#it took dropout years to get fully off the ground

[biblicalhorror]

just finished watching the watcher announcement video and it basically sounds like they're starting another dropout channel. why are people saying they sold out to capitalism lmfao

[swishswishspiritsword]

Merchant Shang AU 2

The panic didn't really set in until they arrived at his estate–and that was still a weird fact of his life, an estate–and he had Xiao She settle "Empress Su Xiyan" in the guest house. The not-a-maid kinda bodyguard looked at him with obvious disbelief at his address for the young woman, so unnerved by it she slipped enough that her eyes were golden with slitted pupils. Shang Houhua could empathize. He too was freaking out about the sudden occurrence and realizing your boss might be involved with the Big Boss of the world you specifically emigrated away from is distressing.

Although that did mean he could check another point for her being a snake demoness over a crane demoness in his mental chart.

Shang Houhua offered her a sympathetic grimace and awkward shoulder pat.

"Xiao She should go take a break," Shang Houhua said kindly. Or at least in his best attempt. He'd gotten better at socializing since he'd actually managed to curate Actual Human (And Non-Human) Relationships, but he was still a "work in progress" as Luo Ren put it delicately or a "disaster in emotional understanding" according to the ever blunt Steward He.

Shang Houhua was kinda hoping he was somewhere in the middle.

Xiao She had given him a Look and Shang Houhua knew that it meant he would find his very irritable not-a-maid insisting on keeping watch over him personally until this situation was handled.

Or Shang Houhua was dead.

He wasn't actually sure which would come first. And was very carefully not actively thinking about it until his internal screaming could become external in the safety of his heavily warded fluffy bed.

"Yes, Master Shang," Xiao She said with a little more hiss on the words than usual. That may have been a flash of fang. 

Shang Houhua winced. So, his staff may be a bit more upset about the revelations than normal. He hesitated a little unsure if he should point it out considering the general Ignore Everything Rule the mixed species estate ran by.

"...Xiao She may want to compose herself in private unless she has decided to, ah, be more, hm, free with her identity."

That probably wasn't terribly delicate, but Shang Houhua was running on fumes, adrenaline, and specific Plot Related panic he hadn't had to deal with in a solid decade. Shang Houhua nodded again in awkward acknowledgment and Did Not See Xiao She dash up to the roof to avoid corridors or the way the charcoal girl had a thin rat-like tail poking out the bottom of her skirt. Shang Houhua had not seen things for years and went to his room to collapse in peace after one last order for the doctor to be sent to Su Xiyan's room.

-

Shang Houhua hadn't actually meant to turn his estate into some kind of halfway house for more pro-human demons or half-demons. Honestly, owning an estate in the first place had been an accident caused by picking up what could only be described as a side quest. During his early wandering around the great (terrible) world he created, free from his "fate" he'd stumbled into being a rogue cultivator to pay the bills. 

He needed money! Starting up businesses took a lot of it. And connections too! If Logistics Hell taught him anything it was this. So he used what he had to get by.

And honestly he wasn't actually terrible it turned out? He would never be a War God but he did pay attention to the basics, was a resourceful (read cheating) man,and had wanted to avoid being brutally murdered by what passed as a houseplant on some peaks. Besides as Author God he did know more than the average Sect Dropout.

Most people didn't really need big things either. He did minor things to get by. He made talismans to help ward off wandering monsters from farmers livestock and fields. He performed purifying rituals on a town's toddlers to help insure they were protected even after death. He helped fetch some plants to heal someone or an item to break a curse. It had felt a little like playing through an RPG and it wasn't the most stable but Shang Houhua was revelling in not having a bluescreen of death stalking his every breath of air.

The estate had happened when, a very tired and recently poor, Shang Houhua had met Old Sun. Old Sun was one of those eccentric independently wealthy men who never married and liked to collect weird shit. Among that weird shit was something cursed which made the entire estate a horror zone. Old Sun had done everything to stop it. He'd tried to get rid of it only for it to find him. He'd tried to get it blessed at a temple only for it to throw the monks around like dolls until they'd called quits. He'd tried to move away abandoning his home in the city for his estate in bumfuck nowhere. He'd hired cultivators, other rogues, only for them to take the money and split.

He could only dismiss his staff to protect them and set out to beg help from one of the righteous sects with the increasingly starving ghost dogging his steps and weakening him.

Shang Houhua had found the old man collapsed on the road and helped out, noticing the nice clothes he'd been wondering idly about a possible reward, when resentful energy started to waft off him making Shang Houhua choke on his lunch.

Thankfully he'd recognized the item, a minor cursed bangle of a famous courtesan that had been part of a mini quest. After working his way through as many cursed jewelry plotlines as he could he'd eventually remembered this specific bangle and set the spirit to rest, dispersing the resentful energy. 

Old Sun had woken up happy, healthy,and uncursed. He was so grateful he insisted Shang Houhua come spend the night at his home and be rewarded. Shang Houhua was not about to say no and happily accepted. He could, literally, not afford any chance at money.

He just hadn't expected the man to adopt him, shamelessly dragging him into his house.

After a while Shang Houhua accepted because he actually liked sleeping in a bed and he gained his third family. Fourth if you counted his shortly lived martial family. It took some adjustment but Shang Houhua wound up actually liking Old Sun and, even more bewildering, was liked in return. Shang Houhua helped him identify the weird shit he collected, occasionally adding to the collection, and Old Sun feed and clothed him all while cheerfully listening to rants about story ideas.

Shang Houhua had no trouble picking out his favorite, his first real and positive, family member. 

It was on one of his trips to buy ingredients to start up his soap business that had started him down the road of Demonic Social Worker. He'd helped hide one terrified teenager from a mob, sneaking her out of town, and next thing he knows she's turning up at the estate to ask to repay him. Old Sun insisted on offering her a position and kept insisting as others slowly trickled in as the Don't Ask policy of their staff choices spread and they slowly filled the empty house.

Old Sun had been delighted by the noise and people they gathered while he'd been alive. He'd happily bounced the stablemaster's baby with suspicious sharp teeth and pointy ears on his knee and chatted enthusiastically with Steward He about his collection ignoring when the man fell into first person describing the bloody history of some demonic items.

Shang Houhua had simply continued the tradition when he'd suddenly inherited and expanded it with his business, spreading out their household as traders and managers when he could.

He was fairly certain Luo Ren and himself were the only fully human people in the building. 

–

Honestly a future Demon Empress was only the next step up. Or at least that's what he tried to tell his panicking mind. And she wasn't permanent. He would lead her to Tianlang-jun and happily fuck off back to obscurity. 

Definitely. 

A knock interrupted his screaming and Shang Houhua removed the pillow from his face to clear his throat and give permission to enter. 

It was Steward He and the man was looking unruffled as always, at least until Shang Houhua noticed the way his hands were carefully hidden in his robes, his skin seemed unnaturally smooth and more youthful, and his eyes were amber tinted. 

Also upset then.

"Lady Xiyan is demanding an audience," Steward He said mostly neutrally in a way that meant he was far from neutral. "And we've received a request from a group of Huan Hua Palace cultivators to scour the town and our grounds in search of a missing disciple. The town's leaders have instructed them to obey your decision on the matter."

Shang Houhua shoved the pillow back down and Steward He allowed him a few moments to scream.

Part 1 - Part 3

[theunvanquishedzims]

The Michigan Fleet authors posted their AUs so here are mine

theunvanquishedzims: I have SO MANY Boat Boy ideas but I'm sitting on them because I came up with a bunch halfway through the book and they got jossed by the end rollerskatinglizard: Hah! Uhhh, sorry? I think?? theunvanquishedzims: (i.e. Basil gets sad and weepy over Rich and Liam flirting at a party, Trimmer plays fairy godmother a la ripping half his shirt off, giving him a pep talk, and sending him back out there to Win Back His Man) rollerskatinglizard: *whooping* theunvanquishedzims: Jossed so hard rollerskatinglizard:Okay, that's DELIGHTFUL rollerskatinglizard: Trimmer is the most terrifying fairy godmother rollerskatinglizard: Anything else? :Dc theunvanquishedzims: Lemme get my notes rollerskatinglizard: *gleeful wiggling*

theunvanquishedzims: Okay so I stopped reading when the Sympatico grabbed Rich during the storm and it took me a month or so to get back and finish, so I was under the impression that the ship was still being fixed in drydock and not, y'know, actually being crewed and sailed. (Trimmer yelling "just let her sink" hits reeeeeaaaallly different when you know that) rollerskatinglizard: Ahaha oh dang theunvanquishedzims: So the big idea was the gangsters needing something from the Sympatico. Not the general thugs and delinquents crewing the Sympatico but the actual organized crime of the Fleet, who were getting pretty used to using ships like the Sympatico to run their dirty deeds through. Except it's basically impossible to get what they need out of it, even when they drag out one of the old IST guys. He finally tells them Rich was the one who did the heavy lifting for the past few years rollerskatinglizard: Ooooh! rollerskatinglizard: What an interesting idea! theunvanquishedzims: Hang on I need to restart rollerskatinglizard: Ah yes, computers theunvanquishedzims: Sorry, that turned into a dinner break and running errands During which I came up with a couple new AUs theunvanquishedzims: Okay, back to mafia: they track Rich down, probably snag him after he's been out boarding. Off work, not expected back on the ship, tired from all the exercise, etc. They're not overtly threatening, just pick up his skimmer and politely suggest that he comes help them, and he probably goes quietly because there's like, six of them. I'm thinking only one of whom was actually posted on the Sympatico theunvanquishedzims: So they get back to the Sympatico. She's been temporarily decommissioned until the Fleet can fix her broken processes, but that's also a cover story by the mob. They want to clear out all the smuggled goods and information, but she's basically a ghost ship, silent and empty, and even the other IST guy couldn't get more than a few blinking lights. She's sulking basically, she knows they're not there to fix her so she's digging in her heels and playing dead. Like a toddler going ragdoll when they don't want to go to bed. theunvanquishedzims: They explain to Rich that they can't get a response and want him to take a crack at it. "Has she said anything?" "Who?" "The Sympatico." "...we didn't talk to it." "Well that's half your problem right there." theunvanquishedzims: At this point you should watch Show Yourself from Frozen 2, and the crystal scene from Atlantis the Lost Empire. Stepping into the place you've been called, making your presence known, and having a greater power reach out for you. Shiny lights, chasing the spark of life to its source, and having the power consume and embody you. Rich is used to it but it's probably pretty freaky from the outside, and way less magical-looking than a Disney movie. Probably more like when Magneto activated the machine in the first X-Men movie. Step up, turn it on, and suddenly it's sucking the life out of you, making you a living battery theunvanquishedzims: In my head I am picturing the glowing blue eyes, lights cracking along the skin like lightning or circuit patterns, the implants glowing in his temples, standing at a terminal like a star trek deck, maybe a faint breeze-like movement of the hair and clothes to indicate the sheer power radiating off of him. In reality it's probably more like he falls down, gets up, stumbles along to a good spot out of the weather, and curls up in a secluded defensible spot to stare emptily at the wall for a few hours while lights randomly go on and off around the ship theunvanquishedzims: Just being trailed by six very wary mafia dudes who have probably never seen someone mind-meld a ship, and definitely not solo. He's like a zombie, and when he does talk it's very clear he's talking for the both of them theunvanquishedzims: If any of them are in sync with the ship they definitely feel the !!!Rich you're back!!! vibe theunvanquishedzims: No idea how that resolves, I guess it depends on how powerful the mafia is. If they're the kind of entrenched criminals who are ongoing characters, then they have Rich scrub out what they need then dump him back on his skimmer to face the fallout alone. He might report it to the spooks? Or at least try to tell Basil and Mitch theunvanquishedzims: If they're not recurring characters then they were definitely being tracked by the spooks, who move in once the Sympatico comes back online. Rich has to answer some very tough questions but he cooperates fully and winds up digging up a LOT of dirt out of the Sympatico, now that the mafia showed him where to look. It's another one of the super traumatizing moments that makes him look cool and heroic. Oh yeah, totally got kidnapped, single-handedly piloted a ship, and helped bust the mafia, please stop talking about it, I need a nap, and also someone to go with me next time I go boarding. theunvanquishedzims: (And then I finished reading the book and found out that the Sympatico had a new crew and was out on the water with her AI still fried and broken, how did no one notice that)

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theunvanquishedzims: Okay I don't have Trimmer's voice well enough to write this fic so I'm feeding it to you raw: Trucker AU theunvanquishedzims: Rich is a long-haul trucker, much to the disappointment of his elder sister Angela, who is in law enforcement and thought he had a decent future in it too. Athena is a pro wrestler and totally down to support her brother traveling the country (and hopefully being in the same city as him sometime, she wants him to see her kick ass!) Rich wants to pursue a degree in [tech or engineering] but college is expensive, and trucking is a good way to make money, on top of which you don't have to pay rent when you're on the road. So he's saving up for school, probably listening to a lot of audiobooks, podcasts, and training guides while chugging along. theunvanquishedzims: Not nearly as bad or sketchy as the Sympatico, but life on the road can get pretty sketch sometimes, especially when you're alone. Enter Trimmer. Or rather, enter Rich into the middle-of-nowhere trucker stopover bar where Trimmer is getting his ass kicked. theunvanquishedzims: (Gonna go ahead and say the bar is called the Sympatico, and this is a very bad night to be there, which is saying something because any night at the Sympatico is a bad night to be there.) theunvanquishedzims: Fortunately, Rich is not trapped there by the cold uncaring waters of Lake Michigan, he can just turn around and leave when he sees the nightly fight brewing. Unfortunately, he has a weakness for cute twinks, and no matter how much the guy is insulting their mothers four on one is really not fair, so he winds up wading in, scooping Trimmer up, and murder-stalking to the exit theunvanquishedzims: [At this point I pause to stare out the window and wonder wistfully what their canon meeting was like, who approached who, if Trimmer just straight-up used his lunch to hire a bodyguard or if Rich did the "are you gonna finish that" puppy-eyes and Trimmer realized how easily he could be bribed, etc etc] theunvanquishedzims: In the Trucker AU Trimmer waits until they're outside to go feral goblin on the arm that's holding him, Rich drops him, and negotiation commences theunvanquishedzims: I don't have Trimmer's backstory nailed down, the "teenage runaway" archetype doesn't really suit someone with a large loving family, but safe to say that whatever lead him to hitchhiking across the Midwest he is determined to see through out of sheer bullheaded stubbornness. The only thing worse than calling your parents to bail you out with bus money home is calling your grandma. It might have involved stabbing a college advisor when the guy got rapey, he's technically not on the run from the law, he DEFINITELY is not on track to getting his degree. Halfway between college dropout and missing person. If he was wealthy he'd be backpacking Europe for a semester, but he's not, so he's hitchhiking America. And getting molested by truckers, because Trimmer can't have nice things. theunvanquishedzims: He is really not interested in getting molested by Rich! But, as Rich points out, he did just save him from getting stabbed, Trimmer doesn't seem to have any exit options for this backwater town, and holy #&$^ the bar's on fire. (The Sympatico burns to the ground that night, to the betterment of the world at large.) rollerskatinglizard: You have no idea how much I'm enjoying this But you should totally post it Splick and Roach would both scream in glee theunvanquishedzims: Rich and Trimmer get out while the getting is good, and it's nearly dawn before they finally hash out details. Rich offers to drop him off at the next town, but they're still pretty close to the epicenter of the mass exodus so the next few hundred miles are probably not going to be safe for Trimmer. By this point Trimmer has found a bunch of the old textbooks Rich bought secondhand to study in his free time and come to the conclusion that [this nerd is a nerd] his story checks out. Just a college kid trying to scrape together the cash to get an education and make a decent living. Reminds Trimmer of Trimmer. (Reminds Trimmer of Joey.) rollerskatinglizard: ;u; <3 Beautiful theunvanquishedzims: So now Rich has a little traveling buddy! Helps him stay awake on the long hauls, lets him use the carpool lanes, even reads to him out of the textbooks sometimes, with commentary. Trimmer is really smart and surprisingly easy to get along with. They nap in the cab, eat in diners, and share motel rooms. Trimmer unclenches a little. Rich is good about not asking personal questions. They definitely watch Athena's fights on tv more than once, much to Rich's chagrin and Trimmer's loud encouragement. He started fanboying over it to annoy and embarrass Rich, but it is surprisingly cathartic to watch someone get trash-talked and respond by just BODYSLAMMING their opponent. ("Why are you rooting for her, you're the biggest trash-talker I know," Rich mutters into his beer, face bright red as Trimmer whoops and high-fives the waitress he got to change the channel in the sports bar.) theunvanquishedzims: ("She would wipe the floor with me," Trimmer responds with a smirk, watching smugly as Rich tries to figure out if Trimmer is having impure thoughts about his baby sister) theunvanquishedzims: (They have already established that Trimmer does not have impure thoughts about Rich, that Rich DOES have impure thoughts about Trimmer, but as long as he stays in his own motel bed that's fine.) (Trimmer still sleeps with a knife under his pillow but doesn't bother in the cab, where their co-naps occasionally verge on snuggling.) rollerskatinglizard: <3 <3 <3 *perfect* theunvanquishedzims: They finally reach their destination. It has been [days to drive a rig between NJ and CA] and they make it there slightly ahead of schedule. Rich drops off the delivery, Trimmer comes face-to-face with the reality of the trip ending. He'd been hitchhiking for months and felt like he was going nowhere, and now a few days and suddenly he's crossed the entire country, and almost kinda maybe had fun doing it! And California's as good a place as any to stay, at least he won't freeze to death if he doesn't find a place to crash for the night. theunvanquishedzims: Then Rich comes back and hands him a wad of cash, pocketing a stack of his own. "Got a cash bonus for finishing early! And since you're the reason I made it here this fast, I just figured part of it is your share..." he peters out, trying to explain his reasoning. They sit in silence for a while, both thinking about Trimmer in California, far away from anyone who would want to hurt him, with a few hundred dollars in his pocket. theunvanquishedzims: "...Let's get lunch," Trimmer finally decrees, and Rich can't keep the relieved smile off his face. They renegotiate some things over lunch, and then go to pick up the next load to haul cross-country. Together. rollerskatinglizard: AWWWWWW!!!! *YES,* I love it!!! theunvanquishedzims: And then eventually they go to college together, and get their degrees, and good jobs, and meet the families, and Trimmer absolutely drags Rich to as many of Athena's fights as they can manage on the road. It's just to save money, things are cheaper when you split the rent, Trimmer hollers on the phone. You put a ring on that boy's finger, y'hear?! Hellbender hollers back. I am so glad the word moirail exists rollerskatinglizard: YES God yes Also this AU pleases me greatly rollerskatinglizard: Blessings upon you for it theunvanquishedzims: ...technically the Michigan Fleet takes place in a post-Homestuck world, so theoretically it could have time to enter mainstream lexicon. It's better than "bromance" theunvanquishedzims: JUST THROWING THAT OUT THERE >.> rollerskatinglizard: Yeah, totally different feel than bromance!

