#kind of unfortunate i can’t date any of the adult ladies in this game

[acepalindrome]

Okay, I caved in, it’s nostalgia time. I’ve never played Golden but Persona 4 has such a special place in my heart. While the dungeons in Persona 5 are all about different problems with society, the P4 dungeons are largely about unpacking your buddies’ personal issues. One dungeon is just about your homie having a sexuality crisis. Another is about a different character struggling with their gender identity. It’s not perfect but god the concept is fantastic. A game about having group therapy with your friends via fighting monsters in the magical world you access by sticking your fucking head in the tv. You can get stat boosts by eating questionable mystery leftovers you found in the back of the fridge. 10/10 game.

[idolish7rabbitchats]

Tsunashi Ryuunosuke: Wonderful Octave Rabbit Chat Part 2

Tsumugi: Everyone, thank you for gathering! I was thinking that we could collect requests for Tsunashi-san’s “RADIO STATION Twelve Hits!” here.

Tsumugi: Continuing from last time, I’ll manage the chat. Please take care of it!

Ryuunosuke: Please take care of me!

Anesagi: Ryuu is last in TRIGGER too huh! Everyone, please take care of us!

Okazaki: From me too, please take care of me!

Banri: We’ll be attending too.

Tsumugi: The requests gathered from everyone will be, like it has been up to this point, decided by a raffle pull in the show. So then, I’ll ask for the requests from the youngest!

Ryuunosuke: I’m looking forward to everyone’s requests…!

Gaku: Ryuu was a little bit restless before the group chat. (lol)

Tenn: He checked the time countless times and stood up and sat down a lot huh.

Ryuunosuke: Waah! You don’t have to say that here!

Gaku: He’s embarrassed huh (lol).

Tenn: He’s embarrassed.

Momo: Ryuu’s cute! Like a guy who’s waiting before his first date \(*´ω`)人(´ω｀*)ノ

Mitsuki: Going on a date with 16 people is huge lol.

Yamato: The gender ratio is unequal.

Yuki: It has nothing to do with guys and girls. Isn’t it fine if we can make a pair?

Iori: As expected from you, you have a freedom of thought.

Banri: I think he’s just lazy. (Lol)

Tamaki: Yeah! 

Tamaki: I’ll pair with Ryuu-aniki.

Ryuunosuke: Eh, is it fine? I’m happy but, why?

Tamaki: It’s almost your birthday so if we were together, we could eat cake.

Ryuunosuke: I see, you are tempted by food. lol

Sogo: Tamaki-kun, what are you thinking about with your senpai…!

Tamaki: It’s fine with So-chan too. 

Sogo: I’m glad that I won’t be alone but...

Riku: It feels like we are pairing up for P.E. class!

Anesagi: What have you been talking about?! We should move on to collecting requests!

Tsumugi: R-Right! Then, from Tamaki-san please!

Tamaki: Kaay.

Tamaki: Ryuu-aniki, who’s your fave in IDOLiSH7?

Ryuunosuke: Eh! My fave?! I mean, that kind of request is certainly…?

Gaku: That’s what you said during my turn isn’t it?

Tamaki: Because Gakkun said that he likes everyone and didn’t actually answer it!

Tamaki: [Angry Kinako Stamp]

Gaku: You’re still mad? (lol) I said sorry and gave you a pudding afterwards right.

Tamaki: I already ate it so I forgot.

Ryuunosuke: I see, so I’m your revenge huh! lol

Tamaki: Ryuu-aniki, I believe in you.

Tamaki: [Pudding In Jar Stamp]

Tamaki: [Pudding In Jar Stamp]

Tamaki: [Pudding In Jar Stamp]

Ryuunosuke: Since I got it so straight-forwardly, I might just make Tamaki-kun my fave!

Tamaki: Hurray!!!

Tamaki: [Sparkling Kinako Stamp]

Mitsuki: Tamaki, is that fine…?!

Sogo: You have to respect Tsunashi-san’s opinion too.

Nagi: If you asked Yaotome-shi and Tsunashi-shi, you have to ask to Kujo-shi too.

Tenn: Like it sounds like you want to take this opportunity to just complete them all.

Riku: I wanna hear it too! Yes! Yes!

Riku: It’s not only because of the opportunity!

Iori: It seems it would be difficult if he picked anyone other than the center...

Tenn: I would’ve answered it if you requested that during your month ^^

Riku: Eeeeeeeeeeeh!

Tsumugi: I’m also curious about Tsunashi-san’s favorite! 

Tsumugi: To continue, Iori-san please!

Iori: From me it’s a “Yes/No quiz”.

Iori: It’s the game where you should answer yes or no within 3 seconds to the questions that I prepared. If I ask about personal questions, listeners could know many sides of Tsunashi-san and it would be good.

Ryuunosuke: I would answer them by reflex huh? That seems fun!

Ryuunosuke: Would Iori-kun give me the questions?

Iori: That’s right. Of course, they would be checked by Anesagi-san though.

Momo: I also want to think of things to ask Ryuu~ (ノ´Д)ノ

Sogo: Um… If it’s alright, would you allow me to help too?

Mitsuki: Ah! I have something I wanna ask too!

Iori: That helps. Everyone has real questions they want to ask so it seems this quiz will be intense.

Yamato: Oooh. You are popular, Tsunashi-san!

Gaku: You’re popular huh, Ryuu!

Ryuunosuke: Somehow I’m happy…! The request corner is a great thing huh!

Tenn: You are a natural lady-killer. That’s a good thing tho.

Ryuunosuke: Eh! L-Lady-killer?! Are you praising me?!

Tenn: I am. I said that was a good thing right.

Ryuunosuke: Really? I’m happy to be praised by Tenn!

Ryuunosuke: Iori-kun and everyone too, please ask me anything that’s fine!

Tsumugi: I’m also looking forward to everyone’s questions for Tsunashi-san!

Tsumugi: So then, let’s have the request from Riku-san!

Riku: Yes! From me it’s “I want to hear an episode of bravery about bad things”!

Riku: Tsunashi-san is nice, cool, good at cooking, and really cool! But, actually I want to try asking if there was a time you were naughty!

Yuki: You said cool twice.

Gaku:  Just that, our Ryuu is cool huh!

Ryuunosuke: You think of me that way huh! I’m happy to be praised by Riku-kun.

Tenn: I certainly can’t imagine a naughty Ryuu.

Riku: Right! But I just can’t imagine what makes someone naughty at all.

Nagi: Like lining up all night for a big event in summer and winter?

Mitsuki: That’s certainly bad but Tsunashi-san wouldn’t do that right lol.

Ryuunosuke: If you’re participating in an event, it’s important to follow the rules huh!

Okazaki: So anyways, what kind of thing would be naughty?

*Tsumugi: Like running down a hallway…!

Ryuunosuke: That’s dangerous huh! It would be bad if you slipped and fell...!

Ryuunosuke: Unfortunately, I’ve never been naughty in my youth. Lol I was always in the ocean!

Gaku: I knew that Ryuu wasn’t the bad boy!

Tenn: Actually, I’m a little curious about you having that sort of past or not.

Anesagi: No way, that sort of thing! I want him to be both calm and sexy even if he was carrying a backpack!

Momo: That kind of elementary schooler is too distinctive! lol

Ryuunosuke: I don’t think I wasn’t sexy or calm before… I was an energetic elementary schooler who was running around barefoot. Lol

Ryuunosuke: I don’t know if I have something you could call naughty but I’ll tell you after I look back at pictures from my childhood!

Riku: Thank you!

Yamato: That he tried to answer the request by looking back at his album, he’s not naughty at all, certainly he is an honest person.

Sogo: It’s a heartwarming episode where we can feel Tsunashi-san’s honesty!

Tsumugi: I’m also secretly interested in a naughty Tsunashi-san! Lol

Tsumugi: Next, Kujo-san, can I have the request?

Tenn: Yes. From me, “Let us hear if you have anything you want to say to TRIGGER”.

Tenn: More like to me and Gaku than to TRIGGER. Ryuu isn’t the type to strongly argue, so I want him to say anything in this opportunity.

Tenn: I’m fine with something like what you want us to do, what you want us to change, or a request for us.

Gaku: That’s a good request! Ryuu, say anything to us.

Ryuunosuke: Gaku, Tenn, thank you! Honestly, I think TRIGGER’s relationship for now is the best, I don’t have any request.

Tenn: See, that sort of thing. Even though you could say selfish things. 

Ryuunosuke: I want you to say selfish things. Tenn does all the jobs or household things by yourself.

Ryuunosuke: Before this, I thought you never left your room huh, but you’d actually caught a cold hadn’t you.

Gaku: That! We seriously would’ve wanted you to say it at that time.

Riku: Tenn-nii caught a cold?! Is he okay?!

Tenn: I’m okay. I recovered after I slept all night.

Riku: I’m glad…!

Gaku: Even for one night, medicine or food or something, there was something we could’ve done right?

Tenn: Are we still talking about this? We already talked about it enough.

Ryuunosuke: Because Tenn hesitated weirdly.

Tenn: It was just a slight fever, not a serious cold, and I can’t spread it to you guys.

Gaku: You’re still saying that sort of thing?

Ryuunosuke: Honestly, about this, I’m still a little mad now.

Tenn: Since Ryuu doesn’t get mad easily, you are persistent when you do.

Ryuunosuke: I had a reason to get mad so I got mad. 

Nagi: Were you three fighting?

Tamaki: Though you are adults, don’t fight-!

Mitsuki: Aah, not so much a fight… I understand how Yaotome and Tsunashi-san feel here.

Tenn: It’s not a fight. We’re already done talking about it.

Gaku: We’re not!

Ryuunosuke: How about we talk later? This group chat wasn’t to talk about that..!

Tsumugi: Not wanting to make your friends worry, but also wanting someone to rely on you, I understand them both...

Tsumugi: Nagi-san, please give us the request!

Nagi: Leave it to me. I’ll be an air purifier in this group chat!

Momo: Nagi being an air purifier sound strong lololol

Yuki: That’s a good one.

Ryuunosuke: Nagi-kun, sorry. Thank you for easing the tense atmosphere.

Nagi: I don’t mind. You can pay me in the request corner. :-)

Ryuunosuke: Got it! I’ll try my best to pull Nagi-kun’s request..!

Iori: Is he an air purifier or a schemer… He is tricky.

Nagi: You shouldn’t worry about tiny things! My request is “Impromptu☆Tsunashi-shi’s Haiku”!

Ryuunosuke: Haiku meaning that 5,7,5 haiku?

Nagi: Exactly. Along with the theme I prepared, I want Tsunashi-shi to make a haiku at that time.

Nagi: When you read your haiku, you need to use the echo effect.

Sogo: Somehow that’s detailed instructions.

Nagi: If I'm gonna do it, I need to produce everything perfectly.

Ryuunosuke: As expected of Nagi-kun. Thank you for thinking of it with details!

Nagi: Anyways, to prepare for getting any theme from me, please check out Magical★Kokona’s latest episode. 

Nagi: Especially, I’ll recommend that you understand the enemy character in last week’s episode, the Darkness Bear Secretary’s line.

Ryuunosuke: Th-That’s really quite detailed huh?!

Riku: Oh right, earlier while watching Kokona, he was murmuring “He has the same voice as Tsunashi-shi.” I think…?

Mitsuki: Then, you are thinking of making Tsunashi-san to act out that bear’s line isn’t it!

Nagi: (°3°)~♪

Tenn: I’m curious about how he is going to lead to acting as that character with a haiku.

Gaku: I feel his commitment to not just request him to act as the character.

Ryuunosuke: If Nagi-kun is expecting it that much then I’ll really try my best..!

Nagi: I’m looking forward to it. :-)))

Tsumugi: I couldn’t check recently but I’ll catch up to the latest episode too…!

Tsumugi: Next up is Sougo-san please!

Sogo: From me it’s, “Tsunashi-san is kind but I want to hear of a time when you got mad.”

Sogo: But, earlier there was the story of how you wanted Kujou-san to let you worry over him huh...

Sogo: I’m sorry. I said something to bring it up again..!

Ryuunosuke: It’s fine. Because it’s not like we were really fighting.

Gaku: Ryuu is generally a generous person huh. Even if someone says something a little sarcastic, or someone bumps you when you’re walking, you seem fine.

Ryuunosuke: There is no use in getting irritated over that right? 

Ryuunosuke: Maybe that person had a hard time and something bad happened to him.

Yuki: You are like a saint.

Sogo: But, I understand that feeling. Because I also have only a few things that will piss me off. 

Sogo: But I won’t forget the name and face of the person who did it to me.

Yamato: That’s even scarier! (lol)

Iori: I feel like that has a slightly different meaning to Tsunashi-san’s “not getting mad.”...

Sogo: I-Is that so?

Tamaki: I’ll be careful never to do anything terrible to So-chan.

Banri: Because he already remembers your face and name huh (lol).

Tamaki: [Sweating Pudding Stamp]

Sogo: It’s terrible to be this scared of me.

Tamaki: [Shaking Kinako Stamp]

Ryuunosuke: It’s important to understand what kind of person your companions are huh! It's proof that you are thinking about further things.

Ryuunosuke: Sougo-kun’s amazing huh!

Sogo: Thank you…! I’m very grateful for your compliment.

Mitsuki: Excuse me! Can we take a little break?

Tsumugi: Mitsuki-san, did something happen?

Mitsuki: Seems like Nagi wanted to see Kokona’s Darkness Bear’s episode, but he couldn’t find the recorded data.

Mitsuki: He looks so down and I feel sorry for him. Can we search for a hard drive together for a little bit?

Yamato: Seems like there are streams too. But he said it’s different from the recorded video.

Ryuunosuke: I see…! I hope he has the data!

Mitsuki: Sorry, to cut it for a weird reason!

Tsumugi: So then, the group chat has also become long so we’ll take a little break. I’ll contact you at the time we could restart!

V2:

Okazaki: So anyways, what kind of thing would be naughty?

Tsumugi: Like customizing your school uniforms…?

Ryuunosuke: There were people who customized their uniforms secretly huh! I didn’t get it much, so I just wore it normally. Lol

Ryuunosuke: Unfortunately, I’ve never been naughty in my youth. Lol I was always in the ocean!

V3:

Okazaki: So anyways, what kind of thing would be naughty?

Tsumugi: Like lip-syncing the Alma Mater at an assembly…?

Ryuunosuke: I was singing but some people don’t, so some people would feel embarrassed huh.

Ryuunosuke: Unfortunately, I’ve never been naughty in my youth. Lol I was always in the ocean!

[that-cunning-mind]

The Untitled Chuckie Sputterspark Origin Fanfic Pt.1

(Guess who wrote a fanfic for the first time in years lmao...

Read below if you want to see my take on how @based-ducks​ and me thought up of Quackervolt fankid Chuckie Sputterspark’s origin...somewhat)

As the crisp, evening air descended upon the moonlit shadows of St. Canard, a particular purplish protector of the poor found himself investigating a case of deductive interest. A case of shadowy intrigue and mystery. A case that would decide the future of St. Canard in its epic battle between good and evil.

A case of price gouging tickets at a pizza arcade.  

“Twenty dollars for an adult ticket and twelve for kids over ten years old? Why these crooked capitalist crooks, thinking they can force parents to come in here and charge them extra! I should just quit SHUSH and open up one of these places myself! I’ll be richer than Glomgold!” Part-time superhero and full-time parent Drake Mallard grumbled under his breath as he handed over his card to the tired teenager manning the cashier. His daughter, Gosalyn, was busy putting on the paper bracelets on herself and her other father, Launchpad McQuack. 

“It can’t be that profitable,” Gosalyn said, “I mean, they’re taking out all of their animatronics! Can you imagine Pepper Panda’s Pizza Pagoda without Pepper Panda and the Pie Gang? I tell ya, there’s gonna be rioting in the streets after tonight! RIOTS!!!” Launchpad, not expecting the outburst, startled and ripped his flimsy paper bracelet. 

“Eheheh,” he laughed nervously, “you guys got any tape or...”

“Ten dollars to replace any missing or broken bracelets,” said the cashier. 

Launchpad turned to his husband with big puppy-dog eyes, a method that tended to work about 99% of the time. Drake grumbled some more as he took a solitary bill out of his wallet. 

“If it wasn’t for our case,” Drake whispered harshly as they walked inside the pizza eatery, “I’d leave you outside in the car.” 

“Aww,” Launchpad pouted, “but you know how much I love coming here! Plus, I know how much the animatronics scare you, DW.”

Drake scoffed. “Scared? The daring duck detective isn’t scared of any cheaply-made robot! Drakey Mallard, on the other hand, never recovered from that time he thought Cheddar Charles was going to bite him at Elmo Sputterspark’s tenth birthday party.” As he spoke, a run down animatronic of a child-sized rat in blue overalls and a yellow shirt sprang to life, scaring Drake into Launchpad’s arms. Gosalyn just rolled her eyes and sighed. 

A crackly speaker from the animatronic known as Cheddar Charles started. “Hey kids! Pepper Panda and Pie Gang’s Nighttime Spectacular is about to start in ten minutes! Grab a seat now!”

“I’ll go grab us a table,” yelled Gosalyn as she ran to a booth. 

Launchpad let Drake climb off of him, then sniffed and wiped away a tear. “I can’t believe it, after forty years the Pie Gang is going away for good!”

“Launchpad, the case? Remember the case?” asked Drake. 

“Buh-“

“We’re here to stakeout the joint and lie in wait for that nefarious thief, Dr. Anna Matronic! Dishonorably discharged from the Imagineers, that raving robotics rascal will be using the Pie Gang’s farewell show to unveil her deadly creations. Little does she know that I, Darkwing Duck, will be waiting for her! Now, any questions?”

“Uhh, can we order the extra-large with cheese?” 

Drake simply sighed as he moved to sit down on the sticky seat. 

“Gee DW, what makes you think she’ll show up with all these people around?” asked Launchpad. 

“Because, as a former Imagineer, she’ll no doubt want to watch such a historic show one last time. Although, I can’t imagine what kind of psyche an adult must have to want to watch Pepper Panda and the Pie Gang willingly.” 

———

“Come on Megsy! I’m not gonna miss Pepper Panda and the Pie Gang’s final performance because of you!” 

Little did Darkwing Duck know that behind the scenes, his two mortal enemies Quackerjack and Megavolt would be attempting to watch the show as well. However, they were taking a break from their usual crimes and attempting to have their monthly date night, per Quackerjack’s insistence on coming to see the last hurrah of the animatronics he grew up watching. Megavolt, meanwhile, was trying to carry leftover pizza boxes up the scaffolding over the stage as he and Quackerjack prepared to take their seats. 

“You know, I think I kinda remember coming here as a kid,” said Megavolt. Quackerjack was surprised to hear this, as it was rare for Megavolt to remember anything before his fateful transformation into Megavolt. He pressed on with a simple, “Oh?”, demonstrating a rare moment of selfless interest. 

“Yeah,” Megavolt continued, “I think I had a birthday party here once. Mom forced me to invite everyone in my class, so I spent most of the day playing with the animatronics. I even got Cheddar Charles to almost bite this one duck, Jake. Or was it Lake...” Megavolt trailed off as his train of thought was derailed yet again.

