#fletcher looks at birds

[moonbittern]

had a really good birding day today - in addition to One Million Coots, mallards, canada geese, great egrets, a bald eagle, great blue herons, and a few killdeer, i saw my lifer green-winged teal and mmmmmaybe my lifer golden eagle (i'm not really counting that last one as a lifer bc i'm not 100% sure it was a golden eagle, but i am like 90% sure. i talked to another birder there who saw it and they were in the same boat lol.)

[chomfoolery]

who even is this guy 🤣🤣🤣🤣😂😂

alt version belowww :3

[detective-inspector-her]

Valkyrie headcanons

She has ADHD

She has these random moments of intense motivation to clean things but if she doesn't get up immediately she suddenly doesn't want to do it anymore.

She cut her hair short while she was in America and had it as a pixie cut for a while so American sorcerers had trouble recognising her.

She normally has a least one person lurking in her mansion instead of their home. Auger stayed there to recover from being Obsidian for a few months. Tanith was a regular before she was possessed. Fletcher was allowed to stay there while she was away until he got a place in Roarhaven properly organised.

Sometimes she has random feelings that are linked to Darquesse. When she first left it was random bursts of fascination and wonder. It disappeared for a while after Darquesse stopped feeling anything. During SOW she'd get the feelings again. She'd also get irrationally irritated during Darquesses pregnancy thing. After Darquesse 'died' she started getting feelings of the universe itself occasionally. The feelings are so overwhelming that she tends to stay in bed when it happens.

She holds slight resentment towards Skulduggery and it creeps up every once and a while.

She has traits from those who've possessed her. Cadaver, Darquesse and the Faceless Ones. She'll get sudden moments where she says out of character things. She doesn't know what it is.

Everyone makes fun of her for her relationship with the Darkly Twins and everytime news of them getting injured goes around she gets teased and asked if she's grounding them. Fletcher shares this pain with Never. They both do get very proud when they achieve something though.

Her soul is stuck at twelve in form due to that being when her mind saw her True Name. If she were to ever die and become a ghost she'd look twelve.

If she dies and doesn't become a ghost, she'll join Darquesse and her soul will become complete again.

She and Nefarian have a conspiracy board and they hide it in her mansion.

She, Tanith, Dexter and Nefarian are the possessed club

Valkyrie throws newspaper roles at Dusk's head as revenge for keeping the Faceless Ones secret for years.

She bites her nails when she's stressed. Militsa paints them to stop her.

She regularly talks aloud about random things that she's learnt to China so she can spread her hyper fixation knowledge. China has always listened diligently, even when Valkyrie ranted about the extinction of Dodos for hours on end.

Valkyrie regularly collapses on her parents couch when she's feeling slightly sad. She gets headpats.

She talks to Malice through the soul catcher about her day once a month.

She and Nefarian have movie nights and she forces Skulduggery to join in. They watch cartoons and live action. Skulduggery critics everything until he's attacked by pillows.

She loves angry birds and collected the McDonald toys after the movie came out. She hated the movie though.

She once considered teaching before shuddering and telling Militsa how much she loves and appreciates her. She affectionately messed up Fletcher's hair.

She had a broom specifically to whack Fletcher with.

She has woken up to see Winter in her house for no apparent reason. She likes it that way. They chat while cooking some recipe Winter has found.

Valkyrie is unaware of the resentment but she's always wondering if Winter hates her and it plagues her mind sometimes.

[broadwaydivastournament]

BROADWAY DIVAS SUPERLATIVES: Bosom Buddies - Icons Only

Yes, yes, there are so many iconic friendships on and around Broadway (Bernadette and Mary Tyler Moore, especially), but this time there's no "other" option.

Video Clips & Stories Beneath the Cut: More Polls

Angela Lansbury & Beatrice "Bea" Arthur: Angela and Bea first met in 1965 during rehearsals for the production of Mame, in which Angela played the titular Mame, and Bea her "bosom buddy" Vera. Both women would earn Tony Awards for their iconic, never-to-be-bested portrayals. They remained lifelong friends for the next five decades until Bea's death in 2009, where Angela hosted her memorial service at the Majestic Theatre. As the story goes, Angela's legendary Jessica B. Fletcher is named "B" for Bea.

"She was a class act and a real joy to work with. When I first met her I thought I was meeting this patrician, classically trained actor, but she has a mouth like a longshoreman. No kidding. She loved telling dirty limericks." - Bea Arthur on Angela Lansbury, 2003.

Ann Reinking and Bebe Neuwirth: Forever linked by dance and the great Bob Fosse, Ann and Bebe met in passing during the special 3,389th performance of A Chorus Line, but would not come to know each other closer until Sweet Charity, where Annie took over Charity for Debbie Allen during the run, and Bebe played Nickie (Tony Award). They remained dear friends until Annie's death in 2020, working together in Fosse, and of course, the 1995 revival of Chicago that persists to this day.

“I fell in love with her, I continued to fall in love with her. I am in love with her forever. There was a trust between us, there was a connection between us that was beyond anything that had any logical explanation. I felt sometimes--this may sound strange, but it’s the truth--I felt sometimes I looked in her eyes and I time travelled.” - Bebe Neuwirth on Ann Reinking, 2021

Carol Burnett & Julie Andrews: Though they may have never starred in an official Broadway show together, Carol and Julie are too iconic to pass up here. They met in 1961 and are both still alive, kicking, and enduring friends. They did a series of television and stage specials together, including Julie and Carol at Carnegie Hall (1963, Emmy Award), Julie and Carol at Lincoln Center (1971) and Julie & Carol: Together Again (1989). They also both starred in Putting it Together as the part, one after the other. And as a story goes, Carol and Julie were "caught" kissing as a prank on their friend Mike Nichols, but were instead discovered by Lady Bird Johnson.

"As we sat in the darkened hotel hallway on the sofa in front of a bank of three elevators waiting for him, we started to feel rather foolish, and we thought 'Let’s do something to make him laugh.' We decided to pretend we were making out," she said at the time. "He’d called our room and said he was coming right down, so we thought, well, the first person off the elevator would be Mike. But it wasn’t." - Julie Andrews recounts the story to Oprah magazine.

Chita Rivera & Gwen Verdon: Before there was Annie and Bebe, there was Chita and Gwen. The original Velma and Roxie duo in the 1975 Chicago, Chita and Gwen remained friends until Gwen's death in 2000. As Chita recounts, Gwen Verdon was the first person to tell her she had her own talent and didn't need to be her understudy. Years later, they were starring together in Chicago. Chita and Gwen shared the role of Charity (alongside many others) in the benefit concert production of Sweet Charity in 1998. It would be Gwen's final stage appearance. Though Fosse brought his own drama, Chita and Gwen never fell out.

"Our relationship was what it was from the day I stood beside her in “Chicago.” She was a strong woman. She was private. She used to, which is really kind of cute because I would call her on it, sometimes dramatize a story and would say, “Isn’t that right, Chita? Don’t you remember that?” And I wasn’t even there. I would find myself saying, “Yeah, absolutely.” She was so terribly funny, really, really funny." - Chita Rivera on Gwen Verdon, 2019

Donna Murphy & Marin Mazzie: Donna and Marin met while doing the Passion workshop in 1993, and their friendship endures to this day, despite Marin's death in 2018. After all, "and should you die tomorrow, another thing I see: your love will live in me." Marin sang at Donna's daughter's christening. Donna sang at Marin's remembrance concert. She still writes her memorial posts to Marin each year on the anniversary of her passing. Donna played Mother in the earliest workshop of Ragtime, before Marin took over and made that role what it will always be.

"She would always be the first person to say "how are you doing?" That kind of kindness and selflessness in a way--it's not that I didn't appreciate it then--I really did. So I don't need to smack myself in the head and say "why didn't you realize how rare and beautiful it was?" I did. What I couldn't calculate was how much I miss it." - Donna Murphy on Marin Mazzie, 2018.

Kelli O'Hara & Victoria Clark: Our first and only mother-daughter duo, though who is mother and who is daughter is up for debate. Kelli and Vicki met playing mother and daughter in the 2005 The Light in the Piazza as Clara and Margaret Johnson. They remain dear friends to this day and the only pair alive, well, and not dangerously close to death... Kelli and Vicki, trained opera singers, also reunited for Dido and Aeneas in 2016. Their friendship has survived a few awkward situations, such as being up against each other (alongside fellow Piazza star Celia Keenan-Bolger, and that's a story in and of itself) for the role of Nellie Forbush in South Pacific.

