#his scales are black before hes revealed as the green ninja

[twigs-sprigs]

bunch of random doodles from the big canavas

[only-lonely-stars]

Orange is the New Black (Chapter 4 - The Kids Are Alright)

[Chapter 3] // [Chapter 4 - you are here!] // [Chapter 5] – (FFN) (AO3)

Part of @ninjago-fic-fest!

Summary:

A rift opens in the sky above Ninjago City just as Cole continues his track record of falling from tall places. The place he wakes up in isn't the same as the one in which he fell... and who's the kid with a man bun who looks just like him?

Chapter summary:

Cole sees what all the fuss is about with Garmadon's constant attacks.

NOTE: The title is a reference to The Kids Are Alright (by Fall Out Boy)! Can you tell I went through a mild emo phase?

The whole world shook with the sound of heavy footfalls, engines, screaming, and maniacal laughter.

A familiar voice called out over a loudspeaker, cackling and overflowing with ego. 

“Say my name, Ninjago City!”

The city replied in the form of terrified screams. “GARMADON!”

“What’s my name?!”

“GARMADON!”

Cole looked out over the city. From the docks, he was able to see a full picture of what was happening. A small army of mechs, boats, and planes– and a couple of sharks?– were assaulting the city’s coastline. At the head of the charge, a mech which had a full three meters’ height on every other vehicle around it was marching across the sandbars. Based on how it walked, the driver had clearly been there before.

And, of course, the mech was black with purple detailing. Cole wasn’t unfamiliar enough to have trouble identifying Garmadon when he saw him.

He turned to the bridge, running to find Master Wu. “Master! The city is under attack!”

Wu was looking out the bridge window, toward the city skyline. “I know.”

“What do you guys do when this happens?”

Wu shrugged, tapping his staff against the floor. “My students will retrieve their mechs. Go have fun with them.”

“Have fun?” Cole wondered if he’d gotten a concussion when he fell. “Master, I think I hit my head harder than I thought. Did you actually say–”

“Yes, I did.” Wu pointed toward the warehouse with his staff. “Now go.”

It wasn’t worth it to try reasoning or arguing with Wu, so Cole did as he was told. He walked off the deck of the Bounty, down the gangplank and onto the docks, all the while with Wu watching him go.

The day had been so strange already. Could Wu tell how unsettled he felt? Even the thought of being watched left him with shivers running up his spine, and not the pleasant kind.

As soon as he was out of view, Cole ran for the warehouse at full tilt. 

He slipped in through the back door, where he was greeted by the sound of voices and doors slamming.

A moment’s investigation revealed the source of the sound was the red lockers he’d seen the day before. At the time, they hadn’t been worth any thought, but now he heard the Secret Ninja Force’s voices coming from inside them.

“Come on, let’s just get this over with quickly.” It sounded like Lloyd’s voice, but Cole just couldn’t be sure– everyone sounded just a little different from what he was used to.

“You got it, Green!” Nya’s voice was the gimme, the only woman on the team. A slamming sound accompanied her stepping out from one of the lockers, dressed in a gi with cyan and gray detailing. She looked over at Cole and immediately adopted a death glare. “What are you doing here?”

“Uh… looking for you, I guess?” Cole looked around. “What’s going on?”

Another door opened up, revealing Hence in all black– with his ever-present headphones. When he saw Cole, he gave him a jerky upward nod. “Hi, me.”

“Hi?” Cole watched as the others exited the lockers, then run to their mechs and start their engines. “Hence, what am I even seeing?”

Hence laughed, a confident sort of chuckle that Cole found he hadn’t expected. “Our school lockers have elevators that take us here so we can sneak out. Nya built them.” He all but sauntered toward a unicycle-type mech, then proceeded to scale it like a lizard. “Come on, you can ride with me. You got a mask?”

“Yeah, of course I do.”

“Great. You’d better put it on.” Hence looked back down at him, then frowned. “By the way, you’re not the Black Ninja here. I am.”

Cole gaped at him. “Excuse me? I’ve been the Black Ninja for years!”

“Not here you aren’t. We use our colors as code names, and black is taken. Pick another color.” Hence waved him on. “C’mon! I want to get my tunes going.”

Cole took one look around the warehouse, which was rapidly emptying out, and made his decision. A burst of Spinjitzu threw him up onto the body of the mech, and with one good pull-up he was able to climb inside the cockpit.

Hence gave him a strange look. “What was that?”

“What was what? Spinjitzu?”

“Spin-what?”

Cole rolled his eyes, finding a safe space to park himself so he wouldn’t fall out of the moving vehicle. “Never mind.” The cockpit looked like a DJ booth, so he decided to go behind Hence’s chair. It was almost the perfect space– that, and it gave a great view of everything Hence did, which currently included throwing records onto his twin turntables, pulling on a ninja mask, and throwing the mech into gear.

The engine roared. Cole held on to the driver’s seat as the mech leaned back suddenly, then forwards as it charged out of the warehouse.

They emerged onto the docks, but Hence seemed to have the route memorized. He scratched at his records and whooped with delight. “Ninja on the job! C’mon, get your mask on. Do you have a radio?”

“Uh, yeah. What frequency?” Did this world use frequencies?”

Hence told him, and a wave of relief flowed through Cole– it was the same unit, even, which seemed to be a rare thing between their two worlds.

Hence was impatient as Cole pulled on his ninja mask, fiddling with his booth’s many buttons and switches. “Come on, let’s go fight!”

Cole hustled to get it on. Hence didn’t waste a second; he steered them onto a major road and into the fray. The other five Secret Ninja were ahead of him, driving their mechs with all the reckless abandon of their teenage years. The constant rocking motion kept Cole from musing on that fact– even though he’d been just like them once, and he remembered it quite well– because he was struggling not to throw up.

“Hence! Can you take it– hrk– easy on the throttle?” He put one clenched fist to his mouth.

Hence looked back at him, then at the road again. “Yeah, sorry! Forgot you’re an old man.”

“Old man?! Who are you calling an old man?”

“You’re the older one of us, so you!” Hence laughed, and in the back of his mind, Cole noticed just how much he seeemed to be in his element. Was this what the alternate version of him liked? Why didn’t this joy show up in the rest of his life?

Still, Hence was compassionate enough to ease up on the rocking motion, and Cole felt a little better. They came upon the larger city streets, where the other ninja had come to a stop. Bursts of fire and ice fired into the air as Lloyd (or was it Green?) spoke over a loudspeaker.

“Lord Garmadon! Stand down!”

Garmadon’s familiar, jeering voice echoed in response from somewhere Cole couldn’t see. “Kiss my butt! Generals, get those pesky ninja!”

Instantly, the mechs scattered. As Hence pulled back, Cole got his first glimpse of their foe.

A twelve-foot-tall bipedal mech, shaped like a swordfish, firing blanks in the air from its fist. With those blanks, innocent fish were being ejected from compartments Cole couldn’t see, flying into the air with fins flailing. From his vantage point, their landings couldn’t be seen, and he hoped that it wasn’t as unpleasant for them as it looked.

In the cockpit, the other Garmadon roared with glee. He was the same as Cole remembered, with four arms and a penchant for black and purple. The cackling didn’t stop, even when the mech was suddenly struck by a projectile. 

Hence swerved around a building just as a poor, innocent fish came flying at them. “Time to rock ‘n’ roll,” he joked, throwing on a new disc so “The Weekend Whip” blared from his oversized speakers.

The fish was vibrating to the music, and Cole clapped his hands over his ears. He had to shout over the din.

“Hence! How are you not deaf? Turn that down!”

“No can do!” Hence called out. “Sorry!”

Through the noise, Cole heard Lloyd’s– no, Green’s– voice over his comm. “Red, fend off the fish!”

Kai’s voice responded immediately. “Got it.”

“Cyan, keep the canals clear!”

A loud splash preceded Nya’s reply, along with indeterminate yelling and threats Cole could barely make out over their connection. “Loud and clear, Green!”

“White. Start working on a wall between Garmadon and Ninjago City Tower.”

“I am a cool, calm, and collected teen.” A white pyramid-shaped mech drove past, shedding ice crystals and snow, and Cole got a split-second view of Zane’s electric blue eyes.

Lloyd kept calling out instructions, directing the Ninja, and Cole watched in growing confusion as the scene before him descended into organized chaos. The Secret Ninja were good at controlling the environment, acting before reacting most of the time, and their teamwork was excellent. This world’s Lloyd was good at giving orders and expected that his teammates would follow them.

When that day came, it would be a welcome change in Cole’s own world…

Nostalgia, homesickness and overwhelm warred within him, but the final outcome was nausea.

“Hence,” he shouted over the music, “let me out! I’m gonna be sick!”

“What? Now?!” Hence expertly directed one mech arm at an enemy car, blasting it with a pile of dirt. “We’re in the middle of battle!”

“You don’t want my vomit in your cockpit, the smell will never come out!”

Hence groaned, back to a shadow of his moody self. “Fine! Can you get out without me stopping in the middle of the road? Maybe with your spin-something?”

Cole pushed to the front of the cockpit. Hence opened a narrow door where he managed to force his way out, gaining purchase on the outer panels. “Don’t change anything!”

On the outside, everything moved faster… 

He swallowed bile and prepared to leap.

Three…

two…

one…

The world became a blur as he launched himself into the familiar, practiced motions of Spinjitzu, tinged with orange and gold. Cole heard himself shouting his battle cry. “Ninja-GO!”

He landed with continued motion, rolling to his feet amid enemy soldiers. He directed it into a roundhouse kick, expertly landing on one opponent’s abdomen, throwing him back and onto the ground.

The others yelled in surprise, or maybe rage, and Cole was beset with at least four of them– two were easily handled through Spinjitzu, a third with a single punch.

The fourth was blasted back by a soundwave, loud enough that Cole’s teeth rattled in his jaw. 

The comms crackled. “Hey, fake Black Ninja! Don’t get yourself killed!”

Cole scowled, massaging his face. “Don’t call me that, Hence.”

“Don’t call me that,” Hence parroted. “I’m Black, and we’ve got nothing else to call you.”

“Well, I don’t know!” He looked around, then at himself and at his uniform, with its stripe of bold color around the chest. “I guess you can call me Orange?”

“Fine with me– watch out!”

Cole wheeled, and a moment later, strafed out of the way of a large sword.

A sword with a crossguard made of… sashimi?

More importantly, it was held by a mech decorated with sushi, piloted by a cackling, gloating woman who looked very pleased with herself.

Secretly, Cole wished these teens were older and less impressionable, so he could say something rude and possibly vulgar. Instead of doing so out loud, he threw out the best taunt he could think of in a rush. “Your tactics are a little fishy!”

He was rewarded with another swing of the giant sword. One well-timed jump threw him onto the blade, and he held on for dear life as the mech driver swung it again. “Get off!”

Cole laughed, and as soon as she raised it, he dropped down into the driver’s compartment.

A minute’s struggle ensued, with Cole coming out the victor and the driver being thrown out of the compartment. He caught her with one of the mech’s hands and set her on the ground fairly gently. “Thanks for the ride, but I gotta roll!”

She shouted something and ran for the ladder on one leg, but he backed off and turned to run down the street, sashimi sword in hand.

“Nice going, Orange! Head for Ninjago City Tower,” Hence commented, pointing with his mech’s arm at a particularly tall and isolated skyscraper. “Garmadon’s trying to get to the top.” 

“Why? What does he get out of that?”

“He takes over Ninjago City.”

Cole stopped in his umami-flavored tracks.

He turned around, staring at Hence as he stopped his unicycle mech in front of Cole’s new two-legged ride.

“What?” Hence– no, Black– looked around. “What’s wrong?”

“He takes over the city?!” 

“Yeah?” Hence sounded like he thought Cole was looking at something. “What’s so strange about that?”

“Your city is controlled by whoever is on top of a single skyscraper?!”

“Yours isn’t?”

“No?!” Cole laughed, almost too flabbergasted to speak. “Wh– Of course not! That’s crazy. This whole place is nuts!”

Hence shrugged, driving past him and down the street. “Look, you can tell me all about how weird my world is after we handle Garmadon. Sound good?”

There was nothing to do but follow him. “Sure. Whatever. You’re all crazy.”

Hence laughed, and despite how Cole felt like he was going insane, it was a comforting sound, even encouraging. 

Maybe this version of him was happier than he’d been at the same age. Whether he was truly happy was another question… but there was hope.

There was still a battle to fight, even if it was one of the weirdest battles he’d fought in a very long time, and Cole was optimistic that the kids would be alright.

[mitamicah]

Spoilers from both Trollhunters the book and Trollhunters the series!

While reading the book I was really impressed with how many differences there were between the character so I have worked on giving my take on six characters from both media, book vs series, and how they differ from each other :3 

I should mention that while there was illustrations in the book I tried for the challenge not to copy those but follow along the describtions in the book - when possible - to give my own interpretation of the characters ^v^ 

Steve

First up we have Steve. Starting out as the stereotypical bully in both version their paths seperates quickly resulting in two different ending for the musuclar blond Jorgensen-Warner is the book version of Steve. Here's how he is described from our first encounter with him: "He was handsome but in the oddest way- He eyes were too small and his nose piggish: he had a ridiculous amount of hair and a couple of teeth that looked like fangs. Yet somehow in combination these features were sort of mesmerising. His unnatural muscular bulk and odd way of speaking -crisply, politely, as if he were a foreign student who had learned English in class - completed the strange package." page 21-22 For his outfit I went with the description of him on page 224 "[my clothes] ... didn't cast me in the best light when compared to Steve Jorgensen-Warner, who looked rather rakish in blue jeans and a shirt - definitely not a blouse - opened to the third button. He dribbled the ball casually with his left hand." The bold passages is added by me   This Steve is later revealed to be a changeling aka a troll   Before we go on: can any of you explain to me what a "ridiculous amount of hair" even means :'D? I had a lot of trouble with this prompt because isn't this so darn subjective :'D? and the official art look way less ridiculous than I'd figure it'll be :'D x'D Palchuk is the series version of Steve. His facial appearance being way less specific (I'd say he has normal sized eyes, a big roman nose and some more or less normal teeth) and his way of speaking is definitely not polite. Like book Steve, this Steve starts out with pushing smaller guys into lockerrooms yet after that he becomes way less of a terrifying bully and much more of a silly goose who brings a lot of the comic relief in my opinion Douxie says it best in Wizards when he calls Steve the "village idiot" x'D I do not recall seeing Steve being that sporty in the show, he is much more interested in becoming homecoming king  no basketballs around x'D While book Steve is revealed to be the enemy (a troll) series Steve joins the "good guys" creating the creepslayerz with the character Eli Pepperjack

Blinky

Blinky is just called Blinky in the book  Here's a bit of description of him "The third [troll] had scarlet eyes, eight of them on long stems. (...) The thing from my house glided toward me with a surprising grace for something with an indetermined number of legs, all of which were hidden behind a patched kilt scaled with layers of medals, prizes and trophies and award ribbons. An incalculable tangle of tentacles twined around one another as if dying to squeese something to death. As it passed the oven, the firelight revealed olive-green skin, reptilian texture, and lacquer of slime lubricating its undulating appendages Its moth a horizontal gash.. " The bold passages is added by me   So yeah this Blinky is quite something :'D I stopped caring to draw tentacles after a while but overall this was silly but fun to draw  since his teeth later is described as big as traffic cones I believe he must be very tall :'D Also he's close to blind   Has a bit of a dirty mouth but in a very "read" way if it makes sense :'D cannot seem to stop calling Jim dimwitted and tiny and Tobias big :'D Blinky's full name in the series is Blinkus Galadrigal  he has six eyes instead of eight and they are all working just fine, thank you very much x'D His tons of tentacles and legs has been replaced by four arms and two legs and while he is still olive-green he is now made of tone like texture just like the other trolls  the kilt turned into shorts and he is quite a bit smaller now not even as tall as Jim  He still has this very academic way of speaking yet he is way nicer to Jim calling him "Master Jim" instead of "the short one" x'D

ARRRGH!!!

Book ARRGHHH!!!s full name is Johannah Mmmm ARRRGH!!! and she is a pretty big deal warrior among the trolls in the book - she's so badass in fact Blinky has decided to call her by her last name to honor her for her deeds for trollkind   Here's a qoute from the book describing her appearance   "The goliath emerged from the tunnel as comfortably as a dog from a doghouse, coarse black fur pouring into the chamber before I could make out any actual arms or legs (...) Even beneath the fur I could see loops of muscles flexing. (...) ARRRGH!!! was built like a gorilla but three times larger: Two arms, two legs, and, thankfully, just two eyes. Horns, curled like those of a ram (...) The thing's orange eyes cast about with animal perceptiveness, and it used its snout and sniffed. Its jaws fell open to reveal a purple, slavering mouth armed with haphazard daggers of teeth." Page 75-76 The bold passages is added by me   (Also worth mentioning: the qoute is from before the protagonist knows of ARRRGH!!!'s gender which is why he calls her an 'it') At other times in the story we learn that ARRRGH! has quite scarred arms and really wishes for better tooth hygeine; so much so that Tobias actually end up making her a brace out of chicken wire :'D Idk I find it quite adorable :'D Now unto the serie's ARRRGH!!! - first up he is male, his name is Arghaumont and he is famous for another reason than Johannah: he was a general of Gunmar but retreated from the war making him a traitor to his people yet a hero for the good trolls in the series. Series ARRRGH!!! is likewise built like a gorilla but made of stone and having a mane long and green like it is moss  his horns is way smaller and less curvy and his teeth hygeine is never brought up  also his face is way less dog like x'D 

Tobias 

Book Tobias' full name is Tobias M. Dershowitz yet he is going by 'Tubby' or 'Tub'. Here is a describtion of him from the book: "You could call Tobias Dershowitz chubby, if you were being cute, or husky if you were being diplomatic. The fact is he was fat, and that was only the beginning of his problems. His hair was a thick, orange, out-of-control hedge. His face spilled over with the kind of freckles that make kids like Tub look like overgrown toddlers. Worst of all were his braces, marvels of modern torment: whips of stainless steel crisscrossing each tooth seperately and lashed to a dozen silver fasteners. The braces clicked so much when he spoke, you expected sparks. At least he was tall..." page 27 The bold passages is added by me   The outfit I went with is described on page 259 like this: "He stood in the driveway decked out in his best approximation of a ninja: black tennis shoes, black sweatpants, a black hoodie, a belt made from a red curtain sash, and an oversize fanny pack holding his gear (...) It was unfortunate that the fanny pack was lime green..." To describe Tub is a bit difficult because sadly he is not much in the story as I'd liked - mostly he is being quite serious and let us know he is not happy by being sidelined not speaking troll nor being invited on hunts which I completely understand tbh :'D What I do find interesting is how Tub and series Jim has seem to have switched roles a little bit: In the series Jim is the one giving a speech about how he is insecure about his place in life and how he wants more - in the book this is Tub in more than one occassion: "We have to accept who we are. And before you ask, I'll tell you. We're nobody. We have no life. We have nothing to look forward to. We're not special. I just want it to go away. All of it. The stupid being scared. Doesn't it seem we've been scared forever?" page 37 "Jim, you're wrong. We were meant to do this. This is exactly what we've been waiting for. They've chosen us. Of all people! Us! (...) Jesus, Jim, take a look at my life! You know what I'm worth! To anyone? Zero! Nothing! I'm a fat loser and will always be a fat loser. Until this. This is like a present. Full of, man, I don't know. Hope?..." page 196 (talking about trollhunting here btw) Oh yeah and book Tobias gets this badass scene where he uses his dentist's tool to kill trolls I loved that   Now series Tobias is way different :'D first up his name is Tobias Domzalski and his nicknames are Toby and Tobes. He is way shorter and has more neat hair (what is it with the series neating up the hair :'D? x'D). He also seems way cheerier and pretty happy with his place in life more or less  Unlike Tub, Toby is in it from the start being an important player in the story   He doesn't have the same drive to be something more than he is as Tub has instead Toby is going with the flow starting out quite afraid of everything troll and ended up being as brave as the rest of the team *tbh Jim's scared out of his wits too so they mimic each other x'D* Where Tub has dentist tools Toby gets a badass hammer so I'll say its an upgrade  

Claire

First off we have Claire Fontaine, a foreign student from no other than Scotland with a taste for military clothing and liqourice   Here's how she's described in the book   "She tucked her long dark hair behind her ear and left ir with an adorable smudge of white dust. I thought she was beautiful, though she wasn't in the classic sense. The popular girl would say she wasn't skinny enough. They would also point to the fact that she didn't wear makeup or do anything to tame that hair. And her clothes -well, what could be said about her clothes? Her boots were not sexy and knee-high: in fact, they were ankle-high and rubber-soled and looked picked from military surplus racks, an array of pea-green coats and multi-coloured slacks, all of which looked as if they'd been through actual World War II combat. And that beret she wore before and after school wasn't of the look-at-me-I'm Frensh variety: it was more in the style of I'm-going-to-invade-your-country-and-be-your-new-dictator. Only one thing didn't make sense: that bright pink, exceedingly girlish backpack that inexplicably hadn't one anti-establidh patch sewn onto it (...) Oh, I forgot to mention that Claire Fontain came from the UK. That's right- the girl had an accent. I think you are starting to get the picture." page 30-1 The bold passages is added by me It is hinted at that Claire is quite tall and a great deal taller than Jim (more when I get to him) and she is actually a whole year older than Jim since they both have birthday May 2 but Claire is 16 while Jim is 15  Since Trollhunters in this story is not a "protected title" (aka the chosen hero type) Claire ends up being one herself even though nobody even herself didn't know: AND. SHE. KICKS. BUTT! She's even better than the guy that had 40+ years experience so yeah safe to say she's badass :'D Even before that she has a hilarious scene calling out Steve in the wildest shitstorm of Scottish slang I lived for it x'D She's described quite a few times with lots of bracelets, sometimes made of wire so I gave her a bit of both   She's not really a part of the popular group but has her own thing going on   Now onto Claire Nuñez the series' version of this badass   Here Claire is hispanic and pretty much one of the most popular girls seen around  her style is way more ... I've called it punk rock in purple but Idk exactly what to call it x'D she's shorter than Jim and slimmer looking than her book counterpart   She enters the story not as a trollhunter but as a victim of having her brother stolen by changelings and as time progresses she becomes a fastlearning and quite competent sorcerer dealing in shadow magic   Unlike Fontaine, Nuñes is seen wearing make up, shorter hair with dye in it and hair clips instead of bracelets  

