#i project onto midas a lot.

[piepiepiemag]

i feel like this is a crime against humanity and a personal attack on me

[hyperionhugo]

A Hugo/Noa Simmons drabble I wrote during a writing sprint!

Based on this post by @buttercup-art :

This wasn't working. What happened to liquid courage?

Hugo tilted his head back, resting it against the back of the couch. He stared at the ceiling, or perhaps through it, past it, beyond it.

After a moment, the melting ice in his scotch glass shifted, clinking softly. He exhaled and sat forward, resting his elbows on his knees.

He picked up the ECHO. The screen illuminated obediently, and he squinted slightly in the blue light.

He saw her name in his contacts. His thumb hovered over the selection.

He tapped.

His thumb hovered over the confirmation. And hovered.

Another moment passed.

"Dammit," he muttered, under his breath. He sat the device back down on the coffee table.

He reached for his glass and was irrationally annoyed that there was no more scotch in it.

"Dammit," he said aloud, almost emphatically. He rose to his feet and lumbered to the liquor cabinet, taking the bottle back to the coffee table. Who was he trying to impress, anyway?

He fell heavily back onto the couch, poured himself some more, and didn't even bother to drink it.

He picked up the ECHO again.

The confirmation prompt had timed out. He stared at her name in his contacts again.

He tapped. And hovered. And hovered.

"Fuck."

Was he overthinking it? No, he decided. He didn't overthink. He was thinking what was most likely a perfectly normal and appropriate amount.

The ECHO timed out again, this time in his hand.

He huffed and tossed the device on the couch beside him. He sat back with a wordless grumble, rubbing his eyes with the heels of his hands.

He was sure she had seen him looking at her. He was also sure she had wanted him to look. There was no reason for her to wear a skirt like that, to wear a pistol strapped to her thigh, to cross her legs like that when he had a perfect view of the gun. The timing was too perfect.

So why couldn't he open the comms?

She could carry any gun she wanted, as openly as she wanted. But that, that had to be a statement, right? A message.

He picked up the device one more time and tapped her name with renewed resolve.

His thumb rose to just as confidently tap the confirmation -- 

And it wouldn't come down.

He caught himself before the device could time out in his hand again, and he canceled out of the prompt himself.

With a sigh he turned and laid down completely, across the length of the couch. The ECHO clunked softly to the floor beside him.

Hugo stared at the ceiling again with a sigh.

No more of that tonight. He was done.

He reached up to his collar, where his tie would normally be, and absently stroked a fingertip over the base of his neck. A lot like the way she had done it when she adjusted his tie.

It didn't feel the same when he did it.

It was the last thought he had before he fell asleep.

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

Noa Simmons sat in her bed, propped comfortably against the headboard with a couple of pillows. Her laptop tray lay across her lap and her nails tapped lightly on the keys.

She was almost done with this particular project, more or less. Not that it was especially urgent. She simply wouldn't sleep until she had finished this train of thought. A bit of fatigue couldn't penetrate her focus.

At the edge of her screen, a user's status was updating in her contact list.

Vasquez, Hugo:

Online. Active. Offline.

Online. Active. Offline.

Noa's fingers hovered over the keyboard, her eyes drawn to the oscillating status.

Online. Active. Online. Offline.

But there was no more activity.

"Hm."

A moment passed.

She continued typing.

[nightlight-rising]

🍓, 🍋, 🥝?

🍓Show off your favorite wet cat (pathetic) dragon and share a fun fact about them!

love this prompt but it just made me realize i need more pathetic wet cat dragons OTL

Midas is the Clan's treasurer, keeping track of funds and expenses and the flow of money in and out of the Clan. A couple specific dragons in the Clan often make impulse purchases, demand expensive limited apparel, and accidentally forget to check the currency before listing auctions so they end up selling for 150 TREASURE, NOT GEMS.

he is chronically stressed. but good at his job, even if it's a thankless one.

🍋What's the most dramatic/emotional moment in your lore? Explain it, or write one short paragraph of prose set during that moment

I'm afraid I must disappoint for this prompt, as I haven't (and have no plans to) write my Clan lore into any sort of story-- I've tried writing oneshots/short stories involving my dragons before, but since there's no linear story(s) to the Clan, I have no climax to summarize.. sorry....

🥝If you were to start over on your lore and remake it entirely, what would you change?

Since my lore is pretty minimal, I'm more or less attached to/happy with what I've already written. But this question actually made me consider something that's been coming for a while:

this has been my avatar/self insert dragon for years, and I've involved them a lot as a POV in my stories (really old and bad noncanon ones)... I projected basically all of my teenage angst onto them. I'm still too attached to get rid of them entirely, but I don't really connect to them anymore. I'm probably gonna shelve them and replace them with a more engaging character with an actual role in the Clan, to make them feel more harmonious with the setting and lore. I just gotta find the right dragon first

Other than that, if I were to start my lore over, I'd probably make the Clan have more of a township setting with different businesses and smaller groups, rather than the four seasonal Houses. I kinda organized my lair based on Aesthetics rather than actual lore (bc. yknow. lack of lore), so despite that it still feels pretty disorganized, with plenty of dragons in my hibden (and main lair itself) in need of lore and roles. (maybe I just need to suck it up and buy more lair tabs lol)

[chloesfmp]

I chose the theme 'Demigods/gods’ which branched off from the story of King Midas. The reason on picking this theme is because I have been into a lot of manwha’s when growing up and fantasy has always been my favourite category when reading through different genres. Due to this, I picked the theme of gods. I wanted to create a character of my own interpretation of what a goddess would look like in my eyes. For ethical reasons, I explained here and in my project proposal that manhwa are korean comics, taking into the theme of historical and fantasy, usually the female lead dresses are rather extravagant and so I wanted to make the dress look pretty and elegant. Cultural considerations that I have taken into account is that every culture has different traditions on what they wear through different seasons and festivals, for the Japanese, they wear kimonos, the Chinese wear hanfus. Knowing this I wanted to incorporate different aspects of both of these onto my character design of different features.   When talking about sustainability considerations, my project is based on the fashion industry as I am modelling in this project. There are many pros and cons when it comes to the fashion industry, for example: the clothes in the industry may look very pretty and well made, but the clothes could be copied by many different companies and when manufacturing clothes, there is a lot of material wastage. I chose to make my project about model design because it is new to me and I wanted to learn how to create characters, as this would help me also in the long run of what I might want to do in the future.

[runawaysiren940]

Immortally Yours:

In 1982, Natalie meets Ivy in a bar in Paris. What was supposed to be a one night stand turns into never-ending life; all would be well if not for the fact that she is now dead, and that Ivy seems intent on convincing her to accept her role in balancing the food web. Deciding to prove that her immortality can be used to create good, Natalie and Ivy fall into a cycle of cat and mouse, where the cat wants nothing more than the mouse's love and obedience

Whiskey and Salt:

Natalie is dissatisfied with her life as a midwife to a small seaside town. The once bustling economy is long gone, and much of the town's population has moved onto greener pastures. After yet another broken promise from her husband, she is gifted a seal pelt. Not soon after, a woman with pale skin, and pinprick sharp teeth appears at her door, wanting it back...

The Reavers:

In the aftermath of a battle, much devastation is left behind. While men are taken captive as slaves or canon fodder, women as war wives and nurses, and boys to be trained as foot soldiers- the girls are left behind. Reviled as much as they are hated, Reavers lay claim to orphaned girls, and clean up the battlefields to bury the dead, and resell what can be of use. Northam isn't so sure about her newest recruit, Argot, who is an obvious royal in hiding, but when the war starts leaving monsters behind, she has no choice but to work together to keep their girls safe.

Midas Woods:

Whatever she touches, rots. At first, she attempts to live with it, but after an accident leaves her with a reluctant body count, she sets off on a road trip to find answers. It brings her to the depths of Appalachia, where a witch has made her home deep in the woods, and darkness lurks around every corner.

The Day

A collection of accounts from the fall of man, in the aftermath, and the society built afterwards.

I realized that I can write 50k words in three months... if the project is fanfiction and I have someone to share my excitement with. Original writing is a lot harder to maintain focus on because of the lack of interest. Any comments are appreciated and will drive updates!

Should I post links to my original stories? It's all on my ao3 anyhow. I've got a bunch of fantasy lesbian romance stories, but to be honest, I need the audience interactions to garner the motivation to finish them...

Vampire lesbians, selkie lesbians, witch lesbians... Not what people come to me for, so I'm not sure if worth sharing.

[poeticblkcoffee]

My Great Auntie Venus La Doll. The Bronze Goddess Burlesque

Venus LaDoll performs at Club Savannah, 68 West 3rd Street. (Photo by John Pedin/NY Daily News Archive

Photograph of Venus La Doll dancing by Lonnie Simmons Jet Magazine December 3, 1953

Cabaret of a life

Keeping up with Venus Irving-Prescott

BY BILL RODRIGUEZ

THEN AND NOW: 'The Bronze Goddess of Love' (top) and Venus at AS220.

Anybody who at one time was known — and advertised in Paris — as "The Bronze Goddess of Love" deserves to be the center of attention onstage for an evening.

So the goddess herself, Venus Irving-Prescott, will be performing in the Camp Cabaret at AS220 on March 5 and 6 (on Saturday at 7 p.m. and on Sunday at 3 p.m.; call [401] 831-9327). The sequined glory that was the 1950s and ’60s will be celebrated in song and story by the erstwhile chanteuse and 15 nostalgic young performers. Even admission is vintage: $5 general and $3 if you’re over 60 and thereby can sing along without the bouncing ball.

Venus will be 80-going-on-30 come April. She has found work as an actor, drama coach, costume designer, director, and writer, among other skills she picked up along her way. Dance instructor, publicist, comedienne, TV commercial "on-camera principal" . . . you get the idea.

The cabaret will center around her life, with songs springing out of colorful descriptions and anecdotes. Of which there are many.

Take the time a stranger briskly stepped onto her Saigon stage, took her by the hand, led her away from the microphone, and protected her with his body on the floor. Seems that the Vietcong were lobbing mortar rounds their way.

She’ll probably tell you about a famous Paris club owner. "Freddie Carroll was very well-respected by men and women," Venus says. "She wore men’s suits and shoes and had a diamond pinkie ring. She put her hand out as soon as men came, and they would have men’s conversations. I was so fascinated with all that stuff."

And not every performer can boast of a command performance before the queen of Siam.

For the cabaret, Venus will have plenty of help.

"A lot of it I wrote — eight or nine pieces, something like that," she says. "Then Keith has some things in there."

That would be Keith Munslow, multi-instrumentalist, storyteller, and music director for the show. Venus glances around for a glimpse of his black leather jacket near the AS220 stage, where the cast is assembling for a rehearsal. Casey Seymour Kim is there speaking to some of them, having stepped forward to direct the cabaret so that Venus could turn her attention to her own numbers.

"I just passed my music around to whoever would fit it," Venus says, "and they all fit like a glove."

Kim is an actor and singer familiar to audiences recently from her boffo performance in the title role in Little Voice at the Gamm Theatre. She’ll probably be camping it up as Miss Pixie Feingold. There’s lots more talent to draw from. For example, Lawrence Nunes, whose recent song-and-poetry CD Hearts Unveiled Venus says she’s been listening to more often than to Ray Charles or Nat King Cole these days. Providence’s own Princess Pearl will do some comedy and maybe sing one of Venus’s songs. Other vocalists will include Denise Moffat and Maria Ventura.

There will also be hip-hop dancing by Project Heat and Alexandra Blackbird, and a traditional story from Mali, told by Mohamed Diakite. And much more.

Plenty of variety, in other words. Which certainly describes the long and action-packed life of Venus Irving-Prescott.

Born in Detroit but raised in Cleveland, as a 20something she made a splash as a cabaret singer, from Minsky’s in Chicago to the Savannah Club in the Big Apple. Career ups and downs included the requisite dark night of the soul in the New York theater district’s Actors’ Chapel, when she was 33. "I just sat there and tried to figure it out," she recalls. "I thought: ‘Well, did I step on any blue suedes on the way?’ Because at one time I had the Midas touch. What happened?" But she picked herself up, gathered her gumption and successfully stepped into the Paris cabaret scene. After that came Switzerland, Southeast Asia, and Australia.