"I just started calling her Mother, because I felt like I could be who I was without covering up. Why she called me Mother back is pretty obvious, but she was, for me, always the rock. I felt like, Okay, she loves me, warts and all. Hopefully." - Victoria Clark on Kelli O'Hara, 2016.

[all-about-kyu]

Summary: Jongho has to be the best papa bear and husband out there. Pairing: Jongho x fem!reader Tropes: parent au Genre: fluff, slice of life Rating: G Warnings: mentions of childbirth, mentions of lactation/breastfeeding Word Count: 555 Note: Enjoy the brainrot… there’s likely more coming…

Listen to: say you won’t let go by James Arthur || lifetime by Justin Bieber || imagine by Ben Platt || butterflies (ft. Fletcher) by MAX

Special tags: @hwasrie @yoongurt @thelargefrye

“She won’t break, you know.” You chuckle.

“She’s so… tiny.” Jongho replies, not taking his eyes off your newborn daughter.

She’s hardly a week old, and Jongho has kept his eyes on her nearly the entire time. When he asked you to marry him, he committed to never falling in love with another girl. The moment he laid eyes on your daughter, that promise was broken. He looks at her like she is the most precious thing in this universe. You can’t blame him for that. She absolutely is.

Jongho looks away for just a moment to look up at you from his place on the couch. His eyes are sparkling, and the way he smiles makes your heart melt and soar simultaneously. The look he gives you makes you feel like the most special person on the planet.

“What’re you looking at me like that for?” You chuckle, sitting down beside him.

“Thank you.”

“What did I do?”

“You gave me her. You exist in my life. I’m yours, and I couldn’t ask to be anything more than that.”

You go to reply, but your daughter starts to shift slightly in your husband’s arms. She makes a slight noise that’s hardly there. Jongho returns his attention to her. He sits back against the couch entirely and shifts her tiny body to rest against his chest, head resting against his shoulder. He shuts his eyes, hoping to get a few minutes of sleep while she rests.

You smile at the small interaction. Jongho looks exhausted, you probably do too, but he looks absolutely gorgeous right now in your eyes. He fits his role as a father so well, and you wouldn’t want to experience this with anyone else in the world, even if you could. He pats her back lightly, lulling her back to sleep.  He can feel your eyes on him, though, and peeks one open to look at you. It takes mere moments for him to fully open his eyes again and turn his face toward you.

“What?” You ask again.

“You look beautiful.” He states simply.

You feel butterflies erupt in your stomach, but try to cover your reaction with a humorless chuckle, “Sure, Jongho, I’m sure. I haven’t been able to shower in a few days, my hair looks like a bird’s nest, I have stains on my shirt from feeding and just lactating and-“

“You’re always beautiful.”

You blush slightly at his comment, “S-shut up, give me her. I’ll need to feed her soon.”

“Ten more minutes?” He asks with a slight pout.

“I’ll burst if I go ten more minutes. You get five.” You smile.

Jongho makes a face that you immediately know how to read. You lean over, and just as you’re about to kiss his cheek, he turns and gently pecks your lips. He giggled at your slightly shocked face.

“You go rest a little. You deserve to relax. I’ll bring her to you in five minutes, as promised.”

You nod with a quiet thank you. You start making your way to the nursery. You might as well be in your rocking chair just in case you fall asleep.

“Babe.” Jongho calls; you turn to face him, “I love you so much. Thank you.”

You smile sweetly, “I love you too. You’re already an amazing papa bear.”

COPYRIGHT STARLITMARK 2023© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED — reposting/modifying any fic or piece of original writing posted on this blog is not allowed. Translations are not permitted. 

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[saturnthegremlin]

Okay so because I’m bored and because I just want to talk about my favorite character, here are some Will Solace Headcanons. Some I will elaborate on some I just made up.

- Has the curliest hair (other than Leo)

- Has freckles EVERYWHERE

- Has scars mostly from Tartarus and training

- Sucks at archery (most training scars are from archery)

- Almost always wears flip flops, but on occasion wears sneakers

- The sneakers he does wear are absolutely destroyed / covered in doodles

- Loves dogs especially Golden Retrievers and Australian Shepherds

- Also loves fish and guinea pigs

- Never ever takes off the chain w/ Nico’s ring

- Pretty good at guitar, amazing singing voice

- Has bad ADHD, copes with it by constantly being busy

- Overworks himself a lot

- Gets reenergized from the sun (so do all Apollo kids), sometimes he just sits out in the sun

- Sometimes helps w/ camp plays / musicals

- Listens to Taylor Swift, Conan Gray, Olivia Rodrigo, Mitski?, Laufey, and musicals (not limited to these)

- Terrified of pigeons, but loves other birds. Especially crows, thinks they’re pretty (like Nico)

- Special interests are Star Wars and true crime

- Wear a lot of jewelry, especially earrings. He has a lot of piercings

- Can draw pretty well, especially autonomy but doesn’t draw a lot

- Cries every time he watches Frozen (sibling angst)

- Loves Tangled, loves when people compare him to Rapunzel

- Not picky, will eat anything

- Does kill bugs but Nico refuses to. Saves them every time

- Loves horror movies (especially slasher ones), analyzes the gore and how realistic it is

- Good friends with Leo, Percy, Clarisse, Cecil, Lou Ellen, and Nyssa

- Watches nature documentaries (gets sad when the animals die)

- Was really close to Lee Fletcher and Michael Yew, Michael taught him how to be a medic

- Looks like a surfer boy but sucks at surfing

- Had really blue eyes (blue eyed stare)

- Hair looks golden when the sun hits it

- Has bad nightmares

- All Apollo kids wake up with the sun

- Annotates every book. Has annotated a lot of Nico’s books (Nico loves it)

- Has dyslexia (like most demigods) but loves reading

- Has pretty bad anxiety, but his hands are pretty steady

- Stays calm under pressure most of the time

- Songs that make me think of him: Mirrorball, Summer Child, All American Bitch, Working for the Knife, and From the Start

- Hates hot pink (idk)

- Nico sometimes does his makeup and paints his nails

I have more for other characters (and some more of Will) but that’s all I’m doing rn

[geralt-of-baevia]

Call It What You Want: Chapter One

Chapter One | Chapter Two | Chapter Three | Chapter Four | Chapter Five | Chapter Six | Chapter Seven | Chapter Eight | Chapter Nine

pairing: nobreakout!joel x f!ofc (Violet Fletcher)

rating: explicit, MDNI 18+

word count: 2.1k

summary: Seeking solace from a painful breakup, Violet relocates to a tranquil town, purchasing a neglected house to renovate. In her new neighborhood, she befriends Harlow, who introduces her to Joel, a gruff and seasoned contractor with a heart of gold. Despite Joel's initial grumpiness, Violet finds herself drawn to his expertise and hidden kindness.

As Violet immerses herself in home renovations alongside Joel, their dynamic begins to shift, with Joel unexpectedly opening himself up to the possibility of love. Their budding relationship faces challenges as shadows from their pasts emerge, testing their newfound connection.

warnings/tags: nothing for now! just lots of light and airy fluff and a meet-cute! but don't worry, it's gonna get dirty 😈! oh, I guess age gap? yeah, that one.

a/n: alright, i've had MAJOR writer's block for a couple years now. I tried to write a Ted Lasso fic last year, but quickly lost steam. But somehow Pedge worked his magic on me and I'm already nine chapters in on this story and 25k words and I'm just now posting it! I hope y'all enjoy. This story means the world to me rn. <3

My keys jingled in the door, and I couldn’t help but let out an aggravated sigh. This was at least the third time this week that the front door was sticking. I pinched the bridge of my nose and sighed again, knowing my fate: I would have to crawl through the kitchen window. 

Again. 

As I walked around the back to go in through the kitchen window, I heard a voice calling my name. I looked across the street and saw my neighbor Harlow. She was standing on the last step of her front porch. One of her hands was held up to her brow as a temporary visor, blocking her eyes from the sun. She was shaking her head at me with a big, stupid grin. 

