#kinda surprised these turned out decent b/c for a lot of them i was standing in the shade shooting upwards towards a cloudy sky

[esoomris]

Cicadas I saw on a hike this morning. At least I think they’re cicadas, I’m no bug expert but they came out of the ground and were very loud. Lowkey crazy there were enough of them around for me to put together a whole stages-of-life timeline, but I guess that’s just how it is with cicadas.

.

Bonus: cranefly caught molting

[why-this-kolaveri-machi]

it wasn’t power i coveted; it was acceptance.

Titans 3.06

y’know, i was just thinking the other day that 1.06/1.07 and 2.06/2.07 were the best episodes of their respective seasons, so i have great hopes going in to this one. fingers crossed!

as always, typing this up as i see the episode.

SPOILERS AHEAD

1. oh! um... that was a Cold Open, all right. *nudges* get it? cold? because it’s snowing? and two people got murdered in cold blood? eh?

... oh, i’ve just started.

1.5. i wonder if “i want to be sipping pina coladas on a beach with you” is the new “i’m just one day away from retiring.” i was so on edge after that--i kept expecting that car to explode. even so, the way they died wasn’t an anticlimax: brutal, and quick. 

1.75. so i’m assuming that’s the titular lady vic! this show better bring up why this doll was important or why these two cops needed to be killed, and not leave it to the ether like jericho’s little mindscape jaunt in 2.08 (i’m still dying to know what that was about???)

2.

i love how deliberately unappealing wayne manor is. 

(sorry for the pic quality. i don’t have hbo max! ssshhh.)

2.3. i love the many references to “home” and “our house” when they’ve been here for less than a week and saw one of their friends get blown into pieces. i mean, i unironically love it: home is where family is, after all!

2.5. i’d like to say that kom is playing some sort of long game here, especially given the build-up we had last season and some of the more niggling details this season: why did kom choose now to use her bond to lure kory when she’s been on earth for months? why did justin call kory now, just around the time that she started getting kom’s visions? and what about kom’s ability to exactly imitate other people? hmmm.

2.75. the reason i wrote i’d like to say is that i’ve made the mistake of assuming plot complexity where there is none; i was so invested in the jason todd orchestrated his own death theory for instance, when it turns out that oops! ra’s al ghul just happened to leave a little lazarus puddle in gotham, and oh yeah! scarecrow just happens to have a network of henchmen working for him on the outside and a fully functional laboratory and a weapons cache fit for a new supervillain in the basement of the high security psychiatric unit/prison that he’s in! 

(no i’m not bitter, why do you ask)

2.8. iiiii don’t know what to say about the implications of sex slavery being a thing on tamaran, so i’m not going to say anything at all. for now.

3. gotham, six years ago... wasn’t it five years before s2 that jericho died and the titans disbanded? and when was the flashback from 1.06 where dick let zucco die? i think it was after the events of 2.08: jericho? i can’t seem to find any transcripts or reliable information online, so i’m going to have to rewatch 1.06 at some point. 

(i love the old-fashioned batman music in this heist scene)

3.5. “security is a joke... it’s my way of keeping my dad on his toes”. what you’re an ethical thief now, like an ethical hacker? i don’t think that excuse is going to sell, barbara, on the day you do encounter a decent security system and your father is forced to arrest you.

(then again, gotham’s security is piss-poor. did you know that you could just walk into arkham asylum without any official clearance, ply one of its most dangerous inhabitants with contraband, and said inmate could get away with having an entire laboratory and weapons cache--NO I’M NOT GOING TO LET THIS GO)

3.8 so that flashback between dick and barbara was really cute! and also illuminating:

a) dick sounds so light, so... um. look. i have some apologies to tender to mr thwaites, because while i’ve always thought he does a fine job as dick grayson, i’ve never been terribly fond of his cadence as he delivers dialogue. it’s often monotonous, i thought, but then again, he’s usually delivering exposition or dealing with one soul-crushing crisis or the other. so i was pleasantly surprised to hear dick sound so carefree and alive in his conversation with barbara, laughing frequently, his emotions so bare and bubbling to the surface. it’s really a fantastic contrast to the traumatised and world-weary dick grayson that we see now, even more so than the costume department just bunging a backwards-baseball cap on mr thwaites’ head and hoping that will convince us of his relative youth. 

b) and god, when he wakes up from that memory, all alone in his bed, bleeding from bullet holes in his shoulder (bullet holes that are--in a somewhat convoluted way--barbara’s fault)? yikes. it’s great. you have my apologies, mr thwaites!

c) can you imagine dick just... crawling back to wayne manor, trying not to be seen by anybody, shedding his suit and just... collapsing onto his bed without even tending to his wound? the sheer emotional and physical exhaustion of it? 

d) it’s so interesting to see how barbara and dick approach the idea of legacy--a big theme on the show!--in this flashback. barbara is the one bucking the idea that she should follow in her father’s footsteps, while dick seems pretty content with the batman-and-robin setup, and even tries to get barbara to join their team (robin-girl. pfffft). obviously after this several traumatic things happen wherein dick ends up questioning and then resenting his role as robin, his relationship with batman or even returning as a vigilante at all. and barbara... ends up replacing her father as commissioner. it’s tragic, really. 

e) the dynamic between dick and barbara in the flashback reminds me of how it was between dick and donna in 1.08 and even between kory and dick in early s1. it’s like having an older, strong-willed woman by his side means he gives over the steering wheel for a while and lets himself... unspool, a little bit. it’s kinda endearing.

also:

*pinches his cheeks*

3. you know, we talk about dick and Eldest Daughter Syndrome, and that’s definitely valid, but here gar seems to me the embodiment of it, with all the emotional gardening and firefighting that he’s expected to do. he’s kind of the guy expected to keep his shit together and take care of everyone else while they are falling completely to pieces, unable to carve out time to process his own trauma. he’s also picked up dick’s and kory’s tendencies to bottle up their struggles and shun appearing vulnerable, and he’s struggling in the shadow of both dick and kory undergoing acute crises, his best friend (and frequent confidante) on the other side of the world, and seeing hank die, utterly helpless to stop it. 

i’m glad that he got a chance to tell dick even a smidgeon of what he really feels, and i hope this is at least a semblance of a wake up call for dick to actually sit down and work with the people he repeatedly calls family.

3.5. it’s heartening to see that dick immediately makes it his priority to go talk to gar. but don’t blow off kory in the process, man!

4. i’m really loving this dynamic between kom and conner--i get the idea that both of them consider each other as Unknowns, alien two times over. but conner’s only ever known the titans, who embrace being different, and kom’s only ever known... well. 

anyway, kory is Really Stressed, and honestly? #relatable. 

when you’re forced to bring an estranged family member to hang out with your friends...

4.5. i love that the titans are spending so much time in the kitchen. a real family!

5. jonathan crane is a creep and i absolutely cannot stand him.

5.25. how did he get a whole lab setup (in the basement of a hospital...?) with a bunch of whitecoats to work for him? how did he just waltz into the viewing room of an operation theatre when he’s one of the most wanted men in gotham right now? why is jason wandering around maskless when--presumably--as the adopted son of the most famous person in gotham he’d be a tad more recognisable than your average joe?

why do i expect this show to answer anything anymore?

5.5. that’s not necessarily a criticism, mind; i’ve said since season 1 that titans is very comics-like in this aspect, all about the Aesthetic and the splash-page splendour rather than the niggling unimportant details of how or when the characters got to said location. like. the camera gliding over the operation being set-up, lady vic bursting in and doing her murder dance (imagine the luck of the poor intern who chose this day and this surgery to assist) and jason, shocked and slack-jawed, framed by blood.

5.75. it’s a sobering reminder for jason that, though he chose this path in order to gain control over a world that seemed like it was rapidly spinning out of his grip, he’s only succeeded in handing over even more control to a man with an agenda that is very clearly not aligned with his own. he’s in too far to stop now, though.

5.9. i have a lot more thoughts about jason! saving it up for the end of this recap, though.

6. more kitchen time! i better see dick do some cooking soon...

(”our kitchen”! it still delights me! kitchens are So Important)

6.25. so much of dick’s issues have revolved around his relationship with bruce, so it’s completely understandable that in the wake of a huge crisis where bruce literally asks dick to replace him and be a “better” him, dick would default to all the worst things he learned from the man. and i’m glad kory’s having none of it, but come on, guys. the woman’s literally fetched her fratricidal sister out of a hole in the ground with no idea what said sister is going to do next and experiencing a burgeoning sense of guilt far, far beyond her history with the titans, and dick’s too far into his autocolonoscopy that he can’t see that she needs help.

6.5. “he services your urges”--well, as far as we know, kory is the last person he had sex with...

7. “i hope [gar] isn’t angry with me...” SIR! i thought you’d already spoken to him! smh, as the kids say. kory wouldn’t be needing to reassure you if you just took the effort to build two way emotional relationships with the rest of the team. @superohclair​ was taking about dick’s relatively low emotional intelligence? i agree.

7.5. “i got my own problems [...] you and barbara? fix it.” YOU TELL HIM, KORY

8. man i really like this weird, sad tension between dick and barbara--this sense that both of them are approaching the other based on how they remember them and are ultimately disappointed by the truth. barbara thought she could trust dick to... well, be a better batman, but dick has not only failed at that in her eyes, but repeatedly undermined her while exploiting the authority that she gave him. in dick’s eyes, this is nothing like the barbara that he knew, rebellious and ready to do whatever it takes to find something. 

like. this show sometimes really hits me in the chest about the ways it shows kids grow into adults and into caretakers, and the way it’s stop-start, the ways nothing can happen at all for a long time and then it’s Crisis Central all at once and there’s no space to breathe. the weird sort of sadness that comes with nostalgia. 

8.5. oracle name drop! i agree with barbara, any system that can just randomly tap into gotham phonelines is a monster.

8.7. (i don’t know if it’s my imagination, but is dick holding himself... differently in this episode? like that wound is definitely bothering him, and he’s running on fumes)

9. man, that was a really sweet scene between kom and conner. “feeling alien in your own world”... “not quite here nor there”

honestly this team runs on conner and gar’s faith in their value as a family, and it’s a sign of conner’s generous heart that he extends that opportunity to blackfire. this arc of maturation for him, where he’s now able to consciously choose which parts of himself he can use to do the thing he wants to so--save people--has been so fulfilling to recognise. this baby’s grown with the titans! and what he’s learnt is that people can get fucked up, but the titans is a place where they can be fucked up, and grow.

MY MAN CONNER

10. oh man i’m drinking in the gar-dick interaction in this episode like i’m three days into the desert and it’s the only source of water for miles around!

a) gar is absolutely not dealing with dick’s bullshit this episode and I LOVE IT. it’s such a far cry from the man who was idolising dick/robin back in s1 and expecting him to solve all their problems. dick is fallible, dick is fucked up, but he Tries His Best and that’s ok.

b) dick, huffing and puffing through that vent, unable to put any pressure on his left shoulder, trying to have a heart to heart with gar... fuck i love this asshole. 

c) bruce took in a kid who was suffering... “and made him into a weapon”. well. i absolutely agree with dick that it was bruce who put these kids into these horrible situations with him and they came away with a bucketload of trauma to add to the one that they already had. but we know that bruce was really trying with jason, and at the end of s2, dick was coming to acknowledge that bruce had offered him something that wasn’t just darkness. jason’s death and bruce’s reaction to that shattered that fragile progress.

d) “gotham got to me too.” i feel more sympathetic towards dick running off on his own than most, and it’s not just because i’m an unapologetic stan.  we’ve seen before that dick... devolves when overwhelmed, and he lashes out and makes ill thought out decisions and just Does Not Deal. it happened after hearing the news that deathstroke had returned in s2, and it didn’t help that everyone around him was reeling at the news, either. this time, however, he has his salvation in his family, and despite some stupid decisions like running off and kidnapping supervillains without telling his team, he’s been really on the ball this season. thinking clearly and logically, holding it together and working on a plan, thinking two steps ahead of the villains... yes.

e) gar needing to believe that jason isn’t beyond redemption... there’s a lot of blood on his hands, too, from when he was manipulated by cadmus last season. it makes sense why he’d relate to jason’s predicament, and i hope dick picked up on that.

f) my head just added a plaintive ow after dick jumped feet first into the storage room

i need, crave gifs of this scene!

11. *sits on hands* i’m going to talk more about red hood, i promise!

12. more gar and dick! is it my birthday??!!

(actually, according to the tamil calendar, it is my birthday! my “star” birthday)

12.5. excellent. dick using some implausible training that bruce taught him to solve a mystery? passing some of that knowledge onto gar? that proud smile when he sees gar perfectly execute moves that he taught him? MY HEART IS EXPLODING

13. aw, i love flashback!dick and barbara, they’re so cute <3

13.25. why does it not surprise me that the way he proposes a relationship to barbara is by saying “we make sense”? this guy can deduce exactly who was present where and what weapon they were holding from a garbled audio recording but other times he’s utterly clueless, and that’s a consistent character beat right from s1

13.5. so.... that’s why lady vic has it out for... barbara....? i don’t get it. it’s flimsy. but hey! the fun thing about titans is that i don’t have to get it. the payoff has nothing to do with the plot.

14. i can’t believe that barbara fell for that, but at least that wheelchair fight looked awesome, so.

15. oh yeah, i forgot that red hood bullied the mob into helping him and scarecrow... at least that explains the whitecoats and the elaborate set-up.

15.5. honestly i love how this dynamic between kory and kom is developing, though i wish more of the team would pay attention to it. time to call justin, i think!

16. i wonder what happened after that second flashback where barbara got hurt during that heist. did she give up on doing any more (maybe jim caught her)? was it because dick was called away by bruce and then the titans and got caught up in his own issues? maybe barbara froze him out because she wasn’t looking for the relationship that he was looking for? maybe the idea of doing that with someone turning into batman-lite was just... unappealing? scary?

whatever it is, it doesn’t look like dick ever processed the end of that relationship. it’s very intriguing to see where their dynamic goes next.

17. so.... what, did vic deliver some fear toxin to barbara? i... what?

17.5. and i TOLD YOU that they would never explain that doll or why vic attacked those two cops at the beginning! oh, titans. never change. 

18. did jason just randomly have tim’s restaurant burgled? god, i’m feeling a bit nauseous... are they going to kill tim’s father?

18.25. i feel like the rest of the season is going to wrestle with jason’s culpability in the horrible stuff he’s doing and i’m already seeing that prospect divide fans. on one hand, his story is taking a lot of oxygen away from other equally interesting story arcs, and he’s done some truly awful things, like indiscriminate murder, threatening to kill children, blowing up hank, and potentially killing tim’s parents. 

there’s something to be said for the kind of hold that crane has over him, and the so-called ‘anti-fear’ drug that he keeps plying jason with--he’s alone, drugged almost constantly (to the level of dependence), fresh from the trauma of being bludgeoned to death. he hasn’t conquered fear; he’s ruled by it. on the other hand, given that he’s the one character on the show given an obvious and identifiable ‘mental illness’ arc (maaaaybe dick too), one can argue that it’s irresponsible to show this progress into such violence: jason was vulnerable because he was struggling, and that left him vulnerable, but it took only a push before he became a fucking serial killer.

but that could mean we underestimate the degree of that vulnerability, and the mechanics of this universe where he fell into the clutches of the one supervillain perfectly designed to exploit that vulnerability. that helpless spiral into further and further self-destruction is all too real. it’s valuable to know that someone who has sunk that low can still seek help--actual help--and get it. 

18.5. i don’t know. it’s not a question i’m going to resolve at the end of an overlong recap at 1 in the morning. i don’t believe it’s even a question that titans can resolve. but i am interested in where they’re going next with jason.

19. this episode was genuinely great! i’m pumped for the rest of the season!

[jungshookz]

hi h-how about a scenario where y/n is doing some holiday shopping and meets cute cashier jungkook hehe

🎄 pairing: jeon jungkook x reader

🎄 genre: cashier!kook, fluff!!!!!!!!, u and kook are both kinda awkward but it’s adorable  

🎄 wordcount: 2.6k

the one thing you hate about christmas has to be christmas shopping

frankly you think that the most important part of christmas is spending time with your loved ones!!!

okay that’s a little white lie because you do really like getting presents

and it’s not like you don’t like giving presents

because it’s totally worth it to see the look on someone’s face when you present them with an amaZing gift

but it’s just

shopping takes sO much effort

and it drains all the energy out of you

and it drains all the money out of your bank account

and also the malls are always so hectic at this time of the year

and you have to fight people off to get the perfect present

last year you squared up with an old lady over a crock pot that your mom really really wanted

obviously you ended up with the crock pot because u ain’t no lil bitch

(no old ladies were harmed in the process of getting the crock pot)

anyways you usually only get presents for your mom and your dad and some of your cousins and obviously you get a present for tae (and you get one or two presents for yourself and label them from santa so you feel less guilty about it hehe)

but this year not only do you have to get a present for tae

you have to get a present for tae and jin and jimin and namjoon aND yoongi AND hoseok because you’ve made quite a lot of new friends this year young lady good for u!!!

anyways

you’ve been at the mall for nearly six hours and you’re pretty sure your feet are bleeding in your shoes from how much walking you’ve done

you’re pretty sure you’re one more purchase away from maxing out your credit card

every time you tap it against the machine you make a face because every purchase is a RISK

you have all your gifts ready for the boys

yoongi gets a new microphone for his studio

namjoon gets a new pair of sunglasses

jin gets a customised apron

hobi gets a new pair of nike air force 1s

and sweet angel baby jimin gets a customised shampoo and conditioner set with a frEE loofah!!

all you have to do now is find a gift for tae which is always the hardest task because he says he doesn’t care what you get him but he totally cares about what you get for him

one year you gave him a single pair of socks and he was like???? SOCKS/?????? sweetie SOCKS??????? i gave you a fuLL set of rose gold CUTLERY and you give me SoCks with- what are these- socks with hoT DOGS ON THEM

and you were like you saiD you didn’t care about what your gift was and these warm fuzzy socks were on sale-

“SALE???? YOU GOT ME DISCOUNT SOCKS FOR CHRISTMAS-”

as much as you love tae he’s very much a diva and he’s shameless about it

but you’ve learned your lesson so since the sock incident you’ve gotten him very nice gifts

so even though your organs are shutting down one by one and your body is telling you that it’s unable to go on and you need to head home noW and collapse in bed

you’re soldiering on because you have to find tae the perfect present

but you don’t think you’re going to find tae’s gift at the mall

you’ll have to go somewhere else

you adjust all the shopping bags in your arms and use your shoulder to push the door open and you’re immediately met with the crisp winter air

the sun’s starting to set and the number of people on the street is starting to dwindle down

you end up wandering around the streets for about half an hour

and you’re [this] close to giving up because

a) it’s freezing out and your nose is going to fall off

b) your arms are about to fall off because of how heavy the bags are buT the cold has made your body entirely numb so it’s counteracting the whole arms falling off thing

c) maybe you should just face the wrath of tae this year you’re a big girl you can handle it

and then

you see it

van gogh’s starry night

it’s obviously a replica of van gogh’s starry night but you know for a faCt tae would love to hang that up in his hallway or something

you look like a kid with your face pressed up against the glass because this gift is PERFEcT

it even comes with a fancy gold frame and everything anD it’s decently priced so you don’t have to worry about making more of a dent in your wallet

you take a step back and look up at the name of the store

“troves and treasures” you murmur to yourself

huh

cute name

the little bell rings above you as you enter the store and you let out a content sigh at the warmth that welcomes you and you see an apple-pie scented candle burning away

this store is adorable!!

it’s a little cramped because there’s just sO much stuff in here but it’s still adorable

miraculously you make your way to the back of the store without knocking shit over with your bags

you feel like a bulldozer when you walk in between the narrow shelves

now where is that damn painting

“excuse me, miss? would you like to put your bags down by the front? they look kinda heavy” you turn around and nearly knoCk a lamp off the display counter

whoops

“oh no it’s okay i think i can-“  

oh wow

he’s awfully pretty isn’t he

his lips tug up in a sweet smile and he blinks at you with his warm, round eyes before reaching up to flick a couple strands of jet-black hair away from his eyes

“uhhhhh actually yeAh maybe you should take these before i accidentally destroy the entire store” you chuckle awkwardly and he immediately reaches out and takes the bags off your arms

“how have your arms not fallen off already?? it feels like you have bricks in here” he jokes before heading over to the counter and setting them down gently on the floor

“it’s because it’s so cold outside that my arms have gone completely numb” you snort and rub your sore arms before reaching down to brush your fingers over an antique clock

“good thing you came in here! i always like keeping it nice and toasty” he hums and adjusts the little apron around his waist “so are you looking for something in particular or just browsing?”

okay

don’t let pretty boy distract you from the task at hand y/n

do nOt

but he’s just

he’s sO pretty

“um, i-“ you pause to collect your thoughts and shake your head quickly “painting.”

“painting.” he repeats and tilts his head and offers you a smirk “there are many paintings here.”

omg

what’s wrong w u

pull it together

“the van gogh painting! it’s in the display window, that one over there-“ you point to the window “my friend’s a huge art nerd and i think that would make a perfect christmas gift.” you smile and move past him to head to the window

it’s a bit of a tight squeeze since the two of you are standing in between shelves but your hand brushes past his and you feel a little zaP

he gasps in surprise and cradles his hand quickly

but just like you he shakes his thoughts out of his head and remains professional

“ah, starry night! you’re lucky - that’s actually the last one we have in stock.” he bends over and picks the painting up gently before turning and showing it to you “are you interested in purchasing the gold frame?”

“yes, please!” you grin excitedly and keep your eyes glued on the painting because it is literally SO PERFEct you’re so excited to give this to tae “you think you can wrap it up for me too?”

“of course! i’m a great wrapper.” he heads back to the front counter and you trail behind him

“oh yeah? i’d love to hear your stuff on soundcloud.” you joke

he raises his eyebrow and you SEE the question mark floating on top of his head and your face immediately starts burning up because the joke totally just flew past his head

but then

“ooOOOH like soundcloud raPPEr- that was a good one. i’m deducting a point tho because it was lame as hell” he laughs and you let out a small sigh of relief

that was almost mortifying

he places the painting in the frame gently and you can’t help but notice that his hands are also very very pretty but now there’s just this silence between the two of you

is it too late to introduce urself

u don’t really know what to say

god why are you so AWKWArd

“i’m, uh, i’m y/n, by the way.” you clear your throat and lean against the counter

he pauses in the middle of taping and looks up at you with that beautiful fricKin smile “i’m jungkook.” and then he looks back down and smooths over where he just taped

“so are you done with christmas shopping?” he asks as he prepares a pretty red bow

“pretty much! this is my last stop and then i think i’m going to get a hot drink somewhere to unfreeze my insides.” you hum and rummage through your purse for your wallet

“that sounds like a nice plan! i’m closing up shop pretty soon because it’s kind of been a lazy day”

the two of you end up talking a little while longer

you tell him about the sock incident and he tells you about how one time he accidentally dropped a present in the middle of the street and someone on a bike just raN over it

you tell him that your favourite christmas cookie is gingerbread and he argues that sugar cookies are ten times better

you tell him that hot chocolate with marshmallows is the best hot chocolate and he says that hot chocolate with a candy cane in it is the best

jungkook purposely slows down when he’s wrapping the painting just because it’s so nice talking to you :——)

thank god business was slow today because it gives him more time to talk to u

“you must really like your friend to get him a present this nice” jungkook teases as he punches a couple buttons on the cash register

“tell me about it” you snort and pull out your credit card and catch a glimpse of the price on the screen and imMEDIATELy the blood drains from your face

what the FUck

THIS IS A REPLICA WHY IS IT SO EXPENSIVE

your mouth goes dry when jungkook holds his hand out to take your card

o god

you can’t tell him you don’t want the gift anymore because he wrapped it up so nicely and put it in the frame and everything

jungkook must sense your hesitation because it’s been like ten seconds and you’re clutching onto your card for dear life

and he’s technically not supposed to do this but

you seem like a sweet girl (and ur also very pretty but that’s unrelated)

“oh, would you look at that! i, uh, i put in the wrong price.” jungkook points to the screen before shaking his head “sorry, my bad! i’ve only just started working here so i’m not used to all the fancy cash registers and stuff”

that is a blatant lie he’s been working here for like a year and he knowS that your total comes to $250

“that’ll be $125, please.”

he’ll just pay for the other half out of the kindness of his heart

it’s christmas after all!!

“oh thanK god because my card definitely has less than $250” you let out a breath of relief and hand him your card

your receipt comes out of the printer and kook slips it into the bag

and the two of you are kind of dawdling around because you know you don’t really have any other reason to stay in the shop unless you wanna buy another replica of a painting

jungkook helps you with your bags and walks you to the front door

“you’re… you’re closing up for today pretty soon, aren’t you? maybe i can treat you to a hot chocolate or something?” you’re visibly kind of nervous as jungkook slips the bags back onto your arms

he pauses and is pleasantly surprised that you totally just asked him out on a date

“i’ll come if you admit that gingerbread cookies are trash.” he teases and you gape at him “kidding. but not really. give me five minutes!” he disappears into the shop and you can’t fight the goofy smile that’s found its way onto your face

jungkook has to suppress a scream of excitement because yES HE LIKES U SO MUCH AND NOW HE GETS TO GET A HOT COCOA WITH U

anyways

the two of you end up at the café for much longer than expected

somehow you end up with the peppermint hot cocoa and the sugar cookie and kook ends up with the marshmallow hot cocoa and the gingerbread cookie

and jungkook has to admit

maybe gingerbread cookies aren’t all that bad

the two of you stay until the waitress is like ok kids u guys need to get out of here for real

jungkook helps you load all your shopping bags into the trunk of your car which is very gentlemanly of him because you definitely would not have been able to lift all the bags yourself

“you sure you don’t need a lift home?” jungkook shuts the trunk for you and gives it a couple pats

“i’ll be fine. the bus stop’s right over there!” jungkook points to across the street and you nod

“well, um, thank you! for the… wrapping?”

“thank you for the hot cocoa” jungkook smiles shyly and shoves his hands into the pockets of his hoodie

…

…

“well i guess i-” and before he gets a chance to say anything else you’ve gone up on your tippy toes and given him a soft kiss on the cheek

O O F

jungkook’s face immediately goes beet red and he smiles and scratches the back of his neck and he’s trying sO hard to not scream into the void oh my god that was so cUTE

at the same time you are trying not to scream from the adrenaline because you’ve never done anything so spontaneous before but you are SO proud of yourself

you hop into your car and jungkook shuts the door for you before leaning down and propping his arms up on your open window

“i’ll text you later?”

you smile excitedly and nod 

maybe christmas shopping isn’t all that bad after all

🎄the twelve drabbles of christmas! 🎄 

❄️do you have a special christmas request? ❄️

[365daysofsasuhina]

[ 365 Days of SasuHina || Day One Hundred Six: Suburban Sprawl ] [ Uchiha Sasuke, Hyūga Hinata ] [ SasuHina ] [ Verse: Best Years of Your Life ] [ AO3 Link ]

Plink.