Venus has seven grandchildren "and all kinds of great-grandchildren." She first came to Providence in 1981 to visit her daughter and has been based here ever since. One of her bread and butter mainstays is a business she developed called Show Polish, for which she checks out performers’ acts and suggests improvements.

The memoir she’s writing has a revealing title — Life Doesn’t Owe Me a Thing.

"In our culture we have people making megabucks, and they have platinum bling-bling all over them and they don’t even know whose shoulders they’re standing on, you know?" she laments. "Don’t even have a clue."

Venus shakes her head over encountering a young African-American student who didn’t know "Strange Fruit," the Billie Holiday song about lynching. The title is the name of a free performance Venus will give on March 17 at 7:30 p.m. in the University of Rhode Island Fine Arts Center, on the Kingston campus.

The lady does keep busy.

Issue Date: March 4 - 10, 2005

[battlinghurricanes]

LITYERSES HEADCANONS!!!!!!!

I saw some other headcanon posts for him, so I felt inspired to throw my own ideas out there! I think some of my headcanons are pretty different from the ones a lot of people have of him, but I always like reading other people’s ideas so hopefully people will like this too!

(also theres a lot, this is long *cough* my bad)

- After the incident in The Lost Hero, after Midas dies, Lityerses is homeless. His father’s mansion is destroyed and it’s not like he has anyone to turn to.

- They mention in The Lost Hero that the Hunters of Artemis came across Midas and Lityerses earlier. When they did, Lityerses heard in passing about Camp Half-Blood. It’s the only place meant for demigods that he has even the slightest knowledge on, so he sets his sights on making it there.

- It takes eight grim months to reach New York. It’s half a miracle, slowly taking busses, hitchhiking, and sometimes just walking to the next city. Monsters attack him the entire way and he adds plenty of new scars to his collection.

- There’s no reliable way for him to get money. He gets much, much better at using his powers as a son of Demeter. He uses it to grow fruits, vegetables, and any sort of edible plant so he can at least have food of some kind.

- He goes to New York City because he doesn’t know what else to do. He doesn’t even know if the Hunters were talking about the city or the state but he figures he has to start somewhere. Unfortunately, the Triumvirate notices his presence before anyone from Camp Half-Blood does.

- He follows some demigods to Nero, who sent them to collect him. He offers a position working for the Triumvirate in exchange for food, lodging, and other basic support. Lityerses is tired and he wants to sleep in a bed and have proper meals he doesn’t have to worry about acquiring.

- He accepts, not caring if what the Triumvirate is doing is shitty or not. Nero sends him to Indianapolis to work for Commodus.

- Apollo’s decision to give him another chance was very affecting. Especially coming from ancient times when the stories of the gods on earth were far more real and immediate, he knows very well how the gods could treat mortals as simply disposable.

- He had never questioned his belief that any mortal who got wrapped up in business with a god suffered a horrible fate because of it, whether the god intended it or not.

- But then Apollo saved his life and defended him at the Waystation and told him he trusted him and Lityerses’s mind keeps drifting back to him over and over and over.

- His mind wants to reconcile what Apollo did for him with what he knows about the gods. He can’t, and that makes him feel a great many things that he can’t pin down. Apollo decided to care about him when he had no reason to, and he doesn’t know what that means for him.

- He feels a twinge of gratitude whenever he steps into the sunlight and pulse of anxiety whenever he wonders if he’s okay on his quest.

- He thinks about Meg, his little sister, and hopes they’re keeping each other safe.

- Lityerses can occasionally seem really dull, indifferent, or unresponsive because he gives super minimal reactions to things sometimes, but that’s really not the case.

- Being in the modern world for him is sort of like a slight, but near constant sensory overload. Sometimes, his brain is too busy processing other stuff to fully load up an emotional response. He’ll react to something in his mind but he won’t express it outwardly at all.

- Leo, running up: Wanna help me strap a firework to a crossbow bolt and try to shoot it into the office building across the street to see if it’ll blow up in there?!!!!!     Lityerses, with a completely flat voice and blank expression: I think that’s a very bad idea.

- It’s definitely not all the time, but it does happen.

- (Me? Projecting sensory issues onto every character I like? It’s more likely than you think.)

- He has a very “go with the flow” attitude, to the point of being a character flaw sometimes. It can make him easy to manipulate.

- (Commodus: hey lityerses go put this barbed wire and war helmets and metal teeth on these ostriches     Liyerses, in his head: uhuh uhuh uhuh uhuh yeah cool got it i hope i still have some fingers left tomorrow)

- He’s working on it though. He’s working on it.

- One side effect of this is that whenever Leo makes some pop culture or meme reference, Lityerses will just nod and agree. It takes Leo forever to realise that he was just lying going along with it.

- *mid conversation*  Lityerses: I’d go get some food, but I don’t have any money     Leo: dude, you’re literally just the 69 cents vine, not enough for chicken nuggets     Lityerses: oh, for sure     Calypso, overhearing: wait, you understood that??     Lityerses: no, I’ve never understood a single word that’s left leo’s mouth       Leo: what?!!!! but you said you understood my reference to that dril tweet the other day, right?!      Lityerses: yeah, of course      Calypso: what’s a dril tweet??      Lityerses: I don’t know.       Leo: YOU TRAITOR

- Another side effect: he’s a complete pushover for Georgie.

- At one point, when some of the Waystation crew are walking out in the city, she complains that she’s tired and wants to be carried. When her moms gently refuse, she immediately goes over to Lityerses and holds her arms out and says that she’s tired. He doesn’t even stop walking, he just swoops her up and puts her on his shoulder right away.

- Hemithia and Jo glare at him but he just avoids eye contact. “She’s already up there, too much effort to put her down now.”

- He was in the Fields of Punishment in the Underworld and wow was it incredibly traumatizing.

- His memories of death are sickeningly agonizing, but they also usually feel distant and unreal. Sometimes, though, they’ll worm their way into his dreams with horrific clarity. He’ll wake up in a cold sweat, hyperventilating, with full body tremors he can’t control.

- One morning after waking up like that, while sitting on the floor regaining his composure, Hemithea comes in to see why he wasn’t up yet. He pulls himself together in due time. He doesn’t answer any of her questions.

- He never talks about it, but he’s truly terrified of dying. He never was before, but now that he knows what’s waiting for him...

- It doesn’t help that he knows that, no matter how careful he is or how well he defends himself, he could die at any moment if Thanatos decides to bring him back to the Underworld.

- It weighs on the back of his mind that, at least on a technical level, he has no right to be alive. Sometimes he can’t help but think that the things he does now don’t matter in the end, because there’s no reason he would get a second judgement when he does eventually return to the Underworld.

- He does his best to shut that down and remind himself that trying to do the right thing helps the people around him, no matter what happens after his death, but the thought exists and it is painful.

- He really never voices these fears because he feels like all he can really do is try not to think about it, and when he does, he tries to forget as soon as he can. It’s a burden he shoulders as quietly as he can.

- He isn’t used to owning a lot of material possessions, both from how he lived in ancient times and then from being homeless for a while. He’s only ever described wearing that Cornhuskers shirt because it’s the only one he owned for a while.

- Not long after joining the Waystation, the first time he was going out somewhere them, Jo snapped that it just made him look stupid, trying to look tough by going without a coat when it was so cold outside. Earnestly confused and defensive, he tells her that he just doesn’t own one.

- After that, she insists on filling his wardrobe until he has enough clothes.

- (Speaking of the Cornhuskers shirt, he just picked it out on a whim, sort of thinking of Demeter (They grow corn here like we used to grow wheat, right?) and sort of just thinking it looked cool. Olujime once tried to talk to him about how some college teams were doing and Lityerses just goes “What’s football?”)

- He doesn’t really get modern fashion trends. Leo offers to catch him up, but he declines very quickly.

- In ancient times, dyes and patterns available for clothes were much more limited and much more expensive. He’s fascinated by all the colors and prints people can wear just all the time now. Lityerses wears a lot of bright colors because he thinks they’re cool and fun. He likes red, blue, and purple the most but he’ll wear a lot of stuff.

- Along with not really following any trends, he also hasn’t picked up on a lot of unspoken gender connotations that come with modern clothing.

- When the Waystation are first trying to get him some clothes, he picks out a pink jacket and Leo snorts at him like “You’re going for pink?” Lityerses just stares at him like “Yeah. It’s just pink.” Leo sort of realizes and goes, “Oh, it’s just, you know...” to Calypso. But Calypso is also just staring blankly and says, “No I don’t. I don’t get it. Is there something about pink?” And Leo notices Hemithea glaring daggers at him and he laughs nervously and goes, “Nevermind, it was a stupid joke anyway.”

- Hemithia: Leave the ancient demigod and ex-titan blissfully unaware of our complex, modern gender stereotypes.    Leo, sweating: gotcha.

- He pretty much just wears what he finds comfortable. Generally it’s just t-shirts with jeans or basketball shorts.

- Lityerses is a super clingy sleeper and will reflexively grab on to anything within arms reach while he’s asleep. (He’s a big spoon by nature.)

- Leo discovers this and now, whenever Lityerses falls asleep on one of the couches, he’ll entertain himself by slowly pushing a pillow up to him until he inevitably grabs it and pulls it against his chest.

- No one gets those pillows back until Lityerses wakes up.

- He’s very buff. His muscles aren’t super defined, nothing at all like a bodybuilder, no six pack abs or anything. But he’s built. Thick arms.

- He’s very limber and flexible too. He has great balance, which lets him move as fast as he does in combat. He’s quite physically fit in general.

- He’ll never admit it, but he ended up getting attached to the highlights in his hair he got when Apollo revealed his godly form. He thought they were fun and different and he sort of missed it when his hair grew out.

[deleteduser3837492]

Ok you know what I have a gazillion things to add to this lmfao long post below because I think they pull imagery from multiple different religions and experiences not just Christianity and apparently people hate them for that? Supposedly something about them being a “masked Christian band”? Oh ok so you gonna hate artists for drawing sexy nuns or you gonna hate your friend for dressing up as a sexy priest for Halloween too? Maybe this is just my opinion but I don’t think a Christian band would act or write like they do at all. They’re Christian music in the same way Ethel Cain is lmao. Also I hate gospel/worship/christian music, love Ethel Cain, love Sleep Token. I just found that some of the imagery seemed to correspond with some stories from the Bible. And then Aqua Regia could be about Midas, the Vesselettes could be the fates, references to gods and goddesses throughout all albums. So I have some THOUGHTS AND OPINIONS and more theories tied to specific lines but the most important thing at the end of the day is simply this:

Any art that evokes this much emotion, skill, imagination, thought, etc., can be appreciated, even if it’s not your vibe. I think it’s amazing people, like myself, can project their own interpretations onto the works. It’s one of the reasons I love modern art so much. That simple black square on a blue background painted on a canvas you swear your five year old could paint in the museum has so many meanings, and that’s lovely to me. Furthermore I just think Sleep Token have clearly put incredible time, energy, emotion, and work into this art. I think a lot of people get so pissed off because they don’t fit into one specific mold or genre or label. I don’t think we can critique the skill or expertise that’s for sure. Their lyricism and dedication to cohesive imagery are honestly on another level. Plus the way they know exactly what to say and do is really impressive especially in today’s world. I also think their privacy is refreshing and remarkable as an artist trying to stay private myself. I didn’t know anything about their lore—not even the band members assigned names—until I was in the pit at a sold out concert this year. I had just always enjoyed their music, specifically the song Sugar since 2019, never taking the time to listen to anything beyond that or read about them. After the show they became a lifesaver during some of the hardest months of my entire life and now I know every word to every song. I listen to TMBTE one full time as my workout timer, and the rest of the discography throughout the day everyday.

Also important to note, art can be super meaningful or it can just be for funsies. Everything above? Doesn’t really matter tbh. It’s enough to just enjoy something at a basic level. It could all have some big meaning, but it could also just be for shits and giggles. And either way, it’s okay. We can theorize all day and make (amazing and talented!) fan art, fics, etc., but it’s okay if it’s just music and a show too, ya know?

