#hit the hot dragon dad alarm!!! need to get pounded!!!!

[bigcatbulges]

Source - Neilos0526

(Artist's Patreon)

[lovehugsandcandy]

Terrors Don’t Prey on Innocent Victims (Colt x MC)

A/N: I saw a post floating around where people were wondering what was going through Colt’s head when he saw Ellie driving into the police car. I think this might be the closest thing I will ever write to that because I just can’t. Title from Bad Liar by Imagine Dragons.

Pairing: Colt x MC, ROD

Length: 1160 words

Rating: R (language)

Summary: Colt can’t deal after seeing Ellie crash (post-chapter 15).

Tags:  @deimosensblog @alegria1580  @choicesarehard @thefarrari @client-327 @moonlit-girl-wonder @going-down-downtown@soniadotalves@jolietmaraud @hazah@flowerpowell@poeticscolt@brightpinkpeppercorn @zaira-oh-zaira@powdesiree0816 @umiumichan

“There’s gotta be another way…”

But her car didn’t slow, didn’t swerve. “No. This is where I get off.” Colt could hear the steel in her voice and watched as her car accelerated, straight toward The Brotherhood cop blocking the off-ramp.

His heart stopped and he could only watch, horror growing, as Ellie didn’t slow down. He gasped, a sharp breath, loud in the parking lot, as she smashed into the car and went airborne, like a shot, through the guardrail of the overpass, spinning, flying, falling, for a terrifying 15 feet before the wheels hit the ground.

The car rolled and rolled, slamming into the police blockade with a roar, NOS system still hissing. The world stopped, red and blue lights flashing patterns in the night sky.

Colt could hear a moan and then, softly, Ellie spoke. “Be more than this.”

Before he could answer, right as he formed the words he wanted to say, the please you can’t leave me on his lips, the explosion shook the earth under him. Wreckage from the car flew into the air, meteors of smoking parts somersaulting into the night, the cannonball of flames shooting into the night sky, licking the overpass above, the heat burning Colt’s face.

He screamed. And screamed.

And sat up. He didn’t know what woke him, the screams ripped out of his throat or the pounding on the wall behind him, the assholes in the room next door making their displeasure evident. He reached behind him and banged back, because fuck them, looking at the clock. 2:47am. Fuck.

He was still breathing hard, panting really, when he grabbed the phone. He knew he shouldn’t do it but he wasn’t fully awake yet, the dread beating out his common sense, unstoppable terror that this was some kind of premonition.

Are you ok? Is everything alright?

He dropped the phone, trying to steady his breathing, and swung his legs to the floor, sitting up at the edge of the bed, head in his hands. Fuck, that one was bad. He was no stranger to the nightmares that haunted him over the last few weeks but they seemed to be getting more intense.

He took a deep breath in and realized he was covered in sweat, cooling, clammy on his skin. He ripped the t-shirt over his head and threw it into a corner of the shit motel room he was holed up in while he planned his next move. The room was a piece of junk but anonymous; no one cared who he was or what he did as long as he paid, the perfect place to hide away for a time.

The phone vibrated and he dove for it, stretched out on the bed to read the messages as they came in.

I’m fine.

It’s like 3am.

Is everything ok?

He took a deep breath, in and out. It was just a stupid dream. Apparently, the days of looking over his shoulder for the next horror weren’t over, but at least everything was fine at the moment.

Sorry. Everything’s fine. Go back to sleep.

He tossed the phone on the pillow and stood, stretching. He still felt gross so he wandered over to the bathroom, turning the shower on. While he waited for the water to warm, stupid shitty motel, he stared at himself in the mirror, leaning over. A light sheen of sweat still covered him, scab bright on his shoulder where the bullet from the vault pierced his skin, but worst were his eyes, bloodshot and dull. He knew he hadn’t been sleeping well but damn, he looked like hell. He immediately felt guilty at the thought; at least he looked alive, which was more than he could say for-

He shook his head. These thoughts weren’t helping at all. Fuck.

He stepped into the shower, hoping the water on his skin would erase the thoughts from his head. He stood there for a minute before getting clean, able to wash the sweat off, even if the memory of the nightmare still remained. He started to crank the water up, higher and higher, finally getting it as hot as it would go, as if it could burn away everything, every mistake that brought him here, every sin he couldn’t take back. The water scalded but he stood and stood, immobile under the steady stream of burning washing over him.

Finally, when he couldn’t take it anymore, he got out, toweling off and looking at the deep red marks on his skin. He shook his head and walked out, knowing he wouldn’t get back to sleep tonight. He pulled on a pair of boxers and, heading over to the bed, realized the notification light on his phone was on.

Three missed calls, four text messages.

Are you sure?

Colt, answer your phone.

Are you ok?

I swear to God, if you don’t pick up, I’m coming over there.

Crap. The last one was sent at 2:59. He looked at the clock. 3:15. Fuck.

He started to type but the knocking at the door interrupted him. He got up, cautious, and looked the the keyhole (never make the same mistake twice, right?). Ellie stood there, biting her lip, looking anxious. He pulled open the door. Great. He ruined her night too.