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theunvanquishedzims: Speaking of Homestuck! Wanna hear the Helmsman AU? :3 rollerskatinglizard: YES PLEASE theunvanquishedzims: Okay gimme a minute to get my notes, it's not based on One of Our Submarines but I can't remember the fic title. Have you read the one where the kids redesign the helmsrig and use that to garner support for Feferi as Empress? Lots of political drama, Sollux-centric, [spoiler], and in the end they win *but at what cost* (((If someone knows what fic I'm talking about please link me, I can't find it.))) rollerskatinglizard: No, I haven't theunvanquishedzims: It's good, if you like the nitty-gritty of rebellions. The piece I'm cherry picking is the new Empress introducing a new way of helming that allows more freedom. Instead of a single enslaved lowblood being hung up in tentacle wires until they drop dead, it's something you can unplug from, allowing psionics to swap out, take shifts, etc. So Empress Clearwater (yay seadweller name) is dead, long live Empress Clearwater, and she shakes things up by introducing her new helmsrig and orders it implemented Fleet-wide theunvanquishedzims: I don't think this universe is as bad as canon but it's still pretty rough on the bad ships, and the Sympatico is a very bad ship theunvanquishedzims: Angie is still a security officer, probably fairly high-ranking as a greenblood. Athena is a pro wrestler. Sports are probably a bigger part of life in a Fleet that doesn't center around conquest. The three probably grew up in the same neighborhood, maybe dabbled in quadrants before settling on hatefriends. Oooh, or ash, Athena setting them up to talk out their issues over lunch and then heckle each other over their other quadrants could fit in that quadrant. theunvanquishedzims: Rich is, of course, a helmsman. It's rare for someone that close to jade to be so powerful, he was actually planning on a career in tech, but when he got called in for psionic testing he basically crushed it. Possibly literally. And olive is still technically a lowblood, so off to the helm with you. theunvanquishedzims: His first posting is the Sympatico, and it's a nightmare. The one bright spot (dark spot? How do trolls even. *insert rant about Kanaya being pastel goth not goth-goth*) theunvanquishedzims: The one bright spot is Trimmer, a technician whose survival method is to lock himself in the helm dock and stab anybody who tries to mess with Rich when he's piloting. It's basically how things work in the superstorms, but 75-90% of the time instead of a few times a year theunvanquishedzims: Rich can barely talk most days, they communicate via chat client, and even that requires a lot of brainpower so they can't do it when the Sympatico has to fight something or do difficult maneuvers in space, which is pretty frequently. But Rich keeps an eye out for Trimmer, directing him through the ship to help him avoid people and fights, and tweaking things like hall lights when things get hairy. I think at least once he turned off the gravity, it cost him but it got Trimmer out of a really bad situation and gave him an excuse to hole up in the helmsdeck for a few days until things cooled off theunvanquishedzims: But all that is in the past! There's a new Empress, a new crew, and a new way of helming! theunvanquishedzims: The Sympatico is one of the flagships to roll out the new helmsrig. The original crew was disbanded, culled, reassigned. Trimmer was allowed to stay (at Rich's request) to ease the transition. It's a big day, lots of media attention documenting the new helmsmen, and Rich is doing his best to keep calm. He had to do some physical therapy to stand upright and be able to walk from the big speech to his shiny new helmsrig, but as a fairly young recruit he's not nearly as bad off as some older helmsmen whose bodies have atrophied. He's still pretty skinny though, especially when compared to Angie and Athena, who he reunited with (for the cameras) #helmsmenaretrollstoo, #greenc3<green, #omgishipit, see things are much better now, people can reclaim their lives and quadrants, helming is something to be excited for not scared of, etc. Lots of propaganda, lots of attention, lots of pressure to get this right theunvanquishedzims: And then he walks into the helm and Trimmer is there. Rich would probably have had a meltdown if he hadn't been, but no one can tell because they're so calm and professional. They're both cleaned up and impeccably uniformed, the plugging in goes smoothly, and the Sympatico comes to life and lifts off into the sky into a sunset that would make a Hollywood director weep. The cameras turn off, great job everybody, and things return to normal. Except Rich and Trimmer have no idea how to handle normal. For the first 8 hours it's fine, it's good, it's a little weird that Trimmer looks so tidy and that Rich is sitting in a padded chair instead of being flesh-jacked by tentacles, but it's fine. They chat over text, a little stilted but plenty to catch up on theunvanquishedzims: Rich spies on the new crew and gossips about how boring they are and how weird the ship looks with everything cleared out and well-lit, and wow where did that section of storage come from? Oh right that used to be a hidden smuggling nook. Haha nook. See they're fine, they're laughing at the same old jokes. DEFINITELY weird that Rich is physically laughing. And then their relief shift comes on, with the new 2nd shift helmsman, and it's time for Rich to get unplugged for the day and go. Go to his room, which he has now, or to eat, which he can do now, or any one of a million things that normal trolls do, because he's a normal troll now. (This is turning out a little different from in my head but I like it.) He makes it about two hallways, walking silently side-by-side with Trimmer, before he breaks down. Or rather Trimmer breaks down. Or maybe they both simultaneously break, there is a lot of breaking happening, and it's not great that it's happening in the hall where anybody could walk by and where the new helmsman is almost certainly seeing them and possibly reporting them, and Trimmer's flight instincts are to run back to the helm where it's safe but Rich isn't there, RICH was the reason it was safe and he's not at the helm, he's right there in the hall. Rich, I know not how, picks up Trimmer and gets them to him room. It' close by, thank goodness, and it has a lock on the door, how weird, and Trimmer is there. He missed Trimmer so so much. rollerskatinglizard: ;u; <3<3<3<3 theunvanquishedzims: [The following scene contains content too graphic for wigglers under the age of seven sweeps] rollerskatinglizard: *laughing* Hardcore conciliation!!! theunvanquishedzims: From Trimmer's POV: Merrill requested him to remain a tech on the Sympatico. Makes sense, he was the only one who treated the guy like an actual troll and not a drooling mass of computational power. They got caught up, it's weird how clean and quiet the ship is, no fights to report beyond a spat in the cafeteria that turned out to be pitch flirtation. His shirtcuffs itch and he wants to roll them up but it's day one of the new empire and he doesn't want to get culled for being untidy on the Empress's pet project ship. There's so many other things to get culled for, anyway. And then shift is over. (Weird, he's used to working 16-hour days and sleeping in the helmdeck half the time.) And he has to unplug Merrill (double weird, he's not used to touching Merrill unless it's for a physical repair. Very aware of Rich as a physical person, especially when he's standing up and not obscured in a mass of tentacles.) And then they leave, together, which is WEIRD, because for sweeps Trimmer has been sneaking out of the helmdeck to go on a food run with Merrill texting him directions, and there's no Merrill on screen providing guidance to avoid fights, but there's not gonna BE any fights, and everything is the same but different and looks weird and shiny and there's a giant troll right next to him, stalking him, why didn't Merrill warn him?! rollerskatinglizard: Oh NO, ahaha, oh these poor doofuses theunvanquishedzims: From Rich's POV: he's been seeing these hallways for sweeps, but not from this angle, the ship is so familiar but so foreign to him, and he can't hear her, can't feel her, and he keeps reaching out for her even after all that training he did to get used to the new tech, there's still an absence and some part of his brain that says not being linked to the ship means something has gone catastrophically wrong and everyone onboard is going to die, TRIMMER is going to die, Trimmer is freaking out and hyperventilating next to him, Trimmer's running out of oxygen and the ship isn't responding to him to tell him what's wrong with the oxygen, and then Trimmer goes to bolt back to the helm but that's full of strange trolls and a new helmsman, and that knowledge is enough to shake him back to the situation at hand. He doesn't know where he finds the strength or the presence of mind, but he manages to grab up Trimmer and get them back to safety. It's just that safety is now his berth, not the helm. They're alone in his berth. And Trimmer is still freaking out. Sh-shoosh? Shoosh. Shooooooosh. theunvanquishedzims: Everything is diamonds and snow and beautiful shining crystals (in the movies that will someday be made about this day.) In the moment there's a lot more hyperventilating and snot. Basically, culmination behind the entire fic: do they actually have feelings for each other, or was it just about mutual survival the whole time? rollerskatinglizard: INCREDIBLY ADORABLE AND INTIMATE COMFORT, *YESSSS* Thank you yes, I'll have a dozen God that's splendid theunvanquishedzims: And they're both freaking out, Rich is hungry and physically tired and needs to do a lot of stretches, Trimmer is not used to Rich being huge and mobile and right next to him, and they both have crazy big trust issues, but...yeah, they're pale. They're so pale for each other, and it was so hard during the transition not seeing each other and not knowing how the other felt, not knowing how THEY felt, if they really had feelings or if it was all a bad situation. And now they know. They have feelings. And because they're trolls and not humans, they can flop on a pile and talk about those feelings in a non-platonic way, and Rich can pet Trimmer's hair and tell him how pretty he is and how Rich is glad that Trimmer got it properly cut instead of just hacking it too short for someone to grab, and how much he worried in the hall about not being able to see farther than his own field of vision to keep Trimmer out of harm's way, and how this whole thing is so weird and Rich is so scared but he's just really, really happy that Trimmer took the posting on the Sympatico, because he pities Trimmer and he wants him around and he was so glad that Trimmer wanted to still be around him too theunvanquishedzims: The media always depicts piling as either the traditional fairytale highblood freakout, or an extremely mellow ASMR-ish chillout with lots of hairpetting and horn polishing. Not two midbloods looting a mostly-empty room for enough junk to make a large enough pile to sit on, shrieking at each other about their feelings and how weird this is and why didn't you SAY something, me?! why didn't YOU say something?! Three SWEEPS we've been dancing around this! Well I didn't know if you felt the same way or if you just needed me to survive! Etc etc etc. Lots of getting up and stomping around , pacing the floor while ranting, trying to scavenge more stuff to throw on the pile. Rich owns basically nothing and it's the first time he's not judging Trimmer for keeping his room a garbage heap, even empty pizza boxes would be better than trying to make a pile out of two sweaters and a toothbrush. rollerskatinglizard: XDDD TuT aaaaah, YES theunvanquishedzims: Rich definitely rips off a wall panel and pulls out some wires, Trimmer doesn't even question it, they've lived and breathed this ship long enough to know what every wire does and which are nonessential to ship functioning. And with the wall panel crunched up they can pile stuff around it to make it seem less sparse, and wow it doesn't even matter that he pulled a panel down, this is HIS wall in HIS room now, he can "redecorate" as he sees fit, cue more yelling about how he doesn't know what to do with himself or his newfound freedom. The whole thing is just yelling and cussing and grabbing and shaking. It probably looks black from the outside, but they are swimming in palest cream. theunvanquishedzims: Eventually they give up on the pile. They go through Rich's entire perigee of snack rations to avoid having to go to the cafeteria, halfheartedly make fun of Rich's chewing, then crawl into the recuperacoon together. Thank goodness there was such a big push to show off how great helmsmen's lives will be, Rich scored a blueblood-huge 'coon and he's still skinny enough that they can both fit in it together. They sleep together, in sopor like proper trolls with proper lives as opposed to surrounded by pink tentacles and misery. Tomorrow they'll have to venture out for food, and do Rich's stretches and physical therapy, and head to their shift like the galaxy hasn't flipped upside-down, but they're handle that together. rollerskatinglizard: Oh help, my heart!! TuT It's SO CUTE, AAAAAAAH theunvanquishedzims: Okay my computer has been trying to shut down for the last three paragraphs so I think it's time to log off for the night, but I hope you enjoy the AUs, I will tell you more tomorrow rollerskatinglizard: Thank you so much!! Have a good night! theunvanquishedzims: (In the original version Rich and Trimmer came face-to-face for the first time since the Sympatico was busted up and Rich pulled out for rehab, and basically had a giant pale meltdown right there against the wall. There was purring, and crying, and confessions, all caught on film. Athena and Angie definitely saw. It had to be censored out of the broadcast. Someone uploaded it to Troll Pornhub and it won a Troll Pornhub Emmy for Truth in Journalism, which was not a category the Troll Pornhub Emmys had before, so congrats Merrill and Trimmer) rollerskatinglizard: *dying* oh my GOD Rich would blush so hard he'd keel over

_________________________________________

theunvanquishedzims: I woke up to the idea of Rich as Fezzik and Trimmer as Inigo Montoya (book version.) rollerskatinglizard: Hah! Oh man, delightful theunvanquishedzims: Soft-hearted giant and stabby little friend rollerskatinglizard: Yesss theunvanquishedzims: Only problem is Trimmer's grudge seems to be against the entire world, not any particular murderer theunvanquishedzims: But they could definitely take on the Zoo of Death together rollerskatinglizard: It could be both, in the AU! Specific grudge and also he hates everyone theunvanquishedzims: Instead of not being left-handed he pulls his feet out of his boots and surprise! More hands to stab you with Makes the acrobatics on top of the cliff more exciting rollerskatinglizard: *dying* YES Perfect! theunvanquishedzims: I don't know who the Man in Black of most beautiful woman in the world would be, but Rich catching them jumping out a window to whisk them away on horseback is lovely rollerskatinglizard: *strokes chin thoughtfully* If Rich is Fezzik, I think Basil might as well be the beautiful love interest, and Mitch is his farm boy turned dashing rogue theunvanquishedzims: Mitch and Trimmer sword fighting rollerskatinglizard: YES theunvanquishedzims: Mitch going through hell and back to save his lady love, then Rich shows up with the horses and says "hello pretty lady" and Basil is just swooning over him rollerskatinglizard: Mitch is pretty chill with Rich by then, he can handle sharing Rich didn't try *hard* to kill him, after all theunvanquishedzims: He even made it a fair fight instead of ambushing him He put down the rock and Mitch put down the sword and they tried to kill each other like civilized people rollerskatinglizard: *laughing* Yes, exactly theunvanquishedzims: Rich even helped bring him back from being mostly dead rollerskatinglizard: They're practically best buddies now! theunvanquishedzims: Which I imagine is 1000x funnier because Trimmer hates this guy and doesn't want to help him but he has info Trimmer needs rollerskatinglizard: Rich just being reprovingly like Come on, buddy, he's cool really I KNOW you bonded over your sword fight with him Don't lie Trimmer: HE'S STILL A DIPSHIT theunvanquishedzims: Trimmer: It was a little fun to take the boots off I guess, I don't get to do that often rollerskatinglizard: Hahaha yes theunvanquishedzims: Downside of being the best swordsman in the world, nobody can touch you. UNTIL NOW. Trimmer: I killed the guy but now I have nothing to live for. Mitch: Have you considered piracy? Stabbing people all day and all the rope ladders you can climb rollerskatinglizard: *dying* theunvanquishedzims: Now Trimmer's life goal is to reclaim his title of Best Swordsman, which means fighting Mitch a lot rollerskatinglizard: Which they both enjoy Sometimes Trimmer wins, sometimes Mitch does rollerskatinglizard: Roach points out that Liam would be Miracle Max theunvanquishedzims: I was just about to type that! rollerskatinglizard: Heee! Good brain wave theunvanquishedzims: You need a cure for death? Nope, sorry. You need to it humiliate my mortal enemy? Coming right up! rollerskatinglizard: YUP theunvanquishedzims: Slipping Rich the holocaust cloak "because it fits so nice" rollerskatinglizard: Pfff yes theunvanquishedzims: Which is said with a million more winky faces than the movie rollerskatinglizard: XDDD Naturally Liam is a much higher-libido mad scientist-substitute theunvanquishedzims: He doesn't have a wife he has like six boyfriend minions hanging around in various states of undress. He got fired for banging the king when he was the royal miracle man, he did a good job but the prince found it icky. rollerskatinglizard: *dying* YES theunvanquishedzims: Basil as Buttercup tho. Basil: Mitch is a good friend. :) Just a great buddy. :)) Kind of smelly but a nice boy. :))) Someone: *might possibly find Mitch attractive* Basil: What? Why. No. Why would she. I mean yeah he's smart and muscular and tan and broad-shouldered and has perfect teeth and his sweat glistens in the sun as he does his chores shirtless, but c'mon, he's not THAT much hotter than her middle-aged husband. No way. rollerskatinglizard: *snickering* rollerskatinglizard: My cowriters very enjoy this AU concept, btw, thank you theunvanquishedzims: Excellent theunvanquishedzims: Trimmer: I told him I was there to kill him and he just...ran away? Mitch: Who does that? rollerskatinglizard: *snickering* theunvanquishedzims: Basil being a slobby peasant until two minutes after Mitch leaves, then realizing he has to take care of himself if he wants to keep Mitch's attention, and only then starting to regularly bathe and brush his hair and work on his figure. rollerskatinglizard: Snirk! Sounds about right, doofus nerd that he is theunvanquishedzims: Then he becomes a princess and has two servants per limb to keep him clean and shining, so when Mitch sneaks into the wedding announcement crowd his first view of Basil is 1. clean 2. shiny hair 3. dressed like a queen

