#have these two overly violent goofs

[fvaleraye]

Madness Combat is a good series and we will have a bunch of OCs and sonas in it. For fun. Just a quick drawing of Vallie having to drag Faye back from the dead through 2BDamned's tried and true methods, plus the colorless reference we made of the two of them ages ago and forgot to post. Both characters use she/her, Faye uses it/its in addition.

[bunnys-beetlejuice-blog]

come on in, folks, i got some kind of goof ass Beetlejuice/Evil Dead crossover for you to enjoy.

He’s eighteen, and it’s Saturday, which means that he and Lydia are wandering around Manhattan, looking for trouble to get into. Lydia, eleven and ever his little shadow, is standing next to him, as they take a moment, on the busy New York street corner, to sip their boba and think about their next move. They were meant to be watching some horror movie that had looked alright from the previews, but ended up being so stupid, it wasn’t even fun, and the Deetz siblings had found themselves walking out, one hour poorer but a bucket of overly butter saturated movie popcorn richer. “I still can’t believe how bad that was,” Lydia says, again, huffing, because they’d actually paid money to see that stinker, instead of sneaking in, which is their usual habit. “Ya get one big name attached an’ everyone apparently stops givin’ a shit. Musta figured th’ droolin’ masses would eat it up,” he agrees, and he slurps up the last of his tapioca balls, and then proceeds to eat the plastic straw. “Is it too much to ask that characters actually be interesting, and, I don’t know, behave like normal human people?” Lyds bitches, as BJ takes a bite out of his cup, too. She glances up at him, dryly. “I mean, I guess maybe my standards for normality are low, but still.”

He grins at her. “Whatever could you possibly mean, sister dearest?” he puts on a posh, almost transatlantic accent, and she rolls her eyes, and sucks boba up in her straw, then shoots the pearls at him like a pea shooter. He snorts and laughs.

It’s a good day, despite the letdown at the movies. It’s nearly that time of year, just about the start of his seasonal depression, as the sun becomes shy and things go cold and gray. Still, there’s some time left with the sunshine, so he’s drinking it up, savoring it, and it feels good, to stand here with Lyds, and talk about nothing. “Alright, come on, let’s second act it,” he grins, and she perks up. “I think Wicked’s playing!” “Wicked’s always playin’.” “Well, I’m not sitting through Hamilton, it’s a Saturday. I’m not learning if I don’t have to.” “Totally fuckin’ fair. Music Man, maybe?” “Hugh Jackman’s weirdly brick shaped head freaks me out.” “There’s gotta be a show we can sneak into,” BJ frowns, scratching at the scruff of his chin, and then he catches a scent he’s never smelled before, as Lydia puzzles through their remaining options. It’s like death, sort of, but not. Like death warmed over, or death, refried. He takes his sister’s hand, and leads her away from the street corner, following the smell, nose in the air, pupils blown wide, and Lydia laughs. “Great, time to go poke a dead thing. That’s more fun than The Last Four Years, at least.” She’s seen him go like this before, and thinks she knows what to expect.

Neither of them know how to react when they follow the scent down an alleyway and see the violent fight happening in front of them.

Parked at the far end of the alleyway is a car, some 70’s make that he doesn’t know enough about such things to name, and between it, and the Deetz siblings, is an one handed man absolutely going feral on a group of three refried dead smelling zombie… things. “Deadly-vu,” he hears Lydia whisper, as they watch the man perform a scissor kick that sends a zombie head flying. It bounces like a basketball against the brick wall that makes the alleyway, rolls, and lands at the Deetz sibling’s feet. There’s a beat, as they stare at it, and it stares back, before the head on the ground opens its mouth and speaks. “DEMON!” it shrieks, and then it makes the life ending choice to roll at Lydia, teeth bared, and his boot is going through it, crushing through the skull like an overly juicy bug under his heel. He takes a second to wipe the gore from his sole onto the pavement. “Maybe Wicked could be good,” he turns and says to Lydia, who responds by ducking behind him, because the body the head formerly belonged to seems to be stumbling at them, clutching something in it’s boiled and infected and puss covered arms, and it thrusts the thing at BJ, before falling down and collapsing into dust. It’s a book. Some kind of creepy old demon book, from the look of it. He wrinkles his nose in vague disgust, and then takes a sniff. If the zombie things are refried death, this thing is a whole fucking Mexican food buffet of it, and it makes his head spin in a way he’s never felt before. He kind of likes it. He’s about to give the cursed reading material a tentative lick before a boom rings out from in front of them- the one handed man has pulled a sawed off shotgun off his back, and dispatched another corpse thing. There’s one left, and it’s circling the man, who by this point is so blood covered, he looks like he was tricked into being prom queen, or something.

“Is it just me, or do you freaks just keep gettin’ uglier?” the man quips, and the corpse lunges, a stumbling move which earns it the butt of the shotgun to the jaw, which goes flying. The zombie is shot through the gut, and drops, but is a twitching, squirming mess. BJ’s seen enough horror movies to know that thing is getting back up. The stranger has apparently, too. He takes a moment to reload the shotgun, then double taps, blowing clean through the thing’s skull. He blows at the slightly smoking barrels of his sawed off, twirls it, and holsters it, re-slipping it onto his back. It’s a pretty cool move, actually, and the siblings watch in rapt attention. It takes the three remaining people (well, two people, one demon,) in the alley a moment to actually focus on each other, and there’s silence, before the stranger speaks. “Uh,” says the man, covered in blood, and Lydia peaks out from behind BJ, and stares at him, with big eyes. “Kids,” he hears the man mutter. “Great, just what I need, a coupla kids, gettin’ in my way.. Hey, kiddies,” he says, louder, with a smile, which might be really charming when he’s not soaked in rot and blood, but the effect at the moment is not as sincere and friendly as he clearly thinks it is. “Looks like you two little heroes managed to wrangle my book away from those deadites. You wanna do your pal Ash a favor, and hand it over?” He makes a “come here” motion with his stump arm, and then seems to realize that’s not so appealing, because he tucks that appendage behind his back, worried, suddenly, about scaring them. As if a man with a missing hand is the weirdest thing they've seen in the last five minutes.

“What the fuck,” Lydia says, and BJ can’t help but agree with that sentiment. Also, he feels a vague sense of sudden responsibility for this weird old tome. It doesn’t exactly seem like the kind of thing a human should have. Maybe those zombies… deadites? Maybe they were trying to get back what was stolen from them. Though he’s not charitable enough to assume that they’re the good guys in this feud. The stranger, Ash, takes a careful step forward. “It’s alright,” he says, like he’s talking to a wild animal he’s trying to tame, and not a teen and preteen, respectively. “I’m not gonna hurtcha. Just need to get my book back.”

A sudden screeching wind roars down the alleyway, and both living humans react, ducking, as it bellows and swirls around them, kicking up dust and trash and chunks of leftover deadite. “Demon! Aid us!” BJ feels a presence in front of his face, something he can’t see, but a great, ancient something, reaching out to him, demanding, begging, pleading, for him to assist in whatever macabre goal it wants to meet. He responds by sticking his unglamoured tongue out at it. “Ewww, gross. No.”

The thing shrieks again, and makes a beeline for Lydia, which is just about the stupidest thing it could have done, because he drops his glamour fully and snarls, gives the ancient being a psychic push back, and he sends the thing that cannot be seen flying, out of the shady darkness of this alleyway, past what he assumes to be Ash’s car, and out onto the city street, into the sun. It shrieks and moans and curses him. He flips it off, as it dissipates. The vibe in the air, however, tells him it’s not “dead,” just gone.

Ash straightens up and looks at him. BJ’s already slipped his human disguise back on, so the effect is that Ash has just seen what seems to be a slightly too pale and definitely overweight human teen somehow push back an ancient evil, totally unaffected. Now it’s his turn to let out a confused, “What the fuck?”

“Come on, BJ!” Lydia grabs her big brother’s arm and pulls him away, running from the gore and the confused zombie slayer. “Wait, kids-!” Ash rounds the corner, after them, but the Deetz siblings are already gone, disappeared into thin air, flash stepping the span of blocks in the blink of an eye, and they don’t stop until Lydia, sick from the teleportation, gives his hand a squeeze. They appear on a rooftop, confusing and traumatizing some pigeons that had been roosting.

“Wait, why did we run?’ BJ asks, and Lydia looks at him like he’s a moron. “Because that guy was clearly a monster hunter! And kind of really good at it!” she says. He mulls that over, and smiles. “Worried for your big bro?” he bats his eyelashes at her, and she responds by slugging him in the gut, which he reacts the barest amount to. “Last thing I want is to explain to mom and dad how you ended up with a shotgun blast through your skull,” she says, and crosses her arms, before leaning forward, to study the book he’s still holding. “So. What is that?” He grins. “Wanna open it an’ find out?” Read the rest of the first chapter here!

[jonspurpleskirt]

An Unlikely Befriending

Summary: Jon gets kidnapped. Jon gets bored. And Jon makes very unlikely friends because of it. Aka: Pen and Paper saves the day (world) and Jon finally gets to have a band. A/N: This is pure fluff, no warnings apply I think. ___

The worst thing about being kidnapped by a crazy mannequin murder clown monstrousity and sitting in a cold, room with creepy wax works, tied to a chair was not the ever present terror. True the fear of Nikola finally deeming his skin good enough and skinning him alive was quite potent, but it wasn't as bad as boredom.

Jon had never taken well to waiting. His mind needed to be occupied 24/7, needed something to latch onto, to obsess about. It's why he became a researcher in the first place. Having most of his freedom taken from him made occupying himself very hard.

At least they still let him eat and drink here and there. Nikola always visited personally, her overly cheery voice bubbling forth as she chattered away while slathering him with lotion or shoving bits of take out food in his mouth. His diet those last two weeks had been very varied and healthy and he had never drank so much water before.

He still probably looked a mess, what with no access to a shower and barely being able to sleep at all. And the constant terror. Oh yeah and the boredom.

Oh the boredom.

Jon was currently sitting in his chair as he was wont to do. Thankfully not nailed down despite all the nagging from Sarah Baldwin. The coffin was singing or moaning with a slight melody behind it, depending on who you asked. And somehow Jon found himself humming along, trying to find a good melody to go with the haunting tune. It wasn't like he had anything better to do and if he didn't start doing something creative his mind would start eating itself soon.

So he hummed, experimenting with the notes, twisting them into something that was reminiscent of circus music and airships. And then he kept humming the melody over and over, forming words in his mind to go with the tune. Once the spark was lit a fire started to burn, the story branching out and out into a twirling mass of chaos and fire.

He had gotten lost in his imagination, hadn't noticed how loud he had become, hadn't heard Nikola approach. Jon screeched when she leant down over him and grinned at him upside down, nose nearly touching his.

Nikola had the gall to laugh at him, no breath fanning over his face as she did so.

"Awww Archivist! I didn't know you had such a nice voice!"

"Hrmph."

"Yes your singing was also quite good!" She straightened herself, back cracking in several places. Striding around his chair she towered over him, tattered, bloody ringmaster uniform filling his field of vision.

"I'm glad you feel comfortable enough to sing, of course! And the broken repeat is lovely."

"Hm."

"Anyway water time!"

With gleeful cackling she ripped the tape from his mouth, amused enough to not immediately shove the bottle between his teeth.

"There are words to it, too." Jon rushed to say, not exactly sure why. What was he offering her here? A solo performance?

"Oh?" she at least didn't tape his mouth shut again. For now.

After waiting several beats where both stared at each other and nothing else happened Jon dared to speak up again.

"I ah... well I wrote it myself? Not wrote, of course. My hands are tied at the moment-" He was rambling. Nikola had given him the freedom of speech and he was off like a shot, telling her everything about what he had been thinking about before she had interrupted his impromptu jamming session, terror completely terminating his brain to mouth filter.

Nikola, for her part, took it all in stride. She even settled on the floor in front of him, blinking every now and then to indicate that she was still present.

"It's such a shame." she finally spoke, holding the water bottle to his mouth, letting him drink of his own volution for once. "You would have made a perfect piece for the choir. Hm maybe what will be left of you will do."

"I could sing for you now." Jon offered as soon as his mouth was free again.

Nikola startled at the offer and Jon just shrugged as much as he was able to. He'd rather sing to a creepy murder doll than spend one minute longer alone and bored out of his mind. And if he could delay the Unknowing (and the violent removal of his skin) by keeping Nikola entertained than even better.

That sounded like he almost had a plan. Which was untrue. He only had a very strong desire for entertainment.

"No sneaky questions." Nikola warned.

"Promise. I can't guarantee good quality rhymes, though. I'm still workshopping."

Singing out loud what had been in his head was always an awkward affair. He had wanted to start a band with Georgie in uni. But it was exactly because of this that he had never bothered.

"That was fun!" Nikola screamed after he was finished nontheless. Clapping her hands in delight, which created a horrible cracking noise.

"I'm glad? I also DM."

She tilted her head at him. "What's that?"

Jon explained the concept of pen and paper games to her while she rubbed lotion into his skin and had her hooked immediately.

Later that day (or maybe the next day, really Jon had no concept of time anymore) Jon was for the first time allowed out of his chair, carefully rubbing circulation back into his hands. Nikola had only briefly left him alone after watering and lotioning him. They had hashed out what kind of world and system they wanted to use (a horror setting, of course) and then Nikola was off and dragging Breekon and Hope back into the room so they had enough people to play.

Either Breekon or Hope sat down behind Jon, large hands lightly clasping his arms, squeezing every once in a while to remind him that should he try and escape he would only end up in pain.

Jon shifted awkwardly in the grip, unused to gentleness even if it was supposed to be threatening.

"Alright. First, character creation. Who do you guys want to play?"

It became a daily thing. The three beings in his group quickly became addicted to his story telling and to the characters they were allowed to play. Nikola tore through characters, trying on different personalities like pieces of clothing. She had a beautiful eery singing voice, Jon was surprised to find out when she had decided to play a member of a steampunk band.

Breekon and Hope were less manic, too attached to their twins to play anyone else. They changed voices and accents every session, though. Jon deigned to ignore their shenanigans, scared to make them angry. He hadn't had this much fun in ages, he didn't want to loose that.

The two delivery men took turns holding him down while they played, Hope holding onto his arms and Breekon using him like a child would a Teddy bear.

Eventually the three lingered after their sessions had ended, the ropes that tied him to his chair less tight. Jon tried to keep the conversations casual, to not ask all the questions that burned at the tip of his tongue. He found that he didn't need to. Tongue loose from goofing around Nikola was often chatty, Breekon and Hope throwing in their two cents every once in a while.

Eventually the topic about Tims younger brother came up.

"Danny Stoker? Grimauldi skinned him? Hm..." Nikolas head nearly dislodged as she stared at the ceiling in thought. "Noooo." She giggled. "We didn't skin anyone that night, silly! We were scoping out locations for the dance! Danny's little group stumbled into us and got a little confused~"

"But Tim saw Grimauldi rip Dannys skin off of a puppet."

Nikola shrugged. "An illusion. We're good at making you people see things that aren't really there. Yet."

"So Danny is alive?"

"I believe so!~ If he didn't die in a ditch somewhere."

Jon was very careful to keep his voice as soft as possible with the next question. "Could you find him again and bring him to the Institute? To Tim and... I don't know... maybe that's a stupid idea given that he can't be sure it's really him..."

"If I track him down do I get inspiration for my character next session?"

"That's cheating." Breekon complained under his breath behind Jon.

"I... yes?"

Nikola grinned. "Wonderful! I see what I can do!"

Days went by like that, Nikola or Breekon or Hope updating him on Dannys search, which had turned out to be harder than they had thought. Well at least Jon was keeping them busy.

They were in the middle of racing a burning train into the central bank of London when a door creaked behind Jon, bathing the room in technicolour and spiral shapes.

"That is not what I thought I'd find here." A voice that wavered between confused and gleeful mused.

Jon twisted in the grip Breekon had on him. "Hello Michael."

"Hello Archivist. You've found yourself in an interesting situation." The grin Michael shot him was a knife glinting in the light before striking.

"Yes. Why are you here?"

Nikola had let him practice after Jon had explained his lack of training, much more lax with her hostage now that he fed her fascinating stories of blood and gore. So there was no trace of compulsion in his voice when he asked the question.

Michael answered truthfully anyway. "I came to kill you of course!"

"I have dips on that!" Nikola said, voice pleasant and grin feral.

"I'm sorry about that. Would you like to join the game instead?"

Michael stared at him as though he had grown mad. Impressed, curious and lightly terrified. Then it laughed that horrible, headache inducing laugh.

"There's a lot of lies and delusion." Jon coaxed, heart beating out of his chest with nerves.

