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kitkatt0430 · 2 years ago

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So I've decided to go ahead with watching the latest episode of the Flash. Spoilers below.

Blaine is such a fucking idiot. Wow. Like, that's how he's gonna break Caitlin's dead to the team? And has he considered, even once, that the version of Frost he brings back might not be the one he knew? Frost didn't meet him until after she split from Caitlin. The remnants of Frost in Caitlin - if there are any - may not have the first damn idea who Mark is. But what she will know? Is he killed her sister, that she sacrificed her life to save, in order to bring Frost back.

Oh wow, what a complete and utter moron, I hate Blaine so damn much.

Where's Hartley, I'm tired of the Snow plotline already.

Oh, there he is. Flirting with his boyfriend and they're adorable. Oooh, do Hartley and Roderick own this club? The flirting made it sound like they do. Or at least Hartley does. He and Roderick being adorable together is so great. This is everything I've wanted for those two since Roderick stopped being Sleeping Beauty in S6. (Gosh has it been that long?)

Pied Piper vs. the Fiddler - I do like the way their sound tech interacts and the fight, though short, is fun.

(No seriously can someone just stab Mark Blaine a few times. Whoops, he's dead, how terrible, let's forget about him immediately? Like, is he just being particularly awful in this episode or has what little tolerance I have for him eroded entirely after skipping most of S8?)

Anyway, Snow does not seem thrilled about Mark's plan. She's probably afraid to die and is too 'new' to life to be able to admit it. And I have to wonder if really she's just Caitlin with amnesia and Frost's powers?

Anyway, seriously, just fuck Blaine.

Thank goodness Hartley still knows where all the stuff in Caitlin's lab is. Or at least has a general idea, anyway. Though I'd like to think sometimes he just hung out with Caitlin for old times sake.

Oh no. Barry please do not make excuses for Blaine. I'm so tired of this guy. Though Barry being all cryptic on 'we have to go' is hilarious.

Chester - TECHNOBABLE

Iris follows that so much better than I did. She's so smart and awesome and let me just fangirl over her a bit.

Hartley muttering at, and cussing out, his gloves as he tries to repair them. Most relatable moment on this episode so far.

Snow certainly has Caitlin's desire to help people, worrying about Hartley clearly being hurt. And she realizes how worried about Roderick Hartley is. Listening to him worry about Roderick. Awww

But Snow makes a good point. Change is something you have to choose for yourself. Trying to force a change for someone else isn't going to work. *staring right at Blaine* But Hartley has already changed - while having Roderick back in his life may have made choosing to change easier, Hartley made that choice before Roderick was saved and thought there was no way to save Roderick. He made that choice when he went to save Barry from Godspeed. Everything after was just follow through.

Everyone fighting over who Snow should die to resurrect. Do any of them even hear themselves? How awful and, quite frankly, like bad guys they sound? She's her own person now and she deserves to live, even if the way she came into the world was awful.

>_<

Okay, so Iris' reasons for choosing Frost are kinda dumb. *sigh*

Snow loves nature. (Sky High anyone???) Snow is very sweet, but I do think they're spending too much time drawing out this plot line. That said I'm so glad that Cecile at least actually takes the time to ask Snow what she wants.

All this retconning with Thomas Snow. Seriously, none of that fits in the established Caitlin&Frost timeline. How much did the multiverse reboot change Caitlin and Frost's origins? But whatever, at least they finally decided it should be Snow's choice.

(No, really, what would make more sense is if Thomas had considered using a CRC type machine to get rid of Icicle but ultimately was too afraid Icicle would use it to kill him instead. Then that could have been a development that happened later when he locked himself away to try and find a 'cure' to Icicle. And a brain scan from Caitlin's childhood? What did they want to do, restore Caitlin to a twelve year old's mentality? Brains change over time. Oh wow, so much was not thought through in this retconning.)

Oh no! Roderick! Hartley, seriously, learn to ask for help when you need it? Lucky him, Barry came anyway and showed him what he needed to do to save Roderick.

Hartley - You figure it out, I'm busy. *grinning at Roderick because awwwwwww look he's so in love*

Snow picking the name Khione - I'm so glad she got to pick her own name.

That said, seriously. Who is gonna tell Cisco about all this? He's gonna be so pissed off.

Hartley destroying the CRC. Yes, finally, someone with some sense around here. Well, if we can't have Cisco and Caitlin friendship this season, I'm liking the Hartley and Khione friendship. Blaine threatening Hartley... is it bad I'm hoping something comes of that so Hartley can kick Mark Blaine's butt? Since clearly Hartley's the only one with any sense whatsoever.

Let's hope Hartley sticks around for more episodes. *finger crossed*

Iris, yes, make fun of Barry's dancing more please. Someone stop him. And Chester. Please. This is the kind of dancing Angel was terrified of dancing like on AtS.

Oooh, looks like Hartley will be in the next episode too. (checked out the trailer for ep 3) Guess I'll be checking in for that one too.

So it does seem like no one is properly upset or grieving over Caitlin or really mourning her which... is disappointing. Barry at least feels guilty over their last interaction but Blaine's just like 'let's kill her extra dead for Frost's sake'. Ah yes, what a wonderful person he was for Frost to date.

All the 'this is what Caitlin would want' going on just sounds like them handwaving over the fact that Caitlin was grieving and depressed, never got the help she needed for the multiple traumas and deaths of loved ones she endured, and she was not in any way, shape, or form thinking clearly when she tried to resurrect Frost. Her death was a terrible and preventable tragedy and it's like no one wants to look too hard or else they'll have to accept their culpability in failing one of their friends. But sacrificing Khione to resurrect Caitlin or Frost would have just been repeating Caitlin's mistakes so... it took them way too long to come to an answer that should have been obvious as the only ethical choice from the start.

Anyway, I want more Hartley and Roderick being cute together because they're now the cutest couple on the show. Sorry Barry and Iris, but you've been usurped by the cute and flirty duo. But then Barry and Iris were only the cutest couple on the show 'cause Cisco and Kamilla left, so... *shrug* (Grant and Candice do what they can with the show's writing, but 'babymoon'? They're not spinning that as romantic, there's just no way. But at least they're acknowledging that Iris should be pregnant sometime relatively soonish.)

(I did actually go back and watch Ep1 before this. And, um... it had some good parts. But I also skipped around a lot 'cause I got bored. It was not the best time loop episode i've ever seen. It was middling of the road as far as episodes went and reminded me more of the reasons why it took me so long to start shipping Barry/Iris on the show in the first place. Namely, did Iris ever actually choose Barry? Or did she, after Eddie died, let herself get pushed into a relationship that she didn't necessarily want because everyone was pushing Barry as her destiny? Not that she didn't clearly find happiness with Barry, but... well, this is one of the reasons why i say canon does them dirty. Barry/Iris has been hit and miss as a result and it's not a good sign that the final season started off with something that felt more like a miss than a hit.)

#kitkatt0430 watches #the flash #season 9 episode two #hear no evil #season 9 spoilers #so does it seem like blaine is being set up to be a villain later in the season?#'cause i've got that impression now #and i want hartley to kick his butt #once again team flash struggles to do the ethical thing because protagonist centered morality means they must always be right

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turtle-go-brrrr · 3 years ago

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4 times Leonardo was a dork and the time he wasn’t

Heya! I adore the "strong stoic character does something embarrassing or dumb" trope, and Leo has been left behing from that one. Also, my fervent Leo Simp Friend said these were all good ideas and I trust his judgment completely, so it's also for him. Enjoy, you Dork-ass Looser (affectionate) @weird-flex-but-ok

I have one of these "4 times ______ and 1 time ______" stories for each of them, I just got really inspired by him all of a sudden. But they're coming!

There might be a few typos here and there, but I really don't wanna wait any longer to post it :3

Requested: No

Pairing: None, platonic

Word count: 2500 +

Triggers: cursing, injuries, blood, intrusion

Summary: You were always sort of intimidated by the leader in blue, but a series of events shows you he might not be as serious as he wants you to think.

__________________________________________

First time

It took you a while to get along with all of them.

Not because you didn't trust them, or because they made it difficult, and certainly not because they're mutants. You're just not that good with new people, and you tend to shy away. Especially when you have New York's heroes in front of you.

So yeah. It took a while. But soon enough, you warmed up to your new friends, and you had a great time. Mikey was the first who made you feel welcomed, always asking questions about you and insisting you came to the lair in the first place. Donnie followed soon, after you started asking about what he was working on. It took a bit more work to get closer to Raph, but it turns out sarcasm was the way to go.

If only their leader was as approachable.

He never made you feel unsafe or unwelcomed, don’t get me wrong, he just kept a professional distance with you, which started to become quite painful as time went on. You tried not to take it personally, thinking he maybe was as shy as you were.

You had time anyway.

It was early in the evening when you made your way to the lair. For the first time since you met the turtles, you went there alone. You were a little nervous, thinking you might get lost in the maze of tunnels under the city, but figured you could just call someone if anything happened. Lucky for you, you found your way to your friend’s place, but not without hustle.

As you entered, you realized it was uncharacteristically quiet. The only sounds you could here were the faint music and the not so faint curses from Donatello’s lab. The smart decision seemed to be leave him alone, which is exactly what you did.

You haven’t been here long enough to know where to find the others, and as you didn’t exactly felt like staying alone in the living space, you tried finding your way to the dojo, as it was one of the other places you knew well.

Of course, now you got lost. Venturing into the sewers was fine, but walking into your friend's home wasn't, apparently.

You found something else, however. This particular tunnel led to a room you could identify as someone's room. You could see the large bed in the middle of the room, a small table with a bottle of water, a book, and a makeshift alarm. A set of twin swords were hanging on the right wall, just above a small bookshelf.

On your left was another table with a (healthy, you noted) bonsai tree, and next to that was Leonardo, facing a mirror. He had his right arm lifted up to his head, and was looking right to you through the mirror.

He looked absolutely horrified.

What the fuck.

He slowly rubbed his face in his hands, let out a long sigh, and turned to you, more tense than you've ever seen him. He cleared his throat as you pince your lips in a thin line to hold back a smile.

"Hello, Y/N. I... didnt think you'd come in so early."

Despite the badly lit room, you can see him bite the inside of his cheek.

"Yeah, uh, I didnt mean to... interrupt you," you say. Your voice is slightly shaking as it takes all of your willpower not to burst out laughing. And he definitely notices.

"You didn't! I uh, wasn't doing anything anyway. So, tell me- what brings you to the lair?" He asks, avoiding your eyes.

"Oh, Mikey invited me, he said I wasnt allowed to skip on movie night. You know how strong willed he is," you smirks, unable to handle it much longer.

Stiff as a board, you see the corner of his mouth twitching and hear him whisper, "... I wasn't flexing."

Silence.

You snort laugh hard enough to choke on it as you quickly turn around to hold yourself against the wall, the insanity of the situation crashing on you. Leo sat at the foot of his bed, head in his hands, and you could see him shake in repressed laughter once you wiped your tears away.

You sit next to him after finally calming down from the hysteria. He sighs, straightens his back and gives you a side glance.

"I'm not judging."

"You're still laughing, though."

"Yeah, but like, I guess I just wasn't expecting that. Still not judging."

He nods, still smiling. His voice is at least 3 octaves higher when he asks, "Please, don't tell the others."

"And what, give them the privilege of knowing about your little... ritual? Nah, don't worry about it."

_______________________

Second time

The second time your assumptions about the leader were subverted happended only two weeks after the... incident.

You had invited the whole crew to your place for the very first time, and they were all excited to come. You made a copious dinner: a few veggie cakes, chicken wings and a bowl of roasted potatoes. They were supposed to bring the drinks and movies, and April and Casey were in charge of the desert.

A perfect night, it seemed.

And it would have been if they could decide what to watch first without jumping at each other's throats.

"You guys need to grow up."

"Leave me out of thi-"

"Donnie's suggesting Velocipastor of all things and you think we need to grow up? Come on, Y/N, I thought you were better than that."

"Okay, first of all, how dare you. And second, this movie's a masterpie-"

"Yeah, because everyone knows that his supremior intellect means he's the only one who gets to choose a dumb movie. Why won't you guys watch Sharknado?"

"Supremior isn't a word. And it's because unlike you, peasants, I have taste." A devilish smile creeps up Donnie's face. The bastard is doing it on purpose.

"Peasants?!"

"You ugly-ass son of a-"

"Hey! Leave Dad out of this!"

"We could watch Shrek instead?"

You decided to go get some glasses in the kitchen, leaving the children to their stupid fight. Searching through your cupboard, you hear a crashing sound, quickly followed by utter and complete silence.

Oh no.

In insight, leaving them alone was maybe not the best idea. You were reconsidering bringing glasses into the mess as you made your way to the origin of the sound. And what a mess it was.

Your friends were all expressing shock in some way, Casey (surprisingly) being the most dramatic of them all with his hands right in front of his face and his jaw hanging open. They were all looking back and forth between you and another direction near the table.

The really cool bowl that held the delicious potatoes you made was broken on the floor. There was glass and potatoes everywhere, but the biggest shards were in a neat pile, right behind Leonardo, who looked like a deer in headlights.

"... nothing happended."

"I'm... starting to think it's a habit of yours," you say as you watch him not so discretely try to hide the broken pieces behind his foot.

"Look, if you keep putting your foot in there you're gonna hurt yourself. Just, step away a bit, will you?"

"I'm sorry I broke it. Let me help you clean up, I don't want you to cut yourself."

"It's okay! Don't touch it, I'll get a bag," you say as he starts to gather the biggest shards.

Won't even listen for one second, will he?

Raph was already picking up the untouched potatoes to put them in the plates on the table, and April went to the kitchen with you to retrieve the bag and cleaning supplies.

"Ew, Mikey don't eat that."

"Thirty seconds rule, baby."

"It's five seconds, you moron. And it's way over thirty anyway. Spit it out."

The rest of the night went on without further issues, but Leo still looked apologetic during the movie. Which is probably why he was standing before you as his brothers were leaving.

"Thank you for the evening. And I'm... sorry again for the bowl."

"Hey it's okay, man. Don't worry about it. As long as no one gets hurt it's not that big of a deal."

"I'll get you a new one." He doesn't wait for your answer and ruffles your hair before taking off.

"Text me when you guys get home!" You scream into the night, hoping one of them heard you.

______________________

Third time

It's surprisingly easy to mess with Fearless.

You were in the living room, getting your ass beat on Mario Kart by Mikey, when you decided to take a break for your stomach (and ego)’s sake. You made your way to the kitchen, where Leo and Raph were in a heated discussion. Raph looked

“I’m telling you, 4 inches is too small. What do you get from 4 inches ? Nothing. But 10 inches ? It really makes you feel something.”

…

What?

You looked down on the table and saw multiple ingredients lined up on the table, with a long piece of bread on the side.

Oh, sandwiches. Got it.

Leo’s back was facing you, but Raph gave you a knowing glance, one that said ‘do it’. So, you did. Not without a smirk, first.

“Oh, wow, Leo ! I didn’t think you’d be so open about that kind of conversations.” You open the fridge, hoping you can hide your smile behind the door.

“What ? What do you m-” His face falls. Raph starts chuckling next to you and it looks like Leo’s brain is rebooting.

“I mean, I’m not judging. You do you, buddy, I’m happy for you. Just surprised you choose lunch time to talk about it.” And in other circumstances, you’d mean every word. But right now, messing with your friend is too good to pass on.

“No, hold on- I didnt mean- It’s not what you think ! I’m talking about sandwiches !” He tries to show you the ingredients currently on the table, but Raph decides it’s time to join the fun.

“Lying isn’t vey Bushido of you, Honor Boy,” he winks at you and you can’t repress a giggle.

He puts his face in his hands, knowing very well that the both of you ganged up on him but unable to save face. He just smiles, goes back on his chair and hides his head in his arms, hoping you won’t see how embarassed you made him.

“Hey, you like what you like. Have fun with your sandwiches.” You give him an innocent smile, pat him twice on the shoulder, and join Mikey back on the couch with a plate of grapes.

You could hear Raph’s light chuckle from the kitchen.

______________________

Fourth time

Mornings are hard.

And they’re even worse when you spent the whole night sewing an arm back together after a sword gave it a nasty cut. And getting glass shards off of your friend’s shell. And putting a bone back in it’s rightful place after a particularly bad fall.

Yeah. Long night. And a tense one, too.

Because with the physical pain came the chock and residual fears, the anger and blaming. Everyone was stil on guard, and all that tension was exhausting. You barely slept, too worried that one of your friend’s state would degrade if you didn’t keep an eye on them at all times. Which didn’t really help you get the rest you needed.

If you were hoping the morning would be kinder on all of you, you quickly realized that it was a mistake. While, luckily for the turles, the mutagen was already healing their physical wounds, the emotional exhaustion of the previous night was still heavy. Of all of your conscious friends, not one dared break the eerie silence.

It was weird, seeing them like this. But you couldn’t force yourself to say anything, strangely scared of what could happen. You resumed to making breakfast for everyone and bringing clean towels to the still sleeping feverish turtle in the medbay. Splinter and Mikey were at the kitchen table, quietly accepting your offering, when Leo came into the room from the medbay.

He was still half asleep, and in his drowsiness didn’t see the wall he accidentally ran into.

“Oh, sorry. Didn’t see you there.”

Everyone turned to Leo, who it took a solid minute of staring blindly at the wall to realize what just happened.

Donnie was the first to laugh. It didn’t take long for april and Mikey to join, soon followed by Splinter affectionately patting his son’s arm. Leo smiled and shook his head, as their lighthearted laugh was contagious.

The leader in blue was more of a goofball than what you first expected, and you were grateful for it in the fading tensions of the morning.

______________________

One time he wasn't

When someone intrudes your home, especially at 4 am when you were sleeping in the next room, a lot of things go through your head.

Did they take anything?

Yes. Your bag with your wallet, some cash, your credit card, your ID, and a few fidelity cards from various stores. Your laptop. A set of keys. That one blanket Raph made you (probably to carry everything without making too much noise).

Why you?

Why not? Your apartment isn't isolated, but it's not exactly on a main street either. It was probably practical for them.

Were they armed?

Who knows. Maybe. Maybe not. Probably. Statistically, most likely.

What could have happened if you had tried to confront them?

A lot of things. Maybe, if you let them know you were awake and knew what was going on, without necessarily confronting them, it would have been enough to make them run away. Or maybe there were multiple armed people, and they wouldn't hesitate to use force if necessary.

