#fig would obviously be the best big sister ever

[deconstructthesoup]

Fabian may be totally against the idea of having siblings but I guarantee you if Gilear and Hallariel ever did have a kid he would love that kid the second he got a chance to hold it

[ninacarstairss]

THOMAS HEADCANONS

THOMASTAIR WEEK — day 2, thomas appreciation day @youngreckless

thomas always loved to tape his friends. he captures all the moments he's sure he wants to remember and his phone is filled with videos and photos he snaps when they're all together. he loves to be in the moment and enjoy it as fully as possible, but he also wants to have the memories pinned firmly in his camera roll so that he can get lost in the feeling again in moments of loneliness or sadness.

he always seems very put together and organized on the outside but he can never make a coherent plan to follow and his room, his computer screen, the backpack he uses for uni are always a complete mess and he can never remember where the stuff he's looking for is.

no one has ever beaten him at monopoly. no one has either figured out his strategy, he's just unbeatable.

he’s watched every single cooking show out there. masterchef? binged every series twice. the great british bake off? could probably reenact it. all the gordon ramsay shows? knows them by heart. it's eugenia who got him into these competitions: she’s been dragging him out of bed to watch cooking shows with her at 3am for years and thomas hated it at first, but soon he got used to it and the adrenaline of the competition kept him on the edge of his seat. more than once gideon or sophie walked into the living room, hair a mess and a big frown on their faces, because thomas and genia were shouting at this or that contestant doing something stupid or unfair in the middle of the night.

despite this, thomas can't cook to save his life. both genia and barbara tried to teach him the basics to make sure he didn't starve when he was home alone, but somehow every dish turned out burned, overcooked, entirely raw or, well, on fire — to be fair, it only happened once, but neither his sisters nor his parents will ever let him live that down. the only thing he ever managed to learn how to cook was pisto, a spanish dish gideon had prepared multiple times and taught the girls how to make, and that thomas himself had tasted often during his year in spain.

the first time he tried cooking for alastair on a date they ended up ordering chinese after thomas had somehow managed to break two pans.

because genia made him watch so many cooking shows, he's always wanted one of those lavish, elaborated cakes with frosting and fondant decorations, so, on his twentieth birthday, alastair and thomas’s sisters team up to get him one of those: it's a giant cup of tea on a silver tray with teaspoon and saucer included and a side of fig rolls, thomas's favorite cookies, all in fondant and sponge cake. it's the best birthday thomas has ever had.

barbara adopted a stray cat years ago and named him sir fluffypaws meowton. when he was younger, thomas never gave him much attention but the cat always liked him better than anyone else and he constantly sneaked in his room. barbara was always a little bitter that her cat liked thomas more, but whenever she found thomas asleep on the couch and sir fluffypaws curled up in his laps she just smiled and let them happily sleep.

his starbucks order is always a caramel macchiato tall and a double chocolate cookie on rainy days and a iced matcha tea latte and blueberry muffin on the rare hot summer days.

he was class president in high school and to this day he still has no clue how he ended up there.

he was one of the most popular guys in school, together with the rest of the merry thieves, and he always found himself embarrassed when someone told him they had a crush on him or hoped to ask him out on a date when instead he only had eyes for the cute black haired boy with six rings per hand and the most beautiful dark eyes he'd ever seen.

after years of wondering he chose to study engineering in college but he never gave up on his love for languages and still finds time to teach himself.

he binged all the scandinavian shows on netflix and eventually started teaching himself the languages of his favorite ones so that he could rewatch them and truly understand them instead of just reading the subtitles.

gideon and sophie loved to travel a lot so thomas, genia and barbara were hauled all around the world for years when they were younger. as they grew up these travels became less frequent but the habit always stuck with thomas and he keeps on going around the world whenever he can.

lucie is the first person he comes out to and she is obviously more than supportive; she's enthusiastic and wants to know everything about this mysterious boy he likes.

next in line are genia and barbara that find out by chance when they enter his room without knocking and find him kissing alastair carstairs – thomas turns bright red and starts muttering nonsense until the girls grin and barbara says “i was wondering how long it would take you to stop giving alastair longing glances and ask him out”. alastair grins back at her and that's how thomas finds out alastair had a crush on him all along and his sisters both knew

the person he was less scared to come out to was gideon. he knew his father would love him no matter what and the day he told him and sophie he cried when they pulled him into a hug and spent an hour telling him how much they loved him and how happy they were he told them

Tag list: @cordaisya @im-not-ruined-im-ruination @surrounded-by-exquisite-clutter @stxr-thxif @icycoolslushie (let me know if you want to be added or removed!)

[thisaliennerd]

Flashbacks and Flapjacks

(Read on AO3 - It's sad in the beginning, but it gets funny and chaotic I swear! I had come up with this scene a while ago but was inspired to write it down by this post by @aelwynrights)

Summary: Adaine has a bad dream, the girls have a sleepover, chaos ensues. Also pancakes. Lots of burnt pancakes. 

~~~

Adaine is in an orb. She looks out into a clearing in a dark, twisted forest. She’s been here before. She knows she has. She feels herself gasp for air, her lungs burning as if she hasn’t taken a breath in a while. The clearing is empty. As she realizes that she’s alone, two figures step out of the forest. 

“Adaine! How nice of you to join us.” 

Arianwen and Angwyn Abernant stand in the clearing. Arianwen sighs. 

“Adaine, just tell us where your silly little friends are and this can all be over with.”

Adaine is filled with a deep sense of...not knowing. She feels her blood turn to ice in her veins. 

“I...Even if I wanted to help you, which I don’t! But even if I did, I don’t...I don’t-”

“Oh, Adaine...you don’t know where they are?”

“Don’t twist this.”

“And you call them your friends?”

“Stop.”

“They don’t even trust you to know their plan.”

“Please!”

“I thought you were supposed to know all. Aren’t you-”

“Oh YES! Another Elven Oracle joke! Very funny, mother. Good job.”

“Don’t be rude, darling. It’s terribly unflattering. Regardless, it seems that you are no longer any use to us.” Arianwen turns to leave, her hand brushing Angwyn’s shoulder for a moment. “Do what you must, my love.”

Angwyn’s hands crackle with electricity. It’s so familiar...

“Adaine...I really tried to show you. I tried to help you. I really did. But it seems that you were too stubborn to even realize how truly deluded you are. The pain that you’re in is self-inflicted. If you had just listened. If you had just let us change you. We could have helped you. You could have been happy. But no. And now, you’ve left us with no other options. I am going to fix you. Goodbye Adaine.”

The orb is gone. Angwyn raises his hand. His magic surges towards Adaine. She can’t move. There’s no one else here. She is alone. Completely alone. There’s no one to stop him. The magic is only an instant away. Adaine squeezes her eyes closed, but all she sees is millions of futures of her body, dead on the ground. Alone, abandoned, unloved. 

~~~

Screams rip from Adaine’s throat. She is sitting bolt upright in her bed, completely sweat-drenched. Someone is sitting on the end of Adaine’s bed, attempting to hold her forearms still, as Adaine thrashes, still screaming.

