#ill probably make my own decision without looking at the poll too much

[zemfruit]

I'm buying gunplas, and I'm not sure if I want the 30MS SIS anime girl+HG gunpla; 2 HG gunplas; 1 RG or MG gunpla

[magnoliawhetstone]

speak now (or forever hold your peace) →

tw vague mentions of illness, hospital

A slow, lazy grin stretched across Magnolia’s lips as she shifted her body slightly under the cool sheets. Her brain faltered for a moment--just a brief second--as her eyes looked around the less familiar room before they landed on a mess of brown curls right next to her. Ah, yes--her husband. A soft giggle escaped her as she repeated the phrase in her head a few more times, as a reminder that this was absolutely real life. It was reality that she had woken up in their bed, next to her husband in their suite and she’d get to do this everyday for the rest of her life. It was enough to make the bubbly blonde squeal with joy but, given that Jack was less than six inches away from her and still sound asleep, Lia did her best to keep her joy inward, for the time being. After all, there would be plenty of time for outward manifestations later. Smirking again, her eyes fell back on Jack and she leaned in to press a gentle kiss to his shoulder. “I love you,” She whispered, almost inaudibly, with no intentions of waking up him. She knew from their conversations that he’d been working extremely hard lately and he could definitely use the sleep. 

But Lia’s mind was awake now and that meant it was focused on one thing: coffee. Her lifeblood in the morning and a constant part of her routine. Regardless of marriage or not, she was still a woman with particularities and a morning cup of coffee was one of them. Slipping on one of Jack’s shirt’s and grabbing her phone, she carefully snuck out of the bedroom and let her feet quietly pitter patter on the ground toward the kitchen. Her eyes instantly went to the boxes of Christmas decorations littered everywhere around the living room and she shook her head. There was still much work to do on them, but it would have to happen after her caffeine fix. By this point, the blonde had spent enough time in Jack’s--er, well, now their suite--to know where everything was, so it took little brain power to grab a mug and the coffee grounds to prepare her drink. Lia hummed quietly, her energy still beaming. There were a few tell tale signs of a truly content Magnolia and humming was surely one of them. It was as if the joy could not stay within and she had to get it out somehow. The tunes always changed and more often than not it was coupled with a baking spree--but not always. Like today, where she watched as the coffee maker worked its own special magic right into her cup. 

Buzz buzz buzz. The blonde furrowed her brow as she felt her phone go off, forgetting the real world did exist outside of these four walls. Her eyes flew to the screen and she let out an audible groan. Lia was not the kind of person to play hooky--she was what you called an overly responsible employee, probably coming in on her days off more than taking an extra unannounced. But this weekend had been different--and while she hadn’t known she was getting married at the time, Lia might have shared a teensy little lie with Mr. Worthington about being very ill and unable to come into work. Her boss, being the overly dramatic person he was, was displeased to say the least--but his hypochondria won out and she had scored an entire weekend of freedom. Or so she thought.

Gala tonight--I’ll have a dress sent to your room. 

Lia felt her chest tighten--there was no way she’d be going to the gala tonight, that was for sure. She could stake her life on that. The question was--how was she going to get out of it. Clearly, he’d forgotten about her “illness” entirely or he’d stopped caring. Both were true of her boss from her years of experience with him. But Lia had very little experience telling this man no--and the few times she tried was met with absolutely not success. Her eyes flashed to the hallway that lead to their bedroom and she closed her eyes. She’d figure out a way to say, no--of course she would. She just needed a few minutes to figure it out. 

Lia grabbed her mug with a little more gusto than she had anticipated and headed toward the kitchen table. A few sips of coffee and she’d find a solution. She swirled the light brown liquid in her cup a few times before she took a sip, letting the warmth of the liquid wake up her other senses. “Mmmmm,” She smiled softly into her cup. “Perfect”. 

Her moment of peace was quickly interrupted though by the harsh vibrations of her phone and for a second she wondered if Mr. Worthington is really that impatient for an answer. But instead her body grows ice cold when she looks down at the screen--a number that’s not in her phone. A number not in her phone with the area code 843. Mount Pleasant, South Carolina in small tiny white print under it. 

Oh my god. 

Her cups hit the table with a thud and her eyes flashed toward the bedroom door, desperately hoping she didn’t wake Jack up. There’s no way--there is no way...

Her shaking fingers grab the phone instantly and she booked it for the balcony, quietly shutting the door behind her. She had approximately ten seconds to decide if she was going to answer this phone and she had about a million things to figure out first. What if it wasn’t her? What if it was someone else--maybe Olivia got her number changed? Maybe it was a telemarketer? How could she have even got her phone number in the first pace. Lia knew better than to ever ask the last question--if there was one thing the woman was, it was resourceful and connected. Lia never doubted that. Her time was running short and with a split second decision, her finger hit the green button and she took a deep breath. 

“Hello Magnolia,” The voice spoke first, calm and measured--calculative. It was no different than fifteen years ago and Lia felt her body grow even colder than before. “My, it’s been quite some time, hasn’t it?”

The phone was silent for a few moments, indicating that it was, in fact, Lia’s turn to speak. But when she opened her mouth, nothing came out. How was she supposed to answer her? It’d been fifteen years of radio silence--how does someone just start a casual conversation with their Momma after all that time? 

“Hi Momma.” It came out as a whisper and suddenly she was 15 again, nervous and afraid and ready for whatever tongue lashing the woman was about to throw down. “It, uh, sure has.” And who’s fault’s that, Momma? I’m sure it’s mine as well. 

“Magnolia, what is with the whispering? Please, speak up and annunciate, I didn’t teach you to mumble your way through life.” Lia cringed and nodded--even if she was on the phone. It was a learned reaction, one that she had apparently kept all her years. “Now, we have some business to discuss, don’t we?” 

“What?” Lia replied, her brows furrowing. Business could mean a lot of things to Mrs. Charlotte Barnes--and the blonde wasn’t sure she wanted to figure it out. 

“Well, it’s been fifteen years--surely there’s been some changes in your life. I mean, after all, moving to Chicago was a shift, no?” Lia’s mouth went dry. How did she know about Chicago? “Or, perhaps, other life changes--ones that might be a bit more monumental than a simple continental move?” 

Magnolia knew far better than to assume her mother was stupid--or that this phone call was full of warm nuptial wishes. It was too early in the morning for this--for any of this-- and yet suddenly here she was, thrown straight into the fire with no weapons, no armor, no plan of attack. 

“W-What are you talking about?” 

A tsk tsk passed through the other end of the phone and Lia’s momma’s voice got louder. “Magnolia, please--I am not stupid. You don’t think I’m going to find out if my daughter got married? You act as if I sleep under a rock or something. Of course I know what’s going on with you--I keep up with your life, I know your comings and goings more or less. You think I’d just...let it go after the stunt you pulled at that pageant? People still know your connections--they know who your father is. I couldn’t have you making us look like fools with your erratic behavior. Which is why I’m here to discuss your latest blunder. Do you have any idea what this is going to do your fathers poll numbers? And what kind of daughter gets married on a whim in Vegas without telling her family? How selfish of you.”

Magnolia nearly dropped her phone. Daughter. Stunt. Blunder.  Her momma knew where she was the whole time? If Lia hadn’t felt nauseous before, it was surely the case now. For fifteen years her momma had known exactly where she was, what she was doing--and she’d never reached out. She’d just...ignored her. The whole time. And she wasn’t even keeping up with her out of love or actual interest--but so that she didn’t make another mistake to ruin her father’s reputation. She closed her eyes as the phone stayed pressed to her ear, her entire body shaking. 

But instead of fear or temperature making her shiver, it was red, hot anger. Anger so visceral, her own body seemed to be out of Lia’s usual controlled composure. Magnolia wasn’t allowed to be angry--for so many years it was shoved so deep down inside her that she had learned to ignore it completely. She had learned to let things roll off her back spin it positively or just hide her frustration from the world. She laughed when Preston did things to get her goat, she never once raised her voice when Mr. Worthington made a snide comment. She had learned decorum and silence in the place of rage and sharp words. 

But then her mother had called her marriage a blunder.

“Selfish?” She blinked a few times, fighting the urge to let out a humorless laugh at the woman on the other end of the line. “Are you calling me selfish? Momma--momma, have you ever looked at yourself in a mirror? I’m not even convinced you know what that word means. Because if you did, you’d know full well that I am not the selfish one here. So I would appreciate if you refrain from calling me that.” Lia’s pause was brief, but her momma still tried to interject. “Oh, no--I’m not done. Not even close. Mind your manners now, Momma.” 

“As your daughter,” The word was sharp and cutting and it was aimed straight for her mother’s argument. “Let me paint you a picture.  Dressing room, a few weeks before Miss Teen USA. You screaming about the size of dress I was wearing as the poor clerk is just trying to help us. Me, sobbing in the fitting room over the realization that there will never be a day where you’ll say you’re proud of me.  Or, do you prefer a different one? A cold hospital room, doctors floating all around me, saying lots of big words I don’t understand. I’m terrified because I had just passed out on stage  and I don’t know what’s going on. All I wanted was a kind smile from you or a hug or something--and instead I got firey, silent rage.” Lia was on a roll now, her anger becoming her momentum. “Fifteen years old. My childhood bedroom. Father, barging into the room with a boxed and bags, throwing all of my things in it. No words, no explanation. Just a ‘pack your things you’re leaving’. A plane ticket, shoved in my hand and a empty car taking me to the airport. No hugs. No goodbyes. Just a stupid piece of paper in my hand. You didn’t even let me say goodbye to Jack. You just ripped me away from my entire life because you were too selfish to realize I might have needed help. That I might have been sick!”

Silence, on the other end of the phone. Lia took it as permission to continue.

“You decided I wasn’t your daughter when you sent me away. When you didn’t write to me. When I wasn’t allowed to come home for breaks or holidays. When you didn’t visit me. You lost all claim to that title the minute you shut those car doors. So no, you don’t get to use that card on me. It won’t work. Not anymore. 

“I am different than I was at fifteen, and I will not let you walk all over me anymore. You do not get to control my life--it’s mine and I will do what I want with it. These are my choices, these are my decisions and this is the way I will live my life. You have no say in this--and you sure as hell do not get to have a commentary on it either. You took yourself out of my life when I was fifteen, so don’t try to weasel your way back into it now. I don’t deserve that--and neither does Jack. Or Bennett. Or anyone else around me. You have been selfish, you have been cruel and so uncaring--and I wish you could understand the pain you’ve inflicted on the people you’re supposed to love the most. But you constantly ignore than because you’ve chosen yourself each and every time. I used to think there was something wrong with me--why wouldn’t my own momma want me in her life? But now I see that your choices are yours alone--they aren’t about me. They are all about you. 

“And don’t you ever, ever call my marriage a blunder. Or a mistake. Or anything like it. Yes, I did get married in Vegas to the love of my life, the only person I’ve ever loved--and there is no choice I’ve made that was easier or more secure. You can have whatever thoughts you want about it, but that’s on you Momma. I love him, I’d marry him a million times over in Vegas and I don’t particularly care what you think. Not everything is about you. I’m happy, I’m glowing--and I can’t believe you’d start off this conversation with making it about you. Or Father. I don’t care what it does to his poll numbers--it’s not about him. Your choices don’t just effect you--you didn’t happen to think about who else might have gotten hurt when you sent me to London. You didn’t think about the people in my life who cared about me, even when you didn’t. Jack is a good person--one of the best people--and he did not deserve the pain that my leaving caused. So don’t dare go and call my marriage to Jack a blunder simply because it didn’t happen according to the way you had wanted it to. People are not pawns for you to play with, Momma. Life is not a game of chess. And I’m done letting you act like it is with me.

“So I don’t think we have any business to discuss, actually. Or rather, I’ve discussed all I have with you. And while I’d like to sit and listen to your response, I actually have quite a few things I need to do today, including finishing decorating for Christmas with my husband. So, if you’ll excuse me--I must be heading off now. Bye.” 

One tap to the red button and the call disconnected. After the initial adrenaline faded from her body, Lia felt herself lean heavily on the balcony to take a breath. Oh my god, I cannot...cannot believe I did that. Lia had never talked back before in her life and then...then that came out. She sat in silence for a few moments, processing her conversation before a peal of laughter broke free from her chest. It was as if a ninety pound anvil had been lifted from her chest and for the first time in fifteen years, she could fully breathe. Her momma had no more control over her. She had said her piece and it was done--she was free. 

Riding her high, she quickly tapped on the screen, finally finding the words to tell Mr. Worthington. 

Sorry--won’t be there tonight. Something came up. See you Monday. 

Pressing the blue arrow, she sent the message on its way and powered her phone down, dropping it on the coffee table with a satisfying clunk. She wouldn’t be needing that any time soon. 

She quietly slipped back into the bedroom, crawling back into bed. “Wake up, sleepyhead--better get a move on or you’ll sleep the whole day away!” She grinned, kissing him on his cheek. After all--she wasn’t kidding when she said she had a lot of things to do today. But perhaps, they could just wait a few more minutes. 

( @malnatimedia​ )

[thdorkmagnet]

Light of the Sun and Stars Chapter 35: Believe in Babs Part 1

Summary: His whole life Marco Diaz has been raised by monsters, living under the cruel rule of their leader, Toffee. But one day Marco escapes into Mewni where he meets a magical princess and Mewman like himself, who begins teaching him all about her world. Together they will learn about life, love, and the lights within each of them, as they change their world forever.

Chapter Synopsis: Who is Babs? And what is she planning? That is just what Buff Frog and the others seek to find out. 

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Index

Disclaimer: Star vs and all its characters are owned by Daron Nefcy and Disney. All rights go to them.

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Buff Frog was getting close. He could feel it in his bones. It was only a matter of time before the liar played her true hand and then he would have them right where he wanted them. Pretty soon Rasticore would be in no position at all to harm his child, in fact, he would be behind bars (or frozen in crystal or whatever punishment he and the Mewmans agreed on) and whoever his boss was would follow suit. Marco and Star would be safe and the world would be down and out another vile villain. He just had to be patient, any day now and he would have what he needed.

After the incident with the Assassin's Guild, Buff Frog had regrouped his efforts, this time focusing on learning as much as he could about the girl in the picture he found. It was their only lead and he wasn't going to squander it. Thankfully, it hadn't been too hard to track her down, the rats actually recognizing this one (in fact many of them seemed quite hostile toward her image when he showed them it) and they had guided him right to her doorstep. Which, much to his horror, turned out to be right in the middle of Butterfly Village.

Buff Frog was absolutely panic-stricken at this new knowledge, that a possible spy of Rasticore's was living right under Star and Marco's noses and they didn't even know it. But as terrifying a thought it was, it did make sense. How else could the assassin get so close to the kids without someone on the inside? Even with his specialty-made chainsaw that managed to bypass the anti-portal generators, Rasticore had still had enough knowledge of the area to move around without getting caught, not once, but twice. And that seemed almost impossible unless he was getting help from someone who knew the area better than he did.

This conclusion had only increased Buff Frog's desperation and so for the past few weeks, he had fully dedicated himself to finding out as much information on the young-looking Mewman as he could. He had even enlisted several of the Monsters to help him, all of them just as eager as him to expose the possible traitor and protect Marco from further harm as he was. Buff Frog had put the spying skills he had learned from his time working under Toffee to good use as he and his fellow Monsters followed her around everywhere she went, absorbing as much about her life as they could.

Now several weeks later Buff Frog had learned just about everything he could ever want to know about his target as her identity began to come to light. Her name was Babs (her last name somehow still a mystery to him) she had lived in Butterfly Village for almost ten years now, staying in a modest home in a cozy and quaint neighborhood. She kept pretty much to herself, speaking to only a few people who seemed more acquaintances than friends and with no real family to speak of. She mostly stayed at home with her startlingly large number of cats, which explained the rats' negative reaction at least. Apparently, her home was a deathtrap that had claimed one too many rat lives.

Despite her appearance, she was much older than she looked, probably in her late thirties at the most. And she also seemed quite prone to illness, not a single day had passed so far without her suffering from some sort of ailment, from a simple runny nose to pink eye to even things as serious as the Mewni-flu. Buff Frog had honestly never seen anything like it, he didn't think it was possible for someone to be as regularly sick as Babs was. He would almost feel bad for her if he didn't suspect she was partially responsible for his baby boy's life being in danger.

And that was the biggest thing, Buff Frog knew there was more to her than she was letting on. Though she kept herself guarded, he could tell there were secrets just waiting to be exposed behind her closed doors. He had picked up on her sneaky behavior, though at first, it was very subtle, a quick glance over the shoulder there, a short text message when she thought no one was looking here, but it was there, Buff Frog saw it. He was not just being paranoid and he knew it, he had spent 14 years around the emotionless Toffee, he had learned to pick up subtle clues like this. Yes, this Mewman was hiding something... something big and Buff Frog wouldn't stop until he found out exactly what it was and what connection it had to their missing assassin.

And now Buff Frog was closer than ever. Sure there had been a few setbacks along the way: like him having to, unfortunately, draw some of his time and attention away to focus on his tasks as leader, like helping out the mayor of Hydra's Point when he informed him about Ludo's search party, or Lobster Claws getting mauled by one of Babs' cats (a particularly vicious thing with a scar over its left eye) which had nearly gotten them exposed right then and there. But these hadn't deterred him, he had managed to stay strong through all of them...

And then there was Marco.

He hadn't seen the boy in a couple of weeks now and that seemed to be really affecting the boy. Not that he could blame him, his son was a pretty affectionate child and the lack of attention would naturally upset him and make him crave it all the more. Buff Frog felt terrible for this, but it couldn't be helped. He was doing this for Marco and his girlfriend, after all. To keep them safe. There was no need to get them involved in what could prove a dangerous situation. Not when he had it handled on his own. As much as he hated having to avoid his son, he knew he would understand once all was said and done... at least, Buff Frog hoped he would. If Marco ever blamed him for something like that... well, Buff Frog would rather not think about that. The bad part about it, though, was Marco already seemed to be growing suspicious, the last time they had talked on the phone the other night, his son had been extra questioning, asking him what exactly he had been up to and why he was so busy working, even asking if there was something he could do to help (which had just broken the frog father's heart). Buff Frog had done his best to deflect, but it hadn't been easy, lying to Marco made his stomach turn and brought up uncomfortable memories to a time he would rather forget.

Just a few more days, he kept reminding himself. And then it will all be over.

The frog's thoughts were interrupted as a childish whine came from next to him, Lobster Claws asking for probably the sixth time today alone, "Are we done yet?" The frog had to fight to restrain the annoyed sigh he felt creeping its way up his throat, reminding himself that his friend was just as stressed and worried about Marco as he was.

"No, not yet," the Monster leader said (again), doing his best to keep his calm, but the grumble that followed was beginning to make his nerves wear thin. His Monsters were far less patient regarding the whole affair than he was, that much was clear. While the amphibian understood that these kinds of things took time, the others didn't seem to quite grasp this, all of them wanting to forgo the slow-and-steady approach and just run over there and slap a pair of handcuffs on her wrists.

"But why do we have to wait? Why can't we just expose her for the spy she is?" the crustacean pressed, leaning back against the poll he was hiding behind.

"Because, I don't want expose her, I want her lead us to Rasticore," Buff Frog explained from his position kneeling behind an empty cart, fighting to keep his voice calm, his eyes never leaving their target as she got her usual order of catnip from one of the cart sellers in town. It was her errand day, where she would venture outside the safe confines of her house to purchase the necessities she needed to get by. It also happened to be the best time to observe her, since her subtle gestures became more obvious when she was intentionally trying to hide things from people.