Plink.

Plinkplink.

“Mmph…” Rolling over to lay on her back, Hinata drapes an arm over her eyes. What time is it...and what on earth is that noise?

Plink.

Looking toward her window, dark brows furrow as she realizes that it’s...the glass? Watching, she seeks something gently plink against it.

What the…?

Sitting up, she abandons her bed, inching along the wall to avoid being seen before peering out around the sill’s edge.

Across the rather small gap between their houses, Sasuke is sitting in his own window, throwing...something at hers. Squinting, she realizes it’s...coffee beans? Yeah, he’s got a can of coffee beans. What on earth is he doing?

Opening the pane, there’s a flinch as he throws one more, which bounces harmlessly against her middle. “...hey!” she whispers harshly. “What are you d-doing?”

“Waking you up.”

“Why?”

“I can’t sleep.”

Hinata gives an incredulous stare.

“Go for a walk with me.”

“Sasuke, it’s -” a pause to glance to her floral-print clock. “It’s four am!”

“So?”

“So?! I -!” She heaves a curt breath through her nose. “I can’t just leave the house at four am!”

“You’re sixteen, you can do what you want.”

“N-no I can’t!”

“Come on, Hinata. When was the last time you broke a rule?”

Cheeks puff in a pout. She can’t think of one.

“Exactly. Go. For. A. Walk. With. Me.”

“Oh...f-fine! But if we get caught, you kidnapped me.”

“Fair enough.”

Shutting her window, Hinata looks about her room. Never in all her years has she snuck out of the house. Down to the kitchen for a midnight snack, sure. But she’s never dared to break curfew, too terrified of whatever consequences her father might impose. Most rules in the Hyūga household are unspoken...because neither daughter (so far) has had any rebellious tendencies.

But with Sasuke back in her life, it seems that’s going to change for the elder.

Dressing in shorts, a tank, and a sweatshirt, she slips on sneakers and tiptoes her way downstairs. She takes leave by the back door, a spare key hidden nearby she can use to get back in. Goodness knows she’s not going to leave the house unlocked.

Hair tie in her mouth, she puts up long locks in a high tail before creeping around the side of the house. Any moment, she just knows Hiashi is going to pop around a corner and start yelling at her, and wake up the whole neighborhood. But all she finds is Sasuke standing out front. He’s got a baggy pair of shorts of his own, and a tank...but no jacket.

“So...now what?”

“Now, we walk.”

“Um...where?”

“Wherever our feet take us.”

Expression still unsure, Hinata glances back home before trotting to catch up as Sasuke leads the way.

At least it’s not a school night.

“So how come you c-couldn’t sleep?”

“No real reason. It just happens some nights. I don’t get tired. Tried playing some games, but...nothing caught my attention. Too restless.”

“It’s still better to lie down and rest than nothing,” Hinata insists.

“I know. But I get tired of doing that. It’s nice to just...be out at night. It’s quiet. No one around. You can think. Or not think.”

Hinata hums, looking out ahead. “It...is sort of peaceful. I’ve never really been out at night.”

Around them, the suburb sprawls. A bit of a higher-class neighborhood, the houses have decent-sized yards and multi-car garages. There’s a park a ways down the road, and it’s there they start to head.

“I go out a lot.”

“...so I’ve noticed.”

“Oh really?”

Hinata glaces away sheepishly. “...yeah. I mean, I’ve p-pulled some late nights for homework, and...I’d hear you leave. I always wondered where you’d go…”

“Just around. Clear my head. What, think I was out to cause trouble?”

Cheeks go pink. “N-no!”

“Well, that makes one person. I’ve had many a stern talking to from my aunt about it. She thought I was going out to get high or drink or...whatever.”

“...have you ever?”

“Nah. I like having my head clear.” Sasuke’s brows furrow ever so slightly. “...for a while, I was on meds after my parents died. They always made me feel...fuzzy. I hated it, so...I started refusing to take them. I don’t want anything else doing that to me again.”

“Were they...trying to sedate you?”

“No idea. Not that there was any need. I was listless as hell back then. Not like I was acting out or angry. All I knew was that I hated how they made me feel.”

Hinata shrinks in on herself a bit. “...I’m sorry.”

“Not your fault.”

“No, but...I feel b-bad you went through that. All...of that.”

“...me too.” Sasuke gives her a glance. “...you don’t have to be so timid about it, Hinata. It’s been almost a decade now.”

“S-still -!”

“It’s fine.”

After a small pause, she looks away from him, gaze turned downward. “...I still think about my mom all the time. I...guess I just thought...”

“I think about them too. And it still hurts, in a way...but not like it used to. I can talk about it no problem.”

“...okay.”

Stepping into the park, they look the play equipment over. A huge multipurpose toy still dominates the center, with slides, stairs, rooms, and monkey bars. Swings, teeter-totters, and bouncy animals surrounding it in a fine bed of soft sand for any falling tykes.

The pair glance to each other, then grin. Taking off, they climb up into the center, each taking different routes before cresting the top.

“I beat you!”

“In your dreams, I was up here first.”

“No, I totally -”

“Shh!”

Putting a hand atop Hinata’s head, he ducks them both down. A police cruiser slowly rolls by, headlights cutting through the dark not illuminated by streetlights. She can hear her heart pounding in her ears, fear flared at the potential of being caught and marched home to face her father’s wrath. Nerves make her feel like she’s going to jump out of her skin at the thought.

And maybe a bit because he’s still touching her.

“...okay. I think they’re gone.” Peering up over the side, Sasuke stand upright. “We’re fine.”

“M-maybe we should head home…”

“But we just got here.”

“I-I don’t want to get in trouble!”

“We’re not gonna get in trouble. You just worry too much. Little goodie-two-shoes ‘nata.”

For the second time tonight, Hinata pouts.

“I just wanna sit for a while. Then we’ll head back. No one will ever know you were gone. I promise.”

They sit along an edge that leads to a wide slide, not really speaking. Just sitting and taking in the scenery. It surprises her how...different things look this time of night. It really is peaceful. Like they’re the only two people on Earth. Part of her wants to just...keep walking. All the way into the city and its lights.

...but they’re a little young for that.

Glancing to him, Hinata watches Sasuke for a moment. Arms braced atop the bar atop their perch, he leans his chin atop them, looking lost in thought.

...he looks so different in this lighting. With this expression. So...unguarded.

“Something on my face?”

She startles. “Oh, n-no. I...I was just -”

“C’mon, I better get you home. Starting to feel tired, so...maybe I’ll sleep some.”

Blinking, Hinata nods.

With a grunt, Sasuke just...goes down the slide. “Coming?”

A bit embarrassed, she hesitates a moment before following. “I...can’t remember the last time I did that!”

“Well, now you do.”

The walk back is quiet, Sasuke’s hands in his pockets and Hinata’s hands woven behind her back. They reach Hinata’s house first.

“Got a way in?”

“Yeah, I know where the spare key is.”

“All right...g’night.”

“Goodnight, Sasuke. Hope you get some sleep.”

Already leaving, he lifts a hand in acknowledgement.

Unlocking the rear door, Hinata stashes the key back and tiptoes in. The house is quiet and dark, and she makes it to her room unnoticed.

She...honestly expected to get caught.

Dressing back down to get back into bed, she peeks through her window one more time. Sasuke’s light’s on, but soon flickers off.

A small smile graces her face before crawling into bed.

...maybe she’ll do that again sometime.

     Another wee sequel to day sixty-three: more random fluff, lol      I've never really lived in a suburban - or urban - setting. Mostly I've lived out in the country, or in teeny tiny farming towns. So I never really had a chance to do this sort of thing when I was a whippersnapper. Kinda sad I never got to, so maybe I'll live a bit vicariously through Hinata for this one x3      But yeah, that's all for tonight - I'm sleepy~ Thanks for reading!

[dcarevu]

Batman TAS: Mad as a Hatter

“Why don’t you go do something useful like… Oh, go jump in the river.”

Episode: 27 Robin: No Writer: Paul Dini Director: Frank Paur Animator: Akom Airdate: October 12, 1992 Grade: B

I was in high school when Tim Burton’s version of Alice in Wonderland showed up in theaters, and like almost everyone I knew, I could not have been more excited. I really loved the Disney version, and considering that the man involved with Beetlejuice, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Batman, and more would be giving us his take on it right as I was starting to move toward my emo-scene phase, it was a dream come true. Even now, on paper, this seems like the perfect recipe, doesn’t it? But I think most of us can agree that it just didn’t meet expectations. The first time I watched it, I wouldn’t admit to myself that I wasn’t a fan. It was dark, and strange, and Tim Burton + Alice in Wonderland. Everything I wanted! As a developing emo kid, I was supposed to like it! The reason I bring this up is because Batman the Animated Series being fused with Alice in Wonderland seems like another fantasy-combination that would have no way to turn out subpar. Mad as a Hatter is an episode that, for the most part, actually gets a lot of praise. Alas (or, for the sake of the pun, Alice), maybe the idea seemed a little bit too easy, making it easier to over-shoot, missing the mark. This is another episode featuring a crazy set-piece at the end, but it is also another episode that was handed to Akom. Christ, why. Of all the episodes. All the episodes. Why is it some of the ones with the highest reliance on visuals? This episode involved not just complicated, creative visuals, but incredibly weird ones as well that needed to be animated just right to not look like subjects from one’s fever dreams. You wanna know how that turned out? Well, I heard an, “Oh my god!” from Char as the walrus and the carpenter made their appearances. While that did make me laugh quite hard, and Akom definitely got the weirdness down, it should have looked like intentional weirdness. Beyond the animation, the story is actually decent. It is Paul Dini, so what can you really expect. But even here, I would not call it A-level material. Some strange dialogue/delivery choices, and other leaps of logic/strains on the suspension of disbelief take away from it and leave me feeling extremely neutral.

Okay, so after that paragraph above was written, I went and took the screenshots from my DVD. I was surprised. The DVD looks so much better than the Blu Ray here. This was the case with The Clock King too, and I fear it is starting to seem like a pattern. I think it all comes down to the Blu Ray release looking too clean, and way too bright at times. Because of course, the DVD is in lower definition. Shadows are lightened so that we can see all of the imperfections of Akom’s drawings. Smudges and dirt are removed, giving the people a plastic look at times. It’s not the way the show was meant to be watched (as I said, probably VHS would be my preferred way of viewing if that were feasible). This puts me in an interesting spot, because I paid near $100 for the set, and also, some episodes look absolutely phenomenal. But is it worth it when some look like absolute crap? The great-looking shows look godly. The mediocre-looking ones look horrible. I was ready to tear into how Mad as a Hatter looked and rip it a new one, but now I do not think that would be fair. No, the animation here isn’t perfect. But it’s passable. And I think that’s worth something given the frequency at which I complain about Akom. At this point, I have watched up to Robin’s Reckoning. From here, I honestly might start using the ol’ dvd’s again. It’s unfortunate, but if I go back to specific episodes that I love later on, then I’ll use the Blu Ray. Remember, I am watching these with Char who has never seen the DCAU before. I want the series to make the best possible impression, and even with the best plot ever, a bad-looking episode can make a disappointing episode. Merely getting the episodes at a higher definition, but leaving them dirty and dark would have been my preferred solution. Anyway, back to talking about the episode itself (and yes, this does slightly affect how I see the episode. At first I was giving it a C. But I think I’ll have to bump it up to B territory).

We start with episode with some cute-ass mice, only to then be introduced to a face that a mother would have a hard time loving. Jervis Tetch, aka The Mad Hatter, is a character-design, alright. I think I know what they were going for, though. He has this kooky look that makes him stand out from every other character. He certainly looks like he could play someone from Wonderland. But the problem I think comes from Akom (ironic given that last paragraph, huh?). This design could probably work, but he has such an odd model, so I think they had a tough time animating him. Or maybe he simply does not translate to movement very well in general, and there was a problem the moment his model sheet was created. Regardless, he can be pretty tough to look at sometimes. Other times, though, he does have that level of whacky which I would hope would be in an episode based on Alice in Wonderland. But we see that Jervis is working on some mind-control technology while also being smitten for a girl that works in his office named Alice. Unfortunately, Alice has a boyfriend, and like many sociopaths in real life, Jervis is not okay with this, taking matters into his own hands. First of all, her name being Alice is kinda stupid, and Char agrees. It takes parallels a little bit too far, and Char noted that it would have been more subtle if her name were something like Alycia. Alice is one of the only people that Jervis feels is nice to him, so if we follow the most sound of incel-logic, she owes him her heart, mind, and body. Not only is she nice to him, but, again, her name is Alice. And it would not surprise me if this were a main factor of why Jervis is into her. He has an Alice in Wonderland poster in his office, he takes her to a theme park of sorts that has a section which is themed after the book, he owns a Mad Hatter costume (or perhaps he obtained this from the park), he quotes the book regularly, etc. He is clearly obsessed. When we reach the point where he mentions that it is one of his favorite stories, it’s like, “Wow! No kidding!” He is not quite wired into reality, likely developing this obsession at an early age to escape from life’s burdens. But Wonderland has burdens of its own.

Jervis ends up using these mind-control cards that he created (another Alice in Wonderland-related thing) to make people basically do his bidding. He first uses them on two thugs attempting to rob him and Alice, forcing them to climb up on top of a bridge and jump into the river. Batman catches notice of this through a police broadcast, and to my surprise, the show mentions a possible suicide in progress. How often do you hear a family cartoon like this use the word “suicide”? I think this is the only time I have ever heard it, despite references occasionally popping up in shows like Spongebob. He then uses more cards on his coworkers, Alice’s fiancé, and Alice herself, creating an army of Alice in Wonderland-themed warriors to defend him from Batman when Batman finds out what’s going on and sets after him. He wants Alice all to himself, and is willing to do whatever possible to obtain her. The final battle takes place in the theme park, the big set-piece of the episode. It’s got some great looking background paintings that 100% capture the tone of the book. It is a shame that the animation done by Akom couldn’t hold up to Radomski’s work. We have moments such as Batman balancing on top of the walls of a playing card maze that I wish stressed me out a little bit more. But because of how stilted the movement is, Batman never really seems like he is having a tough time keeping balance, even though we clearly see him struggling. The fight scenes could also be much better, with more impact felt. The odd costumes that most everyone is wearing makes for some really distorted-looking characters, and it’s clear that not a lot of time was spent making them look quite right. At the same time, though, between the subject material, the gimmicks, the overall surreal nature, and the background art, it is still a lot of fun to watch, even if it is in a more campy way. It is not an episode to be taken extremely seriously. This can be a problem with Batman. The tone can fluctuate greatly from episode to episode. At the beginning, it did not matter as much. Right away we had varying quality and seriousness. I mean, we went from On Leather Wings to Christmas With the Joker. But now we are getting gothic masterpieces like Two-Face, so episodes like Mad as a Hatter feel jarring as hell. It is an episode I enjoyed more on second watch as I gathered screenshots. I loosened up and let myself have fun with it.

The Mad Hatter fails to be a sympathetic villain like I feel they might have been going for, but I do enjoy him being so delusional and sociopathic. When Alice mentions her boyfriend, he gets this scary scowl, and you know at that moment that this is no character you want to root for. When Alice’s boyfriend temporarily breaks up with her, rather than attempting to comfort her and being upset over her sorrow, he jumps for joy because he has a chance to finally swoop in (the epitome of an Internet “nice guy”). When she gets back together with her boyfriend, turned fiancé, he squeezes a bouquet of roses in frustration so hard that he bleeds. I think they were able to get away with this portion because maybe the blood could have passed off as liquid from the flowers? Which doesn’t really make a lot of sense, but for the sake of the blood being included, um, sure. It was definitely rose-goo, guys. Not blood at all… And he also blames Batman for why things ended up the way they did, even though Batman had virtually nothing to do with anything until the very end. He decided to mind-control everyone because he was being a spoiled little piss-baby who could not let the girl he supposedly loves be happy. Char did not care for the character, and jokingly mentioned that he was appropriating the Mad Hatter, doing things that he would never do. Like some batshit crazy super-fan who feels sooo connected with a character, but actually doesn’t understand them at all.

Not a perfect episode, but a grower.

See? Cute-ass mice!

Wow, I didn’t realize that we were watching Attack on Titan. (Joke inspired by Char).

The poster on the wall matches the title card/an actual illustration from the book. It’s actually a pretty dope poster.

A variety of shots showing Jervis’ face. See how inconsistent it is? It is a little similar to the Pokémon Drilbur, where it only works 2D. Adding an element of 3D illusion (such as movement) causes it to fall apart.

Oh, sure, go and rob them right after you see Batman drive by. That’s always smart.

“Please, Mr. Hat. Go easy on us.” The delivery here was wicked funny. It was so monotone, and sounded like he was faking.

I quite like this facial expression. His smile reminds me of the Cheshire Cat.

Batman + Taco Bell

I love the panic in Batman’s voice as he tries to stop them from jumping off of the bridge. It shows how concerned he is with keeping them safe.

They were able to animate this shimmer pretty damn well. Then again, how hard could it be?

A very subtle recreation of the illustration/title card.

I don’t think the background here quite comes together, the composition is off. Still neat to look at.

A close-up of the illustration.

Now this is an ugly facial expression. Gross! And it’s not like this was a quick frame. It was there long enough to notice.

This shot has a lovely glow to it. It looks quite nice. 

One of the only times they were able to get away with blood. Um. Oops. I meant flower-goo! It’s flower-goo, guys! The blood drips right onto Billy’s face. As if a hit were put on him. Awesome detail.

“Oh, do be quiet!”

Bruce whispers “Congratulations.” in such a goobery way. I love it. 

The shadow of the plants shifted in some wonky-looking ways. Also, when the Mad Hatter and Batman both arrive on the scene, she says, “This is getting too weird.” But she says it so nonchalantly. Not the best delivery.

Very sloppy-looking drawings of their faces. These costumes, though. 

Cool impact here. He just decimates that wood. I’m not sure if Storybook Land has the safest costumes. 

This is some enjoyable stuff right here. I had a lot of fun with this portion.

“Off with his head!” I should have counted how many times this line was said.

Perfect example if how cool the painted visuals are paired with some mediocre animation. Hell, I’m pretty sure Batman’s run was recycled for two of these stills.

Gee, I wonder which cards are going to move. Great Mad Hatter, pose, though. This is what I wish he looked like all the time!

The looming Jabberwock ends up falling on him, ending the adventure through Wonderland. 

There’s no reversing the damage, Jervis. You’ll never talk with her again. Was it worth it? Also, his hair totally changed color at one point. Um... Maybe he dyed it?

Char’s grade: D Next time: Dreams in Darkness

Full episode list here!

[autismgavemychildvaccines]

A quick peek inside Satan’s quivering anus.

Also known as the company running ICE detention centers. So, all of us already know that these places are concentration camps. Most of us also know that these are incredibly inhumane places that show the true character of what we have allowed ourselves to become. And some of us have even heard that it’s costing $775 per day, per inmate to house these detained individuals. $775. That’s a lot. In fact, that means if 2 families of 2 parents and 3 kids are detained for a year (360 days actually), we as taxpayers are paying more for these people to be locked up in bullshit conditions than we are allotting funds to prevent public health emergencies in the average ENTIRE FUCKING STATE (California and New York excluded in this, because they are special cupcakes with super high populations and extra threat sprinkles on top).  Now, the humanitarian side of me has had my grits boiling since this shit started going down, but if there are any libertarians or fiscal conservatives reading, that bottom line, if nothing else, should piss you the fuck off too. Not just for the theoretical bit of it, but for the fact that the average detention stay per immigrant in 2019 has been 91 days, and nearly half of immigrants detained stay in detainment from 2 to 4 years. Sources sort of vary at how many are detained at CHS facilities (I’ll get to them in a moment, but for now know they are the reason for the $775 figure), but the ballpark spans from 20,000 to roughly 52,000 people. So let’s do some quick math here and do a best/worst/average. Say that figures have been inflated (that happens) and there’s only 9,000 people incarcerated at CHS facilities. Average length of stay has been 91 days this year, so we have a nice, simple... Carry the one... Holy fucking shitballs. 819,000 person-days. That’s $634,725,000.  That is $14 Million dollars more than the CDC spends during a full FUCKING YEAR in ensuring that EVERY health department can protect the WHOLE GODDAMN POPULATION with medical countermeasures to a terror event or pandemic outbreak. FOR 9,000 FUCKING PEOPLE. FUCK THE OTHER EXAMPLES, THAT’S THE BEST CASE, FUCK.  I’m just going to step away for a moment..   Okay.. Deep breaths. Back on track. Right. Ahem. So. Everyone else finish changing their pants after shitting bricks over the fact we’re spending national level budgets on a population smaller than  Anaconda-Deer Lodge County, Montana (I swear on any God you believe in, that’s a real name) ? Good.

I mentioned CHS earlier. Amazingly, it doesn’t stand for Child Herder Services, or Cold Heartless Sinners, or Cheeto Humping Slimeballs, though they’d all be more fitting. They are a private company, called, and get your asscheeks ready for this one: Comprehensive Health Services. 

COMPREHENSIVE HEALTH SERVICES  ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?

So this  company. Thiiiiis fucking company, owned by Caliburn International has the FUCKING BALLS to put health in their name despite keeping populations in cages with no water outside of the toilet, with no hygiene supplies, and the absolute minimum in terms of keeping people alive (with the most common issue being, you fucking guessed it, HEALTH complications) is charging us to detain people that most of us don’t even want detained, $775 a day. We’ve seen good chunks of these facilities, and they look fucking awful. Understaffed, overcrowded, minimal resources, and the treatment of (some) workers and (all) detainees as livestock. Does that sound, I don’t know, AT.  ALL. FUCKING. FAMILIAR?  So where is our money going? Our over half a billion dollars, of which even the tiniest scrap could give these people at least decent fucking detention areas (not that I believe they should be there as Asylum seekers anyways, mind you)? Let’s actually make this a game. Is it:  A) Corporate Interests with a heavy Lobbying Presence B) Some group of mostly anonymous investors that would likely feast on a newly starved child’s cheeks as they are “delectable and tender” if cooked properly   C) Some Trump Lackeys that got the contract  D) A company that also sells health insurance services Okay, 10 seconds on the clock.  And time! Okay, so how many picked A? Nice, nice. B? Okay.. Keep in mind I don’t know if they actually eat babies but they may just as well. It’d at least make them less human and thus easier to identify as an enemy. C? Aaah, that’s the high number I was expecting and that means D comes in with a small but decent following. WELL CONGRATS, YOU’RE ALL WINNERS! Here’s how:  A) CHS is part of Caliburn, which also owns DC Capital Partners, one of the bigger and well established lobbying firms in the country. And as any lobbying group does, they ensure that politicians bend to their will, increase their dividends, and weed out competition where they can to avoid a power struggle. Ever wonder why the NRA can never be competed with by a gun owners organization that doesn’t simultaneously deep throat their glocks while twisting their heads into their own asses?  B) Frankly, a lot of these funds are going straight to the private market and boy oh boy, does cruelty mean big business gains and a sturdy portfolio. That being said, you cannot separate the act of investing from the actions of the company you are investing in. If they do something fucked, you are essentially an enabler and an accessory to that action. Well, this isn’t ENTIRELY true. As it happens, some months ago they closed off an IPO of CHS specifically (an odd thing to do for a growing company) and cited “market forces” as the reason. How very suspicious.  C) Does this surprise anyone? So, while the actual list of investors is made private, there are an executive board of orange cocksuckers d’jour that have made this their golden parachute, or in the case of one asshole, was a lobbyist for DCCP, then in the Trump Cabinet, then went over to CHS. Here’s a quick list:  Former Chief of Staff John Kelly (aforementioned lobbyist)  Former Deputy Secretary of State Richard L. Armitage Former Ambassador Michael Corbin Former Commander-in-Chief of CENTCOM, Anthony Zinni Former Director of Science and Tech for CIA, Donald Kerr Former Head of CIA Michael Hayden (WHO PUBLICLY DENOUNCED THESE SORT OF PLACES AND ACTIONS AS BEING SIMILAR TO NAZI EFFORTS LAST YEAR) 

Former director of the office of the Budget for the U.S. Navy, Stephen Lotus.  Wow, that’s a lot of love between Trump’s appointees and a contractor, who yes D) also sold insurance services.  So that’s pretty fucked. And sliiight detour now. So, when I started out, like really started out, my first task was dealing with budgets. I still help from time to time, and have to work with contractors fairly often. Now, it’s usual that even if we know suspect that these contractors will give us the best deal every time, we have to do something called “competitive bidding”. That’s where we essentially throw the offer to the air, and whoever gives us the best deal, wins. Now this can be kinda manipulated a bit but in general, these records are open to the public so it’s better for us to just waste the time and actually go through a competitive bidding process than have the explain how we aren’t corrupt while looking pretty corrupt.  You know what didn’t happen here? Competitive bidding. It was a closed off contract. Completely in the dark. How very peculiar, isn’t it?  So, all in all, we have a bunch of fuckwits booted from the White House, sent to a company that has perhaps the most profitable contract of all time, acting like literal nazis, stealing from taxpayers and profiting off racism, suffering and inhumane treatment, all because they could with some bullshit nationalism narrative that’s been pushed by an asshole who can’t even spell check his fucking twitter rants.  Do what you can. But certainly don’t complain to companies who are giving resources to these groups to continue their round ups, for instance, all those vans which are owned by Enterprise. Certainly don’t contact them at 855-298-0346, whatever you do. They are busy people trying to make lots and lots of money. Don’t call your representative and tell them if they support this, they will lose by going to this website: https://www.house.gov/representatives/find-your-representative . And above all, DO NOT use your available resources to try and disrupt this “carrying out of justice” in any way you can safely. Heavens no, because this is America, and children, America doesn’t care if you’re an immigrant or a nationalized citizen. Nooo no no no. It cares about whether you can turn a profit. 

[thenixkat]

Animorphs notes 7.5 or Megamorphs 1

Book 7.5/ Megamorphs 1

Why does this format of an animorph book exist? Aren’t we supposed to be under the impression that the kids are writting diaries or someshit like that?