“Adaine? Adaine!” Aelwen looks completely panicked, searching Adaine’s face for any signs of possession or perhaps answers. Adaine can feel a dispel magic tingling in the air around her. She feels herself stop screaming as the sight of her sister reminds her of what had been missing in her dream. “Adaine, please...what’s...I...are you?”

Tears stream down Adaine’s face. She stops fighting and completely sags. Aelwen pulls her sister into the tightest hug she’s ever given. Adaine tucks her head under Aelwen’s chin, burying her face into her chest and sobbing. Adaine’s fists hold onto Aelwen’s shirt as if it was keeping her afloat. Aelwen’s breathing slows back to normal as she strokes Adaine’s hair.

“It’s ok. It’s ok. You’re safe. We’re safe.” Aelwen whispers into the top of Adaine’s head, her own tears of both panic and relief welling up.

The door to the tower slams open and a very concerned looking Jawbone rushes in, followed immediately by Sandra Lynn who has an arrow nocked, and is rather frantically scanning the room.

“Adaine, are you safe? We heard you scream and came running,” Jawbone walks to the edge of the bed and kneels down next to it. “What do you need?”

Adaine raises her head, gulping in air, and practically leaps into Jawbone’s arms. As Adaine leaves her arms, Aelwen pulls her knees to her chest.

Adaine mumbles into Jawbone’s fur, “I’m ok, I just had a nightmare,” She pulls back, wiping away tears, “I’m sorry I woke you up.”

Before Jawbone can answer, Fig bursts into the room, dragging a fully dressed, very panicked Ayda behind her.

“Adaine!” Fig gives her a quick, tight hug, before pulling back to carefully study Adaine’s face. “What happened? Are you ok?”

Ayda briefly takes a break from looking around the room wildly to also train her eyes firmly on Adaine. “Adaine, is there some sort of spectre or invisible being that you would like me to destroy?"

"No, it's ok. I just had a nightmare. I'm sorry."

Fig frowns deeply. "Don't apologize! I-"

Kristen finally appears in the doorway, breathing heavily.

"God, my room is so far away! Adaine, are you ok?"

“Yeah, it’s fine, I’m sorry.”

Sandra Lynn sighs, finally relaxing a little. “Why don’t we all give Adaine some space? It’s a small room, and there’s a lot of us.” She lowers her bow and puts a hand on Fig’s shoulder. “Adaine, why don’t we all go downstairs and I’ll make you a cup of tea.”

“Ok.” Adaine stands, and everyone starts to leave. Aelwen is still sitting on Adaine’s bed, knees still pulled to her chest, staring off into nothing. “Aelwen?” Her eyes snap to Adaine. “Are you coming?”

“Oh...do...do you want me to come?”

“Of course, but if you’d rather trance…”

“No, if you want me to come, I will.”

“Ok.” Adaine holds out her hand to her sister. Aelwen smiles shakily, takes Adaine’s hand, and they walk downstairs together.

Downstairs, Adaine sits down on the couch, Ayda lights the fireplace, Sandra Lynn puts a mug of herbal tea in Adaine’s hands. While everyone gathers in the center of the room, Aelwen hangs back in the doorway. Sandra Lynn sits down on a footrest across from Adaine.

“Look, Adaine,” She looks down at her hands. “I know that whatever you just went through, it was...less than fun. And I just want you to know that those dreams are normal.” She looks back up. “Well, not normal necessarily, but for adventurers, and you know, people who have been through some shit. It’s not uncommon. Obviously I trance, but I've seen it a lot, and even in trance, those feelings can still happen, and...I guess what I'm trying to say is that you’re not alone in this.”

“Yeah, I know that. It’s just...I feel stupid for even putting myself in that situation. I don’t have to sleep. I just keep reading all this stuff about the Oracle, and how often they chose to sleep because it helped them connect to their powers, but I don’t feel like it’s doing that for me. It’s just a lot of nightmares about the past. It feels like I’m doing something wrong.”

Jawbone speaks up, “Kiddo, I don’t think there’s a right or wrong way to go about this. You’re still really young. To compare yourself to people with centuries of experience, it’s not fair or productive. But you know, maybe bring this up with your therapist on Thursday, and see what she thinks about the pros and cons of letting yourself experience these dreams. Regardless, I don’t think worrying about the big picture stuff needs to happen tonight. Why don't you just try and relax and stay calm tonight, and we can talk about it more tomorrow, or not, if you don't want to."

"Yeah, ok. That makes sense."

Sandra Lynn stands up. "Alright, I have to go to work early tomorrow, so I think I'm going to go back to bed. I would recommend that all three, actually," She glances over at Ayda, "given that Ayda appears to be wearing the same clothes as yesterday, four of you try and get some sleep."

The girls all chorus affirmatives, and Sandra Lynn goes to leave. As she passes Aelwen, still hovering in the doorway, Sandra Lynn subtly squeezes her shoulder. Jawbone also goes to leave.

"Am I all set to leave, kiddo? It seems like the gals have got you covered." He ruffles Fig's hair.

"Yeah, I'll be ok. Thank you."

"Just doing my job, sweetheart." Jawbone kisses the top of Adaine's head. "I love you.”

“I love you too. Goodnight, dad.”

Jawbone’s eyes well up and he pulls Adaine into a tight hug. He stands back up and smiles at the girls. “Alright, try to keep the shenanigans to a minimum, ok?”

“Look, my guy, I don’t know what you’re trying to imply,” Kristen leans over the back of the couch grinning combatively at Jawbone, “but we are the reasonable ones.”

Fig laughs, “Yeah, we never get into shenanigans. That’s all on the boys.”

Jawbone smiles wryly “Uh-huh, goodnight, girls.”

He leaves to a chorus of “goodnight”’s.

“Ok!” Fig lies down with her head on Adaine’s lap and her legs sprawled across Kristen. “Soooo…” Fig looks up at Adaine. “I don’t want to push you, but do you want to talk about your dream?”

Kristen turns her body towards Adaine, putting her arm up on the back of the couch. “No pressure, but you know we’ll listen if you want to.”

“Oh, yeah, we can talk about it. It was about what happened to me in the Nightmare Forest.”

Fig’s eyes widen, “Oh, shit.”

“Yeah.”

Kristen sighs and nods, “I guess we never really talked about what happened to us.”

Fig sets her face resolutely, “Well, let’s talk now. We might as well. Fear is fake, right?”

Just then Ayda, who had been watching quietly from the floor pipes up. "Would you like me to leave?”

Adaine frowns, “Why would I want you to leave?”

“I thought perhaps you might want to only be with your friends.”

“Ayda, you’re my friend!”

“Right, yes, of course, you are my best friend.”

“You’re my best friend too!”

Wonderful. I meant the friends who were in the forest with you.”

“Oh, well, you were there too. We were all separated. Ayda, if you want to stay, I want you to stay.”

“It will make you feel better for me to stay?”

“Yes.”

“Then I will stay.”

“I’ll go first,” Fig offers, her face completely neutral, “I don’t mind.”

Adaine looks down at Fig, “Are you sure?”

“Yeah. I mean, I’ve told people before. Ayda and I have talked about it. Honestly, telling you guys will actually be a big step towards confronting those fears, so I might as well.”

