#him and arty are talking about how death is not the end for everything and he was like 'oh! like the immortal jellyfish!'

[raitrolling]

me @ vallis: must you. must you talk about jellyfish and make me have to fact check you're not spouting bullshit im only half-remembering

[hauntedparkinglot]

Ok wait I’m not done with this. Gender in Malevolent is driving me insane.

The way that women in the narrative are so absent, that the hole is so huge you can’t help but stare into it. And I do think a lot of the gender stuff is unintentional, it’s just that the way it’s unfolding fascinates me….

I actually stopped watching the show for a full year after episode 31…. The way Arthur talked about Bella’s death upset me in a way the other visceral horror didn’t. He didn’t resent Bella, he didn’t really…. Feel anything super deep about her. He got stuck with her, she was better than him, she was an equal to him but her life and death didn’t affect him the way every other loss in his life did. He didn’t want a wife, and in the end that’s all he saw her as….

Kind of insane how he finally shows some sort of emotion for Bella in the name of mutual rebellion, she didn’t like what her dad stood for either. Arthur thought he was making a sacrifice for her and Faroe by marrying her…. But she didn’t want it either. Arthur was honour bound she was actually literally trapped. She made the sacrifice.

Everything about Bella makes me so mad. I hateeee the dead wife trope. I feel like a type of subversion was attempted but idk. When I think of this situation from her perspective it becomes a much scarier horror podcast, lol. We all know Arthur Lester is a mess, his flaws make the show. But for this one. Arty when I get u…

I actually thought Bella was gonna turn out to be a figure like Anna Stanzyck when I first started listening. Idk how to elaborate.

[flickering-nightfall]

So, your Infinity Train crossover got me to watch the show, and... woah. Woah. I would love to know if you had any more ideas, blurbs, thoughts, anything about that crossover, because now I can't get enough of imagining the viciously murderous cat and accidentally-fratricidal robot on the train.

I'm glad you liked Infinity Train too! (and thank you!) More on the crossover... I gotta admit I haven't thought of much other than the initial "haha what if" idea. Maybe I can speculate though:

Spoilers ahead!

There were many hilarious and thoughtful takes on how Pebbles could possibly end up on the train, in the notes of the initial post. I joked that it'd just tear a hole through his structure, but there are more (and less) sane options than that.

Since we only see human passengers on the train, a lot of people would probably mistake Pebbles and Arti as denizens. Simon and Grace would probably not take to them having numbers well. I feel like they'd most likely think it was a trick, but it could shake up their perspective too.

Man humans look kind of similar to ancients maybe. That doesn't mean much to Arti - and I think humans look dissimilar enough from scavs to be spared by her wrath. But to Pebbles...

Also, iterators haven't communicated with another civilization-era sapient species in a quite a while probably. Some interesting stuff can come out of that.

How many migraines do you think Pebbles gets from trying to figure out what the hell is up with denizens? Or the train itself? I feel like he'd have an aneurysm if he had to interact with Alan Dracula. If he goes home and tries to tell the others what happened without any proof, they'd think he'd had a rot-induced fever dream.

Numbers are dependent on how close a passenger is to solving their problem. Arti, having already killed the scav chieftain, according to Rain World has hit the point of no return. So her body is completely wrapped up in numbers. But like Amelia, with enough time and determination it might be possible. The main problem is... Arti has to want to fix her problem first. The setup for her to do that is there. She's with Pebbles, so she has less of a reason to go off on a rampage unless she's being threatened. The lack of scavs wouldn't stop her from resorting to violence at this point, but the pure strangeness and unfamiliarity of her surroundings should at least baffle her into a different mental state.

I think in order to get an exit, Arti needs to make peace with herself. She must acknowledge what she has become, and to truly believe that she needs to change. It has little to do with the death of her children at that point. She needs to escape the self-perpetuating circle of violence.

Pebbles' number is much smaller (but still huge) because he's entrenched in rage and isolation and frustration on a massive timescale, but we see him eventually come to a resolution in Rivulet's campaign. How would the train define his problem though? It could be his anger at Moon and Suns, blaming them for his current state (even if Suns is partially at fault). It could be his tendency to close himself off, his refusal to talk to others or accept help. It could be his denial, believing he can handle and fix everything by himself. It could be his overall arrogance or ego. There's a lot of options there. Ultimately I think whatever brings him to think similarly to how he does in Rivulet's campaign would do the trick.

The sad thing is that Pebbles would probably be better off staying on the train too. I'm not sure if he'd be affected by the rot there, but he'd at least he could (literally) get out of his own head. And he has no choice but to touch grass interact with new people and situations. But to deny his exit would be to deny responsibility for what he's done. If he's really gotten better, that means he knows he can't run away anymore.

If Pebbles went to the train without Arti there's a chance he'd get killed or ghom'd two days into the trip. We are assuming his puppet is capable of walking for this AU, but also I do not think he knows how to walk. Good luck pink guy!

On the flipside. Pebbles could... probably take over the train even more than Amelia ever did, especially as a (bio)mechanical being himself. The only thing that could limit him are taboos maybe. Any iterator could do this, really. Lots of potential paths with that one.

Something something, One-One and iterators both solving people's big problems with varying amounts of success, and both engineering weird organisms...

...does a RW character that gets ghom'd return to the great cycle? Their soul gets devoured, or their life essence, it's not clear. I guess which one could determine what happens. But also they are in another universe where there is probably no cycle. Are ghoms a triple affirmative? Is crossdimensional travel? The latter wouldn't fit the "portable and generally applicable" part but still. This is a whole rabbit hole and a half, isn't it!

The train is dangerous and all, but that just makes Rain World characters a hilarious fit for it. Like this is just their daily life. Honestly I think their home world is more dangerous than the train, just in less wacky ways.

Lastly: I haven't even touched upon what introducing other characters could do for this narrative, or how they would react. So many possibilities!

If anyone wants to do more with this, please feel free!

[larsisfrommars]

The Night of The Murderous Spring Is So JUICY!

I think I need to talk about how insanely gay this episode of Wild Wild West is or I might EXPLODE. I know a lot of us who already watch the show knew this episode was ridiculous in the gay subtext department but I feel compelled to go in-depth about putting it into words.

Let’s not even dig into the fact that before drugging Jim Dr. Loveless proudly proclaims that he will make James West “kill the thing he loves” and was referring to Artemus when he said that! That’s already wild enough as it is.

For me like, through a shipping/gay subtext lense, I could already tell Artie was into Jim. There is a mountain of evidence to interpret their relationship that way at least on Gordon’s end. For West it was a little more sparse until and especially THIS episode. Which confirmed for me as relatively new to this show and fandom “ohhhh!! He really DOES reciprocate whatever ambiguously gay mess is happening here!”

The version of Artemus that Jim subconsciously conjures up for himself is so interesting. And of course, it appears to him when he’s in desperate need of comfort, of a rock to cling to, but can find none. So his hallucinating brain projects what he NEEDS most, not some lovely young lady (familiar or otherwise) to tell him everything is alright, but Artemus to take care of him. He WANTS to be taken care of and comforted by Artemus and no one else. I’m not crying YOU are crying!

His version of Artemus is pretty close to the real deal but there’s something… softer about this projected version. He’s not completely different, I wouldn’t even say out-of-character. But he is gentler, more patient and forgiving, and very much there to play guardian angel for Jim. All of his positive traits are exaggerated in Jim’s eyes, like hes always seeing the guy through rose colored glasses.

I say this because part of why I got a bit suspicious of this version of Artie was him being way too calm and forgiving when Jim starts being aggressive towards him due to the drug. Yeah Artie loves Jim but like, he’s got his own sense of self-preservation, intelligence, and a bit of a temper. I was expecting a joke or some sternness or something, hell maybe taking Jim’s gun from him. But of course he doesn’t and he can’t, because he’s not real and he’s there to comfort. Jim can’t be thrown off the course that’ll lead him to killing Artie by his hallucination’s own intervention. He’s himself but oh so slightly off.

Another thing was something that “Artie” said that didn’t actually make a lot of sense compared to the rest of established canon when Jim first starts getting temperamental. “Hey it’s me remember? Artemus Gordon? Mrs. Gordon’s son.” Now I know there’s probably some throwaway Doylist explanation for this, but the Watsonian in me prevails.

Artie never brings up either of his parents before this or ever again to my knowledge. Jim only mentions family once in a previous Dr. Loveless episode. It’s the kind of thing you’d say to someone where you’d known each other your whole lives, implying Jim would somehow know his mother. Now unless I’m mistaken they met each other in the military as adults. Which means Jim’s subconscious emotions have made him feel as though Artie’s known him his whole life. Which is some soulmate sounding mess if I ever heard it.

Then there is the crescendo of this madness where Jim shoots the illusionary Artemus in cold blood. Which is easily some of the most heartbreaking acting in the series. I have watched it a normal amount of times (lying)!! Dying “Artie” looks confused and betrayed but he STILL reaches out to Jim like he like wants Jim to know that it’s okay?! OUCH. Then of course there’s the little “why?” before he dies that pushes Jim over the edge.

Jim completely flies off the handle after Artemus’s apparent death. Careening through the street, threatening the hotel staff, trying to get himself arrested for murdering Artie. I don’t know whether it was a side effect of how much hallucinogen he ingested or what. He straight up faints like some tragic Victorian protagonist after returning to his room, overwhelmed by the evil that he has seemingly done.

When he comes back around he is not at all acting like the Jim we know and love. It’s almost like he wants Loveless to kill him with the way he goads the guy. He’s despondent and jaded and being reckless with his own life. He only snaps back to normal when he discovers Artie is in fact alive and well. Which is such a beautifully loaded reunion. He responds to Jim’s unusual tenderness with a sassy joke (which is of course how we know this one is real). It feels very akin to the Kirk and Spock reunion at the end of Amok Time.

