#like i feel like someone with a lot of lawyer money should go around suing these people for deadly misinformation to teach them a lesson

[savageboar]

i feel like there has to be a specific law put in place to fine idiots on tiktok spreading misinformation about aviation

[quazartranslates]

Welcome to the Nightmare Game II - CH49

**This is an edited machine translation. For more information, please [click here]**

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Chapter 149: Purgatory Reunion (I) {cw: misgendering}

[Player Qi Leren has completed the task Star Death Reality Show. The task completion rate is 77%.]

[A reward of the base 15 days survival days has been given. 77% of task completion rewards 31 extra survival days. Best of the Day ranking was received 3 times, earning the reward of 15 survival days. Eliminated all amphioctopuses for the reward  of 30 survival days. The proportion of the audience who questioned you was 47.8%; the reward is retained.]

[Data synchronization countdown, ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one, synchronization complete.]

　　&&&

"Aaaaah how could they kill us!" As soon as he came back, Qi Leren heard Dr. Lu’s screams. "It's really crazy! Blowing up the four of us together to destroy the octopus! Is this something that people do?!”

Du Yue was also very depressed: "That, how can it be like this..."

Qi Leren thought that this was unexpected. Looking at the strange things done by the copy’s cast, and how many strange alien creatures existed in the universe, the future interstellar world was probably not a civilized world ruled by law. In order to avoid future problems, it had bombed the planet, destroying the humans and the threat together… If the military in the Alien movies was so decisive, the Alien series wouldn’t have been able to go on for so long.

He just didn't know how the audience felt. But as for what kind of "audience" existed in that copy, Qi Leren couldn't figure it out now. He guessed that there may be no "audience" at all, and the Best of the Day and questioning rate were just a set of data simulated by the system.

Qi Leren took a look at his survival time. He had had 147 days at the start of the copy, and his survival time would not pass while the task was in progress. However, because he had used that bug-like card [Sophisticated Lawyer], he’d consumed 130 days of survival time all at once, and only 17 days remained at the end of the task.

This task had rewarded a total of 91 days, so now he has a total of 108 survival days, which sounded good, but... Qi Leren looks at his missing left hand. He would have to pay at least one hundred survival days to make it grow back—he had come back to life, why couldn't his missing hand grow back as well?

Qi Leren has many speculations about how he had been resurrected from a pile of meatloaf. He vaguely felt that he was different from before. He could feel a huge energy, but he didn't know how to push open the heavy door that blocked him from it.

Dr. Lu wanted to take Qi Leren to find the player who could regrow limbs. Qi Leren refused: "I’m in a hurry now, I’ll come back to you later when I’m free."

Saying goodbye to Dr. Lu and Du Yue, Qi Leren rushed to Chen Baiqi.

When Chen Baiqi saw Qi Leren, she was really surprised: "What happened to your left hand?"

"It's a long story, listen to me first! Is it safe here?"

"...Come with me."

In the basement that usually acted as their training ground, Qi Leren spoke quickly about what had happened in the task, and also told Chen Baiqi about the laptop.

Chen Baiqi listened to him quietly until she heard the news of Ning Zhou's death.

"So I have to go to the Underground Ant City’s Purgatory as soon as possible, and I don't have much time left," Qi Leren worried.

"Yes, but I'm afraid it's dangerous for you to go alone. You’ve broken your shell now, and you’ve already sensed your original force. Although a half-field hasn’t yet been completed, you’ve been much faster than I expected... We’re not ready, tsk, it’s troublesome, and you survived falling into a mess of meat. I’ll go to see the Prophet later and ask his opinion." Chen Baiqi's slender eyebrows furrowed. It was rare for her to have an uncertain expression. "Forget it, I can’t help with anything right now. When you bring Ning Zhou back, we'll think it over again. Wait a minute and hold your horses, and I'll ask if anyone at the Court will go to the Underground Ant City. If so, they can take you there."

The next few hours were as busy as a fight. Qi Leren took the time to recover his left hand. Dr. Lu volunteered to help him pay all the medical expenses. Qi Leren was very moved and then refused him: "Forget it, I’ll be going somewhere dangerous soon. I may not be able to come back alive. If I owe money, I won’t be at ease when I die."

"...This is the first time I’ve seen someone curse himself so bluntly." Dr. Lu looked pained. "You have to cherish your life, isn't it good to live?"

"This is only the worst case scenario," Qi Leren said calmly. He had realized that whether he raised flags or not, his lucky value wouldn’t change from E to S, so it didn't matter.

"But treatment takes 100 survival days at once. This is still the value of friendship given to you by your cute peer... Hey, shouldn’t you have a lot of survival days from the previous Holy City task?" As soon as Dr. Lu counted the time, he felt that Qi Leren’s survival days weren’t quite right.

"I encountered some things and deducted 130 survival days... I will come back and tell you in detail next time." Qi Leren felt depressed when he thought of Su He’s face.

"Did you have it deducted because too much of the audience questioned you?" Dr. Lu said doubtfully.

"No, it's something else." Qi Leren said anxiously, "Don't talk about this right now, talk about the treatment."

"Oh, then I'll pay some of it for you first. Give it back to me when you have more time next time," Dr. Lu said generously.

"Well, I'll sell this to you." Qi Leren remembered the reward he received after killing Leviathan, and showed the item [Lucky Revolver] to Dr. Lu.

[Lucky Revolver: There are six slots in this gun’s chamber, one of which is loaded with a bullet. Shooting at one's own temple can give one minute of absolute defense within a radius of 500 meters around the locked target, but the absolute defense is invalid for this bullet. Even if you are lucky, God will only give you five minutes. If you are not afraid of death, you can continue for another minute. Locked target: not set.]

"Oh, this is good!" Dr. Lu picked up the revolver and said happily, "You can get five minutes of absolute defense in a critical moment!"

See, this is the confidence of a European emperor. When he looked at it, he felt that he would not be shot, while Qi Leren felt that he would absolutely be shot! If it had to be used, it could be paired with S/L Data, but Qi Leren was short on time now, so he chose to sell this item to Dr. Lu.

Finally, this item was given to Dr. Lu for 20 survival days. After deducting the treatment cost, Qi Leren had 28 days left, which was enough for him to go to Purgatory deep in the Underground Ant City.

After his limb regrew, Qi Leren, who was sweating profusely, rubbed his newly grown left hand and hurried to Chen Baiqi's house.

"Why is it you?!” Qi Leren saw the Illusionist drinking tea with Chen Baiqi, and he had a bad feeling in his heart. After asking, his hunch came true. The Illusionist just wanted to go to the Underground Ant City to perform his mission, and promised to take Qi Leren with him.

"Can you fly an aircraft? Do you know the way to the Underground Ant City? Do you know how to deal with demons? Do you know anything about life in the Underground Ant City? Do you know where Purgatory is in the Underground Ant City? If you don't know all this, do you dare to go to the Underground Ant City? Kid, do you think the world outside is as peaceful as the Village of Dusk?" the Illusionist mocked Qi Leren with a smile.

Qi Leren didn’t dare to refute. Although he had gained a preliminary understanding of information about the Underground Ant City when acting undercover as Red, after all, he had never been there, and his understanding of it was very superficial, so it was very dangerous to rush forward.

"Time is of the essence, you should set off tonight. Take this material and equipment, Qi Leren. You can use them on the road, and ask the Illusionist directly if you don't understand anything. Although he talks a lot of shit, he’s still reliable," Chen Baiqi said concisely. She threw a big bag of things directly to Qi Leren.

"I have no money now, after coming back..." The poor Qi Leren said sullenly and was interrupted by Chen Baiqi: "As long as you bring Ning Zhou back safely, these are all free."

"I’ll definitely bring him back!" Qi Leren said firmly. Even though he was still sitting in the cottage in the Village of Dusk, his heart had already flown over the vast wilderness and arrived at the distant Purgatory.

Chen Baiqi smiled, and uncharacteristically did not refute him: "Well, I know."

The senior single dog Illusionist’s face shifted, turning his eyes away with an unbearable expression, then turned his head to continue drinking tea with a straight face.