“You didn’t need to come.” 

She breezed by him, into the room, still in an over-sized sleep shirt, clutching a backpack. “You didn’t pick up your phone.”

He shut the door and turned to find her studying him. “I was in the shower.”

“At 3am?” She looked at him, considering. “Nightmare?”

He could only look at her, couldn’t get the words to come out, could only shrug. He saw her eyes soften; he hated how she could see straight through him.

She grabbed his hand, pulling him with her.��“Come on, back to bed.”

“What about school?”

She rolled her eyes at him. “I set an alarm.”

“Your dad?”

“Night shift. It’s fine.” She slid into the bed, the shitty bed in this shitty hotel; he would feel guilty but he was too spent to feel anything, really.

He curved around her, pulling her back to his chest, burying his face in her neck, deep breaths, trying to reassure his psyche that she was here and alive. Their legs tangled, her smooth skin rubbing against him, his cock jumping at the sensation. He knew it wasn’t the time but damn, she was gorgeous, soft in his arms, hand finding his and holding tight.

He watched her, tight next to him, as the rise and fall in her chest slowed, deepened, studied the wave of her hair, mole behind her ear. He thought he wouldn’t sleep again tonight but he was shocked when could feel his eyelids become heavier. With Ellie here, he knew there would be no more nightmares, at least tonight, and so, finally, he drifted off, clutching her, knowing she was safe.

[frenchy-and-the-sea]

A for Val!!!

Minific was the name of the game. This is likely not what it meant. 

But, y’know. Val. Family. Feelings. It’s all par for the course at this point. So here’s three different scenes about Val using thaumaturgy. 

2500ish words.

—–

The candle just wouldn’t burn. 

Or rather, it wouldn’t burn the way Val wanted it to. The little funny word in Infernal that her mother had taught her - the one that made torches burn brighter, or changed them brilliant purple in an instant - only seemed to startle whatever birds chanced to land nearby, and make whoever was milling by on the trade road walk just a little bit faster. 

Val growled, pitching forward onto her hands and knees, and lowering herself down until she was eye level with the flame.

“Get bigger,” she hissed, in Common this time: the candle just flickered with the puff of her breath.

“Ohhh, I think you startled it.”

Val’s head shot up at the voice, and turned to the familiar silhouette casting its shadow over her. Even through the glare of the sun, she could make out the spiraling tower of horns, the dark red skin, the unbroken slate black eyes; everything that would suggest her father, except for the coal-colored hair cut short around his ears, parted neatly to one side, and the wry smile pulling at his lips. The anger that had been cooling in her evaporated completely, replaced with a sudden rush of excitement as she sprang to her feet.

“Uncle Imren!” she cried. He barely got both hands out before she launched herself at him, clinging to his forearms when he buckled under her weight.

“Whoa!” He scooped an arm beneath her so that she was propped against his hip and laughed. “Gods, you’re getting big! One day you’re going to have to pick me up like this.”

Val sat upright in his arms and wrinkled her nose. “You’re being silly.”

“I’m not! One day, you’re going to be taller than a dragon. And he’ll see how big you are, and he’ll puff up and start breathing dragonsmoke, and -” He paused then, sniffing at something in the air, and stole a glance downwards. “Ah.”

Val followed his gaze to where her little candle was laying sideways in the grass, knocked over in the scramble and just starting to torch the drier grasses around it. She made a little noise of alarm, but her uncle didn’t so much as flinch. He just muttered something under his breath - a familiar something, Val realized - and the little flame began to dim. The last few embers, he smothered beneath the tip of his tail. Val clutched at the front of his shirt, gasping.

“Uncle!”

He looked up just as she pushed out of his grip, and scrambled to catch her. “Easy, easy Valtish! Gods, what is it?”

Val took no heed of his valiant attempts to stop her from toppling to the grass; she let herself roll down into the dirt, then scrambled up and set the candle back into its stand.

“You can make it bigger, right?” she asked as she turned, beaming. “Cause mum can, and so can da, and I keep trying ‘cause they taught me the word but it’s not working, and they’re busy, and -”

“Alright, alright,” her uncle laughed, waving a hand to cut her off. He stepped to the opposite side of the candle and sank down onto the ground, so quietly that Val couldn’t even hear the grasses bend, then pulled a piece of flint from the satchel on his hip and gestured her way. “Let’s see what you’re doing.”

Determined now, Val plopped herself solidly onto the ground again, leaning forward and focusing as her uncle relit the candle in front of her. She waited for the flame to steady in the faint afternoon breeze, then took a deep breath, narrowed her eyes and muttered the same word that she had heard Imren use. 

The candle didn’t so much as flicker.

She tried again, leaning closer, eyes narrowed even further. Still, nothing. The third time, her voice cracked as she spoke, and Imren reached out a hand and gently pushed her back.

“Easy now,” he said softly, wiping away the hot tears that had begun to well in her eyes. “This doesn’t mean you won’t ever get it. Nine hells, it took your father almost a year to do it right. And now he’s a master of all sorts of magic, isn’t he?“

Val sniffled and scrubbed the lines of her tears from her face. "Guess so.”

