#it was hard to find names for girls most of the girl muppet names are too modern or are like. 'deet' lmao

[atopvisenyashill]

Once again making family trees, partially inspired by this post here. I was just trying to throw in as many muppet names as possible really.

Grover wants them to side with the Greens so I gave him a Bracken wife bc they initially wanted to side with them. I also think the continued cousin on cousin slapfights are funny. Imagine being cousins to the Lord Paramount and they still choose to side with the Blackwoods.

Elmo gets a Piper wife because he resents his grandfather for living so long, knew he’d choose to back Aegon the moment the boy was born, so he married another Rhaenyra loyalist so the blacks would have support in the Riverlands.

Kermit marries Sabitha Frey’s daughter Elayna because he loves his Lads and Sabitha is a Lad. He has a son, Wembley, named after the Fraggle.

Oscar starts the Stormbreakers (that part is canon) and marries a rich noblewoman in Braavos. He has two children, Breha and Kylan, both named after Gelflings from Dark Crystal. Kylan, being a cadet branch born in Essos, married Vale heiress and uses his contacts from Essos to get them both FILTHY rich. Breha married a Reacher. Why? Because I wanted the girls to have Muppet names and I thought "Fossie" as a nickname for Fossoway (aka Fozzie Bear) worked AND I found another reacher house called Risley and I thought that worked for "Rizzo" (aka Rizzo the Rat).

Wembley marries a Dustin - the book mentions that both the Blackwoods and Tullys benefit from the Northerners who stay in the Riverlands so I figured part of that benefit is, ya know, brides! I chose Dustin since Roddy the Ruin was a Dustin and it feels likely he’d have several younger sons or grandsons that stayed for a time in the Riverlands. Wembley’s son is canon because we know there’s a Medgar Tully in The Hedge Knight who has a six year old son.

Medgar dies and leaves his eight year old son as Lord Tully. In canon, they describe the boy as being “surrounded by women” so I gave him a shitton of aunties (like Fossie and Rizzo). Oscar’s descendants through Breha come back to the Riverlands to influence their very little cousin, as do Wembley’s many daughters!

Zooey Shawney is a reference to Zoe from Sesame Street.

Pink Missy Crakehall or Melissa Crakehall was fascinated with her cousin’s stories of Tyroshi fashion and was known to dye her hair pink, hence the name. Yes this is a Miss Piggie Reference.

Janys Keath aka Janice from Doctor Teeth’s Electric Mayhem

Red Rose Smallwood is supposed to be both Red the Fraggle and Rosita from Sesame Street.

Large Marvin is also a Fraggle!!

[hms-no-fun]

Tell us about Dill and Alexander! I kinda picture them in my head as Kermit and that blue eagle Muppet but gay and gamer/greasy mechanic. Is that where you got the idea? Is sburb's frog fascination gonna play into the story of these boyos?

oh what's that? you want to be the captive audience for a lore dump about my very special guys? completely unprompted and with total investment in everything i might have to say? well well, don't mind if i do!

SO, Dill Croaker and Alexander Falcon are members of a now-defunct group called The Falconers. they are modeled after Star Fox (the team) from Star Fox (the video games). we haven't seen Alex on screen yet, but here's @girlpillz's rendering of Dill for B1 verse 1, where Lenore Lehart shows off her sick bouncy ball skills for Dana Straten to get the attention of Dill.

Alex being a blue falcon, i imagine he looks legally distinct from Falco Lombardi from Star Fox (the video games; the team) albeit less cocky and attitudinous.

there are technical reasons for The Falconers' existence. going into 3.2B, i knew i wanted a secondary supporting cast in the margins capable of handling dirtywork off-screen. for instance, they're decrypting and analyzing Lenore's stolen witch data so the main cast doesn't have to worry about it, leaving us more time to luxuriate in what we're actually here for: feelings.

Star Fox 64 is my favorite game, so when it came time to come up with that supporting cast, the possibilities of a knockoff Star Fox team immediately sold me on the idea (especially since this is the only story where i will ever reasonably be able to get away with such a blatant act of self-indulgence. you wouldn't believe it from looking, but i don't actually do a lot of indulging myself with Godfeels. i try very hard to never throw things in without serious calculation. The Falconers are pretty much the only thing i've introduced that came as an inorganic external mandate of my own selfish making, and even then i've worked very hard to integrate them naturally). as a broken up four-person crew, they mirror the Upsilons-- and so, them helping the Falconers reunite in order to find Alphi and Edie gives these guys some juice. their backstory is a shadow of the Upsilons', and a useful point of comparison as the narrative plugs along. i could've made a girl Star Fox team, but frankly Godfeels is just so women-centered, so female-focused, so tgirl-transfixed that i figured it was about time to throw the boylikers a bone.

The Falconers are balanced as a calculated twist on the Star Fox team. the most immediate difference is that here, Alexander Falcon fills the role of Fox McCloud. he's the charismatic team leader, a little surly (especially these days) but good at his job and deeply committed to the care of his team. Dill Croaker is, obviously, only about five runs through the dryer away from Slippy Toad, and fills the same role. my reason for this is that everyone is mean to Slippy and they're wrong. Slippy is a brilliant engineer and programmer, why do you expect him to be an ace fighter pilot too? that's YOUR job, hotshot! Nintendo themselves have been all over the map with Slippy in terms of characterization, pretty much never getting him quite as right as he felt in 64. so, yeah, Dill is my take on Slippy: a clueless gamer frog who plays with a lot of edgelords but is himself impervious to their venom. he never cusses because he's a good boy, and he respects women.

Dill and Alex have lived together on Crime Planet for a long time. are they fucking? no, i don't believe they are. Dill strikes me as something of an ace king, and anyway i don't think he's Alex's type. mostly they work together in the shop and hang out doing bro stuff. maybe Alex lifts weights while Dill plays shitty space MOBAs. but all this begs the question: who is Alex's type?

as of the B1 solo we've learned a little bit about the other two Falconers. first there is Erol [last name unknown], the oldest member of the crew who's likely analogous to Peppy Hare. which leaves us with Yolo Sionnach. a lot of information can be implied about him from this exchange:

yes, a lot of information indeed. but as much as i would love to enumerate the implications, i must hold my tongue. i mean, i would type it all out, but i can't, because i'm literally using my fingers to hold my tongue in place so that i can't say the spoilers out loud

anyway, i like the muppet comparison. that wasn't what i had in mind at all, but now i'm imagining the Falconers as the puppets Nintendo used to advertise Star Fox Zero and........ ohhhh scope creep you saucy temptress

the Slippy slander is rampant! and that's to say nothing of the ad where muppet versions of Satoru Iwata, Shigeru Miyamoto, and Reggie Fils-Aime slowly transform into Peppy, Fox, and Falco respectively.

i can't say that Sburb/the Universe Engine have much to do with The Falconers' story. they're not godtier, they don't know anything about the UE, they are literally just space mercenary furries. they come from the Lemurian Star System, trained at the Academy on Lemuria, and worked in the Lemurian Sky Corps until starting their own independent outfit as contractors (which i imagine is a fairly common career path in a region racked by interplanetary war and rampant espionage). age-wise, they're in their mid 30s.

thank you for this wonderful question. no one ever asks about the other guys, and i am always dying to talk about the other guys.

[spencers-dria]

Lost at Sea

Single Dad Spencer x fem reader

Summary: This is kind of a little Christmas-adjacent fluff peice where Spencer is a single dad, completely clueless while Christmas shopping for his daughter. Reader sees him struggling and decides to help, completely unaware of where it will lead them. I imagined him sometime after the show ended, kinda with his somewhat longer curly hair and glasses. This story is completely fluff and I make no apologies.

Well, that was about the third loud huff from the man standing down the isle from me. This one was so loud it blew his hair around a bit, making it even messier. I try to focus on the task at hand, finding the perfect gift for my best friend’s little girl.

Diana was the closest thing I had to a daughter of my own. Despite Anne’s protesting, I took every opportunity to spoil her daughter rotten. The adorable and precocious little girl had me absolutely wrapped around her finger. I have to fight the urge to buy everything I thought would put a smile on her face, my favorite sight in the world.

But now, I was repeatedly distracted by the clearly frustrated man standing next to me, eyeing the girls toy section like it was an enigma. I decide to approach him, but he’s still to lost in his thoughts to notice.

I clear my throat while giving him a light tap on the shoulder.

“Can I help you with anything?”

“Oh I didn’t realized you worked here.”

“I don’t.” I smile sweetly at him. “You just look like you’re trying to solve the worlds most challenging puzzle over here.”

He meets my eyes with a sheepish smile, nervously rubbing the back of his neck. I try my best to ignore just how attractive this man is. He’s definitely not available.

“I guess in a way I am. I’m trying to buy a Christmas gift for my daughter. It’s safe to say that I know absolutely nothing about girls. I want it to be absolutely perfect, and I just know whatever I get won’t be half of what she deserves.”

“Well I can help with that. How old is she and what does she like?”

He pushes his glasses up his nose, giving me a moment to ogle just how attractive his hands are.

“Her name is Alice, she’s 5. I know she loves Disney princesses. Ariel is her favorite I think... but even once I narrow it down to that, there is still just so much. Who knew shopping for little girls could be so overwhelming.”

I can’t help but giggle a bit at his helplessness. He starts to laugh along with me.

“I’m Spencer by the way.” I see him hesitate a moment before slowly extending a hand. I look at his extended hand with a slight feeling of guilt, knowing he’ll most likely judge me based on my response.

“Oh I’m sorry I hope you don’t think I’m rude but... I don’t really shake hands. It’s not personal it’s just all the germs. I don’t deal so well with them.”

He lets out a soft chuckle, but I can’t imagine why. Is he actually laughing at me? Seems a bit rude.

“You know I used to be the exact same way. I suppose having a kid has changed me more than I realize sometimes.”

I nod, quietly, knowing I can’t really relate.

“I’m sorry you’re probably really busy. Are you shopping for your daughter too?”

Unsure as to the reason why, I’m suddenly embarrassed to admit that I’m not actually a parent. Just a single loner in their mid-thirties, living vicariously through their best friend and their.

“Oh no, just a friend. I’m more than happy to help you out with Alice. If you want my best ideas though, I’ve got to be honest, a lot of it is online. I can show you the links real quick, I’d you’d like?”

“I feel like this would be easier if we just... Would you like to grab coffee? I know a great place just around the corner. You can show me all your ideas and hopefully we can pick out something for her together.”

Up until this point I didn’t want to make assumptions, but it’s becoming more clear that Spencer is most likely a single dad. I don’t want pry, but I can’t help but wonder what happened to her mom.

I try to hide my excitement at his offer.

“You had me at coffee. And I almost forgot, I’m Y/N!”

————————————————

Three hours and several cups of coffee later, I knew a small part of the life story belonging to Spencer Reid. He was an FBI agent, part of a team who hunts down serial killers. A profiler. Or former profiler? He used to work in the field, until he had to raise his daughter alone. He had been fallen hard and fast for someone who left him as soon as another opportunity, or person rather, had presented themselves. They left him a single dad, all alone with his 2 year old daughter, Alice.

Being a single parent, he knew he couldn’t continue a job that put him in harms way on a regular basis. He never had a problem putting his life on the line for others, but Alice had become his number one priority, without question. Switching to a desk job had allowed him to continue as a consult for the team while also teaching at the University.

As I looked over his attire, I couldn’t help but notice that he didn’t quite give off professor vibes at first glance. His cozy maroon sweater and glasses, perhaps. But his curly mop of disheveled hair and goofy grin made him look more like a cuddly muppet character. The more I listen to him talk the more I notice his intelligence. I should have known, given his professions. It didn’t take long to realize he was well out of my league, but he was kind enough to give me the time of day for whatever reason.

I keep drowining in his eyes or getting pulled in by the movement of his hands as he speaks. Listening to his voice is like gently floating down like a river. I don’t even notice when he’s stopped talking.

“What about you?”

“Hmm?” I pull myself out of my daze, trying not to look as enchanted by him as I feel.

“Oh uhh, nothing to tell really.” I shrug, picking up my coffe, hoping he’ll change the subject while I sip on my caramel latte.

“I find that hard to believe. What do you do?”

“I just run a small cafe in town.”

I feel as though hearing about my life is about as interesting as watching water boil, but Spencer could have fooled me. He looks genuinely invested as I tell him about how I earned my bachelors and masters in business management, eventually opening up The Cottage. I didn’t have any experience in the food industry, but my friend Nicole had immediately been on board with the idea of coming on as my cook.

“It sounds wonderful. I’ll definitely have to stop by sometime.” He smiles at me before sipping on the last of his second cup of coffee.

“You’re welcome to bring Alice, only if you want to. And Nicole makes a killer risotto!”

“Of course! ...Oh! I knew we were forgetting something. Alice!”

“The entire reason you asked me here, just a minor detail.” I can’t help but snicker at our absent mindedness, how easy it was to be completely swept away in the tide that was Spencer Reid.

His face fades a bit, though I’m not sure why. He simply nods, folding his hands in his lap.

“Sorry if this is weird but umm... can I see a picture of her? It’s just, well, it might help me to get a better idea. You don’t have to, if it makes you uncomfortable.”

“Oh yeah!”He pulls out his wallet, unfolding a long strand of small photos, most of just his daughter, a few featuring him as well.

She was beautiful, brown eyed girl with soft, brown locks. She clearly had her fathers curly hair and soft, doe eyes. If it wasn’t obvious from the way he spoke about her, the pictures made it incredibly apparent that this girl was his whole world. Pure joy radiated from the photo of the two of them. I look up to to see the exact same look on his face, with a smile so big that his eyes crinkle.

That is the moment I knew he had me. I would follow this man anywhere, this adorable dad I had met on the toy isle only hours ago. The photos made it evident that she was just as crazy about him. It was almost too adorable for my heart to handle.

I take a deep breath before meeting his gaze, which is much closer now as we lean in over the table to look at the pictures.

“She’s beautiful.”

He looks down at the photos again with glassy eyes. “I know.”

He clears his throat and scoots back into his seat.

“So what did you have in mind?”

“Well, I have seen this online story that makes really pretty hand-made dresses that mimic the ones of each Disney Princess. Maybe a couple of her favorites? They also make knit blankets that look like mermaid tales. Or maybe a stuffed animal of one of her favorite characters? What little kid doesn’t like stuffed animals, right?”

Spencer nods along, absorbing all the suggestions I throw his way. After awhile, I help him settle on ordering a few we both like.

“I can’t wait to give these to her! She always loves Christmas morning. We open presents together and eat the cookies we made the night before while binging as many Christmas movies as possible.”

There was that smile again, the one he got when he talked about her. I wonder if she knows how lucky she is to have a dad that cares so much.

I can’t help but smile as well at the thought, which he quickly interrupted with “So what are your Christmas plans?”

I feel myself turning slightly red at the embarrassment of having to admit that I have none. Nothing much that is.

I shrug, hoping he won’t ask any more about it.

“Do you get to see your family?”

And there it was. The question I was desperately hoping to avoid. I know my inability to meet his gaze and consistent pulling at my fingers would be a dead give away of my uncertainty about speaking on the subject. I search for the best way to answer without seeming like I’m overcome with self pity. To be fair, I wasn’t. I didn’t mind spending the holidays alone. Not anymore. I had grown comfortable with the silence and comfort that comes from living alone.

The soft crackling of the fire, a fuzzy blanket, and a warm cup of hot chocolate had become my closest companions of each winter season. I spent many evenings curled up by the window, watching the snow dust the city as soft music flowed through my drafty, top floor apartment. Sometimes I’d dance and twirl around in my pajamas and socks, slipping and sliding on the wood floors. So yes, it was safe to say I truly enjoyed the time I spent getting to know myself.

“I uh, they’re not really around anymore. I was adopted by my parents when I was still a baby. They didn’t have any family but each other and then, well, me. I lost them to a car crash a few years back.”

I can tell he’s listening, but the one thing I always expect to see isn’t there. Pity. Instead I see kindness and understanding, and my heart welcomes it fully.

“Nicole is on vacation with her family for the holidays so it’s just me. I’m pretty used to it though, I make my own fun.” I give him smile to reinforce my point.

His eyes glaze over and I can tell I’ve lost him to a deep thought, as I see the gears turning in his head. He opens his mouth to speak before closing it again, and finally spouting out: “Come have dinner with us. On Christmas Eve.”

I had half expected a pity invite. A “why don’t you”. A “would you like to”. But Spencer hadn’t asked me. He had told me, in a way that left no room for arguing. I could tell he wasn’t going to budge on the matter. Whether it was the insistent but kind tone or the seriousness in his eyes, I don’t know. But I knew there was no use in fighting it. Not just the invitation, but the feelings quickly flooding my heart. Spencer Reid was like a fast approaching storm, but I didn’t want to outrun the rain. I wanted to dance in it, drenched in the downpour.

And that’s exactly what I did. As soon as I saw the look on his face when I said yes, it crashed over me like a wave, leaving me breathless and lost in the sea of my emotions.

[contre-qui]

Tag 9 people to learn about their interests.

I was tagged by: @just-a-cup-of-anxietea (I'm sure you already knew, but this just really highlights how indecisive I am!)

MUSIC

Fave genre? Pop rock/pop punk usually (but a little bit of everything)

Fave artist? It's hard to pick one but I really love Patrick Wolf and Dolly Parton

Fave song? Again so hard to pick but probably "The Magic Position" by Patrick Wolf

Most listened song recently? "Coming Home" by Leon Bridges

Song currently stuck in your head? "Rhiannon" by Fleetwood Mac and "Vengo Dalla Luna" by Måneskin

5 fave lyrics? (Why is this so hard???)

Hear the Salvation Army band./Down by the riverside/Bound to be a better ride/Than what/you've got planned./Carry your gun in your hand./Look around,/Leaves are brown,/And the sky is a hazy shade of winter. ("Hazy Shade of Winter" - yes the Gerard Way/Ray Toro version from Umbrella Academy let me live)

I hear her voice in the mornin' hour, she calls me/The radio reminds me of my home far away/Drivin' down the road, I get a feelin'/That I should've been home yesterday ("Take Me Home, Country Roads" by John Denver)

If the children don't grow up,/Our bodies get bigger but our hearts get torn up./We're just a million little gods causin' rain storms, turnin' every good thing to/Rust.I guess we'll just have to adjust ("Wake Up" by Arcade Fire)

Just beyond your limits/Find the new frontier/I live in the darkness/It's dark in here ("Dark In Here" by The Mountain Goats)

radio or your own playlist | solo artists or bands | pop or indie | loud or silent volume I slow or fast songs | music video or lyrics video | speakers or headset | riding a bus in silence or while listening to music | driving in silence or with radio on

BOOKS

Fav book genre? Sci fi/fantasy

Fave writer? Neil Gaiman, Audre Lorde, Ray Bradbury, Lev Grossman, Markus Zusak, Mary Shelley, and probably more but that would take a long list

Fave book? I simply cannot pick a favorite. But a selection includes: Zami: A New Spelling of My Name by Audre Lorde, American Gods by Neil Gaiman, The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury, The Magicians by Lev Grossman, Wicked by Gregory Maguire, An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon, and the list goes on and on and on

Fave book series? The Magicians Trilogy by Lev Grossman

Comfort book? The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

Rainy day book? Probably poetry actually

Fave characters? Julia Wicker from The Magicians, Elphaba Thropp from Wicked, Crowley from Good Omens... Probably some others but I don't really imprint on book characters as much as I do on the books themselves.

5 quotes from your fave books?

"Aye. You gender-malcontent. You otherling," she said [...]. "Me too. I am a boy and a girl and a witch all wrapped into one strange, flimsy, indecisive body. Do you think my body couldn't decide what it wanted to be?"

"I think it doesn't matter because we get to decide what our bodies are or are not, " he answered.

[...] "Is that so? Then I am magic. I say it, therefore it is true," she said. (An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon)

[...] for each of us encounters the Lady on the Grey at the end of our days, and there is no forgetting her. (The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman)

Most people are blind to magic. They move through a blank and empty world. They’re bored with their lives, and there’s nothing they can do about it. They’re eaten alive by longing, and they’re dead before they die. (The Magicians by Lev Grossman)

He lingered at the door, and said, "The Lion wants courage, the Tin Man a heart, and the Scarecrow brains. Dorothy wants to go home. What do you want?" [...]

She couldn't say forgiveness, not to Liir. She started to say "a soldier," to make fun of his mooning affections over the guys in uniform. But realizing even as she said it that he would be hurt, she caught herself halfway, and in the end what came out of her mouth surprised them both.

She said, "A soul-" (Wicked by Gregory Maguire)

Night after night we had talked until dawn in this room about language and poetry and love and the good conduct of living. Yet we were strangers. (Zami: A New Spelling of My Name by Audre Lorde)

hardcover or paperback | buy or rent | standalone novels or book series | ebook or physical copy | reading at night or during the day | reading at home or in nature | listening to music while reading or reading in silence | reading in order or reading the ending first | reliable or unreliable narrator | realism or fantasy | one or multiple POVS | judging by the covers or by the summary | rereading or reading just once

TV AND MOVIES

Fave tv/movie genre? Sci fi/fantasy and comedy

Fave movie? Lord of the Rings or Terry Pratchett's The Hogfather

Comfort movie? The Dark Crystal, The Parent Trap (1998), The Neverending Story, Legally Blonde, The Princess Diaries, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, The Last Unicorn

Movie you watch every year? Hocus Pocus, The Hogfather, Lord of the Rings (the whole trilogy), and The Muppets' A Christmas Carol

Fave tv show? Doctor Who (earlier reboot seasons specifically)

Comfort tv show? The IT Crowd

Most rewatched tv show? Doctor Who

5 fave characters? Donna Noble (Doctor Who), Chidi Anagonye (The Good Place), Maurice Moss (IT Crowd), Eliot Waugh (The Magicians [the show]), and Susan (The Hogfather)

tv shows or movie | short seasons (8-13 episodes) or full seasons (22 episodes or more) | one episode a week or bingeing | one season or multiple seasons | one part or saga | half hour or one hour long episodes | subtitles on or off | rewatching or watching just once | downloads or watches online

Tagging (no pressure!): @nr-studies @mymessystudyblr @magnusacademia and anyone else who'd like to do this!

[fortisfiliae]

Promised Part 3  - Tom Riddle x reader

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Masterpost | Masterlist

Summary: In this story, Tom didn’t grow up as an orphan, but with his grandfather and uncle. Reader’s sister got very sick and the Gaunts offer their help. But not without asking for something in return.

Disclaimer: Please be aware that I don’t condone any of this in real life.

Warnings: Arranged marriage

Word count: 2k

Part 3 - Parallels and Potions

You found yourself in a corridor. It was dark. So dark, you could hardly see anything but the low light on its end. The light was subtle, yet it pulled you towards it. As you started walking, you noticed that you held something in your hands. It was quite big, but not too heavy and you couldn’t see enough to detect what it was. So you kept on walking towards the light. Although it seemed so close, it felt like you had walked for hours on the spot. 

Finally, you reached the exit and entered a small room. It was bright and made you squint your eyes. Dozens of chairs were lined up left and right from you, with a path in their midst. The seats were all empty, but there was one person standing at the end of the path. Tom. He wore a black suit and tie, his hands intertwined on his back as he watched you walking towards him.

Now that you could finally see, you looked down yourself and saw what you were wearing. A floor-length, white dress. A wedding dress to be precise, classy and modest. The lace fabric wrapped around your arms perfectly. You also saw the thing you had brought along with you. A bouquet of flowers. Red roses, each one flawless and beautiful.