Jim 

First up we have book Jim. His full name is James Sturges Jr. and lives with his single parent, his dad, after his mother went away the day before his birthday in start May and never returned. Sturges Sr. had been traumatized loosing his brother to trolls although none of the characters didn't know this yet - only Senior had seen the creatures making him paranoid and in turn making Jim very embarrased about his father. At the same time Jim seems to honestly worry for his father and his behavior too makes Jim very cautious and fearful a character. Book Jim is pretty much a typical teenager for the most part  He is seen to be a tad clumsy and not exactly brave really. And the author's choice of basically not describing him anywhere made my job way harder trying to be book accurate :'D So I've mostly inspired him of the official illustrations in the book   Here's what I could find about our little trollhunter   First off: he's a short fellow  that is first mentioned on page 14; "Sunshine is important for growing boys." (...) "I am not growing" I took after my dad when it came to size and was still waiting for that growth spurt everyone kept raving about. "In fact I think I'm shrinking." This is brought up most of everything Jim through the movie from him not being able to reach a point of a chalkboard (page 32) to people's dissapointing sighs taking meassurements when he is chosen as Romeo (107) and him wearing super high heels for the same reason (224) but also Blinky directly calling him a "little fellow" (page 127) On page 27 we learn that he is getting a bruise on his chin after being slammed into his locker by Steve  Lockers he has been thrown into enough to have learned to open them on the inside :'D He is a skinny fella which Tobias so politely call "lack of muscletone" due to "glandular" at page 120 He is not very good at anything describing his room full of stuff from hobbies he tried and failed at (page 63) The longest describtion about his appearance is probably page 105: "I lowered my eyes and regarded the chewed, dirty fingernails holding my script, thes scuffed shoes on my feet, and realized that these were the symbols of my pityful life: worn-out, insignificant, ready to be thrown beneath Dad's industrial mower" It pretty much says it all when this is the longest quite I could find :'D For the outfit I mostly went by the small describtion on page 89-90: "I tucked the medallion beneath my shirt. After a full day of wearing it, maybe the rest of the suffocating fear would go away too. My plan was to dart into the kitchen, grab my sweatshirt and be out of the house. " I added jeans since he is said to wear jeans on page 283 - the medallion sneak out beneath the sweatshirt/shirt on page 97 which is why I added it on top here as well   Now since there's a bit more to both versions of Jim due to their role as the protagonist I've added in a little extra features here being the medallion in the book vs the amulet in the series and the weaponry given to the characters   For Sturges we have the medallion who's described like this: "It was a bronze medallion conntected to a rusty chain. It was engraved with a foreboding crest: a hideous, snarling face; indecipherable markings of a sevage language, and a magnificent long-sword across the bottom." page 9 The medallion is treated like it is a common artefact if a bit rare in the book - its purpose is to translate trollspeak for the wearer. Jim is giving two swords in the book; a rusty longsword he calls Clairesword (do I need to explain this one?) and a cutlass he calls Cat #6 after the one cat at Tobias' house that liked Jim  x'D For Sturges' personality my feeling about him is that he is a bit more ... passive than his series counterpart. He is not really standing up for himself that much and would rather blend into the background. This qoute from Claire sums him up pretty nicely I believe   "You're a good person, Mr. Sturges. A bit gloomy, but good" page 246 I do like that Jim in this version is a Taurus  (I am a taurus too x'D) born on May 2nd so that's a plus   It is probably also worth mentioning that in this world trollhunters aren't a chosen hero type like in the series: trollhunters or paladin was once a title held by many warriors yet now there's very few left. Sturges was a proud paladin family making Jim a chosen candidate for the honor of becoming a trollhunter but he is not the only one - or even the best - in the book. In fact out of the three trollhunters we learn about I'll say Jim is the weakest (and he is not even the least trained; ouch :'D) Jim doesn't get a nice armour like his series counterpart either but is seen in the illustrations wearing a blue hoodie (like the one in the little doodle)   The full name of Jim in the series is James Lake Jr. He is the child of a single parent and lives with his mother whom Jim "mothers a lot" (Tobias' words in the first episode) This Jim is pretty "tall for his age" (Jim's own words uttered quite a few times across all three series) yet with quite skinny legs (he is called out for this by multiple characters). He is much more competent in life than his book counterpart being an exceptional cook, good at Spanish, seemingly alright in PE and at school he seems to stand pretty good if only holding himself back. Unlike book Jim, series Jim seems much more active and longing to be something more than he is - he is seen to be quite brave and protective of his friends, very kind and selfless. Also even from the start he seems much more nimble than his book counterpart being able to climb the robe (a feat book Jim didn't do before later) and with his training as trollhunter he becomes even more badass   Trollhunter status in the series is way more important since the title is given to only one chosen warrior of Merlin chosen by the amulet of daylight (the medallion in the book). This also makes the amulet way more special and important in the series which probably explains its shine up from rusty bronze thing to silver and blue. While Lake Jr doesn't have named sword he does have a magical armour and sword made of daylight   We do not know the exact birthday of Lake Jr but the creators have replied to a fanquestion saying it would be around fall especially October so by that estimate Jim is probably a scorpio  pretty far from the before mentioned taurus in the book   While Jim Lake Jr isn't seen with long lasting bruises in the original series he does get two more permanent scars in Wizards  

[5am-the-foxing-hour]

First Movie Night

Fluffy thought has now been written.

Characters: Deceit, Remus, Roman, Logan, Patton, Virgil, Thomas.

Familial/platonic: DLAMPTR

Warnings: no warnings that i can think of

- - -

Word count:1 349

- - -

General Fanfic Tag list: @ebony-wolf, @nashiraneko, @i-sold-my-soul-to-thefandom, @rabbitsartcorner, @punsterterry,  @sleepyssnail,  @nightmaresides, @virgilswritings, @ninja-girl2846, @ninjago2020, @starryfirefliesbloggo, @garecc,  @sympatheticdeceit, @cookiethedevil, @askthesnake,  @all-bridges-will-burn, @tacohippy56900, @little-euro-girl, @aggressiveshipper, @imbasicallyshakespear, @slayerofspiders, @prinssess61, @underthesea73​,  @suicidalcitrusfruit​,

- - -

Deceit was not in a good mood.

He was in Thomas’s living room, standing near the stairs. All the light sides and Thomas staring at him, dressed in onesies.

Patton sat in his cat onesie snuggled up on the couch, with a cup of hot chocolate in his hands. Virgil sat behind him on the back of the couch in a skeleton onesie. Thomas sat in the corner of the couch, dressed in black pyjama pants and a grey sweatshirt. Roman was sprawled on his throne of pillows, bundled in a blanked and dressed in his beast onesie. Logan was sitting on the couch too, someone having actually gotten him to change into his pyjamas, which was a white T-shirt with the NASA logo and a pair of deep blue pants sprinkled with a star pattern.

The sudden attention on him being there was making his skin and scales itch and crawl, his wrist felt like it was burning through the fabric of the glove where Remus was grabbing him, having not let go since he grabbed Deceit and dragged him away from his desk and out of his room.

 “Remus.” Deceit hissed giving his hand a thug, but Remus didn’t let go. “Why did you drag me here?”

 “It’s movie night, duh!” Remus huffed rolling his eyes.

 “If that’s so, then let go of me so I can return to my work.” Deceit huffed with a glare.

 “No! you’re joining! for one movie!” Remus argued.

 “I am not about to sit around and do-”

 “Two movies!”

 “Wha- Remus that’s not how it works!”

 “Three movies!”

 “REMUS! NO! I Am not-”

 “FOUR MOVIES!”

 “NO!”

 “FIVE!”

 “REMUS I SWEAR TO-”

 “SEVEN!”

The others could do nothing but stare as Remus and Deceit went back and forth in an argument Deceit was quickly losing.

Deceit made several frustrated hisses before he snatched his hand back from Remus.

 “IF I WATCH ONE MOVIE WILL YOU GET OFF MY BACK ABOUT THIS?!” Deceit snarled.

 “Hm… SURE!” Remus cheered.

 “Then fine.”

 “Yay! Snakey will watch eight movies with us!”

 “Wha- Who said anything about eight!?” Deceit snapped before he huffed in frustration and rubbed the brim of his nose with one hand. “You know what, fine. Fine! Let’s just get this over with for everyone.” Deceit huffed as he stalked over towards the armchair.

 “Ah! Snakey! You need to get cosy! Not your fancy wear! And I do love your with less clothes~” Remus said with a grin as he snapped his fingers, the others looked various degrees of panic at whatever they thought Remus would change Deceit’s clothes into. Deceit froze mid stepp, as his normal clothes changed into a black T-shirt with his logo and a pair of grey fuzzy plaid pants and yellow fluffy socks. Hat and gloves were gone, which revealed his wild mess of hair under his hat. The lack of long sleeves and gloves revealed the scatters of scales that was speckled out along his arms, some even reached the back of his hands.

Deceit just looked down at himself before he grumbled and sat down in the armchair with a growl, crossing his arms and glaring at the TV.

Remus was grinning as he moved to snap his hand again.

 “KEEP YOUR UNDERWEAR ON IDIOT!” Roman screamed making Remus give away a irked noise before he snapped his fingers, leaving him in nothing but his neon green boxers and a black tank top with a kraken on it.

 “ROOOMAN! YOU THREW OFF MY GROOVE!” Remus whined stomping the floor with a pout.

Deceit claimed one bowl of popcorns for himself, before he curled up in the armchair glowering at the TV screen. Roman and Logan were pointing out the stupid or obvious things, while Virgil and Patton kept mostly quiet. Remus piped up now and again there he lied sprawled on the couch, feet on Logan’s lap and his head pushing against Thomas’s thigh, Thomas had tried to get away, but Remus just kept stretching so he gave up and just let the creative side do what he wanted.

It was around the time Thomas put in the third movie that they noticed Deceit had fallen asleep. Curled up in the arm chair around the now empty bowl only holding some unpopped kernels. Thomas couldn’t help the small surprised coo that left him at the sight. Deceit looked way less threatening and evil asleep. Thomas reached out and carded his fingers through the strands of hair.

Deceit made a small noise in the back of his throat before he nuzzled into the hand, tongue poking out from between his lips before returning into his mouth. Thomas starred starry eyed at Deceit’s face. Deceit’s tongue was forked, like that of a snake, and it was adorable.

 “Oh Yuck! don’t think those disgusting thoughts about kissing my best friend!” Remus whined from the couch, making Thomas splutter and flush bright red.

 “Remus!” Thomas hissed.

 “What it’s True! We all know your thoughts Thomas! and they are disgustingly adorable right now, get me to the juicy stuff!”

 “Eeew! I don’t want to know those thoughts! even less about Deceit!” Virgil hissed kicking Remus on the shoulder, only making the chaotic creatwin bark out laughing.

 “He just looked cute! I don’t lie awake at night thinking about him!” Thomas tried to counter. “How would a relationship with a sides even work?! Only I can see you… can you even leave my apartment?”

 “That is a couple questions for another day.” Logan said with a yawn “Once we have all gotten a good night's rest. And we have the energy to partake in some theories and hypotheses so that we can find it out, because I do not know the answer to those questions.”

 “Wait… have you tried to appear when I’m not at home?” Thomas asked. The others shared looked before they shook their heads.

 “It was easier when you were a child.” Roman piped up. “You didn’t realise I, or well, that was before me and Remus were split up, i think…”

 “We were like an imaginary friend to you, but as you grew it got harder until it was almost impossible, it’s so much easier to appear in your home than if your outside.” Remus said, sitting up.

 “That… makes sense i guess?” Thomas hummed. only to yelp when a dramatic scene happened in the movie he had started earlier, but completely forgotten about.

They watched some more movies before Thomas noted that all his sides had fallen asleep, Remus had moved so that his feet was now thrown over the back of the couch and his head hanging off the seat, as he snored. Logan had slid to the side and was currently using Remus’s stomach as a pillow. Virgil had slid down the back of the couch and wrapped his arms around Patton, both snuggled up together sleeping soundly. Roman was sprawled on his pillow throne snoring just as loudly as Remus. Deceit was still curled up in the armchair, giving away a hissing snore, his tongue poking out with each exhale, Thomas chuckled when he saw it, it reminded him of Sir Hiss’s snoring from Robin hood.

Thomas got up from the couch and stretched, making some joints pop, before he walked over to the TV turning it off, which cast the living room in the faint light of the mood outside, Thomas gathered the bowls and cups before putting them on the counter next to the sink, and then gathered some blankets and plaids for the sides, throwing it over them before he went to brush his teeth, knowing Logan would get offended if he didn’t. Thomas got back to the living room once he was done, he grabbed a blanket on his own before going upstairs, stopping after a few steps to look down at the sleeping sides. A smile on his lips. Despite his unfamiliarity with Deceit, he hadn’t hated having the snake like side there.

 “Good night guys.” Thomas said before he walked upstairs to sleep to the rest of the night.

[aweebwrites]

Move on Dragons 12

Lloyd stared at the elder dragon with wide eyes, surprise coursing through him.

‘... I’m not even surprised anymore.’ Kai commented, breaking the silence.

‘If you were, you’d be pretty lime.’ Morro commented, shifting onto his back and batting at Kai’s wing idly.

‘One, I think you mean lame and two, hey!’ Kai grumbled then hissed, lowering his head to nip at Morro who only batted his snout away.

‘... But that can’t be right.’ Lloyd finally spoke up and the dragon version of his uncle looked at him curiously.

‘How so?’ He asked Lloyd who frowned.

‘If he were my father… I’d be able to tell right away.’ Lloyd told him surely. ‘And my father’s an Oni, not a dragon.’ He pointed out and Wu nods.

‘All very true. But only one person can confirm or deny if the dragonling is your father or not.’ The elder dragon rumbled and Lloyd nods.

Only his uncle Wu can tell them that or not… He might have to wait a bit before that happens. Though, he had to admit, the realisation made some sense. Why else would a dragon he’s never met before seem so very familiar to him? But why would he be so fussy over him? He was sure his father lacked all means to care about anything that didn’t aid him somehow. Though, it has him a little worried. He has no clue where his father is. After the battle against the Oni, he all but vanished into thin air. What if that dragon really was him? What if he got himself into a situation and they turned him into it? He wasn’t the most careful nor caring person right now, despite his focus on survival. He just hopes that if it really is him, there’s a way to turn him back.

Meanwhile, Wu was at a loss. This dragonling certainly identifies as his brother but that wasn’t possible. He knows his brother’s movements, has been keeping an eye on him through his spirit smoke. His brother was very much still an Oni, not a dragon. Yet, this dragon radiated the same aura, carried the same scent, and now that he looked, carried the same horns and eyes as he. What… What was this? How can this be? He stared at the dragon in thought, even as it only laid there, still upset about what Lloyd had said. He could clearly understand them yet even like this, Wu couldn’t understand anything about this. He huffed through his nose. He needed to meditate to be certain… And to reveal some truth to his students and nephew.

Not too far away, the dragons and their counterparts all gathered to where the dark elder dragon was resting. The ninja were reminded just how big he was as he rose up to sit, his size easily passing that of the ultra dragon. Even with the added height of their newly shifted legs, they were absolutely tiny in comparison.

‘Let us return. The sun is setting.’ He rumbled and they nodded.

‘Uh… We could use a paw…’ Lloyd says sheepishly to his father, glancing across at all the fruit they gathered nearby, the leaves they had been carrying them back with snapped.

Garmadon gave an amused huff before looking to the Zanes.

‘If you would.’ He rumbled and they fashioned a large basket of thick ice for both Lloyd and Kai to toss their finds in.

With their food secure, the dragons returned to their Ninjagan home. There, they found the winged Oni Lloyd deep in thought as Kai dozed with Morro under wing. He peered a lowly glowing amber eye open once they arrived, their collective wing beats making it impossible to sleep through. He yawned, watching as everyone filtered in, the whole lay-around-and-eat lifestyle already gotten bored to him.  He blinked once Blaze approached him, smelling guilt on him.

‘What’s up?’ Kai asked as he rose up to sit, Morro grumbling as he did.

‘... You aren’t replacing me, are you?’ Blaze asked him after a moment and Kai looked horrified.

‘’Course not!’ Was Kai’s immediate response. ‘What makes you think that? Is it something I said?’ He asked, tail flicking anxiously.

‘No.’ Blaze huffed, feeling stupid now as he glanced away. ‘I was just being an idiot.’ He rumbled low, rubbing at his front leg with the other.

Kai looked him over carefully, concerned.

‘I doubt that.’ Kai says as he got to his feet, walking up next to him and draping a wing over Blaze, both of them the same size and almost exactly identical. ‘We might look a like but there’s really only one of each of us and neither of us are replaceable. Or forgettable.’ He huffed giving him a comforting nudge Blaze returned with a soft rumbling purr.

‘Kai’s great and all but come on. He isn’t you, brother.’ Nya huffed, the light blue dragoness walking over to nudge her brother, rubbing against his side.

‘See? Our Nyas are smart. They know what they’re talking about.’ Kai rumbled as he lowered his head to his Nya, huffing once she flicked his nose.

‘How are you? Does it hurt to move around?’ The bright green dragon that was Lloyd asked as he walked over.

‘It hurts a little but I’m alright.’ Kai reassured him, nuzzling him too.

“Here comes Sssensei…” Jay hummed from where he lingered by the exit closest to the location of the ship.

The other didn’t have a chance to go look. No, Wu flew in on his own, landing on all fours, white wings open before he folded them. In this form, he looked very familiar to the other Wu in the area but noticeably smaller. He glanced over at his students with gold slitted eyes and was as mildly surprised as they look that they weren’t more surprised about this. Then gain, considering all they have been through… He began shifting, reducing in size, taking a more humane form, scanty scales on his cheeks and neck and covering the tips of his ears

“Let me guesss. There’ss sssomething you haven’t told usss.” Jay says lightly, tilted his head to the side.

“Yes.” Wu sighed, folding his hands behind his back, a familiar black shape around his neck.

“Uncle.” Lloyd says as he stepped forward, eyes on the small black dragon around his neck. “Tell me is that… My father?” He asked Wu.

“Yes…” Wu responded and Lloyd's breath caught. “But also no.”  He added, confusing him.

“I have been keeping track of my brother and he is very much still on the move. But this dragon also identifies as him. That is the confusing part.” He says as he pulled the dragon from around his neck, said dragon still sulking.

Lloyd looked at it- at him… Before he reached out and took him in hand not missing how this dragon who was also supposed to be his father, was immediately meek in his presence. It must be because he yelled at him...

“Hey…” Lloyd began with a sigh, guiltily rubbing the back of his head with his free hand. “I’m sorry I yelled at you. I know you’re probably mad at dad- er.” Lloyd paused, realising this was going to get about as confusing as their names and the other dragon names were.

“Big dad.” He settled on, glancing over at the larger Garmadon as he walked over to Kai, checking his wings. “About everything but it really wasn’t his fault and he doesn’t have it out for me. I like spending time with him so if you could give him enough of a break to not throw a fit whenever he’s close, I’d appreciate that.” He spoke quietly and the small black dragon that was somehow his father and also not looked up at him with shiny red eyes then across at the larger other worldly version of himself...

He then gave small, grumbling squeaks but then crawled his way around his favorite spot on Lloyd’s neck, rubbing his small head against his cheek and Lloyd chuckled, taking it that he forgives him and will cut Big Dad some slack.

“So what do we do now?” Lloyd asked, looking to his uncle.

“I’ll have to track down my brother and bring him here to see if we can solve this mystery.” Wu told him, stroking his beard. “That is a task easier said than done.” He added, folding his arms behind his back.

“We’ll keep an eye out on these big guys while you’re gone and if anything comes up in Ninjago City, we can take care of it in teams.” Cole grinned from his place atop his alternate self who was helping himself to the food, the lower levels of dragon already receiving their share.

“Speaking of, we should probably get in touch with Pixal. She’s been holding the fort down in New Ninjago City but she’s still waiting for an update from us.” Nya spoke up.

“I wonder if no-one isss assking why he hid it after what happened with Kai and Lloyd becausse you’re all blissssfully ignorant or if you all figured you won’t get a ssstraight ansswer.” Jay spoke up from where he was sitting cross legged near an exist, his eyes almost glowing in the diminishing light of day, making him look downright sinister.

It had Wu pausing for a moment.

‘Well now that Jay mentioned it, I am a bit curious…” Kai says from his place on his back, Garmadon- er.

Big Dad being thorough in checking him now that movement didn’t hurt too much. Wu sighed then.

“It was for my protection.” He told them and that bit was surprising. “Unlike my brother, I was born with these draconic genes already awakened. My father was fine with them, but had started to fear for my safety as humanity began to thrive. He couldn’t save the few dragos that lived in ninjago at that time but he could save me. So he bound my ability to shift and appear draconic so I would appear as an average human. I had the power to break it if I chose but if I so ever did, I would not have the ability to fully hide these traits of mine ever again as the process to do so is…”  Wu glanced at Lloyd.

“Very harmful.” He finished.

“So why not inform Lloyd of that? You could have done so without revealing yourself in this way.” Zane pointed out.

“... Simply because I did not know of his ability to change either. I had not expected him to inherit his father’s genes in this way, nor did I sense it. With my binding, I also lacked the ability to sense and communicate with my kin and Oni alike.” He explained.

“Cool but like all the times before, a lot of trouble could have been avoided if you had told us at some point.” Nya pointed out. “We should keep something totally major a secret until the last second and see how you like it.” She huffed.

‘The lesson here is to learn from your masters’ mistakes, not follow in their footsteps.’ Garmadon rumbled nearby as he sat, satisfied with his check up on Kai, deeming him a whole dragon, not missing anything nor having anything in addition to that.

Which meant he should be able to fly and use his powers without trouble though he will have to relearn how to fly with the new shift in his weight. His wings had the muscle for it so he doesn’t need to build any up. But it would still be a solid day before he would be ok with letting him fly however.

“He’s right. Considering our line of work, keeping secrets won’t be the best thing.” Zane nodded, his vice dry.

“Well, today was eventful.” Cole says with a stretch his wings and tail mimicked.

“Tell me about it.” Lloyd says dryly, stroking his father’s head with a finger. “I’m beat.” He sighs, knowing it was early still but the emotional rollercoaster that was today wore him out.

“... Ssso.” Jay spoke up, wondering if other Jay’s team had always been this oblivious, and if so, how do they managed to keep saving Ninjago on repeat. “No-one isss going to quesstion how Garmadon undersstood usss?” He asked them and they stared at him collectively, before staring up at Garmadon.

“This day just keeps getting interesting, huh?” Nya says dryly.

