#everyone will be very sad when Nona leaves

[neil-jortson]

I cannot begin to describe my level of confusion rn

[adolin]

Why do you think Pyrhha never tried to communicate with G1deon and let him know she was still in there? Seems kind of messed up to let him think for 10k years that he killed the person he cared the most about while she was still there the whole time

Congrats! This made me sad <3

I'm honestly not sure HOW much Pyrrha was able to communicate, or even how often she emerged. I tend to believe that she became more aware as time went on, but that especially early on it was a struggle for her to make conscious decisions, as opposed to just piloting G1deon's body while he was in the River or something. I can believe that it took a couple of millennia and that Pyrrha only really became able to take over G1deon for longer periods of time (hours as opposed to minutes or seconds) relatively before canon. Probably his mental condition deteriorating contributed to that, or maybe Pyrrha's presence was actually fucking with his brain. Maybe she feared it making it worse?

I also think that it was a real concern that if G1deon became more aware of her it would complete the integration, and that's why he didn't Think Too Much about it and why she was hesitant to make herself known, but yeah, at some point she would've realised it wasn't as big of an issue as she had feared.* Maybe by that point she had witnessed enough that she didn't trust G1deon would have their best interests in mind and go to John? I find this unlikely though because G1deon "had an affair with Wake for 2 years" would IMO have kept a secret from John if Pyrrha asked him to.

(Re: awareness of Pyrrha and integration. My pet headcanon is that actually the reason why Pyrrha "remained" was because she regained her pre-Res memories since John's mindwipe was tied to the brain and not the soul, and she became aware of an identity that was "broader" than just Pyrrha Dve. Sort of how Harrow removed her memories of Gideon to avoid consuming her soul; the fact that Pyrrha's soul and her sense of identity did NOT match G1deon's memories of her could be WHY she remained even if G1deon clearly remembered her)

Anyway YEAH I truly don't know! Even with all these limits, she could have found a way to leave a sign. But IMO there's a lot we don't know about Pyrrha, and it may come out if we move out of the very narrow frame of Nona's POV in AtN.

(I also wonder what made Pyrrha get SO invested in Wake when realistically they couldn't have interacted that often, and why Wake out of everyone G1deon came into contact with over the centuries? So MUCH to think about)

[beholdthesword]

I’ve started and discarded this post like three times now bc maybe it’s just me exposing myself as maudlin or still being emotionally wrung out from it but after reading nona and having some time to sit with my feelings I think what I’m left with is primarily sadness

now these books are undeniably built for sadness. It’s built into the very fibers of the pages and Im sure someone has written a thesis level analysis (link pls!) but I think what gets me the most about nona is very much the ‘can’t go back-ness’ of it.

In GtN and HtN, we’re in uncharted territory. Gideon throws herself on a spike and we think that’s the end, but surprise! She’s not totally gone! And in a way neither are the others - we get the river bubble version of magnus and Abigail, dulcinea and pro, Marta, ortus. They get an encore appearance and of course we’re sad when they leave but it feels good, it’s right. They’ve done well. Then the Gideon bomb drops - YES! She’s here there’s still time for things to slot neatly into place somehow and even when harrow abdicates, you’re like okay sure but she’ll come back somehow

And then we’re smacked with nona. Who is nona? We don’t know but we love her, we learn to love her. Yes! We get cam and pal back but they’re different. They’re struggling in their new body arrangement but they are still as sixth as ever. Yes! We meet and know and love Pyrrha. We catch up with Corona again, alive and well! Yes!

Yes, yes, yes. We’re on the up and up. Even seeing gideons body felt like kind of a win bc she’s been awol. Not sure what’s going on with the new title but sure, I’ll roll with it.

But then. Griddle is back, but she’s mean. She’s assumed this new identity that doesn’t gel nicely with what we know of her. It’s been sixth months and she’s been with ianthe and god that whole time and what comes back to us, as readers is wrong. And I’m not saying characters can never change or anything, no absolutely not. It makes sense, considering. Nona even says she can see the hurt and sadness in every word, every movement. And then nona is dying and cam/pal are hurt and possibly dying and things are coming to a head, quick.

And then we have Paul. (Which I fully screamed at 1am about Paul. Sorry to my neighbors) cam and pal have figured something out. They found a way to achieve their own, maybe functional kind of lyctorhood - but it isn’t cam and pal anymore, at least not yet, maybe not ever. They’re not gone exactly, but they aren’t here anymore. (no) Gideon goes back to the ninth and is wearing friendship bracelets with IANTHE?? (no) nona literally falling apart at the seams and by know we know that she won’t come back, she was never meant to be and that remembering will in all likelihood, overwrite her (no, no, no)

(And in the meantime we’ve got gods origin story running in the background, how what started as a noble endeavor to save the planet and rescue its people became corrupted in the worst way under the guise of love and savior but ultimately goes wrong, which OOF)

I feel like I’ve lost my point a little bit but what I’m saying is the the themes of loss and grief are too big and I think tamsyn is too smart of a writer for this to have a happy ending. I seem to remember and interview where she basically admits that there won’t be an explicitly like happy ending for harrow and Gideon and it feels like now if there is maybe a chance for a Paul ending, it won’t be the same

Idk it just feels like every triumph in this book had a pendulum swing the other way that knocks just a little bit off. Cam/pal one way, Paul the next. Gideons back, but she’s hurt and bitter and mean. We met nona, we lost nona. And I’m sad about it. Or maybe I’m just sad and I’m projecting all my inner sadness over it and everyone else feels fine but

But maybe it’ll still work out. We’ve stopped in the middle, in the transition. Gideon called alecto a slut for kissing harrow so maybe there’s still hope in a way that feels familiar

Tldr; basically this book is so chock full of “we can’t go back to the way things were”and “came back wrong” and I am heartbroken about it

[jq37]

The Report Card – Fantasy High: The Seven Ep 5

Through a Glass, Darkly

Welcome back to the Temple of the Earth Defiant where the girls and their magical horses (and one pony!) have found refuge from the strange, twisted, fae creatures that have been chasing them. The statue of Asha Hammerheart that Ost animated last episode is still alive and wrecking house on the remaining harpies and beasts that are foolish enough to keep fighting and the rest soon get the hint and flee. 

Ost does some healing (boosted by the ambient Hallow effect of the temple which gives everyone a short rest) and then, seeing the damage to the temple caused by erosion, starts using Mending to fix things up. Her friends help out too with Sam and Yelle being most effective--Sam by repairing water damage and Yelle by creating tree cover and other druid-y tricks. But of course, we can’t overlook Katja’s crucial addition of carving “A Horse is a Home” into one of the walls of this sacred temple. 

Anyway, the girls are nesting super hard, the horses are having their scrapbooking reviewing club (an insane thing that was established last episode) and then Sam asks a question. Did y’all mention something about a photo of me going viral? Everyone’s like yeah, but don’t worry, you looked super hot. That’s not the part Sam was worried about. What she’s worried about and what all the girls except Zelda don’t really seem to know is that Sam doesn’t really have a social media presence. So like, 180k and climbing views (as decided by a dice roll) isn’t really what she wants. She scrolls through the comments really quick and sees that they’re not awful but one person is like, “Hey that girl looks a lot like that character from that old show”. Which Sam doesn’t love. She says that she’s fine but also that, even without an Insight check, she’s obviously not. 

Sam kind of looks to Zelda to bail her out and Zelda is like, “Hey, I’m gonna delete this video.” The other girls follow suit, even though they don’t quite know what’s happening. When they have to split up to investigate, Sam has Zelda kind of bail her out again and they split up to go check a nest outside--Zelda waving off Danielle when she wants to go with. Ant and Yelle decide to check out a cache of some treasure they saw earlier and Ost and Katja stay with the horses to keep fixing the temple up. Penny initially goes with Ant and Yelle but rushes back to be with Ost and Kat when Ost discovers a hidden lock while she’s fixing a wall.

So, the girls are split up, let’s run all these scenes.

Antiope and Yelle

Ant and Yelle go see the pile of treasure (near the statue of dwarven paladin Yvonna) which they learn is like a “take a penny leave a penny” situation for weapons and items. They were left by adventures who were similarly chased here and you can take what you need as long as you leave something to help others. Like, “Oh no I only have an ice sword and I need flaming arrows.” It doesn’t have to be equivalent exchange, you just need to leave something useful.

In this space, Yelle feels a weird melancholy and like they’re within the watch of something vast and powerful. She tries to check for TK’s presence but rolls low. Antiope leaves her Kalvaxus killing shortsword and takes some really nice, white feather fledged arrows with mirror tips and an ax Kat wants as a present for her dad. Danielle takes a bandolier of potions (3 healing and 2 mystery I believe) and leaves a bunch of mushrooms. Some of them are psychedelic and Ant takes one because this is probably a good time to be high, right?

It’s not messing with her competence obviously though because she rolls a 25 on Primeval Awareness and gets a weird sense, like something is closing in on this place. And like something very powerful is bleeding, which combined with the chaos of the mountains might explain the weird harpies and the cat/dogs. But she’s high so she explains this is a very spacey, stoner way. Probably a good thing she’s with Yelle.

Sam and Zelda

Sam can fly and Zelda can basically walk vertically with her goat legs so they check out the nest. Well, ostensibly that’s what they’re doing. Really they’re just having a heart to heart. Sam thanks Zelda for saving her ass and apologizes profusely for being so short with her. Zelda gives her a huge mid-air hug and says it’s not a big deal because she knows Sam is just lashing out because she’s hurting but Sam says it’s not a good enough excuse and she’s truly sorry. It’s been her coping mechanism for so long but she doesn’t want to be that way. She tells Zelda that the Everpetals are divorcing and that she’s living alone and Zelda says that any one of the girls would be happy to have her stay with them. Sam further explains that this is a big part of the reason she’s been so broken up about the possibility of their group splitting up and Zelda immediately takes out her crystal and texts her “I’m in” in the thread, breaking Sam again. 

Since they’re in heart to heart mode, Sam tells her that she talked to her bio-mom and an agent and she’s not sure what to do. Zelda says that she’s gonna be spectacular no matter what she does and she doesn’t have to do any of them but it’s cool doors are opening for her but also Antiope and Penny are gonna be PISSED that she’s out here making side plans after she gave them so much shit for theirs. Lol, well it’s a nice moment in the meantime and we cut to…

Penny, Ost, and Katja 

While Penny is lockpicking (and also trying to teach one of the horses to lockpick because sure) Katja and Ost go talk to the statue of Asha Hammerheart. It seems to be animated with at least some level of her true consciousness from beyond the grave and that she can kind of woge into her statue when she wants, which is cool. She’s been there for like 250 years so that’s a lot of history to see. 

Ost is maybe the most polite we’ve ever seen her talking to Asha (at least to begin with lol) and they ask her about TK. Asha says she saw TK show up 12 years ago but she never left, at least not through the front door. And then about 2 years ago (right around when they were in the crystals) that’s when the harpy queen showed up. At first they were normal and then they started mutating. Also, recently, Korra (one of the other statues/heroes) saw a woman in the mountains--not TK. 

Ost then takes a page from the book of one St. Kristen Applebees and asks, “Hey. What’s the deal with our god? He never talks to us, does he just suck?” Asha--who has never talked to him even though she’s a martyred hero and literally in dwarf heaven makes some excuses for the guy but Katja scoffs at them. “If people wanna take care of you, they do.” Ost then straight up asks if Logran Soulforger is even real which sets Asha off but Ost isn’t mad AT her, she’s mad FOR her. You go and do all this cool shit to the point where you have this cool ass statue, you fully DIE for him and he doesn’t even say hi? With a 21 Persuasion check, Asha admits that yeah, she would have liked some recognition. She decides she’s gonna go do some talking to some people and leaves after getting Ost’s number but before they can ask more about the woman Korra saw (who they think is Charity). 

OK, that’s all the small group stuff! Everyone comes back as Penny finishes up with the lock and they go down into this room that’s full of polished, precious stones. This is probably where people who were upkeeping the temple stayed. While everyone else is going down, Sam feels some powerful magical pull--much like her episode 1 Lightning Lure--calling her from the top of the stairs so she goes back up. We’ll get back to her in a bit. 

Penny rolls a high check to clock what’s going on down here. First off, she finds flintlock bullets and airship uniform scraps which makes it seem like there was a battle here involving some airship guys from the Baronies. Which is not just the place of origin of Riz’s imaginary Romance Partner. It’s a cluster of nations known for high rates of monarchical turnover and renaissance style intrigue. I’m picturing just a nation of [REDACTED]s from Crown of Candy. 

With all of this stuff, Penny finds an emblem of a billionaire airship mogul named Lord Talcidimir Tallbreeze who is a friend of her dad’s. Yelle is immediately like FUCK billionaires which isn’t plot relevant but it’s nice to know she’s always on brand. 

Oh also, Penny just casually finds the Legendarium so that’s neat. 

To be safe, Ost casts Protection from Energy on Ant (who is the one who knows how to use it) and brings out her Spirit Guardian (who is a combo of her mom, nona, and Asha, with her dad’s rings). Ant checks it out and sees that there are currently no A, B, or C quests in all of Spyre. While Penny cross references the bylaws to see if there’s a way to get around this, Yelle does some druid BS that I still do not understand to use the crystals in the cave to jailbreak this super powerful magical Artifact so they can just have copies on their crystals. While that’s happening, let’s check on Sam. 

Sam goes back up the staircase where she sees Ending who doesn’t look menacing at all, just extremely sad. She’s looking out the mouth of the cave and, when she turns, Sam can see she’s crying blood. 

“What’s wrong?” asks Sam, the acid-tongued but good-hearted. “Can I help you?”

With a 25 Persuasion check to get her to talk, Ending apologizes for scaring her and her friends before. She didn’t mean to. She sometimes forgets that her very nature can be frightening and dangerous to others. She says that when she escaped, she tried to rejoin her sisters but found their mirrors shattered and them gone. Sam thought they escaped but that doesn’t make sense to Ending. If they had, why wouldn’t they have freed her as well?

Sam asks who her sisters were and we finally get true names for Ending and her sisters:

Chrona, Terra, Pyrria, Nira, Zefira, Anima, and herself, Talura (which is what I’ll be calling her now that we know). Talura is the baby, the youngest. Sam realizes she’s talking about the Eidolons and Talura seems surprised and a bit pleased that Sam recognizes them. 

Sam asks if she can hug her and Talura hugs her tightly in a very cold embrace that doesn’t hurt. Downstairs, she hears her friends (Penny specifically) freaking about about the lack of quests but she doesn’t break the hug. 

“My own sisters are struggling right now but I’m gonna stay with you because you don’t know where yours are. But maybe we can find them.”

Talura clocks that the way that Sam is being is her true nature, not the bitchiness she often uses as a shield. Then she starts to talk about her history. That she and her sisters were sealed away when the gods were done with them (Sam can relate to being used and set aside) and the only way out was death. Talura has been crying and looking for her sisters to no avail. Her tears of blood leaking seems to be what caused the monsters to mutate which is in line with what Yelle and Ant were sensing. 

Talura doesn’t think anything could have destroyed her sisters so she’s very confused. Sam offers Talura her Mirror of the Past because it almost knocked out Sam to get god-tier information but Talura presumably won’t have that problem. Talura offers her a boon in exchange for this great kindness but Sam says she doesn’t need any quid pro quo. “This is just because you’re hurting.”

Talura is supremely touched and still wants to do something for her new...friend? Sam accepts the title and says that what she needs is some help on her GED quest. Once she explains what she means, Talura again recognizes Aguefort and is like, Oh, you need a quest? I can totally help with that! As we learned earlier, these guys are kinda genie connected so it’s not super surprising when Talura very happily goes full your wish is my command.

Downstairs, a Class A quest suddenly appears in Spyre on the screen. 

Back upstairs, Talura says that it’s been too long since she got to grant a wish and seems really happy about it. Sam gives her the mirror so she can check what happened to her sisters but when she does, she totally flips out and gets super angry--not at Sam, just at whatever she’s looking at. She can hardly believe it. Sam tries to figure out what’s wrong but she just gets super big and then disappears into a puff of smoke, leaving Sam's mirror on the ground, covered in frost. 

Downstairs, the Class A quest expands across the entire globe and then the Legendarium cracks. Ost’s spirit guardian disappears because of alarm bells ringing in the afterlife. And the girls learn that a Class A quest is a quest that affects the whole MULTIVERSE. Yikes!

So anyway, they girls go upstairs to check on Sam (on a bear that Penny makes because sure) and they see that something clearly just happened with Sam. Yelle asks if she’s good and Sam is like yeahhhh I don’t think ANYONE is good right now. Sam seems like she’s about to cry and Antiope instantly forgets all the petty bullshit going on between them and rushes to make sure she’s not hurt. 

Sam gives the girls a rundown of what happened and Yelle concretely puts together what I said earlier about Talura’s tears messing with nature. 

Sam wants to check her mirror to see what Talura saw and Brennan says she can do it the safe way with risk of failure of the surefire way with risk of personal harm. She, of course, picks door 2 and rolls a 13 on her con save which means she rises into the air like Storm from X-Men, eyes wide, and then instantly passes out and goes into shock. Antiope is there to catch her as she does. 

