#i had to wait for 4 minutes for a cartoon boat to pull up so i could put my cartoon guy on it and then the boat sailed away

[warlordfelwinter]

as usual, none of my mmo characters survive without at least one slight redesign. upon getting to know erazara a bit, i decided he needed a different color palette. i don't know why... the reds just weren't suiting him. he's a cool tone kind of guy

[brittaden]

The Great Valentine’s Day Not a Date

Fanfiction.

AO3

Wanting to take advantage of Valentine's Day deal at a swanky restaurant, Lorelai invites Luke out on a date. Not a date. Because two friends can enjoy a nice dinner without it meaning anything, right? Season 4

~~~~~~~~~

Lorelai walked up to the diner's steps just in time for Taylor to come sailing down them courtesy of a scowling Luke whose presence filled the doorway. She stumbled out of the way, not to be taken out by a hairpiece and a sweater vest, and watched as Taylor composed himself and dusted off said sweater vest before he attempted to speak again only to be met with a vicious sounding threat from Luke that had him finally scurrying away from the diner. Once the show was over, Lorelai looked up at Luke with curious eyes.

"Are you throwing everyone out or is this just a Taylor thing?"

Luke looked down at her, seemingly just noticing her presence. He stepped to the side and held the door open so she could enter. "Come on."

She took a step and watched him carefully. "Not if this is going to end with me flying down the steps, these boots are not made for that activity."

"Do you want some coffee or not?"

"Yes, please."

"Then come on," he said with a jerk of his head to the inside of the diner. "I don't have all day."

She hurried up the steps. "Such a gentleman," she teased him, making her way past him and into the diner where she settled herself upon her chosen stool at the counter.

Luke was seconds behind her, rounding the corner of the counter and pulling out a mug and the coffee-pot with a well-practiced ease. He slid the cup across the counter to her before finding a stray menu and setting it down next to her coffee mug because he knew as soon as he didn't, she would ask for one even though she knew the menu backwards and forwards.

After taking a sip, she looked at him over the rim of her coffee cup. "Want to talk about it?" she asked, trading the coffee mug for the menu and briefly glancing over the lines.

"About what?" Luke responded as he started to wipe down the counter.

"Uh, the Taylor flying act that happened right outside the diner," Lorelai replied. "I was there, you were there, Taylor was briefly there. I think you may have ripped his sweater vest. I've never seen him move that fast before except that one time he accidentally gave away the wrong coupons for his store."

Luke continued to wipe down the counter. "It was nothing, just Taylor being Taylor." He nodded his head towards the menu. "You gonna order something?"

"Cheeseburger, hold all the healthy stuff, and fries," Lorelai answered. She waited until he gave the order to Caesar in the kitchen and was back in front of her before she spoke again. "You know just because you tried distracting me with food, doesn't mean I'm going to let it go."

"What are you talking about?"

"Taylor and the incredible, amazing adventures that led to him getting literally thrown out of the diner," Lorelai answered. She pushed her used menu out of the way and once again picked up her cup of coffee. "Now, tell me."

He crossed his arms. "Why do you want to know so bad?"

"To make sure that I don't do whatever he did to get whatever he deserved because as I said before but will say it again because it needs repeating, the boots are not made for flying."

Luke sighed, exasperated and knowing that she would eventually wear it out of him. "He wants to use the diner for speed-dating."

Lorelai smiled. "Now, see was that so hard?" she questioned then barreled on before getting a response. "Speed-dating, huh?"

"Yeah," Luke answered with a nod of his head. "He wants me to shut the diner down on Valentine's Day so he can hold speed-dating for all the lovely singles of Stars Hollow," he replied, the last part a direct quote from Taylor himself.

"Stars Hollow has lovely singles?" Lorelai asked.

"Oh, not just Stars Hollow," Luke replied, getting worked up again. "He thinks word will spread and it'll get so big that we'll get singles from Woodbridge, and Hartford and Litchfield."

She smiled again, ever amused by his rants. "And he wants to hold it here at the diner, why?"

"He thinks I won't charge him," Luke answered bluntly, seething again from anger. "But, oh is he wrong about that! And he wants me to prepare a special Valentine's Day menu for all the lonely singles that are stupid enough to get roped into speed-dating thinking that they'll find their perfect match with asinine questions like 'what's your favorite color? oh blue, me too!' The whole concept is a waste of time."

"You think in speed-dating when you only spend like what, five minutes, with each other, that people focus on questions like what's your favorite color?"

"I don't know," Luke said with a shrug of his shoulders. "I've never been."

She feigned shock. "I never would've guessed."

He brushed off her sarcasm. "It's a waste of time," he reiterated. "What happened to meeting people the old-fashioned way?"

"Well, grandpa, times are-a changing."

"No, I'm serious."

Lorelai gestured his way. "This coming from the guy with the gut thing when it comes to dating."

"That works," Luke punctuated his point by jabbing his finger into the diner counter. "Speed-dating doesn't."

She held up her hands in mock-surrender. "I'm not pro speed-dating, it sounds like a nightmare. Sitting at a table while man after man rotates around spitting out what they think are interesting facts about themselves but it's just a reason that you wouldn't want to date them. I'm with you, it seems like a waste of time."

He tapped the counter with his fingers again. "I'm gonna go check on your food."

Lorelai nodded her head in response and traded their conversation for sipping on her coffee that had started to cool off. Her mind drifted to what had ultimately drove her to the diner in the first place. Not that she would've avoided the diner if the events of today hadn't happened but when the small things started to pile up, she needed the warmth of the diner. And the coffee.

Valentine's Day was approaching and that meant Stars Hollow was fully decorated in various shades of reds and pinks and there were cut-out hearts and cartoon cupids that plastered every store window. All except Luke's of course. And usually she would bug him into decorating the diner for the holiday, even if it was one red heart in the window, but this year, she couldn't even work up the nerve to bug him. It was as if everyone around her was in love or coupled up and planning something for the holiday and yet, here she was, single and no dating options in her near vicinity. And it didn't help that her last date was months and months ago.

Earlier this morning, she had spent the time she had devoted to meeting with Sookie and Michel about renovations for The Dragonfly, listening to Sookie gush over everything she was planning for Jackson for Valentine's Day and how he kept hinting at what he had planned for her. She thought that she could at least commiserate with Michel over their mutual lack of plans but apparently even he had plans for the holiday. To top it all off, her mother had graciously offered her a package deal that she had been gifted since it would go to waste with them since they had their own plans for Valentine's Day, like every other couple. It was an all-inclusive deal for a swanky restaurant in Hartford that promised a delicious multi-course meal, the best, bubbling prosecco, and fancy-shmancy desserts. Her words, not the restaurant's, but it still rang true. And, if she had a date, it would be something that she would've loved to take advantage of, not that she would let her mother know that, but she had no date. She didn't even have any prospects for a date.

And so, to the diner she came because if she could commiserate with anyone over this, it would be Luke. As far as she knew, he was in the same boat as her when it came to dating options. As expected, he was doing an excellent job of commiserating with her even if he wasn't aware of it.

"Dead cow," he deadpanned, placing the cheeseburger in front of her.

"Your customer service is top-notch, I hope you know that," she replied sarcastically.

"Need anything else?"

She smiled and pointed to the ketchup bottle that was clearly within her reach, if only she stretched a little. "Ketchup?"

He rolled his eyes but slid the ketchup bottle closer to her plate. "Anything else?"

She shook her head. "All good here." She waited for him to walk off before dressing her burger to her liking but when he didn't budge, she looked up at him. "Can I help you with something?"

"It's all a sham anyway," Luke answered.

"My burger?" She looked closely at the burger on her plate. "Did you give me a turkey burger?"

"Valentine's Day."

"Oh," Lorelai said as lifted a fry to her mouth and took a bite. From the sound of it, she was going to get dinner and a show. "Let me guess, it's a holiday created by a greeting card companies to pry hard-earned money out of the suckers willing to give in and participate?"

"Exactly," Luke agreed, unaware her intentions of egging him on. "They create this holiday that says there's one day a year that it's mandatory to show your love for your partner by buying flowers and candy and making reservations at a restaurant that's booked out weeks in advance, all because of the expectations people place on one day."

Lorelai nodded and agreed through a mouthful of burger, trying to encourage his rant on. She loved his rants. And it was perfect for the commiseration she sought.

"You could do any of that any other day of the year but that doesn't matter, not if you miss planning something for this one day of the year. It's manufactured to draw as much money out of consumers as possible. They jack up the prices of flowers and there are chumps stupid enough to fall for it all because of a fake holiday. It's a sham, it's not real."

"Hear, hear," Lorelai bellowed, holding up her nearly empty coffee cup in agreement and as a request for more coffee.

"You're agreeing with me?" Luke asked incredulously while he poured fresh coffee into her cup. "But you're crazy about every holiday. Last Valentine's Day, you badgered me into putting up decorations."

"I'm a new woman this year," Lorelai replied. "This year I'm on your side, I'm anti-Valentine's Day."

After putting the coffee pot back in its warmer, he leaned down on the counter in front of her. "Feels good to have someone to share this with."

Lorelai smiled at him. "Agreed."

The diner was in a lull and besides her, there weren't too many customers. Still, Luke left her alone for a minute to tend to the other guest's needs before he was behind the counter again and striking up a conversation centered around the holiday that they were now both against.

"I'm guessing you don't have plans for Valentine's Day," he said.

She shook her head. "Nope. No cupid with a special love arrow for me this year."

"If I decide to gouge Taylor out of all his money, you could always come to the diner for speed-dating," Luke joked.

She let out a small laugh. "With my luck, I'd get matched up with Kirk."

"Not even with Kirk, he has Lulu," Luke reminded her. "He's also approached me with a deal about renting out the diner for the night."

"Aw, that's kind of cute though," Lorelai pondered. "I'm sure Kirk would make it weird but it's a nice gesture."

"It's not happening," Luke said definitively.

"Again, I'm shocked," she replied sarcastically.

He grabbed the rag from underneath the counter and began to clean it again. "No plans at all, not even with Rory?"

"You think I have Valentine's plans with my daughter?"

His face was screwed with confusion, "Seems like something the two of you would do. You two have traditions for other holidays, this one doesn't have to be any different."

"I'm joking," Lorelai assured him from her tone before. "Rory and I usually do have a Valentine's Day traditions that involves lots of movies, the really cheesy rom-com ones, and all the heart-shaped candy we can buy for ourselves."

"But not this year?"

"Right. She's been seeing someone from Yale and he's made plans for Valentine's Day."

"Chump." When he noticed her expression, he continued on. "Him for falling for the manufactured holiday, not Rory."

There was a grin on her face as she shook her head. "You make things like this too easy."

"Glad I can amuse you."

"That's why I come here, dinner and a show."

He gestured down to her mostly devoured burger and fries that she was just playing around with at this point. "You done with that?"

She nodded and pushed the plate towards him. "Pie?"

"Apple or cherry?"

"Both."

He cleared the plate in front of her and returned mere moments later with a new plate covered with her requested two pieces of pie. "I'm out of ice cream so don't ask."

She pretended to salute him, "Yes, sir," before she started to dig into her pie. "But you know," she began, after finishing a bite of the combined apple and cherry pies, "Valentine's Day isn't all that bad."

"I thought you were being anti-Valentine's Day."

"I still am but I can see the value in it still, even if you do believe it's a made-up holiday. It can be nice to have a special someone willing to woo you on this day with flowers and candy, even if everyone else is doing the same thing with their special someone," Lorelai explained away with a small shrug of her shoulders. "It's a nice thought, that's all."

"I guess," Luke half-heartedly agreed. "If they're not placing too many expectations on the day, it could be nice."

"Aw, look at you Mr. Softy," Lorelai teased. "Falling for Valentine's Day."

"Not another word or I take back the pie."

She pulled her plate closer to her. "Don't you dare."

He shook his head and the tiniest of grins threatened his features. "If you're really into the holiday, it could be nice."

Scared that her pie might really be taken away, she chose to stay silent and settled for a smile that meant she appreciated his agreement on the topic. It could be nice. And this was nice; having a person to commiserate with and easy-flowing conversation with no hiccups where one person wasn't sure what to say. It was nice to have a friend. Honestly, it was kind of a shame that Valentine's Day was only reserved for couples, friends could spend time together and take advantage of great deals that were offered. Like the package deal that her mother had offered her and that the details for currently resided in her purse.

"Ugh, I wish friends could go on Valentine's Day dates," Lorelai sympathized with herself out loud, catching the attention of Luke. For him to not think that she was completely crazy, she retrieved the offer's details from her purse. "My mother gave this to me because her and my father passed on it, I guess she thinks I have a reason to celebrate, but look at it. A fancy dinner at a swanky restaurant, bubbly prosseco, and look at those desserts! They look amazing!"

Luke took the paper from her that laid out the specifics of what she was rambling on about. He saw it as another ploy to drag money out of those willing to shell out as much as it cost but she was clearly excited. "So why don't you go?"

"It clearly states it's for couples, Luke," Lorelai replied. "As in a couple of people. As in more than one. And I'm just one. No date."

"I'm sure you could find someone willing to tag along."

"And what, find someone that wants to date me and doesn't think it's crazy that I'm asking them out on a date on a day that has all these romantic expectations?" Lorelai questioned. "Yeah, that wouldn't come off crazy at all."

"I meant," Luke began to explain. "I'm sure you could find someone, like a friend who doesn't expect it to be a date, to go with you. Ask around."

"Maybe," Lorelai agreed. "It could just be a friend. Someone I already know."

"Right."

"Because then we'd be a couple of people," Lorelai followed up. "Taking advantage of a great deal. As friends."

"Shouldn't be that hard to find someone."

A plan started to form in her mind and a devious, little smile crossed her face. "You're right, it shouldn't be that hard."

He continued on, unaware of what she was thinking. "You have lots of friends. You could find someone."

She leaned her face into her hands and watched him. The same conniving smirk on her face. "I could find someone."

He caught her eye and the gears began to twist and turn in his mind. He knew that look. That was the look she gave him whenever she wanted something. The look he usually gave into. "No."

"I didn't say anything."

"But you were going to and the answer is no."

"You don't know that."

"I know that look."

She put on a mask of innocence, pretending to be blissfully unaware that he was indeed catching on to her newly formed plan. "What look?"

"That look!" he exclaimed with a finger pointing at her. "I'm not going to say yes."

Lorelai leaned across the counter, giving him her best and brightest smile as she asked, "Do you want to go on a Valentine's Day date with me?" Before he could answer, she tacked on. "As friends."

"No."

"Come on Luke, you just said..."

He interrupted. "I know that I said but I'm not that friend. You have other friends."

"Not that many."

"Go ask one of the not many."

"They're all coupled up," Lorelai replied. "But we're not. And it wouldn't mean anything, just two friends taking advantage of a great deal. Did I mention it's free because my parents know someone that know someone that gave this to them? It wouldn't cost either of us a single penny. Just a couple hours of your time."

"Find someone else," he said before he walked away from her.

But she was quick and popped up from her seat and followed him around the diner as he began to check in with other customers and bus a couple of dirty tables. "Come on, now, you gave me the idea."

"I'm working, Lorelai."

"And I'm not stopping you, just following you," Lorelai replied as she did continue to follow him. She even picked a up a few dirty dishes herself. "See, I'm helping. It's just one night, Luke."

"I'll take those," he said, ignoring her plea.

She tried to follow him into the kitchen but was stopped when he stopped in the doorway and wouldn't let her pass. "Like going out with me would be that terrible that you have to hide in the kitchen to get away from my questions."

"I said no," Luke shouted back, trading places with Caesar in the kitchen since it's the one place Lorelai wasn't allowed. "I'm working."

"There's no new customers and I can help with those dishes if it'll get you to agree to this with me." She wasn't opposed to begging and it looked like that's where this was headed. "Please, Luke. Just one night. It'll get you away from the diner, it'll be a nice night out. When's the last time you went out?"

"I'm fine with not going out."

"Okay, Unabomber, everyone needs to get out of the house every now and then," Lorelai chimed in. "Look at it this way, if you agree to this, you'll be away from the diner for the night and won't have to deal directly with couples on the holiday you hate and, bonus, you won't have to deal with Taylor and his constant nagging of wanting to have a speed-dating event and why you don't participate in the town's events."

When he didn't immediately respond and seemed to be thinking about what she was saying, she smiled. "I see I've piqued your interest."

"Being rid of Taylor for the night is promising," Luke said, meeting her half-way.

"That's the cherry on top," Lorelai quipped. "And all it'll cost you is spending a couple hours with me, away from the diner. Am I really that annoying to you that you'd rather spend the time listening to Taylor nagging you?"

He didn't answer that question because it was loaded and instead, he met her with a question of his own. "Would I have to dress up?"

"All I ask is that the flannel and the hat take a break for the night," Lorelai reassured him. "But if they're essential to getting you to agree to this, I'll allow it."

He blew out a breath. "Fine. I guess it won't kill me."

She let out a little squeal and clapped her hands together. "I love when men say that to me."

"I'm not wearing a suit."

"Oh, hon, I wouldn't ask that of you," Lorelai said, through a grin. "I'll pick you up at 8."

"You'll pick me up?" he questioned.

"I asked you out on this non-date," Lorelai reminded him. "So, therefore, I'm the non-dater and you're the non-date-e, so I'll pick you up."

"I can pick you up," Luke offered.

"Whatever works for you." She clapped her hands together again in excitement. "It's a date!"

His eyes widened and he clarified and repeated what she had said before. "Not a date."

"Not a date date," Lorelai agreed. "But a friend date."

He sighed and wondered exactly what he was getting himself into. "I'll pick you up at 8."

"It's not a date!"

[thedarkrose17]

Chapters: 4/? Fandom: Final Fantasy XV Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Prompto Argentum/Noctis Lucis Caelum Characters: Prompto Argentum, Noctis Lucis Caelum, Gladiolus Amicitia, Ignis Scientia Additional Tags: Mutual Pining, Eventual Relationships, Accidental Baby Acquisition Summary:

The first thing Prompto wakes up to is concerned voices and someone fussing or whining.

It takes a few moments to sit up, adjust in the tent and glance around. It’s just Ignis, Gladio and a fussing baby. He blinks and looks again. The baby wasn’t here last night. ☆ ☆ ☆ A.k.a The astrals get tired of Prompto and Noctis' pining and decide to try and get them together

Read under the cut or on the link :)

Noctis is almost asleep when he hears a familiar squeak.  He yawns and grabs his phone, unlocking it and checking the text.

‘He's cute (ᗒᗨᗕ)’

“Both of them are.” Noctis mutters back.

Noctis smiles and looks around for the familiar furry face and finds Carbuncle on the floor, legs too tiny to get him on the bed.

The Prince slowly and carefully frees his arm from around Prompto before carefully helping the tiny fennec fox up onto the bed.

He gets an emoji with heart eyes in response and chuckles quietly.

“Not dating.” Noctis mutters, another message coming through his phone.

‘Shame (╥_╥)’

‘Baby's cute though (* >ω<)’

Noctis nods and gently rubs Solis’ back.

“I feel like I'm texting Iris and not a magic messenger.”

‘Rude ( ︶︿︶)_╭∩╮’

Noctis makes the most inhuman sound a person can ever make at the reply, Ignis even gives him a weird look for that. Gladio meanwhile tries not to laugh.

