#i came up with this headcanon recently and i hold it near and dear to my heart already

[alyimoss]

i hear dream and dust and my head snaps around 180 degrees in two frames.

the thing abt dream and the mtt is he would try his hardest to get them out of nightmares grasp. he believes they deserve a chance to be better than they are. and the interesting thing abt this is that if theres one common thread between all of the mtt its that they do not think they deserve that.

dust i think is the best example of this bc horror generally refuses to admit the things he did were wrong and killer is killer.

dust believes that the "best" fate for him is staying under nm's control. is he suffering? yes. is he making other people suffer? yes. does his suffering get worse as a result? yes. and this is what he deems "just" for what he's done.

as long as he is suffering he can say that the people hes killed are getting vengeance. as long as he keeps hurting others, he can keep suffering. he doesnt think a fate where he is redeemed is fair to his victims. he doesnt think theres anything he can do except rot in his guilt and his misery and keep killing and keep hurting because thats what he is now - a murderer. and he doesnt deserve to be anything more.

he has a strict self-imposed role that he doesnt stray from.

...hey, know who else has a strict self-imposed role that he doesnt stray from??

granted, its not wholly self-imposed. the role of "guardian of positivity" has been his since his mother's death. but the way in which he fulfils this role is very much self-imposed. the persona he puts out there is of his own making.

dream imo thinks he needs to be always helpful and nice and bright and palatable... no matter how he feels about certain people, he keeps a smile on his face and lets himself be pushed around because he thinks thats the best way to guarantee the positivity of others. he never turns down requests for help no matter how drained he might be because what kind of helper isnt always available to help, yknow? the ways in which he fulfills his role are draining to him and, were he mortal, would be entirely unsustainable (even as he is its barely sustainable)

anyway what im getting at is theyre pretty similar. and i think its an interesting thing for dream, whos so used to helping people who desperately want out of their horrible situations, to see someone clearly suffering and acknowledging it but refusing to leave. it would probably be baffling to him at first. dream and dust (and honestly dream and the entirety of the mtt plus nightmare) are a study in the appeal of negativity and the tendency of people to dwell in it instead of working to get better because of a whole range of reasons.

dream would try to convince dust that he doesnt have to stay with nm, that he can help him get out and go somewhere like the omega timeline and get a second chance, but dust would hear him out silently and then ask him if he doesnt have a duty of his own. hed answer that he does, obviously, and dust would answer that so does he. he has a duty to those hes hurt to feel the same pain theyve been through.

"...and how long will you be suffering like this?"

"eternity."

theyre interesting to me because through each other i think they would recognize their biggest flaws, specifically this sense of "duty" that does nothing but harm. through trying to change this in the other, they change it in themselves, yknow??

also i just like the idea of dream being able to vent to dust. and the rest of the mtt, really. he doesnt often let himself do stuff like that, but they convince him its good to ged the feelings out (and theyre right) and he just sits there and tells them all the grievances he has that he couldnt say to the faces of whoever hed had them with.

ive mentioned this before in a post, that i think the mtt invite dream ti hang out a lot. because they like his positive aura, how it makes everything more bearable, even if just for a little bit. how they dont allow themselves good things because they dont think they deserve them, but its almost like an instinct to survive at this point and being around dream allows their bodies rest at last.

i just generally think dream is very liked in the multiverse lmao. in part because of his aura, sure, but mostly because hes just neat. he hangs out with the mtt and then stops by the omega timeline to hang out with core and others, then while hes out and about reaper pops outta nowhere and gives him some food and drink like "here, a gift from my bro and i" and then he goes to ccino's cafe and hes got a regular order already that ccino gets ready wordlessly as he sees dream approach. and obviously he hangs out with the stars both on missions and off. and he somehow ends up hanging with error when theyre not on opposing sides?? he likes undernovela, too. fresh would also like him, if mostly for the fact hes very useful...

can you tell i like dream.

Know I love thinking about characters who I don't really see together

Like, tf Color and Error think of each other. I mean how much of an AT is too much for Error? Like if its an AT turned to an A like is he chill for a sec and then not? Tf Color think of him?

Killer and Epic would be a funny duo maybe, but not necessarily for the reasons one may think.

What are the one-on-one dynamics of the epic sanses like?

Dream and Horror?? or Dust??

Outer or Birdtale and literally anyone? LMAO

(feel free to add if you wanna I like talking LMAOO)

[snowdropluck204]

Hazbin Hotel x GN! Reader Headcanons

Hi all! So I finished the show recently in the span of a day, after waiting years after the pilot released! Loved it, obviously! So I wanted to start doing some headcanons for the show, since it's all I can really think about... Anyway! Enjoy! Xxx TW: Swearing, murder, death, insanity, typical Hazbin warnings.

How They React to You Being Powerful (And a Bit InSaNe)

Alastor:

I feel like Alastor would be interested, but worried, especially if you just came out of nowhere, but if you were his significant other, I feel like he'd be a bit proud...

~ Alastor had been invited by Vox, over for dinner or a drink, he was curious, he figured it would be an entertaining evening, so he decided to go, and bring you along. ~ As his partner, both in business and personally, you were usually mixed in with Alastor's shadows, always close by, so the Vees weren't all that shocked to see you there with him. ~ Velvette was intrigued by you, wondered about your fashion sense, and Alastor's, Valentino hit on you as soon as he saw you were there, leaving Alastor's eye to twitch slightly in annoyance, Vox considered you an inconvenience, in his way. ~ So when he brought up that you should leave the room so that the 'grown-ups' could talk, you had to hold back your anger, and Alastor. ~ You placed a gentle hand on his chest, keeping him from trying to throttle Vox, until he brought up, "You probably wouldn't understand half the shit we're talking about anyway!" Vox laughed. ~ At that point, your own eyes began to glow, "Oh?" You giggled, "Is that so?" ~ The Vees seemed to realise that they had overstepped, beginning to physically step back. ~ You laughed loudly, "As if moving away will SaVE YOu!" You cackled, lifting your hand, the lights in the room beginning to flicker and then, one by one, they shattered. ~ You skin began to ripple with power, as you motioned for the many mirrors and windows along the walls to shatter inwards, glass and shards flying towards the room's occupants. ~ Once you'd calmed down, Alastor smiled proudly, although the smile was always there, and placed his own hand on your shoulder in comfort, "Incredible display my dear! I think we're done here..." He practically growled, as the two of you turned and left.

Angel Dust:

Angel would obviously be turned on, but would also be incredibly shocked, he knew you as the sweet and innocent lamb that he so loved to tease, seeing you as the dominant, scary, powerful demon was new for him.

~ Angel had left his phone at the hotel, something you knew he'd get upset and stressed about having left, so you, being the amazing you, decided to go to his workplace and bring it to him. ~ You knew that Angel didn't want you to go near that building, mainly because he didn't want you anywhere near Val, but you figured, as long as you went straight to Angel's dressing room and back again, you wouldn't run into him. ~ Angel had told you the night before, complained actually, that he would be working through lunch, so you decided to go then, bringing Angel some snacks for between shoots. ~ Unfortunately, they were having issues with the shoot, so everyone had paused production when you went in to see Angel. ~ Angel Dust looked in shock and fear when he saw you, and his eyes darkened significantly when he noticed the way Val was looking at you. ~ "And who is this?" Valentino purred, slinking over to you, "Lookin for something sweetheart?" ~ You shook your head and began speaking, rather confidently, "Sorry, I was just bringing Angel his phone, I realised he left it at home and just wanted to make sure he had it." You told him. ~ Angel quickly strode over, taking his phone and gently grabbing you by the elbow, he slid his phone into the pocket of his robe, using his second arms to wrap around your waist and try to lead you away from Val, "Sorry 'bout this Val, thank you baby, but you gotta go now," He whispered the last part to you. ~ Val grabbed Angel by the back of his robe, pulling him, and in turn you, back, "Now just wait a minute, Angie baby, your little beauty could be perfect for another production I'm running," He purred, his cigarette smoke curling around your throat, turning into smokey chains. ~ Angel Dust swiped them away, "No." He growled. ~ Val's smirk disappeared, grabbing Angel again, this time by his hair and pulling him away from you. ~ He didn't get far. ~ Instead he was tugged, shadowy fists grabbing Val by the back of his own coat, yanking him painfully backwards, until he let go of Angel and instead, turned to look at you. ~ "You FUckING daRE touCH Him!?" You practically shrieked. ~ Angel watched in mild horror, but mostly arousal as you whaled on Val, he knew he was gonna get it when you've left but if you're around, he wasn't that worried...

Husker:

I feel like Husker would be the only one who would actively be sort of scared if you showed off any kind of power. Especially if he was the one that caused it...

~ When you first came to the Hazbin Hotel, you weren't really interested in redemption or, anything, in particular, just needed a place to stay and figured it would be easy enough. ~ You were surprised to see a place so dead set on redemption, with something that indulged in sin, like the bar... ~ Sitting behind the bar was a demon you had never seen before, he had large wings with the symbols from the suits of a deck of cards decorating the bottom, but he also had big fluffy ears, whiskers and paws, all in all, he was confusing... ~ You walked over to him, "Hi, uh, this is a hotel right? Could I stay here?" You asked timidly, still new to the area, that area being Hell... You didn't want to piss off anyone, you didn't know how powerful they were... ~ The demon looked at you and spoke with a deep, gruff voice, "Look, I don't wanna be dealin with anymore people today, take a hike toots." He grumbled. ~ You rose a brow, "Excuse me?" You asked, quickly getting annoyed, your quick temper was one of the things that landed you here in the first place. ~ The demon sighed, "Jesus are you fucking deaf? I said, beat it bitc-" ~ Before he could finish his sentence, he looked back at you, your eyes had turned pitch black, and you almost seemed to grow in his presence, "What Did YOu jUSt saY to Me!?" You shouted, the words sounding garbled and underwater, but just as powerful. ~ Husker simply stared up at you, eyes wide, "Oh shit..."

Lucifer:

I feel like Lucifer would get overly emotional, whether that emotion is anger or joy is up to the situation entirely... Here's an idea!

~ When Charlie called the two of you, you were incredibly surprised that she wanted your help... ~ Being her father's current partner was probably not that easy for her, but Charlie was taking it extremely well! She knew you weren't there to replace her mother, simply to love her dad, and she liked that. ~ So when they got to the hotel, Charlie was tackled in a hug from her dad and then walked over and get you a warm hug as well, which made you happy. ~ Then Charlie began talking about various different things, her father greeting her over the phone, to which you face-palmed, and then about Adam wanting to move up the extermination and how worried she was about the hotel. ~ You looked at her concerned, "He didn't hurt you did he? Or threaten you at all?" You asked softly, knowing that Lucifer would go off on one if he heard his daughter was in trouble. ~ Charlie shifted on her feet, "Weeeell..." She began. ~ You paused in your questioning, slowly getting more and more worried, before you eyes changed, becoming slit pupils as you got upset. ~ Charlie stepped, "Uh, (y/n)?" She spoke softly, stepping back to avoid the backfire. ~ Lucifer stopped in his search of the hotel and his interrogating Alastor to look around, "Love?" He asked tentatively, seeing you, looking almost feral. ~ He practically rushed over to check on you, "What's going on?" He asked. ~ "That son of a bitch, angel trash, he's begging for a FucKINg AsS WhooPINg!" You practically snarled, becoming unhinged with each word. ~ Lucifer whispered over to Charlie, "What happened?" He was incredibly confused. ~ Charlie winced a bit, "I kind of told them that Adam had threatened me... A little... And then this happened!" She told her dad. ~ Lucifer looked at you lovingly, as you went outside and began trashing things, not wanting to destroy anything inside the hotel that Charlie was so fond of. ~ You went full bear mode for his daughter, there was a huge list of why he loved you, this was one of the top reasons.

I hope these were okay! If anyone has any requests, send me things! I love getting them! Bye for now my lovelies! Xxx

[ballsandbabes]

hello there!

I recently discovered your blog and i was wondering if you could give your perspective/interpretation on how the starting five shohoku boys would be like if they had a crush on you. Maybe add in a little but of Kogure if you want.

i've been a fan of slamdunk for a realllyy long time now, but i wasn't able to watch it as often as i used to due to my studies.

BUT EVER SINCE THE MOVIE CAME OUT ON NETFLIX, it was like a raging flame of hyperfixation had been rekindled haha.

Hi dear, nice that you have found your way to my blog. You are my first ever request. i gave it my all. I hope you enjoyed it <3

Headcanons: Starting 5 having a crush on you

Hanamichi Sakuragi

He would be a Over-the-top show-off. He tries way too hard to impress you—slam dunks, flashy moves and dramatic poses after scoring. be prepared for a funny show.

Loud... even louder than usual. He yells extra loudly (to make sure you would hear him) when you’re around so you’ll notice him. he wold say something like,"Did you see that rebound?! I'm amazing!!"

Random acts of “helpfulness”: He offers to carry everything for you—even if it’s heavy, unnecessary, or you didn’t ask for it. Sometimes it would be even annoying.

He is soooo terrible at being smooth. Trips over his words. Says things like “I didn’t mean to grab your hand—I mean I did—I mean, no, I—uh—BYE!”

His Jealousy level? Maxed out. Glares at any guy who talks to you for more than 5 seconds. Rukawa? Especially. He would do his best , trying to keep Kaede away from you.

Surprise appearances were a daily thing. He randomly shows up early or stays late just to "coincidentally" see you.

While being so stressed by figuring out, how to talk to you he would be unintentionally so very adorable. He tries to act cool but ends up blushing, sweating, or awkwardly laughing.

Since he could not stop to think about you, expect him to also talks about you constantly. First, to his teammates: “Y/N totally looked at me today! Have you seen how cute she looked today?” Ansd also to himself to keep his courage up: “I’m definitely her type. Right? RIGHT?!”

He puts ExTrA effort in everything! He would work harder at practice just to get a compliment from you. He would die on spot, if you complimented him like: "You did so great Hanamichi, keep up the good work. This way I can cheer you on at a game pretty soon!"

If someone ever said something mean to you... He would defend you like a shining knight. The moment someone makes a joke at your expense, he’s shouting, “DON’T TALK ABOUT Y/N LIKE THAT!!” (Smetimes he would even say MY y/n)

His favourite daydreaming: Planing confessions… then chickening out, when it comes to realization. Stands in front of you, fists clenched, dramatic background music in his head… and ends up saying, “Nice weather today, huh?!”

Daydreams a lot. Imagines you cheering for him from the bleachers, maybe even holding up a “Go Hanamichi!” sign.

Kaede Rukawa

Silent stares, all the time...He watches you when he thinks you won’t notice—quiet, steady gazes from across the gym.

Walks you home without saying much. Blocks someone bumping into you like it was “nothing.” Like this he would subtly amke sure you were protected.

Blushes A LOT—but hides it well. If you compliment him? He’ll look away, ears a little red, but pretend he didn’t hear.

Random and quiet acts of kindness. He would leave a sports drink on your desk after club practice. Would never admit, it was from him.

Gets annoyed by your closeness to the other guys. Especially Sakuragi. You’ll never hear him say it—but the glare is lethal.

He feels a lot more focused around you. He plays harder, more intensely during games if he knows you’re watching. Like he’s showing off without trying to.

He would respond to you differently...You speak? He actually answers. Sometimes with full sentences. Rare behavior.

He would lingers near you all the damn time, not quite joining the conversation, just standing nearby like your silent shadow. Eventually says something simple, but sincere.

One day, after walking you home or during a quiet moment: “I like you. That’s all.” Then casually walks away like he didn’t just shatter your heart with one sentence.

Ryota Miyagi

Would behave extremly flirty but lowkey serious with you. I mean he's naturally flirty, but with you, it's different level—his teasing is softer, more meaningful and a lot more often.

Gets competitive for your attention. Always trying to outshine the others when you’re around, especially if Rukawa or Sakuragi is nearby.

Gives you cute nicknames, such as “cutie manager” or “my MVP” just to see you blush.

Sneaks or mix compliments for you between his jokes. “You’re way too cute to be around this team… I mean, have you seen Sakuragi?”

He would be AlWaYs checking if you're okay.

Notices when you’re tired or down and casually slips in a “You good?” like it’s no big deal—but he means it.

Offers to walk you home “just in case”

“What if a wild Sakuragi jumps out of nowhere? You need protection.” (But really, he just wants time alone with you.)

Touches become more thoughtful.Light taps on your shoulder, high fives that linger a second longer—subtle but intentional.

Jealousy is chill but very obvious. He won’t explode like Sakuragi—but he’ll get quiet or throw in a sarcastic comment if he sees you getting too close to someone else.

Would eventually confess in a smooth but sincere way. “Look, I joke a lot, but I really like you. And I’m not just playing this time.”

Takenori Akagi

Tries to act normal, fails miserably. He tells himself to stay focused… but gets flustered when you’re nearby and forgets what he was saying mid-sentence.

Extra respectful and formal around you. Uses polite language, stands straighter, and suddenly becomes way too professional—even when you're just handing him a towel.

Overthinks every little interaction. “Did I stare too long?”or “Was I too strict in practice?" or sometimes “Did she notice I hesitated when I said her name?”

Becomes unintentionally intimidating. He only tries to help you carry something but looks so serious about it, you think you’re in trouble. (He’s such nervous baby.)

Gets super protective. Keeps an eye on you without making it obvious. If someone’s bothering you? He steps in, calmly but firmly.

Always makes sure you’re taken care of very well. Brings an extra towel, makes sure you have water, reminds you not to overwork—even if he doesn’t say much.

Jealousy is quiet but intense. His jaw tightens. His eyes narrow. He stares down anyone who flirts with you, especially if it's someone like Miyagi.

Talks about you to Ayako… secretly. Pretends it’s “manager-related,” but Ayako sees right through him. (“Just tell her already, Captain.”)

Confesses seriously, sincerely, and directly. “I’ve been holding this in for a while... but I like you. A lot. And I mean that with everything I am.”

Hisashi Mitsui

Would play it cool… even too cool. He pretends it’s no big deal, but his eyes always find you in a crowd. That calm confidence slips when you smile at him with that look in your eyes.

Flashes you his “cool guy” grin a little too often. he would lean on the wall, arms crossed, throwing you smirks like, “Yeah, I know you’re looking.”

Becomes extra charming around you. Drops smooth one-liners casually, but watches your reaction closely. If you laugh or blush? He won’t stop teasing you for the rest of the day.

Protective but lowkey about it. Doesn’t make a scene. He just subtly steps between you and any trouble, making it clear: “They mess with you, they mess with me.”

Talks about you to Kogure like it’s “nothing”: “She’s just cool, you know?” Kogure would say: “Mitsui, you bring her up every day now, you like her or something.”

Acts a little reckless when you’re watching: Takes riskier shots during games just to impress you—even if the coach yells after.

Gets surprisingly thoughtful. He brings you your favorite drink after practice. Remembers the little things you say—like your music taste or snack preference.

Teases other guys who like you. “Sakuragi, don’t strain your brain trying to flirt. Y/N deserves better. than this”, he said looking him up and down.

Confesses with a rare moment of vulnerability. One night, after walking you home: “I’ve messed up a lot in the past… but when it comes to you, I don’t wanna screw this up. I like you, Y/N. For real.”

[imjeralee]

i request that you drink plenty of water and take care of yourself !!! ·o·b after thats done, came i pretty please get headcanons with link, Kaeya and maybe Childe about an s/o who draws them one day as a confession and gives it to them? :) (maybe they already knew and saw them drawing them before ? who knows) thank you in advance!!

Thank you anon! *looks at cup of green tea beside laptop* yep I think i’m doing well in keeping myself hydrated recently hehe but thank you :3

Anyway please see below for the ask! (it’s pretty long)

Link

He was grooming one of the ponies when he saw you standing behind a tent peeking at him curiously and when he turned round properly, you quickly scampered away and he got worried so he followed you to the room you share to see you sitting on the bed with a wine red book propped up in your lap but upon his return, you immediately hid it behind your back, smiling widely at him

He wonders what it was but decides not to pry, but he later discovers it was actually a sketchbook when he’s packing up for tomorrow and you’re taking a bath and the sketchbook drops out of your pack and onto the floor, opening at a random page

He picks it up with the intention to return it to your bag but then he sees the various drawings of him in his Ancient Armour set, Hylian and Snowquill set. They’re fully coloured and it looks like you’ve spent hours on them. He didn’t know you were this artistic and wondered why you hid this from him

The date you wrote on the bottom of the page indicates that you drew all this in one day! He’s super impressed

Then he sees the note you wrote below: “To my Dearest Link, I hope you like my drawings of you. All I can think about is how lucky I am to be able to be by your side, you’ve changed my life for the better and-”

Obv half complete so now he knows why you didn’t want to show him and he respects your privacy, so he puts the sketchbook away 

Outside, he sees Beedle and goes over to see what’s new for sale. Beedle has some cool art stuff (well, it’s more like stuff that can be used for dye but can also be used as paint) so he buys some for you as a present which he will give to you later.

Next day, you get chased by a group of Bokogoblins and the book and all your drawing supplies drops out from your bag. 

You didn’t see it drop and returned to the stable, ransacking your bag like crazy only to find your stuff missing

When you realise everything must have dropped out when you got chased, you quickly leave the stable to go back to the area but it’s thunder and lightning so Link chases after you

“Link, what are you doing? Go back, the weather’s awful.” You tell him but he shakes his head, unable to leave you alone in the rain like this

He helps you with your search and you end up locating your book and your supplies which are lying in the mud

The book has been trampled over and some of the pages have been torn out. The remaining pages are soaked with dirt and grime. Your pencils are snapped in half and your paints have been left to bleed all over the grass. All of your drawings are ruined, too. This is your worst nightmare.

Link observes you silently as tears begins to form in your eyes and you look at him, sniffling slightly.

You’re experiencing a mixture of devastation, frustration, anger and exasperation - from your carelessness to the stupid bokogoblins - and this incident infuriates you so much you throw the book to the ground angrily

Before you can march away, Link grabs your wrist 

Turning round, your gazes meet and he looks at you softly, intently.

‘What’s wrong?’ he is saying. 

“I was going to use those to confess to you!” you end up roaring out by accident. 

Link looks at you, a little stunned

“N-Never mind! Everything’s ruined!!!!” 

You’re about to storm off again when Link suddenly pulls you into his chest and gives you a hug

“!” you’re so shocked you can’t speak

He pulls away though, and leads you to the hollow of a nearby tree trunk where he gestures for you to sit down to shelter from the rain whilst he glances around, then sprints back over to where the ruined sketchbook is

He picks it up and holds it against his chest as if it’s dear to him. That’s not all, you watch as he begins to pick up the remaining pages that were torn out and once he’s collected them all he returns to you, clutching the pages tightly

"Link...” you murmur breathlessly as he he kneels down in front of you before he fishes around in his pockets to reveal a random bunch of paint pots in his hand.