"He's a good storyteller." Hope added, Nikola and Breekon nodding along.

"Hm alright. I guess I can play for a bit."

It didn't stay just for a bit. Michael stayed through the finale of the story and then demanded to start another, their little ragtag group of definitely not heroes causing more chaos than any other player group Jon had ever DMed before. And that was saying something. Hours upon hours passed, Michael disappearing and reappearing to get Jon coffee and tea to keep his voice from giving out.

In the middle of it all Michael began twitching and twisting, glitching in and out of sight before slumping to the ground with a groan, form for once near comprehensible. Another door opened and out walked Helen looking down at the Distortion in disappointment.

"Oh that didn't destroy you. Shame."

"Helen?"

"Hello Jon! I was coming to rescue you given that Michael got a little distracted. Do you want to come to the archives with me?"

Honestly Jon should have been shocked, probably angry. He was definitely sad. And yet the most he felt was just an overwhelming sense of whelp.

Jon vaguely gestured towards Nikola, as much as Breekons hold allowed him to. "Ask her."

"We're not done yet."

"Later then?"

Nikola considered Jon for a long moment, both staring unblinking at each other. "Give us an hour."

To Jons great surprise Helen just nodded and delicately sat on the chair Jon usually frequented in his "freetime" all prim and proper except for the long sharp fingers curling at the edges like corkscrews.

"Now where were we?"

Michael groaned from the floor for once not smiling. Jon felt a twinge of sympathy for him.

"Are you alright?"

"Been better. Been worse. Let's burn this village down!"

There was no end to the tale they had been playing, not with just one session of playtime. Jon felt a bit bad about that, especially because he had left it at a cliffhanger. No one seemed to be angry at him for it, though. Michael had recovered fast and was again his usual ominous cheery, albeit lightly aggressive self. He poked and prodded at Helen like a curious cat while Nikola massaged lotion into Jons skin for the last time and handed him several expensive looking bottles, rattling down a step by step skin care routine he was to follow to the t or else she would break into his house and do it herself.

Hope patted him on the head. "See you around, Archivist."

"You're really letting me go? Just like that?" Jon still couldn't believe it.

Nikola shrugged. "I found another option. And I'd like to keep doing this after the Unknowing."

"Will that be even possible?"

The grin he got from was not at all reassuring. "I don't know~"

Well that was probably the best he would get from her. Jon gave a hesitant tiny wave and, flanked by both Michael and Helen stepped through their door.

Back at the archive no one had even questioned his disappearance. A fact that made Michael and Helen laugh, even though they both refused to leave as Tim, Melanie and Basira questioned him about his whereabouts.

Martin was the only one who took Jons forced vacation in stride. Maybe he even was a little too happy about a group of mannequins harassing him to take better care of himself.

"You're not compromised now, are you?" Basira asked when Jon had settled back into his office after a long shower.

"No? Because I still don't want the world to end?"

"Good."

Somehow Jon knew that she would still keep an eye on him from now on.

~~~

When the day came to blow up the ritual site Jon hadn't slept a wink in three nights and was overcome by guilt. Despite how aweful his initial time at the circus had been and despite him knowing what horrible things Nikola and her kin did in their freetime, Jon still felt bad about probably killing her.

He tried to rationalize his feelings away, connecting his rising anxiety with the fact that Danny still hadn't been found. It was a flimsy denial.

Tim stayed by his side the whole time, resolute in his burning desire for vengeance. Jon was scared that he would loose him to this, too. Had confessed as much to Michael and Helen, who had taken to keeping at least one door manifested somewhere in the tunnels at all times. The two had started to get along well after some initial disagreement. The Spiral, split as it was between the two of them, was weaker in its influence now, leaving more of Michael Shelley and Helen Richardson to make decisions.

They weren't here now. Daisy, Basira and Tim were, setting up explosives and arguing about rescuing people that were already long dead.

And then Nikola appeared and the dance started and nothing made sense anymore.

Jon woke up six months later, Georgie calling him a monster and Basira giving him a statement to "eat" catching him up on everything he had missed. Tim had miraculously survived, having been dragged through a door by either Helen or Michael. Daisy and Basira had encountered Breekon and Hope, who had argued about what they should do with "Jons feral friends" and in the end had led them savely out of the building before it could go boom, muttering about possible inspiration points.

The only one who hadn't been saved was Jon. He tried not to feel too hurt about that.

Coming back to work was as anti climatic as it had been after the kidnapping. The only one who seemed happy to see him was Martin. He had apologized profusely for the hug and promptly stopped doing so when Jon dashed forward and back into Martins warm embrace, finally breaking down.

He had been too caught up in his crying to make a note of the little kiss Martin pressed into his hair.

They all were a little lost after averting the apocalypse, normal everyday life eluding them. Elias might have been out of the picture for the moment, but Peter Lukas had taken over and fighting against the isolation was taking its toll on everyone.

They were all huddled in the breakroom, faces grim and stewing in silence so as to not break into an arguement when they got their delivery.

Breekon and Hope stepped into the small space with their usual nonchalance dragging a scared young man between them, who had a lot of resemblance to Tim.

"Delivery for Jonathan Sims. Nikola says hi."

Tim was the first one up. "No... No no nononononono that can't be. He's dead. Jon. Jon tell me is that really him?!"

Jon looked at the scared man, who had his gaze locked on Tim, recognition slowly dawning on his face. He Looked and he Knew.

"Yes. No one was killed the night Danny disappeared. His group encountered Nikola and her troupe during a rehearsal, got confused and then lost. And was lost ever since. Nikola told me of this. She promised to find him for me, for you."

That was all Tim needed to rush forward, catching his brother in his arms and hugging him close. "Danny!"

Danny clung back just as tightly, awareness barely back. Still obviously shaken and confused.

Jon smiled at the two delivery men. "Thank you. Will he... will he be alright."

Hope shrugged. "Dunno. Nikola said to make him remember bit by bit. Been not Danny for a long time. Might need to get used to it again."

"We'll take it slow." Tim promised, silent tears streaming down his face.

"Good luck. Hey Archivist, do we get inspiration, too?"

Jon laughed, incredulous. The others in the room watched the exchange with varying degress of exasperation and outrage.

"You know what? Yes. Yes you have. And I'll give you all advantage on your rolls next session. Only that one session, though! Same for Nikola. How is she, by the way?"

Breekon made a so-so sign. "Restless. We've waited over six months to find out what happens after  that cliffhanger you gave us."

"Right." He still couldn't believe it. "Tonight 8 o'clock, my flat?"

Twin grins, the most excited he had ever seen them. "See you then, Archivist."

Tim was still gently hushing his brother, rocking back and forth on his feet to try and calm him down a little. And he still had tears streaming down his face, looking like an absolute wreck. But he still managed to join the unimpressed stares that were thrown his way by everyone but Martin, who at this point had just started to roll with the punches.

"You really befriended the clown club and made them rescue literally all of us?" Basira asked in a deadpan voice.

"I kind of feel cheap now." Daisy muttered. "As though those clowns let us win."

"Look, what can I say? Pen and Paper games are fun. I can't blame them. And Nikola did want to start a band."

"Oh my god." Melanie groaned, her head thunking onto the table. "I can't believe it."

"A band?" Basira asked, suddenly much more alert. They really had gotten quite desensitized to the whole monster thing, hadn't they? "What, you can sing?"

"As a matter of fact, yes. But really. Shouldn't we... I mean shouldn't we focus on Danny? There's a cot-"

"I know." Tim interrupted. "We all know there's a cot. I'll take him home, you keep talking about your weird band plans. Monster boss? We talk later, but... thank you."

Silence reigned long enough to follow Tim out of the Institute before Martin piped up, cheeks reddening before he had even opened his mouth. "Could we... Could we have a taste?"

"A taste? Of what? My voice?"

"Hold up, if Sims is going to sing I'll have to record it." Melanie tapped on her phone and held it into the room as one would do a microphone. "Alright go."

Jon sighed, what he didn't do to keep up the group morale.

"Aww shit." Was Basiras conclusion when he was done. "What kind of music were you thinking of playing?"

"Steampunk."

"Count me in."

~~~

Today had been weird, Jon thought, mind reeling from the whiplash of... kindness? That had happened after the delivery of one Danny Stoker. Granted the last month, no

year

had been weird. But this had topped it all. At least it had been a nice weird.

Jon had nearly forgotten about his appointment with a certain group of Strangers when he got back to his flat, overworked, hungry and still processing. So he should be forgiven for the scream he let out when he saw three large figures huddling on his too small couch.

"You haven't been taking care of your skin at all!"

There was no time to duck away from the cold, hard hands that fluttered all over his body. Nikola squished his cheeks like a proper grandmother, clearly unhappy about their elasticity.

"I was in a coma for six months."

"And awake for a few weeks now." A cheerful male voice said from behind him, bringing the smell of pizza with it.

"We were there he didn't take care of himself at all!" Helen added, putting down several cans of soda and what looked to be instant coffee.

"You're horrible!" Nikola wailed, manhandling him until he was squished between Breekon and Hope. "All my beautiful work! Ruined!"

"Uh... sorry?"

"You can make it up to us with weekly sessions." Michael suggested with a grin.

"Both on Saturday and Sunday!" Helen added.

"I actually planned for Sunday to be band day." Jon lied. "Basira wants to join, by the way."

They were all settled around the small coffee table now, food and drink on the floor so they had enough place to roll their dice.

"Wonderful! What did you think we'd name it?"

Jon tilted his head given the illusion of thinking it over even though he had known what to name his band since highschool.

"The Mechanisms."

[homebody-nobody]

you’re a part of me

(WHAT?? Jax wrote ANOTHER fic?? THREE FICS?? in TWO WEEKS?? I know, I’m shocked too. We’re gettin closer and closer to bein a Real Fic Writer lads.) How many juke first kiss fics will you write, Jax? all of them. as many as I want. I dunno. you're an adult obsessed with a tweeny-bopper show. shut up. who even has the patience for 5 +1s in this house it's 3 +1 and only barely bc I don't know how structured fic works so it's not even separate like it's supposed to be. anyway enjoy some dumb teenagers falling in love if the dialogue is cringe sorry lol I was trying to stay in the tone of the show and may have gone a little bit too disney channel (Also if you see typos/the same adjective used twice in one sentence/paragraph, no you didn't I don't edit it makes me nervous)  ------------------------------- (ao3) ------------------------------ '... Luke has thrown out any semblance of personal space. He orbits around her just as closely as the others, no longer threatened by or hyper-aware of the consequences of his proximity. Basically, he’s getting entirely too comfortable.'

(3 times Julie and Luke almost kissed and 1 time they did) ------------------------------------ Luke is overly physical. Theoretically, Julie already knew this. She’s seen him with the boys, the way he lives in other people’s space, hanging off Reggie and lurking next to Alex, not caring where his lanky limbs or knees or elbows end up, even if it’s in other people’s ribs. He was never like that with her, too afraid of the crushing disappointment that came when she phased through his hands. But now, there isn’t the strange, tingles-up-her neck way-weird, way-wrong sensation that came when she accidentally brushed through him. So even though Julie’s used to keeping a respectful distance, Luke has thrown out any semblance of personal space. He orbits around her just as closely as the others, no longer threatened by or hyper-aware of the consequences of his proximity.  Basically, he’s getting entirely too comfortable. 

She notices it the first time during rehearsal, when they’re hashing out the particulars of a melody -- Luke wants it to go down, and Julie thinks it should go up. She plunks herself down at the grand piano to prove that her idea will sound better, fanning the half-finished sheet music out across the top, pointing out the measure they’re arguing over, smudged and crinkled from repeated erasings. 

Luke narrows his eyes at her from across the room, his face set in his trademark (adorable) grumpy expression. “It just sounds better!” she argues. “Listen.” She puts her hands on the keys, left hand hitting the chord, right dancing over her proposed melody. “So please, keep chasing me…” she sings, building to the last word and sliding her voice over an intricate run ending in a step up. Looking up, she tilts her head, her wild hair piled into a tenuous bun, curly tendrils framing her face. Luke’s stomach does an interesting flip. “See?” 

He stands up, swinging his guitar strap down across his chest before walking around her, putting his right hand over where hers had just been on the paper. He stands just behind her shoulder, sending goosebumps down her spine. “It should go down,” he insists. “It’ll flow better with the next line and then the break before the chorus makes more sense. Listen.” He puts his foot up on the bench and swings his guitar back up like it's an extension of him, playing a riff and singing the line they’re arguing about before dipping in to the next. “So please keep chasing me,” he sings, his voice gracefully stepping up and then back down, “Cause even though I’m runnin’, I know you’re the one I need.” 

“You’re making it too simple!” she cries, slamming her hands down in her lap and turning to face him. She opens her mouth to continue the argument, but when she looks at him, she starts, finally realizing just how close he is. The toe of his sneaker brushes her leg, and he leans over the sheet music, closing her in against the piano. His dark eyebrows pull together, mouth slightly pinched as he concentrates, solid and strong and very much in her space. “Um --” she says. 

He shrugs, shaking his head a little bit. “What,” he says, not understanding what she’s having a problem with. Julie’s eyes drop to his mouth, close and stupid kissable, and he notices the motion. The air crackles as both of them unconsciously draw closer, song forgotten, focused only on each other. Luke leans in, half an inch, and Julie’s breath hitches in her chest. This is stupid. She knows this is stupid. Luke is dead. Full ghost. Not real. Well, real, but not a viable option. He might have a physical presence now -- a very strong, very warm, very attractive physical presence -- but that doesn’t make him any more possible. And yet, here she is, pulled into him like he has his own gravitational field and she’s helpless to it. Luke licks his lips, and Julie tilts her chin up, fractional motion tiptoeing toward something irreversible and dangerous. 

Just as she’s about to step over that uncrossable line, there’s an almighty crash. Both of their heads whip up in time to see Alex topple off his stool -- he’d fallen asleep as they were arguing. The noise wakes Reggie, whose head was lolling against his amp. “I didn’t do it!” he yells, flailing into sitting up straight. 

Julie clears her throat and turns back to the keyboard, stretching her hands over the keys. “You’re, uh --” she says, glancing at Luke out of the corner of her eye to find him smirking in an infuriatingly adorable manner. “You’re right. It should go down.” He stands up straight, mildly surprised at his easy victory, and backs off from the piano to show Reggie the chords. They sketch out the verse and Alex adds a backing beat, the moment forgotten. 

That is, until Carlos comes in to nag her to eat. Alex poofs out and Reggie dives behind his amp. Since the whole discovering-corporeality thing, they’re not totally sure if Julie’s the only one who can see them still, and they’d rather not have to explain to Julie’s dad what three teenage ‘holograms’ are doing living in his garage. Carlos delivers his message and then darts back inside, eager for dinner, and Julie stands up from the piano, gathering the half-finished song and tucking it into the folder she keeps her in-progress projects in. 

Reggie emerges in a comic mess of limbs and grins at her, Alex poofing back on to his stool. “I’ll be back after dinner to finish this,” she says, hoping they don't notice the shake in her hands as she tucks the folder away. Luke pops his chin over the edge of the couch, behind which he’d taken cover. 

“Hey Julie!” he calls, and she turns back to look at him. “Just remember; KISS.” 

Her brain short-circuits, heart tripping over itself as she remembers his eyes on her, his shoulders and his hands and his stupid concentration face. “I, uh -- What are you --” she sputters.

A shit-eating grin spreads across Luke’s face as he puts his elbows on top of the couch and pushes himself up. “Keep it simple, stupid.” 

Julie practically runs out of the garage. Alex raises an eyebrow, his gaze arcing from the door to land on Luke. “That was uh…” Luke schools his expression into one of false innocence. “Bold.” Luke rolls his eyes and brushes him off, but Reggie gives Alex a knowing look. Their friends are idiots. 

It happens again one afternoon when Carlos has a baseball game and Julie has the house to herself. Or, so she thinks. She’s lazing around on the couch, avoiding her history homework spread out on the coffee table, Adventure Time babbling on the television. She’s slowly working her way through a bag of gummy bears and m&ms (her favorite candy combination),  wearing an enormous hoodie that used to be her mom’s, home alone; life is fantastic. Until -- 

“Oh, sweet, cartoons!” Luke poofs into existence directly next to her on the couch, and she starts violently enough to shake candy into the couch cushions. Some of it lands on his chest, and he holds up a green gummy bear with a wistful expression. Julie just stares at him, still mildly in shock, definitely still annoyed, and really not in the mood to endure his moping about food when she was having a perfectly nice time by herself. 

