#i was home though. even brought me candy! why? i have nooooo idea but my guess is it's due to the fact she so very obviously did not

[anotherdayforchaosfay]

One of the funniest things my Japanese uni flatmate told me was "Americans laugh like horses." I had been laughing myself to tears watching a movie with a friend, and she comes into the living room and says that, then just stood there. Like she was expecting the two of us to apologize!

My friend and I were baffled because, um, I had never heard of horses laughing.

Flatmate demonstrates by throwing her head back and laughing. Then proceeded to tell us we need to cover mouth when laughing because horses are loud and annoying.

Friend and I couldn't help but laugh even more. By that point, one of the other flatmates, a woman from China, comes out and asks what's so funny, so then we could barely manage to get any words out beyond "we're horses!" I had tears running down my face, and then Chinese flatmate is on the floor laughing now too.

Japanese flatmate was very upset about this. A couple weeks later, I got her a little horse plushie from a pet store (because it squeaked), handsewed a tiny US flag on it, put it in a gift bag, and hung it on her door. She took to squeezing it whenever I was laughing too much, even when in my room with the door closed. Just stand outside my door and squeeze it for several minutes, like it would magically shut me up.

Fucking. Hilarious.

[captaincartervalues]

My Stubborn Alien (for the fic title thing)

“Jus truuusst me, Lena thi- thisis a greaaat idea!” Kara empathically waves her hands.

“Kara, you’re drunk and this is most definitely not a good idea.” Lena replies matter of factly.

“Imnot drunk. Yooou’re drunk.”

Lena shakes her head at her girlfriend in exasperation.

“N Ssure it is! S’its what the peeople want. ANd it’s gunna be gREAt for ma image! No more ‘Oh Supergirl’s sooo uptight’ or ‘Oh Supergirl is toooo muchofa goodie tooshoes’ or ‘out of touch with the people’!” Kara airquotes.

Lena raises her eyebrows and tries to conceal her smirk.

“Imma be hip! Imma be wit da people, LenAa!” Kara reaches out to boop Lena’s nose as she’s making her last point. “Supergirl is CoOl Ssupergurl is sFun! Thhiss is gonna show everyone that. Okay? Okay.”

“Does this have something to do with the article Andrea had William publish this week?” Lena asks gently.

“NooOoo.”

“So this has nothing to do with her saying Supergirl isn’t the kind of hero you wanna have a drink with?” Lena presses.

“Uhh noo.” Kara insists defiantly. “It’s about the gAys!” Kara comes up with.

“What?” Lena laughs out.

“Nia said Tiktok is on the rage and the gays love it! And I wannabe something the gays love toooo” Kara points out.

“Darling, I’m pretty sure the gays already love you...”

“Yeeaaaahh BUT do they knooow I love them back?! Isdunno... Isss why I need Tikstok!” Kara exclaims as if her reasoning is flawless.

Lena looks at the innocent face on her drunk girlfriend and knows they’re going to be in trouble tomorrow. “There’s no talking you out of this right now, is there?”

“NOpe!” Kara smiles triumphantly.

Lena sighs as she acquiesces “Fine.”

Kara jumps up and down with exuberance.

“But I’m not taking any of your complaints when you regret this tomorrow.”

———

Kara wakes up with a decent hangover, which wouldn’t be so bad, if she didn’t also wake up to an empty bed and no Lena to snuggle.

With a pouty face and her eyes half closed, Kara glacially shuffles out towards the kitchen and freshly made coffee. Although, she quickly realizes her and Lena aren’t alone this morning when she hears a whispered conversation.

“Alex? What are doing here so early?” Kara inquires as she excitedly spots the donuts her sister must have brought over.

“Oh you know just catching up with my future sister-in-law about how your night was.” Alex says sharply.

Kara brushes past the sister-in-law comment and looks skeptically at Alex as she eats her second donut. “It was fine. Pretty low key.” Kara says with her mouth full.

Alex scoffs “LOWkey?! Mmm and how much of it do you remember there, Kar?”

Kara looks to Lena with questioning eyes but Lena won’t quite look at her as she chuckles behind her coffee cup. “Most of it...I mean I don’t really remember going to bed once we got home but -”

Lena bursts out laughing at Kara’s unassuming admission.

“This isn’t funny, Lena.” Alex chastises.

“I mean it kind of is, Alex. Come on, it wasn’t that bad in the end” Lena argues.

Kara cuts Alex off before she can argue back “What wasn’t that bad?”

“Oh why don’t we just show you superstar!” Alex quips.

Lena takes pity on Kara’s still confused face and pats the seat on the couch next to her “You’re gonna want to sit down for this one, honey.”

Kara takes the offered seat as Lena hands her phone over to Kara after opening the Tiktok app. Kara’s mouth immediately drops when she sees herself in her Supergirl suit on the screen.

“Oh no!” Kara gasps.

“Oh YES.” Alex digs. “Go on, press play.”

Kara presses play and immediately regrets it as she watches herself stare back with ‘sexy’ eyes and lick her lips before lip syncing:

“I wanna put you in 7 positions for 70 minutes. You get it babe. You got a lot on your mind and I want to ease it up and lick it and slip it in. You do a light scream on the ice cream when I scoop it and dip it in.”

“Oh. My. Rao.” Kara groans as she presses pause to stop the video. “Why am I seducing the camera in my Supergirl suit?”

“That’s a great question, isn’t it Kara?” Alex jabs sarcastically. “Lena?”

“You said it was trendy and that the TikTok gays would appreciate it.” Lena offers.

“Why didn’t you stop me??” Kara whines.

“I tried!” Lena defends. “You told me it was homophobic and a hate crime not to post it!”

“I am never drinking Vahorian Rum again.” Kara says as she sinks into the couch.

“You said that last time.” Alex mocks.

Kara glares at her sister before attempting her patented optimism. “Okay, so I made a TikTok as Supergirl last night. At least it’s just this one video with only - um” Kara checks the phone “3.6 million views...”

Kara sighs, “It could be worse.”

Alex and Lena exchange a knowing look and Kara’s eyes go wide.

“I made MORE than one video?!?” Kara postures.

“Try like six.” Alex huffs disapprovingly.

“Oh Rao!”

“Weeelllll, she only posted six...” Lena adds.

“OH RAO!” Kara groans. “Show them all to me now.”

The three of them proceed to watch all of Kara’s drunkenly produced TikToks from the night before.

“Ayyyoooooo bisexual check!”

Kara doesn’t even know how she manages to roll the sleeves and pants of her supersuit but she watches herself do it before putting a beanie and chucks on, grabbing her ukele, and topping it off by replacing her cape with a bisexual flag.

“I don’t even have a bisexual flag!” Kara blurts.

“You do now.” Alex points to it draped over the dining table.

Kara looks at Lena baffled.

“You said it was ‘essential’, yelled ‘brb’, and came back with the flag and some candy before I could open my mouth.” Lena explains.

Kara sighs and scrolls to the next video.

“Ayyyoooooo everyone thinks my cousin is hot check!”

This video turns out to be just Kara rolling her eyes and shaking her head with embarrassment in front of a bunch of pictures of Kal in his Superman suit. Most of the comments on the video are either ‘well they ain’t wrong doe’ or ‘not as hot as you Supergirl’ and Kara isn’t sure which she hates more.

The next one starts with Kara and Lena standing next to and looking at each other with background music and the caption ‘whenever Lex tries to take over the world’ and ends with them not missing a beat as they turn towards the camera and lip sync:

“What kind of fuckery is this?”

“Okay this one is kind of funny.” Kara cautiously proclaims.

“Yeah I liked that one too.” Lena admits with a smile.

“Should have said ‘whenever Lex does anything’.” Alex corrects. They all burst out laughing at that.

With the mood slightly lightened, Kara scrolls to the next video.

“Ayyyoooooo jawline check!”

Kara is already cringing again as she anticipates watching herself show off her jawline but is surprised when the camera flips to Lena rolling her eyes as Kara’s hand turns her head to its profile to hype up her girlfriend’s impeccable jawline.

“I’m so sorry” Kara says sheepishly.

“It’s okay, babe.” Lena reassures her as she presses a quick kiss to Kara’s lips.

“I mean...Lena’s jawline was made for this trend sooo...” Alex concedes.

Lena rolls her eyes again as Kara shrugs, “She’s not wrong, babe.”

“Yeah, yeah. Just watch the last one you posted because it’s Alex’s and mine’s favorite.” Lena says as she and Alex laugh in anticipation.

“Oh no.” Kara sighs before scrolling.

Music plays as she watches stock images of Superman, the Flash, and the Arrow pop up before Kara appears and lip syncs the last line with a cocky grin:

“These boys ain’t shit.”

“Oh my - Lena! How could you let me post theeeese?” Kara tries again.