　　&&&

At 23 o'clock that night, the Court’s official aircraft took off. The driver was not the Illusionist, but an executive officer of the court. He gave a gift to the Illusionist and was very respectful.

The Illusionist and Qi Leren sat in the back seat of the aircraft, and both of them were very silent along the way. Qi Leren studied the information about the Underground Ant City and watched it for more than two hours at a time, until a faint headache worsened to the same pain as electricity drilling into his brain. He retched a few times and felt sick.

The Illusionist said with a look of disgust, "If you dare vomit here, I will throw you out."

"Don't worry... There’s nothing in my stomach to vomit." Qi Leren covered his throat and poured himself some water.

Qi Leren hadn't had a rest for a long time. Except for his death in the underground glacier, he hadn't slept for more than 48 hours. His body protested physically and mentally. He could still hold on under tension, but now he was sitting in the aircraft and forcing himself to watch the information intently for more than two hours. He couldn't hold on.

He also knew that he should have a rest, but the urgency of time that waited for no one spurred him on, leaving him with constant fear and uneasiness.

He was really too scared. When he closed his eyes, the figure of the black dragon sinking into the lake of flames would emerge in his mind. Just imagining the pain and fear of losing, it felt like the string of reason in his mind was broken.

But he had to rest. Qi Leren himself knew that he couldn't meet the next challenge in this state.

"I'll sleep for a while," Qi Leren whispered.

"There is a bed in the back, go and lie there," the Illusionist said without looking up, pointing behind him.

"Thank you." Qi Leren gave thanks, climbed from the seat to the back cabin, and pulled down the bed curtain that cut off light and sound. Although it was just a cot narrower than a college dormitory bed, he felt satisfied when he lied down to rest for a while.

Qi Leren, who had a splitting headache and was exhausted physically and mentally, took two pills, which were the sleeping pills he had asked Chen Baiqi for. Before they kicked in, Qi Leren took out Ning Zhou’s life crystal. It was intact, suspended in his hand safe and sound, and there was a small drop of blood in the center of the crystal, which was surrounded by the slowly rotating bright spots of gold and silver.

He just looked at it gently and quietly, letting his overflowing thoughts hover in this narrow world.

At the moment of reunion, he thought, he would have to give Ning Zhou a hard hug, hard enough to convince him that they would never separate again.

The roaring mechanical sound outside the aircraft faded away, and the exhaustion began to emerge. Qi Leren carefully returned the life crystal to his item bar and slowly fell into a deep sleep.

-----

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[unmaskedagain]

Wolves don’t Party with Sheep

I got this request last week, and I thought it was a neat idea. Thanks @etsuko-99​ for sending me the ask.

When the Akuma alert sounded, most of the class had been at the end of year party at the park. They had been planning it for weeks and had been careful not to reveal its existence to the class problems aka Marinette, Chloe, and Nathaniel. The three had been has exiled from the rest of the call all year for their bullying of Lila and mean accusations that the girl was lying.

Class president? They voted to replace Marinette the first day of school.

Class picnics; the three weren’t invited.

Field trips; they got Bustier to exclude the three in the beginning of the year. Not that it mattered anyway; all the wonderful trips they had wanted to take had fallen through. They never had enough money to take it. And they never did the required paperwork.

Birthday parties; they weren’t invited to anyone’s in the class. No one went to Nathanial’s birthday party. Or Chloe’s. No one even bother to accept Marinette’s birthday party invitations, she mailed out a month ago. They even missed the required RSVP date on the front on purpose. The invitation was clear, if you don’t confirm your planned attendance, you can’t come. Then they told Marinette they were going to a party for Lila instead.

No one wanted the drama. No one wanted Lila to feel like she wasn’t welcome. And if the three found out, then maybe they should’ve been nicer.

Again, everyone from the class who was invited showed up apart from Adrien to Lila’s dismay. Alya assured the tearful girl that Adrien was probably just busy at a photoshoot, he’d be there if he could.

Lila had just stepped away from for a moment to take a call from Prince Ali when the Akuma alert sounded.

           It was a socialite hurt by the malicious lies her so-called friends said about each other by each other’s back decided that everyone should be forced to reveal what they really think. The Akuma was called Two-faced (As soon as Two-face from Gotham heard about the new villain, he contacted his lawyer; someone was getting sued.) Every time someone talked; the world would hear their inner voice say what they really thought about you.

“We should wait for Ladybug,” Alya said. “She’ll be here soon. Nino, turned down the music we don’t want to attract the Akuma’s attention.”

“You don’t kiss me enough,” Alya’s voice was suddenly heard throughout the party, though the girl’s mouth was shut. “You’re amazing. I love how much you dream. You’re a little naïve. We’re perfect for each other. But what’s a girl got to do to get to third base?”

           Nino blushed a scarlet red. There were snickers from the fellow students.

“Babe, a little awkward; maybe no one should talk.” Nino said. But as soon as his mouth closed. “I’ve already named all of our children.”

           The laughter that resulted from this laughter the couple paralyzed.

“This is so amazing,” Rose burst out. As soon as she stopped talking. “Juleka? Look at me! I have been flirting with you for three years. You know what I got for it? Nothing. Do you like me or not? You think you got it bad, Alya. I once showed up at her house drenched in rain, in a t-shirt, and Juleka didn’t bat an eye.  Stop complaining. At you got a boyfriend who wants to kiss you. All I got from Juleka was insecurities.”

           Juleka looked torn between wanted to die from embarrassment and looking utterly pleased with the situation.

           Alix snorted, “Still think it’s amazing.” She mocked. Her eyes widened when she realized she spoke. “Rose, you’re the definition of a ditzy of blond. I can’t believe we’re friends.” There were gasps. Rose looked at Alix with hurt eyes. “Honestly, I can’t believe your friends with me. You’re nice, girly, and super sweet. A freaking ray of sunshine. Everything I’m not. I love you for it. I kind of hate you too. You’re the daughter my wishes she had. I can’t stand you sometimes.”

“Ouch!” Kim said and gasped. His inner voice added. “This is way too serious for me. I should’ve just hung out with Ondine. And how is no one talking about how killer Max’s ass looks in those jeans?”

           The questions was met with blinks.

“Damn, I owe Luka ten bucks,” Juleka slipped out. She quickly covered her mouth but she couldn’t stop what came next. “Luka dislikes all of you. It’s why he left Kitty section. He’s thinks you’re all gullible idiots. He always told me to watch my back around you. After what happened with Marinette, I see why.”

           Mylene frowned. She thought Luka left the band because he didn’t have time for it anymore. “That’s really mean.”

“Truthfully, I saw it coming,” Mylene’s inner voice said. “What’s a guy like that doing in a band called Kitty Section? I mean really. But yeah, I totally called in it Kim being a little into Max. Like back in third grade. The Chloe thing was a massive attempt to hide his crush. I get it. Max can do better than a Neanderthal.”

“Hey!” Max glared. “Like you’re one to talk!”

“Have you seen Ivan,” Max’s inner voice hissed. “He’s a future UFC champion. You’re a future kindergarten teacher. Mylene, beauty, Ivan, beast. It only works out in Disney movies, honey. Besides at least Kim’s funny, and cool, and nice, and hot. Wow, I can’t believe he likes me. I’m a geek.”

           Kim grinned, “I like that you’re a geek.” His inner voice, “He’s thinks I’m hot. He think I’m hot. He thinks I’m hot. …I wonder if Nino would be cool with a joint wedding.”

“NO!” Nino and Alya yelled together. Their inner voice, “NO!”

           After that everyone was too scared to speak; scared of what they really thought be heard.

           That when Lila came back to the party. A happy grin on her face. “Sorry everyone, Prince Ali was insisting I attend his ball. I hope he’s isn’t going to purpose again.”

“You’re all a bunch morons,” Lila’s inner voice echoed through the park. “But useful ones. I’ve never even met Prince Ali.”

           Lila paled, “I didn’t say that!”