_______________________________

General book chit-chat, no specific AU

theunvanquishedzims: I saw the post about the Sympatico crew having a very different view of Rich than his friends and now I am consumed with the idea of Rich being seen as scary by anyone who knows him for more than a single minute. Like, he flinches at the sight of a uniform, he can't stand to be in a room with more than one other person in it, and he's so busy working he doesn't really have time to go around carving out a territory rollerskatinglizard: Right? You'd think it'd be tricky, but apparently no theunvanquishedzims: And now there's video of him covered in kittens, and doing cool board tricks, and pretending a little barbel is too heavy to lift, and also he might be in the news for taking down a murderous conspiracy at the Mall. rollerskatinglizard: *laughing* Indeed theunvanquishedzims: Where did big scary monster Merrill go, who is this marshmallow rollerskatinglizard: What scam is he trying to run?!? theunvanquishedzims: Oooh, I pity the fool who is assigned to a boat with Officer Merrill. Double flinch response rollerskatinglizard: RIGHT? *OH SHIT, THERE'S ANOTHER ONE* And she's ARMED theunvanquishedzims: Try to blow off some steam by watching some wrestling, A THIRD ONE rollerskatinglizard: Some poor dumbass who sneered at Trimmer once ends up hiding out on a penny boat bc there's MERRILLS EVERYWHERE, IT'S NOT SAFE OUT THERE theunvanquishedzims: *dying laughing* I imagine a non-terrible Sympatico crew member meeting reformed Rich is like those Very Special Episodes where the hero's high school bully or childhood bad influence friend comes to town, and they're so nice and friendly and apologetic about what happened back in the day rollerskatinglizard: We actually have an encounter something like that planned! theunvanquishedzims: The hero's friends are all charmed and the hero can't convince anyone that it's all an act, he's secretly still terrible, look I'll prove it *does something that makes the hero look bad and the reformed guy look like a victim* Yaaaaaaaaay!!! Outside perspective is the BEST rollerskatinglizard: Rich and this random dude, both acting like the other one is a total menace Meanwhile, anyone who's known either of them since is like ....No?? He's a fine guy, perfectly reasonable Merrill, stop growling theunvanquishedzims: Two Spider-Men pointing at each other rollerskatinglizard: Hah! Yes theunvanquishedzims: Also the fact that Rich has gotten BIGGER since leaving the Sympatico is probably a shock rollerskatinglizard: OH yeah theunvanquishedzims: Richard "Cranky Because He's Slowly Starving To Death" Merrill rollerskatinglizard: I mean, it's a shock to Rich When he hits another growth spurt So it's definitely a shock to anyone else theunvanquishedzims: Oh yeah, he was like 17 when he was first assigned there, nowhere near done growing yet Richard "My Shirts Rip When I Flex Wrong" Merrill rollerskatinglizard: *snickering* He'd look so sheepish and disgruntled if someone gave him that "I flexed and the sleeves fell off" shirt theunvanquishedzims: I am so glad Trimmer got to him before, like, a gang could figure out he's easily bribed with food. Things could have gone so much worse, corruption-wise rollerskatinglizard: YUP theunvanquishedzims: I just finished Athena and the Midnight Chicken and WOW Rich was actually kind of close to giving in to peer pressure there, if Athena hadn't thrown herself towards the proverbial sword he might have let himself be talked into something he really didn't want to do. rollerskatinglizard: It's possible! Baby Rich is very weak to peer pressure theunvanquishedzims: If they had been smart and manipulative and laid the groundwork first it would have been even easier, not just "here's a knife let your ingrained killing instincts do the work" rollerskatinglizard: Yeah! It could've gone much worse theunvanquishedzims: In the wrong hands Rich would make a very good, very sad soldier But like, deep down inside sad where no one could see it. rollerskatinglizard: That was actually close to his original story when I came up with him

[I’ll check with Skates to see if it’s okay to post that bit]

theunvanquishedzims: I'm already nervous about those two Horrible Old Men rollerskatinglizard: Which two? theunvanquishedzims: My face went D: at the idea that there's more than two rollerskatinglizard: *pats u gently* theunvanquishedzims: The werewolf guy with the boys on leashes is the one that makes my instincts scream KILL IT WITH FIRE, but there's also the one with the scar on his face? I wanna say Arthur Carroway rollerskatinglizard: >u> Gosh, Zims, idk WHY you'd be worried about him Just bc my tablet keyboard knows how to spell Carraway That's no reason to be concerned! rollerskatinglizard: Maybe Splick made him the [tarot] Devil bc he's devilishly handsome! Did you think of that?? theunvanquishedzims: I am terrified of him showing up, I know I'll be cringing too hard to keep reading right away. Men who abuse positions of power are so squicky, I couldn't even stand to watch the Office and Michael Scott is like, the most benign example of the trope But yeah a guy like that getting to Rich as a younger more mallable person, fresh-faced and eager to please. Ugh. Such a bad ending. rollerskatinglizard: YUP theunvanquishedzims: William Sandgren is the other one, I think rollerskatinglizard: Fortunately Rich did get rescued originally! I don't do sad endings theunvanquishedzims: He looks cool, I don't immediately want him dead for my own safety rollerskatinglizard: <u< theunvanquishedzims: ...I will ignore that face and continue to think of him as the lesser of two evils for now rollerskatinglizard: Absolutely feel free! ^u^ theunvanquishedzims: When I thought about this earlier I imagined Liam actually being the one to start a pissing contest with Arthur. Rich guy vs criminal guy, my grandmother bedazzled the skulls of her enemies, your teeth would make a lovely necklace, etc etc "Well I'd love to get them around your throat" ;) rollerskatinglizard: You know Liam QUITE well theunvanquishedzims: I'm a visual learner, so all the illustrations are helping me flesh out characteristics. Liam smiling like a psycho while his face drips blood is very telling. rollerskatinglizard: Hah!!! Right? God, he's SUCH a little firebrand theunvanquishedzims: (Also, AU where Liam is the babydoll heir and Rich is the soldier mod bodyguard he climbs like a tree) rollerskatinglizard: We have definitely discussed that AU thoughtfully >u> It's good, v tasty theunvanquishedzims: Rich is all THIS GOES AGAINST THE RULES and Liam is all oh you like being told what to do hmm? >:3~ rollerskatinglizard: Rich: God this is SUCH a bad idea, I'm gonna get so fired Liam: Not if you're good enough at it! theunvanquishedzims: I imagine without a pregnancy they'd be able to keep it under wraps slightly longer than grandma Beaker rollerskatinglizard: True! theunvanquishedzims: "Under wraps" like everyone in the house can't hear them rollerskatinglizard: Pffff YUP theunvanquishedzims: Ugh now I'm remembering Trimmer being scared of Rich getting drunk and pushy and I'm sad again rollerskatinglizard: No one likes Rich's drinking except Rich rollerskatinglizard: It's okay tho, Trimmer trusts Rich more after that theunvanquishedzims:I think he'll figure it out given enough time. Rich: Well everyone drinks because work sucks. Basil and Mitch: Nope! Rich: Well I'm a soldier mod so it just LOOKS like I'm drinking a lot. Angie and Thena: Nope! Rich: Well I have trauma from the Sympatico so I need alcohol to deal with that. Trimmer: Nope! Rich: ...well I guess I have a problem then. :< Everyone: Yep! rollerskatinglizard: Indeed theunvanquishedzims: I am so curious about their origins, how the relationship developed, how apparently they had half a handjob between them and went NOPE NEVER AGAIN, how they wound up co-sleeping, if they ever cried on one another, etc etc rollerskatinglizard: I'm 100% certain that Rich cried on Trimmer at least once, while Trimmer awkwardly patted his hair and gently called him a wuss or something If Trimmer ever cried it would've been in the middle of the night, and none of them would ever mention it in the light of day theunvanquishedzims: Was that Trimmer's first posting? I know it was Rich's, so he kiiiind of didn't know any better, but Trimmer is older by a bit rollerskatinglizard: It definitely wasn't Trimmer's first, no, the latest in a long string of postings that went from okay to bad to worse theunvanquishedzims: Oh nooooooo No wonder he finally said screw it and got a solo boat rollerskatinglizard: Yep

[greenygreenland]

Operation New Me: Father Figure Wu & Reader

-⛔if you're sensitive, to things like bullying, fist-fighting, mentions of insecurities etc, I don't recommend reading this⛔

-young Morro is in this because I love him

Summary: You're beginning your first day of high school despite being a dropout since like third grade

"Are you ready?" The question was quite innocent and short, yet held a deeper meaning only you seemed to catch. Morro didn't pay any attention to what Wu was saying as you stuffed the last of your supplies in your book bag, and to be honest, you weren't sure if you'd ever be ready for today.

You spent the past week meditating and reading whatever material you could to catch up on what you've missed, but it just wasn't enough--it'd never be enough. How could you even think of cramming seven and up years of knowledge you didn't even understand in a mere month?

"(Y/n)?"

You adjusted your bag around your shoulders and walked through the monastery doors to meet Morro and Wu on the front steps. "Sorry. Let's go." Morro gave you an odd look, sweeping his bangs out of his eyes with a huff. "Don't act so worried. If you can survive Sensei's training, you can survive anything." You snorted and ruffled his black locks. "Being a ninja is a completely different concept than being a student at school. You learn things you don't even use, so it's a waste of time."

Wu shook his head dismissively. "It is not a waste of time. What you will experience there is something even I can not teach."

"Which is?"

"Social skills." he plainly replied with a smile. You zipped up your (f/c) sweater as a chilly breeze passed. The sun had barely risen over the horizon, leaving the moon high in the sky for drifting clouds to cover. "All you know is the monastery," continued Wu, "and life as a ninja. What happens if you are thrown in a situation you cannot 'ninja' your way out of?" You pursed your lips together, which Wu took as an 'I don't know'.

"Exactly, which is why you must get out in the world and learn." he said with a reassuring smile. "You are sharp, so I have no doubt you will be okay."

You continued down the monastery steps in a comfortable silence. It wasn't unnatural for you to be quiet at this time of day, especially since you weren't a morning person. Once you finally descended down every last step, Wu summoned his elemental dragon.

When Morro asked why he didn't do it in the first place, Wu said it was to get a bit of 'exercise in' and to learn a lesson of 'gratefulness'. Boy did the last one stick, because despite practically living at the monastery for more than half your life, rarely had you ever ventured down the steps.

The cool, crisp air against your face, the natural wind in your hair made by nature and not Morro, and the view of the endless skies just made you feel so alive. In the air suspended upon a golden dragon was something you missed. "When was the last time we got around like this?" you shouted over the wind. Morro grinned as brightly as the rising sun. "'We should do this more often Sensei!"

He chuckled a little and gave his reins a good shake. "Hold on!" The dragon flapped his wings and you were suddenly speeding through the skies, cutting passed the cool winds at speeds no man could ever reach.

"SENSEI!" you screeched. He laughed loudly as Morro cackled in your ear. "SCARED, (L/N)?!" he shouted.

"I'M NOT--! SENSEI! OH MY--!"

The dragon steadily slowed, continuing into a descend towards the city below. Wu let out a playful laugh. "That was a lesson on keeping your guard up, no matter how comfortable you may be." You placed your free hand over your pounding heart with a long sigh. "Well that's a lame lesson, Sensei. I saw my life flash before my eyes."

"Did you now?" he inquired with a chuckle. Morro snickered along with him, a look of approval on his smug face. "Sensei," you grumbled, "you're more like Garmadon than you think."

Landing in Ninjago City was like being in a dream. It was bigger than any village you've ever visited, and the buildings, although in construction, remained taller than anything you've ever seen in your life. "Woah..."

Wu smiled, ushering both you and Morro towards the high school. When you set eyes on the building, you had to blink a few times to fully comprehend its size. Windows lined the three stories that seemed to stretch out all the way to the end of the block. As for te cream colour exterior, you thought it blended nicely with the modern-ish touches.

Wu guided you towards the front gates, where dozens of students plowed their way up the stairs and into the front doors. Some lingered on the front lawn to enjoy their breakfasts with friends. "It's a pretty big place, isn't it?" said Wu. Morro snorted and sassily crossed his arms. "That's why we're in a city Sensei." You rolled your eyes and pulled out your schedule.

Your Sensei placed a comforting hand on your shoulder. "School is a ground for learning, so don't feel like you have to know everything. Just remember what we leanred together and everything will be fine." You tried to match the smile on his lips, but it just wouldn't happen. Besides almost cutting off one of your fingers with a katana last month, this had to be the scariest thing you've ever done.

"Our paths don't always go in straight lines," added Wu, "so don't feel like you have to have this day perfect." You nodded in understanding. Morro sent you a quick thumbs-up and a 'don't die' face that you snorted at. "Well, I'll see you after...school." You turned on your heel, preparing to march onto the school grounds like any other student.

Describing the school as 'big' and 'modern' was an understatement. It was humungous and actually quite nice to look at. You wished you could say the same, positive things about the students, but they didn't look too welcoming. Not only that, but for the first time in ages, you felt...

...out if place.

You really didn't fit in here with your sweater bearing your sensei's mark on the back and your own on the front. All the other girls here seemed to wear a skirt or dress in navy blue or black and plaid while you chose to wear trousers specifically for martial arts. The boys were no different with their white button ups, sweater vests or plain sweats.

You checked the dress code before hand to make sure you wouldn't embarrass yourself, but even then, here you were, already afraid of making the mistake of wearing the ancient fashion of your Elemental Master ancestors under your (f/c) sweater.

It didn't take a genius to know you were rhe new kid on the first day of school. Everyone else seemed to know each other from middle school or even primary and long before that while you had no one. They loved to gawk at you and side-glance your clothing as if you were some foreigner from a different realm. It was then that you began realising just how disconnected you had been from the trendiest and latest fashion.

"Only paintings wear her clothes."

"Don't tell me she's a villager."

"I bet her dad's a farmer."

Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Your clothes were still widely used in not only martial arts, but villages and small towns. You also weren't a villager, and for the record, your father wasn't a farmer when he was alive. He had to be one of the greatest Elemental Masters and just so happened to pass on his element, light, to you.

You were proud of your heritage, but the amount of scorns you kept getting throughout the day kind of made you want to believe you were someone else.

Lunch was slow to come, especially during your algebra one class. When it finally hit you that it was time to eat, you made your way outside to take a seat far away from the students sat at picnic tables in the courtyards or laid flat on top of blankets on the grass. You took refuge from all the drama and scowls under a lone tree.

The music of its swaying leaves helped calm the ache in your heart. It was a reminder of all the lessons you learned throughout your life from your sensei Wu and Garmadon. You had to be patient, kind, calm and--

"Oh I'm so, so sorry." You looked up at the girl who had spilt her soda pop over your head. She and her two friends quietly snickered to each other as you wiped away the sticky mess with your (f/c) handkerchief. A strained smile made its way onto your lips. "It's...fine."

"Here, let me help you." One of the girls kicked at the dirt, sending pieces of fresh grass and pebbles into your face. She let out an evil laugh as her friends joined along. "Sorry, I can't touch you or I'll be infected with your grandma fashion." You wiped the dirt out of your face and jumped to your feet. "I dare you to say that again."

"If I touch you, I'll be infected with your grandma fashion." the girl repeated with a smirk. Perhaps Morro had rubbed off on you, or you had been thinking about your old Sensei Garmadon too much, because before any of the girls could blink, you snatched your lunch out of your bag and flung it at the group of girls.

One of them blindly lunged at you, making a mad grab for your hair and giving it a good tug. You wrapped your hand around her wrist and gripped it tight enough to cease her blood circulation. She let out a cry and let go as you swung around and blocked a punch from her friend.

A crowd began to form as you wrestled with the girls. All of the drama could have been over if you had gone full-out and actually fought back, but the Art of the Silent Fist worked well enough with them. You weren't about to give what your peers wanted: A fist fight.

"What is going on here?"

You dodged a punch to the face and spun around as another girl made a grab for your collar.

"Hey! No! Stop fighting!"

You paused in your footsteps as your History teacher parted through the crowds like the Master of Water, Maya. He suddenly let out a shout and threw out a hand, but you were too late to notice the uppercut to your jaw.

Later that day, you awoke to the one and only face of your Sensei, Wu. As you sat up in bed, he handed you a cup of warm Jasmine tea. "How are you feeling?" You rubbed your sore face and head with a low groan. "I'm dizzy."

"That must have been quite a punch, because you've been sleeping the day away." he said. You took a sip of your tea, surveying your bedroom with a frown. "You...picked me up from school?" Wu nodded. "Your bag is in the kitchen if you're wondering. Dinner should be done in another hour; I made some soup that'll make you feel better."

You caught a glimpse of your bedside clock, your jaw unhinging. "Eighteen thirty [6:30PM] already?" You jumped out of bed and scrambled towards the door. "Why didn't you wake me up? I have so much homework to do, and I was supposed to help you cook--" Wu calmly stood from his seat and placed his hands around your shoulders. You didn't even realise your hands were shaking until he guided you back towards your bed and took a seat at the edge with you.

"What happened at school today?" His calm eyes were swirling with a serious concern you couldn't ignore. It made your heart ache again, and all words everyone threw at you flow into your head like a broken record. The faces of your peers and their smiles they hid behind their hands, the pointing and the laughing, and then the fighting...

...oh, how could you forget, even for a moment, how awful that made you feel? Hos awful everything made you feel? The hot anger in your chest seemed to grow heavier and heavier.

If I touch you, I'll be infected with your grandma fashion.

Only paintings wear her clothes.

Don't tell me she's a villager.

I bet her dad's a farmer.

"(Y/n)?" called Wu. "Are you alright?" You heaved in a shaky breath to centre your hurricane of emotions. "I...I'm fine Sensei." You forced a smile. "Those girls were only looking for trouble. I got distracted by a teacher telling them to stop, so that's why I got hit. If I weren't distracted, you bet I would have blocked that punch." You chuckled a little to try and lighten the atmosphere, but Wu wasn't so easily convinced.

You should have expected that, but you hoped he would take the bait and just leave you alone for a bit. That was all you wanted, and that's how you liked it. Wu knitted his brows together as if he were searching your face for any clues of what else might've happened. "Is that all, or...?"

"Yeah." you casually replied. "I'm fine. It's just a scratch." Wu slowly nodded before leaving your side and venturing into the hallway. You were about to flop down on your bed, but he quickly popped back into your doorway. "I forgot to tell you, Garmadon's visiting for the weekend." Your eyes lit up, all that anger and weight in your chest vanishing. "Really?" Wu smiled so you did too, for real this time around.

"Yes. For real."

---

The only motivation keeping you from ditching school and running all the way back home was the fact that Sensei Garmadon would arrive in just two days. All you had to do was survive two more days of school before you were free on the weekend to do whatever the heck you wished. In theory, two days didn't seem so bad, but as soon as you entered the jam-packed building flowing with sleep-deprived teens, you realised just how long two days really was.

Along the way to your homeroom class, a guy had the audacity to spit his chewing gum at you. Of course, you dodged the flying projectile like a pro, but someone collided with you last second and the gum landed straight in your hair.

You remember spending the rest of the day dealing with fifty thousand insults about your clothing again, a few angry teachers giving fourty-five minute lectures about yesterday's fight, and having your whole grade blame you for the incident. Someone slammed you into a locker for payback while a group of girls decided it would be funny to trip you in the hall and scatter all your classwork on the floor.