Anyway I need to get off my phone and work on work because I am so behind but! I just love this band ❤️ I have a lot of respect, admiration, and appreciation for the artists and people behind Sleep Token. They will probably never know how comforting their poetry, melodies, silences are to me in this season of life. And for many more I’m sure.

do sleep token remind anyone else of the Bible ?? like the offering being to eve and vessels satan and he’s just been in love with eve this whole time? Like the offering being about the Apple, Sundowning about the initial stories, TPWBYT being about the flood specifically Atlantic, TMBTE being a lament and him calling his army to start fuckin shit up bc the world gone crazy?? the four of them being the four horsemen of the apocalypse?? 3 background singers (maybe father son Holy Spirit idk but 3 is always significant imo)?? I’m sure someone else has made these connections before but lmao there you go. I’m not religious but grew up in/around the church and studied the Bible. Agnostic now. These are just my projections onto their artwork. I have specific ideas about specific lyrics and stories imma post at some point too.

Doesn’t really matter lmfao I’ll still continue to sit here and just listen to their full discography all day every day for the rest of my waking life thank you 😇 ATP I listen to them at least 30 minutes a day 5-6 days a week lol, so I’m always finding hidden or new meanings/thoughts. this may be the most simplistic interpretation of their music, and I don’t believe they did this on purpose, this is just my observation and personal perspective. They’re amazing with their own lore and mysticism as well as the rest of the community which is why I love it here 🥰

[dustedmagazine]

PM Capo \ Rio Da Yung OG — Back From Michigan \\ Almighty Slime \ Rio Da Yung OG — Spooky Season\\ Nuk \ Rio Da Yung OG — Ghetto Godz (self-released)

Flint rapper Rio Da Yung OG recorded more than 500 features in 2020—and they’re still coming.  He recorded these EPs with up and coming artists before he went to prison for 38 months. The Flint underground legend charged $35,000 for a full tape. Were these young artists buying lottery tickets with this type of package?

While Rio never recorded a weak verse for sale (and he admits that he makes his best no matter which artist is buying), every verse should be put in context of a full song. Some stuff he did didn’t amount to much, mostly because the other artist didn’t put much effort. But some throwaways turned into little gems. In one interview Rio Da Yung OG explained his productivity: “It’s only so much shit you can talk about. The art comes in is the way I finesse the shit.”

If regional artists PM Capo, Almighty Slime and Nuk thought Rio with his Midas touch would turn their music into pure gold, they were wrong. Rio’s energy on a track depends on how the collaborating artist leads the way. By not carefully selecting a beat and sleeping on his own song, the artist sabotages his own project. Among the three releases, the EP with Nuk is by far the strongest because Nuk himself can bring a lot to the table. While Nuk can’t yet pull a tape on his own, he buys good beats and can spin a good tale. On the best cut, “On a Tuesday,” Rio shows that if a song drives him he can deliver a hook that would make any artist jealous.

Back From Michigan and Spooky Season are different beasts. Instead of sticking to a short EP, PM Capo bloated his tape to full length, diluting the good stuff with mediocre and worse. Back From Michigan is 17 tracks too long, counting the ones not featuring Rio. PM Capo raps as if he just woke up and had a cereal in his mouth while recording. The result is unbelievable mess. The listener has to get through 55 minutes of music to find anything worthwhile.

Spooky Season with Almighty Slime, on the other hand, is too short (10 minutes) to make any lasting impression. Rio is featured on two songs, “2 Lips” and “Spill It.” Both have excellent production and get Rio moving, yet they are not new songs. They both would make good singles but Almighty Slime slaps three solo cuts onto them to make an EP, perhaps for financial reasons.

If some of these collaborations fail, it’s not Rio’s fault, and he certainly can’t be blamed for not providing his best material. Earlier in 2021 the Flint rapper made two EPs with a no name artist Expen$ive and a no name producer Nuez and they are the best tapes he did this year. Rap fans should check them out as both went under the radar. The reviewed EPs are for Rio completists only.

Ray Garraty

[pancat-n-sausage]

here’s some art and lore​! then it’s back to hibernation for another week haha

while i originally drew conz with her Midas Touch @karmotrinedreams91​ thought it would be cool if she could unwittingly project her will onto objects and tech, so i made an aftereffect for it! Pygmalia describes the ability to animate objects from anywhere between wandless puppet magic to full-on sentience. it was named after the sculptor and wizard pygmalion who brought his sculpture to life through love-fueled magic.

constanze first started displaying this trait with her stanbots, but it mostly went unnoticed because stanbots moving on their own is... not surprising. they’re supposed to do that! but it became a lot more evident after the GUN INCIDENT. which was when one of her magic-blasting guns fired a warning shot at an appleton boy bullying her on its own. she really wanted to do that. (amanda shadow-highwayed her outta there FAST to avoid prison.)

but perhaps her most well-known instance of using Pygmalia was on a trip to a castle in Ireland with her buddies! i don’t know the details yet because that’s for the discord to figure out, but basically she gets so scared that she animates this suit of armor without realizing it and it follows her around. i like to think that it kept following her even after she found out about it because it was living out her unconscious desire to protect herself and her friends. so now she has this half-alive suit of armor that either follows her like alphonse elric or shrinks to fit her (she can either put it on manually or it can ‘snap’ to her body!). she can also either remotely puppet it herself or let it do its own thing, and the parts that are moving will glow green. if the entire thing is moving, then yeah the entire thing glows too.

this comes from using a lot of puppet magic, so it’s perfectly viable to assume sucy could use Pygmalia too!

[septembersghost]

Not an attack on your other anon at all but to give you reassurance, if anything you've emphasised your love for Dean and how your heart bleeds for him that I felt sadder for you than I did for myself and I was VERY sad, and I remember you saying you were so stricken and fucking angry that it was easier to think about Sam at times. I don't get why fandom has divided into factions where you have to hate a character to love another, like "dean crit*cal" people do, it's sick. I know some Dean girls don't like Sam but I don't see anti posts about him like I do about Dean. they give a whole category to hating the most loving character for reasons that don't even hold up. Anti posts don't understand them at all. Sam would HATE that. as gross as it is to Dean, Sam would hate it most! Did they never hear Sam when he spoke about how important his brother was to him? he never had my attention as much honestly but I've been trying to rewatch early episodes to get the stain of season 15 from my mind, and I find having seen and read your thoughts on Sam has helped me a lot to understand and enjoy him more. Your thoughts on Dean have changed how I see him as well but I did love him already. I get why other deangirls are mad and hurt but I have enjoyed your warmth and care for Sam as much as the depth of your love for Dean. I'm not a shipper so a lot of fandom is not fun for me right now, and it feels like the warring between ships or with anti meta has made people completely lose sight of who Dean was. You definitely haven't. And Dean loved Sam more than anything, so I don't think it hurts him to love his brother, wouldn't he want you to? It's fine if people don't love one or the other of them but it makes the story a lot less interesting. I used to criticise Sam a lot and watching without doing that as much takes my mind off hurt over the ending. fandom is preoccupied condemning them for flaws as if they would be as interesting as perfect people? They're screwed up, it's the bits that make them good that matter. People can be selfish assholes and people can be angry and people can have trauma and it doesn't make them bad. It's a story of two boys trying their best in terrible situations to help others and save each other. Your blog has given comfort and clarity to me and made me appreciate them. I'm probably not the only one. I know how much you love him and how heartbroken you've been but I'm happy you've been on here.

I think of them everytime I listen to Taylor now because of your blog too. Does she know she wrote "your midas touch on the Chevy door, November flush and your flannel cure" about Dean? There is NO ONE else that could be about. She may not have meant it to be she gave that to us. x

i believe, and have for a very long time, that there are intensely personal, emotional, and psychological reasons for why any given person who watches spn will attach most to one of the winchesters (at least initially), and i don't think there's anything wrong with that, it's very subjective and unique to each viewer. i know why i imprinted and projected onto dean, and i've mentioned before that it might not even have been the most obvious or expected reaction, but it was true and real immediately, and that love has definitely remained.

i don't have a problem with discussing them critically or examining their issues/mistakes, of which there are many, but the anti culture that has suddenly cropped up here is a different space altogether, because it's not about thoughtful analysis or fresh perspectives, it's just hateful for the sake of it. everyone is welcome here, whomever your faves are! i have followers and mutuals from various subsections of fandom and it's really nice knowing that. i've no ties to the suffocatingly negative side of fandom at all, and i don't understand what the purpose of it is, or why they want to participate in the show when they virulently dislike the characters and the bones/heart/soul of the story as much as they seem to do. i typically try to respect people's opinions and differing points of view, i don't have an issue with venting on your own blog, especially if you feel the need to channel those frustrations in a constructive way, it's the...i don't know? widespread negativity and complete devaluing of the characters and narrative that doesn't sit well with me when it comes to that aspect of fandom. and they stopped using "anti" and switched to "cr*tical" as some form of faux intellectualism when they're still willfully misinterpreting canon and established characterization. i do also think some victim shaming regarding trauma goes on, and i'm not okay with the atmosphere of that at all. i definitely hear you, the factions have become vitriolic in many ways (the uncrossable divides of the dnis don't help), and it hurts my heart that's it's come to that, pitting characters and ourselves against each other to that extreme. i don't understand it either, and it's contrary to the purpose of the story - which was transcending the gothic horror and the violence and the grief to find connection and forgiveness and love. i have my theories on why dean is the most prevalent target of it, but i don't even want to give them that much energy, so this all the commentary they'll get.

regarding the rest of this message, i'm so glad to read this and appreciate your consideration and thoughts so much! you're right, i did say that shifting my focus was easier for a while, and it's still part of the process of working through it, and it also comes from some of the very cynical commentary suggesting that sam didn't care/forgot all about dean when we saw the contrary. i'm not going to dwell on that episode (as if i haven't already asdhjsdksdj), but i hate that it left anyone any space to think that. it's untrue. it's why i've been tagging things about how sam liked being with dean and chose that willingly, how far off the edge he went when he lost him or when dean was in trouble, how he had the convictions of choices he made. i refuse to let the ending negate that. we know what he does, how he reacts, it was established in faith. both of them would always have chosen the paths they did when it came to saving one another, for better or worse. that's who they were.

unashamed deangirl that i am, it makes me really happy to know i've helped give you a better point of view on sam and that you're able to enjoy episodes even more! extending empathy whenever you can helps elevate the story in a particular way. it's not required of anyone, of course, i'd never presume to say it is. we have our individual ways of relating to the narrative, and i certainly never expect anyone to see it the way i do, or be comforted by the same aspects i am, but i hope you can continue enjoying it and find a sense of healing within it. canon gave us so much depth, in kripke era particularly - the show may not have been flawless, but it established them and all their edges and unexpected facets and contrasts so beautifully. i've been calling them "my boys" from the start because it was their story together, it was about them, the battles they fought, the people they saved, the ones they embraced and welcomed in, the power of their bond, the way they touched our hearts. i wrote that super long/unhinged post about them being Romantic heroes, but there's a reason for their complexities and their flaws that live alongside their bravery and humanity and the way they shine. they're a folktale. they live in the margins of the world and traverse its shadowed places, blazing bright and then slipping out again. they were never meant to be perfect or infallible or even unquestionably right, but they are good. they're not always good in an easy way, in a simple way, but they are. they are capable of frightening transgressions and universe-altering courage. the good and the bad of love is an inherent part of each of them, for different reasons, expressed in individual ways. it nurtured and shaped sam. it drove and defined dean.

ms. taylor may not have any idea how her music resonates with us and how easy it is to apply so much of it to characters in this story, but i love spreading that mystical connection along! you're right - WHO ELSE? who else could that be about?! we saw that midas touch on the chevy door from the very start. the flannel cure through hard, dark nights and harsh, long days, that wrapped around us and made us feel comforted and brave and safe for a little while.

and "what a shame she's f*cked in the head," my epitaph. very fitting for my unrestrained love for that fictional boy. 💘💘💘

[ksfnmoments]

Drifter Squad

Sophomores (10)

Siona Antares

Height: 5’3

Grades: A+

Favorite Class(es): Algebra, Astronomy

Extra-Curriculars:

Academic Team

Extra:

Takes a lot of advanced classes, probably stacks up on APs later on

Knows all the constellations and what phase the moon is on

Makes sure everyone eats at least breakfast, usually has muffins or granola bars in the morning

Lorena Barnet (Eternal Knight)

Height: 5’4

Grades: B/B+

Favorite Class(es): English, History, Debate

Extra-Curriculars:

Fencing

Debate Team

Lacrosse

Extra:

Hates being around people, but she will offer to tutor people in english and history

Doesn’t speak often but loves debate and will argue with you on issues she disagrees with

Freshmen

Jules Orville

Height: 5’0

Grades: A+

Favorite Class(es): Robotics, Jewelry Making

Extra-Curricular:

Robotics Club

Would probably do more if she didn’t hate people, would rather make things at home anyway

Extra:

Perfectionist; will not stop until a project or assignment is 100% to her liking (true in both worlds)

Will be a grump all day if she doesn’t get coffee in the morning (Siona always makes sure to get this done too)

Master at slipping through crowds (wtf are people and get them as far away from me as possible)

Ocean Murphey

Height: 5’8

Grades: A/A-

Favorite Class(es): Creative Writing

Extra-Curriculars:

Swim (of course)

Yearbook Writer/Reporter

School Newspaper

Extra:

Always hyper; the only extrovert in the group

Can and will answer written response questions with obscure or weirdly philosophical answers (by obscure think of those “kids being smartasses” compilation videos) and always gets away with it

Usually not easy to rile up but when she does get mad, she says things she doesn’t mean and/or shuts down

André Fadely (Fade)

Height: 5’7

Grades: B/B+

Favorite Class(es): PE, Computer Applications

Extra-Curriculars:

Basketball, Cross Country

Extra:

(same situation as in Rifted) hates his full name, so he uses the “Fade” part of his last name

Cannot keep a secret to save his LIFE

Took Computer Apps because he couldn’t figure out art and so Jules wouldn’t be alone. He ends up loving it and starts learning how to code and stuff too

Goes along with pretty much everything because he can’t find it in himself to say no

These guys plus Skye are the only freshmen in this universe; in SOG i kinda like to think of the drifters as like a next generation type deal even though they’re not that much younger than the agents. Anyway, onto

General Group Headcanons

The crew (minus Lorena) has been friends since middle school. Jules, Fade, and Ocean were in the same 6th grade orientation group; Ocean met Siona through a volunteering thing they both did once after school, where they became instant best friends and Siona was introduced to the group.

Lorena came later: Siona, being a grade above the other three, had advanced English with her freshman year. They were both quiet but sat next to each other and traded answers and tips. They liked pairing up with each other as there was no awkward small talk, they just went straight through their projects and assignments.

Ocean, being the ultimate (and only) extrovert, always finds ways to drag them out to social events. Of course, all they all stand in a corner and talk, but hey, at least they’re together.

^Jules is the only one who’s hard to convince at all. The others are easy to convince, but Jules will not go. Ocean gets Midas to bring her to her house against her will. Thankfully she ends up having a good time in the end.

Jules likes to study or do homework and extra credit during lunch. Siona specifically packs another whole lunch for her because she tends not to get anything herself.

Be warned, this is defo gonna get long

okay SO i’ve been working on this list for a couple days since i’m finally revisiting my high school au thing. I have four different friend groups (GHOST, Drifters, E.G.O, SHADOW/A.L.T.E.R) and I’m gonna do different posts because I’m still touching up on mainly the last two. Here we will start, of course, with the GHOST Squad:

Seniors (12)

Midas Orville

Height: 5’11

Grades: A/A+

Favorite Class(es): AP Statistics, Business and Marketing

Extra-Curriculars:

Student Council: Student Body Co-President

Jazz Band: Alto Sax

Freshman Mentor (was bitter that Jules didn’t end up in his orientation group)

Extra:

Blazers over hoodie combo>>>

Probably richer than you

Pettiness x100

Brutus Alekhin

Height: 6’4

Grades: B/B+

Favorite Class(es): Government, Weights Training

Extra-Curriculars:

Varsity Football

Student Council: Student Body Treasurer

Extra:

Only does SC because Midas wanted him to (has to have someone always on his side)

Always up to date on everything: school dates, event, even simple gossip. You’ll never know unless you happen to ask

Prefers to stay in the background but always willing to help out

Juniors (11)

Martina Ortiz (TNTina)

Height: 5’2

Grades: C-/C

Favorite Class(es): Physics

Extra-Curriculars:

Wrestling

Choir: Alto

Extra:

Really smart (especially math and science) but could care less about school so she slacks off

Sleep deprived half the time (totally not because she plays video games all night, yeah)

Understands Spanish but has trouble speaking it coherently; she will, however, teach you all the swears and insults

Maya Styles (little on the nose i know)

Height: 5’6

Grades: B+/A-

Favorite Class(es): World History

Extra-Curriculars:

Orchestra: Cello

JROTC

Extra:

Tea>Coffee, drinks it every day before school

Ultimate peacemaker and preventer of death; will not let anyone walk away unless it’s on good terms, and constantly has to make sure these mfs (*cough* Tina) don’t die

Wardrobe is definitely larger than yours but she prefers the camo and earthy colors (mostly green and beige)

Maxwell O’Malley (Meowscles)

Height: 6’0

Grades: C/C+

Favorite Class(es): Weight Training/Any PE Class

Extra-Curriculars:

Basketball, wrestling, and track

Choir: Bass

Extra:

Loves cats (practically idolizes his own)

Sends you memes and useless facts at 2am

Everyone’s older brother (even if you’re older than him)

Freshmen (9)

Skye Newman-Cortez

Height: 5’3

Grades: B/B+

Favorite Class(es): Art, Photography

Extra-Curriculars:

Esports (probably Super Smash Bros.)

Volleyball

Yearbook Photographer (Kinda)

She’s not officially on yearbook staff but she’ll slide Ocean (who is) pictures she takes at events on her camera and some will end up in the yearbook.

Extra:

Lives off of hot chocolate, all year round

Tries to be friends with everyone (40% success rate)

Never any space in her backpack because where there’s no school-related supplies, there’s snacks or some sort of arts supplies

General Group Headcanons

(Some are repeated from the previous post)

Tina joined choir freshman year but was very self-conscious about it, so she forced Meowscles (his human name is Maxwell because it starts with M and i’m uncreative) to join with her. Turns out he’s a really good bass and he LOVES being on the stage, so he forces her into all these duets to get her to loosen up.

Skye and Tina practically live at each other’s houses. They’re always at one or the other after school and have sleepovers every weekend, where they watch movies and play video games all day/night. To each other, Tina is the cool junior and Skye is the cool freshman

Despite being one of the peacemakers/death preventers (the other being Brutus), Tina and Max have gotten very good at convincing Maya to join them on their not-so-very-safe shenanigans

Brutus, Max, and Maya have specific days they go to the gym together after school.

Brutus is always the one to drive, mostly because he’s the safest and quietest option. Maya doesn’t drive, Tina would be 20mph above the speed limit, Max turns the ride into a karaoke session (where he sings off-key on purpose), and Midas simply likes being a rider.

[naerysthelonesome]

Time spent together

Part 3

Library fic

I am very much not okay. Lit and Apollo haven’t seen each other much the past two days, and I’m getting bored!

Golden boy had gone over to Lit’s dorm room once, to loan him one of his favorite books. And Lit had spent all his free time reading it, claiming it was because they were going to be referencing it in their project. But all of us with any kind of sense know better.

And now we’re in this old, rundown public library that looks like it’s been here forever, but what do I know? It’s not even particularly quiet in here. The sounds of drilling from whatever construction work they seem to be doing upstairs, and the unashamed couple violently making out against a bookshelf, are very distracting.

Apollo is staring at them, almost contemplatively, while Lit stoically ignores them gazing intently at his (well, Apollo’s) book. I’m not sure he’s reading.

“You bastard! How dare you?!” he shrieks, causing Apollo to startle and jump. Gah! Lit’s plenty loud when he wants to be.

“Wh- what?” Goldie looks so confused, I’d be laughing if I too wasn’t just as lost.

“You killed him! How could you. Fuck” I’m gonna go ahead and assume this is about the book.

Apollo lets out a short laugh. “You are aware that we aren’t the same Apollo, right?”

“Fuck you. Fuck your horrid namesake. And fuck this book!” That’s a lot of swearing.

Lit makes an unintelligible noise and buries his face in his hands. Who knew he’d get so worked up over a book?

“Surely you knew what was going to happen. It’s a pretty famous Greek myth”

“Of course I did! But Ughhghhnn- Damnit Apollo.”

“You really should finish the book, you know? I think you’d like the ending”, Apollo soothes, smiling slightly.

“This better end well”, Lit replies, wagging a finger at Apollo, as he picks up the book and resumes reading.

Neither of the two seems to care that they aren’t actually getting any work done, which would be fine with me, except I don’t want to deal with the two dummies failing a class. That’s just unnecessary drama.

The couple is still making out. How much could you possibly explore someone else’s mouth?? I think I’d like to find out…

Sometime later, I don’t really know how long; time isn’t real anyway, Lit slams the book shut with a bang, which is impressive as it is a paperback.

“Well! You’ve done it. You’ve broken my heart”, he says with a vacant shrug, then smiles slightly as he adds “So I guess you don’t have to flirt with me anymore, huh?”

Apollo, who looked pleased at him having finished the book, now looks taken aback. I too am taken aback because this means that Lit is more perceptive than I thought!

“That’s not why-” “Heyy I’m just kidding”, Lit cuts him off with a grin. Now why would he do that? You humans are so tedious.

“Besides, the book was great, but we should actually get some work done”.

That’s disappointing, but not wrong. They were only given a week to complete the paper, out of which they’d already wasted three days first flirting, then ignoring each other.

They place their books on the table. Well, Lit places his books on the table, sliding a new notebook toward Apollo, who I suppose he knew would have come unprepared. He was obviously right in his assumption. Oh wait! Apollo has a pen. Surprise surprise, it doesn’t work.

“Okay so I’m not opposed to referencing Madeline Miller’s books in our paper. They’re REALLY good. What others can we use?”

“Don’t you have any suggestions? Some books you read as a child?”

“Look I don’t know what kind of child you were, but the extent of little Lit’s literacy was Ms. Enid Blyton and all the repetitive nonsense she wrote”

Apollo wheezes into his hand at that. To be fair to him, that was the most humorous thing Lit’s said in a while.

“Aren’t those for girls though?”

“Shh don’t unnecessarily gender things”, Lit replied with an easy smile, “But yeah, they were my mom’s and she still had them for whatever reason. I found them, read one, and was hooked”

“Huh. Very cute” Apollo teased, grinning.

“Anyway!” Lit exclaimed, a blush making its way up his face, “I did read a lot about mythology, you know, because of my name, but I haven’t really read any retellings. And it was you who chose this topic so. Suggestions”

“Maybe we should do one about Midas and the Golden touch”

“Oh shut up. Apollo skinning a satyr sounds more interesting, no?”

Apollo shuddered at that. “Always hated that myth. What about Hades and Persephone? There’s a LOT of retellings about them. We could pick our favorite.”

“Sounds cool. Let’s go with the one where she wasn’t kidnapped. I’ve always liked your uncle, and don’t think he’d do something like that”

“Can you not-!” Apollo says with a laugh.

Lit picks up his phone, then scribbles something into his notebook. He slides it across the table, to Apollo. I was hoping for a cute love letter, but it’s just a list of books. The blond chews on the pencil Lit gave him, and smiles a little as he ticks off some of the names.

“Have you even read these?”

“Nope! But you have”

“And you’re just going to trust whatever I say?”

“It’s a group project, Apollo. I highly doubt you’d sabotage the both of us”

Apollo smirks and jots down some more names, drawing tiny little suns next to some of them.

“We’ve only got a couple more days to complete this paper, but maybe read the ones I’ve marked, after? They’re really good and you’ll find them all here”, he says, gesturing vaguely at the dingy space around them.

Lit takes the book, his fingers not close enough to brush against Apollo’s, and skims it. “Alright. Show me where they are.”

This has nothing to do with the project! What the hell guys?