“Girl, is that front door stuck again?” she asked, humor dripping from her faint southern drawl. 

I sighed, crossing my arms in defeat and shifting my weight to one hip. 

“Is there any use in lying to you at this point?” I called back in response. 

She let out a loud laugh. “At least this time I caught you before you god forbid get stuck in that damn kitchen window again, ass up and legs flailing.” 

I laughed at her comment and placed a hand awkwardly over my face in embarrassment. Two days prior I had gotten stuck climbing through the kitchen window when the front door had been jammed again, Harlow coming to my rescue. 

“And I thought you had “finally fixed” anyway?” she asked, doing air quotes with her hands.

“I did!” 

“And how is that working out for you?”

I shook my head with a laugh and flipped her the bird.

“Well, why don’t you come over and I’ll make us some breakfast?” she said, motioning me to come over to her, “and then you are going to let me call my friend who will come and fix your door. And I’m not letting you tell me no this time.”

I knew there was no saying no to her.

----

“Wait, so you’re telling me you just sautee mushrooms and onions, and then put it between puff pastry and a slab of beef?” 

I nodded with a giggle. “Mmhmm. And then you brush the meat with mustard as well.” 

Harlow’s mouth dropped open. 

“I’ll make it for you sometime!” I told her excitedly, “I haven’t made it since culinary school, but I loved it.” 

The doorbell rang and interrupted us. Harlow shot up from her seat excitedly.  

“He’s here!” she said as she made her way towards the front door. She paused for a minute and turned to face me.

“Okay, just a warning real quick. Don’t be put off by the fact that he might be a bit of a curmudgeon,” she giggled. 

“A curmudgeon? That’s such a specific brand of grump,” I said with a chuckle. She shrugged her shoulders before turning back around to get the door. 

The doorbell rang a second time and I heard Harlow shout, “I’m coming! Be patient, Jesus…” 

I giggled to myself and took a long drink of my coffee. Before I was able to set my mug down on the table, I looked up to see Harlow walk back into the kitchen, a tall man following behind her. 

“Do you want some coffee Joel?” she asked him. I watched as he crossed his arms and leaned against the frame of the doorway. 

“Yes, please,” he replied, emphasizing the please. 

I started to stand up to introduce myself, but he caught my eye and put a hand up to stop me.

“Oh, no need to get up on my behalf,” he said, stopping me. I sat back down as he walked the few steps between us and held his hand out to me. 

I took his hand in mine and he gave me a firm handshake. I almost missed him introducing himself to me. I was too focused on how the pads of his hand and fingers were callused, and how it felt against my smooth skin. 

“I’m Joel.”

“Hi, I’m Violet,” I replied, thankful that at least the autopilot in my head was paying attention. A big smile spread on his face, causing his eyes to squint and get crinkly in the corners. 

“As in the Violet that lives across the street in the 1940s fixer-upper?” He had the same faded southern accent that Harlow did. They had known each other for a long time. 

“I feel bad that you seem to know more about me than I know about you,” I said, trying to not come across awkwardly. Joel took a seat and let out an airy chuckle. 

“Oh don’t worry, there’s not much to know about me,” he said sincerely. 

“We both know that’s not true,” Harlow interjected. She sat down at the end of the table between Joel and me, handing him his coffee. 

“Thank you,” he said almost in relief. 

I tried my hardest not to stare at Joel, but I caught myself looking him up and down more than once as we sat at the table and talked. 

“Wait, so what’s goin’ on?” he asked, setting his now empty coffee mug down on the table. I sighed before tucking my hair behind my ear. 

“Okay, so the original door knob kept catching and jamming. Something having to do with the original door knob not lining up correctly when it's closed. I thought putting a new door knob and re-aligning it would work. But then I tried to open my door when I got open, and it was stuck again,” I explained, “so I think it’s past me just YouTubing answers.” 

“Well it’s a good thing that Joel here is a carpenter,” Harlow said, patting him on the shoulder. He smiled another crinkled smile at her. 

“Retired carpenter, but yes,” he said, giving her a friendly wink, “but I can fix that. I bet you anything your doorway is slackin’ and need a new door. Either way, I’m sure I can fix it.”

“Are you sure? I don’t want to be a bother-”

“If it was going to be a bother to me, I wouldn’t have come here in the first place,” he said with a knowing smirk. I tried my hardest to keep my blushing to a minimum, but my cheeks still grew warm. 

Joel stood up and clapped his hands, rubbing them together excitedly. “Alright ladies, let's get up and go look at this door.” We all got up and exited the house, making our way across the street to mine. 

I smiled up at the house as we made our way to the front door. Sometimes I still couldn’t believe it was mine. The house had been barely used for almost a decade. Each one of the five bedrooms needed to be redone. And the two bathrooms. And the sitting rooms. It was a lot of work, but worth it. Not to mention a dilapidated house was cheaper to buy than a ready-to-move-in one. I saw it as a way that I get to make the house exactly how I wanted it. 

Once we were at the door, Joel held his hand out to me. 

“Key please,” he said, locking eyes with me as he did. I fumbled into my pocket, pulled the key out, and placed it in his hand. “Thanks.” 

He put the key in the keyhole and tried to turn it, but it wouldn’t budge. He tried turning it the other way, but it still didn’t move. I sighed. 

“How badly did I fuck it up?” I asked. He let out a chuckle. 

“You didn’t fuck it up, the house did,” he said, giving me a reassuring look. I watched as he pointed out areas around the frame on the wall, “I guarantee you it’s like I said, slacking in these places and putting the door off balance.”

“So what's the fix?” I asked, “Is it going to be intense?”

“Not at all. It’s a project I could do and get done by this afternoon. I just need to go get some things for it,” he said, still looking at the wall and assessing. “But I need to look at it from the inside before I can tell. Is there a way to get in?”

Harlow giggled. “Through the kitchen window. I had to help rescue her the other day, though.” 

"I’ll give you a boost this time then,” he said with a smirk. 

The three of us made our way around the back of the house, and I shimmied open the window just enough for me to fit through. Joel squatted down, laced his fingers together, and looked up at me. 

“Ready?” he asked. I nodded in response. I took a deep breath, placed my hands on Joel’s shoulders, and then my foot in his hands. 

“Three, two, one, up.” On ‘up’ I jumped with my foot on the ground as he simultaneously lifted me. I was taken aback a little by how effortlessly he did so, and how I could feel muscles through his shirt. 

I grabbed onto the bottom of the windowsill and pulled myself up as Joel continued to push. He led the foot that was in his hands to his shoulder, where I was able to give myself a final boost and get through the window. I grabbed onto the edge of the counter inside and pulled myself the rest of the way in, accidentally landing in a thud on the black and white kitchen floor. 

“You okay?” Joel and Harlow shouted in unison. 

“I’m fine!” I called back as I got myself to my feet. I peeked out of the window to look at them. “I’m going to go find an easier window for you two to climb through and get it ready.”

I ran towards the front of the house, looking for a window that was lower and easier to get through. I decided on one of the windows that lined the porch. I haphazardly ripped the screen from the window and unlocked it. After opened it I stuck my head out and shouted, “Over here, you two!”

Once Harlow and Joel crawled into the house, Joel immediately headed for the front door. 

“Have you decided on a paint color for this room yet?” Harlow asked me, looking around the room we were in. I shook my head. 

“I’ve decided to keep the wallpaper. I’m just going to clean it and touch up the trim,” I told her with a big smile. She looked around the room at the wallpaper in question, wincing a little at the bold gold pattern on the walls. 

“So, I was right,” Joel said, peeking his head around into the room. He nudged his head for me to come see. I swallowed the butterflies down into my stomach and went into the foyer. He nudged his head again before crouching down by the door knob. I closed the space between us and followed suit, crouching down so that I was at eye level with Joel and the doorknob.

Joel pointed his finger at where the door and the frame joined. “See how it’s not lining up, it's just a little too low.”

I watched as he stood up and grabbed onto the knob with both hands. With a grunt, he lifted the door and turned it at the same time. To my happy surprise, the door opened with no problem. Joe took a step back and placed his hands on his hips, looking at the door with a sense of accomplishment. 