I also think it’s worth noting that I think the first time I ever heard James West utter the words “Artie! Help me!” when he’s trying to prevent the ducks carrying the murder-LSD from being released (this episode is NUTS). Which you know in light of the events of this episode is a big step in Jim being a bit more vulnerable as a character. So there is THAT too.

Hey, and maybe it’s just me, but whether it was deliberate or not, something changed about the whole tone of the show after this particular episode. It felt like the showrunners were slowly having it dawn on them the show is at its strongest when it plays off of the bond shared by these two characters. This episode along a few other gems from season one seem to have clinched it. I noticed in season two so far they’re using Artie and Jim’s relationship as a support beam where it was more of a flexible suggestion before. Which has ✨implications✨ whether you interpret the relationship as gay or not. The events of this episode cracked Jim West’s very hard shell, and made these two characters closer than before.

[forabeatofadrum]

End of the line

Summary: The New Directions and others return to Lima for the 10 year anniversary of Finn’s death.

Notes: For Cory.

AO3

--

Tracy Hummel-Anderson loves having a full house, and her grandparents’ house is filled to the brim with her dads’ friends.

Kurt doesn’t have the heart to explain to a three year old what death means and why they’re all here. Tracy knows of Finn and she knows that he is no longer around, but she doesn’t fully understand why yet.

Tracy is hugging everyone’s legs and giving flowers that she picked in the garden. When she hands one to Carole, Carole tries very hard to not burst into a new round of tears. That’s Kurt’s cue to step in.

“Come on, Tracy,” he picks her up and carries her away from Carole.

“Do you think grandma loved the flower?” she asks.

“I think she loved it,” Kurt answers earnestly. Carole loves everything that Tracy makes, but today is just weird. It’s been ten years since Finn died. Every year, the New Directions try to get together to commemorate, and it doesn’t always work, but everyone made time to be here for the 10th anniversary.

Kurt puts her down so that she can hang around with the other kids. His friends have kids. He and Blaine were the first, but Rachel and Jesse’s daughter soon followed. Tina and Artie surprised everyone, including themselves, with twins. Brittany and Santana are looking into it as well. The New Directions are growing up.

Well, apart from Finn. He never made it past 19. He would’ve turned 29 this year.

What would his life had looked like? Everyone thought he’d end up with Rachel. He was working on becoming a teacher. 

Kurt shakes his head. He’s helping no one with this. When Finn first died, Kurt couldn’t stop thinking about all these possible scenario’s, because it felt so unfair that he died. Kurt still thinks it’s unfair, but he stopped torturing himself.

The 10 year anniversary just brings back feelings.

Kurt walks back to his parents. His dad is talking with Sam about the time Sam and Finn competed for the position of quarterback. Carole, who still looks like a mess, laughs over a memory that Tina shared with her, only to fall silent again.

The mood is off. Tracy is right to think that it’s fun to be together with everyone, because Kurt also loves seeing everyone again, but it’s also under a weird circumstance.

A photo of Finn has been put on prominent display, with the date of his birth and death presented underneath. There’s a small line between them. Puck once said that it’s weird how that one life represents an entire life and it’s true. How does one line capture 19 years of a life well-lived?

It’s so weird to think that Finn’s already reached the end of his line.

Tracy apparently got bored being around the other kids, because she’s walking around again, amusing everyone. Quinn gives her a piece of candy from her pocket, Artie has his camera out and he films her skipping around the room, Mike twirls her around, and so on. Tracy loves her honourary aunts and uncles and they love her.

She eventually ends up at Blaine, who carries her to Kurt.

“Are you having fun?” Kurt asks.

Tracy nods happily and Kurt smiles. Kurt and Blaine make eye contact and Blaine nods.

“Go to daddy, Tracy,” Blaine says and he hands her to Kurt, “He wants to show you something.”

“Oh?”

Kurt takes her to Finn’s photograph. Tracy has grown a lot, so he needs both arms to carry her, so he can’t pick up the photo. Instead, he bends his knees and lowers Tracy.

“Uncle Finn!” Tracy says.

“Indeed,” Kurt says and he feels a lump in his throat. He’s still Tracy’s uncle. “We’re all here for him.”

“Why?” Tracy asks. She has a puzzled look on her face and it’s adorable.

“Because we miss him,” Kurt answers.

He realises that the room has gotten silent. He doesn’t want to look around, but he knows others are watching him and Tracy.

“Is this his party?” Tracy asks and Kurt lets out a teary laugh.

He wants to say that it’s not a party, and that people can come together for different reasons, and that today is a sad day, but then he thinks about her words.

Kurt will never celebrate Finn’s death. Never. The thought alone is baffling.

But he thinks of today. Everyone’s come to his parents’ house for Finn. People are trading stories and other fun memories. Photos and videos are passed around and despite the weird atmosphere, everyone is having a good time. It’s nice to come together and talk about the person they all miss so dearly.

“I guess so,” Kurt says, “A party to celebrate your uncle. That’s one way to see it.”

“Will there be cake?” Tracy asks. Of course she thinks of cakes. She mostly goes to birthday parties.

“We can have a cake,” Kurt’s dad cuts in, before Kurt can answer, “Right, Carole?”

Kurt finally turns around and as expected, all eyes are on him and Tracy, apart from his dad’s. He’s looking at Carole. Carole’s eyes are wet.

“Yes,” she eventually says, “Yes, we can. Chocolate fudge. His favourite.”

“I’ll drive down to the bakery!” many people volunteer at once, which makes everyone laugh. There will definitely be cake now.

“Yay!” Tracy claps her hands and Kurt hugs his daughter closer. He’s sad that Finn’s never got to met her, but she’s here and Kurt will keep the memory of his brother alive for her. He won’t be the only ones. Everyone in this room will remember Finn and as Tracy said, they will continue to celebrate him.

[beezonia]

A past better left forgotten

A little miraculous mons drabble

No warnings but mentions of death.

Nathalie wakes up with a pounding in her head most days. She doesn’t know why.

Ori always ends up perched on one of the bedposts, checking on her heavy breathing to make sure her trainer isn’t dying.

Maybe it’s just that she’s sick, or that she’s slowly going insane after years and years of running from her problems.

Nathalie still doesn’t know, logic isn’t helping her after all these years of using it.

It’s sort of painful.

At least she could get comfortable being back in the spotlight soon, get back to how life used to be.

Although, after everything that’s happened.

Nathalie doesn’t believe things can go back to the way they were.

———-

Jade sits there on her yoga mat, the Persian looks like she’s snoozing. The blue gem on her forehead glinting in the early rays of light.

Well that was one distraction she couldn’t use. It was time to think of something different.

Ori chirps as if she’s trying to point her in the right direction, her beak stretching out to the small garden Nathalie has managed to take care of.

It’s where she’s more likely to find the steel duo, Darack (her skarmory) and Tiny (her Aggron and yes, the irony was not lost on her)

So the champion lets her feet drag along the tiles of the patio, smiling when she sees Darcak perk his head up at the noise.

The bird instantly lunges himself towards her and Ori, the woman has to sidestep to make sure she doesn’t get the brunt of the collision.

She’s sure the Skarmory has scared the absolute shit out of Ori, so much so the smaller bird ended up in the trees!

“Hey you, what were you looking at?”

Nathalie crouches so she can pet Darack’s head, he chirps turning his beak upwards as of to say he was admiring the sky.

It was a pretty sky, the pinks and oranges slowly merging into blue to make way for the day.

“I’ll have to send Vincent a picture, Arty would love it.”

She’s talking about her best friend and his smeargle, the pokèmon always loved staring up at the sky.

To bad Nathalie didn’t have anyone to share it with, apart from her pokèmon her role meant most people were just going to use her for fame.

It’s sad, but true. It reminds her of a past she’d rather forget.

A past that seems to want to haunt her too.

Hades had only become part of her team about a year ago. The Dusknoir had appeared on her doorstep one from afternoon and it wouldn’t leave till she let him in.

Persistent much like someone else she knew.

God how Nathalie hates reminding herself of the blonde, nothing good ever came from it. Even if that smile still made her swoon, even if she felt her heartbeat gain pace just staring into those emerald eyes.

No, the Kalos Champion would not falter. She would not let herself fall back into those old habits.

She was about to show the region just what she was made of.

Even if it was just all a facade to get through the long days she had ahead of her.

Even if she found it hard to progress each day. Nathalie would keep moving forward.

Hope you like this guys!

Wanted to explore a bit of Nathalie’s bonds with her pokèmon and more so what she thinks in her head most of the time!

Thanks for reading!

[nade2308]

Could you write meta on Jim/Artie, pretty please?

Thank you for the ask.

I have been thinking on this for a while now, wondering what I can do the meta on and then I was like WAIT, I did watch an ep like last week or something, or should I say last year now? I think this ep is perfect to be analyzed in this way, "The Night of the Grand Emir".

I mean, in general, whether you ship them or you think of them as a bromance, these two have the best chemistry. There is so much in their touches and looks and the worry, chef's kiss. But I chose this ep because there were so many hints about these two being together and having such a strong bond that I can only sigh and stare at. And admire.

First of all the number of messages exchanged between me and @thethistlegirl when we watched it for the first time:

There's just so much that I can say about it, but I'll let the picture speak for itself.

This episode was full of Jim and Arte moments that made me scream, like, HELP.

I think that this episode out of all the episodes I have watched from this show was overflowing with imps. Ever since it started, all I could do was watching and typing my screams to Thistle. There is something about these types of eps, you can see everything and anything.

Speaking of the shippy part, there was this character in the episode that gave me the weird vibes since he appeared, Jones. The way he looked at Jim and the way Arte looked at him made me think of Jones doing something to Jim at some point and Arte wanted to keep Jim away from him. There is a lot that Arte is not showing, being the actor he is, but when it comes to Jim, he cannot control his reactions and he really looked like he waw going to lunge at Jones for even looking at James wrong.

Then there was Jim being half-naked and Arte looking at him appreciatively when he reappeared, even though he already put on a shirt haphazardly. Like, Artemus, please gather your jaw from the floor.