You’re a little confused, but realise he has some spares which he must have bought from a merchant

it’s not much but...

he nudges it to you for your offering

You gawp at him for a few moments before you smile and chuckle and upon seeing you back to your usual self again, Link smiles and helps you back onto your own feet to stand

You thank him as you cradle the paints to yourself. You will need to restart from scratch from somehow it feels ok and something tells you you don’t need to hide it from him anymore

And you return to the stable, sheltering from the rain by sharing a large leaf together

Kaeya

Let’s begin with the fact that alongside you, there is a maid who also likes Kaeya as much as you do and she’s a bit of a sneaky bugger and you don’t show your drawings to anyone or watermark your artwork until they’re complete. You can probably see where this is going

One day, Kaeya finds out you are drawing a picture of him when he comes to your office to inform you that there’s a group of abyss mages outside Mondstadt so you hurry off to dispatch it and leaving Kaeya in your office

He accidentally comes across your drawing when he sees his face on a piece of parchment and his interest is piqued so he heads over to check it out

It’s a really good sketch!!! the amount of detail is insane! he had no idea you possessed such skill and who knew that you could create such beautiful art like this? He also finds some rough doodles and sketches you made earlier on some scrap paper you had also written on so he knows it’s you

Anyway, he puts everything back to join you in battle, but not before passing a maid along the way who is heading to your room to clean up

She comes across your drawing and she’s always fancied Kaeya herself, so for some reason other than just thinking she might be able to get away with it if she’s sneaky enough, she takes your drawing and sets off with it

Meanwhile, you return to your room after the battle, take off your coat and sit comfortably in your chair, reaching for your quill

“Ah, time to get back to my drawing of Kaeya.” you say with a smile, looking at your desk.

Wait a minute.

Something is wrong.

Very wrong.

It’s GONE!

After checking the rest of your office (and its clearly not there), you rush outside, wondering what happened to it when you see Kaeya and a maid talking in the corridor

they didn’t see you, so you quickly hide

“Please accept this, captain Kaeya!” gushes the maid, presenting your drawing to him. “I drew this picture of you to show how much you mean to me.”

What in the Samachurl shit is this? 

You’re about to storm over when Kaeya takes the drawing with a delicate brow raised, studies it intently and goes, “Oh? But I’m not so sure about that.”

“W-what do you mean, Captain Kaeya?”

“There’s no watermark on it,” he points out, “....one could’ve taken anyone’s artwork and claim that it’s theirs.”

“T-That’s - ! Ah, Captain Kaeya, h-how could you think so lowly of me?”

“I’m only just stating some simple facts, that’s all. You won’t hold that against me, will you? And I’m certainly not accusing you of anything...unless you...?”

“Oh....uh....I...I-I’m so sorry, Captain Kaeya, you’re right! I-I....please excuse me!”

The maid’s too embarrassed to proceed any further and leaves, running away.

Indeed, what in the samachurl hell had just happened? 

It goes quiet and you wonder if he’s still there; you step out of your hiding place only to go nose-to-chest with Kaeya.

He greets you with a smirk. “if it isn’t the little kitten, what are you doing here?”

“Um...uh, I....that....that drawing - “

What he said is right, there’s no watermark. How can you prove it’s yours? Would he believe you if you told him?

“Hm? Ah, yes, this drawing. I was going to keep it for myself.”

“No, wait! I mean...er...it’s not finished yet-”

“So you drew this then?”

“Yes, I did. it was me.” Though you wonder if he would believe you after everything you had just heard.

“Why?”

You lamely tell him you really like him and wanted to use it to confess to him.

He watches you for a few seconds, then hands the drawing to you. “I’ll wait until you’ve finished then.”

“Huh?” You gasp. He gave it back to you so easily despite what he said to the maid! “You...you’re not-”

“I knew it was you who drew it. I recognised your style.”

“Then why didn’t you say so earlier?”

“If I said so earlier, how else would I get you to confess to me?”

“KAEYA!!!”

(from then on he’ll want you to draw him more often)

Childe

Saw you sitting on the grassy hill near Qingxu Pool drawing earlier and because he is good at sneaking up on people, you didn’t hear him as he casually leaned over to peek over your shoulder and said, “Hey girlie, what’re you up to?”

You’re like “UWAGH!” and quickly close your sketchbook before turning round to see Childe.

“N-nothing!” you exclaim, before you get up and run down the hill, leaving a very amused Childe on his own

Later, when you’ve finished your masterpiece, you nervously approach Childe and tell him, “Um....this is for you, let me know what you think.” before rushing off in a blushing mess and Childe will open the sketchbook to see that you’ve drawn a very nice portrait of him in a battle stance, wielding his bow, surrounded by his hydro blades

Childe stands, staring at the picture

Then he sees the words ‘do you like me?’ scribbled at the very bottom

Childe staring hard now

He’s used to giving people gifts but now that he’s received something so thoughtful, he’s a bit overwhelmed. he can tell you put so much effort and hardwork into this. Ah, what is this feeling? 

He closes the book without further ado and scrubs a hand over his face

he actually wasn’t expecting you to do this. he knew you were drawing him but the result is really....something else

You don’t hear him from Childe in a few days and you are so nervous and worried.

Is this a rejection? Maybe he didn’t like your picture after all...

You’re walking in the streets and sigh and sit on the stone steps of Liyue, staring at the sea, upset and dejected

But then you hear a whistle from behind and throw a glance over your shoulder to see Childe standing on a higher step, a hand in his pocket

“Hey girlie, heads up,” he tosses a paper plane into the air which makes this little loop before you stand to catch it

Looking up, Childe has gone

You unfold the paper plane to its proper size to reveal that Childe’s drawn a little sketch of you in return and he has written: ‘Yes I do’.

[titilationexpress]

Sweet Dreams are Made of Screams Ch.3

You awoke with a start, gasping as you found yourself back in your bed, heart racing and sweat beading down your forehead, yet you were clearly where you had last been when you fell asleep.

Rising from your mattress, you looked down at yourself, seeing that you were back to your human self. Or...were you your human self in that...dream?

You couldn’t really remember, suddenly feeling quite tense. “God, what WAS that?” you said aloud, rubbing your temple.

You checked your phone and saw yet more requests for Starscream popping into your messages. You flopped back on the bed with a groan. It seemed that you wouldn’t be getting away from him, whether it be your dreams OR wide awake!

Yet what you had experienced…

Throughout the day, you found yourself unable to focus on anything. Whether it be at school/college/work or in your free time, the Decepticon would not leave your brain. That wasn’t really new, the constant requests for him made his presence in your mind a regular, yet this was different. You didn’t know how to explain it, but Starscream seemed to make his presence known. As in, ridiculous as it sounds, like he’s always over your shoulder, watching you.

A fictional character was somehow transcending reality and subtly manipulating you into doing his bidding. Or was it yours, as, despite the feeling of eyes on the back of your head, you have been wanting to write about him for some time.

Yet unlike before, something had changed. True, that dream you had left you rather flustered (not to mention quite wet that morning), but also...inspired? Was that the word? Well, whatever it was, it eventually managed to get you going on churning out more reader insert entries. You went through your requests, going down the list of bots and scenarios when finally, one snags your attention.

Vampire!Starscream X Reader.

Well, that was quite the challenge, wasn’t it?

Sure, you had experimented with that in the past, yet once again, Starscream seemed to haunt you everywhere you went. Just what was it that...that made him so difficult for you? Why couldn’t you just write something?!

It was then though that your mind went back to the dream and your...intimate encounter with your favorite version of the character. His words regarding your doubts, your insecurities regarding your ability to write for him….how all of it was true. And how, to overcome it, you had to cast aside your inhibitions.

You just had to “do”.

It was an hour later or so that you were still at your computer/laptop, trying to figure out where to go from here. You had the scenario in mind, now to build a plot off of it. So far, all you had was that it was in G1 (or at least some version of it at least. Hey, headcanons and AUs were serious business, you had learned), and that you somehow became Starscream’s vampire bride in the end. It was kinda stupid, but hey, G1 was known for equally crazy shit.

The only problem was where to start.

True, you knew what the end result would be, but how to get there was the question. Better yet, how the hell do robots turn into vampires?! Ugh! You couldn’t do this! You just couldn’t! You were doomed for failure! You slapped your hand against your head, trying to keep yourself from getting too frazzled. But how were you going to do this?

It was then that you heard something. Or rather, thought something.

‘Shockwave this, Shockwave that. All I ever hear about is how great Shockwave is!’

You knew that quote! Starscream’s brigade! It grew to be one of your favorites of G1! But what did that have to do with…wait a minute. Shockwave...Shockwave was left on Cybertron but was also somewhat of a scientist. And there had been references to other planets and aliens in the series (hell, Season 3 had barely anything to do with Earth at that point), and there were such things as Petro Rabbits, so why couldn’t Shockwave have a collection of live specimens to study?

And you, the Reader, we’re going to be his assistant.

From there, more and more came to you, you typing like mad as you clicked and clacked the keyboard, everything just pouring out of you at once! You were doing this, you realized. Holy shit, you were doing this! On and on you wrote, getting the outline and first part done. Then came the second, third, and so on.

And when you finally gained the courage to post them (you had not submitted them quite yet, having held back), you saw that the reception was...good.

It was good.

Sure, the first part only had a few likes so far, but it seemed to be ok. Still, you didn’t get your hopes up too high. But it wasn’t long after that you found yourself aboard the abandoned ship again, only this time, there was no one in the cell. You knew well who should’ve been in there.

“S-Starscream?” You stammered, voice echoing off the walls. It was then that you felt a servo trail it’s way up your spine, causing you to nearly leap out of your skin. Turning, you saw the amused, chortling form of your favorite Starscream, clearly pleased with himself in having given you a fright. “Don’t do that to me!” you held your chest, feeling your heart beating.

“Welcome back.” The Seeker greeted. “It looks like we’re in for another eventful night.”

Your eyes widened. “We are?” You remembered last time well. How bizarre the whole situation was...but also how good it felt. How good he felt.

“Yes, you’ve been aching for another night with me, haven’t you?” He whispered in your ear, sending a chill down your back. “Don’t bother denying it. I can see into your thoughts, remember?” His eyes then began to glow red. “And I also know what you’ve written about me recently.”

“Oh, that.” Your cheeks grew red. “Yeah, well...it was my first time writing for you, and...well, I’ve never done anything with vampires before, so…” it was then that you noticed Starscream’s eyes seeming more...red than you remembered. And...and since when did he have fangs?! “The hell?!”

Starscream only chuckled. “Don’t you remember? This was from what you had written but a short time ago.”

Oh, right. “It’s…kinda stupid though, the story I mean,” you shifted nervously. “I mean, it’s not really meant to be taken seriously.”

“But,” Starscream approached you, holding your chin gently. “You DID finally face your fears, right?” You nodded. “But yet, you’re still unsure.” Sighing, you nodded. “Well,” his optics glimmered. “We’ll have to fix that, won’t we?”

You stiffened, knowing where this was going. The environment around you changed to that of the Nemesis’ brig, you in a cell with Starscream. The same position the Reader was in near the end of the story. You knew well what was about to happen, Starscream slowly backing you up against the wall. And yet not once did you tell him to back off. True, your heart was racing, yet it wasn’t entirely out of fear. No, you feared what would come next.

“Relax, my dear.” Starscream assured you. “I’ll be gentle.” He opened his mouth, revealing pronounced canines on his upper set of dentas.

You released a heavy sigh and let it happen. The Seeker bit down on your neck and into your flesh. There was slight pain, yes, yet you could stop this anytime you wanted. You let it continue. The sting from his fangs entering you lasted only a few seconds though, as there was a rushing warmth that overtook you.

“Ah, found your courage, have you?” Starscream questioned. “Well then,” he lowered his hand to your lower regions, lightly stroking it. “Shall we take things one step further?”

Honestly, you didn’t see why not.

That night, you two had another session, the Decepticon exploring and driving you crazy with his methods, you, in turn, responding in kind. Turns out a tongue savoring his spike was one of the things you did that could make him, fittingly enough, scream. And then, you woke up, a kiss bringing out of the dream once again. More requests, and yet...and yet, this time, you felt somewhat more...confident.

You decided to try out another scenario, taking your time with this one, yet not allowing anxiety to have as much of a hold over you. And, to your surprise, this Starscream x Reader fic got good reception too! True, you still wrote for all the other Autobots and Decepticons, yet the Seeker, whatever incarnation he was, proved to be some of your most popular.

Which, in turn, led to you getting more and more visits from him.

It wasn’t each night, yet sometimes, especially when you were either in the midst of writing one, or were struggling to come up with a scenario, he would appear. Luring you into the darkness to join him, allowing yourself to cast away the chains that once held you back.

And thus, you found yourself here again. The same ship, and same voice calling you. It seemed he wished to repeat how you two had met the first time.

“I know, I know...you belo-o-ng to so-omebody ne-e-w,” you heard his voice echoing all around, you recognized the song. It was an older one, one that your mother liked, remembering it from your grandmother’s vinyl collection. What was it called? Patience and Prudence’s…

“But toni-i-ght, you belong, to me…”

Ah, yes. How...oddly fitting. You followed the Seeker’s surprisingly bearable singing, listening and taking note of which direction it was coming from. What would it be tonight, you wondered. A dive into a new situation for the Reader, aka yourself, or something new? Sometimes Screamer himself came up with ideas, of which you would do, if not just to allow him to let you finish. Though you did get your revenge mostly, there were times where you were just wanting some smooth pillow talk. Starscream frankly made you exhausted. In a good way? Honestly, even now, you weren’t sure.

And yet, here you were, about to indulge him yet again.

“My honey I know, I know,” the source of the voice was close. “With the da-a-wn, that yo-o-u, will be go-o-ne,” you saw the cell, yet Starscream wasn’t confined. You couldn’t confine him now, even if you wanted to. “But tonight…” and, if you had to be honest, “You belong,” you didn’t want to. “To me.”

[silverkoushi]

haikyuu!! headcanons

⇢ scenario: how you’d spend the holidays with them!! pt.2 | read pt. 1 here! ⇢ feat. : tsukki (karasuno), bokuto (fukurodani) & kuroo (nekoma) x gn!reader ⇢  wc & warnings:  3.3k, slightly suggestive for kuroo

ʕ·ᴥ·ʔ not @ me having the phattest crush on kuroo as you can probably tell here... dear god that man is something edit: omo for some reason the paragraphs got messed up n i just checked it after hours of posting... i fixed it now so hopefully it makes more sense ahh my apologies!! ><

tsukishima kei

୨୧ ˻˳˯ₑ*॰¨̮  idk about you but i think tsukki secretly enjoys the holidays? like he’d think the music is overbearing, the movies are disgustingly cliche, and the amount of people gathering in places is one of his worst nightmares— those aren’t the things that he looks forward to. i think tsukki loves winter, maybe because i see him as a softie who collects sweaters, hoodies, and sweatpants that keep him comfy and cozy during cold nights and chilly mornings! WITH THAT BEING SAID, tsukki dies inside when he sees you wearing any of those following outfits of his. he might get annoyed at first that you don’t ask because he was planning on wearing them that day, but when you show up at his dorm clad in his night blue sweater with a little moon stitched on the side, there are no words coming out of his mouth. he will try to look menacing, eyes in a deadpan expression but you know he’s lying, and just stare at him with a doe-like face and put his hands in yours, swinging it back and forth as you drag him out of his room and into the snowy field. you don’t even think twice about getting matching sweaters because the boy will hate you for the rest of his life, but at least you got him to wear a reindeer headband for 2 seconds in the photobooth!! most of the time, you basically just bring him to anywhere you want to go. you guys look at the humongous christmas tree they placed in the center of the plaza, and you ask someone walking by if you can get a picture of the two of you in front of him. this way, tsukki can’t complain and will be semi-forced to pose with you hehe. you thought he’d just be standing there, arms to his side with a nonchalant expression but you actually feel him put his arm around your waist and lean his head down on top of yours. 

you can’t help the cheeky smile show on your face as you tiptoe just enough to reach his cheek, and once the guy said, “ok one more!” you steal a kiss on the side of tsukki’s small smile. “hey, what was—” “thanks, mister!! happy holidays!!” you avoid his stare, and get your phone back from the guy as you scroll through the pics he took (thank god only a few were blurry). tsukki keeps glaring at you, and you understand he’s not big into pda but uh, he started it with holding you close to him like that >:( “what?? you look so cute here, though!!” you whine to him, hoping he doesn’t ask that you delete it :( tsukki gives it a once over, a warm feeling creeping on his cheeks as he studies the picture: damn, is he whipped for you. he dismisses the overreaction on his part (for once), and takes your hand in his once more, asking where it is you wanted to go next. you’re surprised he left it like that, but you’re taking advantage of this situation and drag him to more festive stuff around the plaza <3

with your parents spending the holidays abroad and working overtime, tsukki’s mom invited you to their place instead and you’re!! more than happy and oh so grateful!! tsukki doesn’t show it but he’s actually extremely nervous,, what if you don’t like his family?? what if his brother is too annoying for you, what if this isn’t the kind of in-laws you were expecting— wait, he’s thinking too far ahead and you’re looking at him with raised eyebrows. quick! he turns away from your gaze, biting his lip at getting caught with his overthinking. “tsukki, you okay?” you ask gently, looping your arm around his as you guys near his house. “yeah…” he responds lamely, and you’re not sure if he wanted you at his house for the holidays or what… but you shake the negativity away and tell yourself that this is an opportunity to show your own personality to his family!! you’re greeted by a boisterous even taller guy at the door, and his also really tall mom waving at you from the kitchen, finishing up the grand dinner. “mom and i thought you were just pretending about your relationship, tsukki~” akiteru nudges him, and you chuckle at your boyfriend’s helpless look on his face, as if telling you this is what i dealt with during my childhood. but the holiday celebration with his family went super smooth!! his mom cooked amazing homemade dishes, and tsukki was actually smiling and laughing along the poor jokes akiteru made, it was so endearing to watch. you asked to help with the clean up as tsukki and his brother play volleyball outside in the cold. 

“i’m so glad he has you,” his mom comforts you, and you nod your head in thanks while you wipe the plates clean. “i’ve never seen him so… cheerful like this, you know?” what a heartwarming thing to say :(( and yet you thought he was just finally letting loose because he’s at home!! his mom turns in early that eve of christmas, and his brother goes out to have a nightly beer sesh with his hometown friends before christmas morning tomorrow. you and tsukki are left alone in his room as you marvel at the many dinosaur related merch, posters, and even stuffies he has in his childhood room!! “don’t say it,” he threatens you lightly, even though you’ve been well-aware of his fascination for the species. a little tired from the trip earlier and ngl you’re both full from the food, you lay down on the floor, pillows supporting your sleepy heads as tsukki shares the other side of his earphones. you listen to calming, lofi music for the night and at some point, he finds your fingers in his again. “thank you for having me, tsukki,” you whisper with a yawn, remembering the night days ago where you cried into his shoulder about missing your own family during this season. tsukki doesn’t respond as he hears your light snoring, and instead turns his body towards you as he caresses the side of your face, smiling at the beauty before him. “you’re always welcome here, dummy. you’ll always have me.”

bokuto koutarou

୨୧ ˻˳˯ₑ*॰¨̮  oof!! so many holiday parties!! gift giving exchanges!! dancing and singing, drinking and having the time of your lives! of course, bokuto asks first and foremost if you’re okay going to all of these celebrations with him as he has gathered a lot of friends from different majors, clubs, and such. you didn’t expect to come with him to all of them, tbh, but since he seems so excited to bring you along you found yourself nodding along! OOPS, what a wild ride it was to meet friends you didn’t even know he had. first, bokuto asked you to help him find some gifts for the exchange parties and you comply— you love thinking up presents for diff kinds of people! “would akaashi want this?” he points at a set of compression socks for sports “you’d want that more, bo” “oh oh!! how about this for kuroo?!” he leads you to the beauty section, hairspray littering the aisle “i think that’s more of an insult than a gift…” he’ll pout at his failure to think of the best gifts for his friends, but you cling to him with your linked arms and tell him not to worry— you kinda figured the kind of people his best friends are, so you suggest things off the bat: film roll for akaashi the photography minor, a mug with a pun-ny chem joke for kuroo, and a new case for kenma’s switch lite!! “wah! you know them better than i do,” he exclaims, eyes shining in excitement as you bring the gifts and other extra stuff to his apartment to help him wrap them. with this, bokuto came up with an idea to wrap the presents in the most creative way possible, and you just stare at him in awe as he tries to disguise the mug as.. a gingerbread man?? you don’t even know how he did it! as you tape up the finishing touches with the others, you eye a small gift wrapped box on the island counter along with a card next to it, all glittery and a name scribbled on top that you can’t make out where you were seated. 