“You must have been quite the kid growing up, a public nuisance in the making,” laughed Quackerjack. He looked off to the side in an almost wistful manner. “Though if I was a parent, I wouldn’t force you to hang out with any snot-nosed brats that stuck their faces into an arcade game!” Megavolt twitched, deciding not to tell Quackerjack that he definitely remembered sticking his face into arcade games as a kid, one of the happiest moments in an otherwise bullied childhood. 

But more importantly, Megavolt picked up on Quackerjack’s wistful tone and cursed himself internally for bringing up his childhood. “Come on Quacky,” he whined, “we’ve been through this already. We can’t just-“ 

“Well, so what?” interrupted Quackerjack, “It’s just not fair! Lots of kids have parents that go to jail!” 

“Yeah, but their parents aren’t criminal masterminds guilty of trespassing, theft, vandalism, and littering!” 

Quackerjack pouted, “You throw a banana peel on the ground one time...”

“I’m serious Quacky,” Megavolt frowned, “we can’t just bring a kid into the super-villain business! Do you want to be like Dorkwing and have a pipsqueak get in our way?” 

“Need I remind you,” hissed Quackerjack, “that his pipsqueak is fully capable of handling herself?”

“Ugh,” shuddered Megavolt, “don’t. Remind. Me. I still have the bruise marks from the last hostage attempt...”

“See?! The two of us could totally take care of a kid! All a kid really needs is food, a loving home, a pocket grenade...,” Quackerjack droned on, almost forgetting the point of his argument. Megavolt had to snap him back to reality if he was ever going to finish this conversation. 

“Hey don’t get me wrong, it’d be nice to have some kids that aren’t just the poor, enslaved bulbs of St. Canard,” said Megavolt. “But, don’t tell me you aren’t the tiniest bit worried of screwing the kid up?” At this, Quackerjack pursed his lips and went uncharacteristically still, not daring to look at Megavolt in the eye.  

“Besides,” Megavolt continued, “what if we go to jail without it? How would a normal kid protect itself? What if F.O.W.L or Negaduck found out about them and-“

“Oh alright fine! You’ve made your point, gloomy pants!” Megavolt shut his mouth quickly, turning to get a slice of week-old pizza and hopefully move on from this talk. Quackerjack pulled out his beloved Mr. Banana Brain, in an effort to calm himself before his temper took over. “Some date night this is! I’ve seen better chemistry in a high school science lab!” 

“Butt out, banana boy!” Megavolt grumbled. “Great, could this date get any worse?” 

The explosion that rocked the building answered that question. 

———

The duck family ducked under their table as dust filled the room, sending screaming families in a panic. A giant hole had opened up in front of the stage, and from it rose a goose in a purple trench-coat honking maliciously. This was-

“Dr. Matronic!” Drake shielded Gosalyn behind himself as Dr. Matronic climbed onto the stage. 

“Ladies and gentlemen,” she cried out, “children of all ages! To all who come to this happy place, Pepper Panda’s Pizza Pagoda is now MY Pizza Pagoda! Which means the animatronics are now mine to keep! Mwahonkhonkhonk!”

Gosalyn stuck out her tongue in disgust. “Ugh, you call that an evil laugh? A baby would sound more menacing than that!” 

“Never mind that now,” said Drake, “we’ve got to get these people out of here! Launchpad, Gosalyn, evacuate the building while I keep her busy.” With a plan of action in place, the daring duck of mystery went off to find a broom closet to change in. Unfortunately, it was a very tight squeeze, as Drake tried to change and avoid the brooms at the same time. 

“This night couldn’t possibly get worse...,” muttered Drake. 

——

“Megavolt! That stupid doctor just ruined our date night!” Quackerjack’s temper had come out in full force, and now he was ready to let it all out. 

“The nerve of some people! I mean, who breaks into a pizza parlor and steals the animatronics??” Megavolt yelled. Sparks started to fly as he locked onto the target of his ire, who was beginning to disassemble the helpless robots. “D’ohhh! Well at least it can’t get any worse.”

The blue smoke cloud that burst out answered that. 

“Gah! Will you stop saying that!” shouted Quackerjack. 

“I am the terror that flaps in the night!”

“I am the cheese pizza that burns on the taste buds of crime! I am Darkwing Duck!” Like clockwork, the purple caped crusader appeared out of the smoke. 

“Oh no. It’s Darkwing Duck. Whatever shall I do,” said Dr. Matronic, not intimidated in the slightest. Failing to frighten his foe, Darkwing pulled out his gas gun as his mood worsened. 

“Listen here doc! I may not like these rusty robots, but there’s no way I’ll let you take them away! Now suck gas, evildoer! Schpadoink!” As he shot off a canister of knockout gas, a Dalmatian puppy came out from behind Dr. Matronic and caught the canister, throwing it away from the doctor. 

“What the-!” 

“So,” Dr. Matronic grinned maliciously, “you don’t like rusty robots, eh? Well, I’m sure you’ll find that they have their uses!” Dr. Matronic pulled a walkie-talkie from her coat, and yelled, “Code 101: ATTACK!!” 

From the crevice, a noise of barking and howling approached, growing louder and louder until from out of the hole, one hundred robotic Dalmatians came bursting out. 

Darkwing gulped, hoping to hide his nervousness. “Alright, you digital dog deviants, prepare to face the might of Dark-AAAACK!!” The dogs never let him finish, immediately pouncing on Darkwing and biting everything that belonged to the flapping terror. 

“WHAT IS IT WITH YOU AND DALMATIANS!!!” 

“Well, since you’re tied up at the moment, I might as well explain my origin story,” said Dr. Matronic as she got to work detaching the Pie Gang from the stage. “You see, those Imagineer fools said it was impossible to make one hundred and one animatronics! They said it was too expensive! That I was a lunatic! Well who’s laughing now, huh?! Mwahonkhon-AHH!” 

Before the doctor could finish her evil laugh, a bolt of electricity from behind the stage curtain zapped her and sent her flying off the stage. In her hands she grasped the Cheddar Charles figurine, the remote controlling the chaotic canines flying off somewhere else. 

Megavolt stepped out onto the stage, a wide manic grin on his face as his hands lit up. “Well, looks like we’re the ones laughing now, and much better at it too! Aheeheeheeheee!” With a flick of a wrist, Megavolt shot another electric bolt at the pack of piranha-like puppies, putting a stop to their attack on the poor, punctured defender in purple as they scattered off.  

“Th-thanks for that...Megavolt,” Darkwing said shakily, as he attempted to stand up and not jostle his wounds at the same time. “Wait a minute, WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?! I swear, if that lunatic toy-maker Quackerjack is here too I’ll-“

What Darkwing would do, Megavolt would never know, for at that moment Quackerjack decided to introduce himself with one of his patented exploding toys. Laughing maniacally, he took out his signature mallet as he attempted to stomp out any robot trying to attack him. Dr. Matronic began turning her attention towards the most annoying threat in the room, directing robot after robot at Quackerjack. 

“What, did all the freaks decide to come out tonight?!” yelled Dr. Matronic, as she whipped out a small flamethrower aimed at Quackerjack. The jester merely giggled and blew raspberries as he dodged all of her flame attacks. Darkwing and Megavolt, however, were not as lucky, and had to hide behind an overturned table to avoid the flames. 

“Oh great,” sighed Darkwing, “the cherry on top of my already lousy sundae. Could this possibly get any worse?” Megavolt let out a yipe and braced himself. 

“Uhh, you alright there Mega-,” asked Darkwing, before Megavolt clasped a hand around his bill. 

“Don’t say that again! The universe has been more vindictive than usual today whenever somebody says that!”

“Alright alright, I’ll stop! Now, either help get me rid of this riddle-some ridicule of our rights, or GET OUT!” Megavolt’s train of thought got back on track, his temper overtaking him as he remembered his terrible night. 

“Uhh, Sparky-“ said Darkwing, before a stray bolt from Megavolt zapped him away as the electric rodent turned back to Dr. Matronic. 

“YOU RUINED DATE NIGHT!!!” roared Megavolt. Darkwing was dumbfounded, for once Megavolt hadn’t responded to his hated nickname of Sparky. Dr. Matronic began to worry, as she was inexperienced against the full force of the Quackervolt duo. Darkwing stepped back, hoping to get the upper hand as the villains fought each other when who should appear but Gosalyn.

“Don’t worry Darkwing, I’ll help ya!” cried Gosalyn. 

“Gosalyn, NO!” Darkwing dived towards his daughter, shielding her from the wayward flames with his cape as he caught the full brunt of the attack. Dr. Matronic took the time to gloat evilly at her fallen foe. 

“Well well well, guess the Pizza Pagoda is serving roast duck tonight! MWAHAHAHAH! How’s that for an evil laugh, by the way?” In her distraction, she failed to notice Megavolt and Quackerjack charging up the remaining animatronics, bringing them back to life. 

“Hey lady, ever heard of the Bite of ‘87!?” they both yelled. 

“The Bite of ‘87? That’s just a-“ Dr. Matronic looked back and saw the looming, terrifying animatronics trudging towards her. She gulped.

“...Just a myth,” she finished quietly. 

As the robots began their attack, Launchpad came in and helped Darkwing to his feet. “Gee DW, how’re we gonna stop those three?” 

“Oww, can’t we jus’...let ‘em kill each other?” Darkwing meekly asked. 

Gosalyn, guilty over her father’s second degree burns, tried to remember about any useful information pertaining to the animatronics. 

“Well, I read online that old robots used to explode from time to time...” she suggested. Inspiration struck Darkwing, reaching into his pockets for a special gas canister. 

“Launchpad, hand me my gas gun!”  With his weapon in hand, Darkwing loaded up the canister and aimed between the animatronics. “Get behind that column,” he motioned. 

Megavolt, taking a break from the action that was almost too exciting to put in words, took a side glance to see Darkwing’s fan club hiding behind a concrete column. As he wondered what was going on, the duck pulled out his gas gun and yelled, “hey Dr. Matronic, see if your pooches can stop this knockout gas!” 

Darkwing shot out the canister towards the animatronics and quickly took cover. As planned, Dr. Matronic took aim with her flamethrower, unable to tell the difference between knockout gas and explosive gas. 

FWOOSH! 

KABAM!! 

“SHPOOSH-“

“Dad! Do ya have t’ make sound effects right now?” 

“Oh, right, sorry,” Darkwing sheepishly said. “Well, better make sure no one died or anything.” As the smoke dissipated, he could see Dr. Matronic knocked out on the ground, singed and certainly not triumphant. Quackerjack, who had tried to run from the explosion, was somehow still standing, albeit close to passing out at any second. Behind them, all of the animatronics were nothing more than scrap, their somewhat cute faces now melted and resembling characters in a subpar horror video game franchise. 

Megavolt was nowhere to be seen. 

“Uh-oh, Megavolt?” The prospect of being arrested for manslaughter began to unnerve Darkwing.  “Hey Quackster, you seen your boyfriend anywhere?” 

The only thing Quackerjack heard through his concussion was ‘Megavolt’, and tried to snap out of his daze as best as he could. 

“Megsy! Sparky-poo, where are you!? Ooooh, I’m gonna get you for this Darkwing Duck!” But before Quackerjack could get him, the sound of police sirens could be heard in the distance. 

“Mmm, but maybe not today,” said Quackerjack, and then took out Mr. Banana Brain. “Time to hit the road, Toad,” he said in a falsetto voice. 

“MEGAVOLT! See you at the hideout!” And Quackerjack ran backstage, toppling over Launchpad who had attempted to catch him. 

“Ah geez, sorry DW, he got away. Should we go after him?”

“Nah,” said Darkwing, “I’ve got enough on my plate with Miss Robot over here. Also I gotta make sure Megavolt didn’t explode or something,...”

“Ughhh,” groaned Dr. Matronic, “that’s DOCTOR- wait. The animatronics! What have you done to them you fiend?!” Before she could freak out entirely, the police came in, slapping handcuffs on her and leading her away. 

“Why I say I say, ah-thank you Mr. Duck sir.” 

The team looked back and saw a rotund rooster in a tacky pizza print suit come up to them, taking Darkwing’s hand and shaking it profusely. “I am the owner of this here establishment, Rolan N. Dough the Third, thought you may call me Mr. Dough. I must congratulate you sir on a job well done!” 

“Ah-yep, yep, yep, all in a day’s work for Darkwing Duck, Mr. Dough!”

“So you’re not mad that he blew up your animatronics?” piped up Gosalyn. Darkwing hurriedly placed his hand over her bill, “Gosalyn! Ix-nay on the obot-ray! Ahaha, kids...” 

“On the contrary, Mr. Duck, I’m overjoyed! Thanks to you, I’m gonna save a fortune on properly preserving those robotic freaks! And receive a rather sizable insurance check! A nice little profit for today’s events!” 

Darkwing soured, remembering his distaste for the Pizza Pagoda once more. “You’re welcome, sir.”  

“I simply must reward you! How does a coupon for a free pizza sound?” 

Launchpad’s stomach rumbled at the sound of that. “Gee DW, can we cash it in now?” 

Darkwing sighed, “Fine, fine, we’re not coming back here anytime soon.”

As Launchpad and Mr. Dough made their way to the pizza station, Darkwing crouched down to check on Gosalyn for any injuries. 

“You ok?” he asked. “I mean, aside from seeing your favorite pizzeria in ruins that is?” 

“Yeah,” she sighed, “I’m just sad the Pie Gang met their end like that.”

“Well it’s an Italian eatery owned by a Southerner themed around China, it was bound to end horribly. You gotta admit though, it was a pretty cool explosion.”

“Okay yeah, it was pretty cool. I mean the way that flamethrower just went GWOOSH and the canister was like SCHPAAAAM! Not too bad from Darkwing and his helpful sidekicks, huh?”

“Oh, that reminds me, you’re still in trouble for running in like that.”

“WHAT? Daaa-uh, I mean, Darkwiiiing!” The two walked away, preparing to stop Launchpad from spending more than $50 on pizza. 

“Hmm, I feel like I’m forgetting something though,” said Darkwing.

“Ah well, I’m sure it was nothing important,” reassured Gosalyn. 

———

In the subterranean hole where Dr. Matronic had come from, Megavolt had begun to regain consciousness, slowly sitting up as he willed the surroundings to stop spinning. 

“Owwww, that’s it, next date night will be at the mini golf...” 

From below, he could hear the faint voice of Quackerjack at hysterics, then fading away. Then he heard the shrill voice of Dr. Matronic screaming over the ruined animatronics. Megavolt perked up, remembering the explosion with clarity now. 

“NO NO NO! The animatronics! Darkwing Duck and that stupid doctor lady ruined my childhood! This is worse than that reboot of my favorite movie with an all-female cast! Why I oughta-OW!!”

In his rage, Megavolt failed to notice an object in his path, and stubbed his already fragile toe against it. He was prepared to blast it to smithereens, when he noticed something familiar about the object. 

Something metallic. 

“Wait...it can’t be,” he muttered. He crouched down, digging through the rubble until the object was set free. It was Cheddar Charles, banged up a little but perfectly intact. 

“Oh you poor thing,” Megavolt cooed, “you must’ve fallen down here after that mean old Darkwing blew us up!” He cradled the orphaned robotic mouse in his arms, feeling his paternal instinct flare up as he gently dusting the dirt off of it. A ghost of a childhood memory panged within him, recalling a time in his life when he felt safe and loved, unaware of the harsh realities of life that would face him later on.

Was it too insane to believe that he could pass that love on to something else?

He loved Quackerjack. He loved his life of lightbulb liberation. But if Megavolt was honest with himself, maybe there was something nice to the whole family concept. Maybe the idea of taking care of something and watching it grow with someone he loved seemed exciting to him. Maybe Darkwing had the right idea about having a kid sidekick-

Nope. It’d be a cold, day in Hell before Megavolt would admit to being jealous of Darkwing Duck. 

He took out one of his trusty light bulbs to illuminate the scene, when an idea came to him. 

“Wait a minute,” he said, “Quacky and I want a kid. This little guy doesn’t have a family anymore. That means...that means! Wait, where was I going with this?”

The Cheddar Charles let out a shock, charging up Megavolt once more. 

“Oh right! Welcome to the family, new son! This is gonna turn out way better than that time I split Darkwing into two.” He took his son into his arms, already bonding with the temporarily lifeless robot. 

“But ya know, Cheddar Charles is kinda long for a name. How about I call you...Chuckie!” 

------

Meanwhile, on the other side of town…

“OH MY GOD,” cried out Drake Mallard, “I BLEW UP MEGAVOLT!”

[thebibliomancer]

Essential Avengers: Avengers #219: ... BY DIVINE RIGHT!

May, 1982

I can just tell that this is going to be a Moondragontastic issue. Call it a hunch. Call it the caption that reads “By divine right, MOONDRAGON commands!” Or call it her enormous cosmic head lurking mastermind like over the action scene.

Who are the Avengers even beating up? Guess I’ll find out.

So previously on Avengers! ... Uh. Well Hank Pym’s life imploded and he wound up in jail. Molecule Man was going to eat Earth and then Tigra told him not to sternly and he changed his mind. Tigra quit the team, alas. And there was that weird filler thing with the immortal child who pratfell into the Sun.

This time, we have a much delayed thing. Back during Shooter’s first run, he had unfinished plans for Moondragon which were supposed to happen sometime after the Korvac Saga. But he had to leave the book because trying to write a title and EIC wasn’t happening.

So now here he is, trying to write a title and EIC at the same time.

Uh. Second time’s the charm?

The story starts with Janet Van Dyne, divorced and Feeling Fine, getting a ‘ducky’ new haircut.

Yeah. It looks decent. Not much like a duck. But who can say why language does anything.

But just as she’s examining her new ‘do, Janet is struck by a sudden irresistible impulse to run out the salon! Run out and flyyyyyyyy!

So not really sure why, she runs out, shrinks down, and flies away.

Unfortunately, her clothes weren’t treated with unstable molecules and the compulsion is strong enough that she shrinks out of her clothes and flies off into the snow naked.

The awkward life of being Janet Van Dyne.

When we eventually establish that of course this is Moondragon, Moondragon is going to have a lot to answer for.

Meanwhile, in Atlantic City, Tony Stark is counting cards and loudly announcing that’s what he’s doing to his lady companion.

I guess when you’re rich as Tony and also have access to a ‘bodyguard’ in a walking weapons platform, casinos don’t get so kneebreaky with you.

But just as Tony bet $50,000 at blackjack, his Tony sense are tingling. Or he’s hit by the same weird compulsion as Wasp, which I’ve just noticed looks like generic store brand spider-sense in how its portrayed.

So Tony gets up and runs, telling his date that the money he has on the table and his cards are hers.

She sits down in his seat, hits on a thirteen, goes over 21 and shrugs “Easy come, easy go!”

Meanwhile, Tony flies out of the casino as Iron Man. He muses to himself that he barely resisted changing into his armor right in front of everyone.

Oh, so I see how it is (Moondragon)! Wasp is in such a hurry that she ditches her clothes but Tony gets to put some more on? I see where your butter is breaded.

Meanwhile again, Captain America is beating up some armed robbers. One of the armed robbers is actually a huge fan.

Armed robber Stu: “SPLIT UP, GUYS! RUN! HE CAN’T GET US ALL -- OOF!”