“Hey,” he says, either ignoring or unaware of what he’s just done to her heart rate and her peaceful afternoon. “You think now that I’m corporeal --” (he over-pronounces the word, having just learned it from Flynn days before) “I can eat like, regular human food?” It isn’t until he looks to her for an answer that he realizes what he’s just done. “Oh, sorry,” he says, that same stupid-ass grin settling on his face, not sorry even a little bit. “Did I spook ya?” 

His glee at the pun, which he definitely stole from Reggie, sparkles in his gray-green eyes, and Julie’s heart, which had just started to recover from his sudden appearance, trips over itself one more time. Emerging from the shaken-up snowglobe of her brain, she blurts out her first thought. “You’re the worst,” she says, even while thinking the opposite. 

He looks genuinely hurt for about half a second before turning the gummy bear towards her, too, and speaking for it. “You should be nice to Luke,” he says in an absurd voice. “He’s so handsome and talented!” He laughs at his own joke and pitches his voice up to continue with the bit, but she snatches the candy out of his hand and pops into her mouth, grinning. He feigns shock. “That bear could have had a family, Julie.” 

“If they did, they’ll all be happy together in my stomach,” she says, eating another one to punctuate the statement. Luke laughs, and the sound has a heart-stopping melody of its own. It’s comfortable, the relationship that they’ve developed with each other. He always laughs at her jokes and is the first to offer her a compliment after rehearsal, and she loves his dorky sense of humor, even when she gives him a hard time about it. They write music and goof around, and even with the (very strong) undercurrent of romantic (she hopes) tension between them, a friendship sits comfortably on top. He’s only been in her life for a short time,  but she can’t imagine it without him. Her feelings for him endanger that, so she does her best not to let it show. He asks her what she’s watching, and she explains the basic premise of the episode so that he can understand what’s going on. 

She’s hyper-aware of him as they watch the show, and  she envies the ease with which he occupies her space, his shoulder brushing hers, their knees occasionally bumping. He slouches all the way down on the couch, one foot kicked up on the table, turning the remote in his hands and messing with the battery cover, completely at home. (He’s always fiddling with something -- a pen, his necklace -- or bouncing his leg, or clicking a guitar pick between his teeth. It’s a habit that’s mostly adorable and only sometimes annoying.) If he notices her staring at him, he doesn’t say anything. 

It takes a couple more episodes, but she finally relaxes, and the distance between them -- already spare -- vanishes, her shoulder tucked under his, her head angled toward him, their feet bumping on the table. Half her attention is on Finn and the land of Ooo, and half on the boy beside her, who doesn’t seem to give any indication that he’s thinking about this as much as she is. Luke has a way of pulling her in until she’s closer than she ever planned to be, like she can’t help but touch him. Ever since the night they played the Orpheum, he’s become magnetic, his presence a force she can’t resist. If she tilted her head down, just a fraction, it would be resting on his shoulder. What would he do? Would he shrug her off, or rest his head on hers? She watches his hands play with the remote, imagining what his strong, slender fingers would feel like laced with hers. She’s had crushes before, of course -- she liked Nick all the way from seventh grade up to this year -- but nothing so real and powerful as this. 

“Don’t you think Finn sounds just like Reggie?” Luke asks, pulling her from her thoughts. She looks up at him, and he looks down at her, and -- oh. 

He’s very close. 

His eyes always remind her of an overcast sky, swirling with unknown depth, and they widen when they meet hers, filled with awe. Blood rushes in her ears, muting the TV, tuning out anything that isn’t him. Her heart is beating so hard and so fast she wonders peripherally if he can hear it, and then that thought fizzles out with the rest of any kind of logic when his gaze drops to her mouth. He’s going to kiss her. He’s going to kiss her!! Panic and elation and anticipation all scramble in her chest. She’s never kissed anyone before, and even though she’s never asked, she knows he probably has. What if she’s bad at it? She’s half freaking out and half telling herself to shut the hell up as he turns his entire body towards her, his hand reaching up to hold her face and -- 

The front door slams open, announcing Carlos and Ray. “Mija!!” her dad calls. Luke jerks back from her like he’s been burned, eyes filled with absolute terror, before he disappears. 

“JULIEEEEE!!” Carlos hollers, launching himself across the living room at her and landing on her stomach, knocking the air out of her. Her arms come up around him automatically, despite all the sweat and the diamond dirt sticking to it. Feeling mildly shell shocked and like she’s been hit by a hell of a lot more than her little brother, she barely listens as Carlos and their dad babble over each other in an attempt at telling the story of Carlos’ game-winning home-base slide. She’ll be happy for him once her heart rate slows down. 

Luke stays away for almost a full twenty-four hours after that particular mishap, long enough she almost asks Reggie and Alex if he talked to them about it. There’s about a thousand reasons not to, but mostly, she doesn’t know if she can even explain just what happened. She does tell Flynn, who launches into a very confusing monologue that starts with her admonishing Julie for thinking anything good can come from involving herself with a literal ghost and ends with her gushing about how many cute love songs they could write together, zero percent of which makes her feel better. 

The only reason he doesn’t continue avoiding her is rehearsal, which, of course, he would never miss. She’s hoping to talk to him before they get started, but then the bus gets stuck in traffic and all of her boys are already set up with their instruments and having an impromptu jam session by the time she gets home.  “What --” she hisses as she heaves the doors shut behind her. “Did I tell you guys about playing in here without me?” Alex shrugs and apologizes, and she can’t really be mad at Reggie, at least not for long. 

But Luke -- he barely looks at her, nervous fingers dancing across a complicated riff even as the other boys stop playing. It takes a second of silence before he looks up to see the rest of his band staring at him. “Oh,” he says, the phrase ending in the discordant sound of fingernails on steel strings. “Yeah, right. Sorry.” 

They get started, but nothing sounds right. Luke rushes the tempo and refuses to make eye contact with anyone, spinning off into fancy riffs that have no place in the song they’re working on. Reggie keeps trying to keep up with him, tripping up Alex and frustrating Julie, and when the song grinds to a cacophonous halt for the fourth time, she stands up from the piano. Reggie takes a step back. 

“What is your problem?” she practically yells, stomping over to Luke. He’s been surly and unusually stubborn, and the shift from his usual cheerful, passionate demeanor builds her own stewing anxieties to a dangerous head.

“It’s not my problem you can’t keep up,” he says, and then, after watching the words register in Julie’s expression, immediately regrets it. Alex’s eyebrows shoot up and Reggie makes a very soft ‘ooooohhh’ noise under his breath.

“It’s not keeping up if you can’t hold a steady tempo,” she says, too upset over his refusal to cooperate to catch the reaction from her bandmates.

“Okay, so maybe I was rushing,” he admits, trying to walk it back. But Julie’s on a roll, and once she gets started laying into him, she very rarely lets up.

“Thank you!” she yells, the sarcasm clear in her tone. She’d been especially fond of the product so far, a song she thought embodied the perfect blend of Luke’s harder edge and her singer-songwriter roots. His sudden, uncharacteristic left turn is as much an interruption in their rehearsal as a knock to the tenuous pride she’d been building in the piece.  “And what are all those riffs you’re tossing in? You have to hear how they don’t fit.” 

“Oh come on,” he says, proud in his ability and therefore less willing to step down. He rolls his shoulders back and moves toward her, the challenge set in his spine. “I was shredding and you know it.” Luke is sweet and kind and silly and compassionate, but he’s also a musician, and a lead guitarist at that. His ego, though it rarely becomes an issue, is far from insubstantial. 

“If you want a solo, fine!” she cries with exasperation, her hands flying through the air like they always do when she’s upset. “But you have to say something so we can give you room for it!” Her annoyance has turned down the sensitivity on her Luke-nonsense monitor, caught up enough in the trouble that she can’t see that he’s riling her up on purpose.

“What, you afraid of a little improvisation?” He’s smiling now, and his obvious glee, such a stark flip from where she thought this was going, throws off her tirade. He starts walking toward her, and his newfound physicality gives him an ability to fluster her to a much greater degree than before.

“No --” she stammers, stumbling backwards, distracted out of anger by his sparkling eyes and the power in the body approaching rapidly. “That’s not what I --” There it is again, that power he has to turn the rest of the world into radio static, her vision blurring and her hearing dulling until it’s just Luke filling up the world in front of her. 

“C’mon Julie,” he says, and right now she hates his stupid smirk and the stupid way he rolls her name around in his mouth before letting it out. “you have to take risks once in a while.” She’s backed up against the piano now, her hands wrapped tight around the lid, and he’s still pushing it, strong and warm and undeniably, frustratingly male in her space. 

But Julie isn’t one to let him intimidate her into silence, no matter how cute and well-muscled he may be. She takes a breath and looks him in his ridiculous sparkly eyes, poking him in his absurdly firm chest.“I am not afraid of taking risks, mister,” she says, “Let’s not forget who performed in front of her entire school to get back into the music program --” 

“My idea,” he scoffs, not backing up. Why isn’t he backing up.

“Or who fronts a band of actual ghosts!” she continues, her voice increasing in volume again, and the speed of her heart tripping over itself could be from the argument or the boy who’s collarbones are less than a foot from her face. Both are entirely possible. 

“Less ghost now,” he reminds her, tilting his head, his weight leaned one one leg, his hand resting on the head of his guitar, relaxed when they’re supposed to be arguing. 

“You just get to poof out after we perform!” she says, only about two-thirds of her mind still focused on the fight itself, the other third completely wrapped up in the feeling of Luke in front of her. “I’m the one who has to stick around and ask questions!” 

“So you’re saying you take chances,” he says, diabolically diplomatic instead of challenging. He leans forward, putting his hands on the piano behind her, caging her in with his arms. She refuses to back down again, even though his face is now inches from hers. “You’d take a leap of faith?” 

“Yeah,” she says, only half-certain, because she’s not totally sure they’re still talking about music, and her heart is in the base of her throat and her stomach is somewhere around her shoes, and suddenly her hands are sweating when they definitely weren’t a minute ago. This definitely isn’t an argument about the song anymore. 

“Oh yeah?” he says, and there’s the challenge again, except this one sounds more like a dare, and he’s definitely looking at her lips this time, not even trying to be subtle about it, and her hands are braced on his forearms and when did they get there? And Luke is warm and when she looks up, his eyes are on hers, and despite all that bravado and provocation there’s still a question there, and all she would have to do to answer is lift up on her toes and finally, finally press her lips against his, and -- 

Alex coughs. The oxygen goes out of the room like someone opened an airlock, and Julie feels herself sink, just barely, back down on her heels. The world fills back in, colors and sounds suddenly too bright, too abrasive. Tearing her eyes off Luke, she glances over his shoulder to where Reggie and Alex are, still with their instruments, watching them intently. Alex looks politely put out, his eyebrows tilted up with incredulity, like he's asking if they seriously just made him watch that. Reggie, on the other hand, hides nothing in his expression, shock and amusement there in equal parts as he glances between Alex and the two of them still tucked close against the piano, jaw askance in a surprised smile. 

"Are you done?" Alex asks, in a tone that sounds less like a question. "It’s not that I mind…" he gestures between the two of them with a drumstick. "This, but like, time and place, dude." He's not talking to Julie. Luke clears his throat, appropriately chastised, but still looking smug as shit. 

"Um, sorry," she mutters as he returns to his spot next to his amp. 

Alex shrugs. "Not your fault," he says, "from the top?" 

"Uh," she says, frozen for a moment in embarrassment and confusion. She looks to Alex, and he gives her one of his soft, kind smiles, the sort that makes her feel like everything is going to be okay. “Right, okay,” she finishes, as her hands twitch and she settles back into her body. Rushing back around to the bench, she flexes her hands over the keys, curling them into fists and then back out again when they tremble. “From the top.” 

The rehearsal goes -- okay, after that. The magic is missing; therefore, while she usually feels inspired and courageous and empowered walking out of the garage, she just feels exhausted and drained. She eats dinner with her family, and her dad definitely notices that she’s uncharacteristically quiet, but saves asking about it until after Carlos is safely sequestered with his iPad. “How ya doin, kiddo?” he asks as she helps him clear up the dishes. “Everything okay?” 

Julie looks at her dad with mild alarm, wondering what exactly he knows. He does his best, he really does, but it took him a while to even notice she was in a band. Not to mention, he still believes they’re holograms. “Um,” she says convincingly. “Yeah?” 

He smiles kindly, in the way that means he’s very politely calling bullshit. “Alright, mija. What’s going on?” 

Heaving a sigh, Julie keeps her eyes on the dishwasher she’s loading, trying her best to plan an escape route out of this conversation. “I promise, Dad,” she says, “It’s nothing.” and then, what she thinks are the magic words. “Boy stuff.” 

But Ray’s been prepping for this, had conversations with Rose about it before she passed, while the cancer slowly ate her alive. She knew she wasn’t going to be able to be there for her daughter through the time in her life a girl needs her mother the most, and she wasn’t about to let him hide behind toxic masculinity and leave Julie to figure it out on her own. “Okay,” Ray says, trepidation clear in his voice but also not unwilling to approach the topic. “What’s his name?” 

Julie almost drops the pot she’s scrubbing. “Does it matter?” she asks, her voice crawling up several octaves. 

“Just trying to learn who is in my daughter’s life,” he answers diplomatically, sitting down at the counter to make it clear he’s not letting her out of this one easily. 

“I promise, Dad,” she says, doing her best to frantically dodge the interrogation she knows is coming, regretting she brought it up at all, cursing herself for being so obvious. “It’s dumb. You don’t even know him.” 

Ray nods slowly, pretending to believe her. Julie goes after the pot a little harder, because maybe if she just finishes the dishes she can go upstairs and bury herself in her bed and not have to have this conversation anymore. “It’s not that guitarist, is it?” he asks, and her spine goes stiff as a ramrod. Ray’s her dad, but he’s not blind. He’s seen the way they look at each other when they perform, the way the boy follows her around the stage like a puppy, desperate for her attention, disappointed when she jams with the other members of their band and not him. He’s an excellent musician, but Ray knows too many stories of near-legends gone sour with misdirected young love. 

“No!” Julie cries immediately in an obvious lie. “Of course not!” She turns, half-laughing, explanations falling out of her mouth “We’re just friends,” she insists, lacing her fingers in front of her and nodding exaggeratedly. “Just friends. Only friends. Uh-huh. Friends. And!” she continues, gesturing widely, “he doesn’t even live here! So that… wouldn’t even make sense!” she laughs awkwardly. “So no way. That it’s him. No way it’s him.” 

Ray sighs out a laugh that Julie’s too panicked to hear and leans forward on his elbows. “Alright, nina. Just be careful, okay?” She’s nodding along, edging her way towards the stairs. “You and your band…” She looks like Rose, in that hoodie that practically swallows her, hair piled messily on top of her head. Her mom was also a terrible liar, he remembers fondly. “You have something special. Don’t throw that away for a boy.” 

Julie nods rapidly and then bolts, thundering up the stairs before throwing her bedroom door closed behind her and diving headfirst onto her bed, burying herself in decorative pillows. How does everyone  know?? First Flynn and then Reggie and Alex and now her dad? Is she that obvious? (Um, yes.) She flops onto her back, staring up at the colorful tapestries slung across her ceiling, the string lights and posters and art. Usually, she loves her room, the feeling of her creative mind as a space she can inhabit, exploring her heart and the things she loves without having to shut out the outside world. But tonight, she feels trapped in her own head, so she grabs her notebook and squeezes out the window, perched on the roof outside her room. 

The evening air is cool and crisp, the gentlest bite warning the oncoming winter, as much as there is a winter in LA. She spends a while scribbling down half-baked lyric ideas and doodling angry black scribbles around the edges of the pages when nothing comes out right. It’s harder to write on her own, now, without the steady pulse of Luke’s genius behind her, the electricity that flows between them as they create impeccable harmonies. Sometimes, it feels like music belongs to the both of them together, a joined force, like they’ve given up their individual melodies for something greater. It’s thrilling and terrifying all at once. 

Eventually, she just ends up holding the notebook open to ‘Perfect Harmony’ with one hand, the other arm wrapped around her legs, her chin propped on her knees. She still hasn’t shown it to Luke, afraid of how real it feels, how clear it makes her feelings for him. Also, it’s a ballad, which they haven’t even approached yet, and she has no idea how Reggie and Alex will feel about such an explicitly romantic duet. She’s thinking that maybe she might be able to vague it up, maybe even make it a solo piece, when Luke appears next to her, like thinking about him draws him to her. (Which might actually be true -- she hasn’t examined that very closely.) 