Tom smiled at you as you were slowly approaching him. He turned around and you saw his grandfather Marvolo standing at the podium. The light suddenly went out and it was dark again. You heard a scream. Elsie. Her voice echoed in your ears as you were turning to find her, stumbling in the dark again. You knocked over a chair when the lights went back on and her voice fell silent. She was nowhere to be seen. 

Only then you looked around and noticed how Tom’s smile had turned into a grotesque grimace. The floor had turned red and your feet were wet. Blood. All over the floor. It was soaking up on the fabric of your dress. 

Hissing noises came from the bouquet in your hands. The roses had turned into snakes. You shrieked and tried to throw it to the ground, but your hand didn’t let go of it, no matter how hard you tried. Marvolo’s scornful laughter got louder and louder until you couldn’t hear anything else and you fell to your knees and screamed.

You sat up in your bed, your forehead covered in sweat. A nightmare. Just a dream.

The poor sleep had drained you. You slouched in the great hall during breakfast, nibbling on your second cup of tea, when headmaster Dippet placed himself in front of the teacher’s table.

“Good morning students,” the Professor spoke. “Just a brief announcement for your information. I’m aware some of you have already eagerly waited for the reveal of this year’s head girl and boy. Well, it’s my pleasure to tell you now.”

People had stopped talking and the great hall turned quiet. Dippet looked through the rows of students with a big smile on his face. He was probably more excited than anyone else in the room. Head boy and girl. Wow. You hadn’t even thought about that yet. Naturally, your mind had been somewhere entirely different. 

It would be someone from your year, though. Those were the school rules. The headmaster chooses two students from year seven. And, although most students didn’t care that much about the title, you knew that head girls and boys had always had an easier start into the world of employment after Hogwarts. It was a boost. An unspoken recommendation.

Dippet had always chosen students with top grades and little to no detention records. Mostly prefects, but not exclusively. For just a second you wondered if he had thought about you while making his decision. You had good grades. Nonsense, you had great grades. You never got in trouble, you were respectful, reliable, punctual and maybe a tiny bit full of yourself in just this moment. 

What were you thinking? You didn’t have the nerves or the time for being head girl. But it would feel so good to be valued this way.

Dippet cleared his throat and all eyes turned to him. 

“This year’s head boy, fellow witches and wizards, is,” he announced blissfully. “Tom Riddle.”

A murmur went round the hall when Tom arose from the table until Professor Slughorn, head of Slytherin, applauded for his student and the crowd joined in. Tom went up to the teacher’s table, where Dippet congratulated him.

It was quite clear why Tom was granted this title. He was Dippet’s showpiece. Always had been. Top of the class in most subjects, quiet yet observative, intelligent and he came from a well-respected family. 

“And now to our head girl,” Dippet said. 

No, this couldn’t be. It would feel like some sort of mockery if he would say your name. First the engagement and now this? No, no. Or maybe? You would make a great head girl, now that you thought about it. 

“This year’s head girl is,” Dippet went on.

Tom looked at you. Maybe he knew. Could it be? 

“Freda Morris.”

Oh. Your heart sank more than you liked to admit. Tom’s gaze went right to Freda when the crowd applauded for her. She stood up from the Slytherin table and clumsily walked to the front as well. Freda… What a swot.

“Congratulations you two,” Dippet said and shook both of their hands again. “I’m sure you’ll make a great team.”

Yeah, great. Superb. 

Freda and Tom shook hands as well. A wave of anger burned through your chest when you noticed how awfully sweet she smiled at him. 

“Two Slytherins as head boy and girl. Now that’ll be fun,” Camille said when you walked to your Potions class together. “Totally fair Professor Dippet, as always. Thanks for acknowledging the other houses.”

You smiled. “I know, right? And Freda Morris? What was he thinking?”

“Well, I don’t know. But she seems quite okay, doesn’t she?”

“You think so? She’s such a muppet.”

“Oh,” Camille laughed. “You wanted to be head girl, right?”

“What? No, I…”

“Come on,” she grinned.

“Yeah, maybe. I hadn’t even thought about it until today. And then I thought well, I would make a great head girl. Then Tom got picked.”

“And you thought it was destiny,” she enthused.

“Something like that,” you said and shoved her playfully.

You entered the Potions classroom and went over to the table Camille and you always shared. When you turned around to check where she was, you saw Tom talking to her. Camille nodded to him and then shot you a look. She winked at you and went to another table. Tom walked over and sat down beside you. Oh Merlin.

“Um, hello,” you said, still wondering what he was doing here. 

All it took was Tom raising his brow to make absolutely sure he didn’t like you one bit. He even seemed appalled that you had the nerve to talk to him. Why on earth would he sit next to you then? Alright, no small talk. You couldn’t help but roll your eyes.

Professor Slughorn entered the classroom and started his lesson by congratulating Freda and Tom once more. Your eyes too rolled once more. 

He then instructed everyone to brew Moonseed Poison, just like he had taught you in last week's lesson.

“And as always, help each other out,” he said and sat down at his desk.

Fantastic. You took a gurdyroot and started cutting it into small cubes, making sure not to breathe in right above it, as the fumes would burn your nose.

When you picked the knotgrass, Tom cleared his throat. You resisted looking over to him and kept on picking carefully. He cleared his throat again. And again.

You turned your head. “Are you trying to talk, or are you choking?”

“I…,” his eyes went wide. “Excuse me?”

“You’re the one looking at me weirdly when I greet you. So you probably don’t want to talk to me, do you?”

He sighed and started picking knotgrass as well. “I did… want to talk to you.”

“About what?” you asked and rolled the grass to make it cork-shaped.

“I wanted to apologize on behalf of Lestrange and Avery.”

“Oh,” you mumbled and finally looked at him properly.

“They won’t trouble you again. And, if it makes you feel better, they’ve learned their lesson.”

“What do you mean by that?” you asked and leant forward to put ten drops of leech juice into your cauldron.

“I punished them.”

You almost dropped the flask. “Punished?” 

“Nothing too bad. Although I think you wouldn’t mind, would you?”

“Not really,” you grinned. “What did you do?”

“Just excluded them from our group for a little while. Separation is the greatest punishment for the spineless.”

He really was a ruthless leader. And they weren’t his friends. They were his inferiors.

“Wow,” you breathed. “And you did that for me?”

Tom crushed a toadstool and smiled. “I did it for myself. And you. If they disrespect you, they disrespect me. And I can’t let that happen.”

“I see,” you said. “Oh, don’t put the toadstool into your cauldron yet.”

“Why not?”

“It’s better to let the leech juice simmer for a little longer.”

“It makes no difference.”

“It does make a difference. And you need to grind it some more. It has to be really fine.”

Tom dropped the toadstool into his cauldron without batting an eye and looked at you provokingly. “I know what I’m doing. I’m good at Potions.”

“Yeah, I know. But I’m great at Potions,” you said and watched Tom’s grin dropping with delight.

“I let Slughorn be the judge of that,” he said and you laughed.

Tom stirred his potion while you kept on grinding the toadstool. “Oh, congratulations on becoming head boy, by the way.”

“Thanks.”

“Were you expecting it?”

“Not quite,” Tom said. “I mean, I have been thinking about it last year and was sure I’d make it to Dippet’s top three. But then I didn’t really think about it until today.”

“Yeah, me too.”

“I thought he would make you head girl, to be honest.”

“Really?”

“Only for a moment. But then he said Freda’s name.”

The toadstool was as fine as sand already but you ground it even harder now. “Uh-huh.”

“She’s a git, isn’t she?”

“You think so too?”

Tom chuckled lowly. “As spineless as Avery and inane as Lestrange.”

“At last, we agree on something,” you said and put the toadstool dust into your cauldron. Perhaps hating other people was what you two had in common. “Don’t touch the moonseed. It’ll burn your skin.”

“I know,” Tom sighed. “I’m not daft.”

You smiled to yourself as you levitated the poisonous plant into your cauldron.

“There was something else I wanted to tell you,” Tom said after he had done the same. “My uncle sent an owl. Your sister. She’s better.”

“What? Really?”

“Yes. Still not cured he said, but she’s gaining weight again and has an appetite.”

“That’s great news,” you said and had to suppress the urge to hug him out of pure joy. “Merlin, I’m so happy right now. Thanks for letting me know.”

Tom stirred his potion and nodded. “It’s ready. Professor!”

Slughorn walked up to your desk and examined both of your cauldrons. “Oh, would you look at that,” he cheered. “Tom, yours is excellent.”

You could tell how proud Riddle was, especially after you had lectured him.

“But yours Miss,” Slughorn turned towards you. “Yours is perfect. Outstanding that one! Very well done.”

Even though you had known yours was better, you were afraid to look over and see Tom’s reaction. He wasn’t one to mess with. When you finally took a glimpse, you noticed him staring blankly down at the table, yet with the tiniest smile pulling at the corner of his mouth.

“Don’t say it,” he mumbled. “I get it, you’re great at Potions.”

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[babybluebex]

revelations

pairing: spencer reid x fem reader (y/n)

summary: rewrite of “revelations”. y/n and spencer have to navigate what happens when their lives are threatened and ultimately taken away.

word count: 2800+

warnings: season 2 reid, drugging, mentions of r*pe

a/n: this one is a little heavy, so sorry about it. the next part will be happier, i swear. pls don’t hate me :(

“We have an unsub,” Gideon began. When we first met nearly three long years ago, I never anticipated that Jason Gideon would give me away to Spencer at our wedding. We had decided to get married spontaneously after work one day, employing Gideon to be our legal witness as we  went to a small courthouse in nearby Montclair to elope. He told me how odd it was now to call me Mrs. Reid, but he said that the title suited me well. “That’s targeting young men.”

“Who doesn’t?” JJ scoffed.  

“Yes, but he’s a bit different,” Gideon said. “He targets young fathers. All of the victims were between the ages of 25 and 30 and had children that were born within three months of their murder. When interviewed, every mother revealed that their babies had been conceived out of wedlock.” 

“What’s that mean?” Spencer asked with a gaze full of curiosity. 

JJ laughed. “Spence, you of all people should know what that is,” she said. 

“Why, because I’m a genius?” Spencer asked with a smirk. “Contrary to what you think, JJ, I don’t know everything.” 

“No,” I replied with a sweet smile. “You should know what that is because Baby was conceived out of wedlock.” I gently patted my swelling tummy, and Spencer’s face flushed with embarrassment. 

“Oh,”  he said. “Noted.” 

“It seems like our unsub has a religious motive,” Gideon said. “Maybe targeting those who live in sin. Hotch, see if you can find anything in the crime scenes that might connect to Christianity in any way.” 

“Why specifically Christianity?” I asked. 

“Most people that are committed of murder and incarcerated in America are Christian,” Spencer began. “There are more documented cases of a crime scene being labeled with words like ‘Satan’ or people saying that God told them to, and other Christian imagery; you hardly see Islamic or Jewish intentions behind killings like this.” 

“So, it’s usually Christians?” I clarified. “But factor in a margin of error--” 

“The margin is small enough to make looking for exclusively Christian material viable,” Spencer replied. He gave me his tight lipped Muppet smile, and I couldn’t help but smile back. 

“Fine, you out-logiced me,” I sighed. “What’s that, the third time this week?”

“Fourth,” Morgan said with a chuckle. “Five, if you count the coffee jab on Monday.” 

“The doctor said it was fine!” I exclaimed. “Just a little every so often!”

“But statistically--” Spencer began. 

“I love you to pieces,” I sighed. “But if you give me another statistic right now, I will kill you, Dr. Reid.” 

“Fine,” Spencer said. “If you say so, Mrs. Reid.” 

“Garcia’s working on finding a common link other than the obvious,” Gideon said. “Reid, I want you to talk to the mothers again; maybe you might be able to get something out of them that the others haven’t. And Reid… Doctor, start on a geographic profile. Focus on churches of stricter denominations in the area.” With that, we all got up to depart off to our work. 

“How’re you today?” Spencer asked, taking my hand to help me out of my chair. At six months, I had a significant bump that made maneuvering around difficult, and it was no wonder that Gideon assigned me to interview the mothers. I was as certain as he was that I could get some hidden information out of them that Hotch or the non-pregnant Elle just couldn’t. People usually reacted differently to a pregnant woman in normal circumstances as well, so it was a safe bet. 

“Just the normal,” I replied.

“Back ache, headaches,” Spencer began listing off all of my normal symptoms. “Hungry?”

“Yeah,” I said. “I have crackers on my desk.”

“Good ole’ JJ,” Spencer chuckled. “Are you… Are you alright to work on this case?”

“Of course,” I said. “I’ve had to work worse cases.”

“But not when you’re…” Spencer began and struggled for words. “As emotional as you are now.”

“Maybe I can use that to my advantage,” I said. “Not everything has to be a setback, Spence.”

“If you’re really not alright with it, I can talk to Gideon,” Spencer said. 

I gently patted his cheek. “I’m a big girl, my love,” I told him. “I can do it. But I am fine, I promise.”

“Hey there,” I said, entering the cool interrogation room. The young woman’s eyes locked onto my stomach immediately, and her shoulders fell from their defensive position. “My name’s Special Agent Y/N Reid, I just want to ask you a few questions. Is that alright, Mrs. Barder?”

“Miss,” the woman said softly. “Yes, that’s alright.”

“Oh, sorry about that,” I said. “Umm, call me Reid. It’s easier. So, what can you tell me about Travis?”

She sighed. The file said her name was Elizabeth, but I was waiting for her to tell me that. People tended to be more personable when they were under the impression that you knew only what they told you. “He was nice,” she said and shrugged. “A good boyfriend, a good father.” 

I nodded gently. “Explain that to me,” I said. “What constitutes a good father to you?”

Elizabeth shrugged again. I could tell by her body language, the raised shoulders and folded arms, that she was holding back and not allowing herself to become too comfortable with the environment. It wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, but I knew that I needed to get whatever information she was withholding out of her. “He helped me as much as he could,” she said finally. “When I was pregnant, he never complained when I flew off the handle, ya know? And he got up in the middle of the night to change Pammy’s diaper, he always let me sleep.”

I smiled. “Pammy’s a nice name,” I said. “And that’s your daughter?”

Elizabeth nodded. “We named her after my mom,” she said softly. Volunteering information that I hadn’t asked for was good. Her walls were coming down, brick by brick. 

“That’s really sweet,” I said. “We don’t know the little one’s gender yet, but, if it’s a boy, we’re naming him Gideon after a close friend.” 

“And if it’s a girl?” Elizabeth asked eagerly. 

“Erin,” I replied. “Another close friend of ours.” 

“That’s really nice,” Elizabeth said. “But, umm, yeah, Trav was good. He volunteered at our church a lot, and it was nice to have all of them behind us.” 

Nowhere in earlier interviews did she mention a church. I nodded and made a small note of it, and I asked, “Was it a big church?”

“Not really,” Elizabeth said. “Big for the backwoods, but not huge. Maybe 100 people altogether.”

“That sounds nice,” I said. “What’s the name of the church for me, please?”

“Mount Zion,” Elizabeth told me. “It’s nondenominational, but Christian.”

“Alright,” I nodded. “And no offense is meant by this question, but I’m required to ask: did your boyfriend ever do anything strange? Like, suspicious with money or hanging out with weird people?” A moment passed, and I added, “If someone asked me that about my husband, I’d freak, so I understand if this question makes you uncomfortable.”

Elizabeth looked at her hands as she thought, and mumbled, “He went out to get drinks a few weeks before he…” she cleared her throat and said, “Ya know, before he… Died. It was a group of them from church just hanging out, but Trav mentioned that a new guy tagged along that was really strange.”

I sat up straighter. “Alright,” I said slowly. “Strange how? Did Travis describe it?”

“He just said that he was really off-putting,” Elizabeth told me. 

“His name?” I asked. “If you don’t know, that’s totally okay.”

“Something with a T,” Elizabeth said. “And the last name was weird too.” I couldn’t blame her for not remembering; if my pregnancy brain was any indication of the years to come, I would be forgetting a lot too. “Toby… Maybe? Toby?”

I wrote down Toby ?. “Okay,” I said. “Did Toby go to the church?”

“He visited,” Elizabeth said. “He was a strange-looking guy. Looked like the guy from Dawson’s Creek, ya know? I would have remembered seeing him before.” A moment passed, and she said “Hankel.”

Toby Hankel. “How certain are you that that’s the name?” I asked. 

“I’m certain it’s Hankel,” Elizabeth said. “But shaky about the Toby part. I know it’s a T name, but it’s not coming to me.”

I nodded. “Right,” I said. “Well, Miss Barder, this has been extremely helpful. I’m gonna give you my phone number in case you can come up with that name or anything else that might help us with the investigation, and you can call day or night. As I’m sure you can gather, I’m always awake.”

Elizabeth chuckled. “Thanks,” she said. “Agent Reid, right?”

“Right,” I told her. I gave her one of my business cards and at the last moment noticed that it was one of Spencer’s. It shouldn’t have surprised me; I wore his jacket instead of my own. “Oh, whoops, that’s my husband’s card. I don’t have any of mine on me, but call that cell number and ask for me, and you’ll get me.”

Elizabeth looked at the card. “Dr. Spencer Reid,” she read. “You’re married to a doctor?” 

“Not the useful kind,” I joked. “Mathematics degree, among others. He’s a nerd and a half.” 

“He sounds good,” Elizabeth told me softly. 

I carefully reached out and put a gentle hand on top of hers, and I said, “I know how hard this sucks, but I promise that Travis would be proud of you. You’re being so brave right now.”

Elizabeth sniffled. “Thanks,” she said. “That means a lot.”

Just as I was nodding, the door flew open, and a startled Hotch stood at the door. “Reid, we need you,” he said. “Now.” 

“Yeah, I’m almost finished,” I replied. “I’ll be right there.” 

“No, Y/N,” Hotch said firmly. He always used my last name, never my first. “We need you. Right now.”

“Hold on,” I said back. 

“It’s about Spencer,” Hotch said, and I froze. “We need you now.”

I nodded slowly. “Agent Hotchner, could you show Miss Barder out?” I asked softly. “And, uh, where does the Doc need me?” 

“Garcia’s office,” Hotch said. “Gideon’s already there.” 

I took a deep breath. “Well, uh, sorry to dip out,” I told Elizabeth. “But it was nice meeting you. I hope to see you again.”

My footsteps fell heavy in the hallway as I made my way to Garcia’s office. As I walked, my mind raced, trying to think why Hotch had been so cross with me. Was Spencer in trouble? Hurt? I knew that I was overreacting, but the thought of it made me walk just a bit faster. 

I pushed the door to Garcia’s dark office open, and I moved up next to Gideon. He was watching the computer screens intently, Elle at his side, and Garcia in her chair. Every single screen displayed a single image of my husband bound and gagged to a wooden chair, a small red light blinking every so often on his darkened form. “Gideon,” I whispered in horror. “What is this?” 

“Livestream,” Garcia answered in a hushed tone. “We can’t figure out where it’s coming from, the stream reroutes IP addresses every 30 seconds.”

“And we’re sure it’s live?” I asked. “I didn’t even know Spence had gone out into the field.”

“Neither did any of us,” Gideon told me. Carefully, his arm wrapped around my waist comfortingly, and I let out a single sob. I couldn’t see the video too well, but I saw Spencer sitting there, his head bent down, his hair in his face. His arms were tied roughly to the arms of the chair, missing his shoes, a tear in his shirt. 

“Is he alive?” I whimpered out. 

“Yes,” Gideon told me, and pointed at Spencer’s chest. It was moving, although shallowly, but it gave me hope. 

“Where is he?” I asked. “Who did this to him?”

“Okay, Gideon, she needs to get out of here,” Elle began, but I shook my head. 

“No,” I said, my tears streaming down my face. “I need to stay.” I saw her watch my hand as it covered my belly, and she nodded quietly. 

My eyes were glued to the screen as we all watched Spencer sit there. I couldn’t tell if he was conscious or not, and I couldn’t figure out which was worse. Finally, after standing there for what felt like days, the camera began to shake as someone picked it up. They moved it closer to Spencer and, with the angle change, came a new view. Spencer’s eyes were open, his mouth gulping in air as quickly as he could. His lip was bleeding, the blood pooling in his lap, and he let out a guttural gurgle as the person behind the camera grabbed a fistful of his curls and forced his head back. I watched him sputter out a mouthful of saliva and begin to choke on it, but he recovered quickly. “You think she’s watching?” a voice behind the camera asked. “You think they’re all watching?”

“Don’t you dare talk about my wife,” Spencer said with gritted teeth. A cold flash raced through my body and I tensed up in Gideon’s embrace. Whoever this man was holding Spencer hostage, he knew about me. 

“Oh, she’s your wife?” the man asked. “Where was that title when you got her pregnant?”

“Leave her out of this,” Spencer said, his bottom lip shining with spit and blood. “Whatever issue you have, it’s with me.”

“Haven’t you heard that saying, Doctor?” the man asked. “It takes two to tango?”

Spencer’s eyes finally fell on the camera, and his Adam’s apple throbbed as he struggled to swallow. “Where’s that video going?” he asked.

“To her,” the man said. “So that she can watch.”

Spencer began to breath frantically, his chest heaving, and he whispered, “I’m so sorry.” 

“Anything you have to say to her,” the man said. “You can say to God. No need to be quiet, Doctor.” 

“This has nothing to do with her,” Spencer said quickly. “It’s my fault, it’s my fault.” I saw tears on his cheeks, and he squeezed his eyes shut. “It’s my fucking fault.” 

“Admit your sins to God, boy,” the man told him. 

Spencer’s eyes opened. This time, he looked above him, and he began to weep. I had never seen Spencer cry like that, and it made me sick to my stomach. “I did this to her,” he mumbled. “I came home and I was drunk, and she didn’t-- She didn’t ask for this.” 

I shook my head violently as I bit my finger. He was lying. Why would he lie? 

“Y/N?” Elle whispered. “Is that true?”

“No,” I said quickly. “He never has and he never would.”

“So why’d he say it?” Elle asked. “To let his torturer hear what he wants to?”

I watched the screen for a few seconds more before whispering, “To send us a message.”

“You know what I think, Doctor?” the man asked, and the camera steadied as he put it down. “I think you’re a lying degenerate.” There was the sound of clinking glass, and Spencer took a deep breath. 

“Why would I lie about raping my wife?” He asked through clenched teeth.

“To save her,” the man said. “If you sinned, that’s one thing. If she did, I would have to find her too. And your child--”

“Don’t fucking talk about my child!” Spencer yelled. I had never heard him so frantic and angry. 

“Far too hostile,” the man said, clicking his tongue in disapproval. “Maybe this’ll calm you down.” Behind the camera, the sound of leather against cloth sounded, and Spencer began to thrash in his seat. 

“Please don’t,” he whimpered, all of his anger gone. “Please, I--” Before he could get any more words out, the man moved in front of the camera and began to secure a belt around the top of Spencer’s arm. I saw a light gleam off of a thin hypodermic needle, and I watched as the man sank the needle into Spencer’s arm and administered a drug to him. 

I rushed out of the office and collapsed on the floor. I felt sick and dizzy, and I didn’t even want to try to go back to the real world. My Spencer was being beaten and tortured, and we were no closer to finding him than before. It was enough to make me scream, and I did. Gideon was next to me in a second, putting his jacket around my shoulders and trying to help me up, but my legs were too weak to carry me. Gideon swiftly pulled me up into his embrace and carried me to his office, where it was quiet and cold. I curled up on his couch and cried, sobbing and choking and praying to a God that I didn’t believe in that Spencer would be okay. And if okay meant that he died to stop his suffering, then so be it.

