#i project onto midas a lot.

[piepiepiemag]

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

[galact1c-ambition]

I need to just ramble about how much Another Crab's Treasure means to me. I'm not entirely open about my mental health issues publicly, but sometimes it's nice to be vulnerable. Content warning for mentions of suicidal and dark thoughts and religious trauma.

For the past year I was in college, my mental health was at its absolute lowest. There were a lot of days I considered ending it as I driving home. I was failing the classes for my major. I had my heart set on being a biology major. I couldn't accept anything else, because all of my life, I've been so passively suicidal I haven't been able to see my own future. It's a mix of depression forming at a very young age, and religious trauma and anxiety of the rapture and God "taking me home when it's my time." I was just living every day with no consideration, and I couldn't let myself get out of something even if it hurt me, because I had no backup plan.

I've also always been a lonely kid. I got seen as the weird kid in school and I didn't really have many friends, despite how social and extroverted I was. Middle school I started closing myself off because of bullying. Nowadays I have a super close friend group and my two beloved girlfriends, but when I'm not with them, I really didn't like being around other people.

Despite everything, I've believed that there's so much love and beauty and hope in the world. I'm terrified of change, but I know it's natural. I really do believe even with all the chaos and hate and fear, love will absolutely triumph and make living worth it.

Then I started up Another Crab's Treasure and heard the phrase "What word comes to mind when you think of the earth?" A phrase that INSTANTLY stuck with me. I saw so much of myself in Kril instantly. His naivety, his immediate confusion of the unfair world he didn't know about, and his anxiety without the comfort of his shell. Then I realized the gunk is a metaphor for depression and nihilism, and I knew this game would hit me deep.

The Unfathom was my favorite part of the entire game. Seeing Kril go from anxious to actively suicidal was so jarring. Then Nemma spoke her words. "Living ain't always fun. Maybe not even half the time. But livin's what we do. It's all we can do. We pick our sad lil' selves up, we put on our war face, and we shucking survive. Cause our stories ain't ready to end just yet." This game was actively telling me not only to keep living, but told me to DO SOMETHING to make myself want to live.

Seeing Kril at the end loving life, never wanting to be alone again, and wanting no longer to be complacent in the suffering of himself and everyone else...it gave me courage. As stupid as it may sound, I dropped out of college. I never needed it for a job I'm happy with. Working professionally in science would kill my love for it anyways. I've been so happy this past month, and I have so much less pressure on me for needing to keep my grades up to make my family happy or get scholarships. I know life isn't going to be easy. I know there's always going to be hate and cruelty. But I'm not giving up, and I won't let others suffer when I can help them.

This isn't even mentioning my selfship with Firth. Midas is an outlet to project my religious trauma and passive suicidalness onto, and Firth is someone who can't entirely relate but can absolutely support and love him unconditionally. Loving that cryptobro crustacean made me love myself again.

What word comes to mind when you think of the earth? Anything you want.

[numberonenarinderhater]

Sending this again just in case the question I sent got eaten

I kinda find it sorta wrong that the fandom at larges idea of a happy ending for the lamb ( or as happy as it can be bc of the circumstances ) always involves Narilamb and redeeming the Bishops/letting the Bishops stay in the cult

Ik the lamb is like essentially a blank slate but it feels kinda gross that the fandom kinda makes them not have much agency of their own outside of Narinder/Narilamb

Idk if I’m explaining it well but like I wish there were more “ happy” endings for the lamb ( or as happy as it can be ) and that doesn’t involve Narilamb, Redeeming Nari and/or Redeeming the Bishops

I did get the previous message, no worries! I was at the library today bc I am always expanding my mind (drawing also I work there so I was visiting on my day off) so I haven’t cracked tumblr open today since this morning.

Getting into this is actually a bit of a deep hole to travel down and we need to talk about why Narilamb and mainstream fanon is as popular as it is in this fandom. Allow me to answer this in the most long-winded way possible, in list form:

1) The Formula Works

I feel like people conflate “video game protagonist that is designed for the player to inhabit” with “vehicle for me, my interpretations, and my fantasies only”. It’s always a useless debate to “”decide”” anything about this kind of video game protagonist but we seem to fall into this argument alllll the time.

However. A character has its own functions, it’s own design purposes, and it’s own reasons for existing the way it does, regardless of how easily we can project onto them. A lot of them have an implied agency that allows us to relate to them.

Link from Legend of Zelda is a great example- they’re designed to be the perfect audience stand-in with an ambiguous gender expression and age and rarely any dialogue. However we still assume that each iteration of Link has a different personality and has different relationships with others. Link makes choices that we don’t really control and we generally assume that Link is motivated to do good. Because of that, there are certain things we have a hard time imagining Link doing (for example, running around screaming slurs and pissing in the faces of every Hyrulian villager they meet) even if you, the player, act like a jackass in the game.

Lamb doesn’t have alot of this implied agency- which isn’t a problem, mind- we just never see them make a lot of their own choices. The Lamb is also not strictly a hero that we assume is motivated to do good. Players decide how comfortable they are with punishing, killing, or cannibalizing others. That makes it easier to assume the Lamb’s motivations as one likes.