“Hey!” he says cheerfully, all awkwardness from the evening’s rehearsal ostensibly disappeared. He plucks the notebook out of her hand, using the other arm to hold back her immediate demands for its return. “New stuff?” he asks. This is not normally such a grievous invasion of privacy. Ever since they started writing together, their songwriting journals have become common property, and half the pages in hers are marked up with his handwriting and vice versa. 

“It’s not ready yet!” she cries, pushing against the (stupidly strong) arm he has across her collarbone, willing to climb bodily over him to snatch the notebook back. Luke’s face very slowly falls as he reads it, the lyrics sinking in, and her protests trail off as she stops scrambling to grab it out of his hands. 

He stands suddenly, pacing across the roof. “Did you --” he starts, breathing shallowly, his tongue tucking his teeth between his lips, nostrils flaring before he speaks again. “Why did you copy this out of my songbook?” It’s not accusatory, only a question, born of true confusion. 

“I didn’t,” Julie replies without skipping a beat, equally baffled. 

“I wrote this after the garage party,” he says. “How is it in your notebook?” 

“I wrote it at school before the garage party,” she replies, doing her best to keep down the memory of the Luke in her imagination and the song coming to her fully formed in the form of a Patrick Swayze-esque daydream. She didn’t even tell Flynn about that part. 

“At school…” Luke repeats, studying the lyrics with a furrow between his eyebrows, and as much as Julie is also reeling from shock at the mystery, it’s kind of adorable to watch him try and solve it. “This doesn’t make sense,” he says, looking up at her, signature grumpy expression in place. He tilts the notebook flat, like he’s presenting it to her, hoping she has the next steps. Like he’s reached his conclusion, and it’s that he’s confused. 

“It doesn’t,” she says, and it comes out as half a laugh unintentionally, just looking at his ridiculous, adorable face. 

“Why are you laughing?” he demands with exasperated urgency. “This is super weird!” He rushes over and collapses next to her, a mess of flannel and limbs and beautiful dumbass. He shoves the notebook back into her hands as she folds her legs underneath her, relinquishing her grip on her knees. 

“Yeah,” she sighs, unable to wipe the grin from her face. “Yeah, it is.” Luke looks like he wants to ask her what she’s smiling at, but then he starts smiling, too, because her happiness is his happiness. Julie’s already past the strange coincidence, lost in the joy of his gray-green eyes and the feeling of him next to her. She’s too used to strange, to the ever-changing rules of the afterlife and the constant uncertainty that Luke and her boys bring to her life. Yes, it’s strange, but she’s in a ghost band and her crush is dead and still manages to look at her like that so she has a certain level of perspective when it comes to things like this. 

“What are you --” Luke tries to say, but her eyes are on his and they’re warm and brown and kind and he’s finding it a little hard to form sentences. 

“This is ridiculous,” she says, and he’s nodding without knowing what he’s agreeing to. “We wrote the same song on the same day,” she laughs, and he nods again, half-listening, half lost in her. She’s excited now, about the possibility brought on by magic and her connection -- their  connection -- souls tied together with passion and music and love. “That’s impossible!” It cements something for her, the feeling of coming together, of sliding into place. They’re so solid, tight, together, on the same wavelength… musicians have put it a thousand ways throughout the years, to communicate the feeling of a co-writer, a bandmate, a partner, reading your mind, singing the next line, playing the next riff that was just in your head. Julie and Luke get the added bonus of being inexplicably spiritually linked. Nothing can break that, or replace it. She’s not scared of it, anymore. 

“Impossible,” he echoes. He always feels a little bit stronger, a little more alive whenever he’s with Julie like this, just the two of them, hanging out or writing music, and he’s in her immediate proximity, soaking in the warmth of her brown skin and brown eyes and the chaotic energy of her wild, incredible hair. She pulls him in, without knowing the power she holds or the light that she emits, casting a golden glow over everything around her. 

“Luke,” she says, and he tunes back in, realizing that he’s steadily leaning toward her as they sit on the roof, Julie cross-legged, Luke angled toward her, one leg stretched out, his elbow propped on his other knee. “Are you listening?” 

“Um,” he swallows, “Yeah?” but he’s looking at her lips, not her eyes, and he’s thinking about kissing her, just once, just to see what she tastes like, remembering the smell of gummies and m&ms, hoping she’ll be just as sweet. She doesn’t say anything, mostly because she forgot what she was going to say in the first place, watching his eyes watch her mouth, breathing him in. He’s too close again, closer than any friend or bandmate should be, and there’s no mic between them, and the door to her room is closed, and there’s no bandmates or brothers or dads, and her heart pounds in her chest. 

When she tilts her chin towards him, she feels ready, finally, knowing what he means to her. Only a breath separates them, but they both stop, waiting for the inevitable interruption, the door slamming open, or someone calling up from the yard below, but it doesn’t come. Realizing what they’re both waiting for, they breathe out a simultaneous laugh, their foreheads dropping together. The tension fades, and Julie’s smile feels uncontainable, demanding every inch of her face as this beautiful, goofy, genus, talented boy adores her while she sits there, falling in love with him. 

It’s easier, this moment, than the one before, because it feels less laden with the weight of someone pulling away, unsure or unwanting. This moment is comfortable, joyful, the two of them acknowledging every minute of want and disappointment and hilarious misfortune over the past few days, acknowledging what they would have asked for instead. And when Luke finally reaches up, pulling her in gently with his hand on her neck, his thumb sliding over her jaw, it’s with confidence and tenderness, reassured that she wants this, too. Julie leans easily into the touch, and when their lips meet, the spark and rush is better than any performance, any screaming crowd drowning in lights. They kiss each other, moving together, leaning in as one, harmony made in the movement of mouths and the press of lips, and this moment -- it’s perfect. 

[macabrecabra]

@voremejotarokujo  Each one is very different! Due to a variety of factors from if they were born wild or born in captivity/nature sanctuaries c: Also if they have any hamon abilities, and general personalities c: More under the cut! 

( NOTE: Didn’t do jolyne kujo and giorno giovanna as I’m only halfway through part 3 and want to get to their parts before I doodle em c: )

Jonathan Joestar He’s the gentleman mer, born in free waters with his family group and was happy as a clam. There were few humans around and those were mostly just passing locals, thus Jonathan is cautious around humans, but will nose up and inspect and be friendly with familiar faces. Would not attack humans unless given a very good reason but oooh....he does NOT like vampires and will become highly agitated around infected mers and flare all that hamon into his fins and start glowing. 

Like most hamon using mers, his colors are brighter and more pronounced as well as having the “hamon stripes” as it were along the body. 

Jospeh Joestar  He was born in captivity as his grandmother, father, and mother were all rescue mers who couldn’t be left in the wild due to circumstances. Thus when it comes to humans, Joseph has grown up around them so closely, he tends to just see em as mers without tails and can be a bit rough or overly enthusiastic. There is no sense of danger and he will 100% go flop up on a boat or onto a pier to steal human things. His reaction is either he likes someone and wants to be friends or sees someone or something as a threat and will immediately start plotting how to fight them. Even if that means fighting mers many MANY times his size.... and still manage to launch one out of the water via a volcanic eruption.

He has the bright colors of a hamon users and the hamon stripes, although both have faded with age and lack of use of hamon. 

Jotaro Kujo He was born in the wild and tends to prefer to keep to himself, only coming in close to humans to observe them for a while before silently moving off. Known to collect human items of interests although it is a lowkey sort of collecting. Curious, but not friendly towards humans unless he knows them well. Then he might relax a little bit. He is though known to be unpredictable and hard to read which often puts Speedwagon researchers on edge when he comes moving in as it isn’t known if he is just looking, found something he doesn’t like, or going to be indicating a need for something. Whatever the case, it is always best to keep two eyes on Jotaro when he’s watching you.  The less vibrant colors come from living in deeper depths than previous relatives and also from having access to a stand and not being a practitioner of hamon. However, it is of note that Jotaro’s colors do tend to change depending on the climate, becoming lighter in colder climes. 

Josuke Higashikata Born in the Morioh Nature Sanctuary, Josuke is more use to human tourists and not afraid to approach humans, but tends to shy away most of the time. However, if anyone says a word about his hair, he can fly into a range and may cause an incident. Tends to forget that humans are squishy and can be a bit a rough, but always makes amends with his stand. He is seen more on the outskirts of the Sanctuary on patrols, clearly protecting the area. Is friendly to those that are friendly first, but if he senses a threat, again, can be provoked to be more violent. Overall though, is more goofy, carefree, and rather splash a boat of tourists than harm. 

He has more glow as is common with those of the Morioh area, especially patterned glows. Has a marked dislike of dealing with anything perceived as more “reptilian” in the water. Sometimes observed goofing around Jotaro until the former tries to toss him out of the water. 

Hope that answers the ask! ^0^

[marsupials-of-mars]

Logan's Diary

(Second in my sides' diaries series, eight excerpts from Logan's Emotion Journal experiment picked and curated for your viewing pleasure)

Age 12:

Event: Patton suggested I begin journaling

Emotion: Thoughtful

Context: Patton has brought to my attention that I may be having trouble understanding my own emotions, and suggested i write my feelings in a diary. I assured him that he was being ridiculous, but it prompted in me the idea that as logic, I should have a full understanding of all topics, including emotion, in it's most technical sense. I will not be referring to this as a "diary", and I will not be speaking to it as if it were an individual, as it is a book and can not read or respond. Therefore, I will refer to it as my "Emotion Journal", as that is what it is.

Age 14:

Event: Puberty

Emotion: Overwhelmed(?)

Context: I'm so incredibly fed up with this. Nothing is as it should be, and nobody is willing to listen to reason. Each side has become unruly and chaotic in their own way. Most noticable is Anxiety, who has taken up a position of leadership in the mind. He has no place there. He makes extremely unhealthy decisions due to social pressures or personal worries which have begun to isolate Thomas or cause him to lose his sense of self. He doesn't seem to like the position, but it seems he's been forced into it anyway as his influence has built due to the dreaded neural changes of adolescence. Thomas has begun to wear very dark clothing. However bad all of that is for Thomas, the most unbearable change effecting me personally as a resident of this mind has been Remus. He is absolutely unbearable. Every word or movement he makes causes immense discomfort not only to me but to anyone nearby. Patton has been overly emotional, either crying or unable to sit still, occurring minutes apart from each other in violent mood swings. Roman has been working overtime, attempting to help Thomas through escapism. He creates stories and drawings which distract Thomas from his troubles, but these are momentary fixes, and will become unhealthy if continuous.

Overall, it has been, for lack of a better or more accurate synonym, a clusterfuck, and I'm counting the days until it's over.

Age 15:

Event: Thomas has been questioning his sexuality

Emotion: Annoyed

Context: I don't understand Patton and Roman's persistence in making everything so needlessly complicated. There are many physically attractive girls and yet they decide that they would rather be difficult about it. I don't understand them sometimes. They seem apologetic, but when one is sorry the appropriate action to follow would be to cease one's poor behavior. I've decided to cut contact with both of them for the time being as my feelings toward them at the moment make me prone to irrationalities. I'm always partial to curiosity but high school is already giving me a lot to think about and I don't appreciate having to factor in such a development. I will make the decision to ignore it for now. Perhaps it will eventually cease to be an issue.

Age 18:

Event: Thomas is a legal adult

Emotion: Elated

Context: Thomas turned 18 today, which means as of now he is legally allowed control of his own person in nearly every sense. I've been preparing for this my whole life, and I have a clear view of the many paths we could take from this point onward. Thomas has always been proficient in chemistry, therefore I believe a major in the scientific field would be appropriate. I can hardly contain my excitement. However, Anxiety has been making this transition quite difficult. He keeps insisting that we have no idea what comes next and are entirely unprepared, and somehow this sentiment is drowning out my attempts to guide Thomas. He can be incredibly frustrating to manage, and he's been more and more active as of late. But no matter how much he tries, he will not succede in putting a damper on my good mood.

Age: 25

Event: Thomas insists on continuing to make "Vines"

Emotion: Confused

Context: I will never cease to be entirely bewildered by Thomas's desire to "act", particularly in such small, insignificant, and comical portions. I can somewhat understand his drive for theater, as it is professionally directed and offers a feeling of purpose as well as a decent amount of enrichment both socially and cognitively.

However, these six second looping goofs are of no gain whatsoever. They don't promote social interaction, they don't fill any free time, and there is no true talent involved. Somehow, Roman is enjoying them nearly as much as he appears to enjoy acting onstage. Patton is also quite active lately. I will never truly grasp the appeal of this thespian characteristic of Thomas. Most of his Vines make no logical sense, and are unabashedly ridiculous. He is making a fool of himself. But I do like to see him happy, so I've decided to let this slide, as a benefit to his mental health. However insufferable his Vines, he is always smiling as he makes them, and that is always paramount.

Age 28:

Event: Virgil revealed his name to us

Emotion: Proud

Context: As of late, Anxiety has grown more and more tolerable, and seems to be settling in as one of the light sides. He has been making some real rational arguments, and even when he doesn't succeed, one can tell he is putting effort in, rather than reverting to his usual feigned apathy. It was made clear to me when he changed his jacket. In accepting his color more openly, which he had previously seemed to feel ashamed of, he showed trust and a feeling of belonging. This trust was made even more clear just today, when he revealed his name, Virgil. I feel as if this reveal marks a success in his social progress. There will always be a probability of relapse, but at this moment in time, I pride myself on having put my trust and belief in him. He is quite intelligent when not panicking, and provides a comforting relief from the exuberance of the other two.

Age 30:

Event: I'm nothing but a joke to them

Emotion: Furious

Context: This is why I don't often let my guard down. I trusted them to understand who I am and how I want to be treated, so I presented some of my guilty pleasures: Crofters, singing, poetry, onesies, and the occasional dad joke. I of course took precautions to not overindulge in such nonsense, but I assumed I could allow myself some comfort around who I assumed were my friends. However. They continuously pick at my flaws, they tease me relentlessly for every mistake. To them it's all in good fun, it's some awful game. To me it's not. I feel even more trapped in my outward presentation than before, and they don't seem to notice. It's not my job to tell them how I feel. I manage objective intelligence, they are emotional intelligence. It's their job to understand what I feel for me, they should know what would upset their friend. They know I'm vulnerable, they have to, and they continue to drag me into their silly hijinks and refuse me my objective purpose if I do not conform entirely to it. We have become a joke, we are getting nowhere with this career, we are only plummeting further into the role of some commercialized funnyman, a one dimensional character, and this is what Roman desires that we become. I won't allow it. I need to become who I should be, I cannot allow any further divergence.

Age 30:

Event: Thomas called me "cool"

Emotion: Validated

Context: After helping Thomas manage his introduction to Remus, we had a moment that I can only describe as heartfelt. He called me "cool", something i never really strived to be, but feels wonderful to be described as. Whether or not I am "cool" in an objective sense, what I truly gained from this interaction was appreciation, admiration, respect, and I believe that that is what resonated with me. I always aim to help Thomas, as a side should, and the purest way the favor can be returned is with simple validation. I feel I have an opportunity to employ an expression I've come to enjoy: "on cloud nine". I feel as if I am on cloud nine. That is the best way to describe this feeling. As much as Remus proves himself a nuisance, I have him to thank for providing the grounds for this event to take place. I have reached a balance of who I am and who I want to be, both comfortable and respected. Of course, Thomas doesn't need to be gushed to, and I'm not one for gushing. Therefore, I will now resume my duties as his cool teacher.

[mingisblackgf]

i’ll be your babygirl (part one)

pairing: chan x fem!reader

genre: youtubers!au; smut, fluff, crack

warnings: none, just a buncha teasing fun

summary: in which one of 10 pretty princesses accidentally gets her nudes leaked and just the wrong someone gets his naughty little hands on them.

I could have shit myself.

I know, not exactly a beautiful image to begin the demise of my reputation forever, but it was true. 

Was I that stupid? 

It’s my fault. I know it is. I just had to be friendly. I just had to be friends with the idiots due to our similar careers when absolutely none of the other girls were.

“Bea, help me! What the fuck are you doing? You’re killing me here, literally.” Charlene screamed, smashing the keyboard with all her might. 

I contemplated getting up and running out of the room and moving on a mountain. Also, Charlene was a bit violent when it came to video games. She’d probably punch me later.

“Fucking shit I’m an idiot!” I yell out, throwing off my microphone and bursting from my chair. It looked like I saw a spider or something, but no. It was the extended responses from those Stray Kids dudes. 

Every single one of them replied fast. And with a more interesting response than the next.

Every. Single. One. 

“What?” Bayou sputters.

“You kidding me? You made us through the game, now the homeless kid losers are gonna take it over us. Again. Fuck.” Victoria was another one that got overly competitive. Not that it was bad, I mean, female gamers need a fighting spirit to override the idiots.