Imren hummed quietly, and then Val heard him slide sideways through the grass, until he was hunched right beside her. He pressed an elbow into her shoulder, warm and familiar.

“In fact,” he said quietly, leaning down, “I happen to know how he figured it out too. Want me to tell you?”

Val looked up, still sniffling, but the mischief glittering in her uncle’s eyes banished the last of her tears. She nodded, and his grin widened. 

Very carefully, he removed his flint from its satchel again.

“Your father,” he said, as he turned it over in his hand, “always did magic better when he had something to do. It’s why he sings or plays the lute when he does it, understand? It makes more sense in his mind that way.” Out of the corner of her eye, Val saw a flash of metal, and watched with wide eyes as her uncle withdrew a wicked looking knife from somewhere around his waist. “Now, this particular spell only requires the word, but sometimes, if he was having trouble getting it right, he would pretend that he was adding to the fire himself. Like so.”

In one quick motion, he struck the flint with the spine of his knife and sent a shower of sparks scattering through the grass. Val recoiled instinctively, but her uncle’s tail swept over the patch of earth and smothered whatever grass was starting to catch. Then he held the flint towards her.

“Do exactly what I did,” he said as she slowly reached out to take it, “but pretend your fingers are the knife. Don’t hit the rock there, just make the motion. Atta girl, just like that.”

He slipped the knife away with a simple flick of his wrist and grabbed Val’s hands as she began gesturing them frantically towards each other, making little adjustments until it looked, to her little mind, like she was nearly scratching the edge of the flint with each pass. He let her practice a few more times, then swept the candle back in front of her with the tip of his tail.

“Now,” he said, with a gesture towards it, “try again. With the word, this time.”

Charged with a sudden surge of adrenaline, Val straightened her shoulders, reached back and struck a wide arc over the flint, all but shouting as she did. Her heart pounded hard in her chest as the candle flickered, wavered…

And stubbornly refused to grow.

This time, the tears came too quickly to stop, and her uncle’s arm swept around her and pulled her up into a crushing hug as they broke across her cheeks.

“Keep practicing, kid,” he said softly, as she fisted little claws into the front of his shirt and sobbed. “You’ll get it soon.”

—————

The candle hung heavily in Val’s pocket, bouncing off of her knee as she ran. 

She could hear her mother’s laughter behind her, growing steadily fainter as she pounded across the hillside towards the last place that she had seen the wagon. Her uncle’s arrival had been unannounced, as usual: but as usual, her mother had been prepared. Val shoved a hand into her dress pocket to keep her candle from tumbling out and willed her legs even faster.

Miraculously, neither her uncle nor her father noticed her approach. They were standing beside the wagon, locked in a low, intense conversation as she skidded around the base of the hill.

“…. no real aptitude for magic,” her father was saying as she came into earshot, barely seconds before his eyes flicked up over his brother’s shoulder and caught sight of her bounding their way. He stepped back instinctively.

“Valtish,” he started, his tone a warning; but Val was already hunched low, and she sprang for her uncle’s waist with a wild cry of triumph.

Imren, for his part, did not so much as flinch as he spun neatly on a heel and snatched her up into his arms.

“Aha!” he cried, hoisting her onto a hip as she shrieked with delight. “There’s the ferocious little lion cub I was looking for. Who taught you to creep up like that, huh? Your dad?” He turned to leer pointedly back at her father away. “He’s the sneaky one of the two of us, after all.” 

“No, uncle,” Val giggled as her father rolled his dark eyes, “you’re the sneaky one!”

“Am I? Why, I hadn’t noticed.”

Grinning, he pulled her into a tight hug, digging fingers into her sides until until she squealed and thrashed in his arms.

“Well,“ he said, when she finally managed to push herself away, “if that’s my handiwork, I ought to teach you how to do it right, huh?”

A sudden panic fluttered in Val’s chest. She made a wordless noise of protest, wrenching around in her uncle’s grip. If he was going to teach her anything, she thought to herself, he needed to know his success first. She snatched the candle in her pocket and then held it up in front of him, so close to his face that she saw him go cross eyed. 

"Watch!” she demanded, then swung her tiny fist in an arc over the candle’s wick. The candle remained unlit - a mistake that she only realized ten minutes later, in retrospect - but the lantern hung on the wagon’s door beside them suddenly blazed higher in its case, shifting to a vibrant blue the color of a summer sea. Her uncle and father turned, startled, as Val threw her hands up with a whoop of triumph.

“Did you see?” she asked, turning to face her uncle again. “Did you see what I -”

Imren was not looking at her. His dark eyes were fixed on the lantern flame with an intensity that drove the last of Val’s excitement straight down into her gut. 

“I see,” he said quietly. Then his eyes shifted towards her, and she caught a faint grin twitching at the corner of his mouth. “You’ve been practicing, haven’t you?”

Her excitement flared up again, hot as the lantern burning behind them. She nodded furiously.

