#even though it’s post first contact. idk how yet but we’ll figure it out

[pop-squeak]

star trek modern au featuring maps nerd chekov

[frostedfaves]

Naive (3)

Masterlist

Pairing: demon!Wanda Maximoff x fem!reader

Summary: You pick up on the lies in Wanda’s life and she decides to show you the truth.

Warnings: 18+ ONLY, dark!fic, demon things™️, more hints at dom/sub because I’m a whore for demon!Wanda

A/N: I can’t believe that it’s been a month since I posted the last one 😭 I have some things planned for the next part and so on but I also kinda wanna take requests again??? idk we all know how I get overwhelmed easily with that so we’ll see what happens there. anyway tell me your thoughts on this please!

Previous part

Waking up feels like gasping for air after being trapped underwater. You aren’t sure how long you were asleep, but the mid afternoon traffic quickly alerts you of how much of the day has passed. 

Despite your head feeling like it’s made of cement, you manage to stand up, slipping off thin pajamas as you walk into the bathroom and stop at the mirror. Your skin seems tender in places and you’re a little bit startled when there isn’t a single indication of the bite marks and scratches you feel, even after rubbing your eyes a few times and turning in every direction possible. Deciding to let it go for now, you reach for the shower stall to turn on the water, detouring to the bedroom instead when you hear your phone ringing.

“Hello?”

“You didn’t save my number, did you?”

“Wanda?” You pull the phone away long enough to quickly clear your throat. “I mean hey, Wanda! What makes you think I didn’t save your number?”

“You answered like you didn’t know who was going to be on the other end.”

“Okay, you caught me,” you admit after a moment of silence. “I promise I’ll save it as soon as we hang up. Anyway, what’s up?”

“Remember that pet adoption center you pointed out to me?” You acknowledge her with a hum. “I was thinking about getting a cat…Wanna tag along?”

“Absolutely! I was just about to shower though so I can be ready in an hour or so.”

“Perfect! I’ll text you when I’m outside.”

The two of you say your goodbyes and you keep your promise of saving her number, typing in her name and hesitating on the emoji keyboard. Realizing you’d spent far too much time contemplating this, you simply save what you have and hurry back to the bathroom, something in your brain urging you to not keep her waiting.

-

Within an hour, she sends you a text in all caps and a smiley face that tells you she’s arrived, and you can’t hide the fact that you’re surprised when you come outside and she’s waiting on the passenger side of the car.

“Hey! How are you?” she greets cheerily as she approaches you with a hug, and you shiver when her hand touches your lower back. “Are you cold?”

“No, I’m okay.” You smile and thank her when she opens the door for you, attempting to collect yourself as she crosses to the driver’s side again. “I’m really happy to see you again.”

“You are?”

“Yeah,” you admit quietly as she pulls away from the curb. “Is that such a bad thing?”

“No no, I just didn’t want to assume you were enjoying our time together as much as I was.”

She places her hand over yours while she glances at you, smiling as she squeezes your fingers and thigh lightly. You feel a rush of something traveling from the places she touched to your brain, only slightly aware of the fog settling in your mind.

“Well I didn’t want to be too enthusiastic about it and scare you away if all you wanted was friendship,” you clarify, meeting her eyes when she reaches a red light.

“I suppose you’re looking for more too, then.”

“I am now.”

The light turns green and she breaks eye contact, but the little smirk that follows tells you everything you need to know. At least, you hope it does.

-

“I think he’s the cutest one we’ve seen yet,” you comment about the kitten that hasn’t looked away from Wanda since you approached his area. “He seems really drawn to you, too.”

“How did he get the name ‘Baby Satan’?” Wanda inquires with an employee, who approaches you with a chuckle.

“It’s actually Baby Stan, because we used to have an adult cat named Stan as well and needed to tell the two apart. We were going to give him a new name but decided to leave that up to his new family.”

“It says ‘Baby Satan’ though,” you cosign with Wanda, gesturing to the extra A mixed in with the magnetic letters that spell the kitten’s name.

“Oh, I’m so sorry! I don’t know how that got there,” the employee apologizes as she reaches over to fix the sign, and you watch her freeze as Wanda touches her arm.

“Don’t be sorry. Keep it; I want to adopt him.”

“Okay, right this way,” the employee mumbles as she turns awkwardly and stumbles over to a desk, and as the two of you follow her, you look back to see Baby Satan still staring at the woman beside you.

“What was that about?” you speak up finally once you’re in the car with her new furry friend, and Wanda frowns at you while fastening her seatbelt.

“What?”

“Why did that employee react to you like that? You touched her and she started acting really weird after.”

“Oh, Kim’s fine!” she assures you as she fixes her mirror before pulling out of the parking lot. “I actually asked her about that while you were looking at scratching posts and she said I’d overstepped her boundaries and made her uncomfortable. Don’t worry, I apologized and everything’s good again.”

“She told you her name?”

“She was wearing a name tag, babe.”

Babe...that’s new. Still, the sudden nickname doesn’t completely distract you from the fact that you’re certain there was no name tag on Kim’s uniform. You’re debating with yourself about bringing this up when you notice her heading toward Lane County.

“Are you taking me to your house?”

“Yeah, if you don’t mind.” She glances at you and over her shoulder toward Baby Satan before turning back to the road. “I figured I could introduce both of my kittens to the place they’ll be spending a lot of time in.”

Her fingers brush over your knee as “my kittens” leaves her lips, and you’re almost embarrassed when your hips involuntarily buck slightly. Noticing the small change in your behavior, she takes advantage of your head turned toward your own window and allows her instincts to continue driving while she stares at you, placing her palm on your thigh and rubbing circles on the fabric covering it that brings her closer and closer to your core.

“Home, sweet home,” Wanda announces as she pulls her wandering hand away to park the car, jumping out a second later and grabbing her furry son from the backseat. “Hey there, Baby S.”

You step out of the car in a similar fashion of pulling yourself out of a swimming pool, taking in the fresh air and trying to relax yourself as you follow her into the apartment building. The hallways reflect the quiet and clean neighborhood as you make your way into the elevator and up to the 6th floor, suddenly entering the most empty apartment you’ve ever seen.

Of course there’s furniture: a couch with a TV mounted on the nearest wall, a dining table with a set of matching chairs, a few stools placed at the island and kitchen appliances that are shiny and new. But there isn’t any personal artwork, posters, books or even just a lamp that you could tell Wanda purchased herself with one glance.

“Are you staying in an AirBNB or something?” you ask as she carefully places Baby Satan’s carrier next to the couch, and she chuckles.

“I guess technically it was one before I moved in, but I’ve been here for two years.”

“Okay...so where are your pictures?”

“What?”

“Where are your pictures?” you repeat, maintaining a steady voice despite the expression she gives you as she faces you again. “Pictures of your family, friends, you as a child?”

“If you knew my family, you’d understand why you don’t see them here.” She startles you by practically growling her words but you press further.

“Okay but you also said you love plants and we’re the only living things in here.” You step back to put more space between you while quiet shuffling noises are heard inside the carrier. “What’s really going on here?”

You can easily spot the shift in Wanda’s emotions: going from defensive, arms crossed and eyes glaring to resigned with slightly sagging shoulders and a defeated sigh.

“Fine, you got me.” She bends over to pick up the carrier again and passes you on her way to the door, stopping a few feet away. “If you’re serious about pursuing a relationship with me, then I should probably show you my real home.”

“I don’t know...”

“Come on, love.” She comes just close enough to bring your hand into hers and a tingle spreads through your body, causing you to pull away but her grip only tightens. “I promise I’m not going to hurt you, and this is the only time I’ve lied.”

You find yourself being drawn closer to her, and an almost familiar feeling washes over you when her thumb begins rubbing gentle circles into your jaw. The metal on her ring is so cold it almost burns upon contact, yet you nuzzle into her more with each pass along your skin.

“Don’t you want to be good for me without being forced to your knees first?”

If the fog surrounding your consciousness wasn’t so thick, you might’ve been shocked by this side of her, so calm yet demanding you serve her. But the hand on your jaw seemed to cover every inch of your body and sink into your nervous system, forcing you to fall into her and let her lead you back to the car with a simple arm around your waist. You’re buckled into the passenger seat again and a slightly blurry grin greets you from behind the wheel seconds later.

“I can’t wait to make you mine.”

Your head falls against the car window as she drives to the edge of Lane County, and your altered vision picks up on businesses turning into isolated suburbs into grassy fields into forests. You travel along narrow, winding roads past the tallest of trees with very few spaces in between, and your hazy state of mind prevents you from panicking when Wanda turns onto a dirt path that doesn’t even seem to be safe for bicycles. The wheels bump along the forest floor until she comes to a stop just outside of a two foot dwelling, similar to a cave.

Once the two of you are out of the car again, she holds your hand with her free one until you reach the cave, instructing you to sit in front of it while she does the same. She places her palm on the door, and her rings seem to come alive as they interact with it for a few moments before it swings open and the three of you are sent flying through a tunnel. You land with a groan on the hard floor and dust yourself off as you carefully stand, any questions dying in your throat as you face Wanda again, now standing before you in her true form.

“Welcome home.”

[shotorokiworld]

emotive .1

pairing: daisuke kanbe x fem!reader

warnings: not really any yet....

summary: the story of how and why daisuke kanbe fell in love with you. proving once again, that opposites attract 

a/n: this is my first time posting my writing anywhere so I may or may not have panicked a little. there are probably some mistakes i didn’t fix, as i was rereading i kept overthinking things so i just said screw it (like how daisuke kinda comes off a little creepy but idk i swear i already have part 2 written and it gets better). oh and one other thing! i have never read the manga and i based his personality solely off of the first episode of the show, which might’ve been a bad move but we’ll see. please enjoy!

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

Daisuke Kanbe is known as a cold, collected(despite his reckless tendencies), intimidating man, which he is. What very little emotion he shows comes in the form of a cocky smirk or a challenging raise of his eyebrows, if even that. He likes it that way and he enjoys the fact that people perceive him this way.

People can’t stand not being able to read other’s faces or get a rise out of them. This just gives him yet another advantage while he’s working on cases in the field. Suspects and witnesses alike tend to crumble under his gaze, they can’t figure out what he’s thinking, they can’t call his bluff, and before you know it, words are spilling out of them.

It’s not like he doesn’t have any emotions, it’s just been so long since he’s experienced most of them. The adrenaline rush he gets from acting so reckless on the job is the closest thing to excitement or fear he’s felt in years. If it weren’t for those moments, life would be such a boring existence for a man like Daisuke.

All of this makes it a bit easier to understand why he fell in love with you. You were so different from him, you were warm, inviting, and all kinds of people were drawn to you. Normally, Daisuke couldn’t stand people like that, they gave him migraines. However, there was one thing that set you apart from the majority. The way you felt everything so intensely. You never tried to hide the way you were feeling, even if you could. Your face was easy to read, you didn’t hide behind a facade, anyone would describe you as an open book.

This is what made him gravitate towards you in the first place. He had never met anyone so open and unashamed of bearing their soul to the world. It almost made his head spin trying to understand how your mind worked.

At first he would just watch you more intently in the office, where you worked as a secretary. Then he would find himself thinking about you while he’s out in the field; his eyebrows would pull together ever-so-slightly in annoyance. He doesn’t want to think about the obnoxiously kind, headache-inducing enigma that is you. Though just two weeks later that’s all he seems to be able to think about, and he’s given up trying not to. His mind was filled with questions that needed answers.  

There is only so much observing someone from afar can tell you about them. Having only spoken 15 words to you, at most, in the few weeks you had been working in the office, didn’t help much either. If he was gonna figure you out, he was gonna have to put in some effort. You’re so open with the people around you, so one conversation should be enough to satiate his curiosity, right? Wrong. It only made things worse for him.

It had been a quiet day, a few members of the staff had been let go early but you were still there and Daisuke sat lounging at his desk. He knew this would be the perfect time to strike. Not only was the office dead, but if you questioned his sudden curiosity in you, he could play if off as boredom. Just as he had made the decision, you were walking by his desk, lunch box in hand. Without hesitation, his arm juts out in front of you, blocking your path, and stopping you in your tracks. Your eyes widen a bit in surprise before you turn to him with your typical kind expression, tilting your head to the side in question.

“Daisuke? Everything alright?,” you asked in a sweet, curious tone.

When his gaze finally rose to meet yours, he had the same bored look on his face that he normally does, which took you some time to get used to. The first few days of working in the office you had assumed he didn’t like you, or that you had done something to upset him already. Those assumptions died when you realized that everyone in the office got the same treatment, but that didn’t stop Daisuke from noticing your face drop or the way you wouldn’t look him in the eye while talking to him during that time.

Things were different now though, you held eye contact and didn’t uncomfortably fidget while waiting for his response. He waited a few moments to answer, taking in your demeanor.

“Sit with me?” It was a question, technically, but it didn’t sound like one coming from him. He knew you wouldn’t say no, you were too amicable to do that.

He was right. You moved to sit in the seat only a few feet away, although not before pausing to give him a confused look then ultimately shrugging it off and joining him. You placed your lunch down on the desk in front of you and saw from the corner of your eye that he was just watching you as you unpacked your meal, not moving to do the same. You looked relaxed as you moved, but he could tell by the way you chewed at the inside of your cheek, and the way that your eyes darted around the desktop, that you were nervous.

So he’ll start by simply breaking the ice, casually asking “how are you liking your job so far?” You’d be a bit surprised that he asked, considering he doesn’t seem like the type of man to enjoy small talk, but you perk up anyway.

“I’m really enjoying it actually,” you tell him with a bright smile, “everyone is so nice, and it keeps me on my toes, so I’m never really bored.”

“You fit in well. Where did you work before you came here?” His eyes never leave your face, he doesn’t want to miss a single movement.

“I was a university hired tutor, my school offered me a position as a composition tutor so I could have a steady income while looking for a job I really wanted,” you explained, no hesitation in your response.

“And you wanted to be a secretary for a bunch of second rate detectives?” He tilted his head every so slightly, to watch and see if he had pressed any of your buttons.

Which he had, your eyebrows drew closer together and you shook your head, “well first, I don’t consider any of you to be second rate, and second no being a secretary isn’t my end goal, I’m not exactly sure what the right job for me is just yet,” you turned to him and shrugged, “I just know I want to be part of the team that keeps the people in this city safe.” Then you gave him a big smile and stuffed a bite of food into your mouth.

Daisuke wanted to know the reason behind that decision but he decided to dive into that rabbit hole at a later date. So he kept asking you things, nothing too personal at first, he was letting you get comfortable answering his questions without overthinking or hesitating. He had figured out pretty early on that you were a bit oblivious to certain things. Here you sat, happily talking Daisuke’s ear off while you enjoyed your lunch. Not once did you find it even a bit odd that he was asking you so many questions, but not once giving you the chance to ask your own or say anything about himself. Why was that so interesting and frustrating at the same time?

As time went on Daisuke started trying to dig a little deeper, asking you things a little more personal than your average lunch break would involve. This went unnoticed by you, but he had barely begun to scrape the surface when the phone on your desk rang across the room.

That was the end of his interrogation, work began to pick up, and Daisuke found himself feeling disappointed. He didn’t want to stop talking to you, even though it was more like listening to you speak while he hung onto every word.

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

[vlindervin7]

I love ure fics, i was thinking maybe a kieu my/fatou one where they're in fatous bed and the cash queens come over, and then idk how it'd go it depends if it's pre/post fatou telling them about kieu my but basically just cute awkwardness from them and not knowing what to do/say and the cash queens realising kieu my isn't the ''ice queen'' they thought she was 🥰🥰

Can u make a fic about Kieu my and Fatou cuddling on their bed and kissing, pure fluff ✨from Kieu my’s pov

Here to say that I loved your kieutou works! Thanks for sharing them with us! Could you write something about the girls still being unsure about the relationship because they don’t know kieu my well and them witnessing how fatou and kieu my are together? It could be after everything is solved between the cashqueens and kieu my (she has apologized to ava for the past) but the girls aren’t still 100% sure of her feelings for fatou and get to see how soft kieu my is for her.