This is a great idea for a video game’s player character, as history generally shows that enabling audiences to fantasize about your art makes it way more popular for a very low cost on your end. Take hogwarts houses for example (or don’t, I hate JKR too), or vampire clans with similar powers and guiding principles, or even schools of magic that reflect a spell-caster’s personality. People like to take part in a world and a blank, almost motivation-less character lets people take the wheel on what kind of person they want to be. Not to mention it’s fertile ground for shipping (whose to say the Lamb wouldn’t date Midas if I just decide that it makes sense?)

2) It’s lame but it’s easy

Narilamb is a natural combination when you think of it this way. Neither one has a lot of implied agency and they’re arguably the two most important characters in the game. Narinder has a lot more implied agency but what exactly did Narinder do with his time before he got imprisoned? What does he like? What would he want to do with his life as a mortal? No one can say for sure so fans are free to imagine.

The two of them result in a boringly blank but easy to edit combination of the two “main” characters. It’s obvious but their dynamic can look like anything- which is appealing to people who want to consume romance but don’t like what mainstream media has to offer for one reason or another. (Aka, the majority of users on here).

You can see this evidenced by the regurgitation of popular romance tropes in Narilamb. The brooding loner asshole turned gentle lover by the love of another. The ever-patient lover who knows, by some divine providence, that they can turn the asshole into putty with the right moves. Sprinkle in a bit of Tumblr’s favorite hits:

the “chaotic” hero (lovable and fun but unconventional and even violent)

the “straight man” (the one who can react to the chaotic hero’s antics with shock or annoyance)

the “enemies” to lovers (why they’re enemies and how serious this rivalry is almost irrelevant)

the blasphemous divine (religiously traumatized enough to be hip with the kids but not so renegade as to actually say anything of substance about that. Just enough to inspire bad poems about pomegranates and honey and things like that)

Mix it all together and you have the ideal, white bread flavored Tumblr-approved romance!

3) “Fix-it Fic” Logic

Back to your actual point: the ending thing.

People like the idea of this ending bc it’s fluffy, uncomplicated, but still allows them to edit small details. Tumblr fandom has a generally difficult time accepting unhappy endings, ambiguous endings, or even just endings more complicated than “everything turned out just fine for absolutely everyone”. It’s a comforting fantasy and this tradition of ours arises out a long history with dissatisfaction.

If you’ll allow me to editorialize, I think we as a community are used to being in conflict with the source material. It wasn’t that long ago that we were the butt of all the jokes when it came to fan culture. When things didn’t work out for our favorite pairings it was more than just disappointing, sometimes it was a personal attack from the creators. And this isn’t me pulling red string out, this is documented fact.

Once Sherlock BBC and Supernatural and Hannibal and Merlin and [insert whatever else] all turned out to be a flaming let-downs for the girls and gays I think we started to associate the idea of “bad endings” with the idea of “punishment”.

We started to turn to each other and say “Sad things only happen to characters we love because they don’t want us to be happy. What’s more, we can fix it. They don’t get to ruin our ending.”

This was a fine enough response to the endings that genuinely were bullshit but I fear that it’s all we do now. Things that are meant to be read as tragedies or relationships that aren’t supposed to work out aren’t being given the room to be interpreted the way they’d like to be. Take things like the Hunger Games, the Magnus Archives, Hannibal (the series), and… *checks notes*… retellings of tragic Greek myth? Apparently?

It’s become kind of heretical to point out the fact that these ending are- and are supposed to be- upsetting and disturbing.

🚨‼️THAT IS NOT TO SAY…

That writing a new, happy ending is wrong. Rewriting an ending or writing your own ending is a valuable way of engaging with art! While we should respect tragedies and sad endings for what they are that doesn’t exclude us from writing our own versions of events either.

It’s just that I don’t really see a lot of people making the effort to hold these two ideas in their head at the same time.

4) In conclusion:

I think the fandom would like to forget that there is no “happy” ending for the Lamb. There is no “fixing it”. The other sheep are all dead and will never come back and it’s Narinder and the Bishops’ collective fault. Constructing a “happy ending” for these characters lets us feel that these uncomfortable things can be forgiven and that everything will work out somehow.

Perhaps pairing up Narinder and the Lamb makes all of those things even easier to forget.

TL;DR:

You’ll probably hear alot of naysayers and detractors complaining that we’re ruining all the fun and not letting them make silly content and happy endings about their blorbos in love. My argument is that I am just stating what the text has already told me and I think that we can make silly content and accept uncomfortable themes in our media. Or that we can have a complicated, but hopeful ending if we find that more compelling.

[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.

[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.

[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. 💘💘💘

[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...

[trash-by-trash]

A Snake (Finally) Falls Asleep

A/N: Writing? On this blog?? It’s more likely than you think. (I happened to finish this on Remy’s birthday, so Happy Birthday Our Kween, just killed two birds with one stone :^)

Ships/Pairings: (Pre)Platonic/Romantic Roceit (You decide!!)

Word Count: 3,171 ;^)

Warnings: Sympathetic deceit, negative thoughts

Everything about Deceit’s life was a lie. Literally, seeing as they were the personification of lies, every lie Thomas had told, was going to tell, and other random lies that had sprouted here and there. He even spoke in lies when he was very nervous, or angry, or upset, or anything, for heaven's sake! Unless of course...he acted like someone else.

