#it’s like watching a bunch of students having field trips

[fortheredbullboys-blog]

I really love the UEFA Youth League

Because it’s not only about the competition

It’s very educational

You get to learn about other teams academy, how

did they do recent years, what young players are

promoted, what the team have done to protect

the rights of these young men, any technology or

equipment they update, any junior coaches doing

well, etc.

[buryustogether]

lilac - chapter 4

miguel o’hara x f!reader

summary: you accidentally overhear a conversation between miguel and his ai at work.

wc: 4.5k

warnings/tags: domestic lifestyle, mentions of violence, mentions of choking and death, swearing, mentions of office sex, strippers, sex workers, strip club, private dances, cuddling

author’s note: he’s so lana del rey coded guys

Anybody with experience knew that trying to keep twenty third graders together was like herding cats. Anybody with further experience knew that keeping twenty third graders together in a sharp, sleek, trillion-dollar facility like Alchemax was like herding cats who were soaking wet and high on all the catnip they could have stuffed their stupid little faces with in the span of five minutes.

“Alexander,” you snapped as you helped your coworker count little bodies as they piled off the bus. “If I have to tell you one more time to keep your hands off James, I’m going to drive this bus myself back to school and give you a fifty-page packet while everyone else here has fun.”

While your words had the effect you hoped they did, you wouldn’t exactly classify a field trip to Alchemax as fun. It was a megacorporation that dabbled in exploits from clean energy to genetics to god knew whatever else they did in there between those fancy metal walls. The building looked as though it should have come straight from a sci-fi film compared to the other foundations on the block, all floor-to-ceiling windows and fifty-some floors and armed guards that stood at the front doors. Certainly not a place to take a field trip with a bunch of nine year olds. Again, you would have thought some place like the zoo or even an interactive museum would have been better, but when the principal wanted something, she got it.

To be honest, you had a suspicion she was hooking up with one of the guards here, but you had nothing to prove your theory.

Like the pack of raging little animals that they were, your students filed across the front way of the building and up the stone stairs to the doors, where they waited in a mass of wiggles and excited spasms. Each of them held their partner’s hand, a rule you pressed with each field trip. Going into a freaky building like this, you almost wished you had a hand to hold yourself.

“That’s all of them,” said your coworkers, one of the three teachers who had come to chaperone the trip. She looked up from her clipboard of names, double checking each kid as you both followed the crowd of children up the steps. “Christ, this is going to be a shitshow. I just know we’re going to be escorted out of here after… I don’t know, a molecular leveler gets demolished by tiny, sticky hands.”

You snuffed out a little snort, reaching up to adjust the necklace perched about your collarbones. In your free hand, you carried a coffee cup that still had the tab in; it wasn’t for you. “I think it’ll be alright,” you said, but not nearly as confidently as you would have liked. “We had an entire assembly over this.”

“And since when has that ever helped?” She followed your movements, her eyes trailing over your form. You blinked at her. “Are you wearing lipstick?”

“Hah! No…!” Quickly, before she could ask any more questions, you turned away and pressed your lips to your sleeve, trying to wipe off some of the excess lipstick you’d applied right before leaving the school. Fuck, it was too much, wasn’t it?

Definitely too much for popping in to visit during a school field trip when you should have been watching your kids.

After passing through multiple tall, sleek-looking metal detectors (and scolding a few kids for bringing their phones when they were specifically told to leave them at school), you met the man who would be giving the tour of the facility in the lobby. Overhead, modern-art-classified light fixtures hung from the ceiling like someone had captured starlight and crammed it into bulbs. A cafeteria filled with scientists and researchers and everyone in between stood to your left, each of them donned in a stark white lab coat. Some of them spoke on phones, others clacked away on laptops and futuristic-looking tablets with such an intensity you would have thought they were taking a test for their lives. A few of them spared a glace or two at your group, but they didn’t last long. Apparently field trips to designated areas in the building were normal.

You heard the tour guide talking animatedly to the kids, but his words didn’t quite register as you kept your head on a swivel, searching out something specific. After a moment, when you leaned back on the heels of your feet, you found what you were looking for; the elevators.

“Hey,” you said to your coworker as the kids began to move deeper into the lobby, “will you cover for me? I’ve got to run to the restroom real quick.”

After they had moved along to where they couldn’t see you, you grasped the coffee cup tighter in your grasp and made a beeline for the elevators. Your footsteps against the polished marble seemed deafening as you quickened your pace, realizing the cup wasn’t as hot as it had been earlier. How fucking humiliating would it be if you brought him cold coffee? There was a part of you that knew, really, he wouldn’t mind, but the larger, more insecure bit insisted he would mentally cringe and throw it out the second you left.

Fuck, you thought. This man had you whipped.

You had just reached the elevators, reaching out to tap the call button, when a voice called out to you from your left. “Excuse me,” said a woman sitting behind a large metal desk you hadn’t seen in your haste. She eyed you from behind thick lenses, brow quirked over the top of her monitor. “We do ask that you stay with your group, if you’re here for a tour.”

“Oh! Uhm…” Gripping the cup tight enough that you felt the cardboard bend ever so slightly against your fingers, you padded closer to the desk and put on your best tight-lipped smile. “I’m sorry. I was just bringing a drink to someone who worked here. He’s, uhm… he’s -”

Before you could force your tongue to get out some kind of excuse, some kind of title, the woman was pulling out a small paper sheet from a drawer beside her leg. “Are you a significant other?” she asked, pulling a visitor sticker from the sheet and leaning forward to press it to your shirt. She didn’t seem to want to wait for an answer before sitting back down and clicking away at her screen. “Just a security question before you go; name and floor number?”

Goddamn; suddenly you were so fucking glad some people sucked at their jobs.

Taking a breath, you inhaled and plastered on a grin. “O’Hara,” you replied. “Floor seven.”

“Alright,” she said without looking up again. “You’re free to go up. Please stay in the public hallways.”

The entire elevator ride up to the third floor, you were unable to keep a goofy, surely stupid-looking smile from your face. You liked the idea of being called Miguel’s ‘significant other.’ It made your stomach clench, made your pulse race and your heart thunder and your core throb with a dull ache. For just a moment, you allowed yourself to imagine that kind of role, being deserving of such a title.

Coming home from your teaching job not to immediately race to do your makeup in loud, flashy colors, but to stay in the warm, basking glow of a house or a roomy apartment each evening. The keys would always fit just right in the lock, never click or jump. The air would be filled with the sound of a little girl’s quiet giggles from her bedroom, along with the smell of dinner cooking on the stove. Small soccer cleats by the door. Trinkets and photographs and everything else that made the house a home strewn about the rooms. And a tall, sinewy figure that towered over you there to greet you when you walked inside, all warm smiles and wide, calloused hands on your hips and full lips to press against yours with enough gentleness and passion and adoration to keep you on your toes the rest of the night.

A bed big enough for the both of you, with enough blankets and comforters that you wouldn’t be cold even if you couldn’t afford to keep the heat on. Sheets and pillows that knew your white-knuckled grip, that would mold to your hands as you laid out bare for him and allowed him to worship the very ground you walked on with his mouth, his fingers, what lay beneath his slim, narrow hips…

By the time the elevator reached the seventh floor and the doors opened with a gentle chime, your cheeks were hot and your palms were sweaty enough you were sure you’d heated the coffee back up to steaming.

Wandering through the halls of Alechmax’s third floor and feeling incredibly out of place amongst the scientists flipping through reports and chattering on calls, you shuffled from office to office, searching for that familiar name that made your stomach flip. It seemed an awkwardly insane amount of time before you finally spotted his name on a plate beside a door left slightly ajar. You approached and smoothed out your shirt, preparing to present the coffee, when you heard voices inside.

“This isn’t like you, boss,” a woman was saying, her voice slightly warped from speaking over a computer. “You’re always preaching to the others that messing with canon events and triggering changes that aren’t meant to happen is wrong. You know it’s wrong.”

From across the room, a voice you recognized as Miguel’s scoffed. “This one is different. I’m balancing out the changes. I’ve got it under control.”

“Some control you’ve got. You do realize you’ve already altered enough canon events that even this universe itself doesn’t know where it’s going anymore? The bad guys here aren’t supposed to be in jail. Things aren’t supposed to get better. You know why? Because here, there is no Spiderman.”

Spiderman? Your gut clenched slightly as you inched closer to the gap between the door and the frame. If they were talking about Spiderman, then surely - he must have come from here. Some of those conspiracy theorists were right.

“Like I said, Lyla,” Miguel replied, his voice a touch deeper than it had been just a moment ago, “I have it under control.”

The woman named Lyla went on despite the dangerous rumble in Miguel’s throat you’d never heard before. “Here’s another one. That friend of yours? She was supposed to be engaged by now to her boyfriend. Her actual boyfriend. They’re supposed to have the whole angsty proposal thing, go back and forth for another three months, then end things. When he ends her. Asphyxiation by choking for approximately seven minutes, by the way.”

For a long, long while, there was silence. You realized you had been holding your breath, trying desperately to connect these pieces that just refused to fit together. What on earth were they talking about? Universes? Spiderman? Someone getting choked to death by their fiance? It sounded like a bad movie plot.

“Lyla?” came Miguel’s voice.

“Yeah, boss?”

“...Shut down and mute all alerts.”

Again, there came that horrible, palpable silence. Lyla seemed to be in some kind of shock. “Boss, I’m not sure that’s really what you want. You’re in a state of denial. Maybe you should take a break there, come back to headquarters. Jessica’s tried reaching out. Peter and Ben, too. I advise spending time with friends to decrease levels of -”

“Shut down. Now. I’m not going to tell you again.”

“...Yes, boss.”

When you heard his footsteps crossing the room, you took a small step back and clutched the surely-lukewarm coffee to your stomach. You’d never heard him take such a tone before, always used to that warm, content baritone that rumbled comfortably from deep within his throat. This kind of voice you’d just heard was cold and emotionless, without an ounce of feeling in a single one of his words.

You took a breath and exhaled it softly.

Then, as if he heard it from inside his office, the door was opened at an alarming rate to reveal Miguel on the other side. His brow was furrowed and a line had appeared at the corner of his mouth with his frown, obviously expecting one of his coworkers to be intruding at his door. Yet when his gaze met yours, when his frame towered over your smaller one, he realized just who you were, recognized that gleam in your eyes when you locked stares. His gaze softened like an airbag deflating. That line by his mouth disappeared. His tensed figure slowly relaxed, his shoulders coming down from where they’d been set.

For a short moment, you simply stared at one another. You were forced to admit to yourself that tone he’d spoken with had intimidated you.

It reminded you of the one Ferris used when he cornered you and threatened to take off for good.

Finally, Miguel’s lips parted. “Hey,” he breathed out, like he was trying his damn fucking best not to let that tone leak through to you.

You swallowed and slowly allowed yourself to relax. He wouldn’t ever speak to you like that. You didn’t know how you knew. You could just sense it in the warmth that poured from him, from the gentle honey of his dark eyes, from the way he held himself and carried his weight and set down each step like he knew the outcome of each and every movement he made. “Hi.”

Miguel inhaled, as if he were relieved you decided to speak. “Sorry about that,” he said and gestured over his shoulder into his office. “We’ve been testing out some new AI lately. Throwing it curveballs to see if it can keep up.” A small smile graced his face, close-lipped and sweet. Again, you realized - he never smiled with his teeth. “It hasn’t been going well.”

Like a dam breaking and letting a flood of water into a canal, relief rocketed through your systems and worked to ease your stress. Of course he had been talking to a computer. You doubted he could ever speak to a woman like that, much less anyone else. And that also explained all the wild things they had been discussing. Universes? Some poor chick getting murdered by her fiance?

Just the complicated workings of an out of sorts AI.

“I have to admit, I was wondering,” you let yourself laugh. “But, you know… who am I to question Alchemax’s best geneticist?” You watched in fascination as the corner of his mouth quirked upward and one eye squinted with the smile. God, you could watch him do that all damn day. Suddenly remembering the coffee in your hands, you held it up to him with an embarrassed grin. “I meant to bring you this while it was still hot, but I guess you know how hellish it can be getting a bunch of third graders on a bus.”