Read on ao3

Fatou is looking at her and the weird thing, the slightly uncomfortable thing, is that Kieu My wants her to keep looking. Her gaze is hot on her, scalding, and it almost burns uncomfortably, but it’s just on the right side of too much, like a hot shower after a winter day. Usually when people look at Kieu My she has the impression of standing on a podium, under bright spotlights, focused on the play she’s putting on. Fatou’s gaze is like a breeze that catches her off guard and caresses her face, makes her shiver, but feel held, too. It’s like she said that one time: Fatou sees right through her. She’s not party Kieu My to her, not popular Kieu My, not the picture perfect pretty princess she pretends to be. She’s just Kieu My, in her purest form. And Fatou loves her for it. She doesn’t even have to try.

She doesn’t have to try.

She doesn’t have the words to describe how incredible that feels. Sometimes it feels like nothing comes naturally to her. Every single thing she does, every person she interacts with, is a challenge she needs to overcome, something she needs to adapt too. But with Fatou… With Fatou the only thing she ever had to actively try to do is staying away from her and not fall too deep. She miserably failed at that, clear by the fact that she’s currently in her bed and in so deep she can’t remember what the outside of it looks like. Effortless.

She’s snapped out of her contemplation when Fatou shifts on her side slightly and reaches out to stroke her cheek softly like summer.

‘What are you thinking about?’, she asks.

Kieu My hesitates for one second, before recalling her freshly made realisation that around Fatou it takes more effort to hold back than to let her in, so she answers truthfully. ‘How easy this is.’

‘This?’ Fatou’s still absentmindedly moving her thumb against Kieu My’s cheek.

Kieu My gestures between the empty space separating their two warm bodies on the bed. ‘This.’

A smile grows on Fatou’s face. ‘Us?’

Kieu My nods once, and moves closer to Fatou on the bed, until her forehead rests against Fatou’s chest and her arm is around her. She can’t remember ever feeling this safe to just let go.

She stays there for a moment, simply breathing. With every passing second she feels her thoughts slow down more and more, until what’s left is a background buzz she can easily ignore for the feeling of Fatou all around her.

After a while, she lifts her head from her chest and looks up at her. Fatou squeezes her tight, before letting go. Kieu My moves upwards until they can look each other in the eye. And now she’s smiling again.

She can’t help but laugh at how happy she is. She feels so calm and somehow it doesn’t really scare her anymore.

Fatou looks at her with a semi questioning look, but most of it is fond like she gets it, so Kieu My simply shakes her head and kisses her. It soon turns a bit more intense than originally planned, but she doesn’t mind and, by the look of things, neither does Fatou.

She’s just starting to really get lost in the feeling of Fatou’s lips on her when a sudden knock on the door shocks her right out of it.

***

When she knocks on the door and then passes her head through the crack in the doorway when there’s no answers, Ava is met with the sight of Fatou and Kieu My quickly sitting up as if suddenly caught doing something private. Ava figures they were in a way, judging by the state of their hair and the sheets, the embarrassed looks they’re sending each other. Especially Kieu My, usually exuding such strong confidence, is looking anywhere but at Ava, possibly in an attempt to hide how flushed she is.

‘Can we come in?’, Ava finally asks, referring to Nora and Mailin standing behind her in the hallway.

Fatou checks her phone and, upon seeing the time, grimaces. ‘Sorry’, she mumbles sheepfully. ‘We lost track of time.’ She looks at Kieu My when she says it, and she seems to relax the slightest bit seeing Fatou’s expression.

‘It’s fine, chibi’, Ava answers. And it is. She knows Fatou doesn’t mean it and wouldn’t deliberately forget about their meeting. Who can blame her really? She’s so in love Ava can feel it radiating off of her.

‘We get it’, Nora says, with a teasing smile, making her way into the room and settling on one of the poofs. Taking on an old lady voice, she continues, ‘I remember being young and in love.’

Fatou lifts her hand to half-heartedly hide behind, says ‘shut up’ and drops it. ‘We lost track of time.’

‘We’d gathered, yeah’, Mailin answers from where she’s now sitting cross-legged on the floor.

Ava, now being the only one still left standing, makes her way to Fatou’s desk and sits down on the chair. She considers the bed for a second, but with Fatou and Kieu My on it, it suddenly feels like it should be just heirs, a small space carved out for them in the midst of the room, their own private island.

She notices Kieu My still hasn’t said anything since the girls walked in and has avoided eye contact beyond the small smile of greeting, but she also notices Fatou’s hand moving closer to Kieu My’s on the bed and Kieu My’s shoulders relaxing when she finds it, like Fatou’s touch is the anchor she needed to pull herself above water.

‘So are we still up for lunch?’Ava asks finally, pointedly glancing at what Fatou’s wearing, obviously still the clothes she slept in, but then she makes sure to catch her eye and smile to make sure she understands that she’s not upset.

She doesn’t think any of the girls mind waiting a bit longer. They’d been so wrapped up in their own worlds lately that they’d failed to take note of how the perpetually bright light in Fatou’s spirit had dimmed over the past few weeks. It’s especially obvious seeing her now, with that sparkle in her eyes and smile that would take more effort to try to suppress than to constantly wear. Her little quips come quicker and more often like when they first became friends, and she’s always been the warmest person Ava’s ever met, but now she seems to point that warmth at herself, too, instead of giving it all away and leaving herself shivering.

Of course!’, she Fatou reassures quickly and loudly, ‘I just uh. Need to get dressed and all that.’

She looks at Kieu My then, just a raise of her eyebrows in question, and Kieu My answers with something between a shrug, grimace and smile. Ava doesn’t speak fluent Kieu My the way Fatou clearly does, but she thinks she can safely say she’s uncomfortable. Ava hadn’t really paid it any mind before, but she suddenly realises she’s never seen Kieu My not dressed up before, bare-faced and bleary-eyed, wearing one of Fatou’s old t-shirts. She looks surprisingly vulnerable, holding herself differently like she’s shed off all her armour. It makes sense, Ava thinks, for her to surrender in the safe presence of Fatou, but she probably wasn’t prepared to forget all defences when it comes to Ava, Mailin and Nora. It almost makes Ava want to look away.

‘The reservation’s at twelve, so we have a little time left’, Nora comments after checking her phone, and Fatou looks away from Kieu My upon hearing her voice.

She hesitates a moment before saying, ‘I’ll be quick’, and making to get out of bed, but Ava stops her. She knows why she hesitated, and while, since Kieu My apologised to Ava and they smoothed everything out, Ava’s completely fine with the idea of her being Fatou’s girlfriend, she admits that she’s still not entirely comfortable around her. She’s never spent much time with her after all, but Fatou’s possibly the person she loves most in this world. She should get to know her girlfriend.

‘Are you coming with, Kieu My?’, she asks then. She’ll start as soon as possible.

‘That would be cool!’, Mailin adds, and Nora is enthusiastically nodding from her place on the pouf. After smiling at Ava gratefully, Fatou turns to Kieu My with her puppy eyes fully turned on, and even before Kieu My gives in Ava already knows she won’t stand a chance.

‘Yeah, sure. Thanks’, Kieu My says, looking at Ava in particular. Ava recognises part of the same sentiment she just felt reflected in Kieu My’s eyes. Maybe they haven’t found much they have in common yet, but they can start building a bond stemming from their shared love for Fatou.

She gets up from the bed, clearly wanting to get dressed as soon as possible. When she does, Fatou falls on her back and stretches out her arms with an angelic smile on her face. ‘Help me up?��

Kieu My fondly rolls her eyes before obliging and pulling her all the way up and out of bed. Fatou drops a kiss on her lips when she’s finally out of bed, and Kieu My flushes but she lets it happen.

‘We’ll be back’, Fatou exclaims, grabbing Kieu My’s hand and pulling her out of the room.

After the door closes behind them, the girls catch each other’s eyes and burst into laughter at the ridiculousness of their friend. Ava ‘s so happy to be back on good terms with them. The few weeks they were fighting was so hard for her, even though she maybe didn’t show it. She truly loves them a lot and to feel so completely misunderstood and taken for granted by the people who are supposed to have her back always is not an experience she’d care to repeat. They all need to do a little better.

It doesn’t take Fatou and Kieu My much time to get back to them, the waiting filled with chatter and laughter. Ava doesn’t mean to listen in on their conversation, but she’s sitting the closest to the door, and as much as tries to block it out, she can’t help but overhear Fatou ask, ‘You feeling okay now?’, standing in front of the door to her room, clearly waiting to make sure Kieu My is comfortable before rejoining the others.

It’s quiet for a moment in which Ava imagines Kieu My is nodding or something similar. Then, in a quiet voice she answers, ‘Yeah. Just felt like I was violently being woken from some perfect dream. I wasn’t prepared.’ She says the last part accompanied by a laugh as if trying to brush it off, but knowing Fatou, she’ll take it seriously.

It’s silent again, for a slightly longer time. Ava tries not to actively imagine what’s happening to give them privacy, but she has an idea anyway. Her brain doesn’t have the same moral compass as she herself does. After a few minutes, Fatou breaks the silence and whatever else that’s going on, ‘Ready now?’

When Kieu My laughs this time, it sounds much more genuine. ‘Ready. Love you.’

‘Love you, too.’

When they enter the room, Ava pretends to shake herself out of something she was reading on her phone. She doesn’t know if she’s convincing, she’s never been much of an actress after all, her emotions right there for everyone to see, but she thinks the girls are too wrapped up in each other to notice, either way.

‘Let’s go?’, she asks enthusiastically, getting up from her chair.

‘Let’s go!’, Fatou cheers, pulling the others into her infectious excitement, holding Kieu My’s hand and smiling blindingly at Ava.

Yeah, inviting Kieu My was definitely a good idea, Ava decides. There’s not many things better than seeing her chibi so completely happy.

[jq37]

The Case File – Mice and Murder Ep 4

The Case of the Puzzling Painting 

Welcome back to Loam Hall where our Sylvan Sleuths are still hanging out in a room with a dead body. When we left off, Gangie had been snooping into Sly’s conversation about Fletcher Cottonbottom and now, he uses his Criminal Contacts feature to see what he knows, if anything, about a recent return. With a 26 he knows that his family used to be well respected but after the whole business with the insurance fraud and Sly busting it, the family kind of fell out of favor. So Fletcher was in a weird position where he was rich and a part of high society and had enough dirt on everyone to get them to do things for him but couldn’t actually show his face because he was disgraced. Gangie also knows that it’s rumored that Fletcher’s weapons running scheme was actually a front for moving art. 

With regard to more recent news about Fletcher, Gangie was never in direct contact with him but he knows that 3-4 years ago, his most trusted henchmen started going missing--people attributed it to some kind of “Cottonbottom Curse” and that rumor is part of why Gangie decided to get out of dodge in the first place.

Buck does an insight check on the rest of the PCs and, with an 18, doesn’t clock anyone there as especially suspicious (Lars isn’t there but like..it’s Lars). Ian tries to give Squire Badger his last rites but ends up pulling the knife out, putting it back in, flapping blood everywhere with his feathers, and sending Constance into a badger rage. Buck tries to help smooth over things, claiming his big screw up was a new style of avant garde church ritual (Ian appreciates the support--who ministers to the ministers, you know?) and in the process sees his knife for the first time. Which, you know. He obviously suspected before but never nice to see.

While this is going on, Daisy sneaks off to try and check on the secret door and everyone sees her do it/eventually follows her but we’ll get back to her once we check in with Lars who is en route to the kitchen. Once in the hallway, they do a perception check and, on a 15, there are 3 doors and Ally gets to pick one. There’s a kitchen where Gilfoyle is talking to a group, a door where someone is crying behind it, and a door where they can hear nothing. Ally, the galaxy brained genius, goes for the quiet door. That’s the money door and with their ears pressed against the door, they can hear Edwina and Carolyn--the two mice maids that overheard Buck’s conversation with the Badger--whispering about what happened there and wondering if they should pay back the money they were paid to by Buck.

Gilfoyle walks out and sees Lars snooping but on a Nat 20 deception check, Lars is able to play dumb and skate by suspiciousness. Also, with a dirty 20 perception check, when the mice maids leave, Lars sees that they’ve been stealing silverware. 

OK, back to Daisy who is getting to the séance room as quickly as possible. She has two rounds before people catch up to her so she’s trying to make the most of it by Investigating the painting she noticed was bolted to the wall earlier. She first rolls an 11, getting no new information. This is so frustrating to her. She’s good at this dammit! But being around Sly is rattling her terribly. She has feelings for him--strong ones. But she isn’t herself around him. How can she be with him if he makes her so unlike herself? Her introspection is enough to earn her advantage from Brennan on her second roll and boom! 25! Daisy is back. 

With that roll, she notices that the eyes in the painting actually move and can be used as a spying post on the other side. Then Sly runs in and they start bickering immediately. Daisy throws a crystal ball at him and absolutely brains him on a nat 20--the first combat roll of this very RP oriented season. 

Buck and Ian are still in the room with the body for the moment and Buck asks Ian about the first few names on the list Gangie gave him. There were a bunch of members of the Burrows family--a working class family that all died of a consumptive illness. And then the Diggories who died in a carriage accident. The connecting thread? All badgers. Buck then zooms away to follow Daisy, Ian follows, and Lars, seeing them as they leave the kitchens, also follows. 

So all the PCs are in the séance room now and they kinda have the sense of, “OK y’all, we’re all screwed but we’re al screwed together so we better throw our lot in with each other and start working together so we don’t die because no one else here is on our side.” Buck proposes an alliance and they all agree to share info. Sly asks about Buck’s knife and Buck admits it’s his but says he didn’t do it. Sly believes him--not because he wouldn’t do it but because he has no motive (that he knows about anyway. Buck doesn’t spill about the contract). 

Gangie shares the list of names from before with the whole group.It’s like half badgers and then some other critters (full list here). Sly doesn’t share any of his secret info Grant got texted. Daisy and Buck don’t share about the key (though Sly you’ll remember sat her steal it). Buck does however mention his suspicion about the fact that Gilfoyle wasn’t around when Squire Badger gave his speech and Daisy does the same about the fact that he said he would call the cops but the cops haven’t arrived yet. Lar’s remembers that Jez’s husband is gunning for at seat in parliament and wonders if this is related somehow. Daisy mentions the eyes in the painting and everyone is like way to bury the lede dude! Especially when they’ve just all spilled their secrets. Everyone checks on the painting and with a 25 Gangie can intuit that this is probably used to spy on rich people when they’re mid-séance and vulnerable and spilling secrets (which he doesn’t share but Daisy comes to a similar conclusion on her own). Buck on a 23 can smell ledgers (idk how but the DM said so and I’m reporting it) and guesses that that’s where the Squire’s real office is which means that’s probably where the contract he needs to find and destroy is too. 

 The group makes a list of their loose ends which are what’s on the other side of the painting, what’s up with Fletcher, and the smell of ozone. Plus Ian remembers that the date on the bust in the study is wrong and shares with the class. 

Lars tries to get to the other side of the room by ripping the painting off the hinges with a very impressive 26 but there is fully a wall behind it and the noise brings Gilfoyle, Harding, and the Badger kids running. Lars notes that in the stone behind the painting it says “⅓”  and then hurriedly puts the painting back. Daisy thinks that might refer to a secret third floor or basement accessible by the elevator (but my first thought was that there were 2 other spying paintings in the house somewhere).

Everyone in the room hears the Gilfoyle and co. coming and try to act natural. There is a group stealth check that they all tank so heavily that all the suspicious staff and kids need to do to suss them out is roll above a 5.

AND THEY ROLL A TWO. 

With that, Lucretia appears, totally buys that they’re doing very important spiritual work in there, and in fact guards the door for them. They use the privacy bought by their very vigilant sentry to plan their next steps. Sly, Daisy, and Ian will check out the study while they rest of them check out the elevator. As they exit, Lucretia asks if they got the answers they needed out of the spirits.

Oh yes, says Daisy, echoing Lucretia’s nonsense prediction from last episode. Either something good or bad might happen. Either way, I’m excited! 

Case Notes

How baller of a player move is it to say a line so poignant that the DM is forced to let you roll with advantage? I have been on the other side of that as the DM and it’s so great. MAD respect to Rekha for that. AND THEN THE DICE COOPERATED. You simply love to see it. 