Being Deceit was annoying, to say the least, and none of the “light sides,” or so Roman had dubbed them, really liked him. He wasn’t good enough for them, but he was more similar to them than they thought. He liked baking sweets, even if they failed horrendously, he still...semi-enjoyed them. Due to the cold of his room, he had his own hoodie, which he tried to make using scraps of fabric he managed to find. It...didn’t turn out well, but it kept him warm. Sometimes.

He enjoyed reading, he really did, but books were something he couldn’t make, and it's not like the light sides had many books littered around. All he had was a few children's picture books from when Thomas was a kid. Dee picked one of the small paperback books from his nightstand. It was called Don’t Let the Pigeon Ride the Bus [A/N: ;) ], and it had a very simple story, but Dee had grown up loving it. It was one of the few books he managed to get, and he read it before he went to bed. Sometimes he managed to sleep easily, other times he hardly sleeps, other times he sleeps too much. He really didn’t have a schedule.

What Deceit had in common with the side that created them all, and probably regretted creating HIM, was theatre. He actually really liked theatre, he liked acting, he loved the feeling of being someone else. To take on a different character, to become them. He had gotten pretty good at it if his impersonation of Patton had anything to say about it. He regretted that occasion a lot because he messed up. Really, really bad. He shouldn’t have revealed himself, and now he has to take on the lying, awkward, rude persona that is Deceit. I mean, yes, it was himself, but he didn’t mean to hurt anyone or make anyone upset. He was just really, really bad at communicating, so his jokes came across as...mean.

When Dee was especially tired of being his snake-faced self, he resided to working on his story. It wasn’t much really, just a normal person in a group of friends. He worked on the character, he had pinpointed every single detail about them, he had several stories where they hung out, got into shenanigans, the whole cheesy teen movie deal. After all, he had a lot of time to do it.

Though he wouldn’t admit it, he found he inserted himself into the main character, or rather, inserted who he wished he was. He wished he didn’t have to lie. He wished the others didn't hate him and his stupid snake face. Dee brushed his fingers over his scales, gloves scattered somewhere in his room. He felt each stupid scale, the edges leading into another one until they stopped at his neck.

Robin, the main character of his story, did not have scales. In fact, Robin was a normal person. They had a normal face, with eyes that had normal pupils, and did not have to wear an excessive amount of clothes to hide their scales. Their hair was soft and didn’t have knots, it wasn’t a frizzy mess. They also had friends, good friends, that didn’t hate him or pretended to like him. And when Robin wasn’t a boy, when Robin was an enby, they didn’t mind it. Robin felt comfortable enough to tell them because they knew they’d be accepted.

Hot tears fell down Dee’s face as he held up his drawing of Robin. Sometimes Dee didn’t feel like a boy either, but really, who was there to tell that, too? He didn’t have anyone to talk to except his own thoughts. He wanted to talk to someone, he wanted to be told that he was valid whether he was a boy or not, and that he was loved. Deceit rubbed his eyes, wincing from the pain of rubbing accidentally rubbing against his scales as well. He got up from the floor, grabbed his not-really-a hoodie, and did his best to try and sleep, telling himself that out there, there was someone who loved him. Out there, there was someone who cares about him.

But he can tell a lie when he sees one.

Deceit sunk into the mindscape, or rather, the version of it for the “dark” sides. They didn’t like to be called a dark side, but they knew they were one nonetheless. They walked over the darkly lit kitchen, opening the fridge slowly so that no one would hear them. They didn’t know what time it was, and frankly didn’t care, but they didn’t want to wake anyone up. They searched through the few things there, grabbed a cheese stick, and sat in the corner, next to the couch, where no one could see them, to eat it. Suddenly, they heard someone come into the room. They pulled their knees up to their chest, trying to make themselves as small as possible so they wouldn’t be noticed.

“Alright, gurl, we both know you’re here and in the need of some dire “Sleep time,” so I came to the rescue. I’m such a gentleman.” Remy announced, Starbucks in hand, looking under the table, in the hallway, kitchen; anywhere someone would hide. Dee held their breath, quickly sinking out into their room.

Dee opened their eyes to find themselves in the corner of his bedroom. He slowly crawled up onto his bed, looking for his book, something to calm him down from the scare of Remy finding him. Remy did that sometimes, but usually only with the “light” sides. They would pop up, scare them, and convince them to take a break from whatever and just sleep. It was weird for it to happen to Deceit.

They looked through the clutter in their room, looking for their book, when they felt a warm wave pop into the room. Crap.

“Gurl, why are you ignoring me?” Remy said, walking over to where Dee was, crouched on the floor, looking through a pile of misshapen, honestly looking terrified. “What's wrong, hon? Cat got your tongue?” He laughed, pulling his shades up to make eye contact with the jittery snake. “It's alright, you don’t gotta talk. Whatcha lookin’ for?”

Dee looked down at the pile. First off. Why was Remy in his room? Second of all, how on EARTH would they describe that they were looking for their book. From there, why would Remy even help? Remy wasn’t a side but still passed through Thomas’ mindscape from time to time to make sure the man got some sleep every once in a while. His visits were contained to the light sides mindscape.

“Well, you’re looking for somethin’, Dee, so, like the awesome person I am, I’m gonna help you find it,” Remy said, taking off his shades, looking through the pile. He glanced at Deceit every now and then to see if he could notice a reaction. Really, right now Dee was very confused and surprised at being given a nickname. Remy noticed that there was no response from Deceit, so the thing must have not been in the pile.