Who knows.

Can the police find this person?

Statistically? No. At least, that's what Casey told you when you asked him. Unless they got really lucky, they won't find anything.

Or at least the stuff they stole?

Again, unlikely. Unless they can trace your laptop back to the guy, or someone can give a physical description and a direction, there's not a lot they can do.

What can you do now?

Call your bank. And your insurance. And your landlord. Let them know what happened and follow their directive, they'll guide you through their procedure and help you soften the blow.

Casey was the first person you called when you woke up this night, and he was at your place within minutes with two other colleagues (the closest he could find). He spent the rest of the night reassuring you, helping you with the phone calls, asking around for witnesses, but nothing.

It's weird, feeling unsafe for the first time in a place you had called Home for years. It's disturbing. You can feel the nausea your anxiety is giving you, and a headache starts to grow at the back of your skull.

You don't really like this feeling.

So when your turtle friends dropped by the next evening without telling you and you welcomed them with a swing of your favorite pan, let's just say reactions were split.

"I can hack into your computer to find its location if you want. Wouldn't be the first time."

"What?"

"What? I mean, I didn't do it for your location last time. I know all about your search history, though."

"We're gonna have a talk about boundaries and privacy once we're done dealing with that," you sigh. You crash down on the couch next to your friend and mindlessly watch him work.

Leo comes up to you and gently nudges your shoulder. "Hey, do you have a toolbox somewhere? We brought locks to put on your door and windows. You know, just in case."

You nod, quiet, and lead him to your room where you keep most of the most useful stuff you own, including but not limited to a toolbox and a first aid kit.

Your movements were almost mechanical as you retrieved the box and handed it to him, and you decided to help him put up the locks to keep your mind occupied.

He was concerned. You looked like you were still in choc, which he could completely understand. Getting robbed is awful in itself, but getting robbed while you're sleeping in the next room? Horrific, in his mind.

He was also furious. He couldn't be there for you. This person had the nerves to go after his friend, and what if you got hurt? He wouldn't have been able to do anything about it.

He noticed he was staring when your eyes met his.

"Hey. We're gonna do whatever we can to find them. We're also gonna focus our patrols in your neighborhood for at least a few weeks, until you feel better," he puts a hand on your shoulder. "It's gonna be okay Y/N. Trust me."

You look up to him, and when you look into his eyes, you know he means it. You let your head fall against his plastron as he holds you against him, a silent promise for safety.

"Hey shorty," Raph pulls his head into the crack of the door to address you. "Wanna learn how to fight? I can turn you into a death machine."

You heard the faint "Raph, what the fuck" coming from Mikey who was still in the living room.

You gave a small laugh as you got up, Leo following you closely to the living room.

"Hey! Fighting isn't for everyone. But I could make you a really cool taser, if you want."

"What's with you and tasers?"

"They're efficient."

The bell ringed and April came in holding 4 boxes of pizza, that Mikey assisted her with as soon as she set a foot inside.

You looked around at your friends as April brandished the pizzas like a trophy while Raph and Donnie went back and forth trying to decide who, between man power and electricity, would win in a fight.

And you realized that yes, Leo was right.

It's gonna be okay.

#bayverse tmnt #tmnt #tmnt x reader #tw: injuries #tw: blood #tw: break in #tmnt leonardo #tmnt donatello #tmnt 2k16 #tmnt michelangelo #tmnt raphael #tmnt casey #tmnt april #tmnt splinter #OOOOOOOF #took me a while #hope you like it!

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fizzychocolatemilk · 3 years ago

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Totally Normal...You Know Until (Part 1)

A little late, but now it’s here! Enjoy and leave comments (if you’re comfortable)! Part two will be out here tomorrow...or you can read the whole fic on AO3 here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/33074071.

The day had been relatively normal. Katsuki had been put on patrol with Deku, since they had begun branding themselves together in anticipation for their upcoming graduation. To be honest, despite how far he and the shitty nerd had come in the three years since they started at UA, he still wondered what he did to get a (technically future) hero partner as good as Deku. Of course if the nerd heard that line of thought, Deku’d surely smack him and call him an idiot, then say that stupid “Kacchan sugoi!” crap that made Katsuki’s face get hot and his palms sweat more than usual.

He was secure enough at this point of his life to admit that he had more than platonic feelings for Deku, and if it were anyone else Katsuki would surely act on those feelings, ask the nerd out on a date, maybe to that pre-quirk era hero museum that opened recently near UA. However, because it’s Deku, Katsuki planned to take all those left unsaid feelings with him to the grave. He wasn’t going to be the jackass that ruined everything he and Deku had worked for years to get back, but really, it all comes back to the point that Deku deserves way better than what Katsuki can give him. Deku asked to be his hero partner, so Katsuki was going to be the best damn hero partner the shit nerd could ask for, which meant he wasn’t going to get greedy and ask for more than the stupid, self-sacrificing nerd could (or wanted to) give.

So the patrol was relatively normal. Deku was being his smiley, chatty self and talking Katuki’s ear off about some rookie hero that had debuted in the past week. Katsuki was trying to not get distracted by how cute the nerd was when he got into his shitty rambles when the kid ran into him.

“Momma! Can’t find my momma!” the child wailed. Large, watery green eyes with slitted pupils looked up at him. The child had several reptilian features, so Katsuki couldn’t really tell whether the child was male or female.

But that didn’t really matter. “Hey! Watch where you’re going kid,” he led with (because even if the kid was scared, you can’t go running around like that on busy streets). “Can you tell me your name?”

Katsuki was pretty good with little kids. They usually thought his rough temperament was funny and they weren’t annoying or clingy in the way he’s found reporters and older fans to be.

“Don’t worry. I’m a hero. Deku and I can help you find your momma.”

The kid sniffled a little bit. “M’name’s Kyo. ‘don’t remember where I last saw momma.”

That made things a little more difficult, but he was Great Explosion Murder God Dynamight dammit! He and Deku could definitely get this kid back to their mom. “Alright, Kyo. Here’s what we’re gonna do. We’ll look around nearby for your momma, but if we can’t find her we’ll take you to the police station and they can call your mom there. That sound good to you?”

Kyo nodded, so Katuski held out his hand for Kyo to take.

As they continued down the street, Katsuki asked Kyo about his day, to which he enthusiastically responded with a long story that included a bad day at school followed by a fun afternoon out with his mother. During which Deku walked, awkward and silent, next to Katuski while he kept an eye out for a distraught mother.

Soon they had made it to the end of the street, and as they rounded the corner Kyo’s eyes lit up.

“MOMMA!!!”

A bright flash erupted from Kyo and Katsuki’s clasped hands before Kyo tore away towards their mom. Katsuki would have ran after him, but he was hit with a painful headache, one that made him clutch his head in both hands and curl into himself. He distantly heard Deku screaming his name, but it didn’t register as his ears began ringing and the world swirled before his eyes. Then everything went black.

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

When Katsuki awoke, he was on the ground with an upset Kyo hovering over his face. “Uhhhh….W-w-what..? W-what happened?” He said with a humiliating stutter. What was wrong with him?

“I’m so sorry, Mr. Hero!” Kyo cried. “I didn’t mean to use it! I was just so happy to see momma! I’m sorry.”

Katsuki sat up as he processed the words. “I’m sorry. Ummm...what are you t-t-talking about kiddo?”

“Hi. I’m Kyo’s mother. I’m really sorry, sir, but he used his quirk on you,” a lady with a strong build, freckles that looked like sky blue scales, and a navy blue bob cut extended her hand to him. Assumably for him to take. He shook his head no, mumbled a barely discernible “thank you,” and stood up without the help. He felt like he was forgetting something for a moment. What was it?

“Deku!” It hit him like a freight train. He forgot about Deku. How embarrassing. Katsuki could feel his face heating up without his consent, and he slapped his hands over his cheeks to hide the growing flush. Then he looked over to see Deku sitting up on the ground with his head clutched in one hand.

“What the fuck happened?”

That was Deku. Katsuki’s brain rebooted. “Deku?! Are you okay?! You can’t say stuff like that in front of a kid! Even I censor myself!” Katsuki berated Deku as he checked him for injuries frantically.

Deku batted his hands away half-heartedly. “I’m fucking fine, stupid Kacchan! Answer me! What the fuck happened?”

Katsuki huffed at Deku and his cheeks involuntarily puffed out, making him look like a chipmunk, when the woman interjected. “I’m sorry, sirs. Again, my child used their quirk on you. So you’ll have swapped personalities for 12-48 hours. Your feelings and choices won’t be affected, you’ll just show your feelings and enact your will a bit differently. You’ll both get the bad headaches again when the quirk wears off. Sorry for the inconvenience, but thank you for returning my child to me. It is deeply appreciated.” The woman smiled at the end and sent a fond look towards Kyo.

Katsuki opened his mouth to ask for her name, but Deku interrupted him. “Listen up, lady. We appreciate your concern, but we’re gonna need your name and number. We’re third year hero students at UA, so we need to hand that information to our homeroom teacher for reference. Just in case the quirk doesn’t wear off when you say it does or has any extraneous effects,” Deku gruffed at the woman, a scowl on his face and eyebrows downturned in slight annoyance. Then he turned his head to the side and grumbled, “We’re just doing our fucking job. You don’t need to thank us.”

The woman smiled, making it obvious she heard Deku’s final sentences. She then pulled a pen and a small notepad out of her purse, scribbled something on it, then ripped the page out and handed it to Katsuki, who was standing slightly closer to her. “Well then, thank you for your work. It is definitely appreciated.”

Deku scoffed at the woman, but Katsuki noticed that Deku’s ears were slowly flushing. This in turn made Katsuki himself blush because...those were his mannerisms. So he knew Deku was feeling pleased and embarrassed, even if he still looked standoffish. How could Deku still be a cute dumbass even with his own mannerisms?! It didn’t make sense to Katsuki, but his own flush was dying down now thankfully. Katsuki turned to the woman and held out his right hand for a shake. “Thank you for your compliance and continued support. It is appreciated.” As much as Katsuki didn’t especially like most adults, he appreciated the reasonable ones.

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

As Katsuki and Deku walked back to UA after stopping in at the agency, Katsuki thought about what had happened so far. Deku’s personality was noticeably different from his own, but Katsuki didn’t hate it. It made it easier to express what he was feeling in a healthy way. From his interactions with the woman and Kyo, he definitely seemed nicer. He was just doing what he would usually do, just in the way Deku would do it, but he felt like a completely different person. It was weird. But… “What the hell are you mumbling about, Bakacchan?!” Katsuki jolted as he was startled out of his thoughts.

”Oh...ummm...I guess I was just thinking about the effects of the quirk,” he responded, but Katsuki could once again feel his face flushing. Again with the stupid blush?!

Deku scoffs again and turns his head slightly away from Katsuki before replying. “Yeah. It’s pretty fucking annoying. I’m feeling the same shit I usually feel, but I just can’t express it the way I usually fucking do. Shit’s dumb as fuck.” Katsuki snorted at Deku’s language. To which Deku responded, “Hah?! You’re just gonna laugh at me, dumb Kacchan?!” Then muttered, “Dumb Bakagou.”

Katsuki devolved into full on laughter. “Deku! You...you...hahahahaha...you’re the one bad at expressing your emotions now!”

”HAAAAH?! Say that to my face, shitty nerd!” Katsuki started running down the sidewalk as Deku chased him. The streets filled with their combined laughter and shouting as they ran all the way back to UA.

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

Aizawa stared intently at them as Katsuki sat on a sofa in the teachers lounge next to Deku. Katsuki stared back at him, eyes wider than normal and face not in his usual scowl, while Deku was slouched next to him, dangerous green eyes flashing a glare at their homeroom teacher. Aizawa’s eyes narrowed and flashed red for a second before he rubbed the bridge of his nose and sighed heavily.

”Can’t you two problem children go a day without some sort of incident?”

Katsuki’s cheeks pinkened with embarrassment at the truth of that statement. While they didn’t often get into quirk accidents specifically, he and Deku could definitely be referred to as partners-in-crime. They’ve destroyed furniture during playful fights, accidentally hurt some of their classmates during a paired fighting exercise, and broken curfew together. And those are only the incidents from the past week! He was starting to realize how much more he got into trouble with Deku around, when said person nudged his arm and grumbled about him mumbling again.

Aizawa sighed again, heavier this time, and continued speaking. “Well, since this isn’t really impairing your judgement or ability to function, and since the quirk will wear off relatively quickly, you’re going to stay at UA for the duration of the effects. Your parents have been notified and have agreed to allow you to stay, but both your mothers requested that you call tonight and after the quirk wears off,” he ran a slightly annoyed hand through his hair, then continued, “This might be a lot to ask, but try not to cause too much commotion? I’ll see you both in class on Monday.” They took the dismissal and both stood to leave, but not without a grunt from Deku and a short “Thank you, sensei,” from Katsuki himself.

Deku pulled out his phone in the hallway, presumably to call his mother, when Katsuki placed a gentle hand on his arm to stop him. “Why don’t we both text our moms and do a group video chat?” Deku grunted in response, but his fingers began moving across his phone’s keyboard to text his mother the plan.

Katsuki pulled out his phone to text his mother, but then he heard Deku say, “Good plan, Kacchan,” in a low voice.

He fumbled his phone for a minute as his face flushed bright red. “Y-y-y-yeah...I-I-I just f-f-figured we could avoid a-a-a lot of the dramatics...and you know...they could see that we were f-f-fine for the-themselves,” he stuttered out. His hands involuntarily came up to cover his heavily flushed face, but the burden of his phone in his hand caused him to wrap his arms around his head and look away from Deku.

Deku scoffed, but grumbled out a “whatever,” and continued walking towards the dorms, but he now had a thoughtful expression on his face.

Katsuki panicked for a second. What was Deku thinking about?! Katsuki couldn’t help but worry that Deku would figure out his feelings if he kept being so obvious with his embarrassment. Deku was somewhat easier to read with their personalities swapped because he was using Katsuki’s mannerisms, so Katsuki could only assume that it worked both ways. Katsuki had just exhibited one of Deku’s flustered tendencies. One of his extremely obvious flustered tendencies. If he kept up this behavior, Katsuki could kiss the new, perfect normal that he had achieved with Deku (the perfect, partners-in-crime, ride-or-die, visit each other at 3am to talk about anything normal) goodbye. He couldn’t let that happen. He couldn’t...

”Kacchan!”

Katsuki looked up to see Deku down the hallway. Waiting for him. Katsuki blushed (again), and ran to catch up. He looked over at Deku and gave a small smile. Deku scowled and turned his head away. His ears were flushed again. They walked side-by-side silently as they made their way toward the dorms.

#fizzy's fics #Totally Normal #bakudeku personality swap au #bakudeku #bkdk #dynadeku #bakudeku fanfic #bkdk fic #soft bakugou katsuki #tsundere midoriya izuku #kind of

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girlpornparadise · 4 years ago

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Chances (pt1)

Pairing: Esteban/f!Reader (There is a New World Somewhere - Maurice Compte)

Word Count: ~1500

Smut warning: No smut yet, but it’ll get there.

Personal ramble: I know he’s a broken mess, but I love him so much. Thanks to everyone who watched my disaster angel with me over the weekend. This one’s for you hoes!

The GIF: For a computer expert and freelance writer, dude certainly types like an old lady. Seriously Esteban, how long does it take you to write an article? Get it together man!

He walked into your life because of your own stupidity. You've never been so grateful for your own incompetence.

He came highly recommended by your friend Laura. You texted her in a panic that day.

It's gone. IT'S ALL GONE!

Calm down, what's all gone?

The proposal, it's gone!

You'd been working on the project proposal for months now. Every waking minute you weren't at work teaching was consumed by this, your passion project. You'd been knocking this idea around your head for years, but the opportunity to realize it had only presented itself this year. You wanted to help low income families access school supplies, and having been the one to throw away a million promotional pens and obsolete notepads at the offices of large corporations as a temp, you finally could get a grant to set up a system to funnel those resources to your school.

But the proposal was due the following week, and it was now residing in a very expensive brick.

You look above your desk, past the broken laptop, at the sticky note that says "find a secure server to back up your work!" In your frenzied passion to finish the proposal, you hadn't done it. There were confidential documents involved so you couldn't store it just anywhere and they couldn't easily be replaced. So panic. All you could do was panic and wait for Laura to text back. Your phone vibrates.

Okay, I know a guy, let me make a call.

You dimly register that it sounds like you've put out a hit on someone and your amusement at the thought blunts your panic a little.

He can come over tonight, after 5, does that work?

You sigh relieved.

You're a lifesaver.

Sometime around 6 your doorbell rings.

"I'm Esteban, the computer guy." He clarifies in case you'd forgotten.

He's casually dressed and you're thankful he's not one of those "nerd herd" type guys they advertise on TV with the affected customer service mannerisms. Instead he has a genuine smile that helps you feel less stressed about your predicament.

You take a moment to regard him. His features are sharp but not overly so, still soft enough to fill his expression with a friendly demeanor. His brown hair is neatly cut and slightly wavy and looks soft enough to happily run your hands through. He's built, but not to the point of uncomfortably intimidating. And his deep brown eyes that have a keenness to them are softened by long lashes. Everything about him says he could be stern and tough, but chooses to be inviting. Especially to the ladies you figure.

You welcome him in and walk him over to your desk where everything is strewn about from your panic.

He regards it as though he's seen it many times before. You can't be the first panicked luddite he's helped.

"Have you tried turning it off and on again?" He asks with a smirk.

You shoot him a look that says I will remove one of your internal organs if you imply I'm that dumb again. You catch yourself doing it and with some effort force your expression to relax.

His eyebrows raise in surprise and defense, but return to normal as you relax.

You force a chuckling snort.

"Okay, let me get down to it." He says sitting down at your desk.

You offer him a drink and excuse yourself to the kitchen to get him a coffee, black no sugar.

When you return he has plugged in a thumb drive and is tapping away on a screen of grey text. You have no idea what he's doing, but he is doing it confidently and you feel hopeful.

Though he's somewhat concentrating, when he pauses to let the computer process and reboot he engages you in some light small talk. He seems like an interesting guy, who has moved easily and perhaps a bit carelessly from place to place and life to life. He likes music and travel and cars and all the standard stuff you'd expect from a handsome nomad, but his interests seem genuine and not some put on to impress you.

After the laptop reboots for the final time, he turns it to face you and there is the document you had open before this nightmare began.