Noctis chooses to ignore them and reply to Carbuncle instead.

“What the fuck...You actually flipped me off.” He whispers.

‘(◕‿◕✿)’

“...You're a little shit. You know that.”

Noctis sighs and reaches out to touch him. Carbuncle carefully walks closer and sniffs Solis. Solis doesn't even stir.

‘(T⌓T) He's sick

“He's got a cold.” Noctis replies, sighing. “Hopefully he'll be alright in a few days.”

‘(╯°▽°)╯ ┻━┻ it's not fair!’

“Yep exactly.”

‘He's brave.’

“He is?”

‘He crawled over and pet me. When you first met me as a baby, you wailed.’

Noctis blushes and groans. “He takes after Prompto then, rushing off to pet soft animals.”

Carbuncle gently nuzzles Solis and Noctis gently scratches behind Carbuncle’s ear. He yawns and Carbuncle copies him moments later.

Solis slowly wakes up with a tiny yawn. He sniffles, blinking sleepily before he notices Carbuncle. Solis stares and grabs at the fennec fox with a tiny coo. He sneezes and whines before grabbing onto Carbuncle’s ear.

Noctis stares, mouth open slightly as he does. Solis can see Carbuncle. Just like he can. Honestly he doesn’t know if he should feel stressed by this or relieved.

“...I didn’t actually tell you his name.”

‘Nope!’

“Solis.” he replies and glances at his son. “And that’s Carbuncle….You’ll probably not be able to remember that or pronounce that for a while...So Carby for now...And you probably have no idea what I’m saying.”

Solis whines and clings to Noctis with one hand and Carbuncle’s ear with the other. He lets out an excited shriek before he starts coughing, Noctis carefully rubs his back and gently kisses his head.

‘Fatherhood suits you (* >ω<)’

Noctis smiles softly and glances at Solis.

“He’s a little ray of sunshine.”

‘(ᗒᗨᗕ) So pure.’

“Mmm?” a familiar voice groggily speaks up next to him and Carbuncle disappears much to Solis’ dislike as he whines about it.

Prompto yawns and gently reaches up, stroking Solis’ cheek.

“How’s my little soybean?” he yawns as Noctis huffs.

“No bean names.” he grumbles and Prompto tiredly smirks. “He’s not been awake long. Still has a cold.”

Prompto leans up, planting a kiss on Solis’ cheek. “My poor sunbeam.”

Solis whines and the boys attempt to soothe him.

* * *

A week later thankfully the cold is gone and everyone is relieved. Solis had cried a lot during his cold, it had been stressful and honestly heartbreaking at times to see him so miserable but now he was back to normal.

Noctis has put him in a little grey baby grow with “Ready player 3.” wrote across it, controller at the side, along with little cartoon chocobo face socks. Prompto claimed to have died the moment he saw it, the “I saw a cute thing” voice coming out the moment he saw Solis.

Ignis told them about a festival in Altissia, the chocobo moogle festival he’d heard about and Prompto almost yells about having to go as soon as possible. Solis squeals just happy to contribute to the conversation in his own little way.

Noctis looks like he’s not fully awake yet. He’s yawned about four times now, scratched at his stomach/happy trail which Prompto almost short circuited over and complained about the sun asking if it could turn the brightness down.

Ignis actually chuckled and agreed it would be a nice break for them all. Gladio asks if Iris can tag along and Ignis smiles.

“It would be a delight to have her.” the advisor says and Gladio shoots her a text. He gains a reply moments later of keysmashes and crying emojis. He takes that as a positive response.

“She’ll be here in five.” the shield replies, Noctis catches sight of the text and looks confused.

“You understood that?” he asks with a yawn.

“I’ve seen enough of it from Prompto.” Gladio replies.

“Hey! Check the internet, people do it.” Prompto huffs.

“Some of the lgbt youth online do it Gladio. I don’t actually know why.” Ignis says.

“...Iggy you’re twenty two, I’m twenty three. We’re all “youth.” still.” Gladio says putting an arm around him.

Ignis leans into it and rubs an one of his eyes. “I mean younger than us Gladio.”

“Small, bi and ready to try at your service.” Prompto replies, standing up straight. He’d salute if he wasn’t holding his precious sunbeam.

“Small, gay and ready to decay. It’s 6am, I’m practically a zombie.” Noctis mutters. “Small, ace and wielding a mace can work occasionally  too.”

Gladio snorts and rolls his eyes and Ignis sighs.

“Neither of you are small.” Ignis huffs.

* * *

Iris comes in with her luggage and a smile on her face.

She wore a black short sleeved shirt with red roses on it,some rounded sunglasses over her eyes, black shorts and knee high cat socks with her regular boots.  

The boys are wearing more casual outfits too. Noctis is the only one wearing his chocobo moogle festival outfit since he’s the only one who has one. Gladio meanwhile has decided today is a shirtless kind of day much to the complaints of Prompto, Noctis and Iris.

She asks if she can get a t-shirt from the festival when they get there and Gladio replies with a simple “We’ll see.” He’ll probably get her one.

Ignis during this decides to pull out his phone and check the weather forecast for the day.

The forecast apparently is set to be a nice hot day. Clear skies and warm temperatures until the evening. Perfect day for a trip.

* * *

They’d packed up and checked out by 7, finally reached Galdin by 9 and quickly headed down to the docks, heading up onto the royal vessel.

Iris stared up at the boat, slowly pushing her shades up onto her head. She wasn’t sure if she’d ever been on a boat before, she moves to step on before Prompto yells, causing her to freeze.

“Wait!” Prompto yells, handing Noctis baby Solis and rushing off leaving everyone except Solis confused.

Solis seems more focused on a seagull flying around. He flails in Noctis’ arms until Gladio speaks up.

Iris unfreezes and glances over, pulling her shades back down and heading over to Ignis.

“He’s starin’ at a seagull, I think he wants you to too. Or he has no idea what it is.” Gladio says.

Noctis looks confused until he spots it, and gently bounces on his feet with Solis in his arms.

“It’s a seagull. Smaller than the other bird at the hotel. Way smaller. These just steal food if they can.”

“One tried stealing my ice cream when I was five.” Iris chirps in.

“I saw one steal chips from a store online.’” Gladio adds making Noctis look back at him sceptical.

“It’s surprisingly real.” Ignis chirps in causing Noctis to whistle.

“Wow.”

Solis bleps, getting a little squirmy in Noctis’ arms.

“Should we go hunt for Prom?”

“Relax. Kid’s probably taking a piss.” Gladio mutters.

“Gladdy!” Iris cries.

“Gladiolus!” Ignis huffs.

“...What?”

“Oh shit! He brought out the first name.” Noctis says with a smirk.

“Noctis!” Ignis huffs. “Infant present. I would prefer you both either watch  your language and not be crass or cover his ears.”

“To be honest I think he’s staring at the tourists...Or like five seconds from needing a change.”

Iris glances over. “Nope...He’s definitely staring.”

* * *

Prompto rushes back five minutes later, tripping up over his own feet on the dock. Luckily Gladio grabs his arm and heaves him up before he faceplants. He blushes and thanks Gladio.

The blonde has a very tiny hat, it seems to have a blue band around it filled with doodles of cartoony fish along with a bottle in his pants pocket.

Iris coos at how cute and small the hat is.

“All they had was fish themed hats.” Prompto says, carefully putting the hat on Solis’ head. “There we go~ Protect you a little from the sun...I got him sunscreen but...Um do we have sunscreen for us?”

“We have some stocked on the boat..” Ignis states and lets Noctis lead the way onto the boat but Noctis lets Iris on first before following her on.

“This is gonna be Sol’s first boat ride.” Gladio says and Prompto in front of him gasps.

“...Do people celebrate that? Would it be weird if I celebrated that?”

“You got excited about his first hotel stay.” Gladio adds. “So maybe not?”

“I’m celebrating it then~” Prompto replies planting a kiss on Solis’ hat.

Solis clings to Prompto and attempts to take off a sock. Noctis heads over and carefully stops him, he boops Solis on the nose and Solis grabs for him.

Prompto smiles and carefully hands Solis over to Noctis. Solis makes a happy squeal loud enough for the rest on the boat to hear him. He earns some smiles and awws from Iris and Prompto.

* * *

Noctis hands Solis back to Prompto so he can steer the boat.

Prompto seems happy enough to sit Solis on his lap and hold him close. Solis meanwhile seems fascinated by Prompto’s glove, he stares at it and attempts to grip onto said glove.

Ignis was sat next to Iris, the duo surprisingly drifting off during their journey and Gladio was reading.

Solis gets whiny the longer they stay on the sea and Prompto decides to lie down on the surprisingly comfortable sofas with Solis. The duo yawn and end up napping together.

Gladio throws a blanket over the sofa to shield them from the sun or try to and neither of the pair stir from this, maybe 6am was too early of a start for them.

Gladio hears Noctis yawn from the captain’s seat and heads in.

“Hey princess.”

“Hey.” Noctis blinks tiredly and glances over at him before his eyes return to the sea.

“Tired?” Gladio asks and Noctis nods.

“I was on baby duty last night. Prom’s stomach was acting up so he slept it off.” Noctis yawns and Gladio places his hand on his shoulder. “Alright stop the boat. Someone else is taking over.”

Noctis doesn’t even protest, he brings the boat to a stop and rubs at his eyes. “...Controls are pretty easy.” he mutters as Gladio scoops him up out of the seat and carries him back to the others.

He’s pretty much asleep in Gladio’s arms by the time Gladio realises there’s nowhere for the prince to lie other than the floor.

So for now he gets put there, near Prompto’s little sofa while Gladio decides to take over controlling the boat, he’s swiftly banned from continuing the moment Ignis wakes up.

Noctis after that is placed where Ignis was. He naps the rest of the trip near Iris.

* * *

They splash out for a more expensive room, they’re on the rare occasion allowed to nap due to the long boat trip and the fact they have a few hours until the festival.

Ignis decides instead to leave the room and browse the sights with Gladio and Iris in tow. Prompto is sure Iris only went to give him, Noctis and Solis some alone time.

Noctis sits on the bed, taking off his boots and putting them at the side of the bed before lying down on said bed.

Prompto smiles at the sight and heads over with Solis in his arms. He bites his lip before speaking up.

“Can you take Sol for a sec?”

Noctis sits up and carefully takes Solis from Prompto. Solis whines and Prompto feels guilty so much so he attempts to explain himself to the baby.

“I’ll be back like super quick ok? Just stay with Noct ok?” Prompto says, planting a kiss on Solis’ head. “Be good for daddy ok?”

Noctis blushes a little and gently soothes their son who honestly doesn’t understand any of this. Prompto is going to kill him one day. He’s only making the crush he has on him much worse at this point.

“You forgot to go pi-Pee before we left huh?” Noctis asks earning a whine from his best friend in the process.

“I thought I could hold it! But I’m dying.” he whines at the Prince who snorts a little. “Go on. We’ll be ok.”

Solis looks at Prompto and whines and Prompto looks conflicted as he heads into the bathroom.

Solis wails and Noctis hears a heartbroken cry of “I’m sorry!” practically yelled from the bathroom.

Noctis tries to get Solis’ attention, trying to distract him until Prompto returns.  He hums to him and gently rubs his back and when that fails, he sings which gets Solis’ attention immediately. It’s something from anime but Solis doesn’t know that.

He smiles when Solis calms down and hears the bathroom door open moments later, a flustered blonde quickly coming out.

“Papa’s here buddy don’t wo-” he pauses and looks over at Solis and Noctis, mouth slightly open. “You’re a baby whisperer too huh?” he mutters.

“He likes singing.” Noctis replies, smiling before sitting up. “Can you take him back for a second? I have to pi-”

“Sure!” Prompto interrupts and blushes, apologising before taking Solis back and sitting on the bed with him.  “You think your dad would have had a bathroom on that boat.”

Noctis gets up and agrees, heading over to the bathroom, opening the door but pausing when Prompto speaks again.

“Blue Exorcist.” the blonde mutters.

“Huh?”

“You were singing something from Blue Exorcist to him.”

“...Oh yeah? What one?” Noctis replies with a smirk. No point in denying it.

“Itteki no Eikyou.” Prompto replies, sticking his tongue out. “We're a magical girl and boy anime house only mister.”

Noctis laughs a little and rolls his eyes before heading into the bathroom. “Like you’ve ever watched one.”

“Hey! I’ve watched-”

“Other than Sailor Moon.” Noctis replies from behind the door.

Prompto covers Solis’ ears before Noctis hears him clearly say “Fuck you.” with a snort which makes Noctis laugh.

* * *

Solis wailed again. It was a fairly short cry as Prompto decided to finish the anime song Noctis previously sang to the baby.

The song seemed to calm Solis and Prompto was so focused on soothing Solis with the song he almost missed Noctis come out of the bathroom.

“You finished the song?” Noctis asks, startling Prompto.

“Dude! Warn a guy first.” Prompto gasps and then makes a sound of confirmation to his question.

Noctis heads over and Prompto scoots up before lying down with Solis. Solis seems happy when Noctis lies next to them. He yawns and smiles a toothless smile.

“Hey sunshine.” Noctis mutters to him and he’s rewarded with their baby flailing. To Noctis it looks like an attempt at dancing honestly. It’s weirdly cute.

Prompting laughs quietly and carefully puts Solis between them. The baby sneezes and looks like an Anak in the headlights, prompting Prompto to blow a raspberry at him wondering how he'll react.

Solis jumps and stares up at Prompto looking utterly confused or as confused as a baby could look.

Prompto blows another raspberry at Solis and Solis rewards him with a burp.

“Nice.” Prompto mutters with a snort making Noctis laugh.

* * *

They undress Solis down to his nappy due to the room being a little warm and worrying the baby might overheat. Said baby attempts to crawl off in the process but the duo manage to keep him in one spot.

Then they decide to undress down themselves to just their boxers. They leave a balcony door open for a breeze, too lazy to put air conditioning on before napping together for a few hours, Solis safely in Prompto's arms.

* * *

Prompto awakes to cooing and yawns, carefully sitting up and gently holding Solis close. Solis naps peacefully, Prompto smiles and kisses his head.

Prompto spots Iris and the boys in the room and yawns wide. Iris at that point notices he's awake and rushes over, not phased by him and Noctis being half naked.

“I got you guys something.” she says with a smile and Prompto feels a chill from the breeze. He seems confused before glancing down and panicking, looking back at Iris with a look of embarrassment on his face.

“Y-You did?...Um...Can I just wake him up and we'll um look more...Presentable?” he nervously asks and Iris laughs a little.

“Sure! Do you want me to take Solis?” she asks and Prompto nods, carefully handing the sleeping baby over.

“H-He'll wake up pretty soon. He's due a feed.” Prompto stutters before elbowing Noctis when Iris heads over to Ignis and Gladio. “Dude wake up!” Prompto whisper yells to the Prince.

Noctis doesn't react.

* * *

It takes several attempts but Prompto manages to wake up Noctis and the duo quickly get re dressed.

The duo head over to the kitchen  where Ignis has set out some sandwiches for the group. Prompto smiles and the duo thank him, grabbing a sandwich each before Iris comes over with Solis.

Solis seems fascinated by her hair, attempting to reach while he clings to her shirt with his other hand.

“Hi buddy~” Prompto coos after he takes his first bite.

Noctis wiggles his fingers at Solis who giggles a little, Prompto nearly chokes over it so much Noctis thumps his back.

“T-That almost k-killed me.” Prompto gasps. “Cuteness overload.”

Noctis rolls his eyes and smiles at Solis. “That's Prompto speak for he's ok just being dramatic.” he mutters to Solis with a smirk, he laughs when he hears a dramatic gasp from Prompto.

“How dare you.” he says in his sassy voice, pulling a face and making Solis giggle harder than before, making Prompto and Noctis start laughing too. “Oh em gee, adorbs.” he mutters, Noctis making a noise of agreement around his sandwich as he takes a bite.

“Gladdy?” Iris looks over at her brother who's currently half way through his second sandwich.

“What?” he asks, mouth full to which Ignis sighs at.

“Can you take this little cutie?” she coos at the baby and Gladio carefully takes him.

Solis clings to him as Iris rushes off, quickly returning with a few bags. She thrusts the tiniest one at Prompto.

“It's for Solis but I got ones for you guys too.” she says with a smile. “I hope you like them.”

Prompto quickly finishes his sandwich and fishes in the little bag. He's weirdly excited as he carefully pulls out a tiny Moogle onesie.

His eyes light up as he looks at it. There's a little hood, with a tiny pom-pom antenna and little purple wings. It's adorable and he can't wait to put Solis in it.

Noctis stares, zoning out trying to imagine the baby in his little onesie. Maybe they can put him in it later, he’ll probably gain a new home screen on his mobile from it.

“Wait...We have ones too?” Noctis asks moments later.

Iris nods and grins, pulling one out identical to Solis’ but adult sized.  Prompto gasps and looks over at Noctis.

“Dude we have to.” he mutters and Noctis can't bring himself to say no.

“Later. After the festival.”  Noctis mutters. “Just no pictures of me.”

Prompto pouts but agrees as he holds his onesie. He smiles at Iris and gives her a hug or a side hug.

“Send me pics later of them.” she whispers to Prompto.

“Will do.” he whispers back.

* * *

They all head out later for the festival, Noctis carrying Solis while Prompto has the nappy bag across his shoulder along with his camera in hand.

The group part ways. Ignis heading off with Gladio and Iris. The duo seemed rather content to be around each other and Iris seemed happy enough to be around that even if her brother had his arm around the chef’s waist.

Prompto meanwhile walked around with Noctis and Solis, practically beaming when someone commented on how cute their son was. Noctis being Noctis had no idea how to respond to such so he awkwardly thanked people and agreed with them.

Solis just sat in the baby carrier on his dad's chest and was plain adorable. The usual honestly. Until they had to take a detour and go hunt for a bathroom to change him. He was grumpy at that time and rightfully so.

The trio after that continued to roam around the festival, Noctis explaining what happened last time he came and watching Prompto's eyes light up. He didn't miss the slightly betrayed look Prompto gave him when chocobo chicks was brought up.

They fell into a comfortable silence after that which only lasted for a few moments before Prompto spoke up again.

“...Do you think Gladio and Iggy seemed glad to like abandon us?” he asks and Noctis sighs before nodding.

“Gladio put his arm around Iggy, Prom.” Noctis replied. “So yeah.”

“Oh em gee! I thought I was seeing things!” Prompto gasps.

“Nope. Totally had his arm around him.” Noctis replies popping the p.  He smirks a little.

“...You think they're…”

“Dating?” Noctis asks and Prompto nods. “They've been close for years. Wouldn't surprise me.”

Prompto grins and pulls out his phone. “I'm totally asking them...What if they're married?”

“Prom, neither have rings.”

“Maybe they're allergic.”

“I think we'd know if they was.” Noctis adds.

Prompto gestures to the baby and his ears, Noctis catching on quickly and covering Solis’ ears much to the baby's dislike.

“...Suddenly all the fuck eyes make sense.” Prompto mutters and Noctis wheezes.

“...What?”  he asks trying not to laugh.