You scrambled passed people's sneakers, madly grabbing at all the papers as if your life depended on it. You didn't have time to sort the jumble of packets and loose worksheets back into their respective places, so you threw everything in your bag and made a run for your next class.

Your teacher looked you up and down as you took a seat at your desk. "Late and running in the halls?" she inquired. "Detention! Tardiness will not be tolerated in my classroom." Your classmates sent you side-glances as you covered half your face with a hand. "Great. Could this day get any worse?" you grumbled.

Fast forward: it did. Passed the bullying and passed the tripping in the halls, the gum in your hair refused to come out, so during lunch, you had no choice but to cut it. You being you, whipped out a kunai knife that a teacher 'so happened' to see. And besides getting another detention slash possible suspension, you hadn't even started cutting your hair, leaving you with a wad of gum practically super-glueing all your locks together.

Wu had no idea about the detentions, so when you exited the school about an hour later than you should've, you deeply wished you hadn't left at all. He had his hands on his hips as you made your way down the front steps, and Morro looked like he wanted to give you a good punch in the face.

"I heard you had two detentions in a row!" exclaimed Wu. "What happened?" You handed him a yellow slip of paper and stuff your hands in your pockets with a huff. "Both my teachers want to have a 'parent teacher conference' with you tonorrow."

Wu looked like he was torn between being angry and confused, but maybe that was because he realised just how exhausted you looked. Your shoulders were slumped while your voice remained in a monotone, and you had your hood pulled high over your head (to hide the gum stuck in your hair). Morro stood on his tippy-toes to get a good look at the yellow slip of paper. "What did you do?" he questioned. "You're usually the 'good' one."

A bitter laugh escaped your throat that you couldn't hold. Wu frantically looked up from the paper to get a good look at your face, a deep frown spreading on his face. "Can you please take off your hood (Y/n)?" His voice was gentle and soft, as if he were afraid of scaring you.

"Yeah, I can't see your face."

Wu gave Morro a scolding shake of his head before turning back to you. "There's no point in hiding your face."

"I'm not hiding my face...I just...I like keeping my hood up." Wu folded the yellow paper and put it in his pocket with a sigh. "Come here (Y/n)." You hesitantly trudged over to him and he placed a hand on your head, gently pulling down your hood. Morro gasped as Wu's gaze bounced from your tired expression to the wad of gum tangled in your hair.

"Who did this to you?"

You wanted to tell him that it was an accident, that someone left their gum on the table and you were just unfortunate enough to lay your head down and get it stuck in your hair. But then you saw the fierce fire in his eyes and felt his strong resolve to help you. There would be no point in lying to him and Morro if he'd eventually find out anyway.

"Some guy at school did it."

"How?"

"He spit it at me. I tried to dodge, but someone pushed me and it got stuck in my hair."

"What about the detentions?"

You hesitated. "It...it was..." Morro pursed his lips together angrily. "Don't you dare lie!" he exclaimed. "Lying doesn't grt you anywhere." A sigh escaped your lips. "I was late to one of my classes because someone tripped me on purpose in the hallway. Some other guy threw all my stuff on the ground, so that's why I was late. I got another detention after that because I tried to cut the gum out of my hair with my kunai."

Wu's eyes doubled in size. "You what?!"

"I tried to cut my hair with a kunai knife because I didn't have scissors." you repeated. Wu ran a hand over his forehead. "Father, help me." he grumbled. "(Y/n), you do know that weapons are prohibited? This...school is..." He trailed off and motioned for you and Morro to follow him.

"How about we go home and discuss this over a nice cup of hot tea?"

PART 2

[kpopisthereasonihavenolife]

Blight | VI

BTS

Jeon Jungkook/Reader [F]

Genre: Dragon/Shapeshifter AU, Magic AU, Enemies to Lovers

Words: 5k

@tamedandscripted @syubcandy @cencoroil @kathrynwynterbourne @fireflower90 @bluegreenguppyfish @queen-pharaoh-hatshepsut@mygukandonly @ms-bookdragon @leemarkeurii @seaofsunbeams@astronomyturtle @v-reallife @shubaaa @loudcomputerpoetry

“Hey scaredy cat, open your eyes now,”  Jungkook spoke to you as you clicked your tongue and bit back at him.

“I wasn’t scared of anything!  I was worried about dust or rock.. getting in my… eye,” your voice that was biting and stern softened to a whispered as you looked below you.  It was a vast jungle, green and luscious and filled with life.

The waterfall Jungkook knew so well, the lake of healing properties.  The mysterious island with the throne and arch to match. The trees, weeping with greens, purples, and blues thriving and the echos of all the creatures and animals that lived here.  

This was Jungkook’s secret place, but he decided that he should learn to share some things- even if with just one person.  Who better to share with than his Master.

XXX

You smiled as you took in the enchanting sight of the seemingly whole new world below you. Peeking over Jungkook’s giant dragon head the best you could, you watched and looked in awe.  You were absolutely taken by everything hidden inside this boring looking mountain.  

“Jungkook,” you started as you pointed at the rock island, “what is that?”  Jungkook lowered his head slightly to see the island.  

“It’s an island surrounded by healing water.”

“Healing water?  As in Incantation Water?  That's supposed to be the rarest form of water in the world and I thought the last Incarnation Lake was dried up years ago!” Incantation Water was water that had been enchanted with a heal spell and it is also a spell that never dies.  It only disappears when the water does, so drying up lakes is the only way to dispel these lakes.  Jungkook never knew they had a technical name.

“This entire place was forged by Old World Spellcasters I think.  There are inscriptions and spells of some weird language everywhere.  That island is the center of it all, though I don’t go there often.  It feels like I’m trespassing, though since you’re a Witch, we can go if you’d like.”

You nodded as you were very curious about it all.  If that island was the center of it all, maybe you could answer some questions about this place.  It was beautiful in both swirling curiosity and sights.  You squawked as Jungkook lowered his head, jerking your forward. You heard him chuckle as his wings expanded more.

“Ready?” He asked with a twinge in his voice.  One you didn’t like the sound off.  Squinting your eyes you leaned down to ask him what he meant.  Before you could though, he swung his head up and you- in effect- were ripped off his head and thrown high into the cavern air.  

Screaming shortly as you propelled up, your body turned and soon you were falling again.  Falling with your back towards the ground, your hands reaching up to the ceiling of the cavern and hair whipping your face- the fact that you could easily stop yourself with a spell leaving your mind in your instant panic.  Your breath was rushed out of you in one fell swoop when your descent was suddenly halted.

Someone bracing your back and under your knees, you heard them chuckle.  Latching your arms around their neck, you looked at Jungkook with angry eyes and messy hair.  He just bit back a harder laugh.  He had changed back into his half-shifted form, his golden eyes, and scales on display with his wings significantly smaller, yet just as strong.

“You’re a huge jackass and I hate you,” you told him.  He just rolled his eyes.  

“Aw, come on.  You know I wouldn’t just let you fall like that.” His tone was teasing as if he truly would if the fall wouldn’t kill you.  

“I don’t believe that for a second.”

“I could always just drop you.  Surely we’re not so high you’d die.  I could drop you right into the lake!” He laughed.

“You wouldn’t dare!” You screamed as you latched your arms tighter around his neck, securing your place on his chest.  His chest warmed at the small action, something that made him stare at you as you got the tiniest bit closer.  He met your eyes as you looked at him with an inquisitive brow and blink. “What is it?” You asked as he blinked and seemed to snap out of whatever trance he had put himself in.  Clearing his throat, he hiked your body up further- closer- and started down towards the rock island.

Jungkook hovered above the rock as he slowly let you down first.  As your feet hit the rock, you felt at home.  For some reason, you felt like it was something a Spellcaster was supposed to stand on.  Jungkook, after a moment of thought, slowly lowered himself to stand beside you and tucked away his wings.  Returning to his fully human form, he stood behind you to your right.  

He didn’t often visit the island, and he absolutely never sat in the rock throne in the center of it.  It just felt wrong- as he’s said before.  Though, his eyes shifted to the back of your head.  Standing on this island with you he felt a little bit better.  Perhaps it was because he was a Familiar now and had a connection to a Spellcaster.  He just shook his head- he had no idea.

You soon trotted up to the left side of the open arch above the throne.  Running your hand over the rock and tracing the etched in ancient words, you squinted at them.  You weren’t the best at ancient language- you were mediocre at best.  Only able to pick out center words and symbols here and there a basic translation was all you could muster.  

Yoongi read it better than you did- he was a B-Rank bookworm after all.

Jungkook soon split and walked to the right side of the arch.  He never really noticed, it the two arches engravings seemed the same to him. Mirror stones on either side of a single throne.  He refused to touch the rock as he looked over to you standing on the side a far distance away.

“Do you know what it says?” He raised his voice a bit so you could hear him.

You shook your head as you brought your hand back and cupped your chin, squinting at the rock closer. “I’m not sure.  I can’t read it fluently,” you tilted your head.  “Something about ‘A magician’s touch’ and a ‘seat of rock so solid’ and some sort of reaction.” You sighed as you shook your head again.  “I don’t know, I can’t read it completely.”  

You started over to Jungkook’s side again as he walked towards you as well, meeting you halfway at the throne.  You noticed the throne covered in words as well.  Only the seat and back were bare of anything. The edges, arms and entire lower half were covered in symbols of the Old World.

“I wish I could read this,” you reached out to touch it, and Jungkook felt something wrong.  He quickly reached out and snatched your wrist, stopping you within a breaths hair of the stone.  You looked at him as he pulled your hand back. “Jungkook? I was just going to see if I can read it.”

Jungkook didn’t seem to be aware of what he had done, as he quickly released your hand as you brought it to your chest.  “Ah- um- sorry.  I don’t know why I did that?” He questioned himself as he looked at his own hand.  He was baffled he acted so instinctively. Still, he didn’t want you to touch that rock.  “Let’s go back,” he suggested.  

You didn’t know why he was acting the way he was, but surely he had his reasons.  He turned his back as he walked to the edge of the island and slipped into the water to tread through the chest-high water level to the sore.  You looked back to the throne before following after him.  

The day spent with Jungkook in a world he knew so well was showing you a side of him you didn’t know existed.  In turn, he finally got to see what you were like when you were surrounded by so many things you didn’t know and you listened to everything he told you so intently.  You asked him questions, played and chased around small creatures and even stopped to admire different trees and flowers.  

You’d run ahead of a path before stopping to look at something, bid Jungkook to your side, and proceed to ask a bazillion questions.  All Jungkook was more than happy to answer.  

You were both sitting with your sore feet dipped into the Incantation Lake as Jungkook skipped rocks- trying to teach you and you fail miserably.  You had taken off his hoodie he lent you, giving it back when it began too warm to wear.

“You know,” you started, “you didn’t have to bring me here.”

“I wanted you to know I was serious about this whole Master-Familiar thing. Plus showing I want to be friends is progress on this relationship too.”

You sighed.  “I do feel guilty though,” you softly admitted as you waved your feet in the water.  He looked at you as your braced your arms behind you and lowered your chin to watch the water ripple.  “This is your own secret place. Someone like me can’t even begin to imagine what kind of peace it brings you to know you have a place all to yourself.  Some place so wonderful and earnest.”

Jungkook laid down on his back as he closed his eyes and braced the back of his head with his hands as his arms were crossed at either side of it.  “I found this place a long time ago.  It was about time someone else got to see through my eyes.  I’d have no one else than you.” It was silent as you didn’t reply to him.  “Did you know that before I came into the academy and met Jimin, I was close to being a complete dropout.”

Jungkook didn’t often talk about himself or his past, shockingly enough for his ego.  His past was something not even Jimin brought up and even when you both were at each other's throats, you felt that was a line best not crossed.  So hearing him bring it up on his own without pretext caught you off guard.  You lowered yourself to lay beside him, arms on your stomach as you stared upwards. You remained silent to let him work it out at his own pace.

“When I was 16 my mom died.”  You were shocked, jolting slightly as you kept your eyes up, resisting the urge to look at him. “I was lost.  Even though I had my dad and my little sister, I just couldn’t cope.  The pain was too much and I just… lost it.  I couldn’t focus on anything and I’d lash out at anything for no reason at all.  I’d skip classes, I’d flake on exams and tests.  I’d abuse my power and ability to get me places unrightfully.  I’d start fights just because I wanted to burn some steam.  I was ready to crash and burn, ready to completely snuff myself out like mom.”  He sighed as you remained silent and listened.  “It was when I tried to pick a fight with Jimin that things changed.”  

You finally peeked at him and watched as his face was calm and his eyes were still closed.  “You met Jimin before the academy then?” He nodded.

“I did.  I was hanging around some pretty shady places at the time, and I saw that he was enrolled at a school that sends their students to a branch of the academy.  Knowing he was some wicked creature like me that has it easy pissed me off, so I tried to start some stupid scuffle.”  He huffed out a laugh as he smiled.  “He ended up beating me within an inch of my life.”

“Jimin? Really?”  

“Oh yeah.  He did a real number on me.  I didn’t even manage to land a hit on him and I started the fight.”  He slowly opened his eyes as he watched a few birds circling overhead.  “I eventually ran into him again, and instead of him hating me, he asked me if I was alright and if I was all healed up.  When I told him no, he laughed at me and bought me a shake as an apology for fucking me up.  From then, he just became a friend and I slowly got better.  I ended up apologizing to my family and I vowed to do better because it was only after I had fixed myself did I realized that there was nothing my mom would be more disappointed with than my behavior then.”  He huffed as he turned and looked at you, catching your eyes. “That’s is. Story to be continued.”  

Jungkook noticed something in your eyes as you looked at him.  It wasn’t pity. Nor was it something of disinterest to his past.  It looked like some form of regret?  

“Y/n?” He sat up on his elbows as he looked at you.  Your eyes glazed over as a single tear rolled out of the corner of your eye.  “Hey? What’s wrong?” You blinked as you sat up and wiped the tear away.  “I didn’t tell you all of that to make you sad,” he pouted as he sat up after you, trying to lean in and meet your eyes that you hid.  You shook your head.

“I know you didn’t,” your voice was soft.  “I just feel so awful for how I used to treat you now.  We both lost our mother’s and yet I was so awful to you.  You had a bond with your mother, you knew her, loved her and cherished her and even lost her.  How can you work up from that?” You choked as you bitterly chuckled.  “I’m really sorry for how I use to act.”

Jungkook smiled as he watched your side.  You weren’t the only one who was apologetic of their actions.  He was just as negative and unaccepting towards you as you were to him.  You told him before it took two people to fight and that you were half of the fault.  He believed that applied now to, though he just kept his mouth shut and let you speak your part.  

Your apology was something that certainly wasn’t needed but he did appreciate.  He chuckled as he slung his arm over your shoulders and shook you around.  You squealed as he did so before he shoved you into the water.  You re-emerged as he hopped up, you pushing water from your mouth in a stream as you shook your head.  

“What was that for?!” Jungkook stood on the shore and stretched.  

“I’m going to go grab our shoes back at the hunt.  Stay put and we’ll head home.  Yoongi’s bound to assault me as soon as I get you back because I suddenly kidnapped you.”  You pouted as he rolled his eyes.  “Suck it up!” He shouted as he took off into the trees and out of sight.  

You sighed as you stayed in the water before you looked behind you at the rock island again.  You looked into the shore before you half swam-half walked to the island and hoisted yourself up again.  Your soaked clothes marked the gray rock beneath you as you got up and walked to the throne once more.  You stood in front of it.  

You walked around it, looking at it from all sides.  It had so many inscriptions on it that you were so frustrated with that you couldn’t decipher.  You decided you’d try and trace the symbols into memory to try and ask Yoongi about.  You moved to round the throne before your foot caught on a jagged stone at the base and you tripped.  

Having no choice, you fell and braced yourself on the throne arm with your left, Blight infected arm. You had almost forgotten it was infected for the time you were here, but now you fully were reminded. An immediate reaction of sparks shot up your arm as your breath caught.  

It felt like your arm was stuck in place, in fact, your whole body felt frozen like you were paralyzed.  You felt like the magic in your arm was being sucked out of you while thrusting back into you full force.  It was a vacuum that left you in a dizzying haze.  

“Jungkook,” you choked out in a small whisper.  He was far off, far beyond the trees while you stood on the island in the middle of the lake.  “Jungk-” you tried again before you fell into a coughing fit.  You huffed and struggled to breathe, gasping loud and unattractively sputtering like you were drowning.  “Jun-,” you took the only breath you could, “Jungkook!” You screamed.  

The birds scattered from the trees as the rippling lake water stilled.  The magic in your arm burned as it ate through the fabric of your bandages, showing your bare arm as the lighting glowed brightly against your skin.  The lightning seemed to seep from your fingertips as it bled into the rock, filling in the crevices of the etching and markings and symbols.  It spread so rapidly, soo bleeding into the rock at your feet and shooting into the arches, lighting them up.

Your arm felt like it was on fire and with the first encroachment of the lightning back up your arm- with the beginning of your blight spreading- your eyes widened and you could only find yourself letting our the most blood-curdling scream.

XXX

Jungkook was at the small hut he had created long ago for some sort of shelter.  He was picking up a few things he thought you’d be interested in.  A rock with more symbols and engravings.  A tattered piece of papyrus parchment with some sort of incantation on it.  A bottle of sealed off water from the lake.  He put them all in a small drawstring bag before his skin sudden chilled.  Pushing up the sleeve of his hoodie, he noticed his left wrist glowing around his Familiar tattoo.  

“Something’s wrong,” he muttered to himself as he whipped around and looked out the hut’s exit and towards the shore far beyond the trees.  Something didn’t feel right and it felt like something was itching under his skin.  It felt uncomfortable. He wanted to scratch at his skin, tear through it if it made the tingling sensation stop.  

He slowly slipped the string bag over his shoulder as he stepped cautiously outside.  The birds had erupted from the treetops as a wall of magic hit him like a wall.  It was heavy and dense before it sucked up and shot upwards.  The air itself shifted and he could feel his skin burn with his flame as he let out a small breath and steam pushed pasted his lips.  His body felt unconsciously threatened and was reacting.  

Looking at his wrist again, it was silent for a moment.  Then, he heard you scream.  Whipping his head up, he kicked off the ground as he ran towards the shore where he left you.  He weaved around bushes and jumped unearthed tree roots.  He stopped suddenly when a shadow was cast.  Climbing a tree, he jumped to the top and gasped when he saw a huge beam of light.