“Crap,” Her inner voice cried. “What the hell is going on? Do you know how hard it is to keep my stories straight? How hard I work to get these sheep to believe me? Well, not that hard. They’re idiots. I few grand tales and practically believe I shit gold.”

           The class stared at her horrified.

“It’s not me!” Lila stomped her foot.

Her inner voice cried out, “Don’t look at me like that. You’re the dumbasses who believed me. It’s your own fault. I only told you what you wanted to hear. Add a few tears and you did whatever I wanted.”

           Alya gasped, “Marinette was right.” Her inner voice, “What have I done. My blog is ruined. I’ll lose all my fans.”

           Lila fought not to glare, “Marinette’s a mean bully,” She whined. “Remember? She’s been so awful to me since I got here.”

“She called me out on my lies,” Lila’s inner voice snickered. “I warned her I’d get her back. I told her I’d take all her friends away. She should’ve believed me. You guys are idiots who believe everything I saw. Oh, Marinette picking on! Why doesn’t Marinette like me? Did I do something wrong? Waa! Waa! Now I’m here and she’s not. So there! I won!”

           Lila finally picked up one what was going on and covered her mouth. The class remained silent torn between wanting to scream at the girl and keep what they really thought secret.

           At that moment, Marinette, Nathaniel, Luka, Adrien, and Chloe strolled to through the park with ice cream cones in their hands and big smiles on their faces. They talked pleasantly with each other, stopping when they saw the party streamers and the class.

           Marinette didn’t blink twice, “Another class party?” She said sweetly. “Our invitations must have been lost.”

           Her inner voice was cold, “Doesn’t matter. I wouldn’t have come to your party if you paid me. Why do you think I put the deadline on the invites? I knew you’d pretend to forget to RSVP. I only invited you to my birthday party because my mom made me. Something about being nice or whatever.”

           The students of Bustier’s class reared back as if struck.

“It really pity you can’t come,” Chloe drawled. Her inner voice, “In addition to forgetting to RSVP, you must have forgotten that Marinette’s knows Jagged Stone and Clara Nightingale and a bunch of other celebrities; all of which are going to be at the party.”

“They’re having loads of fun here,” Adrien said brightly. “The party looks great.”

           His inner voice was a lot colder, “I told them! I told Marinette, Chloe, and Nathaniel every time you had this party, and every other party, a picnic, a guy’s night, a girl’s night, anything. I told them Alya was the one who got Bustier to not let them on the class trips. Why did you think I never showed up to any events? They’re my friend I showed them the group texts where you all did nothing but insult Marinette. You were bad friends. You trusted a perfect stranger over freaking Mariette Dupain-Cheng. That’s why I stopped returning your texts, Nino! Why I stopped returning all of your texts! We’re not friends anymore.”

           Mouths dropped. To his credit, Adrien let his ground and just sent a cold glare to his classmates.

“Mom saw the texts, Juleka,” Luka shook his head. “She’s disappointed in you.” His inner voice, “So am I. I couldn’t believe it at first. How could my own sister be so cruel? So vile. I know Lila didn’t get into your head. But I think feared did. You were scared these idiots in your class would turn on you too. You knew it was wrong treating Marinette the way you did but you did it anyway. I don’t recognize you anymore. I don’t even want to look at you right now.”

           Silent tears slipped down Juleka’s cheeks. Rose did her best to comfort the other girl.

“We should go,” Nathaniel told his friends. “There’s nothing for us here.” His inner voice, “Honestly you guys ditching us was the best thing that could ever happen. I have best friends now. Chloe, Adrien, and Marinette are literally the freaking best. I told them how much I liked Marc, and they listened. Chloe actually ended up locking in a supply closest but it all worked out. We’re dating now! I only got a little claustrophobic too.”

“You locked them in a closest?” Marinette pinched her nose. “That wasn’t the plan. It’s kidnapping.”

           Marinette’s inner monologue, “I’m not going to jail for you! Oh who am I kidding? Of course I’d go to jail for you. Better be for something cool.”

“It will be,” Chloe preened. Her inner voice, “You’re the best friend I’ve ever had. I’d pick you over all high-end couture in the world.”

“I’m not bailing you out for less than a felony,” Adrien chimed in with a smile. His inner voice, “Chances are I’m going to be right next to you.”

           Marinette rolled her eyes, “Nathaniel’s right. We have to get ready for our trip. And my party.” She said. Her inner voice. “Thank you Alya for getting pushover Bustier to remove us from the class trip. Now while you guys are headed to the amusement park. We’re going to Metropolis, and Gotham, and New York City. We’re going on the best trip of our entire life while you guys watch Kim puke up fifty chili dogs… Again.”

           Still the class was too scared to speak. Apart from Lila who glared angrily, “Oh please, like your birthday party will be any good?”

           The five looked at her and the class with smirks.

“Oh course not,” They chimed together. “It’ll be a small get together.”

“If you call a thousand people small,” Adrien’s inner voice said. “I still can’t believe Marinette has so many friends. People are coming from all over the world for her birthday. Prince Ali’s going. My dad’s going! And he barely remembered my birthday this year. Like what the fuck! How did Marinette become the favorite child? Fine, though, I stole her parents. Also her room.”

           Marinette side-eyed him. She knew had been finding more and more of Adrien’s stuff in her room. But she thought she was imagining things. Chloe did the same. Then the top bunk was always made. Again, she let it go. He slept over a lot. Chloe did too. Then he took over a drawer or two for some of this things. Again, not surprising. Chloe did the same; except she took over half of Marinette’s closet. Sometimes she’d come home and he’d be hanging out in her room playing video games. It was fine. Chloe tended to do the same; except for it was laying on Marinette’s bed on her phone.

           …Wait, what?

“Jagged Stone performing for his favorite niece Marinette,” Chloe inner voice sang. “Clara Nightingale’s performing. Luka’s singing. They both invited all the celebrities they knew. MDC’s party. Did you hear about that?” The class gasped in shock. “It’s trending literally everywhere. Marinette Dupain Cheng’s party. It’s practically a red carpet event now. By the way Adrien, Sabine and Tom like me best.”

           Again, Marinette had to side-eye her friends. Did they move in when she wasn’t looking? How did they move in? When did they move in? For god’s sake’ yesterday, she caught Chloe working behind the register while Marinette’s parents worked in back. She caught her dad teaching Adrien how to bake cookies and croissants.

“Peter Parker’s going,” Luka’s inner voice added on. “Marinette and him met each other at camp. And where Peter Parker goes, his parents follow. His parents: Tony Stark and Steve Roger ring any bells. And if Iron Man and Captain America’s going, the rest of the Avengers follow. They all RSVP’d.”

“Harry Styles,” Nathaniel’s inner voice repeated like six times. “If I wasn’t dating Marc, I’d go for it. Like, you have no idea; how much I’d go for it. Marc’s concerned. …He should be.”

           Marinette smiled as her inner voice spoke what she was always too nice to say, “You were terrible friends. You turned against me for basically no reason. You threw me away. You followed Lila Rossi, the world’s biggest liar, because she told you grand stories and promised you things and opportunities. I’m happy you’re not going to my birthday party. Because you’re going to miss the chance to meet all those celebrities Lila lied about knowing. The chance to talk shop and create connections with the rich and the famous and be famous yourselves; the real reasons you ditched me. Most of the guests don’t know. But that’s fine because I’ll have real friends at the party; and you won’t be among them. Because you’re not real friend. You’re mindless, gullible sheep. …And Adrien, Chloe, I swear to the all gods, if you think you can just take over my room, you got another thing coming!!”

           Both blonds didn’t bother to even pretend to look remotely shamed or scared. They just smirked.

           It was at that moment, the Akuma two-faced came crashing into the party. All the documents, those in the class and not, scattered off screaming. The five took that opportunity to transform.

           Ladybug, Chat Noir, Queen Bee, Viperion, and Renard Rouge came swinging to the scene.

           Alya couldn’t believe her eyes. She had been replaced. How could Ladybug just replace her? She didn’t even have the guts to tell Alya!

           Fury overcame her, “Ladybug!” The glasses-wearing screamed. Her inner voice, “Look at me. How could you do this? Why?”