“Listen,” Lena starts “you’re very stubborn when you’re drunk and it took everything I had to keep you from posting the other videos!”

“Do I even want to know?” Kara questions.

“I do!” Alex says taking a little too much enjoyment in Kara’s suffering.

Lena pulls out another phone.

“At least you guys were smart enough to use one of Supergirl’s burner phones and not your personal phones.” Alex says.

Lena tosses Alex a side eye. “Do I look stupid to you?” Lena asks rhetorically. “I also added extra layers of encryption to the app and the phone just in case.”

“Well I don’t know! You were stupid enough to fall in love with this idiot.” Alex mumbles as she points toward Kara.

“Normally I would be offended, but after last night, you might have a point.” Kara says.

Lena pulls up the the drafts she refused to let Kara post.

The first one is Kara floating with Lena in her arms in a bridal carry and the caption ‘when you save Lena Luthor from an attack’. Kara is looking at Lena before she turns to the camera and lip syncs:

“I think. You know. Where this about to go.”

Drunk Kara added some eyebrow raises and a wink before kissing Lena at the end.

“Okay it’s probably a really good thing you didn’t let me post this.” Kara admits.

“You think?!” Alex chastises.

Kara clicks on another video in the drafts to avoid Alex’s judgmental gaze.

This video is Kara and Lena standing in from of the camera facing each other as Kara lip syncs to her:

“You say we’re just friends....”

Kara smiles and pans to the camera. “But friends don’t know the way you taste.”

Kara smirks as Lena’s mouth drops and she goes to stop the recording immediately.

“OHkay I did not need to see that last one, Lena!” Alex complains.

“You asked for it.” Lena shrugs.

“She’s right. You did.” Kara backs up her girlfriend.

Alex glares at them both. “You two are lucky no one pieced together where you were or who you are!” Alex scolds as she points at Kara.

“I think it helped that Supergirl and I have a known working friendship.” Lena admits. “No one questioned why she was drunk and with me.”

“What has been the overall reaction to these?” Kara inquires.

“Honestly, it’s been mostly positive with most fans loving the content and an inside look at playful Supergirl.” Lena explains.

“Though there have been some critics questioning why a hero would get drunk at all with the responsibilities you have.” Alex levels. “And some negative responses from parents about the appropriateness of some of the content.”

Kara sighs resigned to the damage she has done.

“But. On the positive side, you were right!” Lena adds with encouragement.

Kara tilts her head quizzically.

“The gays LOVED it and they loved that they now definitively have a shot because you like girls!” Lena teases.

“Oh Rao! I can not believe Supergirl came out as bisexual on TikTok! Kate got an incredibly well written and thoughtful article on what it means to her and the world that Batwoman is gay and I got thirst traps! THIRST TRAPS!” Kara groans.

Alex shakes her head and Lena tries to hold back her laughter.

“I can’t believe you let me do this, Lena!”

“Hey, I told you it’s not my fault! You’re one stubborn alien when drunk.”

“But I’m your stubborn alien and you’re responsible for me.” Kara counters with a whine.

Lena sighs as she takes Kara into her arms. “You are my stubborn alien...with a drunken propensity for thirst traps.”

———

Kara embraces her drunken mistakes and utilizes her newly created TikTok fame to connect with the people and kids of National City on a more human level. She does PSAs and educational material in her videos as well as more lighthearted fun ones that people love.

She also managed to convince her superfriends to be in videos with her. The most liked videos on her page are the ‘flip the switch’ videos she’s done with the other heroes where the light goes off and they swap costumes. It started with Dreamer when Nia told her about it and convinced her to do it. Then Kara got Barry to do one (pretty easily) and then Sara, Killer Frost, J’onn, Mia, Constantine, and even Kate (after a lot of convincing). She also roped Kal into doing one with her old suit so he ended up in a skirt. That one is definitely her fav.

Generally, Supergirl’s official account has veered aware from making any more thirst traps, but that doesn’t seem stop other creators from making raunchy thirst traps about Supergirl.

Though, after some time and much convincing from Lena, Kara releases the last video in her drafts from that first drunken night.

“They say drunk words are sober thoughts” a sober Supergirl says as she shrugs and the video cuts to the clip of her drunk sprawled out upside down on the couch “Women are just like...sooooo HOT”

A lot of women liked that post.

[iwillhaveamoonbase]

Replay ch. 1

Did I start yet ANOTHER AU?  Yes, I did.   Callum, Ezran, Soren, and Claudia run a popular YouTube channel while Rayla is a lawyer that Callum asks to model for him. Plans for the fic to be rated E down the line.

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

Callum smiled as he sat in front of the camera, Ezran, Soren and Claudia to his side.  “Hello, everyone and welcome to the first video of our new channel.  My name is Callum Evans.”

“I’m Ezran Williams.”

“Soren Ricci,” Soren winked at the camera.

“And I’m Claudia Ricci.”

Callum nodded.  “And we are going to be trying spicy snacks.” Soren and Claudia immediately paled. “We saw the video the Try Guys did and me and Ezran said ‘there’s no way half of that is that hot.’”

“Nope,” Ezran shook his head.

“And I know what you’re thinking, ‘what do you four know about spice?’  Well, first, Ezran and I are actually half-siblings.  Our mom and aunt are half-Thai and half-Korean, and if you know anything about Thai or Korean food, it’s really spicy.  My dad was mostly German and Irish, but he spent a lot of summers in India and the Sichuan area of China due to his parents’ work as translators.  So, there’s that spicy food again.”

“And my dad is half-Jamaican and half-African-American.  If you’ve never had Jamaican food, it uses a lot of herbs and spices to make everything on the flavor profile.  My grandmother, in connecting to her roots, started getting really into traditional African cuisine which tends to involve a lot of chili and warming spices.  Also, our aunt is married to a lovely woman from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, so we’ve had lot of Congolese cooking as well. The ultimate comfort food in our house is probably a West African spicy peanut soup.”

“If you’ve never had it, go make some right now,” Callum nodded.

Soren gulped.  “Claudia and I are terrible with spicy food.  I am also mildly lactose intolerant so I really hope there is no cheese here.”

“Hate it,” Claudia said. “I like a good cake or ice cream.”

“Clauds is super into dessert.”

Ezran smiled.  “As am I.  My favorite flavor profile is sweet.  I got our mom’s sweet tooth.  While Callum’s got a thing for spice.”

Callum nodded.  “My step-dad, Ezran’s dad, not only grew-up on Jamaican and traditional African dishes, he also grew-up with Brazilian neighbors who would bring traditional Brazilian barbeque, called churrasco, to all the neighborhood cook-outs.  Well, let’s stop talking about it.  Let’s get down to this.  We have all ten items the Try Guys used-”

Claudia gasped.  “Please tell me you didn’t get those rock candies!?”

“Of course, I did!” Callum set all the items on the table in the box he had put them before pulling out the candies.

Soren groaned.  “NOOO. We’re gonna die.”

Ezran sniffed.  “No, it’s a psychological thing where your brain is saying it’s on fire.”

“That doesn’t make it better.”

Callum smiled.  “Let’s do this!  First,” Callum took out the Cheetos, “Flaming Hot Cheetos.  The Try Guys didn’t use the chili lime ones, which I find a shame, because there’s more flavor in those even though they aren’t quite as spicy.”

“I agree,” Ezran said as he opened the bag.  “Chili lime is a classic flavor combination.  Put it on mango and I am pretty happy.”  The bag was passed and they all tried one.  “Not spicy at all.”

Callum ate another.  “Nope.  They’re good, but there’s no real heat there.”

Soren groaned.  “This is perfect for me.  It’s got a bit of heat, but it’s not overwhelming.”

Claudia nodded.  “I agree.  I don’t want to go hotter.”

Callum shook his head. “For those of you who are wondering, Soren and Claudia are siblings and childhood friends of me and Ezran.  Their dad and our dad are best friends.  But, when they come over for dinner, our family has to seriously downgrade the spice level or else these two freak out.”

“And,” Ezran interrupted, “when we go to their place, we have to bring our own hot sauce.  Well, that’s mostly Callum.  He carries hot sauce in his bag.”

“That’s because mango chutney doesn’t travel well.”

“See, mango chutney is almost going into too hot territory for me.  At least, the brand Callum buys is.”

“That’s because I buy authentic and get it shipped directly from a company that makes traditional chutneys here in the States.  Next snack; Takis Fuego.”  Callum held up the bag.  “This time, we got the chili lime!”

“Chili lime!” Ezran pumped both his arms up.

Callum opened the bag and took one, passing it to Ezran before moving it on to Soren and Claudia. “What I taste most is that lime flavor, which is fine with me.  I want it hotter, but I love lime, so I’m not complaining.”