[maybeimamuppet]

dream a better dream

hello my little muppets!! happy wednesday!

this is a request fill for @erikascadys who requested sharkboy and lavagirl au! janis is lavagirl and damian is shark boy. and cady is just cady :))

i don't think i need any trigger warnings, but as always if I've missed one please let me know so I can add it!

anyway, please enjoy!

---

Cady has always been a dreamer.

Growing up in Kenya, it was nearly the only thing she could do to entertain herself. Sure, she had a few toys, or books to read, or lions to chase. But in terms of other humans, all she had were her parents and her dreams.

Her personal favorite dream first appeared one night when she was ten. Cady’s family had just gotten the news that her older brother, Rhys, had been killed in the line of combat. The only place Cady has as an escape from her grief is in her dreams.

She dreams of two people. Friends. A boy and a girl. The boy is part human, part shark. He has legs, but also fins. A human face, but shark teeth. And human hands, but sharp claws. In spite of everything, he seems kind. He cares for his shark friends and all the fish, carefully tends to the corals and feeds the seaweed and anemones. Cady cleverly dubs him Sharkboy.

The girl is very different. She’s made of lava and fire, with bright pink hair and the ability to shoot lava from her hands. Cady doesn’t know much else about her. She names her Lavagirl and leaves it at that.

-

Cady frantically writes her dream in her dream journal when she wakes up the next morning. She’s kept one since she learned how to write, detailing all her most precious dreams. She has a feeling this one is extra special.

“I’m going to the watering hole to take a bath!” She yells to her parents as she runs out of their tent. Her dad grabs her by the back of her shirt and scoops her up before she can make it out. “Hey!”

“Why are you suddenly so eager to take a bath?” Her dad asks, setting her down again.

“I’m not! I’m just excited for the day! I had a super special dream!” Cady says, bouncing up and down a few times. Her dad gives her a sad smile and ruffles her hair.

“Okay. Watch for crocs and hurry back for breakfast, binti.”

“I will!” Cady says, dashing out again.

-

After a quick but expert assessment, Cady dubs the small pool to be free of crocodiles and any other predators. The zebras wouldn’t be drinking here for so long, otherwise.  Cady leaps in with a small splash and opens her eyes under the water. She’s been trying to learn how to do that recently.

But someone else is there. She screams and pops her head back above the surface. The figure follows. “Sharkboy?”

“Yeah!” Sharkboy says. “Hi!”

“You’re real?” Cady asks in awe.

“Yeah, duh! I’m right here,” Sharkboy says.

“Whoa,” Cady whispers. “Um… can I finish my bath, please? Then we can get to know each other!”

“Oh! Yeah, sorry!” Sharkboy says, turning around and covering his eyes. Cady swims back down and finishes cleaning herself, then dries herself off and gets dressed. Sharkboy swims up and rests on the shore.

“I thought you were a dream,” Cady murmurs, tilting her head. Sharkboy shakes his head.

“Nope! Well, kinda. But everything that is, or was, or will be, began with a dream.”

“Huh,” Cady says, tilting her head. “Okay, do you wanna go play? I’ve never… I’ve never had a human friend before.”

“I’m not human,” Sharkboy says, smiling so she can see his teeth.

“Oh, right,” Cady giggles. “I’ve never had a shark friend before either.”

Sharkboy smiles wider. “Yeah, come on. I bet you’re pretty fast growing up out here.”

“Tag! You’re it!”

-

Cady shares her breakfast with Sharkboy, and they play together in between Cady’s chores. She learns his real name is Damian, and that he was a marine biologist with his mother. Their research base was destroyed in a storm, and he was practically adopted by the sharks. And now he searches the universe for his mother.

“I hope you find her,” Cady says genuinely. “We lost my brother a while ago. But he’s not coming back.”

“I heard. I’m sorry,” Sharkboy says. Cady shrugs.

“It’s okay. I miss him a lot, but my parents say he’s still with me. Anyway, you wanna come see the lions? They’re my favorite.”

Sharkboy nods and runs after her to help feed the lions their dinner. The sun is setting, painting the sky gold and orange and pink as it makes its way down for the day. Once the first stars are just beginning to twinkle for the night, a bright flash of pink light suddenly glows from behind them.

“Lavagirl,” Cady breathes when she turns around. Lavagirl smiles slightly and nods. Maybe that really is her name. “You’re real too!”

“Sharkboy, I need your help,” Lavagirl says. “You have to come with me. A great crisis is developing on the Planet Drool.”

Sharkboy nods and heads to her side. They begin to run off together, before freezing and turning back to Cady.

“Can you come as well, Cady?”

“Er… I would,” Cady stutters. “I’d really like to, but… I have homeschool tomorrow.”

Lavagirl nods in understanding, and they both turn back and continue running off. Cady doesn’t see them again.

—-

Until six years later. Cady’s parents have lost their funding and are forced to move back to America. Cady is both upset and excited. She’s sad to be leaving the only home she’s known, but eager to experience life in the west. And go to real school for the first time.

She starts at North Shore High three days after they move to Chicago. Her wishes for a happy American life are quickly dashed.

The building is massive and meandering, built of a labyrinth of hallways and classrooms that all look the same and packed wall to wall with other kids all shoving and pushing and yelling. Like sardines.

Sharkboy would like that, she thinks with a little smile. And he could use his navigation instincts to help me get around this place.

By some miracle she makes it to homeroom on time and plops herself in an empty seat near the front of the room. She looks up when it suddenly goes quiet and the teacher begins speaking.

“Hello class, I’m Ms. Norbury, I teach AP Calculus,” she begins. Cady looks up in relief and checks her schedule. This is her math teacher. “And we have a new student this year, I see. Caddy Heron?”

“Uh-it’s Cady,” Cady stutters quietly, raising her hand. “I used to be homeschooled.”

That gets a few snickers from people in the back of the room, and Ms. Norbury’s demeanor seems to change slightly. “That’s a fun way to steal from my union.”

“Oh! No, no,” Cady says immediately. “I grew up in Kenya, my parents are zoologists. Not many unions there.”

Much to her relief, Ms. Norbury relaxes slightly and gives her a kind smile. “In that case, welcome to North Shore. I saw you on my roster for the afternoon, I look forward to seeing what you can do.”

Cady gives her an eager smile back and nods as she gathers her things once the bell goes off.

—-

In her English class, she gets an assignment to write a short story about her favorite childhood memory. Cady thinks long and hard about which moment to choose. The time a lion broke into her tent and cuddled her all night? Or the time she got to see the city of Nairobi for the first time? Her first airplane trip?

Suddenly, it hits her. She had never had more fun as a kid than when she spent the day with Sharkboy. So Cady writes about that. What could go wrong?

As it turns out, reading the essay aloud in front of the whole class is what can go wrong. Cady eagerly volunteers to go first. Mistake one.

She looks up when she finishes reading, to the sneers and smirks of her classmates. And that’s before they start laughing out loud. One of them even throws a ball of paper at her.

“Sit down, Cady,” her teacher says gently. Cady sits down quietly back at her spot, trying to ignore the jeers of the other students. “Cady appears to have merely misunderstood the assignment. I asked for true stories. But that was a very well done work of fiction.”

“It is true!” Cady says, much louder than she’s spoken all day. Another paper ball hits her. Cady pulls her dream journal out of her backpack, where she also wrote about the day she got to spend with Sharkboy. “He said everything that is, or was, started with a dream. It’s true.”

Her teacher looks at her sadly and gives a slight head shake as the next kid gets up to read their essay. Cady doesn’t speak up again until the bell rings.

“Cady, a moment please,” her teacher asks quietly. Cady sheepishly heads over to her desk. “You have a real way with words. But you’re sixteen, in the eleventh grade. It’s time to stop dreaming, okay?”

Cady takes the pencil she had tucked behind her ear and scratches that down in her journal. “No dreaming. Got it. I-I’ll try harder.”

Her teacher looks at her sadly but nods, sending her off to her next class. Cady is pulling her schedule out of her backpack to check the room number when she’s suddenly knocked to the ground.

“Watch where you’re going, jungle freak,” the girl she’s bumped into spits.

“I’m sorry,” Cady says desperately. “I didn’t see you, I didn’t mean it-“

“I’m sure you didn’t. As payback… what is that?”

“My-my dream journal,” Cady says, clutching it to her chest.

“Can I see it?” The girl asks. Cady naively hands it over. The girl flips through it and laughs. “You’ll get an edited version tomorrow.”

“Wait, give it back!” Cady yells, trying to run after her. The girl’s two cronies block her path.

“Trust us, don’t mess with Regina. We’ll try to keep her from doing too much to it. But she can do a lot worse,” the blonde one murmurs.

Cady hollowly stops fighting them and steps back. The girls give her an apologetic look before they run after their friend.

————-

Cady cries herself to sleep that night. America is nothing like she thought it would be. She wishes she could be back in Kenya, where the only things around for miles to laugh at her were the hyenas. Or, at the very least, that she wouldn’t have to go to school tomorrow. Maybe there’ll be a bad storm. With tornados.

In her dreams, Sharkboy and Lavagirl make an appearance for the first time since she was eleven. She’d gotten little glimpses of their work on planet Drool, as they helped make it into the awesome planet of Cady’s dreams. They seemed happy.

But something is wrong, now. Cady can’t quite piece it together, but the scenes she can see clearly aren’t right. She wakes up with a gasp and runs to the window. A bright, clear day greets her mockingly.

“Guess I didn’t dream hard enough.”

—————

Cady trudges through the morning. Her parents are arguing over something or other, probably trying to get her father a job again. Cady’s mom asks her to come right home after school so they can all talk. Cady suddenly starts wishing something will happen at school so she doesn’t have to go home.

By lunch, the sky about matches her mood. Dark clouds block out any hint of blue that wanted to shine through, and loom ominously over the building. Her science teacher takes the opportunity to teach about tornados and their origins.

Regina strolls in casually about ten minutes after the bell, holding a bag that must be too small to carry all her books. Not that she cares.

Cady stands and goes to her desk, holding out a hand. “Give it back.”

“Ladies, is there an issue?” the teacher asks.

“Regina took my dream journal yesterday.”

“Ooh, a liar, too, how fun,” Regina titters.

“Regina, give Cady her book. It hasn’t even been a week and you’re already picking up the bullying again,” the teacher huffs. Something tells Cady that Regina had never set the bullying down in the first place.

Begrudgingly, Regina picks up her designer bag and roots through it. Cady thankfully takes her precious book back. But as she opens it to check that all her dreams are where they were before, she gasps in horror.

Every single page has been scratched out one way or another. Lipstick, black marker in swirly handwriting, even a few pages covered in letter stickers that spell out particularly cruel taunts.

“She ruined it!”

“Where’s your proof, you little freak?” Regina retaliates.

“That’s enough! Both of you will be reporting with me to the principal’s office after school. With your parents,” the teacher yells, trying to get her class back under control. It turns out to be a futile effort when the windows suddenly blow open with the force of the winds outside. “I do not get paid enough for this.”

Everyone ducks underneath their desks as papers start flying around the room, covering their heads and faces for protection. In her haste to get back to her desk, Cady accidentally drops the journal by Regina’s feet, who bends down to pick it up with a coy smirk.

Cady has curled up in a ball beneath her desk when there’s suddenly a thunderous crash accompanied by the sounds of breaking glass. Carefully, Cady peeks up above to see…

Sharkboy and Lavagirl. Evidently having entered through a new hole in the wall.

“I’m looking for Cady,” Lavagirl says, staring down Cady’s classmates. Everyone points to Cady’s desk in the far corner. Cady squeaks and ducks back down. Lavagirl makes her way over regardless, setting homework alight on her way. When she reaches her, Lavagirl lifts Cady’s desk off the ground with just one hand, revealing Cady curled in a frightened ball. “We need your help, Cady. Come with us.”

“Wh-what do I have to do?” Cady stutters, following after the girl made of fire.

“Just come with us, we’ll explain on the way.”

“Hi Cady!” Sharkboy says, waving eagerly. Lavagirl whacks him gently.

“I can’t go with you.” Cady says.

“Why not?”

“Be-because you’re not real! Both of you! You’re just a dream,” Cady says, trying to admit it to herself as well. “And-and you’ll be gone when I open my eyes.”

Cady squeezes her eyes shut for a moment.

When she opens them again, Sharkboy and Lavagirl are gone. Or so she thinks.

“We’re still here, Cady,” Sharkboy says from behind her. Cady screams and whirls around.

“If you want to stop The Darkness from destroying our worlds,” Lavagirl growls slightly. “You’ll come with us.”

“You should probably go with them,” Cady’s teacher squeaks, poking her head up from behind her desk. Cady nods.

“Okay. I-I’ll go with you.”

——————

“Where are we going?” Cady yells, trying to keep up with her friends. Creations? No, friends is much better.

“Planet Drool!” Sharkboy yells over his shoulder.

“It’s real?!”

“Yeah! We just punched a hole in your school, is it so hard to believe?”

“How are we getting there?”

“Enough with the questions!” Lavagirl demands. Cady suddenly notices the shark shaped rocket ship in front of them.

“Oh. Sorry.”

“Put on the goggles,” Lavagirl says, handing Cady a pair of electric blue ones. Hers are purple, and Sharkboy’s are pink. Cady doesn’t judge.

“So how do you fly this thing?” Sharkboy asks. Cady looks at him.

“You don’t know?”

“That’s our whole problem!” Lavagirl says angrily. Cady blinks at her a few times sheepishly before she slams her foot on a pedal. It reveals a green ‘GO’ button. Cady presses it, and they’re off.

Cady looks out the window at the tornados, before they’re suddenly in the atmosphere.

“How do you control it?!” Lavagirl yells at her over the roaring of the engines.

“It has an auto-pilot!” Cady yells back. Lavagirl smacks the button in front of her.

“Wow, you really thought of everything!” Sharkboy says happily.

“Er… not exactly,” Cady says.

“How the fuck do we land?!” Lavagirl says when she realizes.

“That’s the bit I forgot!”

“Well, there’s Neptune,” Lavagirl spits. “Hold on to your asses!”

Cady braces and shuts her eyes, clinging to her harness for safety. Luckily they don’t seem to crash too hard. The ground is almost… squishy.

The mouth of the shark-rocket opens for them to step out onto the surface of the planet. Cady looks out in awe at the world she’s created.

“Do you recognize it, Cady?” Sharkboy asks quietly.

“Not really,” Cady admits shyly. “I feel like I should, but I just… don’t.”

“It’s affecting you too, then,” Sharkboy says sadly. Lavagirl glares at him. “I thought she’d remember!”

“Remember what?”

“Your dreams,” Lavagirl says. “The whole fucking planet? Us? Your powers?”

“I’ve got powers?”

“More than any of us,” Sharkboy says. “Remember what I told you when we met? Everything that is, or was, or will be, began with a dream. And you dreamt us, and this whole place!”

“Every dream you ever had landed here,” Lavagirl says.

“Oh. Why-why is it so dark? I don’t have that many nightmares,” Cady says.

“It began yesterday. What’s the calculation, Sharkboy?” Lavagirl asks. Sharkboy pulls out a shark-shaped device. It’s beeping quietly and seems to be scanning the environment for something.

“About forty-five minutes,” he replies.

“Forty-five minutes until what?” Cady asks.

“Until the planet… is… destroyed,” Sharkboy says sheepishly.

“We didn’t pick you up to save you,” Lavagirl says, looking out over the darkening horizon. “We need you to save us.”

“Oh. How-how do I do that?” Cady asks anxiously. This is way more responsibility than she asked for when she started keeping a dream journal.

“The dream lair over there. That’s where your dreams are going bad,” Sharkboy says sadly. “We have to get you there and find out what’s happening to them. And hopefully reverse it.”

Sounds simple enough.

“We’ll have to travel through the Passage of Time, catch the Train of Thought, swim down the Stream of Consciousness, and skate across the Sea of Confusion. Because it’s frozen now. Nice going, Cady,” Lavagirl grumbles.

“Lava, don’t be mean! It’s not her fault,” Sharkboy admonishes. “We brought Cady here to put things back in order. We just have to stay positive! It’s not the end of the world.”

“It literally is, though!” Lavagirl yells from a ways away. She turns around and walks backwards away from them for a moment. “The planet is dying, come on!”

“What’s her deal?” Cady asks anxiously as she and Sharkboy run after Lavagirl. Suddenly, a groaning creak is heard, and they both turn around to find the shark rocket being swallowed by the Darkness. “Run!”

Everyone picks up the pace, until they’re suddenly on a platform moving rapidly towards a sort of carnival.

“How is this here if you’ve never been to a carnival?” Lavagirl asks.

“I read about them in books and stuff. I always wanted to go to one,” Cady says sheepishly. “I was, like, ten, give me a break!” Lavagirl shrugs and turns away from her with a huff. “Where is everyone? My dream planet shouldn’t be so lonely.”

“They’re stuck,” Sharkboy says, pointing to a roller coaster weaving around a tall mountain that looks remarkably like Kilimanjaro. “Trapped. Ms. Neverbury has everyone kind of held hostage.”

“How awful,” Cady says sadly. “My world was supposed to be fun.”

“Oh, it’s fun, alright,” Lavagirl chuckles sardonically. “Endless fun. Once you get on, you can’t get off.”

“Kids aren’t allowed to rest here, because if they rest, they sleep, if they sleep, they dream, and if they dream…”

“It takes power away from Neverbury. But we have a secret weapon to stop her,” Lavagirl says mischievously.

“Oh, good,” Cady says in relief.

“It’s you, dipshit,” Lavagirl huffs.

“Oh. You know, you’re a lot more rude than I remember!” Cady yells as Lavagirl rushes up to the coaster. “You’re very dismissive!”

“Get used to it!” Lavagirl yells back, reaching up a fist and floating up to the carts rushing around.

“Don’t mind her, she’s having a sort of… identity crisis,” Sharkboy says apologetically. “She’s usually pretty nice, but she’s scared, and she gets angry when she’s afraid.”

“Would you two shut up? We’re on a time crunch here!” Lavagirl reminds them, dangling upside down from the coaster.

“Oh, oops,” Sharkboy says. He does the same motion and joins Lavagirl above their heads, moving to stop the coaster. Cady tries it too, but she can only jump about a foot.

“Man, why can’t I do that?”

Luckily for her, there’s a ladder a few feet away. She’ll have to use that until she figures out how to jump the way her new friends do.

“Whoa,” she breathes as Lavagirl suddenly lands on the cart of the coaster, somehow perfectly steady even as it hurtles around the winding track. Everyone on the cart cheers in relief. Lavagirl hops down in front of it, causing sparks to fly as she attempts to stop it with one hand and shoots lava to weaken the tracks with the other. Sharkboy grabs onto the back and pulls, and their combined strength makes the coaster grind to a halt.

“Who knows where Neverbury is hiding?” Lavagirl demands. She tilts her head in confusion as everyone appears to have both hands raised. “All of you?”

“You’re all upside down,” Cady giggles from her position on the ladder.

“Oh.”

Suddenly, a booming voice echos around them. “Who is stopping my unstoppable fun?!”

Lavagirl gasps and shoots small jets from both hands to release the bars on all the kids, allowing them to fall gently to the ground and run to safety.

“Who is Neverbury?” Cady asks, hopping into the coaster herself and bringing the bar down for protection as it begins to move again. Sharkboy sits next to her, and Lavagirl stands on the front to coast along.

“She’s supposed to be the sort of protector here,” Sharkboy says. “Keep everyone safe. Be a light. But all she brings now is darkness.”

Cady is about to respond when she’s suddenly slammed backwards into her seat. She screams as the coaster suddenly rockets off, hurtling down the track at impossible speeds. Nothing is impossible here, she reminds herself.

“She’s taking us up!” Sharkboy yells. Cady clings to his arm in fright. She decides she’s not quite so interested in riding roller coasters anymore.

Cady peeks up from Sharkboy when they finally come to a blessed stop, letting out a little squeak of fright. Sharkboy gently pats her head to let her know it’s alright before he hops out of the cart. Lavagirl follows him, and Cady scrambles out once she can feel her extremities again.

A large robot has its back to them, fiddling with various buttons and levers to bring images up on the large screens in front of it. It yells something at whatever she sees before it turns to see them. Cady screams quietly. It looks a lot like Ms. Norbury. What I wouldn’t give to be in calculus class right now.

“Well well well, if it isn’t Sharkboy and Lavagirl,” the robot says. “What do you want? Why have you halted my endless fun and infiltrated my lair?”

“We don’t need permission from you, you circular bitch,” Lavagirl huffs.

“Man. Fiery today,” Neverbury huffs. She appears to notice Cady then. “Hello, I don’t believe we’ve met. I am Ms. Neverbury.”

“Um-hi,” Cady says anxiously.

“Why are you doing this to our planet? You’re supposed to be running it,” Sharkboy demands.

“You’re supposed to be running it,” Neverbury mocks. “I am running it, I��do run it. Right into the ground. Er, those are my orders.”

Maybe Cady has less control here than Sharkboy and Lavagirl thought. Everything here is supposed to be under her command, but she would’ve never ordered something like this. “Who ordered that?”

“No school, no discipline, no rules,” Neverbury continues. Cady loves school. She loves rules. This is clearly the work of someone else. Not even childhood Cady would’ve done something like this. “And no dreaming.”

“Dreams can destroy you, can’t they?” Lavagirl asks coyly. “That’s why we have to stop you.”

“You and what army?” Neverbury scoffs.

“Guys,” Cady says quietly, pointing behind them. A series of electrical plugs appear to have come to life behind them, sparking ominously. That’s probably not good.

Sharkboy and Lavagirl snap to attention, doing a series of very sophisticated moves and fighting the plugs back. Lavagirl looks very eager to be demonstrating some rather violent tendencies.

“Hey Sparky,” she calls loudly, getting Neverbury’s attention. “Catch me if you can.”

Cady and Sharkboy watch as she sets her hands and feet alight and rockets herself upwards, to another metal platform higher up. Neverbury follows and winces as Lavagirl shoots jets of magma out of her hands.

Cady doesn’t quite know what to do. She was never much good at fighting. Sharkboy snaps back into his fights, punching out several of the plugs and grinding their circuits with his sharp teeth. Wanting to be helpful, Cady grabs a cord and tugs as hard as she can. Eventually, it gives, and Cady winds up on her behind looking up at a plug. It rattles rather ominously and gives chase, so Cady bolts. So to speak.

She runs as fast as she can, and being Kenyan, she’s still pretty fast. She turns to check that she’s lost her pursuer at one point, and finds the plug straining at the confines of its cord.

“Aww, are you a bit short?” She teases. “We’ve all been there. Come get me, loser!”

“Cady, stop trash talking, it doesn’t suit you,” Lavagirl yells, still fighting off Neverbury above them.

“Fine,” Cady huffs. She tips her head and coos quietly as the plug continues straining. Suddenly it appears to ‘look’ to its left and spies another plug. Cady watches in horror as it plugs itself in and gives itself more reach. “Ah, shuck!”

She runs again, but pauses when she hears crunching behind her. Sharkboy is jumping up

and down on the plug, smashing it to bits and stomping out any hint of current still running through it. He smiles at Cady when the last spark flies and fizzles out.

“You’re amazing,” Cady beams.