Starts with Jake

Again, not seperating the yeerks from their hosts is a very bad mentality to have

Also aparently Ax doesn’t get to be an animorph

ALso Ax skipps out on a lot of meetings. Granted the kids could show some consideration for Ax and meet in the woods

Rachel is going on a two day gymnastics trip

Tobias is an asshole and continues to over anthropomorphise animals. I havent forgoten him sneaking into Cassie’s family’s barn to eat the patients

...Cassie teh crow can and will go where ever it pleases after it recovers. Heck it might hunt Tobias down and mob him out of spite

Melissa’s going on the trip

Wow Jake, rude. Tobias can have romantic relationships even if his body remains a bird

Marco’s the kinda jerk to crash parties he wasnt invited to

Full moon

Cassie is psychic. WHich honestly I don’t doubt.

Rachel part

Are they… all going to give intros?

Not that Jake is without his own level of stupidity. I mean, he was right there with us,

walking through an isolated, abandoned construction site that night. Wasn't the smartest

thing we ever did.

I’ve not forgotten the flea thing from book 2

Rachel gets books for Tobias

...damnit Rachel you can’t just show up at a camp without letting peolple know ahead of time. They need warning gto make sure they have room and food for you

I was close to Tobias's territory when I spotted something interesting below me. It was a

deer-like animal, running swiftly through the trees. When I focused my laser-intensity eagle

sight, I could see the semihuman torso and face and the deadly scorpion tail.

Aximili

ANd this is why large predatory bird morphs aren’t great. Rachel getting mobbed

A bunch of small birds take down Rachel

Marco part

Honestly Marco sounds like some of the jackass class clowns I had in school, Darlene’s not wrong to not invite him

The kids ARE all going to give the intro talk

Marco that is a very confusing way to talk

Ax is right, this is dishonorable

That poor mouse

Ax has parasites. ANd Marco is extorting? him to help him be a creep b4 he’d give Ax medicine for them. Dick

Technically speaking none of the kids actually knows how the morphing tech works

When I was done acquiring the mouse I handed it to Ax. He had to use both hands to hold

on. Andalite arms and hands are kind of puny. Of course, they also have four legs, and

those are pretty strong. I mean, Ax can haul when he wants to. I'll bet he could do forty

miles an hour.

Baby arms

So the reason Marco wasn’t invited IS b/c he’s a dick

A bunch of jays took out Rachel

Part Jake? What?

That whent jake> rachel>marco>jake? Bullshit

You don’t have to go to a party if you don’t want to people

Why couldn’t this part be narrated by Cassie? She’s fucking here!

Jake is fucking ready, fight or flight

Marco and Ax are very lucky none of the kids or adults at the party try to crush them to death

Huh, Marco and Ax are lucky that none manages to crush them to death

Jake is ready to cuss the shit outta Marco

Accidental human pileup saves Jake’s life

Part… Marco? BULSTIT SHILSHSTSOSHS

AX IS RIGHT THERER LET HIM NARRATE YOU THINDER CUNTS

I hate this human centric bs and it fucking leaves out Cassie

Marco,,, cats are very good at NOT being seen. Ambush predators

Marco is a dick

Then I saw it. It was gigantic! Enormous! A creature that seemed to be made of nothing but

teeth and blades and destruction. It was like twenty Hork-Bajir glued together and given

dragon wings.

heh

Poor Darlene’s family

It looked down at us with a dozen weird eyes that seemed to be stuck here and there at

random. It stared at us the way I'd seen Tobias stare at his prey.

Part, sigh, Rachel

Rachel has amnesia

Ns somehow started morphing while unconcious

If you wonder if yer a freak and are that startled with yer apperance, then no that’s not always how you were

If you need to concentrate to morph, how’d u managed that far with a heavy concussion/unconciousness?

Part Tobias

Damnit they are all giving the intro speech

Huh, so marco and ax coulda gotten killed twice b4 they even got to the party

Also the fuck how is the yeerks covering the wind monster

Part fucking Rachel

...why is this creature wasting so much energy instead of just flowing around the trees

Like people are seeing this shit

Finally! Part Cassie

Cassie spotted cryptid Rachel in the news

Part Rachel. WHy not just have her narrate the whole book at this point?

There’s an excaped yeerk host living in an abandoned clothing shop in the woods

Well, thaty’s not an unreasonable response for an excaped host

Rachel got some memories beaten back intio her

Oh she might be one of the people who’s yeerk starved from the actions of last book

Part fucking Jake again

The kids are gonna track down Rachel by scent

The monster found them

Part rachel

Old lady is gonna burn down the shack, with Rachel inside, b/c she’s not going back to the yeerk pool

Rachel morphs bear without concentrating or intending to or even knowing how

These bootleg books are so bad. Part Marco

They’d be dead if the creature turned back to particle form and just reformed around their bodies

Part Rachel. Really this is mostly just Rachel/Jake/Marco as narrators. No attempt at equaly splitting up the plot

I looked at the new creature. It had come to a stop, just a dozen feet away. I peered at it

with my dim bear vision. It had four legs, like a horse or a deer. But it seemed to have a

head and upper body that was almost human. And there was a tail, I was sure of that. The

tail was cocked back like a weapon ready to be fired.

Andalite

Fifteen fucking chapters in and Ax finally gets to narrate

Ax does the intro speech

Ax says he’s not an animorph

Ax doesnt like having to be the space expert

Ax tucks his tail to his back to run fast

Ax is smart enought to know when standing yer ground is a terrible idea

Ax figured out that morphing attracts the beast.

Morphing has a distinct kind of energy signature

Part jake

Andalites have a distinct scent

Ok lots of animals can harm or kill a large bear. This is turning into a raptors are mahjestick thing

Tobias assumes that Ax tried to fight the creature. Tobias doesn’t really know Ax well enough

Part Cassie

Why are they at the mall?

AGain I wouldn’t be surprised if Cassie is supposed to be psychic

You don’t mean Chapman, you mean Iniss 226

Learning about history is useful in figuring out humans and with invasion plans Cassie

Part Ax

… do andalites even have battle axes? They dont have the arms for it

Once, the Hork-Bajir were a decent, peaceful race. Then they were enslaved by the Yeerks.

Hork-Bajir are incredibly dangerous and very powerful. They stand on two legs, balanced

by a tail. Each leg ends in a foot, like an Earth bird of prey. They have two arms. There are curved blades at their knees, at their elbows, at their wrists. Blades similar to my own tail-

blade. Atop their snakelike heads are two more blades, swept forward. And their tails end in long, sharp spikes.

They are not a species you want to start a fight with. Which may be why they were such a

peaceful, even poetic, species. They had no one to fear. Until the Yeerks began to make

them into Controllers.

The series did so much retconing

Again, I like the Parting the Clouds fic so much better. At least there someone tried to figure out how to use the aura power

Veleek is the dust monster, from Saturn

So the andalite bandits being human was a solid yeerk theory

Visser 3 continues to waste good bodies

Visser 3 throew a lot of bodies into getting a veleek pet

Part Cassie

Compund eyes dont work like that

Iniss 226 knows about spy novels and thinks they’re stupid

Iniss 226 is not a dumb yeerk

Also Visser 3 is the worst boss

Part rachel

Rachel is starting to put things together

Part Marco

The kids ar eputting 2 and 2 together

Part rachel

Rachel made it back to civilization

Rachel breaks into a house for food and rest’

Some snitchy bitch called the police

Rachel the elephant says fuck the police

Part jake

The kids steal Cassie’s dad’s truck

Part rachel

The veleek chases elephant Rachel

The veleek cant pick up an elephant

Part marco

Why do they have marco drive?

Also that poor truck

Jack morphs to lure the creature’s attention

Part jake

Why did jake choose tiger for being chased?

Part rachel

Doesnt quite have her memory back but ready to help

Part ax

Ax feels like a failure of a warrior

Suddenly, one wall of my cage shimmered and became transparent. Ramonite is a metal

that can stretch open or be made clear or opaque by molecular realignment.

Nice’

Ax is also racist towards taxxons

Visser 3 is a terrible boss

Part marco

That poor truck

Why choose gorrila for a chase?>

Part rachel

Cassie tries to fill the gaps fotr rachel

Part marco

Part cassie

Cassie chooses squirlle

Bug fighters are stooting at em

Part ax

So bug fighters and shit DO have cameras

Flea ex machina

Ax morphs one of his fleas

… theres no way in hell thast theres no bugs on the andalite homeworld

Thats not what a flea mouth is like

Ax says that andalites have a shit vertical jump

Part marco

The veleek caught him

Ax is on Visser 3

Ax is having a blast fucking up Visser 3’s day

Part ax

And only then, locked together with it, was I able to see it through my weak flea eyes. It

was alive! It was a creature my own size, but with a hundred minuscule wings that beat the

air. It had antennae, but different than any seen on Earth. These antennae were covered in

tiny, upturned bowls. Like the dishes of primitive human radio telescopes. Those were the

structures it used to sense energy sources.

There were no eyes. And no mouth. But two long filaments, like strands of wire, swept

back from the front of the creature. These must be how it fed: by channeling the energy

down the wires.

The Veleek was not one creature. It was billions! It was a swarm of billions of these tiny

creatures. They had evolved into a swarm that could come together and become a

destructive entity of gnashing teeth and slicing blades. But in reality they were separate

insectlike creatures that fed on energy.

Its a swarm of navivorous bugs

Water is the veleek’s weakness

Marco and Ax jump out of the ship

Part rachel

Her memory is mostly back

Hork-bajir have foot long blades on their head, that’s impoalement’

Part marco

Fear speads up thei morphing

Part jake

Jake is grounded

The team apparently whent home without knowing if marco and ax were alive

Part cassie

Cassie is psychic and can probably see the future

Cassie comes up with a plan that only she can do

To make up for almost getting marco killed

Part tobias

So did Cassie not have a whale morph already? DIdn’t marco get one when they’d met the psychic whales?

Or am I thinking of a fanfic?

Part cassie

Cassie is awesome

Cetaceans are just canon psychic

Part tobias

Cassie is a total badass

Part cassie

Rapid fire morphing

Falling whale body slam

Part rachel

So apparently the veleek never evaporates out of the ocean at any point later?

Cassie speaks whale . Cassie is the one chosen by the whales. All hail the whale messiah

[hazyheel]

Smackdown Live 2/26/19 Review

Yeah, a bit of an odd night. There were some very good segments, but also the show as a whole felt pretty lacking. Although a couple big returns woke up the crowd, only for them to die back down after Charlotte’s promo. Definitely a weak week for the blue brand, and that sucks to see.

We started out with the contract signing for the WWE Championship match at Fastlane, between Daniel Bryan and Kofi Kingston. Kofi is still as hot as he has been for the past few weeks, and he talks about how greatful for his fans. Just as Kofi was about to sign his contract, Vince McMahon himself interrupted, and denied Kingston his match at Fastlane. Instead, it would be the returning Kevin Owens, which is quite the surprise. Owens just sat down at the desk, and signed the contract. As Owens and Bryan stared each other down, the crowd chanted for Kofi, and we cut to commercial.

Grade: B-. This was a good segment, and Kofi’s momentum and promo was very good. But this is a rehash of the current Becky Lynch angle, right down to the Vince doing the replacing. This is a weird segment to grade, because the storyline is a blatant copy, but also we had a good promo and a big return. So I’ll air on the positive side for this one.

Backstage, Owens is talking to Shane and Steph about how he sort of blindsided them by being given the championship match, and he suggests that he and Kofi team up against Bryan and Rowan later on, and the match is granted to them.

Back in the ring, we had a tag match between the Bar and the Hardy Boyz, with the return of Matt Hardy. Matt actually looked like he lost some weight, and is looking pretty good. They beat down Jeff, and Matt got the big hot tag, and looked really good. Jeff hit Cesaro with a Twist of Fate, and then Matt hit Sheamus with one too, followed by a Swanton for the win.

Grade: C. Not bad for a return match, and Matt is looking good. I’ll have to see where this goes, but glad to see Matt is back.

Backstage, we had Aleister Black and Ricochet preparing for their match, and Lana makes fun of them for not having any achievements on the main roster, and they talked about how they beat the Revival yesterday, and Black coined his main roster catchphrase quickly.

Next up, we had a United States Open Challenge with R-Truth. Truth said since he was a kid, he wanted to be like John Cena, (obviously doesn’t make sense) so he is gonna try the open challenge. Both Andrade and Rey Mysterio came out to challenge Truth, and they wanted to fight each other, but Truth calmed everyone down. Carmella said that John Cena would fight them both, and Truth agreed, after some protest.

So, a triple threat for the United States Championship was underway. Truth took a big bump when Andrade powerbombed him on the outside. Andrade then intercepted a baseball slide from Mysterio with a dropkick, before they cut to commercial. When we came back, Mysterio hit a huge hurricanrana to Andrade off the top rope. Truth also started copying Cena’s moves, with big pops. When Truth tried to hit the Attitude Adjustment to Andrade, Zelina Vega tried to help him, only for Carmella to pull her off the apron. These three have weirdly good chemistry, only weird because I didn’t see R-Truth as too serious of a competitor. As Mysterio hit Andrade with the 619, Truth rolled him up for the win.

Grade: B. Good chemistry among the three of them, and Truth really held his own. Not sure what Truth will do for mania, but I imagine a multi-man match that could be fun. Mysterio and Andrade always make magic together. And the little interaction among the managers was cool too.

Charlotte Flair then came out and praised Vince for his booking in replacing Kofi with Kevin Owens. The crowd chanted for Becky, and Flair looked pissed. She basically talked about how she was a good company girl, and she is reliable. Thats why she is in the main event of Wrestlemania. She also said that the reason why Lynch got arrested and why Rousey gave up her title because they fear her. Charlotte was getting mega heat as she spoke. Charlotte kept calling Rousey a quitter for laying down the title, and said that she was the true Women’s Champion. She then also claimed that she will be given the title on Raw next week. She pointed at the sign, and walked out.

Grade: A-. I was unsure about this story, with all the drama around Lynch getting removed and such, but it is turning out great. This was an awesome promo that really showed Charlotte’s character. She is better than anyone that is in her path, and she isn’t afraid to tell them that. She also is positioning herself as the golden girl of the company, which is an easy way to get people to hate you. She is so natural in her cocky heel role, and I’m thrilled to see the change. This is probably the best storyline in wrestling right now. Totally the highlight of the night.

Next up, Black and Ricochet vs. Rusev and Nakamura. I don’t really know why Black and Ricochet together, but it seems like it will be consistent. That bums me out, because they should be singles stars, but at least they have real matches. So I’ll deal with it for now. Started out with Black and Nakamura, which could easily be a payperview main event. Ricochet was mainly used for the selling of the match, and the beatdowns. There was one point in the match where Rusev was literally just yelling at Black, calling him a rookie. Which is kinda apalling considering how good Black is. Ricochet had an awesome hot tag, complete with several kicks and a standing moonsault. But right when Ricochet was heating up, Rusev caught him and threw him to the mat. Eventually, Ricochet is able to take out Rusev with a suicide dive, while Black countered a Kinshasa with a Black Mass.

Grade: C-. This was a decent match, and it’s fine for the callups to get this victory, since this team is so new. But still, there is no reason for the two of them to be a tag team. If there aren’t any plans for them on the main roster, I’d rather have them in NXT, where they at least feel special. Still, weird booking aside, the match was okay. I am just worried about Black and Ricochet after what happened to the last batch of callups.

Backstage, AJ Styles is interviewed by Kayla. She tells him that he is in a bit of a slump, and he tells her that while he is, his standards are higher than anyone’s. He blames himself for what Daniel Bryan has become. He also says that he is going to fight his way back to the WWE Championship, and beat his next challenger. Randy Orton then showed up and questioned how integral he was to Smackdown Live’s success. So it is clear that these two are going to go into Wrestlemania against each other. Lacey Evans then does a catwalk.

Into the main event, pitting Kevin Owens and Kofi Kingston against Daniel Bryan and Rowan. Match started out with Rowan and Kingston, and Rowan threw around both Kingston and his partner. However, when Daniel Bryan got tagged in, Owens and Kingston were both able to get offense off on him. Kingston spent much of the match being beaten down, but Owens got a lot of offense against both of them. The match was really just drudging along, until Owens hit Rowan with a Superkick, and then Bryan with a pop up powerbomb, for a near fall. Kingston took Rowan out with a dive, and then Owens then countered a running knee with a stunner for the shock win.

Grade: D+. Pretty boring match until the end, but the booking was super weird. Does Daniel Bryan really need to lose this much? I don’t find it necessary. I get that KO really needed a win, but he could’ve pinned Rowan I think. Either way, Bryan is beginning to look pretty weak. He only wins when the title is on the line, even in tag matches. So, KO looked good, but the champion looked pretty bad.

Overall grade: D+, because the night lost a lot of momentum in the second half.

Pros: Kevin Owens’ return; Matt Hardy’s return; Charlotte Promo; US Championship triple threat.

Cons: rehashing the Becky Lynch angle for Kofi; Weird booking for Black and Ricochet; Daniel Bryan looks weak

Commentary Line of the night: Tom Phillips “Age is a state of mind.”

[changesxnight]

1-50 Steve Randle for the the excessively detailed headcanons

What does their bedroom look like?- messy as hell- he never makes his bed - his desk is the only thing that’s organized because that’s where he does homework

Do they exercise, and if so, what do they do? How often?- playing football with the gang is his favorite - the gang just does athleticy things at least twice a week- any day that it’s sunny, they’ll go out and do something

What would they do if they needed to make dinner but the kitchen was busy?- the kitchen is never busy at his house - but if somehow his father was making dinner for himself of course, cause fuck Steve, Steve would just go out to eat or to the Curtises’ house

Cleanliness habits (personal, workspace, etc.) - the office at the DX is a mess, no thanks to Soda- so he tries to clean it up- he’s usually a tidy guy but laziness overpowers his will to clean - there’s a method to his madness - for example, his clothes aren’t in his closet but rather on a chair in his room but he’s meticulous about where the groceries and dishes go  

Eating habits and sample daily menu- he eats when he’s hungry - which is all the fucking time - he loves burgers and fries - will never admit how much he loves milkshakes

Favorite way to waste time and feelings surrounding wasting time- he loves to go bowling with Dallas- and play pool. they’re both amazing at the game - if he’s not blowing off smoke with Soda, he’s messing around with Two-Bit and/or Dallas

Favorite indulgence and feelings surrounding indulging - milkshakes - he doesn’t care about indulging. he works too damn hard to not treat himself well

Neuroses? Do they recognize them as such?- he lives with Dick Randle - what do you think - Evie thinks he’s mentally ill but he doesn’t wanna hear it - “I already knows there’s something wrong with me” “Steve, that’s not what I said!” “but it’s what you meant, isn’t it?” - half the gang is traumatized by their parents’ actions can you guess which three

Intellectual pursuits?- he wanted to join the math club but didn’t cause the gang would never let him hear the end of it- could totally go to college but didn’t have the money - he’s insanely smart and would win the spelling bee or geography bee if he wasn’t so ashamed of being smart - he’s a genius. but he’s a greaser. those two things shouldn’t go together, as his father would tell him. so Steve’s always kept his intelligence a secret - teachers hate this though because he’ll get As on his homework and then randomly choose answers on the test and end up with a C

Favorite book genre?- he loves to read, surprise surprise - like Soda has almost caught him with a book at the DX a million times - like now, Steve just reads with the owner’s manual in front so it looks like he’s reading about cars - Soda’s like “hey buddy…what ya doin’? you know everything about cars, more than I do.”- he prefers non-fiction or really old stories - Mythology and lore are his favorites

Sexual Orientation? And, regardless of own orientation, thoughts on sexual orientation in general?- a closeted bisexual - he doesn’t have a problem with anyone who doesn’t cause him harm so if someone’s gay and a decent human being, he’s fine with them

Physical abnormalities? (Both visible and not, including injuries/disabilities, long-term illnesses, food-intolerances, etc.) - his nose is chronically broken - he’s allergic to crying, jerks and bullshit

Biggest and smallest short term goal?- biggest: win a game of chess against Ponyboy because the cocky son of a bitch…- smallest: doing inventory. it’s so boring

Biggest and smallest long term goal?- biggest: own his own auto body shop. or marry Evie - smallest: get through high school. it’s easy but it’s taking forever. senior year sucks  

Preferred mode of dress and rituals surrounding dress- clad in denim 24/7- if he’s not in jeans, he’s not Steve Randle - he doesn’t mind his uniform. he wears it proudly because he’s paid to do what he loves

Favorite beverage?- we all know he loves beer - but he also loves coffee

What do they think about before falling asleep at night?- he thinks of Evie and of his mother. would they’ve gotten along? of course they would’ve. would Dad be a different man if Lily died and Mom lived? what would life be like with his sister? what would life be like with his mom? - the “what if"s torture him

Childhood illnesses? Any interesting stories behind them?- if he got sick, his father wouldn’t take care of him - so he tried his damnedest to not get sick- he’d get colds on purpose cause he knew he could defeat them- but let’s say strep throats was going around school. he’d avoid everyone like the plague. he doesn’t have that kinda money to buy antibiotics

Turn-ons? Turn-offs?- turn ons: confidence, standing up for what you believe in, musicians, just Evelyn Green in general… - turn offs: nothing this horndog will find anything sexy

Given a blank piece of paper, a pencil, and nothing to do, what would happen?- he’d probably start doodling - or write a love letter to Evie because he loves her more than words can say. xxx ooo xxx

How organized are they? How does this organization/disorganization manifest in their everyday life?- he’s actually very organized- he couldn’t stand a mess but he got used to messiness since Soda can’t keep anything in one place

Is there one subject of study that they excel at? Or do they even care about intellectual pursuits at all?- he loves history - he’s amazing at math shh don’t tell anyone - and of course, English class

How do they see themselves 5 years from today?- at 17, he wants to be married to Evie by 25. she’s the love of his life - again, he wants to have his own auto body repair shop that he shares with Soda- he wants to be stable and away from his father. maybe even emancipated from his dad

Do they have any plans for the future? Any contingency plans if things don’t workout?- marry Evie - open up his own auto repair shop- have a family and be a good dad- be financially stable - die happy

What is their biggest regret?- after years of his father convincing him he killed his sister, he regrets that- as he gets older, he regrets not applying himself in school- he’s very smart and pays attention. he does his homework but never hands it in. he aces his tests but because he doesn’t do his homework, he averages out with a C

Who do they see as their best friend? Their worst enemy?- Soda is clearly his best friend- aside from him, I think Two is his other best friend - he’s his own worst enemy

Reaction to sudden extrapersonal disaster (eg The house is on fire! What do they do?)- if Evie is there, he gets her out - if a dog is there, he gets them out - if Ponyboy is there, he gets them out - basically, he makes sure that everyone is safe before he worries about himself

Reaction to sudden intrapersonal disaster (eg close family member suddenly dies)- numbness and drinking to keep the numb feeling - he just loses it - angry and fighting - he can’t process his emotions

Most prized possession?- either his switchblade or his car

Thoughts on material possessions in general?- he’s not very religious so he doesn’t have that “why gain the whole world and lose your soul” mentality- he’d love to be rich. never have to worry about money or paying bills or anything - he isn’t a hoarder but he definitely has possessions he couldn’t live without and doesn’t see any harm in it

Concept of home and family? - if it weren’t for the gang and Mr. and Mrs. Curtis, he wouldn’t know what family is - Evie is where he feels at home

Thoughts on privacy? (Are they a private person, or are they prone to ‘TMI’?)- with Soda or Dallas or Two, he gives too much information - around people he doesn’t fully trust, he barely gives any information out at all

What activities do they enjoy, but consider to be a waste of time?- like Dallas, he loves to bowl and play pool- he considers homework a waste of time so he doesn’t do it - he doesn’t consider reading a waste of time, per se, but he loves it and won’t ever admit it

What makes them feel guilty?- thinking about his mother and sister- it’s my fault. I fucked up. I didn’t protect them. - his father is an evil, twisted man that can’t take responsibility and now Steve is more mentally fucked up than anyone could ever believe

Are they more analytical or more emotional in their decision-making?- he tries to be analytical, thinking of Soda, Evie and the rest of the gang - he doesn’t do anything too stupid because he doesn’t want to die - but sometimes he’s impulsive and does what he wants in the moment

Would they consider themselves a Type A or Type B personality? - type a- he takes his work very seriously, whether it’s for school or auto body repairs - he’s an organized leader, when given the chance - feels and fights violently and aggressively  

What recharges them when they’re feeling drained?- sex- coffee - hot showers

Would you say that they have a superiority-complex? Inferiority-complex? Neither?- well after a lifetime of being told he’s a murderer, Steve hates himself - but he also hates his father - he hates being oppressed by Socs and wants to fight back (and does)

How misanthropic are they? - he only truly hates his father and Socs

Hobbies?- aside from cars cause that isn’t all Steve does - he’s on the football team - he loves to go fishing and bowling with Dallas - badass at pool, taught by Dallas Winston himself - pulling pranks with Soda is the best - he’s a champ at beer pong

How far did they get in formal education? What are their views on formal education vs self-education?- he loves going to school and he loves to learn. but he hates the peer pressure, he hates the stress and he hates the judgement - he’s learned a lot on his own and from his friends; he has to, he’s a greaser.

Religion?- introduced to Christianity by the Curtises - but after Mom and Dad 2 died, he’s been losing his faith - now he’s just angry at God and doesn’t know what to do- and when he reads the Old Testament, it seems like there isn’t a single thing he and God can agree on

Superstitions or views on the occult?- claims he’s not superstitious but totally is - except he picks and chooses which he follows and when it’s convenient - stays away from black cats but walks under ladders like it’s no big deal

Do they express their thoughts through words or deeds?- deeds, for sure- when it comes to the people he loves, especially Evie, he can’t form a coherent sentence while making eye contact - so he writes what he truly means - and shows how he feels through actions

If they were to fall in love, who (or what) is their ideal?- a hardworking, loving woman. he wants someone who’s earned what they have and they stand up for themselves. a woman who isn’t afraid to get her hands dirty or her voice heard. someone who isn’t too dependent or easily offended. a strong woman who’s been through some shit and is understanding- so Evelyn Rose Green

How do they express love?- aggressively and passionately - he’ll take Evie out on random dates, either it’s a romantic candle lit dinner at his place or just stare gazing in the back of his truck - he writes the most beautiful love letters - when he’s scared, he’ll try to act tougher. so when he senses danger, his grip on Evie’s hand gets tighter

If this person were to get into a fist fight, what is their fighting style like?- he’s always fighting, let’s be honest - it’s the only way he’ll feel anything

- he’s an honest greaser and he fights fair- but he always wins - fighting gives him this kinda rush that just can’t be replaced - he’s stealthy and always makes sure that he knows the terrain and uses it to his advantage - he likes to get hyped up before a fight but not so that his senses are outta wack

Is this person afraid of dying? Why or why not? - he’s only afraid of dying because he’s got people to take care of - but he also knows that getting into a serious fight could end fatally- so he’s smart with who he fights and who he keeps his mouth shut around

[revasnaslan]

Out of the Depths: Thace seemed to be largely uninterested in what she was saying, though, as he dove back under the water, slapping his tail fin against the surface. Pidge quickly reeled back to avoid the spray and groaned as she started trying to dry her glasses again using her still somewhat damp shirt. However, she wasn’t offended—if anything, she could consider this a good reaction. He hadn’t tried hissing at her, so he was only mildly annoyed with her. Time for her to be more annoying.