“I'd see them like giving each other bedroom eyes sometimes. Usually when they thought we was asleep or like busy. At first I thought it was just a weird staring contest”

“Gods if they've been keeping a relationship a secret from me I'll be pissed.” Noctis replies. “Like it's not a big deal but I figure they'd like tell us.”

Prompto pouts and agree.

“Anyway let's enjoy the festival.” Noctis says  leading the way. Prompto nods and follows him.

* * *

The trio explore, wandering around as Prompto takes pictures of the sights.

They walk around for a while before Prompto carefully pulls Noctis to a stop, bouncing on his feet a little as he does.

“Hey...I gotta go…” he mutters and Noctis gestures to a nearby bathroom with his head.

“There's one over there Prom.”

Prompto sighs with relief and rushes off.

“Bee are bee!” Prompto yells as he practically sprints off.

Noctis watches him with a smile before looking down at Solis.

“That's your father right there. He's a nerd but I love him..He's my nerd.” Noctis mutters to his baby son. “..Least you can't tell him I said that.”

Solis sneezes and whines, Noctis mutters comfort to him before the duo fall silent as the wait for Prompto. Solis flails on occasion which Noctis finds cute honestly.

He zones out, focusing on the baby. He smiles and gently runs a hand through feathery blonde baby hair. He's so out of it, he misses the mascot coming closer.

He hears a familiar caw and tenses up, eyes widening in fear. Noctis glances up his fears confirmed when he sees Kenny Crow.  He freezes honestly, breaking out in a cold sweat.

“Don't come closer. Don't come closer.” Noctis mutters to himself.

Solis wiggles in the baby carrier on Noctis’ chest. He grumbles and frowns. Noctis can't comfort him, too frozen as he stares at Kenny Crow.

Solis continues to frown and wiggle and Noctis comes to realise this is how Solis expresses anger. Wiggles.  Anger wiggles he calls it in his mind.

The baby continues his anger wiggles which in turn makes Kenny come over not realising what the wiggles mean. Noctis feels sick honestly.

The mascot attempts to talk to the terrified Prince and the baby, unaware he's the source of the Prince's fear.

“Noct?”  a familiar friendly voice speaks up before the person heads over. Prompto. He looks at Noctis, noticing how terrified he looks.

He notices Kenny and it all makes sense.  He also notices that Solis has stopped wiggling but he's managed to notice Kenny. The baby stares looking terrified before he wails loudly and Prompto realises at that point he has to be the knight in shining armour.

He apologises to Kenny Crow and quickly takes Noctis and Solis says far away from the mascot. Far enough for the duo to relax and calm down.

He carefully leads them to a table outside of a food joint and sighs.

“I'm sorry.” Prompto says.

“Why? You got us away from that daemon.” Noctis mutters. “I should be thanking you.”

Prompto smiles softly offering a hand to Noctis to hold. “Don't thank me. My boys was scared, I was just taking you both out of that.”

Noctis grabs his hand and squeezes it. “Can we sit here for a few seconds?”

Prompto nods and looks at Solis.

“It sucks he got scared.”

“Fear is a normal response to Kenny.” Noctis mutters and Prompto smirks.

“I like him.”

“You like birds.” Noctis replies.  “That's why.”

Prompto smiles and sighs.

“I just don't find him scary.” Prompto says, rubbing his thumb against Noctis’ hand. “I'll protect you both from him. Don't worry.”

Noctis smiles softly.

“Thanks.”

* * *

Noctis bottle feeds Solis while they sit there, Solis suckles greedily which prompts Prompto to speak up.

“Dude he'll get gas if you let him suckle so quick. He'll be uncomfortable.”

Noctis repositions Solis and adjusts the bottle, Solis suckles slower much to Noctis and Prompto’s relief.

“There's a Chocobo mascot wandering around. I think you'll like it if you're fine with dancing a Chocobo dance in front of people.”

Prompto blushes but looks excited. Noctis can see a spark in his eyes.

“We'll go find them after I burp him.” Noctis adds, laughing to himself as Prompto does his adorable little victory tune.

* * *

It takes longer than expected to burp Solis. Noctis wonders if the baby is dragging the waiting around process out or if said baby is having a difficult time.

Unfortunately Solis throws up a little during the process. Noctis’ face draining of colour the moment he gets baby vomit on his sleeve.

“Prom..We have an issue here.” Noctis speaks up and Prompto quickly rummages in the nappy bag, pulling out baby wipes.

He winces and opens the pack, carefully heading over and wiping Noctis’ sleeve and Solis’ mouth with wet wipes.

“He’s not sick right?” Prompto asks and Noctis shakes his head.

“He’s not fussing...Still want to see that mascot?”

Prompto practically beams and nods, rushing off the moment Noctis stands. The royal smiles as he watches him and then glances down at Solis who flails excitedly.

“He makes it hard not to get excited huh?” he mutters to his son who squeals in response. Noctis laughs and follows the direction Prompto went.

* * *

They catch up fairly quickly, Prompto having decided to wait for them and the small family head down to the Chocobo mascot.

Prompto beams when said mascot notices them, he beams a little more when the Chocobo mascot waves at them.

Prompto gets called over to do the dance and honestly Noctis has never seen someone so excited.

Solis flails a little as he stares at the sight, he seems fascinated, he squeals and giggles when the dance starts and gets more vocal than he has been before when Prompto copies the dance.

Noctis likes to think that this is a baby version of cheering Prompto on that or Solis is just making noises because he doesn’t know how to deal with emotions. He snaps a few photos off Prompto’s camera, Solis attempting to grab the camera from his little baby carrier.

The mascot hugs Prompto who returns it eagerly and the trio are on their way waving the mascot bye. Or Prompto is, Noctis just says bye awkwardly and prays the mascot wasn’t the same person from his visit previously.

Up next they head to the chocobo races. Noctis deciding his knight in shining armour deserves another treat.

“You sure you don’t want a go?” Prompto asks.

“Nah I’ll stay on baby duty.” Noctis replies. Plus his back is aching a little and last thing he wants is to annoy it further.

Prompto asks if he’s sure it’s ok he just goes and Noctis nods.

“Just go have fun.” he says with a smile , glancing down at Solis who’s looking at one of the nearby Chocobos. He’s not completely sure of the adult ones yet.

Noctis strokes his soft blonde baby hair and smiles making his way over to the course to cheer on Prompto as he’s lead away to pick a Chocobo.

* * *

Prompto had sped through the course in lightning time. Noctis is sure he beat his score from the last time but all that is forgotten the moment he sees Prompto’s bright smile.

Prompto coos over the race Chocobo, giving her a scritch and little cuddle before bidding her goodbye as he hands her back to her owner.

“How was it?” Noctis asks, already knowing the answer.

“Amazing! Noct she’s two and her name is Butterscotch and I would die for her.” the gunner cries.

“Don’t die, I need you for this parenting deal.”

Prompto blushes and smiles.

“No plan to.” he says, biting his lip. “Now let’s go to the prize counter!”

* * *

They get back into their hotel room at seven pm. The baby carrier is quickly removed from Noctis’ chest the moment Solis is out of it with a sigh of relief.

Solis is placed into a cot before Prompto and Noctis begin to undress.  Prompto without hesitation slips into the moogle onesie Iris got him.

“Aah~ Dude it’s so soft and warm~” he gasps and that’s enough to make Noctis change into his.

Prompto grins and grabs his phone, flicking on his camera app.

“Say Kupo!” he says with a grin, he puts an arm around Noct and the prince reluctantly says it as Prompto takes the photo, then sends the selfie to Iris.

After that they quickly change Solis before dressing him in his moogle onesie too. The duo freeze for a second before Prompto takes many photos, some going to Iris.

“Hey can you send one to me? I want one as my lockscreen.” Noctis asks.

Prompto smiles and quickly sends a couple for him to choose from.

* * *

They end up ordering room service. Ignis will kill them when he finds out they’re sure but for now it’s a good idea to have ice cream and catch a film on the hotel room’s tv.

Prompto snuggles up to Noctis’ side and Noctis puts an arm around him to get a little more comfortable. He tells himself it’s fine and Prompto looks comfortable and content at his side so he shouldn’t worry.

Prompto’s texting on the advert break. He’s texting Iris and gushing over the baby with her, among other things.

“She’s calling us old for being in bed at seven.” Prompto mutters.

“Tell her we’re only five years older than her.”

Prompto texts back and stretches against Noctis.

“Should I ask about Gladnis?”

“Glad...Nis?” Noctis asks, confused.

“Yeah...Like a couple name. People combine names together.”  Prompto replies.

“Oh that explains some stuff...Yeah ask.”

Prompto grins and texts back, gasping moments later.

“...What? What is it?” Noctis asks.

“...They’ve been dating since they was in high school.”

“What the fuck...How did I not know?”

“Iris says we’re just oblivious.”

Noctis huffs and carefully gets up, Prompto whines and reaches out for him.

“Noo you were comfy.” he huffs before pouting.

Noctis rolls his eyes and smiles.

“I’ll forgot something. I'll be back.” he says heading over to Solis’ cot. Said baby is wiggling around with a frown. “He’s angry.”

“How do you know?” Prompto asks.

“He wiggles and frowns.” Noctis says reaching over to open a drawer on the nightstand.

Prompto gasps and quickly heads over, he laughs a little at the sight and gently strokes Solis’ cheek.

“Dude...This is adorable.” he mutters. “Gods...Noct he’s too cute.”

Noctis smiles and agrees, pulling out the little Carbuncle statue from the drawer and placing it in Solis’ cot.

“Don’t be too grumpy for Carbuncle ok? He’ll let me know how you were.” Noctis mutters and plants a kiss on Solis’ head.

“Yeah be nice to….Carbuncle???? Why haven’t I seen him?” Prompto mutters, planting a kiss on Solis’ head. The kisses seemed to have quelled the baby’s anger who currently is staring at the statue.

“He’s only appeared to me and Solis. I don’t know why he likes making me look crazy by showing up on photos and not letting others see him.”

“Do they like each other?” Prompto asks.

Noctis nods and smiles. “He made it clear he thinks Sol is cute.”

Prompto beams and looks down at Solis. He holds onto the cot looking at their son, who’s staring up at him sleepily.

“Sleep. You’ll be sleepy and cranky if you don’t.” Prompto mutters.

“Also Carby’s waiting for you.” Noctis adds. Solis coos and yawns, Noctis strokes his cheek. “Yeah he’s waiting.”

Solis drifts off soon after, Prompto and Noctis heading back to curl up on the bed and watch their film. They return to their snuggling position and quietly talk to each other once it ends and a new one starts.

They might end up having a film marathon for hours. It extends past when Gladio, Ignis and Iris return at ten and even well past when the trio call it a night.

The boys are sleepy come the fifth or sixth film. They’ve lost count how many have played. They’re honestly blending together at this point plus they’re kind of stuffed due to the fact they ordered a large pizza and shared it together.

Prompto at this point is sluggishly pressed against Noctis and the royal is on his back, occasionally rubbing his stomach just as sluggish.

Prompto blinks slowly. He yawns and grunts. He wonders if the pizza was too much. Prompto hears a yawn right next to him and decides at that point film night is probably drawing to a close.

Neither have the time to turn the TV off. They just attempt to get comfortable and snuggle more against each other. Prompto’s almost asleep when he feels a kiss against his head. He drifts off with a smile on his face.

[bevioletskies]

Starmora Movieverse Prompt: Romantic Date Night while pregnant.

mild spoiler warning for avengers: infinity war and a brief mention of speculation about avengers 4.ao3 | word count: 2.2k

“I swear to all the gods in the universe, if you ask me whether my feet hurt one more time, I will actually - ”

“Kill me? That stopped working five years ago, honey.” Peter glanced over at Gamora, who was sat in the co-pilot’s seat of the Benatar’s external pod, her hands resting comfortably atop her belly. “But seriously, you feelin’ okay? I can turn the ship around - ”

“I will turn this ship around myself if you don’t stop fussing,” Gamora exclaimed incredulously. “I’m pregnant, not incapacitated. Though I wouldn’t know the difference since you stopped me from being on active duty over a month ago.”

“Listen, I know you could be in labor and still take down a whole army by yourself. But it’s still risky, and anything could happen. I’m just lookin’ out for you and our kid,” Peter insisted, turning back towards the screens. “Besides, you’ve been great at being mission control. Our last two jobs went super smooth.”

“It would have gone even better, had I been present,” she retorted. “So where are you taking me, Peter, since you’ve been so stubborn about keeping it a secret?”

“It’s gonna stay a secret until we get there,” he teased, reaching over to squeeze her leg. “Don’t you trust me?”

“Marginally,” she said dryly, softening when he turned to frown exaggeratedly. “Of course I do. And this was a good idea, having a night out together. I feel like it’s been months since we’ve had some quality time alone, away from the team. I adore them, but Groot especially has been so fussy lately.”

“Prob’ly worried he’s not gonna be the baby of the group anymore,” Peter reasoned. “But he’s always gonna be our first kid.”

Gamora smiled. “He is.”

They settled back into comfortable silence - aside from the gentle lull of a song playing through the pod’s speakers, of course - Gamora glanced down at her stomach in contentment. She never pictured the sort of half-chaotic, half-domestic life she was living would have become her reality, a life in which she spent her days battling monsters and negotiating deals, and spent her nights curled up with Peter and having quality time with Nebula and the other Guardians. A life where, in a few months’ time, she was going to have a child, raise them to be good and honest and kind in a world where she’d witnessed so much of the very opposite. Or at least, she hoped that she could.

Life had stabilized greatly after the universe had been restored, and the Guardians were taking on less work as time went on, prioritizing their health, sanity, and relationships above almost all else - it was hard to say no when the entire galaxy was in danger, or when the Nova Corps came calling with a hefty cash reward within reach. Nebula now lived with them permanently, proving to be a surprisingly capable and cooperative team member, especially when it came to combat. She was also a little kinder in her Nebula-ish ways, cutting back on the snark in favor of awkward, but genuine expressions of affection for Gamora, sometimes even of the other Guardians as well.

“You definitely aren’t the worst person my sister could have decided to have a child with,” Nebula declared to Peter over breakfast one morning.

“That means a lot to me, thanks,” Peter deadpanned without missing a beat, shoveling more eggs into his mouth. Nebula almost seemed proud.

That wasn’t to say they were without their bad days. Drax was ecstatic that there was a baby on the way, but he did get a little morose when he thought too much about Kamaria and the time he’d spent with her and Hovat in the Soul Dimension. Rocket was less acerbic than before - after all, watching Groot die twice and being the only official Guardian left took a lot out of him - but he still got immensely cranky over the smallest of things. Then there was Groot himself, almost full-grown again, but now in the late-teen stage in which he believed he already knew everything he needed to know, that there was nothing left for him to learn from the others, making him near-insufferable.

“We’re here,” Peter announced, bringing Gamora out of her thoughts. She sat up, wide-eyed, at the realization of where they were - Knowhere. It was fully rebuilt as if Thanos had never touched it, still just as dirty and crime-ridden as ever, crawling with suspicious individuals committing suspicious acts, running rampant with no regards for anyone or anything in their way. Gamora had never been so relieved to see a place she once thought she would never want to return to again, not after what happened the last time they were here.

Peter brought the pod down to a parking dock and helped Gamora make her way out, given the fact that she was in the unflattering stage of less of a walk, and more of a waddle. They paused to glance at their surroundings, to see if the galaxy had pieced itself back together exactly the way it was supposed to, to take in the horrendous sights and smells, but Gamora knew exactly where Peter was planning on taking her.

“You know I can’t drink,” she reminded him as they walked through the front doors of the Boot of Jemiah. They were immediately greeted by the familiar shouts of excitement and anger at the gambling tables and the bar.

“We aren’t stayin’ inside. Just thought we could pick up some food before we head out there.” Peter gestured further down toward the back of the venue, past all the commotion, where the balcony was, the place where they’d first danced - sort of. Gamora smiled softly, accepting the menu that he passed her. “Any weird cravings today?”

“I would offer to split a piece of cake, but that would imply I couldn’t finish it all by myself,” Gamora smirked.

He laughed. “Just for that, I think I’m gonna have to get three slices so you can have one for the ride home.”

After they ordered and received their foods in cheap takeout containers that looked about five seconds away from crumbling into nothing, they went out onto the balcony, momentarily stunned by the surprising beauty of Knowhere’s night sky, swirls of deep, rich color in contrast to the twinkling stars. They sat down with their arms braced against the railing, legs swinging over the edge, and began eating in companionable silence.

A few minutes went by before either of them spoke again. “So this was your idea of a ‘romantic date night’?”

“I think comin’ back to Knowhere is very romantic,” Peter said defensively. “You don’t think so?”

“Believe me, I much prefer this over an expensive dinner by candlelight,” Gamora replied. “Or an evening boat ride...or a tour through an abandoned palace…or that strange club on Xandar with the dancers and the funny drinks...”

“I thought you had fun when we did that stuff.” Peter frowned. “Gamora - ”

“I did, honestly. Just...I like this more.” She reached over to take his hand, guiding it to rest on her stomach, rising and falling with every steady breath she took. “You also said you had a surprise for me.”

He relaxed somewhat, his shoulders loosening up while he gently rubbed her belly in reassurance. “Let’s finishing eating first and I’ll show you, okay?”

Once they got to their dessert, with Gamora taking a generous first bite of her cake as promised, Peter rummaged around in his bag for his holographic mapper. She looked at him curiously. “Haven’t seen that in a while.”

“Been working on reconstructing a couple things, scroungin’ around for data, that kinda thing.” Peter smacked it a couple times on the side before the display finally came to life. He then scrolled through a few menus, landing on the item that he wanted. Within seconds, a scene reconstructed itself before them, something incredibly...familiar.

“Peter,” Gamora breathed. “How did you - ”

“Pulled a few strings with the Nova Corps. Turns out they did pretty thorough documentation of Zehoberei after...y’know. Including some of the houses from your town.”

It wasn’t exactly Gamora’s house, of course, but most of the houses in her area were constructed at roughly the same time, resulting in similar structures and furnishings. Plaster walls, cone-shaped clay roofs, large windows, and rather impressive columns. Furnishings in creams and dark browns, with the occasional touch of deep reds, curtains that billowed in the breeze and comforters that, for a moment, looked far more inviting than anything Gamora had actually slept in before. She could almost remember her father’s cologne, her mother’s laugh.

“It’s amazing,” she whispered, her eyes becoming suspiciously wet. “And you have this saved?”

“So you can call it up whenever you like,” Peter replied, grinning. “There’s more, though. How ‘bout this one?”

Beside the Zehoberian house came a house of a different kind, one a little rundown but still well-maintained, with a lush front yard and a cozy-looking porch. Peter scrolled through to the inside, revealing a living room with mismatched furniture and an old-fashioned television set that was playing cartoons, a kitchen where an entire spread of baking utensils were waiting to be used, and at the dining table, a woman with headphones on, tapping her feet on the linoleum absentmindedly, flipping through a newspaper.

“Your mother.”

“The house I grew up in,” Peter nodded. “All these years later, and I can still remember the names and dates of the magazines she always kept on the coffee table. The number of stairs. That weird stain on the bathroom ceiling. I wish I got that kind of detail for yours.”

“It’s wonderful as it is, Peter. I couldn’t recall any of that myself,” she reassured him, resting her head on his shoulder. “Thank you.”