“I did what you showed me! I tried it again and again and again and again and then one day, poof!” She threw her arms out to both sides. “It worked!”

Imren laughed - a bit less loudly than before - and then hiked her further onto a hip and glanced over his shoulder towards his brother.

"Well, Cai!” he said, with a grin. “Seems you were wrong about little Valtish here, huh?”

Her father’s eyes remained fixed on the lantern. “Seems so.”

“And no self respecting niece of mine would be fine with just that, would she?” Imren turned back to Val with a winning smile that chased any worry about her father’s odd silence clear out of her mind again. “What do you say, kid? How about I teach you how to be sneaky this time around?”

She nodded again, so hard that her curls swatted at her cheeks. Over her uncle’s shoulder, she saw her father turn.

“Imren,” he said, with the same warning tone that he’d used before. Imren waved him off.

“Easy, Cai. She’s a good student. And there are worse things to learn than to not be seen, don’t you think?”

This time, when they trotted off, her father let them go without a fight.

————–

The candles were already burning low when Val arrived back at the grave.

The funerary party had been small, but had insisted that she leave her vigil long enough for dinner. She had only gotten through half of a plate before she couldn’t stomach the ashen taste of food anymore. They had let her go then, after they were sure that she had heard all of their offers of a bed for the night.

For the night, she knew, but likely not for much longer. 

That would have been fine, once. An inn bed tended to be a luxury, one that she was used to forgoing for a tent, or the blanket-covered floor of a wagon anyway. In any other time, at any other place, she would be fine with that. In any other time, she would not need it. 

In any other time, perhaps her parents would not be dead.

The bitterness of the thought winched her throat shut, but all that did was bring a too-familiar stinging to the corners of her eyes. They’d run out of tears long before her father’s grave had been dug; the reminder that she was still alone certainly wouldn’t be enough to bring those back. So she turned them up to the hill on the horizon instead, squinting into the growing dark, where a splinter of the trade road wound down the length of it. Still no silhouette on the horizon, no towering horns, no dull red skin catching the last lingering rays of sunlight. 

Still no Imren.

Sighing and scrubbing at her stinging eyes, Val stepped over to the little round of the headstone and sat down beside it. She didn’t dare cross over the freshly turned earth beside her, or look at it for long enough for her mind to process. Her eyes would only sting more. 

Watching the candles was easier. They had been placed in a little arc around the sides of the headstone, a few on top, dripping wax down the swath of slate grey. She whisked some of the longer drops away with her bare fingers, focusing on the scalding heat and the dancing whip of the flame that always seemed to make her blood pound a little harder in her ears. She didn’t play often with fire, but there was something familiar about it, something old and nostalgic that made little threads of excitement burn up to her chest…

An idea, the wild sort that only grief could conjur, suddenly sprang to life in her mind.

Straightening, she spun herself to face the candles - away from the grave, away from the memory, away from the empty, empty hill - and lowered her face to their level. She watched the flame for a long moment, focusing. Then, with a frantic rush of hope that could only come in a bard’s child, she waved her hand across the top of them and muttered an old, familiar word.

The flames brightened dutifully, to a brilliant red like skin on an open field in the middle of summer, but the world around her remained empty. No one stepped out from behind a tree, arriving in the dramatic eleventh hour like they would in her father’s stories; no one appeared to crest the hilltop. The wind was just cold, the earth still freshly turned, and she was still utterly alone.

The tears came then, fierce and hot with the fresh dashing of her hope, and they did not leave again for a long, long time.

[hikerlady]

5.5 Recap

This is for @seven-dragons since she did the same for me when I was in purgatory at my mom’s house out of town and did not have an Internet connection. In case the title does not make it obvious, this post is full of *SPOILERS*

The show starts off with Ethan Young, a Jehovah’s Witness knocking on doors, or ‘witnessing.’  Apparently, the hatred of having random people knock on your door in the middle of the day is universal.  He keeps getting the door slammed in his face, which lets us see he has a bit of a temper. He runs into the victim and it is obvious they had planned to meet about something, but the victim tells him to come back later (he’s angry too).  Some people, who turn out to be the victim’s niece and her husband stop by the house and find Ethan, covered in blood and kneeling over the victim’s body.

*Roll credits and awesome DBM theme song*

Lucien joins Charlie in the victim’s work shed. The victim’s name is Vern, and he is a retired carpenter who was stabbed repeatedly...as acted out by Lucien.

Back at the Police Station, Charlie and Lucien interview Ethan. Ethan tells them Vern was still breathing when he got there, and insists he tried to find something to stop the bleeding. When asked why he was looking all creepy and kneeling over Vern’s body when the niece found him, he tells them he was praying for Vern because he had not been able to convert him.  He did tell a little lie during the interview, but it’s really not that important.  I did learn more about the Jehovah’s Witnesses during this interview than I have ever learned before, so that’s something. This show is so educational. 