“Hm, not here then. C’mon, gurl, let's go look in the other piles.” Remy extended his hand towards Dee, who cautiously took it and got up. They searched through three other piles until they finally found the book. It was under a fabric that Deceit had, as well as a couple of unfinished crochet projects. Dee held it up, standing and sitting on the bed. Remy got up and sat next to them.

“Favorite book?” Deceit nodded, running their fingers over the cover. Remy watched silently, glancing from the book cover to Dee. They looked up, making eye contact with the personification of sleep.

“Do you want me to read it to you?” Dee blinked, surprised, slowly nodding. Remy smiled softly at them, shifting onto the bed, patting down next to them for Deceit to sit. Dee hesitantly crawled across the bed to sit next to Remy. “Get comfy, queen, ‘cause I’m a bomb storyteller.” Waiting until Dee cuddled up next to him, Remy started reading the picture book.

Deceit wouldn’t admit it, but Remy indeed was a good storyteller, adding his attitude and comments in every once in a while, making it a pleasant experience. Dee didn’t really know if they should trust Remy, but being read to wasn’t something terribly bad, especially since the other was radiating heat. Dee snuggled up closer to him, feeling their eyes shut slowly. That was the magic of Sleep, huh? Sort of a Midas touch.

Dee dozed off slowly, totally because they didn’t have a choice due to Remy’s ability, and not because it was nice to sleep knowing someone may protect you from the night terrors. Remy closed the book and set it aside. He looked down at Deceit, who was sound asleep. His work here was done. He smiled gently and put his sunglasses back on. Creeping slowly off the bed, he “sunk out”; if you could call it that. After all, he’s not exactly a side.

Remy stood in the dark sides kitchen (of sorts), and decided that he may as well get some tea while he’s at it. He started to heat up the water and searched the kitchen for any mugs. He found one that had a nice little rainbow on it...accompanied with the words life is hell. How sweet.

He filled the mug with hot water and dropped his tea bag in it. As he waited for it to become legitimate tea, he started to get lost in his thoughts, lost in this thing we call the void…

Remy was strolling down the hall, in the search for the restroom to tidy his makeup up a bit. He was about to check a door when he heard sobs coming from down the hall. He tried to ignore them, opening the door: not a restroom. Again, the sobs continued. Remy tried to ignore them, he really did, but the sounds of the weeping coming from behind the door were nerve-wracking, even for Sleep.

He leaned against the door to listen to what was happening. He could hear the sobs, and a distant voice saying some...honestly awful things. Then, all of a sudden, the voice was saying brighter things, words of love and affection, but without a change of the angry tone. It seemed to cause the sounds of the side crying to increase. Remy opened the door a smudge: it was Deceit. Crap.

Now, as much as Remy helped the light sides, because they were “the main ones” and it affected Thomas more, he wasn't really sure that his job included helping the dark sides sleep. Yet, he couldn't stand this feeling to help Deceit after seeing him all...shattered like that. He looked so tired; not just from not sleeping enough. Remy didn't really know what to do but...he decided to ignore his gut and walked quietly to the dark sides “living room.” More of a dead room, honestly, it was quite drab.

It wasn't his job to take care of the dark sides. They were bad, and that's final. Then again...Remy sighed. It's not like he wasn't a total jerk sometimes, heck, the light sides were too. And though, yes, Dee was on a different scale…(A/N: oh puns) it wasn't really right to leave him alone, was it? Remy felt someone enter the room, and when he turned to see who it was, he simply knew what he had to do.

Remy grabbed the mug and leaned against the counter, pondering the events of earlier. Dee wasn't that bad. They were actually adorable, in a way. Remy smiled. Deceit was sleeping soundly now. Mission complete.

He placed the mug into the sink, threw away the tea bag until he was off on his merry way. Except...it turns out Dee was not sleeping soundly.

“Sssleep? Are you there?” The snake-faced side walked into the kitchen, cheeks with clear tear tracks, hair messy, eyes frantic- searching. They shivered and walked around until they made eye contact with Sleep. “What are you-? Nevermind, it's sssstupid, sssorry to bother you…” They stammered, crying, turning around to exit the kitchen.

Remy pressed his lips tight together. On one hand, he could leave, he had the chance. He could just forget this didn't happen and have better tasting tea in the light sides mindscape. But...he didn't really give Dee a “good night sleep,” did he? That was kind of the point.

“Deceit, wait.” Dee turned to glance at Remy, not facing him directly but stopped nonetheless. “What aren't you in bed, sleeping?” He wanted to add “you look tired as hell,” but that didn't seem appropriate for the situation.

Dee sucked in a breath. “I...I was scared brave...”

Remy winced. Oh. “Dee...I'm sorry, I thought you'd be able to sleep on your own, I shouldn't have assumed-” Dee held up their hand.

“Sss’kay.” They said, ready to shuffle away from the conversation before it got awkward (at least more than already) and they made Remy upset (or more upset. They could never do anything right, could they?). Their mind was already racing, and they were really cold, so they may as well go back. They were already walking away (again) before they felt a hand on their shoulder. Dee immediately pulled away, spooked and surprised by it.