Crackling and yet also stable as can be.  Like contained lighting.  This single beam shot straight up through the cavern, straight as an arrow before it started squirming like a snake.  The beam took shape, and almost like it was a creature with a soul, took the form of a python before it hissed and dove back below.  

The lightning snake had dove into the lake, merging with the underside of the island before the wind was harsh like a storm.  Then, it was silent again.  

Jungkook flinched when his arm began to ache. He gasped as he jumped from the tree and continued back to the lakeside.  Skidding to stop, he saw you across the water on the island.  On your knees and beside the throne that had magic outlining it.  Your body was twitching.  

“Y/n!”  He shouted as you did not turn to him.  He ripped his wings out of his back, hissing as he flew to your side and fell to his knees behind you.  Putting his hand on your back, he rounded your left side.  “Your blight,” his voice was small as he watched your arm crack and spark.  Your left arm was being forced into the ground by your right as if you were containing it- or trying to.  

Jungkook looked up and watched as you were squeezing your eyes shut. Biting your lip so hard blood threatened to ooze out and dribble down your chin.  You shook as your heavy breathing was apparent in your chest rather than your sounds.  He acted fast as he grabbed you around your back, holding under your arms to bring you to your feet.

You were shaky, unstable as you felt Jungkook drag you away somewhere.  You soon felt him and yourself in the water as he dunked your arm in the water.  The water was healing- it should have some effect.  And that it did, the sparks simmered and the violent glow dimmed before you were finally letting your breath out in harsh breaths.  

Your arm stopped pulsing and the cool water was welcomed against your hot skin.  Though, it left you feeling weak.  You slumped your shoulder into Jungkook’s chest as he held you up.  Looking down at you, you looked absolutely spent.  

“Sorry,” you whispered.  “You told me not to touch it, but I did.”  

Jungkook shook his head.  “It’s in the past and it’s not your fault.”  He dipped his body lower into the water to hoist you up and carried you through the water before he sat you on the other side of the bank again.  You sat slumped and completely in bad form as your blight was dimmed completely once more but your arm sizzled and steamed from the spent magic.  

“That beam of light-” Jungkook started.

“It came from the rock.  It shot up between the arches- but that’s all I could see.  It was too bright- too hot.”  You shook your head, not having any answers.  Jungkook dismissed your worries, as that was enough for him to know, as he saw everything else.  He grabbed everywhere he needed, yours and his before he grabbed you.  Lifting you up and decided that the best way to go home would be if he were half-shifted.  A full dragon form would do nothing for him at the moment.

It was two hours later when Jungkook was standing outside your dorm door, you sleeping in his arms with Yoongi on the other side of the door, completely confused.  Jungkook walking inside, he laid you on the couch as Yoongi went and grabbed your medicine and new bandages.  When he returned, he was shocked to see Jungkook kneeling at your side, touching your forehead and cheeks.  Your brows were furrowed as sweat beaded at your forehead.

“Jungkook,” Yoongi spoke, gaining the dragon’s attention.  “Here,” he tossed him the medicine and bandage roll as Jungkook easily caught them and immediately- without wasting time- started patching you up.  With the cool ointment on your skin, your face softened and untensed and you seemed more peaceful in sleep when he finished up completely.  

Not willing to wake you or risk you waking up by carrying you, the two boys decided to just throw a blanket over you and talk in the kitchen.  Yoongi- from the look in his eyes- wanted answers.  

XXX

It had been a week since the incident at Jungkook’s hideout.  Since then, you hadn’t told him of any irregularities with your magic or your arm.  As there hadn’t been any.  Jungkook has also changed drastically.  He was attached to your hip as much as possible, but he claims that he just enjoys spending time with you and that he didn’t really feel obligated to like you initially feared.  He also never denied anyone who asked if he was a Familiar.  He’d always own up to it and when asked who his Master was, he would seem almost proud to say it was you.

Now, it was the time of year when certain Witches and Warlocks come and gather with the Spellmaster- or at least their voice- and hold some sort of annual top secret meeting.  What is discussed is not discussed outside of those conference walls.  Of course, as the countries top group of Spellcasters, both Parrish and your father- Zaros- were invited.  

You weren’t exactly thrilled at the idea of possibly running into your father, but it was something you knew you’d had to deal with regardless.  You sighed as you sat in class, forced to do yet another bird summoning for the thirty-fourth hundredth time this semester.

When you were dismissed, you yelped when you were tackled from behind by Jimin.  He had jumped on your back, laughing as you teetered around to try and support his weight as well as keep your footing.  

“Jimin! What are you doing? Get off me!” You whined as he easily hopped off, dusting himself off before cheekily straightening out the collar of your shirt.  You rolled your eyes.  ��My, what a gentleman.”

Jimin accompanied you to your locker where you were contemplating skipping the next period.  He was trying his damnedest to talk you out of it when the chattering in the halls was silenced.  Jimin, turning to see what the fuss was, gasped at the all-powerful image of Zaros walking down the hall in small, thundering steps.  

You wanted to hide your face in your locker, but when you looked at him you instead almost instinctively hid your arm.  Then, you felt someone touch your back.  Jumping, you watched as Jungkook pushed his palm against your back as he glared down Zaros.  

You wanted him to keep walking, continue forward and pay you no mind. Yet, there was a falter in his steps when he stood behind you and your Familiar.  Jimin at your side and entirely on age as he let a small growl rumble in his throat.  Jimin knew he was strong, and even if he wasn’t at Zaros’s level- if he even tried to initiate a fight with a student, Jimin knew he had the grounds to fight back.  He wasn’t there when you were hurt by him the first time, but he’d be damned if he let Zaros get away with a second strike.

Zaros let his eyes wander to your turned back.  

“Will you cower away once more?” You tensed your back as Jungkook stood taller.  

“I’ll have to advise you to not speak so familiarly towards Y/n.”  His eyes shifted for a moment, like a flicker of a flame as they narrowed in warning.  “Last I checked, Sir, you were certainly not my ally.” Jimin jumped to Jungkook side, defending you.  The air was thick, hard to breathe in as you took a breath, held it and let it out.  You gathered your wits before you slammed your locker shut.  

Jimin and Jungkook turned to you, scared slightly from the sudden slam of your locker door.  You pulled your bag onto your shoulder and turned around.  You kept your eyes up as you met your father gaze.  

It honestly terrified you.  You’ve never once looked your father in the eyes.  He had always scared you so much, loomed over you that you could never truly challenge his deteriorating gaze.  Now, you were growing and you were ready to initiate something. You slowly raised your arm, sliding the sleeve of your sweater up as you unraveled your bandage and showed your scarred arm.

Since that day, the blight that spread on your body was no longer light like lightning- that was now an occurrence that happened when you overused your magic.  Now, it was just a dark-patchy scar that tainted your skin.

You were completely silent, only mocking him as you showed the damage he did to you weeks ago.  “This may kill me,” you referred to your arm as you lowered it, “but mom would be proud of me.  What would she say about you, father?” 

You spun on your foot, stalking away from the man as Jimin ran after you. Jungkook stuck around a moment longer to see the small sparks of energy swirl around his fingertips under his robes.  He chuckled as he placed his hands behind his hand like a stressless teenager.  

“It must suck not being allowed to fight a student, huh Sir!” Jungkook insulted before he ran off, leaving Zaros behind.  

XXX

Once you left Zaros, your mood turned sour.  Jimin had run to tell Yoongi what had happened and when you got home, you ignored everything he did and said.  You dismissed anything he had to say about the topic before you were back out the door, walking to some random diner downtown to get something to drink.  You weren’t hungry, but something fizzy was something you were craving.  

Somehow, Jungkook ended up tagging along.  Spotting you downtown when he was leaving a local arcade he often frequented, he invited himself despite your annoying protests to company.  He knew you were in a bad mood, and he couldn’t tell if you were angry at yourself for talking back to your father- which he totally had coming.  Or if you were angry at yourself for your trembling fingers because taking a small stand against that man terrified you.  You’ve been scared of that man your entire life, it isn’t going to change in one day.  

Jungkook could tell you hated that you had to hide your fear from someone who helped bring you into this world.  Someone who despised you.

So, as you walked into the diner, and slid into a booth in the corner with only a few other bodies in the dead hour of 2 o’clock, Jungkook was beside you. The whole time.

-TBC-

[deancanfxckme]

Working man - Dean Winchester

summary; Dean has to really work for a job, but enjoys himself quite enough as he got to watch you walk though the house with loose clothes. When the stepdad (who's probably a werewolf) falls asleep he finally did something to loose the frustration.

Dean x Reader

1,545 words

Warnings: smut

He worked for my father and came at least 3 times this week to do his job. He did the garden washed the windows and cleaned every room in the house. We where very rich because of dad’s job, he wasn’t because he doesn’t have a dad and takes care of his little brother. He was our number one employee.

His name is Dean Winchester and he’s 27, he was a real sweetheart and tried to talk to me as much as possible when my dad wasn’t home. Because my dad doesn’t like boys from “a lower class” talking to me.  

Today got really weird really fast, it is one of the hottest days in the year but did he really have to walk around the house shirtless? I was watching some weird television show when he doing the garden. Still shirtless. I kept darting my eyes from the tv to him. I was starting to get annoyed from the sexual tension he was causing and got up to my room to get my release.

I got up to my room and locked the door. I lost all of my clothes and layed down on my bed. I slowly began teasing myself by rubbing my legs and slightly touching my nipples. I closed my eyes, pushed one finger in and started slowly thrusting.

Dean p.o.v

I wasn’t trilled on this job when Sam told me to work for them so I could keep an eye on the man. Sam of course got to watch the wife after winning rock paper scissors, al though I didn’t mind watching the daughter as the old man took a nap. He told me she was off limits of course, but a college dropout knew how to tease a guy.

I lost my shirt on purpose just to get her annoyed with me. But she wasn’t sitting where she was when i finished the garden. Whatever maybe she was just doing work or something upstairs. I started washing the windows and of course i did hers first so i had a good excuse for wanting to know what she was doing. I set the ladder against het window when i was done with the below part. I slowly climbed up and peeked my head up to see what she was doing.

She wasn’t sitting on her desk so i climbed a little higher untill i saw her laying in her bed touching herself. I got hard from just watching her and slowly climbed down. I didn’t expect her to get that frustrated, so why not help her? I walked up the stairs and tiptoed to her room. I listened a minute until i heard her moan my name and knocked on her door.

Y/N p.o.v

I heard a knock on my door and stopped my hand to pull up the blanket “Yes?” I said after being comfortable. My core was throbbing and now someone has to come bother me? “(Y/n) can you let me in?” Dean asked sweet and I hesitated to open up the door. “Why? i was kind of in the middle of something” i said back once i had my hand on the door knob.

“Yeah and i wanna help you” he said with a bit lower of a voice.

I opened the door and he looked me up and down before grabbing me by my waist and looking in my eyes. “how’d you know?” i whispered in his ear making him groan. “Look at your window” i saw the ladder and a half washed window.

“Fuck” i thought.

Of course he was going to clean the windows. He had the brightest smile on his face and still wasn’t wearing a shirt. I kissed the smile off him and he acted by slowly pushing his hand under the blanket i had wrapped around my body. He groaned in the kiss when i pulled a bit on his hair and pushed him closer against me.

He slowly backed us up towords the bed until my legs touched it. The kiss broke and he tugged his gym shorts down while i unwrapped the blanket. He looked me up and down, studying every curve then kissed me again pushing me down on the bed.

“You’re so fucking beautiful” he said when we broke apart again.

He grabbed my ass and started leaving a trail of kisses down my neck. I started moaning as soon as he gave my nipples attention and my hands tangled in between his curls. I pushed his head up and kissed him again, then whispered in his ear. “All i can think about is your cock Dean” he smirked at me and rolled over so he was sitting against the headboard. I started traling my kisses down his torso while palming him though his very tight boxers. He started moaning loud and that’s when i tugged his boxers down.

I grabbed it and slowly pumped it. He had his eyes closed and his lip between his teeth. I started kitten licking the tip and he released his first moan.

“Please” he whined when i didn’t stop. Looked at him and smiled, his pupils where darker and fulled with lust. I took him in my mouth as much as possible sucking hard. He grabbed my hair and held it out of my face, still looking at me taking him in. I bobbeb my head and pumped what didn’t fit in my mouth. He threw his head back and let the moans spill out. He still had his hand in my hair trying to get me to go deeper. I deep throated him a few times so he would try to mouth fuck me and it worked perfect.

I could feel his stomach going up and down because of his breathing with one of my hands on there, my other hand went more south to roll his balls in my hand. His moans got uncontrollable and i knew he was close. My own wetness was growing to and i popped my mouth as i took him out. He groaned at the loss of contact but smiled as he saw me getting on him.

“Didn’t know you where so good with your mouth princess” he said smirking.

“There’s alot you don’t know about me”

i kissed his chest and his hands flew to my hips, holding thight. “Yet” he finished for me and sat up to kiss me. The kiss was alot slower than before and I enjoyed every second.  I grabbed his cock and positioned it at my entrance collecting some of my own wetness with it. He slowly pushed me down on it making me moan out loud, he muffled me by kissing me again. “Holy shit you’re big” i said after feeling comfortable. He groaned at my words and i circled around his cock.

He helped me move up and down a few times but he got tired of my slow pace. He grabbed me tighter and moved us over so he was on top. He was fully inside me and grabbed one of my legs to push it over his shoulders. “You’re so good” he groaned, “so tight too” my moans where alot louder now, and his pace got faster and harder with each thrust. “Oh god Dean- you’re gonna mak-” i couldn’t control my moans as he got me closer to my release.

“I know that you only walk around the house with a loose tank-top and no bra to get my attention” he grounds in my ear only getting the hot feeling in my stomach ever hotter.

“Have to work with a boner untill i get home” he stopped the fast pounding only to roll his hips against mine and grope my breast. I was ready to cum and he knew it too. “Sometimes i have to get off in my car because it’s that bad” His face was in my neck untill he got up to look at me.

I tried to open my eyes and look at him but i couldn’t because the feeling was too damn good. “I’ve been imagining this picture for too long” he put his hand down my clit and started rubbing.

“Now i wanna know what it looks like when you cum” I knew he was close too because his thrusting wasn’t on a ritm anymore. He put his head in my neck and whispered in my ear. “Now cum for me” I came screaming his name as i knew he was watching me from above and came too. He wanted to watch me but the feeling was too much for him to keep his eyes open. His arms gave up and he fel on top of me. We where both trying to catch our breath as our skin sticked together because of the sweat. He rolled off and grabbed my hand laying it on his heart. “Feel what you did to me?” He asked sweet and rubbing circled on my hand. His heart was pounding like crazy but i knew mine was too.

“Mines the same” i said and rolled over to lay my head on Deans shoulder. He soothed my hair and gave me a kiss on my temple. “Goodnight sweetheart”

[full-frontal-lotus]

The Prodigy: Chapter 1

Kakashi’s Warning

"Yo, Gai! You made it!"

I waved, pushing the hanging aside to enter the bar from which my friends had greeted me. "Hey, Kakashi! Asuma! How's life?"

"Same as always," Kakashi slapped me on the back as I took a seat next to him. "Heard you just got off a mission."

"Psh! Mission! It was barely a workout." And it certainly had been. Delivering messages was a poor excuse for a mission. It was genin work, but times were peaceful and honest-to-goodness, rightful shinobi work was not necessary or easy to come by.

Asuma laughed, a laugh as vibrant and youthful as he was. "You take life too seriously, Gai! These easy times aren't going to last!"

Kakashi lifted his glass lightly and waved it, stating, "Here's to hoping."

"Kakashi! That's a terrible thing to say!" I scolded. "We should always pray and hope for times of peace!"

"And we do, but no one should have too much of a good thing," Kakashi waved down the bartender and turned to me. "What're you drinking, Gai? Domestic?"

I waved the suggestion away politely. "I'll pass."

Kakashi stared as if he had not heard me. "Import? That's not like you."

"No, rival. I'm passing altogether."

Asuma leaned over to stare at me, as well. "Why?"

My lips curled until I was practically beaming. How could I keep such amazing and wonderful news to myself? I was just dying to tell absolutely everyone, so with a smile as wide as a mile, I announced loudly and proudly: "I'm getting kids!"

"With what woman!"

I shot Kakashi a nasty look. "You know what I mean, Kakashi. The Academy is about to graduate a powerful and elite class and I want in on all that raw youth!"

Asuma chuckled, raising his glass to his lips. "Already, Gai? You've still got a bit of youth in you yourself."

"More than a bit, Asuma! But all that youth comes with its follies and I've got to keep those in check, starting with my bad habits!"

"You don't even have these kids yet," Kakashi murmured absently, rolling his eyes. "And why drinking? You're a grown man. It's your right to drink. Why not give up something easier, like women?"

I scoffed lightly. "Kakashi, I already respect women and do not sleep around with too many-"

"More like any."

"-Women are not my problem! But, what if my students see me drinking and decide they want to follow sensei's example? They'll start drinking underage and the next thing you know, they'll be robbing little old ladies to pay for drug addictions!"

"That's a little over-dramatic, Gai-"

"It is unacceptable and I will not be responsible for that. I also won't be responsible for things like foul language, smoking, pornography or any such unsavory acts- no offense, Asuma."

Asuma took out his pack of cigarettes and tapped one out. "None taken."

"What about me? I'm a little offended by the pornography comment."

"I do not condone your filthy smut books, rival."

"They're romance novels."

"They most certainly are not."

Kakashi shrugged and rolled his eyes. "Whatever. I guess it's a noble and self-sacrificing task anyway, so why not start early?"

"Precisely, Kakashi! I'm glad you see it my way!" Then I remembered something very important and my grin immediately disappeared. "Why have I not heard anything about your team yet, rival? You did sign up for a team, didn't you? You made a promise that you would do it with me."

Kakashi rolled his eyes absently, swirling the sake around in his glass. "Yeah… well, my application was late and there was this cat-"

"Like hell, rival. Be serious. Did you skip out on your promise to me? We agreed we would do this together!"

Kakashi set his glass down and put his hands up disarmingly. "Alright, alright. I'll admit it. I didn't do it. It wasn't because I didn't want to, Gai. I just don't think I could handle it if… well, you know."

I leaned forward expectantly. "If what? If you are worried about failing, I assure you that you are most capable and that you would be an excellent teacher, even if you are rough around the edges as a role model!"