Those guys. That I just sent my naked body to. 

“We literally not uploading that.” Marie-Caroline commented, shaking her head.

“Agreed. Sad. I thought we had a chance, I was kicking Hyunjin’s ass in the first round.” Sophie added, getting up from the desktop.

I could have rolled my eyes at the sass of those two, but I was too busy contemplating how my life was ending.

“Beatrix!” Alex yelled to me, grabbing my shoulders and shook me out of the trance I was in. “What the hell has gotten into you? Let’s talk.” She sits me down then, in my chair, and suddenly in our den I felt surrounded like a tiger in a den full of lions.

There were 10 chairs of course, full of self-entitled princesses from all different walks of life: Alexandra, Sophie, Charlene, Aurora, Marie-Caroline, Bayou, Victoria, Masako, Lily and me, Beatrix, or Bea.  

It was strictly ironic that we all had names of old princesses, emperesses, and even princesses’ palace pet (in Bayou and Lily’s case) and went to school together, all dropped out at once to be Youtubers.

We played video games, ate and slept all day everyday.

We didn’t do much “lady-ish” things besides cooking or I don’t know, painting our fingernails? Shopping?

Point is we made a living of some sort off this “princess” thing on the YouTube thing. Despite how shitty it is, we have about 3.5 million subscribers. Adsense is good. We’re living good. I mean, it has to be good with 10 girls in a house together. 

Damsels In a Dress indicates we always wear dresses when were play some game, like League of Legends or Fortnite. Maybe Call of Duty. Depends on the mood really. 

The reason why I’m telling you that definitely sets the scene for how intimidating my friends looked, surrounding me along with the desktop computers and laptops, mics, empty soda cans and junk (Bayou was good at that cleaning stuff) with paused League game play.

And how they were going to totally freak when I told them I was going to be totally blackmailed by what the website saw as “enemies.”

And that I’m shitting myself.

“H-happened? Nothing happened? I just, lost focus, that’s all.” I laughed nervously, twisting my upper body to prove the point. Of course I was lying. How could I tell the fucking truth? Say I sent my nudes I meant to send them to our fake arch rivals?

I’m gonna get my ass handed to me on a silver platter! Victoria’s going to beat my ass! Sidenote: I’m not actually scared of Vicki, she’s just a tough ass bitch. Anyway.

“Beatrix Rose Santiago. What. The. Fuck. Happened.” Victoria gritted through her teeth. See, she knew exactly how to break me. 

“IaccidentallyAirdroppedthenudesImeanttosendyouguystoStrayKidsgroupchatandtheyallsawandrespondedtoit! Wow. I just got so hungry. What a mouthful, can we eat, we should eat!” 

“What.” Marie-Caroline started.

“No.” Lily couldn’t believe it.

“You actually didn’t.” Sophie’s jaw dropped.

“Bea!” Marie whined like a wet baby.

Looks like they understood me.

Victoria flew from her seat and grabbed the phone from my hand, a phone I was dreading to light up. 

“Vicki!” I cried, wanting to die. 

“No, we’re surveying this group chat! We’re reading it!”

It kept lighting up on it’s own.

They kept texting me.

Stray Kids.

Probably making fun of me.

I’m screwed.

Vicki flew back to her seat and started reading the text messages out, everyone crowding around her like a bee to honey.

seungmininthebuilding: BEATRIX? more like BEA-TITS! hahhhhhhhh…

changbean: I should stop looking at that… but how did those tits get so…

hyunjinishere: we got ourself a prize here, the “accidental nude” is such good headline! You’re toast, darling! Don’t tell your friends~

yourhoeminho: you done goofed bea-bitch

feeeelix: it’s child pornography, the cops are on their way.

Individual Text Message:

chanthegoat: I could leak this picture. But I really want it for myself. 

“Whoa whoa whoa, what the fuck? Now Chan’s trying to smash!” Masako narrated like a TV host, eating on the edge of her chair chomping on popcorn.

“Oh no he isn’t,” I almost sprinted to where Vicki was sitting, looking over my phone to confirm her words. Sadly. Jesus Christ. He did.

He does? He usually wasn’t the one to be… into girls. 

At least that’s what I see in their YouTube videos. Unfortunitely, fans ship us all the time since we’re both against each other but we have similar skill sets and such.

Makes me sick.

“Well, respond!”

pinupprincess: Idk what you mean

chanthegoat: Think about us, we could burn up the second we fuck

pinupprincess: Are you…blackmailing me?

chanthegoat: Is that what you call it?

Shit.

[onlyonewoman]

Me rambling about Deran and Adrian

One of the things I love the most about Deran’s love life developement with Adrian and his character developement as a whole, is how much more restrained he is when it comes to act out on impulse. I know Smurf and J are the brains of the family and Pope has the cautiousness and, when his illness isn’t controlling him too much, actually the stable part who neither Smurf nor J can manipulate that easily. With Angela there’s another story, but we leave her manipulative ass out for the moment.  Craig might be a dumbass, but he’s not very impulsive and I’m very happy he made Deran realise that being even close to a cop bar was a very bad idea. Thank you, for being a good brother, Craig. (And yes, if you stay off the coke and actually start thinking ahead like you just did with Deran, you might have a chance to become pretty decent dad. Well, if Renn doesn’t decide to take off with the kid, of course.) Deran, I think, has shown that he’s not only starting to think ahead a lot more - we’ve seen that develope ever since he brought the bar and began to carve out a life for himself - but he’s also shown that he’s: - No longer living on the edge as he did in the first two seasons. He’s not goofing around at parties or raising hell just for the sake of it. He’s no longer the guy who makes jackass skateboard jumps off the pier to get an adrenaline rush and keeping up a reputation as a badass.  - Very much aware of how his family works. He trusts Craig, but that’s about it. He knows that THIS brother has his back no matter what, and in this episode he also showed that he’s taking his advices because yeah, Craig isn’t the brightest crayon in the box, but he’s the only one in the family who Deran knows wont hurt Adrian willingly.  - Listening to Adrian. Deran wont hurt kids, I’m somehow pretty sure about that, because that would cross a line that I think both him and Adrian know could be the end of their relationship because, and this is important: that’s not who Deran is and Adrian isn’t ready to protect himself at the cost of Deran crossing that line. They’ve come so fucking far in communication since first season. - No longer trying to deal with things on his own, away from Adrian. Yes, he killed Colby, but it was a big deal for him. He’s not a sociopath and wasn’t in any way comfortable crossing that line. It didn’t come natural to him and, ironically, I think this might be the closest thing he’s come to something that reminds of Smurf’s brutality - only he clearly has a conscience which his mother lacks. - Not seeking a position of power over anyone to just feel in control, as he did in the first two seasons. It clearly became less of that as soon as he got the bar, but I love how he’s using his newfound stability (stable in comparison to being controlled by Smurf and his brothers) to look to the future and not needing someone to control to feel confident. That’s one MAJOR difference from the way he was raised and the development has come, in my opinion, very naturally ever since Adrian rejected him in season 1. I think that loss and the realisation that it was his toxic relationship with Smurf that ruined not just the thing with Adrian, but everything in his life. - Taking emotional responsibility and yes, I know a lot of people are rooting for the original underdog J, but listen: while J is developing towards the toxic Cody webb even when he’s trying not to, Deran has both his head and his heart in place now. J has the brains, but he’s on full survival mode and only thinks about himself. I don’t blame him, but it’s been clear to me that since he left Nicky outside the E.R., because no matter her faults, she was a truly kind person and a good friend who was no more and no less bad as any other teenager in her situation. And J, ever since her dad told him off at the hospital, seems completely fine with ditching any contact with the one person outside the family who actually was nice and supportive towards him as a person. Deran, on the other hand, has gone in the opposite direction and the show has dropped little bits of that developement really well as in: 1. Accepting Adrian not wanting him anymore and staying away after the thing with Dave in season 1. 2. Embracing the fact that while Adrian is his one true love, Deran isn’t gay just for him. (Remember: ”No, not guys! It’s just you!” in season 1?) He’s accepting himself as a gay man, with or without Adrian and that, my friends, is actually a really big step because all too many people denying who they are, find it impossible to see themselves as gay, only accepting that they “do things that gay people do”. 3. Showing that he can be protective without getting possessive. In season one he sent Pope to beat up Dave because he felt so threatened but didn’t dare to do it himself, which was equally evil and cowardly. He didn’t show remorse at first, getting all cocky when Adrian confronted him, but as he’s LISTENING TO CRAIG and Craig actually has some really good relationship advices as well as a completely natural lack of homophobia (he’s one of the best big brother allies ever!) Deran clearly feels remorse and tries to tell Adrian he wants it to be okay. 4. Showing himself all vulnerable to Adrian that night in season 1 after the party - he’s crying ffs! - and when his instinct to lash out comes, he’s restraining it, grunting in frustration and clenching his fists because he KNOWS he’s lost the man he loves (although he’s not capable of knowing that it’s love because he’s so emotionally suppressed) but he also JUST KNOWS that he has no right to demand Adrian to give him something he can’t. I think that’s the first time we see that Deran clearly knows on some level, unconsciously, that trying to force Adrian back to him in any way, would mean he’s becoming Smurf and that’s what he hates about himself. Not the gay, but the Smurf part. 5. Letting himself embrace and explore his sexuality in more healthy ways, experiencing both rejection (Mark Liston) and being the one rejecting someone (Linc). Yes, Linc was “scared away”, but it was pretty clear that the good, hot and sweet nurse wanted to get more serious and Deran didn’t, so he didn’t pretend he was and sure, he didn’t like the guy, but considering how he responded to even the idea of rejection (Dave and Adrian outside the restaurant) and how he let Smurf control him out of fear of being on his own, he’s developed a lot more healthy attitude towards relationships in general: he no longer tries to control his sexuality in ways that hurt himself or others.  6. Slowly taking the steps first towards a life on his own and then towards a life with someone he’s choosing and who’s choosing him. I like how the show presents the domestic life with Adrian as something very natural and I personally think that comes from their time in Belize. They don’t need a getting used to one another being around, because they already know it works. I like the pace of it and how it wasn’t rushed. 7. Letting Deran show Adrian, time and again in lots of ways, that he’s sorry for all the bad things he did. (I don’t remember the actual quote from Adrian but it was something like “You don’t have to keep saying you’re sorry”, which, in case people still wondered if Adrian had forgiven him, shows he really has.) Deran earned his forgiveness by making things - and himself - better. He’s not once shown violent or overly controlling tendencies towards Adrian since they started seeing each other again. No one, and I mean NO ONE of the other characters have shown that kind of self-awareness AND responsibility in a relationship. I also love how the first completely private scene with them in season 1, not only was in Adrian’s home but also at night, as if Deran was afraid to show even ONE neighbor that he was seeing him. He didn’t even use the door, but broke in through a window like the criminal he is/was, because that was literally his idea of getting what he wanted, and how he’s now, three seasons later, not just is all out and open, but is making huge efforts for them to be together and for Adrian to be comfortable (”you need a real bed”), making him breakfast, and then, this season, they’re not only open, but living together as a couple, cuddling in bed in the mornings and how Deran, instead of taking Adrian from behind in the darkness, is fucking in FRONT OF THE BATHROOM MIRROR, snuggling in the morning light, petting and kissing and sorry, guys, but are we really appreciating this developement enough?  The show gave us angry, toxic closet momma boy gay controlling his partner both emotionally and physically and while I hoped for SOME development, never in my wildest dreams could I, not even when Adrian kissed Deran in the office in season 2 episode 11 (”The Leopard”) and I’m just asking: were is the reckognition from especially LGBTQ media? This relationship is not only the best in the show, or one of the best in the LGBT section in years, but it’s also in general a really good fucking love storyline. I feel blessed and whatever happens, I just want them to be safe.

[princeasimdiya12]

“Get ready, wake your psyche up, Gooch！

Get ready, dig your anger up, Gooch！

Get ready, wake your psyche up, Gooch！

Get ready!” 

So this happened during the weekend on a road trip where I decided to create another AU featuring the CU cast in the world of Mob Psycho 100. But as a twist, instead of revolving around George and Harold, the story would instead focus on unlucky oddball Steve “Gooch” Yamaguchi. 

Starring

Gooch as Shigeo “Mob” Kageyama. Along with having the same hairstyle, they’re both awkward, blunt and soft spoken boys who have difficulty with reading the room or understanding social norms. They still try to be good people but often get taken advantage of by other more domineering personalities. For this AU, Gooch is gifted with incredible powers that ordinary people could only dream to have. But Gooch isn’t interested in them since most people in his life only want him because of his powers. He wants to be recognized for his other traits and talents that don’t revolve around making cars and people float into space. 

Krupp as Reigen Arataka. They’re both highly similar since they’re stingy, overreactive, self-absorbed glory hounds who often take advantage of others if it means satisfying their own personal goals. The main difference that unlike canon, Krupp will be an actual Jerk with a Heart of Gold for this AU. Over time, he learns to care about Gooch as he becomes his master by providing him genuine life lessons for him to use in his life. He also realizes that there are consequences to going too far with his selfish ways and that he won’t be as happy if he continues down the same path. He runs a spirit and consultation office where he takes on supernatural themed cases if it means bringing him cash and popularity. 

Bo as Ritsu Kageyama. Both of them are dependable, kind hearted and have a close relationship with the main protagonist. In this AU, Bo would be more like a childhood friend who grew up with Gooch and cherishes his friendship with him. However, an incident involving some bullies made Bo insecure over the fact that he wasn’t able to protect Gooch. What’s worse is that Gooch was the one who ended up saving the two of them while also discovering his psychic powers that very day.  It’s because of this that Bo is desperate to awaken his own powers so he can be the guardian he was meant to be.

Smartsy as Dimple. Along with being floating blobs of green gas, they also started out as villains who wanted to take control of people but decided to let go of their schemes and become good. His initial cult was dedicated to healthy living by eating as many beans, broccoli and apple juice as possible.

Melvin as Teruki Hanazawa. The cocky, talented rivals of their respective series. Just like Teru, Melvin starts out believing himself to be something of a god while everyone else are inferior life forms for him to boss around. It isn’t until he has a chance encounter with Gooch does he realize that he isn’t the only big fish in the little pond called life. While he’s still arrogant and sarcastic, humble is something that Melvin can never properly learn in any AU, he does show genuine respect for Gooch for his abilities and a willingness to cooperate with his social circle. Also he does end up bald during his fight with Gooch and resorts to using an 80s wig.

Jessica as Tome Kurata. While this is a weird choice because of their different social standings, I chose them based on personality types. Just like Tome, Jessica is overly dramatic, obnoxious, conceited and is prone to giving orders to other students. For this AU, while she did create the Telepathy Club to be lazy and goof off, she does have a genuine interest in alien life and wants to make contact with them. Mainly so she can share her fabulous haar secrets with the rest of the universe. And in case you’re wondering about the aliens in her haar, those aren’t decorations. Those are the real thing. But just like Tome, Jessica needs to be motivated to achieve her goal and she’ll easily obtain them if she actually puts the effort into it.

Dressy as Ichi Mezato. A junior reporter at the school and a close acquaintance of Gooch. I picked her mainly for her role rather than personality. The reason she begins to investigate Gooch is because she’s seen his powers in its fullest when he defeated Smartsy’s Health Cult which in turn resulted in a secret following of people dedicated to the mysterious savior. Dressy desires to learn more about him so she can use his information and powers to promote a new world order that inspires peace and harmony among the rest of the Earth. So in a way, she wants to create her own cult. Cult!

Erica as Shou Suzuki. Both of them are talented, athletic and tend to snark when given the opportunity. Despite their cocky attitudes, they are truly aligned with the good side and want to make things right. For the AU, Erica has been keeping tabs on the Claw organization and has been providing the heroes with information needed to help take them and her wicked godmother down. 

Nurse Offstill as Tsuchiya. I decided to go with Offstill since I wanted a female Faculty member who could work as a reformed Claw member. Offstill works with Tsuchiya since they’re both kick butt ladies who treat kids with respect and pretty cool in their own ways. Also to keep the record clear, Nurse Offstill belongs to @guilty-as-battery-charged. 

Mr. Ree as Yusuke Sakurai. They’re both serious and dedicated to their careers. Ree would be exceptionally talented when it comes to using weapons. And while he does start out as a villain, he ultimately switches to being a good guy and proves to be a reliable ally.

Mr. Meaner as Banshomaru Shinra. They both have a sorta weird friendship going on with Krupp/Reigen, especially when it comes to their banter. Both Meaner and Shinra also believe themselves to be exceptionally great at their talents but the results say otherwise as they end up becoming Butt Monkeys.