“Ok. Yeah, I mean if you want to tell us, I think I’d like that.”

Fig sighs and closes her eyes, “Ok, settle in.”

As Fig begins to tell her side of the story, Adaine’s shoulders relax a little, as she’s comforted in her friends’ willingness to share, and from across the room, Aelwen notices this and slips back up the stairs to the tower.

The girls talk the night away, confessing the horrors they experienced in the forest. Fig cries when retelling how she saw herself in Ayda’s nightmare, Kristen has the group gasping when she tells them how she punched Helio, and in the first time Adaine has ever really told the group about what happened with her father, had everyone looking frankly murderous.

A deeply sad look crosses Kristen’s face. “I honestly think the worst part of it for me wasn’t losing my god or even my spells, although I will say that sucked because I felt like I had fucked everyone else over massively, but the real worst part for me was when Tracker found me. Because I know she was possessed and didn’t mean the things that she said, and we’ve talked about it, but when I went invisible she was screaming all these things about how I was selfish and how it was always about my faith journey and nothing was ever about her. I didn’t really have time to process it in the moment, but it cut deep, because she said it and I knew she was right. It is always about me. And you know, we talked about it for a long time, and obviously she’s off on her own now, but I have felt guilty about that, and I did ask her if she wanted me to go with her, and I guess I learned that we kinda have different ways of dealing with stuff like this. ‘Cuz she said no, and at first, that felt like a scary bad thing, but the whole reason I couldn’t go was because it has to be her thing. Like on my journey, I needed support, but her thing is that she really values her independence in a way that I’ve never really understood as someone who has always been a part of a close-knit community. But Tracker has been on her own for a long time, and she told me that although she liked supporting me on my journey, she needed me to support her from a distance because she needed the journey to be wholly her own.”

The girls nod somberly and Fig says, “Well, I think it takes a lot of trust to respect that decision, and I think you guys are doing really well.”

“Yeah, I know, it just makes me feel like I’m a bad partner for not seeing that she felt that way before. But we talk about that and her journey as much as possible, and we’re working through it together, so it’s ok. But yeah, that was the worst part for me. I just love her so much and the idea of me hurting her...” Kristen shudders.

Fig sighs, “I mean, it’s hard to pinpoint the worst part because it just hit all my deepest insecurities, but honestly, I think the worst part was mom shooting me. I know I played it off, but it sucked. I’m really insecure about my relationships with my parents still, and I’d already fucked up and gotten my dad stuck in a ruby again, and Gilear kept getting killed, and my mom and I were finally getting closer, and then she shot me and I KNEW it wasn’t her. Logically I knew that, but like...the way she said she was awake...it just felt so much like her. I just felt her ripping out my heart. But I know it wasn’t her. It was just the hardest part.”

“Weirdly enough the hardest part wasn’t my family stuff. I mean that stuff was so deeply painful, but I had been preparing for it for perhaps my whole life, but certainly for the whole trip. The worst part was confronting myself and confronting the idea of me being unloveable. Which obviously ties into the family stuff, but yeah. That was hard. Because that is truly what I most worry about, but I hate thinking about it, and up until that moment had tried to suppress those thoughts entirely.”

“Well, we love you, Adaine.” Fig reaches up to touch Adaine’s hands which have been gently stroking Fig’s hair, “And it’s so shitty that you had to go through that, and we all had our dark moments, but I hope you know that we’re here for you, and if you wanted us to we would kill your mom in a heartbeat.”

A laugh that clearly comes as a surprise to even Adaine bubbles up from deep within her chest, “Thank you, I know. I love you guys.” She glances over at Ayda, who is fully asleep on the floor.

Fig glances over too and smiles, wrinkling her nose, "She hadn’t gone to sleep. She’s been researching a new spell, and you know how she gets. It’s a mission to get her to even eat, but I will say I did manage it a couple of times, so I’m proud of that.”

Kristen nods, “That’s great. You two are so good for each other.”

Fig beams. “I know!”

The girls talk away the rest of the night, just rambling about everything. At some point, Fig and Kristen end up openly sobbing about how much they love their girlfriends. At another point, all three of them end up cry-laughing while recalling their first fight together, how horrifically executed it was, with Fig being out most of the fight, Kristen fully dying, and Adaine killing Doreen. One by one, they fall asleep, Fig first, then Kristen, and then finally Adaine decides to, at the very least, trance for a few hours.

Adaine comes out of trance to see Fig staring up at her.

Adaine raises an eyebrow and whispers down at Fig, “What?”

Fig grins and whispers back, not at all suspiciously, “...nothing.”

“You have never looked more up to something in your entire life.”

“I’m not up to anything!”

“Suuuurrreee, Fig.”

“I’m not! Let’s make breakfast!”

“What?”

“We should make pancakes for everyone!”

“I can’t cook.”

“Neither can I! It’ll be fun!”

Adaine glances over at Kristen who is slumped uncomfortably over the back of the couch and Ayda who is now fully curled up in a ball on the floor. She sighs and shrugs, “Fine!”

“Yessssss!”

The two of them extricate themselves from the couch and creep across the room to the kitchen.

“Where’s my crystal? I’ll look up a recipe.”

“No! We’re winging it!”

“What?”

“It’ll be more fun!”

“That’s not fun, Fig!”

“Yes, it is!” Fig starts pulling bowls out of the cupboards.

“Shhhh! You’re going to wake up Kristen!”

Fig grins and keeps pulling random things out. Adaine begins reluctantly helping. Cut to about thirty minutes later, both Fig and Adaine are covered in flour, have batter in their hair, and are sobbing with laughter. Fig knocks a spoon off the counter and it clatters loudly to the floor.

“Fig!”

Fig doubles over with silent laughter, “Sorry!”

Kristen stirs and looks up, groaning, “What the fuck?”

“Look, you woke up Kristen!”

“Noooo!!! The surprise!”

Fig and Adaine dissolve into hysterical giggles. Kristen looks over at the still sleeping Ayda and then back to the chaos in the kitchen. She sighs, rolls her shoulder and grimaces, and then stands up and walks over to the kitchen.

“Are you guys cooking?”

“Yes, Adaine and I,” Adaine snorts, “I haven’t even said anything yet! Adaine and I are making pancakes for everyone for breakfast.”

“I have honestly never seen either of you cook before, and this is fascinating. Why are you covered in flour?”

Fig sighs, “Look, Kristen, things happen…”

Adaine rolls her eyes and puts her hand in Fig’s face, “Fig exploded a bag of flour on us.”

“NO!”

“Yes!”

“It’s more complicated than that!”

“Ok!” Kristen sits down at the island, “Do you guys have coffee?”

“Yup!” Fig pours a cup of coffee and slides it across the island to Kristen.

“Did you spike this?”

“What?!”

“Figueroth Faeth,

“The Infaethable”

“Fig.”

“Kristen.”

Kristen sighs deeply, “Figueroth Faeth, The Infaethable, shoot me straight,"

“Mmhmm.”

“Did you spike this coffee?”