Funny Scene - Alice is not in the morgue when Lucien gets there, so he starts without her.  Alice is NOT happy. She actually seems wounded that he started his talking to the dead body bit and didn't wait for her. Anyway, they find a weird fragment in one of the wounds.  Lucien makes sure it is okay with Alice if he brings it home to test it, which is kind of sweet. 

*Going to pick this up a bit or this will take forever*

Charlie and Lucien go to the niece’s house, where the main takeaway is that her husband is a hot tempered jerk.  

Back at the police station, Ethan’s mother is having a meltdown. Her friend and ride to the station, a guy named Percy, tells Lawson that he worked with Vern. He also tells Lawson that Ethan is his apprentice. Ethan’s mother, who needs a serious intervention about her overuse of rollers for her bangs - is scaring the crap out of poor Ned. Important takeaway, Ethan’s mother is a bit on the high strung/pain in the ass side. She is not happy they are keeping her son locked up and insists on spending the night in the corridor.

Lucien visits Ethan in the cells to make sure he is okay. I love these scenes, where Lucien shows compassion to people who probably have not received much in their lives.  Charlie interrupts them to say that Lucien “better come quick” because he is needed at home.

HUUUUH? What happened?

Jean burned her arm because she thought she saw someone outside....a hot potato accident.  Lucien is concerned about her seeing this someone, but she just shakes her head and says she was not sure anyone was there. We get to see Lucien bandaging her arm, and Lucien apologizes and acknowledges that the divorce and the business with the church must be weighing heavily on her mind. Jean seems touched that he has noticed, but insists she's fine and he needs to go back to work.

Lucien and Charlie are back at the scene of the crime to see if the killer could have murdered Vern and escaped in three minutes. The important thing about this scene is that Lucien has rubbed off on Charlie, who is now acting out the crime scenes too. Oh, the murderer could have killed Vern and escaped in time. Also, there are some discrepancies which leads them to believe that the killer looked for something that was hidden in the work shop. They do find a bag from a bakery and over 2000 pounds hidden all over the place. 

This leads them to a secret gambling ring, which is this week’s red herring.  It seems like Vern was murdered because everyone thought he was cheating them out of money.  The big thing we learn is that gambling brings out the worst in people and the niece’s husband is still a big jerk. The most important thing we learn is that Lawson’s dad was a gambler and he was not much fun to live with as a boy.

Rose drops by the house and Jean’s spidey senses tell her that something is on Rose’s mind. Turns out Rose thinks she is pregnant with Charlie’s baby - it’s ultimately a false alarm.  Rose isn’t exactly excited about something ruining her career.  The BIG REVEAL - Jean was pregnant at 19 before she married Christopher.  She had a miscarriage and it was a girl.  She never told anyone else and felt her miscarriage was her punishment for their transgression against God. Will she tell Lucien at some point?????

Charlie gets hit with a tool box by the niece’s jerk husband, but the husband runs into Lucien who pushes him down like he is a feather lite bowling pin.  I’m skipping over a bunch of gambling stuff.  

Jean and Lucien are back in the lab and Jean is being all sciency again! I love how Lucien is teaching her all this lab stuff. They identify the fragment that was found in Vern’s neck as copper.

Uh Oh, Jean is talking to Father Emery again.  Jean tells him the whole history of the Mei Lin ordeal and Father Emery seems to sympathize with their situation, but stands firm on the position of the church. Jean tells him she needs to hear him say it. He tells her she has to choose between Lucien and the church.  When Jean says she doesn't think she can make that choice, he tells her to ask God for guidance.  Greeeaaaat. Thanks for the help Father!  Actually, he does seem sad that Jean is in this position, but he kinda works for a company that has really strict policies, so his hands are tied. 

Charlie and Lucien search Vern’s house again.  They find a lot of things that lead them nowhere, but Lucien works out that Vern was illiterate (comes into play later).  They also find a secret savings account for his niece.

Back to Ethan’s mom’s house. I was hoping they were interrupting the Rollers in the bangs intervention, but the people were just Jehovah’s Witnesses. 

She tells them Ethan is working, which leads them to find him impaled and bleeding.  Lucien has to assist in surgery, and uses saline instead of giving him a blood transfusion due to Ethan’s religious beliefs.  I was surprised and a little impressed that a man who seems to have such little respect for religion, would still respect another’s beliefs so much. That’s our Lucien though. We also get to see Lucien in scrubs as a bonus.

Cute scene where Lawson helps out the niece. They thought she was skipping town, but she was actually running away from her jerk husband. Lawson, who understands what it’s like to live with a compulsive gambler, basically tells her to leave town while her hubby is locked up.  He also gives her the bank account info so she has money for her and her kids.

Jean drinks Lucien’s whiskey again. And, Lucien kisses jean before leaving.