"Is this it?" He asks, already knowing the answer.

"Oh my god you found it!" You leap up and yell excitedly. In the moment you hug him, and quickly realize you've done something inappropriate and retreat.

You can feel the heat rise in your face as you apologize.

He laughs, "It's fine."

You try to compose yourself again.

"So, and you don't have to answer this, but what was so important that it merits a hug?"

"Well, uh," You stumble.

"And remember, you have computer technician/client confidentiality." He winks.

Oh god. He winked at me. Your heart beats a little faster and your flusteration increases.

"Um it's…" Your mind is suddenly blank in the presence of his curious gaze.

"Don't worry about it, it's clearly important to you. You don't have to say. Most days I'm recovering family photos for grandmothers is all."

No wonder he winked at you, he's surrounded by geriatrics all day. Your heart sinks a little. But you press on.

"No, no, it's okay."

You launch into your explanation of your proposal and as you gain confidence you become progressively more animated. His relaxed posture betrays how intently he is listening. You're too excited to be concerned though. When you finish you realise you've been talking profusely and gesticulating like a mad woman.

You try to still yourself, but you still have a wide excited smile on your face. He's smiling back at you, taken in by your infectious energy.

"Wow, I'm glad I could contribute in some small way to such a noble cause." He's smiling but it isn't sarcastic, it's playful with an underpinning of genuine interest.

"Well, it's getting late, I should be going." He says excusing himself.

"Thank you, again. My hero." You smile.

He smiles back and it's bright and dazzling and charming and you feel something deep in your core, but try to ignore it as you close the door behind him.

***

The next day you wake up smiling because his smile still lingers in your memory as does the feeling of his warmth and the light scent of aftershave you caught when you hugged him by accident.

You realize it had been a long few months getting your project off the ground, and you admit to yourself that it had been overfocused and a bit lonely.

Your mind toys with the idea of having a handsome stranger come by on demand. You muse that maybe you could throw your modem off the balcony and give him a call.

After a quick shower and an equally quick breakfast you check your phone.

There's a text from Laura.

Are you around?

Yeah, why?

Esteban said he forgot his flash drive, he'll drop by in 20 if that's fine.

Wait, what?

Okay, sure. You type having no excuse not to.

You go over to your laptop, and see the drive still plugged into the side. You freak out a little trying to make yourself presentable as quickly as possible in case he's early.

As promised, he's knocking on your door 20 minutes later.

"Hi, sorry to drop by like this. I guess I was a little distracted last night."

"Oh, it's no problem." You say a little too quickly.

"Uh, so, can I come in and get it?" He asks, a little unsure of what's happening.

You realize you're blocking the entire doorway and haven't invited him in.

"Oh, sorry, of course, come on in." You fumble and get out of the way.

He strides over to your desk and you catch yourself noticing how he moves in his well fitting jeans. You think he might have caught you staring, so you try to distract him by offering him a coffee. "Black, no sugar, right?"

"You have a good memory."

You don't actually, but he made quite an impression.

You return a few minutes later with his coffee, and one of your own. He's made himself comfortable at your dining room table.

You talk about nothing in particular for a few minutes but he keeps inquiring about your project. He likes seeing you so passionate about something. You'd like to see him passionate about you.

Through the easy conversation, you find out he's a freelance writer as well as a computer wizard. It fits with his nomadic lifestyle you observe, and you admire his independent spirit. Eventually the conversation reaches a natural lull.

"You know, you didn't have to accidentally leave something here to see me again." You tease. You realize you've been too bold and immediately regret it.

He smiles. "I'm glad I did."

You melt.

"Maybe you should come over for dinner, say next Friday night? Unless of course there's an equally grateful granny who has already offered."

"That sounds good." He licks his lips ever so subtly and it sets your nerves to high alert. Then he pats down his pockets.

"Just making sure I didn't leave anything behind this time."

"Well, hopefully next time it'll be your underwear." Oh fuck. That was out loud. You slap your hand over your mouth as your eyes go wide and you turn crimson.

He just laughs and with a wink says "You assume I'm wearing any. See you next Friday."

#maurice compte #there is a new world somewhere #horacio carrillo x reader #ok but not #but this man deserves love too

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mythicaldemigoddess-of-deltarune · 4 years ago

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My Feelings About Bradford Buzzard And His Grandmother

First, If No One Has Seen The Last Episode of The Final Season of Ducktales Reboot with the Last Adventure, do not read this unless you seen that episode first.

okay here goes...

My feelings on Bradford's Grandmother, I don't like her.

she is the reason Bradford became the way he is in the first place.

plus whenever Bradford tried to reason with Scrooge, he got ignored, so of

course he had to use the papyrus to make Scrooge, Della and Donald forget he was ever there. even if he did transform into a monster,

it wouldn't be because he's evil. it would be from the negative emotions and the misinterpretation people have of him, so he isn't truly a villain, if anything he is a victim and that jerk of a Finch is the root of it all.

Even if she is Scrooge's hero, but even he would need to accept that she was a insensitive woman who caused a child trauma that led him to grow-up cold and truly alone.

Yes Bradford made mistakes, but he was blinded.

He tried to keep chaos from going out of control, even if it meant doing something that would hurt a family, which he shouldn't of did and that had crossed a line.

I don't believe that Bradford was truly evil, he was just a broken soul who wanted to stop dangerous adventures and possibly save those like him from suffering the same trauma he suffered since his childhood.

No one has to agree with me, but I just feel that most villains have good in them.

And most of their trauma and suffering are caused by the good guys or the main hero/heroine.

Plus No Hero or Heroine should be above the consequences of damaging someone else's life,

Either they be another hero or villain or a neutral party.

Scrooge wasn't truly at fault for what happen to Della, but if you think about it, it was 100% Della's.

She could of not stole the ship, but she did. and it because she chose to listen to the one who told her of the surprise, she could of chose to ignore it and act surprise later, and not cause her family to end up they it did.

Scrooge didn't mean for to become lost in space, but he isn't excused for some truly heartless things he has done in the past because of his greed before he found the true greatest treasure, which is his family.

He hurt Magica, and I believe the reason why they had that fight so long ago in the series, is because she wanted to get him back for what happen to her brother.

Even if Louie made a good point, that his villains/enemies, made him a better person.

That still doesn't excuse him for purposely not helping someone who asked for help, even saying they give him anything if he help them.

The pain that Scrooge felt when he lost Della, was perhaps the same feeling that Magica felt when she lost her brother and never saw him again.

I believe that the Phantom Blot, might really be Mr Vanderquack, Bentina Beakley's son-in-law,

Who is now a widow, who lost his wife and Bentina's biological granddaughter, before Webby came along.

But the biological granddaughter could of survived, while Edna Beakley-Vanderquack did not.

the reason why Blot wants to destroy all magic and Magica,

might have to do with the fact that he lost his wife Edna and his child.

If the incident happen before Webby was born, then I think Pepper might really be Bentina's Granddaughter.

But all that is just a theory. if the story picks up in a Darkwing Duck Reboot and reveals that the theory about Phantom Blot being Mr Vanderquack, the widow of Edna, and Pepper being his long-lost daughter is true....then I guess I would be surprised.

But yeah back to the whole Isabella Finch, she is truly not as great as everyone makes her.

She caused Bradford to become who he is, and she couldn't see the damage it would cause later in his life.

Plus I believe that there was a reason why we saw a clone of Bradford, the real Bradford might of known what would happen if he faced Scrooge, so he used that ray thing that makes someone smart or dumb,

Shot it at his clone that looked 100% like him, then sent the clone to deal with Scrooge, while the Real Bradford himself sneaked away unseen by both sides.

If that theory is true, then maybe it will show it in the reboot of Darkwing Duck.

I hope some of you understand my view on Bradford, at first when it was revealed he was a part of FOWL, I did thought he was a villain. but after the episode that first showed that papyrus, and even showing a bit more of his past...but perhaps not all of it.

I don't view Bradford as someone who is evil, just someone who is deeply hurt and tried to do good but ended up hurting others in his quest to achieve it.

Yes he did wrong in his life, and he was blinded by his ambition that cost him in the end.

And we should try to remember, he wouldn't be that way if it wasn't for that insensitive Isabella Finch.

Once more, no one has to agree with my feelings about it. but I still find that Finch is my least favorite character in the Ducktales 2017 Continuum.

one of the tags for this is “True Monster” and to me,

Isabella Finch was the true monster.

Bradford was her victim, and she couldn’t see that her adventures that she dragged him on, was making him unhappy and would place stress, trauma and fear in his life, and making him go down a dark path just to keep the whole world safe.

Bradford wasn’t even truly evil, just broken and emotionally hurt.

which Della, Beakley, Scrooge and the rest of the family and friends couldn’t open their hearts and eyes enough to see.

it is possible the only one who could see it, was Magica.

because the way she said that he wasn’t a villain.

I can’t agree with the actions of those who are suppose to be “Good”

but end up hurting those who are just hurt themselves.

Discord didn’t even get a proper punishment,

he, Celestia and Luna just made the three scapegoats of his actions, get turned to stone, and Star Butterfly despite the fact that her and her family have misused magic for who knows how long of generations,

she chooses to move the blame from her Mother,

to magic itself, who let me remind you everyone, is not truly at fault, but those like Star and her family who wield it.

and if you misuse that power, it is your fault, not the source of the realm your magic comes from.

at least Lena was able to do better than what Star did, I still love SVTFOE

(and still hope to get a complete dvd collection of SVTFOE someday.)

and the last episode was still good, but I can’t agree with placing blame on magic, when it was Moon who misused it and caused so many lives to be in danger, and even ended up with Quirky dying.

Steven Quartz Universe, he went through trauma in his life that caused him to end up the way he turned out in Steven Universe Future.

I for one, love both the first series, the movie and Steven Universe Future.

the Steven Universe Future brought out some truth of Steven, that some can relate to and understand but maybe not fully.

because of what was revealed in Steven Universe Future,

about Greg’s past, I see him as both a Good and yet Bad person.

same with how Rose was during her life, as both when she was Pink Diamond,

and then when she reformed as “Rose Quartz”, which I still think that would make her a Trans-Gem, like gems who are normally be made one way, might feel like they are either a Rose Quartz, a Ruby or even a Zircon.

but the episode where we learn a bit more of Greg’s past, like how he felt about his parents and how he viewed their rules and how it seem like a prison to him.

but he might of only seen what he wanted to see, he might not of got the full picture growing up, and I had theorized that one of his parents could of been sensitive to loud music/sound, it is possible that Greg couldn’t understand.

Steven had a right to be mad at Greg, and even disappointed in him too.

Greg had cheered him up, and even made him happy finding out about his father’s old home.

but Greg made his son go back down to his lows again.

it was good that it was revealed that Steven is getting the help he needs.

when he corrupted himself, it was good that no one tried to hurt him

but hugged him when he needed that emotional support.

the kind that shows that those who are his family and friends, are there for him and are sorry they couldn’t see how much pain he was going through.

at times when a character who is normally a villain, and shows no sign of goodness in them (unlike Chrysalis, Cozy Glow and Tirek showed when they bonded in one episode....who had shown a side of good that was in them.)

they can’t be saved...

I wont force others to agree on my view on all this, just try to respect that is how I see it.

not all villains are evil, some end up being Anti-Villains,

just as how some heroes who aren’t always good, end up as Anti-Heroes.

even if Isabella Finch was long gone in the world of Ducktales 2017,

but to me she was the root of Bradford’s suffering and trauma.

and that makes her the woman behind the man, and the true villain.

now I am gonna just go and sign off and have me time.

I might sign back on later or tomorrow, it depends.

and I really hope some of you will understand how I view Bradford,

yes at first I thought of him as a villain after it turned out he was FOWL.

but then after seeing the other sides of him, I can’t help but understand he was misunderstood and he only wanted to protect the world from danger.

(he just ended up going about it the wrong way, and went too far in the wrong ways to achieve that peace.)

and his grandmother Isabella, Ludwig, Scrooge, everyone, including the rest of FOWL, couldn’t see that.

I hope that at least such a thing gets resolved in a darkwing duck reboot.

and the Bradford we saw in the very end, turned out to be one of his clones.

because I believe that Bradford deserved better, he was not born that way, he was made that way because of his so called grandmother, who couldn’t see that she was making him unhappy and causing him trauma.

well thanks for listening, and once again no one has to agree about my feeling about Bradford or Isabella Finch,

or the whole theory about Phantom Blot being Bentina’s son-in-law,

who she thought died along with her daughter and granddaughter....

well the granddaughter she had before taking Webby in.

see ya later and keep safe everybody.

#ducktales 2017 #bradford buzzard #isabella finch #theories #true monster

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christinesficrecs · 5 years ago

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This trainwreck of a post is dedicated to oodball-faerietales for being a kind and generous soul. You are appreciated always. 💖

Every single one of these fics is a gift which I have opened multiple times and enjoyed them every time! I did not include any fics I’ve already mentioned this year and it was SUPER hard! But you can find more favorites here.

Wait by cutloosemcgoose | 23.4K | Explicit

Sitting on his couch, staring at the wall, it feels like Derek is watching his whole, miserable, lonely life flash before his eyes. He’s twenty four and he’s alone. No family, no friends, no real pack. He’s six days away from spending one of the most family-oriented holidays of the year trying to avoid any human interaction. If anyone could see him right now, they would tell him he looks pathetic. If Laura could see him right now, she would probably beat the crap of him and then tell him he’s a loser.

I am a HUGE fan of the woke up married trope but this fic is so much more than that!!! I should probably say that I wasn’t that impressed with the movie The Family Man but this AU is 20 times better!!! So even if you don’t care for Nick Cage or kid fics, this fic is still worth a read. Why you say?!?!! Stiles is THE perfect husband through and through. He is EVERYTHING Derek deserves and so much more! Also, I was just chatting up @dearericbittle about how much I love a great epilogue:

“Are you ready?”

“Jesus, Derek,” Stiles says, turning around so quickly that his foot catches on the rug and he almost goes flying. “You’re not supposed to see me before the wedding, it’s bad luck.”

Derek rolls his eyes at Stiles and they stare at each other for a second, wordless, before Stiles cracks up.

“Yeah, I know,” he says. Derek used to think that Stiles was mildly psychic, maybe an empath or something because of the spark, but he’s since realized that Stiles just knows him—knows all of them—so well that’s it scary and a little out-of-this-world.

“Are you ready?” he asks again. Stiles straightens the lapels of his tux, frowns down at it.

“I feel really silly wearing something so fancy to be married by an Elvis impersonator, I’d just like to say.”

“Write your congressman,” Derek advises. “Come on, we gotta go.”

Big Days by crazyassmurdererwall ( smartalli) | 9.6K

It’s an impulse really, inviting Derek to spend Thanksgiving with him and his dad. The Sheriff. Who once arrested him. It’ll be fine. Stiles is sure it’ll be fine.

This is pure gold. EVERY single thing about this fic is a gift!

“I might have invited someone to spend Thanksgiving with us.”

He lifts one eyebrow. “You might have?”

“Yeah, no. I absolutely did.”

He may as well own up to it. Besides he’s not sorry he did, he’s just sorry he has to have this decidedly awkward conversation.

“Okay…” John says slowly. “And do I know this person?”

“You do.” Stiles nods back, slowly. “Sort of.”

“Sort of.” His hand grasps the edge of the counter as he says, with a saintly patience born only out of years of being Stiles’ dad, “Does this person have a name?”

“They do.”

“Excellent. And their name would be…?”

Saturday Night At The Movies by aussiebee | 7.3K | Explicit

After running into Stiles at the late night movies, Derek realises just how badly Stiles is handling the post-nogitsune fallout. He knows the feeling.

Derek healing post-nogitsune Stiles with saturday night movie dates is perfect!

Derek didn’t see much of Stiles in the days after that, but it was hard to be disappointed about it when he drove past the café on Fourth St and saw Stiles and Scott sitting inside, talking over coffee, or when he came out of the bank diagonally opposite the sheriff’s station to see Stiles and his dad sitting on the bench beneath the tree outside of it eating lunch together, both of them looking lighter than they had in months.

But then Saturday arrived again, and Stiles was letting himself into the loft, settling in against Derek’s side in his customary spot, bogarting the remote. “Spaceballs is on in twenty minutes,” he said, smelling of nerves and hope.

“I’m so excited I couldn’t hold my oil,” Derek quoted, making Stiles chuckle, the sound light and at ease.

“May the Schwartz be with you,” he responded gravely, then leaned into Derek and snuggled up close when Derek lifted an arm to drape around his shoulders.

A Walk in the Clouds by Dexterous_Sinistrous | 13.9K

The one set during WWII where Stiles is a pregnant grad student and Derek is a PTSD riddled soldier, both of them looking for a better life.

I love crossovers and AUs. Jill did such a great job with this film reboot!!

Mieczysław couldn’t help the small smile on his lips. “You can call me Stiles,” he offered.

Derek sighed. “Stiles is certainly different than Mischief,” he stated.

“A nickname,” Stiles replied.

“Well, Stiles,” Derek started. “What if you brought home a husband?”

Stiles looked confused by Derek’s suggestion. “How could I do that? There is no one—”

“There’s me,” Derek replied.

“I— I couldn’t ask that of you,” Stiles began. “I already ruined your trip to San Francisco.”

“Maybe I was meant to be here,” Derek offered. “There seems to be a reason for me bumping into you on the train—exchanging our tickets. Getting kicked off the bus.”

“Those were all my fault,” Stiles dejectedly replied.

Derek shook his head. “Or it was fate knowing that you needed a husband for a day.”

Call Me (Cliché) by SomewheresSword | 84.6K | Mature

When the sheriff's sister ends up in a wheelchair for the duration of summer, Stiles' dreams of three months full of pack bonding, late-night video games and bro-time with Scott come crashing down. He's temporarily relocated to Redford, a three hour drive away, and he can already tell he won't be getting many visitors.

Sure the pack will forget about him while he's gone, Stiles is determined to make the most of his summer of isolation, training his body and mind - and his magic - so he can come back with a bang, and maybe catch a certain Sourwolf's eye.

Then Derek shows up at his window one night with a flimsy excuse about needing research done. Suddenly, his summer away is looking a whole lot more interesting.

When I was a young fangirl there was a series called Ever Fallen In Love With Someone. This is not that fic but the initial plot is similiar especially with the S2 vibe which gives me all the feels!