“No, Kristen, I’m not an alcoholic! It is six o’clock in the morning,”

“WHAT?!” Kristen looks at the clock on the microwave, “Fuck! No wonder you guys are acting stoned! You got what? An hour of sleep?”

“Kristen, I feel like you have a lot of anger that you’re directing towards me, and I’d like you to chill out. I didn’t spike the coffee and I got at least two hours of sleep.”

Kristen raises an eyebrow and glances behind Fig. “Your pancakes are burning.”

“What? No!”

“Fig! That is the tenth pancake in a row! Let me do it!”

“Back the fuck off, Adaine! You monopolized the batter making-”

“Monopolized?! You refused to use a recipe and exploded a bag of flour!”

“Why on earth would you not use a recipe?”

“That’s what I said!”

“It’s more fun this way!”

“Neither of you know how to cook! Also, if you don’t move that pancake you are going to burn the house down.”

“Fuck!” Fig frantically cleans up the pancake, and Adaine shakes her head.

“Fig PLEASE!”

“No!”

“Just please let me do the pancakes!”

“NO! I’ve got this! Hey, Kristen?”

“No.”

“Kristen!”

“Ok fine, Fig, what do you want?”

“Hypothetically,”

“Oh god…”

“No, hear me out! Hypothetically if I were to have put salt in the pancakes, how much would be a good amount?

“How much did you put in?

Adaine facepalms, “...we should have used a recipe.”

“It’s fine! Like only a...tablespoon?"

"A teaspoon or a tablespoon?"

Adaine, still rubbing her temples, "It was a tablespoon."

"Fig! That is so much salt!"

"I just...look, I feel like you're being really judgy and…"

"Judgy?!"

"Yeah!”

“You put a full tablespoon of salt in your fucking pancake batter, Fig!”

“Go to hell, Kristen, ok? Do you want to go? I’ll take you there. We can go right now! I let Bill Seacaster sell all my dad’s stuff, but I’m pretty sure the house is still there!”

“Yeah? You’re going to send me to hell?”

“Yeah!”

“I’ll bless water and throw it on you, bitch! I’m a saint!”

Adaine gasps, covering her mouth and doubling over, giggling. Fig’s jaw drops, “WOW!!!”

Adaine, still doubled over with laughter, hisses “Shhhhh!!!”

But it’s too late, Ayda stands up rubbing her eyes. “Fig? Are you alright?” She looks at the three girls in the kitchen and tilts her head to one side. “Why are you covered in...flour?”

“Kristen is threatening my life!”

Ayda squints, “Is this hyperbole?”

“NO!”

Kristen is laughing hysterically. Adaine pulls herself together enough to say to Ayda, “Technically, no. Kristen did threaten Fig’s life, although it is a bit of a question as to whether her threat would actually be effective. However, even if it would have worked, she was joking.”

“Um, I wasn’t.”

“Kristen.”

“I wasn’t joking! She threatened to send me to hell, I threatened her with holy water! It’s fair!”

“I am very confused as to what is going on.”

Fig says, much louder than she really should considering it’s six-thirty in the morning, “Honestly, me too, Ayda. This started as one thing, and now I feel like it’s completely devolved!”

“You devolved it! You’re the most chaotic person I’ve ever met! This was all you!”

“GUYS!” Everyone looks at Adaine, “We are going to wake everyone up.”

“Adaine, you’re right. This got out of hand, and I-”

Kristen takes a sip of coffee and cuts Fig off, “Aaaannnd, that’s another burnt pancake.”

“WHaT?!” Fig whirls around and starts attempting to save the pancake, “Fuck! Warn me next time, Kristen! God!”

Adaine buries her face in her hands. “Fig, please let me do it.”

“No, I have everything under fucking control!”

“You clearly don’t.”

“Shut up, Kristen!”

Ayda looks even more confused and says, “You have answered none of my questions, and in fact, have only created more.”

Kristen sips her coffee and pats the stool next to her. “Yeah, welcome to the club, Ayda. Have a seat. Do you want some coffee?”

Fig turns back around from the pancakes and points at Ayda, “Ayda, do not sit next to my MORTAL ENEMY, Kristen Applebees!”

Adaine bursts back into laughter, “Mortal Enemy?”

Kristen snorts and says, “Yeah, hold up, Fig, I thought your mortal enemy was Fathethriel.”

“Oh fuck…” Fig looks at Adaine. “Can you have more than one mortal enemy?”

“I wouldn’t know. I’m immortal so technically all my enemies are technically immortal enemies.”

“What? I…” Fig sighs, “Ayda, can you have more than one mortal enemy?”

Ayda considers this, “That is certainly an interesting conundrum, but technically I am also immortal, so I suppose I don’t know either.”

“Ok, well, I guess if I have to pick one of you to be my mortal enemy, I guess it’s Fathethriel.”

Adaine giggles harder. Fig glares over at Adaine. “Why is that funny, Adaine?”

“I just...I feel like you hate Fathethriel a little more than he deserved…”

“No! That guy sucked!”

“I know, but-”

“He was an asshole to Ragh, and he tricked me! He’s terrible!”

“I know, but I just think maybe he doesn’t deserve mortal enemy status…”

Fig and Adaine start arguing about whether Fathethriel is the embodiment of evil, and are really starting to get into it when Kristen starts interrupting.

“Fig.”

Fig ignores Kristen.

“Fig.”

Adaine glances over at Kristen but Fig continues to ignore her.

“Fig!”

“What?!”

“Pancake.”

The pancake is very burnt and is almost smoking. Fig fully yells at the top of her lungs, “DAMN IT!!!”

Adaine grabs Fig’s arm. “Fig! SHHHH!!!”

There’s a light popping sound and Aelwen teleports into the kitchen looking panicked. “Is...are...is everyone ok?”

Fig slaps a hand over her mouth. Adaine groans and says, “Yeah, we’re all fine, Fig’s just being chaotic.”

Fig grimaces and whispers, “I’m so sorry.”

Kristen, starting to look genuinely concerned, pipes up again, “Fig that pancake is about to go up in flames.”

“Shit!”

Aelwen sighs, visibly relaxes, and then turns to leave again. “Ok, well that’s good. I’ll leave you to it.”

Adaine immediately stops glaring at Fig and turns to her sister. “You can stay if you want! We have pancakes and coffee.”

“Oh...well if you want me to stay…”

“Please do.”

“Ok.” Aelwen tentatively sits down at the island next to Ayda.

Kristen slides a cup of coffee across the island to Aelwen and raises an eyebrow at Adaine. “So which burnt pancake are you going to force your sister to eat?”

Adaine begins picking through the stack of blackened pancakes. “No, I'm pretty sure there's a couple of salvageable ones."

Adaine finds a passable pancake and gives it to Aelwen. Aelwen takes a bite of the pancake and although she doesn't make a face she does seem to struggle to swallow a little. She smiles and nods at Adaine. “It’s not bad.”

Kristen leans forward to look across Ayda at Aelwen. “It’s not?”

Aelwen looks back at Kristen completely neutrally. “No, it’s not.”

Before Kristen can say anything else, Fig looks over apologetically at Aelwen. “I really am sorry I freaked you out, Adaine and I were just talking about the asshole that helped you escape in Fallinel, and I got really mad.”

