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literary-illuminati · 2 months ago

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2024 Book Review #58 – Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson

Introduction

Kim Stanley Robinson is one of those names I’ve been meaning to around to since approximately forever ago, one of the real Canonical science fiction writers I’ve always felt slightly ashamed I’ve never read (see also: Gene Wolfe). Ministry for the Future in particular is a book I remember getting an immense amount of buzz and downright hagiographic reviews when it came out, even well beyond the usual science fiction circuit. So I went into this with vague impressions and high expectations – which, as it always does, turned out to be a rather dire mistake.

I do not regret having read this book, but that’s on its merits as a cultural artifact rather than a work of literature. Which is to say, I think this is interesting more than it’s good. It’s more or less equal parts a (rather experimental) novel, a work of futurism, and a political manifesto – and despite being incredibly sympathetic to the latter project, I’m not sure it really succeeds at any of them. Which might just be because I’m reading it now instead of when it came out – it is incredibly of its time, in a way that’s genuinely impressively dated even just a few years latter, and which continuously took me out of it.

It was, at least, very formally interesting. The tiny chapters and constant bouncing between different areas of interest kept it from ever becoming too much of a grind, too.

Synopsis

The book is, roughly, a history of the struggle against climate change and to restore the biosphere to equilibrium, beginning with the signing of the Paris Agreement in 2015 and continuing over the next half-century so until the world has been nigh-unrecognizably transformed and victory in that struggle seems more or less assured.

It is, nominally, focused on its only explicit divergence from our own world before the book was written (so, somewhere in 2017-2019) – the titular Ministry, a subsidiary body created by the Paris Accords to pursue and safeguard the interests of future generations – at first this is basically conceived of as a meaningless goodwill gesture by most of the really powerful people agreeing to it. But after a monstrously deadly heat wave across South Asia kills tens of millions of people in a matter of days, more and more people around the world start to wake up to the necessity of drastic action.

Over the next generation the Ministry plays a major (though less so than you might imagine) role in the transition of the world to a sustainable and just future, and the book follows both their efforts and the changing conditions around them that make any of it possible.

The story is told through a dizzying variety of perspectives – there a couple of what you might call protagonists (the minister for the future herself, a Scottish aid worker caught in the heat wave who barely survives and spends the rest of his life failing to cope with PTSD), but they occupy what has to be much less than half of the book. The rest is short persuasive essays, meeting minutes, anonymous vignettes from everyone from an Antarctic research scientist-turned-geoengineer to a de facto enslaved miner in Namibia, and odd little prose poems from the perspective of ‘the market’ or ‘photons’ or similar. It’s all mixed together quite thoroughly – few chapters are more than six or seven pages, many much less, and each new chapter marks a perspective jump. It’s a fascinating reading experience, if nothing else.

Taken As A Novel

...The Ministry for the Future is just not a very good one.

Partial blame goes to I think the very admirable instinct to avoid making some select group of technocrats and activists the Protagonists of History and instead try to maintain something like a global perspective. But the unfortunate reality of it is that the world is very big, and even at 500 pages the book is comparatively quite small. The result is that this is a story where the overwhelming majority of the plot is told in the passive voice, exposition relaying how trends never before mentioned and institutions not yet introduced are conveniently doing this or that to help fix the world, and then rarely if ever mentioned again. One wonders why the titalur Minister was chosen as a protagonist at all, given how the vast majority of her narrative could just as easily been filled by another other ‘life-on-the-ground’ level perspective (her great contribution is convincing the assembled centrall bankers of the world to do something about two thirds of the way into the book).

Also – while the instinct to avoid making ones main characters the perfectly agentic and hypercompetent engine of history is certainly admirable, it’s rather undercut by then still having one of those, but just giving us no real insight or perspective into it.

The mystique of the shadowy, untouchable terrorist syndicate has a powerful hold in the minds of action and science-fiction authors, and Robinson is apparently no exception. The energy transition in the book is greatly sped up by a near-omnipotent ecoterrorist movement that, through everything from sabotage and assassination to drone strikes and missile barrages, (literally) decapitates the entire fossil fuel industry and destroys so many planes and cargo ships so as to cripple the global airline and shipping industries. I’ll leave aside plausibility (for now) – but it just seems so self-evidently obvious that these are the main characters of the story. But with the exception of a single anonymous vignette, the story refuses to ever give the people involved names, faces, or personalities, nor dive into the whys and hows of specific operations. It’s quite frustrating, all the moreso because it feels like the author just saving himself the work of figuring any of that out.

Our two ostensible main characters themselves also just feel like – not a wasted opportunity, but definitely one more could have been made of? The world changes dramatically, almost unrecognizably, through the course of the novel, but their lives really don’t. Here and there sure, there’s not nothing, but the overwhelming majority of their pagecount is spent living what could very easily have been somewhat atypical lives in contemporary Switzerland. Despite all the talk of a ‘super-depression’ and the crippling of global trade, no shortages ever particularly affect them, no natural disasters touch ther homes. A lot of Mary’s chapters really just kind of read like tourism ads for the country Robinson clearly fell in love with at some point.

Taken as Futurism

Which is to say, taken as an exploration of how the world might actually develop, and a plausible prediction of the future based on current trends. Which, given the sheer amount modern frontier technologies, economic and political theories, and just general social trends are all discussed (not to mention a great deal of the breathless marketing and reception it received) the book is clearly trying to be. And which – woof, it does not work out.

The book is full of generational political upheavals occurring mostly because it’s a dramatically convenient time for them to. Most glaringly, the cataclysmic heat wave that sets off the book’s plot also conveniently utterly discredits the BJP and leads the landslide election of an entirely fictitious political movement across all of India, who then spend the next decades dramatically transforming the nation’s politics and economy with unbroken success and to a reception of thunderous applause. There’s no characters with names or faces actually involved in this, no more than a couple paragraphs of encyclopedia-like exposition devoted to it, but it’s the example and engine the whole rest of the book hangs on. The transition of the African Union to a powerful and legitimate supernational entity and the granting of permanent autonomy to Hong Kong (and much of southern mainland China why not) are even less dwelt on.

Now, this all could be excused as just the inevitable causalities of trying to write a book with a global scope – and I am sympathetic to that. But to begin with, I know just barely enough about the politics and the economics of a lot of several of the places touched on or used as dramatic examples to see how surface level and implausible the predicted changes are, and I can’t help but think it’s probably a similar story with all the other lightly touched on placed I don’t know much about (I remain agnostic on the accuracy of the geoengineering and carbon-clearing technologies projected, except that a lot of them suspiciously amenable to a single coherent aesthetic of the future).

More damning, to me at least, is the matter of agency – only the ‘good’ people seem to possess any of it. The conservative opposition exists as this vague, undifferentiated mass – standing athwart history and slowing things down in vague ways, but never really vital or active, never a danger to the political movements that have won or the progress that has been made. There are references to xenophobia and anti-refugee sentiment, but despite a refugee crisis that makes that of the 2010s look like a rounding error, it never leads to any really dangerous political backlash. Given how the world’s actually trending, the book’s vision of politics goes beyond optimism and into outright delusion.

This is especially true for how the book conceives of violence. Political violence is, in the book’s telling, near-universally the province of the ecological Left (with the exception of two events that provide excuses for dramatic set-pieces but fail to actually achieve anything at all). As mentioned above, seemingly omnipotent and untouchable eco-terrorists assassinate dozens of hundreds of the global elite for their crimes against the planet, destroy so many jet liners and cargo ships to force the adoption of new transportation methods, and sabotage so many coal- and oil-powered plants they help force the abandonment of the as fuels. They do this with no real blowback or reverses, no ruthless campaigns of state violence breaking apart the networks or destroying the infrastructure, no loss of public support from the disruptions in food and fuel their attacks would cause – it is not a realistic vision of what ecoterrorism might look like in the coming decades, it’s a plot device in the form of Robert Ludlum villains with no action movie secret agents around to stop them.

As a Political Manifesto

Which is, after all, clearly the real motivation behind the book, and the reason it received as many accolades as it did. It’s also where the book is easily at its most interesting – if, tragically, rather incoherent. Which might be me holding it to a higher standard than is fair but look, there’s only so many essays extolling the failure of the market or the coming obsolescence of war or whatever you can put in your book before I start holding it to the standard of actual rigour.

Mostly it feels like the book is undercut by its commitment to relentless optimism and need to jump around – a great deal of the book is spent giving the most positive possible gloss on particular phenomena or institutions from across the world in a paragraph or two, then say it needs to be scaled up on a national or global scale with no further thought or consideration of costs. Even when it’s not wrong it just feels unserious.

The subject the book spends the plurality of its time on – the main thrust of its program, if anything is – is economics and monetary policy. The great project of the Ministry is convincing the assembled central bankers of the world to create a new currency – a ‘carbon coin’ minted as a reward for sequestering or preventing the removal of a single ton of carbon for at least a century, with a guaranteed minimum value and appreciation over the same period – which would in time replace the us dollar as a global reserve currency and medium of exchange. The arguments around which are frustrating, because they go from plausible and compelling to wildly optimistic to the social science equivalent of star trek technobabble and back again without warning or any detectable pattern. It’s an interesting idea, at least, though one you get the sense is being imperfectly relayed – and the arguments for why the uncrowned monarchs of the global financial system would actually agree to it just aren’t convincing in the least.

Given the amount of times the book uses standard progressive language about how vital empowering minorities, women, the traditionally excluded and so on is to the fight to save the planet, it’s honestly kind of amusing the degree to which the big dramatic set pieces involve appealing to the conscience and principles of the most embedded representatives of The System imaginable. Running through the book are both a disdain and dismissal of economics as a field and a strongly felt technocratic sensibility and desire to have seasoned experts at the helm managing their areas of expertise – it can never quite decide whether bringing the world’s central banks under increased political control is something to be fought for, or a threat to hold over the bankers heads to get them in line and focused on the important task of creating a de facto world state (the quasi-utopia envisioned at the end of the book could just as easily be the globalist dystopia from any conspiracy theorist’s screen with no changes but the valence of the adjectives used to describe it).

It’s more peripheral, but Robinson’s clear affection for the nation of Switzerland and continuous praise of its many virtues in both politics and society does clash a bit with, well, reality. It’s weird to go from a chapter about needing to abolish tax havens to talking about how enlightened self-interest has left the Swiss government entirely behind the mission of fighting climate change.

A Product of it’s Time

Is a weird thing to call a book written barely more than five years ago, I’m aware. But it’s honestly kind of shocking just how aged and dated the book feels, reading it in 2024. Despite just everything I’ve written above, I’m trying not to judge it as harshly as I might, because I feel like I’d have been much more generous if various things didn’t keep taking me out of it.

Some of them are things that can’t really be held against it – the passages about Russia and it’s relationship with Europe reads as almost comical now, to be sure, but so does every sci fi book in the ‘80s talking about the USSR – but that doesn’t mean they don’t hurt the feeling of reading the history of the future. The book was published in October 2020, so the complete non-mention of not even COVID specifically but just any pandemic or major disease outbreaks feel positively unreal.

Other things are less the book already being falsified by history and more just seeing what turned out to be pretty transient intellectual fashions immortalized in print. Seeing a serious, celebrated book talk about the revolutionary potential of the blockchain to create a democratic new economy is enough to turn a hair grey. And on a less extreme level, talking up Modern Monetary Theory as this revolutionary hack of solve economics just feels so very incredibly pre-pandemic.

Too Long; Didn’t Read

Not angry I read it, but more because writing this review was fun and engaging than for its merits as a work of art. Can’t judge it too harshly, given that the task it set for itself is basically impossible – but Robinson’s written enough books that he probably should have known that before he started it.

The set piece at the beginning of someone living through the dead heat wave was incredibly compelling drama, at least.

#book review #the ministry for the future #kim stanley robinson #sff #cli fi

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aoioozora · 9 months ago

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Simon.

Part 8

Chapters Masterlist

Character: Simon Riley / Ghost Content: Biker! Ghost x Fem! Reader, strangers to lovers, fluff, civilian au

Note: I still can't believe that I've written 8 whole chapters for a oneshot that I never planned on making into a series! But I'm glad it's coming along well and that you're enjoying it :) I hope you enjoy this chapter too.

Tags: @cmbghost @gluttonybiscuits @paintlavillered @eatingtheworldsoffanfiction @iimichie

@mxtokko

“Morning, Simon!”

____ and Lindsey arrived at Simon's door at seven in the morning as planned. His crush was the one who excitedly greeted him, while her friend looked disgruntled and ticked at having to be up so early.

“Morning,” he greeted them civilly as his hand instinctively ran through his hair, trying not to appear even the slightest disheveled or flustered at the sight of ____’s smiles, and moved away from the door to let the two in.

“Have a seat. I'll bring you some tea,” he said, promptly moving towards the kitchen.

The ladies, particularly the author, took in the surroundings of his little flat as they entered and sat down. The entire place as a whole was simple. The walls of the living room were empty and unpainted except for a singular, ancient grandfather clock that hung alone near his curtained balcony, filling the quiet room with its rhythmic ticking. She saw that he was concerned more with pragmatics than aesthetics; if it didn't serve a purpose, then it wasn't needed.

She saw that he favored dark colors of blue and black, and neutrals, but found that bright colors were speckled throughout the room in his red floor lamp, the gold painted knobs of his brown television stand, and the red and white chevron patterned cushions on his grey couch. The simple state of his room made her wonder if his bedroom was more personalised.

A hint of green caught her attention and she turned to the balcony. A few potted plants of mint, tomatoes, and coriander, all of which were healthy and green, swayed gently in the morning breeze. She smiled at this. “He’s a gardener,” she thought to herself, not quite expecting it.

The smell of lemon and mint wafted through the air, bringing her thoughts back. Simon brought out a tray of three mismatched teacups and a glass teapot filled with what smelled and looked like lemon tea.

“Have some tea,” he set down the tray on the coffee table and poured out the tea for them.

She, wanting to use Simon as a model for her character, Frederick, watched keenly as he poured with a thoughtful, concentrated look on his face. She wondered why he used a glass teapot over porcelain or any other material, but that was probably not important. However, she was not going to let even the smallest things about him and his choices escape her scrutiny.

“When will Johnny come?” asked Lindsey as soon as she had her sip of tea.