“It’s not bad,” Claudia affirmed.  “I actually do like this.  Like you said, that lime is what’s really hitting, but the spicy is there.”

Ezran hummed.  “Can I have the rest of the bag when we’re done?”

“Sure.”

Soren blinked a bit.  “I think it’s spicier than you guys are giving it credit, but it’s pretty good.  I would take that lime flavor over the chili.”

“It adds to it Soren.”

“Chili is pain!”

“Life is pain!” Callum retorted.

Claudia rolled her eyes. “Not another ‘Princess Bride’ reference. You watched it once and you wouldn’t stop quoting it.”

“Inconceivable.”

Ezran raised a brow.  “‘You keep using that word.  I do not think it means what you think it means.’”  Callum laughed, high-fiving Ezran as Soren and Claudia watched on.  

“Nerds,” Claudia and Soren sang out.

“Proud of it,” came Ezran and Callum’s reply.

“OK,” Ezran said.  “What’s next?”

Callum looked at his notes. “Pulparindo!  Tamarind candy.”  Callum handed each of them their own packet.  “It’s kind of like a fruit leather.”

They went through all the snacks, Soren and Claudia progressively begging for milk as they went. “MILK!” Soren gasped on the Carolina Reaper jerky.

“You’re lactose intolerant, Soren,” Claudia coughed.

“MILDLY.”

“You guys got soy milk?”

Callum nodded.  “I keep some in the fridge in case Aunt Amaya comes over.”  Soren ran for the fridge in Callum’s house.  They weren’t planning on saying anything if the channel continued, but they were currently in Callum’s father’s childhood home.  His grandparents rented it out to him for school because they had moved into a retirement community.  He had completely renovated it and now had this room designed just for these videos.  “You OK, Soren?  We’ve got one last item, the Sonoran Spice Company’s Carolina Reaper Pebbles.”

“NOOOOO!” came Soren’s scream from the kitchen.

Ezran started laughing, taking a handful of the leftover Takis.  “Come on, Soren!  You’ve come this far.”

Claudia looked close to sobbing as she looked at the snacks on the table.  “It’s so hot.  I can’t taste my own tongue.”

“You can’t taste your tongue, Clauds.”

“SHUT UP.”  

Ezran laughed at the two as Callum snuck a few Takis for himself.  “For those of you at home, there is no denying that that jerky is hot. Callum and I just crave the heat while Soren and Claudia do not.”

Soren finally came back, sighing as he looked at the camera.  “I’m gonna die.”

Callum opened the candy, pouring a few into his hands and passing it over to the others.  Ezran took more while Soren and Claudia each only took two. “That’s all you want?” Callum asked.

“YES,” came the combined response from Soren and Claudia.  The four put it in their mouths together.  Immediately, Soren and Claudia freaked out, reaching for the white bread Callum had brought them earlier.  Callum and Ezran coughed a bit, but, for the most part, they had built up a tolerance that didn’t make it as painful as if they had gone right to the candy.

Ezran nodded.  “It’s hot.  No denying it.  But, I think the jerky was hotter.”

Callum nodded as well. “No doubt, jerky was a bit hotter. But I picked the candy last because of how the Try Guys reacted to it.  I was wondering if maybe it was the hottest thing.”

“It’s too hot,” Claudia said around a mouthful of bread.  “It’s like torture.”  Soren whimpered in response, gulping more of his soy milk.

“Well, I guess that’s all the time we got.  Please subscribe to our channel as we continue to, most likely, eat food or, maybe just do whatever we want.  ‘Til next time.”

Soren turned to Callum. “Why do you get to do the sign-off?”

“Because this was my idea.”

“You almost killed me!”

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

Rayla snorted as she walked into the cheese shop with her coworkers.  Maybe it was Runaan’s influence, but she was a bit of a cheese snob. Scottish food was mostly friend, but Runaan had grown up in England and spent a few years in France, leading to strong feelings about what made a good cheese, but she had not been impressed with any of the cheeses her coworkers considered ‘good.’  “I’m telling you, you have to go to an actual cheesemonger. The grocery is not good enough. At least go to a delicatessen.”

“Rayla, we’re lawyers. We don’t have time to go to a cheesemonger and have them select a variety of cheeses for us.”

“We do blue sky, fraud. We have time.”  Rayla walked in, making sure her suit was still well-pressed. She didn’t like a wrinkled suit when she paid good money to get it dry-cleaned.  When they looked around, they saw a group of four at a table, several cameras around them and a few people also there.  Her cheesemonger, Marcos, was talking to them.  She saw a jar of one of her favorites, Meredith Dairy Marinated Goat, on the table.  “The kind they have on the table?  It’s really good.  Spreads amazingly on bread.”

One of the guys at the table, a young man with green eyes looked over and did a double-take.  She made eye contact, slightly startled by just how green his eyes were.  The rest of the table looked over at the group, a few jaws hanging open.  Marcos smiled over at her, walking over.  “Rayla!  Sorry, we’re filming a video right now.  Did you want to get your usual?”

“That’ll work.  I was hoping to convert my coworkers to actual decent cheese because if I went to one more office party where someone brought an unaged cheddar and no other options, I was going to lose my mind.”

“Got it.  Let me go get that cheese for you.”

Rayla’s coworker raised a brow.  “Now what?”

“We go back to the office and try it.  Because once it gets home, it’s not leaving my apartment unless it’s part of my lunch.” Rayla walked around the shop, ignoring the video going on until she heard some hissing.  She turned her head, making eye contact with the boy from before again.  He gulped, walking forward.  Out of the corner of her eye, she saw one of her coworkers, Kasef, glare at him.  “Back off, Kasef,” she muttered to herself.

“Hey,” the guy stuttered a bit as he made it to her.

“Hello,” she answered. His eyes went wider, probably at her distinctly Scottish accent.  “Yes, my accent is real.  I grew up in Aberdeen, Scotland.  Can I help you?”

The boy flushed.  “Yes, actually.  My name is Callum Evans.  I’m an artist and I would love to paint you.”

Rayla tilted her head. It was a unique come-on.  “What’s that video your doing?  Art?”

“YouTube.  It’s a thing I do with my brother and my childhood friends. Being an artist isn’t the most lucrative thing if you don’t do graphic design.  I do commissions and try to sell my art, but there’s always low points. YouTube helps off-set that.”

“Fair.  YouTubers don’t really have a good reputation.”

“I know.  We’re not involved in any of that drama or crazy stuff going on.  Claudia does make-up, but, she mostly sticks within our circle of food YouTubers.”

“Mostly food?”

“Mostly food.”

Rayla nodded.  “How do I know you’re an artist?”

Callum reached for his phone.  “Here’s my Instagram and a couple of my sketches that I haven’t posted yet.”  He handed her the phone for her to look through.

“You sure you trust me with your phone?”

“Not really, but I’m a stranger asking to draw you.  Some level of give and take has to happen here.”

“I agree.”  Rayla went through his art, humming as she saw the variety of subjects, though he tended to focus on people.  There were a lot of pictures of the same three women.  “You like drawing women?”

“That’s my mom, my aunt, and my aunt’s wife.  You’ll also see pictures of my grandmothers and Claudia.”  Rayla looked closely at a few of the pictures.  She could see the family resemblance between him and some of the women, particularly in the jawline and cheekbones.  

She paused on a picture of one of the women he looked like and another one of the three he drew often. They were smiling at each other, flushes on their cheeks.  “This picture is beautiful.”

“Thanks.  That was at their engagement party.”

“I’m sold.”

“Really?” Callum asked, looking like he couldn’t believe she would say yes.  She couldn’t believe it either.

“I have four parents. My biological parents are bodyguards for a member of the royal family and were travelling a lot so I was raised by their best friends, Runaan and Ethari.  I got a lot of teasing as a kid for having two dads.  If you can draw these two as unabashedly in love as you do, I’m sold on you as a person.  I’m Rayla Burrows.”  She stuck out her head, giving a slight smile as a he took it.  “You have a decent grip.”

“My step-dad taught me how to do a good handshake.  Can I have your number so we can plan this?”

“Do you have a studio?”

“Yes…in my house.”

Rayla paused.  “Would it bother you if I asked someone I know to come?”

“Not at all.  Whatever makes you comfortable.”  They exchanged numbers and Callum walked off, looking back at her every few moments.  Marcos finally came back with her cheese, smiling.  As she walked out of the shop with her coworkers, she cast one last look at the group.  Callum Evans…interesting.            

[bagels-and-seagulls]

can we get some davenzi angst

how about some angst and a future fic? bc it’s all i can think of right now

David dialed Matteo while he was cleaning off the counter. He hadn’t made anything super fantastic for dinner, just rice and vegetables, since it was all he really could cook without Matteo or Laura watching over his shoulder to make sure he didn’t screw anything up, but somehow Matilda and him still managed to get what looked like half the box on the floor and all over the counter. The phone rang two times where it was in between his shoulder and his ear before it connected with a shriek on the other side. 