Professor Poopypants as Ishiguro. The main antagonists of their respective series who intend to conquer the world and live above everyone as superior beings. They cannot be swayed into stopping their evil agendas and refuse to accept logic. Also they’re both tiny and have violent temper tantrums.

Mister Rio as Shimazaki. I went with my OC Rio since he fits with Shimazaki as a confident, agile and dangerous threat. They’ll beat you to a pulp with a smug smile on their faces.

Ms. Anthrope as Toichiro Suzuki. Regarding personalities, Anthrope can work for Toichiro since on the surface they’re presented as calm-minded, serious and somewhat generous to those around them. (Toichiro offered to help Serizawa control his powers and Anthrope is always reaching out to Krupp as a friend). But beneath the surface, they prove to be egomaniacal and dangerous as they intend to conquer the world to satisfy their own egos. I based this on how Anthrope was super expressive and power hungry when she became Clogneta. 

Edith the Lunch Lady as Serizawa Katsuya. Just like Serizawa, Edith is an awkward but friendly person who wants to do what’s right. They have difficulty speaking up for themselves so they often mumble their words and drop the issue. For this AU, Edith was a social outcast because of her out of control powers and was afraid of hurting people. It isn’t until Ms. Anthrope arrived did she learn not only to control her powers but that she can be of use to create a better world order. But eventually she realizes how harmful and dangerous Anthrope’s agenda really is and switches sides. Once the battle is over, she decides to work at Krupp’s spirit office to use her powers for good. Also, Serizawa is considered to be Reigen’s love interest so it felt appropriate to have Edith here considering how Reigen is. *insert hubba-hubba-buububaba*

Other characters that I wanted to include were Lavator Ree as Murashi Gouda the leader of the Body Improvement Club. In this AU, Lavator would be a gym teacher instead of a student but he still leads the club with pride and goes the extra mile to ensure that Gooch is getting the right amount of training. And for George and Harold, I feel that they would share an unofficial role of being the Emi of the AU. They ended up having a rut with their comics since they feel that it doesn’t have the same heart like the old ones did. What’s worse is that they feel that maybe they’re outgrowing making comic books. But it isn’t until a chance encounter with Gooch who provides meaningful words to the boys on how their work does have meaning and they should cherish not only the talent they have but the time they spend making it together. This rekindles their spirits and the boys decide to make a comic dedicated to their new friend called “The Paranormal Heroics of the Prodigious Psycho Helmet”. And I also wanted to include someone for Tsubomi but I didn’t know which student would be fit to be Gooch’s love interest.

And that is Gooch Psycho 100. Thank you for taking the time to read all this. If you have any thoughts on this AU, or would like to share your own ideas, you’re more than welcome to like and/or reblog this with your thoughts.

[amazingmsme]

Round and Round

AN: This is a little prequel to my other Spies Are Forever fic, where Curt mentions another time that Owen had “interrogated” him. It’s based before the show, so there’s no spoilers, just our spy guys goofing off and being teasy. Hope you enjoy!

Curt's eyes flew open, and he found himself in a small dark room. He reached up to rub his aching head, but found he couldn't move. His arms and legs were strapped to some sort of wheel on a wall. He tested his bonds to see if he could break free, but they held firm. He did notice a slight movement that made the wheel turn and inch to the left. He looked out over the room, taking in his surroundings. A single light hanging from the ceiling illuminated a long metal table in the middle of the room. Atop the table were various torture devices including but not limited to: a pair of pliers, hedge clippers, a chainsaw (he really hopes he can get out of this in one piece) and knives of varying sizes. He noticed a dark blob in a chair in the corner of the room and it began to shift once he looked at it.

The figure stood and slowly made their way to the table. The light cast long shadows, coating everything about them in mystery, even when they were directly underneath it. At least now Curt could tell it was a man standing before him. Something about him was familiar, but he couldn't quite place his finger on it. He wore a long black cape that swayed and billowed behind him with his every move and a top hat was tilted down to hide his features. He grabbed the edge of the cape and threw it behind him, making Curt roll his eyes at the overly dramatic entrance. 

"Well if it isn't the famous Curt Mega. Glad to see you're awake. You were out for quite some time." The man spoke in an over the top loud voice, and Curt wished he could cover his ears.

"I'm right here you don't have to yell," he deadpanned, and he could see the corner's of the other man's mouth turn downward.

"It's not yelling, I'm projecting."

"Well could you do it quieter? 'Cause I find it quite annoying," he said with a smirk. The man took a step closer and said in an even louder voice, "Oh I'm sorry, I didn't know you had such sensitive ears. But no need to worry, if you're lucky you won't have them by the time I'm done with you." He walked over to the table, picking up the large sheers, opening and closing them as he walked towards Curt. He could see a bright smile gleaming from underneath the hat. "Now, who're you working for?"

"Oh just a small agency called kiss my ass." He didn't even flinch when the sheers came for his head and clipped off a large chunk of hair right behind his ear. "Thanks, I've been meaning to get a haircut. Not too much off the top though." He reached up and violently yanked his head up by the hair, cutting off a fist full. It was then that Curt got a good look at his face. His eyes met a familiar pair of brown ones, and that crooked jaw was unmistakable. Owen was so gonna pay for ruining his hair.

"I'm sure you're wondering what you're strapped to. It's a fun little contraption I think you'll like. Allow me to give it a whirl." He reached up and grabbed the top of the wheel and heaved down. The wheel began spinning and only increased in speed the more Owen forced it.

He then walked away leaving him to spin. He stood behind the table, watching Curt go round and round until coming to a stop.

"That was a fun little ride, are you also gonna give me a lollipop?"

"I'm afraid lollipops are only for agents who cooperate. But don't worry, I have something special in store for you." Apparently, the wheel was also controlled by a remote that Owen pulled out from his pocket, and Curt found himself spinning once more.

"What're you gonna do magic man? Make me dizzy?"

"That's not my intention, but will no doubt be a side effect of your torture." Curt was ready to reply, a smart quip on the tip of his tongue, when Owen threw the scissors at him and they whizzed by his head, embedding in the wood near his head. "How about we play a game. I like to call it "answer my questions or else I throw knives at you.""

"Not very catchy-"

"What were you doing snooping around here?" Owen asked, and Curt could hear him struggling to keep his English accent concealed.

"I was on my lunch break and thought I'd grab a bite to eat. But now I'm starting to think this isn't McDonald's." He saw Owen's shoulders shake with laughter before he stopped abruptly and hurled a large knife at him. It landed in the tight space between his underarm and ribs, leaving only two inches between the blade and his body on either side. He picked up another knife off the table, slowly sauntering towards him. His eyes followed Curt as he turned upside down, and he waited for him to turn right side up. He placed the sharp edge of the knife on his cheek, the blade scraping over the skin and giving him a close shave. Curt would be lying if he said the sensation didn't send chills down his spine, and the intense look on Owen's face did nothing to help either.

"Tell me Mega, just what exactly were you hoping to find?"

"A hundred dollars wouldn't be too bad, eh buddy?"

Owen slammed the knife into one of the spaces between Curt's fingers, and this time he jumped. It was a little too close for comfort, and Owen was really pushing his luck. He walked back to the table and grabbed the remote, turning up the speed.

He was starting to feel dizzy, the constant motion grating on his brain and straining his eyes. It was getting hard to focus. Owen chuckled, "How're we holding up? You need a bucket yet?"

"No, if I need to I can just puke on you." His partner really didn't like the sound of that because this time the knife embedded itself between his legs, mere centimeters from his crotch. Okay Owen was seriously going to get it when he finally got out of this.

"I do wish you would cooperate, it would make things so much easier."

"Well I'll have you know I'm not easy. It takes at least five dates to get me in bed."

"I'm going to ask you one more time: who are you working for and what are your intentions?"

"Well I can assure you my intentions are nothing but pure," he said with a wink. Owen rolled his eyes, scraping the blade against the metal table, creating a horrendous screech to fill the air. Curt flinched and let out a yelp at the sound, unable to protect his ears.

"Stop stop stop! Fuck I can't take it!" He conceded, unable to handle such an awful noise. Owen smirked, ready to listen to his friend. "How the hell did you know that I can't possibly stand the sound of metal scraping?"

"Personal history does have its benefits Mega," he said. He ripped off the cape and threw the knife, making sure the blade landed right next to his head for the big finale. He tossed the hat to the side and paused the motion of the spinning wheel, walking up to free his friend. The trapped agent glared daggers at him.

"Oh Curt don't look so hurt, it was all in good fun."

"You throw another knife that close to my balls again, and I will make sure to chop yours off."

Owen laughed, reaching up to spin the wheel so that he was upside down. He unlatched his left leg first, then his right. "I have no doubt about it, which is why I didn't miss. Trust me, if I wanted, I could've had all your fingers by now." Being upside down with his legs free left Curt in an awkward position as he struggled to keep them upright. Owen took note of this and decided to take a step back and just observe him. His stomach was starting to hurt from holding the position and he grit his teeth together as he seethed, "Owen you ass, hurry up and get me down!"

"Why? Are you feeling the burn old chap?" He teased, reaching up to pat his stomach. Curt swiftly brought his right knee down on top of his head, hard. Owen recoiled with a cry of pain and glared down at his face while he rubbed his head.

Curt gave him a fake smile and shrugged his shoulders as much as he could, "Guess I couldn't hold my legs up that long." Owen scoffed and spun him upright, freeing his wrists. He rubbed where the bonds were, enjoying the feeling of being able to move.

"So I don't suppose you were the one who knocked me out?" he asked, using the metal table to stretch out his legs. Owen promptly shook his head, "Oh no, I would never. I did find the bloke though. I fixed him up with a nice chloroform rag and some duct tape, so he shouldn't be going anywhere but to headquarters. Be lucky I found him before you woke up, 'cause I don't think he has as good an aim. Quite the shaky hand," he said, raising his own and making it tremble. 

"Oh yeah, remind me to thank you for literally shooting daggers at me."

"You're welcome. You got the test files?"

"Of course. All on this hard drive."

"Very good. Now not that I didn't have a blast, but I think we should call it a day, wouldn't you?"

"Yeah, Cynthia's probably pissed that I'm not back by now. Although I have a good reason."

"Oh don't think I don't know that you enjoyed being my target; you were having just as much fun as me."

"I-" but his retort fell short on his tongue when Owen simply raised his eyebrow with a smirk. "Just you wait, I'll get you back."

"Of course you will love. That's the way this game works."

[imma-lil-teapot]

Each TMNT Incarnation and Where They Stand With Me :)

(Nervous chuckle) ... Yeah no, I suck at titles. Moving on! 

Y’all can go ahead and skip this part if you’re not interested in senseless rambling and just wanna get to the TMNT fun~ ;) 

Soooooo, I’ve recently updated my Tumblr page to a blog dedicated to all my fandoms (musing, headcanons, writing, gifs, pics, the works, basically anything and everything in relation to them) since I wasn’t really ever doing anything with it other than using it to share pics mostly. But ever since I stumbled back into the TMNT fandom, I’ve been searching Tumblr for fan content and OMGOSH, did I hit the jackpot! Headcanons, fanfics, Turtle x reader stories, so much juicy stuff! Am hooked! Dunno why I never tried searching for similar stuff in the past for my other fandoms! I guess I just... didn’t realize there was so much content here. :O But anyway, I always wanted a place to share ideas and thoughts regarding my fandoms outside of sites like Deviantart and Fanfiction.net, and heck, it’s been here under my nose all this time... Y’all gonna have to forgive me; I’m an old fart. ;P (Insert image of Slowpoke for reference) So without further ado... 

LET’S GET THIS PIZZA PARTY STARTED! 

Imma start this blog off really simple and, as the title states, just give you all a small-ish idea of where each TMNT universe stands (or ranks?) with me, personally... Note the ‘personally’ part so please don’t feel offended if I don’t share the same opinion as you on a particular verse. ^^; I have my own tastes and will respect the next person’s when it comes to them. ;) Also, please beware the typos (which there most definitely will be)...

IN RELEASE DATE ORDER: (Hopefully they’re right)

MIRAGE COMICS~

Imma just say it: I haven’t read any of them yet. :/ There probably are sites out there that would allow you to view them online for free, but in truth, I’ve been a little slack about trying to find any... That may however change someday as I always tell myself I should really seek out the source material so it’s only a matter of time. What I do know, however, is that they’re of course a lot darker than most incarnations (which I don’t have a problem with personally) and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t curious as to exactly how much darker. X’D The closest I’ve come to ‘knowing’ these Turts comes from watching the Turtles Forever movie and they weren’t in it for a long time so it’s very difficult to say what they actually mean to me, so we’ll just put these guys down in the ‘not sure’ column for now. ;)

1987 CARTOON~

HAHA~ I think any fan of the franchise as a whole knows this little gem! The series that really hit it off and spawned over a 190 eps! Quite an impressive feat for a Saturday morning cartoon! It made its way to TVs the year before I was born, but it would take another few before it would reach our tubes (we’re always a few years behind the rest of the world :/ ) so I was around four when I was first introduced to it and needless to say, I loved it back then! Michelangelo was initially my fav due to him being my older brothers’ fav and the one they mainly spoke of, but it didn’t take long before my favering gravitated towards Leonardo (even at such a young age) and has been that way ever since. ;) But where exactly does the series stand with me as an adult nowadays with so many other verses we’ve been exposed to? I do hold a lot of nostalgia (as many older do) for it, and I mean, come on, that theme song is ageless, and I even started watching a lot of vids involving the original VAs and the shenanigans they get up to and seriously, it’s so heartwarming and fun to see them! But I have to be honest...

It’s not my fav verse, honestly. I will always adore them, of course, because of the nostalgia and the goofiness... But it’s the latter that’s mostly the reason for it being placed a bit lower on the favoritism ladder. While its a fun watch if you want something lighthearted, I still prefer the idea of the darker undertones that comes with being associated with ninjas. It’s just a preference. Plus, the Turtles designs are big one for me, and I’m sorry to say, but I keep seeing these fellas as more frog-like than turtle, despite the shells. X’D So yeah, no big reasoning for it, and even if someone were to ask me if I like these guys, I’ll still say yes, just that they’re not my ultimate fav is all. ;)

Also, we won’t talk about the Japanese Anime Ninja Turtles: Superman Legend or something to that extent... We’ll just let that one be gently swept under the carpet. ;) Only ever saw the trailer for it and that’s all I’ll ever need to see in my lifetime.

1990 MOVIES TRILOGY~

Now funny enough, I really don’t remember ever seeing these movies as a kid, though it’s possible I did and just maybe blocked the memory, but I highly doubt it... So yeah, I saw these movies as an adult already. The first is praised by most fans, and honestly, I can see why: it’s pretty good! :D The acting is very decent and the humour’s brilliant! The two sequels... not so much but still okay. ;) Where they sit with me... Not too far on the ladder again I’m afraid. :/ While I do really enjoy and appreciate the acting and that humour (”I made a funny.” X’D) it mostly comes down to the Turtles designs again... I really can’t see past them being actors in costumes rather than characters. :’( Granted, good actors. ;) And heck, Jim Henson did a phenomenal job! They’re just not really the movies for me is all, even if I do go back and watch ‘em every now and then. X’D I do however melt every time at the scene in the first movie where Raph wakes up in the bath and Leo’s there and apologizing and all... Makes me all gooey inside! X’D The feels are real! Speaking of Leo, though, he sounds even younger than Mikey. Small nitpick, that, but... why? X’D

But yeah, let’s just say, they’re good movies, just, not my favs.

Also, Coming Out Of Their Shells tour... Yeah, I’m gonna just... pretend that doesn’t exist for a minute. 

THE NEXT MUTATION~

Nope.

Saw one ep as a kid and am not interested in seeing anymore.

Although, VA Matt Hill voices Raph. That’s one good thing.