Simon glanced at the grandfather clock. “At six forty-five, he said he'd be here in ten minutes. He's picking up our other friend, Kyle too. Maybe there's some hold-up,” he answered. He felt a little strange; it was his first time properly speaking to Lindsey, and she seemed to look judgingly at him, as if to find a fault.

____ was silent, as she was more concentrated on the taste and temperature of her tea. It was lightly sweetened and refreshing thanks to the lemon and mint. A mental note was already taken that Frederick too would be good at brewing tea.

Simon's ringtone tore the silence and he immediately slid the phone out of his jeans. Thinking it was Johnny, he looked expectantly, but it was his mum. Looking back at the ladies, he excused himself and went out to the balcony to talk.

“What do you think of him?” ____ asked Lindsey, who took slow sips of her tea as the two watched the man pace around the balcony through the partially drawn translucent curtains.

“He makes good tea,” she answered, “I think I'll approve of him a bit.” To Lindsey, a man who could brew a good tea was worth marrying, because, according to her, it meant that he cared about the little things, like making tea taste good. As ____ smiled, she paused for a moment before quipping, “He seems nice so far, but I don't trust him just yet.”

____ shook her head, chuckling. Lindsey was always so skeptical of everyone and everything, both a vice and a virtue.

Simon soon emerged from the balcony into the living room, brows furrowed with concern. He looked straight at ____ and said, “I need to have a word with you, darling,” and then promptly stepped into the kitchen without waiting for an answer, expecting her to follow.

She instantly set down her teacup and followed Simon into the kitchen. “What's the matter?” she asked as soon as she entered, finding him leaning his back on the kitchen counter, arms crossed.

He turned to her, almost opening his mouth to speak but cautiously glanced at the open door; he looked back at her, beckoning her to come closer. When she did, he said, “I don't know how you'll react to this but I need you to hear me out, alright, darling?”

Her curiosity heightened and she nodded.

“Y'see, my mum just called and they're going to have a family reunion soon since my old man's come back home for a holiday from his military service,” he paused, sucking in a sharp breath, unsure about how she would take his next words, but continued anyway, “And my mum asked me if I found a girlfriend yet because she's worried I'm going to die single…” he paused again, “and I may have accidentally told her that you're my girlfriend.”

“You what?” she stared incredulously at Simon, although she wasn't quite opposed to what he did.

“Yeah,” he sighed, shaking his head, embarrassed with himself, “I'm really sorry.”

“Wait, does your mum know about me?”

“Yeah, I told her a few weeks ago that I recently made friends with this lass,” he paused to sigh again, “And when she asked if I finally found a girlfriend, I accidentally said yes, and when she asked if it was you…” he paused again and shrugged.

The lady paused. Now that he said it, it couldn't be helped and she had to play along. Not that it bothered her. She chuckled. “Well, it's alright. You take the trouble of pretending to be my boyfriend, so I guess it wouldn't hurt to pretend to be your girlfriend for a bit.”

Simon looked back at her, visibly relieved.

“Now, what do you need me to do?” she asked.

“That's the hard part. We'll have to make up a story of how we met and how we hit it off. And I'll have to bring you home and introduce you to my family. And not just that, you know who else will be there.” He pursed his lips tight.

She immediately knew. She wiped her clammy hands on her jeans and nodded. “Right, yes.”

He could see the apprehension on her face and in her body as she crossed her arms. Feeling terrible that he dragged her into this, he said, “Darling, you don't have to do this if you don't want to. If going there and meeting him again will make you uncomfortable, then I'm not forcing you to come with me.”

She drew in a shaky breath and pondered for a moment. Simon watched her, gulping harshly.

“No,” she finally said, resolute, “I shouldn't be so scared all the time. If I'm going to be there as your girlfriend, I shouldn't be afraid of some ex of mine.”

Simon blinked in surprise at this response. He appreciated her bravery, and felt his admiration for her increase. However, he didn't show it, and kept his facial expressions neutral with a little smile. “I guess, yeah,” he nodded. He paused for a moment, wanting to say something else, but she beat him to it.

“If anything happens, you’ll stick up for me, won’t you?” she asked smilingly, “Since you’re my “boyfriend”.”

He felt his heart leap. That was the exact thing he wanted to assure her of, and it flattered him greatly to know that they had been thinking of the same thing. Even though he knew this was going to be a pretense, it rubbed his male instincts and ego right to be depended on for protection.

He answered with a wide smile, “Of course, my love.”

“Why d’ye drive a manual?” asked Johnny as soon as he took the shotgun seat, watching ____ take her place in the driver's seat.

“Tut tut,” she shook her head, bringing out a mini sombrero from her pocket which she placed on the gear stick, “It's Emmanuel.”

The three passengers in the back, from left to right– Simon, Lindsey, and Gaz, watched as Johnny burst out laughing, also making ____ laugh as she got the car started.

“Ghosty, she's a woman of culture!” Johnny exclaimed, looking back at his best friend.

Simon made no answer as he was upset that he couldn't sit next to ____. Lindsey felt similarly, but for Johnny. Regardless of that, the drive began with gusto, with Johnny and Gaz filling the time with their singing and jokes, while the other three listened.

____ drove for the first hour, and Johnny took over for the second and the two switched seats, exchanging jokes and quips with ease, making both Simon and Lindsey at the back miserable and jealous. Simon drove for fifteen minutes in the third hour until he nearly hit a tree, but swerved back to the road right on time to avoid damaging both the car and his crush's esteem. Gaz took over for the remaining forty-five minutes, and Simon was banished to the back seat.

Thankfully for him, ____ sat next to him to console him, “Don't worry. After all, you did say that if you tried really hard, you wouldn't hit a tree. You did great for fifteen minutes at least!”

Simon chuckled out of embarrassment. It didn't make him feel any better, but he appreciated her effort.

The camping spot was soon in sight. It was around ten in the morning when Gaz parked the car in the shed of a little cabin. The ladies learnt that the spot belonged to one of Gaz's relatives, who was happy to lend it out to anyone who needed it. And from how the three men scampered around the place relaxedly, it was evident that they were regular visitors.

The fenced piece of land was right next to a little lake which afforded a view of the distant green hills speckled with heathers and daisies. A lonely little dock hung over the surface of the water, which, as Simon informed the ladies, “made a nice fishing spot”.

The group first decided to begin their hike as planned before unloading the car. England's weather was notorious for being fickle and since the skies were currently clear of all rain clouds, the hike was chosen as the first activity.

The trail was an easy one, chosen for the benefit of the ladies who were partially accustomed to walking on rocky, uneven terrain. The end of it promised a little waterfall, which Johnny was excited about showing them, as was evident in his constant singing of sea shanties while they hiked. Gaz happily joined him, while the ladies and Simon chose to be their audience like earlier.

“Johnny sure loves to sing,” observed ____, who trudged between Lindsey and Simon.

“He's a born singer,” replied Simon with a sigh, sounding both proud of and annoyed with his friend, “And he was a theater kid too. Acted in tons of musicals and plays, mostly musicals. Put him together with Gaz and they'll be singing and dancing all day.”

She chuckled. “How long have you guys known each other?”

“Johnny's my childhood friend. We've known each other since we were ten years old. As for Gaz, both of us met him in university and we quickly became friends,” he explained, kicking a rock out of the way.

The two ladies looked at each other. “That's a long time,” remarked Lindsey, “You all must be really close then.”

“Too close,” Simon said dryly, but there was a hint of affection in his voice. He then turned to the ladies to ask, “And what about you two? How long have you been friends?”

“Since high school,” ____ answered, smilingly linking her arm with Lindsey's, “She's basically my sister now.”

Simon smiled. He could tell, for the moment he saw them together, they stuck to each other like glue and didn't leave each other's side for more than a few moments.

Johnny looked back at the calm trio behind him and Gaz. “Jolene!” He called Lindsey by her nickname. When he had her attention, he beckoned her to join him in singing.

“I don't know any of the songs you're singing!” she protested.

“Dinnae ye worry, wee lassie!” he retraced his steps, put an arm around her shoulders, and dragged her ahead with him, making her squeal and stumble. “Gaz and I will teach you!” he promised, and kept his arm around her as they hiked up the hillock.

While the two men busied themselves in teaching Lindsey to sing ‘Bully in the Alley’, ____ and Simon were left to themselves. The lady smiled at Lindsey's attempts to sing, though she was no singer.

“Lindsey hates singing,” she whispered to Simon, “It's crazy how she's doing it for Johnny.” A girlish giggle escaped her lips at the thought of a romance blooming between the two. Her authorly brain couldn't help but conjecture all the sweet moments they would have, worthy of a novel of its own.

“And I'll tell you what, Johnny's never been this fixated on one woman for this long either. He's normally a huge flirt, a ladies’ man, if you will. I'm just as surprised as you are,” answered Simon.

The mention of Johnny being a flirt worried her. She knew Lindsey to almost easily give her affections to anyone who would look her way, starved for love as she was. But she decided to stay out of the way and watch the two for now. If Johnny ever did anything that would hurt Lindsey, she would not hesitate to confront him.

The hike was now proving to get a little tiring, and ____ let out a sigh as she paused to catch her breath and drink some water. Simon stopped too, looking down at her from the slightly steep ascent.

“Are you tired?” he asked.

“A little, yeah.”

He bent his knee and lowered himself slightly, holding out his hand. “Come on,” he encouraged, “Just a little more and we'll be at the waterfall.”

She took his outstretched hand, and no sooner they made contact, a jolt of electricity ran down both their spines. Simon gulped harshly at this reaction, and she felt an additional tingle in her stomach. His larger, more rugged hand held her softer and smaller hand in his, and he pulled her up the ascent with ease. She thanked him as soon as they were next to each other, Simon, eager to be of further assistance, held out his arm to her.

“You can hold my arm if you want to,” he offered, trying to sound as casual as he could, though his thoughts begged her to give him the honour of accepting him.

Her hand practically flew to his arm in an instant, wrapping just below his bicep. Simon never felt more depended upon than now as the two began walking together. And she was completely flattered by his kind offer, trying to suppress her smiles and blushes. The two were, without doubt, over the moon.

The lady was sure to make mental notes about everything Simon did. Frederick would be tall and brooding, but a kind-hearted and observant gentleman with a soft spot for Adelheid.

“This reminds me of the Jane Austen novels where the men would offer their arms to the ladies when they got tired as they walked,” she commented with a bright smile and a certain twinkle in her eye as she moved closer to him, allowing her hand to curl tighter against his arm.

He noted the expression on her face and the movement and instinctively flexed his bicep so that she could feel it. He smiled in response to her comment and said with a chuckle, his cheeks overspread with a light pink, “So it was a custom back then? Interesting.” He hadn't read a lot of Regency era novels to know of past English social customs, but he seemed intrigued by this one aspect that she mentioned. Wanting to know if she really approved of it, asked, “Do you like it?”

She loved it, but for the sake of being mild, said, “I think it's nice, especially now when I don't see men doing this sort of thing.”

“So you like gentlemen then?”

She giggled. “A lot.”

Simon took note of this immediately. If she liked a gentleman, a gentleman he would be. If men of his day didn't do the things he did, like offering their arm, or pulling out the chair for her at a table, he most certainly would do it, for he didn't want to be like other men. He wanted to be special and singled out by her.

They began descending down a slightly slippery, gravelly path that led to the waterfall, and Simon took hold of her upper arm this time as he led her down so that she wouldn’t fall in case she slipped over the loose gravel. He was reminded yet again of how much smaller she was compared to him, and it only heightened his desire to keep her safe.

The gurgle and rush of water from the distant waterfall was soon heard, and a few meters of walking on level ground finally brought them to the waterbody familiar to the men. Johnny cheered like he never saw a waterfall before, loud enough for his voice to echo in the wilderness, and for Lindsey to cover her ears and curse under her breath.

“We're here!”

End of Part 8.

Part 9

Like always, leave a comment if you want to be added to my taglist!

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wooahaeproductions · 1 year ago

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Haru Haru (svt smau) Masterlist: COMPLETED

Your friend, Soonyoung confesses to you in some form all the time despite knowing you don’t like him like that. But what happens when someone suddenly becomes interested in him and he eventually stops confessing to you?

Pairing: Kwon Soonyoung x Gender Neutral Reader

Genre: smau, comedy, angst, fluff, college au

Warnings: both the reader and Soonyoung are idiots, complicated feelings, likely bad jokes, and language Each chapter will have its own warnings

Rating: PG-13

Started: 1/20/24 | Ended: 8/31/24

A/N: I actually really enjoyed writing my last smau and had this idea that just screamed being made into one. So here we are haha and big thank you to my dear Indi @wongyuseokie for looking over the first few chapters to reassure me that it wasn’t bad. 💕

Please send an ask to be added to the taglist!

-> teaser

-> profiles one | profiles two

-> one: thanks, I guess

-> two: how many flowers?!

-> three: lord help us (partial written)

-> four: I should not have done that

-> five: save that for Y/N

-> six: mauled by fangirls

-> seven: let Seungkwan out

-> eight: but…the snacks

-> nine: are you drunk?

-> ten: here’s your shovel

-> eleven: a new contender (written)

-> twelve: rumor has it

-> thirteen: can you at least make better coffee?

-> fourteen: first dates and mini-golfing

-> fifteen: I will swear word at you

-> sixteen: extra special just for me

-> seventeen: fine

-> eighteen: girlfriend? (partial written)

-> nineteen: Soonyoung to the rescue (written)

-> twenty: can I screenshot that?

-> twenty-one: karma or something

-> twenty-two: baby tigers

-> twenty-three: the brain trust

-> twenty-four: PANICKING

-> twenty-five: A firm resolve (written)

-> twenty-six: what have you done with Y/N?

-> twenty-seven: let the games begin!

-> twenty-eight: coffee delivery

-> twenty-nine: a bigger plan

-> thirty: every day (written)

-> thirty-one (end): a tiger and his tigress

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#kvanity #kbookshelf #svthub #seventeen smau #hoshi smau #svt hoshi #kwon soonyoung #svt angst #svt fluff #svt soonyoung #maren's masterlists

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self-winding · 2 months ago

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I posted about this once before. Back in 2018 I wrote a YA novel which derailed my budding writing career.

I had already had three novels published by two different Big Five publishers; none of them made impressive sales, but the third one did get some modest critical acclaim and a pretty solid advance as well as scoring some foreign deals. I more naturally gravitate toward fantasy and sci-fi but my modestly successful novel was a contemporary and I was advised "write something similar to this for your follow-up!" So I did. I wrote a YA novel set in the early '00s, in a small town in Wyoming.