He took the cup with a rather confused expression.

“The field trip,” you said and folded your hands in front of you, because you knew if you didn’t, you would surely reach out and touch his face. “It’s today. You signed the permission slip about a month ago.”

Miguel blinked a few times, then took a breath and lifted his face. “Right. Right, sorry. Must have slipped my mind. I’ve - heh.” He shook his head and reached up to scratch at the delicate skin of his throat in that way he did when he spoke to you. “More going on than you would know.”

“Believe me,” you said softly, looking down at your shoes. You thought of dishes still in the sink, and band practices in your living room, and threats of leaving you all on your own because, really, that was truly your worst fear. “I know.”

You thought from there you would smile and turn, say something like, ‘Well, just thought I’d stop by,’ and leave him in the doorway of his office so that he wouldn’t see the yearning swimming in your irises. Maybe if you were feeling bold, you’d reach out and touch his wrist for just a moment before pulling away and practically sprinting back to the elevators.

But when you went to turn, he beat you to all of that. He reached out to touch your upper arm, the tips of his calloused fingers brushing along the fabric of your shirt, and he asked if you’d like to come inside, sit down for a minute. And inside his office, he told you what his department was working on, explained it in ways he knew you would understand. He spoke of a molecular collider that, in theory, would open a doorway to parallel universes.

You could have spent hours sitting in that office that smelled like his cologne, listening to him talk.

But life moved on. You were forced to pull yourself away, travel back downstairs and hold Gabriella’s hand like you hadn’t just thought about Miguel folding you over his desk, hushing your desperate cries, and gripping onto your hips with a hold that would bruise. You were forced to drive home and argue with Ferris about dirty laundry and his new keyboard girl constantly texting him. You were forced to land in the dressing room at The Menagerie, carefully dotting rhinestones to your collarbones in the mirror while the other girls buzzed around you.

“And he brought you flowers, too?” asked Shawna from where she was spread out on the couch across the room. She sighed deeply and hung her head over the armrest. “Girl. When are you going to stop playing and give that little girl of his a new mom?”

“You know why I can’t,” you replied as you pressed a small plastic rhinestone to your skin.

Zara met your eyes in the mirror as she grabbed the back of your chair, already dressed in her colorful, skimpy outfit and her mask. “We know why,” she hissed, but not at you. “That Ferris dude has got you held under the water, babe. Serious ball and chain kind of deal here. You really need to do something.”

If you could have found the strength to, you would have rolled your eyes at their words. But you really couldn’t. You were nothing short of exhausted after the field trip today, so much that you wouldn’t be surprised if you were unable to keep your eyes open while you were on stage. God, you loved your teaching gig, but sometimes it was so, so stressful. And so was this job. Teaching, dancing, disciplining, teasing. They all collided into one big, neverending hurricane of fatigue.

“Maybe in another universe,” you found yourself mumbling under your breath, remembering everything Miguel had told you about this morning, “I could have been a flower shop keeper.”

Behind you in the mirror, a few of the girls looked at you with strange expressions.

Before you could go back to applying your rhinestones, one of the newer girls entered the room and pushed her mask up so that her face was visible. She looked to you. “Boss said you’re canceled on the stage,” she said, and you hoped for a moment you were going to go home early, before she added, “Guy paid for a private dance in Room 7.”

“Goddammit.” You groaned and leaned forward to rest your forehead on your arms. You were way too fucking tired to do a private dance right now.

“M’sure he won’t be that bad,” said Shawna as she let herself slip further over the arm of the couch.

Grumbling beneath your breath, you stood, finished off your rhinestones the best you could, and slipped your cold porcelain mask over your features. At least like this, your customer wouldn’t be able to see your exhausted eyes and lost expression.

The beating, thrumming music of the club seemed to vibrate your very soul in your chest as you wound your way past patrons and around the stage, sure to throw half-assed smiles at the people you were forced to wiggle past just a bit too close. The short corridor leading to the private rooms were lit with neons, playing with shadows across your costumed form as you found Room 7 and gently knocked on the door. You blinked a few times to clear the blur from your eyes, then cleared your throat and stepped inside.

“Hi, handsome,” you said as you turned to shut the door - your classic line, no matter who the buyer. “How are you doing tonight?” You turned around to face your customer, then came to a complete stop. Even your heart jumped a beat or two.

The man you’d seen in the shadows that night of the robbery, the man with the little scar on his collarbone, had gotten to his feet from his chair when you entered the room. He wore that same spider mask, still had his dark hair slicked back over his head.

You swallowed thick as you felt his eyes traveling over your form behind the gaps in his mask. “Hello… Spiderman.”

He hesitated for a moment, like he was lost on just what to do. “Hey,” he said in an equally soft voice. It was muted in the same way it was behind his spandex mask.

You placed your hands behind your back as you leaned up against the door - and locked it. “I didn’t think you’d come.”

“...You asked.”

“Did I?” Putting on your best flirty, coy smile, you slowly crossed the room to meet him. “I thought all I said was… if you stopped by, to ask for me.” You reached out to touch the edge of his shirt, past his dress jacket, and skim your knuckle over the tan skin of his exposed collarbone. That scar sat just where you’d seen it before. “But you’re here.”

“...I’m here.”

There was a soft lilt to his voice, one that you had not heard before. Then again, you hadn’t spoken to him much, just in the bank and on the rooftop. But it seemed long enough to know that it wasn’t normal.

“What’s wrong, Spiderman?” you asked gently, taking a step closer. Your knees brushed against his, and when you gave him a gentle push on the shoulder, he sat back in the chair positioned in the center of the room. You gingerly climbed up so that your knees rested on either side of his thighs, so that your center was just inches above his. You didn’t miss the slight hitch in his breath, the way his eyes widened ever just so behind that spider mask. “Have a bad day? Some criminals get the better of you?”

You knew, in a way, that he wasn’t going to do it himself, so you took his wide, warm hands in your own and rested them on your hips. They stayed there for a long, long moment. Then they moved not down, toward your ass and your core, but up. They felt tentatively along your middle, his thumb tickling your stomach just a bit, and stopped just below your breasts before sliding back down again.

“No,” he replied in a low, raspy voice. He paused when you slowly lowered yourself so that you were seated on his lap now, your hips pressed against his. You felt his thigh twitch beneath your ass. “Pretty good day, actually. Just… heard some bad news.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

You hummed, letting your fingers drag along the delicate skin of his throat, just barely shaded with stubble. “What can I do to make you feel better?”

You expected him to hesitate, then make a request. Strip for him. Dance. Whisper in his ear all the things you wanted to do to him.

But there came none of that. Instead of touching you like you were used to, his hands - which were still respectfully resting against your middle - slowly slid across to your back and gently, gingerly, pulled you against him so that you were lying against his front. So that your chests were pressed together. So that you were slumped comfortably in his lap. He held you there against him, one hand on the small of your back and the other on the base of your neck.

“Just this,” he murmured.

You were stunned, to say the least. This was not the first time a customer just wanted to hold, or be held, or anything of the sort. But even then, those touches were desperate and needy, clingy and awkward. But this was everything they were not. This was gentle and considerate, kind and… romantic. Like he didn’t just need to be touched, he needed to be touched by you.

When you inhaled you thought you recognized the scent you breathed in. But with his body so close and his hands holding you so securely, you dismissed it like a runaway thought.

“Here.” Spiderman pulled you back for just a second, raising his fingers up to pull at the ribbon keeping your mask on your face, mindful not to catch any hair. Your breath hitched when he set the monarch mask aside, your face now bare as you stared down at him. This was against the rules. You were not supposed to do this. Customers were not supposed to see your face, know you like this.

But this?

This was far beyond any rules.

Your lips parted and your heart thundering in your chest so loud you were sure he could hear it, you found your own fingers slowly reaching up to graze at his porcelain mask. Your fingertips grazed the edge, began to hitch it up…

He caught your wrist in a hold that was so gentle, yet so commanding, that you immediately let your hand drop. But there was no venomous feeling there, no edge. Just a warning. A soft, quiet warning.

Exhaling, you wrapped your arms around his neck and settled yourself against his wide, powerful frame. Your face nestled itself into the crook of his neck, your chin resting atop his shoulder, as his hands came back to hold your form against his. One of his thumbs glided across your shoulder blade, sending goosebumps rising across your skin.

Gripping onto his jacket collar, you opened your eyes to look at yourself in the mirror that faced the back of the chair. Here you couldn’t see the mask over Spiderman’s face, just his slicked-back hair and his broad shoulders keeping you caged against him. His head tilted toward yours, your temples resting together.

For a moment, in your exhaustion and fatigue, you thought he resembled someone else you knew. But you let the thought pass, instead shutting your eyes and basking in his soft, gentle, perfect touch.

tags: @mooomeadows @twentysomethingwereyote @screamforyani @fangirlreice7 @axdjelx @ornamentalnecromancy @faust-pda @ilikethemoon28 @mrm-pachypoda @wadafrick @natthernandez @bakgoktski @soupsexsunsalutationsss @roxannarichie @lovagirlxxx @soggyeyeballsss @yoyoyoyoyo55555 @sophipet @quaintii @lavnderluv @cookiezxx @euphorica @its-a-polyglot @nicalysm @maxi-ride @exzidss @crappwr0m @femme-is-dead @bitch-onthemoon @hier—soir @takayomi @kirke-is-my-name @d1lf-loverrr @might-be-a-rat @brooks-lin @maki-z @bookfreakk @act1839 @dollscircus @sleepingaway @anxietybutterfly @bioticboot @mxkn @freeingrebels @digitalcreature404 @aimee777 @hunnaye @blahbahed @cyanide-mustard @impettywhenyouare @mental-illness-is-my-friend @bobfood

[presidentofthelipglossclub]

GUESS WHO'S BIRTHDAY IT IS!!

in honor of my birthday here are some more rescue bots headcanons!!

they (as in constructed rescue bots) have extra color receptors which allows them to see more types of light than other bots, as well as advanced hearing (they’re also the only bots with noses so they have an extra sense)

all of them have outliers (its a requirement to be a rescue bot)

blurr changed his paint job (post s4, before he showed up in rid15) because heatwave and blades basically bullied him into it

the academy where they studied was on a moon of cybertron’s, and they actually spent very little time on cybertron itself. it was sorta like a field trip spot, and they went very infrequently

quickshadow was the academy's champion shot, and she won a bunch of competitions

the rescue bots all had specialties outside of what they actually did (heatwave was a history nerd, boulder studied xenobiology, blades took journalism, chase did psychology, quickshadow was a data analyst, hightide took astronomy)

hightide was actually friends with both orion pax and megatronus separately before they realized they all knew each other

in that same vein, servo and lazerbeak were longtime friends because they grew up together

optimus is so ridiculously tolerant towards whatever the rescue bots do that they actually have a running bet on how much they can get away with before optimus gets angry (he never once has)

blurr's reputation as most annoying bot ever has been intact since way before the war when he was a racer

blades got his name through an awkward mishap at an armory that heatwave never let him live down

related to that, all the rescue bots' "names" are really more of nicknames. their names are listed on documents but their primary identification is through serial numbers because they're cold constructs

boulder had a practically bullet proof reputation at the academy as the perfect student so whenever the others wanted to get away with something they always involved him

when salvage heard about DIY's he got super into them and started making tons of pointless stuff. he never even followed the good channels, only stuff like troom troom

chase succumbs to peer pressure ridiculously easy

heatwave gives really good advice but only on accident

quickshadow and hightide like to hang out and trash talk optimus whenever he does something they don't like

blades only has field medicine training, he's not cleared for any actual treatment outside of an emergency (he can do first aid and EMT stuff but can't, like, prescribe things or do surgery). this has not stopped him from trying things though.

salvage is actually from one of cybertron's colony worlds, but he grew up on cybertron

ok here's a fun little surprise in honor of my birthday: the humans are also included in headcanons!!

kade was actually very good at gymnastics, he just got bored of it

chief burns needs glasses but he prefers to wear contacts

dani had a very extreme scene core phase, and her hairstyle is a remnant of that

frankie has super high government security clearance as a super genius and daughter of one of the world's best scientists, so she knows all kinds of military secrets

doc greene and chief burns met in childhood, doc's family moved away, and then when he got older he moved back to griffin rock and reunited with the chief

graham is the biggest night owl because of college. sometimes, when he has trouble falling asleep, the bots invite him to movie night and they all watch reruns of old movies or shows

building off that, there are two kinds of movie night: the first is with the whole burns family, rescue team, and sometimes others such as optimus or the greenes. the second is less of a movie night and more of a "we need something to do while the humans are sleeping, let's watch trashy tv all night." this kind of movie night is really just the bots (minus whoever has night shift)

professor baranova actually used to be pretty upbeat, although she was a bit misunderstood because she's neurodivergent (i also headcanon that after the whole living underwater for 28 years thing she developed DID and multiple alters to cope with the loneliness, so she's now a system)

woodrow and optimus are in a qpr. optimus refers to him as his amica, and also privately thinks of him as his human partner

doc greene at some point developed a working synthetic energon formula completely independently. when ratchet first met him (post war, probably right before he was hired to work at the rescue academy) and learned about this he lost his shit

bumblebee and dani race together all the time when he visits

this is where i'm gonna stop this post, because it's pretty late for me lol. it was my birthday today, so happy birthday to me!!

also y'all PLEASE talk to me abt any of these headcanons i will be thrilled to elaborate!