Now for the moment that made me yell, because how did we get this in 1965? Like, HOW??? Sharing a room, and all I could think of was "there was only one bed" trope. I guess that that trope existed 57 years ago too, huh? And if anyone wonders about the moment, it is the moment Arte tells Jim that he put their luggage in one of the rooms down the hall when Jim says he needs a change of clothes. THEIR LUGGAGE. IN ONE OF THE ROOMS. It did nkt take a lot of imagination to get my head going, that's for sure.

There's also that segment from Johann Strauß the son's Kaiser Walzer that the creators seemed to prefer since it was present in many episodes during dancing scenes. And right back at the end when Arte plays it on the piano and Jim dances with Ecstasy on it. Just... chef's kiss.

Also, another point where I had to stop from actually screaming was the numerous times they were both passed out and the other one woke them up in worry. The sheer worry and care they showed every time the other one was in danger, I could write a thesis on that.

Last, but not least, that moment when Arte asked "Is Jim okay?" with such a sad voice, like, buddy, you are not subtle that your world is falling apart without Jim in it. And at the tiniest notion of him being hurt, or worse, you are crumbling. Same energy as when they whacked Arte on the head and Jim watched it happen. He was so startled, but couldn't do anything about it because he had to do something for them to prevent bad things from happening. And you could see it pained him to do so because the look on his face was devastated. If that is not something special these two have, then I don't know what it is.

Let's not forget about Jones trapping himself in that thing he put Jim in and even after all that was done to Jim by Jones, Jim still tried to get him out of there. Talk about Jim being the kind of man that wouldn't leave his enemies to die a slow, painful death if he could prevent it. Something about that gives you the vibe of restoring the faith in humanity in the end.

There are probably many more thoughts about this ep and Jim and Arte in general that I could include, but they are escaping my brain right now. Bottom line is that these two have a special bond, and there's nothing else like it, something about their friendship or the ship, if you ship them, it makes you feel alive and invigorating. It is much good and I am recommending this show to anyone who likes to get many feels from it

[klugpuuo]

7 15 27 a+d for dew (or if you wanna answer for another oc that's epic also)

doing this for dew AND feathers bc they are a pair do not seperate

7.What triggers nostalgia for them, most often? Do they enjoy that feeling?

for feathers it would be any interaction w/ the concept of sky-sail festivals. his citizens used to hold massive ones and he would sometimes sneak out to watch everything, maybe even steal some food and get on a skysail (obviously he had to get off pretty quickly - it doesn't take much to realize that there's a stowaway and a thief onboard, especially one who likes talking so much!) he misses those festivals, but he enjoys the feeling of nostalgia he gets. it reminds him that it was real in a weird way. anyway, he can always talk to others about it, seems they were a pretty widespread phenomenon!

dew doesnt have much to be nostalgic about.

15.How do they speak? Is what they say usually thought of on the spot, or do they rehearse it in their mind first?

giving dew my Ailment where she constantly scripts whenever she leaves a conversation and makes like 50 iterations [lol] of the same sentence to perfectly please whoever she's talking to and then when she gets back to talking she feels like she's a horrible person just misleading them or forcing them into an rp bc she scripted

feathers just says shit . unless it's serious, then he very carefully thinks of what to say next

27.What causes them to feel dread? 

well other than the obvious "THE ROT"...

feathers isnt bothered by much usually very bothering stuff. he does sorta panic when he runs out of a specific type of medicine thats hard as hell to fabricate or whatever though

dew gets that feeling pretty frequently unless she's actively shutting herself off :v:

A) Why are you excited about this character?

BECAUSE THEYRE FUCKING COOL. THEY'RE SO AWESOME. LOOK AT THEM.

dew is like... she's one of my Popular ocs!!!! people who havent directly interacted w me know abt her!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AAAAND SHE'S ONE OF MY POPULAR OCS WHO HAS NOT BEEN SEXUALIZED TO DEATH she did get the curse of incorrect assessment but like this is really good for a fat woman who wears shirts lie 30% of the time ok?

for feathers... smiles i just like writing him!! it's nice to have a character who always can use sign language tbh, and i love writing his dialogue it's fun he's silly. i love the concept of the only group's doctor being everyone's brother and i like how kind and loving he ended up being even though beneath it all he's really fucking annoying (funny annoying but. still annoying. and he LOVES being so)

D) Have they always had the same physical appearance, or have you had to edit how they look?

are you prepared for that question.

THIS is what they used to look like. their original designs. before all the crazy lore, when feathers still Talked sort of like this, using full punctuation and proper hoofdletters.

one thing that's more or less always been true was that dew had fur or hair of some sort. i changed it to fur once i remembered she had hair so it would make a bit more sense considering my hc that iterators Dont have that

and one thing i've kept with feathers is the little diamond thing on his clothes, which you can actually see on artis too!

[ohlookitstomorrowff]

Been legit talking everyone’s ear off about Wicked today - specifically regarding Glinda…

I just love her so much, I don’t know whether I want to be her or if I want to marry her, and I’ve realised how many headcanons I have for her and I just wanted to share and hear everyone else’s ideas.

Glinda is very curvaceous (I hate to use the term ‘plus-sized’)

She also has so many body/image issues due to her curves but tries her best to mask them - her obsession with image that can come across as narcissism, her corsets and crinolines, etc.

She’s a lesbian. 100%. No one can change my mind. (She’s also very much in denial until she starts to get closer to Elphaba.

She’s not as upper-class as she portrays herself to be - she’s more middle-class with aristocratic ties (the Arduenna link in the novel) and she’s been socialised to believe that a woman’s power comes from wealth and social status and thus becomes a social climber.

Did I mention she has ADHD?

Although her mother and father raised her with rather old-fashioned, patriarchal (slightly misogynistic) values, they loved her deeply, hence why she finds it easier to demonstrate her affections (most of the time) but hides her personal emotions and thoughts.

She’s actually really intelligent. She chose to major in sorcery because of family ties, a sense of feminine power, and the fact that it’s viewed as arty and socially acceptable for someone of her standing and perceived aspirations. However, she has more academic talents like…

Her love of architecture!

She loved once, and only once. Elphaba was the only person she ever let into her heart, and she never got over their separation.

She always held out hope that Elphaba would come back to her - legit sharing a bed with Elphie on the road to the Emerald City was all she could remember about her youth in later life.

She’s pragmatic.

Even though he was only a Baronet and not nearly as high up the pecking order as everyone expected her to snag, she chose to marry Sir Chuffrey to gain her independence. Chuffrey was like 15+ years older than her, he was kind and really wanted to protect her and give her everything in a fatherly way. It wasn’t a sexual relationship, and I think she was more of a trophy to him? (Think Onassis wanting to marry Jackie Kennedy after JFK’s death).

She had moments with other women after Elphaba - touching someone else brought her comfort in the moment and made her feel less alone, but she couldn’t allow anyone else to touch her.

She couldn’t have children despite wanting to be a mother more than anything.

She used charity work to find meaning and the impact she made is what caught the attention of The Wizard who then made her Glinda the Good.

She never ever got over Elphaba’s death. It haunted her forever.

After her husband’s death and the Wizards’s departure, she retired to the country where she would only employ female servants. She definitely promoted female empowerment there… in a lesbians can rule the world way…

She was imprisoned in Southstairs later in life for the disloyalty she showed to the Wizard. It was here that Elphaba saved her - whether Glinda died and Elphaba came to retrieve her and take her onwards, or they were both alive, I don’t care. But Glinda deserves her happy ending.

She deserved so much more than both the book and the musical thought to give her. What an absolute Queen.

I did say she was a total lesbian right? Like she definitely had a collection of Sappho’s poems, and she read Rebecca, and watched Hitchock’s film (although she probably complained about the underlying misogyny and ‘male gaze’ theory afterwards), and definitely had a thing for Mrs Danvers.

Thanks for coming to my TED talk… sorry you had to hear it. :)

[chipchopclipclop]

If you don't mind, could you tell us about Isaac and his husband and daughter? They're soooooooooooo cute

I CAN ACTUALLY LMAO my scrimbly bimblos.....

isaac (my old man of a ripe 52) is a disgraced wizard scholar who practices magic without a license undercover (read: with fake documents) after he accidentally blew up a wing of his old university practicing some weird unstable evocation magic like 5 years ago. he then ran away with his family from the wizard police and has been on the run with them since. he also runs off now and then from their now established home for stretches of time, to make money doing weird adventurer bullshit to provide for his hubby and daughter.

speaking of, his hubby is named nir (short for voginir) and is a demon king he married 20 years ago, who is now a stay at home househusband (his true form is alot taller huge and intimidating than his dilf one) he’s a perfectionist who takes pride in his domestic chores and spends time splitting firewood with his claw hand and knitting. his few remaining demonic subordinates often comment fatherhood very much suits him, especially considering his lifelong soft spot for children. able to change his disguised form at will, he actively ages his more human looking one alongside isaac as he ages so they can ‘grow old together’ in a sense (getting nauseous as i type this out)

their daughter’s named aranea (isaac calls her arty) shes 8, upbeat, giggly, curious and loves attention. she often gets nir and isaac to cave to her demands by making big 🥺 faces at them. with a demon lord and a wizard felon for parents it makes sense where the confidence behind many of her outlandish actions comes from.

as to how nir and isaac met, during his university scholar days, isaac stumbled upon nir’s evil lair (cool evil mansion with some dungeons) on a lone man investigation of a nearby island (floating island, everythings on floating islands in this universe lmao) in his thirties and ended up getting kidnapped and thrown into his dungeon.