“So, a new doorframe?” I asked as I got to my feet. He replied with a “mmhmm.” 

“Yep. I just need to take some measurements of the door and the frame. I know I have enough spare wood at my place, but I’ll need a new door. Did you say you have the original hardware?”

I nodded. “How much is a new door going to cost? I can get you the money for it.”

He shook his head. “Nah, don’t worry. I know a guy where I can get a good door for cheap. Consider it a housewarming gift.”

Harlow and I sat on my front porch as we watched Joel drive off in the direction of the woodshop. 

“So, I thought you said he was a curmudgeon?” I said, keeping my gaze ahead. 

“He is. Usually.”

She nudged my shoulder with hers, causing me to sway to the side. I straightened up and finally looked over at her just in time to nudge her back, biting at my bottom lip. 

Usually. We’ll have to see what that means. 

[muppet-facts]

Muppet Fact #800

Fletcher Bird only ever had one line in his entire time on The Muppet Show. He said "Uh, excuse me, I'm looking for..."

Source:

The Muppet Show. Episode 309: Liberace. October 16, 1978.

[shimmering-starsun]

Fletcher/Neiman christmas time…

They go vinyl shopping together, wear big sweaters…. Fletcher has a ribbed black turtleneck and Andrew has a nice coffee-colored fuzzy sweater. They go see those minature trains that run a short track in a little snowy toy town. They both say it’s stupid but they both love to watch it run it’s course. They go around showing up at jazz clubs in their coats and scarfs. They sit in silence together in their apartment watching their fireplace crackle while drinking wine. They ramble about instruments, look through sales on magazines and talk about getting Andrew a new kick drum. Fletcher improvises on his piano after Andrew slips off into a soft sleep. He plays until 2 in the morning because he is just. So Happy. He’s got his Bird, and he’s sleeping in the soft woven chair next to him. They see so many mistletoes when out on the town, but they wait to kiss till’ they get home.

fuck!

[tsarisfanfiction]

The Attack of the Demon Pigeons

Fandom: Percy Jackson and the Olympians Rating: Teen Genre: Family/Hurt/Comfort Characters: Will Solace, Lee Fletcher, Michael Yew, Apollo Cabin After encountering Stymphalian birds on his way to camp, Will had hoped to never see them again. He certainly hadn't expected to ever encounter them in Camp Half-Blood itself. Okay, so I've thrown TSATS out the window for a lot of reasons, but I did like the potential trauma of what happens when the Stymphalian birds attacked the camp in SOM if Will's already had a bad time with them, so I've snuck an encounter with them into my Will timeline and figured I'd write a fic about the SOM attack from his pov. I have a discord server for all my fics, including this one!  If you wanna chat with me or with other readers about stuff I write (or just be social in general), hop on over and say hi!

Lee hadn’t stopped complaining about the chariot race since it was announced.  It wasn’t like Will’s older brother to be so stressed out about a camp activity, and he’d been a little surprised at just how upset he was about the race’s return – at least, until Lee mentioned that it was the reason Marisa only had one arm.  Will remembered the previous head counsellor for Ares well, even though she’d left two summers ago.  The stump of her right bicep had always looked painful.

Now, Will was worried about it, too.  He wasn’t sure why they were even entering – the Vinther twins from cabin twelve had point blank refused, and neither the Aphrodite nor Demeter kids had even considered it – but despite Lee’s vocal dismay they were.

“Be careful,” Lee insisted as Morton and Daisy hitched their two horses up, Michael standing alongside the chariot and counting out arrows.

It was Lee’s insistence that had convinced Michael not to use sharp arrows, too.  “We don’t need a repeat of your first summer,” Will had heard him say.  “There’s going to be enough work for us to do after the race without you adding to it.”  Will hadn’t been around for Michael’s first summer, but he’d heard the stories.  Michael, for his part, had rolled his eyes and made a show out of only adding blunted arrows to his quiver.

Blunted arrows were still going to hurt, but Michael had point blank refused to not shoot anyone at all, arguing that they were certainly going to be attacked themselves so why shouldn’t he return the favour, and bruising was much easier to fix than whatever else Lee thought they were going to have to deal with at the end.  Will very much hoped there wouldn’t be any limbs torn off this time.

He certainly hoped no-one was going to die.

“You’re good to go,” Daisy said to Morton and Michael, completely ignoring Lee as she held the head of the horse closest to her.  She and Morton were the animal-lovers of the cabin – it had been obvious that one of them would be their driver, and Daisy had passed the honour straight over in a sign that she, too, wasn’t happy about the race.

She hadn’t been in camp for the last one, the one that had gone so badly wrong it was immortalised as a golden chariot on a crimson bead on Lee’s camp necklace – Lee and Silena from the Aphrodite cabin were the only ones in camp that had that bead now, the only campers that remembered it happening, rather than simply hearing the stories – but she was one of the rare demigods who had a full-blooded sibling, and her elder sister Emily had been in camp at the time.

Will also didn’t think it was a coincidence that Michael was making up the other half of their chariot team.  Not only was he the best archer in the cabin, but he also healed fast.  Morton was a faster healer than Daisy, too.

“Then let’s get this over with,” Morton sighed, jumping into the chariot and taking the reins.  “Ready, Michael?”

Michael snorted, dropping one last blunt arrow into his quiver and shouldering his bow before lightly springing into the chariot behind him.  Seeing his siblings in the chariot showed Will just how not-safe it looked – there was nothing for either of them to hold onto.  All Morton had were the reins, which he couldn’t pull on hard otherwise the horses would rear up.  Michael had nothing except the side, which he couldn’t hold onto whilst shooting, and his own sense of balance.

“I’ll walk you to the track,” Daisy said.  “Lee, if you say be careful one more time I’m gagging you.  We get it, stop scaring Will.”

Usually, Lee would make some sort of light-hearted protest about how he was the head counsellor when one of their older siblings – Daisy was eighteen and would be leaving camp to start vet college in the fall – told him what to do, so when his shoulders slumped slightly with a sigh, Will found himself even more worried.

“Sorry, Will,” his brother said, putting an arm around his shoulders before raising his head to look at the rest of their siblings, who were all watching Daisy lead the chariot with their brothers in towards the track.  “Let’s get to the stands, guys.  We want good seats.”

Good seats apparently did not equate front row seats.  Lee firmly shepherded them all near the back of the stands, grabbing Nathan and Robyn by their collars when they tried to head to the front.  “Not the front,” he said.

“Aren’t you being a little too paranoid about this?” Nathan grumbled.  Will had heard the arguments about why couldn’t he be their fighter earlier – Michael had won by challenging him to a shoot-out.  Nathan wasn’t a bad archer (he was certainly better than Will, despite only arriving at camp few months ago), but even in their cabin, no-one came close to Michael.

“If nothing goes wrong and no-one gets badly hurt, then you can complain at me for being too paranoid,” Lee told him.  “And I’ll apologise for ruining the race for you.  Until then, we’re listening to my ‘paranoia’, as you call it.”

No-one else complained after that.

It wasn’t just Lee who was notably on edge.  The other head counsellor that had forced her entire cabin as far back in the stands as possible was Silena, and Will saw her and Lee share a worried look as the Aphrodite kids settled onto the stone steps, most of them apparently completely uninterested in the race.

“Your cabin’s competing?” Will heard Silena ask Lee quietly.  “I didn’t think you would.”

Lee’s answer was even quieter and his tone was as dark as Will had ever heard it.  “We weren’t given a choice.”  His tone lowered even more, until Will could hardly hear what he was saying.  “He made sure all the lead cabins in the camp’s defences took part.”

The rest of the campers jostled around on the other steps, all clearly trying to sit as far away from Tantalus as possible, leaving the poor nymphs and satyrs forced to watch as a barrier between them.  Will was glad Lee had made sure they were nowhere near their new activities director.

Daisy made her way up to join them as Morton drove the chariot the last few yards onto the track, into a gap between the Ares and Hermes chariots.  Will couldn’t hear what was being said, but he could see Michael nocking an arrow as he snapped at the Stoll brothers in the Hermes chariot next to him.  Connor was gesturing at the arrow in what looked a lot like protest, but if Lee hadn’t been able to talk Michael down any more than blunted arrows, then someone from another cabin didn’t stand a chance in Tartarus.

