#gaggle of history nerds

[keepthyfaithandthylight]

History community, my dears! Today, I present to you…

A ✨request✨.

It would be odd to ask anyone aside from you, and you’ll find out why very shortly.

Essentially, if any of you have any historical clothing patterns, may I request that you quite possibly send some to me? Or, of course, you could simply repost here with them or comment with them. I would like to start sewing some historical clothing for myself.

Now you can see how this would be quite an odd request to those who are not, as we are here, a gaggle of history nerds. (I say “gaggle of history nerds” with immense amounts of love, as I’m sure you all know by now.)

Many thanks! God bless, <3

[dfortrafalgar]

I saw you were accepting requests and I was wondering if you would be okay with writing a Law and kunoichi s/o scenario/drabble/one shot (whatever you like!)? I think it would be so cute seeing him nerd out over her 😌 I love your work! 🫶

hi anon!!! i'm so sorry this took so long! i had a lot of fun writing this though, it's kind of short so i hope you don't mind, it was a fun way to do something a bit more silly and outlandish and have our wonderful nerdy captain be a dork at the same time <3

also, i used this picture as a reference for reader's clothing. i know western media and costumes tend to have a very strange depiction of ninja clothing, but consider the often overlooked history of ninja in general, and especially female ninja, i wanted to make sure that i could depict something such as attire a bit more accurately!!!

Sudden Revelation

Law x Fem Reader

Law didn’t think it was possible to fall more in love with you, until you vanished from his sight.

Warnings: drabble fic, kunoichi/ninja reader, some light depictions of typical shounen action, fluffy ending, worried sick and nerdy law <3

You were never one to stray too far from the pack.  Law knew this, and he loved that about you.  Your tendency to stay glued to either his side or the company of your crew mates meant that he didn’t need to agonize over your safety when on dry land for important missions. After the Heart Pirates split up on an unassuming island to investigate the theorized location of a poneglyph, leaving you to traverse with Penguin and Hakugan, Law expected tonight to be no different.

Until they returned to Law, eyes wide and frantic.  Without you.

“How the hell did you manage to lose her?  We haven’t even been off the ship for over an hour!” Law grumbled, suppressing the primal urge to yell at his crewmen.  Nighttime darkness shrouded the surrounding woods and village like a blanket, and the last thing the pirates needed was an irate captain waking up whatever potential defense force the people on this island had.  Instead, the surgeon’s voice came out of his larynx as a strangled, almost high-pitched groveling.

“We don’t know!” Penguin begged, holding his hands up in front of his face.  “We turned around to ask her something and she was just… gone!”

“I swear we didn’t see her,” Hakugan added.  “She was behind us when she vanished, but we didn’t hear anything.  It was like she just poofed into thin air.”

“Not even rustling or anything?  Just… nothing?” Law asked, his voice riddled with skepticism as his eyebrows furrowed, creasing the skin above his nose.  “How do you expect me to believe that?  She wouldn’t just outright disappear like that.”

“How do we know you didn’t teleport her away?” Penguin asked, his voice snarky.  “For all we know you could’ve snapped your fingers and transported her back to the ship because you were worried.”

Law’s piercing gaze shut down any more retaliation from the older man.  Pinching the bridge of his nose in between his calloused fingers, he grumbled, “You two go join my search team.  I’ll go look for her.”

Without putting up any more of a fight, Penguin and Hakugan booked it past their captain and into the woods where Law’s own small gaggle of Heart Pirates remained secluded in the treeline, watching the debacle unfold.  Law’s fist clenched around Kikoku tighter as he gazed left, then right, then journeyed into the darkness alone to search for you.

The profound worry plaguing him and the frustration at your sudden disappearance fought ruthlessly in his mind as he trudged through the brush.

—

You felt free in your shōzoku, much less constricted compared to your Heart Pirate boiler suit.  While your usual off-white clothing provided ample warmth and comfort while on the submarine, it was clunky and far too revealing when the need to be conspicuous developed.  As you adjusted your obi and shouldered your tantō, you couldn’t help but smile at how easily you slipped away from your crewmates.  But you needed to be fast.  It would only be a matter of time before Law found out you had vanished, and the clock was rapidly ticking.

You knew where the poneglyph was hidden, thanks to the efforts of Straw Hat Nico Robin, whom you had secretly contacted via Den Den Mushi while on your latest watch shift.  You had nothing to prove in going off alone.  Rather, you learned that the underground bunker where the stone was kept was heavily guarded by a squadron of local village folk who, despite their calm and welcoming demeanor in the daytime, were very hostile when the sun set below the horizon.  And you refused to let anything happen to your crew, not when you had the means to do something about it.

You swiftly stepped through the brush, dodging sticks and shrubs as your feet carried you deftly through the darkness, your dyed blue clothing helping you blend in near seamlessly through the inky surroundings.  It was far too dark to view the map you kept folded in your pocket, so you were relying on memory alone to find the entrance to the village bunker.  According to Robin, it was tucked away in between two large stones embedded into a mountainside.  The passageway would be so narrow that you’d need to sideways-shuffle through the opening in order to enter.  But you had no issue with that.

After what felt like hours of searching, squinting your eyes through the darkness to spot anything that looked remotely suspicious, you finally found your landmark.  Two huge boulders hiding a black abyss of an entrance in between their jagged surfaces.  

You just barely stepped forward when a sword unsheathed behind you.

“Don’t move if you know what’s good for you,” an unknown voice called out through the darkness.

It wasn’t anyone you recognized.  Your hair stood on end as your mind reeled for your next action.

“Drop your weapon,” he demanded.

You closed your eyes, honing your senses.  With the way he had revealed his sword, just based on the sound it made, he wasn’t completely prepared to wield it.  It must have been lose in his grip, unsure as to whether or not he should strike or not.  He was surely unsteady on his feet, caught off-guard by your presence.  The confidence in his voice was a ruse, you were certain of it.

With a blinding motion, you pulled your tantō out of its own sheath and whirled around, gripping the handle of your blade firmly in your grasp.  The metal dug into your hand, coarse against your skin and yet so familiar to you, allowing you to land a swift cut to the chest of the unsuspecting village man.  You hadn’t wanted to draw any attention, but you didn’t really have much of a choice.  You had come so far in detecting the location of the poneglyph, you couldn’t just give up now.

Another shallow gash landed on the man’s arm as he staggered backward, his grip on his sword wavering with the shock of your lightning-quick attacks.  He was blindsided as he managed to sidestep another swipe from your short blade, his eyes wide and petrified through the darkness.  The back of his heel landed on a stick, snapping it in half and sending a sharp echo through the surrounding woods making your blood curdle.  Way to draw even more attention.  You flipped your blade in your hand to land another strike–

“ROOM.”

God damn it.

A bright, electric blue light engulfed the area in a bubble, a sensation that you would normally welcome, but now greeted with distaste.  All of your plans had been thoroughly ruined now.  You wondered how long Law had been searching the woods for any sign of life in order to find you.

“AMPUTATE.”

You stepped back just in time for a gust of air to whoosh past you, an indirect strike being landed on the man accosting you and bisecting him at the pelvis.  A shrill scream escaped his lungs as his upper body flopped onto the ground, his entire body frazzled as he gazed at his legs running around independently.  The sight was truly morbid, but you had seen it enough.

“Who the hell are you?!”  Law’s voice was incredibly fierce as he shouted through the darkness, the sound making your heart rate increase nervously.  You were in for it now, he was absolutely talking to you.  “Well?!”

You didn’t have anything fully concealing your face, and while your layers of clothing hid your form, your cover would be blown if you turned around.  You tried to lower your voice as you responded, “I’m not here to bother anyone.”

A long pause followed your words.  Neither of you were acknowledging the bisected stranger off to the side as Law’s room disappeared, leaving the separated torso incapacitated for the time being.

“Then why are you here?  I’m looking for someone,” he demanded.  He sounded as exhausted as he did frustrated, making your chest clench.

You bit the inside of your cheek, digging through your subconscious for a way out of this situation.  You didn’t want Law to see you for what you were.  You hated that you had kept this side of you hidden from him, but it was too important to you to keep your deeper skills hidden from your friends… from your lover.

When you took too long to respond, Law stepped closer.  His own nodachi was unsheathed and held outward in a threatening motion.  “Who.  Are.  You.”

There was no turning back now.  You pivoted on your heels and rotated your body to finally face Law, hoping that the darkness of the night and the overall color of your clothing would conceal your features enough that Law would have to really work at adjusting his pupils enough to see you.

The way his eyes immediately widened, though, told you that he figured you out near instantly.

“B… baby…?” he whispered, his arm lowering.  He frantically slipped Kikoku back into her saya, closing the gap between the two of you and holding out his hand, touching your shoulder as if he wasn’t sure it was actually you in front of him.

Now you felt awful.  His face had rapidly morphed from an expression of profound anger into one of desperate relief that he had found you.  He probably thought you had been captured or worse… and knowing how strongly he felt about losing you…

You opened your mouth to apologize, but Law summoned another Room in order to teleport the two of you into a location that wouldn’t reveal your presence to whoever might have still been inside the cave entrance.  The bisected man could deal.

Law pinned you by one of your wrists against a tree, his hand trembling as he gently squeezed your limb.  “What… why…”

“Law… I’m so sorry,” you mumbled, your voice nothing but a whisper as you struggled to fully rationalize your actions in your head.  “I should have told you.”

You could make out through the darkness the way Law’s golden eyes were frantically examining your body, your clothes, your posture, your overall demeanor, looking for any signs of injury.  It seemed like he almost didn’t realize you weren’t in your boiler suit as he assessed you for any potential injuries.  When he finally did realize your garb was the complete opposite of the usual off-white jumper, he stepped back.  “What… are you…?”

You sucked in a shaky breath.  “A kunoichi,” you muttered.  “A ninja.”

Law finally stepped back enough to give you breathing room, and also pick apart your clothing in the darkness.  You were adorned in a layered hakama, your outer and innermost layers folded similarly to that of a kimono, and an indigo-colored obi was tied securely around your torso.  His jaw might as well have been on the floor.

“You’re a…” he stuttered, rapidly losing the ability to speak.

“A ninja,” you reiterated, keeping your voice low, still unsure about his current emotional state.  For all you knew he could blow up into an angry, petrified, desperate state, so convinced that he had lost you.

Instead, Law reached out a shaky, inked hand and gently ran his fingers across the outer seam of your hakama.

“How long have you… been a…”

“Since I was a child,” you answered, allowing him to digest this insane revelation at his own pace.

Kikoku was placed carefully on the ground, allowing both of Law’s hands to wander your body in a way that somehow replicated a child-like wonder.  He lifted your arms, gazing through the inky blackness at the carefully embroidered and printed details of the fabric that adorned you, spinning you around to examine the way your obi was holding your lower layers into place, trailing his fingers over the way the fabric seamlessly folded over your collarbones.  He went from top to bottom, picking apart every single aspect of your appearance.  This was the last reaction you were expecting from the man, to say the least.

“Law…?” you anxiously muttered, letting him lift up your arm once again to examine the way the fabric of your shōzoku flowed downward.  “Can you say something?”

Your boyfriend finally paused, his eyes darting up to meet yours.  “You’re really a ninja,” he asked, more-so wanting to confirm one last time that, yes, you were telling the truth.

“I am,” you nodded.

“Holy shit,” he uttered back, his voice airy and bewildered.  “That’s… you’re… you’re so cool.”

Your heart swelled twice its size at his words.  “You really think so?”

“Why didn’t you tell me sooner?” he suddenly asked, his hands never once leaving your figure.

You pursed your lips.  “I’ve been keeping it a secret forever, really… it just never occurred to me, I guess.”  That was only partially true, but you didn’t feel like now was the time to get into your worries of involving your lover or your crewmates into your risky solo endeavors.  “Are you… mad at me?”

“Furious,” Law stated back swiftly.  “I thought Penguin and Hakugan lost you for good.”

Your stomach rolled around uncomfortably in your stomach.  “I’m really sorry, Law… I know I should’ve told you.  I’m sorry for making you worry so much…”

“Worry doesn’t even begin to cut it,” he barked.  His voice was still low, his hands still dissecting you from the outside, but his body radiated a fierce, overwhelming aura of a pent up fury.  “Please don’t do that again… if you want to go rogue then just tell me.”

You eagerly nodded.  “I will, I promise.”

Law didn’t respond, and instead continued gazing at your apparel.  “You’re so cool…” he whispered, a sudden, jarring shift from his previous words.  “You’re a ninja… holy shit.”

He was nerding out now.  His dominant, protective captain and boyfriend side was dealt with in the form of chastising you for hiding your secret from him, and now he was free to gush.

“I am,” you added, a small, unsure smile pulling at your lips.  

“My girl is a ninja… oh my god.”

“I know where the poneglyph is,” you quietly muttered, a vain attempt to see if you could snatch Law’s attention away from you.

“I know.  But you’re a ninja.”

No dice, he was fixated.

“You look like Stealth Black, kinda.  From volume 15 when he and Sora fought over that cityscape in the middle of the night.”  He was transfixed.

“If I’d known you would’ve loved this so much, I would’ve told you a lot sooner,” you chuckled.

Law’s eyes finally tore away from the way you tied your obi, landing on your face.  “We’ll come back for the poneglyph.  We’re going back to the Tang.”

[ettawritesnstudies]

Happy storyteller Saturday (glad we’re bringing this back)! Your characters go to the county fair! What do they eat? What rides do they go on? Who gets so into petting goats they forget to even look at rides? Who wins a questionable number of clearly rigged games? Who gets their face painted? Who overhauls their entire aesthetic based on booths of scarves and accessories? Who finds something hyperspecific to learn about while the others tap their feet impatiently? Etc.

(that last one is based on me going to the county fair and becoming so engrossed in a local history lecture at the museum exhibit I did not even go check out the rides)

Happy STS Moshke! What a fun question!

I feel like the Twins are big fans of the rides and food trucks, they take turns waiting in the lines and babysitting their other siblings, switching whenever they're bored of one task and feel like tagging in for the other. Like Marco loves spinny rides but hates waiting in line for them, Matteo isn't a fan of the spinning but doesn't mind the wait, so they switch when he gets to the front of the line. Meanwhile, Marco gets funnel cake as a favor so when Matteo switches out, Marco can go in his ride, and Matteo can have a treat! They've really hacked the system.

Tess is Extremely Intimidated by all the hubbub and Hannah hates crowds with a visceral passion, so the two of them gladly hang out at the petting zoo.

Quercu would win all the rigged carnival games. She's been sneaking into human fairs for 200 years and she knows all the tricks. She won't keep the prizes though and passes them off to the kids in line who don't have her kind of faerie luck.

Cecelia gets her face painted so that nobody questions when she uses her glamours, just a tiny bit. It looks a little too hyperrealistic, but no adults are looking that closely.

Lady Brigid would enjoy seeing the crafters, though I don't know if she'd completely overhaul her aesthetic (she is supposed to be based on a nun) but she would like to support the arts, so she'd buy a few pieces as gifts for the girls! I also imagine Mrs. Tegan might run a stand like this. In my imagination, she has a large craft room and runs a fairly successful small business out of her home. Cecelia might help her stock inventory and run the table.

If Hannah ever left the petting zoo, she'd get lost at the farm show exhibit with all the heirloom varieties of vegetables and apples, and the panels on local agriculture. She's a huge plant nerd and learning how to yield a successful harvest would interest her. Her dad would find her talking the ear off a gaggle of old-timers and she'd leave with an internship or something sldjsflkjds.

Thanks for the ask!

[woundthatswallows]

pub crawl w a gaggle of history nerds >

[chickenincinerationsociety]

Salutations my fellow gaggle of weirdos!

I made this tumblr account a few months back, said some cringe shit and basically haven't touched this place for a long while until now.

Due to the whole boycott/blackout thing and the near certain possibility that r/196 will be no more, I decided to move to Tumblr as a sort of blank slate for myself and as a way to stay rooted in the whole 196 community.

While I'm at it, I should probably write out some details about who I am:

-As you can see, I am what they call 'chronically online'.

-I am 17-turning on 18 and something, something...I forgot the song.

-I am a man (well, boy Ig) and use he/him pronouns. I'm also gay, but I think that's pretty obvious considering the fact that I'm from r/196.

-I love vintage stuff and old timey fashion.

-I am a GARGANTUAN nerd for politics, history, dnd and random science shit.

-I'm pretty sure internet politics and arguments fucked me up and made my stress management issues worse but regardless, I still support leftist and environmentalist causes.

-I love rock music. And by rock music I mean I listen to David Bowie or Queen like 90% of the time.

-My favourite musical is split between 'Les miserables' (obv not the trash movie) and 'The rocky horror picture show' and my favourite show is IASIP.

-I pretend to be authentic but am constantly worrying over how others react or think of me.

Cool, I think that's all you need to know new-comers, I hope we can be good friends, whoever you are 🙂🙃

Ps: Technically not an intro post but the other one was a cringe shitpost soooo...yeah.

[lilareviewsbooks]

The Last Binding Trilogy: On Ignoring Enslavement, Gay Bridgerton & Pacing Issues

3.5/5 stars 377 - 422 pages contains: Edwardian England setting; hidden magic!!; queer romance :)

I'll be honest: what I wanted was gay Bridgerton.

Now, listen. Everyone and their mother is watching the new Bridgerton season, and I had never even watched the first one. So my girlfriend sat me down the other day, and we started it. But before that, the idea was already in my head: "Where's my gay Bridgerton?", I wondered, every hour of every day. "Where are the dramatic tensions and weird social conventions of a time long past? Where are the BALLS?"

And so I went on a search. Tumblr was extremely unhelpful, but after much, much digging, I found.... This. The Last Binding Trilogy by Freya Marske.

Of course, this takes place in Edwardian England, not during the regency period - and although I am a Brazilian through and through, my history nerd heart cannot be made to call both of those time periods "the same thing". I will say though, the vibes are pretty similar.

The Last Binding follows three interconnected couples - one per book - as they discover a sinister plot related to a secret society of English magicians. As I read that summary, I thought - perfect! Lots of romance, which is what I want.

Mmmmm.

There is a lot of romance, don't get me wrong. Enough that the "I-don't-read-romance" side of me was tempted to put it down sometimes, even if my craving was for that specifically. But there's a plot that connects all the books together, that just keeps going. There's no way to ignore it, or to push it aside - and it's also the reason why the books need to be read in order.

And, let's just say that the plot isn't, like, riveting. I came for the romance, personally, and it's pretty good romance. I will absolutely give the books that and that's why I rated them highly. However, I found the main plot to be unconvincing. It's not that it wasn't fun, - particularly in the second book! - but I didn't find myself impressed at all. It's all constructed kind of as a mystery, but none of the twists and turns are masterful, no hints are dropped, and the ending of the third book is odd and unsatisfying.