From Out of the Depths

Pick a passage from one of my fics and i’ll give commentary

oh out of the depths is one of my favorite fics that i’ve written!! in no small part because it was supposed to just be a fic for a bang and then it ended up growing into a multi-fic au (cause i got like four or five more fics in the outlining/drafting phases for this au rn, including thace and ulaz backstory for how they met and had keith and everything).

under a cut cause this got really long

so thace doesn’t like humans in this au at all. galra in this au don’t like humans at all. they avoid them and tend to be rather skittish when they see them. so thace already isn’t in a good mood in this scene because he’s being kept in a too-small tank without any kind of visual on his child who he is extremely protective of. if he could at least see keith he’d probably already feel better because he’d know the humans haven’t turned his son into fish stew. Which is something he genuinely believes btw, that the humans he’s interacting with are just waiting to turn him into fish stew XD

“Pidge quickly reeled back to avoid the spray and groaned as she started trying to dry her glasses again using her still somewhat damp shirt. “

now this was added in, mostly because i’ve been there XD this scene comes directly following her first major interaction with keith, which for the uninitiated has pidge falling into the water of keith’s tank and getting completely drenched. it just felt like a nice way to continue the continuity of the scene, while also inserting a half-way decent attempt at drawing laughs in the process :P

“He hadn’t tried hissing at her, so he was only mildly annoyed with her. Time for her to be more annoying.“

this was added to establish that thace wasn’t actually too angry with her. in this au, you can tell when galra are pissed because they have bio-luminescent markings that flair up (for the marmora galra, they have these markings on their chest and cheeks, where the lights on the chest plate and mask are) and they have a tendency to also show the inside of their mouths, which also glow. thace doesn’t do any of that here, even though he is kind of scared. however, he’s not as scared of pidge as he is of the others, but he still is kinda scared of her. which is hilarious because thace in this au is like twelve feet long from head to tail tip (and he’s on the smaller side for galra in this au) and pidge is like five feet even.

Text: Out of the Depths: “Thank you,” he said, before putting the necklace on. “You’re welcome,” Pidge said, returning the smile. “Sorry about—” he cut off, letting out a frustrated hiss as he appeared to misplace the word he was looking for. “Fish. Head,” he finally said and then mimed throwing something. It took Pidge a moment to realize he was trying to apologize for lobbing a fish at her once. “Oh, we’re cool,” she said. Thace tilted his head. “Coooool?” (It’s one of my fav scenes xD)

when i was drafting this fic, this was a scene that i definitely knew i had to fit in, because it’s important for all the main galra to trust pidge, due to what the story is about. ulaz is extremely easy to gain the trust of because he trusts shiro, and since shiro introduced the two of them, ulaz trusts pidge immediately. he knows that shiro wouldn’t bring some asshole to meet him. keith takes a little more to gain trust cause he’s extremely curious and friendly, but he still has those lingering anxieties, and isn’t exactly being kept in good conditions (he’s in a small tank, he’s separated from his dad).

thace is the most difficult one to gain the trust of because a) he’s the most jumpy of them, b) he’s in a bad mood because he’s been separated from his kid who as i previously mentioned, he’s extremely protective of, and c) humans terrify him and he doesn’t want anything to do with them. he feels too backed into a corner. so, the best solution is for pidge to give him something that’s important to him (his bonding necklace, which is familiar and comfortable), which was personally given to her by ulaz. and if ulaz trusts her enough to do that, then thace isn’t really going to dispute it because he trusts ulaz.

“Thank you,” he said, before putting the necklace on. 

“You’re welcome,” Pidge said, returning the smile. 

“Sorry about—” he cut off, letting out a frustrated hiss as he appeared to misplace the word he was looking for. “Fish. Head,” he finally said and then mimed throwing something.

okay, so first of all, thace doesn’t speak much english at all in this fic. he never held the same kind of wide-eyed wonder about humans that ulaz (and later keith) did. so the only words he really knows are what ulaz taught him and he managed to retain without practicing a lot. except for “thank you”. pidge taught him that by complete accident back when she was a kid ;P

see it’s all connected!!

“Oh, we’re cool,” she said. 

Thace tilted his head. “Coooool?”

thace is not down with the youth and that’s all i have to comment on in this section lmao xD

Text: Out of the Depths: Shiro heaved a sigh before Pidge could respond. She turned her head as Ulaz’s ears perked up in surprise. “Pidge, I swear to god if you tell him those are called dinglehoppers, I’m throwing you into the water.” Ulaz blinked a couple of times. “What is—” “Never mind,” Shiro said. “It’s a reference to a movie.“ ((The ENTIRE scene with the fork is 100% my fav scene in this fic. I just couldn’t fit it all in :’)

is it bad that i actually can’t remember if this takes place before or after the previously mentioned scene?? i’m a high class writer i swear–!!

okay, so this is one of the scenes i planned out from the start of the fic because i thought it would hilarious if the little mermaid still existed in this universe, and pidge used to watch it when she was kid, and so she ended up basing a lot of her perceptions of merpeople off of it. cause obviously, merpeople in this universe don’t look anything like those in the little mermaid… mostly cause they’re galra but eh… anyway, i jokingly referred to ulaz as arial all throughout writing this fic too lmao because he was a freaking weeb about humans. collecting all the crap that they leave behind in the water, people watching all the time… you can see why i’d make that comparison xD

so basically i knew that i had to sneak a reference to the little mermaid into this fic just because i find it so funny. it also allowed for some worldbuilding, because later on in the scene ulaz mentions how he’s mostly seen plastic forks because he frequents the docks, where there’s sure to be food stands and such, and humans aren’t really known for being careful with their disposable cutlery, so some of it is bound to end up in the water and that’s where ulaz finds it.

[minijenn]

Universe Falls Chapter 46

Bleh so yeah a short kinda whatever chapter, but that’s fine at least its over with cause I’m excited about Society of the Blind Eye and I wanna just get there already but still, this chapter is decent enough I suppose. B plots pretty cool so that’s something. Enjoy!

Previous: http://minijenn.tumblr.com/post/168620833619/universe-falls-chapter-45

Chapter 46: Keeping It Together

ZI FIAW, ZI VHBBOY, GO JTK NH EFVMJX HBPQQHRYW OUG GVOQ, UGD UHYYPOEEP WTN GTWY BTF XZINGU MA GTKR MTY URNOQMM GRFE WHWRK GHWEE MTY FAFLUPX WRBSBM OS MTY WINFAHWS' CHIYK

“We need to track down Peridot,” Garnet addressed the collection of Gems and kids sitting before her in the temple’s living room, her tone steady, firm, and authoritative. The Gem leader had figured that more than enough time had passed since the invasion for them to be getting back to business, namely by curtailing one of the few lose ends still left over from it. And as far as they were all concerned, it was their responsibility to tie that end up for the safety of the planet as a whole. “We found her pod. We know she’s out there somewhere. She came to Earth with a job to do, and odds are, she’s still going to try and do it. That’s why I’ve gathered you all here.”

“Whoa, so this is a super serious magical meeting, then?” Mabel asked, aptly enthused. “Man, if I had known that, then I would have baked cookies for everyone!”

“I thought we were here so everyone could help me fold all this laundry,” Steven noted, nodding down to the massive pile of unfolded tee shirts that they were all sitting around.

“That too,” Garnet said, picking up a shirt and folding it up. “The chore wheel idea you had fell apart fast.”

“Wasn’t me,” Amethyst vouched, reclining back as she nodded over at the aforementioned wheel hanging on the fridge. While various housekeeping responsibilities had been divided up evenly among Steven and the Gems, Pearl had taken the liberty of crossing their names out and commandeering every single one of them.

“I just really enjoy doing all of those things,” the white Gem said with a proud smile.

“It’s better if we do them together,” Garnet asserted, giving Amethyst in particular a critical glance that prompted her to begrudgingly sit up and help.

“So… why are me and Mabel here then?” Dipper asked, somewhat lost amidst all this talk of laundry.

“Oh, mostly for the Peridot thing,” the Gem leader reiterated. “Though more hands does make the folding go by faster.”

“Ugh, humans should just stop wearing clothes,” Amethyst groaned boredly. “Be a lot funnier.”

“Hey! I’m a civilified part human, thank you very much,” Steven remarked in playfully pointed protest. “Clothing is a must.”

“Ok, but seriously, Steven, do you really have to have so many versions of the exact same shirt?” Dipper asked, holding one of the young Gem’s many star shirts up to prove his point.

“Pfft, don’t listen to him, Steven,” Mabel scoffed, rolling her eyes at her brother’s usual cynicism. “This is coming from the guy who wears the same clothes almost every day because he hates doing laundry.”

“Laundry is a waste of time,” Dipper remarked defensively, crossing his arms. “I’m a busy guy.”

“Well, I happen to like all my star shirts,” Steven grinned as he happily folded one of them. “Its guess its sorta like my look, you know? Simple, yet iconic!”

“Suuuure, it is, Steven,” Amethyst said with a wry, joking grin as she tossed another shirt over to Steven. “Still, I can’t believe I’m saying this, but Dipper might have a point about you having too many of these things. Folding them all up is so booooooooring…”

“Hm…” the young Gem mused, a growing smile spreading across his face as he happened to glance over at Garnet. “Well, its like you said, Garnet, this goes by a lot faster when we have more hands to help. So… maybe we could finish a lot sooner if Ruby and Sapphire were here!”

“Oh my gosh, yes!” Mabel readily agreed with an excited gasp. “It’d be so great to hang out with those two! It feels like its been ages since the last time we saw them!”

“Mabel, the ‘last’ time we saw Ruby and Sapphire was the first time we ever saw them,” Dipper pointed out dryly. “And that was only a few weeks ago.”

“Well it’d still be really cool to see them again!” Steven reiterated before looking to Garnet with a pleading smile. “So…? What do you say?”

“I’m sure they’d be glad to see you three,” the Gem leader remarked with a hint of an amused smirk. “But I am not unfusing for laundry.”

“Aw…” Steven and Mabel sighed in disappointed unison, their sudden hopes for seeing the Gem couple again quickly dashed.

All the same, Pearl spoke up amidst this, taking the opportunity to get the conversation back on the more pressing matter at hand. “Garnet, you don’t think Peridot would come looking for us, do you?”

“She better not, if she knows what’s good for her…” Dipper muttered disdainfully, more than ready to put his fresh sword skills to use if the green Gem came anywhere close. After all, he was still ever mindful of Peridot’s involvement in leading up to the horrible straits that Lapis was still very much in. And that was not something that he was about to forgive and forget so easily.

“We weren’t her priority,” Garnet said, as rationally as ever. “She was sent here to do something in the Kindergarten.”

“Do you think she’s still going to try to reactivate it?” Pearl asked, suddenly anxious.

“Mm… if she gets it back up and running, the injectors will turn back on…” Garnet said, her expression darkening as she said this.

“Injectors?” Steven spoke up, curious. “What are those?”

“You’re already seen them…” Pearl said with a remorseful sigh. “Well, you’ve seen them disabled.” To give a visual demonstration, she projected a hologram of her Gem, showing one of the many, massive, drill-like machines that dotted the Kindergarten. However, instead of downed and dusted, this one was erect and active as it began digging into the ground, planting something therein. “If Peridot reactivates them, they’ll pick right up where they left off, planting Gems in the crust of the Earth, where they’ll incubate and suck the life right out of the ground! We can’t let Peridot restart Gem production here. If we do, the entire planet will become…”

“Janked,” Garnet succinctly finished where Pearl had left off, eliciting surprised gasps from the kids and a rowdy laugh from Amethyst.

“Garnet! That mouth!” the purple Gem chuckled, not noticing Pearl’s still very apparent distress, which was aptly shared by all three of the kids.

“So, uh, we should probably stop her from turning those injector thingys back on then, huh?” Mabel asked, quite uneasy.

“That’s the plan,” Garnet affirmed, rising to stand. She paused though, noticing the worried looks on the faces of both the kids and her teammates as they all unanimously feared what could happen to the planet they all called home if Peridot was left to her own devices. “Don’t worry,” the Gem leader assured with a small, but confident smile. “We’ll stop her. Come on, everyone.”

“Coming!” Pearl chimed, hopping to her feet as she hurried after Garnet to the warp pad.

“As long as we don’t have to fold anything,” Amethyst remarked, gladly leaving the pile of laundry behind to the kids, who simply continued folding. After all, the Gems had made it clear that they had this situation covered, which was why they were all quite surprised when Garnet called for them.

“Steven, Dipper, Mabel,” the Gem leader beckoned with a small grin, one that Amethyst shared as she hopped onto the warp pad.

“C’mon! That means you guys too, right?” she asked, chuckling as the kids exchanged excited smiles at the open invitation, one that they knew, just a few weeks ago, the Gems would have never even extended to them.

“Woo! Gem mission time!” Mabel readily perked up, rushing over to the warp pad without delay as the boys quickly followed. “I can’t remember the last time we’ve been on one of these that didn’t involve all of us almost dying!”

“That’s because we’ve almost died on just about every one we’ve been on,” Dipper said, somewhat deadpan, though not as much as he could have been, given how disastrous the invasion itself had ended.

“Hm…” Pearl frowned upon hearing this, her worry palpable as she whispered to the Gem leader. “Garnet, are you sure we should bring the kids along with us? This could be dangerous.”

“Peridot’s got nothing we can’t handle,” Garnet promised, confident that this claim was true.

“Well, what are we waiting for?” Amethyst asked eagerly. “Let’s go mess her up!”

“O-or maybe we could just ask her nicely to stop trying to hurt the Earth!” Steven reasoned, not wanting to see things resort to violence.

“No, actually, I agree with Amethyst,” Dipper staunchly remarked. “If we have a chance to stop Peridot, then we might as well take it. No matter what we have to do.”

The others too pause upon hearing such a dark, coldly-stated resolve, all of them looking to Dipper with apt concern over it. However, before any of them could question it, the front door happened to burst open, startling everyone as a very perturbed conman bared in.

“Kids!” Stan shouted, an obviously annoyed look on his face as he caught sight of the twins accompanying the Gems on the warp pad. “What do you two think you’re doing up here?! I thought you were only gonna be up here bugging the Gems for a few minutes, not all day! We gotta get back down to the shack and restock the gift shop before people start thinking we’re having some sort of ‘clearance sale’. Ugh, just saying those terrible words makes me wanna barf.”

“Uh, actually, Grunkle Stan…” Mabel began, exchanging a tentative glance with Dipper. “We’re kinda about to go on a super important Gem mission to save the entire Earth! So…”

“So restocking the gift shop can definitely wait until we’re done with that,” Dipper finished with a bit more certainty, though he couldn’t claim to be completely confident in light of Stan’s already disapproving glower over this information.

“Oh, it can?” Stan asked, raising an eyebrow as he glanced up from the twins to look towards the Gems.

“I’ll certainly say it can!” Pearl cut in, crossing her arms. “Like Mabel said, we have very important work to do, work that, if not tended to, could result in the death of this planet and everything on it! Which means, Stan, that we have no time to deal with you or your little… gift shop dilemma.”

While Stan usually would have countered the white Gem’s condescending behavior with some kind of sharp, witty retort, instead he simply seemed to shrug it off and respond in a way almost no one had been expecting. “Alright then,” he said, his tone as calm and collected as his expression. “If this ‘mission’ or whatever it is is so important, then I guess I’ll just have to go with you guys.”

“What?!” everyone, save for Garnet, exclaimed in stunned unison at this sudden twist, their surprise only growing as the conman started to nonchalantly head towards the warp pad himself.

“You heard me,” Stan shrugged, hardly even phased by their shocked expressions as he addressed the twins in particular. “Its about time I go on one of these nutso Gem adventures with you kids. And considering what happened with that whole hand ship thing, I think I have a right to come along and make sure you two don’t get beat up by any more of those ‘Homeworld’ jerks.”

“Aw, yeah!” Amethyst exclaimed excitedly before any of the others could even react. “I’ve always wanted you to come on a mission with us, Stan! It’ll be just like a Revenge Trip, only with like, higher stakes, I guess. Still, it’s gonna be awesome!”

“Yeah, it will be!” Steven grinned, equally as enthused. “Finally, all seven of us, going on a mission together! I’ve dreamed of this day for so long now! We’re like one big, huge, super team!”

“We should call ourselves the ‘Crystal Pines’!” Mabel chimed in brightly.

“Whoa! We should!” Steven gasped, stars in his eyes. “We can make matching team tee-shirts and everything!”

“Please, no more tee shirts,” Dipper deadpanned, nodding over to the still plentiful pile of unfolded shirts still lying on the floor on the other side of the house.

“Now, hold on just a minute!” Pearl interjected hotly as the kids started to get carried away in their excitement. “Stan, you are not coming with us!”

“Oh, really?” the conman asked dryly.

“Really!” the white Gem reiterated harshly. “We’re going to track down a Homeworld Gem with intel and resources far beyond our own. This could be incredibly dangerous, and the last thing we need is for our attention to be divided because we have to keep an eye on you.”

“Keep an eye on me?” Stan repeated with a caustic scoff. “Oh, that’s rich. Maybe you don’t remember how I was the one who saved you three from that horde of zombies?”

“W-well… yes, but-”

“Or that you apparently had to be saved from those ‘dangerous Homeworld Gems’ by three kids?”

“Alright, b-but that wasn’t-”

“Seems to me like you three could use all the help you could get,” Stan concluded with an almost smug grin. “And luckily for you, I’m nice enough to offer that help, so you might as well take it.”

“Ugh, like we even need your-”

“You can come,” Garnet interupted Pearl’s bitter refusal, her expression alone showing that she was growing impatient with this ongoing debate.

“But, Garnet!” the white Gem protested amidst Steven, Mabel, and Amethyst’s shared excitement and Stan’s clear satisfaction.

“Hey, P, no butts except Stan’s up here on this warp pad!” the purple Gem quipped with a rowdy laugh.

“Yeah, you heard her,” Stan remarked triumphantly as he finally stepped onto the rather crowded warp pad. “Move over and make some room, Pearl.”

“I can’t believe this…” Pearl growled to herself, clearly quite displeased with this turn of events. Even so, she figured there was no use in arguing with it, seeing as how they had wasted enough precious time as it was. “Still, if we have to have one more along for this mission, I suppose its best to take the necessary precautions…” With a relenting sigh, her gemstone began to glow as she pulled a medium-length, thin, elegant rapier with a symmetrical, ornamental guard and a blueish tint to its glistening edge. “Dipper, here,” she said with a small smile as she handed this sword to her already amazed pupil, who was even more awestruck as she entrusted it to him out of nowhere. “That is the Ancient Sea Blade. I stole it off a Homeworld Gem during a fierce underwater battle back during the war. But I don’t have much use for it nowadays, and seeing as how this is your first real mission since you’ve been training under my tutelage, it only makes sense that you go in properly armed.”

“Whoa…” Dipper said in apt muted wonder as he held the stunning blade up for Steven and Mabel to get a better look at. “This thing is so cool! Thanks, Pearl! I promise I’ll be super careful with it.”

“I trust that you will,” Pearl nodded with warm approval.

“Oh, wow,” Stan spoke up as he sent the white Gem an unimpressed glance. “So you’re just gonna hand some deadly weapon off to my nephew while I’m standing right here? Real classy.”

“Is there a problem with that?” Pearl asked, crossing her arms and returning his scowl.

“No, not really,” the conman shrugged apathetically. “But would it have killed you to give the kid a sword that isn’t so, ya know, girly?”

“Girly?” Dipper frowned as he looked to the Ancient Sea Blade’s sleek, graceful structure again.

“I’ll have you know that sword is a steadfast, sturdy weapon that requires a skillful hand to wield and demands respect from all those in its path,” Pearl asserted to Stan pointedly. “Which, of course, is something that you would know nothing about.”

“Oh, I’ll show you ‘respect’,” Stan growled, rolling his sleeves up in preparation for a brawl, though Garnet was quick to put a stop to it.

“That’s enough,” the Gem leader said stanchly, holding her arms up to keep the white Gem and the conman apart. “We’ve already wasted enough time here. Let’s get going.”

And so, without any further arguments or deliberations, that’s exactly what they did.

The darkened, hollowed out walls of Kindergarten were just as lifeless and solemn as ever as the collective group arrived, their voices and footsteps being the only natural sounds for miles around as they began to search for Peridot. A search that initially seemed to be rather fruitless as there were no apparent signs of the green Gem, or anyone else for that matter, in sight.

“So, Stan, does this place still give ya the ‘heebie-jeebies’ just like it did when I brought you here all those years ago?” Amethyst asked with a goading grin as she elbowed him in the knee.

“Pfft, are you kidding me?” Stan scoffed, though he was still rather uneasy as he glanced around the desolate area. “This place never freaked me out. A-after all, I’ve seen plenty of dead, barren wastelands in my day.”

“Suuuure, you have,” the purple Gem quipped, rolling her eyes as she moved on ahead. “But just be sure to keep an eye out. Your never know when something’s gonna… jump out at you!” At this, she suddenly turned around, having shape shifted her face into a grotesque, monstrous appearance, one that was more than enough to elicit a startled gasp from the conman.

“Hey!” Stan shouted angrily, already chasing after the purple Gem as she broke down into heavy laughter. “Amethyst!”

“Ha! Try and catch me, ‘old man’!” Amethyst teased, vaulting over a rock as she hurried through the Kindergarten.

“Could you two please be quiet and try and take this seriously?!” Pearl fussed after both of them. “If Peridot hears either of you, she’ll be able to tell we’re coming from a mile away!” Of course, neither Stan nor Amethyst heeded the white Gem as they continued to have their noisy fun, much to the white Gem’s severe aggravation. “Oh, this is already a disaster…”

“Calm down, Pearl,” Garnet advised as she walked past, briefly placing a hand on her teammate’s shoulder. “Everything will work out, you’ll see.”

“Ugh, I hope so…” Pearl groaned as she trudged on ahead, wishing that this bothersome mission was already over.

At the same time, the kids hung a bit behind the adults, though they still followed them, at first anxiously as they remembered just how ominous the Kindergarten was. However, Steven and Mabel were quick to loosen up as they noticed Dipper practicing with the sword Pearl had given him, swinging it around experimentally to get a sense of how it handled. Mabel stifled a laugh as she watched her brother’s broad, almost over dramatic movements before she started mimicking his maneuvers with an imaginary sword of her own, complete with exaggerated facial expressions and all. Dipper only caught on as he overheard Steven’s amused chuckle at this, and as he paused and glanced over his shoulder, Mabel abruptly stopped and put on a front of unknowing innocence, one that wasn’t very convincing, all things considered.

“Didn’t you guys hear what Pearl just said?” he asked, rather exasperated. “We’re supposed to be taking this mission seriously.”

“Oh, we are taking it seriously!” Mabel protested with a wide smile. “In fact, its so serious, that I even brought this along!” She pulled her grappling hook out of her sweater, brandishing it proudly. “You’re not the only one around here with a fancy-smanzy weapon, bro-bro. If Peridot tries to mess with us, I’ll bop her with this!” To prover her point, she launched the hook out, only for gravity to quickly enough pull it back down to the ground, where it landed with a dull, unimpressive thud.

“…I… think we should just stick with letting my sword do all the fighting, if its all the same to you, Mabel,” Dipper remarked dryly, turning to catch up with the Gems.

“Well, either way, I still think we’re being pretty serious about all this,” Steven vouched confidently as he hurried over to the Gems as well. “Don’t you think so, Garnet?”

“Sure,” the Gem leader smirked, taking a moment to ruffle the young Gem’s hair playfully.

“Hm… Well, nothing looks activated…” Pearl noted, her gemstone reflecting light upon one of the broken-down injectors. “In fact, it doesn’t look like anything’s budged since the last time we were here…”

“You’re right,” Garnet said, hands on her hips as she looked around. “But just because Peridot hasn’t been here yet, it doesn’t mean she won’t come.”

“Hm,” Steven nodded in terse agreement, making his expression resolved to show just how serious he really was.

“Let’s do a thorough check of the perimeter,” the Gem leader continued authoritatively.

“Hm.”

“That way, we can monitor any further entry.”

“Hm, sounds good to me!” Steven chimed with a thumbs up, already heading off to do just that as the others began to split up.

“Oh! If we’re teaming up to go look for Peridot, then you and me should totally be Search Buddies, Dipper!” Mabel exclaimed with a daring grin. “That way, when we find her, I can deflect my grappling hook off your sword and we can knock her out clean before she tries any of her sneaky shenanigans!”

Upon hearing such a bizarre plan, the most Dipper could initially do was look to his sister with apt confusion, looking between the rather thin blade of his sword and her quite bulky grappling hook. “Mabel, do you understand how physics work? Like, at all?”

“Yo, if we’re choosing Search Buddies, I call Stan as mine!” Amethyst proclaimed with a wide grin, shapeshifting her legs to be long so she could be tall enough to steal the conman’s fez off his head to put it on her own.

“Yeah, you would,” Stan sardonically remarked, though he was still grinning in amusement as he reclaimed his hat.

“You two teaming up is a catastrophe just waiting to happen,” Pearl muttered, rolling her eyes at their joking manner in light of the serious situation.

As the others continued discussing their investigative arrangements, Steven had already wandered off on his own to look around the corner. The young Gem didn’t expect to see too much, but he kept an eye out for suspicious activity, even if he had no idea what he’d really do if he happened upon any. He couldn’t deny that he was rather worried, especially as he passed by another injector, about what Peridot might do if she was allowed to succeed in her unknown ambitions. After all, she had already been stranded on Earth for quite some time now, completely left to her own devices, whatever they might be. Chances were that she had likely made some kind of progress on her mysterious, likely harmful goals, and that she would only continue to do so if she wasn’t found and stopped soon. Steven only hoped that Garnet’s hunch that the green Gem was somewhere around the Kindergarten was right, otherwise the search for her could go on endlessly, all the way until she completed what she came to Earth to do. And while that was a thought that alarmed the young Gem quite a bit, fortunately, he wouldn’t have to wait that long, for as he continued to independently investigate the area, he happened to overhear the unmistakably familiar voice none other than Peridot herself.