Morton seemed determined to ignore everything except their horses, even when Murder (Will had never understood that nickname, but that was Ares kids for you) leaned over the side of his chariot to say something before Clarisse pulled him back with a short command.

Next to Will, Lee was almost vibrating, clearly impatient for the race to be finished already.  Will grabbed his hand, and got a squeeze in return.

Below them, the Poseidon chariot’s horses needed calming by Percy – Will guessed they weren’t happy about Tyson, which he thought was entirely fair, the cyclops was big and rather scary – and then finally all the chariots were ready to go.

Movement caught Will’s eye, and he glanced up at the trees.  The chariot race seemed to have even drawn in spectating birds, which seemed a little unusual but nothing completely out of the ordinary for camp.  Crows and doves in particular were common sights, but there was something about these that put Will on edge.

It was probably Lee’s paranoia rubbing off on him, he told himself, especially when he thought he saw a glint of something shiny – too shiny to be a crow or a dove.  He tore his eyes away and forced himself to look at the chariots again as they jostled into their positions on the starting line.  Michael had stopped arguing with the Stolls, but his bowstring now had two arrows on it instead of one.  Morton’s mouth was moving but Will couldn’t tell if he was talking to Michael or the horses.  He certainly wasn’t talking to Clarisse or Murder, who looked like they were having their own last-minute strategy discussion.

More birds flew throught his periphery and he pressed against Lee’s side.  They were just normal birds, he told himself.  Birds that weren’t normal couldn’t get into camp.  They couldn’t.  It didn’t matter that he and his siblings all carried bows and full quivers at all times now because sometimes monsters were breaking through the barrier.  It didn’t.

Lee let go of his hand and wrapped his arm back around his shoulders again, pulling him in tightly.  “Sorry, did I scare you that much?” his brother asked quietly.  Will shook his head, then jumped as the birds started to caw.

It wasn’t, it wasn’t, it wasn’t-

But he knew that sound.

“Will?”  Lee sounded worried, and Will looked up to see his brother looking down at him, dark blue eyes filled with concern.  “Will, are you okay?”

His quiet question drew the attention of some of the rest of the cabin, and Will swallowed.  “I don’t like the birds,” he admitted.

“The birds?”  Lee blinked, as though he hadn’t expected that.  It wasn’t like Lee didn’t know about the birds that had attacked Will and Thistleberry on their way to camp, but his brother had obviously thought it was something to do with the race.  “It’s okay, Will,” he said, a soft smile slipping onto his face as he glanced over towards the birds himself.  “They’re just- oh.”

“Oh?” Nathan asked, leaning in and almost crushing Will.  “They’re just birds, right?  Noisy fuckers.”

“You’ve been spending too much time around Michael,” Daisy muttered.  She was ignored.

“Are you going to tell us the birds are making you paranoid, too?” Robyn added.  “Should we be ready to shoot them if they startle the horses or something?”

Lee sighed.  “Guys,” he said.  “I get it, you’re annoyed at me.”

“I don’t like those birds, either,” Daisy backed him up.  She knew about Will’s history, too, unlike the other two.  “They’re not the normal ones we get around camp.”

The birds were getting louder, and Will burrowed further into Lee’s side.  Around him, the rest of the campers were starting to murmur, so it wasn’t just him that was bothered.  Lee’s reaction made him think that maybe he wasn’t being paranoid – or maybe Lee was being extra paranoid.  Will definitely wished for the second option.

Below them, Tantalus didn’t seem to care about the noisy birds at all as he announced the start of the race, and Will forced himself to watch as the chariots all surged forwards, hoping that the race would go smoothly, that everything was fine-

He shrieked as Travis lurched the Hermes chariot sideways and it smashed straight into the wheel of their golden chariot.

“No!” Lee shouted almost in his ear, but it wasn’t just Lee as they all watched Morton and Michael get thrown out, the wooden chariot splintering.  Caught by the reins, Morton’s fall wasn’t clean and Will saw his wrist jerk, clearly breaking as he crashed into the ground.

Michael, unrestrained, ended up in a roll that looked almost controlled as he landed heavily, flipping over until he was on the balls of his feet, bow fully drawn.  The nocked arrows flew towards the Hermes chariot, but the Stolls didn’t even notice the shafts tangling in their wheels as the panicking horses cut them off, obliterating their chariot in turn.

Both of them were thrown clear, not too dissimilarly to Morton and Michael, and wisely scrabbled away from both the mess of chariots and panicking horses, and Michael as he stood up, nocking more arrows.  Morton was slower to get to his feet, and was obviously cradling his broken wrist as he did so, but next to him, Will felt Lee relax slightly.

They were okay.  Michael didn’t seem to be injured at all, although there were probably some bumps and scrapes they couldn’t see, and Morton only seemed to be worried about his wrist.  Given Lee’s stories, and Marisa’s arm, it could have been a lot worse.

It was Morton that pulled Michael back from shooting the Stolls again, gesturing with his head to the horses.  Daisy was quivering in her seat, and some of the Aphrodite kids – Silena included – were no better, as the four horses kept struggling.  The chariots had to get off the track, and the horses needed calming down, but the moment some of them tried to move to go help, Tantalus’ head swivelled around.

"No interference," he reminded them all, voice raised just enough to be heard above the shrieking birds.  It sounded a bit like a threat.

Will watched as Morton and Michael approached the wreckage, the Stolls joining them – after putting their hands up in surrender when Michael glared at them and snapped something Will couldn’t hear over the birds – and started trying to free the horses.  Morton had the golden touch with the animals, while Michael and the Stolls carefully dodged hooves to cut them loose.  Next to Will, Lee had tensed again, and Will could understand why.  Horses were dangerous – if any of them took a hoof to the head, they could be killed.

The other chariots were still thundering around the track.  Beckendorf and Jake were trying to regain control of their chariot after failing to pull something on Percy and Tyson, while Annabeth and Conrad were barrelling into the lead, pursued by both the Poseidon and Ares chariots.

Will barely noticed any of that, though, because that was the moment the birds attacked.

Someone screamed.

Several someones screamed.

Will was one of them.

He knew these birds, knew those beaks that were tearing at him, getting caught in his hair and digging at his arms as he tried to batter them away before Lee pushed him down, crouching over him as Will curled up into a defensive ball.  He was vaguely aware of his siblings moving around him, nocking arrows to strings as further away the cries of shields! came from where the Athena kids had been sitting.

“Stay down, Will,” Lee said, his voice tight.  He sounded hurt, and blood dripped onto the stone by Will’s face.  Next to him, he heard Nathan swearing.

“I can’t get a clear shot!” one of his other siblings cried – Will thought it might have been Lear but with so much screaming it was hard to tell.

“They’re too close!” someone else shouted.

One of the Aphrodite kids screeched almost as loudly as the birds.

“Group together!” Lee ordered, and Will found himself pulled into a mass of bodies.  “Daisy- Michael?”

“I can’t get a fucking shot from the ground!” Will heard Michael yell back.  He sounded close, and out of breath.  “And I need arrows with fucking points!”

Will’s own quiver dug into his side.  He didn’t know where his bow was.

“Michael!” he shouted, fumbling with the strap.

“Will, stay down!” Lee shouted.

“Fuck, Will!  Where-”  Will unfurled himself enough to spot familiar boots and grabbed at Michael’s ankle.  Immediately, beaks tore into his exposed arm, and he half-screamed, half-sobbed.  “Fuckers!” his brother swore, lashing out with his other foot and kicking away the birds.

They went for Michael instead, but aside from a constant stream of curses, his brother ignored them as he fought his way past Nathan – who hadn’t stopped swearing, either – to duck down underneath where Lee was still looming over Will.  Michael didn’t bother asking if he was okay – he knew, too, about Will’s history with the birds.  He staggered, as though something had hit him from behind, and over his shoulder Will saw massive dark wings.

“Stay down,” he snapped when Will tried to move, realising that between Lee and Michael and someone else – Daisy, maybe – he was completely hemmed in by his siblings.  Protected by his siblings.  The realisation made tears well in his eyes.