Armed robber Squid: “Stu, you jerk! He’s Captain America! Of course he can get us all! If I wasn’t a two-time loser, I wouldn’t even bother runnin’!”

But right when Cap is punching a guy, he too feels the SUDDEN COMPULSION!

He gets on his motorcycle and goes.

Leaving mixed feelings amongst the conscious armed robbers.

Armed Robber Eliot: “Hah! We scared him off, Squid!”

Armed Robber Squid: “I -- I can’t believe that! Nothin’ scares Captain America! Durin’ World War II, he took on a whole company of Nazis once and saved my dad’s platoon from an ambush!”

Eliot: “Big deal! That has-been’s runnin’ from us, isn’t he?”

Squid: “He ain’t runnin’! He probably has more important stuff to do, that’s all! And he ain’t a has-been!”

Eliot: “Right, Squid -- ! He’s a coward!” -punched- “OW!”

Squid: “SHADDUP, ELIOT!”

They’re so busy punching each other over whether or not Cap rocks or sucks that they forget to run and are punching each other when the police arrive.

Womp womp.

But hey, people get emotional debating their favorite superheroes. It is understandable.

Meanwhile again again, Jarvis is shoveling snow at Avengers Mansion and bitterly muttering to himself that he talked Tony out of purchasing a snowblower.

Jarvis: “I should have listened to Mr. Stark! I should have purchased a snow-blower as he asked! ‘Nonsense, sir!’ I said! ‘We Jarvises are a hardy breed,’ I said! ‘The expenditure is quite unnecessary,’ I said! Bah!”

Oh, Jarvis. Never talk Tony out of spending money. He has too much of it. He just lost $50,000 gambling like it was nothing.

Anyway, Thor shows up and clears all the snow by just twirling his hammer around super fast. He’s considerate like that.

With his afternoon cleared up, Jarvis invites Thor to join him watching the knickerbockers game on TV. Which is apparently ‘basketball.’

Since Thor’s afternoon is also open, he’s happy to watch sports with Jarvis.

It starts snowing again. Jarvis, not wanting work to pile up, asks Thor if he can control the weather.

And Thor is like ‘yeah but I don’t want to tamper with the natural order too much but hey just this once, I’ll do it for you buddy’ but then the STRANGE COMPULSION LINES ATTACK and Thor flies off, Jarvis wondering if his question offended the thunder god.

Hmm. We really did just have four full pages of the Avengers individually reacting to the same thing.

That’s one way to fill out a script.

I mean, it’s probably padding but the Avengers are all engaged in their own downtime thing, except Cap who is the only one who is punching things at the moment.

And I do like to see the Avengers doing non-action things.

Anyway, the Avengers all end up at a Brooklyn scrapyard where Moondragon’s ship is hovering in wait and finally the Avengers put together the dots.

AH of course! The person that keeps messing with our minds has once again messed with our minds! Is so obvious in hindsight!

Iron Man: “Obviously! Who else would have been so arrogant as to invade our minds and manipulate us like toys -- ? Who else but the self-appointed ‘goddess of the mind’? She ought to be made the 1982 Chutzpah Poster Child for this stunt!”

The spaceship shoots down an elevator beam, which is like a tractor beam but it sounds less rural.

I’m not sure how we all settled on tractor beam anyway. Was it Star Wars? Probably.

So Thor and Iron Man want to march up into that ship and give Moondragon a piece of their minds. Thor would fain confront her for this impudence.

Team Leader Janet Van Dyne says belay. Now that they’re not being STRANGE COMPULSIONED she wants to go home and get some clothes.

She managed to salvage a handkerchief from her purse and tie it around herself in a makeshift costume but you know what’s nice? Underwear, sometimes.

Although, it probably speaks to Janet’s fashion sense that Cap sees her handkerchief costume and sincerely wonders if its her new costume. You just can’t tell with her!

Anyway, it also speaks to how hard the Avengers are to lead because Thor and Iron Man and even Cap all ignore Wasp and march right into the elevator beam.

Its like herding cats!

No wonder Cap was happy to give up the job to her.

Wasp also points out that this is possibly a trap and one of them should have stayed outside and Cap is like ‘oh shit you’re right’ but it is too late for any kind of tactical thinking.

Inside the ship though they find no trap and no body. They poke around the ship but can’t find Moondragon or anybody else.

And then when Cap decides they should leave before the ship takes off, Iron Man discovers that the ship has already taken off.

Its a very smooth ride, they didn’t notice at all.

With the Avengers going off on a begrudging space adventure, a hologram recording of Drax the Destroyer comes on and starts narrating about his life.

How he was made to destroy Thanos and then when someone else destroyed Thanos, Drax was kind of left purposeless so he bummed around space aimlessly for a while before meeting up with his adult daughter who was raised on Titan.

Aka Moondragon.

Hey, I don’t remember if I’ve mentioned it on Drax or Moondragon’s previous appearances but they’re family!

Anyway, Drax recording talks about how with Moondragon’s mind powers she opened his mind and helped him find a purpose in life.

Apparently, uh, “seeking knowledge and the bliss of ultimacy.”

Fun family activities, no doubt.

The two of them came upon a war-torn planet where tens of thousands would die in a single battle.

Hologram Drax: “Move to pity, Moondragon sought to help these beings end their strife using the awesome might of her mind! She succeeded! Peace reigns -- yet, there is danger beyond imagining unfolding here! I realize now, that -- wait! I sense someone drawing near! I must end this quickly, lest I am discovered! Hear me! Only the Avengers can prevent the evil to come! Find them! Bring them to this ship! Quickly!”

And then the hologram cuts out. Creepily.

Huh.

So Drax sent the ship to bring the Avengers to help Moondragon. But Moondragon is the one who STRANGE COMPULSED the Avengers to find the ship.

Which is impressive that she can do that from across light years.

I’ll adjust my personal ranking of how impressive she might be next to Jean Gray.

So the situation is dire enough to send an empty ship but also not time consuming enough that Moondragon can take some time out of her schedule to make the Avengers ditch their activities and go on a spaceship ride.

Kinda mysterious.

Wasp even points out how weird this is.

Iron Man: “The computers were programmed to begin the return flight as soon as the ship’s sensors ascertained that we Avengers were aboard!”

Wasp: “But it doesn’t make sense... I mean, the message sounded like it was meant for anybody who happened to find the ship -- yet, Moondragon obviously made sure we’d find it first!”

By the by, I have a random prog rock playlist playing while I’m working on this post AND I’LL TELL YOU! Random prog rock over random Avengers space adventure really works well together.

Anyway, the Avengers only know that whatever the mysterious threat, it must be great to worry someone of Drax’s power.

The ship drops out of hyperspace above an alien world.

Wasp: “Guys, all this is just beginning to sink in for me! We’re zillions of miles from Earth -- ! A-and we’re about to set foot on an alien world -- and I don’t have a thing to wear! Literally! Except this old tarp I found!”

Being Janet is suffering.

I mean, I see spacesuits in the background of that panel.

And its weird that Moondragon doesn’t have a closet aboard her own ship. Although it’d all be capes and plunging necklines.

HEY WAIT speaking of capes, why doesn’t Thor lend his?

He’ll let some little shit of an immortal child wrap up in his cape but he won’t lend it to his good pal and team leader, Janet Van Wasp??

Grow you some manners, Thor!

Anyway, couture misadventures of Janet van Dyne aside. Time to disembark.

The Avengers take the de-elevator beam down, gazing in wonder at an alien world.

Well, Jan does. The others are kind of blase. Fie and poo on them.

Wasp: “It’s beautiful, b-but so strange! Almost terrifyingly strange! I feel the way I felt the first time I shrunk down to insect size -- my lord, this is a whole, new world!”

Cap: “New world or not, this looks pretty much like the town squares do back home!”

Dammit, Cap! Eat some poetry for your soul!

Iron Man comments that being beamed down from a spaceship in the middle of a shopping day is not a subtle entrance but Thor wouldn’t know subtle if it bit him on his cape.

Thor: “Fie! The god of thunder cares little for subtlety! Would that I’d summoned a raging tempest to herald our arrival! I like this not! Why is there no greeting for us? Are we but serfs, left to wend our own way to--”

Thankfully, Jan cuts off his weird monologue (Thor is being particularly goddish right now) and asks a random shopper to take them to her leader.

The alien starts responding in some alien language but partway through the Avengers can suddenly understand her.

She didn’t start speaking English. She kept speaking her native tongue but the Avengers could suddenly understand it like it were English, almost exactly as if the text in the speech bubbles became English.

Because it did. Its a nice little effect.

But its like someone (probably Moondragon) flipped a switch inside the Avengers’ heads to turn the subtitles on.

The alien shopper points the Avengers towards the “temple of the peace goddess” and they head off to there.

Thor comments that if Moondragon is fiddling with the language settings of their brains, then she must be aware of their arrival.

Moondragon, coming down the stairs and looking fab: “Of course, I am aware of your arrival, Thor! There is precious little in this universe of which the goddess of the mind is not aware! Welcome to Ba-Bani!”

Its actually a really good look for Moondragon. She’s still in green and cape and plunging neckline but the style has changed. Its more sexy priestess than sexy space swimsuit and opera cape.

It goes well with the new role she’s apparently taken on Ba-Bani.

She thanks the Avengers for coming which Thor and Iron Man are only too keen to point out that she didn’t leave them a whole lot of choice.

Wasp again tells them that she’ll handle this and tries to tell Moondragon that she’s the chairwoman of the Avengers now. But Moondragon cuts her off to tell her she already knows.

But also, that her thoughts have been with her in the trying times she’s had of late.

This is a kinder Moondragon compared to the one from #211. Wonder whither the change of heart.

Moondragon: “Sometimes, I wish it were not my lot to see most clearly that which is hidden, Janet! I could not help but be aware of your husband’s tragic downfall and the resultant turmoil in your soul, which you hide so well! I have shared your agony, and his! Greater, though, is my pain, for I see that the tragedy is deeper and more ironic than you yet realize -- and I fear it shall only worsen!”

... This is why people hate psychics.

Janet herself can only hurriedly change the subject in the face of this overly comprehensive sympathy.

Wasp: “Um... Drax’s message sounded urgent! Why don’t we discuss that?”

Hah.

So Moondragon turns on main screen to show a hostile army - consisting of the last of Ba-Bani’s warmongers, cutthroats, mercenaries and ravagers banded together - headed towards the capital city which is the city that they are currently in.

Wasp questions if Moondragon really just dragged them halfway across the universe to quell a local uprising.

Iron Man further points out that UNLIKE SOME PEOPLE moondragon the Avengers don’t make a habit to interfere in the political affairs of others. Plus, why can’t Drax handle this? Or why doesn’t Moondragon just mindzap the bad guys?

Iron Man: “Or do you reserve that treatment for those people you claim are your friends -- like us!”

Zing.

Moondragon takes exception to this. For one, she denies having set herself up as a queen or anything. The people of Ba-Bani rule themselves. She merely quelled the global war through a bit of careful psychic prodding and suggestion among world leaders.

Moondragon: “In a sense, I merely improved communications among the world leaders and removed the need for war!”

Drax: “She has saved countless millions of lives already, Avengers!”

For another thing, the peace is still fragile. She has to maintain a constant rapport with said world leaders and influential people to preserve it.

Even as it relies on a careful, selective touch, she says the effort is staggering and she can’t ALSO psychically smack the invading army.

And point the last, she’s only just convinced him that his purpose in life doesn’t have to be destroying and it would be shitty to throw him at violence again and reawaken his destructive nature.

Thus, the need for outside help.

If the Avengers can’t or won’t stop the army, the global bloodshed may reignite and Moondragon won’t be able to stop it again. MILLIONS WILL DIE!

So since Wasp is the chairperson, it falls to her to decide what to do.

And I can’t help but notice that when it comes time to decide whether to intervene in a very foreign extraterrestial conflict, Iron Man finally defers to her instead of her having to yank him back from whatever impulsive thing he wants to do.

Being leader of the Avengers has gotta suck.

Anyway, Wasp decides they’ll stop the immediate threat to the city but after that... well.... they’ll see.

But its a decision Wasp feels weird about because her head is all weird, like her mind is in a fog. She’s sure there were some follow-up questions she wanted to ask Moondragon that she can’t remember anymore.

I’m sure that forgetting what you wanted to ask a psychic is a coincidence and forebodes nothing.

She’s probably just tired.

Scene cut to the aggressive army of aggressors peering at the horizon going ‘hey are those missiles? Can’t be, the peace goddess told them to abandon  weapons.’

SURPRISE, ITS THE AVENGERS

Surprise to them, anyway. If I paused long enough to let you guess, I’m sure you would have guessed the Avengers.

Anyway. I’m pretty sure Wasp is still wearing the handkerchief, although she has managed to tailor it to being less obviously makeshift.

I was about to complain that they didn’t stop and let her get some clothes but. I mean, what are the odds that the local shop contains either clothing her size or clothing that can change size?

Anyway, Wasp still feels weird about the decision to get involved.

Wasp: “I can’t stop wondering whether or not we’re doing the right thing! Moony says she isn’t ruling this planet, yet, she is controlling the destinies of these people! Isn’t that the same thing? I-I’m so confused!”

But since the army does have guns and they are out for blood, she doesn’t have any hesitation to beat them up a little.

Some decent Wasp action, too.

And it’s not just Wasp who has misgivings.

Iron Man also has his doubts, as he picks up a guy in each hand and slams them together.

Iron Man: “I can’t help feeling sorry for these guys! They’re the underdogs! Something’s eating at me about what we’re doing here, but for the life of me -- I can’t quite put my finger on it!”

Cap too. In a specifically Cap way.

Cap: “These rebels are fighting for freedom -- but what they want is the freedom to make war! We’ve got to stop them -- I know that! Still, for some reason, my instinct are screaming that we shouldn’t!”

The only Avenger who isn’t having doubts is (by process of elimination) Thor who is throwing tanks around and doing his best divine smack talk.

Thor: “Beware, base scoundrels -- lest the wrath of the thunder god destroy thee!”

Anyway, misgivings aside, the Avengers aren’t having much trouble actually beating up this army. For the last of the warmongers, they’re not much of a match for a super-soldier, a guy in power armor, an actual god of actual thunder, and Janet goddamn van Dyne.

Like Iron Man said, the evil invading army just feels like the underdogs here.

From a distance, Drax spectates the battle. And notices a pair of rebels closing on Cap from behind. They’re planning to shoot Cap in the back and hopefully that act will let them rally the army against the remaining Avengers.

Drax realizes he could stop them. Or warn Cap. But he feels a strange contentment to just watch.

This must be what being Uatu is like.

The two rebels shoot Cap off his sky-sled. He barely managed to get his shield up to protect himself.

While Iron Man catches Cap from a fateful plummet, Wasp goes after the two who attacked Cap.

Wasp: “Hey! You on the sled -- ! I’m an Avenger, and I don’t think what you did was nice or fair, so I’m avenging it! So there!”

Hey! The team name has a meaning! You did it, Wasp! You named the team Avengers because it sounded cool and then you finally did some avenging 218 (plus annuals and crossovers) later!

Proud of you.

Anyway, Thor catches the two rebels from their own fateful plummet, declaring that they don’t deserve the honor of death in combat.

Then while sort of waving the two like visual aids at the army, Thor demands they surrender.

Thor: “Hear me, armies of the rebellion! Your leaders are my captives! Your cause is doomed! Lay down your arms -- now! I will warn you but this once!”

Army Guy: “We are undone!”

Another Guy: “We surrender!”

Soon, the Avengers return to the capital city, Thor carrying the apparent rebel leaders on a random piece of debris.

Moondragon thanks the Avengers for what they did. She also asks that the Avengers turn the rebel ringleaders over to the city’s civil authority so that they may, in time, be rehabilitated.

She also mentions that Drax has alerted the city’s police to take the other rebels into custody and to destroy their surrendered weapons.

And then she tries to hurry the Avengers along.

Moondragon: “Then, truly, it is over! You have done a magnificent and noble labor this day, Avengers! Father, please make ready my ship! They must be anxious to return to Earth!”

Cap interjects saying that they’d prefer to stay a day or two to take in the sights.

Wasp grouses at Cap speaking for the Avengers. Dangit, she’s supposed to speak for the Avengers!

With but an ellipses of hesitation, Moondragon agrees that the world is new to the Avengers and there’s a lot of stuff for them to see. And says that they’ll leave tomorrow instead.

Nice try, Moondragon. There’s five pages of plot left. Can’t wrap up early.

So then we have a twelve hour timeskip so the Avengers can nap and shower and its off to explore an alien world! With tour guide Drax!

The first thing they learn is that its never nighttime on Ba-Bani! I don’t know if thats a multiple suns thing or an orbit thing but its always daytime.

Janet does not approve.

Anyway, Thor ditches the group because he’s seen a lot of worlds and it just doesn’t interest him. He’s going to find something else to do.

And then the Avengers split up.

Cap wants to mix with the people a bit and Wasp wants to not wear a tarp so they’re headed to the market.

Iron Man spotted some high tech factories and dangit if he doesn’t love industry so he’s going to have Drax take him through one.

And then we skip ahead another hour. Which is a fairly reasonable amount of time to shop, probably.

Janet has obtained Actual Clothes That Aren’t A Tarp.

And because her money is no good here, even if she had any on her, she told the tailor to bill it to Moondragon.

Which is funny for at least two reasons.

The first of which is that I always find it funny when anyone on the Avengers foists their bills on someone else. The second of which will make sense when I cover next issue.

Anyway, mentioning Moondragon makes Cap remember that he wanted to bring her up. His thoughts have been so muddled about it but that’s the real reason why he wanted to stay longer.

Wasp: “Because you suspect that she’s manipulating us -- ? Because you think things aren’t quite kosher here on Ba-Bani? I was a bit slower on the uptake than you, but... I agree! Let’s just nose around a little, shall we?”

She’s not. Unsuspicious.

Cap even has a good idea where to start looking and takes Wasp on the sky-sled to the site of the battle from earlier.

Some guards or police or something have the area blocked off and tell the Avengers that nobody is to enter the area. Especially not the outworlders.

But since these guards aren’t armed thanks to Moondragon’s sensible gun control policies, Wasp tells them to screw off and Cap just flies around them.

Cap hopes to find an escaped rebel and ask them about their cause or maybe examine their abandoned equipment.

It’d take a long, exhaustive investigation to piece things together that way but it’ll be worth doing.

But he doesn’t have to.

Because when Cap and Wasp arrive at the battlefield, they find that two of the workers working to clear up debris are the rebel leaders from earlier.

Convenient!

Wasp: “Pardon me, fellas, but, did you, um, by any chance lead a rebellion yesterday?”

Rebel Leader: “What? Oh, that! Yes! I can’t understand what got into me! I was tending my shop in the city, when suddenly I felt compelled to seize a weapon and come out here! Thousands of others were similarly, mysteriously compelled! Out of the blue, my friend, here, and I became obsessed with the idea of leading this impromptu army in an attack upon the city! Thank the goddess you stopped us!”

So. Yeah.

Where have we heard SUDDEN COMPULSION before as a thing that makes people do things?

I mean, this isn’t exactly subtle.

Moondragon forced an army to form and then had the Avengers beat them up.

The plot thickens.