“You had to be scared of electricity?!” Lavagirl yells.

“I grew up in a tent, I don’t like it!” Cady yells back.

“Both of you shut up!” Neverbury yells. Lavagirl shoots a stronger jet at her face. Neverbury closes her eyes and drifts down slightly. Lavagirl relaxes, but Neverbury quickly pops back up. “Haha, pranked.”

“Good one,” Lavagirl huffs, grinding her heels in an attempt to get a good stance to continue fighting.

“Did you really believe you could stop me? Aww,” Neverbury coos.

Lavagirl kites her back down to Cady and Sharkboy. Sharkboy runs up to aid in the fight.

“I know we can’t,” he says threateningly. “But she can!”

They both point to Cady, who stands there uselessly. Neverbury laughs. Cady holds up her fists.

“Show ‘em what you’re made of, Cades,” Lavagirl huffs.

“What am I supposed to do?” Cady asks urgently. Lavagirl takes a moment to smack Sharkboy upside the head.

“I told you this would happen!”

“I thought she would remember!” Sharkboy defends, rubbing his sore spot.

“Remember what?!” Cady demands from the both of them.

Lavagirl is about to answer when she’s suddenly snatched up by one of Neverbury’s metal claws. Cady shrieks as the other claw grabs her by the foot and dangles her upside down.

“Your dream! Remember the dream,” Sharkboy yells at her.

“I don’t remember half my dreams!” Cady yells back. “That’s why I write them in my journal!”

“What part of your dream do you remember?” Lavagirl yells, trying to get free from Neverbury’s grasp.

“I remember this,” Cady says, feeling like she’s about to hurl. Keep it together. Sharkboy is grabbed by a third claw and brought up to their level.

“Where are you taking us?!” He demands.

“Oh, where all useless dreams go. The dream dump,” Neverbury shrugs. The three of them are suddenly dangled over the chasm below, and dropped.

“This is not what I signed up for!” Cady yells on her way down.

—-

They fall for who knows how long before thudding down onto a metal platform. It spits them back out, onto a sort of conveyor belt. At least they all made it.

“Cuckoo!” Sharkboy warns. Everyone ducks down to avoid being decapitated by a large bird. “At least we’re on the passage of time! Maybe it’ll take us to the dream lair!”

Cady looks around at the various clocks they’re surrounded by. Something isn’t right with them. They’re going backwards.

“It’s going the wrong way,” Lavagirl huffs. “Dream lair is that way, genius.”

“What is the dream lair?” Cady asks quietly.

“It’s where all the dreams that fuel the planet are stored,” Sharkboy replies. “But they’re being destroyed.”

“How?”

“That’s what we have to find out. Soon, even the two of us will cease to exist,” Sharkboy sighs, gesturing to himself and Lavagirl.

“Duck!” Lavagirl yells, pointing. Everyone hits the deck again to avoid a duck-shaped cuckoo. “Heh.”

“Cady, just out of curiosity,” Sharkboy asks as they warily stand once again. “Where is this dream journal?”

“Oh, good idea,” Lavagirl says, the first positive thing she’s said all day. “We can read it out loud and set everything back the way it was!” She adds in a whisper, “And maybe find out my true identity.”

“What?”

“Nothing. Where is it?”

“I… uh…,” Cady stutters, feeling around in her pockets. “I don’t have it. I must have dropped it during the storm.”

Lavagirl’s hair suddenly sets ablaze in anger, and she shatters the next cuckoo in a single punch. “I was really starting to think you were the answer, Cady.”

“Don’t listen to her,” Sharkboy grumbles protectively. “She’s just mad because she’s having an identity crisis and you didn’t fix it for her.”

“Shut up, Sharky!” Lavagirl yells. “Look who’s talking. You’re mad she didn’t make you… king of the ocean or whatever the fuck, with a giant fish army. Cady thought her dream world would be a happy place. We’ve all been had.”

“Guys!” Cady yells, interrupting their bickering. “End of the line.”

“Oh, shit,” Sharkboy says, as the end of the conveyor belt gets ever nearer. There’s nowhere to go but down. Lavagirl falls first, followed by Cady and Sharkboy.

Cady yelps in pain as she lands smack on top of Lavagirl, scrambling away to avoid any serious burns. Lavagirl buries her face in the dirt and groans. “I think you dislocated a few of my craters.”

“Sorry,” Cady says frantically. “Ow, you’re hot.”

“Thanks,” Lavagirl teases. “We gotta find a way out of here.”

The three of them stand and dust themselves off carefully, before setting off in an attempt to find an exit.

“I don’t think there is a way out of here,” Sharkboy says after a while. “And the Darkness is coming.” He appears to realize something, suddenly. “Wait! Cady, sit down.”

“Uh… okay,” Cady says confusedly, sitting down on a pile of calculus textbooks.

“Now dream,” Sharkboy commands. “What do you see?”

Cady closes her eyes carefully and tries to dream. “I see… a giant… Kälteen bar.” Both her companions look very unimpressed when she opens her eyes again. “I’m sorry, I’m starving! I never got my lunch.”

“For the love of magma,” Lavagirl huffs, massaging the bridge of her nose.

“Here,” Sharkboy offers, brandishing a… fish? Maybe? “Fresh sushi.”

“Blech, that’s not fresh,” Cady nearly-heaves. “I don’t even know if that’s sushi anymore.”

“Just a few weeks old,” Sharkboy shrugs.

“You want me to cook it for you?” Lavagirl asks, wrapping a fist around the poor… thing. When she pulls away, it’s been charred to a crisp. “Oops.”

“Er… on second thought, I’m not that hungry, it’s fine,” Cady says. “Let me try again.”

“Hey, um… if you happen to dream about, like, who I am… how I fit into this world,” Lavagirl murmurs. “That would… really be helpful for me.”

“Stop distracting her. Focus on the problem at hand,” Sharkboy insists.

“I can put her to sleep,” Lavagirl huffs. Sharkboy grabs her and pulls her away. “Come on, one punch?”

“She made us!”

“And where has that gotten us?!” Lavagirl roars. Cady backs away in fright, until she hits something with a metallic clang. She whirls around and looks up to see…

“Tobor!”

“Huh?”

“It’s Tobor! I tried to build him out of our old food cans and stuff when I was little,” Cady says happily. “But… I could never get him to work.”

“So here he is, forgotten in the dream dump,” Lavagirl says, finally seeming to calm down.

“He’s supposed to be very smart. Maybe he can help,” Cady says. “Tobor, wake up!”

“Yeees?” Tobor replies. Cady gasps in shock. That voice is… familiar.

“Rhys?” She asks, eyes brimming with tears. She hasn’t heard that voice since she was eight years old. She thought she had forgotten.  Tobor just gives her a wink. That’s all the confirmation she needs.

“Hello, Cady Heron.”

“You can answer anything, right?” Cady asks, wiping her eyes and looking up at Tobor’s large tin head.

“That I can. Whether it is correct is another matter entirely,” Tobor replies ominously.

“It can answer anything?” Lavagirl asks, unceremoniously shoving Cady out of the way. “Tell me something about me. Please.”

“Never heard you say please before,” Sharkboy grumbles under his breath.

“You are extremely bright,” Tobor says to Lavagirl. Her brow furrows, but she gets a slight grin as she tries to work out what that could mean. Sharkboy goes next.

“Hi Tobor! Am I king of the ocean?”

“No.”

“Damn it.”

Cady chuckles and pats his shoulder comfortingly before she goes to ask Tobor her question. “How do I save this planet?”

“The answer… is in your dreams,” Tobor says.

“You mean if I put her to sleep?” Lavagirl asks, brandishing what looks to be a tire iron.

“No, where did you even find that?!” Sharkboy says, wrestling her to take it and throwing it as far away from them as he can.

“No… at least, not here. Darkness is falling. Any dream of hers will become a nightmare. And you don’t want those becoming a reality,” Tobor continues. “But, if you go to the land of Kälteen bars… that’s where the good dreams are.”

“Oh, duh!” Sharkboy says, as if it should’ve been obvious the whole time.

“That’s where the answers are.”

“Can you take us there?” Cady asks Tobor.

“I would, but I have no body. I can’t move,” Tobor says sadly.

Lavagirl looks him up and down suspiciously. “You can move your eyes and your mouth.”

“I suppose that might work.”

Lavagirl and Sharkboy each take one of his eyes, and Cady climbs into his mouth. Suddenly, they detach from the large tin can that made up Tobor’s head a drift off to the land of Kälteen bars. What a day.

——

“Tobor, why didn’t you work when I built you?” Cady asks, drifting peacefully over what looks like a forest of brains.

“Some dreams are so powerful they become real on their own, like Sharkboy and Lavagirl. I, on the other hand, am still only a dream.”

“Oh.”

“Um…” Tobor says.

“What’s the matter?”

“Train of thought. I’m losing it.”

“Land of Kälteen bars,” Lavagirl huffs.

“No, I’m literally losing the train of thought,” Tobor says. “Down there.”

“Huh,” Cady says interestedly, looking down. “I never thought I had a train.”

“What did you think you had?” Sharkboy chuckles.

“I dunno,” Cady shrugs. “Maybe a race car. Doesn’t get too much use, but when it does it goes fast and needs frequent pit stops.”

Lavagirl chuckles at that, but stops abruptly and tries to cover it up with a cough.

“Well, since I do actually have a train… how do I keep it on track?” Cady asks anxiously.

“With your mind. You are easily distracted. Stay focused, and it will speed you directly to the land of Kälteen bars,” Tobor explains. “The rest is up to you.”

Cady and her companions jump down onto the train. Cady looks back at her old creation for a moment. “I’m sorry I forgot you.”

“Are you kidding? You’ve just saved me,” Tobor chuckles gently. “I’m free.”

“Cady!” Lavagirl yells. “Get your ass down here!”

Cady gasps and whirls around. Lavagirl has her head poking out the window of the engine car.

“What’s wrong?!” Cady yells over the roar of the train engine.

“We can’t control it!” Sharkboy says as he and Lavagirl frantically press every button and flip every lever they can reach. Cady joins in as if she knows what she’s doing.

“All you have to do is keep it on track,” she says. Sounds easy enough.

“There is no track!” Lavagirl reminds them. Cady freezes and looks out the window. She’s right.

“What do we do?” Sharkboy asks anxiously.

“Uh… scream?” Lavagirl says. “I don’t know.”

Sharkboy flips another lever, and the door opens. “Jump! It’ll be fine!”

He leaps out the door and is quickly blown off by a gust of wind. Lavagirl follows almost immediately. Cady is left alone on a crashing train. At least if she jumps she’ll crash with her friends.

Cady closes her eyes and leaps, hoping for a miracle. The wind blows her hair everywhere and stings her skin as she hurtles to the ground. Until it stops. Warily, she opens her eyes.

“A Kälteen bar!” She says happily, pushing herself upright. It tips slightly, so she puts her arms out for balance. “Whoa. In a river of milk. Huh. Um… do you guys know what it means when your train of thought… crashes?”

“Nothing good,” Lavagirl says, sounding remarkably chipper. “How much time, Sharky?”

“Twenty minutes,” Sharkboy replies anxiously. He takes a step forward to look around, but his foot suddenly sinks into a puddle of something. He yelps in surprise, but crouches down to inspect it. “Chocolate?”

“It must be the s’mores flavor,” Cady chuckles. “There’s marshmallows too.”

“Why Kälteen bars, though?” Lavagirl asks. “And not, like, cookies, or something?”

“I never had cookies as a kid,” Cady replies. “But we always had Kälteens. And I wasn’t really allowed to eat them, I ate a whole box in a row once and got sick, so my parents hid them and I could only get them if they gave them to me. They were a special thing.”

Lavagirl gives this a moment’s thought and nods. “Try to dream again. Lie down.”

Cady does, using a bit of marshmallow as a pillow. She closes her eyes, but the bar beneath her begins to shake. “It’s too shaky.”

“I hear it too,” Sharkboy says, listening around with his highly trained ears. Lavagirl raises a suspicious eyebrow at the two of them.

“Let me try.”

“No, Lava-“ Sharkboy says, but it’s too late. Lavagirl rests her head on the marshmallow, and the whole thing is suddenly charred. “Hothead.”

“Cady,” Lavagirl says suddenly. “When you dreamt up these giant bars… who did you expect to be able to eat them?”

Cady shrugs. “I dunno, I never really thought about that part.”

“Because if you dream giant bars, something has to be created to consume giant bars,” Lavagirl explains. The rumbling sounds get louder, suddenly, and everyone looks around for the source.

“Giants!” Sharkboy yells, pointing off to the left. He abandons ship again, followed by Lavagirl. Cady is so distracted looking at the giants that she nearly doesn’t make it off, leaping at the very last second before one of the giants chomps down on the Kälteen bar raft.

Luckily for them, they appear to land on…

“Hey, this was my ninth birthday cake! That thing was awesome,” Cady laughs. “Nice and springy.”

“Too much frosting,” Lavagirl grumbles, trying to brush herself clean.

Cady removes herself from her cake and turns around, watching the giants leave peacefully hand in hand. Sharkboy approaches her and rests a hand on her shoulder.

“Those giants look a lot like my parents,” Cady murmurs.

“They seem happy together,” Sharkboy nods. “Is that… another dream of yours?”

“Family,” Cady nods. “Hasn’t really been coming true lately.”

“Well, most dreams don’t come true on their own. You have to make them true,” Sharkboy says. “It takes a lot of work. Not easy. But it’s not impossible either.”

“Alright, we’ve had enough sweets, go to sleep,” Lavagirl huffs, joining them.

“I’ll try,” Cady says anxiously, laying down on the granola ground. Sharkboy gently plays with her hair to help her drift off while Lavagirl paces around.

Flowers begin to bloom around them as Cady dreams, and a shark-shaped motorcycle suddenly drives up. Sharkboy gasps excitedly and runs to check it out, so Lavagirl takes over his position by Cady’s head.

“Dream about me next,” she says quietly. “I need to know who I am. Dream of me as something good.”

A clap of thunder suddenly booms overhead, making Lavagirl whirl around. She looks back to Cady’s face and finds it pinched in concern. “She’s having a nightmare. Sharkboy, get back here!”

Sharkboy runs over and tries to shake Cady back awake, to no avail. Lavagirl stands and aims her hands carefully at Cady’s backside.

“Sorry Cady,” she murmurs, firing a jet of lava.

“Jesus!” Cady yells, her eyes snapping open as she leaps to her feet. “Ow! What the hell was that for?”

“You weren’t waking up,” Lavagirl shrugs sheepishly. Sharkboy kindly fires a jet of water to help cool her off. “Thanks Sharky. Cady… your nightmare… it was about me, wasn’t it?”

Cady tries to think. Surely that can’t be right. She can see bits and pieces, but can’t quite reach them enough to put them back together. “I don’t remember. I’m sorry.”

“Plug hounds!” Sharkboy suddenly yells, pointing to an ice cream hill above them. Neverbury makes her way to the top.

“I have the high ground!”

The hounds suddenly run towards them, stumbling down the hill. Cady and her friends run to the shark bike, but nothing happens when Sharkboy attempts to start the engine. Other than…

“Ah, fudge,” Cady says. “I forgot to dream of gas.”

“Oh my-“ Lavagirl says angrily, storming off in a huff to fight the hounds off. Sharkboy joins her. Lavagirl shoots a jet of lava at one, before she looks at her hands. “My powers are weakening.”

One of the hounds suddenly unravels, wrapping her up in tight confines while a few others zap at her toes. Sharkboy, on the other hand, is doing remarkably well, punching out several with a series of very elaborate karate moves.

He rips off a part to the shark bike to use as a staff, and takes out several more. Unfortunately, he doesn’t notice one that hasn’t quite been beat down rise to its feet, followed by another. They both shock him, causing him to fall to the ground with a pained moan.

“Hey! Leave my friends alone!” Cady yells, bending down and swiping some frosting onto her face like war paint. She’s in the middle of a battle cry when she also gets shocked and falls to the ground. It didn’t quite go to plan, but it did allow Sharkboy to escape his attackers and rush to her side.

“I don’t-I don’t have much fight left in me, Cades,” he pants.

“Where’s Lavagirl?” Cady puffs back. Lavagirl comes… flowing over, so to speak.

“What?” She asks when they both give her confused looks. “How else was I supposed to escape? Oh, don’t look at me like that, I’m literally made of lava. It’s up to you now, Cady.”

“Cady, you can dream us out of here,” Sharkboy realizes. “We believe in you, go on.”

Cady squeezes her eyes shut and tries her hardest to dream. Lavagirl quietly pleads for a lava bike behind her, and Sharkboy asks for a shark boat.  Cady opens her eyes to reveal…

“A banana split?” Lavagirl spits. “Seriously?”

“They’re really good!” Cady defends, crossing her arms over her chest protectively.

“Still hungry?” Lavagirl says threateningly, popping back into her human body and holding up a fist. “How about a knuckle sandwich?”

“Lava, chill,” Sharkboy says, batting her hands away from poor Cady’s face. “Look at it, it’s a banana split boat!”

“Then let’s split,” Lavagirl yells as another wave of plug hounds rounds over the hill. Cady helps Sharkboy push it into the milk river and start rowing just before the hounds reach them.

Once they’re steadily drifting down the river and being steered by Lavagirl, Cady and Sharkboy finally get to sit down on a swiss roll bench. “This is great, Cades. You’re starting to daydream. If you can keep this up, they’ll never get us!”

“Really?”

“Yeah! If you learn to dream with your eyes open, you don’t have to be asleep to dream,” Sharkboy explains. “You’ll be able to make anything happen at any time. You’ll be unstoppable.”

“Grool,” Cady says. She freezes suddenly. “I-uh… I meant to say great, and then started to say cool…”

Lavagirl bursts out laughing, a remarkably bright, clean sound. Cady likes it. She smiles back at her before scooping some whipped cream onto a finger to taste it. “Mm!”

“Sugar will give you nightmares,” Lavagirl says, already back to her typical brooding. Cady immediately spits out her mouthful before she swallows any. “How much time, Sharky?”

“Uhm… best not to ask,” Sharkboy says anxiously, checking his radar. “The lair of dreams is across the ocean of ice. We’ll have to travel there on foot. What did you see in your dream, Cady? Anything we can use?”

“I saw an object, shaped like… do you have something I can draw with?” Cady asks. Lavagirl holds up one of her fingers and shrugs.

“Sharky, come steer.”

Sharkboy takes hold of the cherry stem to steer their raft, and Lavagirl offers Cady her hand. Cady takes it gently and aims at one of the ice cream scoops. Lavagirl fires a jet of lava from it, letting Cady steer it around.

“A heart?” She asks, tilting her head when Cady finishes. Her eyes go wide when she puts it together. “The crystalheart!”

“It’s the treasure of the kingdom of ice, it can freeze anything!” Sharkboy says excitedly, coming to join them. The raft spins wildly until Lavagirl leaps to grab the cherry stem to keep steering. “Even time.”

“Wow,” Cady breathes. “I’ve only ever dreamt of freezing a moment in time.”

“And, even better,” Sharkboy says. “The ice kingdom is ruled by the ice princess. She’s said to be the most beautiful girl in the world.”

Lavagirl’s jaw drops open indignantly, and she fires some magma at Sharkboy’s bum.

“Ow! What the hell, man?” Sharkboy pouts, rubbing his sore backside.

“She is not! She’s cold and cruel and cares for nobody but herself! And you don’t even like girls,” Lavagirl accuses.

“Cady does!”

“I do?” Cady says in shock. She thinks for a second about her past crushes, and then shrugs. Lavagirl certainly doesn’t look too bad. “Eh, yeah, I probably do. Have you met her, Lavagirl?”

“No,” Lavagirl replies sheepishly. She puffs out her chest before continuing, “But I know we don’t get along! She’s ice. I’m fire. We must be enemies.”

“We need that crystal heart,” Cady says pleadingly. “But I’ll need you both to get it.”

Lavagirl sighs and lets go of the cherry stem. Sharkboy leaps to grab it so they don’t drift away too far. Lavagirl looks out off the edge of the raft and huffs. “I just hope this isn’t a trap.”

—————-

“Wow,” Cady breathes happily, looking around at all the beautiful crystal clear ice and powdery white snow surrounding them. It’s absolutely gorgeous, and clearly very intricate, but the air is barely chilly. Even in her thin flannel, Cady isn’t cold.

They approach a thin bridge, made of solid ice. Cady is a little apprehensive at the height, but carefully steps out onto it. Sharkboy follows. Lavagirl thinks about it, but pauses and hunches in on herself a bit just before she tries.

“I can’t go with you,” she calls. Cady and Sharkboy pause and turn around. “I’ll melt the bridge.”

“Can you chill enough to get across?” Cady asks, reaching a hand for her. Lavagirl looks at her feet, then back at her.

“I’d have to be asleep.”

“Try sleepwalking!” Cady calls to her. “You can do it!”

Lavagirl nods slightly and closes her eyes, shaking out some of the tension in her muscles before warily taking a few steps forward. She mumbles under her breath about… a dream of her own. To live on Earth. Someplace warm. And to be accepted.

“Oh no,” Sharkboy says suddenly, anxiously watching his best friend as she crosses the bridge. “No, Lava, don’t sneeze!”

He runs to block her nose with a finger, and breathes a sigh of relief when she relaxes again. He carefully removes his finger and takes a small step back.

“Achoo!”

Lavagirl sneezes, unleashing a rush of hot wind that blows Sharkboy backwards and off the bridge. He grabs onto it with one hand just before he topples all the way off to a certain doom. Cady runs to help him back up.

“Look,” she says quietly, gesturing to Lavagirl. She’s somehow still upright, but deeply asleep. She’s actually snoring quietly, which is remarkably cute. “She’s sleeping.”

Lavagirl sleepwalks towards them carefully, slowly, but isn’t melting the bridge. Cady watches her with a small smile. Until she looks behind her.

“They found us again,” Cady says, her heart sinking. “Lavagirl, behind yo-“

Sharkboy claps a hand over her mouth before she can finish her sentence. “If you wake her up, she’ll reheat. She can make it.”

Cady nods and clings to his arm in fright. “Come on, Lava.”

Sharkboy holds her back, feeling himself growing more tense. They’re all in danger, and his instincts are demanding he protect his best friend. “Lavagirl, they’re behind you!”

Cady frantically slams a hand over his mouth, and he covers it with his own hands in shame. But it’s too late. Lavagirl opens her eyes and looks behind her, bursting into flame when she sees the hounds closing in.

Cady and Sharkboy both scream in fright and run away, barreling for the other end of the bridge. Lavagirl follows them, the bridge melting and crumbling away beneath her feet as she goes.

“Come on, Lava, hurry!” Sharkboy yells. He and Cady both reach out to help her make it onto the platform holding up the castle, but yelp and quickly pull away as she burns them. They made it.

But the ground beneath them begins to crumble. The three of them whirl around.

“It’s a trap!” Cady yelps, instinctively shoving her friends behind her. A small pit suddenly forms from the ground that’s crumbled away, and Neverbury leaps out at them. Cady furrows her brow in thought. “This can’t be right. Someone-someone else’s dreams are in here.”

That’s the last thought she has before the world goes black.

—-

When she comes to, she’s suspended from the ceiling by a spring over a hole in the ground. Sharkboy is also hanging next to her, and Lavagirl is on the other side with her feet stuck in a block of solid ice.

“Welcome to the dream lair,” an ominous voice says. Ominous but… familiar, somehow. “I am the leader of this planet.”