           Ladybug looked at her teammates. They nodded her a: Go for it. Ladybug swung over the the reporter. “What, Alya?” Her inner voice, “Why are you bothering me now?”

“You replaced me,” Alya stomped her foot. “I’m the fox hero. Not that poser.” Her inner voice, “I’m a much better hero than he’ll ever be. I should’ve been made permanent. I should’ve been made an official partner of you and Chat Noir.”

           Ladybug glared, “You posted lies on your blog. You never fact checked. And my sources told me you frequently took part in bullying of three students.” Her inner voice, “You’re a bad journalist. Why did you think I stopped giving you interviews? All those lies you post from Lila Rossi about her, about me. You never even bothered to research anything. Then you ice’d out Marinette; the sole reason I even bothered to give you a chance. You and your classmates really hurt her and the other students. You were mean bullies. And you’re unworthy of being a hero.”

           Alya froze. “But, I, it’s not fair!” She cried. “I didn’t know Lila wasn’t telling the truth.” Her inner voice “Crap! I forgot you knew Marinette. She probably told you everything. Ugh, why does she always have to be right all the time? It’s so annoying. At least Lila was fun. Besides, Marinette never even bothered to offer let me meet any of her celebrity friends. Or even mentioned she knew them And that’s so not cool. What kind of girl does that to her bestie? If Marinette had just told me she knew them, I’d have never believed Lila.”            

           Ladybug just stared at Alya in disgust, “We’re done Miss Césaire.” Her inner voice, “Forever.” Then she was gone.

           When the Akuma was defeated, and Ladybug put everything back to the way it was. The students didn’t know what to say or do. Lila had taken the time to vanish form the party. The five continued they stroll through the park. Unfortunately, they had to walk past the class party again.

“Hey!” Nino called. “You guys can come join us if you want.”

“We’re really sorry,” Rose yelled.

           Juleka didn’t say anything just looked at her older brother with pitiful eyes.

           Alya rushed over, followed by the other students. “Girl, you were so right about Lila. She’s such a liar.” The classmates nodded. “I’m your bestie. I should’ve never forgot to RSVP for your party. If it’s not too late, I’d love to go. Maybe we can even join you on your trip overseas. I’d love to go the Daily Planet.”

“Yeah, me too!” Nino grinned.

“Count me,” Alix cheered and high-fived Kim.

           Marinette looked them up and down, “It’s too late. Far too late,” She told them. “To go to my party, to go on the trip, to get back into my good graces, to be friends again. We’re not friends. And we never will be again. None of you be celebrating my birthday with me.” She gave them a cold smirk. “Wolves don’t party with sheep.”

[elfboyeros]

It Feels Oddly Domestic

Just a far warning there are going to be implied suicidal thoughts through the some of these little stories. I apologize if that tiggers or offended anyone I will put warnings at the beginnings of my stories if that is the cause!

Read the First Part

⚠️ Implied suicidal thoughts⚠️

“Mx. Paris there are other avenues that we could take.”

“Like what?”

“Well, the obvious one is to sue Callisto Merripen A.K.A Earthly Chaos,”

“Oh, come on you wouldn’t do that would you Cordelia?!”

“I don’t know!”

It seemed so outlandish, the idea of pro-hero suing another pro-hero. Especially when it appeared to be a horrible accident. Although the legal avenue for Cordelia to sue Callisto are more then sound.

“GAH, I don’t know what to do,” Cordelia huffed while in the shower, “I mean it does and doesn’t seem like a bad idea at the same.”

They turned off the shower tap, wrapping themselves in a towel and stepping out of the shower, “don’t fall again dumbass,” they muttered to themselves, “the last thing you need to do is all Aizawa or Hawks again to help you off the bathroom floor.”

They continue to think over the possible of suing the pro-hero that left them dying in the street, becoming more frustrated as the paced in their apartment, in an extra-large hoodie and boy shorts.

“Meow.”

Cordelia turned to their bed seeing the fluffy gray cat sprawled out within a pile of blankets, “good day, Aphrodite,” they said with a smile going to pet the animal, “maybe I should talk to someone…”

“Meow.”

“Thanks Aphrodite.”

Hawks was the first person they thought of talking to. He now the situation in and out he would give them advice.

Hey, I need someone to talk

Cordelia didn’t expect him to respond right away so they went to clean the bathroom to keep their mind of the choices they had to make. Although an hour and a half later they check their phone again.

[read] 4:23 p.m.

They frowned, knowing he was working. Although they wanted to be selfish this once. The possibly of making the wrong decision was eating them alive. They looked at the message list, Aizawa was under Hawks, the pro-hero 10 years their senior be the last person they texted. He had wished them luck in the meeting were the topic of suing Callisto came up.

“I can’t, he’s busy, it’s a weekday.”

Although they wanted to be selfish just this once.

Shota, do you got time to talk

It took less than a minute to get a response:

Is something wrong

Not extremely serious, but some stuff happened at the meeting today and I need advice.

If you’re busy its okay!

Do you want to do it over the phone, or in person

The fact that he had picked on how they like to discuss serious topics made them feel warm inside.

I would like to do it in person but this isn’t really about what I want

It actually is

Give me time to get there  

🙏I’m in your debt

Your not, just provide me dinner

What would you like

It doesn’t matter if it’s food

Yaki Udon?

👍

 Cordelia smiled, heading to the kitchen to begin cooking while Aphrodite played with toy in the background. It felt almost domestic, making Aizawa dinner as he was returning from the school. He’s coming home if you will.

“Cupid, stop being an idiot,” they sighed, blushing, “he’s coming over to talk to you because you asked, this isn’t his home.”

Did Codelia Paris have feelings for Shota Aizawa, yes, Could it be because he was being he was being kind, possibly. Although the B.M.I Hero Fat Gum was kind to the young adult since the day they met, and they had no feelings for the 29-year-old doughboy. No, they had feelings for the 30-year-old tired teacher. But Aizawa wouldn’t have feelings for them, he was 10 years their senior and it’s not like he saw them as nothing, but a young pro and a possible friend.

“And know I’m thinking about Hawks,” Cordelia huffed.

The winged hero, that birdbitch, also had a place in Cordelia’s heart and out of the two men that Cordelia wanted to be with Hawks seemed more realistic, although that doesn’t get rid of the feelings for Aizawa.

A knock at their front door, made the jump, pulling them out of their thoughts, “it’s open!”

The door behind them opened, heavy and tired footsteps entering their apartment, “you shouldn’t leave your door unlock and answer it like that,” Aizawa stated, softly as he removed his shoes.

Aphrodite had waddled her way for to the cat lover, enjoying him picking her up and holding her like a baby, “I knew it was you,” Cordelia replied, back turn toward him.

“And what if I was a murderer, or something, huh,” Aizawa posed.

Cordelia chuckled, turning around and leaning against the stove, “you think I can cheat death a second time?”

Aizawa looked at them for a second, tired, upset, and depressed, but still trying to make jokes. Just like in the hospital a month and a half ago, “don’t talk like that.”

“You brought up, buddy,” they retorted as the would out bowels and utensils.

Dinner was state in front of them at the little circular table in the corner of Cordelia’s kitchen area. The element of sitting across from each other and eating dinner felt so domestic.

“So, what’s wrong,” Aizawa asked.

Cordelia sighed, “My lawyer said I could sue Callisto.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, granted no in the room looked happy with that opinion.”

“You say that as if you have other opinions.”

“I kinda do,” they sighed again, “I could ask for a public apology, which means the actual story gets out and a ruin a young man’s career. He could give me a small about of money, under the table as an apology. Or do nothing!”

“Jesus.”

“I was told that if I sue, meaning I could get both the money and the apology, but the Hero Commission pulled me aside after and said that was a horrible idea, and would have the wrong outcome for everyone,” Cordelia explained, “but I don’t see how that possible.”

“So, they don’t want you to do anything,” Aizawa remarked as a question.

“Basically, but right now my reputation is in shambles give the cover up job that they did,” Aizawa was silence for a moment, “what would you do Shota?”

