#is your name tow mater too

[chokedonaturtle]

my humanized cars headcanons

Tow Mater Edition

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- Mater grew up in the countryside / suburb mountains, kinda fending for himself

- he was around 10 when he stumbled into radiator springs when he got off on the wrong stop of the greyhound and good ol Sheriff found him just standing there like 𖠋

- Big Al sorta took him under his wing until he left once Mater was a big boy

- Can’t cook for shit on a conventional stove BUT can make a mean BBQ anything

- Got his truck at a scrapyard and fixed it up with Doc’s help

- LOVES little nicknacks and makes everyone special little things out of scrap

made Doc a tiny hudson hornet keychain and Doc keeps it on his keys

Lightning got a piston cup made of scrap the year of the tiebreaker

even Tex got a tiny little dino wearing a cowboy hat that he keeps on his desk bc he thinks it’s silly !!

- Mater has no balance whatsoever

bro is always walking in a zigzag and lightning has to physically restrain him to one side

- he makes Red cry ALL THE TIME and doesn’t mean to 😭

Mater: “damn it’s witherin’ season already???” 🥀

Red: 😫💦

- you thought tex was tall?? this kid is like 100 feet tall bro (he’s 6’3……) 🧍‍♂️

- memorized all the eye charts in Doc’s clinic and now Doc has no idea if Mater can see or not (he can’t)

- has the worst attention span

Mater: “doc my bones be hurtin”

Doc: “where point to it”

Mater: “… point to who… crazy old man 🤨🤨”

AND

will ONLY remember something if it’s told to him when he’s not giving you 100% of his attention

🚫 NO

Doc: “and you… because… when… in case…”

Mater: “uh huh yes sir 🤨❓(fuk he say????)”

✅ YES

Lightning: “so we have to be out of here by 6:30 if we wanna get there by 10”

Mater: “do re me fa, so le ti do. 🐢🪇 (core memory unlocked!!)”

- is the reason the sheriff sleeps so much during the day and FAR away from Mater

bro has to be supervised at night bc

1. he’s afraid of the ghost light and cries if he’s alone

2. goes cow tipping

3. wakes people up bc he’s bored

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that is all from me again KACHOW

<3

[kokorowoutsu]

📼 + Grusha

"Mater... How long will you be gone this time?" The little boy asks the leafeon with the colors of ice and snow. She's a traveler and keeping her still for too long is a miracle, but this little boy she had resurrected somehow with her icy touch had managed to keep her still for six years now. The road -- her ship -- was calling, but she actually had a rather good reason for wanting to leave at the moment.

There was a region far to the north that had a particular pokemon that she wanted to bring home for her son. He could easily go on without one, but with his keen interest in Pokemon Snowboarding, he would need a total of three to compete, and this one was made for the snow. She kneels down and offers a smile to her son, gently petting his soft blue and white hair. "Not long, little Snowflake. Your Uncle Joseph will be staying with you while i'm gone. Be good for him, okay?" He gave his usual pout but he put on a brave face, as usual, a few seconds later. "Be safe, Mater." His blessing she found so endearing. "That's my boy." A kiss to his forehead then.

She leaves and calls for her brother to hurry his ass up because she doesn't want her precious snowflake unattended. He gripes a bit but all is good.

--

A few days later she returns with the package in tow; a variant Poochyena who has a rather curious personality, but had been a good pup nonetheless. He would be good for Grusha -- protect and most of all, teach him some responsibility. Not that Grusha hadn't learned it from an early age, she had made sure, but when her son's eyes lit up with wonder at the sight of the cooler-colored Poochyena compared to its Hoenn cousin, she can't help but smile. She can feel her brother itching to question her on why, but she can only offer a paw up to silence him as her son happily plays with his new companion.

"Mater! Can I name him?"

"Of course. He'll need a good one." She reminds him.

"Togo! After the story you told me!" Grusha smiles that smile that melts her heart and she nods in approval. Even her brother does.

"Togo it is."

[wasabito]

➽ impatient collab masterlist — hosted by the lovely @ultimate-astridwriting

➽ words: 1.0k

➽ prompt: “really? you wanna have sex... here? now?”

➽ cw/tags: heavy-petting, fingering, nipple play, pet names, established relationship & fun times in a public gym lol

Shouta Aizawa was the last person anyone would’ve called impulsive. He was a straight-laced man after all. It wasn’t in his nature to do things unpremeditated. Things were always planned out to the letter and executed with the utmost precision. A fact that held true even as he continued his career as a pro-hero and eventually a teacher at his alma mater. 

Nearly everything about him, down to the socks he wore each morning, was deliberate and intentional. 

However, life was fickle in contrast; realistically speaking, nothing really ever went according to plan. Sometimes, one had to learn the beauty of improvising.

Which was exactly what he was doing, lips locked with yours, two fingers knuckles deep in your cunt. Let no person say that Aizawa couldn’t be spontaneous when given the perfect opportunity, because that simply wasn’t true.

“Really? You wanna have sex…. here? Now?”

You had sounded so surprised, unsure even, when he first broached the topic. It was a novelty he was not accustomed to.

The 24-hour gym facility the two of you had discovered was somewhat of a hole-in-the-wall. Perfect for a hero like him who wasn’t fond of being accosted by civilians (though that was rare). You both had so much energy left to burn even after a full day's events, what better way to do so than with brazilian calisthenics. 

Who cared if it was well past midnight?

He kept his gaze on you nearly the entire time. With every twist and turn of your body, Aizawa felt his mouth go dry. The way sweat licked at your skin, glistening under the bright lights. The way your gym clothes clung to your body like second skin. Every move you made seemed to douse his libido in gasoline.

Forty minutes into the workout, and you had begun to breathe heavy. You bent over to stretch, perky ass tooted in the air—Aizawa would’ve accused you of teasing him if he hadn’t known any better. You looked about ready to topple over, there was no faking that.

“Let’s hit the showers before you pass out.” he said while he toweled off his neck. “If you faint, I won’t bother dragging your butt all the way home.”

You had pouted softly before taking a sip from his bottle. “So mean…anyway, I feel gross so there’s no need for empty threats.”

Grabbing your gym bag, you headed towards the communal showers, completely unaware of the downright debauched look your boyfriend was giving you while he silently followed behind. 

Despite your initial confusion, persuading you hadn’t been hard at all. You merely smirked, teeth sinking into your bottom lip as your fingers made quick work of his shirt, tossing the hindrance overhead. You’d backed yourself into a corner of a random shower cubicle with him in tow, providing yourselves with a barely passable amount of cover. 

“I really wanna ask what’s gotten into you, Shou. But whatever it is, I think I’m diggin’ it.”

Aizawa gave nothing more than a groan as you palmed his growing erection, wondering how long he had been enduring the strain in his pants. He had little to worry about though, you were intent on taking care of him.

You tugged on his waistband, and at the same time, he fumbled with the straps of your sports bra. 

“Here, let me.” Grinning wickedly, you pulled it off in one fluid motion. Your breasts were free for only a second before Aizawa had them in his hands, squeezing lightly and peppering them with kisses. 

It was a good thing the entire facility was empty. At almost two in the morning, the chances of you being interrupted was negligible. 

Aizawa’s tongue darted past his lips to lick and suck at your pert nipples. He rolled each one with his tongue, giving equal attention to both. All the while, you grinded into his bare thigh, desperate for some form of friction. Slowly, methodically, he kissed his way up your collarbone and neck until his lips were just shy of your ear. “Need a hand?”

You shivered and nodded.

Getting your leggings off was no great feat, but the strength to keep his shit together in the face of your naked body—now that required mental fortitude. You reached for him again, stroking him slowly, loving the way he panted in your ear. His calloused fingers had already slid between your thighs, prodding you. Soon enough he was slipping a single finger in, then another right after that.

“O-Oh, right there,” you breathed, backed against the cold tiled walls. “God—I can’t believe I let you talk me into this—” Your words were cut short by a moan falling from your lips.

“Oh, kitten~ you’re so cute, making those sounds for me. You can relax; I’ve got you.” 

At the sound of his rumbling voice, you felt as if butterflies had been set loose in your stomach. Though you could barely make out anything more with the way your heart was pounding in your ears. The fingers he had in you crooked, pressing against a specific bundle of nerves that had you quite literally seeing stars.

“Fuck, Shou—don-don’t stop.” You felt yourself tense against him, fingers digging into his shoulder blade. Your legs were like jelly, but thankfully, Aizawa held you flush against him. With your breasts pinned against his chest, and his fingers pumping in out of you, your attention was divided. You didn’t know what to focus on, except the fire burning under your skin. 

Aizawa pressed firm kisses along your jawline, trailing up until his lips were stitched with yours in a searing kiss. “Such a pretty kitty,” he whispered against your bottom lip. “Look at how wet you are. This all for me?”

You wanted to respond. But a half-second later, you both were shot with a spray of ice cold water, causing you to yelp, scrabbling further into Aizawa's fumbling arms.

“Shit—” 

“They’re automatic!” You squeaked. 

Apparently, the shower head that hung over the two of you was motion sensitive. And sadly, you had taken the brunt of it, leaving you chilly and shivering, your lust momentarily mollified.

Aizawa pushed his hair back with a sigh. “Guess we’ll have to finish this at home...any objections?”

With a pout, you crossed both arms around his neck, leaning your weight on his sturdier frame. Maybe you could get some of his body heat too.

“Not really… so long as you don’t fall asleep on me, ya bum.”

Your only consolation was a chuckle from him as he wrapped an arm around your hips.

“Trust me, I won’t. Not until I wear you out at least.”

You’d just have to hold him to that promise.

[luminous-shifting-vibes]

actual fucking quotes from the shiftblr coffeehouse discord server

out of context of course, what do you take me for? a sane person?

"they made lightning mcqueen hot"

"inch resting"

"Nix: Cars (2006) several people are typing..."

"im evaporating"

"enjoy precipitation"

"tow mater is more attractive than lightning mcqueen/hj"

"lightning mcqueen looks like he would call me a slur"

"why did I come back to a discussion regarding the attractiveness of vehicles"

"lark is the braincell of shiftblr tbh"

"you all need some grass in your life"

"me over here simping for block men and now literal cars"

"didn't nick wilde commit fraud canonically"

"i have no strong opinions on whether or not nick wilde is attractive"

"I AM AROMANTIC AND I AM NOT IMMUNE TO NICK WILDE"

"I am bisexual and I. Am not into Nick Wilde based on a simple fact he looks like he will drink all my pepsi and call me names"

"What is shiftbkr but not a bunch of simps"

"cries in Bianca Monroe"

"listen i have a folder called gayass

it is mostly pictures of kyoka jiro and virgil sanders"

"Nick Wilde x Reader where he steals your car 📷 carjacker to lovers AU 📷"

"he says "mama i like to step on keyboard""

"MY MOM JUST WALKED IN AND I HAD TO TELL HER I WAS LOOKING AT LIGHTING MC QUEEN HUMAN FANART"

"crab walks away"

""Y/N..." Nick whispered into your ear. "Your car...is a Honda Civic, right?" You looked up at Nick with a baffled expression. "Nick, my beloved? Whatever are you talking about?" "Just asking..." He said as he let you out of his embrace. "Hey, wanna see a magic trick, babe?" Your eyes sparkled. "Really, Nick? Of course!" Nick smiled. "Ok, close your eyes!" You giggled and closed your eyes, waiting for Nick to tell you to open up. Instead, you heard the loud rumble of a car starting up, and you open your eyes. Nick has stolen your car, and he has driven off into the sunset..."

"did y'all know his name used to be canonically Montgomery--he changed it to lightning mcqueen to get rid of his past"

"That is my exit number"

"cars trauma arc"

"wait do y'all know about car jesus" "as if jesus wasn't a ford focus in the bible"

"oh yall do not want to know about the trauma in my cars dr lmao"

"Dewit tau style babey make Lightning McQueen outlive everyone and stalk their reincarnations"

"Do they baptize other cars in like gasoline then"

"there is a pope car in the cars universe which means car jesus died for cars sins"

"NOT THE BOOMER MEMES"

"-lays facedown on the floor while caramelldansen plays-"

"like im serious how many of you guys endorse me falling face down on my floor" (NOT THE SAME PERSON AS PREVIOUS QUOTE)

"I will be Tall and no one can stop me"

"is a soft floor?"

"stop I thought faceplant meant like a succulent in the shape of a face instead of falling onto your noggin for a solid 10 seconds"

"Touch some grass??? What about eating grass"

"what if for every employee of the month i just printed out really horrible boomer memes"

"what ab smoking grass /j"

"Can the grassdirt smoothie be a special in the cafe"

"PLEASE IM ROLLING ON THE FLOOR REWRITINH THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE WHIKE SPEEDRUNINT MINECRAFT"

"you have to get good dirt from like the middle of a pennsylvanian forest for it to taste good though"

"I ate a four leaf clover as a kid cause i thought it would make me lucky"

"guys how do i see the mee6 leaderboard"

"I used to think i was half dragon and I ate plants out of sidewalk cracks"

"i think i punched someone"

"my parents told me to stop doing that so I looked at them and ate a flower"

"I ate grass when I was 9 bc I read warrior cats and thought I was a medicine cat ....................."

"bees are just spicy flies"

"I had a mental breakdown when I was three cause I didn’t know how to turn off a phone"

"My mom drank a bee once"

"when I was a baby I kinned ink sans."

"bro who here find the yellow hat man from curious george fine as heck 📷📷📷"

"mY LUNGSSSSSS"

"no one topping Him"

"I like em big"

"I think Moto Moto has no game like move over hunky boy I could beat you 1v1 Roblox Arsenal 📷📷📷"

"If you didnt have a crush on springtrap, jeff the killer, or Underfell/Gaster/Error sans don't talk to me /j"

"LOOK THEY'RE BOTH DILFS WITH ABS THAT WOULD FIGHT GOD"

"ZORO IS BANNED"

"Guys please help I found my old fnaf fanart from when I was 8 I'm in literal tears"

"OH NO BOT MY FIFTH GRADE HAMILTON PHASE"

"The worst attraction ive ever had has to be Sombra Overwatch"

"My family is like "save all ur art so I can sell it when you're famous" I literally could not sell this if I tried"

"screaming puppet"

"I just remembered Ive drawn overwatch/hamilton crossover fanart"

"my hermit crabs ate each other again"

"we're cannibals ????"

"having me here is a curse you have inflicted on yourselves and I for one am glad for it <3" "scitters around like a crab in anticipation"

"CARB DAY"

"WE NEED TO HAVE A WATCH OARTY"

"hey y'all ill be right back i have to throw away a crab carcass"

"if I watch cars I'm going to start laughing in the middle of it nonstop just because the word cars is funny and also cars are funny like how do you move silly little metal box with rubber circles"

"Lark asleep post catboy pitbul"

"Mwista Wowldwide! Nya!" "hermit crab 2: electric boogaloo"

"Is that why your name is chaos"

"manifest the crab power!!"

"cool dex fact: i can't read 📷"

"sighs adds to worship these entities list"

"with a knife <3"

"yeah and if he betrays me I could probably throw him across the atlantic ocean"

"give me his eyes"

"my good citizen i am a- wait no im nonbinary nvm"

"it worked on a fish idk what to tell you"

"what is gender??? Is that a board game?? If so can I be apples to apples that one's my favorite"

"CHUTES AND LADDERS"

"anyways actually my gender is Candyland"

"Oh god romes the destroyer of friendships/j"

"i am a simple gay i see math i run in the opposite direction survival instincts 101"

"math my beloathed"

"algebra makes me want to rip open a bag of swedish fish and swallow them whole"

"cackles in they're au characters and this will be very fun"

"pog !!!! me too ksajgks one of my drs is a sanders sides au"

"Is that bipper"

"tumblr sexyman"

"Good because he’ll fuck u up if u hurt a child"

"I want a wing-suit"

"looks like a bean would poison someone"

"my hermit crabs are cannibals what can i say"

"sonic the hedgehog kinnie"

"get yourself a man who is capable of the most ungodly actions but won't do them because of their morality owo"

"tell him he can steal my wallet"

"eyes"

"idk about y'all but I need blueberry sweet tea to live"

"y'know the red souls from soul eater i really want to eat those"

"but like only respectable crimes like stealing from elon musk"

"You can go cultbashing with he!"

