#fool me once shame on you. fool me 11 times then we are the idiots | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

howlermemes · 4 years ago

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𝐟𝐨𝐥𝐤𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐛𝐲 𝐭𝐚𝐲𝐥𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐰𝐢𝐟𝐭 l y r i c s t a r t e r s

�� long post ahead bc i have no self control ! ✽ change pronouns / punctuation as needed . ✽ some lyrics are explicit. ✽ some themes are slightly darker. ✽ alteratively, send ♫ 𝚏𝚘𝚕𝚔𝚕𝚘𝚛𝚎 to have a lyric automatically generated & said to your muse instead .

[ track 01 ] the 1 ❛ I'm doing good! I'm on some new shit. ❜ ❛ I thought I saw you at the bus stop. ❜ ❛ I hit the ground running each night. ❜ ❛ You know, the greatest films of all time were never made. ❜ ❛ If you wanted me, you really should have showed. ❜ ❛ If you never bleed, you're never gonna grow. ❜ ❛ It's alright now. ❜ ❛ We were something, don't you think so? ❜ ❛ If my wishes came true, it would have been you. ❜ ❛ In my defense — I have none for never leaving well enough alone. ❜ ❛ It would have been fun if you would have been the one. ❜ ❛ I had this dream you're doing cool shit, having adventures on your own. ❜ ❛ We never painted by the numbers, baby. ❜ ❛ We were making it count. ❜ ❛ You know the greatest loves of all time are over now. ❜ ❛ I guess you never know. ❜ ❛ It's another day of waking up alone. ❜ ❛ If one thing had been different, would everything be different today? ❜ ❛ It would have been sweet if it could've been me. ❜ ❛ In my defense, I have none for digging up the grave another time. ❜

[ track 02 ] cardigan ❛ When you are young, they assume you know nothing. ❜ ❛ Baby, kiss it better. ❜ ❛ I was your favorite. ❜ ❛ A friend to all is a friend to none. ❜ ❛ Chase two girls, lose the one. ❜ ❛ To kiss in cars and downtown bars was all we needed. ❜ ❛ You drew stars around my scars and now I'm bleeding. ❜ ❛ I knew you tried to change the ending. ❜ ❛ I knew you'd linger like a tattoo kiss. ❜ ❛ I knew you'd haunt all of my what-ifs. ❜ ❛ I knew everything when I was young. ❜ ❛ I knew I'd curse you for the longest time. ❜ ❛ I knew you'd miss me once the thrill expired, and you'd be standing in my front porch light. ❜ ❛ I knew you'd come back to me. ❜

[ track 03 ] the last great american dynasty ❛ How did a middle-class divorcee do it? ❜ ❛ The wedding was a charming, if a little gauche. ❜ ❛ There's only so far new money goes. ❜ ❛ Their parties were tasteful, if a little loud. ❜ ❛ It must have been her fault his heart gave out. ❜ ❛ There goes the last great American dynasty. ❜ ❛ Who knows, if she never showed up, what could have been. ❜ ❛ There goes the maddest woman this town has ever seen. ❜ ❛ They say she was seen on occasion, pacing the rocks, staring out the sea. ❜ ❛ In a feud with her neighbor, she stole his dog and dyed it key lime green. ❜ ❛ Fifty years is a long time. ❜ ❛ Who knows, if I never showed up, what could've been. ❜ ❛ I had a marvelous time ruining everything. ❜ ❛ I had a marvelous time. ❜

[ track 04 ] exile ❛ I can see you standing, honey, with his arms around your body. ❜ ❛ I think I've seen this film before, and I didn't like the ending. ❜ ❛ You're not my homeland anymore. ❜ ❛ What am I defending now? ❜ ❛ You were my town. Now I'm in exile, seeing you out. ❜ ❛ I can see you staring, honey, like he's just your understudy, like you'd get your knuckles bloody for me. ❜ ❛ You'd get your knuckles bloody for me. ❜ ❛ Those eyes add insult to injury. ❜ ❛ I'm not your problem anymore. ❜ ❛ Who am I offending now? ❜ ❛ You were my crown. Now I'm in exile, seeing you out. ❜ ❛ I'm leaving out the side door. ❜ ❛ There is no amount of crying I can do for you. ❜ ❛ All this time, we always walked a very thin line. ❜ ❛ You didn't even hear me out. ❜ ❛ You never gave a warning sign. ❜ ❛ I gave so many signs. ❜ ❛ All this time, I never learned to read your mind. ❜ ❛ I couldn't turn things around. ❜ ❛ You never turned things around. ❜ ❛ You didn't even see the signs. ❜

[ track 05 ] my tears ricochet ❛ If I'm on fire, you'll be made of ashes, too. ❜ ❛ Even on my worst day, did I deserve, babe — all the hell you gave me? ❜ ❛ I loved you, I swear I loved you, until my dying day. ❜ ❛ I didn't have it in myself to go with grace. ❜ ❛ You're the hero flying around, saving face. ❜ ❛ If I'm dead to you, why were you at the wake? ❜ ❛ Look at how my tears ricochet. ❜ ❛ We gather stones, never knowing what they'll mean. ❜ ❛ You know I didn't want to have to haunt you. ❜ ❛ What a ghostly scene. ❜ ❛ You used to tell me I was brave. ❜ ❛ I can go anywhere I want. Anywhere I want, just not home. ❜ ❛ You can aim for my heart — go for blood. ❜ ❛ You would still miss me in your bones. ❜ ❛ I still talk to you when I'm screaming at the sky. ❜ ❛ You had to kill me, but it killed you just the same. ❜ ❛ You turned into your worst fears. ❜ ❛ You're tossing out blame, drunk on this pain, crossing out the good years. ❜

[ track 06 ] mirrorball ❛ I'll show you every version of yourself tonight. ❜ ❛ When I break, it's a million pieces. ❜ ❛ Hush. ❜ ❛ You'll find me on my tallest tip-toes, spinning in my highest heels, love — shining just for you. ❜ ❛ I know they said the end is near. ❜ ❛ I can change everything about me to fit in. ❜ ❛ You're not like the regulars. ❜ ❛ I'm still on that tightrope. ❜ ❛ I'm still trying everything to get you laughing at me. ❜ ❛ I'm still a believer, but I don't know why. ❜ ❛ I've never been a natural. ❜ ❛ All I do is try, try, try. ❜ ❛ I'm still trying everything to keep you looking at me. ❜

[ track 07 ] seven ❛ Please picture me in the trees. ❜ ❛ I hit my peak at seven, feet in the swing over the creek. ❜ ❛ I was too scared to jump in, but I was high in the sky. ❜ ❛ Are there still beautiful things? ❜ ❛ Cross your heart. ❜ ❛ Though I can't recall your face, I still got love for you. ❜ ❛ Love you to the moon and to Saturn. ❜ ❛ The love lasts so long. ❜ ❛ I've been meaning to tell you, I think your house is haunted. ❜ ❛ Your dad is always mad. ❜ ❛ I think you should come live with me. ❜ ❛ We can be pirates! ❜ ❛ You won't have to cry or hide in the closet. ❜ ❛ Our love will be passed on. ❜ ❛ I used to scream ferociously any time I wanted. ❜ ❛ Pack your dolls and a sweater. ❜

[ track 08 ] august ❛ Salt air and the rust on your door — I never needed anything more. ❜ ❛ I can see us lost in the memory. ❜ ❛ August slipped away into a moment in time, because it was never mine. ❜ ❛ I was see us twisted in bedsheets. ❜ ❛ August sipped away like a bottle of wine, because you were never mine. ❜ ❛ Will you call me when you're back at school? ❜ ❛ I remember thinking I had you. ❜ ❛ It was never mine. ❜ ❛ You were never mine. ❜ ❛ For me, it was enough to live for the hope of it all. ❜ ❛ I canceled plans just in case you'd call. ❜ ❛ Meet me behind the mall. ❜ ❛ So much for summer love and saying "us". ❜ ❛ You weren't mine to lose. ❜ ❛ Do you remember? ❜ ❛ Remember when I pulled up and said "Get in the car." ❛ I was living for the hope of it all. ❜

[ track 09 ] this is me trying ❛ I've been having a hard time adjusting. ❜ ❛ I didn't know if you'd care if I came back. ❜ ❛ I have a lot of regrets about that. ❜ ❛ Maybe I don't quite know what to say. ❜ ❛ I'm here in your doorway. ❜ ❛ I just wanted you to know this is me trying. ❜ ❛ I got wasted like all my potential. ❜ ❛ My words shoot to kill when I'm mad. I have a lot of regrets about that. ❜ ❛ I was so ahead of the curve, the curve became a sphere. ❜ ❛ I ended up here, pouring my heart out to a stranger. ❜ ❛ I didn't pour the whiskey. ❜ ❛ At least I'm trying. ❜ ❛ It's hard to be at a party when I feel like an open wound. ❜ ❛ It's hard to be anywhere these days when all I want is you. ❜ ❛ You're a flashback in a film reel on the one screen in my town. ❜

[ track 10 ] illicit affairs ❛ Make sure nobody sees you leave. ❜ ❛ Tell your friends you're out for a run. ❜ ❛ You'll be flushed when you return. ❜ ❛ Take the road less traveled by. ❜ ❛ Tell yourself you can always stop. ❜ ❛ What started in beautiful rooms, ends with meeting in parking lots. ❜ ❛ That's the thing about illicit affairs — and clandestine meetings and longing stares. ❜ ❛ It's born from just one single glance, but it dies and it dies and it dies a million little times. ❜ ❛ You leave no trace behind. ❜ ❛ Take the words for what they are — a dwindling mercurial high, a drug that only worked the first few hundred times. ❜ ❛ They show their truth one single time, but they lie and they lie and they lie. A million little times. ❜ ❛ Don't call me "kid". ❜ ❛ Don't call me "baby". ❜ ❛ Look at this godforsaken mess that you made me. ❜ ❛ You showed me colors you know I can't see with anyone else. ❜ ❛ Look at this idiotic fool that you made me. ❜ ❛ You taught me a secret language I can't speak with anyone else. ❜ ❛ You know damn well, for you, I would ruin myself a million little times. ❜

[ track 11 ] invisible string ❛ I used to think I would meet somebody there. ❜ ❛ Teal was the color of your shirt when you were sixteen at the yogurt shop. ❜ ❛ Time, curious time. ❜ ❛ Were there clues I didn't see? ❜ ❛ Isn't it just so pretty to think all along there was some invisible string tying you to me? ❜ ❛ You ate at my favorite spot for dinner. ❜ ❛ She said I looked like an American singer. ❜ ❛ Time, mystical time — cutting me open, then healing me fine. ❜ ❛ Something wrapped all of my past mistakes in barbed wire. ❜ ❛ One single thread of gold tied me to you. ❜ ❛ Gold was the color of the leaves when you around Centennial Park. ❜ ❛ Hell was the journey, but it brought me to heaven. ❜ ❛ Time, wondrous time, gave me the blues and then purple-pink skies. ❜ ❛ It's cool, baby, with me. ❜

[ track 12 ] mad woman ❛ What did you think I'd say to that? ❜ ❛ Does a scorpion sting when fighting back? ❜ ❛ They strike to kill, and you know I will. ❜ ❛ What do you sing on your drive home? ❜ ❛ Do you see my face in the neighbors lawn? ❜ ❛ Fuck you forever. ❜ ❛ Every time you call me crazy, I get more crazy. ❜ ❛ When you say I seem angry, I get more angry. ❜ ❛ There's nothing like a mad woman. ❜ ❛ What a shame she went mad. ❜ ❛ No one likes a mad woman. You made her like that. ❜ ❛ You'll poke that bear 'till her claws come out and you find something to wrap your noose around. ❜ ❛ I breathe flames each time I talk. ❜ ❛ They say "Move On," but you know I won't. ❜ ❛ Women like hunting witches too, doing your dirtiest work for you. ❜ ❛ It's obvious that wanting me dead has really brought you two together. ❜ ❛ I'm taking my time. ❜ ❛ You took everything from me. ❜ ❛ She should be mad, should be scathing like me. ❜

[ track 13 ] epiphany ❛ I think he's bleeding out. ❜ ❛ Some things you just can't speak about. ❜ ❛ With you, I serve. With you, I fall down. ❜ ❛ I think she's crashing out. ❜ ❛ Only twenty minutes to sleep. ❛ You dream of some epiphany — just one single glimpse of relief. ❜

[ track 14 ] betty ❛ I won't make assumptions. ❜ ❛ I think it's because of me. ❜ ❛ One time, I was riding on my skateboard when I passed your house. ❜ ❛ It's like I couldn't breathe. ❜ ❛ You heard the rumors. ❜ ❛ You can't believe a word she says most times. But this time, it was true. ❜ ❛ The worst thing that I ever did was what I did to you. ❜ ❛ If I just showed up at your party, would you have me? ❜ ❛ Would you want me? ❜ ❛ Would you tell me to go fuck myself? ❜ ❛ In the garden, would you trust me if I told you it was a just a summer thing? ❜ ❛ I'm only seventeen. I don't know anything. ❜ ❛ I don't know anything, but I know I miss you. ❜ ❛ I know where it all went wrong. ❜ ❛ I was nowhere to be found. ❜ ❛ I hate crowds. You know that. ❜ ❛ I saw you dance with him. ❜ ❛ I was walking home on broken cobblestones, just thinking of you. ❛ She pulled up like a figment of my worst intentions. ❜ ❛ Get in. Let's drive. ❜ ❛ I dreamt of you all summer long. ❜ ❛ I planned it out for weeks now. ❜ ❛ It's finally sinking in. ❜ ❛ Right now is the last time. ❜ ❛ I can dream about what happens when you can see my face again. ❜ ❛ The only thing I wanna do is make it up to you. ❜ ❛ Will you have me? ❜ ❛ Will you love me? ❜ ❛ Will you kiss me on the porch in front of all your stupid friends? ❜ ❛ If you kiss me, will it be just like I dreamed it? ❜ ❛ I don't know anything. ❜

[ track 15 ] peace ❛ Our coming-of-age has come and gone. ❜ ❛ I never had the courage of my convictions, as long as danger is near. ❜ ❛ It's just around the corner, darlin. ❜ ❛ I could never give you peace. ❜ ❛ I'm a fire and I'll keep your brittle heart warm. ❜ ❛ All these people think love's for show, but I would die for you in secret. ❜ ❛ The devil's in the details, but you got a friend in me. ❜ ❛ Would it be enough if I could never give you peace? ❜ ❛ Your integrity makes me seem small. ❜ ❛ I talk shit with my friends. It's like I'm wasting your honor. ❜ ❛ Is it enough? ❜ ❛ I'd give you my sunshine, give you my best. ❜ ❛ The rain is always gonna come if you're standing with me. ❜

[ track 16 ] hoax ❛ This has broken me down. ❜ ❛ This has frozen my ground. ❜ ❛ Give me a reason. ❜ ❛ Your faithless love's the only hoax I believe in. ❜ ❛ Don't want no other shade of blue, but you. ❜ ❛ No other sadness in the world would do. ❜ ❛ I am ash from your fire. ❜ ❛ You know I left a part of me back in New York. ❜ ❛ You knew the hero died, so what's the movie for? ❜ ❛ You knew it still hurts underneath my scars. ❜ ❛ You knew you won, so what's the point of keeping score? ❜ ❛ It still hurts underneath my scars. ❜ ❛ What you did was just as dark. ❜ ❛ Darling, this was just as hard as when they pulled me apart. ❜

#rp starters #sentence starters #rp memes #rp meme #lyric starters

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bottlesandcats · 4 years ago

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Pardon My 15x20 Rant

I woke up this morning with Thoughts, so time for a ranty post. Be prepared this is going to read more like word vomit than anything, but I just wanted to get my thoughts down on paper. No one may even read this bc I don’t have a lot of followers but it feels good to just get this off my chest and out into the Universe. Warning, there is a gratuitous use of caps.

So....I see so many fans on Twitter saying how beautiful and perfect that ending was and, I have to say, I’m truly bewildered by that.

Even if you aren’t a Destiel fan, I’m not sure how you could’ve found that ending to be remotely satisfying. See list of non Destiel-related reasons below (bc I’m trying to see this from the perspective of someone who isn’t in that part of the fandom):

1. The MOW was crap; wtf was with the Halloween masks? When have we ever seen that with vamps? The dumbest shit I’ve seen.

They trotted out some extra from season 1 like it’s supposed to be some fun little Easter egg. Why are we supposed to give a shit about her? I didn’t even remember her with the flashback. Who are you, again? NM, I DON’T CARE. It also honestly made no sense to feature a MOW episode after everything that just happened, it wasn’t necessary. It was clearly just a means to an end to get Dean killed.

2. They shoved some random family, for Sam, into the last ten minutes of the episode. Sam’s kid is named Dean? OF COURSE HE IS. And that whole father-son montage was so clunky and awkward, I would’ve been more convinced if you told me Sam actually just wandered into some anonymous woman’s backyard and started playing ball with her kid.

We’ve seen how emotionally invested Sam gets in his relationships and we’ve had such beautiful moments: Sam/Jess, Sam/Madison, (even Sam/Ruby), and of course Sam/Eileen. And now we are supposed to care about Anonymous Brunette Woman #4? GTFO. I’ve seen some people saying they couldn’t get Shoshanna bc of COVID, but give us something to indicate it was Eileen. Have Sam sign something to her from across the yard; IT’S THAT SIMPLE. But no, not one single mention of her in either 19 or 20, after Sam nearly broke when he lost her in 18.

I couldn’t even feel happy for him bc I had 0 emotional investment in this life of his. And it was all just rushed through so we could get to the “good part” where Sam dies and is reunited with Dean in Heaven.

Also small note, what happened to Dean’s dog???

3. The wardrobe department really needs to reconsider some of their life choices. I’ve seen tufts of cat hair in the corners of my house that would’ve made a better wig than that rag they threw on Jared’s head. It was so ridiculous, I started thinking this was going to wind up being some big gag like The Mystery Spot” and The Trickster was going to pop out.

And why did Jim Beaver’s beard look like they spray-painted cotton balls brown and glued them to his face? It was honestly distracting.

4. After 15 years, and FINALLY achieving freedom and happiness, Dean gets taken down by a rebar and a Vamp-mime. The only way I could justify this to myself was that, now that they are no longer God’s puppets he’s not bending the rules for them and they don’t have that death-defying luck on their side now. But even that is weak. After all his fighting, sacrificing, and wanting nothing more than to chill on a beach with Sam and Cas, this is what he gets. This was a show about defying destiny, THAT WAS THE WHOLE PLOT OF S15.

Dean always said he figured it was his destiny to die bloody, and that’s exactly why he shouldn’t have gone out this way. STORY ARC, WHAT’S THAT? Cas told Dean, when he first met him, that good things do happen. So basically, the only way Dean could get his happiness was to die? What a heart-warming message.

5. Dean’s lack of emotion over the loss of Cas was the most OOC I think I’ve ever seen from him. Dean DOES NOT accept the deaths of those he loves in any way. He does not cope, he does not move on, he does not happily eat a bunch of pie. We’ve seen how Dean has handled Cas’s death in the past. It’s...not good, and it only became more unhealthy as the show progressed, with the last time (before 18) having Dean literally killing himself. Even in 15x19, we still got that desperate heartache from him with Dean demanding that Chuck bring Cas back. We also saw him sleeping amongst a pile of empty liquor bottles, which is very on-character for him. But in 15x20, he’s the one telling Sam they need to move on and keep living (oops) over a giant tray of pie slices at a county fair. Even Sam feels off. One minute he’s all “I’m sad about Cas and Jack” and the next he’s putting a pie in Dean’s face and is like “I feel better now!” You’ve got a direct in with God!Jack now, and we know from 15x19 that God can pull beings out of The Empty bc he did it with Lucifer! THAT WAS YOUR IN, YOU IDIOTS. You ask Chuck to bring back Cas, but not the one to whom he was a father to?????????

6. Even if you weren’t a Destiel shipper, you should still be disappointed in the noticeable absence of Castiel, especially since he was left with such a cliffhanger of character development and was mentioned multiple times in episodes 19 and 20. He was a pivotal part of the show for 11 years. Even if you take out the Destiel stuff, the boys have called him their brother numerous times. Dean’s call him his best friend. Wouldn’t his ideal Heaven have his best friend in it?

7. I’m not going to rail on the scene between the brothers while Dean is dying. I didn’t really get Wincest vibes from it, though I never put much stock into that side of the fandom anyway. My one issue is this was the “love confession” moment they gave us. Dean dying in a barn and telling Sam he loves his baby brother. *SNORE*

8. The big reunion moment we were hoping for? They wasted it on Dean’s car. A FUCKING CAR. Yes, I get the Impala is important to the story, but come the fuck on. NO CHICK FLICK MOMENTS. MUCH BRO.

All-in-all the whole ending felt like 1 step forward, and 15 years back. After all the character development and story arcs, it’s like they just threw it all out the window. Nothing changed. Everyone was back to where they started: Cas working for God, Dean being a good soldier and dying bloody doing the only thing he knows how to do, Sam being left to pick up the pieces with some distorted version of an apple pie life where he was basically just living to die so he could be with Dean again. I felt like the lesson was that the only way you get what you want is to die. It was gross. It was a disservice to the actors, the characters, and the fans. I can’t begin to even see this as fan-service bc I’d love to know who the TPTB thought they were serving with this garbage. And honestly, I don’t think they knew either. I feel like they were so worried about pissing off all the different subsets of the fandom that they went as safe as they could. *slow claps* Way to go, guys, really groundbreaking stuff.

At the end of the day though, it’s my fault for being disappointed. I shouldn’t have expected so much of a show that had mostly cis white men working behind the scenes. A show that’s killed almost every female character who stepped up to the plate (also, POC anyone? Nahhh). A show that took their one real LGBTQ character (also female), killed her and left her body in a bathtub (FRIDGING IS FUN) for absolutely no good reason. A show that, at the end of the day, is just a show about a couple bros who kill monsters, on the CW, and the CW is hardly the go-to place for real boundary-pushing content. A show that has managed to drop the ball at almost every opportunity though we, as a fandom, have continued to lower the bar for them.

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me 100 times?

So with all that being said...

Peace out bitches.