“So, there’s this guy,” he began, anxiously reaching for a cookie and nibbling at the edge. Hannah nodded in a wordless ‘go on’ motion. “He’s… older. Dad wouldn’t like it. Or him.” Very firmly didn’t like him, as a matter of fact. Hannah’s grin widened.

“Ooh, a bad boy?” Stiles nodded — that was a bit of an understatement. “Sexy. Tell me about him.”

“He’s got these really dumb, scowly eyebrows that are about ninety percent of his facial expressions and at least fifty percent of those expressions threaten murder,” he said, the words coming before he could think to stop himself. “But he’s such a marshmallow and he doesn’t seem to realise that I can’t take him seriously anymore because I know he’s got all of the emotions. He’s so damn overprotective and sweet and he pretends like he doesn’t care about anything but it’s all lies and I just wanna give him a hug so bad because I honestly don’t know the last time someone hugged him for real.”

Tell Me, So I Know by TroubleIWant | 7.4K | Mature

It took years for Derek to finally confront the way he felt about Stiles, and even after he figured it out he could only explain in Spanish. It took them two years more to get to where they were now. Only with neither of them quite willing to commit, where exactly is that, anyways?

Well, for Stiles it’s a deserted stretch of road behind the Hale house, half trapped in a car wreck after being abducted by hunters. Frankly, he could really use Derek’s help if he’s going to get out of this alive. Mates are supposed to be able to tell when the other is in pain, right? As Derek would probably say, 'querido, no.'

Or, a love story in two parts... and two languages.

I love everything about this fic. It’s hot and beautiful with mates and polyglot Derek. So perfect!

He trails off, knowing he can’t say amor in the next line without Stiles realizing exactly the sort of thing he’s being told.

“Holy hell,” Stiles rasps, his voice heavy with lust. Even in the low light Derek can see the pulse in his neck, the rabbit-fast tick confirming exactly how attractive Stiles finds his bilingual skills. “What was that?”

Derek shrugs. “Just something I memorized once. It reminds me of you.”

“What’s it mean?”

“It’s a parable about a sheep who pesters a wolf with too many questions and gets eaten for being so annoying.”

“Liar,” Stiles says with a smirk, but he leans back in his chair and doesn’t press the issue for the rest of the meal.

#sterek #fic rec #sterek fam #chris' favorite fics

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latin-dr-robotnik · 4 years ago

Note

Soooo, it looks like Zippo's leaks are false or contain mostly incorrect information according to Tyson Hesse (you can find post about it on Gaming Leaks and Rumors subreddit). What are your thoughts on the situation?

Hesse:

Me:

Seriously though, I never liked Zippo’s post and I can’t understand why there are so many people and so many Sonictubers in particular taking it like it was some sort of holy word, and that we’re now screwed because it could be fake.

Yeah, I know Hesse didn’t specify which “notable leakers” he was talking about, and that could include more than just Zippo’s leaks, like the supposed GamerGuyd sources talking shit about Zippo and defending Adventure Remake and Sonic: Rose; but let’s be real, I think this is mainly about Zippo.

And I find that to be a good thing. Did any of you guys really think we would be getting a Sonic Collection with shit like Sonic Advance, Sonic R or fucking Sonic Pocket Adventure of all things? That shit sounded fake since day 1, and that edit Zippo did after Colors Remastered was leaked, adding “oh yeah that’s something I’ve heard too” was the final nail in the coffin. Anon, you mentioned r/gamingleaksandrumours and I’m a regular there as well. You and I both know that when leaks try to pull something funny like that, 9 times out of 10 are fake (the other one is the leaker being fucking dumb or scared of giving away too much info and having lawyers up their ass.) To me that dumb edit killed whatever “credibility” Zippo had left, which was pretty little after the Adventure Remake fantasy story.

Also, at first Zippo said Sonic 1 and 2 would be included, but not the Taxman remasters... but now he says it’s actually the Taxman remasters? In any case, surprise surprise, we’ve been saying that shit every single damn year. In fact, we predicted those ports would be announced back in the 25th anniversary party, so, go figure.

And that’s my problem with the whole situation: Zippo speaks vaguely and incredibly broad, any of his predictions could become true in the next 5-10 years and that won’t mean he was right. This is particularly true about his “3D game prediction”; betting for Sonic, Tails, Knuckles and Shadow being “possible” playable characters is broad enough to be able to update and confirm/deconfirm names as something else leaks or the game gets revealed. And don’t get me started on the “it’s not a boost game, it’s a fully 3D one” claim, that’s the most vague thing you can say about the next game, do you have any idea how many 4chan “leaks” have said this in the past 4 years? Yeah. No one is going to claim otherwise unless it’s a clear troll or someone with very close sources (op sweet talking Iizuka every night) to confirm Sonic Team would be doing some shit like a 2D Boom game.

About Zippo’s 2D game prediction... yeah, no way in hell. There’s a lot of discussion in the fandom surrounding a new 2D game and what could Evening Star (ex-Mania devs new independent studio) be doing, and Zippo just goes and talks about a 2D Advance/Rush type of game, developed by “someone” (spoilers: Zippo does not know), and when he alluded to Dimps possibly being involved, Sonictubers went apeshit insane and Zippo had to come and edit that bit adding “guys, I have no clue who’s developing it, chill.” Way to go, “leaker”.

You know what kind of leak had the cojones to bet on things and not be too vague about it? Codename Sonic: Rose - the first one, not the two follow-ups that are most likely fake (I came to this realization very recently, which also means the name “Sonic Unlimited” is fake, the only codename mentioned by the first post was Rose). Even if it turns out being a fake as well, at least that 4chan post went ahead and called shit like VA re-cast, Pontaff leaving, the new series writers probably involved (may I remind everyone a friend of mine went ahead and asked, and one of the Sonic Prime writers could not confirm he was involved with something else or not) and the new game being a soft-reboot leading into Prime’s plot (let us remember the first Rose post is from the 18th of January, Prime wasn’t fully revealed, apart from the December leak, until February.) I repeat - if that post is fake, it’s a damn good fake, because so far it’s been pretty spot-on with things currently happening, there’s a chance we could be headed into another change of direction for the series starting next year, and that post was there to call it.

Anyway, sorry for the extended rant, I’ve been building up all of this since February, and even my own Spanish Discord server is tired of me saying this, they won’t listen to me when I start talking about leaks and rumors anymore lol Zippo’s track record is hit or miss, and I wouldn’t be surprised if his post gets one hit out of all misses, considering he tried to cover up so many bases; but once again, you’re allowed to believe in whatever leak you want to believe in, but always take things with a grain of salt.

What do I personally think/want of the 30th anniversary?

Boost Ultimate Collection - not just Colors Ultimate, but Unleashed Ultimate, Generations Ultimate.

Sonic 3D game, either in late 2021 or 1st half 2022, just in time for the series and/or the movie. Personal bet: Codename Sonic Rose.

If we’re super lucky, maybe a 2D Evening Star game. the always rumored “Mania 2 but not really because it’s something completely original and different” (I don’t have much hopes for this one though, I have this feeling that, if Evening Star is working with SEGA at all, they could be more of a support studio to Sonic Team or do stuff like ports.)

Sonic 1 & 2 (2013) being a card in the deck like every single year.

Do I have any basis to support these claims? Nope, not at all. But I know I have some blind faith in this lineup and I have no trouble sharing it loud and clear until we get official news.

#ask latin dr robotnik #sonic the hedgehog #sonic 30th

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dorkycreature-89 · 3 years ago

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alright. some fun facts

Dorky played 2 sports. Football because her parents were pressuring her to get in to sports and she was in a roller derby team to get over breaking up with jack. I didn't know how i was gonna execute it, so might as well tell y'all The queen MV went through some drastic changes. My first idea would be everyone going after D. My second idea would just be accurate beating dorky to a pulp. I didn't know how i was going to execute both of those ideas so i went with the nuclear option. Have dorky nearly die instead =) Ashley was originally going to be a blond. I didn't liked how she looked so i changed it. Thirty in a suit was completely unintentional. I was just gonna have him in a jacket. But i really liked how he looked in the suit. I actually had no idea what funfox looked like before playing five ventures, so i just imagined a funtime foxy recolor. I will never get over that TwT Some of y'all might remember this but to those who don't know, i actually planned eighty to fall in love with accurate. I thought it was a dumb idea so i scraped it. Ashley and Jack were planned to be partners and that would've made dorky jealous.............do you know how dumb that sounds? 7-7

I actually plan to make each of the gangs birthdays fnw39 game dates. Thirty, plushie and accurate birthdays being on February 12. If i could remember the date of five ventures, that will be bloo's birthday. And the other games have yet to come out. and that's about it for now. thank you for coming to my ted talk UwU

edit: okay so it turns out i actually have some more facts sooooooo ._. When i say eighty's voice was a nightmare to find, i REALLY mean it was a nightmare. First, i said rouge, then i said garnet and then i said angelica (from fuckin hamilton). Thankfully, i finally found it but it's only a matter of time until i change my mind again.

So y'all remember my experiment on me mv right? Well, near the end of it (when z's accurate was behind a tree) y'all probably thought he was singing along to the lyrics, didn't you? Well guess what: THAT WAS A FUCKING MISTAKE! HE WAS SUPPOSED TO BE PANTING AND THEN SIGHING! WHY DID I FUCK UP ON THAT PART?! 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

Dorky was actually supposed to be my persona but someone mistaked her for being my oc and i was too shy to correct them. So then i realized that she was more of a self-insert rather than a persona.

I was pretty on and off of introducing cheryl to the timeline. I was really worried that i wouldn't like her as much.

Eighty was supposed to be a fnaf oc. Let that sink in

Speaking of eighty, i actually planned for her to have hate sex with thirty??? what the f-

I actually had plans on making thirty, bloo and dorky in a poly relationship. Sadly, i gave up on the idea 😔

I'm still wondering if should go back to the backstory i gave up on dorky. Y'know, THE ONE WHERE JACK CAUSES DORKY TO GET PREGNANT. BY FORCE.

Speaking of that deleted backstory, those two actually just decided to bonk..........without protection. It would've echoed the theme i was doing at the time: dumb teens make dumb decisions.

I'm planning on making the off-brand heathers birthdays the dates of each heathers media. Ashley's will be on the original film's date, Carol's will be on the musical's date and Jazmine's will be on the terrible tv show reboot's date. (*COUGHCOUGH*IWILLNEVERFORGIVEYOU*COUGHCOUGH*)

#fnw39 #timeline #fun facts

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kibybun · 4 years ago

Text

The Feeling is Mutual

Yandere Hawks x Yandere + Tsundere reader

Tw: yandere, obsession, stalking, cussing, violence, murder

Enjoy!

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

You were currently running for your life. Why? Because you're a badass. But really, a sleazy pervert thought he had the right to touch you. Too bad, you punch quite hard.

"Get back here you little bitch!" The pervert was definitely strong due to his muscular build but you were definitely fast.

Thundering footsteps take the quiet alley by storm as you start to pull ahead of him.

"Go suck a dick, you bag of cat piss!" You look back to mock him but your feet disapprove. Your face scrapes against the lose gravel along with your hands and knees. "Fuck...."

"Wanna repeat yourself?" He comes to a stop at your side, bends down, and yanks you up by your hair.

"You disgusting bag of cat piss!" Once again you're too cocky for your own good. You spit in his face and he throws you against the wall.

"Little bitch!" He wipes his face before grabbing your throat, pinning you to the wall, and raising his fist.

"Do it, you bag of cat piss!"

His face fumes red as he tries to hit you, only to be stopped by vivid red feathers.

"What the hell?" His grip on you loosens so you take the opportunity to kick him in his precious no-no square. He collapses in pain and grovels on the ground.

"Hehe do I get a thanks for saving that pretty face of yours?" You instantly feel your blood boil but as you look at your "savior" the only thing you feel heat up are your cheeks.

His whole appearance was absolutely delicious but what caught you most was how god damn beautiful his wings are.

"Hehe what's wrong, like what you see?" This over grow chicken then takes it upon himself to flex his arms and wings.

You scoff. "Nope." 'What. The. Fuck. What's wrong with you me!?!' You turn to hide your blushing face to help imply your unimpressed demeanor.

"Owwww you wound me! Anyway why were you running from that guy, doll?" You choke on the air, trying to register the pet name he gave you.

"Pfft doll? Try coming up with something more original, stranger." As you make your witty remark, both of you fail to notice the pervert silently escaping. It wasnt like he mattered anyway.

"Fair point, angel. Name's Hawks." He holds out a hand for you to shake. Somehow this name was even more cheesy but you loved it.

"As if that's better..." 'Shut the hell up with your sass!'

You go to shake Hawks' hand but before you can grab his, he grabs yours. He swiftly but gently pulls your hand to his lips to place a kiss atop of it. You snatched your hand away at mock speed.

Embarrassed and flustered to manage to stutter out, "H-hey! That's disgusting! I still have no idea who the hell you are!" But you loved it oh so much.

He merely laughs. "Well you can trust me, plus I dont know who you are so, what's your name?"

"What do you mean 'you can trust me'?"

"Awe, ignoring my question? Anyway what I mean by that is I'm pretty trustworthy. Being number 2. hero and all." Hawks leisurely puts his hands behind his head.

All you felt was utter shock. Not only did the number 2. hero come and "rescue" you but he has been FLIRTING with you.

"So? I still dont know who you are." 'Oh my god, you absolute idiot you have no hope.' But he just laughs it off.

"Still a valid point so let's make a deal. I give you my first name and you give me yours plus your number." You have to stop yourself from gagging at how adorable and cheesy that was.

You give him a deer in the headlights look.

"Oh c'mon! I'm basically putting my whole identity on the line and all I'm asking is for your digits plus a name."

"But why?" 'Stop questioning it and take it!'

"Why not?" You give a final scoff before mumbling something. "Can you repeat that a little louder angel?"

"(y/n)."

"(y/n). (y/n).(y/n).(y/n).(y/n).(y/n).(y/n).(y/n).(y/n)."

"What the hell are you doing? Stop saying my name." 'No, please keep saying it.'

"I'm saying it eight times so I never forget it. Cuz, ya know, eight on its side is the infinity symbol." He smiles the most innocent and pure smile anyone could make.

Your heart squeezes as you cant handle this. "That's dumb..."

"Maybe but you still need to give me your number."

"Name first."

"Ooo assertive, I like!" He steps closer causing you to step back.

'Please come closer.'

Very quickly your back hits the wall and Hawks brings his face dangerously close to your ear.

"Keigo." His voice was deep and had the effect of honey in your ear. It happened slowly leaving the sound stuck in your ear yet still traveling through your body.

As quickly as it happened, Keigo had pulled away and passed you his phone.

"Keep my name a secret, 'kay?" He smiles and winks only causeing you to function less and less.

"Whatever..." You put in your number and name, passing the phone back to Keigo.

"Thanks angel! I'd love to text you right away but I'm still on patrol so be sure to look out for my text later!" He swoops up your hand again to give it another kiss before flying off.

"Hey!" His response was laughter. As you begin to walk back towards your destination your face cools and you hold your hand close.

'He's suck a dummy but he's my dummy.'

Around 6:30 pm you receive a text from an unknown number.

'Hey angel.'

'Hey over grown chicken.' "Why the hell are you being so mean?!"

'lol are you calling me big?'

'Nope, tiny with succulent wings.'

'So you're only using me for my wings?! 😭'

'Yup!'

'Daw you dont need to lie to me angel.'

'But lying is so fun~'

'So you were lying!'

'....shit.'

'Ha! I knew I was irresistible.'

'Irresistible to carnivores.'

'You're an omnivore.'

'I have amazing self control.'

'Oh? prove it.'

'Pfft how?"

You leave the kitchen with your snack and plop on your bed. You were too engrossed in your conversation with Keigo that you didnt notice him peering through your window.

He simply adored how you try to contain how happy you become when you get a message from him.

Now was the test to see if you truely had amazing self control. Your phone buzzes and you quickly switch to your messages only to nearly die.

Inches from your face was the sexiest abb picture you've ever seen. His body was so well toned and to add to the picture his wings make up most of the background with very little blue sky poking through.

You were too distracted oogling and drooling over a simple picture it took a moment before you noticed his next texts.

'How's that self control treating ya?'

'I bet you're drooling over me.'

You pout, send a reply, and set your phone down.

'I think I'm a vegan now.'

After a second Keigo can notice the panic on your face as a faint "was that too mean?" was heard.

'Then I guess I'm the forbidden fruit.'

You bite your lip as you switch over to social media. Before your little banter started you were stalking his accounts. You didnt follow him or like any of his posts so he wouldnt be given that satisfaction but you truely did like them.

The only thing you disliked was how there were other girls who thought they could ever get with YOUR Hawks. He asked YOUR number and gave YOU his name. Clearly he was yours.

'Hey, you still there?'

'I like forbiden fruit. I have to shower. I'll text you in the morning, sweet dreams❤'

Keigo's heart flutters at the simple message. He flies home to shower as well.

While in the shower you slowly think of ways to eliminate the girls who think they can look at your Darling.

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

Two weeks have passed and have you been a little busy bee. You had to work to sustain life but you made it to every event your beloved was at. You made it to every meet and greet, interview, photoshoot, villain attack, his window at night. It really helped that you have a stealth quirk, so that way you wont be entirely in debt!

It wasnt like Keigo to not notice he was being followed, he knew exactly what you were doing, but he felt too endeared that his angel was watching out for him. He was also quite impressed on how you were able to sneak into his interviews and photoshoots.

Keigo felt guilty not being able to give you the attention you deserve but he tries to make up for it by watching you on his patrols and after you leave his house to go to sleep.

Tonight was no different as Keigo was perched on your apartment balcony. You liked to sleep with the curtains drawn back so you can see the stars but you always forgot to lock that door. Did you ever lock it?

Keigo silently fusses over how dangerous that is as he opens the door and kneels down at the side of your bed. His left hand holds on of yours as his right cups your face.

He was addicted to watching your sleeping face. So innocent. Plus he got a break from your adorable tsundere additude. Dont get him wrong, he loved it just he desires affection too.

He slowly retracts his hands to pull out his phone to take a picture. He probably had hundreds of pictures of your sleeping face but he needed to document everything. Tonight you must be having a bad dream, evident by the fact your eyebrows were scrunched and you sticking your tongue out ever so slightly.

"You need to stop being so adorable angel." He takes his pictures and kisses you forehead.

He wanted nothing more than to cuddle you but he had an extra early patrol. He slides the door to your balcony closed and flies off.

