not accusing you, but you can see why they think it's you.". "Me being some mastermind telling this guy what to do and how to do it just tells me they barely know me...I'm not the type and i'm not commanding enough to just....make this person do anything, they're being stupid.". her blue eyes wandered back to the desk and the folder, "But I guess it means I know what we're up against....at the very least. You got any advice for what I could do to defend myself? If they use the box of truth I might have to admit.....the stuff you guys don't want them to know about...". "We won't use the truth box for the trial, that will only make things worse for everyone....unless...hmm..we'll think about it". "I'm guessing this meeting is done?". "Got anywhere else you need to be? You're not going sneaking out to find more criminals are you?" , she was being playful but sky clearly didn't find it funny. Sky grumbled, "I need to meet with luna actually...she's....not very patient...and she has kinda a lot to talk about with me....". The queen simply shrugged and sat back down, "I mean, working under your mom who doesn't know you're her daughter probably is weird....". And Sky tapped her fingers against the desk as she bit her lip in thought, "You...haven't told jackie yet about the others...have you? It's already weird enough without her knowing so...". "I'm kinda waiting for star on that one, this is our head knight we're talking about, though I gotta admit...I kinda wanna see that mess. Knowing jackie she'd take it weirdly well though, good chance luna will probably be removed from uh...the knight gang though, I assume she was there to sneak around?". Sky's expression was enough, "Clever girl, though to be honest no wonder she was so good at fighting, I personally thought she was another secret spy.". "Well....she technically was.....". "Well, better not keep her waiting then, she sounds like she could be ready to burst any second". Sky nodded as she grabbed her things and left, the door shutting behind her. Luna was leaning against the wall when Sky arrived and sat on her bed, Luna out of anyone was taking this the least well, and that was saying something. Her biggest thing if anything was keeping their group secret, and now they'd been caught and exposed, her anger was clear on her face. Sky had been dreading having any one on one time with her of all people, though she was sure Luna was more angry at eclipsa then anyone though sky shared some blame in this. Honestly Luna didn't even explain to the girl why she wanted her here, Sky was half expecting to see celeste or any number of the others here, not just herself, so whatever it was must've been pretty personal between them. It's been some time since the two of them were meeting under these kinda conditions, it almost felt like most of their meetings that were one on one were tense and emotional more then anything. Sky almost mising the days they were walking with eclipsa through the woods and eating soup with bugs in it. Sky was expecting since she heard for this to go one way overall, the luna way. "So.....you gonna yell at me?", luna raised an eyebrow but sky was being entirely serious, "I mean, i don't think it's going to do a whole lot....or do you have a plan or something?". Luna huffed and twirled her wand in her hand, letting the words out as if she'd been holding them in since forever, "We've been compromised....this...sky i'm not sure I should stay here. I'm considering going out there myself and tracking them down, I've tracked down criminals before. I could go out there and get out of this mess and take care of the issue myself.". Sky blinked as she processed the words that had just come from luna's mouth, she both wasn't sure if she had expected this but also didn't expect this in the slightest. As she pulled herself together she looked at the older girl almost in disbelief at her declaration. Luna, who was trying to take charge of all the girls and stayed no matter what went down because she refused to give up? She was planning to just leave, go handle it by herself during this time? "You're just planning to leave?", she spatted out. "It's our best chance....we can't wait any longer, I certainly can't do it, i'm here to tell you this and...you can tell judas...."., she nodded to the corner where it seemed she had taken her bag from knight training and stuffed a whole bunch of clothes and food inside, "I've lived on nothing more then rats while working alongside some of the best back home, chasing down wanted criminals and dealing with these stressful situations, but being discovered...not to mention out of my element in this...place...I can't do it any longer...I need to get back to doing what I'm good at....and that is working alone, without distractions.". Sky blinked in surprise, "Wait? You're telling me this, before judas? Why?". Luna didn't answer. "Jude's like the one guy that trusts you in the least bit, don't you want to-". "If I told him he'd try to stop me, tell me to work together and not give up on us....I can't keep waiting on this, I've held out long enough, I need to handle this on my own. You can't use anything on me and don't try to convince me to stay, I can take care of myself out there just fine....I'm sure I'll be in contact with all of you when I choose to, and when I bring back our thief". Sky crossed her arms, her anger now getting the best of her,  "Fine, go do it then, if you wanna do this alone go do it". Luna seemed surprised, considering all the other stuff sky did she was probably expecting her to fight back luna's word once again, but sky didn't, in fact she seemed mostly unsurprised it had come to this considering luna herself. Luna had been so used to everyone going against her here it was almost surprising to her to have someone actually say yes to her like they tended to do back home, her grip on her wand loosened and she seemed almost....sad? "No protest?", she asked. "No protest, I got mad with you in the past and maybe it was a little insensitive...so sorry about that, but fine....if you think you'll do better without us...go...". Luna was still in utter awe, as if she still couldn't process it, before getting herself together to her usual cold self, "Huh....alright then...I'll be leaving tomorrow....thank you...for.....coming.". She was quick to usher sky out of her room, guess she wasn't much for long goodbyes. Sky huffing on the way out, Judas would definitely not be happy with sky letting luna just run off and possibly get into serious trouble out there. Though at the same time there was no need for luna to stay, she could come back whenever she wished and would come back if she succeeded or gave up, she clearly wasn't going to just live out there for the rest of her life. Though Sky had the impression another reason she was leaving was to avoid directly speaking to either of her mother's after being exposed. Not like Sky could force her to stay anyway, Luna would go regardless of what Sky wanted, maybe ever erase her memory if Sky actually tried to stop her from trying to leave. She felt....sad....in a way though, there was still something sad about luna leaving after so long, and she almost wanted to go back inside and change her mind though she new luna would never budge. Sky stood there, unsure what to do next when she got a text, it was from judas. Judas: Hanging out with Angel, I explained to him the situation, if you want to join us or talk later, let me know ok? Judas then followed up by sending sky a photo, one of angel attempting to shove several rolls into his mouth, it almost brought a smile to her. Sky sighed, she was going to have to confront angel sooner then later, she couldn't ignore him forever, though she sure tried. If she was going to help him at all she had no choice in the matter, though she felt sick even thinking about it, not even her best friend was enough to make her want to come over. She probably should text judas to tell him about luna but maybe that was something better told in person, otherwise judas might freak out or even drag angel along to see her about it. And sky sure didn't want angel tagging along, not if her life depended on it. Instead she headed on down to the library, needing a quiet place to rest and gather her thoughts and maybe some new info, and seeing sunny there with lexi was actually a relief, galexia surrounded by colorful doodles and sunny enveloped in a book about monster history. She looked overjoyed to see Sky and sky gave her a weak wave as the girl patted the seat next to her. Sky took it and looked at Sunny's book before back to her, "You uh....working on angel's case?", and sunny nodded, her eyes scanning the pages like no tomorrow. Sunny was quite the princess of course, and sky was left wondering if she was able to consume so much knowledge with ease in similar ways to this. "Of course, back home I help all kinds of monsters, I'm studying up to see what we could do to convince whoever is judging to at least prevent worse from happening to him", she quickly flipped to the next page, "It's going to be hard to do a lot because he's clearly guilty and already confessed to a lot of stuff, all we can really do is lower his sentence....if we try and make some case or plea for him since he tried to save everyone and intended to backstab the being, we might put more in his favor...". "You sure it'll work?". "It's better then them dethroning him, if angel does get dethroned who knows what else could happen to him, he's royalty but he's not high royalty like we are...or i am back home. He's from a smaller and more obscure kingdom, someone worse could take over, angel could live out in exile from his own people. The monsters never had a universal kingdom until the Avarius ruled awhile back but they had small tribes and smaller kingdoms among them...like the septarians and the arcahfords...usually when this happened on mewni, it