There was an unintelligible grunt from next to him, Buff Frog recognizing it as coming from Potato Baby and the amphibian patiently waited for the translation, keeping his gaze focused on Babs. "Potato Baby wants to know how much longer we're gonna have to wait," Lobster Claws explained for his friend.

"As long as it takes," Buff Frog said simply, his eyes narrowing with determination.

"Uh okay, that's fine and all, but can we at least break off to go get something to eat? Cause I've got like... three stomachs to feed and all of them are growling right now," Spike Balls asked, his voice slightly muffled by the trash can he had placed over his head as a 'disguise'. It was clear that it was doing nothing to hide him at all but it was better than nothing. Even with Star's new law allowing Monsters to come and go much more freely, Spike Balls still stood out like a sore thumb.

In hindsight, Buff Frog knew bringing the biggest and most distracting Monster on his team with him to help spy probably wasn't the best idea but, as Spike Balls himself had argued, it wasn't fair that some Monsters got to go on more missions than him just because of his size. So Buff Frog had decided to let him come on the condition that he really try and keep himself hidden, a decision the Monster leader was fast regretting as it clearly wasn't Spike Balls' strong suit.

The Monster leader let out a long breath, thinking over the request for a moment. He admitted it was tempting, he was beyond hungry at this point, but he couldn't allow himself to get distracted. Someone had to be there to watch Babs, after all. Then again, Buff Frog's stomach reasoned with his mind. Maybe he could send the others to go get some food while he kept watch, that could work. Just as the amphibian opened his mouth to agree, the four froze hearing a very familiar sound, one that the Monsters would know anywhere.

A laugh. And not just any laugh. A laugh that could only belong to one person, too light and bouncy to be anyone else, too full of joy and infectious energy to be mistaken for a stranger. A sound that, under normal circumstances, would fill them with intense joy but at the moment only left them all in a panicked frenzy to not be seen. And as Buff Frog broke off his stare from Babs to look in the direction of the sound, his heart somehow both dropped and lifted at the sight of his adopted hoodie-wearing son Marco. He, Star, Jackie, and a red-haired girl Buff Frog didn't recognize were walking their way, talking amongst each other with bright smiles on their faces. His son's hand was intertwined with Star's, while his other was holding a big thing of yellow cotton candy almost the size of his head. The girls all had the same treat, though with various sizes depending on how many bites were missing from it, and all of them seemed to be quite enjoying themselves.

"Oh no, it's Marco, what do we do?" Lobster Claws hissed in fear.

"Do not panic, my friends, we still hidden, if stay quiet Marco and friends might pass by and not notice us," Buff Frog said, keeping his voice at a hushed and subdued tone. The Monsters watched silently as the four teens approached, all of them holding their breath as they came to within earshot and listening in to their conversation.

"Come on Higgs, it isn't that bad," Jackie said with a roll of her eyes, a playful smile on her lips as she turned to the red-haired girl.

"It's terrible," Higgs stated in a hard tone. "I mean corn-flavored cotton candy, who even thinks up this kind of stuff?!"

"Yeah it's definitely not for everyone," Star agreed.

"Well, I love it!" Marco exclaimed, before taking a giant bite out of his tasty treat. Once he swallowed, he quickly added, "It's like eating a cloud... made of sugar!" The boy's already wide eyes, somehow grew larger with the next bite, as his cheek marks turned into spinning circles that seemed incapable of stopping as he exclaimed in sugar-filled ecstasy, "It's literally the best thing ever!"

Despite the situation the Monster all couldn't help but smile from their hiding place, finding the boy's childlike innocence as endearing as ever.

But it seemed Higgs wasn't as amused as she just sighed in over-exaggerated annoyance, asking herself, "Why did I even let you guys talk me into this?"

"Because you love us?" Marco suggested, his eyes full of hope as he smiled at his friend.

"Please, if anything I tolerate you," the redhead scoffed with a roll of her eyes.

"Then because you had nothing better to do," Jackie said and Higgs shot her a glare.

"I'm a very important and prestigious knight," Higgs said proudly, puffing her chest out some as she spoke, something the Monsters got the feeling she did a lot. "If I wanted to I could be off right now stopping a war or slaying a dragon or something way more interesting than eating snacks and wandering around town."

"Well if you aren't having fun, you can always go back, you know," Star pointed out and Higgs predictably shouted, "No!" She cleared her throat the blush obvious on her face as she said in a composed manner, "No, that's okay, Your Highness. I'm... having fun."

The three teens all gave her knowing looks and smiles, which the redhead pretended to not notice, focusing her attention on the cotton candy as she took a large bite out of it, before nearly gagging at the horrible flavor. "Ugh, gross. Seriously this stuff should be illegal," she groaned in disgust, her entire face cringing as she fought the urge to spit the terrible tasting stuff out of her mouth.

This caused the others to laugh at the ridiculous face she was making, much to Higgs' annoyance, the girl growling under her breath and turning her face away to hide her blush once more. At this point, the group of teens were now directly next to where the Monsters all hid, Buff Frog and the others holding their breath as they waited for them to pass.

"Ah man, too bad Janna didn't want to come," Marco voiced once the laughter ceased, a sad expression crossing his face. "She's missing all the fun."

"Yeah, what a shame," Higgs sarcastically commented under her breath, resisting the urge to roll her eyes. She still had her suspicions about the creepy teen and the less time she spent around her the better.

"It was pretty weird of her to say no," Star admitted, her stomach twisting slightly with uncertainty toward her friend. "Usually she's always up for stuff like this."

"She's has been acting pretty strange lately," Jackie agreed, her normally cool, radiant eyes flashing with worry for a second. "Ever since we got back from that peace mission, she hasn't really seemed much like herself."

"Do you think we should talk to her about it?" Marco asked, his own eyes filling with concern.

"I don't know," Star thoughtfully replied, biting her lip. "You know how much she hates being asked personal questions."

"Good point," the skater muttered. "That might just make things worse."

"So what do we do?" the hooded teen questioned, looking between his two friends for an answer.

Suddenly, Higgs let out a loud huff coming to an abrupt halt, drawing the others' attention onto her. "Who cares?" the young knight argued, her face full of unbridled frustration. "That girl is the very definition of strange. If she is acting weird, it's probably so she can hide her latest evil scheme or something." Then, without warning, the girl just chucked her half-eaten cotton candy at the nearest trashcan, not even bothering to turn in its direction, before crossing her arms in front of her chest.

What the girl had failed to notice was the fact that this particular 'trashcan' happened to be the very one Spike Balls was hiding inside and rather than landing inside it, it simply bounced off the Monster's large form before falling at his feet. Spike Balls, without thinking, reached down and let the sticky substance attach itself to his oversized hand before extending it over to the still scowling Higgs.

"Here, you dropped this," he said politely, while the other Monsters just face-palmed at their friend's stupidity.

But Higgs didn't seem to notice, her focus and attention still on her friends and she simply snatched it back without a second thought. "Thanks," she said quickly, before raising her voice as she prepared to go into another rant. "And if you ask me-"

Suddenly, realization struck, as the girl froze on the spot, her gaze slowly turning to the large 'hidden' form next to her, her eyes narrowing in a threatening way. Star, Jackie, and Marco just looked on with expressions ranging from fear to confusion, staring wide-eyed at the large, unknown figure next to them. "Uh, who are you?" Higgs asked in a deadly serious tone, a fist slowly raising as she readied herself for a possible attack.

Spike Balls seemed to have realized his mistake as he nervously muttered, "Um, no one. Just... an ordinary trashcan, nothing to see here. Just go on about your business."

Marco's face lit up with recognition as he gasped out, "Spike Balls?!"

The Monster, knowing he was caught, slowly lifted the trashcan off his head, shooting the boy a sheepish grin as he greeted hesitantly, "Hey Marco."

"What are you doing here?" the hooded boy asked, his brain spinning as he tried to make sense of this strange new development.

"And why do you have a trashcan over your face?" Star added, her voice full of skepticism.

Higgs, upon realizing her friends knew this Monster and he posed no immediate threat, allowed her body to relax some, her tight muscles untensing as she lowered her fist back down, but she continued to keep a wary, vigilant eye on him just in case.

"Uhhh, well you see," Spike Balls stuttered out, clearly unsure how to answer them, his eyes darting around, looking for an escape. "I'm... not allowed to tell you."

"What? Why not?" Star asked, an eyebrow slowly raising and the Monster gulped at the accusing looks he was receiving, sweat beginning to drip down his face.

"Because I told him not to," a voice said behind them and they all turned to see Buff Frog come into view, along with Lobster Claws and Potato Baby. Spike Balls sighed in relief, glad he didn't have to keep up the charade any longer and could let his boss handle things from there.

"Dad!" Marco exclaimed in joy, racing over to hug his dad. Despite the confusing situation, he was still as happy as ever to see his father, feeling beyond starved for his attention. Buff Frog couldn't help but smile down at his child, as he gave him a gentle squeeze back.

Star, meanwhile, was still trying to make sense of it all, putting her hands on her hips as she asked in slight exasperation, "Okay, can someone please explain to us what's going on? Why were you guys hiding from us like a bunch of creeps?"

"It is... a bit complicated," Buff Frog admitted, shooting the blond royal a sheepish smile.

Marco gasped as an idea came into his head and he pulled away from his dad, looking up at him with shimmering eyes as he asked, "Was this a surprise? Are you here to surprise me with a visit?"

Buff Frog felt his heart clench and for a moment, but knew he couldn't hide the truth from him any longer and so replied honestly, "No. Sorry, my son. We weren't here to surprise you."

"Oh," the boy said, slight disappointment on his face. But it quickly disappeared as he cocked his head to the side and (as Buff Frog predicted he would) curiously asking, "Then what are you doing here?"

"We here on business," the Monster leader replied, purposely dodging the question as he still hoped from getting the kids involved unless he absolutely had to.

"Business that requires you to sneak around and hide from us," Higgs skeptically pointed out, shooting the amphibian a look that clearly said she wasn't buying a word of his story.

"What's going on, Buff Frog?" Star questioned, her tone serious and demanding and the frog faltered some under her intense gaze.

"Is nothing to concern yourselves with," the amphibian tried, still grasping onto the futile hope of keeping them out of this. "Everything fine."

"Really cause it sure looks like you're up to something," Jackie pitched in, shooting him her own doubting stare.

Now it was Lobster Claws who spoke up, chuckling awkwardly as he said, "What? No way! Whatever gave you guys that idea?"

Suddenly Boo Fly appeared, flying in out of nowhere, calling pleasantly out to his leader, "Hey Buff Frog, I tried to zzneak into the targetzz houzze like you azzked but I couldn't get inzzide." Suddenly he took notice of the others, his many eyes darting between them all before turning to the amphibian once again, a sheepish expression now on his face. "Izz thizz a bad time?"

The four teens all turned to Buff Frog with accusing looks, except Marco who just gave his dad a worried expression, softly asking, "Dad? What's going on?"

Buff Frog let out a sigh, knowing it was time to come clean. There was no point in denying it now. Although he knew the kids would want to help if they learned the truth, he also knew they wouldn't stop until they got an answer from him. So he gave them each a long look, taking in there confused but determined faces, his gaze freezing on his son as he told them all straight out, "Very well, I tell you everything." His eyes darted around cautiously for a second before he added in an even softer tone, "But first, we need go somewhere private to talk."

…

The group of Mewmans and humans all followed silently behind Buff Frog as he led them to his temporary base in Butterfly Village, the teens all beyond curious at this point as they were led along, but decided it was best to just wait for the amphibian to explain the situation in his own time. The rest of the Monsters had stayed behind, only Buff Frog breaking away from whatever he was busy doing to talk to them, informing his team to keep him posted if there were any 'new surprises' while he was gone, whatever that meant. Finally, they seemed to reach their destination as the frog came to a sudden halt, holding up a hand to signal the others to stop. "We're here," he said softly.

Higgs didn't look convinced though, as she stared at the broken-down shack before them, looking like it might topple over at any second, and said crossly, "You can't be serious."

"Am very serious. No one think to look for us here," Buff Frog replied, no hesitation in his tone.

"Yeah because no sane person would go in a rundown place like this," the knight commented under her breath.

Buff Frog just ignored this though, as he slowly lifted up the thin, torn sheet that acted as the entrance inside and turned to them, saying, "Now quickly, young ones, inside."

Star, Marco, and Jackie didn't hesitate as they all piled into the small hut, all too desperate for answers to argue. Higgs, however, didn't seem to feel the same. "There's no way I am going into that deathtrap," the girl argued, standing firm and unmoving from her spot.

"Please," the Monster leader pleaded, his eyes full of urgency. "Must hurry, before someone sees us."

"Why? Because then everyone will know you're sneaking around the village," Higgs snapped.

"Come on, Higgs," Marco insisted, giving his friend a begging look. "He's my dad, we can trust him."

"Fine," the girl grumbled under her breath, as she finally walked into the small space with a cocky, overly-confident stride. She did pause to shoot the Monster a dirty look as she passed him by, adding sharply, "But I do have half a mind to report you to General Skullnick, you know."

Buff Frog gave her a shocked look and the girl smirked proudly to herself, only to freeze seeing the inside did look a bit nicer than the outside, at the very least it looked less like it might fall apart if you breathed wrong. It was clear that the Monsters had taken some time to fix it up a bit, giving it a lived but welcoming (almost cozy) feel. "Huh, this isn't actually so bad," she muttered without realizing it.

"Da, almost as if you shouldn't judge places based on appearances," Buff Frog commented as he passed her by, giving the redhead a knowing look which caused her to frown.

"Touche," she whispered under her breath, low enough she was fairly sure he hadn't heard her.

Star, Marco, and Jackie's attention, however, was less on the actual building and more on what looked like hundreds of pictures and pieces of paper that had been plastered to the wall in an almost haphazard manner. Thin pieces of string were everywhere on the wall, forming a massive array of scattered lines, loosely and confusedly connecting the many, many bits of information together. The three teens all shared confused looks, unable to make any sense of the odd display, before turning to the Monster leader for help. "Okay, Buff Frog time to start explaining," Star said, doing her best not to sound outright demanding to him, keeping her tone as light as she could despite her frustration.

"Yeah, what's going on, dad?" Marco asked, his brown orbs filled with worry. "Why are you sneaking around and hiding from us?"

Buff Frog took in a deep breath, massaging his forehead with his fingertips for a second before admitting, "Sorry to keep all of you in dark, but didn't want get you involved unless I had to. Is very dangerous mission and want to keep you kids from getting hurt."

"Does this have something to do with Rasticore?" the hooded teen guessed. Judging by his dad's grave tone of voice and his secretive behavior lately that was really the only thing that made sense. What else would make him feel the need to not only not tell them, but keep them as far from the truth as possible? Which was why Marco wasn't surprised when the amphibian nodded in reply, though he did feel his heartbeat speed up a bit.

"Da," Buff Frog said and the girls all let out collective gasps, Marco feeling Star's grip tighten on his hand protectively. "Me and Monsters been trying to track him down for weeks now."

"And is he here in town?" Jackie asked, her voice remaining steady but her normally radiant eyes were full of fear. "Is that why you're having to sneak around?"

Buff Frog shook his head. "Not exactly," the frog said vaguely while reaching over to the picture-coated wall and pulling off a slip of paper. It was small, looking like it had been ripped in half, Marco noticed, as his dad walked over to them and held the picture up for their view. "This all we manage to find on assassin."

The teens all stared intensely at the photo, each with questioning, inquisitive frowns on their faces as they observed every inch of the seemingly unknown stranger. That was until Star's eyes lit up with recognition and she exclaimed, "Wait, I know her!"

"You do?" Buff Frog asked in surprise.

"Um, well kinda," Star corrected herself, still giving the image a thoughtful expression. "She was one of the people me and Jackie interviewed. Or at least we tried to." A sour look crossed over Star's face as she remembered how harshly she had been rejected the moment she had mentioned her commission.

"Oh yeah, the one with all those cats," Jackie pitched in, remembering the young-looking Mewman now. The skater turned to the blond, their eyes locking as she added, "No wonder she didn't want to answer any of our questions."

"So is she a spy or something?" Higgs asked, scanning her target with a grim frown, taking in every detail she could as she attempted to memorize the image. Her previous cocky nature had vanished in an instant replaced only with cold, unrelenting determination as her trained instincts began to kick in. The only thing she focused on now was the mission, all she saw was her target, her mind consumed entirely by it as she pushed out any other thoughts or emotions, just like she had been taught to do.

"We don't know," Buff Frog admitted, giving them all sheepish looks. "All we had to go on was photo." His voice hardened some as he added bitterly, "But have my suspicions."

"So what's the plan, then?" Star asked and the frog instantly recognized that tone, it was the kind of tone Star only took when she was dead set on getting involved, doing everything in her power to resolve the situation herself, and from the look his son was giving him, Buff Frog had a feeling Marco felt the same.

"No, I don't want you kids involved," the frog father said firmly, giving them each a hard stare that only a master parent could perfect, hoping to dissuade any further arguments.

Marco recognized this look and knew what it meant, but he still couldn't stop himself, he didn't want this to all fall to his dad. He wanted to help. "But Buff Frog-"

"No, my son," Buff Frog said firmly but gently, his eyes trying to convey the love and concern he was feeling to his child. "Rasticore almost hurt you twice. I know you can take care of selves, but I don't want put you at any risk."

"But isn't having a possible spy living in our village putting us at risk, already?" Star pointed out. Buff Frog said nothing to this.

"Yeah come on, Buff Frog, let us help you out," Jackie pushed, a confident smile on her face. "There's no sense in letting you do this alone."

Buff Frog seemed to be contemplating this, whispering under his breath, "Welllll..."

"Besides, we'll all be safer if we're working together," Star reasoned, hoping to convince him to change his mind with some sound logic, while Marco went a different approach, hoping to appeal to his heartstrings instead.

"Please let us help you, dad," the hooded teen begged, putting on the widest and saddest puppy-dog pout he had in his arsenal, making his eyes shimmer and his lip quiver in the cutest way he could.

Their words seemed to be breaking through to Buff Frog, his expressions showcasing his weakening resolve as his face flooded with uncertainty, finding himself torn between his parental instincts or his job as leader. There was no doubt capturing Rasticore would be much easier with help from Star and her friends but at the same time, he couldn't help but worry of what dangers he could be willingly exposing them to if he said yes.

The Mewmans could tell the Monster needed a little extra incentive if they were going to get him to agree, which was why Higgs figured now was a good time to try her approach: blackmail.

"Plus, if you don't let us help you I'm telling General Skullnick and you know how she can be," she said, betraying no emotion with her voice.

This seemed to do the trick as the Monster leader looked between each of the pleading, persuasive faces before him, his gaze softening as he seemed to have reached a decision. He finally let out a deep sigh as the last of his resistance died out, pinching the bridge of his nose as he said in a regretful tone, "Fine. You may help."

"Yes!" the group cheered, taking a moment to share high-fives, momentarily celebrating their victory. Finally, Marco turned to his dad, reassuring him, "Don't worry, dad. We won't let you down."

Buff Frog gave him a tight smile, still unsure he had made the right choice or not but ultimately decided his son deserved the benefit of the doubt and so told him in the most enthusiastic voice he could muster, "I'm sure you won't."

The four all shared joyful smiles before they seemed to get serious once again, Star clearing her throat, before asking the frog in her 'princess' voice, "Okay so what's our plan of action?"