_____________

(God it’s been ages and I’m so sorry but I’m back! The sad times had me p badly, you know? But me aside I’m definitely gonna think up some new names for the dragons because this is gonna get confusing quick. And Big Dad is only temporary It’s too close to big daddy and that makes me cringe so hard i can see my intestines. I’m gonna try for another chapter for today while the writing gods favor me. Thanks for reading!)

[afandomroom]

Partners in Crime: Morro's Story

Note: This takes place after the events of Styx and is the story of how Morro eventually ends up joining Sage, Asher, and Marion.

Warning: angsty (?)

He woke with a sharp gasp, strong gusts of winds flowing around him. He felt numb, and the world was blurry…where was he? Why…why couldn’t he move? The winds grew harsher as his breathing quickened. He was frozen, paralyzed! He opened his mouth to try and call out…only to find that his mouth wouldn’t open. This only made his panic worse, as he continued to try and fight the stillness of his being. After a moment, he tried relaxing; hoping that a clear head would help him snap out of…whatever was going on. He closed his eyes, trying to slow his breathing. The wind died down, and for a moment, he thought he could move his fingers. The price of this movement was a dagger-like pain that shot through his body. His eyes shot open, another sharp gasp escaping. Slowly, he could feel his senses returning as the pain burned. The world around him was blurred as tears pricked his eyes. He released a shaky breath, one he wasn’t aware he had been holding, as he prepared for the inevitable sting that would come from the tears. To his surprise, nothing happened. “Wh-“He grimaced; talking was apparently a bad idea, based on how his throat was now burning.  Taking a moment, he blinked more tears from his eyes as the pain slowly faded. Slowly, he reached his hands to his now clear field of vision. They weren’t green...he couldn’t see through them! If he hadn’t just cried, he knew there would have been tears of joy, as he looked upon his now-human hands. He was human again! Human! No… This wasn’t right… He slowly sat up as all his memories came rushing forward. He had brought destruction, he had harmed people…he had chosen to be dragged under those torturous waves...He had chosen his fate, so why was he back? Morro felt his temper boil, as he slammed a fist into the ground, causing a force of wind to explode. How dare he? How dare his grandfather bring Morro back? He had made his choice, he had finally had a say in his destiny! And that was stolen from him, just like it had been so many years ago… He curled up, a shaky, tear filled breath escaping “W-why..?” ___________________________________________________________________________________

Admittedly, Morro should have expected the villages to hate him. After everything he had done, they had every right to. The first time Morro had been chased from a village, he’d been confused and terrified. The second time, he understood why, but had still hoped he would go unnoticed. It wasn’t until the third time that the dark eyed man had started falling back on a mix between ninja and street kid instincts. He’d started using hoodies to hide his face, keeping his head low, and even going as far as to dye his green stripe black. He almost regretted doing that, it felt like he’d hidden a special part of him. Something unique that was his and his alone. It was lonely, the life he was living. Maybe someone like him should have been used to being alone…yet he found himself missing the company of his ghost generals…and the company of his fath- Sensei’s students when he was a child. Sometimes, Morro considered going back to the monastery. He considered taking up his Sensei’s offer when the Preeminent attacked. He could be a part of a family again, continue his training and fully become a ninja…maybe he could start helping people. But then he remembered what he’d done to Lloyd. He remembered every moment of it, reliving everything he’d done through his head over and over again. And he knew…he knew they’d never let him try and prove himself. But he wasn’t going to completely give up on himself. Morro was a lot of things, a quitter not being one. He’d taken up meditating, and tried to help people he saw that were in trouble on the streets…or the best he could without revealing his identity and scaring the people he was saving. He knew what he was doing wasn’t much…but at least it was a start. ____________________________________________________________________________________ Morro breathed heavily, covering his mouth with a gloved hand as he watched from the shadows for the men that had been chasing him. It had been a simple slip up. The guys had tried to mug him, before recognizing his face. Morro had knocked a couple of them down with his element before trying to run off, but they’d been close on his tail. In his panic, he hadn’t thought to find a hiding spot or fight back; he just knew he needed to run. Thank goodness for the strange woman who’d seen his situation and dragged him into a darker alley, pushing him behind her. He was taller than her, so she hadn’t shielded much of him, but the sentiment was there. The guys had finally passed them, and after the young woman had poked her head out, walking around for a moment to check for any threats, she turned to him with a concerned expression. Her silver eyes seemed to be searching his face, but she wasn’t freaking out, simply observing him. “Are you ok?” He admitted, her voice had startled him. It was soft, and gentle…he just hadn’t been expecting her to actually talk to him. “Y-yes…I’m fine. Thank you, for...helping me, Ms…?” “Baker, Mei Baker” The young woman extended a hand, a warm smile growing. Morro had to admit, while he was wary of strangers…something about her seemed safe, and comforting. He gently took her hand, giving it a firm shake. “Thank you, Ms. Baker….I’d…introduce myself, but...I assume you already know who I am” He shuffled slightly, mentally preparing himself for “Mei” to be lulling him into a false sense of security. “I do…and I get the feeling that you’re no longer the threat you were years prior...am I correct?” He blinked “I-I….yes, I’m trying to change...I don’t…I can’t…how do you?” “You could have easily taken those men out instead of letting them chase you. Doesn’t seem like something a villain would do to me. Also…while I’ve never tried to summon another realm or possess a ninja, I’ve….done some things I’m not proud of...So, I suppose you could say I understand where you may be coming from?” Morro just nodded, not sure how to respond. What could she have done? He knew he had no right to pry….but at least she didn’t seem to be a threat at the moment… After some silence, “Mei” glanced around to check for the gang, before looking up at him. “Do you have a safe place to stay at?” Alright…that had set off a few red flags. Why would she want to know where he lived? Not that he was living anywhere… “No. Can’t really get an apartment, let alone a job.” The dark haired woman chewed on her lip a moment, seemingly debating something. “My brothers and I…we’re living in an apartment on the eastern end of town. We’ll probably only be there for a few more weeks, but if you want, you can come join us.” Before Morro could deny, or ask about a catch, “Mei” had written an address on a piece of paper and shoved it into Morro’s hands. “At least consider the offer, ok?” She then ran off, scaling up a ladder on the side of a building and leaping onto its roof. Morro stared after her, before looking at the paper in his hands. It felt too good to be true. But having a home, even for a few days, was almost too good to resist.

To be continued

[belliesandburps]

How about a quickie of Hakari doing some capacity training with watermelons?

“Ummm, what the hell’re you doin’, dude...?” Nara asked with confusion as the young mercenary scratched the back of her head with confusion.  “If ya wanna get yer fiber, we got oatmeal in the camp, so-”

Hakari sighed and shook his head.  “This isn’t for nourishment, Nara.  I’m training,” Hakari insisted as he laid about four rather sizeable watermelons before him.

“To do what, be a ninja-fied Gallaghar?  You know that dude turned out to be a giant piece’uh shit, right?”

Hakari rested his eyes shut and said, “I have no clue who that is, so I will take your word for it.  At any rate, no, this is capacity training.  I may not digest my prey the way my brethren did, but I DO still need to ensure my capacity for consuming prey doesn’t wane.”

“Why?  You said it yerself, ya don’t eat people the way the others do.”

“True, but potential targets don’t know that.  And fear can be a very effective motivator to cooperate, or to be scared out of doing something terrible,” Hakari corrected.  Then, more to himself, he added, “...That their squirming isn’t entirely unpleasant doesn’t hurt either...”

“But don’tcha hafta be in like, umm, yer big burly snake-dude form to eat people?”

“We train in this form because while our capacity is limited, enduring like this translates to my true self in a big way,” Hakari explained.  “It’s hard to explain, but because my muscles are more restrictive and tenser in this form, when I shift into my true form, the impact is more exponential.  Do you understand what I’m saying?”

Nara blinked a few times, then held up a finger and said, “...I’mma say ‘yes’...?”

“...Is that true?” Hakari asked, not remotely convinced.

“......I’mma say...nah...”

All Hakari could do was sigh to himself once again.  He tended to do that with Nara a lot.  Still, her company was always very welcome, as she was one of the few mercenaries at the camp not deterred by Hakari’s more stoic, introverted demeanor. 

Then, Hakari pulled his mask down, revealing his soft, youthful face and thin, small lips.  Across his cheeks were camel-brown scales, making them and his black eyes with green, snake-like irises the only parts of him that truly appeared inhuman.  He took a breath, revealing the other part of him that wasn’t human, a mouth full of fangs instead of teeth, and a long, snake-like tongue. 

The young Saurian took a breath, composing himself.  Then, he grabbed a melon and held it up to his mouth.  For someone with lips so small, the young ninja proceeded to practically unhinge his jaw, revealing his MANY fangs as his long tongue lathered the watermelon up.  Then, with his eyes clenched shut.  Hakari slowly pushed the melon into his mouth.  Nara never ceased to be amazed by the sight of the teenage ninja eating.  For someone so composed and well-mannered, he could eat enough to put the entire camp to shame, and despite his reserved personality and small mouth, his inhuman features became all the more glaring as his mouth stretched far enough to engulf the entire melon.

Slowly but surely, Hakari forced more of the long watermelon into his mouth, without ever once chomping down.  THAT was the hardest part.  It was in Hakari’s nature to chew his food when it was inanimate.  But he had to devour the watermelon like he would a resistant target, swallowing them whole and doing his best not to let his fangs harm the person, since he fully intended to let them out afterwards.  To accommodate, Hakari’s jaw expanded just a little wider.  He could feel his jawbone creaking somewhat, which always hurt, causing his already clenched eyes to clench even harder with discomfort.  

Still, Hakari had endurance and willpower to spare.  He continued gradually forcing more of the watermelon down his throat, causing his normally slender neck to bulge out obscenely, stretching to the point where a clear imprint of the watermelon could be seen slowly sliding down Hakari’s throat.  Hakari couldn’t even properly gulp with how his esophagus was being blocked off.  A low, wet sounding squelching sound emitted from his throat as tiny swallows rapidly emitted one after the other.  Hakari’s head bobbed in and out repeatedly as he tried to work the melon down as best he could. 

His armor-clad chest pushed out noticeably as the watermelon began to steadily push past his collarbone and began to force itself past his chest and oh so slowly enter his stomach.  The more Hakari slowly pushed the watermelon down his throat and swallowed again and again, the more it began to fill him up.  Hakari’s bare, normally concave, athletic-looking stomach began to steadily push out.  His abs thinned out as his belly expanded, until his abs were nowhere to be seen.  The concave shape of Hakari’s belly flattened, then had a rounded, protruding edge to it.  One that only grew larger the more the melon was worked down.

Until finally, enough of it was forced down Hakari’s throat that he could finally gulp, and with one especially thick and wet-sounding gulp...

*GLLL-GLLLUUUUUUUUUUULLLCK!!*

The watermelon had been fully consumed, weighing heavily on Hakari’s bloated, very rounded belly.  Hakari huffed and panted breathlessly as he sat down on his rump, resting his back against a tree, desperately catching his breath as he wiped trails of slimy saliva from the corners of his maw and chin.  His belly looked painfully bloated; skin taut and stretched out, stomach gurgling like crazy with such a heavy mass just festering inside of him. 

Nara just whistled, clearly impressed as she clapped her fingerless gloved hands with amusement and said, “Bravo!  Ha!  Eat’cher heart out, Discovery Channel!”

Hakari was too unbearably winded to respond.  He just sat there, desperate to catch his breath as he tenderly rubbed his aching belly with one hand and brought the other to his mouth, when he felt a burp coming up his throat.

“Hurr-BrruUuuUuUuh-UUUUUUUUUUUPHH!!!

Hakari belched deeply behind his fist.  It was a deep, wet-sounding belch, one that broke off for a fraction of a second, before picking up, heftier sounding by the end.  When it ended, his scaly cheeks darkened and he grunted to himself.

“Urgh, pardon me,” Hakari apologized, voice strained as he continued rubbing his aching gut.

Nara just snickered and plopped down next to Hakari.  “Man, it’s crazy how much you can pack away, Ninja Turtle!”

“...Urf...I’m not a turtle,” Hakari grumbled.  He’d be more annoyed if training weren’t so grueling.  In his human form, Hakari could eat enough to put anyone to shame and usually sported a nice and bloated belly after each feeding frenzy as well.  However, there was a distinct difference between pigging out and one lengthy, grueling swallow where such a heavy, singular object just sat in his gut.  In his true form, he could endure with ease.  But even as a Saurian, his ‘human’ form had its limits. 

“So, when’re ya gonna do the other three?” Nara asked.

Hakari grimaced, holding a fist to his mouth as he just barely managed to hold back another burp he felt rising up his gullet, then swallowed down, making him grimace again when his gut gurgled unpleasantly in response.  “Guh, mph, shortly.  I need to keep this one down for at least ten minutes before I can get to work on the next...”

“...You ain’t gonna swallow them all whole at once, are ya?”

Hakari’s face almost went green at the prospect.  He shook his head a little more assertively and said, “...N-No.  Part of training which is NOT what my brethren endure...is regurgitating my prey back up.  That requires making sure I don’t crush them on their way up or accidentally bite into them...”

"...That...sounds like it’s gonna suck...” Nara admitted.

Hakari groaned miserably and said, “...Most certainly...but if I must endure so my target is unharmed, then so be it...”

Nara shook her head, leaning against Hakari’s toned torso, then gently, she rested her hand against the taut, drum-tight stomach and began to steadily rub Hakari’s bloated belly in slow, circular motions.  Almost immediately, the young ninja shuddered with delight as he rested his eyes shut, sighed and arched his back a little, causing his rounded belly to protrude outward even more.  Nara stroked Hakari’s aching belly all over, and kneading into it.  There was absolutely no give whatsoever.  It was tight as a rock.

Nara was amazed that he could pack away so much in this form, and continued digging her fingers into his tight, toned flesh.  She was trying to undo the knots and relax the ache in his stomach as best she could.  But even as she rubbed, she was a little bewildered...

“I ain’t never seen someone go against their own nature the way ya do fer what’cha think is right,” Nara remarked in a hard to read sort of tone before adding, “...but is it really worth it?”

Strained as Hakari was, he slowly glanced back at Nara with one brow raised. 

“...I mean, let’s be real; we both know some dudes’re just rotten to the core.  Literally every other person at this camp has taken a life at some point or other, present company included,” Nara remarked.  The last part of her sentence was said in a way that almost sounded like there was a slight tinge of guilt attached, but nothing that truly weighed on her in a crippling sort of manner.  “Why put yerself through all this fuss, man?”

Hakari groaned as his belly emitted a deep churning sound, making him recoil a bit.  He held a hand to his mouth for a moment, but when it passed, he huffed and removed it before answering Nara’s question.  “I understand why a mercenary would find it strange...as a ninja, I do as well.  Urgh, mph, the reason is simple...mph, I love life...and the idea of any creature being on this earth...then not being on this earth...because of me...no matter how deserving, I just...I cannot justify to myself being able to take that light out of a persons being.  Putrid as their souls may be, they are not mine to purge from this world...”

“...And how d’ya feel ‘bout people who HAVE...purged souls from this world...?” Nara asked, sounding just slightly nervous.

Hakari turned to her and despite his discomfort, managed a soft smile. 

“...You know I would never judge you.  You’re my friend after all...and I know that heart of yours is as big as your...” Hakari’s smile trailed off slightly as he sighed and had a slightly annoyed look on his face.  “...Ugh, as big as your quote unquote ‘sense of humor’...”

Hearing that warmed Nara’s heart, but the last part put her mind at ease and made her grin wickedly.  “Ya mean my Machiavellian GENIUS?”  She insisted.

“...I believe I’m going to go with noOOoOOOORRRP!!!!”  Hakari attempted to respond, calling back to Nara’s earlier comments.  Unfortunately, he ended up accidentally belching out the last part of his sentence, making his eyes go wide and his cheeks burning bright red.  He immediately covered his mouth, eyes wide as saucers.

Nara blinked, then burst into a fit of hysterical laughter. 

Hakari just sat there, blushing profusely.  And, mouth still covered with his hands, he muttered to himself, “...This is why ninjas prefer to train WITHOUT an audience...”

[tmnthpdisneyjurassicpark-blog]

Meeting Raph

Warning: Swearing and Major Character Injury

Pounding heart, pounding feet, that's all Raphael could focus on in his blinding rage.

It wasn't a good day, to say the least.

It started when he woke up this morning to having Splinter chew him out for being out late with Casey the night previous. As furious as he was with his father, he had enough control to take it out on his old punching bag instead.

Bang!

Damn I ain't a kid anymore! I knew what I was doin'!

Bang!

Why does Masta Splinta gotta be up in ma shell?! Does he think I'm not good 'nuff or somethin'?

Bang!

I CAN HANDLE MASELF!

With every one of these intrusive thoughts whispering against Raph's ear, the angrier he got. It wasn't until a gentle hand landed on his shoulder that he realized he wasn't alone.

Swinging a fist out in retaliation, the figure darted back to avoid being pummeled.

When his vision cleared, Raph saw Leo was trying to get his attention.

"Easy Raph, it's just me." Leo called out softly.

Typically, Raph would snap back a remark to get Leo to leave him alone, that he didn't give a rat's ass what was happening, just to have Leo back off.

But something was different with Leo this time around. Something in his brother's eyes scared Raph, like the ocean he often saw in the leader's eyes turned into a hurricane of emotion.

Immediately Raph's anger stifled.

"Leo, what's goin' on? What's wrong?" Raph responded in his heavy accent.

"It-it's Casey, Raph. He's in the hospital." Leo spoke in a low voice, keeping eye contact with Raph.

Pure rage flared in Raphael once more.

"WHAT?!"

"April and Don found him surrounded by the foot, Karai leading the ambush. She knew Casey is close to us and was trying to get information out of him. Don was able to take the remaining foot down while April rushed him to the hospital in the Shellraiser. They-" Leo paused, biting his lip. He seemed to be struggling with giving Raph the harsh truth.

He blinked tears out of his eyes and Raph tensed. It took alot to make Leo cry, the leader often internalizing his own emotions for the sake of his brothers. For Leo to be this shaken, things couldn't be good.

Leo continued, placing a reassuring hand on his younger brother's shoulder, stealing himself enough to talk.

"They don't think he's going to make it."

Like taking a physical punch to the stomach, Raph doubled over. His legs were shaking, his heart racing in frustration, shock, heartbreak and fury.

His best friend got hurt, and he wasn't able to save him.

It's all ma fault! I shoulda walked 'im home! He said he was fine! I shoulda known!

Now he's gonna die and....and it's all...

ALL MA FAULT!

Raph felt the tears run down his cheeks. He was barely aware of turning and taking off through the sewers.

He heard his family calling his name, telling him to stop and chasing after him.

He didn't care.

All he could see was red.

He would kill the damn bitch for what she's done if it was the last thing he'd ever do.

"RAPHAEL WAIT! THEY'RE TRACKING US!" Don's voice boomed out.

Raph didn't stop. He didn't care. Let them try. I just meant he got to fulfill his promise even sooner.

"RAPH WAIT! THEY'LL HURT YOU!" Mikey cried out, right on Raph's heals. Enraged, Raph took a sharp right and Mikey was left skidding, trying to regain his footing and his balance.

Raph could see the manhole cover now, not even three feet infront of him.

"RAPH AS YOUR LEADER I ORDER FOR YOU TO STOP!" Leo's voice rang in the sewer, but all Raph could hear was the blood rushing in his ears.

He broke through.

The manhole popped and fell to the side with an audible crash to the left. Before it could hit the ground, Raph had scaled the building and was jumping onto the next roof.

He was running. Running towards Foot Headquarters. To end them once in for all.

He was vaguely aware of how sinister it sounded and he knew he wasn't acting like himself.

He didn't care.

The sound of thunder boomed overhead.

Raph didn't stop.

Lighting crashed behind him. It only furthered his adrenaline.

"HELP! HELP ME!"

At the sound of a scream, Raph stopped in his tracks.

It was like the voice had snapped him back into focus, he needed to find the source of the voice before it was too late.

His pounding heart slowed and in the moment, only one thought became clear.

I can't let anyone else get hurt 'caz of meh. I failed Casey, I ain't gonna let anyone else get hurt.

Another scream and Raph was taking off towards the left, trying to see who was danger.

A few buildings down and he saw her.

Standing there, wet (h/c) hair a dirty and tangled mess, you stood there holding onto a gun and aiming it at the ninjas, a fallen officer bleeding out by your feet.

You were wearing a red sweater and a black skirt that was soaking in the rain. Your (e/c) eyes were wide with fear.

"Stay back!" You roared in a voice louder than Raph thought was human.

The black ninjas parted to reveal a lean female, dressed in silver armor, carrying a katana glistening with blood. She had dark, black almond eyes with fair skin, her smile as deadly as the blade in her hands.

Karai.

It took all of Raph's self control not to jump down there and kill the foot that instant. He knew he needed to plan the moment right, otherwise you might not make it out of there alive.

"Y/N, was it?" Karai drawled, making you shiver.

"If you want to kill me get on with it. You know I'm not going down without a fight!" You snapped, eyes blazing with a fire Raph didn't expect. It was the same fire he saw in his own reflection everyday.

Karai laughed.

"You idiot. If I wanted you dead, I would have already killed you." She hissed, taking a menacing step forward.

You stepped back, raising the gun.

"THEN WHAT DO YOU WANT?!" You roared, acting tough despite your shaking hands.

"Your help. Or rather, your fathers. I wonder what he would give up to see his pretty little girl come home safe." As the words left Karai's mouth, the ninja's made their move towards you.

Now.

Just as Raph jumped off the building, you pulled the trigger. The bullet buried itself in Karai's arm, who screamed in pain.

Raph took the opportunity to slash her with his sai. She saw the move coming and tried to block it, but not before a shallow cut was made against her throat.

Gasping in pain, she stumbled back as Raph pummelled the other ninja's that were trying to make their way towards you.

"Retreat!" Karai rasped out.

The ninja's picked up their leader off the ground and took off, but not without throwing a few shuriken your way.

"Look out!" Raph yelled as he ran towards you, using his body to shield you from the projectiles.

Wrapped up in his arms, you took a good look at your hero, the figure that was so fast that you hadn't the opportunity to see him before.

You heard him cry out.

The final shuriken had buried itself in his leg.

He fell to the ground with a heavy thump, the shuriken digging into his green flesh.

You didn't think twice.

Rushing to his side, you took off your sweater and ripped it, tying it around the wound to stop the bleeding. Now, in your black tank top, you reached into your bag and brought out your first aid kit, pulling out antiseptic wipes.