Also, she looks SUPER hot while falling on a 31. Honestly, it’s a shame she doesn’t allow herself a social media presence. 

Anyway, we’ll get to what she sees in a bit. Yelle and Ant make sure she’s OK (she is, but the has to be knocked out for this or she won’t be able to handle it). 

Penny tells them what she knows about each Eidolon from her earlier research which is what element each goes with:

Chrona: Time (Related to astral and elemental planes) 

Terra: Earth

Pyrria: Fire

Nira: Water

Zefira: Air

Anima: Life

Talura: Death 

They also talk about TK never leaving via the front door and all this airship stuff being around. Maybe she left out the top of the mountain on an airship? Katja has the hookup with this Tal guy (she’s met him when she was younger) so they decide they need to check it out once Sam is good. 

The girls fix the Legendarium and Ost, when she goes to pray for her spells for the night, doesn’t pray to her usual god. She prays to Asha. And not only does she get her spells, she also gets a new one--Commune. 

And now let’s get to what Sam is seeing in her Vision Coma. 

She was told by Talura that the only way out of the mirrors given to them by the gods was death. And what Talura saw that drove her to do whatever multiverse threatening thing that she did was every one of her sisters walking out of their mirrors and choosing death. I will specifically highlight that the oldest sister leaves almost immediately with a small, “Oh,” of realization and Anima, the closest sister to her seems terrified before coming to a joyful realization and leaving.

And that’s the end of the episode! Join us next week when apparently there is talk of a masquerade ball?????? Brennan, you shouldn’t have!   

Superlatives 

Sam: Most Likely to Accidently Snag a Brand Deal

Did you guys ever read the Greek myth of Cupid and Psyche? Where Psyche was born so hot that it was basically a curse and she was miserable because she was so hot that Aphrodite hated her? That’s Sam. She is incapable of almost dying in a non-aesthetic way. It’s like a Pantene commercial every time. This is my favorite running gag.

Random Thoughts

Man, I have so many feelings about Sam. She’s such a BITCH in so many ways but it’s so obvious that she has a good heart. Every time she has an opportunity to be nice with no gain--helping Lola find her dog, magically turning the pages for the horses during book club, fully refusing a boon from Talura--she does. And I’m glad she gave Zelda such a sincere apology and didn’t let the extenuating circumstances absolve her because she said some pretty uncalled for things. But at her core she’s so kind and I want only good things for her. 

Also those of you who know me from my FH recaps know I’m a messy bitch for sister stuff so Talura and Sam both referring to the other maidens as her sister had me dead. You can tell when something in this show is f’ing me up when I just start directly quoting instead of paraphrasing. 

Katja being richer than Helio but having no idea what any of the brands Ost is mentioning are is peak comedy.  

As is Ant’s response to the take and penny leave a penny translation from Ost, “No, Penny didn’t come with us.”

Ost: I get service in the afterlife.

You could really tell which of the players watched Sophomore Year because the Baronies came up and all of them went into fight or flight immediately. 

Very Elsa vibes from Sam during the top of the scene with Talura. (Sam is, of course, a better sister but we simply do not have time to get into my feelings on Frozen 2 right now).

I was wondering why this season was called just “The Seven” when it dropped initially. Like, was it snappier? Did they not want to use the word “maiden”? But they still call themselves the Seven Maidens in the show so it’s probably not that. Now I’m wondering if it’s just to parallel the 7 of them w/ the 7 Eidolons. 

So it seems clear based on the reactions of the first and sixth sisters that they didn’t just “go gently into that good night” as Ant would say and ditch Talura. It seems like they figured something out. Also Brennan isn’t really a “and then they all died, the end” kind of DM, you know? Credit to my friend @camwritery for getting here before I did but the gods said the only way out was death and she is death so you know? Those def seem like puzzle pieces that go together. 

The only crit rolled this episode is a 1 by Penny which she gets to reroll as a halfling. 

[itsmeevie01]

A Moment in Time- Chapter 9

MASTERPOST

hey hey hi hi ok! today's post has some heavier topics again, but there isn't anything too harsh(?)

the only warning that I think may apply is child abuse. listen yall, Adrien has not had it easy. if you want to skip the darker parts, I have a bolded A/N in there. otherwise, I will leave a summary in the beginning of the next chapter. enjoy!

Adrien Agreste was tired. 

For the last four years, the teen had been attending school, making friends, and fine-tuning his social skills. For the last three years, the blond model had been fighting his father to keep Lilliana Rossi off of him, literally. 

There had been many fights in the shining marble halls of the Agreste manor that had ended with Gabriel smiling smugly, and Adrien close to, or in tears. Since their last fight about his public persona (and mostly Lila), Adrien had taken pains to avoid his father. 

They obviously had very different views on many of the things that Adrien considered essential. 

The last fight had ended with Gabriel snapping, and telling Adrien that there would be no more debates. The next time, it wouldn’t only be the end of school, but he would lose his phone, his computer, his books, everything. Then next time, he would be sent away, and would only see tutors, and a caretaker.  The threat of isolation to that degree had sent Adrien into a fuming rage. 

That night, he had called Marinette. She had helped him sneak out, and like countless other times, she had taken him to her Nona’s house to decompress and work through his emotions. 

That last fight had been three weeks ago, and Adrien couldn’t help but feel like the walls were closing in on him.

 Now, as the teen walked the halls late at night, he couldn’t help but feel like a change was coming. He couldn’t tell if it was good or bad, but the 17-year-old knew that he needed to be out of the way when whatever was going on in this house imploded.

He slipped into the library that had been his solace in his early teens. The room now stood dark and slightly neglected. The space had always belonged to his mother, Emilie. When she had… Adrien pushed aside that thought. 

Without her here, the library had been ignored by Gabriel and avoided by the staff. When he ran his finger over the table closest to him, Adrien made a face at the dust that came up. It seemed that he was to only one to enter in quite a while. Walking further into the room, the blond teen frowned at the large windows on the far end of the room. 

Never in the entire time he had lived in the manor had Adrien seen those curtains closed. He knew that his father had put in (a completely for show) garden and that the area picked had been directly under the windows. 

While he had expresses interest, none of the adults in the house would allow the only child to venture into the garden, claiming that Gabriel was the only one allowed.

As he pulled back the curtains and looked down at the space where there was supposed to be a garden, Adrien wondered how many people in the manor knew what his father was doing.  He stared at the small grotto that was the only piece of the original design that he had seen. 

Behind the first row of hedges was…a butterfly farm? Yes, that had to be what that was, at the very top of the enclosed space where the myriad of butterflies gathered, was a window. The windows close to the center were purple, framing the ornate butterfly window. 

While he was standing there, the teen noticed the door below him slamming open, wrapping himself in the curtains to (slightly) conceal his presence, Adrien watched in shock as his father strode into the grotto. Nathalie followed a step behind, her ever-present clipboard gone. Instead, she was pinning a broach that Adrien had never seen before onto her jacket.

 The shock that the teen had been feeling morphed into mute horror as he blinked away the bright flashes that had appeared from the not-so-secret room. Where his father had been standing a moment ago, now stood the infamous Hawkmoth. 

Behind him, instead of Nathalie, stood the fabled Mayora that Lady Tyche had been fighting for the last four years. 

Fuck.

When Nino called, Adrien worked to calm his features. While he was still shaking from what he had seen, he didn’t need one of his best friends worrying over something that they couldn’t handle. Pasting a smile on his face, Adrien accepted Nino’s call. He knew that he wasn’t doing the best job of distracting his friend, but this wasn’t something that could be talked about over the phone.

Once Nino had hung up, obviously concerned for his friend but agreeing to wait until the morning to talk in person, Adrien put his phone down and took a steadying breath. It was late enough that his father should be in bed. Now was the best time to pack.

Adrien snuck out before daybreak. He had two suitcases with him. on each case was a duffel bag, and his backpack was slung over one shoulder. While the boy looked fresh and ready for the day, in reality, he had spent the night moving his stuff to the house he and Marinette had visited on occasion. She had emphasized that he was always welcome, and the blond teen wasn’t sure what else to do. 

Now, he was going to make the final trek, before hiding there throughout the day. As soon as he didn’t show up for school, Adrien knew that Nathalie was going to get a phone call.

 When Chloé had told him that she would send her car to get him, Adrien had been skeptical.  Now though, he was standing there in shock as her butler loaded his belongings into the car and gestured for him to follow. Cautiously, the teen slipped into the back seat of the car and kept his head down ad they pulled into traffic. 

His goal was to make sure that he wasn’t seen, no matter what.

(ok, A/N time! this is where I did a tiny little time skip. I couldn't figure out how to make it run better. I will probably come back and fix it at some point though...this is after Adrien has caught Mari and Chlo up to speed!)

When Adrien looked up from where he was twisting his hands, he was met with two sets of furious blue eyes. Chloé was visibly shaking, while Marinette was gripping her knees with white-knuckled hands.

“Adrien” the sadness that was in Marinette’s tone when she breathed his name told the blond enough about what was going through her mind. The next moment, he felt two pairs of arms wrapping around him. and, in the comfort of his friends, Adrien Agreste finally started to cry.

While Adrien cried and finally let himself feel the emotions running through him, Chloé and Marinette held a silent conversation over his head. Chloé very clearly wanted to march into the Agreste manor and tell Gabriel off, but Marinette wasn’t sure that the plan was…sound. 

Instead, she nudged the heiress into calling Aurore, who rushed over to see what had the girls so worked up. 

When her ex arrived, Marinette left Adrien in the care of a very overprotective Chloé and walked the older Hero through what they had found out. While Lady Luck stewed and thought over different plans, Marinette gathered the Kwamiis that were present and caught them up to speed. 

The group of four spent their afternoon and a good part of the evening gathered in Chloé’s little house. It wasn’t until Marinette got a call from her parents that the group tuned back into the rest of the world. 

ok, what do we think? I'm pretty sure where this story is going for the moment, but this Adrien side trip was not in the plans! The next chapter will be the fallout, and then we can get back to the Timari goodness everyone is actually here for! also, this is the last chance to have a say in what Miraculous Adrien gets. I'm pretty sure I know what I'm going with, but it could change last minute.

opinions on Gabriel? also...what do you think happened to Emilie?

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[gothpanda]

A Little Bit of Attitude Ch.32: Los Angeles

WORD COUNT: 5.6k

A/N: lol I’m not dead. Just had finals

TAGS: @madamsixx​ @emariehorror​

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May 31st, 1987

Oakland, California

"... At the dollhouse in Fort Lauderdale! Girls, Girls, Girls! Rocking in Atlanta at Tattletails,"

Sammi groaned loud from the music through the speakers, lightly banging her head against the metal shelves aligned with cassette tapes. It was a brand new song that seemed to play 24/7 since being released, Sammi wanting to rip her ears out of her head. It didn't help that she was in a record store where most of the employees were goth or punks. As Sammi rested her head on the cold metal, Athena couldn't help but chuckle at her sister's dismay while browsing the selection of pop tapes.

"Why are you so dramatic? I thought you'd be happy the band is being successful," said Athena, side-eyeing Sammi's pouted lips.

"I would be happy if I didn't have to hear or see them all over the place. It gets annoying after a while," said Sammi, walking down the aisle of music, finding something new to entertain herself in. Athena followed in her little sister's footsteps, keeping a safe distance from her. It was Athena's idea to check a music store as Sammi showed her around the Bay Area, never having been able to visit until today.

"Well, it's not like you've been avoiding them or anything like that. Of course, it would get annoying,"

"I am not avoiding them," mumbled Sammi.

"Are you sure? You have done a pretty good job if you ask me," said Athena, grabbing a new Aerosmith cassette for her walkman.

Sammi stopped dead in her tracks, turning to glare right at Athena, who had a playful smirk. "I have not, Athena. I've been busy. " There's a difference," said Sammi, turning into the magazine aisle near the shop's cash register.

"Really? You could've fooled by the way you haven't been home in a year. When was the last time you talked to mama or dad?"

Sammi sighed out. "I'm sorry for missing out on stuff, but school has been a bigger pain in my ass than I thought. And I have spoken to mama and dad,"

"You've missed: Tommy's birthday, Mama's birthday, Thanksgiving, Christmas, my birthday-"

"Okay, I get it, Athena! You don't have to remind me. I'm going home for a month aren't I?" asked Sammi with a sting of sarcasm, glancing at all of the headlines from the gossip tabloids.

"And thank god for that,"

"Why L.A isn't living up to its potential anymore?" joked Sammi.

"Exactly. Everything has been moderately boring since you left. It's not fun hanging out with Tommy after he got married. Our lovely sister-in-law isn't up to crazy fun. And all of my friends are acting like full adults now with 9 to 5's," said Athena.

Right as Sammi responded, her eyes fell on an issue of 'Rock Secrets,' another gossip magazine amongst the hundreds. The cover for the tabloid made Sammi's heartstrings get pulled in different directions. Nikki in the arms of another woman, both smirking. Sammi knew the woman from the party scene of Los Angeles, a dancer for every music video but nothing more. She was the complete opposite of Sammi in every single way. The woman was someone taller who was almost the same height as Nikki in heels. She was slimmer than Sammi and tanner in comparison to Sammi's pale cheeks. Sammi didn't want to believe Nikki running out to get new girlfriends after she left but knew it was bound to happen at some point. It had been a year. Sammi was never one to feel self-conscious about her appearance but seeing someone so different from her have Nikki wrapped around their finger stung. As Sammi stared longer at the cover, she was able to see the haze in Nikki's eyes that she hated, the girl almost matching him. Sammi reached for the magazine, facing Athena with a ghastly face, a cocktail of anger and sadness show. Athena pressed her lips tightly together, taking the tabloid for herself to examine.

"She isn't close to being as pretty as you," said Athena in hopes of cheering Sammi up. Sammi scoffed. "And Tommy hates her with his whole being. Apparently, she's some crazy attention whore. That's probably why she's on this stupid cover,"

"She is pretty, don't lie. And I don't care if Tommy doesn't like her or she's an attention whore," said Sammi, yanking the magazine from Athena's hand. She curled her lip as she stared at the cover, turning pages to see more photos of the couple around Los Angeles. With the luck of being around drugs and partying, Sammi could see when Nikki was high in the images. "Her name is Veronica?" asked Sammi.

"Yeah. Don't let her get to you, she's just some background dancer who's gotten with other musicians," answered Athena, skimming through a Rolling Stones magazine.

"Still. She has a pretty name," mumbled Sammi under her breath, unable to look away. When it finally felt too much for Sammi, she threw the thin tabloid down the aisle with all her force in one quick motion. Athena whipped her head fast, snapping her eyes wide open in shock.

"Sam, what the hell?" asked Athena in a sharp whisper. Sammi only continued to walk into a different section of the music shop. "Was that really necessary?" asked Athena, raising an eyebrow at Sammi.

Sammi shrugged her shoulders, pouting slightly. "It felt good for a second, now I'm just annoyed again,"

"It's great to see you've moved on," teased Athena, throwing her arm around Sammi's shoulders.

"What? I can't be bitter if an ex got a new girlfriend?" asked Sammi, folding her arms across her chest.

"No, because you're supposed to be the mature one, remember? It shouldn't get to you,"

"I beg to differ on being mature,"

"Hey! You can't throw around the magazines!" yelled a young goth girl, picking up the crinkled magazine from the floor, frowning at Sammi and Athena.

"Sorry, she had a temper tantrum. Won't happen again!" answered Athena, trying her best to hide a chuckle. "But seriously please don't do that again. I like to come back to this place next time I visit you,"

"Oh finally you're thinking about visiting?" asked Sammi with a smile, crossing her arms against her chest.

The sisters continued exploring the record store a moment longer, buying cassette tapes to listen to on the drive back home. When Sammi would scan down the rock section, she couldn't help think about what Nikki would like. It was a habit she couldn't break yet. The Oakland streets were beginning to grow busy with summer vacation coming around, Sammi seeing more tourists than usual. "So, I know you don't want to talk about Motley but I should probably tell you this," said Athena.

Sammi kept her dead stare ahead of her, scowling into the distance. "What is it? No one's dying or in the hospital right?"

Athena scoffed in amusement. "No, nothing like that. They're going to be back on the road soon," said Athena, lighting a cigarette as the sisters walked down east.

"Oh. Good for them," said Sammi, wrinkles deepening between her brows. "When are they packing up?"

"Third week in June? Tommy hasn't given me all the details yet except for one,"

"Which is?"

"He wants to throw this huge kick-off party at his and Heather's,"

"Okay," Sammi shrugged.

"I wanted to let you know before Tommy gets so incredibly excited to tell you, he forgets to ask if you're okay," said Athena, blowing out smoke into the air.

"Athena, I'm fine. I just needed to let out my frustrations for a second,"

"Sammi no you're not and please listen," Sammi stopped her steps, sucking her teeth as she faced Athena. "You can admit to not wanting to see Nikki when you get back home. It's understandable to not want to see an ex. You shouldn't tough it out for the sake of Tommy or anyone else. If you're not okay just tell me,"

Sammi sighed out heavily, gazing up anywhere but Athena. "It's okay. I'm okay. Yeah, it hurts Nikki moved on, but what am I supposed to do? We haven't talked in a year, and we both messed up," said Sammi, continuing to walk with heavy steps.