nir at this point is a headstrong brute (still is tbh) though he wasn't without his own personal code of honour, hating liars and cheats and ambushes more than anything else. he had broke away from his previous warmongering demon group due to how often he’d butt heads with superiors and has been striking it out alone making a name for himself as an ominous threat on some mostly uninhabited island in the sky. he loves himself a bloodthirsty quest for conquest though and has been capturing randoms, fighting to the death, torturing maiming killing and just having a great time (as a self described demon lord is want to do)

he planned to just that with newly captured isaac but isaac seemed to be immediately intrigued by the situation and his new surroundings as opposed to terrified or unnerved, throwing a spanner in the works of nir’s usual routine. isaac would talk nonstop, asking questions about anything within his view to better understand their function (as well as about nir’s heritage and wow your claws are incredible, and what a handsome demon skull you have, were your parents also this large-)

nir for some reason found this endearing (why...? who knows) and decided against killing him, he released him, no longer desiring to do the whole song and dance as usual simply deflating and going, well okay little man on your way now. isaac however stuck around (like a freak) eager to learn everything about the place as well as the man who supposedly conquered it.

this led to that and after suddenly receiving this weird new roomate and causing a bunch of romcom hijinks, nir thought to himself "i want to have this guy's kids i think" (this is how all relationships normally progress right). they soon become a lovey dovey couple as isaac was basically smitten at first sight. isaac then remembers however that he actually has a life and a job and whatnot and is like he should probably get back to that.

nir however now (strangely) attached to isaac, decides to simply go along with him back to where he lived, finding being near him much more interesting than the murder and maiming he’s doing for a couple hundred years straight now. to not unnerve people they decided to have nir change into a sort of Regular Guy Form 95% of the time now that looked more human, the typical cover for his looks is he’s simply got a bit of dragon blood in him.

when they returned they were soon wed after, isaac excitedly inviting all his colleagues who were all still reeling from his sudden long disappearance to the function (they all reasoned after with one another that it was all probably just some romantic rendezvous…)

[blacklyte]

Yah!! I’ll start of with monk :]] I’m going into this guessing you have a somewhat good grip on how ascension works other than what happened w arti, and spoilers below the cut for anyone who needs the warning

So monk! Mono has two official endings if you count downpour. The first is the ascension ending, where upon going into the void sea, Monk sees what they’ve been searching for this whole time: their sibling, survivor. I am unsure if this is actually survivor or not. My personal headcanons is that the void sea simply shows you what you want to see, not what’s actually there, as you’ll hear me talk abt with arti and her pup dilemma.

So monk has that ascension ending like all other skugs can, albeit they have a unique one as I just explained, but also they have an ending where they don’t ascend, and instead go west to outer expanse if it is unlocked. Here monk can get another ending, one where they are reunited with their sibling, who has two kids, which makes me think the survivor ending is only canon if you bring two slugpups to outer expanse with you.

Next I’ll take about spearmaster. It’s kind of simple to explain. Spearmaster has an ascension ending but it is not special, and has no lore significance. The ending you want is gotten by one of two paths: you either go to pebbles and have your chest pearl ripped out, which you bring to moon and have her rewrite it’s contents, or go to moon, get the mark of communication, go to pebbles, have him read out the pearl after it’s ripped out, watch him throw a tantrum, go back to moon, have her rewrite it, and then both paths end up wanting you to bring this overridden pearl to the sky islands communication array (Iterators talk with each other using these) The purpose of this is to get that pearl with moons message to that array, so her local group (Nsh, 5P, srs, gw, ui) can get her message, which basically has her saying how it’s her last message before she collapses, but she’s happy there were others trying to help and look out for her. That’s basically the end of Spearmaster. Also it’s important to note seven red suns made spearmaster and it’s purpose was to be a messenger.

Lastly, and this one will probably be the longest, is Artificer. I think I told you about echoes but I’ll give a short recap: echoes are what happens when something has a connection to the mortal plane that it cannot let go of, meaning when they ascend via void fluid, they can’t completely ascend, and are stuck in between planes, as a half molten. Omnipotent. Blob. Of sorts.

Basically, Artificier was unable to let go of her spite and rage towards scavengers, that primal urge tethering her to the mortal plane. She was stuck at karma 1, a major part of her mechanic in gameplay, only able to pass karma gates if she brought a scav corpse that had higher karma.

She can raise her karma, but only through echoes, which will raise your karma by 1. When she has enough karma to pass the guardians, arti can go to the depths/void sea. But, here’s the thing, the giant worms that usually bring you to the ascension spot do not help you. They sense that tether. When you finally get to the end, arti sees presumably the souls of her pups.

I’m going to put in my own thoughts real quick. In this game we know that everything comes back when they die. It would not make sense lore wise for the pups to have been in the void sea immediately after death if they were literal babies and had no knowledge of how to get to the sea. Unless babies canonically do not get reborn upon death arti’s campaign is kind of confusing. This is why I feel things going into the void sea see things they love or desire, like survivor for monk, and in this case pups for arti. But regardless:

Going down into the void sea, Arti seems to be giving off particles, which I’m guessing is a stage of turning into an echo. She sees at the end the pups she lost and killed hundreds over, but at this point she’s visibly disintegrating into gold strands. She is overjoyed at seeing her pups. She hugs them. But she cannot have her happy ending, as she is echo’d right after, having been unable to fully ascend.

I hope this helped !! I’m up for clarifying stuff if needed

blacklyte can you please explain the rainworld endings to me like im a five year old i watched a video on them and everything went right over my head

I precede to skitter over on all fours like a silly little beast

Are there any beast endings specifically you want me to explain so I have a basis of what you’re asking? Other then saint since I haven’t seen that beast yet

[jinx-jade]

Who will you live for Chapter 4

“Bye Maman, Bye Papa,” Marinette said with false cheer as she ran past the kitchen workbenches, pausing to grab her bags.

Sabine called out a quick, “Bye”, never stopping in her tedious detail work on the batch of sugar cookies she is currently working on.

Tom spared a second, turning his attention away from the dough he was working on to look up at Marinette saying, “Bye sweetheart! Stay safe and…”

“Don’t get into any trouble.” Marinette finished. “I won’t!” She claimed before dashing out the door.

Marinette slowed her run down to a walk once she was a block away from the bakery. She began her daily walk, stopping to check in at different shops as she gravitated in one direction, making her way towards Agrest manor at a slow calming pace.

It had been a week since her run-in with Emily Agreste at the park.

In all honesty, Marinette had expected Gabriel Agreste to call her as soon as he heard his wife might be dying. Instead, he had Nathalie call her this morning, arranging for a last-minute meeting since it was Mr. Agreste’s only available appointment, and he was such a ‘Busy person and his time is very valuable’ Nathalie had claimed to her over the phone, much to Marinette’s annoyance.

She was actually glad, almost thankful that it took so long for the Agrestes to contact her.

During that week of silence from the Agrestes, Marinette’s online boutique had taken off. She had received multiple emails and commissions from celebrities, famous, and rich people who had bought out the already made clothes and ordering custom-made pieces.

She had looked through the potential clientele list and selected a handful, informing those who were not selected that they would be on a waiting list and why.

Some of the people on the waiting list had questionable reputations, characteristics, or were just questionable and shady all around. Since Marinette did not wish for people to doubt her character she stayed clear of them.

The small handful of the approved clientele were people who donated to charities, cared about the people, and weren’t rich stuck-up upper-class members.

 Since Marinette was planning to outshine both the companies Gabriel and Style Queen with her small business as MCD, having upper-class clientele and connections is crucial.

Marinette let out a sigh when she arrived at the gates of a familiar gate.

Marinette entered the Agreste manor gates, standing in front of the oversized dramatic doors. Nathalie opened the door, seeming to scan her or observe her before she had finally decided to just give her a cold glare, gesturing for Marinette to follow as Nathalie led her to Gabriel’s study.

When they entered Gabrial was facing the portrait of Emily, not even turning to look at the other people in the room.

Nathalie gestured to the chair in front of Gabriel’s desk and Marinette took a seat.

“Thank you, Nathalie, that will be all.” Gabriel states with his same old icy tone.

Nathalie looked like she wanted to say something but simply nodded her head and left the office instead, closing the door behind herself.

Gabriel turned around and looked at Marinette with doubt clear in his eyes, his facial feature remaining neutral.

“Is there a problem Mr. Agreste?” Marinette asks patiently, swinging her legs back and forth as if she had nothing better to do.

“I believe the only problem I have with you, Miss. Dupain-Cheng is the death threat you gave my Wife.” Gabriel states, testing the waters, not willing to give anything away.

Marinette tilted her head in confusion, the perfect picture of innocence.

“I did no such thing, Mr. Agreste. If you brought me here to send accusations towards me then I shall take my leave.” Marinette informs him, hopping off the chair she had been gestured to sit in not even five minutes ago.

Marinette glared at the older designer, letting out a huff of air as if to calm herself.

“Ooroon, Usuud, dluow uoy emoc tuo esaelp (Nooroo, Duusu, would you come out please),” Marinette questioned the kwamis, the spoken guardian language rolling off her tongue as if it was her first language and not a language she spent days upon days studying till she perfected all the pronunciations and was fluent.

The two named kwamis were summoned in a ball of light when their true name was spoken,  this was only possible when the kwami’s miracle was within twenty-five feet of the person who spoke the true name.

Both of the gods seemed shocked and excited, giving a proper bow to the 5-year-old child, much to Gabriel’s surprise.

“Era uoy morf eht elpmet, elttil naidraug (Are you from the temple, little guardian)?” Duusu asked excitedly, zooming and flying around Marinette as she observed everything about her.

“The temple was destroyed Duusu! This little guardian can’t be from there!” Nooroo reminded the emotional kwami as he caught up to them.

The two gods began to argue back and forth about how there was a little guardian, especially one so young, visiting them and asking to talk to them.

They spoke in French, seeming to think Marinette wouldn’t be able to understand them as they talked about her.

Marinette giggled at the kwami’s antics.

“I speak French as well, Duusu, Nooroo. No, I am not from the temple, but I have come to retrieve your jewels that have been deemed missing and repair Duusu’s broken jewel.” Marinette said with a smile.