“Arrows,” he said, fumbling with his quiver again.  He didn’t know where his bow was, couldn’t shoot well enough to take down the birds even if he could – he thought he could, when he’d trained and trained and trained, but now the birds were here and all he could do was cower and tremble and hate himself for being so scared – and Michael needed arrows.

His brother understood.

Michael’s small, deft fingers – they were smaller than Will’s, now, and it had always been obvious that he was going to out-grow Michael one day but he still hadn’t been ready for the day it happened – pushed his out the way and with a quick twist had the buckle loose.  “Stay down,” he said again, somehow fastening the quiver around his own waist and dropping his own in the process, before grabbing his bow again.  “I’ve got some birds to fucking kill.”

He stood up, amid shouts of no clear shot from their siblings, and snarled.

“Be careful!” Will heard Lee caution.

“Everyone’s got plenty of fucking holes in them already,” Michael snapped.  “A few more won’t make any fucking difference.”

“Michael!”

Anything else Lee had to say was drowned out by the sudden explosion of ear-splitting violins at maximum volume.  Will recognised one of Chiron’s CDs when he heard it, although he didn’t know which album it was.

The identity of the music was much less important than the cry of “archers!” from somewhere below – Annabeth, of course it was Annabeth that had thought of it – and the ripple that ran through his siblings as they shifted from crouching and cowering to standing up straight.  Will poked his head up as well to see the birds fleeing in a dazed cacophony, colliding with each other.

Michael was the first to shoot, what looked like half a quiver nocked to his string.  Every single one turned one of the birds into an explosion of dust.  Lee was half a second behind him, multiple arrows on his own string, and Will fumbled for his own bow – spotting it lying abandoned where he’d been sat – and arrows from Michael’s discarded quiver as the rest of his siblings followed suit.

Will could only shoot one arrow at a time, and all he had were Michael’s blunted ones, but he still forced himself to join his siblings in sending a hail of shafts into the sky.  It turned out that even blunt arrows could hit with enough force to dust some, although they couldn’t do what Michael’s sharp shots were doing and occasionally piercing several with one arrow.

It felt like an eternity before they were all gone, a layer of dust covering the ground and remains of the Apollo and Hermes chariots all that remained of those that hadn’t managed to get out of range fast enough.

The campers were a mess.

Will looked down at his exposed skin, where blood was trickling down from where he’d been pecked, and then at everyone else.  No-one was unscathed.  Lee had several deep gouges in the back of his neck, and Daisy’s hands were riddled with holes, while Michael’s face dripped red.  No-one else was any better off, and Will sank down to sit on the stone steps again shakily.

A warm arm wrapped around him and he looked up to see Lee sitting next to him.

“They’re gone now, Will,” his brother told him.  “It’s over.”

“I am going to shoot all fucking birds on sight now,” Michael grumbled on Lee’s other side – Daisy immediately protested, but went ignored, much like the entire Apollo cabin was ignoring Tantalus declaring Clarisse the winner.  Will tried to listen to see if he was saying anything about organising triage, but he only seemed to care about talking nonsense instead.

Lee nudged him softly, picking up his arm where it was bleeding and scrutinising it carefully.  “Let’s get you healed up,” he said.  “We’ll need your help patching everyone else up.”  He chanted a prayer to their father, and Will watched as his cuts stopped stinging so badly and started to heal up.

“I’ll start rounding people up for triage once he’s finished loving the sound of his own voice,” Daisy said, jerking her head towards Tantalus, and Lee nodded.

“Thanks,” he said.  “Michael, how badly were you and Morton hurt in the crash?”

Michael huffed.  “I’m fine,” he said.  “Don’t worry about me.  Morton’s wrist is fucked and he got a few scrapes but he’ll be fine, too.”

“I take it you didn’t look at Travis and Connor?” Lee asked, sounding a little bemused.

“Of course I fucking didn’t,” Michael grumbled.  “Fucking assholes.”

Lee laughed a little.  “I’ll catch up with them later,” he said, as Tantalus finally stopped proclaiming how the whole thing was Annabeth, Percy and Tyson’s fault – yet somehow not Conrad’s, despite it supposedly being the Athena and Poseidon chariots to blame – and dismissed them to clear up the mess.  “They look fine from up here.”

Will glanced down to see the Stolls taking charge of the Hermes cabin.  They had the same red specks as everyone else, but otherwise Lee didn’t seem to be wrong.  “They can wait,” he agreed, and Michael smirked.  Lee shook his head, but he was smiling, too.

“We’ve got a lot of work to do,” he said.  “Michael, you’re on arrow collection duty with Nathan.  Don’t shoot anyone, including each other, and if anyone comes to you guys for healing send them to the triage nicely.  Even the Stolls, although I think they’ve got better self-preservation than to go near you right now, Michael.  Will, you and Robyn are with me in the infirmary.  Everyone else, triage – if it’s not bad enough to need healing, clean punctures, put band-aids on and send them towards the other head counsellors to help in clearing this mess.  Anyone worse, to the infirmary.  No-one’s cleared to give out ambrosia or nectar – if they need it, infirmary.  Start with each other.  Lear, take over organising the campers from Daisy – I know she’d rather deal with the horses.  And make sure Morton comes to the infirmary rather than the stables!”

Will pulled himself to his feet as his siblings dispersed in groups of two or three, checking each other over as they headed for the bulk of the campers.

“You’re hurt,” he said, looking at Lee’s gouges, and his brother smiled reassuringly at him.

“It’s fine,” he promised.  “Let’s get to the infirmary first, then you can patch me up, okay?  I want to be there before patients start showing up.”

Will eyed the blood dubiously, but Lee pulled him along before he could say anything else.  Robyn had already run on ahead, nursing her own wounds as she did so, and Lee forged a path straight to the Big House, dodging around Mr D. when the god made a brief appearance, took in the state of the camp, and disappeared inside again.

All around them there was activity.  Silena was pacifying some of her distraught siblings and nudging them towards where Lear had taken over from Daisy in corralling the camp.  Will could see why Lee had picked him to do that – he and Daisy were both eighteen, but where Daisy was average height and more interested in making sure the horses were okay, Lear was tall and muscular and willing to wrangle campers.  Much like his older brother, Brandon, who had left camp two years ago – like Daisy, he was the younger of a pair of rare full siblings – he was going to be headed straight for the basketball leagues in the fall.  Lear was impossible to miss, and difficult to disagree with when he put his foot down.

Clarisse was organising the Ares cabin.  None of them had even considered approaching healers, and Will wondered how long it was going to take Lee to hunt them down, but despite their wounds, they were all grimly reorganising what sounded like camp defences.  Beckendorf had taken the lead on organising the clear-up of the racetrack, complete with the debris from the destroyed chariots, and from the sound of it was welcoming volunteers from all cabins.

It was almost a relief when they made it to the infirmary, away from the chaos of the camp.  Robyn had got there first and was already pulling out bandages and antiseptic wipes in preparation for the long line of patients they were no doubt going to get, and Will made Lee sit down as he inspected his older brother’s wounds.

“You didn’t have to shield me,” he said as he cleaned them, trying to ignore Lee’s wincing.  “You or Michael or Daisy or-”

“The older ones shielded all of us,” Robyn interrupted him, depositing vials of nectar on the desk.  “It wasn’t just you, Will.”  She gestured at the wounds on her own arms.  Like him, now that Will looked closely, she didn’t actually have many.

“Older sibling prerogative,” Lee shrugged, wincing again as Will dabbed a bit more at a particularly deep gouge.  “Daisy was trying to shelter me, too.”  He reached for Robyn’s arm.  “Let me look at those while Will deals with me.  Don’t think I missed you running on ahead without getting checked out.  We’ve talked about this, Robyn.”

“I wanted to get the infirmary ready,” she protested, but obeyed anyway, letting Lee wipe her wounds and chant another little prayer to Apollo.  Satisfied that Lee’s wounds were clean, Will hummed his own healing hymn, watching the gouges seal up beneath his hands.

He was done just in time for the first patients to limp through the door.

Despite Lee’s earlier orders that only the seriously injured come to the infirmary, most of the camp passed through their doors at some point.  The Ares kids had to be hunted down – Murder’s fingers had been pecked to the bone when he’d apparently tried to hold a camouflage net over himself and Clarisse as a defence, but he hadn’t walked in until Lear had all but picked him up and thrown him through the door – but most came willingly.  No-one, it seemed, wanted to run the risk of being scarred by birds.  Even most of the Ares kids didn’t seem to think that being pecked was a particularly badass scar story to tell and caved to medical attention eventually.