Plus, I do think there's a pacing issue. There's so much plot in the third book, - the longest - a lot in the second, and dare I say not too much in the first? And, yes: the first one is the best one. In particular, the climax of the third book, which I just finished, was harrowing to read. It took chapters and chapters for the action to conclude, and it just kept going. Part of this, I think was the author's insistence on tying every single loose end in a pretty little bow with precious few pages left. This was complicated by the fact that she had a gaggle of mustache-twirling villians in her hands, all of which - and no spoilers - meet terribly unsatisfying ends.

The large cast of characters quickly got out of hand, as well - although I do think they are all very charming. By the third book, there are so many people, and they are all always together, that the action slows as an effect of it. At every point, we must pause and visit each character - what was this person doing? And that one?

It's a whole thing.

The books are commendable, though, in the romance department and for their attempts to communicate thoughts on consent, - sexual and otherwise - belonging to a place, and social injustice. In fact, each book tackles a different social prejudice: the first, homophobia, the second sexism, and the third, classism. And, of course, we're talking about a white author, here, and I don't mean to suggest that she should have written about what she has no lived experience to speak with authenticity about, but the absence of race was a gaping problem in the story.

There were two side characters that were Indian, and that was it. There were side comments about the difficulties they face in white English society, but they were few and far between, usually brushed off with a joke from one of the Indian characters. And, of course, the injustices of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade loom over this book like a shadow, as we go over the lives of these rich white English nobles. It is mentioned once, off-handedly.

If the author's project was to not broach the subject, then why set it in Edwardian England in the first place? Why include other forms of prejudice so explicitly in the narrative? This is fantasy we're talking about! Every detail of the story is under the author's control. And so I found it a really, really big slip-up.

And: some of the story mentions New York City, and references explicitly English magicians who have moved to the "colonies". For a story about belonging in a place, - as the author says herself in the acknowledgments of the first book - where are the discussions of colonialism? Many times, we hear about people's magic being tied to the land they swear oathes too. So what of people who had their land stolen? Another implication not considered, another reason why there was no point at all to the trilogy being set in Edwardian England.

In general, I found the romance to be enjoyable, while the plot dragged and failed to capture my interest. The attempts at social commentary are commendable, but often fell flat as there was an absence of saying anything new or truly transgressive. Especially when it came to race. I don't not recommend it: I think there's good to be found here. But it definitely has its errors.

[peachy-rambles]

High school sweethearts AU:

Techno is a nerd. He's smart, loves english and history, knows lots of random facts about various mythology. He tends to stand out, being as tall and big as he is, with bright dyed pink hair, but he's quiet and awkward, and doesn't really have any friends.

Oh he's friendly with everyone and gets along with others, including Dream (the popular jock and football star of the school), which earns him some brownie points. But when it comes to actual friends? Yeah he's kinda out of luck. It's hard for him to really talk or connect with people, and his anxiety usually acts up, making him retreat and avoid social interaction.

Phil is a year ahead of Techno and the school's local popular video game nerd, who always has a gaggle of freshman or some form of group around him, following him. He appears cool and chill, and he is to a certain extent, but he is also a massive weeb. (He doesn't hide this fact, but he also doesn't bring his manga to school or anything or start talking about the latest anime. Because he knows he'd end up being called "Weebza" just like in middle school)

What people don't know about either Techno or Phil is that both of them have a very secret competitive side. While Phil has no interest in sports, he did used to take martial arts and Techno used to take a some sword/fencing classes before he had to stop to focus on school.

Their paths don't cross, as they're a grade apart, until one day in gym class, the seniors and juniors are pitted against in each other in a massive game of dodgeball.

One by one, students from each side are picked off until the only two remaining are Phil and Techno.

It's a very close match and it could be anyone's game.

Phil decides to use the age old technique of tactical flirting, which causes Techno's brain to malfunction and throw him off just enough so Phil can hit him with a dodgeball.

The dodgeball ends up hitting Techno in the face, and he gets knocked down onto the ground, his face bleeding.

The seniors end up losing, due to headshots being illegal in dodgeball and Phil forfeiting immediately after it happened.

Phil volunteers to help escort Techno to the nurse and apologizes profusely on the way. Techno tells him not to worry about it, since it looks worse than it actually is.

Phil still feels bad about it and tries to make it up to Techno, offering to buy him new glasses (as Techno's broke when he got hit) or maybe help him with his schoolwork or something. Techno just shrugs off all of Phil's efforts, but Phil is determined and starts sitting with Techno at lunch, trying to get him to repay Techno in some way.

The two get to talking and hit it off, but everyday at the end of their time together, Phil always asks if there's any way for him to make it up to Techno.

Techno always says no, until one day he nods and says, "Ok. I know how you can make it up to me."

"How?" Phil asks.

In a very brave move, that will most likely cost Techno the ability to properly socialize for at least another month, he says, "You could go out on a date with me."

Phil agrees immediately with no hesitation.

[hxlyhead-harpies]

Gold Rush (S.B.)

Evermore

Summary: You want someone you can never have

Based On: Gold Rush by Taylor Swift

Word Count: 1.3k

Warnings: None

Your lips parted as he walked by, taking in every inch of his being. His gleaming black hair, his wide and carefree smile, and his light and sparkling eyes. Every bit of him was beautiful. From your spot at the Hufflepuff table, you couldn’t take your eyes off him. It was as if his mere presence drew you in, the second he entered the room your eyes zoned in on him. He looked up briefly, his eyes catching yours. He sent you a quick smile, the corners of his mouth quirking up to reveal the dimple you adored so much. 

You looked away as fast as you could. 

You hated that Sirius Black had such an effect on you. The sound of his voice alone would turn you into a pile of mush, helplessly blushing and stuttering, unable to meet his eyes. You didn’t like that when he laughed you could hear your heartbeat in your ears and you despised that when he was around you could never quite think of what to say. 

But what you hated the most, was that you weren’t the only one who felt this way. It seemed that almost everyone at Hogwarts was under the same spell as you. Countless girls before you had tried their hand at taming Sirius Black, but it never worked. He was carefree and didn’t like to be tethered, bouncing from one fling to the next, completely content in his lifestyle. But that didn’t stop everyone from wanting him anyway. 

You weren’t the only one who daydreamed of holding his hand and brushing his hair from his face. You were one of many. 

You pushed past the gaggles of students as you attempted to make your way to History of Magic. You hated crowds and unfortunately, the third-floor hallways were always completely overrun in between classes. Your shoulders knocked against your peers are you tried to push through, your nose crinkling with frustration. You felt a hand on your upper arm and the quiet murmur of an apology. You looked up to see Sirius maneuvering past you, sending you an apologetic smile. You froze in place, watching his form disappear into the crowd, time seemingly slowing. You felt your cheeks heat up, the familiar flush making its way onto your cheeks. You frowned and walked away. 

You sat in the library, your transfiguration notes in front of you, rubbing your tired eyes. Exams were coming up and you were studying nonstop. It appeared that the rest of the older students had the same idea, as the library was teeming with frantic teenagers pouring over their assignments. The words on the page were swimming past your eyes and a dull ache was beginning to throb at the back of your head. It was the consequence of revising for hours, but you couldn’t yet afford to put your book away. 

“May I sit here?” a voice asked, startling you. You jumped slightly and looked up to meet eyes with Sirius. He was gesturing to the chair in front of you, one of the only unoccupied ones in the room. 

“Yeah, yeah, of course,” you muttered, praying that your cheeks would stay their normal hue. He sent you an appreciative smile before sitting down. 

“What are you studying?” he asked, peering over at your work. 

“Transfiguration,” you groaned. Sirius smirked at you. 

“Not going so well, then?” he asked, his eyebrows raised. 

“Not particularly,” you said, “McGonagall’s curriculum is brutal.” Sirius let out an affirming hum before snatching your textbook from out in front of you. 

“Let me quiz you,” he suggested, his mouth quirked up. You narrowed your eyes at him.

“Don’t you have to study?” you inquired. Sirius shrugged. 

“This is sort of like studying. Besides, I’m only here because I’ve been banned from my room,” he said with a mischievous smile. You leaned your elbows against the table and rested your head in your palm. 

“How did you get banished from your room?” you asked, taking the bait. Sirius flicked his hair back and beamed. 

“Why, (Y/n), I am so glad you asked,” he said. You attempted not to let your face waver as you internally screamed. Apparently, Sirius knew your name. 

“Well,” he started, “I had the marvelous idea to turn James’ hair a lovely shade of pink since he is supposed to be having a study date with Lily tonight. Apparently, he didn’t appreciate that, and now Remus and Peter are trying to fix it because James is having a minor breakdown. I was kicked out because every time he caught sight of me he tried to kill me.” You chuckled softly. 

“Pink? Really?” you asked, a smile spreading across your face. 

“Yes pink,” Sirius laughed, “I thought it was quite hilarious.” You shrugged.

“I don’t know, I would have turned it red. Then he and Evans could have matched,” joked. Sirius barked out a laugh, leaning back into his chair. 

“That’s brilliant,” he said, giving you an appraising look. You ducked your head, the compliment sending a shock down your body. He was easier to talk to than you had imagined, the conversation flowing easily. His presence and his mere acknowledgment of your existence made you feel as if you were floating. 

The feeling was soon dashed, the feeling of flying quickly turning into the feeling of crashing into the ground. Emmeline Vance came up behind Sirius, wrapping her arms around his neck. Sirius smiled and leaned into her touch. You had forgotten that she was the girl he was seeing this week, and you felt your stomach drop as she whispered into his ear. He grinned as he listened to what she had to say, before getting up from the table. He looked at you, passing your book back across the table. 

“Can I take a raincheck on quizzing you?” he asked nonchalantly as if he didn’t even care about the answer. You swallowed and nodded quickly. 

“Yeah, yeah, of course,” you said, avoiding his eyes. Sirius nodded before tugging Emmeline out of the library behind him, her giggles echoing off of the walls. 

It felt as if a stone had settled in your stomach, your face hot and your throat thick. You hated that he had this effect on you more than anything. 

You saw yourself in a flat somewhere in London, your old Hufflepuff jumper hanging off the back of an armchair. You padded across the floor to the kitchen, grabbing a mug and setting up the kettle. You felt strong arms wrap around your middle and a face nuzzling into your neck. His hair fell across his face and onto your shoulder, tickling at your skin. 

“Good morning,” Sirius’ murmured, his breath hot against your neck. 

“Good morning, you,” you replied as he kissed your jaw before moving away. 

You blinked, looking down at the tea in front of you. It was cold and grey by now, sitting there forgotten as you daydreamed. You looked across the great hall at the object of your fantasies. He was laughing dramatically with his friends, not even sparing a glance your way. Not that you expected that of course, while he was everything to you, you were inconsequential in the scheme of his life. 

You had these daydreams often, imagining what a life of domesticity with Sirius would be like. You imagined a dog and a nice apartment or a house by the coast. You imagined lazy mornings and nights spent roaming the city. You imagined dinner parties where you’d make fun of his quotes and call him out on his contrarianism. You imagined that he would love you and that you would finally get to know what it was like to love him. 

But then you’d be startled out of your daydream, reminded of the painful reality that he would never think of you that way. Sirius would take a glance around the room and look straight through you as if you weren’t even there. 

Because you could imagine a life with him all you wanted. But deep down, you knew that it could never be.

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

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[scathecraw]

BBRae Week 2021 - Day 3: Into The Woods

“Summer camp has been so much fun, Rachel. Teether hasn’t cried once since the day after you dropped us off, and Tommy got first place in the obstacle course. You were right, we should have done a camp last year, too.” Melvin chattered excitedly on the office phone while Rachel listened patiently. “They’ve made a bunch of arts and crafts, and the woods here are so cool. They’re really old, and Gar knows so muchabout all the trees and animals and bugs.”

“And who is this Gar, Melvin? A new friendof yours?” Rachel’s emphasis was obvious, and Melvin’s blush was practically audible.

“NO! He’s a counselor. He’s really nice, but he’s really old. Like, 50 or something. You’ll meet him on parent’s day next week.”

Rachel didn’t remember anyone older than the director, a middle aged woman she had spoken to when getting them enrolled and again during drop-off. She suspected Melvin was fibbing to cover her embarrassment, but she brought it on herself by teasing the preteen. “I’m sure I will. Does this mean that you’re going to drag me out into the forest when I come? I thought it was going to be an afternoon of arts and crafts and then some campfire songs, not a forced march.”

“Duh. Arts and crafts are lame. Gar said that next year he’d show us how to whittle, which sounds better than making lanyards.” There was muffled adolescent shouting, and Melvin covered the receiver and yelled back. “I gotta go. We’re going swimming. I’ll call you on Friday. Love you, bye.” She hung up before anything could be said back, and Rachel was left with dead air while Melvin sprinted after her friends, untied shoelaces flailing behind her.

Arriving at the aforementioned “Parent’s Day”, Rachel wasn’t quite sure what to expect. The camp had at first seemed like a good way to get the three adopted children outside instead of rotting their brains, but the sheer noise of a few dozen milling, clamoring kids and groups of socializing parents made her wonder what she had subjected them, and by extension, herself, to. She was late, which probably didn’t help the situation, but she looked around the chaos in an effort to find her own three chaos engines. Instead, she was spotted.

A wild, dirty missile made a high-volume impact with her legs, nearly toppling her and babblingso fast that even Rachel’s practiced ear couldn’t discern what he was saying. She was wobbling and about to fall over when a firm hand caught her upper back and helped her regain her balance. “Teether, dude! I said you could go get her, not try to body slam her.”

Rachel finally planted her feet, acknowledged Teether with a gentle hand on his head, and looked up. And up. They both froze for an instant, but the tanned, blond man recovered first. His slack jaw snapped into a smile, and he said “Hi. You must be Rachel. I’m Gar, one of the counselors here.”

His hand was still on her back and heat radiated from it like afternoon sun. Her face had never fallen into the silly expression his had, but unconscious thought raced before she could regain her composure. ‘Definitely not fifty,’ she thought. “Hello. Yes, I’m Rachel, Teether’s mother.” She peeled Teether from her leg with practiced ease, and he sprang off of her and ran.

Gar realized that his hand still rested behind her, almost possessively, and retreated to a more respectable distance. He chuckled, nervously. “Heh. Um, Melvin and Tommy are with their friends, still, but we should probably get them. Ms. Waller asked me to show you around – she said you had just moved to the area?” It wasn’t a question, but he phrased it like it was. They began walking back towards the milling crowd of parents, children, and quite possibly enough noise to drown out a jet engine.

“Yes, it’s our first summer here. She mentioned that most of the kids made this an annual activity, but I didn’t think we’d be so strange as to warrant a personal detail.”

“Oh it’s nothing like that, it’s just that there’s not really many other summer camps around, and ‘cause we go from K-12, we get pretty much everyone. A lot of the other parents already know everybody. You’re not strange, just… new.” His eyes never left her, even as they began walking.

Back with the crowds, Melvin and a gaggle of similarly aged girls watch the two of them. One of them nodded decisively and turned to Melvin. “Okay. They’re too cute together. Look at how awkward they’re being.”

Anotherhuffed a little. “They’re just staring at each other. They should be holding hands or something, right?”

Melvin’s eyes narrowed critically. “It’s been like 10 minutes and they aren’t kissing yet. Gar’s probably too much of a nerd to do anything. We need to do something to make sure they know how perfect for each other they are.”

“Like what? They aren’t going to start making out in the middle of the crowd.”

An evil smirk crept across Melvin’s face. “Maybe not in the middle of the crowd, but what if they were all alone in the woods? Then they’d have no excuse not to!”

A look of awe crossed her companions’ faces. “That’s evil. I love it.”

But the smirk fell, half-formed plot evaporating. “But how could we get them out there alone? It can’t be anything serious, or else Rachel will ground me forever, and I bet she won’t even go unless we can trick her into it.”

“Could you just tell her you feel sick?”

“No.” Melvin shook her head slowly. “Then she’d either stay with me or just take me home early.”

One, heretofore silent, chimed in. “I think I know what we can do. But Mel, you’re going to have to make a lanyard.” She giggled at the disgusted look, and said “C’mon, we only have like 15 minutes before they start wondering where we are.”

Across the crowd and a million miles away, Garfield and Rachel were, in fact, being tremendously awkward as they watched the kids run and play. Gar fumbled his words and couldn’t decide to stare at her eyes, the curve of her neck, or decidedly anywhere except her. Rachel was the opposite. She answered in short, monosyllabic whispers and swallowed, trying to ease her desperately dry throat.

“So, uh, you said you just moved here! Do you have a job, er, of course you do, unless you don’t! That’s fine, too! Nothing wrong with… that. Yeah.” He trailed off, before gamely trying again. “So what do you do when you’re not, y’know, coming to summer camps?”

Rachel took a deep breath and centered herself. Gar started. “I’m not, like, annoying you, am I? I’m sorry, I tend to blabber -”

“No. I’m just… a little off-kilter. I’m a curator of antiquities at the museum.”

“That is so cool. Gar’s eyes were like dinner plates. “I love the museum! I always wanted to volunteer there, but I never feel like I have time between summers here and planning classes during the year.”

“Oh, you’re a teacher? Grade school or high school?”

“High school and occasionally some classes at the community college. I figured I was already teaching AP and college bio isn’t much different. I’m sure the kids get tired of me after the sixth year, though, heh.” He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, uncomfortably warm even for a summer afternoon.

“I suppose they wouldn’t let you teach so many years if you weren’t good at the job. Not that biology is my area of expertise.” She clarified, hearing his unspoken question. “I studied history and preservation, so a natural history museum is certainly a big change.”

“Wow, I bet. Still, nobody does what they expected to when they were in college. I got a bachelor’s in Environmental Science, but it turns out most of those jobs are just telling corporations what they want to hear.”

Rachel leveled him with a newly assessing gaze. “Believe it or not, so are quite a few jobs in archaeology. It’s what put me off of the field.”

“But hey, teaching led me to Jump and to Lake Titan Camp, so I can’t complain.”

While the two nominal adults conversed, a far more intricate conversation was happening in the craft cabin. Kole, a pink haired co-conspirator of Melvin’s, was creating a half finished lanyard in pink and purple while the rest strategized. “Okay, so I need to throw her off so she’ll agree. The pink and purple color scheme is good – pink for me, purple for her, but I need something to knock her off her game.”

“You could tell her something that surprised her, maybe. But what?”

Realization dawned. “Okay. This is a little mean, maybe, but I was planning on talking to her about it anyway. I know just what to say. Kole, how’s the lanyard coming?”

“I’ve got it to the perfect length. Just long enough that you might ‘Need a little while to finish it, pretty please.’” She held up the dangling lengths of string. “Everything ready? We’re running out of time.”

“Now or never. Let’s go.” Melvin took a deep breath and led them to the doorway.