"He acts like a flamboyant gay man, but if a flamboyant gay man was straight."

"Simp Satan 📷"

"definitely arson"

"They look like they enjoy lemon squares and other lemon desserts"

"Satan is all-powerful but he spends most of his time building honeymoon locations because he is convinced that the protag loves him"

"bc shes the reincarnation of his dead wife or something i guess"

annd here's a quote from our very own dream (@shiftingwastaken) that sums this post up:

"shiftblr but context makes it worse"

[nalgenewhore]

Slipping Through My Fingers - Nine

masterlist - ao3 - last chapter - next chapter 

warnings: none 

an: ...enjoy darlings 

“Dad. Dad. Dad. Dad. Dad. Dad. Dad—”

“Ko, Hellas, kid, what,” Lorcan groaned, rubbing his eyes as he rolled over onto his back. Kohana had snuck into his bed late last night and curled up on his chest to sleep. Lorcan hadn’t said a word, but he’d stayed awake for hours after, feeling his son’s tears drip onto his skin and the way Ko’s little frame shook. Of course, in the morning, Kohana was stretched out over the mattress, forcing his father to the edge of the bed with his vicious, subconscious kicks and pushes. 

“Can I have breakfast now?”

Lorcan sighed through his nose and looked at his clock, “Man, it’s six am, go back to sleep.” Kohana pouted and crossed his arms. He made his eyes big and wide, dipping his chin. “It’s not even light outside, prince.”

“Pretty please?” 

Lorcan narrowed his eyes at his son and Kohana pouted harder, faking a sniffle. “Dude. That’s not even fair.” 

“But I’m hungry, até,” he whined. “I want breakfast!” He continued to pout and hold Lorcan’s eyes until he gave in and got up from bed. 

“Alright, let’s go then,” Lorcan conceded, rubbing his eyes again as he picked Kohana up and put him on his feet, herding his child downstairs. “Whaddya want, K-Man?” 

They arrived at the top of the stairs and Kohana hopped down, landing on each step with two feet. “Fuckin’ cereal.” 

Lorcan rose a brow, looking down at Kohana, “A bad word, really?” 

“Yeah,” Kohana said, hopping off the last step, “I think sometimes you need bad words, Dad.” He paused and titled his head to the side. “Right?” 

“That’s right.” 

Pleased, the five-year old ran off to the kitchen, climbing up on one of the barstools. He waited patiently as Lorcan got out two bowls and filled them with cornflakes and milk. “Dad?”

“Yeah?” 

“Can we watch a movie?” 

“Yeah, what do you wanna watch?” 

“Mmm. Dunno.” 

“Why don’t you think on that while you eat?”

Kohana nodded and started eating while Lorcan made his coffee. He loved the kid, but he could do without the before sunrise wake ups, especially if he had to see Elide later that day. Oh, fuck it all to hell. He’d forgotten all about that. 

“Dad, I decided. Cars.” 

“Solid choice, kid.” 

+*+*+*+*+*+*

Her heart was so heavy. Elide almost couldn’t bear to open her eyes in the morning, but she had to. She couldn’t just wallow in her self-loathing and self-pity for the entire day, so she dragged herself out of bed and shoved on her retro, cat-eye glasses, not having enough energy to put on her contacts. 

Shuffling to her closet, Elide pondered what was an appropriate outfit for going to the mechanic to see someone she’d hooked up with twice and semi-broken up with once. Maybe twice, she hadn’t decided what last night was yet. 

Leggings and a hoodie from her alma mater would have to do, she decided. 

As she waited for her coffee to be ready, Elide accepted Nehemia’s call. “Hey, Mi.” 

“El, honey, how are you?” Nehemia’s voice was soft and gentle. After she’d gotten home last night, she had called Nehemia and Aelin and cried like a fool. 

Now, she breathed out shakily, “Oh, you know. Getting ready to go to the mechanic’s. How about you?” 

“I’m so sorry, hon. Are you sure about the date tonight?” 

Ah, yes. The date. Originally, she hadn’t been interested when Nehemia had asked her a few days ago, but she’d still said yes. Now, she was even less excited, but… “No, don’t cancel. It’ll be nice - I’ll get to take my mind off the Lorcan situation, right?” 

Nehemia agreed, “Right. Well. Ooh, we could go out and get a new dress, you know? I’ll call Aelin and pick you up at the shop.” 

Elide smiled and wedged her phone between her chin and shoulder as she poured her coffee into her ice-filled tumbler, stirring with her straw until it was cold. “Alright. That sounds nice.” 

“Good. I’ll see you later, then. Bye, honey!” 

“Bye, Mi,” Elide said. She sipped her coffee as she navigated to the Uber app on her phone and ordered a car. After confirming the ride, she grabbed her keys and wallet, stuffing them all in her front pocket. 

She shoved her hair up into a messy bun and tied her hoodie strings into a bow before putting on her old slip-on Vans and leaving her apartment. 

+*+*+*+*+*+*

As soon as Lorcan parked the truck outside the shop, Kohana was unbuckling his seatbelt and leaping from the vehicle to sprint inside, the two braids he wore his hair in flying out behind him. He shouted his arrival to the entire shop. 

Lorcan followed at a calmer pace and smiled when he walked in to see Fenrys holding his nephew upside down by the ankle. “Morning, Fen.” 

“Hey, man. Tow truck just dropped off Elide’s VW,” Fenrys said, his voice piqued in curiosity. 

Offering nothing more than a hum in response, Lorcan headed off to his bay, smirking to himself when he heard Fenrys mutter a curse and quickly make his way over as Lorcan hung up his jacket and unlocked his tool chest. 

“Can I help you with something?” he asked Fenrys mildly. Fenrys huffed and switched his hold on Kohana, swiftly depositing the kid on the ground. 

“Man-Man, why don’t you go find Grampy? I think he could use some help.” 

Kohana nodded and was off before Lorcan could protest, looking to use his son as a shield of sorts against Fenrys’ next barrage of needling questions. Fenrys crossed his arms. “Why is Elide’s car here?” 

“Because her coolant reservoir is in need of replacement.” 

“And?” 

“An oil change, probably. Basic maintenance - you know how old cars are.” 

Fenrys scoffed and rolled his eyes. “Lorcan.” 

“Fenrys.” He was leveled with a cutting look and relented. “Hellas below, man, we were driving home yesterday and saw her and her car broken down on the side of the road. Gave her a ride home. Nothing happened.” 

Narrowing his eyes, Fenrys stared at him until he sighed through his nose. “I mean, a’ight, I guess. Whatever you say, L.” He made to go but then, “Hey. Are you still ok with that date tonight?” 

Shit. He’d forgotten all about that. “Um, I kinda forgot? I don’t have anyone to watch the kid, but if I did, then yeah.” Lorcan didn’t know what had possibly possessed him to say yes, but the presence at his shoulder urged him to go through with it. “I mean… as long as they aren’t, like, racist, homophobic or otherwise bigotted, I think we’ll be fine.” 

Relief flooded Fenrys’ face, “Ok, that’s good. Me and Mi will watch Man-Man tonight.” 

“Thanks. ‘K I need to get to…” he gestured to the car and Fenrys nodded, dapping him up before he left. 

Lorcan sighed deeply and sat on his wheeled stool, pushing himself over to the popped hood and looking into the car. “Alright, Bets, let’s see what we can do.” 

+*+*+*+*+*+*

Elide thanked and tipped her driver, her iced coffee nearly gone as she climbed out of the car and stood in front of Scéalaí Auto Repairs, frowning up at the sign. 

An older man, with tanned skin and grey hair walked out, a familiar child on his hip. “Hello. Can I help you?” 

Kohana yelled her name, “Elide, hi-hi! Grampy, that’s Elide.”  

“Hey, Kohana,” Elide replied, smiling fondly before addressing the older man. “Hi, I’m looking for Lorcan?” 

“Oh, yeah, he’s in the back. Come on, I’ll show you,” the man said, beckoning her to follow. “I’m Malakai, by the way. It’s nice to meet you, Elide. Kohana here talks a lot about you. “

She smiled and toyed with the string of her hoodie, “Well, Kohana just might be my favourite student. Him and Esther, of course.” 

The child lit up at the mention of his friend and smiled wildly as Malakai showed her to the back bay. “Son,” Malakai said, rapping on the bay’s door. “Elide’s here.” 

Anxiety swirled in her gut and Elide drank from her coffee just to have something to do. She heard the music - N.W.A’s Fuck Tha Police - turn down low and the metallic clink of tools being put down before heavy steps approached the door and Lorcan walked out. 

She had to physically stop her jaw from dropping open as he appeared, wearing a cutoff tee and a pair of dark washed jeans, slung low across his hips. His hair was half-up, half-down, two braids leading to a bun at the crown of his head. ”Hey, El. Cute glasses.” 

The nickname just sort of seemed to roll off his tongue and her heart did a happy little flip before she quashed the feeling and hid it with an eye roll of annoyance at his comment. “Hey. How is she?” 

Lorcan ducked his head and chuckled, “Betsy’s good. Just a little finicky but she likes me.” He smirked when she rolled her eyes once more. “Come on back, we can talk.” She froze and tried to school her expression. Evidently, it didn’t work because Lorcan held up a hand, the universal sign for chill, “About your car.” 

“Oh,” she felt her cheeks flush and drank the last of her coffee, hoping it would cool her down. “Yeah. For sure.” 

Malakai and Kohana, who had been watching the entire exchange, shared a weird look and promptly excused themselves. Elide followed Lorcan into the bay and smiled at her car, patting the headlight. “Hey, Bets.” 

A soft chuckle escaped Lorcan’s full lips and he sat down on a stool while motioning for her to take a seat at the desk. Elide stepped over to it and hovered, carefully moving things to the side so she could sit on it, her feet dangling in the air. “So. Let’s talk.” 

+*+*+*+*+*+*

“Mi-Mi!” 

“Ko, baby,” Nehemia said, crouching and hugging Kohana. “Oh, child, I missed you.” She stood up and picked him up, booping his nose which made him giggle. “Did you see your mama yesterday?” 

“Yeah, saw mama. We had pancakes, but Dad had waffles. Auntie D had pancakes too,” he told her, lying his head on her shoulder. “You know what happened, we driving home and sawed Elide, ‘cause her car broked, you know.” 

Nehemia nodded and hummed in response, rubbing his back soothingly. “Did that daddy of yours tell you you’re coming over to me and Fenny’s home tonight?” 

Shooting upright, Kohana gawked, “Really?” He smiled so widely when Nehemia nodded in confirmation. “Do I get to sleep over?” 

“Mm-hmm,” she said, kissing the top of his head. “You know what I was thinking?” 

“What?” 

“I was thinking… we could watch Atlantis and make you some grilled cheese and ice cream. What do you think?” Kohana straightened and pressed his nose against hers, looking fiercely into her eyes. She held his stare until he nodded and smiled again, his round cheeks dimpling. “Now, let’s go find that silly uncle of yours, huh?” 

Kohana giggled and carefully touched the shimmery, golden powder on her regal cheekbone, his eyes wide in near reverence. “So shiny, Mi-Mi. Can I have some?” 

“Of course you can, malaika,” she told him, putting him down when they reached the back office. “Fenrys?” Her husband snapped his head up from where he was hunched over something and grinned. 

“Man-Man, you ready for the best night of your life?” 

Kohana’s eyebrows raised and he asked, “The best night?” He looked to Nehemia for confirmation, repeating the question. 

“Swear on my mama. Best night ever, with your favourite auntie.” Kohana made a happy sound and wiggled to be put down. Nehemia obliged him and told him to be careful around the shop. He just nodded absentmindedly and raced off. She watched him fondly, smiling as she felt Fenrys wrap his arms around her waist. 

Nehemia twisted around to face him, “Hi, baby.” 

“Hi,” he said, toying with the hem of her crop top. “Not that I’m complaining, but why’re you here?” 

“I’m taking El out shopping after she’s done with Lor,” she smiled, smiling at him and rocking onto her tiptoes to kiss her husband. Fenrys hummed and kissed her back, pulling her tightly against him. “Speaking of, let’s go check on them.” 

Fenrys groaned when she pulled away and grabbed his hand, tugging him behind her as she walked across the shop floor to Lorcan’s bay. Without knocking, Nehemia breezed in, “Hello, hello.” 

They were obviously interrupting something. Elide had her hand on Lorcan’s cheek and her thumb dragged gently, almost reverently, over a smudge of grease on his sharp sharp cheekbone. They didn’t even realize they weren’t alone as Lorcan’s mouth parted and Elide ran her fingertips down to his plush lips, their eyes locked on one another as her teeth sunk into her bottom lip and Lorcan sucked in a breath. 

Fenrys coughed and the moment was shattered as they practically leapt apart, blushing furiously as they parted.

“Hey, Mia,” Lorcan said, standing to cross over to her and give her a hug. “Have you seen my offspring around?” 

“Yeah, I think he went to annoy Luca. The boy’s working on a wicked hangover right now.” 

They all laughed at that and Elide hopped off her perch on the desk, grabbing her empty cup. “Ae texted me, she said she’s on her way.” 

“Oh, where y’all going?” Fenrys asked mildly. Nehemia shot him a weird look – he knew exactly where they were going. He subtly shook his head as he leaned against the doorframe. 

Elide frowned and did not look at Lorcan as she replied, as evenly as possible, “Shopping.” 

“Ooooo,” Fenrys said, looking way too entertained. He nudged Nehemia and she immediately started in on his shenanigans. “Whatcha shopping for?” 

“I don’t know,” she muttered, glaring daggers at Nehemia. 

“That’s not true – girl’s got a hot date tonight!” 

Fenrys gasped dramatically, “A date?” 

Elide shot the man a glare that promised a slow, slow death, unaware of Lorcan frowning for a split second and the muscle in his jaw ticking. “Yes. A date.” 

The smiling man contemplated something and then gasped again, “Oh my gods! You know who also has a date tonight?” No one answered, not that it really mattered. “That’s right – Lorcan!” 

Lorcan looked like he was praying that his Creator take him to the next life right that moment as his cheeks flushed and he intensely avoided looking anywhere near the petite, dark haired woman next to him. 

Nehemia and Fenrys were practically feeding off the thick cloud of uncomfortability hanging around the room. Elide chewed on her straw. Lorcan fiddled with the screw on his adjustable wrench. They did not look at each other. 

Elide shot Nehemia a look that screamed Help me and Nehemia nodded, smiling as she hooked her arm through Elide’s, “Welp, we should get going. See you later, boys.” 

+*+*+*+*+*+*

“But, Dad, why can’t you stay too?” 

Lorcan looked down at his son, who looked up at him with a sad light in his eyes. “I have plans, kiddo.” 

“Can I come?” 

“No dice, K-Man. Remember, you’re gonna have so much fun with your auntie and uncle,” he said, knocking on the door of Nehemia and Fenrys’ townhouse. They waited a few seconds and then heard someone running to the door. 

Nehemia was smiling as she opened the door, “Guys! Hi, come in.” 

Kohana smiled and padded in, hugging his rainbow mini-Kanken packed with all his overnight stuff to his front. “Mholo, Mi-Mi.” 