FINALLY! The scene we have been waiting for happens with 10 minutes left in the show. Lucien finds a patent for an electric drill that would have made Vern very rich. Percy shows up and Lucien does his big reveal about Percy being jealous. Percy thought he should be included on the patent too. Ethan told Percy he was helping Vern with he paperwork for the drill, which is why Percy tried to kill Ethan.  He needed him out of the way.  It’s just like the other episodes, where Lucien explains the mystery to the murderer. Buuuut, unlike the other times, there are no police officers waiting in the wings. Oops. Percy stabs Lucien, but Lucien bashes Percy over the head even after he was stabbed. Bravo Lucien.  Lucien has to use his own pen as a chest tube to release the pressure of a tension pneumothorax. Just before blacking out, he sees the silhouette of a man in the doorway. First Jean, now Lucien.  Munro perhaps?

Although I was really hoping we would see Jean find out about Lucien getting stabbed and see her all worried before he regained consciousness, the bedside scenes were very nice and intimate.  When Lucien wakes up, he says, “Ah, Ive missed dinner haven't I?” The best was Alice though. She was soooo excited about Lucien using his own pen as a chest draining tube and wants to ask a bunch of questions after he wakes up. The look Jean gives her is priceless.

Also, as Charlie is walking out, Lucien says goodnight. Charlie calls him boss. His reply is “Night boss.” Ha

Just when you think that Lucien is about to drop some serious bad news (music and all) after he tells Jean there is something he needs to tell her, he just says he is a throughly bad patient. They giggle and then Jean basically tells him he needs to be more careful, that she almost lost him that night. He basically says he will be more careful by replying, “Understood.”  I am a thousand percent certain that he will not change at all.

All in all, this was another wonderful episode!

The End. Thank god. 

[cgswapjplau]

Steven Universe JPL AU: S1 Chapter 1, Lotus Light Trebuchet

Lapis flew towards the boardwalk, Steven perched on her back excitedly. She stopped a few feet away from Fryman's, hovering above the dock so Steven could climb off. He panted as he ran up to the booth, craving a food only Fryman could supply.

"Fryman, gimme the bits!" He called out.

Fryman rolled his eyes with a half smile. "You know we're closed."

"Come on, Fry, give him the bits!" Lapis protested good-naturedly.

"The bits, the bits, the bits, the bits," the lapis lazuli chanted eagerly.

"The bits, the bits, the bits, the bits!" Steven joined in, stars in his eyes.

They repeated it a few more times, until Fryman couldn't take it anymore.

"Alright, alright! Just stop it! Your scaring away the customers."

Lapis looked around, and back at Fryman.

"What customers?"

Steven gasped and giggled into his hand.

Fryman scoffed. "And let me guess, your usual?"

"Uh huh, but two milkshakes instead of one." Lapis answered.

"If you want, I can give you regular fries." He told Steven.

The boy shook his head. "Nope! Just the bits, please!"

Fryman put the fry bits into a bag and handed them to Steven, giving Lapis her milkshakes.

"Thanks, Fry! See you later!" The two said in unison.

Steven climbed onto Lapis' back, and she took off.

"Ah, sunset. My favorite time of day. The sun goes down, and the second sun gets bigger and bigger in the sky!" The half gem exclaimed, looking up at the sky.

Lapis snickered, some of her milkshake spilling out of the container. She used her powers to catch it before it hit the ground and put it back into the shake.

"Yeah, sure. Just love that secon-" Lapis gasped, dropping the whole shake. She used to powers to retrieve it yet again.

"It's here." She whispered, looking up to see a giant thing in the sky.

"Wait, what is?" Steven asked, before Lappis zipped home, Steven holding on to her sleeve for dear life. "Aw, my bits!"

"Well, we're cracked." Jasper muttered. She was standing outside of the house, next to Peridot, who was peering into a telescope. The peridot also had various electronic machines that she kept typing in and adding data to.

"I wish I had never given those an upgrade." She said in a low voice.

"Jasper! Peri!" Lapis called, landing next to them. Steven climbed off of her.

"Yeah, yeah. We saw, Lazuli." Peridot answered. "Some of us are busy protecting Earth. Where were you?"

Lapis rolled her eyes, but Steven saw the hurt look on her face.

"Getting snacks." Lapis said with a smile, quickly recovering. "But look, Peri, I got you a milkshake!"

Peridot took the shake that had never fallen out of the lapis' hand gingerly and took a small sip. She turned away with a small smile.

"Your drink wasn't," Peridot told Lapis with an uncomfortable cough. "Horrible. Thank you."

Lapis crossed her arms with a smile. "Aw, you know you love me. Admit you like it."

Steven changed the subject. "Ooh, can I see?" He asked enthusiastically, grabbing the telescope. "Woah, it's a giant eyeball! So cool!"

Peridot turned away from Lapis and eyed Steven. "No, not cool."

"That thing's a Red Eye." Jasper explained.

"A Red Eye? Oh, no! It's going to infect us all!" Steven yelled.

"Ugh, Steven, that's pink eye." Peridot said.

Lapis and Jasper snickered.

"It's headed for Beach City, and it's going to crush us all." Jasper informed Steven, not seeming that concerned about the situation.

"Along with a bunch of humans, ducks, and mice, and other things!" Lapis added. She looked behind her, shooing away a squirrel and lizard behind her. "Save yourselves." She whispered dramatically with a snicker.