“No you’re not!” Sharkboy yells, wriggling to try and get down. “Cady is!”

“Cady might have dreamed it originally,” the voice says with an airy titter. The large chair in front of them suddenly rotates to reveal none other than Regina George. “But I’m, like, so much cooler, wouldn’t you say? I… am Requiem.”

“How did you get so much power here?” Cady asks. “This is my world.”

Requiem pulls out a small book and holds it up to show them. Cady gasps in understanding.

“My dream journal! That’s why all my dreams are going wrong! You’re changing it!”

Requiem gives a quiet chuckle and sashays her way down in front of them. Sharkboy gasps and goes into a sort of Superman pose when he spies the tank of electric eels beneath them.

“Shocking, isn’t it Sharkboy?” Requiem hums. “Reminds me of… when an electrical storm blew apart your mother’s research lab.”

Sharkboy stops struggling for a moment and looks at her. “Where is my mother?”

Requiem flips through the journal to see if it says anything, and gives a particularly evil sounding chuckle when she finds the right page. “Check the bottom of the ocean.”

Sharkboy snarls at her and tries to get loose again. Requiem moves to Lavagirl. “And you. Once I figure out how to freeze the core of this planet, all your powers will disappear.”

“I have powers?” Lavagirl asks quietly. “What powers?”

Requiem doesn’t grace her with a response, walking to stand in front of Cady. “And last, but least. You. You thought you could escape fear by running to dreamland, hm? But fear exists in the one place you can never escape.” She hops a few times, and is suddenly floating at Cady’s eye level. “Your mind. I’ll show you the true meaning of fear.

“Anyway, for now, you must all leave. I have dreaming to do. Kisses!”

She blows them a mocking kiss with two fingers before they’re dropped, plummeting through the holes beneath them. Sigmund Freud would love it here, Cady thinks to herself.

——————

They land in a large bird cage. Lavagirl paces back and forth while Sharkboy sits next to Cady on the uncomfortable bricks they have for chairs. “If only I had my journal. Then I could turn everything back to the way it was.”

“My fire is dimming,” Lavagirl says quietly. Sharkboy looks at her sadly. He grabs one of the bars behind him and pulls as hard as he can. Nothing happens.

“My strength is fading too.”

“How much time is left?” Cady asks.

“Who cares?” Lavagirl huffs. “We’re never getting out of here.”

Cady frowns at her, but looks up in confusion when a quiet song can be heard. “That’s freaky.”

“Aww, hi La-La’s,” Sharkboy says, playing with the small bubble creatures. Lavagirl bats them away from her face angrily.

“Where did these come from? They’re so annoying.”

“Don’t listen to her, she’s just mad you’re not made of fire,” Sharkboy comforts the little things.

“They piss me off,” Lavagirl grumbles. “That song. Disturbing. It’s so high!”

“Sing louder. Higher,” Cady encourages them quietly. Lavagirl’s hair is on fire again, and she’s visibly tense. Sharkboy grabs her and pulls her close.

“You don’t want to be too close to her when she erupts,” he says quietly.

“Enough!” Lavagirl yells, firing lava out of both hands at as many La-La’s as she can reach. Inadvertently, she also melts them a way out.

“Nice progress, Lava! Much more control this time,” Sharkboy praises. Lavagirl grins at him sarcastically before she crawls out of the hole she’s made. Sharkboy and Cady follow quickly.

—————

“She’s asleep,” Lavagirl whispers to her friends beneath her. Cady crawls her way back up into the dream lair and tiptoes back over to Requiem. Ever so gently, Cady lifts her journal off of Requiem’s chest. She tiptoes back to her friends, and slides down the pillar holding the lair aloft.

“Okay, first things first,” Cady says, flipping through the pages. “A way out of here.” Suddenly, she finds the perfect page. “Oh, Lavagirl! You have a lava bike!”

“I do?” Lavagirl asks. The bike suddenly materializes next to her and she gives a delighted cackle. “I do!” She eagerly gets on and revs the engine. “Hehe, this is tits!”

“Chill out, babes,” Sharkboy chuckles.

“Even has fuel this time! Now, Sharkboy,” Cady continues, flicking through to another page. She quiets when she reads the first few sentences of it. “Your mother really is at the bottom of the ocean.”

“Oh,” he says quietly. Lavagirl takes his hand and squeezes it gently.

“She’s in a submarine, she’s looking for you! She has been since the storm,” Cady continues, looking up at him with a smile.

“Oh!” He says again. Lavagirl squeezes him one more time and smiles at him too. Sharkboy comes to read over her shoulder to figure out specifics of where it is. “I’ve gotta get back to Earth.”

“What does it say about me?” Lavagirl asks quietly. Cady flicks to yet another page.

“I’m not sure what this is.”

“I can figure it out!” Lavagirl replies, climbing off her bike and running over to them.

“Lavagirl, no, you’ll-“ Cady tries to warn, but it’s too late. Lavagirl grabs the book and turns it to ash. “Burn it.”

Lavagirl stares at her hands in shame. “What have I done?”

“Hey, it’s okay-“

“Why the fuck did you make me out of lava? Why? What fucking good am I?” Lavagirl yells, holding up glowing fists and with her hair on fire yet again. “Look at me! Why, Cady?!”

Cady looks at her sadly, and tries to follow as she storms off, but Sharkboy grabs her shoulder and pulls her back. “Let her cool off a little.”

Cady doesn’t listen, running over to where Lavagirl is sitting on a rock, head in her hands. “All I’ve ever wanted is to be good. I know I can be. I-I can feel it. But I destroy everything I touch.” She turns to Cady with tears in her eyes, boiling away into steam the second they touch her cheeks. “Why-why did you make me like this? I have-I have more potential.”

“I’m sure you do,” Cady says quietly. Lavagirl stands suddenly and turns around to see her.

“And why did you make us a team?” She continues, pointing to Sharkboy. “We’re nothing alike! I fizzle out when I touch water. When he’s near heat, he shrivels. We aren’t compatible!”

“You’re… really on fire,” Cady murmurs sheepishly.

“Yeah. I do that,” Lavagirl huffs. Sharkboy shoots some water at her to put her out. “Thanks, Sharky.” Sharkboy nods.

“No problem.”

“Maybe I really am evil. So far, everything sure looks that way,” Lavagirl murmurs, sitting down again. “Everything else you’ve dreamed has been right. Maybe I do need to learn to accept it.”

“That’s it!” Cady says. “Everything else I’ve dreamt has been right, the crystal heart!”

“We were captured last time,” Lavagirl sniffles.

“Because Requiem doesn’t want me to have it! That must mean it’s important, we must be able to use it to stop her!”

Lavagirl’s face suddenly splits into a wide smile, and she rejoins her companions.

“We have to get back to the ice kingdom!”

“We only have ten minutes left,” Sharkboy says. “We’ll never make it!”

“We can do it!” Cady yells, running off.

“How?!” Sharkboy and Lavagirl yell at the same time as they follow her.

Cady freezes in her tracks and turns back to look at them with a small smirk. “You’re Sharkboy and Lavagirl. You can do anything.”

—————

“This way,” Cady says, beckoning Sharkboy and Lavagirl over to a sort of slide into the ice palace.

“You had to pick ice?” Lavagirl grumbles.

“Hey, Kenya is really hot,” Cady defends. “Not my fault that’s where I wound up. I’m sure if my parents were studying penguins we’d be somewhere hot and you’d be having a better time right now.”

Lavagirl just crosses her arms and pouts. She’s remarkably precious, for a girl made of fire. Cady chuckles before turning back around, stopping just in time to avoid crashing face first into a tall ice pillar. Sharkboy is already looking up at the large heart shaped crystal floating above it.

“Is that what you saw, Cades?”

“Uhhuh,” Cady nods. “You’ll have to climb up there and get it. But it’s as delicate as a snowflake, so don’t drop it. And don’t touch it or you’ll freeze, use your claws.”

“Got it,” Sharkboy says, using his claws as a sort of ice pick to climb up the ice pillar. He makes it rapidly up the tower, but as he’s reaching for it, he loses his grip and slides back down. He ends up dangling from his fin a few feet off the ground. “You’re up.”

“Lava, can-“ Cady asks. Lavagirl raises an eyebrow at her. “Er… nevermind. Chew on some ice, it’ll help you cool off a bit.”

Lavagirl looks confused when Cady hands her a chunk of ice, but gnaws a bit off with her molars. “Hmm.”

Sharkboy removes his claw gloves and hands them to Cady to climb the pillar herself. It’s slower going for her, but she finds enough hand and footholds to make it to the top. Carefully, she puts on the gloves and reaches out.

“Hey, nice job, Cady!” Sharkboy calls up at her when she grabs it. Just then, he slips, and the crack caused by his fin splits the whole tower in two. It crumbles beneath Cady and she’s forced to drop the heart to save herself.

“I got it!” Lavagirl yells, lunging to grab it before it can hit the ground. She makes it, but is immediately frozen into a solid block of ice.

“Lavagirl!” Cady yells, sliding down what she has left to hold and helping Sharkboy out. She knocks carefully on Lavagirl’s forehead. “She’s frozen solid.”

Just then, a creaky rumbling echoes throughout the cavern as several ice golems rise from the ground and come to life. One with a large club looms over them threateningly and escorts them to a different room.

Once they arrive, they’re roughly shoved to the ground with a command to, “Kneel before the ice princesses.”

Princesses? Cady thinks. There’s more than one?

Sure enough, two girls in white dresses come out onto what appears to be a small stage, hand in hand. They look familiar too. An uncanny resemblance to Regina’s little minions back on Earth.

“You try to steal our crystal heart,” the one on the left asks gently. “Why?”

Cady is too distracted staring at the both of them to hear her. Why are they here? Sharboy nudges her gently to get her back into the moment. “Oh! Uh, we believe it can stop time. Long enough for us to defeat Requiem.”

“Our crystal heart cannot help you,” the other one says. “Only the two of us have the power to use it.”

“Then you can come with us!” Cady says.

“They cannot leave this castle. The crystal is the only thing that protects our kingdom,” one of the ice golems says.

“Please, princesses, we’re running out of time,” Cady begs.

“Perhaps we could… give it to you?” The first princess says. “But are you worthy to wield it?”

“I think so!” Cady chirps. “I hope so.”

“The crystal you stole was a decoy,” the second one says. A rumbling noise sounds off behind them, and several more ice pillars rise from the ground. “The real one is somewhere in this room. Choose the correct one, and you may take it with you.”

Cady and Sharkboy both turn around and look at all the crystal hearts glimmering above them. Sharkboy points to the one nearest them. “That one looks nice, pick that one.”

But Cady shakes her head and turns back to the princesses. “It’s around your hands. Tying you together.”

Sure enough, the gem dangling from what Cady originally thought to be a simple bracelet gives a magical glimmer, and the princesses give her a kind smile. She heads to stand before them politely.

“How’d you know?” Sharkboy asks in awe.

“Saw it in a dream,” Cady murmurs.

“Be aware, Cady,” the first princess says, more serious this time. They gently remove the necklace they had looped around their entwined hands and rest it in the palm of Cady’s. “If anything happens to the crystal heart, our entire kingdom will be destroyed.”

“I won’t let anything happen to it,” Cady says bravely. “I promise.”

“The crystal will now work, but we must stay here,” the second one says. “Good luck.”

And with that, they’re all tossed from the palace onto the frozen sea of confusion. Sharkboy and Cady have no choice but to push a still-frozen Lavagirl to their destination themselves.

—-

“We’re almost back to the dream lair!” Cady yells when she has it in her sights. “How much time do we have?!”

“Uh… we’re out of time!” Sharkboy yells back. “Ten seconds!”

Cady stops Lavagirl and hops off, standing on the frozen sea. She holds the crystal heart aloft. “Here goes nothing.”

The crystal gives a promising glimmer, but then… everything goes dark. Including the crystal.

“What happened?”

Sharkboy shrugs. “It didn’t work.”

“How could it not work?”

Suddenly, a crunching noise can be heard as Lavagirl finally frees herself from her ice cocoon. “Only the ice princesses can use it. I was trying to tell you.”

“There’s nothing,” Sharkboy says, staring at his shark radar. “No readings, no nothing.”

Suddenly, a small crack forms in the ice, revealing a melted chasm. Neverbury’s cackling laughter can be heard.

“Sharkboy, no!” Lavagirl says. “She’s baiting you.”

Sharkboy tenses, and clenches his jaw. “I can’t… resist my instincts!”

Before either of them can react, stop him, Sharkboy dives into the water in front of them and swims rapidly to the other side. Neverbury stands ominously above him. Sharkboy tilts his head in confusion as she tries to make a poorly timed electrical joke.

“Oh, fuck it,” Neverbury huffs. “Electric eels, eat up.”

“Sharky, no!” Lavagirl yells, lunging for him. Cady grabs her to hold her back. “Swim away! Run!”

Sharkboy tries, swimming as fast as he possibly can. But the eels are faster, and quickly surround him. Cady and Lavagirl watch in horror as he suddenly goes limp and sinks to the bottom.

“No!” Cady says, trying to touch the water. It’s still electrified, the current nearly melting off the rubber sole of her shoe. “Can-can he survive down there?”

“He can hold his breath,” Lavagirl replies, staring hollowly at the water. “But not forever. He’ll drown if I don’t save him.”

“No, I can’t let you go,” Cady says with a sob, clinging to her arm. “You’ll die too.”

Lavagirl turns to look at her, gently cupping her cheek with a warm hand and kissing her. She pulls away before Cady has time to process what’s happening. “He’s my best friend. I have to. We love you.”

With that, she turns back and dives into the water, swimming down to Sharkboy on the sea floor. Cady watches as she grabs him by a hand and hauls him back up to the surface. Cady helps lift them both back onto the shore.

“Sharkboy?” Cady asks frantically, trying to shake him awake. “Wake up, please! Come on, please, please please.”

She’s so distracted with Sharkboy that she doesn’t notice Lavagirl crawling away from the water before collapsing. She’s not breathing, and her fire has been extinguished.

Cady whirls around when she hears a rattling breath, and finds Lavagirl’s lifeless form. “No, no, no, Lavagirl, please! Not both of you!”

Neither of them wake. Cady frantically shakes them, crying harder than she thinks she ever has, but to no avail.

“I can’t do this without you!” She sobs. “What am I supposed to do now?”

Suddenly, the disembodied face and voice of Tobor appears. “What do you think you should do, child?”

“Dr-dream… a better dream,” Cady whimpers, holding the lifeless hands of both her friends.

“Interesting,” Tobor says kindly. “Explain.”

“I wanted all my dreams to come true,” Cady sniffles. “But… I only dreamed for myself. This whole place only exists because I wanted to escape my real world. But I should’ve dreamed to make my real world a better place. Selfish dreams shouldn’t come true.”

“You’re becoming a very good dreamer, Cady,” Tobor says. “You always were, monkey. Get it back.”

“What do you do?” Cady asks hollowly. “When your dreams have been destroyed?”

“Dream a better dream,” Tobor replies. “An unselfish dream. You can do it. I believe in you, monkey.”

“I love you,” Cady says as Tobor floats away. She never thought she’d hear her brother call her ‘monkey’ again. She needs to say it. Tobor winks at her, and then he’s out of sight.

Cady takes a deep breath, and squeezes both of the hands in her own. “Dream a better dream.”

Sharkboy suddenly snaps awake next to her, coughing some water out of his lungs. Cady tips him onto his side and pats his back to help. He looks at her thankfully before crawling over to Lavagirl.

“She knew this would happen,” Cady murmurs. “If she saved you. I couldn’t stop her.”

Sharkboy nods sadly, taking Lavagirl’s hand. It’s cool to the touch, for the first time since their creation. Suddenly, a bright light is visible from behind them. Sharkboy and Cady turn around to see Lavagirl’s volcano home glowing brightly.

“Lava,” Cady breathes. “We have to get her there.”

“I’ll go,” Sharkboy says. Cady grabs his arm to stop him. “I’m stronger, and faster.”

“No, I can’t let you go again. You’ll burn up,” she says desperately.

Sharkboy doesn’t listen, cradling Lavagirl’s body in his arms. “Are you sure this will save her?”

“It’ll do more than save her,” Cady agrees quietly. They have a stronger bond than they’ll ever have with her. She knows she can’t stop him now. She blinks, and Sharkboy is gone. She can faintly see a blue and pink blur running at inhuman speeds towards the volcano. Cady hunches in on herself and says a little prayer.

“I know who you are now, Lavagirl. You are not fire, or a simple flame. You are greater than that. Something more important, and so necessary. That is why you have to live. You are not destruction. You are not evil.”

Cady winces as she sees Sharkboy chuck Lavagirl into the mouth of the volcano, and watches in horror as he’s thrown back by the force of the eruption once she makes contact.

But then, she sees Lavagirl standing where he just was, and watches her hands suddenly glow bright like beacons.

“You are light.”

Cady closes her eyes as a bright glow rushes over her. Lavagirl has realized her true power. And so has Cady.

“Holy shit!” Sharkboy screams when she suddenly appears beside him. He holds a hand over his heart as he tries to get his breath back. “How-how did you get here so quick?”

Cady doesn’t answer that. “Hold off Neverbury. I’m off to deal with Requiem.”

“I’ll need my fish army,” Sharkboy says. Cady turns to look at the frozen ocean they were just on.

“I’ll unfreeze the ocean.” With a snap of her fingers, it’s done. “Good luck. I love you both.”

-

“I’ve become what you feared most,” Cady murmurs to Requiem’s turned back. “Requiem.”

Requiem whirls around in surprise. “How’d you get in here?”

“I’m the day dreamer,” Cady replies. “Able to dream with my eyes open.”

“Hate to burst your bubble here, dream girl, but I’ve read your little book,” Requiem says. “There’s not one dream you have that I haven’t already seen. So what do you say? Let’s blow the roof off this place.” She raises her arms, and suddenly they’re on what appears to be a battlefield. “May the best dream win.”

She sticks out a hand towards Cady, releasing a wave of piranhas. Cady winds up and sticks out her own hand, releasing a wave of…

“Bubbles? Come on,” she whispers. But, as the bubbles make contact with the chomping fish, they’re suddenly trapped inside and carried off with the wind. “Oh. I guess that worked.”

She winds up again, and blows a wave of butterflies towards Requiem. Requiem unleashes her own swarm of wasps.

“Wait!” Cady yells. All the bugs suddenly disappear. She puts a finger to her temple and closes her eyes. “Brain storm.”

Requiem looks at her in confusion before she puts the pieces together and looks up in horror. “Eww!”

Brains splat down to the ground all around her, and she puts her arms up to protect her head from the falling craniums. She screams when one lands in her hands and throws it as far as she can, wiping off the fluid on her cape.

“Brain… freeze!” She yells, lifting her arms to the sky. All the brains raining down pause in place before landing in the ground in a single sheet.

“Brain.. fart,” Cady replies with a giggle. Requiem’s head suddenly swells to roughly one hundred times the size it’s meant to be, and she leans from side to side in a ditch attempt to keep her balance. Before she knows it, she’s completely upside down resting on top of her hand. “Nice headstand!”

Requiem’s head deflates, and she lands back on her feet. She looks at Cady and gives her a quiet chuckle. “You’re afraid of me, aren’t you?”

Cady watches in horror as she moves her hands down her sides in a quick motion, and suddenly rockets off into the sky on a stone tower. Cady repeats the motion and rises to the same height on a pillar of her own.

“I used to be,” she says quietly. “But now I understand. Someone ruined your dreams, and now all you can do is ruin everyone else’s.”

Requiem scowls at her, and sends her tower even higher. Cady follows again. The air is getting a bit thin up here. Hopefully she won’t have to go any higher.

“We can create a better dream than this,” Cady pleads. “A better world. Don’t you see?” She snaps her fingers, and a makeshift bridge suddenly appears between each of their towers. Cady carefully walks halfway across it and reaches out a hand. “What do you say? Regina?”

Regina looks at her in shock for a moment, but slowly joins her on the bridge. She looks at her own hand, before inching it toward’s Cady’s.

Just before they touch, a creaking can be heard and the bridge gives way beneath them. Cady uses her day dreamer powers to sort of float, rushing quickly after Regina.

“Don’t let me fall!” Regina screams, covering her face so as not to see her rapidly approaching doom. Cady grabs her wrist and floats them gently to the dream lair.

“Wouldn’t dream of it. Don’t ruin people’s dreams, Regina. Because you ruin your own, too. And then you’ll stop believing.”

Cady is suddenly tackled to the soft ground from behind. She screams, but looks up just in time to see Lavagirl before their lips are slammed together. Her warmth is back.

“Cady,” Lavagirl whispers against her lips. “I am light. Thank you.”

“You always were,” Cady replies, holding Lavagirl’s hips as she straddles her. “Nothing to do with me.”

Lavagirl kisses her again. “But now I know. So thank you.”

“Big deal,” Sharkboy teases. “The real news is what I am!”

“A pain in the ass?” Lavagirl asks, finally standing and helping Cady up.

“I’m king of the ocean!”

Cady giggles at their bickering.

“Yeah, yeah. Thanks for saving me,” Lavagirl says quietly, leaning in to kiss his cheek. There’s a quiet sizzle and flash of light when she makes contact.

“Ouch,” Sharkboy says, rubbing his cheek. At least he’s smiling.

“Everything will return to the way it was,” Regina says from behind them, joining the conversation. “You will be able to travel to Earth and back again as you wish.” She gestures to Sharkboy. “You can search for your mother.” To Lavagirl. “You can rule Earth’s lava realm.”

“And just what am I supposed to do?” Neverbury asks, appearing out of nowhere. “Now that you’re all… buddy buddy.”

“You can go back to being the good guardian of the planet,” Regina replies.

Neverbury cackles. “Oh, really? Keeping everything running? Making sure this loud, obnoxious world is a happy place?”

“Hey!” Cady says sadly.

“You’re dreaming.” Neverbury chuckles.

“I dreamt you,” Cady says boldly, letting go of Lavagirl’s hand and puffing out her chest at Neverbury. “And I can un-dream you.”

“You think you can just snap your eyes open and make me vanish?” Neverbury threatens. “Not so easy. I am the danger of dreaming. For every person who dreams up the lightbulb, there’s the one who dreams up the atom bomb. This is one dream you won’t be waking up from. I’m gonna put an end to this ridiculous tangent at it’s source.”

With that, she takes off towards Earth. Cady yelps and leaps out of the way. “Where did she go?”

“She’s headed to Earth,” Sharkboy says, tracking her on his radar.

“She’s going to try to destroy you in your sleep,” Regina says.

“In my sleep?” Cady asks quietly. “You mean I’m asleep?! All this time I’ve been asleep?!”

“No,” Lavagirl says calmly, coming over to her. “You’re dreaming, Cady.”

“With your eyes open,” Sharkboy adds.

“Make the dream real,” Lavagirl says, taking her hand again. “And you can live out your dreams on Earth. Just like you made us real.”

“Make it real,” Sharkboy commands gently. “You can do it.”

“Blink three times,” Lavagirl murmurs, gently cupping Cady’s face in her hot hands. “One.”

Cady listens. “Wait, but-“

“Two,” Sharkboy says. Cady blinks again.

“Will I ever see you again?”

Lavagirl kisses her one more time before letting her go. “Three.”

Cady blinks.

——

When she opens her eyes, she’s back on Earth, huddled under her desk in the science room. The teacher is trying to gather everyone to head to shelter from the storm, with the help of Ms. Norbury.