“Oh, that is very good, Ko,” Nehemia said, smiling down at the little one as he put down his bag and sat down to take off his shoes. It was a little bit of a competition between all of the adults – whose language Kohana would speak the best. So far, it had been Eyllwe in the lead. That probably had something to do with Kohana’s favouritism concerning Nehemia. “What’s happening?” 

“Not much, you know. Dad has plans. I’m not allowed to go.” 

“Well, that’s fine – you’ll have more fun with me and your Fenny, anyways, right?” 

Lorcan huffed a laugh as Kohana nodded, “That’s right!” As soon as he had taken off his shoes, Kohana jumped up and started pushing Lorcan’s legs. “Bye-bye, now. Time to go!” 

Nehemia and Lorcan both laughed and the former deterred Kohana from further booting his father out of the house. “Why don’t you go see where your Fenny is?” He nodded and hurried off, yelling for Fenrys. Nehemia turned to Lorcan and ran a cursory look over him. “Looking sharp, Salvaterre.” 

“Thanks, Mi,” he said, rolling his eyes and standing still as she tutted over the state of the collar of his black dress shirt. She pursed her lips and dusted off his shoulders. “Mia, I gotta go, I’m gonna be late.” He glanced over her head and saw Fenrys coming down the hall, who echoed his statement. 

“Yeah, sweetheart, he looks fine,” Fenrys said, slipping his arm around Nehemia’s waist and kissing her temple.

Sighing, she nodded, “Yeah. Have fun, ok? I’ll call you if something goes wrong.” 

“Alright,” he said, not understanding why he felt his heartbeat quicken in anxiety. In a few short moments, he was leaving and making his way back to his truck. 

His heart still raced and Lorcan couldn’t figure out why. The only time he had felt like that was… around Elide. That morning, when Malakai said Elide was here, his heart had raced and he’d nearly dropped what he’d been holding. 

That was why he was even going on this stupid thing. To move on, from something that didn’t feel like he should’ve had to move on from. Him and Elide hadn’t even been together. At all. Shaking his head to dispel his spiralling thoughts, Lorcan turned on the ignition and drove off, making his way to The Willows. 

He parked a few blocks away and decided to walk to the restaurant. During his walk, his phone pinged and he pulled it out, smiling down at the image of Kohana that Fenrys had texted him. His son was smiling widely as he looked up at something, his eyes bright. His heart tightened at the pure and true joy on Ko’s face.

There was a soft smile that stayed on his lips as he opened the tinted glass door of the restaurant and walked inside, carefully making his way around the people waiting to get to the hostess’ stand.

The blonde woman waiting smiled semi-gently. It was very obviously her retail smile, the one she pasted on for customers. “Hi, there. Do you have a reservation with us?” 

“Yeah, Marama for 8:30?” 

She nodded, looking harried as she scanned over a list and nodded, “Alright, come this way.” The woman told him about the set menu and showed him to an intimate table out in the greenhouse portion of the restaurant. He had to admit – it was beautiful. Glancing upwards, he saw the star-spotted sky behind the glass roof. 

Greenery surrounded them, all sorts of creeping vines and lush greenlife. Lorcan thanked the woman and unbuttoned his jacket as he sat. 

It was all going to be fine. It was just dinner. Easy, simple. Nothing to worry about. 

He told himself that over and over for the next five minutes, his knee bouncing up and down uncontrollably. When he realized, he suppressed the urge to fidget, but it just came out as him drumming the beat of some punk song he’d used to play often at that old grungy club. 

Then, he heard a familiar voice – smoky and delicate and sultry all at once. He almost didn’t believe it and looked over. Lorcan’s eyes landed on a gorgeous person, their truly sinful curves wrapped in a black dress that hit mid-thigh, showcasing the black ink on their fair skin. His gaze travelled up their body, catching on the tattoos on their… collarbones. Laurel wreaths.

Oh, he was going to fucking murder the Marama-Ytgers.

+*+*+*+*+*+*

an: i would say im sorry for the cliffhanger...but im really not 🥰

also! i use Xhosa for Eyllwe! Translations: 

Malaika: Angel

Mholo: Hello 

@mythicaitt​​ @tinywolfofeyllwe​​ @schmlip-scribble​​ @the-regal-warrior​​ @empire-of-wildfire​​ @rhysands-highlady​​ @shyvioletcat​​ @alifletcher2012​​ @ttakeitbacknoww​​ @tswaney17​​ @ourbooksuniverse​​ @flora-and-fae​​ @thesirenwashere​​ @queenofxhearts​ @maastrash​ @mynewdreamwasyou​ @cursebreaker29​ @superspiritfestival​ @empress-ofbloodshed​ @queen-of-glass​ @sleeping-and-books​ @beccasophia95​ @exersize-me-i-dare-u​ @thewayshedreamed​ @hizqueen4life​ @ifinallygavein​ @bat-wing-rhys​ @awkward-avocado-s​ @b00kworm​ @mu-si-ca-l​ @lovemollywho​ @tacmc​ @soitsgorgeous​ @staarligght​

[rideboldlyride]

ZW 2020; Reunion

So it begins.... This is a Modern/Gym AU. I swore I would never do a modern AU, but, as Edna Mode would say “and yet, here we are.” My plan for this week is to make these prompts all one story. As this is my first Modern AU of any kind, on top of my first Zutara Week, please feel free to leave all sorts of feedback. I will be adding an AO3 link in an edit in the fresh morning. I’m posting this tonight, because I have way too much crap going on in the morning tomorrow. Anyway. No more intro/distraction from my crapstorm. Here it begins.

[EDIT 1: I forgot to mention-- I aged them up realtime. This means that Zuko;Sokka are 31, Katara;Azula are 29, and Toph;Aang are 27, and all the correlating ages of the other characters accordingly. EDIT 2 will be the AO3 link, I promise.]

[EDIT 2: HERE’S the AO3 - finally. I’ve been super busy all day with a screeching toddler.]

It's the smell, Katara decides. It definitely wasn't the music - she always piped in her own mix of high-tempo, hard hitting music through her headphones. It's not the taste of the crappy tap water from their generic doctor's-office-standard water fountains. It wasn't for the sights of the people who were there.

Well, most of the people that were there. There was one or two…

No, she decided. It was entirely the smell that, no matter where in the world she landed, got her moving. A blend of sweat, rubber, and disinfectant, every gym she had ever walked into had the same smell. This realization settled over her as she entered the old gym. She had recently moved back from one of the old Earth Kingdom settlements at the coast, and was now participating in a research project with Ba Sing Se University, her old alma mater. Fortune had been on her side, however, when her old gym’s membership was reciprocal back again to one in the city. 

It had been three years since she had left Ba Sing Se for Selin Harbor, fresh from the university, a master’s degree in Marine Biology in tow. Now, she had been called back due to a troubling disease emerging in the dark, mysterious waters off the coast of the city. 

She had begun her workout running intervals, hopping from treadmill to resistance training to machines, and back, forcing the stress and worry of her new work out of her mind. Falling into her rhythm, time began to slip away. As was common, during her physical exertions, she felt the outside world fall away, and a single-minded focus overtook her thoughts, caught up only in the heavy beat in her ears.

Somewhere in between a few of her runs, she stepped away from the treadmill, took a pause to swallow down some more water, and turned to the next step in her pattern. She stopped suddenly. In her next station - a gym mat stocked with medicine ball and resistance bands - a fellow gym member was actively using her set up. A moment of frustration passed through her, but she swallowed it down. Instead, she moved away, trying to preoccupy herself with her next exercise, determined to come back after his set. But as she finished up and returned, she found him still in her spot, this time in between sets. Irritation pricked at her lips, but she sucked in a deep breath and plastered her best “people are oblivious” smile across her face. Pulling her headphones down, she rounded him.

“Excuse me,” she knew her voice was sickly sweet, but she didn’t care, “I hate to be that person, but…” 

A glint of gold in his eyes shot towards her motions, in contrast with his light skin and dark hair. It was obvious that he was no stranger to the gym himself, and it took a moment for her to remember what she was going to protest. (About those sights at the gym…? She ascertained that he was one of those exceptions.) Swallowing down the startling nature of his side eye, she pulled her indignation back to the forefront. He still didn't turn to her fully, preferring to shoot her a glare sideways. 

"But," she continued resolutely, "you're kind of interrupting my intervals. I need to use this spot before--"

"I'm not interested."

"...what?" It was only then that she noticed the white at his ears- headphones. Did this prick really think she was hitting on him? Her face turned sour, her voice rising. "Now, you listen here, you--"

He sighed, and pulled out the earbud closest to her. The music was just as loud as hers, she noticed abstractly. 

"Listen, I'm not in--"

"You're in my spot!" She spat out aggressively. 

It was his turn to be confused. "What?"

"My spot. You are literally in my spot. You've interrupted my intervals, but still managed to keep my blood pressure up. Congratulations."

He looks flustered for a minute, and Katara curses the spirits. The red on his cheeks only seemed to make him more striking under the iridescent lighting. She uses that disconcerting feeling to fuel more of her frustration.

"I don't see your name on this particular spot."

A bitter laugh escaped her, and she flipped the edge of the mat up. 

"Ka-ta-ra." She emphasizes the syllables as she points them out, written in her tight hand, on the bottom of the mat he was perched upon. 

For a second time, he flustered. 

"Oh." This time, however, he quickly moved off of it, a hand to the back of his neck. "I'm- I'm sorry. Didn't realize…"

She snorted, still not done with his brand of arrogance.

"You must be pretty narcissistic," she snarls, "to think that any girl who nears you must be ‘interested’." 

"It's not- I'm not-," he stutters for a moment, before regaining his composure. “Anything I say is going to make me sound like more of an asshole, isn’t it?”

A brow raised over a sea-blue eye, and he sighed. 

“Sorry. I didn’t realize you were here. I just figured somebody left the equipment after they were done.”

Her frustration fizzled a little under his apology. 

“Oh. Yeah, I guess I could see how you would think that.” Her eyes scanned the free weight area, strewn with discarded equipment like dirty tissues. 

Sighing, she deflated. Blue eyes looked up at him, finally catching a honest look at the man she was unexpectedly not as frustrated with. His dark hair was cut relatively close, seemingly unaware of any attempt to tame it’s aggressive angles. Amber eyes followed her motions, one of them wrapped in an old, angry scar that ran back into his sideburn, hairline, finishing on the other side of his ear. Dressed for the gym, she was able to appreciate his evident focus on lean versus bulk. And appreciate, she did. She dropped her eyes again, reminding herself of his protest when she first approached him. Jet had been enough of a narcissistic asshole for her lifetime. She didn’t need a new one. 

But he had apologized and did seem properly chastised. Looking around, she noticed that there was no other open spaces for him to work in.

“Listen, I don’t mind you using it. Just- just let me run my sets? Not, like, sit here in between them?”

“Really?” a small smile pulled at one corner of his lips. He seemed genuinely surprised. “Thanks.”

She waved it off, keeping her head down, as she took over the space, and he moved on to another machine.

An hour later, she wrapped up her mat, replaced the equipment, and moved towards the door. He was on the treadmill near the door, and as she passed him, she nodded. A small smile pulled at his lips and he returned the expression. 

Buzzing filled her pocket, and she glanced at her phone. 

Toph.

“Hey, Sugar Queen, we still on for tonight?”

***

He was a bit breathless. It was hard to tell if it was from having been sick for the week prior and thereby out of practice, or if it was the brilliant blue eyes of the woman slipping out the door. She had nodded at him, and a glimmer of hope clung to him. Maybe he hadn’t completely screwed up that interaction.

“Yeah, we are. I’m excited! We going to meet at--?” her voice was clear, since he had kept one earbud out since they had first crossed paths. Incredulousness laced her words. “You’re picking me up? I’m hoping you’re not the one driving…”

Her voice faded away, and he couldn’t help the smile that stayed on his face, even as he replaced the second earbud and continued his workout.

***

“So where is it we’re heading?” Katara glanced at her passenger in the front seat, but the young woman’s eyes were unfocused and hazy as she stared blankly ahead. When she spoke, however, her tone belied her strength. 

“I already told you, Kat-uh.” Her emphasis merely snapped the blue-eyed girl’s dark brows together, but she continued. “It’s an old friend of mine- he’s playing at some small bar. The one we used to go to on Thursdays when we were all in college together.” 

“I’m guessing he’s a new addition to the line up?”

“Nah.” A smirk pulled at her lips. “I just never found a reason to go see him before.”

“Thats… sweet, Toph.”

“I know. So considerate, right?”

A sigh escaped the older woman’s lips. “At least tell me if it’s on the milder scale for your music?”

Toph wasn’t known for having the most laid back choices in music. Her worries were slightly alleviated when the blind girl scoffed loudly.

“No, he’s more your speed. Likes some of the heavier music, though, but only plays the nicer stuff.”

“So, covers?”

Her head cocked to the side. “Maybe one or two. From what I hear, his original music is actually starting to get popular.”

As she pulled into the parking lot, Katara bit back a groan. Had it always been this busy? She found herself asking Toph that. For the asking, all she received was a head shake back. 

“Nah, but we also came on Thursdays. Fridays are a whole other beast. And besides, I told you he’s getting more popular.”

Suddenly regretting her decision to come out that night, Katara turned the car off, but only started to move to get out of it when she spotted Sokka and Suki waving frantically after her. They had arrived earlier, and together. As she reached them, Katara sighed, and Sokka wrapped the arm he didn’t have around his girlfriend, to pull his baby sister closer.

“You’ll have fun, Katuh. I know it’s stupid busy, but it’s going to be fun. Just, ya know, relax. Have a drink. Listen to decent music.”

As the doors slipped open, her eyes suddenly grew wide as she instantly recognized the chords. Katara slipped away from her brother’s arm. The words to the songs were already on her lips, and she was surprised to find that she knew this band. She wasn’t one to obsess over the musicians, but their music was a whole other thing. They were an indie band, unknown, unrecognized, so she had never expected to come across them live. Despite her desire to bob and weave to see and get closer to the stage, it seemed like the crowd pushed in on them more, and she was impeded. A shot of disappointment shot through her as the music died off, and the drummer announced a break. Turning back to her friends, she dejectedly joined them. 

“Oh Katara, don’t get so down.” Toph smirked, propping her dirty sandals up onto the table. “You know that was their first set. Besides, the lead singer is coming this way as we speak.”

Blue eyes rolled hard into her skull, and she let out a scoff. “Toph, you know I don’t care about the musicians. I just love their music.”

“Uh-huh. Well, we’ll test that theory right now. He’s headed this way”

“Your friend?” Sokka asked.

Toph nodded in response.

Katara turned in time to see a dark head dip and weave through the crowd, along with flashes of a dark button up, sleeves rolled up, and fitted jeans. However, when he finally slipped out of the crowd to join them at the high top they had claimed, it took all of her willpower to bite back the laugh that threatened to escape.

“Hey Toph.” His voice had an interesting grate, she had to admit, but she wasn’t sure she was quite over the way they had been introduced before. But if that was anywhere on his mind at the moment, he was good at not showing it. Instead, he followed the line of their friends as Toph introduced them. When it wrapped around to her, the closest to them both, she found herself sitting straight. 

“And this is Ka--”

“We’ve actually already met.”

A cocked head told her of confusion, and his eyes scanned her for a moment. Something like a glimmer of recognition started to blossom in the gold of his eyes. With a motion that was more abrupt, she gathered up her loose curls and pulled them back, as if to put them up into a ponytail. His eyes widened. It was impressive the difference a hairstyle could have on recognition.

“Oh. Yeah. Hey again. It was… Katara, was it?”

“You never did give me your name, you know.”

[ubernoxa]

The Sip: A Modern Day Guns N’ Roses Fanfic

Chapter 8: Entertainment News

Story Summary: In a packed room she couldn’t have felt more alone. Everyone was adorned and jewels and would humbly brag about their accomplishments when asked. She couldn’t blame them though, that’s what she was told to do as well. So, she stood there next to her boyfriend she knew was cheating on her as she continued to quietly listen as a good guest does.

