#he may be the responsible adult in this situation but none of them are actually hurt and he is still mario

[duckapus]

Pikachu: *stuck headfirst halfway into the ground, occasionally twitching, with Lichtenberg figure scorchmarks all over the ground*

Ash, Tulip and Elanore: *slightly dazed with frizzed out hair and covered in soot*

Mario, clearly in Dad Mode: ...What exactly happened here?

Elanore: SCIENCE!

Mario: *sends her a Look and directs his attention to Ash*

Ash: ...We were experimenting with Magnet Rise and Arial Ace to see if Pikachu could figure out Fly.

Tulip: In our defense it was mostly his idea, and there have been Pikachu that know Fly before.

Pikachu: *says something too muffled to properly make out that sounds a bit like "I have some regrets"*

Mario: Well, as long as nobody's hurt beyond a little slapstick. Just maybe do it in Ash's world next time? They don't have as many power lines for you to overload there. *nods pointedly at the nearby sparking downed power lines and on-fire electrical pole they used to be attached to*

Ash: *winces* How bad is it?

Mario: Blacked out about a quarter of the city. Have fun explaining this to Peach, kiddos! *walks off with a cheerful whistle*

Tulip: ...well, shit.

[sleepingdayaway]

GAGGGRGRGRG IMMEDIATELY RUSHED TO THE ASK BOX WHEN I SAW UR REQUEST WERE OPEN I LOVE YOUR WRITING SO MUCH IM FOAMING AT THE MOUTH, WOULD IT BE ALRIGHT TO ASK FOR A PART 3 TO THE PLAYER HAS YHE FIERE DEITY MASK??? IF NOT JUST IGNORE THIS REQUEST!!! HAVE A GOOD DAY

HSDFBAEJRBFUHVFDB HOLY CRAP??? I DIDN'T EXPECT FOR YOU GUYS TO HONESTLY LIKE THE FIERCE DEITY STORY.

Once again! It's short so my bad. When I first wrote this it was supposed to be just 1 part lol didn't expect y'all to genuinely like it. :)

Characters: Time, Fierce Deity, and Reader

Warnings: None

The silence was so loud after those words were spoke.

The group of blondes all looked at the eldest in fear that the man would just pounce on the poor individual who, quite obviously, has no idea on what is going on. Who has just simply grown attached to the first thing that showed them kindness after being woken up in a place that wasn't their home.

"What in the actual fuck?"

Time is regretting even trying to bargain with the individual as they hold one the most dangerous mask, in their hands.

Every fiber of his being is screaming at him to simply lunge for it, but Time's rational part of himself is refusing to submit. It would be unfair to them. Really, the person looked exhausted, their body tensed as if they were fighting moments before they arrived. There was also a slight hint of fear and caution in their eyes as they scanned him and his friends. Subtle signs that they might've used the mask before they arrived, which surpised him that the young adult is still standing.

Said person flinched back at his words. Unconsciously fidgeting with Fierce Deity in their hands. "He says your name is, Link," they continued with a look of hopefulness as they made eye contact with Time's eyes.

"That you could help me? That you were taken by this freaky shadow thing-" [Name] ranted on as their posture slowly relaxed. In return, Time's shoulders slumped slightly as he stares at them.

Eventually [Name] drifted off and stared hesitantly at Time. Searching for any more signs of hostility since he did look like he was going to fucking tackle them into the ground earlier. If they were to even move an inch.

A familiar chuckle echoed in their head. "You aren't wrong there, little one" Fierce Deity teased. "The young hero used to always dive head first into situations without a plan." The Deity merely found this entire thing amusing, and was he going to enjoy it as much as he can.

[Name] tenses up. Okay, they may not know what the fuck is going on, and it's really unfair that the Fierce Deity mask? Person? Has a really hot voice.

"I swear to god, if you say shit like that unannounced I'm going to throw you-"

"Excuse me?"

A noise of fear escaped from [Name's] lips at the acknowledgement. Their hands loosened for a moment before squeezing as if they were warning the entity in the mask. A hesitant smile appears on their mouth as they look up at the older man.

'Holy fuck- if I'm holding the Fierce Deity mask then that means I'm speaking to Link-'

[Name] does a double take at the blonde. He's quite tall, no longer the small hero that ran around helping the land of Termina and Hyrule. The young boy is nonexistent but they believe he hasn't been that youthful optimistic child he once was for a long time.

When did their precious boy get freaking tall??? Wasn't most versions of Link smaller than the average Hylian?

"I wasn't talking to you! The mask said something stupid so I-"

"He can speak to you?? What- you can hear him??"

"My brother in christ if you interrupt me again, I'm walking the other direction."

A smooth deep laugh echoed in their head at the short responses. Fierce Deity relished in this moment; the familiar bickering between the older hero and the young guide.

It brought him back to the moment during the Hero of Time's journey. During the final fight with Majora, the Fierce Deity was conscious during the entire battle. Giving his strength to the young hero and his guide. A moment where the both of you were panicking. Which then caused a stressed conversation between the two of you.

"Link- Link I swear to god if you take off this mask because you think it'll be funny. I will make sure Majora punches you so hard you blackout for the rest of this fight"

"Oh come on! It'll only be off just for a moment."

"NO-"

Oh yes. The God could only wait and enjoy on how everything will go. He will refuse to speak up and explain on what is going on. In his eyes, why not let the children piece everything together?

Besides it fine to let himself be a bit selfish in knowing who you are. It has been a long time since he's seen you. You can't blame him, can you?

[shannonsketches]

I noticed that the element of the triforce that the individual characters are supposed to represent, is also their weakness. Zelda's wisdom is being stifled by doubt and lack of experience; she's eager to learn, but her zeal is not enough and relies on faith and Link to save the day. I'm not implying that wisdom and faith cannot go hand in hand, but she needs to be able to represent her element more. Maybe her wisdom is knowing when to wait and allow someone else to bear the task? But it takes away too much initiative from her. Ganon's element is power but he's the one who ends up losing almost every time. And Ganondorf on his own, isn't powerless! He's a king, he knows magic, he can wield almost any weapon, he's patient, conniving and intelligent and knows how to make best with what he has. He isn't weak! And yet, the whole split happened, because he was feeling powerless.

They locked themselves in a self-sabotaging cycle that's powered by doubt.

Yeah! So one of the reasons I really love the Triforce lore is that it’s a three-way mirror that reflects both what the user has and also what they need (very wizard of oz).

Ganondorf is a very powerful man, physically, and magically.

Politically, though, he’s next to helpless, which is an awful thing for a king to be. He’s a king of thieves in OoT, because the Gerudo are not a wealthy or thriving nation there. In-Game they don’t have a local living area like the other regions (or even a store — just one floating bombchu salesman in the middle of the desert) — they’ve got a post-war fortress full of guards, and a temple that is being used as a secret base Hylians can’t get to.

Consider also, Ganondorf is the most highly decorated of the Gerudo, and he’s not decked out in gold. He’s wearing mostly iron and topaz. Nabooru and Twinrova are the only ones who have gold fixtures/jewelry along with the higher ranked guards for their protective elements (which is why I think it could arguably be pale bronze or yellow brass, which is a common and highly durable gold alternative).

The Gerudo are implicitly just surviving in OoT, and Hyrule speaks of them like they’re monsters (except for the one guy in town who has a fetish). More than that, WW establishes that his real grief comes from the weather, which any mortal is powerless to control.

So Ganondorf is powerful as a person, but powerless as a king, which is literally the only thing he was born to be.

Be that as it may, though, he is a well-loved king, and a survivor, and a thief, so he also has to embody both wisdom and courage too!

Zelda is the most obvious mirror to Ganondorf. She is a very powerful woman politically and magically, but physically-- compared to Ganondorf -- she's terribly meek. That's the obvious read, that they're 1:1 Parallels, but her real weakness lies in her courage.

Zelda (in OoT) leans on her massive political power -- In the child timeline, she literally sees a foreign dignitary executed before he does anything wrong, based on a recurring dream she has.

Do you know how insane that is? Do you realize how powerful she is?

Ganondorf is not just some guy -- he's a foreign KING. He's a KING that a TEN YEAR OLD had EXECUTED based on VIBES.

And we think she embodies wisdom because her vibes were (as we, the audience know) correct. But it's actually because as an adult, she understands that none of it needed to happen that way. That the only reason Ganondorf was able to pull off his stunt and get the Triforce at all was because she tried to control the situation, sending Link to gather everything Ganondorf couldn't get himself and put it all precisely where Ganondorf needed it to be.

Despite being a child at the time, by the end of the story, by the time she's Sheik, Zelda is taking full responsibility for what happened, and is doing everything in her now extremely limited power to fix it. She's so sorry to need Link, and at the end of it all is desperate to give him another chance to be a kid, and to be innocent, and to be happy, because she realized so quickly that she never should've involved him, visions be damned. She knows none of it was his fault or his business, and she's mortified that she dragged him into it in her own attempt to control the weather.

These other two items shift in other games -- WW and Twilight Princess show us a Zelda with tremendous courage and very little power, physical or political. And then the Wild's era, despite removing the Triforce narrative, shows us a Zelda with immense power and terrible guilt and insecurity -- her power locked behind her fear, and she is only able to access both when she embraces courage.

Which brings us to Link.

Link, on the surface, is a third wheel in a chess game between ancients. But the reality is that he's the base of the prism. He's the foundation that reflects both of the others.

There are MANY different personalities for Link, and personally my favorite gag is that Link is simply too stupid to be scared, but that's just a gag -- because something I've come to really enjoy and respect about him is that he consistently displays fear. Link embodies courage because he is full of fear and chooses to fight anyway. Link leads a good life. He is comfortable, he has family, he has friends, he knows peace. What makes Link courageous is that he is willing to give up his access to all of that if it means that everyone else keeps theirs.

Link will lock himself in a room with the apocalypse if it means he's the only one who gets hurt, and it's not because he believes this is his sacred duty, or his life's purpose -- he'd much rather be at home chasing chickens around or riding his pony through some pretty scenic route -- it's because he is so full of love for other people that he's willing to give up anything to keep them safe.

Link's not very powerful, but he is also unburdened by any desire to be powerful. Link's not very wise, but he is unburdened by any desire to be wise. Link is content in who he is, Link is happy to keep things simple. But Link is so brave that he becomes a leader, which actually makes him the most dangerous of the three.

Courage, unburdened, is fucking terrifying. To both Wisdom and Power. Because, unlike Wisdom and Power, Courage is contagious.

Link can empower and inspire and reveal truths others might not have been able to find on their own. Link doesn't need charisma or brutality. Link can build armies just by being observed.

"But Sketches, you haven't really said anything about how Link reflects the other two." It's subtle! But he does. I see it like this:

• Ganondorf reflects Link's relentless determination, refusing to stand down in the face of impossible odds. In this way, they're connected by their power and courage. • Zelda reflects Ganondorf's burden of being born in a crown, forcing them to learn leadership, and how to use their recklessness strategically, as children. In this way, they're connected by their power and wisdom. • Link reflects Zelda's sense of love for the faceless innocent, and her dedication to protecting all who can't protect themselves. In this way, they're connected by their courage and wisdom.

Because the inherent configuration of the triforce requires those connections to be balanced -- Separately they are overwhelmed by their traits. Ganondorf is willing to sacrifice everything he is in order to reach his goals, Zelda is so pre-occupied with preventing prophecy she ends up instigating it, and Link is so ready to step in and help that he never considers the consequences.

Every single one of them, left to their own devices, would rather see themselves destroyed than fail those who may or may not be relying on their success. They're all very similar, highly reflective characters who all represent compelling foils for each other and yes, display how their unfettered strengths are also the thing that damage them most.

[goodqueenaly]

Was King Maekar or any of his vassals directly involved in the downfall of House Lothston? Also, how much of Danelle's rumored dark magic was real and how much of it was misogynistic propaganda?

Long, more under the cut:

We know virtually nothing about the downfall of House Lothston, other than that “[t]heir line was ended in madness and chaos when Lady Danelle Lothston turned to the black arts during the reign of King Maekar I”. Whether King Maekar himself participated in bringing down House Lothston and raising the Whents in their place, or whether he merely oversaw a local rebellion or indirect royal response against Lady Danelle and performed the executive cleanup afterward, is impossible at this moment to say. Certainly, Harrenhal sits close enough to the border of the Crownlands that those Houses sworn directly to the crown could have participated in dethroning Danelle, either because they had a vested local interest in doing so and/or because Maekar may have seen them as a useful ready force to respond quickly. Additionally, Maekar was certainly not shy about responding personally, and especially militarily, to threats in the realm: his leadership in the First and Third Blackfyre Rebellions, his probable intervention against Dagon Greyjoy, and of course his fatal action during the rebellion at Starpike. Given that history, it’s entirely possible Maekar himself led a royal/Crownlands-supported force to depose Lady Lothston (vaguely akin to Bloodraven doing so during the events of “The Mystery Knight”). However, with the only other specific detail in the end of the Lothston line being that the Whents “were given Harrenhal as a reward for their service in bringing the Lothstons down”, this could easily have been a local rebellion led by the Lothstons’ vassals and tenants, and simply recognized afterward by the crown. 