[spacetime1969]

Danny Fenton’s Field Trip to the Ghost Zone!

I have had the wonderful opportunity to write a fic inspired by the art of the wonderful @arisu-artnfics as part of @ecto-implosion. I ended up thinking it would be fun to bring in a trope from a completely different fandom, and write a Peter Parker Field Trip fic for Danny Fenton. Make sure to check out the art too!

Chapter 1: Trapped in the Zone!

Ao3 | First | Next

Danny woke up excited for his field trip. He had been to the planetarium a bunch as a kid, but that didn't mean that he wasn't happy to go again on a field trip.

He hurriedly packed his school bag and ran through his door. He didn't even bother to open it, just used his ghost powers to phase right through it. He also used his ghost powers to jump over the railing and into the living room, doing a little flip as he fell just because he could.

He laughed at Jazz's scandalized yell as he landed. He ran past her into the kitchen and grabbed some yogurt and a banana for his breakfast before turning back to run out the door.

"Bye Jazz! Don't want to be late!" He heard her sigh from behind him but that didn't stop him from running out the door.

He checked to see if anyone was watching before yelling his catch phrase. "I'm going ghost!"

White rings split from his waist and transformed him from Danny Fenton to Danny Phantom! Ghost hero extraordinaire! He turned himself invisible, and flew to school.

It was, as he liked to point out to Jazz, a much better way to get to school than taking the bus.

When he reached the school he invisibly searched for his friends. Spotting them, he flew down into a nearby bush and transformed himself back. Climbing out of the bush he walked up behind them.

"Hey guys!" he said cheerfully, startling both his friends. They spun around to face him, and he laughed at their surprised expressions. "You miss me?"

"Danny!" His friends came over and hugged him.

"Dude! I was starting to wonder if you were gonna make it in time!"

"And miss our field trip? Of course not!"

Sam laughed. "Yeah Tucker, did you really think that Space Case Danny would ever miss out on a trip to the planetarium?"

"Hey!" Danny pouts at her, but she just raises an eyebrow at him.

"Am I wrong?" she asks.

Danny holds the pout for a moment longer, before shrugging. "Yeah no you're right."

The three laugh together, before their teacher, Mr. Lancer, calls all the students to him.

They made their way over to where he was standing next to a school bus.

"Alright students, as you all know, we are going on a field trip to the Lutz Planetarium. I want you all to be on your best behavior! If any of you cause problems on this trip then by The Count Of Monte Cristo I will see you in detention for the rest of your life! Now, everyone on the bus!"

The A-Listers shove their way to the front of the line, claiming the front of the bus for the popular kids. Danny and his friends ended up in the back of the bus with Valerie.

Things had been a little touch and go between them when she had first figured out his identity after the Vlad thing. Once she’d found out that Vlad and Dani were halfa's, it hadn’t been hard for her to figure him out too. The fact that he had taken Dani to the Nasty Burger while Valerie was working there had nothing to do with her figuring it out (AN: This is a lie). Since then things between them have improved a lot though. Now Valerie had become a regular part of their little group, and Red Huntress had become a full time member of Team Phantom.

"Hey Valerie! You excited about the field trip?" Danny asked.

"Hi Danny. Yeah it should be fun. Any reason to get out of class right?" she joked. They all chuckled and made their way to their seats.

The four of them chatted while the other students climbed into the bus. It didn’t take long before Mr. Lancer called for a head count and the driver closed the doors of the bus.

They pulled out of the school parking lot and made their way towards the planetarium. Danny tunes out as Mr. Lancer calls attendance and relaxes into his seat. He was looking forward to a whole day of no ghost business to worry about and getting to hang out with his friends.

Suddenly the driver slammed on the brakes, throwing everyone forward in their seats as the bus started to rapidly decelerate, but when Danny looked up to see what was going on, he could tell that it would be too little too late.

The natural portals that had started to show up since the Fentons closed the one in their lab had grown bigger and bigger, until there was one large enough to swallow Danny, his classmates, and their entire bus whole, and he and his class were heading straight for it.

Danny joined his classmates as they fell, screaming, through the portal and into the ghost zone.

~o0o~

Across the ghost zone Clockwork looked over his ruined lair. It had been destroyed almost entirely. Mirrors were smashed, metal cogs and gears snapped or bent. His home had been destroyed.

He floated a little further into the room. Leaning down, he picked up a certain silver and green thermos out from the rest of the scattered debris. He turned it around in his hands, examining the large gash in the side where something, or someone, had exploded out of it.

He waved his staff and the room put itself back together. Bricks flew up from the floor and put themselves back into the walls they had fallen from, gears and cogs screwed themselves back together and slotted back into place, and glass shards flew up and reformed into mirrors and clock faces.

One of the mirrors rippled as it reformed. Where one would normally expect to see their reflection, there was instead an image of a ghost of an alternate timeline, flying quickly through the zone.

Clockwork smiled and waved his staff over the mirror. The image rippled again and changed to show Danny and his friends climbing out of the crashed bus and staring up at the green sky of the Ghost Zone.

“All is as it should be.”

[cup1dz]

TANGERINES (g/n reader x ruggie bucchi) ★ you buy a bunch of tangerines and share them with your best friend ★ fluff! ★ inspired by that one orange post!

“hey, little imp!” 

sam chirps happily, waving cheerily at you over his counter as you walk in. you've been putting your eraser through hell trying to study for a math test, all you had was a tiny nub of an eraser to fix your mistakes and unsurprisingly, you found yourself without it after a while. so you decided to take a short trip towards sam's to buy some more erasers and then get back to studying.

your eyes scan the shelves, jade necklaces that glitter and shine, bubbling green liquids in jars you aren’t entirely sure are safe for consumption, large encyclopedias bound with leather... but then your eyes catch on the tangerines for sale. 

“good eye!” sam says, grinning ear to ear from behind you. you jolt, great seven, you didn’t even hear him! “those tangerines have just recently been shipped to us, and when i tell you you can taste the sunshine those fruits! so.. looking to buy before they’re sold out, little imp?” 

you smile back nervously, “no, it’s fine! i was really just looking for some erasers-” 

“no? but this is the deal of a lifetime! when i tell you you’ll never find tangerines like these anywhere else, i mean it! come on, you don’t want them to be snatched off the shelves before you can even have a taste would you? i insist, at least give it a bit more thought!” 

“no, sam, really, it’s okay i’ll-” 

“i insist!” 

sam beams at you expectantly, and you breathe out a sigh before plucking one off the shelves.  

“don’t tell me that’s all you’re buying, little imp! these are half off! why don’t you buy a few more?” 

it isn’t long until sam rings you up for more tangerines than you expected to be buying and a pack of erasers.

...what do you even do with all these tangerines? 

“ruggie!” you call out from the bleachers. ruggie’s ears perk up and glance up at you, and almost immediately he zones in on the round, plump tangerine in your hands. 

savanaclaw was finishing up their daily spelldrive practice, most of the students sweaty and breathing hard below. a while back, ruggie had invited you to watch the practices and give feedback, but now you just visit for the fun of it. there’s something enthralling about watching students throw a disc around, you suppose.  

ruggie jogs up to you, tail swishing and eyes gleaming. “what’cha got there?” he asks, grinning. he wipes his hands on his pants and sits down beside you. 

“they were half off at sam’s shop,” you explain, digging your nails into the skin of the fruit, peeling the layers away and setting them to the side. “i glanced at them and was immediately peer pressured into buying all of them.” 

the sweet, citrus smell fills your senses almost instantly. you feel ruggie lean in, grazing against the bare skin of your arms. your fingers pull away at the pieces, dividing the fruit up and handing a slice to the hyena beside you.  

ruggie snatches the slice away, popping it into his mouth like candy. his ears twitch happily and you feel an urge to run your hands through his hair. you instead busy your hands with the rest of the tangerine, eating your own slice. 

it’s sweet, you immediately note. they’re not too sour, and yet they’re not sickly sweet either. they’re perfectly ripe, with the juice exploding in your mouth. 

you and ruggie sit in silence with the savanaclaw students below you chattering and mumbling, the conversations fading into the background. you watch as they slowly walk away from the field to wash up. 

wordlessly, you hand another slice to ruggie, glancing at him as you do. the sun is hitting him in a way that his eyes shine, like the jade necklaces on display in sam’s shop. he looks heaven sent like this, with his skin glowing and each individual freckle on his face like gems imbedded into him.  

ruggie gratefully takes the slice and chews on it, humming happily. “they’re good, right?” you ask absentmindedly, chewing on another slice. 

“mhm.” 

the stadium filters out completely, with only you and ruggie remaining, peacefully chewing on tangerines. you glance down at the two slices leftover. 

“i have more, if you want. i bought like, the entire stock of tangerines that day. i’ll share them with you,” you tell ruggie, eating a slice and then handing the last one to ruggie. he lights up, ears perking up once more and a large grin spreading on his face. 

you find that maybe you should buy tangerines more often, if it means you can eat side by side with ruggie again. 

note: hai. THAT ORANGE POST HAS STUCK WITH ME FOR SO LONG I JUST HAD TO. I HAVE TO. I NEED TO. who wants to be the one to peel an orange and share them with me? :(

[cutepresea]

Time for Shirabe Meshi chapter 35's first half

It starts with Tiki reading man--

Hold up. Zoom.

Ryoko???

Anyway, Tiki is reading manga when the telepathy phone starts ringing. She answers it and while we don't see what Adam is saying directly, we do get Tiki repeating him after she asks how things are going while he's locked up for investigations after the Alca-Noise crystal incident a few chapters back.

"Hm? No taste? Not good at all? How dare they treat a gourmet like you this way! Just wait, I'll bring you a boxed lunch full of love. ...wait, how do you cook?"

(Also she's tied up a bunch of yellow handkerchiefs and is waiting under them which is apparently a reference to a movie I haven't seen)

Meanwhile at Lydian, it's the day before the sports festival and Kirika and Shirabe are practicing for the three legged race.

Shirabe wants to continue but another student comes up reminding her to help the other committee members with preparations (as Shirabe herself is apparently a member of the sports festival committee). She says that she went overboard and forgot and the student comments that she's more fired up than usual.

They try to move some mats but the student having to walk backwards in the front bumps into the uh...thingy that paints the lines on the field and Shirabe ends up tripping and injuring her ankle in the process.

Shirabe ends up having to get bandaged up at the nurse's office. Kirika tells her to not push herself and that she'll practice with Serena instead.

Serena tells Shirabe that she can watch her bag with the Nephilim in it (Shirabe: "I don't want to, leave it at home")

While Kirika and Serena are practicing, Shirabe notices that it hurts to move her hand and wrist and that she probably also hurt them when she fell. She comes to the realization she can't make their lunches tomorrow which...Tiki hears from up in the tree Shirabe's sitting under.