“Didn’t say I was finished yet,” he chuckled. With a few final taps on the screen, the two virtual houses slowly diverged to make room for one last location, one that didn’t exist yet. It was a bit shapeless, colorless, nothing distinctive, entirely nondescript. She looked at him in confusion. “So, what’s your favorite part about where you grew up?”

“I...liked the big windows,” Gamora said slowly, furrowing her brow. “Lots of fresh air...light. I didn’t get much of that while living on Sanctuary.” Just like that, the walls of the unknown house began to reshape itself, opening up to large, arched windows similar to the Zehoberei house. “Oh.”

“And I always loved that porch. Spent a lot of evenings sitting out there with a book and my Walkman.” It formed on the very front of the building, topped off with a modest door to match. “Rooms for our friends - ” a second floor materialized in front of them “ - a room for us, a room for the baby - ” it continued to grow into something more real, more akin to an actual house “ - living room, kitchen, dining room, a home gym...do you want your own study?” Gamora nodded, speechless. Another extension popped out on its side. “I think that’s starting to look like something, don’t you?”

“Is this...real, Peter?” Gamora asked, watching as the furnishing began settling in their places, a near-perfect mixture of the Zehoberian style and the Terran style, homely and cozy yet subtly stylish, with an array of rugs and throws and blankets, shelves full of all the books she loved and the ones she still had yet to read, old-school audio equipment for Peter to tinker around with, and a crib, waiting patiently for its occupant to arrive.

“It can be,” he said quietly. “I think we’ve saved up enough money - and saved enough lives - to afford to settle down for at least the baby’s first year, right?”

“Is that what this is all about?” she laughed, shaking her head in disbelief.

“I know you wanna keep kicking ass and protecting the galaxy. I do, too. And you managed to bounce back from everything that happened and still fight, when just about anyone else would’ve given up. That takes some real guts, and I love you more than ever for being so damn strong,” Peter said fiercely, setting down the holographic mapper so he could take her face in his hands. “But just...hear me out, okay? What if we just...took some time to ourselves? And I mean the whole team. Shacked up in a house we designed and built ourselves to act as our new base of operations. Do some remote missions, I dunno. Bond with the kid, be a family. Well, until we get sick of each other.”

“You say that like it hasn’t already happened,” Gamora teased, placing her hands over his. “And...it’s a really good idea, Peter. After everything that’s happened, everything that’s about to happen...I think I deserve a break.”

“You really do,” he said, kissing her forehead. “Don’t bear the burden of the entire universe, Gamora. I know you think you’re responsible for more than you really are. You’re not. And that’s a good thing! So let’s raise an awesome kid with our family and let the galaxy take care of itself for once.”

“Unless there’s a universe-ending event, again,” she protested, smiling despite herself.

“That goes without saying,” he chuckled, wrapping his arms around her, his hand coming to rest on her stomach once more. She leaned into him, pleased to hear his heartbeat match with hers and the baby’s, in perfect synchronicity. “Gotta make sure there’s a whole world out there for our kid to explore.”

[spaceprimcessleia]

Still Worth Saving 4

yay, chapter 4. find all others here http://spaceprimcessleia.tumblr.com/tagged/shoelace+fandom . if you want. or don’t. 

There’s a new paramedic. Bright eyed and eager with the entire manual memorised verbatim. Iain moans that she threw away his kebab and Sam all but throws the DNR at her when they finally find it hidden in an old biscuit tin.

But later she wonders if it might be better that the lonely old lady who called them out just to have someone to talk to didn’t have to die on her own.

It’s enough to extend the invitation to buy them all drinks that she got on her first day (her first first). Ruby starts to protest that it’s a work night and the body takes, on average, an hour to break down one unit of alcohol, but Sam just stares at her until she blushes, drops her gaze and mumbles something that she takes as a yes.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/15832485/chapters/38861597

“Dylan, we can’t keep this up forever.”

“We? He’s my responsibility, Sam and it’s my decision.”

“So you’re just going to hide him away in here for the rest of his life?”

“Well, no. Obviously not.”

“Then what are you going to do?”

“I’m sure I’ll come up with something.”

“I have a friend from the army-”

“If you’re about to say the words ‘immigration officer’.”

“Social worker, actually. Who specialises in refugee children.”

“No.”

“Sanosi has a good case for staying. He’s a child. He has no family, no one to go back to.”

“So when they do ship him off, he’ll end up in some orphanage that can’t afford walls.”

“Those really don’t exist outside of cartoons.”

“You know what I mean.”

“It’s just a meeting. A hypothetical one. We’ll ask all the questions. No one has to be involved but the three of us.”

“Since when did it become anything to do with you?”

“Like it or not, Dylan, I’m involved now.”

“You don’t have to be. You’re my ex-wife, Samantha. Please look it up in a dictionary.”

~*~

There are burning hot needles prickling beneath her skin, the world is rushing around her all at once- too much to watch. Her back slams into the walls, but she doesn’t notice the spark of pain.

“Sam?” Ruby’s voice, sharp and panicked.

Please don’t touch me. She doesn’t think she says it out loud.

“There’s a chair right here, okay? Just sit down and I’ll be right back.” She hears the door open then close again and sinks into the chair. She buries her head in her hands and waits to be able to breathe again.

A mask lands in her lap. She picks it up and holds it to her mouth, gulping in air- hardly caring that it means someone else is there, watching this. Finally, when she can feel something other than the burning needles, she notices the tears on her face. She keeps her head in her hands, drained enough to sink right to the floor and curl up there.

Ruby dithers in front of her. “Do you want me to get anyone?”

Sam thinks of Dylan, then shakes her head. “I’m okay,” she lies.

~*~

They tell her what she thought they would; they won’t throw out a child with nowhere else to go. Whoever smuggled him in can’t be promised the same immunity, but they’ve been friends long enough so he doesn’t ask any more questions. He warns, though, that he can’t guarantee anything. She knows how it is- she’s fought a war based on terrible decisions and humanity’s lack of their own title trait.

~*~

Iain slams the ambulance door but doesn’t start it. “You gonna tell me about these panic attacks?”

She watches another ambulance back into the bay. “I can add big mouth to Ruby’s growing list of attributes.”

“She was worried about you. So am I. Come on, Sam, it’s me.”

He means the time he found her hunched in the corner of the privy with a growing stain on her trousers, lying flat and still side by side as bullets ripped through the air around them, dragging the bodies of their friends over the corpses of strangers so their families would have something to bury. He means nights spent under the dim glow of a single bulb, curled around each other.

But somehow, she can’t tell him this. “We have an emergency to attend.”

“You’ve gotta talk to someone, Sam.”

She tells him to drive.

~*~

She downs a glass of whiskey before she takes a Thai to Dylan’s boat. He’ll smell it on her breath, even if she sucks an entire packet of polos, because there’s no hiding drinking from an alcoholic. It doesn’t stop her taking another gulp.

He looks at her for a second longer before he lets her inside. She just nods when he offers her tea and stands very still- a habit she’s always had when she’s nervous.

Dylan pushes a mug into her hands. “What’s the matter?”

It earns him a stare. He’s always preferred to ignore the dinosaur in the room. Or miss it altogether. “You’ve been different ever since you came back. Even I’ve noticed.”

She wants to be more drunk for this. “I didn’t cheat on Tom.” It’s not what she means to blurt out and it gets the reaction from Dylan it deserves.

“Wonderful. It was just me you couldn’t remain faithful to.”

It’s not too late to walk out, but Sanosi is with David and if she doesn’t do it now she’ll never find the courage again.

So she tells him about her phone. That he would go through it in front of her, even added a GPS app so he could track where she was when she wasn't with him. She tells him that he would accuse her of sleeping with almost any man she glanced at, but it was worse when he didn't say anything at all because then she knew his jealousy was simmering to become something bigger. She tells him about the car, how she thought he was going to smash it into a wall, or another car; how he pulled it to a stop in the middle of a road with not street lights and left her there without the keys until dawn.

Even as she’s speaking she wishes she wasn’t. It all sounds so pathetic.

Dylan doesn’t say anything, but she knows he’s thinking: Why did you let him?

(Because he made me fall in love with him first. Then he crushed the life out of me so slowly that my the time I noticed there was nothing left inside me to fight with).

But he’s still saying nothing and she won’t stand and listen to the silence.

His voice stops her when she starts to walk away. “Did he ever hurt you?”

He hurt her in so many ways she can’t even begin to find the pieces of herself again, but she knows that’s not what he’s asking. “He never hit me.” That, technically, is the truth.

“Where is he now?”

She shrugs. “Last time I saw him was almost a year ago when I told him I was leaving.”

“Which was?”

“Why?” She keeps her head bowed towards the floor.

“I want to send him a fruit basket. Why do you think?”

She turns to look at him at last. “I don’t need you to beat up the scary man for me, Dylan.”

“He deserves a lot worse than that.”

And she hasn’t even told him the worst of it. Despite everything she feels a warm tinge in her chest. He’s always been protective of her- not that she ever needed it. It was one of the things she missed most when they fell apart. Someone who cared. Now, though, she needs him to stop. She doesn’t deserve his defence.

She also doesn’t stop him when he takes her hand and tugs him towards her, wrapping her in a tight hug. He's always been her safe harbour.

~*~

Bea corners her as she’s finished handing over a patient and asks her out. With Ruby and Alicia too. She goes red as she says it though, as if Sam might have thought it was something else. Immediately, she goes to say no. Then thinks about the other offer she has (sitting alone in her empty flat with a measure of scotch to keep Tom’s voice out of her head). She accepts. A smile breaks over Bea’s face, like it matters. Like she really wants her there.

~*~

The bar is crowded- filled with men, women and everyone in between. She can almost feel the pressure around her shoulders, his arm claiming her. She’s not wearing enough- let Alicia talk her into barely there clothes and now she wants to wrap her arms around her body.

A brunette smiles at her from across the bar and she wishes more than ever she hadn’t come. Tom never knew about this part of her. It would have given him even more reason to search her things.

But the others are fast disappearing into the crowd and she wants to be alone even less.

Her new colleague looks as uncomfortable as her, nursing the same drink she’s had for almost an hour, the pads of her fingers tapping against the glass. Sam looks for Bea and Alicia, but they’re lost somewhere in the heave of bodies. “It’s hot in here. Wanna go outside for a minute?” She has to tell over the music.

It takes Ruby a moment to realise what she’s said, but the relief is obvious. She abandons her drink and Sam takes her hand as they fight through the crowd.

~*~

Ruby’s still there in the morning. Sam had been too hazy with exhaustion and vodka to figure out a polite way to kick her out. And she hadn’t moaned about the light. It had been easy to fall asleep beside her. Easy again to make coffee around her, saying not more than “milk?” and handing her the sugar.

Even if Ruby almost drops the bowl when their hands touch. Obviously she’s not used to this. Sam’s not either- not anymore. She’s forgotten the lines, doesn’t know how to get rid of her. They have work soon anyway, might as well just drive in together. Iain won’t ask questions. They’re both women.

When Ruby stammers that she doesn’t have any clothes, Sam rolls her eyes and tosses her some jeans and a t-shirt. Even lets her use the shower. It would almost be domestic if she didn’t keep a six foot distance between them.

~*~

Dylan finds her as she’s heading off for a lunch break. “I saw the social worker last night.” He says it in the same way he says everything.

“And?” she prompts.

“He said it’s extremely likely Sanosi will be able to stay here.” But there’s an edge to his voice, a tense muscle in his jaw. She opens her mouth to ask about it, but he’s already waking away.

~*~

Alicia slides between her and Ruby when they’re chewing down sandwiches before the next emergency, muttering about Eddie and what an arrogant shit he is. Sam tells her he’s a man, he can’t help it. Iain, passing by, shoots her puppy eyes and clutches his heart.

“He wants to go out tonight. Just to the pub.” But she scuffs the ground with her shoe.

Sam swallows the last of her sandwich. “Let’s all go,” she says.

Alarm flickers across Ruby’s face. Sam rolls her eyes, but looks away so Ruby doesn’t see. Maybe it’s best if she finds someone else to go home with tonight.

[rememberthattime]

Chapter 59. Cornwall, Charleston, and Chicago

Well we’re into our final chapters. It’s nearly time for Chelsay & I to head home… The end of our time as expats.  

The preceding post, our EuRoad Trip, may go down as our last big adventure abroad. That’s not how we planned it but, if it turns out that way, it’d be a helluva last hurrah.  We have this “on-again-off-again” thing Egypt initially scheduled for November, then delayed to December, and now delayed again until January… but an escalation in Covid cases makes that trip less & less likely.

Regardless of whether Egypt comes through, our last few months abroad will be anything but boring. This post is going to cover December alone, where in just four weeks, Chelsay & I enjoyed TWO winter retreats in Cornwall, and visited Charleston & Chicago for prospective neighborhood tours.

As mentioned, we’d been planning an early winter trip to Egypt. I had the flights, hotels, itinerary, visas… everything was arranged. I even had a dog sitter for Indy. But Covid infections had been rising since the summer, so Chelsay & I always knew this trip was a long shot.

Sure enough, just a few weeks before the trip, our flights were cancelled. We were prepared though and already had a back-up.

3.5 years ago, the same week the Bears drafted Mitch Trubisky, Chelsay & I took a four-day trip to Cornwall. There were two surprises. One turned out to be a good surprise, the other was bad…

The bad surprise was Mitch. As I wrote in our 2017 Cornwall post (Chapter 20), he wasn’t good in college and the Bears passed on so many safer prospects. Fast forward to today, where Mitch is likely in his last season with the Bears while the two quarterbacks drafter after him, Pat Mahomes and Deshaun Watson, are future Hall of Famers.

Well, at least that 2017 Cornwall trip was blast. It’d been a few years though, and with winter surfing a possibility, we decided to use our now-cancelled Egypt vacations days for a return to the Cornish coast.

It seemed like we arrived at our small cottage, Scilly Stack, in the middle of the night. It was actually just dinner time, but the sun sets at 3 pm these days so everything feels like midnight. That first evening, we enjoyed homemade Bolognese and Planes, Trains, & Automobiles. …This cosiness would be a theme.

The trip really began the next morning, with the Cornish wind being our wake-up call. We were visiting the nearby Crown Mines, abandoned for 70 years but still bracing along the Atlantic coastline. I don’t know how they’re still standing: essentially at land’s end, there is no hiding from the elements. Gusting gales, salty mist from the crashing waves… even hail.  Still, Chelsay, Indy, and I were stirred by the wind, and bounced around the craggily coast.

The next stop was one of our primary draws to Cornwall: the beach. It’d been a year since we left Manly, and I missed the water. I keep telling Chelsay that my outdoor activities are limited in London: all I can do is go to the park – no surfing, swimming, or running along the beach. Later in this post, I’ll get into our house tours in Charleston & Chicago… It isn’t a coincidence those cities are both waterfront.

Cornish beaches are unique though: at low tide, the beach seems to be a million football feeds wide. Boats moored in the harbour gradually sink and settle in the sand. The winter crowds are sparse, so Chelsay, Indy, and I had miles to roam. We raced around the beach, threw his ball, played in the waves, and dashed through the surrounding dunes. After wind and hail earlier in the morning, the extreme weather continued: we raced through snow and rainbows in our few hours on the beach.

Afterwards, we warmed up with lunch at a beachside cafe in nearby St Ives. I went a bit risky with the Korean fried cauliflower, which I thought was ambitious for a beachside cafe. This place knew what they were doing though: lunch was delicious, and Chelsay said it was her favorite fish & chips thanks to a special tartar sauce. The town was quiet in the winter, and while we ate, Chelsay and I watched as a lone surfer catching a few waves. I distinctly remember us saying: “We can do that.”

We wrapped up lunch, but with the sun was quickly setting AT 2 PM!, we quickly made our way to the day’s final stop: the Wheal Coates mines.

As a refresher, we’d been here before. We visited in our last trip to Cornwall, but only thanks to a bit of luck. We’d lost cell service so our GPS couldn’t find the mines, and to complicate things, Chelsay had to pee. Somehow, the solution to both problems was the same. We pulled off at a public restroom, where a cartoon map led us directly to the mines.

This time around, I downloaded ‘offline maps’ beforehand, so finding the mines was much. That said, the setting sun made the coastal setting just as special as our previous visit.

Just as we’d done the previous evening, we closed the night with a homemade pasta. This time amatriciana.

We pretty much only had one goal for our second day in Cornwall: surf. It’d been a full year since Chelsay & I left Manly, and we were so anxious to get back in the water. So anxious, in fact, that we were willing to go in the winter.

That morning, we had some serious doubt as we picked up our rental boards & wetsuits boards in Sennan. Literal gale force winds over 40 mph were battering the shoreline. And as if the speed of the wind wasn’t enough, it was directly onshore and killing any chance of wave formation.

That said, the great thing about Cornwall is that it’s a peninsula. If you’ve got onshore winds on one side, just go to the other and you’ll find perfect offshore conditions. Gnarly green faces. Rad rollers. Clean barrels. Smooth breaks. SETS. OUT. THE. BACK.

The surf shop recommended Praa Sands, where a surrounding cove funnelled the south-easterly winds offshore from the beach.  We knew it was the right call when, as we pulled up, noticed Cornwall’s dedicated (though small) surf crowd had also chosen Praa.  

Because it was too cold, windy, and rainy to be outside, we awkwardly changed into our 5mm wetsuits in the car. This was awkward… Not only were the steering wheel and limited space difficult, but anyone passing can look in. Have you ever pulled 6 muscles all at once, while shirtless, while making direct eye contact with someone?  I have now.  

The wetties (and accompanying boots) were critical for this surf session. Just the day before, it had both snowed AND hailed on us. Today there were gale force winds and spots of rain. 5mm of neoprene and incalculable adrenaline were the only things keeping us warm as we plunged into the water.

I specifically remember trying to keep my head high as we paddled out, attempting to stay dry and well above the water. This was one of our strategies to stay warm, with the other being our “get in-go hard-and-get-out-quickly” strategy... Rather than wait for the right wave, we’d paddle hard and take whatever came first.

Luckily there was a pretty solid wave as soon as we hit the lineup: a four foot face that, based on our Manly riding, was perfect for our skillset.

We quickly turned our boards and paddled hard to match the wave’s speed. This was it. Our return. After 12 months, we were going to catch our first wave - Let’s gooooo-NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Chelsay and I both flipped directly over the front of our boards, tumbling through the churning wave. Adding injury to insult, each of our boards popped out of the water and landed on the other person’s head.

No return to surfing glory: just a face-first dive into the frigid water, resurfacing only be whacked in the head by each other’s boards.

This was pathetically unathletic, but also hilarious. Chelsay and I both popped out of the water laughing. We’d now been submerged in the winter water, but survived and actually weren’t *that* cold. Chelsay thinks I’m crazy, but I really think I had colder swims in Manly.  

We needed to reset our wave-riding expectations. The biggest problem was that we were out of surfing shape. Our back & arms lacked both the power and stamina we’d built in Australia, so we never had enough speed to keep up with the waves.

After several misses, we ultimately decided to settle for white water (the wave post-crash), and caught a few beginner sets. Like, true novice waves. The kinds you’d see the kids surf school handle in Manly.

We were probably in the water for just 30 minutes, but our arms were already wrecked. Little did we know, our upper body workout was far from over.  The same offshore wind that built up perfect waves was now standing between us & the car.