Aelwen doesn’t typically show a lot of emotion around anyone except Adaine, but at that, she visibly cringes. “I’m very sorry about that whole situation. I stole your father.”

“Oh, yeah. You did.”

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s ok, honestly I was more upset about how he used Ayda to trick me because yeah, it sucked losing my dad and I did feel awful about that but also like...I’d already fucked up with my dad by putting him in that gem in the first place, and what was happening with Ayda was new and good, but you didn’t have anything to do with what he said, that was all him. So yeah, I appreciate the apology, but we’re good.”

“Ah, I see. Well, I’m still very sorry for whatever mental anguish I put you through, be it directly or indirectly in Fallinel.”

“Um, thanks.”

There’s an extremely awkward silence, just five teenage girls around a kitchen island surrounded by the smell of burnt pancakes and the unsavory memories of the past.

This intense moment of introspection is shattered by the screech of the fire alarm.

Everyone jumps, Adaine even screams a little, and before anyone can even process what’s happening, Aelwen shoots a Ray of Frost across the island, seemingly at Fig. Fig manages to jump out of the way, and the Ray of Frost hits and freezes the pan with a completely black, heavily smoking pancake in it.

“My apologies, Fig. The pancake was on fire.”

“Um, it’s fine! How do you turn off a fire alarm?”

Adaine whirls around, “I don’t know!”

Kristen gets up from the island and starts opening windows. “Sandra Lynn is going to KILL us.”

Fig groans, “I know!”

Adaine is still looking around, wide-eyed, “I told you this was a bad idea. You should have let me do it.”

Ayda is standing just outside the kitchen looking up at the wall and grimacing. “I think I have found where the noise is coming from.”

Fig looks over, “Really?”

“Yes, should I destroy it?”

“No, no, no!” Fig runs over, “There should be a button you can push.” She points up at the alarm, “There!”

Ayda reaches up, wings lifting her up off the ground slightly, and she turns off the alarm.

Everyone relaxes, and for a moment there is calm.

“What the FUCK is going on down here?!”

The girls all whip around to see Sandra Lynn standing in the doorway, bow readied, looking frankly murderous. Before anyone can answer, Jawbone appears in the doorway with a fire extinguisher.

“Where’s the fire?”

Kristen is the first to be able to speak, and says, “There’s no fire! There’s no fire! Aelwen put it out! Everything is fine!”

“Everything is fine seems like a bit of a stretch, gang,” Lydia Barkrock appears in the doorway, arms folded, but looking more amused than anything else. “Not going to lie, there’s a lot of smoke, and everyone is covered in flour, but you know, no fire is good for sure.”

Sandra Lynn sighs and puts down her bow. “Ok, help me understand what happened here. Because it is seven am, and the goddamn fire alarm just went off.”

Sandra Lynn looks at the girls with such authority and power, that immediately Adaine and Kristen say, in unison, “It was Fig!”

Fig gasps dramatically, looking extremely offended, “Guys! What the fuck?”

“Fig…”

“Mom.”

“What are you doing?”

“I wanted to make breakfast for everyone!”

“Fig, sweetie, you have never cooked anything in your life.”

“I know! But you have to start sometime! I’m going to be an adult soon…” Sandra Lynn snorts, but Fig continues, offended, “I AM! So anyway, I thought today was the day!”

Adaine holds a plate out to Sandra Lynn, “Do you want one?”

“No thank you, Adaine.”

Kristen looks at them, “Are you sure? They used a completely normal amount of salt in it.”

“You know what, Kristen, I’m good. But why don’t you eat it? A completely normal amount of salt? How about you have some?”

There’s a moment of tension and silence as Sandra Lynn and Kristen stare down. Jawbone smiles a little and goes to put away the fire extinguisher, and Lydia snorts and comes into the kitchen.

Kristen finally breaks eye contact and grabs the plate “You know what, I will eat it. We shouldn’t waste food. You know, the swamps…”

“Yeah, for sure.”

Kristen takes a bite of the pancake and manages to chew it twice before dropping the plate on the counter and running over to the trash, immediately spitting it out. “Oh my god! That’s fucking poison!” She turns around on Fig and Adaine. “There is so much more wrong with that than the salt! What the fuck did you do?” She pauses, realizes something, and then turns to Aelwen. “How the fuck are you eating this?”

“It’s not...it’s fine.”

“It’s inedible!”

“I…”

Jawbone walks over and puts a hand on Aelwen’s shoulder. “You know, you don’t have to eat something just to be polite. You’re allowed to say no.”

Aelwen glances around for a second, and then visibly relaxes, “Oh, thank god.” She grabs her coffee and swishes it around her mouth. She looks at Adaine pleadingly, “I’m so sorry.”

Adaine gasps, “Why did you eat it if it was gross?”

“I just...I don’t know, Adaine. I don’t know how to be a normal person.”

Kristen nods, “You know what, though, I don’t think any of us do. We’re all pretty traumatized.”

“Right, my apologies, I don’t know how to be a kind person.” There’s a moment of silence as everyone looks at Aelwen. “I don’t! I’m working on it, but I don’t know. I don’t know where the line is. Saving your little sister, stopping the Nightmare King, they may not be easy to do, but it’s easy to say that they’re good. They’re moral. But what’s kind? In the tiny little everyday moments? I don’t know how to find that.”

Adaine stares her sister in the face, “Yet. You don’t know how to find it yet.”

Jawbone smiles, “That’s very true, Adaine. Now, everyone is awake, so why don’t we clean up the kitchen and make some actual food.”

Lydia nods, “Yeah, do you kids want to know how to actually make pancakes? Because I’ve got a killer recipe if you want it.”

Fig looks over at Sandra Lynn. “Mom?”

Sandra Lynn sighs, “If you clean up and promise to follow what Lydia says, yeah. Fine.”

Kristen grins, “Oh, you don’t want to help?”

“I’ll shoot you straight, Kristen, I never really made breakfast. That was always Gilear.”

“I’m sorry, turkey crackers and yogurt guy?”

Fig’s jaw drops, “Kristen! We don’t talk about the turkey crackers!”

“I will never stop talking about the turkey crackers!”

Adaine nods sagely, “The turkey crackers were gross.”

Fig glares at Adaine, “You didn’t even EAT them! Also, he was trying his best!”

“The idea of them was gross.”

Kristen jumps in, “They were also actually gross.”

“ALRIGHT! I have no idea what you’re talking about, but I feel like whatever the context is, the problem might have been a lack of resources over anything else.”

“Tell ‘em, mom!”

“Ok, Fig, just...chill out for a sec. Gilear is a good cook, and I feel like maybe that time where you all were living at Strongtower wasn’t the best reflection of that, but I also think maybe let’s table this conversation, get everything cleaned up, and eat something, because I feel like I’m losing my mind.”

Kristen pulls herself together. “You know what, she’s right. The vibes got weird.”

Adaine rolls her eyes, “The vibes always get weird.”

Lydia laughs, “You’re teenagers! It’s in the job description. Now, let’s make some pancakes!”