I never succeeded in selling this. I ran up against a lot of seemingly contradictory criticisms from my then-agent and editors. I was told that the book wasn't "relevant" enough to current political issues, but I was also told: “It's a particularly ‘sensitive’ moment right now. While that should mean we publish sensitive books, the reality is that a lot of books that tread too close to hot-button issues…are getting dismissed, abused, and trolled, before they are even opened.”

“They [the editors] are afraid - perhaps correctly, perhaps not - that your book would get mauled just for existing, on concept alone, by the massively influential 'culture cops' who haven't read it.”

“I also think in a different time culturally, it wouldn't matter so much. I don't mean politically, but that even ten years ago publishers were more taste-makers and didn't live in fear of social media in the same way.”

The editors at [Big Five Publisher] had a roundtable debate over whether to publish this book and ultimately decided no. I would have settled for a much smaller advance from a different publisher, but my agent refused to even shop it around after that rejection; she was convinced that even if it was published it would end my career. So I sent her another novel of mine, a middle-grade fantasy, which was accepted and published but again had lackluster sales, and after that my agent dropped me and I've been unable to find a new one.

I sent out my YA novel and got similar comments from a few other prospective agents.

I've had thoughts like "maybe they just thought it wasn't that well-written and they're just giving an excuse of it being too controversial to let me down easy." But then, my former agent turned down another book of mine for reasons more to do with story structure and the premise just not being interesting enough to her; she generally was not shy about telling me if her problem with a book was technique-related or if she just found it conceptually boring.

Anyway, I posted the first chapter of this novel on Wattpad a while ago and then took it down because another agent expressed interest in a partial, but that went nowhere. So recently, on a whim, I reuploaded the first six chapters. Maybe I will upload the rest, maybe I will end up taking it down again? I dunno. I realize this post is kind of a rambling mess. It's been a while since I've had a real success in my writing career and I'm just feeling a bit lost and frustrated.

#writing

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themenendezbrothers · 1 month ago

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2006 partial transcript of Erik and Tammi on Larry King Live.

E. MENENDEZ (by telephone): The only book that's ever told the true untold story about me, what I did, the secrets I've never spoken about, about my childhood and prison.

KING: Why did you decide to do it now?

E. MENENDEZ: Well, for many reasons. One of the foremost is because I wanted people to really be able to get a sense of what Tammi and I are like together and what she means to me and hopefully what I mean to her and who I am because no other book or movie or documentary has ever, ever showed who I am as a person. Certainly, nothing's ever been written about me by someone that actually knows me.

But there's another reason, one that's very meaningful and important to me and that's that in being married to me, and Tammi will tell you all about this, she's faced a lot of hardship and in fact this book has outraged a lot of people. Some people thought it shouldn't be written and I disagree.

With this book, Tammi isn't just standing up for me and standing up for herself, she's standing up for millions of prisoner wives and family members who have been demeaned and outcast because they love a prisoner.

KING: Who would be outraged, Tammi? Who's outraged?

T. MENENDEZ: Well, my family for one and a lot of people that -- I -- I get a lot of e-mails from people that just, you know, don't understand why I wrote the book, why I'm writing it, you know. I get a lot of, you know, negative e-mails.

KING: Erik, we hear little beeps. Do they monitor your calls?

E. MENENDEZ: All -- all the calls are monitored and definitely recorded.

KING: Have they moved you around prison to prison?

E. MENENDEZ: They -- I spent nine years at Folsom Prison, at old famous Folsom Prison so it was the New Folsom. Now I got transferred to this prison about a year ago and I was in the Los Angeles County Jail for over six years.

KING: But how do you adjust to incarceration?

E. MENENDEZ: Human beings adapt. The one thing that we never are able to really adapt to is the level of violence and the angst between prisoners and guards and prisoners. Having to survive each day in here is -- is very difficult.

I wrote, I don't know if you're aware of the fact, I wrote a separate chapter to this book because I really wanted people to get a sense of what I go through in prison each day and what Tammi and I go through just to be together and get it in my own words and I wanted people to be able to see that because it's really an -- it's such a difficult experience to describe in just a few sentences that it's -- I felt it important to put it down on paper.

KING: How old are you now?

E. MENENDEZ: I am 35. I just turned 35.

KING: Do you ever regret what you did?

E. MENENDEZ: Immensely so, immensely so, not a day goes by when I don't wish I could undo this or I could bring them back. It's my unending regret and in a sense it's my real prison.

KING: Children do not have to love their parents. I guess parents love their children. Children don't have to love their parents.

E. MENENDEZ: Well, I think that -- I think that all children love their parents. I think that children love their parents even more than parents love their children. Parents are like gods to kids.

Certainly my parents were the only -- the greatest figures I've known. I was literally dependent upon them for survival and I think that kids love their parents more than parents love their kids.

KING: Do you ever see or talk to Lyle?

E. MENENDEZ: I have not spoken to Lyle in over ten years. I have not seen him in over ten years. The last time I saw Lyle we were -- it was three o'clock in the morning and we were put in separate vans and we were chained up and there was that experience where I -- where I last saw him.

But Tammi really captured -- she writes about -- writes about this and she really captures it. It's very hard to describe that last moment when I saw him. You're going to have to read about it.

KING: Why can't one prisoner talk to another prisoner somewhere else?

E. MENENDEZ: You just can't get around the prison system, Larry. The prison system is what it is. KING: Why commit to a marriage to this beautiful, young lady? You're never going to have sexual relations. Why didn't you say to her "I'll be your friend. I'll write to you. I'll talk to you. Get a romantic life."

E. MENENDEZ: You know that's a good question and -- and Tammi is going to have to help me answer it. I mean the first time I looked into Tammi's eyes I felt like I had come home. She's not just my best friend. She's my -- she's my great love, Larry.

This woman is everything to me and so at the beginning of our relationship we tried to just make it a friendship and it was a friendship for many, many years, a platonic friendship.

But then when she came up to visit, and you can tell him about this baby, when she came up to visit, I just -- I saw so much more in her and I fell hopelessly in love with her and I couldn't help falling but I never expected her to fall in love with me.

Marriage was certainly the farthest thing, you know, in the back of our minds, well certainly hers and I just, you know, that's something that we go through now and as you read in the book it's been her great struggle.

I think it's a great struggle for anyone that marries or is with a prisoner is that separation and joining the two different worlds. It's still a struggle that we go through but it's our love that keeps us together but it's not an easy road.

KING: You don't feel he subjected you to something, in other words that he could have said "I'm madly in love with you but you have a right to a life outside of this"?

T. MENENDEZ: Well, I mean I know that he struggles with that every day, you know, especially when we talk about the appeal later. You know, we've had some bad news with the appeal and I know that he's come to me and he said, you know, "I don't know if I can let you do this life."

And, I know that he -- it's not like he's like you got to be with me and this is it. He struggles with it. He wants to release me but yet, you know, it's a pain within him that wants me to stay so, you know.

E. MENENDEZ: It's the hardest thing I can -- I can -- I can go through is exactly what Tammi said. It's like I want her to be free. I want her to have pure happiness. She's a beautiful woman. She's intelligent. She's incredibly compassionate.

She can -- she can -- there's 100 guys that can give her more on a physical level than I can but I -- so I can -- I can -- I have to focus on just cherishing her and appreciating her beautiful finer qualities and pour all of my energy into her and that's what gives me joy.

It's the only thing that gives me happiness in prison and letting it go it would -- it would certainly all but ruin my life. I mean just devastating. It would be the end of me. But, at the same time, I struggle with it because I want her to have that and Tammi as long as she'll have me I will -- I will cherish her forever.

KING: The book is "They Said We'd Never Make It, My Life with Erik Menendez," available online at erikmenendez.com. It's a hell of a read. We'll be right back with both of them right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KING: We're back with Erik Menendez and Tammi Menendez. They are married. They are happily married. They are the -- I guess they're the co-authors, although she's listed as the author, "My Life With Erik Menendez" available online at erikmenendez.com. Do you often, Erik, think what any man would think -- she's got to be with somebody tonight?

E. MENENDEZ: You mean in terms of her being unfaithful?

KING: Yes. I mean, who wouldn't think it?

E. MENENDEZ: It's a fear that's almost primal, that I certainly had early on. But Tammi is -- Tammi's a remarkable woman. I mean, any woman that could be with a guy in prison is going to be remarkable. but she is -- she's something really, really special. And she calms my fears, and just her morals and her values and her ethics. I don't doubt her. And I've -- it's inconceivable to me.

T. MENENDEZ: I'm always available for his calls. If I wasn't available for his calls, then he might get a little...

KING: ... You never see a man you're attracted to, ever?

T. MENENDEZ: Well, I mean, it's rare. It's rare. But I have seen a few, you know...

E. MENENDEZ: ... Well, that's not a fair question, Larry. Have you ever seen a woman you're attracted to?

KING: Yes.

E. MENENDEZ: You're married.

KING: Of course.

T. MENENDEZ: But I mean, no. I had a friend that I worked out with, a body-building body friend of mine. And Erik was really...

E. MENENDEZ: We don't like to talk about him.

T. MENENDEZ: ... Nervous about me being with him and working out with him, who -- he eventually became Mr. California. And, you know, so -- that was a little -- yes. But I mean, yes, we have that, because he's in there.

#erik menendez #menendez brothers #the menendez brothers trial #free the menendez brothers #justiceforerikandlyle

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hyuuukais · 1 year ago

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✧˖°ʚ🍓ɞ♡ SUNSHINE AND STRAWBERRIES

pairing ☆ lee felix x fem reader

synopsis ☆ Y/N is a new streamer. after months of planning, and her best friend & now fellow streamer han jisung convincing her, she makes a twitch and youtube account. thanks to jisung giving her a shoutout to his own huge following, she gains some unexpected overnight fame. but what was more unexpected was waking up to see her long-time favourite comfort streamer _sunshine.bbokari_ following her.

warnings ☆ swearing, negative self talk

[TAGLIST -> CLOSED]

MASTERLIST | PREVIOUS | NEXT

☆ partially written chapter, 8 screenshots ☆

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT ☆ T-REX

Kai is at your door in ten minutes.

You used your safe word, "trex" to let him know you needed him right now. All the guilt and fear sat heavily on your chest; you couldn't even cry. Pain settled in your weary body, your eyes falling on the mug you knocked onto the floor and couldn't be bothered to pick up.

First Jake.

Then Han.

Seungmin, Jeongin.

Felix.

You inhaled sharply, barely containing a dry sob. Of all people, he affected you the most. Your feelings did nothing but grow stronger by the day, and now he was gone.

You fucked up.

"Y/N?" A knock at the door, then a creak signaling Kai let himself in. "Oh, Y/N..."

Taking a few steps forward, Kai took in the sight of you. Your hair stuck to the side of your face, blanket drawn up to your chin. He kneeled beside you, taking the hand that was clutching the couch cushion for dear life in his own, his thumb rubbing your knuckles. The simple gesture broke something in you and the second you locked eyes with your best friend, the tears wouldn't stop.

"Kai I-" You choke out, gripping his hand tightly. "Why am I like this?"

Next thing you know, you're enveloped in the warmest, most loving hug, forcing you to sit up just a bit. You could hear Kai soothing you, one hand rubbing your back, the other on your head. He knew one way to calm you down was by a simple hug, reassuring you he was there.

Once you could breathe and the thunderstorm of emotion was a mere drizzle, Kai pried himself away from you, looking you in the eyes with a firm expression.

"Y/N I can't say none of this is your fault," Your heart sank. "But everything with Jake? That started all this?" He shook his head. "Yeah, maybe saying you had a boyfriend wasn't the greatest move... no buts. Jake needs to learn to deal with his feelings, and if space from you is what it takes, then so be it. Sometimes you are the problem."

"I fail to see how this is supposed to help, Kai." Sitting up now, you cross your arms at him.

"General you, use your brain." Now you can't help but smile at him, sniffing and wiping your nose with your sleeve. "The point is, you can't please everyone all the time Y/N, and you're not responsible for other people feelings and how they deal with them. The only thing you're responsible for is how you react. Sometimes people hurt you, sometimes you hurt them. Right now, you need to acknowledge the pain you've caused and apologize."

You look down.

That's something you love about Kai-- he tells you what you need to hear, not what you want to hear, no matter how hard. He tells you when you mess up, but he'll also be your shoulder to cry on. He was your closest friend.

"Can I use your phone?" You ask.

"Why, yours not working?" He rolls his eyes with a small smile

"It is," You playfully smack his arm. "I just don't think anyone will pick up if they see it's me."

notes ☆ i am so mf tired yall but HEY !! new chapter!! i love kai and y/n. i love this story. i love ynlix and need them to be happy together again. also i can't believe it's been almost a month into this series???? which also means almost a month of having this account OH ALSO BEFORE I FORGET i probably should have said this way at the start, but u can pretty much ignore any timestamps!!

taglist ☆ @marcillfll @toplinelix @neri-ner @tfshouldidohere @imasimplol @samvagejkflxhrt @yennifersgeralt @aestheticsluut @cherryuqii @tenebrisirae @roseidol @veryjeongintxtkid @amara-mars @nobuttpics @bmnyy @sheeshhhhfelixsworld @ellelabelle @gini143 @mrsseals16 @veedoesntknaur @channiesstars @daydreamer5006 @luvvvash @amesification @skzswife @blamemef0rit @soulphoenix1618 @lovingmny @stvrfir3 @boo-ven9eance @adestayskz @rag-iii @enchantedgrunge @mytherapisttoldmenotto @strawberry-dreamland @oh-my-fancan @lucktales @cookielino @fantasyaddict123 @sleeplessmin @alexxxxxthebitxh @flirtyskzbutterfly @vixensss @hannahs-docx @hash2013 @jellsxox @sserafimez @theblindhag @httphans @hannahhbahng

pink means i can't tag you

#✧˖°ʚ🍓ɞ♡ SUNSHINE AND STRAWBERRIES #skz #stray kids #skz smau #social media au #lee felix x reader #stray kids smau #lee felix #lee felix x fem reader #lee felix x yn #non idol felix #non idol au #felix streamer au #stray kids streamer au #streamer au

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raaorqtpbpdy · 2 years ago

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Don't Crack Under Pressure

Written for the Phic Phight Prompt: (Not phantom planet compliant) Danny's finally an astronaut! He's somehow got through college, after barely managing to pull through high school. But after he manages to make it into a NASA rocket and travel to the final frontier, his helmet cracks. So how does he explain how he got through the entire day to the rest of the crew with a cracked helmet? (from @shadowpixel)

Chapter 1: Let's Take a Rocketship to Space (I hear it's a real swinging place)

AO3 Link

[Warnings for deep space and assumed character death]

Despite the nightmare that was high school, and just barely getting his diploma, Danny managed to get into college. By some miracle he got his engineering degree, and now he was achieving his lifelong dream of becoming an astronaut. His first mission was with a crew of mostly veterans to investigate a NASA probe that had been sent to Psyche, an asteroid in the Main Asteroid Belt which traveled between Mars and Jupiter.