Meanwhile, Drax takes Iron Man on a tour of a communications center. Ba-Bani has low-orbit anti-grav satellites in the sky for communications and for monitoring the city and its surrounding environs.

Every public event is recorded. For historical and legal matters, surely.

You ever see a villain somehow monitoring something and thought ‘wait how did they have a camera there?’ WELL BA-BANI HAS YOU COVERED!

THEY HAVE EVERYTHING MONITORED!

For example, Iron Man punches up a video of the battle from yesterday and specifically to the moment when Cap was ambushed.

Iron Man: “Say... I hadn’t realized how close you were to us, Drax! You were right on top of us! You must have seen the ambush developing! Why didn’t you do something -- or even just yell ‘look out!’”

Drax: “I -- I don’t know...”

Iron Man: “I can’t believe you just stood there watching while Cap was almost cut in half! Drax, we’ve been in scrapes together before -- that isn’t like you! What’s wrong? What’s going on?”

Drax: “Nothing! Nothing! I am fine!”

The hallmark of someone truly fine, shouting that they are fine.

Or just saying that they are fine.

Does ‘I’m fine’ even mean what its definition meaning means anymore? Does anyone use it sincerely?

Anyway, Iron Man decides that ‘I’m fine’ means ‘I’m not fine’ and that Moondragon has been messing with his head.

And by ‘his’ I could mean either Drax or Iron Man. Because Iron Man has felt his thoughts muddled lately too.

Its a bit of a trend.

But Drax refuses to believe it. Shouting that its not true; his daughter wouldn’t do that.

While one of the people manning the communications center just kind of stares at this argument.

Because. It does sort of draw attention. Drax is making all kinds of dramatic poses and Iron Man marched over to grab him by the shoulders.

(I think communication console woman is wikipediaing Drax because pictures of him are showing up on all the consoles)

Iron Man: “You ‘know’ what she wants you to know! She controls thoughts! How can anyone really be certain whether he’s thinking what he wants -- or what she wants? She can make us think, say, or do anything, and we wouldn’t even realize it! Even this could be her manipulating us -- but I don’t think so! I know there’s a limit to her power! She can’t have her attention everywhere at once! Pray it’s mostly elsewhere for now and listen to me while we have a chance!”

So maybe Moondragon is distracted and that’s why Iron Man is coherent enough to have this conversation. But what could she be distracted by?

Well, scene change to the temple of Moondragon and Thor arriving at it.

Moondragon: “Thor! I had hoped you might come!”

Thor: “Spare me your guile, woman! You knew I would come -- for ‘twas you did plant this ‘whim’ in my mind, was it not?”

Moondragon: “Yes... it was!”

Thor: “You are less subtle than I’d imagined, woman!”

Moondragon: “Deliberately! You are a god, Thor! I need practice no subtlety upon you!”

Thor accuses her of having taken total control of this world and to Thor, Moondragon admits it.

But she has a good excuse.

Moondragon: “Behold, Thor! This city is alive -- ! Fresh with gardens and music and the laughter of children! When I came here it was a blood-soaked battleground! I brought peace to Ba-Bani! I made this! Have I done wrong?”

Its a tough question. Because psychic mind control isn’t really real and moral philosophy is also probably made up.

On some level, a society is going to put restrictions on people for their own good. Like seat belt laws or food safety standards. But on the other hand, Moondragon is controlling people’s thoughts.

Is it right to do that for a good cause?

(X-Men sure as hell hopes so with all the psychics running around in those books. Sheesh.)

But Drax did not think it was right.

Per the hologram recording and also Moondragon’s confession here, Drax sent the ship to get the Avengers. She wasn’t able to stop it so she expedited the Avengers finding it so it seemed like she was in on it.

Then she staged a fake revolution for the Avengers to crush so they could leave satisfied that they had done a thing.

She also put Drax under her strict control after he sent the ship.

Moondragon: “There! You know now the sum of my ‘guile,’ Thor! I’m relieved to be confessed, for gods should have no secrets between them! We should be closer... It is the role of gods to set aright the paths of lesser beings! ‘Twas ever thus! My labor is difficult... and lonely! I need your help... and your comforting touch...”

Thor: “Moondragon... it is not good to tamper overmuch with the natural course of things...”

Moondragon: “But this once -- ? For my sake...”

Thor: “For... your... sake...”

Moondragon: “Love me, son of Odin! Be thou mine!”

Thor: “Aye... thine...”

Dammit, Moondragon! If you’re using mind control to make Thor love you, don’t be doing that! It happens to him far too much!

Every damn enchantress on Asgard for one!

So on the one hand, Wasp, Cap, and Iron Man are wise to Moondragon’s shit now.

On the other hand, Thor seems to have been seduced to her corner.

And on the third, ambiguous hand, Drax who seems like maybe he’s on the fence. Maybe Iron Man just needs to shake him some more.

Next time sure is going to be some kind of WAR AGAINST THE GODS!

According to the big pink words, anyway.

Hey. Psst. There’s a SUDDEN COMPULSION to follow @essential-avengers​ and to like and reblog this post. Weird, huh? Maybe if you listen to that SUDDEN COMPULSION you’ll get to go on a space ride to space. No promises.

[izzyfandoms]

Spooky Sanders’ Haunted House - 1 - Introduction

Here’s my new au idea, I’m probably just gonna write and post oneshots about this whenever I feel like it but this won’t be a regular chapter fic

Warnings: Sympathetic Deceit, Sympathetic Remus, ghosts, demons, angels, blood, possession, religious themes, major character death (because they’re ghosts)

General Taglist: @quillfics42 @ajdraws0430 @phantomofthesanderssides @creativity-killed-thekitten @phlying-squirrel @sly-is-my-name-loving-is-my-game

Masterpost

In the middle of the woods stood a mansion: a large, foreboding mansion with pale walls, cracked windows and creaking hallways. It somehow felt both lived-in and abandoned at once – cold, but warm; repulsive, but inviting. It was the very definition of an oxymoron.

There was a small crowd gathered at the entrance to the mansion, as there often was, though these people had actually paid to be there, unlike those who sometimes showed up out of nowhere, uninvited, who had to be scared away. The mansion’s inhabitants were good at scaring people away, but that also often led to people wanting to come back, so it wasn’t always helpful.

Leading up to the front door of the mansion was a short, but elaborate, set of stairs: five large white steps, covered in cracks and moss that never seemed to go away, no matter how much they’d tried to get rid of it. At the top of this staircase stood a teenager, who looked to be about seventeen at most, dressed head-to-toe in black, with accents of silver and yellow, and with vitiligo covering one side of his face.

The boy leant on a decorative cane as he looked over the dozen-or-so people in front of him – they’d checked their tickets with the not-actually-24-year-old man who stood by the front gates. He grinned as they shifted awkwardly under the weight of his stare.

This would be fun.

“Greetings, Ladies, Gentlemen and those of you who know better, and welcome… to the Sanders’ family mansion. Now, some like to speculate that my family’s home is haunted by the ghost of our father – the world-famous actor, Thomas Sanders – as his death was as mysterious as his past, but I disagree. I have it on good authority that my father’s soul is up in heaven, where it belongs. No, the things that haunt my home are far more unpredictable.” His smile widened, baring his teeth. “We’re just lucky they haven’t decided to kill us yet.”

He paused for another second or two to gauge his audience’s reactions, before turning suddenly and pushing the large wooden doors open. They creaked noisily, and an ominous gust of wind shot out from the inside, tracing icy fingers down everyone’s spines and dancing through their hair.

The boy then motioned with his cane for the group to follow him inside.

“Follow me.” He instructed. “Don’t wander off. Don’t go upstairs. Don’t touch anything you’re not supposed to. We have eyes everywhere; you won’t get away with anything… untoward.”

He glanced back at them for a moment, eyes shining. “And, most importantly, try not to die. We don’t need to add another ghost to the collection.”

Once they were all inside, the doors slammed shut and the lights went out, engulfing them in darkness. A childish giggle rang through the air as another new voice whispered from all around them:

“You’ll regret this.”

***

Virgil wandered down one of his mansion’s many corridors – he’d never get used to the ‘his’ part of that phrase, he  may be the oldest Sanders sibling at twenty-two years old (and the only adult in the house, as Remy and Emile didn’t count) and therefore the owner of the place, but, to him, it would always be their father’s.

He half-heartedly tapped at his phone, typing out a message to his friend, Toby, and scowling slightly when the Wi-fi stopped working, which was an unfortunately common occurrence in this place. He didn’t look up when he reached the end of the hallway, pulling a door open and stepping inside. It immediately slammed shut behind him, and only then did he glance away from his phone, one eyebrow raised.

His eyes widened slightly.

The bookshelves were empty, their contents swirling across the ceiling, in a constant state of chaotic movement, though they seemed undamaged, none of the covers missing or pages falling out. The closet in the corner was rattling violently and the TV showed only deafening static, dark blood leaking out the bottom of the screen. In the centre of it all sat Virgil’s twelve-year-old brother, Roman, curled up on the couch, knees to his chest, his back to his brother as he mumbled to himself.

All of a sudden, his head twisted around 180 degrees to face Virgil. His eyes were dead – pupils white – and his nose was bleeding. He opened his mouth to let out an ear-splitting screech, and that’s when Virgil finally snapped out of his daze, blinking a few times in surprise before he frowned disapprovingly.

“Remus, give Roman control of his body back. You had it during the tour, and he needs to do his homework. You can have it back later.”

Remus’s scream continued for another moment or two, before his jaw snapped shut and his head spun back into place. He shook it a few times before he turned back to Virgil, his eyes alive and normal again, though he was pouting.

“Aww, come on, Virge.” Roman whined. “Don’t be such a royal pain, we were having fun!”

Virgil rolled his eyes, reaching out and ruffling his younger brother’s hair. “Yeah, yeah. Just go do your homework, kid.” He then turned to the TV. “Patton, get out of there and clean up that blood, you’re going to break it.”

The static stopped, the screen going black, and, a few seconds later, a tiny nine-year-old boy climbed out of the television, dressed in a blood-stained grey cat onesie and large round glasses. They were cracked, but he never seemed to notice.

Patton beamed widely – too widely – when he landed on the ground, picking up the tiny toy cat that lay beside the TV. It was grey, white and missing an eye, with half of its fur matted with what used to be blood. He ran up to Virgil, wrapping his tiny arms around the man’s legs in a hug. The television re-absorbed all of the blood as he grinned up at his pseudo-older brother.

“Where’s Janus?” He asked, voice as glitchy as ever.

Virgil hummed in thought, patting the young boy’s head as best he could. “Uh, he should be back in his room? I don’t-”

Patton disappeared before he could finish, and the toy cat dropped to the ground. Virgil sighed, picking it up and putting it in his hoodie pocket, he could return it later. He then turned to the still-shaking wardrobe.

“Logan, I know you’re in there. I’m not sure how Remus dragged you into this mess, but I bet Remy had something to do with this, too.”

The books circling the ceiling suddenly paused mid-air, before slowly floating back towards the bookshelf and arranging themselves alphabetically, much neater than they’d been prior to this. The closet then stopped shaking and fifteen-year-old Logan stepped out. He looked about the same as usual, apart from the small blue horns on his head and the matching demonic tail that was curled around one of his legs.

Logan adjusted his glasses. “I apologise, Virgil, but Remy had nothing to do with this, actually, not that he tried to stop it, either. Emile was the one who advised I help out with their little… prank, of sorts. It was good practise for my powers. He also suggested I keep my horns and tail out more, he said it would help me become more in touch with my demonic heritage.”

Virgil sighed again. “Of course, he did.” He paused, before continuing. “Speak of the demon, do you know where he is? I haven’t seen him since the tour earlier, and I’m concerned he’s sacrificing a goat somewhere and making a mess of the place.”

Logan shrugged. “Hell, probably.” He flicked his wrist and floated a textbook into his arms. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, Virgil, I have some reading I’d like to get back to. Remus interrupted my studies when he’d suggested this failure of a practical joke.” And, with that, he left, his tail and horns disappearing back into his body.

Virgil massaged the bridge of his nose. It could be difficult, sometimes, looking after his two human brothers, two ghosts (one of which had accidentally possessed and couldn’t unpossess his youngest brother) as well as the literal antichrist. He’d say it was worth it, and that they were his family and he loved them, but that didn’t make it any less stressful.

“’Sup, babe, you brooding again? You’ve got your brooding face on.”

Virgil looked up, immediately spotting his literal guardian angel floating above him, loudly slurping a Starbucks coffee. Heaven knows how he got his hands on it – the nearest Starbucks was hours away, and he’d seen Remy just a few minutes prior without the drink.

“Please stop calling me that.” Virgil said dryly, flopping onto the couch and burying his face into one of the cushions.

Remy snorted, wings twitching. “Gurl, we both know I don’t mean it like that. You’re cute and all, but angels can’t date their humans.”

Virgil rolled his eyes, pushing himself up onto his elbows. “Since when did you care about the rules? You weren’t supposed to reveal yourself or move in, either, but you still did.”

“Rules are made to be broken.” Remy said seriously, contradicting his earlier statement, but Virgil ignored that fact. “Besides, I’ve got my eye on that cute friend of yours, remember? He’s, like, still single, right?”

“Nate?” Virgil sat up. “Uh… yeah, I think so.”

“Nice, I’m gonna tap that.”

Virgil groaned. “Please don’t.”

Remy’s face turned serious. “There’s literally nothing you can do to stop me.” He floated down until he was laying on the coach, wings folded against his back, his bunny slippers in Virgil’s lap.

“I’m sure I could figure something out.” Virgil snorted. “Janus’s got tons of books on the occult, I’m sure he could find some kind of spell to stop an angel from being so horny all the damn time.”

“Excuse you!” Remy gasped loudly, lightly kicking Virgil. “I am angelic, thank you very much, I have nothing to do with the occult!”

Just as the latter was about to respond, they were interrupted by a loud bang from the other side of the house. It sounded like it was coming from Janus’s room, which was unsurprising, as most suspicious loud noises came from there.

Remy and Virgil exchanged a quick look before jumping up and rushing in that direction. The human out of concern and anxiety, and the angel mostly out of curiosity. They bumped into both Roman and Logan on the way, who followed them to Janus’s room.

It looked normal from the outside – the door had been painted black during Janus’s goth phase (which wasn’t quite over yet, to be honest) – but there was no way of guessing what was going on inside.

Virgil reached for the door handle, but it burst open before he could lay a hand on it. Six dark shapes shot past them – Remy only just about managing to catch the 22-year-old before he fell – and they each ran off in different directions, presumably scattering all around the house, screeching loudly as they went.

“Shit.” Janus swore, and everyone turned to look at him.

He was sitting in the centre of the room, beside a broken pentagram that still looked damp – it was newly painted – and one of his many, many books on the occult. There were black candles everywhere, though only about half of them were lit, and Patton was peeking out from behind the teenager, eyes wide and mouth in a small o-shape.

“Demons.” Remy said. “You summoned six demons. What, wasn’t Emile enough for you?”

Virgil blinked a few times in surprise, before his face settled into a disapproving expression. Janus half-smiled sheepishly.

“Uh… woops?”

“Again, Janus?” Virgil scolded. “This is the third time this week, seventh this month, you’re dealing with this on your own.” He then turned on his heel and stomped back to his room.

Remy followed quickly after, and both Roman and Logan returned to their own rooms as well, leaving Janus and Patton alone again. They exchanged a glance.

Patton blinked owlishly at him before disappearing too.

Janus sighed, picking himself up off the floor and dusting himself off. This would be a long evening.

[fasterthanmydemons]

I love how you write Pietro as being respectful towards women yet still kind of a womanizer or "ladies man", I totally see him as someone who would run into a wall (and get really hurt in the process) because he just turns his head when he sees a lady and he stops paying attention. In an AU where he lives, how would his relationship with the Marvel ladies be? Nat, Gamora, Mantis, Nakia, Carol, Valkyrie, Hope, etc, would he flirt with any of them? Do you have any crack ships with Pietro?

{out of breath} So... *sigh* Yeah, I can feel a rant coming on. A good one, but... probably a lot more than you ever asked for haha. I just haven’t really ever put down all my headcanons regarding Pietro’s treatment of women, how he views male and female genders and gender roles, and how his upbringing shaped those views... so Imma use this opportunity to do that, heh. I’ll bring Wanda into this too because it matters. Under a cute because loooong. XD

So... for the twins’ upbringing, culture, and religion, I combined their MCU and comic backgrounds, and used a mix of Romani culture, Judaism, Paganism, and sort of a very traditional and old school upbringing as far as living a simple life without much technology early on. They were adopted but never knew, and their adopted parents were Romani with regard to culture. As children they lived in a very rural village in the fictional country of Transia where there was no TV, no cell phones, no internet, no computers... it was farms and animals and forests and general stores that accepted trades instead of money. So they lived a very simple life.

This simple life was very much about loyalty to family, protecting those you loved, and respecting others, however it was at times misguided. Pietro especially was raised with a healthy dose of sexism, which is difficult to say since his father had only the best of intentions and always treated women well, yet nevertheless what he taught Pietro was definitely sexist. From a very young age, he was taught by his father that men are the strong ones. They’re the protectors. Women should be loved, adored, valued, and taken care of. That was the man’s role, to take care of and protect his family, especially the women. This is one of the roots of Pietro being so protective of Wanda, because he felt like that was his role and duty in life, to protect the women who mattered most to him. Wanda, on the other hand, was expected to help her mother with things like cooking and cleaning and taking care of the animals. As nice and chivalrous as most of this sounds, it’s imposing very specific gender roles for both men and women on impressionable children.

“Men are the strong ones,” was an idea that Pietro was taught as a child that continues to hurt him into adulthood. Strength in this case is both physical and emotional, but it’s very skewed towards traditional (and not necessarily good) gender roles. His father taught him that men don’t cry. They don’t show emotion. They never need help. They never get scared or sad. They need to be the strength of the family, because the women are the emotional ones. They can’t withstand things the way men can, so men need to be strong for them. And not only was Pietro taught this but Wanda was as well... so she at an early age learned that she was predisposed to being very emotional, won’t be able to handle herself at times, and needs to look to men for strength. Again, this is the beginnings of their emotional co-dependency, even before any traumatic events occurred to them.

This was incredibly damaging to the twins’ emotional development. Wanda grew up thinking that she had some kind of inherent “female fragility,” and Pietro grew up with the immense pressure to always be solid, unbothered, and unshakable. The reality is... that Wanda is stronger than Pietro emotionally but doesn’t realize it unfortunately until after she loses her brother and doesn’t have someone close to her to lean on all the time. And Pietro is more emotionally fragile but has spent his life hiding it, repressing it, being ashamed of it, and chastising himself anytime he sheds a tear or falters even slightly, instead of reaching out to others for help or advice.

So part of the reason why Pietro is very respectful of women is because that was how he was raised. Now, with regard to flirting, dating, sex, etc. (obviously only in verses where they are 18+ if they’re sexually active), the twins have internalized certain other aspects of their parents’ culture and those in the village they grew up in. Things like rape and infidelity were viewed very strongly, as serious and shameful as murder, and sometimes people who did those things were killed as punishment. Also, losing one’s virginity was in many ways a more meaningful and binding an event as marriage, unfortunately again, more so for the woman than the man, but still meaningful nonetheless. So the twins grew up taking sex very seriously and considering one’s loyalty, honesty, and fidelity to family and loved ones to be extremely important.