Garfield and Rachel were deep in conversation. The initial awkwardness had faded, and while there were still sparks flying whenever they made eye contact, it was more a static buzz than the almost painful live wire sensation of their first glances. At some point they had migrated closer to where Teether and Tommy’s two groups had merged into a supercrowd of children all making noise, forcing them to stand closer to one another to be heard. They were in this huddle, all focus on each other except for both of their frequent check-in glances to the children. Rachel had dipped her toe into a hint of vulnerability to test the waters, quietly and without fanfare explaining that she had adopted all three of them from the same orphanage she had found herself aging out of.

Gar reciprocated. “That’s really incredible. I was adopted pretty young by some family friends. I know how complicated that sort of relationship can be, but it’s doing something amazing for all three of them.”

Melvin, seeing their closeness, hesitated, just a bit. She was messing with fate, a little. But she was certain it was for a good cause. And it was now or never, they were already cutting it close to “Shared Activity Time” for her age group. “Umm. Rachel.”

“Yes, Melvin?” Rachel saw that Mel was nervous. Melvin was never nervous.

“I want to finish a project for you, but won’t have time later. So, uh, I need you to find something else to do. During the Activity Time, I mean. I just want to finish making this. Please, M-mom?”

Time stopped for Rachel. She had adopted them six years ago, and there had never been a time when Melvin had consciously called her “Mom”. Forms asking for “Mother’s Name”, sure. Mother’s day celebrations, absolutely. Even a few mostly-asleep, teary pleas, but never, never while Melvin was in control of her faculties.

But while time had stopped for Rachel, it marched onward for everyone else. Melvin held her breath and waited for long, tense seconds, but Rachel didn’t seem to be coming back to her senses, so she hurriedly spat out “Okayloveyouseeyousoon,” and fled back to the safety of her friends.

Gar, too, was frozen. Not to the same degree, nor for the same reasons, but he felt like he had intruded on something intimate that he had no business being a part of. He looked around, helplessly as Rachel gaped. After several seconds of silence, he couldn’t not do something. “Uhh. Rachel? You… okay?” More frozen immobility. He waved a hand in front of her face. “Rae? You there? Do I need to get a doctor?”

She seized his hand. “Did… did she just call me “Mom”? Or did I have a stroke?”

“Yeah, ouch. She did. I’m guessing this was new?”

“I… Yes. She’s never… What… what do I do? Was she angry I didn’t answer? Where did she go?” Rachel began looking around for her.

“Whoa, slow down. She’s with her friends. She wasn’t mad, it seemed like she was nervous, but not scared. And what you do is let her come to you and talk to her like you always do, and just make sure she knows you’re okay with it. As long as you are okay with it, right?”

“Of course. I just thought...” Rachel trailed off.

“Then there’s nothing to worry about! She loves you and just told you how she feels. That’s a good thing. Let’s give her a chance to do whatever she’s doing. The rest of the kids are about to go do an activity, so we have time.”

“I think I need to get away from the crowd for a minute. I can’t believe I’m asking this, but is it alright if we just go for a walk?”

“Of course.” Gar’s grip had at some point shifted to be holding her hand back, and he led her down a dirt path towards a grove of trees. “This path is quiet and not too hard.” Her sudden harsh look had him follow up. “You’re not really wearing the shoes for hiking, Rae.”

“Hmf. And since when did I say you could call me Rae, Garfield?”

He looked stricken. “I am so sorry. I dunno what I was thinking, Ra-chel. Rachel.”

She narrowed an eye. “Rae is… acceptable, as far as diminutives go. Just don’t make a habit of it in public.”

“Cross my heart. Hey, at least being a little mad at me put your mind off of Melvin, right?”

“And now it’s right back. So very helpful,” she deadpanned.

“Easy come, easy go, right?” His smile grew a little. “I don’t wanna pry or anything, but is it really that surprising? She said you were her mom like, a dozen times during camp.”

“I suppose not. It caught me very off-guard, though. Teether and Tommy sort of switch between Rachel and Mom, but Melvin’s never really seemed like she even wanted that sort of, I don’t know, ‘Official’ title for me.”

“Listen, the whole ‘mom’ thing isn’t as scary as you’re making it out to be. You’re already giving her the kind of love a mom is supposed to, and she loves you. She talks about all the time with stars in her eyes. Being adopted doesn’t make her less your daughter. Rita Farr isn’t any less my mom for taking me in when I was eight, and Marie Logan isn’t any more or less important to me just because she’s not around.”

Rachel took a breath and sighed it out. “Thank you. That does make it easier.” They walked in silence for a short time. “Wait, Rita Farr, as in the movie star? As in, the philanthropist and art collector, married to Steve Dayton?”

He blushed a little. “Whoops, probably shouldn’ta dropped that so casually, I guess. Yeah. Steve and Rita adopted me when my parents died. It’s not always easy, but I love ‘em.” He watched her reaction carefully, hoping she wouldn’t suddenly start treating him differently for having such well-known parents.

Rachel schooled her face after having that bombshell dropped on her. “Well, if we ever meet we’ll be able to talk about some historic pieces she has that I wrote papers on.”

A beat passed, then Gar’s loud laugh broke relative silence of the forest. “Aw man, she is gonna love you.”

And just like that, the tension was broken. All the concern, the lack of balance, everything fell away, and the static buzz of easy conversation punctuated by something just a little too close to intimate for an average friendship was back.

They wandered together down the shady paths, miles away and only a few trees distant from the campground. Rachel didn’t notice the distance she had walked on the formerly dreaded forest hike, and Garfield forgot to try quite so hard with his jokes and wise cracks. They walked, hand in hand and only somewhat realizing how close they were to one another, shoulders nearly touching.

The spell was eventually broken, as they always are. They rounded a final bend, seeing in the distance the campground they had left, what, less than an hour ago? And the reality that they had left behind when they entered the sun-shafted canopies woke them up, and they found that really, their hands were quite slick. Had they been clasped together the whole time? And Rachel, especially, was starting to sweat from the heat and the walk. Garfield was suddenly nervous, after all, he never talked this much, not without making a fool of himself.

But even after emerging from that hazy dream, they held on, gently rising out of the fog and into the real world so no sudden movements could disrupt the memory, the closeness that two almost strangers that fit together like complementary puzzle pieces had shared.

It wasn’t even fully dispelled when their hands slipped apart to be wiped on cargo shorts or dark jeans, though the almost hidden flight from behind a few low-branched trees of blonde hair and untied shoelaces and quiet giggle quickly sobered them.

Garfield turned. “Was that -?”

“Melvin. Oh, that little brat, she is too damn smart for her own good. I would put money on her scheming to get us alone.” Rachel fumed and her face tightened into a mask of cold anger. “I can’t believe that she would manipulate me like this! How could she – How could she finally call me -” and the mask broke, shifting from anger to near tears in seconds.

Gar panicked. “Whoa, hold on, no. She’s not that cruel, I know it and so do you. We’re probably missing something. You just said you can’t believe she would do this – she probably didn’t. Rae I promise you, there’s got to be an explanation that makes sense.”

Rachel took a deep breath, followed by another, centering herself. “I am going to get to the bottom of this. Where would she be doing this “project” she made up?”

“The craft cabin. I’ll take you there, but I guarantee you it’s not as bad as it might sound.”

It was like the crowd parted for them without even reacting. No one looked at the worried counselor or at the steely featured parent, but nonetheless they found their path almost unimpeded. Gar held up a hand just outside the door. “Let me get you two some privacy. Please.”

“Fine. Do it.” Terse and unhappy, Rachel’s displeasure was apparent in her voice, and it made Garfield wince.

He opened the door to see five preteen girls, huddled and tittering. At least until they saw him and his serious frown. Then their eyes went wide, and they looked to Melvin in a panic. “Out, girls. Clear the room. Not you, Melvin.” He stopped her when she tried to take shelter in the middle of the pack. He turned to follow them, and glanced back almost pityingly, then shook his head and exited.

The girls all ducked their heads when they saw Rachel just outside the cabin and hurried off, racing to be the first around the corner and away from the ticking time bomb.

Garfield simply nodded, and left her to it. Rachel entered the cabin and saw Melvin almost trembling, and it broke her heart. She had worked up a head of steam on the walk and the wait, but seeing her precious daughter actually afraid stopped any real anger and left only a bitter emptiness.

Rachel wasn’t quite sure what to do with her hands. She settled on a vague, open armed shrug gesture. “Why, Mel? Was it just a prank? Just a way to manipulate me?”

Tears brimmed in Melvin’s eyes. “No, I just wanted to give you guys a chance to talk alone. I’m sorry I lied, I really did try on the lanyard, but I’m just bad at them so I had Kole do it. I’m sorry, I am.”

“What? What lanyard? Melvin, I don’t care if you had a friend help with a lanyard! I just can’t believe that you would call me your mom, just to trick me into talking to someone. I can’t tell you how badly that hurts me. I… I love you too much for that.”

“What!No, nononono, Mom, I promise that wasn’t a trick. I promise. I was gonna talk to you about it, but I just – I thought that if I – I thought that maybe if I just did it you’d just let me and maybe you’d talk to him and then it everything would be perfect. I promise. I love you, Mom. I do. And I was just trying to maybe make you not spend all your time watching me and talk to him. He’s really cool, and I could tell you like him, and he’s completely in love with you, and you’re perfect for each other. I was just trying to help you be happy!” She sobbed, breathless.

Rachel froze, then instinctively wrapped her daughter in her arms and let her cry. “Mel, you don’t need to worry about me. I am happy, I promise. I don’t need you to try to trick me into being happy. Hey, it’s okay. I’m not going to say I’m not mad, but I get it. You don’t have to trick me into talking to, what did you call him, “really old, like 50 years old” guys? If we talk, we talk. That’s how adults work.”

“No, it’s not! I’ve never seen you go on a date, and you just ignore people when they try to talk to you. I know it was dumb, but I had to try something ‘cause otherwise you’d just give him that serious face until he ran away, and he’s perfect for you if you’d just give him a chance!”

“Mel. Mel, okay. I promise. I will give him a chance. But you don’t need to be worried about me. I don’t need a twelve year old playing matchmaker. You should be doing kid things, not bad romcom plots.”

“*SNRK*. They’re not bad. They’re sweet. And you like them, otherwise you wouldn’t have so many of them.” She wiped her nose with the back of her hand and glowered.

Rachel internally cursed Kori. “If you say so. Now let’s sit here for a minute, then we can go wash your face and you can go hand out with your friends. And I will have a talk with Garfield, and you will not stick your nose into my dating life. Understand?”

“Yes, mom.”

It still startled Rachel to hear that coming from Melvin, but it also warmed her heart. She hadn’t even known she wanted it until it happened, but it was like a spoken guarantee that she really was doing things right, and her little family really was working.

They sat together and Melvin showed her the lanyard that she had made via Kole. Rachel put it on the silver chain she wore around her neck and let it rest beside her heart promising mostly to herself that it would be kept safe at home. Then, when Mel had calmed down, they headed to the bathroom where Mel cleaned the tear tracks from her dirt-smudged face and rinsed her red rimmed eyes. Rachel gave her a final kiss on the forehead, and sent her off.

Gar found her standing there, staring off into space against the wall of the concrete shack. He leaned against it and slid down to sit around the corner and next to her. “So.”

“So,” she said back.

“Not saying it just to confuse you?” He glanced at her, gauging her reaction.

“No. But she wasn’t against confusing me.”

His eyebrow cocked. “Not mad?”

“Still mad. Still going to be grounded, probably. But she did it out of love.”

“Y’know, I don’t want to say I told you so, but...”

“But you totally want to say ‘I told you so,’” she finished for him.

“Yep. So what now?”

“Now, I guess I do what I was going to do before we had all this to deal with,” she said, the soul of nonchalance.

“What’s that?” he said, and when she didn’t respond, he stood up and looked around the corner. “Rae?”

“This.” with only his head around the corner, she turned and kissed him, gentle and sweet, and far too short for either of them. “I’d like to go out sometime. I want to take you to a behind the scenes at the museum, and I’ll let you choose the restaurant.”

His head spun and his eyes were out of focus. His thoughts were like molasses and he could barely get out the word “Okay.” before she was gone, a little bounce in her step.

AO3 FF.net

[coeurdastronaute]

Essays in Existentialism: Troublemaker (Before)

Previously on Troublemaker

“See! You’re having a good time!”

The music pulsated through the streets, and Lexa didn’t care that her sister was gloating because she really was having a good time despite all intentions otherwise. The sun was bright and glaring without a cloud in the sky, and downtown was brimming with all colors, alive and vibrant, celebrating. And she as swept up in it, proud and overflowing with the music and freedom of being completely herself and being completely unknown in the crowd. 

It’d been a hard fought battle for her to agree to come with her sister to Pride, but she didn’t have anything else to do, and because of Anya’s need to be an overachiever, something they both ascribed to genetics, she was going to be doing an internship and leaving soon enough, thus cutting their summer together incredibly short. The guilt and her sister’s incessant need to prove a point brought them downtown for the day, and Lexa was almost okay with it.

“I knew you would like it,” Anya gloated, dancing around with her sister in the pulsating group of bodies at the concert in the park. 

“Is it always like this?” 

A gaggle of scantily-clad men moved through in nothing but speedos and suspenders, and Lexa let one of them grab her and twirl her around. The entire day, she’d been absolutely adored and adoring of everyone around her. An inundation of love and support was enough to make her unsure of how to go back to real life.

Her sister watched as Lexa danced, hands up, smiling wide and overjoyed. She enjoyed the fact that her sister came out to her and she could actually do something about it. Though straight, Anya spent her first two years of college taking a crash course in gay when her random roommate was a very out and very proud girl who liked to use Anya as a wngman. She was incredibly helpful in coming up with things to help Lexa feel normal and supported, and Anya was going ot be the best big sister possible. She was that type A.

“Pride is always like this,” Anya promised. “And you get to be super gay anytime you want. Isn’t that great?” 

“You’re worse than mom and dad. They’re like oddly proud to have a gay kid.” 

“Nah, just because you’re you.” 

“Shut up,” Lexa rolled her eyes and moved, wiggling around, goofy and carefree. 

For the entire day, the sisters moved through the crowds, checking out vendors, eating delicious food, listening to speakers, and got decked out in glowing necklaces and rainbows painted on their faces. It was exhausting to be so gay, but Lexa finally understood what she’d been missing in her fear of joining the GSA, and her fear of being out at school. She hadn’t thought about how wonderful it would be to not have to worry about hiding, or at least, not actively living. 

“Thank you,” Lexa offered, as the pair stood on the side of the road for the parade. She hugged her sister as the sun began to set between the tall buildings. “This has been the best day of my life.”

“You’re a sap.” 

“I am not.” 

“You are.” 

“I’m not,” she smiled and danced around, her sister not used to such a carefree girl in front of her. “I’m just super gay-- Oops, I’m so sorr--”

Lexa stopped moving after bumping into someone behind her, not paying attention and living her life too widely and too queerly for such a confined area. She gaped and stared at the body she bumped into, more mortified than she’d been in her entire life. 

The body came attached to a pretty face. A familiar face. A face with bright blue eyes, and a mischievous grin and a messy bunch of wavy blonde hair. A face that had a tongue ring. A face that was attached to the girl who protested the Sadie Hawkins dance, the pep rally, and last year single handedly turned the swimming pool pink for women’s history month.This was the same face that Lexa couldn’t help but stare at anytime she walked by in the halls at school. This was the face that didn’t even know she existed. 

Clarke Griffin stared back in equal parts amazement at the girl who did the bumping. In all of her wildest dreams, she never imagined Lexa Woods, class president, Academic Decathlon team captain, Student of the Quarter, perfect attendance-winning, overall adorable nerd, would be standing next to her at Pride. And not just standing-- dancing, covered in rainbows, and smiling in something other than a primly put together button up shirt with a schedule strapped to her chest. 

“Clarke,” Lexa gulped, unable to say anything else, unable to hide her fear and confusion. “I-I-I… I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to bump into you. I was just… um… ” 

“It’s okay. Kind of close quarters and you were just being super queer,” she returned gracefully as she eyed the entire being of Lexa on summer break. “I didn’t think I’d run into anyone here. I thought everyone left for summer.” 

“What are you doing here?” 

“Oh, I’m always recruiting people for my zine. Intersectional politics and good music with a queer tint. Honestly, it’s whatever anyone submits. We set up a tiny booth,” Clarke explained, rambling slightly. “And I’m kind of gay.” 

“Kind of?” 

This was incredibly new and important news to Lexa, even if she didn’t know what to do with it.The entire school knew that Clarke ran with the same crowd, a crowd Lexa didn’t know anything about other than idle gossip. And it always looked like she was very close to Bellamy Blake. Romantically close. 

“Bi.”

“You have to go?” 

“No-- no… I’m bisexual.” 

Lexa felt her face burn and she wanted to melt into a puddle, right there in the early June evening. Maybe disappear into the sewer and wash away into the sea for the rest of time. But she didn’t. Instead, she just stood there, in front of the biggest badass tough guy hot girl she’s ever seen in her entire life. 

It was the longest they’d ever spoken, and she’d ruined it in under three minutes after learning that Clarke was gay-ish.

“That’s cool,” she finally managed, earning a small smile. 

Clarke pushed some hair away from her face and scratched her neck, using the pause to look at Lexa’s legs. She couldn’t help it. She didn’t try too much. 

“Is this your first Pride?” 

“Is it that obvious?” Lexa sighed, bashful at her display. 

“No, you look cute. I like the festiveness.” 

That didn’t help anything at all. Lexa looked around for her sister who made herself busy talking to other people and not at all available to bail her out of saying anymore words. 

“I’m gay,” Lexa finally blurted after a prolongued moment of silence. 

“That’s cool.” 

“Thanks.” 

A shout reached them over the noise of the parade, and both looked in that direction. 

“I have to um,” Clarke looked over her shoulder at the group that was calling her name. “I have to go catch up with my friends.”

“Right, yeah, definitely.” 

“It was good to see you, Woods,” she grinned as she backed away. “I hope I get to bump into you again.” 

“Right, yeah! Me, uh. Me too,” Lexa nodded.   

With another wave, Clarke was gone, swept up by her friends as they moved through the crowd. Lexa caught the look that Clarke gave her over her shoulder and she smiled because she got a look back. It might not have meant anything, but it still felt kind of good. 

“Your first Pride, and you’re getting chatted up by a grade A hottie. I’m impressed,” her sister slung her arm over her shoulder. 

“That was just a girl from school.” 

“She was not what I pictured for your type.” 

“I don’t-- I don’t have a type,” Lexa furrowed. 

“Everyone does. It just so happens that yours seems to be punk baddies with probable daddy issues.” 

“There’s no way you could know--”

“She was digging you too, by the way.” 

“There’s no-- I don’t-- She wouldn’t-- That was-- No,” Lexa shook her head. 

“Trust me. I’ve seen gay relief, and that girl was gay relieved you were gay.” 

“That’s not a thing.” 