Do I think Danelle Lothston was genuinely guilty of some level of crime, possibly linked to “black arts”? I think it likely. (Which is not to say there was not also, and perhaps at the same time, misogynistic propaganda against her - more on that momentarily.) Number one, GRRM seems to have written the members of House Lothston almost uniformly negatively, or at least without much in the way of positive or heroic attributes. Danelle’s (probable) predecessors as rulers of Harrenhal, Lucas and Manfryd (or Manfred), are the most clearly villainous: Lucas infamously remembered as “the Pander” for his callous promotion of his wife and daughter as Aegon IV’s perhaps simultaneous mistresses; Manfryd decried as “Manfryd o’ the Black Hood”, marked by his vague but ominous “black deeds”. Falena, née Stokeworth, hardly comes across better, given her disturbing sexual relationship with (that is, rape of) the 14-year-old Prince Aegon; whether Falena actively encouraged the later King Aegon’s dual sexual interest, or was forced to do so by her husband, only furthers her negative characterization or adds the unfortunately familiar context of Westerosi patriarchy to the affair. Even the most sympathetic of the Lothstons, young Jeyne, seems to be presented more as an object of pity rather than as a laudable figure in her own right - a teenager used and abused by virtually (or actually) every adult in her life, then abandoned when she no longer proved useful to those adults. 

While none of these figures was specifically described as using magic or “black arts”, the point of the above is to say that I think GRRM is writing the Lothstons along the same lines as, say, the Brackens or Peakes - in other words, narrative heels, almost always the villains of whatever situation the author writes for them. In light of that dynastic negativity, I could see where the author will actually have Danelle dabble in supernatural practices, given that Westeros is a world where magic, including blood magic, is real, potent, and potentially nefarious. Whatever Danelle may have wanted to gain by such magic (and the potential of sorcery in this world is too wide to speculate with any real certainty, given what little else we have on her), she was in a position where, if she so chose, she could magically exploit the resources of Harrenhal’s vast estate - the potential sorcerous knowledge its library might possess (or that she could obtain from other places), as well as the smallfolk she could summon and use - for that purpose.

Number two, I think the very obvious real-world inspiration GRRM is drawing on for Lady Danelle is Elizabeth Báthory - or, maybe more specifically, the popular conception of Elizabeth Báthory. Whatever the actual truth of  her crimes, the legend of Elizabeth Báthory is one of maniacal, even supposedly supernatural bloodshed and cruelty - a sadistic, pseudo-vampiric figure who tortured and killed her young, female victims in a quest for eternal youth and beauty. As GRRM tends to rely on (often woefully inaccurate, ahem Henry VIII) popular ideas of historical figures, I think he’ll likely do the same here - not delving too deeply into research on the real-life Báthory, more simply drawing on the historical/pseudo-historical legend. Again, because this is a world where magic, including blood magic, is real, it’s even easier for GRRM to take the fantastical version of Báthory that has come down in myth and present her more literally with Danelle Lothston. 

Number three, I think the idea of a malicious, and indeed feudally and sorcerously malicious, figure being brought down by the intervention of the crown under King Maekar fits so perfectly with what I see as the development of our Egg from prince into king. What Egg has begun to observe in these first three Tales of Dunk and Egg, and what I think he’ll see more and more explicitly as the Tales continue, is unchecked aristocratic privilege turned to the worst degree, especially against the smallfolk of these estates - torturing them to death for unclear crimes (as Dunk sees in the opening of “The Sworn Sword”), placing them in the bloody middle of their highborn feuds (as I think we’ll read about, quite literally, in “The Village Hero”), or simply letting them suffer without the expected protection of their overlords while those lieges squabble over titles and position (which I think will be a major issue in whatever “The She-Wolves of Winterfell” ends up being called). Lady Danelle being guilty of at least some level of crime, and perhaps blood magic-based crime, against her people would escalate this issue even more for Egg: here was a great local magnate who, despite her sometime allegiance to the crown (as seen in the Second Blackfyre Rebellion), had exercised her personal power at the cost, in blood and/or lives, of the people she was ostensibly obliged to guard and nurture - thereby proving again to Egg, perhaps, the value of promoting greater rights for the smallfolk during his eventual reign. Likewise having Egg argue, perhaps, for his father to bring down, or at least support the bringing down, of a woman who both so grossly abused her feudal responsibilities toward her people and was potentially notorious in her use of sorcery, the author may foreshadow Egg making a similar, but possibly even more dramatic, decision against Bloodraven - denouncing another sorcerer and sometime supporter of the crown who had nevertheless allowed for great suffering among the smallfolk, and who had committed too great a crime to go unpunished. 

Now, again, does Lady Lothston being guilty of some level of crime mean that there is no possibility of misogyny or sexism associated with her downfall? Of course not. Indeed, the very idea that Danelle bathed in blood - a rumor very much recalling Egg’s report that Shiera Seastar “bathe[d] in blood to keep her beauty” - reflects the (male) Westerosi conception of “older” women (again, by Westerosi standards) as “handsome” rather than beautiful, and even that designation is often a concession in light of their age (see, for example, Alerie Hightower). Likewise, because Danelle was a woman ruling in her own right in a patriarchal aristocracy which expects power to flow from males, through males, to males, Danelle was from the outset subject; again, while I still think Danelle was likely guilty of some level of crime, the largely negative social conception of female rule may have formed additional, sexist context to her downfall - “if only there had been a strong male hand at Harrenhal”, for example, or “well, that’s what happens when you give a woman so much power”. (And of course, I tend to think Hoster Tully may have eyed the later female inheritance of the Lothstons’ successors at Harrenhal, the Whents, with an idea of taking advantage of similar misogynistic unease.) Too, Harrenhal’s historical association with women of allegedly maliciously supernatural reputation - Rhaena, who spent her last years at Harrenhal “feared … as a witch” by locals, and Alys Rivers, the so-called “witch queen of Harrenhal”, who held the castle in supposed draconic defiance of King Aegon III - may have again aided the potentially misogynistic context of Danelle’s downfall. Again, Danelle does not have to have been completely guiltless - Alys Rivers certainly maintained an active rebellion against the Targaryen government, and was - for her to be lumped in with the “witches” of Harrenhal’s past, and to have her crimes take on an exaggerated, sensationally supernatural nature - the stories of sending out giant bats to capture children, for instance. Danelle Lothston being guilty and Danelle Lothston being subject to misogynistic prejudices are not mutually exclusive ideas; the author’s excellent exploration of that dynamic with, say, Cersei is proof of that. 

[headfullof-ideas]

All right, I finished it much sooner than I expected, but I finished that drawing, and decided to post it as a separate post instead of yet another reblog to the original post, because I didn’t feel like it. So here I introduce and give a general description of the teenage cast of characters that originate from Berk, even if some of them no longer reside there. This may get a little long-ish

From left to right, we have Camicazi, Dogsbreath, Astrid, and Wartihog, the Berk residing teenagers. These kids are determined to find and bring their former peers back to Berk to face trial for what they’ve done, or something along those lines, they’re not sure what the ‘punishment’ beyond exile is for dragon riding. (Neither is anyone else) And the riders have already been exiled. But they keep messing with Berk, and the surrounding islands and tribes, bringing chaos and destruction practically everywhere they go, so they need to capture them to make them stop! They haven’t exactly told Chief Stoick yet though, he seems a bit indifferent or unsure how to handle the situation at hand.

Camicazi is a self-proclaimed thief, but her sticky finger tendencies aren’t as great as she boasts them to be. They really only come into some effect when she meets someone who doesn’t know her, which is unfortunately not a single person on Berk, who know to protect their belongings around her by now. She’s crazy, and wild, unruly with a thirst for injury and pain on others that can be slightly concerning at times. She’s a lot of bark, and not a lot of bite, except for when she does bite. She tends to be over dramatic about the wrong thing, and lies to save her own skin whenever she appears to be in the slightest amount of trouble. Camicazi can’t stand losing in anyway shape or form, and hates when someone is better at something then she is, even if she’s never done that thing once in her life.

Dogsbreath is Spitelout’s eldest son, Snotlouts older brother. With Stoicks wife, Valka, getting scooped up by a dragon before they ever had a child, and Stoick refusing to remarry, the title of Heir went to the next in line, his eldest nephew. Dogsbreath is the pinnacle of Vikingness to most of the other adults on Berk; big, beefy, a good fighter, ready to fight their enemies and the dragons with endless energy. Unfortunately, Dogsbreath isn’t the greatest with leadership. He’s arrogant, boarheaded, and the biggest bully to any of the kids who are even slightly not Vikingly in his eyes, which has most of the other teenagers standing on tiptoes around him so as not to get dragged in an alley and beaten. Dogsbreaths head is filled with reassurances that he will be Chief someday, throwing that weight around to anyone who tries to discipline him, with Stoick rapidly growing frustrated with Dogsbreath lack of care for the finer details of being Chief. Dogsbreath is only in it for the glory and fame, and none of the responsibility.

Astrid does not go with the riders in this story. With Hiccup non-existent, that relationship never comes to be, and neither does that eye-opening flight on a Night Fury’s back. Astrid is not fond of Ant, Hiccups stand-in, in this story, and is actually quite infuriated and annoyed by him. She’s not close to any of the other kids either, determined to be the best their is, and knock Dogsbreath off his high horse a little bit, especially since he keeps insisiting that they’re meant to be, as Heir to Berk, and Berks toughest Viking maiden. She hates him, but not as much as the traitorous riders, who she is determined to capture herself, bringing down their dragons as well. Astrid has the tiniest flicker of doubts here and there though, and eventually becomes the rider to a Deadly Nadder she names Stormfly, becoming a part of Berks first troupe of Dragon Riders. Don’t worry Astrid fans, Astrid gets there and gets Stormfly and becomes a dragon rider…eventually.

Wartihog is the village flirt and playboy, or as much of a playboy as a sixteen year old with no game can be, anyways. He’s a smooth-talking, yet easily distracted guy, who thinks he’s the coolest guy on Berk. Well, second to Dogsbreath anyways, who’d bash him if he thought Wartihog thought he was better. Wartihog assumes that all the ladies love him, and thinks he’s going to be some hotshot bachelor in the future, with rippling muscles and scars from all the dragons he’s brought down, further gaining the ladies affections. He’s incredibly vain, and loves looking at his own reflection, and refuses a helmet entirely so it doesn’t crush his ‘killer’ hair. Wartihog has a tendency of occasionally going after girls who are a few years younger than him, either because too many girls rejected him, their sister rejected him, or they have some defining trait he thinks is exotic, like hair or eye color. He’s a bit of a creep in that regards, but is pretty easily distracted by either food or another girl, or a girls pissed off parent.

Next up are the infamous exiled dragon riders. On the right are some pretty familiar characters, Snotlout, the twins, and Fishlegs, but on the left is Ant No-Name, and an OC named Kari. After Ant was exiled, Berk didn’t immediately send him away, too preoccupied scrambling to assemble the ships needed to go after the nest now that they knew how to. Which meant Ant was able to show the other, eager, teenagers the basics of dragon riding (hold on for dear life and don’t let go) before they went off to deal with the nest themselves. Ever since then, they’ve been in exile, trying to avoid the numerous enemies they’ve found themselves with.

Ant is called No-Name, because no one knows who his family is. No one’s even really sure how he got to the Archipelago to begin with, just how he got to Berk. His skin tone indicates his family is from far beyond the Archipelagos waters, and being the only person with dark skin in a predominantly white region of the world has caused some self-esteem issues to develop for Ant, which aren’t helped by most everyone else’s reactions to him either. He was the apprentice to Berks resident blacksmith, Gobber the Belch, for practically all twelve years of his life, until he bonded with a Night Fury he accidentally shot and tracked down in the woods, affectionately named Toothless. (Toothless is still named Toothless. I firmly believe that Ant imma name this bear Barry and this alligator Snappy Nekton would come to the same conclusion that Hiccup did when it comes to naming the dragon) Ant never wanted to be a dragon killer, firmly happy with being in the smithy and out of the spotlight, but inevitably was dragged into the spotlight when Toothless was revealed to the rest of the tribe, and he was exiled. Ant is a bit OOC at the beginning, because he’s lived a very different life. He’s quiet, a bit shy, extremely anxious, and sometimes goes mute when faced with something he’s afraid to mess up, or someone with a very thin trigger. His bangs aren’t up yet either, because he hasn’t had ‘character development’ yet (Toothless licked his face and his hair got stuck, lol(kidding)). He gets there though, with some friends and building of self-confidence.