The other best Rekha line is Daisy to Sly upon being called out about stealing the key in his normal, coy, quippy way: You saw me bitch.

Shout out to Grant also for being constantly on as Sly. The guy is on point always. Impeccable.

I am SO SO SO happy Daisy and Sly are on the same mission team. If I was friends with either of them I’d be like, “This is a toxic relationship, they make you too crazy.” But as an outside viewer I want them to be within crystal ball throwing distance always.  

The question I’m sure we’re all asking: Is Brennan enough of a minx to invoke the butler did it trope? I know everyone at the table is thinking it even if none of them have said it outright. I figured the reason the cops haven’t showed up yet was the storm but who knows?

Two pieces of housekeeping, only Buck and Gangie know what the room behind the painting is with their high rolls and, after the bit of passing it back and forth with Buck, Daisy has the key. 

I really can’t do the bit about Gangie’s mom justice. I wish there was a comedy Emmy for actual play DnD shows so D20 could get the accolades it deserves just for that bit. 

Brennan indicated that the conversation between the mice maids was the most interesting info (Gilfoyle convo to staff was too public to be juicy/they could get the info from one of the many gathered staff people and crying is info on its own--though I am curious about who the crying person was) but I’m wondering what he meant by that. Because the fact that Buck paid them might be interesting if Buck did it. But we know he didn’t. Is it the fact that they were in the room at all? Again, info that the party knows if not Lars specifically.  The fact that they were stealing silverware? What’s Brennan’s game here?

[anonbebe97me]

𝕄𝕒𝕜𝕖 𝕚𝕥 𝕎𝕠𝕣𝕜 (Ch.4: Cupcake.)

A/N: This was a fic I’d originally posted on Wattpad last year. Hope you guys enjoy!

Description: Working for Mr.Yoo Kihyun was an absolute nightmare; Y/N hated everything about him, and was convinced he was either part demon or at least some sort of reptilian hybrid- never in a million years would she have expected to learn that he was, indeed only human, and even worse; that he might even be…likeable?

Link To: || 1 || 2 || 3 || 5 || 6 || 7

I sat at my desk, my face buried in my work as I tried to figure Kihyun's (and my) itinerary for our business trip to Korea. He had so many meetings that I needed to be in with him, that I could barely fit in any down time for myself.

My desk phone started to ring and I saw that it was coming from Kihyun. I sighed and bit my lip before I picked up the call.

"Yes, Mr.Yoo?" I asked.

"Y/N, I'm gonna need you to stay late tonight. I need you to figure out the building permits so that we'll have them in time for Tuesday morning when we leave," He said.

I shut my eyes tightly, trying to control my tone, "Are you sure you need me to stay late? I'd be happy to come in early for the rest of the week-"

"I want them done as soon as possible, so I need you to stay tonight and possibly come early as well," Though I couldn't see him, I was almost sure he was only half-paying attention to the conversation, as he was probably going through his schedule.

"Mr.Yoo, I think I'd really just prefer to come early-" I started feeling exasperated.

"And I'd prefer for you to do as I ask," He said, his tone steady but firm.

I looked down, defeated, "Yes, I'm sorry Mr.Yoo... I'll stay," I said.

Without another word, he hung up the phone.

I put my phone on the receiver and propped my elbows onto my desk, letting my face fall forward into my hands. My blood boiled, but the mental exhaustion that I felt was too great to dwell on it for too long.

Believe it or not, it was my dream to work at Yoo Industries, from the time I was in high school. My father worked here in the marketing department when it was owned by Kihyun's grandfather. I wanted to work in marketing myself, but no positions were open. Desperate to just find a job, I accepted the first one I saw; the position of a personal assistant to the CEO. I thought it would be a sure-fire way to secure a career in the company, but it seemed like I was at a complete standstill.

And yet, I still have hope...

When people started packing up to leave, I stared longingly at the elevator, wishing I could be one of them... thought it was quite a peaceful experience to be the only one in the office. Then again, a big con was having to stay late with Kihyun.

I was already feeling tired, though it was only about half an hour later than when I would normally leave. I yawned and stretched out in my seat. "I need coffee...I wonder if they're still open," I said.

I grabbed my mug and took the elevator to the lobby. Sure enough, Shownu stood at the counter, though it looked like he was getting ready to close up. I sprinted as quickly as I could in my heels.

"Oh wait!" I called out, causing Shownu to look up.

He smiled at me as I stood at the counter trying to catch my breath.

"Are you still open?" I asked between breaths.

"Well..." He looked around, a thoughtful look on his face, "Not usually, but I can make an exception," he said with a sweet smile, causing my stomach to turn to knots.

"You sure? I don't want to get you in trouble," I said, concerned.

"Don't worry about it," He gently grabbed the mug from my hand, "Besides, it's the least I can do for our prettiest customer..." He said, his sweet smile turning too a smirk.

I blushed uncontrollably and looked down. Suddenly, I as feeling wide awake.

He filled my cup and then handed it to me, "Thank you," I said with a smile.

I reached into my wallet for the money to pay for the coffee, but he put his hand up and waved me away, "This one's on me..." he said, making direct eye contact with me.

I didn't know how to react- I mean, I wanted to jump across the counter and have him right then and there- but I managed to nod.

"Wow... what a gentleman," I said, trying my best to sound flirty but not too eager.

"Thanks Shownu," I said before turning around and walking into the elevator.

This time, when I turned around, I saw only Shownu, who was still watching me as the doors closed.

My face was still burning when I got up my floor. Kihyun was sitting leaning on the front of my desk, his face glued to his phone. My heart dropped as I waited for him to notice the coffee in my hand and start yelling at me. I walked over to my desk- and him- with my head down and I put my coffee next to me.

"Did you need something, Mr.Yoo?" I asked.

He seemed to not have heard me, so I sat down and waited for whatever he as gonna say. I sipped my coffee, and I could practically feel my eyes dilating when the caffeine kicked in. Now, I was ready to work.

"You ever feel stuck?" His voice cuts through the silence as he looks up at the empty office, catching me off guard.

I was unsure of how to answer him, not only because of how random the question is, but because of how personal it seemed.

"I'm not sure what you mean, sir..." I said, choosing not to answer.

He stood up and fixed his blazer, keeping his back to me.

"Nothing. Where were you?" He asked, finally turning around.

He spotted the coffee cup next to me on the desk and  sighed, "Never mind," he said.

He was usually quite rushed and energetic, but in that moment he looked as exhausted as I felt. He went back to his office without saying anything else. II hadn't realized that I'd been holding my breath, but once he'd closed the door behind him, I was finally able to exhale.

Do you ever feel stuck? His words rang in my head.

"The answer is...yes," I said, more to myself than to him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was 8:30pm, and I'd spent the entire evening doing the necessary research for the permits we needed in order to build the offices in South Korea. I hadn't seen Kihyun since the moment he'd had at my desk, and I was wondering how he was doing.

Kihyun walked out of his office without a word, got in the elevator. Surprisingly, he kept his head down the entire time. That was quite unusual for him.

My phone buzzed on my desk next to me, and Karina's name popped up on the screen. I picked it up and opened the message. Of course, in true Karina-fashion, she sent me a gif  of an old lady twerking.

Karina: Karaoke bar again this Friday?

I bit my lip, unsure of her plan. My phnoe buzzed again.

Karina: Come on, Lizzie was so mad we went without her last time. She said she'll buy the first round ;)  

I rolled my eye and replied to her message.

Me: Idk... I've got a bad feeling about it

Karina: Well don't. Your boss ain't gonna go to karaoke two weekends in a row. Normal ppl don't do that.

I chuckled and rolled my eyes, relaxing a bit.

Me: Normal ppl don't do that? Geez. What does that make us? Alright alright, we'll go. But if we see him, we're LEAVING.

Karina: Deal.

I sighed and put my phone back down. Just then, the elevator doors opened and Kihyun walked out holding two brown paper bags, one in each hand. They had the logo from the All-Night cafe, which was a few blocks away. My stomach growled, and I was glad he was still too far away to have heard it.

I looked down and pretended to be doing my work.

"Here," He said, placing one of the bags on my desk.

"Oh, did you need me to check it?" I asked, confused.

He shook his head, "No, it's for you."

"Oh no, Mr.Yoo, I'm not hungry, really-"

"I got it for you. You haven't eaten since lunch. Just eat it," He said, making his way to the entrance of his office.

I didn't know how to react- he'd never done something like this before.

He grabbed the handle to the door, but took a moment to glance at me, "and I heard your stomach growling... you're not a very good liar," He said with an eye roll.

I blushed, embarrassed.

He walked into his office, leaving me with the delicious aroma of whatever was in the bag. I reached into the bag and pulled out small cardboard box and a black container of fettuccine alfredo and broccoli. My mouth watered instantly at the sight of the pasta.

My favorite!

I put the container aside for a moment to see what was inside the little box. I opened it and was surprised to see a little pink cupcake with a small, edible pearl in the center of the frosting. I almost couldn't believe my eyes, and I glanced at his door in confusion.I grabbed my phone and look for Kihyun's contact.

Me: Thank you for the food, Mr.Yoo.

I then took a picture of the cupcake, deciding I had to document this uncharacteristically kind gesture- also, the cupcake was pretty.

My phone buzzed in my hand, and Kihyun's name popped up on the screen.

Kihyun: Don't worry about it.

I sighed and put my phone down. My stomach was growling even louder than before, soo I reached for the container of food and dug in.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"He did what!?" Karina and Lizzie exclaimed in unison.

Even through Facetime, they were far too loud for me.

"He bought me dinner...kind of. I mean, we were staying late because we were working on getting the building permits done," I explained.

"That sounds so romantic!" Karina squealed.

I rolled my eyes, "No, no, no. It was business. We weren't even in the same room for most of the time," I said.

"Well, what'd he get you?" Lizzie asked.

"Fettuccine and a cupcake?" I said, unsure of what that had anything to do with.

"Girl! He got you pasta???" Karina asked.

"And a cupcake, don't forget the cupcake," Lizzie added.

I was getting annoyed, "So what?"

"SO, pasta is like, a sexy meal, you know?" Karina said with a serious expression on her face, as was Lizzie's.

"Pasta is a sexy meal," I mocked Karina, "Do you people realize how ridiculous that sounds?"

"What about the cupcake? Was it like, Safeway brand?" Lizzie asked.

I shook my head, "No, it was from the All Night Cafe. You know that super hipster place we went to for Lizzie's birthday two years ago?" I said.

They squealed once more.

"Am I talking to twenty-five year olds, or teenagers?" I asked, irritatedly.

They laughed at my expense.

"Wait..." I said, remembering the picture I took of the cupcake, "I took a picture of the cupcake."

"Send it to me!" Karina exclaimed.

I chuckled, "Fine. But after I send it, let's move on from this subject," I said.

I went to my gallery and grabbed and selected the picture of the cupcake and then sent it.

"Let me know when you get it," I said.

"Kay," Karina said.

A moment or two went by and I picked my phone up again, "Did you get it?" I asked.

Karina and Lizzie shook their heads, "Nope. Maybe you have to hang up- sometimes the messages won't send when you're on Face time," Lizzie said.

I nodded, "Okay, I'll hang up. Let me know when you get it," I said, pressing the End button on the screen.

I went to my messages and pressed on Karina's name, but I didn't see the message.

Hm...that's weird.

Suddenly, Kihyun's name popped up on my phone.

What the..? He never texts me after hours.

I pulled his name down on the screen, revealing the message.

Kihyun: ???

I was confused, so I opened up the entire conversation.

"Crap!" I squealed.

On the thread between Kihyun and I, was the picture of the pink cupcake he'd bought me.

[snowtimeisbesttime]

Thoughts and questions on Volume 10, routes 1 and 2! ...finally.

-Back in Homestuck both Feferi and Eridan got the short end of the stick screentime-wise, but here, they both got a nice bunch of much-needed Interesting Stuff! It's a shame we're (almost surely) heading back to Earth now, to befriend the heck out of the alpha kids.

~ROUTE 2~

-MC expected the Heiress to be super awful, and then Feferi has literally 2 good endings (whose achievements seem to be reversed route-wise?) and her bad ending you get by actively choosing not to further interact with her. And of course, she's already very much against the Empire, even if she doesn't quite seem to interact with it...

-Maybe I read too many fanfics where all of the beta trolls rebel, but I'm kinda surprised that The Rebellion's still a Vriska & Terezi only thing. Let's hope we get to see if Fef does join up...

-Looks like the whole “Witches living in the middle of nowhere with their extremely powerful guardians” thing is starting to become a trend, huh? In Feferi's specific case her meteor probably fell right in front of Gl'bgolyb (a pretty damn large area, actually), who would’ve then immediately gone “holy shit a sky baby” and adopted her.

-Considering that the Condesce can just come down to Alternia and personally get rid of the Heiress (singular, explicitly), living so far from everything was probably a blessing in disguise. And maybe also NOT being involved with how the planet's run- though we'd have to ask a certain Trizza Hiveswap about that...

-She was planning on waiting thousands of sweeps before challenging the Condesce, though iirc the whole thing with Heiresses challenging HIC was something demanded by their shared lusus... She didn't really bother with future ruling plans in Homestuck because they were going to play SGRUB; though Glubglub also bonded more strongly with Feferi because HIC was too far from Alternia... enough to actively favor her over the Empress?

-We also get even more confirmation that seadwellers are OP: Feferi blows up a huge air bubble (that stays on the ocean floor) for MC not to drown like it's nothing, and she's very likely even stronger than Equius*. Meanwhile, Eridan gets thrown through a party cannon (that was just there on the airship for reasons i guess??) AND has Daraya's mall thrown at him by Sollux, and practically walks it off, though he does say later that it was close. You know who'd be a Great Additional Data Point??? Cridea Jeevik.......

-*However, they would not fight, as they both stan Nepeta. On a more serious note, having Feferi interact on-screen with the other trolls would've been very nice... she's hanging out with Sollux in Eridan's route but We Don't See It... We know she's friends with Kanaya, and she also had a pretty nice interaction with Vriska back on one of the walkaround flashes too,

-On seadwellers in general- neck gills are canon (though if i remember correctly a Very Old Tumblr Post, that'd actually not be the best place to have gills? Idk tho), as we can see in Feferi's route; and then we have Eridan, who we know has spent very little time underwater in his entire life, with his scarf *and* a high neck shirt. (this might just be me but. wouldn't it be super uncomfortable to have clothing touching one's gills??? i guess it would kinda depend on the specific take on gills, biology wise)

-Feferi owns a ~fancy air-producing conch shell~, so that's that for any fan seadwellers that Need to have landdwelling friends over.

-MC theorizes that there might be something that makes adult empresses evil... something external, such as a powerful curse of some sort... which would have to transfer from dead empress to freshly crowned empress somehow... really makes you think...

-Feferi can use one of Glubglub's eyes (?) as a crystal ball from which she can access the Actual Dark Motherfucking Carnival, and get metaphysical advice from there. And the one giving her said advice is our precious clown son Karako, who may or may not have gotten like 10 degrees on weird meta shit since we last saw him- assuming he's the same bapy as last time...

-According to Karako or whomstever is speaking through him, there's a creator above this world's creator, as well as another creator above him, and another one above her, and so on and so forth maybe? Wonder what's this setting up for........

-Feferi can either meditate her way up through layers and layers of meta, so she might access them and interact with them, or choose to change stuff in the Alternia she knows and lives in, small as it may be; both these endings have a lot of potential for cool stuff that I hope we'll get to see. Depending on the choice, MC is either a cheese or a marshmallow.

-In Fef's bad end, MC wonders about the workings and limits of their plot armor; they do give it a good whirl in this entire volume.

-I am incredibly pleased to announce that the ally/eely pun also works in Spanish (aliado/anguilado)

~ROUTE 1~

-We find out that both Vriska and Feferi have dumped Eridan- the first's likely busy being gay and doing revolutions with Terezi, but what happened (besides charming quirks such as charging for listening to him brooding) to make Fef break it off? In Homestuck she broke things off with him as soon as they were in the game and Glubglub didn't have to be fed 413 lusii a minute, but there's no SGRUB in Pesterquest; we see Fef's mom in her route, yet we don't hear anything about Eridan's whole Orphaner Jr thing...