Because of this, Wanda waits a long time before losing her virginity (I headcanon to Vision, but after Age of Ultron and after she turns 18 it could be with another canon muse or OC as long as there is a strong emotional connection first). Wanda is not very interested in sex unless that strong connection is there, and is wary of it because of an assault that occurred when she was 6 years old. Pietro, on the other hand, doesn’t wait long after he turns 18 to lose his virginity, but although one-night stands are a thing with him, he does very much consider the mindsets of the women he’s with. The desire to just have sex for fun and not make too much of it has to be a mutual thing, or he won’t do it. If he gets the sense that the woman has feelings for him or wants more from him than that, then he won’t “play around” with her. Only if she’s just there to have fun the same as him will he indulge. This is because he doesn’t want to break hearts or play games with people’s emotions. Also, he will never have a one-night stand with a virgin (yes, he does ask each woman he’s with if she is one before anything happens). If, however, he has feelings for a woman and gets the sense that it’s mutual, he will want to talk seriously about it first before they jump into bed, because starting something serious with a woman is not something he can (or feels he should) then break off and regard as trivial later on. So he needs to be sure of his feelings and hers first.

Having said that, flirting is always free, heh. He sees no problems with flirting with anyone he wants (he even does this well before he turns 18), because it’s just words. As long as he is respectful and the woman seems to like the attention, it’s all good. If he gets the sense that she is bothered by it, he’ll stop and maybe apologize. This is a way not only for him to have fun and enjoy making women smile, but he also uses it as a way to uplift women who are sad, to compliment women who deserve it, and to generally spread some love for women, because as he learned as a boy, women are beautiful creatures who deserve to hear it all the time, heh. So he feels like he’s spreading positivity for women when he flirts with them, haha.

As teenagers and adults, Pietro is even more protective of Wanda than ever, because 1) it’s his duty, 2) he already failed her once when they were six, 3) he wants to protect Wanda’s virginity. It should be her choice who she gives it to, and if he sees any guys getting too close, too handsy, too suggestive, too aggressive around her, he will come between them and her. It’s interesting that he treats his own virginity so casually, but his sister’s is a grand, special thing he feels he needs to protect at all costs.

Pietro manages to strike a good balance between being very outgoing and flirty and also being very respectful and considerate with women. Wanda, on the other hand, never really learns how to talk to or relate to men because her brother is always coming between her and them. She also worries about her brother’s flirting because she doesn’t want to see him turn into someone who is too morally loose with himself, since she knows what can happen to people who commit things like infidelity. Sometimes she will comment on his flirting and imply that she looks down on the practice, as she did in one of the deleted scenes from Ultron.

Okay, those are all my headcanons on that subject, heh. And yes, you’re right, Pietro is very distracted by beautiful ladies. He is straighter than straight with regard to sexual orientation, he has a high libido, and he has a lot of energy. This... results in him noticing women and running into walls. It’s sad but it’s cute, haha.

In AUs where he survives Ultron, Pietro’s ideas of gender roles for women would be greatly challenged by any or all of the women you mentioned up there. But... Pietro is a feminist, he just doesn’t know it yet, haha. So even though he was raised with these traditional and sexist views of women, he genuinely likes women and wants good things for them. Seeing them in positions of power, whether physically, mentally, or politically, would be strange to him but not at all unwelcome. I think he would be impressed with that, drawn to it, amazed by it, and would cheer them on. Good for them, heh. Honestly, it would be something that would fascinate him, a women in a position or doing things that a man would normally do. “Normally,” of course, as seen through the eyes of someone with a sheltered and limited upbringing. I think all of the women you mentioned would be respected by Pietro, some of them would become friends, and some would become people to have friendly competitions with, like Nat, Carol, Valkyrie, or Nakia for example.

The only one I think he would view differently is Mantis. She’s very tiny, very cute, and can often come across, at least with her body language, as being timid or scared. I think she would attract Pietro’s protective instincts, and he would seek to take care of her much in the way he takes care of Wanda. Wanda is very powerful as well and yet Pietro feels protective towards her. I think Mantis would evoke the same feelings in Pietro, and if anyone messed with her (or made her cry... oh boy, heh), it would make him angry and he would immediately come to her defense. Beyond that, though, I think he and Mantis have the potential to become good friends. He would want to make her laugh and smile, especially if she was sad about something.

Hmm... crackships... Well, I don’t know if this is a crackship, really, but I always kindof headcanoned that if Pietro spent any kind of prolonged time with Carol that he would want to compete with her. Like a “let’s see who’s best” kindof deal. She’s very strong physically, both normally and because of her powers, and Pietro would be interested in seeing how he measures up to her. I can see him having a lot of fun with that. And.... again, I don’t know if this counts as a crackship, but it’s also canon in my interpretation of Pietro that he develops a crush on Natasha, heh. He finds her very attractive physically and her whole attitude and swagger is right up his alley. Now... I don’t see it very reciprocated, because he’s a bit too young for Natasha and I’m not sure he’s her type, but at least on Pietro’s end, there would be some crushing going on. XD

I hope that answered everything! And probably a lot you didn’t need to know about, haha. But thanks for sending this in! It was good for me to get all of this down somewhere. =)

[shiningtorrance-moved]

Alright let’s go through my thoughts on Doctor Sleep and what I will and won’t be including in my portrayal of Dan Part 1. (there will be spoilers for The Shining and Doctor Sleep so if you want to avoid spoilers just don’t read this)

Thoughts on the movie

-First and foremost, I’m going to save my thoughts on Dan and Dan-related things for part 2, where I’ll talk about how this affects my writing of him. Don’t think I’m ignoring him.

-DO NOT LET THIS BECOME SUCH A BOX OFFICE FLOP PLEASE GUYS IT’S BARELY BEEN OUT TWO WEEKS WE CAN’T LET THIS FLOP IT DESERVES BETTER

-When I saw Rose in the trailers and thought she’d be hot and powerful I WAS NOT PREPARED for her in the movie. Rebecca Ferguson is fabulous and give so much energy and charisma in her scenes and is drop-dead gorgeous while doing it

-Kyliegh Curran is a great Abra and can hold her own against the adult actors despite being so young, and her scenes with Rose are great because both actresses are bringing it and working off of each other and having a whole lot of fun doing it

-when I saw it with a friend there were nine of us total in the theater. That’s mostly because we saw it on a Tuesday afternoon, and it was actually nice because we reacted to things a lot more openly. That being said, DO NOT LET THIS FLOP GUYS GO SEE IT PLEASE

-Emily Alyn Lind is great, and if you’re worried about the sex scene between Rose and Andi happening, it isn’t. Andi’s fifteen in this, and the closest they get to anything in that vein is Andi telling Rose she’s the most beautiful woman she’s seen, and when Rose gives her steam their faces are close to each other. To be fair, whenever someone takes steam they act the same way, so it’s not some weird thing that only happens with Andi. But she was great bc she was so creepy and composed and ready to throw hands with anyone and everyone.

-Zahn McClarnon as Crow Daddy. Hot. Damn. I wasn’t expecting him to be as awesome as he was. He was calm, collected, intimidating, and his scenes with Rose were great because you can just tell how much they care about each other. It should be noted that he’s actually Native American (more specifically, Hunkpapa Latoka on his mother’s side; his dad’s Irish) and acts in Westworld (he plays Akecheta). Another thing that should be noted is that two years ago he had a brain injury that took him out of acting for a while, but he’s recovered! All in all, he’s a pretty cool guy who is a great Crow

-I do wish they actually showed Rose and Crow’s relationship because really all they did was she kisses his neck once and they spend time together a lot and he calls her “Rosie”. They do keep her screaming “You killed my crow”, but I do wish we saw them doing a little bit more couple stuff. Mainly because I thought they were cute in the book.

-WHERE WERE THE MURDER LESBIANS I WANTED THE MURDER LESBIANS WE DID NOT GET MURDER LESBIANS ALL WE GOT WAS MURDER LADIES I WANTED MURDER LESBIANS

-Unfortunately, Rose being bi wasn’t in the movie, but her vibes were definitely not straight ones

-The score was very close to the Shining score, but I’m not mad about it because I love the Shining score, and they used the music effectively

-There is body horror in the film. The murder of Bradley Trevor is shown, and there’s blood and him screaming and crying. It’s mostly her stabbing his leg then cutting to him screaming, and then the end where he asks her to kill him and she does, and he’s covered in blood and bleeding from the mouth. In the scene where Rose enters Abra’s head, Rose’s hand gets stuck in a file cabinet and she pulls it out slowly and you see the skin coming off of her hand. It’s about thirty seconds, but you see it and it’s gross. After that scene is over, her hand is still cut up and is very messed up for a lot of the rest of the film. The last  scene with any kind of body horror is during the climax, where Dan attempts to kill her with an axe and she digs the small end in his leg before digging her hingers into it. Some blood spurts out, but it only happens two or three times in quick succession, so it’s small. 

-David is stabbed in the chest offscreen, and all you see is his body with a knife sticking out of him, but there’s a lot of blood surrounding him. If you don’t like seeing dead bodies you won’t like that.

-When people get shot blood does shoot out of them, but it’s minimal and rarely forms a large splatter or anything.

-Billy commits suicide by shooting himself under the jaw. All that’s shown is him putting it under his chin, then it cuts to Dan trying to get to him before hearing the bang and seeing some blood. But there’s very little left to the imagination and it’s pretty disturbing.

-The way they showed cycling out was well done

-There’s a lot of practical effects and not that much CGI. In general the CGI was good. I mean, sometimes it looks a bit goofy (but try showing me a movie where a special effect doesn’t look goofy) but it’s really in scenes that are surreal and supernatural so it works a bit more.

-Really the only actor that they recast from The Shining that was truly off-putting was Jack, but that was mostly because Jack Nicholson has such a unique face and it’s hard to make someone look like him, let alone make someone look like him without having a weird uncanny valley thing.

-The characters that are recast don’t have a lot of screen time in the movie, and the one character that shows up a lot is Dick. Who is, fun fact, played by Carl Lumbly, who played John Parker in Buckaroo Bonzai. If you don’t think you’ll like the recast actors, they have the most screen time in the beginning and at the climax, but it’s heaviest in the beginning because it’s with child Danny.

-The kid they got to play little Danny is so adorable I love him

-Fun fact! Danny Lloyd aka the actor for Danny in the Shining movie, had a cameo! In the baseball game he’s the person who says “Watch out for number nineteen”

-The only thing that I didn’t like was that Billy and David died. I understand why they did it and like what they were going for, but I still didn’t like it.

-Billy is a true ride-or-die and he’s a great character and I’m hopping on the “Billy and Dan are dating” train because I CAN AND YOU CAN’T STOP ME

-David being a good dad and having a good relationship with his daughter and him not trusting Dan being totally okay and never used against him gives me life

-I was disappointed that when ghost Deenie came it wasn’t to warn Dan but to let him know they recently died, but hot damn that scene was freaky.

-Tbh Dan’s guilt about Deenie and Tommy was underused and could’ve been a bit more.

-DICK SAYS KA IS A WHEEL I REPEAT DICK SAYS KA IS A WHEEL

-I can’t stress enough how many times I bit my tongue to stop any Bi Panic(TM) noises from escaping because every scene Rose and Crow are in I was DEHYDRATED

-When we saw the first Overlook flashback, everyone in the theater was making various kinds of approving noises, e.g. a couple of people went “ooh” when we see Danny riding on the carpet, and my friend and I gasped when Danny’s tricycle went from carpet to wood floor because it was the exact same sound it made in the Shining

-THE FUCKING OVERLOOK SETS WERE FABULOUS

-THE ATTENTION TO DETAIL IS STUNNING

-IT LOOKED LIKE THE SHINING OVERLOOK SETS IF THEY HAD BEEN LEFT IN A DAMP CELLAR

-THE OVERLOOK SETS ARE JUST AWESOME

-When Dan and Abra were driving to the Overlook and the camera panned over to the hotel, everyone in the audience literally sat straight up and stayed that way for the rest of the climax. Except my friend and I, but that was because we both leaned forward, but we still stayed that way the entire time.

-Once again, THE SETS WERE GREAT

-I liked how the final. showdown with Rose went. I liked it a lot better than the book, actually (fight me). It was emotional and great and I feel it gave the characters a good conclusion to their arcs.

-There are like five of the True versus the forty in the book, and it’s a lot nicer.

-Abra says “Barry the Chunk” but he’s just called Barry and the implication is that he’s a large broad-shouldered man instead of what it was in the book

-Azzie is a good cat and deserves the world, although I thought I heard them say “She” which is a weird change. Provided that it’s real and wasn’t me mishearing them.

-Ewan McGregor sings at one point.

-Danny is a precious baby angel child and I love him

-John Dalton is more of a bit part than in the book, which works a lot better for this film.

-I wish we got more of the weird things Abra did as a child instead of just the spoons

-When Rose sees the elevator of blood she’s weirded out but then gets this look on her face like “I can dig it” and it’s honestly pretty funny

-I know that there’s no way this would’ve happened in the film because it’s honestly unnecessary and would’ve ruined the tension of the climax and couldn’t have happened due to character locations, but I really wanted Rose to walk around the hallways and see the bear guy and just go “wtf”. It would’ve been hilarious. I know that can’t happen, but it’s just a funny image.

-They didn’t have the tampon line and I’m a bit disappointed but also that’s fair

-They didn’t have the plot twist where Dan actually is Abra’s uncle, which was a good decision from a movie standpoint.

All in all, it was a good movie that I’m looking forward to seeing again, and I’ll go more in-depth about Dan and what I thought about him in part 2.

GO SEE THE MOVIE

[kryptored]

The definition of Glaikit - I

This was supposed to be a long one-shot submission for the MLV, turned very long one-shot with title, turned no longer just a one-shot and in separate parts because I just can’t stop. Oops. @vinebino because you asked for the release of this monster.

SUMMARY: They could be nothing more than friends, but sometimes her mind likes to play games with her. It plays with her by making her overthink and overthink and overthink and overthink – 

DAYS: 4 (secret admirer), 6 (crush), 8 (heartbreak), 13 (sweethearts)

He’s a famous model who also happens to attend the same university she’s in, and of all the seats he could have taken in Composition, he chooses the one right next to her. It turns out, they have a mutual friend who sits behind her, Nino Lahiffe.

“I’m sure you know who he is Mari, but just to make it official, this here’s my best bro, Adrien.” Nino pats on said friend’s shoulder, who’s angled his body to face both of them.

“Hi.” Adrien smiles and offers her his hand.

“Hi,” she smiles back and accepts his hand, “I’m Marinette. Nice to meet you.”

“Enchanté, my lady.” He takes her hand and moves it to touch his mouth and discreetly gives it a chaste kiss, his way of hiding it from any prying eyes who’d do nothing but spread but rumours. Marinette can’t help but blush a little at the action. This one’s definitely a charmer.

They got to talking in and out of classes (they have more than one together, surprisingly), and they found themselves quite closer than they could’ve possibly imagined.

Because of his impossibly busy schedule, Adrien is absent more often than not. And if it isn’t his other classmates and friends, it’s predominantly Marinette who provides him a copy of her notes, hand-outs, and even helps him out with assignments and essays they have to do. He thinks she’s a very good friend, and she thinks that he’s a very…interesting friend.

Marinette, on her part, was never exactly the luckiest person when it comes to her love life. The first few times she ever dated, it was either she didn’t like them back enough (unfortunately, as they were actually quite nice and lovely to have for company), or things didn’t go well to begin with (a third party was never anyone’s favourite). Her experience isn’t much compared to others, but it was enough for her to put-off any sort of involvements when it comes to relationships and/or falling in love. A diagnosis of tepid, really.

But with Adrien, everyday keeps getting hard and harder to avoid the little flutters she feels inside of her. It’s when she sees him that she can’t seem to stop fidgeting – her bag strap needed some twisting. Those stray and mischievous strands of hair can’t seem to stay still behind her ear and needs some scolding. She needs to keep touching her earrings to make sure they’re still there. Her favouritepencil needs to feel the warmth of her hand, twirling and spinning That strange little lump of whatever on the knee of her jeans calls for some assaulting with her nails.

It’s with Adrien that she has to be conscious of what she’s doing every time she hears his voice nearby – Do her clothes match? Is her skirt riding up far too up? Does she have a dirty smudge on her face? Are her lips going dry and chapped? Is her hair fixed? Is she wearing matching socks? Was that gum she stepped on with her pink ballet flats?

It’s with Adrien’s texts that gets her excited whenever her phone chimes – Does he think her jokes are also funny? Is he going to understand all those typos? Will he be offended by the meme? Does he mind that her replies are interchanging between too long and too fast?

Personality-wise, Marinette thinks of herself as quite shy and friendly. Others would sometimes come up with the most unexpected, such as mysterious or mostly-keeps-to-herself. She only ever behaves more openly when surrounded by family and friends. But knowing Adrien for quite some time and developing what seems to be a crush on him, Marinette can’t help but doubt all the qualities that made her who she is today.

Is she too quiet? Can he hear her voice at all, even as they whisper to each other? Is she approaching him far too close like that Lila girl, making him uncomfortable? Is she not sharing enough about her with him to make it look as if they’re friends? Does he think her childish whenever she ties her hair into pigtails? Does he think her immature for sometimes dressing herself like a doll? Does he think her designs are good, whether they be dresses adorned with flowers or shirts and pants that fit her petite figure perfectly? Is she too self-assured by wearing her own designs?

Quiet she may be, Marinette chooses to push those doubts and worries and anxieties away. This was just Adrien, a young man who happens to catch her attention and owns a beautiful smile.

He, who happens to have the greenest of eyes and softest hair.

He, who happens to be a dork obsessed with puns and cats.

He, who happens to be smart and athletic at the same time.

He, who happens to be very friendly and doesn’t flaunt his fame and wealth.

It’s only Adrien, and maybe this crush will pass soon enough. Hopefully, it’s before he ever finds out about it, or finds that one person he’ll fall in love with that’s not her. She’d rather not have a repeat of the past. It hurt far too much, and here she was wallowing in the rabbit hole called ‘falling in love with your untouchable and unreachable friend.’

But it’s a hard thing to do – ignoring, that is – when every time Marinette tries to act normally (that she doesn’t have these kinds of feelings for him), it’s Adrien who’s giving her these strange signals.

It’s the way he smiles at her whenever she talks animatedly about everything she’s passionate about.

It’s the way he looks at her whenever they share an entirely too specific joke that only they can understand.

It’s the way he always tries to sit next to her, whether they’re eating out or just talking with their friends.

It’s the way he gets really close to her that she can feel his breath against her, even if it’s because he wants to look over her shoulder.

It’s the way he touches her gently, curious to know if he the thumb rubbing against her elbow is intentional or not.

It’s the way he chooses to lean his head against her when he’s feeling exhausted from his schedule.

It’s the way he seems to light up when he spots her in public and waving at her like a child meeting their superhero.

It’s the way how he hugs her so tightly, while she’ desperately fighting between asking for air or have him hug her tighter and longer than necessary.