Kari Hasselson (Harper typically, but that’s not a very Vikingy last name) is the second youngest of the initiates, about a year older than Ant himself. She’s got a bit of a temper, especially with Wartihog, and doesn’t have many friends either. Her relationship with her family isn’t…great, but she and Ant get to know each other better during Dragon Training, and she’s one of the first kids to reach out to learn about riding dragons. For all that she’s a spicy angry kitten as a child, Kari mellows out as she gets older, and I’m saying this now, she’s meant to eventually get with Ant. A LONG eventually. It takes years of friendship before they even get there, like, late RTTE age. They’re thirteen and twelve right now, no romantic shippy feels or anything like that happens right now, they’re two chaotic kids trying to become friends at the start of the story, when these drawings take place. They bond over being the youngest initiates through Gobbers crazy teaching methods, and then trying not to be mildly babied by the older riders when they’re in exile, planning tweenage revenge on the others as they go. Nothing happens at first. Kari is also not meant to be JUST Ant romantic interest, when I first made her, it was literally because I thought that boy needed some friends that weren’t fish, so I made him some. Kari just ended up also later filling the romantic role later as well, after I’d made sure she was a developed, rounded character with her own interests and life outside of being the love interest. She’s like an angry kitten.

As for the other, more familiar characters, each of the other riders had their own reasons for leaving. Fishlegs was stuck in the middle of a huge family, where he was swept under the rug, and didn’t want to kill dragons. The twins had an absent father, with a slightly overbearing mother, and an urge to go out and see the world, also leaping at the chance for chaos without an adult telling them no. Snotlout was sick of all his attempts at getting his dad’s attention being ignored in favor of his older brother, wanting to prove that he could do something Dogsbreath could never do. They’re a few years older than Ant and Kari, and with no Berk to fall back to, the kids are all scrambling to survive the Arhipelagos harsh weather and harsher inhabitants.

This is the drawing in its entirety. I’m thinking of maybe drawing the others characters, or at least the ones that are wildly different from their film counterparts. Maybe the Nektons and assorted characters from The Deep, to show what they’re like in this universe. I probably will

[iguessiwritenow]

To Cease or Not to Cease

Summary: A Reader/OC fix-it because I just finished season 4 and wtf was that. Also this may be unhinged as its 1am and I haven't slept yet lolol.

“We cease to exist.”

Thalia let out a deep sigh and closed her eyes for a moment of peace. The confirmation of the end of the world and her existence weighed heavy on her. As it did for all of her siblings based on the silence that settled over the rest of them.

“Old Klaus might have been down for some recreational hara-kiri,” Klaus started, “But it turns out, I’m really not into killing myself. So, uh, count me out.”

“Actually, it’s not killing ourselves. It’s worse than that. We’ll be erased from history. None of the the timelines will have ever existed. No one will have any memory of this… or us” Five corrected. 

Diego turned towards Five suddenly.

“But if we cease to exist, what’ll happen to our families?”

“I’m not sure.”

And Thalia couldn’t help but get angry at that response. The uncertainty of it all left a pit in her stomach. After everything didn’t her family deserve to be happy, to be at peace.

“No.” She stated to the room.

“Thalia, please, this is the only wa-“

“No!” She exclaimed again tears starting to fall, “I am not just going to sit here and die. To let any of us die!”

Luther put his arm around her in a half hug to comfort her as she cried. But Thalia, in her upset and anger, found conviction and once again addressed Five.

“You said it just has to be there marigold right?”

“Well, yes but-“ Thalia cut him off now glancing in Viktor’s direction.

“And you can extract the marigold?” 

Viktor gave his affirmative with a brief nod as Thalia moved over to him. Putting her hand on his shoulder she activated her powers and pulled until a copy appeared.

“Here’s what’s going to happen.” Thalia started to make her way towards Five. “Viktor’s double will extract the marigold from us and the double I make of Five will take us to the subway.”

Thalia pulled at Five so his doubled appeared and then at herself. Once done she spun to face her family and took them each in. While there was still despair and uncertainty, Thalia saw hope on their faces and it brought a small smile to hers.

“Who’s with me?” A chorus of cheers went around the group in affirmation. “Then let’s get started!”

-

Experiencing the marigold get extracted was strange, there was a pain to it, but the sight was strange as well. Thalia thought it looked like hundreds of fireflies conjoining around her family. If it weren’t for the situation Thalia may even venture to call it beautiful.

To think that power that changed the timelines, if not the universe as a whole looked like glowing Fanta when contained.

Thalia watched as the double she had created of Five vanished with Diego and Lila’s family and Claire with a sense of accomplishment. Facing her family she let herself relax a little. Her family would live a hopefully peaceful life from here on out.

Thalia glanced at the double of Viktor and dismissed it. Then Thalia was face to face with herself. Until this moment Thalia hadn’t realized how much older she looked. Gone was the grief of her childhood and regrets as a young adult. In her place stood a woman at peace with herself. A pat oh her shoulder interrupted her thoughts.

“Let’s go sis, before we miss the train.” Diego said as he guided her towards the rest of the family. And with a final glance at herself and the jar full of marigold Thalia allowed the double of Five to jump them away.

-

Watching the reunions as everyone bored the train brought tears to her eyes. To see Allison hug Claire and cry, while Diego and Lila tried to fit all of their children in their arms. Yes, Thalia thought to herself this made everything worth it.

Sitting on one of the empty seats Thalia closed her eyes and leaned her head back until it hit the window of the train. The motion of the train starting to move almost putting you to sleep.

“You okay there sis, you’re looking a little… glowy.” Luther asked you after a while. A chuckle escaped you at the wording but you gave a nod.

“It’s here.” You whisper.

“What’s here?” 

“The Cleanse.” With that answer Thalia felt her siblings gather around her. In an attempt to understand they all started to ask question, everyone speaking over each other.

“Please tell me you didn’t.” Thalia heard Five over the rest.

“What did she do, what’s going on Five” Diego demanded.

“She stayed back. The Thalia here, with us, isn’t the real one. She’s a double.”

“Please tell me that’s not true Thalia! Why would you do that.” Sobbed Allison 

“Without the marigold, Thalias doubles wouldn’t be able to exist, so we wouldn’t have been able to get to the subway if she gave hers up. But she also couldn’t come with us otherwise the cycle would just restart.”

Thalia gave a hum and a nod to Five’s explanation. 

The dim glow that had surrounded Thalia before grew stronger and as if feeling her originals pain, a tingling sensation began to fill her body.

“It tingles.” Thalia commented as a tears started to stream down her cheeks. Thalias feet started to dissolve into dust and the rest of her slowly followed.

“I love you guys so much.” Thalia sobbed, “I just want us to be happy together, a family.”

Diego and Five shared a glance.

“Promise me you’ll fix things.” Thalia begged, “Please.”

“I promise Tally.” Diego stated eyeing Five.

Sighing in relief Thalia smiled and let let out one last breath before dusting all together and ceasing to exist.

[yoyomomiko]

Bebe Steven’s with a tall fem reader (headcanons)

Let’s just say reader is the same age and grade as the characters but she has a massive growth spurt at age 6!

Taller than you...

Pairings: Bebe x F!reader

Summary: The request >⁠.⁠<

Warnings: None!! ^⁠_⁠^

(A/N): So I just noticed this laying around in my drafts😀 I'M SO SORRY I JUST NOTICED IT AND I CONTINUED IT😭 This was made in like May or something it's been months I'm soooo sorry I feel so bad now😭 -> m.list

- First off, before your growth spurt, you were the SHORTEST, and pretty much everybody used to pick on you. But Bebe came to the rescue and shut them off >:)

- Summer started, and you finally turned six.

- You did NOT expect to just grow like that, you were growing all summer, and you reached a tall height, way above average for a six year old...

- You weren't complaining, that meant nobody would pick on you anymore!! You felt cooler like that.

- Once you went back to school, EVERYONE who used to pick on you just stood there in shock. You were now taller than them? No more "short stuff"? No more "I could accidentally step on you"?

- You stood at a tall height, wich intimidated some. Actually, some kids even apologized for what they've done before, afraid that they'd get their ass run over.

- Bebe was SHOCKED.

- "Since when?" "How did you do it?" "How does that even work?"

- She bombarded you with questions. I guess that's just kinda what happens when nobody sees you for the whole summer break, and then you come back to school on the first day, looking like a street pole to the rest of the kids.

- To any adult, they'd just brush it off, but to the rest?? NO WAY.

- Cartman still picked on you though, now teasing with "How's the weather up there?" and all that annoying stuff.

- Bebe still came to your rescue >:)

- She loved loved LOVED the way you were taller, the hugs just hit different.

- Hugging you was the best part of the whole day to her.

- She loved it when she'd struggle to get something that was placed a little too high for her, and then you came and helped her reach it.

- Bebe kinda likes it way more that way, although she could care less about your height or appearance. She loved you, and to her, that's what matters.

- But still, the height was a nice bonus!!

- Would sometimes PRETEND she can't reach stuff on the top shelf, when all she had to do was get on her tip toes. She just wanted you to help her (⁠ ⁠╹⁠▽⁠╹⁠ ⁠)

- But then Wendy would sigh, reach the top shelf for her and give her the item, to wich Bebe quickly put back up on the top shelf, narrowing her eyes at her.

- "WENDY, go away!" She would shoo the poor girl away as she'd just chuckle at Bebe's desperation to get your attention again.

- Wendy shipped you two the most, she thought you two were adorable.

★★★

Bebe was 'trying her best' to reach the glue from the top shelf. The classroom was pretty much empty except for Wendy, you, her and Stan. She was 'struggling', pretending that the glue was just out of reach. She kept turning her head around, trying to catch a glimpse of you to see if you were coming to help her. Fortunately for her, you walked up to her and offered your help. She tried to hide her smirk, and just nodded at you.

You easily reached and gave her the glue, to wich she smiled and batted her eyelashes at you. "Thanks, [nickname]." She gave you a quick peck on the cheek, as a gesture of gratitude and appreciation for helping her. You blushed, only nodding in response. "What would I do without you?" She batted her eyelashes up at you again, tilting her head up, overdramatizing the whole situation. It was straight out of a 2000's rom-com. You didn't complain, you thought she was cute when she joked like that.

Wendy chuckled at Bebe, glancing back and forth from the two of you. Stan just had his face burried into his arms, wich were resting on his desk. He groaned into them, trying to avoid looking at the two of you. He's acting like he and Wendy aren't worse...

★yoyomiko ★miko

[devilsrecreation]

How the Outlanders deal with kids

Hyenas:

Jasiri’s clan are naturally great with Wema and Tunu. They have to be, the pair would be orphans otherwise (their mother died as they were being born)

When Janja’s clan joined them, they were admittedly a little iffy with them. Almost all of them had no idea what to do with these tiny balls of fur.

The cubs were naturally scared of Chungu and Cheezi at first, but they were quick to warm up to the big dopes. Their dumb, clumsy tails made them laugh :)

Now that everyone’s friends now, Janja treats Tunu and Wema as his cubs and you are not allowed to touch them

Jackals:

Canonically great parents, obviously but they are annoyingly overbearing.