“If it were me… I would do nothing,” he replied, “it seems like more trouble than it’s worth, but I’m not you.”

“I just want the people to know what really happened! I don’t care about the money,” Cordelia replied, getting up to place their bowl in the sink, “so I guess I’ll just ask for the public apology, I just don’t know what the right thing would be.”

“I can’t make the decision for me, Cordelia,” Aizawa remarked placing his bowl in the sink beside theirs.

“I know, I’m not asking you to make the decision,” Cordelia sighed, back leaning against the sink with their arms folded against their chest, “I just… I don’t… gah! It shouldn’t be this difficult to make this decision! And of course, I’m the one making it so difficult!”

“You are making it a bit difficult,” Aizawa chuckled, leaning against the arm of the couch.

“I guess I’m just worry about what people are going to think,” Cordelia huffed, “my brain is still stuck in my freshman of high school phase, I guess.”

“and I’m assuming that bad.”

Cordelia nodded, “a bit,” they muttered, “I was a people pleaser and worried about what everyone thought of me, stuff like that.”

“Sound horrible,” Aizawa joked.

“yeah,” they chuckled, moving to sit on the couch.

Aizawa soon followed, Cordelia scrunched up on one couch cushion at one end and the Eraser hero at the other end, “why did you want to please everyone,” he asked.

“I wanted people to like me,” they replied simply, “I wasn’t the rocking bombshell that I am now. I was a nerdy, chubby, kid in America with shitty parents. I was bully through out my American education career. When I got tired of it all, I made it so people would at least tolerate me so I wouldn’t be so alone.”

“So, what happened when you got to U.A.?”

“People were nicer. I found actual friends. Getting to meet Fat Gum and get chances to have a social life where I could be myself, helped me a lot” they explained, “and hey, I even lost a bit of weight.”

Aizawa rolled his eyes at the comment of their weight, which Cordelia didn’t notice, “I feel like since the accident I'm falling backwards,” they added, “as if I'm trying to keep those around me from leaving because “I’ve done something wrong." I know it's not true, but that want a part of my brain believes."

Aizawa was silence listening to them, which was him being polite although, of course, Cordelia’s brain take that way, “I’m sorry for rambling.”

“It’s alright,” he replied, looking at them scrunched up on their own couch, “you can relax, Cordelia.”

“Then my feet would be in your lap.”

“Okay?”

“That’s your personal space,” they replied.

“and I’m in your home,” he added.

“I’m not putting my feet in your lap.”

“Too bad,” he huffed, pull at their feet, laying out their legs landing their feet in his lap.

It feels unbelievably domestic!

“Whatever… so tell me about yourself, Mr. Aizawa!”

He rolls his eyes, telling Cordelia very little about his younger ages, only because he didn’t feel like reliving his trauma at the moment. He spoke a lot about his time as a teacher, very little on his actual self.

“Come on, Shota, you gotta give me facts about yourself,” Cordelia chuckled.

“I mean there isn’t much,” Aizawa replied.

“Come on,” they groaned, “there’s no secret talent, or anything like that?!”

“Well... I can tap dance,” he answered.

“WHAT REALLY!”

Cordelia shot up, “dear god you are tell the truth,” they laughed, “THAT’S AMAZING,” they yelled falling back on the couch laughing.

Outside a center winged-hero was flying through the night sky, soaring to a center apartment. It’s not that he was ignoring Cordelia’s text, he was busy. Although the fact that he didn’t get a respond from them had him a bit worried.

“Come on, songbird, be okay,” he muttered.

Hawks landed on their balcony wall; he could see the light were on before he landed. Once he looked inside gave him the answer on why they didn’t respond to his text messages.  They were talking to 1-A teacher.

“Shota Aizawa,” Hawks muttered, “you keep stealing my thunder.”

Hawks looked down at his phone, opened on his messages with Cordelia.

Whatcha need Cupid

Songbird?

??

I’m sorry I was busy

I’m Flying by if you still need to talk

Cordelia please answer me!

[Delivered] 7:05 p.m.

Cordelia to him was a friend and had been a friend since they had started being a pro. He had someone to flirt with that would flirt back, someone to joke with, someone to feel at peace with when near them. Although since the accident he knew that Cordelia wasn’t doing great, and the red winged hero was trying his hardest to be support, but granted he was never good at that.

Hawks’ eyes fell to the cat sitting, inside, in front of the siding door, giving her a little wave before leaving, “have fun songbird.”

“MEOW!”

Aizawa and Cordelia looked over at Aphrodite, who sat in front of the balcony, “You want out stupid,” Cordelia asked, getting off the couch.

“Don’t call her stupid,” Aizawa chuckled, watching the beaten hero walked to the door.

“Maybe she’d be called smart if she figured out how to open the door,” they joked, petting the top of Aphrodite’s head, before siding the door open and swiftly shutting it and turning back seeing Aizawa off the couch, “leaving?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, have a stay trip back to the school,” Cordelia replied, “and thank you for doing this, I’ll make it up somehow.”

“You don’t have to make anything up,” he replied.

“Maybe I could help you grade or train the kids,” Cordelia proposed.

“That’s not a bad idea,” Aizawa chuckled.

Cordelia smiled somberly, the tried teacher could tell something was wrong. Not like if he left something would happen, but just that they didn’t want him to leave, they didn’t want to be alone. He could tell by the smile and the look in their eyes.

“Please text me or call me if you need anything,” he added softly, “I’ll be here as soon as I can.”

“I know,” Cordelia remarked, “now go, Eri probably want you to read her a bedtime story.”

That confirmed from him, that they didn’t want him to leave, and that broke his heart.

“Goodnight, Cupid,” he remarked, reaching for the door.

“Goodnight, Sho,” they giggled.

Once he left things didn’t feel so domestic anymore, they unbelievably felt sad and cold.

[slashscowboyboots]

The Stars Are a Part of Us: Different Speeds (Part 4)

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

Tag list @izzysdenimjacket ​ @warrendemachokeme @awrestlinggirlwholoves80sbands ​ @smokeandmirrorz ​ @sodalitefully ​ @roger-taylors-car ​ @lost-in-the-80s @whisperess33 ​ @shawolat ​ ​@80snikki @rumoured-whispers

Warnings: Underage sex, drug use, drinking, implied violence.  18+ ONLY

Notes: Track #2 is by the sadly underrated Cowboy Junkies.  It was released in '93, and I wondered if I should include in a fic set in 1987, but then I realized this is fiction and there's no rules!   Yayyy!  It's such a killer song I had to add it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajtnaiLaJNQ

Checkout was at the ungodly hour of 11, and of course none of the band was anywhere to be found, just Karen perched on a chair in the lobby, still reading her book.  Love’s Surrender was the title of it, and Izzy snorted through his nose.  Surrendering was probably the last thing this uptight broad ever did.

“Fun night?” she asked, her eyes not leaving her page.

He shrugged.  “‘S’all right.”

She lowered her book.  “Heard you met Kasey.”

Izzy blinked.  “Uh, um, yeah.”

She rolled her eyes, exasperation pulling down her mouth.  “Oh, of course you don’t know her name,” she snapped.

“She didn’t know mine either,” he retorted.  “She thought I was Axl.”

Karen sighed.  “She blew him too.”

“Huh.  I thought he was with Velvet.”

Her eyes met his.  “Velvet insisted on it.”

Izzy furrowed his eyebrows.

“Hazing ritual.  She made Kasey suck him off in front of everyone, then he announced that Velvet was better at it.  Velvet always does the local talent dirty.”

Izzy closed his eyes.  “Fuck,” he breathed, “you bitches don’t take any prisoners.”

She gave him a hard look.  “You’re the wildest band in LA.  Did you expect angelic whores?”

Izzy frowned, then said, “You’re not just here because of us, are you?  You protect her from the other girls too.”

“No.   She’s everyone’s little sister, although I’d kill one of them for doing something to her.”  She narrowed her eyes at him again.  “I’m here because I think I need to be.  Cause if I didn’t, I’d be sitting this shindig out.  This is definitely my last rodeo.”