-Regarding his additional lack of friends: it's perfectly understandable that Kanaya would drop him, considering she had to deal with a lot of his bullshit back in the comic, but I thought Karkat was actually friends with Eridan? Before Murderstuck of course, but that's obviously not happened in Pesterquest...

-Eridan's 13 years old (and also in charge of feeding glubglub, let's not forget that), where the hell has he found the time to make a nuisance of himself (to the point where employees in some places are legally allowed to stab him if he bothers them) on like half the actual planet????

-MC's reaction when confronted with a room full of fancy clothing is, of course, Big Hype... And wanting something new for their wardrobe.

-so, are Eridan and Roxy nb wizard solidarity?

-Chances are everybody’s already seen this by now orz but I need it to establish a base: Hussie's made an statement where he explained -amongst other things- Eridan's deal with Shrek, originally from [S] Collide. That post could be summarized as:

1) highblood lusii tend to suck ass because of high expectations and low emotional availability, & seahorsedad wasn't an exception; so when the trolls were looking up human stuff back in the meteor and Eridan found Shrek, he saw him as a Good Lusus Figure.

2) Sollux, however, has a good dad that loves and supports his trans son (as sollux trans confirmed) and is also Kinda Ogre Shaped, and Eridan resents him for that → rivalry

3) (it's also confirmed that the eridan from [s] collide was legitimately so happy to be spending time with his dad shrek that he never realized he was dead)

-So: where did Eridan (more like whoever’s in charge of the cinema actually?) get Shrek 2 from if he's never had any contact with humans in this timeline / reality / canon chunk??? It might be one of the Funky Timeline Changes we made in Aradia's route.

-Also: if Eridan knows Sollux is trans (implied in the post but not confirmed), then the conversation the two have later in the route (and specifically Why Eridan begins that conversation) kiiinda takes a dump on his talk about gender (which otherwise is a very good sign that he's got the potential to be a decent person IF he gets his shit together and also thinks about other things -most obviously the hemospectrum- with the same level of depth and all that).

-MC's had their first taste of their Homestuck memories. Let's see how they get them back this time.

-not to self plug (too much) but one of Eridan's fancy articles of clothing looks a Lot like an outfit that's appeared in Mirrorbent?? (← warning for a bit of blood) The one with the purple and yellow gradient in the rack furthest to the right... the one in mirrorbent is basically Gramma Loreto Rights: The Jacket

-After the rollercoaster of hapenings that is his route, Eridan finally understands that he's got to change himself and unlearn all of Alternia's bullshit if he wants his situation to change for the better. Can't believe it took getting An Actual Mall thrown at him to make him realize that...........

-(That mall is of course the one from Daraya's Friendsim- and she sure felt like a Destruction class back then... 2x hopeprince combo mayhaps?)

-Kanaya said in Sollux's route that it was less than advisable for him to overexert his powers, and the only thing he *doesn't* use here is his psionic blasts- hope he's fine! (then again this is probably our last volume on alternia and blah blah blah)

[seven-oomen]

Okay, so first off, Happy Birthday to your cat!  I hope he got lots of his favorite treats.  Glad to hear that today went as well as can be hoped for you.  And overall today wasn’t too bad here.  We got several big truck deliveries, but when I deal with those I tend to deal less with customers, so it sort of balances itself out.  We’ve been told that we’ll be closing early all week because of the protests, so that’s been ramping the anxiety, but the internet has provided a number of pleasant distractions on my breaks.

Secondly, I would pick Noah for the one that has the second set of twins, for mainly two random reasons; 1) because last time it went Chris, then Noah, so it feels like it should do the same this time, and Chris already had Ben, 2) because it keeps the number of kids per family more balanced- 4 & 3 rather than 2 & 5.  Idk, my brain just gets weird about symmetry and balance in things and I’ve never figured out if it’s an ADD related thing or just a me thing.  Also, the idea of him trying to do his job while pregnant, with Chris and ESPECIALLY Peter trying to be super protective at the same time is just amusing to me.

And actually, thinking about that and the preview for the next chapter made me think of a couple things that didn’t make it into my reviews.  When/how/from whom did Chris learn about the fire? Did Gerard or Kate tell him in a gloating sort of way and kind of tip him off that something was hinky about it, or was it through other hunter contacts, so the thought of outside involvement came later?  

Was he still pregnant with Ben, or was it later on?  Did he contact anyone in Beacon Hills about it for further info at any point before he showed back up in town?  Because I was trying to think about some of the things that could turn up later for angst (why I was doing that to myself is anyone’s guess, but here we are…) and it occurred to me that if Noah was going to have any lingering upset over Chris leaving it would most likely (to me) be from the time right after the fire.  

He’s just lost Claudia, and went off the rails from it, but at least he had Peter, and Laura, and the other Hales.  Now Peter is in a coma, Laura’s left town, and the rest of his adopted/found family is dead.  He has no idea where Chris is, or if he’s safe from whoever did this (does he know about what happened between Chris and Peter before Chris left again?, and he’s dealing a set of even more heavily traumatized twins right now.  I feel like even the most understanding person is gonna have some stuff to work through there.  (Also, Jesus, poor Melissa [possibly for multiple reasons])

Uhhh…sorry to send things into a drama tailspin there for a moment.  Allow me to try and brighten things back up with the original impetus for me to make this a submission and not an ask; because you mentioned X-Men Halloween costumes and I have Thoughts.  *takes super deep breath*  Because omg, yes, so very many options.  

Side note - I would be so happy if someone dressed as Nightcrawler.  He is my precious fuzzy elfin bb, and I love him to bits and get so tired of him getting left out of things (looking at you Funko.)  I feel like Stiles or Peter have the best attitude match (maybe, MAYBE Jackson), but don’t know if anyone would want to deal with the amount of makeup involved.  But, anyway, just, the possibilities.  

Stiles telling Malia she can’t just take the easy way out by going as Wolfsbane, so she takes one of her old white A New Hope Leia dresses and cuts it down into an old school Mystique costume. 

 Peter pulling rank and telling Derek he’s the Alpha so he gets to be Wolverine (this even works better height-wise [I didn’t realize you didn’t know their approximate heights.  I’d looked them up before for…reasons.  Having seen them standing next to each other repeatedly, I’m pretty sure any actual height advantage Ian has comes strictly from his hair], although when Stiles points this out he earns himself a hell of a glare.)  

Naturally that means Chris has to be Cyclops, because, well, calm and serious.  Noah realizes this means they expect him to be Jean Grey.  (N: “Why can’t I ever be a character that wears normal pants?!” C: “Well I have to be the boring one all the time” P: “I mean, you are the closest to a telepath of the three of us.  Don’t you want us mock fighting over you?” N: “…if we do this I get my pick of the Phoenix costumes.”)  

Stiles and Noah trying to fight over getting to be Gambit so they can do exploding playing cards, but getting told they can’t be Gambit unless they can do the accent correctly (Gambit isn’t Gambit if he’s not Cajun, that’s just how it is, I don’t make the rules.)  While part of me thinks it’d be funny to see Jackson as Nightcrawler because of the tail thing, I think Stiles would be more entertaining.  

He’d make little smoke bomb things to fake the sulfur and brimstone effect of his teleporting.  All the family members with enhanced senses would HATE him because they STANK something fierce, and it LINGERED.  But anytime one of them tried to tackle him to get them away, he’d yell “BAMF!” throw on to the floor and run like hell.  

Jackson would be Iceman so he could make it a crossover costume with the character from Top Gun so he could wear aviators and a leather bomber with his outfit.  Allison could dress like Shadowcat from the early Excalibur run, and she could see if Ben would dress up as Lockheed with her (because that would be adorable).  

Derek would decide that if he can’t be Wolverine and glare angrily at people the whole time, he’ll be Colossus so he can just stare with silent disappointment the whole time.  Scott would decide he wants to be Cable (because “…he just looks so cool…”), so Melissa and Chris would dig through their old hunter gear to help him make his costume.  

Melissa could be Jubilee, and rig up little flash bangs to fake the plasma bursts (unlike Noah she has absolutely no qualms about proving that she can still rock a pair of short shorts.)  Lydia would either be Rogue to show off that SHE at least can manage a believable accent, or Emma Frost for the looks that costume would gain her from Allison.  

Alternatively; both sets of twins argue over who gets to be Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver, so they decide that one pair will do the classic comic version, and one will do either the Evolution cartoon version or the MCU version (though they are allowed to switch out the Quicksilver for the other film version if they choose).  

Lydia claims Mystique instead (it’s tempting to make her Banshee, but that seems a bit TOO on the nose), or maybe one of the other Phoenix looks (when I say Phoenix looks I mean Jean’s Phoenix or Dark Phoenix suit from the comics, because I LOVE that outfit), and Ben dresses as Beast (because that would also be adorable).  *finally stops to take another breath*  …umm…so anyway, yeah, as a perennial X-men fan I think it’s safe to say I love this idea, and am so grateful for you putting it in my head…  …sorry about the wall of text, I may have got a little carried away…  …again…

I loved every single sentence of this wall of text, so never apologize. (Although I did break it up a little before posting because that makes it easier to read for other people.

I think all of my ideas for the middle of this fic where either based on questions you, or @artemisa97​ asked me in reviews. So honestly, keep them coming if you want to ask them. They help me determine where the problem areas are, what kind of kinks I need to work out, so honestly, even the sad ones are a great help.

And yeah, I hadn’t looked up their heights yet, I just assumed Peter and Chris were a bit bigger than Noah, but I was delightfully wrong!

I do have one more gem to share, a height comparison of some of the boys and to show you just how tiny Ben is compared to the others.

Blue - Noah (182 cm / 6 ft)

Purple - Chris (177 cm / 5′10)

Red - Peter (178 cm / 5′10)

Yellow - Derek (183 cm / 6 ft)

Green - Ben (111 cm / 3′8)

Turquoise - Jackson (170 cm / 5′7)

Ben’s height is about average for someone between the age of 5 & 6, Jackson’s height is a little on the short side, but I’d imagine that he’d still grow a little until he’s like 20 and end up being around 175/176 cm.

I’d imagine Stiles to be a little taller around 172 cm, Allison is a little shorter at 165 cm and Malia is around 168 cm. (They will all still grow a bit, averaging between 173 (Allison) and 178 (Stiles) )

And the one thing I will say about whether or not Noah gets the twins, without getting too spoilery, or maybe it is, I’m sorry if it is but I can’t help not share.

Is that eventually both Noah and Chris have the same amount of kids from Peter. And one of them has twins. I’m still debating on names, in the deleted scene I named them Mikhail and Adeline, I currently have different names picked out. 

And I think the balance thing is ADD related, because I had the same issue with planning the story XD. So yeah, Peter gets to have a lot of kids, and adopt a lot more into the pack, because Season 2 is kinda canon in this universe, in the sense that Isaac, Erica, and Boyd are still turned. Kira comes along, and of course Lydia. Considering what I have planned for Danny and Mack, I might add them to the pack as well.

And omg I LIVE for those X-men costume ideas <3 Omg. I love it. Considering Stiles’ abilities he would definitely be Nightcrawler and would probably use a quick spell or two to get the makeup in place. (A druid invented this fantastic spell to always get eyeliner on fucking point and shared it in their spellbook. Spoiler alert; said druid was Noah in his teenage punk years. Turns out, it works for other makeup too.)

And I’m in fucking love with all of these ideas actually, I can’t really say which I like more.

[neshabeingchildish]

Poly Wanna? Ch. 7

This is probably my messiest chapter YET. We get some action too, and some pain and even some violence, so TW for that. I didn’t put a warning on the ffnet post, but I think most of the readers read this here anyway and only my two muffins read on that end. They know who they are. At any rate, prepare to drama to the fullest reality TV style extent.

Lemme know if I need to take you off the tag. Idk who’s actually reading because I’ve only heard from a couple of people, so idk if y’all still interested.

@adorkable-blackgirl  @chenoahchantel @ciara-knightly @cactus-con @up-the-tube @riebellion  @itsyaapollochild@oof–musicals @lesbian-so-what @woahjusttakeiteasy-man @meadowstryingtobepretty @imma-sensitive-btch @okaygal21 @midernacht @divinereign4ever @xoxoemille

The Unspoken Stories

“You know how sometimes, people say things like ‘I had a feeling about this’ or ‘I simply just knew,” or anything else to indicate that they possessed some intuition about things? I often wonder where that comes from? Is it like Charlotte says - the universe, energy, spirit, etc or whatever, or is it something inside of you that just tells you, like a superpower? I don’t tend to have a lot of intuition about many things. I tend to try to assess what I see, but I’m usually battling with multiple questions about exactly what that is. I don’t have any intuition that I know of, so the feeling that I’ve been getting around Char and Jasp… I think it’s probably wishful thinking, but they’re warming up to me.”

Jasper decided that a good place to maybe talk out some of Charlotte’s tension, as it related to Henry and the other two girls was to have them air it out at the spa. Henry and Charlotte both thought that was a terrible idea, but he raised a good point, “Would it be better at a fancy restaurant, at dinner, where drinks might be thrown? Or at one of our homes, where possessions might be damaged? At least if things go poorly, everyone can go to a different room and get some stress relief treatment.” 

“Why are your expectations filled with violence?” Charlotte wondered, knowing that he probably was lowkey accusing her of possibly whipping somebody’s ass. 

She wasn’t violent, so much as she had been more likely to fight since her breakup with Henry. That was the first time she struck someone in anger, and it felt good at the moment, but definitely bad afterwards. Even if she hadn’t hurt her wrist, she hurt her pride. She let him make her so mad that she resorted to putting her hands on someone. She didn’t like that about herself. And, it made it easier for her to be willing to put her hands on others, since then. Boxing helped, though. Punching a bag instead of punching people, whether or not they deserved it, kept her from punching her dad right in the chin any time that she saw him.

“Because, I’ve had to pull my girlfriend backstage for fighting customers,” Jasper answered simply.

“Wasn’t a fight. He grabbed me and I defended myself.”

“You broke a glass over his head. I’ve DROPPED those glasses, numerous times. Do you know the level of not with the shits you have to be to break one of those on a human being?” Jasper wondered.

“He had a thick skull,” she said and shrugged her shoulders. “I’m not violent. I’m defensive. There’s a difference. Whenever I punched at Henry, it was a reflex to him grabbing me when I was trying to leave and was already pissed. I’ve only ever hit men who made me feel threatened or violated my space. They might rule this world, but I’m not a part of any man’s inheritance.”

Charlotte had a WHOLE regimen planned for the day. She had checked on the prices and made a checklist of what she was having done and they had decided that their chat could be held in the steam room. She and Jasper rode together, of course. He had his hair pulled up into a tiny bun that she kept snapping photos of and K(her)SL. Along with the stubble on his face, he looked so “Daddy,” and she lived for it, but that bun was SENDING her. 

The owner of the spa (the one with the history with Henry that he never quite acknowledged) made sure to be there herself to make sure that the group was treated fairly. Charlotte hoped to see some juicy backlash, but Henry was already there when she and Jasper came in, sweet-talking her. There were flowers there and a handwritten card. She was guessing that he apologized… She stopped Jasper and asked, “Is that Henry’s handwriting?” in a quiet voice.

“Girl, no. Henry has a pensman.”

“That’s not a real word.”

“Penman?”

“Somebody writes letters for Henry?”

“Whenever he wants to suck up extra hard. The dyslexia, you know, makes letters from him more heartfelt?”

“But, if he didn’t WRITE it himself, how is it heartfelt?”

“She doesn’t know he didn’t write it.” Charlotte started to put him on blast, but they needed to have the big conversation and she could always clarify with homegirl, later. There was no way that she was gonna just let that woman be played out by this boy again. 

Henry smiled at Charlotte and Jasper as they approached. “Look who it is! My favorite people!” He cheered and went to hug them. “Got you some flowers,” he said and handed each of them a yellow rose. 