[jq37]

Can I ask for your thoughts on the newest Fantasy High ep? I enjoyed it, but honestly I'm more excited for the next episode based on that preview...

**even more spoilers for the sisterly showdown**

OK, I’m back for Hot Takes: Part 2. 

First, just a few stray things I forgot last time:

I’m sure Adaine is enjoying having bested Aelwen (yeah,spelling #3 guys) in the moment but I can’t imagine she’s gonna enjoy all these nerds making cow eyes at her if her time in the AV office is any indication. Though, to be fair, these nerds could have more game.

“OOPS BITCH.” Siobhan with the awesome episode enders back to back.

Anyone who saw Fabian jump on the Hangman, make a lap while on fire, and then come back, still on fire, was probably like, “Classic Fabian.” I wouldn’t even question it. Very on brand. 

Did y’all notice that at a certain point of the fight, everyone clearly went “Game Face” and started playing to win? Like they were joking a lot less and getting all quiet. I was almost holding my breath for them at points. I am convinced they were all having war flashbacks to the first fight. I know I was. 

OK, on to new business!

I think I’m on record as saying that combat is my least fave part of RPGs.You’re spending a lot of time IRL to cover relatively small amounts of time in story and I especially dislike RPGs that use initiative based fighting systems (which is most of them I think) because then you end up with situations like in this ep where Siobhan kept  wanting to attack Aelwen but she couldn’t react when it would make sense for her to do so because she rolled low on initiative. And it’s where most of the rules of the game are and it can get nitty gritty when I prefer to loose, sandbox-y elements of an RPG.

I want to also reiterate that I think Brennan does a fantastic job of making the combat fun to watch by having inventive fight themes and the rest of the cast is fun no matter what.

That being said, I far and away prefer the story episodes to the combat ones and the entire ep I was like, “OK, but then I’m gonna have to wait a whole week for the conversation that happens after this fight,” WHICH IS THE PART YOU WANT TO SEE OBVIOUSLY.

So I am also more looking forward to the aftermath of the fight than I was the fight itself (although the little bit we got of Adaine getting to finally beat Aelwen was great). Here’s a shot list of things I want addressed/am looking forward to.

What exactly is Aelwen’s part in this? Mastermind? Doubt it. Pawn? Maybe. Being magically manipulated? I mean, possible but I kinda hope she’s just Like This. Anyway, if everything is going to end up dovetailing together (like these stories usually do) and Aelwen is a part of the Palimpsest conspiracy which was part of the Harvestmen’s attempted hit on Kristen which was part of the effort to start a war I’m curious about what reason Aelwen would have to want a war. Like, is that conducive to her lifestyle? Does she know about the war thing specifically or does she just know that s/t shady is happening and if she doesn’t ask too many questions, she’s in the clear? Brennan, fighting slime monsters is great but I have story questions. 

They basically have Aelwen dead to rights on this, but I wonder how she’s gonna play this. She doesn’t strike me as the spill guts immediately type. And she should be smart enough to play the diplomatic immunity card. But I hope we at least get some info out of her. 

Man I hope Riz’s mom gets to arrest her. Which would lead to Mr. Abernant yelling at her which would lead to Adaine yelling at him which she should more because it’s great.

 If Fabian lays low, he’s probably gonna get away with the whole kissing Adaine’s sister thing. She really did not care AT ALL compared to how pissed she was at Aelwen, even before she started actively trying to kill them. On the other hand, she could just be prioritizing and Fabian’s still in for it a, “What the hell, man?” Even if she’s not actively mad at him, this won’t be a point in his favor if he ever decides to make a move on her in the future (which it looked like he might).

I wonder how much, if anything, Mr. Abernant knows about Aelwn’s extracurricular activities. Because either he doesn’t know what she’s up to or he does but he’s in denial and/or protecting the family name. I wouldn’t even be asking the question except for that clip of  him being all, “You can’t jail a diplomat’s daughter!” Although, wouldn’t it be wild if it turned out he was talking about Adaine instead of Aelwen there?

And what’s up with Aelwen and Ostentasia? What did she know? What was she helping her with? Did Aelwen have this whole party set up just to get a good chance to snatch her? 

Y’all, there are 4 episodes left. FOUR. We’re getting close to the endgame. There’s not a lot of time to introduce a new set of antagonists, you know? So I feel like next ep has to drop some pretty major info bombs. Especially since we still haven’t addressed all the weird crap Adaine found in her sister’s room. See, the conversation right after the fight! That’s where the magic happens. 

Riz’s dad! I’ve been waiting for this to go down since the graveyard ep and it looks like it finally will! In the promo, Riz says, “Hey Mom. I know about dad.” Which is kinda throwing me for a loop because either that means he doesn’t know exactly how his dad died and Adaine tells him or (the more intriguing option) something even wilder went down which Sklonda is keeping from him and Riz is about to have a storm coming.

“Detect maiden.” MMM ominous. So, is this an classic maiden sacrifice for big spell thing we’re leading up to?

KVX? Ominous again. 

I’ve been meaning to say this. Wasn’t it established in E1 that the setting of FH is this weird little area of the world that happens to look like a modern irl suburb, and the rest of the world is like a normal DnD setting? I didn’t think that would end up mattering since the story has so far been confined to the immediate area but if war ends up happening, it could factor in. 

Also, Adaine finally read that book on Aguefort which raised a lot of questions and suggested time travel might become a factor at some point? Which would be WILD. Imagine Back to the Future but instead of Marty it’s Fig. The timeline would be in shambles.

Brennan keeps mentioning this Nightmare King person and I’ve been keeping that in the back of my head all season, waiting for it to pop up because I refuse to be blindsighted.

And, speaking of, that ice cream later wish is still in play. Don’t think I’ve forgotten.

So yeah! Next episode should drop some big story bombs and I’m SUPER pumped. Lemme know if I missed anything you wanted to hear about. 

[a-mad-scientist-approaches]

The Mural

Based off @astriiformes and @saisai-chan‘s Atlantis AU of Gravity Falls. I found it recently and it’s stolen my heart! I tried to write these events out just as you guys said it would go down, but as it turns out, I completely misremembered the water-fight scene. Sorry XD.

It's super interesting that Ford can read. No one else in Atlantis can, after all. With this in mind, Dipper and Mabel think he can probably put that cool skill to use, especially since they know of a certain underwater mural that's fascinated them for some time.

They'll do that just as soon as they beat Stan at this water fight.

AO3

Part 1    Part 2

“Ford, do you wanna see this nerd mural or not?” Said Stan impatiently, following Dipper and Mabel towards the edge of the pool.

“Yes, yes, just a second,” Ford replied from his half-crouch where he was having one last-minute flip-through of the Journal.

“By ‘nerd mural’ I hope you mean ‘the eons-old history of our people that should be duly treated with respect’,” Dipper glared at Stan, pausing on his way down the submerged steps. Mabel was already treading water a little way out.

“Uh, yeah. Definitely. That’s what ‘nerd’ means,”

Dipper narrowed his eyes, not convinced.

“Hurry up, hurry up!” Urged Mabel enthusiastically, spitting out some water as her treading splashed her in the face. “You gotta see it, it’s so shiny and cool! Come on! Oh, you two know how to swim, right?” She asked as an afterthought.

