#for Mother’s Day we must unite as a fandom because I think we’ve actually all done this at some point in our lives

[eemoo1o-tfrmoo]

I’m sorry, mom, for making you sit through a full film and pausing it every five minutes to explain what animal Toothless is based off of, the symbolism behind the specific cast of characters, why the Snaptrapper was never added, what each positional shot represent and what theme from the score is playing when and why.

[dessarious]

Misconceptions, Miscommunication, and Misinformation Pt88

AO3   Beginning   Previous   Next

By the time Selina exited the bathroom in her street clothes Chloe had tucked Mari in, sent Damian a ‘thanks for the heads up asshole’ text, fed the Kwami, notified Luka and the Kwami that they’d be dealing with any issues for the next few days, and was currently calmly filing her nails waiting for the front desk to send up the room key. She didn’t look up as the woman walked back in the room but could feel her eyes on her.

“I think we got off on the wrong foot. I shouldn’t have just shown up in costume without making sure you were aware I was coming and I shouldn’t have made assumptions about who you were outside of being a hero. Apparently Bruce left out a few things when he explained the situation to me. And he most likely didn’t mention to the boys that I could be showing up early.” Chloe glanced up at the woman and saw real sincerity. She looked at Marinette’s sleeping form and could practically hear the girl’s voice in her head telling her to be nice.

“It’s fine. I’m used to it.” And she was. Everyone expected her to be someone else. Her parents expected the perfect daughter. Her class expected a first class bitch. The public only saw a spoiled little rich girl. She’d always played to people’s expectations rather than herself to the point that if you asked Chloe wouldn’t be able to tell you who she was. Marinette was changing all that, but she still didn’t have a clue who she was under all the bluster and snobbery. “It’s not your fault either and Mari would kick my ass if I were less than civil. We can start over tomorrow when tensions aren’t so high and we’re all rested.”

“That… sounds like a good idea.” Chloe watched as the woman frowned thoughtfully at Marinette. “She’s very observant.” Chloe let out an amused snort.

“You have no idea. It’s worse when she’s awake because you know she sees more than everyone else but she keeps it to herself. It’s maddening wondering what she saw that you didn’t.” It had absolutely nothing to do with her being Ladybug either. Marinette had seen and heard more than everyone else for as long as Chloe could remember. Honestly it might have been the look of pity the girl gave her the first time her parents didn’t show up for something that started Chloe on her vendetta when they were little. Everyone else believed her when she said her parents were too busy to attend some tiny school assembly. Somehow, Marinette knew she was lying. Every time Marinette looked at her after that she’d felt like she was under a microscope.

“I live with ‘the world’s greatest detective’ so I’m used to that feeling. Granted Tim’s worse in that regard but Bruce is so uncommunicative you know he’s got things in his head you’ll never be able to pry out.” Chloe gave a non committal hum. She hadn’t been that impressed with the man during their encounter, but he had been squaring off against Mari so both that comparison and the fact she was in protection mode may very well have colored her perception. Okay, it definitely colored her perception.

“That will help. Plus Mari’s gotten a lot better at hiding it when she figures things out. That comment about why Damian doesn’t like you would never have come out, she just would have started subtly nudging the pair of you into some form of tolerance without you noticing. She probably still will actually.” Definitely with Damian. His obvious intolerance of someone so important to his father was bound to make her do it even if Selina was the most obnoxious person alive. Mari couldn’t help herself. If she thought it was broken, she fixed it, and Damian had become her pet project.

“I’m not that easy to manipulate.” Chloe could only smirk at the woman.

“I assure it won’t matter. With no planning she got Bruce to agree to leave Damian in Paris. Trust me, when she decides something needs to change, it does. I’m a prime example of that.” That was probably not the best way to say that. Mari had a tendency to push people towards what would make them happy. With Chloe it had changed over the years and she hadn’t even realized what was happening. Mari was the one who got her to think about running for class representative originally. At the time her father was in the middle of a reelection campaign and she’d wanted to be just like him. Mari was also indirectly responsible for her push to get Adrien out of homeschooling. All it had taken was a few well placed comments. It was honestly scary how easily she could manipulate people. And it was amazing that she actively tried to only help people when she could do so much damage.