In the basement of the dreadful never ending party, Alanah quickly realizes the night just might not be over. In this modern day AU Alanah learns just how much one sip can ripple into a waterfall.

Chapter Summary: The press become suspicious of Duff and Alanah’s ‘relationship’ or lack there of.

Masterlist

Taglist: @str4nge-haze

Before I could even open my eyes I knew exactly who was holding onto me. I knew who I had decided to cuddle last night. I leaned in closer to him as I smell his familiar scent of vodka and cigarets. The scent slowly bringing me back to sleep.

“Nah, she’s still sleeping,” my heart fluttered at the sound of Duff’s voice. I felt his chest slowly rise and fall as he spoke. It was calming almost rhythmic, a melody slowly pulling me back to sleep.

I fought the urge and opened my eyes to find that I was covered by a blanket shielding me from the light. Did he put the blanket over me so I wouldn’t wake up if someone turned on the lights?

My heart skipped a beat as he subconsciously pulled me in closer as he talked to someone about the award he won last night. I was proud of them, not the speech they gave after the award, but the award itself. They were drunk and it was clear that the alcohol had taken full effect the moment Slash opened his mouth and spoke into the microphone. It was absolutely hilarious, but it was immediately clear that not everyone found it funny as Sandy and I as we received SEVERAL glares as we tried to hide our giggles.

Once the person Duff was talking to left, I decided to poke my head from under the covers. I wish I could have stayed under the covers for longer, but it was getting too hot. My dress becoming more unbearable by the second.

“Good morning,” I purposely spoke in my sweetest voice possible as I snuggled into him. This all felt like some sort of strange dream. My heart skipped a beat as I heart him subconsciously hum.

“Yes it is,” I felt myself blush as he looked at me. There is something about his damn smile that makes my stomach perform backflips. It makes me feel like I’m in middle school again, nervous around that boy I have a crush on.

“Shame about your dress, must have been uncomfortable to sleep in,” I nodded at his comment while trying to remember the previous night. I could remember the interviews the awards the shots, but there were still a few moments I couldn’t recall.

“Such a shame,” those were the only words that could come out of my mouth as he held me in his arms. He had me speechless. I shrugged back trying to seem casual, a very stark contrast to what I was feeling on the inside.

——————

“So you guys didn’t do it?”

I rolled my eyes as Sandy continued to pry about what happened last night a the after party.

“No, of course we didn’t! The place was packed and we didn’t have a private room to do it. Plus why are you so interested in my sex life? You know we have already had sex right?,” I stood in the kitchen pouring some beans on the nachos I was about to cook. I couldn’t cook a lot of things, but nachos were another story. My nachos were amazing and anyone who disagrees had to have been lying, or at least that’s what I told myself.

“Have you watched any of the interviews from last night?”

“No, we were there. Why would I rewatch the interviews?” After I put the chips in the oven to heat up, I joined her on the couch watching entertainment news aka the fake news.

“Good afternoon, my name is Harriet Hegel, and you’re watching E news!”

I smirked as the woman began to speak reporting on news. She went on and on about the stupidest things from latest Instagram posts to alleged fights, and we were making fun of the show the entire time. I was pulled from our conversation the sound of my timer going off announcing that my nachos were done cooking.

When I came home a couple hours ago the first thing I did was take off the dress that had become INCREDIBLY uncomfortable. Between the indents that the zipper was currently making in my skin to the sweat that had made it stick to me, I wanted it off. A nap was next on the agenda followed by food.

“Oh my god! ALANAH GET YOUR ASS IN HERE!” I bolted from the the kitchen to the living room as I heard Sandy scream across the apartment.

I didn’t need to ask what was wrong when I walked into the living room. Harriet answered my question immediately.

“Like most award events that Guns N’ Roses rockers Slash and Duff McKagan attend, they caused a lot of...commotion.” The hostess was smiling from ear to ear. To say the media loves reporting on Guns and their questionable lifestyle would be an understatement. Their antics made good content, and their audience was always bound to eat it up.

“Their night started with the pair showing up to the awards show tipsy,” Harriet was then joined by another blonde who I had seen on previous broadcasts. I think she was a co-host, but she never really says who she is..but who the fuck cares.

“The Guns boys won more than just the award for rock song of the year, they also won the award for most controversy. The night started with the boys showing up clearly tipsy, and after being clearly directed down one path they chose to go some the other. At first this caused A LOT of confusion among the people working the security, but our questions were quickly answered as they walked over to YouTubers Sandy Mafter and Alanah Whittle who were hosting interviews on that carpet,”

“They fucking said my last name wrong! It’s not that hard?!? How hard is it to say it right, MAY-FTER! Not mater like the tow truck from Cars!” I couldn’t help but laugh hysterically as she yelled at the TV.

“Well ain’t that a coincidence !” Harriett joked. Harriet was hinting at what I was trying to ignore. They went all the way out of their way to talk to us. Duff was just a friend who wanted to say hi though. He was just being nice.

And last night....we were just drunk.

Sandy quickly calmed down and smirked at the TV. Great now the media was getting as bad as Sandy. Duff and I were just friends!

“They seem to have great chemistry and they look cute together!” The other woman added as they played a clip from our interview with them.

“So this begs the question we all want to answer, are Duff and Alanah dating?”

“Good to know I’m not the only one wondering that!” I teasingly tossed a chip in Sandy’s direction earning some giggles as she caught it and ate it.

Me too girl...me too.

“We quickly got that question after the awards ceremony during a post awards show interview, roll the clip.”

My eyes were glued to the screen as the clip played.

“That’s why I can’t get a girlfriend, the media likes to paint a picture on who we are and what we do. I’ll admit we are roll models....” I could help, but laugh at a tipsy Duff who was too tall and had to bend over to talk into the mic. He looked adorably ridiculous.

Before Duff could continue his drunken rant, a reporter asked him a question that grabbed my full attention.

“What about Alanah Whittle?” I felt my heart trying to escape my chest as my eyes were glued to the screen at the interviewer’s question.

Yeah, what about me?

Slash giggled and Duff began to blush, which wasn’t helping my stomach from continuing to perform backflips.

FRIENDS

FRIENDS

FRIENDS

He’s only acting like that because he is very tipsy. It’s the alcohol.

“She’s great..” Slash drunkly said as he giggled at his tipsy bandmate who was still flustered from the question.

“Yeah, she’s great. Easy to talk to and an absolute goof...her cooking is another story,” As Duff spoke he had a smirk on his face, not a smirk like Sandy’s earlier, but a smirk none the less.

The clip ended and the tv was once again filled with the two woman who were hosting the entertainment news.

“So that’s a hard no, but we will see how long that lasts. As most of you know I’m incredibly nosey which is why I do the job I do,” one of the hosts proudly said earning a collective eye roll from Sandy and me.

“Looking at social media, neither Duff nor Alanah posted photos of them together last night. Alanah posted a cute picture of her and Sandy captioned ‘pinch me because I must be dreaming’, and Duff posting a picture of him and slash holding the award captioned ‘holy shit, thanks guys!’.” The woman pointed at the photos that appeared behind her on what I assumed was a green screen.

“Aww that’s a cute photo of us!” Sandy smiled as the woman rambled at how different Duff and my captions were.

“Yeah, couldn’t help, but post it!” I smiled back, but before I could continue talking my attention was pulled back to the TV as they pulled up a video.

“That chick has to be ex-FBI or something because she has gone full detective,” I nodded at Sandy’s words.

“Now if you look at this video from Slash’s Instagram live last night. I will admit most of it is him and Steven going around and drunkly interviewing people, but we do catch this moment in the background,” the woman pointed towards Duff and I who were playing a very drunk game of Jenga. From what I could remember Steven’s girlfriend had set it up and recommend the two of us to play it together.

“Now if we zoom in here...” the woman had the video zoom in and you could see what we were doing clearly. My arms were wrapped around his neck and you could see my hands gently playing with his hair. I held my breath as the show remained zoomed in on Duff and I.

The whole time I was frozen eyes glued to the screen.

We didn’t have sex right?

My dress was still on this morning.

Fuck.

Fuck.

There was no way a camera could have caught us having sex if we didn’t have sex. It was a simple fact, but my brain was racing with what ifs that made it impossible to look away from the screen.

After the passionate kiss, Duff placed a kiss on my forehead, and pulled me in tight for a hug.

“Aww,” I turned to Sandy who looked like she was watching a puppy video on YouTube.

“Shut up,” I playfully pushed her, only earning more laughter.

I quickly grabbed the remote and threw on some random Netflix show before going to do the dishes.

“I’m sorry did you say something?” I shouted across the room. I heard a noise from the living room that pulled me from washing my dishes.

“I said, is it cool if I post some photos from last night ?”

“Ohh yeah go right ahead. I uploaded all of mine to our shared drive earlier, so feel free to grab some from there. Make sure to add a thank you to YouTube for inviting us and shit,” I yelled back.

I hadn’t put much thought to the pictures I had uploaded to our drive, but I probably should have.

“So for our next video I was thinking we should post the summary video of us getting ready for the awards show. Then I’m thinking some of our favorite interview moments. Last, I want to do a video on some of the weird stuff on Amazon, like the stuff with terrible rating,” I said writing down our schedule on some scratch paper. Once we agreed on our next steps we would put it on our schedule board, but for right now scrap paper was fine.

“Sandy,” I said again pulling her attention from her phone.

“Yeah I like the amazon idea. Also yes to absolutely milking hosting the awards show....sorry I was distracted by something, but I’m listening I promise,” Sandy said handing me her phone.

It was on the Guns N’ Roses Instagram page, and she motioned me to swipe through the the photos.

The first one was a shot of Slash and Duff onstage, the second was a group shot of the entire band, I froze at the third photo which was definitly a screenshot from Sandy’s and my interview with Duff and Slash, and I flipped through more, but the last one caught my eye. I didn’t remember being apart of the photo, but there I was standing next to Steven’s girl with Duff’s arms wrapped around my waist. We defiantly looked like a couple, but were we?

I groaned in frustration as I leaned back against the couch, and handed Sandy her phone back.

We were just friends right?

Nothing more?

Within seconds my phone went off, and speaking of the devil it was Duff. Sandy sent me a knowing look before she went back through scrolling through social media.

“Hey! What’s up?” I smiled as I answered his FaceTime call.

“Nothing definitely still tired as fuck.”

“Same!” I immediately replied back as I plopped down on my bed.

“Are you free Friday night?” My heart stopped as the question left his tongue. There was a cyclone of butterflies tearing through my stomach.

“Umm yeah, I have Friday off. Why what’s up?” I focused on my breathing as I spoke.

Holy shit was he asking me out on a date?

“Guns N’ Roses was invited to some bullshit record company party. All I know is that I have to wear a suit for the second time this week, and it’s gonna suck,” he seemed the least bit interested in the event as he spoke. He reminded me of when my mom used to force me to go to church on Sunday.

“If you’re trying to sell me on this event, I should warn you that you’re aren’t doing a good job at it,” I teased back earning some chuckles from Duff.

“Here’s the thing, it wouldn’t suck if you were there as my date.”

[pnf-lover98]

Cars - The Night of the Undead Batteries

“Huh. Look at this weather…” Sheriff commented, examining the dark clouds looming over the town’s buildings. “Let’s hope it won’t rain, tonight…”

A thunder roared upon Radiator Springs. Gathered at Flo’s, the old police car, McQueen, Sarge and Fillmore were spending that Halloween night chatting.

“The sky looks like it’s straight out of a horror movie” Fillmore looked up.

“It fits this night perfectly!” Lightning said, as the wind made the restaurant’s Halloween decorations swirl. “Hey! Do you guys remember how last year Mater tried to sell us the story of that car-shaped sentient cloud that haunted the Butte?”, the racecar recalled, causing a round of laughter from his friends.

“I do! Oh, boy…” Sheriff sighed. “I wonder what he’s gonna come up with, this year!”

“Something as not scary as usual, I bet” Sarge answered.

Meanwhile, Flo had joined the other cars. “Aww, come on. Maybe this year he’ll surprise us!”, the woman tried to defend their friend.

“Talking about Mater…Here he comes!” Sheriff announced, noticing the tow truck’s shape in the distance. He was running at full speed toward the group.

“Sheriff!! Lightning!! Help!!” the truck started to yell.

“Woah, Mater! What’s wrong?” Lightning asked, concerned by the hurry in his friend’s pace.

“T-t-there’s a zombie f-following me!!” Mater stuttered. “Quick! We-we need to run for cover!”

“Pffft, a zombie!” Sarge exclaimed, bursting into laughter.

“C’mon, dude! You’ve done way better pranks!” Fillmore calmly said to Mater.

“What? No! It’s not a prank!” the truck shouted. “You have to believe me! Doc is back; he’s turned into a zombie!”

“Quit it, Mater!” McQueen snapped, hearing his friend’s name. “It’s not funny. Leave Doc out of your tall tales!”

In that moment, a lightning strike lit up the dark long road in front of them, revealing the silhouette of a car in the distance.

“No! No, no, no! It’s too late! He’s here!” Mater exclaimed in despair, and hid behind one of Flo’s gas stations.

An eerie screeching sound filled the air. The distant silhouette got closer, revealing its identity. It was a Hudson Hornet model, with his familiar dark blue paint job covered in rust stains all over his body. Doc’s blue eyes had now faded to gray, and his friendly calm smile was now replaced by an hostile, menacing frown.

Lightning temporarily stopped breathing. That was the last thing he’d expected to happen! The other cars were frozen too, probably still trying to figure out whether to believe their eyes.

The zombie growled, revealing a set of razor-sharp teeth, then revved his engine, causing all the other cars to snap out of their shock and run away.

“What’s going on?!” Flo shouted. “Mater, please tell me this is all a joke!!”

“I wish it was!” the tow truck replied.

“How in the world is this even possible? Zombies don’t exist!” Sarge exclaimed. Despite his brave nature, this time he was just as terrified as the others; his life-long conviction about the supernatural had just been proven wrong.

“Doc’s been dead for months, now!” Lightning couldn’t make any sense out of that situation.

“And yet, not only he’s back, but he can still go pretty fast” Sheriff pointed out. “We need to shake him off of our tails, if we want some time to hide and plan what to do!”, the old police car suggested.

When the group of cars eventually managed to escape from the zombie, Sarge led them to his shelter.

“What do we do now?” Sheriff asked, as Sarge locked the door behind them.

“We need to warn the others, as soon as possible!” Flo exclaimed. “Sarge, we’ll have to use our phone.”

Sarge looked around, nervously. “I, uh…I don’t have one”, the Jeep admitted.

“What? Dude! You don’t have an house phone?” Mater asked, surprised.

“We can try with the main phone near the town hall” Sheriff suggested.

“Wait…didn’t it stop working two days ago?” Lightning recalled.

“We need to go and give the others a shout-out” Flo decided.

“Ok” Sarge nodded. “Flo, Mater and Fillmore will help the others to hide and stay safe”, the sergeant ordered. “Me, Sheriff and Lightning will try to find and block that zombie”

The two groups split, leaving the shelter with the promise of reuniting at the sheriff’s office.

Not long after Sarge’s  group started patrolling Radiator Springs, Lightning, ahead of the other two cars, found an horrible surprise.

“Guys!” the racecar squeaked, his voice high-pitched in fear. “Come here!”

“Oh my God…” Sheriff exclaimed, approaching the corpse Lightning was staring at. Otis was lying lifeless, his hood opened to reveal missing parts. The poor old car was covered in dents, and was leaking oil.

“It looks like he tried to defend himself” the police car pointed out. No one could move or find  anything to say for a while; the three cars were too disturbed and frightened by the violence the zombie used against poor Otis.