Ms. Norbury lifts the desk off of Cady. “Cady, get up! There’s a tornado heading our way!”

Cady scrambles to her feet and dusts herself off. “It’s not a tornado!” She yells over the gusts of the wind. “It’s worse!”

“Regina, wake up,” Ms. Norbury commands, tapping Regina at her desk. Regina snaps awake and winces at the large puddle of drool coating her desk. Gross.

Cady leads them to the gaping hole in the wall, created by Sharkboy and Lavagirl. That was a mere moment ago, but it feels like years. “Look!”

The tornado barreling towards them suddenly begins sparking, and Neverbury emerges from the cyclone before it dissipates into a simple thunderstorm.

“It’s Ms. Neverbury, from planet Drool! The one from my dreams!” Cady explains.

Ms. Norbury and the science teacher both look at it in confusion. “You mean… this is real? Your dreams are real?”

“Some dreams are so powerful they become real,” Cady says.

“I don’t believe it,” Ms. Norbury says.

“It’s literally right there!” Cady yells.

“No, yeah, I can see that!” Norbury replies. “What I can’t believe is… you dreamt me! As a big, round bad guy!”

“Sorry!” Cady says. “Kinda took on a life of its own!”

Ms. Norbury sighs before turning to the class, watching in horror as the storms grow again and Neverbury looms ominously just outside.

“Okay class, we’re just teachers,” Cady’s science teacher says. “And we are here to inspire the answers in you! And there’s some damn good inspiration outside. So, this is now a pop quiz. We need to defeat that lady! Any ideas?!”

Regina raises her hand, surprising everyone.

“Wow, Regina. Yes?”

“I can take her,” Regina says boldly, running outside.

“No, you can’t!” Cady yells, grabbing her hand and pulling her back in. “Not by yourself. We need another idea.”

“No dumb ideas, come on,” Ms. Norbury says.

“Maybe we can freeze her circuits,” Regina suggests.

“That’s literally the dumbest idea I’ve ever heard,” Ms. Norbury replies. “We’re in Illinois in August. Next?”

“No, that might work!” Cady says. “Regina, where are your friends?”

“Gretchen and Karen?”

“Yeah, where are they?”

“Uh… English, I think?” Regina says with a shrug.

“Then come on!” Cady yells, grabbing her hand and hauling her out the door. The English wing is on the other side of the school.

“I am in heels!” Regina yells.

“Take them off, then! This is kind of an emergency!” Cady yells back, breaking ahead. Regina pauses to snatch her shoes off before barreling after her.

The teacher looks up in shock as a very disheveled Cady and Regina suddenly slam the door open. Cady points at them and pants, “We need… Gretchen and… and Karen.”

They already seem to have known this was coming, and stand to join them. Regina says, “Take off your shoes now, save yourselves. Just come on.”

When they make it back to the science room, Cady reaches into her pocket.

“Those jeans are horrific, by the way,” Regina says. Cady waves her off as she pulls out the crystal heart.

“Is this yours?” Cady asks, holding it up to show Gretchen and Karen. They both look at it and each other in shock.

“I’ve only seen it in my dreams,” Karen says quietly, gently running a finger over it.

“Me too,” Gretchen murmurs.

“It can freeze anything,” Cady murmurs, looping it gently around their intertwined hands and fastening it.

“Even time,” they both say at the same time before looking at each other with a small smile.

“Let them out,” Cady commands. Everyone parts like the Red Sea to make way for them to get outside. “Do you know what to do?”

“Yes,” they say. “Stand back.”

Cady watches with a smile as they approach Neverbury casually and each hold up a hand. They still hold each other with one, and fire a beam of ice at Neverbury with the other. Neverbury freezes solid, and then shatters. Snow begins to fall around them.

Everyone cheers and runs outside to play in the magical snow, except for Cady.

“You’ve made me a great teacher today, Cady,” Ms. Norbury says.

“How did I do that?” Cady asks. “I punched a hole in the school.”

“A good teacher learns as much from her students as they learn from her,” Ms. Norbury explains. “You’ve awakened something in me. That being said, I’m going to start looking into a different career.”

“I don’t blame you,” Cady chuckles, before Ms. Norbury pushes her outside to join her peers. Cady heads out aimlessly, not really knowing who to join. Until she sees Sharkboy and Lavagirl standing with her parents. “Sharkboy! Lavagirl!”

“Hey!” They both say. Lavagirl catches Cady as she barrels into her and slams their lips together.

“Oh, um…” Cady says sheepishly when they break apart. “Mom, Dad, I’m bi.”

“After today, we’re just glad you’re alive,” her dad chuckles, ruffling her hair. Cady throws her arms around both of them, and smiles as they squeeze her tightly. They feel like a family for the first time in years.

—————-

epilogue

“The following story is true,” Cady begins. “It may have began as a dream, but as we all saw last month, when you let your dreams become reality, reality becomes a dream.

“Sharkboy and Lavagirl both live here now. Sharkboy rules the ocean as king, and is searching for his mother. He says his instincts tell him he’s getting closer every second, so he’ll find her soon. And Lavagirl lives with me. We just have to keep the heat on max.”

That gets a chuckle from everyone.

“She gets to live her dream too, don’t worry. She rules all of Earth’s volcanos, a source of light and life for all of us. Just from a distance. So… so she can be with me. My advice to you all is… dream your best dreams. Then work to make them real.”

The end.

---

hope you enjoyed!

I'm sorry it wasn't the most romantic, but i did my best to make it fit with the story. we'll be back on earth next week :))

thanks for reading!

lots of love,

ezzy

[bearpillowmonster]

Top 15 Pokémon

I made a post a while back where I went back into my old Pokémon Platinum save file and listed all my Pokémon names, and I said I might come up with an updated list as to what I name my favorite Pokémon. Why not start by doing my Top 15. No order, as usual. I'll add the rule that each Pokémon I list, represents that line so if I say "Pikachu", I also mean Pichu and Raichu had that name as well.

Raichu - SunnyD. When I was a kid, my bio dad would take me to his girlfriends house and she bought me this purple Pikachu ball

Pretty sure it's this one. I searched all over the internet for it but this is the only picture I could find, or else I probably would've bought it again. But that was also the first place I ever had Sunny-D so I put two and two together. Also, you know how they'll have MLG Pikachu with glasses, a blunt and Mtn. Dew. Instead of all that, I made one with just glasses and Sunny-D for my profile pic at one point. It stuck.

Charizard - Fury. When GoAnimate was a thing, I made a series called "The Party" where Jak left Daxter home alone to go on a date with Keira so Daxter throws a party and invites Charizard among the guests. I was trying to get him to do a horse whistle and it ended up coming out like "Furrrrreeeeee" so I just named him Fury out of convenience.

Shellder - Ike. One time I went to my friends house to play Halo and we met a kid named Isaac on Xbox Live but he told us to call him Ike. This was kind of in honor of him because he was probably the least toxic kid we talked to on there.

Skarmory - Mercury. A decent amount of these names can go both ways, with this one, if it's a boy, Merc, if it's a girl, Mercury. I feel like this one is pretty simple and doesn't really need an explanation.

Monferno - Lazlo. This one is hard because he's my top favorite ever and I've had various names for him over time and I'm not sure there will ever be a definitive one but this is the current one. I went to either BK or McD's to get one of those Pokémon cards, it happened to be Monferno. I believe in chance. You know what other toy I got from there once? A Lazlo pencil topper, another orange monkey.

Treecko - Grover. Because Grovyle sounds like Grover and I just like the idea of him being a muppet. Before Monferno, I had one of those Wendy's "toys", which is where I started liking him. (Ok, maybe I believe in chance A LOT. But not as much as my dad)

Poliwhirl - Clue. I started Pokémon as a young kid but I fell out of it until I was around 9 because of divorce stuff, Yada Yada, but I still had a few toys. A Pikachu Party VHS, Pokémon Colosseum (which I never learned how to play), PKMN The First Movie VHS (which magically went missing and my mom told me my bio dad lost it and my bio dad told me my mom lost it), a mini Geodude and a mini Poliwhirl (stuff you'd get out of a capsule machine). That has nothing to do with the name, I just wanted to state my connection to him. So, I used to have a bullfrog named "Nion", why? When I looked up Starkiller's name from The Force Unleashed, it said his name was 'Nion', and it is...his son's middle name. Starkiller is a clone of Galen Marek, still with me? CLOne. Clo looked a bit weird so I took that and make it Clue. Whether you want to play with that and say it was because of CLU in Tron or the board game or Blue's Clues since he's blue(-ish) then be my guest if that makes it simpler, welcome to my thought process.

Smeargle - Bradley. I was on a site called "PokeHeroes" where you collect various Pokémon then trade them, breed them or sell them and use the money to buy a rare egg. Well, I asked what to name him on my status and someone said "Bradley". Probably the most normal on this list.

Umbreon - Noctis. I said I had Pokémon Colosseum so this should come as no surprise. But yeah, I name all the Eevees different FFXV refs. (I do like shiny Umbry more though) also Noctis' dog is named Umbra so...

Totodile - LaCroc. (Or LaCroix). One of the funny things my dad says is "I'm gonna shove a croc up your ass." when he's peeved, so I guess I made good on that threat. It sounds better in French. "I'm finna shove a la Croc up your de cul." Not an official translation mind you.

Togepi - StarChild. It's kind of just been a staple for me because that's what I named him/her as a kid and is one of the only names I kept consistent just for the sheer novelty of it.

Electivire - Trench. I gotta be honest...I've only ever got an Electivire through Showdown, mods and Action Replay for the simple reason that I'm a loner therefore don't trade Pokémon, which unfortunately is required for this one. But if I ever did get him, I'd name him Trench after the TOP album. (colors man, colors) but otherwise I used to name Elekid Duracell.

Turtwig - Guacamole. What need I say, colors. But even if Monferno is on here, that doesn't mean that I didn't pick Turtwig first. He was my first after I got back into Pokémon so I didn't even know what any of the second or third forms looked like yet, I basically went into Diamond blind. So I don't think I even realized you could name them yet. I also thought of Turtilla which could be short for Tortilla, Gozilla, Turt-Killa.

Ivysaur - Sierra. Because when she sprays her sleep powder and stuff, it's like a mist. Sierra Mist. And I like that name in general.

Blastoise - Sucker. Slang for lollipop. I couldn't not have the other Kanto starter on here. When I was a kid, I had this fantasy of Blastpiss, I mean Blastoise, shooting piss, I mean lollipops out of his cannons. Maybe I was sucking on a lollipop when I watched the first movie, I don't know but whenever I saw him, I'd think "Sucker!"

Just know that this was a tough list to make. There are so many Pokémon and so many more that I wanted to put on here. But yeah, I think in the end, these are my favorites., for now anyways...

[dancedance-resolution]

i was tagged by @c-nan for this interests tag game :) thank you for the tag <3

MUSIC Favorite Genres: some modern day pop (like taylor swift and olivia rodrigo) and not-depressing-alternative (like florence welsh and hozier), 70s pop/rock, romantic era and later classical music, jazz standards (like ella fitzgerald and nat king cole)

Favorite Artists: abba, billy joel, donna summer, ella fitzgerald, fleetwood mac, florence welsh, the guess who, hozier, nat king cole, ola gjielo, olivia rodrigo, the orion experience (but only for cosmiccandy), stevie wonder, sugarloaf, taylor swift, and a lot more!

Favorite Song: oh gosh i have so many, but for now i'll say: treacherous by taylor swift

Most Listened to Song Lately: we built this city on rock and roll by starship

Song Currently Stuck in my Head: the day before you came by abba

Five Favorite Lyrics:

just. the entirety of treacherous by taylor swift.

dress in love, she lives for life to be / green-eyed lady feels life i never see (green-eyed lady by sugarloaf)

address the letters to the holes in my butterfly wings / and when the clouds won't iron out / when the monsters creep into your house / well, i hope you know how proud i am you were created (hope ur ok by olivia rodrigo)

the autumn chill that wakes me up / you loved the amber skies so much / long limbs and frozen swims / you'd always go past where our feet could touch / and i complained the whole way there / the car ride back and up the stairs / i should've asked you questions / i should've asked you how to be / asked you to write it down for me / should've kept every grocery store receipt / cause every scrap of you would be taken from me / watched as you signed your name marjorie / all your closets of backlogged dreams / and how you left them all to me / what died didn't stay dead / what died didn't stay dead / you're alive, you're alive in my head / and if i didn't know better / i'd think you were singing to me now (marjorie by taylor swift)

hey, look up / you don't have to be a ghost / here among the living / you are flesh and blood / and you deserve to be loved / and you deserve what you are given (third eye by florence + the machine)

radio or your own playlist | solo artists or bands | pop or indie | loud or quiet volume | slow or fast songs | music video or lyric video | speakers or headset | riding a bus in silence or while listening to music | driving in silence or with radio on

BOOKS

Favorite Book Genre: niche non-fiction! and fic <3

also gonna add my Favorite Fic Tropes/Tags: hurt/comfort, slow burn, fake dating, roomates au, there was only one bed!, college au, enemies to lovers, idiots (pining) to idiots (togther), established relationship, sports au, royalty au, fantasy au, friends to lovers, and many more!

Favorite Writers: marguerite bennett

Favorite Fic Writers: ayeti, bigmamallama5, coffeeshib, drfitzmonster, ekingston, jazzfordshire, littlemousejelly, lovedandliked, robie, searidings, shipsandglitter, takarter, wtfoctagon, you_get_to_exhale_now_cyrus, zedpm, and so many more!!

Favorite Books: the poet x by elizabeth acevedo, 1984 by george orwell, rebecca by daphne du murier

Favorite Book Series: the babysitters club by ann m martin, the mother-daughter book club by heather vogel frederick, mercy watson by kate dicamillo

Comfort Book: robie's wedding date au

Perfect Book to Read on a Rainy Day: jazz's 70s au

Favorite Characters: the second mrs de winter (rebecca), mercy watson (mercy watson)

Five Quotes From Your Favorite Books:

mi boca no puede escribir una bandera blanca, nunca será un verso de biblio. mi boca no puede formarse el lamento que tú dices tú y dios merecen. tú dices que todo esto es culpa de mi boca. porque tenía hambre, porque era callada. pero, ¿y la boca tuya? cómo tus labios son grapas que me perforan rápido y fuerte. y las palabras que nuna dije quedan mejor muertas en mi lengua porque solamente hubieran chocado contra la puerta cerrado de tu espalda. tu silencio amuelba una casa oscura. pero aun que riesgo de quemarse, la maripose nocturna siempre busca la luz. (the poet x by elizabeth acevedo)

but if thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought. (1984 by george orwell)

but by degrees the flood of music drove all speculations out of his mind. it was as though it were a kind of liquid stuff that poured all over and got mixed up with the sunlight that filtered through the leaves. he stopped thinking and merely felt. the girl's waist in the bend of his arm was soft and warm. he pulled her round so that they were breast to breast; her body seemed to melt into his. wherever his hands moved it was as yielding as water. their mouths clung together. (1984)

but you could not have pure love or pure lust nowadays. no emotion was pure...their embrace had been a battle, the climax a victory. it was a blow struck against the party. it was a political act. (1984) (this quote is so gay lol.)

he did not stir, because julia was sleeping with her head in the crook of his arm. most of her makeup had transferred itself to his own face or bolster, but a light stain of rouge still brought out the beauty of her cheekbone. a yellow ray from the sinking sun fell across the foot of the bed and lighted up the fireplace, where the water in the pan was boiling fast. down in the yard the woman had stopped singing, but the faint shouts of children floated in from the street. he wondered vaguely whether in the abolished past it had been a normal experience to lie in bed like this, in the cool of a summer evening, a man and a woman with no clothes on, making love when they choose, talking of what they choose, not feeling any compulsion to get up, simply lying there and listening to peaceful sounds outside. (1984)

hardcover or paperback | buy or rent | standalone novels or book series | ebook or physical copy | read at night or during the day | reading at home or in nature | listening to music while reading or in silence | reading in order or reading the ending first | reliable or unreliable narrator | realism or fantasy | one or multiple POVs | judging by the covers or by summaries | rereading or just once

TV AND MOVIES

Favorite TV/Movie Genre: .........ones with actractive actors...

Favorite Movies: pretty woman, muppets from space

Comfort Movie: i don't really watch movies that often lol. i find them hard to get into since they're so short

Movie You Watch Every Year: the year without a santa claus

Favorite TV Shows: supergirl, batwoman, legends of tomorrow, parks and rec, the good place, veronica mars, andi mack, diary of a future president, arthur, word girl, closer to truth, martha speaks, cyberchase, curious george, the king of queens, and probably more that i'm forgetting!

Comfort TV Show: the king of queens, arthur, parks and rec

Most Rewatched TV Show: the king of queens, martha speaks, word girl, cyberchase, parks and rec

Five Favorite Characters:

kara zor-el

veronica mars

leslie knope

zari tomaz

lena luthor

tv shows or movies | short seasons (8-13 episodes) or full seasons (22 episodes or more) | one episode a week or binging | one season or multiple seasons | one part or saga | half hour or one hour long episodes | subtitles on or off | rewatching or watching just once | downloads or watches online

this was really fun to do fhsdhfkd. tagging anyone who wants to try this!

[embeanwrites]

Finding Home Gavin Reed x Reader

Chapter 8

Masterlist

We pulled back into dad’s house. Walking back inside I immediately noticed Sumo was laying down with the old blanket dad was talking about earlier. He perked up the moment we walked in and started wagging his tail.

“He kept crying after you left, he’s a big softie.” My dad said through a mouthful of noodles. I smiled and walked over to pet Sumo and gave him a kiss on the top of his head.

“I’m not going anywhere, Sumo.” I said softly into his fur. I looked at the blanket. It was a faded blue and a lot smaller than I remembered it. Or maybe I was just a lot smaller in my memories with it. Sumo had chewed a few holes in it from carrying it around. After all these years, he hadn’t forgotten about me. I wondered if my dad ever took the blanket and thought about me. I sat next to my dad on the couch, grabbing a pair of chopsticks and stealing the container of noodles from him.

“Hey!” He yelled through a mouthful of food. I smiled.

“So, what are we watching?”

“You’re the guest, you pick.”

“Hmmm…Connor have you seen the original Muppet movie?” My dad laughed.

“That movie is older than me, (Y/n)!”

“I have not seen anything about ‘Muppets’.” Connor responded sitting down on the floor with Sumo. It was interesting, even though there was plenty of room on the couch he still chose to sit on the floor with Sumo.

“Then that’s what we’re watching. Everyone needs to watch the Muppets. If I could find a way to show it in my class, I totally would. Hey! Connor you could analyze it and see if there’s any way I could connect it to humans and androids or sociology!”

“Oh, your students must love having to watch old movies.” My dad snorted.

“Hey! I showed my class at (dream/school) ‘The Iron Giant’ and they loved it!”

“How on earth did you connect that?”

“Dad, it’s about a giant robot and people immediately assuming he was going to kill everyone, and, in the end, he was the hero. It’s literally perfect.” I laughed, grabbing the remote from the table and found the movie. I took my phone out of my pocket and placed it face down, so I wouldn’t get distracted. Clicking play I snuggled into the couch and continued eating.

“I'm Statler.

I'm Waldorf.

We're here to heckle

The Muppet Movie.”

“Why are some puppets and others human?” Connor asked, I looked over at him. He once again had tilted his head.

“They’re Muppets, Connor. And I wouldn’t question it too much, in the next movie they say a bear and a frog are twin brothers.” He furrowed his brow and kept his eyes intently on the movie.

As the movie went on, I couldn’t help but hum along to the songs. Muppets always felt like home. When I was younger, me, dad, and mom had a Muppet movie marathon on my birthday. I don’t remember much about what else we did, but I remember watching the movie and laughing with them. It was right before they got divorced. It was the last happy memory of all three of us I had.

Through the corner of my eye, I watched my dad move his foot to the music and laugh at the funny parts. I wondered if he remembered the last time we watched this together. I wondered if he ever watched them with Cole.

When the movie ended, I got up and stretched. Looking at the clock, I noticed it was only 7 pm.

“I’m going to change into my pajamas.” I said while picking up my backpack. “What room should I use?”

“You can use mine, it’s the one at the end of the hallway.” Connor said. I nodded and walked in.

The room had sparse decorations, which wasn’t too surprising. I could tell by what was on the walls that this must have been Cole’s room. I changed into sweatpants and a giant t-shirt, putting my dirty clothes in the bottom of my bag. I walked back out to find Connor putting a leash on Sumo and my dad cleaning up from dinner.

“Dang, Connor. If you had told me you were going to go walk Sumo I would’ve waited to change, so I could go with you!”

“I’m just taking him out for a couple of minutes. I will let you know the next time I plan on walking him. Come on, Sumo.” I smiled and walked over to my dad.

“Gun to my head, if you were to ask me if Hank Anderson would ever let an android live with him, I would say no way in a heartbeat.” My dad chuckled.

“Before Connor, I would’ve agreed.”

“What changed?”

“When we were hunting deviants, it was clear that they all just…wanted to be free. There were two girls that seemed to be truly in love. Connor’s mission was to bring in the deviants, but he had a gun trained on them and he let them go. I guess I just realized that humans and androids aren’t that much different.” I nodded as I kept my eyes on the front door.

“If you had read my articles you would’ve learned that sooner.” I said with a laugh.

“How did you know so early on?” I shuffled uncomfortably.

“I’m not really sure. It wasn’t one moment that made me realize. In undergrad I took a lot of sociology and history classes and I just kept seeing the same issues repeating over and over again. Humans have always had an “us vs them” mentality, so it was just the same thing we’ve seen since the earliest civilization.” My dad hummed.

“I don’t know how you got so smart. You certainly didn’t get that from me.” I laughed.

“I studied really hard and never stopped. Going into college I didn’t even know I was going to go to grad school and get my PhD. I just started learning and I never wanted to stop. Especially after I read about how some androids were being treated. I wanted to make a difference.” I sighed. “I’d like to think I’ve gotten most of my students outside their comfort zones and got them to accept androids as free beings, but I have a feeling that may be harder in Detroit.”

“Well, I’ve never seen you teach, but just by that statement I can tell you really care. Your students will see that too and that’ll get them to listen. There’s a reason everyone hates math, no one could be passionate about that.” I laughed. Connor walked back in with Sumo. The moment he unhooked his leash he came bounding over to me. “Man, he’s going to attack you every time he sees you.” I got on my knees and started petting him.

“Good, because I’ve missed him.” I scratched behind his ear and he thumbed his back leg. I got up and walked back over to the couch and stretched my legs out. Sumo followed me and laid down on the floor next to me, I reached over and grabbed my phone off the table. I checked my messages. A couple from friends back home. I bit my lip, debating if I should text Gavin. In the end I decided I had bothered him enough for one day.

“(Y/n), when did you want to go walk the rescue dogs?” Connor asked sitting next to my feet on the couch.

“Do you work tomorrow?”

“He doesn’t, but I have too.” My dad grunted coming back to the living room.

“Why?” My dad shook his head.

“Captain Fowler is having the Lieutenant take some refresher classes and some of the detectives are getting together to discuss how android crime cases should be handled from now on.”  I sat up.

“Is it an open meeting?” I asked my dad quickly.

“Not that I know of.” He answered.

“Hm…ask the Captain if I could possibly assist you guys with that. I know I’m not a police officer, but I understand a lot about androids and humans. I even minored in forensics in undergrad, but that was a while ago.”