"How did you mess up?" asked Athena.

"I got up and left without telling him. I didn't tell my boyfriend anything about me leaving, and I just left him. You don't think that's a little messed up?" asked Sammi, scrunching her brows together with a frown.

"You two broke up before you left," reassured Athena.

Sammi stopped again in her tracks, looking right into Athena's eyes. "Did you know Nona died last year? Nikki's grandma" asked Sammi.

Athena bit her lip. "No, I didn't. Tom never mentioned it," muttered Athena, looking down at her feet.

Sammi bit the inside of her cheek, shaking her head slightly and continuing to walk. Instead of spitting out venomous words, Sammi pulled out a cigarette from her crinkled pack of Camels, lighting it in silence. "You've been busy, Sam. Don't be hard on yourself," said Athena.

"This conversation is going way longer than I want," muttered Sammi, staring dead ahead of her.

"Fine. Are you ready to go home then?" asked Athena, looping her arm around Sammi's. Sammi sighed out with a nod. The sisters continued their walk through the city streets until finding the car park, silence forming between them. Sammi only wanted to go home to her family.

*

June 2nd

Los Angeles, California

"Sammi!" screamed Emma excitedly from the apartment balcony, smiling down at her best friend. Sammi slammed the backseat door, swinging a duffle bag on her shoulders as she smiled back at Emma. Sabrina soon rushed out behind the sliding door with a smile on her face. "Do you need any help?" yelled out Sabrina.

"No, I'm good! I'll be right up!" answered Sammi, racing up to the second floor of the apartment complex. As Sammi reached Emma and Sabrina's door, Emma swung it right open, engulfing Sammi in a lovingly tight hug. Sabrina wrapped her arms around both the girls, everyone smiling gleefully. Once finally pulling apart, Emma grabbed Sammi's duffle off her shoulders, playing a great hostess.

"We've missed you so much," said Sabrina, kissing Sammi on her temple.

"Come on and welcome to our very adult apartment," joked Emma, swinging her arm around Sammi's shoulders, walking into the apartment. It was perfect for Emma and Sabrina, enough space for both with extra for Sammi. Anyone who visited could see the elements of a future lawyer and a star athlete, a mix of color and neatness. Sammi admired the decor from every corner, noting the purple sofa and accent chair in the living room.

"I like everything. You girls really got the place up and pretty," said Sammi, dropping herself on the sofa.

"Thanks, we did have a year to get it clean for you," teased Sabrina with a smirk, sitting down on an accent chair. Sammi glared at her, matching Sabrina's smirk as Emma took the duffle bag to her room.

"Ha. Ha. I just wanted to give you two all the time in the world,"

"In that case, you better love every single corner of this place," said Emma, prospering herself next to Sammi. "But enough about this place! How's San Francisco? Is it great and gay as I imagine?" asked Emma with a goofy smile.

"Is school going great for you? I know my mom wanted me to move there for college," asked Sabrina, almost on the edge of her seat.

"Are the nightclubs totally amazing like I hear? We should go to one when we visit next month!" exclaimed Emma.

Sammi only looked down at her hands, checking her nail polish with a forced thin smile on. She shrugged her shoulders, trying her best to think of something great. "San Fran's pretty, don't get me wrong, but it's so… cramped and stiff. It's nothing but an overpriced tiny island," scuffed Sammi, pouting at Emma and Sabrina.

"Really? You made it sound so nice on the phone when we'd call," said Sabrina, scrunching her brows together.

"I also make those phone calls short if you two recall," said Sammi, Sabrina and Emma exchange worried looks. "The only nice thing I can think of was the food. Great Japanese restaurants. But school is school. One year down, one more to go. The people I've met have been incredibly rude. One was some Christian freak who said the boys were satanic, and I wasn't any better hanging out with them,"

"Wow. Wait until you tell her you like to hang out with a lesbian," joked Emma, earning a smile from Sammi. "Sam, you should've said something about not being happy. We could've gone up and hung out for a weekend," Emma suggested.

"And brought some company with us," said Sabrina, pressing her lips firmly together.

"You'd really make Emma sit in a car with her ex? Even if they were my sister?" teased Sammi.

"No, I think she was talking about another ex," said Emma, biting the edge of her thumbnail. "And not a blonde ex,"

Sammi looked back down at her hands, grabbing a pillow to hug. "I think Nikki is already pretty busy with his new girlfriend. He wouldn't want to come to San Francisco," shrugged Sammi.

"You sure? I think he would drop everything if we asked him to tag along. The guys haven't been on tour yet," said Sabrina.

"Yep. I'm sure. Nikki was never a fan of San Francisco,"

"Sabrina is right about Nikki dropping everything to see you, Sammi. It wouldn't matter if he has a girlfriend or not. He hasn't seen you in a year or talked to you-"

"He's tried, mumbled Sammi.

"What?" asked Emma, scrunching her eyebrows deeper.

"He tried and I tried, but I just fucked it up," sighed Sammi with a shaky breath.

"Sammi, please talk to us," said Sabrina, leaning forward on her legs, hands closed.

Sammi sighed out, resting her head from the side in the palm of her hand. "Nona passed away. Nikki left a voicemail, sounding messed up and I didn't do anything about it. I didn't call him to check in on him. I didn't call his grandfather to check in on him. I didn't do anything. I would call him in the middle of the night and then hang up right away after I first moved. He would be high," said Sammi, wiping away the forming tear that could fall.

"Sam," said Emma softly, reaching out to hold Sammi's hand.

"Please don't tell me I didn't fuck up because I did," pleased Sammi, looking at Emma and Sabrina.

"Okay, the both of you have had bad communication skills, but it still isn't considered  fucked up ," said Sabrina. "You're home for a month. Maybe now it's a better time to speak to him,"

Sammi shook her head. "There's more than just that. I slept with Vince after we got drunk," admitted Sammi. "I fucked up,"

Sabrina and Emma stared at Sammi for a moment, glancing at each other to find something to say. "How bad do you feel about having sex with Vince?" asked Sabrina.

"S,"

"No Em, I'm just asking a question. Sammi, why did you sleep with Vince? And why did you feel bad afterward?" asked Sabrina again, this time in a stern voice.

"Because it didn't feel right after I sobered up. There were no rekindled feelings within me for the person I dated. I was drunk and Vince kept saying how great Nikki was doing. He didn't sleep with me because he missed me. It felt like he just wanted to get back at Nikki," said Sammi running a hand down her face.

"Did Vince tell Nikki?" asked Emma.

"I don't know. When we spoke, I told him it was a one-time thing and to keep it between us," said Sammi.

"I still think you should talk to Nikki," suggested Sabrina.

"You're going to have to someday," said Emma, swinging her arm around Sammi's shoulders, bringing her in for a hug.

"I know. I have to do it next Saturday," groaned Sammi. "Tommy's going to throw a party before the guys leave on tour and I have to go,"

"You mean we have to go," added Emma, Sammi scrunching her brows together. "You seriously think we're just going to let you be alone where Nikki is? What kind of friends do you think we are," teased Emma, smiling at Sammi.

Sabrina walked over to the sofa, perching herself on the sofa's armrest, placing her chin on the crown of Sammi's hair. "You'll be fine. Things may seem like shit right now but I promise you, there's always a glimmer of light after a storm," said Sabrina. Sammi only smiled at the two girls, nerves slowly thawing out and relaxing.

June 13th

"What time does Tommy want us to show up?" shouted Sabrina from her bedroom into the hallway, scowling down at the multiple outfits on her bed. Sammi shuffled into Sabrina's room, undoing the last hair roller from her dark locks.

"He said 8:30," answered Sammi, seeing a digital clock read 8:40. When it came to times for parties, they were only a suggestion for the girls. Tommy never meant the time he really said. Sammi scanned the bed before picking up a blue strapless dress. "You should wear this one. It's a nice summer color,"

"So happy to have you help with my little dilemmas," smiled Sabrina, grabbing the dress to change in the private bathroom. "Is Emma ready?" Sabrina shouted through the restroom.

"Yeah, I just needed to finish straightening my hair," entered Emma, ready to go in her purple jumpsuit. "Are you ready, Sammi?" asked Emma.

Sammi scrunched her brows together. "Oh yeah, I'm already dressed. I only need my heels,"

"I don't mean physically ready even though I love that black dress. I meant ready to see the guys again. Specifically a certain bassist,"

Sammi pursed her lips out. "No, but it's going happen sooner or later,"

"That's the spirit! I'll call us a cab while Sabrina's changing. Remember it's still going to be a fun night!" cheerfully said, Emma.

"If you say so," said Sammi with hesitation.

*

From the grand driveway, guests from the party scenes had already flooded the mansion, either inside or outside. The girls walked up the front steps, smiling politely and maneuvering past people they didn't know until inside. Sammi scanned the foyer and living room, hesitant to find familiar faces just yet. It wasn't until Sammi heard her name yelled out in a high pitched voice.

"Sammi! Finally, you're here!" yelled out Heather in excitement, walking as fast as she could in her heels. She swiftly hugged Sammi tightly, ignoring the presence of Emma and Sabrina. Sammi embraced back with less enthusiasm but still happy to see her sister-in-law. "It's been so long! I have missed you so much!" said Heather, releasing Sammi from her grip. "Did you all just get here? Let's go to the kitchen for a drink!" suggested Heather, grabbing Sammi's hand, pulling her further into the house. Sammi flashed anxious wide eyes at Emma and Sabrina, the two only shrugging their shoulders and following. A few people began to recognize Sammi as the four passed through, almost remembering Tommy's other sister. The kitchen wasn't better in the number of people, some others herding in the quarters. Heather let go of Sammi, playing hostess, as she filled up three glasses of expensive champagne. Soon another person in the herd approached the absent girl, clearing his throat to gain her attention. Sammi's eyes lit up, as did her smile when realizing who it was.

"Mick!" exclaimed Sammi.

"How have you been, Little One?" said Mick, smiling his best as the two exchanged a small hug. "I'm not one to be needy, but how come I haven't heard much from you?"

Sammi shrugged her shoulders. "School has been kicking my ass. It's harder than I forgot," joked Sammi.

"I'm happy that's your reason. It's been quiet without you,"

"How can it be so quiet? I'm the least crazy out all of you," teased Sammi.

Mick shrugged his shoulders. "Quiet for me at least,"

"Here you go, Sammi. Heather had to find Tommy," said Sabrina, passing her the champagne glass.

"Hey, Mick! Enjoying the party?" asked Emma, forming a small circle between the four.

"As much as I can for a little while. I'm just waiting for my girl to stop by then I'm taking off," said Mick, earning wide eyes from all the girls.

"You have a girlfriend?" asked Sabrina with an amused smile.

"That's so nice!" said Emma.

"Who is she?" asked Sammi, cocking a raised eyebrow.

Mick began to smirk, taking a sip of his alcohol of choice. "Her name's Emerson. She's a backup singer, but please don't tell the guys. The three of you can't tell them,"

The girls all scrunched their brows at Mick. "Why? Is she someone they know?" asked Emma.

"We hired her to tour with us. That's how we met. But I know they'll just bust my balls for liking her,"

"Mick, you shouldn't let the guys dictate who you want to like. If you really like this girl then they're just going to have to deal with it," advised Sabrina.

"Unless she's mean to you then we're going to have a problem," said Sammi, winking at Mick.

Mick scuffed at the girls. "Whatever just please keep it yourselves, for me. That is all I ask,"

"Promise," the girls said in unison.

"Thank you. Come on let's find your brother and sister, they've been wondering about you," said Mick, taking the lead to leave the stuffy kitchen. Right as Sammi stepped out, her eyes couldn't help but fall directly onto a man far away, almost making her freeze. Nikki staring right at her, back against the wall. Sammi swallowed hard, continuing to follow Mick and the girls, eyes looking down. This didn't stop Nikki; he followed every step Sammi took until disappearing behind a wall. Sammi couldn't help but finish the champagne in one gulp, placing the glass on a random table.

"Sammi! Finally! I was starting to think you were going to show up!" yelled out Tommy in excitement, hugging the youngest sister. "And ladies, always lovely to see the two of you!" Emma and Sabrina giggling alongside Tommy. Athena appeared right past Emma, only smirking at her without a word. She kissed Sammi on the cheek, passing her a refreshed drink of vodka. "I see Mick got to you before anyone else. Let me get Vince!"

"Tommy, it's cool. I have all night to talk to people," said Sammi, biting her lip.

"Besides Vince is wrapped around a new blondie's finger," added Mick, sitting down on a nearby sofa.

"Vince got a new girlfriend?" asked Sammi.

Tommy shrugged his shoulders. "She's basically a look-like of Sharise. I give it two months while we're on the road,"

"When did you know about this?" Sammi asked Athena.

"About an hour ago when he walked through the door. She seems like a nice girl if I'm being honest," said Athena.

As if his ears were burning, Vince sturt his way to the group with a young woman wrapped around him. "Sam! What a surprise!" said Vince with excitement. Tommy shot a look between Athena and the girls, sitting down beside Mick. "Babe, this is Sammi. Tommy's other sister I was telling you about,"

"Hi, I'm Hayley. I've heard a lot about you," said Hayley extending out a hand, trying her best to not seem uncomfortable.

Sammi smiled politely, accepting the handshake to not be rude. "All good things I hope,"

"Of course all good. I'd never talk bad about you," said Vince, smirking lustfully at Sammi.

"Yeah, like how smart and nice you are," said Hayley. The tension between the two girls was incredibly thick. Anyone could cut it with a knife. Suddenly, the music changed from its rock sound to a techno beat, blaring even louder than before. Tommy jumped up to question, only to let out an annoyed groan when seeing a wild hair woman jump on the coffee table in the middle of the room. To the music's beat, the woman danced faster and faster, almost too fast for the music. Emma couldn't help but curl her lip at the woman, wrinkling her brows at Tommy. Sammi hitched her breath, caught in her throat when realizing it was Veronica.

"Who the hell is that?" asked Emma.

"Nikki's new girlfriend," groaned Tommy, pouring some whiskey into his solo cup. "She's a bitch," he whispered to the girls, noting the somber expression from Sammi.

"I don't know how Sixx deals with that. Come on, babe, let's go out to the pool," said Vince, wrapping his arm around Hayley's waist. "Later, Sam," winked Vince.

Sammi remained silent amongst everyone, sinking into the sofa to watch the unfortunate show display in front of her. People around the grand living room gathered to watch Veronica, snickers from other women as they watched. Muttered comments going around on the visible state of Veronica being high on some type of drug. This went on longer than anyone wanted, Sammi beginning to wonder if anyone had the heart to stop her. Most found it entertaining, while others didn't. Sammi glanced around the room, wondering where Nikki was during all of this. It wasn't until Heather stomped up to Tommy, bringing him down to her level to whisper in his ear. Sammi was able to read the anger on Heather's face, seeing her fold in her arms right at her husband. Tommy shook his head, marching straight to Veronica, and one swoop brought her off the table, clinging onto Veronica. Tommy tried his best to shuffle out of the living room even when it was becoming difficult.

"Let go of me you asshole! You demon!" shouted Veronica, her weak legs making her almost sink to the floor. As Tommy lifted Veronica back on her feet, Nikki appeared from thin air confused. Tommy couldn't help but throw the intoxicated girl at his best friend. Nikki didn't bother to help her stand on her two feet, letting Veronica stumble by his feet. Sammi could see the three frowning at Nikki's careless attitude toward Veronica.

"Was she dancing again?" asked Nikki, scowling down at Veronica.

"Yeah. Now can you please watch your chick? Some of us are trying to enjoy our night," said Tommy, going to the stereos to finally switch the music to something more bearable. He walked over to Heather with his classic Tommy smile, kissing her on the lips to melt any anger away. Grabbing Veronica by her arm, Nikki dragged her up on her feet, quickly turning away from all staring eyes. Nikki grinds hard his teeth when his eyes fell on Sammi for the second time of the night, being able to see the worry from her. The dysfunctional couple disappeared from within the house, everyone soon forgetting about the little show—everyone except for Sammi. Sammi stared down at her drink, Sabrina sitting right next to her.

"Ready to talk to him?" asked Sabrina?

Sammi bit the inside of her cheek, glancing up in the direction of where Nikki was. "Will I ever be?" scuffed Sammi, taking a swing from whatever was in her cup.

"Probably not, but it wouldn't hurt to try another time. Nikki already saw you. He knows you're here. And he's leaving in a couple of days. I'm only suggesting because I care about you,"

"I know. I'll be right back," said Sammi, passing Sabrina her cup as she stood up while fixing her short dress.

Sabrina wrinkled her brows at Sammi. "You're going to talk to him now?"

"No, but if I just happen to go missing please come find me," answered Sammi, carefully passing through the sea of people.

*

"Why do you keep making a scene everywhere we go?" whispered Nikki from behind the closed door. Sammi paused from touching up her makeup in the mirror, remaining completely still and silent to listen. "You're high again aren't you?" asked Nikki. Sammi pressed her ear to the door to listen better. She knew there was no point in hiding in the bathroom, thinking of Emma and Sabrina looking for her.

"So what if I am? It's a party!" shouted Veronica.