Jasper forced a smile, but looked sad. Charlotte definitely noticed and wondered, “What’s wrong?” She was on the alert and ready to defend him, if need be. He gave her a kiss on the temple and whispered that he’d rather not get into it. “So, whenever Henry and I were… involved, if he did something mean or hurt me, he’d always apologize with yellow roses. He said yellow roses were for apologies to your friend, and since I’m his best friend, he never wanted to let any kinda problems go unchecked or any kind of hurt he caused me to go without apology… When I went to the hospital, he didn’t even come to see me, but he sent me six dozen yellow roses and I honestly thought that I’d never get another from him. I had a lot of feelings when he handed me a single…”*Starts crying and gets up.*

The spa owner got a whole bouquet of various apology flowers, but since they were having a spa day, Henry felt like single yellow roses were the way to go for his company. He knew that Jasper would get it, if nobody else did. Jasper seemed pretty emotional about it. Henry didn’t have the intuition to know whether it was good or bad. Charlotte had the intuition to know that it was a mixture of both, but she didn’t know the context and that irritated her.

Chloe and Bianca showed up, holding hands and laughing together. Chloe had on some open toe shoes and Charlotte looked down and asked, “Getting something done with those feet today?”

Chloe smiled awkwardly and laughed a little, “Should I?”

“It’s up to you,” Charlotte said, then unintentionally, but intentionally looked right at the camera as she tried to stifle a smile. “My mother used to tell me that I had to remember to moisturize so that I wouldn’t be ashy. I didn’t realize that Chloe needed to moisturize too.” 

Bianca said, “Oh, we should TOTALLY get our feet done!”

“I saw a foot mask made especially for crack repairs,” Charlotte suggested. Henry tried really hard to not laugh, realizing that even though her voice was very sweet, that was most likely shade. Chloe’s feet were looking kinda worn.

“Charlotte must have some kind of foot fetish or something. She was REALLY centered on my feet! What people don’t know is that I’m an athlete. I’ve been on multiple reality show challenges and have even won some seasons. So, yes, my feet are a little less feminine than the girl who can’t decide if she’s a singer or a scientist. I’ve actually gotta get out there and grind.”

“Would you like a naked steam room?” The owner asked. Henry looked around at his company. Bianca and Chloe looked down for it. Jasper didn’t seem to care (or maybe he didn’t hear. He was staring at his rose). Whenever Henry made eye contact with Charlotte, she had a raised eyebrow DARING him to say yes.

“I think we’ll be good in one with clothes?” He said, still looking at Charlotte to see if her face changed. She relaxed a little. 

“Robe sizes needed?” 

Charlotte snuggled up to Jasper and wondered, “Are you gonna be okay?”

“Yeah,” He looked up at her and smiled. She was a happy part of life. He didn’t need to dwell on the dark parts. “I was just thinking about how lucky I am now, versus how it could have been, how it used to be.”

She nodded, “Well, you won’t be able to bring that into the steam room. You wanna put it in a locker and I can maybe preserve the petals for you when we get home?”

“No,” he said and tossed it into the trash. “I don’t need to hang on to any of that.”

She didn’t know what any of that meant, but she wrapped her arm around him from the side and leaned up to make him bend down for a kiss. “Jasper threw my rose away. I didn’t know if that meant that he didn’t accept my apology or if it meant that there was nothing to be forgiven, but it hurt to see. But, Charlotte, she kissed hers and she put it away safely. I know that she’s probably gonna save the petals, like she used to… or I hope. I don’t have intuition, like I said. I’m guessing, here.”

.

Charlotte kept her spa shoes on her feet, grateful to have them. Who knew what those roach stompers Chloe had might bring into the room with them? Jasper was sweating before they even got into the room. He and Charlotte sat next to each other, Bianca and Chloe sat across from them and Henry tried to figure out where he might be best seated… He decided across from Charlotte and Jasper, since they were what was really important to him and he wanted to look them in the eyes as they did… whatever would be done here today.

“Okay, so, thank you everybody for coming here today. I don’t want to ruin this place for you, so I sucked it up and apologized to the owner, even though most of that was all in her head. I just want everything out, like I told Jasper. I want to deal with it head on and show everyone that I have changed and I want to introduce you to who I am now. I want you to get to know me, today, as I am… But, I also understand that might not be possible without addressing the shit that I’ve done in the past, to everybody here, really. If anybody has any questions or comments, I am open for them.”

Charlotte looked at Jasper, “You wanna talk to him about something between the two of you?” Maybe, Jasper might open up now that they were having this time together. She knew that he wasn’t okay and all she wanted was for him to be better. This whole thing was more of Henry’s idea, she gathered, to curb his guilt, but if Jasper could benefit from it; she wanted that more than anything she wanted for herself. She must really love that dude, she realized.

Jasper cleared his throat and said, “I’m not that concerned with our past. It ended very miserably for me and I didn’t come here, today, or agree to the show to rehash any of that or relive it. But, I’ve been rehashing and reliving things, and you’ve seemed fine. If I want to know anything, it’s about right now. Right now, what is it that you want, Henry? Why are we all here?”

He said in a very low and soft voice, “I just want you two to love me again.” 

Jasper noticeably, immediately went soft and nodded his head. The answer was good enough for him. “What I think a lot of people don’t understand is that no matter WHAT happened between Henry and I, no matter how he hurt me or how I processed it; we were best friends for most of my life. My dad and his mom used to be super close and we were brought together before either of us were conscious about our surroundings.” *Tears up* “We were… soul mates. However you consider that to be. We were connected at the soul, like one person, for a huge portion of my life - my entire fucked up childhood, there was nobody that treated me better than Henry, and why wouldn’t I forgive him for mistakes that were made when we were young and he was already hurting? Nobody gets to control how I choose to respond with him reaching out and asking for my forgiveness. Maybe that’s stupid. Maybe it’s foolish, but how do you hate a part of yourself forever? Even the less shiny parts, you have to figure out a way to live with, and Henry has been a super shiny part and a super dark part of ME. Not just my life, but a part of me. I’ve carried him in my heart since before I knew what love was. Of course I could love him again. I do love him. I never stopped. I never would stop.”

Charlotte wasn’t as moved in the same direction as Jasper, and to be honest, in hindsight, they probably should have had separate conversations, because seeing Jasper just forgive him in his heart, while he might not have actually said it out loud… that made her heart harder. He noticed the darkening of her features as she glared in Henry’s direction and took her hand and kissed it, trying to smooth her over. Because him loving Henry didn’t take anything away from him loving her. He loved both of them for different reasons, in different ways and he never wanted to be apart from her, no matter what kind of love he had for anyone else. “What did you do to him, Henry? What would make this big hearted, kind spirited person who has always taken mistreatment from loved ones with a grain of salt… What would make him turn against you? I do some things that I’m not proud of to Jasper every single day and he still loves me. We watched his parents not give even pinches of fucks about him all throughout school, and he still loved them. We saw him idolize our boss, who wasn’t really that fond of him for many years, and he loved him… So my suspicious self, my smart self, I have to always wonder what in the world that you did to somebody that I LOVE, with most of my heart to make him not love you?”

“I didn’t stop loving him,” Jasper injected. She gently pulled her hand away. “I only say that to say… The things that you’re saying right now, they’re very triggering and just stirring things up and it's not really like that, so please…”

“I’m sorry,” she whispered and nodded at him, empathetically. He took a deep breath and leaned back. “I didn’t mean to…”

“It’s okay, Babe.”

“Please, don’t do that. I hurt you and I don’t want you to just brush it off, like it didn’t happen. Everyone needs to be held accountable for what they do.”

“Every time somebody hurts someone, it isn’t necessarily on purpose. I think that intent matters,” Jasper said. “I love you, too. I don’t care if you hurt me, because I know that wasn’t your intent.”

“But, you’re still hurt.”

“And you feel remorse for that. Don’t beat yourself up.” He hugged her. She was soft, but she was still wondering, “Seriously, what did he do to my man to have him in the bad way that I’ve heard he was in after they broke up?”

Charlotte heard one of the other two girls mumble something and her head snapped in their direction so fast that they both startled. “Did you have something to add? To help out? He didn’t say anything about wanting your love, so what’s the tea? Why are YOU TWO here? Oh, yeah, to discuss your part in all the bullshit.”

Bianca cleared her throat and said, “I was simply saying that you two are so good together that I don’t know why you even care about what Henry wants, at this point.”

“I thought that me and Henry were good together at some point too, but you didn’t right? And that’s fine, you’re entitled to feel how you feel and do what you do. You’re grown, you were grown at the time, and you weren’t involved with me, so I never came at you or confronted you or anything like that. But you, both of you, came over to our place, smiled in my face, played nice with me, and both of you weren’t about shit, behind my back.”

Bianca scoffed a chuckle and said, “Well, we were all pretty young when all of that happened. I had recently learned that you were the one who initially suggested that Henry ask me out, and Chloe felt some kind of way about it…”

Chloe threw in, “Henry and I hadn’t officially broken up, but you were pretty accepting of another girl being brought into his life, back then.”

“GIRL! You are really here, sitting here telling me that the reason you were disrupting my love life was because of something that happened when we were in school?” Charlotte cackled, but there was a terrifying anger in it. “BITCH. PLEASE.”

“Well, today, it’s like 6 or 7 years since that happened and you’re still mad. For me, at the time, it had been maybe about the same amount of time, I was younger, and I thought that Henry had just moved on because of distance, when really, he moved on because you pressured him to move on. I wasn’t even mad that I had lost Henry, but when I found out, I was hurt about it, so I wasn’t that concerned about your relationship, just as you hadn’t been concerned about mine. We’re ALL older and wiser now and I’ve moved on.”

“You’ve moved on because you didn’t have something important taken from you. You had the chance to go be on TV or be with Henry and like any kid would, you went with TV. Henry had a crush on Bianca and I, as a friend, supported that. When you left, in my head, that was that. What you did to me, we were grown and Henry and I were in a REAL relationship. And to this day, I’ve never come at you about it or anything. So, for me to be trying to console Jasper, who was SUPPOSED to be your friend and for you two to be having a little side conversation, ah kee keeing and shit… Man, fuck y’all. Y’all are so fake. To this day. You’re both some fakes and Jasper deserves better friends.” Charlotte was fuming.

Henry finally spoke up and said, “It was my fault. I shouldn’t have been airing out things to Bianca, but when that started, you and I were having some issues and I couldn’t talk to Jasper or any of our mutual friends about it, and I didn’t really have a lot of alternatives.”

“So, fuck me?” Charlotte asked and laughed sarcastically.

“At the time, I was worried that talking to you about it wouldn’t be received properly. So, I started talkin’ to Bianca, and a few things came out - that weren’t necessarily secrets, but stuff we had never talked about. I was actually speaking pretty generally about it all when I told her that you were the one that encouraged me to ask her out, and she told me that she’d kissed Kid Danger when we were together and I told her that wasn’t important anymore and we just were chilling and laughing and connecting. I didn’t expect it to turn emotional. I didn’t expect her to talk to Chloe about what she’d learned. Whenever Chloe asked me about it, I very nonchalantly told her the truth and it was years before, so like you said, we were kids, I didn’t think anything of it. But, I didn’t know that she felt hurt to find that out. Sometimes, we hold on to things that happen, not specifically because of that event or the person involved, but because of other things in our makeup.”

“Okay, but if she was still feeling a way, she could have said, ‘Hey Charlotte, I know this was a long time ago, but it’s fresh to me, because I just found out that you openly supported my first boyfriend moving on while I was away for a little while, and I’m having trouble feeling okay about that.’ We could’ve discussed it. Not… started a group chat with the two of you to fish for information about our problems and then deliberately try to drag me.”

“It wasn’t like that,” Chloe said.

“I read the entire thread. It took me hours, because it was months of inappropriate things. You started it off with a little disparaging joke about how you three could be the Charlotte is the Blame Club. Bianca had told you about my “prude problems,” and you wanted to let Hen know that you two were there for him, if he needed to blow off any steam. “Emphasis on blow, lol.” 

Chloe was speechless. She didn’t even remember most of that chat, but apparently it had mattered to Charlotte. 

Bianca said, “I promise, it was completely innocent, in the beginning. We thought it was kinda funny that you two dated so long and you didn’t do certain things for him.”

“It's nobody’s business what hangups that I have, but since everybody’s business is out right now, I will say this, I wasn’t able to slut around when I was young. My mother tried to be supportive of me being sexually aware, but long story short, she was very sexually wholesome and I didn’t do anything with anybody until Henry. So, yes, it took me a while to get into the habit of things. This boy didn’t even wash his legs whenever we got together, so no, as a science minded person who understands how germs 

work and shit, I didn’t wanna be doing a lot of risky stuff with him. And whenever I WOULD do something, I had to be sure everything was clean and clear and ready. Henry was the one who didn’t feel like “going through all of that for a BJ.’ Okay. That was his choice, just like it was my choice to not get ball sweat or ball hair anywhere near my face and mouth area! Maybe you’re fine with musty nuts in yours. I wasn’t. And that was MY. BUSINESS. With MY. BOYFRIEND. But, it's not your fault that he told you that. It WAS your fault that you shared it with Chloe, because if he wanted to share our business, okay, but why did you feel like you could share it?”

“Because I didn’t give a damn, Charlotte!” Bianca snapped. “I’m sorry that early college years, I didn’t care about privacy or things like that. It sounded like a scandal and it was humorous to me. I didn’t know that it would become what it became, which, even right now, wasn’t anything very important to me. It was a part of my life as a young adult. I’m sorry that it affected you like it did. I truly am. You seem like you were very kind to Henry and I feel like what we did made you less kind. I’m sorry that I helped you become this bitter person…”

“BITCH…” *Camera shakes and moves around through a lot of shuffling and winds up on Charlotte, getting tackled by the security* “This bitch got me injured. Couldn’t even angrily speak my mind without being seen as a threat.”

Jasper was pulling on the guard, “Get the fuck off of her! She didn’t DO anything!” Charlotte was screaming, in pain and Henry was signaling to cut the camera. The camera didn’t stop. They might need the footage. Chloe and Bianca had rushed to the other side of the sauna and Henry and Jasper were both fussing with the guard. “You get the fuck out, You’re fired. Hell no! You don’t get to grab her like that, are you serious?” 

“What is happening?” the owner of the spa asked from the doorway.

The guard said, “She was about to attack, and that’s where I have to step in. It’s my job.”

“SHE STOOD UP AND WALKED TOWARDS HER!” Henry yelled, at the same time Jasper yelled, “SHE DIDN’T EVEN TOUCH HER!” They were both yelling about how Charlotte sometimes gets in your face, but she wasn’t violent and threatening to press charges and insisting that he left immediately before he got his ass kicked. They heard Charlotte groaning and went to check on her. 

“I’m pretty sure he bruised my ribs,” she said crying. “Whenever the guard tackled Charlotte, everything happened so fast that I froze for a moment. But, when I snapped to… This motherfucker, a big grown man, had slammed my girlfriend onto a hard tile floor, crushing her and pinning her down in the process, and… I have never been more pissed in my entire goddamned life.”

“Whenever the person I hired tackled Charlotte for essentially standing up while angry, I felt responsible for that. She was hurt. It wasn’t as serious as it could’ve been, but he’s got size on her and the situation - you see a tiny woman, in a bathrobe, in a steam room approaching another woman, you can easily step in front of her and maybe ask her to step back. Tackling her was so unnecessary and infuriating.”

“I was in so much pain. I hit my tailbone on that tile, and my elbow. I bumped my head when I reflexively tried to get away and he slammed me back down telling me to hold still. If they show that footage, you’ll probably see my entire puss. He had me straddled, restrained and bruised me up pretty bad, including how hard he pinned me down. I looked like somebody beat the hell out of me and I felt like it. Because I dared to walk in a white girl’s direction while Black and pissed.” *Sighs hard and shakes her head.

Charlotte was hurt enough that she just wanted medical attention and didn’t care how that happened. Henry and Jasper took her to the ER and once she was treated, Henry insisted that she stay at the brownstone to recover. It had more room, and was more luxurious and she accepted. She was going to be resting and taking meds. Jasper collected her stuff from home to bring over. “You wanna stay? I have much more room than I need, or even two people,” Henry said.

“No. I’ll let you two try to work some things out while she heals. Maybe it can be a double healing. If she asks me to come to stay, then I’ll take you up on the offer. I think she’s just trying to process the attack by herself and I’m glad that you’re providing a safe space for her to do that.”

Henry nodded. “I can’t believe that happened.”