“hey, bo, who’s that for?” you point at the suspecting box, and almost immediately bokuto body slams you on the ground, obstructing your view of the gift. “bokuto i can’t breathe—” you wheeze, laughing at the way he scrambles to get up from the position but his feet slips against the unused wrapping paper on the floor. “sorry, sorry i just— STOP LOOKING” he pleads, caging you with his arms either side your figure. the both of you pause, realizing the predicament you’re in until bokuto unleashes a sly smirk, eyes pointed at you with a mischievous glint. you know that look, so you start wiggling out of his way until he plops down on you again (mind you, he’s MANY inches taller than you and his built...whew, but that’s part of the problem right now!!) and blows raspberries on your neck, the audacity!! “tell me,” he whispers against your ear after a while, voice suddenly low in tone and your senses perk up. “have you been naughty or nice recently?” he continues hoarsely, and it doesn’t take long until you burst out laughing at his attempt of being flirty right now. he finally releases you, feigns hurt from your reaction but he knows what a goofball he is.

anyway, you put all the gifts in the car and head to the many parties he was invited to!! and honestly, you enjoyed yourself albeit it got really tiring to show up with much enthusiasm compared to the last. but bokuto on the other hand never runs out of energy for some reason!! he’s still winning the games, singing his heart out with his friends, and trying all the foods in the potluck, even shamelessly!! feeding you too! it’s embarrassing >< but in a way your heart swells with the thought of bokuto being very openly proud of his relationship with you, and how his friends seem to like you as well! pictures were taken, holiday spirits and gifts were exchanged and finally, he’s free for the night <3 you’ve been waiting for the right moment to give him your personal gift to your boyf (it’s an edited picture of the two of you at one of his winning games!! you can’t draw for sht but you are the best at adding lil stickers and cute petnames all around the photo hehe) you had it inserted in a picture frame too so the gift was relatively medium sized and rectangular. when you crash at his place, you ready yourself to give it to him, having second thoughts with how corny it must seem like… as you psych yourself up on the couch, you feel his arms suddenly wrap themselves around you as he starts peppering your neck with lazy kisses. your chest tightens, eyes closed at the warmth of his lips on your skin but— you can’t get distracted!! “bo, i have something for you—” “i saved the best gift for last—” o, you say it at the same time and so you look at each other with blank stares, and then laugh at your awkwardness!! 

he lets you go first, your nerves slowly dissipating at the excited gleam in his irises, he’s so cute!! as he unwraps it, he hitches a breath, looks at you then the picture and you again and— let’s say your face was just full on bokuto territory only ;-) as much as you were enjoying his attention all on you, his gift wasn’t opened yet!! bokuto went from confident to shy mode again, hiding his face with only one eye peeking out to watch you…. for some reason, since it was a tiny box you blurted out, “don’t tell me it’s a ring, bo.” as a joke but bokuto suddenly freezes at your words. and you had to stop unboxing to make sure he doesn’t go all pale on you, but also??? was he really???? GOING TO???-- “DID YOU WANT ME TO GET YOU A RING?? I CAN RETURN THE EARRINGS TODAY, I THINK I STILL HAVE THE RECEIPT—” “bo, it’s okay!!! omg no T_T” you take his hands off his face to look at him lovingly, a kiss on his pouty lips as you reassure him his presence is all that you can ever want, but whatever it was he gave you, you’ll cherish just the same!! so finally, once you take the lid off the box you see an adorable pair of owl earrings!! it’s so cute and it reminds you of him and thats probably why he got that for you :’)))) “i also wrote you a letter but please read it when i’m asleep or something…” aww shy bokuto!! >< you never thought you’d see the day :’)

kuroo tetsurou

୨୧ ˻˳˯ₑ*॰¨̮  man.. i just know this guy wouldn’t want to let leave… the bed… with him… on christmas day. imagine something like having to stay until he can for his duties at work which ended up til late christmas eve :( you were looking forward to spending time with him back at his hometown since you don’t necessarily celebrate the specific holiday, but being with tetsurou for almost a year now and knowing he does— you wanted it to be special and memorable for him! he felt really bad making you stay at his apartment until he finishes up work, really zooming through all the documents and stuff he needed to complete just so he can spend at least a few hours of christmas eve with you. when he got home, his heart dropped to his stomach at the sight of you falling asleep on the couch, right next to the lit up christmas tree you two decorated a week ago (thats how busy he has been! you opted to fix the tree yourself, but tetsu insisted on doing it together since it’s your first holiday with him!). your favorite blanket was wrapped around you but your feet were dangling midway with no socks on and he just >:( had to carry you to bed and tuck you in— all of you!! 

he changes to a sweater and pjs before readying himself to carry you against his chest. his own body is exhausted from working non-stop, but he doesn’t let it get to him as he passes by the hallway and plops you gently on your side of the bed. you stir groggily, eyes refusing to open but you notice your surroundings are different. the room is dimly lit but the figure walking around the place isn’t amiss; with his hair sticking up and his wide shoulders, you know it’s your tired boyfriend finally home for the holidays. you smile, still sleep-induced but you try to reach over for him. “tetsu… come to bed, please,” you mumble but he hears you, and his back is against you but he smiles at your half-awake tone. “i’ll be right there,” he lets you know softly, and true to his word you feel the dip in the mattress with his warmth slowly exuding onto your own body, his hands easily finding themselves over you. you wiggle into his grasp, head against his chest and hands holding onto his waist. he feels warm, he feels like home, and you press a kiss where his neck meets his collarbones. “mm, merry christm…” you mutter, losing consciousness but he doesn’t mind. he lets you snore your way into dreamland, watching your eyelashes tickle the surface of your skin, lips partly open as you breathe in and out. suddenly, his tense muscles relax with your presence oh so close to you, and he sleeps soundly after a few minutes of admiring your face.

as the sunlight filters thru the windows, kuroo wakes up first but knowing it’s his day off (finally), he relaxes into the bed and just observes the tiny details of your face, same as the night before but with some of the brightly shining rays of the sun hitting the right spots— you’re breathtaking to him. he feels you stir in his embrace so he pretends to snore because he knows you like to get up as soon as you feel awake. “tetsu…” you mumble, popping out your head from his grasp to peer your eyes at him pretending to not hear you. “you’re a lousy liar, i know you’re up,” you tell him, rubbing your nose against him as a form of an eskimo kiss. it takes so much out of his restraint to bite his lip in pure love for you, so he gives in and kisses you on the lips. 

you are taken aback for a split second until you comply to his request, and you spend your first christmas morning with him in bed just like that <3 he still asks if you guys can spend the whole day just tangled into each other’s embrace but you lecture him playfully, knowing that he had a christmas party to attend to in the afternoon with his closest friends (bokuto, akaashi, kenma, and others) and you have a lovely dinner planned in the evening. he wiggles his eyebrows, fingertips tracing the exposed skin on your chest, “what if we skip all of that and i just have you for dinner instead?” “KUROO TETSUROU IT IS TOO EARLY FOR YOU TO SAY THAT RIGHT NOW—” you swear to god, it is his teasing and malicious intent that will kill you one day. but the blush on your face doesn’t go unnoticed, and yet kuroo complies with your light nagging, getting up and getting ready for the day. you’re happy that he finally has the day off, and being with his friends during the party truly lightened up his mood. afterwards, he then asks where you got a reservation during the busiest time of the year, and you just winked at him and zipped your mouth. 

since you ate a bit at the party, you knew you had some time to finish prepping the food you had prepared the night before, it all just needed to bake or be cooked on the pan. and bec of his exhaustion last night, he didn’t even open the fridge at all so there were zero suspicious at your surprise dinner. urging him to take a long, hot bath, he drags you with him. “you seriously want me to take a bath by myself?” he says in shock horror, and normally you would join him hah but you tell him that your parents are calling, just wanting to say hello. a little sad, kuroo nods in understanding and so he goes about his way while you cook the food with haste. he likes to take his time in there but you know you won’t finish beforehand, so once he’s out of the bathroom, you immediately go right in front of him to hide the view of the kitchen. you played yourself, seeing kuroo only in his bathrobe with his chest exposed, you slap him right at the center to ignore the sensation in the pit of your stomach. “what?? what’d i do???” “existing right in front of me like that!!” kuroo laughs at your embarrassment, but kisses you on the forehead nonetheless. he ignores the obvious smell of pasta and chicken in the apartment, ignores the messy apron you forgot to take off because he thinks you really wanted to surprise him. so he goes to the room to change, thinking about how lucky he is to have you in his life. the rest of the night ends up with the both of you having a romantic dinner in the dining room, talking about everything you already know about each other—but it never feels repetitive. he always feels so renewed with you, falling in love every day. 

[sunshinestrand-inactive]

2020 Creator Wrap: Favourite  Works

Rules: It’s time to love yourselves! Choose your 5 (or so) favorite works you created in the past year (fics, art, edits, etc.) and link them below to reflect on the amazing things you brought into the world in 2020. Tag as many writers/artists/etc. as you want (fan or original) so we can spread the love and link each other to awesome works!

Tagged by some truly wonderful and talented people: @howtosingit, @letitialewiss, @captainstennerstar, @brilliantbanshee, @reyesstrand, @rafaelsilva and @evanzbuck - Oh gosh you guys, I adore you all and everything you create so much. You have no idea how much your work (and everyone else’s) has helped me over the last year. So thank you, thank you for being a bright spot in the fandom! I know I already said it, but this fandom is truly so so supportive, warm and welcoming. I am so glad that I joined it because without it, I wouldn’t have so many wonderful people in my life. Thank you to everyone who has supported my work, commented, left tags or gave kudos. You truly keep me motivated and I appreciate and love you all so much!! 💛💛💛

Rose Petals This was my first full fledged fic at 6k words and I still can’t believe I wrote it. It was also my first AU for this fandom and I really enjoyed getting to write it and it made me quite addicted to AUs after. I was so nervous to post it because I wasn’t sure it was good enough or it went to quickly story wise, but the reception on it was truly amazing. I still go back to look at those comments when I feel doubtful of my writing. I know I say it a lot but it has my entire heart and soul put into it and there was so much time spent putting it all together. It all started out with one scene and kind of just grew from there. I love it a lot. 

I Have Never Known A Love Like This This fic came to me when I heard about day seven of Tarlos week. It was the first idea that I came up with for that week and I had it completed way in advance. But I watched that episode of Schitt’s Creek and just knew it’d be perfect. I was also nervous to post it because I didn’t know how much people would appreciate the worlds crossing over. But I’m glad that I did. So I sent the idea to Jamie and she gave me all the support in the world to write it. It’s also a special fic because I wrote it with a lot of people in mind that I knew would like it.

You’re The Only One I’ll Ever Know Okay so funny story about this fic. I messaged Kim and asked her her favourite tropes, she gave me a list and that’s basically this fic. This is the first birthday gift fic that I’ve ever written and it was so much fun. Not only are some of her favourites in here, but some of mine as well and getting to write the mutual pining love between these two lovesick dorks was so much fun. I just hold it near and dear to my heart and I love it a lot and it’s nice to know that Kim loves it as well. 

The Best Nights A recent fic that I wrote that is short and sweet. I really enjoyed getting to write the caring side of this relationship and make it all fluffy and soft. I just stared at a prompt list until I found one that stood out to me and it was this one. I just love the trope of “I told you this thing and thought it was no big deal but you remembered it anyways” because it just shows so much love. It’s the little things that get me always and I hope I can continue writing those things into my fics.  

When The Sky Falls Down A super self reflective fic. I poured all of my emotions onto poor sweet Carlos in order to write this fic. I relate to him a lot in this fic with holding emotions in and taking care of everyone else even when your breaking apart. It’s a very emotional one for me and I do hold it dear to my heart for that reason. It’s also a strong headcanon of mine that that’s exactly what he’s like as a character just from the things we’ve seen about him so far.

I just finished an assignment so my brain is not here with me and I think everyone has been tagged. But if you haven’t and you see this, please do it and say I tagged you. I would love to see all of your creations! 

[coinofstone]

5x12 The Diamond of the Day pt 1

Final two episodes! Big finale! Why am I making myself cry in the middle of the afternoon! Both eps in this post.

I do love that they made Arthur a sore loser

Enter treacherous white woman #2. Srsly it was lazy writing when they did it for Mordred, it's worse now with Gwaine.

I do love the actual Round Table war room discussion but a) why isn't Merlin seated at the round table and b) why does Leon have so much goddamn faith in Camelot's walls? Like??? You literally said the same thing last year and yet Camelot *did* fall when Agravaine brought an army through the tunnels!

Poor Aithusa. Kid's had a rough life.

I do love Arthur responding to Merlin presenting him with all his supplies ready - which he prepared without his magic mind you - with suspicion 😂

But then he calls Merlin a coward and it's sad

Katie has such a great voice. That entire thing in the cave from her taunting to her laughter to the spell, it just just beautifully played.

Whole ass battle to prepare for and Arthur is just walking around moping cuz Merlin isn't there

So, Merlin's father-vision telling him he's magic itself and he just needs to believe in himself to get his magic going again, does this mean he *didn't* need to go to the cave to get it back? Cuz it seems like he needed to recharge in the cave itself, his injuries were healed when he woke up. That seems like magic cave stuff to me.

Also that "always have been and always will be" - I'm taking to mean 'always have been' in the sense that since he's 'magic itself' even before he was born, his magic existed in other, intangible forms, like we are all stardust etc. But now that he is, he will always be, aka he will not die.

Arthur waking up with his wife in his arms and Merlin's name on his lips, jumping out of bed to act on dream-info.

Balinor telling Merlin to trust in what will be.... like bitch that is literally not how this ends.

5x13 The Diamond of the day pt 2

You know that gif of the cat knocking everything off the table? That's literally Merlin shooting lightning at everyone from his perch on the ridge.

I have a lot of snarky things to say about Merlin coming out of the cave in full Dragoon gear and riding a horse instead of teleporting like the other witches but I'ma keep that to myself.

Mordred is a bitch and Aithusa has terrible aim. At least Aithusa's loyalty to Morgana makes sense.

Arthur said oh shit I'm magic - oh wait no it's that old man again

He also straight up "No! Bad dragon!"-ed Aithusa

Y'know, for all I've watched this episode and screamed about Arthur's death, I don't think I've ever focused on the exact moment he gets stabbed before.

Mordred catches him from behind and he meets it, no fault there. But as soon as he realizes his assailant is the knight who turned on him and joined Morgana, what does he do? HE LOWERS HIS FUCKING SWORD

He leaves himself wide fucking open and vulnerable and Mordred seizes the opportunity. I understand wanting the moment of recognition for Arthur, but on what planet is a trained warrior going to drop his sword mid-attack because he recognizes his attacker as a dude who only just recently decided to forsake him? It's soooooo dumb

There was a whole sequence a few episodes back where Mordred and Arthur are sparring, the point of it was to show that Mordred has become a skilled swordsman. So what exactly was the point in having Mordred run Arthur through as soon as Arthur idiotically lets his guard down? This should've been a meticulously choreographed sword fight, with Mordred getting the upper hand and sticking Arthur properly. Not this nonsense. Look at Arthur's FACE! Oh, Mordred... 👉👈 do you maybe wanna be friends again- STAB ... guess not

Uther's been rolling in his grave but he's taking an extra tumble watching Arthur forget all his skills and training in that moment.

I do appreciate Arthur getting Mordred back though. Like that moment of merciless anger followed by the hurt and regret playing on Arthur's face, warring with surety and responsibility. It was good.

I've rewatched the big confession scene about 16 times just now.

I don't quite understand why Merlin took Arthur to the woods to begin with. Instead of bringing him to the med tent in the battlefield or back to Camelot. What was the reason?

Merlin saying it feels strange (to use magic freely in front of Arthur) and him just going 'yeah' completely deadpan makes me laugh every time.

I really feel like Arthur's head should be elevated at a further incline if he's going to be fed.

Gaius refusing to outright expose Merlin as the sorcerer but nonetheless letting Gwen figure it out on her own warms my heart.

My God Arthur is sitting there dying, feeling betrayed about his best friend 'lying' to him, and still he can't stop himself from looking at Merlin's mouth.

Percival summoned MUSCLE POWER

Hey um random but why does Gwaine even know where Merlin and Arthur are headed? Why would Gaius tell him?

Arthur looks at Merlin so lovingly after he's killed Morgana 😭��

And now he's literally grabbing at the man's hand 😭 "just hold me, please"

That's gotta be the gayest death scene in television history. If you can watch that without thinking Arthur puts his hand on the back of Merlin's head because some part of him wants to bring him down for a kiss, or that "just hold me, please" is in any way shape or form a 'bros' thing, and certainly not at all an intentional mirror/callback to Isolde dying in Tristan's arms, then I'm afraid you are what we professionals refer to as a dumb-as-nails fucknugget, more commonly phrased as 'willfully ignorant'.

"All that you have dreamt of building has come to pass" yeah except for the whole, y'know, magic still being illegal thing.

I've said this before, but, while I'm sure there was a determined intention to have Arthur die in his armor, probably in some kind of attempt to make sure the audience knows he's died a warrior's death, I *really* think it was kinda stupid that Merlin never removed it, despite Arthur being weak, despite the fact that there was something like five days between him getting stabbed and him actually dying, despite that for the duration of that time they were traveling or hiding out. Merlin managed to produce a cloak to put on Arthur, why did he need the full armor on that whole time? Like even if they left the chainmail on, those plates on his shoulder were just getting in the way, and it looked quite uncomfortable.

Also not for nothing but Lancelot got like, every flower in the forest surrounding lush verdant greens in his death boat, Arthur gets a bunch of sticks.

It suddenly occurs to me, watching this now, that the reason Leon/Percival is such a common side pairing in Merthur fics, is because these two motherfuckers are the only original Knights of the Round Table to survive the series. 🤦‍♀️ I dunno how I failed to notice that before now. My stupidity amazes me.

I'm *really* glad they decided to do this scene with Gwen wearing the Pendragon red dress instead of the black mourning dress. Yes she looks fabulous in it but it's more the symbolism than the 'reality' - with Gwen wearing her house's colors it represents a continuation rather than a finality. Camelot will go on, Gwen will undoubtedly end the war on magic and with Morgana dead (and frankly, I think by now she already brought about the death of all the angry incel type rulers in Albion) there stands to reason her reign will begin with a period of peace, possibly longer than Arthur's. We kind of have to assume that the 'time the poets speak of' is, inevitably, Gwen's reign - which only came about through Arthur's death. It's a little bit toooo subtle in my opinion, but at the same time, I understand the need for the focus on Merlin and Arthur - after all, this show was their journey - not leaving much time to focus on Gwen and Camelot in the aftermath of Arthur's death.

I will just say, the first time I watched this that fucking truck scared the ever living shit out of me. I also just immediately, viscerally hated that scene and declared it invalid - but I think it was because the truck made me jump out of my skin. It has since grown on me, particularly once I started reading 'Arthur Returns' fic.

Everything beyond this point is post-series spec and headcanon, so if that's not your jam you can exit safe in the knowledge that as usual, if there's anything worth commenting on in the S5 extras, I will create a separate post!

For those interested, my go-to post-series fic is We Begin Again by katherynefromphilly I fully headcanon this series as the continuation of the series.

I have a lot of thoughts about Gwen and Merlin post-Camlann.

For one, poor fucking Gwen. She's lost her father, her brother, and her husband, all by what, age 30? That's rough. And who knows what happened to her mom, that was pre-series and I don't think it was ever mentioned.

Merlin, dear god poor Merlin. First of all, I just wanna say straight off that my instinctive headcanon about Merlin was that he never returned to Camelot. I couldn't really say why exactly. I just don't think he could stand being there after Arthur's death. But practically speaking, Merlin's still got Aithusa to deal with, that dragon needs some godsdamned house training asap. He's still the last Dragonlord, it's reasonable to assume he'd immediately take that on considering Aithusa is partially responsible for Arthur's death (the sword Mordred killed Arthur with, only succeeded in killing Arthur because it had been forged in Aithusa's fire-breath) so he's either going to attempt to train the bad behaviors out of Aithusa, or...well...

The only thing is, I do not believe Merlin would abandon Gwen, or Gaius. So my hc is inherently flawed. I do think Merlin probably spend a couple months with his mum, and I do think he ultimately settled near lake Avalon waiting for Arthur's return.

But I do wonder, what must their relationship have been like? Gwen, surely, would've sought his guidance in establishing laws governing the use of magic. And surely, peace cannot last indefinitely, so Merlin absolutely would've defended Camelot and protected Gwen. There's just no way he could've completely turned his back on them, but I doubt he could bear living in Camelot. And Gwen is both strong and practical enough to get on without him there 24/7, even though I'm sure she'd miss him.

I also think she would've found love again. Whether with Leon, as many people hc, or someone else not in the series.

ANYWAY.

Thanks to everyone who came on this journey with me. I will post comments on the extras if I have anything worth saying - and I think I'll do a master post linking all these episode posts after I clean them up once I get time to sit at a computer and do so. Until then! 💙💚

(Gif source) (h/t @shut-up-merlin)

[afaithy]

Prompt 11 for the haunted house headcanon! ;)

Sorry this turned out this long! The whole intention was to make it funny not scary, it turned out kind of silly. 

Hope you like it :)

As usual. This is part of my Universe so...keep that in mind dear readers:

SEND MORE PROMPTS! HERE

If I die I am going to haunt your ass

“Maybe all the people who say ghosts don't exist are just afraid to admit that they do.”

― Michael Ende

“We gotta do it! “Mimi shouted excitedly “I mean look at how things are...Sora, Taichi and Yamato are in their first year of college...when exactly are we going to have a chance to do it?” “Eh..but Mimi-san…” Jou said disapprovingly “You and Koushiro-san are in third year. You two should be using summer vacations to prepare for entry exams and…”

“Yayaya…” Mimi said covering her ears “I’ll be studying design abroad, so that’s already taken care of. Koushiro here has pretty much his way into Computer Science on Todai ensured. So now problems, there. Come on Jou.-..this could be our last summer together, you know?”

“Last summer sounds a little ...dramatic don’t you think?” Koushiro said, chuckling “It’s not like we are cutting tights with each other.”

“No, but think about it. Jou  is in med school. If it was already hard to get him to join us when he was just a regular high schooler, how hard do you think it’ll get now? Taichi, Yamato and Sora are in college as well, soon they will be so busy that they won’t be able to join either; Then I might be leaving to study abroad and Koushiro, you will be busy with school and that cyber security company you are working on with Tachibana. The group is scattering...and soon all that will be left will be those that  pair of love birds over there!” Mimi screeched , pointing at Takeru and Hikari.

“Love birds?” they both replied puzzled. Hikari and Takeru looked at each, and Mimi gave them a mischievous smirk.

“Let her be, Jou.” Taichi laughed “Besides. The test of courage huh...we never did that, and yet it is something so...highschool like. Sounds like a fun thing to do, Right, Yamato?”

“What? Eh...y-y-yes. Of course.”

“I can’t say that Mimi isn’t wrong. We might not get another chance in a while, right?” Sora reasoned “I’m sure we can make an exception for old time’s sake.”

“Yes, yes!” Mimi said, jumping excited “Come on Jou. You can bring Marina-chan along, too.”

“Oh, boy…” Jou said “Ok, I’m going. Someone needs to make sure you kids stay out of problems.”

“Good ol’ Jou.” Taichi laughed. 

“But where exactly are we going?” Hikari asked, tilting her head “IT’s not like there are too many haunted places around here.”

“Well...there’s that old shack by the hill…” Takeru said. “Didn’t our class go there last time?”

“Eh?” Hikari said “I wouldn’t know.I didn’t go ...it was you  who went with those girls.”

“Ah…” Takeru said “True. I did…”

“ You’re such a ladies man, Takeru…” Yamato chuckled.

“It wasn’t like I wanted to go. Rest assured, bro. THere were other places I would have preferred to be.”  Takeru chuckled.

“No, everyone knows that place is a farce.” Mimi said, waving her hand in front of his face “No, no. Don’t worry.I have that solved. Right , Koushiro?”

“Uh. I think I have the right place we can go.” Koushiro nodded.

“Ah...why am I not surprised about you two ganging up together?” Taichi smirked “I’m sure going to miss that. You are sure going to miss it, too, eh Koushiro?”

“Yeah. I admit it will be kind of strange.”

“Don’t think that you can get rid of me so easily…”

“Don’t worry. I wouldn’t even dream of that.” Koushiro chuckled “The place is chosen, so all that is left is going.”

“Hooray!” Mimi said happily “We go in three days then. You guys get psychologically prepared. Ok?”

Three days later, the group was sitting on a bus on their way to the outskirts of Tokyo. The weather was burning hot and the cicadas chanted in full volum, as the bus drove through a landscape that was becoming more and more rural. 

“So...this is our itinerary.”  Mimi chanted “ We’ll be camping on the near area so...first things, first. Preparing the campsite, then…”

“Wait…” Yamato groaned “Camping? You’re making us camp in a haunted forest?”

“The mansion is supposed to be haunted, not the forest…” Mimi said “It’ll be alright, right Koushiro?”

“According to my research, the hauntings are only restricted to the mansion area.”Koushiro nodded “ I don't think there will be any problem with us staying on in the forest. We can still ask around the inn we are staying to be sure.”