“I’ll keep that in mind. Honestly if she can get Damian in anyway on board with my relationship with his father it would be a tremendous relief. I know we’ve had a… fairly rocky relationship for a long time, but we’re both finally at the point where we can accept each other for who we are. But if Damian is completely set against it, I don’t think Bruce will risk alienating him to stay with me. It hurts knowing that, but I understand. Especially given all they’ve gone through. Bruce won’t risk losing a child that way.” Chloe could help but frown at that. She couldn’t imagine either one of her parents denying themselves something just to keep her from leaving. She was actually pretty sure her mother would auction her off to the highest bidder for an exclusive on the next hottest thing in fashion. Her father would sell his own soul to stay in office so she didn’t imagine he’d flinch at tossing her out if she became a liability.

“He sounds like a decent man.” Bruce Wayne’s public image was terrible but she knew better than most how deceptive that could be. Selina was giving her a concerned look. Crap, her thoughts must have shown on her face. She really was tired if she was having trouble keeping a neutral expression.

“He is, no matter how hard he tries to pretend otherwise. He wouldn’t have given me so many chances if he weren’t.” She glanced at Mari. “I have a feeling you’ll understand what I mean.” Chloe just nodded. Mari had given her chance after chance, as both herself and Ladybug. If she hadn’t who knows where she’d be right now. “People like that are rare, but they also don’t stick with lost causes. If you or I were a hopeless case they wouldn’t have put the effort in.”

“She’s right you know.” Tikki flew over from the bed to land on Chloe’s shoulder. “There was always a hero in you. You just needed to know it was okay to be that person instead of who you were raised to be.” That got an even more concerned look from Selina.

AO3   Beginning   Previous    Next

Ko-Fi

Tag List

@noirdots @valeks-princess @chocolatecatstheron @krispydefendorpolice @bee-wrecker @kanamexzeroyaoifangirl @northernbluetongue @paradoxal-occurance @scrumptiouslyelegantchaosqueen @sonif50 @thequestionablyhuman @persephonebutkore @elspethshadow @geekydragonyt @mmwolf1605 @da-tasuky @mjisntme @bluerosette23 @anjuschiffer @littleredrobinhoodlum @tazanna-blythe @resignedcatservant @schrodingers25 @seraphichana @persephonescat @punstoppablechatnoir @magicalfirebird @crazylittlemunchkin @corabeth11 @cyborgcandy @casual-darkness @shamefullove @miraculous-simmer7 @tamoni112 @cat181818meow @littleblue5mcdork @allthebooksandcrannies @enchanted-nerd @disneyfoxuniverse @fallinginthe-void @mandy984 @goggles-mcgee @fontegagrilledcheese @dorkus-minimus @theatreandcomicfreak @zerotosiki @ayuchan07 @mindfulmagics @urbanpineapplefarmer @winter-gardenflower @mooshoon @my-name-is-michell @melicmusicmagic @7-sage-7 @hypnosharkrebeldreamer @alicesangelofmusic @caffeinetheory @nataladriana9 @multplelifes @wanderingreader1019 @worlds-tiniest-spook-pastry @mvaree @redscarlet95 @storyteller-d @howabouticallyou @ginamarie1512 @kurogaya913 @tbehartoo @maddrag @two-faced-biatch @senyahgirl @unabashedlyswimmingtimemachine @iloontjeboontje @kakashixobito @welcometopradasa @amirahevens @amlesi @miraculousbelladonna @virgil-is-a-cutie @18-fandoms-unite-08 @cupcakeandkisses @angelofmusickaterinapetrova @book-r-the-best @dur55 @moonlightstar64 @fertileleaf @thequeenofpotatoeunicornss @thecaptainthunder @danielslilangel @novicevoice @nyaabinch @interobanginyourmom @welcometopradasa @charlietheepic7 @im-here-for-the-content @maya-custodios-dionach @throneoffirebreathingbitchqueen @starwindmaden @tired-butterfly @rogueptoridactyl @emeraldpuffguide @suzen23smith @yuulxd @animegirlweeb @alovelyocean @kris-pines04 @semaalcocer-blog @cadencehood @jardimazul-blog @shethecat @silent-storms-posts @simplysslytherin @tog84 @thesunanditsangel @dast218 @tall-and-angry @the-alice-of-hearts @captainmac6 @theyellowfeverexperience @chrismarium @alessialeone6997 @heaven428 @tinyterror333 @smolplantmum @lilyellowink @naoryllis @katiegardneriscoolerthanyou @magewriter @doodledeerest @athena452 @peachedpocky @tired-butterfly @risingmoonyue @lunammoon @mylife-demonstrates-murphys-law  @bobothyross @silvergold-swirl @loysydark @heaven428 @peachedpocky @hauntedwintersweets @awesome-starfish-and-tacos @silvergold-swirl @rosesgonerogue @castielsofficialtoothbrush @myazael @aestheticnpoetic @creator-josie @sturchling @snowstar1016 @myblacknightworld @kittycatwowmeow @midnightkaito @chylou34 @hufflejournals @indecisive-mess-named-me @uwuteamleader @sassakitty @jessigurl-design @demigodgirl20031 @freshbark @soup-served-chilling @elmokingkong @unknownvsworld @thatonegaybitchfromschool @tis-i-beanbandit @damianette-is-life @peachesbackup @nobodyw8s4evr @the-fusionist @iwantwhirlledpeasandlotsatrees @chocolateherringtacofan