“Don’t be mad because i have my ear to the ground in the gay community,” Anya shook her head. “I’ll have you know that Kaitlyn said I’d make a great lesbian.”

“Please let me die right here.” 

XXXXXXXXXX

The library on Fourth Street was nearly always empty around the end of lunch time. It seemed to empty out come the hottest part of the day with the normal crowd of parents and kids looking to stay busy during the long summer hours came in for story time and craft projects. 

With no particular impetus to move quickly, Lexa pushed her cart of returns through the aisles and rearranged any messy or disorganized stacks she found. But her head wasn’t particularly in it. 

Instead, Lexa thought about Pride, and replayed the entire interaction with a certain mild degenerate who had a pretty smile, who called her cute, she realized, halfway through overanalyzing it again for the hundredth time. All she could wonder was if this is what having a crush felt? And if so, was it possible to have crush after just three minutes? Nothing really prepared her for this. How could it? He didn’t have time for a crush. She only had to focus and get into the school she wanted. And then she could be who she thought she might want to be. 

“Hey Woods.” 

Lexa stopped as she turned to the next aisle, only to find the exact subject of her internal debate. There was a book tucked into her elbow as she retracted an arm reached out to grab something on a top shelf. Lexa looked to her bare arms, and then to her hips where a flannel was tied, and only subtly hiding her short shorts and some of the long legs and Lexa was gay. 

“I know it’s a library, but I’m sure you can talk a little bit,” Clarke smiled. 

Sunglasses tucked and holding her hair up out of her face, the girl had a motorcycle helmet tucked into the same elbow as the book. 

“Hey,” Lexa managed. 

“You work here?” 

“Yeah, just doing some little things, stacking, kids story time and stuff.” 

“Sounds fun,” Clarke nodded. She leaned against the shelf behind her and watched Lexa push her glasses up on the bridge of her nose. This was the Lexa she was used to seeing, and it did nothing to make her less interested, which was insanely weird. 

“Here for anything good?” 

“Uh, just some of the summer reading for Lit. And I’m kind of interested in a few SAT practice books. I took it already, but there’s one more that I can take before applications are due, and I’d like to see if I can do a little better.” 

It certainly wasn’t the reason Lexa expected, but she should have known better to expect anything from someone she really didn’t know other than through stories of stories of stories from other people. 

“Sounds like you have a busy summer planned.” 

Clarke laughed and ducked her head and Lexa tried not to be entranced by the action. 

“Have to keep busy between the protests and debauchery.” 

“Right, same.” 

“Everyone kind of left for the summer, it seems. It’s kind of nice, isn’t it?” 

“I was thinking the same thing,” Lexa agreed. “I miss my friends, but I’ve gotten a lot of things done.” 

“I’m sure you’re already done with the summer homework.” 

“No… well, just most of it.” 

“We’re two weeks into summer break, Woods,” Clarke pretended to admonish. Lexa shrugged, slightly guilty. “We’re going to have to find something to keep you busy.” 

“I think work will take care of that.” 

“You’re forgetting that I saw you at Pride. I know that you know how to have fun,” she teased, wiggling her eyebrows slightly. “And I know that you find me absolutely irresistible and cute.” 

“How could you possibly know that?” 

“So you admit it then?” 

“What? No,” Lexa shook her head and pushed her cart down the row, looking for the place to put the next in her pile. 

But Clarke wasn’t ready to leave, and she hung around, pushing off of the shelf only to follow Lexa and hover closer than Lexa could almost handle. 

“You checked me out at Pride.” 

“I did not.” 

“You did. I saw it. And you let me know you were interested in girls. If you didn’t know yet, I’m a girl, so the math seems to be adding up.” 

“Correlation does not imply causation,” Lexa responded quickly. “Your logic is not at all close to sound.” 

“So you don’t like me?” 

“I don’t even know you. If anything, I just find your face and,” Lexa moved her hand in Clarke’s direction, “that, all, pleasing.” 

“Good to know.” 

“Who even walks around telling people that they find them attractive. It’s maddening to have that much confidence.” 

Lexa jammed the book into the shelf as Clarke leaned beside her, grinning that grin that meant she was amused. That was also maddening. All of it suddenly was maddening, and Lexa missed the quiet of her shelves and wished she could go back in time and not let herself go to Pride. Then she wouldn’t have to see Clarke Griffin. 

“I like to have a healthy opinion of myself.” Lexa snorted. “And you should have one of yourself. Want to know a secret?” 

It was the smile that did it. And the eyes. But Lexa looked at Clarke and softened somewhat. It was due to the proximity, she told herself. Nothing else that she could control. 

“Sure.” 

“I didn’t really need these books,” Clarke offered. “I mean, I could have just ordered them online like a normal person. And I live closer to the Redwood Branch.” 

“Then why’d you come here?” 

“Hard to imagine you’re the valedictorian,” she chuckled. “I came to see you.” 

“Me?” 

“Yeah. I saw you at Pride and was intrigued. Thought I might feel it out a little bit.” 

“Why are you telling me this?” 

“Why not, Woods?” Clarke sighed. “I’ve got nothing but time and… well, I didn’t know you were into girls.”

“How can you be so just… How can you just say what you’re thinking?” 

“Lots of practice,” she smiled. 

“I could never imagine just… just… just…” Lexa waved her hands around slightly as she tried to explain what she couldn’t. “I couldn’t just do that. What if it went badly?” 

“Is it going badly?” 

“No, but-- wait. Maybe. What I mean is…” It didn’t help that Clarke was leaning closer and Lexa was stuck in the stacks with a girl that was flirting with her and she’d never had that before and it was way better than she could have ever imagined. “Wouldn’t ou have been embarrassed if I just ignored you or something?” 

“Oh yeah, big time,” Clarke nodded. “But my dad used to tell me to do one thing every day that scared me. Figured I’d get it done before dinnertime today.” 

She was charming and honest and refreshing and unlike anyone Lexa had ever met. It was a whirlwind. 

“I have to finish this before my shift ends,” she tore her eyes away from Clarke’s and looked back at her cart. 

“Right, yeah, definitely,” Clarke agreed. 

“I should do that.” 

“I should go check these out.” 

“Maybe I’ll see you around this summer.” 

“Yeah,” Clarke grinned. “Maybe.” 

Lexa stood there as Clarke turned back toward reception.

“Clarke-- I um,” Lexa watched as she turned around. “I’ve never flirted… with anyone, really.” 

“That is surprising news.” 

She could tell from her tone that it wasn’t news, and Lexa pursed her lips and set her jaw. She stood a little straighter, steeling herself. 

“I hope I see you around.” 

“We do seem to keep running into each other.” 

With a final smile, Clarke winked and disappeared. 

XXXXXXXXXX

Standing outside of the house on the corner, Clarke looked at the perfectly trimmed hedges and the flag that hung by the door. The lawn was manicured and neat, the house was beautiful, lit up and glowing with life inside in the waning light. It was in the suburbs and insanely suburban. A tire swing hung from a giant oak. A basketball hoop hung over the garage. 

For the life of her, Clarke wasn’t sure how she ended up here, except that she made herself stand awkwardly in front of Lexa Wood’s house. Three years ago, she met Lexa as a freshman, and instantly had a crush on the girl who argued with her in history class. But Clarke also decided to avoid having a crush on the cute girl who pushed up her glasses and tried very hard to be absolutely perfect. 

She still kind of always had a crush, despite her refusal to admit it. For the past three years, Clarke tried to make Lexa smile from time to time. She’d do something stuipd and make sure Lexa was watching. 

But Pride was one of the few times in the past year they’d spoken. And Clarke was certain that now was her chance, so she took it. And after the library, she spent every day for a week and a  half showing up at the library. She brought Lexa lunch a few times, followed her around the stacks, chatting and fully developing a crush. It was easy to do. Lexa was funny, and serious, and witty, and quiet, and smart, like ridiculously smart, and she wasn’t afraid of Clarke, or intimidated. She debated her with vigor, had opinions, had plans, and more importantly, had dreams. 

Clarke knew why she was standing on Lexa’s front porch, and she knew why she was slightly nervous to knock, she just hated someone being able to do that, in equal parts as much as she craved it. 

She took a deep breath and reminded herself that this was good before she knocked. 

“Hey,” Lexa greeted her, smiling and pushing up her glasses as she does her best to not look winded from running to the door. 

“Hey,” Clarke sighs,  matching her grin, forgetting all of the thoughts of before. “You look really nice.” 

“Thanks. I, uh, you too. I like the black eye in particular.” 

“Oh, this?” she motioned toward the eye that had a little bruising. “Just, um. Bopped myself in the face while working out.” 

“What were you doing? Boxing?” 

“Krav Maga. My partner got a little overzealous.” 

“Goodness.” 

“I’ll try to be extra charming to make up for my disfigurement. I hope your gentle eyes can make it past my horrible appearance.” 

“I’ll do my best to look past it.”

“Good,” Clarke smiled and handed over a helmet. “Are you ready for the first date?” 

“As ready as I’ll ever be.” 

They walked toward the motorcycle sitting near the curb. Clarke pressed her palm to the flat of Lexa’s back. She handed over a helmet and Lexa looked at it curiously. 

“For your protection. Have you ever ridden on anything like this before?” 

“I’ve driven go karts.”

“Not the same thing,” Clarke chuckled. “Here, I’ll help.” 

The helmet eclipsed her, but Lexa tilted it upwards so that Clarke’s skilled fingers could tighten the strap beneath it. She lifted the visor and watched Clarke work. 

“I feel like a badass.” 

“You are.” 

“Do I look the part?” Lexa asked, smiling slightly as Clarke hopped on the motorcycle and put on her own helmet. 

“Very much,” she promised, flipping down both of their visors. “Hold on tight.” 

The date wasn’t anything fancy, but Clarke was hoping it was enough. They drove to the park, with Lexa’s arms wrapped tightly around her, and she took the long way, nice and slow, just for that reason. 

The park was busy, fully of people ready to enjoy the evening and a movie. Clarke unloaded a blanket and her backpack full of snacks, fully prepared to show off her dateable skills. From what she knew about Lexa, she assumed it was her first first date, and she was going to set the bar extremely high. 

Before the movie started, they talked about nothing in particular, and Clarke was careful to get in a little teasing, which Lexa returned, smiling the entire time, challenging her. During the movie, Clarke let Lexa lay her head on her lap, and shivered because she gave her the only sweatshirt she had. 

Even after it ended, they remained, hanging out in the twilight and talking, hovering, close and unsure and happy. Later into the night, after another trip back to Lexa’s, Clarke bashfully stood on the porch and earned a hug and completely bungled the kiss, unable to read Lexa and unable to make herself that brave. 

“Did you have a good time?” Clarke ventured, leaning against the railing. 

“I really did. Thank you.” 

“Maybe we could do it again sometime.” 

“I’d like that.” 

“Good.”

“Good.” 

“Great,” Clarke grinned. 

“Great.” 

XXXXXXXXXX

It was almost like a game at this point, for Lexa to stumble upon Clarke somewhere in the library during her shift. Rarely was it in the same place twice, and rarely was it when she was expecting it, though she found herself always looking forward to the smile and girl that sometimes brought her snacks. 

For the first month of summer break, Lexa didn’t even realize she’d spent most of it talking to or spending time with Clarke Griffin. It just kind of happened, and she found herself getting attached. She found herself flirting, or so she thought. She definitely found herself flirted with, which was still so wonderful. 

Clarke wasn’t what she’d thought. She was insanely frustrating and still too hot for her own good, and smarter than she wanted anyone to know, while at the same time being absolutely addicted to her moral code and her’s alone. 

In a month, Lexa learned that Clarke was not in a gang, despite everyone thinking it was a gang, but rather had a close knit group of friends that occasionally contributed to shenanigans of a disruptive nature. She learned that she was a hell of an artist, sketching things here and there, and when they ventured out on a hike or spent time lounging around, showed her sketchbook very timidly. She learned that Clarke’s father died three years ago, and that was where she disappeared to freshman year. She learned that Clarke liked to work on her motorcycle herself instead of taking to a shop because she wanted to feel closer to her father. Lexa spent an entire afternoon learning parts of the bike and helping with an oil change. 

For an entire month, Clarke pushed Lexa. She pushed her to go on dates. She pushed her to jump off of the old bridge foundation at the river when they went swimming. She pushed her to watch a few movies she wasn’t sure of. She pushed her to egg street signs for the first time ever. 

“Excuse me, but I’m looking for a book about a cute librarian who has a crush on a girl named Clarke. Know where I can find that?” 

Lexa smiled despite herself as she turned the corner in one of the farther aisles in the library’s second floor. 

“I was just thinking about you.” 

“All good things I hope.” 

“More or less.” 

That seemed like good enough for Clarke who returned Lexa’s smile. The two stood there, close in the tight aisle, but used to the proximity. 

“I was wondering if you’d like to come over tonight. We could watch a movie and you could read my essay and give a million edit suggestions. I’ll even let you use your red pen.” 

“It shows up better.” 

“Yeah yeah,” Clarke humored her. 

“I’ll be over after dinner then.”

“Good.” 

“Were you leaving already?” Lexa furrowed as Clarke shoulder her backpack and shifted instead of getting comfortable or even grabbing some of the books to help her put back on the shelves. 

“I have to see a guy about a thing.”

“Just a drive by today, and no snack?” 

“Like I would ever leave you wanting,” Clarke tsk’d as she dug in her bag and pulled out Lexa’s favorite assortment of gummy bears. “I know what you like, Woods.” 

“You’re spoiling me. I’ll have to start working out more often or I’ll be too slow for track.” 

“You’re fit. I mean, you’re--”

“Perv.” 

“Sometimes,” Clarke shrugged. 

Lexa held her bag of snacks in her hand and smiled at them softly. She saw Clarke’s shoes nearly touching her own, and when she looked up, she realized how close they truly were. But she didn’t move. She just stood there and tried to figure out what Clarke’s eyes were saying, because they were furrowed until they weren’t, and then there was a peace there, a decisive calm. 

Lexa felt a hand on her shirt, grasping it near her heartbeat. Clarke paused before she did it, waiting for Lexa to pull away, asking for permission. Only when she got it, did she lean forward and kiss Lexa enough to take her breath away. The only thing Lexa could hear was the blood thumping in her ears, but she ignored it and kissed Clarke back eagerly. 

“Thanks, Woods,” Clarke murmured after a few seconds. “I needed that.” 

“Yeah, no, yeah.” 

“I’ll see you later.” 

“Right, later, mhm,” Lexa nodded and ran her thumb along her bottom lip as Clarke moved, leaving her rooted and blushing. 

“If you liked that, we could do it more often,” Clarke offered as she walked backward out of the shelves. 

“Sounds very good to me.”

[dyde21]

Overnight Trip to Stark Industries 3

Link to the first part HERE (I mean it’s a field trip fic so the set up is the same, but the first two parts are only on AO3 right now xD)

I know I’m new to the fandom, and mostly post over on AO3 but I think I’ll start sharing some more One-shots over here because I freaking adore Spideychelle. Also, anyone who does REALLY needs to check out @premiere-pro They have one of the best writing styles I’ve seen in ages, and they have a series called “super cuts” that retells Iron Man 2, Avengers, and Iron Man 3 currently with Spidey in them and it’s amazing. I’m gonna reread them soon.

Anyway:

XxXxXxXxX

The air was practically vibrating in the elevator as everyone wondered what the first stop of the tour would be. Someone had even turned to their tour guide Ashe in the elevator their half was in. “What is the itinerary for today?”

Ashe looked at them, owlish for a moment. “Did… did your teachers not explain it? I believe it was on the paperwork as well.” Peter heard her voice drop to a whisper. “Did I not explain it?”

The student looked a little sheepish. “There was a lot of paperwork…”

Nodding, Ashe recovered smoothly. “I totally get that. Working here often comes with loads of paperwork. So many NDA’s, it’s easy to lose track of things. I’ll explain once we get to the first stop, just so I don’t have to repeat myself.” She offered with a crowd winning smile.

Peter saw her turn back to him and mouth “oops” and Peter snickered. Ashe was a very good PA, she could handle people better than pretty much anyone else Peter knew, aside from maybe Tony himself. But he also had heard she could be a bit distracted easily, which was why she always had a tablet to double check to keep her tasks organized and on track. Though it wasn’t like Peter could blame her, he forgot stuff constantly and Tony was even worse. It was honestly a miracle that Pepper had come into Stark Industries to help keep everything running smoothly.

Ned turned to Peter. “Do you know what’s happening first?”

Shaking his head, Peter sighed. “Like I said, Ned. I really know nothing about what’s going on this tour. I wasn’t exactly thrilled to go on it, and I kinda spend a lot of time here so I never took it myself. I just know that it’s supposed to be super memorable.”

Ned was still nodding, as if the plain explanation Peter was offering was super secret spoilers. MJ was just leaning against the wall, arms crossed as she watched them all with an amused expression. He was glad at least someone was amused. 

The elevator ended and they stepped out into… a plain hallway. 

Everyone seemed a bit confused. It was clear the expectations had been a bit more… grandeur. Ashe smiled as she made a broad motion, urging the group to gather around. 

“So I bet you all are wondering what we are doing on this trip. In case some of you did not properly read the itinerary, I thought it would be prudent to review our schedule!”

There was some excited murmur from the group of students. Peter just rolled his eyes. He met her eyes and mouthed “smooth” to her. Ashe turned to the group, but Peter saw her subtly raise a peace sign in his direction. 

“So! As you know, our trip is split into two days. The first day will explore the technology and R&D portion of Stark Industries, and the second day will cover the Avengers and affiliated programs.” Ashe quieted for a moment as a wave of cheers and very loud murmuring broke out. Ned was freaking out, grabbing Peter’s arm and shaking it. Peter barely noticed, because he felt his face pale. He was about to raise his arm, but someone else had gotten the idea first. 

“Yes, you!” Ashe said, pointing. 

“Will we be meeting any Avengers?” Cindy asked eagerly.

Pausing for dramatic effect, a massive grin crept on Ashe’s face. “Yes! You will be meeting multiple Avengers on this trip. While not all trips are afforded this opportunity, this trip has been lucky enough to be part of the September Foundations outreach program to help connect the future generation to both Stark Industries and the Avenger’s initiative, as at the core, the heroes serve the people and outreaches like this help close the gap and build bridges.” Ashe offered in a smooth, practiced flow. 

Another loud wave of cheers rang out from the group and Peter winced, covering his ears slightly. His enhanced senses were NOT as happy as they were at the moment. He felt MJ’s hand rub his back gently. 

“Dude! DUDE!” Ned practically shouted at him, wide eyes. Peter couldn’t help but grin at his friend despite the growing dread in his stomach. He was happy for Ned, even though Ned had met all the Avengers at least once by now. This was a rare chance for all of his friends and he was happy for them. 

But there was no way in hell this tour had been “randomly selected” for this. There was absolutely foul play here and it reeked of nepotism. 