They could be nothing more than friends, but sometimes her mind likes to play games with her. It plays with her by making her overthink and overthink and overthink and overthink – is she looking into it far too much, or are they real? The only way she could possibly know is if she asks him directly, and Marinette doesn’t know if she’ll be able to handle the embarrassment.

Yet, was it a heaven-sent miracle when Juleka dropped by? Juleka who not only was another mutual friend but is Adrien’s closest co-worker as a model for Gabriel.

It’s another one of those days where young adults find themselves miraculously free of any responsibilities, friends happily chattering the time away as they play ‘catch up’ and hang out in whoever’s place. This time, it’s Nino who offers his apartment.

Adrien is sitting by the kitchen island, laughing loudly at Kim’s recounting of his disastrous date with Ondine (which ended with a kiss and another date in the future, but still disastrous because it’s Kim), garnering some of the other’s attention. Marinette, on the other hand, remains seated on Nino’s director’s chair (a gift from his brother), with Juleka being her silly herself by standing in-between her friend’s legs.

The tall and dark-haired girl is wearing a black cardigan paired with a cream and black retro plaid shirt, and black round toe chunky heeled shoes with buckles. Juleka takes hold of both Marinette’s legs by the calves, holding them as she lifts them up and down while the smaller girl giggles and tries to hold on to the arm rests. The girl whose legs are being accosted is wearing a grey short-sleeved shirt, tucked neatly in her black and white polka-dotted fixed box pleat skirt reaching below her knee.

“So, how’re you and Adrien?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, there’s friends and best friends, but then there’s also you two.” Juleka walks closer to her friend, her hands now grabbing the back of her knees. “You two seem awfully close.” She smirks as if she knows something, and that something is within her approval. “You look like sweethearts.”

“You think we’re…dating or something?”

“It kinda looks like that.”

“I don’t know about that, Jules. He’s very attractive and all the good things you could ever ask for in a guy, but…” Marinette huffs and feels herself withdrawing into a shell, away from awkwardness. Juleka bends over, realizing how personal this is getting. “I don’t think it’ll ever work out.”

Juleka immediately straightens, her face embodying the definition of elated, but doesn’t say a word. She pulls Marinette by her arms a little too excitedly, and whispers to her. “That’s… I knew I was right.” She pulls her even further inside Nino’s bathroom, making sure to close the door and lock it. “I could tell that you like liked him the minute I saw you melting when he complemented your outfit.”

“W-what? When was this?”

“During Rose’s birthday.”

“Oh…”

“You looked so red, I thought you were going to combust.”

“Was it that obvious?”

“Only if everyone else was looking and could tell you were blushing with all those purple and pink lights.”

“So, how’d you know?”

“Because you always clasp your hands together under your chin whenever you blush.”

Marinette bites her lower lip, worried that someone else now knew about her affections for Adrien. And it isn’t just a random someone, this is Juleka ‘I work with Adrien and is practically his sister from the moon’ Couffaine. This is not exactly bad, but also bad.

“I really don’t want anyone to know, but I guess that excludes you.”

“Oh, definitely! When are you going to ask him?”

“Ask what? To go on a date with me?” Marinette fiddles with the lucky charm turned bracelet that Adrien gave her, her back leaning on the sink. She looks down and believes it her duty to study her red mary-janes with a bow on the ankle strap.

“Well, I can definitely tell you that he likes you.”

Marinette’s heart skips a beat, or maybe two, but she definitely felt something when she hears hope whispering in her ears about a mutual attraction between her and Adrien.

“You think so?”

“Oh, I know so! I swear, you’re all he ever talks about whenever we’re on break. That guy is so smitten, he might as well turn into goo when he hears someone mention your name.” Juleka walks forward to her friend and places her hands on her shoulders. “I swear, that guy really likes you far more than he should for someone who’s just a friend.”

“but did he say it, though?”

“I… don’t know. But don’t actions speak louder than words?”

“And if he really doesn’t see me that way? What?”

“And if he does?” Juleka turns Marinette around, facing both of them in front of the mirror. She hugs her small friend from behind, swaying just a little as if they were dancing to the song of Marinette’s pounding heart. “We’ll never know – you’ll never know – until you actually talk to him.”

Marinette can only hold onto her friend’s hands, overthinking and worrying about what she���ll do.

She arrives early at the Métro and is stuck waiting for her train to arrive. She’s supposed to meet a client (or is it customer?) who reached out to her, asking to have a dress commissioned for her 16th birthday. Marinette was ecstatic and quite shocked to hear that the teen thought of getting a local and aspiring designer to make her debut dress, instead of someone far more experienced in the line of work. Renée, the girl who personally sent her an e-mail about the commission, reassured the designer that she’s actually a fan of her work and has been buying and wearing them ever since her online shop went up in public.

Marinette opted to wear a white graphic shirt underneath an open mint-green knit cardigan jacket, high-waisted denim pants, and her low-cut black converse shoes. She also made sure to carry a small backpack that could at least carry her sketchbook and pencils, among other valuables.

Just about ten minutes away before her train is supposed to arrive, another one does and opens its doors to allow some of its passengers to get off. As they do, she looks through one of the windows and sees –

‘Adrien.’

As if sensing her eyes on him, the blond looks up from his phone and waves at her from his seat. He looks radiant as always, wearing a mustard-coloured vintage shirt over a plain black shirt, black skinny jeans, and what appears to be black vans if she can trust her eyes. He waves at her and it somehow has his body swaying left and right as well, and other passengers sitting near him notices this and her (she who has his attention) find it amusing. A bit abashed at the sudden draw of attention because of him, she waves back albeit with less enthusiasm and offers him a crooked smile. This makes Adrien grin, but his waving finally stops. His mouth opens as if to say or mouth something to her, only for his train to suddenly jolt and move forward. He shrugs and waves again, this time to say good-bye. Marinette waves back but is unsure if he saw it as the window is already out of sight. Her train soon arrives and as she gets in and takes a seat next to an older man busy talking on his phone, she ponders.

She comes to a decision that she’ll be brave this time and waits until class is done. She knows he’s free for the rest of the day today, and bites her lips thinking how things will go from then. Time ticks and ticks and ticks and ticks, until she hears other students start packing up and zipping their bags, and the professor telling them that his office hours might be changed and to wait for his email.

“Adrien,” her voice quivers a little and hopes that he doesn’t hear it the like she does, “can I…talk to you for a sec?”

He’s trying to fit his laptop into his bag, but he’s attentive enough to actually look at her with a smile. “Sure. No one’s going to use this classroom after ours so, we could stay here.” He finally succeeds playing tetris with his belongings, his body relaxing as he faces her.

“Hey dudes, you coming?” Nino asks as he stands by the doorway.

“Oh, u-uh…”

“Mind if we meet you at the cafeteria later, Nino? Marinette just wants to talk to me.”

“Yeah… it’ll be quick, Nino.”

Said friend narrows his eyes in suspicion but relents anyway and shrugs as he walks out of the door. “See ya later, dudes.” The door closes, and Marinette has never felt more trapped until now. And probably, maybe a little suffocated.

“You wanted to talk to me, Mari?”

“Year, I mean yeah.” She looks at him and can’t help but admire how handsome he looks, even in just a Christmas tree green knit sweater over a light blue plaid collared long sleeve shirt, and jeans. He places his hands on the desk behind him as he leans on it.

“You look good, by the way. Your dress is just as good as everything you’ve designed, Marinette.” she feels proud that he has his approval: a high neck and asymmetrically flared dress in navy blue floral patterns, long dolman sleeves, and belted at the waist. She also has black tights on to keep her legs warm. The weather was slowly getting colder.

“Thanks. Appreciate it.” Her hands find each other, fingers fidgeting and pinching the other. She struggles to look at him directly without making a mistake. “Okay, listen…” her hands distract themselves further by playing with the belt. “You’re an amazing person, Adrien. Sometimes I ask myself I’m dreaming for being this lucky to be a part of your life. And for a while, I’ve been feeling things that made me act strange around you. I just kept ignoring and denying it, until I just couldn’t. But now, I have to be honest with myself, and more importantly with you. I’m really glad we met, or that you chose the seat beside me. I’m also glad that we got to be friends and know each other even more.” She takes a deep breath and continues. “I like talking to you, I like laughing at your jokes, I like when you smile at just about everything, I like how you could go on talking about your cat, I like how you’re so kind to everyone even if some don’t deserve it, I like making my notes for you in class with little doodles to encourage you, I like spending time with you, but most of all,” she walks close to him, leaving only but a few inches of space between them. “I really reallylike you, Adrien.” She looks up at him, and she cups his cheeks as she stands on her toes and leans and kisses him.

She kisses him gently like how a snowflake touches your nose, how a cat gently pats you with their paw in reassurance, or how a ladybug’s little legs kiss the leaf it lands on. She kisses him gently, and it only lasts for a few seconds.

She lets him go, but her brows furrow when she sees the shock painted on his face. His mouth slowly opens, his eyes trailing to her, and his right hand goes to cover his mouth. The very same mouth she just kissed. He stays silent for one, two, three, four, five seconds. Marinette steps back in realization.

“M-Marinette. I…I didn’t…I don’t…” his eyes fail to maintain contact with hers, instead looking everywhere else that isn’t her. He misses how embarrassment turns to guilt turns to shame turns to hurt turns to sadness on her face, but never anger. Adrien does not deserve anger if he doesn’t like her. Not like that. And maybe never like that. So, Marinette overthinks and overthinks and overthinks and overthinks – before she hurriedly grabs her belongings and heads for the door. Adrien doesn’t seem to be moving or even aware of the state she’s in when she looks back at him. It’s as if he doesn’t want to look at her, but she knows what his lack of response means. Actions speak louder than words, she remembers Juleka telling her. “I’m sorry, I just thought…” she swallows the lump in her throat and looks everywhere that’s not him to keep the tears at bay. What exactly did she think? “Just forget it.” She leaves without a good-bye, but wonders if tomorrow is the start of unfriendliness and distance and silence between them. The opposite of everything they had until now. The door shuts, and Adrien still refuses to move.

Nino later receives a text from Marinette, saying she had to leave because she forgot to do an errand (which is to cry her heart out for being foolish and ambitious), while Adrien is lost in his thoughts.

Before anyone kills me, Adrienette is endgame here. But first, we must suffer.

[caeows]

      jeon jeongguk  .  cis male  .  he/him  ／  graeme bae just pulled up by blasting dirty little secret by all american rejects --- that song is so them  !  you know  ,  for a twenty three year old actor  ,  i’ve heard they’re really gullible  ,  but that they make up for it by being so tenacious  .  if i had to choose three things to describe them  ,  i’d probably say tousled hair  ,  triple dog dares and a closet full of black  .  here’s to hoping they don’t cause too much trouble  !  

hello  !  i’m deni  (  she/her pronouns  ,  gmt+9 timezone  )  .  i’m best reached on discord at gayfairy#6371 for plotting  .  below the cut is  ...  a ridiculous amount of keyboard smashing but it was a holiday and i was feeling inspired so  !!  i included a few TLDRs for some quick scanning  .  there’s also some plots at the bottom i’d LOVE to see  .    looking forward to writing with you all  !

* ☆ ·˚  background.

you could say he was destined for the spotlight  .  

      an only child  ,  he grew up watching his parents performances on the stage  ,  accepting their kisses and gentle smiles before they set off for tours around the country and left him with his cousins  .  sure  ,  they were absent --- but they tried  --- and graeme knew he wanted to be just like them  .  when his parents delighted in his little home-staged sets he presented ,  they quickly enrolled him in acting classes and coached him through first auditions  ,  even moved back to korea when it was clear some american roles wanted to confine him to one note  .  after gaining exposure  ,  graeme shared the screen with one of the biggest names in the american industry in a dramatic hit that led to some ridiculous fanmail being sent to him as a kid  ,  then excitedly landed a role in a revamped science fiction film he was stoked af abouy !!! unfortunately  ,  the film was met with an absolute brutal blowback from fans  ,  some of that hot  ,  petty anger taken out on graeme  ,  and at thirteen years old  ,  his parents made the decision for him to step back and focus on school  .   (  he still holds onto those spiteful letters------  all that hate from grown ass adults thrown at a child  ) 

      performing arts high school  ,  but graeme stayed away from the public stage for a bit  .  worked on some sets as a tech to get a better idea of the film making process  .  kept a low profile occasionally caught by curious paparazzi at a basketball court or baseball game  .  recognizable  ,  but not to the point where he couldn’t be seminormal  .  there were a few bumps in the road  ::  leaked photos of a beer at a high school party  ,  couple of fake friends sliding in for clout  ,  people pushing questions like when are you returning  ??  how does it feel to ruin one of the most important films of all time ???  shitty  .  but  ,  with the help of his parents  ,  friends and coaches  ,  graeme returned to student films to grow more comfortable in front of a camera  .  his official comeback was in the background of a friend's directorial debut  ,  a lady-love drama critics salivated over but failed to earn is’ nominations  .  still  ,  graeme’s name was back and out there  .  jumping headfirst into the thing that scares him  ,  graeme’s slated for teen flicks  ,  romantic dramas  ,  action films  .  a diverse portfolio  .  people love a comeback  .     ------as if there was something wrong with what he did before  .  

TLDR.  former international child star who took a break after experiencing a massive fan-driven backlash  .  pseudo retired  ,  did the performing arts school thing  .  popped back on the screen about a year ago and working his ass off since  .  early career inspiration : jake lloyd  ,  natalie portman  , yeo jingoo

* ☆ ·˚  current.

      suddenly  getting all this praise and earning cash  ,  living on his own in a sprawling city of work and sin  .   hasn’t stop busting his ass  ,  no  ,  but maybe he’s found outlets for all his stress in  . . . less than healthy outlets  .  some of the headlines are way off the mark  ,  some a little too close to home  .  either way  ,  it’s not something his parents or his management company are thrilled about  (  doesn’t he want to be taken seriously as an actor ,  they say  )  and he does  .  of course he does  .  but what else does he have to sacrifice to be taken seriously ?  and how serious does any twenty-something year old wanna get  ?

      late hours on dance floors  ,  strips of things he doesn’t know the name of on his tongue  ,  lips on any pretty   ,  wanting pair he can find  .  he’s young  ,  virile and at the top of his game  .  who can blame him  ?  it starts with a string of tabloid images  ,  a rumpled and sleepy-eyed graeme leaving apartments that aren’t his in clothes he was spotted in the night before  .  zoomed-in  ,  fan-cropped photos on twitter of hickeys and swollen mouths and unbuttoned shirts  .  america’s sweetheart  ?  maybe  ,  but clearly not around the clock  .  him  ,  scaling rails of hotels and dancing on top of cars  .  grabbing mics at clubs and taking over DJ boots at parties   .  twitter explodes when he moonwalks through the airport one time and baristas trend his insane coffee orders  .  

      and even though he’s got his own name --- and a variety of different spellings  ,  hashtags  ,  and whatevers --- blacklisted on social media  ,  every now and then he’ll run along a stream of grueling comments  ,  petty nitpicks about his performances  ,  his looks  ,  his voice  ,  his goddamn smile and it’s-----   it’s rough  ,  even for someone who grew up in that environment  .  there’s days where he’ll hole up in his apartment and refuse to see anyone  ,  refuse to leave  .  the guy in the interviews with the wide smile and sparkle eyes is so  ,  so far away and people almost forget that he’s human  ,  too  .  he pushes himself out of that mindset  ,  sometimes with help  ,  but it’s always a shadow on his back  ,  waiting to catch him at his weakest  .  

TLDR.  tabloids gossip about speculated hookups and strange behavior  .  potential alcohol abuse  .  pushback from management and parents  .  anxiety towards social media  .  current career inspiration : ansel elgort

* ☆ ·˚  tidbits.

      sporty as fuck —— basketball  ,  soccer  ,  skateboard  ,  swimming  ,  climbing  .  says he would’ve been an athlete if not for movies  .  fit as fuck despite a steady diet of ramen and pizza  .  claims to like horror movies the most  ,  but he’s a total schmaltz snob  .  can hold a pretty tune well enough to pass  .  has a private twitter account for the memes   ,  public accounts are all operated by a social media manager so he doesn’t have to read comments   .  watches college basketball championships religiously  .  has very strong opinions about scented candles  .  likes sugary drinks more than coffee but claims to be a connoisseur  .  loves biopics  .  punk and 2000s emo rock fan .  gets anxious easily  ,  suffers through interviews and avoids personal topics as best as he can  .  is rumored to be difficult to work with  ,  but keeps to himself on sets save for a few opinions about blocking  and lighting  .  pan as fuck and fairly open about it  .  mom and dad are chill  ,  but don’t understand much of anything past bi  .  they get on to him more for his diet and job  .   when not on the court or working  ,  spends free time rewatching anime in the safety of his bed in an threadbare pair of boxers  ,  eating Doritos by the fistful and leaving his manager on read  .

      even his underwear is black  .  occasionally, he’ll change it up with a screen printed vintage t-shirt and wears whatever kind of fancy thing his stylist squeezes him into  .  otherwise wears by a black or white t-shirt  ,  black pants and combat boots  .  seventy percent of his sneakers have sharpie drawings on them and he’s got a lot of holes in his ears and another in a place you’d be lucky  (  or unlucky  )  to see  .  loves dangy earrings and wearing his hair loose  ,  a bit long with a mild perm  .  silver on his wrists and friendship bracelets from yesteryear but no rings  .  tattooed up  !  recently collaborated to design a line of temporary tattoos  .  extensive collection of sunglasses  .  hit up a lot of music festivals in the past but that’s died down in recent months due to a busy schedule  .  swung his way into VIP passes before  .  he was a total Warped kid in the past  ,  no shame  .  no longer does fan conventions because of a negative experience a few years back  ,  and even fan meets are a little awkward  ,  but he manages to push through  .  can’t drive worth a damn but he’ll kick your ass at any arcade game  .  occasionally  ,  he’ll stream over twitch but that’s becoming less and less common  . was banned from several dave & busters before he made it back on the screen  .  moody as fuck  .

* ☆ ·˚  plots.

      so  .  bonds  .  there’s a best friend who may not have been there since the beginning  ,  but they’ve been there when it matters  .  the friendship is new  ,  fresh  ,  and maybe graeme shouldn’t be as dependent on it as he is  ,  but he can’t help it  .  clinging to them like crazy --- let’s hope it doesn’t fall to the wayside  .  (  ? / 1  )  there’s several of his idiot friends who  ,  after being stranded on too many red carpets  ,  a hundred hotel rooms  ,  and hours of press junkets  ,  have learned to survive by snapchatting each other random dares throughout the day  .  (  1 / unlimited  )  there’s a few childhood friends who  ,  like him  ,  grew up either in or close to the spotlight and they have this  ,  like  . . .  support group kind of situation  .  i don’t know  .  graeme checks on them from time to time  ,  even as they’ve grown apart  .  (   2 / unlimited  )  he’s got some partying buddies who may not have his best interest at heart --- who may or may not stop him when he’s slurred out and whining about twitter trolls .  some gaming partners he teams up with over stream  ,  but lately they’ve drifted apart  .

      it’s such a cliche that his management’s set him up for a fake dating situation  .  if graeme wants the dramatic  ,  serious roles  ,  then he needs to show he’s a mature and capable young man  .  how else to do that than jump headfirst into a few awkwardly orchestrated dates with another hotshot on the radar  ?  (  ? / 1  )  but they’re not serious  .  so  ,  he hasn’t stopped hooking up  ,  or thinking about a one night stand that totally rocked his world  .   (  ? / 5 )  and  (  ? / 1 )  media and fans definitely know about a few of these  .  the jury’s out for how they feel about it  .  then there’s his competition  ,  actors in the same demographic targeting the same roles  .  it’s a tough business and they know it  ,  but the press picks up on all these weird quotes and posts that twist shit into beefs  .  what other misunderstanding will cause the casket to blow  ?  (  ? / unlimited )  there’s some co stars on old and upcoming films  .  people who see how hard he works and how much effort he puts into what’s seen on the screen  .  they tough out hard days on set and the press circuits during promotion  .  see him at his worst and best  .  (  ? / unlimited )

[advernia]

fic: a beginner’s guide to waltz

— is it really just a simple art of stepping forward and moving backwards? - the mad hatter & alice the second.