Remy pulled his hand back, not wanting to make Deceit feel uncomfortable. They stood there for an awkward twenty seconds, just kind of staring and blinking until Remy finally spoke up.

“Deceit. I'm sorry I left. It's my job as Sleep to make sure you actually were able to do so. If you'd like, I can still help you fall asleep.” Remy said in a serious tone.

“...if I'm not bothering you, I'd be grateful unappreciative for you to help me sleep,” Dee responded quietly. Sleep nodded, and Deceit turned back to go to their room.

“Dee, where are you going?” Remy asked, puzzled. Dee turned around, for what felt like the millionth time, a pang of fear striking through them. Oh gosh, they messed up, didn't they? “Your room is way too cold, I don’t know why I thought you sleep in there, I’m sorry. We can go to the mindscape. It's much warmer and has actual blankets.”

Dee stared at Remy with wide eyes, muttering, “..they don’t like me, I won’t be allowed in.” Remy gave them a sympathetic look. “Deceit, they won’t kick you out. I’ll make sure of it.” They took in a deep breath. “Yeah. Okay. I’ll go.”

Remy and Deceit were in the mindscape and awkwardly sat in the beanbags in the corner. Remy quietly sipped his tea and internally sweating bullets. He took a long sip, glancing at Dee from the corner of his eye.

“So, how’s life been recently? Mine has been so bland, I seriously have nothing to do half the time. You?” Remy smiled softly at Dee, trying to make the atmosphere more amiable. Deceit looked over at Sleep, blinking slowly, and then looked down to face the floor.

Dee muttered out his answer, “I don’t do much, I guess…I read a little, I, um, I like to sew a little. I’ve tried baking before, but it didn’t turn out that well, but I’m still learning. Sorry, I’m kind of boring.”

“Nah, you do more than I do. Baking is pretty cool, though it's freaking hard to get it right. I would burn water if I tried.” He laughed and turned to completely faced Deceit. “I tried to make a cheese sandwich once and ended up with a crispy melted lump of bread. That’s why I stick to Patton’s cooking, and Virgil isn’t that bad at it either, despite being an absolutely nervous-wreck.” Sleep chuckled to himself but realized Dee wasn’t laughing with him. “Something wrong, Dee?”

They glanced at Remy with a nervous look on their face. “They..they really don’t like me. Especially not Roman, he hates me the most. Virgil...he…” Dee stopped mid-sentence. They looked back at Remy and gave him an awkward smile. “Sorry.” Remy returned it with a sympathetic look.

“It’s fine. I understand, when people don’t...are you alright?” Dee had their knees up to their head and had their face hidden. He awkwardly put his hand on their shoulder. “Hey, it's alright.” Dee immediately tried to shrug off his hand, panicking even more, tears streaming down their face, breath rapid.

“Sorry...I’m sorry, I just, I got spooked, I’m so sorry, I just, I-” They started muttering unintelligible words, trembling. Remy didn’t really know what to say or do, so he awkwardly tried to console them, but wasn’t really succeeding. It took a while for Dee to calm down, around ten minutes. They took in a deep breath, and wipe their eyes. “Sorry, Remy, I freaked out. I understand if you want me to leave.” He looked at the distraught side, feeling sympathy for them.

“It's alright, Deceit. It’s not your fault, and it's not mine, at least I hope.” He gave Dee a bright smile. Remy sighed and extended his hand to give Dee the option to hold it or not. They hesitated but held his hand. “You alright now? It's okay if you aren’t.” The look in Remy’s eyes was so sincere, but Dee couldn’t help but distrust it. He hated them, he hated their guts, it's impossible for anyone not to. They were so lost in their thought they didn’t even realize when they leaned into Remy and they started hugging. They didn’t realize when they started crying again, or when the other started stroking their hair, not letting go of their hand. One thing they did realize was when Remy started whispering his best attempt at words of comfort.

“It's going to be okay, alright? I have no idea what your problems are, and I don’t know how to help, but I’m here, alright?” He mumbled, pulling Dee closer. The words made them feel...safe, honestly. Deceit pulled back for a bit, staring Remy in the eye. He had pulled his shades up at some point, he wasn’t sure when. Maybe this whole time he didn’t have them on, and he just didn’t notice. It didn’t matter.

“Thanks. I’m really, really grateful. That isn’t a lie.” They hugged Remy again, feeling a state of relaxation wash over him. Remy pulled Deceit closer as they fell asleep. He sighed contentedly.

“You really are an adorable dork, Dee.”

General Tag List:

@icantbeme71097 @retro-remix @sanderssideblog @countessmissyshort @onenightjoanly @hissesssss @acrazia @thisrandomperson102 @desolate-darlin

@musikasworld

[idolizerp]

LOADING INFORMATION ON AURORA’S MAIN RAP, LEAD VOCAL SHIN MIRYEO...