"Oh no, no, no. It's not that. It's just that…" Kakashi shuddered, turning to Asuma. "You know what I'm talking about, don't you, Asuma?"

Asuma nodded solemnly. "Yeah. I know. That's why I didn't go for it this year either."

"What? What?!" I implored insistently. "Why didn't you guys get teams this year? What are you so worried about?"

"You really don't know, Gai?" Kakashi looked around, exchanged an uneasy glance with Asuma, then leaned in and whispered, "They're graduating Neji Hyuuga this year."

"Neji Hyuuga?" I thought back, thinking of the child that was being praised as a prodigy and a powerful son of the Hyuuga clan. I shrugged. "So?"

"So?" Kakashi sounded surprised, confused even. "Gai, I'd be a little more concerned if I were you."

I shrugged. "Why? He's just a child."

Kakashi looked over to Asuma, who shook his head as if he pitied me. Kakashi turned back and his voice dropped to a foreboding whisper. "That's the thing, Gai. He's not just a kid. Hell, he's might not even be human."

I rolled my eyes. "Oh please, Kakashi. Now whose being dramatic?"

Kakashi shook his head, never taking his eyes off me. "You don't get it, Gai. Haven't you heard? At least five of his teachers quit."

"I heard he made one of them wet himself," Asuma chimed.

I frowned suspiciously, but I could feel my heard beginning to race. "I've never heard of such instances. All I have heard is that he is truly a genius."

"Psh, an evil genius. I've heard from Iruka that his Byakugan is so powerful, it can see into your very soul and read your greatest fears and weaknesses; and he's not shy about letting you know it. One of those teachers ended up killing herself."

"Suicide rate in students went up when he entered, too," Asuma added. "Apparently it's not so fun being his classmate either."

"They're all afraid to spar with him and with the suicide rate being what it is, it makes you wonder if they're actually killing themselves…"

My heart leapt. "What? Kakashi! Don't say such things!"

"Didn't you wonder why they were graduating such a small class this year?"

"I… I figured they just had a lot of dropouts…" Now that I thought about it, every time I visited the Academy in the months before there had been less and less students and the graduating class was now just nine or ten individuals.

"Apparently this kid's already mastered the Gentle Fist."

"That's impossible-!"

"I'm telling you, Gai," Kakashi warned softly, eyeing me with his good eye. "You'd best do everything in your power to make sure you don't end up with this kid."

"How…" My voice broke. I cleared my throat. "How do you know all this? The Academy teachers are horrible gossips! They blow things way out of proportion all the time!"

"The Hyuuga are the worst gossips in the village, but you wouldn't doubt their knowledge," Kakashi retorted firmly. He picked up his glass again. "Besides… they're scared of him, too."

I could not stop myself from swallowing nervously. "How… how do you know?"

"I've seen the way they look at him. I delivered a message to one of their elders and I saw several of them step out of his way. It's a fact, Gai, that Hyuugas don't move aside for anyone."

I felt a tremor go down my legs. I glanced over to Asuma, who was nodding in somber agreement. My hands began shaking. "I don't believe you. Either of you. The Hokage would never-"

"Gai, that kid is going to be a great ninja one day. It's in the Hokage's best interest to keep him around. At least… until he snaps, but by then…" Kakashi paused and gave a little shudder. "Who knows?"

The shaking got worse until I could feel it in my jaw. I clenched my teeth to keep them from chattering. Surely…! Surely…!

Kakashi shrugged and suddenly cheered up, downing his glass of sake and taking a generous refill. "Well, no worries, Gai! I'm sure you'll be okay. Right, Asuma?"

"Naturally," Asuma grinned and reached around Kakashi to give me a fond pat on the shoulder. "I'm sure you can handle whatever the Hokage throws at you."

I was still clenching my teeth, so all I could do was nod. I slid out of my seat carefully.

"Aw, where are you going, Gai?" Kakashi complained. "The night's still young!"

I shook my head. "T… training. You're right. The night is indeed still young!"

I waved a fast goodbye and made a beeline to the training grounds where I fully intended to train the thoughts of this horrifying child out of my head. I heard Kakashi and Asuma's laughter echo in my head for most of the way.

[toongrrl-blog]

The Mommy Myth: Threats from Within (Part One)

Okay time to see the Moms “gone bad” and other Moms who required a lot of empathy but only got vilified on the media or were given anxiety inducing media. 

This was the era of the tabloid show like A Current Affair and America’s Most Wanted, “the crack baby epidemic”, depraved maternal figures, teen moms, smothering mothers, Lifetime movies where shit goes wrong, surrogacy, and the news that no you cannot let your kids go walking to the park by themselves. The era of sensationalism made no care for maternal ambivalence nor for the nuances of individual mother’s lives, only for black and white. Heroes or villains. No grey area. 

The “deviant mothers” featured were vilified for being supposedly narcissist and self-indulgent, odd given that I previously covered celebrity moms. But the celeb mom is portrayed as self-indulgent and narcissist on behalf of her kids and everyone who looks at her. Throwing money on diets, spa treatments, workouts, beauty treatments, and clothes were “necessary” as it was so someone had something pretty to look at. But have needs or desires that had nothing to do with your family, you were so bad! 

Scene: Suburban New Jersey, 1985. Dr. Elizabeth and Mr. William Stern wanted a baby but Dr. Elizabeth Stern was in her late thirties and had multiple sclerosis and they went to the New York Infertility Institute and were approved for surrogacy and hooked up with Mary Beth Whitehead, a homemaker and high school dropout with two children and a husband who was a sanitation worker. As she said:

I don’t have an education. I don’t have a skill. The only skill I know I do well is being a mother.

A contract was signed where Mary Beth would be paid $10,000 upon the Sterns receiving the baby, where she’d be impregnated with William Stern’s sperm and the Sterns would pay her medical expenses and a $7,500 finders fee to the Institute. On March 27, 1986 Mary Beth gave birth to a baby she named Sara and she had a change of heart and decided to keep the baby. The Sterns wanted the baby and the judge awarded temporary custody to the Sterns, who named the baby Melissa. When William came to pick up Baby M, the Whiteheads bailed for Florida with the baby, leaving their two older kids with the grandparents there and lived on the run (BTW this is a perfect scenario for a movie, I think Raising Arizona was loosely inspired by this).

Mary Beth’s actions flew in the face of what “surrogate moms were supposed to do”, they were supposed to be like Elizabeth Kane in 1980 and kiss the baby goodbye to a more affluent life (Kane eventually testified on behalf of Mary Beth). Or get pregnant and give the baby away to your infertile sister or be like Glenn Close in The Big Chill where she let her single friend sleep with her husband so she can have a baby of her own. Like Susan J. Douglas and Meredith Michaels, I subscribe to Mo’Nique’s school of thought regarding your friends and your man (maybe the Smug Marrieds should watch this and think twice about flaunting their rings to Bridget Jones):

People had a lot of shit to say about the Baby M situation, it involved issues like classism and sexism, who deserved the baby? The woman who carried her for nine months but was lower middle class and married to the garbageman or the biochemist who donated the sperm and paid the money? The trial started in the New Jersey Superior Court on January 5, 1987 where Whitehead was hit with several old-fashioned stereotypes about women: they can’t make up their minds and they are hysterical. Gary N. Skoloff, attorney to the Sterns, went Maddy Perez like the Whiteheads were a pot of chili. Skoloff listed 35 reasons why Mary Beth shouldn’t get the kid, amongst them was her mental health and her marriage to the garbageman with a alky problem. Also Mr. Stern recorded a phone conversation with Mary Beth unbeknownst to her. She was frantic: the Sterns had a judge freeze her family’s assets (which included the home, furnishings inside, car, and bank accounts). The media didn’t hear that or report it but they did on the desperate Mary Beth saying “I’m going to do it Bill....I’m going to do it; you’ve pushed me to it...I gave her life. I can take her life away”. The subtext also that being under educated and working class were not factors in making a good parent.

Honestly if your assets were frozen by someone who had the means and connections, wouldn’t you be unhinged? I think that Mary Beth needed to be treated for postpartum psychological issues rather than reviled as “The Crazy Woman” and don’t we make the worst arguments, imagine if you appeared saying and doing dumb shit like Bridget Jones and it was played on TV? Also on the tapes she was recorded as saying “I’ve been breastfeeding her for four months. Don’t you think she’s bonded to me? Bill, I sleep in the same bed with her. She won’t even sleep by herself...she knows my smell, she knows who I am--don’t I count for anything?” The media didn’t show that. More judgments came as her background opened up: her husband is an alcoholic, she and her husband separated for a while and she was on welfare in the past, her son had school issues (imagine how many affluent parents have kids with that problem), daughter Tuesday had frostbite when the furnace broke down (I’m not hating, winter in the East Coast sounds rough), and they went to the slut-shaming route when they got Mary Beth to admit she worked as a “barroom dancer”. 

And now it got really nasty: she didn’t play patty cake right (!), took pots and pans away from the baby and gave her a stuffed panda (uh I don’t know what kind of pots and pans they were around but I’m Latina), she dyed her prematurely gray hair brown (oh the horrors!)...a word from Karen Wheeler for now:

All these made her not an ideal mother. Okay am I getting some pissed off women in this post? Unicorn colored haired girls? Bottle blondes? Fake redheads? Anyone covering the grey? Henna heads? Well soon feminists and celebs like Our Queen Meryl Streep, Gloria Steinem, Carly Simon (one of our reigning Ladies of shady breakup songs), Lois Gould, and Betty Friedan all issued a statement of solidarity with Mary Beth Whitehead reading “By these standards, we are all unfit mothers”.  Thank Jesus for this action of solidarity because the media was playing one of it’s favorite games: pit women against each other. Dr. Elizabeth and Mary Beth were represented as doctor vs. housewife, barren vs. fertile, educated vs. under educated; so far the media was on Dr. Elizabeth’s and her husband’s side, which was okay for her but while the media cut her slack for being a quiet ride-along who was professional and educated and “of the right class” she got away with things that the media wouldn’t be kind with. While the media covered Mary Beth’s deteriorating mental health, they didn’t cover her testimony which read like a list of things that would normally get moms judged:

She wasn’t going to cut back on her work because “I didn’t realize how much time is required to raise a child.”

She claimed she was the “psychological mother” and therefore the true mom.

Her husband’s testimony said they’d have the kid in full-time day care (probably a nice day care like the academy in Daddy Day Care).

Activities with Baby M were trips to Bloomingdales.

During a cross-examination, Dr. Stern said she wouldn’t want to see the baby if Mary Beth was awarded custody

So what of Mr. Stern? He was basically cosplaying Ted Wheeler.

And he said “Fathers have feeling, too” which made him appear like the victim to the public when he had the means and access to a lawyer who went savage on Mary Beth. On April 1st (haven’t you heard, irony is dead), Judge Harvey Sorkow awarded custody to the Stern family on grounds that they provide better care than Mary Beth could (or afford). Mary Beth Whitehead was denied visitation rights by the judge, enabled the Sterns to adopt Baby M who was officially named Melissa Stern. Later that month it got bittersweet for Mary Beth: she regained brief visitation rights but got divorced and she remarried and had two more children, which the Sterns’ lawyer said was proof of “her personality problems” (wow imagine if the Duggars were tarred with that brush) while she tried to fight for longer visits. The next year saw Sorkow’s ruling thrown out by the appeals court on grounds of condoning baby selling, the adoption invalidated, and Mary Beth’s standing as mother restored. She got visitation rights, years later Mary Beth and older daughter Tuesday went on Dr. Phil where they talked about the case. Tuesday said the case contributed to the divorce and the strain was too much for the late Mr. Whitehead, who died from cancer years before their appearance. Mary Beth said she wouldn’t recommend this and if she had the chance, she’d never do it again, being a surrogate mother. At that time, Melissa was 16 and according to Mary Beth their relationship wasn’t good and she did attend Tuesday’s wedding though but claimed the Sterns made it difficult for the two half-sisters to have a relationship. Then five years later, Melissa was a junior at George Washington University as a sorority member and religion major and found it strange when the case was brought up in her Bioethics class, she hoped to become a minister and a mother and at 18 she allowed the Sterns to fully adopt her, terminating Mary Beth’s rights. 

And those fixing their lips to say that the Sterns had more rights because they could afford a “good life” for her? I leave this for you to watch.

So the media savaged Mary Beth Whitehead, a working-class white mother who gave birth to a healthy and chubby baby, how did the media treat poor, drug-addicted black mothers and their “crack babies”? (TL;DR, it was bad, very bad, you know it’s bad bad really really bad!). 

Up next...and for all you moms dealing with the judgements from an unhelpful world, here are words from Lois Foutley

[danieljbockman]

The Unfair Advantage

The Unfair Advantage

Strategies of the Modern Entrepreneur and the Self-Made Movement  

  Preface

 ~No one is born a winner, no one is born a loser. Everyone is born a chooser!

I don’t know who quoted that saying, but it’s 17 words of pure truth. Not everyone will agree with it but none the less, we all come into this world with equal status and it’s the choices we make afterwards that separates our quality of living. It could be very easy at this point in the book for you to say that I’m full of crap and living a very delusional life myself but it’s the reason I decided to write this book. I want to demonstrate that there is a reason people become so wealthy and when it comes to riches and wealth, there is most certainly a reason it is happening to them. At an early age, most of us realized that some people just have more of an advantage to life than the rest of us. Whether they were born into it or their parents have done well, we were exposed to privilege and advantage that was greater than our own and was out of our reach.  

We live in a world of ever expanding complex technologies that hare happening at breakneck speeds and things have never been easier and, things have never been harder all at the same time. Fear seems to be the buzzword of our time because it’s so hard to predict the future and yet so many refuse to let go of the past, they cling to their fears about the new world vs trying to embrace the amazement of it. While some are trying to predict the future, others don’t try to predict the future because they are creating it.  Artificial Intelligence and robotics are threatening our jobs, or so we think, and new social behaviors from a generation we don’t quite fully understand but, we know will be running the world someday. What about the ever changing dynamics that we are seeing in the retail word, that many people are moving from the suburbs back to the big cities, even the oldest generations. Large household named retail companies that took many, many years to establish and I knew about even as a child are being chiseled away at incredible speeds by a younger order of consumers that would rather click and purchase while in the comfort of their homes or apartments . Things are changing and the new world is not going to wait on those that can’t keep up. They may feel they are keeping up with technology because they can navigate their phones and computers but are they really mastering it? I would argue that many are being mastered by it!

I have had so many instances that people look at my success in life and business and they never fail to tell me that I had so many advantages over many other people and it’s no wonder I have so much more than most. But my feelings in this is that I don’t feel I have any more advantage than anyone else but I guess it could be said that maybe the one advantage I have, like so many others, is the ability to recognize advantage and opportunity when I see it. I also work! I work so hard to the point of exhaustion somedays and I feel nothing comes easy, it just doesn’t. I was told by a devout socialist friend of mine that I had an “unfair advantage” over most people and that I was born into most of my success and luck, and fortune just decided to shine down on me. I see her point but my argument to her is that I really don’t feel I have an actual “unfair advantage” over people, as much as I do and unfair way of looking at the world and, life in general! 

So where are we seeing these unfair situations out there in the world today?

At a restaurant, I overheard and older couple talking with another older couple over lunch about their granddaughter’s new job she just got with a large marketing company.I didn’t know these people but their conversation was hard to ignore. The couple was saying that she liked the new job but there was an aspect of the job that she really hated. What she hated was the founder of the company was a less than stellar student in high school and only went to college for a short time before dropping out. He did not come from money and his family had always struggle but this young man decided to drop out of college and start a marketing company using the technology of the times, not using education. The marketing company was hugely successful and was a desired place to work because they paid very well. The founder hired his other dropout buddies and developed a business model to hire people who did graduate college and have them do most of the work while they, the dropouts, would reap the benefits. The granddaughter was disappointed because she was working in an industry she always wanted to and assumed everyone she would be working for went through the same things she did to get where they are, but that proved to be a false notion. She was being paid very well, so money was not the issue. The issue was that she worked hard to get where she was and the founder was just a punk that didn’t follow the rules of life and got lucky, and was getting rich off the work she was doing!

As I accidently eavesdropped on this conversation while I ate my lunch, I could hear the sentiment of distain in the grandparent’s voice. They were frustrated for their granddaughter but at the same time, happy she was doing what she loved and was making great money. The grandfather said, “She’s just a mule in his empire and he didn’t have to work for it.” The grandmother said, “We helped pay for her college and it feels like the founder of the company is getting rich off our investment into her future.”

This was a fascinating thing for me to listen to because what they were saying without actually saying it, was the whole situation was unfair!

This story and many others just like it and my own experience with success, is what inspired me to write this book. I have talked with many people over the years and about the unfairness of life and for the most part, people accept it. They understand that life is just not fair but when they experience it first hand and that the unfairness was perfectly legal and no laws were broken in the process, they tend to react in a negative way. They know if you break laws and regulations to become successful there will be legal action and consequences and you will pay for what you have done, but what if they break the laws and regulations of what you have always been taught. What if they, the successful, get ahead by not following the social rules of the past and the norms of the times? What if the successful uses strategies that defy what we always thought it took to become successful? We begin to take it a little personal!

I’m not saying that the traditional path to success isn’t still a viable path but what follows in this book is the notion that the success revolution of our time is no longer predicated on what we have learned from our parents, high school teachers, coaches and mentors but rather on the basis of, who wants it the most! Our success revolution is no longer rooted in following the rules and the social antiquated guidelines that traditionally propelled people into higher stations in life. 50 years ago a college dropout’s only choice was to work low level occupations but today, they are creating huge companies and making money on a mass scale. 50 years ago if you were born into poverty or low income, your choices were very limited and you were likely destine to continue on that path, but today, your low income and impoverished experiences gives you an incredible advantage of super financial success. Daymond John (Shark Tank investor) writes in his book, The Power of Broke that in today’s world of entrepreneurism, you are 68% more likely to become rich if you start out poor or were born into a low income family. This information is from the Forbes 400 list and what is striking about it is that in 1982, 68% of those on the list came from rich families. Today, only 32% of the Forbes 400 can make the claim that they came from rich families and were born into their wealth. My friends, THAT IS SIGNIFICANT!!! And well worth writing about! What this is saying is you are now more likely to become wealthy and stay wealthy if you start out with the so-called disadvantaged life of the poor or impoverished.