#spn finale reaction #meta i guess?#spn spoilers #15x20 #word vomit #supernatural #long post #dean wincherster #sam winchester #castiel

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severalspoons · 4 years ago

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Liveblog: Rewatching Trigun, Episode 20

Surprise, this blog series continues! I have no intention of letting it end at episode 19. (I mean, that’s not even a nice round number!) While these aren’t liveblogs any more, they still give me an opportunity to discuss meta.

Life lesson learned: once you start a series of anything, do not stop until it’s finished--no matter what other projects come up, no matter how shiny they are, and no matter how much you’re dreading watching episode 23. Since I do my best work when feeling inspired, I hate to wait and let my enthusiasm for the new project cool, but jumping ship only ends in two unfinished projects instead of one.

This is going to be arranged by theme, not so much chronologically. Also, it ended up being more about Wolfwood than originally intended. Including a spoiler, so be careful.

Millie’s Transmitter

Millie reports that the Chief of Bernadelli gave her a transmitter/tracking device, which must be a rare, valuable piece of technology -- to prevent anyone from outwitting her. Meryl replies that this is nothing to brag about. I disagree.

First of all, the chief cares about her enough to entrust her with this bragworthy technology. She must have earned his trust and good opinion, also an achievement. He could easily punish or fire her, but instead gives her a tool to perform better. Countless people with learning disabilities dream of bosses like this.

People tend to take a harmful all-or-nothing attitude towards disabilities. Either PWD are incapable of doing things and nothing can be done about it, or they are capable of doing things, and shouldn’t need help. Since people with disabilities themselves live in society, they end up indoctrinated and taking the same attitudes towards themselves. Shame and self-hatred often result. People strive for years, often with therapy, to get to the matter of fact acceptance Millie shows here.

***

Vash in Hell

Everything is red, from the beginning. The sand, himself and his clothes, the sky. Knives comes into view, blurry and mostly in shadow, only one eye visible. What looks like meteors, probably chunks from the ships, fall through the sky like rain. We’re seeing from Vash’s point of view.

When waking Vash, Knives’ voice is normal, sounding like a real child. It doesn’t change to his growly evil voice until Vash accuses him of being a murderer. Then, his eye loses its pupil, and he suddenly appears to have fangs. He looks like he’s become some sort of monster. Not human, as Vash says.

Knives beats him up for even daring to compare him to a human. What hurts the most about this is you know it’ll be a long time, and probably many more such beatings, before Vash leaves.

Was it ever possible to take care of Knives? Was Rem’s last request reasonable?

Vash announces he’s finally ready to face Knives. What impresses me most: he’s finally making a significant decision for himself.

***

Meet the Folks

How is Vash more attractive in normal clothes than his signature coat, even in scenes showing only his face? Speaking of which, this episode is full of beautiful shots of Vash’s face. Wolfwood’s, too.

How the hell did Wolfwood get here? He said he was concerned about Vash crying then jumping off a cliff, and followed him. However, he seems to have climbed up from below. How would he have found a floating platform? Certainly, none is visible below him. And since he seems to know nothing about the flying ship, he can’t have taken Vash’s strategy and jumped onto a platform at just the right time.

“Come meet the folks!” Yes, they actually do have a summer cottage in the sky. Ever wonder why Vash’s head is always in the clouds? ;)

Wolfwood actually says “I’m getting sick of your lies.” Hypocritical much?

Wolfwood is the first guest Vash has brought “home” in over 20 years (in other words, since he became The Stampede)!

Does that mean that the whole time Vash has been on the run, he hasn’t visited the SEEDS ship (probably to prevent anyone tracking him from discovering it)? Vash could have simply hid out for the last 20 years in the SEEDS ship; it’s his home, after all. Instead, he chose to go out and protect people from Knives, and each other. (How many of us would have made the same choice?)

***

Inside Legato’s Lair

What does this informant know about Chapel’s duties? From the way Legato dismisses his concerns, it seems like Knives’ followers aren’t given much information about each other.

Wolfwood is now doomed. “You’re such a fool. Had you behaved, you might have lived to see Doomsday. But I’m pleased, for I now have the opportunity to carry out another of my master’s wishes.”

A surprisingly restrained evil chuckle from Legato. Thank you for sparing us a full-on villain laugh.

How does Legato get shoulder padding that sticks out that far? Each shoulder is almost twice as big as his head.

***

A Series of Awkward Events

The ship has a whole observation team. No one should be able to get up here without the SEEDS leaders knowing, right? Right? ...

The old man tells Brad Vash has changed over the years. How?

After all this buildup, Brad opens the door, letting in blinding light, and this is what he sees:

The legend acting like an idiot and getting his butt kicked. Very dignified.

This is Brad’s reaction:

“Is that your great legend?! Huh?!” “What a relief! He hasn’t changed at all.” (A relief? What were they afraid would have happened to him?)

Brad is not amused by Wolfwood’s touchy-feely ways.

“Who’s he?” Vash, looking embarrassed: “I’m not sure.” Fair enough, but not very helpful, and Wolfwood doesn’t elaborate. We already know and love Vash’s embarrassed grin, but I can’t get over Wolfwood’s almost sinister smile in the mirror.

A cute moment where Vash looks back like, “isn’t my place great?” and Wolfwood just gapes like an idiot. (Close your mouth, my dude. Flies are gonna get in).

Vash last visited about 20 years ago, and Jessica was a small child then, so she should be about 23 or 24. However, she looks and acts like a teenager. Vash inadvertently becomes part of an unwanted love triangle.

To his credit, Vash tries to put her off, in a joking way (”I have a reputation for being easy but even I need a bit of advance warning��). Wolfwood makes the whole situation worse by teasing Vash about his “girlfriend” in front of a fuming Brad. It’s as if he were going out of his way to antagonize the people on the ship.

When Vash actually has a chance to look at Jessica’s face, he remembers her. Think about that. He may only have met her once, it’s been 20 years, and he still recognizes her and remembers her name. How many other people does he remember from the past ~130 years? This is how he uses his powerful plant brain--Knives would view it as a waste.

Jessica cooks a feast for Vash, which, tragically, he won’t get to enjoy. How did she cook all this food so fast? It’s enough to feed the whole ship.

***

Wolfwood is mistrusted for the wrong reasons

Wolfwood actually takes off his shades and armor of acting like a jerk while introducing himself to Jessica. This is unusually open and vulnerable of him. He actually is trying to behave. But Brad, worried about “a bunch of outsiders” bringing war to their flying paradise, hits him where it hurts.

...Did I mention Wolfwood has beautiful eyes?

Anyway, everyone gathers around staring at Wolfwood from a distance, while he drops cigarettes on the ground. There’s an entire pile lying at his feet. The whole scene is the definition of passive aggressive.

What seems to anger Wolfwood is not so much how they treat him personally, but their denial combined with moral superiority. Not to push a metaphor too far, but these folks are able to take the moral high horse because their literal high position keeps them safe. Yet, they use this immense privilege not to help the world below, or to prepare for the ship’s inevitable fall, but to hide in their castle in the sky. It clicks for me that Wolfwood probably feels about running away the way Vash does about suicide (think back to episode 11).

The SEEDS dwellers do not seem to understand that Wolfwood is both trying to help them and a little resentful of what they have. To them, he is everything they’ve been taught to fear and hate, up here poisoning Paradise for them with his unpleasant ideas. Of course this sort of dynamic never happens in real life.

Also, keep in mind that none of them know anything about the people below directly, only from hearsay. They’re not wrong about Gunsmoke as a whole, but they treat Wolfwood like a monster rather than a person. That also never happens in real life.

Then he gets to the scene of a crime too late--but just in time to look like the one responsible. Although the ship dwellers would love to see him dead, he leaps to defend them against his own colleague. Knowing, perhaps, that doing this would confirm he switched sides, and his own days might be numbered. He doesn’t even pause to think, he just goes, the same way he did when the child went missing in episode 9.

***

Vash Will Save The Day

“Like you care. Five years is probably like a blink of the eye to you anyway.” Vash denies it, but the second part is probably true. He looks so surprised to hear it’s been five years.

It can’t be easy for Vash to admit that he was responsible for the “Fifth Moon Incident,” and is probably more dangerous than Knives. Once again, his only argument is “please.” But there’s no buffoonery or melodrama here. He’s dead serious, and that’s more convincing.

Wolfwood tries to stop Leonoff from saying his name. No one who would understand the significance or matters to him is present, just Brad and Jessica. Is he merely afraid others will hear? Does he still consider himself to be Chapel?

Even facing Leonoff, Wolfwood still hasn’t put his shades back on.

Now imagine if Vash managed to find ways out of no-win situations and save the day without all the whining and crying.

Wolfwood can pause and wait for once, having faith that Vash will show up. He knows there’s always a third option for Vash. He does not yet see any for himself. Still, progress nonetheless.

***

Unfortunately for me, Vash is back with his red coat in Vash the Stampede mode, yellow glasses hiding his face.

OK, I can see how Leonoff’s puppets get into the ship without being noticed, but how on Earth did the big guy even get here?

#liveblog #liveblogging #trigun anime #trigun #millie thompson #meryl stryfe #vash the stampede #nicholas d. wolfwood #seeds ship #legato bluesummers #gung ho guns #leonoff the puppet master #character analysis #meta #brad and jessica #love and peace #ethics #faith

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1-1snailxd-art · 4 years ago

Text

Libraries are for Meetings

Master List —– Chapter 10

Chapter 11 - The library meeting

Warnings: negative thoughts, swearing, implied abuse, murder mentioned

Summary: A soft mountain of pillows and blankets, plenty of food, boxes of tissues, a few close friends, and plenty of unshed tears. Sounds like a recipe for a lovely evening in the library.

Word count: 2013

Note: reading on mobile can remove the paragraphing sometimes. Use desktop site or visit my Ao3 page if it bothers you as much as it bothers me.

____________________

“Are you sure you want to sell all this, kid?” Pete questioned, eyeing the pile of electrical equipment, parts, a handheld gaming system and a chunky, old laptop. “Won’t you need most of this for work?”

“I need the money more.” The younger man snapped and pointed aggressively at each object, hood low and concealing his face. “The parts and tools are versatile, and any techie would be happy to use them. The laptop may be old, but it runs fine and is already wiped. Jesus, I even got the game working even though it only accepts one cartridge. There will be some nostalgic nerd willing to play only Pokémon blue for the rest of that systems little life. This is good stuff, Pete. What can you get me?”

Scratching his chin in thought, Pete tapped at his keyboard absently. In the few months Virgil had been around, he had never seen the man so desperate for money. The parts boxed up before him would certainly be useful for his other workers but would put Virgil out of commission.

“Kid, if you need the money, just pawn this stuff and come back la-“

“Take the hint, Pete, I’m not coming back.”

Glancing down at Virgil’s shaking hands, the older man sighed and opened the till to retrieve a collection of notes.

“If that’s the case, and this is farewell, take this.” He placed $500 in cash on the counter and slid it towards Virgil. “You do good work, kid. It’s a shame to see you go.”

“And it’s a shame you’re such a fucken cheapskate.”

It was meant to be an insult, but Pete saw a tear drip from his chin as he turned and stormed out with the money. It was nothing but an act to spare the kid from the pain of leaving. Grabbing the bag of items, Pete walked them out the back and placed them safely on a pawning shelf; writing a tag with Virgil’s name and only removing the gaming device to add to inventory. Despite what they had said, Pete wasn’t about to let Virgil throw everything away. He had been rough on him to teach him about the harshness of the industry, but he wasn’t completely heartless. He only hoped Virgil would find the strength to come back.

********************

The once full plates of food were emptier as the group leaned back on beanbags in the library reading area. Patton nestled against Roman’s chest, eyes red from crying after he had spoken about his guilt and thoughts of being a bad omen. The group had listened as Patton finished with the points Roman and Katie had given him the days prior, before Roman pulled him close to his chest.

Logan remained silent. He didn’t know how to respond to Patton’s admissions, all of which were predominantly his fault.

“You are nothing but a good omen to me.” Roman whispered, planting a kiss on his head and continuing to soothingly stroke his shoulder.

“A-agreed.” Logan added, clearing his throat as his voice broke slightly. “I’m sorry if my actions ever made you feel less than what you are worth, Patton. You know how much you mean to me, right?”

Patton shifted on Roman’s chest and extended his hand out for Logan to take.

“I know, Lo. I’ll try not to let myself forget again.”

Giving their hands a final squeeze, the pair let their hands drop so Patton could return to his comforting position against Roman’s chest.

“Perhaps, I should speak next,” Roman offered and looked to the others for their nod of approval.

“Okay, little brother. What do you need to get off your chest?”

“Not Patton, for one.” He joked, giving his partner a squeeze before his tone became surprisingly sombre. “Well… I think it is time I apologised to you…Katie.”

The eldest looked confused as Roman met her eye with a small smile, before he lowered his gaze to focus back on the man on his chest.

“What do you have to apologise for?”

“You said your biggest regret was being…overbearing and overprotective. That your biggest accomplishment over the last few months was not messaging us every few hours religiously, but… I’m the reason you started that in the first place.”

“Roman-”

“Katie.” Logan warned, fixing her with a stern look. “Remember the rules. We speak openly and without interruption.”

After mumbling an apology, Katie gestured for Roman to continue.

“I was meant to tell you about Sasha’s party, but because I didn’t end up going with Jason, I never told you. And, to make matters worse… after Jason’s death, I…” taking a shaky breath, Roman found Patton’s hand to grip for support. “I acted rashly and caused you more stress. I put myself in unnecessary danger on multiple occasions and if it wasn’t for Patton, I’d probably still be party hopping and getting in car wrecks. It was selfish of me and I’m sorry it took me so long to get my head out of my ass and treat you like a human. You’ve been there for me and I should have been there for you…I hope I can do better.”

The figurative weight slid off Roman’s chest as he looked up and saw his older sister smiling, a single tear trailing down her cheek.

“Thank you, Roman.” Swiping the tear away, Katie chuckled quietly to herself. “It really means a lot that you see me as a human.”

“Yeah, well, you’re not always a dragon witch.”

Logan felt his mind wandering; beginning to obsess over the message Virgil had sent. There was such an undertone of anger and he started going through what he’d done wrong. Part of him hoped it was referring to his offers of food and monetary support, which he could easily back away from. Thinking more logically, he figured it was probably his sudden obsession with over sharing and using an acquaintance as a sounding board instead of going to actual therapy. Regardless, he didn’t know for certain and it was eating him up inside.

“Logan?”

Ethan’s voice cut through Logan’s thoughts like a hot knife through butter and he suddenly registered the silence in the room. Everyone else had shared now; their grief and guilt finally aired fully and unapologetically. He was the only one still left to share and it dawned on him just how afraid he was to do as he had planned earlier that afternoon.

“Are you ready to share?” Patton gave his hand a comforting squeeze before allowing Logan to pull away and begin shuffling through his bag.

“I don’t know if I’m ready but,” he pulled his laptop out and began loading the files Virgil had saved, “it would be selfish of me to avoid this any longer.”

The group had a silent exchanged of concerned glances and then moved closer so they would be able to see the screen after Logan set it down. Only Logan spoke as the images from earlier began scrolling across the laptops screen.

“We all remember that night before the fire vividly, I’m sure. Roman was roaming the streets in ignorant bliss; E was enjoying the alcohol Oskar had provided; Katie finally had her feet up; and I was driving a sniffly Patton home. We all know our sides, but I’ve kept one side a secret this whole time, and for that…I am sorry.”

Hitting play on Jason’s video, Logan moved aside to ensure everyone had a clear view of the screen. Colour drained from Katie and Roman’s faces as Jason’s ghostly voice filled their ears and they saw what he had been like in his final moments of life. As the screen froze on Jason’s face the library was left in silence; tears leaving their traces on cheeks as they soaked into the fabric of clothes and blankets.

Katie’s cracked voice finally broke the silence; “why?”

When Logan didn’t respond, Katie tore her eyes away from the screen and looked at him with harsh sadness.

“Why didn’t you tell us?” Moving closer, she placed her hands on Logan’s damp cheeks and forced his eyes to meet her own. “What purpose did hiding this serve?”

“Nothing.” Logan’s eyes were void orbs, eyes red and strangely dried. “It only supported my belief that I wasn’t good enough for him and I didn’t want to be convinced otherwise.”

“You stupid man.” Fresh tears welled in her eyes as she pulled Logan into a crushing embrace. “Stupid, bloody, idiot. You were more than enough for him, you fucking fool.”

Though he returned the hug, Logan’s eyes remained glassed until more limbs began joining the embrace. Each body of warmth a physical reminder that though he had lost the face on his computer screen, he still had the family surrounding him. Sobs soon shook his whole frame; eyes squeezing shut as raw emotion was set free and all secrets were finally laid out. No more words were needed now. They had each aired their truths and now clung to each other, raw from it all.

Katie felt Logan’s weight growing as his sobs slowed, and she smiled to herself at the idea of Jason watching over them now. Roman moved back when Patton shifted and wiped his face before gesturing toward the soft spaces they had each been sitting before. Acting on silent instruction, Roman helped change their circle of beanbags and pillows into one soft pile while the other two continued holding Logan’s quivering form.

“He’s asleep.” Ethan whispered in shock as the siblings helped guide Logan to a more comfortable position.

“I doubt he has really slept in a while, Ethan.”

Patton accepted the exhausted man from Roman and laid back on the makeshift bed, removing the other man’s glasses before he instinctively snuggled closer. “That’s it, Logie. Let us take care of you, now.”

“Good job, Pat’s.” Removing Patton’s own glasses, Roman kissed his forehead before settling down behind him.

Ethan watched the scene before him and felt a pang of jealousy at the closeness of the group before Katie’s hand was guiding him over to Logan’s other side. Laying the blankets over everyone, Katie finally took her place on the end; mentally saving the image of the group before relaxing back on the soft cushions. Sleep wouldn’t come easy as a sleepy sob escaped one of the others, but eventually the library was silent, and Katie drifted off in relative peace.

*********************

Leaning his aching body against the cold steel of the dumpster was a relief for a moment, but the cold was soon to leave Virgil shivering. Dried blood gripped his clothes, but he couldn’t bring himself to sneak into the library until a later hour; certain the meeting would still be going. Tears had blended with the blood on his face, making his skin stiff; the feeling uncomfortable as he grimaced and repositioned.

Virgil cursed his luck when the world spun again; head pounding harder than it had when Ben had shoved him into the wall. The $500 from earlier had done nothing to help his situation; only cemented the fact that he couldn’t stay any longer. After a visit to the bank he’d sent $150 to his aunt with an apology for being a burden; $250 had been sent to Ben and the final $100 would have hopefully gotten him through until he got a job in the next town.

“I’m such an idiot.”

Curling in on himself, Virgil sobbed. The memory of Ben and his friends faces haunted his mind as he drifted into a light exhausted sleep.

“Saw you found a new friend. Would hate for anything to happen to them in your absence.”

“I did work for him. That’s all.”

“Like we’d believe a fucken faggot like you.”

“It’s true! He’s just a clueless science geek with a busted computer.”

“I’ll believe it when I see it…I want my money by Monday. Got it?”

“That’s impossible. I’ve given you everythi-“

“If you enjoy pain, I’d keep up the excuses. Wouldn’t everyone love to know you’re the son of a murderer.”

____________________

End Note

Hi…It’s me…Snail. No, I didn’t abandon this fic (even though it was getting pretty close to a year since I updated). Why was I gone so long? Simple…I couldn’t keep up the dangerous cycle of sitting at a computer for hours to do work and then following that up with hours of writing and editing. It really turned unhealthy. So, I switched gears a little. I started writing in smaller bursts (actually have up to chapter 14 done) but I held off from posting until I reached a point were I could post within a reasonable time so you weren’t left on a major cliff hanger as this fic reaches its designated end (which looks to be at around chapter 16 or 17).

Anyway, I haven’t been completely out of the story telling game. I got into Cosplay and telling stories through TikTok (It’s Emily’s -stopitanxiety- fault. I loved her writing and saw her TikTok’s and wanted to be part of that world). It’s a little harder to tell stories using audios and acting out everything, but it’s a lot more on your feet. I actually realised I have the clothes to Cosplay Virgil from this universe and I am considering just vibing as Virge or making it an actual TikTok au story. I dunno yet.

Back on topic, next chapter should be up by the end of the week (just gotta tweak some things that I ended up changing). Warning for the next chapter – alcohol abuse is entering the tags.

Thanks again for reading. Happy timezone, friend 💜🐌

Tag List (let me know if you want to be removed. It has been so long I understand if you don’t wanna hang around)

@notalwaysthebadguy @thequeensphinx @ollyollyoxinfree @celeste-tyrrell @pumpkinminette @ahyeahisurehopeit-does

_____________________________

Chapter 12 — MasterList

What else have I done:

The Perfect Ring (oneshot - analogical proposal)

You Promised (oneshot - prinxiety angst/injury/near death)

Sides of a Hero (Completed Fic - sides are fusions of impulses and aspects of Thomas. Virgil has a depressing past that he is forced to face thanks to Deceit and Rage. Was canon compliant at the time of completion)

The Shield to your Sword (WIP - A fantasy/magic au - Prinxiety (Royal Roman and orphan Virgil - they’ll admit to their love eventually), Virgil angst, non binary, healer Logan, *spoiler* Patton)

Writing Master Post

Check out my other blog for random fandom reblogs and stuff @snail-giggles

Also now doing Cosplay and storylines on TikTok: 1_1snailxd

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thebastardmeteocrusherpilot · 4 years ago

Note

02 and 11

SEND

02. A memory from your character’s teenage years.

[ warning : Death mention. Long post ]

[ Read on to find out about Aaron Galaxicos' childhood friends!]

Long ago this scene happens. Far from the modern civilization of Corneria City, where nature still invades around in the city of Green Valley. As it was night, many men and women wore their best coats before entering that gray building, surrounded by withered flowers. The dim lighting outside the room showed that there is a boy leaning against a tree. That boy was just a fifteen year old Aaron Galaxicos.

Many older people told the boy that smoking at his age was not favorable, but the chimpanzee boy always ignored such advice in his rebellious attitude, and he was right there. Smoking a cigarette or two, not wanting to go in and see his mother cry like a little girl. After all, it was a funeral home where guests entered.

While the young man ignored the greetings of his father's friends in his solitude, a young foal, a yellow donkey of about sixteen, dressed in his best mourning clothes, approaches Aaron silently but surely.