IDOL DETAILS

STAGENAME: Mia CURRENT AGE: 21 DEBUT AGE: 17 TRAINEE SINCE AGE: 14 COMPANY: Midas SECONDARY SKILL: n/a

IDOL PROFILE

NICKNAME(S): 

amelia - her english name, chosen when she was confirmed, sometimes used by fans and groupmates when she struggles to speak english.

yeoshin miryeo - “goddess miryeo”, used by netizens on the internet, in captions on variety shows, and any other time she looks particularly good

INSPIRATION: wanted to be famous since she was a kid and was planning to do so through modelling, but once she was scouted by midas becoming an idol became the logical path SPECIAL TALENTS:

cover dances - knows a lot of other groups’ dances and can whip them out when asked

photography - knows her own angles, knows others’

tongue twisters

NOTABLE FACTS:

was scouted by midas at an olympus fansign in 2012

was a child model until she started training

is interested in fashion and styling

chose her stage name from anne hathaway’s character in the princess diaries

IDOL GOALS

SHORT-TERM GOALS:

miryeo wants to build up her cult of personality. the best way she can imagine to do this is through variety shows where she can establish herself as separate from the aggregate aurora image, especially given the group’s overall reputation for being boring on variety. she’s begun this by getting herself onto sibling’s day out and is working with the company to get her face on as many networks and as many tvs as possible.

LONG-TERM GOALS:

ultimately miryeo wants to be famous as herself - not an idol, not a rapper, not a girl group member, but just getting attention for being shin miryeo. a kind of fame that sustains itself even after aurora disbands and miryeo stops putting out music. if she can establish herself as a variety figure, she’d like something like hyori’s homestay or even keeping up with the kardashians, where she would be filmed just living her life and accrue fame with little effort.

IDOL IMAGE

aurora’s mia has the kind of beauty that seems like it should be distant and cold, an ice princess, something so perfect it seems it should exist outside our own realm. to counter this, and to fit better with aurora’s overall image, midas has instructed her to behave warmly, down to earth, almost ignorant of her own looks, more “girl next door” than “most popular girl in school”. her origin story of being scouted at an olympus fansign contributes to this: sure, she may be stunning, but she was also a fan just like you! when she receives a compliment, she is to cover her cheeks as if to hide a (nonexistent) blush; when someone names her as their ideal type, she is to behave as if such an idea comes as a complete shock. she posts photos of herself in a carefully curated outfit made to look casual but show off her figure at the same time. she is good at fanservice, since she can project a sincerity towards the fans that give them the impression of a close connection. this behaviour inevitably gets her a reputation of being humble and also one of being fake; the former outnumbers the latter so midas has encouraged her to keep up the image. it couldn’t be farther from the truth.

onstage, mia is magnetic and striking. she has a natural ability to capture attention and a greediness that refuses to let it go. the difference between her company-issued image off stage and her onstage presence mean that she’s often branded as someone with “reversal charms”. aurora doesn’t do sexy concepts, nor will they ever, but mia often claims that she believes she suits a sexy concept better on variety shows, inevitably resulting in a sexy dance that further highlight these reversal charms. she embodies the concept required in the moment.

the biggest criticism she faces is her skill. at debut she was already at a lower skill level than the other members - as the only rapper in a group that has very little emphasis on rap at all, she got the main position, but in other aspects she is by comparison lacking. that wouldn’t be so bad on its own if she was making steady improvement. mia has in recent years become lazy, relying on her face to maintain popularity rather than trying to become a better musician. luckily, aurora has enough overprotective fans that criticism tends to get buried pretty quickly, although midas seems increasingly worried that unless she picks up the pace it’ll only be a matter of time until the negative comments overcome what even the borealis can handle.

IDOL HISTORY

i. shin miryeo seemed like the type whose life would be fall into place for her. her mother had been diagnosed with pelvic inflammatory disease at the age of 23 and was told that she may never conceive; ten years later, miryeo was born. she was pretty from birth, doted on as an only child, showered with love and praise, regarded as a miracle.

when she was four years old, miryeo and her mother took a day trip to seoul to visit family. on the subway, a woman in a pantsuit approached miryeo’s mother and introduced herself as a children’s modelling agent. “your daughter would be a perfect fit for an upcoming advertising campaign,” she said, “why don’t you think about it?” back home in gimpo her parents went back and forth deciding whether this would be a good decision. but it was true that their daughter was beautiful; why not try it once? if she hated it they’d leave it at that and forget all about it.

as it turned out, miryeo loved modelling. she thrived as the centre of attention, loved getting complimented and praised when she did everything right. after the first campaign was a success she was signed on as a child model to the agency and booked another, then another, then another. she modelled children’s jeans, she appeared as a child in a nuclear family for a bank ad, her bright smile was plastered on the walls in dentist offices for an informational poster about the importance of flossing. none of these jobs were particularly high profile or made her name known in any capacity, but back home, her popularity grew. she became known as the local model, with no shortage of school friends and neighbourhood ajummas to stroke her ego.

ii. miryeo decided she wanted to be famous. maybe this was inevitable, all things considered. the natural path to pursue this goal seemed to be modelling, and no one discouraged her from this path. she was expected to continue her schooling and keep her grades up, sure, but she already had the beginnings of a career coming together. with some more growing, some more time, and some bigger bookings, maybe she could make it.

miryeo liked pretty things, though, and at the age of thirteen she became enamoured with what she thought was one of the most beautiful things she’d ever seen: midas media’s rookie boy group, olympus. from the flashy outfits they wore to their perfectly sculpted features, they were absolutely perfect in the mesmerizing, untouchable way she dreamed of. the music and the dancing was secondary to their stage presence and their beauty.