Sarge swallowed hard to pull back the lump in his throat. “We have to find that monster immediately” the Jeep said. “Before anyone else gets killed!”

“Should we split up?” Lightning suggested. “Our research will be shorter, this way”

“Splitting up would only mean giving Doc more chances to catch us” Sarge objected.

“But finding him would actually be easier” Sheriff pointed out.

Sarge pondered the situation. “Fine…”, the Jeep eventually gave in. “But we must be extra careful, if we want to stay alive!”, he warned.

After another good half of an hour spent roaming around Radiator Springs’ empty streets, Sarge and Sheriff, now alone, were finally able to track down Doc following the trail of havoc the zombie had left behind himself. The two cars led the former doctor toward the sheriff’s office and managed to lock him in the jail behind the structure.

Eventually, Mater’s group joined in. Fillmore, even though he was keeping a safety distance from the jail’s fence, couldn’t help but stare at the zombie, feeling a little fascinated by the monster. “Woah, Doc…” the bus called for his friend. “You look awful. How do you-“

As soon as Fillmore moved a little closer to the fence, Doc stopped his driving in circles. With a growl, the blue car drove at full speed towards Fillmore to try to attack him, hitting the metallic net. Fillmore immediately backed off, terrified. The zombie tried a few more times to bite the fence, before retiring in defeat in the corner of the cell.

“He doesn’t recognize us. We’ve tried to talk to him before you guys arrived” Sarge warned his friends. “He only sees us as preys to attack, now”

“What do we do with Doc, now that we’ve locked him here?” Lightning asked, taking a glance at the blue car.

“We keep him as a friend, of course!” Mater suggested enthusiastic.

“What?!” Sarge snapped in reply. “What part of what I said-“

Flo interrupted the Jeep driving up between him and Mater.

“It’s I-don’t-know-what-time past midnight, and I’m really tired just like the rest of you. How about we all go to sleep and solve this thing tomorrow?” the woman said. The firmness in her voice allowed no objections.

“A few of us need to take turns, here, to keep an eye on Hudson” the sergeant reminded the others. “I volunteer, of course”

“I will stay too”, said Fillmore.

Sheriff sighed, resigned; that long night wasn’t going to be over for him any time soon. “No, I will. The rest of you will go home and rest”

The first turn was Sheriff’s. The long hours passed without accidents, and the old police car had some time to think about all the unbelievable things that had happened that night. One of his closest friends, whose loss he had grieved over, suddenly came back from the dead! But if a friend comes back forgetting everything the two of you lived together…is it any better than  not having him around at all?

Lost in his thoughts, Sheriff watched as Doc took another run toward the net, and then wince in pain as he failed once again to break it down.

“Is everything ok?” Sarge’s sudden appearance startled the police car.

“Oh…” Sheriff calmed down, recognizing the Jeep. “Yeah. Nothing has happened, so far”

When Sarge took his place, the old sheriff was more than happy to finally get some rest. But right as he was about to doze off for a nap, a metallic noise came from the prison.

Then another.

Then came a much louder clang.

“Oh no!”

Lastly, Sheriff heard Sarge’s scream.

- - - - - -

“Hey, buddy… You ok?” Mater asked, interrupting the long silence. He and Lightning were driving back to Mater’s junkyard, but neither of them was in the mood for a chat, this time.

McQueen sighed. “I just want to go to sleep and get out of this living nightmare!”, he replied.

“What?” the truck exclaimed. “I know that…zombies are scary and stuff, but…Our ol’ Doc is still back with us!”

McQueen’s eyes watered.

The chase, the mess that the zombie caused around the town… It had all been so sudden, that night! Lightning didn’t even have the time to process the wide range of emotions that he was feeling.

It had been so scary, and even quite heartbreaking, to see his former mentor behaving not much better than a wild animal, ad Lightning knew that living with a zombie in town could never be possible, but still… Having Doc back was one of his biggest dreams!

A noise interrupted the racecar’s train of thoughts; “Hey, did you hear that?” he whispered to his friend.

A familiar screeching sound filled the air, making the oil run cold in the two vehicles’ veins. One instant later, Mater and Lightning were running at full speed, screaming in fear.

Even with the help of their headlights, both of them couldn’t make out much of the road in front of their tires; McQueen accidentally hit something on the dark pavement and found himself with a blown tire.

“Mater!” Lightning shouted. “I need help, buddy!”

But Mater was nowhere to be found.

Maybe he didn’t hear me and ran off!

McQueen considered his situation. He and Mater were heading toward the desert; even running without a flat tire, there probably wasn’t going to be a good hiding spot to lock himself in.

I could still try to… No! What am I thinking about!

The racecar checked his rear-view mirror. Doc was already almost on his tail.

It won’t work. He’ll kill me, just like Otis.

The rational side of McQueen’s head was screaming for him to run for his life, but his guts suggested him to try the impossible one more time.

I’ll get caught anyway, he realized.

Taking a deep breath, Lightning steered, and turned around.

“Doc, please! It’s me. Lightning McQueen!” the racecar cried out. Seeing him stop, Doc slowed down, probably tired out by all that running. Yet, he was getting closer.

“You can’t have forgotten! We were friends!” Lightning wanted so bad for him to remember.

“It’s me! Lightning!” the racecar tried again, to no avail.

It won’t work.

“The ‘rookie’!”

It could never work.

McQueen closed his eyes, bracing himself for the worst to happen. But when he opened them again, Doc was standing in front of him, not attacking nor moving forward. His ever-present menacing glare had vanished.

“S-s-s…” the old car said, wincing. He was trying to talk, but it was evidently something very hard for him to do. “S-so…n?”

Lightning’s jaw dropped. It worked! It actually worked! “Oh my God…You remember!”

The red car couldn’t help an exhausted laughter as tears watered his eyes. Doc was back and he remembered. “Oh, Doc…You have no idea how much I missed you! But now you’re here, and…and this is amazing! Now we can…Hey, are you… are you ok?”

Doc winced again, visibly in pain. The whole process of coming back from the dead really must have taken a toll on his body.

And right as Lightning was already thinking about a future new life with his old friend, Hudson gave in to his zombie instincts. The old car’s gaze turned as empty and menacing as before. “E-e…at!”, he said with a snarl.

“What?!” Lightning exclaimed, panic flooding in his veins. “No! Wait!”

But the zombie was already over him. “No!!!”

- - - - - -

McQueen jolted awake, gasping. It took a bit for him to recognize the place he was in, but the car exhaled in relief as he saw he was still in his garage.

“It was only a nightmare”, Lightning said to himself. “Calm down!” His engine was still pounding fast.

“Mhhh…” Sally woke up next to him. “Stickers…?”, the woman murmured. “What’s wrong?”

Lightning hesitated. “Nothing. I…I had a nightmare.” The racecar could still see the zombie in front of his eyes. “Me and Mater shouldn’t have opted for that horror movie marathon, last night…”

Sally reached out for her boyfriend’s front tire. “Shhh…”, the woman hushed him, her voice still sleepy. “It’s over, now. Let’s go back to sleep.”

In a few minutes, the two cars dozed off again, silence covering their garage with its wings. The entire town of Radiator Springs was soaking in the silence and peace of those early morning hours of November 1rst.

The only exception was a dim, distant screeching noise.

[theonceoverthinker]

OUAT 2X07 - Child of the Moon

...Do I seriously have nothing better to do than just sit around writing long ass reviews for a show that already ended?

...Well then, I suppose ANITA LIFE!

Shut up, you love them. Now go under the cut for some actually semi-intelligent thoughts!

Press Release

Ruby’s fear about turning into a wolf during the first curse-free Storybrooke full moon is confirmed when one of the town’s residents is viciously murdered, and Ruby is the prime suspect; Decker - aka King George - threatens to expose David as a shepherd, not a prince, and not fit to run the town as sheriff; and Leroy stumbles upon some treasure in the Storybrooke mine that could help bring Mary Margaret and Emma back into our world. Meanwhile, in the fairytale land that was, Red Riding Hood finds a kindred spirit in Anita (Annabeth Gish), a charismatic and mysterious leader of a pack of humans who, like Red, turn out to be wolves.

General Thoughts - Characters/Stories/Themes and Their Effectiveness

Past

Red’s journey in this episode is so well put together. The insecurities established in “Red-Handed” and then re-established here about her half-wolf identity acts as a great source of conflict. You can see how that sense of fear is decreased as Red spends more time with the wolfpack, and after establishing that bond, gets tested against an equally powerful bond with Snow. This is a great conflict because it’s entirely character based and expands on what we already know about Red.

Present

Not all segments need a message to work, but their needs to be some level of growth, and while it does happen to Ruby, it’s only through being given information and a pep talk that she’s able to reaffirm her control over her wolf form. While I genuinely liked this segment for it’s plot, characters, pacing, and the broader story, I feel like Ruby was somewhat sidelined in her own episode because what is reinforced is never gleamed through her own experiences or anything that she learns about herself. It’s David who investigates the mystery and he and Belle who never give up hope while Ruby largely defaults to regarding the situation as her fault until David gives her the evidence to contradict that. While I commend Ruby for being a realist and very mature about her situation, I wish that there had been a moment where she attempted for her own happiness (Think like a “Let It Go” moment) or if there was a moment that she noticed that called her murder into doubt.

Insights - Stream of Consciousness

-Those mine crystals look so bad! XD

-You better not be driving after drinking that beer, David! You’ve got a kid in the car!

-I’ll take those 38 lasagnas!

-Ruby is so amazingly mature. She understands her capabilities, but takes into account risks as to protect others.

-Snow is one hell of a fighter!

-Also, I can’t help but feel like that’s the first time Snow ever saw her wanted poster (This is before she met David). Look at that amazing frustration and sadness in her eyes as she’s seen how Regina has scarred her reputation. And that’s all before she and Red even converse about it moments later. Great acting, Ginny!

-I can’t get over how great Red’s costume is. It’s perfectly balanced between being something that gels with the classic fairytale while still looking like something a young adult would wear.

-Stranger stalking Red: You might want to get your eyes checked for jaundice! XD

-”Wh-wh-what are you doing here? Where’s David?” Damn, that hurt just watching it. I can’t even imagine how Regina must feel hearing Henry all but reject her comfort. :(

-”He got an emergency call this morning and asked me to look after you.” Good job, David! That was very good pushing aside your hatred of Regina for Henry’s sake!

-I just realized that Ruby is essentially Elsa in this episode! XD

-Ruby is fucking tough as nails! We’ve got to get her into a Street Fighter movie or something!

-I really want to know more about Quinn! The actor played him very well and he has this air to himself of both a vagabound and someone with something a bit deeper to him. Like, he’s an octave down from Killian on the drama-meter.

-”Is this some kind of trick?” Red, don’t follow the man into the scary basement until he answers that very important question! Didn’t Granny teach you stranger danger?!

-I want to live in an underground castle! Holy shit! I’d have all the space I want, stay cool, AND avoid other people! Hell to the fucking yeah!

-”I’m your mother.” My season 4 vibes and her later attitude are compelling me to say “I don’t care.”

-”It’s Billy’s truck.” “Who do you call to tow a tow truck.” It’s my personal headcanon that Billy’s truck is Mater from Cars. XD

-”I certainly never cared what would happen to them after they woke up...until now.” I love that look Henry gives Regina as she says this. It’s such a subtle Regal Believer moment.

-”Sometimes in sleep.” Why do I feel like that line was specifically put there for ass covering?

-”Once one controls something, one no longer need fear it.” Another instance of a villainous character (Though not in this episode!) giving the moral of the episode! That said, I wish it was said to Ruby herself, but I’m not peeved about that. Also, Rumple’s posture is incredibly comforting as he crouches to Henry’s level and gives him the necklace for free, giving some nice pre-confirmed Grandpa Gold feels.

-Charming! Good job calling out your cursed self for his shittiness!

-It may just be the result of my recent foray into the MCU, but I am getting some crazy Ego vibes odd of Anita.

-”That thing. That she-wolf.” George, you are the WORST.

-”Protecting your friend instead of everyone else.” He literally has her locked in a jail cell! It’s not like he’s forcing her to roam free!

-That was a great display of a Gopro camera on a wolf!

-I like how the montage was unclear about the exact amount of time it took between Red’s entrance into the castle and that latest transformation.

-George, you have the tiniest fucking group possible for this rebellion! How successful do you really think you’re going to be?

-I like the visual cue that the wolf gang sleeps like a pack.

-”Of course not.” I love how Snow clearly doesn’t believe that Red’s pack will hurt her, but still wants to be supportive of Red.

-”David see the good in you.” Ummm, what about you, Belle? Girl, you know I love you, but you already know all about Ruby’s goodness! She took you in!

-”I’m sort of an expert when it comes to rehabilitation.” Ummm, I’d say you’re getting there, but expert is a little too much.

-”I need to pay for all I’ve done.” Umm, Ruby. Your old village couldn’t kill you. What makes you this the D-List Storybrooke mob will do any better?

-I don’t know why, but I find it so funny that King George’s cursed name is “Spencer.” I think it just makes me think of iCarly.

-”May you always run free below the moon’s pale light.” This is a really well written line and I wish we could’ve heard it again outside of this episode.

-I like how in the D-List Storybrooke mob, only one person had the common sensibility to bring a fucking flashlight!

-Granny! You could’ve killed someone! That was a big Michael Bay-worthy explosion! I can only hope you sensed that that building was abandoned beforehand otherwise you’d have a body count!

-So someone in the D-List Storybrooke mob calls out “we’re not sheep,” and I’m just laughing because they followed George on a fucking dime!

-So I love how this is more or less David’s arc in “White Out” as well! XD

-George is so fucking confident about that hat, like there aren’t at least a couple of other magical items in this town! XD

-Also, how the hell did he get the hat?

-Red’s monologue in the final leg of the flashback has me thinking: What happened when Red and Granny reunited after the events of this flashback? There must’ve been some serious resentment on Red’s part and I wish we got to see how that resolved itself.

-Ruby, not that that run isn’t well earned, but you owe Belle on hell of an apology!

-Snow, your clothes are so clean right now! Did you find a laundromat in the Enchanted Forest?

Arcs - How are These Storylines Progressing?

Storybrooke getting Snow and Emma back - We gain one method of communicating with the EF and lose a way of getting there. I find that this arc is pretty good so far. The steps feel appropriately paced and I enjoy that the arc actually has a dead end. It makes for opportunities to use more characters (Ruby, King George, and Jefferson) and given them growth while allowing for the plot to feel more like a journey.

Rumple’s Redemption - I pointed this out in “Insights,” but Rumple’s more comforting attitude towards Henry, especially since neither knows they’re related yet, is a good follow-up step to the redemption that Rumple’s attempting for himself that was established in “Broken.”

Favorite Dynamic

Red and Snow - Red and Snow’s friendship has always been this nice delight, and in this episode, there’s a marvelous setup and payoff to it. Snow is beyond supportive to Red, understanding her and yet still fighting for a future where they can be happy and safe together. Like, she risks traveling by Regina’s bloodthirsty men for Red and is willing to give the wolfpack the benefit of the doubt for her! And even whe Red opts to stay with the wolfpack, Snow is nothing but understanding and gives a very in-character reason as to why! Honestly, I’m borderline shipping these two because they’re so good together!

Writer

Last season’s human home runs (Ian and Andrew) are at it again. The writing for this episode is largely great, using very rich dialogue and a good theme of taking control of your own life to deliver two well put together segments.

Rating

10/10. This is a legitimately great episode. It’s entertaining, and our mains are in fine form. The lore of the OUAT world is used well, as it contributes to the story in the past segment and not just the plot (An important distinction). While I take a small issue with a less impactful Ruby in the present, it simply doesn’t take away from the incredible storytelling that goes on elsewhere throughout both segments.