Reirei and Goigoi are naturals with not just their kids, but anyone else’s kids too. They’re pros

Crocodiles:

Babysitter crocodiles is something I never really thought about before but now I love it

You’d think they’d be a danger to kids, but they’re surprisingly pretty good with them

They’re not the best influences, but they try lmao

Tamka and Nduli are the best playmates next to Chungu and Cheezi. Tamka sees it as rehearsing for his (nonexistent) acting career and the kids love it

You can thank Nduli for convincing Kiburi and the rest of the float to babysit. It makes him think of those simpler times when he was little

Neema doesn’t do much, but he’ll tag along if the kids need an extra player or something. Turns out he’s got some serious baobab ball skills (don’t ask how they got the fruit in the first place). The kids may not know what the hell he’s saying, but they appreciate him

Storytime with Kiburi is a thing. It’s exactly what it sounds like. It’s Kiburi telling stories to the kids. Some are real, some are made up, but all of them have Tamka and Nduli’s unnecessary commentary that both ruins storytime and makes it better. Yeah, Kiburi warms up to them faster than he likes to admit

Vultures (mostly Mzingo):

Like the jackals, they’re experts in babysitting. They’ve pretty much helped raise Janja and his friends, nothing the kids do now is new to them

The kids just so happen to put themselves in danger, leading Mzingo to try to save them, causing him to get hurt

Mzingo’s pretty strict about rules and the kids find him boring

Kenge:

He SAYS he doesn’t like kids, but put him in a situation with them and he’ll protect them with his life. It takes time though

I have this idea where Kenge sort of acts like a babysitter and teaches the young ones (and the skinks) how to fight. In doing so, he gets to bond with some of them. It’s strangely wholesome

The kids never call him ‘little’. Not even expressions like “a little help here?”. They know better and Kenge appreciates that

He surprisingly doesn’t yell at them. He’ll still have that tough and rude tone to him, but he saves the yelling for the adults

The kids can get him to open up better than anyone else can. Mainly cuz they won’t stop asking “why” all the time

Sumu:

He actually doesn’t like kids. They’re either scared of him or they try to pick him up and he hates being handled

Weirdly enough, none of the kids in the Outlands are scared of him. He tried making a scary face at Wema and she just smiled. He has no idea what to make of this cub

He’s threatened to sting the kids before and gets confused why everyone else gives him weird looks

The skinks:

Most of the skinks including Shupavu can tolerate kids at best. Njano’s the only one that actually likes them

They’re the worst influences. They’ll dare one of the kids to do something stupid, leading the more responsible adults to get them

Njano acts like a cool uncle. You can fight me on that

[andipxndy-writes]

crushes

fandom: abbott elementary warnings: none requested by: @nyx101sthings word count: 6.7k

cross-posted to ao3

summary: Let's be honest: Gregory's crush on Janine was obvious to everyone. Or, rather, almost everyone. But that didn't mean they were all going to talk to him about it. No, instead they were just going to sit back and watch, maybe get some popcorn, act as though they didn't know a thing when almost all of them were also aware of Janine reciprocating the crush and neither of them realising. The one person who didn't know? Well, he's obviously determined to get them together. In other words: how the teachers at Abbott realised that Gregory and Janine liked each other.

crushes

1: Melissa

Melissa first noticed Gregory’s looks a month into his first year there. Sure, he was only a sub, covering for someone who wasn’t there, but the way he was looking at Janine made her think that he was going to be there a lot longer than just the year.

Of course, she wasn’t the type to voice her suspicions, considering that sort of gossip was the sort of thing that could absolutely embarrass a teacher and make the rest of their career absolute hell—

Oh who was she kidding.

“So what’s up with the lovesick puppy?” she asked as she sat down next to Barbara. The two were on their lunch break in the staff kitchen and, for some reason, there were no other teachers in there. Not that they were complaining. They were likely all on lunch duties or going out for lunch or something like that.

Barbara looked up from her sandwich at Melissa’s question, raising an eyebrow at her. “Lovesick puppy?”

“Yeah, you know.” The redhead unwrapped her sandwich as she spoke, not once taking her eyes off her co-worker and best friend. “That boy can’t keep his eyes off Janine whenever she’s around. Like he’s never seen anyone that small, but he actually likes it.”

“Well, considering the young man’s height, it may very well be the case that he’s used to being around tall people anyway,” Barbara pointed out, and Melissa scoffed.

“We’re all used to being around taller people in general,” she pointed out. At Barbara’s raised eyebrow, she corrected herself: “Taller adults. But that doesn’t mean we stare at Janine all day wondering how she could be so small.”

“We’ve had two years to get used to it.”

“There is something up with that kid,” Melissa insisted. “He just… he stares at her. Like he can’t stop staring at her. It’s so—”

“Weird?” Barbara offered, and Melissa knew that the woman was probably hoping to stop her from saying anything else.

She wasn’t going to give her that luxury.

“—freaky.” She ignored the way Barbara rolled her eyes at her. “I’m serious! He just always stares at her, like there’s nothing else he’d rather be looking at! It’s concerning! He might walk into a door or something.” Which would be more entertaining than concerning for Melissa, if she was being honest, but she still had to show that she cared at least a little bit for the other teachers. Or she would look like a real bitch.

And she was only a bit of a bitch.

Barbara’s lack of response simply told Melissa that her work bestie was thinking the exact same thing, but she believed she had the decency to not say it out loud. Or, at least, that she liked Gregory enough to not go around saying those kinds of things.

Such a godly woman.

“Come on, you can’t seriously be telling me that you don’t find this whole staring thing as creepy as I do.”

“Well.” Melissa raised her eyebrows at Barbara. The other woman was clearly considering her words carefully. Which only made Melissa want to laugh, really, because there wasn’t any way that you could consider your words carefully in this situation without sounding like you were calling Gregory a creep. Not in her opinion (and she knew that her opinion was right).

“Well, what?”

“Is it really that bad to have a man admiring you? Not that I can really see what Gregory admires so much in Janine,” Barbara added on quickly, only for Melissa to hold her hand up to stop her.

The redhead knew that was an outright lie coming out of the kindergarten teacher’s mouth. “Come on, you know the kid’s at least attempting to be good at her job despite her shortcomings.”

“If that was meant to be a pun,” Barbara let the empty threat hang, making Melissa laugh. “Regardless, if it isn’t harming anyone for him to do a bit of admiring—”

“Sure, sure, as long as it isn’t interfering with his job.” Melissa waved off the argument. She supposed Barbara had a good point. If it wasn’t getting in the way of him doing his job, and if it didn’t get in the way of Janine doing her job either, then there wasn’t any point bringing it up as an issue.

——

Melissa noticing that Janine had a crush on Gregory took longer than it should have for her, admittedly, but she wasn’t surprised by it in the slightest. Considering how long she’d been with that tool, Tariq, Melissa got the feeling that any piece of decent meat would be good enough for her.

Gregory, though? The guy was nice, but Janine had to have better standards.

The only thing that Melissa would commend her on was not being obvious about it as the guy who was so obviously crushing on her — Melissa didn’t know whether the young woman knew it yet, considering how dense Janine could be, but if she did know then she was setting good boundaries and standards. And if she didn’t know, well. Then Gregory had to open his big mouth and say something.

“That little knock thing they do is kind of cute,” she commented to Barbara over a little girlfriend coffee date. Her coffee mug steamed in her hands as she glanced out of the window, as though she could see Janine and Gregory walking past right then. Except she couldn’t because neither of them would come to this side of Philly on a weekend unless they’d planned to meet up with someone, and as far as she knew their dating lives were either uneventful or not the type to come down this way.

(Not that she was complaining about that — those bubbly upstarts could leave this side of Philly for the rest of them.)

Barbara raised a single eyebrow as she sipping on her cup of tea, watching Melissa. “Knocking thing?”

“Yeah, knocking thing.” Melissa rapped on the table as if to demonstrate. “Becomes a bit of a pain in the ass when you realise they’re using it to ask each other for conversations during class hours.”

That was what made Barbara roll her eyes. “During class hours?”

“Yeah.” Melissa watched her friend carefully, recognising that steely look in her eye. The look of a mother who wanted to tell off her child. “Barb, don’t. Don’t interfere with that little cutesy thing they’ve got going on. It’ll either blossom or fade.”

“They’re asking each other for conversations during class hours.”

“Blossom, or fade.”

The repeated phrase was enough to get Barbara to deflate a little, and she sighed into her tea. “Fine.” She took a sip of her hot beverage. “Let’s hope they pick one soon.”

For the safe of their classroom wall, Melissa hoped for the same thing.

***

2: Barbara

Contrary to what she’d told Melissa, Barbara had noticed Gregory’s affection for Janine within two weeks of him being at the school.

It wasn’t like he was hiding the whole thing. He probably thought he was doing a whole lot better at it than he actually was, but Barbara absolutely knew that the man looked and acted like a lovesick puppy.

That sort of thing was hard to hide from onlookers. (Particularly when some of those onlookers were camera crew specifically paid to watch every hour of their working days — she hadn’t seen the footage yet, and doubted that she would see it anytime soon, but she got the feeling that the majority of those longing looks that Gregory was sending Janine’s way were being caught on camera.) It was sweet, though, if Barbara was being honest. It reminded her of her younger days, when men had tried to date her (or rather, court her) and she’d turned them down but had still received those longing looks. Longing looks that remained even after she’d got married.

That sort of thing had been unavoidable when she was younger. When people had found her undeniably attractive, a brand-new teacher ready to take on the education system and make the world a better place through the nation’s children.

Looking at Janine, she idly wondered whether it was the optimism for improving the educational system that had made her attractive all those years ago.

Instead of trying to gossip about it, though (like she knew certain teachers would), she decided it would be better to let the whole thing run its course. After all, as with most of the men that had crushed on her in the past, it would most likely fade over time.

She could definitely pinpoint the first moment she’d noticed it, though. Heading to Janine’s class to ask her for something (she’d borrowed a pen from her that morning, and Barbara wanted it back), she’d almost bumped into Gregory standing in the corridor. He was standing there to make sure his kids were walking into the classroom properly, of course, but his eyes weren’t focused on the kids. Barbara could easily see that his eyes weren’t focused on the kids.

No, they were focused on the young teacher with her back to him, who was guiding her own kids into her classroom.

Barbara decided to wait for a few moments to see if he would notice that there was someone else there, before clearing her throat. The way he jumped and turned quickly to her was entertaining to a couple of the kids until Barbara glared at them.

“I would advise that you keep an eye on your children instead of watching how other teachers do it, Mr. Eddie,” she chided lightly, hoping that she sounded more like she was offering advice than telling him off. “Some of these kids know how to make you… work for your money.”

He stared at her for a few moments, before nodding. Not even an appreciative smile on his face. “Of course. Thank you for the suggestion, Mrs. Howard.”

She continued to watch him for a few moments, to see if he would follow her advice straight away, but he was still staring at her, so she nodded. Like she was finishing the conversation. “Fantastic. Now, if you’d just let me past? I need to speak with Miss Teagues.”

“Oh!” Gregory quickly moved to the side, forcing the last of his kids to walk in a wider circle around him to get into the classroom so that Barbara could pass. “Of course. I apologise, Mrs. Howard.”

“It’s no problem at all.” She gave him one last smile before passing him, giving one of his kids a high-five as they passed her before heading over to Janine. Even as she walked over, she was very sure that she could feel Gregory’s lingering gaze on herself and the younger teacher before he followed his kids into his classroom and started the lesson.

That boy really had to practice getting better at hiding his feelings.

——

What took her longer to notice was the fact that the feelings weren’t exactly a one-way thing. No, they were reciprocated.

“Are you still with that boy?” she asked, and she knew that the expression on her face was some sort of mix between disgust and surprise. She also knew that Janine’s reaction to her comment was a very poorly veiled offense that she quickly tried to cover up with laughter.

“Who, Tariq?” the younger teacher laughed, scratching her arm (a nervous habit, Barbara had noticed) as she glanced away. “No, no. I, uh… we split up.” She gave half a shrug. “We thought it would be, you know, better if we went our separate ways. He had his path in life, I have mine.”

Barbara wasn’t exactly convinced that Janine was so sure about that herself, but she nodded anyway, offering the young woman what she hoped was a comforting smile. “Of course. Everyone has their own path in life, and that means that someone you may have known for a specific period in your life needs to leave. Not everyone needs to be in your life all the time.”

“Of course, I know that.” Janine was still laughing a bit, and it sounded more forced now, like she was trying to convince herself more than Barbara. “But I’ll be fine! Really. I just need a bit of time to adjust to paying the rent, and I’ll be perfectly okay.”

Barbara wasn’t sure what to think about the language that Janine was using, but if it was the sort of language that convinced her that things were going to be okay — if this sort of positivity was what was helping her through this breakup, then she wasn’t going to tell her to stop using it. God knew that she didn’t need the girl being all negative on her anytime soon.

Before she could say anything, though, she spotted Gregory coming out of his classroom from where she and Janine were standing outside the second grade classrooms. The man was very clearly getting ready to leave, briefcase in hand and coat on as though he was completely done for the day and ready to go. But the interesting part wasn’t even Gregory coming out of his classroom and getting ready to go.