"That I didn't invite you to!" said Nikki. The silence between the two soon followed for a moment, Sammi slowly opening the door. She tried her best to not make her heels clank loud on the tile, walking into the hallway with small steps. The hallway's right end was utterly empty, causing Sammi to drop the cautious act as she shut the bathroom door behind her. "Sammi?" said Nikki, Sammi jumping in her skin when hearing her name. She peered over her shoulder, Nikki looking dead at her for the third time, somewhat softer finally. Veronica leaned slouched against the wall with a deadly stare, unhappy to see Sammi even if she was a stranger. It was clear to Sammi Nikki looked better than most days, Veronica appearing to be the only one under something. Sammi didn't peep a word, unable to say anything to Nikki, especially with his new girlfriend by his side.

"I know who you are," slurred Veronica, stumbling on her feet to regain balance, dodging Nikki's attempt to hold her down. She fought the urge to fall onto the floor, wanting to be right in Sammi's face. Sammi couldn't say or do anything, freezing at the taller woman looking down on her. Sammi could see the pin needle pupils in Veronica's eyes. "I know exactly who you are. You're the one corrupting Nikki. The one corrupting everyone," Sammi scrunched her brows deep together, looking past Veronica to Nikki. "No! Look at me! You're nothing but a devil. A devil!" shouted Veronica, inching closer to Sammi's face. Before having the chance to grip onto Sammi's bare arms, Nikki yanked Veronica down to the floor with no care if she got hurt.

"Don't fucking talk to her! You don't get to talk to her!" yelled Nikki at Veronica, scowling at her. Veronica laid flat down on her back, pouting up at Nikki. Nikki didn't care about Veronica's state of being in this moment, only wretched when Sammi appeared scared. "Leave her alone and leave me alone," Nikki said, grasping Sammi's arm lightly as he led them away from Veronica. Sammi couldn't help look back at Veronica, wondering if she had any idea of what was really happening. Nikki took Sammi to another empty hallway, the music almost a bit louder from where they stood. Sammi rested against the wall, unable to look Nikki in the eye even when she could feel Nikki's on her. "Got nothing to say?" asked Nikki.

"Thank you," mumbled Sammi, looking down at her feet.

Nikki scoffed, shaking his head. "Is that really all?" Sammi stayed silent. Nikki stepped closer to Sammi, lightly taking his hands to cup Sammi's cheeks, cradling her face. He brought her eyes to meet his, a loving brown meeting a foggy hazel. Just from the simple tough of something so innocent, a flush of pink stained Sammi's cheeks. Nikki couldn't help but crack a small smile, missing the sweet face. Alas, the unfortunate always comes. "I know you and Vince had sex," said Nikki, dropping his hands and stepping back.

"What?" uttered Sammi, lips parting in shock, deep wrinkles setting in between her brows.

Nikki only shrugged his shoulders. "I guess you aren't that great anymore to keep him around," said Nikki.

Before Sammi could say anything, Nikki headed straight for the front of the house, hands in his pocket as he ignored everyone. Everything came like a tsunami wave; all Sammi could see was red. Instead of beginning to cry, Sammi marched her way through the party, ignoring the calls of her name from Athena or Sabrina. When reaching the outside, Sammi was able to find Vince in a short second, making a fast b-line to him. Vince didn't pay any attention to his surroundings, talking to a friend by the pool without Hayley. Vince was soon heavily pushed into the body of water in a blink, drink flying out of his hand. When he came up to the surface, Vince was ready to fight until realizing Sammi was scowling down at him.

"Sammi, what the fuck!?" yelled Vince. Tommy and Athena were quick to run out to get Sammi, Sammi pushing away their grasps.

Hayley rushed to Vince's side. "What's wrong with you?!" asked Hayley.

"Why did you tell Nikki?!" screamed Sammi. "You promised!" Vince bit his lip, looking at everyone but Sammi. "Huh?!"

"Sam," whispered Athena, softly pushing her away from the edge of the pool. Tommy pulled Vince up out of the water, glaring right at him for answers.

"Why are you so mad you slept with me?!" asked Vince, Athena, and Tommy, eyes opening wide at Sammi.

"Because it was a drunk mistake!" shouted Sammi. She shook her head at Vince. "You didn't give a shit about me," spit Sammi.

"You had sex with Vince?" asked Athena, concerned. Sammi didn't give an answer.

Emma and Sabrina delicately put a hand on Sammi's shoulders, being the only people who didn't get shoved off. "Sam, we're going home," ordered Emma, grabbing her hand as she shot daggers at Vince. Sammi didn't protest, letting the girls engulf her in protection from stares. They didn't need anyone to judge Sammi as she was only a stranger to everyone. Mick had already left from the madness, knowing he would hear from the grapevine. Once the girls were in a cab, Emma turned to Sammi. "Are you finally going to talk to Nikki? And this time like adults?" Sammi only dropped her head against the fuzzy middle seat, nodding with another word.

[whatsyourcolor]

Psycho-Pass 3 - Episode 6 review [SPOILERS]

Mmm...where to start. Okay, my theory of two factions working against each other was disproven now that we know Torri is the son of the female dealer of Bifrost and the third Fox. 

Errrrbody at the church looking foxy. 

Now it’s become habitual that in each new episode, instead of solving a mystery, three additional mysteries appear. In this episode we have a eustress treatment that will leave you eternally white (and possibly a vegetable too), we have human, diamond and arms trafficking and then we have these weird ass dudes that look like Black Plague doctors: 

Oh, okay. That makes me feel so much safer to come to this church. Such a blessed place!

At this point, I highly doubt that they’ll bother explaining what the hell these people are doing by exporting bolts for AK-Alfas outside of Japan whilst they “help” immigrants inside. Why Arata insists on defending them as Division 1 finds: 1. the drone that inserted bombs on people. 2. The beds where said bomb people rested. 3. that the bombers are taking out people who were involved in the original plan. 4. immigrants living in horrendous conditions. 5. pieces of arms to be exported outside of Japan so people can keep warring. Now, one thing is to have detective instinct. One thing is to understand the mind of a criminal to the point where you understand his motivations, his creed, can profile him and figure out his MO. This is where Season 2 (yeah, THAT Season 2) surpasses Season 3. I know what Kamui was doing and why because Akane figured it out. Arata has only blind faith. In Karina, in Ma-Karina, in religious leaders with disreputable behaviors, in the nun, in the monk, in Kei, in this, in that. Come on, man. I was kinda relieved when Irie did this:

Irie: “I told you I’m dating Hinakawa now. No means no!” 

In other episodes we’ve seen how the SAD and the MWPSB are constantly stepping on each other’s toes. In this episode it seems more like a competition of egos than actual concern for a terrorist threat. At least I don’t get a sense of urgency. We learn that the SAD knows everything the MWPSB has been doing up to this point (they aren’t impressed) and that they want Zaharias (the guy that Kei’s pretending to be.) Arata tells Frederica that Zaharias is at church like the good boy he is and Frederica jumps back with “no, we want the real Zaharias.” Why the MWPSB would impersonate someone for a mission without detaining them and possibly keeping them inside Nona Tower for their own safety is beyond me. And then...  

Woopsiedy-woo. No Zaharias for you. 

As Division 1 is holding its fiftieth briefing of the day, Kei and Mao are getting tortured and Mai is getting kidnapped. However, there was one thing that I found interesting:

Looks like the MOFA (Ministry of Foreign Affairs) is also trying to crash this little Fox gathering. Torri (as everyone else this season) snubs the MWPSB as the baby version of the badassery of MOFA. No wonder Kei has the need to kick everyone’s ass just to remind people who’s boss. Except this time he’s been caught, injected with something, and psychologically and physically tortured. I hope the MOFA come to save him. You remember Ginoza and Kogami? Yeah, it’d be cool if those two rescued Kei. 

Back at the analysis lab in the sixtieth briefing, Arata thinks that someoooone must want to indict Japan for the crimes it’s forced on immigrants. Does he mean the crimes people committed in order to avoid being institutionalized? (Honest question.) When they ask him who that would be, he says: 

That odd moment when Psycho-Pass parodies itself. 

Since that explanation somehow proves insufficient, Arata decides to go back to the hospital where the second bomb went off and performs a mental tracing. What he discovers is that the man they thought dead wasn’t dead. The perpetrators just cut his arm off and left it at the bombing scene. Now, I’m far from an expert on forensics, but somehow it seems like a very cheap trick to play on an elite force that carries a mind-reader with the power to obliterate robots and blow people up. 

So everyone is in peril by the end of the episode. The plot continues getting more and more convoluted. We’ll see what happens. 

[madamsixx]

Beyond The Leather Chapter: 5 Train Wreck At The End Of The Rainbow

Warnings:

Drug abuse

Sexual situation

For the next couple of days I had agreed to meet Nikki at the Diner by his home. We were actually getting along pretty well. I was also hanging out with his band members. They were really cool. Especially Tommy we really hit it off. But anyways back to Nikki. We told each other about our lives.

I told Nikki about my family, my mom being a respectable doctor and me being close with my sisters. I also told him I was Catholic and believed in God, and that I don't drink, smoke, or do any type of drugs. I let him know that I'm 15. But he wanted us to contiue hanging out. But I let him know as long as we're just friends because he's way to old for me.

He opened up to me about his home life. It was really sad how he grew up. It was dysfunction junction growing up for him. I really felt sorry for him. He has abandonment issues. He told me about his grandparents Tom and Nona raising him. And how he had a half sister named Cecei. I was happy at least he did have two people who loved him.

I finally gave him my number so he could call me. But I told him the hours to call. Yesterday he called and asked if he could take me out tonight because his band members and some friends were going out. I said sure why not. Tamara wasn't going to be home late. She was going to be with one of her guys. But she did leave me with Theresa (her assistant). And Theresa agreed to go out. She's 23 so she liked to have fun of course.

"Ok so Nikki's picking us up and we're going to stop at his place." I hung up the phone after talking to Nikki.

"Oh my God im so excited this is Motley fucking crue were talking about. These guys are bad asses. Ugh and Vince and Nikki I have to have one of them tonight." She smiled and I glared at her.

"Sorry maybe I'll go with Tommy and Vince." She giggled hesitantly and I still glared at her.

"What's the problem you like all of them?" She asked raising her hand.

"No I don't, but these guys are bad news and I don't want you getting hurt. I've heard some of the things that they have done to woman, and it is absolutely disturbing." I stared at her with worry.

I started to worry about going out tonight. I mean I don't party so why am I even going out with them. Plus I'm 15 and these guys are in their 20s.

"Maybe I shouldn't go, I think I'll call Nikki to cancel and just stick with meeting at the diner." I started Making my way back to the phone.

"Iman wait!" Theresa grabbed my hand as I was picking up the phone. "I promise I'll take care of you no matter what. If they try anything with you were outta there ok."

I didn't have time to object because the phone started ringing.

"Hello!"

"Hi miss Darlington there's a Nikki Sixx downstairs here for you."

"Alright thank you we're coming." I put down the phone. "He's here let's go."

I dressed in a tight green dress that really hugged my curves. Theresa curled my hair and I picked gold heels to put on. I grabbed my white small coat and hung it over my shoulders rather than put it on. I wore pink lipstick that really made my lips plump out.

Theresa wore the smallest thing you could ever imagine. She's Latina, she wore a black dress with her boobs popping right out of it. She teased her black hair, and put on black heels. She looked gorgeous.

We got downstairs and I wasn't surprised by Nikki's choice of clothing. He had on a black T-shirt with a big red scarf pulled over it and sunglasses dangling from his shirt with a silver chain. He wore black leather pants with a skulls belt around it and had his tattoos showing. His hair was really teased and he put a band on it to keep his hair up. I can't lie he looked good. But I won't tell him that. I realized he's very cocky and arrogant.

"Wow you look absolutely breathtaking princess." He wrapped his arms around me. He then leaned in and kissed the top of my head, my forehead, and then my cheek.

"U....um Nikki." I cleared my throat nervously. "This is Theresa my friend." I pointed at her.

"Hey nice to meet you." He lifted his hand out to shake hers.

"Like wise she giggled." She says taking his hand. ____

We arrived at Nikki's apartment it turns out he was sharing it with Robbin Crosby. I remembered him from New York. This place was a dump. The carpet was wet because they had a cooler with a hole in it that was filled with ice. There was also only one bed and Robbin was nice enough to let Nikki sleep in it. So where was Robbin sleeping?

"Hey long time no see doll." Robbin pulled me in for a hug.

"Its nice to see you too Robbin." I moved back. "This is Theresa my friend." I pointed at her.

Robbin looked like he was about to just pass out when he saw Theresa. His eyes went wide and he was drooling all over like dog.

"H.....hi wow you're um...you're beautiful." Robbin pulled his hand out to shake hers.

"Thank you hansom." She giggled.

I went into the room Nikki was staying in. He said he just needed to grab a few things from the washroom. When I walked in my eyes went wide. There were posters of me on his wall everywhere. All my magazine shoots were taped up in every angle of the room. He came out of the washroom and looked at me shocked. His face was red with emabrassment.

"If I didn't know any better Nikki I would say you were infatuated with that model on your wall." I crossed my hands and lifted one eye brow smirking at him.

Nikki walked slowly towards me smiling." I'm beyond infatuated with her, I'm obsessed with her. And one day I'm gonna have her." He whispers as he caresses my cheek.

Oh God I need to leave this mans room. But it was cute seeing my pictures everywhere. And as for one day having me, I dont think so.

"Let's go Sixx." I say walking out the door.

"Right behind you princess."

We arrived at a place called The Rainbow. It was really nice. They didn't ID me because I was with Nikki. We saw the rest of his bandmates and some other guys I recognized from New York as well. I have to say I was definitely over dressed. Most of the girls here were wearing little or no cloths at all. And circling around the tables for guys to snatch on to. A lot of them were looking at the Motley boys and the boys that are now known to me as the band called Ratt.

I finally met the 4th member of Motley Crue. His name was Mick Mars, I really liked him. He was sensible but can be crazy when he drinks.

"Cheers fuckers." Tommy says as he holds up a shot glass. And everyone downs there shots.

"Hey beautiful you're not drinking?" Warren asks leaning on to me.

"Oh no I don't drink." I say putting my hand up.

"So you're a model huh, I could tell just by looking at you when I first saw you." He licks his lips and looks me up and down.

"Umhm." I nod. I look over at Nikki who is distracted talking and drinking with the others. I could smell the booze on warrens breath as he starts to inch closer to me.

"Hey Iman right, why don't you and your friend come with me. Us ladies should chat and give the men some room." The woman stuck out her hand for me to take. She had big brown teased hair, she was tall and absolutely gorgeous.

"Um I think I'll stay here and do shots with the guys." Theresa states.

"Good, girl you'll have more fun with us than chatting with Tommy's wife." Vince says while putting an arm around her neck.

Tommy's married wow that's interesting. I took her hand and got up to go with her. Warren frowned and side eyed Tommy's wife.

"Hey babe don't go to far." Nikki spoke up as he grabbed my arm. He pulled my arm down and kissed my cheek. He to was drinking alot.

But wait he called me "babe".

Me and Tommy's wife went into another booth. It was definitely better then being with all those guys.

"I'm Candice Starrek Lee, Tommy's wife." She holds her hand out to shake mine.

"Iman Darlington, nice to meet you." I greeted her.

"So you're a model as well, I've seen some of your pictures. You're absolutely gorgeous." She smiles.

"Thank you, you are too."

We talked a lot. Candice was a model herself and told me about the do's and dont's of modeling. She also gave me a warning one that I will never forgot.

"So you and Nikki Sixx are together?" She asked.

"Oh uh no." I waved my hands up. "We're just friends that's all."

"Listen, Nikki is a good guy and all, but you should keep your distance from him. He has two sides to him. And he is very destructive. If you care about yourself and your career. You'll stay as far away from him as possible." She warned.

She had a stern look on her face and I knew she wasn't kidding. Nikki is the guy that your parents warned you to stay away from. And I'm sure she has kown Nikki for while do to marrying Tommy. So chances are she knows what she's talking about.

"So what are the two sides?" I asked in a worried voice.

"He does hero......

"Hey babe." Tommy slurred interrupting our conversation. "We're gonna go now I'd like you all to my self. Sorry Mani I'm fucking horney." He said falling into the booth.

"I've got to get him home, it was nice meeting you." She lifted Tommy up.

"Yeah same here."

I wish she could have finished what she was going to say. I got up and headed back to the table were everyone was at. But I realized half of them were gone.

"Warren where's Theresa and Nikki?"

"Theresa's in the bathroom getting fucked by....by....Robbin I think...I don't fucking know." He slurred.

I ran to the washroom and burst open the door. "What the hell get off of her you pigs!" I ran pushing and shoving the guys away from her.

Stephen, Robbin , and Vince were running a train on her. These guys are pigs. I couldn't believe them.

"Theresa were going." I demanded grabbing her and pulling down her dress and fixing her bra.

"Oooooook, I had fun though. My pussy feels sooooo gooood. Thanks for bringing me." She slurred while hugging me.

She was completely drunk and had some white stuff on her nose. What the hell!

"Look she wanted it from all of us." Vince chuckled while zipping his pants up.

"That doesn't mean you have to do it. Shes drunk she doesn't know what she wants!" I stated holding her up.