“I can’t believe that we didn’t kill him,” Jasper said. “But, then I’d be in prison and she’d still be injured.”

“Yeah, I might pay him a visit in the suit later. Asshole.”

Jasper nodded. “Well… I’ll have my phone right by me and on the loudest setting if she needs me. Take care of my bae.”

“I’ll take care of her like she’s mine.”

“Not… That much,” Jasper said and partially smiled. 

“We didn’t really finish the conversation…”

“We did. Sorry it didn’t happen how you hoped, but… I think she at least feels a little more trusting now. She’s staying here, isn’t she? Just… work with what you’ve got. I’d love for the two of you to patch things up. I miss the three of us.” Jasper and Henry hugged and Jasper left. 

Henry peeked in on Charlotte. She was passed out, asleep and medicated. Jasper had set her things in certain places that Henry was sure were how she must’ve liked them. Jasper was really good at stuff like that. “Sweet dreams, Char,” he softly told her.

“Night,” she said, mostly in her sleep.

[shadowsong26fic]

Coming Attractions!

First Monday of the month, woohoo!

(And also kind of a NaNo roundup post because that was last month, after all…)

NaNo:

Sooooo I didn’t finish, lol. Not that I was…super expecting to, exactly, but I was hopeful! I think I just missed too many days in a row and lost all my momentum.

In terms of my goals, I was hoping to write:

1. 20-25k on Precipice 2. 20-25k on our faces like a mirror 3. 10-20k on Other Projects. 4. 50-70k total

In terms of what I actually accomplished:

1. 9,241 on Precipice (Sooooooo....about half of what I’d hoped, a little less. But I still got a fair amount done/prepped for upcoming chapters, plus a couple chapters actually posted, even while doing other stuff, so...go me!) 2. 9,043 on our faces like a mirror (Again, a bit less than half of what I’d hoped for, but I got enough done for the story/etc. to take a real Shape in my head. ...ish. See the specific OFLAM stuff later on in the post...) 3. 10,601 on Other Projects (Hey, I actually met this goal! ...barely, but still! Mostly thanks to the Nikita/Rebels crossover, lol...) 4. 28,885 total

Original Fiction:

I got a decent chunk of a big backstory piece for Lux done (in the form of a “then” and “now” set of scenes/vignettes for the five Archangels)--that being said, I’m not sure I actually like what I have there, lol. I know more or less what I need to cover, but the details are fiddly. Also not sure whether I should refer to Lux by her current name, for consistency’s sake, or use a different name (either Lightbringer or just Lucifer) since she does technically reshape her name after being released when the main Apocalypse storyline kicks off…also debating whether Lux should be/present as female way back when--angels don’t really do gender the way humans do in this ‘verse, but the closest human term for Lux would be genderfluid, sooooo IDK. Also also, for the ‘Now’ part…ehhh, I’m not sure I should have this be the first thing I post involving Trixie…but I’ll keep poking at it and see what comes out.

(I’d also planned to work on the big Kesshare character study saturation for The Farglass Cycle this month, and maybe go back to my untitled first-contact story, but neither of those happened, lol.)

Precipice:

We’re in the home stretch! Kinda. So to speak. Probably three to four more chapters in Arc Seven, which I’m hoping-fingers-crossed I’ll finish by the end of the calendar year??? (But given how much other stuff I hope to work on (see Other Fanfic Projects for more details…)

At that point--and I know I’ve said this before, and I’ll probably put it in an A/N in the next chapter or so, but following the end of Milestones, I’m planning to break off into a second/sequel fic, working title Protectors. This is at least in part because length (over 200k wtf I was anticipating 50-75k, maybe 100k, for these seven arcs @.@), but also was sort of planned even without the Length issue, due to some thematic/structure shifts following a six-year timeskip. Which, if you do the math, you can probably figure out where that’ll land us and why I might be structuring it this way…

Anyway, I’ve increasingly realized that there’s some stuff I should probably set up that I’ll need for later arcs in Part 2 involving some Rebels characters, more with the Last Batch, plus a Sith Apprentice who needs to turn up and die (although the gap between Infernalis and the next apprentice I actually care about/have a name and some kind of Plot for is only about four years in my mental timeline, so maybe there isn’t an active Apprentice in that period*…hmmmmm…), some background about the Hands, etc. But I feel like it’s all a little too disjointed for an entire additional arc. So, Arc 7.5, tentatively titled Preludes, is also going to be a thing XD I don’t think I’ll have a fixed schedule for that vs. the main storyline--and, honestly, it’ll probably work more like a collection of one-shots taking place during the timeskip than a proper Arc, but a little more Relevant than stuff that goes in Bonus Content, if that makes sense? It’ll probably be posted alongside at least arcs 8 and 9. Which, incidentally, take place more or less back-to-back and cover a fairly short period of time, but there is A Lot of plot/setup that goes into them. Like. If I tried to do it all as one arc, it’d be at least twice as long as any of the other arcs I’ve done, possibly including Arc Four--certainly over twenty chapters, I think--plus there’s a good (and by good I mean Horrible) place where I can split the arcs, so…we’ll see how that goes.

(…still not sure what to do with Maul, lol. He may just be Sir Darth Not-Appearing-In-This-Fic, or he might turn up in arc 10/11/13, which are the sort of vaguest of the next seven arcs which make up Protectors, in terms of how much I have planned out…)

(*On a semi-related note, I’ve been asked about Inquisitors a couple times in comments lately, and…well, I’ll probably mention this when I reply to the commenter in question, but I figured I’d set it out here as well, in case anyone else was wondering the same thing but doesn’t read other peoples’ comments. Like I’m pretty sure I mentioned at the start, when I plotted out** the bulk of this fic, I hadn’t seen Rebels yet. I’ve since decided to integrate a few characters/plot points (Kallus and Zeb will feature prominently in a subplot in arcs 13 and 14, for example), but, as a rule, characters and plot points from Rebels haven’t been taken into account unless I Really Like Them and/or they’re a good way to fill in a plot hole in a later arc, as with Kallus and Zeb. So, for example, when I include Thrawn, I’m writing more towards Legends!Thrawn in terms of personality, though the two have blended a bit in my head and I do reference specific events in Disney!Thrawn’s personal timeline; and b) more relevantly, I hadn’t made any plans to include Inquisitors, and that…hasn’t really changed. So, I might have them in Preludes, but they almost certainly won’t show up on-page/be super-relevant in the main arcs of the fic, sorry :/ )

(**Loooool I say “Plotted Out” like I’m the kind of author with a Master Plan or at least an outline. But I did have a general idea of the Major Plot Points going in, such as when Rex and Ahsoka would turn up, Luke’s storyline with Lavinia, how many Apprentices I would need to make them work, etc., and I’ve had parts of Arcs 8, 9, and 14 written for like at least two years now, so I know more or less where I’m going--though they’ll be edited once I have more of the connective tissue in place, in case I’ve accidentally Jossed myself…or I change my mind, which is becoming A Possibility with a major event set to happen in Arc 14, so…we’ll see.)

Aaaaaanyway. Exciting times ahead, I hope!

Other Fanfic:

This month, I finally posted another AU outline, woohoo! …I mean, it was a super-niche Nikita/Rebels crossover with a handful of OCs thrown in but who’s counting XD (I do actually intend to finish Let’s Go Steal a Crossover and update the Ventress one at some point but…yeah).

I also put out a Kallus one-shot that I think turned out really well. May do more of those at some point, who knows…

I made some significant progress on our faces like a mirror, as mentioned above! But now I’m waffling a little bit over structure. Basically, the fic covers Bo-Katan’s backstory from the time Satine becomes Duchess, through the Civil War, and eventually leads to Bo’s eventual break with her sister to join Death Watch. It comes in two pretty distinct halves--what I call the Fugitive arc in my notes, which covers the Civil War, and the Breakdown arc, which is everything after her return to Sundari.

So, my original plan was--prologue covering at least part of the final Epic Screaming Match that leads to Bo’s departure; jump back to the Fugitive Arc; and then follow through until we catch up to the prologue, with a coda/epilogue with her and Pre Viszla. The problem is, there’s…really not a lot to connect the two halves??

I’ve got a couple options on what to do about this, but I’m not sure which would be best.

Option One: Keep the structure as-is and just let it be episodic.

Option Two: Keep the structure as-is and find some way to connect the two halves (i.e., a recurring antagonist; I do have an idea of who this could be, but the problem is, it takes away a good chunk of the focus from Bo and Satine’s relationship for the Breakdown Arc…which I don’t really want to do.)

Option Three: Remove the framing device and focus on the Breakdown Arc, and include the Fugitive Arc as flashbacks, since the Breakdown Arc can’t really stand on its own. (The main issue I have with this one is that, if I want to actually write out future chunks of Bo’s life later--meaning, her time with Death Watch, and getting her from TCW to Rebels--I won’t have these flashbacks and I don’t want to change the structure too radically for any eventual sequels? Also, I’m not sure how I feel about a flashback structure for this fic in general…)

Option Four: Remove the framing device and focus on the Fugitive Arc, ending the story with Bo’s return to Sundari. (Two issues with this one--I really do want to go into the Breakdown Arc; that’s where my interest in this story started. Also, due to the constraints of setting and so on, Bo interacts with…like…two canon characters over the course of the Fugitive Arc? And while I don’t really have a problem writing a story that’s essentially a Backstory Epic for a tertiary character, populated by about 90% OCs, I’m not sure anyone actually wants to read that, except as the lead-in to the Breakdown Arc??? But maybe I’m overthinking…)

…so, yeah. Any thoughts/opinions on which option would be Best? (I may make a separate post asking the same question later, but figured I’d lay it all out here, too!)

Also, I’m working on a Secret Santa project, and probably not going to use OFLAM for SWBB, which means I need to come up with and write a different plotline of some kind, so back to the drawing board on that one…

Also also, I do genuinely plan to get Distaff off hiatus At Some Point, especially since I’ve gotten some new comments/responses lately…but given how much else I have on my plate, writing-wise, that probably won’t happen until next year, alas.

Anyway, the long and short of it is--lots of writing planned for this month! Now let’s see how much I actually get done XD

What about the rest of you? What’ve y’all been up to/what do you have planned for next month?

[crescendohowell]

Adventurous

Summary: Phil isn’t much of an adventurous uni student.  That is at least, until he goes out with a friend to the club and wakes up the next morning with no memory of the previous night and a text from someone who he apparently had “fun” with.

Word Count: 2.2k

Warnings: alcohol mentions

A/N: idk but here’s some cute coffee shop getting together fluff type of thing.  i’m still just trying to get back into writing (and get back into actually finishing fics lmao) but hope this is a good happy read (i actually have another fic that i’m gonna post tomorrow that i’m much more excited for but shhh)

read on ao3

“We live in a wonderful world that is full of beauty, charm and adventure. There is no end to the adventures that we can have if only we seek them with our eyes open.”

Phil had never really been much of the adventurous type.  He tended to prefer staying in to going out and anytime he tried to break a rule he ended up feeling so anxious that he couldn’t go through with it.  Instead he was content to play video games and go to coffee with his friends and not really worry about doing any of the things that kids in uni were supposed to do given that this was the time of their lives that they were supposed to be messing around.

However, last night, for some completely unknown reason, Phil had (albeit reluctantly) agreed to go out to the club with one of his good friends.  He remembered how hot it was when they had first walked into the building pulsing with music and he remembered how absolutely horrible the first shot of the pineapple mango vodka had been.  But after a couple more shots of slightly less vile alcohol and at least one beer, Phil’s memory of the past night started to go a bit fuzzy.  

So fuzzy in fact that when he woke up the next morning with a text from an unknown number that read “hey I had so much fun with you tonight, just texting you now so that you have my number”, he had absolutely no idea who it was from.

Phil tried to wrack his brain for any memory of talking to someone new but it was all completely blank.  Of course, his pounding headache and nauseous stomach weren’t really helping his thinking abilities and he set his phone back down onto his bedside table with a sigh as he decided to worry about the text later, maybe after an aspirin and some toast.

That small detour however, ended up turning into a long while of sitting on the couch playing video games and definitely not thinking about the text on his  phone.  Then Phil’s roommate came home with his own stories from the past night and Phil spent a while just listening.

It was after that that he decided it was probably time that he finally dealt with the text.

Still sitting on the couch, he unlocked his phone and opened up the dreaded message.  Staring at the words, Phil didn’t even bother clicking to type yet because he was so far from knowing what to say.  He couldn’t help but wonder what the “I had so much fun” part implied.  He had never been one to get handsy with a stranger but given how much last night was outside of Phil’s normal habits, he wasn’t even sure if he could trust that aspect of himself.

The text didn’t have any emojis or anything and Phil found himself analyzing that aspect of it as well.  When he had girlfriends in the past they had always used a lot of hearts.  He couldn’t help but wonder if maybe the mysterious texter was a guy.  Phil had only just figured out he was bisexual in the past year (and by “figured out” he meant that after many sleepless nights he had finally admitted to himself what he knew had always been true).  He had never actually told anyone else though, let alone actively pursued a boy.  But the thought that the text might be from a guy was more exciting than Phil would care to admit and it was really the only thing that made him intrigued enough to finally get over himself and start to write something back.

<< 12:45pm: hey, sorry I didn’t write back sooner, I’m afraid I don’t remember much of last night, you might have to jog my memory lol.  I’m sure that it must have been nice to meet you though! >>

<< 12:51pm: haha makes sense you don’t remember, you were pretty wasted mate. >>

Phil stared at the response in shock, letting out a breath that he didn’t realize he had been holding.  The stranger responded so quickly and judging by the “mate”, they actually were most likely a boy.  He almost started to type something back but instead three bubbles popped up as the stranger began to write again.

<< 12:52pm: my name’s dan (i'm assuming you don’t remember that lol) and we danced for a while at the bar. >>

<< 12:52pm: well nice to meet you (again?) then dan!! i must’ve not done anything too regrettable given that you’re still talking to me haha. >>

<< 12:53pm: I mean we did have some pretty interesting conversations when I dragged out outside to make sure you got into your uber okay… >>

<< 12:53pm: oh god. >>

<< 12:54pm: dw it was nothing too bad, just some of your deepest darkest secrets. >>

<< 12:54pm: I know that was sarcastic but given that I was flirting with you at all…already exposing one of my secrets that nobody else knows. >>

<< 12:54pm: oh shit man. >>

<< 12:55pm: yeah…I know. >>

<< 12:55pm: well if it makes you feel better, you didn’t seem like you’re still in the closet given the confidence with which you practically grinded on me with. >>

<< 12:56pm: I’m not quite sure if that makes me feel better or worse lmao. sorry if I made you uncomfortable.  >>

<< 12:56: oh no I definitely wanted it trust me.  I would have wanted to do more too if you hadn’t been so tipsy. >>

<< 12:56pm: yeah? >>

<< 12:58pm: yeah.  we should meet up sometime Phil.  I don’t want this to just be some one time drunken dancing. >>

<< 12:59pm: you remembered my name. >>

<< 1:00pm: of course. >>

<< 1:01pm: and yes, I would like if we could meet up.  maybe even a date? >>

<< 1:02pm: see? this is what I mean! way to confident to have never told anyone about not being straight.  but yes, I’d like it if it was a date :) >>

<< 1:03pm: tomorrow?  we can go grab a coffee? I’m assuming to you to York for uni too… >>

<< 1:04pm: sounds perfect and yes I do.  meet at Second Cup at 10am tomorrow? >>

<< 1:05pm: see you then!! >>

And Phil set his phone, letting out another shaky breath because oh my goodness he had a date with a boy named Dan who he had apparently danced with and wasn’t that the most wonderful thing?  All those worries about if he was attracted to boys seemed so far away as he felt giddy about someone that he didn’t even know what he looked like.  All Phil knew was that he couldn’t wait for tomorrow to come.  And that he was missing texting Dan already.

It wasn’t until Phil was walking to the coffee shop the next day that some of the nerves began to settle in.  He realised that while Dan obviously knew that he wasn’t straight, nobody else did and if he saw one of his friends at the coffee shop (as was quite likely considering he often went there with various different friends) they would probably ask Phil questions about who Dan was.  Phil wasn’t sure if he was ready to answer questions like that truthfully.