"Hello Aaron".

"Hey Bob, did your mommy buy you those clothes like always?" It was a common response from Aaron to deflect the elephant in the room. For many, a cruel response to a friendly greeting, but Bobby knows the boy Galaxicos well.

"Heh! You have caught me again! You always guess, Aaron! " Laugh again three more times. Trying to brighten the moment, but Aaron continues to smoke and without a response from him, Bobby becomes uncomfortable.

The two young men fell into a long silence. He only had a small part of the chimpanzee boy's cigarette left before he finished the cigarette, and without looking at the donkey, he stretches out his hand to offer him some to smoke with the box still full.

"Oh no thanks Aaron! You know my father doesn't like me to smoke! “ And in panic Bobby covers his mouth, his ears drooping from nerves. "Oops, excuse me, Aaron."

“Come on, Bobby, just say what you want to say and go inside with your family. Surely they want their polite son to rub his tears in front of my mother ”.

"Oh ..." Bobby only manages to say that in response. It was all too noticeable that Aaron didn't want any hint of pity from the other families on this cold night. After all, the man inside that coffin was nobody special but Jonathan.

"Well, I just wanted to tell you that I'm sorry for what happened to your father." Without haste and without shame, Bobby already said what he wanted to say.

"No problem. He was going to die at any moment as well.” The foal lowers his ears again at Aaron's cold response.

“Nobody expected it, Aaron. As soon as my father heard that they found your father, uh, dead in the bathroom, he was quite surprised. And also in such a horrible way ... his blood staining the white marble wall ... ”.

"Have you been reading your mystery books again or what?" Aaron stares at the colt roughly.

"yes. Why you ask?".

"Agh! Forget it “ The young chimpanzee throws his cigarette into the garbage can next to him. Settling back in the tree "I've heard the same story over and over again, Bob, and I was hoping you could tell me something else, but you're just like the fools at the funeral."

"Excuse me again, Aaron. But what else can I say at a time like this, and not feel sorry for you and your mother? You have barely had your birthday two weeks ago, and from here I can hear your mother still crying " Bobby slaps his forehead " Oh right, my mother wanted me to give this to you. " He offers a nice bouquet of dahlias to young Galaxicos. Aaron just grabs it without looking at Bobby's face.

"Thank you". Another silent moment between the two once again rules the funeral home garden. Guests keep coming with bouquets of different kinds of flowers with them.

“Another detail I wanted to tell you is that my family and neighbors are also thinking of offering collaborations for you and your mother. I'm sure your father has left money for his life insurance, but just in case, we are always with open arms to help you ”.

"Hm" Galaxicos thinks for a few minutes. Although his father was always very strict about keeping the family money and that it was well paid in the factory, he knew that it would not be enough for the next few months, much less with a teenage son and a widowed woman. "If that is true, then I'd really appreciate that, Bobby. "

Bobby smiles. "Yes! Do not worry! Surely all will go wonderfully! And don't worry so much about your dad's death either! Because we are sure they will find your father's murderer! "

Aaron just rolls his eyes at that positive comment "yes, yes, I know, I know, I know ..." Then suddenly, the young man stops his sarcasm when he hears the last sentence. "wait a minute! Did you say murderer? "

"Y-yes! Or is it not that your father was found dead in a murder case? Bobby lowers his long ears again when he notices Aaron looking at him again, but with a very pouting expression. The situation becomes more uncomfortable for the foal when he feels the young chimpanzee's hairy hand gripping his snout tightly.

"Stupid four-eyed horse with the brain in the ass! No one has killed my father! He died in the bathroom by himself! "

Bobby went into a panic. Unable to speak because of the chimpanzee's strong grip on his snout. "W-what? Has he really done that ?! But your dad- ”Another squeeze on his snout.

"Fool! It wasn't that either! My father died in the bathroom because the idiot didn't want to pick up a soap on the floor while taking a bath and he tripped over it! "

The awkward aura between the two youths grew again as Aaron yelled out everything he wanted to say. Bobby has no words to say but to turn red from his embarrassment.

"Oh, oh man, I thought it was something else." Uncomfortable. Aaron lies back down in the tree while lighting a new cigarette. The young colt just runs his hands between himself as he thinks of something else to talk about. His embarrassment wouldn't go away, and he just wanted to apologize.

"Sorry-"

Aaron raises his hand in front of the equine's muzzle. “Enough Bobby. You already said a lot ".

Another silent moment. Bobby just stands still as he watches cigarette smoke drift through the air. While savoring the flavor of tobacco, Aaron only concentrates his eyes on the star-painted sky.

"Well, uhm ..." Bobby tries to fit the words in his mind "It must have been your dad's mistake. Even though I don't know, he didn't want to pick up the soap? And why didn't he?

"You know what my father was like, Bobby."

"Hm. I know".

The two boys then stay to watch the stars. At any moment the undertakers would close the coffin and carry the fallen man away to bury him in the garden.

"By the way, why did you think my father was killed?"

It was a quick question that Bobby was scared of. But he didn't feel uncomfortable answering.

"Oh well. Because of how your dad was, I always believed that someone would have a cruel plan with him. But I guess soap was more dangerous for your dad "

"Mhm ..."

Aaron's ear focused on listening as several men cheered their mother into the garden. Emma would surely cry all night, regretting being a single woman now. Although he looked carefree to the guests and to Bobby, the young Galaxicos admitted years later that he felt strange how his life would change on that day. But he would not allow the public to see his feelings, but only to a boy and his cigarettes.

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

11. Describe your character’s childhood friends.

[ Galaxicos has had several friendships in his childhood. They weren't really the best of friends, but they were kids that the little bastard brat could have nice times to have a normal childhood. But if we have to talk about friends, those would be two: Bobby Jones and Lola McGlynn were the best friends of little Aaron Galaxicos since elementary school.

Bobby (Sometimes called Bob by Aaron) met Aaron when his family moved next door to the Galaxicos house. At first the little chimpanzee boy does not like Bobby's polite personality when he meddles in his antics, but noticing the foal's intelligence to create new jokes and games, Aaron decides that he and Bobby should be friends. Aaron's father would also accept his son's relationship with the little donkey boy, despite not having a good image of the boy because of his unmanly personality and being that kind of animal.

Their relationship was difficult at first, but Aaron would learn to appreciate Bobby's caring help even as a teenager. And when Aaron decides to become a rebellious kid in Green Valley, he invites (or actually forces) Bobby to join his little gang as the brain of the group.

I designed Bobby (in his child and adolescent version) mainly inspired by the idea that he looks like a nerdy cliche boy with a submissive personality in his eyes. Clearly the first character that came to mind in its development was Milhouse Van Hounten from The Simpsons.

Lola McGlynn would be Aaron Galaxicos' second best friend. Raised to be the perfect Green Valley model girl, little Lola found no real fun around girls her age. One day, Lola finds Aaron and Bobby doing their thing, and noting that the boys had fun being rebellious with the strict adults of the city, she prefers to join them to the horror of the other girls, although she only does it at first for own fun. Unlike Bobby who sees Aaron as a good friend, Lola and Aaron had frequent fights over how to develop the pranks or who is in charge. It was also because Aaron still treats Lola with "boy vs girl" eyes at their age.

(By the way, her hairstyle is based on the character Quino’s Mafalda on her child age ).

When Lola turns fifteen, and even being raised with the idea of being a model lady for her family, the chimpanzee girl reunites with Aaron and Bobby in their gang of rebellious youths. To save herself from the punishment of her parents and the sexist society of the Green Valley men, Lola would dress as a boy and call herself Lolo standing next to Aaron and Bobby.

Lola is a character with a strong character like Aaron Galaxicos. Willing to commit mischief or rebellion for her own pleasure, and to have no problem fighting against the old fools of the town or with other boys her age. The big difference between Lola and Aaron is that she has her limits and rules, and one of those is not letting her own feelings guide her and committing a cruel or strong crime against someone. It is Lola who actually stops Galaxicos when the young rebel wants to commit a dangerous attack on someone, or act disrespectful to her. That is why even the two continue to have fights since they were young, it is even Lola who decides to tell Aaron to his face many times that he is a horrible person.

The end of the friendship between the Green Valley gang happens when, being of legal age, Bobby decides to move to Corneria City to pursue a professional career (although he promises to continue speaking from the camera in his apartment). Lola and Aaron would continue to see each other and get together on special occasions or when possible, but in the end, they each take a different direction in their life. Aaron would leave Green Valley at age twenty-three for Corneria City while Lola remains in the country town. ]

#[ ask meme ]#[ headcanons ]#[ Majoracats ]#[ My art ]#/// this was so much fun for writting and draw it #/// i have bobby and Lola on mind since so many time and im glad to show them #/// and honestly i want to make more art of them with Teenage Aaron on their rebeld ages #/// next time i will reply the other Galaxicos's memories on his point of view #/// and reply the starters i need to reply xD

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doyouevenshipbr0 · 6 years ago

Text

gruvia drabble

author's note: here's a little bit of fluffiness to like.....idk soften the blow of the angst we have comin this friday?? yea sounds good to me! enjoy bbies i love uuu<3

It was known by every member in Fairy Tail that Juvia was the jealous one of she and Gray.

After being together for a little over a year, however, her dramatics did soften up significantly.

And just because Juvia was more jealous, did not mean Gray had no jealousy in him at all. The occasional gawking man or brave soul to ask Juvia out on a date without knowing she and Gray were an item did bother him a bit. Normally, a few blunt words or even a dirty look would fix the problem, and Gray would typically brush it off a few minutes later.

But what was Gray to do when he was jealous not of a person, but a thing.

Not just a thing, but the symbol of their very love. Something he should hold nothing but happiness in his heart for. A day dedicated to their union.

Their wedding day.

Gray knew the second he proposed that he was in for a wild ride. He was expecting Juvia to be the crazed bride that does all the planning and goes above and beyond to make that special day perfect.

What he did not consider, however, was the amount of time with Juvia that would be stripped away.

Now, Gray was one to enjoy alone time. That was something that never changed. However, Juvia going from a constant presence by his side for the past few years to hardly being there at all, had him shaken a bit, to say the least.

He and Juvia did as much of the wedding together as they could, but Gray would have been lying if he said none of the details bored him. Juvia knew this, so she only brought him along for things that he outwardly wanted to be there for, and things he had to be there for.

As the big day approached, Gray saw less and less of his bride to be, and at this point he thought he was crazed.

"Haven't seen Juvia around in a bit." Natsu took a swig of a beer at the bar as he sat beside Gray.

"Yeah." Gray huffed. "Lots of last minute wedding stuff that has to get done." Gray followed suit with Natsu, taking a drink.

"I get it. It's just so bizarre not seeing her glued to your hip." Natsu snorted.

"It's nice to be able to breathe for once." The joke was more forced than Gray hoped it would sound.

"Eh. Not sure if I believe that." He gave Gray a side smirk.

"Whaddya' mean?" He raised a brow.

"I mean that at first it didn't seem to bother you, but these last few weeks your ass has been as grumpy as ever." Natsu pointed out.

"What?!" Gray exclaimed. "It's not that deep, flame-for-brains."

"I think you miiiiss her." Happy chimed in over Natsu's shoulder, and the two laughed.

"Miss her?! How could I miss her? She's my fiancé. We live together." Gray's voice was rising faster than he meant for it to be.

"Yeah, but still, you aren't seeing her even half as much as you normally do." Natsu nagged, earning a dirty look from Gray.

"You don't have to get your icy panties in a bunch! It's not lame to miss your girl, idiot. Sheesh." Natsu rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, whatever." Gray grumbled, standing up from his seat. He tried to deny it, but he was more mad at Natsu not because what he was saying was untrue, but because it was true.

Not wanting to hear any more lecturing from Natsu, Gray began his way out the guild hall.

"You know I'm right! You can thank me later!" Natsu called out, earning a flip of the middle finger from Gray.

That night, as Gray sat at the dinner table with a cold plate of food in front of him, and one to match across from him, he realized that Natsu might've been onto something.

The clock read 9:07 PM when Juvia stepped into the house, and it was also the first time Gray saw her that day. He was sat on the couch, flipping through a book of spells.

"Hello, darling. Juvia's home." She hustled in the house, her hair was up in a frazzled pony tail and in her hands were bags upon bags.

"You're home pretty late." Was all Gray said.

Juvia dropped the bags onto the floor and looked at the clock in their living room/dining room area.

"It's not that late. Only 9:00. Compared to the last week and a half where Juvia has been home no earlier than 11:00, I'm pretty grateful to get home now." Juvia gave out an exhausted sigh, followed by a smile.

"You suggested I make dinner tonight because you said you would be back around 6:00." Gray's tone stayed low.

Juvia paused and recognized their dining room table, where two full playes of food sat. To top it all off, it was Juvia's favorite meal: grilled salmon.

"Oh, dear." Juvia sighed in disappointment of herself. "Juvia is so sorry, Gray-sama." She sat on the couch beside him.

"Juvia has been so wrapped up in the wedding, and I had to get the shoes from the department store all the way out in Hargeon before they closed at 8:00 and-" Juvia stopped her rambling when she saw the look of disdain on Gray's face. She decided instead to reach out a hand and place it on top of Gray's. "Juvia is so sorry, love."

"Yeah, it's whatever. I don't think the salmon turned out all that great anyway." Gray grumbled.

"Juvia's sure it's wonderful! Juvia will heat it up right now and-"

"Don't bother." Gray stood up from the couch and went to take the plates off of the table. "Seems like you had a busy day. You should sleep."

"All of Juvia's days are busy this past month or so." She gave a weary laugh, hoping to lighten up the severity.

"You don't say." Gray sarcastically said.

"Is something wrong, darling?" Juvia followed Gray into the kitchen.

"Nope. I guess I'm just not used to the custom where the groom goes two months without ever seeing his bride before the wedding day." He began to put the dishes in the sick.

"Well..." Juvia's voice was timid. "That's not a custom."

"You coulda' fooled me." Gray huffed. "But, hey, you're the bride of the year so you would know better than me.

"Gray-sama," She sighed. "Juvia is very sorry she hasn't been home all that much, but it will only last for another week! The wedding's right around the corner, and Juvia just wants everything to be perfect."

"I get that, but this one day has consumed you for the past month!" Gray argued.

"Ok, Gray-sama is right. Juvia is too focused on the wedding." She agreed. "Juvia just didn't think it would really bother Gray-sama." She shrugged. "I know how you like your alone time."

"At first it was nice." Gray admitted. "But, come on Juvia, if I wanted alone time all the time why the hell would I be marrying you?" He smirked.

Juvia returned the smile and even let out a small giggle.

"Hey what's so funny?"

"You." Juvia teased

"Me?!"

"Yes you! Juvia hardly sees Gray-sama jealous, and now that I am, it's not about a guy, but our wedding day." She giggled some more.

"Alright, you got me, I'm a little pissed."

"Juvia can see."

"What else would you expect?! My fiancé likes a stupid day more than she likes me." Gray spat under his breath.

Juvia approached Gray and wrapped her arms around him as he washed dishes, placing her face pressed up against his back.

"Now we both know that's not true." She hummed.

"I'm not so sure." He scoffed.

"Well, Juvia is. I'm just so fixated on this day because this is our day. A day all about Juvia and Gray-sama. This is Juvia's dream and we only get one day." She reasoned.

"What the hell are you talkin' about? Everyday is our day." Gray said matter-of-factly.

He turned off the sink, dried his hands, and spun to face Juvia. She wrapped her arms right back around his neck, and he followed up by wrapping his around her waist.

"Really?" Juvia looked up at Gray with innocent, hopeful eyes.

"Really." Gray smirked. "And I'm sorry, too." He couldn't help but blush and look away. "I care a lot about the wedding too, I was just, well-"

"Jealous." Juvia finished, victoriously.

"Yeah. That."

Juvia chuckled and pressed a kiss on her fiancé's lips. "Funny how the tables have turned. Usually Juvia's the one begging for attention." A smile curled on the corners of her lips.

"Don't get used to it." Gray joked back.

"A shame. This is something Juvia would love to get used to." She put her face closer to his.

"Well, just keep giving me all the attention I need, and we won't be having any problems." He whispered as their faces were only inches apart.

Juvia blushed. "The night is still young. Juvia has plenty of time to make up for all that missed attention." She played with the hairs on his head, tugging.

"If you insist." Gray smirked as his soon to be wife lead him to their bed.

Maybe Gray did crave attention more than he thought, and thankfully, he had Juvia there to feed his cravings.

They would make a perfect couple yet.

#doyouevenshipbr0 #gray x juvia #gruvia #juvia x gray #gruvia fanfic #gruvia fanfiction #gruvia drabble #fairy tail #juvia #juvia lockser

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kittymaverick · 5 years ago

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It’s that time of the year again! MCF Moths to a Flame commentary-- Wait, MCF 20 is also in the works????!!!!

Once again, I’m relying on Pazu for the content, so excuse anything I miss in the process. Spoilers below the cut!

1. From the title alone I feel like the MD is... well... taking a certain leap of faith here that they’ll survive. 2. Dang, that elevator ride... if this is the MD agency headquarters, can I say you guys are in desperate need of a full-office renovation? MD: Ever wondered why I drive a buggy? It’s because they don’t have the funds for that, let alone pay me enough for my suffering. 3. “Not a secret passage”. OPEN IT. MD: No. It doesn’t have a lock! OPEN-- MD: How about... this spooky looking archive instead? .....This where they put all your reports of shame? MD: ...Yes. *sobs* 4. Hey, hey guy? Not smoking in the archives is sort of a common sense rule! MD: Hush, our line of work is stressful, alright? 5. I like how you guys just scribble out the FAIL stamps with pencil. Also, did you put up that cut out of the news clipping about Ravenhearst destroyed? MD: My proudest accomplishment... *wipes a tear* Huh, and also mentions of Huxley boarding house-- MD: I’m so sad I didn’t get to burn that place down. 6. ...This wall looks a bit creepy... You happen to have a stalker coworker, MD? MD: I already work with creepy clients and adversaries. Please don’t make my life already harder than it is. Huh, more blueprints... What is it with you and guys that love to make blueprints, huh? MD: ...I attract a certain type-- *NEON LETTERS OF YOU WILL ALL PAY SHOW UP* *ME SCREECHING* 7. Hey MD, just making sure... that guy wasn’t you, right? MD:.... ....Master Detective?.... MD: I can neither confirm nor deny such a speculation. Guys, I TOLD you that MD needed a therapy dog! 8. I swear, television head mannequin has turned into the new MCF mascot. MD: They grow on you after a while, like mold. 9. Omg, there’s an entire cabinet of your cases. MD: Every time I look at that bookcase, I feel like I need another holiday-- So you can get assigned an overseas case! :D MD: ...What has my life come to... 10. ...Wait, only NOW are we getting the intro? Also, ehehe, I see you still got crows following you. MD: A murder is forever following my footsteps, great. 11. “Several top secret files have gone missing from the agency--” MD: Oh, OH... NO ONE ROBS US AND GETS AWAY WITH IT. “To keep a low-profile, we’re sending you alone.” MD: Wait, that’s not... how... I’m getting no back up? RIP Master Detective, you will be sorely missed. :) MD: Is this because we’re not making enough money to pay for two?! LOOK I’LL TAKE THIS PRO BONO LET ME HAVE A PARTNER TO WATCH MY BACK OKAY-- 12. “We have reliable information that the files at are the Zenith Museum of Oddities--” MD: Okay, first, if you know where the files are going, WHY ARE YOU NOT CALLING THE POLICE THAT IS PROBABLY IN CAHOOTS WITH US AND WILL JUST HAND THEM BACK TO US ANYWAY? Second, IT’S A MUSEUM OF ODDITIES AND YOU THINK SENDING ME IS A GREAT IDEA? Third, if it’s some of our top secret files that might be related to oddities, HOW LIKELY IS IT THAT THIS HEIST MIGHT HAVE BEEN ENTIRELY DONE TO DRAW ME TO THE MUSEUM, AND I’M LITERALLY WALKING INTO A DEATH TRAP? ...MD, you keep up that paranoia, and we’re not gonna get a game. MD: I JUST WANT MY SANITY, OKAY. MY HEALTH INSURANCE DOESN’T COVER THAT MUCH THERAPY. 13. “...The museum is abandoned--” Really? MD: Are you sure? Are you absolutely absolutely sure? MD: If the files are there, HOW can it be abandoned? “...You want to lose your badge, detective, cause you’re this darn close.” MD: ............. “The Queen sure do love reading your reports.” MD: I will remember this, director....... *shakes fists* 14. “It’s okay, we’re going to give you a MAC, reserved for the very best--” MD: You’re getting me a Macbook?! 8D “No... it means Mechanical automated companion.” MD: ...But, Mac, Book... It’s okay, MD, it’s okay. Trust me, you don’t want Macs on an important mission where they could just break... That said, I swear, Elf from Mystery Trackers had like a basket of puppies, why couldn’t we have gotten one?! “Can Elf do this?” *Badge transformer* MD: !!!!!!!! ...Okay, you know what, THIS? WAY COOLER. 15. MD: It found something! This could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship-- Ah yes, they gave you a companion cube JUST SO THEY CAN TAKE IT AWAY LATER. >8D MD: Can’t you let me have my happiness for just one, bloody, second?! 16. Hm, a car in the ravine. MAC can’t get inside. If we aim a rock carefully, maybe we can pop the trunk open-- MD: *chucks rock at back window, shattering it* UM, REALLY? MD: Vandalism, a step down from arson, but just as cathartic. 17. Hm, a bike. MD: *eyes shining* Um, MD???? MD: *vibrating on spot* UM. NO YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO COMMIT GRAND THEFT AUTO. MD: dammit. 18. One Chloe Waston... ring any bells? MD: Nope. Right, filing down one NPC as a possible rescue target, if not a body, if not an adversary. MD: The three categories of people I meet on my cases... 19. A place for all great but misunderstood things. MD: Sounds like something a certain family would say about themselves. Mmhmm... 20. Puzzles so far in the first 15 minutes don’t look sketchy. I almost miss the nonsensical ones that scream “Hi, I was built by a madman!” MD: I’m not sure if I should feel safer, or less safe about having an adversary that might actually be sane for once. 21. MD: Place could use a garderner. Victor was a pretty good garderner-- MD: Can you not please Sorry, force of habit. 22. Pazu: Can you see the robot television man? Really? Oh boy that doesn’t bode well-- *Another robot falls from the above* AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH MD: WHERE IS MY BUGGY LET ME OUT OF HERE. 23. TV head: Welcome to the Zenith Museum-- MD: WHY DO YOU SOUND LIKE THE TV MAN FROM ALL THE OTHER PLACES??? Maybe they mass produce them-- MD: YOU TELLING ME CHARLES HAS A FACTORY FOR BUILDING THEM SOMEWHERE??? If so, hey at least that’s one more place for you to indulge in being a pyromaniac. 24. I just realized, all those people probably came here for the missing case files. If so, um, MD, you guys honestly have got to have the worst kept secret files ever in history. MD: I mean, when entire buildings are burning down, it’s hard to keep people from talking... 25. This letter to open the door screams TRAP, MD. MD: Look, if I quit now, my pension’s done for, so I might as well die trying. ...You have a pension? MD: ...No, I’m just making up excuses for why I’m entering the building of a murderer... You could just say you have a murderer to stop... 26. Ah, found the files, obvious in a mysterious box-- Um, MD. MD: ..... They... those three were also.... Master Detectives....... MD: *cracks knuckles* Ohhhhhhhhhh fuck they’ve done it, they’ve really pissed the MD off... 27. MD: That outline, it’s like the letter I got from the Queen-- *FOOL* MD: ....................................... Wow, I mean, it’s refreshing that someone just outright calls you an idiot for once. Um, please tell me you brought your immortality feather. MD: Oh bloody hell no, this is mortal combat, just you and me, pal! ...maybe the insult MIGHT be right in some ways... 28. MD: Hey MAC, what’s up? *RED ALERT, TV HEAD ATTACK* MD: I KNEW YOU GUYS WOULD TURN ON ME ONE DAY. TV head: Hey, maybe I can help you. Two heads is better than one! MD: Given that you JUST attacked me, how about GO GET GUILLOTINED BY THE DOOR. 29. MD: *picks up head* You, TALK. TV head: I don’t know what happened! MD: Oh, REALLY? If you want to punch the screen out, I’m not against it, for once. 30. Um, MD, I have to point out... MD: What? ...Mac disappeared. Like, YOUR BADGE literally disappeared. MD: ...NOOOOOOOOOOOOO I’m sure you’ll find it later, when you need it the most-- MD: HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO STAB A HOROCRUX WITH SILVER IF I DON’T HAVE MY BADGE. If it’s any consolation, at least you have the other badges, though they are a bit fused together, and huh, this statue here says badges only-- *Contraptions swallows up badge* *Spits out.... Dalimar portrait chain.* ... MD: ... MD: *TURNS TO BANG ON DOOR FUTILELY* LET US OUT OF HERE, EIPEX WE WANT OFF THIS RIDE LET US OUT PLEASE MD: I FORGOT MY FEATHER PLEASE LET ME GO GET IT AT LEAST SO I CAN CHEAT MY WAY OUT OF HERE!!!!!!!!