"This is going to hurt," You warn him.

He couldn't keep his eyes off you. You, a human, who just saw an officer die before your very eyes, was threatened to be held hostage and shot a goddamn gun was suddenly helping out a giant mutant ninja turtle without a second thought.

Raph felt his heart soar.

The application of the antiseptic has the terrapin hissing in pain. You winced at the sound but then proceeded to pull out medical needle and string.

As you threaded the needle, Raph found it in himself to ask you a single question.

"Why aren't ya afraid of me?" He called out in a hoarse whisper.

You cocked an eyebrow up, eyes never leaving from your task.

"I'm a nurse. I have seen much worse. But I must admit, this has has to be one of the strangest cases I had. Top five for sure."

Raph gave you a low laugh and you smiled to yourself. You considered it a personal win if you could make your patients laugh.

Your eyes finally met his and you gasped.

Golden irises burned into yours, with a passion so fierce it seemed to pull at your very soul.

You couldn't look away. Neither could he.

"My name's Y/N." You said, a little breathless.

Raph smiled.

"I'm Raphael."

@midnightrebel669

Note: Casey survived :)

[jbuffyangel]

The North Star: Arrow 7x08 Review (Unmasked)

Well I wasn’t expecting this that’s for sure. I’m not listening to reviewers with screeners anymore. Their descriptions of the episode are almost identical, but inevitably whatever episode they watched is not the one I watched.  I’m starting to wonder if reviewers are paid for writing agreed upon talking points. Then again I might just be moody.

“Unmasked” has a lot of good stuff. It also has a lot of bad stuff. And then there’s the WTF stuff.

Let’s dig in…

Olicity

Before I dive into our faves, I wanted to clarify a few things. I’ve been noticing some push back online about the phrase “dark spiral” in terms of discussing Felicity’s current arc. The general complaint seems to be when Oliver does whatever it takes to protect his family he is called a hero, but when Felicity does the same thing it’s called a dark spiral. Therefore, there are some misogynistic connotations using this term regarding Felicity’s arc. Since I am someone who frequently uses dark and light terminology to describe our characters I thought I should address this.

Dark spiral does not mean evil to me. It means a moral crisis. Every hero, at one point or another, goes through a moral crisis where they reexamine how they look at the world. This is typically brought on by trauma, loss, anger, grief, etc. This means the hero is not in the best emotional place to be making moral judgments. 

Please note I am using the word hero. A character does not stop being a hero simply because they are going through a dark spiral. The hero doesn’t suddenly become a villain because they are crossing some lines to get the job done.

Light and dark are terms to represent the best part of ourselves and the worst. We all have light and dark in us. We all have the ability to make wonderful, righteous, selfless and virtuous choices. This is the light. We all have the ability to make bad, questionable, uncompassionate and immoral choices. This is the dark. 

It doesn’t matter if you are male or female; we all have these opposing sides in us. We all have the space between light and dark, the shadows, or white and black, the grey, where our morality and choices are not clear cut. This is what it means to be human.

I don’t describe what villains do as darkness either. Damien Darhk, Ra’s Al Ghul and Diaz are evil. Can our darkness lead to evil? Yes, this is why we must be vigilant about it. However, Oliver Queen, Felicity Smoak and John Diggle aren’t going to become the villains in this story. They are the heroes who will sometimes experience a moral crisis and make questionable choices.

Oliver Queen is a character who consistently makes questionable choices and whenever he does I call it darkness. It doesn’t mean Oliver stopped being a hero. More often than not, his intentions are very good and he has a moral justification for his decisions. The problem is we can justify just about anything, which is why it is important to have some kind of moral code. This isn’t a standard I merely hold fictional superheroes to. It is one I hold myself to.

Arrow is being extremely sloppy about the kinds of situations they are putting their characters in, particularly Felicity. They are conflating very different scenarios into the same scenario and then saying it requires same response. This could not be further from the truth.

There is a very big difference between self defense and murder. If Felicity had to kill Diaz after he broke into her apartment, while in witness protection, then it would be self defense. It would be a completely necessary and reasonable decision. Felicity absolutely has the right to protect herself and her child.

However, killing Diaz when he’s unarmed, handcuffed, and in protective custody is not okay with me. That wasn’t about self defense. That was about retribution. Felicity wanted to take Diaz’s life because he took hers. That is murder.

I apply the same morality with Oliver Queen. Oliver had to kill Ra’s Al Ghul when they fought on the mountain. He couldn’t work out an agreement over Sarah’s death over tea with Ra’s Al Ghul. However, I had an issue with Oliver killing a de-magicked Damien Darhk. Yes, I know he killed thousands with a nuke. Yes, I know he was only de-magicked because the city imbued Oliver with hope and he was able to repel Damien’s powers.

However, there’s the rub. There was another way to stop Damien short of killing him. Would Oliver have to think outside the box a bit? Yes, but my frustration with Arrow is they never allow Oliver those types of outs, even though Barry Allen is given multiple options to avoid killing the villain. It’s always about killing or not killing with Oliver.  He couldn’t even use the friggin underground prison he had on Lian Yu. This is one of the reasons I am very excited about Arrow giving Oliver the option of the justice system.

Every Big Bad deserves to die. They are all horrible, evil people, who murder innocents, have unstoppable ninja skills, magic, super strength, armies, a city under their control, and the ability to escape from prison. So why does Slade Wilson get to live? Why does Malcolm Merlyn? Oliver is making emotional decisions when he’s choosing whether or not to end someone’s life. This is why he picks up and sets down his no killing vow as it suits him. That’s not having a moral code. I’m not losing sleep over any of these bad guys dying, but it doesn’t mean I agree with the decisions. Nor does it mean I believe this is the kind of hero Oliver Queen should be.

There have been several times Felicity Smoak is acting in self defense and that is perfectly acceptable. There are other times she is making the same moral judgments I disagreed with Oliver over and I’m going to call her on it even though it is Felicity. Am I saying I don’t like Felicity or believe she’s a bad person who has gone all evil? No, absolutely not. 

This is part of the hero evolution process and Felicity Smoak is as much of a hero as Oliver Queen. This is why exploring a darker arc is vitally important. Is Felicity morally justified in some of these more questionable choices? Yes, but simply because you can morally justify a choice doesn’t automatically make the choice morally right. I also hold Oliver, Felicity and Diggle to a higher standard than I do a regular Joe because they are heroes.

I also recognize killing a villain is not the same as killing an innocent person. Let’s say Felicity killed Diaz while he was in police custody. This is not the same as Bl*ck S*ren murdering a bunch of innocent people. If a hero kills a villain it doesn’t automatically make the hero a villain. If I believed Oliver Queen was a bad person because he killed bad people then I wouldn’t have watched the show. I recognize Oliver’s heroism when he’s making decisions nobody is willing to make and accepting the responsibility for those choices.  

However, I don’t believe killing is right. There are very few circumstances where I believe killing is justified. This is just my personal morality. It doesn’t have to be yours. However, I am applying the same morality to Felicity I apply to Oliver. I am going to keep describing it in the same terminology as well.  So, I hope this clears up any confusion regarding my meaning behind dark, light, dark spiral and my general view on morality in regards to Arrow.

Okay. Enough of this. Let’s talk about the sex.

To be honest, it was a letdown. 

We started out so good. 

We were micro inches away from shower sex y’all! But Oliver goes into full prison PTSD mode. 

Source:  oliverfelicitygifs

He pulls the shower curtain back to reveal a startled, but silky robe clad Felicity Smoak. She was about to hop in the shower with him. Nobody can tell me different. I know my truth.

Oliver is available to zip up her dress though. ( I want you to zip it down you big pine tree. We really should be united on this. I am shocked I have to explain it to you.)

Felicity leans into his touch as he slowly zips the dress up. 

She rests her head back against his chest and broad shoulders and feels the warmth of his breath as he whispers in her ear.

This is what she missed. Not simply having someone around to help with her dress, but the physical reassurance she is not alone. 

Felicity can finally lean against the man she loves, take comfort in the strength of his arms, and find reassurance in his soft, gentle voice. The voice meant only for her. 

There’s no more glass separating them. Felicity can touch Oliver again. He’s real. Her husband is home.

Source:  oliverfelicitygifs

Oliver tries to wiggle out of going to the fundraiser being held in his honor. 

He’s clearly nervous about seeing his friends and citizens of Star City post prison. Oliver is quieter, softer, reserved and more withdrawn after his violent life at Slabslide. He’s gingerly dipping his toe back into the water, unsure of his next steps, like a child walking into the ocean for the first time. Oliver has returned from yet another island. After seven months, everything that was once familiar is now unrecognizable.

Source: andjustforthismoment 

Everything except Felicity… or so he thinks. She still believes in him, even if Oliver is uncertain. He knows the people of Star City are angry with him. He feels apprehensive because Oliver also understands they have a right to be. 

Star City citizen’s can clock a 2 on an angry scale of 1-10, due to the inordinate amount of times Oliver Queen/Green Arrow saved them from mass destruction and certain death. Not to be a stickler on the maths, but facts are facts. At least the ungrateful twats are publicly recognizing Oliver as a hero. I’m still waiting on the key to the city though (side eyes B*rry All*n bitterly). 

However, Felicity explains this is finally Oliver’s opportunity to show Star City who he truly is without a mask. Oliver may be apprehensive, but Felicity knows once the city sees Oliver for the hero he is they will fall in love with him just like she did.

Source:  oliverfelicitygifs

This is what he missed. Not simply the softness of her skin or the way she looks in that dress, but Felicity’s unwavering unconditional love and belief. 

Oliver could feel it while he was in prison, but it’s very different when she’s kneeling before him and he can stare into her big, blue eyes while holding her hand. There’s no more glass separating them. Oliver can touch Felicity again. She’s real. He is home.

Oliver runs his fingers over her wedding band, the infinite loop reminding him of the promises they made each other one year ago today. Remembering the anniversary is Husband 101, but Felicity is trying to give Oliver time and understanding as he eases his way back into everyday life. So, Felicity is thrilled when Oliver repeats a line from his vows.

Girl, he’s been separated from you for months and you are the literal air he breathes. Anniversary also equals guaranteed sex and it’s been seven months. Oliver ain’t forgettin’ it.

We start out with so much promise. 

Source:  oliverxfelicity

Stephen Amell and Emily Bett Rickards should teach a course on how to kiss on camera. We shall call this course “How to Be Hot 400.” Yes, it’s an upperclassmen course. Sorry freshmen. 

Source:  whoeveryoulovethemost

Oliver takes off his shirt (no invitation needed - thatta boy) and Felicity runs her hands over his chest. 

Source:  oliverxfelicity

Oliver lifts her up into his arms and they fall back onto the bed. Yes, yes… go on.

AND THEN THE CAMERA CUTS AWAY. 

We didn’t even get that great of a shot in the mirror’s reflection. 

Source: oliverxfelicity

I’ll take a lower half shot if Oliver is getting handsy, but there’s no handsy. WHERE’S THE HANDSY? It’s been seven months. He should be migrating to the glorious Felicity Smoak arse in record time. The dress should be off by now. I should see it fly across the room in the mirrored reflection as Oliver moves other… places. I won’t get into too much detail. I’m a lady.

Listen, I’m a nice person. I deserve nice things. We waited a year and a half for a shirtless 15 second make out session??? 

We didn’t get post nuptial sex and now they shorted us on anniversary sex. 

 I demand angry sex as recompense.

At least they had the common sense to include some dirty innuendo. 

Source:  oliverfelicitygifs

Hehehe. Oh, we all know your first meal, big fella. Say no more. Wait, isn’t a double double four? WELL DONE SIR. 

Felicity, girl you deserve it.

Every time Oliver returns home from an island there is the inevitable mob of aggressive reporters and cameras. One of the loneliest scenes in Season 1 is watching Oliver fight through it on his own. 

Source:  hollandrooden

Now Oliver has Felicity and she not only holds his hand through it, but is his friggin bodyguard to boot. (Yeah, I said what I said Diggle.) 

Ugh, Max Fuller. This douche bag again. Weirdly has not aged a day, so he may be a vampire. 

Source:  oliverfelicitygifs

At least his asshole comments provide an opportunity for Felicity to mark her territory and that never gets old. 

Source:  felicitysmoakgifs

No, Oliver was not the marrying type until he met this genius, funny, warm, insightful, bullshit detecting, red pen-chewing, blonde sunshine and then all he wanted was to have lots of sex and babies with her. Catch up Fuller.

Bl*ck S*ren swings by to keep up appearances and Lyla asks in a not so hushed tone, “Are we friends with her now?” 

This cracks me up any time any character says it. I’m comfortable with the classification of frenemy. Bl*ck S*ren is the Cordelia Chase of Team Arrow. You know, if Cordelia was a murderer. Scratch that. Bl*ck S*ren is the Spike.

Felicity reminds everyone the only person who actually helped her get Oliver out of prison was BS. 

Oliver for his part tries to be gracious and thank her. 

Bl*ck S*ren’s response is a back handed compliment, but it reveals an uneasiness between Oliver and Felicity not even four orgasms can fix. 

Source: katie-mcgraths

Worth a shot though.

Olicity has the fight we’ve been waiting for after Max Fuller sends one of his goons after Oliver.  First, we need to talk about Felicity’s state of mind. She is clearly traumatized from her experiences with Diaz and as a result is obsessed with security. 

When Curtis asks Felicity what is next she tells everyone she’s building a new security system. It’s her Spidey sense tingling, and not Oliver’s, when she realizes the security system she installed didn’t go off when Oliver entered the apartment. Then, Felicity hides behind her chain linked curtains, which can stop arrows, when the goon breaks into the apartment. And finally, she goes for her gun. 

So, clearly Felicity is experiencing PTSD no different from what we witnessed with Oliver in the shower earlier.

Oliver is handling the situation with the Fuller goon. It’s one guy. Arrow has finally remembered Oliver Queen can take down ten without breaking a sweat. This will not be a problem. Is it taking a minute? Yes, but he’s still Oliver. He dove over counter tops and furniture to throw his body in front of arrows to protect Felicity. He’s got this.

Oliver throws the goon into a wall and he’s essentially down. He begins to question said goon in his big, scary, lower octave, Green Arrow rumble when Felicity joins in with her gun. 

I agree with Oliver’s reaction which is, “What the fuck are you doing?” 

This distracts Oliver for a microsecond and the goon gets up. 

Prosecutable in a court of law? No, the goon broke in. Technically it is self defense, but also whoa babe! Stop shooting suspects!!! 

Let’s holster the happy trigger finger.

Source: oliverfelicitygifs 

Do I feel the use of the gun is necessary in this circumstance? No, Felicity is married to The Terminator. He’s home now and perfectly capable of protecting her from one guy. 

However, this break in is clearly meant to echo the one we saw in the premiere with Diaz. Her security system failed then too. Only she was home alone with a 12 year old boy and Diaz was the one with a gun. All Felicity had to defend herself was a pot of coffee and a poker stick. 

She is literally reliving Diaz’s attack, so Felicity responds to this goon with what she wished she had back then – a gun. It doesn’t matter Oliver is there now because her trauma is triggering this response. 

It’s no different than Oliver with the shower curtain.

Do I think it is madness for Felicity to carry a gun? NO!!!!!!!!!!!! 

Oliver’s response to it drove me nuts. He’s more concerned she has a gun than with how she’s using it. This is missing the forest through the trees.

I don’t have any problem with Felicity carrying a gun. I’ve had a general annoyance with Oliver and Diggle for the past seven years regarding Felicity’s training. They’ve trained her to defend herself somewhat. Is she as physically proficient at self defense as everyone else on Team Arrow? No. Not even close, which I find grossly irresponsible on Oliver’s part. 

While we’re training L*urel, Rene, Dinah and Curtis to be ninjas, Felicity is just sitting at the computer typing. We can’t toss the girl a staff and go a few rounds? Instead, they send her out into the field in high heels and a mini skirt as she uses a stick, laptop, or whatever she can find to defend herself.  Give me a break.

Diggle warned Oliver about this when Felicity joined the team. Oliver’s entire defense strategy for Felicity was HIM.

She didn’t need to know how to fight back the same way other team members did because Oliver always planned on fighting for her. 

He would throw himself in front of any bullet or arrow before he let it touch her. 

It’s romantic, but not very practical. Oliver also never planned on Felicity going into the field as much as she has. As soon as she did he had a responsibility to train her more and he didn’t.

Generally speaking, Oliver has does an extremely good job protecting Felicity. 

He is true to his word.  Oliver always uses his body to shield Felicity from anything coming her way.

Oliver did teach Felicity to defend herself too. 

We’ve seen her defend herself time after time. 

By no means am I saying Felicity Smoak is a damsel in distress.

She was not, however, capable of defeating someone like Ricardo Diaz. Felicity Smoak is the wife of the Green Arrow.  The minute Oliver made that announcement to the world he put a target on her back and then disappeared into his island.

The only defense Felicity has against someone like Diaz, or anyone else with a fighting capability beyond her own, is Oliver. But he was gone. She was alone to defend herself and their son.

The security system Felicity had in witness protection was A.R.G.U.S. and they were completely worthless. What does A.R.G.U.S. do besides screw up? Their big plan was to watch Felicity and William, which equated to a failed security system and taking five minutes to respond when she’s under attack. News flash: it doesn’t actually take that long to kill someone.

It is irresponsible for Felicity not to have some kind of weapon to defend herself with. Oliver, Diggle, Dinah, Rene and L*urel all carried guns, but the minute Felicity does it’s, “GASP. OH NO! SHE’S EVIL.” Talk about your Madonna/Whore complex. She has a gun so she’s a whore! Unbelievable.

I have a problem with how Felicity used the gun. I have no problem with Felicity having a gun. It is just smart.  In the immortal words of Frank Castle, “You still got that hand canon?” Start packing baby girl. Go with God.

But we’re not dealing with Frank Castle. Unfortunately, we’re dealing with Oliver Queen. Who has apparently forgotten all the bullets and arrows he’s pumped into suspects the last decade, because he’s super judgey.

Oliver: Where’d you even get a gun? You’re new best friend Laurel?

Felicity: Of course not. I got it from your ex-best friend Anatoly.

Oliver: You what? I’ve barely been gone seven months and you’ve aligned yourself with two of the most immoral people we know?

Listen, pretty boy. I am glad you’ve found moral enlightenment and are now walking the higher plane, but you’ve been there for all of five minutes. 

Let’s not forget you’ve made an entire career of aligning yourself with the most immoral people on the planet. In fact, you worked with Talia and Turner inside of prison!!! Neither one is exactly a Care Bear. Turner may have some good in him, but he’s also a murderer. So, dial down the moral condemnation.

Thank goodness Felicity is not taking any of Oliver’s crap.

Felicity:  Oliver, you don’t get to judge me.

Oliver: You just shot a man in our living room.

Felicity: Something you’ve done a million times.

What’s frustrating is Oliver isn’t asking the right questions. 

Source:  felicitysmoakgifs

He’s not focusing on the clear trauma Felicity has suffered. He’s not asking why she feels unsafe, what her fears are or how he can help her. It’s all about who Felicity has been working with, which is again, missing the forest through the trees.

I have a real beef with Oliver’s remark, “This isn’t you.” Felicity is going through a dark spiral and is reexamining her morality. However, this concept Felicity is this lily white Virgin Mary character is baffling to me. 

Felicity was already breaking the law as a hacker before she even met Oliver. Then, she signed up with a guy who was dropping bodies regularly and fell in love with him. We aren’t dealing with Rainbow Brite! Felicity’s morality was light years ahead of Oliver’s, but she could reconcile murder and breaking the law for the greater good. That’s a darker skew on morality.

And apparently Oliver has just erased all of Season 5 because he clearly has no recollection of Helix. Maybe one of his head wounds is more serious than I thought and he’s experiencing amnesia. 

Felicity showed she would do whatever was necessary to avenge her boyfriend of five minutes. What did Oliver think she was going to do when her husband and child were threatened? She wasn’t going to Pottery Barn to pick out fabric swatches for the new apartment, Oliver.

Arrow is really focused on Oliver putting people in boxes because he has to learn not to. I get it. However, it’s resulting in some sloppy writing because he’s blatantly ignoring Felicity’s history to keep her on this pedestal. Oliver needs to realize his wife is human. I thought he already realized this in Season 5, but I guess we’re repeating it in Season 7. It’s fine. Hopefully they do a deeper dive on it than they did in Season 5.

Source:  felicitysmoakgifs 

“This is me because of you,”  is the line I’ve been waiting seven months to hear Felicity say. We had a little taste of it when she visited Oliver in prison, but she couldn’t unleash her anger full force because he was in prison. 

Oliver is home now though and it’s time to deal with this. 

Felicity reminds Oliver he destroyed their lives. He left his wife and child to the wolves without even discussing it with her Felicity. I mean, sweet mother of Moses, what did he expect?

Source:  felicitysmoakgifs

Oliver’s response to Felicity’s completely warranted anger pissed me off too. He’s very, “How many more times do I have to apologize for this?” MORE THAN ONCE ASSHOLE.

But Felicity isn’t looking for an apology anymore. What good is an apology at this point? What’s done is done. 

Source:  felicitysmoakgifs

Oliver’s actions have consequences. He continually lies and believes an apology will somehow be a magic wand erasing all the damage he’s done. Marriage doesn’t work like that. Life doesn’t work like that.

I just had this fight with my husband, which is why I respond so much to Felicity in “Unmasked.” She is saying very similar things I said to my husband. Believing you are not going to impact each other’s personalities over the years is naive. You can’t continue the same hurtful behavior and expect it not to change who your partner is.

Felicity has told Oliver several times she feels abandoned when he makes decisions without her. This behavior hits Felicity where it hurts. This is her greatest fear. Her pain is raw and exposed. Yet, Oliver continues to make decisions without consulting her. I don’t even think he checked with her before going back out into the field as Green Arrow. I hope to God he did, but if not this is exactly what she’s talking about.

Felicity is required to make changes inside of herself due to the impact of Oliver’s decisions. Oliver abandoned her. He left her alone, with a child and defenseless. As did their “friends.” 

So, Felicity had to learn how to defend herself. She had to learn how to survive.

Oliver Queen wasn’t the only one on an island. Felicity is on one too, but her island was made by her husband. Oliver may be home, but Felicity is not. 

Felicity is still on that island, fighting alone every day to survive, because she can’t trust Oliver won’t make another decision without her. Felicity doesn’t trust Oliver won’t abandon her all over again.