“Daddy!” Sofia squealed, and David had to quickly take the phone away from his ear in fear of permanent hearing loss in his right ear. His daughter had always managed to hit decibels he never thought possible. He tried to crack his neck. 

“Hey, sweetie. How are you?” He asked and leaned back against he counter, crossing his ankles. 

“Good! We’re having so much fun, Daddy! We went to this museum thing, and Papa showed us all of this old stuff. That wasn’t too fun, but then we went to the lake for Great-Grandma’s party, and that was, like, super fun! Great-Grandma gave us these little candies wrapped in wax paper and played with us until Grandpa told her to stop,” she rambled. 

“Did you get to go swimming?” David asked as he started to pace around the kitchen. 

“Nooooo,” she whined. “Grandpa said that that’s not a lake you’re supposed to swim in, but when he wasn’t looking, Papa let us dip our toes in. So you’re not supposed to tell him that.�� 

“I won’t tell,” David laughed. 

“Micha, stop poking meeee. I’m talking to Daddy,” Sofia said loudly, and David pulled the phone away from his ear again, already forgetting his mistake from last time.

“Does Michael want to talk to me?” David asked. 

“He says yes.”

“You can put it on speaker. Get Papa to do it.” 

There was some shuffling and a couple of low murmurs that he couldn’t really hear, before he heard his son go, “Daddy!” very similar to the way his sister had done a minute before. At least this time, someone was holding the phone away from their mouths, so it was bearable. 

“Hey, pumpkin,” David greeted and couldn’t but help to smile. He didn’t realize how much he missed them until he was putting Matilda to bed and walking down the quiet and empty house, wondering when everyone was coming back. Whatever the answer was, he knew it was going to be too long. “Sofia was just telling me what you did today.” 

“Oh! We went to go look at some statues that are supposed to be really important, and it was super cool because they were huge and, like, so detailed and stuff. And then we went to meet all the cousins with Papa and Grandpa at the lake, and that was cool, too. Great-Grandma was really nice and told stories to Papa and then Papa told us,” Michael rambled off a similar story. 

“Did you like all the cousins?” David asked, pushing his toe into the ground. He had been worried about this trip since Matteo brought it up, a family reunion in Italy for his grandmother’s birthday. David didn’t know if going was too good of an idea. Matteo hadn’t gotten along with that side of the family for a while, longer than he probably understood. His father hasn’t even come up to visit them since Matilda was born, not that David bothered too much. He was a cold man, Matteo’s father. But David knew how important Matteo’s grandmother was to him, and he knew that he would be crushed to not see her. And he also knew that she had been hounding him about meeting her great-grandchildren. 

“I mean, I guess. They couldn’t understand us,” Michael said, and David imagined that he was shrugging. It was better than nothing, David supposed. 

“They kept saying the same thing over and over again,” Sofia added. 

“What’d they say?” David asked, not really believing that.

“I don’t speak Italian, Daddy,” Sofia whined. “You know that.” 

“Then how do you know they were saying the same thing?” David teased. 

“Yeah,” Michael added, and David just shook his head, trying to hold back a little laugh. 

“Time for bed,” David heard a little muffled. Matteo must have been on the other side of the room. He sounded just far enough away for David to get a taste, but not too clearly to satisfy, like a dream almost. 

“Papaaaa,” Michael drug out. 

“We just started talking to Daddy,” Sofia said, most likely with a pout. 

“Yeah,” Michael repeated. 

He heard a couple sounds, and David started wiping a towel over the counter just for something to do while he was waiting to see how this played out. He already knew who was going to win, but he was still interested. “We can call him again in the morning, but it’s time for bed now.” 

There was some vague whining noises where he’s sure the twins were pulling off the best puppy dog eyes that haven’t worked since they were toddlers before Matteo said, “None of that. Off you two go.” There was some more muffling. “I’ll be right back,” Matteo said, and it sounded like he wasn’t on speaker anymore. 

“Alright,” David said with a little nod, not that Matteo could see it. 

He waited for a minute or two while he was rearranging the papers on the fridge, some of Michael’s drawings, a picture of Sofia from her last gymnastics meet, one of Matilda’s school reports that she insisted they put up because it had a sticker of a ladybug on it, a picture of Matteo and David from their wedding day, looking sharp in complimentary suits and holding hands while both of them pretended like they weren’t crying. 

“Hey,” he heard. 

“Na?” 

“Na,” Matteo sighed. 

“How’d it go today? You went to a museum?” David asked. 

“Yeah, an art thing, just to kill some time before meeting the family.” 

“Was it fun?” 

“It was alright,” Matteo said simply and didn’t elaborate, not like the kids. He sounded tired, David thought, and not the kind of tired he usually got corralling the twins by himself all day. That one David could tell right away, and he would usually laugh, and kiss Matteo’s nose, and tell him that at least they’ll be asleep by ten. No, he sounded like the tired that was down to the bones and then a little bit further, one that was saying a hundred different things at once and none of them good, the tired you couldn’t really get rid of with sleep. 

“Everything okay?” David asked a little quietly. 

“Yeah,” Matteo responded quickly. “Yeah,” he repeated a little smaller after a minute. “I just miss you. And Matilda.”

“We miss you, too. All you guys. The house is too quiet.” 

“Yeah.” 

“Are you sure everything’s okay?” David asked, not wanting to push, but not convinced that this was just a little thing like missing home. 

“It’s just,” Matteo stopped himself, and David could hear the way he was swallowing something down. Something heavy sunk into his gut, and he sat down on the kitchen floor, knowing where this could be headed, and not liking it already. “I just don’t know why I bother trying,” Matteo said through his teeth, and David imagined him pulling at his hair, and scrubbing at his face, and trying to pretend like the world wasn’t getting to him even though it was and did and will forever. 

“What happened, baby?” David took a deep breath to prepare himself. He already disliked most everything about Matteo’s father, knew it from the first time they were still kids and trying to figure life out, when they still had things like school to worry about and social status and how to pay for alcohol, and Matteo told him out on the balcony with a joint in his lips that his dad had run off without a second thought, and good riddance, too. Matteo didn’t need that prick. Not one bit, he said. Somehow David knew that he was going to really start hating him by the end of this conversation, if it was possible to hate him more than when Matteo called him to tell him that Matilda was coming home with them, swaddled in Matteo’s mama’s arms, and Matteo’s father told him he would call him back. And then didn’t. 

“Just-” And Matteo cut himself off with a heaping breath, and David wished more than anything to be there right now, to hold his face in between his hands and tell him that he would protect him from the rest of the world if he would just let him, to squeeze him tight until all the sadness drifted out of him like smoke. He curled an arm around himself in consolation. 

“They were so mean,” Matteo said with a sob. He sniffled, and David gripped onto the side of his shirt hard, his nails digging into his palm on the other side. “They were saying all these things behind my back, all of them, about my kids. My kids, David,” he heard Matteo sniffled hard. “And Sofia and Michael didn’t even know because how could they. They just wanted to play with the others. And they were just so cruel. To children. My children.”

“What did they say?” David asked through gritted teeth. He tipped his head back to push the crown of his skull into the cabinets behind him. 

“That they didn’t look like me, weren’t ours. That they were going to frow up messed up. That they weren’t really family. That they were adopted by a couple of-” Matteo stopped. He sniffled again and then swallowed hard enough for David to hear. “And the kids were looking at Sofia and Michael and said that they didn’t want to play with them and just repeated back all the shit their parents were saying.” 

David was mad as fire. No- madder than fire, he was a volcano ready to erupt, a pittbull with rabies and a t-bone on the mind who had been locked up a little too long for his own good, a tsunami that has been pulling back from the shore for hours now, wanting to see the sea floor to rise. He was ready to get in a car and drive all night and all day if he had to to go give these people a piece of his mind, tell them to fuck off, that they were ignorant bigots who had nothing better to do than pick on people who were blissfully unaware. With the sound of Matteo quietly crying to himself half a continent away, away from where David would comfort him and tell him he didn’t need those bastards anyways, and trying to pretend like everything was fine because the walls were thin and the kids could understand this conversation just fine, David finally figured out how mad you had to be to contemplate murder. 

“What did your dad do?” He asked. 

Matteo huffed a breath. “Nothing, just stood there.” 

“I’m coming,” David said suddenly and picked himself off the floor, fully convinced to find his suitcase and start shoving his clothes into it, anything really, already thinking of how to pay back Laura for watching Matilda for the rest of the weekend. 

“No, David. Don’t,” Matteo said quickly. 

“I’m going to kill him,” he responded. 

“It’s not worth it.” 