It was the way Janine watched him as he left the classroom, her eyes focused on him. It was the way her hand moved from scratching her arm to gently playing with her necklace, the way she ever so slightly bit her lip as she stared at him. It was the way her lips curved up the slightest bit, as though she wanted to smile, but didn’t know what exactly she was smiling at, so decided against it. It was the way she watched him keenly, as though she was waiting for him to turn around and talk to her.

It was the same way Barbara had watched Melissa stare at Gary when he’d first started coming in and sorting out the vending machine for them. It was the same way that she’d seen her daughter stare at Gregory the first couple of times that she’d seen him.

It was the same way her sister had described her looking at her husband when they’d first met.

She barely hid the smirk that threatened to grow on her face when Gregory turned towards them, and Janine’s face lit up.

“Hey, Janine, you good?”

“Yeah!”

“Your car still in the shop?”

Barbara’s eyebrows rose as she looked at Janine. “Your car’s in the shop?”

“Yeah, it’s in the shop.” Barbara didn’t know whether Janine had intended to ignore her or not, but she had.

“You want a ride home?”

Barbara could practically see the blush on Janine’s face. “Sure! Let me just grab my stuff.” That was the point at which Janine seemed to realise that Barbara was still there, and the smile she gave her this time was ten times more realistic than the forced laugh from earlier. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Mrs. Howard!”

Barbara simply watched Janine rush in and grab her stuff, and then glanced at Gregory. Gregory, who smiled awkwardly at Barbara, as though he felt as if he knew that she knew he was crushing on the woman getting her stuff ready. She simply chuckled as she popped her head into Janine’s classroom.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Janine,” she said, before turning to walk back to her classroom. “You too, Gregory.”

Even as she walked back to her classroom, though, she shook her head.

If those two were as oblivious as they were behaving, then this whole crushing thing they had for each other was going to be their entertainment for the rest of the academic year.

***

3: Ava

Gregory’s crush on Janine was obvious. Too obvious. Ava was pretty sure she’d spotted it super early on, but she also knew that she couldn’t let on that she knew about it. Because as fine as that man was, he also had a sense of pride and she wasn’t going to hurt that.

No, no, a man with a wounded pride simply made him less attractive. She had to keep the one good looking man on her staff as attractive as possible.

Still, the looks were pretty obvious. Aside from the fact that almost everything was on camera (and she got access to that footage, mostly to make sure they caught shots of her good side), that man spent way too many working hours staring at the shortest teacher in the school. And that was a long way down to look, in Ava’s opinion. (She was much closer to his height and probably better looking, too.)

All jokes (and shade) aside, Ava didn’t realise all his staring was because he actually liked Janine until she spotted the way he hung out around her after school. Like some sort of cute little lost puppy looking for someone to give him a good cuddle. In fact, from the look on his face, Ava was very much tempted to head straight over to him and offer him those cuddles (knowing full well that the offer would make him uncomfortable but would also stop him from feeling so lost), but then she realised that he wasn’t just staring into space. He was staring at someone.

She slowly turned, following the direction of his gaze, and almost choked.

Like yeah, sure, he was standing near the door to Janine’s classroom and watching her help a kid out in getting their coat on before they ran out to find their parent or whatever, but what about that warranted staring for hours when you could be doing literally anything else?

Still, she had to admit, whilst him standing there was a little creepy… it was a little funny. Cute. Interesting, even. She didn’t get why a guy like him would stoop down to Janine’s level—

“What’s up, hot stuff?”

The way he jumped and turned to face her was entertaining. The look of shock on his face was pure gold. The way he wasn’t immediately fawning over her was a little disappointing but they could work on that. She had other people who did that already anyway.

“Ava.” She ignored how he still didn’t refer to her as Principal Coleman when he wasn’t around any of the other students — so whenever he didn’t have to. Which was valid. It meant that she could relax around him, right?

“Mr. Eddie,” she greeted with a grin on her face. She shifted to lean on the wall beside the doorway to Janine’s classroom, so that Gregory had no choice but to look at her if he also wanted to look at Janine. Just so that she could feel as though he was paying some sort of attention to her. “Your class all gone? What are you still doing here? You could be going out, taking a lucky lady out on a date.” She flipped her hair. “I could even be that date. You wanna take me out on a date?”

Gregory cleared his throat, folding his hands together behind his back. “I don’t really think that’s appropriate, actually.”

She just grinned at him. “Oh that’s fine. I’ll just ask you again when we get out the main doors. It’ll be appropriate then, right?”

“Hey, Gregory.”

Of course, at that moment, Janine thought it would be a very smart idea to interrupt the conversation — her kid had left through the other door, and she’d grabbed her things to get ready to head home (or to the staff room to grab her stuff before heading home, Ava didn’t really know what her leaving routine was but that was likely because she had a tendency to ignore it). When the tiny woman noticed that Ava was also there, she gave her an equally bright smile — one that made Ava want to roll her eyes at least a little bit.

“Hi, Ava!” Her brows furrowed a little in concern. “Did you need to speak to me about something? Should I go and put my stuff down? Are you calling an impromptu meeting or something—”

“No.” Ava scoffed. “Hell no. I have plans. Sales to make, people to see. Important stuff. Nothing to do with you.” She waved her hand around casually, gesturing vaguely to Janine (no matter how vague she tried to make it, it was obvious that it was aimed at Janine anyway). “I just want to make sure you actually leave the building. Don’t need any squatters.” The words came out of her mouth before she could stop them, and she saw the look of irritation flash across Janine’s face, but before the smaller woman could say anything (and before Ava could think about trying to apologise), the principal turned towards Gregory and shot him a sweet smile. “Good night Gregory. Make sure you get home safe. I want to see that gorgeous ass in the morning.”

She knew for a fact that he was staring with some sort of horrified look into one of the many cameras scattered around the school, but she didn’t care. Because she also knew that those two would probably stand there chatting for hours if they had it their way, and she’d warned them about leaving the school. Glancing over her shoulder, she almost smirked at the way Gregory had physically relaxed around Janine, hands in his pockets as they chatted.

Hmm. She’d have to ask Gregory how long they hung around for tomorrow. Couldn’t have teachers loitering around the school after everyone else has left. That was her job.

——

Realising that Janine liked Gregory back was easy. Stupidly so, in Ava’s mind. That woman was about as bad at hiding her feelings for the incredibly sexy tall man as she was at reaching things on high shelves.

Like, sure, maybe it wasn’t the totally obvious staring that Gregory did when he thought the cameras weren’t watching him, but that tiny woman gravitated like the moon to a planet. With emphasis on moon to planet because moons were small and planets were large… right? (See, Ava did learn something at school.)

If Ava was being honest though, at first she thought that Janine was doing that incredibly annoying thing of picking a person and sticking to them like glue until they either befriended her or got annoyed with her. She’d watched her attempt to do it with Barbara, Melissa, and that whole slew of new teachers she started teaching at Abbott with. (Jacob was the only one who seemed to go along with her stupid method of making friends, which made a lot of sense to Ava. Weirdos attracting weirdos and all that.)

It was when she realised that the two of them talked just as much alone as they did around the other teachers that she realised something was up. Yeah, yeah, she’d always seen the chemistry between them that was there before and all that, but talking? Alone? Janine cornered people, but that look on her face when she was talking alone with Gregory was a different sort of look.

It was the same look that Iggy gave her when he thought she wasn’t really paying attention to his expressions during a conversation. Which at first she’d thought was creepy, but then she realised it was cute because he was paying attention to her and she definitely appreciated having someone paying attention to her at all times.

But it was the look of someone who believed that the person they were talking to way important, and Janine very clearly thought that Gregory was important. Important enough to have conversations with alone instead of with the group, and long conversations at that.

Of course, when she mentioned this in passing to Iggy, he told her that she was probably reading too much into it. Like her snooping wasn’t the sort of thing to get the right results. Except Ava knew she was brilliant at snooping and retrieving the right information and she knew for a fact that something was up with Janine.

Her suspicions, of course, were only confirmed when she overheard Melissa and Barbara talking about it in the staff room one lunch time, when Gregory and Janine were out on lunch duty. She paused in making her coffee to overhear the conversation.

“Are they still doing the knocking thing?”

“Yeah, I can see them doing it from across the corridor.”

“…Don’t you think it’s getting disruptive now?”

“If it was disruptive, it would’ve been disruptive from the moment they started doing it.”

“So are you saying it’s not disruptive?”

“I’m just saying that it’s… well, it’s them being them about it.”

“Flirty?”

“Those two don’t know how to flirt.”

“So you two have noticed the little looks and talks between those two as well?” Ava suddenly asked, turning around to face them with her coffee in one hand and the sugar in another. “It’s about time! I thought I was the only one!” She put the sugar down as she made herself welcome at their table, ignoring the way the two women stared at her. “That man’s been staring at her like he was thirsty from the moment he arrived in this building, and her? That girl wants to glue herself to him like her life depends on it.” She grinned at the two women. “I knew I couldn’t be the only person who noticed.”

Barbara and Melissa glanced between each other, almost as though they were having a silent conversation, before Melissa slowly leaned closer to Ava.

“What else have you seen?”

Ava could not deny that her eyes practically lit up when she heard those words. Now was her chance to spill.

***

4: Mr. Johnson

Mr. Johnson prided himself on being the person who knew anything and everything around the school. Sure, he knew that all those teachers gossiped and spread news and couldn’t keep secrets between them, but he saw everything happen first-hand. He had eyes and ears everywhere. He knew what was going on.

He also knew that the other teachers knew this, so he suspected that was why they tried so hard to gossip amongst each other first so that they didn’t feel like he was spying on them. He was fine with that. He let them believe that he didn’t know everything first. He was willing to let them fall into that false sense of security.

He knew that there was something about Gregory liking Janine before they ended up sitting by the computer screen trying to catch the deskers. Sure, it had been a lot more interesting seeing Gregory’s reaction to Janine up close, watching that young man’s eyes glue to her on the screen like a man seeing an angel. But the way he looked at her from afar? The way that man watched her? That was too obvious.

Pinpointing the exact moment he realised that man was fawning over Miss Teagues was difficult, though, because it was more like you didn’t know and then you knew. At least, that was the way it was in Mr. Johnson’s mind. One day, he had no idea — he just walked around, pretending he was minding his own business whilst snooping on all the teachers and kids, and the next day he just knew that Gregory liked Janine. He knew there was something about her that he was obsessed with. He knew there was something about her that meant Gregory couldn’t take his eyes off her when she was in the room.

Of course, it then became Mr. Johnson’s mission to figure out exactly what it was that made Gregory tick. What made him like Janine? What made him pick Janine over any of the other female teachers? What were that young man’s turn ons and turn offs? It was like his own personal research project, and the results? They were just for him. Like his own personal private research project.

Snooping on the other teachers didn’t exactly help him to figure it out.

What it did help him to figure out, though, was how bad Gregory was at hiding his little crush on Miss Teagues. Staring at a woman for hours on end because you liked her was not the way to go, but clearly Mr. Eddie hadn’t worked that out yet.

The day he realised exactly what it was that made Janine stand out from the rest, he was mopping the end of the corridor. A couple of the kids had stayed behind after school because their parents couldn’t come and pick them up, but he couldn’t wait for everyone to leave before starting on his cleaning, or he’d be there until the morning. That was why he started at the very end of the corridor, beginning his mopping with his Beats headphones covering his ears. But not even LL Cool J could distract him from what was going on at the other end of the first floor corridor.

Gregory was, as usual, standing outside of his classroom and doing his usual staring. Borderline creepy, but he had a soft smile on his face so it seemed a little less so. There was a camera on him, of course.

But his eyes were drawn to the young woman standing across the corridor from Gregory, knelt in front of a child as she helped them to sort out their coat zipper. The way she was talking to them and smiling at them, even though Mr. Johnson couldn’t hear what they were saying he had an idea of what was going on. Something about that zipper being difficult to sort out, so it’s not their fault that they couldn’t do it up, or something like that. Or maybe she was showing them how to do their zipper so that they could do it next time.

Either way, whatever she was doing or saying was enough to have that young man’s eyes glued to her. Which was more than a little interesting.

And then, suddenly, she was done. The zipper on the coat was up, and the kid was grinning at her with that huge gap in their teeth, probably from a tooth they’d lost or something. Maybe one of the other kids had even punched it out. But the little gap-toothed angel bid his teacher farewell before running off down the corridor, massive backpack on their back bouncing along with them as they headed in the direction Mr. Johnson assumed their parent would be.

The moment he focused on the teachers again, he watched as Gregory quickly looked away when Janine turned towards him, as though he hadn’t been staring the whole time, and smirked to himself, continuing to mop.

That boy was head over heels for her.