“What makes you think I would hand them over to you!” Gabriel claimed, clearly confused and on the defensive.

“The fact that Duusu’s jewel is draining your wife’s energy in an attempt to repair itself, and the fact that they are not yours, to begin with.” Marinette states.

Gabriel looked to the kwami’s only to see them sadly agreeing with the five-year-old.

Mr. Agreste ended up calling Mrs. Agreste into the room with Nooroo’s and Duusu’s miraculi.

They talked for a few hours before Marinette left the manor with the two missing butterfly and peacock brooches in hand.

______________

Head cannon, the guardian language has two languages. The spoken one, the one the guardians and Kwamis know, and the written one, the one that only the guardians know.

The spoken language is literally just the words backwards like how dc magic users talk.

_____________

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[dessarious]

How the Sirens Adopted a Ladybug Pt3

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Selina walked back in with a few bags, gaining confused looks from Harley and Ivy. Ladybug seemed to have fallen asleep. She’d be happy the girl was comfortable enough to do that around them if she weren’t almost certain she’d just passed out from lack of sleep.

“I thought you were just getting cheese.” Before she could set anything down, Plagg came out to answer Harley.

“I asked her to get food for everyone. That way we’ll all be ready if we’re needed.” They both just blinked at the Kwami and Selina had to hold back a laugh. As she opened her mouth to explain at least a dozen more Kwami appeared and rushed her. They didn’t go for the food immediately but seemed intent on thanking her. At least she thought so. With the way they were talking over one another it was hard to tell. They all waited patiently as she pulled everything out.

“They’re so cute!” Ivy just looked at Harley as if she’d lost what was left of her mind. Personally, Selina could see both sides even if she still had no clue what Ivy was feeling from the creatures. When they settled down to eat she noticed a package of cookies was still unclaimed. Plagg noticed her look and turned to one of the others.

“Trixx, why don't you create some cover for the kid so Tikki can come out and yell at me since I’m sure they’re dying to.” Trixx just giggled and gestured towards Ladybug. From what she could see nothing changed, but there was a flash of light and a red Kwami appeared looking extremely concerned. “Well Sugarcube, let me have it!”

“Hush Plagg. Don’t wake her before the food gets here. She’s exhausted and she’s running a fever again.” That caused all of them to look worried. A green one spoke.

“You couldn’t heal her?” The red one, Tikki she assumed, sighed.

“I did what I could without consequences but between so little sleep and food, not to mention the energy she expends fighting… she’s getting too weak for my help to be effective.” They looked close to tears. Selina shared a look with the others and could tell they were in agreement. Even if Ivy still seemed uneasy about the Kwami.

“We’ll fix that. I’m not about to stand by and watch a kid run themself to death for no reason.” Tikki was studying her and Selina felt like they could see everything she’d ever done or even thought. It was intensely uncomfortable. Finally they gave an approving hum.

“As much as I would have liked to discuss it first, Plagg was right. You’ll all be good for her and hopefully will be able to make her understand the things we cannot.” Well that wasn’t cryptic at all. Ivy cleared her throat.

“Why don’t you tell us what you can about the situation here. None of us were even aware there was a problem.” Tikki stared at her until Ivy shifted uncomfortably.

“You could feel the taint, even if you didn’t know the source. We’ll explain what we can but we can’t give you the full picture.”

“We’d be happy to listen to anything you can tell us.” Selina opened the cookies and handed them one, getting a grateful smile in return. While they ate, Plagg decided to speak.

“Well the short version is that we Kwami power the Miraculous and two of them ended up in the hands of some shithead who’s decided to use them for purely selfish reasons.”

“Language!” Tikki was frowning at them but Plagg just stuck their tongue out at them.

“That was by far the tamest word I have for that piece of garbage. Given how badly he’s hurt your Chosen, I would have thought you’d approve.”

“Chosen?” Ivy was obviously trying to keep them from sniping at each other, but it did distract them.

“Ladybug is my Chosen. Basically she is a true creation soul who embodies my aspect perfectly.” Selina just shared a confused look with Harley. That really didn’t clear anything up. Tikki hummed in thought. “She is so in tune with me that we never struggle against each other when she’s transformed. This allows her to be more powerful and access more of my powers than anyone else.” That was a little better. Ivy was frowning in thought.

“Does that mean you’re having so much trouble with this villain because he’s a Chosen as well?” The Kwami basically erupted. It was obvious they were pissed, but Selina couldn’t understand what they were saying. It also didn’t help that Ivy was trying to apologize at the same time. Tikki finally let out a shrill whistle to quiet the others.

“Hawkmoth is an opportunistic coward. The reason Ladybug hasn’t been able to apprehend him is because he doesn’t join in battles directly. We have no idea who he is or where he’s hiding.” The other Kwami were all nodding their agreement.

“Okay, so how does he fight then?”

“He uses the Butterfly Miraculous to sense peoples’ emotions. He targets those with strong negative emotions and sends an Akuma to possess them. These are the ones that fight, but it’s not their fault. Once he gains access he plays into their need for revenge or justice, or whatever it was that allowed him to target them in the first place. Once they’re returned to normal, most don’t even remember it.” Selina blinked at the Kwami for a moment, gathering her thoughts, before turning to the other two.

“That means we’re not allowed to get worked up, over anything, while we’re here. How the hell is that supposed to work?” They just shrugged at her. Yeah, this was going to be a problem.

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Ko-Fi

Tags

@asrainterstellar @scorchdragon88 @arty-shadow-morningstar @toodaloo-kangaroo @solangelo252

[follows-the-life-ahead]

Cold Souls - Cruella x fem!reader

Chapter one | Chapter two | Chapter three | Chapter four | Chapter five | Chapter six | Chapter seven | Chapter eight | Chapter nine | Chapter ten | Chapter eleven p1 | Chapter eleven p2 | Chapter twelve

Summary- Y/n is a friend of Artie's who often helps him and his crew of tailors. Now that Artie has required her help for the fashion show of one of the top icons of the moment, Cruella, she has to learn how to coexist with her and try and understand why her friend is helping such a rude person. Will Cruella and y/n be able to put their problems aside and work together? 

A/n - Hey everyone! So, here's chapter eleven, I decided to divide it into two parts, the second one though is going to be kinda small, which I think I'll post on Friday because I'm almost finished with it, and I've been having a few ideas for the chapters ahead and I just want to write them :) I hope you enjoy this chapter, and that everything is ok with all of you. Thank you so much for voting and don't forget to comment, because I love to read your reactions. <3

Pairing - Cruella x female!reader

Word count - 1.5k

Warnings - none

It had been almost a day since Cruella had died. Her death was the only thing on the news, radio, and newspapers. You were now at Artie's shop, he had asked you to keep an eye on the store while he went to get some fabrics he had ordered. The shop was dead silent. You hadn't dared turn on the radio. Still not being prepared to face the fact that you weren't going to see her again. You thanked the gods' no one had decided to visit the store that day, while you were there, at least. That made a wave of relief fill you because you really weren't sure you would be able to speak with anyone, or rather help anyone as a matter of fact. So you were thankful for the silence.

But sometimes the silence is one of the biggest enemies. It makes you able to listen to your own thoughts, to focus on them, it makes you think, but right now the last thing you wanted to do was think. You had barely slept the night before, even after you asked Artie to spend the night at your apartment because you didn't want to be alone. And to be honest the real reason why you had fallen asleep at all, was because of how tired you were. You had wished to wake up and for everything to be all but a dream, in this case, a nightmare. But you were rather disappointed, and that might’ve been a bad word to describe it.

Artie hadn't wanted to let you alone, seeing as the state you were in last night, but you insisted for him to go and get all his businesses in order. After all, life must go on. Not yours though, at least not for now anyway. While at the shop, alone, with the quiet that filled it, your mind had drifted to Jasper and Horace, who were both now in jail for Cruella's murder. You believed they weren't responsible for it, you were sure of it to be precise. It didn't matter if Cruella and them had a few disagreements, they were still family at the end of the day. They wouldn't be able to kill her, or anyone for that matter. You had thought about asking Artie to go with you to the police station, to see if you would be able to talk to them, to know what had actually transpired the night before.

After a while, you decided it was best to find something, anything, to do, just to keep you busy and to keep your mind off of things. You had tried to entertain yourself with folding and looking for some new pieces to put on display, new stock of fabrics, and anything you needed to actually take out front, but after a while, you felt that your body was almost on autopilot. You were in the back of the shop at the moment, getting a new box of stock, when you heard the shopkeeper's bell ring, alerting that a customer had arrived. So much for the quiet.

You heard it once again, - two customers already - you thought, followed by a "We're closed". That made you rapidly take a hold of the box you had decided to bring out front, and go to the front of the shop at a quick pace. The following words already slipping through your mouth as soon as you started walking to your destination, desperate to demonstrate that the shop was not closed at all. "We're open, we're op—" You stopped mid sentence, your steps faulting as well, coming to a stop.

It was then that your eyes became wide, your mouth dropped open, the box you were holding fell to the floor and your hands flew to your mouth. You were hallucinating, you must be, this couldn't possibly be real. Cruella stood in front of you. It couldn't be. Your mind was playing tricks at you. You shocked your head, your hands moving to your eyes to rub them, once, twice, and when your vision had finally cleared, she was still standing there. Disguised as a man, but still her. She settled the umbrella she had with her against the wall and then lifted her hand towards her lips and pulled the fake mustache off of her upper lip, and then placed it inside her coat pocket.

"Hello, darling. Did you miss me?" She chuckled, wiggling her eyebrows at you. Oh, you were relieved, she wasn't a figment of your imagination, and most importantly, she wasn't dead.

Tears of relief filled your eyes, a sigh escaping your lips before you closed the gap between both of you and lunged yourself at her, giving her a hug, holding on to her for dear life. "Happy to see me, I see." She said after she let out a surprised squeak, from the sudden display of emotion from you, followed by a laugh, and you weren’t able to describe how you loved to hear that sound again. She retributed the hug, giving you a gentle squeeze, and rubbing your back.