"Hey stop being so stiff and loosen your pussy up. My dick would fit better in there if you did." Stephen laughed.

"Hey guys stop, do you want help with with her?" Robbin moved close to us.

"You guys are disgusting. And I wouldn't be caught dead sleeping with any one of you." I glared at all of them with the most disscusted look I could have on my face.

"News flash sweety, You're about to get involved with one of us disgusting guys." Stephen smirked and lifted an eye brow.

I walked out of the washroom carrying Theresa on my arm and saw Nikki at the table with some groupie on his lap.

"Nikki we need to leave, I need to get her home now please." I demanded.

"I'm not ready to fucking go." He slurred.

This is just great Nikki is wasted to. I could care less about the groupie. I moved towards the back where the guys were laughing. I hated all of them.

"Hey I'll call you girls a car home."

I turned to see Mick walking towards the phone.

"Thank you so much Mick."

15 min later....

He helped me carry Theresa outside to where the car was waiting for us.

"Thank you so much Mick I appreciate it. I really do." I hugged him them got into the car.

"No sweat kid." He smiled closing the door.

We arrived back at the condo I was praying that Tamara wasn't home yet. She would crucify me if she caught us and the state of Theresa. I opened the door and......

"You are in big big big trouble." Tamara stood in front crossing her arms over her chest.

[giraffellamalobster-blog]

First short story

Nona & Her Forest Friends

There once was a little princess named Nona.

She loved getting things. Nona loved getting presents, candy, and toys so she could play with her friends.

But she did not know how to ask nicely for things. 

One day Nona wanted a doll so that she could play with her friends, so she told her parents.

“I want a doll!”, Nona said. “Buy me a doll!”

Her parents looked at her and said, “No no, that’s not what you say”.

So she went to her grandparents and told them what she wanted.

“I want a doll!”, Nona said. “Buy me a doll!”

“No no, that’s not what you say”, her grandparents replied.

After being told no by her family Nona ran out of the house into the forest.

A little rabbit heard the crying and wandered out of his home to see who was crying.

He found Nona sitting on a log with tears running down her face.

He hopped up to her and said, “Hello Princess, my name is Terk, why are you crying”?

Nona sniffled and replied: “I asked my family to buy me a doll and they will not”.

Terk asked: “Well why not”?

Nona said: “They said No no Nona, that’s not what you say”.

The little rabbit laughed: “Is that all? No need to cry Nona, I can help”.

Nona looked at Terk and said “What do I say; tell me what to say”

“Oh!” Terk replied, “No no, that’s not what you say”.

Terk looked at Nona as tears began to swell in her eyes.

“Nona, don’t cry”, he said. “I am here to help but that is not what you say when you want to ask for something”.

“When you want something, you have to ask for it nicely”.

 He said, “follow me please”.

They began walking through the forest along the narrow roads as the leaves fell down around them.

Terk said: “When you want something ask for it by saying; May I have some candy please or Can you please buy me a doll”.

Just in that time, they came to a small bridge in the forest guarded by Max the Fox.

Max said “STOP! You cannot cross my bridge if you do not ask politely”

Terk glanced at Nona and said, “Go ahead Nona ask politely so we can cross”.

Nona paused and thought about her family and how she told them she wanted a doll and she began to get scared. She then looked at Terk and remembered what he said about asking nicely for what you want.

Nona turned to Max and said “Max can we cross your bridge please?”

Max looked surprised at first. “How did she know what to say?” he thought to himself.

Then he looked back at Nona and said “Yes! Yes, you can cross my bridge”.

Terk and Nona were very excited as they crossed the bridge.

When they got to the end of the bridge Terk turned around and shouted: “Thank you, Max, for letting us cross your bridge”.

Before he could fully turn back around he saw Nona running back towards her house. She waved excitedly to Terk and said: “Bye Terk, it’s getting late I have to get home for dinner”.

He slowly waved back with a sad look on his face and muttered: “I guess I’ll see you around”.

Nona returned home to her family excited to show them all she had learned.

After washing up for dinner, everyone sat down at the table to eat what Nona mother and grandmother had made.

With excitement and eagerness, Nona asked for string beans “Grandma?” She said. “May I please have some string beans?”

Everyone at the dinner table stopped and glared at Nona with surprise.

Her grandmother, still surprised, responded, “Yes, you may have some string beans” as she passed Nona the bowl.

Nona placed some string beans onto her plate and sat the bowl down on the table. Grandma then said to Nona, “What do you say back?”

Nona replied, “I said please”.

Grandma said, “No no Nona, that’s not what you say”.

THE END

[yellowninjaleopard]

autumn winds short: patient memories.

Nona slept peacefully beside autumn, using her arms to hold her head, then, she started to dream: (year: 2013 august 7th poppy/nona age: 4. Maria age: 12.) Poppy sat in the living room playing with her beloved plastic knife, pretending to cut up a tomato, suddenly, she heard her big sister come in from outside, setting her bag down and taking off her shoes with a sigh {*mom! I'm home!} Poppy jumped up and tugged at her sisters hand. "Mana! Yay! Mana's home!" Said poppy jumping in her place. Poppy's sister giggled and Bent down to hug poppy. {*Hey honeybee, how are you?} The children's mother entered the room and put down the paper she was reading. "Welcome home m### did you have fun?" Said poppy's mother looking at her sister with a smile. {*Yeah, it was great, oh that reminds me!} Poppy's sister then went towards her backpack, opening it and taking out a small pretend plastic teapot with a flower printed on the side. {*Look what i found at a charity store on the way home! I got it for poppy.} Poppy took the teapot before hugging her big sister. "Thank you mana! Come play with me!" Said poppy being very happy with her teapot, suddenly, poppy's mother dragged her sister into the kitchen to talk. Poppy didn't hear much but she could hear what was said last. "How did you even get the money?! You know our situation!" Said poppy's mother with a slightly raised voice. Poppy's sister then got slightly angry {*you wanna know? Fine! I paid 10 dollars for that thing ok?! I mowed 12 lawns, i had to babysit 3 teachers kids and begged my friend for a dollar 23 times! And if you ask me, I've never worked so hard in my life!} She then stood up and stormed out, poppy held her teapot close and stood up. Running towards her sister. "Mana?" Said poppy tugging her sisters hand. Poppy's sister looked down at her, giving her a sad look before walking upstairs into her room. Slamming the door shut. Poppy's mother then went to the staircase and said "m###! Get down here this instant!" Poppy then went up to her mother and said "mama, mana sad?" Poppy's mother then looked at poppy, then at the stairs and sighed before walking up the stairs and knocking on the girls door. Before walking in. After dinner, poppy sat in the livingroom, playing with her knife while her mother was out, due to be back in one minute, a knock on the door was heard, poppy walked up, opened the door and saw a 13 year old boy with orange hair that reached his shoulder, freckles across his face, hazel eyes, a bandaid across his nose, wearing a red and white striped shirt with a white undershirt, a shark tooth necklace, dark blue jeans black converse and a green beanie standing in the doorway. "Heya lil dudette, is uh, M### here?" Said the boy. Suddenly, poppy's sister came down the stairs wearing a blue and pink dress with black tights and brown boots. {*Hey Arron!} Arron then said "what's up dudette you ready to go?" Poppy then looked at her sister in confusion. Poppy's sister noticed this. {*Oh, poppy, this is my friend Arron!} Arron then knelt down a bit to poppy to shake her hand "heya lil dudette, name's Arron, Arron windsfield" said Arron, poppy then shook Arron's hand and smiled. Suddenly Arron stood and looked out of the door. "Crud it's your mom!, Cmon!" Said Arron. Before running, poppy's sister then looked at her before running with her friend. Poppy then panicked, trying to run with her sister. "Mana! Mana! No leave mana!" Poppy then went back inside and cried for a bit, before waiting for her sister to come home. After a bit her sister did come home, poppy then ran up and went to hug her, Suddenly a skeletal hand grabbed her from behind and dragged her away, poppy cried for help, her sister stood there not moving, a shadow covered her eyes, "Mana! Mana!" Poppy screamed for her sister but she didn't move, poppy started to cry, suddenly her sister walked towards her, poppy the took the chance to grab her sisters leg for support. "Help me mana, please..!" Poppy cried, only to look up and see her sister with on red eye and one yellow eye. Then speaking in a destorted voice {*you haven't any idea the value you hold, your death will be the only purpose of your existence.} Nona looked up with confusion and fear, before saying "no scary mana, no scary! Smiley! Mana happy!" Poppy's sister only scowled. {*I'm not as *patient* as you are.!} Poppy's sister's eyes then turn fully red, then fully yellow. {*It is necessary! Crucial! I cannot risk you recovering!} Poppy is then grabbed by the head and lifted. {*So, please.-} poppy started to cry before seeing a different face, on with brown hair, brown eyes and Rosey cheeks. {*-just *DIE*!!!} Poppy started the thrash around before hearing a very loud beep sound through the air. Nona shot up and screamed. Autumn woke up as did everyone else, the river person looked back in shock. Autumn made her way to Nona and held her tightly. [*Nona! It's ok! I'm here! Your safe.] Nona then looked up at autumn before hiding her face in autumns chest and sniffling still crying a bit. Autumn wrapped her arms around Nona. "Mana..Please...Please...Help.." autumn looked down at Nona before petting her hair softly. [*Don't worry, I'll protect you, i promise, and when i find who hurt you, I'm gonna kill em!] Nona cuddled closer into autumn before falling asleep in autumn's arms, before she fell completely asleep, she whimpered a bit a muttered "mana...Please..Don't go..."

To be continued....

[*Knowing that Nona might be remembering her past fills you with COURAGE] 

[apopheniaandeisegesis]

Sucker Punch Island: Session 1

Players :

Masari Half-Elf Monk. High Wis + Dex. Low Int + Cha.

First impression : Capable and very ernest, but just not that clever.

Nonamei Elven Wizard. High Int. Very low Str + Cha.

First Impression : Can't sit still. Trigger Shy. Asks the right questions.

"Jinx" (Me) Half-Elf Cleric. Prophecy Domain. High Wis + Cha. Very low Con + Str.

Blind man with a full-size crossbow who can't stop talking. Makes up a new god every five minutes. Still has clerical powers, somehow.

So, we're all on this island populated mainly by Kenku (Crow people). It all starts out pretty standard, We're all answering a "Heroes Wanted" bulletin, right? There are some other hereos at the bulletin board that look pretty badly singed. We try to talk to them to see what happened, but they lose their voices when they try to answer us. One tries to write something, but magically can't do that either. Weird. We figure they must have been cursed by whatever they encountered on their job. We tried a few things, but can't really help them or figure out exactly what's wrong.

So, the person we're meeting for the job shows up, a kenku. Rube. He's nervous. Jinx makes him even more nervous by idly pointing his crossbow in worrisome directions. Blind man with a crossbow raises a few eyebrows.

Rube takes us to city hall. Jinx bullshits about the decor and the statues. Mostly to see which party members are gullible. Surprise, it's the Wizard. So now the Wizard and the Kenku think Jinx knows all sorts of things about the city's founder. Convinced them that the statue in the hall is actually a petrified person. Good fun. Not terribly important. Yet. We'll see.

The mayor himself (or some such official) is called Ergard, and he's the one that actually hired us. Monsters in the sewer attacking the city, and can we go exterminate them please. Good benefits. We promise to resurrect you if you're awful and die. Nominal 10gp fee (a bargain!). Here's some magic rings with extra powers to help make sure you don't die. Here, sign this contract to be employed by the city.

Contract? Really?

I did try to see if we were being duped. Sense motive did show he wasn't really being straight with us, but we all thought he was just withholding some pertinent information about the job. Boy was he. Jinx cast Detect Magic to see what other shenanigans he might be pulling,. Just paper contracts, though. Nothing special. Rings are just cantrip level magic. Big-ass mirror in the guy's office is hella magical, and the mayor himself has some serious equipment, but that's all we know.

The Wiz and Monk sign the contracts. Jinx is blind and can't read and is a complete bastard, so he folds his up into a paper airplane and flies it across the room. Nobody really pays attention to that. The mayor sets out some magic rings for us. Jinx pockets all of them.

We head for the sewer. Wat a mess. Jinx hands out the rings. He's not greedy. And besides, He can't really use more than two. We wander through the sewer. There's slime everywhere and eventually some of it gets annoyed at being walked on and wakes up. We kill of a couple of them. Jinx does a fair bit of damage shooting at them with his crossbow. Blames it on being blind when he rolls low. The slimes are fire resistant. Kinda odd, but whatever. They go down easy. A much bigger one comes out of the pond of sludge down here. Jinx fires of his one big spell at it, but misses. "Did I hit anything?" He does have blindsight in a small rage around him, but it's a good schtick.

Another couple of stabs and bolts and that slime goes down too. The DM is rolling really low. Hits nothing the whole battle.

Next room, there's a Lizard-Taur. Already wounded but still feisty. Dumb as a rock, but not instantly hostile. The Monk speaks Draconic, though so we chat with it for awhile. Of course my compatriots have shitty Charisma, so they go nowhere for a long time. Eventually the Monk upsets the Liz-Taur and gets bit. We run away, but it can't follow us through a particular rusted grate. So we halt there and continue trying to chat with it, from a distance.

Jinx gets bored and sets up camp. Makes an omelette. Figures, this Lizard is only slightly smarter than a puppy. He's speaking in one word sentences. So I throw half my omelette at the lizard. Apparently it's pretty good, because I roll well on the persuasion check and suddenly he likes me enough to let me in the room he's guarding. Alone. No others. I wander around in there for awhile. There’s a pile of gold and a big ol' egg. Some massive scorch marks on the ground. There's some growling noises, but Jinx bombs his perception and investigation. Confused he assumes the gold and egg belong to the Lizard and the noise is coming from the egg. Probably about to hatch?

I figure I should leave the treasure alone. Go back and tell everyone there's not a lot in there. Just  a bunch of gold that obviously belongs to the Lizard and an egg that's probably his. Hers? Who knows. They're still trying to be nice enough to get past the Lizard without hurting him, so I give him an herbal poultice for his injured leg. That makes him happy enough to get a real conversation going with the only PC that can actually talk to him. Eventually  we figure out that the Liz-Taur is smelling the Kenku on the rings we're wearing. Really hates those guys. So my buddies chuck their rings to gain the Taur's trust. JInx picks them up. Guess they're all mine now. Puts all the rings on one hand.

So, finally we can all go in the room with the gold so that someone with a half-decent Investigate skill can make a roll instead of Jinx with his sad little +1. The roll is bombed by all present. No idea what's in here. The one that should have been successful actually Crit Fails and gets overwhelmed by nausea from the smell of burnt slime.

Jinx is hanging out with Lizard Boy in the back of the cave, so he can't sense what's going on near the treasure pile. Apparently what we all failed to detect was a dropoff at the back of the cave where a colossal dragon was sleeping. It finally wakes up. Jinx heads to that side of the cave to see what the commotion is all about, so we're all in a nice formation when the dragon breaths on all of us and we all die. While the DM plays the theme to 'The Price Is Right' in the background.

Of course, that was the plan all along. We wake up after being resurrected in the Mayor's office. Chained to chairs. Lovely. The Kenku does some magical shenanigans so that our perfectly normal contracts look like they say the Resurrection service has a nominal 10,000,000 gold fee. The usual arguing and threats ensue, but really we don't have any options. Another spell is done sealing the rings (all of which I'm wearing. Sheesh) and manacles to prevent us from leaving the island. And prevent us from talking to anyone about any job we do here or the 'arrangement' we have to work off our 10,000,000 gp debt.

ME :Jinx shrugs "i don't get all the posturing. I mean, if you're going to be thugs, then just be thugs. As the Acolyte of Moodwise, I won't forgive you, though" Masari Monk:"No, no, they have an image to keep." DM :Ehgard (The Kenku Mayor) rubs a hand over his beak."This is what you signed for. Most of you." Wiz Nona:"We signed for 10 Gold." Nona insists ME :Shruggs "I can't read. Never sign anything." DM :"We can take back the services we've done for you, if that's what you desire, sir." ME :"I suspect that would be quite illegal, if you want to play that game. Your option was to not raise me in the first place. But, clearly you're going to do whatever you like. Get on with it." Wiz Nona:"Jinx..." Nona warns nervously Masari Monk:"Yeah, let's cut to the chase. What do you get out of doing this to us? What are you expecting us to do to pay back this forged debt?" DM :"Illegal. No, not me sir." ME :"I am a cleric of Normenglasterpastich. We do not suffer liars lightly." Wiz Nona:what a name Masari Monk:Masari eyes Jinx. DM :"I suppose you'll have to work it off. I can think of a few more missions for you to go on to start earning that money..." His eyes narrow at Jinx, shaking his head."So untrustworthy..." ME :"What a lovely complement. I'm blushing." Masari Monk:"More missions that involve certain death? More missions that put us deeper in the hole through ressurections?" ME :"Sounds like a good plan. Infinite access to decent heroes. It's a nice racket if you can get it. Man's got a dragon to deal with. You do what you can." DM :The Kenku in purple walks around, putting a bracelet on Nona and Masari. "Certain death? No, no. Ambassador's of a sort. For Kiebnis herself (name of the city)." Masari Monk:"What's this now?" ME :Jinks looks straight at him with white eyes, "She's going to eat you, you know. I'm a prophet of Ibnis. I've seen it." Grinning like a madman. Wiz Nona:"Jinx, now isn't really the time to make threats," Nona whispers warily under her voice DM :Ergard tilts his head, eyes narrow as he looks away from Jinx. ME :"That wasn't a threat! That was valuable information. Worth at least 1,000,000 GP. ME :rolling persuasion. just that I'm an actual prophet. I have been playing the part pretty well, i think. (A decent roll. Total 19) DM :xDDDDD ME :No derail or anything. I just wanna unsettle the old bird. DM :Alright. Now I have to figure out this guys religion lol Ergard's feathers pick up a might. "Those are the old ways..." He 'mumbles' under his breath. So, that's why those other adventurers couldn't answer any of our questions. Apparently this crazy Kenku does the same thing to all the nice heroes that visit his island. Kill with dragon. Fake a masive debt. "You belong to me now." Rinse Repeat. At least I got to give the Mayor a good scare, though. I very much intend to make it a true prophecy.