“Lucky, my ass. I think this was Pepper’s idea of ‘helping me out’.” Peter muttered to Ned and MJ.

“GOOD.” Ned said unapologetically.

MJ shrugged. “Technically, they aren’t under any obligation to not choose this trip just because they know you. They have the right to choose whatever groups they want.”

Peter raised an eyebrow. “I thought you were against Nepotism.”

MJ offered him a sly grin. “Technically the entire class benefits from this experience, so you aren’t stealing all the benefit from others. You’re more of… an asset in our appeal to the process. It’s prudent to make use of the advantages we are offered.”

“So I’m an asset.” Peter deadpanned to her. “That’s how you see me.”

MJ shrugged. “You’re my favorite asset.”

“You just like me for my assets.” Peter mocked.

“It is a nice asset.” MJ replied cooley. Peter stared at her for a moment, blinking before his cheeks started to tint red. Did… did she just hit on him?

MJ grinned triumphantly, having won the exchange as the group tuned back into Ashe.

“Our first stop will be a brief history of the company, followed by a tech demonstration. There will be a surprise challenge, followed by lunch and the end of the challenge, then a chance for outreach and interaction with SI representatives to end the day before dinner and some free time. We will leave tomorrow’s plan for tomorrow, so make the most of today while you can!”

Another break where the group was too busy talking to each other for Ashe to have a hope of controlling them, but she didn’t seem particularly surprised or bothered by it, instead answering some question that Mr. Harrington was asking that Peter couldn’t hear over the roar of overly excited teenagers.

“So at least one day before the Avengers ruin my life.” Peter muttered mostly to himself. He winced as he felt MJ gently pinch his back where she had been rubbing it. 

“Stop being so dramatic, nerd. Things will workout fine.” She reassured, glancing towards her other nerd with a small smile as Ned was still freaking out with Abe.

Ashe checked the time on her starkpad before waving her arms a bit to gather attention back on her. “As much as I’m sure you’re having fun talking about how ‘hella cool’ this tour is gonna be, how about we actually start it?”

MJ raised at the expression and Ashe seemed to notice it and smirked in response.

Ashe led her gaggle of students towards a wide set of double doors that really didn’t look like anything special. Peter couldn’t quite place where he had seen them before though. They seemed… different. 

“First stop on our tour will be a brief history of Stark Industries. This is actually a rather brand new installation and vastly upgraded from our older lecture version. I think you all will be pretty pleased by it. Without further ado, let’s begin!” She said, earning a few hoots and cheers from the class as she dramatically pushed open the doors.

Students practically rushed into… a blank room. All the walls were either glass or another blank surface. In the center of the massive room was a circular pedestal with a device on top of it. Everyone looked around confused, and Peter could practically hear their disappointment. 

Ashe, however, was having far too much fun watching their expressions. “Just be patient. Is everyone in? Good! Okay, now everyone I suggest you stand back to start, and do keep in mind the center dias please.” She said before stepping back. After a moment the rest of the class stepped back too as murmurs of concern started to grow a little louder.

Peter, however, remembered <em>exactly</em> what this was and a massive grin crept on his face. He had no idea they had actually fully finished this project, it had been ages since he had helped out other interns with this. He had been involved in the development and the construction of the technology, not as much the final touches and execution of it. 

He gestured for MJ and Ned to step back a little more. “Ned, do your best not to freak out too much.”

Ned nodded a bit too eagerly as he stared at the console, already amazed even though nothing had happened yet. 

MJ seemed a bit skeptical, but scooted a little closer to him and crossed her arms, waiting to see what was in store. 

Ashe knocked her fist on one of the glass panes twice. “Alright, Ty. Start it up!” She said eagerly.

The lights of the room instantly shut off and the murmurs died instantly. Peter could hear the sharp intake of breath as everyone was suddenly waiting very eagerly. 

A voice rang out through the room. 

“Everything is achievable through technology...”

Peter recognized the voice, he had heard it a few times. 

Howard Stark.

Gasps rang out through the room because standing in the center of the room was Howard Stark. Or more accurate, a hologram of him. It stood there, looking around generically, but you couldn't help but feel like he was actually looking at you when his eyes happened to meet yours. 

“Is that a hologram?”

“Isn’t that the founder?”

A bunch more hushed whispers echoed out, followed by an almost equal number of “shhhhh”.

Ned was gaping like a fish as he stared at the man in the old suit who walked forward, continuing to talk. 

“Better living, robust health, and for the first time in human history, the possibility of world peace.”

He stopped and gently shoved his hands into his suit pockets. “I’m Howard Stark, and everything you’ll need in the future can be found right here.” He said with a sweeping motion of his arm. 

As he did though the room <em>changed</em>.

One second they were standing in a dark room with a holographic dead founder talking to them, and the next there was a rush of light of colors from all around and suddenly they were standing in a fairground. Students gasped, talking in hush whispers as they looked around. Peter saw Betty even hesitantly reach out and touch the wall, which was still very much there, but it looked like she was touching an invisible wall in the park. Almost. There was just enough of a discrepancy that you could see the edge without stumbling face first into it accidentally. Peter guessed that had been a lesson learned the hard way, knowing the interns.

There were displays in every direction. There was a general ambiance of futurism, but it was anachronistic with the old visions of the future, incredibly outdated despite their best guesses of the time, being displayed by technology they couldn’t dream of. Displays of imaginary space suits, flying cars, toasters. Everything was in the distance as the world around them began to move across the ground, as if they were on a guided tour.

Everyone was still mostly rooted in place, and as if to lead them, Ashe walked across the room, mumbling a bit about watching out for the center kiosk, but went deliberately to look at a display from the far end of the wall. Peter followed her suit, just to encourage people as he walked across it too. It was a bit disorienting, with the world moving at it’s own pace while you walk. Kind of like those automated walkways at the airport, but not too jarring thankfully. Again, he figured it was probably a product of trial and error and an uncomfortable number of nauseous interns testing it.

Crowds bustled around them, phasing through people as the holograms were interrupted by the actual people in the room, even though Peter saw a student or two from their class hurriedly avoiding them muttering out apologies. Peter couldn’t blame them, it almost looked real.

He knew how disorienting it could be to be surrounded by illusions. Just like… him… whenever.. He fought…

Peter’s attention was snapped back to the present as Howard continued finally.

“From all of us at Stark Industries, I would like to personally thank you for visiting us. For your interest in helping shape the world into a better future.” For a few more moments they continued to float through the imagined space. Old music playing over a staticy sound system, girls in rather revealing outfits dancing and parading themselves around displays, all before it settled near the center of the area where Howard was once again standing there, smiling at them. 

The world faded to black around them once more, and there were some groans of disappointment from the group as their apparent trip through time was cut short. Howard gave one last tip of his hat, before he faded. 

There was a beat of silence.

Two.

Three. 

“I’ve learned a great deal from my father, and clearly humility wasn’t one of them.” Tony Stark’s voice cut in as he suddenly walked forward, emerging from nothing and standing where Howard stood a moment ago. 

Peter was almost tempted to reach out and touch him because it was strange seeing him so clearly there, but not at the same time. Peter knew it was a hologram, but he could have sworn it was real.

He raised his arms and a massive Arc Reactor, the old prototype emerged from the ground, large, and humming with energy. It dwarfed their size, and it felt surreal standing so close to it.

“The Arc Reactor was one of my first successes in his company, outside of our military contracts.” Tony said. He smiled at the group and it looked genuine.

It looked real.

Too real. Like he had seen before. Illusions. But they never stayed pleasant like this. Peter stepped back, bumping his back against the wall. This was dangerous. He couldn’t tell if it was his spider sense or anxiety that was now gripping the lower part of his neck. His heart began to beat much faster.

Too fast. Was he dying? Maybe. Was this real? He kept waiting for it to change like it always did. Tony would pull a gun on him. Or melt into spiders. Or get shot. Maybe the other avengers would show up to die painfully. Or attack him. Or each other. Peter’s fists were clenched tightly at his side and they started to shake. 

Why wouldn’t he hurry the fuck up and kill Tony already. Peter didn’t have time for this. He didn’t want to see his mentor die again. He didn’t want to have to punch it just to make it go away. He just wanted to scream. He could see Tony’s lips moving, probably continuing the talk but Peter’s ears were ringing and he couldn’t hear anything. Why hadn’t the death come, was Myst-

MJ’s eyes filled his vision as she stepped directly in front of him. His eyes snapped to hers, and he felt her hand cup his cheek. It was warm. He swallowed thickly. 

“R-real?” He asked shakily.

MJ’s eyes were focused, and God were they beautiful. 

“Real.” She confirmed. “I’m right here, Tiger.” She whispered gently. She leaned in briefly, kissing him. 

It was the strangest sensation, it was like he dropped from the sky back into his body. Everything snapped into place at the feeling of her lips briskly on his. 

He could feel the pressure of her knee on the inside of his, one of her feet pressed against the inside heel of one of his as she had leaned into him. Her other hand gently holding his clenched fist as he forced it to relax and thread his fingers through hers. The sounds of Tony’s voice again.

“Under our new CEO, Pepper Potts, Stark Industries have moved on from our wartorn past and once again begun the long process of bringing tomorrow just a little bit closer.” Then the familiar sounds of “Shoot to Thrill” by ACDC started to echo throughout the room.

Peter’s eyes glanced around and saw most of the students now looking around as a new wide arrange of displays showed around them. Cindy had noticed him and had seemed a bit concerned, but saw MJ was handling him and went back to looking at the sights after a small smile. Ned also seemed worried, but Peter offered him a reassuring smile and a moment later Ned was next to Betty as they pointed at some Iron Man suits flying high above them.

Ashe had closed half the distance towards them, concern painting her features but he gave her a shaky thumbs up and she slowly nodded, stepping off to the side but clearly keeping an eye on him. 

His eyes fell back on MJ’s, finding them still locked on his patiently, a warm, if not slightly concerned smile on her face. 

“You’re okay. I’m right here.” She said softly, reaching up to move his hand under her neck to her pulse point, as he felt the steady throb of it. Life. Peter took a deep breath and slowly the panicked sensation in the back of his neck faded. 

“T-thank you.” He said.

MJ still examined his face, no doubt reading past anything he could ever try to hide from her in the moment before she seemed satisfied and smiled. Giving him the briefest peck on the lips before stepping next to him again. 

She dropped his hand, but reached over and slid hers under the back of his shirt,resting it directly on the base of his spine, her thumb making gentle strokes over it. A steady, warm, grounding presence. She was right here, and very <em>very</em> real.

Peter wrapped his now free arm around her waist and held her close as he took in the sights around them.

Now that all traces of his illusionist villain had been banished to the dark recesses of his mind, he had to admit it was pretty fucking awesome.

ACDC was blaring through the speakers, and everywhere you looked seemed like a technological dream. 

High up in the sky various suits of Iron Man armor were flying everywhere, both in formations and freely, firing at targets as they were thrown up and blasting them into pieces that fell into glitter before vanishing. 

Off to the side near Ned and Betty Peter saw a person waving at them, their entire arm made of a prosthesis that seemed to respond almost perfectly to their mind as it picked up and played with a coin dexterously. 

On the other side there was a clean energy generator that powered a trail of lights before they erupted into a massive city streat, all being powered by the small glowing blue generator. Peter wasn’t sure if it was a bit of an exaggeration, but it accomplished its intended effect based on Abe's and Cindy’s reaction.

Tony was still standing in the center, looking impossibly smug as he looked around a bit randomly to catch eyes potentially.

Glancing over at MJ, he saw her attention had finally moved from him and he saw her mouth opened ever so slightly in awe as she looked at the scene closest to them. The sleek fairground around them that had been housing most of the other displays crumbled to dirt as they were suddenly staring out over a large patch of ground, surrounded by forests that seemed to stretch off for miles. 

In the center of the clearing were a few robots that were transplanting sapling trees and some further down that were planting seeds. 

There was some floating text giving statistics on successfully replanted trees and reforesting that had happened over the past ten years.

Peter looked back at MJ, her face being illuminated by the green as he saw the faintest traces of wonder in her eyes. An emotion he knew she felt as much as everyone else did, but hid from the world to keep herself safe. But seeing that look in her eyes, the smallest smile on her face, the way her eyes shifted to his and her smile grew even more, made his chest feel warm. He realized, there was nothing in this world he wouldn’t do for her. Nothing he wouldn’t do to see that smile every day for as long as he lived. He would move mountains for her if she asked.

He rested his forehead against hers for a moment, a serene oasis in the loud ACDC played. Eventually the music started to quiet down and everyone looked back to where Tony was still standing. Behind him an Iron Man suit landed in the hero pose, before it stood up and opened up, encasing Tony in it. 

“Stark Industries is leading the world to the future. Try to keep up.” He said with one last smirk, before the helmet closed and he blasted off into the sky. 

A second later and the regular lights slowly turned on as they were gradually reintroduced to the plain chamber as all the holograms powered down.

Everyone just sort of stood still, letting out a few deep breaths. 

“Dude…” Abe said.

“That was…” Betty started.

“SO FUCKING AWESOME.” Jason said excitedly.

“Lonello!” Harrington snapped at the language, but seemed just as starstruck. 

There was a loud eruption of conversations as people started gushing about the experience. 

Ashe clearly leaned back, an almost maternal smile as she saw the excitement through the class and gave them a moment to process things. 

Peter glanced over to MJ, and Ned and Betty who had joined them. 

“Dude, that was insane!” Ned started out, practically shaking with how excited he was. 

“I can’t even imagine how they did that.” Betty offered. 

MJ smiled. “Yeah… that was pretty cool.” Everyone seemed a bit shocked by her honest confession, but no one was going to call her out on it. They knew she was working on being more open with others and the last thing they wanted to do was discourage her from it.

“Yeah, I’ve never seen this before. I knew they were working on it, even helped a bit, but it was nowhere near that… immersive.” He offered, hearing his own slight amazement and thankfully not  much of the fear that crept in. 

He felt a slight increase of the pressure on his back. MJ’s face portrayed nothing, but it was a clear reminder. 

<em>Im right here.</em>

He just squeezed her a little closer from his arm around her side.

“You worked on that?” Betty said, a little too loud of surprise.

The class looked over at Peter both surprised and a little skeptical. 

He raised his free hand in a sort of peace gesture. “Not like… the actual holograms. They must have… God, I don’t even know the level of artists and programmers that took. I just meant more of the basic technology.”

MJ snorted. “Basic. Sure.”

Peter rolled his eyes, tickling her side ever so slightly making her squirm before she kicked his shin in retaliation. “You know what I mean. I worked with the other interns on the back end.” He offered. He didn’t want to go into detail about working directly with Tony on it, or how it worked because he <em>really</em> didn’t wanna spoil the magic of something so fantastical. 

“Sure you did, Parker.” Flash said in disbelief. Before he could chime in with any more eloquent comments, Ashe clapped her hands together once. 

“Well then! You seem to have remembered which way is up, so how about we move on to the rest of the tour? I promise you there’s still plenty to be amazed by.” She said as she ushered them to the opposite of where they entered where there were more flush doors in the wall. 

She seemed to do a head count, before checking her tablet to verify that she did indeed not forget the number of people she was responsible, before she smiled and moved open the doors. 

Once again, the students burst into an excited murmur. 

There was a rather tall young man, sleeves rolled up on a simple blue dress shirt and jeans as he leaned against a little kiosk. He had shaggy black hair, and a calm smile as he watched the students.

But none of them were watching him because behind him it looked like an arcade from the future. It was a series of rooms, all displaying various holograms above the tables. Other machines littered the walls and the room was darker to allow the lights emitting from the machines to draw your eyes in even more. People stumbled forward a bit more, but none of them were willing to go past the man without permission. 

Peter glanced over at Ashe as she was staring at the guy in surprise. 

“Ashelyn.” He said simply, an almost smug look on his face as he raised an eyebrow.

“Tyler.” She replied professionally, but Peter could see the barely constrained snickers that both of them were trying to keep hidden.

MJ glanced between the two young adults before looking at Peter.

Peter just rolled his eyes. “You’ll see.”

The two young adults had locked eyes long enough and seemed to be having a silent discussion long enough for the incredibly impatient teenagers who were desperate to see the technological wonderland just out of their reach to feel a little awkward.

Peter cleared his throat a bit loudly and both Ashe and Tyler seemed to snap back to reality, the faintest hint of a blush on both of their cheeks. 

“Welcome…”

“Midtown.” Ashe supplied helpfully.

Tyler shot her a grateful look. “Welcome, Midtown. I hope you enjoyed our little introduction. A bit of a step up from our old lecture, I would say?” He asked, waiting for a chorus of replies.

“Yes!”

“Incredible!”

“Fucking amazing!”

“Lonello...” Harrington’s voice sounded more tired this time.

Tyler just smiled at them. “I’m glad you enjoyed it. It has been the product of months of hard labor, and many technological breakthroughs from all across Stark Industries to achieve. My name is Tyler, and I am one of the floor managers of the R&D department, with a specialty in audio development, though my floor covers a bit broader range as well. I have volunteered to serve as your specialist to answer any tech related questions you may have, if any happen to be beyond Ashe’s understanding.”

Ashe snorted out a laugh at that. “I appreciate the confidence Fros- Tyler but you know I leave the technology to you labrats down here. I appreciate the new headphones you guys released last month, but the most I know about them is I’m pretty sure they have a speaker in them somewhere.”

There were a few laughs from the group at that and the lovestruck look Tyler gave her made Peter wonder if he was that obvious when he looked at MJ.

(He was.)

Cindy raised her hand. 

“Yes?” Tyler asked, pointing at her patiently. 

“Are the tours usually led by floor managers? You seem a bit… important. Not that we aren’t incredibly grateful!” She added quickly, embarrassment creeping in after her brain caught up to her curiosity.

Tyler shrugged, not bothered by the question. “Usually no, we have mid level interns give these tours to gain experience in presenting their work though we are always available to help them when needed. This is more of an… exception.” He offered, his eyes flickering over to Ashe  who was hiding her laugher behind her fist as she tried to suppress her giggles. 

Peter laughed at that, apparently loud enough for Tyler’s eyes to lock onto his. He tilted his head slightly and Peter blushed. Oops. Busted.

“Pet-”

“Okay! How about we get started!” Ashe cut him off, giving him a look that apparently he understood to mean just follow her lead. 

“Right! So, there are three rooms behind us, and you’re free to interact with any of the displays there. Unfortunately we do have to ask you to not use your phones in these areas. While you will be free to discuss anything you see here, some of the technology is new and patent pending, and we would prefer visuals of it not be released ahead of our schedule. I must insist that this rule is rather strictly enforced, and FRIDAY will be keeping a close eye out.” He said, his voice calm and even. “Right Fri?”

“That is correct, Tyler. Upon the exit of the third room in the back, you will be able to use your devices again. Feel free to silence any devices or respond before you pass the ropes up ahead, but we ask you not to attempt to film the area from here either.”