“That won’t be necessary. I am sure we can stay there without issues” Mimi said, winking “Or do you have anything to say, Yamato?”

“Me...w-w-why-would I...I have s-something to say?” he replied “I-i’t not like I am s-scared.”

Nobody believed it. Everyone knew that Yamato couldn’t stand any kind of horror related subject. 

“He’s scared to death…” Takeru whispered into Hikari’s ear.

“Poor,  Yamato-san. Even now he’s still trying to act tough huh?”

“His pride will haunt him, but this is actually going to be fun.”

“That’s mean,Takeru-kun, you shouldn’t tease your brother…”Hikari chuckled.

“Just a little bit, okay?” Takeru said, winking at her before turning to look at Koushiro. “Where exactly are we going again, Koushiro-san?”

“Ah…” Koushiro replied, turning his tablet to let them see “It’s an old abandoned manor. According to the legend, the family was practitioners of some sort of ritualistic religion and would often make human sacrifices.”

“Ah!” Takeru said “ I think I know. I remember researching it for my story. Isn’t that the shrine where the head of the family went crazy and slaughtered everyone in the middle of the night? Then he took each body and threw them into the pit, one by one before hanging himself in the central hall..”

“Why do you even search for those things?”Yamato mumbled to himself; sinking into his seat. 

“Ah...yes, I believe so.” Koushiro replied, browsing in his tablet “Yes, you’re correct, Takeru-san.”

“But...I think I read that some people have seen child spirits roaming the forest.” Takeru said “ people who have gone lost in the woods say they hear children’s voices and the sound of leaves shuffling as if someone was running around.”

“C-children?” Yamato mumbled.

“Oh...really? That’s creepy. Children are creepy even when they’re alive.” Taichi said.

“Taichi!”

“What? It’s true…”

“Ohhh, I think I’ve heard that story before.” Marina said, peeking over her seat.” They said the children spirits try to lure you into the shrine, right?”

“Right, right…” Takeru nodded with a malicious grin “It is said that they call out at people, feigning to be in trouble so that people will try to find them, and then before anyone even realizes…”

Takeru reached under the chair and pulled Yamato’s leg. Yamato, who had been covering his face and shrinking in his seat trying to tune out the conversation, gave a jump and a very uncharacteristic screech that caused several of the other passengers to look back at them. 

“WHat the hell, Takeru?!” Yamato said, reddening as the group laughed. 

“...the ghosts grab you and pull all the way into the pit…” Takeru said, innocently “Just like that…”

“Yes, yes...That’s what I’ve heard too!” Marina said excitedly “ this place came out in a magazine recently I think. It’s one of the most haunted places in Tokyo.”

“Ehhh?” Jou said “From all the places to choose, Mimi-san.” “Hey, we wanted to feel the real thing, no? Come on it will be fine.”

“Is it really that famous?” Sora asked.

“Uh, I supposed. I think it became quite popular after the local government tried to get it exorcised or something.” Takeru shrugged.

“Yes! It seems it went pretty bad and the priest who came went missing.” 

“Oh god…”

“Eh? Missing?” Taichi said “No way!”

“THat’s only gossip.” Hikari chuckled “ An exorcism was indeed performed. It was successful and the place should be safe now.”

“Thanks god…” Yamato sighed.

“I think…”

The last words Hikari muttered only made Yamato let out a groan. After three hours of road trip, they finally reached their destination. The group checked into the inn, dropped their things and, taking only the necessary things for camping, the group made their way to their destination. 

Ignoring the fact that they were stepping into a rumored cursed forest to camp in the gardens of a famous haunted location, the whole thing would have seemed to be like any regular trip. The sun shone brightly, the sky was blue and the cicadas were chanting noisily around them. Perhaps it was the light or the distraction by the tasks that camping required , but Yamato seemed to have calmed down considerably. His calmness had been short lived, as the sun began to set soon after they had set camp.

“Alright everyone! Gather here!” Mimi chanted, calling out for everyone's attention “It’s time to make the teams for the kimodameshi!”

“Eh?”  Taichi said “Isn’t that too troublesome? We can just make the team ourselves.”

“No, no!” Mimi replied “Absolutely not!” IF we let that happen everyone will just go for Hikari-chan.”

“Eh? Me…?” Hikari said shocked,

“Of course...so I tada…” Mimi said, showing them a bunch of threads she had in her hand “Everyone pick and end. Your partner will be the one holding the other side…”

“But Mimi...we are an odd number…”

“I know that! The threads have colored tags in the middle. THe one that gets the single thread will make a trio with the pair with the same color. Ain’t I a genius?”

“Mimi-san, wouldn’t it be easier if I just used my tablet to randomize the teams?”

“Koushiro-kun...sometimes you gotta do things the old way.Now pick!”

Everyone took one of the ends and Mimi counted to three before releasing them and allowing everyone to see the teams. 

“Ah! Jou, we are together! Lucky” Marina chirped happily.

“Ah...Mimi-san, we are together.” Koushiro said, blinking in surprise.

“Eh...we are the trio, huh?” Taich said, punching Yamato’s shoulder “Don’t worry, buddy. Sora and I will protect you…”

“Sounds more like I’ll be the one protecting you two, instead…”Sora said, rolling her eyes. 

“Don’t be like that…” Taichi laughed.

“Shouldn’t be surprised that you two ended up together, huh? Even fate is on your side,”

Tekeru and Hikari were still holding their end of the thread and looking dumbfounded. 

“Lucky dog…” Yamato groaned “He’ll be the only one leaving this place alive.”

“Yamato!”

“Like you didn’t think of it, too!” Yamato said “hey Takeru. Be a good brother and switch with me…”

“Sorry, bro. I think fate thinks we make a good team…” Takeru smiled “Right, Hikari-chan?”

The girl smiled. 

“Ah…”

“Alright instructions!” Mimi said “Everyone has their flashlights, remember to keep them on. We’ll go in with 15 min of difference between each team. Starting with Koushiro and I…” Mimi winked “Then Marina and Jou-senpai, Sora’s team and finally the love birds.”

“Why do you keep calling them that?” Taichi said, rolling his eyes.

“Here is a layout of the place. The red spot is our goal. Once you get there, you take a photo and you’re done with the challenge.”

“A photo?” Sora asked.

“Yeah, if you get a ghost to photobomb, you get extra points.” 

“God, no!” Yamato said, covering his eyes. 

“You can stay outside i f you’re too scared, Yamato…” Taichi smirked “Alone…”

“Well… I….”

“Uh? Did you guys hear that ?” Hikari said suddenly. 

“Eh? What?” Mimi asked “What? What?”

“Uh...thought I heard a whisper…” Hikari replied very seriously, and the color drained completely from Yamato’s face. Takeru chuckled, he wasn’t sure if Hikari was being serious or if she had joined the “Let’s tease Yamato” train as well. 

“Yeah, you can stay out here, aniki…” Takeru said, poking his brother’s neck with a branch and making him jump “alone...in the dark...surrounded by ghostly children and who knows what else...boooo.”

“Takeru-kun...don’t be mean.” HIkari scolded him.

“Forget it, I’m coming…”

“You’re a scared kid, Yamato.”

“Take a paper bag…” Jou sai, giving one to each of his friends.

“In case I need to throw up?” Taichi asked,

“More like , if you start hyperventilating, but maybe you should take some extra. Just in case. Yamato tends to throw up when he’s scared.”

“I don’t!”

“Mmmm…” Hikari said, “Just in case, too. Take one of these…”

“What’s these?”

“Ofuda(**Paper charms). You know, for protection.”  

“Ah! Well thought, sis.”

“Thank you, Hikari-chan …” Marina said with a smile. 

“Oh, and if you hear someone calling. Don’t listen...keep moving forward. If you don’t pay them attention, they don’t know you saw them.”

“Advice from the expert. Taken.”

“Do you see anything?” Taichi asked casually.

“Mmm, not really. I don’t think there are evil spirits.”

“Thank god. I’m trusting you word…” Yamato said “The building is probably more dangerous, yes…”

“Ok...well, I think we are ready, right?”

“Yeah. We can use the digivice to see each other’s location and to communicate in case of emergency.” Koushiro said “Remember...stick to the map. It would be dangerous if any of us got lost.”

“What do we do if a ghost drags us away?” Taichi asked.

“Eh...well….”

“Taichi...stop scaring, Yamato.”

“I am not scared. Who’s scared?”

“Just saying…”

“That’s not going to happen.” Hikari assured them “Hold each other hands. Don’t let go and you should be fine.”

WIth that said, the test began.

Mimi and Koushiro

The house was, by far, creepier than Mimi had originally thought. The photos online didn’t give it enough credit. It was even scarier than the sceneries in horror movies. The first thing that both tees noticed when they stepped into the old dilapidated house was that it was like stepping into a completely different place. 

Outside, the sound of crickets and cicadas filled the forest. The wind blowing through the trees and one or two night birds, but inside the house it felt ominously cold and the silence was unsettling. 

Mimi wasn’t scared. SHe had already made a quick run through the building with Hikari earlier and the girl had told her that the place was ok, but still, she had to admit that the house was creepy. 

“Uh…ok. This way…” Koushiro said.

 She might not be scared, but this was the perfect time to hook Koushiro. Who could resist the sweet innocence of a scared damsel, after all.

“Wait!” she said, hugging his arm “Hikari-chan said that we should stay close, right? Just in case.”

“I thought you said you weren’t scared…”

“I thought I wasn’t…” Mimi replied “but I must admit, this place is creepy. It’s making me hesitate…”

“Oh….” Koushiro said “That’s reasonable. We can step back…”

“What? No!” Mimi replied “What I mean...is that I would feel safer like this.”

Mimi hugged Koushiro's arm tighter. The action made Koushiro stagger in surprise. 

“Ah..ah! Of course…” Koushiro replied. The dim light of the flashlight didn’t show his blush.” Sure...you can hold me, if that makes you feel better.”

Victory, Mimi thought. The pair began their way through the dark and eerie corridors, Something was hanging from the roof. Mimi remembered seeing ropes and fabric hanging earlier, but in the darkness, it was difficult to distinguish it.

“Do you think Jou and Marina have entered already?” Mimi asked casually,

“Uh? Probably…” Koushiro said, looking around the corridor. The place seemed to transform when the night fell “Knowing Jou, they’re probably walking through very slowly. I can understand, though...this planks could be dangerously rotten.”

“Oh, yeah...it wouldn’t be nice to fall into one of these...AHHHHH.”

Mimi gave a jump and hugged Koushiro tightly. This time it hadn’t been faked. 

“M-Mimi-san?”

“Something touched me…” Mimi said horrified, “Something definitely touched me….”

“It was probably a piece of wood or one of those ropes…”

“No...no...I felt fingers. Cold fingers….”Mimi said looking around “small, cold fingers…”

“Mimi-san...please calm down. It’s probably a self suggestion.” 

"I don't…."  

Hehehehehehehe

"What was that? You heard it, didn't you?" 

Koushiro had stiffened . He had and he couldn't believe his ears. It has to be a trick of their mind. Koushiro's logic mind began to work on any possible explanation when they heard a loud thud. Like if something had fallen down and then, there was a soft rustling. 

A shudder ran down their spines and the pair unconsciously began to walk faster. 

"Oh god!" Mimi screeched. 

They had stopped in their tracks as they had come face to face with two figures, but when they shone their lights at it, they realized that it was nothing but a very old and dirty mirror, and the two phantom images were only their reflection. 

"A mirror? Who the hell places a mirror in the middle of the corridor?" Mimi said gasping for air. That had given her a fright. 

"Uh… Maybe it is a religious thing? A hikari or Takeru would know." 

"Mental note to ask them later." Mimi muttered. 

She'd been here earlier  but she didn't remember that mirror. She wouldn't have missed it. The thing was the size of a wall. 

"Koushiro… Are we on the right way?" 

"Yeah," he answered, flashing his map c right on track to the main hall, why?"

This was Koushiro. She could trust his sense of direction, but why did she feel like everything looked different from when she had come during the day?

They turned around a corner and stopped in the tracks. Mimi swallowed hard and felt a knot form in her gut. This was definitely different. The room was filled with several old kimonos hung on stands, giving an eerie sensation of people standing around them. 

"This wasn't here before…" Mimi muttered" Koushiro-kun… Are you sure we are in the right place?"

Mimi was holding his arm so hard, that she was beginning to sink her nails through the fabric of his shirt. She wasn't feigning anymore, she was really scared and by her friend's expression she could tell she wasn't alone. 

Koushiro had gone pale. He had to admit that  he was beginning to feel scared as well, but seeing how Mimi was clearly upset, he didn't dare to say it out loud. He had to stay firm for her sake, but the task was becoming harder as the sound of tiny feet seemed to have grown louder around them. 

"Y-yeah. This should be it. I mean...it is the kimono room...so I guess it shouldn’t be strange that there are kimonos here….we are in the right place.”

“This can’t be right!” Mimi shrieked” Those weren’t here before!”

 “It's ok. " Koushiro said, trying to sound soothing, "  It’s ok. You probably missed them, that’s all…”

“How could I miss this?”

“Calm down.  Remember Hikari's words. Don't pay attention and let’s keep going.”

Mimi swallowed and nodded. The temperature had gotten colder . The sound of rustling was louder and as they circled between the kimono, Mimi had the uncomfortable impression that someone was watching them.

They were starting to think that perhaps choosing this place was a bad idea. 

"I wonder how Marina-chan and Jou-senpai are doing, hehe…" Mimi mumbled. She felt less nervous when she spoke. 

"Yeah, I'm sure they're fine." Koushiro replied as calmly as he could. He could swear he had seen something move ahead "They should be behind  us and not too far…. '

Almost as if summoned, a distant echo of screams that they easily recognized as the eldest in the group and his girlfriend, cut through the silent stillness of the ruins. The screams were terrified and Mimi automatically jumped into Koushiro's arms. 

"W-what?" Mimi said in horror. 

"Uh, Jou-san….” Koushiro said, “Right. He’s easily  startled. They probably got scared with the mirror at the end of the hallway, too.”

“Oh right...t-that must be it...hehe. How far are we from the great hall?”

“J-just a couple rooms more…” Koushiro replied. Now he was sure he had seen a shadow run past them “T-this way…”

Niii-san, Oneesan… will you play with us?

“K-k-koushiro?”

“Y-yes…”

“C-can we h-hurry up?”

“Of...of course.”

Neesan, Niisan...why do you ignore us?”

That was too much. Forgetting about everything, Koushiro grabbed Mimi’s hand and sprinted away without looking back. Muffled voices sounded around them, but they ignored it and kept running and didn’t stop  until they had reached the main hall.

     Marina and Jou

“So we must wait 15 minutes before going in right?” Jou said looking at his watch. 

“Yup, that’s how it works.” Takeru replied “ The point is that the team aren’t to close to each other as they go through the test.”

“You sound familiar with this, Takeru-kun.” Marina smiled. 

“I’ve gone through a couple of them. “Takeru shrugged “never to a real haunted location though.”

“Takeru-kin is way to popular with the girls…” Hikari said tilting her head” they are always arguing to see who will get to go with him….”

“Well, I can’t blame them. A test of courage is certainly a good opportunity to hug or try to hold hands with the boy you like, right?” Marina said, winking “Isn’t that pretty much the main objective of it?”

“I thought the goal was to prove your courage.” Taichi said, dumbfounded.

“Well, that, too, but I think most of the girls just go in for that priceless chance.”

“Ah…” Hikari said “I see...so how many girls have you hugged, Takeru-kun?”

“Do you really want to know?” Takeru smiled wolfishly.

“I think it should be about time…” Sora said “It’s been 15 minutes. Jou-senpai, Marina-chan….”

“Alright!” Marina said cheerfully, hugging her boyfriend’s arm “you ready, Jou?”

“You’re awfully excited about this….” Jou said with a frown.

“I am excited! Are you not?”

“No...I still think this is reckless…”

“Oh, come Jou. Where’s your sense of adventure?”

“You are brave, Marina-chan.” Sora laughed “ unlike somebody I know…”

Sora nudge her head at Yamato’s direction. He was crouched by her side , with his head between his arms. 

“Please be careful.” Hikari whispered “I know you like this whole spirit thing, but don’t let it carry you away.”

“DOn’t worry! If anything happens, I already memorized the Kuji!”

“Hehe...I don’t know if using the kuji, recklessly will help in a bad situation, though.”

“Kuji?” Sora asked.

“The nine hands seals…” Takeru replied “It is often used to ward off evil spirits.”

“You’re getting awfully good with shinto lore. Hikari’s been teaching you, huh?��

“A little” Takeru shrugged  “It’s for creative purposes.”

“Either way. I promise not to use the kuji mindlessly.” Marina smiled “Shall we, Jou?”

“Yeah, let’s get done with this.”

Jou and Marina walked through the door and just like Mimi and Koushiro earlier, they disappeared into the house. A shudder ran down Jou and Marina’s back as a gust of icy wind blew past them. “Oh boy, this is worse than I imagined it.” Jou sighed.

“Yeah, it is even scarier in real life.”

“Ok...let's go.” Jou sighed “ Be careful, Marina. These floors could be rotten for all we know.”

“Yes, yes….” Marina siad cheerfully “Ok...according to the map, we should go...that way.”

Jou used his flash light to point at the direction that his girlfriend was indicating him. A large wooden door laid closed in front of the Jou groaned. 

“Oh, great...doors. WHy couldn’t they trace a straight , no way to get lost, route?” Jou complained “These old japanese houses are like mazes, you know that?”

“Yes,yes...but we will be ok. If we get lost, all we gotta do is use our phones.”

“Knowing our luck...we won’t have a signal.”

“It will be fine. At least we are not alone and worse case scenario, we just need to wait til morning to get out.”

“This is a bad idea…”

 Hehehe

“Huh? DId you hear that?” Marina said, pulling Jou’s hand. 

“WHat?” 

Kekekekek

“That…” Marina said loudly “I heard kids.” 

“You’re auto suggesting, Marina. I didn’t hear anything…”

“I swear, Jou…”

“It was probably the… AHHHHHH!”

“What? What?”

Jou looked at his reflection on the old dirty mirror. 

“Who is so crazy to put a mirror here?” Jou said annoyed.

“Ahhhh...creepy.” Marina said, pushing up her glasses.

“Let’s get done with this. I am sure someone is bound to get hurt today.” 

 “Don’t be so pessimistic.”

“I am not. I call being realistic…” Jou said” just look at this place. If someone panics and runs away...they might stumble with something or fall into a hole…”

“And that’s why we are keeping our cool!”

“Yeah, I am calm….why wouldn't I?Right?”

Kagome kagome...the bird in  the cage...when . oh wen will it come out?

“Jou...tell me you’re hearing that.”

“I….” Jou said. THe color had drained from his face. Suddenly, his flashlight began to flicker until it finally turned off leaving them in darkness.

Marina screeched and grabbed Jou’s arm in panic. 

“Damn thing...the batteries were new! Ok, calm down. Good thing I brought a second one.Let me get it out…”

Hehehehehe...hehehe….

“Jou...you must have heard that right?”

“Keep calm, keep calm….Ah here it is!””

Jou switched his new flash light on, but to both’s horror. They found themselves face to face with a white, masked face.

Hehehe….I found ...you!

Jou and Marina let out a terrified screech the pierced through the night. The doctor grabbed his girlfriend’s hand and ran off in a burst of fear, not looking back even once. 

Sora, Taichi and Yamato

“Are you guys going to be ok out here alone?” Taichi asked, looking at the two youngest of the group. 

“Are you sure you three will be okay in there alone?” Takeru asked instead, with an amused look.

“Touché. YEah...I guess you guys are probably the least scared here, huh?” Sora chuckled.

“I’m not scared.” Taichi said “I don’t have the crest of courage for nothing.”

“Courage doesn’t mean fearless.”

“Are you sure, Yamato-san will be alright?” Hikari asked. 

“Don’t worry about him. “Takeru smiled “ He’s doing his “Courage “ mantra. He doesit all the time before concerts and...finals.”

“Yamato...you okay? It’s our turn now…” Sora said softly.

“Ok? Yeah...I’m ok…Why wouldn’t I be okay?” Yamato blurted “It’s just and old house. There are no ghosts there, just mold and maybe rats, right?”

“Right, buddy and maybe a few corpses as well.” Taichi smirked.

“Taichi!” Sora said, glaring at the boy.

“Oh, god…”

Hikari crouched by his side and put her hands on his shoulders.

“It is alright. There are no evil spirits in there. I promise you that.” she said in a soft soothing voice, that seemed to calm him a little. 

Yamato took a deep breath and stood up. 

“Fight hard, aniki!” Takeru grinned patting his brother´s back.

“Shut up…”

Taichi, Sora, and Yamato cautiously entered the house. Taichi was holding his head and Yamato reluctantly followed, looking around nervously.

“Woah...creepy. It does look like a horror movie setting, huh?” Taichi said, running his flashlight all over the place.” “It also looks like it is falling in pieces.” Sora added” Don't do anything stupid, Taichi.”

“What are you talking about?” Taichi said. 

The piece of wood that Taichi had been touching fell apart and one of the pieces fell to the ground with a strong thud that made Yamato jump.

“I’m talking about something like that…” Sora said, rolling her eyes” Stop messing around and let’s move…”

“Eheh...sorry.”Taichi chuckled “This way…”

Yamato was taking long deep breaths behind them.

“Yamato, if you are scared you can take my hand.” Sora offered.

“Or mine…” Taichi smirked “Like a kid…”

“Shut up, Taichi. Can we get done with this?” Yamato said, rubbing his face.

“Ehehe…” Taichi laughed “Right. Follow me...don’t worry Yama-chan, Sora-nesan and Taichi-nisan will keep you safe.” “Taichi...I swear that if you don’t shut up, I’m gonna punch you.”

“Not cute….” Taichi said putting, the flashlight under his chin and making a “ghost face”  “Not cute at all….”

 Niiisan….niiisan…..

“Huh?” Taichi said, looking around “Hey guys...did you hear that?”

“It’s not fun, Taichi…” Sora sighed.

“No, I...I’m not joking. I seriously  heard something.” Taichi said, looking around with his flashlight.

“Very funny, Taichi.” Yamato said grumpily, looking around with his flashlight as well.“You just want to scare me…”

“No...I swear...I heard something.”

“It’s an old house. Old houses make noises. You probably heard that…” Sora reasoned “come on let’s move. Haunted or not, this place makes me uncomfortable, so let’s hurry up and finish this.”

“RIght...old houses make noises...yeah.”Yamato repeated “ old houses make noises….old house….AHHHH:”

“What? A ghost?” Taichi said, rushing to where YAmato was.”Oh...come on...you got spooked by your own face?”

“WHat did you want me to do? I wasn’t expecting to find a mirror there?” Yamato replied.