1) stand facing your partner, shoulder distance away from them

 This, apparently, has become some sort of routine; heavens above bless his soul:

once or twice a week Alice the Second would visit the White Rabbit’s home (his home too, as he’d like them to recall), and she is welcomed warmly despite his constant refusal and attempts to let her in past the doorway,

the two morons end up sipping their tea while talking over incredibly mundane things that only serve to make his eyes roll, and his carrot-munching-idiot-of-a-housemate expects him to contribute and participate,

for some reason he and the little girl end up playing tour guide and tourist, adamantly unwilling and awfully inquisitive respectively: they walk around and about the Central Quarter only to stop when the sky has stripped itself of its blues and dressed itself in oranges and reds, and before she heads back to Black Army territory she never fails to;

say her thanks and bid him farewell in the form of the press of her lips - the pressure light and kind - on his forehead.

                        In hindsight the last one is absolutely unnecessary and incredibly inappropriate for they are man and woman and simply just acquaintances, but he can’t exactly fault her for still thinking that he’s just a child because that’s what he physically looks like in her eyes (some ill-tempered young boy who's actually sweet enough to accompany her on walks around town), and in the end -

- it’s not that horrible of a sensation, really.

                                         2) leads, always take a step forward, guiding your partner 

 There are many possible reasons as to why one would hold another’s hand, such as:

a social interaction or event requires it, such as when greeting another or when dancing,

a show of agreement, friendship, or affection (because actions certainly speak louder than words and what else spoke possibly louder than physical contact), or;

person in question has no notion or respect for the concept of personal space and propriety, or even worse, has no common sense and just decides that ‘hey, I wanna hold that person’s hand!’

None of the above really apply to their situation or to them both for that matter, unless one would count their walks to be a form of social interaction: he spits out once that touring her around Cradle is a waste of time considering that she’s been whining every single day about wanting to go home, to the London where she belongs; but she’s as stubborn as a mule could ever be and rather offended that he thinks that she’s been whining every single day when it’s quite the contrary.

The argument goes nowhere but it still ends up with them wandering about Cradle on occasion, so all’s well that ends well - for her, at least. He’s still kind enough to remind her that her days are numbered and while she claims that she hasn’t forgotten, the sparkle of curiosity that dances in her eyes whenever she sees something that strikes her fancy doesn’t get past him.

And when she does find something fascinating, she pulls him along for the ride, quite literally and figuratively so - with their hands linked together and bubbling enthusiasm as her strength, he’s dragged along to follow her footsteps; to be swept into her pace with little room for escape.

People wag their tongues as they frequent the streets of the Central Quarter and some of them boldly ask sometimes whether they’re siblings. The mere thought of that concept is enough to make him contort his face into expressions unimaginable but she’s all smiles and white teeth as she laughs; hand and fingers lacing themselves a little more securely in his, eating what little space that was modestly left in between their palms.

                        And he wonders for the umpteenth time, if those people actually take time to realize that after asking the question they want answered -

- her laughter doesn't follow with a validating response.

                                         3) perform to a 3-count tempo

The day she’s exposed and informed of his curse is the day that she rues all those kisses that she had planted on his forehead - she buries her face into her hands and deeply onto the wood of the White Rabbit’s dining table, but her ears that poke out from the heavy mass that was her hair spoke volumes of her embarrassment.

Victory always felt so exhilarating, especially after when one has been played around with like a fool - or rather, like a child.

Their relationship shifts shortly after that, for she has gradually come to terms that he truly is not just some kid - he is an adult in his own right, albeit stuck in an unfortunate predicament - her words towards him become more straightforward and less cherry-picked (for she believed that there were things that children shouldn’t hear), gone is the ‘little’ she adds before his name and so is her doubt for his actual ability as an inventor.  

Their walks still continue, and while she insists on holding hands with the reason 'to ensure that they don’t get separated by a possible madding crowd in the market', she manages to stop herself from kneeling down and pressing her lips on his forehead by the day's end.

                        Still, it doesn’t stop him from mercilessly teasing her about it -

- and her face would bloom brightly with a striking red, always, without fail.

                                         4) move in a circle with your partner

They end up having dinner together once, and it leaves the White Rabbit and the Black Army figuring out the so-called intriguing mystery of who asked who first, then it escalated to the question of who does the asking the most of the time when their dinner engagements increase in frequency.

Seven dinners later, both parties still draw blanks.

Perhaps to repay her henpecking kindness whenever they go about their walks (surprise, they nearly did get separated from each other once if not for her vice grip on his hand) and for the baked goods she would offer to him as snacks when he would dive into long periods of work, he escorts her well throughout the night like any proper gentleman would - albeit the fact that she could be so positively air-headed and inelegant in demeanor, she was still first and foremost a lady and her dressing up like one for their appointments only serves to remind him further of that: lengthy honey blonde hair styled neatly into modest up-dos, light touches of rouge and powder meant to accentuate natural facial features and not flaunt them, smart-looking blouses paired with graceful skirts, dresses with manageable layers and tasteful designs to boot, simple shoes that would always end up complementing the sole piece of jewelry she wore for the night; either a pair of earrings or a modest necklace.

He had to hand it to her, she knew how to dress the part of the ideal London woman: a minimal, practical look; meant to turn heads through its unassuming elegance. 

                        He's never said so straight to her face without a single trace of sarcasm or scorn, but if she would insist or ask -

- he certainly had no qualms in calling her beautiful.

                                         5) do an underarm turn

 You're going back.

Are you asking me if I am, or are you ordering me to?

Their hands are linked together, elbows held up to her shoulder height - she squeezes his lightly, fingers lacing themselves even further into his; and he squeezes back, as light as he could muster.

It was a statement. You're old enough to make your own choices, and I'm not interested in asking you about a decision you've made since you arrived here.

... Fair point.

Her heels click on the cobblestones as she takes a step back, his boots thump softly as he takes a step forward. The humble space in between their bodies remain, unassuming and undisturbed. 

... Will everything turn out alright?

... How should I know?

The hand she had set gently on his right shoulder developed a trembling weight - with a quiet sigh, the hand that he had set on her shoulder blade now slid down to her waist.

Silence begins to creep in, a skittery wind doing small pirouettes by the movements of their languid feet. The night says nothing either, with its darkness blanketing the skies and dotting it with twinkling stars - it just watches wordlessly from above, streaming down faint brilliance that gingerly illuminates the path they stood upon.

A minute later and without warning, she rests her lowered head on him; her forehead meeting his shoulder. Seconds later and without warning, his arm now wraps itself around her waist and pulls her closer to him, his chin resting itself kindly on top of her head.

                        Their hands are still linked together so they continue to sway along to the wind, like the leaves of the trees that surround them: wordlessly going back and forth, back and forth -

- and when the clock strikes midnight, there they continue to be.

                                        1: this was a nearly finished draft last month with a formatting i liked + a plot nonexistent but eyyy fe3h arrived and my soul is consumed by fe hell... again... i knew i should've finished this before the game's release date (٭°̧̧̧ω°̧̧̧٭) 2: i’m neutral with oliver, but i totally can’t deny that his colorful verbal abuse is a big mood. plus, that one scene in fenrir’s ‘say i do’ route always comes to mind - i found him to be rly sweet, wiping away mc’s tears. 3: step 5 went along the lines of 'this could be romantic if only he/she wanted it to be', thus the word turn... plus, this is me implying that for this fic's purposes, mc returning to london means never going back to cradle at all. honestly speaking, the drama factor of 'different worlds' became pretty minor to me once i learned that mc can just... go back pretty easily... what a shame, methinks (๑•̆૩•̆) 4: i do hope his route gives a rly interesting explanation about his curse + origin... i mean, its hinted that he used to be from london himself, so i'd like to know what makes his circumstances different from the alices. i could play the jap ver itself or just look up spoilers... but... (*´σー｀)

[elizabethemerald]

Shipping Game

I was tagged twice! Thanks to both @autumnalfallingleaves and @eurazba for this fun game!

Pick your top 10 ships without reading the questions. [or if you’re a one ship dedicated blog, feel free to answer all of them for just that one, or do all the ships from one fandom, this is just for fun].

1. Jlaireby - Jim x Claire x Toby

2. Barbmura - Barbara x Nomura

3. Hammerhunter - Jim x Toby

4. Girl Power Polycule - Darci x Claire x Shannon x Mary x Aja

5. Main Protagonists - Jim x Darci x Claire x Toby x Aja x Steve x Eli x Krel

6. Stricklakerot - Strickler x Barbara x Angor Rot

7. Blinkbarbmura - Blinky x Barbara x Nomura

8. Mary x Shannon

9. Darci x Claire x Toby (Does this have a ship name?)

10. Trolldads - Blinky x Aaarrrgghh

[God I have 6 poly ships in my top ten, and not a single het appearing one.]

Do you remember the episode/chapter/scene where you first started shipping 6? Stricklakerot

There wasn’t a canon scene but when I first saw this piece of artwork (X) I thought of it as a possibility, fell in love with it after that. 

What’s your favorite fanfiction for 4? Girl Power Polycule

Honestly, I don’t know that I’ve ever read a piece of fanfiction focusing on all of them. I am however thinking of writing that very story. 

What’s your favorite fan art/picture for 2? Barbmura

That is...really hard to say. I think it’s going to be this one (X) because it my dream to have an amazing wedding like this. 

What’s your favorite headcanon for 1? Jlaireby

I have so many headcanons for them, it’s hard to choose. I think my favorite and one I’ve written about several times is that Toby will video call Claire and Jim as “Video dates” while they are on the road to New Jersey. It’s the cutest headcanon to me. 

What do you like most about the dynamic between the people of 7? Blinkbarbmura

This is one of the ships that is the most likely to absolutely lose their minds if something happens to Jim. Barbara was willing to throw hands with Merlin when Jim was hurt. Blinky straight up blew up a dude when Jim was on trial. Nomura has no hesitation with doling out punishment, and willing sacrificed herself to allow Jim to escape the Darklands. Together there isn’t a restraining force among them. So Jim gets hurt, and these three rain an ungodly hell on the perpetrator. 

When 9  10 have sex is it more giggly or more serious?  Trolldads

Uhhhh, I’m not to create a head canon for how three teen aged kids have sex, so how about I do Number 10 instead? I think it would be more serious. Blinky and Aaarrrgghh can be silly and lighthearted, but I feel like when its just them things are more serious. 

Out of all the ships who do you think have the best chemistry?

In order of best chemistry my ships are: Jlaireby, Hammerhunter, and Darci x Claire x Toby. These kids are the ones who have gone through the most. Their relationship is started on being best friends. There’s nothing these kids can’t do together. 

Which ship has the strongest bond?

I feel like saying the Main Protagonists is a little cheating, so I will say Barbmura. These two women, have a longer life experience and more in common throughout. They understand each other, understand what drives the other. 

Which ship do you spend the most time reading fanfiction for/talking/writing about?

Again, in order of how much I’ve written:  Barbmura,  Jlaireby, and Mary x Shannon. These three ships are the focus of my entire After the Eternal Night extended universe. 

Which one was your first ship?

Jlaireby. Being poly myself, I’m always all for shipping all the protagonists. Teen Titans? Lovers. The Mystery Gang? Lovers. The Trollhunters Trio? Lovers

If 6 were to break up, how would it happen? Stricklakerot

Unfortunately it would probably be because of Strickler and Angor’s history. One did kind of enslave the other. That might be hard to forgive. 

Between 3 and 8, who would last the longest if they were in a zombie apocalypse?

Ok this is between Hammerhunter  and  Mary x Shannon. That’s a tough call. Fortunately it just happened to line up two of pair ships, rather than my many poly ships, so no unfair advantage. Jim’s biggest weakness during a zombie apocalypse would be his weakness to sun (I actually have an AU idea focusing on this idea, that I haven’t started writing yet) I think Jim and Toby would win out. They are experienced fighters with magical armor and weapons. Shannon has magic, and Mary’s no slouch in a fight, but I just think experience would win out. Or they would end up working together and be unstoppable. 

Does 7 hide their relationship, and if so, why? Barbmura

I think there might be a brief period where they hide their relationship. Barbara may be unsure how Jim will feel about her dating his father figure Blinky and his former enemy Nomura, much less at the same time. I think when Jim tells he is dating Claire and Toby at the same time, she implies that she might also be dating multiple people. Jim guesses right away that her partners are Blinky and Nomura. He’s happy for her and for them. Toby and Claire are the ones to give them both the shovel talk. 

What is 9′s favorite date to go on? Darci x Claire x Toby

So far in my writing they have gone on a date to a coffee shop and a funeral. Of the two they definitely seemed to prefer the coffee shop. I think staying in would probably be their favorite dates in the future. 

What’s your favorite canon moment between 10? Trolldads

So my two favorite moments are when Blinky lovingly touches Aaarrrgghh’s statue in the library while Jim is in the Darklands and when Blinky is human and Aaarrrgghh is wounded by Creeper’s Sun and they are both being awkward around each other and so sad that things are weird. 

What do 5 argue most about? Main Protagonists

Ok. Ha ha ha. Take your pick. There are a lot of powerful personalities here. A lot of different ways of approaching problems. They’ve all had their share of arguments about how to deal with their trials. I mean even in a domestic setting where they have a massive house in Arcadia, or in the Royal palace on Akiridion-5, or cave in New Trollmarket. There could be arguments about so many things. I love them all, but there are quite a few hot heads in this group. 

If you had to pick an OTP which would you chose?

Even the concept of choosing one can go fuck itself. The closest I could get would be the choosing two. All the Teenagers and All the Adults. Every teen is dating every other one. Every adult is dating every other adult. Two massive love webs. Who even chooses?

What’s the biggest kink that 1 2 shares?  Barbmura

Uh,, Still not making sexy things for teens so for number 2 instead? That’s a hard one. I don’t think its anything related to bondage or domination (Mostly because i feel like they are both doms) I think it would be “marking” the other. Scratches, bites, hickeys and the like. In her troll form Nomura has to be careful not to make the marks permanent. Barbara will cover her body in lipstick kisses, when they are both human, the fun can get intense. 

Do 8 want children? Mary x Shannon

Hell yeah! Shannon is from a long line of lesbian witches. She knows a spell that can allow two women to conceive. Their kids are going to be so pretty and they’ll have a share of Shannon’s magic. Plus they will have so many magical aunts and uncles as the rest of the Reckless Club jump over themselves to take care of the kids. 

Between 10 and 4, which would you rather become canon?

Which one is more likely? Trolldads. Which one would I prefer? The lesbian power polycule. Like let’s get all the ladies to date each other. It’s super gay and very wholesome. And they can all kick the asses of any guy who messes with them. 

Does 2 do much PDA? And does it annoy their friends? Barbmura

Uh, probably yeah. In my story I’m writing for these two, they are pretending to date at first so they do a lot of PDA to prove that they are dating. Then when they are actually dating that trend continues. They are both in other matters pretty private people and probably wouldn’t normally, but they love each other so much they can’t help it. The PDA annoys Toby and Jim but no one else minds. Barbara is basically Toby’s mom, and literally Jim’s and they are both done with having to see their mom kiss changelings who tried to kill them. 

Which of the ships would you say is the most romantic with each other?

Jlaireby, hands down. These kids who have, almost literally, been to hell and back for each other? Oh yeah. They know exactly what the others need, when to hug, when to kiss, when to give them space and when to hold them tight like they will never let go. They all go above and beyond for each other Valentines is a glorious disaster every single year. And their anniversaries (there are multiple depending on when each felt they started dating the other. None of them agree on the actual dates) are always magnificent. 

How would the proposal between 5 go?

I already wrote this! (X) Like so many things, it’s a god damn disaster of a romantic night. All the planners and over thinkers interacting with all of the spur of the moments. They didn’t even mean for it to be this poly or this gay, but it sure as hell was. After everyone proposed and danced they retired to Jim’s house (it was closest) and fell asleep on the floor in the living room. The next morning they tried to sort out who had proposed to who. The relationship web became increasingly silly. A few folks who didn’t get the chance to propose to everyone they wanted to did so in the morning. Which made the relationship web even more difficult to read. They gave up when someone asked what a wedding like that would look like. I am now going to write this up!!!! This is great. 

Who cooks more often in 3? Hammerhunter

Is there ever any doubt? Jim all the way. 

I’ll Tag @yellowmagicalgirl, @imthegingerninja and @sombra-core Uh if anyone else wants to do this please feel free! I don’t know how many people have been tagged already. 

[lfthinkerwrites]

High School AU: The Monthly Doctor’s ‘Conference’

At the monthly Doctor's 'Conference', certain members of the faculty make decisions.

The Tuesday night before the arrival of Superintendent al Ghul and his entourage saw Jonathan, Pamela, Harley, Penelope, Victor Fries, and Kirk Langstrom all gathered around a table in the Teacher's Lounge for the monthly Doctor's 'Conference'. Except the 'conference' was actually a poker game that only those who held PhDs were allowed to participate in. It had been a long-standing tradition that predated even Strange's tenure as principal, hence why he'd never bothered to get rid of it.

At the head of the table, Victor dealt the cards. "The usual rules apply, ladies and gentlemen. Perhaps tonight, someone other than a psychiatrist will win."

"Not a chance," Harley crowed, eagerly looking at her cards. "I'm gonna beat the pants off of ya!"

"What's the prize tonight?" Pamela asked. "Better not be a tie again."

Victor reached into the bag by his feet and pulled out a bottle of fine red wine. He placed it in the center of the table and Harley let out an appreciative whistle. "Nice. Now I'm definitely gonna win!"

"We'll see," Jonathan said. "We'll see. Who's hand is it?"

"Mine," Kirk said. He looked at his cards and grimaced, which made Jonathan cluck his tongue.

"You can't exactly complain about losing to psychiatrists all the time when you make it this easy for us."

"Not now Jon," Kirk said. He frowned, then placed three cards back into the stack before taking a three more. "I've got enough on my mind as is. Francine wants me to start putting in applications to other schools and universities ahead of tomorrow." He threw a red chip into the pot.

"Nora's expressed some concern to me as well," Victor said, reviewing his own cards. "She's become rather fond of Gotham. She doesn't want to leave." He peered over his cards to look at Jonathan and Penelope. "Have you informed Nashton?"