Flip My Ship - Home of All Things “Shippy Goodness”

Billy/Ruby - While I never thought much of them in “The Price of Gold,” their bit of flirting is absolutely heartwarming and Ruby’s grief following Billy’s death is so sad.

Red Beauty - These two! These fucking two! Belle and Ruby are just the two most supportive beans in the world! Also, “think of it as girl’s night.” Am I the only one thinking about how chains and whips can be quite exciting, especially when one’s hungry like the wolf?!

()()()()()()()()()

Sorry if this review was a little simplistic. Sometimes, there’s not a lot to say about an episode other than “this was good,” and I didn’t just want to say that a million times, but next time I’ll make like that episode’s title and see how “Into the Deep” I can go! For now, thank you for reading and to the fine folks at @watchingfairytales for putting this project together and giving my reviews a home on their page!

Season 2 Tally (67/220)

Writer Tally for Season 2:

Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis: (20/60)

Jane Espenson (17/50)

Andrew Chambliss and Ian Goldberg (20/50)

David Goodman (10/30)

Robert Hull (10/30)

Christine Boylan (7/30)

Tags: ouat, once upon a time, watching fairytales, ouat episode code, ouat rewatch, jenna watches ouat, ships mentioned

Operation Rewatch Archives

[amaloaf]

Forget (Remember) ch. 4

Hey remember this? Apparently I did so here it is, only 6+ months late. Sorry for any inconsistencies, I kinda had to do an overhaul on some of the plot points, nothing major.

The new doctor in town, Doc, was kind enough. He picked out the glass in Sarge’s hand and bandaged it without saying more than three word to either of them. He made fast work of it and before either of them knew, one tetanus shot and and a wise sounding “be more careful next time” later, they were back on the street left to awkwardly walk home.

Sarge couldn't even pretend to look at Fillmore. He just clenched his fists until his bandaged hand stung to distract himself as he stormed back to his store. Fillmore spoke to his back.

“So we're not even gonna talk about this?” Sarge could hear the uneven sound of Fillmore’s wheelchair moving over the rugged terrain. If he were a better man he would go back and at least have the decency to push his partner back to his hut. However, he was just too angry to give a damn about anything regarding Fillmore so he made the show of loudly stomping his feet back to the surplus garage. At least Fillmore was kind enough not to call after him.

Doug “Mater” Keever was waiting inside the door when he went inside. He had some idea of why he was here, so Sarge brushed past him in favor of helping an old woman who was looking at some of the various scrap he kept in the back of the store. She soon left with a sturdy copper pipe, though, and Sarge was forced to acknowledge the other man's presence.

“Doug.” He nodded in his direction.

“Sarge.” Doug seemed to consider him for a moment before deciding to continue. “I hear y’alls havin’ relationship issues.” He stated bluntly. Sarge glared at him from over a display table, he had never had and issue with Mater or his family (in fact they were currently the only outed gay couple in the town who had yet to be stricken by misfortune, which Sarge took some comfort in), but that didn't mean there wasn't any reason to start. Especially if they wanted to start sticking their grimy noses were they didn't belong. Mater put his hands up in defense, though his cheeky smile certainly didn't go unnoticed, “Now, now I di’nt mean nuthin’ by it ya know me Sarge. But I can't safely say I hadn’t been in your shoes before and thought yous could use a helpin’ hand in all that drama.”

“I haven't a clue about what in God’s name your talking about.”, he lied. Maybe, if Sarge was lucky, he could maybe not have the entire town find out about what goes on his bedroom before the day ends. “In case you haven't noticed I'm just a simple man living a single, bachelor life in a up-and-coming pitstop town. I'm not exactly the settling down type.” Another lie. “Besides, even if I was having issues, which I'm not, why would you be any help, I mean it's not like we have anything… in common.” Even Sarge couldn't deny how full of shit he sounded. Mater just chuckled, a deep but warm sound that came from the chest, and looked at Sarge with a mix of amusement and pity.

“Y'know Sarge, denial’s a big ol’ parta the comin’ out process. I won't deny I spent years fightin’ myself at e’ry turn ‘cause I felt I hadda be sumn’ I wasn't.” Sarge stiffened at his words, his shoulders pulling back and his spine going rigid. “I'm jus’ tellin’ ya, it doesn't havta be that way for ya. Radiator Springs is safe, ain't nobody gon’ be able to touch ya here, you can jus’.. be yerself.” Mater said as he watched Sarge, hoping for some sort of recognition or even just a show that he was listening.

Sarge expertly kept his eyes trained on the wall. He kept his arms crossed, voice dangerously low and whispered, “Get the fuck out of my shop before you regret making assumptions that you know a damned thing about me.”

Mater sighed. “Aight, then. Have a good resta ya day, Sarge.” Mater began to walk out but paused in the doorway, “Woulda at leas’ think bout what I-” he was cut up by Sarge slamming the door behind him and removed the sign on the window that said “Open” to “Out to Lunch”. He watched Mater regard the sign before walking off his property, slight disappointment clear in his posture.

‘Good. Serves him right for trying to breach my privacy.’ Sarge thought. He finally felt like he had a second to breath, like he had been holding his breath since the tattoo parlor. He realized he hadn't even gotten dressed this morning and was still just in his sweatpants and jacket. His watch told him it was almost 12:30. Lunch break shower it is.

….

A shower really did do wonders on him. He finally looked halfway respectable, his hair combed and his oddly colored skin at least clean. Fresh clothes and he was practically a new man. No other residents came to the shop for the rest of the business day, so he could rest easy helping customers and negotiating prices. He even caught a shoplifter, a sniveling teen with greasy hair growing past his collar that had tried to shove some blank dog tags into his pocket. He felt a small sense of pride handing the boys apologetic parents a pamphlet for a correctional military camp and watching the kids face twist in horror.

A small part of his brain told him Fillmore would be disappointed, and that he should of been more forgiving. He pushed those thoughts away, after all he had a business to run.

It wasn't until he closed up for the night that he was suddenly aware of how hungry he was, and how empty his kitchen was of any nutritional substance. ‘Normally I eat at Fillmore’s’ he thought miserably as he closed another cabinet after no food had materialized between the last five minutes he had checked. ‘‘Flo’s can't be THAT busy. I'll just get something to go.’’

He was right in a sense; Flo’s cafe was having a fairly slow night, it was just housing everyone Sarge was trying to avoid. Ramone sat on a barstool, trying to start a conversation with the new doctor. The town sheriff was having a malt on the doctors other side, and Doc seemed to be warming up to him much better. Mater sat with his husband, Carlo, and their kid Toby, (who they just called “Tow” since the poor kids lisp made it hard to pronounce his own name and they just couldn't resist the pun to their profession) at an outside table. Tow was talking loudly about some sort of lizard he had seen and was spraying food whenever he talked. Scattered townsfolk and shopkeepers lounged around, relaxing after another busy workday. The worst of it though, was Fillmore sat in his and Sarge's normal table, forlornly picking through a salad. It was enough to make Sarge up and leave, but before he could try and slip away Flo called from the doorway, making everyone in the restaurant look his way.

“Hey there General! The usual?” She shouted, and by the coy grin on her face, Sarge just knew she and Ramone had planned something. He faked a half smile and shouted back, “Yes, if you don't mind!”, before stomping up to sit at the bar next to Ramone.

Doc took notice of the new patron and leaned over, “How's your hand doin’, Sargent?” Sheriff immediately noticed Sarge's hand, which had begun to show stains of blood through the bandaging.

“Woof, how'd you get that, Sarge?”, he asked, voice laced with trace amounts of concern through his malt.

“Grabbed a figurine too rough and it shattered in my hand. It's doing much better though Doctor, thanks.” Sarge replied. “I'll change the bandaging again tonight, I think.”, he added quickly before the doctor could lecture him on taking care of his wound.

“Good. Make sure to disinfect it as well.” He said before adding, “Oh, and you can just call me Doc, no need to be so formal.”

“Just Doc, huh?” Ramone said as Flo placed a hearty red stew with a glass of water in front of Sarge and sliding a ham sandwich to Doc. “Does that come with a story?” Ramone added with a grin, “or do we have to crack your cold facade first?”

“Maybe my origins will be revealed in due time.” Doc said evenly as he took a sandwich half in his hands. “But for now let’s enjoy the lovely food that's been placed before us.”

‘Amen’ Sarge thought. He could feel Fillmore's eye glancing over his back and he wanted to be gone as soon as physically possible. Just when he began to gulp down his last few spoonfuls he felt a large, warm, familiar hand on his back. He turned his head just enough to regard Fillmore but made no effort to make conversation. Ramone and Doc both glanced at them, smugly and curiously, respectively, before politely turning away. Sheriff, never one for social graces, made no such niceties, watching them over Doc’s shoulder.

“Ge- Sarge, do you think we could talk now?” Fillmore asked, his voice gentle.

Sarge thought about it for a moment before answering, “No. I don't think I'm ready yet.” It wasn't a complete lie, but just enough of one to make him feel bad all the same for not working through these relationship issues. “Just… give me time.” Fillmore removed his hand and began to turn the wheelchair around and leave the room.

Sarge couldn't stand watching him go. Even his hand being removed from Sarge's back made his heart ache.

[omniuniversal]

“All Us Friedks Have Is Each Other.”

The Proto-TRUK swooped low through the planetoid’s atmosphere, braking in mid-air and then hovering to a landing, transforming into land-vehicle mode as its tires touched the black rock of this dark little world.

Almost before the TRUK had fully settled onto the terrain, Ben had already kicked his door open and dropped to the ground below, slamming the door behind him.

“Okay, what’s the sitch?” he demanded. 

“Oh, Ben Tennyson, thank goodness you are here,” a matronly-looking Methanosian woman stood there, kind of a Miz Frizzle vibe with her dress and the way her red blossom and fiery petals framed her head, fidgeting with her hands, frowning worriedly. “One of our students is missing. Please, you have to find her!”  This was Miss Lobelia, a teacher at Undertown Elementary.

“Chill, ma’am, I’m on it,” Ben nodded, and frowned out at the horizon, warm light starting to seep over the rim of the planetoid and turning the navy night sky warmer shades of purple.

The spaceship resembled a school bus, and most of the kids were aboard already, looking sad and nervous.

Rook frowned as he disembarked the TRUK, having radioed their position to Plumber HQ, approaching the distraught teacher. “Can you describe the student? Under what circumstances did you last see her?”

“She is an Ectonurite,” Lobelia supplied, nodding earnestly. “Her name is Zs’Pook, no relation to The Ecto-Lord. I did a headcount before we returned to the bus, but I-- I miscounted a Splixson student who had not fully reunited before I started to count. We came here on an astronomy field trip to look at different stellar fields and constellations than are visible from Earth and its polluted atmosphere-- but now-- now the sun is coming up-- and she’s out there on that bare rocky expanse all alone!”

“If she’s just a kid, she still has her first skin, right?” Ben frowned. “She should be fine in broad daylight.”

Lobelia shook her head, agonizing. “She has a-- skin condition. It is not unlike the human condition of vitiligo-- there are gaps in her primary dermis, leaving her vulnerable to direct light exposure.”

“Okay, poor kid,” Ben winced. “So maybe she can just ghost into the rock and take shelter--”

Rook shook his head even as he swept the vicinity with his Proto-Tool in scanner mode. “This world has high concentrations of an ore that renders material super-tangible. The Plumbers use this substance in constructing cells and restraints for criminal Ectonurites or Necrofriggians or those with similar abilities. Zs’Pook would be unable to conceal herself in such a way. Additionally, as she may well be frightened by the scenario in which she finds herself, she has probably become invisible and intangible out of instinct, rendering her almost impossible to scan with conventional sensors or senses.”

“And calling Gwen for a tracking spell wouldn’t help,” Ben scowled, tapping his chin, “because Ectonurites don’t have Mana, as such. I couldn’t use Squidstrictor, either.”

“Precisely,” Rook frowned. “This is indeed a conundrum, and time grows short--”

Miss Lobelia turned away from them, covering her face with one hand and sobbing quietly as she was wracked with worry.

Ben sighed-- on the one hand, teach shoulda taken better count of her students. But on the other hand, he would probably be freaking way out if--

--freaking--

He stopped. And blinked. 

And reached up to touch Miss Lobelia on the shoulder. “It’s okay, lady. Just hang out and photosynthesize a little in the morning sun. Ben 10′s got this on lock.”

“...Ben?” Rook squinted.

Adjusting the dial on his watch verrrrry carefully, scrolling through the hologlyphs, Ben looked for one in particular...

“Hero time,” he murmured. 

And his hand came down in a blur, and green light surged up in a flare...

...and he became FRIEDKIN. 

Named for his honorary alma mater-- and Gwendolyn’s current hall of academia --this was a species he’d picked up on a parallel world called Remnant with his friend Cody Baxter ( @cody-baxter-isms )-- a Grimm. Normally, Grimm were scarcely coherent enough to be sentient, much less sapient, but he’d gotten this sample from a particularly old and evolved and wily Grimm that had managed to survive long enough to get a mind of its own.

This particular model of Grimm looked like a hyena-hedgehog hybrid sculpted out of shadow with prickles made of jutting, sharpened bone, with blazing green eyes and gleaming, predatory teeth. It resembled Argit, but only vaguely-- bulkier, and stockier, and darker. 

Friedkin giggled to himself as the kids on the schoolbus recoiled in shock and awe-- there was something inherently unsettling, disquieting, unholy about this creature, and he had enough of a low-key sadistic streak to enjoy putting these tykes on their collective back foot.

He could fire out his bony spines, he could manipulate shadows... he had speed and strength and regeneration above peak human... but for right now, he had one trait as a Grimm that was absolutely crucial.

Grimm could sense negative emotions. Such as anger, and despair, and... fear.

“Everrrrbody calm downnrrrr,” Friedkin rumbled, sniffing at the air. “I rrrrneed a clearrr line on this rrrrrkiiiiid.”

Rook touched Lobelia’s shoulder. “Madam. Can you put aside your worry for a moment? Can you help soothe your students?”

Nodding, sniffling, wiping away a brackish tear, Lobelia turned to climb on the bus and to give an encouraging speech to her charges... that Ben 10 looked frightening right now, but he was there to help their friend! After a moment, the kids all cheered, heartened indeed! 

Friedkin tilted his head. “Therrrrrre we go.”

And then with a seethe and a surge he bounded off toward the rising sun...

...he covered the distance with loping strides, flaring nostrils, blazing gaze...

...there!

...abject terror, quivering despair...

...he could feel her even though she was translucent, bunched up in what little shadow a tiny shelf of black black rock provided, and he stalked toward her with a grim Grimm grin. 

“Hey rrrrrkiiiiiiid,” he rrrrrrasped as he approached. “Rrrrrcome with me if you wanna rrrrrlive... or whateverrrrrr it is you Ectonurrrrrites do.”

“I can’t,” Zs’Pook mumbled in terror, her voice quavery even beyond the normal tones of her spectral species. “I can’t I can’t I can’t. I set one tentacle outside this shadow and I’ll get... dusted.”

Friedkin chuckled. “Ah, my sweet summerrrrrrr child. Rrrrrrhave shadow, wiiiiillll trrrrravellll.”

And he reached out with one foreclaw, and shaped the tiny patch of shade in which she sheltered into a big ball of darkness into which she could hide--

Zs’Pook gasped in surprise, and jumped up into that spheroid of black.

Towing the shadow-ball with him like an umbrakinetic balloon, Friedkin triumphantly brought Zs’Pook back to the bus and aboard, at which point Miss Lobelia swiftly flicked a switch that tinted the windows and hugged Zs’Pook with grateful delight.