"I'm so glad your not dead." You whispered into the hug, sniffing a bit, trying to control yourself, and deciding to focus on your breathing,

"You're not the only one, darling." She whispered back, a smug smile bracing her features. It was nice to know that her sarcasm was still intact.

You started to pull away, wanting to take a good look at her. Cruella's hands went from your shoulders, down to your arms, and reached your hands, taking a hold of them, as you pulled slightly apart. You finally looked directly at her, your eyes roaming every single part of her perfect face, looking for any kind of answer to what was going on. You finally met her eyes and asked, concern noticeable in your words. "Are you ok?"

"I am, now at least." She answered, not breaking eye contact while giving both of your hands, that she still held at both your sides, a squeeze.

"I went to the warehouse last night. I was going to check on how you were all doing after the show and I had a bottle of champagne for us to celebrate with, but then when I got there.. the warehouse was on fire, and then... I ah... I-I saw Jasper and Horace being arrested, and there was no sign of you, and then when I heard that you had died ... I didn't know, I just.." You were stoped from your frantic babbling when Cruella's hands cradled either side of your face, wiping the tears you hadn't even noticed were falling down your cheeks. Her hands were warm from holding yours just a few seconds ago, her thumbs wiping gently your tears away. You wanted to be trapped in this moment forever, to be this close to her. Having her comfort you was something new, and you found it difficult to explain how you felt about it, you just knew it brought a warmth to your heart.

"Hey, I'm here." She whispered adoringly, a small smile gracing her features, and you could've sworn you saw something, a feeling behind her eyes, but you weren't sure what. "I'm ok, I'm ok.." she continued, with glossy eyes.

You both stayed quiet for a moment. Cruella's hands not leaving your face, her thumbs stroking gently and carefully both your cheeks as you tried to recompose yourself, taking deep breathes, both staring into each other's eyes. It felt good, to be this close to her again. But a question still tormented your mind, did she fancy you? Like you did her?  Highly unlikely. But what about what Artie had said? He was just trying to cheer you up, be a good friend. Would it be wise to confess your feelings right now? No, you thought, that would not be wise. After all, you still didn't know what had transpired, and right now the most important thing was to help Cruella out, there were more important things at stake. Your feelings would have to wait, at least just for a little while longer.

Cruella cleared her throat after a few minutes, making you blink away your thoughts. Her hands left your face and she let out a deep breath, taking her beret off her head and setting it down on the counter. You stood for a moment longer where the both of you had been standing, a shade of crimson filled your cheeks, as you cleared your throat as well.

"What happened then? For the warehouse to be burned to flames?" You finally asked.

"It's a bit of a long story, darling." She answered, hands in her pockets, as she stared at you.

"I think we have time." You affirmed, going over to the front window display and turning the -open- side of the sign to the -closed- side. "Would you like some tea?" You asked moving to go to grab the box that earlier you had been carrying and looked expectantly at Cruella who with a smile just nodded and followed you to the back.

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[gumnut-logic]

The Painting

This was started from a challenge I stumbled across what seems like ages ago.

The word was ‘blushing’ and can be found in a prompt list from @creativepromptsforwriting​ - here.

But anyway, have over 3000 words of frustrated Virgil, worried Scott and concerns over the possibility of Virgil/Kayo.

Warnings: Yep, this is the Virgil/Kayo fic I was babbling on about a while back. Not Warm Rain, but completely new.

I hope you enjoy it.

-o-o-o-

Virgil Tracy was a seasoned emergency responder. Scott had seen him rescue people in front of entire crowds, seen him speak to police, and even the press. Hell, there was the time Scott had been caught up on the other side of the planet and Virgil had rescued the President of the United States, for crying out loud. It was on film, recorded for history and no doubt would end up in their future grandchildren’s school textbooks.

At no point had his brother ever looked fazed at any of the PR tasks required of him.

Sure, he wasn’t as smooth at it as Scott and if he had a choice, he would avoid it and handball it off to his big brother. But that was more a case of Virgil thinking he had better things to do.

He’d refused the award offered by the President for that reason. Saw no need for accolades for just doing his job - Scott had tried to talk him into that one, but no, Virgil just didn’t seem to care.

So there was no warning, no real indicator that this was going to happen.

Looking back with the benefit of hindsight, Scott had to admit that perhaps that was a lie.

Virgil had been edgy from the first mention of this project. It was Penny’s fault, of course, but it was Gordon who had egged her on when Virgil said no initially.

Penny had succeeded with John in the past, so why not tackle another Tracy brother? And it wasn’t like Virgil was socially shy like their astronaut. The man had stripped naked and posed for life drawing classes on multiple occasions and as previously noted, had no trouble with the PR tasks required of him.

Virgil was the cool, calm and sensible Tracy brother.

Who was now standing in front of the podium bright red and frozen solid as holocam lights buzzed about him.

The press was a mass of voices they hadn’t really expected on opening night, and had Kayo in a furious mood, her satin green dress spinning as she strode over to possibly throttle one of her security contingent. He must keep an eye on that. 

Virgil had only meant to welcome everyone to the gallery with a short speech, but the questions about his artworks had begun firing the moment he stood up there and apparently displaying his art was not as easy as Scott thought it would be.

He regretted encouraging this exhibition when he had known Virgil hadn’t been confident. But he had thought it was just nerves and his brother had only needed a little push.

He would never have thought Virgil could freeze like that.

Scott stepped up to the podium beside his arty brother. Virgil blinked at him, more fear in his eyes than Scott had seen since the time Scott had fallen into an ice crevasse and his heavy lifting brother had jumped in after him, only barely managing to grab him before certain death.

Apparently, Virgil needed saving this time.

Scott eyed the crowd and in particular the person responsible for the question.

His eyes narrowed in on Kat Kavanaugh. He let out a breath. “Now, now, Kat, when I said you could ask questions, that did not include my brothers’ sex lives.”

Kat smirked up at him. “Fair’s fair, Scott Tracy. He did paint that, after all.” She gestured towards the most popular painting in the gallery. There had been an argument earlier over who could purchase it. An informal auction managed by Penny had sprouted up and the sum it finally went for would fund Tracy Industries’ charity line for some time to come.

Virgil’s eyes had been saucer-wide at that news.

But the painting itself was a mystery. Scott had no idea what it represented other than it was all flesh coloured curves, greens, reds, blues and greys. It obviously meant something to Virgil, but it might as well have been spilt paint to Scott with the minor exception of maybe one eye and a flower. He much preferred the aerial dogfight painting he had nabbed off his brother before he could assign it to the exhibition - Virgil frowned at him and squawked a bunch of art jargon that translated as ‘Virgil hated it’. But Scott liked it and had hung it in his rooms.

Virgil glared at it every time he saw it.

But this one, this Picasso jigsaw puzzle, meant something to Virgil. Yet for some reason he had thrown it into the exhibition anyway.

And now it meant something to a bunch of people? It had prompted so many questions, most inappropriate, and now looking at it Scott could see vaguely where they were coming from, but really?

But Virgil had flushed red and frozen, giving credit to the question of who had broken his heart.

Scott hadn’t noticed anything. Virgil had never brought the topic up.

And this was definitely not the place.

“This is an art exhibition, Ms Kavanaugh. Please keep your question to the subject at hand.”

“I could argue that what is on these walls is exactly the subject at hand, Mr Tracy. Your brother has painted with his heart and now it is up for sale.”

The whole gallery fell completely silent as the centre of Scott’s cardiovascular system fell into his boots.

When he didn’t answer immediately, she took it upon herself to fill the silence. “In fact, one of the biggest questions on everyone’s lips is why only one out of four of the most eligible bachelors on the planet has a romantic interest. These paintings prove he is not alone, but apparently Virgil is not as lucky.”

Scott stared at her. it would have helped if he knew what she was talking about. Virgil hadn’t mentioned anything...

Scott held back the urge to look at his brother and instead bore a hole into Kat Kavanaugh’s head with his glare. “I repeat, my brother’s personal lives are not up for discussion.” Holocams stared at him.

“And what about yours, Mr Tracy? Are you still dating that pilot?”

“You know what? This is an art exhibition to raise money for victims of disaster, for the people International Rescue couldn’t save. How about you focus on that.” She opened her mouth again. “Because if you don’t, I will have you and anyone else inclined to discuss our private business, escorted from the building.” He put every ounce of commander he had into his words.

She stopped talking, but the smirk on her face that replaced her vocalisations set Scott’s blood boiling anyway.

He clamped down on the emotion. “Now, regarding the artworks. All of them are painted by my talented brother Virgil, as you know. He has kindly donated them to raise money for those affected by disaster. So, please reach into your pockets and donate for those who need it most. Thank you.”

He turned away from the podium as the silence dissolved into chatter, mostly likely with nothing to do with artworks at all.

Finally he was able to catch Virgil’s eye and non-verbally direct him to follow.

The acquiescence in Virgil’s expression hurt Scott even more.

He led his artistic brother past a concerned-looking Gordon who was helping Penelope manage the crowd.

Alan was frowning fit to burst a blood vessel, but Gordon grabbed him and pulled him away. 

John knew enough to only catch Scott’s eye with an expression of ‘here if you need me’ as he stood off to one side talking to Brains. The fact both were half-hidden by a promotional banner was no doubt no error on their part.

Both had declared they would attend in support of Virgil. Didn’t mean they had to like it.

Scott pulled Virgil into a backroom, shut the door and turned to face his brother.

Virgil was looking down at his hands.

“I know I’m clueless on the art front, but apparently the crowd out there isn’t. Is there something you haven’t told me?” He drew in a breath in an attempt to calm himself. 

Virgil glanced up at him with such sadness in his eyes, Scott’s widened and he put both hands on his brother’s shoulders. “What is it?”

It was Virgil’s turn to let out a sigh. It appeared to come from somewhere ever so deep as it visibly deflated him. “It was nothing.” And he looked away.