"We did," Jonathan answered, taking a card from the deck after Victor had finished. "He tried to get us to sign him a doctor's note excusing him from tomorrow."

Pamela made a disgusted noise. "Coward."

"Jonathan," Penelope asked after reviewing her cards. "Do you still have that whiskey?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"May I have some?"

Jonathan nodded, pulling the half-empty bottle from his bag and setting it on the table. Penelope grabbed the bottle and took a long swig out of it.

"Whoa, take it easy Penny," Harley said. "That stuff'll knock you out."

Penelope finished her drink, then shot Harley a long-suffering look. "I had to listen to Jason Todd go on for over an hour about how Bruce Wayne was ruining his life and how he was going to make him pay. I've earned that whiskey."

Harley cringed. "Yeesh. Jason. He's a nice kid, really, but he could write the book on Daddy Issues." She took a look at her own cards and her eyes lit up. "I'm bettin'!"

"Now who's making it easy?" Pamela grumbled.

The other players made their bets, only to not be surprised in the slightest when Harley won with a squeal of delight. "Who's turn is it to deal?" Kirk asked.

"Mine," Jonathan answered. He dealt cards to everyone around the table then sat back.

Penelope interrupted the game by asking a question. "Just how bad is Superintendent al Ghul?"

Harley gave her a surprised look before settling back down. "I keep forgettin' how new you are here, Penny. Anyway, Superintendent al Ghul is the absolute worst. He's some old school, hardline guy. His family's like this seven-hundred-year-old line of princes or somethin' from Saudi Arabia. They run a big global company. He used to be the top dog himself before he decided to take a step back and 'improve the minds of the future generations."

"He wants to use the school system to promote his vision of the world," Victor added. "He was the one who hired Strange. That should tell you all you need to know."

"And one more thing!" Harley said. "You know Wayne's youngest?"

"Damian? By reputation, yes," Penelope answered. "Whenever Jason's not complaining about Bruce, he's usually complaining about Damian."

"Well, Damian's Mom is al Ghul's daughter," Harley said. "So yeah, he and Wayne are kind of tight." Penelope grabbed Jonathan's whiskey bottle and took another long swig. Harley shook her head. "This sucks that he had to show up now, just when you and Eddie were finally startin' to go out."

Penelope nearly choked on the whiskey, which prompted Jonathan to pat her on the back. She put the bottle down and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. "Dating-me and Edward-we are absolutely not dating, Harley!"

Harley arched an eyebrow. "No? Then how come you rode with him to the hospital?"

Penelope looked back down at her cards, willing the flush on her face to go away to no avail. "That doesn't mean I have any feelings for him. Jonathan and Tetch were making their statements to the police and Ellen was almost hysterical. She needed an adult with her. That's all."

"She didn't look that hysterical to me. She and Dent's daughter were takin' pictures of the whole thing on their phones," Jonathan piped up, which earned him a glare.

Harley, as always, wasn't about to give up that easily. "Oh come on, Penny! Don't act like I haven't caught you taking a look at Eddie's-"

Kirk held up a hand. "Please, Harley, don't finish that sentence."

Penelope's face was burning hot now. "I haven't-that still doesn't mean anything Harley."

Harley gave her a sneaky look. "Yeah, right. Besides, everyone and their mother knows that Eddie's crazy about ya! You two just make sense!"

Penelope dropped her cards on the table. "He...is?"

The rest of the table gave her a wide-eyed look, even stoic Victor. "He's been pining for you the second he laid eyes on you," Pamela said slowly as if she was speaking to a child. "You really didn't know?"

"He ain't exactly been subtle about it either," Jonathan grumbled, taking advantage of the distraction to sneak a peek at Penelope's cards before discarding one of his own. "He's been a goddamn nuisance."

Harley brought a hand up to her face. "Geez Louise, Penny! I thought all this time you were just playin' hard to get!"

"I thought you actually had taste," Pamela added.

Penelope quickly gathered her cards. "He's been absolutely insufferable half the time towards me from the moment I started here, how was I supposed to know?"

Pamela reviewed her cards before throwing a few chips in the pot. "Yes, well, Edward unfortunately never graduated above pulling a girl's pigtails when he liked them. How that man managed to find someone willing to have his child is a mystery I'll never be able to solve."

Kirk and Victor exchanged a long-suffering look. "Aren't you glad we're not still in the dating scene, Vic?"

"Immeasurably," Victor answered. "Is anyone else betting?"

"I am," Penelope added. "Now, can we please just get back to the game?"

"Nuh uh," Harley said, throwing another chip in. "So now you know. What're you gonna do?"

Penelope showed her hand. Full house. She took a breath. "Before I do anything, I want to hear it from Edward himself."

"You better hurry then. After al Ghul gets through with us, you might not get another chance!" Harley sighed. "We might all get separated. You and Eddie. Jonny, Eddie, and Jervis. Me, Red, and Lina." She let out a sniffle. "Me and Mistah J!"

Pamela rolled her eyes. "How is it that two trained psychiatrists," she pointed at Penelope and Harley, "Can't tell when someone is in love with them and when someone isn't?"

"Oh, lay off of Mistah J, Red! We're takin' it slow, that's all!"

"More like glacial," Jonathan said.

"Whatever," Harley grumbled. "At least he's not takin' al Ghul lying down!"

This actually piqued Jonathan's interest. "Oh? What's the Clown got planned this time?"

Harley grinned. "He said that if he's gonna get punished anyway, he's gonna go out on his own terms! He's just gonna be himself tomorrow!"

Pamela opened her mouth to respond when a determined look came over her face. She put her cards down. "I can't believe I'm saying this," she said. "But I actually agree with him. Strange, Wayne, al Ghul and everyone else on the school board has had it out for us for years. Why not end it on our terms?"

Jonathan played with his pile of chips before he nodded. "Yeah. You're right. If not now, then they'll get us at some point. Might as well go out swingin'."

Victor raised an eyebrow. "That may all be well and good for you lot, but some of us have spouses and families to consider."

"You can be good little sheep if you like," Pamela said. "But some of us would like to keep our dignity intact."

Harley clapped her hands. "Yeah! Fight the power! Are you in, Penny?"

"I'm not sure," she said quietly, obviously still thinking about someone else entirely. "But you do what you think is right."

"First thing's first," Kirk said. "Let's win this wine."

[amasenpai]

Vin's Top Anime/Manga that Need More Love

- Chihayfuru

A sports/romance story with the best characters?? I say sports but it's a super niche card game about poetry. Goodness the growth of everyone has me screaming (especially Taichi!) and for a sports anime you actually can't tell if a main character is going to win or lose. I nearly had a heart attack watching some of their matches. Someone love this with me ✨

- The King's Avatar

A Chinese 'anime' about esports. It really does the whole MC is a genius thing better than a lot of anime, and explains his OP skills well! It has older characters, and deals with getting older and trying to support yourself in a cutthroat world. Plus Glory is the coolest game ever~ If you've ever played an MMO I'd say watch it!

- Natsume's book of Friends

Okay. Okay okay? It's the sweetest "monster of the week" style anime that hits home about trying to find a place to belong. As many episodes made my heart sing, just as many made me cry like a fool because I wanted them all to be happy. The cutest MC, the cutest adoptive parents, the cutest friends. Everyone is your child that needs to be protected.

- Monster

I mean, it's classic. I only say it needs more love because it's an older story now-- but god is it still top tier. An adult themed anime about chasing a serial killer and whether or not everyone deserves a second chance. Takes place in Germany (and is apparently a 1 for 1 map view). Slow burn that has one of my favorite characters in any fictional story.... and he shows up nearly halfway through the plot. The main antagonist is truly terrible. The characters you love deserve the world. The ones you hate should burn in hell forever.

- Space Brothers

By now you'd probably guess I prefer slower, slice of life type stories. Dorky MC gets fired from his job and finally pursues his dream of becoming an astronaut after giving up on it for years. He's a step behind his little brother who is already an astronaut and fufilling his dream to walk in the moon. Another older aged cast, but I think everyone can put themselves in this story. It's heartwarming and inspiring!

- Mushishi

Is this unpopular? Not really sure but I need more people to talk about it with. Episodic and calming, it's really not the mainstream anime. A mysterious (and pretty ✨) man travels the world fixing illnesses and other strange happenings caused by mushi. Some are harmful, some are helpful, but most are just living in the world like humans. It's like watching a bedtime story in an art gallery. So beautiful~

- Angel Densetsu

Another older pick, which unfortunately only has a two episode OVA to its name. Imagine the sweetest, most kind teen to ever live-- now imagine his face to look like an axe murderer. Kitano is a fantastic person with the social awareness of sliced cheese. All he wants is friends but everyone is terrified of him... Not that he knows that. It's hilarious, if a bit dated, and definitely deserves to be read. Ugly manga art and all.

- Jellyfish Princess

A bunch of nerd ladies under one roof with a serious case of social anxiety. One day the MC meets a new friend that shakes up everything; plus dresses and romance and getting over your fears. It's adorable, and most of all relatable!

- Twin Spica

Another space story, this time with a young girl trying to follow her dreams. All the characters seem to be fighting their past to get where they want to be; whether it's trauma, lack of support, or the hardships of struggling. Not everything is easy, but the MC has her own extra moral support in lion-kun, who knows a thing or two about being an astronaut. Get ready to cry, and cry a lot.

- The Promised Neverland

A dash of horror, and a ton of mystery and suspense! A group of orphans live in the perfect, loving home (or so they think). Everything turns on it's head when the MCs find out the truth about their paradise, and your heart will hurt when you see what they go through to try and escape their fate~ I absolutely need to scream and theorize with more people!!

[butterfly-child99]

If you follow me on instagram/facebook/twitter you may have seen a few weeks ago, we got to experience something wonderful. We got the chance to have a sleepover at Dorset County Museum in Dorchester with Dippy the Dinosaur, YES, you read that right, THE DIPPY from the National History Museum. He is currently on tour and his first stop is in Dorchester. I have wanted to write about our experience since we very first got in but I wanted to take my time so it wasn’t just excited drivel.

I don’t believe I have ever done anything quite like this, but I do hope to experience some wonderful things with my children in the future, this was our first stop on our quest for a fun filled and happy life. Dippy has been at the museum since February and as my son is a huge, huge fan of dinosaurs, and as a family we are all pretty dino crazy, we got tickets to go see Dippy. Firstly, we went with some family friends, and the children loved it! So much so, they wanted to do it again, so we booked more tickets to go see him in May with my mum (Mamma) and Mr BC’s dad (Grandad). However, before we reached that second date, I got an email with the exciting news that as the first two sleepovers were so successful, and had sold out so quick, they had added an extra date, and as I subscribe to the mailing list, I was given advance warning. I spoke to Mr BC as quick as I could and without much thought we booked tickets. This was almost a once in a lifetime experience, we could not pass it up.

We told the kids, who were obviously excited and it wasn’t far  in the future, so we had no moans or waiting which if you’re a parent you will appreciate is a amazing.

I took a few photos on the night but mostly I did live videos to my facebook feed, which was very cool as we got to share our experience with family and friends as it was happening. The whole experience was really well planned and was just amazing. My initial thoughts were that it may be quite scary staying in a museum and I thought it would be quite strict in what you could do and when. But the staff were amazing  and we got to wander round the museum, spend some time with Dippy, and they had organised games and activities. We had hot chocolate before bed and they had organised two films to watch (Dinosaur related obviously), and it was not scary at all. In fact, it was incredibly exciting.

Even before we got in they had some entertainment for us as we queued, this lady was amazing. She had a dino disco set which played lots of music from T-Rex to Everybody walk the Dinosaur, accompanied by her son she was very entertaining and we saw some more interesting things from her later too.

She was just as excited about dinosaurs/fossils and the chance to sleep over as us, she was also really insightful and just fun to be around.

When we made it into the museum, the biggest decision came, did we pick somewhere quiet to put our sleeping bags to try to get some sleep or did we sleep under the towering skeleton of Dippy…..

Obviously the children picked Dippy, which we knew would be terribly exciting but also full of lots of other excitable children and lots of accompanying adults (with snoring/talking/laughing) but we may never get to do this again, so we went for it. One night of restless sleep would be worth it. So we made our way into the great hall and picked a spot to camp out. The kids had made  a friend in the queue so obviously they wanted to be near her. So we set up out gear and waited to find out what exciting activities awaited us.

We all had handy printed itineraries to follow and before the event we had all been spilt into teams and had been asked to wear a colour to define our group, and we could do fancy dress if we wanted to try to win a prize. As we didn’t book until last minute our dress wasn’t amazing, but we all had matching blue hoodies, as we were on the Jurassic Tropical Seas team with the Pliosaur as our prehistoric creature.

The activities ranged from a Pliosaur versus Megalosaurus Quiz to Parachute Games. I really can’t praise the whole evening enough, who would have thought a museum would let children run around playing a game of dinosaur tag or playing exciting parachute games within one of its collection halls. It was an amazing experience, that I do not think I will ever stop talking about. The children loved every single moment, even though the recommended age was 7, and Poppet is only 5, she still got to join in and experience everything.

During the Pliosaur/Megalosaurus quiz, the children had to answer questions by finding the answer in the room. My two worked beautifully together which doesn’t happen often, and they managed to find all the answers, and poppet did some beautiful handwriting. So educational as well as fun, so a thumbs up from mummy!

After this, we went through and some wonderfully, exhilarating fun playing dino themed parachute games. For me the idea of children running and playing within a museum panicked me slightly, what if things got broke. But the children were really well behaved and the staff again were incredible. I even got to join in with a game of dino tag, we had a slight incident, as poppet got a little crushed by some the bigger children and I was on the other side of the room so didn’t see it, but she was rescued and got to stay with the museum lady for a bit, so she was happy enough.

We then went into the main Dippy hall where we got to see the lovely Dinosaur Disco lady again and her son. She talked to us about how she was a huge fan of the jurassic coast and she had a special skirt made of sedimentary layers, and she sang us some Jurassic themed songs with her ukulele and son accompanying her. It was amazing! She sang about sedimentary layers, fossil formulations and about Mary Anning (famous for all the fossil hunting she did and so much more, look her up and if you want more exciting and interesting information have a look on the Jurassic Coast website); which if you are a big dino fan, or live around the Jurassic coast or are interested in fossils; will know she is a big deal and this lady was a huge fan. I think after this evening, I was also a big fan and my appreciation for dinosaurs, fossils and history of where we live, increased tenfold.

We got to walk around Dippy again and get our selfies if we wanted one! It was amazing seeing him from up high, as you can imagine we would be as high as tree level, which is where Dippy would have been eating from and until you see how big he is, you cannot truly appreciate what it must have been like when dinosaurs roamed the earth. The video below is a link to my facebook, as I don’t have a downloaded version of it. Please let me know if you have any issues with the link.

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10155504355437411&id=543807410

As the night wore on, we were invited for a hot chocolate and to get our pyjamas on. Whilst we waited for the films to be prepared, we were allowed to have a wander around Dippy and into some of the other rooms, and we did a raffle and the fancy dress competition. Whilst Mr BC took the kids to the raffle I spent a few minute with Dippy all on my own. It was quiet and peaceful not eerie as I thought it might be. It was an incredible moment, that I won’t ever forget.

This is me all alone with Dippy!

The choice of films was Jurassic World or Dino time for the little ones. Monkey wanted to go watch Jurassic world so we all went through to watch it. I had brought some snacks and we all had blankets which we snuggled under. I could tell, Poppet was not going to make it to the end. She was yawning away and had asked if she could do some colouring. We had already seen this movie, so I could understand her getting bored. So Mr BC stayed with Monkey, and Poppet and I went back to our camping area under Dippy.

Monkey enjoyed the film and returned a couple of hours later and was asleep by 11:05pm, 5 minutes after lights out. Poppet and I had been doing some colouring and telling dinosaur and princess stories, and we had settled down but waited for the boys before also drifting off to sleep.

Everyone (nearly everyone) slept soundly, there was a few snorers and a creaky door somewhere, but mainly it was peaceful. However, at just after midnight Poppet developed a funny doggy sounding barking cough, and it kept waking her as she also developed a wheeze. We had been locked in the museum so I couldn’t go anywhere, and it was only a bit of a cold but unfortunately it meant I spent most of the night holding her up slightly so she didn’t have to lie flat. Whilst I was  sitting awake cradling Poppet so she wouldn’t lie flat, the museum was generally quiet, I could however, hear some kind of exhibit in the background, still talking to itself, and for one moment I had the silliest thought that maybe things did come awake as we sleep, like in the movies, and it added to the excitement of the night. So even though, Poppet was a bit unwell and I didn’t get much sleep, me and Dippy really enjoyed each others company as everyone else slept on.  I think it must have been from sleeping so low to the floor, and she suffered with croup as a baby. It didn’t dampen the experience though as we all had a great time and we were sad to go. Poppet especially got sad as she didn’t want Dippy to leave but we reminded her we had one last visit to do, although sadly as you will know from my previous posts, Grandad didn’t make it with us to visit Dippy but we did still go in his memory and Monkey and Poppet hoped his spirit was with us to see us enjoying our final visit to Dippy on his tour.

The morning after, we all were given cereal or croissants for breakfast which was yummy, but we rushed through it as I wanted to get Poppet home to get some calpol in her and some fresh air. We had so much fun and I cannot thank the staff enough for such a wonderful and incredible experience. In itself, the whole evening was amazing and a real once in a lifetime thing to do, but the staff made it even more special, by how welcoming, knowledgable and just how excited they were by it all too. If it was possible to just pick and do any job in the world, a Library or a Museum would be my dream. Being surrounded by all the History and exciting artefacts, always learning new things and passing this knowledge onto children, and making learning exciting, would be perfect. If I can pass on a love for learning to my children, I will be happy. And I think surrounding ourselves with people who are equally as excited, and by going to events such as these, I am on the right path, but definitely if I could work somewhere with events like these and show just one child the excitement of learning, then I would be happy!

Here was our final picture of the kids in front of Dippy saying our good byes. They do both look a little hungover, which I thought was quite funny. Poppet obviously wasn’t feeling too good but Monkey looked excited and thrilled but exhausted all at the same time and I think thats what grown ups look like after a really good night out.

If we get chance to do it again, I would jump at it and if you ever get the opportunity, do it! It was incredible and I will remember it forever. Not only was it amazing but it helped to remind me that my life is pretty great, I have longed for a third baby, and I would love to not be in as much pain as I am sometimes but looking at my beautiful children and taking part in such a wonderful thing, and knowing, you know what I can do so much more with my children. I cannot wait for our next adventure and I say BRING IT ON!!!

I am not sitting back and letting pain or anxiety get the better of me, I want to enjoy my life, spend time with the kids and do things now! We have our first part of our Europe “tour” booked, we are off to Rome in the Summer Holidays and we have lots of exciting day trips or experiences we would like to do, on our ever expanding to do list, and I cannot wait, and I hope you can’t wait to hear all about it, too!

As a final video, here we are saying Goodnight when the room is almost empty! It really was incredible!!!!

You may have seen a few weeks ago, we got to experience something wonderful. We got the chance to have a sleepover Dippy the Dinosaur! Check out all the exciting things we did in my new blog post! If you follow me on instagram/facebook/twitter you may have seen a few weeks ago, we got to experience something wonderful.