“Wow...well. In Yamato’s defense, that mirror does make you look creepy.” Sora said  “This thing is old, it is incredible that it is still intact…”

“Yeah, I don’t really care about old things. Can we get moving?” Yamato said impatiently.

“Why? ARe you scared that someone is gonna try to pull you into the mirror?” Taichi said, tainting him with his hands.

“I warn you, Taichi...if you…”

Yamato paled and both Taichi and Sora looked at him dumbfounded.

“Yamato?”

“Eh….you okay, buddy?”

“Something pulled my sleeve.” “What?” Taichi repeated. 

“I said...SOMETHING pulled my sleeve.”

“It was probably an old nail…” Sora suggested.

“How…? There’s nothing here!

“Chill...Yamato. I’m sure you’re scaring yourself….”

Onisan!

“What the hell?” Taichi said, turning to look behind him “Guys...you must have heard that.”

“Maybe...we should move.” Sora said nervously “now?”

“I second the idea…” Yamato agreed “Move…”

The trio hurried through the old corridors and sliding doors. The sound of their footsteps against the worn floorboards echoed in the burying silence of the manor.

It was then that the group noticed that the steps that they were hearing,  were not theirs alone. There were at least a fourth set of steps that definitely didn't belong to any of the three. They were smooth and light steps, as if they belonged to very small feet.

“Eh...guys….?” Taichi said looking around “Is it just me or something is following us?”

“Stop joking, Taichi.”

“Yeah, shut up…” Yamato groaned.

“I swear guys...I…”

Hehehehe

Eheheheheheeh

“What the…?Oh god, no…” Yamato said, losing all his color “No,no.no…”

“Yamato, put yoursefeñ together.”

“Are hearing that?” Yamato cried “Those are damn ghost voices. They are going to drag us all the way to that pit and we’ll be dead. It’s like one of those damn horror movies…” 

“This could be something that Mimi did to scare us…”SOra reasoned “it’s not a ghost, calm down.”

“I hell...I saw something over there….”Taichi said suddenly “We’re screwed…. We’re gonna get spirited away and Hikari will have to go through the place trying to contact our souls to see if she can brings us back…”

“Taichi, you’re not helping.”

“I knew this was a bad idea. Why did I agree to this?”  Yamato said in panic “Taichi...I swear, if I die I am going to haunt your ass…”

“Yamato….”

“Buddy, you might end up  haunting my ghostly ass!”

Sora looked at the two panicking boys trying to figure out what she was supposed to do, when suddenly...

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

Taichi and Yamato automatically jumped to hug Sora in terror. The screams had come from somewhere deeper in the manor and after thinking about it, there was certain familiarity in the voices.

“Jou-senpai and Marina-chan!” Sora said in realization. 

“Oh, no! The ghost caught them!” Taichi said   in panic “What do we do? We are next now, aren’t we?”

“Ahhh..! Something touched me again.” Yamato cried.

“OK, STOP IT!” Sora shouted impatiently “Taichi get a hold your reins, your panic is not helping. Yamato, for god’s sake. I promise you, there are no ghosts touching you. Now, we should hurry and try to catch up with Jou-senpai. Something bad could have happened to them and… What, Taichi?”

Taichi’s eyes were wide as plates. He was absently pulling Sora’s blouse as he pointed at Yamato with a trembling hand. Sora turned to the blonde slowly and she opened her mouth to scream, but her voice died away as the light of the flashlights died one, by one.

Takeru and Hikari

Takeru paced in front of the entrance looking at his watch. Meanwhile, Hikari was standing pensively a few steps from him. Her hands were clasped in her lap and her head was slightly tilted.

“Should we give them a couple minutes more?” Takeru asked “I’m sure my brother is delaying them.”

“Sure…” Hikari nodded “knowing my brother, he’s not helping either. He’s probably touching things he shouldn’t  all over the place. I just hope he won’t break anything.”

“Sounds like, Taichi,” Takeru chuckled “So what’s the verdict?”

“Uh?” Hikari replied, confused, 

“Ghosts or no ghosts?” Takeru asked.

“Oh, about that.  Well...there are no evil spirits.”

“Uh...so no ghosts. Too bad I guess. “

“I said no evil spirits. I never said there weren’t spirits.” Hikari chuckled “I just thought that whether they were evil or not, was irrelevant for Yamato-san.”

“Yeah, under this conditions...he’s probably scared of his own shadow.” Takeru laughed “Ok...I think we can go in now.”

Hikari nodded and turned to the door. To her surprise she found Takeru offering her his hand. 

“Uh? You do realize I am not like those girls and I won’t be jumping and hugging you because I am scared, right?”

“Yeah, I know that. I think this is more for my own moral support.”

“Oh, so the hugging went both ways around.”

“You wouldn’t be jealous, would you?” 

“Should I be jealous?”Hikari asked, taking his hand. “Nope. For the record, I would rather go through this with you. Those girls jump at anything.”

“Getting scared in that situation is the normal thing to do.”

“Yeah, I guess I just got used to my little shrine maiden who’s not afraid of anything.” he  chuckled.

“Flirt. Don’t let my brother hear you…” Hikari said, shaking her head.

“Well, Mimi-san isn’t helping. She promised not to say a word, but her teasing is becoming a little too obvious, don’t you think? Lovebirds?”

Hikari shrugged.

“No one seemed to catch the hint. Mimi is like that, I suppose no one takes it too seriously.” Hikari sighed “ what? Are you getting tired of the secrecy? We can say it...but remember that would mean I win the bet.”

“When did you become so greedy, huh?” Takeru snorted.

“Learned from you.” Hikari replied, winking at him “Uh...yeah. Not the most romantic place for a date?”

“Didn’t know you were taking this as a date.”

“Wasn’t that Mimi’s whole idea?” Hikari asked “She did arrange that sorting to leave all couples together, after all.” 

“Including my brother a third wheel?”

“I don’t think she foresaw that outcome. Probably a miscalculation.”

Takeru laughed.

“I pity Sora. She’s probably going crazy with those two.” “Mmmm… My brother can handle the pressure, unless he sees something. Then he’ll just snap and panic.”

“Talking from experience?”

“More or less.”

“My brother is a lost case. They will be lucky if they can get him to walk at all…” Takery laughed “He can’t even see a horror movie without finding an excuse to leave the room every five minutes. I am actually surprised he agreed to this trip.” “Social pressure…” Hikari shrugged “but you telling him those stories didn’t help at all.”

“Sorry?” Takeru smiled apologetically “You know having the chance to tease your older brother is a rare opportunity. “

Hikari shook her head. 

“Poor Yamato-san. Uh?”

“What?”Takeru asked “Saw something interesting?”

“Yeah...kids. Very mischievous kids.” 

“Do you think they will want to play with my brother?”

“For his own sanity, I hope not.”

“So between everyone. Who do you think will go through this smoothly?”

“Mimi-san and Koushiro-san, probably. Mimi is hot headed, but she’s not easily scared and Koushiro is very rational, so I don’t think some random noises and a couples of shadows will make them lose it.”

“Uh...agree.” Takeru replied “So between the other two teams?”

“Hard to tell.” Hikari shrugged “ Jou-senpai gets scared easily, but having my brother and Yamato-san together, puts Sora in a very difficult position.”

“Do you think we’ll end up having to rescue those five?” 

“It’s possible…uh? Weird…” Hikaris said looking around “I think we might have taken the wrong turn.”

“What? Why?”

“This doesn't seem like the right place.”

“Night time makes things look different…”

“I wonder…” 

Suddenly, the two teens stopped dead in their tracks and looked at each other. There was a soft rustling  accompanied by muffled voices that seemed to be in some sort of conversation. 

“Did you...hear something?”Takeru asked

“I did...and those are no ghosts.” Hikari said with a frown. 

“Huh. Hold on a second.”

Takeru grabbed his flashlight and began looking between the boxes and fallen logs until he finally found the source of the muffled voice.

“Patamon? Tailmon? What are you guys doing here?”

“Takeru!” Patamon chirped happily “Look, Tailmon. We found them!”

“Good...but we still have a problem. AGumon and the others are pretty much still missing.” Tailmon sighed. 

“What are you here?”

“We heard you were having an adventure and we wanted to join.” Patamon explained “It was agumon’s idea. We thought we would surprise you.”

“I tried to stop them, but they wouldn’t listen.” Tailmon said shaking her head “then we arrived here and they all said they would search for their partners and  went running on their own. Now we don’t know where they are.”

“Wait...so the digimon are running free around this place?” Takeru asked, surprised, “Well, that’s an interesting twist.”

“A twist that will certainly complicate things. What are the odds that everyone mistakes the digimon for ghosts?”

“Extremely high.”

“We must find them before they get in trouble.”

 Takeru, Hikari, Patamon and Tailmon spent the rest of the night tracking down their friends and their digimon. As they had guessed, everyone had mistakenly seen the digimon as ghost causing them to run away in panic and passing out. By the time they had managed to gather everyone in the great hall -with the digimon’s help, of course -  the first rays of the morning were already getting in through the holes of the ceiling. 

“Good morning…” Hikari said when their friends began to wake up.

“”Morning…” Taichi yawned “Wait...where are we?”

“Mmm...where do you think?”

“Ahhhh…” Mimi screamed “ don’t tell me we fell asleep?”

“ How can that be?”

“We actually spent the night in a haunted house?” Yamato said with a shudder.

“Congratulations, aniki. You can now cross out “sleeping with ghosts” from your bucket list. “Takeru said with a sheepish smile and Yamato glared at him.

“What happened?” Sora asked.

“Well...it seems our little test of courage got hacked by digimon.” Hikari chuckled “Right guys!”

“Sora!”

“Biyomon! What are you doing here?”

“We wanted to play too!” Agumon said.

“And we thought we would give you a surprise.” Gabumon nodded.

“Wait...then...the ghosts…” Taichi said with wide eyes “The ghosts were actually our digimon?” “Uhm...yes, probably.” Hikari nodded.

“No, that’s impossible!” Jou said “I saw it clearly. THe ghost I was wearing a noh mask! Right, Marina?”

“That’s right! I saw it, too.”

“You mean...this?” Gomamon said, showing him the old mask. “I found it lying around...I thought it looked funny.”

“Gomamon…!”

“Sorry,,,I didn’t mean to scare you.” Gomamon apologised. 

“We tried reaching out to Koushiro-han, but they ran off screaming when we tried.”

“Yes...Mimi you went off running when I pulled your skirt!” Palmon said sadly.

“Well, of course I would! You scared me to death, palmon!”

“The digimon didn’t intend to scare you. It was...a very amusing outcome…” Takeru laughed.

“I fail to see the fun in that!” Yamato said, annoyed.

“Sorry, but if you had seen your face...though…” Taichi laughed.

“Hey, you were scared as hell too.” 

“I saw a friggin blue fire floating over your shoulder. Of course I was going to be scared!” Taichi laughed.“Well, at least I am glad it was the digimon and not the actual ghost. That was intense.”

“We are sorry…” the digimon apologised.

“Forget about it. It was fun...wasn’t it?” Sora smiled. 

“Horay...it was, but wait...none of us took the picture...right?”  Mimi said. 

“We did…” Takeru said “While you were sleeping, of course.”

“You mischievous lovebirds.“ 

“We actually got some additional ...bonus photos.” Hikari smiled innocently “but since everyone is awake, why don’t we take one together before we leave?”

“Sounds like an awesome idea!” Mimi said.

“But...wait…” Jou said out of sudden “When did the digimon learn to sing Kagome, Kagome?”

“What?” Mimi asked.

“Ah, you’re right. We heard someone singing that, didn’t we?” Marina said..

“Oh... The song? Those were kids that helped us find you!” Gomamon said. 

“They said it was a game, and they wanted to play with us, too.”  Tentomon nodded.

“WHAT?”  everyone,  except Takeru and Hikari, said.

The two teenagers looked at each other and laughed. Perhaps the trip hadn’t gone as planned, but one way or another, it had become a great summer memory. 

Ok....very crappy art because this was already pretty long. 

[just-another-warsmith]

Saturnine, or I how I learned to stop holding onto old continuity with 40K

(Warning: this post pretty massively spoils the latest Siege of Terra novel, Saturnine by Dan Abnett. Still going under a cut, but you have been warned.)

So a few months ago, when the limited edition of Dan Abnett’s Saturnine came out, there was a bit of, shall we say, discourse over several elements of the plot.

Nah, that’s putting it mildly, there was a serious amount of genuine anger over two particular plot points; the story of Olly Piers and how that served as part of the origin of Ollanious Pious, patron saint of the Imperial Guard, and the revelations of Erda, a female Perpetual and former associate of the Emperor. The former was a minor shitshow, the latter one that was pretty damn colossal and I wound up unfollowing a few people, several of whom I can tell now hadn’t read the book or had read it poorly, just because they were blowing up my dash about it and they didn’t do the decent thing of spoiler tags. Abnett doesn’t care about continuity! Abnett is just making stuff up and Black Library lets him! I don’t care what that Erda lady says, the plot points she’s contradicting are fact!

Oh. Oh dear. 

So let’s address these, shall we?

Ollanious Pious, Patron Saint of the Imperial Guard, Astra Militarium Imperial Fist and Custodian of the Emperor.

Through the course of the book, we meet a normal human soldier, Olly Piers, who gradually a legend begins to build up about how he is some sort of defender of the Emperor for an action where he and others defend a banner of the Emperor. At the very end of that plot thread, Olly stands alone, in front of the same banner, facing down nothing less than Angron. He dies, of course, defending said banner. People went off on this because it seemed to be contradicting 40K lore, the lore of how Ollanious Pious stood in front of the Emperor when he was fighting Horus and defended him against the traitor, his death serving as the moment when the Emperor finally realized how far gone Horus was and moved to kill him. 

And yeah, you know, that’s indeed in the original short story that William King wrote back in the 90s depicting the battle between the Emperor and Horus. Ollanious Pious, defending the Emperor unto the death...

Except for a later version where it was an Imperial Fist who died defending the Emperor unto the death. But nah, it must have been Ollanious Pious...

Except for another later version of the same story where it was a Custodian who died defending the Emperor unto death. 

I own all three versions, by the way, through various books published over the past twenty years. That has never been a constant point in the lore, it’s just been reworked over the years as the background of the game has evolved and changed and some things have left or just don’t fit anymore. We’ll come back to this.

Erda, Buggering Up Yet More Articles From White Dwarf.

The thing that set off the discourse hardcore though was the appearance of Erda, a previously unseen female Perpetual who claims to be the “mother” of the Primarchs by being the female genetic source for all of them, and more importantly, being the person who scattered the Primarchs across the galaxy, taking them away from the Emperor. She also gives the name she knew the Emperor by several thousand years ago (she explicitly says that was just what he was calling himself, and it wasn’t his actual name) and gives some info dumps that try to patch over why the Emperor seems to be a non-stop fuck up. Humanity is supposed to evolve into Perpetuals, near-immortal psykers, over a long scale of time; the Emperor, though, does not want to wait, and he’s trying to get millions of years of evolution done in a few thousand.

Oh boy.

Now what interests me about this is that a lot of people did not go off so much on the revelation that there was a “mother” to the Primarchs (though yeah of course they did) but the fact that Erda says she scattered the Primarchs. “NO WAY. BULLSHIT. IT WAS CHAOS! NOT SOME CHARACTER WE’VE NEVER HEARD OF!”

Sigh.

Over the years in the old White Dwarf magazine, Games Workshop published articles about each of the major Space Marine chapters in a series called Index Astartes. They were collected in a series of books called, you guessed it, Index Astartes. I own several of them, and here’s a thing about them. When talking about the scattering of the Primarchs, there is always-always-a massive level of ambiguity about how it happened. If I had a dime for every time one of the articles said something like “whether by accident, the design of the Emperor, or the machinations of Chaos, the Primarchs were scattered across the Galaxy”..well, I’d have a dollar and eighty cents maximum, but you get the point. How the Primarchs were spread across the galaxy has always been ambiguous. Erda saying she did it does not contradict the lore, simply because that’s all she says. She could have been a willing or unwilling agent of Chaos. She could be an unreliable narrator. She could be lying. She could have been manipulated into doing it by the Emperor. We don’t know yet.

(I have zero problem with Erda being the “mother” of the Primarchs, by the way. The Primarchs were never said to be straight clones of the Emperor, so it stands to reason that there was, at some point, a female genetic donor. Abnett just wrote about her. She does not supplant any parental figure that the Primarchs had. Hilariously, I saw someone say that Erda did not replace Tarasha Euten as Guilliman’s mother. This is hilarious because Tarasha Euten was...created by Dan Abnett in the novel The Unremembered Empire. And is equally as unsupported by the previous lore as Erda is.)

See, here’s the problem, and I have to say this gently: a lot of people have latched onto particular versions of the lore without acknowledging or even knowing that there’s always a certain level of ambiguity built into the lore on purpose. That the lore has been built, piecemeal and without much regard to the previous versions, largely to serve as cool background to sell a tabletop game and a shit load of models. If you have latched onto one version of it as a headcanon, well, okay, I can’t fault you there, but you’re not acknowledging that (1) the lore has never been constant and (2) it’s Games Workshop’s IP, they can change it if they want to, and probably will. Hell the Forge World Black Books on the Horus Heresy contradict some of the earliest HH novels.

I have never understood why people will fight like cats and dogs over recent changes in continuity and aren’t fighting for the original, normal human General Horus, the original start of the rebellion against the Emperor, or for the half human, half Eldar Ultramarine. No, no, actually I do understand it. Most people don’t even know about it. They get into 40K at a particular time and that’s their golden lore, their fluff. They don’t know how often it’s changed, how many times the backstory has been tweaked and altered and reworked. They hear at one point that the Emperor was suggested to be a person born out of a bunch of shamans combining their power together, and that’s all he ever was. They hear the Primarchs were spread by Chaos in one story and that’s all that ever was.

Saturnine does nothing that Games Workshop hasn’t done themselves over and over again, and will probably do over and over again so long as the IP exists. 

Oh, the book itself? Is bloody brilliant. The slow build into the non stop action of the last third of the book is amazing, and that last third is just ridiculously good. 

[cartoonfangirl1218]

Antonio and Pablo Agama headcanons

Leoncio Renato Braganza-Olmos was a dashing cavalry officer, just recently promoted when he met Altagracia Luna Quelempan-Agama,a healer working in the army camp. It was during an army dance, this being the years before Shuriki, and the camp was celebrating its recent victory. Like a classic fairytale, their eyes met across the room. He introduced himself and bowed, they danced, and fell head over heels for each other. Their backgrounds were quite different with Leoncio coming from a long line of esteemed army men much like the Villalobos of Avalor City. In fact, the Villalobos family was one of their greatest rivals for the Olmos family wanted to move out of serving the borders of far away villages and achieve glory in war on foreign land or against dangerous malvagos that seemed to attack the city.

Altagracia was a mestiza, a mixed race girl of indeginous tribes that prided themselves from descending from the great Maruvians and of the more pure blood Spanish descent. Altargracia was very much inspired by her indigenous side, working hard with others to keep their culture and knowledge of medicines and textiles alive. Though, there was not much discrimination for her mixed blood, as many actually wanted to learn the secrets of ancient Maru, people still sometimes taunted them for their superstitions and outdated ideas. Both their families cautioned them from getting married, fearing that their backgrounds would be too different.

However, the couple did not care. Their backgrounds meant little compared to their love for one another. She wanted to support him in his army battles and patch him up in the privacy of their own home and Leoncio adored his at turns intelligent and fierce wife who may not be able to hold a spear but could verbally spar with the best of his fellow soldiers.

Though the life of following army camp after army camp was tiring, they leaned on each other and were thanful to have the other by their side. Eventually came the day when Leoncio got a sword through his thigh. It broke stright through the bone and sidelined him for nearly a year. He eventually healed despite fears that he’d have to be amputed, but he would live with a permenant limp and had to retire from his life of sword. It happened to be excellent timing for Altagracia was pregnant with their first child.

They settled into Altagracia’s home village where Leoncio was aimlessly lost at first, unsure that he had any skills for citizen work but with Altagracia’s guidence and help, he found his way to work as a part-time picker on pepper plantations while Altagracia continued to work and sell her weaving wares and herbal medicines.

Their first son, Antonio Lautaro Agama-Olmos was born at dawn, a loud and robust baby. A direct contrast to their second son, Pablo Sergio Agama-Olmos who was born at midnight, similarly loud but skinnier.

The family was small but happy. Leoncio being a particularly proud father, trying to teach his sons fighting tricks and boast of his great victories. However, one day, Leoncio left without a trace. Perhaps he left because life in a small village bored him, maybe he had found another woman, or maybe he wished to start over fresh in Avalor City without the burden of caring for a family or the hauntings of his former officer glory. It could have been any one of these reasons but no one would ever know for he left no note.

Altagracia received no sympathy from her family who had warned her that a wealthy man like he might get bored with her, warnings she blithely ignored. She had more help from the Olmos’ who pitied her and felt similarly abandoned for Leoncio sent no word either to them. Besides it went against their honor to abandon someone who was part of their family. They sent Altagracia an “allowance” of sorts monthly and Leoncio’s younger brother, Fernando even offered to marry her to make up for his brother’s grievous actions and give the boys a father. Altagracia politely refused, her pain was too strong and she  wished never to see any of her husband’s kin ever again.

Altagracia reluctantly accepted the money as she needed it for her sons, and packed up, took up her old name, and moved to the village over the plateau. (I imagine it to be very similar to Curicó in Chile. You know, mountains on either side, a central fertile valley for agriculture, humid and wet). She couldn’t stand the humiliation of everyone knowing her husband left her and wanted to start fresh even though the rumors and pitying stares still plagued her when she moved to the new village near Mesa Roja. Words traveled fast.

Despite the money sent to her, she couldn’t buy a house with enough space for all her weaving so she couldn’t open her own weaving shop. But Altagracia was determined to make do and used the stables that adjoined her home to house her looms and set to work by herself to create the most elaborate, quality ponchos, clothes and other items till she became the known as “la mujer de la telar.” The money the Olmos did sent them was set aside for special nonessential things like archery sets or a professional portrait since Altagracia decided any essential items like food or clothing, she would pay with her own work. Those luxeries Pablo proudly boasted about since it set them apart from their little less-off farming neighbors, and he’d often sell these goods for a price. That is until Altagracia found out and threatened to stop buying him things if he wasn’t going to use it himself.  

Antonio had been 7 at the time, Pablo only 6, and if that one devastating event wasn’t enough. That was the same year that Shuriki came to power. Music and the old festivals were banned. Altagracia was one of the few people who was happy with this new arrangement since she’d much rather not be reminded of dances or anything happy like that. The boys however, were sorely disappointed by the thought of no more spring harvesting festivals with the children’s races or the games and such. And the addition of Shuriki’s guards patrolling the perimeters to quell any underground rebellions was an unnerving new normal to add to their lives.