A couple of students pulled out their phone and silenced them just to prevent any temptation. Peter actually did that himself, because while he was pretty sure he was actually an exception to the rule, since he knew way more sensitive technology than this, he wasn’t exactly looking to prove a point and he had a habit of forgetting. 

MJ, Ned, and Betty seemed to trust him and followed his lead. 

“Now that the lame rules are out of the way, let me explain a bit more. Feel free to explore any of the machines up ahead. All of the holographic displays are interactable, and feel free to engage with them to your heart's content. Common sense rules apply here too. Don’t steal anything. Don’t break anything. Don’t run around.” He offered, raising an eyebrow. “Midtown is a reputable school, so behave but beyond that have fun and find me or Ashe if you have any questions.”

With that, he stepped aside and the students rushed in, spreading out to all corners of the first room as they started looking around and fiddling with things. 

Ned and Betty went to the nearest display table and as Peter was about to lead MJ in, he felt a hand on his shoulder.

Turning, he saw Ashe looking at him with a concerned expression.

“Are you okay? I saw your reaction in the holodeck. I know it can be disorienting.”

Peter nodded, smiling as he felt MJ increase the pressure again. “Just… caught me off guard.”

Ashe nodded, fidgeting slightly. “I… wasn’t sure if I should have cut it off. I was about to head over and ask you…” 

Peter shook his head quickly. “No! I’m glad you didn’t. It was incredible. I was fine.” He offered, even though the last bit was clearly a lie.

“It’s okay, that’s what I’m here for.” MJ chimed in, making Ashe laugh. 

“Yeah, you did distract him pretty well. I must say.” A teasing lilt in Ashe’s tone. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen two people make out when surrounded by cutting edge hologram tech.”

Peter’s face flushed red and he buried his face into MJ’s shoulder. MJ just shrugged, hoping to hide her own embarrassment. 

“Really? Cause I distinctly remember something similar.” Tyler’s voice chimed in, making everyone look at him as he reached out and squeezed Ashe’s hand.

Ashe flushed red and slapped his chest. 

“Frosty! Shut up.” She muttered, glancing around. 

MJ glanced at Peter, then the two. 

Peter was just laughing at the sweet revenge. “They uh… know each other.” He offered, not sure how much to reveal about their personal life.

Ashe rolled her eyes, and held up her hand where there was an engagement ring on it.

“I see.” MJ said, smirking. “Explains why Peter’s boss is crashing our tour group.”

Tyler shrugged. ”Ashe normally works so far away.” He whined uncharacteristically for the calm man, earning an eye roll from Ashe. “Plus I’m not Peter’s boss. Kinda. Technically?”

Peter and Tyler both looked at each other, confused.

“I… don’t know.” Peter confessed as both boys seemed to ponder the problem. 

“A well run organization, I see. Very cutting edge.” MJ offered and Ashe snorted a laugh at that. 

Peter nudged her side. “I mean I work for Tony directly. But I also spend time helping out the other interns where I’m needed, or wherever Tony gets the impulse to send me that day. So some days he is? But like, Tony is his boss so I don’t know.”

Tyler just shrugged. “I listen to Tony, and you listen to me while you’re here, but I think that’s just because you’re nice. So as long as nothing gets messed up we can all just agree Pepper is the boss of all of us.”

Peter nodded. “Probably the safest bet.”

Ashe and MJ both shared a look. “Are all tech nerds this much of a mess?” MJ deadpanned.

Ashe just nodded. “Our sample size seems to suggest so. At least they’re cute.” She offered, kissing Tyler on the cheek. 

MJ snickered. “True.” And squeezed Peter’s hand. 

“You’re taking a field trip to your job?” Tyler asked Peter, an amused expression on his face.

Peter let out a sigh that made him feel years older. “Yeah. Cause my life is a joke. Don’t make it worse?” He asked hopefully.

Tyler nodded. “Trust me, I get it. I still tell people I just work in the labs in SI. Attention sucks.”

Ashe sighed but wrapped an arm around him. “Even if you deserve it.”

Tyler sighed with a small smile and stepped away. “I guess I should do my job and not keep flirting with you. That’s why they banned you from my Lab. They kept saying I get nothing done.” He said without a single regret in his tone. He turned and disappeared farther in. 

Ashe just let out a dreamy sigh after him before her attention snapped back to Peter and MJ who were both judging her and snickering. She ushered them in. “Go be nerds.” 

Peter let out a laugh and dragged MJ by the hand over to Ned and Betty as they fumbled with the controls to the holo display. Ned was waving his hands around it and made a display of the latest Stark Phone expand and shrink. 

“Okay, that’s pretty cool.” MJ confessed as she hesitantly reached a hand out. Both Ned and Betty stepped back to let her interact with it for a moment. 

Peter was surprised as MJ seemed to be a bit of a natural at interacting with it. Her intuition let her pick up the general motion controls as she was able to move it around naturally, and soon started to separate it into pieces. There weren’t specifics to protect trade secrets, but you could see the general parts. She paused to tie her hair up, because it kept getting in her face when she would move for a larger movement.

Eventually MJ noticed Peter staring at her with a strange smile and she paused, having disassembled and enlarged the camera part she was playing with. “What?” She asked, a hint of self consciousness leaking into her tone.

Peter just gave her a shy smile. “You’re in a lab, playing with tech like this. It’s uh… really hot.” He confessed in a quiet tone.

MJ felt her own face flush. “Oh my God, Peter. You’re such a nerd.” She mumbled out, but also filed that fact safely away for potential future use.

“Aww.” Ned said dramatically as he looked between them. 

“That’s cute, but we really don’t need to know about your feti-” Betty was cut off as MJ interrupted, loudly. 

“Okay! So what else is there?” She said, turning away from the table, the same time Peter, bright red spoke too. 

“It’s not like that!” Peter looked about 30 seconds from running out of the room. 

Ned and Betty shared a look, but let the subject drop. For now.

They wandered over to a nearby machine that wasn’t occupied by the classmates. “What is this?” MJ asked, walking up behind Peter and resting her chin on his shoulder. 

Peter leaned his head against hers for a moment. “Surprisingly one of the most tame things here. It’s just a 3D printer. Just a lot faster and has more materials it can work with.

“But what can it print here?” Ned asked, brow furrowed.

Peter’s smile grew wider. “Oh, anything. You’re gonna love this.” He said before leading them to a nearby table. Clicking to the right program, MJ raised an eyebrow. “Is that photoshop?”

Peter shrugged, already deep in work mode. “Kinda. It’s a 3D modelling software we developed. But it’s a bit more interactive.”

Peter reached out towards and area of the holographic display and a clump of a material digitally appeared in his hand. He began to squash and stretch it, occasionally adding more. 

“See, you can copy and paste if you make this motion…” he mumbled out to them as they stepped back and watched him work with a fascination. A few other of his classmates even wandered over, starting to watch Peter work. Peter however, was too deep in thought as he worked on bringing the thought he had to life and MJ and Ned knew better than to try and snap him out of his zone. 

“You can change the material here. The program is also smart, so if you’re trying to select a part of it it will generally help you get what you need.” He said as he enlarged the form and with two fingers held together started to select the top part of it, before cycling through a few different materials and dragging it onto it as the form changed into a clear plastic.

“Dude… is that?” Ned asked as Peter just grinned.

“You are <em>such</em> a nerd.” MJ repeated, overly fond as she watched Peter put on some minor details. 

Shrinking it down a bit, Peter swiped his hand as the whole form began rotating a few times, showing off the final result. 

“It’s just a quick mockup to show you what you can do here. I didn’t really dig into details but I could have taken off the glass and added the seats to it. I also could have made the form hollow if I wanted to include some kind of engine in this, but I really only have a few minutes. But I know the X-wing is your favorite Ned so I thought I’d just…”

Peter trailed off as he owlishly blinked at the group of students who were all staring at his floating model of the X-Wing from star wars that he had just sculpted out roughly. “Uh… hi guys.” He muttered out. “When did…”

“Dude, you’ve been in your own world for like 10 minutes.” Ned said, nudging him, but still staring at the X-Wing.

“Peter, how do you know how to do this so well?” Cindy asked, tilting her head as she watched the model rotate slowly still. 

Peter shrugged, a blush creeping up on his face. “I told you, I intern here. We uh… use this to help make mock-ups. It’s good for playing with visuals.”

“It’s true.” Tyler’s cool voice cut in, making the class turn to see him standing there, hands in pockets as he smiled. “Peter is correct. It’s often useful to have a visual model handy when either pitching an idea, or to help generate ideas because keeping things purely theoretical can get in the way of finding obvious solutions sometimes.”

The class nodded with murmurs of agreement. 

“Peter, the machine is fully stocked so feel free to print it off. Does anyone else want to try as well?” A bunch of hands shot up and Tyler nodded, glancing around. One of the displays of the Stark Tablet was pretty much empty so he walked over, typing in a password and switched the program to be another display of the modelling program to allow more people to mess around with it at once. 

“I’ll set it up over here as well. You will need to take turns with the printer, but feel free to print off a model if you want. Please be reasonable about the size though, due to time and costs.”

Peter quickly sent the print request to the machine as he stepped back, saving his project with a quick override for later use just in case, then brought up some blank models for people to try out. His cheeks were still flushed as he went over and collected the model, handing it to Ned as he watched Betty starting to sculpt a sort of old fashioned camera. 

“Dude! That’s incredible!” Ned marveled as he held up the mini ship, flying it through the air.

“That was pretty cool, Peter.” Cindy confirmed as Peter could only nod, flustering under the praise.

Tyler bounced between the people at the nearby tables, answering questions and helping them get comfortable with the program and soon most people had printed off little figurines. He saw MJ waiting on something, but she had told him to leave when he tried to see what she was working on, saying it was a surprise so he had settled for showing Ned and Betty some of the other nearby machines, various displays and robotics. It took all of his will power not to peak at whatever MJ had been working on.

Eventually though he saw Flash had taken her place and she was standing near the printer, waiting for the result. He wandered over while Ned and Betty were taking photos with a camera that hovered in place

“What did you make?” Peter asked, his tone a little more whinier than he had planned. He couldn’t help it though, the curiosity was killing him. 

She just rolled her eyes and patted his head patronizingly. “Soon.” 

Peter harrumphed and crossed his arms. 

“Hey, Penis!” Flash called out, and letting out a sigh, Peter turned slowly. 

“Really, Flash?” He asked, glancing over at Ashe who was frowning at Flash and whispering something to Tyler. Welp, that probably wasn’t good.

“Just wanted to show you what an actual good design looks like, unlike your stupid spaceship.” He said smugly as he enlarged his design and spun it around. It was… a suit of Iron Man armor. Kinda. Almost.

The proportions were way off, and it was almost aggressively lumpy despite the many smoothing tools available. Still, Peter figured it wasn’t the <em>worst</em> he’s seen.

“Real cool, Flash.” He offered, his tone dripping with sarcasm. 

Flash just sent him a smile as if he had been genuine. “You should pass it to Mr. Stark.” His voice said almost impressively condescending. “I made some cool changes I think he’d like.”

Peter glanced over it and grimaced slightly. He thought it would be cool to have a sort of back panel that looked kinda cool, but also dramatically limited the motion of the arms, which was not something Tony could do without. It also had enough solid panels wrapping around the body to prevent any easy access in and out of the suit. 

“Sure, I’ll do that.” Peter muttered as Flash highfived with his friends, as if he had put Peter in his place. 

His eyes flickered over to Ashe, who was not looking happy and even Tyler had a frown on his face now. 

“I gotta print this.” Flash said as he went to print it, only to see the queue. Frowning, he moved his to the top, cancelling the print in progress, which also deleted it. 

“Flash! What the fuck!” Cindy said, whirling around, fists clenched. 

“Oh shit.” Flash muttered, not realizing he had canceled it. 

“What happened?” Tyler asked as he approached, Harrington showing up as well.

“He canceled my print and now it’s gone!” Cindy said, a layer of hurt under her anger. 

Tyler’s brow furrowed. “Is this true?”

Flash looked a bit pale. “I was just trying to make sure mine got printed before we ran out of stuff.”

Cindy was trying to navigate the holotable. “I can’t find it… My spider.” She said, her voice dropping into a hint of heartbreak. 

“Flash, that is not okay.” Mr. Harrington started to scold Flash who only looked mildly bothered by it. 

MJ and Betty moved over to Cindy, consoling her as she pouted and glared at Flash.

Peter locked eyes with Tyler as they approached the table. “I think it got deleted as more people started working on their projects.” Tyler said as he searched all open files. 

Peter frowned, crossing his arms. He glanced over at Cindy as she looked at him with hopeful eyes, as if he could save her. MJ gave him a look expectantly. Like she had absolute faith in him to solve this problem. He felt a warmth in his chest and turned back. 

“Tyler, do these still have the same programs we use? Just in a display mode or something?”

Tyler nodded. “Yeah, these weren’t made specifically for this, we just locked out access to some of the features since the public would be using it. Why?” He asked, trying to figure out what Peter had realized.

Peter nodded. “Which means, they would have the same protocols, right?”

Tyler’s eyes widened, catching up. “It would.” He paused. “But this isn’t technically my department. I’m kinda crashing here to help out. I don’t know if I have access.”

Peter frowned, that was a good point. Depending on who set the restrictions, they could either out rank Tyler, or be at the same level. Still, there was someone above them all. 

“Hey, Fri?” Peter asked.

“Yes, Peter. How can I help?” The voice came from the table in front of them, making some of the nearby students jump. 

“This table still has all the normal protocols active, even if locked off, right?”

“That is correct.”

“Can you run one for us, please?”

“I’d need to override the access.”

“Ask Mr. Stark for permission, please.”

There was a moment of silence. 

“Do you seriously think you can just ask favors from Iron man, Peter? Just because you intern here?” Flash asked, as if he was embarrassed for Peter and looked apologetically to Tyler and Ashe. The audacity of him. 

“Please check your phone, Peter.” Fri chimed in after a moment. 

Peter looked to Tyler, and Tyler just shrugged. They both knew he actually had permission too, but he was trying to make it less of a show about wielding his privilege around here.

Pulling out his phone, he saw a text from Tony. 

<em>Fri requested an override. Pretty sure you can do that on your own. Everything OK?</em>

Peter responded quickly.

<em>Yeah. Just need to run a protocol to help a classmate. Trying not to be obvious about what I can do.

Lame, if you got it, flaunt it. 

So is that a yes?

Yeah, just try not to give away company secrets or something.</em>

Peter snorted out a laugh, earning an amused look from MJ. He passed her his phone while he turned back to the table. 

“What Protocol would you like to run, Peter?” Fri asked.

“Run ‘Shit, I should probably sleep’ please.”

Everyone except for Tyler looked at him confused. 

“Pulling up temporary back-ups now.” A few people understood and laughed. 

Tyler just grinned. “This isn’t the first time we’ve had to try and recover unsaved work. Thankfully we keep a temporary back-up of everything now.”

“That’s because your department is held together by caffeine, stubbornness, and concerned loved ones who are the only reason you guys ever eat and sleep.” Ashe chimed in happily.

Tyler rolled his eyes but didn’t offer any protest. Peter really couldn’t say anything either. Tony might be the worst of them all, but that didn’t mean the rest were particularly great at holding back when they felt inspired. Overtime wasn’t encouraged and actually discouraged because of that.

“Can you find a spider model from the past hour?”

“Right away.” Fri offered as the screen displayed various files being scanned through quickly.

Eventually a model popped up. “Is this it, Cindy?” Peter asked.

“Yes!” Cindy said, throwing her arms around Peter in a quick hug. Peter just grinned and returned the hug quickly, glancing at MJ who was giving him a proud smile. 

Flash was holding the model he printed out as if it was worth it’s weight in gold. Peter quickly moved Cindy’s order to the top of the list and it began printing. 

“Thank you Fri.” Peter offered as the program went back to its default state.

“My pleasure, Peter. Glad to be of help.”

There were some murmurs and people looking at Peter. He started to squirm a bit, not a huge fan of the attention he just drew to himself, but the look on Cindy’s face was worth it. He knew how devastating it was to lose something you worked on and were excited about, even if it was a smaller project.

MJ, sensing his distress, grabbed his hand and led him towards the second room of the area. “Come on, let’s explore more.” She offered and Peter just let her drag him along.

The next area was a bit similar to the last one. More tables with displays, but no printing machines around. Instead there were rough displays of a bunch of Avenger’s tech everywhere. No specifics were available, but there were a bunch of costumes you could look at different parts of, pull apart, mix and match.

Ned promptly freaked the fuck out and ran over to one of the tables with the shortest line. Betty, MJ, and him followed shortly behind. Peter watched him swipe through a bunch of different armors quickly, gasping with each one.

Peter turned to MJ, seeing her watching Cindy hold up the spider proudly. 

“You’re a nice guy.” MJ said, finally looking back at Peter. 

Peter shrugged. “I know how much it sucks to lose a project.”

MJ rolled her eyes. “That’s not what I mean. You wanted to avoid drawing any attention to yourself during this trip, but the second a classmate lost a project they worked on for a couple of minutes, you contacted Tony to ask for his help.” 

Peter was lost in her smile for a moment. “I mean… I could have used my override, but I was trying to act like just an intern.”

MJ nodded. “And if Tony ignored the request you would override it yourself. I know you would have.”

She was right. Peter just shrugged. “What did you make anyway?”

MJ pursed her lips, as if debating telling him. “I was gonna keep it a surprise till later but you deserve a treat for that.” She reached into her pocket and pulled out a small figure. It was a cartoonish looking spiderman, complete with him posing in his thwip motion. It was tiny, about the size of a keychain, but surprisingly well made and accurate to this usual suit.

MJ felt her heart fluttered as she saw his expression. His brown eyes had gone wide as she held up the dumb little figure she made. His eyes kept flicking between hers and the figure as he practically glowed with happiness. It was really unfair that such a little gesture could make her boyfriend look so adorable. 

MJ knew Spider-man meant the world to him, and that he was always afraid she’d hate it because of the drama it brought into their lives. But MJ was so proud of him, and while she wasn’t one to overly brag, heaven forbid he get Tony’s arrogance, she did think the world of him for doing it.

So if she could make his day by making a little trinket, she’d make them for the rest of her life.

Peter just leaned forward and kissed her quickly, knowing they had probably already shown more PDA than they usually would but he couldn’t help it. “You’re incredible.”

MJ scoffed. “It’s not that well done. It was quick.”

Shaking his head, Peter still met her eyes. “That’s not what I meant. I meant you. All of you. That too, but you.”

MJ blushed and turned her head, unable to handle the compliments. She just pocketed the figurine for safety before taking his hand and turned them back to where Betty was examining Black Widow’s outfit. 

“These Widow Bites are pretty sweet.”

Peter nodded. “They’re terrifying.”

MJ laughed. “Spider-man should get some then. Maybe she’d lend him one then, they have to spider pals or something.” She offered a teasing glance at Peter. 