They stroll between the aisles, Apollo occasionally picking up, and dropping books into Lit’s arms. At one point, they both reach out for the same book and blush furiously. Apollo quickly picks it up and drops it onto the pile in Lit’s arms, turning away swiftly. The brunet stares after him, then follows.

Once Apollo looks over and figures that the pile is big enough, they head to the front desk to check them out. Lit also needs a new library card, so they’re there for a while.

“So what was the point of coming to the library exactly? It’s not like we got much work done.”

“It was supposed to be a nice, quiet place to work, but…”

“But you really didn’t think all the books would be a distraction? This definitely wasn’t your elaborate plan to get me to read your favourite books?”

“No no. Of course not”, Apollo said, glancing at Lit out the corner of his eye, “If you’d have read more books, maybe we’d have gotten more work done”

“I’m sorry I picked the wrong topic… oh wait!”

They both laughed and Apollo reached out to punch the other boy in the arm. His hand lingered on his shoulder for a bit, but I’m not sure Lit noticed.

“You’re going to be doing most of the brunt work, anyway, because I’m the one with all the information, so I don’t mind.”

“And you expect me to believe that that’s a coincidence and not the very reason you picked this topic in the first place. Right.”

Apollo simply smiles brightly, “Yepp!”

“Lazy son of a bitch”, Lit mutters under his breath.

“Hey don’t talk about Leto that way. How rude.”

“I was talking about Zeus, actually”

Apollo snorts, just as the librarian comes back with Lit’s card. They check out the cartload of books, then head back to campus together. I do wish it were hand in hand, but maybe we'll have that some other day.

[smkkbert]

Time for a story - Past Sins

Leaning her forearms on the banister of the gallery, Felicity looked down into the spacious hall with all its different areas and all the kids and adults working there right now. Three classes from local schools as well as two smaller groups from day care institutions around Starling City were being led around. Apart from that, a couple of kids were working on the different stations by themselves. It wasn’t too bad for an average Tuesday afternoon.

“Mrs. Queen?”

Felicity turned her head to the woman who was approaching her with a shy and yet excited smile. Behind the large glasses, her eyes looked amplified. She was stepping from one foot onto the other quickly which Felicity knew wasn’t unusual for her. She had trouble standing still, something Felicity understood very well.”

“Ms. Whitlock,” she said with a polite smile, “thank you for your time.”

“Well, when the boss calls, it’s not like I have much of a choice.”

Alena Whitlock chuckled nervously as she pulled at a strand of her hair. For the past weeks, she had been managing the Smoak & Queen Science Center for kids in Felicity’s name. She had applied for the position with little hope as she was young and didn’t have that much experience. Felicity had seen how much she loved science though and how easily infected you could be by her excitement. That had been more important to her than anything else because she knew the Science Center offered a great team of coworkers and all finances were taking care of by Queen Consolidated anyway.

Felicity smiled. “Don’t worry. I am just here to ask how things are going.”

“Everything’s great.” Alena stepped next to Felicity and followed her gaze down. “The Discovery Zone is still the most favored area for kids under five years. It was good to invest a little more money there. The Experiment Bar is the most favored area for kids that are older than five years. We have increased the number of available experiments to over fifty for children and youths of different ages. There aren’t enough working stations though. At times, people have to wait longer than half an hour to start an experiment.”

“We should extend the Experiment Bar,” Felicity concluded, nodding her head, “by at least twenty places.”

“That’s going to be expensive.”

Felicity didn’t reply to that as money really wasn’t a problem in her life anymore. As a child, when she had been living in that small Las Vegas apartment that her mother had barely earned enough money to rent, every penny had been so incredibly precious. Now, she was a billionaire who could spend money hand over fist. She liked to do that, at least when it was for charity.

“What about the project for basic computer education?”

“It’s going great,” Alena replied, “and it’s so important, especially for kids that grow up in the Glades. Unfortunately, it collides with the pupils that come here to do their homework under supervision. Hence, the kids have to share a tablet with one or two others which makes things difficult sometimes.”

“We will double the number of tablets then.”

Alena raised her eyebrows in surprise. “Just like that?”

“Of course just like that,” Felicity replied, shrugging her shoulders, “because this place can’t fulfill what it was built for if the necessary equipment isn’t there.”

“You make that sound so easy.”

Felicity had gotten married to a billionaire and was leading a multi-billion-dollar cooperation, Felicity thought to herself, so it was quite easy.

“What about the staff?” Felicity asked. “Do you need more support? Especially with the new expansions?”

“It never hurts to have some helping hands on deck.”

Felicity nodded her head. “In that case, I will advertise a couple of vacancies. Thank you for your time, Ms. Whitlock.”

“Thank you for listening, Mrs. Queen.”

With that, Alena left. She was almost dancing a little as the conversation had definitely gotten her in a good mood. Felicity smiled at the sight, shaking her head a little. She knew she couldn’t have found someone better to make creative and scientific decisions here wen Felicity wasn’t around. In a lot of ways, Alena had stayed a child herself and that was exactly the kind of person Felicity needed to be in charge here.

At the familiar sound of high heels clattering on the floor tiles, Felicity turned around to look at Emily, who was approaching her now.

“Mr. Wayne called.”

Felicity had trouble to bite back her smile at having Bruce being called Mr. Wayne. It seemed so incredibly surreal. Bruce was just Bruce. He wasn’t Mr. Wayne.

“Did he cancel the appointment?”

“No, he has just landed in Starling,” Emily replied, “but the highways are full. It will take a while until he arrives here.”

Felicity nodded her head. “Thank you.”

It was a good thing that Felicity hadn’t really expected Bruce to be on time anyway. Bruce was a lot of things, but punctual was not one of them. In that, like so many other things, Bruce was exactly like Oliver. Of course neither of the two men wanted to hear that.

Felicity had just turned back to observe the kids working on the different station when an alarm on her phone went off. It wasn’t her usual alarm that woke her in the morning, and it wasn’t her ringtone either. It was the special tone she had set up for any kind of emergencies or threats.

Quickly, Felicity pulled her phone from her purse and checked what had made the alarm go off. Apparently, there were suspicious movements as well as tech glitches around the Science Center. Both could be, but didn’t have to be, signs that there was a threat coming closer. Her security program alarmed her when there were images or any kind of data from possible weapons or when there were glitches in the surveillance technology that might look like they were manipulated.

Thanks to her thoroughly set up security hacks that allowed her to access the recordings of ever surveillance camera in Starling City and around, Felicity just needed a couple of commands until she has called up the footage of the surveillance cameras around the Science Center. She turned on the quick pass-through until she noticed that the glitches started in the footage of a camera that was just half a block away from here. She called up the video and let it run in normal speed.

Several minutes passed as the alley stayed empty. Only after several minutes, a couple passed the alley. She was a tall woman with a slim figure. Her breasts were small, her waist barely noticeable. Her straight black hair reached up to her chin. She was wearing black and red leathers. The top of her gear only had spaghetti straps, but she was wearing red gloves that reached even over her elbows. The neckline of her top reached deep, but her cleavage was almost entirely covered by the scarf she was wearing around her bottom part of her face. Felicity didn’t recognize that woman.

She did recognize the man that was walking alongside her though. By now, she had crossed the path of Ruben Midas twice already. The first time, she had sent the team in the headquarter of his company where they had found his robots. They had been so similar to real human beings that they could have easily been mistaken for those. Unlike the helpful robots that were supposed to work in the household or do their part in working security, those robots had been trained to use weapons and to kill. Felicity had destroyed Midas’ work including his plans which had caused him to mess with her bio-stimulants in return. She, Oliver and Bruce had believed that he had died when they had attacked him in his hideout, but they must have been wrong. He was very alive it seemed.

Felicity hurried to call up some more current footage of the two of them. Her security program needed barely a second before it called up live footage of the two of them. It took Felicity half a second before she realized where exactly they were.

The moment Felicity saw the exact location, she ran over to the next alarm button and pressed it. A loud alarm sounded through the entire building. The many walls that were made of security glass turned into mirrors, a little security extra she had thought might be helpful. A lot of glass allowed a lot of transparency which wasn’t a good thing when there was an attack. That was why she had added this.

Hurrying back to the banister, Felicity watched the staff hushing the kids and youth to the security areas. The two members of staff that were still sitting behind the reception, trying to lock down all doors around, didn’t move though.

“Run!” she called down to them. “Hide somewhere safe!”

They didn’t need to be told twice. They dropped whatever they had been working on and hurried after the rest of the people into the security areas. They knew that, once the doors were shut, there was no easy way to open them. The entire building was designed that way that, once a door was closed from the inside during an alarm, it could only be opened through an elaborate security protocol.

The security cameras showed that Midas and his partner had already entered the building through some back entrance. They certainly wouldn’t need that much time to get here. That was why Felicity hurried down the stairs and checked some of the doors. The Science Center had never been on a lockdown like this, so she needed to make sure that everyone was indeed safe before she could even consider getting so a safe place too.

Felicity was still checking some of the doors downstairs when Midas and his partner stepped out from the back of the building and right into the hall. They stood face to face. Midas’ cold, angry eyes met Felicity’s. She sucked in a deep breath, taking a step back instinctively. That the woman pulled out two guns and directed them right at Felicity’s face.

“Mrs. Queen,” Midas addressed Felicity, an evil grin spreading on his lips, “may I introduce you to my lover? I lovely call her Blood Rose.”

Blood Rose. The name echoed through Felicity’s thoughts, and she was sure that it referred to more than just her red leather gear. With the guns in her hands, Felicity was sure that it also referred to the people she already killed or at least wounded by using her weapons.

“What do you want?” Felicity asked, her voice tense. “What do you want from me?”

“Oh, we are just going to have a little fun spending time together while we wait for your two friends,” Midas replied, his grin widening, “let’s see who will save you – Bruce Wayne or your husband, Oliver Queen. I still have some unfinished business to take care of with the three of you.”

 → → → → →

 “Mr. Queen, we appreciate the effort you have put into charity,” Mr. Nielson said, his voice leaving no doubt that he didn’t appreciate Oliver’s efforts at all, “but the city needs more money for what is important.”

Oliver leaned back in the soft leather of his chair. He tapped the end of his pen on the top of his desk repeatedly while he was watching Mr. Nielson. A couple of hours back, Oliver had wondered how he would get through this meeting. Now he knew that Mr. Nielson was going to outplay himself.

“And what do you think is important?”

“We need to make this city more successful,” Mr. Nielson replied with firm voice, “by boosting the economy and strengthening the tourism. We need Starling City to play with the big ones like Los Angeles, Metropolis or Gotham City. We need to make this city something special.”

“And you think that making the hotel owners and the company owners, the richest of the richest in this city, is more important than helping the people that can barely afford the basic needs of life?” Oliver cocked his head. “Really?”

Whenever he was in meetings like this and someone said something stupid like this, Oliver felt reminded on why he had chosen to become the mayor. He had known that this city needed someone to watch over it, someone who didn’t care about profits. That someone was him.

Oliver had been born rich, and for a long time he had believed that money was everything you needed to have a good life. Through the years, he had leaned that money alone wasn’t what made a good life. It was necessary to live comfortably and it was necessary to have a life at all, but it didn’t make a good life.

For a good life, you needed people that you loved and that loved you back. You needed a passion for something. You needed something that you did almost completely for others and barely for yourself.

Admittedly, Oliver had trouble with the last. Everything he did, he did at least a little bit for himself too. He was a good man because he wanted his children to look up to him. For a long time, he had believed that he had become a vigilante for selfless reasons. He knew better than that now. He had become a vigilante because he had wanted to right his father’s wrongs, and because he had wanted to earn forgiveness and earn the life his father had given to him by shooting David Hackett and himself. He was the mayor because he wanted to save this city and make it a better place to live in for his family.

Everything he did in life, he did at least a little bit for himself and maybe that was exactly the way it was supposed to be. Donating money when you would rather turn around each and every penny wasn’t fun. You’d only get angry for sharing the money that you’d rather keep.

“Ladies and Gentlemen,” Oliver said with soft voice, “I know that my way of handling this city is not comparable to how the previous mayors dealt with things. The truth is that I am quite different on a lot of different levels, but it’s not a weakness. It’s a strength. Deep down, the city has been a dark and dangerous place before-“

There was a knock at the door which Oliver would usually ignore. Since his assistant Becky just came rushing into the conference room, Oliver lifted his gaze and looked at his assistant. Her cheeks were reddened and an uncalm expression was in her eyes.