Though the boys were too young to truly understand the full context of what was going on, they came today follow their mother’s mantra of “make do with what they have” and made their own fun without the festivals like marbles or pretending their were great trapeze artists like the traveling circus they saw or exploring their new home and the surrounding wild. Antonio’s particularly favorite game was pretending to find lost treasure which influenced his later career.

By the time Antonio was a teenager, he came to think of himself as the new man of the house. He saw how Leoncio’s departure affected their mother. She threw herself into her work, and doted on them more than ever. But she was so distrustful of others especially the rich who she now thought saw people like her as playthings or beneath them. He heard the rumors and taunts of other kids that “they” were the reason their dad ran away. And he vowed that he’d bring fortune to the Agamas name. They’d be known for something else than their disappeared dad.

The one obstacle to his big plan was his own brother. It seemed Pablo had inherited their father’s propensity for wanting glory and their mother’s sly tongue. He fancied himself as a poor man’s merchant (more accurately a con man) and had been cheating people out of their money with goods that he overhyped or stole from people for them to buy it back at exorbitant prices. Antonio often chewed him out for these things especially since it could reflect badly on their whole family but Pablo defended that they wouldn’t want their dear Mama to worry more than she had to, beside he was doing his part as a dutiful son to give her money any way he can. Even though he made plenty of enemies that way. Their neighbors, the Palomas, especially. 

Their mother did notice the tension between both boys and often had to drop subtle reminders and wise proverbs like “Family isn't an important thing. It's everything,” or “The important thing in a family is not being together but being united.”

But they both possessed the same stubborness and their differences grew anyway. Antonio was a studious student, paying attention in class while Pablo often skipped because he felt there was no point. Most people didn’t use the lessons on geometry or English in their daily lives, they learned their family trade and that was that. He much preferred to wager and make bets with the boys and flirt. Antonio had also entertained thoughts of marrying girls he had crushes on but he knew that would doom his dream. Once he got married, he’d have to stay settled down and he didn’t want that so he staye dcelibate though many women, allured by his muscular build, did try to tempt him much to Pablo’s disgust (Poor Pablo, he wanted to be tempted. That's all he wanted!). But Antonio was different. Their teacher, Professora Risquez thought Antonio had potential, he had a passion for history and the stories of treasure hunters so she told him about the field of archeology. It sounded like a dream to him! Being able to find lost civilizations that told them of where they came from and what they did just like the ancient Maruvians.

He couldn’t get the kind of education at home. Not there where the highest level was 12th grade. Professora Risquez offered to sponsor him to go to the University of Avalor. He would live with her parents in their house in the city and he could pursue a degree in archaeological studies. It was a perfect plan and Altagracia was thrilled for her son, and Antonio was similarly thrilled. He was getting one step closer to his dream of bringing fame to the Agama name.

The only one who was less enthusiastic was Pablo who thought Antonio was acting stuck up and superior to him which he kind of was. This led to their first major fight, leading them to never speak to each other for the next twenty eight years.

Antonio hunkered down on his studies, but it had been quite a shock when he first arrived in the city. They had so many more modern convencies like carriages instead of carts and shops for everything and the port brought all sorts of peoples and stories of distant lands that he could never imagine. He even saw a professional circus that put the traveling circus he saw in his childhood to shame.

 Then there was the actual university, the small school with its few teachers and lackluster substance had not prepared him for rigerous testing and academic tone of the unversity. But Professora Risquez’s parents had been former professors themselves and helped him with his study habits and time management. As for the kids, some were nice, some were snobs, a regular crowd of all kinds of people. Though sometimes those classist snobs sniffed at his “village peasant” accent and how fast he talked (Chilean spanish accents is known for being the fastest-spoken) so he learned to modify his fast to his slower, guttural sound. 

It got stressful at times but the one thing that kept him going was the passion for archeology itself. Each book he read, he yearned to know more, to learn more, to go out and explore and find the routes himself which he did every summer, even managing to secure his first glimpse of fame when he found the Heiroglyphic Staircase of Maru.

Pablo stayed at home, helping his mom with selling her wares and occasionally take odd jobs about town. Eventually, he got bored with the poor provincial village and decided to set out for his own. Altagracia gave her blessings since she had enough money to get by on her own with her work and the allowance from the Olmos. Besides she felt that maybe it would encourage Pablo to grow up a little especially now that he was out of Antonio’s shadow. He offered his services as a salesman to various small businesses but often quit when he felt ready to wander again or because he wanted a larger cut than his employers were willing to give him. He also decided to do his own version of treasure hunting and find items from the trash or wild or sometimes laying around someone’s backyard and sell them, often adding they belonged to some famous royal or legend or had magic properties. Then splitting town before his angry customors found out they were tricked.

Meanwhile, as Pablo scraped by, Antonio was sending money and letters to their mother with each new discovery he found. He had gotten his biggest dream as a result with the fame and universities begging him to come vist and give lectures. He did so especially if Professora Risquez asked, but he found the fame wasn’t as appealing as he thought it would be. Lectures, especially preparing them, were boring and he didn’t sell his items rather he gave them to museums to study. He much preferred the thrill of the adventuring and the excitment of finding treasure than anything else.

Then came the day he ventured to Obsidian Island. He had been so sure of himself, having sort of bought into his own hype, and that this would be his greatest find yet. But he had not anticipated for the gecko curse to be real! He freaked out when he was first transformed finding his brain sharing the instincts of a gecko’s and he’d often be distracted by his gecko instincts. Which he had stayed in that form for years.

Meanwhile, Pablo had come home from his itenerite wanderings after his mother wrote to him to come back. He had been 5 years since she had last heard from Antonio. Pablo had no information to give her on that front, but it didn’t matter because she needed him now that her arthritis was acting up and it was harder for her to move. Eventually, she had stopped moving completely and needed to move around in a wheelchair. Pablo cared for her during her final days and then Antonio came back.

He finished his adventure at Obsidian Island, and no longer a gecko, he had to apologize and explain to everyone he had known what had happened. His first trip was to his dear mama who had wept with joy seeing Antonio alive and well and that he had not abandoned her as she had thought. Pablo was put-off. Finally, he had time with their mama but once again Antonio, the golden boy outshone him and “saved” the day.

The next day, Altagracia died, seemingly ready to move on after seeing her son again. Pablo and Antonio tersely arranged the funeral together, maintaing some politeness to each other. But that all exploded after the funeral. Pablo made some comment of how nice it was for the famed and renowned Antonio Agama to find time to visit and how he had done all the work when Altagracia was ill and Antonio made her think he had left them just like Leoncio. Antonio shot back that he didn’t mean to not contact them. He was a freaking gecko! Those were exnuating circumstances, and it wasn’t like Pablo was so concerned about his welfare since he hadn’t written him so much a letter since Antonio left for college. This left them in fury and they refused to talk to each other again.

Until the will came and both were given parts of that treasure map aka The Family Treasure. After the events of that episode and Elena’s song getting stuck in their head thus reminding them, they decided to patch up their relationship and spend more time with one another with Antonio even inviting Pablo to his next archeological adventure so they’d have plenty of time to talk or find more things to fight about, but they’ve come to sort of like it that way.

[roseskiesandbutterflies]

Killer Queen - Chapter 10: Dreamers Ball

Summary: Life is easy when things go your way. I know this from experience. I also know that that can disappear in an instant and that you have to be able to rely on your friends. Luckily my name is Arabella Ruth White and I’m the fifth marauder. But I want to show you the girl behind the mask. It takes a lot of work to be this fabulous, darling. (This story is also on Wattpad and AO3 of the same name.)

A/N: So, I recently binge-read all of Lore Olympus on Webtoons and if you haven’t read it, then I highly recommend it. It’s about the Greek Gods (mainly Persephone and Hades) but it deals with some mature themes just to warn you. The chapter title comes from Queen’s 1978 album, Jazz.

Warning(s): alcohol, drugs, swearing, implied sex

Word Count: 4.3k+ (this was one word off of being 4400 words so that’s annoying)

Inspiration: random headcanons I found on Tumblr and Pinterest, The Boy Who Killed God by SeraMGrigori on AO3, All The Young Dudes by MsKingBean89 on AO3, Sweet Things by Cocomouse on AO3

Taglist: @bhmay @briarrose26

Ask to be on my taglist!

Throwing a birthday ball might just have been my best idea thus far, if I did say so myself, and it hadn’t even started yet. I was gradually walking through the doors of the Great Hall, embracing my dramatic entrance for every little millisecond that it was worth. All eyes were on me, as they should be since it was my birthday and I bloody love attention, and suddenly I understood what brides must feel like when they walk down the aisle. The train of my sparkling golden gown trailed along behind me, leaving a stream of glitter in my wake. It had been both a style choice and a way to infuriate Filch when he had to clean it up. Have fun with that, you miserable bastard. The Great Hall was decorated from top to bottom in gold, gold streamers, gold glitter, gold balloons. It was akin to the Emerald City from The Wizard Of Oz but, well, gold. Anyone who was anyone was among the crowd watching me, providing they were at least a fifth year; I didn’t want little kids at my birthday party, thank you very much. The only ones I would even consider would be Rhea and Luke, but they weren’t at Hogwarts yet and right now, I was grateful for that. As far as I could see, everyone had a glass of amber-coloured liquid in their hand, which I assumed was butterbeer for the far majority of people in the hall. Some minuscule part of me wanted to squirm under all of the attention, but I suppressed it as best as I could. I had a reputation to keep up, after all.

You may be wondering how on earth I got access to the Great Hall for my birthday party, and honestly, I can’t blame you for pondering such a thing. It had been a complete stroke of luck which had come in the form of good old Minnie McGee. I’d been explaining my plan for the ball to the lads during one breakfast back in September, yes my plans for it have been in the works for that long what are you going to do about it, and Minnie had overhead while she was walking past our usual spot. I’m quite sure she has some kind of hearing superpower, even though that particular sense should be decaying with her old age rather than growing. And just in case you’ve somehow found this, naturally, I mean no offence, Minerva, so please don’t give me another detention I really don’t want one please and thank you. She’d then gone on to offer the Great Hall for the party but with three conditions. One, she could go and bring Dumbledore as her ‘date’, two, we served nothing stronger than butterbeer and three, we actually worked hard for our OWLs which were just around the corner. Initially, we all thought that she was joking but it turned out that she was deadly serious (naturally Sirius had interrupted her with his classic pun) and that she was, in fact, rather looking forward to going to a party for the first time in a while. James had then asked if she was on drugs, because quite frankly this was one of the nicest things she had ever done for us, and she came very close to whacking him upside the head for even suggesting such a thing. But she never actually denied it, so I still secretly think she does weed. I don’t know about you, but I can most certainly see it.

Now, as you’d expect, I was rather disappointed at Minnie’s suggestion of a near total absence of alcohol, but it hadn’t been long before Sirius, always searching for an excuse to drink to the point where I often wondered if he was addicted, had suggested something quite marvellous: an afterparty. Such a seemingly straightforward idea quickly turned into something so much more. We decided to hold it later on in the night in the Room of Requirement, and only the elite people knew about it and, subsequently, invited. And by ‘elite’, I mean the male specimens I call friends, the females who I love and cherish and a couple of other people. And that was bound to be very much alcohol-fuelled. As long as I had that to look forward to, I could endure a much more age-appropriate evening, just not for too long.

Finally, I reached the platform where the teachers would usually sit during meals, and bear in mind that I had been milking the moment for way longer than necessary, so this did take some time. I cleared my throat for effect before speaking in an impossibly posh voice, “Thank you all for attending my ball this evening. I won’t talk for too long because I would hate to bore you to tears, I’ll leave that job to Professor Binns. Now, Minnie, don’t look at me like that, we all know it’s true. Look, even Dumbledore agrees with me and you can’t argue with Dumbledore. Moving on, I would like to say a couple of things so entertain me for a moment. One, if any of you are caught drinking anything stronger than butterbeer, then I will happily leave you to face the wrath of our dear Minerva on your own, I have no intention of arguing with any teacher tonight.” A few giggles rippled throughout the crowd as well as a few pouty faces from people who were doing a shockingly awful job at hiding mini bottles of firewhiskey behind their backs. It wasn’t my problem, I did say this on the invites I sent out, if they chose to go against that then they would deal with the consequences, not me. I continued, “Two, I hope you all enjoy yourselves tonight and remember, it ends at precisely eleven o’clock, which means don’t hang around. Frank and Alice, I’m looking at you.” The couple in question blushed furiously and Alice gave me a death stare that could rival the one I get from Remus when I gather enough courage to steal some of his chocolate. I then clapped twice to signal the official start of the ball and music began to blast from the speakers I’d linked up to my record player which was enchanted to start playing a record whenever I clapped my hands.

It took a second, but people were soon dancing and mingling and doing whatever else people do at parties. I made a beeline straight for the boys but ignored their greetings, instead, I grabbed two, I wasn’t sure which ones, and, hoping that they were all following if they weren’t being dragged, marched over to the drinks table. I let go of whoever I had been holding to pour myself a much-needed butterbeer, but in a wine glass because I’m classy like that, leaving two boys to rub their arms in pain.

“Bloody hell, Ruth, you could have just asked us to come with you, that really wasn’t necessary,” Remus muttered as he got his own drink.

“Why is your grip that damn strong?” James pouted, whining like the little child that he is.

Sirius just smirked evilly, “I think we all know where she gets her practice with her grip.”

Naturally, I wasn’t going to have that, so I swatted him on the arm as if he was a fly, but then I decided that that just wasn’t enough, so I kicked him in the shin. Not too hard because I was feeling nice for some strange reason, but you get the idea. He then howled suspiciously like a dog, causing us all to give him strange looks that pretty much read dude what the fuck.

Sirius, then desperate to change the subject to literally anything else, went on to ask, “Ruth, are Snivellus and his mates supposed to be here? Because I don’t have a problem with physically throwing them out,” he shrugged.

I sighed, knowing my response wasn’t going to be immensely popular amongst the group. I muttered quietly, refusing to meet anyone’s eyes, “I invited them.” As expected, I was met with outcries and protests from the cloud of testosterone surrounding me, such as but they’re such pricks and why would you want to infect your own party with the human equivalent of the goddamn plague, so I was quick to defend myself, “I didn’t want to! It’s just that Lily said that she wouldn’t go if I didn’t at least give Snivellus the option. But then I worried that he’d hang around Lily the whole time, and I wasn’t going to allow that, so I invited a couple of his friends too. I didn’t think they’d actually show up though,” I peered over Peter’s shoulder to observe him talking to Lily, grimacing at his choice of outfit if you could even call that monstrosity an outfit. I’d specified in the invites that you had to wear muggle ballgown-wear and you had to make it yourself using magic. I guess blood supremacists don’t even want to wear muggle-style clothes these days. They really are that shallow and it surprised me how Lily couldn’t see that.

Sirius huffed and made a comment that sounded like it should have come from James’s mouth instead of his, “Fine, but only because Lily is a treasure and I’m also terrified to death of her.” When he was met with blank stares for the second time in five minutes, he blushed furiously, only just clocking what he had just revealed.

I smirked at him, “Since when were you such good friends with my dear Lily?”

It was just a widely accepted fact that the girls weren’t huge fans of the boys, and while those attitudes weren’t reciprocated by the other side, it was practically unheard of for the girls to be anything more than civil with the boys. Well, only if you don’t count Lily and Remus’s strange friendship. I’d often promoted a union of sorts between my two friendship groups, holding out in my firm belief that some epic bonds could be formed if they just tried, but I was usually shot down with objections of but they’re arrogant toe rags. I think that that’s complete and utter bullshit but each to their own, I guess. I just carried on in the hope that one day they’d come round and see how silly they were being.

While James was appearing to have a mental breakdown right there and then, Sirius slowly explained, “Since a couple of weeks ago? I went down to the common room because I couldn’t sleep and I found Lily and she looked quite upset, so I asked her what was wrong, thinking she would just tell me to piss off or something, but she just burst into tears and she told me a lot of stuff that I won’t tell you because I think it’s private. Anyway, long story short, we had a rather profound conversation at two in the morning, followed by a couple of games of chess because neither of us wanted to go back to bed. We’ve had some rather thought-provoking conversations in Charms because we sit next to each other this year. She’s actually really cool.”

I grinned broadly at him, “This is what I’ve been trying to tell you for four whole years!” We then high-fived because why the fuck not. Remus gave us a look of wholehearted betrayal, which is understandable because he had been assisting me in my quest to get them to appreciate Lily properly, so I gave him a high-five too, and so did Sirius. Then Peter and James high-fived for no reason other than they were feeling left out, as they should be. So, we all looked like fucking crackheads already but that was to be expected of us.

“Anyway, just because Sniv is allowed to be here, doesn’t mean I’m not allowed to fight him the second he does something fucked up, right?” Sirius asked.

“You and I both know you’ll fuck him up regardless of whether I allow it or not, so yes, yes you can. In fact, please do.”

***************

By around midnight we were drunk off our asses in the Room of Requirement, the civilisation of the ball long gone. It was total carnage, although you probably worked that one out for yourself, but it wasn’t all bad seeing as my two friend groups don’t try to murder each other every five seconds when under the influence of my lovely friend alcohol. Most of us were sprawled out on various sofas, still in our ball attire, with Hunky Dory playing on my record player at a much lower volume because our drunk asses couldn’t deal with too much noise. I was lying on a sofa with my head in Marlene’s lap and my feet in Dorcas’s while James and Peter shared a sofa. Alice and Frank were, as I had predicted earlier on, making out in some darkened corner, thinking that they were being subtle because no one was gawping at them. In reality, the only reason we all refused to look was because they were being more than a bit gross and no one wanted to see that, to be frank. Pun absolutely intended. Dorcas didn’t drink because of her religion, which meant she was the only sober one in the room, and that meant it was her job to make sure we didn’t get ourselves killed or anything like that. Lily was actually a bit tipsy, but only due to Sirius’s incessant nagging that she was missing out on the finer things in life. I mean there were certainly finer things than knock-off elf wine we smuggled in from Hogsmeade, but Lily didn’t need to know that. Meanwhile, Sirius was stumbling on a table he’d conjured for this exact reason, wearing Marlene’s stiletto heels and ranting about society’s many problems as he usually did when drunk. Tonight’s topic was for discussion was feminism.

“But why is the world like this? We shouldn’t just accept it for how it is! Shouldn’t we try and change it or something?” he slurred, finishing his drink and promptly refilling it with his wand. Several amens could be heard from almost everyone in the room, as is what happened every time Sirius made a point. It was strongly reminiscent of the church service my mum would drag me along to from time to time.

“Sirius, not that I don’t agree with you, but maybe you should get down before you break your neck?” Lily suggested, looking at him in sheer terror.

He just pouted down at her, “I will only get down when the patriarchy falls, and you girls don’t have to live in fear of boys who have the audacity to call themselves men!”

“If a boy comes anywhere near me, I’ll just smack him round the face, I don’t give a shit,” I piped up, swinging my hand around as if I was actually punching someone, and coming very close to actually hitting Marlene in the face.

“That’s alright though because self-defence and shit,” James grinned at me, running over to clink his glass against mine, then running back to his sofa and sitting down as if nothing happened, leaving me confused, to say the least.

“Has anyone seen Remus?” Sirius suddenly changed the subject. When all he got in response was shrugs and confused looks, he started walking up and down the table like it was a catwalk, shouting, “Remus! Remus, where are you, you little shit? Remu-” he suddenly fell straight off of the table but stood up and brushed himself off as if he hadn’t just nearly died, “Reeeeeeemuuuuuuuus!”

“I think he’s with Idania. I don’t know where though,” Peter offered.

Marlene and I gave each other a knowing look and bumped arms, “I think we all know what they’re getting up to,” she raised an eyebrow at me suggestively.

“Ooooooh, Remus you saucy boy,” I snorted, making James cackle so much that he fell off of his chair and also making Lily fake-vomit so much that I was seriously expecting her to actually throw up right there and then.

I think it’s important to update you on the whole Idania-Remus situation. It’s been a tricky one, I won’t lie to you about that. They only started talking again a couple of days ago, making it nearly three weeks of silent treatment from both parties. Even I thought that that was a bit much, and we all know that I can be a dramatic little shit at the best of times. After copious amounts of persuasion from us, way more than would have been necessary if he wasn’t a stubborn bastard, a rather miserable Remus had finally apologised for some things he’d said in the heat of the argument that he hadn’t really meant. He didn’t disclose exactly what he’d said, but I have to be honest, I was just glad that he got over himself and talked to her because it was painful to sit behind them in History of Magic while they were being that damn ridiculous. Not only had he said that he was sorry, but he’d wanted to do something for her to show her how sorry he was. He’d done some research, which meant he’d spent twelve hours straight in the library. James, forever the mother hen of the group, was far from pleased to find out that he’d missed two whole meals, so naturally, that had led to him lecturing poor Remus on the importance of eating properly. He argued that that it doesn’t matter that it’s for love, you need to eat, for Merlin’s sake, which was saying something when you remember how James was a closeted romantic himself. He’d eventually found a spell that was a variant on the translation spells Peter was rather fond of for uncomplicated pranks. Usually with those spells, you speak whatever you mean to say in English, but when it comes out, everyone hears the language you’re cursed to speak. This one, however, worked with sign language; he would say what he wanted to say, and his hands would automatically sign what he’s saying. It didn’t solve everything, he still had to keep studying the language so he could understand Idania, but it was a sure start, and a massive help for the both of them. According to Remus when he’d returned to tell us how it went, she’d been so grateful that she’d almost started crying, though she denied it every time we asked her about it.

While I had been simultaneously amusing and horrifying my friends with mental images of Remus doing unholy things, Sirius had been on a mission to find him, and seemed to have returned triumphant. At some point, he must have left the room even though I had no memory of seeing him leave, as he was now dragging Remus behind him by the hand, who was dragging Idania somewhat gentler. “I found them!” he proclaimed with a stupid grin on his face, in a way similar to how a child would announce such a thing.

“Yeah, no shit Sherlock,” Peter muttered with no actual malice behind his words.

“You’re welcome, Pete,” Sirius bowed but then stumbled forwards, crashing headfirst onto the ground. He didn’t bother getting up, choosing to sit cross-legged on the floor once he got his bearings.

Lily plonked herself down next to him and gazed at him quizzically, “Why are you saying, ‘you’re welcome’, when you’re the one who wanted to know where they were?”

He covered her mouth with his hand to prevent her from speaking, “Shhh, Lily-flower, shhh.”

She scowled at him while Marlene mouthed ‘Lily-flower’ at me in confusion. I just shrugged, desperately trying not to laugh at James who was clearly dying of embarrassment while trying to hide from Lily. We once heard him murmur the nickname in his sleep during our second year, and even though he hasn’t said it since, we refused to let him forget it. Lily must have licked Sirius’s hand or something for he retracted his hand as quickly as he would if he’d had an electric shock, wiping it on his trousers while staring at her in disgust and betrayal. Lily didn’t show an inch of sympathy towards his pain.

“So, what were you two actually doing?” Dorcas asked, directing the conversation back to Idania and Remus.