2003/2k3~

Well it wasn’t already apparent by my avatar... Ladies and gents, I present to you... My fav TMNT verse to date! Oh my goodness, where do I even begin with this delicious series?! :D Firstly, animation: so appealing, comic book-y style! Their designs: without sounding pervy, veeeeeeeery appealing (hehehehehe), no seriously, they sometimes have a bitta bulk to them but it honestly works, and dem muscles, and the cool eyes! The VAs: spot on! Perfect! Wouldn’t have ‘em any other way! Make me melt, Mr. Michael Sinterniklaas~ (cough) Their personalities: Omgosh, just yes! So perfect! They’re easily differentiated and yet still work together so well. Leo’s mature and level-headed (well, most of the time ;P ) yet still gets tested a lot and even has a fun side that’s shown on occasion. Raph’s grouchy and violent but is shown on more than one occasion that’s he’s total softie and really does care. Don’s just a sweetheart and freakishly smart and even has slips ups from time to time. Mikey... omgosh, best Mikey ever! So much fun! So hilarious! And just a bundle of energy, but not at all an idiot like he’s sometimes portrayed in other verses. He’s witty, mischievous and just so adorable! Heck, even Master Splinter, April, Casey, the lot of them are just awesome in this series! And wow, they really do lean more towards the source material (or so I’m told) when it comes to the plots! It’s darker than the other previous verses yet still remaining kid-friendly (although I question it at times XD) and omgosh, it’s just everything I want in a TMNT universe! Granted, it’s not perfect perfect, but it nailed it for me. ;) It really showed so lovely character developments, alsortsa different genres, the humour will leave you in stitches, the Turts are all just so lovable, I can’t get enough of them! This series was really my high point and I’ve yet to find one that tops it~

Btw, this even includes Fast Forward and Back to the Sewer (BTTS). The former being my least fav of the series simply due to the setting and again, it’s just preference. I even liked BTTS, even though I’m not overly fond of a cyberspace setting, but I found myself really liking the art style and the general plot. :D 

2007/2k7~

As with the last, if you’ve picked up on the page’s header/banner, you’d have probably guessed that the 2007 movie is also a good candidate for one my favs... And you’d be correct. ;) I’m actually very fond of this movie, and it’s largely due to the Turtles designs. I love how they were done! They just look so cool! <3 Subtle differences tell the viewer who’s who even if they didn’t have a mask or weapons. The VAs were also pretty good~ Now, the story isn’t the greatest, I’ll admit. Personally I thought it was okay, but know many fans think otherwise. But I did like the confrontation between Leo and Raph! It got real there, peeps! :O Now here’s also where it falls a little on its face for me: I didn’t really like how they handled Leo’s personality (if you haven’t already picked up on it, yes, I’m a Leo fangirl and I’m picky when it comes to how they handle his personality) but it’s a nitpick again, yet, I still feel compelled to state my opinion: the whole “I’m better than you.” comment really took me back and made me think they pushed it. I honestly like to believe he’d never actually say something like that... at least, 2003!Leo wouldn’t. X’D But that’s just my problem: I’m comparing a different verse’s Leo to this one and whether I like it or not, he said it. :/ Oh well, it still made for some fun action scenes and I’ll still always like the movie.

Bit of a goof on my side: I honestly thought that this movie was made to tie in with the 2003!verse due to the timeline in which it was produced, but turns out, it’s actually closer to the 1990′s timeline although still considered it’s own verse.

2012/2k12~

Oooh boy, lemme prepare for the backlash real quick... I’m uhhhh... not a fan of these boys. :/ I don’t mind them, but I’m honestly never gonna watch the series again. It’s hard to top your fav when you’ve kinda already hit your high point, ya know. Now before you light your torches and sharpen your pitchforks, hear me out: I will never bash the series, or make fun of anyone who likes it! Or anything to that extent! It’s just wasn’t for me, plain and simple, and it’s got nothing to do with it being ‘new’ or I’m just an old fart stuck in my ways. Heck, If you’re still reading, you would’ve found out that even nostalgia couldn’t beat the series that grasped me in my teens! So no, it has nothing to do with age. But if you do need a reason: I wasn’t overly fond of how they handle the characters. For one, they look and act a bit too young, Mikey is just... wow, something else. Donnie’s... sheesh, pretty snappy and antagonising. Raph’s well... okay, he’s meant to be angry half the time, and they did give him some more layers with Spike and Mona Lisa and whatnot, but he still kinda never learns his lesson if I can say that? He’ll learn that he shouldn’t cause issues with others, yet next episode he’s back at it again. :/ Leo’s... wow, just not like other Leos. X’D Best way I can describe him is... young? Very childlike. And even when he was progressing to becoming this better leader, I honestly couldn’t even see the change. My mind was just stuck on this “He’s a babeh.” notion. Also, I’m not even gonna start on this April and Casey. Just. No. Most of the characters were annoying and I just kept seeing recycled plot after plot. What I did like was the romance that blossomed between Raph and Mona (albeit far too rushed) and even Donnie liking April was adorable (but seriously Donnie, you can do so much better), and there were some really heartfelt moments, like Splinter telling Leo to leo his brothers with his heart and not his head, and the scenes when they were Tots will always make me squeal... But yeah... without leaving any spoilers.... about Splinter... just... thanks, Nickelodeon. Y’all know what I mean. Not once... But twice.... Really? So yeah, look, I realized some of those reasons might even be petty, but again, it’s just not the series for me, but anyone who’s a fan... You keep being a fan! ;) I’m glad you can enjoy something I can’t. ;)

2014/2k14/2016/2k16 AKA BAYVERSE~

HAHA~ Every fan’s favorite... If only. X’D Jokes aside, despite many fans claiming the Bay movies ruined the franchise, these two films gathered a small following... And I’m apart of it. :) Funny enough, I honestly didn’t know what to think of them when the movie first came out. I think I was just taken aback by the sheer amount of detail and all that went into their designs. I didn’t not like them, but again, their designs were a lot to take in. :O Even now after seeing the movies quite a few times over, I find myself constantly discovering something I didn’t notice on them before, be it a strap or a scar etc. And it honestly took some getting use to their sizes, I mean, sheesh! :O Not to mention the different background story, and Megan Fox’s wooden, expressionless acting, but despite all that... I found myself actually growing attached to these hulks of Turtles. They still have a lot of that heart in them and plus they’re just so much fun, I mean, can we say ‘Elevator scene’? X’D Now again, not perfect by anys mean, but still fun and pretty decent incarnations to add to the franchise. Again, Leo’s been given this ‘Better than you’ a bit which irked me to be frank. Not always but it’s there sometimes, but otherwise alright. Raph’s a decent Raph. Even had some tender moments. Donnie’s adorable! X’D This slightly potty mouthed geek that you just gotta love. And Mikey... although given that bitta ‘idiot’ feel, is also just as lovable and you want to hug him every time he’s onscreen! 

In short, I like ‘em. :) They’re actually closer to the top of the ladder than some others.

RISE OF THE TMNT/ROTTMNT/2018/2K18~

Yeeeeeeeeuuuuuuh... no. Sorry. Not for me. :/ Again, gonna remind y’all, nothing to do with age. Nothing to do with change. I will say that the fluid animation is nice, and the fact that they chose 2D animation. :) Buuuuuut, wow, they were certainly a lot to take in. Almost as much as Bay’s Turtles. After watching a few eps, I will conclude that they really just aren’t what I’m looking for. I found that the constant joking, while sometimes funny, got a little bit much, plus such short eps. Raph being leader was a switch and one that took awhile to get use to and honestly, I’m just not for it, I don’t even know where to begin with Donnie, Mikey’s okay, Leo... (deep breath) I don’t know what they were thinking... Let’s not even go to Master Splinter. But anyways, I get that change was what they were going for and that it was more so based on the 1987 toon with the silliness so that’s fine. I’m glad it’s got so many fans. :) And honestly, I wanna end off just by saying...

That no matter what your thoughts on what I’ve said, I hope you can respect my opinions and choices cause at the end of the day, they’re just my own, and I will always respect yours! :D If you adore the verses I’m not too crazy about, that’s great! :D I want you all to love the heck out of them! And honestly, this is what’s so great about this franchise: there are so many verses to choose from! So many options and tastes to suit any and all! You don’t have to follow the masses! You go enjoy whichever incarnation(s) you want to! ;) 

And there we have it, my first fandom bloggy thingy~ Hope there’ll be many more where that came from! :D

This is Drag0n-Mistr3ss signing off~

[exomistress]

When a guy hurts you purposely

Long time no see. It is me again, the girl that leaves the civilization every weekend.

Xiumin:

Xiumin would be beyond pissed if someone even spoke to you in a bad manner. So imagine how he would be when the stranger layed a hand on you. It would take more than just you, Suho and Lay to calm him down.

The moment he walked out of of the Studio he saw the man roughly pulling on your sleeve, smirking down at you while checking you out. When I say this I mean it, in a matter of seconds Xiumin had pushed that guy away from you and was just about to strike a punch before the guys came out to prevent him from causing any harm.

"No one is allowed to touch my girl like that!"

"You hear me!?"

Suho:

Darling, I bet that the guy is wishing he never tried to talk to you in the first place. Suho would be of course pissed out of his mind and it doesn't make it better that he was trying to touch in that way.

Pissed by all the bad events that happened to him that night. He would not care to be kind. He had seen the guy from the window of his apartment and he didn't even care to put a jacket on while going out in the rain. The fact that he was wet by the rain would make him look even more intimate as he made his way to the two of you. By now the guy had already froze on his spot and you could furiously hear the beating of his heart. He angrily nudged the guy, trying to keep his calm.

"Is something going on here man"

Lay:

Yixing is a kind person we know that. Hehe. He wouldn't really know how to feel about the situation. I mean the 78% of the time he lives he is a confused unicorn. Though for sure he would be angry at the person. Come on this is no way to treat a woman, especially you.

One, two, three seconds past before his hand gripped tightly the wrist of the person that was basically harassing you. Yixing wouldn't be the person to cause violence but this guy had crossed his limits and this is why Yixing kindly yet roughly tells the guy to back off.

"Man, have some respect and back of"

Baekhyun:

This ball of sunshine would be confused and enraged. Baekhyun being confused, why? You ask. Well he would find the fact that the man actually had the guts to do that confusing. Every one should know it by now that anyone who dares to treat you like that will not get away with being punched.

So don't be surprised when you see a fist come his way. Just put your hand on his chest before he can march forward again. Don't be fooled by his fluffy features when someone messes with the wrong girl well... things will not go well.

"Tch, I can't believe that he had the guts to touch you"

Chen:

Chen would:

Irritated ✔

Seething with anger ✔

Hit him ✔

Feel guilty for his bleeding nose ❌

Chen would just ran to your side and punch him right in the face. He would quickly wrap his arms around your waist and pull you at his chest. Then proceed to look down at him.

"If I see you near her again, you won't only have a bleeding nose to fix"

Chanyeol: I will practically die

Chanyeol would be infuriated by the man, if you can even call him that. His face would get all serious and worked up that you wouldn't recognize him. He rarely gets angry so this would be a new side that you happened to see for the very first time.

His deep low voice and his height would be bonus to scare the living hell out of the man. With him standing tall behind you and his muscles showing even more than usual the guy who was hurting you would be pretty scared. Two words came out of his mouth and the guy was already running off.

"Piss off! "

D.o. :

Inner thoughts : Is he really trying to hurt my Jagi?

Satansoo mode activated, I am kidding, I am kidding. We don't want him to destroy the world only half of it is actually activated. You get the point, he might not seem so intimate but he can punch someone really hard.

He would just stand by you and pull you away from the creep, breaking you free from his trap in the process. He would throw daggers while staring and with a step forward the man would be running.

"I suggest you run away "

Kai:

Feeling his protective side coming out he would basically stuck at your side looking down at the disgusting man with nothing but anger.

"What do you think you are trying to pull, huh!? "

He would simply stay to him with his sexy voice. To you, to him it would be more like a one of his horrifying nightmares. After he left he would turn to you smiling like a goof.

"I got your back, Jagiya! "

Sehun:

Surprisingly for the two of you Sehun was overly excited since it was your five months anniversary almost half a year. His mood would be long ruined when he saw the b*st*rd forcefully pulling you with him.

He would be coming back from the public restrooms of the festival. Excited since you two would soon go to a restaurant and spend some romantic time together. So you say he would be angry I say he would be beyond pissed. Just look at his face and you will see.

He will just march forward and violently push him away from you, standing between the two of you in a protective way.

" Don't try to do anything like that again man, I dare you! "

[fantroll-purgatory]

@47098

Sorry about my spriting here, I’m not good at making pants. ;

Left is her in her coat. It’s the only piece of lime-colored clothing she owns. Right is her usual wear, or what she puts on when she leaves her cave.

FIRST: Alternia or Beforus or some type of AU?

Alternia

Name (preferably include how you came up with it and why): Orwnet Jketli

I really don’t remember how I came up with this name! I feel a bit bad about that, but I do remember that I partially made it nonsense because of the fact that Calliope said Lime names were a bit more weird.

Okay so looking at her, I notice a theme of sneaking/fleeing, fear, those sorts of Prey Animal themes. I also notice an interesting in practical goofs and cartography and also her disconnect from relationships. A lot of neat stuff to work with! 

I think I’m going to recommend changing her name… to Quarie Jkrebt. I wanted to keep playing with the ‘weird lime names’ rule you pointed out, and I wanted to preserve that cool Jk sound in the last name. 

Quarie comes from Quarry, which is what a hunted animal is called. And Jkrebt comes from Jack Rabbit! 

Age: 6.9 sweeps

Weapon: Confetti Cannon! She is pretty non-violent overall, so I figured she wouldn’t have an /actual/ weapon.

A confetti cannon is cute, but I don’t know if it fits the theme super well? I does fit her love of jokes… Hmm. Oh, I know! Maybe Jacks!

A good ol bag of jacks. She can scatter them on the ground when she needs to make an escape. It’s also another pun on Jackrabbit. And it has some alchemization potential. Like creating jacks that can Also release a puff of smoke. 

Inventory: WHEEL OF FORTUNE! Spin the wheel, who knows what you’ll get! Anytime she wants an item she has to spin the wheel, and she doesn’t actually get to choose what comes out.

I do like the Fortune thing because Lucky Rabbit joke. 

Blood color: Lime

Symbol and meaning: A sort of eye, peering over something. It’s also partially meant to look like a record.

I’ll be picking out a new one when we get down to the title and moon.

Trolltag: amicableJukebox [AJ] (very open to suggestions on this, i did NOT mean for her trolltag to be apple juice)

uneasyBinky, maybe? Uneasy referencing her anxious and unsettled nature and binky being the cute little hoppy thing bunnies do. 

Quirk: orgets the beginning parts of sentences! oesn’t really use capitals or emphasis either, even when upset.

The lack of capitals and emphasis is a good nod to her blood caste’s calming role. I don’t really understand the Origin of the forgetting the beginning of sentences quirk? But it’s still legible and it’s a cute idea, so I won’t switch it up.

Special Abilities (if any): She has the ability to calm people down extremely well. She is good at diffusing arguments as well, making her a good auspitice. It isn’t really an innate power, but it is something that comes with her caste, I suppose? She also used to have a empathetic link to her lusus, where her lusus could project certain feelings or invoke certain kinds of memories to ‘communicate’ with her.

I was also thinking of adding the empath link as an actual ability, as in she could use it on other trolls if she really concentrates, but I’m not sure how well that would really fit.

I think it would fit really well! We know that lower-blooded trolls are more prone to gaining psychic abilities and it’d fall in line with what we already expect from limeblooded trolls. I like the idea of her starting off with a weak empathetic link that she ends up developing and strengthening. Maybe she can only use it with her lusus at first, but slowly gains the strength to utilize it with other trolls, sharing emotions with those around her. 

Lusus: A four-eyed rabbit. Two eyes on the front of its head, two eyes on the back. It also sort of… eminates white particles, just because. Orwnet calls her Hippy.

I don’t want this Bunnymom to be just a plane ol four-eyed rabbit, so I think I’ll recommend a Rasselgeiß. That’s a rabbit with antlers and fangs. Just unique enough.

Personality:

Extremely secretive and chill, Orwnet keeps all of her emotions behind a wall of jokes and self depreciation. Orwnet can get along with just about anyone, but that’s because she doesn’t put much weight into what she wants so she lets everyone walk over her. She will speak up when a plan is obviously bullshit, or if she thinks people will die from said plan, but if she thinks no real harm will come of it she’ll let it slide. If someone is being rude or overly confrontational, she will most likely skirt out of the conversation. She has no close friends, and finds it hard to get along with people on a deeper level. She often distances herself.

Orwnet takes great pleasure in persuing a cause. She will devote herself entirely to something passionately, even if she seems to be joking around about it or skirting around the issue. People will most likely think she’s slacking off when she’s really coming up with plans, trying to work them through in her head. She is very skittish by nature, so she often doesn’t share her plans with others, but makes sure to work her plans around the people she is with. If her plans fall through or fail she will be crushed, but won’t tell anyone about how she feels.

Orwnet is very jumpy and evasive due to her childhood of terror. She has a deep distrust for everyone, fearing that they will turn her in or try to cull her. She still acts friendly, but will bolt at a moments notice if she senses danger aimed only at herself. If she feels like someone else is being targetted, she will try to help in any way she can, but that often involves finding a non-violent way to get them out of the situation. She finds more value in running away than in physical confrontation.