Anybody know what I do with three magic rings cursed to the same hand?

[awkwardatheist-blog]

The Other Closet: Leaving God Behind

Death, the thought of it so scary some lock the image away, bury and never discuss it. But no matter how much you would like to pretend it’s not there, you cannot ignore it. I grew up in a religious household, had an incredibly religious extended family, and attended all sorts of church camps, youth groups, and Sunday schools. Death was less final back then; after my mortal body died (as long as I followed the word of the Lord and His son Jesus Christ) I would be reunited with my family and friends in paradise. Almost all religions have this common fundamental principle; death isn’t final. Faith feeds into peoples fear of death, it comforts them, makes them calm, knowing that this is not the end.

I find it almost poetic that the horrors of death, what I consider to be the base of religion in modern society, is exactly what caused me to begin to question religion, God especially. when I was 11 years old, my godmother and my grandmothers best friend was diagnosed with breast cancer. She was one of the strongest women I had ever met. She could make me laugh when I was sad, she would calm me down when I was angry. I had the misfortune of watching this larger than life woman slowly fade away into a mere shadow of her former self. She no longer had the energy to play, it hurt her to laugh, she became frail and thin. In December of 2012, she lost her battle with breast cancer. She was only 58.

It was not her death that hurt, while it was incredibly painful when she passed, it was her 14 months of pain and suffering that damaged me. I stayed awake for many nights after a death, thinking, how could God, who loves all people, and has a plan for everyone, how could He do that? Strip this loving woman of everything that made her, her. To destroy her quality of life. To make sure that she never saw her granddaughter grow up. How could a loving God do this to a remarkable, not to mention God-fearing woman? The answer was simple; He couldn’t.

I immediately banished the thought from my head. “of course God is real, how else did the universe come to exist, how else did life begin?” I thought. So for the next year, I doubled down on my religion. I prayed every night and would read a chapter of the bible at random, I went to church as often as I could. But as I kept diving in I found more horrors and contradictions. The more I surrounded myself in the church and its community the more alone I felt. However, no matter how much you try to convince yourself of something, you can’t choose what you believe. If you were to try to believe right now that England does not exist, you would fail. You could tell yourself over and over again that it’s not there, but your mind is already made up.

I soon began reading about philosophy, history, psychology, and science. I also began to study about other religions and cultures. Through all of this education, I realized that all of these religions are incredibly similar, they all stem from basic human fears, from misunderstandings of the world around them. The gaps in my learning I would try to fill with God, however as I read of studies, experiments, and evidence, God suddenly fit no longer. So I followed the evidence, I left God behind.

This was, of course, a secret, my lack of belief was sure to have me abandoned by my friends and cast out by family. All of that changed during my freshman year of high school though, I met a friend named Brandon, we sat together at lunch and would discuss politics, economics and most importantly, religion. Brandon explained to me that he was an Atheist. "finally" I thought "a name for this feeling." Being too afraid of backlash from the others I knew, I kept my mouth shut about my non-belief. I instead questioned him, I wanted to know what he knew. He introduced me to the works of Professor Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, and plenty of small atheist YouTube channels. He was incredibly smart for an arrogant freshman. For once in a very long time, I didn’t feel alone.

As high school progressed Brandon and I drifted apart. I was once again alone. I had no one whom I believed would accept me for this seemingly minuscule detail of my life. My best friends were both Catholic. Their families would forbid them to be seen with such a disgrace. And my parents? What would they think? They would think they had failed, that their son will go to hell because of their poor parenting. I didn’t want to hurt my parents, My parents raised me so well, they taught me to question the world around me, to investigate, to not take anything at face value. Doing so let me off their path of righteousness. So for 8 years, I kept my mouth shut, to everyone. To this day, the only person who knows I am an atheist is Brandon, having opened up to him in private once.

I wanted to start this project because I know that it sucks, it really does. The worst feeling is that of loneliness, the feeling of isolation and abandonment. I want to have a community where you won’t be harassed or told you will burn for all eternity just because you don’t believe in some old man in the clouds. It’s important to talk and open up. Bottling things up can have terrible consequences. I want every closeted atheist, every person who feels they must hide who they are, to know that there is someone you can talk to, relate to, get something off your chest too. That’s what my Other Closet project is for. Thanks for listening to my story:)

Your awkward atheist,

B. Nona

[birdologist]

This is meant for a different format but I’m gonna put this here for now. Under the cut are some little quips I’m putting together

 for hammering out my main’s bg. Part one I guess?

part two over here

Sylvari who awaken during the Dawn cycle are said to be natural silver-tongues, masters in the world of diplomacy and preparation via their honey-words and keen minds.

When he came out of his pod, Sprout gave that idea a run for its money.

At first, the tenders who greeted him weren't even sure if he could talk, and he seemed more keen on hiding from anything and everything than striking up conversation. It took a lot of coaxing and crooning to get him to settle down, finally, and he was set up with a small house, still not having said a word.

He moved through his first few months being a social butterfly, mostly through smiles, laughs, and gesturing. Eventually he would say a word here or there, sporadically, but those he spent time with noticed those words getting more and more frustrated. More articulated thoughts centered around exploring, restlessness, a desire to go.

Some told him it was too early for him to leave the Grove, he still had much to learn before going out among others less understanding than his fellows, but others encouraged the growing need in him. Fear and anxiety was replaced by zeal, and eventually, without giving himself much time to think about it, he decided to leave the Grove. Using what little money he'd accrued to take an asura gate to Lion's Arch, he stumbled into Coriolis Plaza in the dead of night.

Sprout stumbled a little stepping through the Gate, and nearly reeled backwards once he got through. A jolt of fear, suddenly being somewhere completely foreign. But this was quickly overrode by exhilaration.

He stepped in place a few times, feeling some kind of smooth cold stone under his feet. This whole place was stone. White stone, reflecting moonlight. It was quiet, the dead of night, and distantly he heard what sounded like enormous, soothing breathing. In front of him a circular plot of grass, with huge spindly trees he'd never seen before. Palms.

The biggest smile he'd ever had.

The rush of this place, this completely new place, was heady; the idea that even more new places lay behind each portal was entirely too much. With a little whoop he ran through another gate, paying little mind to the "hey!"s of the half-seen gate guards. They'd be alright, letting one little sylvari slip through.

He stumbled through this gate too, tripping on the grated flooring on the other side, his footsteps hollow metallic thuds on the black steel of the walkway. A big hand caught his shoulder, steadying him with a growly "whoa there." This hand was huge, easily the size of his torso, furred, clawed. The owner of the hand even more so, Sprout having to step back to get a good look at them.

"You're a charr?"

"Yeah, you a runt?"

"Yeah!"

The Black Citadel is home to the charr: large, fuzzy, and tough. The Citadel itself is made of steel and smoke, churning out all the necessary parts of war, from farmers to siege towers. Overall, it looked like the polar opposite of the grove. But, as Sprout found, it was similar, too.

The main part of the Grove, to Sprout, the part that made him love the Grove even as he left it, was the permeating sense of support. And that was here, at the Citadel, too. Just different. Here, a warband supported each other to the fullest, so that each could fulfill their duty to the fullest. Here, everyone pushed each other to be the best they could be. Similar to the focus on growth and fulfillment of purpose in the Grove. Just different.

Sprout latched on to the first friendly face he saw, which ended up belonging to a young Iron Legion medic named Alex Mendmuzzle. Having been invited to the table with the Muzzle warband (interested in the hearing the stories of this small, weird plant thing), Sprout never really saw a reason to leave. He tagged along, treated as a younger sibling by some and a nuisance by others, but it never really seemed to bother him. It was fascinating, he loved every second of it.

He asked endless questions about their work: mostly mechanical and engineering things he had no hope of understanding even with the most patient teachers, but also things about daily living, working, fighting.

He loved the fighting. Particularly he loved the fighting of Nona Dustmuzzle.

Nona, her bandmates often joked, should have been Blood legion. Nona, in response, is quick to point out no Blood could ever think far enough ahead to outfight her. She was vicious, aggressive to the extreme, moved too fast and hit too hard for anyone to have a moment's breath against her. All of that Iron Legion brain went right into perfecting her technique.

And Sprout wanted to be just like that. So he took to following her around the most, which at first put her off, but when she realized he couldn't be chased away so easily found it a little charming. She was a tough teacher, but a good one.

A four-foot sylvari learning to fight like a charr seemed unnatural, and it probably is, but Sprout took to it like he was meant for it. He learned to be ferocious, he learned to dominate a space, he learned how to fight like it was a game of vicious chess. He grew as a fighter and as a person, coming farther and farther from the scared, quiet sylvari who had emerged however long ago.

He even took on a new name, Dawnsprout, after talking with Mendmuzzle about how it was unfair for charr to have more name-parts than he did.

He found a teacher in Nona and a friend in Alex Mendmuzzle, who he spent most of his evenings with. Talking, listening, laughing. Sprout found him to be someone he could relax around, which was nice after a day of bruises from Nona and teasing from the rest of the 'band.

The teasing, Sprout could tell Alex never liked it. He didn't see the harm in it, but Alex always said they took it too far and was quick to swat the others off in his defense. It scared Sprout, just a little, to see Alex so upset by it.

But, all the same, he spent quite a while with the Muzzle Warband. It was good, but came to an abrupt end.

"Does it hurt?"

Dawnsprout huddled further in on himself, covering the left side of his face. He was scared, confused, and though they'd put the fire out hours ago his treebark skin still felt like it was burning. Waves that wrung whimpers out of him.

He didn't like how it felt to ignore Mendmuzzle, but it hurt to move his mouth and he didn't want to hear his voice break when another wave hit.

"S'pose it does." Mendmuzzle's voice was a deep but quiet rumble normally, but this was even quieter. Disappointed. Sad.

Dawnsprout was worried he was disappointed in him.

The silence afterwards made him even more worried.

The last bits of red sunset had gone out sky, and in this dirty corner of Lion's Arch the only noise was the breathing of waves down the harbor wall, beneath their feet. Had Sprout not been so preoccupied, he might've been more interested, having heard waves only once before.

But as it was he was getting increasingly panicked. The silence was getting longer, longer, longer and he was focusing harder and harder on the disappointed tone in Muzzle's voice. He didn't know what had happened, in fire and the rush of arguments after. All he knew was that he had gotten hurt, and then Muzzle had taken him here.

Sprout wanted to go back to the Citadel. Maybe if he just pretended it didn't hurt, that it was just a little scuff in the end, things could go back to normal. He didn't know why him being hurt meant they needed to sit in silence on a Lion's Arch dock, but he felt deeply that this was bad and his fault.

"Mendm-"

"That's not my name anymore."

That didn't do anything to help. His mouth hurt now and he felt terrible and didn't know what was going on and he didn't know what Muzzle meant by that because why wasn't that his name anymore how could that be and why did he feel so, so at fault for this. So he started crying.

He tried to hide the little noises, the shaking shoulders. The way it screwed up his face and trembled in his body made things hurt, a cracking burning feeling, and it only made things worse. On his best days, he wasn't very good at hiding anything about himself, and this was not one of his best days.

He tried, tried so hard, to sort out what had happened.

He remembered being asked to come look at something, then pain and fire and surprised yelling from somewhere else. He remembered a roar he thought sounded kind of like Alex but also very much not, yelling and something about a joke, a joke, it was a joke. He remembered Alex putting out the fire and trying his best to patch the damage, but none of his tools worked on flesh that wasn't flesh.

He remembered more arguing, arguing that made him scared just to think about, before Alex had picked him up and taken him through the gate (he'd almost forgotten about that gate) and back to Lion's Arch. They'd seen another medic there, a mender who knew how to help sylvari. They did their best with the burn, but admitted it wasn't likely to be very pretty. Now they were here.

And he was crying.

He was picked up, held, in silence but in warmth. And he was crying.

part two over here

[kinetic-elaboration]

May 20: 2x19 A Private Little War

Yet again, I feel like it is Friday. It’s not!!

Today’s ep is... unusual. I always think of it as weird because it’s not as optimistic as most TOS episodes; it’s not even a little bittersweet, more like downright bleak. I remember the first time I watched it, thinking, ‘....oh? that’s it then? no solution? we’re just gonna up and leave?’

Appropriate for a very obvious Vietnam allegory, especially one airing in 1967, but still... this is utopian science fiction! Show me people doing better!

It’s not even a complaint because I do think it was very gutsy to air an ep like this and I appreciate that they went there, so to speak.

But tbh it also felt different in other ways, too. It’s hard to put my finger on it... maybe because there wasn’t much sci fi (other than.. everyone being aliens). Maybe it was the extensive amount of time spent on new characters, and how little time was spent on the Enterprise or with most of the crew. Maybe it was the witch.

Anyway, some specific thoughts:

Oh, the brash young Lt. Kirk...exploring a planet for the first time.

Tyree? His “old friend”? Could that be an ex-boyfriend? I’m going to read it that way, just for fun.

Oh, no, Spock!

Twice in five minutes, Kirk was going to just straight up ignore the “don’t interfere, don’t use your weapons” policy--and it was his policy! But in his defense, someone was about to kill his ex-boyfriend, and then someone tried to kill his space husband, so he had his reasons.

M’Benga!!

How is he supposed to concentrate on the Klingons when Spock is hurt?

Thirteen years ago... okay, just gonna do some math--he was 21. That’s a little young for a lieutenant.

Uhura knows her history.

“Old style hand laser.” When do I get one of those?

Everyone’s really ganging up on Kirk here. Rude. Don’t they know his Spock is in the hospital?

So he’s like “screw this, gonna go see Spock now.”

No replacement Vulcan organs on hand? That’s too bad; gonna have to rely on Vulcan self-healing to just like... grow some new ones I guess.

Kirk needs his BFF down on the planet with him.

“Native costumes.”

Kirk is very troubled today, I think. “I’m just going to disobey direct orders so I can see my ex.”

He’s so idealistic, too... Maybe a little naive, but he is like that. He just sees this beautiful planet where the people are peaceful, and maybe it’s a little bit of a Pastoral Fantasy and there’s a bit of paternalism in it but... he’s not entirely wrong. No one should interfere and maybe they are just... better than humans. Like young Jim Kirk found these people and fell in with them as a whole and probably one in particular and I think that’s nice.

Omg fuzzy animal!

“Bones vaporized a native specimen.” That’s one way to put it, mom.

Those wigs are truly terrible.

Bones has nice arms.

They are not carrying Kirk particularly carefully here... just kinda letting his head loll around there

Oh no Tyree’s wife! Sorry, Jim.

“They are compassionate and gentle.”

Aw, gotta keep Jim all nice and warm and snuggly.

Honestly, I love her outfit.

She cast a spell to make him fall in love with her. Well, that’s an explanation.

“It brought up evil beasts from my soul.” Hot.

She immediately knows who “the friend from long ago” is lol. Must have told a lot of stories about Jim. His friend. His special friend. The “friend” of his younger days.

“He was made my brother.” The no-homo short cut for explaining an inexplicably strong male bond.

“Self-induced hypnosis, you say? You mean he’s conscious? He noticed me fondling his hand?”

...Is that a rat king? Oh, no, just a moving root.

McCoy’s like “I gotta learn how to do this.”

Tyree looks like Jeremy Renner in a bad wig.

JAMES??? JAMES YOU SAY? Has literally anyone ever called him James? Tyree’s own little special name for him? I was half-joking about the ex-bf thing but now I’m kinda serious.

Kirk is such a nerd. He just jumps at the opportunity to give a little presentation about the witch people.

Another Homoerotic Thing is the obligatory Female Character who’s now been sexually linked to both of them, providing a sort of bridge of association between the Very Straight Men.

“You will let him die when you have weapons to make him powerful and safe?” She has a good point.

“That’s what’s bothering me: the something we may have to do.”

Bones’s Southern accent really comes out on “killing is stupid and useless”

Scotty is so confused by all this hitting and madness! In his defense, it is straight up weird. Can you imagine Vulcans just, like, hitting each other? In the hospital?

In case you weren’t aware, these references to “20th century wars in Asia” should alert you to the Allegorical Nature of the Narrative.