The probe had sent signals indicating that it had collected samples and was processing data, but due to unknown circumstances, it had suddenly stopped transmitting information about Psyche's surface, even though it was still responding to the deep space optical communication signals. All efforts to repair or reprogram it remotely had failed. That was why NASA had decided to send the Eros mission.

Captain Simon Lao, copilot Denali North, engineer Danny Fenton, and geo-chemist Dr. Ivy Grace Carson were selected for the approximately 2 year mission. Their ship would use the same advanced communications system as the Psyche probe to communicate with Earth using optical signals transmitted via lasers, which traveled faster than radio waves, so they wouldn't be completely cut off from their friends and family, despite traveling farther than any manned spacecraft had ever gone before.

Just five years ago, it would have been a six year mission there and back, if not longer, but using improved ionic propulsion with a little ectoplasmic boost, partially designed by Danny, the speed at which they could reach the asteroid increased dramatically. Once the mission was green-lit, it still took months of testing and training and preparing before the Eros spacecraft could finally launch, but this was it. Today was the day.

"Communications test," Simon said into their headset. "Mission control, do you read me?"

"Loud and clear Lao," came the voice of Miranda in the mission control room. "Check ignition and prepare for liftoff."

Danny felt like he might vibrate right out of his skin in his excitement. He'd been to space once before, that time Technus took over a satellite, but this was different. This was an actual, real life, NASA mission, on a real NASA spaceship with a real space suit and everything. He'd finally made it big. He'd gotten to the place he'd wanted to be since he was two years old and watched the Endeavor launch on TV.

The time leading up to the final takeoff passed agonizingly slowly but at last the countdown commenced. The engines roared to life.

"Nervous, Fenton?" Ivy Grace asked with a smirk. Everyone else in the cockpit had gone on missions for NASA before, making Danny the only newbie, but he was the furthest thing from nervous.

"Not on your life, Doc," Danny responded with a grin. "I've been waiting for this moment as long as I can remember."

The thing about space was that it really wasn't all that far away. Hard to get to, yes, because straight up, and up, and up was not an easy direction to go, but it wasn't necessarily far. The ship took off, and less than ten minutes later it had escaped Earth's atmosphere. Danny stared out the window in awe at the planet Earth growing farther and farther away.

"Go ahead and unbuckle your seat-belts, and you are now free to move about the cabin," Simon said once the autopilot confirmed course and they were on their way.

Danny immediately got out of his seat, almost phasing though his seat-belt by accident in his frenzy, instead of unbuckling it. Long since used to zero gravity from his time in the Ghost Zone, Danny easily flew to the rearmost window to watch his home planet shrink into a speck in the distance while his crew-mates shook their heads fondly. And thus began the ten month journey to the asteroid Psyche.

The beauty of space was something Danny could never get tired of, even if this mission were to last a million years. Even after months in space, his crew-mates often found him floating by the window, just watching the stars outside for hours on end. Of course, Danny had plenty of other things to do, and he did them, but there were also stars. And they were breathtaking. The rest of the crew preferred to pass their time in different ways.

Ivy Grace spent most of her time isolating herself in her bunk to work on her manuscript with headphones blaring the playlists she'd downloaded for the journey. She was the type who never seemed to get lonely. No matter how many times they asked her, she completely refused to tell any of them what her manuscript was about, which led the rest of them to the obvious conclusion that she was writing hardcore erotica, probably involving tentacles.

Their captain Simon, on the other hand, took great joy in dragging the rest of them into social past-times together. Somehow, they knew a ludicrous number of party games and had packed a two terabyte hard-drive full of movies for the crew to watch during the trip. Simon couldn't seem to stand being alone for ten minutes if they were awake. At least they didn't mind quiet though, and sometimes they would sit in silence with Danny, just watching out the windows.

Lastly there was Denali. She'd been an air force pilot before applying at NASA, but only to pay for college. Originally, she had wanted to go to art school, but after discovering a genuine love for flying, she'd decided to go to NASA instead. For the Eros mission, she'd brought along six, cheap, empty sketchbooks, and requested as many pressurized ink capsules for her pen as she could get away with, since regular pens couldn't write without gravity. She was determined to improve her art skills while she was in space for months at a time, and often asked the rest of them to pose for her drawings.

Once a day, they'd receive communication from Earth. Mission control would call to confirm that they were still on course, and there were no problems on the Eros craft, and they'd get messages from their loved ones back home. Denali got to read her mother's updates on what was happening in the tight-knit community she'd grown up in. Ivy-Grace messaged back and forth with her girlfriend. Simon threw a full on party on the Eros when they got the news that their sister was pregnant and they were going to be an auncle.

Danny got to spend an hour and a half once a week decoding his sister's overly long ghost activity reports from Amity Park. Sam and Tucker kept him updated on how life was back on Earth and added vague statements at the end of their messages that told him things were fine in the Ghost Zone too, even though "all quiet under the green sky" looked like utter nonsense to mission control and the rest of the crew. Danny's parents managed to work in how proud they were of him in every single message they sent.

Ten months passed by slowly but surely. The four of them were already used to each other after their time spent in training, and they knew the importance of getting along with people you were stuck with for two years without escape, so no arguments or bad blood ever developed among them.

After a lengthy travel period, the Psyche asteroid finally came within sight, and the crew assumed landing positions.

"Alright, Denali, prep for landing," Simon ordered, slipping seamlessly into their serious captain mode. Denali flipped the appropriate switches to activate the automatic landing system, and prepared to take over manual control if something went wrong.

"Ready to go," she confirmed.

"Then take us down." It was a pretty smooth landing, with only slight jostling and no malfunctions or unexpected obstacles. Once they touched down on Psyche's surface, Simon sent a communication to Earth. "Mission control, this is Eros, we have safely landed on the asteroid's surface and are preparing to track down the Psyche probe for diagnostic, over."

Even at light speed, communication between Earth and the Main Asteroid Belt took several minutes. Eventually, the response came back. "Confirmed, Eros, keep us posted and let us know if anything happens. Good luck, and stay safe, over and out."

"You heard her, finish suiting up and lets go," Danny urged enthusiastically. He was already in his suit, fully ready to step out onto the asteroid, and just waiting on the other three. The plan was to get the Psyche probe and take it back to the ship to repair or reprogram it as needed, and to download the data it had collected on the asteroid so far.

The Psyche probe was a ways away from the ship, but that wasn't too much of a problem. Denali dropped their buggy onto the surface, and she and Danny headed out to pick up the probe while Ivy Grace collected her samples and Simon made sure that anything that might be needed to deal with the probe was ready to go by the time it got back. As the engineer, Danny would be the one doing most of the repairs, although Ivy Grace was on standby with some chemical tests to run, in case something like that was the problem.

As they drove toward the probe, Danny's feet tapped on the floor of the buggy with excited energy.

"Careful there, Fenton," Denali teased. "Looks like you're about to shake right out of your suit."

"Sorry, it's just... I'm happy," Danny told her. "If I were to call up five-year-old Danny and tell him I was driving on an actual asteroid right now, I think he'd be so thrilled his brain would explode and he would drop dead on the spot."

"I dunno, it kinda seems like I'm looking at a five-year-old Danny right now," she ribbed, and he laughed. "I guess it's a good thing you can't make calls to the past then, or else you'd never get here."

Danny laughed harder. "If you think a little thing like death would stop me from getting here, you're dead wrong." It wouldn't, and in fact, it hadn't.

The two of them talked a little more until the probe was in sight, then got out to give it a look. A preliminary once-over didn't reveal any obvious problems, like exposed wiring from a panel that had shaken loose, or significant exterior damage. They hitched it to the buggy, ready to tow it back to the ship.

So far, the mission had gone off without a single snag, and the crew had high hopes that it would stay smooth sailing the rest of the way. However, everyone knows the moment you start to think everything's going your way is the moment everything starts to go horribly wrong. It was at this moment, that things went horribly, horribly wrong.

The latch on the tow cable broke as Denali and Danny were headed back to the buggy. That alone wouldn't be a problem, because there were spare latches, and it was easily replaced. The problem arose when the cable retracted, and the broken latch slammed into Danny's helmet with a horrible crack that resonated through the headset in Danny's helmet and broadcasted directly into Denali's ears.

She gasped in horror and skipped to Danny's side as fast as the asteroid's low gravity allowed. "Oh my God!" she shouted. "Mayday! Simon, Doc, something happened, the tow-latch broke and hit Danny. His visor is cracked. Oh my God, oh my God."

"Denali, breathe," Simon ordered, their voice level but stern. "Assess the damage. If it's not too bad, he could still make it."

"Right!" Denali turned Danny over to get a cleared look at his visor. "Oh no..." she breathed out, eyes stinging with tears. "It's... it's broken, all the way through. There's a hole the size of my fist, oh my God, Simon there's no... there's no way he could've survived. He's... he's gone." Emotion made her words catch on her tongue, and she blinked rapidly to keep from crying. If she was going to drive back to the ship, she had to see clearly.

There was nothing to be heard in their headsets for a long time.

"Well, bring him back and we'll—" Ivy Grace started to say, but Simon cut her off.

"No," they said. "There's nothing we can do for him if his helmet is fully breached. We can't have his corpse decaying on the Eros during the return trip, and we can't bury him on a metal asteroid." No one had anything to say to that. Simon was right, of course, but they didn't have to like it. "Just... leave him where he is and bring back the Psyche probe. We should get to work if we're gonna have to figure out how to fix her without our engineer.

"At least... you know Danny," Ivy Grace said brokenly, "he'd probably be over the moon to die out in space and not on boring, old planet Earth."

"Y-yeah," Denali agreed, and they all politely ignored the way her voice cracked. "I'm pretty... I'm pretty sure I've heard him say something like that before."

"Yeah, me too," Simon said. "I thought it was morbid then, and I still think so. I'll make the report to mission control. They'll probably bring in an engineer to walk us through a diagnostic and repair."

"Right." Denali tried to swallow the lump in her throat as she changed the latch on the tow line and hooked the probe up again. Then she returned to the buggy to drive back all by herself. "I'm on my way back with the Psyche probe... alone."

Next Chapter

#phic phight #phic phight 2023 #danny phantom #astronaut danny #danny fenton #dp #fic #things i wrote #space #nasa #not phantom planet compliant #original characters

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dramioneasks · 10 months ago

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Hey!! Really grateful for all the work y'all do around here. Lifesavers, honestly.

I'm looking for fics with the 'Voldemort died but the death eaters lived on' premise. I've already read The Pretense by Colubrina, and the theme of Draco helping Hermione act as a spy and what not, it was all just so interesting. So yeah, fics similar to The Pretense or maybe just the 'Voldemort died but the death eaters rule didn't end' kinda fic?

Thank you sooo much!

Aurelian by BittyBlueEyes - T, 43 chapters - Two years after the war, a young stranger pays a visit to the burrow. His arrival alone is baffling, but the news he brings of an upcoming war turns the world upside down. Hermione’s quiet, post-war life will never be the same.

The Best of Me - mrsren - M, 27 chapters - Officially, Hermione Granger was killed in action during the Battle of Hogwarts. Unofficially, Draco Malfoy has never stopped searching for her. Years after the war during a mission in France, his salvation comes in the form of a little blond boy and a familiar half-Kneazle.

The Art of Ascension by GinnyFics21 - E, WIP - Ten years after the fall of Voldemort, Auror Draco and Detective Hermione are partnered together on the Ministry’s high profile case hinting at a Death Eater resurgence. Can they put the pieces together to stop it as the plot unfolds and secrets unravel between them? “I know what you did, Malfoy; what you sacrificed,” Hermione said quietly. “There is good in you somewhere if you’ll let yourself see it.”His eyes were dark, unreadable and calculating as he stared back at her, “I may be on the side of the angels, Granger, but don’t think—for one second—that I am one of them.” ****A fic written around this particular quote from Sherlock.

The Gloriana Set by ThebeMoon - M, 81 chapters, Words: 271,830 - The War is won, and Hermione Granger is back at Hogwarts as an “Eighth Year”, feeling reckless and determined to shed her prim bookworm persona. She will do as she pleases, and anyone who doesn’t like it will see the business end of her wand. Also returning is Draco Malfoy, universally hated but determined to restore his family’s name. Hermione’s hopes for a quiet school year are quickly dashed as she contends with mischievous First Years, killer plants, enchanted hair accessories, a totally inappropriate Moaning Myrtle, renegade Death Eaters, a nice vampire, a poorly named study group, a depraved party, and mysterious, threatening blood messages on the castle walls. We have redemption, partial redemption and (sadly or hilariously) no redemption at all. Throw in a snarky, disturbingly attractive Draco with his own secret agenda, and we have a very slow-burn Dramione with a side of who-dun-it. COMPLETE!

How To Love A Slytherin by SlytherinsGreenPrincess - M, 11 chapters - When the ancient Marriage Law is reenacted, Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy agree to marry. But while dodging her abusive ex-boyfriend, Ron Weasley, and a new group of rogue death eaters, will they survive?

The End’s Intent - shewritesall - T, 33 chapters - Hermione Granger did not know just what she was getting into when she made friends with a pointy faced, blond boy during her first year. Draco Malfoy did not know how utterly in love he’d become with the bushy haired muggle born girl. Both of them thought they knew what they could expect when they returned to Hogwarts for their final year, but after a freak encounter with some werewolves and an unfortunate incident with wannabe Death Eaters, things turn out much, much different than either of them could have ever imagined.

Shifted - hiccupfound - E, 26 chapters - Three years after the Battle of Hogwarts, Voldemort has gone deep into hiding behind the protection of the remaining Death Eaters. The few surviving Order Members are given one Death Eater to assassinate to draw Voldemort out for the Final Battle. Ginny is given Bellatrix Lestrange, Harry takes Antonin Dolohov. Hermione has Draco Malfoy.