“I am sorry to interrupt,” she hurried to say, looking right at Oliver while she was walking around the large table to approach Oliver, “but you have to watch this.”

She held out her tablet for him, and Oliver didn’t wait to take it and watch the live video feed that was there. He knew that, if Becky interrupted the meeting like this, she had her reasons. She knew exactly what was important and what wasn’t.

The moment Olive caught the headline of the video feed, he felt his muscles tensing. His fingers held onto the tablet so tightly that he wouldn’t be surprised if he broke it. His heart started racing, the blood rushing in his ears.

Starling City’s first Lady Felicity Queen (along roughly 50 others) held hostage at Queen & Smoak Science Center for Kids

He skimmed the article quickly, reading that two people had escaped the Science Center and contacted the police. They had taken position around the building, trying to get in touch with the hostage-taker. They hadn’t been successful so far. Thanks to some of the employees that were inside the building, hiding with the kids that had come there today to learn something more about science, the police had gained access to the footage of the surveillance cameras. Unfortunately, some hacker had managed to break through the police’s firewalls and put the live feed online.

One brief look at the hostage-taker was enough for Oliver to know who this guy was and what he would want. It was also enough for him to know that this was no bad joke and now light threat. This was serious, and there was nowhere Oliver had to be more than at the Smoak & Queen Science Center.

“I have to go.”

He knew that there were a lot of eyes without understanding directed at him. He couldn’t care less though. Once they found out what was happening right now, they would understand. Every decent husband, even the ones that could do much less about the situation than he was able to do, would cancel every meeting to be close to their wife.

A part of Oliver wanted to take the stairs down, but he knew he needed to save his breath for the run to the bunker. At this time of the day, he knew it would be completely stupid to take the car. It would take him forever to get to the Science Center. He would have to run all the way to the bunker and take his motorcycle to the Science Center after that.

Oliver’s gaze was fixed onto the digital display while the elevator was taking its path downstairs. The tip of his shoe tapped onto the floor of the elevator cage nervously. Oliver hated waiting, and moments like these made it incredibly hard to learn how to be more patient.

Ruben Midas was a dangerous man. His intelligence and his creativity mixing with his greed for money had already made him dangerous. His anger about the fact that so much of his work had been destroyed and he was a hunted man now made him even more dangerous. He wasn’t focusing his energy and intelligence only on creating more robots. He was focusing it on getting his revenge.

As soon as the doors opened, Oliver slipped outside. He ran through the spacious foyer, not caring that people were staring at him. He really didn’t care.

Outside, he turned to the east, already about to start running to the bunker. He had barely taken two steps when a black Lamborghini raced onto the sidewalk and stopped still right in front of him. The tires screeched, and the bumper almost touched his shinbones. Since the windshield were darkened, Oliver couldn’t see who was sitting behind the steering wheel. He didn’t need to see it to know it though.

The way the car had almost knocked him down and was honking at him now was enough for him to know. There was only one person in the world that was as impatient as he himself was.

Oliver opened the door and let himself sink into the expensive leather seats. He wasn’t surprised to find the same rage he was feeling sparkling in Bruce’s eyes. By now, he had certainly heard about what was happening to Felicity right now already.

“Ruben Midas has her,” Oliver said, “and there is a second person with him, a woman according to the video surveillance.”

“The police talk about a woman too. Any idea who that is?”

“Felicity did some background checks on Midas, but she never mentioned a woman and- what are you doing? The bunker is in the other direction?”

“I have a duplicate of your suit in the trunk of the car.”

Oliver didn’t even ask about it. He guessed that Bruce, just like himself, liked to be prepared. After all, the two of them were quite similar. Even if he would never say that out loud.

Bruce floored the gas pedal. He was directing the car through with city with a speed that would scare Oliver if it was anyone else behind the steering wheel. He knew Bruce’s good reflexes, and he knew that Bruce was very determined to reach their shared goal.

They needed to save their girl.

 → → → → →

 With her hands cuffed to the banister of the gallery, her back hurt badly. It was uncomfortable. That the metal was cutting into her skin hard wasn’t helping either. Clenching her teeth, Felicity tried to pull her hands out from the metal, but she wasn’t successful.

Felicity knew that she needed to find another way as she wasn’t gong to get out of her current situation anytime soon. At least not as long as she was on her own and without any help.

Lifting her gaze, she looked at Midas. He was sitting astride a chair, his forearms resting on the backrest of the chair. His cold eyes were focused on her, watching her with a somewhat amused smile on his lips. His partner was leaning against a wall behind him, one foot resting against the wall while she was watching them. Well, she was mostly watching Midas. She was almost completely fixed on him.

Felicity knew that Midas wanted Bruce and Oliver to be here for the great showoff. She alone wasn’t enough for him. After she had destroyed his work and his company in the first place, they had destroyed his hideout where he had tried to continue with his work in the shadows.

“You destroyed my work.”

He was finally feeling the need to talk, Felicity thought to herself. She guessed that was good. Maybe that way she could find out what his plan was. She was good at talking to villains. It wasn’t the first time she was in the hands of some criminal after all.

She took the break of a second to figure out which approach would be the right one here. Midas was a narcist who believed that his work would change the world in a way that was for the better, at least for him. In addition to that, he was quite smart. Pretending that she was a secret fan of his work was going to play into his narcissism, but he wouldn’t believe her. Even if he did believe her, Felicity wasn’t sure how Blood Rose reacted.

“It wasn’t worth keeping.”

Provoking Midas seemed to be the best shot she had. She had to try at least.

The corners of Midas lips twitched slightly. His eyes showed how angry her words made him though. Deep down, her wanted her to envy him for his creation.

“You will suffer for destroying my work,” Midas said, “just like your husband and your boyfriend will suffer for it.”

Her husband and her boyfriend. Felicity couldn’t deny that there was maybe a little spark of truth in there. Well, actually, they both were her husband. Oliver was her husband at home and, at least sometimes, Bruce was her husband at work. He was her work-husband. Where had she heard that term again in the first place?

“I just haven’t decided yet if I want to kill you in front of them or them in front of you.”

“I am leaning towards the latter,” Blood Rose said, “as I have a thing for strong, muscular guys. I would like to rub myself against them while I slit their throats. I want to bathe in their blood and come to the sight of light leaving their eyes. I-“

Midas hadn’t really looked like he minded his girlfriend fantasizing about being sexually turned on by killing Oliver and Bruce. He tapped his finger onto his smart watch, not looking like he was even listening to what his girlfriend was saying. While he had been busy, Blood Rose had suddenly stopped and was now approaching him with almost seductive steps. She put her arms around his neck from behind and leaned her lips against his ear. Felicity didn’t have to hear her to know that she was probably saying something saucy to him.

Birds of a feather flock together, Felicity thought to herself quietly while she was watching the couple. She couldn’t say who of them was more insane. She guessed it could change anytime, depending on the situation.

Felicity was still watching them when she noticed a movement. The many glass walls in this area turned into mirrors when the security program was set off, so nobody could see what was happening inside and the people inside, especially the kids, couldn’t see what was happening outside. The reflection in the mirroring walls also allowed her to see the movements that were happening on the beams right under the ceiling.

Although Felicity felt relieved at the sight of Oliver and Bruce or rather Green Arrow and Batman, Felicity did her best not to let it show. Midas and his girlfriend would only get suspicious if they saw that she was relieved. Oliver and Bruce certainly had a plan of their own though.

Felicity shot a brief glance at her hostage-takers, and her gaze met Blood Rose. The crazy lady cocked her head and let go of her boyfriend to approach Felicity slowly. The corners of her lips twitched slightly, making her look even more evil.

“Maybe I will change my mind.”

Blood Rose brushed her fingertips against Felicity’s cheek before she cupped her jaw. Her thumb stroked over Felicity’s bottom lip. Felicity tried to lean out of her touch, but Blood Rose didn’t let her get away. She tightened her fingers around Felicity’s jaw, pressing her fingernails in Felicity’s soft skin to a point that it almost hurt.

“I am going to enjoy killing you,” Blood Rose whispered, “and to have both men cry out for you in agony when they cannot save you.”

With a sudden movement, Blood Rose grabbed hold of Felicity’s ponytail and ripped her head back so much that a jolt of pain shot through Felicity’s spine. She hissed in pain.

That was enough for Oliver and Bruce to leave their safe spots where they had been able to observe the situation. They jumped down from the beam, landing right and left to Felicity. Bruce went at Blood Rose, urging her away from Felicity and trying to take her down. At the same time, Oliver attacked Midas.

Felicity knew it was hopeless, but she tried to pull her hands out of the tight metal around her wrists once more. As much as she gritted her teeth and just tried to pull, it didn’t work. Why had Oliver never taught her how she could dislocate her thumb as it would definitely been helpful right now?

Unable to do anything but waiting to be saved, Felicity looked back and forth between the two fights that were going on. While Bruce seemed to have the upper hand in his fight, Oliver had trouble to hold his own against Midas. Felicity wondered if maybe Midas had implanted some kind of biochip into his system that allowed his body to adapt to his opponent’s abilities. If he had managed to create human-like robots with that ability, maybe he was able to install this ability in the human DNA.

Oliver and Midas were tangled in a close hand-to-hand combat when Felicity could suddenly see a gleam. Her breath got caught in her throat when she saw the knife Midas was holding in his hand. He directed it at Oliver’s neck, and Oliver barely managed to lean back enough to have it stay out of reach. He blocked Midas’ hand with one arm.

As Midas almost managed to sneak his arm out from under Oliver’s blocking movement, Oliver pushed Midas away from him strongly. The movement caused Midas to stumble, and he fell to the floor. Blood was pooling under and around his body. As he turned around onto his back, Felicity could see where exactly it came from. The stumble had caused him to slit his own throat. With one rattle, he stopped breathing. It had only taken seconds for him to bleed to death.

Felicity was staring at Midas’ dead body. She guessed this time Midas was really dead.

Blood Rose seemed to have come to the same conclusion. With a cry of agony as she had called it herself before, Blood Rose pushed Bruce away from her. The movement tossed him across the room and pushed him into the opposite wall. His head bumped against it ungently. His body slumped to the floor, staying there without moving.

Blood Rose was still crying out loudly, releasing an ear-piercing sound, when she turned away from where she had tossed Bruce against the wall. Felicity believed that she’d go right at Oliver. Felicity could understand it because she’d kill whoever took Olive from her too. Instead, Blood Rose walked right towards her, pulling her guns and aiming them at her.

Felicity turned her chair away as much as possible, trying to make herself small by resting her chest on her thighs. That way, she guessed she was giving Blood Rose the least attack surface. Indeed, it seemed like no bullet hit her. The glass of the banister shattered though. A thousand scattered pieces of glass fell down. Blood Rose’s shots came closer. One bullet seemed to almost brush her upper arm.

Quickly, Felicity moved more to the side, trying to avoid the bullets. It was just an uncareful second, but one leg of her chair slid off the edge. Felicity lost her balance, and it caused the entire chair to overturn the edge of the gallery. The chair fell off from under her butt, falling down into the ground floor and bursting there. It crumbled into all of it different pieces.

Felicity was dangling from the gallery. Her feet were dangling in the air. She was only held up by the handcuffs that kept her tied to the banister. Her arms were twisted painfully as her entire weight was hanging on her wrists. The metal of the handcuffs was cutting into her skin even more firmly now.

Just a couple of minutes before, Felicity had tried to pull her hands out of the handcuffs. Now, her hands were threatening to slip out of them. Her skin was abrading. It hurt badly. The fear of crashing down several floors onto the ground scared Felicity.

Oliver’s name was already rising on her throat when she realized that she had to be smarter. If the police hadn’t gained access to the footage of the surveillance cameras already, the would definitely demand that footage later. Any lip reader would probably be able to figure out who she was calling out for. While Felicity could pretend that she had just called out for her husband because he was the person she trusted to protect her most, Oliver had been suspected to be the Green Arrow a few times too much for her to risk anything here.