The combination of these 40 mph winds, our soft surfboards, and utter exhaustion created the funniest scene of the trip. Chelsay and I were fighting for every inch as we made our way up the beach… If our boards even slightly opened to the wind, gusts would catch the board like a sail, punching us back several steps. We’d torque around, trying to get the board into an aerodynamic position, but the heavy wind wouldn’t let up. We’d twist and turn, completely out of control and hyperventilating from laughter. It genuinely looked like Chelsay might fly away with her board, before she eventually gave up and collapsed in the sand.

Needless to say, our Cornwall surf day was very different from the sunny, guacamole-on-the-beach days in Manly. We still had a blast though.

After the most necessary showers ever, and coffee to energize our depleted muscles (and egos), Chelsay and I returned to Penzance to visit St Michael’s Mount. We let Indy play on the beach with other dogs (all collies, which seems to be a UK theme everywhere except London), while Chelsay & I searched for critters until the tide pools were once again flooded.

The sun set by 4 pm, and I don’t need to tell you our dinner that evening: pasta, along with the Mariah Carey Christmas Special.

The next and last day was another highlight.  Although Cornish weather is turbulent, the forecast said our clearest day would be the last. I was so excited about this hike that I initially planned it for our first day, but reschedule to ensure it coincided with the best chance for sunshine.

Well, we got more than just sunshine. It was mild, almost warm. Light breeze. Dry. Absolutely perfect for our hike from Lizard Pointe to Kynance Cove.  

The Lizard Peninsula is known for its craggily coast, where its countless coves were popular for pirates hiding their treasure. Chelsay, Indy, and I didn’t find any treasure, but we felt very lucky to enjoy the seaside setting in essentially summer conditions. To complete the sunny scene, we enjoyed ice cream cones once we arrived in Kynance Cove’s, playing fetch with Indy along the beach. You can’t ask for any better in December.

These few days in Cornwall were excellent. Very different from the Egypt trip they replaced, but somehow both relaxing and adventurous.  We had a such a great time that we booked a return visit just three weeks later.

This return Cornwall visit was entirely intended to decompress. You’ll see when I write about it later: we did nothing.

Why was an ‘exhale’ trip necessary? Well, between our two Cornish holidays, we were visiting Charleston & Chicago, evaluating if either were right for Chelsay & I’s eventual return to the US.  

These visits were mostly Chelsay and I independently exploring each city, gauging “What’s Possible” in terms of neighborhood and home quality, outdoor activities, community values …and, as mentioned earlier, access to the water.

I won’t go into too many details here, but a few memories worth noting:  

That first sunrise in Charleston. It felt like we hadn’t seen a single sunrise since we moved to London… because we hadn’t.

Biscuits and gravy to start the day, followed by walks along the large beaches on Sullivan’s Island and Isle of Palms.

The charming homes of Charleston, which Chelsay and I agreed, made this the prettiest city we’d visited in the US.

Soups, sandwiches, and warm waterfront views at Kiawah Island’s Freshfields Market.

The unbelievable size of American grocery stores. They’re like airplane hangars, with an entire aisle for cereal. We counted 12 unique flavors of Oreos alone! It wasn’t until we browsed these snack aisles that we realized how much we missed all this variety and convenience.

The views from my parents’ 14th floor condo, including surrounding skyscrapers, sunrises over Lake Michigan, and the general city buzz.

Portillos!

The smell of heavy incenses and grilled cabeza steak in La Chaparrita Taqueria.  

Our no-nonsense realtor Greg, who handled our four house tours with the militaristic precision of D-Day. This style was in direct contrast to the selling agents, who were all very kind but far too affable for Greg. There was one agent that couldn’t answer a single question without sprawling in a million directions: “Well the first thing is location… Wait did I tell you about the… Actually my oldest daughter lives down… Oh, where was I?”.  The question we asked was the difference between Winnetka & Wilmette.

The safety measures necessary to make this trip work. This was our first time flying since the start of the pandemic, and we were as careful as possible throughout.  Our extra precautions included getting tested, paying extra attention to social distancing, and even investing in hospital-grade KN95 masks.  

The trip was extremely informative, and we enjoyed envisioning what our lives would be like when we eventually return to the US.  That said, it was a sprint and, especially considering our jet lag, we were exhausted.  This is precisely why we’d booked another 5 days in Cornwall upon our return.

After our overnight flight into London, we picked up our rental car, stopped by the house to grab Indy (and a shower), then started our five-hour drive to Newquay.

This Christmas Eve trip was surprisingly easy. I was nervous beforehand, anticipating minimal sleep on the plane followed immediately by five hours on the road. Just think of how extreme a trip Chicago-to-London-to-Cornwall is in under 15 hours… Although my fears about plane rest turned out to be accurate, the drive was made immeasurably calmer thanks to Obama’s A Promised Land audiobook. Something about having an empathetic, logical President was reassuring. The good ol’ days.

The calm vibes would continue in Cornwall. Round two was nothing like the round one I previously wrote about. In fact, it was unlike any trip Chelsay & I have taken: we did nothing. No itinerary. No plans. No sight-seeing.

This was our opportunity to exhale, and we took full advantage.  We slept in until 10:30 several days, hardly leaving the house and never driving more than 30 minutes from our accommodation. Some of the most memorable highlights:

The accommodation itself, a four-bedroom cottage overlooking Mawgan Porth Beach. 

Our Christmas calls with family, where we opened presents with all the nieces and nephews. Miles got a dragon toy, Orly a stuffed pony, and Jeff & Liv’s couch got leather care formula.

Christmas Day with Chelsay, where we made Beef Wellington and gingerbread cookies, and watched Home Alone 1 & 2.

Our daily beach walks with Indy. After our Cornwall trip earlier in the month, we knew to expect turbulent weather. In just a few days, round two provided a mix of every kind of winter weather: rain, hail, sunshine, gale force winds… Regardless of the weather, we enjoyed beach time with Indy as the tides shifted.

I need to re-emphasize just how windy the beach was. I’ve never seen anything like it. As we walked, the sand kicked up by our boots would catch the wind and shoot 15 feet away. 

Playful walks along the Cornish coastal paths, including stops at the Bedruthan Steps and Port Isaac.  

Teaching Chelsay to play chess. Although she was skeptical at first, we both enjoyed the light competition in an otherwise relaxing few days.

Stealing a line from Jeff & Liv, “Well, that’s Christmas.” …That was December 2020.

I’m actually writing this post on January 1, 2021, which I’m sure I’ll look back on as a significant day. Not only is today a celebratory end to one of the worst years in history (pandemic, economic decline, racial tensions, Trump…), but it’s also excitingly the beginning of what will likely be Chelsay & I’s biggest year yet.

Our December 2020 was actually reflective of today’s mixed New Year’s Day emotions. Our two Cornish holidays represented closing chapters to our international travels, which have consumed our past five years. Meanwhile, our tours of Charleston & Chicago foreshadowed our exciting return to the US. Our past & future look bright …and filled with dozens of different types of Oreos.

[disneymoviethoughts]

Thoughts I had while watching The Little Mermaid

1. Before Tangled came out, this was my favorite movie. I'm so excited to watch it. 2. I can't believe this is the first princess movie in thirty years. 3. And so begins the classic castle start to princess movies instead of the books. So sad. 4. I wonder when they stopped doing the books in non-princess movies. 5. Eric's ship looks like a lot of fun tbh. 6. He really is an attractive cartoon. 7. One of his shipmates mentioned Triton, I see you movie. 8. I've never wanted to deep sea dive more than I do when I see this intro to Atlantica. 9. I aspire to be a mermaid and be pulled by dolphins. 10. Fun fact: Sebastian was supposed to be British. I can't see it. 11. I feel like if I were Ariel's sisters I would be bitter that my father clearly loved her more than us. 12. I can't tell if this is a performance for the king or a coming out thing for Ariel. 13. Ariel loves the sunken ship but it looks like there are several sunken ships around that area. 14. Flounder pretends to have a cough but can merpeople and fish even get sick? 15. I would be Flounder in this situation 100%. Ariel is too adventurous for me. 16. But also Flounder is so loyal, going places with her even though he knows he'll be scared. 17. I want to get that excited about a fork. Excuse me, a dinglehopper. 18. Ariel is remarkably calm that this shark is attacking her. 19. This scene is so awesome. Such excitement in the first ten minutes. Disney really revamped their princess movies.

20. Her bag should have fallen apart by now from being underwater like that. 21. I've always wondered where Scuttle learned his words. He obviously spies on humans. Has he never seen someone use a fork? 22. Let it be known that I haven't called a fork a fork in years. I use dinglehopper in every situation. 23. Ursula is also one of my favorite villains. I love Pat Caroll's voice. 24. I would 10/10 watch a movie about her days in the palace and what made her the way she is. Is she Triton's sister? Niece? Cousin? I NEED ANSWERS. 25. If this concert was the pinnacle of Sebastian's career, he shouldn't have counted on Ariel to be the star when she didn't even go to rehearsal. 26. Flounder telling Triton the story of a shark attack is how my mom tells stories. (Badly). 27. Jk i love you mom 28. "I'm sixteen years old I'm not a child" I’m twenty three years old and I’m still a child. 29. Okay she's sixteen years old but she doesn't need a babysitter. That seems excessive. She's just a little rebellious. 30. I need a cave for all of my collectibles tbh. 31. If you don't sing at the top of your lungs when Part of Your World comes on, you're not a Disney fan. 

32. I'm pretty humans would like to know how mermaids live. 33. "Bet you on land, they understand- bet they don't reprimand their daughters" LOL girl no. 34. I would probably get sick of swimming too. 35. This song is amazing. Alan Menken at his best. Besides all the other brilliant songs he's written. 36. I wonder how long Ariel has been collecting stuff. This is a really impressive cave. 37. I wonder how Max smelled Ariel. Does she smell like a fish? 38. The way Ariel looks at Eric is me when I look at pizza. 39. This scene where the ship is in the storm is why I'm terrified to go on boats. 40. This is actually way more like the original story like I thought and I am so into it. 41. This is such an action packed movie. I love it. 42. I can't believe Ariel swam all the way to shore basically carrying Eric but his crew couldn't even wait for him to resurface. 43. This reprise of Part of Your World might be better than the regular song. 44. I DONT KNOW WHEN, I DONT KNOW HOW, BUT I KNOW SOMETHING'S STARTING RIGHT NOW!

45. Sorry, the music overtook me. 46. I just bought a shirt from Hot Topic that had these lyrics on it. I'm obsessed. 47. Look at all the souls Ursula has collected. I'd love to know what they wished for. 48. Out of seven girls, how is Ariel the only one that ended up with their mother's red hair? 40. Under the Sea. Another freaking classic song and beautiful sequence. 41. "Up on the shore they work all day" you know what Sebastian, you make some good points. Where can I find an Ursula to make me a mermaid? 42. Or a Morgana. Points to anyone who gets why I said that. 43. Ariel did look really into this but then she just swims away in the middle of all the fish being awesome musicians. How rude. 

44. The king says lately Ariel has been distracted and daydreaming a lot but it's literally been half a day since she met Eric. 45. Flounder really is a great BFF but how did he get Eric's statue into the cave? 46. Sebastian telling Triton about the cave was SO low. I know he didn't know he would break all of her collectibles but still. 47. I do love this movie and like I said, Ariel was my favorite princess before Rapunzel came along, but it's so silly that she loves him. She saw him for like ten minutes. 48. Triton destroying Ariel's stuff destroys me. I would die if someone did that to me. 49. Flotsam and Jetsam are such creepy sidekicks. 50. At least she tried to resist. A for effort. 51. Poor Unfortunate Souls. Great villain song. 52. Have I mentioned how great these songs and Alan Menken were? I could go on forever about him. 53. "Now it's happened once or twice, someone couldn't pay the price" Ariel look at how many souls she has she is LYING girl. 54. Ariel considers never seeing her father and sisters again and decides Eric is worth it after never even speaking to him. 55. I wonder what Ursula would have taken from her if she didn't know Eric loved Ariel's voice. 56. I get goosebumps every time Ursula starts the spell to take Ariel's voice.  

57. Disney villain laughs are my favorite thing ever.                                           58. Her fins splitting into legs looks like it would be really painful.                           59. Sebastian is the best. He's so funny. 60. At least Max smelled her before or he wouldn't have recognized her. 61. "You can't speak? Then you couldn't be who I thought" MAYBE SHE HAS LARYNGITIS ERIC. 62. Ariel would be horrible at charades and I would not want her on my team. 63. She's so excited by the bubbles in the bath but she did all this to get OUT of the water. 64. I really love Eric's castle. I'd live there. 65. Eric thinks Ariel is beautiful and is excited to see her but still won't let the girl who sang to him go. 66. Grimsby is such a curmudgeon. So cute. 67. I feel like Chef Louis is probably an accurate portrayal of French chefs. 68. That is an excessive amount of knives to throw at a small crab. 69. If you don't get the warm feels when Eric and Ariel look at each other you're heartless. 

70. Since Eric is a prince I feel like he should have guards. 71. Kiss the Girl is another iconic, classic, beautiful scene and is definitely one of my favorite songs. 72. I know I keep saying that. This whole movie is my favorite don’t @ me. 73. I wish someone would take me on a romantic boat ride. Maybe I'll go hang out by a lake. 74. "The little tramp" says Ursula, who told Ariel to use her body language. 

75. I know throwing away his flute was symbolic but like that's your flute man. 76. I wonder what Ursula put in the potion to hypnotize Eric. Was it just Ariel's voice or something else? 77. Eric SOUNDS like a robot, why does Grimsby not notice this 78. A sunset wedding on a boat? Seriously, where can I find a prince? 79. Ariel sitting alone on the dock crying is so sad omg. 80. I LOVE that shot of Vanessa looking into the mirror and seeing her Ursula self. (I couldn’t find a GIF. So sad).  81. Sebastian is such a good delegator. He should have more responsibilities. 82. Vanessa just straight up KICKED MAX IN THE FACE. That is more villainous than anything she's done so far. 83. All of the villains' eyebrows are so on point though. 

84. Eric is not shocked enough about Ariel being a mermaid. Or Vanessa turning into a purple octopus. 85. I do think it's cool that even Triton's trident (lol) couldn't destroy the contract. 86. So if Ursula lived in the palace maybe Triton took the crown from her somehow? Or she was bitter that he was next in line instead of her? 87. There's no way Eric could dive down that deep without equipment and hold his breath. 88. Can you imagine if a life sized octopus like that existed? I would stay as far away from the water as humanly possible. 89. I'm not gonna lie though, having all that power and the trident would be pretty fun. I could make endless food appear whenever I wanted. 90. I think this is the most action packed princess movie there is. 91. Second time out of two that a villain has died because a prince stabbed them. That's so dark, y'all. 92. I think Triton could've given Ariel the power to turn back into a mermaid whenever she wanted so she could come see him. 93. I love her purple sparkly dress. Where can I get one? 94. I'm really glad Alfred Angelo makes princess inspired dresses instead of exact copies because those are some very poofy sleeves. 

95. I really would not be able to leave my family or my best friends for a guy. She has some resolve. 96. What do the townspeople think of Eric having a bunch of fish at his wedding? 97. I still love this movie. 10/10. Excuse me while I go listen to the soundtrack on repeat.

[theincidentaltourist]

An Urban Jewel. Century City Hotel and Conference Centre.

Late last year I had the great pleasure of a media visit to the Century City Hotel and Century City Conference Centre, and was astounded by the quality, design and attention to detail offered at these purpose built facilities.

On arrival I was greeted with a big smile by the front desk crew and efficiently checked-in, the green growing wall behind the counter instantly drawing my attention, before walking across to join the group at breakfast.

Well, this isn’t your ordinary breakfast offering. Here at the CCHotel you have every desired item on the buffet, from fruit and yogurt assorted mixes to pastries, confectionaries, a cooked buffet, self-serve coffee machine and cooked buffet. There was a bloody Mary stand - and then you could order anything else that the heart desired.

Talk about getting off on the right foot, this was my introduction to the remarkable Century City Hotel, a place I’d ashamedly never visited before. yet here was a luxury hotel set out to please it’s guests, whatever their preference.

Instantly as you enter the foyer you’ll take in the volume, the space, the natural light that streams through the tall windows. The interiors are impeccably placed to offer a mix of contemporary design and modern amenities. Coffee tables and counters have power points, the wifi works at a speed of note and the wooden touches and opulent couches will engulf you,given half a chance.

We chatter over our meal, talking about what the next day will hold for us.

There is so much more to Century City than I imagined. This fine luxury hotel, world class conference facilities, a wetland park, canal tours, walkways, restaurants, an activity rich Central Park and stunning residential properties.

A luxury hotel, state of the art meeting rooms, incredible local art, delicious food and fine South African wine. My suite was perfectly placed to offer views across the Square, with personally selected gifts waiting for me on my arrival - the hotel prides itself in knowing it's guests.

Their green philosophy ties in well with the lessons in sustainable living, which we took from our visit to Intaka Island, before enjoying a cruise on the canal and insight into the benefits of modern urbanism done well at Century City, Cape Town.

An eclectic mix of industrial and chic, leather and linen, open spaces and intimate areas – juxtaposed to create a place that truly inspires.

There are 125 bedrooms consisting of 114 Superior bedrooms, 5 Executive bedrooms, 5 Suites and one Universally Accessible bedroom. Children's rooms are done up in their favourite cartoon character,be it spiderman, the little mermaid or superman.

The living wall behind the reception desk.

My suite overlooked the square and even though I was contained in the comfort of luxury and silence, I could sense the energy and life outside from my window as I watched groups of friends and lovers gather for sundowners and a meal, as they soaked up the surrounds.

In my room a personalised gift awaited alongside a bottle of Pongratz and a box of treats from the Square Cafe. The hotel prides itself in knowing their clients, and in my case they recognised my relationship with the Two Oceans Aquarium and gave me this gorgeous branded buff. When a hotel goes beyond the call of duty ... Truly made me feel considered and special.

Wine pairing, extended breakfasts, the language pavilion, good company and more than a fair share of laughs later I pulled myself away, drawn to return for more. Century City offers a world beyond Canal Walk, and a meal at the Hotel's Square Wine Bar Cafe is a good place to start. 

Designed as the hub and pivotal point of the precinct, the Century City Conference Centre’s bold architectural form is matched only by its even bolder unseen features – world-class connectivity, electric creativity and unparalleled choice to make any event truly unforgettable.

Some important info to take into account when planning your conference there:

Fast facts about the Century City Conference Centre.

- The Century City Conference Centre offers a choice of 20 different venues including: - Four large halls, three of which may be combined - A spacious, open-plan foyer suitable for exhibitions, launches and cocktail parties - Eleven meeting rooms, ranging in size from 30 to 70 m - An 80-seater business lounge with boutique buffet refreshments - Century City Square, an event venue of 1200m

The Century City Square offers an extension for visitor to socialise, relax, dine and be entertained in the restaurants, bars and coffee shops.

When next you're at Century City, take a boat trip on the canals from Intaka island, it's wonderful to get such a different perspective. 

'If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his own language, that goes to his heart.' Nelson Mandela. Lessons from the LanguagePavilion.

Where the heart is:

A state of the art facility such as this is leading the way in conference and modern accommodation trends, having listened to what the client wants and moulding their offering to suit exactly that.

This is no accident, but actually the passionately crafted work of career hoteliers Glyn Taylor and Gary Koetser, joint CEOs of the Century City Conference Centre and Hotel. Their secret to success? ‘Training and skills development are crucial in the hospitality sector and can make all the difference to a delegate’s experience,’ says Koetser. 'Everyone is part of the group and responsible for the success of the conference centre and the experiences we offer. We treat all of our outsourced partners as part of our team.'  