she was scouted for the second time in her life in 2012. olympus had just released “the chaser” and, dedicated fan that she was, miryeo went to a fansign. she was pulled aside after its conclusion and was handed another business card. she decided that this was surely the better path to go down. being an idol gave you a much better chance at mainstream fame than being a model, didn’t it? she cancelled her contract with her modelling agency and signed with midas before the end of the month.

iii. miryeo had been raised to believe she was the best. not to prove herself to be the best, not to work to be the best, but to believe that she simply was. training at midas was the steepest learning curve possible.

she was there because she was pretty. other than being able to look good on camera, miryeo had no marketable skill. she could dance and carry a tune without embarrassing herself, but other trainees had natural talent and years of hard work already put into their craft. miryeo spent her first year of training stumbling, stuttering, struggling, getting yelled at in front of other trainees. she had always been the subject of love and admiration and praise; she had never really experienced embarrassment. a fear of humiliation turned into a work ethic. miryeo began pushing herself to be able to demonstrate improvement in her vocals and her dance. midas did with her what they normally did to pretty faces with no experience: tried to see if they could pick up rap. it began, predictably, as a disaster, but as she became more driven she even grew to like it.

being placed in the predebut group that became aurora meant miryeo was merely steps away from the fame and attention she craved, but the training process was particularly brutal then. midas had big plans for this group - dreamlike image combined with powerful choreography - and anyone who did not serve these plans was cut. miryeo fought to keep herself relevant in the race, not only in terms of the visual element she brought but also in terms of her skill. members kept being eliminated until five of them remained. miryeo considered it a miracle she made it to debut.

iv. aurora was a hit. she was a hit. her name, less so: the company decided “miryeo” was too difficult for international fans to pronounce, so she chose “mia” as a stage name after anne hathaway’s character in the princess diaries. midas made sure that the korean public loved her from the start, regularly getting her gigs that would show off her visuals and playing up her reputation as a unique beauty.

but that was all that was ever talked about. the hard work she put into rapping, singing, and dancing went unnoticed. after training and powering through their rookie years only to be viewed as a pretty face, miryeo decided to take the easy route. what was the point of working hard at music when no one took notice? she had never even wanted to do music; she’d wanted to be famous. rapping wasn’t what did it, her face was.

v. miryeo is growing increasingly lazy and arrogant. she is no longer being pushed to improve her skill; the work ethic that was so critical in her training period has fallen by the wayside. she is still beloved by the media. midas is starting to get concerned that comments will arise if fans notice that aurora’s signature powerful choreography is growing more lopsided, but miryeo isn’t concerned. she’s where she has always wanted to be, and she’s looking forward to more.

[idolizenews]

SCHEDULE 09/29.

Each schedule post provides a snapshot into the way the company is marketing your group as a whole, the expectations they have for your involvement in the industry, and so forth. They’ll range from fun things like CF deals to run of the mill events like fan parties, concerts, or rest time. We’ll be varying things across the board and using this as a way to tease upcoming plot lines for groups. Schedules illuminate the often difficult realities of being an idol, and because of that we award +5 exp / + 5 sp to those who complete a 350+ 4/4 thread or a 500 word solo. Solos must be completed during the three week run of the schedule, but threads may be finished after the end of the prompt provided they were started well in excess of the end point (e.g. finishing up a reply or two after is fine, but posting the starter right before the next prompt goes up is not). These needn’t be taken extremely literally when threading and are open to tangential preparation threads and other flexibility.

OLYMPUS  – Olympus is proving themselves to be the flagship of Midas groups once more as they embark on a new project. Midas has been teasing the concept of group-centric Company produced web-series for awhile now and are now launching their first: Olympus Next Door.  Rumor has it:  Fans have only just learned the show has started filming and they’re already rabid over it.  It promises to be both cringeworthy and immensely successful amongst fans, proving that Midas will do anything to make a buck. 

JINX -  The ladies of Jinx will be gracing the cover and a large spread for Ceci this month, including an interview portion dedicated to their transitioning image, rollercoaster career, and explosive debut. It’s a rehashing of the usual fare, but sure to remind everyone how attractive they are ahead of their next comeback.  Rumor has it: Midas is investing a lot into keeping the girls on board as their reimagined concept took off with their latest releases. The upcoming November comeback is likely to reflect further movement in that area hopefully finalizing a return their prior impressive popularity.  

FANTASY –  With an upcoming Nightmare comeback of course preparation is serious business. The girls will also be the new faces for Lens Nine, doing a circle lens colored contact modeling shoot and promotional material titled Lens Nine x Fantasy : Fantasia. Each girl will be modeling a particular color with a whimsical name to suit.  Rumor has it: The upcoming Nightmare comeback bodes well for the unit concept and promises it will be sticking around at least for awhile, leaving fans curious about how Daydream will promote now that they’re lacking a member. Rumors are beginning to buzz that an additional member may be added. 