"Well at moment, we simply been following her around, waiting for her to get in contact with Rasticore," Buff Frog explained.

"Didn't Boo Fly say something about trying to sneak into her house, though?" Jackie pointed out and Buff Frog gave her a surprised look, impressed that she had been perceptive enough to remember that.

"Da, I hoping to find more evidence inside but, unfortunately, we unable to figure out way in."

"Well that should be no problem," Star spoke up. "We do have a master lock pick on our side, after all."

"Oh yeah, we can totally ask Janna to help. That's a great idea Star," Marco complimented her, shooting her one of his signature smiles, which caused the blond to blush slightly.

"Thanks," she said, giving his hand a small squeeze while staring deep into his chocolate brown orbs.

"Yeah, I'm not so sure that's a good idea," Higgs commented and the others turned to her with questioning looks.

"Why not?" Marco asked, cocking his head to the side in curiosity.

"If this is because you still don't want to trust her, then-" Jackie started to argue feeling a need to stick up for her friend, only to be interrupted by the redhead.

"No, it's not," she stated firmly. "Well okay I don't," she added honestly, before quickly explaining, "But you guys said yourselves she's been acting weird lately, right? Are you even sure she's gonna say yes, after all, she made it pretty clear she wanted to be alone today."

Star, Marco, and Jackie all shared looks of concern at this. They hadn't considered that. Janna clearly was working through some things at the moment and needed the time alone. Could they really ask her to ditch everything just to come and help them?

"Yeah, you're right, Higgs," Star agreed sadly. "I'm not sure involving Janna is a good idea right now."

"So, how are we gonna get inside than without Janna?" Marco asked, his voice shaking some out of both concern for his friend and the hopelessness that was beginning to fill up his chest.

"Well y'know, I could give it a shot," Jackie offered and the others went slack-jawed, staring at her with looks of pure shock.

Star was unable to keep herself from muttering in astonishment, "You, Jacks?"

The skater shrugged, giving them a calm smile, "Yeah, why not? I mean, I've seen Janna pick thousands of locks before, so I got a basic idea of what to do. And the rest shouldn't be too hard to figure out."

Higgs raised a skeptical eyebrow, while Marco flashed her a trusting grin. Star and Buff Frog's faces flashed with doubt for a second, before they buried it, the blond hesitantly saying, "Wellll, if you're sure..."

"I'm sure," Jackie said, her radiant eyes filled with unwavering confidence as she pointed to herself. "I can get us inside that house, no problem."

"Very well then I leave job in your hands, but take a few Monsters with you for protection," Buff Frog suggested keeping his voice light but serious.

"I'll come with, feel like it's gonna be less boring than just sitting around and waiting for something to happen," Higgs volunteered and Jackie gave her a playful smirk.

"You know that sounds like something Janna would say," the skater teased and the young knight shot her a death glare.

"Don't compare me to her. Ever," the girl growled in a warning tone.

Jackie just shrugged and let the subject drop there, but the knowing smile never once left her lips, much to Higgs's annoyance, who began to huffily ignore her existence.

With that out of the way, Buff Frog turned to Star and Marco, telling the young couple, "I guess that means you two will be with me."

The two nodded, Star doing a salute as she said confidently, "Yep, Star and Marco at your service!"

The boy quickly reciprocated his girlfriend's actions, his whole body beginning to shake with excitement as his eyes twinkled with possibilities. "Oh man this is so exciting!" he exclaimed. "We're gonna be real spies, Star! Just like in that Mackie Hand movie, 'The Spy Who Punched Me', remember?"

Star held back a giggle as she told the boy sweetly, "Yes Marco, I remember."

"This is gonna be so awesome!" the boy cheered, pumping his fists into the air, forgetting one of them was still intertwined with Star's so that hers was forcefully thrown up, as well.

Buff Frog gave the blond royal a questioning look, asking "What is this... Mackie Hand?"

"He's this old action movie actor Marco really likes. We watched a bunch of his movies during our last date night."

"Hey Star, remember the one where he kicks that bad guy so hard they exploded!" the hooded teen suddenly shouted.

Star and Buff Frog locked eyes for a moment, the Monster with a fearful look, clearly concerned about what it was his son was being shown, and Star just shrugged sheepishly. "Um, it wasn't as violent as it sounds."

"And then remember when he ripped out that one guy's spine!" Marco continued and Star quickly slapped a hand over the boy's mouth to keep him from saying anything further.

"Shhh, Marco," she whispered to him, before chuckling nervously over to the concerned father, who's eyes were wide with terror. "They're actually way better movies than you might think."

…

It wasn't too hard to find the Monsters once again, the group camped outside a pet store (where Babs presumably was inside) keeping themselves at a safe enough distance away they didn't have to worry about being considered conspicuous. They sat on (or around in Spike Balls' case) a bench at a relativity quiet corner of Butterfly Village, only getting the occasional odd look from Mewmans passing by that had just become accustomed to any Monster within the kingdom's boundaries. When the Monsters spotted Buff Frog and the teens approaching, Lobster Claws waved over to them with a goofy grin but kept silent so he didn't attract unwanted attention. The moment they were close enough, Lobster Claws asked, "Hey guys, did you bring us anything to eat?"

The frog responded by pulling out a bag of food he had picked up on the way back and the Monsters quickly snatched it up and went to work gulping its contents down their starving throats, the group of teens just watching with a mixture of disgust and intrigue. "Anything happen while gone?" the frog asked, wanting to get the important business out of the way as quickly as he could.

The others just shook their heads, Spike Balls saying with a mouth full of food, "Nope, she's been in there pretty much since you left, boss. Lobster Claws peeked in there earlier and saw her arguing with the owner about something."

"That good to hear," the frog Monster said with relief.

"So what about you guys?" Lobster Claws asked, unable to contain his curiosity anymore as he turned his attention to his boss. "Did you tell them everything?"

Buff Frog nodded, informing them all, "Da, and we have come up with new plan to put stop to Babs and whatever she and ally are planning."

The Monsters shared confused looks at this. "But I thought we didn't want them involved," Spike Balls pointed out and the frog leader let out a deep sigh.

"That is correct. But they made good points, so I agreed to let them help us," he said simply, but not without shooting the kids a scolding glare as he did and all of them gave him sheepish looks except Higgs, who was unaffected by the attempt.

"Yeah and it's a good thing too," she commented smugly. "It's pretty obvious you needed the help since Buff Frog told us you can't even do something as simple as break into a house."

"Hey, give uzz a break, it'zz pretty heavily guarded," Boo Fly whined, crossing his arms huffily in front of his chest.

"By cats," the girl added with a scoff.

"Really vicious cats!" Lobster Claws defended.

"Didn't you use to kill people?" she asked, slowly raising a critical eyebrow.

The Monsters had no reply to this, simply avoiding her eye as they all went completely silent.

"Listen, my friends," Buff Frog spoke up, gaining control back on the situation. "Boo Fly will stay with me, while rest of you go with Jackie and redheaded girl so they be safe getting into Babs's home."

"Wait, you want us to go back there?!" Lobster Claws exclaimed in fear.

"Why afraid you might get scratched by a kitty cat," Higgs taunted.

"Well, yeah," the crustacean quickly said. "I mean have you seen that one with the scar, it's evil!"

"But, Lobster Claws, you have a shell," Jackie pointed out.

"Well yeah but it's not the pain that's the problem, it's the surprise!" the lobster Monster argued, his voice a hurt whine, as he seemed to be fighting back tears now, Potato Baby patting him gently on the back to calm him.

"Oh brother," Higgs muttered under her breath.

"Don't worry Lobster Claws," Marco spoke up, shooting the crustacean a reassuring smile. "Higgs is a knight and a really good one too, I'm sure she'll be able to protect you. Won't you Higgs?" The boy gave her an expectant smile and she felt pride surge up through her at the level of trust her friend clearly had toward her.

"Sure, I'll make sure nobody gets emotionally scarred by a bunch of house cats," she said, trying to sound sarcastic but it came out halfhearted.

"See you guys are in good hands," Star added, her voice full of admiration that only increased the feeling the redhead had. "Higgs was almost Marco's bodyguard, after all. She can handle a few stray cats."

Lobster Claws sniffed, wiping his nose with his oversized claw, his eyes now full of hope. "In that case, I'd be honored to help!" He quickly stood and saluted, Potato Baby letting out an agreeing grunt as he did the same.

"Me three," Spike Balls said, standing up far too quickly and almost knocking over a hanging lantern in the process, his circular hands fumbling to grab it to keep it from falling.

"Okay then, let's get going," Jackie said, pointing over her shoulder off in the direction to Babs' house.

The Monsters nodded in agreement and began following the girls, Jackie leading the way since she had been there once before. Star and the others watched them go until they were out of sight before the hooded teen turned to Buff Frog and asked, "Alright dad, what do we do first? Fight some ninjas, defuse a bomb, oh how about we break into a secret underground lair!"

Star and Buff Frog just smiled at the boy's precious naivety, the frog father trying to hold back his laughter as he told his son, "No Marco, don't think we need do any of that. Probably only going to follow Babs around for while and try not to be seen."

"Oh... that's fine too," the boy said in slight disappointment. Star, seeing his disheartened face, couldn't quite hold back the giggle as she put an arm around her boyfriend's waist bringing him closer to her so she could cuddle him. "Aw, Marco you're adorable!" she sighed lovingly, rubbing her cheek up against his, instantly cheering him up as he blushed and grinned ear to ear. "Sorry we can't do any of that stuff."

"Nah, it's okay," the hooded teen replied cheerfully, his upbeat attitude returning full force. "It may not be as cool as something Mackie Hand would do but it's probably for the best, I'm not sure I was all that comfortable with punching a ninja."

Boo Fly just looked between them with confusion, unable to understand a word for the last minute now, until he finally turned to his boss, hoping he would help make sense of it all. "Uhh, Buff Frog, what izz he talking about?"

…

Jackie, Higgs and the Monsters arrived at Babs' home, the young knight on high alert as she surveyed the exterior. It was a pretty nice place, she observed, modestly sized and still in good condition despite the occasional claw mark or scratch in the wooden frame. The house was only one story and by the looks of it was one bedroom. Higgs counted a total of five exits out of the house, three windows and a front and back door (because there was always a back door) and the knight was confident they could get in and out without trouble. The yard was also fairly big and clearly well taken care of, the grass cut to perfection with a white fence built all around it, most likely to keep her cats from running away. That or to discourage people from coming around, Higgs thought. She quickly scanned the neighboring homes around them and was relieved to see that the streets were currently empty and devoid of life. Perfect. Now they could go about their mission without having to worry about attracting unwanted attention, after all, it wouldn't be fun explaining to General Skullnick why she was reported breaking into an innocent Mewman's home with a bunch of Monsters.

Speaking of the Monsters, they all seemed jittery and nervous as they cast fearful eyes around the yard, clearly unnerved to see many of the 'dreaded cats' sprawled out on the grass napping in the warm sunlight and Higgs had to stop herself from rolling her eyes at the ridiculous sight. Come on, how lame could they get? They were Toffee's old right-claw Monsters after all, who knew what horrors they had seen and carried out in the last decade and yet a couple of cats had them almost petrified with fear. It was honestly just pathetic to watch.

Jackie took the initiative as she stepped up to the gate and moved to undo the latch, but stopped upon hearing the audible gasp behind her. She looked over her shoulder to see the Monsters giving her panicked expressions, and she asked in a whisper, "What, what's wrong?"

Lobster Claws just pointed with his namesake over to the snoozing felines, his eyes somehow widening even more as he let out a nervous whine. Jackie looked over in the indicated direction before shooting them a confident smile, her radiant eyes helping sooth their nerves some, as she told them all gently, "Don't worry. I promise I'll be quiet."

The Monsters seemed to relax some, allowing her to lift the latch and push the gate open without any objection. The skater made sure to keep her movements slow and careful, not wanting to disturb or wake any of the cats, but this seemed to be wearing on the young knight's patience as Higgs let out an obnoxious, exaggerated sigh. Clearly, she found the Monsters' apprehension annoying and pointless, but Jackie knew better. Buff Frog's group was definitely odd, there was no denying that, but they weren't cowards. If they were afraid of these cats than they had good reason. Or at the very least there was some merit behind it and the skater would rather not find out what it was if she could help it.

Once the gate was wide-open, the girl began tip-toeing toward the front door, careful to avoid any tails or fluffy bodies on her way, until she finally reached the entrance. She, just to be sure, tried the knob but found it locked tight. No surprise there, but it had at least been worth a try.

She turned back over her shoulder and waved the others over, the Monster moving at the same cautious pace Jackie had, all except Spike Balls, who waited outside the fenced area, acting as their lookout since his large form wouldn't be able to fit inside the small home anyways. Higgs, on the other hand, didn't even bother trying to avoid any of the felines, just striding cockily and carelessly across the yard in a few short steps and the Monsters looked like they all might have a heart attack due to the girl's far-too-fast pace.

In a manner of seconds, she was at Jackie's side, plastering on a mock shocked expression as she said sarcastically to both the skater and the Monsters, "Well look at that, I walked to the door and nothing went wrong. How shocking."

Jackie just ignored her, pulling out the small hairpin she kept on her in case of emergencies, a habit she had picked up from Janna. She silently thanked Janna for this, even though honestly she wasn't sure how she should feel knowing Janna of all people was starting to rub off on her."You should be more careful, Higgs," she scolded, while her fingers fiddled with the hairpin, feeling around inside the intricate locking mechanism of the doorknob. "We're still trying to avoid danger, remember?"

"Yeah, and these cats are way more vicious than they look, y'know," Lobster Claws added via nervous whisper.

Higgs scoffed, leaning back against the wall, before saying, "Oh whatever, I already said I was going to protect you, remember? So, therefore, you've got nothing to worry about. Besides, the only danger we're in right now is getting caught breaking into someone's house." She then turned to Jackie with a knowing look, asking impatiently, "Speaking of which, think you could speed this up a little bit before we end up getting busted."

The skater kept her focus on the task at hand, her fingers struggling to get the lock open, finding no angle or movement was quite doing the trick. "Just hang on a minute, okay. I've never done this before." She stuck her tongue out in concentration, still trying to get a feel on what exactly she was needing to do to get the stupid door open. "I think I owe Janna an apology, this is way harder than she makes it look," Jackie commented staring at the doorknob with disbelief. After several more minutes of trial and error, the skater felt something give and heard a noticeable click inside the mechanism. She pulled the hairpin out, her face lit up with pride as she said, "Got it!"

"Great, can we get inside now?" Lobster Claws asked eagerly, he and Potato Baby casting nervous glances over their shoulders, fearful the cats would wake up at any moment.

"Wait," Higgs said, taking control of the situation again as she moved protectively in front of Jackie, the serious frown returning to her face. "Gotta make sure it's safe first," the young knight continued, her tone emotionless and robotic and her movements the same as she pressed her ear up against the door frame, listening for a few seconds for any sounds of breathing. Once she was confident there was no ambush waiting for them on the other side, she pulled away and began to slowly turn the knob, her body tensed and ready in case there were any booby traps. The young knight pushed the door open and took a cautious step inside, surveying the home for any form of danger but it seemed to just be a normal house, save for the cat hair and claw marks that covered every inch of the place. The furniture was torn to shreds, it's remains lying scattered all over the floor and small cat houses and seemingly unused scratching posts were all over the living room area.

Higgs turned back to the others telling them, "Okay, guys, everything seems fine so you should be good to-"

The knight didn't even get a chance to finish her sentence as Lobster Claws and Potato Baby rushed inside the empty house, pushing Jackie in with them, before hurriedly closing the front door and letting out relieved sighs. "Oh thank goodness, I thought those cats were gonna get us for sure," Lobster Claws said, wiping his forehead with the back of his pincers looking relaxed for the first time since they got to the house.

Potato Baby mumbled something to his friend, the incoherent grunt sounding to Jackie's trained ear like an agreement.

Higgs just rolled her eyes, snapping at them, "Hey, stay focused. We're here for a reason, remember? This is no time for goofing off." She didn't give them a second to respond as she turned to Jackie and said, "Jackie you and me are gonna search the bedroom. If she is keeping secrets that'd be the most likely place she'd hide them." Her gaze snapped back to the two Monsters, who flinched at the sudden action. "You two are gonna check the other rooms in the house. If you see anything suspicious let us know."

The two saluted waiting until the redhead had turned her back to them, her and Jackie already heading off in the direction of the bedroom, before they shared a knowing look, her bossy, aggressive nature reminiscent of someone else they knew. Potato Baby mumbled something again and Lobster Claws nodded, holding back his laughter as he agreed, "Yeah, she does act pretty similar to him." The similarities were scary similar, in fact, all the girl needed was a beard and some antlers and they would be impossible to be told apart.

But the two pushed these thoughts aside, getting back down to business as they surveyed the destroyed living room, Lobster Claws asking his friend, "So where should we start looking for clues?"

The potato-like Monster pointed over to the shredded couch and the crustacean smiled at the suggestion, putting a claw on his companion's shoulder. "Good idea. People are always losing stuff in there."

Meanwhile, Jackie waited until they were out of earshot to tell the young knight in a reprimanding tone, "You know, you could try and be a little nicer to them."

Higgs just scoffed, before jabbing a finger behind her. "Why? Did you see the way they were acting back there? Oh wait, I know you did because you kept encouraging them the whole time. Honestly, Jackie, I expected more from you, but you're just as bad as they are."

Jackie gave Higgs a firm look, calmly telling her, "Look, Higgs, I know you think they're just being paranoid and weird but you haven't known them as long as I have, they aren't ones to just freak out over nothing. If they are really sure something is that dangerous than I trust them and so should you."

"I never said I didn't believe them. I'm just making sure they get over it and stop acting so afraid. It's called tough love, Jackie."

"Did Dex teach you that?" the skater asked with a raised eyebrow.

"No, my mom did," Higgs replied, with her typical sharp tongue. But her voice grew soft and almost hesitant as she added, "She taught me a lot of things, actually."

Jackie looked over at the knight sadly, telling her, "Yeah, mine too."

The two were silent for a moment as walked side by side down the hallway, avoiding each other's eye as they stared down at their feet. They entered into what they presumed to be Babs' bedroom and it was just as creepily cat-themed as the rest of the house. Her bedspread was in the shape of a giant purple cat head, small figurines of cats cluttered her desk, and her wall was coated with probably unhealthy amounts of pictures of her prized pets. The two girls looked around stunned, before Higgs slyly commented, "This lady realllly needs to get out more."

Jackie nodded in agreement, her green gaze searching for any clues toward her possibly traitorous nature. "We should start looking for clues."

"On it," Higgs said, her cocky nature vanishing in an instant as she switched over to her duty-bound side, and it was still as startling to Jackie as all the other times. It was as if someone had flipped a switch and turned her into a different person. What did the knights brainwash her as part of their training?

The skater watched for a few seconds as the redhead rifled through the dresser drawers before Jackie went to work too. She began a pretty thorough search of the room, looking underneath desks and in small spaces where it would be the easiest to hide something, she checking behind curtains and inside the tiny closet, even taking a moment to look under the bed though she figured that would be a lost cause, Babs was just too smart to hide incriminating evidence there. She let out a long sigh, before standing back up, putting her hands to her hips as she looked around the room, wondering where she hadn't thought to search yet. That's when it caught her eye: a small plush cat. It was sitting in the corner of her room, a few odd pieces of clothing and junk laying on top of it, clearly trying not to attract any attention and go unnoticed by any prying eyes, but ironically that was exactly what set off all kinds of alarms to the skater. This woman almost worshiped cats, why would she leave it forgotten in the corner instead of on full display like everything else remotely feline was in her room?