Felicity is making decisions for herself that, yeah Oliver, maybe aren’t typical to the woman you knew seventh months ago. His behavior in this marriage is impacting the decisions Felicity makes and those decisions are changing who she is.  It is cause and effect.

Oliver can say he’s sorry all he wants, but it doesn’t erase the trauma Felicity is dealing with now. Oliver needs to walk through these consequences with his wife and understand the impact he’s made. There’s no magic wand.

I understand Oliver is dealing with trauma too and acclimating himself to life outside of Slabside. He’s missed a lot and needs a moment to catch up. We are dealing with two traumatized people. However, Felicity has always treated a traumatized Oliver with compassion. One of my main frustrations with Oliver in “Unmasked” is he’s coming to this fight with a lot of moral condemnation.

We’ve been down many dark spirals with Oliver Queen. He is constantly reexamining his morality. Oliver is constantly pick up and putting down his “no killing” vow. He expects everyone to get on board with whatever he decides whenever he decides it. Felicity has never approached Oliver’s darkness with moral condemnation. If anything she treated him with kid cloves. 

Felicity harnesses Oliver’s light with cups of coffee, reassurance, forgiveness, belief and unconditional love. 

Oliver’s response to Felicity’s dark spiral in “Unmasked” is, “Who the hell having you been working with?” 

Oliver realizing criminals are human too does not make him morally superior to everyone else. Felicity has been arguing this kind of morality for the last seven years. I’m happy Oliver has finally gotten on board, but he’s not suddenly Jesus.

That said, Oliver’s experience in Slabside, and his new found moral code, will make him into the superhero Felicity Smoak needs right now. He is absolutely capable of harnessing her light, but unfortunately we did not see much of that hero in this fight.

There is a glimpse of that hero though. We get a clear view of the deep hole Felicity is in when she tells Oliver the person she was before was weak. 

Oliver is just completely dumbfounded by this. How can Felicity believe she is anything, but the strongest person Oliver knows?

Source: whoeveryoulovethemost 

I shared Oliver’s shock because I too cannot fathom Felicity ever viewing herself as weak. The line really bothered me, but it’s supposed to. This is another manifestation of Felicity’s trauma. She’s viewing herself as weak both physically and emotionally. The person she was couldn’t physically protect herself.  The gun and new security measures are all coping mechanisms for Felicity’s deep rooted fear.

Felicity can feel her fear inside and she views that as weakness too. She never wants to feel afraid like this again.  So, she’s reviewing her morality. The woman who was not willing to do whatever it takes was weak. 

This is a very Oliver Queen Season 1-3 attitude. Oliver always believed his humanity was a weakness. 

Now Felicity is viewing her humanity as a weakness, which is so heartbreaking.

Oliver is shocked and saddened by Felicity’s remark because her humanity inspired his humanity. 

Source: whoeveryoulovethemost

It’s why Oliver believes Felicity is the best part of him. Anything to the contrary is unfathomable. Felicity needs to see herself through Oliver’s eyes, just as Oliver saw himself through Felicity’s eyes. He needs to be a hero to Felicity like she was to him. That’s the love, the light, which will illuminate the path out of the dark.

However, there’s another reason Oliver repeated those vows. “You’re the very best part of me” assigns an ownership and responsibility to Felicity over her husband’s soul that is unfair. It’s something Felicity touched on when she tells Oliver ultimately who she is, and the decisions she makes, aren’t on him. Those decisions are on her.

Source: oliverfelicitygifs

The same goes for Oliver. Felicity can’t be responsible for harnessing Oliver’s light all the time. He has to inspire himself. Oliver has to harness his light on his own. He did a good job in Slabside, but now that he’s home he can’t fall back to relying on Diggle and Felicity to be his cheerleading squad. Oliver has to be a good person all by himself without someone holding his hand.

This pushes both Oliver and Felicity in new and important directions. This dark spiral gives Felicity’s character a freedom she’s never had before. Oliver’s enlightenment gives him a new sense of accountability.

Source:  olivergifs

We finally achieve a moment that has been a long time coming in Oliver Queen’s journey toward becoming a fully realized superhero. Oliver lied to the people of Star City and understands the only way to gain their trust is by being honest (*cough*apply this to your marriage Oliver*cough*). He decides to go out into the field as Green Arrow with his hood down and without a mask. 

Source:  olivergifs 

For the first time, Oliver is merging both personas. He realizes part of being a hero is being accountable for his actions.  He doesn’t remain in the shadows, but steps into the light as Green Arrow for the entire world to see. 

Source: whoeveryoulovethemost 

This is a moment I’ve written about for years and it fills me with a lot of joy watching Oliver finally putting the pieces together.

While their argument is necessary, it also feels mishandled by the Arrow writers because Oliver and Felicity are acting so extreme. Oliver’s reaction to the gun is extreme. How Felicity uses the gun is extreme. They cram a discussion we’ve waited seven months for into two little scenes. There’s way too much other nonsense going on. The Olicity scenes don’t get the time and attention they deserve. It feels sloppy as a result.

Source: oliverfelicitygifs

The two circle back to one another at the end of the episode to find some way to merge their diverting paths.  This time Oliver tries the softer and gentler coffee approach. See? He’s learning!

Source: oliverfelicitygifs

The last seven months has impacted each of them in permanent ways. Felicity is right. Oliver simply can’t talk her down to the old Felicity chewing the red pen. 

Life changes us, but I don’t believe this is about getting the old Felicity back. Oliver’s journey was never about restoring an old version of him. It was about finding the new person, the new hero, he had become. It was about learning to balance the light and dark.

Oliver may not be able to talk Felicity into her old self, but maybe he can inspire the new hero she wants to be. Someone who has light and dark. Someone who is impacted by their trauma, but not ruled by it. Someone who makes choices not out of anger, fear or pain, but from compassion. This is the hero Felicity inspired Oliver to be. So, now it’s his time to return the favor.

I am not remotely concerned about Olicity. There is no shortage of love between these too. They didn’t spend seven months fighting to be together just to separate.

Source: oliverfelicitygifs

I know they are on different paths right now, but they will find their way back to one another. This happens in marriage. Learning how to repair broken bridges is a large part of being married. My sincerest hope is they continue with Felicity’s moral crisis and keep examining the kind of hero she wants to be.  

She’s going through the same trajectory Oliver went through. It’s a mini trajectory. It won’t take Felicity seven years to get there, primarily because she’s smarter than Oliver, but I do hope the writers give the character the freedom she’s earned. I certainly was patient with Oliver crossing lines, so I have to give her character the same in turn.  

That said, Felicity Smoak is always a person who valued human life. So, the moments she’s not are when I am questioning her moral justifications. She admits to Oliver she would have killed Diaz and I don’t mind Oliver being shocked by her actions. Killing an unarmed man in police custody is A-typical Felicity Smoak behavior and Oliver has a right to be concerned.

What drives me nuts about this final scene is when Felicity says this:

Source: oliverfelicitygifs 

The idea that Felicity’s darkness is incompatible with their relationship makes me want to pull my hair out.  

I realize Felicity is channeling Season 1 – Season 3 Oliver and he always used his darkness as a reason why they couldn’t be together. However, they weren’t married at the time. Yeah, that’s right kids. You signed the paperwork. You are legally required to wake up next to each other.  Felicity doesn’t need to be sunshine and rainbows all the time for their marriage to function. It’s okay if Felicity gets lost. Oliver needs to put on his big boy pants anyways. This gives him a perfect opportunity to do so.

The line doesn’t even really make all that much sense given the context of their conversation. 

To be honest, it feels like the toss away divorce line. NO I AM NOT SAYING THEY ARE NOT GETTING A DIVORCE.  In fact, that’s why I’m annoyed with the line because I know they aren’t getting a divorce. Arrow isn’t even considering divorcing Olicity. It’s just relying on a tired, old television trope to bring viewers back after winter hiatus. “Oh no! I better tune in January to see if Oliver and Felicity get a divorce!” This is spectacularly lazy writing. 

If Arrow is incapable of drumming up drama in Olicity’s marriage without threatening divorce every time there’s a bump in the road then they are just crappy writers. Plain and simple. Dig deeper, Arrow. There’s plenty to mine in Olicity’s relationship without fake threats of legal proceedings.

I’m not ending on cranky though because I found some additional hope, should you need it, in the flash forwards. Yes I found hope in the flash forwards. It’s a friggin miracle.

Dinah shows William a tattoo on her wrist. 

Source:  mei-pellegrino

It’s called the Mark of Four and is something Oliver came up with. It represents the four pillars of heroism: courage, compassion, selflessness, and loyalty. It’s the reason Roy came back to Star City with William.

Dinah: We all got them as a reminder that no matter what happened if one of us was in trouble the other ones would be there.

The tattoo is shaped like a compass. Three of the marks have arrows as end points, but the one at the top faces north with a star end point. Oliver’s legacy, the kind of hero he inspires, is one who embraces courage, compassion, selflessness and loyalty. If they follow the four pillars like the North Star then they’ll never become lost in the dark. Everyone on the team has the tattoo. Everyone decided this was the kind of hero they wanted to be.

We can look at symbolism multiple ways to find more than one meaning, which is the fun. This tattoo also tells us everything we need to know about Felicity’s trajectory. Dinah began at the star when she listed the four pillars. She started with courage. Courage is the North Star and Oliver always says Felicity Smoak is the strongest person he knows.

Her strength has never been physical to Oliver Queen. She may not be able to take down Ra’s Al Ghul in a sword fight, but Oliver believes Felicity is stronger than him. Why? Felicity embraces her humanity even when the world has given her every reason to shut off her heart. For Oliver Queen, this is the most courageous thing a person can do. This is why she has always pointed the way for him.

We know Felicity has the Mark of Four tattoo because she inspired it. Courage, compassion, selflessness and loyalty are the very best parts of Oliver Queen. The Green Arrow encapsulates the four pillars because of the light Felicity harnessed in Oliver. When Oliver became lost in the dark he looked to Felicity for his way out. She was the North Star for Oliver, so he could become the North Star for everyone else.

Felicity is on the same path. She is not only Oliver’s great love, but his equal in every way. They are becoming full realized superheroes together. Oliver will remind Felicity her humanity is the very best part of her.  We all become lost in the dark at some point, but Felicity will find her way again. She simply needs to find the North Star inside herself again.  Felicity inspired the four pillars because she is the four pillars. The Mark of Four is the kind of hero Felicity will become because it’s the hero she’s always been.

Flash Forwards

Maya is Blackstar. (Waves excitedly at Katherine McNamara).

Source:  Source:veronica-lodge

Well done fandom.  

However, William, Dinah and Zoe don't know who Blackstar is. 

Does this mean she is not Olicity’s daughter and William’s sister? No. I still believe she is for reasons I’ll get into in a minute.  I genuinely wasn’t expecting any kind of confirmation from William or even a hint she may be his sister because it blows the lid off Beth’s big surprise. If Felicity is pregnant at the end of the season then it’s Arrow’s big May sweeps shocker.  

So, they aren’t going to confirm anything in the mid season finale. In fact, the smart thing to do is to cast a lot of doubt she has any connection to William.

However, there are signs she does. Arrow made a really big show of Oliver drinking scotch this week.  Max Fuller breaks out an expensive bottle and Oliver sits down for a drink.

Source:  whoeveryoulovethemost

Oliver ordered scotch on his first date with Felicity. 

It was his drink of choice while drowning his sorrows in the Arrow bunker in 5x19

Scotch is Oliver’s drink. 

He only switches to vodka when he’s drinking with Diggle.

William asks for Blackstars’ help at the bar while she’s drinking, you got it, scotch. 

Source: veronica-lodge

She’s cage fighting in Max Fuller’s old club. It doesn’t hurt Katherine McNamara tweeted about the booze. 

What’s the reason for making such a big deal out of such a small detail?

The second big hint Blackstar is Oliver Queen’s daughter is her fighting style. 

Source: veronica-lodge

The cage fight is very similar to the Oliver’s fights we’ve seen this season. She’s obviously been trained by Oliver Queen or at least by someone who knows Oliver Queen. Not to mention her whole attitude and vibe felt very Oliver Queen.

Source: veronica-lodge

Why does it matter if she is similar to Oliver Queen? Well, Arrow has spent a lot of time showing how similar William is to Felicity. Their connection may not be biological, but it is familial. 

I think they are doing the same thing with Blackstar only she is her father’s daughter.

There are still more clues:

She has a Queen Bee tattoo on her back shoulder – the same place Oliver once had his tattoo.

Her code name Blackstar could be a reference to the Mark of Four. As I explained earlier, the first pillar has a black star as an endpoint and it faces north. Blackstar seems to be a particularly on the nose code name for someone who doesn’t have any relationship to Oliver Queen and Felicity Smoak, the people who inspired the Mark of Four.  

The camera transitioned from the Olicity love scene directly to William looking for Blackstar during her cage fight. These transitions are extremely important to pay attention to because they connect the dots.

Blackstar is protective of Felicity Smoak as well. At first, she pretends not to know her, but when William informs Blackstar Felicity is dead she immediately looks upset. 

Source: veronica-lodge

Blackstar confirms she worked as a broker for Felicity to obtain trigger mechanisms for a bomb. But her warnings sound more like a threat. 

Source:  dctvladies 

Sort of like, “I’ll slit your throat if you mess with my Mama.”

Did you notice how quickly Blackstar changed the subject when William said she has a lot in common with Felicity? Maybe they are not only working together, but are mother and daughter.

Finally, the characters went to great pains to avoid calling Blackstar by her real name or even asking what it is. She didn’t even use the name Maya, which I still maintain is an Arrow code name to avoid spoiling the surprise. There’s something about Blackstar’s name which gives away her identity. Could her name be Moira? Methinks yes.

Could Blackstar be Arrow’s version of Mia Dearden, Oliver Queen’s ward? No, I don’t think so. Marc Guggenheim said many times in early interviews Thea Queen was Arrow’s version of Mia Dearden. Thea’s middle name is Dearden and she used the code name Mia Dearden while living in Corto Maltese with Malcolm Merlyn.  

Technically, Roy was Oliver’s ward. Roy was essentially homeless and Oliver took him in. It is Roy who ultimately inspired Thea’s superhero identity – Speedy. Mia Dearden is Speedy in the comics. There are too many Mia Dearden threads in Thea’s character. They’ve already been there and done that.

Is it possible they are repeating the character because Thea is off the show? No, because they already have replacement sister waiting in the wings with Emiko Queen. If there’s a character who is trying to fill Thea’s role on the show then it’s Emiko, not Blackstar.

Source:  arrowdaily

Stephen welcomed Katherine McNamara to the show by tweeting, “Welcome to the family.” This is also what he tweeted to Sea Shimooka and Ben Lewis when they joined the show and they are playing Oliver’s blood relatives.

“But Jen these are such minuscule details! They don’t meaning anything!” We’ll have to agree to disagree these subtle not so subtle hints don’t mean anything. I think they do. This is how it starts. We often have very little evidence of the direction Arrow is going in the beginning of these mysteries/surprises. 

The bouquet was the first hint for the wedding.

In the beginning of Season 4, we had very little hints as to who was in the grave. K*tie C*ssidy’s lack of storyline discussion at SDCC was honestly the biggest clue.  

These minuscule clues Arrow offers via symbolism or imagery are often all we have to go on.  

As the season progresses there will be more clues. Once the big surprise is revealed everyone will look back at the earlier scenes and realize the signs were there all along. So, yeah I’m going all in on scotch.

If Blackstar is William’s sister then it’s heartbreaking to realize he doesn’t know or recognize her. This means William has been separated from his family for much longer than we thought. 

If Olicity gets pregnant this year, then William will be at least 12 years older than his sibling. He’ll be leaving for college in about six years. Maybe whatever happens to break the family apart happens after William leaves home. It is possible he wouldn’t recognize his sister if the last time he saw her was around age 5 or 6. Or maybe William doesn’t recognize his sister because he believes she’s dead.  

There are tons of plot holes right now because we don’t have all the information. However, there are many plausible explanations for William and Blackstars’ separation. It echoes Oliver and Thea’s separation in the beginning of the series only on a much larger scale. If Arrow’s goal is to expand the show, and William and Blackstar are brother and sister, then this gives the writers tons of story potential to build the relationship going forward.

So, either Felicity or Oliver don’t have any more children other than William, which makes me sad or William has been separated from his family even longer than we anticipated. This also makes me sad. Neither option is great. Fingers crossed William is just pretending not to know Blackstar to keep her cover (but I doubt it).

The essential problem with the flash forwards is there’s  just bad news on top of bad new week after week. I know Arrow is a dark show and I like that it is because it means there are consequences. However, Arrow isn’t only dark. There’s a lot of hope too.

Unfortunately, we aren’t getting a lot of hope in the flash forwards and it’s casting a shadow over any happiness in present day.  This is why we’re not supposed to know the future. Not that there’s much happiness in present day because the writers are trying so hard to sell Felicity is becoming evil. I know the flash backs were dark too, but the present day scenes countered it because we knew Oliver was moving towards a happier place, even when things weren’t going well. Unfortunately, we don’t have that balance this season.  

It’s making me very concerned about a tone shift. I know I said the minute the flash backs were introduced the writers expanded the story and they needed a Lian Yu level event to kick it off.  However, I understand the frustration and sadness. Oliver either never saves the city or his happy life with Felicity is destroyed in a relatively short amount of time. It’s difficult to get hammered with despair on top of despair every week. Oliver needs a win at some point.

Stray Thoughts

Emiko Queen is the new Green Arrow. Oliver has another sister. We been knew.

Oliver is now a Green Arrow consultant for the Star City police department. He’s a legal vigilante. Uhhh... okay? 

Dinah has her own Canary network and Blackstar hates vigilantes. So who are the good guys and who are the bad guys?

Diggle and Lyla are the stupidest to ever stupid by going to Diaz for help. They could have talked to Oliver and Felicity about it beforehand, but noooo. Can the whole “Diggle only gives a crap about himself” storyline end now?

I’m extremely irritated Diaz is back on my television screen, but if Arrow kills Curtis that’ll make it up to me.

I wrote a scene in The Gift where Oliver helps Felicity by zipping her dress down, so dreams come true.

Seriously Oliver you’ve been in prison. We couldn’t break William out of boarding school for a long weekend?

I love crab cakes.

Isn’t Max Fuller a character on Fuller House? Hahaha. That’s funny to me.

I like WASP-y sweater Oliver. Feels very S1. We could throw in a leather jacket again though.

“We didn’t get this treatment when we put Diaz behind bars.” Rene, you’ve been released from time out on account of good behavior, but if you keep saying narcissistic and arrogant crap like this I’m going to throw you back with Dinah, Curtis and Diggle.

“If anyone in here actually gave a crap they’d use that money to help people in hard up neighborhoods who end up in the system because they don’t have anything else.” This sounds very similar to the anger rumbling around The Glades in the city hall meeting. It also sounds very similar to the “Defend the Glades ” attitude in the flash forwards. Calling it now. Given Dinah’s remark about running for office, Rene is the mayor of Star City in the future. Yeesh.

I looooved Bl*ck S*ren’s sparkly jacket and wanted to purchase it for myself, but it was $1700 on sale. I think not.

Oliver catching the arrow with his bare hand was sweet. And hot.

Curtis had one line. This is the way it should always be.

Stop wasting my time with all the Newbie crap. I swear, this show is tone deaf to what an audience is interested in. I also need about 50% less Dinah.

Arrow took 2 ½ minutes to replay the same crossover set up scene they showed on Supergirl the night before. There could have easily included this scene once at the beginning of the crossover during the, “Previously on Arrow/Supergirl and The Flash.” There’s no reason to cut into my show and steal minutes which could have been used for sex.

Disclaimer: Any gifs on the blog are not mine. If you would like a gif removed from my reviews, please message me. 7x08 gifs credited.

If you’d like to support the blog, please buy me a cup of tea!

[osmw1]

Dimension Wave   Chapter 13 — Cheesy

I’m standing in front of the cave. In my hand is my fishing rod with a sinker threaded onto the line.

“Let’s do this then.”

They silently nod in response and I cast my line. I have fine control over my rod, thanks to Fishing Mastery IV. The hook sinks right into the Lizardman Dark Knight. It probably dealt a point or two of damage, but it can hardly be called an attack. But it did exactly what I wanted it to—pulling its aggro.

“It’s comin’! Get ready, everybody!”

I’m not even sure if I did any damage to it, but it’s rushing towards us at the speed of lightning. If this were any other monster, we’d be instantly destroyed, but…

Kaboom!

The Lizardman Dark Knight slammed into the mouth of the cave accompanied by a terrible crash. Yup. The Lizardman Dark Knight doesn’t fit through the entrance. There are a lot of games where you can trap monsters by getting them to clip against objects. It’s an easy way to level up, but devs usually patch stuff like this out pretty quickly. Fortunately, it works in Dimension Wave. And it goes without saying that there’s a chance of it not working, but after discussing it between the three of us, we decided to try it out.

“Let’s kick its ass!” “Understood!” “Aye!”

The rest was straightforward. All we had to do was use the weapons and skills we had to and keep on attacking the trapped monster. I took out my Cetus Longsword and started hacking away at the trapped Lizardman Dark Knight too.

Unfortunately, I don’t think I’m doing too much damage. My strikes connect with a dull clank. I couldn’t tell from a distance, but now I know that it’s not only clad in armor but also covered in scales. Its defense is accordingly high too. I look over and see Shouko endlessly thrusting and swinging as well. Yamikage has some kind of scroll-shaped magic tome by his mouth and begins chanting. Moments after, a black visual effect appears, and he starts absorbing green orbs from the Lizardman Dark Knight.

That’s probably his Drain, a dark magic spell. Shouko and I aren’t using any skills though. We don’t know how much HP this boss has, so it’d be hard to guess if we’d make up any energy expended.

“This guy is literally so tough. Can you even win fighting normally?” “I have heard talk of a party defeating it before.”

We strike up a conversation, but our hands hadn’t stopped.

“’Tis naught but a rumor, but supposedly, they had tanks occupying the monster while they blasted it with light magic from a distance.” “I see. Its physical defense is as high as it looks to be.”

It’s just a guess, but I don’t think we’re quite fit to fight this Lizardman Dark Knight. The folding fan doesn’t do much damage and Drain is a dark-type skill. Our chances of winning are zero if not for cheesing it. My attacks make an unpleasant clank when I hit it and that’s with my strongest weapon I have. Oh, and if I had to say, I think a metal axe or even a blunt melee weapon would fare much better.