Friedkin reverted to human in a fresh burst of green genomorphic energy, and Ben smiled softly at the reunion with hands on his hips-- ignoring the darksome echoes of Friedkin’s influence as he faded back into the watch.

“Thank you, Ben Tennyson,” Lobelia beamed gratefully as Zs’Pook turned to hug Ben instead. “Thank you so much!”

“All part of the hero biz,” Ben nodded with a smile, patting the Ectonurite girl on the back. “And, uh, kids, stay in school. ‘Knowing is half the battle.’”

“What is the other half?” Rook wondered as they returned to The Proto-TRUK.

“You know,” Ben frowned, “they never said. But I bet it’s kicking butt!”

“There are of course, numerous battles that can be won without a single kicking of butt,” Rook pointed out as they strapped in. “This scenario is but one example. Is that not ‘awesome,’ too?”

Ben considered that for a moment, glancing across to the darkened windows of the bus where Zs’Pook was rejoining her friends. “Yeah,” he nodded. “Yeah, it really is.”

[whipplefilter]

Gale's taking Jackson on a road trip for w/e reason, but her tires puncture near Radiator Springs.What happens next?

Gale and Storm run into some tire trouble on the way to Storm’s very first Piston Cup race. Radiator Springs has no reason to know who he is yet. But oh, they will.

The Hard Way

It’s Otis who finds them. He sputters to a stop at the top of a hill and coasts his way down it until his face slams against the edge of Storm’s trailer.

“Ouch!” he exclaims. Then he takes stock of what he’s run into–the trailer, askance; Gale, with one set of tires just a limp collection of jagged rubber streamers; Storm, parked beside her.

“Boy are you lucky you ran into me!” says Otis, amicably.

“You can’t be serious,” replies Storm.

But Otis is serious, because he’s always serious about these kinds of things. Otis breaks down like clockwork, and Mater should be along any time now to come pick him up. Mater’ll know what to do about these out-of-towners, too.

These out of towners, it turns out, had been sitting in the desert for a while. A few miles back, Gale had intuited something strange–what, she couldn’t tell, but the premonition was strong enough that she’d left the Interstate and slowed way down. But the premonition turned rapidly into a problem and there, straddling the distance between I-40 and whatever stretch of 66 this was, her tire rolled its last wobbly, oblong track. And then it was gone.

Storm should have gone for help. Gale told him as much. But he refused.

It wasn’t cruelty, or laziness. He played it off as loyalty–not wanting to leave her behind to the unknown–but Gale knows that Storm doesn’t quite have it in him to believe in that. Maybe one day, but not now. He’s too new, too drawn in the lines to have that kind of spirited conviction. After all, he’d only just mastered the one–the desire to win–and even that’s still got that new car smell to it.

She tells him that if he doesn’t go find help, he’s going to miss his race. His first race. But even that can’t move him.

Gale looks off at the horizon, squinting for the outline of a town she hopes is out there somewhere. But the wind is up, and so is the dust, and all she can see is haze. Again, Storm says, “No.”

His body betrays nothing, and his expression never wavers, but it’s terror that holds him there–even if he doesn’t know that’s what it is, isn’t familiar enough with the feeling to identify it. He’s scared of the desert, because he doesn’t know deserts; he’s scared of things not going according to plan. He’s scared of being alone.

“Ray told me I needed to stick with you,” Storm reasons aloud. “I’m not going to leave you, Gale.”

Storm sounds like loyalty but isn’t; he is fear, but doesn’t look it.

“You’re going to miss your race. Do you understand that?” Gale asks, for the last time.

“I don’t care.”

And because Gale is Gale, she resolves to let him ride this out. She believes that if you’re young enough to crash and burn and get right back up and learn from it, then far be it from her to stunt that growth. If this ends Storm’s career as a racer before it’s properly begun, he’s young enough to find something else to do. Maybe he’ll need to learn the hard way.

But along comes Otis, and soon enough, the tow truck he promised. In the span of one introduction from Mater-like-tuhmater-but-without-the-tuh, Storm shifts from quiet terror to deep mistrust to obvious displeasure.

“Yep, my friend Luigi can get you fixed up, no problem! He’s got all kinds a’ tires, he’s got–” Mater explains at length, hiking Otis up into the air every time he swings his tow cable around for emphasis.

Storm fixes Mater with an absolutely withering glare, but the tow truck’s enthusiasm is impervious.

“Tell you what, I gotta get Otis over to Ramone’s back in town, and I can’t exactly tow your friend here. But if you just wanna sit tight I got a good guess about what you need and I can just come back and–”

“I’ll go with you,” Storm interrupts tersely. “I know what kind of tires she needs. I can pay.”

Storm doesn’t trust Mater within an inch of him. He doesn’t trust Mater’s memory, he doesn’t trust his guesses, and he certainly isn’t ready to stake his and Gale’s lives on the reliability of some deranged, backwater tow truck. Whatever his other terrors, the terror of placing trust in this guy is far stronger. “I’ll go,” he says.

Mater beams. “Always happy to get to know a Route 66-er,” he says. “But shoot, we can talk more on the road!”

They can talk a lot more. The road is rough, far rougher than anything Storm’s ever felt beneath him. He takes it at a crawl.

It’s mortifying.

He’s not used to roads like this.

“Well, here’s the road,” says Mater, playing tour guide. Ten miles and almost an hour later, Mater says, “And here’s more of the same road.”

Mater has been obligingly matching Storm’s pace. It’s a constant modification, his mind leaping forward and his whole body set to bound across the desert like he usually does–before he remembers to reign it in.

Suffice to say, treading bottleneck-slow into town is not one of Mater’s favorite things in the world. But he perseveres.

“You know, I could probably listen to your whole life story before we even hit the outskirts,” he says, which is for Mater a silver lining and to Storm sounds like a death threat.

“Probably,” says Storm. “It’s short.” He gives Gale’s receding silhouette one last glance as he takes a particularly jagged piece of road sideways. The road into town is old, and desperately needs to be re-paved.

“I’m all ears,” says Mater. “Well, windows, mostly. But–”

“Once upon a time, the end,” says Storm.

That’s the most they ever get out of Storm. He doesn’t speak to anyone. Not to Flo, who offers him a cool drink that he does not accept.

“It’s not poisoned, honey,” she jibes, riffing off the suspicion vivid on Storm’s face.

Not to Ramone and Red, who offer a complimentary wash and wax to their dusty newcomer.

Not to Lizzie, who freely offers her own hypothesis as to his identity–Arab sheikh. For all Radiator Springs knows, Storm is Middle Eastern royalty. He has the build, and he’s definitely busy acting like this whole life is a government secret.

“What’s your business here?” Sarge asks. It’s not an interrogation, but it is.

“Leaving, ideally,” says Storm, all acid. The tire guys were taking their time sifting through their inventory in the back. Apparently it’s not often rigs like Gale drop in off the Interstate, and the truck tires are in deep storage.

“Mack always brings his own, for some reason,” muses Sally. “Something about rubber sensitivities. I don’t know.” She’s talking more to the town at large than to Storm. She’s the only one who hasn’t tried to push anything on him.

She seems distracted.

“They were supposed to leave an hour ago,” Storm overhears her whisper to the Sheriff. “If they can’t find the tires easily, just make this guy wait! Lightning’s expecting them. He needs–”

“Lightning?” Storm asks.

“McQueen,” Sally clarifies. She flushes; she hadn’t meant for this stranger to hear all that. “There’s a Piston Cup race at Copper Canyon today. Uh, down in Phoenix.”

Storm’s aware.

“Lightning… McQueen lives here?” he says slowly.

Mater is only too happy to confirm. “He sure does! Well, when he’s not Piston Cup racing and all. He’s my best bud! Didn’t you see the billboard?”

Storm hadn’t. He’d been too busy staring at the ground, daring its horrible, uneven surface to sabotage him. But when he looks around at all these cars, he could choke on their sentimentality.

They’re all so proud of him. They’re all so proud Lightning McQueen.

The whole dumb town.

Storm’s jaw tenses.

Eventually, Guido and Luigi locate the tires Gale needs, and the Sheriff gamely police-escorts their party back to Gale’s resting spot.

“Never did catch your name, stranger,” says the Sheriff.

They pass the billboard again. Radiator Springs–racing headquarters of one Lightning McQueen, seven-time Piston Cup Champion. Every part of the sign has been freshly repainted, except for the seven. As though the artist expects that that number might change.

“Oh, you will,” Storm assures him, and leaves it at that.

“How was your field trip?” asks Gale, once they’re back on the road. The two Italians Storm brought back with him evidently had someplace to be, because they’d zipped off towards the Interstate well ahead of her.

“I hate that town,” says Storm.

“They seemed friendly,” Gale counters, his Devil’s advocate.

“That’s their problem,” says Storm.

Gale wishes she could get Storm face to face right then. Look him in the eyes. Not that it would change much, she supposes; Storm has a wicked gift for appearing illegible.

But being and appearing are not the same thing. “It’ll come,” she assures him. “You’ll find your place.”

“First,” says Storm. His place is first place. That’s all that matters.

Gale thinks it’s a stupid answer, but Storm is not the first racecar she’s hauled. They all say that.

Because he’s her favorite, Gale assures him again. “It’ll come if you let it. Trust me.”

Maybe one day, he will. And perhaps the next, he will listen.

For now, they head to Copper Canyon.

[warrenwaskilledbyadeer]

Undertale According to My Dad: RUINS Edition Part 2

My dad: Okay, I’m going on...This ghost looks scary...!

...

My dad: He looks like a white Pac-Man ghost. Put that in your post. Tell everyone his new name is White Pac-Man Ghost

(My brother wishes it to be knows that Napstablook will now be known as White Pac-Man Ghost)

...

My dad: Move it with force? No! *realizes he has to move it with force* Oh dear.... *battle starts* No!!!

...

My dad: Ha, he cries up. Do you like it? Yes! How do I tell him yes?

...

My dad: No experience!!

...

My dad: NO EXPERIENCE!

...

*leaves combat and immediately enters combat again*

My dad: No! WHAT?!?!? 2 Vegetoid in a row!

...

Me and my brother: Open the menu to eat some food.

My dad: WaAIT! I’ve been attacked by mold!

...

(And now Vegetoid’s new name is Veggie Tales)

...

(Here are some of the various sounds he made whenever he got caught in battle)

moans: Noo! Mooold!

shrieks: OHh NoO!

yelps: noOOoO!

...

My dad: *whispers* 0 Experience

...

My dad: *accidentally opens the Fight Menu* Oh no!!

My brother: Don’t fight them don’t fight them!

My dad: How do I go back???? B??????

...

My dad: *tries to spare before the name is yellow* *gasp* It didn’t help!!

...

My dad: *accidentally picks on a Loox* *GASP* No, I’m sorry!! I was trying to pick the other one!! I’m sorry...

...

My dad accidentally opens the Fight Menu again and shrieks: NO I DON’T WANT TO FIGHT HIM

...

(In the room of changing perspectives)

My brother: So when you leave the room it won’t be a new room. It’ll be the same room from a different angle.

My dad: It’s not a real door.

*struggles for about 15 minutes*

My dad: This room is a trap!

My brother: No, it’s not - 

My dad: Yes it is! *walks into yet another perspective of the same room* I’m lost!

...

My dad @ his SOUL when he’s not doing well in battle: STOP TOUCHING THOSE THINGS

...

My dad: *goes into Toriel’s room* *gasp* It’s not my room! Sorry...

My brother: You can go in there, though, and explore.

My dad: I don’t think I should invade her room.

My brother: You should!

My dad: Ugh, you’re trying to get me in trouble

...

* “This was our new home, which we named...Home.”

My dad: Brilliant.

...

My dad: I don’t want to ask her how to leave the RUINs. I don’t want her to turn mean.

...

*The size of the pie intimidates you too much for you to eat it.

My brother: *SPITS SODA EVERYWHERE* I FORGOT ABOUT THAT LINE

...

(My dad spent a long time doing literally everything but leaving)

My dad: They want me to ask this question. 

My dad: I’m gonna have to ask this question and she’s gonna get me.

My dad: *finally asks how to leave the RUINs* Oh, she’s gonna get nasty... *does a deranged Toriel voice* “You can’t leave me!”

...

*after Toriel leaves to seal the door*

My brother: Follow her!

My dad: What do you mean follow her? She said to stay here.

My brother: No, trust me, follow her, you’re supposed to.

My dad: I don’t want to break the rules.

...

My dad: This wardrobe looks like a character from Tow Mater

...

(He kept going into the basement, seeing Toriel, and then going back upstairs and procrastinating more. Here are some of the things he said whenever he encountered Toriel in the basement hallway)

My dad: Something bad’s gonNA HAPPEN - 

My dad: I’m gonna catch her in the act of something - *gasp*

...

(And now, the journey we all took in playing this game)

My dad: Do I have to fight her? I don’t want to fight her. I don’t want to fight her! I don’t want to fight her!! Do I have to fight her?? Can I just stay with her? Will the game just go on forever? *battle initiates* NO!!!

My brother after a few turns: Remember what that Froggit said?

My dad: A lot of Froggits said a lot of things

Me: But the one about having to spare someone whose name isn’t yellow...

My dad: *gasp!* I would love to do that.

My dad at the end of the battle: I don’t want to leave her here alone...Sad, sad...No...Poor thing....I can’t turn around to say goodbye???

My brother: She said not to come back.

My dad: *stops walking back, in obvious pain, then reluctantly turns and goes through the door*

...

My dad: *gasp* FLOWEY 

My dad once Flowey starts talking creepy: *scrambling to press every button on the Joy-Cons* Where are my controls? 

...

Bonus

(Later in the day)

My dad: What’s even the point of having an EXP slot if you never earn any?

Me and my brother: You earn it by - 

My dad: Stop!! I’ll figure it out myself.

Me and my brother: Oka-ay!

...

(And then this happened today)

Me, telling my dad about what Flowey says if you kill Toriel: Undertale is a massive guilt trip.

My dad: That’s why I don’t want to do the bad one. Even though it’s the only way to get points.

Me: Yep, the only way to get EXP is to kill a monster.

My dad: Even if they’re nice??

[wanderfan2000]

The Wander artwork train has made its final run for this afternoon, Wanderers. But don’t worry, it’ll return in June. In the meantime, let’s check out these old drawings of Wander all the way from 2018! 

- Prince Wander and Bat Wander. 

- Wander telling Janet he loved all of the pictures the planet has of him in her cottage. Also, while looking at all these pictures Janet has taken of Wander, the space traveler whispers to himself: “I swear, it’s like she’s a creepy stalker!” Janet overhears this and wanted to know what Wander said, he quickly replies with: “Nothing! It was nothing.” 

- Wander doodles from The Troll and The Birthday Boy. Also, I had a MOJOR OBSESSION of writing Wander’s Japanese name back in 11th grade. 

- Wander inside the dark void and watching Mater’s flashback from Cars 2. I guess this whole nightmare scene the space traveler was witnessing would make him extremely sad to see Mater getting laughed at. Especially, during the flashback of the tow truck and Mcqueen’s fight. I wanted to draw this part in Japanese for a long time, so I’m sorry I didn’t add the English dialogue but don’t worry, here is the translation: (Left side: Mater: Wait a minute, I didn’t screw you up did I? McQueen: I lost the race because of you! Mater: Maybe if I talk to someone... McQueen: I don’t need your help! Right side: McQueen: I didn’t want your help! (Echos). Wander: Mater...) 

- Japanese Lonely Planet, here we come! Doing Japanese scenes with these two is always very fun. Even if Wander is still being captive by a crazy lovestruck planet. Translation: (Janet: WANDER! Are you trying to escape from me...AGAIN?! Wander: (gulps) N-No, I would never escape from you, J-Janet. Janet: Oh, Wander. I love you!~ Wander: Love you too.) 