“This is your third tour, isn’t it?  You were with Def Leppard too.”

Her eyes widened, and Izzy nearly licked his lips in glee.  “Steve is Steve Clark.  I found out some dirt about you,” he smirked.

“Choose your next words very carefully,” she said in a low voice.

“You were a groupie.  Were you running naked through the hallways too?”

She stiffened, eyes widening and her face going pale, and for a second Izzy thought she was going to slap his face.  “No, I was trying to keep him from killing himself, you fucking asshole,” she gritted, then slumped down.  “I thought a blow job would put you in a better mood.  Guess you’re just a dick 24/7.”

“Sissy!” Celestia cried, flopping down on Karen’s lap.  

“Hi, Sis.  You and your beau doing all right?”

“Yeah,” Celestia answered, centering herself on Karen’s legs.  She was taller than Karen, and was nearly crushing her.  “Did I tell you he has an anaconda?”

Karen made a face.  “Celestia, I don’t need to hear about that.”

Celestia giggled.  “No, he has a snake!  His name is Clyde.  He has some bearded dragons too.”

Karen shifted in her chair.  “That’s lovely, Sis.  Who’s taking care of them?”

Celestia hung onto Karen’s shoulders.  “Uh, he says someone named Yvonne.”

Karen took a deep breath.  “Is that his girlfriend?” she asked gently.

“His ex.”

“Uh huh.  And she still has custody of his pets?”

Celestia nodded.

“Then she’s not an ex.  An ex would’ve poisoned them.”

“You think he still has a girlfriend?” Celestia gasped.

Karen shot another look at Izzy.  “I think they all do.  Probably a few kids they don’t know about too.”

Celestia leaped off Karen’s lap.  “Omigosh!  Slaa-ash!  Do you have any kids?”

Slash took a sip from a styrofoam cup and pulled his top hat down over his eyes.  “I don’t think so,” he muttered, throwing an arm around Celestia.

Izzy shook his head.  “You have a really cynical view of the world, don’t you?”

Karen snorted.  “I’m never wrong.”

Izzy took a drag from a cigarette.  “Actually, you are.”

“Is he still seeing Yvonne?”

“Hell if I know.  But I don’t have a girlfriend.  Mine got married.  And not to me.”

Karen looked down.  “I’m sorry.”

“Yeah.  You write a song about a woman, and she dumps yer ass when you’re drying out.”

“Was it ‘Sweet Child of Mine?’”

He shook his head.  “I co-wrote the music on that, but no.  I wrote ‘Patience’ for her.”

Karen’s eyes widened in amazement.  “You wrote ‘Patience?’”

He stood up and stubbed out his cigarette in the ashtray.  “Yeah.  And you’re wrong about something else too.  I’m not a dick 24/7, although you’ll never find that out.”  

Izzy leaned over his seat on the bus and looked down at Karen, still engrossed in her book.

“What do you do for fun on the road?” he asked her.

She didn’t look up.  “I’m having a love affair with my vibrator.”

“Oh, ha ha, smartass.”

She turned a page.  “You think I’m joking.  It’s Japanese and has different speeds.  I’ll never need a man again.”

Izzy didn’t say anything, but he could feel his eyes getting bigger.  Guess you’re not the prude I thought you were.

“Wow, that shut you up,” she chuckled, looking up at him.  “Are you bored on the road already?”

He nodded.  “I don’t get fucked up anymore, and that took up a lot of time, y’know.  I’m not scoring or getting drunk and now I have just…...time.”

“Yeah.  Well, I like to read, and being with my sisters.  Sometimes, I like to see the towns we’re in, get out of the hotel a little.  I like shooting pool.  I really like karaoke but I doubt if they have a lot of that here.  I’ve seen your itinerary and it wasn’t promising, they’ve got you out in Bumfuck most of the time.”  She knitted her eyebrows.  “You’re a guitarist, why don’t you play guitar?”

“That’s what I did last night.  I don’t know if I can do that every night.”

She cleared her throat.  “I’m sure there’s a Kasey in every town.  I doubt you’ll be bored for long.”

He shrugged.  “That does it for you?  Reading all the time?”

She looked up at him.  “I rather enjoy being bored.  There were many times I was on the verge of a heart attack, and I longed to be bored.”

“Steve kept you hopping, huh?”

She held his eyes for a long time, furious, then dropped her head.  “Yeah, he did.”  She looked up.  “Is that what you want, me to talk about him?  Fine.  I was in love, he wasn’t, end of story.”

He saw the pain etched in her face, and he let it drop.  He lit a cigarette and asked, “You’ve seen our itinerary?”

“Yeah.  The record company doesn't have a lot of faith in you, do they?”

He shook his head.  “They think we’ll be dead by the end of this week.”

“Those seem like good odds.  Where’s your record at?”

“At?”

“The top 100.”

“I dunno, 101 I guess.”

“Is it moving up?”

Izzy blinked. 

She sighed.  “Okay, how big was your record deal?”

“Two hundred fifty grand.”

She sucked air between her teeth.  “You know you have to recoup your costs, right?  I’m guessing you have a slew of lawyers and a bunch of court fees too.”

Silence.

“Izzy.  Have you talked to MTV?”

He shook his head.  “They won’t play our video.”

“You made a video?  For how much?”

“$75,000.  With Nigel Dick.”

“Ooh, you used a name.”

“That’s bad?”

“Yeah, cause he’s the only one who made money from it.”   She lit a cigarette.  “Izzy, are you aware you guys are broke?”

“We're getting a per diem.”

“You’re in the hole is what you are.  Who are you signed with?”

“Uh, Geffen.”

“Huh.  So just one man owns your ass.”

“So what you’re saying is that we’re in debt to the record company?”

“Yeah, big time.  I mean, Hoss, if your album tanks, you could be sued.”

He exhaled.   “How do you know all this?”

“Because I paid attention when the suits showed up.  I knew there had to be a reason for a record exec to leave his wife and kids to hump it all the way out to BFE to talk to the band.”  She lit another cigarette.  “”Pyromania’ started moving up the charts, and the suits came more and more frequently.”

“Def Leppard are millionaires.  I mean, their music sucks, but they made a shitload of money off of it.”

“It took them awhile to make it, though.  They had to pay back Mercury, plus they used Marilyn Monroe’s image in the ‘Photograph’ video and it cost them a bundle.”  She shook her head.  “Your attorney fees will keep you in the red for a while.  Especially if you keep playing these podunk towns.”

“Fuck.”

“Yeah.”  Karen took a drag.  “Well, maybe the record company is looking out for you.  They probably figure you can’t kill yourselves out here in the boonies.”

“IZZY!” Steven shrieked, slapping him on the back.  “Howya doin’, brother?”

Izzy smiled.  “I’m all right, man.  How are you?”

Steven was nearly hopping up and down in his dingy white hi tops.  “I’m so excited, man, we’ve got a gig tonight.  We’re gonna ROCK Canada, aren’t we, Izz?”

“You bet your ass, Stevie.”

“You!” Steven shouted to Karen.  “You, what’s your name?  Donna?”

“Karen.”

“Yeaah, Karen.  You really should fuck Izzy, girl!  He’s cool.  Like the coolest brother you could ever have.”

Izzy smirked.  “She says she doesn’t need a man, she got a device with different speeds.”

Steven looked horrified, then he grinned.  “Well, let him use it on you.”

Karen blinked, and Izzy cleared his throat.  “Dude, she’s not into that,” he said.

“Too bad.  Fuck, that girl I’m with is insane, man.  She ate that girl Kasey out last night for like an hour, man.  Then they sucked me off at the same time!  I’m living the dream, Izz.  I don’t want this tour to ever end.”  He hugged Izzy, then went back to his seat and snuggled up to a sleeping Absinthe.

Izzy raised an ornery eyebrow at Karen.  “So, different speeds, huh?”

“Absolutely not.  And you can’t borrow it either.”  Her eyes slid to Steven’s seat.  “Coke always make him like that?”

“Yeah, he takes a while to come down.  He’s pretty hyper to begin with.”

“Well, you should have a high energy set then.”