Tiki makes a deal with Shirabe: "In return for teaching me to make them, I can make the lunches for you."

Shirabe reluctantly agrees to it after Tiki explains the situation with Adam, thinking to herself that she also doesn't want to worry Kirika any more than she already has when she should be having fun

The next morning, Tiki shows up while Kirika is still asleep and Shirabe teaches her to make katsudon (pork cutlet rice bowl) since the others will need their stamina for the sports festival and also because the katsu in katsudon sounds like the Japanese word for "win" (also pronounced katsu)

Tiki runs off with the one she made for Adam. Kirika wakes up asking if someone was there. Shirabe denies it and tells Kirika to hurry and get dressed.

This half ends with the festival starting

[t4tozier]

porter drunk dialing jace when jace is out on a long trip. maybe he + zara + tiberia + lucilla + the druid teacher + yolanda are taking a bunch of the senior full caster students on a big end-of-semester experiential learning field trip or smth. like in florida we went to the keys for a week to study marine biology so i feel like aguefort would do smth similar.

and porter is like “yeah whatever stardiamond go on your little trip have fun don’t get yourself killed” but like 3 days in he’s a complete mess bc he missed jace. not that he’s gonna admit that. so he’s drinking whiskey and watching trashy reality tv and he’s SAD and also zara is there and he sees how jace and zara look at each other. so he calls jace up like “heyyyyy starshine hows your trip going. are you and zara fucking.” and jace is like “porter how drunk are you right now? i’m working. this is a work trip” all annoyed but he also missed porter so it’s actually really nice to hear from him

eeeeveryone wants to talk about drunk dialing porter okay let's do it /pos

okay stream need you now by lady a while you read this bc that's porter's vibe. also my vibe because i've had three shots and it's not a quarter after one but i am a little drunk <3

also i'm typing on my computer so there's no autocorrect let's do it.

i'm picturing there's a time difference here they're in like the red waste or something so it's like 11 for porter but like 7 for jace. so they're just all having dinner or something and jace sees his crystal flash with porter's name and is like hm. he never calls. so he excuses himself and picks up and he hears porter drawling and he can picture the lazy grin on his face as he greets jace, the way he's probably spread out across his couch, maybe even palming at himself through his sweats--no, jace, focus.

"you an' zara fuckin', then?"

and jace snorts and rolls his eyes but he's smiling fondly as he replies, "how much have you had to drink?"

"nothin'! barely anythin'. like, half a bottle. 's fine. i'm fine. asked you a question, stardiamond."

jace sighs, because he's not getting out of this conversation unless he answers. "no, porter, we're not fucking. happy?" there's silence for a few moments, and then he hears the sound of fabric rustling, a soft grunt from the other line, and he swears low. "are you--" he lowers his voice so the others won't hear. "are you jacking off because i told you we're not fucking?"

"no. yeah. maybe." and porter straight up moans, and jace feels his dick twitch and swears again. "fuck, starshine, you're so fuckin' pretty, love how you look all fucked out on my cock."

"porter, we can't do this now. you're drunk, and i'm--" he looks back at the table, and the others are chatting amicably. they don't look like they'd miss him that much--"i have to work!"

"c'mon, baby," porter drawls, and jace hates how it his voice goes straight to his cock. "i know you wanna taste, fuck, love your pretty little mouth on me--" and that's it. jace teleports back to their cabin and furiously jacks off while porter moans in his ear and sends him dick pics that are kind of shitty and blurry but even though jace has only been gone for three days he's still aching for it and clearly, so is porter.

[gamerbearmira]

Giant Mer Siren questions

Do guppies go to school? If so, do they eat Livyatan (large prehistoric whale) and megalodon(prehistoric shark) for lunch? I’m using these big prehistoric animals because I’m convinced a swarm of guppies can make a whale disappear in less than a millisecond like piranhas. 

Or, do guppies eat during lessons? Like say teachers leave a pile of fish near each student in case they get hungry. (a cute little idea i had is the guppies swimming around like a school of fish for field trips and such. Or, they ride on a giant mer sirens back like in finding nemo)

Do teen mer sirens still eat every 5 minutes or do they eat regularly? I’m asking because teens grow a lot as it is and I know giant teen sirens are still growing to be full grown. 

Do giant sirens keep some creatures as pets? Like Julieta has clownfish, Bruno has sea horses, and pepa has tiger fish? Or do they keep large creatures as pets like Livyatan, Megalodons, giant squid, etc? 

Do you mind if I do some world building around your au? Most of it has to do with the different types of sea people. 

I got you⁉️⁉️

So school isn’t really a thing. If there’s guppies gathered in one place, it’s more like a daycare. Usually one of the teenagers or adults stick with the guppies and kinda follow them around, make sure they don’t wander off or something. And yes. A group of guppies, even only 4, can easily take down something as big as a whale in a matter of minutes. Mind you the daycare can last for a few days, because most the time the guppies are only there because the adults are hunting and can’t watch them. So whoever is watching gets to deal with a bunch of hungry guppies 👹👹

Also fun fact that I never mentioned by siren guppies are. Freakishly strong. It’s terrifying tbh. It's worse when they're hungry, cause despite being somewhat weak in terms of stamina, physically, they are way too busted 😭

Yes they do eat. All the time. Whoever is watching has to constantly have a source of food or has to be able to quickly supply food. Consequently, if they don’t, the guppies will take matters into their own hands. And trust, that’s not something you want to happen <333

Kind of? The teens eat a lot still, but not nearly as much as guppies do. They can hold off longer, and usually they’re fine if they don’t eat, they don’t lose that much energy and aren’t weak. Nor are they in danger of going into their human forms.

Yes, they can have pets! They can be just about anything that can be tamed. Bruno does keep several sea horses around, and the other family, it varies. They can have big pets, but they’re kind of uncommon. They’re hard to tame, except ones like whales and all that. It’s not uncommon, however, for full schools of fish be something like pets. Just keep them away from the guppies 💀

And yes! Go ahead and world build, I don’t mind :)

[autistic-ben-tennyson]

How Dinosaurs made me a leftist

I’m going to change gears a bit after being burned out from with dealing with liberal Zionists all day. Since one of the most prominent paleontology blogs on tumblr, a-dinosaur-a-day/jewish-kulindadromeus, has been exposed as a Zionist, I decided to write my own post about why dinosaurs have been important to me and how they’ve actually had a significant impact on my political philosophy. Dinosaurs are a stereotypical special interest for a lot of autistic kids and can be a good jumping point for getting into other science fields.

I first discovered dinosaurs when I think I was 5 with the first movie I saw in theaters being Ice Age 3 as well as being given a bunch of old models by my uncles. When I was 7, I got a documentary for Christmas and that same year, we visited a traveling exhibit at the Detroit zoo with animatronics. At the time I thought they were real. They became one of my favorite things and something I could ramble about for hours. During Christmas of 2013, the Walking with Dinosaurs movie was what I really wanted to see when everyone else was gushing over Frozen. I know it’s not a good movie but I liked it at the time and it was even a bit emotional for me.

Jurassic Park became an interest of mine after a trip to Universal Studios in 2014 and seeing JW the following year, although now I hate it especially because of Chris Pratt. Out of the movies, TLW was actually my favorite and I was surprised people hated it. That actually contributed to my dislike of the Nostalgia Critic/Doug Walker for his nitpick filled review, before I learned about any of the Channel Awesome controversy. I still have the collector’s set of the first two JP films as well as Disney’s Dinosaur and the Walking with Dinosaurs series in my dvd collection.

I’m a little embarrassed to admit this but I used to be a big fan of Jack Horner, the infamous “T. Rex is a a scavenger” guy. At the time I was interested in his Dino chicken experiments as well as his work on the JP series. Then I learned about the controversy of him dating an undergrad student and that ship sailed. I do find it a little amusing that the irredeemable villain of Puss in Boots: The Last Wish has the same name as the sleazy paleontologist I used to admire. I can appreciate him for mentoring Mary Schweitzer who’s an actual good paleontologist and has made some important discoveries.

So what does being a leftist have to do with any of this? When I was 6, I was exposed to creationism for the first time. My parents thankfully weren’t but we knew a lot of people that were. In middle school, I met a lot more of them. Many of whom went to the same church youth group and school. It was there that I got into some debates about evolution. Sometimes, kids would tell me “dinosaurs aren’t real” or “you should read the Bible more” and I was expected to just put up with it. At the time I really wanted to be a paleontologist and while I no longer do, sometimes I felt bad for wanting that because of what people said. I stopped talking about dinosaurs for a while after that.

Becoming more knowledgeable about evolution pushed me to learn about climate change too and many of the same people who were creationists were also climate deniers. I watched parts of the Bill Nye vs Ken Ham debate and began doing more research. Climate change in turn was a big part of my radicalization which led me to breadtube. I know that breadtube is heavily flawed but it helped me see a lot of the problems with milquetoast liberals and the lies told by American propaganda. I watched those videos during the pandemic around the same time events like George Floyd’s murder and BLM and that cemented me as a leftist.

So that’s the story of how dinosaurs helped make me a leftist. They’re not my special interest anymore, that’s anime, but they still have a place in my heart. Spielberg may be a Zionist but the first two JP movies are still fun to watch. My favorite paleontologist these days is Stephen Jay Gould who that racist Zionist, prismatic-bell, should read after their disgusting post about aboriginal people with his work against scientific racism. I may not want to be a paleontologist anymore but I am considering anthropology. Some may view them as a childish thing but they were a way of escapism for me and pushed me to learn more about science which in turn cemented my disgust towards conservatives who want creationism in schools.

[sim-ply-lilacs]

My dearest friend Irene,

In the months that have passed since my wedding, I have been surprised time and again by what it is to be a wife.

To my unending delight, I have discovered that what the bitter old gossips said is not true. My husband not only tolerates, but actively enjoys my company. Dear Josef would be outraged, I think, to hear I'd once been told that I would do well to find a deaf husband, so I could chatter on without driving him to distraction. Many days, we find ourselves distracted from work in the fields by our own good humor. I must confess—I find a great deal of enjoyment in making him laugh!

Lest you think us to be a lazy bunch, I must tell you we work quite hard on the farm! Mother and I have set ourselves to learning many new skills, so we might be useful to the running of things. There is no room for the lazy here! After all, when most of one's income is dependent on infrequent harvests, one must find ways to supplement one's income in the interim.

Josef has taken to helping the local fishermen with their catch in exchange for a few coins to keep us in ribbons and shoe polish, and I am proudly selling some of our milk and eggs every day to the general store. The grocer is kind enough to charge less interest on our account in exchange, and his wife and I get on nicely.

Mother, however, has made the most surprising shift of all! She has always done her little fancy things—she used to win those blue ribbons for her embroidery, you know. Lately, however, she has become a student of woodworking! Her knife blocks and little figures take in tidy sums at the market we travel to in neighboring Henford once a week to sell our wares, and I'm thrilled to see her getting recognition. At the least, it keeps her mind off of Father's passing. That is hard to do most days.

As for me, you'll be pleased to know that I am no longer the sad little wretch who could not boil an egg that I was when we met on Papa's business trip to San Myshuno. I am learning to cook! I have baked bread without poisoning Mother and Josef several times now, scrambled eggs without dropping in their shells, and stumbled my way through a passable stew or two that my dear man ate without complaint.

He never intended to be a farmer, my Josef. Before his father died, he'd intended to be a professor of music in Austria, but to care for his mother and brother, he took over farming the land from his father. When his mother also passed, he came here. As I understand it, an uncle of his and his brother Franz operate the property now. He still regrets not finishing his education, but he is a marvelous farmer. As if it were knowledge granted to him from God, he plants things together that grow better than they would apart. Some may say it's because we are blessed to have good soil, but I know it's more than that.

I am impressed watching his keen mind at work most especially in the quiet moments. Sometimes, we fish together in Henford when we go to market, and he tells me all about the composers he studied.