- Wander wearing a school girls uniform. Kind of reminds me of the uniforms at Japanese high schools. I don’t know why but drawing Wander in dresses is fun!

-  Adorable drawings of Wander. I love space cowboy! 

[the-kings-tail-fin]

This is for you, @avioncitodetergopol - I think this is number 5? I don’t remember, but Ima do these out of order.

_______________

“Heehehe.” Mater laughed, sneaking quietly behind Flo’s V8 Cafe. “Oh, McQueen is gonna love this!”

A few days ago, Mater had been out cruising the town when he caught sight of Fillmore unlocking what looked like a safe out behind his distillery. Curious, the tow truck watched as his hippie friend mixed a little bit of some mystery liquid into his organic fuel. Promptly, some visitors rolled into town. Fillmore, distracted, left the safe unlocked and slightly open while he went to try and sell his products.

Mater rushed over and paused in front of the oil can Fillmore had just mixed the liquid in. With a quick look around, he decided a little taste wouldn’t hurt anything. 

“Hm. Not bad.” Mater looked at the open safe and saw several different cans sitting on a shelf. Not knowing what was what, he grabbed one with his tow hook and made a run for it before Fillmore came back.

By the time Mater had returned to his rickety old shack, Carburetor Canyon was starting to turn funny, lucid colors. He stopped and watched as the rock walls twisted and turned into a rainbow of different colors and shapes.

“Whoa...” he was completely amazed. A bug flew by, but all Mater saw was a UFO. He started to chase after it, but slowed to a halt as the junk in his salvage yard started to sparkle. He parked there, mesmerized until things finally turned back to normal. 

“That was incredible!” he said to himself. He knew exactly how he was gonna use that can he’d stolen.

Now, Mater was sneaking in the back door of the cafe. McQueen and Sally had just returned from a leisurely drive out to Wheel Well and back, and were looking for a drink. Flo stopped mixing oil for a moment to go out and welcome a few out-of-towners. This was Mater’s chance to give his best friend the experience of a lifetime. 

He meant to only pour a little bit of the concoction, but his hook slipped a little. There went half the can straight into McQueen’s oil. Mater hesitated, but then figured it was alright. Fillmore’s always talking about how good this stuff is for your health, right? And so he slipped out the back and joined the conversation outside, telling everyone about his encounter with a UFO a few nights ago.

“Two usuals coming right up!” Flo said, bringing Lightning and Sally’s drinks out. “Enjoy!”

“Thanks, Flo.” they answered in unison.

Mater giggled quietly, but kept engaged in his tall tale to stay distracted. When he’d finished, the visitors kindly thanked Flo for the hospitality and drove on out of town. Sally noticed something was definitely... different with her boyfriend.

“Hey, Stickers, you feelin’ okay?” she asked.

“Uh, hey Flo?” McQueen slurred out slowly. “I- I think something’s up with this drink. Did you do something different?”

“Nope, just the usual, honey.” Flo said, a little confused.

“Everything’s... so...” he trailed off, staring into the middle distance, wide-eyed.

“What, you seein’ sunshine and rainbows?” Mater asked, choking back laughter.

“Is... is that? Is that...” Lightning slowly rolled forwards towards a stack of oil cans and started talking to them in an indistinguishable manner like they were an old friend.

Everyone besides Mater was becoming very, very concerned. 

“I think we need to call a medic.” Sheriff said. “I think that oil’s contaminated, Flo. Somebody help me put a boot on him before he hurts himself.”

Mater absolutely lost it. He laughed and wheezed. “Can - can you guys believe it? McQueen thinks them there oil cans is a car!”

All the ruckus broke Lightning’s concentration away from his ‘friend’ and he turned back to the crowd. All he saw were several distorted, colorful figures making noise. He suddenly felt very lonely.

“Mater! What did you do?” Sheriff asked threateningly. “I know you’re behind this.”

Mater told them all the short version of his story. “I swear I was gonna put it back after I used it, but this was just too good to pass up! Fillmore, I owe you one.”

The VW didn’t look impressed. “The good new is, it should clear up in about an hour. The bad new is, what you grabbed out of my stash isn’t the same remedial ointment you tasted. This is a genuine hallucinogen. Left over from the glory days, my friend.” Fillmore explained.

“Is he really gonna be okay?” Sally asked.

“He’ll be fine.” Fillmore assured. “No worries, man.”

McQueen didn’t absorb anything anyone had just said. He was still completely lost in a maze of shifting colors and slightly familiar faces. All he wanted was to talk to Sally, but where was she?

He slowly rolled over towards her, who looked back at him and sighed. Might as well make the most of the moment. While she held his attention, Sheriff slipped a boot on him so he wouldn’t per chance take off and hurt himself or someone else.

“Hey, have - have you seen my girlfriend? Her name’s Sally... I really wanna talk to her. I miss her.” McQueen said, looking a little confused.

Everyone relaxed and laughed a little bit, including Sally. “You know, I actually haven’t seen her around lately.” she said. “I think she said something about going for a drive. But I don’t know if she’s coming back. I think she was leaving town for good.”

Big mistake. There is a time for sass and a time for anything but. The red racecar’s lower lip started to tremble, and he started making sounds no one had ever heard before. Then came the waterworks.

“No! I have to go find her! She can’t just leave, I love her!” he shouted out, blubbering and trying to move towards the road, slowly realizing he had a parking boot on. “What? No! You can’t keep me here! I can’t go back to jail! Sally!”

“Oh, for the love of Peterbilt, come on! It was a joke! I’m right here!” Sally tried to correct her mistake, but it was no use. “Stickers, look at me. I. Am. Right. Here.”

The fully grown racecar wasn’t having it. Sally shot Mater a death stare. Mater had calmed down and sort of shrank away from the situation. He’d realized his mistake and felt very guilty. 

All they could do was wait it out.

[friendlyoceangiant-blog]

Red string of fate

Leave “Red String of Fate” in my inbox… To see what is in our muse’s destinies then I’ll write a drabble for it. ||No Longer Accepting||Note: I’m putting all under readmore bc length (or any other reason), numbers are on the bottom for a surprise, and i’ll make use of any AU I can to make these work. ((Geebs, this took me forever to come up with an idea for. Sorry you had to wait so long! I forgot about doing this over the hiatus OTL))

Fate, Destiny, prophecies, all sorts of ways to ringing people in to fix the messes that others can’t be bothered, or are too scared to get involved with. It was the year XXXXX whenever the oracle had prophesized children born in that year during the passing of the Salaur comet would gain unearthly ‘powers’ so to speak.

This comet was one that would visit twice every half a millennium, which equates to every 500 years. Not every child would come to have powers, however. The comet would hang in the sky for a period of a week before disappearing once more to return once more in the summer time before it would disappear into the galaxy once more. As this was the case, a good number of children would be affected by the comet’s unusual effects, and some having more aptitude for stronger powers.

It was rare, but in written history, it’s been said that some come to not possess any powers. Poor children born with no talents or skills to speak of have been forsaken by the comet and are left powerless.

With every raise of power, there will always be an equal opposite. As children were born with supernatural powers, so would evil sleeping beneath the earth. Having absorbed enough energy of the earth during the past half millennia, they would rise up once more in hopes to finally subjugate human kind.

The reason behind children gaining powers has been theorized to be because fate does not wish for the human race to be subjugated and thus grants special powers to children.

Mizumachi being one of these children who was granted powers had the mastery of mater. Some call him ‘Poseidon,’ for reasons he couldn’t quite understand, but accepted. His friend was often called ‘Trident,’ perhaps to match his name. He always thought that the name ‘Anchor’ or something would do just fine for Kakei.

A kid from a different village was known for his immense speed. He’d run so fast he needed something made to cover up his eyes. Don’t ask what his nickname was, Mizumachi didn’t bother remembering. He’s never met the guy after all.

Kakei had gone off on his own mission to subjugate the vile demons spawning in a nearby cavern. He’d left before Mizumachi because he was determined to not leave until he could convince another person he wanted to join their team.

The guy was someone that he found on his own abandoned as a kid, and he brought him home with him. The only thing they knew about him was that his name seemed to be ‘Mika’. He had two differently colored eyes and they were born days apart from each other—however, he had no powers.

This being the supposed reason he may have been abandoned by his family, if he had one still alive. Mizumachi often liked to look on the ‘bright’ side (if it could be considered bright) and suggest that they didn’t abandon him and he may have accidentally been misplaced. For all they knew, he was the only one left.

Sad to think you were thrown away, right? Since that’s the case, just come up with the theory that you weren’t thrown away, but ‘misplaced.’

The blond never could understand why anyone would want to abandon the guy. He was an angel (a nickname Mizumachi gave to Mika), wasn’t he? It was hard to think that he had a single bad bone in his body. He was gentle, generous, and just so full of happiness! Like a ray of happiness!

“Come on dude, stop struggling! You’re already here! You aren’t gonna be a burden, trust me!” Mizumachi had dragged Mika all the way to Ravern’s Trench, which housed many evil creatures. Every so often the gifted children would be tasked to ridding a good percentage of the monsters to prevent them from overtaking the town that was only 30 minutes away on foot.

Their town wasn’t too big population-wise so if they were attacked, it spelled certain doom for everyone in it.

Kakei was already fighting alongside a few other gifted children further down into the trench. Mizumachi looked around and set Mika up high in a tree on a sturdy branch with the instructions to stay there.

“Why did you bring him here? You know he can’t do anything.” A voice came from behind the blond. “Ah! Kakei! Sup, dude? I brought Mika along for moral support! As long as I see his smile, it gives me energy to keep going! He’s got that super sunshine smile, ya know? He’s not useless.”

This was something Mizumachi said often in regards to the other male. “I never said he was. Look, I understand how you feel, but It’s still too dangerous for him to be here. Take him back to town. I can hold my own for another hour.” Kakei argued, clearly disgruntled.

Mizumachi shook his index finger, making ‘tut tut tut’ sounds.

“Mika will be fine! I’ll look after him and he can fend for himself!” Mizumachi was the only one who seemed to believe in his words. Wherever Mizumachi got this idea was beyond comprehension. “Alright, let’s go!” Grabbing onto the back of Kakei’s shirt, he jumped down into the trench whilst sprouting water from the bottom of his feet as if he were riding the waves with Kakei in tow.

These two operated by Mizumachi mainly paving the way and Kakei summoning a pair of long heavy chains with anchors attached at the ends of them and slamming them into the evil creatures. See? Anchor suited him better than Trident.

It wasn’t as though Mizumachi couldn’t fight himself. He could very well flood the entire trench if he wanted to (but he won’t) and drown everything in the water aside from him. He was good friends with the water and it wouldn’t ever harm him.

When you’re in battle, your sense of time gets messed up. He didn’t know how long he was fighting the evil demons when he heard a distressed cry for help. Immediately, Kakei was on it. He was the quicker of the two when it came to maneuvering rough terrains. He was going to have to save Mika who was clutching onto the tree for dear life as he was watching his friend fight off these grotesque creatures that could make anyone feel sick to their stomach.

Mizumachi just found them really ugly playthings for him to use his powers on. These creatures were just condensed manifestations of power that had spells cast on them. They weren’t alive, and were only acting out of what task they were given, which was destroy and subjugate humans.

Focusing on fighting off the creatures while Kakei went off to defend Mika, the blond was trying to keep a good understanding of his surroundings. He had to keep good focus, but that was hard when you were worried about your friends.

Just a second, that’s all he took to look up to see whether or not Kakei had eradicated the evil creature that had somehow made it up the trench. That one moment of being distracted was all an evil hound needed to lunge at Mizumachi to tackle him down to the ground.

All the guy could hear was his name being shouted before he could feel poisonous fangs sinking into his shoulder. The pain didn’t last too long considering the anchor that came flying afterwards flew towards the hound  to throw it off and effectively kill it.

“You should know better than to be distracted! You idiot!” Kakei grabbed Mizumachi and with the help of the other gifted children nearby who cleared the area, he hoisted Mizumachi all the way up to the top of the trench, to safety.

While being dragged up the trench, Mizumachi was laughing quietly to himself. It hurt. His shoulder was full of searing pain and he felt faint. Sweat was running down his forehead like a flood. Weird, because he wasn’t activating his powers anymore.

Ahhhh… he could hear people yelling at him. Maybe some crying. He couldn’t really tell. He could only hear a loud ringing sound in his ears. “Kakei… where is Mika? Is he okay?” The poison of the evil hound was very potent and scarily effective. It was no joke to say that he would croak in the next minutes.

This was no time to be worrying about someone else right now! Of course, even if either of them told him that, he couldn’t hear them.

“Haha… ya know, Mika always thinks of himself as useless, or like… a defective person. He’s not any of that. He’s my …good friend.” His breathing was becoming more ragged and heavy. Words were coming out much breathier. Sweat still beading up and rolling down his face. His whole body was heating up. “I like him…ya know? Always …smiling and …trying to make the best out of l-life. He doesn’t know it, //cough//  b-but he’s something …really special.”

He wasn’t sure what was going on, but he felt something warm around his shoulders. Maybe someone hugging him? That might have been it. It was so warm and comforting. It had him feeling a sense of peace and calm.

“O-oi! What are you…? Is that…? Hey! Mizumachi! Are you okay?”

The strong searing pain in his shoulder was residing and the ringing in his ears was growing quieter and quieter. Was he… dead?

Blink blink.

He could see his friends around him and he could definitely feel Mika hugging him. Nope, he’s not dead! Judging by the way his shoulder looks and feels—yep, all better now. Healed up well!

“What’s going on?” Kakei was very confused by the looks of things.

“He’s got the Holy element. Really super cool and rare, right? Phew, I almost died there!” Mizumachi laughed tiredly.

“You!” Kakei smacked him upside the head, not appreciating how he was making light of this situation. If not for this ‘miracle’ he would’ve died!

This was definitely not the time to be so happy and carefree! They were still on a battleground after all. Geez this guy had no sense of danger right now! Such a bother.

“Mika has always had the Holy element. He’s really good at healing and expelling impurities. That’s why I always get so quickly after getting sick. This guy sometimes holds your hand, ya know?” Another laugh. Mika may have thought he was being slick, but Mizumachi has caught him doing so sometimes. During one of those times, he happened to notice that Mika’s hands were glowing a very bright golden color.

The element of the legends in the hands of the one people thought was an invalid. The reason no one could determine which category his ‘powers’ belonged to was because they simply overlooked the possibility he could have the ability of the legends.

A pure heart of gold, that’s what he had. He was full of warmth and love. Makes sense as to why he holds the Holy element, right?

“Since he never truly awakened his abilities everyone thought he was an invalid. That’s why I kept dragging you around you know? I thought for sure you’d awaken one day. Who knew I had to almost die to get you to awaken? Geez!”

This bothered him because each element had special criteria needed in order for them to awaken. For those who had the water element like Mizumachi, all you needed was boundless amount determination. Fire required endless amount of pride. Each element had something like that.

No one knew what the Holy element needed, but Mizumachi was sure it was either confidence, or the feeling of being accepted. He could be wrong though! That’s just a theory of his!

Maybe you gotta feel desperate? Feel brave? Fall in love?

Haha! He kids, he kids.

Anyways, what matters is that Mika awakened his powers—finally.

“Nhaa~ There was a reason I call you Angel, ya know. Now that you awakened your powers, you need to train and learn how to control it! Then you can join Kakei and I to make a unit! Gotta make sure I don’t kill myself right? Let’s save the world!”

46.) Our muses are destined to fight along side each other to save the world from the end

((Ahhhh this is the best idea that I could think of. I think having the Holy element like an angel suits lil ol’ Mika. Saving the world though, such a grand thing. Obviously super heroes and the like are the only option. I tried. Hopefully this is satisfactory. As I had to build the world, I had to go into some story building before I could get started-- thus the length.))