Jackie approached the toy, nothing escaping her keen eye as she studied every detail of its worn fur and glass eyes. She leaned down, brushing the loose cloth aside before lifting it up off the floor, the skater taking note that it was much heavier than it should be, considering it was presumably filled with plush and not bricks. She flipped it over and found her suspicions were correct as low and behold, there was a zipper on its belly. Jackie smiled, turning to the redhead and calling to her, "Hey, I think I found something."

Higgs dropped what she was doing and quickly rushed to the light-haired girl's side, a skeptical eyebrow slowly raising as she spotted the plush in her hands. "A stuffed cat?"

"Yeah, I think this is where Babs is keeping her secrets," the skater explained, showing her the zipper on the plushie's stomach.

"Well considering who we're dealing with I wouldn't put it past her," Higgs said in disgust, looking around at the feline shrine that was Babs' room.

Jackie didn't waste any more time as she slowly zipped the toy open, revealing the hidden stash within. It was everything they were hoping for and more, a series of paper slips which had been folded up and stuffed inside (which when inspected closer were from old missions she had been assigned), a large wad of cash which was no doubt her many payments over the years of being a world-class assassin, a small knife with what else but a cat head on the handle, a vial of what looked to be some sort of poisonous mixture, and the most incriminating of them all was the finished photo of what appeared to be a group of assassins.

And standing next to the small cat lady was the tall, menacing form of none other than Rasticore Chaos Disastervane.

Jackie frowned, reaching down and picking up the picture, studying it closely as she muttered, "This is the same picture Buff Frog showed us from before."

"Guess that proves it, then," Higgs said with a victorious smirk on her face. "Our traitor is exactly who we thought she was. Nice work, Jacks." The redhead gave the skater a hard pat on the back while shooting her an approving and impressed grin. "Now all we gotta do is show this evidence to the general and have this traitor thrown in... 'the Tower'." Higgs's voice grew intense as she mentioned Mewni's highest security fortress and prison in the entire dimension. It was well known for having the most evil of evil criminals Mewni had to offer (save for those who committed magic offenses since those fell under the MHC's jurisdiction).

As the young knight went to take the plush from Jackie's hands, the skater swiftly moving it out of reach from her swiping hand and holding a hand out to prevent any further attempts. "Wait," Jackie told the confused and slightly annoyed Higgs. "That's not the plan, remember? We're trying to catch Rasticore not expose Babs." Higgs still looked skeptical about this so Jackie quickly added, "Besides, don't you think Skullnick is gonna be way more impressed if you bring in Rasticore and Babs?"

This seemed to peak Higgs's interest, as her eyes lit up with possibilities, already imagining the status she could get if that were to happen. But she quickly buried her joy, hiding it behind her typical layer of disdain, "Ugh, fine," Higgs agreed.

Suddenly there was a loud, panicked shout from the other room and the two shared a quick look before taking off running to go check on the Monsters, the skater making sure to zip the plush back up as she did. "Guys, what's wrong?!" Jackie called to them, as she and Higgs ran the short stretch of hallway, before entering into the living room area where the girls came to a sudden stop, looking around with disbelief. The living room was somehow an even worse disaster area than it was when they left, furniture upturned and cushions were thrown about all over the place as the Monsters had clearly been busy searching in and underneath them.

But this was quickly forgotten as the two turned their attention to the Monsters who were shivering in fear, clinging to each other as they stared ahead with terrified expressions. "Lobster Claws, Potato, what's the matter? What's going on?" Jackie questioned and both Monsters just raised shaking claws up as they pointed to the door leading into Higgs' small kitchen. The skater and knight followed their intended direction, only to gasp in shock. Their eyes widened immensely upon spotting the large white cat standing menacingly in the doorway, poised and ready to attack, casting a ferocious look at them with its cheshire-like eyes. There was a scar over its left eye and part of its tail was stripped of any fur and one look at its sharp nails was enough to know that this cat was not to be messed with. Jackie felt a spark of recognition as she remembered Babs warning not to pet the cat, Warrior because he was 'a biter'. But it seemed to Jackie that there was a bit more to him than that, as a low yowl seemed to be building at the back of Warrior's throat, which only added to its sinister and unnerving appearance.

Higgs, meanwhile, was left speechless as she stared deep into the feline's yellow eyes. She could feel her heart beginning to pound away in her chest, which a part of her didn't understand. After all, she was a knight. She had been trained to face threats far worse than the one standing before her, heck she had been prepared to take down Toffee for pete's sake. But even with all those lessons, even after years of grueling training meant to rid her of any form of fear or weakness, even after all that, as she looked into the dark, sinister eyes of the house cat before her there was no denying that she... was afraid.

...

Half an hour later, time had begun to drag for Buff Frog and the others, as they all just sat on a bench, staring at the barren walls of the pet store with growing boredom. Nothing had happened at all since they split off from the others, there had been no sign of Babs yet, leaving things agonizingly slow and quiet as they just waited for the small Mewman to emerge from the store. She had been in there for a total of an hour and a half, but to Star and Marco, it felt like a year had passed, as they just sat with their heads propped up on their elbows, their eyes slowly glazing over as they fought the urge to fall asleep. Star's frustration finally grew too large for her handle as she roughly rubbed at her tired eyes, growling in anger, "Ugh, what is taking her so long?! She's been in there forever! What does she live there now?" Star quickly sat back on the bench, crossing her arms huffily in front of her chest.

Marco let out a deep sigh, before adding, "Yeah, I kinda thought spying would be more fun. The movies made it look way more action-packed than this." The boy turned to his frog father, before asking, "What do you think she's doing in there, dad?"

The amphibian's eyes narrowed as he continued to watch the store vigilantly, his eyes darting between the two windows on the building's front, hoping to spot any sign of the tiny redhead. That had just been what he had been wondering. It was unnerving not being able to see what the possible traitor was up to and the frog had begun shifting uncomfortably in his seat, growing more and more agitated by the second. Who knew what she could be doing while out of their line of vision and with every second that passed Buff Frog's questions only grew more frequent and panicked. Had she figured out they were watching her? Had she snuck out the back so she wouldn't be seen? If that was the case, she could be long gone by now and have already met up with Rasticore, free to discuss their plans to be rid of Star and his son.

The frog shuddered and told Marco in a tight voice, "Don't know. But need to find out."

He turned to his bug companion that was currently resting on his shoulder and said, "Boo Fly, please check and see what target up to."

"Again?" the fly whined, this was the fifth time in the last half hour his boss had asked him. "But I juzzt checked like a minute ago."

"Yes, but need to make sure nothing changed," the frog said sheepishly. He knew he was being ridiculous but not being able to see Babs himself was driving him nuts.

Before Boo Fly could move though, Marco jolted upright with a start, a bright smile on his face as he informed them all, "Wait a minute guys, I think I see her coming out."

Star, Buff Frog, and Boo Fly all followed the hooded boy's gaze in eager anticipation and sure enough, a small form was exiting the pet store, a sour look on her face and her empty arms crossed tightly in front of her chest.

"Bout time," Star mumbled under her breath.

The small Mewman began walking speedily down the sidewalk, purpose in her steps as she headed off to her new destination at a far faster pace than was expected for someone her size. Buff Frog jumped up from the bench, saying in a panic, "Quickly, must not let her get away."

Star and Marco were up in a second as they followed after the muscular Monster, making sure to stay close behind Buff Frog as he kept them at a safe distance while they tailed the Mewman, close enough they could still follow her movements but far enough away they didn't look too suspicious while doing so. For the next several minutes they watched as Babs went from cart seller to cart seller, staring at their trades for a few seconds before moving on without a word but with a clear, disappointed look. And as the minutes began to drag while this continued, it became apparent to Star that the cat-lover was looking for something in particular. And as luck would have it, she finally seemed to have found the item of her dreams. She was lazily scanning over the cart she was at with dull, uninterested eyes when something captured her attention, her pupils widening and her cheek marks glowing a bit brighter than before. Star watched as Babs leaned closer to the object, but from her position hiding around the corner of a nearby alley, the blond couldn't see exactly what it was the Mewman was looking at. But whatever it was, it seemed to make Babs very happy as a smile lit up her face and her eyes shimmered with intrigue and joy, a look Star didn't think she had ever seen on the small Mewman before and it genuinely caught her off-guard to see.

Babs looked up at the cart owner, who was reading a newspaper and not meeting her eye and she quickly cleared her throat to gain his attention, the man looking down at her with slight annoyance. "How much for the collar?" the cat lady asked and the man just rolled his eyes and said, "I'm sure it's much too expensive for your allowance, little girl. Now, why don't you run along to your parents and quit wasting my time."

Babs grit her teeth at the man, her eyes flashing with a dangerous look as she snapped, "I'm not a kid!"

The man looked back down at her with a judging, raised brow, as he rudely commented, "Well, there's no need to raise you're voice at me, young lady. Just because you're upset you aren't a grown-up yet is no reason to take it out on complete strangers."

This only seemed to infuriate Babs further, as her eye twitched with barely suppressed rage as she let out a groan of frustration. "For the last time, I'm not a little kid. I'm a grown adult and I don't appreciate being talked down to by a pompous, mediocre salesman," she growled at him, trying to keep her shaking fists at her side.

"Mediocre!" the cart seller shouted, attracting a few weary glances from people nearby, wondering what the fuss was about.

"Yeah, you heard me!" the small Mewman continued, unheeded by the now watchful eyes around her. "Half this merchandise is just useless junk anyway and the one and the only thing that is even remotely worth my time doesn't seem worth it after the way 'your snootiness' is treating me!" The girl did a mock impression of the man as she called him the insult and this only seemed to make the man even more agitated with her as his voice raised some in pitch.

"Well, I never!" he shouted, in such a loud, squeaky tone that it caused Star and the others to cringe. The princess didn't even know someone could make their voice go that high. "Perhaps, if you weren't such a rude individual I might consider selling to you, but since you insist on being a nuisance, I'm afraid I'm going to have to kindly ask you to leave!"

Babs let out a loud huff, turning her back on the seller. "Fine! I was just going anyway!" The small Mewman began stomping away, loudly complaining as she went, her entire face filled with rage. "Geez, this is exactly why I don't like coming here! Everybody's just a bunch of stuck-up, judgemental jerks who don't know when to leave well enough alone! Well if they don't want my business then that's fine with me! I should never have come out here in the first place!"

Star, Marco, Buff Frog, and Boo Fly all shared looks of concern, the hooded teen saying nervously, "Uh, guys I think she's going back home." Star had noticed this too, but hearing it out loud made her heart leap into her throat.

"But the otherzz are zztill in there," Boo Fly pointed out unnecessarily.

"Must do something. Now!" Buff Frog exclaimed, looking beyond panicked. The whole mission was in jeopardy. If they didn't stop Babs from leaving it was all over and Star knew she couldn't let that happen. Buff Frog was right, she had to find a way to stall her until the others finished their search.

"Like what? What do we do?" Marco asked, pulling at brown locks of hair as he desperately tried to think of an idea on how to keep the small Mewman away from her home. His breaths were coming in short and sharp as he began the earlier stages of hyperventilating, while next to him, an idea finally came to Star.

It wasn't a great idea, she knew that the second she thought it up, but it was all she had to go on and she didn't have any time to think it over. And so she just wordlessly grabbed Marco's wrist and began running over to Babs, dragging the hooded teen behind her. She ignored the almost muted gasp from Buff Frog and Boo Fly who no doubt thought that she had lost her mind, keeping her focus on the Mewman in front of her. That was until Marco spoke up. "Star, what are we doing?" her boyfriend asked in surprise and confusion and the blond merely turned over her shoulder for a second, whispering honestly to him, "I'm not really sure yet. Just follow my lead, okay?"

The boy nodded, putting his trust in Star as he picked up his pace to match hers and the blond royal couldn't help but smile at her Marco, his loyalty really did know no bounds. But fueled by the knowledge that her boyfriend was backing her up, Star turned her attention back on Babs. She sucked in a deep breath, letting her face completely drain of all emotion before she plastered on a smile and yelled in the most friendly tone she could manage, "Oh hey, Babs!"

The cat lady came to an instant stop, her body tense as she slowly turned to face the two, her face the picture of perplexed as she gasped out in confusion, "Princess?"

Star now caught up with her, waving enthusiastically, keeping the bright (and hopefully not forced) smile on her lips as she said, "Oh wow, it's so good to see you here. It's been forever!" She quickly gestured over to Marco, saying, "Oh and since you've never met before, Babs this is my boyfriend, Marco."

"Hi," the boy said shyly, giving her the tiniest of waves and the most uncomfortable of smiles.

This only seemed to baffle Babs even more, the friendliness in the girl's tone throwing her for a loop as an eyebrow slowly raised, her eyes darting between the two as she tried to make sense of it all. "Okay, what gives, princess? Why're you being so nice to me?" Suddenly, her eyes narrowed in anger as she asked accusingly, "Is this some kind of trick to get me to answer your little questionnaire?"

"No, not at all," Star said smoothly. "Actually, I just wanted to make sure there were no hard feelings about that." The royal felt her hopes rise as Babs' cold features softened slightly. "Look I know we got off on the wrong foot..."

"Yeah, you were pretty pushy," Babs rudely commented and it took every ounce of willpower Star had to keep her temper under control. She felt her hand clench slightly around Marco's, who gave her a small squeeze back to let her know it was okay, and one of her eyes twitched against her will, but other than that, she was able to completely suppress her frustration as she kept up her friendly demeanor.

"Which was why I was hoping maybe we could start over," Star said, her voice betraying her as there was just a hint of frustration in her tone. But she tried to quickly cover it up as she added extra cheerfully, "I'm sorry I made you feel I was forcing you into something. Let me make it up to you. Please?" She then gave the woman a begging smile, Marco quickly doing the same, copying his girlfriend's expression exactly. But Babs seemed unaffected by the two's attempt to persuade her, merely rolling her eyes and telling Star, "Look, princess, I ain't interested in becoming friends with you. I'm just fine on my own, got it?"

The Mewman, once again, turned to leave and Marco gave Star a lost look, clearly having no clue what to do while silently hoping his girlfriend had one more trick up her sleeve. Luckily, Star did. In fact, Star was quite certain that her secret weapon was guaranteed to work. So, without wasting another second, the blond royal calmly called out to Babs, "What if I told you I could get you that collar you were wanting?"

Babs came to an instant stop, slowly turning back toward the two, her face blank but her eyes full of mischievousness and the promise of revenge. An eyebrow slowly raised as she said, "I'm listening."

Star grinned victoriously, knowing she had the small Mewman right where she wanted her now. She had this hook, line, and sinker. "Well I couldn't help but overhear your argument back there and I wanted to help out. After all, I'm pretty sure he isn't going to refuse to sell to the princess of Mewni."

Babs gave her a suspicious glare, asking, "What's the catch?"

"There is no catch," Marco blurted out, following his girlfriend's lead. "Like Star said, she just wants to make it up to you. You are going to let her do that, right?" He gave her a cute, inquisitive look and Star silently commended the boy for his skills. Who knew Marco was such a master at manipulation?

This seemed to finally break through the last of Babs' barriers as she shrugged nonchalantly, clearly still trying to sell the whole cold and unfeeling act but the excitement in her eyes betrayed her again, as she said in barely suppressed joy, "Sure, why not? Not like you can make it any worse?"

"Great, then let's go!" Star said, pointing behind her, before the three slowly started back toward the vender, the grown Mewman following along after the eager teens. The blond royal did a quick check over her shoulder, making sure Babs was out of earshot, before turning to Marco and asking, "Wow, Marco, I'm impressed. Since when did you get so good at lying?"

The boy smiled proudly, puffing his chest out some. "Oh, that was easy. I just did what Mackie Hand did in 'Hand to Hand to Hand', y'know when he was trying to break into that underwater compound and he tricked the guards into..." Star joined in with him as they said at the same time, "Giving away their secret codes before knocking them out with his signature Tiger Kick!" The two shared a giggle, as they remembered one of their favorite parts of the movie, happy they had one more thing in common to share.

Buff Frog and Boo Fly, who had watched the whole scene from a nearby bush, shared a surprised look. At first, the two Monsters had been paralyzed with fear as they watched their youngest getting willingly dragged over to the possibly dangerous criminal and it took all of Buff Frog's willpower to keep from chasing after them. But he finally was able to smother his parental instincts and allowed the two teens to handle the situation, though every muscle in his body stayed tensed in wait the entire time, ready to jump to their rescue if need be. But it never came to that as Star and Marco (with some effort) managed to coax the girl into staying, making up some kind of lie about wanting to get to know her or something like that. The Monster leader had been sure Babs wouldn't agree to anything they said, but to both his and his fly subordinate's shock, they stared open-mouthed as the small traitor actually followed the two back over to the cart from before. "Well, would you look at that," Boo Fly commented in amazement. "They actually pulled it off."

"Yes, they did," Buff Frog agreed softly, his mind torn between feelings of both pride and fear for his son and he wasn't sure which was stronger at the moment. He just hoped that the kids knew what they were doing. "But is not over yet," he added grimly.

When Star and Marco reached the seller, they weren't too surprised to see the man's face buried back in his newspaper, seemingly unaware of their presence. Star cleared her throat to gain his attention and his eye lazily moved over to the two before darting open with recognition. He gasped, quickly tossing his forgotten paper away as he formally shouted, "Princess Star! It is an honor! What can I, as one of your humble citizens, do for you today?" He tried to bow, despite sitting in a chair, only resulting in him awkwardly tilting his head slightly downward.

Star put on the most regal voice she could as she said, "Well actually, I'm here cause a friend of mine wanted to-"

"Ah yes!" the man interrupted, his eyes landing now on Marco, who flinched at the sudden attention as the seller continued to drone on in an overly-cheery tone, "This must be the great Marco that everyone has been talking about! My, my such a handsome young man, no wonder you chose him, Princess Star. He must make you very happy!" He winked over at the now blushing teen, his cheek marks glowing a deep red to match his face.

Marco tried his best to reply to the man but he felt the words catch in his throat as his shy side resurfaced and he looked over to Star for assistance. The blond caught his begging gaze and quickly said, "Yes he does, but that's not why I'm here." Now the cart seller gave her a quizzical gaze, but Star ignored it and continued. "See another one of my friends was interested in buying one of your items earlier but there was an... issue."

Now Babs came into view with a knowing and triumphant smirk on her face, as she stood purposely next to the blond royal, clearly showing off her status to the flabbergasted Mewman. "Th-This is your friend," the man squeaked against his will, his eyes incapable of growing any wider.

"Uhh, yeah, she's totally a friend of mine," Star said with just a tiny bit of force.

"Yep, you could even say that me and the princess are best friends," Babs added with a smug look. Marco's eyes filled with hurt for a second and Star put a hand on his shoulder, shaking her head to tell him that wasn't true and he quickly calmed down, the smile returning to his face.

The cart seller was now beginning to sweat as he stuttered nervously, "Oh my, well I apologize for my rudeness earlier. I-I-I had no idea I was speaking to a friend of the princess."

"Yeah, you should be sorry," the small Mewman began, but Star quickly interrupted her, moving so she now stood between her and the seller, leaning against the side of the cart with a bright smile.