Izzy rested his arms on the top of the seat.  “You’ve seen us play.  What do you think?”

Karen fought a smile.  “You don’t suck.”

“Says the woman who traveled with Def Leppard.”

She gave him the middle finger.  “Keep it up, Hoss, and I’ll ram my Japanese precious where the sun don’t shine.”

Izzy puckered his lips and made obnoxious kissing noises, then said, “Promises, promises,” and flopped down in his seat.

[writingpitcheswearingpearls]

Drawn to You

Summary:  When Danny goes to a psychic to get his soulmate drawn, he's expectantly pretty confused about why she's drawn him with a colour palette change.

Read on Ao3

Danny had been having a pretty good day with his friends, using their free Saturday to go to the arcade. In an attempt to not burn through all their allowance before they could save up for the upcoming Doomed game, Danny and Tucker painfully had to request Sam to drag them away from the venue once they hit their budget. Despite the grumbling he’d done when Sam followed through with it, Danny still felt it was a good day overall. That was, until they crossed paths with the A-Listers from school.

He was hoping that if they kept their heads down, that the trio could pass the popular kids without being noticed. When Paulina gasped at something she saw in a shop window and got them all to look with her, he felt like it might just work.

“Oh look, a psychic who draws your soulmate!” She exclaimed excitedly, jumping up and down and clapping. Being distracted by the movement was enough for Dash to catch sight of him in the shop window reflection. The tall boy wore a malicious smirk before chortling.

“Fenturd doesn’t have to pay her to know he’ll die alone.” The bully teased loudly, turning and jabbing Danny in the collarbone. To Danny’s surprise, the comment hurt a lot more than the harsh jab that would probably bruise later. He was a loser after all, so how likely was it that he’d die alone? If he did have a soulmate, they’d probably rather be caught dead than be his soulmate and ask for a refund. Who in the world would ever want to be his soulmate?

“Shut up Dash! Danny’s far more likely to have a soulmate than someone as awful as you!” Sam growled defensively, pushing herself between Dash and Danny. Dash glowered at her furiously, puffing up his chest as he towered over her.

“You think because you’re a girl I won’t wail on you, Manson?” He sneered in an imposing tone that frightened Danny but seemed to have no effect on Sam.

“No, I think you won’t wail on me because if I sue you for it I can afford far better lawyers.” She quipped back, folding her arms and attempting to be as tall as possible. Dash went red and was shaking with fury. Danny and Tucker swapped a worried look between themselves. This was usually the best time to start running, but it didn’t seem like Sam was going to back down.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Dash yelled, grabbing Sam by the front of her shirt. Kwan winced, before grabbing Dash’s hands and forcing them away from Sam.

“It means shut up before you do something insanely stupid. Come on, let’s go to the arcade.” Kwan warned, trying to coax his friend away from the trio. With an irritated huff, Dash eventually stopped resisting and stomped off with the rest of the A-Listers.

“Sam, are you okay? That was insane!” Tucker checked, fussing over his friend. Sam swatted him away dismissively, rolling her eyes.

“It was nothing, don’t worry. It’s not like I could just stand there and let Dash talk about Danny like that.” With that statement, both Sam and Tucker shifted their glances to Danny. Feeling uncomfortable with their sympathetic looks, his eyes darted away and locked onto the first thing he saw. The sign that Paulina had pointed out.

Psychic Drawing of Soulmate: $10 Limited Time Only

He was embarrassed to admit the idea tempted him. Had his parents’ lunatic ravings about ghosts finally gotten to him? He knew psychics weren’t real, so why did he want to give this con artist any of his money? Was just the concept of seeing the face of someone who could love him enough to turn him into a gullible fool?

“Danny? Are you okay, bud?” Tucker asked with a concerned tone. Danny snapped out of his thoughts and looked back to his friends, both of whom looked quite worried.

“You’re not thinking about going in there, are you? Come on, Danny! We’re thirteen, we’re too young to be thinking about love and soulmates!” Sam argued, reaching for Danny’s wrist to tug him away from the shop. Reflexively, he side-stepped towards the door to the shop and out of her reach.

“I…I’ll catch up with you later online, okay?” He farewelled, before quickly pulling open the door and escaping into the psychic’s store.

The interior every bit as stereotypical as he expected. Between the dark brown walls, the dim, warm light bulbs in the tiny chandelier, the candles scattered around the room and the velvet curtains drawn over the window, he felt like he had stepped from late afternoon into midnight. This area seemed to be a waiting room, he observed from the reception desk and the line of chairs against the wall.

“Hello, child. Curious about the unknown, or just trying to get away from bullies? I sense fear and hurt in your aura.” Danny whipped around to see a woman standing in a doorway leading to another room. She had curly, auburn hair swept out of her face by a colourful scarf that was tied off behind her neck and draped over her shoulder. A wheat coloured loose-knit shawl wrapped around her arms over the floor length burgundy dress she wore. She was a few bangles away from being exactly what Danny expected a psychic to look like.

“Uh…I saw the sign in the window, so I was wondering if…” He started, finding himself far too embarrassed to continue the sentence. A soft expression of surprise swept the woman’s face.

“You want me to draw your soulmate? But you’re so young!” She exclaimed. Danny nervously wrung the bottom of his shirt in his hands, eyes low and avoiding contact with her.

“I don’t need to meet them or anything. I just… want to know if I have one at all.” He admitted, tears threatening to escape. After an uncomfortable amount of silence, Danny dared to look up at the woman to find her looking at him with an expression of indecision. Noticing him looking at her, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

“Okay, I will draw your soulmate for you. As long as you keep in mind that it might take a long time for you to meet them, and it might not be easy to win them over if – when you do. This person is a complement to your soul, but we can’t account for free will.” She disclaimed cautiously. Danny couldn’t quite tell if it was authentic, or just vague excuses to explain why her predictions haven’t turned out to be true to avoid being sued. At this point he was far too curious and desperate, so when she asked him for his name and date of birth before asking him to wait while she prepared the drawing room, he obliged.

By the time she returned, his leg was in full nervous bounce mode and he was all too keen to follow her into the drawing room. This space was better lit than the waiting room, which made sense considering what it was for. At the centre of the room was a small round table with a strip of black velvet draped over it and old looking chairs tucked in to either side. He took the seat he was offered and watched as she paced over to another table and grabbed a tray of burning incense and a small sketchpad before she returned and took the chair opposite him at the table.

“I will now tap into the spirit realm and draw upon their energies to find your soulmate. It requires a lot of focus, so please try not to do anything to distract me during the process. I will show you when it is done.” She explained. When Danny gave a nod of understanding, she shifted her weight in her chair and closed her eyes. After a few moments, she began to sway and Danny could see her eyes behind her lids begin to twitch. Suddenly, she opened her eyes and began to draw. Despite her eyes seeming glazed over, she never missed the paper in front of her even when she swapped to a different pencil, seeming completely in the zone. It could have been five minutes or an hour, but eventually the psychic stopped drawing and shook her head as if snapping out of a daze. Danny sat up in his chair excited. He was going to find out what his soulmate looked like. Would he already know them, or would it be a completely unfamiliar face? He watched the woman expectantly, waiting for her to turn the paper around. She looked down at her work and froze with a completely bewildered expression on her face.

“W-What the fuck?” Blurted from her mouth as her eyes remained wide open. Danny felt a pit form in his stomach. What the hell could that reaction mean?

“What’s wrong? Who did you draw?” Danny asked, making no attempt to hide how nervous he felt in his tone. The woman quickly looked up at him, then back at the drawing, before returning her gaze to him.

“Something’s gone wrong. I don’t understand why I drew this.” She stated, looking extremely confused. Danny pushed himself out of the chair and onto his feet.

“What is it? Show me!” He cried out, more and more panicked by the second. The woman’s eyes widened even further and she clung the drawing to her chest.

“That might not be a good idea. Maybe I should try again –”

“No! Give it to me!” He demanded, striding over to her and tugging the sketchpad out of her hands, her reflexes being too slow to stop him. When he turned the drawing side towards himself, it felt like his brain shut down. She’d just drawn him but with green eyes and without filling in his hair dark.