“Log date: 6 5 2,” the green Gem began as she rose up along with a platform that had emerged from underground. Steven froze up in his spot only a few feet away, clearly within Peridot’s frame of view, though she didn’t seem to notice him at first as she continued her report while fiddling around her with finger-formed touchscreen. “This is Peridot, updating status. Still stuck on this miserable planet… The fusion experiments are developing properly. A few have even emerged early-” The green Gem suddenly cut herself off with a sharp gasp the moment her eyes drifted away from her screen and towards the equally startled young Gem standing right in front of her.

For a moment, neither of them said anything, both of them completely unsure of how to react to such an unexpected, awkward encounter. Though based on how still both of them were, it was clear that they saw each other as equal threats, based on what little they knew about each other thus far. Even so, Peridot was the first to speak up, albeit in an anxious whisper as her screen dissolved and she looked around nervously. “Are the… other ones with you?” Steven initially shook his head, though he was quick to recant this lie with an honest nod and awkward shrug. Peridot let out a frustrated groan, her disjointed fingers covering her face as she lamented her incredibly bad luck. “Of course… Why not?”

“Peridot!” The green Gem gasped in sharp fear as she heard Garnet’s firm shout from across the Kindergarten, her cover completely blown as the Gems and the Pines spotted her all at the same time.

“There she is!” Pearl exclaimed, her spear already in her hands.

“Let’s get her!” Amethyst grinned daringly, rushing forward with her whip at the ready as everyone else quickly followed.

Needless to say that with such a crowd on her case, Peridot didn’t hesitate to flee, rushing down the Kindergarten corridor with her pursuers hot on her trail. Oddly enough, the green Gem seemed to be running right for one of the high, impassible walls of the canyon, confusing the others a bit, though even so, they continued to chase her in the hopes of finally ending this ongoing game of cat and mouse.

“Give it up, Peridot!” Dipper shouted, his sword already at the ready to go after the green Gem who was largely responsible for the disasters of the past several weeks. “You have nowhere to run!”

“Yeah! We’ve got you cornered!” Mabel added, trying to get a good aim with her grappling hook. “I’ve always wanted to say that!”

“That’s what you think!” Peridot retorted, glancing back with a snide grin before she did something none of them had been expecting. Without even skipping a step, the green Gem began to run vertically straight up the Kindergarten wall, snickering triumphantly as she put distance between herself and her foes. “Try and catch me now, you filthy rebels!”

“So that’s this ‘big, scary Homeworld Gem’ you guys are so afraid of?” Stan asked the Gems rather caustically as they all stopped at the base of the wall as Peridot continued running up it. “Pfft, she just seems like a loudmouthed nerd to me.”

“She mostly is,” Amethyst shrugged with a scowl. “Her being able to run up walls is new though.”

“Aw, I can’t do that!” Steven pouted, wishing that he could pursue her somehow.

“Neither can she!” Pearl exclaimed, tossing her spear straight up towards the green Gem.

Peridot ducked out of the weapon’s path as it sailed straight over her, her smug smile returning as she glanced back down at the group below. “Ha! Missed!”

Her assumption was quickly proven wrong, however, as Pearl’s spear did strike something: an injector stuck in the wall near the top of the cliff. And given its already loosening grip on the canyon wall, the impact was enough to get the injector to not only detach, but come collapsing down right towards the green Gem. Peridot gasped as she noticed the massive machine start hurtling down towards her, which was why she had no choice but to turn on her heel and start bolting down the wall the opposite of how she had come up it.

“Oh! I got her! I got her!” Pearl notified the others, her arms held open wide to catch their foe when she inevitably fell.

“Please,” Stan scoffed as he pushed the white Gem aside. “At the rate she’s bookin’ it down that wall, she’d knock you down flat the minute she runs into you. I got her.”

“Then what makes you think, you’ll have any better of a chance?” Pearl countered crossly, pushing the conman right back. “Why don’t you just step aside and let those of us with actual experience handle this?”

“A lot of good that ‘experience’ is gonna do when Greenie up there pummels you into the ground and gets away!” Stan argued back, shoving Pearl once more. However, before the white Gem could shoot back an angry retort of her own, their fight was abruptly interupted as Garnet ran for them both, pushing the pair out of the way just as the falling injector struck Peridot first, before brutally crashing into the ground below.

“Both of you, pay attention!” Garnet ordered to Stan and Pearl, her gauntlets summoned as she let them up.

“Hmph, he started it,” Pearl scowled as she crossed her arms.

“Right back at ya, stretch,” Stan deadpanned just as sourly.

“Do you think Peridot’s hurt?” Steven asked, somewhat concerned as he took a step towards the downed injector as the dust from the crash settled.

“Hopefully,” Dipper remarked, his grip tightening on his sword as he held it aloft in case the green Gem suddenly emerged. And that’s actually exactly what she did.

Surprisingly, Peridot was seemingly uninjured as she pulled herself out of the wreckage with little more than an exasperated groan. The moment she spotted her foes surrounding her, however, she was quick to pull herself up and attempt escape yet again.

“Nope, guess she’s ok!” Amethyst quipped, already lashing her whip out. “But she won’t be for long!”

Before Peridot could get too far, the purple Gem’s whip happened to catch her, coiling around her torso and pinning one of her arms down to her side. Before the green Gem could even think about wriggling free, Dipper and Mabel were both already running for her, their respective weapons poised to attack, albeit in different ways.

Dipper brought his sword down first, the Ancient Sea Blade clashing squarely with the lower half of Peridot’s arm, which, oddly enough, seemed to solid, sturdy metal. Though he was initially confused by this, he was quick to go in for another attack, trying to work past her surprisingly steadfast block. This process repeated itself several times over, with neither of them making any real progress until Dipper struck Peridot’s arm once again and decided to keep his blade there, in the hopes that applying pressure would wear her down, though really, the only thing it seemed to do was frustrate her even more.

“Augh! You irritating clods don’t know when to quit!” the green Gem seethed, beyond irritated with her current desperate straits.

“Apparently, neither do you!” Dipper countered just as harshly, suddenly pulling his sword back so Mabel could come in with a surprise firing of her grappling hook. Unfortunately though, Peridot saw it coming just in time and her disjointed fingers easily managed to catch the hook, though not before it knocked her against the side of her head first.

“Ow!” she growled, tossing the hook aside hard as one of her fingers began to spark with a self-generated electrical current. “I’ve had just about enough of this uncalled-for interference for one day!” With this, Peridot pressed her electrified finger down on Amethyst’s whip, its charge spreading throughout the entire weapon to the point that the purple Gem was forced to relinquish her hold on it.

“Whoa! Hot whip! Hot whip!” she shouted, her hands flying away from her weapon as Peridot hurriedly released herself from it. The green Gem let out another small victorious snicker as she began to flee on foot, though she didn’t get far before running smack dab into Stan, who had wisely, and quickly put himself directly in her path.

“And where do you think you’re goin’, Greenie?” he asked caustically, glaring boredly at her as he crossed his arms.

“Oh great… another meddling human to deal with…” Peridot grumbled, backing up a bit as she calibrated one of her fingers into a laser. While somewhat caught off guard by this, Stan was prepared to deal with it; what he wasn’t prepared for, though, was the spear that was suddenly vaulting towards both him and the green Gem. The projectile missed Peridot completely, and fortunately, Stan was quick enough to duck out of its path, but at the expense of inadvertently letting the green Gem go free.

“Hey, Pearl!” Stan shouted crossly over at the white Gem as he quickly picked himself up off the ground. “What do think you’re doing, chucking spears at my head like it’s some kinda target?!”

“I was trying to hit Peridot!” Pearl protested, already running forward as Amethyst started to do the same. “And what do you think you’re doing just letting her get away!?”

“Uh, looks like we’re all kinda letting her get away now!” the purple Gem pointed out, nodding up to Peridot as she continued running on ahead.

“Go ahead, you Crystal Clods!” she shouted over her shoulder somewhat breathlessly. “Wreck this place! See if I care! I already got what I needed!”

“Get back here!” Pearl yelled after her, another spear summoned as she ran after the green Gem.

Peridot responded to this command by simply throwing her hand up, her fingers starting to spin rapidly until they had essentially become helicopter blades. As she began to lift up off the ground and out of the reach of her pursuers, her small smirk gradually turned into a maniacal laugh as she looked down upon her foes, who still seemed insistent on giving chase after her. “Ha! Face it! You simple lumps are no match for my superior technology and intellect! You’ll never catch up!”

“You wanna bet, you noisy, green, triangle-headed punk!” Stan shouted now thoroughly invested in this mission simply due to the rather large aggravation Peridot proved to be for all of them.

“I’m gonna bop her good!” Amethyst growled, leading the charge after her as the white Gem and the conman followed not too far behind.

“I’ll help!” Pearl fiercely agreed as they all rounded a corner in the Kindergarten to continue the chase. The kids were eager to follow after them, all wanting to put a stop to the green Gem’s ambitions as well, but before they could get too far, Garnet was quick to reel them back in.

“Wait,” she called calmly, still standing by the fallen injector.

“Wait? Wait for what?” Dipper asked impatiently. “Peridot’s getting away! We have to go after her!”

“Yeah, come on, Garnet!” Steven urged intently, starting to run ahead. “We gotta hurry!”

The Gem leader stopped her young ward once again, this time by holding him back by his shirt until he finally gave up and stopped trying to run. Seeing that Garnet was quite serious about this, the kids all decided to take pause to see exactly what was so important that chasing the green Gem down could wait for.

“If Peridot’s mission was to reactivate the Kindergarten, the injectors would be on. Look,” she nodded over to the closest injector, which was as still and silent as ever. “They’re not.”

“Oh?” Steven frowned, initially confused by this before he started to get the picture. “Oh!”

“So that means… she was trying to do something else?” Mabel guessed, even if she was still a little confused.

“Exactly,” Garnet nodded. “Let’s see what she was actually doing-” The Gem leader paused, easily lifting up the broken injector and tossing it aside to reveal the elevator shaft Peridot had initially emerged from. “Down here.”

“Ohhhhh…” all three kids mused in understanding unison, immediately realizing what a smart plan this was.

“But wait, what about Peridot?” Steven asked, glancing over his shoulder at the direction the others had taken off.

“Pearl, Amethyst, and Stan can handle her,” Garnet assured, adjusting her shades. “If they can manage to get along.”

“Well, then I think its safe to say they’re pretty much doomed then,” Dipper sarcastically remarked as they all began to follow Garnet into the dark depths below, none of them anywhere close to sure of what they might find down there.

At the same time, Stan, Pearl, and Amethyst, had hardly noticed that Garnet and the kids hadn’t joined them in chasing Peridot down as they were all adamantly intent on catching up to her. The green Gem simply continued laughing mockingly at their attempts from her high vantage point, easily dodging Pearl’s spears and Amethyst’s whip as she glided smoothly through the air. For the most part, they didn’t lose sight of her, that is, until she happened to fly behind one of the injectors resting on the cliff above, only for her to not appear on the other side of it seconds later like she should have.

“Aw, great!” Amethyst huffed in breathless disappointment as they all came to a stop. “She got away!”

“Oh, I’m sure she didn’t get too far,” Pearl assured with a wave of her hand. “After all, if her primary objective, whatever it is, is here in the Kindergarten, then chances are she’s not going to just leave it behind so soon. I’m sure that if we remain diligent, we’ll be able to find her, capture her, and put an end to her mission once and for all!”

“Well we would have caught her sooner if somebody had just let me nab her instead of just wildly hurling spears like a nutcase,” Stan remarked crossly, not even trying to hide his frustration with the white Gem as he glared her way.

“Well maybe we would have caught her even before that if somebody hadn’t tried to unnecessarily interfere with me catching her as she was running down the cliff!” Pearl countered just as bitterly.

“Oh, what, so you’re saying this is all my fault then?” Stan asked harshly, not noticing Amethyst’s look of growing concern as she looked between him and Pearl.

“Yes!” the white Gem exclaimed, appalled. “The only thing you’ve done since this mission began is make an absolute mess of things! In fact, why are you even here in the first place?! It’s not like you had to come along with us!”

“Hey, I already told you,” the conman reiterated with a persistent scowl. “I’m here to keep an eye on the kids, remember?”

“Oh, and what a wonderful job you’re doing of it too!” Pearl exclaimed with faux approval. “But do you happen to notice something? Oh, that’s right! They’re nowhere to be found!”

Stan was more than ready to shoot back a heated retort, but right before he could, Amethyst finally interjected, growing quite aggravated with their ongoing squabbling. “I’m sure the kids probably just hung back with Garnet,” she began, staunchly stepping in between the pair. “For now, we gotta get our heads back in the game! P-dot’s hiking it away from here, and all we’re doing is standing around here yelling at each other about it, which isn’t really gonna do anything to stop her, you know.”

“Well, Amethyst, how do you purpose we do to find her?” Pearl asked, hands on her hips.

“Uh, I dunno, actually come up with some kinda plan instead of biting each other’s heads off,” Amethyst said, passing a rather critical glance between the white Gem and the conman. She paused, however, upon noticing a rather large exit hole marring the nearby Kindergarten wall, as well as a plentiful pile of rocks resting on the cliff high above it. “And you know what? I think I might just have an idea…” She smirked wryly, though her confidence quickly turned to worry as soon as she remembered who she had to work with for this plan. “But uh, for this to work, you guys are gonna have to, um… get along? Just a little?”

“Get along? With her?” Stan scoffed haughtily at the idea. “C’mon, Amethyst, you know me better than that. I don’t work well with snooty airheads.”

“Well I don’t work well with miserly charlatans,” Pearl shot back, turning her nose up as she glared away.

“…You know what, I also don’t work well with people who use words that nobody knows the

“Well, could you guys at least try to work together?” Amethyst asked, nervously amidst the ongoing tension. “At least until we catch Peridot? Then you two can go right back to hating each other.”

Stan and Pearl were both still quite bitter as they exchanged distrustful, disdainful glances, neither of them too keen on having to cooperate for any period of time, however small. But as they both met Amethyst’s sincere, pleading pout, their shared resistance to her proposed teamwork-heavy plan fell apart almost instantly.

“Ugh, alright, fine,” Pearl begrudgingly agreed. “But only until we capture Peridot, and not a moment after that.”

“Yeah, and this doesn’t mean we gotta be all buddy-buddy about it either,” Stan remarked, arms still crossed as he sent the white Gem a cold scowl.

“Oh, believe me, I have no intentions of being anything of the sort.”

“Uh… well… that’s fine, I guess,” Amethyst frowned, still uncertain of whether or not her plan would go off without a hitch given these less than favorable circumstances. “But shouldn’t we at least all shake on it just to-”

“No!” Stan and Pearl were quick to reject this idea, both of them firmly believing that them agreeing to work together along was more than enough.

“Ugh,” the purple Gem groaned, running a hand through her messy hair as she tried to figure out how she was ever going to make this work out. “I can already tell this is gonna be a pain in my gem…”

With the elevator disabled, Garnet and the kids had no choice but to descend into the underground control room on foot. Its slanted walls and floors were just as dark and uninviting as they had been when they had first happened upon them weeks ago, and yet they still somehow carried a heavy air of mystery to them, even if the group now knew what rested at the end of the tunnel.

“So… what exactly do you think Peridot was even doing down here?” Dipper asked Garnet, hoping that the Gem leader’s future vision could at the very least give them a hint about what they were up against.

“It’s hard to say,” Garnet said, her manner as levelheaded as ever. “But no matter what she’s up to, if Homeworld sent her here to do it, then we need to put a stop to it.”

“Oh, that’s such a good point, Garnet!” Steven said with a bright grin. “You’re brains and brawn. The whole package!”

“Thank you,” Garnet smirked, accepting her young ward’s high five.

“It’s gotta be cause you’re a fusion, right?” Mabel asked with eager curiosity. “Cause fusions can do like, anything. Believe me, I know from experience!”

“So do I!” Steven chimed in proudly.

“Me too, I guess,” Dipper added with a small, bemused chuckle.

“Fusions can do a lot,” Garnet confirmed, still grinning. “But I have to keep some of my secrets.”

“Aw, please?” Steven pleaded. “We wanna know! Is the strong part of you Ruby and the wise part of you Sapphire?”

Garnet paused for a moment, pondering this question before delivering an expectantly enlightened answer. “It’s all of both. When two Gems combine, it creates something greater than the sum of their parts. For instance,” she glanced over at Steven and Mabel. “When you two fused into Maven, what do you think each of you brought to the fusion?”

“Oh! I know!” Mabel quipped first, raising her hand. “I brought my impeccable fashion sense, great social skills, and my award winning smile! Oh, and I also brought glitter, lots of glitter! We were basically covered with it the entire time we were fused, it was great.”

“Hm… Well… I guess I brought my positive attitude and all-around friendliness to Maven,” Steven said, blushing in embarrassment as he tried not to sound too immodest.

“True, but those things weren’t all that Maven was,” Garnet said, still pushing on ahead. “They were everything that you two were, and more. They were a symbol of your friendship, your bond, the perfect image of your relationship and what it means to each of you.”

“Relationship…” Mabel muttered to herself, her cheeks suddenly red as she stole a quick glance over at the impressed young Gem. “Wow…”

“Another good example would be Stepper,” Garnet continued, looking between Steven and Dipper this time. “What parts of you two went into making him who he was?”

“Oh, well, uh… Hm…” Steven paused thoughtfully for a moment. “I don’t… really know.”

“Yeah, me neither,” Dipper shook his head. “I guess its because Stepper was… pretty awkward his first time around.”

“But not after you found harmony between each other,” Garnet countered smoothly. “So after that…”

“Oh, wait a second!” Steven filled in as the Gem leader trailed off. “The way we tricked Peridot when we were fighting her robots! Dipper, that was definitely your brains at work there!”

“Huh, I guess you’re right,” Dipper noted with a small, growing smile. “And I gotta say, Steven, even if I wasn’t super ok with it at first, you were pretty determined to keep us together, which was something that totally carried over to when we fused that second time.”

“Oh yeah!” Steven exclaimed, excited by this revelation.

“Stepper did have both of those traits,” Garnet acknowledged. “And many more, including ones that neither of you were even aware of. His existence told the story of you two growing closer, and the moment you found the harmony between each other was the moment you finally came together.” The Gem leader paused, her smile growing a bit as she adjusted her shades. “In the same way, that’s what I am. The symbol of our—of Ruby and Sapphire’s relationship, their devotion to each other. I’m both of them, and so much more than them, all at the same time. That’s why I’m so great.”

“Wow…” all three of the kids mused in genuine amazement at everything the Gem leader had said as they finally reached the control room.

“So what’s it like to stay fused all the ti-” Steven cut his question off as he took in the ruinous sight before them. The control room was still just as damaged as it had been the first time they had all been there, with its central crystal busted in and all power cut off to it completely, leaving the place dark and still. The key difference, however, were the numerous pillars standing erect throughout the entire room, most of them about Garnet’s height and all composed of tightly compacted dirt. All of this combined to create an atmosphere that was deeply unsettling, in ways that none of the kids could really describe as they tentatively followed Garnet into it. “I don’t know how… but this place is even creepier than the last time we were here…” Steven mused, flinching as he heard his own voice echo back at him amidst the otherwise dense silence of the room.

“Yeah…” Mabel agreed with a fretful frown as she approached one of the pillars. “What’s the deal with all these tuby things?”

“Mabel, don’t touch those things! We don’t know what they’re for!” Dipper cautioned, his hand already resting on the hilt of the Ancient Sea Blade, just in case. “Y-you know, I’m suddenly really glad Pearl gave me this sword…”

“There’s clearly something different here this time,” Garnet spoke up, glancing around meticulously. “I don’t like it.”

“The power’s not on…” Steven noted as he looked back to the broken crystal. “What was Peridot doing down here?”

“W-what if she was just collecting dirt for some reason?” Mabel suggested anxiously, hoping that this was nothing too serious. “Not sure why anyone would do something like that, but maybe she just has a weird hobby?”

“It looks like she pulled these out of the Kindergarten walls,” Garnet mused, glancing up to notice that there were even pillars of dirt hanging from the ceiling above. “Something strange is-” The Gem leader cut herself off as she caught onto the soft sound of sudden rumbling coming from one of the pillars on the far side of the room. Stoic as ever, Garnet made her approach, summoning her gauntlets as a precaution in case anything dangerous were to emerge.

“Garnet?” Steven called over to her, curious, as Dipper and Mabel also glanced over in her direction. The kids exchanged a somewhat worried look after not receiving a response from the Gem leader, but even so, they all hurried over to her, making sure to keep their guard up all the while. Garnet still said nothing as she reached out to touch the dirt pillar, only for it to start shaking violently the moment she made contact with it. The kids shared a startled gasp at this, Steven and Mabel tucking behind Garnet’s legs for protection while Dipper quickly drew his sword, aiming it at the pillar with a tight, albeit somewhat shaky grip.

“Y-you don’t think something’s in there… do you, Garnet?” Mabel asked nervously as they all steadily backed away. The Gem leader still provided no answers, her manner suddenly tense as she kept her gauntleted hands in tight fists. The pillar’s shaking only seemed to be growing more rapid and aggressive by the second, and yet nothing seemed to emerge from it. Instead, something unknown happened to fall from the ceiling above, landing right behind the group and frightening them all more than enough to prompt them to spin around and see exactly what it was.

And what it was seemed to be a hand and a foot, both of different colors, awkwardly fused together as they wriggled around aimlessly. The kids were all completely awestruck and aptly disturbed as Garnet picked the small, bizarre creature up, but they only had a moment to examine it before several more, similar creatures began dropping down from the pillars on the ceiling. Hands mixed with feet, arms connected to legs, two arms connected by their joints, legs linked at the knee and still several other twisted combinations of disjointed, mutli-colored body parts began slinking across the floor in whatever limited way they could, all of them slowly but surely pulling themselves towards the alarmed group near the front of the room.

“O-ok! So I guess Peridot wasn’t just collecting dirt down here!” Mabel exclaimed fearfully, quickly pulling her grappling hook out of her sweater.

“What the heck are these things?!” Dipper asked, his eyes wide as he held his sword out in front of him defensively.

“And why are they—Ah!” Steven’s wondering was cut off as the creature Garnet was holding leapt out of her hand and onto his face. The young Gem gasped in terror as its hand grabbed at him, but fortunately, the Gem leader was quick to defeat it with a swift, decisive strike. The malformed creature dissipated much like a downed Gem monster would, and all that was left in its place were its jagged, crystalline remains.

“It looks like… two Gem shards… stuck together…” Steven noted with an anxious frown as Garnet held it up for them all to see. And sure enough, its appearance was quite telling of this: a pink and blue broken pieces of two different gemstones, somehow mashed together in an uneven, unnatural shape. Upon realizing exactly what this was, Garnet let out a disgusted gasp as she quickly tossed the clustered gem shards away from her, back towards the other writhing disembodied limbs still dragging their way towards the group.

“Gem shards? As in… broken Gems?” Mabel asked with growing horror towards the situation as a whole. “So these things are basically like Gem zombies… if they were stuck together…”

“Are you kidding?! These things aren’t anything like the zombies we’ve been up against before!” Dipper exclaimed hotly, not hesitating to bring his sword down on one of the creatures that managed to get a bit too close for comfort.

“Stop!” Garnet suddenly ordered, her voice oddly tight and tense as her expression conveyed just how unnerved she was. “D-don’t hurt them!”

“W-why not?” Steven asked waveringly, especially as he noticed that the usually unshakably courageous Gem leader was trembling in nothing less than absolute terror. “G-Garnet?”

Garnet didn’t get a chance to explain, but even if she had, she wouldn’t have been able to amidst her steadily rising panic. But all the same, the onslaught of smaller shard creatures was quickly forgotten as one of the larger dirt pillars let out a sickening crack, one that tore itself clean across as it began to grow wider and wider with each passing second.

“W-what was that?!” Steven exclaimed, him, Dipper, and Mabel all hanging close by Garnet, even if the Gem leader could hardly be considered a form of defense amidst her own deeply distraught state.

But even so, the young Gem’s question quickly got an answer as the pillar suddenly exploded, bright light pouring out of it. And at the center of this light was another cluster of Gem shards, their forms gradually starting to emerge as it rose higher and higher into the air before the stunned group. Soon enough, the light silhouettes of four distinct Gems appeared, merged together by their torsos in a mess of trapped limbs and shapes. They let out a unified, distraught, desperate scream as they tried to escape from their entangled form, only for them to glitch out, their different appearances being lost completely as they fused against their will. From there, the silhouette’s shape started to change, taking on the form of what first looked like a massive hand, before the “fingers” of that hand shifted into various arms and legs. As the light faded, it became clear that these multi-colored limbs were conjoined together, its long, hulking body wrapped in a ragged grey cloth as it landed on the ground with a powerful crash, rattling the entire room in the process.

And, without wasting even a second, this nightmarish amalgamation began crawling its way towards Garnet and the kids, who were all aptly horrified by this monstrous being. Though none of them were more petrified and transfixed than the Gem leader herself, who knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, exactly what, or rather who this clustered creature used to be.

“Ok, so here’s how its gonna go down,” Amethyst began with a sly grin as she outlined her plan to Stan and Pearl. “I’m going to track Peridot down and chase her back here. That’s when you guys make sure she runs into this hole,” she nodded over at the large hole in the wall behind them. “And then you pull those rocks up there down using this whip.” She held up the two handled, very long whip she had summoned and lassoed around the pile of rock on the cliff above. “And we’ll trap her inside. Pretty easy, huh? Are we all good on what we’re supposed to be doing?”

“Of course, we are, Amethyst,” Pearl confirmed with an exasperated huff.

“Yeah, we’re not stupid,” Stan remarked, pausing briefly before continuing with a smug smirk meant for Pearl. “Or at least I’m not.”

“Hey!”

“Ok, s-so we’re all ready, then!” Amethyst quickly interjected before another argument could break out between the pair. “I’ll be back in a few; you guys be ready to bring those rocks down on Peridot’s stupid triangle-shaped head. Oh, and try not to kill each other until I get back, k?”