gave way for the butterfly family to take over that land for their own or find someone they trusted to take over...effectively putting it in their hands regardless". "My mom would never-". "No but....It does give room for someone worse to take over...better angel then any of them, if angel wants to rule and he wants to be better, he has time to fix this...but only if people can give him another chance to be better then he was", Sunny quickly finished and went to the next page, "Angel's too young to ever be given the treatment of exile, though I would imagine someone could force him in other dimension if they hated him THAT much...but...right now he's here...so hopefully he'll be protected...I don't get the feeling he's great being on his own.". "Exile sounds....harsh...", the thought of the prince wandering alone in some barren dimension, starving and trying to survive made her stomach drop. God, that could even happen to HER as well under these circumstances, looking around the library, she could feel some of the mewmans inside glaring at her before quickly turning away, making her feel more unsettled. She usually tried to ignore the people bashing her as best she could, but she could feel the rumors she had something to do with this follow her, the whispers becoming louder to her. She was so lost she slightly jumped when sunny responded to her. "It is harsh, sometimes they make a new home out there...sometimes....they don't make it....", Sunny sighed, "Reading about history helps you learn but....it also reminds you of the harshness of reality sometimes...can't say it's a lot of fun thinking about the stuff solaria did , or crescenta....or...well...most of the queens....". Her voice got softer, "If there's alternate dimensions out there...I want to think there are some where...this stuff never happens y'know? I'm sure it's out there...". Sky was silent, though sunny seemed to read her mind. "I'm very sure out there somewhere, things aren't as bad as they seem here...maybe everything is already solved in that universe....but, stuff happens and.....we can keep it from getting less bad if we do our best." with that she closed the book, "If you wanna talk about stuff, you can talk to me too ok? We're sisters after all, we should look out for each other!". Leave it to sunny to be as peppy and cheerful as always, even in the harshest of situations, Sunny placed the book on a pile next to many others before grabbing a list next to the books, leaving a checkmark with a nearby pen. "So....how are all these things going to help angel's case anyway? They're not exactly about stopping royals from being dethroned...". Sky picked up one of the other books, they all seemed to be mostly on monster and mewni history, less on trials and mewni court, which was what she expected sunny would look into when she wanted to help with this case. "Oh? Well, that kinda stuff isn't my strongsuit overall, and like you've said before, we can't do much when he's already guilty....I'm thinking more....we play to the sympathy aspect?". "So......we're just going to tell them how awful it is and hope they don't do it?". "Sky, we don't even know whose judging or how this trial will be conducted, mewni's legal system isn't like earth's....we have many different ways of conducting a trial, when you got truth potions and truth boxes....lying is pretty hard to do, only way that ever screws it up is if the truth of the person telling it kinda like....can mess with things, like if they asked if angel hurt someone.....like if he said no....that's his truth, to him he didn't so he's not lying.....but you might not feel that way about it.....not that he'd probably deny he hurt anyone...if solaria went on trial for monster murder her truth would be that she killed no one since she never saw it as murder". "Hmm.....guess you got a point.". "We should speak on his behalf and for the benefit of his kingdom, and maybe we can change their minds....in order to do that, I think it's important to learn about events similar to this, after the trial...maybe we might be able to appease the kingdom into accepting him back". "It just seems so....complicated...we might not be able to do anything, they might not even listen to us, especially after what we did.....", she didn't know much about earth legal systems but she was sure Melaine and the earth court shows she liked probably didn't represent the real thing. She wanted to help angel, but with the Magic High Commission after her, would her word to help angel even convince them or anyone of anything? Or would they take that as her protecting a fellow criminal? That was a very real possibility. "Better then doing nothing and letting worse happen to him...and....I know you don't want worse to happen to him as angry as you are.", sky was silent and sunny bit her lips, "Y'know.....I'm sure it's really complicated for you....trying to help and defend someone who betrayed your trust and lied to you...you don't have to do anything if it's too weird....". But she shook her head, "No I'm.....I'm mad but....you're right....I don't wanna watch him rot in a prison or get sent off or.....I mean he still decided to defend me...he almost died because he wanted to....yeah...". "Well.....Judas forgave him...so....maybe you can...". "Sunny i'm not like judas...and I can't be judas, Jude's awesome....he's nice and forgiving and it's a lot easier for him to forgive angel for screwing up because angel didn't go from fighting him to being his friend, I mean he wasn't close with him but angel was never antagonistic to him and Judas never like....intentionally tried to hurt him or offend him.". She kicked at the table in front of her, "I can't just forgive him like that....I don't.....I don't like feeling like I was being played....it just....hurts...y'know?". She felt sunny pat her shoulder, and she hugged her arms, "Look, I'm....I'm going to help him...I'm just not ready to forgive him...". "It's cool....just do what you need..you can take it at your own pace....it's uh..I've been there.". "Thanks sunny...". "We're going to do this sky, things are gonna work out, I promise". Sky looked over at Galexia, still drawing as she headed over to check on her, lost in thought, "Hey lexi...uh....drawing anything interesting today?". Galexia was almost always surrounded by mounds and mounds of artwork and Sky wasn't sure how much of it was useful and how much was just her usual scribbles. And as expected, most appeared to be of random things though sky tried to avoid looking at any of them too long, trying to focus on lexi entirely. "Hi sky!", galexia looked up and waved, leaving sky unsure if galexia even heard her at all. Sky waved back, coughing into her fist, "Um....lexi....are there any uh....draws of me or angel you made recently?". Galexia blinked at her, before looking to her own drawings, "I don't remember.....ooooo, you want me to draw you two together?", her eyes were shinning and she looked excited. Sky could feel sunny turning her head to question what sky was doing as sky nodded, "Yeah....uh....draw me and angel, go on right ahead....i'm here if you need a muse.". Sunny quickly hopped over the couch she had been sitting on, heading over to the blue haired princess and giving her a look that sky knew meant she didn't approve, "Look, I'm not looking at the drawings or anything...It would just be...reassuring to know if...me or angel are going to make it through this...y'know? We're kinda in serious trouble and I would like to know if something might happen we could prevent or something?".Sunny was still giving her that look and she crossed her arms, "I know what judas said.....to not get too wrapped up in stuff we don't know for sure will happen...I'm not trying to be...I just want something to make me feel better with all this stress...". Sunny sighed and looked through galexia's mess of drawings before picking one out. "Don't take it too seriously, we don't know how much of this is real or not, but if it'll help you get through this...I can't get too mad.". Sky took it and looked it over, smiling. A drawing of her, judas, mason, landon, angel, nora, and all of her sisters in a group hug. Even if it might not be real, it was something. And she could use all the support she could get. - Sky wandered back to her room, drawing in hand and racking her brain with the info and plans of the other girls, she really needed to get back in contact with judas. They needed to exchange ideas more then ever, she needed her best friend more then ever. Though she was dreading having to tell him about luna, who know doubt was finishing all her packing to leave as early as possible. Ugh, she'd have to see when they'd get an opportunity, though maybe for now she needed some rest. A yawn escaped her mouth as she opened her bedroom door, only to see waiting for her was was boy himself. All 6.5 feet of him, jumping off the bed to hug sky with his demon strength, catching her entirely off guard. "Sky! I'm glad I caught you...I was so worried I'd miss you before my new curfew....my parents allowed me to update you real quick on some things...is....are you ok?", he let her go and sky quickly adjusted herself before laughing, so delighted to see judas after today she almost cried, "Oh i'm fine, you just surprised me is all...don't get around waiting in my room for me like that.". Judas laughed the awkwardness away quickly, "Oops....sorry...I guess i wasn't sure where you'd be, I just knew your room was a mostly private place we could talk.". Sky looked over at the painting she remembered eclipsa could come out of on her walls. "Yeah...mostly is right...". If she was lucky eclipsa wouldn't listen in on anything super private in the confines of her room "Angel decided he still wanted to stay close to his mother, but he'd agreed to wear the clothes I picked out for him and he'll keep cleaning himself up...well...with my shower but