"That's okay." the princess said, hoping to get through this conversation with as little difficulty as possible. "No hard feelings. Now if you wouldn't mind allowing me to pay for my friend's collar then we'll be on our way." She looking down at the cart only to realize there was a pretty wide selection of collars being sold and, it suddenly occurred to Star, she didn't know what the one Babs was wanting even looked like. She swallowed, trying to look relaxed and play it cool while silently hoping she wasn't asked any questions she knew she couldn't answer.

Luckily, she didn't have to as the man simply told her, "Of course, Your Majesty," with another awkward bow. The blond nearly sighed in relief as the man reached down and picked up one of the collars, Star taking a moment to study it closely. It was bright red, with a shimmering layer of gold crystals all around it, which seemed to gleam with magical energy, an indented lightning bolt hanging from the front. Star tilted her head at the object, not understanding what the small assassin wanted with it so badly and she couldn't help but wonder if there was some ulterior motive for it she just couldn't see. Still, despite her worries, she didn't hesitate to hand over the payment to the man, still wanting to stay on Babs' good side and hopefully even gain her trust. The cart seller gave her a wide smile as he gave the blond royal her purchase, saying chipperly, "Thank you for your business, Your Highness. I hope to see you again sometime."

"Um, yeah, maybe," Star replied politely, before turning to leave, Babs and Marco following her lead, the small Mewman shooting one last superior grin to the cart owner who scowled back angrily now that the princess's back was turned.

Once they were far enough away, Star stopped quickly handing the collar over to the small Mewman, who eyed it giddily. "Here you go, as promised!" the blond said with a wide grin she hoped would win over the cold cat-lover.

Babs's gaze slowly shifted away from the collar and on to the smiling teen, then back to the collar, her face for once devoid of any animosity or harshness which both Star and Marco took as a good sign. But the Mewman seemed to get ahold of herself, hardening her features as she loudly cleared her throat and said in a formal, businesslike tone, "Well, I suppose that was quite impressive what you did back there for me. So for that, you have my thanks."

"Sure, no problem," the blond royal said, trying to keep up the smooth, lighthearted tone despite Babs' attempt against it.

"What's it for, anyway?" Marco asked curiously, his eyes shining with intrigue as he stared at the collar in the girl's hands.

"Oh just a little something to tame one of my cats, Warrior," Babs explained. "He is a feisty thing and lately I've been having trouble keeping him under control. Hopefully, this collar will help calm him down some. See," the woman help up the collar for them to examine, pointing at one of the golden crystals. "These magic crystals are said to be able to soothe a pet's mind, but man are they rare and hard to find."

"Neat," Star said brightly, putting her hands on her hips. "Well, glad me and Marco were able to help you out."

Babs said nothing at that, silently tucking the collar into her pocket, though she seemed deep in thought about something. "Well I better get going..." she muttered softly, turning to leave but was stopped by Star's sudden shout of, "Wait!"

The blond royal wanted to slap herself for the screw up as the small Mewman turned to her with a suspicious and questioning gaze, knowing she had just thrown their whole plan in jeopardy due to her outburst. Beside her, Marco could only gap at his girlfriend wide-eyed, the panic in his eyes the same as the ones Star was currently suffering from as she tried to think of a way out of this mess, but her brain had turned into a puddle of mush. "Why?" Babs asked in a questioning tone, her searching eyes burning into Star's skin.

"Um, wellll, because..." the girl began, but found herself unable to think of anything else to add, turning to her boyfriend for help.

Marco, catching the desperate, pleading look she was sending his way, quickly swallowed, before saying the first thing that came to mind, "Because we want to take you out to lunch!"

"What?" Babs and Star said at the same time before the blond caught herself and quickly added, "-a great idea, Marco!"

She put an arm around the boy and pulled him close to her so his head was now resting on her shoulder. "I was wanting to ask you myself, of course, but I wasn't sure how to bring it up. But good ol' Marco here, always speaking his mind." She chuckled awkwardly for a second, while the boy gave a very thin smile.

Babs, once again, seemed to be having an intense inner debate, the two teens almost able to see the gears turning in her head as she weighted out her options. Until finally, after what felt like a lifetime, she shrugged and said, "Ah, why not? I'm certainly not going to say no to free food." She turned on her heels and began walking off in the opposite direction, causing both teens to let out a silent sigh. "And in that case, we can go to my favorite place in town. Come on."

The two watched her walk away for a moment, before sharing victorious smiles and a quick high-five, Star whispering excitedly, "Nice work, Marco. Our trap is set."

"Yeah, just like in 'The Spy Who Fought Me' where Mackie Hand lures the enemy spy-" Marco began and Star quickly joined in, the two exclaiming as one, "-into that one sushi restaurant with the ninja chefs!" The young couple just shared little gleeful squeals as they reminisced about one of the coolest parts in the movie.

"Are you two coming or not?" came Babs' irritated yell up ahead and the two immediately shouted back with blushes on their cheeks, "Coming!"

They looked over their shoulder only once, spotting Buff Frog and Boo Fly watching them from inside a bush, the look of worry on the frog father's face unmistakable. The teens shot him a wink and a thumbs up to let him know they had it under control before running off after Babs. Buff Frog had to clench his claw into a tight fist to keep from reaching out to them and pulling them back to safety. But he couldn't now, not without jeopardizing all their hard work. As the Monster leader, he had no choice but to just wait and see how things played out. Still, he didn't like this, not one bit. It was one thing to try and converse and act friendly toward Babs, it was another to willingly follow said assassin to some undisclosed location that had shockwaves of panic coursing through Buff Frog's bloodstream.

"Zzooo, what do we do now, Buff Frog?" Boo Fly asked his leader, all hundreds of the small bug's eyes staring at him questioningly.

"What else?" Buff Frog muttered softly, his eyes never leaving his son's retreating form, his muscular chest clenching as his urge to protect his child and his duties as leader clashed violently within himself. "We follow and be ready to fight."

…

Jackie stood as still as a statue watching the ferocious cats every movement, as it continued to growl under its breath, its piercing eyes flicking between each of the intruders in its home. Its long, sharp claws were drawn and ready, digging into the soft carpet, ready to start tearing into the group at any second, none of whom seemed to be holding up very well as they waited for the inevitable attack. Lobster Claws and Potato Baby were almost paralyzed in fear, just continuing to cling to each other while shivering uncontrollably, letting out small moans of worry every few seconds. Higgs didn't seem to be faring much better (though she doing her best to hide this fact) the redhead's eyes wide and staring forward unblinkingly, while her body had tensed up to the point it looked painful as she tried to fight to keep her own shivers under control, but most troubling of all was the sweat slowly dripping down her face as her breathing became heavy and labored, sounding like she was on the verge of passing out.

Jackie realized that her friends would be of no help at the moment and so decided to take control of the situation herself, sucking in a breath to calm her nerves before saying in the softest, most non-threatening tone she could, "Nice kitty, good kitty. We aren't here to hurt you." She spoke slowly and calmly, hoping to convince the cat that they weren't a real threat to it or its territory. She grabbed ahold of Higgs' arm and began moving them over toward the front door, keeping her movements to a minimum so as to not startle the feline. "We're just going to go and leave you alone, okay?"

Warrior didn't respond, merely flicking his tail and lowered himself even more toward the ground, his hind legs now completely tucked up underneath him as he just continued to eye them curiously.

"Okay everyone stay calm," she told her friends in the same reserved voice, still trying to shuffle herself and Higgs over to the exit. "Let's all just move very slowly over to the door and-"

"What? I'm not running away!" Higgs suddenly exclaimed, apparently recovering from her shock all at once as she ripped her arm away from the skater. "I'm a knight and we don't back down from anything!" the girl growled, jabbing a finger over at herself, before turning to aim it over at Warrior. "Least of all some mangy feline!"

"Higgs wait, stop," Jackie tried, reaching out to grab her but the redhead was already on the move, storming over to the two Monsters as she now positioned herself between them and the dangerous cat. The light-haired girl could only face-palm and hope the young knight's ego didn't end up ruining their mission.

"We can take this stupid cat, guys! Let's show it who's boss and that we aren't gonna let it terrify us anymore? Who's with me?!" she asked turning to the two Monsters for an answer. But both of them just shared nervous looks, Lobster Claws shakily replying, "Um, yeah actually me and Potato are just gonna hang back a bit."

Higgs just groaned in annoyance as she buried her head into her hands, running them slowly down her face. "Oh come on guys, it's just a dumb cat! How bad could it really be?" Her voice cut off as Warrior suddenly struck, leaping off the ground and latching onto her arm sinking its sharp claws into her skin. It yowled and hissed at her, holding on for dear life, as the young knight screamed in terror and pain, all her training forgotten in a heartbeat as she just shook her arm around wildly as she tried desperately to dislodge this ferocious feline from her arm. "Ah, get it off! Get it off!" she yelled at the top of her lungs, while the two Monsters hovered around her with worried expressions but never got too close, out of fear of receiving Warrior's wrath themselves.

But they weren't spared this as the cat, with all the grace of a trained predator, leaped onto the girl's shoulder before launched himself toward his next target, which happened to be Lobster Claw's face. The crustacean Monster let out a high-pitched scream that put all of Marco's to shame as he began running around the room in a blind panic, knocking everything in his path over in the process. Potato Baby, desperate to help out his best friend, waited until the right moment when Lobster Claws was close enough for him to throw a punch toward the cat, hoping to knock it off the crustacean. Unfortunately, Warrior released his grip at the last second and fell to the floor, landing easily on his feet, causing the potato Monster to accidentally hit his friend hard in the face, knocking him to the ground, unconscious. Potato Baby let out a small garbled apology before he too was attacked by Warrior, who began clawing at his face, while he let out unintelligent yelps of pain.

Jackie could only watch in stunned silence, as one by one her friends were taken out by the crafty and unrelenting cat, before rushing over to help them, dropping the stuffed cat on the floor before running over to try and pull the vicious feline off of Potato Baby. "No, no, bad kitty!" she scolded as she struggled to get ahold of the hissing cat, finally managing to get Warrior to release the Monster before dropping him to the floor to check on her friend. "Potato! Are you okay?!" she asked in worry.

The Monster slowly raised its head, garbling something tiredly to her, giving her a thumbs-up, before falling limply to the floor, barely avoiding crashing into the skater. "Hey, give that back!" came a sudden shout from next to her and she turned to see Higgs running straight toward Warrior, who had the stuffed cat in its mouth, shooting them a malicious glare all the while. Jackie regretfully left the two Monsters to give chase to the feline, both girls struggling to keep up with his sporadic and smooth movements, trying to outmaneuver and corner him. But Warrior was one step ahead of them, leaping up on bookshelves and off of every piece of furniture in the room as he easily avoided capture. Finally, after Higgs tried dive-bombing the cat and ended up crash-landing into one of the home's many scratching posts after Warrior scampered out of the way at the last second, the young knight slammed a fist into the ground, angrily proclaiming, "Ugh, this isn't working?!"

"Then we need a new strategy," Jackie stated while helping her friend to her feet, searching around the room for an idea, her eyes lighting up a second later as she let out a small gasp. "And I think I've got it," the skater said confidently, a radiant grin brightening on her face. "Keep him busy!" she shouted, before rushing off to set her plan in motion, leaving Higgs alone to deal with the vile cat.

The redhead, knowing now was not the time for questions, turned back to her opponent only to freeze up as she saw Warrior now perched on the open window to the living room, staring at her with the same superior, unnerving eyes from before. "Don't you dare," Higgs growled under her breath in warning, readying herself to rush over and grab the cat before it could escape.

Warrior only let out a low yowl, before spitting the toy out on the windowsill next to him, much to Higgs surprise and slight elation. But this was short-lived as the cat suddenly let out a loud meow and an army of cats it seemed leaped through the window and into the living room, now surrounding the young knight and the unconscious Monsters. Higgs took a hesitant step back as hundreds of pairs of cheshire eyes trained in on her, getting a sudden flash to the image of a large, similar-looking eyeball that seemed to be consuming the darkest corners of her mind, whispering back her own failures, regrets, and fears and allowing them to echo and fester in her head. The girl choked on a gasp, stumbling backward as she struggled to regain control of her thoughts, clutching her head tightly and gritting her teeth in an effort to push out the dark memory.

Meanwhile, the group of cats began to craftily lower down on their hind legs, ready to pounce on the girl and exact their revenge for ever disturbing their home and messing with their stuff. That was until a voice called from the doorway to the bedroom, "Oh kitties!" Every last cat's head swerved over, only to greedily eye the small mouse toy hanging loosely from Jackie's outstretched hand. "Do you want the toy?" she asked simply, smiling as every last cat seemed to be taking the bait, moving away from Higgs and over toward her. "Then go get it!" she shouted, throwing it into the next room, an outcry of meows and hisses followed as the group of cats chased after it, rushing into the next room, Jackie moving out of the way to let them pass. The moment they were all inside, the skater slammed the door shut, trapping the felines within. She let out a sigh of relief, before looking over to check on the others, Lobster Claws and Potato Baby slowly coming to and Higgs angrily swiping an arm across her face.

"Everyone okay?" she asked, panting a bit after the intense encounter. The two Monsters nodded, though the scratches all over their body said otherwise, Lobster Claws simply stating, "I think I'm a dog person now."

"Yeah, me too," Jackie agreed, shooting him a smile before focusing her attention on Higgs, who had grown unnervingly silent.

"Are you alright, Higgs?" the skater questioned, expecting the young knight to grow defensive and cockily proclaim that of course she was okay. But instead, the girl almost acted like she hadn't even heard her, only slightly shrugging her shoulders in response while crossing her arms in front of her chest in a move that somehow seemed to make her grow suddenly smaller. "Yeah, I'm fine," she said bitterly, but lacking even a trace of emotion.

"Really, cause you don't look okay?" Lobster Claws pointed out.

This seemed to bring a fire back to the redhead as she snapped, "I said I was fine, can we just drop it already?"

Jackie noticed the girl wasn't meeting her eye and could tell something was bothering her but not wanting to push her any more than she was comfortable, simply told her, "Alright, Higgs, whatever you say."

She turned over to the two Monsters, telling them both, "Now c'mon, guys, let's get out of here."

"But what about our evidence?" Lobster Claws asked and Potato Baby nodded.

"Oh actually me and Higgs found all the evidence we'll ever need," the skater explained brightly to the two. "Right over-"

The girl's voice cut off as she saw the Warrior still standing in the windowsill, the toy cat in it's grinning fangs. "What, no way?!" Jackie exclaimed in disbelief. How was this same cat still here? How had her plan not worked? The cat made a move to leap out the window and Jackie ran forward, hoping to snatch the stuffed animal back in time, but found it was already too late, Warrior's body already halfway out the window before a single foot was off the ground.

Jackie felt the disappointment and hopelessness grow as time seemed to slow, watching their only chance at catching Rasticore escaping. Until, a sudden pair of spiked, circular hands snatched the cat out of mid-air, before lifting him out of Jackie's sight.

The skater came to an abrupt stop, her and the others standing there completely dumbfounded for a second, before they all raced to the doorway, Jackie throwing it open without hesitation. The four could only watch in stunned silence as Spike Balls held the hissing and thrashing Warrior suspended above the ground, keeping the fussy cat out at arm's length to avoid getting scratched, his eyes clenched shut as he cringed at every annoyed and irritated meow that came from the feline, the stuffed cat laying forgotten at his feet. "Spike Balls, you did it!" Jackie exclaimed, running over to snatch up the toy before anything else could happen to it.

"Did what?" the large Monster asked in confusion, his focus entirely on the increasingly agitated Warrior who was still squirming in his grip, digging its nail into his impenetrable hands.

"You helped us get back our evidence," Higgs explained, her tone still strained and off. Jackie held up the stuffed cat for them all to see.

"Oh really," Spike Balls gasped, eying the toy in disbelief. "I didn't even realize the cat had that. I just saw it about to escape and grabbed it up without thinking."

"Well it's a good thing you did," Jackie said brightly, quickly unzipping it to make sure everything was inside. "Cause without this, all of this work would have been for nothing."

Spike Balls beamed proudly at that, before jumping at receiving another loud hiss from Warrior. "Um, what do I do with this little guy?"

The others all shared a look and then a shrug, Jackie saying, "Just put him back in the house, I guess."

After the cat had been properly sealed inside (the doors and windows now closed and locked) the group could only listen in shocked silence as they heard violent scratching from the other side of the door, Warrior trying to fiercely claw his way through to reach the group and exact his revenge. All five shuddered at the strange, but traumatizing experience, Jackie wiping the sweat off her brow and Lobster Claws even letting out a relieved sigh, even Higgs looking genuinely agitated by what had happened, her eyes full of intense emotions and her hand twitching at her side.

"Well glad that's over with," Lobster Claws commented and the others nodded in agreement.

"Okay, now come on, guys," Jackie said, taking control of the situation as she gave them all a serious look as she held out the stuffed cat once more. "Let's get this back to Star and the others."

"Right," the Monsters said as one, even Potato Baby saying the phrase in his garbled language, all three doing a quick salute to the skater. Jackie's eye met Higgs but she froze as she saw the girl now looked like a ghost of her former self and Jackie couldn't help but feel her insides squeeze at the redheads instant compliance. What was going on with her?

"Alright then, let's... get going," Jackie said awkwardly, before the group left the empty lawn and started back toward the way they had come, never once looking back at the cat-infested home they were leaving behind. None of them able to completely relax until the loud hissing of the most ferocious cat any of them had ever met, finally faded into the background.

[shalebridge-cradle]

Unholy Wrap-Up

I have spent far too much time thinking about this lesbian vampire fanfiction. Here’s several walls of text about it.

I would advise reading the fic if you want any of this to make sense. 

Breakdown

(Rough) Alliteration Count: 185

Least Favourite Chapter to Write: 12 (Do you know how long I spent trying to find a picture of an 80s heart monitor? Too long. That, and it’s hard for a character to wield their new-found confidence and inner strength when they’re stuck in a hospital bed, but that’s on me.)

Favourite Chapter to Write: 8 (It turns into a fucked up Scooby Doo mystery a third of the way through, and that’s great. Also, something fluffy happens to warm the reader’s (and my) heart, because I was going to rip it out next chapter.)

Favourite Line: “Fuck off, Dracula”

Least Favourite Line: “Fuck off, Dracula”

 Notes from Chapters that didn’t get their own post

Chapter 2:

The correct answer to Chandler’s question of “How many people are at that table?” is two, not one. Hi, Betty.

Chapter 4:

Chandler was originally going to put her fist through her mirror as a reference to a scene in the film, but I decided that she’s already broken one glass item of furniture, better not do that again. Besides, why take out your anger on your possessions when there’s a perfectly good person to use instead?

Chapter 6:

Hi, Betty.

Jason Dean is involved in the plot again. Everyone welcome back this well-intentioned murderer.

Chapter 7:

This chapter exists for two reasons: to establish Betty is dead, and for the Fuckbois to disappear. And so Ram’s pick-up line has some payoff. Three reasons, actually.

Duke made Veronica cry, so she takes V’s place in the ‘no-killing’ experiment. Still fucked up, but slightly less fucked up than straight up killing her. Or moreso, depending on your opinion.

Chapter 8:

Duke overheard something about about the expedition, and brought Chandler along with her so she could get V and H.Mac in trouble (and maybe distract everyone from how badly she fucked up).

I left it deliberately vague on what H.Mac and V were being chased by because I hadn’t finalised Kurt and Ram’s look yet.

Hi, Betty.