“No promises…” Pearl muttered, exchanging a cross scowl with Stan as the purple Gem headed off to put their plan into action. For the first several minutes after Amethyst had left, the pair remained in a state of stilted silence, each of them holding onto their own respective ends on the whip and stubbornly refusing to make eye contact. However, this silence soon dissipated as Stan began to whistle in an attempt to alleviate his boredom with their uneventful station, something that was very quick to set the white Gem off.

“Could you please stop that infernal whistling?” Pearl asked with a very thin layer of politeness.

“Oh what, is it getting on your nerves?” Stan paused for a moment, glancing over at her with a knowing smirk.

“Yes,” the white Gem replied with a disapproving glower.

“Great!” the conman’s grin grew wider before he started whistling again, only much louder this time, much to the white Gem’s growing aggravation.

“You do realize that our plan is never going to work if Peridot hears you, right?” she asked pointedly. “If you wanted to be obnoxious and cause a ruckus, then you should have gone with Amethyst.”

“Yeah, I should have,” Stan remarked coldly. “At least then I wouldn’t have to hang out with a boring, stuck-up killjoy like you.”

“And what’s that supposed to mean?” Pearl relinquished her hold on her end of the whip as she placed her hands on her hips.

“It means you’re annoying,” Stan began, also letting go of the whip as he took a challenging step towards the white Gem. “And pushy and bossy, and controlling, and a nag, and a prude!”

“Well, you, Stan,” Pearl countered just as fiercely as they essentially stood only apace away from each other. “Are careless, callous, irrational, dishonest, inconsiderate, and selfish!”

Stan flinched at this, his eyes widening at such this all-too familiar accusation before his former fierce demeanor quickly returned. “Take that back,” he demanded with tranquil fury.

“No, I won’t,” the white Gem staunchly refused. “Because it’s true.”

“No, its not!” the conman shot back, hands clenched into tight fists at his sides.

“Yes, it is.”

“No, its not!”

“Yes, it is!”

“No, it’s-”

Stan instantly cut himself off upon hearing the sudden loud rumbling coming from above them, something that Pearl took notice of too as they both glanced up to see a sight that shocked them both. Somehow, the pile of boulders they were supposed to pull down to trap Peridot had budged, almost as if it had been pushed from above seeing as how the rocks were already starting to rain down towards them. A few of them already fell right before the startled pair, keeping them from effectively fleeing, but they shared a frightened gasp upon realizing that one of the larger rocks was plummeting down directly towards them.

“Look out!” Stan shouted, acting on instinct alone as he pushed Pearl and himself out of the way of the rock and into the exit hole. The pair barely had a moment to pick themselves up off the ground before the rest of the rocks finally fell, essentially trapping them both inside. And they had virtually no time at all to question how this cave in had even happened before a familiar, irritating snicker sounded out from the other side of the rock wall.

“Ha! You two must have thought that your little ‘plan’ to apprehend me was so smart and so foolproof,” Peridot began, leaning against the rocks with a smug smirk. “But I just so happened to overhear all of your futile deliberations, as well as your incessant arguing, which, of course, ended up being your complete and utter downfall! And once again, I’ve proved myself to be vastly more intelligent than you dull clumps by turning the tables on you and imprisoning you in the very same trap you had intended for me! It’s simply genius!”

“Yeah, yeah, you know what would be more genius, Greenie?” Stan asked, his tone deadpan as he tried to peek through one of the sparse gaps between the rocks. “Letting us outta here.”

“Please! Like I’d ever do that,” Peridot scoffed, rolling her eyes. “No, instead I think you’ll both stay right in there… trapped forever with no way out while I make my daring escape! Enjoy your new home, you clods!” The green Gem let out another triumphant laugh as she ran off, leaving the pair behind and stuck in the hole that, as she had said, they had no real way out of.

“Oh, this is just perfect!” Pearl growled as she tried prying the rocks aside with her spear, to no avail. “I have to admit that Amethyst’s plan to capture Peridot was actually quite promising, until you had to go and ruin it completely, Stan!”

“Oh yeah, go ahead and blame me,” Stan shot back, crossing his arms. “You know, the guy who literally just saved you from being crushed by a bunch of rocks. Heck, maybe the plan would have worked if I had actually thought twice about that.”

Pearl took pause at this, a spark of something akin to guilt striking her as she remembered that Stan had indeed saved her, as much as she was loathed to admit it. But she was quick to shake if off in favor of her former disgruntled anger. “Well, regardless of who’s fault it is, we’re still trapped in here all the same. Any ideas as to how we’re supposed to escape? Or should I just assume that the limits of your imagination only extend as far as creating new tawdry falsities to put on display at the Mystery Shack?”

“I dunno, why don’t we just have you yell at the rocks until they fall down?” Stan remarked sarcastically as he leaned against the cave wall. “You’re full of enough hot air that it would probably work pretty quickly.”

The white Gem couldn’t hold back a frustrated scowl upon hearing this, her cheeks lighting up blue in a flustered blush before her anger finally exploded. “See, Stan, that’s exactly your problem! You never take anything seriously! You think everything is just one big joke!”

“A joke, huh?” Stan retorted with a harsh scowl. “Shows how much you know, stretch. You’d be surprised at how many things I take very seriously.”

“Oh yeah? Like what?”

“Like-” the conman quickly cut himself off before he could even make mention of the one thing he had been heavy focused on for the past 30 years. So instead, he went in a different, far less incriminating direction. “Like taking care of Dipper and Mabel.”

“Oh, yes, of course!” Pearl exclaimed sardonically. “Taking care of the twins! Something you do so well that you just carelessly them run around as they please and get themselves into life-threatening situations on almost a daily basis! Clearly, their safety is your number one priority, right?”

“Hey, a little freedom never hurt anyone,” Stan said, still not retracting his stance. “Besides, it helps them learn lessons about life or whatever. Lessons that you refuse to learn, Pearl, seeing as how you’re about as stubborn as, well, a rock!”

“I am not a rock!” Pearl protested, appalled. “I am a Gem, thank you very much.”

“Yeesh, and so literal too,” Stan rolled his eyes, letting out an annoyed sigh as he paused for a moment, glancing down. “You know, Pearl, ever since I met you Gems, you’ve always been the one constantly on my case, even from the start. Heck, even Rose tried lightening up a bit near the end of her run. But you just keep fussing and nagging at me, even though I’ve never done anything to you. So what’s your excuse for hating me so much, huh?”

“Oh, please, Stan, don’t be ridiculous,” the white Gem crossed her arms. “I don’t hate you. I just—I… I’m not… w-well… well you’re just so… so frustrating! Like I said before, its like nothing is of any real importance to you, and the things that do matter to you, you just seem to brush aside to let them be on their own! Would it kill you to show just a little more concern and consideration every now and then?”

“Would it kill you to just loosen up and relax for a change?” Stan countered evenly. “Seriously, Pearl, you’re like, one of the biggest control freaks I’ve ever met, and believe me, I’ve known plenty. But you wanna know something crazy? You can’t control every little thing life throws at you. Sometimes you just gotta take things as they come, without throwing a massive tantrum every time something doesn’t go your way.”

“I-I know that!” Pearl protested defensively. “I just… w-well sometimes, I… Huh,” she paused, her expression softening in slight realization. “Y-you know… that’s… some surprisingly good advice, especially coming from you. Perhaps… perhaps I do sometimes get a little out of sorts when things go awry…”

“Oh, ya think?” the conman deadpanned, though he also began to drop his sour attitude upon recalling what the white Gem had said before. “But uh… maybe you do kinda have a point about me being sort of careless sometimes… I guess I could try to keep a better eye on the kids, and, well, everything else for that matter…”

“Wait a second…” Pearl said with a small, tentative smile. “Stan, did you just… admit that I was right?”

“Huh, yeah, I guess so,” Stan shrugged though he quickly tried to play it off. “But don’t take it too seriously, stretch. It’s probably just because of the lack of oxygen in here o-or something. But hey, looks like this is a two way street seeing as how you technically said I was right too, Pearl.”

“Oh! W-well… Well I, uh…” the white Gem stammered, trying to suppress an embarrassed blush. “Well, I suppose everyone has their moments every once in a great while, including you, Stan.”

The conman couldn’t help but let out a genuine laugh at this, one that Pearl gradually joined in on as the ongoing tension between the two of them slowly started to lift. True, the two of them had never really been on good terms in the past, but they were steadily starting to realize that perhaps there was no real reason for them to hold such longstanding disdain towards each other in the first place. Even if they didn’t necessarily agree with each other on every point, there was still grounds for compromise between them, grounds that they had finally started to reach in, ironically enough, one of their worst squabbles yet.

“Um… so… Stan?” Pearl began, still flustered as she averted the conman’s gaze, though spoke sincerely nonetheless. “I just… Well, I’m… I’m sorry. It wasn’t really your fault that we got trapped in here. And you did end up pushing me out of the way of those rocks so… thank you for that.”

“Yeah, well… I-I guess I’m sorry too,” Stan acknowledged somewhat awkwardly. “You know, I don’t like admitting it, but you’re not always an overbearing stick in the mud.”

“And you’re not always a swindling con artist,” Pearl said with an amicable smile that turned to a worried frown as she looked to the rocks behind them. “Now, how are we ever going to get out of here?”

“I guess we’ll just have to follow Amethyst’s advice and work together,” the conman remarked with a knowing smirk as he positioned himself against the rocks. “On the count of three, we’ll both push on these rocks as hard as we can.”

“Right,” Pearl nodded, already putting some of her weight against the stones in preparation. “Three.”

“Two,” Stan continued, making sure he had a steady footing.

“One!” they both exclaimed in unison, giving the rocks a hearty shove. Neither of them had expected the stones to go down on the first push, but somehow they did, resulting in both Stan and Pearl falling down along with them, started, but free all the same.  

“W-we did it!” the white Gem exclaimed with a laugh, exchanging a relieved smile with the conman.

“Uh, actually, I’m pretty sure I did it,” Amethyst pointed out as she stepped up to the pair, whip in hand and an amused grin on her face.

“Amethyst?” Stan frowned in confusion as him and Pearl picked themselves up to stand. “Wha—h-how did you—What’s going on?”

“Oh, not much,” the purple Gem shrugged, still grinning slyly. “Just savin’ you two dorks. I heard those rocks fall and I thought you guys had caught Peridot on your own, but then I overheard you guys yelling at each other in there, so that’s when I realized things kinda fell apart.”

“Wait… Amethyst, if you knew we were trapped in there, then why didn’t you try to save us sooner?” Pearl asked, her tone disapproving.

“Cause I figured a little… quality time would be just the thing to get you guys to finally get along, and it looks like I was right!” the purple Gem exclaimed with a pleased smile. “Guess all it took for you two to make nice with each other was to trap you in a cave for a while and force you guys to talk it out. Who would have thought?!”

“Are you kidding me?! Amethyst, we could have died in there!” Stan exclaimed harshly.

“Exactly!” Pearl huffed. “That was completely inadvisable! Not to mention the fact that Peridot got away again because of all this!”

“Yeah, maybe,” Amethyst shrugged, still far too elated over how the pair were finally on good terms to be brought down from it. In fact, she was so excited that she ended up catching them both off guard with a surprise group hug. “But we’ll get her next time for sure. Right, you guys?”

Neither Stan nor Pearl answered this at first as they exchanged an initially stilted glance, uncertain of whether or not they wanted to carry their newfound affability onward past the cave it had been found it. But as they glanced down at the clearly delighted purple Gem, they both found that her happiness was contagious enough for them to reciprocate her hug, deciding that they really didn’t have much of a reason to go back to the way things used to be. “Right,” they confirmed in determined unison, knowing that from here on out, things were going to start moving forward instead of remaining in bitter stagnation.

Despite the warm resolution going on above ground, down below in the control room, things were still in a state of absolute chaos. The massive amalgamation monster continued sulking towards the frightened group, its mess of entangled arms and legs continually inching its way towards them with unknown intent.

“G-Garnet?” Steven shakily tried to get the Gem leader’s attention, which was still completely fixed on the lumbering mutant. “Garnet, what do we do?!” Almost as soon as he had raised this question, the young Gem let out a startled cry as one of the smaller limb clusters jumped onto him from behind. Mabel rushed to pull it off of him, but as soon as she let it hit the ground, Dipper plunged his sword into it, poofing it easily.

“What are you doing?!” Mabel exclaimed, looking to her brother in disbelief. “Garnet told us not to hurt them!”

“Well if we don’t, then they’ll end up hurting us!” Dipper argued, his sword at the ready to take down another smaller limb creature slinking towards them.

“Garnet, w-we need your help!” Steven pleaded with the Gem leader in the midst of all this, only to turn around and realize the huge mutant had grabbed her. Its array of arms gripped her tightly by the arm, hip, and head, and as shocked as she was, she was unable to release herself from its tight hold, especially as it began pulling her towards it. “P-please! You gotta talk to us!” the young Gem cried, only for Garnet to remain in terrified silence, her entire form trembling in speechless horror as her breaths came out in short, panicked gasps.

“W-watch out!” Mabel warned as another creature pounced for Steven. The young Gem reacted quickly, his shield forming over his arm to block its advance, though its disfigured hand continued pressing hard against it.

“I don’t understand!” Dipper exclaimed, slashing through yet another mutant as it clamored for the young Gem. “Steven, why do these things only seem to be going after you and Garnet?”

“I-I don’t know!” Steven shook his head, distraught as he glanced back at the Gem leader again. Garnet was still trapped in the larger monster’s hold as another one of its hands rushed for her face, roughly shoving her shades off and revealing all three of her huge, terror-filled eyes. As caught up in her frozen fear as she was, the Gem leader hardly noticed the kids trying their best to beat the still numerous smaller mutants away only for more of them to keep coming without any seeming end in sight. But even amidst this, Garnet suddenly spoke up, her usually strong, stoic voice completely shaken, almost broken even, as she finally explained exactly what these creatures were.

“T-these… these were Crystal Gems…” she choked, tears starting to stream down her cheeks as the mutant pressed its hand against her face. “S-shattered into pieces during the war… They were buried together… T-they were forced together… They were forced to fuse!”

Needless to say that upon learning the truth about these monsters, the kids were all aptly shocked, though they all immediately understood why Garnet was so petrified by them. As horrific and unimaginable as it was, these grotesque, twisted monsters were composed of the broken remains of her former comrades, Gems she had known, fought with, likely even befriended back during the war. They had been merged, against their will, together into these nightmarish fusions, if they could even be called that, with no way of breaking free and barely any sentience left to speak of as they acted on pure, mindless instinct alone. In all honesty, it was almost enough to send the kids into the tears that Garnet herself was already completely lost in.

“T-this… this is wrong…” Garnet’s voice was little more than a heartbroken whisper as she stared at the mess of conjoined gemstones positioned at the fusion monster’s core. Her voice wavered even more as she began speaking to the creature itself, her tears still falling hard and heavy as she offered them a weak apology that would never be enough to suffice for the amount of suffering they were likely going through. “I… I-I didn’t… None of us knew you were… t-that they would… None of y-you deserved… I… I’m sorry!”

The Gem leader let out a loud, agonized shout as her immense emotions finally started to overwhelm her, to the point that they quickly began to compromise her completely. With both of her halves in absolute despair and disarray, the white light of unfusion began to consume her, her form still shaking as the fusion monster continued to cling onto her tightly.

“Garnet!” all three of the kids gasped in shocked unison, especially as a large gaping hole began to spread through the Gem leader’s midsection, another sign of her all to quickly falling apart.

“No!” Steven cried, his shield still holding up as he shoved another mutant back, shuddering as the gap in the Gem leader’s form began to widen. “Garnet, you’re coming undone! T-this isn’t like you!”

“Y-yeah! You gotta keep it together!” Mabel pleaded just as anxiously as she took out a smaller creature with her grappling hook before Dipper covered her by stabbing through another one. “This is all really messed up, yeah, but remember what you told us! You’re way more than any of this! You’re Garnet!”

Upon hearing this, the Gem leader’s tightly shut eyes flew open, this distraught, yet truthful reminder filling both of her struggling halves with the motivation she so desperately needed. All at once, her manner suddenly shifted, her grief and fear turning to righteous fury, not towards the forceful amalgamation of her fallen allies, but of the ones who had done such a horrible thing to them in the first place. With a courageous shout, Garnet pressed her hands against the limbs restraining her, the gap in her form starting to close as she fought back with sheer, outraged ferocity. Though she was still engulfed by obscuring light, she pushed the mutant away from her with a powerful blow before rushing towards it, this time completely on the offense. As she pushed heavily against the creature, its four abnormal, oversized eyes appeared around its clustered gem, all of them staring at her almost pleadingly, as if they were silently begging for her to release them. And that’s exactly what she did. The unfusing glow disappeared from her, her halves still united as she literally ripped the forced fusion apart, its monstrous form poofing away in a momentous explosion of smoke. Garnet quickly bubbled its remaining gemstone mere seconds after it hit the floor, her manner still tense and rigid and silent, even as the kids breathed a shared sigh of relief behind her.

“So… is it bad that all of this somehow wasn’t the most disturbing thing we’ve seen this summer?” Dipper asked rather stiffly, his sword still drawn just in case any more mutants showed up. “Because even if its not, its… pretty up there on the list…”

“But we did it!” Steven exclaimed with a newfound allayed smile. “We beat them back!”

“And its all thanks to you, Garnet!” Mabel chimed in, brightly at first, though all of the kids’ smiles faded as they looked to the silent Gem leader with concern, especially as she kept her back turned to them. “Garnet?”

“So this is what Homeworld thinks of fusion…” Garnet suddenly growled to herself, an edge of ferocity that could only belong to Ruby in her tone as she glared down at the bubbled gem resting over her palm. “W-we couldn’t have known they would do this…” she seemed to reply to herself, her voice softer, sadder, much more like Sapphire’s, before she exploded into anger again. “This is where they’ve been. All the ones we couldn’t find. They’ve been here the whole time! And Homeworld’s been doing… this to them! Rose couldn’t have known… We couldn’t have known… This is punishment for the rebellion! We could have stopped this! We could have saved them! It’s not our fault!”

“Garnet!” Steven fearfully exclaimed upon hearing the Gem leader let out a distraught sob. All three of the kids were still quite unsettled to see Garnet in such a rarely vulnerable, shaken form, but she was quick to start regaining her composure as she sent the bubbled clustered gem away, turning to the trio behind her with a soft, strained expression.

“K-kids…” she began, all three of her eyes looking down to them with unspoken apologies for her moment of weakness. It was clear that there was much she wanted to say to them, but she didn’t get the chance as the tense moment was abruptly interupted, though fortunately, not by fusion mutants this time.

“Yo!” Amethyst called as her, Pearl, and Stan slid down into the control room. “We’re back!”

“Garnet, we lost Peridot,” Pearl reported regretfully. “We had a plan to catch her but it…”

“It fell through,” Stan finished, smirking in slight amusement as he crossed his arms. “Literally!”

“Whoa!” the purple Gem gasped upon noticing one of the lingering fusion mutants crawling up onto her. “Check out those freaky things!”

“W-what are they?” Pearl asked, unnerved as she picked the pair of conjoined hands up.

“I’ll tell ya what they could be,” Stan remarked, grabbing another stray mutant with an intrigued grin. “The Mystery Shack’s newest headlining attraction! People would eat these creepy little suckers right up!”

“Put them down!” Garnet suddenly ordered, her tone incredibly harsh as her shades returned. Stan and Pearl were quick to do so, alarmed by her fierce manner just as much as the kids were, even if they understood where it came from. “We need to poof and bubble all of them,” the Gem leader commanded coldly, raising her fist over the mutant Pearl had dropped before bringing it down in a heavy, brutal swing. “We can’t let any escape.”

Though the horrific disaster in the Kindergarten was over, it was safe to say that the kids were still somewhat shaken by everything they had seen in that control room. It was for that reason that they had unanimously decided to regroup the next day, for both the sake of helping Steven with his last bit of laundry, as well as to discuss and debrief from it all.

“So… what do you think Peridot wanted to do with all those fusion monsters from yesterday?” Mabel asked the boys with a fretful frown as they headed for the warp pad.

“Isn’t it obvious?” Dipper retorted with resurgent disdain for the green Gem. “She probably wants to use them as weapons or something and sick them on all of us. Seeing as how she’s already tried to kill us with robots and a spaceship, it really wouldn’t be that surprising if she was trying to do it with reanimated Gem mutants.”

“I don’t know… those Gems… they didn’t really seem to know what they were doing…” Steven noted solemnly as they congregated onto the warp pad to go up to one of the temple statue’s hands. “If anything, they all seemed to be really… scared. And… like Garnet said, they used to be Crystal Gems! So I don’t think they’d want to attack us on purpose…”

“Uh, speaking of Garnet, how’s she doing?” Mabel asked with concern as they warped up to the hand, where the washer and dryer awaited.

“Oh, well, she’s-” Steven cut himself off as they arrived, only to find the Gem leader herself casually leaning against the statue’s thumb. “Right here, apparently.”

“Oh, hi, Garnet,” Mabel greeted with a small smile. “How’s it going?”

“Still damp,” Garnet replied, nodding over to the washing machine.

“Oh, right, the clothes,” Steven said, heading over to take care of his laundry. “I guess that makes sense. There are towels in there.”

“Wait a second, how does the washer and dryer work all the way up here?” Dipper asked, rather confused. “Is there like, some kind of special plumbing system or does something else make them run?”

“It’s magic,” Garnet said with a flashy wave of her hand and a small, joking smile. The kids shared a warm laugh over this, but it quickly died out as the Gem leader looked away, her arms crossed and her expression unreadable.

“Um… a-are you… alright?” Steven asked worriedly, remembering just how distraught and panicked his guardian had been the previous day, traits that she was certainly not known for.

“…I wish you three hadn’t seen that…” Garnet answered, her tone steady, but still layered with hints of remorse.

“Oh, its ok,” the young Gem assured gently.

“Yeah, I mean, we were all kind of freaking out down there,” Dipper said with a small shrug. “And given what we were up against, I think we had every reason to be.”

“It’s not ok,” the Gem leader countered, shaking her head.

“…W-why not?” Mabel asked, rather tentatively.

“What Homeworld did,” Garnet began, her expression darkening as she looked down. “Taking the shards and parts of fallen Gems and combining them. Those Gems weren’t asked permission to be fused together like that. Fusion is a choice; those Gems weren’t given a choice. It isn’t right. It isn’t fusion!”

The kids all went silent upon hearing the Gem leader’s resurgent anger over the matter, all of them realizing exactly why she had every reason to be angry. After all, she was a fusion herself; the concept was deeply important to her, it was everything she was. And to see it be tarnished and distorted in such a twisted way no doubt filled her with a kind of fury she couldn’t fully begin to describe.

But even so, as the dryer beeped, Steven glanced up to his guardian again, still rather worried for her in light of everything that had happened. “W-what’s it like?” he asked, both curious and anxious. “Being a fusion?”

Garnet glanced over to the kids at this, her expression once again stoic as she offered a terse response. “You all have fused.”

“I mean, like, all the time,” the young Gem clarified. “Do you forget who you used to be when you’re together?”

The Gem leader finally smiled at this, glancing down at the gemstones on her palms. “You forget you were ever alone. You all know, that when you fuse, you don’t feel like two people. You feel like one being. And your old names might as well be names for your right arm, and your left.”

“So… when you split up, is it like you disappear?” Mabel asked, remembering fearing the exact same thing happening with Maven not too long ago.

“I embody my—I mean, Ruby and Sapphire’s love,” Garnet assured. “I’ll always exist in them, even if they split apart. But the strength of that love keeps me together, so I can stay Garnet for a very long time.”

“That’s why you’re so great,” Steven finished with a bright, warm smile.

The Gem leader let out a small chuckle at this, one that the kids all joined in on. Regardless of the horrors they had witnessed in the Kindergarten the previous day, one thing was still clear: Garnet was still there, still keeping it together, still existing as the ultimate proclamation of Ruby and Sapphire’s love for one another. And try as they might to pervert the image of fusion through mutant monsters and forced amalgamations, that was something that Homeworld would never be able to destroy.

This warm moment continued until a gust of wind passed by, blowing a blue and white sock out Steven’s laundry basket. The young Gem gasped as the sock was carried by the abrupt breeze, nearly off of the statue’s hand entirely until Garnet managed to catch it at the very last second. “Don’t wanna break up a pair,” she smiled, handing the sock back to her young ward.

“Yeah,” Steven grinned, folding the blue sock back together with its matching pink counterpart, together, just as they were supposed to be. “They belong together.”

Next:

[cavendish-dakota-central]

Reassignment + Cavendish & Dakota

This kinda got away from me but turned out better than I thought so here we go.

Summary: Basically, Cavendish gets news that he’s finally going to be reassigned from “Pistachio Duties” to take on “Class C through B Level Missions”, which is his dream. It’s his chance to actually change the world for the better- but there’s a catch. He’ll be separated from Dakota, who will be taken out of the field. Why the sudden offer? Why the catch? And what will Cavendish do about it?