-Lisa

#anonymous #death eaters #post hogwarts and post war

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polysyndetonaddictsupportgroup · 1 year ago

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Hey there! As always, I have Sea Glass Gardens on the brain, and I was wondering if there are any moments or details you've written that you really like, but people haven't noticed/pointed out yet? Or that they have, but you still have a lot of thoughts on. (this is free license to ramble about anything you want!)

I think I probably would have to say the Maki/Tsumiki confrontation in chapter 5.

Writing that was really fun because it was like an iceberg to me. There was so much buried in both of them that just sort of lingered outside where Yuuta could see.

I have a sort of love hate relationship with limited povs. On one hand, I love making up lore for shit. I love having a bunch of silly little details that don’t exactly feed into the story but build the world.

(As a total aside, I wrote pez dispenser debris while in a burnout fueled feverish haze while studying for the bar exam and 90% of what enthralled me with it was giving myself permission to just fucking. Let loose on cramming in all the little backstories. It was my fun silly story I was allowed to make technical mistakes on just to make something that made me happy. It was like splatter paint art to me. Probably half of that fic is scenes that are completely irrelevant to the plot or but that was the fun of it).

On the other hand, I love having to sort of climb around inside a story that has the inherently skewed view that comes from having a limited POV. It feels like stained glass in my head. I don’t know how to explain it better. The entire story is just colored by the glass of the character perspective. It makes for a very pretty and fractured story, even if it comes at the cost of a lot of the background.

Whenever I’m working with limited POV, I just sort of bury details that I feel like it would make me go nuts if I saw it.

A lot of my fic writing is just sort of playing connect the dots with stuff canon leaves behind? A lot of the conflict in sea glass gardens comes from one line in the second Toji v Gojo throw down. Gojo has some throw away line about how the good thing about inheriting a technique was that you got a playbook, but the bad thing was that so did everyone else. Toji was Zenin, so he knew Gojo’s technique, but the gojo clan had kept hollow purple as a carefully guarded secret.

That led to:

The initial conflict, with Megumi having partial custody with the Zenin. If clans have secrets they keep with their techniques, then it’s a tactical disadvantage to not have access to that information. It’s a huge selling point for letting the Zenin have partial custody. It’s an actual advantage the Zenin could give him.

The primary conflict, which is that the Zenin are keeping secrets around megumis technique which means 1) that they don’t know what the Zenin did to megumi 2) why they did it or 3) how to fix it.

The fact that gojos teaching megumi from the gojo playbook on his technique, which is incomplete, which lends to his own lack of understanding of the capacity of his own technique.

Some of Maki’s uncertainty around her own clan’s technique. When talking with gojo, she seemed uncertain of whether some of the details were legend or fact. She’s mentioned before that she only knows the basics, and everything else is kept in a guarded book that only the ten shadows and the clan head can access. She didn’t know what Megumi’s domain expansion would manifest as, if he was able to use it at all, and seemed surprised to know gojo knew the details. The clans are keeping secrets from their own members about these techniques to maintain tactical advantages the way the gojo did with hollow purple.

A lot of the underlying atmospheric tension around Megumi’s adoption and the motive that everyone else has read into it. Taking Megumi in childhood allows Gojo to 1) cut off the user of the Zenin clan’s most powerful technique from his knowledge base and 2) observe his technique as it develops and get a chance to uncover its secrets. He’s seemingly crippling megumis knowledge around his own abilities while cementing the gojo’s understanding of it. Of course no one thinks it was a genuine adoption. It has all the makings of a tactical move.

The future difficulty in resolving the conflict. It’s not as simple as “well at the end of the day no one wants megumi dead, just tell Shoko how to fix this.” The clans gain a discernible tactical advantage from keeping secrets from each other. They aren’t going to give up secrets if they think it’s going to go straight into the Gojo clan archives. Especially considering he’s already got unprecedented access to information on the ten shadows simply by watching megumi grow up.

A few other plot points we haven’t gotten to yet so I won’t discuss them.

It’s stuff like that. A lot of my fanfic is just kicking around what canon already gives and having fun with it. So I like just implanting the details that I know I’d have fun playing with, and tsumiki and maki’s conversation was loaded with that.

A lot of the conflict in Tsumiki and Maki's conversation is sourced in the fact that they start it off playing an unknowing game of verbal whackamole. They keep stumbling straight into each other's biggest insecurities and touchy points and not realizing it.

To start off, they both have pretty ample reason to be off kilter and high on emotion. Maki was picked up out of a pool of her own blood a couple days ago. Out of all of them, it was only her and Yuuta that Geto was actually going to kill. Geto himself said that Gojo knew he wouldn't have killed Inumaki and Panda, and that Gojo sent them to set off Yuuta. But maki was the monkey. She was wounded the worst. And she was the only one who fought Geto alone. She's still shaken and doesn't want to admit it.

Tsumiki, meanwhile, has been on the brink for days. The last time she saw her family, she was being told by gojo that a genocial maniac that wants her specific demographic dead had just declared war. Then, her fourteen year old brother disappeared. She then immediately lost contact with every single person in her life and social network.

Is Megumi dead? Did he do exactly what she thought he was going to do and camp outside her school to watch for genocidal cultists? Did he get himself killed because she wouldn't skip school? What about everyone else? Are they okay? Why has she lost contact with her entire family?

She didn't have any working phone numbers. She didn't have any way of finding them. It's directly stated in canon that Tengen's barriers are directed to deterring and concealing it from non-sorcerers, so she's not even sure if she'll be able to get into the school without Megumi or Gojo. And then all of her worst fears were confirmed, and Megumi was actively bleeding out and visibly terrified when she finally got him back. He just died in front of her. She had to personally pump his heart to try and get him back.

As a result, they've both got a shorter fuse and are a little bit more reactive than they'd normally be going into the conversation.

So of course the absolute first thing they do is ram straight into sensitive points.

Maki is the first one to do it. She calls Megumi the "Ten Shadows" instead of his name. And that sets off Tsumiki, who is willing to rip out throats over this at the best of times, and who is sitting there with her brother's blood still on her.

The thing is, Maki genuinely meant no wrong by it. It's just what they always call him in the clan. She didn't know he hated it. She barely remembered him, and the clan leadership wasn't exactly advertising how much megumi hated everything they did. And it had never had a negative connotation for her growing up--fuck, it was the biggest term of respect you could get from her shithole family.

Except Tsumiki didn't have the context of "it's basically a title and also a bigger honor than Clan Head." All she knew was 1) that they refused to call Megumi anything else 2) no one else was called by their technique instead of their name and 3) (to her knowledge) there's nothing special about being the Ten Shadows that would cast this in a more positive light. I've discussed this in another post, but Megumi thinks of being called the Ten Shadows like being called "Excel spreadsheet" by a boss who hired you for being microsoft proficient. To his knowledge, the Zenin bought him because he was a sorcerer who inherited a technique, and there's nothing deeper to it. They're just calling him that to constantly throw in his face that he's just a technique to them.

And Tsumiki knows her brother well enough to be able to say when something legitimately got under his skin. This was dehumanizing. It was another way the Zenin abused him. Without the context of "it's an ancient honor in my clan to be called that," she thought that a member of the family that abused her little brother didn't even have the decency to lay off now, when he's still struggling to keep his heart beating in his chest.

Of course, she didn't realize the mere fact that pointing out that Maki was Zenin and looked Zenin was a sore spot, because she had always sort of worried she'd never escape being the Zenin clan reject when everyone can see the Zenin in her appearance.

What Tsumiki doesn't know is a huge driving source of the continued misunderstandings in the dialogue--namely, the fact that she doesn't know the true importance of the Ten Shadows technique to the Zenin clan. But I tried to imply throughout that she had really, really good reason to think that she did.

I feel like it's a trope to sort of have the non-magic/superpowered member of the family to be sort of clueless about the inner workings of the magic world or whatever, but I didn't want that for Tsumiki. It didn't fit with the version living in my head. This a world her brother's hurtling towards joining fully. It's her family's world. She doesn't want to be locked out of it.

And the thing is? She exhibits a pretty good command over knowledge of the jujutsu world--and, specifically, the Zenin clan. She had glasses imbued with cursed energy like Maki's. She knew enough about cursed energy to come up with a theory about why Megumi seized--and Shoko later confirmed that she was probably right.

I also tried to have her display understanding of Zenin custom and action that an outsider wouldn't have.

She knows enough about them to know that they're a tradition-obsessed, ancestor-obsessed group of weirdos obsessed with maintaining lineage. She knows they prefer inherited techniques. She knows they've got a pretty large population size. She even knows that they practice incest, because she takes a crack at Maki with it and calls them inbred.

And that's one of the details that I think can be really fun to play with, as a reader-- why does she know that? Yuuta's been living fully in the jujutsu world for months, and he doesn't know that. That's a really random, specific detail to know about a family she doesn't spend any personal time with. How did Tsumiki learn about it?

Did someone bitch about it one day and she found out about it in passing? Or was there a deeper story behind why she learned that? It was meant to sort of dovetail with something Maki said later in the same conversation--Gojo had kept the Zenin from marrying Megumi off. Not "Your brother's a literal child and too young to be married, no one would have even considered it"--no, she was relying solely on the fact that Gojo was protecting Megumi, which implies that the Zenin would have at least considered it.

And it's one of those things where there's no single "correct" meaning to it. It's open to a lot of reader interpretation and it makes it fun to play with. Maybe she did only learn about it in passing, and the two comments were unrelated. Or maybe the Zenin already broached the topic of when Megumi would be procreating and with which of his cousins, and Tsumiki found out from that.

The Zenin are bloodline obsessed, and I personally headcanon that all major sorcerer clans are because their techniques are basically trade secrets to them. They're specific to each clan and they are practically the currency their world runs on. If a member of the Gojo clan runs off and marries someone from the Kamo clan and joins the Kamo in the process, and their child is born with the six eyes and limitless, they've basically lost their most valuable asset to their rival. If someone leaves the clan and that child is born with, say, the most powerful technique in their bloodline--well, then you've basically set your most valuable asset off into the crapshoot that is the wider world's genetic lottery.

Say Megumi stays outside the clan, has a kid with someone not affiliated with any clan, and keeps that kid outside the clan. That kid has a kid. That kid has three kids. Those three kids have eleven kids total. So on and so forth, until a few centuries have passed and the ten shadows is being inherited again and there's some random nobody out there from a family who doesn't even remember having jujutsu sorcery in their bloodline but who is, technically, of Zenin blood, and descended from the last ten shadows. What happens if they get it?

Megumi's proof of concept--call it fate, call it destiny, call it random chance, but his existence suggests that whatever designates who's going to inherit the shadows next doesn't care about actual clan membership. Megumi has Zenin blood, but he had no contact whatsoever with his family before this. The Ten shadows technique is something that can be lost.

Yuuta, too, is oddly a proof of concept as well, now that the jujutsu world knows he exists. He's a random descendant from a major sorcerer line, connected distantly to the Gojo clan no less, so far attenuated that there's no one in his family that even remembers their connection. But he's one of the most powerful people on the planet. The Ten Shadows could be inherited by a distant, attenuated member of the Zenin line.

I included those lines as a detail that really could be stretched as far as the reader wanted to take it. Maybe it doesn't mean anything of importance. Maybe it means that the Zenin tried to negotiate some kind of advance rights to any kids that Megumi had. Maybe it means they took it farther, and tried to negotiate for an arranged marriage and a schedule for when he'd be expected to reproduce. his bloodlines important to maintain, after all. Maybe it was something else entirely.

Tsumiki also has a laundry list of examples that suggests she's had a front row seat to them disrespecting Megumi's boundaries over the years. They kept trying to take custody. They tried to force him to change his name. They did something so terrible to him when they had visitation that he wanted to go no contact. She's got a body of experiences eating at her that make her view the Zenin as a threat that megumi needs to be protected from, and he needs protection now more than ever, which is a lot of what feeds the tension behind the discussion with Maki.

With all of that knowledge in mind, Tsumiki has great reason to think she knows what she's talking about when it comes to Megumi and the Zenin clan. Like, this isn't her talking out her ass or condescending to people who know better--she has more reason to think she knows what's going on with the Zenin than Maki. Maki actually grew up with the clan, but Tsumiki grew up with Megumi. She knows this world. she knows what the zenin are like. And unlike Maki, she actually knows what the Zenin did to him all those years ago. The only thing she doesn't know is what Gojo purposefully hid from her, which is the truth of what the Ten Shadows really is.

And it's pretty reasonable to think that your guardian would have mentioned "by the way megumi is like magic jesus reborn to his psychotic relatives" at least once in ten years, right? Like Tsumiki isn't a character who knows nothing and just talks down to someone actually in the loop--she's a character who's spent the past decade of her life in the loop, who exhibits independent knowledge of the facts, and who has every reason to think she knows all the relevant information, being blindsided by a very important detail that gojo didn't even tell Megumi. Even Maki initially assumed that Tsumiki had the information and was blindsided by the fact that she didn't. And it's that gap in knowledge that sows the seeds of their initial conflict--and eventually brought them together.

For the first part of the conversation, I really wanted a lot of the conflict to be actually "they're having two different conversations and neither are technically wrong."

Maki's conversation was centered around what the Zenin would do. She was talking about how they're absolutely obsessed with Megumi and will never give up. And that fits within her world of experience, that's what she knows--she's not wrong about anything she says.

But Tsumiki's talking about Megumi, who's in her realm of experience, and she's saying that Megumi's never gonna want to be in their family Christmas card. Neither are wrong. Maki is totally correct in saying that the Zenin aren't just going to give up and wait for another Ten Shadows to be born. But Tsumiki wasn't saying that they would--she was saying that Megumi was never going to love them or want to be with them. The misunderstanding isn't in what either are saying, it's what the actual conversation is about.

The next time they accidentally ram into each other's sore points is when Maki says Tsumiki's the reason why he refused to join the clan.

Tsumiki's the unwanted kid in the world's most aggressive custody battle. She remembers the Zenin and Gojo were at each other's throats over custody, but nobody was fighting over her. It was her brother who the Zenin wanted. And we know from her later conversations with Yuuta that the Zenin have gone so far as offered to have her boarded at a school on the other side of the planet to get her away from Megumi.