Chapter 9:

“Heather is done for come 3 P.M.” HA HA HA HA HA.

I chant, I pray, but God’s not there/so Steve, I’m ending our affair

 Meta

There was a conscious effort to blend the worlds of the movie and the musical. Doing that opened up a few more avenues for minor characters and certain elements of characterisation (Duke not being completely unsympathetic, for one). The prime example of this is Schrodinger’s Betty – she either appears for a short time to provide insight into Veronica’s character, or is removed from reality and her personality incorporated into Martha Dunnstock. I had it so she did exist in the world, but wasn’t around for whatever reason.

The fic was originally called ‘Renfield’, with the tagline ‘real life sucks losers dry’. It’s still sort of present in the earlier references to Veronica’s questionable mental stability (“A record of her spiral into insanity”, “Clearly, she was going crazy”), but using either would have given away the first major twist. For this reason, puns on the phrases ‘this sucks’ or ‘this bites’ were also out. I went with ‘Unholy’ instead, and stuck some vague religious references in there to justify the decision to myself.

I was deliberately vague about whether or not this was set in the modern day or in 1989. You would not believe how happy I was when I found out Halloween was on a Tuesday in both 1989 and 2017. Pick whichever time period suits you.

There’s a lot of threes in this work. I have a habit of listing three things (adjectives or events), Veronica is accepted by her third college preference (Harvard, Duke or Brown) and I tried to have it so something significant happened every three chapters (3: HC kills a man, 6: HC and V start their relationship, 9: HC dies, 12: the two are reunited, and Betty appears). 

I am from a country that uses British English. I cannot convince Microsoft Word that this is the case. No matter how many times I change the default language, it switches back to US English when I’m not looking. It doesn’t pick up Grey/Gray, however, and that’s why it’s spelt with an ‘e’ all the time.

 The Curious Case of Heather Chandler

I was picking and choosing different parts of vampire mythos, like many authors do, but I took primary inspiration from Victorian vampire fiction. Ya boi Dracula is certainly there, but most of it was from works that predated Bram Stoker’s.

One of the more important sources is Varney the Vampire, who is one of the first examples of a sympathetic bloodsucker (still the antagonist, though). He isn’t weakened by sunlight, rather, he is strengthened by moonlight. He has no aversion to garlic or religious symbols, and tends not to react well to normal food and drink.

The no sleeping thing was mostly me, though. It’s possible you’ve read or heard the phrase “Sleep is like death without the commitment”. Well, if you can’t die, you can’t sleep either. Them’s the rules.

The next issue was to justify to myself how exactly she was turned in the first place. The most likely culprit, goth boy Jason Dean, was out, because 1) it would mess with the whole vampire hunter vibe I was planning for him later on, and 2) because he has absolutely no reason to. Since Eastern European folklore indicates that anyone who dies an unnatural death is at risk of rising again, so I went with a combination of Romanian ancestry and the fact Heather Chandler technically committed suicide. That keeps that theme of the original work in there. Sort of.

The Players

Colour symbolism is getting its own section.

The key here was character motivation. Since the story is primarily character-driven, knowing why the characters do what they do is paramount. The main motive for everyone is as follows:

Chandler wants to be in control of herself, the school, and everyone in it. This is abandoned after she gets shot, and she suffers an identity crisis for some time afterwards.

Veronica wants to help people. This shifts over time to helping Chandler specifically.

Duke wants to be in Chandler’s position, or at least out from under her thumb.

JD wants to be with Veronica, and for the bad influences in both of their lives to be gone. In his defence, he tries to do this non-fatally after chapter 6, but gives up pretty easily.

McNamara wants everyone she cares about to be safe. Everyone else can go fuck themselves.

Martha wants people to go back to like they were in kindergarten – when everyone was friends with everyone.

Betty wants to help Veronica and Martha. The question with her was how she could achieve that goal, when one of the two couldn’t see or hear her.

Everyone else’s characterisations were taken primarily from the lunchtime poll section of the movie. I love that story device like my firstborn child.

 It is important to remember one thing – ALL of the characters are intended to be sympathetic to some degree. Chandler obviously gets the most attention in this regard, but both JD’s and Duke’s actions are well-intentioned, if nothing else. JD wanted to free people from the influence of a vampire, and Duke wanted an end to Chandler’s bullying. JD’s decision to solve his problems with blackmail and murder, and Duke’s decision to frame Chandler, is what puts them firmly in antagonist territory.

In the same vein, all of the characters have flaws. There is no purity in Heathers – Betty is self-sacrificing to a fault and has a nasty passive-aggressive streak, and Martha is living in a dream for most of the fic. Almost all of them get better (or die), with one notable exception.

 Colour-coding

Tumblr user deanesque has already done a pretty good guide to most of the colours present in the film, so I’m including a link to their post on the matter. Since there are some shades that aren’t included in that list, here’s a comprehensive guide.

 Chandler – Red (passion, confidence, leadership), changes to grey (anonymity, lack of emotion, loss), then purple (nobility, creativity, magic, mystery, red and blue combined).

Veronica – Blue (intelligence, trust, stability, intuition), changes to red.

Duke – Green (wealth, ambition, growth, illness), changes to blue.

Martha – Pink (femininity, naivete, passiveness, tenderness), changes to white (purity, hope, peace, detachment)

JD – Black (secrets, intimidation, power, death).

McNamara – Yellow (happiness, caution, enthusiasm, loyalty).

Betty – White and grey.

That’s probably the last of it. If anyone has any specific questions, you are encouraged to send asks. 

[paharvey99]

No Waitrose October: Days 27-28

Day 27

Who’s staying up for the US election then? I’m so excited about it, I keep checking that 538 website and looking for the latest Pennsylvania polls and trying to work out whether Biden is in a better position than Clinton was four years ago… I mean, all the polls are saying Biden is going to win, if you were looking at it rationally you’d say he was going to win big, but after what happened four years ago I don’t think anyone can look at anything rationally right now. Plus the Republicans are going to do everything they can to steal the election, they’re not even hiding it.

I don’t know anything about US politics the rest of the time, by the way, just around election time. I always wonder if there’s an equivalent set of people in the US when we have a general election; people sitting about in Dallas or Pittsburgh, frantically checking up on the chances of Iain Duncan Smith getting chucked out in Chigwell. I hope so.

I’m not staying up for the election, by the way, I’ve read that there probably isn’t even going to be a result for a few days because of mail-in votes. Although I’ve also read that the Republicans are trying to claim that there has to be a result on the night as a way of trying to get all the mail-in votes chucked out without being counted, as they’re more likely to favour Biden… OH GOD I LOVE ELECTIONS. If I get any more into this election I’m going to start calling the Republicans the GOP and it’s going to get really embarrassing.

I think part of the reason I’m excited about it is because getting rid of Trump would just be a nice thing, wouldn’t it? One less thing to worry about. And it would be nice round about now to have fewer things to worry about. Also, if Trump gets kicked out it’s bad for Boris Johnson, isn’t it? Johnson looks more nakedly awful once you stop being able to look across to America and say, “Well, at least we haven’t got that guy”. He’s a lot more exposed as a total shit if Trump goes. Hopefully that would make a difference on some tiny level.

Anyway, you didn’t come here for ill-informed and badly-reasoned political chat, you came here for… actually, what? Why do you even come here? Why are you reading this? This isn’t worth your time. It’s not enriching your existence. You’re just sitting there on your phone, trying to pretend you’re not addicted to your phone, while reading about me and my inconsequential opinions. Seriously, stop it. Go and talk to your children. Go out for a walk. Give your mum a call. Listen to Big Thief, or Cornershop, or Brahms. Paint. Give your head a treat. Whatever you do, just STOP READING THIS.

…

 …

 …

  Right, now we’ve got rid of the part-timers, let’s get down some hardcore No Waitrose Octobering. Day 27, a Tuesday – a nursery day. The four year-old I live with has been getting much better at getting ready for nursery recently. It could be that the person I live with and I have got better at adapting to her latest software updates; currently, she basically wants to do everything for herself, even if she can’t do it. This makes even the smallest task, such as putting on Fireman Sam in the morning, utterly arduous.

Me: *presses button on remote*

Four year old I live with: I WANTED TO PRESS THE BUTTON

Me: Ok, come here then

FYOILW: Which button is it?

Me: The big button in the middle

FYOILW: *presses wrong button*

Me: No, not that one, this one. *presses button on remote*

FYOILW: I WANTED TO PRESS THE BUTTON

Me: *kicks self*

A pretty hectic day, but all days are pretty hectic at the moment. I’ve got more stuff to do, more meetings to go to, more people to talk to than ever before. Remember the good old days when working from home was openly acknowledged as being a bit of a skive? Feels like we might have changed the dial on that one.

Did the evening nursery run and on the way back decided to nip into M&S Food for a treat. The four year-old I live with loved M&S Food last time we were there, so I thought she’d enjoy it again. We did actually need some stuff as well, don’t worry. We needed milk, and I also had a vague plan to get something fancy for tea, as we didn’t have much in at home. Then it turned out that there wasn’t really anything fancy in M&S Food that I fancied, so I decided to go with the half a packet of bacon in the fridge as the basis of our evening meal. It turned out to be a good decision; I made some tomato, olive, bacon and chilli pasta that was pretty delicious, all told. It’s often the case that meals borne of mild desperation are among the tastiest, no idea why.

Didn’t go to Waitrose.

Day 28

Wednesday, and a new tactic. As you’ll remember, the four year-old I live with is at nursery from 1pm on Wednesdays, so Wednesday morning has become Big Shop Day. Now, the last few weeks have proved that going to the shop in the morning, coming back for lunch for an hour and then hotfooting it out again to nursery is a bit of a scramble, so I decided that today we would try going out to do the Big Shop and just staying out until it was time for nursery, see how that went.

We decided to go to West Hove Sainsburys, to try to buy a swimming costume again. They didn’t have one last week, so I was confident they wouldn’t have one this week, which was exactly what I wanted to happen. The four year-old I live with was confident they would have one this week for some reason, so I decided to let her discover the harsh realities of capitalism the hard way.

Thankfully Sainsburys hadn’t decided to start stocking swimming costumes in the last week and we made it out of the clothes section unburdened by lycra. The four year-old I live with had sensed that she had missed out on a treat though, so was on the lookout for the rest of the shop for something to fill the treat-shaped void. This intensified in the magazine aisle, I have no idea why I went down the magazine aisle, a rookie error. Ignoring the plaintive magazine demands, I hastened to the baking aisle and filled up on vaguely exciting things like sugar and golden syrup.

It was around this point that the four year-old I live with spotted a unicorn. Everything has unicorns on them these days, because four year-olds like them and idiot parents like me will give in and buy them. The thing that I caved in and bought was some kind of unicorn-flavoured Angel Delight. On closer inspection it emerged that it was three different layers of Angel Delight that you had to make separately and assemble in fancy glasses, which sounded like more effort than Angel Delight is worth, but vague nostalgia won out and it went in the trolley.

The four year-old I live with has learned that pretty much everything after the baking aisle in West Hove Sainsburys is as boring as hell, so almost immediately the demands to go and pay started up. Frankly I pretty much agree with her; the beer selection in Sainsburys is the worst of any major supermarket, and the freezer section holds little interest beyond frozen peas and fish fingers, so we went and picked up a sausage roll from the hot food counter for lunch and found a socially-distanced queue to stand in for the till.

Back in the car we ate our lunch despite it only being about 11am. We still had a couple of hours to kill before nursery, so we called Granny for a chat. We told her about the unicorn-flavoured Angel Delight; she’d heard of Angel Delight but never had it. The internet informs me that Angel Delight was invented in 1967, at which point Granny was 45 years old. Of course she’s never had it, it’s still some new-fangled rubbish to her. 

I wonder what I’ll think if I get to the age of 98 and I have some grandchild ringing me up and telling me they’ve just bought some Vegan Magnums or something. I think I’ll be okay with it, all told.

After the phone call we still had a bit of time to fill, so I had a look on the map on my phone to see if there was a nearby park we could have a look at. There seemed to be something called Hangleton Park, which looked quite big, so we went there. The park itself did indeed turn out to be quite big, a long narrowish stretch of grass with nothing on it other than a couple of benches and a few trees in each corner. Not exactly what I was after, but I had packed a ball, so I could work with it. We ran about and chased a ball and pretended to be monsters until it was time to go to nursery, at which point I went home and did a load of work in the afternoon.

After the evening nursery run and assorted malarkey, I made a chicken for tea. I’d been reading Nigella’s Christmas book where she gives a recipe for fancy roast potatoes, so I decided to try them out. Usually I just shove the potatoes in round the chicken, but for these I parboiled them first, coated them in newly-purchased semolina and tipped them into hot fat on their own baking tray. They were perfect, crispy and crunchy coating around a fluffy interior. They were almost too good, really, I was a bit suspicious of them. I asked the person I live with what she thought of them, she said she prefers her roast potatoes gloopy and I needn’t have bothered trying anything fancy.

Probably won’t be bothering doing that again. Also, I now need to find something to do with the rest of the packet of semolina.

Didn’t go to Waitrose.

[sundaywhiskey]

on why you should vote for Bernie Sanders

The Sunday Blunt is a 2020 election survival effort of researched, brief-ish, minimally edited rants on America’s hellish political hellscape and related hell. I’ve not been shy about my support for Elizabeth Warren in the Democratic primary. Today she suspended her campaign for president, and I’d be lying if I said I’m not writing this in tears. My hands are a lil shaky. Honestly I feel like I’m going through a breakup. It’s fine. Ultimately Warren was a prepared, fearless warrior for the progressive cause, but not the cause itself, so to honor the righteous work she’s done in this race, it is only necessary that I urge everyone still to vote to cast their ballot for Bernie Sanders. There are a few considerations all of us weigh to some degree when casting a ballot. Personally, I vote based on shared values; that’s why I didn’t cast a strategic ballot in the California primary and stayed true to my heart by voting Warren. Actually, I cried then, too, when casting my ballot. My boyfriend joked that’s “The American Dream,” but honestly... kind of. At the bare minimum, we want to believe in the vision of America that our candidate represents, and that’s reasonable considering these fuckers *do* work for us. These campaigns, as cursedly long and tedious as they are, are literally job interviews. I imagine those who stay home on Election Day feel unheard and disenchanted and probably disenfranchised by the political system. They wouldn’t hire any of the options. A progressive candidate could turn out more voters by illustrating an America that isn’t a return to the status quo, but something better for all of us. For no small or invalid reasons, most Americans want better than what we’ve received so far. I’m one of those Americans. Actually, I can confidently assume a majority of people reading this are one of those Americans as recent polling shows 70% of us support a pretty radical change in Medicare 4 All. I say radical, but what I mean is moral. America’s current healthcare model (and the one Biden vows to protect under the misnomer of “Public Option”) maintains healthcare as a business where multiple industries make a shit ton of money off of you and me getting and staying sick. This includes the pharma industry, the insurance industry, and the hospital industry. And because industries on a whole incentivize profits, nobody is working on behalf of Americans’ health. If Americans are healthy, nobody makes money. Which is truly wild because our Constitution very clearly and early on identifies the pursuit of life as an inalienable right. Meanwhile, there are 27 million uninsured Americans (like ya girl) and nearly 44 million under-insured Americans buried alive both metaphorically and literally by medical debt or postponing (or altogether not seeking) necessary care. I fall into that latter group. Shit’s not right, and any proposal that falls short of guaranteeing health insurance for all Americans and dismantling the profiteering of our illnesses is a disingenuous slab of garbage, I’m not sorry for saying so. There are lives on the line. Voters also vote with their pocketbooks. I’m not in love with this strategy but I’m broke so I get it. We’re justifiably protective of our tax dollars—it’s money we earned but can’t control. Who the fuck likes that? And considering the undertaking, it’s no question Medicare 4 All would be expensive, and voters want to know if restructuring the current model will flatter their bank accounts. So will it? The short answer is literally nobody knows. My primary care doctor (a dreamy old fellow named Dr. Horowitz who wears bowties and still sees me without insurance every three months for medication refills, although usually I go every four months when I can’t afford it) tells me the first step of the transition to single-payer will be nailing down cost. Right now, one doctor might charge one patient $20 for Advil while another might charge hundreds because the patient is in a different hospital or a person of color or just because they can. (This isn’t an exaggeration, it happens every day, ask for itemized bills.) So anybody who claims to know how much Medicare 4 All will cost is lying, which means nobody can confidently tell you how your taxes will be affected. We can predict, however, how much the current system costs you. Obviously, there are premiums and co-pays and deductibles and medication costs and, like, a zillion other ways you’re charged. Need to call an ambulance? Depending on the distance, you can ride in this life-saving transport for between a couple hundred to a few thousand dollars. Wanna have a baby? Ten thousand dollars. Diabetic? Despite outrage on both sides of the aisle, two bottles of insulin can cost upwards of $700 a month and prices are still rising. And even though we live in a dystopian hellscape where we can GoFundMe our healthcare costs, 90% of campaigns don’t get fully funded. Can you believe even that isn’t a solution? Which means I guess there’s only one thing we can do and follow the advice a rich, retired, Medicare-receiving man swirling iced white wine on a catamaran once gave me: Make more money. No, I’m kidding. We need to elect the only candidate with a god damn humanistic solution to this very real and urgent crisis, shit. Obviously, and much to my dismay, a vote for Bernie is not a vote for universal healthcare. Before we can even have that conversation, we first have to get our preferred old white man in the White House. Look, I’m not a pundit, but I pretend to be one in every Facebook status and conversation with my mother, so I’m going to answer the question on every political strategist’s voter’s mind: Can Bernie beat Trump? The short answer is yes and with better odds than Joe Biden. The long answer is holy what now!? who would have the answer to that question? Can you tell the future? Can I tell the future? Can Rachel Maddow tell the future?  In all seriousness though, I absolutely do get it. There is no denying that the threat of four more years of the Trump administration will have a devastating and long-lasting effect on our planet and every single global citizen. It’s bad, my dudes. That said, voting for political strategy is my least favorite way of voting. For starters, it’s an unreliable barometer based on nothing but guesswork and confidence in your own thoughts. But more importantly, it is insincere and doesn’t communicate to Democratic politicians what standards and values we’ll hold them to. Again, we employ them. If we want to be sensitive about our tax dollars, we should be mindful of which representatives build their whole damn lifestyles off of them. We shouldn’t be voting for politicians who have built a career on passing legislation and otherwise making decisions that degrade people of color, women, and the LGBTQ+ community or lead our country into war. However, if you arreeee going to vote strategically, here’s why Bernie: Centrists don’t win elections. As much as Hillary was very much a woman and sexism very much played a role in her electoral defeat, so did the fact that she’s a moderate. That’s (partially) why there was no President Kerry or Gore or Romney or McCain: Each of those candidates painted a decidedly more status quo America compared to their more extreme opponent.  Whoever we elect needs to engage and energize voters. Two things are for sure: 1. Republicans fucking love to vote. (They also love to suppress the vote, but another day, my friends.) 2. Progressive policies are popular and poll better than Trump’s policies across the board. The Democratic Party is a big, welcoming tent where everyone can hang and be protected and represented... when we elect the right officials. Unfortunately, many people the Democratic Party seeks to help (and need to reach in order to win) still don’t see themselves represented in the current political landscape or find solace in moderate policies. Biden’s campaign promises a return to 2016 when, y’all, if you can believe it, I still wasn’t insured. Bernie Sanders is the only candidate in the race whose policies address the needs of marginalized groups we’d need to turn out in November.  If we can draw one lesson from Elizabeth’s campaign, it’s that politicians should be listening to the individual circumstances and needs of their constituents. Elizabeth did this in every selfie line and phone call to small-dollar donors and meeting with marginalized groups. At her speeches, she kept the lights on her audiences bright so she could see the people she was talking to. Elizabeth fundamentally understood that this never was about her being president but about the good she could do for each of us once she got there. There’s no question that Bernie has understood this his whole life. The president isn’t the leader of our land, but rather a representative hired to do the work of the American people. I believe then that it is our duty to elect the candidate who would do the greatest amount of good for the greatest number of us. Without a doubt, Bernie Sanders is that candidate. 