The CCCC runs an ongoing training programme for staff that is set to motivate and inspire staff in a fun and collaborative way. All staff divided into various ‘houses’ that are each represented by a different colour. They compete in challenges and programmes where they are rewarded through various incentives. It is also great for team building. And what you’ll find when there is that every person you encounter is genuinely efficient, enthusiastic and loves their job.

Century City is strategically located on the N1 highway, just a few minutes from Cape Town CBD. The mixed-use precinct features residential, commercial and leisure facilities, all set along the banks of eight kilometres of picturesque waterways and canals.

Booking details:

Century City Conference Centre - 021 204 8000 and email: events@ccconferencecentre.co.za with the address No. 4 Energy Lane, Bridgeways Precinct, Century City.

Century City Hotel - +27 21 204 8000 and email: reservations@cchotel.co.za with the address literally across the road at No. 3 Energy Lane, Century City, Cape Town, 7446

Look out for the hotel’s special offers too http://www.cchotel.co.za/special-offers/, and make sure that you pop by for a drink or meal soon as you can. Actually this makes the perfect place to meet, socially of for business. You miss the traffic and you get more than your fair share of relaxed style, with excellent service and delicious healthy offerings.

Love this urban skyline.

Thank you Conversation Capital for inviting me to uncover this local gem. Health has held me back, but so happy to be sharing these pics at last.

For more pics from my visit see my album on Facebook.

[legendbringerlove]

In the annals of OC history, there are many losers. Ones that stick with you because of how bad they were or how rediciously overpowered they were. Some are just there because you noticed that they are basically an anthesis to EVERYTHING that the series stood for. And then you have Reisu from Sailor Titan who punched out God and sacrificed the entire world because he wanted to join his evil girlfriend (I wish I was kidding. Linkara was insane when he was 13)

And then you have...Count Logan, aka the incarnation of Beast Boy. But, rather than talk about it with you, let’s let Mykan himself discuss it.

I was hoping it wouldn't come to this as it spoils...

-The story that only 105 people have viewed, 84 have downvoted, and there is a one percent chance that one person hit the wrong button. Oh, and it’s a story that you have told at least 4 times now. Hell, I think you have told this story so much that it is outdoing the Radtiz saga as one of the most overtold things in history!

but as people are ignoring the small parts of it anyway (I may as well do this)

-Or you can wait for it to end and then explain it, but again we know the ending, we know what is going to happen.

And one last thing...

-Let me guess, it’s something that is going to make me want to laugh like a hyena?

TO HELL WITH SO-CALLED "COMMON-SENSE"

-*Laughing like a hyena pup*

(The stuff has hardly any meaning to me in this field) "Common-sense and good judgment won't save you this time... not from me."

-He does know what commen sense is, right? He does realize he basically just said, “You won’t win, because I’m a moron.”

-And now, for the hardest thing I can do on this, look at this image and try not to laugh. But it is so hard right now. I mean, look at it!!!! There is just so much wrong with it, that it isn’t even funny.

Let’s start with the color, wich is practically screaming 90s edge right now. This is all black, wich does not really stand out all that much in the grand scheme of things. Even characters like Darth Vader and Batman have some color in their athestic when they are designed. That’s because, making him pure black like this kind of just screams “Pay attention to me.” Now, a lot of the time, when the hero is meant to go rouge or turn evil, they usually will either invert their colors or wear their old costume as a cape. This is none of those thigns and is just something that makes me think of a kid trying way too hard.

Lastly, the face. Will someone please tell me where he stole it from? Because I know I saw that look before. Maybe it was done during the Titan era of Teen Titans when Dick and the others left the book or it was an unused design choice.

COUNT LOGAN: (formerly known as Beast Boy of the Teen Titans.)

-Formally known as the artist, his purpleness, and Smitty the wonder poodle.

Is an evil and very powerful interdenominational sorcerer, and is initially the primary antagonist of my fanfic,https://www.fimfiction.net/story/390095/friendship-is-failure-10--teen-titans-the-end-of-ends.

- is initially the primary antagonist of the Wii game Super Paper Mario.

Ok, with this and the “Twilight” thing back in the Lighting Dawn Page (Wich I will  get to) I am really starting to think he just grabs words from the wikipedia articles and uses them.

He was reincarnated from Beast Boy to serve as a slave to The Dark Prognosticus

-*Pulls out cell phone* Hello, Nintendo?

(A powerful and evil prophetic spellbook)

-Only Mykan can take something  from Super Mario and try to treat it seriously.

Garfield Mark Logan

-Hmmmm, better on this if this were only about the other four members of Titans. Only one thing to do...Research the hell out of it!!!!!

When he was 5, he got sick after being bitten by a green monkey. His parents saved him using an untested animal serum, which unintentionally mutated him green and gave his animal powers.

-It was a machine not a serum. If you are going to talk about a superhero, get your cannon straight! *Looks up* Oh, we are going animated. Well, as long as we stick to one of them, I should be fine

After that, Garfield's entire life was shaped by nothing but heartbreak, tragedy and misery!

-You know, except for the billions, the mansion, th fans, the love and affection, the...

Shortly after his mutation, Garfield’s parents died in a boating accident during a flood. An accident that still haunts him as he believed he could have prevented and saved his folks.

-Yep, stole this from the Titanstower site.

Then, his foster mother died in a tank explosion

-*looks it up on both the sites* Nope, it was foster father in a temple explosion and, wait a minute...

That’s from the freaking comics!!!!!!!

His legal guardian, Nicholas Galtry, despised the boy,

-Ok, we are going with the comics stories then? But, then this whole world will make even less sense. Because if this Dark Probobcious is as powerful as  you say it is then why isn’t it being watched over by Dr. Fate? Or being burnt into cinders by John Constantine?

Hell, searching for Beast Boy and getting him a new home is now even dumber because this is the DCU, and they love their heroes!

abused him daily and plotted to have him killed so he could get the inheritance money.

Garfield ran away, but was captured by two thieves, whom abused him and forced him to do their bidding.

-Hey, mr. fanboy, you got the order wrong! It’s Temple, Theives, and then  evil attorney.

That’s when the Doom Patrol came along, adopted the boy and trained him, and he because BEAST BOY.

-Well, actually it all depends on the universe. See, if you go by the cartoon, he broke into their hq and they found him worthy to be on the team. However, if you go by the ccomics, he tried to join the titans and doom patrol without telling of his guardian about his double life. However, they rejected him because they needed his guardians permission (Ok, what? So, did Dick set that up or was Roy just teasing?)

Then he was found by the titans when he was mesmerized by a ringleader to be a giant gorrila. Then he began to work with the Doom Patrol and was THen adopted by elasti-girl and steve Dayton after winning a legal battle with the lawyer. Sadly, since Doom Patrol never caught on as well as the X-men, they were cancelled in their 169th issue and were all killed with the exception of Beast Boy.

That was when he went into acting on the show Space Trek 2022 as the alien metamorph tork. However, he was the scrappy of the show and was fired. After traveling with his highschool girlfriend, Jillian (so much for Terra being the one.) he found himself back in the saddle when she was kidnapped by Arsenal (Galtry) After he kicked the bad guy’s ass, he joined Titans west along with Flamebird, Hawk and Dove,  Bumblebee, and two others even I don’t know. Meanwhile his powers continued to evolve until he could only change full into his animal forms

Due to Mento’s harshness,

-He must of hated the way he made fun of his hat.

And you wonder why the X-men are the more popular of the two.

and stubborn strict attitude,

-this was when he met the titans and...oh, is he still continuing? Sorry, comic history can be fascinating sometimes!!!!!

Beast Boy felt alienated from the team and struck out on his own.

-That is copied word-for word from the wikipedia article!!!!!

Everywhere he went he was rejected and treated harshly due to his green skin,

-Pictured, total rejection

Any comic reader know who the yellow winged guy and blue black guy are?

Wait...Ok, the girl is Lillith, the guy is Vox, and the yellow dude is golden eagle.

but eventually came the TEEN TITANS, and all that.

-Ok, I think he just mixed up at least two continuties here. Worst than I do, and I have seen more superhero crap than him.

Here, Beast Boy assumed the role of a comic relief-- telling bad jokes, being mischievous—

-Wich is his character that he loves and tends to make him liked and you are-

but all this is really a mask of laughter-- he uses it to hide the pain and sadness from his life.

-Going to make it sound as depressing as possible and OOC for your story to work.

(Much like supressing the rage, but eventually it will snap)

-Or as a way to relieve stress, but I am not a psych major.

Despite the good times he had with the Titans, there were more bad times than good.

-I have been watching the show and I can tell you right now that this bullcrap!

(Most of which came from Raven’s abuse and rudeness, and her supressing her powers is no excuse)

-Yeah and then you have all of the times she was caring towards him, but go on, I am curioous to see where you are going with this *Puts head on hands)

-They don’t include him

-Don’t include him in what? His games? Cartoon watching? What?!

-they make fun of him

-And he usually fires back.

-They insult him

-Raven smacks him (even when he’s right on Trouble in Tokyo)

-Awwwwwww, poor baby, lets back up the abulance.

-When he has a good idea (an honest one) they don’t listen to him

-Because he’s usually wrong?

Then again, that’s BB’s curse: Any friend or loved one he makes will eventually die or turn on him (It’s always the same)

-Pictured, a person turning on Beast Boy

Worse, people in the city don’t seem to appreciate him much (Preferring the other Titans to him)

-Been through 13 episodes so far and haven't seen a simgle sign of that.

Girls don’t like him, he can’t hang out with cool crowds unless the Titans are with him.

-Yeah, it’s not like he has a fan club or anything.

He’s pretty much an UNSUNG HERO (A person whose heroics go unnoticed and/or unappreciated by others)

-How horrible, he is doing this because its the right thing. Oh my god, this is simply horrifying.

(So as you can see… I already have MORE than enough to make him become Logan with or without THE GIRL)

-All based on lies, misunderstanding, and tricks of the mind.

Then, along came Terra. Finally, someone who liked him just for who he was,

-Unlike that Jillian woman or the other Titans who liked him because of his...

and they had so much in common too…

-Yeah, like she enjoyed his laughter and he thought she was pretty and...and there was...she was....Um...any titans fan care to help out?

it was like they were MADE FOR EACH OTHER, and that fate was finally rewarding BB for all his years of suffering!

-Yeah, by offering him a pretty girl! Who cares about the basic stuff like life completion, friendship, and a life goal to complete it. It’s the girl that is the most important thing in existance.

But then, there was THAT STUFF…

-Like it seems that the only reason why anybody ships them is becausse they are cute.

-Terra thinking he broke his promise about her powers

-Her involvement with Slade

-Her fighting the Titans

-Her turning into stone

-aka the adaptation of Judas Contract that was actually well done!

“You were the best friend… that I ever had!” (Her final words to him before turning to stone)

-And that scene was actually well done. And Beast Boy moved on, strong that he was.

And then, came Things Change.

-BOOOM!!!!!!!

There, had to get at least one head explosion out of me before moving on.

She pretend to have amnesia and was pushing him away because she wanted to forget her past (even all the good times they had) She wants nothing to do with Beast Boy.

-You go girl!!!! Grow up and move on through the pain, we are all rooting for you.

“You’re my friend! You’re a Teen titan!”

“You’re wrong!”

…all so she can live a normal life and forget her past!

-A perfectly reasonable reaction to a horrible trauma like almost DIEING!!!!!

That is cold, cruel, extremely selfish, and very foolish as well,

-Yeah, she’s not catering to YOUR, sorry beast boy’s, needs

but it’s not like she cares that she broke his heart… perhaps irreparably!

-Pictured, an eternal broken heart

(It’s hard to find a pic of Beast boy shipped with anyone but Raven)

He didn’t deserve that, not a bit!! The little guy’s gotta have something in this world to hope for.

-It doesn’t have to be love you know. IT can be friends, family, and the future. Love is just one of the many things you can find.

What’s he got to hope for now? His one and ONLY true love ditched him…

-I know this is odd, considering I am a huge shipper but...I really hate this idea. It basically says that you have no other choice but to have the ONE perfect love in the world. You are going to have multiple loves throughout your life that you will say is perfect until you discover that the best love is the great love. Sometimes you will move on, sometimes you won’t. But there is no such thing as there is only one true love.

(Just like everyone else he ever befriended or loved die)

-You know, except for EVERYPONY ELSE!!!!

(end of BB’s origin)

-As interpited by a guy who has never read a comic before in his life.

THE DARK PROGNOSTICUS

-I do not care if this is from Super Paper Mario or how awesome it is...it still makes me think of noses!!!

After the breakup, things only went from bad to Worse. He was highly disrespected in JC

-Wich is odd, considering that this is the DCU, where they make freaking museums dedicated to their superheroes.

-The newspapers only did columns on the other Titans (Not interested with him)

-PP: Um, Mr. Jamenson, why do you only want me to pick up photos of Robin, Raven, Cyborg, and Starfire.

JJJ: PArker, everyone knows that Beast Boy photos don’t sell!!!!

-There was no BB merchandise in the stores (Just that for the other Titans)

-Man the collector’s market must be a bitch over there. Either that or every store is owned by Matell. Yes, I am still bitter about the lack of Katara figures!

-More and more BB’s favorite hangout places had changed and were not replaced (Leaving him with very little ways to go)

-Ok, now this has gone from bad luck, to conspiracy, to just plain rediciously sad.Surprised that he hasn’t said that Beast Boy’s favorite show was then cancelled, and that Sega announced it’s ending Sonic games.

As if he weren’t miserable enough, Despite the Titans trying to be sympathetic, all they really did was badger him to accept change and “MOVE ON!!”

-How dare they try and get him to get a life. Those horrible people. I can see why I am on their side and not that on the whiner’s

What the hell does HE have to move on too? The other titans have moved on from their problems.

-What? No they haven’t!!!!

-Robin and starfire are dating

-Yeah, I can see how this addresses their own individual character conflicts. It was only their romance that was important.

-cyborg is cool with who he is and people love him

-Yeah, those few scenes are all that’s needed to say that he’s fine with being trapped forever in a metal shell, unable to touch anything and is an inhuman creation.

-Raven beat Trigon, he’s no longer a threat to her.

-So totally makes up for the YEARS of truma she is acculmating.

…and BB is still losing things, as well as confidence in his team (Then again… that’s his curse: They love you, and they turn on you)

-Because you do the following...

And don't you try to tell me The Titans wouldn't do that, because THEY ARE capable of doing so, and to me, they are no exceptions. they either die or turn into jerks (Just like everyone else BB ever encountered)

-Am convinced that if you do one bad thing, that will forever taint you for life. No matter who you are, you can never change yourself for the better.

After many fights with the Titans and having a super falling out, BB quit.

-shame he didn’t stay longer, he missed out on the party they had to celebrate his farewell.

Realizing he can’t stay in JC or with the Titans anymore as they are only ADDING to his pain!

-*Imagines Beast Boy dressed in goth clothing and laughs*

Then again, where would he go?

-Titans west? Bunk with Aqualad who he had built a bond with? You know, those superheroes that you say there is no room for even though you spent time putting in the additions of the Doom patrol for no appearent reason!!!!!

He tried to go to other towns and maybe start over… again he got rejected, booed and judged harshly for his green skin and prejudice people.

-This makes no sense whatseover considering his own fandom and how many people love him.

To top it all off, the nights were cold, creepy

-Oh gee, if only he could become an animal with a lot of fur or a cold-blooded reptile.

and filled with nightmares of his past!

-The one time he ripped Dick’s comics, his nightmare about being turned into a veggie burger, that one nightmare where he is stuck in a musical and he is one of the worst human beings on the planet.

All the people he had lost, all the people he thought were his friends, all the people who wronged and betrayed him!!

-That pizza he had ordered a month ago that was lost. That comic he will never read, and of course, the lost of ms. Snugglebottom

“GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!”

-Roy: *Throws a rock* Quiet out there, I am trying to sleep!!!!

Overtaken by extreme anger, hatred, pain and sadness, Beast Boy went POSITIVELY INSANE!!

-Calm down, no need to get excited

Any bit of light and love in his heart had complete diminished after so much pain and torture!

-Ok that is it!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7IxliAPjAk

Just replace the rest of the blog with this charactrer!

(Just like any human being who suffered so much for so long. Sometimes they just SNAP.)

-More like is a self entitled boob who wants everyone to kow tow to him and him alone and won’t listen to reason

The Dark Prognosticus could sense this, and Teleported to him from Raven’s room.

-Yonk!!!!!

Only someone with heart filled with extreme hatred and darkness would be able to unleash the powers within.

-Ok, so let me get this straight. With all of the powerful and black hearted villians in this world. Ones that would so easily fill the job of being the dark one that this thing craves, it picks out a lonely and sad little teen who only lost his family and girl? There are probably billions of other people out there who are suffering from the same type of thing Beast Boy is, but this one time he is going to hone in on?!

The book was now fully awake, and IT

-They all float down here gar!

had chosen HIM to be THE ONE to unlock the dark magic with in and fulfill it's dark desires.

-Garflied: Really, me? Not say someone with a whole ton of power or someone who would lead better or someone who has a blacker heart than me?

DP: Yeah, look, you are the only one who would follow orders and not stab me in the back for power.

Whether or not BB wanted to do this or not (Which he didn’t) the choice was not his!

-Why does this feel like a filmaker trying to defend the actions of his character to help with his vision?

The book was choosing HIM, and that was final!

-Yeah there it is, the it was them not my character.

No amount of will or nobility or courage could defy it.

-Can’t fix it because I am the writer and what I say goes. Look this was all cliche when Homer tried it in the Illiad!

The Book shot him dead…

-Oh, bang bang, he shot him down, bang bang that aweful sound.

(That’s how the Doom Patrol found his corpse)

-Again, billions of other people out there, but he was the one he homed in on. Then again, Beast Boy was the one who broke into his room. But you should feel sorry for the sap.

Now everything was set and ready for the book to work it’s will and put its curse in motion.

-You know what I love about this? Reading this whole thing means I don’t have to read the fic.

...

Not that I was going to anyway, kind of not really interested in his non-starfleet stuff. Well, except for the stuff I’m usng for evolution but that is another fic.

Beast Boy’s spirit and personality soon began to fade away as he was cursed and corrupted by darkness and hatred beyond imagination.

-If that is beyond imagination, then boy howdy do you have a limited imagination.

Finally, he was reborn, as an adult version of himself, an embodiment of darkness and servant to the book.

-A nega pope?

He became COUNT LOGAN

-A name so important, I had to capitalize it.

: A villain who is motivated by grief and regret!

-Never heard of that one before! It’s like the third time you made this!

(It's not because of just Terra dumping him, I think we've already COVERED that. Insist that it's just because Terra dumped him... "You're are dense")

-I empthasised this, not to say “Well, he has a point,” I am empathising the just to point out that it doesn’t really matter in the eyes of the viewer or the reader. See, if you wanted us to believe that it wasn’t just Terra dumping him, then leave out the stalking and the scenes where he gets beaten by the bullies. Leave out the bits where he is pining for her every five minutes. As it stands, it seems that it was only Terra that was responsible.