[bunnythemonsterlayer]

Failing Up - Chapter 2: Below My Feet

Fandom: Mass Effect Pairing: Various Word Count: 2467 Status: Ongoing ao3 link

Upon learning her coworkers has been less than honest with her, Michelle experiances the first drop on this new roller coaster of life. When it rains it pours. She'll have to get through it somehow, ideally without strangling the rest of her staff.

“We have to collect the clearance codes for Ark Paarchero occupant files still, Director.”

“Is there anything I can do for you, Director?”“You look tired, Director. Shall I ready a nap for you, Director?”

“I could peel you a grape if you so wish, Director. That is if we still have grapes, Director.”

“Stop that.” Michelle snapped in annoyance, “It's not official yet.”

“It's pretty damn official,

Director

.” Saavi did her best to keep her voice even but couldn't quite do it over the effort to hold down her laughter. She had been waiting there with Zavier, the Turian head caretaker for the Pediatrics department, and they hadn't wasted any time with their teasing.

“You both seem excited, given what I've heard has happened since we've been out.”

“Oh, well we've been up for a while. Had time to get over it. Twenty-four hours is an acceptable amount of time to get over astronomical loss, right? Not the sign of a sociopath at all, right Director?”

Saavi was fun, Saavi was smart, but damn it was she flippant about everything. Michelle had met her her first semester of University long ago and had been Michelle's cheat sheet for a lot of her Asari related studies in exchange for helping Saavi with her human related ones. At the ripe old age of three hundred forty six she embodied the stereotype of 'the friend mom'. One of those women who despite being a mother of three herself, all of which had stayed behind in the Milky Way, hadn't changed her 'hip' attitude. Coming from anyone else, that sort of life style would grind Michelle's gears to the point of pure fury; for Saavi however, she made an exception. Years of friendship had gained her a sort of desensitization and understanding to the jungle gym that was Saavi's mind.

“Twenty-four hours?” Michelle inquired to keep the train of thought on track.

“Thirty-six for me.” Zavier chimed in with a raised hand.

Michelle whipped her head over to Sylas who looked like he could create a diamond from how clench his cloaca must have been.

“Three days..” Sylar mumbled meekly, averting his gaze when Michelle's face tightened up,“and Zarnia, Rane and Rylee are in the lab. Along with a number of other staff. I'm not sure how long they've been up...”

“Was there some reason that I, the

Director

wasn't woken up sooner?”

“Oh, so now you're the Director?” Saavi's quip was met with the angriest look Michelle could muster, causing Saavi to snort and put her face in her hand.

Zavier cut in to save the conversation.

“We figured with your new promotion and all we should let you sleep longer and get things ready for you. Make things easier on you. Get the lab up and running, collect client files, clean up the Care Center-”

“'Clean up'? Why would you need to 'clean up'?” Michelle wiped nonexistent sweat from her brow. Her hands had started shaking and she needed to give them something to do before she started vibrating.

It was at this time Saavi decided to be an adult for a few seconds.