“I’ll ask him, I think it’s a good idea. It wouldn’t hurt to get more opinions on how to handle it. The government is sure taking their sweet time coming up with laws covering everything.” I nodded in agreement. “Well, I’m gonna head to bed, read your book a little before sleeping. See you guys tomorrow.”

“Good night!” Me and Connor said at the same time. My dad kept walking and waved a little before going to his room and shutting the door. Still sitting up I looked at Connor. His LED was blue and looking at my backpack.

“I brought a scrapbook if you’d like me to show it to you.” I said gently, grabbing my bag.

“Will it cause you more emotional distress to look at it tonight?” He asked softly, causing me to laugh.

“No, Connor. This is filled with good memories.” I got the book out and moved closer to him, so the book sat on both of our legs. “This is me with my freshman orientation group. I was so scared that day. The campus felt so much bigger when I started living on it, but over time it felt smaller.” I kept flipping the pages stopping to explain some pictures.

“That is Officer Chen.” Connor said pointing to an old picture of me and Tina painting each other’s toenails. I smiled.

“Me and Tina have been friends for a long time, before she went to the police academy, she would come to my dorm room to crash.” I grabbed my phone and snapped a picture and sent it to Tina.

 Look at these babies!

 “Officer Chen is on duty right now. She may not respond right away.” I sat my phone down.

“I know, but she’ll see it eventually.” I flipped a couple more pages. There were pictures of graduation and friends.

“Who’s that?” Connor asked pointing to a picture of me with a KL900.

“Oh, during my research I interviewed some androids. She was designed for social work. It’s been so long, but I think her name is Lucy.” Connor’s LED flashed yellow.

“She died during the revolution.” I looked intently at the picture, remembering how kind she was.

“She was a really good person.” I clenched the book a little tighter. “I wish I could have done more during the revolution. I helped a couple of androids, but if I had been in Detroit maybe I could’ve done more.” Connor awkwardly patted my shoulder.

“You were safer outside of the city. Hank would be upset if you had gotten hurt.” I nodded, closing the book.

“Could we look at the rest some other time? There’s a few more androids and I’m not sure if I’m ready to hear about their fate.”

“Of course. Are you going to bed?” I looked at my phone.

“Nah, it’s only 8. If I sleep now, I’ll mess up my sleep schedule even more and wake up at like 4 am. What do you want to do?”

“Would you like to watch the second Muppets movie?” I smiled.

“So, you liked the movie?” Connor smiled back.

“It was interesting. I enjoyed the fact that they knew it was a movie.”

“Well, the next one is ‘The Great Caper’, but that one’s probably my least favorite.”

“Is it essential to watch them in order?” Connor asked, tilting his head.

“God no, they’re a mess. Some of the ones that were made later have an order, but for the most part you can watch them in any order.”

“You can pick which one next.” I smiled widely.

“’The Muppets take Manhattan’, it is then!” I found the movie on the tv but waited to press play. “Hey, Connor. Sometimes you tilt your head a little. Is that in your programming or did you pick that up somewhere?”

“I was programmed to blend in with humans, it’s one of the few ‘quirks’ Cyberlife gave me, why?” I watched him, he looked as if he was about to tilt his head again but stopped himself causing me to chuckle.

“I’ve noticed you do it a lot and when Nines was in my office, he did it a couple times. I was wondering if you both were programmed to do that or if he picked it up from you.”

“I believe it is in both of our programming.” I nodded and clicked play on the movie. I patted the couch and Sumo jumped up next to me. “Sumo is not allowed on the couch.”

“It’s a special occasion, one night won’t hurt, Connor.” He frowned as his LED flashed yellow.

“It’s Friday night, there is no holiday today.”

“Exactly.” I said, turning my eyes to the movie. His LED changed back to blue as he sighed. He glanced at Sumo one more time, before finally starting to watch the movie.

 “Together again

Gee, it's good

to be together again

I just can't imagine that

you've ever been gone

It's not starting over 

It's just going on

Together again…”

[dobrikburrito]

The reader becomes viral for their YouTube videos, David wants then to be in a couple of bits. And after the videos go up the fans love it with the reader + vlog squad and want to see more. So eventually David convinces the reader to move in and while in the mix of all that, they develop feelings for each other.

disclaimer: I turned it into a little funny blurb, but all for the sake of the jokes. 

“Oh my God, I can’t believe this is actually happening,” David said, looking at you through his rear view mirror. “Guys, this is really happening. I’m so nervous. Look at my hands.” David shows his shaky hands to the camera.

You made your way towards the Tesla, feeling all sorts of butterflies. You opened the door and saw a blushing yet smiling David staring back at you. “Hiii,” You said, sitting on the passenger’s seat.

“Hiii,” David said back, while laughing way too hard, making you laugh too.

“The first 30 minutes of footage is just us awkwardly laughing,” You comment, looking at his camera on the car panel. David loved the joke and even did the muppet dive.

After a couple of minutes, you both were able to calm your nerves and just pretend to be civil. “So, how are you doing?”

“I’m great! Not freaking out at all, meeting David Dobrik.” You joke nonchalantly.

“Are you kidding me? You’re a viral sensation, I’m so lucky to even have you here,” David smiled, making you feel more comfortable around him.

David started to drive as you guys made your way to Chick-fil-A to grab something to eat.

“Okay, let’s just get to it. How many views do you have on your most watched video?” David asked, staring back at the road.

“362 million, so far.” You informed him, which made David choke and start to laugh.

“Thank God this car can drive itself,” David joked and both of you laughed. “Ok, how many subscribers do you have now?”

“Almost 9 million now.” You informed him again, he nodded, knowingly.

“Shit you’re getting close to me,” David smiled. “How long did it take for you to reach that number, though?”

“Two months.” You smiled and David slapped himself in the face.

“I’m fucked.” Both of you laughed loudly.

You spent the next couple of hours talking and eating with David inside the Tesla, but soon he drove both of you back to his house, since you agreed to be part of some pranks and bits.

“Why am I more excited to see your Ferrari than meeting you?” You joked when you arrived at his place.

David unlocked the Ferrari and you sat on the passenger seat, which led to David turning the car on just to make the engine roar and impress you. The camera was obviously rolling, since David wouldn’t waste a second with you there.

When you heard the roar, your immediate response was “Can girls get boners?” David started laughing. “Cause if not then I’m worried.”

You waited on the outside of his house, while David had half of the vlog squad sitting on his couch and went to set up two cameras, one for you and one for their reaction. He asked everyone to close their eyes and you sneaked in, sitting on the lovesac in front of everybody.

“Okay, ready. 3…2…1… Open your eyes!” David said out loud for everybody to hear.

And when they did, you put on your sassy tone which gave you millions of views on youtube just to put up the character bit that your fans called Queen Bitch.

“Bitch, the fuck, you can’t wear only your coochie to Coachella. That outfit is not enough Boho despite what we know of your stinky ass. This is Co-A-Chella, NOT Coochella.”

Needless to say, that earned David about 1 minute and 40 seconds of the whole vlog squad freaking out laughing and screaming of having you there. You got hugs and bows and they welcomed you with open arms. Todd even got you on his arms when they were jokingly chanting your name.

“I knew your vlog squad was a cult.” You mentioned to David on camera, making him laugh.

The video went up early in the morning of tuesday, but a couple of hours later you got a FaceTime call from David.

“Hey there, what’s up?” You were eating some yogurt with granola.

“Did you see the video yet?” David asked you, with a huge smile on his face. “Did you see how many views we hit in two hours?”

“Uh… Not really. What is it? Wait, let me check.” You clicked on youtube on your phone, finding David’s channel and his latest vlog. The video already had 14 million views. “Wait, did you say two hours?”

“Yep, yeah I did. This is fucking insane!” David was completely shocked.

“I told you I’d pay your Ferrari for you.” You smiled at him, loving how easy and fun it was to talk to David, you both got along so well since the beginning.

David laughed. “Aw, that’s funny. You need to say that on the next vlog.”

You smiled, then realizing what he just said. “Wait what? am I gonna be in another one?”

“If you want to, yeah!” David smiled. “Also, I beg you, please, just come. I have so many ideas for pranks, you have no idea. I’ve been brainstorming since I was editing.”

You couldn’t help but laugh. “David Dobrik are you recruiting me for the Vlog Squad?” You said it with the funniest sarcastic tone.

“When you say it like that it sounds really lame,” David was laughing. “I just want you to hang out with us.”

You smiled, endearing. “Can I have a bit where every time I say the word watermelon Jeff needs to take off his shirt?” You smiled, sassy.

“Absolutely, anything you want.” David laughed at your proposal. “Also, he already takes it off for no reason, so we might as well make a bit out of it.”

“It’s a deal, then.” You offered your hand for a virtual handshake and David did the same, both of you cracking up laughing afterwards. “Alright dork, I’ll see you later. Try not to drown on all the money you’re getting from our video.”

“Why do you think I’m building up a pool?” David smiled at you.

“So you can put dollar bills in it and swim?” You asked.

“So I can put dollar bills in it and swim.” He said at the same time.

[adara-of-the-flame]

Afar and SkekSil for the if they had a kid meme ~ whimperingcrystalxlord

((Under readmore, because it’s long.))

((Yes, from ‘Afar’. Because they sure as heck didn’t make these kids the, ‘traditional’ way!))

Name: Moon (not SkekMoon, just ‘Moon’) the Anarchist. Named for David Bowie’s Moonage Daydream.

Gender: Female preference, physically hermaphroditic like her Father.

General Appearance: One might say she choose to become a goth because she doesn’t like her appearance. Well, that’s half-right. She doesn’t like her face, or her body, and covers them up accordingly. Goth just looks cool, and so is black. Always wears a short top hat and round, black or mirrored shades, and ink-black shoulder-length hair like Jack White, but more spiky, and made to cover her cheeks, which are round and chubby (which she hates). Her head is surprisingly mostly human-shaped, with a very flat and low beak that doubles as her lips. Sort of like an owl. She’s learned how to hide this using a few tricks with face paint: ink your lips black like a diamond, no one knows you have a beak. Add diamonds to your eyes to complete the look. 

Moon usually looks overdressed, but not so much in extravagant layers like a full-blooded SkekSis, but more like she’s deliberately trying to cover every part of her body in clothes that seem a size to big for her slight frame. A long, heavy, black skirt reaches down almost to the ground, to hide her tail and pot belly, And, a very thick (sometimes leather) black jacket zipped or buttoned all the way up to the collar. Some jewelry (SkekSis weakness for shinnies), silver piercings, and lots of rubber rocker bracelets covering both wrists. Surprisingly, she doesn’t trim her black claws--they work perfect for strumming the guitar. Her appearance is almost reminiscent of Steampunk, with heavily Gothic overtones.

...And, she does have a tendency to get too carried away when she’s performing...or, just when she wants to speak against authority. 

Personality: She sounds a lot like April Ludgate. ...Both in tone and choice of words. If there was ever a SkekSis who would be sent to the Order Of Lesser Service for insubordination and questioning authority, it would be Moon The Anarchist. And, she would ring those hat bells with the kind of stoic pride that comes from knowing full well that her punishment could be used to put the failings of the current government on full display. Let’s just say, she doesn’t suffer the aristocracy, and despite her imposing and disturbing appearance, she prefers the company of the common people. This brooding girl loves Podlings. She’s fairly active in protesting, preaching and acting against injustices, both personally and impersonally. Though, more often then not, she comes off as pushy and annoying. She does have her moments, though.

Moon seems to have only two settings: disturbingly still and quiet, and very, very loud. Usually, the loud part is reserved for singing. It’s almost like she’s conserving her energy for the performance.... Most of the time, she has same, dull, unreadable expression on her face. 

Special Talents: Guitar, baby. Acoustic, electric, bass, ect...she shreds them all with extreme energy and movement. Much like the guy with the all-white guitar in My Chemical Romance’s Helena. Also, with a little creativity, she’s learned to play the violin with the smaller set of arms on her back. 

Who they like better: Mom, definitely. Despite all her rebellion, Moon’s a Mama’s girl. 

Who they take after more: Neither, really. Moon and her sister picked their own path, and their own way.

Personal Head canon: She’s named for the second (deliberately strange) song Adara taught SkekSil upon arriving on Thra. 

Face Claim: ...I have no idea. 

Theme Song: The Sound of Silence (yes, I know Simon and Garfunkel did it first, but Disturbed’s cover matches her better. And, Welcome to The Black Parade, by My Chemical Romance.

Gender: Female preference, physically hermaphroditic like her Father.

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

Name: Mars (not UrMars, just ‘Mars’) the Free Spirit. Named for David Bowie’s Life On Mars.

General Appearance: You know ‘Janice’ from The Muppets? A face like that, but with less long eyelashes and not so prominent lips. Or lipstick. No lipstick. Very straight, jet-black hair. We’re talking Cher in the 70′s straight, black hair. Or, like those paintings of Heian period Japan: very straight, very long. She’s bulky like other Uru, but her posture is a LOT better. 

Mars The Free Spirit loves color. She prefers hoodies, and will be seen with a different colored one each day. And, lots of rainbow, cartoon, and band name decals ironed onto the fabric. She’s also sewed on extra sleeves for her extra set of arms. And, pockets. Lots of extra, sewn-on pockets. And, a pair of saggy pants with a hole in the back for her tail. And, an overly-excessive collection of hand-woven friendship bracelets on both wrists. She’s also known to wear a pair of very large mirror-disk earrings. 

She’s very open about her unusual appearance, and is happy to answer questions when the random kid walks up to her and asks why she looks ‘weird’. She’ll even put a positive spin on it: “An extra pair of hands comes in ‘handy’! See? Did you get the joke?” Why does she have a ‘funny’ face? A tail? “Beats me. Probably the same reason I have four arms. Pretty neat, huh?” She’s extremely tall, too, at six feet.

Personality: She sounds like Autumn Blaze from My Little Pony. “Do your own thing, man. It’s all cool.” Despite her Uru heritage, Mars is..quite the chatterbox. Really. She talks a lot. And, very quickly when it’s a subject she likes. And, she likes a lot of subjects. Mars also has a tendency to run off on tangents. It’s not easy to keep her focused. She also sometimes misses the point on a topic. IE, Once, Adara mentioned that her kids are lucky she didn’t name them, ‘Pink’, and ‘Floyd’. ...Mars, who was decked head to toe in pink that day. “I could’ve been Floyd?!”

Mars also has a tendency to bob her head when she talks...or just in general, so all that long hair moves a lot. It’s a wonder it never gets tangled. 

Who they like better: ...I don’t think Mars has ever met anyone she didn’t like. You can find something to like in everybody, if you take the time, and care enough to look!

Special Talents: Guitar, definitely. But, Mars’s extra arms also afford her a gift with piano, and drums. But, she found out the hard way that it’s a lot more difficult to drag a piano and a set of drums around than she thought (The White Stripes made it look so easy!), so she mostly strums a guitar like her sister, Moon. Double necked guitars are a breeze. 

A double pair of arms means she can play dueling pianos all by herself. And, she is a skilled rapper and beat boxer--something she got from her Mother’s species. She’s got quite the talent for improvising.  And, needless to say, she’s really, really fast. 

Her music also comes with a sense of humor.

Who they take after more: Neither, really. Mars and her sister picked their own path, and their own way.

Personal Head canon:  She’s named for the first (deliberately strange) song Adara taught SkekSil upon arriving on Thra.

Face Claim: ...Anyone have a dark-haired, lipstick-free, bulky Janice puppet with extra arms, and who’s bangs cover their eyes?

Theme Song: Sunshine, Lollipops And Rainbows, by Lesley Gore.

And, yet, despite all this, the sisters are surprisingly close. They have a means of DreamFasting without touching, even over great distances, and can talk to each other inside their minds. They can’also talk the The Crystal of Truth, but to almost everyone else, it sounds like they’re having a one-sided conversation.

They are also both accomplished singers who have the ability to shatter things with their voices.

[lovemesomesurveys]

5,000 questions survey series–part forty-two

These surveys always take me so long to get through, hence why I took such a long break from them. The questions are just too much at times and some are just plain annoying. But, I’ll try and finish it eventually. A couple of you have been taking it lately, so I figured I’d start up again.

4001. How would you rate your sex drive? It’s been non-existent the past few years, honestly.  4002. You are sitting alone with a stack of videos and a vcr. Of the following which are you most likely to puut on (1 is most, 10 is least) I’m just gonna bold which one I’d likely watch out of all of ‘em...

The good the bad and the ugly, dracula, slc punk, twin peaks fire walk with me, jerry springer too hot for tv, singing in the rain, flash gordon, the matrix, blade runner, the muppet movie 4003. Are you more likley to get or send random instant messages? I receive nice messages more often than I receive random ones. I got a rude one recently; however, about how I’m still a 31 year old virgin. Does it affect their life? No. So, don’t worry about it. *eye roll* I do get a lot of random comments on my surveys from su*ar da**ies, though... super annoying. 4004. If you were writing an ad telling people to come to your town what would you say about it? I wouldn’t write such an ad. My town sucks. 4005. What part of your body can you not stand to get an itch on? One that’s hard to reach.

4006. How many people do you suppose have stolen that System of a Down album called 'steal this album'? I haven’t heard anything about that, I’m not even familiar with that album of theirs. I’m there were people who tried/did.  4007. Name a band you like: Linkin Park. What are/were this band's roots and influences? Zeppelin, Run DMC, Public Enemy, Rage Against the Machine, Depeche Mode. 4008. would you rather have a poster of john lennon or a cute fuzzy black cat? Cute fuzzy black cat. 4009. make a public service announcement: Wear a mask! 4010. What makes you feel the need to escape? Just the need for a change of scenery and to help take my mind off things a bit for a little while. I’m sad I couldn’t go to the beach at all this summer because that’s my one place where I’m able to relax at all and just zone out. 4011. You and your signifigant other, crush, interest etc...who is the ernie and who is the bert? I don’t have any of those. 4012. When was the last time you did something and later asked yourself 'did I do the right thing?'? I hate when I forget if I took my medicine or not. I end up taking it, questioning and hoping that I didn’t already take it. I feel so robotic at times and like I’m just living life on autopilot, so things like that tend to happen. 4013. What do you find it hard to say goodbye to? I have a hard time getting rid of things because of my emotional attachment to them. 4014. What is your fantasy valentine's day like? I’ll admit it, it would be nice to experience a Valentine’s Day with someone and actually do something. It’s always been just another day for me. 4015. If you had to have a color for a name, what color would it be? Jade. 4016. Should preference be given to minority students during the college admission process? I think everyone should have the same opportunity.  4017. Sweet wine, fresh crisp appples, bagles with creme cheese and lox...what is the most incredibly luxurious food? I don’t know about those options, but if I were to think of luxurious foods I’d think of like expensive wine, cheeses, fresh fruits, and seafood like caviar and lobster and whatnot. I’m picky so I personally don’t care for fancy foods. 4018. Is there really anything to fear in communism? I don’t know enough about communism and socialism and all that to speak on it. 4019. Best sesame street character: Uhh, Big Bird. most annoying sesame street character: Elmo can be a little annoying sometimes. 4020. feast or famine? I don’t need to overindulge and have excess, I just would like to be able to have food.  4021. Write a poem right here in five minutes or less: Nah. 4022. Do you stay and help clean up after a party? I usually was one to leave early. 4023. Why was the teddy bear named after teddy roosevelt? His name was Theodore, Teddy for short, and apparently while out on a hunting trip he refused to kill a bear and someone dedicated a bear stuffed animal to him and called it Teddy’s Bear. Then it was just called a teddy bear and the rest was history. 4024. What are you the prince or princess of? Uhhh. 4025. Some people think that Christmas should be taken off of public school calanders because it is politically incorrect. What aould you say to this? I say no. It can still be winter break for those who don’t celebrate. 4026. Would you rather go to an excorcism or a step aerobics class? Uh, I think an aerobics class sounds a lot better than an exorcism. I wouldn’t be able to participate in a step aerobics class, though. I’d have to do something else. 4027. Do you believe in spells and curses? No. 4028. What tv show does your family watch together? There isn’t really one all 4 of us watch, but there’s several that 2 or 3 of us watch together. I guess Family Guy or American Dad could be one all 4 of us could watch, although I don’t really care for either one much. 4029. What's on your calander this year? Nothing. 4030. Is anything ruining your life? It has felt that way with my health issues. 4031. How was life meant to be lived? “We were meant to live for so much moreeee.” 🎶

4032. What is your usual breakfast? I rarely have breakfast, but I like breakfast foods like eggs and hash browns. And country gravy, yum. 4033. If you had kids, would you worry about what they did online? Of course.  4034. Will you be maxin and relaxin this weekend? Sure. If not, what are your weekened plans? 4035. Who has the most interesting story to tell: someone who used to fly to asia as a drug trader the ceo of Nike a nyc homeless person a preacher's wife