Idania smirked evilly and looked up at Remus, looking awfully glad that she didn’t have to be the one to explain. I still thought they hooked up finally, but Remus didn’t look nearly as mortified as I imagined he would.

Remus opened his mouth to speak but Lily cut him off, “I can smell weed.”

“How the fuck do you of all people know what weed smells like?” I laughed.

She glared at me in a way that had me quaking in my heels, “Please, you know what Cokeworth’s like, so you can trust me when I say I know what weed smells like.” I had to give it to her, that town wasn’t exactly the poshest in the UK, and I would know seeing as I used to live in the damn place.

We locked eyes for a second, then slowly looked up at Remus and Idania’s slightly guilty but overall chilled-out faces.

Well shit.

Once it clicked in my head as to what they had been doing, I started giggling uncontrollably for a good minute, and everyone else started looking at me really worriedly. I can’t say I blamed them if I’m honest, I did look like something of a lunatic. I quickly put the spell that Remus had found on myself, suddenly feeling really bad that Idania probably didn’t have much of an idea of what had just been said.

“Idania, how dare you corrupt our sweet, innocent Remus?” I laughed, shaking my head like a disapproving parent.

“Excuse you, Remus hasn’t been innocent since before he met us,” James grinned lopsidedly.

“I wasn’t that innocent before I met you,” the boy in question tried to defend himself, only to be met with about seven people saying, ‘you were’.

“Anyway, that’s beside the point. The point is you smoked weed?” I asked incredulously.

“Don’t look at me like that!” he said, “It’s not that big of a deal, no one really cares about that kind of thing these days, well not in the muggle world at least. Live a little, Ruth.”

“That doesn’t make it any less weird that it’s coming from you, mate,” James shook his head.

“But here’s the question nobody else is brave enough to ask, apparently,” Marlene raised a finger and then pointed it at the couple, “Is it nice? And if so, may we have some?”

Most of us, excluding Dorcas and Lily, made some sort of noise of agreement to which Remus just laughed, “Well, it’s Idania’s, not mine, so it’s up to her really…” he trailed off, leaving his girlfriend to make up her mind.

I didn’t actually know much sign language, except for the odd word or phrase I’d picked up (naturally fuck off was on of them), but whatever Idania had signed in response put a devilish smirk on Remus’s face that was all too familiar, “I think that’s a yes, just not too much. Ida doesn’t think you’ll be able to handle it.” The girl in question lightly breathed through her nose, which I’d come to learn was her laugh.

I gaped at her with mock outrage on my face, “I am offended but at least I’ll get to try some, right?”

A couple of blunts went round during the next however long we were high for, while Lily and, to some extent, Dorcas looked on disapprovingly. I think it’s safe to say that the concept of time was non-existent for the rest of the night. I have to say it was one of the most relaxing yet insane experiences I’ve ever had, and it wasn’t long until long after it had worn off did I start to wonder how Idania had access to that kind of thing. She must have been even more of a badass than we first thought.

When I had first started holding parties like these last year, I had made an offer to Dorcas which had involved me making drinks that had no alcohol in them but still had the same effect. She’d been grateful for the suggestion, but she’d pointed out that doing that kind of defeats the whole point of not drinking alcohol in the first place. We’d then settled on making non-alcoholic drinks that still tasted like their alcoholic counterparts but had no effect whatsoever, and we were constantly trying different recipes. Word caught soon after we started, and our non-alcoholic drinks were in almost as high demand as the alcoholic black market I’d created with the boys. They proved to be popular among students who either didn’t want to or weren’t allowed to drink, but didn’t want to miss out on a party or something like that, as well as older students who needed a form of stress relief from their exams, but didn’t want to develop some kind of addiction. I couldn’t blame them, seeing as they used to drink a lot as a really unhealthy coping mechanism. I’d much rather they drink something else, so I was glad to have been of service. As you can imagine, the business really boomed around springtime.

“You know, trying to keep track of you all is like herding a load of cats,” she huffed, taking a sip of her not-quite-firewhiskey.

“Hey, Dorcas,” I mumbled in the most serious voice I could muster, which was quite the feat considering I was both drunk and high at that point. She leaned in to listen, only to hear me say, “Meow.”

Her brows furrowed sceptically, “Meow?”

I nodded, not breaking my composure though I desperately wanted to just dissolve into giggles like a child, “Meow. Because you said we’re cats.”

Dorcas sighed with a resigned look on her face,” Sure, Ari.”

A chorus of meows sounded throughout the room, much to Dorcas’s confusion and exasperation. I could only imagine what it must be like to have to deal with all of us unaided when we were like this.

A/N: By the way, I’m not trying to promote the use of drugs, personally I think things like marijuana should be decriminalised but that’s a story for another day. Just to remind you, this is set in 1975 at the moment, which means that drugs were more common, and more people did things like weed. It makes more sense when you consider the context. Also, they’re only human, shit like this happens.

[pines-troz]

New Middle Name

**Ford used to associate family with high expectations, selfishness, betrayal, and mistrust. But over the course of that fateful summer, Ford learned many valuable lessons from Dipper, Mabel and Stan; that teamwork would accomplish the most difficult of tasks, how trust should be given to those who earned it, and that second chances are possible in this world.

Now he wants nothing more than to show his family his gratitude for them.

Based on a headcanon of mine that I shared on tumblr with @a-million-chromatic-dreams**

April 11, 2013

Aboard the Stan O’War II gently sailed the cold waters of the Northern Pacific Ocean. Stan and Ford Pines recently completed their supernatural mission on the Arctic Ocean. They come across a threatening Kraken, some buried treasure and no babes (much to Stanley’s dismay). The two brothers had finished traversing the Bering Strait and were a day’s trip away from Nome, Alaska, which was the perfect place to stock up on supplies.

Since there was a low amount of food on the ship, the seafaring brothers had to make do with what little food they had in the cabin for dinner. Stan indulged himself with a tub of ice cream, while Ford was rummaging through the cabinets for something to satisfy his sweet tooth.  

The twins were glad to have gone on their dream trip together. They were able to make up for forty years of cold shoulders, betrayal and separation of a terrifyingly cosmic scale. Though Ford and Stan learned to make up during the end of the world, it would only make sense that they would continue to mend their relationship by embarking on an abnormal expedition.

That’s not to say that their time sailing the world was a walk in the park. Both brothers had their fair share of bad days on the boat. Stan would be revisited by painful memories of his years on the run from the authorities. Other times it would be during the ten-plus years spent as a homeless grifter, a hapless prisoner, or a desperate man trying to fend himself from the vicious men he owed money to. Ford was also haunted by his past. Most of the time it was the horrific abuse Bill Cipher had inflicted on him after refusing to open the portal. But there were instances in which both men remembered a dark figure that loomed over their childhoods: their father Filbrick Pines.

To say that their Pa was a stoic man would be a massive understatement. Filbrick was the type of man who rarely smiled and was never amused by sentimentality. Hidden behind his dark sunglasses were the eyes, constantly on watch for any misstep Stan and Ford would make. He also cast Stanley out on the streets and threw an already packed duffle bag at him, banning him from the Pines household before the poor teen had the chance to complete high school. The disgruntled father also channeled his disappointment into Ford, who expected their son to make millions after completing college. When Ford decided to pursue a career in studying anomalies, Filbrick was angry with his son’s decision and the two never spoke since.

Worst of all, his father would always be attached to Ford by namesake. When Ford and Stan were born, their father had lazily named both of their sons Stan, mainly because the couple never planned to have raise twins in addition to their older son Shermie. In addition, the man had the ego to insert his name as the middle name of the eldest twin.

“Aren’t you a sight for sore eye! Stanford Filbrick Pines! My old pal!!”

Ford shuddered. The old man refused to revisit those horrible memories again. He needed to find a way to take his mind off of his past.

Shuffling through a couple empty boxes of crackers, he noticed a crumpled bag of jellybeans. Ford immediately retrieved the bag of his favorite candy from the cabinet and closed the door. The researcher inspected the item within the palms of his six-fingered hands. A close glance at the crinkled bag of sweets sent his mind back in time...

The summer sun shone on the grassy hill near the outskirts of Gravity Falls. Ford had brought his nephew Dipper near the town border to answer his biggest question: why the heck are there so many weird things in Gravity Falls is a magnet for all things weird. The scientist took out a handful of the jellybeans from the bag, including an oddly-formed one, and threw them down the hill. As the normal beans tumbled down the hill without issue, the deformed bean bounced upwards by the force-field surrounding the town.

Ford turned to his nephew, whose eyes widened with curiosity and fascination at the bizarre oddity. The boy had realized that Gravity Falls was a magnet that attracted all things strange and unusual. Everything from gnomes and leprecorns to people like Dipper and Ford, born with unusual anomalies such as weird birthmarks and polydactyly.

Ford put his hand on his nephew’s shoulder and smiled. “You and I are some of the strangest beans this town has ever seen, Dipper.”

“Mason,” The boy blurted out. He was shocked by what came out of his mouth. After a moment of silence he looked up to his great uncle and repeated what he said.

“My real name is Mason. Dipper is just a nickname. But everyone got used to it, and now it feels too late to tell everyone the truth.” He explained with an almost apologetic look on his face before casting his eyes downwards. “And it’s kind of a dumb name anyway. Don’t tell anyone.”

Ford was in awe by Dipper’s admission. He didn’t know what compelled the boy to tell him of all people the truth of his birth name. But the researcher’s heart swelled upon realizing that his nephew, the one person whom Ford held great admiration for and trusted the most had decided to confide in him.

Ford beamed at his nephew while gently tousling his hair. “Your secret’s safe with me, Mason.” He told Dipper. “And I think it’s a great name. The Masons are a great secret society, you know.”

Dipper gazed at his uncle and smiled. Seeing the look of joy on Dipper’s face made Ford realize how much his nephew had come to love him, something he had not received in an awfully long time. Not since his days with Jheselbraum the Unswerving had someone given him the trust and compassion he desperately needed.

Ford would forever be grateful for Dipper’s presence and companionship.

A warm smile appeared on his face.

Ford had learned to utilize his deformity as calling card, a badge of honor he could proudly showcase to the world. When Ford returned to Gravity Falls from the Nightmare Realm, he learned to become more comfortable with his polydactyly. Mabel complimented him on his fingers when she introduced herself. Dipper also looked past his physical flaw as the two spent time together. After Ford reclaimed his three journals, he read Dipper’s entries in his third book and was surprised to learn that his nephew’s nickname stemmed from his unusual birthmark.

Ford used to associate family with high expectations, selfishness, betrayal, and mistrust. But over the course of that fateful summer, Ford learned many valuable lessons from Dipper, Mabel and Stan; that teamwork would accomplish the most difficult of tasks, how trust should be given to those who earned it, and that second chances are possible in this world.

Now he wants nothing more than to show his family his gratitude for them.

“Earth to Ford!”

The researcher spun around to find his brother smirking at him while clutching onto his tub of ice cream. “Whatcha thinkin’ about?”

Ford looked over at Stan. “I’ve been reminiscing over the summer.”

Stan put his ice cream on the table and approached his twin, placing a hand on his brother’s shoulder. “Thinkin’ about the kids again?”

Ford gave his twin a knowing smile. “Every day.”

“Same here.” Stan agreed, smiling at the shared sentiment.

The researcher pushed his glasses upwards as he continued to speak. “But I’ve also been thinking about changing my middle name.”

“Really? You gonna change it to Isaac Newton or some other nerd name?” Stan joked. “At least then it would be a step up from Filbrick.”

“No, no.” He dismissed with a wave of his hand. Ford then placed his hands behind his back, his face softened. “I want my middle name to be Mason.”

Stanley’s eyes lit up. He had not heard that name in a while. Back in September, a while after Dipper and Mabel left Gravity Falls, Stan found an aged photograph in his wallet of his younger self holding two precious twins with a tearful smile. One look at the picture created a spark in his mind, reeling back to the day the niblings were born. He broke from his trance and ran to Ford. Stan showed his brother the picture and told him everything he could remember of that day;  Mabel punching the doctor in the jaw, Dipper cheating death after the umbilical cord was removed from his neck, how Stan was able to hold the precious twins before Shermie had the chance. He also told Ford how the twins were named Mabel and Mason so that they were even more special. From that day on Stan would never allow himself to forget that special day.  

Stanley looked to Ford and chuckled. “You actually have a great idea for once poindexter.”

Ford rolled his eyes before giving his brother a wry smile. “So you think Mason would be a good alternative.”

Stan lifted up his arm and playfully pulled Ford close to him. “I think it’s a great middle name Ford!”

Ford gratefully smiled back at his brother.

Mabel and Dipper were mindlessly watching a rerun of Cash Wheel at home when they heard a small buzzing sound. They looked around the room only to realize that it came from Mabel’s cell phone.

“Hello?” Mabel answered.

“Well hello Mabel dear.” Ford warmly replied on the other line. “How are things back home?”

The girl was surprised to hear her Grunkle's voice. Normally the Pines had set up their long video chats over the weekend, but it was a pleasant surprise that Ford had called on a Thursday.  

“Things are going well.” Mabel happily answered. “Dipper and I have been busy with school and all of the clubs we go to. I’ve been enjoying Art Club and Model U.N., and I’m sure Dipper will tell you all of the stuff he’s been up to with Band and Gaming Club.”

“All of that sounds wonderful sweetheart.” Ford said.

“We’ve also been thinking about you and Grunkle Stan a lot.”

Ford’s heart swelled. “I’m touched to hear that from you. Stanley and I are always thinking about you and your brother.”

“D’aww, Grunkle Ford…” Mabel cooed. She looked over at her brother and decided that he should have a turn speaking with their Grunkle. “Oh, you can talk with Dipper now if you want. I gotta finish working on my sweater for one of my friends.”

“Okay, well I enjoy hearing your voice again dear.”

“Love you Grunkle Ford!”

“I love you too Mabel.”

“Alright, here’s Dip-Dop!!” Mabel announced as she passed her phone to her brother.

The teen held the pink phone against his ear and spoke up. “Hey Grunkle Ford!”

“Greetings my boy.” Ford answered. “So Mabel informed me that you’re busy with school.”

“Yeah, I’ve got a truckload of stuff goin’ on, but I’m glad to have Mabel around during my down time.”

“Yes, having a sibling you can count on is always a blessing indeed.” Ford agreed. “So Dipper, I wanted to speak to you about something important.”

Dipper’s ears perked up and he went into the kitchen to better hear what Ford had to say. “Alright, you’ve piqued my interest.”

“So I’ve been thinking during my down time with Stan on the boat.”

“Careful Grunkle Ford, I heard that’s a dangerous pastime.” Dipper joked.

The researcher chuckled at his nephew’s jest. “Stan would tell me the same thing.” Ford laughed. He cleared his throat before getting back on topic. “But as I told Mabel, you and your sister are always on our minds. You kids showed a foolish old man such as myself how important family is...and I have another confession to make.”

Dipper cupped the cellphone closer to his ear to better listen what his Grunkle had to say.

“My original middle name was Filbrick, after my father...”

Dipper cringed. From what Stan had told him and Mabel last summer, great-grandpa Filbrick Pines was anything but great. “That’s...that’s awful.”

“I know, which is precisely why I’m going to change my middle name when Stan and I return to Oregon.”

“Really?” Dipper asked.

The teen imagined that Ford would probably decide to have his new middle name based on one of his idols in the scientific field, like Nikola Tesla or Carl Sagan.

“So I’ve decided to change my middle name to Mason.” Ford announced.

Dipper’s eyes grew wide. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

When Ford heard the silence from the other end, he was afraid that he had reopened an old scar by planning to adopt the boy’s name as part of his own. Ford ushered an explanation. “I know that you’re sensitive over the name, but I wanted to ask for your permission before doing so. If you don’t want me to, I completely understand.”

Dipper remained speechless. His great uncle, the man he looked up to last summer, wanted his middle name to match as his nephew’s true name.

On the other end, Ford began to feel anxious. Perhaps Dipper’s birth name was a sore subject for the boy and was too uncomfortable with his uncle using it as his middle name.

“Dipper? Did I upset you?”

“No, no. Not at all.” Dipper admitted. He let out a joyful laugh as tears of joy ran down his face. “I’m honored...I’m absolutely honored that you would do that Grunkle Ford.”

Ford heard his nephew’s voice cracking with such raw emotion. The researcher wished he could magically teleport to Piedmont so he could give his nephew the biggest hug imaginable.

“I want my middle name to reflect the love I have for this family. To do away with the past and move forward with the people I can trust. And I feel changing my middle name to Mason best reflects that.”

Dipper’s smile grew wider after hearing his great uncle’s explanation. “I’m happy for you Grunkle Ford. Mabel and I will absolutely support your decision.”

Ford smiled. “Thank you my boy.”

Back in the living room, Mabel overheard her brother’s sniffling. She dropped her knitting items and immediately got up to check on Dipper. The teen was about to approach her twin when she noticed that he was still on the phone with Ford. After impatiently waiting for some time, Dipper bid Ford good-bye before ending the call. Mabel carefully walked over towards where Dipper stood as he wiped away his tears.

“Is everything okay bro-bro?” Mabel asked quietly.

“Yeah, everything’s great actually.” Dipper replied with a reassuring smile. “Ford wants to change his middle name to Mason. Mabel, he wants my name to be his middle name!”

Mabel shrieked ecstatically before wrapping her arms around Dipper. The boy laughed joyfully as he accepted his sister’s embrace.

June 1, 2013

Stan stood outside of the Mystery Shack as a beat-up pickup truck rolled down the dirt road. When the vehicle parked outside the tourist trap, all four doors immediately flung open as Dipper, Mabel, Soos and Wendy emerged from the car. The four young people noticed Stan standing by the steps.

Dipper and Mabel ran towards Stan as they tackled the old man into a playful hug. After sharing their first embrace of the summer, Stan and the twins slowly got up from the ground.

“Where’s Grunkle Ford?” Mabel inquired.

“I’m here.”

Dipper and Mabel turned to see Ford stepping outside the Mystery Shack in an almost dramatic flair.

“Allow me to reintroduce myself.” He announced with a soft baritone. “My name is Stanford Mason Pines.”

The twins graciously beamed at their great uncle. Ford sprinted towards Dipper and Mabel, scooped them into his arms and lifted them up in the air. The young twins laughed as they returned the warm embrace.

The love Ford felt for his family had truly changed him for the better.

[iamchrissi]

Castles build in the air

So... Amanda and Winona. Because why not? Amanda is recently divorced from Sarek, in what I think is a similar situation to Uhura and Spock in STID, without the almost death, but with Sarek unintentionally making Amanda feel like he didn't really care for her, and the two of them never talking it out, and then him thinking that if she wants to leave him, it might be the right thing for her even though it's breaking his heart, and like... yeah. It's kind of messy, and they are both heartbroken. And then Amanda meets Winona, who is like, a force of nature, and so different from Sarek, and also all kinds of awesome. (I can't write Winona as an abusive asshole, so in my headcanon she didn't know that Frank was abusing her sons and after the car-of-the-cliff stunt she came home, found out, and kicked Franks ass so hard would have left the planet in fear of her if he wasn't in prison. And then, she stayed home for a year and was awesome with Jim, who adores her, until Jim decided he wanted to try out this awesome schooling program.)

Amanda Grayson meets Winona Kirk on a sunny Friday afternoon. Well, Winona runs into her, actually. Complete with spilled coffee and everything. It's a little bit of a mess.

“I'm really sorry about this.” The blonde woman says. Amanda thinks she's seen her before, somewhere, but she can't really place her. Which is kind of strange, because Amanda is really good at remembering faces, and she doesn't think she'd forget such a beautiful woman.

“Are you okay?” The woman asks, and Amanda realizes she has been staring for the past few moments. She shakes herself, takes stock of her skirt (only a few splashes on it, probably difficult to clean but that's what replicators are for) and her arm (there shouldn't be any burns, the coffee was already half cold), and then nods.

“I'm really sorry, I didn't look where I was going. Seems I got too used to people standing to the sides when I'm going somewhere. I'm Captain of a Starfleet ship, you know, so usually I don't really have to watch where I'm going. I'm Winona, Winona Kirk, by the way. May I buy you a new coffee?” The women, Winona Kirk (the Kelvin widow, and now Amanda remembers watching the memorial, with a young, defiant Winona Kirk and her baby son, the picture that is still shown sometimes when people want to feel patriotic) says with a breathtaking speed. For a moment, all Amanda can do is stare.

“It's alright, fine.” She finally stutters, and curses herself in the next instant. She's a linguist, a famous, respected one, she speaks dozens of languages and has PhDs in seven of them, and yet, here she is, stuttering in the language that she grew up using.

“Oh come on, it's no trouble. You look like you could use something. Maybe a drink? I could use a drink.” Winona (or should she call her Captain Kirk? She'd said that, before, that she is a Starfleet Captain, and most Captain's Amanda knows are extremely proud of their titles) says, handing Amanda a napkin to wipe the coffee of her arm before taking Amanda's hand and pulling her with her.

For a moment, Amanda can only stare at where their hands are joined, shocked at the casual contact. On Vulcan, this would have been a punishable offense, and Amanda wonders if it's the years on her ex-husbands planet that have made her skittish. But then she shakes herself. No, this is not normal, she thinks, not even on earth. This seems to be something that is entirely Winona Kirk.

“A coffee would be nice.” She says, finally, and Winona grins. It's a pretty grin. A very pretty grin, mischievious and clever and with bright blue eyes that only barely hide old wounds.

“Sure you don't want a drink? A drink would help you relax. And I know this awesome bar...” Is Amanda imagining it, or is Winona Kirk flirting with her? She must be imagining it. To little adult human contact in the last few years. She just needs to have a little fling with someone, preferably without Spock ever knowing, and she'll be able to handle situations like this much better.

“I can't. My son is coming home from school soon, and … I don't think having a drink before discussing his homework would be beneficial.” She almost, almost blushes. But maybe the years on Vulcan did her good, after all, because she doesn't.

“Beneficial?” Winona snorts. “Interesting word choice. But I know what you mean. My Jimmy is a freaking genius. I mean, both my boys are, but Jimmy is on another level. When he really starts talking about something that interests him, if that something isn't engineering and/or machines, I'm very lost very fast.”

They've reached a cafe. Winona pulls Amanda in, and Amanda can't help but notice that Winona still hasn't let go of her hand. It should be disconcerting, she thinks, but it's actually kind of nice. Different, but nice.

There's a table by the window, and the moment they sit down a waitress materializes next to them and hands them the menu. Winona doesn't even bother looking at hers, just smiles at the waitress.

“Just a black coffee, dear. But wait until my friend here, wait, what's your name?” It seems that Winona has only now noticed that Amanda has not introduced herself, yet. She looks at her expectantly, and this time, Amanda does feel herself blushing.

“Amanda. Amanda Grayson.” She says, and she's proud of herself because at least she's not stuttering. Which is a really low bar, because she remembers people being terrified of her on Vulcan, and she decides that this is definitively on Winona, and not on her.