When you wake up with your mouth dryer than a desert. "Blah..." You grab your phone and text Keigo.

'Goodmorning early bird.'

You knew he'd be awake. You had memorized his schedule. Today after patrol he had a meet and greet then a photoshoot.

'Morning beautiful.'

You truely cant help smiling and blushing at all the cute things he says to you.

'How'd you sleep?'

'What's this? Concern????'

You roll your eyes at his teasing continue to eat your breakfast.

'Keep teasing me and it wont happen again.'

'lol sorry angel, I slept ok but it would've been better with you~'

Did he just say that? Oh my god he just said that.

(y/n). exe has stopped working. As your brain starts to reboot, your phone pings.

'How'd you sleep?'

The witty comments part of your brain was still rebooting, preventing the tsundere in you to actually work.

'Maybe if we spent the night together we'd sleep better.'

Now this caught Keigo off guard. He expected to be called a pervert or weirdo. Not for you to agree.

'Do you maybe wanna watch a movie tonight?'

He gotta shoot his shot sometime. Why not now?

Your brain could not comprehend what was happening. Were you dreaming? No, your sure you're awake. Was he joking? No, he didn't seem like the type to jokingly ask that. Maybe the world was just rewarding you for being so dedicated and loyal. That's probably it.

'Where and when?'

Keigo does a few flips in the sky to try and ease his excitement. Too bad that fails. "Its a date!"

'6 @ my place?'

'You better pick me up on time and have dinner prepared.'

'Anything for you angel!'

"Oh my fucking god it's a date." You jump up and down excited, running to your closet to pick out your outfit.

Since it wasnt a fancy restaurant or anything you decide to go more casual. A cute sundress maybe? Either way you put on your outfit and head out the door to go to your darling's meet and greet. It wasnt too far from your apartment so you were able to take a leisurely stroll there.

As you arrive you see the big crowd already forming. You didnt want to get your outfit dirty so you decide to stay more towards the back. A peppy blonde girl pushes you slightly to the side.

"Bitch.." you mumbled under your breath.

"Uh what did you just say?"

Not wanting to embarrass Keigo or have him have to separate a girl fight you decide to step down. "Nothing."

"Good choice bitch."

As the two of you reach the middle of the crowd, the girl takes out her phone. It was hard not to ease drop when she is purposely talking in your ear.

"Hawks is so hot. I bet he has a big dick too. Maybe after this he'll let me take some of that stress off of him~!" She puffs her chest out trying to get a reaction from you.

On the outside you're calm and collected but inside all hell was breaking lose. You wanted to snap her neck, pull out her fingernails, and slice off her tits.

Seeing as you're unfazed she continues. "I bet he'd be screaming how good I make him feel. He'd ask for my number and I'd break his heart. He is just a hunky of meat after all."

That's it.

You activate your stealth quirk and she questions where you went. You pull out a knife you always have on you, just in case, and glide it against her throat in a swift but silent manner. She collapses to the ground and a shrill scream sounds, alerting everyone near.

Before you run, you look at Keigo. His eyes meet yours. You know he can see you even if you were invisible. You know he knows you just killed her. His face holds disbelief but his eyes shimmer and smile for him.

You run from the crime scene and wash the blood from your hands.

Six o-clock slowly arrives and there was a knock on your door. You know its Keigo but you dont know how he found your adress. Opening the door you see him smiling so brightly.

"My little angel shed her white wings!" He traps you in a hug. You gladly hug him back.

"You're not mad?"

"Of course not! You did it for me didnt you?" You look up at him and nod. "Then its perfectly fine." He smiles at you before picking you up bridal style and closing your door.

"We better hurry, dinner is getting cold."

Loosely based on my Stalker x Stalker headcanons! Thank you so much for reading, have an amazing day!

Kiby~💚

#keigo tamaki #my hero academia keigo takami #bnha #bnha hawks #yandere x yandere #yandere x reader #yandere #yandere hawks

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whispersafterdusk · 4 years ago

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Lost in Time - ch 17

"How's that?"

Stewart vibrated as his back and facial panels slid back into place; his metallic body buzzed loudly against the table he was sitting on, and the noise made Petra and Merlin both jump. Eli started returning various tools and spools of wire to the toolbox she'd borrowed from Selene (a second, different set of borrowed tools - that woman had no shortage of miscellaneous tools, materials, and doodads sitting around) and then waited for Stewart's systems to reboot.

A flurry of images and briefly flashing text projected out in front of the AI's "face" as he came back online then his usual polite, smiling expression was staring them down as he stood up. "I do not detect anything out of place. Who would you like me to test this on?"

"Arlo. He's up top waiting."

Stewart's face blanked for a brief instant before being replaced with a stylized speaker icon. "Hello Arlo. Are you able to hear me?" ((Continued below cut))

There was a pause, then sounding out from somewhere near Stewart's shoulder came "I hear you, Stewart. I'm not hearing any static or interference either - you're nice and clear."

"Good. Ending transmission." Stewart's face came back and he gave Eli a nod. "It would seem you've successfully patched me into your Hi-Def's network."

"Good to hear. That was easier than expected." Eli flipped the toolbox closed and turned to Merlin and Petra. "And thanks for the extra hands."

"Not a problem. It was quite educational to watch someone who is knowledgeable about the inner workings of an AI work," Petra replied with a smile.

Merlin nodded at her. "Indeed. When we first obtained Wendy we didn't feel confident to examine her components too closely -- we simply patched in her new power supply and that was it. Having now seen Stewart's inner parts I feel much more at ease with the thought of potential future repairs."

"Here's to hoping it'll be well in the future before anything gives out," Eli replied. She glanced to her Hi-Def - it was just past noon. "I'm going to go check in with Selene, then I have a training session with Arlo and I might also be checking in with Martha this evening. If you guys need anything I SHOULD, assuming nothing goes wrong, be either at the Civil Corps building, Martha's, or out in the fields near Selene's place."

Petra nodded and took one of the toolboxes from the table. "We planned on checking on some of the plumbing down here, which shouldn't be more than we can handle."

With a wave over her shoulder Eli left and began to trek to the elevator; Selene was down in Stewart's room, inside Stewart's docking station. There was a hatch-style door in the floor that supposedly led down to the final sub-level that held Stewart's severs and, since Stewart was unable to release the locks for it, they were having to painstakingly cut their way through the thick steel.

They'd managed to weasel out a bit more information on what Stewart claimed was the absolute, last, bottom floor to this place: it had been a late addition to the facility - added nearly nine months after the rest of the place had been constructed. It was built by tunneling underwater from the nearby river (a river that she remembered well but it didn't exist anymore) and had been used as a sort of secretive, non-disruptive way to move equipment and people in and out of the facility. By Stewart's explanation it was quicker and more efficient; it seemed to make perfect sense to the AI but with Eli it didn't sit well with her since he'd seemed to imply that the majority of people working within this facility hadn't even been told it was there.

At the very least, since the river was gone (there's no way the marsh could be THIS deep) and Stewart showed no signs of damage anywhere in his connection to his servers, Eli was fairly confident that it'd be an easy job to get his server banks out of there once they managed to get to them -- no water meant no current flooding and no apparent damage likely meant no previous flooding had happened either.

Though, to think that the river that provided all of Dubei with water was-

Don't think about it.

It was a bit of a walk to get down to Stewart's room; when she entered through the glass doors she could already smell the metallic tang of burnt metal, and could just barely make out the flicker of flame within the pillar that housed Stewart's docking station.

"How's it going?" she called. There wasn't an immediate answer but the flicker went out; she reached the pillar and bent to peer around the corner. "Selene?"

"Yeah, it's going," came the woman's disgruntled response. The builder was kneeling on the floor with a cutting torch in hand, and there was a pile of what looked like severed bolt heads sitting on the ground next to her knees. "Stupid dumb door and its stupid dumb lock."

Eli laughed quietly; Selene flipped up the heavy welding facemask she was wearing and shifted to look up at her.

"Just a few more bolts to get out and then I can flip the top half of this hatch back and get inside at the lock," Selene continued. "I have no idea what you all used to tighten these damn things but they may as well be cemented in place."

"AIs with impact wrenches, probably. And a lack of lubrication over the centuries is likely why they're basically bonded to the hatch now."

Selene blew out a sigh that quickly turned into a raspberry. "Pain in my butt. Anyway, it'll probably be another day before I punch through the top, and then no idea how long it'll take to get the lock to release or cut through it."

Straightening with a nod Eli glanced back toward the door; she thought she'd heard footsteps and would rather not get cornered in a room with the scholars. "If you need any help let me know."

"Will do - though at the moment there's not much anyone can do to help. Not enough room in here for too many people and I only have this one torch that's strong enough besides."

"Want me to stand here with a palm leaf and fan you?"

Selene snorted and flashed her a brief smile before flipping her mask back down. "Talk to me in another hour or two and I might take you up on that. It stinks in here."

"I'll ask Stewart and see if he can up fan speed in this room to get some higher airflow temporarily - see if that helps with the smell any."

"Thanks Eli."

She left the builder woman to her work and made the long trek back to the surface; Arlo was sitting at the (currently extinguished) firepit, with Asher and Mali. The three of them looked up as she walked over.

"Arlo was telling me you had a busy afternoon but when you have some time I'd like to speak to you about some security methods I think we could try," was Mali's greeting when Eli was close enough.

"Sure thing." She glanced between the three of them; Adam was likely still asleep since he'd taken the overnight shift. "Any particular reason or are we just throwing things at the wall to see what sticks?"

"Seeing what sticks," Mali answered. "Still no sign of our guest - they're either gone or not falling for the plan."

"Or being overly cautious since whoever it is knows at least one of us is armed," Eli said after a pause, gesturing toward her waist. Currently the gun was holstered at the small of her back but it was clear what she was referring to.

Speaking of guns Selene had recently shown her some blueprints of rifles that her little factory could make -- assuming that Selene could get the needed materials. It was mostly a metal-and-springs issue, something that Selene assured her could all be gathered in the ruins around Portia. It was on Eli's To Do list...she might not be able to quick draw a rifle like she could the revolver but her accuracy at long distances would go up dramatically.

"Wish they'd just get it over with - either make it clear they've left or let us catch them," Asher grumbled. "Hate feeling like something is watching me."

Eli shrugged. "It'll sort itself out one way or the other." She looked to Arlo. "Ready?" He nodded and got up off the stump he was using as a seat; she turned around and took a few steps then stopped. "Oh, right-" She tapped a pair of fingers to her Hi-Def's screen. "Call user: Stewart."

The screen highlighted Stewart's name, then a moment later enlarged the text so that his name was all that showed on the screen. After a few seconds the screen took on a green tint. "-hey, Stewart?"

"How may I assist you, Eli?"

"Selene's still down in your station and the smell is starting to get to her. Could you adjust the air circulation for that room only?"

"I can, yes, but instead it may be more efficient to adjust my station's circulation."

"Whichever will help with the metal fumes. Might even cool that area down some."

"I shall do so then. Anything else?"

"That's it, thanks." She palmed over the screen to end the call and put the Hi-Def back on stand by then glanced over her shoulder at Arlo. "Right, ok. NOW I'm ready."

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

"Hello!"

The cheerful call came from the direction of the door; Xu couldn't actually see the door from where he was bent over organizing a drawer in his desk but he recognized the voice easily enough.

"Good afternoon Lily. I haven't seen you in awhile."

There was the sound of footsteps approaching and by the time he straightened the girl was standing at his desk smiling politely.

"Oh I know. I went home for a week to catch up with my mom. Is Harrison not working today?"

"I'm afraid I sent him on an errand right before you arrived so he'll be gone at least a half hour, if not longer."

Lily nodded, scrunching up her lips and nose for a moment. "Well! That's ok. I'll see him eventually. I actually wanted to ask YOU something too."

"Oh?" Xu bent again to quickly push the drawer shut; it wasn't a pressing matter to get the new patient files in alphabetical order right this instant, after all. "Are you feeling ill?"

"No no, nothing like that," Lily said with a wave of her hand. "Harrison told me how you had a machine that changed hair color and I was wondering how it worked and how much it'd cost."

"Ah, yes," Xu replied with a chuckle. He gestured over at the Uplifter and Lily followed the gesture with her eyes. "That's the machine there and, from what I understand, it interacts on a molecular level to temporarily instruct your body to use an injected dye rather than your naturally made melanin to color your hair. It also adjusts the melanin already present so that the hair you already have matches the color that will be growing out of your scalp. It IS, as I said, a temporary measure however and will only last three or four months. I am uncertain about the long-term effects of this procedure however so I would caution you to think it over."

Lily hummed and rocked back and forth, staring at the machine. "Has anyone tried it yet?"

"A few people. So far they've not reported any issues though they would be beyond the time period that the procedure would still be working...at that point I imagine it would be no different than having applied a dye directly to your hair -- your natural hair color would be returning."

"Cool..." she sighed. She continued to stare the machine down for a moment before looking back to him. "What colors can it do? Can it do purple?"

"Well..." he started. "I believe so. I know it can handle the full spectrum of what one would consider natural colors. I would need to find the manual for it to provide a full list of examples."

Lily blinked at him. "Manual? Like an instruction book?"

Xu nodded. "Indeed. My assistant recently moved into her own practice so we had to separate out our belongings, so to speak. The manual has been misplaced but I'm certain we'll find it once she's fully unpacked. I would need it to know what settings to use to get the intended color."

"Ah... Ok! I'll just have to wait to see if the book turns up then. I had another question too -- Harrison said it could...alter faces?"

"Yes," Xu said slowly. "Based on the information we found with it this machine was originally a gift to a woman who was known to be very beautiful. The face-altering function seems to have been aimed at allowing her to look young and lovely, no matter how much she aged."

Lily wrinkled her nose. "That sounds weird. All that effort to not even look different... Is it permanent?"

"I can't see how it would ever revert as its a surgical process. Thus far I've managed to turn it into a medical procedure to help those with facial wounds."

She nodded. "I think he said something about cleft lips. THAT sounds way more useful than...the other thing. How does THAT work, anyway?"

"Well..." Xu said, scratching at the top of his head; he glanced to the Uplifter, wishing more than ever that the manual hadn't gone missing. "There's terminology in that particular part of the manual that I still don't fully understand but based on my best guess, the machine scans your face, saves a picture of it within itself, and then somehow makes a two-dimensional image into a three-dimensional one and fills in any imperfections or removes any blemishes, then somehow recreates that corrected image from your own flesh and blood. You do have control over what it will or won't do, mind you, but a lot of it is...how was it worded... "artificial intelligence-guided algorithmic corrections."

He looked back to her and saw the utterly blank look on her face and smiled. "Believe me, I felt just as you look right now when I read that part."

"I haven't the faintest clue what any of that meant but at least it can still help people," Lily said after a pause. She then straightened her back and gave him a smile. "I'll be back later if I don't see Harrison before then -- and DEFINITELY will be back for my purple hair!"

Xu smiled and waved as she bounced toward the door. "Have a good afternoon, Lily."

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

"-and Carol said your fabric was on back order," Harrison said. "She's hoping it'll be in next Tuesday with the rest of her missing order."

"At least we're not in any danger of running out of bandages before then," Xu replied.

Harrison waited for Xu to take the last few bottles out of the basket before he returned the basket to its place inside a cabinet. Most of the supplies Xu had ordered had come through - empty glass bottles for storing liquids, small sealable pots for salves and lotions, tongue depressors, cotton-tipped swab sticks. He'd also ordered a large roll of plain cotton fabric to cut and fashion into bandages; there was a woman here in town named Carol who tended to order fabrics in bulk so Xu always put in his order with hers to save them both on shipping costs but apparently her entire order had been held up somewhere.

"Did you happen to run into Lily on your way back?"

Harrison spun around to face Xu. "What? No, I didn't. She's back?"

Xu chuckled at him. "She is. She came in asking after you, and also after hair color. I certainly hope Phyllis finds that manual among her things... I still can't see how it got misplaced, I'm so certain I always return it to same place each time."

"Yeah..." Harrison hummed - he had only half heard Xu; the bulk of his brain was celebrating the fact that Lily had come back like she said she would. "Did she mention if she'd come back here, later?"

"Yes," Xu laughed. "Go on - go find her then. You've already completed today's lesson AND the errand I needed you to take care of so I don't have anything else that was planned for the day."

Harrison stood, unable to keep a grin from his face. "Thanks, doctor!"

He grabbed his jacket and hurried out the door; where would Lily have gone... Maybe the town hall? She would need to rent another room at the Happy Apartments while she was here. But maybe she'd already done that...well. He had to start SOMEWHERE. He hurried down the hill with his jacket flapping over his arm, scanning around him as he went; she wasn't at town hall, and she wasn't at the Round Table. Portia wasn't a large place but it would still be pretty easy to miss her if he just ran around like a madman.

He hurried down to the central plaza - it was large and open and if she was there she'd be easy to spot... And it didn't appear she was here either. Oh well. From the plaza there was a set of stairs that led up to the hill that the clinic and Civil Corps building was perched on; Harrison hated climbing these particular stairs but from here it'd be quicker than walking all the way around to go up the hill near the cemetary. With a huff he started his jog up, and was puffing and out of breath by the time he reached the top.

But, he did spy a familiar figure approaching the clinic from the other direction.

"Lily!"

She looked up at his shout and then waved happily at him.

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

"He's been reading more now than he ever has..." Martha murmured, glancing toward a door behind her that Eli assumed led to Toby's room. "It's honestly shocking. He never was one to take to homework."

Eli smiled and helped herself to another slice of the raisin bread that was on the table between the two of them. "Well, he's technically doing homework he wants to do now so I guess that's the difference."

Martha smiled and took another piece of bread herself. "It's such a relief, even if it does mean that he's thrown himself at the...at the adventurer's path." Her smile faltered a moment and she limply dropped the bread onto the little saucer in front of her. "I can't bear the thought of losing him like I did his father."

"I'll do my best to make sure that doesn't have a high chance of happening. I can't promise it never will though," Eli added after a moment. "He is, however, doing well and actually focusing on the lessons I'm giving him. I thought all the bookwork would bore him but...well, it's not. Which I find surprising for someone his age."

Martha nodded; she seemed to force herself to take a bite of the bread and it took ages for her to swallow it. "-he's been quite the chatterbox about your lessons so I know what he's learning. I just hope it'll be enough."