^^^They all would. 4036. What do you have a bad feeling about? The future regarding this virus. 4037. Do you have a lot to say? No. 4038. If a smallpox vaccine was offered to you, would you take it? Wasn’t that one of the ones given as a baby or child? I should mention I live in the US. 4039. Would you ever work at a kissing booth? No. how about a dunking booth? No. 4040. There is a woman who paints by stripping naked, rolling around in paint and then pressing her body against the canvas. What do you think of her art? I’ve never seen it, but hey do your thing. 4041. Have you ever bought something you saw on tv? Yeah, I mean that’s what commercials are intended to do. However, I’ve never called the number for a product advertisement to order something that way. Like those as seen on TV products. There have been some of those products sold in actual stores, though, that I’ve got like the Snuggie and that Finishing Touch Flawless Razor. 4042. Name a relative:  that relative dies unexpectedly. On the same day 9/11 happens. You can either bring back your relative or bring back 1/2 the people who dies on 9/11. What do you do? I don’t like these type of questions. 4043. Have you gone mental? I’ve definitely felt like that. 4044. What do you think of jews for jesus? You word this like it’s the name of a group or something. Okay, so I Googled it and see that it’s an organization.  4045. Has anyone ever tried to 'save' you? Yes. 4046. Quick! picture santa clause in your head... ...Okay. Was he black or white when you pictured him? White. That’s just how I’ve often seen him portrayed. 4047. Would you ever buy a black santa clause? Sure. Santa isn’t real, you can make him look any way you want. 4048. or take your kids to vist a black santa clause? Yeah? why or why not? Santa is Santa.  4049. What do you smell like? I just smell my clothes laundry detergent scent. 4050. What kind of soup do you eat? I’m a ramen girl all the way. 4051. What have you heard about the next Harry Potter book? Will you pre-order it? I know this is old, but I haven’t read any of the Harry Potter books. 4052. Would you rather go out or stay in? I’m a hermit crab.  4053. What's your favorite song to hear on halloween? I like the classics like Monster Mash. Oh, and the Halloween movie theme music for spooky vibes. 4054. What song makes you feel all tingly like you want to laugh and scream and cry? Uhh I don’t feel that way about any song. 4055. If you were starting a website that was not about you, what Would it be about? Nah. 4056. Do you ever take the long way just for fun? I don’t drive. 4057. '..and god said let there be ____and there I was.' Fill in the blank, as if if you were talking about yourself. ‘...and God said let there be Stephanie and there I was.’ 4058. What do you think of when you hear the word 'mill'? A million.  4059. What do you think of when you hear the name: weird al? Parodies. bob dylan? Music. michael jackson? Moon dance. henry rollins? billy idol? White wedding. gary numan? will smith? Fresh Prince of Bel Air. paul mcartney? Black Bird. alice cooper? Rock and roll. J Lo? Jenny from the Block. 4060. What is one social disater you have had? It was really embarrassing getting sick in front of everyone at my party 7 years ago aka the last time I drank alcohol. I just threw up on myself in front of everyone and sat there and my friend had to help clean me up. What really messes me up is that I don’t remember drinking that much, so I don’t know how I got so drunk. 4061. Can you moonwalk? No. 4062. If a presidential candidate went on late night tv, picked up a guitar and rocked out on it and could really play, would that influence you to like/respect them more? I’d probably be like wow that’s cool, but no I wouldn’t let that influence my vote. Them being able to play an instrument doesn’t say shit about their policies or whether they’d make a good fit for the job. 4064. If it was possible for people to instantly change from one sex to another, would everyone be straight in the end? Uhh just cause they could switch their gender it doesn’t change their brain/sexual preference.  Would you change your sex? No. 4065. Finish the sentance: nobody broke your heart, if you're alone... I don’t know. 4066. Would you rather have a best friend OR a boyfriend/girlfriend on a Friday night? I’d rather stay at home and do my own thing, ha. 4067. Would a woman rather be complimented about her intelligence OR her looks? Depends on the individual.  4068. Do you tend to think of the right thing to say after the moment is gone? Always. Super annoying. 4069. Would you rather a potential mate have nice hair OR nice legs? Nice hair out of the two. 4070. Okay,…. nice hair OR a nice rack/bulge? I don’t look for a “nice bulge” when I look at guys. 4071. What is one thing you thought you would enjoy, but actually didn’t? Hmm. I’m blanking at the moment. 4072. Be in the spotlight OR in the shadows? In the shadows. 4073. What is your favorite part of the newspaper? I haven’t read a newspaper in several years. When I was a kid I loved the comics, though. 4074. What in your life has been an “acquired taste” for you? Alcohol. I never really cared for it, honestly. I drank because my friends were and felt like that’s what people in their early 20s liked to do. And because it was fun sometimes, though I more often just felt like crap. It’s been 7 years since I last drank and I truly haven’t missed it. 4075. Do you find sunlight makes you happier? No. 4076. If you could conquer one fear, it would be...? I’d take care of some health related things. 4077. What's the dumbest thing you've ever seen someone do or heard anyone has done? There’s been a lot of things. 4078. How do you feel about the fact that J-Lo earns 37 million dollars a year? Is that actually true? This survey is also like a decade or so old. Do you buy anything that contributes to her salary? I haven’t bought any JLO related in several years. Is J Lo the ultimate ideal of what a woman should be? To some people. 4079. What is unforgettable beauty? I don’t know. 4080. Worst fashion mistake EVER: I don’t know or care. 4081. What is your advice to someone on their first date? Ha, I’m definitely not one to ask for dating advice. 4082. Is there a musical performer more ridiculous than Avril Lavigne (I don't think there is)? I didn’t think she was ridiculous.  4083. What is the best: daytime talk show? Dr. Phil. late night talk show? I don’t watch any anymore. 4084. Are you afraid of total freedom? What would that mean? 4085. Do you live in an invisible prison? I feel that way with my mind and health. 4086. Who do you feel distant from, that you used to be close to? I’m not close to anyone anymore outside of my immediate family.  4087. Rate the following song lyrics (1 = you like it the most, 9 = you like it the least). Nah, I really hate the rating questions. Maybe you shouldn't care/throw away those dreams/& dare Eden lets me in/I find the seeds of love/And climb upon the highwire/I kiss and tell all my fears I know the pressure is on/In a race for the life of endless love/If it seems to much/Remember/All these things are endless I see the wind, oh I see the trees/Everything is clear in my heart/I see the clouds, oh I see the sky/Everything is clear in our world Inflatable doll/Lover ungrateful/I blew up your body/But you blew my mind Well I jumped into the river/too many times to make it home/I'm out here on my own/drifting all alone/and if it doesn't show/ give it time/to read between the lines The very thought of you makes/My heart sing/Like an April breeze/On the wings of spring/And you appear in all your splendor/My one and only love now I've had lots of girls/most of them from other worlds/but lookin through the galaxey/the valley girls are the ones for me I'm the dandy highwayman so sick of easy fashion/the clumsy boots, peek-a-boo roots that people think so dashing/so what's the point of robbery when nothing is worth taking?/it's kind of tough to tell a scruff the big mistake he's making 4088. Can you name any of the nine bands/songs above? I didn’t even read any of the lyrics. 4089. What would your reaction be if a total stranger called to say s/he loved you and told you that you were to pass the message on to others in a telephone call you make yourself? Uh, I wouldn’t answer a call from a total stranger first of all and even if I actually did, I would be like wtf and hang up.  4090. Would you like to take a journey to jupiter? No. I have no desire to take any trip to outer space. 4091. Can you crack nuts in your bare hands? I’ve never tried, but I’m going to assume that I couldn’t.  4092. Do you take walks at night? No. Or ever. 4093. Beavis and Butthead or daria? Neither. 4094. Cow or chicken? Chicken. 4095. Do you think you will visit China in this life? I don’t see that happening, but who knows.  4096. Are you having a happy day? No. 4097. When was or will be your 'golden birthday' (when your age is the same as your birthdate, like turning 17 on the 17th)? My golden birthday was 3 years ago. 4098. Enlighten everyone with something profound: Nah. 4099. When has the third time been the charm for you? Hmm. 4100. What is kinda sick, but fun? Uhhh.

[glowin-theshark]

MC Character Collage Challenge

Rules: Make a collage of characters that summarize what you headcanon your MC to be like!

I was tagged by the wonderful @elite4steffi and this was a lot of fun! I also kinda went a little overboard and made a couple of bonus material, so this post may be a bit lengthy...

1. Roger Radcliffe - 101 Dalmations The biggest trait these two share is a burning passion for music. Danielle can play several instruments and is always eager to learn more. And just like Roger, she will randomly burst into song and sing about her friends/people she knows. If there isn’t a song that bares their name or something about them already, she will make one up! She also has no problem sharing her home with 101 of any kind of animal/creature.

2. Jane Porter - Tarzan Jane and Danielle are both incredibly kind, intelligent, curious, helpful, and willing to try new things. Both are not afraid to fight for others and for what’s right. They both have a rather calm demeanor, but can simultaneously be a bit odd or quirky at times. And they also both have a thing for strong, buff guys that spend all their free time with creatures and that have a hard time reading, so... 

3. Kiki - Kiki’s Delivery Service Kiki perfectly reflects Danielle’s inner child. She is very positive and optimistic about the future and is very eager to find her place in the world. When things don’t go as planned or when things aren’t becoming clear for her, she can feel a bit discouraged and may withdraw for a time. However, she usually is able to pick herself up again when she loses herself with helping others and surrounding herself with those that she loves.  

4. Kermit - the Muppets This may seem like an odd choice, but Kermit would most likely be Danielle’s patronus. He actually reflects the type of leadership Danielle exhibits. While not particularly bold or assertive, she share’s Kermit’s thoughtful approaches to situations. Her gentleness and wisdom are what naturally draw people to her, and many of her friends appreciate her ability to keep them grounded while still being supportive of their idealistic goals. And just like Kermit, she is rather accepting of the various weirdos that make up her friend-group. Their crazy antics rarely faze her, and she sometimes even joins them in the silliness. 

Also, the range of expressions that Kermit makes perfectly match the kinds of reactions Danielle would have in various situations:

5. Anne Shirley - Anne of Green Gables Just like Anne, Danielle is super creative and very imaginative. If she gets too into an idea, though, she may lose some touch with reality and have her head too lost in the clouds. And while she is generally good at accepting other’s, she may rarely resent those that attack others or her ideals *cough*Merula Snyde*cough*. It may take time for her to lose those feelings, but it is possible.

6. Milo Thatch - Atlantis: The Lost Empire Danielle is pretty much the genderbend of Milo Thatch. In fact, he was one of the biggest influences I had when I was creating her. She shares the same intellect, nerdiness, passion (sometimes obsession) for the things that she loves, awkward phrase-switching, eagerness to explore, and devotion to her loved ones. Her treatment of the vaults and of her brother reflect Milo’s towards his grandfather and finding Atlantis. 

And also, this:

I tag @redhairedgryffindor @heleneplays @marmotish @quirky-middle-child @dat-silvers-girl @nancylovesyou @ravenclaw-craftsgirl @redhairslyterin (if they haven’t been tagged already and/or would like to). I also tag anyone else that would like to join in!

[eldritchsurveys]

889.

5k Survey XVI

751. What causes you to panic? >> Emotional flashbacks, usually. 752. Do you believe that you have a strong personality? >> I don’t know if I have a strong personality. I think sometimes my particular flavour of... self... or whatever can be a little much for some people, especially people used to a more fawning and socially-acceptable attitude. So if that’s what that means, then sure. If it means something else, you’ll have to be clearer. 753. When Jesus saves souls…does he trade them in for valuable prizes? >> Ha! 754. What resolutions would you make if it were new years? >> I don’t make New Year’s Resolutions. 755. Why wait? >> Right? (I mean, I get the “fresh new notebook” kind of feel of a new year. I do. But I just... find that locking myself into only starting a new venture when the year is new is a guarantee for failure.)

756. Do you feel like time is on your side or working against you? >> Time is indifferent towards me. 757. What do you do for yourself when you are down to put a little joy back into your life? >> I don’t, really. I’m prone to depressive spirals. It’s usually Can Calah that pretty much nags me out of it, when he can. 758. How much Tolkien have you read? >> I read The Silmarillion (and it’s at the top of my to-reread list right now, since it’s thankfully on Scribd) and I read like one-eighth of LOTR before I got mired in the Tom Bombadil stuff and lost interest. 759. These are the songs on the radio. Which are you most likely to listen to: Time Bomb by Rancid Dead Man’s party by Oingo Boingo The Sun Always Shines on TV by A-ha 50 Ways to leave Your Lover by Paul Simon Run by collective Soul  >> Run is an okay song, and I know it, so that. I’m not sure I’ve ever heard any of these other songs, and I don’t know if I would like them. 760. Do you believe that Jesus existed as a real person? >> I like the theory that he’s an aggregate of a few people, like a mythic hero. That just seems most likely to me, particularly considering the fact that the Bible as we know it is just a bunch of things written by a bunch of different people and rewritten and bound together for convenience later on. 761. Do you believe he was the son of god? >> I mean, I don’t have any specific beliefs about him, since I’m not a part of that faith. I’ve always liked stories about half-god/half-man beings, though, I think that kind of experience is interesting to read about. (I guess I would, wouldn’t I. *snort*) 762. How do you feel about organized religion? >> Obviously, I’m very interested in it in its myriad forms. I just haven’t adopted any as my own. 763. What sentence have you heard lately, that would sound pretty odd out of context? >> I’m sure there are a lot of sentences like that, but I can’t think of one right now. 763. If you had to choose one image to be a symbol of our times, what would you pick? >> I wouldn’t. 764. Name a group of people: >> A kindergarten. 765. How many of them does it take to screw in a light bulb? >> Okay, I didn’t know what the next question was going to be, but this has created a hilarious image in my head.

766. Do you like the movie The Labyrinth with David Bowie and some Muppets? >> I love that movie, are you kidding?? I would watch it again right now if I could. 767. Do you like the movie The Dark Crystal? >> I do, it was lovely. 768. Metallica or Guns N’ Roses? >> I like both of them pretty equally. 769. Do you follow the Chinese zodiac? >> No. 770. Do you like reggae music? >> I’ll listen to it if it’s playing. It’s not something that I have in my Spotify rotation, though. Well, except for Skindred, who do ragga metal, which is a hybrid that includes reggae. 771. What makes your life worth it every day? >> --- 772. Do you seize each day and sink your teeth into it? >> Don’t be absurd. 773. I’ve heard people say that Jim Morrison never yawned because he was just so full of life. How often do you yawn? >> I think Jim Morrison was my first favourite mythic hero, lol. This is such a funny thing to say about a person. Anyway, I don’t know how often I yawn. The normal amount? Maybe? Whatever. 774. Who decides what behavior is ‘crazy’ or 'sane’? >> You know. People. 775. Who are the most inspiring artists, musicians, poets, and writers? >> --- 776. Did anything historically significant happen in the year you were born? >> I’m sure; historically significant things happen all the time (especially within the past century or so). Go check out the Wikipedia page for 1987 if you’re that curious. 777. Besides blowing out birthday candles when do you make wishes? >> I don’t make wishes, period. 778. Are you self-sufficient? >> Not particularly. 779. Is it better to be wanted or needed? >> I don’t know, man, you’re asking the wrong person. 780. What do you feel is an appropriate age to lose one’s virginity at? >> I don’t care. 781. Do you feel that the appropriate age for girls and for boys is different? >> Definitely don’t care. 782. Are you a hard person to get to know? >> I feel like I must be. 783. What is the craziest thing you have ever done out of anger? >> I used to break things, which isn’t so crazy in itself, but most often the thing I would break would actually be something I liked. Like how I threw my CD player and broke it that one time (probably more than once, actually). I think it was some form of self-sabotage or self-punishment, because, you know. Emotional neglect and abuse, yay. 784. What’s the MOST annoying sound you can think of? >> I can’t think of a sound that isn’t annoying right now, so. 785. What’s the silliest vegetable you can think of? >> What. 786. Do you believe in love at first sight? >> I don’t care. If someone says that’s what happened to them, then I’m certainly not going to pretend I know their own experience better than they do, that’s for sure. 787. Name one thing you have referred to in the past as “better than sex”: >> I made shirts that said “[musician’s name] is better than sex” when I was in my early 20s, lol. Wore one to a concert and the named musician said it was beautiful. :p 788. What do you see when you turn out the light? >> Depends on how dark it is, innit. 789. Do you like jazz, blues and/or swing music? >> Not especially. I like jazz in certain situations -- like if I’m in New Orleans, I expect to hear jazz everywhere, and it fits the vibe of where I am. It’s environmentally appropriate. Blues... I don’t know. I haven’t heard enough blues songs to have found ones I like.  790. Do you prefer gold or silver jewelry? >> Gold. 791. In what ways do you want your children to be like you? >> --- 792. In what ways would you want your children to be different from you? >> --- 793. What was the scariest movie you’ve ever seen? >> I don’t know. 794. What was the funniest movie you’ve ever seen? >> I don’t know. 795. What was the worst movie you’ve ever seen? >> --- 796. Are you a good massage-giver? >> No, because I have no experience giving massages and I wouldn’t want to anyway. 797. What is one question that no one can ever truthfully answer 'yes’ to? >> “Does human consciousness persist after the body dies?” I guess. Although many people certainly say “yes” all the time as if they have any more knowledge than the rest of us, lmao. 798. Is there more to this world than human beings can perceive? >> Well, sure. Our senses are limited, that’s just a fact. 799. If matter is neither created nor destroyed then is it possible that you are made up of molecules that once made up Ghandi or Jesus or Einstein? >> Well, yeah, that’s pretty much what I figured. “We are all star stuff” and that sort of thing. 800. Are you often sarcastic? >> Not often.

[ramblingguy54]

26, 29, 30, 36?

*cracks knuckles*Alright, let’s do this.

26: The late Robin Williams & Hayao Miyazaki are two particular people in my life I’ve idolized for what happiness/imagination they’ve brought into others lives. Robin Williams untimely passing still hurts for me to look back on because this man made it his mission to bring so much joy into other peoples lives through his acting on the big screen, whether it was dramatic or comedic. That’s what I found the most impressive about Robin’s range in acting. He could be an over the top funny individual, but Robin’s acting chops were in a league of their own. Whether he was behind the microphone having the time of his life as Genie on Aladdin or giving a powerful dramatic performance on Good Will Hunting as Will’s therapist, I could feel the unconditional kindness. There was something about Robin’s acting power that would usually manage to reel me in. Even if I never knew him in real life, obviously, this man just radiated with so much kindness that I felt from his entire presence on screen. It’s seriously unfortunate what became of Robin Williams in the end with his unexpected death, but his legacy has inspired me to be kinder to others in real life. As for Hayao Miyazaki, this guy is a huge factor in why I got into loving anime related stuff all the more, as his creations in storytelling and the art itself for the movies were beyond unlike anything I still have yet to seen be topped quite frankly. It’s so easy for me to get emotionally lost in his films like My Neighbor Totoro, Princess Mononoke, Castle In The Sky, and Spirited Away. This man never ceases to amaze me with how usually impactful and in depth his films are. They’re so full life that it’s easy to lose sight of whats happening in the actual story at times. Mayazaki understood how to breathe a ton of humanity into creating such resonating works of fiction. Have a much greater appreciation for them in my adult years. There’s a reason why they inspired companies, like Pixar, to create immersive stories of their own.

29: Favorite films range from Zootopia, Wreck It Ralph, M. Night Shyamalan’s Unbreakable, Aladdin (1992), The Secret Of NIMH, The Lion King (1994), The Incredibles, UP, Ratatouille, Wall-E, Finding Nemo, Inside Out, Kung Fu Panda 1 & 2, How To Train Your Dragon Trilogy, Toy Story 1-4, The Great Mouse Detective, Lilo & Stitch, The Emperors New Groove, A Goofy Movie, Good Will Hunting, The Fox And The Hound, The Land Before Time, The Brave Little Toaster, Frozen, Shrek 1 & 2, Coraline, Paranorman, Kubo And The Two Strings, The Muppets (2011), Princess Mononoke, Castle In The Sky, My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki’s Delivery Service, Spirited Away, Porco Rosso, Summer Wars, Beauty and the Beast (1991), Winnie The Pooh (1977 & 2011 iterations.), The Peanuts Movie, The Princess And The Frog, The Jungle Book (2016), Scooby Doo On Zombie Island, Harry Potters’ 1-7, Christopher Nolan’s Batman Trilogy, Wonder Woman, Sam Raimi’s Spiderman 1 & 2, The Black Panther, Thor & Thor Ragnorok, The Avengers, Avengers Infinity War & Endgame, Spiderman Into the Spiderverse, Captain America Trilogy, Iron Man Trilogy, Star Wars Episodes 4-8, and The Breakfast Club to stop this list from getting any longer. =P

30: Favorite TV shows range from Cowboy Bebop, Avatar The Last Airbender, Yu Yu Hakusho, Digimon Adventure 01 & Tamers, Teen Titans (2003), Batman The Animated Series, Ed, Edd,& Eddy, Samurai Jack, Courage The Cowardly Dog, The Powerpuff Girls (Screw that garbage reboot.), Chowder, Bojack Horseman, DuckTales (1987), DuckTales (2017), Gravity Falls, Code Geass (This series has shaky writing in a number of areas, but that ending was beautiful.), Amphibia, Steven Universe, Oban Star Racers, Made In Abyss, Stranger Things, Gargoyles, My Hero Academia, Naruto (I’ve got a soft spot for this series despite my MANY problems with its story later on.), Pokemon (Serious nostalgia overload!), Dragonball Z (My very first anime series I got into through the Toonami block. A real shocker I know. LOL!), Gurren Lagann, Kill la Kill, The Promised Neverland, Death Note, Chip N Dale Rescue Rangers, Sonic SatAM, Talespin, Darkwing Duck, The Grim Adventures Of Billy & Mandy, Robot Chicken, A Pup Named Scooby Doo, Kim Possible, Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood, and Fullmetal Alchemist (2003).

36: My three dream scenarios I’d like to fulfill? 

1: Become A Voice Actor

Been interested in voice acting since I was a young teen, but have been in a conflicted state over these recent passing years in my life on whether or not I’d like to approach that route. There’s a lot of commitment I’d have to put into auditioning my butt off for roles I may or not get. Then comes the consistent practicing to keep my vocal chords in shape, so I don’t get rusty whatsoever. The industry for this kind of job can be hard to get recognized in too by how many other notable well known VA’s there are already. Not to mention, from what I’ve researched up on being a voice actor doesn’t bring in the money naturally, as it’s more of a passion job which that’s terrific and all, but if I want to partake in this profession I’ll have to juggle a job along with that which putting all those factors in my head honestly makes me intimidated. Ahhh well, it’s just something I’ll have to wait and see on if I can make that idea into a reality or not. No need to rush myself, of course.

2: Taking Up The Mantle Of Reviewing Shows & Films For A Living

Fiction, just like for many people, has been a great deal of helping me in my life moments of stress, solitude, depression, and anger. I’d love nothing more than to further express that to anyone out there in reviewing in great detail certain films or shows that I’ve come to love over these years in my life so far. Mostly for animation though, as its been a gateway for finding many gems of quality films or series. It never ceases to surprise me on how creative and powerful animation can be with its inventive ways of getting me to become an emotional mess. While I do enjoy live action series and films they pale in comparison to the beauty animation has brought into my life, since my early childhood of watching shows on Cartoon Network, Toon Disney, and Nickelodeon to a smaller degree. I’d like to think I’m good enough with how I present my reasons on why I feel so strongly connected to these stories showcasing characters trying to find hope in their own hard times. I try my hardest to take moments of my own life and find ways to connect it with whatever story I’m getting into next, so it can be all the more a special experience for myself. It’s important to put whatever character resonates with you most in their shoes for why you feel their emotional journey connecting with your own life on every conceivable level possible. That will make it when you write these kinds of reviews a very empowering read for others to feel either heard in their own feelings or simply giving others a new perspective to consider on this piece of fiction you’re discussing. Seeing some of my own particular analytical posts in the past here on Tumblr garner some attention from people gives me a boost of feeling better about potentially making this choice.

3: Starting A Family Of My Own…?

I can’t begin to tell ya how many times I’ve gone back and forth for getting married in the distant future to become a father has sped through my mind. On one hand, it scares the crap out of me to be taking up that big of a responsibility. However, on the other hand its deeply fascinated me emotionally of creating life through love for your significant other in starting your own family tree. I’d love to be able to raise kids of my own to pass on the lessons I’ve learned in life to make them become better people in the distant future, while showering them with unconditional love and affection. That would fill me up with such an indescribable joyous feeling to hear their own dreams and desires on what they want to accomplish in life. While I’d be a strict parent, I wouldn’t be a hard headed one quick to dismiss their own complaints if they had problems with how I handled things, once they start to get older. The kind of parent I’d want to be is an understanding open minded one who doesn’t judge their son or daughter for when they have an issue with me. Just because I’m a parent in that scenario doesn’t put me on a pedestal of immunity from criticism. Granted, I certainly don’t want to be a doormat for them to try taking advantage of either, but it’s also important to not let your parental role go to your head, too.

Although, I don’t plan on even trying to make this last dream of mine happen anytime soon. This is something that is MUCH later down the road that I wish to have happen. However, I won’t lie and say that I haven’t considered just staying content as a single guy for the rest of my life relying on close friends to bring me joy equivalent to this dream. While I adore the concept of creating life through love and being a father, there’s a shit ton of responsibility that comes with it. The life of a parent is not just putting your all into it. You gotta give more than just 100% when wanting to be a parent. It’s a serious test of your spiritual endurance, which I’m not sure is something I’ll ever have the courage to do, but then again things can change in life on the flip of a dime, so I’ll see how this all plays out for myself. Maybe I’ll stay happily single or I’ll happily be raising kids.

Gee, I wonder why this dream of being a parent resurfaced in my head recently this year? Oh yeah, it was thanks to this character here.

Seriously, Della Duck holds a real special place in my heart for making me feel these kind of feelings yet again. Darn you space mom! LOL.

Thanks for the ask, man.