“In any case, if it doesn’t make any strange movements, we can just keep on wailing on it.” “Okay!” “Aye!”

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step is what they say. Just gotta keep at it.

Thirty minutes later.

“I-It’s still standing. How much freakin’ HP does this bastard have…”

If we get too close, it’ll strike back at us. We’re barely managing to outrange it. Especially with Shouko. The range on her fan is short, so she’s gotta occasionally parry its attacks. Not to mention, the AI causes it to try to run away from time to time. Naturally, I summon it back with my fishing rod. Seeing how I’m able to manage that says a lot about how smart the AI is.

“Perhaps it has regenerating capabilities.” “Nay. ‘Tis but because our offense is lacking.”

Well, that’s true, but I’m about average, I’d say. It’s been seemingly forever since we’ve attacked this monster, resulting in its armor crumbling and even scales ripped off. Still, it’s tough mentally to keep this up for a whole hour on a single monster.

“Be nourishment for my spirit. Drain!”

Yamikage’s been spamming Drain endlessly for 30 minutes and now even has more Energy than Shouko. That’s to say, he has about 27,000 right now. The Lizardman Dark Knight sure has a lot of HP.

“Whoa?”

As soon as the familiar green orbs get drained by Yamikage, the Lizardman Dark Knight moved in a peculiar way like nothing seen before. It keeled over with a deafening wheeze. It crumbles and slams onto the ground while luckily, causing no earthquakes.

“Hath it finally perished?” “Hey! That’s a death flag right there!” “Hmm, aye. I have left my younger sister behind in my hometown. Therefore, death must wait!”

… god damnit. I like his enthusiasm.

“Goodness… whatever are you two doing?”

Shouko shot a chilling glance over at us while confirming that the enemy is dead. Bosses feign death too. I raise my guard and get closer.

“Be wary. It may be feigning death.” “Gotcha.” “That is unlikely.” “Why’s that?” “Dark it may be, but it is still a knight. I believe it would have more honor than to do something so cowardly.”

Hmm, she’s got a point. It’s normally the demons and tribals that play dead, I think. Well, I guess the Lizardmen are a tribe, but still, it’s a knight. It should be honorable. More honorable than us, at least. We’re the one who trapped it and cheesed it to death. But ignore that.

“As for drops… we obtain a Fragment of Darkness and Dark Spear Splinter.” “We may sell those for a hefty sum.”

It’ll make us a good bit of coin, though I’m not exactly broke. Well, it doesn’t hurt to have more money. According to Yamikage, that two-handed spear is a material and a very desirable one for spear-wielders because of its dark element.

“Such is the prowess of a gutting-type weapon, true to what the rumors say.”

The real issue now is what to do. I glance over to Shouko and give her a look. Honestly, I want to gut it. I don’t think I’d get another chance to gut it. And likely, what we’d get from the monster would be really good for weapons and armor. A side of me is saying to keep the secret but the other side of me really wants the boss loot.

“We’re buddies that took down a boss together, so I guess I’ll tell ya…”

There ain’t nothin’ better than boss drops.

“If you are fine with it, Kizuna, then I believe it is for the best as well.” “Hmm? What is the meaning of this?” “Well, just watch. Speed Gutting…”

After chanting the skill, I take my Cetus Longsword and start to butcher up the giant Lizardman Dark Knight. I can’t do anything about the armor and scales broken off of it, but I can harvest the rest of his scales, bones, flesh, teeth, eyes, skin, tail, and even blood. But, for some reason, I can’t make use of what I broke off of it in the fight. It’s like the complete opposite of that certain monster hunting game.

“Egads…”

Yamikage mutters out in shock. Since this is a boss monster, I got as much material as I did from the Giant Herring. The Giant Herring must’ve been the boss of its species too.

“What on earth is this? Hath the items increased? Doth gutting-type weapons not increase our drops?” “It is poorly explained in the manual, but this is the proper way of using a gutting weapon.” “Never have I been more surprised in this world before!”

I can’t tell whether he’s really that surprised or his acting is just overboard, but his words are filled with zeal. Well, even if he tells everyone about this, we can still make plenty of cash if we sell these boss items quick enough.

“Then, shall I keep this a secret too?” “Huh?” “It seems as though Misses Kizuna and Hakoniwa were both keeping this undisclosed. As gratitude for saving my life, I, too, shall bring this secret to my grave.” “W-Well, I’d appreciate it if you would…”

And to think he had almost killed us. I’m glad he changed his mind. If he’ll keep it a secret, then I really don’t have any problems with him.

“However, I doth have an issue to discuss…” “What is it?” “May I perhaps join your party?” “… why?” “I have been playing alone up till now.” “Is that right?”

Shouko questions him. He’s got such a weird build. It’s no wonder no one’s letting him in their party. I almost blurted that out loud, but I held my tongue.

“It may hath been on your tongues already, but I have a communication disorder.” “…?”

… what was that? Unfortunately, I had no clue. Some might think his roleplaying is over the top, but I think most enjoy it. At least Alto or Romina wouldn’t have a problem with it.

“Many times, I have wished to join a party, but I always end up unable to.” “I am sorry to hear.”

Shouko’s totally starting to let her guard down. It totally reeks of a scam.

“Question.” “Aye?” “You said you have a communication disorder, but you’re talkin’ to us just fine.” “Speaking like this—like a ninja—seems to help.”

What kind of reasoning is that? At least come up with a better excuse.

“Mine heart is pounding as we speak now.” “Goodness! Kizuna, let her travel with us. We are fellow Spirits after all!”

What is this feeling? Like I’m watching my friends getting swindled? W-Well, I guess a party wouldn’t be too bad… hmm?

“What did you just say?” “We are fellow Spirits after all?” “No, before that.” “We should travel with her? “Yeah. ‘Her’?”

Yamikage’s wrapped up in all black. That’s not something you could tell at first glance. There’s even black cloth wrapped around their mouth, so it’s hard to tell by their voice.

“I am embarrassed to show my true face in front of others, but if we are to fight together, then please, look at me.”

Saying that, Yamikage unravels the black cloth…

—and reveals a beauty girl with silver hair.

contents: /prologue/ /ch001/ /ch002/ /ch003/ /ch004/ /ch005/ /ch006/ /ch007/ /ch008/ /ch009/ /ch010/ /ch011/ /ch012/ /ch013/ /next/

(please support me on Patreon or Paypal)

[iphoenixrising]

Dr!Tim Drabble: Robin

Well, Babes. You both must have fucking read my mind and shit because really. I kind of started this to be such a teaser when BOOP I got this ask and my fucking heart here. You’re right on the same page when it comes to Dr!Tim getting the real Robin experience, yeah? Lol. So, just a note. B’s bad guy persona is Matches. The dude with the epic porn ‘stache. Dick’s persona is Robbie Malone, which is pretty obscure and I looked it up on a good wiki to make sure.

HOWEVER *ahem* An incredible artist @kaciart did a thing here: http://thingsfortwwings.tumblr.com/post/55338349568/kaciart-it-was-never-made-clear-whether-tim-knew. Which helped the muse.

So… so there’s that. XD Hope it's as good.

**

The Robin in Gotham that night is just a little bit taller. Not by much. He's hesitant, a newbie to the vigilante game, and even if he's got a grapple on his belt, he only uses it once. Only a drunk or two catch him strafing across rooftops, the flicker of yellow, red, and green against the lamplight.

The rest of the city is asleep. As luck would have it, he stumbles on some baddies with a leg up on him, tossing a pellet in the right spot with knockout gas to make carrying him through the night that much easier. When Robin comes to, the blurry residual clears and behind the whiteouts, his vision is sharp. Being handcuffed in a crummy warehouse in the Narrows is not really the way he'd hoped to spend his first real experience in the tunic.

(And if he embarrasses the name, a certain little demon will probably eviscerate him.

"I allow you one night–"

"To my credit, I really thought those ninjas would go down easier."

"May I remind you–"

"I know, I know. It's not one of my hobbies. No more almost getting killed under your name, I promise.")

But a single dim bulb hangs with enough away to reveal the long, lean line of muscle still half in shadows watching him from behind whiteouts.

"Been a real pain in my nut, Robin." Is more dangerous behind the synths, more casual when the Red Hood, notorious enforcer for the Black Mask, straightens up and starts to move forward. "Gettin' in my fucking business means I gotta make an example outta ya, so’s no one else thinks they can stop the trade, you feel me?" Robin's eyes narrow but his pulse is picking up, his muscles tighten against the ropes.

“Or,” he tries with a bravado he doesn’t necessarily feel, “you could cut this chase short and let me take you in so you don’t make it worse for yourself.”

The sound is probably a snort but the synths make it hard to decipher.

“Mmhm, an’ any other damn day, ya might be right. But since I know the Bat is outta town, and the rest a’ yer little cape n’ cowl crew are busy, n’ yer own yer own, little birdy. Even fucking better, I got me an old friend in Gotham t’night, and I gotta say–” the way Hood moves, hips swaying, something of a swagger, all indications the vigilante has a plan, makes Robin catch a breath with what the hell else?

“Ya might be in over yer head.”

And oh God.

He’s in for it.

(Teasing his boyfriends can have some interesting results, so even with the plan they’d had for him tonight, there were so many things they hadn’t told him.)

Because the shift in the shadows and the crimson slash is just what the bad guy ordered, and the man coming out of the shadows to stand beside Hood is nothing short of mouth-wateringly dangerous– all done in sharp black and red.

Something in Robin’s abdomen goes unbearably tight when Renegade puts the intense focus of those whiteouts right on him, folds his arms over his chest, and his tongue darts out to lick his lips.

Even while he might be melting into a puddle of oh God, please, please, I’ve been a bad Robin, he can maneuver his hands well enough to get into the green gloves for the small lockpick set he’d completely kyped out of B’s utility belt the last time they’d had a little snatch n’ stitch. Since he’s completely used to working with fine instruments wearing gloves, working the small end into the handcuffs is easier than he’d originally calculated.

(So much win going on right now.)

“So nice to know you’ve got friends in town, Hood. I hope you have an itinerary to show him the sights. Robinson Park is really nice this time of year.” He tries to keep the banter, give himself time he needs to work the cuffs.

(Still, watching them walk toward him like a fucking bad ass wet dream is really making the night look up regardless of how things are going to go from here.)

“Too much mouth on ya, Robin,” and the flex of hips and thighs, the glint off the gun in Hood’s hand, the feral-looking smirk on Renegade’s face make him take a pause to work his fingers into the back of the utility belt, bite down on his lower lip to try and get–

Yes.

“Looks like we need to shut him up, Hood,” is Renegade’s deep response, that tone rolling around in the abandoned warehouse, makes a shiver work up his spine.

Which causes him to drop the pellet he’d been holding, the little ball rolling right under his chair.

Fuck. That’s bad.

He tries to think fast, using his weight to throw his chair back, out of the way of the little blast and following plumes of smoke. It’s really nothing more than dumb luck that the chair is probably older than all of them and pretty much breaks into kindling on impact.

It’s even luckier that the small blast is inconsequential but the smoke screen gives him the opportunity to wiggle enough to get his cuffed wrists down far enough to get his feet over them so at least his hands are bound in the front.

Rolling to his feet, he tries to duck away from the chair in the thick smoke, cape hitting him in the back of the ankles, and fucking right, he didn’t even lose the lockpick.

(“Damn. Good one, Baby Bird. Didn’t see that shit coming.”

“This is going to be much better than we thought, Jay.”

“Fuck right, Dickie, now we gedda chase.”

And with that little revelation, Robin is thinking, looking around at the high windows, making plans.)

He flips one of the few bat-a-rangs in his utility belt, awkwardly holding it up to throw with his bound hands. He manages throw far enough to knock it into an empty crate further down than where he’s hiding, but it draws the attention of the “baddies” coming through the dissipating smoke after him.

It does the job and he sees the outline of Hood and Renegade change course, closer to the sound.

“You’re only making it harder on yourself, Robin,” Renegade purrs low, his footsteps not even making a sound when he shares a side-eye with Hood and moves around to take the back for the element of surprise.

“When we catch ya,” Hood is cooing through the synths, popping the clip out of his .45 to make sure again he’s toting blanks (the one in his boot has the rubber rounds should things get dicey and they need ta make with the real crime fighting) before he circles around the smoky pile of old pallets and crates laying in dusty ruin, “we ain’t gonna be nice ‘bout it, you feel me, Robin? Gonna make ya one sorry lil’ bird.”

(But he totally hears, “gonna fuck ya until ya scream for it, Baby. Gonna make ya come ‘til ya can’t even stand up no more.”)

The handcuffs finally pop as the two bad guys jump in their planned strike, coming down on a whole lotta empty pallets with only a bat-a-rang there for them to stare at.

“Little motherfucker,” is all he needs to hear, shoving the handcuffs in his belt (in case he needs to have a plan) and pulling the grapple while his pulse throbs in his mouth and his adrenaline kicks up a notch. He’s got to shoot and reel himself in before they get to him, got to get out the upper windows and climb to the roof, got to at least get a few buildings over before they catch him.

(And he completely has a new appreciation for the reinforced jocks they wear under the suits because the things is literally killing him right now.)

The bang makes him flinch regardless, and with that, the jig is completely up. Two heads swivel toward the sound, trace the line up to the window sill where the hook sinks deep, and the shadow of the cape flares out like wings as the grapple pulls Robin from the ground and away.

“Fuck this is gettin’ good,” Hood breathes out, already pulling his own, watching the flex of Timmy’s thighs in those fucking tights and his ass outlined in Robin Red.

The window breaks with his momentum, and Robin pauses on the broken sill long enough to grin widely down at them, “I really need to be on my way, but we should do this again sometime!”

The cap flaps around the green tights and black boots as Robin scales the ancient fire escape and disappears out of sight.

Renegade puts a hand on his wrist, stills Hood from raising the grapple for the ole’ point-n-shoot. “Let him get a little bit of distance, Jay. He’s putting a hell of a lot into this.”

“Big Wing,” and even with the whiteouts on both sides, he knows how dark Dickies eyes are, is pretty sure his are just as dark. “ we’re gonna destroy that ass, you feel me?”

“You know we are. Damn, he looks cute in that suit.”

“Cute? Nah, ain’t where I’m at right now, yeah? Motherfucking sexy is ‘bout what I’m feelin’.”

“Fuckable, sure, but wow, he wears it so well.”

“Don’t tell Demon. That little shit won’t never let this happen again.”

“Right. We play it out with our boyfriend, fuck him on a safe rooftop, then take him home for a soak in the tub and cuddle-palooza.”

“You better fuckin’ add pancakes ta that list, Dickie. I like seein’ ‘im all full n’ sleepy after we fucked ‘im but good.”

“Done and done.”

In a smooth move, Hood raises the grapple again and loops his free arm around Renegade’s waist, pulling his Baby Boy right into his body.

The two vigilantes pause in the moment, and Renegade raises both hands quick, hits the right spot on the back of the helmet to release the catch, pulls the damn thing off so they can have just a second–

And anyone looking in the dilapidated warehouse down by Dixon Docks in that exact moment would be scandalized to see the Red Hood and Renegade writhing against one another, caught up in the taste of one another, just a tease before the grapple starts to reel.

**

Robin is panting with the effort, tries not to get tangled in his cape, tries to keep his eyes open to everything around him with the sharp vision he gets behind the whiteouts.

Luckily for him, he’s shaking off the residual of the sedative and this area of the city is one so absolutely familiar, he already knows he’s got an edge.

The same spots from those days when he was a kid with a camera, hiding while he followed the flying vigilantes are obviously still there, could still give him a place to duck if he thinks his pursuers are getting too close. If Dick and Jay had really been paying those old photographs in the shoebox enough attention, they’d probably be able to pick out the majority of his hidey-holes and make this game come to a quick and abrupt end (he’s hoping they don’t because he’s really, really enjoying this).

But, he’s already evaded them three times and he’s still too damn far from his apartment to believe he’s anywhere near home free.

Which is why he’s wasting time ducked down between two massive air conditioning units on the Mylar building instead of in Renegade and Hood’s path. A few feet away is an old bridge the maintenance crew used to get up to the next roof, giving him an out to use the grapple for a swing and give himself away.

He waits until the shadows recede and he can’t see either of them before he darts out and takes the bridge at a run, making a leap that immediately gets his adrenaline back up.

His chest is heaving a little because the climb is about a bitch.

A hard jerk on the suspension bridge takes him by surprise as both “villains” land it on either side of him, effectively boxing him in.

Well, fuck.

He pulls the grapple since, you know, the jig is up, but an escrima stick knocks the damn thing from his hand, and no amount of time he’s spent in the gym or hard-core parkour is going to get him out of this little sitch.

(Dammit. Trapped.)

Renegade clicks his tongue, “tsk, tsk, Robin. Nice try, but you should have tried to stay ahead of us. That might have gotten you home free.” And the two start advancing on him, getting closer. Robin looks from one to the other, bites down on his lower lip–

Until the plan pops into his head.

“Gonna enjoy this, little bird,” Hood drawls out, “after the run ya gave us.”

Panting, Robin tries to make the move subtle enough to miss, back up just a step, tries to make it look like he’s searching for a way out when he looks over the bridge and all the way down.

The action works because both villains jump for him at the same time, trying to keep him from throwing himself over, and it gives Robin just enough of a chance to let his knees give out from under him and fake fall to the wobbly bridge so Renegade can careen over his head at the same time Hood smacks into him, landing the two in a heap right at Robin’s feet.

The knock of Hood’s helmet against Renegade’s forehead gives him a crucial moment to slam the handcuffs he’d kept down on the Red Hood’s left wrist and Renegade’s right one, pushing the sides closed to cuff the two together.

(Oh fuck is he winning here.)

He’s already moving back while they untangle themselves and stare at their cuffed wrists before slowly, ever so slowly, turning to him.

“Well, damn.” And if he didn’t know better, he’d say Hood was, well, impressed.

(I have other hobbies, asshole, remember?)

“The surprises keep coming,” Renegade already climbing to his feet is grinning widely, Hood following in a smooth motion. “Too bad it isn’t going to save you, you know.”

“I just need to keep you two on–”

When he would have finished off the banter portion with on your toes, what he gets is the terrible sighing sound breaking the night, followed right by a sharp twang that is all too fucking familiar.

(Why do bridges have a tendency to break while he’s on them? Seriously now?)

His whole body jerks up, head turning to the sight of the old bridge coming apart and falling from under him, making him gasp in hard enough to hurt, making his knees knock, making a hard reality of Oh God, not again.

But cuffed arms brace under his and the bang of grapples firing shakes him out of breath-stealing panic, Hood and Renegade working in tandem to send the three of them flying through the night while the bridge crumbles to Gotham’s dirty sidewalk below.

Effortlessly, the villains land them on the Mylar, setting the three of them down in the shadows where one side of the building keeps it absolutely hidden away.

“Holy shit,” Robin pants out, held up between Hood and Renegade, his chest heaving under the tunic. “That...was not part of the plan.”

“Good to know,” Renegade lays his forehead against the base of Robin’s neck, exhaling slowly, moving his free hand down to push the cape out from between their bodies, to twist it around his hand for the next step.

“I’ll fuckin’ say,” Hood deactivates the helmet and tosses it down, moves a step closer to sandwich Robin between the two of them. With just a dom, his eyes are dark blue without the flecks of jade which means he’s probably still riding a little bit of the adrenaline from the almost-oops.

Robin looks up and over when Hood holds up his cuffed hand and arches a brow. “Still, ya gonna have ta work on them plans, Rob, if ya wanna get the better of us, yeah? This ain’t bad, but that don’t mean–”

And Robin gasps when his gloves wrists are gathered up by the cuffed hands, pulled over his head to stretch his body taunt.

Renegade is leaning down to talk against his ear, growling low and so fucking dangerous, “–you’re going to get away this time. Sorry, little bird. Looks like we win.”

**

Apparently things like capes are weapons and should not be used against him.

Or...well, maybe he’s going to re-think that since his wrists are bound together tight before they even worked the tunic open.

Renegade is keeping Robin’s bound arms down with a knee and a gloved hand over his mouth to make sure the noises are nice and quiet, kept between just the three of them. Hood had picked the cuffs in approximately two seconds to give them both a chance to get to work on making sure the young vigilante knew he was fucking around with the real deal.

The utility belt came off, lying just out of reach and Robin’s thighs spread open with less fight than anticipated.

The struggling, the writhing against Hood’s crotch, the straining muscle and taunt hold is just this side of perfect. For a little show, Hood pulls out a wickedly sharp knife, the glint dull in the night, leans down over Robin’s body and slides the sharp end of the blade right over the base of his throat, bare now that his cape is gone.

(But even though Timmy’s is half-assed struggling, he ain’t scared. No fear in those eyes, yeah?)

“Better be a good little bird, Rob. I like ta keep m’ implements nice n’ sharp. Don’t wanna make me slip by accident.”

Renegade’s hand on the younger vigilante’s mouth pulls so the head tilts back, eyes looking up. “I’ve known Hood for a long time, kid. You don’t want to see the master at work.”

When the struggling stops and the only thing Robin is doing is panting against Renegade’s hand, the sharp edge eases up slightly, slides down his chest, the tip fitting right under the tunic’s laces.

“Atta boy. Make it easier on yerself. Ain’t nobody gonna find ya, so don’t gotta have it rough unless ya wanna.”

“He might like it that way, Hood.” The first lace gives without hesitation. “Maybe we should go a little hard on him to find out.”

The second lace.

“But lookit how cute he is, Baby Boy. Gonna show ‘im just how things gotta go down on our side a’ the law, ain’t we? That don’t mean we gotta get nasty ‘bout it long as he behaves himself.”

The third.

Finally, the two villains are finally getting a little skin, and a gloved hands runs down Robin’s collar bone, moves to thumb and tweak until the little nub under is tight.

The hand on Robin’s mouth tightens down when the moan cuts through the stillness.

“He needs to learn, Hood. He can’t mess with business and get away without paying the price.” The thumb on Robin’s face moves over the domino and the whiteouts slide down, showing half-mast eyes, darkening by degrees.

“Mmhm. That’s the thing ‘bout Gotham, ain’t it?” And the hands moving down, pull hard, rip the tunic until there’s nothing in his path except the tights and reinforced jock. “Always got consequences, Rob, and you? You ain’t any different.”

The telltale tremble in his thighs makes the Red Hood grin wide and white (don’t be breaking character yet, Baby Bird. We gotta whole lotta play still left), and he’s nothing but a nasty bastard when he runs both hands up the inside of those thighs, grips tight to make sure there’s gonna be bruises there tomorrow.