"When he becomes an adult it'll be up to him to make all the right choices and keep himself safe," Eli said after a moment. She offered the woman a sympathetic smile. "Who knows - you might be raising the next big hero. I'd say the next Peach but I fu- I freaking hope not because that'd mean the world went to hell again."

That managed to bring a smile back to the woman's face and she seemed much happier when she took her next bite. From the other side of the door she'd indicated a moment ago there was a loud scraping noise then several thumps before the door was flung open with Toby framed within it with his arms full of papers and books.

"Mom, I nee- hi Eli!"

"Toby, stop yelling in the house," Martha sighed as the boy came hurrying over. She very narrowly managed to move a plate of butter out of the way before he plopped the books and paper down in a haphazard pile. "Toby!"

"Sorry mom. Eli - what's the difference between venomous and poisonous?"

Eli scooted her plate out of harm's way and dusted cinnamon off her fingertips; the papers were full of Toby's messy handwriting but she could read it well enough to see that he was dutifully copying (and even illustrating) notes out of an animal guide she'd managed to buy and give to him. "Venomous means if IT bites YOU you'll die. Poisonous means if YOU bite IT you'll die."

Toby snickered. "That's dumb - I wouldn't just BITE an animal. But that's the answer?"

"Yep. Venomous basically means an animal can't poison you unless they bite or sting you first. Poisonous means you have to touch it, eat it, or otherwise inhale or ingest the poison to be poisoned. A simple rule of thumb is to be watching for stingers, fangs, or bright colors, but THE safest way of dealing with either poison or venom is watch where you're putting your feet or hands and avoid touching any animal or insect as much as possible -- and even if said animal or insect is something you know for a fact isn't harmful you shouldn't be bothering them anyway. You never know if an animal or insect is capable of spitting something at you either so it's best to just leave them alone."

"Got it..." the boy muttered, shuffling through the rumpled pile of papers. "So I'm going to have to put poisonous in a pile and venomous in a pile and make sure I got it right because I thought those meant the same thing and they don't..." After a moment he slapped all the papers back into one pile. "Oh, mom! I need more paper!"

"I'll buy more tomorrow," Martha replied.

Toby scooped everything up again and hurried out the door with a few scattered pages fluttering to the floor behind him. Martha sighed and shook her head, and stood to go collect them.

"Well... Anyway. When it gets warmer out and he's out of school I'll start the physical stuff," Eli said after a pause. "If you're still willing, that is."

"No, no, I can't walk back on our agreement or else he'll think he can't trust me if I promise something," Martha said. "I may not like it but at least I can rest easy that he's not just...just running headlong into things like he usually does." She took a steadying breath and came back over with the sheets of notes that had been left behind.

"I'll do my best to make sure he doesn't do something dumb," Eli said. She stuffed the last bit of the raisin bread on her plate into her mouth and then dug into a pocket. "-how much for a loaf of this?"

"Oh, uh - I actually don't have any more baked at the moment. This was the last one."

"That's fine." Eli dumped a handful of gols on the table and started sorting them into piles of 100s. "Can I pay now for two loaves and come get them in the morning?"

Martha laughed. "Absolutely. Two loaves would 180 gols."

Eli shoved 300 at her. "I'll donate toward more paper since I'm the reason he's burning through so much."

Martha carefully swept the gols up and slipped them into her apron pocket. "Thank you, Eli. I may hem and haw and fret like an old hen but I really do appreciate that you're teaching him how to be safe."

With a chuckle Eli headed toward the door. "If he actually sticks with the training all the way through he'll know how to survive pretty much anything. -- oh, right. I meant to ask - I was going to rope Dr. Xu into this eventually, for some first aid training since mine is...oh, about 300 years out of date. Are you all right with that?"

"Well, of course. Why wouldn't I be?"

"I have no idea how squeamish you might be and up until today I didn't know how much he was sharing. If he's being the chatterbox as you claim and it'll bother you then I need to set some pretty firm boundaries up front."

Martha blinked. "Oh. Ah. That's a good point. I wouldn't say I'm squeamish but..." She took a steadying breath. "I'll manage. He needs to learn if he's going to be safe."

Eli nodded and put her hand on the doorknob only to jump a bit as someone knocked on the door; Gale was on the other side and he started as she opened the door to find his fist raised mid-knock.

"Oh! What timing - I apologize for knocking in your face, Eli."

"No worries, I was just about to leave is all."

"Ah, well, I suppose 'what timing' applies a second time. I came looking for you."

"Is something wrong?"

"No, nothing's wrong but time IS of the essence," the man said with a chuckle. He leaned around to peer in at Martha. "Sorry to intrude on your home and steal your guest, Martha."

"It's no trouble, Gale."

The man chuckled and hurried out of the way so Eli could step outside.

"So what's so pressing?" Eli asked as she carefully shut the door behind her.

"Let's walk and chat," Gale suggested. He waited for her to take the few steps needed to reach his side and then they began a leisurely stroll up the street -- Eli assumed this was going to end at the town hall.

"So! The scholars have decided to take everything they've learned back to Atara next week and spend a few months there sharing with their peers," Gale went on. "That will be one less thing to juggle schedules with. However: I'm expecting that shortly after their departure the pledged monetary assistance is going to arrive, and at that point we'll begin construction on expanding the clinic. We've finalized plans with Dr. Xu to expand the building to house both more space to treat patients in, as well as a few spare rooms to use as classrooms."

Eli nodded. "I'm aware. I did have a question though."

Gale looked up at her. "Yes?"

"Moving Stewart out of the facility is a good idea but I don't want the place to be abandoned except for the occasional poking about by scholars. What are your long term plans for it?"

Gale slowed to a stop, rubbing at his chin. "...to be frank, I haven't really thought a lot on what to do with it. I don't think anyone gave much thought either to the other ruins around Portia - we've been scavenging what we can out of them for ages, but those ruins aren't even close to being in the same fantastic shape as the facility is so I can at least confidently say we won't be taking it apart. Why do you ask?"

Eli blew out a long sigh. "Well...at the risk of sounding sentimental, I just don't want to see it go unused or be torn apart. We've been working on plans to transition it to a new, and renewable, power source, Petra and Merlin are checking that all the plumbing is still intact and working... I had thought once that maybe we could turn it into a college where Stewart could teach generations of doctors while treating patients of his own."

"That thought HAD crossed my mind but as it would be inconvenient to move the clinic itself I'll admit I'm uncomfortable with the thought of him traveling between there and the facility. Not just from a security standpoint either, mind you -- I'm worried that if, in the future, we have a medical emergency that's beyond Dr. Xu's expertise that it would then take too long for Stewart to get back to town."

"Yeah...that's a good point," Eli said after a pause. "Still. I'd really love to see the place being used again. Maybe more housing?"

Gale nodded, and then chuckled after a breath. "Goodness knows we're going to need that soon. The Happy Apartments can only hold so many, after all, and there's only a handful of empty residences available for buyers. If anything we could utilize it for short-term available housing, or long-term if someone is genuinely wanting to live there. We'll definitely have work to do to make it all livable again, and we'll have to look into expanding our transportation along with..." Gale paused and waved a hand. "Look at me going off on a tangent, ha! Come - let's go sit in my office and I'll get to what I I needed to speak to you about."

She nodded and they started walking again. He led the way to the town hall's door and held it open, gesturing for her to enter ahead of him; the office was spacious and a bit chilly, and smelled of paper and old books. As he closed the door behind them Eli moved over to sit in one of the plush chairs in front of Gale's desk and a moment later Gale shuffled around the desk to lower himself into his own chair.

"Portia's fiscal year will be starting soon and I need to have our budget settled. I wanted to ask you again if you're interested in becoming one of our Civil Corps members."

Eli leaned back in her chair, taking in a deep breath. "...I am, but do you think Portia's folks would be all right with that?"

Gale waved a hand at her. "I think they'll be more than all right with it - by now I'd argue you fit right in and I can't see any problems aside from the usual ones, and as I've said before if there ARE any problems you just let me know and I'll have a talk with the troublemakers. But, from what I've seen, there's really only one person who would continue to be a problem and I like to think he'd know better than to try anything now."

A half smile twitched across her face then she cleared her throat. "Well... What would happen with my position in the Research Center? I don't want to leave them hanging."

Gale laughed. "Pardon me for assuming but I didn't think for an instant that you would abandon Merlin and Petra, or anyone else for that matter. Any and all instances of you being consulted on technological matters would be properly paid for, and your position's salary would be converted into a fund to cover such."

She smiled and shook her head; just by virtue of being alive she WAS the world expert on "Old World" tech-

Don't think about it.

"You don't need to pay me for helping out with anything. What it sounds like to me is most of my chosen duties won't be changing - I'll just be adding on the Civil Corps bit, right?"

Gale nodded. "That sounds accurate...do keep in mind that if it seems like you're being buried in tasks you only need to say something -- there's a balance between being helpful and being taken advantage of. Now...in addition to you becoming a Civil Corps member, I've had one other person requesting to sign on here for a time."

Eli blinked at him. One other person...was it one of the Pigs? Could they even do that? She didn't have any real grasp on how the Flying Pigs's organizational structure worked. "Really? Can your budget handle two more town guards?"

Gale nodded again; he shuffled through some of the papers on his desk and pulled out one that was covered top to bottom, margin to margin, with tidy handwriting. He turned it around toward her and picked up a pen to begin gesturing at underlined areas and numbers -- this must be a part of the budget paperwork, she realized.

"It can. We've had additional positions budgeted for for years, just with no takers until now. You can see how things add up here and here. I intend to have all this printed, dated, signed, and on file for anyone to reference within a week."

With his nod of permission Eli took the handwritten budget plan and looked it over; she was somewhat familiar with budget balancing as she'd always had to sign off on anything coming out of HQ to confirm that all the numbers matched with what she had on hand or had requested for her squad. So far as she could tell Portia's numbers all lined up nice and neat, and she could even see a few "emergency" funds had been created with the influx of trade that had come to the city over the last few years.

Of course, these numbers were way smaller than she was used to seeing and dealing with...

Don't think about it.

She handed the paper back. "Seems in order. To make it official on the books consider my answer to be "yes."

Gale smiled and returned the paper to a stack on his desk. "All right! I'll consider this finalized for now and have the paperwork ready for you and Asher in a few days."

Ah, so it was Asher that wanted in... Well, that was an interesting development. It at least made more sense than anyone else she could think of.

"Anything else?" she asked then. "Not that I'm rushing out of here or anything - I just want to be sure everything is in place."

"I think we've got everything covered," Gale replied. "Oh, yes - being as I already mentioned that this will be available for anyone in Portia to reference..." He hopped out of his chair and motioned for Eli to follow him over to one of the bookcases.

Now that she was actively looking at them she could see that while a large number of the books seemed to be regular reading material there were several shelves full of leather-bound ledgers that were bursting with papers (and some looked old -- Eli spied more than one spine that was flaking leather and heavily worn at the middle where countless numbers of hands had touched and handled them). Gale pointed and then, with a sweeping motion, indicated one of the lower shelves of ledgers.

"This shelf here holds what amounts to all of Portia's governing history for the last two decades. Anyone is welcome to peruse the old records as needed. All that's asked is you don't take the ledgers out of this office."

"Noted," she said. "Do you get many takers on that?"

"Yes, actually," Gale chuckled. "The budgetary highlights are usually printed in our newspaper a month or two after it's all been settled but there's a small handful of people who want to read it before the ink's even dried."

She smiled at him and glanced to the door; there wasn't much else needed here, and not much else she had to add. Gale noted where she was looking and bustled over to the door to rest a hand on the knob.

"Thank you, Eli, for agreeing to this sudden meeting. I hope I haven't derailed your evening too much."

"Nah, not at all." She walked toward him and he opened the door for her. "Have a good evening, Gale. Let me know if you need anything else."

"I certainly will. Good night."

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

"Gale's already told me" was Arlo's greeting when she got out to the facility the next morning. "I'm excited to welcome you and Asher aboard."

Eli smiled as she knocked a clod of mud off the side of her boot before coming over to sit on a stump next to the firepit. Adam was up and had eggs and bacon in a pan over the flames; Mali and Asher weren't in sight but she assumed they were both still in the tent. "Excited to get back into my career field."

Arlo nodded, then studied her in silence for a moment. "...is it going to be awkward for you, taking orders from someone else?"

She offered him a sly smirk. "Not really, assuming you don't issue an order I consider stupid."

His face tinged red ever so slightly. "Wouldn't dream of it."

"Then we're all good. I spent years taking orders before I reached a rank where I was giving them -- I know how chains of command work and I'll do my best to remember I'm NOT in charge anymore."

Again Arlo nodded; he crossed his arms and shifted to look out over the marsh in the general direction of Portia. "Right. Remington is on patrol as we speak, and Sam's patrol starts when his ends. We'll sort out a time to properly welcome you and Asher to the team and then shift patrol patterns around -- since Asher will be staying here anyway this region will be his, for sure."

Adam flipped a few pieces of bacon and grunted, looking up to them. "Might not need the patrols if Mali's idea works."

"I know but I'd rather plan for what we can handle if it doesn't," Arlo replied.

Eli looked between the two of them. "I haven't gotten to talk to Mali about this new idea yet so what am I in for?"

"A bunch of heavy lifting and electrical work," Adam responded before Arlo could answer. "Assuming we can find a working door that'll fit."

"Even if it doesn't we can probably widen the hallways," Arlo picked up.

"Hang on, a door? What kind of door?" Eli interrupted.

Adam jerked a thumb over a shoulder toward the southeast. "Mali's convinced we can repurpose some doors out of a ruin out that way. Twice as thick as what's down in the facility now, lockable, and should prove to be a right pain in the ass to get through if you're not supposed to get through 'em."

Thick doors... "Blast doors?" she asked, though more to herself than to the others. And if it was to the east -- WOW Industries? Or from somewhere else around here? "A standard sized blast door is...I've no idea how we'd get blast doors out of there, much less down into here. We'd have to remove the elevator car entirely and pray it fits down the shaft."

Adam shrugged. "All I know is Mali remembered having to get through what she called security doors back when we first found the All Source AI - I'm not sure where she saw 'em and she didn't say when she had the idea. She checked with your research folks and we seem to think that if we can just get 'em here and installed then we wouldn't need a constant guard up top because no one's getting in through those things if they're shut tight."

"We could still have a guard but move them down into the facility itself..." Eli mused. "Out of the elements, in a proper apartment. That would solve the question of what to even do with this place once Stewart's out too."

"A nice perk, if it works."

They turned around in unison to see Mali approaching them from the tent.

"The question is: do you think it's possible?" she went on as she came to stand at Adam's shoulder, gaze fixed on Eli.

"Well... Possibly. The biggest hurdle is going to be getting it to fit down the elevator shaft - wiring is the easy part."

Mali nodded and shifted around Adam to sit on the far side of the pit from Eli. "Then after I've eaten you and I can go looking to see if we can make it work."

"Sounds like a plan," Eli said. After a pause she looked back to Arlo. "I'll keep the rest of my day open so we can all meet, if that's all right?"

"I'll check in with Remington and Sam and let you know where to meet," Arlo answered with a small nod. "And Asher, too."

"We've all got our marching orders for the day then," Eli chuckled. She got up and stretched and, out of habit, scanned their surroundings for anything out of the ordinary.

In the distance she could see a familiar smudge of blue against the grass -- that was a gaggle of scholars heading back out this way. She probably should have clarified with Gale on the exact date they'd be heading back home but oh well; depending on how long it took to dismantle and move a set of blast doors they might not be underfoot anymore anyway.

WOW Industries would probably have the doors that Eli was thinking of; she'd never given any thought to what it would take to move one of those things but knew they were strong enough to take heavy fire, literal fire, could seal to contain gas leaks, and also were built to immediately shut if there was ever a fluid leak too. She had her doubts that the rubber seals would be in workable condition after all this time but so long as the doors hadn't rusted out then they'd still suffice as a security measure.

Granted, there were those doors along the elevator shaft...those were technically still vulnerable access points. Maybe, just maybe, they could turn the blast doors flat and have them open to let the elevator down, rather than try to seal up the other doors and rely on a single door at the bottom floor. They'd have to do some digging and run new wire, but...

She turned back around to the others. "Just had an idea where size isn't going to matter much."

#Lost in Time #lit #Lost in Time - ch 17 #Arlo #Mali #Dr. Xu #Gale #Martha #Toby #My Time at Portia

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legobiwan · 5 years ago

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Just got home from The Rise of Skywalker. No pithy intro, I’m just going to jump right in and it’s going to be a LONG rant here so buckle up, my friends, and be sure to read below the cut. SPOILERS AHOY YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED

Okay, so yes, the first third of the movie went at a blistering, nearly nonsensical pace. JJ really had to cram a whole watermelon’s worth of exposition into a...well, you know, there was a lot to take in. This movie had to do so much telling instead of showing because it was such a departure (and middle finger to TLJ) from what came before.

The thing was, the first third was also the most interesting part of the movie. I actually wish the whole trilogy had started with all of the Sith nonsense. (Actually, I wish they had started with Kylo absolutely wrecking shit like he did and then the Palpatine scene. People would have made all the wrong assumptions and it would have been glorious to unravel it over three films.) There is a strong history of Sith artifacts in both Nu-Canon and Legends, and it wouldn’t have been out of place, considering what we know now, to have made Rey, Poe, and Finn’s quest for these artifacts the start of the new trilogy, and then told the rest of the story in a non-linear timeline. Probably too experimental for a Star Wars reboot, but it would have grabbed attention and everyone like creepy Sith shit.

Frankly, I would have dropped zombie-robot Palpatine at the very start of the trilogy, as well. It’s bonkers but I don’t hate the Rey Palpatine thing and they could have spent the rest fo the movies explaining this weird-ass lineage and how it relates to Kylo, Snoke, etc. and then have built back to the final confrontaion on Exegol.

Leia. Trained. Rey. I so so so so so wished we had been able to get more of this. This, in my mind, is what it should have been all along. I liked TLJ (okay, so shoot me) but Master Leia is a whole other level of awesome. If I had to rewrite Luke and Leia’s roles, it would have went something like this:

Luke was searching for Sith artifacts. Luke was becoming disillusioned by what he was learning of the Jedi through “The Sacred Texts.” WHO DOES THAT SOUND LIKE? Hmmmm, I wonder....

Could you imagine Luke started to go a little Dooku in this respect, and so instead of fucking off the Ach-To because he had a feeling that was more “gravy than of grave” about Ben Solo’s dark sidedness, he fucked off to Ach-To - or even better - gave up training in order to keep himself from going down a darker path.