“And I'll take a black coffee, too.” Amanda says, and hands the waitress the card back. The waitress, whose name tag identifies her as Sara, nods, and leaves.

“Amanda Grayson... I think I've heard that name before.” Winona says, and scrunches her nose a bit. It should not be this adorable, Amanda thinks, but it is. “Weren't you then linguistic genius who revolutionized the way Vulcan is taught to Earth students?”

Well, at least Winona doesn't remember her as the ex wife of the Vulcan Ambassador who must be the only woman who's ever managed to have a truly ugly divorce with a Vulcan. Small mercies.

“I wouldn't say I revolutionized it, but I did work on it, yes.” Amanda says, and Winona grins again. That grin is totally unfair. And Amanda really needs to get that pend up energy out of her system, because she is pretty sure Winona is not intending to flirt with her.

“My Jimmy really liked the new way it's taught, anyway. He likes Vulcan as a language, says it's just as logical as machines. Which, honestly, I don't really see, but to him it apparently makes sense, so I assume he's right.” Talking a mile a minute is apparently normal with Winona. It's kind of charming, Amanda thinks.

“He sounds like a special little boy.” Amanda says, and thinks of her own special little boy, probably buried in his PADD right now, studying all sorts of things. She should make him plomek soup tonight, she knows he missed it, no matter how much he insists that preferring one food to another, equally nutritious one to be illogical.

“He is. I miss him quite a lot, to be honest. He's not here, currently. He's with his aunt and uncle on Tarsus IV. That's one of the small colonies, with an amazing schooling program. He begged me to let him go, and he seems really happy there, but by the stars I miss him.” That would explain why Winona can be Captain of a starship despite having a son that can't be older than twelve, Amanda realizes. But Tarsus IV is quite a distance from here, too far for personal com calls. Amanda doesn't think she could stand to have her son so far away from her.

“I've heard of the program. My son considered it, but in the end he chose to continue study as he does now. It's probably because of the divorce, to be honest. I feel bad, because my son shouldn't have to accommodate my life, but...” She usually isn't this open with strangers, or near strangers, anyway, but Winona just shared something incredibly personal, and Amanda can't help but return the favor.

“Oh, divorces are ugly. Even in the best case scenario, and I think we both know how often that happens. What did your ex do to give you full custody? Do you need me to beat him up?” Winona sounds absolutely serious about it, and for a moment, Amanda amuses herself with the mental image of Winona Kirk, armed with a Starfleet issued phaser, attacking a completely bewildered Sarek. Then she shakes her head.

“We just... didn't fit. And I don't have full custody, but my ex decided that it is more logical for Spock, that's our son, to visit him on Vulcan for three months at a time every year than for us to travel the whole time or for him to move here indefinitely. So, yeah.” Amanda holds her breath, waits for the judging to start. She just admitted to having married a Vulcan. She remembers very well the amount of shit her friends gave her for that, and how even her parents had to force their smiles at the wedding.

“Better to end it than to let it harm the kid, is what I say.” Winona tells her, and there's compassion in her eyes, as well as something like... grief, or guilt. Amanda considers asking, but decides that they probably don't know each other well enough for that.

“The divorce is recent, I guess?” Winona asks as their coffees arrive. The cups are very nice, Amanda notices, and the coffee smells amazing. She'd forgotten how much she missed good coffee.

“Not that recent. I mean, our split is not that recent. But it was finalized recently, and things are a bit chaotic right now. I have a flat in the city, but I want to move away from.... some people here, so I tried to get a place to live that's not here, but there are a lot less fitting places then I thought there'd be. That's what I was doing this afternoon, meeting with a potential landlord, but I honestly wasn't impressed.” The man had tried to tell her that the house he offered was the best she'd ever get, when in reality it was little more than two rooms and a kitchen that would need immediate fixing.

“You could go to the farm.” Winona said. “My farm. Not that there is much farming to be done, but George's grandparents were farmers, and the house is nice. It's rather remote, so I'm not sure how you'd like it, but Sam goes to a school on Mars, Jimmy's on Tarsus, and I ship out again on Monday. You could live there at least until you found something more permanent.”

“I … I can't...” And great, Amanda is stuttering again. It's definitively Winona, not her. Who offers a person they've known for all of ten minutes to go live at their home? Even if it is empty?

“Oh bullshit. Of course you can. It can't be easy here in San Fran, with so many expectations on being the Vulcan Ambassador's ex wife, and in Riverside nobody would know that. Nobody knowing you means no expectations. You can figure yourself out, and then think about how you want to go on.” So Winona had figured out the whole Ambassador thing. But without judging. That is... kind of awesome.

“You've known me for ten minutes.” Amanda says, but she can't help but imagine it. Riverside sounds very rural, and maybe Spock would have problems in school, but he'll probably have those problems everywhere. The curse of being a child of a Vulcan father and a human mother. And for nobody to bother her about her ex.... that sounds a bit like paradise.

“I'm a good judge of character.” Winona says, then immediately winces. “Usually. And it's not like I'm giving you custody of my kids, just the empty house.” Something flashes over her eyes as she says it, something dark, and guilty, but Amanda doesn't ask. Winona is not shy, if she wants Amanda to know, she'll tell her.

“It's... an amazing offer. I'm honored. I don't want to impose, but...” She's only sort of stuttering now, and at least this time she's remembering her manners. She's definitively blaming it on Winona, and her incredible presence, but maybe Amanda is getting a hang of how to deal with it.

“I could show you around this later? Or no, you said your kid comes home. Tomorrow? We could beam out, no need for a shuttle, that would take ages. I hope you don't mind beaming, my ma did. It was terrible, she got sick every single time.” Winona is grinning again, and Amanda does absolutely not hold her breath.

“Beaming is not a problem.” She says, thinking. “I think I'd like to bring Spock, if that's okay? He should have a say in where we live. And of course we'll have to discuss rent and all of that.”

“You don't have to pay rent, Amanda.” Winona says, rolling her eyes fondly. “Nobody lives there, you'd be doing me a favor if you made sure the place is still in one piece, really.”

“I will pay rent. I like you, but if I live at your place, we should do it the right way. I want to get back on my feet, and that includes not relying on everybody else.” Amanda's voice is firm, and this feels more like her, more like the woman she likes to think she is.

Winona cocks her head, and looks at her. Then she smiles. “Okay. But I'm not having you pay an unreasonable amount, and we'll definitively count the fact that you'll basically be keeping the house for me while I'm gone in the whole thing.”

Amanda considers arguing, but a part of her that sounds suspiciously like Sarek says that Winona does not seem like she's going to be swayed further on this topic, and anyway, it would be more logical to discuss this after Amanda has seen the house, given that it is no use to discuss something that might never be relevant.

She drinks the last sip of her coffee, just as her PADD pings to remind her that Spock will be home within the next ten minutes. She hadn't realized that it's that late already, but then again, she thinks that Winona is someone who can quite literally make one forget time.

“If you give me your com number, I can call you tomorrow. Would ten in the morning be okay for you?” She asks, pulling out her PADD. Winona does the same.

“Ten is perfect. I warn you: It's not going to be all that cleaned up, I never really got the hang out of housework, but it shouldn't be too bad. I don't know how important cleanliness is to you, but my ma was really stuck on it, and I guess I just kind of unconsciously wanted to be the opposite of that.” Amanda saves her com number, and the waitress comes back.

“Do you pay together or not?” She asks, smiling pleasantly. Amanda reaches for her card, but Winona shakes her head.

“I'll pay for both of us. No, Amanda, don't argue this, I spilled your coffee, this is only fair. Here's my credit information.” Winona says to the waitress, who Amanda realizes is the same one as before. Sarah.

“Will you be home in time?” Winona asks her. Amanda nods. She lives rather close by, but she'll need to go now if she wants to change before Spock arrives. She stands up.

“I'll com you.” Winona says, standing up too, and before Amanda knows what's happening the other woman hugs her. She smells like engine oil, Amanda thinks, and then Winona's pulling away again. Amanda is definitively not flustered.

“I'll see you tomorrow.” She says, and Winona smiles blindingly. Amanda can't help but smile back. And if it takes her a bit longer to come home than usual, well, that's nothing anybody needs to know.

The next morning, Amanda wakes up at eight am. She always does. Her son is already up, as always. She can hear him walk around in the kitchen, probably preparing breakfast for them. He's sweet like that.

After a quick sonic shower, she stands in front of her drawer and wonders what to wear. None of her Vulcan robes, of course. Maybe that nice green dress? It's old, back from before she was married, but it should still fit. Then again, this is not a formal meeting. This is going to see a … well, friend? … and looking at the house. And possibly making arrangements to move in there for a bit.

Maybe the blue skirt? It's a long one, swishy and with a nice, bright blue pattern on it. It makes her look young, too young? But no. She's not old, and anyway, she'll be there with her fourteen year old son. There's no possible way for her to seem too young.

… And now she's obsessing over her cloths. Maybe it's just the adjustment, after all, on Vulcan, she just wore robes, and never truly wondered what they looked like. Definitively just the adjustment.

She finally puts on the skirt and a nice, black blouse, and goes to meet her son. He is wearing the jeans she bought him, and is trying very hard not to look uncomfortable. It is a bit of a strange sight, but she thought that this way, he might not be bullied as much as he was on Vulcan.

“I wish you a good morning, Spock.” She says, laying her hand on his head for a short moment. It's as close to a kiss on the forehead as she is going to get, and he gives her a small smile that makes all her worries seem inconsequential.

“A good morning to you too, Mother.” He says, offering her a coffee. It's not the Vulcan kind, she notes, and thanks him. The table is set with lots and lots of fruit, including a nice red apple. Amanda smiles, and takes it.

“We have about one and a half hour until we have to depart to meet Winona.” She tells her son. You don't have to come if you'd prefer to stay here, but as the point of the meeting is to determinate whether the house is sufficient for us to live in for a few weeks or months until we find something more permanent, it would be useful to have you there to see if you consider it acceptable.” She's talking Vulcan again, even if she uses Standard. She knows her son likes it that way, when everything is clear and there are as little ambiguities as possible.

“It is logical to accompany you, Mother. It would be interesting to meet this woman that's offered us a place to live at at such short notice.” Translation: He can barely contain his curiosity as to why she is considering to accept this offer when she has shot down the last ones. She can understand that.

“You can wear Vulcan robes to the meeting if that is more comfortable for you. I know you dislike jeans and sweatshirts.” Amanda tells him. Spock looks at her for a moment, then shakes his head.

“As we will live on Earth for quite some time, it is only logical for me to start getting used to the typical attire here. And given that I, too, am half human, it would be illogical for me to prefer Vulcan clothing.” He sounds too old for his fourteen years, but Amanda has long since accepted that.

“Alright. But just know, I'm proud of you no matter what you wear, or how you choose to act. You are my son, and I love you very much, okay?” Sarek would have considered this an illogical statement, given that a mother loving her son is only logical and therefore unnecessary to verbalize, but Amanda is human, and she thinks that Spock definitively needs to hear this. And the way Spock looks at her, she is right.

Amanda makes sure they are perfectly on time. Actually, she makes sure they arrive at the meeting point she and Winona discussed over coms yesterday five minutes early. Spock says nothing. He is wearing a cap that covers his ears. Winona is reminded of the scarfs she used to wrap around her head on Vulcan, always making sure that her human ears aren't the first thing people notice about her, and suddenly, she feels guilty for taking Spock to a planet where he feels the need to cover his ears. But then again, she thinks, it's not as if Spock was really accepted by the Vulcan children either.

Winona is five minutes late, hurrying down the streets and shouting an apology before she is even properly there. Then she pulls Amanda into a hug, her blonde hair brushing over Amanda's cheek, and offers Spock a near flawless taal. Spock, after a moment of surprise, returns the gesture, and Winona grins at him.

“It's nice to meet you, Spock. I hope you'll like the house.” She says in a soft tone that makes it impossible not to remember that Winona is a mom too, and something warm blossoms in Amanda's chest.

“Let's go!” Winona says, and starts walking towards the public transporter. There's thankfully no queue, and within few seconds they stand on a small town square. It's noticeably warmer than in San Francisco, and Amanda is glad she chose the skirt instead of the overly formal dress.

“It's not that far from here, we can walk. And I can show you the city while we go, so win-win.” Winona says, and starts talking about Riverside. Amanda had looked it up yesterday, after meeting Winona, and learned that Riverside is one of the big construction sites for Starfleet, and that apart from that, it is a rather rural place, with mostly construction workers and farmers living here.

Winona points out the school (which Spock most likely won't attend, given that he is following the Vulcan syllabus instead of the human one), the post office (which Amanda probably will get to know well, if she moves here, considering her translation work and the often physical copies of the books she likes), a couple bars (Amanda already knows she won't go anywhere near those after dusk) and a the only local restaurant that serves offworld food. Spock looks around, curious but restraint, and Amanda thinks he could like it here.

At least it's warmer than New York, where Amanda grew up.

 Then they leave the town, walking over a deserted road between the fields. It's peaceful, almost like in some of the old movies Amanda watched when she was younger. Winona has a sort of wistful expression on her face, as though she is recalling better times, and Amanda      wonders if she is thinking of her late husband.  

“There it is!” Winona says finally, pointing towards a nice looking little house a bit off the street. It looks kind of sweet, in that old movie way, and very human. Amanda shoots a look to her son, but Spock just seems intrigued.

“It looks nice.” Amanda says, because she suddenly realizes that for the last twenty minutes, Winona has more or less exclusively done the talking. It's not her smoothest compliment, but Winona smiles.

“Jimmy and me renovated it a bit before he went to Tarsus. There's a couple places where it's obvious it wasn't done by professionals, but it's way better than before, and Jimmy loved it.”

 After a short walk through the house, which is clean but slightly untidy, in that typically human homey kind of way, Amanda looks at her son. Spock is staring at some holos. She wants to tell them that humans consider it impolite to stare at private holos, even when they are displayed like this, but her breath catches when she actually sees the holo.

 George Kirk, the hero of the Federation, beaming down at her, his arm around a young, obviously pregnant Winona, a little boy of maybe three years sitting in front of them. It must have been taken shortly before the last journey of the Kelvin.

It feels very, very private, and Amanda turns away, to find Winona looking at her. There's grief shadowing Winona's eyes, and Amanda thinks it should feel wrong, to see someone as vibrant as Winona this sad, but somehow it doesn't. The grief was there the whole time, she realizes, just overshadowed by charisma and a determination to be alive, to be okay.

Neither of them says anything, but Amanda takes Winona's hand when they leave the room.

They see Winona of when she has to report back to her ship. She won't be far, she says. Apparently, Starfleet Command likes having a number of ships close to Earth and Vulcan, it's main worlds, to scare of any glory seeking Klingons and Romulans.

“Just com when you have any questions about the house.” Winona says, already dressed in her gold tunic. She's wearing the less used female variant of the uniform, the one with the pants. Somehow, Amanda can't even picture Winona wearing the dress.

“We'll be fine, Winona. You do us a great favor.” Amanda says, but she's smiling. She has a feeling that Winona likes knowing that the house isn't empty, even if it's not her own family that's living there.

“Indeed, Captain Kirk. It is very kind of you to allow us to stay at your home.” Spock says, his hands behind his back. He is still wearing the jeans Amanda got him, but the cap is gone. Maybe he will adjust better than Amanda had thought.

“It's my pleasure.” Winona says, smiling. She gives the taal to Spock, who returns the gesture solemnly, and then goes to hug Amanda. This time, Amanda is somewhat more prepared for it, and hugs her friend back.

“You can call even if everything's okay, you know?” Winona says with a wink, and then she's gone, disappearing into a crowd of other Starfleet officers.

Amanda smiles. She has a feeling that there is somewhat of an adventure ahead.

[squarehere]

Along the Path

Takes place about 5-6 years after Book 4.  Based on this headcanon.  Bolin appreciates Opal’s tattoos.  Rated M

Bolin just finished a post-dinner round of pai sho with some of the air acolytes and was going to meet Opal at the water fountain.  He found her chatting with two novice airbenders who, from what he could gather, felt discouraged at their lack of progress.  He’d wait for her to finish.  

Fairly recently, she attained mastery of airbending, earning the distinctive arrow tattoos.  Of the airbenders from Harmonic Convergence, she and Kai possessed the most natural talent with the element.  It was only a matter of time for them.  Needless to say, he was immensely proud of her.  

Even before that milestone, she’d been tasked with training new airbenders, which brought them to the Western Air Temple now. This wasn’t their first visit. 

Because of it’s unique architecture and relative quiet, this was Opal’s favorite of the temples.  It was at this very fountain at dusk that he proposed to her four years ago, marrying almost a year later.  

She finally caught his eye and wrapped things with her smiling students, exchanging bows before parting.  Strangely, they also bowed to him on their way out.  Opal looked at him sheepishly.  “You know, I don’t think I’ll ever get used to that.”  They shared a lingering kiss.  His incoming stubble was pleasantly course against her.  

“Tell me about it.  But unlike you, I’ve done fuck-all to deserve that,” he said, holding her close.

Opal smoothed over his shoulders.  “C’mon Bo, that’s not true.  You mastered bending well before I did.  Besides, if I have to put up with that, so do you!” She playfully tapped the tip of his nose with her finger.  

Bolin chuckled, drawing her closer.  “Whatever you say, Mrs. Beifong.  Ready to turn in?”  She nodded, feeling more tired than she thought.  “It has been a long day,” she said in agreement.

He smiled knowingly.  “Then we’d better get you to bed.”

Funny thing is, Bolin never fully appreciated the airbender tats before.  He was excited for the air kids when they received theirs, but the novelty soon wore off.  The markings became just as much a part of them as their eyes or hair.  

It was different with Opal.  He had the pleasure of seeing them intimately on a regular basis, as he did now while she undressed near their bed.  He couldn’t stop looking at them, how that particular shade of blue complimented her skin, and their graceful path over her body.  He didn’t realize how beautiful they were until she wore them.  

Even with her back turned, Opal could almost feel Bolin’s eyes raking over her, and it always made her blush.  She glanced over at him while he prepared to shave.  “If you’re going to stare that hard, take a picture!  It’ll last longer,” she teased.  Bolin, wearing only his shorts, put his shaving brush down and approached her from behind, wrapping his arms around her waist.  She startled a bit in surprise.  “I have something better in mind,” he spoke into the crook of her neck.

Opal laughed before meeting her lips with his, melting into his arms.  “Do you really?” 

Bolin smiled at the challenge.  “Only one way to find out,” he said, both of them tumbling onto their bed.  He trailed kisses along the nape of her neck and down the arrow that adorned her spine.  Opal’s breath caught.  She badly wanted to touch him, but he was just out of her reach.  

She got her chance when Bolin kissed his way up.  Opal turned and drew him into an intense kiss, which he happily returned.  She could feel his growing excitement press into her thigh, and just to aggravate him, she ground into his bulge.  Her hands roamed his back and sides, her nails gently running over him, then further down to grope his thick rear.   He groaned into their kiss and gave her a mischievous look.  “Eager, aren’t we?”

Opal kissed the corner of his mouth.  “You have such a nice ass, I couldn’t resist.”  

Bolin laughed and kissed the arrow on her brow.  “I love it when you curse.”

“Do you want to hear more?” she smiled archly, framing his face in her hands and sweetly kissing his lips.

“You know I do!”  She rarely used such language, but he knew how to coax it out of her.  His lips travelled down her throat and to her collarbone, which were among her favorite places to be kissed.  He moved to her modest breasts, flicking and nibbling at one while he groped and teased the other, then switching.  Opal gasped and sighed at his attentions, stroking his hair and gripping his shoulder.  

Bolin continued downward, kissing her stomach and ribcage, paying special attention to a beauty mark there.  His stubble left a tingling sensation over her skin that she just loved, and it heightened when, after sliding off her underwear, his lips found that sensitive spot right above her thigh.  He was so close to where she wanted him, it drove her crazy.

Instead, he kissed along the arrows that spiraled over her legs.  He took that moment to slide his shorts off and toss them aside, freeing his erection.  He finally kissed his way up to her center, and it was so obvious that she was ready and eager for him.  She threw her leg over his shoulder to grant him better access while he tightened his grip on her hips. He smirked at her as she peered down at him, biting her lip.  He breathed softly on her wet entrance, which only frustrated her more.  “Bolin, please.”  Spirits, how her pleas turned him on! 

With that, he ended her torture and dipped his head to taste her.  Opal bucked and squirmed into Bolin’s mouth as his lips and tongue worked her over.  “Oh, fuck!” Opal called out, writhing on the bed.  He moaned his appreciation into her, the sensation shooting through her.  “Mmmm, I could do this all night.  You’re delicious.”

“I-I wouldn’t stop you,” Opal laughed in a shaky voice.  She took hold of his hand and stroked his hair, encouraging him on.  Her focus narrowed to Bolin’s flicking and suckling, and before long, she was overtaken by a powerful orgasm that left her reeling.  Feeling quite proud of himself, Bolin kissed his way up to her, their lips and tongues meeting languidly.  Opal slid her hand down his torso and stroked his length, Bolin hissing and grunting in response. She positioned him at her center, and he slowly thrust into her core, both gasping at the contact.

Although Bolin was more experienced than Opal when they started getting intimate, one valuable lesson he learned with her over time was that lovemaking wasn’t a race.  There was usually no need to hurry; the journey was just as enjoyable as the destination.  So his thrusts alternated, slower and faster, rougher and gentler.  Opal held on to him tightly, kissing along his shoulder, neck, and jaw.  “My turn,” she said softly, yet definitively.  

Bolin knew exactly what she wanted.  He was too heavy for her flip him, so he turned them over without slipping out of her.  She straddled his lap and began moving her hips, his thrusts helping her along.  “You feel so fucking good!” she breathed out, using his powerful chest to steady herself.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”  

Now, Opal was beautiful under any circumstance, but none more so than she rode him, utterly lost in her own passion.  He loved the sight of his large hands gripping her small waist and traveling up to knead her breasts.  He reached up to cup her cheek.

“You’re so beautiful,” he said reverently.  

“So are you,” she answered as she kissed the palm of his hand.  The intensity in his eyes and the way his muscles strained beneath her almost finished her.  She came undone when he sat up and crushed her against his wide, solid frame and took her breasts to his mouth.  She buried her face against his broad shoulder while she gently ground him.  This was too much for Bolin as he reached his end and spasmed inside her, losing all control.

The couple sagged against each other and laughed, both feeling weak and shivery.  “That was…OK,” Opal panted into his ear.

“OK??  Just ‘OK?’  Gee, thanks sweetie!  That really boosts my ego,” Bolin said tiredly.  

Opal chuckled.  “Anytime, dear.”

They settled into bed completely spent.  Opal pulled the covers over them and pillowed her head against his chest, draping her arm across him.  Bolin stroked her hair and wrapped his arms around her.  “I love you so much.”

“I love you more,” she replied before falling into a deep and pleasant sleep.