“The fuck it isn’t!” David yelled and then pinched the bridge of his nose to remind himself that Matilda was sleeping. “They have not fucking right to talk about them that way, talk about us that way. If they have a problem, they should say it to my fucking face.”

“David,” Matteo chocked out. “I just want to come home.” 

“Baby,” David said, calming down. “Just- get on the first train tomorrow, or a plane, or a bus. I don’t care. I’ll come pick you up if you want me to.” 

“No, I don’t want the kids to think something’s wrong.” 

“Something is wrong.” 

“They don’t know that,” Matteo said. “You heard them. They had a blast.” 

David sighed. “Then cut it short. Don’t come tomorrow, but the next day. Say Matilda got sick, or that something came up and I had to go out of town and you have to watch the kids.” 

“Yeah, okay.” 

“Okay?” 

“Yeah.” 

“I’ll look for flights.” 

Matteo sighed. “Okay.” 

David scrubbed at his face. “I’m sorry this happened, sweetheart. You don’t deserve it.” 

“Whatever,” Matteo mumbled. “Grandma loved them. Said they were her favorites.” 

“Did she?” David asked, trying to see a bright side after his vision just went black and white. 

“Yeah, right in front of my cousins. Said they were the cutest and most well behaved kids she’s ever seen. She asked for a picture of the family.” 

[verdigrisprowl]

Mar 24 Bevel’s Movie Night - Star Trek TNG

They watched an episode where Data’s sentience and right to be treated like a person instead of property is put on trial; and an episode where a spy was caught and an investigator came to start a witch hunt on the rest of the crew.

Everyone was pretty mad.

ItsyBitsySpyers 7:34 pm omfg what a song Bevel 7:38 pm ((Cro noticed the audio was being buggy so I'm retesting it Me 7:39 pm ((sounds fine here)) Bevel 7:40 pm ((awesome, someday I'll have a computer without an audio glitch and can tell these things myself Bevel 7:45 pm *shoves Prowl and Soundwave's couch into its usual placement aaaaaaaand that's everything back into movie night place* Ratchet 7:46 pm [[ i really need to watch SU again and catch up ]] ItsyBitsySpyers 7:47 pm *Soundwave flies in through the missing wall, slows, hovers, turns to face his couch, and transforms to drop into it.* Ratchet 7:47 pm [[ this video is making me cry ]] Bevel 7:47 pm ((I admit it's tempting to show it like one episode at a time pre-movies or something >_> Ratchet 7:47 pm [[ pleeeeeeeease ]] Bevel 7:47 pm ((I can do that 😀 ((Gah, I love that video so much Ratchet 7:48 pm [[ ugly fucking crying all over the place ]] Bevel 7:49 pm *claps for Soundwave's entrance* Ratchet 7:49 pm *pops in too late to see anything cool and doesn't mind at all* Bevel 7:50 pm *One day she'll have to fly in herself but she'd have to practice her maneuvers first, she rarely takes on a flying alt mode* Ratchet 7:51 pm Evening, Bevel! .... Soundwave. Bevel 7:51 pm Hi, Ratchet! ItsyBitsySpyers 7:51 pm *Soundwave bobs his helm at Bevel in thanks. It helps keep him in practice for when creatures come calling.*

[[Ratchet.]] Ratchet 7:51 pm *yep, good enough* *nods back to Soundwave and proceeds to not pay attention to Soundwave* ItsyBitsySpyers 7:53 pm *One of these days he's going to try making a peace offering to Ratchet. Today is not that day.* Ratchet 7:54 pm *that's fine. Ratchet's gotta work through his shit in his own time* Bevel 7:54 pm *Ratchet can not pay attention to Soundwave at the table with Bevel* Ratchet 7:56 pm *sure! speaking of tables, Ratchet once again has a small offering of snacks. hard candies, anyone?* Bevel 7:57 pm I found more Starfleet stuff! Not the Discovery crew though. Enterprise records with Data. *she will happily accept a snack!* Thanks, Ratchet. Ratchet 7:59 pm No problem! Should be thanking Cliffjumper and Beachcomber though, they teamed up on these. I just brought a few along for the evening. ItsyBitsySpyers 8:00 pm *Soundwave was about to grab one with a feeler when Ratchet said Cliffjumper and Beachcomber. Now his claws are sorta hovering uncertainly* Me 8:00 pm *appears; surveys the room a moment, before sitting with Ratchet.* Bevel 8:00 pm ((ok, everyone ready or do we need a moment for food and drinks? Ratchet 8:00 pm *eyes that feeler* Me 8:00 pm *just in time to catch that description* ... What did they put into them? Ratchet 8:01 pm They made them for Autobots. Relax. Bevel 8:01 pm *pops treat into mouth without hesitation* ItsyBitsySpyers 8:01 pm *...Snatches _one_ and spaces it for later* Me 8:01 pm *the fact that they were made for autobots does not mean that there might not be something interesting in them.* Bevel 8:02 pm ((gonna start after this Ratchet 8:02 pm Uh... I'm not real big on recipes. Some kind of crystal, some energon? They're not the special kind of candy. I said Beachcomber and Cliffjumper, not Beachcomber and Groove. Bevel 8:03 pm I like it. You should try one, Prowl. Me 8:04 pm Can't. Bevel 8:04 pm Why not? Ratchet 8:04 pm They're solid. Me 8:04 pm I'm holomatter. *and that.* Ratchet 8:04 pm Or is it the avatar? Bevel 8:04 pm Oh, right. Ratchet 8:04 pm *... both. okay.* ItsyBitsySpyers 8:05 pm *...Maybe he'll liquefy it and drop it off some time. Too bad it's not one of Beachcomber and Groove's.* Me 8:05 pm Both. *although if they'd been Interesting snacks, he would have been tempted to take one home, blend it, and see what happens.* *as it is, though, not worth the effort.* Bevel 8:06 pm It is a really good avatar. *so good she forgets Prowl even uses it instead of showing up in person* Me 8:07 pm *slight nod.* Ratchet 8:07 pm Data's visor is fantastic. Me 8:07 pm ... I suspect that Data is about to learn a hard lesson. ItsyBitsySpyers 8:07 pm [[...Do any of you play?]] Bevel 8:08 pm Man with the ax? Me 8:08 pm I've been persuaded to at times. I'm not fond of gambling games. *Yep. There's the hard lesson. Card games are only half about statistics. The other half, unfortunately, is psychology.* Ratchet 8:09 pm I've played a hand or two. Bevel 8:09 pm ((did the audio die for anyone but Cro? Ratchet 8:10 pm [[ nope, good here ]] Me 8:10 pm ((fine here)) Bevel 8:10 pm ((*thumbs up* Omicron 8:10 pm ((-faceplants in-)) Bevel 8:11 pm ((hiya! I used to gamble sometimes but not really anymore. Me 8:11 pm Ugh. Anyone who can call somebody a "pompous ass" and "damn sexy" in the same sentence is someone to be avoided. Bevel 8:12 pm He seemed really uncomfortable about it too. Me 8:12 pm I'M really uncomfortable about it. Bevel 8:12 pm *nods in agreement* ItsyBitsySpyers 8:13 pm [[DISASSEMBLE Data?]] Me 8:14 pm ... Eugh. Bevel 8:14 pm Bad guy. Me 8:14 pm Indeed. Omicron 8:14 pm *Ice Queen comes in looking around, little supersized at the invitation but happy to be social and get Racer away from bad insecticons spoiling him* O_o Bevel 8:14 pm *waves excitedly at Ice Queen and Racer* Hi! Me 8:14 pm *said with utmost disgust:* "Its." ItsyBitsySpyers 8:15 pm [[Greetings, Ice Queen.]] Bevel 8:16 pm Nooooo. ItsyBitsySpyers 8:16 pm [[Throw him out an airlock and call it an accident.]] Ratchet 8:16 pm What a disgusting abuse of power. Omicron 8:16 pm hello *dragonic smiles, then pauses, blinking at the screen,* ? Racer: Pffftt! *stays on icy's back until he's aloud down* Me 8:16 pm I should disagree with this murder suggestion. *very pointedly says nothing else.* ItsyBitsySpyers 8:17 pm *Notices that very pointed nothing else.* Omicron 8:17 pm What did I walk in on? *transforms and uses wings to nudge Racer up to her shoulder* Bevel 8:17 pm I found some Starfleet files. Me 8:18 pm They're treating a sentient mech like a piece of hardware to be disassembled on flimsy pretenses. Omicron 8:19 pm .....what did she just say? Me 8:19 pm Ugh. Her condescension. ItsyBitsySpyers 8:19 pm [[Nobody demands the flesh crew submit themselves to tests of these sorts. Only machines and aliens they do not understand.]] *Red slash mark on his screen. Disapproval.* Me 8:20 pm Mmh. Bevel 8:20 pm *frets* Me 8:20 pm "Over a machine." She says. You can hear the "just" in her voice. ItsyBitsySpyers 8:21 pm [[HOW DID HE GET IN WITHOUT PERMISSION.]] Omicron 8:21 pm That was not something I was expecting in that world.... primus, even I ask before going into the rooms of my mates' Me 8:21 pm Go threaten to dissect her to find out about how muscles work. It's fine, they can sew her back together. I'm sure she won't object. Why would she get passionate over meat? ItsyBitsySpyers 8:22 pm *Tiny and soft applause clip.* Omicron 8:23 pm *sits down on the floor, not sure if the chairs or what can hold her, not sure who she's by but a hatching meeps to be let down and sniff around* Me 8:23 pm HIM, though... Bevel 8:23 pm *wiggles her fingers at the hatchling and mouths "hi"* Omicron 8:23 pm Can I flick that blue shirt anoyance? ItsyBitsySpyers 8:24 pm [[If only.]] Me 8:24 pm *looks at their new visitor. Hello, he doesn't usually see you outside of Mondays.* *focuses on the hatchling.* ... Pbbbbt. Bevel 8:25 pm *makes a rude gesture at the screen* Omicron 8:26 pm Racer: ....!!!! Pfff....Pbbbt! 😀 'ere? ItsyBitsySpyers 8:27 pm *Soundwave glances at Racer. Was that a word?* Me 8:27 pm *focuses on for the same reason.* Hm? Omicron 8:28 pm He's been trying to show off to you two for weeks now Omicron 8:29 pm Racer: *sits all proud on Icy's* Me 8:29 pm He can— What's he saying? Bevel 8:30 pm He is really cute. ItsyBitsySpyers 8:30 pm [[Then he apologizes for not having noticed.]] Omicron 8:31 pm *looks at Bevel and then around* can he come down? Bevel 8:31 pm Yeah sure! Me 8:32 pm *... focuses back on the screen.* Omicron 8:32 pm It's mostly half words right now Prowl. but he's trying...and learning bad chirp too ItsyBitsySpyers 8:33 pm [[Bad chirp?]] Bevel 8:33 pm Like bad words? Ratchet 8:34 pm [[ omg that obvious foam prop replacement ]] Bevel 8:34 pm ((i love it ItsyBitsySpyers 8:35 pm *Shudder.* Omicron 8:35 pm bad works...... whaaat? Me 8:35 pm *on the edge of his seat watching this trial.* Bevel 8:36 pm *whines* Ratchet 8:36 pm 😧 Omicron 8:36 pm Racer: *climbing down off icy once she's moved to let him* ........the frag? ItsyBitsySpyers 8:37 pm [[Data is formed of multiple connecting parts. He can be disassembled in ways we cannot. His arm will be replaced. He hopes.]] Omicron 8:39 pm *Icy hisses at the screen for that thought, she's seen predacons treated like animals in that mentality* Me 8:39 pm *oh, the other bots in the room have been hissing in one way or another all night.* Omicron 8:40 pm Racer: -sniffing at a mech's pede- Me 8:43 pm ... The idea that sexuality is imperative for sapience is a particularly nasty and pervasive myth—but if it helps Data get free I'm going to let it slide. Omicron 8:45 pm this is from an organic race *snorts, keeping an eye on Racer who's sitting watching the mecha in the room* Me 8:45 pm I know. You'd be much less likely to see a trial like this among mecha species. Me 8:48 pm Data is far more forgiving than he has any cause to be. Omicron 8:48 pm I have heard of cybertronians debating on how aware organics are on the flip side, so to say Me 8:49 pm Hm. ... Fair. ItsyBitsySpyers 8:49 pm [[They mentioned understanding and being conscious of one's actions. He realized that his partner did not want others to know of their interaction and attempted to keep the promise even after her death, and at the cost of risking his life. If nothing else, her hologram helped make an interesting point about him.]] [[...And showed him to be more considerate of others than the Maddox human has likely ever been in his miserable, oozing life.]] Omicron 8:50 pm Racer: pbbt? *looks up, adults seem not as glaring-ly at the screen now* ItsyBitsySpyers 8:51 pm [[That said, he agrees that requiring such an interest for sentience would be a mistake.]] Me 8:51 pm It did make an interesting point, but the pointed mention of his intimacy with her visibly shook the people in the room. *visibly enough that even Prowl saw it.* I've little doubt it was a... if not a deciding factor, then a strongly influencing one, even outside of the fact that he expressed concern for her postmortem privacy. ItsyBitsySpyers 8:52 pm *Nods. That is a fair point.* Omicron 8:52 pm hmm *snorts* Racer: *snorts to mimic, then looks around* 'itch? Bevel 8:53 pm I am glad they had other arguments besides him and her being intimate. Omicron 8:53 pm .....okay I like him ItsyBitsySpyers 8:53 pm [[Itch? Racer itches?]] Ratchet 8:54 pm It seems to me that wanting something is evidence enough of sentience. Bevel 8:55 pm *nods* Ratchet 8:55 pm His medals should have proved it alone. And his sentiment for the book that was a gift. ItsyBitsySpyers 8:55 pm [[They should have.]] Bevel 8:55 pm He said friendship too. That was important. Omicron 8:55 pm Racer: *looks up at sound wave and rolls, waveing his feet* 'itch!