“The Scourge knocked some things loose. Made a huge mess, cut power, damaged large portions of the Nexus. Put that together with insanity the Uprising brought and Operations had to cut off attention to certain departments. Ours was one of them. If Ryder hadn't shown up with the Hyperion this thing would still be a floating hunk of metal from what I hear.”

So, it was worse than she though. No, worse than Sylas had

made

her think.

“Which means?” Michelle moaned.

“No cleaning, no upkeep, no cosmetic repairs. They've had maintenance down there for longer than any of us have been awake making sure everything was ready for us but it's been more than they bargained for. I think we lost an incubation station...”

Over the busy noise of hundreds of people around her going about their work something in the back of Michelle's brain was screaming uncontrollably, like a frustrated toddler. No, more like a legitimate nervous breakdown. This was all too much already, no wonder Sylas had seemed to only have half the story, because it

was

half the story, he was afraid to tell her at the present time. It's why he hadn't told her he had been awake longer than her. She had assumed it given his knowledge but three days? Now that she thought of it, he hadn't said

anything

about the actual state of the Pediatrics department. He was trying to spare her, trickle in the severity of everything little by little. If there was one stereotype the Salarians upheld, it was that they always knew more than they let on, the scrawny little shits. It took everything to push down the quiver in her throat as she spoke slowly and carefully.

“I...appreciate you all...thinking of my well being.” She took a deep breath and let it out, her fingers lacing between each other and twisting to crack her knuckles, which caused Sylas to flinch. She remembered he was the product of the over all situation at hand. She had to seeing as it was the only way she was suppressed the urge to shake the shit out of him. “So...now that we're all awake, and on track, we can...work to...get everything up and running. I will need, I guess, all of Kamela's notes and personnel files and equipment data and what the fuck is that?”

A flash of something purple had walked at a distance behind Saavi and Sylas from one side of the Operations area to the other. When it stopped, Michelle with fingers still laced, pointed subtly for them all to look over their shoulders.

“Oh, that.” Saavi said as if it was just some common bird or cat, “That's an Angaran. New alien. They live with us now I guess.”

Michelle watched with a blank expression as Saavi shrugged and Sylas nervously laughed no louder than a whisper.

“S-Surpriiiiise...” he whimpered and gave what could only be assumed to be his attempt at jazz hands.

She would have been thrilled, were she not already so overwhelmed with everything else around her going on. Zavier, seeing Michelle's mouth open and inhale enough breath to power a melt down worthy of security involvement, once again cut in to get everything back on track.

“Everything is ready for you to receive and get started. You just need to go get them.”

“Where do I have to go get them from?” Michelle muttered flatly, all emotion leaving her voice as she exhaled and stared blankly at the flat-faced purple creature like it was her only anchor to sanity. She silently prayed she wouldn't have to go to the morgue. The last thing she needed was to have to manually transfer things over from a corpse or even just a property box.

“Director Tann.” Saavi said with a grunt of annoyance, “I offered to take them for you and give them over but he said something about clearance and authority and responsibility and sensitive information and some by the book shit. You know Salaraians.”

“I'm standing

right here

.”

“Oh, grow a pair, Sylas.”

Michelle nodded and asked where, nodding when Zavier pointed somewhere to the left. At this point, talking to a Salarian Director was a godsend. If there was one thing she was sure he wasn't going to skimp on, it was the actual details. Though it would probably be much harder for her to keep herself from crumbling under the weight of everything she hadn't been told. Still, she worked for him, not the other way around, he wouldn't need to spare her sanity. He would just need the job done.

“Alright, well, I'm going to go and get that and you are all going to stop-” Her hand came up with an open and closed motion like the mouth of a duck between Sylas and Saavi, who were arguing needlessly about the scientific impossibility of a Salarian 'growing a pair'. Like two children who had just been scolded by their mother they shut up and listened. “Stop messing around and go get everything...bare minimum operational. Saavi, I need you and Zarnia to make sure our operating system for client information is up and running, I don't want any crashes or bugs or whatever. Make sure you check to see who we've already got and add in anything we don't till we get the Ark files all complied. When that's done, back it up on a separate system and put it in Ka-