[To be continued in part two...]

#Mystery Case files #Moths to a Flame #Big Fish Case #Kitty for once doesn't like the fact that the Dalimars might be back #well okay she is but she's also screaming in fear

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magistralucis · 6 years ago

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Ed Banger House Party @ Electric Brixton, 25 Jan 2019 [Review]

😍 Fucking fantastic you funky little Frenchmen... 😍

This was a very wild night. I can’t quite believe I survived it, even as I finish off writing thousands of words about it. It’s probably the most detailed review of a concert or show I have done to this date. I finally saw Sebastian in the flesh, was treated to over eight hours of sweet sweet music, and feel that I have begun my Ed Banger-related pursuits for this year in the perfect way.

And the loot. The sweet, sweet loot.

Read on for more. Mobile users, be warned this is a very long post.

The Journey

If you’ve read my other gig reviews you know the drill: I don’t live in London, have to commute there from wherever I’m living at the moment, London is difficult to navigate. But I had no trouble with my journeys this time, there were no Underground closures, and this venue was exactly the same one as the TBB show two years ago. Nothing to report there, only that I give props to our driver. There was an accident on the motorway, about 25 mins into a 2hr 20min journey. He took us on a thirty-mile detour to avoid the scene of the crash and still got us to London in time. If you’ve ever been on a National Express coach, you know what a big deal that is.

That wasn’t the only accident we stumbled upon in our journey, somewhere in Croydon (part of Outer London for non-UK readers) there was an altercation between two drivers and something like thirty police officers were present. It is rare to see that many police officers on scene for a single collision, so I wonder whether something more sinister was going on. All of them were wearing fluorescent vests and they reflected the light of the traffic most gloriously for a ten-meter stretch of the pavement. It was very attention-catching. I like to think they shared the same general sentiment of (o_o ) when they looked over and saw an entire busful of people goggling at them, but that’s neither here nor there. It was around 8:30PM when I got to London, and I spent some time lingering in the train station before making my way to Brixton.

I like queuing up early. I had no idea what I was going to find there.

9:20~PM: If you follow Thibaut on insta you might have seen this.

This instastory. It’s not obvious, but these three were far from the only ones in this picture. I know this because I FUCKING WALKED IN ON THIS PHOTOSHOOT. THESE THREE WERE NOT THE ONLY PEOPLE THERE. THIS WAS A VIP GROUP SHOT SESSION WITH 25+ PEOPLE OUTSIDE ELECTRIC BRIXTON AND I NEARLY BARGED IN AMONGST THEM LIKE A MOTHERFUCKING IDIOT

I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to! ;A ;

I’ve met my favourite bands spontaneously. Gone for signings. Received compliments from Rammstein. I’ve shaken hands with Xavier. But I’ve never just happened upon an entire group of my favourite people engaged in a situation not meant for ordinary fans. I was honestly more terrified than elated. I knew they were VIPs because they (all DJs included) had blue wristbands on which allowed continued re-entry into the club, instead of the usual red club stamp on the back of the hand. Later in the show I recognized two of those people as stage photographers. Pedro was closest to me, Irfane passed by (he had very vivid eyes, even under poor lighting), and around the right-hand side Thibaut was putting his arm around Sebastian. I may have seen Vladimir Cauchemar unmasked. Shit was surreal.

This could potentially have been a good place to greet Sebastian zdravo. Unfortunately there’s a time and place for such things, and a VIP photo session I wasn’t involved in was not one of them. (Electric Brixton isn’t known for facilitating after-show fan meets either, due to the club’s structure and how everyone has to be herded out at the end.) Even if it were just the Ed Banger folks milling around, I'm not sure if I’d have been able to approach them in this case. ‘Cause ultimately, I am just an Animal Experiencing Fear, and I was caught so off guard; I stepped back and pretended I had nothing to do with the area. At least that way I could gather my thoughts and continue to observe.

I can tell you this entire moment took five minutes from 9:23pm to 9:28pm, but only because I checked my phone later. I didn’t want to take it out in the moment because I got paranoid they’d think I was a creep. As the phones and cameras were put away and normal conversation resumed I looked up and saw Sebastian five steps in front of me.

You know that recent Seb + Vinco picture. Hang on I’ll find it. You know the look Seb has in that pic?

That. That is his actual gaze. That is what Seb actually looks like when he has nothing to pose for and nobody to speak to. Unless something mind-boggling was happening in the empty space several feet away from where I was standing, that’s his normal nothing-to-see-here expression. At one point we met eyes. I think he blinked like once. You can’t tell his eyes are blue even from a short distance. He looked down, exhaled vape smoke, and bit his lip. Then someone (Myd?) ushered him into the open doors. And that’s how I accidentally stumbled upon the Forbidden Ed Banger Content, and while I was excited at what I saw, I think I’d prefer a do-over in the future. When they’re not all engaged in other business, when I have a pen and an adequate surface, and when I am not a fool with poor timing.

Also Sebastian was not as tall as I thought he was, but also far from short; Irfane was taller than I thought, but visibly shorter than Thibaut; Thibaut was taller than I thought, but no match for Pedro, whose height continues to boggle my mind. I have seen all of those people before, save for Sebastian. Pedro I have seen multiple times, with multiple people, in multiple contexts. Yet I still have no grasp of how tall anybody is in this label.

I don’t know what that implies about my visualization skills. At this point, I’m too scared to find out.

9:33PM: I’m going with this timestamp because that’s when I noted down that security cleared out completely with the VIPs, closing the front doors behind them. A girl comes up near me and stares at the venue, the ‘Ed Banger Records’ written in lights, then at the queue barriers (not open) for some time before turning to me. There were maybe five people altogether waiting.

Girl: Excuse me, is this the queue for people with tickets?

Me: I don’t know. We might be queuing to find out where the queue is.

Girl: [To a freshly emerged security guard, holding a sandwich.] Excuse me, do you know if there’ll be tickets at the door?

Security guard: [Incomprehensible - he’s speaking at close distance and a bus is freshly pulling up behind me, so I can’t hear them. He goes inside and shuts the door as soon as he says his piece.]

Girl: He doesn’t know. What am I going to tell my friends.

Me: Oh my God did you not get tickets.

Girl: My friends did! I was meant to get in early and get the drinks and stuff oh my God I DIDN’T KNOW THEY WERE GOING TO BE SOLD OUT 😰

Me: DIDN’T THEY SAY THERE WOULD BE A LIMITED RELEASE THOUGH 😰

By this time we’re both mired in anxiety.txt and others were coming forwards with the same experience. A group of three girls who got there shortly after me were all waiting for door tickets, and a guy came along who had a ticket for himself but was trying to get his friend (Asian girl, very pretty) in. (I will see this friend repeatedly throughout the show, but not the dude.) Eventually we looked up what the Electric Brixton website had to say, and gathered that a very limited number of tickets were available and they were all here at the right time to purchase it. As far as I know, everyone there got in without trouble.

First release tickets were £15.00. Later I was told it was £25.00 at the door.

Yeesh.

9:50PM: They finally open up the queue barriers. I’m fourth. Several of us in the line take a poll on who we’re here to see:

Pedro: ///

Breakbot: //

Sebastian: ////

Riton: /

Vladimir:

Myd: /

‘Everyone’: //

‘I’m here because of my friends’: /

The girl in the above section answered with the last one. Ed Banger rookie. Writing this now, I’m sure she had the time of her life.

I say Sebastian. Two guys in front of me nod sagely. One of them wears a Woman Worldwide T-shirt and a Justice logo jacket. We mutually express wonder that Seb’s, like. Doing anything again. At this point, however, the queue is split into two: ticketed and buying at the door, on the opposite end of the entrance. The girl and I say farewells as she departs for the latter. Unfortunately, I do not get to see her again. It’s a shame. She was lovely.

9:55PM: Security emerges with QR code readers and club stamps and starts to call us in go go go go go go go go

9:58~PM: The bouncer initiating pat down pauses over my portable battery for a very long time, seemingly considering whether that’s legal. Fuck my life. Eventually, though, he lets me in and I s p r i n t for the bar.

It has begun.

A note before I start: like the XOYO gig review last year, this review has been composed via rough notes, photos, and videos I took through the show. It was a longer night than last year, and everyone played for a lengthy period of time; this review is thus split into six sections, one for each DJ, including timestamped observations and photos/gifs of the night.

The gifs are taken from my own videos. Unfortunately, Electric Brixton’s setup made photography difficult for three reasons: 1) an abundance of flashing lights, 2) the elevation difference between the dancefloor and the DJ booth, unlike in XOYO where there was no audience-DJ divide, and 3) smoke machines, as well as actual vapers in the form of Sebastian Akchoté. Those three things make a mess onscreen, so images are potato quality compared to where I was (front center). This was a constant problem during the night, so instead of complaining about it with every DJ, I’ll just refer to this as the I Cannot See For Shit (ICSFS) syndrome and call it a day.

Busy P (10PM to 11:50~PM)

10PM: Mother fucking sons of bitches raised the price of water!

As mentioned in the TBB review, a 500ml bottle of water at Electric Brixton was £3.00 in 2017. (Even in 2019, at a supermarket it can be as little as 55p/500ml.) Harsh, but it is what you’d expect from London. But when I came back they’d raised it to a whopping £3.60. You could buy yourself a meal with that kind of money, albeit a small one, even for London. Disgusting.

But what can you do with something as necessary as water. I did expect it. I’m sore about it, is all.

10:05PM: Restroom visited, water bought and tucked into bag, jacket tied around waist. I was wearing armwarmers. I take my place by the barriers, front row center, with a guy on my left and an empty space on my right. Left-hand arrangement will not change during the night, while on the right it will be chaos.

10:10PM: Very superstitious / nothin' more to say / very superstitious / the devil's on his way / thirteen month old baby / broke the lookin' glass / seven years of bad luck / good things in your past

This is my first video of the night. Might upload it later.

10:21PM: USE IMAGINATION 💫 AS A DESTINATION 💘 USE IMAGINATION 💫 AS A DESTINATIoOoON 💘 USE IMAGINATION AND COME CLooOoOSER 👄✨ 👄 FOREVER BEEEEE 😘 😘💋

‘Pleasure’ summons the two dudes I was talking to in the queue to my right, especially the Justice fan guy. They stuck with me through Pedro’s set.

10:30~PM: Pedro looks a lot happier than he did at XOYO last year. He’s interacting a lot with fans, smiling, bopping about the way we have all come to expect from him.

10:40PM: I see the first glimpse of another DJ hanging around at the back. It’s Myd, drinking in a corner.

10:50PM: Is that what I think it is. I think it’s what I think it is

10:51PM: POP THE GLOCK THE GLOCK YOU POP IF YOU OUTTA LINE IT’S YOU I’LL BANG POP POP THE GLOCK THE GLOCK YOU POP IF YOU OUTTA LINE IT’S YOU I’LL BANG POP

Fantastic to hear some Uffie in the mix. I missed her so damn much. I think I might upload that clip as well because I want to share the experience with y’alls.

10:54PM: Thibaut jitterbugs into the scene. The lighting’s too bad for a photo so I post about it on the hellsite instead.

11:19PM: The display in front of the DJ booth has remained constant until this point, displaying the Ed Banger logo with only the occasional change in lighting. But now the display suddenly starts changing. Check it out.

It got really trippy with Breakbot.

11:29PM: ‘Genie’ comes on. I can see Thibaut and Irfane at the back now, ready to take over. I take my first drink since I entered the club.

11:52PM: HE PUT ON ‘BURNIN’. HE ACTUALLY DID THAT.

Pedro picks up the mic at this point and greets us for the first time during the night. I have what he said on video but it’s hard for me to transcribe it over all the audience noise, it might have to be an upload later on; I have videos of most DJ-DJ segues of this night, so hopefully that should be an interesting exercise. According to the timestamp on this video, 11:52-53PM is when Thibaut put on the headphones and took over from Pedro, but he continues to linger

11:55PM:

just so he can cOMPLETELY LOSE HIS SHIT APPARENTLY.

Breakbot (Thibaut and Irfane) (11:50~PM to 1:30AM)

12:00AM: At midnight Thibaut and Irfane take over fully with ‘Break of Dawn’. There’s something wild about listening to people sing a song with no lyrics (da DA DA DA darararaRA).

12:05AM: Irfane was on serious mode all night. I’ve also realized that the light situation is not going to get better; if it was Pedro alone I could have forgotten about it, but Breakbot’s set was where the ICSFS got really, really bad. There are so many photos where I tried to capture beautiful moments between Thibaut and Irfane, as they were quite touchy with one another (not as much as they were at XOYO tho), and yet it all turned to shit. I’m so sad.

12:10~AM: The two dudes to the right of me leave. The music is most funky fresh and the smoke machines are on max, so much I cannot actually see either of the DJs on scene. A girl wearing light blue takes over to my right.

I think Electric Brixton has reached full capacity. It’s not a big venue, fitting only about 2000 people or so, but I can feel it in the air. I look behind me and all around me are unfamiliar faces, packed tightly in a crowd. It’s hot. I take off my armwarmers and cram them into my bag.

12:16AM: Irfane baby I love you but that was not a smooth segue.

(I don’t actually know what song he was on but the music like. Stopped 100% for a second. It didn’t sound intentional.)

12:25AM: I have a note on my phone that says ‘12:25 Pedro making heart’. I have no memory of this. Fangirl magistralucis what are your secrets.

12:30AM: you 😍💖 are all I think about 😍✨😍✨😍 keep me sulking and down 😘👇🏼 but you fill me with 🔥 so much 🔥 emotion 😳💖😳 and I’ll show my 🙏🏼🕊💐 devotion 💐🕊🙏🏼 to you ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜

12:31AM: I cannot see for shit. Here have a light show I guess.

12:36AM: Dance, dance with me / Life's a fantasy / Stand next to me / Like ecstasy

12:48AM: Irfane puts on ‘Funkytown’. Thibaut dances beautifully. I’ll drink to that.

12:51AM:

What the hell is this?

1:07AM: Extra, extra, read all about it! The Mysterious Ninth Planet, located at last! Turns out it was in the hands of funky Frenchmen all along, who were hoarding not just the ninth planet, but ALL THE PLANETS

1:08AM: You may have seen what was happening during the above in Irfane’s instastory, actually. He put on ‘Le Freak’. I wonder whether I should upload this clip from where I was.

1:10AM:

?????

1:20AM: Pedro comes back into view. I try to film him but it doesn’t work out, and for once it had nothing to do with ICSFS. The girl to the right of me, who was rocking out for all of Breakbot’s set, is beginning to slump over on the railing. "Are you okay?” I call, but I don’t think she heard. From how rapidly it came on, how she could barely stand during the first five minutes of VC’s set, and how frantically her and her friends left afterwards (she could barely walk), it is quite possible she was going into diabetic shock. She did not return.

This is a known issue. You generally cannot bring food into London clubs, even if you’re diabetic. Electric Brixton had a complaint two years ago that a diabetic person was not permitted to bring in their food to prevent this exact thing happening. I hope whatever she had wasn’t that serious, but. I do wonder.

This leads to a note about security, I suppose. There were none up front by the barriers. There was no one to call for help to, except for maybe the stage photographers, and that’s not what they’re trained to do. People who were falling sick or too inebriated to stand would have benefited from having security help them beyond the barrier straight away, instead of having to wade their way back through a tight crowd.

This continued to be a problem.

1:20~AM: Vladimir Cauchemar is visible. He doesn’t have the skull mask on, but with something smooth concealing his face, kind of like the Taikobots of Danger’s Taiko-era set. When he takes over he has put the mask on.

Vladimir Cauchemar (1:30AM to 2:30AM)

1:30AM: I gotta say, VC was the easiest and the best to photograph in this show, and I both respect and resent that fact.

VC’s lighting stayed a consistent red and black through his set, similar to how it was at XOYO, and the clearest images I have of the night are of him. I’m still not over his collab with 6**9*** so my impression of him isn’t out of the woods yet, which is why my notes for him are brief.

I tell you what, though. He got the crowd going. VC was the first DJ to get the dude standing to the left of me dancing, and this is the dude who stayed the entire eight hours of the night by my side while on my right people faded in, faded out, barged into places. (Dude was holding out for Sebastian, but stuck around for all of Myd as well.) His set had serious limitations - the most gregarious sin of which I’ve noted down below - but he had a great stage personality. I have very mixed feelings.

Still didn’t prevent me from standing out certain songs to go on Russian duolingo, but that was my pride.

1:35AM: ‘Aulos’ comes on. I will upload that video because I might as well, I’ve little else videoed for VC. Someone taps my shoulder. It’s the friend of the dude whom I encountered outside, the Asian girl. “Can I put this here?” She calls, and places her coat down beyond the barrier; there are steps on the other side where you can place your drinks, bags, coats etc if you’re front row. She withdraws behind me afterwards, and when I next look back, she’s gone.

1:40AM: I’m honestly surprised how many people are digging VC’s set. He was not first choice for anyone I asked.

1:51AM: Vladimir, Aulos is great but not twice in the same set.

2:00AM: Third drink of the night. My legs are getting numb. The first 3-4 hours of a set are always the hardest. I don’t remember what VC was playing. At several points he played Michael Jackson but I have no record of when. I stood still to rest my legs and distracted myself with other pursuits.

2:18AM:

Hi I’m in this photo and I don’t like it.

2:26AM: VLADIMIR. AULOS IS GREAT, BUT NOT THRICE IN THE SAME SET.

This. This is the major problem with his set. I know it’s his biggest hit, but VC exploits ‘Aulos’ way too much, and from what I hear he essentially does this for every set he plays. Would it injure him to play a different song every now and then. Seriously. There are so many excellent songs in the world, and some of them might even be ones he’ll drop in the future. Why stick to ‘Aulos’ alone. I don’t get it.

2:26~AM: As I was noting down the third instance of ‘Aulos’, the girl who put her coat down returned. “Can I have my coat back?” She calls over the sound, and I peer over. I can’t see the coat. The red spotlight passes over the floor; the coat’s rolled off the steps and is now lying on the ground.

“I can’t reach it.” I shout. “It’s fallen off.”

“Oh no.” She shouts.

“Can you wait until the segue?”

She shakes her head. “I’ll go over the barrier, but thanks.”

I offer to help her over, but she doesn’t think she'll make it. She ducks out past the crowd and goes around the side instead (no security to stop her), runs over to grab her coat, and then leaves straight away. She’ll be back for Sebastian’s set, but now it’s Riton time.

Riton (2:30AM to 3:30AM)

I didn’t enjoy Riton’s set very much. This had 0% to do with his music and everything to do with the chaos on my right-hand side, which made it worse. If it was the artist that was bad you chalk it up to a mismatch in interests, but knowing other concertgoers unilaterally deprived you of a good experience is a unique level of terrible. There are no timestamps for this section because I was too busy keeping an eye on my surroundings to take notes; he was also afflicted with the ICSFS, which didn’t help, but it’s a darn shame how much I missed out.

Oh and that too. That was his light show. Riton was a special guest and his name/logo was the dominant display for the entirety of his set. But I’m not here to talk about that. I’m here to talk about the chip on my shoulder.

Here’s the thing. I attend most of the gigs I go to by myself. I prefer it that way because I get anxious when things go wrong. I have a very specific set of items I bring with me to concerts, and practice very meticulous timekeeping. One of the rules I observe during gigs is that I do not move from my position: I prefer front centre or front centre-right generally, but wherever it is, I stay put.