But on the other hand, he didn’t want Dan to feel like he was ashamed of him.  And besides, this would be a good way to come out to people.  Phil mainly only hadn’t done so in the past because he hadn’t been quite sure (which had been fixed now) and because he was the worst at bringing up things up in conversation.  Still, he didn’t know if the middle of a coffee shop was the best place to spring something like that on an unsuspecting friend.  Phil decided that he could only hope that nobody he knew well enough that they would ask would be there.

Those thoughts kept Phil occupied for the walk but as he pulled open the door of the shop and felt the warm rush of the air inside as he walked into the comforting scent of coffee, he realised that he wasn’t entirely sure what Dan looked like.  And he was even less sure how he was supposed to act on a date with a boy.  He figured it was mostly the same, but he didn’t have all that much experience with dating girls either, at least not lately, and he really didn’t want to screw this up.  Wanting to continue to appear as though he was straight had always been enough to force himself to talk calmly and without stuttering to cute boys, but Phil had a feeling that he would be a bit of a mess now that he didn’t have to pretend that anymore.

“Phil?” A voice interrupted his thoughts as they walked up to him.  “Nice to see you here!” It was one of girls he talked to in his media class last year.  Her name was Alyssa and they had studied together before big exams.

“Hello,” Phil forced a smile because as nice as she was, his thoughts were definitely on finding someone else.

“It’s a shame I’m just heading out,” Alyssa looked towards the door, wrinkling her nose at the cold windy weather that she was about to walk out into.  “We’ll have to catch up some other time thought.  I’ve missed talking to you.”

“Yeah, sounds good,” Phil’s smile was more genuine this time.  She was actually quite a lovely person and he had missed having her in a class.  He couldn’t help but feel relieved that she was leaving though.  “Text me, yeah?”

“Yeah,” She smiled back, readjusting her backpack on her shoulders.  “See you around.”

And she was out the door before Phil could say goodbye.

It wasn’t because she moved quickly though, but rather once she stepped aside Phil saw someone else and he got a bit tongue tied.  Alyssa was forgotten about as Phil couldn’t help but stare at the beautiful boy sitting at the table in the back of the shop.  He knew immediately that the boy was Dan, feelings from other night washing over him as soon as he saw his face again.  Phil still couldn’t remember anything specific but all of a sudden he could feel the aching want that he had felt that night.  Dan was stunning.  Phil hadn’t understood why that night had finally been the night that he couldn’t hide his feelings for boys any longer, but now it was perfectly clear.  

Phil would give up so much to be with Dan.  The want was so strong it almost scared him.  But as Dan looked up, making eye contact with Phil, and smiled a dimpled smile, Phil had never felt less scared.

“Hey,” Phil walked up.  His voice broke a little on the word but really, wasn’t that to be expected?

“Hi,” Dan’s eyes crinkled.  

Phil thought that brown eyes were infinitely more stunning than anyone ever gave them credit for.  

“At least you remembered what I looked like enough to find me,” Dan teased.

“Mm, don’t think I could forget that,” Phil didn’t even bother trying to hide the fact that he couldn’t keep his eyes off Dan.  His hair was so curly and his jacket fit him so well.  

“You’re such a flirt even when sober,” Dan’s smile was filled with amusement as he spoke.

“You bring out all my most desperate flirting,” Phil finally sat down at the table in the chair across from Dan.  He desperately wanted to run his fingers lightly over the light freckles on Dan’s cheeks.  Phil had never been this impossibly attracted to someone.

“Well you’re pretty cute yourself,” Dan said as though he could read Phil’s thoughts.

Phil thought that his heart might beat out of chest and he almost couldn’t breathe but oh, it was the best feeling.  The cutest boy he had ever met was flirting with him and he was flirting back.  It was more than he had ever allowed himself to dream of.

They spent the next hour in their little back corner of the coffee shop.  They sipped on identical drinks that Phil had insisted on paying for and talked about everything.  There was never a moment of awkward silence.  Phil had known that Dan was cute from the beginning, but by the end of that hour his attraction to Dan went so much further than just based on appearance.

When they walked outside together, they made promises to see each other again soon as they stood close together in the windy weather while Phil counted the freckles across Dan’s nose.  He thought about how he wasn’t much of the adventurous type.  He was normally the type of person to take things slow and wait a couple of dates before initiating anything.  But then again Phil wasn’t normally the type of person to go to a club or the type of person to grind on cute boys while dancing or the type of person to text back a stranger whose name he couldn’t even remember.

So Phil took a breath of the cold air and counted Dan’s freckles and didn’t think about anything but the warm feeling in his chest.  He let it seep throughout his body, gathering it all up, until he was able to feel the anxiety that was always there begin to slip away.  

Phil leaned forward and pressed his lips against Dan’s.  They kissed softly with the wind swirling around them and the taste of coffee on both their lips.  

This was most certainly the beginning of a huge adventure, but already it was one where Phil already felt like he was at home.

[witchofspades]

Team Wishful Crown Update!

Thanks to Mia I’ve been thinking alot about reviving Wishful Crown somehow, even though it’ll take a lot of editing old content to remove airs trash characters

All the info i can think of under the cut.

Fortunately for me, Air’s characters show up in very few of the actual comics, so editing them out where necessary is much less difficult than I expected Unfortunately, air insisted to write a lot of the stories that I wanted to comic, so that’s unfortunately a problem that will have to be fixed in some method of backtracking, retconning or rewriting/replacing which will be the largest share of work.  First and most importantly. I’m gonna be editing out Kal through all the comics with a new version of him, who’s gonna be a Kirlia and some of the dialogue will change to fit the story better (Since the whole “I’m stuck with Saroja for the rest of my life” shit was wierd and toxic in all kinds of ways) Saroja will be switched out with another Kirlia because I dont feel like making the switch between species, though i might anyway, depending on how many times she appears in the comics and how relevant her species actually is in the scheme of things. She also will not be New-Kal’s love interest so I’ll have to figure that out too. I’m also retconning everything and anything to do with Narcissus, Jezebel, Teagan, Samehk, Acacia, that other girl-frog, Bubblegum boys, and that sister team i can’t even remember anything about.  (Thank god honestly they were a waste of time and didn’t do much to tell what I needed to about Astra) They will either be edited out or replaced by throw-away characters, or new relationships that I’m gonna RP to bring around. (Still can’t promise that Astra will get along with everyone but there’s more space for that kind of thing now) Also, if you had any relations to Kalaghata or Saroja, then the new versions, are unfortunately gonna be throwing that info out too. (Aka if any of the stories includes your characters I’m gonna have to start from the beginning with relation development regarding those two because there’s a lot of stuff going on there that I either dont know about or it doesn’t fit anymore.) I’m sorry if you had something going on with the character in my comics, (fortunately i dont think there were many), I have to ask you to contact me and talk it out. Astra’s relationships will stay roughly the same, but i dont remember much. Not totally sure yet what im gonna do about Ig but I have half the mind to get rid of him if I can’t figure out some kind of redemption arc for him. (Air gave me rights to his character right before i cut off relations with her, so he’s mine now and i can do whatever I want with him.) For Kalstra shippers who got yelled at for shipping them, I apologize for any hurt feelings and stuff like that, I personally kind of liked that ship but I couldn’t show it myself, and if others were to say it, it impacted the plot’s progress due to reasons I’d rather not say in the concern that someone might try to rat me out and i honestly dont want a shitstorm at this point. Again, that’s not an excuse, but it’s worth noting if it helps anyone reconcile with what i did and if not i understand. Um...what else...After Geoda im going to make some transitional chapters towards having Astra move to a new place. Either ToT’s world, or a self-designed one similar to Tao Village or Treasure Town, seeing as PMDU is dead. Also, any written pieces will be switched out with comics because I absolutely hated switching between literature and comics, since it disrupted the flow so badly. Astra’s evolution story will have an extra part coming along, and again there will be some retconned stuff.  Ultimately its a LOT of work but doing it for four years makes me feel like this is little compared to what I had to do when dealing with my own workload and Air’s to boot. 

All in all: What this means is that im gonna try to be more active on the Wishful Crown tumblr for RPs but I’ll also be opening up a Discord for RPs which I’ll announce here and on the WC tumblr.  I’m gonna be using the tumblr where Astra is still in a team with Ig. (If that blog is there anymore, Air dropped out of it without warning and idk if I deleted it out of anger or smth) bear with me regarding Ig I dont know how to play him well. I’ll post links and more information when I have it.  WWG, Wishful Crowns successor, is my main focus since it brings me money at the beginning of every month, and its good pay so I’d rather get all the money i can before moving my focus back to WC completely. I have my doubts that they will keep paying me for any longer than the end of this year but we’ll have to see. Rereading it all might be necessary but there wont be any literature left, fortunately by the time re-reading needs to happen. TLDR: Hoping to bring back Wishful Crown from where it dropped, but no promises. More info when things have cleared up.

[bazzaya]

a demon’s plight - part one

A multichapter series regarding Minerva’s healing/redemption Post-Tartaros.

Summary: Following the incident with Tartaros, Erza tries to help Minerva recover both physically and mentally. One of her only hopes is taking her to Porlyusica to see if Minerva can be made human again.

A/N: Hey, did you know that apparently it’s canon that Minerva went to Porlyusica post-Tartaros to get the whole demon thing checked out? Yeah so here’s that, but with Minerza, because that’s my thing. Probably will be multiple chapters. Idk if it’ll have a happy ending or not. We’ll see :)

Word Count: ~3.2k

[Ao3 Link/FFNet Link]

Enjoy!

"Are you good to walk on your own?"

As she was trying to get herself to stand, Mirajane glanced up to see Minerva in front of her with her hand on her hip. She was surprised by Minerva's concern, but she soon schooled her features and merely shook her head, "I'm fine, but thank you for the concern." Mirajane figured she should at least be polite; Minerva seemed to have a change of heart and she was the one to kill Kyouka, besides Mirajane didn't have the energy to be difficult, "There's something I need to handle on my own anyways…"

Minerva only shrugged and gave a dismissive wave at that, unbothered either way, "Suit yourself. I'll look over Titania in the meantime as you run along with whatever business you have."

Mirajane's gaze steeled on Minerva once she stood, "Are you sure that's the best idea?"

At Mirajane's cautious look, Minerva rolled her one eye, "Oh, please.. It's not like I'm going to try anything while you're gone. You needn't worry over sweet little Titania." Minerva looked over at Erza in that moment, seeing the battered and bruised mage practically unconscious on the ground, "...Well, aside from the obvious worry there, I mean."

Mirajane seemed more convinced with that, and her expression softened and she nodded appreciatively, "Thank you. I'll leave her to you."

Minerva watched as Mirajane left, though soon Minerva returned her attention to Erza. She walked over towards Erza and kneeled by her side, making sure that Erza was at least alive, "It's over now. We're all safe. There's no more Face to worry about, and the demons are all gone." There was a beat of pause, "All except for one, that is."

Erza languidly jolted at the suggestion of another demon still roaming around, and she tried to sit up, "There's still one left? Where is it?" She coughed out, her attempts at sitting up proving to be futile.

Minerva coaxed Erza into lying back down, "It's me, you idiot."

"Huh?" Erza turned her head to face Minerva, a confused eyebrow raised, "...Oh, right. I almost forgot about your...situation."

"Flattering, really, but I know they're hollow words. One look at me and it's easy to remember." Minerva sneered, "But enough of that. Do you want to go join up with the rest of your friends? I'll take you to them."

Nodding at that, Erza slowly started to sit up again, "Yeah… I should see how everyone's doing, make sure they're alright…"

Minerva held out her hand for Erza to take, and from there she pulled Erza to her feet and wrapped Erza's arm around her shoulder to keep Erza upright. Minerva started walking with Erza in tow towards where she last saw action, hoping to find the rest of Fairy Tail there. Along the way and amongst a very heavy silence, Minerva noticed how Erza's gaze was trained on her and had been trained on her for the longest time, and Erza didn't look to be letting up anytime soon.

"Now… You know I thrive off of the attention, but you of all people to be staring at me like that is at least moderately unnerving." Minerva warned, glancing at Erza out of the corner of her eye.

Erza blinked a few times, surprised to have been caught, but she shook her head to regain her composure, "Sorry… I was just thinking about something."

Minerva raised an eyebrow, "About me?"

"Sort of." Erza frowned out of sympathy, "I was thinking about everything that's happened. You scorned yourself for being so weak as to have been subjected to this whole transformation… I wondered if there was anything to do about perhaps reversing it."

Letting out an annoyed growl, Minerva tore her gaze away and bared her teeth, "I don't need your sympathy. I was the one who wrought this upon myself. I should have to live with the consequences of my actions, even if it means looking like this forever."

"Did you really bring this upon yourself, though?" Erza tilted her head to get a better look at Minerva, "You know, Minerva… I'm not clueless, and I'm certainly not obtuse. I kept an eye out for you and that guild you ran along to after we crossed paths again. Don't think I didn't hear the rumors about what happened to Succubus Eye. Everyone was obliterated in that place except for you… and it was all because of Kyouka's curse, wasn't it? You must have been strong enough to withstand it. It also must be why you were taken into Tartaros to begin with."

"I was weak enough to allow myself to be taken."

"You can't possibly blame yourself for this."

"Oh, you'd be surprised, Titania." Minerva smiled wryly, "If I was strong enough… If I hadn't allowed myself to be petrified with fear… Maybe then I wouldn't have been taken from Succubus Eye. Better yet, if I hadn't been so corrupted by darkness, I wouldn't have been in Succubus Eye to begin with."

Erza furrowed her eyebrows in response, "What's done is done, and there's no use in dwelling upon it. Don't let yourself be bogged down by it, either."

"It must be easy for you to say that when you aren't the one scarred like this forever!" Minerva growled, placing her hand over her blackened eye, "This is a permanent reminder of my weakness and mistakes, and there's nothing I can do to fix it!"

"Perhaps there's nothing you can do, but maybe there's something I can do about it!" Erza countered, raising her voice to try and get Minerva to listen to her.

Minerva let out a bitter laugh, "What, are you planning on using your magic to change into a nurse's outfit for little old me? A pretty sight that may be, but it will get you nowhere in reversing the damage that's been done."

Erza scowled at that, growing irritated, "Would it kill you to take me seriously for five seconds?! Listen to me, Minerva! Are you truly thinking of returning to Sabertooth, to your home, continuing to be so stubborn and standoffish? If you really want to change, start by accepting help and stop insisting you do everything on your own!"

"Do you really think that Sabertooth would accept a monster like me?" Minerva sneered, twisting her lips.

"Sting and Rogue sure accepted you with open arms." Erza shot back, "Even with you looking like that."

Minerva averted her gaze and clenched her jaw, unable to dispute that. Erza took that as an invitation to talk further, "There. Now at least hear me out before you start fighting back, alright?"

With a pronounced tilt of her head, almost like she was pouting, Minerva looked back over at Erza, "Fine."

"A friend of the Master's… she's quite adept in healing the most obscure of ailments. She was even able to make me an artificial eye after I lost mine as a child." Erza held her hand over her right eye at the memory, though she quickly focused back on Minerva, "There is very little she cannot do. I wondered if perhaps she would be able to reverse the transformation you were put under."

"You sound hopeful." Minerva commented, a dry tone to her voice.

Letting out an enervated sigh, Erza closed her eyes, "Yes, I am. I want to help you, Minerva. Just allow me that much."

Minerva didn't respond right away to that, she merely glanced Erza over and kept her jaw clenched tight. Her expression gradually came to be less aggressive, and soon she caved in and nodded her head. Something in her couldn't deny Erza that much. "Fine. I'll give your healer friend a shot. For you."

Erza allowed herself to flash a brief smile Minerva's way, "Thank you. You won't regret it."

Adjusting her hold on Erza as they walked, Minerva simply kept her gaze fixed ahead, refusing to look at Erza, "I better not."

"Wait… She's not coming back with us?" Sting tilted his head, confusion written all over his expression. He turned to Rogue, eyebrows raised, "But that's the reason why we came here in the first place…!"

Erza frowned to herself, staring at the ground by her feet, "I'm well aware… However, she doesn't want to return, not yet. She doesn't believe she deserves to return to Sabertooth in the state she's in. I believe I have a plan to change her back to her human form, but for now… she's not going back."