Word Count: About 2482

Balthazar wasn’t sure when it had happened, but at some point between him meeting his new field partner Vinnie Dakota, and they day he recieved news of their- he meant… their individual- reassignments, he realized that he wouldn’t want things any other way. It was strange. For years, all he had dreamed of was moving on to bigger things. Making his mark and all his personal time in training worth while. Yet now that a chance to actually save the world from it’s own event arrose- not just one he’s been a part of inadvertantly causing-, he hesitated to take it. “That’s great news! You’re really moving up in the world now!” Dakota had cheered when Cavendish had gotten their newest mission papers from the Time Bureau one late morning. They’d gone out for a heavy breakfast at a decent-enough resturaunt in Swampy City around 10 a.m., and had returned just before the latest message came in grom H.Q.. Cavendish had excitedly opened it in hopes of a better mission, like he did every day since they were first assigned to this Pistachio Protecting Duty- only to find that his hopes had finally been answered; with one unexpected catch. “You’ll finally be able to save the world like you’ve always wanted! I mean, yeah, technically we did with that whole Nutjob-ers- job… - but now you can fix something WE didn’t cause!” Cavendish heard his friend’s encouragement but somehow he just couldn’t applaud it. The letter said that they were to be reassigned- to separate other time agents. Cavendish would be partnered up again to someone else for class C-through-B missions while Vinnie would return to running base operations. Class B or C missions were a WORLD ABOVE their current jobs. It was like moving up the heiarchy from newbie directly to a leader, with only the ‘experts’ above you. Missions of those levels would involve things that could actually benefit humanity as a whole! Plaugue outbreak prevention, the protection of possible future world leaders, the assurance of inventions being created at their proper time, all those and more were ahead for him! But Base Operations? For Dakota? No. Dakota was… special. It had taken Cavendish quite a while to see it, but eventually he did. Dakota was BRILLIANT. He was quick in a pinch and strong when he chose to be. He was a skilled agent who was probably only paired with a new agent like Cavendish himself because Dakota wasn’t really… like the other agents. He didn’t conform in the slightest. He had a strong personality and Cavendish was sure by now that it was the only problem the Bureau really had with him. If they could get him under their control, Dakota would be their prized posession. The only thing holding Dakota back from being at the top was that he didn’t want to be. From what Cavendish could piece together, Dakota had accomplished what he’d set out to do and would now rather just be himself before bending to any will of the Bureau. Cavendish wanted to say those were the only reason he was hesitating. That he was simply as good an Englishman as he tried to lead others to believe. But if he was being brutally honest, his mind was also flooding with purely selfish reasons for his hesitance. The biggest one was that he simply couldn’t do it without Dakota. That was, as far as he was concerned, a fact. There was something about how they balanced each other out that he knew would be ruined if they went their separate ways. He used to prove it otherwise, but he couldn’t. Cavendish knew he could get stubborn when his frustration replaced determination- which happened quite often- to complete a mission, which he knew could make him a little tunnel-visioned. That’s why- he’d come to realize- it took Dakota’s relaxed composure and observadness to make everything function, dispite their mission failures. If he went the wrong way, Dakota would immediately know what to do to get them back on track. Or if he had something wrong, Dakota would know just when and how to step in to resolve it. Any other partner wouldn’t be able to do what Dakota did literally effortlessly every day. And somehow Cavendish also knew that without his somewhat rediculous efforts for success, Dakota would quickly get bored at some deskjob and cause as much trouble as he often seemed to lacked in mission motivation. They walked a fine line where they were each a side of a beam used to cross a typrope that took two opposites to find a middle. Even if Dakota did manage to do well at his desk job or get tranfered to a different job that sent him back out to the field, Cavendish just knew that the odds of any partner being as good as Dakota were… near to nothing. “Hey Cav!” Cavendish glanced away from the paper to see Vinnie sitting on the couch in their current office area. He was beaming away like he HADN’T just heard he was going to be taken out of the field. “You okay?” Cavendish nodded slowly. “Yes. It’s just…. It’s a lot to take in.” “Of course! You’re finally getting to what you’ve always wanted!” Cavendish smiled slightly, hoping it would help the tight feeling he felt in his chest and the pain he felt just below it. “Yes. Yes it is. Though, a bit of a surprise honestly.” He wished he could be even more honest. “I think… I need a walk. If I am indeed off pistachio duty I’d like a few moment to let it sink in. This reassignment would be life-changing.” He gave a chuckle but it only further knotted his chest. He was quickly out of the room and down to the sidewalk nearly before he had realized it. ‘It isn’t about oppertunity!’ He told himself quietly. ‘It’s a new mission! It’s not like it’s even a choise!’ He wanted to believe it but every sentence just made him a little more confused. He knew the Bureau would see his value some day and this was THAT day! He was going to be given a chance! Him! Just… without… Dakota. He grumbled a kicked a pebble from his path. Why did they have to move Dakota? Why did the bureau have something against him? Why did they give Cavendish an amazing partner only to take him away? He took a heavy breath and stopped his agressive speedwalking for a moment. He was already back in front of their office. He had gone right around the block. He hurried inside. “Dakota, I can’t accept the job if it means you will to be stuck serving snobby field agents instead of being out there with them! We both know you belong in the field!” Dakota chuckled from where he layed over the couch, same as before, only now with a mysterious bag of pretzels from who knows where. “Don’t be rediculous.” The short of the pair said, sitting up on the couch. “This is exactly what you’ve been waiting for! I’ve done what I set out to do. I’ll just try to get stationed sometime in the early 21st century when my parents live. I’ll be great!” Cavendish squinted at him with disbelief. “But you should be out changing the world! Maybe even more than I should be.” He admitted with stern confidence. He held his head as high as always, not cowering away from the truth of the comment he’d made in his own expense. Dakota rolled his eyes with a small smile. “You’re just nervous. But I know just the thing.” Cavendish took a deep breath and waited a long several seconds. The tension he’d felt quickly abate before finally giving in. “Alright. What is it?” “It’s a story my parents often told me.” He shrugged with an unconcealable smile. “I think you could use it’s wisdom.” Another several seconds passed before the taller of the two finally sat down on the couch next to his friend. Cavendish easily relinquished the conversation to him. “Regardless. What’s the story?” Dakota grinned for a moment and offered his pretzels- to which Cavendish politely declined- before beginning. “Well, there’s a LOT to it, but it was basically about this pair. The two met through work and used to fight more than there are details to this story.” He chuckled as if he had reminded himself of something, but it only lasted a moment. “They annoyed each other to no end, but everyday they had to spent together was another in which they started to understand the other a little more. They developed an understanding of who they other person really was and why they were the way they were. It progressed until eventually they became friends so gradually they barely noticed- and their fighting became just what they did because they didn’t know what else TO do.” Dakota dug through his one-serving pretzel bag for a particular one before continuing. “Then, finally, they realized that the one thing to do was work together- but they didn’t know how to just stop being them. That was, until one of them realized they needed to change their ways and do what really made them happy.” He paused for a brief moment before adding with a poke at Cavendish’s collarbone, “I think that person’s you.” Cavendish’s eyes narrowed before taking a moment to check the state of his lapels. “They told you a story that directly corresponds to our current situation?” Vinnie smiled a little oddly but replied without hesitation. “They’re pretty smart people.” Cavendish let out an amused huff before standing up. He turned to shake his soon-to-be ex-partner’s hand. “I… suppose….- It’ll been interesting then.” He decided. Dakota licked his fingers as he stood up before wiping his hand on his jacket before shaking Cavendish’s hand. Didn’t Dakota know that annoyed him by now? Was he making a special effort just to do so now? He supposed, given the circumstances, he’d give Dakota a pass. “Contact me where and when you’re stationed and I’ll try to visit.” Dakota smiled back with excitement. “I’ll try, Bigshot!” Cavendish smiled just slightly before adjusting the quantum locator to send them back to the Bureau. They were there in seconds. “I’d better check in then.” He said, at a loss for a better farewell. It was all so… anticlimactic. “I’ll see you around!” Cavendish couldn’t believe he was really just walking away. He couldn’t bring himself to look back as he did so either. It would be too difficult. He had to go do what he knew he was destined to do! He was going to go save the world! - He made his way to Mr. Block’s, their boss’s, office without much trouble. “Sir?” He knocked. “Ah yes. I suppose your here about your reassignment. Everything you need to know is already at the front desk and you’d know that if you didn’t just barge into my office as you please!” Cavendish cleared his throat, trying to find the confidence he usually so easily had. “I’m here about the reassignement, but not for the details. I want you to reinstate Dakota as my partner!… sir….” “Are you kidding me?!” His superior said, somewhere between anger and disbelief. “Um. No, sir?” Cavendish said more meekly. He was worried about another outburst, but there was none per se. Mr. Block sighed. “You two are exhausting! First you want this position, and then your partner vouches for you in exchange for whatever position I CHOSE to assign him, and now you think YOU can just COME ON HERE AND DEMAND CHANGES?!” Cavendish didn’t cower an inch. But then again, maybe it was just the shock and racing of his mind to process this new information that kept him from moving. “Dakota… vouched for me…? …Sir?” Mr. Block threw his head back. “Typical! Now listen here. You two need to stop messing around.” He practically growled in frustration before reaching a decision. “You know what?! Fine! Stay partners! But then I’m only moving you two to class E missions! -And that’s only because I keep getting complaints about how I’m wasting ‘valuable assets’ and I don’t want them trying to go over my head! If that happened then I’d DEFINATELY have to give you SOMETHING. Now just- get out of my office before I change my mind!” “Yes, sir! Thank you, sir!” Cavendish thanked nearly as quickly as he hurried out of the office. The second he shut the door behind him he hurried away from it, only to find himself face to face with Dakota. “What’d you do now?” He teased. Cavendish didn’t answer the question. “You… you vouched for me?” He instead inquired carefully. Dakota rubbed the back of his neck with one hand in emberressment. “It wasn’t so much as that as was try to get you the job you wanted. You’re too headstrong for my blood anyways.” He joked. Cavendish froze in place for a few moments. “He said we can be partners again. For class E missions,” He quickly added, “but partners nonetheless.” “You want us to stay partners?” Vinnie replied with a mild amount of geniune surprise. “You’d RATHER we stay partners?” “Of course.” Cavendish said as if it was obvious. Then he tensed, “Don’t you?” Dakota grinned. “Of course I do!” They both smiled for a few moments before suddenly realizing they were still much to close to their angry boss’s office. They headed down the hall and outside to the fresh air of 2175. Cars flew by around and above the translucent blue forcefield awning above the somewhat large outside balcony that was littered with plants. “It’s kinda-a cliche line, but there’s just one thing I don’t get. Why did you give up on becoming a top agent for ME? You always tell me how you wanna save the world! Why not just go do it?” “It’s like your little story said.” Cavendish joked, though he secretly meant it. “I chose to do what would make me happy- pestering you and going on time travel missions!” Dakota chuckled. “Yeah, I guess so. I think that would make me happy too.” There was a pause as they both looked out to the skyline of their city, both sure that this path would indeed make them both very happy. “Now it’s my turn to say ‘there’s only one thing’.” Cavendish started. Dakota chuckled. “Alright. Shoot.” He paused. “Your story.” He carefully searched his mind for the right words before deciding that simple was best in this case. “Did they choose what would make them happy?” Dakota smiled. “Yeah. I guess they did. It’s the story of how my parents ended up together after all.”

[Notes: In this universe Perry and Heinz are his parents bc I’m perryshmirtz trash lol This was fun to write Sorry for spelling and grammer mistakes as usual. It happens ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ]

[b-o-s-t-o-n]

Infatuated- Part IX

"Sometimes all you can do is lie in bed, and hope to fall asleep before you fall apart." -William C. Hannan

The next morning, Spencer woke up earlier than Morgan and got in the shower first. He thought maybe the steam from the hot water would help eliminate the heavy bags under his eyes from the sleepless night. Reid had tossed and turned for hours, his mind constantly on Belle.

It wasn't like he didn't want to show off to the whole team, particularly Morgan, that he had managed to get such a smoke show of a woman. Of course, Spencer wanted everyone to know Belle was his. 

But, he knew how their job worked. The more people you loved, the easier it was to get hurt. Criminals who wanted nothing more than to see you pay for locking them up would use anything to get back at you, including hurting your loved ones.

That's why Reid couldn't have people knowing Belle and him were together. It was just too risky. He'd already lost everyone, he couldn't lose her, too.

Reid washed his hair in an attempt to shake his mind from Belle, but it wasn't working. He kept thinking about how much he wished she was in the shower with him, pressed up against his body.

He cursed at himself when he felt that all-too-familiar twitch from down between his legs.

Reid sighed, giving up on the shower idea completely. The images of a soapy, wet Belle that danced around in his head were making things much more complicated than they needed to be.

He shut the water off and wrapped a towel around his torso, trying his best to hide the slight rise of fabric near his crotch.

Spencer shuffled back into the room, keeping his back to Morgan. Luckily, he was still asleep. Reid threw on some pants, a dress shirt, a purple cardigan, and mismatching socks.

"Wake up, Hotch said to be at the PD early," Spencer said, twirling his damp towel up to use as a whip. 

He smacked Morgan with it until he finally rolled over and got up for the day.

..

Emily and Belle got up early and waited for JJ in the lobby of the hotel. The three of them made their way across the street to the Seattle police station and went into the room that had been sectioned off for the BAU.

"Oh wow, we even have a coffee machine in here," JJ pointed out, walking over to the table that had been set up the night before. 

There were bagels and donuts displayed alongside a coffee machine with all sorts of different flavors.

After setting up a map of Seattle on a white board, Belle made her way over to the coffee machine. Out of habit, she grabbed two cups. One for her, and one for the boy she was mad at. 

She sighed before putting one back down. Belle didn't like fighting with Reid, but she wasn't going to cave.

After making her coffee the way she liked it, Belle turned back to her work. All four of the men came into the room, late as usual.

"Alright, let's get to work," Hotch announced, even though JJ, Emily, and Belle were already working. 

They each went off and did the tasks they were given in order to make up a profile, which they would later give to the local policemen.

"Hey," Belle heard a voice from behind her as she jotted down the locations of where each victim was found.

It was Reid's voice.

"Hey," she said, nonchalantly.

"Can we talk?" He whispered, clearly trying not to create any attention on them.

Because god forbid anyone knew that they were a thing!

"About the case, sure," Belle said, giving the pettiest fake smile she could muster. 

She wanted him to know that he wasn't going to get off so easily.

"Everything okay?" Hotch questioned, giving both of them a confused look from the other side of the table.

"Yep, just helping out my good friend Spencer here with some evidence!" Belle said sarcastically before patting his back a little too hard. 

She got up from her seat and trudged out the door to call the forensic analyst on duty. She had innocent lives to worry about right now, Reid could wait.

"Reid, Morgan, Hopkins, go talk to the family of the latest victim," Hotch said, snapping them out of their work. 

Belle rolled her eyes as she got up, making sure Reid saw her.

..

Belle walked ahead of the two boys into the parking lot. 

She didn't want to get stuck sitting next to Reid, so she chose to take the back seat. This way, he couldn't stare at her unless he turned all the way around, which would be way too obvious in front of Morgan.

"I'll drive, pretty boy," Derek stated the obvious.

Belle buckled her seat belt and waited for the other two to settle into their seats. Morgan started the ignition and put the car in drive.

They sat in silence for the first five minutes of the car ride, which was unusual for those three. Whenever there was a combination of Spencer, Derek, Emily, or Belle together, there were always a lot of jokes being tossed around. They were the four youngest, after all. Plus, they were all currently single.

Belle cringed at the thought.

Derek seemed to notice the tension in the air because he decided to break it.

"What's up with you two today?" Morgan questioned, glancing over at Reid before looking at Belle in the rearview mirror.

Neither of them answered.

"Belle, the daggers that are your eyes right now could cut a bitch. And Reid, you're way more boring than usual. What's going on?" He pressed, not giving up.

"I'm just tired," Reid finally spoke up. "Jet lag probably."

"Yeah, what he said," Belle replied harshly, crossing my arms. 

The rest of the ride was just as awkward until Belle's phone rang.

Penelope.

Thank god.

"Hi P!" She said, excited by the interruption.

"Hey B! Guess who's in Seattle!!!" Penelope shouted. 

Belle moved the phone away from her ear until she was quiet.

"Me, unfortunately," Belle groaned, catching Reid's eyes staring at her in the rearview mirror. 

She quickly looked down at her knees.

"No, my little puff pastry. I am!" Garcia shouted again.

"Wait why?!" Belle asked, trying not to sound rude. 

She was just surprised.

"Because! Hotch said Seattle would be experiencing rolling black outs this weekend and asked if I would fly out. You know, so my tech-like super powers can be at your service," she squealed on the other side of the phone, making Belle laugh.

"Maybe this case won't suck after all," she said, making sure that both men in front of her could hear.

"We're so partying it up in the hotel tonight," Penelope said, causing her to smile.

"No boys allowed," Belle said in return.

..

Belle spent the rest of the day avoiding Reid at all costs. 

She made sure to stand as far away from him as possible when they delivered the profile. 

Anytime she had to speak to him about something involving the case, she looked anywhere but his eyes. 

She could tell it was getting to him, because he barely even flinched when a local officer nearly spilled her entire iced coffee on his lap. Normally, Reid would freak out at something like that, being the germaphobe that he is. 

But, he was too busy studying Belle from afar to even notice.

Belle wrapped up her section of work as fast as she could and headed back to the hotel. Emily, JJ, and Penelope said they'd be right behind her, so she took the time she had alone to take a much needed shower. 

Belle knew Reid wouldn't be following her anytime soon because he had barely gotten any work done. He was so distracted by her ability to ignore him that he had fallen behind on his tasks and would have to stay late.

Maybe if he didn't feel the need to hide their relationship, he wouldn't be slacking, Belle thought to herself...

Whatever their relationship even was, that is.

After her shower, Belle looked through her go-bag for something clean to sleep in. The girls and Belle were planning to have a little get together in their room, but she wouldn't have to look decent for that. 

Belle dug through her bag, flinging clothes all over the bed. 

For some reason, her dumb ass had only packed red lace lingerie for the entirety of the trip. She knew she hadn't done laundry in a while, mainly because she had been spending so many nights at Reid's, but she could have sworn she had packed something else. 

Belle sighed, giving up on the idea of finding something more comfortable. She threw on the bra and matching thong, small bows included, and an extra large FBI academy sweatshirt. 

She figured the girls wouldn't mind if she didn't wear pants.

..

"You're wasted!" JJ laughed, pointing at Emily as she attempted to balance on her head, which she failed at miserably.

"Am not!" Emily retorted with slurred words. 

She collapsed onto the bed and they all burst into laughter. Emily really thought she was an acrobat or something.

"Ok, Penelope, your turn!" Emily said when they had all collected themselves.

"I pick truth!" Penelope said with a drunken hiccup. 

JJ started to boo her.

"That's so boring," Belle said, giving Penny a light shove.

"Emily's dares are terrifying!" She defended herself. 

Belle agreed with her there, especially when Emily was this drunk.

"Ok, ok, fine. Penelope, if you could, which guy on the team would you ba-"

"MORGAN," Penelope interrupted, sending them all into another fit of giggles.

"I guess that was pretty obvious. I'd pick Hotch, though," Emily said, taking another swig from her bottle of wine.

"Ew, what the hell, Em!" JJ said, making them laugh even harder.

"Hotch is kinda cute, for an older guy," Belle said to his defense. 

This caught Emily's attention.

"So you'd pick him too?" She asked, happy to have someone agree with her.

"Wait, what, no," Belle said, shaking her head vigorously. 

She thought Hotch was cute, but she didn't want to bang him.

"Then who?" Emily pressed.

Belle prayed the blush on her face would go unnoticed because of the amount of wine everyone had had.

"It's obviously Morgan," Penelope said sarcastically, still thinking about her chocolate thunder.

"Oh my god, no!" Belle protested again.

"Well, Rossi is like your dad, so that only leaves one person," JJ chimed in with a smirk. 

Belle could literally feel the heat rising to her face.

"No-"

Belle was interrupted by a knock on the door. Relieved, she jumped up off the bed.

"I'll get it!" She said as she ran away before they could say anything else. 

At this point, nothing could be worse than being harassed by the three of them, so Belle didn't care who was at the door. She glanced at the mirror in the bathroom to make sure she looked presentable in case it was Hotch telling them to get back to the station. She turned the door handle and pulled it open.

Reid.

She had spoken too soon.

"Please talk to me," he said without giving her a chance to even say hello. Belle fought with herself internally on whether or not she should slam the door in his face or hear him out. She was a nice drunk, so she decided on the second option.

"IS THAT SPENCEY?" They heard one of the girls screech in the back. 

Reid towered over Belle, so he could easily look behind her. A grin spread on his lips.

"Am I interrupting something?" He asked in an incredibly amused tone. 

Something about his female coworkers getting absolutely trashed was hilarious to him.

Belle pushed him out into the hallway to avoid any further embarrassment from her lovely girlfriends.

"Uh, no," she stammered, shutting the door behind her. 

He laughed at her flustered state.

"You're drunk, Belle," he said, looking at her glazed over eyes.

"I'm literally not," she said, trying to sound as sober as possible. 

She was completely plastered.

"Ok, well, 1. you are, and 2. I came to apologize," Reid said, taking a step closer.

"Apologize for what," Belle fired back, crossing her arms. 

If he was truly sorry, he'd say what for.

"For ignoring you at work and not wanting to tell people about us," he paused. "But, you have to understand where I'm coming from. If people know we have a thing, it'll only get complicated. And I don't wanna see you get hurt, Belle. You know, statistics show-"

"Spence," Belle said, putting a finger up to his lips. 

She had missed touching them.

"Hmm?" He hummed into her finger. 

The vibration sent a shiver down her spine. God, she had missed him. Plus, she was intoxicated, so she couldn't control herself very well. She suddenly remembered what she had on underneath her sweatshirt.

"You know, if you admit to everyone that you like me, you can get used to seeing these," Belle said, slowly lifting her sweatshirt up to reveal her cherry-colored lingerie. 

She watched Reid's pupils dilate as he took in the sight in front of him.

"Belle," he gulped as she moved closer to him. She removed the sweatshirt completely and put her arms around his neck. He tried to fight it, but his hands instinctively moved to her waist. Belle smirked to herself.

"Yeah baby?" She pouted seductively.

"Stop-" his words trailed off as she pressed her body against his. She was trying her hardest to tease him, and it seemed to be working.

"All you gotta do is tell the team you're mine," Belle said, looking up at him from under her lashes. 

Her hand made its way to his thigh, causing him to freeze in place. She moved her mouth so it was inches from his.

"Belle, no," he said, pushing her away softly. 

She backed up against her door.

"Spence," Belle whispered.

"I can't do this. Not when you're this drunk. And not with our whole team down the hall. I can't have them finding out abou-"

"Are you fucking serious, Spence?" She interrupted him, causing him to stop mid sentence. "Do you really think I can't take care of myself? What's the worst that could happen? I'm a federal agent, after all!" She said, going from horny to angry in seconds.

"No, that's not what I meant-"

"Then what did you mean?! Cause it really seems like you just don't want to be linked to me. Am I really that awful?" Maybe she wasn't a nice drunk.

"Belle, I never said that. You're completely twisting my words-"

"Well, you didn't have to say it. It's clear that this was only about sex for you, so now I look like the idiot for thinking that maybe, just maybe! Spencer Reid could actually like someone like me. Obviously I was wrong!" Belle screamed, unaware that hotel guests were now coming out of their rooms to see what was going on. 

They looked horrified to see a woman in nothing but lingerie yelling at a fully clothed man. 

Belle turned around and stuck her key into the door.

"Belle, wait, that isn't-" She slammed the door shut and slid down it, bursting into a fit of uncontrollable sobs.

[vampire-core]

/post/161320161315 every single Fucking cmnc character. every single one. trust me dude (if u want!!!)

fucken hell yeah hyperfixation time

FRANCES

A: what I think realistically

tbh frances seems like the type of person where playin the piano is like. a coping mechanism for her?? like if shes stressed/angry/havin a Bad Time she either

a: plays a Sad Tune to angst

b: plays something AGGRESSIVE to get her anger out

c, a rare option: plays smth happy to take her mind off it

bc she seems like the person to Wallow in her own sadness tbh im guessin c is Rare but

B: what I think is fucking hilarious

frances wears horribly fucking clashing colors like. bright neon orange and the ugliest brown-green mixed and goes out like that in sunglasses

C: what is heart-crushing and awful but fun to inflict on friends

frances didnt have a good home and she got with junior to get Out of it and then he turned out to be a piece of shit and her life just spiraled Down

D: what would never work with canon but the canon is shit so I believe it anyway

shes an agender lesbian with three gfs

HENRY

A: what I think realistically

tbh henry totally seems like hed learn to bake for nancy like. i know hes in-canon a horrible cook but like. imagine this sweetie taking secret baking lessons for like Forever and then he surprises nancy on her bday with like. a rlly nice homemade cake and they cry together :’)

B: what I think is fucking hilarious

henry is a clumsy-ass Shit so he breaks things like 384723897423894x and once he managed to break a vase nancy Really liked and she walked in on him Coated in glue and just. “what are you doing” “no nothing what nothing is broken” “henry the vases shards and glue are both everywhere” “everything is fine nancy”

also nancy being at the store and henry seeing a spider and screaming on the counter until she got home

C: what is heart-crushing and awful but fun to inflict on friends

henry living with the eternal guilt over taking the “wrong” choice even though there was no good choice because he either stayed in a place where no issues were being worked out or he left :^)

D: what would never work with canon but the canon is shit so I believe it anyway

hes a trans bABY AND I LOVE HIM SO FUCKIN MUCH

NANCY

A: what I think realistically

tbh i can imagine her bein in a book club but being the Shy One who never talks during meetings

also i can imagine her learning to paint and Loving It and showing henry the paintings which show what her world is like and hes like “:00!!!”