"You're the reason why Megumi won't be with his family" was an accusation that was constantly lobbed at her as a kid. The Zenin fully blamed her for Megumi not coming near them (when they weren't blaming gojo), and I imagine Tsumiki was always very defensive about it. Because the thing is, at her core, she could have been completely uninvolved and megumi would want nothing to do with them. They were fucking insane. why would he ever want to be near them?

Tsumiki was a very little girl who was all alone in the world, and then she had her megumi, and she finally had a real family. And he was all alone too. They got to save each other. They got to give each other someone in the world to hold onto. They were each other's safe harbors and lighthouses and there was no one in the world who took care of her brother before she did.

It was incredibly hard for her to learn that there was this clan of people who had money and power and actual blood tying them to him, and they wanted to take him and leave her behind. Giving him a family was something she counted as almost a source of pride, and suddenly she was turned on her head and the selfish brat keeping him from having a family.

She didn't want to be alone again. She didn't want to let him go. And she spent a long time thinking she was selfish and just keeping him from having more family, until they found out just how bad the zenin were.

It's also an unfair accusation to say that Tsumiki's trying to keep Megumi from his family. The second she finds out that Maki left the Zenin clan, she tries to get her to form a familial relationship with Megumi. She wants megumi to have other family than her--and then Maki immediately hit back with "oh so you're the reason he's not with his family." It was like a slap in the face.

Except Maki didn't mean it like "so you're the one who took him from the clan the way the rest of the Zenin did, she meant it like "so you're the one who saved him from the clan."

Maki didn't even know Tsumiki existed. The clan leadership wasn't advertising that the ten shadows picked his non-sorcerer step sister over them. The entire jujutsu world thinks that Gojo snatched him away as a child, borderline brainwashed him to keep him from joining his clan and realizing his true power, and did it all as a power play against his enemies.

Except Maki's spent the last year with Gojo. And she's been wondering what the fuck actually happened, because what everyone says about him didn't match up at all with the man who welcomed her with open arms and who had done nothing but support her and the other students. He was fucking annoying, but he wasn't someone who seemed like he would do what people said he did all those years ago.

Every single time she thought about truly trusting Gojo for this past year, she thought about Megumi. She thought about the little boy who never had any time to play but still found the time to protect her sister. She thought about how they played together and how Megumi said they could be friends when Mai begged him and how they all got beat like hell for it, but it still made Mai happier than she had been in a long time.

Megumi was safer wherever the zenin weren't, but Gojo wasn't supposed to be doing it to protect Megumi. He supposedly had been manipulating Megumi for the past decade, keeping him weak and under his thumb so he could be a pet on a leash that Gojo could parade around.

She didn't want to believe that Gojo would do that to megumi. But she also didn't want to fall for someone who was just manipulating her. If he had really done that to Megumi, she wasn't ever going to trust or forgive him.

Tsumiki's existence made it all click for her.

Tsumiki would have never, ever been safe in the Zenin clan. Maki knows what it means to not be safe there, to have a sibling who isn't safe there, to watch them suffer underneath her family's thumb. If megumi had a sister he didn't want to be separated from, a sister who couldn't ever be near her family safely, then what Gojo did wasn't a powerplay--it was a rescue. He was keeping the ten shadows with a sister he could never stay with otherwise. Tsumiki is the reason why Megumi refused to join the clan, and the reason why Gojo helped him do it. It actually was Megumi's genuine refusal all this time. Maki wasn't blaming her--she was just struck by the fact that she really, genuinely could trust Gojo all this time. that it hadn't been a power play--Gojo was just saving Megumi and Tsumiki the way no one saved her and Mai.

Of course, Tsumiki didn't know any of that. She only knew the Zenin clan that had blamed her for years. So she didn't understand that Maki was saying it out of relief, not anger.

To shift a bit farther in the conversation, in my mind, the reason why Tsumiki got in a blow out fight with Megumi about going to school is because she wants him to have a life outside of the jujutsu world.

The jujutsu world purposefully tries to take away options from you as a manner of control. That was a big part of Yuuta's conversation with the higher ups--they didn't want him doing anything that could give him options outside of jujutsu sorcery. The terms of his binding vow were ludicrously strict about how he spent his time and education. And Tsumiki has actually seen this first hand, because she watched how the higher ups went after the teen parenting squad during their adoption.

She cares if Megumi goes to school because she desperately wants him to have the option to one day leave the jujutsu world. The higher ups and the Zenin don't even want him to have a modern middle school education--if they had their way, he'd be in full time jujutsu training, and she knows that because she and megumi were both in the loop when Gojo was fighting them over it.

Megumi's going to be going to high school soon. That means he's going to lose his main connection to a world outside of jujutsu sorcery. She wants him to have friends. She wants him to go to school and have favorite subjects and hobbies and passions. She wants him to have ties other than a profession that eats its workers alive. Megumi leaving middle school is a ticking time bomb in her mind--she didn't want him to lose a single day of normal life, especially not for her sake. The fact that he's in this stupid deal to work off his debt to the school as a sorcerer for her sake has been eating her alive for years. She just wanted him to go to school and have another day of being a normal kid.

She regrets it, later. If he has to be in this world, she wants to be in it with him. She wishes she was with him when the Zenin came.

For the most part, I'm not going to discuss the undertones of the conversation about the phone, because we actually will get into that in the fic. But the last part in the story she tells about her and megumi as kids, about how she had to hold on tight to his hand as a child because he would always try to wiggle free and she would lose him if he did? That's supposed to be their entire relationship dynamic in this: Megumi keeps trying to wiggle free, and she keeps trying to hang on to him as tightly as she can.

There's a lot of little "iceberg" details after that in quick succession.

(And, to be clear, I don't consider these details explicit or "canon" within the fic itself. It's a bit like method acting, I guess?

Yuuta finding out every single detail isn't realistic. It would drown the fic in way too much detail and be a little off if he found out that much. But having this sort of hidden base in what the character's experiences and desires and motives are helps me write them more consistently throughout, and it enhances my own understanding of the story. Yuuta will never find out that Tsumiki got in the fight with Megumi because she wanted him to have a life outside of jujutsu sorcery, but it can feed into her actions throughout the story if I understand that. Only the tip of the iceberg is visible, but the rest is still beneath the surface and affecting the flow of the story's currents. But, since it isn't explicit, members of the audience are free to have their own interpretations and experiences with the art and it makes the art much more changeable? I like the idea that no story is the same for any two people. What I read as their motives doesn't necessarily have to be everyone's reading. It's a different story through the lens of every person. I dunno. It's just cool to me.)

Some of the iceberg details that follow in the conversation, in short form:

Megumi kept trying to take off the kimono when Tsumiki found him because he was convinced he was dying and didn't want to die in the clothes the Zenin dressed him in

I talked about this in another post so I won't break it down in detail here, but when Maki's talking about how her father used to always take her to see the ten shadows kimono, it's because he wanted her to inherit the technique, once upon a time. The clan had been waiting for the Ten Shadows technique to return to the bloodline since Gojo was born. Her father was important in the clan, close to the clan head, from a powerful bloodline, and she was only a year older than Megumi. In my mind, the Ten shadows is the antithesis of the Six eyes and Limitless, so while you can clock the six eyes from birth, the Ten Shadows is notoriously hard to spot until they summon the dogs. Maki went from the clan's biggest hope to its biggest shame, and the Ten Shadows is a source of a lot of bitter memories. It wasn't until she saw the state of Megumi that night that she fully appreciated how lucky she was to not get the technique.

Then, the conversation takes a total tonal shift, and it's the definitive shift in Maki and Tsumiki's relationship. Because it's when Maki overrides Nanami to tell Tsumiki the full truth of her brother's technique.

Tsumiki has rapidly become a slightly painful person for Maki in the span of this conversation, because she's maki's foil, and Maki is realizing that. Maki had to let go of Mai to become who she is today. that was one of the hardest choices of her life, but she had to do it. The Zenin would have killed her if she stayed. She knew how big she could grow if she just had the space to do it.

Tsumiki is someone who's braving her family to not let go of her sibling. She made the opposite decision as maki, and Maki knows that, and she respects the shit out of Tsumiki for it. Telling Tsumiki the truth of the ten shadows is both a sign of respect for her and an acknowledgement of her as her brother's protector. Tsumiki can't help her brother fully if she doesn't know what the hell is going on. Maki's trying to arm her so she can keep making the decision that Maki didn't, because she knows just how painful her family is going to make this for them all. They didn't even care about Maki, but they still destroyed mai when she left. Megumi? He's the most valuable person in the world to them. They'll make everyone bleed. And she thinks Tsumiki deserves to know that if she's going to stay by megumi's side.

The last little iceberg moment is Tsumiki tearing the robe. And that was meant to be a reflection of tsumiki's entire outlook on life.

At the end of the day, Tsumiki is someone I've decided is selective about what she cares about. I've talked about it more in other posts, but I don't see Tsumiki's entire "I'd rather think about the people I love than curse people" schtick as a sign she's a perfect good person who doesn't succumb to bad thoughts--I read it more as she's someone who knows she only has so much she can devote her time and energy to. Tsumiki has very specific priorities that she will actually devote labor towards, and Megumi is her biggest. She doesn't get tangled up in things like appearances, or blood, or tradition, or politics, or revenge--she has the people she won't let go of, and she will let go of absolutely everything else.

The kimono is symbolic of centuries of tradition and a borderline religious obsession for the Zenin. Megumi himself is secondary to what the Ten Shadows represents, and the Zenin show that by disregarding his desires and safety again and again for the sake of their traditions around his technique. Tsumiki figuratively (and literally) tears through that because Megumi himself is paramount to her. It's an irreplaceable, priceless, centuries-old heirloom to the zenin. Most people would be wary of damaging it even if they didn't have any personal attachment to it, but Tsumiki just fucking rips it, because it legitimately means nothing to her.

She doesn't care if Megumi's borderline a figure of legend to them. He's her little brother. So they can wait another five hundred years for the next ten shadows. And they can get a new fucking robe.

#sea glass gardens #this was such a fun ask thank you for sending it #i love tsumiki soooo much #there was just so much /story/ beneath that scene for me and it was so fun to write #also maki and tsumiki went from enemies to the the most attractive people possible for the other in record time #maki because she was completely honest with tsumiki and tsumiki finds that hot #tsumiki because she fucked up the zenin's priceless heirloom and that is the most attractive thing maki has seen in her entire life #she stopped breathing a little when it happened #how long is a respectful time to wait after someone's brother dies in their arms to shoot your shot #does the fact that he got better change the time requirement

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chronicallyday · 10 months ago

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in chapter four of Carrick Bend there’s a reference to a song about a seagull that travels port to port meeting different people

It’s a song I’m not sure will make it into a future chapter even tho I planned on it. It may only be partially written in. But I did write a complete poem just to get an idea of it myself.

will write about it under the cut if anyone is interested in my ramblings about it

Calder, Annie’s brother in the fic, likes a song about a traveling seagull. Originally the idea was the song Annie can’t remember at the time being about the different places in District Four.

But a few weeks ago I decided to change that and it be a song that is actually about the Districts and it being a song that no one really sings anymore except when they know they’re safe.

The idea is that it would be an old, old song from before the Dark Days and maybe some lines are lost but below is what I have so far for the song:

Hey little gull, is it fun?

Is it fun over there in One?

Hey little gull, how do you do?

What’s it like over there in Two?

Hey little gull, what do you see?

What do you see when you’re over Three?

Hey little gull, do they jive?

What kind of dances do they do in Five?

Hey little gull, did you get your fix?

Did you find a retreat over there in Six?

Hey little gull, when do you return to our haven?

What’s the cold weather like there in Seven?

Hey little gull, isn’t it getting late?

Why don’t you rest a while over there in Eight?

Hey little gull, are you doing fine?

Are they treating you kindly over there in Nine?

Hey little gull, are you just around the bend?

Do you like the shores down in Ten?

Hey little gull, is it Heaven?

How delightful are the orchards of Eleven?

Hey little gull, are you mindful of your health?

Is there somewhere clear of soot in Twelve?

Hey little gull, what have you seen?

What have you seen flying by Thirteen?

Hey little gull, you’ve been coast to coast

Time to return to the port you love the most

Hey little gull, come back to our lovely shore

Tell us all of your tales back in your beloved Four

I figured that the song would change as the years passed. Even contemplated that the line about 13 would be removed from the song and people of District 4 would relate the song to their Victors and them going and returning from their Victory Tour

But it is very much a children’s song. At least that was my idea for it.

#day’s rambling #carrick bend #odesta #thg #the hunger games #district 4 headcanons

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hoyotournament · 9 months ago

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Semifinals: Nahida vs Kiana Kaslana

(Propaganda under the cut)

Kiana:

TLDR: she's kiana kaslana what do you MEAN!!!! kiana is a beautifully written character who fully encapsulates what hi3 is about and she's so full of love and guilt and (most importantly) hope. she's a clone who struggles with her own identity/inhumanity and traumas extending from when she was a young child and her guilt but is so so resilient and so so so so compassionate which ultimately reinforces her humanity :)

kiana's character IS the honkai impact thesis statement. i don't even mean it as in she's the literal main character and face of honkai i genuinely mean it when i say she just IS honkai impact. she reflects every single theme that they portray [hope over nihilism (chapter 25 || the flame chasers and just. the previous era in general), having agency over your identity and your own story (himeko, her being k423 and being so linked to sirin, everlasting flames || the kaslana household name honestly, bronya, fu hua, mei, sirin), believing in the humanity's inherent worth (chapter 25, arc city || elysia <- important since as a current era herrscher, she is a successor to elysia AND as kiana kaslana, she is a narrative parallel of elysia), having faith in the youth (himeko, kevin || the other flame chasers! notably su), etc.] her character being so reflective is also sooooo OUGH to think about when you view it as a reflection of honkai's 50,000 year samsara because kiana is a representation of these themes coming full circle (especially since many of these stretch back to the previous era and elysia).