still, there's improvement...he'll just be my weird bathroom buddy. So hopefully he'll be ok....I promised I'd get him a compact so he could contact me regularly....and he's gone into more detail about what happened. Not as much as far as her plans, but it's still something....how's your end coming along?". Sky grit her teeth, clutching the paper in her hands, judas taking note of it. "Sky? Is that a lexi drawing?". "It was a gift...yeah....". Judas stared at her, biting his lip, and Sky was quick to answer before the demon prince got worried. "It's just a present.....it's....let me have this one....ok?", she turned it around and judas looked at it before his face softened, "Yeah....ok.". Judas placed a hand on Sky's shoulder, "Don't be embarrassed about it, If it makes it easier for you with everything going on....then yeah...I can't be too upset.". Sky looked more then relieved, "Thanks...I know you're just worried about me....look, everyone's trying to reassure me as best they can and...It's not enough sometimes....it comes back...". "Well, it should....no one can blame you...angel....he's the same way actually...he's constantly worried about everything and I'm not sure if I can ever truly reassure him...I'm doing my best though...". "Well, if we end up stuck in a jail cell together, I guess we'll have plenty of time to talk about it won't we?". "You won't....neither of you will hopefully...". she leaned against the wall, crossing her arms, "My mom went over all the evidence being stacked against me...it's not incredibly solid but it's also not entirely out of the realm of plausibility either considering i was kinda at all the crime scenes and y'know...know the people it affected personally." she kicked the wall with one of her boots, grumbling, "Ugh, it's so unfair! My mom isn't even back yet from the hunt so i haven't even gotten the chance to talk to her about what happened, she's just hearing about it from my other mom and who knows who else!". "Yeah, it's really not fair....my own parents are pretty mad with me, rightfully so....but it all feels stacked against me in a way....I had good intentions and....I'm terrified after this is over they'll go right back to babying me and.....this one's going to be rough sky...". Sky pulled at her hair, "Yeah...I know...I don't think either of us are going to get less stressed.....", she took another look at the drawing in her clutched, sighing, "But we can both at least try to think about the positives and...have hope I guess...". "Well....I have faith in you sky...". She looked up, judas smiling and fixing his hair. "Well....I got faith in you too....". Judas bit at his lip before looking back at sky, "Hey....I wanna ask you about something, I tried to before but so much was happening that...I had to wait...but....are you missing any pages from the book of spells? From your own chapter I mean....". This seemed to perk sky's interest up significantly, she looked at judas as if to process what he just said, her blue eyes puzzled before she raised an eyebrow, "Pages from my chapter in the book of spells? Uh....I don't think so..I haven't been in it in awhile...Glossaryck kinda annoys me...". "Well....Sky...". "You have a page from my chapter right? I don't exactly know where else this could possible be going...", sky stared at him intently, "I guess if you think about it....taking a page from my book is a sure way to frame me as well...ugh...robbing from my book now ? Whoever they are they definitely hate me and want me frozen in rhombulus's rock collection. Ugh....Which page was it? Maybe they took my bubble charm since nora's parents were in a similar looking spell prison...". "Well no, it's your wand section, where you talk about your wand's gems and everything? Landon found it and I only saw it a few times but it had a drawing of your wand and everything, and from what I can tell, that's what it is". Sky perked up, her nose twitching and her eyebrows raised. "Why would they take that? I barely have anything written there outside of complaining about my wand malfunctioning.". Judas's brows furrowed, "That doesn't make sense, the page shows all the details about your wand, right down to how your gems work-". Sky suddenly grabbed his arm, looking at him in the eyes, "What? I didn't write any of that I swear! Someone else must've written in it...they...ugh...they must've violated my page to make me seem more guilty....they really do have a vendetta against me specifically...". She grumbled and gripped her wand, "She must've ripped it out the night of the sleepover...ready to plant it....I never checked the book...so stupid of me...". "Sky...". "Thanks for letting me know jude....I just....first I have to meet with my mom, then luna decides to leave....then Sunny talks to me about the horrible things that could happen if we can't find a way to make this entire thing work..now THIS...what even is today? I can't even get a break it's just one thing after another....". Then she paused, realizing what she just said as judas froze, blinking all his eyes. "Hold on....what's this about luna?". - Judas was quick to throw open luna's door, ready to speak to her and see if there was any chance he might be able to change her mind, only for his jaw to drop. The room was empty, no clothes, no tools, no luna. It looked like it did before she had even moved in in fact, neat and orderly and unused. Luna had said she was going to leave tomorrow, had she been expecting judas to find out sooner and left or did she lie about when she was leaving for some reason? Sky could only see jude's back, but she could tell he looked defeated, as he turned around, sad and broken. Sky almost felt guilty, maybe she should've tried to convince luna to stay, or told judas right away so he had a chance to stop her, but there was nothing she could do now. Luna took off, and she took off sooner then she said she would too, guess in her mind there was no time to waste. The demon rubbed at his face, his voice quieter then usual. "She didn't even say goodbye....". He was hurt, his eyes looking around the room for any sign of her but there truly was nothing, at the very least he had wanted luna to tell him about this, she owed him that much to know didn't she? Maybe not but he felt like she should've said something to him, his eyes widened and he was quick to pull out his compact, hoping to text her. Though Luna was way ahead on him on that, and he must not have noticed she already sent him a text out. Luna: Do not text me, you may alert nearby enemies/ or have me caught, my location is to remain private. His shoulders sagged once again as he re pocketed the device. He hadn't been entirely preparing for this to happen, he knew it could happen because luna was just this kinda person, but he wasn't ready for her to just...do it. He was going to have to let the other girls know and soon enough their parents were going to know and who knows what would happen when they told them, would they send guards after her? The commission? Would they got after her themselves? With her wand who knows if luna could stop them all. He wouldn't put it past her though. She wouldn't be gone permanently, whether they found the solution or she caught the guy they would see her again, but that didn't remove the fact this clearly hurt judas and sky felt immensely guilty, trying to reach our to comfort him as he wiped at his face. "No no...I gotta be strong...luna will....she can take care of herself...I know it...", he retained his posture, though sky could tell he was still upset as he shut the door once more, "I...I should get home....right away....we'll talk tomorrow...ok?". She could only manage a nod, feeling immensely guilty despite knowing he'd forgive her for it considering luna wasn't one to betray. She got so excited about seeing him and now they got sent off like this? Was fate just trying to worsen her day more then It already was? Judas was the person she trusted the most and now she was worried she was worried she was making him mad. She tried to shake the thoughts out but she still felt pretty bad. Judas looked at her for a bit before putting a hand on her shoulder, patting it, trying to be as comforting as he could to his best friend, "Be safe....". He was turning around to leave though quickly and almost starling him he felt his best friend hug him from behind. Sky shoved her face into his jacket, and judas sighed to himself before smiling, "Sky....It's ok...I'll be ok....I....I knew this could happen..luna's been....she's been so difficult about this for awhile....I tried my best to keep her in good graces but....I guess it wasn't enough.....It's not your fault...". She hugged him tighter and he turned around, hugging her properly now, "Sky...Tomorrow, let's get something to eat...together...at my place...whenever you're not super busy...does that sound ok?". She nodded, eager for something a little more uplifting to look forward to for once, not that they could eat outside the castle but still, it was better then meetings with her mom or worrying about where luna was at this current point in time. She could use at least something normal and friendly for once in this madness and judas could tell that it seemed to make sky feel a little better and it seemed to ease him a little despite his other worried. "I just....I could really use my best friend....these days...everything's falling apart and....now we barely see each other....and...I hate it so much judas...I really do.". He held her tighter, trying not to hurt her with his stronger demon grip. "We could all use a best friend right now....I missed you too.". He planted a kiss on her forehead as sky let him go, "Tomorrow....?". "Tomorrow....that's a promise.". Sky watched him teleport off, clutching the drawing harder to her chest, only hoping the worst times were finally over and everything would go up from here. She could only hope.