Peter knew MJ knew he was friends with Natasha. She also knew Nat would never let him try them out, because that was a horrible idea that would end up with probably at least two different people hurt.

Betty stepped back and Peter thought for a moment. “What, like spider fangs?” Then he paused. “Actually…” He suddenly pulled up both the suits for Spider-man and Black Widow. The suits were old and out of date, but he just wanted to test an idea so it didn’t matter.

He quickly grabbed a widow bite and enlarged it, tossing away most of the arm mount, and flicking away different launchers from it till only a few remained. 

“Now pull up the web shooters.” Peter asked the holotable as they flicked up. He tossed away some of the other features on the suit. “Actually, bring up a repulsor too.” He muttered as he started stripping away parts from it to just have the glove.

MJ watched in admiration as she saw Peter in his natural habitat. Even more so than when he was sculpting, this was him at his best. She saw how tall he stood, his eyes focused but his face in a bright smile. She could practically hear the hum of the gears in his head as he gracefully navigated the menu, pulling apart holograms and attaching them with ease to form something new. He looked confident and in his element and she felt her face flush.

“I kinda get why he found it hot now.” MJ muttered to Betty quietly. 

Betty laughed and just patted her shoulder. “You two were made for each other.”

MJ rolled her eyes, but Peter was waving her over. He had the hologram in his hands, but made her stick her arm out. He moved it so now the hologram was floating around her arm. It was a simple gauntlet, with the web shooters underneath but two widowbites on top as he rambled about the possibility of webbing someone up then being to launch a taser at them without electrifying the whole web necessarily. 

“It’d look cooler if it was black with red highlights…” She offered and soon they were going back and forth as she posted with the holo weapon while Peter tweaked it to her suggestions. 

“Hey Fri, take some pictures please.” Ashe said as she leaned against the wall near Ned and Betty. 

MJ and Peter were too busy laughing with each other and playing around to notice.

“Are they always this adorable?” Ashe asked.

Ned nodded. “Yeah it’s kinda gross.” He said fondly. 

Betty sighed. “It’s better since they actually asked each other out. They danced around each other for ages, it was torture to watch. We were about to lock them in the broom closet until they got together. We had made plans for it too.”

Ashe laughed and watched them fondly. She had met Peter a few times through Pepper, and seen him in the lab with Tony whenever she had been sent over there with some work for him. Peter seemed like a good kid and reminded her of her fiance when he was younger. She was glad Peter had found someone that brought out a smile like that from him. He was always smiling, but that one was different. Warmer, somehow.

Eventually the two teens seemed to realize they were getting carried away and they stepped back from the holotable to let others have a chance.

“What?” Peter asked, tilting his head. 

Ashe just pulled out her phone and showed them a picture Friday had sent her.

MJ had her hand outstretched with a faint blue glow around it as the weapon hovered over her arm, Peter attaching another widow bite to it. They were looking at each other, Peter grinning while MJ had a deep warm smile.

Both of the teens blushed and didn’t say anything, but held each other’s hands. 

“Fri, send that to Peter. That deserves to be printed out.”

Peter blushed more, but nodded. It was an amazing photo. 

“Right away, Ashe.” Fri said. “I have cleared it of any sensitive information as well, so might I recommend adding it to your social media.”

“Thanks Fri.” Peter mumbled, blushing even more. 

MJ just laughed and squeezed his hand tighter. “I needed a new screensaver anyway.”

Eventually the group made their way to the third room and everyone’s jaw dropped except for Peter. “I was waiting for this.”

[thorn-amidst-roses]

Just remembered, I had a dream last night that I somehow ended up traversing a fashion history museum with a gaggle of all my favorite costubers/fashion history folk.

American Duchess was doing a demonstration of visible mending/piecing.

And then we were all just walking around and I was hanging at the back like-

(”This is so awesome but I need to make sure that no one notices me because I have no business being here D:”)

-while slightly fan-crushing on Bernadette Banner like a complete nerd

[bellatrixobsessed1]

Mutilated Mannequin (Part 3)

Azula feels as though she has signed away her soul. She supposes in some more flowery and figurative manner of speaking, that she has. At the very least, she has signed away a portion of her body.

She directs her thoughts elsewhere and begins working out a speech for the class elections; a list of promises and choice words. Perhaps she'd pass out some sort of food since monetary bribes are prohibited by the school.

Her plans thus far included a push for  a better reward system for those on the honor roll and for better funding for the non-athletic extra curriculars. She taps her pen against her lips as she thinks it over. The first formal lunchroom debate is to occur in three days time and she best have some dialogue prepared. Granted, she finds it hard to come up with anything when the student council hasn’t even told her of the questions to be asked and topics to be discussed. 

TyLee drops into the seat next to her. “How’d your...uh...thing go?” 

Azula shrugged. “It was an event and it...occurred.” She wishes that she could say that it isn’t still occurring. “How did your tryouts go?” 

“Fantastic!” TyLee claps her hands together. “You know, varsity is only for upperclassmen, like juniors and seniors…”

“I know what an upperclassmen is, TyLee.” 

“Well, coach Rangi says that she might put me on varsity anyways.” She is beaming from ear to ear and Azula tries to muster up some enthusiasm, but she hasn’t been able to shake her own dread since the night prior. 

It keeps re-emerging in her mind, the image of her altered face. If she can’t even get used to the mental image of it, how the hell is she supposed to cope with seeing it in a mirror? 

“Are you still planning on attending the astronomy club?” TyLee asks. “I think Yue said that she was going, she really likes the moon or something.” The girl gives a shrug. 

“Yes, I’m going.” Azula confirms. Between running for student presidency, maintaining her spot on the honor roll list, and astronomy, she is going to have her hands full. Perhaps it is a good thing, it doesn’t leave much room for dwelling on her nerves. If she is lucky, she might be able to keep herself busy enough to avoid a second appointment. But she knows that she will only be delaying the inevitable. 

She knows that her father will cancel her plans to drag her to the clinic. She just hopes that these appointments won’t conflict with the astronomy club. 

“Are you going to join Yue and I? Mai can’t because she has to watch Tom-Tom on Tuesdays.” 

TyLee bites her cheek. “I can probably come later in the year, but Coach Rangi says that most of our competitions are going to be on Tuesdays and Thursdays, sometimes Saturdays for the big ones.” 

Azula nod, she has an overwhelming desire to guilt her into dropping gymnastics. Instead she lightly bites down on her pen. 

“Are you mad?” 

Azula shakes her head. 

She isn’t mad. 

She is scared. 

Scared and somehow she feels alone. 

.oOo.

She finds herself in the lunchroom again, bracing herself for another conversation that she couldn't get invested in.

"Hey, can I copy your history homework?" Chan asks. "Kyoshi is going ham with these assignments."

"I suppose that it looks that way to someone who hadn’t turned his assignments in, in over a week." Azula shrugs.

"So that's a no?" Chan asks.

"Chan, I threw out that worksheet a week ago." She pushes another away, and I already turned this packet in."

"Well shit..." he mutters.

"I heard you're thinking of joining the astronomy club, Toph." Azula hears Suki say as the pair breezed by.

"That's right!" Toph replies boldly. "I'm going to be Agni High's first blind stargazer! Principal Pathik is going to be so proud."

"You just want to discuss extra terrestrial conspiracy theories." Katara mumbles.

“God, they are such dorks.” Yue comments. 

Azula shrugs but she isn’t going to disagree. Though she does wonder exactly what warranted the comment this time. She tests the waters, “if you think astronomy is for dorks then why are you going to the club?”

“First of all, it’s cool when we do it. Second of all, I promised Katty that I’d be better than her at everything.” 

“Pretty sure that I made Zuzu the same promise.” Azula flicks her bangs. She fills in one last answer on her worksheet and puts it away.

“Done already?” Jet asks.

“Did you expect anything less?” Mai asks. “How long have you been sitting with us now?”

“Much longer than any of us can tolerate.” Azula mutters, drawing a cheerful laugh from TyLee. 

“And here I was going to share my cookie with you.” He shuffles around in his paper bag and fishes out an absurdly large chocolate chip cookie.

Azula holds her hand out. “I suppose that we can tolerate your presence a bit longer.” 

He chuckles and breaks the cookie in half. 

“What about the rest of us?” Yue asks.

“Yeah, you jackass!” Chan adds. 

Azula exhales, it is refreshing to be talking about things unrelated to relationships and homecoming dances, and other matters that remind of her of what’s to come. She tries to immerse herself in the conversation. Tries to remind herself to just think about the first astronomy club meeting.

.oOo.

“I bet that you can’t even work a child friendly telescope.” Yue drums her fingers on the table. 

“I’ve been stargazing longer than you have.” Katara counters. 

Azula finds herself a seat, next to Yue. She gives the room a once over. Other than Yue and Katara, she knows no one. She finds herself somewhat disappointed that Toph had only been jesting about joining the club. She supposes that she doesn’t mind some time to herself. The stars are supposed to be serene anyways. Serene and quiet and a steady constant when she needs some sort of stability. 

“You’re just mad because my daddy bought me the last StareScape model 10.” Yue declares. 

“Just because you have an overpriced telescope, doesn’t mean that you have the brains to use it.”

Azula rolls her eyes, she has an itch to inform Yue that it is a StarScope model 9, but she doesn’t fancy agreeing with the brother of her competition. She would rather observe the squabble than part-take. She isn’t quite in the mood for petty games these days, if she ever had been at all. 

The more she ponders it, the more she begins to consider that, perhaps, she is only with the in crowd because her family has money. That’s the only reason Zuko isn’t harassed. It’s the only reason that the girls flock to him, or so he claims. 

“Tell her, Azula!” Yue pulls her back into the present.”

Azula rolls her eyes. “Tell her what.” 

“That she’s not allowed to be here. No nerds in the astronomy club.”

“I’m fairly certain that the astronomy club was founded by a gaggle of nerds.”

“Whose side are you on?” Yue asks. 

“Whichever side has more brain cells at the time.” She shrugs. Sure the girl’s brother is competition, but at least the girl doesn’t make Azula feel like her IQ points are dwindling with every passing second spent in her company. Resentfully, she recalls that her IQ points are really the only advantages she has. “Besides, this is your age old rivalry. Not mine.”

“Thank you!” Katara throws her hands up. 

“Don’t get the wrong idea. You’re brother is a nuisance and I have a feeling that it runs in the family.” She folds her arms over her chest. She has to remind them every now and again, has to remind herself of why she has a higher place on the social ladder. She has to maintain it somehow. And since she can’t flash a gorgeous smile or flaunt an enticing body, she’d just have to settle for asserting her dominance and pick friends carefully. Not that she really particularly trusts anyone in these halls save for Mai and TyLee. 

Katara scowls but folds her arms with a ‘humph’.

If the banter were to continue it would have been cut short anyhow. Mr. Zhao appears in the room with a stack of books and star charts. She hopes to God that he is less humdrum and sour after school hours. “Where is Pathik?” Asks a boy from the other side of the room. “Usually principal Pathik runs the club.” 

“Pathik is busy with final back to school matters.” Zhao replied. “I will be filling in for him for the time being.”

“Hoo-ray.” Yue slouches in her chair, puffs out her cheeks, and blows at a strand of her hair. Azula can’t help but think that, somehow, that expression is still more attractive than whatever she has going on with her own face at any given moment. She grips her pencil more firmly. 

“I have a rather special announcement. Exciting news.” Zhao drawls. 

His monotonous demeanor certainly drove his words home.

“This year, we are offering a chance to visit the NIR&Ex...”

“Isn’t that a designer brand?” Yue asks.

“It’s the National Interstellar Research and Exploration Institute, you dolt.” Katara hisses. 

“As well as a chance to earn a scholarship to Laogai Lake University. Many astronomers have graduated from there like…” Zhao peers down at his paper. “Wan, Sozin, and Agni High’s own Yangchen.”

“Isn’t Sozin, like, your uncle or something? The one who always talks like a poetry book.” 

“He’s my great-grandfather, Yue. You’re thinking of Iroh.”

“I’m trying to hear this!” Katara shushes through gritted teeth. “Maybe your daddies can bribe you in, but I actually need this.”

Yue rolls her eyes. “Listen to that. I hear that she gets wears secondhand socks from her brother. That’s why they call him Sokka, because he keeps giving her his socks.”

“They call him Sokka because that’s. His Name.”

Azula pinches the bridge of her nose, she doesn’t know just how long she can tolerate this for. She came here for solace and at least a fraction of a moment of peace. 

“Sure it is…” Yue replies.

Azula groans softly before getting up and going to sit next to the boy on the other side of the room. 

[anhed-nia]

BLOGTOBER 10/23 & 10/25/2018: HALLOWEEN (2007) & HALLOWEEN II (2009)

By the time Rob Zombie made the bold move of remaking John Carpenter’s name-making classic HALLOWEEN, the horror rock-star’s directorial career had already proved to be incredibly divisive. His 2003 film debut, HOUSE OF 1,000 CORPSES drew a cult from among diehard fans of his music, but was largely panned by critics who identified it as a ramshackle, self-indulgent disaster. The movie was little more than a Frankensteining-together of Zombie’s favorite things, but he managed to follow it up swiftly with 2005′s semi-sequel, THE DEVIL’S REJECTS. With this project, he appropriated three of the principle characters from his cartoony, ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW-like first feature, and reimagined them as the redneck antiheroes of a story that plays like a cross between THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE and THE WILD BUNCH. While DEVIL’S REJECTS showed major improvements in terms of drive and focus, it still felt unsettled. It is an emotionally confused movie that has trouble deciding whether its tale is more tragic for the innocent victims of its psychopathic protagonists, or more triumphant, for the Rejects’ anti-establishment swagger and charisma. Rob Zombie displays a refined aesthetic sense, and seems sincere in his storytelling, but he didn’t have much time to let these things ferment into a more potent cinematic brew before he stepped up to bat again with his controversial remake of the beloved HALLOWEEN in 2007. 

Reviled even by the likes of John Carpenter himself, Zombie’s dour, ponderous retelling of the archetypal slasher story was baffling to critics and genre buffs alike. Loaded up with clunky psychoanalysis that flies in the face of Carpenter’s original intention--Michael Myers is PURE NO-REASON EVIL, FULL STOP--this iteration of HALLOWEEN worked for few people besides Zombie’s hardcore stans. In spite of that very large and general problem, the writer-director was back again in 2009 with a sequel to his own remake. With HALLOWEEN II, he took two major creative risks: Bringing the ubiquitous Sheri Moon Zombie back even though her character died early in the first film, and centering the narrative on Laurie Strode’s psychological recovery, or lack thereof, from her original ordeal. It is easy to see how this setup would draw more complex and ambivalent responses. Mrs. Zombie’s appearance as the ghost of Myers’ mother, whose character is plagued by a lot of Jungian nonsense, was identified fairly as ludicrous by many viewers. On the other hand, Scout Taylor-Compton’s return as Laurie Strode takes a character who was little more than a cardboard cutout in the first film, and turns her into a convincing mass of trauma who undergoes a profound transformation over the course of this sequel. As with THE DEVIL’S REJECTS, HALLOWEEN II suggests that even while Rob Zombie can be an incredibly frustrating filmmaker, he still seems to be on to something. Even in my most stuck-up moments, when his smug use of slow motion and arias of unshocking cuss words make me want to forget everything I just watched, his movies nag at me in a way that I have a hard time describing.  I’m just now starting to formulate an understanding of why.

Often, I find myself asking: Who is Rob Zombie? First and foremost, he is a professional nerd. His music, art, videos, and feature films are strung together by his scholarship in all things genre, whether he’s invoking Tobe Hooper’s snuff-like realism, or the innocent sitcom pleasures of the Munsters. Zombie is vastly erudite about horror, and really anything remotely culty. This is actually to the detriment of HOUSE OF 1,000 CORPSES, which is so bloated with pop culture references that it almost chokes out the movie’s dubious originality. But while he has that irritating nerdy compulsion to competitively show off what he knows, he doesn’t seem like the kind of guy who buys and bags comics without even cracking them open. Rob Zombie is clearly, legitimately passionate; it’s heartwarming, and enough to make you want to root for him even when you don’t totally love what he’s doing. His craftsmanship is on point, too, as a multimedia artist whose talent has been abundantly evident since the early band flyer days. It comes as no surprise that he attended Parsons School of Design, and he occasionally shows his hand as an amateur film historian with a love for golden age Hollywood. So, whatever he wants you to think about his hellbilly stage presence, he’s clearly no hick, and no basement-dwelling dweeb either. He’s an educated artist with a background in New York City’s brainy ‘80s noise rock scene. It’s because of this that I find the worshipful attitude his films take toward their sociopathic murderers to be, well...kind of annoying. Why am I supposed to think it’s so cool, as the movies’ punk rock tone suggests, that the Firefly family tortures random bystanders to death for no apparent reason? Why doesn’t Rob Zombie know how tired the whole “scary clown” thing is, and has been for a long time already, even when it’s someone as magical as Sid Haig under the greasepaint? Why do I feel like Zombie’s interest in pimps and ho’s is deeper than just exploitation pastiche, which makes it potentially worse than if it were just a shallow affectation? The thought of this Massachusetts-born college boy fantasizing obsessively about being so crude and violent and salt-of-the-earth is kind of lame. So, instead of just, you know, being a hater as usual, I looked it up--and discovered that Rob Zombie’s roots are actually in the fairway. As Wikipedia aggregates from various interviews: 

While raising their sons, Rob's parents worked in a carnival, but they chose to leave after a riot broke out and tents were set on fire. Zombie recalled the experience in an interview, stating, "Everybody's pulling out guns, and you could hear guns going off. I remember this one guy we knew, he was telling us where to go, and some guy just ran up to him and hit him in the face with a hammer – just busted his face wide open. My parents packed up real quick, and we took off."

Suddenly, it all started to make sense. Sure, the costumed popstar isn’t an undead cross between Jerry Lee Lewis and Charles Starkweather in real life, but he isn’t a complete poseur either. It isn’t immediately clear, from underneath his mountain of collectory movie references, that he is, more or less, writing what he knows. He isn’t just emulating his cultural heroes, he’s mythologizing his own childhood. 