I am not a tall woman. If I lose my place, it is unlikely I’d get it back. I’m full of anxiety about being at my place, but I’m more anxious to avoid losing it, so I defend it with all my might. I have never lost my place in almost ten years and this show was no exception. But my goodness did the guys to my right push my buttons this time. The guy who was to the right of me for Riton was with a group, all of whom were banging on the barriers and creating a ruckus. Just my luck he was the only one who seemed actually inebriated. He kept putting his head down on the railing, slumped over for minutes at a time, before suddenly raving and flailing around whenever Riton dropped a beat. He had no consideration for whoever he was accidentally knocking about (i.e. me) during this. And as I said, there was no security up front, so I was on my own.

At first I had some sympathy, because I still wasn’t over the girl who left earlier. I’ve never seen people who were inebriated/high during shows last very long where they were, either. But the fifteenth time dude nearly poked my eye out, it was just too much. I do not like people prodding their way into my personal space. I do not like it, Sam-I-Am.

The last time I had to be vicious with a concertgoer was at TBB, where a ginger-haired girl kept on trying to tear people from their place up front, and eventually was ejected by security after she got into a catfight with another girl next to me. Apparently this time it was my turn to give into Righteously Indignant Bitch Hours and the next time he started flailing his arm into my neck, I grabbed him and slammed his hand onto the railing and shouted “WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU.”

I wish I could say this made him stop. However, life is dumb. Dude was too out of it to comprehend his own actions, let alone my complaints. His friends pulled him out of the front row for about five minutes but then he came staggering back, muttering something about his lens cap (?) and if I’d seen it. It wasn’t long before he began to barge into the surrounding people again. Only elbows were the solution; I can barely move my right arm even now, it feels so bruised. I’m not proud of what I did, but I’m not sure what I could have done differently, and I would do the same even now.

But, you know. It could have been worse. If you’ve been front row, you know there’s a difference between those who’re trying to grab a good time and those who act out of malice. The former usually try to sneak a hand in next to yours on the railing, or crash into you from the back, or wedge their way in - but they almost always follow it up with an apology, and they tend to carve out their own little space, not actively steal yours. Yes I’m talking about that ginger-haired girl at the TBB show again. I’ve attended full on firebreathing industrial metal shows at much bigger, suffocating venues, and yet those audiences still managed to avoid being vicious and petty. She was the worst. Holy shit. It’s been two years and I’m still mad. Fucking bitch I hope you step in a puddle. What was I writing about again? Oh yeah the dude. He wasn’t acting out of malice, but out of irresponsibility. And to be honest, his friends weren’t that better, save for a girl who was about five feet eight tall and complimented that I was still standing later in the set: “I had to sit down after Thibaut and you’re still jumping like nothing happened!”

That made me think about my own stamina. I never thought I had much. I’m twenty-five years old. I’m in my prime, but I had more energy when I was eighteen, and I am old enough to keep that in mind. I’m not getting younger. After a show I’m bruised and my muscles ache and I pass out asleep for hours at a time. I’m usually awake for 30hrs~ during those times. I don’t eat or drink much before shows to prevent bathroom breaks. I ate on 3:30pm on the 25th and didn’t touch a single morsel of food again until 7am on the 26th, and even then it was a sandwich. After dancing for eight hours.

It’s been that way for years. But maybe most people? Don’t? Do that? And maybe I am? Actually quite strong? For regularly surviving what I do to myself?

I don’t know. Let’s move onto what I think 70% of you are here to read about.

Sebastian (3:30AM to 4:30AM)

3:30AM: Predictably, Sebastian gets the loudest cheers of the night when he comes on. Riton announces him and passes him the headphones. He still does the hand thing, by the way.

This thing.

3:30~AM: Not an observation of the moment, but of the entire set. Seb played some big name EDM songs and what I believe are versions of his YLS tracks. He was the only set I wanted to record in full, but I wasn’t tall enough and my equipment wasn’t good enough to do so. ICSFS is in play. I sort of hoped he'd stuck with his vicious red lighting from Primary Tour, and he did, but not to a degree where I could get good shots of him.

Is anyone excited for him to drop an album this year or what. Pedro said he would.

3:38AM: Seb also has the dubious honour of being the only DJ who contributed extra to the ICSFS problem. He vapes through the entire set. I have lots of feelings and I don’t know what to do with myself honestly.

3:39AM: Neither do the dudes to my right. They are the friends of the inebriated dude who has since staggered off into the crowd. They are completely losing their shit, screaming and taking their shirts off and kicking at the barriers. They contributed to some of the bruises on my right arm. But they still didn’t take my place so whatever.

3:40~AM: Seb is not a smiler. Photographer comes by and he gives him a single glance before turning back. I don’t know why I’m surprised.

3:43AM: The Asian girl with the coat from earlier comes back. She asks me to deposit a different layer of coat this time over the barrier, and stands behind me. I feel very protected.

3:50~AM: Balm to aid my pain: photographers start coming down from the stage to pass out Ed Banger pins and stickers. The first lot are thrown into the audience, but the second photographer takes the time to give all of us one. This is the first time I’ve scored thrown Ed Banger merch during a set. I usually can’t reach them because I am smol.

I am also bonding with the dude to my left during this time. We collaborate to catch the pins we want and share them out between the two of us. He gets the Ed Banger melody logo pin, and gives me the Ed Banger 15 Ans pin. “Are you sure?” I ask. He smiles and nods. I thank him and hand him a Breakbot sticker, one that’s of his name.

4:06AM: What the fuck the lights are changing

4:06AM: Is that

4:06AM: IT IS

4:07AM: IT’S JUSTICE. IT’S HEAVY METAL. SEB’S PLAYING HEAVY METAL AND HE’S DOING THE HAND THING AND THE LIGHT SHOW’S TRIPPY AS FUCK ALL OF A SUDDEN AND EVERYONE IS SCREAMING AND THE DUDE LEFT OF ME IS DECLARING HIS LOVE FOR SEB IN FRENCH AND I AM SCREAMING OH MY FUCKING GOD

4:09AM: HE SEGUES TO ROLLIN’ AND SCRATCHIN’. HE LITERALLY DID THAT. SEBASTIAN AKCHOTE IS PLAYING ROLLIN’ AND SCRATCHIN’ AND WE’RE ALL GOING BATSHIT INSANE. I’M SORRY FOR THE BAD CAMERA WORK. THIS IS HOW I DIE.

4:15~AM: Myd is finally going back and forth. He will close the night after Sebastian has finished his set. Looking back on the videos of the night, I can’t believe he only played for an hour; it felt a bit longer than that, Sebastian never let up for a single second as long as he was onstage. Not a single minute wasted. And now you’re going to have to excuse me babes because he’s puttING ON STRESS AND WE’RE ALL GOING TO DIE AGAIN RIGHT HERE RIGHT NOW

4:24AM: AAAAAAAAAAAA

(Seb’s still playing Stress. Looping the chainsaw noises. Steady camera work lmao what steady camera work)

4:30AM: Sebastian hands over the reins to Myd at this point. I do not have a video of this segue because he does not announce the takeover; with one of his inscrutable hand gestures and a proud look, Sebastian takes up a whole bottle of wine and silently walks offstage. Again, I don’t know why I am remotely surprised. That is probably the most Seb thing I have seen Seb do all night, and it was a night extremely full of Seb things.

At this point I stop jotting down notes on my phone. But I’m at about 58% battery and going strong, so I’m still taking photos and videos whenever I can. Myd’s section is reconstructed from these records.

Myd (Round 2) (4:30~AM to 6:00AM)

4:30~AM: Not a specific observation. As mentioned in the Breakbot review of May 2018, I have unfinished business with Myd. Or at least: had. Myd played the closer in XOYO last year, and back then I was weak and I could not stay through his entire set. I swore to myself the next time he returned, and I was able to see him, I would last as long as he was onstage.

And I did. That’s one promise to myself kept, and what I hope was a little justice done for a DJ of Myd’s caliber.

4:35AM: Coat girl taps my shoulder again. “I’m going home. Could you...?” She gestures to the barrier, and I reach down and pull up her coat. It didn’t roll onto the ground this time.

“There you are.” I say. She takes it and gives me a hug. “Have a good night.”

“Have a good night!” Then she’s gone, alongside the exodus of people who are leaving the club. More people stuck around for Myd here than in XOYO. Guy to my left nudges me to look; stickers are coming around again, specifically the ‘Hello My Name Is _______ [Myd]’ one. We each take one.

4:44AM: I’m out of water. Actually I was out of water immediately before Seb finished, because for some reason I thought downing the last of my only means of hydration with over 1h 30mins to go was a sensible thing to do. I regret this decision bitterly, but I’ll probably survive.

4:58AM:

@_@

5:03AM: It is very difficult for me to ID Myd’s tracks. I suspect a lot of them are original or are from his recent release that I haven’t yet listened to. Appropriate to a closer, he takes a very trance-inspired line to his entire set, with lots of repetition and few loud drops; this was the same in XOYO. I wonder what a Myd headliner set must be like.

5:10~AM: The guy to the left of me is struggling. So am I. But further to his left, there is a guy slumped on the rails. His girlfriend is beside him. They’ve been there all night, but they’ve clearly reached their limit. My right hand side keeps refilling and emptying as people step away or leave.

I talk about that other guy because he summons Thibaut to him.

5:28AM: I took several vids of this but this timestamp belongs to the longest. Thibaut comes back with his own phone to film the audience. He winks and shyly gestures all of us to gather our strengths and be more pumped up, and I recall we obliged him because he asked so nicely. He lingered for some time, gazing at us as fondly as we were gazing at him. He then looked at the guy slumped over on the railing and hopped down from the stage, gently patting his shoulder to talk to him.

I didn’t hear any of their conversation, save for Thibaut asking the dude ‘where he was from’. By the way he clasped his hand to his chest several times, though, I’m inclined to think he was really concerned about the guy. They eventually shook hands and Thibaut made as if to hop back onstage. (The photo was taken as he was leaving.)

Except he couldn’t jump that high. He gave us another shy look and braced his foot against the barriers, perching neatly on the stage before clambering up. He stuck around for about five more minutes to check up on the audience.

I love Thibaut so much. He’s so gentle.

5:34~AM: Holy fuck my bag is full of crap. I haven’t organized it in some time. Discarded cups, beer cans etc have accumulated by my feet, and as I kick them away I’m trying to check my loot is in place and I still have my items. I can’t feel my passport and my blood runs cold for a moment. I turn the camera flash on to look.

“Are you looking for something?” The guy to my left asks worriedly.

I feel my passport in my front pocket. False alarm. “Just organizing my bag.”

(I didn’t see any lost foreign ID or driver licenses on the floor this time.)

5:43AM:

Russian duolingo says fuck millennial lives

5:50~AM: The smoke machine is turned off. I still can’t see for shit, though, because the lights flash rapidly between deep blue and violet and Myd’s hidden behind it.

My last video of the night is timestamped 5:55AM. Myd has a most benevolent smile on his face. He knows the night is drawing to a close.

6:00AM: I did it.

We made it.

I have made it through a Myd set fully and have survived the night.

Myd finished exactly at 6am and exited to a crowd of applause. There are calls for an encore, but given that it's... like, literally morning, it’s not realistic to expect him to stay any longer. Security comes by as soon as he exits, and we all leave Electric Brixton behind at last. The sun has not yet risen. I fall in step with the guy next to me.

Guy: Where are you heading to?

Me: Coach. I came up from Brighton.

Guy: From Brighton?! Was that last night or what?

Me: Yep, two hours before the show. I haven’t eaten or slept all night.

Guy: Wow. [Pause.] Though I think that’s the longest I’ve danced in my entire life, too.

Me: You’re not kidding. I really didn’t think I was going to last beyond Sebastian.

I think he was a Londoner. We say farewells in front of the Electric Brixton bus stop, and I leave for the Underground. My legs are numb and I can barely walk, but somehow I stumble past the barriers and sink into the seats of the train. Back at Victoria Train Station I drop in at Sainsburys for a sandwich and two cans of grape soda, and then realizing I need a resealable container to take on the bus, buy a bottle of Pepsi. The grape soda was just because I really love grape soda and I cannot find a place in Brighton that sells any. It was around 8AM when I finally got on the coach back home.

I had not slept for some twenty hours. I continued to not sleep on the bus. I tried very hard to, but I couldn’t, because I was still buzzing from the adrenaline. It wasn’t until I got home, just after 11AM, that I began to feel sleepy for real. Sig. other made me a cup of tea, and I took the interval to admire some cat slippersocks that had arrived for me in the meantime.

LOOK AT IT.

Overall I’d say this was a fantastic night. I have taken care of unfinished business and seen Sebastian in the flesh. I have, however, come away with another unfinished business to replace the deal with Myd - I should seek out Riton again, the next time he comes here, and deliver a full review of what that was like. To think of the Ed Banger crew making their way across Europe in 2019, with new material and a new Sebastian in tow...

😍😍😍

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katelides · 6 years ago

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Bechloe Week Day 2 : Jealousy

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13011277/1/Bechloe-Week-2018

https://archiveofourown.org/works/15404181/chapters/35751621

Bechloe Week Day 2: Jealousy

Emily is the last one of the Bellas who had to turn 21 and of course that had to be a huge celebration. The youngest Bella had been behind excited that the older Bellas wanted to celebrate her birthday with her. Beca had really tried to get out of it but one pleading look from Chloe and she had caved. “You only turn 21 once Becs, and she looks up to you..” She had said, to which Beca had dryly answered. “Whatever Beale, as long as I get some alcohol in my system I’m good.” So that’s how all 11 Bellas had gone to a restaurant first before heading out to a club and party into the night.

Only now that they are sitting at the long table, trying to figure out what to order, Chloe regrets convincing Beca to come with them. She isn’t a jealous type but when you harbour a crush on someone for 7 years you can’t help it. She always thought she could hide it but all of the Bellas except for Beca could see the green eyed monster holding on to the redhead. They can’t be mad at Beca though, the brunette is completely clueless when it comes to those kind of things.

It was a pretty painful situation to look at. Beca is getting hit on by the waitress and she doesn’t even seem to understand it’s happening. It drives Chloe crazy. She wants to get up and walk up to the brunette, grab her and kiss her senseless... but she will never do that because she’s terrified to lose her best friend. Living together for 6 years 2 of which Beca has been single makes you lose hope in actually being together but the feeling won’t ever go away. So Chloe tries to ignore it but it’s extremely hard.

Everything goes just fine, until the waitress ‘accidentally’ spill water all over Chloe. “What the hell, you idiot!” Everyone’s eyes widen at Chloe’s choice of words. The redhead would never ever shout at anyone so this must have been a breaking point for her. Especially when it’s concerned about Beca. “I’m really sorry, I’ll get you a towel.” The waitress apologises with a cocky grin on her face. “Don’t bother.” The redhead pushes her chair backwards and walks off towards the bathroom.

Clara has had feelings for Beca for a while but she never had a chance to do anything about it. Because every time she would see Beca she would be with Chloe. And whenever she would get a chance to actually talk to the brunette it would be ‘Chloe this... Chloe that... Chloe did the cutest thing... Chloe and I...’ She was fed up with it and wanted to get her revenge on the stupid redhead for taking her chances away. And silently she was cheering herself on for her tiny bit of revenge.

“Clara why the fuck did you do that?” Everyone at the table looks at Beca, who had spoken up. “It was an accident, I swear.” Beca scoffs loudly. “The hell it was, I saw you deliberately tipping the glass so it would fall over.” The brunette was on the verge of exploding. No one messed with her friends, especially Chloe. “Well, what’s your excuse?” Beca raises her brow but doesn’t get an answer. “Next time you flirt with someone don’t go and spill water on their best friend.” Beca says with a finality in her voice.

The Bellas are shocked, Beca knew that this Clara was flirting with her? They watch Beca get up from her seat. “Now if you all can excuse me, I’m going to go and check on Chloe.” No one dares to mutter a word as Beca storms off towards the bathroom. It’s only when the brunette is out of sight Aubrey dares to speak up. “You really messed up, Clara was it? Beca will protect Chloe till the end of days, whether they are dating or not.” With that the blonde waves the waitress off and continues her conversation with Stacie as if nothing had happened.

Meanwhile Chloe is trying dry her hair and dress. She had put so much effort into her outfit (for Beca but she would never admit it thought). “Stupid waitress flirting with Beca...” While the redhead is angrily muttering to herself she doesn’t hear the door open nor does she notice Beca enter the bathroom. So it’s no surprise that she lets out a squeak when the brunette taps her on her shoulder. “Wow, sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.” Chloe lets out a relieved breath when she sees Beca. “It’s fine. What are you doing here?”

“I came to check on you, you were pretty mad back there.” Chloe lets her head hang in shame. In her fury she completely forgot about the scene she caused in the restaurant in front of her best friends. “Oh my god, Emily is so going to hate me.” The redhead hides her face in her hands. “No she won’t, she loves you and you know it.” Beca steps in and hugs Chloe because she knows that it’s one one the things that calms the redhead down. The two stay in that position for a while, just enjoying being close to each other.

That is until Beca decides the silence is too much. “Chlo, why did you get mad at Clara? And don’t tell me it was because of the water, I won’t believe you.” Chloe looks up into the safeness of the metallic blue eyes that are patiently waiting for an answer. “I don’t kno-” Beca instantly cuts her best friend off. “You do know Chlo, I have been in the same position many times before and I will be many times more... I guess what I’m trying to say is that I have feelings for you, I have had them for a very long time. Seeing you go out with others or get hit on makes me-”

“Angry?” Chloe finishes for the brunette. “Yeah, angry. I hate it because I can’t do anything about it because I’m a coward.” Chloe rolls her eyes playfully as a smile tugs at her lips. “You’re not a coward Beca, you have found the courage to tell me know, while I probably wouldn’t have done that in your position.” Beca shakes her head with a sigh. “You didn’t have to say anything, your reaction today was all the proof I needed to make sure I didn’t make a fool out of myself if I told you.”

Chloe raises her brow in confusion. “You planned this?” Beca quickly shakes her head. “Oh god no, I did know that Clara was flirting with me and I kept an eye out on your reactions. And every time Clara would even look at me I could see you frown.” The redhead tries to hide her face in the crook of Beca’s neck and lets out an embarrassed groan. “But those little things give me the courage to do this, right here right now.” Beca pulls away slightly and presses a soft kiss on Chloe’s lips. Quickly the kiss deepens and just as quick as it began it ended.

“W-we should go b-back.” Beca breathes out. “Good call, but tonight you’re all mine, no one will even dare to flirt with you.” Chloe’s voice is deep and promising. It makes the brunette feel things in all the right places. “I guess I’ll be requesting Titanium to keep you close to me as well.” Beca counters.

This was going to be a long night for both of them.

#fanfiction #fanfic #bechloe #beca and chloe #beca mitchell #chloe beale #bechloe week day 2 #bechloeweek #bechloe week

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rex101111 · 6 years ago

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Swipes Of Sword And Fan 11

And another one! :D This one was supposed to be a birthday present for Anji but I only remembered it was his birthday by the time it nearly over. So now it’s a belated Birthday present for Anji! :D

Chapter 11: Exhaustion and Gifts

"You alright back there?"

"Shut up and keep walking." Baiken huffed as she felt her weight shift by a few movements of Anji's shoulders, her chin once more finding its place in the crook of his neck as she settled. "And if you want to be my white damned steed you keep it shut."

Anji chuckled lightly, the vibration moving from his back to her chest as she leaned on it. "I said I wanted to be your knight on a white steed, though I suppose this is a good conciliation prize!"

Baiken groaned as she pressed her forehead on his neck, despairing more and more at her situation. They were currently on the way back to their inn room for the night from a particularly rough job. A group of anarchy-obsessed lunatics thought the best way to spend the last week of the year was to cause as much destruction as possible in a small merchant town, and she and Anji came to fix the problem before too many people got hurt.

Apparently, their employer thought it wise to misinform them about the strength of said lunatics, thinking he could get away with a lower price for asking them to deal with a lesser threat. One of the things he failed to mention was that, somehow, the raving idiots managed to get their hands on Crusade Era war machine that still had most of its bullets.

Bullets that all missed mind you, but the junk heap was still a bitch and a half to take down, Baiken taking it upon herself to do so while Anji took care of the humans trying to stop her. The result of the whole disaster was that Baiken was so exhausted and bruised she could barely move, and with nothing but an underwhelming payday to look forward to.

However, maybe not as underwhelming once Baiken had a long conversation with their employer about the importance of truthfully describing a damn job, of course.

Not that she would be able to do so now, so bone tired she had to swallow her pride and ask Anji to carry her on his back to their inn. Right now Baiken doubted she could threaten a half-blind rat.

So much for the New Year's Eve party Anji wanted to drag her too. Not that she mourned the so-called company, or occasion, it's just that towns like this always brought out the good shit with parties like these. Merchants always had a few spare bottles of Sake handy these days. She was hoping to snag a bottle or two for the road ahead.

Not to mention that she had some…plans of her own for the morning of the New Year. She hazarded a guess that she would be in no mood to make anyone happy tomorrow, utterly focused on ripping that skeevy mayor a new one for nearly getting them killed.

It was almost enough to make her feel guilty. Almost.

Guess Anji will have to-

"You keep scowling like that you'll leave a mark on the back of my neck!" Anji called out with a laugh, knocking her out of her thoughts, "and not the fun kind either!"

"Shove it." She muttered against his neck before lifting her forehead and replacing it with her chin. "Bad enough that you're carrying me like an invalid, no need for you to jabber my damn ear off."

"No shame in needing assistance Baiken." He replied easily, patting her gently where he held her thigh. "I'm just trying to make sure you don't scowl all night, its New Year's Eve!" He gestured with his head towards some of the colorful decorations strung along the streetlights on their path. "Try to enjoy the atmosphere a little!"

"Enjoy it huh?" She tutted dryly. "Like you're enjoying the feeling of my tits on your back and my thigh in your palm?"

"Exactly!"

She clicked her tongue at him and flicked him on the cheek from where she draped her arm over his shoulder. "Prick."