By the time they were done, Will was exhausted, and Lee and Robyn didn’t seem much better.  Their siblings had come to join them once initial triage was over – even Michael had ended up hanging out in the corner after he and Nathan had retrieved all the arrows they could, although most of what he did was to snap at anyone who tried to push ahead in the queue and threaten them with more holes if they disobeyed – but treating the entire camp in the space of a couple of hours was still a tall order.

Tantalus and his side comments about demigods being wimps nowadays didn’t help, either.

Will missed Chiron.

As the last patients – the Stolls, who had been left until last because they weren’t that badly hurt and had made the fundamental mistake of upsetting the healers by knocking two of their own out of a chariot – finally left, Will flopped down onto one of the beds.  Robyn flaked out on the floor, while Lee slumped into a chair next to them.  Michael shoved a small vial of nectar at each of them, and Will gratefully drank his as he watched Morton, wrist freshly casted, slink out of the door to no doubt join Daisy in the stables with the horses.

“Fucking chariot races,” Michael muttered into the blissful quiet of the emptied infirmary.  “I won’t be doing that again.”

Nathan, who had flopped on the floor next to Robyn for no reason other than to keep her company, perked up.  “Does that mean I get to be fighter next time?”

“There will be no next time,” Lee grumbled.

“Be my fucking guest,” Michael said at the same time.  “See how you like getting thrown out of a fucking chariot.”

He’d refused medical treatment until everyone else – except the Stolls – had been treated, and wasn’t impressed to find out that he’d actually got a light sprain to his ankle which he’d somehow completely missed during all of the excitement.  Will and Lee had both chewed him out for not letting them check him over earlier.

“There will be no next time,” Lee repeated firmly.

After that morning, Will was firmly on Lee’s side.

“How are you doing, Will?” Lee asked him after a few moments.  He wasn’t asking about Will’s post-healing exhaustion and they both knew it.

Will’s hand curled into a fist.  “I was scared,” he admitted.  “I couldn’t-”  He’d trained to fight them but he’d just hidden.

“Nothing wrong with being scared,” Michael told him bluntly when he broke off, before Lee could say anything.  He perched on the side of the bed Will was flopped on.  “You still shot them down.  I saw you.  With fucking blunt arrows, too.”

He hadn’t realised Michael had even been paying attention to his shooting.

“Not as-”

“If you’re about to say not as many as me, I’m going to stuff these bandages in your mouth,” Michael threatened, gesturing at the ones wrapped around his ankle.  Will’s mouth shut with a clack.  “It wasn’t a fucking competition, Will.  You stood up and you shot those fuckers even though Lee and I both told you to stay the fuck down.”

Was Michael telling him off for disobeying them?  Indignation flooded through him – sure, he’d been scared, but if Michael thought he was really just going to hide under them like a coward-!

Will pushed himself into a sitting position, only to see that his older brothers were both smiling at him.

“You were scared but you didn’t let that stop you,” Lee told him.  “That was really brave, Will.”

Will felt his cheeks heat up.  “But I-”

“But nothing,” Lee said.  “None of us are Herakles – we can’t take down a flock of those things single-handedly.  Not even Michael.”

“I could,” Michael grumbled quietly, and Lee shushed him.

“You’d get torn to shreds by a flock that large before you killed half of them,” he pointed out.  Michael threw an unused roll of bandages at Nathan when the younger boy laughed at him from the floor.

“You’d get torn apart first,” he snarled at him.

“Wanna bet?”  Will couldn’t see Nathan, but he could hear the cocky smirk in his voice.

“No,” Lee intervened before Michael could reply – and probably accept it, if Will knew his brother at all.  “Both of you, stop it.  Neither of you are having a competition to see how many Stymphalian birds you can shoot down before they kill you.  Or any other substitute for them, either.  Anyway,” he stressed, turning to look at Will again, “my point is that we’ll always have to work together to take down some things – a lot of things, actually.  So it’s not a bad thing that you can’t do it alone.  You’re not alone, Will.”

“Damn straight you’re not,” Michael agreed, nudging him in the side with an elbow.

Will knew he wasn’t alone.  He hadn’t been alone since he’d arrived at camp and discovered he had twenty or so half-siblings.  Even in the winter months, when most of them went home, there were still several – Lee, Michael, Daisy and Robyn among them – that stayed.  It was harder to find somewhere alone than to be with someone.

He still found himself bursting into tears, reaching out blindly for one of his siblings.

It was Lee that wrapped him up in his arms, almost pulling him off of the bed and into his lap, but there was a hand in his hair that was too small to be anyone’s except Michael’s and more hands on his shoulders.  Will sobbed into his brother’s shoulder, clinging to Lee tightly in turn.

The birds had been terrifying and he was exhausted from several hours of healing, but his siblings were proud of him and he hadn’t run away, had been brave, according to Lee.

Will still didn’t feel very brave.  But right then, he felt safe.

[moonbittern]

we have a juvenile red-tailed hawk feuding with both our local murder and a family of four deer that's been coming around

[ask-a-bot]

DP: sorry we took so long to come back, the ‘summer holidays’ have ended and we live near several schools. We were woefully unprepared for school traffic.

T: yeah there are human children everywhere. I’m terrified to walk anywhere right now.

MS: ve are doing fine for ze moment, ve don’t need anything in particular.. although very do need to find Waspinator a therapist.

W: for last time, Waspinator is fine

MS: no jou aren’t. Anyway, as for ze Vehicons… I suspect zey are reluctant to leave until Megatron haz fully recovered. Zey fret over his health in every video call.

🪣: I also think they like spending time with the Terrans. The kids have grown on them.

T: wait who are the Terrans…?

DP: oh. New Cybertronian species, native to earth. They’re younglings.

T: …WHY DID NO ONE TELL ME THERE WERE LITTLE ONES?!

They are my nieces and nephews. And I have one who is neither. Come and say hello, young ones.

Hi!

This is my nephew, Jawbreaker. He likes to be called "JB", as in Mrs. Fletcher of Murder She Wrote, but I am not one for nicknames.

You like murder things? Aw! No fair! Mom won't let us watch stuff like that.

I find Murder She Wrote quite sad. The stories are always about the people and there are always lives left damaged and innocent people hurt. They are good – always good – but somewhat painful. I can understand why your mother does not permit you to watch them.

Is there anything you would like to say about yourself?

OK! I'm the only dinobot in the family. I'm big and strong and sometimes I break stuff. Like I broke the kitchen wall when I wanted to show Mom something cool. I'm learning to be more careful though.

It is a part of growing for many of us. I, too, sometimes break things.

You do?

Yes, well... Cybertronian buildings are made of metal. I am still a little... heavy handed... sometimes. Brick, stone, concrete, wood... Earth materials are easily broken. Especially when you were built to break through Cybertronian rock. I, too, must learn to be careful and gentle. It takes time.

Moving on, then. We have my niece, Twitch:

Hello! I like birds and nature, dancing and training!

I like Earth's wildlife too. Snf. And training is always fun.

Uh-huh! 😊

My nephew, Thrash:

Yeah, I'm the coolest Terran! I'm really musical and I'm a better dancer than Twitch. I'm also a lot faster!

Life does not have to be a contest, young one. You will be happier if you accept that everyone has their own skills and we are all the best at something. Twitch included.

Brrrrrrrrpt!

Thrash! That is not the way to behave.

Sorry. Not sorry.

I heard that. Do not give me reason to talk to your mother.

Ahem. We have my niece, Hashtag:

Hi! That's me. I like skating! I think I'm pretty good at it. I'm also real good at all things Internet, but I kinda get distracted by it.

And I am Nightshade! I am the non binary nibbling.

Nibbling?

Niece, nephew or other.

Ah. So, that is the word for "sister's offspring". Thank you.

I like science and I am quite good at it. Getting better at it. I have an owl alt mode and I have always liked the way they look. I like fiction books as much as I like non fiction.

Books are good.

They are!

I also have two human... nibblings. But I am not sure where they are.