my

office. Also make sure our monitor and holo system is up to snuff in the care center for lessons and morning announcements. Zavier, you and Rane need to make sure our supplement supply is stocked or at least ready to take on the amount of things we'll need; first aid supplies, omni-gel, whatever we're classifying as food now, levo and dextro. After that check the nesting nook for everything you and yours would need like heated padding and such. Make sure it's not running too hot, we don't want to roast anyone. Sylas- Sylas, for the love of all that's holy, relax your cloaca, I am not mad at you. I want you and Rylee to check everything we have for the Salarian infancy care unit and make sure its functioning properly. This means the clutch tanks, adolescent pools and the activity tubing. If the workers cut one of them off have them repair it and then flood it to check for leaks. Check everything for leaks.

Everything

. Then you're going to make sure the Microids are fully functional, you got it? I don't care if you have to test each of them one at a time in a glass of water, you got it? Nod if you get it. There you go, that's my boy. Finally, if Pearl is awake tell her to check the incubators and make sure the power levels can get high enough for a Krogan infant should we need it, and you know we are going to need it. Have Linda help her if she has any trouble.”

At the mention of Pearl everyone visibly fidgeted, but Michelle had little time or energy to devote to asking the reason. She chalked it up to their feelings towards Krogan mannerisms or at worse, that Pearl was dead; just another victim of unforeseen circumstance. Again, she didn't have the time or energy. If she even gave more than a passing thought to Pearl being gone, she would have to be carried into Director Tann's office on a stretcher.

“Alright?” Michelle chirped, giving an almost violently forced double thumbs up, which was met with single handed matching thumbs up ranging from strong to weak between the three of them.

“Aye aye, Director.” Saavi said with a wink and mock salute before turning to go.

“See you soon, Director.” Zavier nodded with a slight smile in his eyes before heading off as well.

Sylas stood nervously still, obviously unsure of what to do. Michelle wasn't sure if in his cagey, wits end state of mind he was waiting for her to verbally dismiss him of if he was just frozen. Either way she couldn't help but feel bad for him. In any other situation she would have comforted him and tried to soothe him till he was confident in the fact that she wasn't going to flog him, but she couldn't do that, not here or now at least. Sooner or later he would need to be able to crawl himself out of that hole all on his own. After thirty seconds of no change though, Michelle figured that day would have to come at a slightly later date. With her two thumbs she stood on her toes and reached up, gently pressing the pads of them to the corners of Sylas's mouth to try and get them to lift. This was a tactic she had adopted along with the 'forced laugh' technique when she needed to get children out of a funk. She continually pressed while smiling herself till he finally broke and smiled as well, passively reaching up to swat her hands away with his own. Anyone watching probably would have thought them both insane. With a deep breath they both nodded to each other before Sylas took his leave.

“Director.” He said with warm sincerity before weaving in and disappearing into the moving crowds, leaving Michelle alone in a room full of people.

She thanked Kesh silently for having designed each main department to be marked with huge glowing letters. If there was one thing Kesh was good at, it was making sure you knew what everything was for. She wanted to believe it was to reflect how efficient of an architect she was, but more than likely it was probably because she doubted the competency of everyone around her. Either way it was a godsend as far as Michelle was concerned and it eventually lead her to the bright end of the hall and up a short flight of stairs. The brightness she found out came more from the larger amount of lighting than the outside world, which Michelle could now see was the foggy, purple vastness of space. Same old, same old. She tried to imagine wind on her face and grass under her feet, using the thought of it to push her forward into this mess she was about to step into. It had been decades since she had felt anything close to that, if you didn't count the one time she was able to sneak her foot out of her shoe and put it into a tiny square of green at a Citadel park, but it was enough. If the changing images had been any indication of what they now had access to, maybe she could arrange a trip some time in the far, far distant future. She turned left and faked a confident walk, looking up at the window and squinting to focus on anything behind it. She could just make out a tall, lean silhouette, which even though the panel on the door read 'Pathfinder Headquarters', was evidence enough for her to assume said door was the entrance to Tann's office. Formally Jien's office.

Alright, abandon all faith ye who enter here...

Stopping in front of the door, she rolled her shoulders, took a deep breath and lifted her left arm to access her keypad.

“Director.” She whispered as she pressed in her preassigned code to allow her access, no longer sure if she was talking about Tann or herself anymore.