——

You would think that, after figuring out that Mr. Eddie had a crush on Miss Teagues, observing the opposite would be the same. And in the case of Mr. Johnson, you would be right.

Maybe she wasn’t as obvious about it as Mr. Eddie was, but he could still see it. He could still see the way she tended to linger around him and talk to him more than with other teacher. She smiled more when she talked to him. She always found a way to sit next to him in meetings, and he didn’t get annoyed like the other teachers.

She even forfeited sitting next to Jacob for some of those meetings.

The moment he first noticed it, though? He was in one of the school’s many rooms, looking out of the window across the school parking lot. He watched as Janine arrived in her car, the tiny teacher’s vehicle recognisable in the parking lot as the only one that regularly needed work done on it. Like she couldn’t afford to go to a garage or something. The body looked good today, but the exhaust? Sounded bad.

But then she didn’t get out of her car. Mr. Johnson stood at the window, watching her, waiting for her to just… get out of her vehicle and come inside. Like the usually did. All peppy and excited about her teaching day, irritating the rest of them with her positivity at that time of the morning without coffee. But she was sitting in her car, not moving. Maybe even waiting for something.

That was when he realised that she was waiting for someone.

And the only reason he realised that was because a couple of cars down, a certain Mr. Eddie parked his car. Obviously it was a smoother ride than hers, and his exhaust definitely didn’t sound like shit, but as soon as his engine turned off and his car door opened, Janine’s car door also opened. And she was climbing out at the same time as him. And she was smiling brightly at him.

Mr. Johnson didn’t need to have the windows open to know the conversation they were having. He just watched the two of them with a smirk as Janine closed and locked her car, before heading over to him, still chatting and smiling brightly. He shook his head a little as the two of them spoke for a bit, before heading towards the school building together.

There was no way in hell that those two could be less subtle about their crushes on each other. But waiting in that car for him to arrive before walking into the building with him? That was dedication. And a dedicated woman was a strong candidate for a good partner, if Mr. Johnson did say so himself.

He watched them as they walked towards the main entrance, nudging each other playfully and laughing. Like they were more than colleagues.

More than friends.

“Those two couldn’t be more oblivious if they tried,” he muttered, shaking his head with a smile.

“Mr. Johnson?” Ava’s voice came from the door to the room, but he didn’t bother looking over at her. “What are you doing? The ground floor toilets need cleaning before the tiny menaces come in and wreck them.”

He wanted to sigh, but Ava had a point. Those kids sure knew how to wreck a toilet.

“Just keeping an eye on the lovebirds,” he commented casually as he moved to head out of the room, pulling his mop along beside him. “Someone’s gotta make sure those two are keeping that little game they play interesting.”

He didn’t say much else as he headed out of the room, but he knew that Ava headed over to the window to see what he was talking about.

He also knew that Ava already knew about Gregory (that much was obvious), and probably also knew about Janine as well. And he knew that he didn’t need to wait around for any comments that she was going to make about them to the open air.

He’d probably overhead everything again later, during lunch time in the staff room. Those women could spread some juicy gossip when Janine and Gregory weren’t there.

***

5: Jacob

Jacob was oblivious. To everything. That was what he realised when he found out that Gregory liked Janine.

He was oblivious to his own friend liking his work bestie.

He wanted to claim that it wasn’t obvious. After all, it wasn’t as though Gregory had told him that he liked Janine in that way, and everyone had a habit of staring at Janine. Granted, most people only stared when she was saying or doing something that was kind of stupid, but Gregory’s staring wasn’t out of place. He was looking at Janine for good reason most of the time that Jacob noticed. Like, a good, valid reason that was relevant to the situation that they were in.

And Gregory never seemed to stare when Janine wasn’t talking about something important or valid.

Besides, he was a good teacher. Whenever Jacob hung around them both, he didn’t feel ignored by either of them. Gregory let him be his friend, and they talked. He was a good guy.

In other words, there was no way that Jacob would’ve been able to tell that Gregory had a crush on Janine until he’d been told outright.

And apparently every other teacher knew about this whole crush situation, meaning that he was the last person to know. He’d been left in the dark.

Clearly.

When Gregory told him, though, things started to make sense. They all shared the same staff room and parked in the same car park, but somehow Janine and Gregory walked into the building together every day. They all sat at the same table, but Janine always offered Gregory food first, and Gregory always gravitated towards talking to Janine over anyone else.

Of course, that led to his next discovery.

Janine liked Gregory too.

“Why doesn’t anyone tell me any of these things?” Jacob demanded, looking between all of the other teachers in the room. And by all of the other teachers, he meant Barbara, Melissa, and Ava. “You all knew that he has a crush on her, and that she has a crush on him! And no one thought to tell me?”

“We thought you knew!” Melissa argued back. “It was pretty damn obvious! Those two ogle all over each other and have their own little… knocking thing they do to talk to each other during classes.”

“They talk to each other during classes?” Jacob looked like he was about to cry because of a major case of FOMO. “Neither of them talk to me!”

“You’re on a different floor,” Barbara pointed out. “What are they going to do, climb the stairs to have a conversation?”

Jacob’s mouth opened and closed a few times as he really thought through what he had said. Huh. She had a point there. Even as he watched Ava literally pour have a tub of sugar into her coffee, he realised that there was no way he could ask for his friends downstairs to come up and talk to him when they had whole classes to keep an eye on.

But Gregory and Janine liking each other?

“We need to get them to start dating.”

“Absolutely not,” Barbara cut in, stopping Jacob in his tracks, at the same time that Melissa said, “Those two would be absolutely unbearable together.”

“If those two are going to get together, it needs to happen naturally and without us interfering, or it could go terribly wrong,” Barbara pointed out patiently. “We need to let them figure it out themselves. Besides, this has been a big growing year for Janine, and we don’t want to interfere with that by taking over her love life.”

“Plus, I can’t just have two teachers start dating because y’all start shipping them or whatever,” Ava commented casually, sipping on her coffee. “If they date, it’s not going to start on my premises. Can you imagine the kinds of things the parents will say about me if I let two teachers start dating? I’d rather they think they’re doing it behind my back when I actually know what’s going on.”

Jacob looked between the three of them incredulously, his brows furrowed. “You’re just going to… let this go? You’re not going to help them out?” he asked slowly.

“Absolutely not.” Melissa pointed her finger in his face. “And we forbid you from helping them out too.”

“Let it grow organically,” Barbara encouraged. “It’ll be much healthier for them both. Trust us.”

Jacob looked between the three women. Two of them were significantly easier to trust than the third, admittedly, but he supposed Barbara had a point. It would be better for them if things grew organically, if they just let things happen instead of forcing them between the two.

But that didn’t mean he had to like it.

“Fine,” he muttered, sitting back in his seat with a sigh. “We’ll let it grow organically.” The idea of those two not getting together because they didn’t do anything to help their relationship along kind of worried him, but he pushed it aside. Just to prove to himself that he could listen to them and let the relationship grow organically.

The moment he saw Mr. Johnson walk past that staff room door, though — the moment he saw the man give him a smirk and a little wink — he knew he couldn’t just sit around and wait for them. He had to help them out.

And if that meant talking Gregory into asking Janine out, then so be it.

Now to just find a time to talk to him about it in private…

[occasionallyprosie]

A Thousand Ways

Chapter 7: "Storms at Sea"

Oceans and their accompanying violent storms continue to be the bane of Legend's existence.

First | <<Previous | Next>>

Event Masterlist

Febuwhump 2024 | Prompt 18: Too Weak To Move

Read On AO3 Warnings: None, just emotional whump+sickfic

The first thing he registered was the scent of petrichor mixing with the distinct aroma of salt.

Immediately, his slightly lightened mood from actually having a decent amount of food in his stomach and having his wounds healed and bandaged, was rapidly destroyed. Overhead was a total, destructive force of nature; a storm. It may have been a hurricane or a typhoon, he didn't know what direction the wind had come from so he frankly didn't know the correct terminology, but he did know that he hated storms and he hated being on an island in a storm even more.

At least it was better than a barely sea-worthy raft.

Look, he knew he sounded bitter, but he's only died twice and the most terrifying one was to a storm while on a raft in the ocean. Sure he wasn't certain of his death, but that was the most logical conclusion. Either he had died or the Wind Fish had directly prevented it and healed his body enough that he did survive after waking the ocean deity.

He had been dropped on too low ground though, he knew that as ocean water rushed up and soaked his feet and legs up to his knees. After he registered his situation, he ran for higher ground.

The storm passed by the second dawn. Legend had no intentions of ever sailing on the ocean again, or even traversing one from below the surface, so he searched the island... Only to find it to be empty and he returned to the alcove he had found the first day to rest.

He sat down and he just thought, listening to the sound of the rain and only accompanied by his thoughts.

He'd need to come up with some kind of nickname for the Zelda's at this rate, he'd come up with one for Fable but if any of the other heroes had one for their Zelda, they didn't share it. Except for Wind and Four, theirs were Tetra and Dot.

Sky's Zelda was easy, for how bright she was, Sun was an apt moniker for the goddess reborn.

Twilight's Zelda was a bit harder, but if he followed the nickname of "Sun" and took in her darker features, the hair, indigo-violet eyes, and the purple over pink or red, especially in comparison to the other queens and princesses Legend knew, something related to the evening would work better for her. "Evening" was a boring nickname though, and so was "Sunset," alternatively, Dusk would work rather well.

He hoped Sky and Twilight didn't mind him nicknaming their Zelda's.

Goddesses, he missed those idiots.

He missed the Traveler's awe and wonder at learning about new plants, animals, magic, weapons, food; anything really. He missed the Sailor's bright and boisterous personality, how he was constantly regaling them with stories about his adventures with that childlike energy, the Sailor had been the one with the most adventures after him and yet he was so bright. It reminded him of himself before Koholint, five adventures under his belt, but still as bright-eyed as ever. He missed the synergy he had with the Champion, they understood each other and he appreciated the way the Champion never hesitated to point that out, he missed the way he could easily slip between calculative and problem-solving to being the problem and chaos-incarnate, he also missed his cooking, but he found he missed his grandmother's cooking a bit more. He missed the Smithy's safety, the way that he could count on him to be a nearby, safe presence without the threat or possibility of being questioned. He missed the Skyloftian's companionship, the Old Man's ability to be both a responsible adult and a childish gremlin, and even the Rancher's overwhelming predatory presence, and the Captain's insufferable knightly presence.

He felt a pang of anger at himself, annoyance and grief curled around his heart.

He got attached.

He hid his face on his knees, hugging his legs to his chest and gasping softly, breath hitching as a few tears slipped down.

He missed them. Goddesses, he got attached and now he missed them.

An uninhabited island wasn't the easiest place to survive on for a week.

He found various fruits and ate at least one a day, carving slices from it with his knife, breaking coconuts, and only hydrating with the milk inside due to the extremely un-drinkable ocean water being his only other option. Overall, he was just surviving.

He thought about his apparent pedigree. How Fable was probably his sister... he tried to tell himself it didn't matter, that he was still himself. He was still the same boy who, at no obligation, left the safety of his uncle's house and went on a dangerous adventure to save Hyrule, who was dropped into Hytopia to meet two other heroes, who was put to sleep by some musician because of his Triforce, who left his grandparents' farm to save Labyrnna and Holodrum, who left his blacksmith apprenticeship to save Hyrule and Lorule.

He tried to tell himself he wasn't the prince of Hyrule serving his kingdom and fulfilling his birthright by protecting his sister and country. He tried to tell himself that he chose to do it, that he had never been obligated to do it. Even if he had been born the hero, it was in his soul to act, it was never expected of him to act by anyone but the goddesses who chose him themselves.

The sun had set and darkness was looming, half the constellations blocked by another oncoming storm. Legend curled in a little alcove and stared at the back of his hand and the slightly glowing triangle on it.

Was it ever his choice? Which came first, being a hero or being... being a prince?

He wanted his uncle, or his grandparents, or Impa, even Ocean or Forest, he needed someone.

He didn't find a way off the island. A portal came before he did.

Legend felt dizzy and cold to the bone. His head hurt and none of that had anything to do with injuries, it had everything to do with multiple days of storms and no warmth. Din's Fire only did so much, and after he was soaked to the bone, he gave up. The stolen cloak did its job, but, again, it could only do so much.

The portal wasn't helpful for his spinning mind, not at all, but he found himself somewhere unfamiliar, dead, and dusty. But to his relief, there was a cave in a cliff nearby and he staggered over to it.

It wasn't deep, he found as he moved inside and found a single, small cavern within. It would work well, he decided, and he dropped into the corner and curled up, wrapping his soaked cloak around him and tugging the hood over his sweat-slicked head. His cold hand brushed his burning forehead and he almost whined.