I really, really like this personality. I’m interested in her lack of self-confidence, her passion, and her emotional struggles, and her fear of intimacy. All great character traits!

Additional info:

Okay her existence and alive-ness is due to shenanigans on part of my fankids.

She lives in a cave, where she and her lusus have taken residence ever since her lusus picked her up. The cave has since been added onto, extra tunnels being dug by Hippy. In Orwnet’s room there is a secret passage hidden by some maps taped onto the wall. It’s for when others enter her cave without her knowing.

Interests:

MAPS (keeps them b/c she needs to know her way around so she can sneak better)

PAPER CRAFTS

JOKES

Self-depreciation

VEGETABLES

HIDE-AND-SEEK (a joke about how shes always hiding from the drones)

LONG DISTANCE RUNNING (a joke about how shes always running from the drones)

FUNNY NOISES (she mixes a lot of gag-noises on a soundboard she carries around, she presses the buttons when something funny happens)

These are cute interests. Maybe as part of maps you could give her a bit of an interest in cartography or tracking? Also I have to wonder about vegetables- how does she get them? Does she farm? I know Kanaya mentioned landscaping is uncommon on the planet, but it’s possible farming is a bit more common… Maybe have her do some self defense training, too?

Title: HEIR OF TIME

Now I have to contest this gently. I think she’s most likely a Heart player! The fact that she lets people walk all over her… The fact that she has trouble with intimacy, her intense devotion to causes and her incredible passion- it all reads as very heart player! It seems like an area she needs a lot of development in, too. I think placing her as Seer of Heart with her inverse being Witch of Mind is a good place to be!

Land: MUSIC and LOCOMOTION

Land of Carnivores and Locomotion, maybe?

Dream Planet: Derse

I definitely agree with this!

Which means we can decide on a symbol now!

Cano, the Translucent. 

(thank you for helping with maroux as well! your sprite was so cute and all of your help was so good!) 

Glad I could help with this one and with Maroux! Now onto the design!:

Horns: I adjusted the horns to fit the new symbol I provided. I wanted to keep them relatively small and rounded!

Hair: I just beefed it up in a few tiny places because it felt a little flat up top in particular.

Eyes: I gave her some eyelashes and also slightly larger pupils to reflect those seen on a prey animal! 

Mouth: I adjusted her teeth just a little to make them a little neater… And make it more obvious that the one tooth is coming up from the bottom. 

Jacket: I adjusted it to the correct color and also spruced it up a little. Fixed the outline, the lapels, give it a little tie around the waist. 

Shirt: I adjusted the color and outline. 

Pants: I made them have a little more form but didn’t do much else. 

Shoes: I took some of Jade’s shoes and edited them to make them look a bit more comfortable to run in. 

Now we’ve got ‘em done! Thank you for sharing her!

-CD

[sigurdjarlson]

so i was going to write headcanons for khadgar/garona brotp but somehow i started talking about sex and what it would be like if they did have sex?

(TW: mentions of rape/abuse in Garona’s past) 

i made myself cry

i headcanon garona is viciously protective of Khadgar and vice versa but Khadgar knows she can take care of herself for the most part so he’s not overbearing. 

she can be though 

like she knows he’s extremely powerful but its easy to forget because he’s so small and soft? and he’s just..non-threatening as they come. 

and some part of her automatically gravitates towards him before anyone else because of that. she grows to trust and care for lothar but his constant aggressive posturing made it take longer. the macho thing makes her wary..for obvious reasons. not to mention lothar is loud. he’s often invading people’s personal space, tries to intimidate people (see: his first meeting with khadgar, and him early on when he first met Garona) 

it naturally makes her wary/defensive at first especially since he’s a man

she quickly learns he’s not that kind of person though and she’s like yes good this human is my friend too. then she headbutts him affectionately 

and you know sex..to her “sex” is..pain. It’s about dominance, power and pain. (which isn’t sex. it’s rape) So, she’s genuine when she tells Khadgar he would be injured. How could such a small, soft human hope to survive such a thing? foolish boy he needs to know he would be hurt 

she doesn’t understand how any of them survive such a violent act. it’s why she’s genuinely confused when Lothar laughs. She wasn’t necessarily trying to insult him. Perhaps a little yes because she was defensive thinking that’s what he wanted from her but overall she wasn’t doing it solely to make fun of him

and alright alright I can just see Khadgar being interested in someone or someone is interested in him and she gets ultra protective?? Like I will chop your hand off if you touch him again. Because she doesn’t want him to hurt like she did. when khadgar sits down and talks about it with her she’s almost confused when he tells her sex isn’t supposed to be like that. it’s supposed to be about pleasure (and love when it’s not a casual fling with a stranger or somethin)

and he doesn’t pity her. she would be furious if he did but his heart breaks for her all the same. Oh no imagine this. She’s absolutely furious one day when she sees marks on him, thinking someone must have attacked him and he’s quick to explain...there can be pleasure in pain. When it’s consensual. It’s alright. He wanted it. No one needs to be murdered.

if they ever had sex it wouldn’t be a wild rough lustful fuck. it just wouldn’t be. it would be her initiating it in a “show me what it’s supposed to be like..” kind of way i think?

she’s almost scared to touch him because what if she hurts him? She genuinely does not want to hurt him and he’s just so small, soft and vulnerable looking. 

And Khadgar is patient, eager to please. Submissive even. He’s more than happy to let her take the reins. especially if it’s what she needs. 

And she’s almost confused when he listens when she tells him to stop something. When he’s concerned. She’s not used to someone actually giving a damn and it’s..it’s kind of overwhelming really. Emotionally. But he does. He stops, he’s concerned and he doesn’t do it again. 

there’s something so..freeing in knowing she can stop it at any time (physically she could too but she would never need to) 

And ohh..there’s a lot she’s unaware of. like hey what are you doing with your mouth- OH...oh. That is good. (you know nothing, jon snow) And you know at first there’s no penetration. there doesn’t have to be and she is understandably wary of it. it hurts. that’s all she knows. 

maybe they never get there and that’s perfectly okay. it’s not a necessity. Khadgar doesn’t care. If she doesn’t want it neither does he.

if they do have piv she rides him. she controls it 

it’s..all so different when you want it. it’s different when she wants to see her partner enjoy it. it’s all just so different and it’s good.

and there’s laughter. sex can be awkward lbr and Khadgar is too much of a goof not to try to lighten the situation. she’s surprised by this but it’s...really nice. she likes it. it’s not mockery it’s just..two friends laughing together and having a good time.

She is equally dedicated to consent too. She learns what he can take, takes note of it. he likes when she pulls his hair and pushes his face closer when he’s going down on her. he does not like teeth being used when she does the same for him

it takes her quite a while to get comfortable with ever consensually causing him pain? it takes a while for her to reconcile that with her own experiences. 

at the same time..any roughness would be from her. biting, scratching, pulling his hair but like beating his ass? nah. i mean he’d probably like that but she isn’t comfortable with it.

She’s quick to tell him not to treat her like she’s made of glass but he’s not overly rough/dominant either.

She totally  dominates him though and he lets her? he wants her to? he trusts her that much

And she trusts him.

there’s so much trust (heh young trust) that comes with her deciding to be sexual with him.

and im not sure i see them as a relationship as much as a friendship where sex might happen and might not. if it does it’s affectionate, there’s attraction and lust there but it’s more “I care about you so i want to make you feel good” but not in a I feel like I have to do this” way

More of a “show me what it’s supposed to be like” and then if it happens again it’s a “Hey this feels really good can we do it again?” sort of thing

and perhaps she is slightly possessive of him but it’s not “my mate” as much as “he’s very dear to me and if you hurt him/try to take him away from me I will destroy you”. 

and she just loves her human okay. whether that relationship ever becomes sexual or not. it’s built on love and trust and I just love these two and their friendship okay.

(im so glad they cut the scene where her and lothar bang after callan dies?? like i get they were trying to do the “i want to forget about my pain so fuck me until i forget it” but it doesn’t mesh well for that particular situation or pairing i think. idk im not a fan of lothar/garona in general. i see potential where it could work but in the movie it’s rushed and forced and comes off as a random forced het romance)

IHDHFHFD ahhh i just remembered how in TLG the soldiers were kicking her and Khadgar started crying and set one of them on fire (good boy, khadgar)

and how he was hurt when he thought she said she didn’t trust him but she was like oh not u i trust u 

like trust must be so very hard for her and yet she trusts him

that says a lot

[loosescrewslefty]

Ladybugs Prefer Blondes

Femslash Feb 06- New Haircut

She was trying her absolute best not to feel self conscious or anxious about it, but it was really, really hard.

You can do this. She reminded herself, trying to force her hands to stop trembling. You got this. You can totally do this.

She survived supervillians on a semi-daily basis, she was NOT afraid of a pair of scissors!

“You know you don’t have to do this, right?” Marinette reminded her, watching the blonde carefully from where she was pretending to flip through a fashion magazine. “You don't have to prove anything to anyone.”

“You think I care what anyone thinks, Marinette Dupain-Cheng?” Chloé asked with a scoff. “I’m doing this for me, and no one else.”

“Sure. Of course you are.” Marinette hummed in agreement. “It has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that you want to try and make a fresh start and figured that a new look might help you feel like a new person.”

“Naturally.” Chloé nodded, crossing her arms. “I take far too much pride in how beautiful I am to dumb it down for the common man.”

“Not to mention what a crime it would be, to rob the world of such a sight!” Marinette reminded her with an overly dramatic gasp.

“Exactly.” Chloé had to force herself not to smile at the smaller girl’s antics, sticking her nose up primly as she examined her nails with feigned indifference. “I’m doing this because short hair is in fashion and I want to stay ahead of the trend. As if there could ever be any other reason I’d cut my hair!”

“Only a fool would dream otherwise.” Marinette nodded solemnly, and Chloé finally broke down laughing at her companion’s exaggerated seriousness.

“Thanks for coming with me today. I don't think I could go through with this on my own.” Chloé admitted, surprised at how much better goofing off with Marinette made her feel.

She had forgotten that friends could be like that, playful and fun and equal rather than one person having all the power and the other forced to do what they said. Of course, if was her own fault her former friendships had taken such a route, both with Sabrina and Adrien. She knew now that there was no excuse for the way she had treated so many people, especially the ones she claimed to care the most about. She couldn't blame them for leaving her, after all she had said and done in her selfish pursuits.

In a lot of ways, it felt almost fated that her most hated rival was the one to help pick her back up when she had fallen to her lowest point, kicking her back into shape before dusting her off and offering a hand to help her climb out from rocky bottom. While she was still afraid to say it out loud, the truth was that she now looked to Marinette Dupain-Cheng as a friend, someone she enjoyed sharing her life with. But she was still a little worried that Marinette didn't feel the same way. That she was going to mess up, and Marinette would go right back to hating her again and she'd lose everything.

Changing her look to try and make a new identity for herself didn't have anything to do with what anyone else thought of her, but she still secretly hoped that it would change how Marinette saw her. That she could leave her past being her and make a fresh start, and be someone other than the class bully.

The blonde came out of her musings when Marinette hissed out a curse under her breath, staring at her phone with an intense look.

“Something the matter?” Chloé asked, raising an eyebrow at the girl.

“It's a friend of mine.” Marinette answered anxiously. “He’s in trouble right now, and he needs my help.” Chloé frown, her insides squirming at the idea of having to face the judgement of the hairdresser’s scissors alone. Her first instinct was to fight, to force Marinette to stay by her side and honor the promise she made to her to support her through this. But only an idiot wouldn't be able to see how anxious Marinette was about her other friend.

If she wanted to change how people looked at she, then she had to change how she acted too. Starting with her selfishness.

“Go ahead. I’ll be fine here on my own.” Chloé said, pretending not to notice when Marinette's eyes widened in surprise. “I’ll just hunt you down and show you how amazing I look when I'm done here.” Before Chloé could say anything else to that, Marinette pounced across the room and swept Chloé into a bone crushing hug, making the heiress yelp in surprise.

“Thanks, Chloé, you’re amazing!” Marinette gushed, planting a quick kiss of gratitude on Chloé’s cheek before grabbing her purse and darting for the door. “I’ll make this up to you! I promise!”

Speechless, Chloé could only stare after the girl open mouthed and try and process what had just happened, one hand going up to lightly touch the cheek that Marinette had kissed.

If she had known that was what being nice would get you, she would have started earlier.

---

Two hours later found Chloé walking down the sidewalk, marvelling at how much better she felt after her haircut. Not only did her head feel about ten pounds lighter, but she looked stunning, if she did say so herself. Her stylist had taken off a few inches, so her hair now ended just above her shoulders, and then teased her natural waves into Marilyn Monroe inspired curls, with her bangs swept to the side and pinned into place with a decorative barrette that sparkled as it caught the sunlight. It was a mature, feminine look that suited her and made her feel like a brand new person.

Just what Chloé wanted.

She had an extra spring in her step and a grin on her face as she made her way down the street, eager to get back to the hotel and into the white and gold dress Marinette had made for her upcoming Gala and take a few dozen selfies, only to have her plans derailed by a sudden violent explosion.

Later on, she’d be a little ashamed that her first thought was that she was going to kill the akuma if he messed up her hair. But only a little. After all, she had just spent nearly ‎€300 on this haircut, so she felt the reaction was at least somewhat justified.

Still. Best not let anyone else know about that one.

Growling out her annoyance, Chloé shot off like a bullet to put some distance between her and Hawkmoth’s latest monster. She was pretty sure she didn’t cause this one since she’d been with Marinette of at the salon for most of the day and no one seemed all that upset with her at any point, but ‘better safe than sorry’ was always the best approach when dealing with superhuman powers that were being thrown around by brainwashed puppets who were 99% pure rage.

“AND WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU’RE GOING, BLONDIE?!”

There. That right there was exactly Chloé’s point.

She tried to pick up some speed, but that wasn’t particularly easy in heels (which she’d honestly only worn because she liked how much it irritated Marinette when she loomed over her. Couldn’t karma cut her some slack? She was TRYING here!) but unfortunately wasn’t fast enough to escape and soon found herself entangled in rope and staring at a bad Phantom of the Opera wannabe.

“Let me GO you freak!” Chloé snarled as she struggled against her bindings. Hot as it was to get saved by Ladybug, the damsel in distress bit got old pretty fast.

“Typical.” The Akuma sneered. “Girls like you think you’re too pretty for a guy like me! Well Opera Ghost won’t be stepped on any more!”

At that moment, in a fit of irony that would have made Chloé cackle under other circumstances, Ladybug proceeded to land directly on top of the Akuma, forcing him to the ground with her foot between his shoulderblades.

“Show’s over, Opera Ghost!” The heroine quipped, plucking a note out of the Akuma’s hands and tearing it to release the Akuma. “Time to de-evilize!” Chloé almost sagged in relief as Ladybug’s yoyo snapped out to catch the fleeing bug, relieved that she didn’t suffer too much indignity this time around.

“Ugh, thank God.” She muttered as a swarm of Ladybugs flew past, vanishing the ropes that bound her with the familiar warmth of Ladybug’s healing magic. She stood and dusted herself off as Ladybug helped the confused victim to his feet before completing her customary fist bump with Chat Noir. Figuring that the heroine was going to make a break for it to find somewhere safe to detransform before her magic ran out, Chloé turned and started making her way down the street to her hotel once more, only to be stopped by a voice she knew all too well.

“Are you alright Miss? The Akuma didn’t hurt you, did he?” Chloé couldn’t help but turn at being addressed by Ladybug, a little stung that the heroine didn’t recognize her.

Any offence she felt quickly evaporated though, at the look on Ladybug’s face when she realized who she was talking to.

“C-Chloé?!” The heroine sputtered, cheeks going noticeably pink under her mask.

“Hello, Ladybug.” Chloé acknowledged, trying to pretend she hadn’t just been hogtied in front of her hero. Again. Summoning up every bit of confidence she had, Chloé ran a hand through her new haircut and asked, “Like the new look?”

Ladybug turned lobster red at the question.

“Y-yeah!” She squeaked out. “I mean! It cools you! No! I mean it looks suit! I MEAN-!” Burying her face in her hands, Ladybug gave a small, but audible scream as Chloé realized, with a dazed feeling of happiness she had never experienced before, that SHE was making Ladybug trip over her words.

Damn if THAT didn’t do a girl’s ego good.

“I gotta go! Looking good!” Ladybug shrieked out before frantically zipping away on her yoyo, almost flying right into a lamppost in her haste to escape. Chloé grinned as she watched her swing away.

She really, REALLY liked this new haircut.

---

1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8