"I am to please." He answered smartly, eliciting a brief snort from Baiken as she settled on his back again, pressing her ear to him to hear the dull thuds of his steps through his shoulders. Shoulders that shifted as Anji slowed and looked to the side, Baiken following his gaze to see a cascade of flashing colors in the direction of the town square. "Looks like at least someone is having fun tonight eh?"

"Yeah, a bunch of clueless assholes." She spat with a scowl. "Drinking and dancing and acting like a bunch of feckless fucking teenagers." She scoffed. "Probably had no damn idea those manic idiots were planning to plow that war machine right into them at full speed."

Anji made an agreeing hum, "good thing we skipped out on the party to put a stop to that than!"

Again, a brief stab of guilt shot through her, helped along by her exhaustion causing the memory of how Anji raved about how much fun the party would be and how excited he seemed about the prospect of going to such a large gathering for the first time in months.

Instead he spent the eve of his birthday fighting a bunch of raving madmen and carrying her on his back while she bitched in his ear.

The thought made her screw up her face slightly, letting out a sigh. "Sorry we had to miss it Anji, I know you were looking forward to it."

Anji slowed for a moment, looking back at her in surprise before smiling gently and going back to his previous pace. "Don't worry about it Baiken, I was honestly just planning on gathering some blackmail on the mayor for our payment discussion tomorrow."

She huffed in amusement at the thought; always count on Anji to gather info while everyone else was busy getting hammered.

"Though I suppose I won't have to bother." He chuckled, patting her thigh again. "Looking at you now, I think you'll just need to glare at him for two minutes and he'll pay us ten times the money he should have been paying us for this job to begin with."

This time she just laughed outright, shaking with mirth as Anji no doubt grinning like a fool beneath her. "Glad to know you're taking this in stride, most people would complain about carrying someone a few miles on New Year's Eve."

"Not if that person is you, Baiken." He stated cheerfully, absurdly pleased with himself. "Most people would kill to be in my position." He moved his fingers along her thighs where he held in her in a way she might have appreciated more if she wasn't so damned tired, another pleased chuckle bouncing in the air. "Happy Birthday to me."

She flicked him on the ear with a huff, a fleeting rush of heat going through her cheeks. "Watch your grip." He laughed again, Baiken outright refusing to be pleased with how the vibrations of his chest going through his back felt on her aching muscles. "It's not your birthday yet, asshole." She paused for a moment, remembering a suggestion he made when he saw how tired she was. "…Though, if this is your idea of a birthday present, I could just let you carry me like a blushing damned bride, bet you'll get a kick out of that won't you?"

"Don’t be ridiculous Baiken." He said easily, surprising her with his flippancy, voice calm and reasonable. "You know I'd never put you that kind of indignity don't you?"

Baiken felt the heat rush back to her face, stronger this time as she buried her face in his shoulder with a groan. "Dammit, why are you always so…so…"

"Magnanimous?"

She shook her head with a scoff, "a pain in my ass." She laughed breathlessly for a bit before noticing she was having an unusually hard time keeping her eyes open, her lids weighing more and more as time wore on. "Shit…"

"Baiken? You alright?"

"Yeah yeah…" She mumbled weakly, sagging against him. "Just…falling asleep I think." She punctuated the point with jaw stretching yawn. "Man fuck anarchists…don't give a shit about anybody but themselves…"

Anji laughed again, and in her fading consciousness, it nearly made her smile. "Well if you're that tired feel free to take a nap up there, I'll wake you when we-"

"Anji."

"Hmm?"

"When you get there…" She scrunched up her face to stay awake a bit longer. "When you get to our room and put me down…open the drawer on the end table…" She yawned again, leaning her head more heavily on Anji's shoulder. "Got…a surprise for you…"

The last thing she heard before she succumbed fully to sleep was Anji gaping like a fish in dismay, apparently utterly flat footed by the implication of the possibility that Baiken actually did something nice.

She would be insulted if he didn't have a point.

----

"Baiken…Baiken come on."

Baiken only shoved her face deeper into the barely there fluff of her pillow as Anji's hissing whispers bounced off her head. Grumbling as she felt her aching bruises faintly pulsing under her clothes and her partner started nudging her shoulder.

"For fuck's sake Anji…" She growled as her patience ran out and she threw her head up to glare at him. "What do you want?"

He completely ignored her displeasure by lifting a steel folding fan into view, "did you really buy this for me?" Baiken looked up to see Anji with a tender look in his eyes that made all the anger in her gut disappear before she could do anything with it. "This is…Baiken isn't this a bit much?"

Baiken looked at the fan for a moment before sitting up and leaning back against the wall. "Did you spread it open?"

He barked out a laugh and made a rather elaborate hand gesture to open the fan, the lights of the city catching the steel as it unfurled and revealed a design of a cloud of blue butterflies swirling on the leaves from one stick to the other. "Is this a custom design by chance? Because I don't think I've seen this modal anywhere."

"Got it a few weeks back." Baiken shrugged quietly. "Took a big chunk of my share as you'd imagine." She raised a hand to stop him when she saw him open his mouth, probably to offer to do something stupid like pay her back. "Less than half of that fucking sake bottle you bought me though."

He rubbed the back of his head with a nervous laugh, moving the fan between his fingers with a faraway look as a smile grew on his face. "Still a bit surprised you did this, I don't think I mentioned needing another fan, considering I have Zessen."

"Zessen is still just the one weapon." Baiken noted, pointing at his gift. "Consider this a backup, sure it can't channel Ki or blow anyone's head off…but it's steel." She gave a casual shrug. "Good steel too, sharp, you'll probably cut a neck open easily enough."

"Fashionable and practical!" He called out in delight, making Baiken roll her eyes. "Who knew you were so skilled at gift giving!" He grinned with all his teeth at her, "I'll have to up my game when your birthday comes up won't I?"

She huffed and flopped back on her futon. "Don't expect me to answer in turn Anji, you'll still only get half of what you give to me."

"You act as if that's supposed to discourage me!"

Baiken resolutely ignored the heat rushing to her cheeks, again, and buried her face in her pillow. "Go to sleep Anji." She heard him hum in delight, as he got ready for bed, changing into his nightclothes, closing the window, and laying down next to her.

She waited for his breathing to even out before she whispered, "happy birthday Anji", before she allowed herself to sleep.

(She spent the next morning convincing herself she gave him his present early because she would be in no mood to give it to him later and she did not intend to owe Anji a damn thing.

She couldn't quite manage to convince herself that she wasn't pleased at the sight of his new steel folding fan tucked into the waistband of his hakama.)

#Guilty Gear #Baiken #Anji Mito #Mito Anji #stuff rex wrote #Swipes of Sword and Fan #this got long but it was fun to write #next one is gonna be angsty oh boy oh boy!

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satellitephonebuy-blog · 6 years ago

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Top Reviews and Complaints about Safelite AutoGlass

I am a trucker (18 wheeler). I have tried 2 Safelite windshields and both got traveling cracks (DOT FAIL!) from a ding that, on a properly laminated windshield would have just been a nickel-sized ding. Safelite truck windshields are junk. I don't know what sort of laminate (if any) they have from their foreign-made garbage, but I will only use OEM or OEM quality henceforth.

My windshield was hit by several rocks from the back of someone's truck on the freeway. I ended up with 5 tiny chips in my windshield. Took my car to Safelite to fill the tiny chips. When I got my car back there was an eight inch crack across my windshield. I should it to them right away. They said that can happen when it is filled. Let me give you a quote to replace the windshield. I said, "Why should I have to pay?" I then called the main number who told me that can happen. Let me give you $50.00 off the cost of the replacement. I am going elsewhere that charges less.

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R of Blairsville, GA

Verified Reviewer

Original review: Dec. 12, 2018

I needed my back car window replaced. I called Safelite on a Sunday, and they had me scheduled for two days later. I live in a rural area, but they came to my house at the time they promised, and Randy did an awesome job replacing the glass. They worked with my insurance. Very friendly too. They’ve made a customer for life.

Carol of Berlin, NJ

Verified Reviewer

Original review: Dec. 8, 2018

I made appointment after listening to rep. on phone saying Safelite best and fastest way to get replacement auto glass. I know it's hard to find glass for order cars. Was told I would have replaced today. Took off from work. Tech called 2 hours before appt to say shop they ordered from never got glass? Formatted texts telling me they are sorry. To have a nice day? Maybe in by Monday and installed Tuesday? Why not be sure before setting appt? Disappointed! They had to know availability after or before setting my appt. It's 24 degrees out. Shrink wrap won't prevent damage. Make sure you get confirmation of availability! I didn't and now stuck!

Marilyn of Clarksville, TN

Verified Reviewer

Original review: Dec. 6, 2018

My window was down and would not come up. They found out why that was and told me what was needed. They covered my window with plastic until it could be repaired. These guys never turned me away. Thank You. Safelite for having such wonderful staff.

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Richard of Cortland, NY

Verified Reviewer

Original review: Dec. 3, 2018

After reading many of the comments on this board, I was seriously concerned with having this company do my windshield replacement. My car has a lot of electronic stuff that is controlled by the material in the windshield. I was afraid some of this would no longer work after the replacement. My insurance company uses Safelite and I told them my concerns and they assured me that if there were any problems they would take care of it. Anyway, everything was done quickly and efficiently and everything works! The experience was excellent for us.

Mark of Philadelphia, PA

Verified Reviewer

Original review: Nov. 24, 2018

Read the reviews on their site and decided: What could go wrong and then scheduled my appointment at my home... The installer removed my old windshield and all trims wipers etc. Then told he could not install the new one due to there being some rust looking dirt around perimeter of the rim (my truck is 20 years old and in very good condition)... After checking it for myself and concluding it was sound and not actual rust, the installer still declined to put it in and left me high and dry with no windshield at all... I should've listened to my gut after reading some of the other negative reviews. Fool me once shame on them. Fool me twice shame on me.

Scott of Kenosha, WI

Verified Reviewer

Original review: Nov. 24, 2018

USAA uses Safelite Glass for auto glass repairs and refers me here. Have had issues in the past too. Couple years ago, took multiple calls to schedule appt then they never showed up or cancelled at the last minute - not sure which. Rescheduling was a major hassle again. This past time, we had 9AM appt this morning for windshield replacement. Because of all the past problems, called yesterday to ask if windshield was in - said was on backorder and was scheduled to come in December 8th - 2 weeks away. Asked if they would call me when it comes in - "oh yes sir - we'll call you". Saved myself a trip going in this morning when there is no windshield to install because they never called to let me know.

John of Horicon, WI

Verified Reviewer

Original review: Nov. 24, 2018

I can't say how disappointed I am again with these idiots. My truck was broken into and I made specific plans with the dispatcher and again the technician did read the notes. I was out of country and had to have the spare key from my truck driven down to airport hotel where the window was broken. Oh did mention it was winter and it's snowing by a friend and his number was also given to Safelite. They are great at one thing - screwing up the entire replacement. I'm not going to use them ever again in fact I would rather have my eyeballs poked out with a rusty fork than have to go through the incompetence again.

William of Half Moon Bay, CA

Verified Reviewer

Original review: Nov. 17, 2018

Replaced windshield in my wife’s car, then had to come back to fix the poor job. Tried to get them to come to my house (25 minutes) to replace my car’s windshield. Refused to come despite ad that says they will do mobile repair at my choice. Can’t believe in their service or quality of repair.

Sara of Melvin, MI

Verified Reviewer

Original review: Nov. 15, 2018

My insurance company (Liberty Mutual) sent Safelite to my house to repair a stone chip the size of half a pea. There were two tiny cracks on either side of the chip and I needed it fixed before it cracked. The guy came out and "fixed" it. About 10 minutes after he left I got in my car and saw no difference, and there was a noticeable divot in the windshield that wasn't even filled flush. I called them and they assured me it was fixed and would NOT crack. I said it is not fixed and WILL crack. She again assured me it wouldn't and though "it may not look fixed it is, and won't crack".

Well, like I said, 11 days later it cracked across my entire windshield and now I have to pay to put in a completely new one. They told me it's a known risk that repairs DON'T WORK and by signing their form I was well aware of that. DO NOT USE SAFELITE. If you do, DO NOT SIGN THEIR FORM, IT RELEASES THEM FROM FAULT when they send a hack out and he doesn't know how to do a chip repair.

Gianna of Buffalo, NY

Verified Reviewer

Original review: Nov. 15, 2018

Safelite already replaced two windshields on the same vehicle and this morning I noticed my windshield was cracked again. This will be the third windshield I've had to have replaced by Safelite. During previous installments, they did not replace the rearview mirror which is attached to the windhield, properly. They did not use adequate adhesive and it fell off while driving. During installation, the tech used vice grips on the antennae which stripped the paint. I believe Safelite takes advantage of insurance companies who offer glass coverage, and inconveniences their customers with shabby work and inferior products.

Richard of Monroe, MI

Verified Reviewer

Original review: Nov. 9, 2018

I ordered 2 windshields for my classic cars. 1971 Chevelle and 1982 Camero. Scheduled an appointment with them, the day before the installation scheduled they called and said I would have to bring the Chevelle to their shop. I have no plates on the car so I said I would have to bring it later. But I would like the Camero done on schedule the next day between 8 and 12. Called them at 12 they said they canceled the appointment so after taking off work and waiting 4 hr. They said they were sorry. I scheduled replacement with Floral City Glass in Monroe MI great job, less expensive and done on schedule.

Kenneth of Houston, TX

Verified Reviewer

Original review: Nov. 5, 2018

Just had great experience having our 2016 Jeep Wranglers windshield replaced at my home in Houston. The technician's name is Anthony. He contacted me to say he could arrive much earlier than expected (huge plus because had 5 hr window which I hate)... Not only did he arrive within exact time he stated, but my jeep was rather dirty since it’s been raining so much in Houston and he took ample time properly wiping all the windows... which had me stunned seeing this?!

Nowadays (especially young staff) technicians rush thru jobs doing it very half-assed! Anthony took his time paying attention to details and afterwards explained exactly what he’d done, plus reviewed the warranty in layman terms. I’d say including fair pricing, I couldn’t imagine receiving better service with a genuine attractive smile than I received earlier today... Thanks again to my technician. As in the field you guys are who we customers see as THE COMPANY>> irregardless how big or small the vendors may be...

Ric of Harrison, AR

Verified Reviewer

Original review: Nov. 4, 2018

Having a cracked windshield on 2004 Cadillac Seville, called Safelite to replace. Installer came to home, installed windshield. No problem. 2 weeks later, at 70 mph on Freeway, windshield rubber molding ripped out, slammed up to roof, destroyed sunroof deflector & roof paint. Installer did NOT replace the molding which IS PART OF THE INSTALL PROCESS! Reinstalled a new glass by a body shop who did it right. Beware of this outfit using amateurs to install product!

Marc of Hernando, MS

Verified Reviewer

Original review: Nov. 3, 2018

Technician arrived on Time. Started to work but did not have the Proper Tools to Remove my Windshield, So we waited for another Technician to show up... 50 minutes to drive 12 miles??? What the H?? He brought the "TOOL" we needed and job was finished 35 minutes later. Before my technician put my windshield on I noticed my headliner hanging down in front of my passenger visor. I asked him about it and he quickly replied "That was already there." I KNOW IT WAS NOT AS I HAD JUST CLEANED MY INTERIOR!!! Now I'm going to have to buy spray on glue and fix it myself. Safelite Customer Service has a Horrible Reputation in Satisfying their customers. My repair cost me $100.00 more than anyone else.

Jeff of Otsego, MI

Verified Reviewer

Original review: Oct. 31, 2018

Had appointment. My man called me. Was late then got here and told me he couldn't touch my truck. I have a very nice F150 with a painted to match visor over the windshield with the yellow lights. So I wasted half my day for nothing. Thank you AAA for sending them to me n ed very again first place I called said, "No problem. They're coming tomorrow."

Mike of Elk Grove Village, IL

Verified Reviewer

Original review: Oct. 25, 2018

Safelite damaged my vehicle, and made me go through a 6 long week ordeal. 1. They sent an incompetent technician to work my Mercedes. 2. He scratched the car, dropped a couple of screws in the engine area and best of all didn't even install the glass properly. He had audacity of asking for 5 stars on his survey. 3. Then a manager comes in saying he'll fix everything. He did not. He was good at coming up with excuses. He was good at making me feel stupid and dumb. He outright lied about installing new wind strip when it was clearly visible that is was same old weathered strip. Please be aware! Find a company that knows how to 1) respect customers and 2) do the job.

Susan of Orrville, OH

Verified Reviewer

Original review: Oct. 24, 2018

My technician showed up without proper equipment, said he'd be back within an hour & left. Tech came back 90 min later. I was working & couldn’t keep an eye on him. (They advertise peace of mind, right?) Technician installed the windshield & left without contacting me. Hours later I get off work & to my car for the 1st time & see ripples in the black strip along the top of my windshield. Technician left my keys turned on, therefore my car needed jumped before I could leave work. They send out a second tech the following day, who says the ripples are "normal" and applies more glue & tape.

I called corporate to resolve the issue, very disgusted with this company. Management is very rude, not taking responsibility for any wrong, stating the Tech has been with the company for 2 yrs, etc. No offer to compensate for the inconvenience or having to jump my car before I could go home after their Tech killed my battery. Safelite is a joke. Don't waste your time, you're better off taking a day off work & having your windshield replaced by true professionals.

Linda of Mequon, WI

Verified Reviewer

Original review: Oct. 22, 2018

They gave me a window 8-5. Driver called at 3 and said he'd be here by 4. I called 4:30 and they said he was running late. Talked to mgr twice. Now sipped to come by 6! Wasted a whole day waiting. 10 hours total wait if they get here ever. Don't recommend this company in any way. Useless customer service. They just don’t give a damn.

Stacey of Minneapolis, MN

Verified Reviewer

Original review: Oct. 22, 2018

The first mobile appointment I had was canceled because it was misting out and they don't work in the rain. The second appoint was cancel, without my knowledge. The guy showed up, told me he couldn't replace since it was in a busy street and I stood in the middle of the street with him for 5 minutes and only one car passed us by. I think moved my car to a parking lot and he said he could take it from there. He did nothing other than cancel my appointment (without telling me) and just left. I text him multiple times and no response. When I asked why he didn't fix it like he said he was going to he told me I had been rescheduled. I asked to when and where and he didn't respond. Unprofessional! Wasted my time and his! And wasted company resources.

Pall of Edmond, OK

Verified Reviewer

Original review: Oct. 18, 2018

Safelite technician attempted to fix a 1/2" chip in my windshield, but while doing so applied too much pressure causing the chip to crack 18" across. He then handed me a $350 quote for a new windshield. After complaining, the corporate office offered me a $50 discount on the new windshield. Lolololol! How is this company in business???

Kimberly of Albuquerque, NM

Verified Reviewer

Original review: Oct. 15, 2018

I had my windshield replaced with Safelite then I got a stress crack. They came out to look at it. The tech said it was a stress crack then all of a sudden he says it was a rock. Sent a picture to his manager and the manager says six rocks at my windshield when no rock hit my windshield whatsoever. Now they are refusing to replace the windshield which is under a lifetime warranty. This place is terrible. Do not do business with them. They lie and scam. It’s one of the worst businesses out there.

Heather of Pierpont, OH

Verified Reviewer

Original review: Oct. 15, 2018

I have a cracked windshield and had set up an appointment two weeks ago. I checked my messages, emails and even the invoice page messages for any issues daily. Day came for them to arrive. I took vacation hours to stay home and wait for them. Only message I had received was one from "Gary" that stated he would be by around 12pm-5pm, and that he would text when he was arriving.

I waited all day and checked my messages every half an hour. Not a single message about being on his way or having issues finding my place. In the end I gave up after 5 pm and decide to leave the house to get something to eat. As I am driving I get the message that my appointment was canceled. No reason, no anything. This was 15-20mins after 5 pm.

I am now upset and call the customer "care", I get a woman saying she has no idea why and that she will email the guy but that is all she can do besides set up a new appointment. I can't spend ALL MY VACATION TIME WAITING FOR AN APPOINTMENT THEY CAN CANCEL 15 MINS AFTER ITS LATEST TIME! It is utterly ridiculous and the lack of actual caring for the customer is appalling. I refuse to make a new appointment and am gladly willing to take my business elsewhere. I would send screenshots of my messages if it let me do so here. I'd advise to not trust this company.

Cecelia of Peoria, AZ

Verified Reviewer

Original review: Oct. 10, 2018

Cross country trip, bad hail storm in Colorado Springs, called ins. asap. Sent to Safelite Customer Service. Three different operators unhelpful; unsympathetic, would not schedule for 5 days; no attempt to find a way to help travelers. Asked for shop on the way to Kansas, still would not schedule for a week. Fortunately local Denver shop was sympathetic and obliging. Forget 800; go in to actual store.

Brian of Baton Rouge, LA

Verified Reviewer

Original review: Oct. 8, 2018

Rachael out of Baton Rouge, LA was very nice and did a great job on fixing our chip on our windshield. Only took 20 mins. I would come Back to Safelite for our future repairs on our windshield and approved our insurance. They worked very nice together!!

Jason of Clovis, CA

Verified Reviewer

Original review: Oct. 6, 2018

Safelite rep, Jeff, arrived at my residence, immediately requested that I move the car to his liking and proceeded to walk around the vehicle, to include photographing the outside and inside of the vehicle. Upon questioning his intent, of roaming around and photographing the interior, Jeff responded in a rude manner and was insufficient in his reasoning. Jeff was asked to leave and Safelite was contacted. Having utilized Safelite in the past and referring several clients this correspondence was disturbing. A company dependent on its customer service should hire better communicators or provide better training. The convenience of their service does not outweigh personal respect.

Jon of Brunswick, OH

Verified Reviewer

Original review: Oct. 6, 2018

I took a day off of work to wait at home and the technician never showed or contacted me. I had to call Safelite to find out that he didn't even know about the appointment that I made two weeks prior. The customer service reps, local and national, didn't seem to care.

Kathy of Newport, NC

Verified Reviewer

Original review: Oct. 5, 2018

Safelite came out to fix 2 windshield spots. In the commercial it looks great, however that's not what we got. The spots are still there, still look the same with something like clear nail polish over them and charge is $189. Disappointed and you can't even tell anything was done. One is pencil eraser size and other is smaller.