"But how are we supposed to stop it?" Steven asked nervously.

"Rose's trebuchets are the only thing powerful enough to stop it, but they're both nowhere to be found." Jasper replied.

"Wait, they belonged to Mom? Then maybe Dad has them!" Steven lit up.

The three gems looked at each other for a moment, averting their gaze from Steven awkwardly.

"Gregory is nice." Peridot stated with a clearing of the throat.

"But if he had it, he either lost it or broke it. Or I took it." Lapis finished shamelessly.

"No, guys. I bet he's just keeping it somewhere safe!" Steven protested.

"Okay, Steven, you can go ask, but be quick." Jasper agreed.

"Lapis, go with him. If Greg doesn't have it, look in your room." Peridot added.

"If you don't see them, one of Peridot's inventions that are in your room could be useful." The quartz said.

"Fine, but we are NOT using one of my meep-morps to destroy that thing." Lapis snapped.

"But I think we handle it, Steven. Ready?" Lapis asked Peridot, before flying her up to the Red Eye. They flew steadily towards the strange spheroid.

"Okay, I'm fine! Let me go!" Peridot told her as they reached the eyeball.

"If you say so." Lapis replied with a smirk, dropping Peridot into the ocean.

"Ugh, Jasper, just throw me at it instead!" Peridot called.

Jasper nodded.

----------------

Steven and Lapis were in front of It's A Wash, looking at a van.

"Dad, wake up! Dad!" Steven yelled, pounding on the car door. "We have to save the town!"

"Yo, Gregory, wake up!" Lapis called.

Steven grunted and he pounded and shook the van, crawling onto the hood to bang on it. He climbed onto the top, jumping up and down. Just as he was giving up, throwing himself on the van dramatically, the car alarm started. Steven's face brightened as he turned to look at the back doors of the vehicle.

Greg Universe burst out of the automotive, with a weapon at the ready. "Who's there? I've got a frying pan and I'm not afraid to us-"

Greg spotted Lapis and calmed instantly. "Oh, hey, Lapis." He greeted her, shutting off the car alarm.

"Dad! It's me!" Steven called, stumbling off the van.

"Hey there, Schtu-ball." Greg said, giving his son a hug.

"We're looking for Rose's trebuchets." Lapis told him.

"What? Why?" Greg asked.

"To stop that eyeball over there!" His son answered helpfully, pointing at the sky.

Greg and Lapis looked up to see Peridot being thrown at the Red Eye. She collided into it with a big crash, and then fell in the water.

His dad grinned. "I know where they might be."

______________

"It's a shed, for storage." Greg told Steven, pushing up the garage door. Steven's face fell a little as the door opened to reveal a normal looking shed. His face quickly brightened as he got to work.

"If I'm gonna go in there, I'm gonna need some gear," Steven mused. He tied a flashlight to his head with a sock. Lapis snorted and tied a rope to him.

"Gotta go!" Steven exclaimed as he crawled inside the shed.

"Good luck!" Lapis and Greg told him.

Soon, he came across a box. "Dad, I found a bunch of copies of your old CD!" Greg smiled from outside the shed. "Oh man, I couldn't give those away. You know, before I rented the car wash, when I was a one-man band, I traveled the country!"

"I know, Dad." The half-gem answered with a chuckle.

"When I had my concert in Beach City, no one showed up, except-"

"A dragon!" Steven cheered, interrupting his father.

"No, it was your mother." Lapis told him with a small smile.

Steven laughed, "I know!"

"And me, but I was a swan at the time, so I guess that doesn't count." The lapis lazuli reasoned. "Gregory and Rose were always together after that."

His dad smiled sadly. "Until she gave up her physical form to bring you into the world."

As Greg rambled on, Steven stepped on a frame, with a picture of his father and mother inside. He gasped,

"Dad, I broke your picture frame!" Steven told Greg.

"It's okay, Schtu-ball. Remember, if every pork chop were perfect-"

"We wouldn't have hot dogs!" Lapis and Steven finished.

When the two finished the phrase, two identical catapults glowed simultaneously, but only one was in the shed.

Steven noticed it. "Huh?" Suddenly, the boy's eyes went wide with recognition. A massive siege weapon towered over the crouching child, pale pink and decorated with petal shaped molding. A lotus-like spherical bullet was already equipped, as if the dirt-encrusted engine had been waiting. Steven sweeped off the dust with one hand.

"One of the ter-butch-ays." He murmured.

"It's trebuchet." Lapis corrected him.

"Lapis, Dad, I found one!" Steven cried.

"Keep looking for the other!" Lapis instructed him.

After a thorough search, Steven could see they should try somewhere else.

"Well, Steven, guess it's time to look at my place." Lapis said casually.

"I'll drive you," Greg added.

They loaded the weapon into a wagon that was tied to the back of the van, and then sat inside. Greg got in the driver's seat, and started the car.

"This is freaking me out!" Greg exclaimed.

"Can't the van go any faster? We've gotta get go the beach!" Steven said impatiently.

"This is faster!" His father answered.