Papa took me to the opera, once. Did I ever tell you that? I thought there could be nothing more beautiful this side of heaven. Nothing was—until I listened to my love tell me about Schubert, about Bach, and of Mozart. Sometimes, he will sing to me. Josef has a beautiful baritone. It is rich like the honey our bees make and just as sweet. I am convinced I must cajole him to join the church choir, but for now I am content to keep him to myself. Perhaps that is selfish of me, but is it not a wife's prerogative to keep her husband to herself?

Even more than our fishing and our singing, I enjoy our time alone in the evenings—not in that way, you cad (though I do now enjoy that quite a lot, thank you very much. Your advice on the subject was invaluable).

Every night, we sit by the fire in our little parlor area after we eat a dinner whose quality varies by the day, and talk about any and everything we desire. Mother retires early in her grief. I am saddened by this, but choose to be optimistic. You see, friend o' mine, this means we are free to be true newlyweds and sigh and dream over the future, whispering our sweet nothings, or merely gazing at each other like cow-eyed courting youths at the parish picnic. Having done so little of that in my own schooldays, I like to think I'm making up for lost time. It is so much more delicious to be silly and love struck when one no longer requires a chaperone!

Oh, how I love this man! He loves every bit of me, even the absurd little bits that I should discard as the respectable matron of Idyllwind Farm (the fanciful name I have christened our patch of earth with), and together we love this life of ours. Do write back, and tell me you and your family will move out here to Brindleton. You must! Leave that horrid city behind and come work this good land. I swear to you, I have never been so happy in my whole life as I am right now. You and yours must come and share in my joy. Only one, small blessing could make me any happier.

(I pray we shall be blessed with one soon.)

Yours, Mrs. Beatrice Moody

Prev ~ Next ~ Beginning

[specialagentlokitty]

Mr Evershed x Student!reader - run the town

Part 4:

A few days had passed, and you stood in front of your fathers grave, setting down some flower, you crouched down, resting your arms on your legs.

“I haven’t a clue what to do father. I cannot possibly keep everyone safe and handle this, can I?”

You didn’t expect a response, because of course he couldn’t give you one.

But you wanted to know what to do, but you couldn’t speak to him, and you were lost.

You could run this business, you could make deal and order people around sure. But how did you protect a whole bunch of people against something you had no idea on?

It was impossible.

Standing up, you sighed and placed your hand in your trouser pocket, staring down at the grave.

“Maybe a little insanity is the way to go? Maybe it isn’t. I’m not sure what the best course of action is anymore.”

You took a deep breath and walked down the path, falling in line with Harry as he led you back to cars.

“We’re getting closer to finding the mole. What do you want us to do when we find them?”

You thought carefully for a moment.

“Tell me where to find them. I wish to personally deal with them myself.” You said lowly.

“Of course. You’ll know as soon as I do.”

You nodded your head and climbed into the car, and Harry got in the other side, handing you a glass which you took, sipping from it.

“I never got my fathers obsession with whiskey. But I suppose he had good taste.” You said.

“You don’t have to drink it.”

“Maybe not. But it was his drink, and since it was his drink, I’ll make it my drink.”

Harry nodded his head and looked over at you.

“You know you’re not alone right? Even if you have no one else in here for you.”

You looked at the man.

“I know Harry, and I thank you for that. But.. well… somethings we must face on our own.”

He sighed and watched as you turned you attention back to the window, watching as the streets passed by.

Harry’s phone rang, and he answered it, and you looked at him raising a brow.

“It’s Owen and Lewis. They’re your mole’s.”

“Where are they?”

“Field trip right now, just on the outskirts of the town. Arron overheard a conversation between them both, Ethan can also confirm this.”

You nodded your head, leaning forward in your seat.

“Bailey, let Harry drive. Can you alert the others to follow behind us?”

“Yes of course.”

The cars all pulled to a stop, Bailey and Harry swapped places, Bailey had a brief conversation with the other two, and you were off again.

As you passed the streets more and more cars fell in line with yours, and you pulled up, one long convoy alongside of the bus as it drove.

The bus slowed to a stop and you had it surrounded.

Getting out of the car, you walked around and stood in front of the bus doors as they opened.

Liam and Theo were both standing at the front and gestured for you to come up.

“Seriously (Y/N)?!” Mr Evershed snapped.

You looked at him.

“Be quiet, this is none of your business.”

You looked around the bus and located to two teenagers you were looking for.

“You two. Out. Now.”

They nodded and got up, following you off the bus.

It was surrounded by men and women stood in suits, cars lined up blocking all the exits possible, and Liam, Theo and Arron stood in front of the bus.

“Is everything alright?” Owen asked.

You held out your hand to them.

“Phones. Now.”

The two complied, passing you their phones and you handed them to Bailey who easily unlocked them and began to go through them.

“What’s this about?” Lewis asked.

“Keep you mouths shut.” Harry said.

“You have no right talking to us like that!” Owen snapped.

You pointed.

“Shut up the pair of you.”

Bailey tapped your shoulder and you looked at him.

“Here.”

He handed you one of the phones and you read through the text thread with an unknown number.

You hummed a little, holding the phone in your hand, you dropped it on the floor and slammed you foot into it, shattering it.

Then you took the other and tossed it in your hand a few times.

“You must have been paid a handsome amount to make such a foolish mistake.” You said.

“What are you talking about?” Lewis asked.

You rolled your eyes.

“Don’t play coy with me Lewis. That was your phone I just broke, you really didn’t think you would be able to double cross me and get away with it did you?”

“We didn’t do anything.”

You looked at Liam and Theo, and they pushed the two teenagers to the ground, pinning an arm behind their backs to stop them from moving.

“(Y/N)! This is getting out of hand!” Mr Evershed yelled.

You looked at him and watched as he came around.

“These two have been telling my previous family where I am and what I am doing. They’re nothing but dirty rats.”

You took your blazer off, handing it to Harry, and loosened your tie, doing the same thing with that.

You rolled up your sleeves, and stretched your arms a little bit as you looked at the teacher.

“Do you know what we do to rats Mr Evershed?”

“Don’t.” He warned.

“We teach them a lesson.”

You walked over to him and stood next to him, staring out into the road.

“I suggest you get back on that bus, and don’t look at what is going to happen.”

Mr Evershed placed his hand on your shoulder, and you held your hand up, stopping the few people that were going to come over.

“Do not do anything you’re going to regret.”

“Oh I’m not going to regret a single thing. They are.”

“(Y/N), don’t do this. Okay? Don’t hurt them.”

You flicked your eyes up to him, and he looked down at you.

“They betrayed me. My father. They deserve what’s coming to them.” You said lowly.

You turned around and he grabbed your wrist to stop you, and you spun around grabbing his in return. You held it in a death grip.

“Remove your hand from me.”

“Do not hurt them.”

“I will hurt you if you do not remove that hand in the next two seconds.” You growled.

He let go and you let go of him.

“Make a mistake like that again and I will break that hand of yours.”

You turned around again and clenched your jaw, looking down at the two boys you once trusted with your life.

They looked up at you.

“You’re not fit to run anything.” Lewis said.

“We know.” Owen said.

“You know what?” You growled.

Owen smirked a little bit.

“That you’re dying. Your sick, weak. That’s why your parents hated you.” Lewis growled.

“They are not my parents.”

“They’re going to find you, they’ll get rid of you, and then we’ll take over this family and we’ll turn it into what it’s supposed to be!” Owen yelled.

You hummed a grabbing Owen by the back of his shirt, you threw him to the ground behind you and stalked over.

He sat up and you raised your leg, kicking him in the face sending him back down.

Blood ran down his down, and he held himself up with his hands.

“You’ll die either way!” He yelled.

You kicked him in the face again, and you stepped on his hand, placing your other foot on his stomach.

“Maybe I will, maybe I won’t.”

You looked down at him.

“But I can sure as hell make you suffer.”

You raised your heel, slamming it on his hand and he screamed in pain, and you smirked, stepping off.

“You seem to forget something.”

You turned around to Lewis walking you took his face in your hand, holding it in place.

“I’m a little bit insane.”

You whispered.

Bringing your hand back, you balled it into a fist and swung, hitting him in the side of the face, kicking him to the ground.

You swiftly kicked his side and he doubled over in pain, and you grabbed his arm, pinning it behind his back, you knelt on him.

“You’re getting in my way…” you whispered.

“They’re going to kill you.”

“I’d love to see them try.” You said.

You pulled his arm back a little bit and he grunted in pain.

You heard sirens approaching and you looked up, looking to Mr Evershed who had his phone in his hand.

“You know they’re not going to arrest me, so why call them?”

“Maybe if they see this they will. You’re out of control.”

“I was never in control in the first place.” You said.

You swiftly moved you hand and there was a loud crack and Lewis screamed, Mr Evershed covered his mouth and looked away.

You stood up, wiping your bloodied hand on your shirt.

“I promise I can feel your pain boys. Really, I can. My birth parents did the same thing to me once you know, snapped my arm clean in half.”

You grabbed your blazer and pulled it back on.

“Maybe I enjoy it a little too much, seeing you two crying like babies on the floor.”

You walked over to Mr Evershed and stood in front of him, and he refused to meet your gaze, and you hummed a little bit.

“Take those two away.” You said.

“Of course.” Someone said.

You stood next to Mr Evershed, hands in your pockets as you looked at the bus.

“I did warn you to stay on the bus.”

“You snapped his arm! And Owen’s hand!”

“I know, and I would do it all over again.”

“What is wrong with you?”

You looked up at the teacher.

“They betrayed me, I can’t be accepting that. It’s a warning to anyone who thinks they can try pull the same stunt.”

You looked away from him.

“If I say jump, I expect these people to jump. If I sat get on their knees, they get on their knees, if I say run, they run. It’s as simple as that. I hold the power here Mr Evershed, no one else.”

“You’re a kid.”

“I was never a kid Mr Evershed, no once was I child. I was a soldier, nothing more, nothing less.”

You sighed heavily.

“Stop trying to protect me from my own destiny Mr Evershed, it’s not worth your time or effort.”

With that you left, and the cars all vanished and Mr Evershed sighed, waiting for the police to turn up so he could speak to them.

Of course, they refused to do anything about it, and they were just going to leave you alone.

And he refused to accept that.

So he decided to to go and see you at the bar a couple of days later, and he found you sitting in your office, feet up on the desk, glass in your hand.

“Why are you so persistent?” You asked.

“Because I know somewhere, deep down I know there is a shred of human decency inside of you, that feels bad for what you’re doing.”

You watched as he sat down, and you downed the rest of your drink, setting the empty glass on the desk and looked at him.

“If I’m being honest, no. Like I said the other day, I was raised to be a soldier, no emotions, no feelings. Just pure strength and aggression.”

“But you do show emotions. You were sad when your father died.”

You narrowed your eyes a little.

“It’s okay to feel things, you understand that, right?”

You said nothing and he sighed softly.

“Feeling emotions is what makes us who we are. There’s nothing wrong with that, but what you did? There was something wrong with that. You intentionally hurt those two boys. Broke their bones. And that’s not okay.”

“You’re not my father.”

“Would your father approve of what you did?”

You took feet from the desk and slapped them on to the floor, banging your fist against the table as you glared at him.

“Do not speak of my father as if you knew him.” You snarled.

Mr Evershed raised his hands.

“Okay. Okay I’m sorry.”

He lowered his hands and you slowly sat back down as you glared at him.

“Is it true what they said? That you’re dying?”

“We’re all dying. It’s just part of the chain of life.”

“That’s not what I’m asking and you know it isn’t.”

You sighed and leant back.

“Not that it is anything to do with you, but yes. I am dying. Something to do with my kidneys I can’t remember what. I’m a rare blood type so they can’t help me.”

“Then why are you doing all of this?”

“Why not? Either way I’ll die like I said. So it doesn’t matter much does it? I’m aware there’s a space in hell reserved just for me.”

Mr Evershed shook his head.

“I don’t think you’ll go to hell.”

“You don’t even know a fraction of what I have done. Believe me, I am. I know I am.”

“What have you done.”

You stayed quiet and he nodded his head.