Things like this inspire me and this is why I write. This book is designed to highlight that you too could be one of these people that hit it big. The middle class is the self-made millionaire breeding grounds and because the middle class is so large, the chances of self-made people coming from the breeding grounds is huge. The significance of this revolution is starting to get noticed. The old order of the colleges, universities and academia are now on notice that we are no longer mindless drones that feel we have to follow their rules and pay their prices to become something great. Our parent and teachers are on notice that technology has made it possible for us to self-publish great and amazing books without going through the antediluvian processes of publishing houses. Technology has allowed us to engineer infrastructures without hiring engineers, code programs to do work for us and build our own websites simply by watching YouTube tutorials. Competition has changed as people are willing to do work for free for no other reason but to just be the first ones to do it!

This revolution is significant and has seemingly caused some concern by many. These people are seeing that anyone can become incredibly successful in this new order of the tech-age. We are now a population of incredibly informed people and we no longer sit idle and just accept life as it comes to us. We challenge and question everything because we know we can. Before, to be super successful, you had to be someone special and born into the advantages that cradled you to the high stations or had to be an advanced student in school. Now, because of technology, anyone can be a star, anyone can be rich and anyone can be the next big thing becaasue its no longer hard and we udder the phrase “why not me” everyday! That is the concern. People are using simple everyday advantages to get ahead in life and become successful in a way that is nontraditional. They are not having to working hard at school because someone else is working hard for them developing advance technologies that are easy to navigate and extremely affordable and give everyday average people the advantage! People are now writing blogs and publishing articles to delegitimatizing the self-doer of the world. Business blogs that traditionally championed success and profits of business are now in a desperate attempt to publish material stating that entrepreneurism is best left up to the experienced and the educated. Publishing houses are vastly branding self-publishers as “Vanity Writers” and saying the self-publishers are irresponsibly creating unchecked work! When you see things like this, take careful notice. There is a reason they want to suppress the self-made movement and if you look close enough, you will see the opportunity they are trying to hide. A blog called Quartz.com is readily publishing material telling you to not quit your job and never take a chance at investing in yourself. Their writers continually publish articles that are designed to re-center you back into your normalcy and constantly champion mediocrity. They encourage you to quit dreaming so big and accept the cards you were dealt as fate. I encourage you to visit Quartz.com and other “victim factories” as a source material of how not to think and what not to do if you are planning success and greatness in your life.    

This book is designed to do two things. My target audience is the person who thinks only the people who were born into greatness and wealth are the ones that are going to succeed, that the people who have achieved greatness were just lucky and in the right place at the right time and who think that because they are in a less than favorable financial situation, there is no way out. The first thing the book is designed to do is, show you that the greatest self-made people are just simply outworking you and want it more than you. They have nothing special about them and a divine light from the heavens didn’t just one day shine down on them. They noticed all the things about life that were unfair, and took advantage of them. They also don’t waste time with the victim status no matter their situation! The book is designed to open your mind and your eyes as to what actually make greatness. Its makes you think and challenges your own values that you have been conditioned to think. It’s designed to inspire you!

The second thing the book is designed to do is piss you off! Yes, I know that sounds crazy but I encourage people who completely disagree with me to engage in this work. I want those that think I’m a “poster boy” for the rich (what my high school government and social studies teacher called me) to call me names and rub my name, Daniel J Bockman, into the dirt! I want those who hate me and think this book should be stricken from the world to stand up and say so. Most writers want everyone to love their work and rave on about its greatness but you will soon see that my own success in life and business comes from passion and using The Unfair Advantages in life. Not everything in being successful is pretty and you will get a little dirty while digging for gold. Just as many people hate me as do love me and I have capitalized equally on both sets of feelings. This is what I call, “Win, when you’re winning and win when you’re losing”.

I hope you enjoys this work and I have to tell you that I hope it creates impact in your life. I hope it does more for you than it does for me because I’m a businessman and I want success to grace you as much it has for me!

~Daniel J Bockman                                

[ullielwrites]

「☩」    UPLOADING CRIMINAL RECORD… 

ALIAS(ES): Stefan Romulus Aleksandrov мороз -- Or “Moroz”

AGE & BIRTH DATE: 28 | 14 February 1989

ALIGNMENT: Lawful (Walking the Line Between Neutral and) Evil

CLASSIFICATIONS: Sky High Dropout (Hero) | Super-Villain | Faculty Member

OCCUPATIONS: Historical Analysis of Good and Evil | Detention Room Monitor

POWERS & ABILITIES: Cryokinesis | Cryo-Regeneration | Cryostasis

「☩」    RUNNING BACKGROUND CHECK...

In 1849, in a small Russian town, there were two super-powered brothers whom were running against each other for mayor: Cezar and Vodim Aleksandrov. While Cezar held an honorable campaign, Vodim sought to sabotage his sibling at every turn for reasons unknown even today, and eventually won the election. When Cezar learned of the scandals, this caused a massive fight that led to the ruination of not only the town, but the creation of the eternal snow in what are now the wilds of Siberia.

Though both brothers survived, a rift was formed between them and, as they went on to have families, a rivalry was born as either side was forbidden to even speak to the other, and almost all meetings resulted in a brawl. Stefan hails from Vodim’s side and, naturally, was raised with what had come to be villainous intentions to lead society into a new era of peace under the thumb of the powerful. Namely, their family and those whom they had deemed worthy to rule beside them.

By the time Stefan was supposed to enter high school, he had succeeded most of his parents’ teachings and already developed most of his power’s potential. The boy’s mother masqueraded as their family’s good half, enrolling him into Sky High with the mission of understanding the mindsets of future heroes and learning all he can about their superpowers so that he’d have an advantage.

While he was highly successful at both objectives, he’d lost his way upon befriending a few students, beginning to undertake a change of heart. Though, before it could fully manifest, his father withdrew him from the high school and took him out to their original home in Siberia, never to been seen again for many years.

After completing his training and going through several initiation trials, Stefan took the helm as this generation’s мороз; a mysterious - and immortal, as far as normal humans know - world-class villain that wants to control the homeland (Russia) and use their status to seek conquest on the rest of the world, giving evil a permanent upper hand.

For six years, his operations to overtake the President’s Council went smoothly as the family began manipulating over half of the ministers. Stefan had broken a lot of new ground for the villainous cause as he turned the citizens on their own leader, and they’d almost reached a tipping point as mutinous outbreaks started over the radically controversial laws that were passed under the corruption.

Tragedy struck when the heroic Aleksandrov, the first female in the other sides’ lineage, figured out and exposed the entire scheme, throwing five generations of hard work down the drain. Tracking him down to his headquarters underneath Siberia’s Kholat Syakhl, Stefan was defeated and publicly unmasked before being thrown into the International Super Society’s prison, where each cell is specially garnered for that particular villain.

Upon serving three years’ time with good behavior, he was given the chance to serve parole by becoming a teacher at Sky High, to which he dismissively agreed to. In reality, he would’ve taken on almost anything to get away from the torture of being stuck in an eternal dry heat while blindfolded and shackled. He currently acts as the history instructor, as well as the detention room monitor during after-school hours in exchange for comfortable housing and freedom to use his powers on-campus.

「☩」    DOWNLOADING MISCELLANEOUS ANALYSIS...

ACTIONS LOUDER THAN WORDS: Though the extent of them are unknown as he never speaks much outside of lessons, he is, first and foremost, a gentleman at heart, abiding by a code of conduct and honor. Secondly, he has been bred with evil intentions, and so his loyalties will always fall on family members, then fellow villains before all else. Thirdly, his personal actions must follow the laws set before him, which has allowed for some creative, slimy tactics on his part in the past. Since his father was normally out being a famous super-villain or on business (he owns a law firm in New York City) when not training the young boy, Stefan was raised under his mother’s protective wing. These sculpted his more tame “live, and let live” philosophies in comparison to his male ancestors’ vicious tendencies.

DEADLY BEYOND RECOGNITION: Aside from his masterful prowess over frozen tundra and the freezing of elements, he is classically trained Russian royalty i.e. has been taught traditional swordsmanship (mainly with rapiers and daggers) and highly versatile hand-to-hand combat (Krav Maga and Sambo). Stefan utilizes all-in survival techniques with quick and efficient strikes as well as many counter-attacks, alongside “sniping” when not in close quarters; his style combines agility and speed to reach maximum potential of his capabilities. Having both his hands and sight as catalysts for his capabilities - a deadly combination denoting that he inherited traits from both his father (another ice manipulator) and his mother (infamous for her Gorgon-esque powers), he is easily capable of killing normal men, and yet...

INNOCENT YET UNCLEAN: While charged with over 100 murders amongst other accusations, he is personally responsible for none of them. Imprisoned them? Yes. Emotionally and mentally toyed with them? Of course. Killed, physically touched (let alone tortured), and/or maimed, however? Never; his underlings carried out punishments of their own volition, and are much more outwardly aggressive than he has been.

FORMER MUSICAL PRODIGY: Through his mother, he developed a deep-seated passion since her day job was as a cellist for the New York Philharmonic. He learned to play the cello, piano, and also can sing quite well. Music became the way he coped with his morality struggles, making a routine out of practicing late at night or just singing to himself as he reads to whatever songs he’s listening to in the evenings. Though he once showed off his talents as a child, when Stefan grew more introverted post-education, he hid his skills so that other villains could take him more seriously. Though he’d never voice it aloud, Stefan’s dream career would be that of a composer, or at least a singer-songwriter, or a musician in a group with other equally talented minds.

RUMBLE AND SWAY: Though the heir apparent of the Aleksandrov’s former empire, he has a brother named Percival whom he almost always butted heads with. Don’t get him wrong -- he loves his only living direct family member, and would never give away his location, nor his current alias. But the younger sibling has teetered farther into neutral alignment, and has aided their heroic cousin in the past.

「☩」    SEARCHING FOR KNOWN RELATIONS...

IM SOO JIN - OLD FRIEND, FORMER PEN PAL: When he first started out at Sky High, Stefan was an intimidating figure; sharply dressed and groomed every day, he made it clear from the get-go that he was an academic that knew more than he let on, and almost always took dueling and team matches a little too far. In his small circle of friends, he was the quiet guardian, and it especially applied with the young senior, Soo Jin. Despite her graduating and moving away, as well as his eventual defection to evil, they maintained contact throughout the years, and she is one of the reason why he hasn’t completely gone on a revenge spree against every goodie two-shoe out there... yet.

KEIKO MINAMOTO - FRIEND OF A FRIEND, CARETAKER: (NOTE: BURN AND SCAR MENTIONS.) Meeting through her cousin, Soo Jin, the ice manipulator has trusted her with the terrible task of helping him maintain the burn marks inflicted across his torso and back; the permanent physical damage that the International Super Society left on him during his imprisonment. She’s one of few whom is aware of these constantly reopening scars, and he prefers it being kept hush-hush as to not show weakness in public. They generally enjoy each other’s company time to time during the school day, though there have been times Stefan’s been tempted to take advantage of her goodness to work in favor of his programmed drive to help sway students to evil.

[scriptmedic]

Scripty Saturday #3 (Part 2): Everything NOT Mrs. Scripty

Whew! You guys sure did like to send questions this week!

Let’s keep it rolling on in.....

Dog Questions

princessofharte said: HI AUNT SCRIPTY! I JUST WANTED TO SAY THANK YOU AND ASK YOUR OPINION ON SHIH TZUS. What is your opinion on shih tzus?            

My opinion of Shih Tzus is that they, like most dogs, are Good Dogs and deserve Pets and Treats.

And you are most welcome for whatever it is I did!!!

pomrania said: Scripty Saturday: re dogs, do you prefer floof or curls or short coat? Large enough to hug, or small enough to fit in your lap? Affectionate or standoffish?

I tend to like bigger, sweeter, affectionate dogs, though coat doesn’t matter so much to me. My ideal dog would be a hypoallergenic pibble, because they’re SO CUTE AND SWEET, but I have the immune system of the Devil himself, so I’m allergic to pretty much everypuppy. I would also love to have a mastiff who thinks she’s a lapdog and just glompfs on me, because that is basically my idea of heaven.

Scripty and Mrs. Scripty and Pupper make 3. Except between my allergies and my landlord, pupper has to be an imaginary pupper.

(By the way, Mrs. Scripty is OBSESSED with the name Steve for a dog. Any dog. Doesn’t matter what type, what sex, she will name our first dog Steve or die trying.)

Anonymous said: What's the silliest thing your dog has ever done? Have you ever considered getting a different pet (fish, cat, bird, turtle, lizard)?

Sorry to say, anon, Steve the Pibble is only in our imagination. (See? She’s even got ME calling it Steve!!).

I grew up with cats and dogs--my first resuscitation attempt was on a dog I considered my brother, and I only recently had to put down my other (feline) brother, a cat who lived to be old enough to drink.

But the dog, when he was around, was named Pirate, because he would anchor himself in the doorway between the kitchen and the dining room in order to trip his humans and acquire Noms(TM), which are basically a dog’s sole purpose in life. So that was pretty cute.

Lizards and birds just don’t do it for me, I’m afraid, I think I’m a mammals kind of girl. Though the trend towards cute sneks on Tumblr is making me pretty happy.

Miscellaneous Questions

pomrania said:   Scripty Saturday questions: What superpower do you think would be the most useful for particularly your work? (Like, not medics in general, but you with the particular stuff you get frustrated with or whatnot.) What superpower would you like to have, unrelated to work?

Oooooh, this is a good one, Pomrania!

I think for work something akin to X-ray (really closer to CT) vision would be very helpful when it comes to making diagnoses, but if we can step away from the superhero archetype ones for just a moment, I’d really like the ability to lay on hands and heal. I think that would be stupendous.

As for non-work related ones... I’m not entirely sure. I’ve learned in life that doing anything different, and particularly if you do something especially well, it automatically makes a kind of loneliness, which is something I already feel too much of.

I really wish that I had more friends, and had basically anything in the way of social skills at all. To me, people who can socially adapt and fit in and not push all the time are the equivalent of superheroes, so I’ll go with that one.

starlightswitch said: This might be a Scripty Saturday question? It's definitely not a consult. The question is: In your answer to the bloody cough question, you referenced "the most estoteric medical show ever written" as if you had a particular show in mind. If so, what was it?

I was indeed referencing House MD. Because it’s the most esoteric, randomly.... medically strange show going. It’s so far past the level of comprehension of even most medical providers (in terms of the medicine) that I’m not entirely sure how on or off accuracy most of it is. So I can still watch it, shrug my shoulders and go “sure, magic medicine” while still actually enjoying the show, especially the first couple of seasons.

But it is indeed the most esoteric medical show that possibly will ever air.

firecoloredwater said: For Scripty Saturday: what's your favorite place/time to write?  And when/where do you actually do most of your writing?

It’s interesting, because I don’t have a solid answer for this. I haven’t yet found my optimal workflow. (Even when I was answering a dozen asks a day, I hadn’t found it yet).

I work at the endcaps of the day--either in the morning or at night after Mrs. Scripty has gone to bed. It makes it easy for me to be alone with my thoughts. So for example, I’m writing this at 4am (I got up about 9 today, and will again tomorrow).

Mornings are hard because the ScriptX Family Discord chat is always very active, and it makes it hard to get work done, because there’s constantly something going on: something to celebrate, a troll to roll our eyes at, a Bucky to d’awww over. But when I can shut that out I get a TON of work done.

I definitely do not ever write in an ambulance. NOPE. Neverrrr. (Actually this is basically true; it’s been so godsdamned busy I barely get time to think let alone write...)

Anonymous said: For the Saturday thing: What are some life experiences that you're glad you learned/lived through?

Ooooooof. This is such a hard question. It’s a very worthy one, but it’s hard.

My first real relationship came at a truly vital time in me figuring myself out, and I’ll always love and cherish my ex for supporting me in that timeframe. He’s a great guy, and I’m so excited because he’s getting married soon! (He was at my wedding too, so relax, Mrs. Scripty likes him also). I’m  glad I lived through our relationship.

I.... so much of my life has been bad, in a way that I don’t know how to justify? So I can’t say I’m glad I lived most of my life.

I’ve had a lot of depression, lots of suicidal ideation, some really rough patches with my family life,... Each individual piece of it is hard to swallow as “glad”, but together they’ve made me strong and resilient. And I’ve achieved a lot of what I’ve achieved in spite of them.

I’m really proud of my mom for the way she reacted when I came out, and I love her a lot. And I’m glad I came out, and chose to be myself and love who I love. It took so much time to get to that point, but that’s how I feel.

I’m glad I took a chance on a girl from across the country and let myself fall in love.

I’m really, truly glad that I dropped out of college. Both times, actually. Because it wasn’t right for me, because I wasn’t right for it, because it was deleterious to my mental health. Because I’ve done better than most of my friends who did finish college.

Here I am, a college dropout, but I’ve got the top certification in my field, I’m doing a fellowship no other paramedic has ever done before, I’ve got a good income and a wonderful, happy marriage, and a blog that’s taking off well beyond what I could have imagined or hoped for.

And in all that time, in all those nights of fear and loneliness... I’m glad I chose to live. Life has been so interesting these past.... 20+ years since the first time I mentioned suicide.

pomrania said: Scripty Saturday: what type of flower do you think looks the best, and what type of flower do you think smells the best?

The flowers that look best are the red and white roses my wife and I wore as pins on our wedding day (she wore a shirt and pants, I wore a dress), and the flowers that smell the best aren’t flowers at all, but the crook of her neck when we hugged for the first time as lady and wife.

I will always cherish that day.

Anonymous said: What's your favorite book? What do you like to write? Thank you for answering so many questions!            

My very absolute all-time favorite book is American Gods by @neil-gaiman.

As for writing... I write a lot of things.

Apparently I write, and am successful at, nonfiction work.

But in my original dreams of making it as a writer, it was always with fantasy and science fiction. Typically it’s lesbian urban fantasy (I wonder why), but I’ve experimented with crime/thriller type writing, sci-fi, and angel noir.

Then there’s culinary fairy tales for children, of which I wrote one story (which is really really good, actually, I’m proud of it, except I need to cut like 20% of it).

Blog and Writing Questions

Anonymous said: Scripty Saturday question: do you ever resent that the ScriptX family blew up and a whole bunch of others came from it? I remember at one point you said something like people making new ScriptX blogs was "fucking awful" or something, but now you guys all seem to be okay. I just am super grateful that you all exist, but I'm wondering if you ever don't like it?