He means scritch ItsyBitsySpyers 8:55 pm [[Ah. May he?]] *Spreads claws out* Me 8:56 pm Not neces— Well, WANTING something is. But they could still try to argue that it's not "wanting"—that it's a preprogrammed motive to pursue some end that linguistically is translated into the word "want." Omicron 8:56 pm *Icy nods, as racer wiggles around on the ground on his back, waings and tail flapping and flailing a bit to look cute* Ratchet 8:57 pm But there was no end to keeping the medals. He admitted that himself. Me 8:57 pm If someone has decided not to treat someone else as sentient, it's not that hard to twist their own self-reports of their internal lives in ways that support the argument that they aren't sentient. ItsyBitsySpyers 8:58 pm *Reaches down to so very gently wiggle tiny forepaws before delivering the requested scritches. Silly youngling.* Me 8:58 pm The "end" could be a pre-programmed subroutine to obey human commands; if he was handed a medal, he could have interpreted it as being given an object which he is expected to keep, and so obediently does so. It's too easy to twist anything around. ItsyBitsySpyers 8:59 pm *...Logs that idea recording away* Me 9:00 pm *if Prowl ever gets a bouquet of earth plants, should he have their DNA read* Bevel 9:00 pm That is really cool. ItsyBitsySpyers 9:01 pm *Quite possibly.* Omicron 9:02 pm Racer: -wiggles, forelegs grapsing at soundwave's wrist area and hand, but his wiggles slow, he loves scritches of any kind- ItsyBitsySpyers 9:03 pm *Huffs quietly - he can barely feel that; thank you, redesign - and turns his arm, to slowly spin Racer in a half circle.* Bevel 9:04 pm *grumpy muttering about this human and her dead dad issues* Omicron 9:04 pm Racer: ..!!! *flips his tail up and tucks his wings, there's a sense he's had this done before- and omg do it again please* ItsyBitsySpyers 9:05 pm *Huffing louder. Very well. Have fun being carefully twirled about, little one.* Omicron 9:06 pm only do that for a few kliks please, he'll get sick but not care until its too late.... ItsyBitsySpyers 9:06 pm [[Acknowledged.]] Omicron 9:07 pm ....just like that? the kid could have a kind he's just learning about ItsyBitsySpyers 9:08 pm [[He is a Betazoid. They are somewhat telepathic in nature.]] [[They can, however, be led astray.]] Omicron 9:08 pm kiinks Racer: *having a grand old time* ItsyBitsySpyers 9:09 pm *...Is finding this one interesting for Reasons.* Me 9:09 pm *Prowl bets he is.* ItsyBitsySpyers 9:10 pm *Soundwave finally stops spinning Racer and scoops him up.* [[Does he fly yet? Or show indications of interest in flying?]] ItsyBitsySpyers 9:11 pm [[So they chase crew members for nothing?]] Ratchet 9:12 pm What does the tall one do? Omicron 9:12 pm He's starting to mimic my and...my mate's posture for taking off. *remembers the reaction to Scourge's name, even though he's from her original world* Bevel 9:12 pm Taking notes? Ratchet 9:12 pm She's staring very intensely at the captain there. ItsyBitsySpyers 9:12 pm [[Transcribing what is said and done, no doubt.]] Me 9:12 pm She's typing. ItsyBitsySpyers 9:13 pm [[...She will cause a mob.]] Me 9:13 pm She will. ItsyBitsySpyers 9:13 pm [[And we are NOT like roaches.]] Omicron 9:13 pm ...primus I would never down do this to one of my crew Me 9:14 pm Even if they find him innocent, it would be doubted. ItsyBitsySpyers 9:14 pm *Soundwave looks at Racer and lifts a feeler.* [[Flying game?]] Me 9:15 pm Once someone has been on trial, there are people who will never see them as innocent; they'll see them as someone guilty who wasn't caught. Omicron 9:15 pm Racer: *he more relaxed, flopping where ever eh's put for now, wings linp and hanging. peeeers at the feeler* ....meh?? Bevel 9:15 pm He is lying. Why is he lying? ItsyBitsySpyers 9:15 pm *Places a crude animation of what the humans would call 'playing airplane' on his visor and beeps so Racer will look.* [[...Does that explanation not incriminate him in the eyes of the onlookers anyway?]] Me 9:16 pm It does, yes. ItsyBitsySpyers 9:17 pm [[He lies, Bevel, because if it is true, they will suspect him worse for no reason other than his organic lineage.]] Me 9:17 pm The evidence against him was insufficient for ANY of this to be justified. Omicron 9:18 pm Racer: *gets up and shakes, fanning wings* Bevel 9:18 pm No no no I got that. But why did the other guy lie? I thought they said the warp core thing was an accident. *did she hear wrong?* Me 9:18 pm They did say it was an accident. He's wildly speculating to the contrary. Omicron 9:18 pm its a fear tactic I would image Bevel 9:18 pm 😔 ItsyBitsySpyers 9:19 pm *Aha. He'll hold the feeler claws out and near to Racer, then, so Racer can get settled and secured if he wishes.* Me 9:19 pm Making up a theory that fits the evidence but is improbable given the circumstances. ItsyBitsySpyers 9:22 pm [[It is no wonder he hid the identity of his ancestor. See how they treat him for being the descendant of an enemy - as though he had a choice in the matter.]] Me 9:22 pm Indeed. Bevel 9:22 pm *sticks her glossa out at the screen* Omicron 9:23 pm Racer: *tail wiggle and he starts to balance, eyeing that feeler* Me 9:23 pm He has a very good reason to be afraid of the truth. People will hurt him for the truth for no reason. ItsyBitsySpyers 9:23 pm [[/Expanded?/]] Omicron 9:23 pm .....what Ratchet 9:24 pm There is no conspiracy. Me 9:24 pm No, there isn't. Bevel 9:24 pm Throw her out an airlock. ItsyBitsySpyers 9:25 pm [[They /dare/--]] Omicron 9:25 pm She's making one...but tossing her would make it look worse ItsyBitsySpyers 9:25 pm [[Even /he/ required more data than this before being allowed to correct an errant Decepticon.]] Bevel 9:25 pm She only did that because he said he would fight her. ItsyBitsySpyers 9:26 pm [[And his judgment was deeply trusted.]] Omicron 9:26 pm Racer: *jumps for the feeler suddenly, wings popping up* ItsyBitsySpyers 9:26 pm *CATCH* Me 9:26 pm Now that's a damning indictment: worse than Decepticon justice. Omicron 9:28 pm Racer: *excitedly wing flaps, little jaws clicking in the air* Omicron 9:29 pm oooh he wants to pull that head off XD ItsyBitsySpyers 9:29 pm *Propels Racer through the air along assorted wobbly paths as he flaps, fast enough to entertain but slow enough to not risk losing a grip or terrifying the youngling.* [[Now she connects things that have nothing to do with each other.]] [[The Borg do not ask before assimilating, and do not permit freedom of thought. He had little choice but to do as was done while he was part of them.]] Omicron 9:31 pm Racer: O__O! harp? *omg...he's flying....ooooh what? what?* ItsyBitsySpyers 9:31 pm [[And they do not /deal./ They would not scheme with Romulans.]] Me 9:31 pm She accuses him of being a traitor for daring to be capable of sleeping after MIND CONTROL!? HE'S the one who should be shouting! Omicron 9:32 pm well...her ego is big Me 9:32 pm He's LUCKY if he can sleep at night, not a TRAITOR! ItsyBitsySpyers 9:32 pm [[Agreed.]] Bevel 9:33 pm *claps for Racer* ItsyBitsySpyers 9:34 pm [[An Admiral worth his rank, then. In all the ways she was not.]] Bevel 9:34 pm She should not be an admiral anymore for acting that way. Omicron 9:34 pm no kidding RAcer: -mind blown right now, flaps his wings like he's seen Icy do- ItsyBitsySpyers 9:37 pm *So very amused. He rather thought Racer would enjoy the opportunity.*