[angelamhiller-blog]

Black Coffee: The Needle and the Damage Done

It's time to sit back, relax and enjoy a little joe …

Welcome to another rousing edition of Black Coffee, your off-beat weekly round-up of what's been going on in the world of money and personal finance.

Happy New Year everybody! Let's get this party started, shall we?

Whenever destroyers appear among men, they start by destroying money, for money is man's protection and the base of a moral existence. Destroyers seize gold and leave to its owners a counterfeit pile of paper. This kills all objective standards and delivers men into the arbitrary power of an arbitrary setter of values.

- from Francisco's “Money Speech,” in Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged

The modern banking process manufactures currency out of nothing - perhaps the most astounding sleight of hand that was ever invented. If you want to be slaves of the bankers, and pay the cost of your own slavery, then let the banks create currency.

- Lord Josiah Stemp

Credits and Debits

Debit: Despite more than $25 trillion conjured out of thin air over the past 10 years by the extremely dubious coordinated central bank policy known as “quantitative easing,” Main Street is still struggling, with fully half of all American workers still making less than $30,533 per year. Of course, Wall Street has benefitted greatly from QE; since 2009, the average salary there has steadily climbed to $422,500. No, really.

Debit: With 50% of Americans not even earning enough cash in a single year to cover the cost of a modest Nissan Maxima, is it any wonder that more than 3 in 5 US jobs don't pay enough to support a middle class lifestyle?

Debit: Heck … According to a recent study, even people who are in their so-called golden years are having trouble making ends meet, as the number of senior citizens filing for bankruptcy has tripled since 1991.

Credit: In other news, the Dow was up nearly 750 points on Friday. That's after losing 650 points on Thursday - and falling another 400 points on Wednesday … before a frantic rally saw it end that session up 18 ticks. Yes, the S&P and Nasdaq saw similar daily ups and downs last week. And market volatility hasn't been this bad since 2011, with the S&P trading in an intraday range of more than 2% (!) on 15 of the last 21 days.

Debit: In case you're wondering, the Dow was either up or down by 1% or more just 8 times in 2017. Last year, it happened 64 times. Prolonged volatility is typically the result of shifting long-term sentiment. In many cases, the wild swings can also be a sign of a market in troubled waters, as any seasoned cruise ship passenger will tell you:

Credit: Meanwhile, last month the US economy created the highest number of jobs since February 2018, with upward revisions to the totals from last October and November as well. If you believe the data, the unemployment rate is still under 4% too. Even better, wages are continuing to climb; the average December paycheck was 3.2% higher than the year before. Hooray!

Debit: Notwithstanding the positive job and wage numbers, for the first time since 2008, an extremely-accurate gauge of economic health that's closely watched by the Fed is forecasting a recession. The indicator, which fell into negative territory last week, reflects the difference between the forward rate implied by Treasury bills six quarters from now and the current three-month yield. Uh oh.

Credit: Speaking of the Fed, they're clearly in a pickle, with a petulant stock market demanding rate cuts on one side - or else! - and what appears to be a somewhat overheated labor market on the other. Last week money manager Peter Schiff spoke truth to power by concisely capturing the pecuniary dilemma that the US central bank is facing in 2019 - and pointing out that, in reality, the emperor has no clothes:

Commentators keep asking why the Fed can't raise rates if the economy is so strong? They still don't realize that the economy was never strong. They confuse a bubble for strength. Without 0% rates and QE the bubble can't survive. But a return to those policies kills the dollar!

Peter Schiff (@PeterSchiff) December 27, 2018

Credit: Needless to say, the Fed has only itself to blame for the position it now finds itself in because, as Michael Farr opined six years ago, QE created a moral hazard: “Caveat emptor (was) lost as the Fed and Congress joined forces to save the financial system. Investors learned the stock market was far too important to let it fall too far … (and) of the mind-altering pain relief that comes from the morphine drip of QE.”

Credit: Today, a growing number of financial professionals are weighing in on the damage done. This week, asset manager Lindsay Politi warned that, “QE has done something much more damaging than the Fed could have imagined: It changed the very nature of the market, destroying the diversity of the market ecosystem, and making it incredibly vulnerable to the smallest change in the macro environment.”

Credit: Legendary hedge fund manager Bill Fleckenstein issued his own dire assessment of the Fed's ill-fated decision to unleash QE: “The Fed has basically turned a market that could be rescued with aspirin into one that needs heroin, while making the country's problems far, far worse in the process.” I hear ya, Bill. It's kind of like this:

Debit: So, aside from making Wall St. richer than ever, and anesthetizing pension fund managers and other investors to risk, what else has QE achieved? Answer: not much. Well … unless you consider hastening America's long-overdue day of reckoning, and the loss of the US dollar's reserve currency status - along with the temporary, but sharply-lower, American living standard that would result - an achievement.

Insider Notes: A Primer on Blockchain Technology

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By the Numbers

Everywhere you looked in 2018, it seems like some movie box office record was being broken:

$11,800,000,000 The North American box office take for 2018; it was the biggest year on record for that region.

6.8 The percentage increase in box office revenue over 2017.

1,200,000,000 The total number of movie tickets sold last year.

$9.14 The average cost of a movie ticket in 2018; that's the highest ever.

23 The number of consecutive years that movie ticket prices have increased from the previous year.

814 The number of movies released last year; that is also a record.

$700,000,000 The domestic box office take for the highest-grossing movie of 2018. (Black Panther)

2 The number of movies that achieved a higher domestic gross than Black Panther. (Avatar, and Star Wars: The Force Awakens)

Source: Vox

The Question of the Week

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

Last Week's Poll Results

If you could travel through time, where would you go?

The past (59%)

The future (41%)

More than 1300 Len Penzo dot Com readers responded to last week's question and it turns out that if they could travel through time, 3 in 5 of them would prefer to visit the past. As for me, my curiosity about the unknown is why I'd be leaping into the future.

Useless News: Phone Call

Several men were in a gym locker room when a cell phone on a bench rang and a man put the phone on speaker and began to talk:

MAN: Hello

WOMAN: Hi, Honey; it's me. Are you at the club?

MAN: Yes.

WOMAN: I'm at the mall now and found this beautiful leather coat. It's only $1000. Is it OK if I buy it?

MAN: Sure, go ahead if you like it that much.

WOMAN: I also stopped by the BMW dealership and saw the new models. I saw one I really liked.

MAN: How much?

WOMAN: $95,000.

MAN: OK, but for that price I want it with all the options.

WOMAN: Great! Oh, and one more thing. The house we wanted last year is back on the market. They're asking $990,000 for it.

MAN: Well, then go ahead and make an offer for $900,000. They'll probably take it, but if not I'm willing to go the extra $90,000 if that's what you really want.

WOMAN: OK. I'll see you later! I love you so much!

MAN: I love you, too. Bye.

And with that, the man hung up. Meanwhile, the other guys in the locker room were staring at him in astonishment, mouths wide open.

The man who was speaking then turned around and asked, “Does anyone know whose phone this is?”

(h/t: Stewie)

Other Useless News

Programming note: Unlike most blogs, I'm always open for the weekend here at Len Penzo dot Com. There's a fresh new article waiting for you every Saturday afternoon. At least there should be. If not, somebody call 9-1-1.

Hey! If you happen to enjoy what you're reading - or not - please don't forget to:

1. Click on that Like button in the sidebar to your right and become a fan of Len Penzo dot Com on Facebook!

2. Make sure you follow me on Twitter!

3. Don't forget to subscribe via email too! Thank you.

And last, but not least …

4. Consider becoming a Len Penzo dot Com Insider!

Letters, I Get Letters

Every week I feature the most interesting question or comment - assuming I get one, that is. And folks who are lucky enough to have the only question in the mailbag get their letter highlighted here whether it's interesting or not! You can reach out to me at: Len@LenPenzo.com

Emma passed along something she wanted me to share with all of you:

I was doing some research on people's opinions of Ticketmaster and found a really great website. I thought your readers might find it interesting too.

So 116 out of 120 reviewers at Consumer Affairs rated Ticketmaster one out of five stars; and three more folks gave them two stars? If you ask me, I'd say Ticketmaster is overachieving.

If you enjoyed this, please forward it to your friends and family. I'm Len Penzo and I approved this message.

Photo Credit: brendan-c

[soulthelalafell-blog]

TOP 10 Boss Fights in Final Fantasy XIV

First of all I would like to thank everyone on the Facebook Page “Jenova Server” for taking part in a poll to decide which Top 10 I would create here today and with a score of 14 votes the winner was Boss fights so here we go.

You join the game, You create your character, You pick your class and You set about your journey across the Land of Eorzea. You grind, You complete quests, You grind some more all the while hoping to become the best that you can all the while hoping that what you are doing is good enough...But how do you test yourself? WITH BOSSES OF COURSE!!! Like with all Final Fantasy games, A Good Boss can test your skill in a way that can show you were you have improved and where you need to work on and Final Fantasy XIV is no exception with some of the best mechanics that you will find from bosses in any RPG games to date in my opinion. So I here to rank my very own top 10 best Boss fights from the Land of Eorzea starting with... NUMBER 10 

LADY AMANDINE from Haukke Manor ​​

OK, I am sure some may be wondering why I would have this boss in the list but please hear me out.

Lady Amandine compared to most of the other bosses in the list is not a difficult boss but to me she was probably the first boss to a new player that gave you a decent challenge compared to all the bosses that came before her in the game. The fact you had to not only focus on her but on the 4 lanterns in the corners of the room meant that players had to learn to watch everything that was going on and not just the boss itself and as basically a teaser of what you could expect from future battles. That's why despite not being the hardest challenge, just the fact she was a lesson of what you need to start preparing for made her a excellent boss fight and worthy of a place on this list. NUMBER 9 GOBMACHINE G-VI from Brayflox's Longstop (Hard)​​

Similar to Lady Admandine, Gobmachine G-VI is not the toughest fight...just as long as you have the right kind of ability on hand before your team faces him. I mean we have all been in this position at least once with this boss, you are kicking its metal ass all over the arena thinking that this is just an easy encounter, he does his little bomb thing and after 2 seconds you panic because you realise no one on your team has an AOE attack that can knock them away from you *GASP*

I know it may not seem like much but this fight definitely teaches you to be well prepared before entering any dungeon better than any other encounter because I guarantee if you lost once to this boss you were into your action bar making sure you had some kind of AOE move ready for round 2.

NUMBER 8 KRAKEN from Hullbreaker Isle​​

A lot of people will probably call this boss annoying but if I am honest I absolutely love this calamari wannabe because once again its all about making sure to watch everything that is going on around you and making the correct decision through out so that you don't accidentally wipe your own team. The idea of the boss is simple, you got 5 platforms and 10 tentacles to cut down to size to win this fight - However you also have a chance of being giving a green aura that can be turned into a hurricane so you have to make sure you jump to another platform away from teammates and leave it there.

BUT there is also a chance you can be grabbed by a tentacles and thrown to a random platform where the hurricane will then activate and a good chance that you will be thrown back to the same platform as your team mates so you need up looking like a complete idiot. End of the day this boss is both annoying but a whole lot of fun too.

NUMBER 7 LAHABREA and IGEYORHM from The Aetherochemical Research Facility (ARF)​​

Another excellent boss fight in my eyes although may not count is as such since its really the set up for the big match up vs the Ascian Prime is this encounter between our old nemesis Lahabrea and the first female member of the Ascians, Igeyorhm. So why do I love this fight? Well if you seen the theme so far on this list I love having a mechanic we need to learn and be second nature  to us challenged in a way where we can say "We got this" or "We need to work on it" and in this case its DODGE!!! Yep, this boss will have to jumping in and out of abilities from both enemies as you learn to use your time well to heal, deal damage and everything else you need to do then dodge again and repeat the process until you attain victory. This boss is so good that half way through it throws you a curve ball and makes you learn to dodge whilst the floor is covered in ice so not only do you need to avoid an attack but you have to be careful not to accidentally slide into another one.

NUMBER 6

VISHAP from The Steps of Faith​​

So you think you have your DPS down to an art? You think you know how to deal the maximum amount of damage to an enemy? Well then lets see how you do against THIS boss shall we? Vishap is one huge MFing Dragon that starts from one end of the bridge towards Ishgard and will proceed to march his way to the gates in an attempt to destroy it thus securing victory for the Dragons and all you have to do is batter him before he can reach his destination...Simple right. Well yes once you get a hang of it this isn't as difficult but when you are first thrown into this fight it is definitely a wake up call to both you and anyone else in your team because this is the point you realise you may not be as strong as you should be, that you are not healing as much as you should be and you are not taking as much damage as you should be...

This is your wake up call and right now if you are level 60 with ilvl 270 then I am pretty sure you probably have this encounter to thank for motivating you to reach those heights in the first place.

NUMBER 5 FORGALL from The Weeping City of Mhach​​

You know what? Sometimes your list just has to give credit to a boss that no matter how good you are just somehow or someway has your number and for me that boss is Forgall from the WC raid. I seriously do not know why but for some reason I do not believe I have gotten through this encounter without dying at least once simply because I was unable to get to a green puddle to get gradual zombification so that I can survive Mega Death and although it annoys the hell out of me I have to tip my hat to this boss for giving me a challenge I need to overcome.

NUMBER 4 

CALCABRINA from The Antitower​​

A lot of people may not fully remember this boss by the name but if anyone says "Naked Loli Doll" then the nightmares start flowing back into your soul as you take your position in the corner rocking back and forth hoping she will disappear soon T_T

She starts as 6 miniature dolls (3 red and 3 blue) but once you defeat them she combine to become this creepy looking human version of Derpy from My Little Pony only she is not as adorable, she then has simple attacks that aren't necessarily dangerous but an ill prepared team could still find this challenging.

This boss was not a massive challenge in terms of the fight itself but actually looking at it creeps out a lot of players both old and new and thus has become memorable because of that.

NUMBER 3

NIDHOGG from The Aery​​

Nidhogg is possibly the best villain in the entire game to date because no matter how much you want to hate him for wanting to send the entire human race into extinction... You can not honestly blame him for any of it since it was them who betrayed his own kind and killed his sister in cold blood and even left him on the brink of death too.

But what makes this fight so good? Well it was the first fight I remember where you had to protect not only your own team mates but a fifth member in Estinien who it is no secret is actually a bit of an asshole and some people probably dislike him for his attitude and his blind belief that all dragons are monsters even when the evidence before him suggests this may not be completely true.

So having to defeat a boss that you can respect and having to aid someone you probably wouldn't feel bad for if they died makes for an interesting fight as you have to swallow any pride you may have to help the latter defeat this mighty foe "once and for all".

NUMBER 2 NAEL DEUS DARNUS from The Second Coil of Bahumet ​​

Possibly the hardest encounter back in A Realm Reborn, Nael provided a challenge to all players as they had to learn mechanics, timing, map positioning and how to fall orders perfectly or this boss would have you pulling out your hair in no time. from positioning the meteors correctly to making sure not to kill adds too quickly to simply standing the correct distance apart - This boss has very simple mechanics on paper but a margin of error that is near none existent that can be the difference between surviving this battle or wiping when all had been going so well for you.

This is one of a few boss battle that you honestly feel a sense of accomplishment when you finally defeat him and still feel that same accomplishment when you do it again and again and again thus making it a worthy second place. NUMBER 1

SOPHIA THE GODDESS from Containment Bay P1T6 (Extreme)​​

So you have complete the game, you have been training hard and learnt every aspect of the game that you feel you need to learn and now you need an encounter that truly says you have achieved something. Look no further than this boss fight Sophia EX is in my eyes the best boss that the game has to offer because everything you need to have learnt and mastered during the game is presented to you in this one fight - Map Awareness, Team Communication, Surroundings, Mechanics and so much more. Not to go into too much detail but you have to first know all the mechanics that this boss encounter will have to some degree, you will need to have someone willing to communicate certain aspects like the balance since this can wipe your team so easily at any time and even just simply making sure the time you have to deal damage to her is used properly makes this boss so good. I am not going to claim she is the hardest boss by a long shot but just for the fact she takes everything you need to know about all bosses and presents it in one glorious encounter makes her without question the best Boss fight in Final Fantasy XIV.

Well that was my top 10 boss fight list, what did you think? Who would you have as your top 3 boss fights in Final Fantasy XIV? Thank you again for Reading!!

[aeyemenethes-blog]

Lathbora vira Ch. 9

Next instalment of my Solas fanfic, Lathbora viran. Also found on my AO3 page at http://archiveofourown.org/works/10213937/chapters/24038823

Blood thrummed as an accelerated heartbeat in my ears, calling my thoughts back to the surface. It was all I heard in the beginning, but the crackling of fire quickly surrounded me. Upon opening my eyes, I saw a world of chaos. Corypheus faced the Herald with his corrupt dragon blocking off any access to her. Sitting up, I cradled my throbbing head in my hands feeling a warm, sticky liquid coat my fingertips.

Bringing my hands away, I saw the angry crimson blood staining my palms. “Well, that’s no good…”

I glanced back toward the Herald and the Magister in possession of my orb, my eyes narrowing. Getting to my feet, I crossed between the alleyways between buildings and shrubs to avoid attracting attention as I made my way to the Chantry. A desperate magic pulled at me with piercing claws so overwhelming that I gritted my teeth against the near crippling suffocation from my orb.

Dizziness slammed into me full of memories of a younger, bolder Elvhen clad I wolfskin with a wild brown mane whipping in the wind as he sought a way to correct a brutal betrayal. Distant screams of a people dying in the chains of slavery begging for an end that I willingly gave, drowned out the crackling of Haven. An end that now I recognized was a terrible mistake.

Ir abelas, I cannot face Corypheus in my current condition, Lethallan.

Reaching the Chantry door, I wrenched it open, wincing at the hollow, nails-on-metal creak the hinges made, and glared to where I knew she stared down the enemy. A bitterness settled in my stomach at leaving the Herald again, but it was out of my control. I spat on the ground.

“Corypheus,” I hissed, feeling the Wolf surfacing. “Su an’banal i’ma.”

. . .

My agents chipped into parts of the wall – a subtle signal – I was going in the right direction down the dark tunnel. Slipping my staff from the holder along my back, I forced magic in the crystal to light the way and leaned heavily upon it as I walked. As I followed the trail, I stumbled on debris, oftentimes stopping to catch my breath. The pounding of my head slowly worsened as the blood continued to tickle. Bringing more mana to the surface, I mumbled another healing spell on the wound to attempt to reknit the flesh. New skin itched and stretched around the wound, stoppering the blood from flowing out. The blood loss caused small shivers to wrack along my body becoming more violent the moment the tunnel widened, and I stepped out into the bitter winds of a blizzard.