He just curled tighter in the corner.

"'M sorry," he whispered to the silent and empty cave. "'M leavin'... leavin' the mons'ers... t' you."

He didn't have the energy to get up and fight. He knew his limits; this wasn't the first time he'd gotten sick on a journey.

He'd have to sleep it off and hope for the best, but that meant he'd be leaving all the black blooded monsters to the others.

If he had his bag he would've whistled for Moosh, Dimitri, or Ricky. Any of them would've been a lifesaver in the situation. Lo' and behold, he didn't have his bag, nor any of his supplies. So he just curled up and tried to sleep despite the heavy wetness inside his lungs, the burning heat on his head, the crawling sweat beneath soaked clothes, and he hoped the cave in the unknown Hyrule would keep him safe.

He saw things, too many things, too many dead people. He saw things that should've caused him pain but it never hurt, just burned.

Whenever the next day of coherency came, not that he could count, the fever had broken and he was soaked in sweat instead of ocean stormwater.

He was certain it had been days, and he was certain that it was purely the fact that the goddesses weren't done with him that he recovered.

He had used that as an intimidation tactic, one that would be very effective in his own time. His people--and they were his people--knew the things he'd achieved and the ages he had been when he'd done it. They would've taken that threat a lot more dangerously than Four's father had. But even if it was an intimidation tactic, it was also the truth that he knew.

He wasn't dying until they let him, not that he'd try to prove that, but between that dark world he ended up in with Cadence and the Wind Fish saving him from certain death in that storm, he was pretty sure that the goddesses took measures to ensure his survival until he wasn't needed anymore.

He still felt awful, still caught tight in the cold that had taken over when the familiar tug of a portal hit him.

He wheezed softly, blinking slowly as he took a long minute to register what that pull was. Then he let out a broken, wet groan.

He tried to grab something, a ledge or just the wall, and get to his feet. But his arm did little more than move and he didn't have the strength to pull himself up. He was starving, severely dehydrated, and even if his fever broke, extremely sick.

He couldn't get up.

He couldn't defend himself and they were switching eras.

Dimly, as the tugging grew insistent and strong, for the first time in his life he properly cursed the goddesses. Had they just let him reunite with the Traveler when he'd seen him in Sky's era, he wouldn't be practically on his deathbed in some dusty cave about to be dropped in an unknown Hyrule unable to defend himself.

He felt the fall, he felt the landing and how it forced all remaining air from his lungs, and he felt the dregs of his lucidity and consciousness get taken away from him.

Next>>

[casitafallz]

hello there! I have a hypothetical question, hopefully it hadn't already been asked, heh.

In the Decay and LTRL AUs, early on in the stories, Luisa shoves Isabela away from Mirabel and injures her on the back, although thankfully not severely. BUT! My question is, what do you think would have happened if Luisa had accidentally broken Isabela's back?

*Peeking out of my den*

Hi!

ooh that's a good question. I think... it depends on how severely damaged Isabela's back was; was it only the bone damaged or was the cord also affected??

Either way, a fresh wound like that would still be treatable by Julieta; so the chances were that the damage would be fixed by either one. the bones heal straight away. The cord may take a few days with Julieta's food to heal. Julieta got there pretty quickly to help Mirabel, so she would be there quick to cater to Isa's damaged back.

Isabela would be healed physically.

Mentally, she would get given a bucket load of trauma for it. Ultimately, she would be scared of Luisa just as Mirabel is scared of Isabela (less so, in comparison as what Luisa did was sudden and unexpected; not slow going or as targeted as what Isa did to Mirabel.).

She'd have recurring nightmares of the incident, including the vivid lingering sensation of not feeling her lower body (if the cord was damaged)--this could have reawoken some bed-wetting as a sort of psychological response when the lack of feeling spikes in those instances.

Isa would avoid Luisa like the plague, or if they were forced to be in the same room, stay away or the furthest seat possible. She'd be...hyperfocused on Luisa's movements to ensure she wasn't gonna get tossed.

Luisa may not...get into as much trouble bc she was saving Mirabel. Luisa would be guilty about harming someone, even her own sister, regardless of justification. The fact Isa would be so weary of her is also not a good feeling for Luisa. She's upset about it, but...she'd get annoyed by it as well after a few months of it. Luisa's still very much in the middle of both sides of the frustration of knowing she wasn't gonna hurt Isa again and empathy of why Isa's so weary of her.

The adults... how they react would also vary.

Alma would be upset but relieved that no one was killed. At most, she'd insist Luisa stop her chores in town until she made sure not to use her gift with any sense of underestimation; she sees that there was a lack of control that could have easily killed and could have easily crippled someone. This could have easily dug Luisa's insecurities far faster to the rest of the family about her gift.

Bruno would probably be the same as in the original, distant but would try to be supportive of the family either way

Pepa would be...upset but would stay out of the mess to avoid the emotional whiplash that getting involved would entail, but, she could do her best to try and care for her nieces. She may actually gravitate to Luisa given the girl holds so much in emotionally; she could see more and try to get her to let it out.

Felix would be a very in-the-mess sort of guy. He would visit Isabela if she had to heal for longer; make sure she was okay and all. He'd check in with Mirabel as well, same reasons then he's check in with Luisa and make sure she was okay. He'd also help with Pepa when it came to getting Luisa to talk. Very non-judgemental which helps.

Julieta would be.... devastated at the hurt all of her children had done to each other. None of them would want to be in the same room together out of fear and trauma which tears her side of the family apart and she'd burn out far quicker and struggle to balance herself. She'd depend more on Alma for order and control of the situation. Seeing Isa both a victim and a perpetrator is hard and seeing her struggle with instances of trauma (like the bedwetting) would be very difficult. Trying to sooth Mirabel as well--she'd probably be less involved with Luisa in comparison to her other two daughters.

Agustin would be...a champion to keep his all daughter's morale up. He's checking in with all of them and probably would get Isabela moved to his parent's house sooner for the sake of sanity of everyone involved. He'd defo try better to get Julieta away from the alcohol as well once he realises. He'd defo be the support for Luisa that she needs in her immediate family. He wouldn't be weary or scared of her.

Dolores would...probably be the same as in the original stories; Luisa saved Mirabel, and just happened to Isabela get hurt as well. She'd probably help Isa more in dealing with some of her new trauma responses more privately to spare Isa humiliation of it.

Camilo would be much more of a prick. He'd probably be glad Luisa got 'pay back' for Isa harming Mirabel and would certainly and unintentionally make Luisa feel guilty with his praise on the matter. That said, he'd probably keep Anotnio away from Luisa for a few weeks, not that the two interacted much beforehand. But he'd definitely be glad that Isa got hurt. If he found out about Isa's bed-wetting, he'd defo would mock the girl for it (until Pepa told him off for it)

Antonio, the little bean would be... well he's five and not sure what to think but all he sees is his family fighting between themselves so he's much quieter and withdrawn; trying to be with his sister, and parents or would probably stay around Mirabel and Bruno much more as well. he has little opinion about Luisa's actions; he knows she saved his favourite person.

Mirabel would be the most...conflicted person out of everyone if Isabela got a broken back out of it. She'd be both scared of Isa and also worried for her. She certainly didn't want her to get hurt and doesn't think a broken spine was justified, even in the heat of the moment but... it happened. Her family is even more broken up and she'd probably internalise a lot of what Luisa did to Isa onto herself for being the catalyst for Isa to snap to start with. She would be weary of Luisa but not scared of her either, not like how she'd be scared of Isa. Mirabel defo would need therarpy, like the rest of the family to handle this.

lol, turns out I had a lot to say lol, i do like AU discussions :) if you have any more questions, feel free to drop them in. If they're good or enough, it could inspire me to carry on with the nest LTRL AU Chap?????

[thestobingirlie]

This is definitely a fanfic thing, but I hate how some people portray Steve as if he is just a walking ATM for the others. There's this theme I've noticed where it's like Steve covers everything. Kids going to the arcade? Steve gives them money to change/ keeps an endless supply of rolls of quarters to give to them. They all go out to eat/ order in? Steve's covering the entire bill. They're all going to the movies/bowling/the fair? Steve's paying for everyone. Any of the kids want to rent a movie? Steve lets them have it free of charge. The kids are hungry/ want snacks to take to Hellfire? Steve's buying them what they want/ they're raiding Steve's kitchen without even asking.

What we know of Steve's financial situation is his parents are rich, and cut him off prior to s3. We don't know if he started getting money from them again after s3, but considering he is still working a minimum wage retail job, it seems unlikely. So may still have a lot of expensive belongings, but he isn't rich himself.

The kids and other older teens all have parents/ responsible adults who should be the ones providing money/ snacks/ food where needed. Yes, there are the ones who are shown to be poor (The Byers/Max/Eddie, then Robin who says she's poor), but it's still not Steve's responsibility to provide for them.

Robin also has a job, and would be on the same hourly wage as Steve, and because she doesn't have a car, she doesn't have to worry about paying for gas.

Eddie at least has an income with his dealing (and in some of the fics he has an actual job? so would have a steady income.)

Nancy (and Mike) are solidly upper middle class with their dad making "six figures". So they could easily get money from their parents if they really need it. (From the way the Wheelers are portrayed I feel that Nancy and Mike would get a regular, decent allowance.)

And as I said, the other kids have parents. They're the ones who should be providing, not Steve who is NOT a parent to anyone.

The only person Steve should be providing anything for is Erica, when he is keeping up the "Free ice cream for life" deal, and with that, he should be going halves with Robin.

that last paragraph cracked me up. i feel like this is a speech erica’s made to convince steve to spend less money on the others and more on her lmao

i think it makes sense that steve would want to spend a lot of money on his friends, because steve definitely has that whole, i have to provide for my friends so they want to keep me around thing. but yeah, i think people over use it. like, kids get given an allowance, and i can’t imagine that none of them would feel bad about bleeding steve dry.

i think it happens so much because people want steve involved in stuff, but can’t figure out how to involve him. he doesn’t play d&d, so instead he hosts them and feeds them and hangs out with them! he wouldn’t play in the arcade so instead he drops the kids off and picks them up and gives them emergency change when they run out.

(kinda a different topic, but i also don’t think steve would be that opposed to playing d&d or arcade games. he had a choreographed lightsaber fight with dustin in the middle of starcourt mall. he’s dorky! let the boy be dorky! he doesn’t have to be supplying hellfire with snacks, let him join in!)

but like you said, steve isn’t made of money, and though people love to give him a credit card that his parents pay for, it is likely that he’s monetarily looking after himself. robin has the exact same job as steve and eddie is the fucking school drug dealer. like yeah, steve’s parents are rich, and eddie’s and robin’s aren’t, but all three teens probably make the same amount of money.

[hirazuki]

For the character ask: Starsha from Space Battleship Yamato (any version)

Ahaha, oh dear XD We're doing the rerun version (2199, 2202, 2205), as that's the one I remember most clearly!

First impression

Uh-oh. Is there going to be a lot of not-what-this-seems fuckery? I'm getting the vibe that there's going to be a lot of not-what-this-seems fuckery. My Mass Effect senses are tingling. She is pretty though, I'll give her that!

Impression now

AhahahaHA NOT A FAN :D Like. I get it, conceptually; it's a shitty situation in general and obviously she was not the sole person responsible, but she was responsible for her own actions, especially with regards to more personal matters (*cough*Dessler*cough*) and that was just. Not Cool. She should have told Dessler everything way before, particularly when she saw how desperately he was trying to save his people and his planet. The planet's death, of course, would not have been averted, but knowing certain things, knowing things earlier, he may have been able to do things differently, make different arrangements, etc., and possibly saved a hell of a lot more people.

>Least< Favorite moment

I can’t think of a favorite moment no matter how hard I try, so let’s do least favorite!! It’s a tie between the flashback where she whispers to child!Dessler “Grow up quickly” (because, my dude, what the FUCK -- like, I get that she probably means in terms of assuming leadership of his people, but the atmosphere is so unnecessarily charged and if their genders had been swapped everyone would have been screaming about grooming/etc. but he’s a male character, so it clearly doesn’t matter as much) and Sasha’s spirit being reincarnated in her and Mamoru’s baby (I really dislike reincarnating spirits in infants, especially since it’s her sister’s soul in her daughter’s body; ugh). 

Idea for a story

None!