"Come on, let's put on your CD." Lapis suggested from the backseat.

Steven put in the CD and started to sing along.

Greg parked, and Lapis put the trebuchet on the shore, where Peridot was being yeeted at the Red Eye the twentieth time that day. Steven and Lapis climbed onto the porch and entered the house.

Lapis guided Steven past the living room and kitchen, and up to an elevator. She pressed the down button. A scanner popped up, and Lapis turned around so her gem would be visible. "Whoa," Steven thought aloud. A small ding could be heard, and the frame rotated multiple times, before stopping so that a door with a lapis lazuli gem and water on it could be seen.

The pair entered the elevator. The doors closed, and the elevator went down quickly. Steven yelped and grabbed onto Lapis, who didn't seem bothered by the stomach-churning drop. The elevator slowed to a stop, and the walls turned translucent. A circular waterfall surrounded the elevator, and parted when the elevator doors opened. When the two stepped out, Steven gasped in awe.

The room they entered was like a paradise, with seafoam green grass, ponds, trees, and a pink and orange 'sky'. A section where two short pale blue translucent walls made a corner and a small area of floor was filled with with chests. Small mechanical animals lived in trees and burrows. The whole place had art supplies scattered around on the ground.

"This is your room in the temple?" Steven asked in awe.

"Yup, and I know just where to find the other trebuchet."

____________

"Come on, Dad!" Steven called. He and Lapis were pushing one trebuchet towards the other Crystal Gems, and Steven wanted his dad to be a part of this mission.

His dad followed, helping the two transport the other siege weapon.

Finally spotting them, Jasper looked at the three curiously, and her eyes widened when they started to wheel the trebuchets over, still attached to the van. Peridot looked up from where she had ended up when she was swept up by the tide in awe, but quickly composing herself.

"Good. You guys are here." Peridot said shortly, moving towards the weapons. "There are over one septillion possible combinations of letters, sounds, and numbers, and the Red Eye is almost here."

Lapis exhaled anxiously. "Well, then, we'd better star-" She gasped.

They all looked up to see pieces of the roof shingles breaking off and attaching to the Red Eye. Across town, Fryman's sign was ripping apart, and he yelped in vain, attempting to grab it before it flew away. The statue of Angel Aura broke a fingernail.

"Hurry!" Jasper yelled in alarm, moving the cannon into place.

"What could the password be?" Steven asked.

"This was Rose's, not mine!" Peridot snapped before calming down.

"Dad?" He turned to his father, who shrugged. "Lapis? Jasper?" Steven swiveled to meet the eyes of the pair, who clung to each other in fear, before shaking off each other's grasp. Lapis looked down in defeat, while Jasper turned away. Next to them, Peridot had an epiphany.

"Steven!" She called desperately, grabbing his shoulder and turning him towards her. "You have her gem!"

Lapis rushed over, rubbing Steven's gem against the trebuchets. Peridot slapped her hand with a smirk. "Really?" She turned serious. "It's no use!"

"Forget that. Throw me again." Peridot suggested unenthusiastically, allowing Jasper to scoop her up.

"That's not going to work!" Lapis protest

The wagon holding the trebuchet sank into the dirt, moving Steven around, who was still clung to it. "Whoa!"

"I've got this." Greg said, unlatching the trebuchet. The van slid across the beach, towards the Eye. Steven's father yanked on the rope, trying to reel the van in unsuccessfully.

"Never mind, maybe I don't!" Greg yelped, being pulled to the Red Eye.

"Please work," Steven pleaded to the trebuchets. "Unlock! Activate! Come on!"

"Go! Please?" He continued. "Everyone's counting on you two! You can't just be useless! I know you guys can help!"

"Don't worry, Steven." Lapis reassured him.

"We'll find something else!" Greg added.

A wobbly smile stretched across Steven's face. "Oh, right! If every porkchop were perfect, we wouldn't have hot dogs!"

The trebuchets started to glow. The gems and his father looked on in shock.

"It's working!" Jasper exclaimed.

The petals started to open like two blooming roses, and the weights on both sunk down. The sudden decrease in balance launched two lotus flower bullets into the air. They circled each other, shining, before combing to form a pink light silhouette of a familiar woman. She struck the Red Eye, exploding it. There was a bright glow, and when it faded, the woman was gone.

Debris rained on the town. A piece crashed into the boardwalk, next to Fryman. A car was inside the hole, its alarm shrieking loudly.

"Steven, you saved most of Beach City!" Lapis applauded.

"Sorry!" Steven called.

Fryman didn't hear him. "What?"

"How'd you activate the trebuchets?" Peridot asked.

"I just said the thing Dad always says."

"And before you ask, yes, the thing about pork rinds." Jasper told her, amused.

"Hot dogs." Lapis corrected simply.

Greg wiped a tear from his eye. "Rose."

The tide came in, returning Greg's van apologetically.

"My van!" Greg cried.

"It's okay, dad." Steven soothed.

"If every porkchop were perfect-" Lapis started.

"I live in there!" Greg shrieked, before running into the water after it.