This is all so sad. I don’t even really have commentary past that, it’s just... they’re both right, and there aren’t good answers. Other than I guess, expelling the Klingons. But even then the damage would probably be done. And Bones is just so good and so pure-hearted. Kirk is too but he’s also practical. And perhaps influenced by magic? I find that rather unnecessary to explaining his thought process here. He’s already gone rogue and in a sense, he’s in over his head. And he already has an inherent motivation to protect his friend.

Ah ha, Jim’s romantic music is playing. I don’t entirely get this scene outside of having an obligatory Jim Kiss scene lol. And to show how good Tyree is. And perhaps how mercenary Nona is?

I must say, I love this animal!

And I love Tyree. He doesn’t want to use weapons; he doesn’t want to fight; he doesn’t want to kill; and he won’t kill even when he sees Nona with another man.

The moment Jim took the rock from Tyree... so charged...

Flintlocks? Serpents? Really time to confuse Scotty now.

So it really does end with “Well that’s just how it is and how it has to be bye now.”

Another weird thing is that this is all tied to the Klingons, like they essentially started it, but we don’t really know what happens to them. Like, they broke the treaty, and Kirk and Bones have proof of that. Will this cause a much greater Diplomatic Incident? Will they continue arming the villagers, forcing the Federation to continue arming the hill people? To some degree, this doesn’t really matter--this ep isn’t about the Star Trek Extended Universe, it’s about breaking down the situation in Vietnam through the use of metaphor, but still. Questions are raised.

I think this is quite an ambitious episode, and even though I think in general it feels...unusual, I tentatively think the level of ambition is on par with S1.

I had mixed feelings about Nona. I loved her whole aesthetic and her witchy woman vibes and I do enjoy a Strong Female Villain. I think she was interesting in that she wasn’t really on either side--I got the impression that the witches were neither villagers nor hill people, and she really didn’t seem to have allegiance to anyone but herself. She wasn’t faithful to Tyree and she wanted to give the phaser to the villagers at the end, I suspect for the exact reason she said: she considered their leader to be the stronger one. She was also a necessary story element in a way, because the villagers were being egged on by the Klingons, but the hill people weren’t really egged on by anyone. Furthermore, I thought it was notable that, despite her power both literal and narrative, she was still subject to disrespect and sexual assault by the village men, which I didn’t see as punishment but more like... a commentary on gender, in a way.

All that being said... the Bad Woman made me do it is a little... not sure how I feel about THAT lol.

This was a very interesting Kirk and Bones episode. It really showed them both off well, and their friendship. And of course we see a lot of Kirk here: his history, his idealism, his optimism, but also how he is more pragmatic than Bones, and used to being the Captain that makes hard decisions, without even Starfleet backup.

Nice to see Bones showing off his bad ass side too.

So here’s the real question: is Tyree pre-Gary Mitchell, or from one of their “off” periods in the on-and-off relationship? Mom and I have decided he’s pre-Gary and I think that’s right. The 13-years-ago clue is a better one than the lieutenant clue, but if Kirk really was 21, he was way too young to have known Gary yet. Also I really do think he was at his most naive and impressionable pre-Gary.

Woah it is too late and I am TIRED.

Next is Return to Tomorrow, which is one of my FAVE eps. A really sleeper classic imo.

[news-mashable-yahoopartner-blog]

Lessons from 'Chopped' with Ted Allen: The 15 most rage-inducing mistakes in the TV kitchen

Food Network's Chopped invokes a certain kind of screaming-at-your-TV-screen carnal energy — the baskets! the knife injuries! the leaving an ingredient off the plate when it's sitting RIGHT THERE! 

After 10 years and 40 seasons on the air, Chopped still delivers some of the most whiplash-inducing twists on television. Like say when host Ted Allen reads out a seemingly cohesive basket, only to have the last ingredient be something like pickle-flavored cupcakes. 

SEE ALSO: Why the '15-minute recipe' sets you up to fail

me yelling at the tv when i watch chopped pic.twitter.com/pW37XlkEej

— nicole ♡ (@suckernasa) March 1, 2018

In Chopped's world of televised culinary surprises, there are still a number of things that always go predictably wrong. As the host of Chopped, Ted Allen has stood front and center for just about every kitchen disaster you can imagine, so we asked him to dish on the most common mistakes made by chefs tackling the unforgiving beast that is a Chopped basket. 

"It’s a whole bunch of traps." Allen says. "It's nothing but traps." 

1. Whenever anyone attempts to make risotto in under 20 minutes. 

me whenever a Chopped contestant assures the viewer that they can and will make risotto in 30 minutes pic.twitter.com/pUYOTrS1QK

— elexus jionde. (@Lexual__) January 24, 2019

"Planning comes into play," Allen says. "Let’s say you’re in the appetizer round. It takes about 20 minutes to cook arborio rice. I’m not saying it’s impossible, but that’s probably not the best choice in round one."  

Not only does the chef have to constantly stir the arborio rice to cook it to the right consistency, but then they have zero time to do anything else creative. Risotto is a labor of love — ask any Italian nona! 

Lesson: The judges won't be happy with your undercooked rice. 

2. Trying to save face when the plates come out looking less than desirable. 

*watching chopped* "My plating is sloppy but I know my flavors are there" Me: pic.twitter.com/kJyl9XNvhv

— jojo (@BROCKSQUADD) August 2, 2017

Don't say it. Please don't say it. We know you're going to, and no one wants this, and yet here we are. You used the dreaded 'D' work. There it is...deconstructed. 

There are absolutely other words to describe the way the a dish looks. Maybe it's Rushed. Sloppy. Mismatched. But the word you're looking for is not the 'D' one, and it's certainly not the 'R' word either (Rustic). 

Time management is key here, or as Allen calls it, rational innovation. "We want you to do something creative, but you have to recognize the incredible limitations you’re up against."

Lesson: Take the time when plating (it's one-third of the judging criteria, after all) and be honest when the presentation isn't its best. 

3. Forgetting a basket ingredient. 

Okay, so...you know that feeling during the Big Game when the quarterback throws a perfect spiral, and the receiver is wide open, but he drops the ball anyway? Doesn't that make you tear your hair out?

No? You know when a chef forgets a basket ingredient? The camera zooms in, and it's sitting right there on the table? Same range of emotion. 

"We’ve almost never had a chef that didn’t get 4 plates made that are reasonably plausible," Allen says. "But we did have one guy who did plenty of cooking, but he just judged his time so poorly that he got nothing at all on except for three edamame on one plate. Yeah, that was a rough one." 

Lesson: It's not the end of the world. Someone else's dish could have literal raw bones and trash in it.

4. Trying to make ice cream during the dessert round. 

When the Chopped contestant goes to the ice cream machine pic.twitter.com/pVVJRoHoEb

— Lindsey Adler (@lindseyadler) June 1, 2018

Why would this go wrong? Everyone loves ice cream, right? But the other chef is inevitably going to be making an ice cream too — it's the easiest way to hide a funky ingredient, or showcase an ingredient with a milder flavor profile. But you can't ALL use the ice cream machine, people, it's just not possible. 

It's also a documented fact that there is purposefully only one ice cream machine, just for the chaos of it all. That's very Cutthroat Kitchen of you, Ted. 

Lesson: Make cookies or something. NOT ice cream.

5. Leaving bones, seeds, or otherwise hazardous material in the dish. 

One of the first rules new chefs learn is to taste their food as they go along. 

The hustle of the Chopped kitchen can cause even the most experienced of chefs to forget this tried and true rule. 

If the judges have to spend their precious time picking fish bones or seeds out of the dish, they will not be happy campers. For chefs that are unfamiliar with an ingredient, it's even more paramount to check and check again. Because something inedible might be left over. Or something possibly deadly (Fugu fish, anyone?)

Lesson: Taste it now. Taste it again. When in doubt, taste it. 

6. Trying to make bread pudding during the dessert round. 

me when the chopped contestant makes it all the way to the dessert round and then starts making a bread pudding pic.twitter.com/E7c9e6X99D

— generation loss (@shoegays) May 12, 2017

Bread pudding is such a popular dish during the dessert round, it might as well be made a requirement to win (please, no). 

The dish became so popular, Allen reveals that "we did have a ban on bread pudding for a while. But it seems to have been allowed to creep back in. It’s just that you don’t want a show where everybody always goes to that, so we kinda had to push people to be more creative and think of other approaches to things." 

The Chopped kitchen god himself has spoken. 

Lesson: Get creative, even if you're not a pastry chef. Make something no-bake! Elbow your opponent for the ice cream machine! Make some candy, anything! 

7. Not cleaning off the counter space. 

My feelings exactly.

Image: GIPHY

One thing Allen says that viewers rarely consider when thinking about the difficulty of the kitchen is the small counter space. Most of which, he says, is taken up by the 7 knives chefs are allowed to bring.  

"One pitfall that is often a giveaway [of who will be chopped] is people that don’t clean off their stations after they’ve done something, because of that lack of space. It’s always a good sign if somebody chops the onion, they put the chopped onion in a bowl, and then they clear off everything, and move on the next [task]." 

Lesson: A clean station denotes an organized chef. And if you don't believe Allen, Ratatouille makes a pretty great point.  

8. Calling anything with chocolate and chili a "mole." 

Every time a Chopped chef introduces a "mole," the judging table reacts with grace, but you can see it in their eyes: Your mole sits on a throne of lies. 

There's a wide variety of traditional mole sauces from different parts of Mexico, but the most ubiquitous kind typically includes roasted red chilis, nuts, spices such as coriander, cloves, and anise, and of course, chocolate. But very little chocolate is actually used, and it's added more like a spice. 

Lesson: Of course no one's going to be judging on complete culinary purity when the basket ingredients are a wild mix. But if you melt a Hershey's bar and put some cayenne in it, don't call it a mole. You will be in the wrong. 

9. Not planning out a dish before jumping into the cooking. 

This one is hard. According to Allen, chefs get, at most, a minute or two to think after they open the basket, and they certainly don't know what's in the basket beforehand. The four ingredients are often so wildly different (such as Korean short ribs, canned spaghetti, purple artichokes, and baby pineapple) that there's no obvious connection. 

"What often indicates that someone might do well is, instead of just jumping right in, taking a moment to plan. If you pointed to an 8-pound Peruvian leg of lamb, I mean I’ve literally seen people salt it and pepper it, then throw it in the oven whole before it occurred to them that, wait a minute, that’s never gonna work." 

Lesson: It's all about taking a second to think about what is doable before it's 5 minutes left and you have an inedible raw lamb. 

10. The goddamn siphon (aka the whipped cream canister).  

Why does this one piece of kitchen equipment never seem to work? It might just be that chefs don't typically come into contact with a siphon on a daily basis, now that we've moved beyond non-dessert 'foams' and 'whips' that dominated the trend of molecular gastronomy. Or it could just be cursed. 

Lesson: Shake it like a polaroid picture, or prepare to just see a spittle of sad sauce drip out. 

11. Throwing any of the basket ingredients on the plate at the last minute, or as a garnish.

http://crayola-colored-skeletons.tumblr.com/post/161837244904/if-you-use-a-basket-ingredient-as-a-garnish-on

Part of the beauty (and the challenge) of Chopped is to take four disparate ingredients and transform them into one cohesive unit. But the keyword here is transform. 

The chefs are under immense pressure, so it's easy to get all knees weak, arms spaghetti and forget a basket ingredient. But sometimes chefs will knowingly leave an ingredient to use at the last minute as a garnish. 

Where's the showmanship? The pizzaz? You are not dripping in any culinary finesse if you don't figure out a way to incorporate all the ingredients. 

Lesson: "Have the judgement to fit those mismatched pieces into a puzzle without masking them with too [sic] much with items from the pantry," Allen says. 

12. Relying too heavily on the pantry ingredients. 

Leaning heavily into the basket ingredients tends to score bigger points with the judges, however strange they might seem at first glance. You might not want to touch that black chicken, but at this point, what choice do you have?

Depending on what's given to the chefs, though, they might actually do worse the "better" the basket might seem. 

"When you’ve been given a basic basket — with a T-bone steak, and a sweet potato, and butter, and a carton of heavy cream — it seems like such a layup, but it almost seems like [the chefs] do the worst job when they don’t have enough of a challenge." 

Allen says that while something like pickled giblets might not be "the first thing you'd ask for," it might force chefs to get more creative. 

Lesson: You don't always get what you want, but you might just get what you need. 

13. Using rookie culinary techniques, such as adding truffle oil or a mint leaf. 

Why do we dislike truffle oil on #Chopped? Most is synthetic & contains no truffle. It’s strong, & tends to overwhelm a dish. It was trendy (a long time ago), & we don’t like trendiness. It feels pretentious, now—a cheap way to try to make a dish seem fancy.

— Ted Allen (@TheTedAllen) June 5, 2018

If a Chopped judge utters the words "why are they going to the pantry, oh god, there's only 30 seconds left," you know this isn't going to be good. 

Most of the time these last-minute additions are at best, superfluous, and at worse, ruin the integrity of the dish as a whole. The perfectionist anxiety to add ingredient upon ingredient in search of making your dish stand out is understandable. 

"I mean this in a positive way, a chef is generally a control freak," says Allen. "Someone who has a strong point of view, something that they want to say with food. On Chopped, we take away all of that control, all of it." 

Lesson: At a certain point, the dish is going to be what it is. And tossing something like truffle oil or saffron on top with five seconds left won't make your dish any fancier. 

14. Trying to hide your basket ingredient through the magic of blending. 

http://luvkurai.tumblr.com/post/165382319715/i-didnt-used-to-understand-why-people-got-so

Blending is the one technique that shows you're either the smartest person in the Chopped kitchen, or you have no idea what the hell is going on. 

Okay, sometimes there's really nothing left to do when there's a basket that's mostly normal, but has one giant curveball. In that case, feel free to hit the judges with some foot-long oversized gummy worm gastrique. 

Lesson: If the Chopped judges have to ask where you a put an ingredient, and the answer is "...it's in the sauce", perhaps the blender was not your best friend. 

15. Starting to cook ANYTHING, or plating, with less than a minute left. 

http://projectcatzo.tumblr.com/post/159772284409/ted-allen-one-minute-left-chopped-contestant

Hmm, I think my dish is missing something. Let me just whip up a little salad dressing real quick...oh, I should probably get my stuff on the plate too. How much time do I have left? 45 seconds? I got time!

Then, shockingly, they did not have time. And there is never really enough time. But as we've established, the secret ingredient to winning Chopped isn't necessarily killer cooking skills, it's killer time management.

Listen to Ted Allen on this one, kids: "If it’s going to take 20 minutes to make something, I might be able to pull off a ham sandwich. 20 minutes is nothing. It’s just nothing. Take a second to plan and realize that you’re gonna have to slice something smaller or make something that’s doable." 

Lesson: Don't do the culinary crime if you can't manage your kitchen time. 

me, with no professional experience, yelling @ chopped competitors when they burn anything or forget an ingredient pic.twitter.com/zMKbBk4gJT

— meg 🐉 (@n_agem) April 25, 2017

Sure, we'd love to think we know everything about goes down during Chopped's intense 20-30 minute rounds, but we're just Average Joes yelling about coulis and beurre blanc to a screen. The Chopped competition turns us all into pseudo-culinary experts, while perched on the sofa eating half-frozen chicken nuggets. 

Allen says that if you ever find yourself getting frustrated at the chefs, "set the clock to 20 minutes, and ask your wife or husband to take out four weird ingredients, and see how you do. 'Cause it could be an eye-opener for you." 

But that's the fun part! Chopped manages to show us a life lesson best expressed in Ratatouille:  Anyone can cook. And, just as important, anyone can think they can whip up a risotto in 20 minutes and fail miserably. 

"In this business, you’re only as good as the last plate you cooked. So the stakes are pretty high."

Ted Allen is right — the chopping block is a great, delicious equalizer. 

WATCH: A study of 'ultraprocessed foods' had some bleak results

[writing-with-rain]

Ethereal: Chapter 1

There were echoing voices trailing somewhere behind him as the guard pushed his way through the corridors. Voices seemed to grow louder than the thundering beat in his ears. His footing was slipping up more and he had to keep his concentration on it, least he falls now, but if he did that then he wouldn’t have the strength to get back up.

Left, right, left, right, left, right, don’t forget to breath.

It was seemingly a battle to keep upright and running. Dark walls and shadows played tricks on his eyes as his vision blurred and something red seemed to take the sight in his left eye. But he paid it no mind when the door he was looking for came into view. A small smile had forced its way onto his voice, a small thread of victory, even if he couldn’t win.

He didn’t even knock as he shoved his way into the dark room, slamming his back against the door to brace it and himself. Against the wall of the room, wide eyes looked at the guard before he lodged his sword into the doors handles to hold it. Questions flew around the room asking what was happening, where everyone was, but the wounded man brushed them off as he tore back the carpet on the floor. There, the door in the floor. Old, worn, unnoticeable to the untrained eye, a stone door made to look like the floor. Without a second thought, it was flung open and the guard had pushed the scared man inside, closing it and placing the carpet back over it as banging sounded from the door.