[ghost-train-hunters]

End Results

Scratch reflects on the aftermath of a difficult run involving Humanis. Unlike the rest of her team, she lost a lot more than she gained…

An Orichalcum and Silicon short story by BrossUno

——

Scratch had heard that any run you would walk away from was a successful one. Even if things went south. Even if a runner didn’t get exactly what they were hoping for, they could always try again. Slowly but surely they could claw their way out of whatever hole had tripped them up. The dead never had that luxury. If the hole turned out to be a grave that was their lot in life. They were just another runner fading away in the shadows the world would never know or care about. 

But the old adage and philosophy bullshit didn’t help her in the least. She felt the anger and frustration simmering beneath her skin as she drove through downtown Seattle in her Americar. She had no idea where she was going. She already missed the days of heading down to the local junkyard with a sledgehammer and venting her rage on derelict machines left to rot.

Somehow she found her way down to a bar known as the Defiler Lounge. The clock read one in the morning but she was in no mood to sleep with a scrapped roto drone back at the garage. The entrance to the bar sat in a narrow alley that didn’t provide room for more than a motorcycle. She parked around the corner and made sure her medical mask and flat cap was on tight. 

It wasn’t hard to find a reinforced door that had enough dents and burn patterns to show it had been put through the paces. A small neon sign next to it had not been so lucky and barely functioned. It looked like it had been broken and repaired a dozen times. Occasionally with a flicker it would display the name of the bar as all the letters lit up. Defiler Lounge.

Scratch had visited a few times before. The door wasn’t locked as she found a staircase on the other side of the threshold. It took her down to a basement area where she found another reinforced door and a forest of utility pipes servicing the buildings above. A human bouncer stood watch that she knew as Shorts. Everyone called him that on account he didn’t wear much else to show off his cyberlegs and what he considered muscles. 

His lithe build didn’t fit the traditional image of a bouncer, but the shotguns built into his thighs loaded with non-lethal rounds allegedly helped him get around it. Or so he said. He also bragged he practiced Muay Thai, not that Scratch had ever seen him do anything more than mouth off when she visited. The sight of his black matted hair and broad smile didn’t help her mood at all.

“Ayyy, Scratch! Living the dream yet?” Shorts pointed.

He heaped on as much sarcasm as he could the moment he picked up on her sour mood. His raw confidence pissed her off.

“Eat shit.” She responded dryly.

“Oh yeah. You’ve come to the right place. Get in there!”

He ushered her inside even though she didn’t need the invitation. The fast talking little shit made motions like he was bringing in a plane to land. Luckily he didn’t say anything more. After the last job she wasn’t in the mood to put up with anyone. Despite her temperament she had forgotten to leave her weapons at the garage. She had a Scorpion holstered in her jacket and an Ingram Smartgun stashed in the smuggling compartment of her left cyberleg. Most of the bar’s patrons came armed so it wasn’t unheard of. She just had to worry about controlling herself. Part of her didn’t care.

The floor space for the bar made her think they had stolen it from some other business. The room had high ceilings but made up for it with a cluttered layout. Support pillars stood in awkward places that kept the tables too close to each other. Scratch guessed it might have been a small office before. The bar where the drinks were made ran along the left wall, which is where she headed right away. Otherwise the Defiler Lounge wasn’t the kind of place she normally hung out. Shit hole bars were everywhere and once you saw one you had seen them all.

The only point of interest to her was a large troll who worked as a bartender. People called him Lefty, mostly since his left hook could flatten even the bulkiest drunks. Despite the ‘hole in the wall’ ambience, he dressed somewhat presentable. He regularly wore a pair of brown pants and a dress shirt that had clearly been to the cleaners a few times. The two horns on his head were chipped in a few places, which suggested he was more than a pretty face. Scratch had never seen him step out from behind the bar. If there was trouble all he had to do was raise his voice and customers got the message. His actual bartending was average at best and what he really excelled in was keeping an ear to the ground. 

Things made more sense when Scratch learned that Lefty and Rosselott did business with each other on a somewhat regular basis. Whatever he actually did or wherever he had come from, he had been a gateway to Shadowrunning in Seattle. She picked up on it right away that between him and Rosselott they had their hands in a fair amount of money.

The moment Scratch sat down at the bar Lefty made his way over. She didn’t normally drink in public, or drink much at all, since alcohol messed with the senses. Also her tolerance was so high she rarely got to enjoy the buzz. But all the anger and frustration bred enough indifference that she didn’t care that night. Even Lefty had to raise an eyebrow when she ordered what passed for vodka at the Defiler Lounge. He poured her a drink, but only after an amused grunt. It didn’t have to taste good. It just had to burn. 

“You’re drinking tonight? Rough job?”

“One in broad daylight, actually.” She answered flatly.

“Sounds like someone screwed the poor little pooch.”

Scratch pulled up her mask and took a big swig of her drink and nearly choked on it.

“Yeah,” she said after clearing her throat. “You can say that. I’ve never worked so hard for such a small amount of money in my entire life.”

Lefty smiled with interest. “What’d you get up to?”

She squeezed the glass in anger. She knew she didn’t have enough strength to break it. Part of her didn’t want to think about it anymore. Then she realized she didn’t want to miss the opportunity to be a sad sap at the bar. She deserved it after her performance. They had a shootout in broad daylight so there wasn’t much secrecy involved in the first place.

“Some street doc hired our little group to play neighborhood watch. Someone was going around Bellevue targeting meta-humans,” she said.

“Yeah. Heard a little about that.”

“And it wasn’t a bunch of go-gangers with steel pipes and peashooters either. We got  into it with Humanis.”

Lefty gave a cold smile. “Proper drek, aren’t they?”

Scratch had never run into Humanis before, even though she heard plenty about them. They were like any supremacy group that thought their ilk were at the center of the universe and spent a lot of time and energy trying to force that idea on everyone else. In her eyes they were like any criminal outfit with the exception that they had ‘a cause’ to fight for. And ‘a cause’ was just a clever way to get people to work for you without paying them very much. They attracted a lot of suckers as a result. Scratch had already found assholes in all walks of life in every shape and form. The idea that humans were more special or more deserving had been destroyed a long time ago.

Not that the street doc could offer much either other than the warm tingly sense of doing the right thing. Scratch had reservations about the job, but she didn’t have many options to choose from. She sucked it up like Rosselott suggested and went along with the good feelings Hollowpoint and the others were fishing for. She brought her GMC Bulldog for transportation and hoped deep down they’d rough up a few punks and call it a day. They weren’t even close to being that lucky.

“A recent victim, some jumpy dwarf, pointed us toward a courier outfit running supplies into the Barrens. We met up with another team of runners and almost got in a shootout when our mage tried to peek inside their truck. Astral projection or whatever that crap is.”

Mantis got busted by another mage and almost got punted out of the astral plane as a result. Scratch was amazed they didn’t have a shoot out right then and there. But through some quick talking they passed it off as a rookie mistake and managed to join on as hired guns for protection. They almost had to make good on their ruse when some gang tried the old toll booth extortion racket when they headed out to the drop off. Mantis managed to redeem herself by locating all the gang members waiting to spring an ambush. The leader trying to shake them down felt a lot less bold when their positions were exposed and decided to back off.

“We made it to the drop but no one was there. The other runners started to get antsy.”

“Let me guess. The couriers were mostly meta-humans,” Lefty said.

“Meta-humans got stiffed. Humans got recruited. At least that’s the way I saw it.”

They got tired of waiting and hatched a plan with some RFID tags. They’d leave the cargo behind, mark them, and wait for them to move. It didn’t take long before someone came to collect. A truck had picked up all the crates and headed off toward a building in the distance. They gave chase in the van. That’s when Hollowpoint pulled off another crack shot out of nowhere. He leaned out the passenger side window, took aim at the truck trying to get away with the cargo, and sniped a tire with a handgun. 

The resulting crash could only be described as spectacular. The driver overcorrected and sent the vehicle tumbling end over end revealing the cargo as some kind of canisters as it spilled all over the place. Then the truck smashed into a loading dock and burst into flames.

Scratch had to admit, in another life Hollowpoint would have been an assassin in high demand with his dead aim.

“With the commotion of the sudden car crash, we climbed onto the roof and snuck into the building through a skylight.”

Lefty gave an amused smile. “I’m trying to picture you climbing. I’m not seeing it.”

Scratch shot a glare. “Once we got inside we had the place to ourselves minus a few cameras our Decker took care of. The car crash made a good distraction. That’s where we confirmed who we were dealing with.”