Footprints of a stampede of people were barely noticeable, but visible enough to guide me in the general direction the survivors of Haven took. The icy snowstorm battered me as I tracked the group; occasionally I wondered if Cassandra and Varric made it but the majority of concern was for the Herald.

That’s when I heard the wolves.

Several dark, shaggy shapes skirted warily around my campfire. They whined, debating if it was smart to move closer until their alpha – a great black beast – made the decision to enter toward the fire. I raised an eyebrow at his bravery and growled a small warning.

Greetings, Brother, I whined knowing that I might end up fighting them off but hoping it wouldn’t come to that.

You not like other furless demons. Smell like Kin.

I smiled, revealing my teeth to the black creature. He smelled the Dread Wolf crawling to the surface with hackles raised. I quelled the feeling of overbearing dominance and want to rip this pack apart. If they were willing to speak to me then they might prove useful enough to let live. I prayed the leader was wise to not challenge the Dread Wolf directly.

I am Kin, I growled back. Just unable to change forms.

Hopefully, he’d believe the lie.

The leader sniffed the air between us and all my muscles bunched. Sorrow and pity exuded from the creature’s yellow eyes and… opportunity. A look I knew all too well. An alpha wolf – even an injured one – was too dangerous to leave alive, especially one without a pack to protect him. Magic tingled to the surface in preparation, but I hoped the beast would see sense.

Unfortunate… His voice trailed off as he lunged for my throat.

A green tear wrenched open, sending a boulder to collide into the black wolf. He howled, crashing into his pack mates in a tangled heap of limbs. I drew on my magic again feeling the earth shake and the sky split in a rain of fire. I needed to end the fight as quick as possible given my weakened state.

Raising my hands upward, I cast a barrier to surround and shield me from the torrent of fire plummeting to the ground. Yelps and whines hissed from the now singed wolves, but the alpha scrambled to his legs to attack me again. Fury and fear clouded his eyes. I stared back at him in pity.

Fool. The Dread Wolf roared.

The Veil ripped open beside me, drawing the wolf closer toward the rip in the Fade. Angry snarls disintegrated as the black wolf began to backpedal; his eyes wide in terror. Oozing tendrils lashed out hooking onto the wolf’s legs and pulled it closer to the tear.

You should’ve left me alone, pup. I felt my bones crack and begin to shift.

No! I screamed for the transformation to stop. I was still too weak to hold myself in this form.

The Dread Wolf just laughed at me. I fell on all fours and my scream turned into a howl as my body twisted into the hulking black wolf every elven mother warned their children would come for them if they wandered off alone. Blinking three pairs of scarlet eyes, my body leapt on the other alpha wolf sinking sharp teeth and claws in its hide.

The scent of the creature’s fear drove my lust for killing. The high-pitched whining coming from the other wolves encouraged the Dread Wolf. They knew this was a fight between two alpha males and wouldn’t intervene to save their leader. If he did not live through this he was seen as weak. The Dread Wolf knew this and relished in the battle. Sweet blood coated my tongue and I shook the alpha by the scruff. The torn Veil weakened the beast, causing him to split his priorities from keeping in his world and killing me.

With renewed, savage strength from the Dread Wolf, the scuffle didn’t even last a minute. I quickly dominated my attacker turning his silk black fur into a sticky mass of blood before throwing him into the Void for good measure. The howls of the alpha’s former pack mates brought my attention to them, but neither they nor I attacked. I won this battle. Heads bowed the pack whimpered and exchanged glances between where I stood and where the sliver of Void whirled. Rank fear smothered the fresh, winter air and the Dread Wolf decided to capitalize on such an easy defeat. Sitting back on my haunches, I proceeded to lick the top of one paw as if the fight didn’t ruffle my body. There is someone I need you to help. Do this for me and I’ll allow your pack to live.

A lithe, brown furred wolf padded toward me with head bowed in respect. You are Alpha now. The pack will do as you so order.

My limbs began to shake and the ill settling deep in my stomach grew into a nuisance. These wolves had to leave. Now!

There is another… like me… who will need guidance to find me… help her. The Dread Wolf ordered, ignoring my protests.

I projected an image of Ellana, hoping that the wolves’ minds were large enough to pick up the magic and recreate what I showed. For a few minutes the pack whimpered and growled between one another, then the brown female approached me once more. All six eyes blinked at her as I tried to pull off a bored expression while trying to hold down my last meal.

Too much… I need to return to my Elvhen form.

Inside the Dread Wolf growled a warning to me. You aren’t safe yet… hold out.

We make sure your mate finds you safe. The brown wolf whined, her tongue flopping out on one side of her jowls.

She’s not…

Good. Make sure you do, I replied. It was easier letting them believe the Herald and I were a mated pair. Wolves understood a simple dichotomy between male and female relationships and my head hurt too much to argue.

Make certain she does not see you. My head swam now with black dots filling in the powdery snow in my vision. I felt my balance tilt on its side, but none of the wolves looked at me confused so I probably was still standing. It was time, my strength and mana – coupled with blood loss – waned to thin fibres threading in desperation to keep me conscious.

Go now and leave me. I will know of your success when she shows up.

The wolves left with slight bows of their shaggy heads. As soon as they were specks on the horizon, I dropped the magic that held the tear in the Veil open and reverted to my elf form. I wretched every content in my stomach, including blood. My arms and knees shook from holding my weight, but I refused to fall onto my side.

I’m not strong enough yet… to transform… into wolf form.

Admit it. You enjoyed the killing. The Dread Wolf chuckled.

Leave me! I snarled, grabbing my head to steady the vertigo.

 Hours bled together until I stabilized long enough to pack up my belongings, break camp and stumble in the darkness and snow. The curtain of flakes impeded my vision, raking claws against my tattering tunic and leggings, making me hug my body to ward off the cold.

Then the skeletal remains of an abandoned campsite came into view. Its former inhabitants were days gone, but copper and iron pots littered the ground barely visible in the snow that quickly sought to reclaim the land. A few wooden polls stuck out of the frozen earth letting me know, by how fresh the wood was, that the survivors of Haven were the camp’s last occupants. Moving closer to the center, I set up my bedroll and built a fire. I glared at my own personal tent poles and canvas strapped along my backpack, but I didn’t want to waste my waning strength to set it up.

Getting any fire to burn with mostly damp wood was tricky, but with the help of magic, I was able to start a smoky one. The strains in my bones relaxed with the gradual warmth and tender massage from my hands. Slowly, I worked on bringing myself back to feeling like I did before Corypheus invaded Haven. Images of Ellana standing proud and defiant against the Darkspawn Magister filled me with honour and anger. Maybe she wasn’t Elvhen, but she was a better representative than any Dalish I ever met. I only hoped she survived the confrontation.

Solas… why did you think giving your orb to Corypheus was a smart idea?

. . .

Days passed as I followed the trail of broken down camps throughout the frozen wasteland as beacons to where Haven’s bulk wandered aimlessly. When I caught up to the current camp, I was greeted by some of Leliana’s scouts who directed me to the Nightingale.

“Solas, it’s good to see you made it. Cassandra and Varric made it two days prior.” Leliana greeted me with relief in her voice, but confusion and worry lingered in her gaze. “Where is the Herald?”

I glanced behind my shoulder toward the front of the camp and shook my head. “I don’t know if she made it out of Haven. I’m sorry.”

Her face fell. “Ah, I see… why don’t you go see Josephine or Mother Giselle to get some food and a check-up?”

As a mage, I could heal myself but my strength was too spent to summon up even meagre magic. I welcomed a chance to rest, eat and mundane medical attention. I walked deeper to the camp to where the white medical tents were erected to see Mother Giselle for treatment of my injuries, and a hot meal.

. . .

Commotion drew my attention a day later when the Inquisition’s Advisors rushed toward the entrance to the camp. Getting to my feet, I tried to see what started the uproar. That’s when I caught sight of her, and my heart lodged into my throat where it hammered. It took all my willpower not to run up to her to help her limp toward the medical tent. Ellana was pallid with lips and eyelids tinged blue from the cold. She shook with every step and appeared much thinner than I saw her at Haven, but she was alive. Alive…

I watched from the distance of my tent until she collapsed into a raised bed in Mother Giselle’s care. Once safe and cared for, I relaxed knowing that the wolves held up the end of their bargain. We were all united at last. As if to supply further proof, I noticed the hulking shapes and glowing eyes of the wolf pack skirting at the edges of the camp. Our eyes met and I nodded my thanks. The brown wolf sat back to deliver one long, low howl that caused some survivors to stiffen. When the howl faded, the wolves turned and ran into the depths of the forest. Their promise kept and duty fulfilled, they just wanted to let me know before they left for good.

With the question of the Herald’s survival answered, I walked back to my tent to think. It was time to give up some information since the Magister revealed himself.

How much do you intend to give, Solas? The Dread Wolf taunted.

I don’t know… but I pretty much did. Enough to sate her growing interest, but not so much to place viable blame on me. That she somehow survived Corypheus was nothing short of impressive, but no doubt she saw the orb he carried.

She might still blame you in the end.

I left my tent walking along the edge of the camp to stare out at the mountains. Erecting a brazier containing the blue flames of mage fire, I surveyed the familiar surroundings. These mountains hadn’t changed in all the millennia I slept, and I recalled the younger world as if it was a dream. Faint images of phantom Elvhen pilgrims astride sleek halla, directing laden aravels away from our homeland appeared alongside the campsite. Desperate expressions full of sorrow and suffering cast glances over their shoulders even as they followed their heavily armoured leaders. They were long dead now, echoes of the past that tore at my heartstrings.

Tarasyl’an Te’las would have people within her walls again. Ellana Lavellan’s will and determination earned the Inquisition that much respect from me. Besides, the fight with the wolf reminded me I still too feeble to face Corypheus alone. If I wished to attack him in the future I knew I would gain that opportunity at the Herald’s side. How the mountains surrounding us sloped, we were possibly a week’s trek out from my former fortress. My agents reported that we still had two weeks’ worth of supplies, and Leliana sent hunters out daily in search of fresh meat. We would make it if I could convince the Herald to move the Inquisition. The Advisors would listen to her unlike they would me.

That was for another time, for now, the Herald of Andraste needed rest and healing above all else. Speaking with her could with another day or two.

 The sun set once more before the Herald woke. I watched her throughout the entire night’s passing trying to formulate how to broach the subject about my orb. She spoke to Mother Giselle in hushed tones before getting to her feet and joining Cassandra and the Advisor over at a makeshift war table in escalating argument.

“Shadows fall and hope has fled. Steel your hearts. The dawn will come.” Mother Giselle started singing a low reverent voice, walking toward the Herald with slow strides and head bowed. “The night is long and the path is dark. Look to the sky, for one day soon; the dawn will come.”

My ears perked at the soothing sound, and I glanced up wistful at the full moon. Her soft tone, full of verbose melancholy, returned my thoughts to another war with its fated hero and another people seeking the faith from an unseen Creator. It transpired so long ago that it lay forgotten – trodden on by the feet of the living – but hearing the priestess singing breathed new life of those events inside me.

“The Shepherd’s lost and his home is far. Keep to the stars; the dawn will come.” Voices joined Mother Giselle’s as people emerged for their tents and crossed to the center of camp. “The night is long and the path is dark. Look to the sky, for one day soon; the dawn will come.”

Everyone drew nearer to Ellana singing and bowing to their knees at her feet. They sung in great reverence to the elven mage with fervent belief she was their Herald of Andraste. I watched on with narrowed eyes and thoughts that refused to quiet.

“Bare your blade, and raise it high. Stand your ground; the dawn will come.” No voice save my own held their silence now, and all looked at Ellana, expecting her to lead them out of the darkness they spoke of. “The night is long and the path is dark. Look to the sky, for one day soon; the dawn will come.”

I was leaned on my staff content to keep my distance until the song faded and I felt compelled to join the Herald. If I was to say anything it needed to be now while I still possessed a willingness to speak. Crossing behind the tents, I made my way to where Ellana stood with her back to me.

“Solas?”

I stopped and turned to see Mineve – the elf who studied creatures – standing with her hands folded in front of her. Catching my gaze, hers dropped as if she began regretting the interruption. I shook my head needing to get to the Herald.

“Speak to me at my tent later.” I left before the apprentice mage could react.

“It’s all one world, Herald. All that changes is our place in it.” Mother Giselle said to the Herald as she walked away.

Wise woman… one worth heeding if the Herald has a mind.

I approached Ellana from behind and caught her smouldering blue eyes still weary from her ordeal in the blizzard. “A word?”

Without altering my pace, I led the elven mage back to where I erected my brazier. With a casual wave of my hand and pull from my magic, I ignited the blue veil fire and turned to wait for her. My heart fluttered at the sensual dip of her hips as she drew near, and my pupils dilated as I caught that heady blend of her aroma. Remembering those stolen moments with Ellana before I left Clan Lavellan, I clasped my hands behind my back to keep from seizing her in a passionate kiss.

“The humans have not raised one of our people so high for ages beyond counting. Her faith is hard-won, Lethallan, worthy of pride… save one detail.”

Ellana stopped before the brazier and stared at me in confusion. The heat from her body washed over me, drawing the small hairs along the nape of my neck to stand on end. A slight flare of my nostrils was the sole show of arousal I allowed slip, but she didn’t catch notice.

I turned my body to keep a suddenly stiff member from drawing attention and angled my face toward her. Squaring my shoulders finished the calm façade I worked to establish in front of the Herald.

“The threat Corypheus wields? The orb he carried? It is ours.”

No doubt existed in my mind that the Magister carried the orb with him when he faced the Herald. Without taking the required time to study my orb, he had no idea that recovering the Anchor – once placed – was impossible. Likely, the creature didn’t even recognize his prize as Elvhen. That wouldn’t stop the boastful would-be god from correcting his first mistake.

“Corypheus used the orb to open the Breach. Unlocking it must have caused the explosion that destroyed the Conclave.” I hoped sharing this would spark her inquisitive nature just enough without casting suspicion on my knowing this information. “We must find out how he survived… and we must prepare for their reaction, when they learn the orb is of our people.”

Surprise sparked in Ellana’s eyes followed by subtle distress. “All right. What is it, and how do you know about it?”

Suspicion. Did I really doubt she wouldn’t make even a minor connection? She hadn’t outright accused me of withholding information, but she did demand an explanation. My heart skipped and my jaw ticked just slightly. I did so love her overpowering curiosity, so unlike her people. Fortunately, I devised an answer that should sate her questions without revealing more than I was ready to give.

“Such things were foci, said to channel power from our gods.” I shifted my weight from side to side, easing the tension from my abdomen. “Some were dedicated to specific members of our pantheon.”

As this orb is dedicated to me…

“All that remain are references in ruins, and faint visions of memory in the Fade. Echoes of a dead empire.”

I told her the truth, while skirting around my direct involvement. She would believe I came upon the answer through my many trips to the Fade and, by omission, I would be saving her from a cruel truth.

“But however Corypheus came to it, the orb is Elven, and with it, he threatens the heart of human faith.”

Another of my many mistakes that needs correcting.

Ellana blinked and shifted to let my words settled inside. Her eyes reflected sorrow and she sighed. “Even if we defeat Corypheus, eventually they’ll find a way to blame elves.”

Unless I tear down the Veil before they find out…

I furrowed my brows. “I suspect you are correct. It is unfortunate, but we must be above suspicions to be seen as valued allies.”

She needed to think I stood on her side, ready to die for her at a moment’s notice. Only then would I be able to fit the pieces of the puzzle flush, and enact my plan with her still blissfully unaware of my intentions. It was a dangerous game I played, but with benefits exponentially greater than the risk. It was time to solidify my alliance with this Inquisition and give its Herald my most valuable card aside from my true self.

“Faith in you is shaping this moment, but it needs room to grow.”

All suspicion of me drained from her face replaced by a hungry inquiry. I fed off it as my eyes traced the mountains in the distance. “By attacking the Inquisition, Corypheus has changed it. Changed you.”

Fanning out the fingers of one hand, I pointed to a distance from us. “Scout to the North. Be their guide.”

Bringing my hand to rest back at my side, she returned her attention me. I gave her a faint smile knowing she would catch on to what I was offering to the Inquisition. “There is a place that waits for a force to hold it. There is a place where the Inquisition can build… Grow…”

Ellana’s eyes narrowed, her brow puckered together and she shook her head. “What place is that? How will I possibly find it?”

For a few minutes I let the silence grow. I had her attention captured and now it was time to ensnare it for my uses. “Skyhold… I will guide you, Herald.”

Ellana searched my eyes but I held my gaze firm so not to betray my plans. “Alright, Solas, we’ll leave at dawn.”

I raised a brow at her statement.

“I’m fine. Don’t worry.”

“Ellana… you’re our salvation.” I amended the words I really wanted to say. “We can’t afford to lose you.”

“You won’t.” Her fingers grazed along the tip of my shoulder, spreading a blush across my cheeks. Pausing, her tongue wet the bottom of her lip, and I saw her throat working as if deciding whether to chance a kiss.

I took a step back and bowed my head. “Good night, Lethallan.”

As I made my way back to my tent, I kept my gaze straight ahead, not chancing a glance backward.

Solas… idiot… just give in… how long has it been since you took someone to your bed?

Too long…

Would one night really kill you?

Yes!

“Solas?”

“Ah – Mineve and… Elan Ve’Mal. On dhea’lam.” This served as a pleasant enough distraction from the persistent desires growing deep in my groin They both met my eyes and stood with rigid postures. I clasped both of my hands behind my back, and gestured for the two of them to accompany me inside my tent. “An’daran Atish’an. Thu ea?”

“Ma enaste lan em lath’in’iseth.” Elan Ve’Mal said as she entered through the tent flap. “Ame son, emma serannas.”

Mineve dipped her head in respect. “En’an’sal’enast ea amahn. Am son, i na?”

I gave a tired sigh, but managed a ghost of a smile. “Am te’son, emma serannas.”

She nodded and we followed Elan Ve’Mal inside. The apprentice mage wrung her clenched hands in front of her, and kept glancing at the other red-headed elven woman dressed in dressed in a modest peasant dress.

“Something bothers you, Mineve?” I drained a water flask into two goblets and set them down for the ladies.

“Ma serannas, Ha’hren.” Elan picked up a goblet and took a drink.

Mineve followed suit, but tapped a finger on the goblet’s rim. “Are the vallaslin tattoos unique to the Dalish? Or is that another thing we got wrong as well?”

I sighed and shook my head. “It is complicated and I don’t have time to explain. The Herald wants us to move out tomorrow.”

“So… what would you have me do?” Mineve asked, and I saw the hesitation mixed with fear clouding her eyes.

As a new recruit to my network of spies, I understood. She only found out less than a month ago that I was Fen’Harel when I approached her about working for me. Unanswered questions still reflected in her eyes, but it was the Dalish fables she grew up on as a child that kept her from voicing them. Such a contrast to Ellana’s boldness.

“I have set up a replacement for you so you can become my eyes and ears in far flung places of the world, while continuing your research for the Inquisition.” My gaze moved over to Elan. “You, I will keep close, taking Adan’s place since the two of you have prior history together in the College.”

Both elves nodded and listened as I discussed my plans with them in further detail. They were polite and strict in their formality, reminding me of the old days living in Arlathan. A few hours dragged closer toward the morning when I finally told them to get some sleep. Once alone, I turned down the fur in my bedroll and shrugged out of my clothing. I stretched all the kinks out in my back and limbs before snuggling deep in my thick furs.

Sleep found me in a vision of a glorious raven-haired elven woman and a forbidden love I struggled to keep at bay.