“Doesn’t look like ‘nothing’.” He squeezed those hunched shoulders gently. A nudge of his head in the direction of the crowd outside the door. “They don’t think it is ‘nothing’.”

Virgil looked up. “Well, it is nothing. That’s why that painting is out there. Nothing has happened. Nothing is going to happen.”

“But you wanted something to happen?” It was like bobbing for apples, but painful. He had never seen Virgil so unsure of himself. “Can I ask who?”

Virgil opened his mouth, but closed it before he could say anything.

Scott hesitated. “You know you can tell me anything. That I’m here for you.”

Again Virgil opened his mouth, but again something stopped him from saying anything. He only nodded, blinking.

Scott’s heart lurched. What couldn’t Virgil tell him? They shared everything. How could his brother been hurting this much and Scott not know anything about it?

But then did he know?

He scoured his memory for indicators.

Virgil straightened suddenly. “It doesn’t matter. Nothing is going to happen. That...that ship has sailed.”

Who had Virgil fixated on? He ran through their list of friends, acquaintances and came up blank regarding any extra regard his brother might have shown anyone.

Of course, Virgil was kind to everyone they knew, polite beyond reason sometimes, well known for putting others above himself.

Hell, just last week he had flown Kayo halfway across the planet in Tracy Two while he was supposed to be on vacation and resting. Shadow was out of commission at the time and Kayo needed to be in London with Penelope and Rigby. She had protested, but even Scott knew Virgil had a soft spot for his sister and would do...anything for her. 

He stared at his brother.

No...really?

Scott blinked as his brain pulled up all the most obvious indicators. Virgil always hovered when their sister was in action. Scott knew he hated it. It was one of the reasons Scott reprimanded Kayo for straying beyond IR’s mandate. The family worried about her, but, in particular, Virgil fretted when his...sister...was in danger.

Aw, hell. Looking back, it was now obvious. Damn, how had he missed it?

Again, Virgil cared for everyone, it was in his nature.

Shit.

Scott must have let something of his thoughts into his expression because Virgil looked up at him and his eyes widened. “Scott-“

“It’s Kayo, isn’t it.” It wasn’t a question.

“No, I...no, it’s nothing...I-“ Virgil was obviously scrambling to deny everything.

“She’s a good choice.”

Virgil froze, staring at him.

“What are you afraid of?”

Virgil spun out of his grip and turned away. “It doesn’t matter what I think. She’s not interested.”

“How do you know?”

Brown, hurting eyes glared at him. “What? You haven’t noticed Captain Wayne Rigby?”

Scott blinked. The GDF officer was definitely on his radar, but more on a professional level, IR Commander to GDF representative. He frowned as he assessed what he had seen of the man’s conduct towards Kayo, his big brother priorities coming into play.

Sure, he could look at their relationship that way. Kayo didn’t seem to mind spending time with the man, but only as the mission required?

That question mark only emphasised the fact he needed to spend more time with his family where an emergency situation was not involved. He was clearly out of the loop on too many things.

Virgil wandered over to a lounge in the corner and sat down, his suit immediately rumpling as he dropped his head into his hands.

Scott shoved his own failures in this matter to one side and tackled the immediate issue - his upset brother.

“Have you spoken to her?”

The strangled scoff of a laugh was muffled by his brother’s hands.

Scott took that as a ‘no’.

“Why not?”

That at least got Virgil looking at him again. “Oh, sure, It comes up in conversation all the time. ‘Hi, Kayo, great to see you. By the way, I’ve fallen in love with you. Is that okay?’” His brother’s eyebrows crushed together and he looked down, his voice dropping to a whisper. “It could destroy so much.”

“I really think she would love you either way, Virgil.” And he was back to scouring his brain for indications of Kayo returning Virgil’s regard.

“What? You don’t find it weird that I’m in love with my sister? It’s a breach of trust.”

“Virgil, she grew up with us. She is a beautiful, smart woman. No one could be faulted for finding her attractive. Hell, I will admit that I can see why you would be interested.”

That had Virgil staring at him again.

Scott held up his hands. “Hey, I’m happy with pilot lady.”

That stare boggled a bit. “‘Pilot lady?’ Don’t you even know her name?”

“Thank you for giving me zero credit. Of course I know her name. She just likes me calling her ‘pilot lady’.” Scott grinned strategically.

“Oh god, TMI. Ugh.”

Scott chuckled as his brother groaned. Mostly because he was happy to have achieved his target of lightening Virgil’s mood at least a little.

“You should talk to her.”

“Why? She’s obviously gone on Rigby.” The name was said with as close to a snarl as Scott had ever heard his brother make outside of a rescue. “You want me to ruin what relationship we already have trying to pursue something she doesn’t want?”

“How do you know that?” He stepped closer to his brother. “You haven’t given her a chance.”

“She’s known me for years.”

“I’ve known you since you were born and I didn’t know you had a thing for her. How the hell do you expect her to know?”

Virgil leapt off the couch. “I don’t want her to know!”

“Why not?”

“Because...”

“Because you could get hurt? I never figured you were one for backing away because of that. I’ve seen you risk death to save lives, including mine. Why deny yourself the chance for happiness? Her the chance?”

“Because I love her too much to ruin it!” Scott’s eyes widened as Virgil literally exploded in front of him. “How could our relationship recover from that? How could she bear to look at me if she didn’t...care for me the same way in return? How could I? No, she likes Rigby. She will be happy with him. That’s it. The boat has sailed. And I wish I had burnt that damned painting.”

Scott swallowed. “I’m glad you didn’t.”

Virgil’s derisive scoff said everything. “I’ve got to get back out there before they start thinking I’m ready to kill myself due to unrequited love.” He strode towards the door.

“Virgil-“

His brother held up a hand. “I’m fine. I’ll handle it. Just let me get through the night so I can go home.” And with that, he threw open the door and stormed out into the noise.

Damn. Scott thumbed his collar. “Gordon?”

“Yes, oh great leader?”

Scott rolled his eyes. “Run interference for Virgil, please.”

“FAB.”

Gordon and Penelope would do what was necessary to get the press off Virgil’s back. Scott sighed as he strode towards the door Virgil had almost slammed behind him and threw himself out into the crowd after his brother.

-o-o-o-

Cartwheels across the gallery floor hadn’t quite been what Scott had in mind, but if he was honest with himself, it worked. Gordon already had a reputation of being the ‘fun’ Tracy and the press ate it up.

The fact Gordon could do a backflip midair and land on his feet wasn’t really that surprising to Scott, but the media loved it. The reports switched from lovelorn Virgil to crazy Gordon and that was pretty much that.

Penelope was ever so tolerant.

Scott didn’t let Virgil out of his sight the rest of the night. His artistic brother put up a great front and only the fact Scott was his big brother allowed him to see that touch of hesitancy in his handshakes and the fakery of his smiles.

What Scott did do was surreptitiously get a good look at the painting responsible for this mess.

It was a Picasso-esque mishmash of flesh, colour and bone. On one hand it could be considered creepy, but there was something about that one single green eye staring out from its midst that said something. Something painful.

The white daisy in the bottom left corner was a familiar motif in Virgil’s paintings. Mom’s favourite flower often turned up when his brother dove deep into his art. But that eye...

Realisation set in like a lightning strike. It was Kayo’s eye. The only part of the painting recognisable, if only for its colour and intensity. Like Kat had said, all the pieces fell into place once that eye belonged to someone. The painting screamed desolation and loneliness.

Aw, hell.

Virgil was on the far side of the room glaring at Gordon, most likely for the acrobatics. The media were still babbling beyond the security Kayo had deployed. Scott had no doubt Virgil knew exactly what Gordon was doing, but that wouldn’t stop the lecture.

Scott owed Gordon for this one.

“Permission to expel the media?”

Scott jumped. Kayo had appeared out of nowhere.

Her smile was an amused one.

He glared at her momentarily before letting his shoulders drop. “I wish.”

“How is Virgil?”

His gaze flickered to her, abruptly realising his brother’s secret was now his to conceal as well. “Getting there. You know how sensitive he is about his art.” That’s it, cover it up with artistic sensibility.

She arched an eyebrow. “I was surprised he consented to the exhibition.”

“Me, too. But Penelope pulled out the charity big guns and you know how Virgil just wants to help people...”

Kayo smiled. “Genetic trait.”

His grunt was non-committal.

“Well, it certainly has been a successful exercise. I think just about everything has been sold, even beyond the star of the exhibition.” She gestured at the painting responsible for so much.

Scott swallowed. “Yeah, Penelope will be happy.”

“What about Virgil?”

“Yeah, he’ll be happy, too. He’s helping a lot a of people.” Scott mentally considered whether whisky on the balcony and some one-on-one commiseration time might help his brother relax.

“Oh, you should know that while you were talking to Virgil earlier, I had to remove Kat Kavanaugh from the building.”

Scott blinked, suddenly realising the absence of the woman. It was a sign of his distraction that he hadn’t realised she was missing. “Why?”

Kayo’s lips twisted. “Well, aside from harassing Virgil,” she said it with gritted teeth and obviously hidden expletives, “I caught her eavesdropping on your conversation, outside the door.”

He straightened in alarm.

“Don’t worry, I nabbed her before she could discover anything...important.”

Scott stared at her.

“She and I had some...polite words, and I doubt we will be seeing her again.”

“Kayo-“

Green flickered up at him. “Just doing my job, Scott.” She lent in a little closer. “You don’t have to worry.”

“I...”

But Kayo smiled. “So can I expel the rest of them? I think they’ve had a fair enough go, don’t you?”

Another blink and he nodded.

Her hand brushed his arm and squeezed ever so gently. “Don’t worry. Everything is under control.”

Didn’t feel that way. Across the room Virgil was gesticulating wildly at their fish brother, very adamant about something.

“Kayo?” She looked up at him. “Take it easy.”

Her lips curled into a small smile. “FAB.”