Since he and Dickie pretty much engineered this whole thing (and made a suit with strategized weaknesses), the tights give under his hands, ripping open from the waist to the knee. He hands a sizeable strip to Renegade and leans down over Robin’s body, giving a little bit of distraction while his partner in crime moves just long enough to tie the strip in their little vigilante’s mouth.

“Much better.” He palms the grapple in his freed hand, and pulls out the line, throws the hook to catch on the lip of the roof and wrap the other end to keep Robin from going anywhere. Renegade pulls off the head piece, is in just a domino so he can flick the catch of his suit and pull it down to bare a tantalizing v-ee of his chest.

With the suit ripped away, helpless to whatever they planned to do to him on a roof in the middle of Gotham, Robin is gagged and panting, his chest stuttering with it, going pink down his collarbone and upper chest.

(Fingers slide into one of his bound hand, and the metal ball gives a soft jingle. All he has to do is drop it if he needs to stop, all he has to do is give the signal. He’s in control, he’s in control, he’s in control–)

And the feel of Hood’s gloves on his hip bone, tearing the strap on the reinforced jock makes his hips twitch, makes him unconsciously arch into the touch even when his hard cock springs up into the cool Gotham air.

“That’s smart kid. This’ll go easier for you if you try to enjoy it.” Renegade palms the vial in his suit and holds it up where the can both see it, smirks at the muffled noise right beside his thigh.

Hood grins back at him and pops the lid, dribbles lube on his fingers and lifts one of Robin’s calves for Renegade to hold. He hoists the other, runs his slick fingers over Robin’s balls, tugs a little, slides his forefinger up the underside of the vigilante’s straining cock, just a tease.

Getting his suit down far enough with one hand, Renegade shakes Robin’s leg, palms the side of his face to turn him, gets a load of those eyes, “My partner here is going to give you the fuck of a lifetime. And you? Are going to suck me while he does it.”

The jock is gone, and Robin gasps in hard through his nose, those eyes rolling over the length, teeth biting down on the gag in his mouth. He watches, mesmerized, as the gloved hand strokes himself, makes himself harder, gives Robin a preview to what he’s about to get.

When Hood spreads him open wider, slick and blunt finger sliding in, moving fast and hard, making Robin’s spine arch while he watches Renegade jerk off right in front of his face, mouth watering for it, his cock aching, his body clenching when one finger becomes two, and the desperation for more is starting to take over.

Pulling against the zip line isn’t doing anything for him because he can’t move, is caught between them, is already making noises with his body anticipating Hood (Jay) making him utterly senseless while he sucks Renegade’s thick cock to the fucking base.

(This is the best thing to ever happen.)

A jerk of his hips and a third finger slides in, gives him only a few thrusts against his spot, just enough for Hood to smirk and finally pull out.

“Gonna keep ya nice n’ tight fer me, Robin,” and while he’s been prepping the vigilante, he’d pulled himself out, lubed himself up to press right against the prize waiting for him. “But don’t worry. Since yer being a good, little bird, we’ll make sure you get yers.”

And Robin throws his head back, body arching in a clean line as well as he can with his legs caught and hands restrained. His fist tightens on the bell, keening through his gag as Hood pushes in, gives a few slow back-and-forths until he’s balls deep with a long moan.

“Lookit you taking all of his dick on the first go,” Renegade purrs down at him, and thumbs the gag out of his mouth, puts a finger over his lips. “Good for you, little bird. Now you’re going to give me mine. Don’t make me have to tell you to be very good.”

Renegade pulls with fingers on his jaw, and Robin opens up without a fight, taking the wide head in, moaning around it. Hood finally gets the point that he’s sure he isn’t going to come immediately when he moves, changing his hold to fit the bend of Robin’s knee and hoist his hips up higher, makes sure he’s in as far as he can possibly go (just the way Timmy likes it), then pulls back, starts up a few slow-n’-easies before he picks up the pace.

And Robin’s eyes are fluttering behind the domino, sliding his tongue around Renegade’s cock, leaning closer when he can take more, when he can take it deeper--

And suck.

“Holy–” and the villain’s hips twitch, a gloved hand threading into his hair, holds him still as hips twitch and fuck his mouth in shallow thrusts. “Fuck, know what you’re doing, don’t you Robin? Ah, you’re going to love my cock by the time we’re done with you.”

“Ya kiddin’ me, Baby Boy? Fuck him and you’ll be in love with his ass. Like a fucking vice.” And Hood leans over Robin’s body to get a better view of Renegade’s hips twitching, cock sliding in and out of his mouth, of Robin’s cheeks hollowing, of his jaw moving, of the tight nubs they’re both absently working.

In a calculated move, Renegade gives Hood a wink, and they both draw back, leave just the tip in him, gets a low noise for the effort, and fuck back into him with a vengeance.

“That’s right, little birdie. Found yer sweet spot, yeah?” And the strokes inside him are long and firm and fast, his spot abused by each one, making the pressure in his belly start to burn.

Renegade keeps up with a smooth, steady pace, sliding over his tongue, spilling pre-come in his throat, staring down as he pants, watching Robin take every fucking inch.

He’s moaning around the width in his mouth, in his throat, trying to suck, trying to scream while his cock throbs and the R still partly on his chest gleams in the night.

Hood’s balls slapping against his ass, and Renegade panting, groaning out above him, and a gloved hands fists him at the base, starts stroking him in time with the hits to his spot.

And the rhythm is driving, pound, rushing, his pulse racing in his ears, struggling to get a breath, but it’s all toomuchmoremoremore that he can’t think past the need to come, whimpering in his throat when he can, and trying to move his hips up into the fist pumping him and down into the pound thrusts driving him closer and closer to the edge.

“That’s right, give it up, Robin,” Renegade pants, groans down at him, working his hips, fucking into that throat, “you’re gonna take everything we give you, and when you go back to the Bat, you’ll remember just what you get when you stick your nose where it doesn’t belong.”

Hood draws back to fuck in hard, tightening his hand down and speed up. “We’re gonna make sure this lessons sticks, Baby Boy. Fill ‘im up good, make sure he knows what happens ta bad little birdies.”

Robin screams around Renegade’s cock when fingers tease the tip of him and hips ground into deep, trying to move but he’s helplessly caught.

When Renegade leans down over him, talks low and feral, fucking into his mouth with fast, hard jerks, getting harder against his tongue, when it’s those blue eyes with the haze of need and want, (when it’s Dick talking to him), when the words, “come for us, baby,” are breathed so soft and fond, his body lets go, the knot of tension exploding, sending tingling pleasure from his ass to his cock to his nipples and spreads out until his eyes are rolling back in his head and all he can do is suck Renegade’s come down his throat while the pleasure loops around and keeps him going.

“Fuck, baby,” (Is Jay instead of–) Hood yells to the night sky, Robin’s body milking him, tightening down so hard, so fast, so wet, that he comes with a jolt, burying himself deep to fill the vigilante up.

And while Gotham remains completely serene at this time of night, three (two, technically) caped crusaders are laying out on the roof of the Mylar building in a tangle of limbs, panting, and weak, and so amazingly sated.

Boneless and content not to move another inch in his life, Tim manages to slide a gloved hand out of the knot made from the cape, and wipe his mouth, absently keeping track of his heart rate.

Dick is curled around his upper body, idly running fingers through his hair, the Renegade costume zipped half-way up his chest so he doesn’t get a whole lot of roof rash. On his other side, Jay has a heavy arm over his bare hips, a leg thrown over his and the Kevlar feels just as good on bare skin as it always does.

“That? Was fucking amazing,” he murmers, drowsy, shivering slightly now that he realizes he’s pretty much naked on a roof in the middle of the city after being fucked out of his mind, and somehow--

This is his life.

So it’s good when his vigilante boyfriends recover enough to maybe get them the hell off this roof before people like, office staff start coming into the Mylar’s upper floors for work.

Dawn is riding the horizon when he’s pulled to his feet and wrapped in Robin’s cape, rocking a toga to cover the torn suit and tunic, and carried off by his vigilante boyfriends so he can be absolutely lazy and just let Dick then Jay take him flying.

He has to make his body work when maneuvering through the window with shaky legs. Jay gives the helmet a toss in pretty much the direction of the kitchen table before picking Tim up by the back of his thighs, and let their doctor squawk but still flops his upper body flops over Jay’s shoulder.

Dick has the Renegade suit hanging off his hips, moving around the kitchen bare-chested with a domino, making coffee that is desperately, desperately needed.

“I’ll be there in a sec! I was promised cuddles, Jay, and I expect you two to deliver.”

“Bath first, Big Wing. Gotta let Timmy take a soak. Getcha ass in here so’s we can wash ‘im but good.” The abrupt smack and corresponding yelp from the path down the hall toward the direction of the bathroom makes Dick smirk and quickly scoop the grounds in while trying to get a glove off with his teeth.

“‘Sides, we might need ta give Sweets one more go ‘round, you feel me here, Dickie?”

“Wh-what?! How do you even expect me to get hard right now?!”

The bath is running in Tim’s massive tub (the real benefit to the apartment after all), and the sounds of Kevlar and Nomac sliding off of skin a soft sight when Dick comes to join them.

“You know, Timmy,” is a followed up by a very Dick Grayson smile, all full of bedroom eyes and promise, “we do have our ways.”

So if the tub sloshes over, and the neighbors complain about the noise this time of day (again), if maybe there might be...another suit buried in the back of their closet a few days later, if maybe he takes more detours when his boys are on the job and he can have time to scout hiding places and perfectly sized niches, when he can calculate more routes and moves.

He’s going to say, it’s always good to have a plan because of things like bleeding vigilantes—you know, on my fire escape. But in reality, it’s because now that he’s worn the tunic, flown through Gotham, and he’s pretty damn sure he’s got enough skill to make them work a hell of a lot harder–

Next time.

[takumiwrites]

Self Sacrifice

It was an easy mission. A milk run. He had done them all the time in Blackwatch. There wasn't any reason why they should have needed a healer, yet Lucio was still bopping along with him and Jesse. To be fair, he was great company, and he could keep up with Genji's 'ninja bullshittery' as Jesse called it, those skates of his able to zoom along walls as easily as Genji could climb them. Occasionally he'd turn and grab Lucio by the wrist, hauling him up onto the roof with him, and leaving Jesse to the ground maneuvers. Honestly, he should have expected it all to go to shit.

Out of nowhere, Talon members were filling the streets, forcing them into cover. Jesse was watching their back, emptying Peacekeeper over and over again, while Lucio radioed for backup. Genji was scouting in front of them, his katana and wakizashi cutting through any Talon member he came across. Their bid for cover wasn't successful however, as three turns down it ran into a dead end. Genji darted back to his team, bitching and cursing as he went. "We need an alternate route." Genji told them, shooting shuriken at the approaching goons while Jesse reloaded. They were covered in body armor this time. They had been expecting Jesse and Genji's primitive projectiles. The only choice was to get in and slice them apart with his swords. He could hear Lena over the comms, she could land on a nearby roof if they could get up to the correct one. Jesse indicated the nearby fire escape, and Genji told them to go, deflecting bullets with his swords as they went. When they were clear of the fire escape, Genji wedged himself between it and the brick wall, using all of the strength his cybernetics provided to dislodge the first landing from the wall, sending it tumbling down. Thank god for shitty landlords not keeping things up to code. He scaled the wall, catching onto window ledges and propelling himself upwards, vaulting over the roof as if it was nothing. Jesse and Lucio were running ahead, leaping from rooftop to rooftop. Genji had to admit as he chased them, that Lucio looked much more graceful than Jesse. He caught up to them just as they landed onto a gravel roof, and he slung Lucio up into his arms, bridal style. "Fancy meeting you here." He teased, relishing in Lucio's laugh. "How come you ain't never held me like that?" Jesse teased back, huffing and puffing and no doubt cursing those cigarillos he was always smoking. "Lucio's cuter," Genji replied without missing a beat, taking in the way that Lucio's eyes widened and his skin darkened. "Touche," Jesse replied with a grin as they leapt across to the next rooftop. Talon members were starting to appear here and there, but Jesse took them out with his gun. When they were on concrete he set Lucio down again, knowing the medic could easily keep up. They kept following Lena's directions, until they were on the last rooftop in a row. Plenty of space for the transport to hover down and pick them up. Only Lucio had gotten pinned down before she could. Talon members had climbed up the fire escapes, which wasn't a problem on its own, but the door to the roof had been kicked open to reveal an old bastion unit from the omnic crisis, being remote operated by some goons. He heard the gun spinning up. Jesse turned just as Genji flung himself over the doorway, landing between the old bastion unit and Lucio. Bullets were flying, sinking into the armor at Genji's back and the pain receptors lit up all at once. He made eye contact with Lucio through his visor and the medic's eyes were wide, hand reflexively thrown up over his face to shield himself, knowing his little weapons and musical abilities weren't going to stop the carnage. Genji let the bullets continue to sink into him, rending metal and flesh alike. He could be rebuilt, even though there was a steady puddle of green growing beneath him. He heard the whir of the transport's jets, and the firing of bullets, and then everything went black.

buy me a ko fi?

[diasthedeathknight]

The rescue Mission

So here is another Warframe Fanfiction :3

This time the pairing is Equinox and Limbo :3

Before anyone is confused, why I’m pronouncing Equinox as a male and a female, I’m thinking of the nightside as a female Frame and the dayside as a male frame. This is just my opinion to be honest, so please don’t be mad at me XDD

The String of the Bow is drawn back, his gaze is fully focused on the pray before him, all senses are on the Corpus Target, that she must hunt down in order to find out who captured Limbo and where the Frame was right now.

Right now Equinox is in his Dayform and he is hidden from the sight of the Corpus Nullifier Crewman, which holds the information about Limbos whereabouts. He releases the string with an exhale and the arrow sirs silently through the air, then embodies itself into the back of the Corpus, who tumbles and falls down. He jumps down from the string where he was sitting and lands right next to the screaming Corpus, holds out his hand and orange glowing surrounds the Crewman, he gets dissolved into his molecules, who then gets transported to his dojo, so he can there get the information he needs out of the target.

“Good work Tenno, now get to extraction”, says Lotus and Equinox exhales, then switches to her nightform, as two squads of Corpus Crewman are running right at her, screaming in their foreign language.

She then switches to her sidearm weapon, the dual Cestra, which where a present from Limbo. The Riftwalker, who the others are calling him, was often at her side and protected her in many ways from danger and even death. And now she is going to repay the favor by freeing him out of Alad Vs dirty fingers. The Corpus Scientist never knew what hit him, when she was coming for him. One thing was clear, Equinox was calm but if anyone was targeting Limbo or made fun of him, she got mad. So mad in fact, that even Valkyr in her hysteria looked like a little kitten compared to her.

The Crewman are screaming in pain, as the bullets tear right through them and she makes her way to the extraction, leaving behind a trail of dead corpus and robots.

 “You found anything of use?”, Ash asks her and Equinox inhales deeply, then looks at him.

“Can I borrow your Despair?”, she asks and if Ashs would have any eyebrows, they would now be drawn together in confusion. “Sure…why you need them?”, he asks and hands her two of the throwing knives, which where the typical weapons of the Stalker.

“To scare a Corpus and then kill him if I got the Information I need”, she tells him and then Nehza asks, from behind Ash: “Maybe I could help you! You know, burning him a little bit and-”

“Nehza, I need him alive to give me information’s about Limbos current location”, Equinox then interrupts the kind offer.

“I’m not dumb, I know that! Ember has burned our last captured Corpus to ashes, not me!”, he then defends himself and Equinox nods. Nehza is playing with the ribbon, which cames out of Ashs occiput, and the Ninja themed Warframe doesn’t even yell at him. In fact he kind of seems to enjoy it.

“Okay, point taken, you can assist me. But only small burns, okay?”

Nehza lets out a cry of excitement and then nods wild. “Yes! Yes! Only small burns, I promise!”

Ash laughs and then turns around to grip Nehza by the hip, his helmet collides with Nehzas and he can hear Ash whisper: “After you’re done…come to my Orbiter. I’ve got a surprise for you”

Then he let’s go of Nehza and walks out of the room. Nehza gasps and then looks to Equinox.

“Did he just…kiss me?!”, he then asks and Equinox laughs, then says: “I believe he did, after all, you’re his boyfriend and he loves you.”

Nehza is humming and dancing all the way to the chamber, where they are holding the Corpus Nullifier Crewman, who now wasn’t wearing his helmet. The face turns to both of them and he frowns, then he says in a thick accent: “I won’t tell ya dump thin cans a thing ‘bout any things I know!”

“That we will see”, Equinox then says and dials in the code for the cell, the door slides open and she and Nehza are stepping into the cell, the door is closing behind both of them and the eyes of the Nullifier Crewman are widening, when he spots Nehza.

Nehza chuckles and almost dances to the Corpus, then lifts up his arm and a red glowing spear appears into his hand.

“All right, I’ll ask you the last time. Where is the Warframe that you captured a few days ago?”

“Wich Warframe do you mean?”, he asks and Equinox sighs, then nods to Nehza. The slender frame giggles and then steps closer to the Crewman, the red glowing spear touches his arm and a sizzling sound can be heard, as well as the Corpus screaming in agony and pain.

“Okay, okay! I’ll tell ya! But only for….for….10.000 Credits!”, he then says and Equinox tilts her head, then makes an counteroffer: “How about we don’t kill you after you tell us?”

The jaws of the Corpus grind together and the muscles at the jaw bulged out, he is clearly frustrated about that.

“I won’t be of any use I ya kill me now. So I give ya the information that ya needing and in exchange for that I get the 10.000 Credits and can walk out of here, with a Orbiter that brings me back to Neptune”, is his counteroffer.

Equinox looks to Nehza and he shrugs, then is going back to play with the red glowing bolt in his hands.

“Deal. And I’ll bring you back myself to Neptune”, Equinox then says and the Crewman nods, happy about the outcome of the event.

“The Warframe ya searching for is at a special facility at Eris. I believe the name of the place was…Brugia. In a few hours Alad V will cut him open and convert him to an even more powerful Warframe, who only listens to his commands”, he then tells both of them and this news is sending a cold shiver down Equinox back.

“Nehza, handcuff him and bring him to my Orbiter”, she then commands the Chinese Warframe, who does happily comply and handcuffs the Corpus with green energy shackles.

“What r those for?”, the Crewman is asking a little bit confused and Equinox shifts to her nightform, raises her hand and tells him: “So that you won’t run away”, then he casts her Sleep Ability and a few seconds later a loud snore can be heard from the Crewman.

“We’re done here, I’ll bring him to my Orbiter and fly him to Neptune”

“You don’t actually plan to bring him to Neptune with the money?”, Nehza asks then as the door of the holding cell slides open.

“Am I dumb?”, Equinox askes him and Nehza chuckles, then suddenly he gets serious and says: “We should hurry or else we soon are fighting a converted Limbo. And alone the thought of that…scares me”

Equinox nods and then she carries the Corpus Crewman like a sack of potatoes over her shoulder, as she walks out of the holding cells.

“Me too…”, she then says and Nehza places a hand on her shoulder.

“Don’t worry, maybe some of the others want to help you!”, he encourages her and Equinox nods.

“Could you do me a favor…?”, she then asks and Nehza tilts his head, then nods.

“Sure”

“Give those back to Ash and while you’re at it…ask him if he wants to come with me for a Rescue Mission…and also ask Oberon and Nidus if they want to come along. When Limbo is in the hands of Alad V, we might need Nidus to…”, she can’t finish the sentence and Nehza nods, understood what she wants from him.

“We are then meeting in here!”, he says and Equinox nods, gives Nehza the two Despair, that Ash has borrowed her.

Nehza runs off to the hangars, where all their Orbiters are and Equinox does the same, the sleeping Nullifier Crewman over her back.

 Equinox looks at the Warframes, which have assembled before her in her Orbiter. Nidus and Oberon who are right know in a conversation, how they could fix Limbo, if they are too late and Ash, who is right now rubbing his forehead, because of the loud barking from Equinox Kubrow. After silencing the loud dog, Equinox looks at the three other Warframes. “So…we need to rescue Limbo”, she says and all are agreeing on that.

“Without him me and Nehza wouldn’t even be together, so I owe him that”, Ash tells and Oberon kind of looks embarrassed at the statement from him.

“We know that he is right now at Eris, in Brugia, a special facility that has high security without a doubt”, Equinox tells them and Ash nods, then looks to Nidus.

“I believe that you could handle the security, while we sneak into the facility”, he then tells the Infested Frame and Nidus nods.

“When we are too late, I also have a theory how we could reverse the things that Alad V did to him”, he then reveals and Equinox says: “Great, but hopefully that doesn’t happen. So everyone, bring your strongest weapons and companions, we don’t know what we are encountering”

Nidus and Oberon nods, then leave her Orbiter. Ash steps up to her and then places a hand at her shoulder. “We will save him, no matter the cost”, he tries to reassure her.

“I don’t want to lose him…”, she then states and Ash nods.

“You should told him, that you love him Equinox”, he says and she nods, then leans against him.

“I’m so afraid to lose him now!”, she then cries out and Ash hugs her tight.

“That will not happen. I swear to you that this will not happen. I will do anything to prevent that from happening”, he then says.

“Thank you…”, she says after a few minutes of silence and Ash lets her go, then just nods and is gone in a flash of red energy.

Equinox inhales deeply and then she goes to her navigation, types in the coordinates. While the Orbiters drives are powering up, she can hear a little whining sound and then a cold nose is pressing against her side. Confused she looks up and then spots Limbos Kavat, who is pressing her nose against her side.

“Hey Spark…”, she welcomes the black-white Smeeta Kavat with the Moonless Kavat Gen Masking, and Spark lets out a little meow, then rubs his head at her leg, purrs while he is doing it. Chuckling she gently stroke his scale like fur and earns an even louder purring sound, which made her laugh a little bit.

“You’re missing him too, don’t you?”, she asks he Kavat and the beast is looking up, straight at her helmet with her white eyes and she can almost see the suppressed rage in it. “We will get Alad V for this. Then you can sharp your claws at him, I promise”

The Kavat lets out a pleased growl, then he lays down next to Equinox, the tail tugged up underneath his chin, the body resting in a neat circle. The Orbiter jumps forward and Equinox exhales again. She really hopes that they are not too late.

 As they are arriving on Eris, Equinox can already hear, how Nidus is killing off the security. Oberon looks proud and he says: “And that is my Nidus, doing what he can do best: kill stuff!”