“Yeah kid, we know how to swim. We might be a thousand years younger than you, but we’re not newbies at this.” Unconcernedly, Stan stripped off his shirt and trousers, leaving them in a pile by the water’s edge, his gun folded up carefully inside them. He made a face at the slimy feeling of the cool, mossy ground between his toes.

Both sets of pale blue eyes looked at him doubtfully.

“We’re not!” He protested.

“Okay, okay . . .”

The water wasn’t freezing, thankfully. It was actually quite pleasant. As he made his way down the slippery steps, however, Stan’s boxers filled up with air like the pond was using them as balloons. He awkwardly squashed them back down, wincing at the loud farting noise the action made.

“HA!” Mabel called in delight. “You call that a pool fart?” She drew up her tunic and made her own big air bubble, pushing it underwater with an even louder PPPPPFFHHHHRRRRRP sound and such a victorious expression that Stan had to laugh.

“You guys are both wrong,” Dipper rolled his eyes. As Mabel stuck her tongue out at him, he continued, “This is how you do a pool fart.” He clapped a hand under his armpit and squeezed his upper arm over it. Against how Stan felt science or whatever was supposed to work, it made a very loud squeeeeeeeeeeBLAT, winning the competition and making Mabel inhale some water again as she laughed.

Distraction over, Stan barked, “Sixer!” over the backdrop of her chokes and I’m fine!’s.

“Coming, Stan,” said Ford irritably, snapping shut the Journal. He pulled off his boots and socks . . . and that was it.

“You don’t want anything dry to get into afterwards?” said Stan flatly, as his brother hovered one foot over the pond’s surface, still clothed head to ankle.

Frowning, Ford conceded the point and took off his coat.

“Scandalous,” Stan rolled his eyes. “Look, the gremlins aren’t gonna care, Ford!”

“No, they won’t!” encouraged Mabel.

“What’re gremlins?” questioned Dipper.

“They’re you,” answered Stan.

“So . . . what are we?”

“You’re gremlins,”

“But, like . . . does it refer to Atlanteans, or children, or what? What are they?”

“I told ya kid, they’re you,”

“What?! But- But that’s not an answer-” Dipper said in frustration as Stan openly grinned at him. Back on the shore, Ford undressed down to some more appropriate swimming gear, revealing (gasp!) stripy boxers and a dark undershirt, which he indicated with a glare were his absolute limit.

“You can’t just say that we’re gremlins and gremlins are us! Stan, come on, what does it mean?”

“I keep telling ya kid, but it’s not my fault you’re not listening. Jeez, what’s his deal?” Stan said, not even attempting to hide his laughs to a paddling Mabel, who giggled.

“Ford!” Dipper complained.

“It’s a term of affection for someone mischievous,” Ford informed him, coming down the steps.

Stan crossed his arms defensively at what he knew was coming.

“Aww!” Mabel beamed at him.

Dipper was suddenly smiling happily at Stan. “Really?” he asked. He looked at his sister for a moment, and then said matter-of-factly, “Well, gremlins to you too, Stanley and Stanford,”

Stan felt his face warm up slightly. “Ruin all the fun, why don’t you Sixer?”

“And if he’s stubborn feel free to splash him,” Ford continued, kicking an explosion of white water into Stan’s face.

When his eyes (and nose, and throat, and lungs, and possibly brain – that had been a lot of water to breathe in) had finished stinging and he could see clear enough again, he saw Dipper looking at him slyly. Mabel wasn’t anywhere in sight.

“No, no, NO-!”

And he was underwater in a flurry of bubbles again, discovering that while Mabel may have been small, she had a ton of force behind her. The steps slipped out from under him, and he couldn’t find them again. When she started tickling him, he thought it was probably the greatest self-control he had ever showed in his life that he didn’t breathe in and end up drowning. As it was, he spasmed in the water until he caught both of Mabel’s hands in one of his, pinning her tightly to his chest in an inescapable grip. They surfaced like a sea monster.

“Holy Moses, kid,” he gasped. Mabel was cackling breathlessly as she strained to wriggle away. Opposite them, Ford stood with a self-satisfied smirk on his face.

Ha, we’ll see about that . . .

Stan determinedly shook his hair out of his eyes and grinned evilly back.

“Ready?” he asked Mabel, hefting her slightly. She violently shook her head, but shrieked “YES!!” all the same, so he figured she was fine.

“INCOMING!” He shouted, and launched the girl at his brother. With an expertly executed water bomb, she splashed right in front of Ford, drenching him all the way up to his glasses. Stan didn’t see what happened with them next though, because all of a sudden Dipper was laughing triumphantly in his ear as he scrambled onto Stan’s shoulders. Knowing exactly what this called for, Stan grabbed the boy’s legs firmly, then hurried up a couple steps before falling backwards into the pool again with an almighty tidal wave.

The next few minutes were a blur of activity, laughing, yelling, and of course, splashing, but it ended when Mabel, by that point on Ford’s shoulders, managed to push Dipper off Stan’s shoulders and Stan subsequently cheated and pushed Ford over as well. He would have been proud that he was the last one standing, if he hadn’t been so winded.

Gasping, Ford surfaced and collapsed next to him on the upper steps. Mabel crawled up towards them as well, hiccoughing and giggling, to settle in his brother’s lap with a squelch. Dipper lay across Stan’s legs and stared at the sky, taking deep breaths and letting them out with the occasional laugh.

“I see you still play dirty,” Ford said to him, straightening his glasses.

“And you still lose,” Stan grinned back, unthinkingly clapping (well, slapping) him on the shoulder and bumping their heads together affectionately.

Ford stiffened. Stan hurriedly took his hand back and cleared his throat. There was a silence which wasn’t quite as tense as the occasional angry, post-argument silences they had had previously, but regardless, neither of them knew what to say.

It’d be much simpler if I didn’t actually want to go back to being . . . well, like the kids, Stan reflected, frowning at the rippling surface of the pool.

“Stan?” Ford said quietly.

“Yeah?” He said gruffly, wishing that Ford would just leave well enough alone. He got it, okay? Ford didn’t have to tell him to stop acting like everything was fine, he understood that it wasn’t. Yeah, maybe he’d forgotten that for a moment, but he was back on track again. No need for him to actually say anything.

“We should . . . talk. When this is all over. We should talk properly,”

Dipper had gone very quiet and was obviously eavesdropping, and Mabel was trying to pretend that she was too engrossed with fiddling with Ford’s fingers to notice what else was going on.

“Yeah. That . . . yeah.” Stan even managed a nod. And it wasn’t even a sappy nod. Just a plain, normal nod and agreement, a solid acknowledgement about what was the best course to go forwards with, nothing in the slightest to reveal that all of a sudden Stan might, hypothetically, be feeling an intense sensation of relief and happiness pulsing through his heart.

“Okay,” said Ford, looking at him.

“Okay,” Stan replied, looking back.

Ford gave a nervous sort of smile and nudged Stan’s shoulder with his own.