“Okay. But seriously (Y/N), you’re a kid, you’re like what, 15?” He asked.

“16.”

“Don’t you have any hobbies?”

“What like football and stuff like that?”

“Yeah. Yeah exactly.”

“No. No I don’t do that kind of stuff.”

He sat forward, resting his hands on the desk.

“Why do you insist on being the bad guy? What makes this so great?”

“I don’t mind being the bad guy Mr Evershed, someone has to be the bad guy.”

You looked at the door as it opened and Harry stepped in, but you paid him no mind.

“The most painful thing isn’t a broken heart Mr Evershed, or a broken bone. It’s loosing the only person who has ever loved you so deeply and so carefully. Because in the end, when you loose somebody, nothing goings to make up for a fact that there will never be anything that can replace that.”

You turned to Harry.

“Your brother is here.”

“Brother? There’s two of you?” Mr Evershed asked.

“My twin. Yes. Except he left to go back to our birth parents.”

You stood up and left the office and the two men followed you outside to where your brother was stood dressed in a hoodie and some jeans.

“Felix really did change you huh?”

“Why are you here Paul?”

Your brother smirked a little, shuffling his hands into his pocket a a little but as he looked at Mr Evershed.

“For a chat.”

[alienducky]

I am once again over thinking things and getting ramble-y about them, and this time it's the Fire Emblem Three Houses Academy Gronder fight, and also a little on traveling

We see in the cut scene that we have more or less a small army of generic NPC's for each house. Which is fine, makes sense, we are recreating an actual war. The students are learning how to be army officers and effectively direct others, we need them to have people to boss about. Besides their personal battalions

There's also Rhea and Seteth and a bunch of random Seiros guards standing at the top of a cliff watching the battle...

Actually I'm going to get sidetracked a moment, because wtf is up with that cliff they stand on? Pretty sure Bergliez territory, aka the bread basket of Fodlan, is "a fertile area near the Airmid River that is well-suited for agriculture". Giant fucking cliffs are not generally conducive to plant farming. Sheep or goat farming, sure. But not crops like wheat. And watching the scene again, there's pretty steep cliffs to the north as well, and I just... Sigh. I know Bergliez is a big territory and probably has multiple terrain types in it, but given what we see in the Houses scene, it's difficult to imagine the majority is nice and flat and plough-able and this is the only cliffy bit. I think I almost prefer the Hopes version of the map...? Actually that's pretty hilly too, though I don't immediately remember background cliffs. Do remember someone saying the Alliance are nice for not torching fields as they left, so maybe this fight area is the one odd spot surrounded by fields? Eh. The game has dragons. Guess I can live with fucked up geography.

Anyway. Back to my original points.

First part is the three colour armies. Who are they? Does each country send some of their own soldiers to help with the mock battle, temporarily lowering their own defenses? Or are they all Serios knights getting to play dress up for the day, meaning a huge chunk of the church army is here? Or are they even the other house students, since we see hundreds of those wandering around, and in Hopes we meet people who say they were in our class/year at the academy (which leads me down a tangent of how I think the academy works, but I can talk about that if anyone's interested). And how long have the houses had to get to know these people, to learn quirks and go over orders and strategies and sneaky plans? Or is it a "You won't always know who you're commanding in a war, tell these people you've never met before what to do in the next five minutes"?

Secondly, there really is a fair few people here for the fight. I'd say at least 100 per colour. At least. And they all had to somehow get there. And we know the students and Seiros lot at least had to come from the Monastery, and the route they take goes through the Alliance and across the bridge at Myrddin. And I could work out the specifics of how long that would take thanks to the amazing sevarix-blogs doing some pretty neat maths, but I'm going to generalise and say several days to get there, and then several days to get back. Because that's definitely not a "there and back in a day" trip. And you lose time setting up and breaking down camps when you travel, especially for that many people.

Which means they're going to clog up the roads. Like. A lot. There's several hundred people all plodding along with their mounts, plus probably supply wagons and healers and other assorted people not involved in actual fighting. This whole thing has got to be so annoying for anyone who lives along the route and needs to use the road while they're on it. Because the procession of people and mounts and vehicles is gonna be long and bulky and noisy, and generally speaking Fodlan roads dont look that great. I can easily imagine any merchant caravans going the opposite way being "encouraged" to move off the road so they can all get past so Rhea isn't inconvenienced

(Though I admit, that's just my take on the Church people. I think Rhea would probably be pretty cool about it, and not want others inconvenienced on her behalf. Her cultfollowers though? Icky)

OR

Or is long distance large group warping a thing that Rhea allows for this yearly event, and possibly the weekend missions where we go to bloody Sreng (which is a whole other thing, because when we go kill bandits do we go through Faerghus, or up to Derdriu and hop on a boat? I have so many questions), but conveniently isn't available post time skip when we need to move our army around? Or maybe it is, since there's no other logical reason to come back to Garreg Mach each month when we'd just need to immediately turn around and leave again

[oliviab-scstudyabroad]

Last Day, Best Day! + Some Updates (Part III)

Hey everyone! Here is Part III of the camping trip, what you all have been anxiously waiting for 😉 On Friday, the last day of the trip, we all woke up, packed up pour things, and had breakfast. The kids had hot chocolate and tostados (toasted bread with butter and jam- a classic Uruguayan breakfast), and I drank some very-much needed coffee. The students then had the opportunity to refine their lyrics and choreography for their team song and dance so that the counselors could judge and award tokens to the group with the best performance. I helped the green group again, and I suggested that they add a more “complex” line in English to impress the judges. They thought of “we are win”, and I had to explain to them how it would be “we will win” because it’s in the future tense. This proved difficult for them to wrap their heads around because they had not learned the future tense in class yet. When they finally performed, they all forgot the phrase and instead cheered “we are win”, but I had to laugh.

The first activity of the day was called “Scavenger Hunt”. The students were given a sheet with things that they had to find and collect, such as an open pinecone, a smooth stone, etc. After gathering all the items, they had to ask me in English how old I am, where I’m from, and what my favorite food is. The first team to present all the items to a counselor and write down my answers to their questions would win tokens. They had the most trouble finding a four-leaf clover, so most of them just drew a four-leaf clover and showed me the drawing.

After the scavenger hunt, the students had free time. All of the boys rushed to the futból field, and the girls played four square. We then had a quick lunch before completing the last activity of the day, which was a group reflection. The kids passed around a large poster board and had to write a word or a phrase in English that described their favorite part of the camp. Most of the boys said “futból” which didn’t surprise me one bit, but I was surprised at how reflective a lot of them were. It was then time for what everyone had been waiting for… the final token ceremony! The counselors counted the tokens, and we announced the teams in third and fourth place before declaring the winner… it was the green group! They won a huge box of alfajores (like a whoopie pie), and the other groups each got a bag of sweets. We all then boarded the bus to head back to Montevideo, and I slept like an angelito that night.

Although it was challenging to counselor a bunch of fifth graders and encourage them to speak in English, by the end of the camp, I could tell that they were less timid about talking to me and that they lit up when they could get their point across. I’m glad that I could give back to the community in that way, and I hope that I left the students with the realization of how fun and enlightening it is to interact with people who come from distinct countries and speak different languages.

I also wanted to give some updates about what I’ve been up to recently:

Constantly going to the supermarket and buying water. In Uruguay, it’s generally safe to drink the tap water, but because there has been a historical lack of rain recently, the country is experiencing it’s first drought! Instead of distributing water from their reservoirs, providers are taking water from the Riverplate and adding salt to purify it. As a result, the tap water is extremely salty! Everyone has been buying gallons of water from the stores, but most stores have now placed a limit that one person can only buy at most 4 gallons of water at a time.

Playing voleibol! I joined ORT’s club volleyball team at the beginning of the semester, and I’ve been going to practice every Wednesday. It’s been a great way to meet locals and work out!

Checking things off the bucket list. In the past few weeks, I’ve been to the zoo, saw a movie, watched people dance tango in the street, and played pool with friends! I always try to do at least one new thing every weekend so that I take a break from studying and discover more about Montevideo.

That’s all for this post! Nos vemos pronto!

[mel1rose]

Part 2: Electric Boogaloo let's gooooo

Since arriving at NRC, it's been one crazy thing after another. But not everything's been bad. A few days after orientation, Lilia came up to Grim and I and introduced himself and a group of other freshmen from the other dorms. They were apparently doing some freshmen orientation activities, which included following Vil along on a tour of the campus.

After the whole ordeal with Riddle's overblot, things finally settled into a nice, normal rhythm. I woke up one morning to find a small plant on the fireplace mantle with a note that read:

Keep this here cause this dump is dark and gloomy otherwise. -Ace

It's probably an apology gift for all the flack he put us through. 🤣

School's been different than I'm used to, but that's to be expected when you're sucked into a magical dimension. Deuce and I are like peas in a pod in History; we often help each other with study sessions, exchanging notes and going over dates. If there's a question that neither of us can answer, we found this online forum for students that's helped a bunch (this one user, gloomerai, seems to have every answer under the sun when it comes to technomantic innovations and they sometimes respond in real time if we ask a question that's not there yet). Trey often joins us for lunch and we've had some nice conversations about school and baking. Alchemy, on the other hand, has been a bit more difficult than anticipated considering the lab partner I'm most often stuck with can't seem to comprehend that you need to follow the basic instructions in the book and ends up exploding TWO HOURS' worth of work because he just threw in a frog's leg saying, "It'll be fiiiiine, what could go wrong?" ....Ace, my dude, please just follow the recipe and stop cutting corners.

PE is a slog to get through (why I'm back in a class I should've been done with years ago is something I still don't understand; must be a cruel joke from the universe). I'll admit, I got my hopes up when Coach Vargas brought out the broomsticks. I'd finally be able to fly like a witch on Halloween. We were having a joint class with a bunch of third years; each freshmen got paired up with a mentor to help them learn the ropes. Ours was a third year from Diasomnia and he gave some great pointers about steering and stabilizing. But then Grim lost control five minutes in and sent us careening across the field. We would've crashed into the stables, but something changed the broom's course to send us back to the class (somebody's magic, maybe?). We were able to jump off and watched as the broom zoomed off across the horizon. Vargas still gave us detention, which meant that we had to accompany Headmaster Crowley on one of his shopping trips in town. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. The town is a pretty nice place and we got to see some of Crowley's favorite spots (didn't like carrying around his shopping bags, but at least I didn't have to carry absolutely everything).

Can't wait to see what happens next! 💕

Twisted Wonderland “Twist-and-Drag” Series #2 ~ Daily Life at Night Raven College

Here is another click-and-drag (or rather screenshot-and-reblog) from the series, under the hashtag #NRC twst-and-drag 

Feel free to check later on for more, reblog with your results, and comment if you have funny ideas (no promise, but I may use some ideas for future ones).

Have fun~~

Queen of Hearts Rules:    ✔ screenshot & reblog results   ✔ tag friends    ✔ comment with reactions    ✔ use for headcanons & fanfictions   ||    ✖ download & repost the gifs    ✖  edit gifs with another title    ✖  claim as yours    ✖  be rude in comments ヾ(｡ꏿ﹏ꏿ)ﾉﾞ

[ofdrivensnow]

Open to mutuals & non mutuals. / Set in modern day america, coriolanus snow is the son to president crassus snow. And your muse is apart of a college field trip to the white house or the alternative; a teacher's assistant to the elementary children who are also there on a field trip. (Left that open for you to decide.) They have gotten lost along the way and coryo is first to notice them.

A college field trip occurred every end of spring at the White House and it was his duty to be a guest, a participant to the students in the background for one part of their trip. Although, his mind was caught in the gutter, straying off elsewhere. He had hoped the entire thing would just be canceled, after weather conditions had became a predicament. But the grey skies had cleared back into a blue sky day, there was no longer inclement weather holding back an excited bunch of kids to frolic around excitedly in an environment that he was well used to by now as he watched small children run by him down the halls. Crouching down at one point to hand back one's belongings they had dropped on his own race to somewhere he could be hidden.