"That's ridiculous! I don't care how creepy she looks! Milady's coming back with us and that's final!" Sting shouted, fanged teeth exposed in his rage.

"Sting… That's enough." Rogue interjected, "If it is milady's wish, who are we to deny her what she wants? Everything is her decision, whether we like it or not." He focused back at Erza, and despite his composed nature, Rogue still could not completely hide the concern and disappointment on his features, "Do you think she will ever want to return to Sabertooth?"

"That's… a tough question to answer." Erza admitted shamefully, still unable to make eye contact, "I think that if she feels that she has repented, or if she thinks that she is no longer a monster… she will deem herself worthy of your company. I cannot say anything for certain… I'm sorry."

Sting's anger seemed to wane, and he unclenched his fists and frowned in helplessness, "We just want her to come back home, man… All of this is her bastard of a father's fault! Milady didn't deserve any of what he did to her!"

Erza raised an eyebrow at that, and Rogue took it upon himself to explain, "We encountered Jiemma here, shortly after you left with milady. Apparently he was the one who came to Tartaros first, and he was the one that had Succubus Eye attacked so that Minerva would be brought here and would be made into what she was." He frowned as well, averting his gaze, "This was all Jiemma's doing, what happened to Minerva… and yet he still had the gall to call her useless and weak…" He wound up taking a fistful of the fabric of his sleeve as he spoke from his growing anger as well, though he was faster in calming himself than Sting.

Erza finally looked up at that, eyebrows furrowed and a new look of determination in her eyes, "I'll fix this. I promise this to you. She will be back at Sabertooth where she belongs. Please, just allow me the opportunity to reverse what has happened to her. Then she will want to come home."

"We trust you, Erza." Rogue nodded, "Let us know if we can be of any help to you."

"Yeah. We want to help her too… We just don't know how…" Sting grunted and hung his head, letting out a heavy breath.

A small smile crossed Erza's lips, and her demeanor softened, "Thank you. She is lucky to have you both at her side in a time like this. I'm sure she will not forget that."

"And hey! You better not try and steal her for Fairy Tail either! She's ours, you got that?!" Sting teased, snickering to himself.

Rogue punched Sting in the shoulder, "You idiot…! Now's not the time for your jokes!"

Sting pulled Rogue into a headlock in retaliation, "Come on, man! You can't say I'm wrong! Remember when they nearly stole Yukino from us?! I don't want the same thing happening to Sabertooth's resident princess! So hands off, Erza!" He pointed at Erza with that statement, a grin on his face.

Erza raised her hands in surrender, unable to stop the laugh that slipped through, "Don't worry. I won't steal your princess. Though… You should probably let the poor guy go, Sting. Rogue's face is completely blue. I think you're suffocating him."

"Huh?" Sting looked down to see Rogue blue in the face, and he let go, "...Right, yeah. I knew that."

Rogue rubbed his raw neck, taking in a large breath as he could finally breathe again, "Yeah, sure you did…"

Minerva glanced over her hands, studying them, allowing for the reality of their appearances to settle in for her. It was the first time she was out of the clothes that Tartaros had put her in, the first time she was without any gloves over her hands. It was then Minerva could see the black scales that had replaced her skin, turning her arm serpentine, morphing her fingers into claws. The black scales began to fade near her elbow, where they turned into a few lines that trailed up into her neck and face. It was the first time she was without the knee-high boots as well, and through the slit of her dress, Minerva could see the markings that went up and down her legs. The demonification process certainly left its traces on her, and there was no denying the monster she had become.

In the midst of her reflection, Minerva heard her name being called, and with a slow blink she focused her gaze on Erza, "There's no need to yell, Titania. I'm right here."

Erza frowned in response, "I had been calling your name for perhaps a solid minute now. I felt as if yelling was the only way I was going to get you out of your thoughts."

Furrowing her eyebrows, Minerva drew in a breath from surprise, "...My mistake. Well, there's no use in dallying around any longer. Introduce me to this renowned healer friend of yours, Titania. You'll have to understand my eagerness to be freed from this depressing state."

Erza nodded and walked towards the reclusive tree Porlyusica called home, knocking on the door until the woman she was looking for appeared on the other side.

"Oh. It's you." Porlyusica stated with obvious disdain in her voice.

Unable to help herself, Minerva wound up smiling at that, and she peered over at Erza to gauge her response, "How loosely was the term 'friend' used before, Titania?"

"Unfortunately, quite…" Erza said to herself, but quickly she got a second wind and she stood up straighter, "I do hate to bother you, Porlyusica, but I would like to ask for your help."

"With what? You look as healthy as can be." Porlyusica said dryly, "I don't like to waste my time."

"I'm well aware. I wasn't requesting your services for my sake, but rather for my friend here." Erza stepped aside and motioned towards Minerva to introduce her.

"Another loose usage of the word 'friend.'" Minerva commented, still smiling to herself.

"Humans… Always testing my limits…" Porlyusica shook her head with a growl.

"Then this might be your lucky day." Minerva placed a hand on her hip, "I'm no human, after all. Perhaps then you will be so inclined as to help me."

Porlyusica raised an unamused eyebrow, "You look human to me, missy. If you're not human, then what are you?"

Minerva narrowed her one eye, "Take a wild guess. Starts with an 'm'...?"

"A monster?" Porlyusica said dryly.

Grinning, Minerva nodded, "Exactly."

"Minerva, stop this." Erza shook her head disapprovingly, "You're not a monster!"

"Whatever narrow loophole you've created doesn't matter." Porlyusica explained, "I won't treat you. Do not think for a second I do not know who you are, Minerva Orland. I know of the terrors you've wrought upon Fairy Tail, and especially for Lucy's sake, I will not extend my services to an enemy."

"Porlyusica, please! Hear me out!" Erza pleaded, though she was soon cut off.

"Oh, please…" Minerva sighed, placing her hand to her forehead, "Why does everyone always call me cruel for what happened to Lucy? I allowed her to get second place! I feel as if that was extremely generous on my end!"

"Some nerve!" Porlyusica sneered.

"I'll show you nerves!" Minerva stepped forward, a clenched fist reeled back, but Erza's arms around her waist stopped her from getting very far.

"Minerva!" Erza growled, struggling to hold Minerva back. She didn't have to put up a fight for long, because soon Minerva was placed under a sleeping spell and fell slack in her arms. Erza only had to move to catch Minerva to keep her from falling. Looking back at Porlyusica, Erza blinked a few times in surprise at how Porlyusica tranquilized Minerva so easily.

"Now if you're finished wasting my time-"

"Please… Allow me to explain!" Erza said, desperate, "I need help. Gravely."

Porlyusica let out a sigh and crossed her arms, eyes falling shut. She did not protest, however, which gave Erza a window to continue.

"She isn't supposed to be like this… She didn't deserve what happened to her. Her father had her kidnapped and put under demonification. What I and her friends want is for her to be returned back to normal." Erza swallowed harshly, "Please, Porlyusica… She's committed to changing, believe it or not. Putting this experience and this trauma behind her is a step in that process."

Silence followed for a moment after that, with Porlyusica seemingly thinking things over. Erza looked at the unconscious Minerva in her arms, eyes wandering over the scales and markings marring her skin. She felt sympathy and concern rising in her chest for Minerva, with the effect that demonification had on both her mind and body. Looking back over to Porlyusica, Erza was able to catch Porlyusica letting out a heavy sigh and stepping aside to make room.

"Alright, I'll look her over. But I make no promises. I have never treated anything like this before." Porlyusica caved, shaking her head.

Erza allowed herself to smile as a result, "Thank you." Moving her arm behind Minerva's legs, Erza sweeped her up into her arm, "Er… Do not tell her about this. I have a legitimate fear that she would actually kill me if she were to find out that I was holding her." And bridal style no less.

With a roll of her eyes, Porlyusica eventually complied, "Yes, yes, whatever. Just set her on the bed and I will examine her."

Nodding her head, Erza brought Minerva inside and laid her down on the medical bed. Erza moved without thinking to brush some stray hairs out of Minerva's face, and again her gaze was drawn to the mark covering Minerva's one eye. With a frown, Erza pulled away and turned to Porlyusica, "Thank you again, truly. Please… Do what you can. Many people are hoping for her recovery."

For once, Porlyusica didn't have anything smart to say. She nodded in response to that, and went to gather some supplies. Left to herself, Erza swallowed and let out a sigh, still looking at the unconscious Minerva.

She truly hoped that Minerva could get better.

[regular-lord-reckoner]

update on the situation at work 

okay, so i had thought my office mate (i have two, we’ll call them b and s and right now i’m talking about b) had just up and quit, like stopped showing up without a word and that was that but apparently that’s...not exactly how it went down 

i know this because of how some shit went down today so okay like...i knew b’s supervisor (we’ll call her s) was supposed to be stopping by my office today because we’d spoken on the phone and i was under the impression she was going to give me some curriculum or whatever to start looking over and maybe show me how to do the scoring thing if she had time 

so my other office mate, s, is there and we’re talking about the situation with b and i was telling her what i thought happened, blah blah blah 

i get up to go make lunch, i’m literally gone like 3 minutes tops and when i come back from the kitchen b is there and i’m like...???? 

she’s got a bunch of stuff with her and she’s like, “yeah, i’m bringing back the rest of my supplies and s is supposed to meet me here to make sure i brought back everything” 

because for our jobs like we usually end up taking a lot of our supplies with us and keeping them in our car just in case so she’d had a bunch of stuff with her, plus like her computer and phone and junk 

and so s isn’t there just yet so b tells me and office mate s the situation and granted like...i’m taking her at her word on this, but from what i’ve gathered i don’t think she’s lying 

so apparently she’d gone back to Michigan i guess last weekend? idk my brain’s been junk lately so time’s messy for me, but point being there was like...a weekend where she went up because i guess one of her best friends was having a baby so she wanted to be there for that but i guess she wasn’t actually going to deliver until monday or something and so b wanted to be able to stay so she reached out to her supervisors 

i guess she didn’t have any pto left, but it was her understanding (and i’d been told this as well) that you could still take time off you just wouldn’t get paid and just make sure you talk to your supervisor first and that you don’t have anything on your schedule  

i think she’d even tried to ask about maybe working four ten hour days to compensate for not being there monday or whatever but she just...didn’t hear anything back? which...again, from what i’ve heard before this, i don’t find too surprising 

so, i think being that she was already frustrated, already at her limit as is, she just said fuck it and went ahead and took monday off 

apparently when she got back to town she tried to log on to her stuff and couldn’t get in so she contacted the help desk and the guy was like, “oh, it looks like your account is set to be deleted soon” or something so like...cool. cool, cool, cool that’s a super cool way to fire someone, just like...don’t say anything, don’t respond to anything, don’t text, call, or email just...kick ‘em out, nice. 

supposedly hr sent out a letter but she said she still hasn’t gotten it so...that’s cool 

they’re putting it down as “job abandonment” but i just...idk. again, i wasn’t there, i’m sure i don’t know every little detail but that just seems....pretty unfair 

and mind you too like...she’d told me before about how when she first started and got the curriculum that she didn’t get the opportunity to see anyone else teach, she had to do it all on her own and so pretty naturally then when it was her turn to start teaching she messed up and she ended up getting written up for it. that just...doesn’t seem right somehow??? 

idk. i know she was planning on moving back home soon anyway, but i think her plan had been to hang on until at least june because that’s when her husband’s contract with his job would be up and he’d be free to quit and they could move, so she could have still kept working and been saving up more money for that, but now it’s gonna be tight because this whole thing just kinda...happened 

again, like...i understand she probably shouldn’t have stayed that extra day since she didn’t get the green light, okay fine but like...if she did genuinely attempt to reach out and her supervisors just weren’t responding i think that would call for more disciplinary action or something, not straight up termination and certainly not just, “Oh well, we’ve shut down your account but no one’s going to actually bother to say ‘hey, you’re fired’ and btw you need to report back to the office to deliver the rest of your shit, thx” 

like...okay???? 

so yeah. i was already trying to not be too frustrated with her when i thought she just up and quit because i could understand the situation she was in, but now especially i’m like...well, fuck dude. 

but here’s the real kicker too so like...b leaves and supervisor s is still there, office mate s is still there, and supervisor s turns to me and is like, “okay, so first i’ll ask, do you want this position?” 

seriously?????????????????????????? after all that mess? Um...no. no thank you. i’m good. 

so i said no and she seemed kind of put out i guess and was like, “Okay, well i wanted to check first before i post the position so i know if i should do it externally or internally” and i’m still just kinda...stunned, i guess. 

but yeah, like i’m good with school-based, i’m happy where i am, i love my supervisors, i love my team, i have my own set of doubts about how good of a job i actually do, but all of my evaluations have been good and it seems like i’ve been doing all my paperwork and shit correct (aside from like one or two errors but even then it was just, “hey, you did this thing, double check next time but don’t sweat, it happens to everyone!”) 

so...there’s that 

and we talked some about me helping out and like i just put it out on the table, like...i said i had no problem trying to help as much as i could, but that honestly it does make me nervous 

i pointed out to her that y’know i’m still pretty new here?? (like honestly, i started in october, but i’ve only been teaching on my own since january) and i’m still trying to figure out classroom discipline and handling students who are just kinda low-level rude and that the environments that this other position requires going into are not really something i feel comfortable with and i’m not confident that i’ll be able to do a good job

and she didn’t really have anything to say about that, so idk. i mentioned again that i was willing to at least try because i am. i can’t completely rule something out unless i’ve at least given it a shot first, but i wanted her to know up front where i’m coming from and why i’m certainly not interested in taking on that position full-time, just...god no 

so we’ll see. she didn’t like...hand me any curriculum or talk about what the next step is, but i’ve got some training sessions on my schedule for may so i guess we’ll see what comes of that 

with any luck hopefully they’ll be able to find someone soon and they can go ahead and just train that person instead of training me and this other school-based person, but i know that’s kind of a long shot (i know for my position they conducted like...three separate batches of interviews which had a pretty good handful of candidates each time and they picked me out of everyone so at least as far as my branch goes they’re pretty picky) 

and if nothing else like...my supervisor did tell me i could let her know at any point if it’s just too much or i’m too uncomfortable and just don’t want to do it anymore, because she doesn’t want me to feel overwhelmed and especially doesn’t want me to just quit so i’ve got that in my back pocket, i guess 

i just...wow. 

i hate that this situation turned out the way it did, especially for b. i know she was going to quit anyway, but like still. i feel like she told me, though, that her position has had a pretty high turn over rate and i just...can’t imagine why. 

i mean it’s already tough as is because of the work itself, like honestly i’m such an asshole but any time what i do has been too hard i’ve thought to myself, “well, at least i’m not doing THAT” (oh, how that’s come back to bite me in the ass) but like...yeah, that on its own would be hard enough to keep someone around long-term, i think, but adding on top of that supervisors who pile so much work on your plate and who don’t communicate with you like you should resulting in situations like this like...yikes on bikes, dude 

it’s weird how we’re all in the same program but like...office mate s and i both have supervisors that are just...waaaaay different than that 

like my supervisor is so chill about shit, she really doesn’t care how i arrange my hours so long as i don’t go over 40 and so long as i don’t feel like i’m just drowning on long days and shit. 

she usually gets back to me super quick unless she’s just really tied up and even then it’s still never that long of a wait and she’ll tell me beforehand “hey, i’ll be out of town for this event, but you know you can reach out to so and so if you need something!” so that i’m never just sitting there like, “where is she, why isn’t she responding to me???” like she even gave me full access to her calendar online so any time she adds something to her schedule i can see it and know where she’ll be and when would be a good time for me to get in touch should i need to 

i just...i really love my supervisor and that’s the only thing that scares me is that someone over her head might decide to pull me into this position against my will and that i’ll have to work under these other supervisors instead and i just...do not want any part of that whatsoever 

i don’t wanna say i’d quit because i’d hate to, i really would, but like...i don’t think i could do that. 

so yeah. that’s kind of where it’s at right now. as for where it will go...who fucking knows. i’m just gonna try to hang on and hope for the best and know that i’ve got a parachute strapped to my back even if i do get pushed out of the plane