In view of this, the key to Rob Zombie’s movies is not an awareness of horror history and semiology; it’s actually all about outlaw culture. So, back to 2007′s deeply flawed HALLOWEEN. It’s a heavily bro-y movie, in its outsidery way, that breaks up the Dr. Loomis-Michael Myers-Laurie Strode love triangle, and focuses almost entirely on building a Myers biography. The fascinatingly sullen Daeg Neergaard Faerch plays young Michael, a fatherless boy on the verge of snapping from the relentless torment coming at him from all directions: his slutty sister, school bullies who fixate on his stripper mom (Sheri Moon Zombie), and his mother’s latest violent, depraved boyfriend. Michael follows the serial killer script perfectly, graduating rapidly from torturing animals to brutalizing other kids to annihilating his sister, her boyfriend, and his mother’s beau one Halloween night when his sibling chooses sex over taking her little brother trick-or-treating. He soon finds himself installed in a mental institution where he moves on to slaughtering the staff. Dr. Loomis (Malcolm McDowell) spends years evaluating the boy, though he is ultimately stymied by Michael’s profound lack of humanity. As Michael increasingly retreats behind the folksy homemade masks he spends all day crafting, the opportunistic Loomis gives up on him, instead committing his energy to a money-making true crime/pop psychology book about Myers. Flashing forward, we find the hulking adult Michael Myers (played by the 6′8″ wrestler Tyler Mane) getting ready to bust out of the asylum and wage war on his home town of Haddonfield. There we finally meet teen dream Laurie Strode, a spunky babysitter with a gaggle of gal pals who are perfect grist for the slasher mill. In the final leg of the film, Myers carves his way through Laurie’s social circle, in an apparent attempt to reunite with his sister: Laurie herself. Sheriff Brackett (Brad Dourif) reveals that when Michael’s despairing mother committed suicide years ago, he took her infant daughter and had her adopted out anonymously to insulate her from her family’s tragic history. Laurie, for her part, is unaware of anything other than her need to survive, which she only barely accomplishes.

Naturally, Laurie’s story is the weakest part of a movie that is otherwise so focused on male experience. That is, the experience of needing a father, the ambivalent and ambiguous craving for maternal intimacy, the trauma of having your masculinity impugned by your (fag-obsessed) peers, and perhaps even the undermining influence of academia and capitalism on a man’s natural-born strength and worth. When the newly-freed Michael Myers storms through a truck stop to begin his pilgrimage to Haddonfield, and Rob Zombie chooses to accompany this scene with Rush’s regal outlaw anthem “Tom Sawyer”, it tells you everything you need to know about this take on HALLOWEEN. Like the rampaging Firefly family in DEVIL’S REJECTS, Michael is certainly evil, but he also represents something essential about the formation of and reinforcement of one’s individuality in the face of castrating societal norms--something the carnies among whom Rob Zombie grew up would have found very relatable.

It’s worth noting here that, while the sexuality of the women in Michael’s life plays a role in his distorted development, he is not reacting to their sexuality in and of itself. Michael Myers is not driven by the kind of covetousness that we associate with the archetypal slasher, who gives sexually frustrated male viewers a vicarious thrill by punishing sluts and teases. Michael’s problem is that his mother and sister’s sexuality contributes to his isolation. His classmates use his mother’s profession against him, and that profession keeps her from being able to tuck him in at night. Similarly, Michael doesn’t get to enjoy Halloween with his family and the other neighborhood kids, because his sister is too busy getting laid. Michael is abandoned, even while he still has a home to return to, an outsider even in his own house. 

This leads me to an important point about why the portion of the movie that is devoted to Laurie's struggle is so ineffective. It is a flaw in the film, but a virtue of the director: Normal, attractive teenagers are not Rob Zombie’s people. He doesn’t even participate in traditional slasher movie misogyny, he’s so far away from thinking about them. His movies are full of badass women who are fully possessed of their sexuality, and who wield it like a weapon against hypocrites and assholes, and this is always shone in a heroic light. Moreover, he delights in casting women of all shapes and ages, often assigning them immense personal power, as in LORDS OF SALEM, an enormously satisfying movie about society’s original persecuted outcasts: witches. Rob Zombie is deeply committed to outsiders, and his definition of them isn’t limited to banal lawbreaking--he also rejects conventional beauty and our cultural obsession with youth. His films are populated by all manner of human beings, and the farther away they are from looking like model material, the more likely it is that they’re meant to be the heroes. On that note, whatever you think of his movies, you have to acknowledge that they are almost never dehumanizing. Zombie is an accomplished actor’s director who gets a full spectrum of emotion out of his performers, and who excels at creating a feeling of camaraderie within his ensemble casts. It is this surprising sweetness, and compassion even for the victims of the villains he lionizes, that makes HALLOWEEN II so peculiarly effective.

If 2007′s HALLOWEEN was a remake on which Rob Zombie couldn’t resist draping some of his personal hangups, HALLOWEEN II is almost a completely original and separate entity from what one thinks of as the franchise started by John Carpenter. In it, Michael Myers is presumed dead but his body is missing--and indeed, his character is missing for much of the movie. We find a disturbed, scarred-up Laurie Strode living with her surviving friend Annie, and Annie’s father, Sheriff Bracket. Laurie is dealing, poorly, with a heavy dose of PTSD. Along with nightmares and flashbacks, she also has trouble just being nice to people, or accepting affection. Annie and her father’s attempts to be charitable with their adoptive family member are no match for Laurie’s increasing surliness and mistrust of the world. Once a good-natured and optimistic young woman, her appearance becomes vagrant-like (curiously similar to Rob Zombie’s own casual look), her attitude is more and more nihilistic, and she develops a drinking problem. I’ve always wanted to see a movie with a slasher-like narrative foundation, but that focuses on aftermath and recovery, and recent gimmicky efforts like FINAL GIRL and LAST GIRL STANDING did absolutely nothing for me. HALLOWEEN II--at least, the superbly-acted Strode part of it--is the movie I’ve been asking for.

The other part of the movie is also interesting--or more specifically, it’s as ballsy as it is flawed. The movie gets off on kind of a bad foot when a title card quotes an obscure psychology text book called The Subconscious Psychosis of Dreams: 

WHITE HORSE - instinct, purity, and the drive of the physical body to release powerful and emotional forces, like rage with ensuing chaos and destruction.

This is the excuse we have for the fact that the ghost of Deborah Myers arrives with a white horse to compel her son to find his sister Laurie Strode, aka Angel Myers, to reunite their family, presumably in the afterlife. Deborah Myers is kind of a spectral cross between Glenda the Good Witch and the Wicked Witch of the West, at once welcoming and sinister, drifting in and out of Michael’s consciousness in the company of a sort of ghost of his childhood (Chase White Vaneck, who is no Daeg Faerch honestly). It might be easy to dismiss this anomaly as an expression of Michael’s mental illness, and his desire to experience an idealized version of his youth in which his mother still looks after him--except that later in the movie, during the final standoff, Laurie is shown to be physically affected by these spirits. Maybe the implication is that she and Michael suffer the same psychological ailments, but for them to share such specific hallucinations without speaking is borderline supernatural in and of itself. So, while Sheri Moon Zombie does her best with her impressive force of personality and compelling physical presence, it’s hard to say what this part of the movie serves. When I first saw the film, I was completely outraged by this, not only because it made no sense to me, but because it felt like a cheap ripoff of Sarah Palmer’s similar prophetic visions of a white horse in Twin Peaks. That was all I managed to make of it. 

Today, I still don’t love it, but I have more trouble faulting Rob Zombie for trying to make HALLOWEEN his own, something more than a remake. He also does this by truly letting go of the Shape. The famous William Shatner mask was blown in half by Laurie at the end of the 2007 HALLOWEEN, and scarcely makes much of an appearance in this movie. Michael Myers is a disheveled drifter, literally haunted by his past, whose only real aim is to find a place to belong. It’s sort of funny, in retrospect: When John Carpenter made the first HALLOWEEN, he-by-way-of-Dr. Loomis declared Michael an empty shell of a person, someone who was simply born evil, as reflected by the empty-eyed mask he wears. For some reason, though, a whole legacy of directors just couldn’t resist trying to explain Myers away. The original HALLOWEEN II then says, “Well...what if Michael Myers is on a rampage because LAURIE STRODE IS HIS SISTER? What’s that you say? Why is that a reason to rampage? Ummmm...” And then HALLOWEEN 4 sees him pursuing other young female relations of his, and then in subsequent movies there’s an accursed rune, and druids, and immortality rites, and by the time you get to HALLOWEEN 6 you have this absurd stone soup of bad ideas. It’s a miracle that this franchise became such a thing. Rob Zombie makes the same fundamental mistake, but at least he tries it in the simplest possible way, asserting plainly that Nurture, not Nature, made Michael into a killer. Now, terminally lonely, he’s like a clown waking up in his trailer to find that the carnival left without him. Exiled from mainstream society, he seeks out what remains of his family, who, due to his own violent actions, has grown up more like him than he may have imagined.

I’m not saying I think this was the best thing to do with HALLOWEEN 2. Personally, what I crave in horror movies is something that is farther beyond explanation than this--something that gesturally resembles my life experience, but that plunges past the veil of mundanity into a deeper, darker world of primordial fears and urges, addressing things that unsettle me because I cannot rationalize them. For me, horror is definitionally incomprehensible, and Rob Zombie’s HALLOWEEN diptych is fundamentally sane. But, I think what I’ve discovered is that these movies are not proper horror movies, in spite of their relentless sadistic violence. They are outlaw fables, with more DNA in common with something like EASY RIDER, than with FRIDAY THE 13TH. It’s funny to watch myself coming to a compassionate understanding of these movies that are themselves about outsiders and rejects who are specifically deprived of understanding. My goal in all this was not so much to convince people of the value of these movies, which one might reject on any number of reasonable counts, but to explain to myself why I keep coming back to them. It isn’t to condescendingly heckle them, and it isn’t just because they’re often handsome-looking, or because they’re so emotionally authentic even when the narrative is less than compelling. It must be because, even when I’ve found him challenging, I can’t help seeing Rob Zombie as a person with vision, someone who heroically eschews common consensus on taste and sense-making--the consensus even among horror fans and his own cinematic heroes--in order to say what makes sense to him personally. Finally, he has begun to make sense to me, too.

[douxreviews]

Supernatural - ‘Moriah’ Review

"Writers lie."

Holy wow. Pun intended.

Did they just make God the ultimate final season bad guy? Did they really? How meta is that?

Before I get into the heavy stuff, let's start with the funny. That explosion of harmful truth at the facial recognition company was classic comic Supernatural from beginning to end – from the stolen yogurt to the stapler queen to the President's deal with Crowley. After all of the recent grimdark, I most certainly did not expect such hilarity to ensue. "I'm Dean Winchester and I'm looking for the Devil's son. This badge is fake." Liar Liar on steroids.

And I totally did not expect Chuck to show up, even after the set-up of Castiel's prayer not that long ago. At first I thought this was a good thing, of course, because Chuck showing up is usually a good thing. Not this time.

Yes, we've been told over and over that Chuck is all about the storytelling. He's the one that writes paperback books in his underwear. It's funny (interesting, not funny ha-ha) how Dean, Sam and Castiel had pretty much had it with Chuck, all at the same time. Note their exasperated expressions as Chuck did everything he could to sell his new magical plot twist gun that could kill anything but would also kill the one who pulled the trigger. Everyone remember the Colt?

But what gave me chills was when they were all in the cemetery ("Swan Song," anyone?), Dean was standing over a kneeling Jack with that gun in his hand, and Chuck had this absorbed little grin on his face. As I said in the opener, holy wow. The Winchesters aren't real people to Chuck, after all. They're just characters in his favorite show. We sort of knew that, without really considering the implications. Archangel Michael told us that Chuck tosses worlds away like failed versions of a book, and he wasn't lying. How about that.

God is their showrunner. He has literally been playing with Dean and Sam their entire lives. They're chess pieces to him, and nothing more. Chuck actually offered to bring back Mary if Dean killed Jack, like, sacrifice your knight and pawn, I'll give you back your queen. When Dean refused to kill Jack and Sam (understandably) lost his temper and shot Chuck with the magic gun, that was it. His squirrels were fighting back. How dare they.

Story's over. Welcome to the End. That final scene as the darkness fell, the monsters rose from hell and the dead from their graves was set to the song, "God Was Never on Your Side." I thought this conflict over Jack would blast Dean and Castiel apart, with Sam in the middle, but instead, this episode ended with the three of them back to back to back, ready to fight off the dead together. So at least there's that.

With the last season approaching, I've been thinking lately that the perfect end for the series would be for Dean and Sam to knock on Mary's white door and join their parents in their special heaven (there'll be peace when you are done). But is Heaven even a thing any more? Will it still exist when the series ends?

If this world of Supernatural isn't what we've been led to believe, what about the Empty? That last shot of Jack was with Billie and the Black Cloud of Lucifer (was that Lucifer?) who made the creepiest smiley face at Jack. Does Billie have the answer to all of this? We've been told that Death can reap God. Can she?

Bits:

— Title musings and various names: "Moriah" is the place where Abraham was supposed to sacrifice Isaac, like Dean was supposed to sacrifice Jack. That cemetery looked a lot like the apocalyptic season five finale. Chuck wanted to name the gun Hammurabi, or The Equalizer. And Amara is in Reno playing Keno.

— Mirror Universe, the name of the facial recognition software company, was just about perfect: a reminder of all of Chuck's discarded universes, as well as all of the alternate universe characters we've been meeting these days.

— Note that Jack was never a threat to Chuck. Jack also didn't kill his grandmother.

— Castiel was thinking that Lucifer's cage might contain Jack. That's actually a pretty good solution.

— Yet another mention of souls. Why is Chuck powerless to change or restore them? Must be important.

— Poor Celine Dion. She's the punchline of a joke, much like Barry Manilow.

— I loved how Chuck critiqued season seven with the Leviathans and season twelve with the British Men of Letters.

— "God Was Never on Your Side" is by Motorhead. Last week, Dean, Sam and Castiel were agents Kilmister, Clarke and Taylor.

— The reference to Crowley and the universe of squirrels reminded me of Moose and Squirrel. Is Crowley in the Empty, too?

— Rob Benedict's credit was at the end. Gold acting stars for Mr. Benedict, by the way. Or possibly "God acting stars." Playing God isn't exactly easy, especially when he's become such a complicated character.

Quotes, the Mostly Chuck edition:

Dean: "Nerds." Sam: "Takes one to know one." Dean: "What?" Sam: "You. Come on, man. You're always calling me a geek, but you know every word to every Led Zeppelin song backwards and forwards, you can discuss in detail every major rock drummer between '67 and '84 and… you watch Jeopardy every night." Dean: "Yeah, okay. But I'm nothing like this gaggle of Zuckerbergs."

Dean: "I'm Dean Winchester and I'm looking for the Devil's son. This badge is fake." That made me laugh like a loon.

Female newscaster: "In what was supposed to be a speech on farming subsidies, the president instead spent more than two hours disclosing his entire tax history, his deep ties to Russia and North Korea, and the, quote, demon deal he made with someone called Crowley. Back to you, Chet. Chet?" Male newscaster: (looks directly at her) "I love you. I have always loved you."

Dean: "When people can't lie, the internet gets real quiet."

Chuck: "I'm a writer. Lying's kind of what we do."

Dean: (to Chuck) "Where the hell have you been?" Dean may be the only person I can think of who can look God in the eye and say something like that.

Chuck: "So! How's things? Okay, look, I get it. I'm the deus from the machina, and you have questions."

Sam: "Where have you been?" Chuck: "It's hard to explain. Everywhere and nowhere. Edge of the universe and beyond. And I saw Springsteen on Broadway. Man's a genius."

Newcaster: "… and it's been confirmed: the Queen of England is, in fact, a lizard." What episode is that from? I can't remember!

Chuck: "Look, the point is, the kid did all that with two words. What's next? He sneezes, and whoops, there goes India?"

Chuck: "Ugh. Billie. I liked the old Death better. He was all about fried pickles and tickle porn. This new Death, she's always sticking her scythe where it doesn't belong." Echoing the fans again.

Sam: "So how many are there? How many other worlds or universes or realities, or whatever?" Chuck: "I don't know. Kinda lost count. Most of them are boring, one's in reverse, in one there's no yellow, one of them's just all squirrels." I'm thinking a world without shrimp.

Sam: "Do you watch us? When you're not here, are you watching us?" Chuck: "Yeah. (Sam gasps) I mean, you're my favorite show."

I could write a few more pages about this episode, but I think I'm done for now. And I am totally impressed. Four out of four squirrels, and what did you guys think?

Billie Doux has been reviewing Supernatural for so long that Dean and Sam Winchester feel like old friends. Courageous, adventurous, gorgeous old friends.

[captainderyn]

1, 21, 30 & 33 for the oc asks? :)

Ah thank you for the asks @ofmistandrain

1. Tell us 3 useless facts about your favourite OC!

Let’s go Five because it’s been a very Five mood (Fivesmas one would recall from last year :’))

Five may now have 5 children. *ahem*. The oldest twins, Erin and Claire, the second oldest Rhys,  and the two youngest twins Vala and Nolan ( @delavairesslegacy did I get that right? lol) 

Erin and/or Claire inherit Five’s sharp wit and mind while Rhys is a carbon copy of his father as far as looks go. Much more a mama’s boy though :’)

Five has only a handful of times he’s let his personal control down enough to allow himself to cry in the direct aftermath of his agent career (like...think the weeks after his forced retirement) and that major time was when Era came home alive from Corellia after thinking she was KIA. 

21. Describe each of your OCs as shittily as possible.

(I apologize these are like sleep deprived driven lmao)

Rielay: Small human is made up of 50% spite and 50% bad decisions

Emeldir: Small human’s tall tree friend: 99% of her impulse control, somehow now a king consort?? 

Sirixa: Little kitten, soft kitten, purr, purr, purr. Can and will smile you to death

Tacka: Soft boi, good boi, too good for this world boi

Ien: Master of the flirting game hardcore until he Caught Feelings 

Erabelle: Murder daughter goes stabby stab

Five: Murder dad who acquired a small gaggle of murder ducklings. 

Wren: Powerful woman who can and will stab you with her stiletto if you cross her

Tarissma: Teenager with a beefy alien bodyguard and lightning powers

Reyna: Sith Mom just wants her husband and a nice vacation. Instead she gets pain and misery

Svana: Buff and tall lady is super gay for her soft cinnamon roll girlfriend

Baraneth: The queen of getting fucked by life

Ruinel: The definition of: Cute but she could kill you. Except she won’t

Briar: Bad mistakes and apostate mages. But at least she’s pretty 

Tucdela: Dalish sunshine child with a hand that wants to kill her 

Iustia: Blind scary horned lady who just wants a hug

Hyssopia: Hella bi elf who’s horny for the horned lady

30. Tell us about an OC whose personality is totally different than when you started out with them!

Well, Five for one. 

He started out an asshole older agent who’s sole purpose was to antagonize Era for breaking the rules of being a Cipher agent: forget yourself, don’t get attached, do your job. He was also dead. 

He’s...he’s no longer that. He’s still kind of an ass on the agent side but he’s really a big ol history nerd now who loves his agent children and his biological children and broke a handful of Imperial laws by marrying an ex SIS Republic woman. All changed for the better. Because delavairesslegacy told me maybe he should have a family instead of having death. 

33. What are your OCs’ zodiac signs?

I have no idea and am very bad with zodiac signs but I could see Emeldir being a Gemini and Rielay being an Aries.