He forgot it was also the same field trip day to the White House to the younger elementary aged children. Still, maybe if he strayed off his coordinator wouldn't notice and it seemed to be working... he hadn't been collected yet, standing off in the empty art museum by himself before he heard the door open. Standing in black dress pants, a neat white button up under a black vest and a tiny American flag pinned to the chest. The rose in his hand held behind his back suddenly drops to his side, turning to face who had wandered in. Initially, assuming he'd finally been found, preparing himself to act like he hadn't purposely strayed off until brows creased at the person he caught... noticing it wasn't what he thought. Of course, he had no choice but to speak up, "Are you lost?" Because surely, they are aware this part was off limits.

[vgckwb]

P5R: Rebel Girl (A FeMC Story/P5R Rework) Chapter 136: Drifting

The next day, Ren, Ann, Ryuji, and Lena were gathered in the lobby of the hotel. “Say, is it just me, or is this field trip not what you expected?” Ryuji asked. “I mean, outside of a few places, I’m seeing mostly Japanese people.”

“Well, Hawaii actually has a fairly high Japanese population,” Lena pointed out.

“Really?” Ryuji wondered. Lena nodded. “Huh. I thought we’d be getting Alohas left, right, and center.”

“Well, that kind of atmosphere costs money that the school doesn’t have,” Ann said.

Makoto approached the group. “You can say that again,” she moaned.

“Are you alright, Makoto?” Ren asked.

“Yeah, what’s with the low energy?” Ryuji added on.

Makoto sighed. “I had to listen to the taxi driver complain for half an hour. It was exhausting.”

“Yikes!” Lena said.

“That must have sucked,” Ann said.

“Tell me about it,” Makoto said. “I’m used to listening to student’s complaints, but this was something else entirely.”

“So, what’s on the agenda for today?” Ren asked.

“Well, after this, nothing,” Makoto informed them.

“WHAT?!” Ryuji yelped. “Isn’t the school supposed to plan things to do? I wanna go diving!”

“Apparently, things have been so chaotic that they couldn’t really plan anything,” Makoto said. “Same goes for the fact that they scrambled to get a bunch of third years to chaperone.”

“Ugh!” Ryuji groaned. “If we’re not doing anything, why are we here? We should be back in Japan kicking ass as the Phantom Thieves!”

“Um, you might want to keep it down,” Lena said. “I’ve heard people talking about the Phantom Thieves.”

“Really?” Makoto wondered. “They’re talking about us?”

“Yeah,” Lena said. “They’re saying all sorts of things too.’

“Well, we did just win a fight against an international hacking organization,” Ren reminded them.

“That’s what I’m sayin’!” Ryuji said. “We should be given’ these people more to talk about! Not wasting our time doin’ nothin’ halfway ‘round the world.”

“I know how you feel,” Ann said. “I’m anxious to get back and figure this out too. But as long as we’re here, we should enjoy ourselves. I mean, yesterday was fun, wasn’t it?”

“Hm, yeah,” Ryuji agreed. “It’s just so hard. Having the ability to help so many people, and not being able to use it.” Ryuji looked at Yusuke. “Isn’t that right, Yusuke?” Everyone was surprised that Yusuke had suddenly joined them. “Yusuke?!”

“Traveling abroad gives way to new insights,” Yusuke said, nonchalantly. “I’d prefer if we took as much in as we can.”

“What are you doing here?” Ann asked.

“Yeah shouldn’t you be in Los Angeles?” Ren asked.

“Apparently, they couldn’t land the plane due to a storm brewing on the west coast,” Yusuke answered. “Since it showed no sign of stopping, they changed our destination to Hawaii on the spot.”

“Huh,” Lena said.

“Do you just bring rain with you wherever you go?” Ryuji asked.

“Come to think of it, do you think what happened at the fireworks festival was Yusuke’s fault too?” Makoto wondered.

“Oh, when it got rained out?” Lena asked.

“Were you there?” Ren asked.

“My mom wanted to go,” Lena said. “She likes watching summer fireworks. It was the happiest I’d seen her. Well, until…you know…”

“Right,” Ren said.

“So, does Kosei have any plans for you?” Ryuji asked.

“Not really,” Yusuke said. “This was an impromptu visit, so there was no real time to make any plans. Although, I would like to sketch a few things as long as I’m here.”

Ren smiled. “Well, our school is in disarray, and as such, we don’t have any solid plans. Wanna join us?”

“By all means,” Yusuke said.

“So, what should we do?” Ryuji asked.

The group thought about it for a moment. “Oh, I know!” Lena said. “We should maybe look for souvenirs. I know my host mom wants something. And I might get something to send to my real family too!”

“Aww, that’s sweet of you,” Makoto said. “I bet sis would like something as well.”

“Yah, I should get something for my mom too,” Ryuji said.

“We also should get something for Futaba, Morgana, and Jose,” Yusuke said.

“Well, it sounds like we have a plan,” Ren said.

“I’ll message Shiho to see if she and Mishima would join us,” Ann said. The group got ready to go out for the day.

Soon, they were joined by Shiho and Mishima, and they went looking through the local shops. They spent time looking for just the right things for the people on their list. From time to time, Yusuke would find a scene, take out his sketchbook, and make a quick sketch. They didn’t find souvenirs for everyone, but they made some progress.

As they were walking around, Ann said “All this walking is making me hungry.”

“Same,” Ryuji said.

“Well, we have been walking around for a while,” Makoto said. “I think we should take a break and get something to eat.”

“Where should we eat though?” Shiho asked.

“Let’s see,” Lena said, taking her phone out.

Ren looked around. “Huh. I think we can stop looking.” Everyone else looked over to where she was looking at.

“There’s a Big Bang Burger out here?” Ann wondered.

“Well, it’s pretty big in Japan,” Ryuji said. “They probably wanted to branch out.”

“Oh yeah,” Makoto said. “I recently read an article about the success of Okumura Foods.”

“Ah, the parent company of Big Bang Burger,” Yusuke said.

“Hm,” Lena said, impressed. “They seem to be doing well for themselves.”

“Okumura…” Ryuji said. “Isn’t that the guy on top of the rankings of the Phansite?”

“Ah, you know your stuff Sakamoto,” Mishima said.

“Really?” Shiho said.

“Yeah,” Mishima said. “Apparently, they’re involved in some shady stuff.”

“How shady?” Makoto asked.

“Well, I’m not sure,” Mishima said. “From what I can tell, they do a good amount of unsavory things, but then again so do a lot of companies. Okumura foods might just be one that the people are dogpiling on at the moment.”

“Hmmm,” Makoto wondered.

“Something on your mind?” Ren asked.

“Well, I’ve heard some rumors,” Makoto said.

“Like what?” Ren asked.

“Well, almost all of Okumura Foods’ overseas competition pulled out suddenly,” Makoto said.

“Do you think that they did something to make that happen?” Shiho asked.

“Well…like Mishima, I’m not sure,” Makoto answered. “I could just be overthinking things.”

“Well, it sounds like we shouldn’t eat here then,” Lena said. Their stomachs collectively grumbled. “Well… Maybe just this once…”

“Yeah,” Ann said. “I mean, if we do end up changing this guy’s heart, it’ll be fine, right?”

“I hate to admit it, but…” Makoto said. Their stomachs growled again. “Let’s just go eat.” They went into the restaurant.

As they were eating, Ryuji asked “Do you wanna continue shopping after this?”

“We have a lot of things with us as is,” Ann said. “Maybe we should drop some of this stuff off in our rooms after this.”

“We’ve also been walking around all day,” Lena moaned. “I kind of want to relax.”

“That’s fair,” Ryuji said.

“I want to hit up the beach again,” Shiho said.

“Me too,” Mishima said.

“I’d also like to go,” Yusuke said. “I want to see the marine life for myself.”

“You did seem to really like those lobsters,” Makoto said. “Where are they now anyway?”

“They’re back at Kosei,” Yusuke said. “The school agreed to let them live in a tank in the common area of the dorms.”

“Why am I not surprised?” Ryuji said.

“It’s fascinating, really,” Yusuke said. “Since I’ve been taking care of them, I’ve talked with more students than I ever had before.”

Ren smiled. “Well that’s nice to hear.”

Makoto nodded. “Well, we didn’t get everything, but we did get a good amount of stuff.”

“Eh, I’m sure we can find something before we go,” Ryuji said.

“What makes you say that?” Mishima asked.

“Eh. Just a feeling, really,” Ryuji answered.

“I see…” Mishima responded. They finished eating and dropped their stuff off in their hotel rooms.

They met up by the beach soon after. “Is everybody ready?” Makoto asked.

“Oh, hang on,” Ryuji said. “I need to get some more sunscreen. I ran out. Yusuke, Mishima, wanna come with me?”

Yusuke and Mishima looked at each other, slightly confused. “Uh, sure,” Mishima said.

“Lead the way,” Yusuke said. The three boys left.

Ren smirked. “Do you want to start without them?”

“I think we should wait,” Makoto said.

“But what should we do in the meantime?” Ann asked.

The girls began thinking it over. “Oh hey!” Shiho said. “I’ve been hearing people mentioning thieves from time to time. Do you think they’re talking about you guys?”

“Oh yeah, I’ve been hearing stuff like that too,” Lena said. “Maybe we should ask around quick.”

“Ooo, sounds like fun,” Ann said.

“Well, I guess it could be interesting,” Makoto said. The girls went around the area to ask about what the people here know about the Phantom Thieves. Some of them were unsure, but some of them were aware of the Phantom Thieves and their crusade for justice.

Ann giggled. “That was more than I thought.”

“I’ll say,” Shiho said. “Who knew you guys were so well-known?”

“I know we talked about it at the hotel,” Makoto said, “but hearing it is a whole other thing entirely.”

“I know!” Lena responded. “Just hearing someone mention the Phantom Thieves outside of Japan makes my head spin.”

Ren nodded. “They all seem to be fans too. When we get back, we shouldn't let them down.” Their eyes landed on a girl around their age reading a book. Ren recognized her as the girl from the gardening club she kept bumping into. “Hey Makoto. Do you know who that is?” Ren asked.

Makoto looked at her intently. “I think she’s another third year student. But I don’t know too much about her.”

“I see,” Ren said. She walked up to her. “Hi there.”

Haru looked up from her book. “Oh, hi. So you’re a second year, I see.”

Ren nodded. “That’s right.”

Haru looked at everyone else in the group. “Oh. Hi Niijima-san.”

“Hello,” Makoto replied.

“I take it you’re watching them,” Haru said.

“That’s right,” Makoto said. “Um, forgive me, but what is your name?”

“Oh, no need for apologies,” Haru said. “My name is Haru.”

The girls seemed confused. “Haru…?” Makoto asked.

“It’s no use boss,” Hiroki said. The girls turned to look at him. He approached the group. “Haru’s even more tightlipped than I am when it comes to last names.”

“I see…” Makoto said.

“Hiroki-kun!” Haru shrieked.

“Eh heh, sorry,” Hiroki apologized. “That may have been a little blunt.”

“So, you’re friends with her then, Hiroki?” Makoto asked.

Hiroki nodded. “That’s right. I keep her company from time to time when she’s gardening.”

“Hiroki really is a kind soul,” Haru said. “Very diligent too.”

“Eh heh, you’re making me blush,” Hiroki said.

“I see,” Makoto said. “So, how are you two enjoying the trip?”

“I find it very relaxing,” Haru said. “I have a lot on my mind at the moment, so this is a nice reprieve.”

“I’m having a good time too,” Hiroki said.

“Well that’s good to hear,” Makoto said.

“OK! We’re back!” Ryuji called out. He, Yusuke, and Mishima approached the group. “Um, what’s going on?”

Haru giggled. She stood up. “Well, we should get going. Make sure not to stay out too late.”

Makoto chuckled. “You don’t have to worry about that.”

“Yeah, Makoto’sreally good at keeping us on track,” Ren said.

“Well, I wouldn’t expect anything less,” Hiroki said. “Well, see you later!”

“Take care!” Haru said. The two of them left.

The group watched them go off. Ann turned to Ryuji. “So, did you get your sunscreen?”

“Huh?” Ryuji said. “Oh yeah. We’re good to go!”