First of all, I went back and checked. I never used the words “fucking awful”. I never even came close--I didn’t even use the word “awful”. This is a very open post about my feelings in the moment: http://scriptmedic.tumblr.com/post/154336495611/for-the-first-time-ever-ive-let-my-queue-run

So some of you are new to this blog, and won’t understand the question. I actually had someone tell me they wish they’d found the ScriptX blogs when they were younger, which made my heart go all twitterpated, because I’ve only been around for 3 months, and most of the other family members, for less than two.

For those who don’t know the story, the ScriptX Family did not spring out of the ground fully formed and cohesive and happy. When it started, it was kind of a mess.

Once upon a time it was just me. I started ScriptMedic, I answered questions, I was happy, I was healthy, I was fine.

Then about a month and a half in, along came Jess from @scriptlawyer​, who asked (very nicely) if she could start her blog with that naming convention. We talked, I was excited! My blog was having a baby! And so I said yes.

And then... came another. And another, and another, and they stopped asking first. By this time I had a couple thousand followers, almost a thousand posts, and I had busted my ass to get where I was.

So all of these blogs, cropping up, naming themselves after me, was... hard. It was complicated. They were nice, and wanted to do a good thing. But it was also my name, a thing I had built. They wouldn’t be naming themselves that if it wasn’t for me. And there was a lot of pride there--imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and I was inspiring all these people to help writers with everything.

But also it felt really disrespectful to piggyback on my name and not even drop me a line, in a lot of cases. It hurt.

I still call this time the Blitz, because I think there were something like 30 blogs in about 72 hours that cropped up before I finally started broadcasting PLEASE STOP MAKING SCRIPTX BLOGS all over the place.

And then I went back and organized. I talked to the bloggers. Some changed their names; many stay and are the family we know and love today. Some blogs were asked not to use the ScriptX moniker. Some changed for other reasons, and we miss them, like @sciencefic-to-fact (formerly ScriptPhysics) and ScriptGambling.

But out of this.... this chaos, this madness, rose the ScriptX Family. And it really is a family. Most of the blogs are involved in a BIG group chat on Discord (though some choose not to join in; we miss you in there, guys!!).

And I’m really proud of that family. We have content guidelines. We have ethics guidelines. We do cite sources and check facts, we don’t reblog fandom or give real-world advice. We do try to distill huge concepts in our fields down to what writers need, we don’t judge or yell at our audience (though sometimes we get trolls, and it gets hard not to).

We built an application process, and we’ve been able to be pretty strict about it. We’ve even started implementing a mentoring program to make sure that new blogs are up to snuff on quality and technical prowess.

And that means that the blogs we do approve have been really high quality, solid, writer-oriented information blogs.

So there was a period where I felt super stressed by them, bombarded and overwhelmed and scared and angry, but what’s come of it is this tremendous resource for all of us. And it’s just... it’s amazing. And I’m so, so proud of all of them!

If the word resent comes up now, I think it’s only about people who have the audacity to just go “I’m Script.... Whatever!” without talking to us first, and I can only think of only a couple of blogs that have started up without talking to us. In those cases we’ve reached out and been like “hey, there’s a system in place for this if you want to be a part of the family”.

Because the truth is, a lot of people want to start these blogs because they’re trendy, not because they have a passion for educating  writers. And behind the scenes we’ve bounced some blogs that weren’t there, or were obviously there to poach our audience and not for actual writing advice. We’ve had some near-misses on things that could have been disasters.

But as for the Family? I love them. I’m glad I met them, and I’m so, so proud to call them my second family.

Whew! That’s it for January’s Scripty Saturday!!

Thanks so much to everyone who wrote in!! We’ll see you back here in February!

Do you want to see this again every Saturday? Did you have a follow-up question? Throw them in the comments or drop me an ask!

xoxo, Aunt Scripty

[recentanimenews]

FEATURE: Anime vs. Real Life – “Gabriel DropOut” & “Fuuka”

This week’s Anime vs. Real Life is going to be a double feature on both the real-world locations of Gabriel DropOut and Fuuka. You might ask yourself now, why exactly those two, what might they have in common? To be honest, next to nothing. The only similarity they share is that neither of them really show all too many outdoor locations, which is the reason why I did not have enough material to write about them individually, but I still wanted to share them nonetheless. So first up, Gabriel DropOut!

  *All images were taken with GOOGLE STREET VIEW (images I took myself are marked ‘WD’)

Gabriel DropOut

via Google Earth

After graduating school in heaven, Angels continue their studies in the world below, where they attend human schools, learn about human behavior, and ideally lead people to happiness. The bird's angel’s-eye view already gives it away, but Gabriel Tenma White gets sent to Hamamatsu. The industrial town is located in the west of Shizuoka Prefecture, and roughly borders Lake Hamana to the west and the Pacific Ocean to the south. It is here, where the once so promising young Gabriel was supposed to mature into a full-fledged angel. That is until she fell for most evil trap imaginable, probably invented by the devil himself – MMO microtransactions. After that, Gabriel fully embraces her lifestyle as an irredeemable faillen angel and shut-in, so it’s only natural that we don’t actually get to see a great variety of locations throughout the show. 

  Image source

  Hamamatsu is not really considered a big tourist city anyway, but its most popular tourist attraction is probably Hamamatsu Castle. The castle was constructed around 1532, and even served as Tokugawa Ieyasu’s base where he moved to in 1570 and stayed for 17 years. Today’s Hamatsu Castle is only a reconstruction, since it was destroyed during the Second World War. Other than that, Hamamatsu is well known for the production of musical instruments, with big companies like Yamaha or Kawai Musical Instruments having their headquarters there. Maybe that’s also where Gabriel acquired the first trumpet of the apocalypse.  

    Blessedly, not even faillen angels are exempted from the mandatory beach trip episode, but luckily for Gabriel, they don’t actually have to travel all too far out. Benten Island is a small island in Lake Hamana, in the west of Hamamatsu. 

    They are enjoying their summer vacation at the Bentenjima Kaihin Park with its wide and shallow beach, although I guess Gabriel is still busy protecting the Valhalla Kingdom. (Protecting another god’s dominion? How blasphemous!) 

    At least Satania is in the mood for some beach fun. Visible in the background is Bentenjima’s picturesque “floating” torii gate. And even further in the back past Hamana Bridge is already the Pacific Ocean. 

    The future queen of hell, Raphiel Satania! 

    JR Bentenjima Station, or UR Maitenjima Station in the anime. 

    In Gabriel DropOut’s latest episode, our favorite angels and demons pay their first shrine visit of the year to the relatively far away Okuni Shrine. The Shinto shrine’s primary kami is the Okuninushi. Again, such blasphemy. 

    Whose side are you on? Angels or demons?

Fuuka

Last but not least, Fuuka! Aesthetically, the show does not really stand out at all, which is actually fine as the show’s main draw are its characters and its music. Fuuka takes place in Itabashi for the most part, a special ward in the northwest of the Tokyo Metropolis, with a brief change of location to Kamakura during the show’s summer vacation arc. The manga’s creator, Kouji Seo, seems quite fond of the area, as he already used it in a couple of his other works, like a A Town Where You Live or Fuuka’s prequel, Suzuka. Yuu’s and Fuuka’s eventful and akward first encounter happens at the west entrance of the Narimasu Skip Village shopping district. 

    While Yuu was completely captivated by Koyuki’s new song playing in the CD store next to him, Fuuka enters the scene and runs him down. While still on the ground, with her underwear in plain view, and with Yuu still having his phone out, she suspects him of taking pictures, and therefore punishes him by smashing his phone to the ground and a hefty slap in the face. 

    The Narimasu Skip Village entrance right outside of Narimasu Station.

  WD

That’s Koyuki gracing the Shibuya 109 department store in the anime, and Ariana Grande on the real one.  

    Koyuki even performed in the iconic Nippon Budokan. 

    Shusse Inari Shrine. 

    In Fuuka’s ninth episode, Yuu and Koyuki meet up for their date at Kawagoeshi Station. 

  WD

  Kawagoe is a small town just a bit north of Tokyo, and often gets referred to as Little Edo (the old name for Tokyo) due to its many historic and traditional buildings. The street seen above is the Kurazukuri Street, lined with a great number of traditional warehouses. 

    Perhaps the city’s most prominent landmark, the Bell of Time. The bell tower is Kawagoe’s symbol and has been telling the time for 350 years now. 

  WD

And that’s how the tower looked during my trip to Kawagoe last summer. I originally headed to Kawagoe for the locations of Kamisama Hajimemashita, but as you can imagine, I wasn't amused that I didn't get to see the Bell of Time.

  Who do you think should end up with Yuu? Fuuka or Koyuri? Sound off in the comments below! 

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You can follow Wilhelm on Twitter @Surwill.

By: news+feed@crunchyroll.com

[kinkpixieprincess]

Suburbia Never Felt So Naughty

Dixie wiped down the counter with a warm, wet rag enjoying the slow play of soap bubbles beneath her fingers. Bright shafts of sunlight backlit her perfect chef’s kitchen as she went about her chores. Sam was out with the boys doing god knew what, the twins were at school, and the nanny was going to ring the doorbell any second now. And she refused to leave an unclean house while the college dropout nanny with perky breasts and cheerleader moves took over her house for the next few hours until the kid’s homework was done. At least she could keep the place spotless for Sam while he lusted after the nanny—so she was good for something other than high, five inch heels and a slutty, skintight dress with a socialite smile.

With a small sigh she shoved the dishrag in the sink. Laundry was imminent. But before she could snatch up the wicker basket for folding the doorbell chimed out through their five thousand square foot mansion in a series of musical dings and dongs. Probably the nanny. She was normally early if she wanted to get things settled at her home after the girl’s got in their Bridget time.

She clomped toward the door, never paying any mind to seeing who was behind the peephole. She swung the door open and before she could react her husband and his four friends pushed through the doorway, slammed the door shut, and snatched her by the upper arms. Confusion warred with surprise as the men laughed and cat-called, but she didn’t try and pull away.

“What’s going on, Sam? I thought you were out for the rest of the day.” She looked toward Jack and Garrett who had moved from holding her forearms to crossing her arms behind her back. “What are they doing?”

Despite her knowledge of these people—she’d known them for years—she found her voice trembling while Sam approached her with two large gym bags in his hands. Her gaze traveled to their faces, smiling, happy—then why was her heart beating hard in her chest?

“Take her to the kitchen, boys.”

“Wha—”

Two of the men with her hands behind her back dragged her backward while the other two in front lifted her off the ground carrying her toward the sunny kitchen. She couldn’t quite freak out—this must be some odd male ritual. Maybe she didn’t understand everything. With her stomach flipping, she took the forceful removal without saying anything in the way of protest. When she met her husband’s ruthful smile, a shudder plunged down her spine. Whatever was happening it didn’t seem harmful, but the way Sam stalked after his troop of merry men while they carried her made her slightly uneasy.

“Put her on the table.” His order was delivered in a sharp register she’d never heard from him before and the new forcefulness brought an unfamiliar edge as if a knife pressed up against her insides. “Spread her arms and legs out nice and long.”

Okay, now their little visit wasn’t okay. What in the hell?

“Sam, what are you doing? This isn’t appropriate! You’ve had your fun now let me up from here right this second!”

The newly washed marble, still slick from her cleaning, pressed up against her lower back while the men stretched her limbs to each side of the island. She squirmed and wiggled, doing her best to break out of the large muscular fingers that dug into her flesh. As her dress inched up along her upper thighs she cried out, embarrassed by the unobstructed view the men were getting of her panties and everything else because of her slinky dress. A blush flamed hot against her cheeks. Until she shot a glare full of daggers in her husband’s direction and he returned the expression with raised brows as he dropped the duffel bags to the floor.

The double thumps as they landed made her flinch.

“I don’t think you’re in the position to demand anything, my dear. Not when you’ve been longing for me to spend more time with you and less time away from my extracurricular activities. Have you met them, by the way?”

“Of course I’ve met them! Are you drunk? They’re all our neighbors and my book club member’s husbands. Now explain to me how pinning me to a table and embarrassing me is in anyway related to any of your hobbies.”

“These men are my hobbies. We’ve started our own little club. A secret of sorts. Well, not anymore.” He walked toward the island, while her neck craned forward to watch his predatory approach. When his hand slid up her thigh pushing up her dress even further she bucked upward with the tickle of his soft fingers on her warm flesh. It was almost too much, what with everything else she had to take in at the moment. But none of the normally polite men that she’d known for over six years moved to help. “You’re the first one to hear about our secret, the first wife we’re exposing to the truth. And we’ve centered our little club on fucking each other’s wives.”

She blinked. That was her first reaction. How could she fully process what he was saying with the men around her like a barrier to reality? But this wasreality, wasn’t it? She swallowed against the tight ball in her throat, fighting to keep from whimpering. Sam didn’t wear the look of a liar. And she couldn’t deny the excitement shining through his eyes—the hint of heat that always promised so much more behind closed doors as he ripped her clothes off.

There was no door. It wasn’t only him. And as his fingers played across her pussy, dipping beneath her underwear to sink home into her wet cunt, she closed her eyes to block out the other men acting as bondage. So what if their touch was undeniable? She couldn’t accept that her husband had given them permission to fuck her—even if there weren’t any other options floating around behind the multi-colored stars on the backs of her eyelids.

It wasn’t acceptable.

Until Sam’s thick digit slowly teased in and out between her slick folds, milking her orgasm the way he knew she loved while his friends stared. Their gazes burned across her flesh as her nipples unexpectedly hardened. No, this wasn’t supposed to be turning her on, it was wrong. And denying the effect of Sam’s slow fucking of her pussy was impossible when goose bumps mounted her flesh traveling the entire length of her body.

“You’re so wet,” Sam teased low in her ear as his breath played against the lip of her ear. “I’ll take that as a form of consent. Boys, hold her until I say otherwise, pretty please?”

If it were possible, the pressure keeping her back against the counter only doubled until her hips couldn’t even thrust up to meet her husband’s fingers. There wasn’t much to worry about though when his finger slid out drawing a slow, tingling line with her juices from her shaved mound to her belly button. A shudder rippled down her spine. What in the hell was he playing at? He wouldn’t give her any clues and she couldn’t harness the pride to open her eyes knowing that men she’d never think of fucking, were thinking of fucking her—and were goingto fuck her in front of her husband.

“I can’t believe you,” she whispered, only half-struggling against their hold knowing how much muscle the men had on her curvy, buxom frame. Fighting back was useless. And acceptance was much more exciting. At least, that’s what she told herself when Sam strapped the first bungee cord around her wrist, circled the two ends together, and connected them securely against the handle of the drawer below her in the island.

She couldn’t escape tied that way—she could only open the drawer. The cord was rough on her tender inner wrist but she tested it anyway. It would hold through a lot—maybe anything. When he circled around to do her other wrist, the men’s hands slowly fell away. She looked up into their eyes—four brown, one green, and one set of blue. And they all wore the same mirrored expression of desire that they were obviously trying to repress. Their hips were right in line with her vision and as she turned her head this way and that she was met with their hard cocks, thick in their pants. Inescapable. Her gaze shifted to size up their muscled, lean frames—and up further to their familiar faces.

Sam tied off the last bungee cord around her ankle as cool air tingled against her exposed pussy. What else did he have in those bags? Her pulse pounded against her temples. How exactly was this going to go? There were five of them and only so many orifices on her body ripe for using. Christ, she shouldn’t even be thinking about that. She shouldn’t be okay. Guilt stole over her in a rush as her nipples brushed against her dress, tormenting her already horny body.

“What are you going to do?” her voice quavered and she cleared her throat, looking to Sam for some kind of help. Deep down she knew there was nothing. “You have to tell me something.”

“Knowledge is a privilege.” He practically barked out. “Now lay there like a good wife and accept our pleasure. We promise to be good, don’t we, boys?”

“I’ll make you weak in the knees,” Charles promised, his brown eyes dark with needs Dixie was going to find out about first hand. “That’s a guarantee.”

“Do what you like, no restrictions. Only let me know if you’d like me to reposition her because we’ll need the manpower to move her back into place. Agreed?” Sam issued his orders without ever taking his eyes off her wide-eyed look of shock. “Don’t worry baby, we’ll all have our turn with the other wives, it’s not exclusive. You’re simply the first in a long line that will experience the exceptional stature of our cocks. And frankly, I don’t think you can handle it all.”

With his challenge thrown down, Dixie thinned her lips, instead of pouting which was her gut instinct. She couldn’t stop the trembling even when she clenched her fists tight. Adrenaline licked up her spine making her mind numb, while she watched, helpless, as the men talked amongst themselves a little bit away from the island. Perhaps they were forming a game plan? It made the most sense. But even a plan wouldn’t prepare her for so much sexual use. Her inner pussy muscles tightened and pulsed simply thinking about their dicks inside her cunt and in her mouth and in her hands.

How would she keep it all straight?

There wasn’t time to think about it. Her men were breaking away from their huddle and her legs shook in her bonds as all five of them got a good head on glance up her skirt and at her bare, naked pussy. Charles licked his lips. He was the first to pluck something from one of the bags at the foot of the island. She had no idea what he’d planned on using until the hunting knife glinted against the light of her chandelier. There were no words for the pulse of fear that erupted inside her veins, practically leaving her paralyzed.

“Nothing that leaves marks,” Sam chided and laughed a sound that danced up and down her spine making her stomach knot. “I want her just as I found her boys.”

“Relax, I’m only getting the pesky clothes away.” Charles got closer as his stare swept the length of her body, obviously pleased with what was set before him. “If this is some kind of designer,” he plucked at Dixie’s dress and the fabric snapped back against her tummy as she started against the cool, soapy marble at her back. “I’ll buy you a new one when this is all over.”

And with the statement seconds off of his tongue, he gripped the hem of her very expensive dress, and she watched in silence as he cut into it. Afraid to move, unless he broke his word to Sam. That and the thought of getting cut by the nasty curved blade made her to want to pass out. But Charles passed the blade close to her flesh without even nicking her skin. So that the knife slowly revealing her lingerie clad body made her even more wet. The slow trail of steel ratcheted up her heart rate until her chest rose and fell quickly enough for the knife to become a possible problem.

His hands parted back the fabric of the destroyed dress and she tingled from the light caresses he unknowingly made in the process. Meanwhile she watched as the knife grew closer toward her neck. For a split second, she wondered if he would stop. The steel skimmed between her breasts getting caught on the underwire of her bra for half a beat. Enough time for her to wonder how that would come off. Time stood still as he cupped her breast in a firm grip, weighing her in his palm.

It was insanely objectifying and incredibly exciting.

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