A derelict building in the Barrens served as a Humanis base. They had been there for awhile judging by the computer room, bunk beds, and the main attraction in the form of a secure vault. Much as they wanted to see what was on the other side of the door they couldn’t get past it. Even Bast, their resident thief, couldn’t crack the maglock despite her best efforts. 

They tossed a few bunks and wandered around a ramshackle cafeteria. It didn’t take long before they heard voices coming from the loading dock. Everyone in the building must have run out to attend to the smoking wreck of the truck. They were on their way back.

“We set up an ambush and took out five or six of them. I don’t remember the exact numbers. All I remember is that one of them got knocked out. Some woman. Then came the bright idea to bring the unconscious Humanis thug with us for a chat later. We took off when our courier friends warned us that more people were closing in on the building.”

Lefty nodded his head with an understanding. “You didn’t get all of them, did you?”

“Give me another drink.” Scratch demanded angrily.

Hindsight stung more than any alcohol as much as Scratch tried. Thinking back on it, she knew they had made all sorts of mistakes. The only thing she was really good at was killing people and driving. She never had to consider so many angles before. But the second they heard more were on the way they assumed the worst. 

They left the canisters the truck was carrying and cleared out of the Humanis base without looking too closely at their computers. The job had already spun out of control from patrolling the streets to trading shots with human supremacists. No way the street doc could compensate them for that.

“We took our Humanis friend to a quiet spot. I could tell right away no one in our group had tortured anyone before. They didn’t know what was going to happen going in, but I did.”

“Oh yeah?”

“We had a bunch of meta-humans, a member of Humanis, and no one had any contacts that were cleaners. It went about as well as you’d think.”

“You record any highlights?” Lefty asked with anticipation.

“No. I watched the perimeter incase anyone followed us.”

“You didn’t join in on the fun?” The disappointment was palpable.

From what Scratch heard Hollowpoint tried to play the good cop like he usually did. Mantis, Merc, and Bast had the most fun with their Humanis guest. It involved clipping ears to look like an elf and then burying the lady alive with an earth spirit. That did make clean-up very quick and easy. As bubbly as Mantis tried to present herself, she was shaping up into a real gravedigger. There was real potential.

Scratch shook her head. “Once you’ve seen one you’ve seen them all. Besides I always got stuck with clean up. Not this time.”

The Humanis thug gave them only a few pieces of information for the trouble. Her outfit had plans to hit a homeless shelter in Bellevue sometime in the afternoon. Oz had some data to crunch off the lady’s commlink as far as possible connections and collaborators went. But as far as timetables and how exactly they were going to do it, they had nothing. 

They went back to the Humanis compound to find it cleaned out except for a busted canister left behind with a label that warned about the contents under pressure causing increased aggression. It didn’t take much to figure out Humanis were going to launch some gas attack and frame meta-humans as monsters.

“We warned our client, the street doc, about everything that had happened. He wanted to know why we left the canisters behind, how many members were still out there, or why we ditched the compound without clearing it out. I reminded him he only hired us to play the part of neighborhood watch. Not deal with chemical attacks.”

“I’m going to guess he didn’t like that.” Lefty grinned.

“Hollowpoint didn’t like it either. It looked like he was going to drop off the face of the earth. He probably would have buried himself next to the Humanis thug we tortured out in the Barrens. But we weren’t getting paid shit in the first place. So screw the lot of them.”

Scratch started to feel the alcohol get on top of her. The idea was sobering enough on its own. She slid the glass back and waved off Lefty before he could pour her another. Everyone had ideas. Oz wanted to drop the matter entirely considering what little information they had. But Hollowpoint and his infallible conscience decided he was going to take it head on even if it killed him. Scratch couldn’t afford to let the idiot die yet. They still had an arrangement in place. The others eventually followed suit and they were on the hook for damage control.

“The shelter was a shit show as you probably heard from the news. Hollowpoint went inside and volunteered as a janitor. Bast snuck in through a window. The rest of us were nearby in the van. We looked at possible entry points for the gas. The roof. The air conditioner. The food. Some delivery man came by to drop off chicken and got clocked by Bast and Hollowpoint for the trouble. In the end, Humanis just lobbed some gas grenades in the middle of the dining area like real masterminds.”

It could have been so much worse. Oz had control of the shelter AC unit after hacking it and vented as much as he could. A cloud still managed to reach a few people, including Bast and Hollowpoint themselves. The inside of the shelter fell into a melee. Mantis rushed in with potions to counteract the effect but it didn’t help as much as they all wanted. Hollowpoint faded into his own little world, pulled a pair of pistols hidden on slide holsters, and opened up on a crowd of people. 

By some miracle he only managed to shoot and kill a Humanis plant before Oz ejected the magazines in his guns. By then Merc had arrived equipped with an internal air tank and they engaged in a fist fight that would have been right at home in any kung-fu trid. A man the size of a stick and an orc the size of a fridge going blow for blow and keeping up with each other on equal footing.

“Where were you in all this?” Lefty finally asked.

“Me? I was outside, fending off a van full of Humanis enforcers properly armored and equipped with AP rounds. All by myself!”

The minute the gas attack started Scratch brought the van in front of the shelter to provide cover. On the way in Merc had to pulverize a Humanis thug disguised as homeless and must have sent a message that things weren’t going to plan. So they brought a van full of armed soldiers either as a back-up plan or some attempt to play the hero gunning down meta-humans run amok. It was Scratch and her two roto-drones, Garland and Lockjoy, against the world while everyone else fragged around inside the shelter.

“Everyone was having such a good time while Humanis took out one of my drones. 16,500 nuyen. Just scrap now. A nice old gunfight in broad daylight. All for nothing!”

Scratch’s hands started to shake as she felt like exploding. She had plans to carry that drone to the ends of the earth. Her current lifestyle didn’t afford her parts much less a whole new drone. Garland was a lost cause. All the time and effort and she lost it for some nobodies at a homeless shelter. Thanks to Hollowpoint’s crippling need to make a difference. She took out her anger on the Humanis attack team. She gave them a double tap twice over. It helped a little.

The anger amplified by the alcohol died down. She always did have a high tolerance. Chip truth she wasn’t alone outside. Oz had her back from the safety of her armored van, doing his work in the Matrix. Humanis had plans to use their van as cover, but once Oz got control he did a donut with it and left them separated without anything to hide behind. He screwed with their guns, ejected their magazines in the shootout. She never expected that she’d be so thankful for a Decker on her side.

Bast and Mantis came along a little later to help out but Scratch was too mad to admit any of it to Lefty. She barely wanted to admit Mantis using the earth spirit to conceal their van on the way out that saved them a lot of trouble with the police arriving on the scene.

“I think… I’ve had enough for tonight.” She muttered.

“Maybe.” Lefty smiled. “Even still, I hear no one at the shelter died. The police found a lot of incriminating evidence on some dead Humanis members. A couple of homeless beat each other up after being gassed… but they’ll survive.”

A lot of good feelings never fixed Scratch’s problems. They certainly weren’t going to fix Garland either. She had half a mind to shake down Hollowpoint for dragging them into such a mess. Their community service cost her a drone and nearly put her in the hole after rent was due. Her plans were slipping through her fingers into some dirty drain on a Seattle corner. 

At this rate she’d wind up dead in a ditch somewhere if she was lucky. But as angry as she felt, she needed Hollowpoint. She didn’t exactly know any other private detectives who would work pro-bono, especially considering her past. Also he wasn’t some out of shape security guard. He could take on an orc hand-to-hand while high out of his mind. Not to mention his stellar aim.

Then she remembered she still had to pay for drinks. Lefty waved her off much to her surprise. He wasn’t known for his generosity.

“These are on the house.” He explained.

“Great. Thanks Lefty. It’s nice to know I look as poor as I feel.”

“The street doc paid you, didn’t he? How much was all that trouble worth, by the way? Just curious.”

Scratch shifted uncomfortably in her chair. “A measly 2k.”