Getting car sick with Hot Rod and Bumblebee.

Oh. How nice. Bumblebee's idea, I take it?

He kept saying he's faster than Hot Rod, so now they're racing.

They wanted humans with them to... uh...

Hmbph! To act as referees, probably. Human younglings are hardly likely to stay impartial, however.

That's probably what Bumblebee's counting on.

Probably.

[camellia-salazar]

More ponies!! (You have no idea how long I've wanted to post these-)

That one scene where Orel saw Christina for the very first time. I may have been over-doing it.. 😅

Scout drawings because I love drawing pegasi. I also love drawing him too so it's a win-win.

Love Händel (who may have gotten me to watch Phineas and Ferb for the first time in y e a r s)

More of them to see their dynamic as ponies. (Just a heads up I did change their designs just a tad later on.. and by that I mean Danny's eye color changes, the rest probably didn't change tbh).

Can't forget about the Flynn-Fletcher siblings. It was fun designing them especially Phineas and Candice.

The Louds (I will draw Lynn senior in a sweater just you wait). I love how this one turned out colorful, they really did hand out every character's colors and said 'here make them into ponies'. That's how it felt like anyways.

Finally Dr. Doofenshmirtz and Perry the Griffin. Yes I made perry a griffin, mostly because just like I consider dogs as dragons I consider cats as griffins.

But since Perry's a Platypus in the show I made him a griffin anyways because he has a duck bill and ducks are considered birds and griffins are half bird so.. but then again there was an episode where he was a dragon and maybe I should've stick with the dragon... But I already made him a griffin so it's too late. (Also the cutie mark for Doofenshmirtz might change, it doesn't look much of a cutie mark to me it looks off in this idk).

Anyways thank you for taking the time to read and looking at my pony art. Have a great day/night! ✨💖👋😁

[detective-inspector-her]

Valkyrie, Omen & Skulduggery- Crows

Intelligent Problem-Solvers: Crows are highly intelligent and known for their problem-solving abilities and tool use. The two of them are the Sanctuary's best detectives for a reason. Valkyrie isn't looked down on as much because not only is she trained by The Skulduggery Pleasant (who's slightly more feared in this AU), but she's instinctually good at her job which garners her respect.

Social Birds: They are often seen in pairs or small groups and communicate using a wide range of vocalizations. This one is straightforward as well. Skulduggery had the Dead Men and before that, he had his siblings, most of whom were also Hooded Crows. Valkyrie has Tanith, China, Ghastly, Fletcher and Skulduggery.

Crows are known for their intelligence and problem-solving abilities. Social interactions stimulate cognitive development, allowing them to learn from peers.

This is where Omen comes up short. Being largely unpopular and on top of that being left behind by his family a lot, he's not as smart as he's expected to be and has some trouble with teamwork because he's used to 'flying solo' if you will.

Social isolation can lead to increased stress levels in crows, manifesting as aggressive behavior towards other birds or humans.

This has happened to all three of them.

Skulduggery was isolated and tortured and when he was Vile he was alone a lot. Then Val left and he isolated himself again.

Valkyrie isolated herself for five years.

Omen, as mentioned, grew up on his own most of the time.

The three of them start off phase 2 being mildly aggressive with each other and others due to their separate isolation incidents. They slowly get better at it.

Crows, like many intelligent animals, can experience depression when deprived of social interaction. This can result in lethargy and reduced interest in normal activities like foraging and grooming.

Grooming is something those with bird wings have to do and Valkyrie neglects her wings during her isolation, something that she improves throughout phase 2. Omen is very unenthused about everything, something he overcomes as he grows. Skulduggery does less detective work, enough to seem normal to those who don't know him, but he starts to grow bored of the work.

Vocalizations: They use a variety of calls for communication, including caws, clicks, and rattles.

Valkyrie and Skulduggery have their own language that they communicate with when alone, it comes naturally.

Crows have been observed to adopt orphaned fledglings, and this behavior is a testament to their social nature and intelligence.

Yeah, Valkyrie basically decides that Omen is joining them (under strict supervision). Yes. Yes, I'm making the Omen and Valkyrie bonding time in this AU, you can't stop me.

Vocal and Visual Cues: Crows use complex vocalizations and visual cues to recognize their own family members. However, they are also capable of accepting outsiders, especially if the fledgling exhibits behavior that indicates a need for care.

It fits!

Social isolation can lead to a decrease in vocal activity or changes in vocalization patterns. Isolated crows may lose out on learning new calls and signals used in social interactions.

Eventually, the duo grow used to Omen dropping in and Valkyrie starts teaching him their language after he confesses that he was never taught.

[obigem]

Ever since Cam opened his robotics store, he'd gotten into the habit of working late nights tinkering at his work station in the garage, hoping to come up with new ideas for the store.

So Cordie got into the habit of bidding him goodnight before bed to remind him he has one 😅

"Daddy? Just coming in to give you a kiss goodnight." Cordie said as she entered the garage.

"Is it that late already? And to think I thought we had more time." Cam chuckled.

"𝘞𝘦?"

When she had walked in her attention was fully on her dad, so she didn't notice—

Jai Standing right next to him.

She could've kicked herself. Of course he'd be there. Jai interned with her dad every Tuesday and Thursday after football practice. It had slipped her mind completely with all the other Jai stuff on her brain.

She was faced with yet another Jai encounter. If she ran away from this one like she did before, it would just make things even more awkward and more obvious she was avoiding him.

The problem?

She still didn't know what to do as she stood frozen in front of him.

The look on his face....it said it all.

He knew she was avoiding him.

Her heart ached at the sight of him. But just as quickly as she recognized his hurt, his expression softened and neutralized.

"Hey, Cordie." He said softly, his voice absent of expectation.

"Oh, hey, Jai." She said shyly as she quickly found her cheeks burning again, then immediately looked away.

One might say that Cameron Fletcher wasn't the swiftest bird in the flock, but when a palpable awkward silence settled in between Cordie and Jai, wheels began to turn.

[bobbieisthebest]

Jake: I want to wake up with you every day for the rest of our lives

Juniper: I wake up at 4:30 AM

Jake:... I want to see you at some point every day for the rest of our lives

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Joel: Oh look, I survived! Brilliant! Love it when I do that!

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Flick: Bobbie was going to run into a metal bar so we yelled ‘duck’

Patty: She proceeded to turn and quack at us before slamming into the bar.

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Buddy: Jake’s in trouble!

Richard, not looking up: Jake's always in trouble.

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Sam: 'You'll never find the body' is such a boring threat. A better threat would be; 'You'll never stop finding the body.'

Kato: Or just say, 'They'll be finding parts of you for at least four months…and you'll still be alive for three of them.'

Nate: Now that's a threat!

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Joel: I love unnecessarily ominous statements, and I will still love them when there's nobody alive to make them.

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Charles: Jake, are you high?

Jake, clearly high: Hello. Am I what?

Bobbie: High.

Jake: Hello.

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Joel, in holding with Wendy after skipping school: Everything will be alright.

Wendy: How can you say that?

Joel: Because sometimes when things get tough, denial is all we have.

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*During the CnS campaign*

Joel: you’ll have a hard time believing this because it never happens-

explosions are heard from his tape recorder

Joel: …but I made a mistake.

Kato:...roll for initiative McGee.

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Juniper: When I met you I thought you were a real bitch.

Alicia: What changed your mind?

Juniper: Oh, I still think you’re a bitch, I’ve just grown to like that about you.

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Richard: Is there ever a non-asshole time to play the "I was a child prodigy" card?

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Mort with his gang: Why can’t we all just get along?

Patty: Because most of you are assholes.

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Joel: I am an expert at identifying birds.

Charles: Okay, what about those ones flying over there?

Joel: Yeah, they're all birds.

Nate: *falls over laughing*

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Coach: Fletcher, is that a gun?

Jake, deciding against all odds that he’s going to gaslight himself out of this situation: what gun.

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Sam to Juniper: I’m in love with you. You just want to be friends. And I’m totally cool living with that constant pain.

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Charles: Oh, give me patience.

Patty: I think you mean 'give me strength.'

Charles: If it gave me strength, you'd be dead.

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The Lad to the other mentors: Are any of you happy?

Elliot: I cross the street without looking.