“Alright,” he said, lifting Mabel off him and standing up. “We really should see those ruins now. No more delays,”

“You’re the reason we had both delays,” Mabel pointed out as they re-entered the depths of the pool and swam off the edge of the last step, treading water in the very centre.

“Finally,” Dipper peeled himself off Stan and headed out towards them as well.

Stan stood up too, and then realised something: it was very likely that by the end of this, Ford wouldn’t want to speak to him any more. Maybe even for good, this time.

No. No, he could figure something out, talk him around to seeing things like the rest of the crew. It wouldn’t be pleasant either way, but one alternative left him with a brother as good as dead to him (again). However much Stan might be feeling uncomfortable about Rourke’s plans now, that scenario was number one on the list of things he didn’t want to happen.

“You coming?” Dipper raised an eyebrow quizzically at him.

“Yep, be right there,” Stan said, snapping out of the thoughts. Taking a deep breath, they all sank into the dark depths.

The underwater silence pressed oddly against his ears, especially after the loudness that the water fight had brought. The darkness was only broken by two bright blue lights shining out of the crystals tied around the kids’ necks. Not for the first time, Stan found himself thinking that he had to get his hands on some of them.

The lights guided him and Ford deeper and deeper, colder and colder. On the edge of visibility, he caught flashes of ancient ruins, the stairs from above continuing down where they swam. He was starting to get nervous. How long did they have to hold their breath? Would he be able to find his way back if he had to?

Suddenly, the cloud of white hair that was Mabel changed direction, tilting upwards. Feeling the pressure increase on his lungs, Stan followed her as quickly as he could, Dipper and Ford rising with him.  

His head broke into open air, and then thunked off something metallic.

“Ow!”

“Watch your head!”

“Thanks, sweetie,” he groaned.

“Everyone okay?” asked Dipper, coming up into the tiny, enclosed space as well.

Ford gasped for breath, seeming to have the least lung capacity out of all of them. “I’ll survive,”

It really was cramped now. All four of them were touching in some way or other: Dipper’s cheek was jammed against Stan’s shoulder, Mabel was squashed against the stone wall between him and Ford, and speaking of him and Ford, they kept kicking each other’s shins as they tried to keep their heads above the water.

“Okay, the mural’s just down there,” If Dipper pointed somewhere, none of them saw it. “The writing’s just above the star,” he told Ford.

“Alright,” Ford nodded. They both ducked underwater again. Mabel went after them, leaving Stan no choice but to follow – unless he wanted to wait alone in the tiny, utterly dark, cold space.

Mural was an understatement. Was mega-ral a word? It should have been for this thing. Stan had never seen one so big. He felt his jaw drop, and a bubble of air escaped him.

The edges stretched away into darkness, but the light provided by Dipper and Mabel showed the section immediately in front clearly. Giant stone people were depicted with their arms outstretched, guarding an enormous white pointy ball thing – the star, Stan guessed.

A tap on his arm made him turn to Mabel, who grinned broadly and gesticulated wildly, somehow managing to convey without words the scope of her ecstasy at the beautiful, faintly glimmering, work of art. Stan nodded and gave her a thumbs-up.

Ford floated close to the mural, putting a hand out to touch it. Dipper swam close to him, holding up his glowing crystal so Ford could see. Like he had said, runes – Atlantean writing – had been carved above the star in faded golden letters. From what Ford had shown him, Stan could pick out a few letters, maybe half a word, but nothing more.

Ford started gesturing excitedly and grabbed Dipper’s crystal, brandishing it at the confused boy. They headed back up to the pocket of air.

“That star!” Said Ford in a spray of water. “It’s the Heart of Atlantis! It’s keeping everything here alive! And it’s not a star, it’s a crystal!”

“Like these?” asked Mabel, holding up hers.

“Exactly like those! I should have realised earlier; that’s the power source we’ve been looking for, Stan! It’s also most likely the cause of the light you two remember seeing!” He added to Dipper and Mabel, who looked at each other wide-eyed.

“But it’s huge!” said Stan.

“Well it would be,” said Ford, as though that was obvious. “It’s an immense source of energy! The opportunity to study it-” He shook his head, water flying everywhere again. “We just have to find it first,”

“Right,” nodded Stan, glad that the bobbing shadows mostly obscured his expression.

“This should have been in the Journal,”

“Maybe it was, and you just didn’t see it?” suggested Dipper.

“Perhaps. But I’m getting a bad feeling about those missing pages now,” said Ford grimly. Stan stayed quiet. Now that this had come up, he had his own suspicions about where those pages were.

Glancing uneasily at each other, Dipper and Mabel led them back to the surface. By the time they reached it, Ford was back to being wildly eager about what they had found.

“Kids, that was amazing! There aren’t any more places like that, are there? Preferably above ground?”

“Sorry,” said Dipper, stroking towards the steps.

“We could show you the throne room, if you want,” said Mabel. “It’s got a pond, and a couch,”

“Sounds fantastic!” Grinned Ford broadly, splashing onto the steps and scooping both kids up. He forgot about how slippery the submerged surface was though, and plunged right back under water again.

“For cryin’ out loud,” Stan muttered, rooting around in the water until he found Mabel and drew her up to lighten Ford’s load. He plopped her on one of the shallower steps as Ford resurfaced, coughing. Dipper thumped him on the back. Stan couldn’t help but start to smile again.

“Alright. Journal,” said Ford, wiping the water and hair out of his eyes. In doing so, he saw what was happening around the pool. Stan looked at his expression and turned.

“Alright. Heart of Atlantis,” responded Rourke, emerging out of the shadows with his hands on his hips, those oddly unblinking eyes and too-wide smile present on his face. With him came the rest of the crew. Not only Soos, and Wendy, and even Susan, but most, if not all, of the masked armed forces that had come with them. They were all carrying guns, and one or two had explosives on bandoliers across their chests. Mabel and Dipper stirred uneasily.

The recently-recovered smile slid off Stan’s face. Rourke met his eyes and gave an almost imperceptible jerk of his head. Slowly, Stan stepped out of the water and made his way over to his bundle of clothes.

“What’s going on?” said Ford warily.

“You’re taking me to the Heart of Atlantis, Fordsy. Then we’ll just chuck it on our good ol’ submarine and be away with it,” answered Rourke easily.

“What? No, no, we can’t do that,” said Ford immediately. Stan silently cursed as he pulled on his shirt. His brother really needed to learn when to shut up. “The Heart keeps Atlantis alive! If we take it away . . .” Ford seemed lost for words for a moment, “the city – the people could all die! We have to study it here,”

Rourke raised a finger. “Could. They could all die. I’m A-OK to take that chance. Oh, don’t look so glum, kiddos! I’m sure you’ll be fine.” He added, noticing the way the younger twins were tensing, Mabel’s fists closing and one of Dipper’s hands straying closer to his thigh.

“Stan?” Mabel asked quietly. He didn’t answer, concentrating hard on pulling on his boots.

“You – you can’t be serious,” Ford said in disbelief.

“Deadly,”

Stan stood up. “Ford,”

His brother’s eyes flicked over to him. Stan picked his gun up off the stone floor. He didn’t aim it, but regardless, the message couldn’t have been clearer.

“Do what he says,”