It felt so awful to say that she felt like spitting on the floor. But the last time a man spit on the floor Lefty put them through a table. He found her payment something to chuckle at.

“For a chance to make a mess of Humanis? Any price is right in my book,” he grinned.

Scratch felt like saying something. Her face scrunched up into an awful scowl. Eventually she let out a deep sigh as she stood up to leave.

“Yeah? Well next time my crew digs up another sob story I’ll let you know. See how you like contending with gas attacks for less than the cost of my fragging leg.” She angrily slapped her cyberleg.

“Good night, Scratch.” Lefty waved.

The alcohol had already worn off and she dreaded heading back to the garage. The sight of Garland in a pile of smoking scrap in the back of her van sucked the energy right out of her. She would have to figure out something soon. The other members of her team might be satisfied with good feelings, but she had more pressing issues. She wouldn’t be able to keep this up forever. Before she got back in her car she looked over her shoulder. Maybe she could find a scrapyard in the city to vent her frustration before going back. She had to get it all out somehow so she could keep it as professional as she could.

[theres-no-paradise]

Sorry not Sorry

Chapter 10

Summary:  A random number wakes you up early on a Saturday morning. But it doesn’t stop there. The stranger keeps on sending messages, and you have no idea what is happening, when you start to develop feelings for the unknown person.

Pairings: Tom Holland  x Reader [submit your name: How it works]

Y/N your Name Y/F your Friend

Word Count:  2289

Warnings: none (just a little use of alcohol and making out but thats it lol)

A/N: THERE MIGHT BE MAJOR GRAMMAR MISTAKES - please tell me if you find them, I’m a little tired. You are also allowed to dislike me for waiting so long. I deserve it I guess. But motivation lost me and then I’ve been hella busy and kinda didn’t find my way back to this ff. But here we are with a new chapter. I wanted it to be a little longer BUT the stuff that happens after this chapter would kinda break the mood of this one. Also I’m sorry what I made you do in this one. Don’t be offended. :’D I hope you enjoy!

Chapter 1  •  Chapter 2  •  Chapter 3  •  Chapter 4  •  Chapter 5  •  Chapter 6  •  Chapter 7  •  Chapter 8 • Chapter 9 

The Spiderman: What’s going on in London town?

 You: Not much. Im going out with Y/F

The Spiderman: Oh, fun night out!!

You: More like: She’s getting wasted and I’m being a babysitter

The Spiderman: Sounds a little like Haz…

You: lol we should hook them up

The Spiderman: absolutely haha

You: How’s work?

The Spiderman: Exhausting but fun! We’re on a little break now.

You: Don’t overwork Mr. Holland

The Spiderman: I’ll do my best 

You: Good. I gotta go now. Y/F just arrived ttyl 

The Spiderman: text me when you get home so I know you’re safe.

You: I try not to forget!

The Spiderman: You better do

Going to clubs with your friend happened quite frequently the past few weeks. Usually you were the person to stay in but dancing was quite fun and as long as your friend wouldn't get extremely wasted, you had a good time nonetheless.

One evening you were sitting in your favourite pub, having some beers before the actual night out. It was a nice and relaxing atmosphere but that would change soon once the partygoers would get their pre-drinks.

“Did you know that Tom and Zendaya are a thing?”, Y/F suddenly asked, throwing you off from your previous topic about work. “Huh? What do you mean?”

“It’s been on the internet for a while now”

“So? I’ve known him already when the rumours spread. He would've told me”, you countered.

“Not sure. He’s an actor after all. If he doesn't want it to be public-”

“I don't believe in these rumours”

“He even flies to LA regularly”

“Yeah… He’s an actor, as you said. And in LA are all the studios, of course he flies out there.

“Just don't get too attached.”

“I won't!”

Suddenly the mood dropped and you girls had no proper topic to talk about. “Shall we head to the Club?”, you threw in and Y/F answered: “Yeah.”

 That night something happened, which you didn't plan in the first place. Something, you wouldn't even think of planning any day. Y/F’s words still repeated themselves in your mind and trying to get rid of them, you drank. You drank a lot and without realising it, you ended up being utterly wasted. Alone in the crowd, you danced to the loud music banging from the speakers, not caring about the people around you, moving with you. At some point, you didn't know when, a stranger approached you, but you couldn't care less, you just kept on dancing. Your vision was blurry and you only enjoyed the music. With the alcohol in your blood, you did things that you didn't mean to do. Once the guy who danced with you, put his lips on yours, you just couldn't stop. The kiss became more intense and the guy, whose name you didn't even know, dragged you out of the club.

You didn’t remember much after that.

The strong headache was the first thing that woke you up the next morning. You were disoriented, not having any idea where you were at first. The guy from last night lay still next to you so you crawled out of the bed as quiet as possible. Trying to find your clothes was a real struggle. His place was a mess and everything was laying around and it made it harder for you to find your stuff. Once you gathered all of it, you threw it all on and left the place as fast as possible, not leaving a message at all.

Sitting on the tube in the early morning, reality slowly hit you. Not only did you sleep with a guy you didn't even know, you felt like shit. Not because of the drunk accident but more because of Tom. Even though you weren’t dating, you felt regret wash over your body. Obviously a sign that it was a mistake what has happened last night. The walk of shame, after a crazy night out, became the walk of horror for you. Barely any people were on the tube, so there weren't many sneaking looks but the moment you phone started buzzing, you knew immediately what was going to happen.

The Spiderman: Guess who just landed in London.

 Nausea struck you immediately. Did he tell you before that he planned to come home? You scrolled up the whole conversation, no sign of any mention of home. Slowly gulping down that lump that has formed in your throat, you typed in the response.

 You: No way you're in London?

The Spiderman: Actually yes. It’s my mom's birthday, wanna join?

You: I don't know. I don't even know her, isnt that weird?

The Spiderman: Not at all. My mom’s easy going

You: Okay…

The Spiderman: It's gonna be at their place, 7pm. Want me to pick you up?

You: No its cool. I’ll be at the train station

The Spiderman: Can't wait!

You: See you

The Spiderman: xx

 The feeling in your guts could've been described as awful. Just some horrible, unnecessary feeling building up inside of you.

As you approached your station, you left the train and walked the long way back home. Thinking about how you’re gonna meet Tom later, not sure if you should tell him what you did.

Maybe you shouldn't tell him what happened? You were not dating anyway so is it his business to know who you slept with? Well, yes if you are romantically involved with him, but are you? You ask yourself a thousand questions, not knowing the answer for it. Asking Y/F for advice was not a good idea either, not only because she might also have a hangover, but after last night's conversation she wasn't really fond of helping you with Tom anyway.

You spent the day laying on your sofa, drinking tons of water and eating some cheeky Nandos from around the corner. You still felt awful about what has happened the night before and you even tried to think about what happened. You didn't remember a thing, only that some random guy kissed you and dragged you to his place. What happened after was a blackout. You couldn't recall anything, that has happened in his sheets and that made it even worse.

‘Maybe nothing happened and I’m overreacting’, you thought, trying to calm yourself down. Unfortunately it didn't work and you rolled around on your sofa, blanky nearly falling off of you.

Checking the clock you realized, it was getting late. You stood up quickly and pulled out some clothes. Luckily you took a shower once you came back home after the walk of shame in your neighbourhood. Now it was time for some decent clothes. You pulled out a dark jeans and a nice dark grey Sweater, which you pulled over a white shirt. It looked casual enough for a ‘parent - birthday - party’, you thought.

When you arrived at the train station, with flowers you just got earlier for his mom, you could see Tom standing on the platform with Tess, just as the last time he picked you up.

“Hey”, you greeted him, pulling him into a tight hug. “It’s been ages”, he said, once he pulled back, taking in your figure. “You look pretty”, “likewise, handsome”, you countered, smiling slightly. As you slowly walked to his parents house, you caught up on recent events which you haven't talked on the mobile.

“Oh, I got you something”, Tom said suddenly, opening his backpack and taking out a little, dark red Box. “Why do you have a bag with you?”, you wondered, as he held the little package into your direction. “Presents for mom”, he answered smiling and pulled the zipper closed. While he did that, you stared at the little box in your hands. “Open it!”, he laughed, having a very demanding tone in it.