Hell, by not having Beast Boy talk about his past, all of the above you have said feels like tacked on filler to try and make it seem like it wasn’t the only thing that was affecting him.

A slave to the book,

-I would make a religion joke here, but I want to think I have more aof an appreciation for my audience.

Logan had no choice but to accept his new position fate. He could never go back to the way he was. He was created by evil to SERVE evil (Nothing more)

-and yet still has the mind and body of Beast Boy why? Wouldn’t this be a hinderance to him?

“I am doing as I was created for. These are the wishes of The Dark Prognosticus. I serve it…! This is my fate. The price I had to pay for the way things were. The way I suffered!”

-You will never understand my needs Terra! You will never understand my pain!

(Logan explaining to Terra his position)

That and he may as well use this opportunity to exact VENGEANCE on people who wronged him.

-Hmmmm, died and came back. I could explain my experiences or go on a talk show and make millions. Or I could go evil. Well, evil has cookies.

Using his new powers, Logan began to kill others to understand his might and increase his abilities.

-Understanding through death, makes sense.

He eventually Met Dr. Nekard,

-Must not break down laughing at the name. I will not break down laughing at the name.

whom became his first minion, after which, Logan used the powers of the book to create his other three minions to help him in quest.

-Let’s see, what will we need? A hot sexy general, a lackey with a special power, and a big dumb tough one.

Eventually constructing a castle to serve as their base of operations, located in a realm composes entirely of darkness

-He constructed his own freaking castle...Dude, get out of the evil business and get into evil constructing! You’ll make a mint.

(Reflecting the Count’s heart… cold… miserably… painful)

-Why is it that every description you put in is like a goth kid’s first poetry section!

and his outfit,

-Is the second lamest attempt at a costume I had ever seen and I am a sonic fan.

the way it covers his entire body is because he doesn’t wish to look upon himself (Because he was shamed and ashamed)

-So he was created by the Dark Proboscis, but he still retains enough of his sanity and will to be shamed.Methinks you are trying to have some cake and eat it too.

Poor Logan was a mess; deep down all this was still not helping him, and life itself has become a prison, always reminding him of his betrayal and heartbreaks!

-

Sorry but all of this talk is making me think of pennance. Aka, someone’s bright idea. Someone thought of this, thought it was cool and an interesting take on the character. Someone thought that this was an interesting take on the character.Someone thought this design was a good idea!

He hated it that other people had it better than he did,

-*A slave on Apocolpsy* Yup, having the time of my motherfucking life down here!

and he began to see the worlds and meaningless and worthless!

-Even the planet of the malls?!

However, even death itself could not solve his problems, as even in death there is no escape from the feelings of darkness.

-Exesue?

So incredibly insane, hurt and upset

-No, please go back to how he is feeling things after death.

(As well as it being the wishes of the Dark Prognosticus as well as his own fate)

-No, sop right there! You are saying an emotional impossiblity.

he realized all he could now to end his suffering was to fulfill the Dark Prognosticus’ wishes:

-I said stop! How in the seven hells are you supposed to feel remorse, sadness, and depression while you are dead? What are we using Green Lantern logic now? Because if we are, then you just invalidated a comment you made not too long ago where you said,

“I am not using the rest of the comics because there is no room for those heroes.”

He was going to get revenge by destroying everything that wronged him, took away his happiness and everything he couldn’t stand… Existence itself!

-Thanos steps in, and frowns at him, “That’s my job Logan.”

Logan: No, I’m all power ful and-urrk *Neck snap by the mad titan.*

Thanos: And that was for trying to mooch on my girl Death.

Death of the Endless: *rolls eyes* Fine, one picinic.

Thanos: YAY!!!!! *Skips away*

Before you Thanos fanboys come at me for the previous setch, let me say this...Thanos is my favorite of the Marvel Galatic villians. I make fun of him as often as I do Doom and Dr. Doom is my favorite Comic Book villian of all time.

So he turned to the pages and unleashed the greatest and deadlist spell/prohphecy

-Will someone get this guy a Thesarus...and a dictionary, because he still has no idea what deities are.

within the book, and thus, THE VOID

-~into the void~ *Starts rocking out the kiss music.

was formed which would eventually engulf the entire universe!

-Antimonitor: Hey mack, get out of my line of work  *Wipes Logan from Exsitance* I swear, all of these yutzes standing in my way. Oy Vey, it’s enough to get a brain hemorage.

...

Don’t know why I made the Antimonitor Jewish on that joke.

“What have I done?!” (Logan regretting his actions)

-Ah, see this is classic “My character isn’t bad, really!” actions to try and make you think that he is ok. Here is the problem though...You just talked about how he wants to wipe out his pain and misery, you have put this all on him. You have spent the past few paragraphs into making him into a whiny putz that you don’t have sympathy for, at all.

With the prophecy now in motion, Logan felt content, but deep down he was greatly remorseful.

-I am really happy about this! But also I am vewy sad. Won’t you please pity me!!!!!!!

However, because he was a slave to the Dark Prognosticus, he couldn’t let his emmotions get to him,

-And so he-lets his emotions get to him and he goes off on a mass murdering rampage because he feels angry, hate, despair, loss, and so many other emotions.

so he continued on his path as a way of accepting his position and making the most of things.

-Made the castle into a bacherlor pad, got a hot tub, brought out some game systems, made a theater system, kind of homey actually.

To strengthen the void, Logan and his henchmen killed people and obliterated more worlds themselves to accelerate the void’s expansion.

-This was, in hindsight, really stupid as it will attract attention. He chose to do the smart thing instead and wait it out. It was long, but it was well worth it.

Logan decided Tamaran would be the first world to go, as he was angered by Starfire and Robin, and how their relationship worked and he lost Terra.

-*Bangs head* You just said that this wasn’t just about Terra!!!!!! Look, if you want us to believe that this isn’t about Terra, then leave her out of it. Remove her from this paragraph and your argument is won. Here, I’ll help!

He wanted Starfire to see and feel what it was like ot have everything you ever loved taken away from you

-There, this is all that was neeeded, but by adding in Terra you have ruined you own bleeding argument!!!

“My pain becomes your pain!”

-Here suffer you slave girl who was trapped on a station, lived with the fear of being raped, tortured, and emotionally scarred worst than I am. Feel my pain!!!!

Logan wished the Earth not be destroyed just yet (Maybe tinkered with) mainly because he still has SOME fondness of his homeworld (and Terra was on it)

-*drinks some Romulan Ale* And another thing about your argument, it doesn’t really hold water under-hic-under-hic-srcuntny

Deep down he actually still had feelings for the girl, and his remorse continued to eat at him (Especially after all he had done)

-*drinks some more* see, right there? By saying that he feels about her and that he cares for her, you are making this more and more about Terra. You bearly touch upon anyhting else about his backstory. It’s like you only use it for more emotional baggage. Sorry kid, but that won’t fly.

He eventually captured Terra and brought her to his castle as prisoner, where he would make her watch all the worlds fall and then he would kill her too.

-Then you add this malarky into the mix, giving us more reason to believe that this is solely about Terra. You don’t want us to believe that this is only about her, then ditch her. Remove her from the equation. And *Drinks* I don’t think I can feel my eyes

Plop.

“You wanted Change, Terra? YOU GOT IT!!!”

-You know what would be an interesting twist...if Terra killed herself because of all of this. I mean, she can’t be normal, she is being forced into a superhero role now, and appearently can’t even have her own opinion without causing death. I would be looking out for her, guys.

But this was it. Logan was completely broken, a prisoner not only of his own power but his feelings as well.

-Wich, even though it isnt just about Terra, is revolving around Terra for some odd pecular reason.

After much time of being haunted and feeling extreme guilt of all he had done (Including beheading Flurry Heart as was shown earlier int he fic)

-As well as the sin of wearing that horrible outfit!!!! I mean, my god, that outfit is like one of the worst things I have ever seen in my life!!!!

He had truly seen just how evil and despicable he had become, and he fell into despair worse than anything he had ever had.

-So, let’s go over the dark Prognosticator little plan here.

Pick an emo teen who is convinced that his life is misry and sadness and we should all suffer like he has because no one else in the world has.

Put him under his control so he can destroy everything in exsitance

Instead of giving him a happy life to make control easier, he maks sure that he falls DEEPER into dispair, setting it up for an immintent downfall

Lets him kidnap the girl who is responsible for all of this

?????

Profit!

I am really thinking that this bad guy sucks as plans.

He loved Terra so much, and nothing he could do would change that.

-Wich is why, instead of controlling her, he threw her into a dungeon and made her suffer the torment of watching the world go bye. Truely he is a tragic lover in all of this

He really wished there was some way he could end all this, maybe even reverse it all (Bring back those he killed) and maybe… just maybe, things could be okay again.

-Well, there is always Mykan’s tried and true Dues Ex Machina! Why worry about consequences when there is Dues Ex Machina

However, there were problems regarding all this.

-That he was being written by a writer who thinks that this all you need to make a sympathetic villian?

-Logan could not close the void. Once he had unleashed it… it’s out of his hands. He can’t stop it no matter how much he or may not want to.

-Why?

“The prophecy cannot be stopped. Even I cannot stop it now!”

-Also he was still owned by the Dark Pronogsticus. It was the master, he was the slave. He had no choice but to continue to fulfill the book’s desires. It was what he was created for!

-And in order to do this for peak efficencay, he...kept all of the memories. Again, villian of the year.

-Plus, now that he thought about it, why should he stop? He’s come this far. It’s too late to go back, and he’s got nothing to gain by going back anyway.

-Are you feeding us information or giving us story beats, because this is all stuff we can glance over as we read this stuff. Then again, considerign your prose is usually very dull and dry.

Count Logan will never be a redeemable villain no matter how many times you claim he is/will be. (Words of a mocker)

-Gee, think its because of the whole entire baby killing; thing?

That’s how they all treated him while he just BB, the same way you’re treating him now. (My argument)

-So your argument is, since they treated hi bad once in a while that it is ok for him to go genocidal on us all?

So what’s he got to gain by stopping? Nothing but more heartache, more misery, pain, and all the things that what started all this in the first place.

-*Puts on psycological glasses*  Now, maybe we should start talking about your psycogolgical issues.

Joking aside, while this kind of thinking is ok for a villian, it’s generally more accepted if the villian had some sort of charisma or was really  symptatpetic to us readers. This allows us to understand their plight. However, the way Beast Boy is written in this, feels more like his just crying his eyes out for nothing, especially in comparison to his fellow heroes.

He can never move on, (He has nothing to move on to) There is nothing to be gained from quitting, only lost.

-Except freedom, help, and a lovely new vacation in the bahamas. But, then again, this is the weakest villian I have met.

Since the prophecy could not be stopped…

-For reason’s hereto unexplained.

He couldn’t free himself from his bond with the book…

-Even though, later on we see him break the connection by just having a new bad guy take it up.

And he felt he had come too far to quit and had nothing to gain by stopping… Logan regarded his remorse as pointless, and he continued on destroying things (But his remorse continued to eat away at him and it pained him dearly)

-So, he hated to destroy, but he kept on anyway even though it did nothing to help him...You know, there is a proper way to do this. If any of you have a favorite villian that has this persona, please write it down in the comments below.

As Logan continued with his plans he had lied to his henchmen.

-Jerk!

He told them that after all worlds were destroyed, he would build whole new worlds with peace and happiness that THEY could enjoy “With none of the icky stuff” as the minions put it.

-Define icky stuff, and if you could please do it as an adult, that would be great thanks.

When In actuality, he is planning on leaving it all in ruin and perishing along with it, feeling he has nothing left to live for and is too upset and ashamed with what he has done to go on anyway. (Though he cared deeply for his minions)

-You know, you could skip steps one through three by just letting the void do it’s job. You would win...you would succeed.

To him, the world just held no meaning, no joy, and nothing to exist for as it pained him so much. There was nothing at all that could save him now…

…Nothing!

-*Aighs*

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXYiU_JCYtU

VEWING

-Viewing what? Am I supposed to see something?

Count Logan is a very unique figure to the heroes and the ponies.

-Wait, what? How? He sounds like generic villian 587 to me. Doesn’t seem all that different from any other villian who has the “Woe is me and my life, how much misery do I have suffer in order for me to have my life fufilled.”

He is the only enemy they have ever faced who is driven by sadness

-What?

What?!

WHAT???!

I...I just. I am trying my best to not use Mr. Freeze because that one is too easy! Oh god, there are just so many that are motivated by sadness it isn’t even funny. I mean, isn’t that like one of the three big motivators for villians? Insanity, rage, and sadness leading to a desire for revenge?

Dude, do not try and anyalize a comic book villian if your only connection to the universe is a freaking cartoon show!

and remorse, rather than a lust for power or control.

-Hmmm, I count Sombra as one of the ones motivated purely by control. Starlight was motivated by the sadness of losing her only friend, Tempest was by the fact everyone shunned her after getting scared, And then we have some of the DC villians. I mean, shoot, just one season of the Flash will give you plenty of villians motivated by sadness and heartbreak.

He created the void out of bitterness and heartbreak.

-But again, Terra was not a determining factor. Remember that.

All he wanted to was end his suffering (Something that only NON-EXISTANCE could make happen)

-Still don’t know how you feel anything while dead or why the book picked a winy teenager instead of any of the heartless other bad guys out there in the DC universe.

He at first seems to be a stereotypical, heartless villain, with no feelings or regard for anyone or anything!

-And he is. Thank you for agreeing with me.

Only now to be understood; Logan is in fact an emotionally tortured person which makes him less evil than he appears

-PFFFFTT!!!!!

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!

Ok class, sit around, it’s time for another lesson in writing. From an ACTUAL writer and not some chump who thinkgs that writing is something that you just do to relieve yourself og pain.

Just because you understand a person and their actions, does not make him a tragic villian. It doesn’t make him less evil, just because you know his actions. Look at Dr. Doom. He lost his mother and that is his big motivation, does this mean that we should see his desire to conqure the world as less evil? NO! It is still freaking evil.

You want to make a tragic and sympathetic villian, fine. That is perfectly fine and dandy, some of my favorite villians of all time are tragic villlians, but don’t try to force it onto us. Look, Magneto is a very tragic villian, but his past doesn’t hide the fact that he still KILLED an entire ship of people and would wipe out all homo sapiens if he had the chance.

(His actions are not justifiable but they are understandable)

-No, they are not. Doing this because your mother is held by the devil, understandable. Because you feel that the Kryptonian is misusing his power while you are incapable of understanding the basic thought of genuine kindness, understandable. Doing this because you found out that your whole freaking life was a lie and that it was all because some electric company wanted you to lead them to a promise land and that the greed of humanity is making you inot a horrible person? Understandable. KEfka...is not understandable and is just scary.

He is a tragic, sadistic and hopeless character, whose evil deeds, hatred of worlds and lust for destruction were all born from the purest of emotions… LOVE.

-If you have to tell us this, congratualtions, you failed in making a really tragic character. What’s more, by not showing us any real remorse, we don’t really feel that he is...

Wait...

LOVE!!!!!!!

You mean, you just went on a few minutes, tellin us about how this was tragedy and all of that jazz, just to break it down to love?!!!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSpcXtFe1Jo

All he ever wanted was to be truly loved and understood, instead he always got the exact opposite of all this. The Titans negligence and pushy ways pushed him over the edge.

-Looks at all of the times Beast Boy is paling around with the gang( Oh yeah, I can so totally see that. I mean it is so obivious that Beast Boy was negelted and was painfully pushed on.

Will you please stop pushing your own agenda onto a character?

The Titans, as well as others are responsible for creating Count Logan and bringing forth all the chaos.

-So our sympathies lie with them since they are trying to save people and stop this while he is basically letting himself be pushed around.

-THEY were harsh with him

-THEY drove him insane

-You know the problem with the above? If I wasn’t a fan of the show, I would be questioning this with the question of where is the proof.

-THEY caused him to lose faith which allowed the book to curse him

-Again, even though the book had a billion other canditates, this whiny putz was more worthy.

*At the titans and Terra* "...You did this!" (That is what I'm aiming for in the story: It's more THEIR fault all this is happening... though it doesn't excuse BB's actions either)

-And you...failed. Hard. It isn’t even funny with how hard you failed at bringing this important message to life. Why? Because we never really see him remorseful for his actions and evrrything he does in this feels more like everyoen is at fault for not bowing to him and treating him like a god because he has had a bad life. Oh boo hoo hoo. We are so saddened by something that obiviously doesn’t really affect him. This totally makes us sympathetic to his cause and think that the titans, who only wanted him to move on, are the bad guys in this.

and NOOOOOOOO... regardless of what you may pretend to think (Without hurting yourselves)

-And this also hurts your argument, because now it makes you look like a child. Well, you are one.

I was trying to justify BB's actions,

-You know, if you just read what you write once in a while, I wouldn’t have as much fun as I am now.

I'm just trying to say that his actions were UNDERSTANDIBLE. (Not that it matters, since you people are still whining about it anyway)

-I am not whining, I’m complaining. Do you want to hear whining?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csPPqdbcVwM

Thank you Rarity.

Ra: You are welcome darling.

So now it's clearer... I suggest people learn to READ and not judge.

-Translation: Let my character alone! He is pure and untouchable! Stop trying to hurt his feelins by insultin him! You are all monsters who need to learn better! WAHHHHHHHHH!

Sorry, but we read and we interpit. You don’t want that, then don’t write it.

Until next Time... I leave you vids that have Logan in them...

-Oh joy. Welll, lets see what we got here tonight!!

Mykan out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=176&v=d63QJZ1OP9E

-Ehh, the song is a little too depressing and doesn’t really match up. The lyrics are a bit dull and lifeless.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=42&v=SbMlE9LEQWE

-Jared Leto, please do not give this guy a dead rat, he doesn’t deserve it.

Anyway, this song doesn’t really work. This is a whiny little brat who is striking out against the world just because he doesn’t get what he wants. The song talks about the futility of war, about it affects the soldiers beyond what we see, and how it hurts everyone. There is no favorites in war, only titles that we give ourselves anf what others tell us we are. And in the end, war will will change us all.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_BbyyXBVPw

-I apologize for Les Mis fans. He probably never really watched the show at all. But if I am right, this is again talking about tragedy and the loss og friends who moved on. This is not all about you screaming out about how thee guys are wrong.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=2&v=QMLEoJqeAeg

-*BANG!* You do not sully one of the most important days in human history with your slime.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=1V01K51igO4

-Somedays I wonder if he actually watches these musicals or jut listens to the songs.

Now then, unlike the Bio I made for him (Because I spied on people and saw they're getting ready to riff him... like fish to the hook)

-Hey, sorry I was late to the party but work was literally zapping the comedy out of my body.

Now I'm going to give my own insights on what I made The End of Ends like it was.

-HAHAHA!!! Buddy, once it is out there, any and all interpitations belong to us the readers. We do not care about you.

And remember... It's NOT just because BB was dumped by Terra, but that plus an and entire life of hardship, tragedy, heartbreak, misery and shameful people treating him wrong.

-Sadly, since you use the “Greatest emotion of all, love” line, you made it more about Terra than what you were going for, sorry, but them’s the breaks kid.