SHE FEELS SO MUCH. she's so full of love and guilt. she clearly prioritizes others over herself and part of her arc is her learning to value and love herself as well!!! she would give herself for the world ten times over because she holds so much affection for humanity!! (WHILE FEELING DEHUMANIZED BECAUSE OF HER IDENTITY AS BOTH A HERRSCHER AND K423) and it's actively apart of her character's growth :'')

dear god her growth… okok. so i think first you have to understand that a lot of kiana's growth obviously coincides w general maturity as she grows from a teenager to a young adult. but aside from that i think people often forget that younger kiana is incredibly self sufficient since her father literally left her with little to no explanation when she was like. what 8? the insecurity she feels at that! the anger she has to navigate while also balancing it with her own feelings of missing and loving him. basically: kiana has struggled a lot w instability and is thus kinda good at navigating it. ex: she isnt shaken by nagazora and literally tries again and again and again to save mei and convince mei to let her help. the thing is this fucks w her a bit though because a big thing that she does as a means to cope w instability is avoiding them (not reflective of real life of course, but in the fictional hi3 this is partially represented in kiana's repressed memories about her actual origins as k423). she can not stand the realization that she killed himeko that she's so deep in denial and doesnt truly realize it until more than 10 chapters after himeko dies! she's so horrified with her being a herrscher she actively tries to not use her powers out of fear, even when it puts her in harms way (the chapter XI-EX CG!!!!!! her literally trying to kill herself!!) she literally runs away from her friends and loved ones because she's so scared of hurting them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! which is why her promise to himeko to not run away is so important!! because it addresses one of kiana's biggest flaws!!!!! this is especially important bc her refusal to continue her avoidance feeds into her arc during the herrscher of dominion chapters where she both faces her own guilt/identity and deliberately chooses perseverance and hope over nihilism!! she is hope!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

#hoyoverse women tournament #hoyoverse #tournament poll #genshin impact #genshin #nahida #honkai impact 3rd #hi3 #kiana kaslana #hi3 kiana

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huffle-dork · 5 months ago

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Swap Beyond the Crystalverse Chapter 4: Paranormal Teens

Co-written with @crystalninjaphoenix Read Swapboys | Read Crystal’s AUs

Other Multiverse Stories: SITCV | SATCV | GITHV

Alt, JJ, and Marvin appear on a sidewalk. Across the street is an old-looking building with columns in front. No doubt that’s city hall. It used to have a lawn, a sort of courtyard type area, but now there’s just a wide pit marked off by posts with yellow tape around it. The front door of city hall is still accessible, but you’d have to walk a wide berth around it.

Can’t believe they still haven’t fixed that, JJ comments.

Alt blinks in surprise at the pit and glitches closer, crouching down next to it. “What caused this?”

“…Anti did? Kind of?” Marvin says slowly. “I mean, he didn’t mean to, but uh… yeah. There was a bunch of greenlight, it was crazy.”

“Oh yeah- guess that makes sense based on last time.” Alt comments as he stands back up.

“Anyway, we can wait for the others in here.” Marvin turns around and indicates the building behind him: a restaurant called Brenda’s that looks to be part of a fast food chain.

Jackie and the others are getting snacks, we don’t need food, JJ says.

“Whaaaat? I wasn’t suggesting that at all!”

Alt blinks then smirks, “Are you hungry then, Marvin? We can get food if you’d like- or like… a coffee.”

"I prefer tea, honestly," Marvin says. "Oooo, especially ones with strong flavors. You ever had mint tea? It's great. But, uh... I mean... we can get food if we want."

JJ rolls his eyes and laughs. Okay, we'll do that. But you're paying for the nuggets. He opens the front door and goes inside.

“Oh mint tea’s actually my favorite!” Alt laughs, “I could do either or- Bro’s more partial to coffee so we drink that more.” He follows after JJ, looking around the restaurant with curiosity.

The inside of this place looks exactly like the inside of a Wendy's. Even the logo is kind of similar, but with the word Brenda instead.

"Welcome to Brenda's, what can I--oh! Hey, it's the twins!" The worker behind the counter waves.

Marvin grins...somewhat mischievously. He glances at JJ, then back at the worker and waves. "Hey River! I didn't know you worked here!" JJ inhales sharply. Is his face turning a bit red?

"Yeah, it's just for the summer," the guy--a blonde kid around the twins' age--says, smiling. "Well, what can I get for you guys?"

Alt blinks a bit in confusion as he looks around then notices Marvin’s smirk and JJ’s flush. He hides a laugh behind his hand. “You guys get whatever you want, my treat.”

"Great!" Marvin says. "I'd like a ten-piece nuggets and a lemonade. JJ? What do you want?" JJ coughs a bit.

"Hey, I've been practicing BSL for an elective!" River says cheerfully. "Go on, hit me with something, I want to see if I can get it."

JJ nods and signs slowly. I would like a C-H-I-L-L-Y. A 'Chilly' seems to be the name of a chocolate shake-like thing... like a Frosty.

"Ooo, we'll get a small fries, too, then, to dip," Marvin says.

"Great, what size?" River asks.

Medium.

"Medium?" JJ nods.

"Sweet. And you, mister?"

Alt chuckles, “I’ll take a black coffee. And uh- a medium chilly and fries.” He says as he slings off his backpack and digs around for his wallet. He soon enough finds it and gives River his card.

"Awesome." River swipes the card, presses some buttons, and hands the card back along with a receipt. "I'll call out your name when it's time, Mr. uh..." He glances at the card. "Brody? You related to Chase Brody?"

Alt blinks and flushes a bit, “oh yeah uh- we’re… cousins. I’m visiting but he was uh- busy.” He grins sheepishly as he takes back his card.

Marvin leans forward. "He's on a date," he whispers.

"Oooo, with that Stacy girl? Stacy Seigel?"

"Yep!"

"Gotcha." River smiles. "Sit down wherever you guys like, I'll call your name."

JJ hurries over to a booth by the front door.

Alt laughs, “Thanks!” He goes after JJ and sits across from him. “…you good little dude?” He asks gently.

JJ kicks his feet a little. I... like River, he says. He then glares at Marvin as he sits down next to him. You knew, didn't you?

"That he works here? No, but like, it's a great coincidence, isn't it?"

Bastard.

Alt smiles, “Oh okay good I thought Marvin’s teasing got to you-“ He chuckles.

"Heh." Marvin grins. "You don't know he doesn't like guys. You've never talked to him about it. C'mon, man, it's been years, you gotta resolve this sometime."

Alt then leans forward and smiles knowingly at JJ. “…I like guys too, you know. Well and girls- anyone- but also not like… anyone it’s… weird. But, I have a boyfriend. It’s… really scary to like… let yourself out there. But… it’s also really great…” he holds his necklace fondly. “The scary part gets over quickly- then it’s just… amazing. I-If they feel the same way that is.”

JJ's eyes widen slightly. He nods slowly, not saying anything.

Marvin nudges his shoulder. "Yeah. He's right."

Oh, you've never liked anyone before, JJ comments. How do you know he's right?

"Cause I'm fucking smart."

JJ laughs a little. I guess... Mam and Dad won't let us date, anyway.

"Fuck them, though."

JJ laughs louder.

Alt laughs too, “It’s what makes you happy, dude. There’s lots of ways to go around your parents~” he says with a mischievous grin. “But seeing as you’re Marvin’s brother, seems like you might be well versed in that already.”

"Dude, I'm so fucking happy that JJ started going around them some more," Marvin says. "Fucking... grew some balls." JJ laughs again.

Alt grins, “Good! Every teenager needs a bit of rebellion I say~!” He then blinks and his smile drops. He sighs and touches his neck briefly. “Just… be careful. Don’t try to do… dangerous stuff, you know?”

JJ nods. Don't worry, I think we're being careful. It probably helps that Schneep and Jackie would get so mad at us if we got involved in something.

"Mad in a caring way," Marvin adds. "Y'know?"

Alt nods with a chuckle, “Oh I know- my friends are the same way.”

Marvin laughs. "Honestly I think the most exciting things we get up to are Caverns and Creatures games."

"Order for Mr. Brody!" River calls out.

Alt looks interested in that, “Oh? Is that like- Dungeons and Dragons?” He gets cut off before he can get his answer and he almost glitches before stopping himself. He quickly gets up to grab their food and bring it over.

When Alt comes back, Marvin immediately starts talking. "Uh, I've never heard of Dungeons and Dragons, but like, that might be a thing about other worlds, y'know? But yeah it's a tabletop roleplaying game that Jackie introduced us to! The whole group's been doing it since then, but don't ask Chase or Stacy about it they'll get all embarrassed about doing nerdy shit. It doesn't fit their images, yknow? But they really like it. Chase keeps making new characters but Stacy's been sticking with her one girl as often as possible, though it does make levels and balancing difficult, yknow?"

Meanwhile, JJ is enjoying dipping the fries in the chocolate chilly.

Alt laughs, “That’s just like dnd! I haven’t gotten to play yet but- Chase, my Chase, really wants to get a group together. I’ve always thought it looked fun but never really got a chance to play it, you know?” He says, following JJ’d lead.

"It's really fun!" Marvin says excitedly. "Oh, but the first time we played, some greenlight shit happened and we all got actually sucked into the game--Jackie had to GM to get us out but Anti kept trying to throw monsters at us--it was fucking insane! Kind of fun, but yknow, you don't want to do that all the time."

“Oh dude- not gonna lie that sounds insanely fun,” Alt giggles, “Then again one of mine and Chase’s favorite worlds we ever went to was a medieval one so… guess I’m biased!”

You went to a medieval world?! JJ gasps.

"Oh, that sounds so cool! Like going into a book!" Marvin's eyes light up.

Alt grins wide and nods, “Dude it was just like a book! It was a land called Glasúil and it’s kinda like an older Ireland but with magic and the camp we went to the first time was made out of dragon skeleton! We learned to sword fight and archery and fought a corrupt King! Last time was… hard but honestly? I can’t wait to go back and just have fun there- it’s really really cool.”

"Ohhhh that sounds so fucking fun," Marvin whispers.

And that's why you need your traveler fixed, so you can go back whenever you want. JJ nods. I hope we can help with that.

Alt laughs, “Yeah- and you know… to help other people and… well- to go on those other adventures you all remember that we don’t!” He grins. “…I’m glad we get to do more with you all… I wanted to visit so so bad-“

Not much time passes--just long enough for them to finish eating--when a silver car pulls up outside. "Oh! Hey, that's Jackie's car!" Marvin says. "You probably don't recognize it, he got it before going off to uni a couple years ago, but that's it!"

Alt blinks and looks outside and then grins, “Oh nice! Yeah he had a… green car before right?”

"He still does, it's his dad's," Marvin says. "The silver car is his though." He waves through the windows at the car. The door opens and Jack gets out, then Schneep. And then, suddely, Aodhan is sitting next to Alt. "Hi."

"Oh fucking hell!" Marvin jumps. JJ presses a hand to his chest, surprised.

Alt jumps a bit too, “Jesus man! You gotta be careful with that dude- you’ll scare the normal people around…!” He tries to whisper.

Aodhan looks around. "There's no one in the restaurant, though."

"It's the principle," Marvin says.

Alt chuckles, “Yeah dude- just in case- you don’t wanna accidentally glitch into a bad scene, you know?”

"Hmmm." Aodhan nods.

Outside, Bro hops out of the car, chewing on a long piece of gummy like it’s a piece of hay. He blinks at the windows then waves excitedly at the other boys.

"Oh! There's Bro! C'mon, let's go!" He gets up and heads out, the rest of the guys behind him.

"Anti, you gotta stop that," Jack says, mostly jokingly.

"Hello!" Schneep waves.

Jackie gets out of the car. "You guys got Brenda's? No fair!... Well, I guess we got a lot of snacks."

Bro grins wide as he sees Marvin and Jj, “Grown up twins!! Look at you two!!”

"Wow! You really look exactly the same!" Marvin laughs. "Alright, that settles it, weird time shit."

“Must be!” Bro laughs, “It’s been at least less than a year for us since we saw you last!”

It's so good to see you again! JJ beams.

Alt makes sure to take his fries and chilly and offers some of the fries to Bro then Jackie once they’re out.

Bro blinks then grins eagerly, taking some fries and leaning over to dip them in Alt’s Chilly.

Alt glares at him and pulls it away. “you could at least ask, asshole!”

“It’s big brother privilege!” Bro grins cheekily.

Schneep grins watching Alt and Bro. "Hah. Chase would do something like that with me all the time. So I suppose it is older cousin privilege too." He nods at Alt. "Frustrating, ja?"

Alt grumbles at Schneep, sipping the rest of his chilly.

"Alright, so where's your piece thing?" Jackie asks. "Somewhere around here, right?" He looks around. "You guys see anything weird?"

The guys all look around--and JJ suddenly gasps. He points across the street, where there's a van parked. A black van with a picture of an eye on it...just like the one on the card he got from the man.

Alt is about to reach in his pocket to check his tracker, but he freezes as he sees the van. He finds Aodhan’s shoulder and leans by Marvin too- “…alright guys- try your best to look normal while we search, got it? We can’t give them any reason to suspect us.” As he says this, he reaches into his pocket to properly check the tracker. The sooner they can find this other piece the better.

Meanwhile Bro is confused. “Huh? What’s wrong with a weird black van?”

"That's the symbol of the guy who stopped us," Aodhan says.

JJ reaches into his pocket and pulls out the card, handing it out to Bro.

"The... Department of Impossible Sciences, you said?" Jackie says.

Jack frowns. He takes a phone out of his pocket. "I'll stay back here and keep an eye on the van."

"Aw, you don't want to come?" Aodhan asks, sad. Jack laughs.

"Don't worry, I'll call you if anything happens."

The tracker tells Alt that the piece fell into the pit in front of city hall.

“Good idea, Jack-“ Alt says, then inhales sharply as he looks towards the city hall. “…we may have a problem though…”

“…what’s that?” Bro asks.

“…the piece fell into the giant fucking hole-“

“…ah.” Schneep says. “Well… the sides are not so steep. We should be able to climb in.”

“How deep is the pit again?” Jackie wonders. “It’s like… two stories or something, right? That’s not too deep.”

“But it’s gonna be a tiny little thing!” Marvin points out. “There’s probably a million rocks to look at!”

Aodhan blinks slowly. “Maybe… I can find it? I know where electrical stuff is. I like… feel it.”

“I mean… I can try too-“ Alt says, “I’m just worried about creepy van over there catching us. That suit guy got onto us for possibly stealing coins- they’re not gonna react well to us trying to scale the hole.”

Well... at least it's only the van, JJ says. It's in the city hall car lot, so maybe the person who drove it is inside?

"I'm gonna check if there's a person in the front," Aodhan says. He disappears for a moment, and then reappears a minute later. "I didn't see anyone."

"But that doesn't mean they're not gonna come out of city hall and bother us,"Jackie says.