And so instead, Leia is getting involved with training (and probably also governing at the same time because she would be an overachiever like that.)

Enter Ben Solo, who is Force sensitive, strong, being trained by his mother and occasionally his uncle, who is not totally plugged into the light side at the moment, which can rub off on Ben. Meanwhile, Han is maybe not the best father (he wants to be, he tries, but it all comes out wrong. I’ve been watching a lot of Psych lately, so I’m thinking of a dynamic similar to Henry and Shawn, but a little more dramatic.)

Of course, Palpatine is seeing all of this behind the scenes, he’s fostering ill will and discontent through the scattered remains of the Empire, sending Snoke clones out to be almost pseudo-religious/cult figures in the wake of the economic and social devastation left by the Empire’s fall and the floundering new government. Extremism, in pockets, rises. Extremism which preys on discontent, which preys of the desire for family, for belonging.

Enter again Ben Solo, who has been pitted against the other strongest trainee, Rey (insert whatever last name you want. She knows it’s not her real name, she knows she was an orphan on Jakku, but she was brought by Luke to be trained). Ben is pissed how she and Leia bond, has been talking to his uncle, and perhaps encountered a Snoke clone on the way.

Rey, on the other hand, is no one but wants to be someone, and that manifests in weird ways during her training. Perhaps she leaves at some point, perhaps not. But the seeds of her being Palpatine’s bloodline are laid within her. She wants to seek that belonging Ben has.

Okay, but getting away from my personal rewrites of the sequels, Star Wars is about family and lineage, both blood and found. There was so much potential to play on this throughout the trilogy with the Skywalkers, with Rey’s relation to Palps that if they had just planned the damn thing, it could have been brilliant.

Moving ...(for now)

I felt so bad for Oscar Isaac. I felt like I watched his soul slowly depart his body over almost 3 hours. That man was not a happy camper and it came out in his performance.

Power levels. Here’s the thing, guys. Magic needs to have consequences. Sure, you can cast a spell, but what does that take from you? You can use the Force, but to what degree? How much? Even Anakin exhausted himself at some points, and he was (allegedly, according to one Qui-gon Jinn), the Chosen One. It’s the first law of thermodynamics - energy can neither be created nor destroyed - and the Force is literally the energy of every life thing in the galaxy. You take the energy, use it towards something else, it has to drain from somewhere. This is what bugged the hell out of me with Rey’s Force Healing abilities (an ability that doesn’t thrill me to begin with as it’s so easy to overuse). Kylo keels from resurrecting the dead (and yeah, he was pretty beat up already), but Rey barely seems to breathe a beat harder. Once you start ignoring the consequences for magic, you end up like a shitty video game, and one of the criticisms I’ve leveled at the movie is that it feels like a montage of Battlefront and I can’t say that’s totally off point.

JEDI HUNTERS. Ochi. I will bet my right liver we’re going to hear something about this on The Mandalorian.

So I know a lot of people wanted to see Rey Kenobi, but there was one piece of glaring evidence in the film why that would never be. (Aside from Kylo just announcing it to Rey.) She has a lightsaber, but she still ends up using a blaster. So uncivilized.

Speaking of The Mandalorian - Stormtroopers with Mando jetpacks. Hmmm.....

I loved techno-Sheev hooked up to all the equipment just floating. That was creepy as hell and played with the whole cloning and extension of life that was such a large part of the Darth Plagueis novel (which I still consider to be canon, higher powers be damned). Also, Palpy’s glowup with the wardrobe was hilarious.

Dark!Rey was hot. There, I said it.

Let’s talk about romance. Or the lack thereof. Or the shoehorned thereof.

Poor Rose got shafted in this film with no explanation. I didn’t buy that whole thing in TLJ, but god damn anyway. (Finn also got shafted, for different reasons, which I will talk about later.)

If they were going to romance, just let it have been Finn and Poe, Finn and Rey, or fuck it, even a trio.

I mean, I could have bought Reylo if it had been presented better. (With context. Adam Driver is an amazing actor, another thing I’ll talk about later.)

The Reylo kiss though - my theater laughed. No joke.

Of course, this was the same theater that thought Lando was trying to mack on Jannah at the end, so who knows what we were all thinking in there. (On that note, Lando was hilarious because no matter what, he was just having a grand ‘ol time in the movie. I like to think he got a medical spice card in his retirement years and was just enjoying anything that came his way, be it Wookiees, Jedi, starships, wars, whatever.)

While the Reylo kiss didn’t hit the mark the space lesbian background kiss got cheers, so there was some hope for my fellow theater-goers.

Did anyone pick up on Threepio saying the Senate made the bill that would render him incapable of translating the Sith language? No doubt that was a Palpatine move from TCW era.

What is up with these movies and desert/jungle planets? Ugh. Thank everyone for Kijimi, at least that was interesting.

New characters I loved: Babu Frik and DO.

Finn’s Force sensitivity. Yes, I totally buy it. I wanted more. I wanted more fucking context of a Stormtrooper who would have known nothing of the Jedi getting these feelings and then bailing from the First Order (or, if I were writing the movies, bailing from the remnants of the Empire/Snokes weird military cults.) Totally underutilized character development.

We. Were. Robbed. of Good!Ben. Adam Driver is so phenomenal. Form the little we saw of redeemed Ben, he is the perfect mix of his parents, from the “Ow” to the eyebrow wagging, the swagger, the smirks...I LOVED good!Ben. I wanted so much more good!Ben. What a transformation.

Speaking of which - the scene between Kylo/Ben and Han was terrific. I wish we had had more context for why everything went south, but it was so good and the type of family dynamic we really needed more of.

The Knights of Ren looked awesome in this film? They needed to be like the Black Order of Star Wars, and they were getting to it, but not quite there. Gods, they could have been the enforcers of Snoke’s cults (Palpy’s puppet cults) that could terrorize far more than a normal, brainwashed Stormtrooper, who was only useful as cannon fodder (I mean, if we look at the history of the clone army to the Stormtroopers, it would be terribly fitting.)

That ship tug-of-war was DUMB. (See my rant about magic and consequences). But, if Rey was going to shoot lightening Palpy-style and blow up a ship, Chewie should have died. I’m sorry, that’s terrible, I love him, but there needed to be consequences for actions and throughout the film, there were either no consequences or random consequences that were a narrative convenience rather than developed into the plot/characterization/worldbuilding.

Here’s the thing with the ST - there is so much potential. There are some awesome ideas. But they wanted to play if safe with JJ by rebooting the OT, Rian was too far out for them, there was no cohesive storytelling, and so we get these little glimpses into what could have been amidst a shitstorm of trailers for Battlefront 17.

we could have had it allll....

Final rating: 4/10

#the rise of skywalker #the rise of skywalker spoilers #tros spoilers #tros #hello there #rants from the lego compound #and what an appropriate tag it is #rey #kylo ren #finn #poe dameron #sheev palpatine #leia organa #luke skywalker #han solo #bunch of other characters i'm not tagging right now

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justaghostingon · 4 years ago

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Merfolk are Overrated

Chapter 1: Something in the Water

“Oh you’re back Kodya! Here to buy another net?” Alistair beamed up at him. Kodya felt his eyebrow twitch as he dropped the netting on the store counter.

“You go through these rather fast,” Alistair continued as he began rummaging through for some change. “You’ve got to be the unluckiest fisherman in the whole of Sirensfolly. “Unless,” the shopkeeper gave him a wink, “It’s my pretty face that’s got you coming back?” He beamed up hopefully at Kodya.

“What? No!” Kodya snapped as his hands balled into fists.

“Awww,” he pouted as Kodya picked up the net and began heading to the door. “But then, what is the reason?”

Kodya didn’t answer, instead slamming the door shut as he left. He already looked weird enough for needing a net again so quickly. The last thing he wanted was to explain why and end up looking like a nutcase as well.

He threw the net in the back of his car and got in the driver seat with a huff. Alone in the privacy of his car, he finally allowed himself to respond. “Stupid Mermaids,” he said.

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

Technically, mermaid was not the proper term for them, Siren was. And technically they weren’t even all maids. But, Kodya thought as he pulled up his net to discover the three struggling inside after he'd told them multiple times not go near it, these three really did not deserve to be called by a name that sounded as impressive as Siren.

“Unhand us you foul cretin!” The redhead in the middle cried as she struggled to push herself into a somewhat upright position among the squirming fish. The other two kept still, having both more sense and the good luck to fall in a position that was not upside down.

“I told you to stay away from the net!” Kodya snapped, because really, this wasn’t his fault. “Don’t you have any common sense?”

“Why you…” Red began to struggle faster, anger giving her strength. Her blue tail flopped to her left, smacking her fluffy, pink haired companion in the face. She gave a yelp and something dropped from her mouth.

Kodya’s eyes followed it as Fluffy quickly tried to hide the half eaten fish behind her. “Stop eating the fish!”

“Oh please!” Red snapped. “Even in your greed, you cannot possibly consume all of this food! We have every right to join in on the hunt!”

Kodya pinched the bridge of his nose, feeling a headache oncoming. “I told you! I don’t eat it! I sell it! Other people eat it and then pay me!”

“You did say that!” The final mermaid said, the one who Kodya had really been trying hard not to look at. The green-haired “mermaid” began to push forward against the net, lavender eyes shining. “But you didn’t explain before! Tell me, how do they pay you? Do you receive protection? Other types of fish? How is the exchange rate valued?”

Kodya closed his eyes at the onslaught of questions and wondered how it came to this.

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

The first time Kodya saw them, he did not realize they were anything extraordinary at all. He didn’t believe in such things, and had no time for them besides, no matter what Nephthys tried to convince him of. Really, it should have been her who they met, she did so love these kinds of stories. She would have recognized something was off right away. But she was tucked off in her own bed that foggy, chilly morning, and Kodya had to man the boat alone, as he so often did.

And so when the song began, Kodya’s first thought was, “Is there really a boat that close?” And not, “Oh no! Sirens are trying to kill me!”

“Brave heart,” the voice sang, “Who longs for the one of your choice.”

What was this? Some new pop song he didn’t know? Kodya frowned. Oh no. He thought, please tell me this isn’t a tourist boat.

The song continued, unaware of Kodya’s mounting trepidation. “Protecting, and yearning, unable to hold,” it sang. It didn’t sound like a recording, which was even worse. Drunk tourists were even less likely to remember basic boat safety than normal ones. He strained his eyes and ears through the mist, trying to pick up any signs of the approaching boat. But there were none. Just the quiet lapping of the water against his boat.

“Why not use your gifts for those with no voice?” Something caught the edge of Kodya’s eyes as the song increased. It looked like a human head, peaking out of the sea. He blinked and two more appeared beside it. What in the world?

“And save those who are not so bold?” The voice rose in crescendo as the center figure swam towards Kodya’s boat, and he realized it was a woman with bright red hair. Swimming. In the middle of the bay. In a weird blue, plated shirt that looked really heavy. Without a ship nearby. Oh no.

Kodya let out a stream of Russian curse words as he ran to the edge of the boat. “What are you doing out here?? Do you have any idea how far it is from shore?” What were they thinking jumping off a tourist boat to swim? There was no way they could swim back, even if they were Olympians. And where was the boat that left them? He couldn’t see any sign of them.

The red haired woman stopped, a frown on her lips. Her two companions swam close to her, one pink haired and one with green. All three stared at Kodya, heads tilted, as if he were something strange.

They’re drunk. Kodya let out another curse in Russian. That was going to make this so much harder. “Come here!” He waved his hands. “Come out of the water!”

The three heads blinked at the same time, in a manner that was almost uncanny. Then the pink haired one placed a hand on Red’s shoulder, and began to swim forward, opening her mouth.

“Yes that’s it!” Kodya crowed as she began to sing. It was a strange, wordless song, more of a hum than anything else, but as she sang, Kodya got the strangest feeling of hunger niggling in the back of his mind. Like he hadn’t just eaten a nourishing breakfast of cereal and fruit. He shook his head to clear it, and the sensation faded. He had a stupid tourist to rescue. He tied a rope around himself and reached out a flotation device with one arm.

The woman stopped just out of arm’s length. Kodya grit his teeth. “Come on,” he wiggled the flotation device invitingly, trying to keep the frustration out of his voice. “You’re almost there.”

The woman stared back at him, a frown on her lips, as if Kodya were a puzzle she couldn’t quite piece together. Kodya gave her a strained smile, trying not to think about how these three people were very likely to die if they did not get in the boat, soon.

“This isn’t working,” The green haired one said, swimming forward towards Kodya. Kodya thought his grasp of language was incredible for someone drunk enough to jump off a tourist boat. “Let me try something.”

“Gyrus!” The red-haired woman cautioned, reaching out a hand towards him. He gave her a smile over his shoulder, before leaning up on the floatation device, arms crossed. “Why do you want us to come out of the water?” he asked, looking up at Kodya with large lavender eyes full of curiosity.

“Because you’ll drown you idiot!” Kodya responded as he grabbed the Kid. He gave a start and tried to struggle, but Kodya ignored it in favor of dragging him upwards into the boat. He was heavier than he looked, and it took all of Kodya’s strength to get him above the water.

“Unhand him!” One of the girls shouted, but Kodya was too busy maneuvering the surprisingly slick body into the boat without capsizing it.

A final sharp tug brought the Kid fully into the boat, where he landed awkwardly on top of Kodya, sending the boat rocking. Kodya hit the deck with a groan of pain as stars began to spin in front of him.

“Are you okay?” a voice came from directly above him. Kodya blinked away stars to capture two lavender orbs directly above his own. Wet green hair flopped around a handsome face that was far too close to Kodya’s for his sanity.

Cheeks burning, Kodya hastily pulled away, while the handsome stranger cocked his head in confusion. “I’m fine,” Kodya coughed into his hand, refusing to look the man in the eyes, or his dripping abs he has abs for crying out loud that is not fair, as he tried to regain his composer. “Now help me rescue your two dumb friends before they die of hypothermia.”

“Hypowhat?” The stranger asked, and that made Kodya look up, ready to give this stupid tourist the lecture of his life, regardless of how pretty he was. His eyes skimmed over something green and iridescent, and stopped.

Kodya felt like his brain was rebooting. There was absolutely no way he was seeing what he was seeing. He opened his mouth, but couldn’t think of a single thing to say.

The stranger pulled his huge emerald tail closer to him, scales glinting rainbows even in the foggy morning light. He fiddled with the edge of his yellow tipped fin absently in his hands, half hiding his body behind it. “Something wrong?” he asked Kodya, peaking through thick green lashes.

Kodya screamed.

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

“Are you going to get us down huntsman?” Red’s sharp voice brought him out of his thoughts. Kodya shook his head and gave a deep sigh, shoulders falling.

“The next time you stupid mermaids end up in my net, I’m going to drag you back to land,” he threatened as he took a knife to his newly purchased net. “And stop eating!” he snapped to Fluffy, who lowered a fish guiltily.

“But you haven’t finished explaining why the net is important!” The Kid protested. Kodya took a knife to the thick ropes tying him in with a vicious gusto.

“I need the net to catch the fish. I need the fish to sell for money. I need the money to buy food. because unlike you, I need to eat something more than fish!” He punctuated each sentence by cutting through another knot.

“Wait,” The Kid’s now freed arm reached out to catch Kodya’s jacket. He looked up at his eyes wide with concern. “You aren’t getting enough to eat?” The net shifted between them as Fluffy twisted to look at him too, a matching expression of concern on her own face. Even Red looked slightly guilty.

Kodya looked away, unsure what to do with this sudden change in behavior. “I’m good for now. I’ve got a little money saved up. However,” he added as he returned his attention to the net. “If I can’t make rent because you keep breaking my nets before I get a proper haul, the extra will have to come out of my food budget.” And what a lean time that would be, Kodya didn’t even want to think about it.

The mermaids seem to hold a silent conversation, with the Kid and Fluffy sending big puppy dog eyes at a very disgruntled Red. Finally Red gave in with a sigh, relaxing into the nets. “If ye get us out of this net, I will hunt for ye today,” she told the ground she was facing.

Kodya snorted as he began working on the part of the net that held her prisoner. “You could try.”

“Excuse me?” Red began to struggle again, making it difficult for Kodya to cut her loose. “I am the greatest warrior in our pod, and guard of the Queen herself!” She gestured to her chest, and the strange, armor-like blue plates fastened there.

“It doesn’t matter how good a warrior you are.” Kodya rolled his eyes. “It matters that there’s only one of you.”

Fluffy gave a cry of protest, and when Kodya glanced at her, she was flexing her arm muscles. “Two of you,” he corrected with a sigh. “It still doesn’t matter. I needed the net to haul in the hundreds of fish I was supposed to catch. Even if you work all day, you’ll never bring back anything to match that load.”

“So we just have to bring home something equal to a whole school of fish?” The Kid pipes up, a thoughtful expression on his face.

“Sure Kid,” Kodya says as he moves to cut Fluffy’s forest green tail free. “If you can bring me something worth as much as a whole school of fish, it would greatly help me out.” Not that you’ll succeed, he doesn’t add, but at least it will keep you out of my hair for the rest of the day.

The Kid nodded, expression solemn. “Then that’s what we’ll do,” He said as he, Red, and Fluffy pulled free of their restraints. “Besides,” he adds as he glanced back at Kodya with a wide grin. “You’re my human teacher. If humans need exchanges, then I probably owe you a few favors by now.” So saying he dives into the water.

“Wait!” Kodya cried as they jumped over the edge. “Don’t rock the boat! You’ll let out the…fish.” He sighs as the newly freed fish flopped across the entirety of his deck, a few lucky ones managing to flop right off the side. “Well this is a mess,” he said as he ran his fingers through his hair. “What did the Kid mean by human teacher?” he wonders as he begins to deal with the fish.

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

“Please stop screaming!” The green haired mermaid…merboy? Kodya didn’t know what to call a male mermaid…said.

“I’m not going to hurt you.” He held his hands up as if to pacify Kodya.

“You’re a fish!” Kodya screeched, feeling far from pacified. He pointed a trembling finger at the emerald tail.

“I’m not a fish,” The male mermaid pouted. “Our biology is completely different! I’m a Siren.” He slapped his chest as if that cleared everything up.

It did not. “I’m dreaming,” Kodya said as he shook his head. “I’m asleep in my bed, and not sitting in my boat with a boy version of the Little Mermaid.” He closed his eyes and willed himself to wake up.