Firstly, people like to tell me how wrong I am about how the Titans treat Beast Boy,

-You kind of are. Big Time. It’s like saying Misty is a bitch while forgetting the rest of her character traits. That is called, ‘flanderization.’ not that you would know anything about that, right?

perhaps they are wrong, but it makes no difference to me.

-I love how this is never about you and how you are wrong. No, it’s all on us.

Remember, my RULE OF ONE SIDE

-Ah yes, that stupid rule.

It's all ONE or all THE OTHER, not both-

-Because that is how humanity works! Remember, there is only one type of person and a person acts only like one way all of the time. He never changes or has his moments of kindness.

Sometimes the Titans are nice to him, sometimes they are mean to him.

-It’s like humanity has different emotions and feelings throughout their lifetimes and it takes more than just a few days to get to know a person.

  Not anymore, it's either all one or all the other.

-Aren’t you glad I am not making a politcal joke right now? I so could but I refuse!

 They are either all bad or all good.

-Yeah, its not like I know of good people back where I used to work and I can tell you about them, but they were all bad. Yep, no good at all. Or I would say that if I were a jerk.

  (And if they are all bad, then anything good that's ever happened is now null and void to me "It means nothing")

- That’s right. Even if you do good oout there people, according to Mykan logic, you are already bad and must be punished. Don’t try and redeem yourself or make yourself better, just bask in the glow of your own villany, or better yet...

Like I also told you before, Beast Boy respected Terra's wishes and let her go (Be it I wrote it that way or not) and for that... I'm going to beat him up.

-And people wonder if the scene on Fall was a paraelle to how the characters feel about Mykan abandoning them and treating them like garbage

 You know the rules in my world- If a guy loses a girl and it really steams me, then the guy will not only be denied having any happiness in his life BY ME,

-Because you are the high allmighty master of the realm and we must all obey you, or else. Yadda yadda. We know, and that they must follow your evil whims or be punished because they can’t have lives or do what you lack the courage to do you mangy coward.

 the following must go into effect.

-And here we go, you might want to get some hot chocolate. Most likely, you heard this one before

-He lives a long and pointless life, with nothing but scorn from others, unappreciated, and loses more than he gains all the time (This way, he'll have nothing to gain by moving on)

-Even if it makes no sense, it’s completely OOC, and really just ends up demeaning the character in the end. Hey as long as my sense of worth is built back up.

-Have a super falling out with those who were once his friends. Again, I don't care if people say his friends never treated him that way, MY RULES ARE MY RULES.

 -I would like to imagine when he says these things that he has his fingers in his ear and screaming “Can’t hear you!!!”

You break them, and I'll break you

-Heh, these characters are stronger than you think. They won’t break so easily.

 (The cartoon character) and Common Sense and good judgment won't save you this time.

-You know, when you say this, you are just saying that you have no common sense or good judgement. Wich kind of says a lot by your standards.

-He must become an Anti-Hero by choice, or become the primary antagonist (Usually NOT by choice) There was no "Yes or No" when it came to that book. It chose him, and that was it. "The choice is not yours"

-Deconstructed that out the window. Although, I do want to go for another round on that one.

 -Do not reconcile with former friends. The friendship is shattered... FOREVER,

-Yes, because that’s how it works. That is so how life works for those of you who are usually insane in the membraine.

end of story. Even if I wrote it so BB agreed to help the others face Draken in the final battle, in the end,

-It doesn’t even matter!

Sorry, in a Linkin Park mood

he would still wish NEVER to makeup and reconcile with them, balk at their desires to want to make up with him, and just leave,

-Only to cry about it a little later on his blog about how much they suck and are cruel and he wants his momma.

so they'll all feel dejected, hurt, and Terra can be heart-broken (Hopefully irreparably like how she did to him.)

-Either that or they all party like crazy while he is gone and get Kid Flash as a replacement.

-If reconciliation looks hopeful, the dude must die.

-Wow, you are a giant monster aren’t you? I mean, there is evil, there is cruel, and then there is you.

  That way he STILL can't reconcile with his friends, and they can still be hurt (That's why I killed BB on Friendship is Failure #3, so the potential will never be.)

-And yet it still felt like it did in the end. See, this is what happens when you try to do something that you just aren’t  good at.

Yeah, I know (I can tell without reading) a lot of you are insulting me right now

-Actually, I am making a soundtrack for Fall arc 1. Trying my best to think of a good Dislestia theme that I have.

and saying how much my rules suck. Well it sucks to be you then. "When you read in my world, you'll read by my rules."

-And the problem with that is, the moment we came here, it became our world too.

And the rule stands for BB or any guy in a couple I deeply supported: "Get the Girl... or Get punished!"

-Even if they don’t really have that much in common or are really all thatgood together, they must get together.

But remember, Terra is not the only factor.

Now, as for Logan himself, people also complain "He's too stuish and overpowered"

-I’m not complaining. I like OP bad guys. It makes me excited to kick thier asses. It feels so good that there are strong bad guys for me to kick. Because to me, a god is just another face for me to kick. If there is a dinosaur in the ice, then I want to teach it to balance atop a ball and-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wh8ii9AFdSQ

Well, he kinda HAS to be, and for several reasons.

-Because I am an unoriginal hack who has no idea how tension works.

1: He is supposed to have the tittle

-I am going to be mature and not laugh at that mistake. I will not laugh and move on.

of "An Evil that is beyond ALL imagination"

-Its a shame that he isn’t, not really. Shishio, Kefka, Sephiroth, hell even Garland are more badass and evil beyond all imagination than this guy. At worst, he’s Kylo Ren.

  (Regaurdless of whatever wangasty, bitchiness, or emo slurrs people wish to mock him with)

-Oh please, as if I resort to slurs. I let the other people and my betters do that for me. I prefer to deconstruct.

 With a title like that, he SHOULDN'T be that easy to beat or even scratch,

-Ah, but with everything, there has to be a balance. Go too far one way and he’ll seem too invinvable and not very believable that the heroes can win. And when you go too far where you are taking out power houses from the cannon verse. Well, then it goes way to far and makes it look less like the villian is powerful and just an over bearing boss.

For example, Freiza was just the right mix of super powered while making it believable that he could be taken down. Dio is the same way.

 otherwise he's just another MOTW. (Monster of the Week)

-We know how Acronyms work.

  He has to be really strong, fierce, and deadly, to hold up a reputation like that

-Or just be poweful and intimating.

(Something that NO MLP villian ever did with me... not even Sombra or the Storm king)

-Wait, so the tops for you are Storm King and Sombra? SOMBRA AND STORM KING! Look I love Storm King and all, he’s a fun and silly villina, but tops on the mlp roster he is not. Hell, Tempest stole the show from him! And you put the dreaded Even on him as if he was some sort of powerhouse of MLP villians?

I'm just doing this now to mock the Storm King (Practically all MLP villains...)

-Oh this is going to be fun. Allow me to start with some Storm King questions.

*Picture Logan talking to the Storm King*

*The storm king wishes to help Logan, feeling he become more powerful if they teamed up*

Storm King: Wait, why would I want to work with this guy. He’s kind of...emo and depressing. He’ll cramp my style! Besides, he just isn’t that marketable. I mean, look at that armor, my stocks will plummet from the idea alone!

Logan: "In your world, they call you "A King?"

S.K: Well, acutally they call me the boss. I am trying to get King Trademarked but the lawyers say I don’t have a case. No good snakes.

Logan: "In mine... we would call you "a child"

Storm King: Me, a child? Oh that’s funny coming from mr. Livejournal. I have something you don’t, emo boy. Personality. Yeah, Tempest may outshine me in the movie, but lets face it...at least I’m fun. You just cry every five minutes and say how we all need to bow to you.

"An arrogant, demanding, blinded child!

Storm King: Are...are you ignoring me? I just insulted you and you are just going off on your tagent?

Do you really think that you can come to me with a proposition, assumed that I even WANT or NEED your help? Storm King...!

Storm King: Hey, you came to me, appearently to mock me. You must not have much to do.

  *Chuckles* Oh, forgive me... "Your highness." You said we understood each other... You COULD NOT be more wrong!"

Storm King: You’re right, we don’t understand each other. Give me a moment. *Snaps fingers* Tempest?

Tempest: *rolls eyes* Yes, master.

Storm King: Write me a sob story.

Tempest: *Frowns, and uses her magic to type up a story* Here ya go boss. I’m going to go get hosed.

Storm King: Ahem...My mother abused me until I was 10, leaving me to fend for myself. All the while I craved the kind touch of someone, anyone out there. It was soon that I realized that by letting others follow me, I could make the world care for me and love me like I always wanted. This also helped to fill in the loss of my father and friends, who always seemed to dissappear whenever I got close to anyone. I decided to become king in order to make the world love me.

There, now I have a sad sack story, now we understand each other.

Logan: "I understand you; your petty quest for bits of power... your need to conquer... your desires! But you... don't see me."

Storm King: *Blinks* I see you, right there. You are standing there, in front of me.

Logan: "Oh, but I am, especially in one particular way: I've EARNED my title and my position. You've been GIVEN yours, Storm King.

Storm King: Weren’t you given your power because a book saw you and thought that you were perfect for the host. Then it GAVE you the power to wipe out existance? That sounds like you were given the power to me. Right Tempest?

Tempest: *slurred* Too drunk to care!!!!!

Storm King: See? You were also given the power to make all of this by that book.Were it not for the book you would be just little Beast Boy!

I... am a true embodiment of darkness... and you're just a little boy."

Storm King: If the embodiment of darkness is a whiny 17 year-old...I need a new line of work.

Logan *Cuts in&: "You are excused... *Taps his Cane for his minions to come* Take him away, and dispose of him."

Storm King: Don’t bother, I’m out! Have fun with your destruction or whatever. By the way, my assasstant emptied your booze storage.

Tempest: ~HEre we are, the princessess of the universe~

Whoo! That felt good... now moving on...

-Awww, but I was having fun putting in the actual Storm King personality and ignoring your horribly adapted piece of material. Yeah, I know he stole it. Don’t know where, but I know he stole the dialouge.

2: He's so overpowered: Well... um, in case you didn't notice

-Yeah, I kind of been skimming the original...kind of boring if you ask me.

"He's trying to LITERALLY obliterate the universe" and in a short time as well (A matter of weeks)

-Do not get me started on your little timeline shennigans!

Don't you think you need an awful lot of power for that--

-The empire did it with only a small planetoid.

to destroy planets whole, shatter multiple stars with one strike, wipe out a million races just like that. You need LOTS of power for that.

-Eh, just a planet sized planet buster and you’re good.

And remember... It's NOT just because BB was dumped by Terra,

-But it is, I’m just trying to lie my pants off.

but that plus an and entire life of hardship, tragedy, heartbreak, misery and shameful people treating him wrong.

-i.e nobody kissing his ass and treating him like a king.

  He's angry, insane, and hurt, and he wishes to stop the pain and get revenge at the same time... Killing himself simply, will not do it (As spirits can feel pain as well, and eventually the spirits of others would join him in death...

-WHAT?!

 but through NON-EXISTENCE, that won't happen)

-Antimoniter: Ok, now I am gonna sue somebody.

Also, getting back to the Titans, and my STILL being wrong about the way they treated

-Oh joy, more “They hurt my cinnamon roll!!!!”

 Beast Boy, I still don't care. The goal of the story was to make it more THEIR FAULT all that destruction happened

 -So to prove your point, you had to lie, falsifie evidence, make faulty excuses, and trick the audience.

(They drove BB off the edge... which made the book curse him... which brought forth the destruction)

-It was all their fault and not the whiny crybaby in the corner who wants everyone to kow tow to his needs!!!!

"You did it, Titans"

-You know, this would be the point where ever one gives him a bitch slap.

And being nice to BB won't drive him off the edge, will it? and it also won't make it look more like their faults like I want it to be.

-Again, so you have to lie in order to make your story work. Have you not seen the problem with this?

That's pretty much the basic idealism I have and want to see in fiction.

-So, you are bringing out ideals and making things seem brighter?

 You tell me, "The Titans are his friends... Never treated him like that... ect, ect" I don't care.

-And I know you don’t care. Hell, this hasn’t been about making you mad, fixing you, or anything else. This has beenn purely for the enjoyment of somepeople who want a good laugh.

You tell me "He's overpowered, a stu, an unredeemable villain." Still not caring...

-Not caring, yadda yadda. How much you want to bet he is going to say that this isn’t a version of him.

I like him just how he is. and NOOOOO... he isn't a version of me,

-*Claps* Thank you for proving my faith in you.

because I do not wish to destroy ACTUAL REAL worlds or kill people in real life.

-Nope, but let’s look at the facts. He represents your ideals (No redemption, no forgiveness), he represents your hate (Terra doesn’t get together with him, he despises the Titans), he is a force of your creation that is to provide release for your own pain (Wich you admit as such), and is a whiny little brat who has to deal with the fact that no one is treating him right and he wants to be held.

Yep, that is you. It doesn’t even need to be the killing world or powers to be you. But it’s the real important thing. If you didn’t want it to be you, then you need to ditch the persona.

Killing fictional people is just part of the story (The story is no good without it) doesn't Count.

-Points to the above statement*

"Yes it does, and a it makes you a sick little freak that should be locked up"

-Hey, when you make all of the insults for me...

Again, I say... No it doesn't.

-You should actually pay attention to what you write you  know. People can so easily use it against you.

This is my world, and what I say goes... and I say, if you don't like it, then take a hike and take your so-called "Common Sense" with you!

-Very well idoit!!!!

Until next time, Mykan out!

 -Waves by.

[onewheelneil]

France day 6

Today I got up at 11 am so I could rest more and get a good nights sleep. My friend woke up and got us breakfast. We had bread with jam and butter as well as yoghurt and bananas. I had sheeps yoghurt while my friend had Greek yoghurt! The sheeps yoghurt was just like a thicker Greek yoghurt and tasty. I ate everything and then took a shower and finished my morning routine. I also helped out in cleaning the apartment by sweeping their floor since it was pretty dirty. But they're college students so it's pretty normal. I started out on my exploration of Antibes. As I walked out of my friends building I could smell the ocean. It was a short 45 second walk before I could see the harbor. In the distance I could also see the fortress that used to protect this town. The whole harbor was filled with huge private yachts. It was fun just walking around looking at all the boats. At the end of the harbor were the super yachts and one of them was much bigger than the others. I walked on the wall that protected the harbor but was probably used back in the medieval times as well. At the end of the wall was an awesome sculpture of a man curled up holding his knees. The name is it was Le Nomade. The cool thing about it was it is made out letters and it is hollow with an opening to be inside it. I enjoyed the awesome view from the wall as well where you could see the whole coastline up to Italy. The town of Nice was really big and you could even watch planes take off and land at the airport across the bay. The view and the ocean was amazing. I started walk back towards the center of the city. I walked along the coast enjoying the sounds of the waves crashing against the wall. I saw a little beach and took a video of the waves crashing against the rocks. It was so peaceful I stayed there for a while. Then I kept walking along the coast. I passed a nice park with people just sitting on the benches watching the ocean. I joined them for a bit because it was so nice. The sun was hitting the water making it glow and the shallow parts of the sea were green. I saw a lighthouse in the distance so I made it my next mission to hike up to it. On the way I saw many people out walking their dogs and they were all cute. I got to a rocky trail that led straight to the lighthouse. I walked up it passing a stray cat meowing constantly at me until I walked past it. I don't know what it wanted but I didn't feel like finding out or getting rabies. I got up to the top where there was a beautiful chapel as well. I looked out over all of Antibes and the rest of the coast line from the top. It was beautiful. I walked inside the chapel to check it out and there were some people who said hello to me. I walked into the main area and saw a beautifully decorated altar and some benches for prayer. After I was done I walked out and enjoyed the view once more. Unfortunately the lighthouse was closed to the public so I couldn't get the best view. I walked back down as my friend was ready to meet for lunch. While she decided where to meet I had walked back to the park area where a couple of dogs were playing by a fountain and they were so cute. We met at a public square with an awesome fountain. We bought some bread meat and cheese from a grocery store and then walked to the fortress where there was a path around it with benches. We had a great unobstructed view of Nice and the rest of the coast line while we ate. I had gotten a triangle of Brie but when I opened it there was this strong smell to it. We didn't know why it smelled so strong except that it might be unpasteurized. I had also bought some salami while my friend got prosciutto. We ate and watched planes land and take off from the airport as well as watched people walk by wth their dogs. Each dog was curious what we were eating so we got to pet each one. It was a great time and we enjoyed every minute of it. Afterwards we wanted to see if we could visit the fortress but it had closed at 4:30 so we just walked around the outside of it. Then we started the walk back to her place. Tonight was wine night with her friends so we decided to stop at a grocery store to pick up some wine. We got two reds and a sparkling wine (not considered champagne cause it wasn't made in the champagne area). Then we went back to her place and they had friends come over and drink wine and talk about their troubles while I listened on from the couch. I was pretty tired so I didn't feel like mingling with them too much so I just relaxed on the couch. After a while I got drunk from the wine and they started to trickle out since they had class the next day. I ended up falling asleep soon after everyone else did too. Thanks for reading! France day 5 Today I got up at 10 am and did my morning routine. I talked to my roommates a bit before packing my stuff to head out. They were going to sleep a little longer and I had to check out. So I got all my stuff down stair check out and chilled in the lobby before it was time for my train. I was feeling lazy so all I did was look at funny YouTube videos for hours. It was funny and it always helps look for videos to share to my family for our video contest. Once the time came I called for a cab because my friend told me to use it and on the first time it is free with his code. I took his advice and it is just like uber so I got a nice drive to the train station with out any troubles. Otherwise I would of had to stuff myself into the subway with all my bags and that would not have been fun. I got my driver and we were on our way to the train station. It took us about 20 minutes to get there and then I had to find where my train was. I walked up to the big board that shower all the upcoming trains. I saw my train and all it said was hall 2. Apparently I was in hall 1 so I had to find hall 2 which was easy enough once I did a full 360 and saw a sign pointing to hall 2. Here there was another board with a ton of people looking at it to see which platform their train would leave from. There were two upcoming trains. Mine and another one going to Nice. Once the platform was named both trains were on the same platform! Now they had a hoard of people slowly sauntering towards the train. It was annoying but I eventually got to my seat and got comfortable. Soon the train pulled away and we were off. We passed beautiful scenery of farmland and little villages. I ended up falling asleep and when I woke up everything was dark outside. It also started to rain so it was hard to see out the windows. I got to Antibes and found my friend waiting for me. She only lived a 4 minute walk from the station. It was really nice to see her and when we got to her apartment I met all her roommates. They were all cooking having dinner while my friend and I had ratatouille that she had cooked already. It was nice and filling and I hadn't had eggplant in a long time. Once we finished we cleaned up and water to watch a movie before bed. We decided on the movie Ratatouille about the cartoon rat that can cook. It wasn't buffering at all though so we scraped that idea. We were looking for ideas on Netflix and we decided on one but one of her roommates wanted to watch nightcrawler about the creepy dude played by Jake Gylenhall who goes out at night and films crime scenes. It was my second time watching it and the roommates didn't end up watching it with us anyway. It was a weird situation but we stuck it out till the end before going to bed. It was a lazy day but tomorrow will be a new town to explore. Thanks for reading!