Alt hums in thought, “Maybe…”

"We'll just have to be careful," Marvin says. "And fa--" He stops. "Hang on a moment... is that...?" A black car is driving down the street. It pulls to the side, parking right next to Jackie's... and out steps Chase and Stacy.

"Hey guys!" Chase waves.

Alt blinks in surprise though then smiles and waves, “Little Chase!”

Bro grins and waves wildly, “Little me!! Did you guys finish your date already??”

"Hey!" Chase waves at Alt--and then immediately becomes flustered upon hearing Bro's comment. "I, uh--yeah, we did."

"W-we could've stayed a bit longer, maybe, but we didn't want to be left out," Stacy says. She looks at Alt. "Hey, Alt! Apparently there's some weird time stuff going on so you don't know me. I'm Stacy!"

Alt blinks, “Oh uh- hi? Yeah we… haven’t met yet- nice to meet you?” He smiles sheepishly.

"You guys didn't have to stop for us," Jackie says.

"It's Schneep's fault for texting me everything you guys were doing!" Chase says.

"Wh--that did not mean you had to stop," Schneep says.

"No, it's chill," Chase shrugs.

Bro chuckles, “Well- this will make a great story for later regardless-“

"Uh, what're you guys doing?" Chase asks.

"The TRVLR part is in the pit somewhere," Marvin says, pointing. "But that van over there is suspicious. Jack's gonna keep an eye on it while the rest of us check out the pit."

Bro turns to look at the pit and hums. “Okay so… we need a good excuse for why we’re looking at the pit if we get caught… Alt and Aodhan could glitch down and the rest of us could just like- look around it to draw attention to us instead? Could that work? We could say you all are.. researching it for school or something-“

JJ nods. A school project is a good cover. It could be some sort of... environment thing. Or maybe about construction? Or city planning?

"Something like city planning, that'll make us look like goody-two-shoes," Marvin says.

"So you guys will have to be our, like, supervisors or something," Stacy says, looking at Bro and Jackie. "Cuz you're older, y'know? You wouldn't be in school."

"Hey, I mean... I'm uni age," Jackie says. "But yeah, I get where you're coming from."

“Yeah I’m like here to make sure you don’t get in trouble and shit!” Bro grins.

"We should go fast, then." Chase glances around. "The coast is clear now, we need to, uh, use that while it's like that."

Alt nods, “Okay good plan- Chase I’m using you for cover-“ He slips behind Bro and uses him to cover up as he glitches down in the pit. Bro hardly reacts- like he’s used to this.

Aodhan sees this and copies him, hiding behind Jack while he disappears.

Once that's done, the others all hurry across the street towards the edge of the pit. The pit is twenty feet deep at its lowest, fifteen feet deep on average. The walls slope downward. They and the floor of the pit are mostly dirt, with chunks of concrete and asphalt and lots of small rocks and pebbles. Some pipes and cables stick out of the side in places, but they're all deactivated. The pipes don't leak water, the wires don't spark, they're completely safe except for the tripping hazard they present.

Alt looks around the pit and whistles, “Damn- this is some impressive pit.” He whispers to Aodhan.

Aodhan blinks. "Thanks? I didn't expect it would, y'know... happen." He starts looking around, crouching close to the ground. "How do your powers work? I can just kinda... feel stuff when it's nearby. Like static electricity. I can also feel it when cameras look at me."

“Oh- that’s handy,” Alt says, “Uh- I could try that… learned a trick once about like- pulsing out my electricity to try to feel around me… but that might only work underwater… I can sometimes just sense magic too- you’re probably more useful here, dude.”

Aodhan grins proudly. "Yay!" He slowly walks around. "Does your magic thing help at all right now?"

Alt hums and tries to feel any magic lingering in the air, “Not sure… lemme see-“ He also starts walking around.

It's a big pit, so they're not having much luck at first. The group around the top isn't, either. But then...as Alt puts his hand in his pocket once, his hand brushes the pupil of the glass eye tracker, and he gets a vague sense that it's in the north part of the pit, closer to city hall. That divides the area to search by about four.

Alt startles a bit- and doesn’t expect to get the info. But he laughs and glitches over to the northern part, calling out to Aodhan, “It should be over here!”

"Oh cool!" Aodhan hadn't had much luck, so he quickly appears over there as well.

Alt grins and starts to feel around more for anything he can sense- or even see. It’s gotta be shiny right?

Up on the surface, the doors of city hall open, and out walk a man and a woman in grey suits, talking to each other. Marvin notices them first. He hurries over to Bro, nudging him. "Those guys are wearing the same thing the guy in the park was," he whispers.

Bro briefly glances at the man and woman as Marvin points them out and very subtly nods.

The two walk over to the van with the eye decal on it, disappearing from view for most of the guys.

But Jack, watching from the car, is able to see. He texts the others: Two guys are standing by the car now. Not getting in. Then a second later, The girl is walking towards the pit.

Bro reads over Marvin’s shoulder and nods, then calls out as he claps his hands. “alright kids! It’s hot so let’s get your research done quick! Get all the pictures and notes you need, alright?” He grins.

"All the smart guys get over here," Chase whispers. Schneep, JJ, and Stacy all cluster together as the woman in a gray suit walks over. Marvin takes out his phone and starts taking pictures. Jackie digs into his backpack and pulls out a digital camera, and Marvin mutters something about him being a show-off. Jackie chuckles.

"Oh, research?" The woman asks. "What is this? A school project?"

"Yes, ma'am," Stacy says.

Bro looks to the woman and smiles charmingly, “Sure is, ma’am! Keeping an eye on them while they get this done, you know! Researching city planning and all that-“

"Oooo, fascinating," the woman says. "City planning? How's the pit related?"

"Well, ah, you can see the infrastructure and such," Schneep says quickly. "So we are getting pictures for examples."

Tell her that we're doing research on how cities do a big project like filling this in, JJ says.

"Oh, I know sign language, young man, don't worry," the woman says. "How interesting. Though I hear there's been some difficulties filling this particular pit in? Has your research found anything about that?"

"Uh... not yet! But we might hear about it later!" Chase says.

Back in the pit, Aodhan picks up a couple objects from the ground. "Any of these look like your thing?" They all look vaguely techy.

Alt glitches to him and looks then over. He hums in thought then touches his tracker again- The tracker tells him that one of the objects, a long black bar made out of some matte material, is the piece they're looking for.

Alt looks over the objects then picks out the long black bar and grins, “this is it!”

Aodhan nods. "Alright, then!" He puts the rest of the stuff in his pocket, finding it cool enough to keep. Then he looks up. "Oh shit! They're talking with someone."

Alt blinks up and then sighs. “lucky you saw- I almost just glitched straight back up…”

Bro chuckles, “All part of their studies! I don’t know too much about it- just supervising, you know? Can’t have them around a big pit like this without a careful eye.” He smiles.

"Oh yes, I hear it's quite dangerous." The woman nods. She reaches into her pocket and pulls out a card. "Say, I work for an organization that's helping out with this pit, as well as other things around town. So if you all need any help, here's our phone number." She holds out a card like the one the man from the park gave JJ.

Stacy takes it. "Thanks, ma'am. Now we have to get back to work."

"Of course, of course, I'll leave you to it." The woman smiles, and turns around, heading back to the van.

Bro smiles and waves after her. But he lets his smile drops as soon as she’s gone. “Phew…! Good acting there, team!” He grins at the kids.

Thank you! JJ beams.

"Acting is his passion," Schneep chuckles.

Alt glitches up towards the top of the hole and whispers out, “Coast clear yet??”

"Hold on," Jackie warns, looking back towards the van. Then a couple different text tones ring out, and everyone checks their phones.

"Jack says they're getting in the van," Chase reports. "So it's probably fine now."

Alt grins and glitches up all the way, showing off the piece, “Got it!”

Bro shares his grin and pats him on the back, “Nice!”

"Fuck yeah!" Marvin grins. "Man... these TRVLR parts look really ordinary. I can't believe this stuff lets you travel through worlds."

Alt blinks then laughs, “Well- it’s all like… bunch of tech stuff- then my magic! So I think that helps the normal parts work.”

"You should probably clean that off," Schneep says. "Here." He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a piece of cloth. "I use this for my glasses."

"You use an ordinary cloth for your glasses?" Stacy gasps.

"What am I supposed to use?"

"Something like this." Stacy pulls a bit of silky cloth out of her pocket. "It's designed for glasses!"

"Ah. Well, I think I had one like that, but I lost it."

Alt takes the cloth from Schneep and starts to clean it off, “you know, I used to think it only worked cuz I was giving it electricity but I think it works because I’m also like… a Glitch you know? Broke the rules of my world somehow so now- I can use that to fuel the TRVLR.”

Aodhan appears next to Alt, fading in slowly to be more considerate. "D'you think I'm a Glitch?" he asks. "D'you think any of the anomalies were glitches?"

"I think that you'd count, yeah," Marvin says.

Alt blinks then smiles at Aodhan, “Mmmm maybe? Usually other mes are to be honest- there’s a few exceptions though, like our friend Schneep we just saw.”

“He doesn’t glitch like Alt does- he kinda does like this worm-holey thingy- but he got told by another Glitch he was one so like- probably something others Glitches can sense or some shit.” Bro adds.

Alt's phone lets out some static. "I'm pretty sure that this kid would count," Anti says slowly. "At the very least, he's something very strange. Now, you have both parts?"

Alt very slightly jumps- getting more used to hearing Anti, “Yup-“ He says as he puts the now clean part in the bag.

"Oh... do you guys need to go now, then?" Chase asks. "I mean--seems like this is important, so go ahead, but like... sucks that it was so short, y'know?"

Bro looks super sad and looks towards Alt to talk towards Anti, “Yeah Anti! We can hang out for just a bit longer can’t we?? We’re just breezing through these worlds with all our friends!”

"Well, once you have your TRVLR back you can come back whenever you want," Anti says.

"Booooo," Marvin says. "Fuck offfff."

"Wha--" Anti doesn't seem to know how to respond to teenage rebellion.

"Yeah, it's been forever since we've seen these guys," Jackie agrees. "It'd be nice to hang out a little while longer. Hell, Chase and Stacy were gone for most of the time."

"We, uh, had a nice time, though," Stacy says.

"Y-yeah." Chase nods. "But like... you know. Been a while."

Anti pauses. "Once we leave this world, all the rest of them will be new to you two. So... if you want to stay... it's understandable. But--I'll just repeat what I said. You can come back whenever once you have your TRVLR."

“I mean… they did say that we come back in… our future, their past-“ Alt says quietly. “Even if I wanna stay… I’m sure you guys have some much to tell us- Marvin hadn’t even showed me his magic yet!”

"Oh, there's so much I could show you, it's almost too much." Marvin grins. He crouches low to the ground, then jumps into the air, and streaks and fireworks of green appear around him.

Alt’s eyes sparkle with excitement, “Dude!! That’s sick as hell!!”

Hey, we're in the middle of the street! JJ points out. People could see!

Bro pouts, “Mmmm… this is hard!! I know we gotta fix this but… we missed you guys… and you’re all growing up and-! Jack and Anti are here too and we barely got to meet them! Well, Anti of course before but- you know what I mean!!”

Schneep sighs. "It is very sad, isn't it? But... your thing is important, yes?"

Anti coughs for attention. "Also, I'll remind you that the other me is still looking for us. Do you want him to appear in this world?"

Bro and Alt stiffen as Anti mentions the other Anti. Bro sighs loudly, like a child who’s mom just made a good point to ruin their fun, “Noooo- of course not… I guess that… decides it. I don’t want you guys to be in danger.”

Alt sighs too and crosses his arms, “Yeah… l-longer we stay here… the more likely he is to find us…”

Aodhan blinks. "I guess that Anti is a really bad Anti, then."

"We're a lot more capable than we were three years ago, yknow," Chase says.

Jackie shakes his head. "No, I know we are, but still... just that tone of voice, it sounds like this guy is really bad news."

Alt smiles sadly at Chase, “I’m sure you guys are! You were already little badasses last time… but we don’t even know how to fight this guy. He’s not physical and scarily strong… plus he’s trying to delete other universes so… don’t want that happening here.”

Aodhan laughs a little. "You can't delete universes! There are so many!"

"I am not sure how those two things connect," Schneep mutters. "I mean... does seem really hard, to get rid of a whole universe," Chase says, frowning. "Like... think of how big the galaxy is. And there are like... billions of galaxies in the universe."

"I'm sure you guys will figure something out!" Marvin says, beaming at the Brody brothers. "You two are amazing."

Bro beams back at Marvin and lightly punches his arm with affection. “Thanks lil dude!”

Jackie smiles at Alt and Bro. "Well... it sucks, then, but sounds like you have to go. But hey, you can look forward to more visits with us! I mean, we'll be younger, but maybe you'll see us again when we're this old some time in the future."

Bro sighs, “Yeah I guess… though like- through all this time weirdness- we at least know now that we have more adventures! That’s a plus!”

JJ nods. Exactly! They were really fun... but no spoilers.

"I can't wait until you guys meet me for real," Stacy says. "Uh... I was probably a bit annoying at thirteen, though. Just ignore that."

Alt smiles warmly, “I can’t wait- it’ll be awesome for sure.”

"So... are you two ready?" Anti asks. "Should I contact Sam?"Alt brings out his phone officially to nod at Anti. “yeah… guess we are. Into uncharted waters now, huh?”

"Indeed." Anti nods back. "Though I think this first world will be kind of similar to what you're used to." The phone screen is briefly overcome with colored static. Then green lightning unzips a rift in midair.

"Oh, is that how you guys get around now?" Aodhan asks, fascinated. "Kinda looks like a Fissure."

Alt blinks and looks at the rift, “Huh? Really?” He grins, “Guess we can use that our advantage next time.”

Bro smiles sadly, “You lads take care of each other, okay?”

Alt nods then grabs Bro before he starts to cry cuz he knows he might. Bro yelps a bit then waves wildly as they walk through the rift. “Bye!! We’ll visit soon!!”

"Goodbye!" Aodhan waves.

"We'll see you again," Chase promises.

Jackie, JJ, Marvin, Schneep, and Stacy all wave as the two of them disappear.

#sorry it’s lateee I got distracted by a really good nap earlier then I had work HCGV #SBTCV #SBTCV PT #paranormal teens #PNPT au #swap beyond the Crystalverse #more of the guys being goofy hghh I love all these lil dudes!!#and alt giving the little gays some hope :’) JVHBN

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