Unpopular opinion

Dessler should have shot her XD

Idk if this is unpopular or not because I have no idea what the fandom looks like, but I don't like her with Dessler; their dynamic is one of the very few shipping dynamics that I not only dislike, but legit squicks me out. I don't like lots of ships, but that's just a taste preference; and there are plenty of ships that I'm fine with that the majority of their fandoms find "toxic" or "problematic" or "abusive." This one actually disturbs me, because the Iscandarian indoctrination of the Garmillas to worship and obey them makes it far less like a romance between two adults, and much more like a romantic relationship between. idk. a dog and his owner. I was meh about it at first -- like, not hating it but not loving it -- until the reveal in 2205. It's an extremely unbalanced relationship and his vulnerability to her is uncomfortable to watch, especially since I get the vibe from the narrative that it's supposed to be read as romantic in a positive light.

Favorite relationship

Uh, Mamoru, I guess? In the sense that she took him in and tried healing him, while his influence grounded her, steering her away from her people’s mentality/way of life and back to a less transcendent/more mundane existence. The baby was unnecessary, though!

Favorite headcanon

I don’t really have one; I don’t think about her at all tbh, except to get angry! :D

[dancingtotuyo]

Great chapter! It’s so conflicting!!

I definitely love Bonnie and Joel together so much, they’re so cute together and work so well together. But obviously they’re in a shitty and complicated situation and it sucks that they have to get through the shitty stuff to eventually get to the good!

I honestly have such trouble truly feeling bad for Tommy. I know he has his problems but he’s an adult and father and it’s his responsibility to take care of his problems. But he just never did and ended up in jail and became even worse then. His wife is at home with his son, taking care of him and everything else and he can’t even be bothered to be the slightest bit present or thankful. (I probably would’ve send him some divorce papers at some point during these 2 years tbh.)

He says in the letter that he wishes he could be better for them but he could! He could be better but he chose not to be. He went to jail yeah, but he never took responsibility for all of his actions. I’m actually dreading him getting out because I can only imagine how terrible it’s going to be…

Is there going to be any cheating from Tommy in this story? Because right now I can definitely see him getting drunk and not giving a shit lol (if you want to share! If not just ignore this question hahaha)

And Nathan calling Joel Daddy 🥺 my freaking heart. That poor little boy. Just for him, I wish the reader would be a bit tougher with Tommy and not let him get away with being such an asshole. I can understand that he doesn’t want his son to see him in jail (shouldn’t have fucked up so bad then… lmao) and everything but he’s had absolutely no interest in his life??? He can’t even be bothered to properly talk to him on the phone. And that little boy deserves so much more than that and I’m glad he has Joel in his life for that 🥺 Joel as a boy dad has my entire heart actually. (Can we just imagine Nathan with a little toy tool belt and hardhat? wanting to help Joel with stuff around the house and he follows him around everywhere and copies Joels hands-on-hips stance?? Ugh yes please.)

I’m so curious to see what’s gonna happen next and I really hope reader and Joel get to be happy together at the end 🥺 I’m sure there’s gonna be plenty of angst first haha! Reader, pls don’t let Tommy suck you in again. He’s been nothing but terrible to you and you deserve so much more 🥺

Can’t wait to read more 💕💕

Hello dear anon!

I have read through this so many times because it fills my heart with joy to know that people care about this story so much to send PARAGRAPHS of their thoughts to me!

Yes, obviously Bonnie and Joel are in a shitty situation. This isn’t the first time they’ve had to partner up but it is the first time in dealing with Tommy being a dick. It’s the first time Joel has really had to pick up the pieces (though he’s been doing that for 2 1/2 years now).

I do think reader has been tougher with Tommy in the past, but I think she’s tired of fighting for it. Tommy isn’t even fighting her. How exhausting it is to fight when the other person won’t even do that. He’s gone apathetic and she doesn’t know what else to do but hope he snap out of it. But obviously, it’s taking its toll.

IF Tommy cheats. It won’t be because he doesn’t care. I know it may not seem like it- but none of this stems from Tommy not caring. Dude’s got trauma from the war (and prison) that he doesn’t know what to do with. He doesn’t know how to talk about it or process it. (Let’s remember it’s the 90’s too. Mental health care and support groups weren’t huge). To me, Tommy’s issue is that he doesn’t feel worthy and when he doesn’t feel worthy, he ends up pushing reader away.

THAT PICTURE YOU PAINTED OF NATHANIEL! Yesssss. Ugh! And a big yellow hard hat that’s too big for him. Picture him telling everyone he’s “uncle Joel” at Halloween 😭😭😭

You’re welcome in the inbox any time

Thank you! 💕

[hjellacott]

It's whining to invent lies about someone, to be so petty and resentful that you cannot stop speaking negatively about one of the most famous and renowned authors in history, and in your case, your words are honestly pathetic and petty. I have no other way of defining you. Because like, for example, I'm not a big fan of Tolkien, haven't read much from him, don't know much about him, I've only seen the films. But even I know that his books are fucking masterpieces, because you just have to read a bit about his writing by people who actually known a lot about literature, to know he had a massive brain and remarkable talent and that his books are very much worth the read. Or there's Charles Dickens, who I do know a bit about, and for example, he wasn't so great of a guy, but everyone who's read him knows that, perhaps it's not your taste, but you can't deny he was so talented, so skilled, and that his work perfectly reflected a very sad time for children in Britain and opened our eyes to that sad and violent past of the country. Similarly, you may agree more, less or nothing with the stuff Rowling says, but that she has unbelievable talent is undeniable. That Harry Potter is one of the most brilliant works ever written for children, so much that it became the FIRST children's books in the history of Britain to become an international best seller from the first second (which then led to people wanted to turn it into movies), is just a fact. Trying to deny any of it is like trying to deny the sun is hot, you know? And it only makes you look like either a tremendously uncultured person, or a sad, petty person, or both. Like, you're just whining, looking for reasons to dislike someone and to blame them for every problem in your life instead of taking full responsibility, much like Prince Harry talking crap about his family really. It's the stuff children do. Who knows? Perhaps you ARE a child, I dunno.

Also, for someone that apparently hurts children so much, J. K. Rowling has several organisations devoted to the protection of children, to finding orphans loving homes and warm families, to tackling situations of extreme poverty after national disasters such as the earthquakes in Turkey, and if you read the stuff she says about trans children, all she's basically saying is that it is important to tackle their mental health issues (such as depression and self harm) first with lots of therapy instead of simply saying they need to transition, and that adults shouldn't be allowed to brainwash children into having life-changing surgeries they barely understand, and should have their childhoods protected and not be allowed to make any massive, life-changing decisions (such as surgeries you cannot fix, or drinking, smoking, doing drugs, etc) until they're informed adults who can make mature decisions for themselves.

No one with even the smallest understanding of Rowling's charitable work and who regularly reads about the stuff she does, whether they are fans or not at all, would ever question Rowling is an incredibly kind soul who only thinks of the best for kids and in fact, coincidentally everyone I know who's highly cultured, well-educated and well-informed, you know, the kind of people who read the news, speak several languages and just have big brains, even though none of them (and most of them are elderly in my environment) are Rowling fans and they ALL think very highly of them. Like the last time I talked about her with someone face to face, it was with a woman in her 70s who isn't a fan at all, who's an interpreter for UN, and who had just discovered this podcast in which Rowling talks about feminism and stuff, and was so marvelled by her that she researched her and now has a tremendously high opinion of someone that three months ago, she barely knew. Meanwhile, coincidentally or not, anyone who's ever told me anything bad about Rowling, and tried to spread a message of "violent bigot with no talent", you know, the kind of petty crap you're trying to spread, they also happened to be people with barely no education, whose only knowledge of what Rowling had said came from mouth-to-mouth and PinkNews, and who instead of actually reading what Rowling writes, advocated for burning books, which tells me all I need to know about your kind of people.

P.S. And calling her antisemitic has gotten old and tiring, specially when plenty of Jewish outlets have come up to defend her.

J.K. Rowling is a TERF and an antisemitic POS. Adding to that, she's a shit author. Basically, grown adults who campaign for the torment of people just trying to live because of this useless piece of shit are also shit and deserve to burn

[ohmycale]

A terse conversation (or the usual showdown between father and son)

Wrote this instead of sleeping. Now I feel why authors use that tag on A03.

Warning: Characters might be OOC. Cale doesn't swear but is still his usual self with biting words (or at least I hope so). This is a part of another plot bunny but I posted it since I like drama and angst. In no particular order. Enjoy!

Italics = Deruth's inner voice

"It's none of your business."

Deruth tries to hide his sigh. It has been years since he managed to force his wayward son to meet with him in his office. Usually, Cale would do everything to avoid everyone, may it be a family member or a servant. Oftentimes, his son would go somewhere and Hans would scurry after him. His attempts for him to join breakfast with the rest of the family have been futile so far. But the current situation is different.

Looking at his son, he noticed that the redhead is thinner, and his hands and face become paler and more delicate. Perhaps if he looked hard enough, Cale's bones and veins might just be visible. His appearance just confirmed Hans’ observation of his eldest this week.

"I know you value your privacy.  However, your recent activities might be a danger to you..."

"I am not a child. I know very well what I am doing. Haven’t you at least trained me for that?" the redhead countered.

Deruth tried to suppress his sigh again. He loves Cale even though the rest of the world (Cale included) would not believe him. He still loves Jour but one of the most annoying traits that his son inherited from her is stubbornness. While Jour might have been prone to persuasive pleasing and changing her mind after some time,  Cale turned stubbornness to perfect skill and art. And it doesn’t help when this stubborn son refuses to budge an inch for such a simple question.

"You are not a child. Even though you are approaching to be an adult, it doesn't mean that trouble doesn't find you" Or that you don’t seek trouble yourself. Deruth thought inwardly. This is not a good moment to pick a fight with his son who is already estranged from him.

"As I said, this is nothing to worry about." Cale started to stand up, and Deruth surmises, trying not to roll his eyes as he plans to get away.

"Do sit down Cale, we are not finished conversing." Deruth doesn't know whether he should smack himself for actually using a strong tone with Cale or berating himself as his son might imply the line as a threat. But then again, he treats everyone as a threat. Why would he be threatened at this house and in the territory? Surely Cale knows that he always gets unscathed for his actions.

Cale narrowed his eyes but stopped himself from lifting his body from the chair. A very visible scorn was decorating the young man's face as if he stepped on something foul.

"As much as I want to give you the independence you crave, I don’t feel that you’re responsible enough to know what you are dealing with. If you even know, what you’re dealing with, that is."

Cale raised an eyebrow and sent a baleful glare toward his father. "I don’t understand why is this such an important thing to be talked about. You say it as if I am planning something nefarious."

That is exactly what I am trying to know, my stubborn child. Deruth answered, "If it is not important, then surely it will not hurt to share it." Deruth countered.

Cale seems unperturbed. "This conversation is going nowhere. I don't understand the need to intrude on my privacy as it is given that I am to do something afoul. If you believe it to be so, confine to the castle as you always do. I will be happy to lock myself in my room if it so pleases you."

There it is, Deruth sighed. Another attempt to deflect and passive-aggressiveness. He swears that Cale also had ample time to master those particular traits and use them at every chance he gets. But Cale has a point. Cale will be stalling no matter what he does

Deruth decides to go in and break his son's defenses. "I have said nothing of the sort. I am only asking you since it is a matter that has come in recently. Surely, you do expect me to care about these matters."

His son stared at him like he has grown a second head. For a while, his red hair danced as his head shook a few times.

"Care? I don’t expect you to care. Your actions for nearly a decade seem to indicate the opposite."

As Deruth tries to control his thoughts and plan a retort, Cale soldiered on with a very low voice. "When you arrived here with your second wife and your perfect son, you heard nothing from me. I never questioned you, I never argued with you, and I never interrogated you for even the tiniest of details. You have never heard a harsh or derogatory word from my mouth. Despite the fact that you trampled on me without even sparing my thoughts and feelings on the matter. Now, you're interrogating me because you care? Are sure you are not drunk? I am supposed to be the drunk in this place, am I?"

"Cale--"

"No. I never intruded on your personal life and decisions as much as I want to judge you for it. Surely, you won’t mind extending to me the same courtesy. Good evening and do us both a favor and forget this ever happened." The redhead promptly stood up, turned on his heel, and spared no minute getting out of his sire’s office.

Deruth was still gritting his teeth ever since Cale brought up that incident. Nearly a decade and his son still hold grudges. He tried breathing in and exhaling slowly. In the end, he exhales loudly once his son turned his back on him and went out of his office.

When will this cycle end?

That's the million dollar, question, isn't it? Anyways, hope you enjoyed it, and let me know if this is going somewhere.