You did as you’ve been told and once the box was open, a little beaver with way too big teeth grinned at you. It was holding a little plate in its hands, saying Montreal on it. “You got me something from Canada?”, you asked surprised. “I told you I would”, he grinned, running his hand through his hair nervously. “You didn’t have to-”, “I know, but I did”, Tom countered and smiled. You thanked him and suddenly that terrible feeling in your stomach was back, signalling you of the mistake you made last night. Should you tell him or keep it to yourself? You weren't sure and the worst about this situation was: Your friends words still lingered in your mind, waiting to be spoken out.

 Nikki’s Party was better, than you originally imagined. Of course, there were many people that were a lot older than you but Tom and his brothers had been great hosts. They hung out with you, joked around and played silly games. Of course, there was some alcohol too but you tried to keep it to a minimum. A wine here and there maybe. After a few hours, around two in the morning, Tom decided that it was time to go home. You said your goodbyes to the family and friends and left with the Actor. “I’ll check if there's a bus coming”, you said, trying to figure out the app on your phone that had all the details in it.

“Leave it. I’m not gonna let you drive home at this time of the night.” “I’m not a child, Tom”, you said sternly, as you scrolled with your finger on the display. Tom just pulled your phone out of your hands and walked away with it. Leaving you stunned for a second. “Hey!”, you shouted after him and followed his figure, but he decided to take up the pace and ran away. “You son of a-”, you didn't say it out loud but sprinted after him as fast as you could, only to accept the fact, that this spider boy was way faster than you. As you arrived in front of his door, holding your sides because of having the stitches, he grinned at you, giving back the mobile device.

“You’re staying here, I dont want someone to kidnap you”, Tom explained, as he opened his door and let you walk in. Annoyed at his behaviour, you walked in and got rid of your shoes, walking to the living room. Sitting down on the couch, you looked around. Nothing has changed since the last time. A little more merch here and there (Obviously Spiderman Stuff duh) but other than that, same old living room.

Tom came over with two beers in his hand, joining you on the sofa. The night wasn’t over yet, you knew that. It basically just started for you too, but hoped to not get as drunk as the night before. As time went by, you kept talking with Tom about all the things, that annoyed you at work the past few weeks. And even he’d complain about certain days, when nothing would've worked for him at all. Just as you were telling him about some differences with your best friend, you didn't mention what she said. Just that you wouldn't agree with her opinion. Tom listened closely but laid down on the sofa, his head resting on your lap. You felt your cheeks heat up a little at this sudden change of position but kept on telling him all the things. When you finished complaining, a warm feeling in your stomach grew, pushing aside all the negativity from the day.

“Can I kiss you?”

 Well, that was unexpected. And even worse, it came out of your mouth. Tom only giggled slightly at your outburst, which made you insecure, so you tried to save the situation. “I’m so sorry, that was rude. It's the alcohol and I know that you have a girlfriend and-” you stopped suddenly when Tom shifted positions and sat across from you again. “Why would you think that?”, he asked, voice filled with concern.

“Uhm, the internet is all over with it?”

“Z? We’re friends! She’s like family to me”, Tom explained, a serious expression on his face while he looked at you. “Really?”, your voice wasn't more than a whisper. “Positive. So… Didn't you want to kiss me?”, Tom joked, a smug expression on his face. Oh this boy definitely had a drink too much tonight, you could tell.

You really wanted to kiss him though, but something kept you back and as you were struggling to find the courage, Tom took the opportunity and kissed you first instead. Usually a kiss like that would end after a moment, checking each others reactions out but this wasn't the case. The innocent kiss became an endless make out session which lasted more than just a few minutes.

At some point your mind started to scream, telling you to stop, which unfortunately lead to an end of this wonderful experience.

“I slept with someone”, you blurted out as Tom was trying to recollect his thoughts. It took him a little to think about your words but then, to your surprise, he just shook it off. “Yeah, I guess that happens when your single”

“I didn't mean to though. It felt wrong”

“Why?”

“Because of you, I guess”

There was tension in the air and the sudden silence felt heavy on your shoulders. Was he mad?

“I admit, I’m a little jealous that someone else got a taste of that sweet bum of yours”, Oh alcohol, you thought but couldn't help and laugh at his words. “We surely can change that”, were your last words, before you kissed Tom again with a big smile on your lips.

The enormous guilt you were struggling about was over for now, and you let your thoughts spin back to Tom and his lips.

Taglist:   @hollandorks  @hollywoodgonzalez @ilivefortomholland @casualprincess77 @agirlwithpointlessideas @isabellamozarella03 @MENDES-HOLLAND @thiswildfire @wastedheartnat @hollandbaby @moonofmy-life @smileylaurens @random-fandom-lady @heartoftheadventure @blackazkaban @augurydemon @homecomjng @punkass-potato @unfoldingdaydreams @thefriendlyneighborhoodspidey @rivedale @tiffanypooh@claraholland @tohollandback @letsmcflytobritain

[gunservant]

By David de Beer

All You Need To Make A Movie

Movies and TV have a strange relationship with guns. On the one hand you regularly have some actor coming out and declaring him or herself anti-gun. This is to be expected from people who are mostly liberal democrats. On the other hand you have lots and lots of guns in movies. Guns add drama, conflict and even humour. Frankly, without guns in movies and TV, there would be far fewer movies and TV series made, and what would be available to watch would be pretty boring.

It is pretty strange how a lot of the actors that come out as anti-gun are the very ones who have made a career out of portraying characters who use guns. Let me correct that, they play characters who use guns BADLY. Yes, these very same characters who are supposed to be CIA assassins, FBI agents, cops and Special Forces regularly do things that even new gun owners know are unsafe and stupid, never mind unprofessional.

Now you may say “Dave, what the fuck does it matter? It’s fiction, DAVE! It’s just some light hearted fun!” Of course, nobody ever imitates what they see on TV, right? So you could imagine that a person with very little formal firearm training or experience could be doing things he’s seen on TV, and in that way the anti-gun actor’s reckless portrayal is probably contributing to accidents and injury in real life. Irony can be a bitch that way.

And stupid gun mistakes aren’t only made by anti-gun actors. Despite an actor’s proficiency with firearms and the advice of a skilled armourer or consultant, a director might instruct them to do something totally insane with a gun because it looks good on film.  Yes, I do realise there are times when you have to break the basic safety rules to tell a story. How can you show someone threatening suicide without having them point it at themselves? I do realise sometimes there’s artistic merit to it, and that it’s usually done in a controlled, safe environment. But the portrayal is often skewed, and characters who are supposed to be extremely proficient with firearms make glaring, basic mistakes.

So what is Hollywood & Co. getting wrong about guns? I’m not talking about physics defying acts like bending bullets in Wanted, I can concede that that is fiction, and if people try to imitate that, they have bigger problems with reality than I can help them with. I’m talking basics here, so let’s look at the four basics rules of firearm safety:

  All guns are always loaded. Treat them so.

Movies guns can range from real guns shooting blanks to rubber guns with no moving parts, so no real guns with real ammo are used in the movies, why should we care about this?

Well, firstly, there is the example being set. These guns represent real guns. Even sci-fi ray guns used on screen can show people how to handle and treat guns. Without a real life influence to guide them away from the stupidity, this is how they think guns should be used.

And secondly, who remembers John Erik Hexum? He’s a shining example of why all guns are always loaded, and where do you think he got the idea for the Russian roulette joke that ended his life? Probably in a movie or on TV.

  Never let the muzzle cover anything you’re not willing to destroy.

The sweeping, oh dear lord the sweeping! A character moving with a gun is bad, more than one character moving in the same scene is so much worse. They sweep the muzzle across their own body; they sweep it across friends, enemies, children, animals, aliens and every sort of background actor. They even sweep the leg. (Yes, that’s a Karate Kid joke, deal with it)

Moving the muzzle of a gun, where metal exits it at high velocity, across anything that’s alive is extremely stupid. In any situation this is at the very least frowned upon, even if the gun is obviously unloaded (All guns are always loaded, remember?)