[[A mighty flyer you will one day be.]] [[...He is concerned for the young medical human's fate, though.]] Ratchet 9:37 pm He'll be fine. Picard will look out for him. Omicron 9:37 pm Racer: Ya! *gives another stronger beat, then again hearing Icy purring at him* Ya! Ratchet 9:37 pm *Ratchet would like to think* Me 9:38 pm *sits there quietly BOILING over the Borg accusations.* Bevel 9:38 pm Picard is a really good leader. Omicron 9:38 pm I'll agree with you medic, Picard seems like the sort to care for his crew Me 9:38 pm *he didn't even know that was a thing that happened but he has skipped straight to incensed without even knowing the whole story.* ItsyBitsySpyers 9:38 pm *Soundwave chooses to believe Ratchet* *And Prowl would hate every moment of that piece of history, no doubt.* Ratchet 9:39 pm It's Ratchet. ItsyBitsySpyers 9:39 pm *Does the S L O W E S T loop-the-loop as a finale for the hatchling.* Bevel 9:39 pm *Bevel is gonna hunt up those files because she didn't know either* Me 9:39 pm *no doubt but he's still ready to defend Picard to the death.* Ratchet 9:40 pm *knows all he needs to know from the Admiral's description of it, thank you* *Picard is as fully recovered as he can be with 11,000 lives on his conscience and that's all that matters* Omicron 9:42 pm Racer: -having a blast! its like and not like riding on the horns of the insecticon guards and warriors- ....don't shoot up that's so stupid I don't have any projectile weapons and I know that ItsyBitsySpyers 9:43 pm *Is pleased to have entertained Racer so. Of course, if anyone talks about this in public, he'll deny all of it. No soft spots here, nope.*

*And Racer is gently lowered back to the ground in front of Ice Queen.* [[Time to land, youngling.]] Bevel 9:43 pm ((youtube your shuffle option is broke af Omicron 9:44 pm *Icy grins, leaning over and down to let racer bump his head against her's after he's climbed to her knee, listening to his exited chitters about his adventure* Omicron 9:46 pm ((making up a new rp blog x.x I might have forgot how to do some things <.<)) Ratchet 9:46 pm *glances at tiny dragon* Omicron 9:47 pm Racer: *happy chitters, posing on Icy's knee guard spike and flapping his wings* Ratchet 9:47 pm You can have energon, can't you? Omicron 9:48 pm Racer: *head pops up at that word* nam! ItsyBitsySpyers 9:48 pm ((what things are those)) Bevel 9:48 pm ((anything we can do to help? Omicron 9:49 pm ((um, unless you can think of a good name or tag for Scrapper in Pacific Rim? I'm doing her as an aware Jaeger that come on line, just making the blog now)) Ratchet 9:50 pm *scoops a few energon candies from the table, tosses one to Racer* *hopefully he can catch?* *tosses another to Soundwave, who he assumes can catch* That's for Bug. Omicron 9:51 pm *CATCHES Her hatchling that jumps for the treats, he gets one, and chops it down. Nope she didn't have a moment of panic in reflex, sets Racer back on the saver ground to let him find the treats and chomp them down* ItsyBitsySpyers 9:51 pm *Soundwave can absolutely catch. It's snatched out of the air and subspaced right quick.* Bevel 9:51 pm ((I admit I don't know enough about PR to really think of anything, sorry ItsyBitsySpyers 9:51 pm [[He will see that Zori receives it. Thank you.]] Ratchet 9:52 pm *nods and returns to Not Paying Attention To Soundwave* Omicron 9:54 pm Racer: *he saw who tossed the treats and now is sniffing around Ratchet's pedes* Ratchet 9:55 pm *has only a few more, and does not think a bot as little as Racer needs more than one* Bevel 9:55 pm Oh! Soundwave, can you tell Chimera I said hi? ItsyBitsySpyers 9:55 pm [[Yes, he will. They'll be pleased to hear it, he's sure.]] Bevel 9:55 pm *grins, pleased as well* Omicron 9:58 pm Racer: *too late, racer does, he stands up shakily on his hind legs to peer up at Ratchet- but he remembered his manors and wont climb him unless invited* Ratchet 10:00 pm Hmm. *nudges Racer gently with a foot* You're kinda cute, aren'tcha? ItsyBitsySpyers 10:03 pm *Soundwave stretches his legs out, stands up, and nods to every other mech in turn.*