B: what I think is fucking hilarious

NANCY SPRITING AROUND IN HIGH HEELS TRYING TO CRUSH A SPIDER WHILE SHE AND HENRY BOTH FUCKING SOB BECAUSE SHE CANT MANAGE TO KILL THE SPIDER

C: what is heart-crushing and awful but fun to inflict on friends

nancy living with crushing guilt and abandonment issues but hiding it because she doesnt want to bother henry and she keeps randomly crying :)))

D: what would never work with canon but the canon is shit so I believe it anyway

shes genderfluid as FUCK and has a gf

BONUS: JUNIOR

A: what I think realistically

tbh this dude is fuckin Shitty and hes def the type of dude to have like 3 gfs at once but not an open relationship just straight-up cheating

B: what I think is fucking hilarious

in a modern au junior discovers furry culture and refuses to wear anything but a pigeon fursuit for three years straight

C: what is heart-crushing and awful but fun to inflict on friends

he left frances with more trauma than she mayb had :))))

D: what would never work with canon but the canon is shit so I believe it anyway

hes a fuckin furry. let him be a FURRY MAKE HENRY BUFF AGAIN I THINK YOU MEAN MAKE JUNIOR A PIGEON AGAIN

BONUS: PATTY

A: what I think realistically

she has a Huge family and sends all of them christmas cards, and she only has one great-niece who cares enough to reply and visit and stuff and sometimes the neice brings her kids and patty fuckin loves kids and spoils em like a grandchild

also she sends christmas cards to her neighbors and invites them over for dinner weekly

B: what I think is fucking hilarious

she sews and she once had an awful neighbor who was a total bitch so she bought this cheap-ass shirt, fixed it up in a day, but it looked new and beautifully made and the neighbor felt so bad and patty just. >:3c dont be a bitch

the neighbor got to keep the gift tho and was Nicer and patty was :3c

C: what is heart-crushing and awful but fun to inflict on friends

she feels SO BAD that she didnt notice henry and nancy being missing sooner bc she ALWAYS wanted to be friends w them both and she loved em to bits

D: what would never work with canon but the canon is shit so I believe it anyway

shes a trans lesbian and has a long-time wife :3c

KENNITH (this ones just gonna be kin shit but shhhh ;))) )

A: what I think realistically

if its not a school day and hes home alone kennith 100000% will Not change out of his pajamas and will yell at you for wearing shoes in his room dont fuckin touch him with your nasty-ass feet stephamie

B: what I think is fucking hilarious

KENNITH GETS SUPER DRUNK AND STARTS FORGETTING THINGS HE JUST DID AND GETTING REALLY FUCKING CONFUSED AS STEPH LAUGHS HER ASS OFF THREE FEET AWAY (based on my own experiences)

C: what is heart-crushing and awful but fun to inflict on friends

kennith has an ed he doesnt know how to deal with and doesnt even think is that Bad so hes just suffering :’))) can relate buddy

D: what would never work with canon but the canon is shit so I believe it anyway

hes trans you cowards and in a qpp with steph

STEPH

A: what I think realistically

steph is Rlly skilled at punching and taught kennith how to punch but also if u rub her back she will Deactivate in .2 seconds so even if she acts tough she has a fuckin self-destruct button and its her back

B: what I think is fucking hilarious

STEPH AND KENNITH MAKING DIRECT EYE CONTACT AS THEY COME UP WITH INCREASINGLY BAD ALTERNATE TITLES FOR A PENIS

C: what is heart-crushing and awful but fun to inflict on friends

steph tends to put on a Happy Face bc she thinks kenniths problems are worse than hers, so she has no help and no clue how to deal with them and just gets worse and worse :’))

D: what would never work with canon but the canon is shit so I believe it anyway

shes a fuckin lesbian in a qpp with kennith you cowards and shes genderfluid

GREG

A: what I think realistically

this man has fuckin Depression my lads and anxiety and tends to self-medicate with weed even tho he Knows its prob not the best option but i mean. hes a retail worker can he afford meds? no

B: what I think is fucking hilarious

if you do Anything greg will probably stay apathetic, and he can say most things with a straight face. he enjoys making completely filthy jokes with an unwavering neutral expression and watching people crumble

C: what is heart-crushing and awful but fun to inflict on friends

……………tbh hed prob think he couldve done More to help kennith after he Died but never did so i can imagine hed feel. kinda guilty sdkjfhsdkf maybe my kin ass is just hopeful

D: what would never work with canon but the canon is shit so I believe it anyway

let him have two moms you cowards (also him and kennith are boyfs dont make the rules my kin ass is GAY)

BONUS: JENNY

A: what I think realistically

….tbh they seem like the type of person who always has a sketchpad and paints a lot and is just Super artsy

B: what I think is fucking hilarious

jenny and kennith lock eyes and they can instantly feel the hatred kennith emits bc t h a t s  h i s  f p  but also they can tell he wants steph to be happy and they can SEE the STRUGGLE on his FACE and he looks kind of like an angry chihuahua

C: what is heart-crushing and awful but fun to inflict on friends

…..tbh i dont have anything for them

D: what would never work with canon but the canon is shit so I believe it anyway

let them be a nonbinary lesbian who draws their gf constantly

BRI (aka kin ass two: electric bogaloo :3c)

A: what I think realistically

tbh they seem like the type of person to have a cat. in my canon it was an orange cat named sherbet B3c they love that cat to Death and show it to avery on video calls

B: what I think is fucking hilarious

bri says “rawr XD” out loud and accidentally says that to a teacher, who stands there for .3 seconds and kind of just goes with it

C: what is heart-crushing and awful but fun to inflict on friends

they dont actually die and have to live with their gf bein dead :’)

D: what would never work with canon but the canon is shit so I believe it anyway

they live and also so does avery and theyre happy fuck you

AVERY

A: what I think realistically

tbh she seems like the type of person to have a wide friend group but only be “close” close with like. 1-2 people??? and like she loves all of her friends but she cant maintain that many close friends

B: what I think is fucking hilarious

she once laughed so hard she snorted soda out of her nose during a video call

C: what is heart-crushing and awful but fun to inflict on friends

her last thought is of bri :’)

D: what would never work with canon but the canon is shit so I believe it anyway

SHE AND BRI ARE  H A P P Y AND ALIVE

SPOI

A: what I think realistically

they seem the type of person to like???? fuckin rag on shows while watching them, ie shout at the screen, point out plot holes etc and then say “wtf i loved it” at the end

also they throw popcorn at the screen during the movies

B: what I think is fucking hilarious

they hide under nancys table and let out a vicious shriek whenever nancy accidentally kicks them

C: what is heart-crushing and awful but fun to inflict on friends

they cause Endless Suffering and dont even care like they cant sympathize or manage to be Decent and like. they LAUGH at it and its like??? a s s h o l e

(and i have like No Empathy but i can still manage to be a nice person so?? no excuse there)

D: what would never work with canon but the canon is shit so I believe it anyway

theyre the one stealing nancys bobbins >:00

[shadowlink720]

FE: Birthright Randomised Chapters 8 and 9

(aka ‘Takumi is surrounded by idiots, also I broke the game. whoops.’)

welp, y’all know the drill by now, so let’s get right into it >:3

oh, but before I do I wanna ask a question; I’m considering changing some of the unit’s classes Like I could change Yukimura into an Archer with his already good Skill growth and make him a Crit lord like Takumi was in the original (b/c we can add competitive into the equation too)

another idea I had was to make Saizo a Malig Knight for the magic growth to be put to use? or give him a flame shuriken idk

and then there was an idea to possibly change Kagero into a Wyvern Lord to make use of that resistance and defence growths? pls tell me if these are ok ideas idek-

considering making Azama an archer as well for the same reason as Yukimura; become a crit lord

I’m gonna promote Kaden into a strategist when I can tho, and he’ll become an insane glass cannon with all the magic he’ll get from that 50% growth

please tell me if these are actually ok ideas or if I’m an idiot and I should do something else, I like to think I’m decent at this game but I’m not-

Anyway! Chapter 8! Let’s go! and find out who Takumi’s retainers are! And who Hayato is!

ahh yes, the Eternal Stairway .... everytime I get bad flashbacks of the Eternal Stairway map in Conquest ahahhh;;;;;;

I can relate to Corrin when they try to be funny but really aren’t hahah;;

Rinkah is ready slap a sneaky bitch right here

aaaaand there’s the Faceless it’s funny how they can pop out of nowhere given how huge they are (I know they aren’t actually Faceless because magic n stuff but it’s funny to think of a Faceless trying to be sneaky)

ya know, for Corrin being quite against fighting and all that, they certainly do make a lot of threats-

Well done, you killed some innocent people I hope ur happy, IAGO

speak of the shitlord and he shall appear .... unfortunately he is quite amusing tho, ngl, like Excellus in Awakening

aaaaand here we are in Wind Tribe territory!

Word of what happened certainly travelled very quickly unless Iago possibly went and told the Wind Tribe about it, which... would make a lot of sense, actually

Mozu; the person you definitely want to stop a conflict-

aaaand we’re fully in the chapter! ohh man I can’t wait to see who Takumi’s retainers aaarrrreeeee gonna do the battle prep first tho Yikes, Kaden’s probably not a good idea here since he’s on horseback; he basically won’t be able to move at all aaand the only person who can use Dragon Veins (so far) is Corrin. Fun. :’’’D but we will get Takumi so that’s a plus

... ya know what? to heck with it. I’m making Yukimura an archer, and therefore a critlord >:D

awwww yeah and he still has a C rank in booowwwwwsss >:3ccccccc

right, time to see who Takumi’s retainers arrrreeee

.......... y es

Setsuna is Azama oh heck yES-- please give me savage asshole Setsuna aishudfhdu

...... Setsuna is now Scarlet-

I don’t care if it’s annoying; I’m taking screenshots of like their whole conversation b/c it’s gold-

(it’s funny b/c Setsuna’s voiceline was ‘oooookay.’ in response to Scarlet-

Scarlet that’s not something you should be smiling about--

oh my farore-

Setsuna’s voice line was ‘no’ and it sounded sarcastic as heck--

Takumi’s surrounded by idiots, it seems

that... actually seems to be true

poor Takumi, man

aaaand we begin the chapter! gonna get that Dragon Vein right away by pairing up w/ Izana because holy heck-

have I said that Mozu gets really good level ups? b/c she does- (she killed the first guy in the map ayy)

no, Setsuna don’t go into the enemy’s range, you don’t have Azama’s personal--

SETSUNA

ok we can talk to Takumi now yadda yadda, Azura and Felicia are missing and all that

Takumi is still savage tho, ngl

right! let’s take a look at our new units!

not bad, he’s got a lot of speed, res and skill oo and he has Lucky Charm, which grants +20% to luck based skills trigger rate and he has a Disrobing Gale which gives more speed, niiice (Growth Rates = HP - 40, Str - 45, Mag - 20, Skill - 40, Spd - 40, Lck - 45, Def - 40, Res - 35) (Heart Seal options: Nohr Prince (lol) and Spear Fighter)

now, for the asshole

what a coincidence she’d randomise into a Shrine Maiden, huh? oooh her personal is Noble Cause! grants +3 damage dealt but +1 damage taken when supported by a damaged unit; nice nice and she has Surefooted which is.... useless b/c it’s only valid if the unit is a Ballistician, which is a dlc class hhhhhhhhhhh, but it would have granted +1 mov and add Acrobatics into it so all passable terrain movement costs 1 but also yo look at those sick base stats, man (Growth rates = HP - 45, Str - 40, Mag - 35, Skill - 55, Spd - 20, Lck - 20, Def - 55, Res - 40) (Heart Seal options = Wyvern Rider and Mercenary)

and now onto Scarlet!

not bad, Takumi has... generally better bases tho but she has Miraculous Save! which is like Miracle but for a unit that is supported by her, it’s trigger is also her luck stat :V and she has Magic +2, which is actually useful here given that she’s a Diviner :’D (Growth rates = HP - 40, Str - 20, Mag - 30, Skill - 60, Spd - 0, Lck - 30, Def - 15, Res - 30) (Heart Seal options = Spear Fighter and Outlaw)

.... I don’t get why things like Disrobing Gale and Raider Weapons have to strip the foe’s armour if there’s a weapon advantage tho-- oh well

WHY do I seem to get crits when I skip the animation, I just missed Azama getting one against an Archer guh--

ok but Rinkah just one shotted this poor, unsuspecting Diviner that already had his defence sealed by her he didn’t stand a chance, tbh-

and a level up for Izana! and he got Miracle! (why yes I do heal at the slightest bit of lost HP when the healer can’t defend themselves, you’d be surprised at how quickly they can level up--)

.... man Yukimura is gonna be insane when he becomes a Sniper he hasn’t gotten any crits yet but just wait, he’s still got a lot of strength--

aaaaall riiiight just Fuga left >:3 let’s get him debuffed with Kagerooo and probably Saizo too right, Vantage is gonna happen now oh nvm, Saizo defeated him :o and he levelled uuuup

and we got a Secret Book :V

ayyy now for a cutscene giving Plot about the Yato and the Seal of Flames and stuff

Well, Corrin, it’s literally the name of the game; the Fire Emblem :’’D it also makes ur sword a very intimidating chainsaw

time to see who Hayato is >:3c

.......... oh my farore

OH MY FARORE I told ya we’d meet again soon, Silas :’’’’’’’’D

Yeah, you’re shouting sounds very aggressive, Silas-

Fuga is confirmed to be the Team Dad, heck yeah

aaaand that’s Chapter 8! :o Let’s have a look at what Silas’ stats are like

oooh ok, so he’s also an Apothecary :o and he has Collector as a personal too hahah;;;; and look at his strength wo a h-- his defence is pretty decent too, which is good :o (Growth rates = HP - 25, Str - 30, Mag - 40, Skill - 60, Spd - 45, Lck - 20, Def - 55, Res - 40) (Heart Seal options = Wyvern Rider and Sky Knight)

........... heck it let’s keep going to the next chapter or, wait I’m gonna get some of these units’ levels up first

ok so I’ve gotten a few levels for the newer units (mainly Silas and Scarlet) so let’s go into Chapter 9! >:D there goes Kagero talking about Ryoma again lol and that Izumite’s laugh is pretty darn suspicious lol

Reina is the Archduke of Izumo-- holy heck--

there she iiiiiiis

her voiceline was ‘I can barely contain myself!’ it was perfect--

y’all’d’ve‘id’ve

Kagero is trying to keep the tone relatively serious-

Yeah, she’d be the first to know because she’d be there fighting both sides

aaaand there they gooo HAH, when Mozu and Corrin went away to get ‘special treatment’ Takumi’s voiceline was ‘what’ like he was offended that he wasn’t offered it or smth aihsifudfhd

oh man, Reina’s voice line was ‘Cry out in pain!’ hooooo boi

.... now that sounds a little more like actual Reina-

plot twist, it’s a gremlin

savage, Corrin

‘actually I was just wanting to see what we were missing out on, but it turned out we saved them hahah’

idk man, you’d be surprised

riiiiiighty hoo, time to start the chapter >:3c and we’ll get to see who Felicia’s retainers are! :D

this cavalier’s mcfreaking dead >:3ccccc

oooh Azama’s weapon proficiency went up! c:

And Iiiii’m gonna let Corrin hang around near the bottom of the map so that we can get to whoever Felicia’s retainers arrreeee

.... welp there’s Felicia’s retainers :’D (ngl I was kinda hoping Sakura would be one of them lmao;;)

........ Oboro randomised into herself ................................................ i’m ok well, she’s uh she certainly very gay now o<o;;; so that’s pretty great Felicia and Oboro would be pretty dang cute tho afjhdhfsakf

still would have been nice if she had randomised into someone else, though :’’’’’D

yup, she’s very gay I love it

HECK I MISSED A CRITICAL FROM YUKIMURA- ..... aaannnnnndddd another one

anyway let’s talk to Hinoka and then look at their stats

now let’s start with Oboro

so she has Misfortunate for a personal skill, so enemies within 2 spaces get -15 Dodge, but she also get -5 dodge o<o;;;; she also has Gentilhomme so basically she’s very gay and she’s... also a Diviner we’ve got a lot of Diviners hhhhhhh but she’s got a lot of Magic :o (Growth Rates = HP - 40, Str - 40, Mag - 30, Skill - 20, Spd - 45, Lck - 30, Def - 40, Res - 35) (Heart Seal options = Mercenary and Archer)

ok let’s look at Hinoka!

.......... she’s also a Diviner! :’’’’D BUT! She has Bibliophile as a personal, which gives Crit +10 when the unit has three or more tomes/scrolls :V she also has Heavy Blade, which gives Str +3 and Spd -1 (Growth Rates = HP - 45, Str - 0, Mag - 15, Skill - 15, Spd - 45, Lck - 55, Def - 35, Res - 25) (Heart Seal options: Sky Knight and Nohr Princess)

right I’ve cleared like, the entire map and am now getting the treasure chests one has a Speedwing and the other has 5000G, nice :Y

i..... really don’t like Zola’s attack, though :’D I need to get Mozu and Kaden over for countercurse and then healing

ok Yukimura learned Quick Draw! nice

ok now Zola’s dead, geez and we got a Master Seal, too :’D

oh yeah, here comes Leo :V ..... uh hm it, uhhh it’s frozen o<o;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

.... welp I guess I need to try that chapter again and then skip that cutscene, then, brb--

yeah nah, skipping the cutscene didn’t work, it still froze :’’’’’’’’’’D this is probably what people meant by breaking the game //sigh ....... you can bet that I will try to get Revelation to work eventually, though so uhh, if anyone knows any way to help me with that that’d be really great

-------------

ok so slight update: I managed to get past Chapter 9 without the game freezing; I played through most of the chapter, and then saved in an extra data file, before i moved to run the game normally to finish the chapter while I did miss out on seeing Reina as Izana and all that in the cutscenes afterwards; I tried running the file through HANS after saving the file after the cutscenes had ended and it seems to have worked :’D so I’ll be able to move on to other chapters, which is nice :’’’’’’’’D

[survivorathena-motunui]

Ep. 2: GOTTA SCRAMBLE ~ Benjamin

Alex just told me he needs a permission slip to tell me about his sexy ass because Nebraska

Amanda So in round 1, everyone (mostly) is hyped. Its the first all-returnee season. Its second chance. They all want to prove they are better than their first game.

On Taranaki, we have zero alliance chats, but there seems to be a connections between Sydney and Kevin. Kai is quiet. Jay is worried about Keegan. Keegan just wants to stay alive. And LA seems to get along with all, and is on nobody’s radar. Colin isn’t round much, but he was in the ER so its understandable. Zack? Who? Where he go? Nothing in his host chat. Havent heard from him since premier night. Bye Bye Birdie. 

On Kahitu, we have Drew, who is dangerous enough alone, but we also have Alex, who like, worships the ground Drew walks on. I am certain he is telling Drew the paths for the Rainbow Reef. Drew has 4/7 stamps in the first 3 days. I’m certain he is going to get the rainbow idol. Also on this tribe, we have Madison, who everyone is saying is super quiet and they wanna make her first boot, but in her confessionals she says shes just shy. We also have Ashley, who is in an alliance with Ale and Drew, JD, who is getting along with everyone AND found an idol with no clues, and Steven and Jack who have been quiet. Overall, this tribe seems more cohesive than the other, and it showed when they won the immunity challenge.

When results came out, Taranaki immediately banded together to vote Zack out, but it was a moot point, because Zack did not vote, which caused his to get his second strike and be removed from the game. Womp Womp _______________________________________________________________

LA JUST WENT ON A 3 PUZZLE RUN FOR THE RAINBOW REEF THAT MAKES 4/7 ON HER PRISM PASS AND IF SHE HAD ONLY PICKED JELLYFISH INSTEAD OF PLANKTON I AM CERTAIN SHE WOULD HAVE FOUND THE RAINBOW IDOL THE GIRL IS GOOD YAS FOR FEMINISM

Well Zack was medevaced for getting too many strikes. It’s kind of a shame but also I’m not too shaken up about it. It makes it a lot easier and less stressful! In good news, Kai and I now have a pact to never vote against each other. I’m not sure how loyal he really is but it’s nice to have that for right now. It may be bad of me but if I feel the need to flip on him I probably won’t hesitate. I think I can get Jay on my side if needed. She just seems like she doesn’t want to flop and I can use that. Other than that, I’ve got a pretty decent relationship with pretty much everyone in the game. I don’t want to jinx myself but for the time being I think I’m in a pretty good spot. 

Soooo Zack’s gone, which is cool and stuff. Amanda, always ready to rig this game against me, gave this UGLY fl*sh g*m* challenge from Orisinal. And boy do I have some news for you coming from the Kai Is A Mess Department™. So this morning Kai comes to me and is like “we should make plans for tribal just in case” and I’m like “oh” and he’s like “you know in case there’s an instant tribal or something.” And by the way if this season has an instant tribal I will cry and after I’ve wiped away my tears I’ll be suing faster than you can call me Stacey Stillman. So Kai asks me who I’d want out, I say Colin bc he’s who I’ve talked to the least. And then Kai’s like “okay cool but what about Jay” and I’m screaming in joy and in fear because of this and I say “oh haha why Jay” and Kai, sweet Kai, he says “well she’s hosted before so she has an advantage over us.” And in that moment, I could hear the Kill Bill sirens go off in my head.

Visual representation of me at that very moment. And I think to myself…did he like not see my tribal question or is he like…planning to slit my throat later too???? But basically I just said to him “well that’s uh a good option but let’s wait until we lose yknow” bc frankly I don’t know whether I want Jay out at this point or not? Like I think (think) I can trust her but I don’t know how much that’s reciprocated. So uh, to cap this off: yikes!

Amanda So here is a shot of everyone’s Prism Passes currently

JD, LA, and Kai are all working on puzzles right now and can advance if they complete them in time. LA is the closest to finishing her pass and could very well get the Rainbow idol. She found 3 puzzles in a row yesterday, and if she can do the same today, she will get it. If she fails, I think Drew will. but we will see!

First of all, FUCK the Purple Stamp. Second of all, I looked back at the puzzles to see what usernames were they, and I found two: JayJoy and AlxCrks. Jay B and Alex C? Mayhapsbe. Jay was only one of the puzzle out of the four I’ve done, while Alex was on all of them I think? And that’s um not a good sign. So I need to hurry my ass up! 

On a side note I think it’d be funny to make a fake account and frame someone with completing the puzzles but I don’t know how well that would work or if people would notice but if I did do it I would choose to frame Drew in a heartbeat.

Okay well I now have like 3 of the stamps so like I ain’t even mad. I feel comfortable and I won’t lie I’m sort of targeting Jay B because she knows me from the past which could possibly end up working badly for me. I guess I’m also getting a bit ahead of myself considering we haven’t even done Immunity yet but it’s best to be sure I guess!!

Amanda So here are the current Prism Pass standings

LA and Keegan are so close! But Drew is working on the Red Stamp right now, and he’ got Alex and Ashley helping him out, so I’m pretty sure he’s about to get it. Which….. fine… I guess…. But I knew Drew does well in games. I want some underdogs to claim this prize! I’m hoping he misses on the blue stamp bc that’s the only stamp none of his alliance has, but he’s probably going to save his clue for help with that one. I love Drew. I honestly do. I just want some of my other faves to have a chance. 

SHIT GOTTA SCRAMBLE

WOOOO WE WON IMMUNITY. My tribe isn’t a total flop :’)

I wasn’t lying when i called Alex cute. Should I flirt with him to further my game? I have morals so no. But i have lust so yes. But i like confidence and looks myself so no. But i’m one thicc bih so yes. Do you see my dilemma?

So we just lost the 2nd immunity challenge. I’d like to say I feel comfortable but I don’t really think that’d be accurate. I am in an alliance with Alex and Drew, but we really haven’t talked much, I don’t know if it is only because we haven’t had a tribal or what, but hopefully we work well together. On the bright side I have almost found all of the prism stamps. I only need the blue and green stamps. I have a clue to the green location and Drew is getting the clue to the blue. Thanks to Drew I knew where the purple and indigo stamps were. The good thing is that he hasn’t been able to finish the puzzles within the 15 minutes so I am pretty sure I have a leg up on this, hopefully not a lot of people are far ahead, the idol could really help me in the future. 

WE WON! Yahoo, no loss after loss after loss. And I can’t be the second boot so SUCK IT SWITZERLAND. 

Kai and I discussed who we would vote out if we were to lose and we both sort of agreed on Jay. I sort of just threw out a name at random and he went along with it. I do like Jay so I’m glad we don’t have to vote her out yet. Let’s get the other tribe down some numbers before we have to keep cutting our own. I’m torn on whether or not I want a swap. On one hand I might be able to get swapped into a tribe with Drew and Ashley, both of whom I’m sure I’d be able to work with. But also swapping risk the chance of ending up in a minority and being picked off. Right now it’s some nice chill time while we hopefully watch the other tribe fall apart. A 4-4 split, followed by a 3-3 split and then rocks would be delicious chaos. But even a 5-3 split would be great to see. 

Amanda

told you (me)

So right now Drew and I are in a group called “Anti-First Boot Coallition” with Ashley. We plan on extending it into two groups. One with Steven/Ben/Myself/Drew/Ashley, and one with JD/Jack/Myself/Drew. This sets up Drew and myself really well. Also, both Drew and I finished with the rainbow idol today. He got it though and I shouldn’t be upset because he’s my ally. But at the same time, I’m the reason he got like two prisms and he only helped me with one, then told me that he had the rest of the passes AFTER he had gotten it. It kinda irks me, and it’s something he has that I don’t. I’ve also been playing both sides in that I’m telling Steven what’s going on, and I don’t believe Drew thinks I’m doing that. Drew thinks I’m completely loyal to him but Steven knows that I’m more with him than Drew. A lot of it comes down to me knowing Drew is dangerous and me knowing that Steven probably won’t turn on me whereas Drew probably would.

Um I did that!!!!! The entire other tribe can kiss my ass!!! Sooo unless Amanda’s evil (which won’t take me by surprise after all the LIES she’s fed me in this game) we’re not swapping next round so thank GOD. I’m not ready for this game to spice up, cause like the white part of me is allergic to spice. Hopefully we can keep winning, and hopefully umm I don’t get swapfucked when it comes. And hopefully I can get my hands on that Rainbow Idol wink wink

We won the immunity challenge ! Which I’m really thankful for since things seem to be sort of quiet lately. 

I really hope JD isn’t the first one to go on her tribe, I wanna get the chance to play with her. 

ALSO I FOUND LIKE THREE STAMPS IN ONE SEARCH. It’s probably the most iconic thing I’ll do this entire game. Which means I only need blue and yellow? I think, or maybe another but still I’m close. 

I’m worried if I’m this close that someone else is, or someone else already has it. I really hope not, cause this stupid idol is what sent me home in Taveuni. 

I’m probably getting voted out or being paranoid….you decide. I did the worst in the challenge which i didnt know it was possible to do that well in the damn game. And let’s be honest, me/Ben/Steven/Jack are all pretty absent in the tribe chat but who knows how active they are in PMs. I’m probably a goner which sucks but this could be my chance to turn it all around if I can manage to survive this tribal ;)

Me in Taveuni: *crawls out of my cave, hissing at my contestants* make confessionals it’s not hard Me when Amanda asks me: But is it really worth it Today I learned that the Rainbow Reef is full of disappointment and unfulfilled promises, a thing which I should’ve and I should be used if I wasn’t a flawed human. At this point the best thing that I can expect from the Reef is drowning.

WHICH ONE OF THESE UGLY MOTHERFUCKERS FOUND THE DAMN IDOL? I LITERALLY CAME TO THE PLACE WHERE THE IDOL WAS HIDDEN AND IT WASN’T THERE. THIS SEASON SINGLE HANDLY HAS GIVEN ME THE BEST LUCK IN FINDING ANYTHING AND I CAN’T EVEN FIND AN IDOL? WHAT THE FUCK KIND OF PLAYER AM I THEN, IF MY LUCK ONLY TAKES ME THAT FAR?  

Me getting dragged into an alliance in this game without lifting a finger? It’s likely (it’s what I do in like every game honestly) and it’s happening. I guess that’s just the power of my social game, like Michele who? Anyway to be honest this’ll probably result in Kai sending Jay home. I still don’t know if he knows I’m a host but it’s not like I can ask him but hopefully he doesn’t find out if he doesn’t and hopefully some snake in our tribe won’t tell him oops. 

So I am now in an alliance with JD, Alex, and Drew. This is hella cute and I am so excited to see how well we do. I hope to go far with this group but as seen in previous games; Drew is a beast. Like he knows his stuff. And Alex might not still completely trust me from India (RIP) but I am starting fresh with JD! I am so happy to have met a new person and to be working so well with them so far