Joe of Osseo, MN

Verified Reviewer

Original review: Oct. 2, 2018

Was going on my 3rd Safelite windshield this year and they don't stand behind their product. 2 windshields were about a month old when the first one got a crack from a rock that flew up, the other cracked on its own. I called immediately, took pictures, and the representative that scheduled the appointment and mentioned that I wouldn't have to pay because it was only a month old. I get to the appointment which was just a waste of time because they refused to replace it saying that it was a not a stress crack, which it appears to be. I just left and I won't be using Safelite anymore. I will be going to small claims court to see if I can get my money back for this defective windshield. No one should have to pay full price for the 3rd windshield within 90 days of each other. Just sad that big companies can act like this.

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bxkugouu-blog · 6 years ago

Text

Fool Me Once || Bakugou x F!Reader

Disclaimer: I do not own Boku No Hero Academia, nor do I own the characters, just my plot and OC characters.

A/N: Angsty, cheating fic :(

Katsuki’s eyes fluttered open, sunlight gleaming through the windows. He turned to his side, reaching over to his counterpart’s empty spot. His eyebrows furrowed in confusion, as you were always there in the morning to greet him. Katsuki sat up as he turned over to his nightstand. He noticed a small white sheet that wasn’t there the night before. He picked it up to read,

Goodmorning, love. I had to run out to grab some coffee with a friend. I’ll be home soon x.

(Name)

Katsuki’s worry slid off his back, he’d certainly never want anything to happen to you. His feet moved him sluggishly down the stairs. He was exhausted, his workday before was tough and all he wanted was you. He sighed, as he looked at the clock.

“11:30, damn,” Katsuki mumbled to himself. You should’ve been home by now, but then again he had no idea when you left. He let himself make a pot of coffee and put a bagel in the toaster. His arms propped himself up on the counter, his eyes fluttering up and down.

...

“Gosh, Bakugou. You’re so annoying.” You said, laughing at your words. Your laugh was beautiful to Katsuki, it was all he ever wanted to hear. He just wanted you to be happy.

“Shut up, you little mouse..” Bakugou responded, his usual annoyed tone came with it. He wasn’t annoyed though, because he was with you.

“Little mouse? That’s all you could come up with?” You laughed again, his words only sounding childish.

...

(Name) walked alone in the rain. Her stomach hurt like hell, but she didn’t care. Her recent boyfriend just broke up with her. She didn’t want to care as much as she did, but it was her first boyfriend.

“Asshat? Why are you walking in the rain? And why are you crying? You look like shit.” His familiar voice rang through your ears. You turned around to be faced with the crimson-eyed idiot.

“Huh? Who’s ‘Asshat’,” You questioned, your eyebrows raised. “I’m (Name).” You responded, with a shy smile.

“You are such an idiot,” Bakugou said, walking alongside you.

…

Bakugou snapped back into reality when the front door opened. He peaked around the corner to see you in a disheveled mess. You quickly shut the door, hoping Katsuki wouldn’t hear you, but you were too late.

“(Name)? Is that you?” Bakugou called from the kitchen. You slipped off your flats, dropping your bag to the floor.

You threw your coat off your back and walked into the kitchen.

“Hi, love. How did you sleep?” You questioned, kissing Bakugou on the cheek.

“Fine, would’ve been better with you to wake up to,” Katsuki answered, stirring his coffee, ”Where the fuck did you go anyways?” Katsuki asked, looking up from his coffee.

“Coffee, with a friend. Didn’t you read the note?” You walked over to the bar, sitting down on a stool.

“What shit-rag invited you to coffee anyway?” Bakugou question, sipping onto his mug. He pulled his bagel out of the toaster, still staring intently at you.

“J-Just a friend.” You answered, causing a look of jealousy to fill Katsuki’s face.

“Why the fuck are you stuttering?” He asked you, cocking his head to the side.

“N-No reason.” You stuttered,

“You’re fucking cheating, aren’t you!” Bakugou yelled out of the blue. He slammed his fist against the table.

“Why would you ever accuse me of such thing!” You burst out.

“You early in the mornings or you don’t come back until late! You always smell that disgusting fucking cologne. Oh, and to add, when was the last time we fucked? Huh? That’s right, not for fucking months!” He yelled, making you step back. You’ve never seen him so angry at you, or anyone at this point.

“You’re fucking disgusting…” You mumbled out, making his eyes widen, “I can’t believe you would think such a thing.” You said, lowering your head to the ground.

“You’re lying right through your teeth!” He yelled, running his hands through his hair. You were crying at this point, why would he ever accuse you of such a thing. You loved him, you couldn’t imagine doing something like his accusation.

“Who is it?” Bakugou finally asked you.

“Katsuki! Are you not listening! I told you, I’m not cheating. I love you, never would I do such a thing!” You yelled at him. Hot tears streamed down your cheeks, you loved Katsuki, you’ve loved him since the day you met.

“No wonder why I decided to fuck her behind your back! You were doing the same thing. I guess we’re one in the same, aren’t we!” Bakugou spat, causing you to stumble back. You covered your mouth, the tears began to flow even faster.

“W-Why don’t you believe me. I didn’t cheat, Bakugou. Kirishima invited me out to plan your birthday. He missed you, he was so excited to surprise you, and s-so was I.” You cried. Katsuki looked at you with a widen expression. A face full of guilt.

“Y/N. I’m sorry. I’m so fucking sorry.” Katsuki walked towards you, placing his hand on your shoulder. You backed off, swatting his hand away.

“Don’t fucking touch me, you crazy fucking bastard.” Your words struck him like daggers, each syllable hurting even more than the first. He’d only done it once, the week after you started to go out more often. He felt incredible guilt afterward, promising himself never to do it again. You pushed past him and paced over to your bedroom, slamming the door behind you. You wiped your tears, throwing all of your possessions into your bag.

“Y/N! Come on! Let me talk to you.” Bakugou pounded on the door, making you jump each slam. You opened the door, your suitcase following in your footsteps. Bakugou looked at you with saddened eyes.

“Don’t leave me. Please don’t leave me.” Bakugou cried out. You felt numb, you didn’t feel bad for him, and you didn’t feel anything for yourself.

“I’ll be back to pick up the rest of my shit.” You sniffled. You opened the front door, leaving your broken-hearted lover behind you.

...

‘Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.’ You refused to let him in, refused to let him hurt you again. You hadn’t answered his calls, his texts, and it felt horrible. You told yourself to be strong, to push past this, but for the past 2 weeks, you didn’t stop crying. You still loved him.

#bnha fanfiction #my hero academia #katsuki bakugou #bakugou #angsty #bnha #boku no hero academia #boku no hero

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yuki-d-raizel-blog · 7 years ago

Text

Number 1333

Chapter 10/??

Summit: What happens if a mysterious prisoner joins the chaotic Cell 13? He is perfect for the Nanba Prison, his name is synonym of terror and cruelty; each time he was sent to a new prison, he broke out in less than an hour. Will the Nanba Prison succeed to keep him jailed or not…?

---

The next day.

Like expected, Number 33 sleeps while the others are dealing with their new guardian: Mitsuba Kiji. Even if they are a bit noisy, is not that loud to wake Ayu up or at least, that's what everyone thought. Kiji doesn't know the habits of that man of hitting whatever it goes near him, so when Uno starts a fight, the guard kicks the inmate which falls right on Ayu.

<<.....Mh.... Uno...?>> Number 11 learnt that if he don't move, Number 33's senses will not label him as a danger, <<What are you doing...?>> Ayu rolls over with Uno on him, that slowly gets up to be sure that he's fully awake.

<<Sorry man, that garish bird kicked me. Did I hurt you?>> says him checking if his friend is bleeding or not.

"Garish bird?" Ayu looks at the new man inside the cell and understands what happened, "Too noisy..." he stands up and pulls off his hood to show his face, <<Hi, what a wonderful look you have today.>>

Who is he?! That man looks completely different!! His smile is too bright and pure, his eyes show only love and care! And just a phrase is working on the guard very well too!?

"Is he trying to seduce him?!" his friends just look curious, when Jyugo will be back, they definitely want to know his missions.

<<May I have your hand, milady?>> Ayu grabs Kiji's hand with the back of his fingers and gently kisses it, then using his own body, Number 33 is pushing out the guard without that he notices, his gazes are all studied to maintain the focus on him and not where he's going.

"He's a pro!!" Nico and the others cover their eyes, but the curiosity wins over them and they decide to peek a little, just a little.

The more he reduces the space between their bodies, the more Kiji becomes embarrassed. The supervisor hits the wall and Ayu blocks him with his arm. He doesn't talk, his charming eyes are enough to bewitch the prey.

"A Japanese kabedon!! Wow!!" and that weird switch flipped inside the inmates' minds, "Japanese pick up style!!"

"This man is too easy. I had much harder targets to seduce." <<May I ask you something really important?>> the moment Ayu's leg slides between his, Kiji turns all red and panics immediately, <<It's a secret, so keep it, alright?>> since the officer is taller than him, Ayu moves his body mechanically to reach Mitsuba's lips while the other is on the edge of the insanity, <<Hush, milady...>>

<<No, no, wait, wait, this is too fast, I'm not ready for this-asdfghjkl!!>> the supervisor passes out and slides on the wall until he sits unconsciously.

<<Too easy, not even funny. Now...>> Ayu picks the body up and drags it out of the cell, <<Don't make a fuss when I'm trying to rest. I've already a weird sleeping schedule, don't fuck it up more than it is already.>> he leaves Kiji next to the cell and closes the door, <<Fucking hell, I can't even sleep in this place.>>

He lays down and covers himself with the blanket, while the others check Mitsuba: he really passed out; god damn, his seducing skills are made for veneration only. Also, that suddenly change of personality is something that they don't know if they have to admire it or being scared of it.

---

Last day without Hajime.

Today, the supervisor officer of the Building 5 will be in charge of the Building 13. Before Gokuu checks what the inmates are doing, he does all the paper works, makes a patrol in the entire establishment and then, walks towards the Cell 13. Seitarou accompanies him to report what he wants to know, since Samon has a lot of doubts about that cell, he's sure that Hajime is hiding something.

<<How things with Cell 13?>> asks the officer checking the way to be sure that everything is fine.

<<There were no incidents yesterday and the day before that, either.>> replies Seitarou walking next to the superior, <<I believe they're behaving well today, too.>>

Once reached the destination, Gokuu opens the door and finds the inmates under the covers. He stares at them blinking a few times to be sure that he isn't hallucinating things, then he starts to shout pissed off.

<<Get your asses out of the bed!>> he yells while the poor Seitarou must hold him down, <<It's already past the wake-up call, you idiots!>>

A strange sound stops his rage and moves the prisoners to find an immediate hiding place. A few seconds later, Yamato bursts into the cell pushing away both officers.

<<Good morning, gentlemen!>> cheerful and loud as always, <<It's time for fun training!>> seeing that no one is there, Godai turns his heels and begin to walk away.

After the routine check of his wounds, Ayu walks direct to his cell, and since he was there, he stopped for a bit in the library to borrow a few books. While he gets near to his destination, he can hear loud screams and noises already, this is unbelievable...

<<Where the fuck is Number 33?!>> Samon turns to check the hallway, but he bumps into something that pushed him down, <<What the->>

<<Woh, that was close.>> Ayu collects all the books that were dropping and offers a hand to the officer, <<Are you okay?>> "He didn't even move me... Is he that weak or it's because he's short?"

<<Where the hell were you until now?!>> another guard who yells too much...

<<With Otogi-sensei.>> he answers showing the certificate as proof of what he said, <<To check my wounds as yesterday and the day before that.>>

<<And where did you take those books?!>>

<<In the library...? Are you stupid?>> meanwhile, Yamato and Tsukumo drag Rock out of the cell, "What the actual-" and suddenly, Uno and Nico both hide behind his back.

<<Never mind! Let's go!>> while Samon tries to catch Uno, Nico looks confused and Ayu just stretches his arm to avoid the fall of his books, "If Number 25 goes out of control like in the tournament, I'm not gonna write a letter of apology in Hajime's place! Hell no!"

"This guy shouldn't know about Nico's medications and diseases yet. I won!" Uno grins and stays covered behind Number 25, <<See ya, Rock!>>

<<Don't be fooled, guard! Nico took his medication today!>> screams Number 69 with all his might, <<He shouldn't be able to use that "qigong" thing anymore!>>

<<Damn you! Why did you tattle?!>> yells back Number 11.

<<Shut up! That's what you get for being a selfish prick!>> Yamato and Tsukumo compliment Rock's body for being perfect for a soldier, the Japanese perfect soldier, <<I'm a fucking American!>>

Kicking his ass, Gokuu pushes Uno, Nico and Ayu to the training camp and forces them to do a lot of exercises. Ayu is the only spared, now he's sit on Yamato's shoulders and reads his book. He was saved for the document that Otogi released to him, strongly prohibiting him to do something that would tired his body.

<<What a shame Number 33-kun, I would like to receive some lessons from you.>> says Yamato laughing.

<<Why me?>> talks the prisoner moving his eyes on the next page, <<You aren't the type to study languages or how to cheat in games, so I can only teach you how to kill people.>>

<<You know how to use all the weapons, and all the martial arts!>> the guard is not giving up, <<There's a lot that you can teach me! Hahaha!>>

<<What blasphemies are you saying, Yamato?!>> yells Samon, <<You want to learn from a killer?!>>

<<Hahaha, you can't deny his divine skills supervisor Gokuu!>>

<<I don't give a shit->>

"Someone just shut this monkey up, for the love of god... His voice is echoing in my head." <<Oi, your pupils are ditching the push-ups.>>

<<Don't you dare to lay around, stupid brats!>>

<<Fuck you Ayu!!!>> , <<I hate you!!>> , <<So mean, Ayu-chan!>>

<<Es tut mir Leid, Leute.>> Ayu changes page again and rests his arms on Yamato's head, <<Arbeite weiter hart!>>

"Surely, he speaks divinely." thinks Gokuu staring at the inmate while he reads, "He's perfect in everything he does... I need to keep an eye on him."

---

Another day in the Nanba Prison for the Cell 13. Today they are pretty silent, Number 33 and Number 11 are reading, Number 25 is playing some games with Number 69. Everyone seems pretty focused on what they're doing, until a cheerful voice breaks the silence.

<<Ayu-chan, do you want to play a game with us?>> says Nico smiling, <<With two players it's boring!>>

<<Okay.>> the man leaves the book on the tatami and sits near his friends, <<What were you playing?>>

<<It's a game we saw on a magazine.>> explains Rock, <<It's for kids, but it's pretty funny. Basically, your objective is make the others draw the joker. If you finish all the cards, you win, but if you remain with the joker only, you lose.>>

<<You're forgetting something important!>> adds Nico while his friend shuffles the cards, <<If you draw a card and you have the same on your hand, you must put them aside.>>

<<Got it.>> "What a weird game. I never played a card game outside gambling... How I must behave with this one?"

Rock gives a card for each participant until they are over, then everyone picks up theirs checking if they have a double already. Once everything is ready, they start. Nico and Rock can't believe what Ayu is doing; why they haven't a camera to record these moments?! Since Ayu has the joker, when his cellmates move towards his cards, he starts to do weird and funny faces, anxious that they will not draw the joker; so they move from a card to another just to see the change on Ayu's face, from a relaxed one to a panic one. They voluntarily draw the joker to make him enjoy the game more, he's playing without studying or calculate anything, he's just trying to win with his own experience.

Suddenly, the door is opened, and Hajime stands in the entrance while his inmates stare at him. The only one who clicks his tongue is Uno, who asks rudely what the guard wants.

<<Hey, what are you doing? Get in there already.>> he says pulling something behind the door, <<Huh? You feel awkward? Who gives a shit!>> finally he stands aside and Jyugo shyly walks in keeping his head lowed.

Nico and Rock greet him with a big smile and some question about his health, and before Jyugo could explain something, Uno punched him. Under the others' watch, the two inmates start a little fight, then Uno adds something with an annoyed tone.

<<Finally you're back, damn. It's no fun without you; we can't even get out of here.>> those words freeze the mismatched prisoner.

<<Jyugo-kun, tell us more things about Japan, Ayu-chan will tell us his missions too!>> says Nico approaching the friend, <<We were waiting for you! You know, Ayu-chan did something really cool a few days ago!>>

Rock puts an arm around Number 15's shoulder and says excited that the stone oven he wanted, it's almost ready, so the prisoner invites the cellmate to eat with him since Jyugo is the only one who waits he finishes to eat, outside Ayu. Seeing how warmly they welcomed him, Jyugo calls their attentions with an apologetic voice.

"His breathing rhythm changed..." thinks Ayu looking at his friend, "The aura too, he seems more determinate to do something."

"I had turned my back on everything for all this time. But now..." a little breath and he starts: <<I'm sorry I've been, well... hiding a lot of things from you guys.>> he sees that the reaction isn't that bad, so he decides to continue, <<During the New Year's Tournament, I couldn't help it. I couldn't stop myself.>> "Don't be afraid of them!" he slowly kneels and bows until he touches the tatami, <<But I'll make sure I'm able to prevent it next time. I'm an idiot, so I have no idea what can I do for you guys... But...>>

"I already know how this is gonna end." Ayu rests his head on his hand and looks the scene with a little smile, "Uno and the others have that strange expression... the three foreignness are coming back soon."

<<I will never turn my blades against you again. So...>> Jyugo pushes his forehead more on the tatami to be sure that everyone knows how much he regrets what he did, <<So please, give me do-over, starting today.>> "All I can do is bow my head down like an idiot; forgive me."

<<Uno-kun...>> , <<Yeah, could it be...>>, <<It's gotta be...>>

Those whispers make Jyugo raises his head to see what reaction had his friends even if he's scared to know it.

<<Japanese apology!!>> that weird foreign accent and Jyugo's reaction makes Ayu laugh, but he covers it immediately. Nobody must know that he laughed at that gag scene, no, he has an image to keep.

<<Damn you guys! And here I'm->>

<<Jyugo!>> that's the first time that someone calls his name with so much care, <<Don't worry about it!>> the weird trio kneel in front of Number 15 and smiles happily, <<That's who you are, right Ayu?>> Uno calls the last inmate to join the group, and Jyugo tenses up again, he clearly remembers he tried to kill Ayu more than one time, plus he got shot to protect him.

<<Um...>> the awkward duo is now face to face, <<I'm not good with these type of things, but I understand you. I've learnt that sometimes, you become a monster just to be able to protect someone, so I'm not gonna blame you, nor being scared or mad with you. Just like Uno said, Jyugo is still Jyugo.>>

<<....Eh? B-but you got injured->>

<<Two or three more scars to add in my collection. You said that as long as I'm here, I can be myself, nobody will judge me.>> Jyugo listens carefully like everyone else, Ayu is speaking so much these days, it's a good sign! But Number 15 is taken off guard when Ayu gently hugs him, careful to not hurt him, <<Don't you think that those words are for you too?>>

Slowly, everyone hugs Jyugo and says a warmly "welcome back" that makes the inmate cries. He instinctively puts his arm around his friends and hugs them tighter.

"I have nothing. But even if I can't do anything and have nothing... They all understand me, they'll never know how much relief I feel hearing those words. I'm sorry I'm always running away. I'm sorry I'm always hiding something... I'm sorry... I'm sorry..." <<Thank you...>>

---Continue...

---

Hi guys, Yuki is back bitches! I hope everyone had funny and wonderful moments during these holidays, and Happy New Year to all of you! Now, let’s continue this story hping that you guys like it!

Said this, I’m going back to work! See ya tomorrow!

---

Chapter 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12

#nanbaka #nanba prison #nanbaka jyugo #jyu #uno nanbaka #nico nanbaka #rock nanbaka #hajime sugoroku #yamato godai #nanbaka seitarou #kiji mitsuba #kenshirou yozakura #samon gokuu #nanbaka fanfiction #nanbaka scenario #scenarios #fanfictions #anime #manga

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trueloveseyeroll · 7 years ago

Text

When The Tide Turns (4/16)

Summary: The plan was to go to England, finish the case and head back home in a matter of days. Of course, nothing in Emma’s life ever goes according to plan. Not only does she end up travelling across Europe, looking for a Liam Jones in order to finish her case, she ends up travelling with Liam’s brother - an annoyingly handsome Killian Jones. And she doesn’t trust him one bit.

Rating: T, for language and a bit of violence later on

Beta-reader: the lovely @forget-me-not-s :))

Artists: @theblacksiren - check out her beautiful artwork for chapter 1 here! And thank you @optomisticgirl for the awesome banner! And I’m really so excited for you all to see @fairytalesandtimetravel ‘s amazing artwork for a later chapter!!

Word count: ~5146 (68k+ in total)

AO3

What the hell was he doing here? Was he following her?

From the start something had been off about Hook. She shouldn’t have been so easily swayed when she found him sneaking around Barrie’s office. What the hell had she been thinking? Did good looks really throw her off that much?

No; Emma wouldn’t be fooled by him any longer.

She weaved her way through the crowd, aiming straight for Hook. Was that even his real name? Of course not - who would call their child James Hook?

Hook reached the main doors of the airport and oblivious to Emma, he slipped through. Emma dodged a large family and their suitcases that seemed to fill the entire hall. She wasn’t going to let Hook get away any time soon.

Why the hell had she even let herself trust him? She knew he was lying, and he was too charismatic not to be hiding something. But what interest could he possibly have in her case?

A time for pondering that would come - hopefully with straight answers from Hook’s own mouth - but first she needed to actually catch the guy.

Emma stormed through the glass doors. At once, her eyes picked him out of the lessening crowd. He sauntered about, almost aimlessly. Did he not expect her to notice him?

Emma wouldn’t question it - if the guy wanted to be caught, she’d catch him. And in a matter of seconds, she all but crashed right into him.

“You’re following me.” Emma hissed, trying not to wince as her suitcase rammed into her heel at her sudden halt.

Hook turned around, eyes wide - too wide. “Swan! What a surprise, love!”

The idiot was faking, and not even trying to do it well. She glared at him, letting her anger show without flaring it.

“Why are you following me?”

“Why that’s quite the accusations, lass. If anything, you’re the one following me, jumping at me like that and scaring me half to death. I’m just continuing my humble travels, gathering inspiration.”

“Oh, and you just happened to pick the same airport as me.” Emma said, rather than asked. The wind blew a stray lock of hair from her ponytail and into her eyes. She brushed it back, and kept her eyes on Hook. “Listen, I’m pretty good at knowing when someone is lying to me. And you’ve been lying from the start.”