She walked into the crowd, green dress sparkling in the lights, as she spoke into her comms and gestured to her team. He was left wondering what the hell had happened, what she knew and what she was going to do.

But then the feeling was familiar around his sister, so he shouldn’t be surprised.

Gordon stopped their engineer brother’s tirade by grabbing him into a hug mid-rant.

A perfect tactic to derail Virgil that had worked many a time before. 

As predicted, their brother couldn’t resist and gruffly returned Gordon’s embrace.

The fish certainly had his ways.

The crowd volume increased as reporters started protesting security herding them out of the building. He watched as his sister worked, her team as smooth and as capable as she.

And then he watched Virgil watching her, too.

Scott grabbed a champagne flute off a nearby server and sculled it. Whisky on the balcony was looking more attractive by the moment. 

He needed one.

-o-o-o-

[bisexualbumblebee-writes]

Alive and Well Part 1- Jasper Badun x OC

Jasper Badun x Angela Young

Description: Angela reads the morning news and discovers that Cruella is dead, and Jasper and Horace have gone to jail for it. It leaves her with unresolved feelings for Jasper, but after getting a call from Artie, she realizes that they may not actually be unresolved.

Word Count: 1.8k

“You’re sure that it’s okay if I stay home today?” Angela asked hesitantly, twirling the phone cord around her finger. 

“Of course,” Artie responded earnestly. “In fact, I think I may just close the shop a bit early today, business has been a bit slow, you know?” Both of them knew that that was a lie, but Angela was thankful that he made an attempt. 

“Thanks Art, I’ll see you tomorrow then?” She questioned hopefully. 

“I can swing by later tonight if you’d like,” he suggested. 

“Nah, don’t worry about it,” she brushed it off. “Have a good day, lots of love.” 

After setting the phone down, Angela took another look at the very reason she wanted to stay home. She picked up the newspaper carefully, as if it would bite her, and tried not to tear up as she read the headline. 

                                      Cruella Up In Flames

A few hours earlier, the fire department received a call about a large house fire in the warehouse district of London, where it was discovered that it was the upcoming fashion icon Cruella’s lair. Just an hour before that, she had a flash mob showcasing her new work in Regent's Park, only to get run out by the police.   

Angela’s heart broke as she read it over, and the next line didn’t help her in the slightest. 

Police caught and arrested Jasper Badun and Horace Ethan for conspiracy to murder, though there was no body discovered among the wreckage. 

She set the paper down, not being able to read anymore of it. It just didn’t make sense, just last night everything seemed fine. Everyone had a blast with the show and even discussed getting drinks to celebrate the occasion. Plus, that didn’t even sound like Jasper and Horace. They loved Este -or actually- Cruella, from how they talked about her, she was like their sister. Sure she had been very pushy before the show, but that doesn’t mean the boys just jumped to murder. That wasn’t them. It was the Baroness, it had to be. But she couldn’t prove that, besides, Cruella was dead and that was the end of it. And yet, how was she supposed to just move on as if the past few months of helping the icon meant nothing, as if they weren’t the best days of her life? She had no idea. 

Just a few hours later she received a call from Artie. 

“I need your help,” he spoke rather excitedly. 

“Hello to you too, Art,” she responded amusedly. She heard the man laugh on the other end, and she could just imagine him shaking his head at her. 

“Hello Angela. How are you doing? How’s the family? Is your garden coming in nicely? I need your help,” he retorted in the same tone as before. 

“I’m as well as I can be. My mum got over that nasty cold and dad said hi. It is, but I’ll need more fertilizer soon. How can I help you?” Artie then gave her an address, telling her to meet him there for something important. 

“What is it? I’m not going to get killed, am I?” She joked, smiling when she heard him laugh once again. 

“Oh no, nothing like that love. Just get here as soon as you can. Lots of love!” He gave her no time to respond before he hung up. Angela only stared at her phone, confused. After a minute she shrugged and set it down, she had no reason not to trust Artie so she would have to get ready for the secret location. 

Just an hour later she stepped off the bus and arrived at a nice looking house. She double checked at the address she’d written down then walked up to the doorstep, knocking nervously. After only waiting for a few seconds the door opened to reveal a bald man in a nice suit. Her eyebrows shot up a bit and she messed with the hem of her rust colored parka. 

“Uh, hello. Is Artie here?” She greeted him awkwardly. 

“Are you Angela Young?” The man questioned in a deep voice, to which she nodded. A small smile rested upon his face and he opened the door wider for her. 

“Come in, my name is John. I am the owner of this house,” he explained as she stepped inside. “May I take your coat?” 

“Oh, uh, yes please.” She, with John’s help, took her parka off and she waited while he hung it up in a nearby closet. 

“Angela!” She heard Artie call from down the hall. She barely had time to turn before he hugged her. 

“I thought I heard your voice love. We’ve been waiting for you.” 

“We?” Angela repeated confusedly. 

“I’ll go make you some tea,” John spoke before walking off to what Angela assumed was the kitchen. 

“Come on,” the excited boy instructed, linking his arm in hers and leading her down the hall. 

“Artie, what’s going on?” She questioned as she followed him. “Why are we here in a stranger’s house?” 

“Just wait and see,” he responded before stopping in front of the doorway of what seemed to be the living room. She stared at him curiously for a minute before walking inside, then gasped. 

“Jasper!” She cried out in surprise. The man grinned widely at the girl. 

“Angela,” he exclaimed as the girl practically ran over to him. The two embraced, Jasper’s head lowering a bit to rest on top of her head. 

“You’re okay,” she breathed out, now sounding relieved. 

“You are too,” he responded in the same tone, squeezing her tighter. Angela wanted to cry, this time with happiness, but that would come later. 

“I am too,” she heard Horace speak up from the sofa. That made Angela giggle as she (very hesitantly) pulled away from Jasper and faced him. 

“I’m glad,” she responded kindly as she offered him a quick hug. “But what happened? I thought you two had gone to jail?” She questioned, looking around. 

“Well, we were in prison, but then we escaped,” Horace explained. 

“We had some help though,” Jasper added, now looking past Angela. That made her turn around, and her eyes widened. 

“Cruella,” she exclaimed. “You’re alive.” Though she was happy, she found her feet were stuck in place. She was still rather upset about Cruella’s treatment of not only her, but Artie, Horace and especially Jasper. That made her smile fade, and the woman seemed to understand why. 

“I know you’re probably mad,” she started, making Angela cross her arms. 

“That’s a bit of an understatement, don’t you think?” She cut her off rather coldly. She could see Artie frown out of the corner of her eye, but she didn’t exactly care at the moment. Instead, she shrugged and began walking around the living room. 

“I mean, now that I know what the Baroness is capable of, I want to take her down. Believe me, I do. But that was your goal before your ‘death’ and look what happened. You treated everyone like they were trash and beneath you, you acted as if Horace and Jasper hadn’t been there for you since you were children, and yet you still were ready to throw them under the bus to reach your goal. Hell, you almost fired me from a job I technically didn’t have! None of us were being paid for helping you, we did it because we cared about you. You didn’t care then, though. Tell me, what difference does it make this time around?” She stopped when Jasper reached out to rest a hand on her shoulder. 

“Just hear her out, Ang,” he pleaded softly. “She’ll explain everything.” She stared at him for a moment going over her options. Eventually she sighed and faced the woman across from her expectantly. After a few minutes of Cruella staying quiet, Angela breathed out a laugh and shook her head. 

“I’m leaving. Good luck with whatever you guys are trying to do but I’m not about to be a part of it.” She grabbed her bag, ignoring Jasper when he called her name. Just as she reached the door, she was stopped by Cruella finally speaking. 

“I almost died,” Cruella started. “If it hadn’t been for John, I would have. It’s quite the eye opener, though I don’t recommend you try it,” she stayed quiet for another minute before looking down when Angela faced her once more. “There’s no easy way to say this. The Baroness is my birth mother, she gave me away to die. And then killed the sweetest woman, albeit a liar, who ever lived.” Angela’s eyes widened, and her shoulder slumped enough that her purse fell from her shoulder and hung from her elbow. 

“We are in a kill-or-be-killed situation here. I can’t run, she’ll find me. You know she will, Angie,” she paused yet again then took a deep breath before looking at her. “I went a bit mad. I’m sorry. After all that’s happened with us, I can’t help but view you as my sister, and I know you’re the same way. Well, at least you were before I blew up. The point is, you’re my family. You guys are all I have.” Cruella gave her a desperate look, which made her close her eyes in thought. After a minute of silence Angela crossed her arms and exhaled deeply. 

“God, you’re really hard to say no to sometimes,” she finally spoke, opening her eyes once more. A smile appeared on Cruella’s face and she stood. The two met each other halfway in a hug. 

“Does this mean I’m forgiven?” She questioned, which made the girl laugh. 

“Yeah, why not,” she responded as they pulled away. “So, what now?” Cruella’s sincere  smile melted into a mischievous one. 

“I have a plan,” she spoke. 

“Of course you do,” Artie responded teasingly. 

“And you two are going to help me,” Cruella continued. Angela and Artie gave each other a look before facing the woman. 

“A night full of fabulous and mayhem and possibly death.” Angela hummed in thought.

“Hmm. Check, check, I’m not quite sure about the death though.” 

“It won’t be any of you,” Cruella retorted. Artie grinned. 

“Continue.” 

“The Baroness’ charity gala is this weekend. We’re going to need the home addresses and measurements of all the guests.”

“Easy,” Horace responded, petting Winky. 

“You and Artie’s tribe of dressmakers, of course,” Cruella continued. 

“Of course,” Angela repeated with a grin. 

“A black cape, pots of paint.”

“Oh, yeah?” Jasper questioned with a laugh. 

“Several boned corsets…” Angela turned to face the others with a playful smile. 

“Should we write this down?” John walked in with tea for everyone, and Cruella’s smile widened as she looked around. 

“Let’s get started then.”