“Yeah we got it, you and Nidus are together. But we aren’t here to compare whose boyfriend is better, so we better get going”, he reminds the healing Warframe of their objective. Oberon nods and his sentinel, a white-green colored Carrier, floats around him, giving off a few noises.

“So…since Nidus is dealing with the security and providing some excellent distraction, we can sneak inside. Follow me”, says Equinox and then the three of them get a surprise in form of Spark, who is angrily growling and running with white glowing eyes right at the building.

“I think we should follow him…after all he is Limbos Kavat”, says Ash and the decision is made, all three are running behind the angry Kavat, who bites every last Corpus to death, they are coming across.

“So…how exactly did Limbo get captured?”, asks Oberon Equinox, who is in his nightform.

“We were doing a mission to retrieve information about the whereabouts of Alad V, then we both find out he got infested or at least he altered himself with the virus of the infested and created new infested, who were not blindly running at anything that moves, but only at those that have a heat signature, like we do. So the infested he creates are only attacking tenno. We both got surprised by a Juggernaut and while Limbo did thrown me into the Rift to save me, I see that he was captured by an Infested Warframe, who tied him up in special handcuffs, so he couldn’t use his ability’s anymore. Limbo screamed at me to run and there where to many infested so I…I ran…and…and left him…him behind…”, if Equinox could cry he would do exactly that now. But instead he lunches himself screaming at a Corpus, grabs his head and tears if off, throwing it with a beastly scream right at a Moa, who collapse and Spark shreds the robot into a useless pile of rubbish.

“Alad V will pay for that”, he then snarls and both of the frame agree with him.

“So…that other infested frame, who was it?”, asked Ash out of curiosity.

“Mehsa”

“You sure?”

“I am. It was her, no doubt about it”

The conversation is interrupted, as they hear the taunting voice of Alad V over their communication channels.

“Oh Tenno, looks like your friends came to save you. Unfortunately they are coming too late”

Equinox howls in pure rage and his energy is exploding, everywhere is a red glitter like energy, that cuts up every Corpus and they can hear the surprised screams of Alad V, as even he gets caught up in the Maim Ability. Never have the other two Warframes seen Equinox so angry, like he is now and they quietly follow the screaming Warframe, who is right now heading towards the room where the Screams of Alad V can be heard.

The doors are no match for him and he easily tears them open, then kicks Alad V with a loud roar aside and stares down at Limbo, who is chained up in at the surgery table, his whole body is sliced open and while Equinox turns to Alad V to turn him into a stress ball, Oberon is occupied by healing the deep cuts and repairing the damage. The whole process cost him a lot of energy and as he finishes, he sink powerless to the floor, but is prevented from falling onto it, Nidus black-red arms are holding him up and both are standing on top of an energy platform, that refills their energy quickly.

“Thanks…”, he murmurs and Nidus nestles himself against his partner, then says back in a love filled voice: “You’re welcome”

Then his gaze wanders to Limbo and he asks Oberon: “Is he alright?”

“I didn’t see any infestation in him…”, Oberon says and Ash nods. “Me neither”, he then says and all are now looking at Equinox, who stand up, complete drained in the blood of the now dead Alad V.

Then the once white Equinox turns around and the red energy around him fades away, as he can see Limbo, who is now moving and slowly raising up from the table.

“Limbo…are you…okay?”, Equinox rushes to the side of the Riftwalker, who turns his head slowly to him, then tilts it confused.

“What are you all….doing here?”, he then asks, his voice is a little bit damaged, due to the capture, but other than that he seems fine.

“We are rescuing you!”, Ash proudly says and then throws one of his shuriken at a corpus, who was running at them, loud screaming and waving with his weapon.

Limbo just nods, then he falls back onto the table, murmuring: “I’m so tired…”

Nidus laughs and then says to Equinox: “I think you can handle his weight”

Equinox nods and then he lifts the Riftwalker up in his arms, the hat of the frame is still on his helmet and he nestles closer to Equinox warm body.

“Sleep well, Limbo”, he whispers softly and then the four are making their way to the extractions point, where Spark is waiting for them. The Kavat rubs his face purring against Limbos legs and Equinox chuckles.

“Where is his orbiter?”, suddenly Ash asks and Equinox says: “I saw it at the Dojo, but in his current state he can’t call it, so I’m taking him with me”

“Good idea!”, Nidus is climbing into his Orbiter and Ash nods as answer to the suggestion from Equinox.

“You take care of him, and call me or Nidus if anything is out of the ordinary, okay?”, asks Oberon.

Equinox nods and Oberon is climbing in his orbiter, Ash is standing there and looking at both of them, then he says: “Tell him how you are feeling, Equinox”

The Shifting Warframe nods and says: “I will…especially after I nearly lost him…I don’t want that feeling again…and Ash? Thank you for being there for me…”

Ask laughs and climbs into his Orbiter, then says: “You’re welcome, Equinox”

Equinox looks down at the sleeping Riftwalker in his arms, then he climbs into the metal frame of his orbiter and is surprised, as Spark jumps at him, is holding onto him and Limbo, as the Orbiter is lifting itself in the Air and the metal frame turns around, all three of them are now under the cockpit. Spark jumps into the room where the foundry, mod section and the gear station are standing, Equinox follows him and then he walks down into his personal quarters, and the Kavat is following him and meowing constantly.

“Spark, he is alright”, the Shifting Warframe tells the Kavat, and the big cat only snorts and then walks to Equinox Kubrow and nuzzles his snout into his white fur.

Equinox shakes his head and then softly lays the sleeping Warframe down onto the couch, then he lays himself next to Limbo, one hand on his chest.

Limbo looks so relaxed and peacefully when he was sleeping, not troubled anymore by his big mistake that he made in the past, which led to his death and his parts being scattered across the whole Galaxy. He still is upset about that mistake and how he let his friends down, who could have used his help in Missions.

Even if everyone forgave him, his death is still a topic that he avoids talking about.

 When they arrive at the Dojo, Limbo starts to wake up, he shifts and then rolls onto Equinox, his helmet nestles into the collarbone of the Warframe and he gets more comfortable on the other, which causes Equinox to giggle.

“Am I that comfortable?”, he asks the other and Limbo just grumbles: “Shut up and let me sleep…”

“But you are awake now”, Equinox says. Limbo is lifting his helmet up a little bit and then growls sleepy: “Not full...”

“Maybe I have something to wake you up”

Limbo tilts his head, curious what Equinox will do next, but with the following he completely surprises the Riftwalker.

Equinox grabs his helmet and then presses his helmet softly against that of Limbo, which causes the other to freeze, then his arms are closing around Equinox and he presses his helmet back against that from Equinox.

“I wish we have lips so we could kiss properly”, Limbo then complains and Equinox just laughs, then he hugs the other Frame and whispers: “I love you…”

[firecraker-j]

Predictions for the characters in the Power Rangers adaptation of Kyuranger.

Red ranger- a teenage human boy who spent the last 10 years or so of his life trying to find his missing dad.

Orange ranger- a teenager that became a ranger after Stingtrox (Scorpio’s PR counterpart.) gave him the orange crystal star (PR counterpart of Kyutama.) and starts off as an evil ranger.

Blue ranger- Human Tarzan but with wolves instead of apes.

Gold ranger- young human teen computer hacker with the scales as his calling card.

Black ranger-young human teen who is really into lucha libré and he adopts the wrestling alias of Él Toro.

Silver ranger- Either the gold ranger’s best friend or step-brother. He probably also has an ironic fear of snakes.

Green ranger- She is a young human with ninja ancestors and a pet chameleon.

Pink ranger- smartest human girl in high school and has a secret hobby of collecting and reading comic books. Her favorite superhero is called the Pink Eagle.

Yellow ranger- a young human chef in training, Who’s speciality is preparing swordfish.

Violet Ranger- a human actor that plays a kung-fu action movie hero and did all his own stunts, but that was 20 years ago and he stopped being in movies due to a career-ending injury. His movies would have ‘Violet Dragon’ in the title.

Sky-Blue ranger- some random human kid the rangers meet and accedently reveal themselves to him and he tags along. He has a little teddy bear that was a gift from his now dead mom.

Crimson ranger- either the red ranger’s dad or someone that knows the red ranger’s dad, regardless he would have been an astronaut before being a ranger. He is also human.

[snowstormbringerwrites]

RC9GP Chapter 2

Inside the Nomicon Part 1

SMACK!

Randy Groaned and rubbed his head. He looked up at Nomicon, who stood over him with a look of irritation on his face.

“What the Juice was that for?!”

Nomicon shrugged “you were getting on my nerves” He calmly stated before walking away.

Randy stared at him before galloping after him “hey Nomi?”

“Yes?”

Randy opened his mouth before closing it, the question he wanted to ask had been bothering him since Nomicon had revealed his form which was a, pony? Deer? Dragon? He desperately wanted to ask Nomicon what he was, but he was afraid he would anger or upset the book. He found himself fidgeting with his scarf instead of asking the question.

Nomicon sighed, he could tell something was bothering his student. He turned to face the young ninja to see him staring at the ground and playing with his scarf. Shaking his head he walked back to his student.

“Randy?”

The ninja jump out of his thoughts at the sound of his name. Looking up at Nomicon he smiled sheepishly.

“Whats up Nomi?”

Nomicon sighed and rolled his bright green eyes.

“What is bothering you Randy?”

Randy felt as if he was shrinking under Nomicon’s gaze, he would have to ask his question in order to answer Nomi honesty. Taking a deep breath he made his decision.

“Whatareyou?” his question tumbled out in a jumble of words. Looking up he saw Nomi raise his dot like eyebrows.

“Pardon?”

Groaning Randy repeated his question “what are you?” Now that the question was out Randy waited for the answer with his heart in his throat.

The Nomicon was an interesting creature that looked like a combination of a unicorn, deer, and a dragon. With a body like a pony his, black fur ended to show his red hooves. His tail was like a dragons but with fur. A red, backwards curved horn sat in the center of his fore head it was paired with a set of antlers that were a red-orange color. A pair of what looked like thick long whiskers sat on the end of his muzzle, one for each side. They were bright green to match the marking that covered the lower half of his face and went up in between his eyes. The top half of his neck and back was covered black scales with some scales red and bright green forming two stripes that run down the entire length of body ending at the beginning of his tail. His scaled stomach was the color of old pages with light brown speckles and his forelegs had four oval scales bright green in color. All four of legs had green sock markings that went half way up. And to top it all of his vibrant red mane formed bangs with a longer back with the end peaking around his long thin ears. The mane continued down his neck, back, and ended at the base of his tail with a fur of the same color draping of the back of his legs and the end and  bottom of his tail.

Nomicon simply shook his head at his student's question.

“I’m a Kirin”

“A what?”

“A Kirin, or a Qilin. depends on who you ask”

Randy stared at his teacher, another question bubbling to the surface of his mind.

“ So if your a Keerine?”

Nomicon stifled a laugh at his students horrible pronunciation “ it’s pronounced k-ih-r-ee-n”

“Okay, So if you're a Kirin, why don’t I see any other Kirins outside of here?”

Nomicons face fell. “Cause I’m the only one left” Nomi turned away from Randy and walked away visibly upset.

Randy felt bad, he didn’t mean to upset Nomi, he was just curious. He decided to go find Nomi and apologise. It took awhile, but when he found Nomi he was at the waterfall they used for training. Nomi was sitting at the edge of the water with his head hanging low. Randy took a deep breath and approached his teacher.

Nomicon sensed his student walk up and sit beside him and he already had an idea why.

“ If you came to apologise don’t, you did nothing wrong”

He felt his student stiffen before scooching closer to him. He could Practically feel the question on Randy’s lips.

“What happened?”

[aweebwrites]

Move on Dragons 11

‘Wait, wait wait. Are you sure?’ Cole asked the white dragon, unable to quite believe their Sensei Wu spoke the language of the dragons. ‘Because if Sensei Wu spoke your language, without ever coming in contact with any of your powers, then…’ He trailed off, his new tail flicking with unease.

‘Then Sensei Wu isn’t telling us something.’ Zane concluded, on his feet now, metallic wings folded behind his back.

A tense silence passed amongst them.

‘Are you all really surprised at that?’ Jay spoke up, breaking the silence, his ever present easy smile on his face, revealing his long fangs made for biting into flesh and distributing poison. ‘Sensei Wu has and always will not tell you something. And chances are, it’ll be something big he should have probably told you all or someone.’ He told them with a slight tilt of his head.

‘Yeah, ok. He has a point there.’ Nya spoke up and they all had to reluctantly agree due to their experiences.

‘But doesn’t this mean your Sensei Wu is somewhat of a dragon too?’ Dragon Cole asked them.

‘He always has been part dragon.’ Lloyd spoke with a frown, trying to figure this out. ‘The one who made this real, the First Spinjitzu Master, my father and Uncle Wu’s dad. He’s half oni and half dragon. So Uncle Wu already has dragon blood in him….’ He told them then began pacing.

‘But he clearly couldn’t understand you guys before, far worse speak like you. The Dragon Language is too complicated to just pick it up after a few days too.’ Lloyd continued.

‘He may have been able to not only understand, but speak like the dragons all this time and have just hidden it from us.’ Zane offered his hypothesis, titanium tail sweeping the ground slowly as he thought.

‘That or maybe he started to change like us somehow?’ Nya offered as well.

‘Or maybe he’s been like you all, all this time.’ Jay offered and they went to protest but quickly realised that it was actually a pretty solid assumption.

After all, Lloyd has kept his Oni appearance hidden from them for years before. Why can’t Sensei Wu?

‘You will not know for sure unless you ask.’ Wu spoke up and they looked to the elder dragon that was there with them.

‘That is assuming that he’ll tell them.’ Jay pointed out.

‘I have a feeling he will.’ The elder says lightly. ‘Whether he likes it or not.’ He adds, as if he knew something they didn’t.

‘You know, you’re kinda scary when you get all knowing, Dad.’ Morro spoke up for the first time from his position next to his father, content on watching them all.

Wu only nuzzled him.

‘So what do we do? Do we go ask him or…’ Nya asked the others, unconsciously folding her wings behind her back.

‘... I say we let him come to us and let us know what’s going on.’ Lloyd spoke up, crossing his arms. ‘We’ve always been prying secrets out of him, now let him come clean on his own.’ He says and yeah, they could agree to that.

‘Knowing Sensei Wu, that won’t happen soon. What do we do in the meantime, other than train our wings?’ Cole asked, flexing said wings, focusing in order to fold them right.

‘You could come hunting with us.’ Dragon Jay suggested and Kai beamed at that, getting to his feet.

‘I’ll-’

‘Keep resting as your father asked of you.’ Morro interrupted and Kai pouts, flopping back down on his stomach.

‘Don’t worry Kai. We will take it from here. You’ve been teaching them all day after all.’ Zane spoke, the large dragon getting to his feet. ‘Come. I’ll lead the way.’ He says, lowering his wing to the nindragon who made quick work climbing onto said wing and onto his back thanks to the modifications to his body.

Each of them took their ninja selves, Jay smirking atop the back of his dragon self.

‘Seems like we will take that flight after all, hmm?’ He says lightly and the large, blue, lightning dragon huffed.

‘Yeah. We will.’ Was all he said before Zane took off, prompting the other four dragons to follow, leaving their fortress.

‘I thought you’d go with them.’ Kai rumbled to Lloyd as he laid down, Morro crossing the space between him and Kai to lay down next to him.

Kai’s wing came to wrap around the smaller green dragon without hesitation, his wing almost completely covering him.

‘No. I have a question to ask.’Lloyd says then turned to the white elder dragon who was looking at him, no doubt he knows exactly what Lloyd wanted to ask.

Wu lowered his head closer to Lloyd, his golden horns glistening in the rays of sun shining into the enclosure as he did.

‘Ask, and I shall answer.’ Wu told him, gold eyes focused on him.

Lloyd nodded once. This is it. He’ll finally get the answers he’s been chasing all this time.

____

‘You really are a snake in the grass.’ Jay glanced over his shoulder at his dragon self then tilted his head to the side.

‘It’s stalkerish how you’re sticking to me.’ Jay says then continued deeper into the wilderness, searching for a meal.

He wasn’t feeling up to fish like most of the others.

‘Someone has to. You have no life preservation after all.’ Dragon Jay rumbled as he followed after him.

‘That may be true but I won’t go walking into the jaws of some predator.’ Jay told him then slid his tongue out to taste the air, humming at the scents he picked up.

Did he want ninja rabbit, or something that smelled far more threatening? This was his first hunt. He’ll stick to small. He kept his eyes to the trees as he ventured further, tasting the air still.

‘And I’ll make sure of that.’ Was what the dragon grumbled but Jay was more interested in the grey rabbit high up in a tree nearby.

He wasted no time scaling the tree, the task all too easy with this clawed hands and feet, his long tail semi coiled around the tree behind him, acting as extra balance. He didn’t immediately charge at the rabbit however. That was a ninja rabbit after all. It’s called such for a reason. He stayed a few branches down, out of its line of sight and down wind of it. He didn’t intend to move much further for his attack however. The dragon sat below the tree, watching him in curiosity and awe. He had tried to take on one of  those furry animals before and had lost against it. Let’s just say it was an embarrassing tale he wasn’t the slightest bit interested in telling. Jay gauged the distance between them as well as the wind speed before deciding the perfect time to attack.

Attack he did- but not by leaping at the rabbit like the dragon expected. No. He opened his mouth and sprayed the rabbit with a pale blue concoction that startled it. It made to run- then suddenly went limp and dropped from the branch. Jay hopped off his branch, catching it mid air as his wings spread on their own to catch him, flapping a few times to keep him in the air longer before he glided to the ground, holding the still alive rabbit in hand but it wasn’t moving at all.

‘Your venom… Paralyzes… By just touching skin?’ The dragon asked in awe.

‘It doesn’t last very long on skin and even less on fur though.’ Jay says as the rabbit began to twitch, mobility returning.

Jay didn’t hesitate, sinking his fangs into the rabbit, pumping his venom inside it now. Dragon Jay looked on, torn between fascination and horror as his serpentine self dislocated his jaw with ease and swallowed the rabbit. Whole.

‘I won’t need to eat for the rest of the day, into tomorrow. What about you?’ Jay says, looking to the dragon watching him as if he was some kind of attraction.

The dragon snapped out of it then.

‘I’ll find something.’ He rumbled, stretching a wing down as offering for a ride.

Jay climbed up the dragon, going directly for its head then sat there as they continued deeper into the forest.

‘I thought by now, you’d be at least trying to coax the other Jay out.’ Jay hummed as he looked out and about.

‘Why would I do that?’ The dragon asked curiously, heavy paws hitting the ground and sending smaller creatures scurrying.

‘It was implied with the ominous request for a flight.’ Jay says as his tail coiled into his lap and around his own hand several times as he tested just how hard it could squeeze.

The answer was very.

‘I offered the flight so you two could at the very least get some amount of understanding with each other. But things are quiet with you guys so there’s no need anymore.’ The dragon told him as he sniffed around, absentmindedly wondering if he could find another of those crustaceans from so long ago.

‘Huh.’ Jay says, leaning back, using his arms as support.

He wasn’t expecting that. That sounds a lot less troublesome than it did when he first offered. But then, knowing that other Jay, he would spend the time screaming their head off possibly. He hopes he’s taking heed and rethinking himself in there. Putting up with him much more was very appealing.

Further back, both Nyas were seeing who could catch the most fish, giving their elemental powers a thorough workout during while the Zanes had a large ice tub made for them to drop them in so they could carry them back. The excess would be added to the stream of water that spirals down the Dragon Tower, from the top where it was fed by the ever present cloud cover, no matter how thin and lows down into small puddles set up on each floor, to the bottom where it flowed into a small pond not too far away. The Coles were heading further up stream, checking the trees for fruit. The Dragons were omnivores after all. They enjoyed both fruit and animals. They’ve found a few before that the dragons seemed to like. The ice dragons were quite fond of ice berries and will actively seek it once they went out on their own. Zane reassured that their eating of the berries wasn’t doing a bad thing, rather a good one. The berries have been expanding at a fast rate and making it difficult for other life to thrive. They grew quickly as well so they could eat as much as they’d like. The large dragon Cole was traveling with lifted his head as they kept walking.

‘You smell food?’ Cole asked him but the black and brown dragon shook his head.

‘I smell Blaze. And Lloyd. And Garmadon.’ He told his smaller counterpart.

‘They must be further upstream.’ Cole guessed since the river was running in the opposite direction they were walking. The wind the water was picking up must be blowing their scents downstream.

‘Most likely.’ The dragon agreed then began running.

‘Hey! Wait up!’ Cole yelled after his dragon self who only huffed, looking back at him amused as he ran after him.

‘Race you there.’ Was all the black dragon says before speeding up.

Cole sputtered, watching the dragon dash ahead, surprisingly fast for his size. He didn’t have much of a choice, now did he? He ran as fast as he could after his dragon self, relying on his endurance and stamina to help him catch up- but that was easier said than done when the one you’re chasing is not only bigger, but also possesses that very same endurance and stamina. Maybe even more. He panted once he finally caught up to the stagnant dragon who gave him a pitying croon before sweeping him off the ground with his tail and settled him on his back.

‘We’ll work on that.’ He promises the exhausted half dragon then looked to where Blaze and Lloyd had gotten carried away with their gathering competition. On the plus side, they now had enough fruit to last for a few days. On the downside… Blaze and Lloyd gave their fellow dragon a sheepish smile as he looked at them unimpressed.

He will have to carry it all. Garmadon kept his eyes shut and his senses fanned, sensing them all and what they were up to. He gave an amused huff at the earth dragon’s predicament before directing his focus elsewhere, to a human transport not too far away that held the other version of his brother. What waited there… Was quite interesting… He wonders how the ninja will react… Back in the tower, Lloyd stood straight as he met the gold eyes of the dragon version of his uncle.

‘That little black dragon. You realised something about him some time ago. What was it?’ He asked the elder dragon and Kai lifted his head at that.

There was a moment of silence before the dragon spoke.

‘That dragon’s essence, his very aura is something I had discovered as familiar. It is almost exactly the same as one other I have met before.’ Wu told him and Lloyd braced himself, his heart thumping hard against his chest with nervousness. ‘... The only one to have such a familiar aura… Such a familiar essence… Is-”

“Brother?” Wu whispered from the Bounty, looking down at the small black dragon that was sadly curled up on the ground before him, his gold, slitted eyes wide.

_______________

(Almost forgot to post! Some filler but the next chapter gets more serious! Thanks for reading!)