Next time you watch an action movie, keep an eye on the muzzle direction and you’ll spot it some serious sweeping going on:

          Jay Baruchel sweeping Jack Black’s ass, if not the whole squad.

Jack Black about to return the favour in Tropic Thunder.

Some Suicide Squad sweeping at head level.

I know some will say “But in a conflict/contact/group situation sweeping someone is almost inevitable!”

Yea, it’s not. If you’ve ever seen properly trained professionals do their job, you’d know they go to great lengths not to sweep the muzzle of their gun across anyone’s body.

Here’s how it happens in real life:

   Keep your finger off the trigger until you’re ready to shoot.

Obviously nobody has ever told Pinewood Studios to keep their booger hooks off their bang switches. I have always considered this to be the most fundamental rule. None of the four basic rules may be broken, but even if you break the other three, someone can only get hurt if you also break this rule.

I suppose if you look at the bright side, at least James’ gun is pointed in a safe direction. But pay attention, you will often see actors walking, talking and sweeping their friends with their fingers on the trigger.

  Be sure of your target, and what’s behind it…

..and what’s behind that. Captain Deadpool knows this rule and uses it to good effect in his triple headshot.

In the movies you have good guys shooting at bad guys with crowds in the background, in busy marketplaces, in subway stations and while driving. No concern is shown for innocent bystanders, crouching down a little always seems to make sure they survive (Unless killing an innocent civilian is a plot point).

So there you have the very basic rules of firearm safety. Just safety, something most people who use guns learn early, and practice religiously. And yet our friends in the entertainment industry seem to feel shooters trained to a point where their ability is almost mystical, wouldn’t practice these basics.

  Besides basic safety, there’s a lot more the movies get wrong.

Does your gun say “Leatherman” on the side? Because some movies seem to think guns are multi-tools. Splitting the rope above someone about to be hanged is the classic here, but you also have them shooting chains, shooting out lights, shooting levers to activate gears and close doors and using their guns to hit people with. Ricochets only happen when the story needs them to.

Then there’s accuracy. Not only can this vary wildly for the same character during the course of a movie, but it can also reach superhuman status in movies with no super humans in them. The same character that repeatedly missed an entire car elsewhere in the movie can suddenly shoot the gun out of someone’s hand or shoot them in the ear, arm or leg right from a quick draw.

Use of optics and sights is also pretty dubious. If you’ve seen any kind of Walking Dead meme recently, you probably know thatRick is especially bad at this. In this photo he’s doing even worse than usual.

And then you have all the people who shoot by feel, mostly because it’s a movie and we need to see their faces. Who cares about accuracy, either of the shooting or factual kind, when we’re paying Bruce Willis’ salary? Show the face!

Now, how about humanity and compassion? Surely writers, directors and actors can get that right? I mean, almost all of them are human after all. Wrong again!

How many of you have seen a real person directly after that person has successfully and justifiably defended their own life from an attacker that meant to physically harm them? I hope very few have seen this for themselves, because it’s not pretty, but it can also be a big eye opener. Experienced policemen who deal with violence on a daily basis and who have been in those situations before are very shaken up by an experience like this, civilians do much worse.

Think about that the next time the hero of the story breezes through a building full of people, killing one after the other, or executes the villain after finally defeating him. Do you know who reacts to violence and death that way? Psychopaths, that’s who.

The last point I’d like to make has less to do with guns directly, and more to do with the general culture of gun ownership. The core reason why most of the things above are mentioned is that they go so strongly against what most gun owners stand for. We are a lot more concerned with safety than people who do not own guns, we want to enjoy a day at the range without anyone getting hurt, and if the shit hits the fan big time we want to be able to protect those we love and not be the ones who cause them or anyone else harm. Safety is drilled into us, and rightly so, until it becomes second nature.

So to “advertise” gun ownership the way these characters do, as reckless, unsafe, and uncaring already portrays us in a bad light. For the person who brings that character to life and makes millions of Dollars in the process to then turn around and tell us we’re the threat is a double betrayal.

Movie and TV studios in general don’t care how they portray gun use, gun ownership or gun owners. They care about making money from things that look flashy and exciting. It seems unlikely that guns will disappear from popular culture anytime soon, and equally unlikely that Hollywood & Co. will suddenly decide to portray the use and handling of these guns in a realistic and responsible manner. So I guess it’s up to the real life gun owners to show the public that we do not behave like the irresponsible sociopaths Hollywood sells to them as heroes.

  Anti-Gun Actors/Directors/Writers/Producers Who Have Used Guns On Screen

(Source : NRA/2A Check, verified on IMFDB)

Jessica Alba – Actor Krista Allen – Actor Richard Dean Anderson – Actor David Arquette – Actor Ed Asner – Actor Alec Baldwin – Actor Drew Barrymore – Actor Kevin Bacon – Actor Lauren Bacall – Actor* William Baldwin – Actor Candice Bergen – Actor Richard Belzer – Actor Beau Bridges – Actor Benjamin Bratt – Actor James Brolin – Actor Mel Brooks – Actor/Director Steve Buscemi – Actor George Clooney – Actor Kevin Costner – Actor Sean Connery – Actor Billy Crystal – Actor Matt Damon – Actor Danny DeVito – Actor Michael Douglas – Actor Richard Donner – Director David Duchovny – Actor Mia Farrow – Actor Carrie Fisher – Actor Sally Field – Actor Jane Fonda – Actor Jodie Foster – Actor Richard Gere – Actor Louis Gossett, Jr. – Actor Ethan Hawke – Actor Mark Harmon – Actor Dustin Hoffman – Actor Helen Hunt – Actor Diane Keaton – Actor Stephen King – Author Kevin Kline – Actor Lisa Kudrow – Actor John Leguizamo – Actor Spike Lee – Director Rob Lowe – Actor Mike Myers – Actor Jack Nicholson – Actor Leonard Nimoy – Actor Julia Ormond – Actor Sarah Jessica Parker – Actor Rhea Perlman – Actor Michelle Pfieffer – Actor Aidan Quinn – Actor Dennis Quaid – Actor Debbie Reynolds – Actor Paul Reiser – Actor Robert Redford – Actor/Director Julia Roberts – Actor Tim Robbins – Actor Tim Roth – Actor Renee Russo – Actor Meg Ryan – Actor Susan Sarandon – Actor Martin Sheen – Actor Mira Sorvino – Actor Sylvester Stallone – Actor Meryl Streep – Actor Patrick Stewart – Actor Sharon Stone – Actor Uma Thurman – Actor Steve Tisch – Producer Eli Wallach – Actor Harvey Weinstein – Producer Sigourney Weaver – Actor Catherine Zeta-Jones – Actor Jennifer Aniston – Actor Jason Bateman – Actor Kristen Bell – Actor Steve Carrell – Actor Courtney Cox – Actor Zooey Deschanel – Actor Cameron Diaz – Actor Will Ferrell – Actor Jennifer Garner – Actor Debra Messing – Actor Julianne Moore – Actor Gwyneth Paltrow – Actor Jeremy Renner – Actor Chris Rock – Actor Paul Rudd – Actor Mark Ruffalo – Actor Brooke Shields – Actor Reese Witherspoon – Actor Quentin Tarrantino – Writer/Director/Producer/Actor

  Guns 'n Hollywood By David de Beer All You Need To Make A Movie Movies and TV have a strange relationship with guns.

[iamnmbr3]

like Thor knows when he’s standing next to Loki people are going to assume he’s stup!d that he’s ignorant of customs and makes mistakes out of oblivity do you think that ever bothers him as much as it’s a saving grace that people will assume the best of his mistakes because he must not have known what the better decision was when actually maybe he DID make a mistake maybe he knew exactly what he was doing and had different reasons for choosing what he did do you think being let off the hook for mistakes regularly helped him build the arrogance he had by Thor 1 via @worstloki

Do you think Thor ever gets tired of the himbo jokes? People always valuing his physical strength like he’s got nothing else to offer but good cheer and a strong swing