“Then let’s GO!” Shiho cheered. The group headed for the beach to have some fun and relax.

Meanwhile, Miss Kawakami was in her room looking at herself in the mirror. She was making various poses. “Hm hm, still got it!” She made a few more poses before her mood soured. “Oh, what am I doing? This is silly. I’m a teacher for goodness sake.”

“I don’t think it’s silly at all,” Maruki’s voice said. Kawakami was alarmed. She turned around to see Dr. Maruki sitting in the chair in her room. “It’s good to feel positive about your body.”

“DR. MARUKI?!” Kawakami shouted. “Wh-What are you doing here?”

“I’m just helping you out,” Maruki said. “Is that a problem?”

Kawakami was confused. “No… I mean… Wha?”

Maruki chuckled. “You look simply stunning.” He stood up. “Now, I was wondering if you could judge me for a minute.” He started taking off his clothes. “I’ve been a little busy, so I haven’t had as much time to work out. I might not be at my best, but I want a second opinion.”

Maruki kept undressing. When he took off his shirt completely, he was jacked. He had rock-hard abs, and bulging biceps. He took off his pants and revealed he was wearing a speedo underneath, as well as thighs thick enough to withstand the weight of the world, and more defined than a word in a dictionary.

Kawakami was beet red. “So Miss Kawakami, what do you think?” She was speechless. Maruki was confused. “Huh? Ah. Perhaps you’d have a better understanding if you felt it.” He walked over to her. He put one hand on her back, one hand on her waist, and pulled her in.

There was a knock at the door. “Miss Kawakami?” Haru asked.

Miss Kawakami was shocked. She looked at the door, and then to where Maruki was, only to see Maruki had vanished. She rubbed her eyes just to confirm. He still wasn’t there. Or rather, he was never really there to begin with. She turned to the door. “Come in!”

Haru walked in. “Is now a bad time?”

“No, it’s fine,” Kawakami said. “What do you want?”

“I just want to go over the post-beach plans,” Haru said.

“Absolutely,” Kawakami said. They proceeded to go over said plans.

Meanwhile in Japan, Futaba was looking over the information Makoto had gathered from Sae’s computer. “Ooooo. What’s this?”

Morgana was in the room with her. “Found something?”

“Maybe,” Futaba answered. “I may need to look some more.”

“You want some help?” Morgana asked.

“Nah, I’m good,” Futaba said. “But thanks for asking, kitty.”

Morgana pouted. “I am not a cat.”

“I guess that’s true,” Futaba said. “So, what would you like to be called?”

“Morgana.”

“Well, I mean, yeah,” Futaba said. “But aside from that, you know?”

“My codename is ‘Mona’,” he continued.

“I mean more informally,” Futaba said. “Like how I sometimes call Yusuke ‘Inari’.”

“Do you do that out of love?” Morgana asked.

“I think so,” Futaba said. “I’m sure we’ll think of something that could work.” She went back to clicking away.

“Hmmmm,” Morgana said. “If you say so.”

There was a knock at Futaba’s door. “Who is it?” Futaba asked.

“It’s me! Jose!”

Futaba nodded. “Come in!”

Jose walked in. “Hi! How are you doing?”

“I’m making some progress on the data I got from Makoto,” Futaba said. “I may need some more time.”

“Oh,” Jose said. “Did I come at a bad time?”

“Quite the opposite,” Futaba said. “I’m getting in the zone, but that would leave Morgana lonely. So maybe you can keep him company.”

“Yay!” Jose said. He walked over to Morgana. “So, what do you want to do?”

“I dunno,” Morgana said. “I usually let Ren lead the way.”

“Hmmm,” Jose pondered. “Well, since we’re here, maybe we could watch a show Futaba has.”

“That’s not a bad idea,” Morgana said. “Oh, but we need to go through what she has. Futaba gave Ren some recommendations, and we’ve been watching them, and I don’t want to watch anything we’ve been watching without her.”

“Aww, that’s sweet of you,” Jose said.

Futaba nodded. “Have a look around. My collection is over there.” She pointed them to a stack of DVDs and Blurays. “I have more stuff, including some things on VHS, but you’d need to ask.” The two went over to have a look.

“Hm?” Jose said as he perused Futaba’s collection.

“Found something?” Morgana said.

Jose pulled it out. “Yeah.”

Morgana looked at it. “Compumon?”

“Oh, I LOVE Compumon!” Futaba said.

“Yeah, some people at Kosei told me I should watch it,” Jose said.

“Huh,” Futaba said. “That’s a little odd. It’s kind of an old show.”

“Really?” Jose said.

“Why did they tell you to watch it?” Morgana asked.

“Well, I heard them talking about anime,” Jose explained. “And so I said ‘Excuse me. I want to get more into anime as well. Do you have any recommendations?’ And then one of them said ‘The kind of anime we’re talking about isn’t suitable for you.’ Then the other said, ‘Yeah, you should watch something like Compumon.’ And I said ‘OK. Thanks.” And I walked off.”

“Grrr. Those Jerks,” Futaba said.

“Yeah, I don’t think they meant that in a friendly way,” Morgana informed him.

“Really?” Jose said. “Well, joke’s on them, I guess. Because I’m going to watch it, and have a good time.”

“Well, that’s one way to go about things,” Futaba said. “You know, I could learn a thing or two from you.”

“Oh?” Jose said.

“Whenever people did that to me, I just didn’t watch it out of fear,” Futaba said. “At least, not for a while.”

“Futaba…” Morgana said.

“Well, I mean, I didn’t understand what they were doing until you explained it,” Jose said. “So maybe I still need to learn.”

“Well…that may be true…” Morgana said. “But I don’t think learning something like that would be all that helpful.”

“Well, if it happens again, I could try to figure out a way to counter it,” Jose said.

“If you figure it out, maybe you can tell me,” Futaba said.

“Hmmm,” Morgana pondered. “Well, I don’t know if this is a 100% solid defense, but I think having others to lean on helps.”

“That’s true,” Jose said.

“Huh,” Futaba said. “Well, maybe these things take time.”

Morgana nodded. “It’s not an overnight fix. But it helps a lot. Believe me.”

Futaba nodded. “Good to know.” She went back to going through the information.

“So, Compumon?” Jose said.

“Yeah!” Morgana said. Jose and Morgana set things up and began watching Compumon while Futaba continued looking through Sae’s data. Futaba enjoyed having the background noise, while Jose and Morgana were engrossed with the anime. From time to time, Jose would usually pet Morgana. Morgana didn’t put up a fuss, as he enjoyed it, although he wouldn’t admit it so easily.

Back in Hawaii, Ryuji was wandering around the halls of the hotel, and he was a little frustrated. He was grumbling to himself when he ran into Mishima.”Oh. Hey Sakamoto,” Mishima said. “Why are you out and about?”

“Oh. Hey Mishima,” Ryuji said. “Well, uh, my roommate is having someone over, so I decided to leave them be.”

“Huh,” Mishima said. “Well, as it so happens, my roommate is also off with someone. I guess we’re in the same boat.”

“He’s taking up your room too?” Ryuji said.

“Nah, he went off,” Mishima said. “But I got kind of lonely with me just by myself.”

“I see,” Ryuji said. “Well, I was going to see if I could hang out with Yusuke, but those Kosei teachers are strict. They wouldn't let me through like at all!”

“Huh,” Mishima said. “Well, wanna come to my room?”

“Uh, sure, I guess,” Ryuji answered.

“OR,” Hiroki interjected, “You could come to my room, and the three of us can hang out.”

“Wha?! Hiroki?!” Ryuji yelped. “What are you doing here?”

“Well, you are outside my door,” Hiroki explained.

“Oh,” Ryuji said. “Well, sure, I guess. It could be fun.”

Hiroki nodded. He turned to Mishima. “How about you, um, what’s your name again?”

“Oh, uh, sure,” Mishima said. “And it’s Mishima.”

“So, who are you rooming with?” Ryuji asked.

“No one,” Hiroki said. “We have an odd number of boys in our class. And since I’m on the student council, the teachers figured I’d be responsible enough on my own. Which to be fair, I am.”

“Oh,” Ryuji said. “Sorry.”

“It’s fine,” Hiroki said. “But I am glad to have some company tonight. Come on in.” Hiroki held the door open. Ryuji and Mishima walked in. Hiroki walked in soon after. “I brought some games with me for just such an occasion. Wanna play?”

Ryuji smiled. “Sure. Sounds like fun!”

“Alright then,” Hiroki said. They started playing some games.

In the middle of a game, Mishima asked “So, Hiroki, was it?” Hiroki nodded. “What do you think of The Phantom Thieves?”

Ryuji was a little shocked. Hiroki smiled. “Personally, I’m a big fan.”

“Huh,” Mishima said.

“I mean, what’s not to love? They go around helping people,” Hiroki continued. “Plus, they give me courage.”

Ryuji was a little surprised. “That seems odd, coming from you. I mean, you’re on the student council, right?”

“Yeah, but I can be kind of a coward sometimes,” Hiroki said. “I want to help people, but…I sometimes fear what others might think if I were to do something.”

“Ah, who cares about what others think?” Ryuji said. “The Phantom Thieves do what they do because they believe it’s right, not because of what others think of them.”

“Hm. How astute,” Hiroki said. “Truth is, I want to get to a place like that, but it’s slow going.”

“Well…these kinds of things take time,” Mishima said. “But I’m sure you could talk to someone if you want help.”

“Yeah, like that girl we saw you with earlier,” Ryuji said. “By the way, how do you know her?”

“Oh, Haru?” Hiroki said. “Well, she’s in the gardening club. One day I noticed her gardening, and I began chatting with her.”

“Hey,” past Hiroki said. “You like gardening, huh.”

“Um, yes,” Haru responded. “Do you like gardening?”

“Well, theoretically, yes,” Hiroki answered. “But every time I try gardening, all my plants die before anything can happen.”

“How terrible!” Haru explained.

“Yeah…” Hiroki said.

“Well, if you’d like some pointers, I’ll gladly help,” Haru said.

Hiroki smiled. “I’d like that.” Haru smiled back. “So, what’s your name?”

“Oh. I’m Haru.”

Hiroki was confused. “Just a first name?”

“Well… If people knew my last name, they’d treat me differently,” Haru explained. “So, I’d rather limit how many people know it.”

“Gotcha,” Hiroki said. “You know, I’m kind of in the same boat.”

“Really?” Haru said, surprised. Hiroki nodded. “I didn’t know there were others like that at this school.”

“Me either,” Hiroki said. “Hiroki.”

Haru nodded. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Hiroki.”

“And that’s how we became friends,” Hiroki said, back in the present.

“Woah,” Ryuji said.

“So, did you earn your green thumb?” Mishima asked.

“Well, you see…” HIroki said. “It turns out I wasn’t doing anything particularly wrong. My asshole brother was just sabotaging my efforts.”

“He sounds like a jerk,” Ryuji said.

“You don’t know the half of it,” Hiroki said.

“It almost sounds like I don’t want to know,” Mishima said.

“Yeah, that sounds about right,” Hiroki said. He smiled. “But I’m having a good time with you guys.”

“Same,” Ryuji said.

“Ditto,” Mishima added. They continued playing games. A little while later, Mishima stood up. “Well, it’s getting kind of late. I should maybe head back to my room.”

Hiroki nodded. “Sounds good.” He turned to Ryuji. “What about you?”

Ryuji thought about it. He and his boyfriend probably don’t get many opportunities like this. I think I’ll give them some space. “Eh, I feel like I’ll just sleep here for the night.”

“You sure, Sakamoto?” Mishima asked.

“Yeah,” Ryuji said.

Mishima nodded. “Well then, take care.” He turned to Hiroki. “I had a lot of fun tonight.”

Hiroki smiled. “Likewise. Goodnight.”

“Goodnight,” Mishima said. He left for his room.

Hiroki turned back to Ryuji. “So, do you want to go to bed now, or are you up for a few more games?”

“I think I could do a few more games,” Ryuji answered.

“Sounds like a plan,” Hiroki said. The two of them played together some more, and then went to sleep for the night.