A sharp bang rang through his ears and forced him to open his eyes. The boat rocked back and forth violently, as if something had hit it. Kodya let out another scream as he tried desperately to brace himself so he wouldn’t go over the edge.

“Tori!” the mermaid-man yelled, as he darted over to the side of the boat and leaned over. “Stop that! You’re making him even more scared!”

“He kidnapped ye Gyrus!” a vaguely familiar voice cried, and Kodya could see a red blur off the side of his boat. Kodya wondered vaguely if this was another part of the dream.

“He was trying to save us! He thought we were human and would die of hyposomething.” The mermaid called to his companion, leaning even farther out of the boat. Kodya kept a sharp eye on his back as he pinched himself, trying to see if he could make him disappear.

The boat tilted sharply the other direction, and Kodya froze. Two strong arms appeared on the other side of the boat, followed by a fluffy pink head and a chest covered in a strange grey green top complete with, were those skulls? Kodya watched as she bit her lip and hauled herself upwards over the edge of his boat, collapsing on the deck. The boat began to rock heavily as it adjusted to her additional weight, and Kodya flinched as it knocked him far too close to the gaping ocean.

He looked up to see the Fluffy one grinning, forest green tail waving in the air as if to taunt him. She then proceeded to nose through his as-of-yet-uncast net, nimble fingers bringing it up to her opened jaw.

“Hey!” Kodya yelled, forgetting in his outrage that he was dreaming. “That’s not food! I need that!” He snatched the ends and pulled it forward, away from her. She made a noise of protest and held fast.

“What is going on up there Gyrus?” The redhead asked.

The green merboy glanced back at Kodya and the Fluffy one, still in the middle of a tug of war over the net. “Sylvia found something that smells of fish, but the human says it’s theirs.”

“She what?” the Red one cried, “Stay put, I’m coming up!” So saying she began to haul herself over the edge. Kodya felt himself slide as the boat tipped for the third time, and gripped the net harder.

The boat began to settle as Red pulled herself properly in, blue tail swishing angrily as she rounded on Kodya. “Unhand that which Sylvia is trying to hunt!” She cried. Beside her the green haired one facepalms.

“Get off my boat!” Kodya cursed. “This is mine!” He gave a sharp tug to the net.

“That wasn’t what I needed you to do Tori.” The green haired one gave an exasperated sigh, then turned to the Fluffy one. “I think you should let go Sylvia. He said it wasn’t food, and that he needs it. Maybe it’s important to him?” He gave her two puppy dog eyes.

The Fluffy one frowned down at the net, then looked up at Kodya. She gave the net one final, sad sniff before letting go. Kodya pulled his net protectively against his chest.

“Finally!” he said as his nostrils filled with the fish smell of the net. That worked surprisingly well. He wondered if it would work again. “Now get out of my dream,” he added hopefully.

The three mermaids did nothing of the sort. Instead all three stared at him like he had said something utterly insane.

“This isn’t a dream,” the green haired one said. “We really are here.” He scooted forward with his arms and tail until he was close to Kodya again. “And we need your help!”

“Gyrus are ye sure?” The Red one cautioned. “This is a great risk.”

“I know what I’m doing Tori,” The green-haired one called over his shoulder, before turning his full attention to Kodya once more. “Please,” he begged. “I need to learn about humans. It’s very important.”

Kodya stared at the wide, pleading face. Finally he looked down and shook his head. “You are asking the wrong guy.” He shrugged as he tried to look anywhere else.

The male mermaid shook his head. “No!” he exclaimed as he grabbed Kodya’s hands to make him look up at him. “You weren’t affected by Tori or Sylvia’s song, but you still tried to save us. You’re perfect!”

Kodya’s ears blazed red. “Perfect” and “you” were not words he was used to hearing in the same sentence. Nephthys might, if he really did her a solid favor, but it felt very different coming from Nephthys than coming from this handsome mermaid-man.

Which he supposed as he looked into the open, honest face, was all the more proof that this wasn’t real. His lips twisted into a sad smile. “You really are a lovely dream,” he told the mermaid, watching as its face fell at his tone. “But you’ll be gone by sunrise.”

The male mermaid bit his lip. “So if I am here by sunrise, you’ll teach me?” He asked, voice hopeful.

“You won’t be,” Kodya reassured the little mermaid, and wow, that pout made him look like a kid. “But sure,” he added to make him smile again.

“It’s a deal!” the merboy says, before diving into the water. His two female companions follow him, and Kodya is left alone, floating in an empty boat.

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

Oh right. That’s how he got himself in this situation. Kodya cursed to himself. But in his defense, how was he supposed to realize a half remembered dream was actually true? He’d nearly lost his mind when the mermaids had shown up again the next day in broad daylight, eagerly demanding he explain human things to them. Kodya had tried to back out of it, but they remained stubbornly by his side, breaking his nets and following him around until he cracked and told them something.

And speaking of mermaids, where had those three gotten off to? They usually never left him alone for this long before one of them popped up to bother him over something. Not that Kodya cared, just that the longer they were gone, the more trouble they would bring back with them.

Yes. That was the reason and nothing more. Kodya crossed his arms and stared out at the ocean, vast and blue. It seemed emptier than before.

#room of swords #room of swords fanfic #mermaid au #Kodya #Gyrus #Sylvia #Tori

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daughterofluthien · 4 years ago

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4, 11, 20, 24?

So we’re gonna mainly be focusing my new fic for this, b/c it just got published and dangit I wanna talk about it :P

4. Share a sentence or paragraph from your writing that you’re really proud of (explain why, if you like)

Okay, so this one actually ended up being more difficult than I expected? Mostly because I’ve been working on this fic for so goshdarn long that at some point I have both loved and hated pretty much every part of it lol.

sO instead we’re gonna take this a different direction, and highlight this bit:

(They’re seven and it’s Stiles’ hands on Scott’s shoulders because Scott’s dad just left, and Scott’s crying because he doesn’t know why, or if his dad’s ever coming back. They’re ten and the roles are reversed because Stiles’ mom has just died, and he does know why and she isn’t coming back. They’re sixteen, and the roles have switched again, because Scott’s filled with an aggression he doesn’t understand, desperately trying to keep the gold from flashing in his eyes.)

It’s not necessarily my favorite passage, or the bit that I think is the best written or anything, but it is the passage where I actually figured out what the main conceit of this fic was going to be -- specifically, the whole memories/flashback thing.

When I first started writing, I was mainly inspired by the fact that so much of the “I’ll do something” scene in Riddled is implicit rather explicit, but you can tell through the acting that both Scott and Stiles know exactly what they’re talking about. And like. I go absolutely feral over crap like that.

So the original concept was a No Nogitsune AU where Stiles gets the bite, but the whole thing is told without ever explicitly stating that -- an original potential title for this thing was actually “Unspoken”

(And this is actually kind of carried through to the final form of the fic, even though it isn’t the focus. ‘Werewolf/werewolves’ is only said twice in the whole thing, and then only in reference to Scott or to the species in general, and ‘the bite’ is only mentioned once. In fact, the bite itself technically even happens offscreen.)

But anywho, I didn’t have the flashback concept at all until I wrote this particular parenthetical. And I ended up liking it so much that it ended up being one of the main conceits of the fic. So, y’know. I’ll take it.

(And yes, that does mean that every flashback that shows up before this was part of a subsequent edit, and not originally present :P)

11. What do you envy in other writers?

This is gonna sound dumb, but how the heck do you people write just like. Normal scenes. I have a tendency to sink so deep into the mindset/head of my POV character that like... externally conceptualizing what’s actually happening sometimes makes zero sense? People are doing things?? Moving from one place to another?? How do I show that???

Basically anything that isn’t just an overly complicated character study seems fake to me, how do y’all do it :P

20. Tell us the meta about your writing that you really want to ramble to people about (symbolism you’ve included, character or relationship development that you love, hidden references, callbacks or clues for future scenes?)

LOL. So uh. Literally a full 50% (if not more) of this fic is references and callbacks to things that happened previously in canon. But most of that is explicitly stated and therefore not that interesting. However, there’s also a few references/parallels to things that happen post-Riddled in canon:

For example, during the scene in the Stilinskis’ kitchen in the fic, Scott tells Stiles that he needs to be honest with him about how bad it’s getting. This is a sorta slant parallel to Insatiable, where -- during a similar patented Scott Crouch Moment -- Scott tells Stiles that he needs to tell him the truth about how much pain he’s in.

Another smaller example of this is the fact that in the fic Stiles remembers waking up post-bite with Scott’s jacket under his head, which also happens after Stiles faints at the end of The Divine Move.

OH, also, in this fic Scott bites Stiles on the right upper arm, which is the same place Scott bites the Nogitsune in The Divine Move. Plus, the bite happening concurrently w/ Stiles’ memory of Scott’s roar is kinda my version of the roar in De-Void.

Not that everything I just mentioned was explicitly planned to be a parallel, mind you. But I def leaned into it.

...Basically one of my favorites bits in au’s (whether we’re talking about fanfic au’s, retellings/reboots, and actual sci-fi alternate universe), is the concept that -- no matter how different things are or how the timeline’s been changed -- some things are going to remain the same. This was sorta my version of that.

24. Would you say your writing has changed over time?

Hell yes lol. Like seriously, if you compare my first-ever published fic to this one, there’s... kinda a world of difference.

At the very least I’ve learned not to abruptly jump between POV’s during a single section of a story :P

Ask me meta writer questions!

#today in carolyn writes way too friggin much...#thank u friend!!#ask meme #momentofmemory #teen wolf

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leggomylino · 5 years ago

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I saw someone else do one of these about a week ago, and it’s been on my mind to do one as well. It’s a very sweet gesture and I want to let all my mutuals know that not only do I see them and care about them, but I also really appreciate y’all as well! So without further ado, here’s my shoutout to each and every one of you! ->

@lovesickmark -> I’m pretty sure you’re like, the first person I really connected with on here? If not THE first then definitely one of the first. I know you’ve been going through a lot and I respect that; I’m cheering for you from the sidelines tho, just remember that! It’s been wonderful having you around so I hope you’re doing well and that you keep moving forward. <3

@jisungx2 -> JOSIIIIIIIE >A< My INFP sister. I’m sure things have been kind of annoying and rough for you too, what with the holidays here and having to work Black Friday and most the rest of the season (holy cow I salute you and I’m really glad you didn’t die. Ily man.) It makes me so happy when you leave cute asks in my box like “hope you have a great day!” or “[enter cute chain mail here]”. You’re just very cute 😞😞 and I really wish you all the best this holiday season! I hope you’re taking care of yourself and remembering to take breaks when you need it. Remember the storage room excuse. Ily bro man.

@iiasha -> We haven’t been talking for very long but like, omgosh I love talking to you oops. 😂😅 Idk sis, I guess because most of my mutuals are a bit younger than me it’s nice to have someone who’s the same age I can relate to? And also someone to guide me through the confusing but quite entertaining world of the Seventeen fandom 💍 (I’m on my laptop and I couldn’t find the giant diamond emoji don’t @ me). ALSO! YOUR WRITING!! IS SO GOOD!!! Ugh I STILL gotta get to that Jimin alt. ending 😫😓 But I’ve been very invested in working and my language studies as of late while procrastinating on my other works rip. ANYWAY! I APPRECIATE YOU!! LET’S TALK MORE!!! YEEHAW!!!!

@joully -> You and I are still going to take over the kpop industry with our band, right? Shoot, what was the name of it again?? 😂😂 I don’t remember RIP...anyway, we don’t talk hardly as much but, I still see a lot of your posts and think about you! You’re really talented and I’m totally jelly of your piano skills 🥺🥺 Like dang I wish I could play half as good sis. Also, I’d really like to visit Germany one day! My dad’s best friend lives there, they met while he was travelling Europe in the army. He said we may go there one day and if we do, or if I just have to make my own adventure, I’d love to meet at a coffee shop and say hello. <3 Please continue taking care of yourself and come talk to me sometime! If you don’t, I will!! Lol 💕

@minniewoos -> 😎😎 <- SEE I REMEMBERED ❤️ I really hope your anatomy final went well! I bet it did <3 And if you haven’t taken it yet, you’re going to do great, I know! ^^ We haven’t talked for long but, I enjoy talking to you a lot. It’s always nice and appreciated to have another stay to bond with and just chat about how dumb boys can be but wow they sure are cute while doing it. Sigh. Anywho, I’m looking forward to talking with you more, and if you ever get a chance, I’m excited about getting to maybe study Korean together! 천천히 해 💓

@kpoptrashx2 -> Luisa!!! We don’t really speak as often either 🤔 But I really appreciate that you’re always there to help me with my writing and give me pointers when I need it. Thank you so much for that! It’s truly very helpful because as a writer I have no idea how something is going to sound to others who have no idea what’s going on inside my head. ^^” Not only that but it’s a joy getting to chat with you as well. 💓 I hope you’re doing well and that we’ll get to catch up soon!

@hanniesunshine -> Omgosh sis I cannot wait for your story to come out! You know the one I’m talking about so I won’t accidentally spoil anything lol. But anyway! I hope you’re well and that you’re doing alright. We haven’t talked for very long but I had so much fun talking about your story with you, and I’m looking forward to chatting about even more stuff! 🥰

@bopping-to-my-kpop -> Sis you betta talk to me more or imma come after you 😤😤 Don’t test me I’ll dang sure hold another court case if I have to! And it’ll be totally rigged because I’ll be in charge of everything! The judge? It’s me. The jury? Also me~ Any outside opinions? I have influence in all of them! 💞 ...Nevertheless, I really hope that you’re well, and please know that you can come to me for anything :c Even if it’s just to take your mind off of something negative and you need a laugh. I’ll see what ridiculous shenanigans I can cook up for you, okay? You’re never a burden, I love helping people (esp. people I care about!) so please stop by anytime!! #westanemmainthishouse 🥀

@xxsanshinexx -> I haven’t talked to you in forever but I really hope you’re doing well! I haven’t seen many posts from you recently :(( Idk if you’re just busy or if I’m blind, but if you ever get a chance I’d love to catch up! Whatever you got going on please keep doing your best and remember to take your time as well. <3

@spuds-potato -> 🌟🌟🌟 B)) What’s poppin little sis? I hope you’re doing well as well, and I’m still waiting for my story 😤😤 Remember if Celi dies she’s dragging her bf down with her okay?! Okay. Some Romeo and Juliet action going on 😂😂 Aaaaaaanywho, I’ll have to pop in soon on Insta and you can tell me about your day! Remember boys are dumb and drink plenty of water~ 💗💗

@chanscoffee -> I know you’re super busy but I totally miss talking to you 😭😭 and I hope you’re well. I rarely use Snap but I need to hop on there sometime and maybe we can chat! Or on Insta. Idk we’ll see. Whatever you have going on just know I’m still supporting you and I’m here if ever you need someone. 💖

@daydream-jwoo -> Okay I’m telling you now imma be texting you soon! Seriously sis how have you been?! We have so much to catch up on! 😩😩 The holidays have managed to be both crazy and slow at the same time some how? Like time has been completely nonexistent and a total paradox lately. 🗿🗿 It’s wild. Anyway imma keep this one short bc it’s been so long and I’ll text you soon!! 💝💝

@thevampywarlock -> Give me a minute.........okay. *deep breath* AAAAH I THINK YOU’RE REALLY CUTE!?!?! ...Aaaaaanyway uwu” The stories you write are so cute and just, small wholesome things that you manage to extend and expand upon? Does that make sense? I really admire that. It’s like subtle but I definitely see it and eventually I’m going to come around to going on a reblogging spree \o7o/ But until then I hope you’ll consider stopping by and talking with me more? You’re a wonderful author and I think you have a kind heart. ^^ <3

@jisungsjheekies -> Oh sis. We gotta chat more too! Your stories are also very cute and well written and idk why but, I feel very compelled to support both you and @backhugsforhyunjin and whole squad. It’s very strange and I don’t mean to alarm anyone 😂😅 I just...can’t really explain it other than I feel like y’all are good people and I’d love to get to know you better. Anyway I’ll cut this short to avoid making anything unnecessarily weird, but, I’d really love to talk with you more! And I def support and appreciate you!!

@backhugsforhyunjin -> Sis you too, we def gotta chat more 😤 If you ever need anyone to talk to, I understand we aren’t close at all but I’m available to listen or give advice if you need it? 😅 Also, you’re a wonderful author as well. I really wish the best for you and hope to hear from you more in the future. If anything, please remember to take your time and know that there are people cheering for you! You got this, whatever it may be!!

@gaiyofanfiction -> Asdfghjkl now that we’re buds ofc I had to make you a part of this too 🤪🥳 I think we could use a team name, what do you think about #TurkeyDragons? Bc the NCT float?? 😂😂 I like it honestly...but if you hate it lmk lmao. I hope we get to talk more soon and I’m really looking forward to an update of Twisted Karnival! One of the greatest fanfics I’ve ever read on here 😞✊ Of course with the Holiday season here updating isn’t super important, y’all pls take care of yourselves first and I hope you have a wonderful holiday season! (p.s. if anyone else is reading I wish this for y’all as well!) ❤️🎄

~~~

. . . That was a lot. If I’ve forgotten anyone I sincerely apologize and I love and appreciate you as well! Please don’t be mad at me 😩😩 At the end of the day I really do love and appreciate all my followers and mutuals, y’all are all fantastic and I’m always rooting and cheering for you like the Mom in every Pokemon rpg ;-;-;-; Keep going and become the Pokemon Champion okay? And I mean really go kick Gary’s ass, because he’s an ass and needs his ass whooped after all the crap he puts you through in Red/Green. I can’t wait for a reboot to come up on Switch so I can kick his butt all over again 😤🤭🥴 Anyway x9,000, thanks for coming to my Appreciation Ted Talks and I sincerely hope you all have a wonderful day and rest of 2019, as well as a happy New Year and an amazing 2020! ...Dear son of a biscuit it’s gonna be 2020. Wow. Letting that sink in. Where’s the rewind button? Actually I’m not sure if I wanna go back maybe it’s best if we bury this year for the most part and start over 👀💧

OKAY THAT BEING SAID EVERYONE GO OUT AND TAKE DOWN GARY!!! ILY ALL WOO 화이팅!! LET’S GET THIS 2020 BREAD after a cup of eggnog and some holiday celebrations uwu Peace out and again I love y’all! 💝

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