[[He should return home. Laserbeak will be irritable if he extends his break too long. Thank you for the documentaries, Bevel.]] Omicron 10:04 pm Racer: cu...! Pfffffffft *sticks little forked glossa out, he knows what cute means!* *Icy looks up and waves, both with a hand and wing claw* Ratchet 10:05 pm Hehehe. Yeah, you know what you've got. Me 10:05 pm *oh. well, prowl would've been content to stay longer, but he guessed that wasn't happening tonight.* Ratchet 10:05 pm Not getting more treats, though. Too many isn't good for you, and I should know. Bevel 10:06 pm You are welcome! I will look for more Starfleet things but I have other stuff I want to show next time. Omicron 10:07 pm Racer: *balance finnaly gives and he flops down to all fours* Pbbbb...plplpl... 'itch? Ratchet 10:08 pm Oh, sure. Come on up here where I can reach. Omicron 10:13 pm racer: *perks, looks back at icy*

That was an invention

Racer: *happy wiggles, hops up into Ratchet's lap, backlegs scrambling a bit* Ratchet 10:14 pm *proceeds to apply skritches with due diligence* Omicron 10:15 pm Racer *arches back, happy murmeres, but flops when he's petted between the wings* ItsyBitsySpyers 10:15 pm *Was distracted watching Ratchet be as precious as Racer. Shakes his helm slightly and transforms so he can fly off. After going with a vertical lift so he's above the rooftops and Prowl can't fuss at him, that is.* *And nyoom.* Me 10:16 pm I'll see you... next week, most likely? *to ratchet* Ratchet 10:16 pm *what no no watching Ratchet don't do that* ItsyBitsySpyers 10:16 pm ((i didn't mean to hit enter on the and nyoom yet oops)) Bevel 10:16 pm ((I imagined him saying it tbh ItsyBitsySpyers 10:17 pm *Slightly less nyoom. A slow nyoom. More of a quiet whoosh.* Ratchet 10:17 pm Oh, yeah. I don't see why not. *continued skritching* I don't suppose there's a way I can bring a snack for you...? Me 10:17 pm Evening. *looks down at Racer.* Pbbt. Oh. *thinks.* ... I can find a way to take it home. *he doesn't usually bring his projector to these, but he supposes he could.* Omicron 10:18 pm Racer: *wing limp flop on new lap* pbbbt...'owl Me 10:18 pm *startled smile* Omicron 10:18 pm XD *knows Racer has been practicing that name for a while* Me 10:19 pm Yes. ItsyBitsySpyers 10:19 pm *HE MISSED HEARING PBBBTOWL. His life choices are terrible.* Ratchet 10:19 pm Hey, he knows your name! Me 10:19 pm He does! —You do! Omicron 10:19 pm I said he's been wanting to show off to you Ratchet 10:20 pm We're all duly impressed. Omicron 10:20 pm He tried saying it a few times under soundwave's table at the time, even tried to say ''bye' to you Me 10:20 pm Indeed. *looks at Racer.* Uh—thank you? *what do you say to a tiny person who can only half-speak a dozen words and decided to add your name to that list* Bevel 10:20 pm How old is he? Me 10:20 pm Oh. I—must have been distracted. Omicron 10:21 pm Racer: *chewing on air, then on ratchet's armor*

Not that old, under a half a vron. He's the oldest of the last clutch Racer: *does not have hard fangs though, its safe chews* Ratchet 10:22 pm *is.... being chewed on?* Me 10:22 pm *Well, as fascinating as this has been, his projector is almost out of range, so—* I should go now. *looks pointedly at the hatchling.* Bye, Racer. Bevel 10:22 pm Aw. *giggles at Racer chewing* I guess Racer likes you, Ratchet. Omicron 10:22 pm that's normaly for predacon hatchlings....or some adults Ratchet 10:22 pm *okay. this is unusual, but okay.* Omicron 10:23 pm Racer: *omg its his time!* bah....'owl! Ratchet 10:23 pm See ya, Prowl. I'll bring you something next week. Bevel 10:23 pm Bye, Prowl. Omicron 10:23 pm I hope you have a safe trip Me 10:24 pm *another, crooked smile for the hatchling. he nods to Ratchet, and then disappears.* Ratchet 10:24 pm [[ prowl smiling help me ]] [[ *clutches at heart* ]] Bevel 10:25 pm *...she didn't even get a nod, is going to worry about this forever* Me 10:25 pm *sorry bevel, you're just the person who turns the movies on* Bevel 10:25 pm *grabbyhands for approval* *notice me senpai* Me 10:26 pm *someday... someday...* Bevel 10:26 pm *waits impatiently* Omicron 10:26 pm Racer: *full on sparkling babbling now, 'owls and 'aves and all sorts of half words as he's being pet* ItsyBitsySpyers 10:27 pm *OH NO HE'S MISSING THE 'AVES* *Soundwave, you utter fool* Ratchet 10:29 pm *Ratchet is quietly charmed. though a tiny bit glad the chewing has stopped, even if it was a sign of affection.* Omicron 10:33 pm Racer: *gives himself a shake, then grabs a hand to pull back for the scriches, going though what insecticon he knows, all proud with some things* primus *facepalms* I need to talk to the guards again Ratchet 10:34 pm *doesn't understand a word of it, it's fine. it's all pbbbbts to him* Bevel 10:35 pm Talk to the guards about what? Ratchet 10:35 pm *he should probably be on his way as well, though, and so gently disengages from the very flopped and wiggly little dragon* Omicron 10:36 pm ad things in insecticon are being picked up Ratchet 10:36 pm Thanks for the, uh... *whatever it was they watched tonight* Thanks, Bevel. Bevel 10:37 pm Oh! I will be careful what I say if you bring him next time. Promise. Of course, Ratchet! See you next time 😀 Omicron 10:37 pm racer: *pouts, but is off the new lap, tries to catch one of ratchet's hands, or a ped for a lick* Ratchet 10:37 pm Yep! See ya. And see YOU around, little guy. Omicron 10:38 pm Race: Bah! *flaps a wing* Bevel 10:40 pm *giggles* Ratchet 10:40 pm [[ fun fact when i first saw captain america i was so convinced by the sscrawny steve at the beginning i genuinely thought that the REST of the movie was special effects ]] [[ wow they sure made that skinny kid buff ]] Bevel 10:40 pm ((they did such a good job with skinny steve Omicron 10:40 pm [yeah] Racer: *thinks, then trots to bevel, hesitates and meeps at her* Bevel 10:41 pm *meeps back* Ratchet 10:41 pm *pops out* Omicron 10:42 pm I think he wants to head but with you Bevel 10:43 pm Head? Ratchet 10:44 pm [[ oh my god ]] [[ anyway i gotta sleep, good night! thanks for stream! ]] Bevel 10:44 pm ((Night, Fabu! Omicron 10:45 pm helm tap? its a one of the friendly, milder, greatings ((rest well!)) Bevel 10:46 pm Oh I can do that! *she drops down to all fours carefully and offers her helm for a tap* Omicron 10:47 pm Racer: ! *murs and comes close to bump his head to Bevel's, squinting happily* Bevel 10:48 pm *mimics his noises back and flops down on her belly to be more on Racer's level* Omicron 10:49 pm RAcer: n.n! *nuzzles back, likes this person* Bevel 10:49 pm *giggles* Hi, Racer. My name is Bevel. Can you say Bevel? Omicron 10:52 pm Racer: *headtilts one way and then the other, looks over at Icy as she transforms and back, chirps?* Bevel 10:53 pm *chirps back, she doesn't mind if he can't* Omicron 10:54 pm You might need to say it a few times, or live without a part of it Bevel 10:55 pm Bevel. *points to herself and then taps Racer gently on the forehead* Racer. *and another tap to her own face* Bevel. Omicron 10:58 pm Racer: *wheels are cranking in his head, give him a minute* .....ba....bava? Bevel 10:59 pm *close enough, she gives him a thumbs up and grins* Yeah! Omicron 11:01 pm Racer: 😀 *he's getting good at this talking thing! yay!* Bevel 11:04 pm Awesome job. *she checks her internal chronometer and blows air out of her vents with a whine* I have to get going. Sorry, Racer. *skritches him briefly on the neck before standing up completely* Omicron 11:06 pm *chirps for her hatchling, moving a leg for him to climb once bouncing over* thank you for inviting us Bevel 11:07 pm Thanks for coming. I hope you can come next time too. Omicron 11:09 pm *gets her sparkling up on her back, gives a head bow- racer trying to mimic, and leaves* Bevel 11:09 pm *waves* Omicron 11:10 pm [[good night! going to giggle at Scrapper's blog for a bit]] Bevel 11:10 pm ((Good luck, hope you figure things out! Omicron 11:11 pm [got it up, just very little pictures]