PROMO/PROLOGUE & GLIMMER & XLNC & TITANIUM & NITRO  Every year Gangnam hosts a culture festival in one of it’s more residential areas, with a modest number of stages provided for up and coming groups. Given the more modest scope of the affair, the attending groups are generally newer or less established, and have been listed above in order of billing, with the yet-undebuted Produce groups opening and Nitro as the featured act/headliner. Produce groups will be performing their unit stages from the final episode set alongside the Pick Me! song. Glimmer will perform their debut song and a cover of Heaven’s I Swear . XLNC will perform their 2 most recent title tracks. Titanium will perform their debut song and a cover of Olympus’ Growl. Nitro will perform their last three title songs, with a dance break remix transition.  Rumor has it: Of course this is an excellent opportunity for rookies to get their name out there, and Gen-N fans are feeling bittersweet about the whole thing, as this is likely to be the last of these mid-range festivals that Nitro plays at, with the group gradually outgrowing the opportunity. It’s always a hotbed for intermingling rookies backstage, too, so managers ought to be keeping a careful eye out. 

IMPERIAL –The boys are preparing for heading out on an Asia tour for the next month or two, bounding off the positive reception for their fan meeting. They’ll be working on choreography and staging prep as well as pitching concepts for special stages to the company.  Rumor has it: They’re solidifying their hold in the overseas (notably in the SEA market) to prepare for an upcoming comeback in the second half of the year. This concert capitalizes on their existing momentum and will have them in and out of the country - and as a result in plenty of airport fashion and concert gif media play articles. 

WINK  – The girls will be performing the ceremonial first pitch and doing a brief performance before a number of baseball games as the season kicks off, once for the LG Twins and once for the Doosan Bears. The appearance of the girls in cute, baseball inspired attire is sure to draw attention and positive reception.  Rumor has it:  Behind the scenes, the girls are being put through their paces to prepare for an upcoming image shift, with coaching for interviews and increased dance practices required of them for the time being. Rumors of a more sultry vibe for the comeback are all but confirmed if one glances at the concept directors hired on recently at the company.  HEAVEN – With an uncharacteristic push forward for the girls of late, they’ll be taking it a little bit easier this week, with a simple fan meeting mini-concert (expected to run an hour and a half) featuring a hi-touch event for those who qualify, maximum 100 participants.  Rumor has it: This is an attempt by 99 Entertainment to demonstrate the grounded and kind nature of the girls, reaching out to fans in an intimate venue and on a personal level, likely to continue in juxtaposition of the shaky reputations of some of their other group efforts. 

POIZN – Mexicana Chicken has taken on the boys as their new brand endorsers. They’ll be filming a commercial and doing a photoshoot to provide material for their various promotional items, such as boxes, flyers, posters, menu pictures, and so on.  Rumor has it: While not the most glamorous of things, landing a chicken endorsement is a major step, and one that further cements the idea that POIZN is hanging on fairly well despite past scandals, which is a good indicator for their future. 

HONEY –  With the girls in a bit of downtime between comebacks, MSG has decided to capitalize on the time in their schedule to launch Honey TV, a one-a-week Vlive series to connect the girl’s with their audience. Material will cover photoshoots, snippets of dorm life, comeback and album prep, and so on. The first episode set will follow the girls on a fun trip to Everland together, as they go on a safari ride, buy matching headbands, ride rides, and more.  Rumor has it: The MSG board saw the success of KJH in reaching out to fans via Vlive and has decided to follow suit, jumping onto the trend, while also allowing a bit of an easier time for themselves and the idols by filming schedules they’re already embarking on for the company: photoshoots, filming, etc, rather than following the KJH practice of separating out, allowing MSG to pump out a stream of shorter episodes consistently without having to find time to film a full “variety show” to air for 45 minutes weekly. 

CHERRY BOMB! – Gourmet Road is hosting the girls for an upcoming episode. They’ll be prowling around a night market and having a blast trying food, interacting with passerby, and talking together. They’ll be showing off their close relationship and their mukbang talents.  Rumor has it: Increased attentions payed to their newer groups indicates that MSG is ramping up efforts to get them established as the company moves forward, putting a lot of pressure on upcoming comebacks. 

ATLAS –  The boys of Atlas have been cast in the show Birth of A Family, a variety that involves a group of idols (in this case) raising two puppies in order to bring further attention to the serious situation of animal abandonment in the country of South Korea. They’ll be taking on the dogs for a period of roughly a month and a half, and filming will happen semi-regularly.  Rumor has it: This is the boy’s first variety show aired on television, with KJH preferring in the past to keep their variety work in house, on V-live and self produced. It’s a big step in potential visibility and risk for the boys, since editing will be out of the company’s control.

JAWBREAKER – The girls are deep into the preparatory period for their upcoming comeback.  KJH has the girls tight under lock and key right now to be sure nothing is given away, which means promotions outside the company have been limited for the moment, and the girls have gone quiet on social media. KJH has big plans for the upcoming song, hoping to cement the girl’s image as Jawbreaker with this sophomore effort.  Rumor has it: Planning for the KJH family concert is well underway at this point, with Jawbreaker’s former discography now regained.  The company is gauging reactions to individual members with this comeback to begin pushing the girls further.

GALAXY – The boys are heading out on to Happy Together 3, taking part in the classic talk variety that canvasses various fictional settings, participating in various corners, such as being asked to take part in a don’t laugh challenge or to bring a cherished object to explain. Hopefully this will bring some further attention and affection to the boyish, charming group.  Rumor has it:  Increased attentions payed to their newer groups indicates that MSG is ramping up efforts to get them established as the company moves forward, putting a lot of pressure on upcoming comebacks.