If the guard was going down tonight, he was taking those cultists with him. He ran his finger inside his palm, seeking out his pendent for comfort. It wasn’t there. Gone? Had he dropped it? He wasn’t wearing it, was he? No. What was on his hand again? Blood. Was it his or theirs? He wasn’t sure. Probably both. There it was again, the thundering sound echoing in his head. The door was being splintered by a blade. An axe, he thought. No way to be certain. But there it was again, and a dull thud rang in the back every time. Thump, thump, thump, thump. His heartbeat? He didn’t know. His last thought was of the pendent before he hit the ground and heard the door splintering more somewhere in the back of his mind.

Thud. A dull and heavy sound.

The only thing heard in the clearing is the sharp clinging of metal on metal and heavy breaths as the two women spar each other further, pushing past their limits. Finally, the younger one stops and drops her sword, letting it clatter to the ground as she wipes the beading sweat from her face with her shirt. The sun is hot and they only stand there for a few more minutes before the duo move under the shade of taller trees. “You’ve gotten better,” the older woman says as she looks down at the younger one. Her words are sincere, and they radiate power with her commanding frame, built and agile, eyes sharp and impressed.

“You’ve been away. I’ve been practicing with dad, showing up the others.”

“And they said I couldn’t teach my own daughter to fight as well as I do.”

“I think they stopped saying that after you beat Uncle Antok in wrestling for saying it.”

“Ah, good point–” Lady Shea rested her arm on her daughter’s head before she continued– “but, that’s all for today. Go visit your grandmother for now, before she sets her little demons on me.” The way in which her mother had said it made Ethereals stomach sit uneasily.

Before Ethereal could even ask her mom what she had done, the older woman was gone. With a reluctant sigh, she was turning on her heel and making her way back to the edges of the village, to the very edge resting against the wall of the woods, where her grandmother’s house lay. It wasn’t a long trek normally, but the young fighter’s legs were screaming at her from her training only a bit earlier. Her mother had, of course, beaten her once again, but at least she could say she was catching up to her teacher now. Snapped from her thoughts by the baying of a large dog, Ethereal found herself standing before the old wooden cabin of her grandmother. One of her favorite places to hide away, though now she wanted to turn tail and run from it, but a Shea Clans-member is not too quick to run, so she steeled her nerves and entered. Inside, in the very middle, the wooden floors had not been laid, but rather it was a ring of tightly packed dirt, a frame for the blazing fire lit in the very middle of it. And on the other side of the fire? Her grandmother. She seemed to be in trance of sorts and Ethereal took a step or two backwards when she realized. Before she could make it to the door however, her blood ran cold at the sound of a voice and she was stopped dead in her tracks: “Ethereal, my little Balsana.”

“I’m a dragon slayer, not a dragon speaker.” A quick argument, though both she and her grandmother knew she didn’t mean it fully.

“Slayer, speaker, both relate to dragons. Both relate to you. Don’t they?”

“Nona, am I going to have another headache by the end of this?”

“Can you keep up better than last time?”

There was no answer to her grandmother’s response, only a grin Ethereal had to fight down before she chuckled. Her grandmother only gave a warm laugh and tossed something over to her. “Ethereal, how have you been?”

“You mean since this morning?” She caught what her grandmother had tossed over to her as she spoke, turning it over in her hands a few times. Another gemstone. Another added piece to her growing collection. “I’m fine. Tired, but fine.”

“I figured as much. Your mother must have given you quite the challenge to see your improvement.”

“More than that. I finally had to drop my sword, I couldn’t see through the sweat anymore.”

There were no words in response from her grandmother, just a small amused humming as she picked at a small dish of food. Ethereal shifted where she sat, unsure of what she had been called here for so early in the afternoon. “Ethereal, there is a letter from the kingdom here. We’re waiting on your father to get back; your mother went to fetch him. When he is here we will read it. Have you had anymore warnings as of late?”

Ethereal shook her head as she tapped her growing nails against her leather boot. “No, not a word or sign. Just silence. Do you have a bad feeling of it?”

“…Yes, this time I do. I don’t think it’s a note from your brother.” Her gaze was soft and cast down, unable to make eye contact as she had earlier despite the fire in-between that began to grow smaller. There was silence between the two of them once more. Ethereal had never been close to her brother, not as much as she could have, but she had always thought one day she would see him walk back through the towns gates with his ridiculously contagious smile and they’d bicker and laugh like they used to. The pendent she had given him had been a good luck charm, but it seemed to have failed him in some regard. And the unsettling growl in her stomach, the pulsing she could feel in the back of her head, some part of her knew what that letter said before anyone even read it.

Her train of thought was broken when her parents stepped through the door way, her father still recovering from sickness and his form bent and weak, beside him stood her mother, full height and serious as always. They took their seats on the dirt ground next to Ethereal as her grandmother stood to read, but her hands were shaking and lips were pursed, just as Ethereals parents were. “Nona, I’ll read it.” She stood and took the letter gingerly from her grandmother, frame straight and serious as her brows knitted and she opened the letter, beginning to read what she had already figured out.

Renowned Shea clan,

We send our deepest regrets as we inform you of this news. Two weeks prior to the writing of this letter, the castle came under siege by a rising cult targeting the Prince. As you know, your son, Malik Shea, was his personal guard, and while he saved the life of Prince Vaseil, he gave his own in return. We had our top doctors watching over him, but he died from blood loss within the first 3 days. We had hoped to save him, but we were unable to.

However, because of the death of Malik, we are now in need of a new guard for the Prince. We ask that you send another in his place, when they arrive we will send his body back to your village. No sooner and no later. Currently his body is being kept in the Dryad caverns under the castle to slow the decaying process. The crystals slow the decay process greatly when mixed with the freezing air, we will send these crystals in his coffin with him to keep his body intact if we are to return it to you. Again, our deepest regrets for this, and we hope to make the next Shea member comfortable here so long as their job is done.

With deep regard,

King Colian Redia

There was silence after Ethereal finished reading. “They won’t send the body until we send another to their death.” Her father, Lord Shea, was the first to speak as he stated simply what the letter had boiled down to.

“They’d be fools to leave the restless spirit of a Shea clans-member in the caverns. But will we send another?” The question asked by Grandmother Shea loomed in the air around them. Lady Shea said nothing, and Ethereal read the letter over again with disgust. So, they were trying to hold this over the Shea clan? They knew of the sacred rite involved in burial, what it meant to the clan of dragon slayers. With a heart full of anger and sadness, Ethereal volunteered herself.

“We have already lost one child, we cannot lose another so fast.” Her mother stood and embraced her daughter as she spoke finally.

“You will not lose me. But someone has to go so we can get his body back. I have the best chance at surviving if I go. I have learned from you, just like Malik, but I learned more. I know more. I have my wits and my senses. Anyone here could tell you it’s harder to surprise me than anyone, even Malik failed to sneak up on me. Even you.” Ethereal was determine and set in her choice, her voice left no room to think otherwise. Even if she was forbidden, they all knew the unspoken truth that she would go regardless. Her grandmother was the first to speak up in defense of her decision. And after a while longer Lord and Lady Shea came to agree, so it was set that she would leave in two sunrises.

The next morning the clansmen were called together in the center and told of the news. Many were silent at hearing his death, but their eyes were the same glossy orbs trained on the ground in deep thought that Ethereal had worn before her parent’s arrival to the cabin the evening before. But at the word of Lady Shea that Ethereal was going to be protecting the prince in place of Malik, outrage rippled through the clan harshly. While she did appreciate their concern over her, and felt their rage, she stepped forward to speak up for her choice.

“My parents are not the ones who decided this, nor was my grandmother. I decided this. I have some of the best chances to protect him where Malik could not. I looked up to him, he was a great warrior and a greater man. His body needs to come home. He sacrificed himself for one of the members of the royal family, and if he did that, I know it was not just because it was his job. He must have seen Prince Vaseil as someone worth protecting, so I will carry that on and determined for myself what kind of man Malik Shea died to save. This is my choice, and I ride out first thing tomorrow morning for the kingdom. I ask that for today we honor Malik’s memory and hope that his body is returned safely so you can perform the rite and send his soul safely across the bridge of the dead. I will not allow him to remain as a lost soul there.”

The people she called family, the Shea clan, were silent as they looked at the young adult. She stood with the confidence she had always seen her mother wear, the resolute decision clear in how she spoke and stood. From somewhere among the faces of family a voice rose up, ”then we drink not only to the return of Mali’s body, but to the hope for your safe return as well!” Cheers of agreement erupted after that and a bit of tension seemed to leave Ethereals stance. People ushered each other to the opening in the village where tables were set out. In the houses surrounding, people rushed inside, starting up fires and preparing to cook. A sense of somber familiarity rushed through her at the sight. They had done this the day before Malik had left as well. Perhaps the most drastic difference is that he was not giving that infectious smile as he stood proudly with Ethereal in front of him giving him the dragon pendent for protection. That she would be riding out alone.

By the time night rolled around many of the town were drunk and belting obscene songs with siblings, laughing, cracking up. Ethereal drank lightly in light of her long trip, watching the people around here before she left for an unknown amount of time. Still something tugged at her in the back of her mind, and she found it easy to slip away under the cover of the night, right to where the coming of age ceremonies were held. She traced her fingers along the black ink engraved into her skin, each symbol unique in its own way, with none the exact same on one body or many. But, hidden among intricate designs was her story, her bonds, her bloodline. Malik would never receive his marks for Clan leader, and in her pocket sat the slip of paper with the design he had made. Now, to her dismay, Ethereal would take over, and if Malik could not have his leader design, then she would wear it proudly when the time came. She could hear people calling her name as they each went back to their homes, and reluctantly she turned back from the ceremony grounds, though she headed to her grandmothers with her parents to stay her final night.

Before the light could break the paling inky sky for good, Ethereal was already mounting her horse and supplies, tightening, checking, rechecking. She was riding out by herself after all. People had to stay behind and watch the village and help, or had to go on jobs from other towns. Small dragons, big dragons, in 3 days, one group of brothers was to set out to deal with a particularly nasty and large mountain wyvern. As Ethereal hoisted herself onto her horse she looked up and caught the eyes of her mother, a sobered smile on her pale lips. It was now that she realized just how weak her mother looked at times, how tired she was. Hair in grey streaks from stress of dragons and village matters, fights to win, treaties to make, and now with her only child riding off to the job her elder one had died doing. There was a sadness and guilt thrumming through Ethereals veins as she came to realize this, her small smile reflecting the thought.

“Ethereal, please… be careful with what you do there.”

“I may have been given a name that means fragile, but I promise you, nothing and no one will stop me from coming home alive eventually.” Her mother nodded in response before her daughter was ripping out of the stables and past the gates of the town, opened by those standing watch for everyone. They waved to her and she waved back before breaking for the hills and the path she knew lay beyond it to the kingdom. If she kept at a walking pace she would be there in a fortnight, but she kept up the run, the faster she was there the faster her brothers body was returned. The faster he could rest. With little rest and keeping at great speeds thanks to her beloved horse, she reached the kingdom in a week. She stopped outside in one of the small outskirt villages to let her stallion drink from the spring before she began walking and pulling him behind her. She talked to no one as she went, because she could still clearly see the imprint from when she had come with her parents and brother. She was alone save for her horse this time, and the thought of Malik’s body made her speed up until she finally came to the gates and was stopped by the guards. After a bit or arguing and practically shoving the kings letter into the face of one guard, she was escorted in, though she would not let them take her horse, even as the royal family came into view standing outside the doors.

The air was tense, and guards stood shoulder to shoulder as they watched her approach. Ethereal dropped the reigns, glaring at the stable hand who moved to take them before backing up at her sharp look, and then she bowed to the royal family. “You are part of the Shea clan?” A booming voice, deep and gruff, unkind and unknown; King Colain Redia.

She stood tall and proud, despite the stark difference in rank, she was one of the best around, a Shea, and no royal would make her feel less. “Yes, I am Ethereal Shea, daughter of Lady and Lord Shea, second child born unto them, only child left.” Even she was surprised with the strength in her voice, and even more so by the by the hidden strike in the last of her sentence. But she didn’t flinch, only took stallion’s reigns back in her hand and she looked the king in the eye.

“You’ll do I suppose, I had hope a man would be sent though.” The queen. Her voice was meek, even with the fragments of a strong façade she hid behind. Unlike her home, Ethereal would have to deal with the banter of men who claimed to be above women. The thought itself irked her but she held her tongue. To the side stood the prince. The royal child Malik had given his life to save. Ethereal wasn’t sure what to think of him yet.

Suddenly her attention was cut back to the King as she spoke, not failing to notice the surprised looks of the guards around her. “As you know, your Highness, not only is my brothers body to be returned, but my parents have sent a letter in both ink and voice that you return his horse as well. A horse has one rider all their life where we come from, and when their rider dies they live out their days in peace. She is to be returned along with Malik’s corpse, she is not to be ridden there, my family is expecting her back regardless. And I, as my brother did, will handle everything to do with my own stallion.”

The King looked offended in some way, perhaps because Ethereal was a female and had spoken out of turn, but none the less he nodded as he waved his hand to his men. “Do what you want, ignorant woman.” He snarled to himself as he turned his back to her. “But my son is to go with you. Do not let him out of your sight.” Ethereal said nothing as the prince stepped down beside her. They made eye contact for a second, a scowl on Prince Vaseil’s face as he did so. She paid no mind to it as she turned to follow the stable hand. A group of men were already setting up to take the corpse away, waiting for the body to be prepared and now for his horse as well.

When Ethereal arrived at the stable the horse kicked up, happier than she had been in over a month probably. Without a word or question, Ethereal slipped into the stall and latched a rope onto her bridal. “I’ve missed seeing you around too, Jester,” she cooed as she ran her hands through the horse’s mane. “I’m sure you miss Malik, but you’re going home now. Your job is done.” She led Jester from her stall, letting her rope drop as she herded her own horse into the recently cleaned stall. “Be good, Erebus. I’ll be back.” After she gave a reassuring pat to her own stallion, she led Jester back to where the men were waiting and handed her off to a young man. One of the older soldiers said he should be left in charge of it, but the aura he gave off made Ethereal sick, so she made it clear the young man she gave Jester to was to lead her back. He gave a promising smile and assured her he would, his aura was honest and kind, so she turned to the prince. “I would like to see Malik’s body before they move it.”

Her request made his demeanor change for a second, before it was back to a scowl and he all but huffed a low ‘follow me’ before he strode to the castle, Ethereal following behind. They wound through the castle quickly, passing servants and maids, butlers, fancy items and décor. She didn’t like it, it all seemed far too fake for her taste. But still, when they came to a large door with two guards standing on either side, she was intrigued. More so when with one flick of the prince’s wrist the two men stood aside, opened the door, and he went down the stairs, calling for her to follow quickly. She did so, and quickly took notice of a calming chill through the corridors.

This was it, Dryad cavern. In the center was a stone table with people bustling around it until they noticed the royal son standing before them. He ordered them out and stood aside for Ethereal to step closer to the body. Malik’s clothes were the same as he normally wore, and except for the rip on the side where skin was sewn back to skin, she almost thought he was sleeping. She placed her hand over where his heart should have still been beating, only to be met with stillness. Her own heart broke. “Malik… Brother.” But she was quick to realize the sting of silver chain around his neck was missing and her gaze sharpened.

”Where is it?” She asked, venom weaved into her words. “Where is his pendent? His protection pendent”

”This?” The princes voice caused her gaze to snap around to him, and there, in his hands, dangled the dragon necklace she had given to Malik as a parting gift. A wyvern coiled around and holding a sword with the blade made of a gemstone. She wasted no time in asking him why he had it.

“When he saved me it was already broken and he had it wrapped around his hand. He dropped it in with me, I guess by accident. He was really out of it.”

“I gave it to him before he left, as a parting gift and a protective charm.” Her stance was cold and probably threatening, but only for a moment, because soon after she was looking back at her brother’s body. Her lips were pursed together as her eyes became glassy, though she didn’t cry. There was a small air behind her before she felt the presence of the prince, he had grabbed her wrist and held it in front of himself as he placed the pendent into her palm.

“I was thinking of putting it in his pocket before he was taken back, but I think he would have given it to you. He talked about you a lot.” Ethereal gave no response, but she curled her grip around the necklace tightly as she lowered her head, expression twisted before she willed it to be neutral. “They’ll be coming to get him soon, we should leave him now. We can wait by the guard with his horse.”

The prince left after he spoke, clambering up the stairs with speed, and above it all Ethereal could hear him talking to the servants. She sucked in a breath when her own caught in her throat and looked at the face of her brother. “Your spirit will not have to linger here any longer, brother.” Her voice cracked when she said brother, the word almost unused by her, as sister had been for him, until they were both upset and alone. She rested her forehead against his for a moment before backing away, latching the necklace around her neck as she did so. “Goodbye, and good luck on your journey to peace.” She closed her eyes for a moment and the hairs on the back of her neck seemed to prick up, she swore she had felt her brother hugging her like he had before he left. The Shea clan had always been strong in their belief of souls and spirits, so it didn’t take much for her to believe when she opened her eyes that the figure just outside her vision was her brother. She wiped the stray tear that had spilt over when she felt his embrace, forced the cold expression back that kept breaking, and headed up the stairs to wait and see off his departure. To say goodbye to Jester as well.