“I’m telling you the truth.”

He tried so hard to look earnest. Emma smiled, a wry curl of the lips. Of course you are, buddy. “I’m gonna ask again, and whatever you say, I’d better believe it: why are you following me?”

“I’m not following you.” A flicker of amusement danced in his eyes. Was he enjoying this? “I’m merely taking the same route.”

“Oh yeah? Why?”

“How would you normally explain coincidences, love?”

I’d punch them in the face for being lying assholes. He was having too much fun with this. Did he take anything seriously?

“You know what? If you’re not gonna explain yourself then I don’t care. As long as you get the hell away from me - and stay away from me.”

Like that, Emma turned and left. If only the wheels on her suitcase didn’t spin so awkwardly. Overly dramatic exits had never been her thing anyways.

Normally, Emma would have loved to stay and get the truth out of someone like him. But she had a bus to catch. And what harm could he possibly cause?

That was the worst part - she had no idea. And if she had no idea, he could probably cause a lot of harm. But entertaining him and his ‘humorous’ lies wouldn’t get her anywhere. She’d find out in time. Hopefully, in good time.

“I have a feeling that’s going to be a mite difficult.”

Emma stopped in her tracks.

“Why?” she asked, turning to look at him.

“Because we’ve got the same goal, you and I.” Gone was his cocky façade, the mirth in his eyes. The gravity she found instead - how could she know it wasn’t just another act?

“And what’s that?” Emma asked.

“Liam.”

Emma simply stared at him, the tension growing thicker between them.

“You said you didn’t know much about Liam.”

“And you said yourself that I haven’t been entirely honest.”

At least he could admit to lying. Emma looked at him, not glaring as much as observing. “Your name’s not really James Hook, is it?”

“You’re quite perceptive aren’t you?” Hook - no, not-Hook - raised an eyebrow. “Indeed, James Hook is but an alias.”

“You’re Killian Jones.”

He smiled. As if proud of her for riddling it out - definitely amused with her bluntness. “Aye, I’m Killian Jones - and therefore I have as much of a right as you do to find my brother.”

“You’ve had nine years to go looking for him.”

“And as you’ve no doubt heard, I haven’t been in the best of places those past nine years,” Hoo- Killian threw back at her.

“It still doesn’t make any sense. Why only start now? Needed someone to find the trail for you? What - have you been spying on me? Was it your plan to just follow me until I found him?” The questions jumbled from Emma’s mouth. Knowing who he really was clarified some of the mystery, but it just added a whole bunch of other questions instead.

“No,” Killian said. “I thought a combined effort and two minds with different sources might be helpful.”

That answer caught Emma off guard. “You thought we should work together?”

“It does seem the evident choice,” he shrugged, as if it were a no-brainer.

“Then why not just tell me who you were in the first place?” Emma all but growled at him. People were starting to give them odd looks, but none stared for too long or dared interfere. She didn’t care anyways. This guy made as little sense as he did before. Why make up all the lies if he planned to work with her?

Maybe he really did just do it for the fun of it.

“I couldn’t exactly reveal everything without knowing my potential partner first. Besides, Killian Jones was never to set foot in Willesby again, according to my dear uncle.”

“Yeah well, too bad,” Emma said. “I don’t ‘partner up’ with liars or alcoholics.”

It was a low blow, she knew it. Killian only smiled though, as if he knew he deserved it. He didn’t argue with her. Didn’t pretend she wasn’t right.

“I know Liam better than anyone else,” Killian said, just loud enough for Emma to hear. “I know why he disappeared nine years ago and you seem to have a way of finding out where he’s been since. You can’t deny that we’d find him a lot quicker if we worked together.”

Emma didn’t answer right away. She needed time to think this all over. Time she didn’t have. He could be useful to her, but at the same time, how could she trust a single word he said? She had a million questions, but she dared not ask them, fearing he could fool her into believing another lie.

“How did you know I was coming here?”

Killian looked at the ground for a second. Emma really wanted to believe that the look of shame wasn’t another act. “I overhead you talking on the phone with your friend Mary Margaret. About Belle French and Valadilene.”

He didn’t apologize for eavesdropping. Didn’t try to excuse himself. At least he knew when to admit his faults, instead of wheedling his way out of it. Still, a clammy shiver ran through Emma, knowing he must have been spying on one of her phone calls with Mary Margaret - or both?

She had no grounds for trusting him. Absolutely none. In fact, everything screamed at her not to trust him. Not to let him tag along. But her gut gave her a weird feeling. She shouldn’t trust him, but she should keep him close. He couldn’t do that much harm if she constantly had her eye on him, could he?

Emma gave a curt nod. Then she turned and left towards the bus terminal.

After a few paces, only hearing her own suitcase trailing behind her and other people mingling about, Emma guessed he hadn’t understood her intention. She turned around and just as well, he hadn’t followed her. He looked rather lost. A spark lit up his face when he saw her turn.

“So are you coming or not, Jones?”

The spark stretched to a grin. “I knew you’d warm up to me, Swan.” In a few strides he had caught up with her, even as she had continued walking before he took his first step. “Though you looked good, I must say, all ‘why are you following me’ in a commanding voice. Chills.”

Emma didn’t deign him with an answer. Not even a roll of her eyes.

She was going to regret this, wasn’t she?

The winds of late autumn were harsh, but sun shone through the windows. In the stuffy bus, Emma could well have been fooled to think it was still summer. Her jacket lay on the seat beside her; as soon as they had entered the bus, she had made it clear that Killian was not going to sit beside her. Especially not when he made another joke about lending her his shoulder to sleep on.

He lounged on the seat across the aisle, leaning against the window and stretching his legs as much as he could in the confined space. He finally gave up on goading her to talk about half an hour into their trip towards Valadilene. If he was asleep now, Emma couldn’t tell. Not that she had been looking at him much, of course not.

Emma’s head hurt. Since she had left New York, sleeping had been a struggle. She blamed jet-lag. Of course, before she left New York, sleeping hadn’t been easy either. At least then, she didn’t have to worry about some irritatingly good-looking Brit, who definitely spelled trouble.

Emma stole a look at said Brit. What the hell was she getting herself into? Her superpower never failed her, yet he had managed to sneak around it. For all she knew, he could still be lying to her.

If only she could strap him to a tree and hold a knife to his throat until he answered her questions, not a lie in sight.

All those questions she wanted answered flooded her mind. Maybe she should make a list - Ingrid always made lists of everything and anything.

As if summoned, Emma’s phone started buzzing. Fishing it out of its pocket, Ingrid’s face lit up the screen. Emma glanced at Killian before she answered. His eyes were still shut. Asshole.

“You’re in France?!” the greeting sounded as soon as Emma answered.

“Yeah, mom... I’m in France.”

If Ingrid had had it her way, the phone call would have lasted for an hour or more. Once Emma had heard the name Walsh four times, she was ready to hang up though.

Yes, the case was complicated. No, she didn’t know how long she was going to be gone. Yes, she was okay. No, she didn’t have any interesting stories (at least none she wanted to share). And what was going on between her and Walsh, Emma had no wish to tell.

With a huff, she finally ended the call and tossed her phone on top of her jacket.

“Talkative mum?”

Emma knew he hadn’t been sleeping. On the other side of the bus, Killian sat, looking as comfortable as ever, a smile on his lips.

“You could say that,” Emma muttered. “Not that it’s any of your business.” Seriously, how many of her phone calls was he going to eavesdrop on?

“I see the trait didn’t pass on to her daughter,” Killian said.

“I’m adopted.” The words just slipped out. Emma wasn’t usually shy about her childhood, but she didn’t go telling everyone she met about it. Especially not people she didn’t even trust.

But she’d done it, and that was that. It wasn’t like he could use that little piece of information for much. As long as he didn’t start pitying her, she didn’t care what he thought.

Killian just nodded, taking in her words. There was no pity in his eyes, only... understanding?

Granny’s words came to mind - Liam and Killian were still children when their parents had died. What happened to them after Brennan’s death, Emma didn’t know. Barrie hadn’t taken them in - except for a few visits during their childhood, all of the villagers Emma had spoken with claimed they’d rarely ever seen the Jones boys. Maybe they had some other family. Or maybe they had ended up in some system, just like Emma.

Well, at least they knew who their family was.

Neither had a chance to say much more when the bus finally pulled to a stop. Emma looked out the window to the main street of Valadilene. The village lay secluded in an open valley, following a small stream by the foot of a mountain. Red leaves blew across the street, and smoke rose from several chimneys.

“Charming, aye?” Killian said.

Emma nodded. Mary Margaret would have loved this town.

Emma’s enthusiasm dried out once the first gust of wind hit. She couldn’t get to Moe’s Inn quickly enough. Once she’d retrieved her suitcase from the luggage compartment, she was following Google Maps on her phone towards the inn. Killian trailed behind her. He only had his satchel with him, slung over his shoulder.

When Emma eyed him one too many times, he spoke up. “Don’t worry, love, I’m not ‘following you’. I assume we’re both staying at Moe’s, since it’s the only place with several accommodating beds.”

Emma ignored him. She kept her eyes on her phone and the street in front of her.

“Or maybe you’re headed to a different inn,” Killian said. Emma looked up at him. “Moe’s is over there, love,” he pointed to the right. Just as well, a nice sign painted with flowers and Auberge de Moe (Moe’s Inn read underneath), hung over a three-story, pastel blue building. Emma looked at her phone again. It told her to go left.

She shrugged it off, and made her way towards the inn, leaving Killian and his smug grin to follow.

The reception was colourful to say the least. Flowers stood on almost every surface and hung in paintings on the wall. Looking closer, Emma noticed that even the tapestry was adorned with small daisies.

A woman with dark brown hair, put up in a messy bun, stood by the desk, reading. As soon as Emma and Killian entered, her eyes shot up towards them. Emma tilted her head a little. She could be Belle...

“Hi! You must be Emma Swan, right?” The woman asked, rounding the desk to shake hands with Emma.

“Yep. And you must be Belle French.” The accent was certainly the same as the one on the phone.

Belle nodded with a warm smile. “You’ve just made it in time for a bite of late lunch - I’m guessing you must be hungry after your trip.” Belle turned her smile towards Killian. “I didn’t know you were going to be two.”

“We weren’t,” Emma said before Killian could open his mouth.

“I do hope I don’t cause any inconvenience, love,” Killian said, his tone much nicer than Emma’s. He even gave Belle a little bow. Emma wouldn’t have been surprised if he stooped to kiss her hand.

Belle’s eyes widened. “You must be Liam’s brother Killian! You’ve got the same eyes,” she explained, “And the same manners of a proper gentleman.” Emma held back a snort at that. “And no, it’s no trouble at all! There’s a spare room next to Emma’s actually.”

Great.

“Why, that sounds perfect,” Killian grinned.

Yeah. Perfect.

“I’ll just go and get you guys checked in then. Two nights for you too, Killian?” Belle asked as she bound her way back to the desk. Emma noticed the heels she wore - and man, she thought her stilettos were tall.

While everything got sorted out, Moe came in to greet them as well. Emma and Killian got a few minutes afterwards to find their rooms and unload their baggage before lunch. Emma could have done with an hour or two to bury herself in the blankets; she had rarely seen a bed look that fluffy.

The table, decked in food from fruits, to crepes, to grilled cheese, proved to be worth it when Emma found the dining room. (Especially the grilled cheese.)

Killian wasn’t there yet, but she had heard him bustling about in his room. Of course the walls would be thin as paper.

Belle was there, and quickly offered Emma a seat. She promised Emma to answer every question she’d like answered, and after lunch they could go to the attic and see about finding Liam’s bag.

Killian came moments later and Emma dug her teeth in a grilled cheese.

“So lass, how did someone from Australia end up living a small-town-life in France?” Killian asked. Not the first question Emma wanted answered, but she couldn’t say she wasn’t curious too.

Belle smiled. “A family adventure turned into a bit more than that, you could say. We moved here when I was fifteen and I’ve just never been able to leave - at least not permanently.”

Killian continued his effortlessly pleasant small-talk and Belle told them about the village and her job at the library. Emma let them chat, choosing to focus on her plate. She hadn’t realized how hungry she was until she took that first bite. At least Killian seemed to be stuffing himself just as much, in between all the small-talk.

“I remember Liam saying you’re a boat designer - or engineer?” Belle questioned Killian. Emma set her glass back on the table. She looked at Killian and filed away this new fact. He had told her he was a writer, but it seemed he had a bit more in common with his family and their love of boats. Could that be why he was so intent on finding Liam, only now? So that the family business wouldn’t get sold. Maybe he wanted a foot in the business himself now that Barrie had died. Maybe...

Emma all but shook her head at herself. She had to stop with the endless theories and focus on what was actually going on.

“Aye, engineer. Though I’m more of a writer nowadays.”

Belle’s eye lit up. “Really? What do you write about?”

Killian scratched a spot behind his ear. “Various tales of sea-faring adventures and explorations.”

“You and Liam really have a lot in common, don’t you? He was always borrowing books about the sea - fiction and non-fiction. I think he borrowed nearly every book on the subject actually! I doubt he read them all though. He usually seemed a bit... distracted,” Belle said with a polite delicacy. Killian didn’t seem to mind though.

“Aye, his mind wasn’t in the best of states either, last I saw him. He...” Killian darted a look at Emma before he continued. Emma sensed his words were for her benefit as much as Belle’s. An attempt at proving his honesty? She set all her focus on poking out the lies in whatever he was going to say.

“He was in an accident about nine years ago - I don’t know if he ever told you of that.” Killian looked at Belle. She shook her head, worry in her eyes, despite the many years that had passed. “He and his friends went on a long sailing trip while I was still studying. They encountered a storm and well, Liam was the sole survivor. When he came back home, rescued as the only one, he was a shadow of himself. Couldn’t think straight anymore. And a few days later, he was gone.”

No one said anything for a few seconds. Killian had effectively dampened the mood in a matter of a few words. Of course, Emma knew something terrible had happened. Why else would Liam have disappeared, leaving everyone to think he was dead? Still, being the lone survivor, all of his friends dead... Emma shuttered to think about it.

Almost worse, she found herself believing every word Killian said.

“That’s awful,” Belle spoke after a few seconds. She looked rather shocked. “And you’ve never seen him since?”

“Afraid not,” Killian said. “I only recently found out he passed through here.”

And by recently, you mean yesterday. When you eavesdropped on a private phone conversation.

Killian could tell as many sad tales as he wanted; Emma wouldn’t stop being pissed at him any time soon.

(A bit of the anger had started to lessen though.)

(Not that she’d admit it.)

“I really had no idea,” Belle shook her head. “I mean, he always seemed distracted, but he was always content, if not happy. He liked being out in the open - like I told you, Emma, on the phone, he spent most of his time here exploring the countryside. I really wish I knew more of where he went when he left...”

“He never told you why he chose to stay in Valadilene in particular either?” Emma asked.

Belle thought of it for a moment, then shook her head again. “He was just travelling through Europe, he said. Valadilene was just another stop. I think he came from Paris - and he’d also been in Germany, around Munich.”

Emma filed away every piece of information.

“Did he say anything particular about either city?” Killian asked.

“No, well, he just mentioned having been there. ‘It was rainy in Paris’, ‘Munich was beautiful’, things like that.”

Killian nodded. Emma wondered if the small scraps of information somehow meant a lot more to him.

“What about when he left Valadilene? Didn’t he give any clue about where he wanted to go next?” Emma knew she was digging a hole that lead nowhere, but she just couldn’t believe that Liam didn’t say anything to Belle. She must have meant something to him - why else would she be the only person he had drawn? And why send that drawing to his uncle?

“His departure was kind of odd. He left in the early night, knocked on my door just to say goodbye. I did ask him where he was going, but he didn’t seem to know himself. And then, of course, he forgot the bag that I told you about.” Belle checked if both Emma and Killian were done eating. “If you’re ready, we could go to the attic and find it now?”

“Sounds lovely,” Killian smiled, and gave his thanks for the ‘wonderful meal’. Emma added her own ‘sure’ and a thank you as well.

Fortunately, the attic wasn’t the dark, damp and dusty place that Emma had expected. It was messy, but they found the old bag within ten minutes. The satchel was much like Killian’s. The leather had cracked where it had lain folded for eight years.

Emma didn’t know what to hope for. There was a bit of clothes in the satchel as expected and a bag full of charcoal too; a bulky flashlight, several candy wrappings and that was it.

Killian searched the bag one more time while Emma sat hunched a few feet away. She tried not to feel too disappointed. Of course the bag would be a dead end. Still... what was she going to do now?

Killian checked each and every pocket. There had to be something more. He picked through the clothes, hoping something lay hidden in the folds.

Nothing.

He fumbled through the bag once more. He could tell Emma had given up, even if she sat behind him. She probably wondered why he didn’t just give up too. There was nothing there, it was bloody obvious.

Killian ran a hand through his hair.

“I’m sorry,” Belle said, standing near the top of the ladder.

“’Tis not your fault, love.”

“I don’t know what we were hoping to find anyways,” Emma said.

Killian grabbed the clothes and the bag of charcoal and put them back in the satchel. He grabbed the torch and tried clicking it. No light came. The torch rattled when he moved it, as if the battery was too small inside the rather large handle.

Killian scrunched his brow and decided not to put the torch back in the bag just yet. Instead he screwed off the tip of the handle.

No battery slid out of the opening. Instead a small, rustic music box fell into Killian’s open palm.

Emma moved closer. She startled him when she spoke - he hadn’t noticed just how close she was to him. “I found a music box just like that in Barrie’s office.”

Killian whipped his head towards her. “Really?”

“Yeah,” Emma nodded. “It was in this secret space in the cabinet.”

So she’d found the hidden space. Of course. Killian was glad he’d found Liam’s letters and taken them before she could. But maybe she had found something else in the pile of rubbish. Was that how she found out about Belle?

“Why don’t you play it?” Belle asked. She, too, had come closer. Killian did as she suggested, and winded the small music box.

He knew the melody it played from heart. He hadn’t heard it for so long though... Killian closed his eyes for a mere moment, memories washing over him.

“It’s the same song!” Emma said.

“It’s a lullaby our mother used to sing,” Killian spoke, his voice soft. “I reckon the music box you found in Barrie’s office was mine - I haven’t been able to find it in years.”

The tune restarted, then died out after a few notes.

“Why would Liam hide it in a torch?” Belle asked the question they all wondered.

“I haven’t the faintest idea.”

Killian stared at the old sheet of paper in his hand. He knew the words in and out - his mother’s lullaby. A song of waves and starlight, of dark shores carrying you to safety. Why had Liam written the lyrics and sent them in a letter to Barrie?

The paper in Killian’s hand was one of the three letters he had found from Liam in Barrie’s office. There was no date, but the post-stamp marked it from Norway. At the top it read, it’s done. No ‘dear uncle’ or any explanation. Just it’s done. And then the lullaby.

Killian didn’t understand it. He wasn’t sure if there was even anything to understand. Liam hadn’t been himself. Perhaps the lullaby was a way of grounding him.

Night had fallen, and Killian sat on the bed in his room. He opened another envelope. He had studied these letters hundreds of times in the two days he’d had them, but one more time couldn’t hurt.

This one was from Germany. The handwriting was awful, and Killian could barely decipher it. Not only difficult, the message was painful to read. Liam wrote he felt guilty. That he shouldn’t have left Killian. But it had to be done, he knew that. Neverland had to be hidden. Tell Killian, was one of the last sentences. Killian has to know.

The last letter was from Spain. In it, Liam was angry at their uncle for having disowned Killian. That was never meant to happen. The rest was gibberish. Stuff about Neverland, how beautiful it was, even mentions of Neverland being ‘family’.

Killian looked at each letter again. He could somewhat date them from their context. But he didn’t know what to do with them. How could they help him find Liam? They, along with the two letters Liam had sent Killian years ago, were the only clues he had.

And they were as good as useless.

“...Walsh - let me talk for a second, okay?” Killian whisked his head to the side. Emma’s voice, obviously tense, sounded through their shared wall. He had heard muffled sounds from her room before, but she must be on the phone now. Again.

And he could hear every word she said.

Again.

Killian stuffed the letters back in his satchel and grabbed his coat. Emma’s conversation on the phone didn’t sound too pretty. He didn’t trust her, just as she didn’t trust him, but he respected her.

He left his room and the inn all together, going for a stroll through the streets of Valadilene.

“Walsh - let me talk for a second, okay?”

She shouldn’t have called him. She should have shoved away her guilt and waited until she got home. But no, Emma had decided to finally call Walsh, and he was determined to get answers. Determined to have a conversation that really shouldn’t be had on the phone.

“Fine, Emma. Talk.”

Finally.

“I’m sorry I just left, okay? I don’t know how to say it so it’ll help, but I really am sorry. I-”

“Why didn’t you say anything before?” Walsh interrupted. “Why couldn’t you at least say goodbye?”

“I don’t know, Walsh!” Emma all but shouted. “I just couldn’t deal with it, okay? You know what you got into when we started dating, and I’m just not good at all... this.”

“I would’ve understood, Emma; if you had just told me instead of running off. I knew that proposing was a risk, but don’t you understand? I love you, Emma - I want us to be able to talk about things - these things - with each other.”

“We’ve only been together for eight months, Walsh. I’ve had leftovers in my fridge for longer than that! You need to understand that I just can’t do this.”

“You can’t do what, Emma?”

“I can’t make that kind of commitment,” Emma paced the room. “I like being with you, but I’m not ready to settle down like that.”

“I know Emma, I know. Forget I proposed. Forget all of that. Just come home, will you?”

“Walsh, I told you this might take a while, okay? I can’t go home until I’ve finished the case and -”

“Forget the case, Emma!” Walsh interrupted. Again. “Aren’t we more important than some job?”

“It’s my job, Walsh. I can’t just skimp out of it. And actually, I think it’s for the best that I’m here for a little while longer.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Emma sat on the windowsill, leaning against the cold glass. She closed her eyes and sighed.

“Maybe we just need some space. Both of us. And then we’ll see how we feel when I get home.”

She was already pretty sure she knew how she’d feel though.

Emma hung up.

#csbb #cs ff #my writings #when the tide turns #chapter 4 #and the mystery continues....!!!

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