“Green Arrow!”

It didn’t feel right. She didn’t call out for the Green Arrow, the savior of the city, to save her. She knew that Green Arrow’s task was catching Blood Rose and stopping her from causing any more harm to the people in this city. The person she needed to save her was her husband because she knew that he needed her to be alright.

Felicity’s right hand had just slipped out of the handcuff when the leather of a familiar glove grabbed her hands. Lifting Felicity’s gaze, she saw Oliver holding onto her hand. The exhaustion in his face wasn’t coming from holding her weight with one hand, Felicity knew. It was just a sign of how worried he really was.

He pulled her up almost easily, using just one hand. He used one of the arrows she had designed, putting it to the small chain between the handcuffs. Within seconds, the chain was melted through. Oliver’s arms wrapped around her already. Felicity pushed her nose against the side of his neck, breathing him in. The feeling of being safe spread inside of her already.

Although the feeling hadn’t really caught up with her completely, Felicity pulled away from Oliver. She shot him a meaningful look, nodding his head. Obviously, he knew exactly what she needed right now.

She looked at where Bruce was still lying unconsciously, and she hurried towards him. Felicity kneeled down next to his body and cupped his face with her hands. Her fingers stroked over his cheekbones, stroking over his skin with gentle caress.

“Bruce,” she whispered quietly, hoping he would hear her, “Bruce, it’s me.”

For the break of a second, Bruce stayed unmoving. With a low groan, he put his fingers around her wrist and opened his eyes though. Although they were cloudy, Felicity could see the love shine through. He was glad that she was the one pulling him from his unconsciousness. Although he knew that Felicity’s heart would always be with Oliver, he liked to see her face upon waking up. It made him feel safe.

Felicity would have liked to reassure him that everything was okay. She wanted to tell him that he was safe, that Oliver was safe and that she was safe. From the corner of her eye, she could see the S.W.A.T. team of the SCPD entering the building though. There was no time.

“You have to go,” Felicity whispered, looking from Bruce to Oliver, “now.”

Oliver nodded his head as hard as it was to leave her like that when nothing was talked out yet. He wanted to kiss her, but he also knew that he couldn’t do that with the cameras recording every single one of their movements.With a couple of steps, he was at her side. He wrapped Bruce’s arm over his shoulder, helping him to get onto his feet.

Oliver’s every locked onto hers. Felicity knew that he needed to know that she was somewhat okay before he left her. He loved her too much to leave her in any situation of crisis. Felicity nodded her head though, telling him that she got this handled. After all, she had been forced to find an excuse to tell the police why Oliver was back alive when his dead body had been identified after a shooting in front of City Hall.

She was the wife of the freaking Green Arrow. She knew the perks and the downs of that role. She didn’t mind.

After all, she got Oliver in return. He was worth every trouble and every inconvenience.

* * *

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[lilacmoon83]

Dreaming Out Loud

Also on Fanfiction.net and A03

Chapter 116: Calm Before the Storm

Emma parked the squad car and James pulled up in his behind her. They got out and went into the Rabbit Hole, straight into an all out brawl.

"Oh crap…" Emma complained.

"Well...you first," James told his twin.

"Why me?" David asked.

"Well...you're the famed dragon slayer and the man that's been boasted as the one that easily defeated Blackbeard to rise to glory. This is right up your alley," James replied.

"You're never going to let that glory thing go, are you?" David argued. James smirked.

"Nope...get in there, baby brother," he joked.

"We're twins," David reminded.

"I'm seven and a half minutes older than you, according to mother," James argued.

"Seriously?" David argued back.

"Dad...we don't really have all day. Just be careful though. You know how much Mom will fuss if I take you back to her all scraped up," Emma said. David gave his daughter an incredulous look and she shrugged.

"He's not wrong. You have the reputation of the best swordsman in all the United Realms," she reminded. He rolled his eyes and unsheathed his sword, before jumping into the fray.

"You know...you're a good swordsman too. You could help," Emma told him.

"Nah, this is more fun," James retorted and she shook her head.

"You're terrible to him sometimes, you know that right?" she asked.

"I have twenty some years of giving him a hard time to make up for," he replied. The drunks stupidly tried to swing at David, some even with knifes, but they were no match for his skills, even if they had been sober. He grabbed the first one by the arm and tossed him into a table, while another picked up a chair in an attempt to hit him with it. He was obviously too drunk to realize what kind of sentence that attempting to assault a King would come with, but David was quick to duck and tossed him onto the now broken table with the other man. The pile of drunken thugs continued to grow, as David made quick work of them and soon had them all lined up, ready to be cuffed, which Emma and James proceeded to do.

"Oh...are you actually going to help for a change?" David asked, as he sheathed his sword.

"That's what we employ Knights for," James retorted, as Lancelot and several other Knights arrived to take them to the Sheriff's station, which was much larger now, to process them. Shortly after Snow and David took their Thrones, they decided that Storybrooke's Sheriff's station was now much too small to handle the justice system of the United Realms. But they wanted it to remain the hub of criminal defense in the United Realms, so they allocated the funds to build an addition to it, as well as an actual prison next door. Up until then, long term prisoners had been housed in the basement level of the hospital, which would not suffice any longer.

The Knights that David, James, and Lancelot had trained in the last three years were extremely impressive and noticed by all the other Kingdoms. There was talk that the Knights they had trained were even more impressive than King Arthur's famed Knights of the roundtable, something Lancelot personally knew would be a point of contention for his former liege. Arthur had remained fairly silent though. He attended the United Realms council meetings and participated in a minimal capacity, while largely remaining mysterious to mostly everyone. Lancelot knew the reasons, but since Arthur had not made any aggressive movements, the Knight had chosen to let him keep his secret, until the time that changed.

"A little above your pay grade, don't you think?" Lancelot teased David, as his Knights marched the drunks responsible for the brawl. David shrugged.

"Emma got the call and you know I can't help myself," he joked. Lancelot smiled.

"You never put yourself above the people. That's why you are the leader you are," the Knight said, as he left to take care of those they had placed under arrest. David was always humbled by Lancelot's respect for him and was well aware of his falling out with his former King. Arthur had done much to let Lancelot down it seemed, though David had no inkling of what exactly had happened between them, other than it involved Queen Guinevere. But by the ever present tension between them, it was clear that it went beyond that. David never pried though and Lancelot never offered details. With them, Lancelot had a new start and they allowed him that.

"My bar is in shambles!" the owner complained.

"And you know the procedure. Submit the damages to the United Realms insurance bureau and the damages will be covered," David offered to appease him.

"Yeah...and maybe consider some new security tactics or watering down your booze. This place seems to be a constant source of trouble," Emma added.

"Oh, I don't know...I find it a perfectly fine place, but then a girl like me is always drawn to chaos," a voice purred. They turned and found Cruella De Vil sitting at a booth, sipping a cocktail.

"You always get a show here...and then I can always count on a very attractive line of men to come in to rectify the situation," she added, as she looked the twin brothers with a feral gleam.

"Oh yes...now that is a such a pretty sandwich that I'd love to be in between," she purred, as she licked her lips.

"Oh my God…" Emma complained at her blatant sexual innuendo.

"Oh yes Dahlings...the fun we could have," she continued, as her eyes undressed them both.

"Hard pass," David retorted, as he started to leave.

"It's too bad...I knew he'd never go for it. But I had hope for you when I first learned you were back. The bad twin...think of all the fun we could have had and the chaos we could have created. A pity you've gone soft," Cruella purred in his ear.

"You're not my type," James refuted. She cackled at that.

"Oh, but I used to be…" she reminded.

"I've changed, as has my wife...but not that much. Hands off or she'll fry you and this monstrosity you're wearing," he warned, but that just seemed to thrill her more.

"Do you like it? I just had it made and I'm already scouting for my next," she boasted.

"Poaching is illegal and if we catch you killing innocent creatures just to use their pelts, I throw you in prison myself," James warned. She pretended to pout.

"It would almost be worth it to be put in handcuffs by you," she leered.

"I mean it, Cruella…" he warned again, as he followed his niece and his brother out. There was a time that Cruella's lust and praise of him would have been very attractive, but he had come a long way in three years. He still had moments where he felt inferior to David and his twin had the golden reputation and glory he had thought he wanted and still sometimes did. But he had come to love his brother, as well and their parents. He had the family he had always wanted, deep down, and would never throw love away to be with someone like Cruella; a woman he was certain was incapable of love. He had love now, with a woman that was much like him. They had both wanted to be good and had been molded into monsters; him by his abusive adopted father and Regina by her mother. But they had sought redemption and walked the difficult path back to the light. Together, they had found love and neither of them was letting it go for anything.

"This meeting of the Council of the United Realms will come to order," Persephone announced.

David heard those words, as he, Emma and James entered the chamber just in time, as the meeting was brought to order. He took his seat next to Snow and kissed her cheek, as he sat down.

"Let's get this meeting underway then. No one wants to sit here and watch you two and your incessant public displays of affection," Ravenna snapped in irritation.

"Well, then why don't you start us off, Queen Ravenna. What efforts have you made in the last month to improve the lives of your people?" Persephone questioned.

"Oh you're going to love that, aren't you? Because my Kingdom is struggling and your daughter's is thriving, you make it your mission to point it out every single time," Ravenna complained.

"Your Kingdom is struggling, because your people are being unfairly taxed, yet your treasury is empty," Persephone stated.

"Which would warrant an investigation into your Kingdom's finances, because it screams fraud," Regina added.

"The only fraud here is this joke of Council! I have never been treated fairly and it's because of her," Ravenna claimed, as she glared at Snow.

"Your perception is not reality, Queen Ravenna. While you claim unfair treatment, you turn a deaf ear to your people cries for help. You must improve the state of your Kingdom or you will force others to step in," Persephone warned.

"Such would be an act of war!" Ravenna claimed.

"No...it would be an act of mercy on your people at this point. You're staring down the barrel of a full revolt in your Kingdom if you do not make changes," James argued.

"Says the Prince that was raised to be a tyrant," Ravenna retorted.

"With the difference being that my brother changed and rose above that raising. All you can seem to focus on is your hatred for my wife," David snapped.

"And I always will," Ravenna promised, as she glared at them.

"As usual, this is getting us no where. Queen Ravenna...you've been warned about the condition of your Kingdom. Now to move on to other matters," Persephone announced, while Ravenna silently seethed.

"If we're going to discuss monetary matters, then perhaps we should discuss all the funds that are constantly eaten up by all the advancement in Storybrooke," Midas interjected. Abigail sighed.

"Father…" she chided.

"It's okay Abigail...we have put a lot of our joint Kingdom's funding into the ongoing projects in Storybrooke. The community center has been finished for a year now and it's a huge asset the entire United Realms. And the University is on schedule to be ready for fall semester in just a few months time," Snow announced proudly.

"The education reform of this is unprecedented. I've already had many approach me about enrollment," Elsa confirmed.

"And the community center classes and events are always fully booked," Anna added.

"Yes...and the Community Center also offers counseling for addiction, victims of crime or abuse, and many other topics. It's giving battered women and their children a place to go as well," Snow added.

"Yes...you've been on quite a crusade to shut down my business, but I assure you that it won't happen now that I've moved it to Lord Cronus' Kingdom," Deimos interjected, as he sat beside King Cronus.

"Only because he has chosen not to outlaw brothels," Snow retorted distastefully. Deimos smirked.

"And many other Kingdoms still have them as well. I'm now just one in a sea of many and while you may have outlawed them in your Kingdom and Storybrooke, fairest Snow...you do not have the pull to do so in any others," he retorted.

"You exploit young women," she spat.

"I employ them," he argued.

"You make me sick," she hissed, but he only smirked.

"And you're still as fiery as ever. It's too bad I never got the opportunity to tame you," he leered, causing David to nearly launch himself across the room.

"Enough…" Hades bellowed.

"Lord Cronus...if your right hand insists on speaking to our daughter in such a manner then he will be banned from this and any future meetings," he warned, as his father glared at him.

"Of course...Lord Hades. It won't happen again," Cronus assured.

"Well, as usual, the financials are a point of contention. Perhaps we'll do better in discussing defense," Persephone stated.

"Crime in our Kingdoms and Storybrooke is down forty percent," David reported.

"Yes, which is impressive. Your methods and training techniques are being adopted by many Kingdoms," she stated.

"That's nothing...crime is almost non-existent in Paris," Frollo boasted.

"And your prisons are filled with innocent people," David interjected, as he glared at the unjust ruler.

"Then by all means, King Charming, why don't you come blazing in to liberate the souls you say are innocent and take them to your Kingdom. I'm sure that will keep crime low," he retorted. David seethed and glared at the bigot, but took the high road, as he felt Snow put her hand on his.

"I won't need to. The harsher you rule your people, the angrier they will become and when they revolt...you'll get some of that justice you're always spouting about," he warned.

"You and yours have made it quite clear that you disapprove of my rule, but there is money in my treasury and food in the stomachs of my people. There is more than one way to rule," he retorted.

"However, if you want to speak of a spike in crime...then perhaps you should look to Camelot," he interjected, as the attention turned to Arthur and his Queen.

"Camelot is secure...I'll admit that there has been a spike in crime, but the Knights of the Roundtable, the most valiant Knights in the United Realms are working to quell the increase in violence," Arthur stated sternly.

"Word has it that the Knights of the Roundtable is a dying order. If anything, King Charming's Knights are far superior to yours these days," Frollo argued, as he attempted to stir the pot, as usual.

"Misthaven has no quarrel with Camelot. Crime happens everywhere and I assume this small spike is just one of those things. Am I right, Your Majesty?" David questioned. Arthur looked nervous, but the other King didn't let on like he noticed and it made the wielder of Excalibur wonder what, if anything, his father-in-law might have told him about his Kingdom.

"It would appear so, King David and the situation is being handled," Arthur confirmed, as they thankfully moved on, as a few other matters were discussed, until Persephone finally dismissed the weekly meeting. Ravenna stormed out, while Frollo casually followed her.

"This trip we're about to take better yield results," she hissed to him.

"It is a promising endeavor, I assure you," he replied.

"It better be!" she snapped.

"Because I want that little brat to suffer at my hand and there to be nothing her stupid mother can do to stop her demise," Ravenna growled.

"Then we had better be on our way to the Harbor," he responded.

"Well...that wasn't very productive, but I guess I knew what to expect," Snow mentioned, as he led her out with his arm around her.

"Perhaps not...but you're a tough act to live up to," he mused. She smiled.

"So are you...saying you and your Knights are superior to even the Knights of the Roundtable. David...that's incredible," she gushed. He kissed her hair.

"I want my family to have the best protection and our people deserve the same as well," he agreed humbly.

"Do you need to get back to the station right away?" she asked. He smirked.

"I think Emma and Lancelot can handle things for a while and my parents have the babies. I'd say you and I could enjoy a romantic walk," he replied, as he offered her his elbow and she hook her hand on it, as he led her out.

Killian Jones hurriedly made his way to the Harbor, spotting his ship or rather the ship he had given up to Mr. Smee three years ago. Upon arrival in this new magical forest, he had sought an item he had heard could be used to trap someone. He had planned to find this item and then return to Storybrooke in order to use it on his nemesis: the crocodile.

Upon reaching the tower where this golden flower was rumored to be, he instead found a young woman trapped there. Entranced by her beauty, he promised to free her and they slept together. But when he awoke that morning, he discovered that the young woman was not what she appeared to be and rather was an evil sorceress that had used him to conceive a child. With her magic, she had accelerated the pregnancy and gave birth, allowing the baby to take her place in the enchanted tower. He was shocked and appalled that the witch, whom called herself Gothel, abandoned the baby without a thought. But he could not do that. Despite the terrible deeds that littered his past, he could never leave his own child to suffer. His own father had done so to him and he would be damned if he did so to her. So he stayed and took care of his daughter, as suddenly he had something more important than revenge. She became everything to him and was his pride and joy, allowing him to finally let his revenge go. Alice was his world now and so when the witch return to try and poison his heart to take her away, he had managed to trick her and escape. He knew she would be after him, but he knew if he could get to Storybrooke, that he could ask for protection. He knew he had done a lot of things they didn't like, but he was positive that Snow and David would help him for the sake of his child.

"Mr. Smee…" Hook called and the portly man looked up in surprise.

"Captain!" Smee said, pleasantly surprised.

"I need a ride to Storybrooke, post haste. Care to help your former Captain out?" he asked. Smee smiled.

"Of course Captain...of course. Whose the kid?" he asked. Killian smiled.

"She's my daughter, Mr. Smee," he announced proudly, as the three-year-old in his arms looked shy and buried her face in her father's shoulder.

"Your daughter?" Smee asked in surprise.

"Much has changed, Mr. Smee and it is not safe here for us any longer. I'm taking her to Storybrooke," Killian replied.

"Of course...we'll set sail right away," Smee agreed, as they boarded the ship and set off across the ocean.

Greg sighed in frustration, as they watched Henry at school.

"We've been watching this kid all day...he's never alone. This is impossible," Greg complained.

"Then maybe we need a different target," Landon responded.

"Like who?" Greg asked.

"What about the blonde Sheriff?" Landon replied. Greg's eyes widened.

"Emma Swan? Queen Snow and King Charming's daughter? That blonde Sheriff?" Greg asked, looking at him like he had grown three heads.

"Why not? What better target to cause panic and lure all the of the major players out of Storybrooke?" Landon questioned.

"Think about it. We get Emma Swan and we for sure will lure her parents and Regina out since the former Evil Queen is not married to her Uncle. We get her husband, which means we'll get Rumpelstiltskin as well. And we'll likely get Hades and Persephone as well," he continued.

"But there is magic here...and Emma Swan has a ton of it," Greg reminded.

"But we have this," Landon reminded, as he held up the cuff. Greg smirked.

"You're right and once we lure them all outside...there's no magic for any of them to use. Not even Persephone and Hades will have power in New York," he agreed.

"Exactly. We take her there and introduce her to all the interested parties on the dark web that went wild over our video and then the rest of them will walk right into the thick of it," Landon said.

"Okay...but getting Emma Swan won't be easy either," he warned.

"Easier than getting the kid though. The next time she responds to a call alone...we'll be waiting to ambush her," Landon said. Greg nodded. This was it. Once he lured them all out of Storybrooke, they would get a confession out of Regina and get the attention of the FBI. Then any fringe groups that had believed their video would surely pay them handsomely for the rest of them.

"There's my babies…" Snow cooed, as she and David met his parents outside Granny's that evening.

"Mommy!" Xander called, as he toddled to her. She scooped him up and they both kissed his head, as their baby reached for David upon seeing him.

"And there's my tiny angel," he cooed to her, as he took her in his arms and kissed her head. Snow leaned over to kiss her as well. It may have only been a few hours since they had seen them, but they missed their babies fiercely.

"Did you have fun with Grandpa Robert and Nanas Ruth and Sera?" Snow cooed.

"Uh huh," Xander answered. The three of them smiled.

"As usual, they kept us on our toes," Sera said fondly.

"But we love every minute of it," Ruth added.

"Yeah...I'd say we definitely have the best job in all the United Realms," Robert agreed, as Emma arrived with Neal, Henry, and baby Tallie. Snow's three parents gathered with them next and finally Gold and Belle arrived with Gideon, as they planned to go into Granny's. Neal happened to turn and see someone that none of them had seen in three years in the street though.

"Hook?" he questioned, a bit apprehensively at first. He then relaxed as he spotted the little girl in his arms.

"Hello mate...it seems I'm not the only one that things have changed for," he replied.

"Is she yours?" Snow asked curiously. Killian smiled at the blonde child in his arms.

"She is. This is Alice and I've come back here to make a life for her. It's a bit of a long story, but I think Storybrooke is the ideal place to raise her...unless I'm unwelcome," he replied.

"That depends...you still out for revenge on my father?" Neal asked.

"I gave up revenge when she was born. Has he?" Hook replied, as he looked at Gold.

"It seems we have both embraced a second chance," Rumple stated firmly. Snow looked at her husband and David looked at his father. Robert nodded, signaling that he had mostly put what Hook had done behind him as well. He had his second chance as well and wasn't going to deny such to another father.

"Then why don't you and your daughter join us for dinner. She will definitely have plenty of playmates," Snow stated. Hook nodded.

"Thank you," he agreed, as he followed them into the diner. The saying that time healed wounds may have been a myth, for it was love that healed those wounds and it seemed that Hook was now an example of how children changed everything for the better...

[octocurse]

ok now onto just sending everything tht might and might not be canon. Most is a decided yes tho. Remember the tws still apply !! Also spoilers if ur wanting info in order or something idk

also imagery of animal death and gore

Melo (9) was created from the other half of Misery’s soul, an attempt to remember a time when it was alive and happy. Misery doesn’t have a “Real Name”, or one that it actually remembers. After being stuck in the monoplain for hundreds of years, part of it has deteriorated, the rest of what was human. Its soul is stronger than ever, however. Its actual title is The Misery, I just refer to it by simply Misery since it can be redundant. These ocs have been long in the making- With it having just started out as my persona, some kid and a literal demon (that looked like a homophobic oc for hazbin hotel/hj)

(Please ignore the photo of some atmosphere tumblr wont let me delete it)

These are some early stage stuff I drew, from early of last year. The most recent redesign I have saved would be this:

I don’t remember when I drew it, but Midas and 9 have generally stayed the same. Theres literally no reason for 9 to be part cat but she’s allowed 2 be bc I said so (I can’t draw hands). Also, I apparently tried renaming them to Hecate but I suck at naming things so it didn’t work out lol

I’m thinking of redesigning Misery to have something like a plague doctor mask that has no eyes.

in the original thing The Misery committed and that’s what caused the hundreds of years to lead 2 this but I don’t think ?? i want that to be canon bc I’m actually smart and know that I don’t have the brain skills to handle a successful attempt in a story.

Misery is prolly gonna have been ill from an infected outer wound and that’s what killed them. Either way I guess I just want them 2 have like. A death that can be interpreted by anyone as something different in a way.

I think Misery and Melo r transmasc and transfem hostility maybe.

I don’t know when but I had decided earlier on that 9 would rename herself Melo later on. heres more art tht is based on stuff 4 stage (i think) 3-4

They’ve changed a lot since this. But I miiight bring back the other neos, who knows

Her and Imani (name might change in the future) I think would either have a mother-child or sibling relationship since I created them to have come from a similar form of creation.

Imani was also created by a lonely spirit and got shoved into the exact same spot, just with different motives. The spirit wanted to create life, but Misery wanted to BE alive.

(Not canon at all, still deciding) Most of the ppl in the town were actually formed the same way, but they don’t remember it bc of the travelers, who often replace memories and are able to get them to connect to the world around it. Imani likely works with the travelers in helping collect spirits.

Due to how Melo was created, her body doesn’t rlly. Work right. Take that how you want, but it literally REJECTS Misery from it, and it’s why they get burnt by the barriers. Misery isn’t a good person !! It traumatizes Melo. And most of s2 is her learning how to cope with everything- A new environment, new people, and a lot of trauma.

I’ve experienced my fair share of trauma (not gonna go into detail but I’ve experienced abuse and traumatic events), and I want to project ways of coping onto Melo.

Melo at her core is a child- She’s a scared child with a fucked up spirit sharing a body w/ her until she literally DRAGS it out of her. but she Still doesn’t feel ok after. Because she’s still healing. Healing takes time, and I want to show that time- The growth process, the change, being weaker but becoming stronger in a special way. How she doesn’t have to go through it alone- she eventually has a good support system. Friends and adoptive family.

Theres so many changes I need and want to make for this story- so many things r being planned and changed every time I suddenly fixate on this silly thing again. I care about these characters so much.

Melo will never forgive Misery, and she’s allowed to.

“Adventures w/ 9”, a show I want 2 create about mental health, growth and change. I’m absolutely open to ANY suggestions !! [Note- I’m updating as I spam my friends !! Also, very long post.] [TW for - Implied transphobia, death, implied s//icide, multiple forms of ab//ce, religious figures referred to as gods, murder, animal death, looots of stuff. (It gets worse) please be careful w/ reading !! I don’t go into super detail abt everything but religion and death are MAJOR things in it.]

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