“What the hell? Is this some kind of joke?” He asked, anger rising in his chest.

“What – No! I did what I always do, I don’t know what went wrong!” She replied, panic warping her features. Danny scoffed.

“Yeah, right. Am I supposed to believe some spirits told you that my soulmate is just me in a blonde wig? I knew psychics were fake, why did I think…” He started to complain, stopping himself when he felt tears trailing down his face. He had to get out of there before it could get any more embarrassing. Without any warning, Danny took off, clutching the snatched sketchpad to his chest and bolting all the way home. Angrily, he threw the sketchpad into the back of his cupboard and slammed it shut before throwing himself onto the bed and crying until he fell asleep.

///

Phantom groaned as he saw the contents of Danny’s latest purchase.

“Danny! You already own shoes nearly identical to these!” He berated, hovering over his human half as he reclined on the bed. Danny looked up from his phone to see what Phantom was talking about.

“Oh. Whoops. I’ll return them tomorrow.” He stated, before turning his attention back to the phone. Phantom rolled his eyes. Despite this split not being as severe as it was the first time in terms of personality clashes, Phantom still had moments where Danny’s episodes of laziness were incredibly frustrating.

“If you bothered to keep your closet tidy, you wouldn’t get yourself into situations where you can’t remember what you already own.” Phantom lectured, lingering over the human under scrutiny. Danny sighed as he put the phone down.

“Ugh, you’re right. It just got so bad so fast, so it’s hard to know how to start.” Danny admitted, sitting up on the bed. Phantom smiled at his other half, heart warmed by the maturity to admit he made a mistake. More often than not he found himself enjoying the type of person his other half was. Despite the odd complaint here and there, he was truly grateful it was better this time. He wasn’t sure he’d keep it together long enough for the ghost catcher to be repaired if he had to deal with “fun” Danny instead of “easily distracted but means well” Danny. To be fair, the human had a lot more things to focus on than him. All Phantom had to think about was stopping ghosts and that wasn’t even all the time.

“Tell you what; how about I help you? It won’t seem nearly as daunting with someone pitching in.” Phantom suggested, lowering himself to be level with Danny. The human gave a grateful smile and nod, and the two of them made their way to the closet.

“You work on picking up the clothes that have fallen off their hangers and rehang them, I’ll pick up all the miscellaneous items and see if I can find a more appropriate home for them. Then, the shoes should be easy to deal with.” Phantom instructed, before getting to work. It was strange how much easier it was to have organised thoughts now they were separated. He supposed that was because his thought process no longer relied on getting enough chemicals in order to focus. It was a hidden plus that when Danny was forcing himself to concentrate he made the silliest little faces. Not that Phantom would ever tell him.

After pulling out a basketball, an old school bag, and several old text books, Phantom stumbled upon a sketchpad. Turning it over, he was surprised to see a drawing of himself on the front page. It was vaguely familiar, but he couldn’t recall why, just like with any memory from Danny that had happened before the portal accident. For some reason Phantom didn’t have a hundred percent access to those memories, but usually it didn’t bother him too much until now. Why did Danny have a drawing of Phantom before he existed? Attempting to calm down, he tried to rationalise it. Maybe this drawing happened after the current split, and it only seems familiar because it’s him.

“Danny? What’s this?” Phantom asked, turning the drawing to his human half and waiting for what he hoped was a rational explanation. Danny glanced over curiously, but as soon as he caught sight of the sketchpad his face went white and his expression dropped.

“W-Where did you get that?” Danny stammered, looking like he was going to throw up.

“It was in the back of your closet. What’s going on?” Phantom questioned, getting worried. Danny tentatively reached forward and plucked the drawing out of Phantoms hands, staring at the thing like he couldn’t believe it was real.

“I forgot all about this. I was so upset. I wanted to forget about it. I can’t believe…” Danny murmured, trailing off as his gaze drifted from the paper to Phantom.

“Danny, you’re scaring me.” Phantom whispered, watching myriad emotions dance across the human’s face and body language. Eventually, he locked onto nervous and shifted uncomfortably as he struggled to maintain eye contact with Phantom.

“I should explain. When I was thirteen, I went to this psychic who claimed she could draw a person’s… soulmate.” Danny began shakily, blushing with embarrassment. Phantom’s eyes went wide as he realised what the human was saying.

“Sh-She drew m-me?” Phantom asked, voice shaking just as much as Danny’s had. Instead of speaking, Danny offered an awkward nod.

“For you?” Phantom continued to question. Anybody else might have been happy making the assumption, but he had to know for sure. Danny clenched his eyes shut and gave an even more frantic nod. Phantom felt anchored and weightless all at once. He wasn’t just a ghost half, he was a soulmate. To Danny. Phantom felt like he could laugh and shoot up into the stratosphere until Danny’s reaction fully hit him. The human was still sitting with his eyes scrunched up and his body tense, like he was bracing to be hit with a fire-hose. Was this not a happy revelation for both of them? Phantom floated closer to Danny and carefully placed a hand on his shoulder.

“What’s wrong? Do you not want to be soulmates?” The question got Danny to open his eyes and look up at him with a confused, indecisive expression.

“How can we be soulmates? We’re the same person.” Danny mumbled. Phantom paused to think. Sure they used to be the same person, but were they the same person like this? Neither of them was like a duplicate that behaved like an extra limb, and they both had independent thoughts and feelings. Is that all it takes for someone to be a different person? Phantom shook his head and placed his other hand on Danny’s cheek.

“It doesn’t matter how. All I know is that I’m happy by your side and I don’t want to leave. Are you happy? Would you want me to leave?” Phantom spoke softly, yet determined. Danny’s eyes blew wide open as he gazed into Phantom’s.

“No! I mean, I’m happy and I don’t want you to leave!” Danny replied frantically, as if the idea of Phantom leaving was the scariest thing he could think of. Phantom leaning in and pressed their foreheads together, relishing in the human’s body heat.

“If a soulmate is somebody you want to be with forever, then I’d call you my soulmate in a heartbeat.” Phantom quietly declared. He felt the body he was holding shiver.

“Really?” Danny whispered, pulling away just far enough to look clearly in Phantom’s eyes.

“With absolutely no hesitation.” Phantom answered, leaning in and pressing a gentle kiss into Danny’s lips.

Needless to say, when the ghost catcher was finally fixed, they didn’t see a need to use it.

BONUS:

Hayley sipped her tea as she watched the television in her cosy little break room. One of the perks from pretending to have psychic powers was that certain clients sent her gifts when they were satisfied with her work. The tea had been a gift from a woman who had somehow managed to end up with who Hayley had based her “psychic vision” on. All she’d done was look the woman up on Facebook and imagined who would be a good pick for her based on her friends list. Just like always, she didn’t pick until she began drawing. It was more fun that way and required less thinking. The only time her method hadn’t worked was with that poor boy. His teary face haunted her, and she’d questioned why she’d drawn what she had drawn since that day. Maybe that’s why when a certain news story interrupted her program, she immediately spat out her tea at what she saw.

Front and centre of the screen was the face of that boy, only now he had white hair, green eyes, and was shooting bright green beams at a ghost. The newscaster said he was a ghost that came through a portal from the Ghost Zone and Hayley immediately dropped her mug. How could she not? It was easy to be shocked that after hundreds of times of pretending to tap into the spirit realm, she actually had for once. Who knows, maybe she had been tapping into this “Ghost Zone” this whole time, and ghosts were the reason she had been so successful for so many years?

So years later, when she received an invitation in the mail to the wedding of Daniel Fenton and Phantom, she was more than happy to RSVP as attending.

[inawickedlittletown]

9-1-1 Meta: The Lawsuit

Note: this is over 2k of meta on the lawsuit as inspired by some discussion on the buddie discord. 

So I think there are definitely a few sides to the story when it comes to the lawsuit and why a lawsuit was necessary. I think that Buck was absolutely right to do it. He was in a corner at the point where the lawsuit happens and I don't think he actually had any other choice. Should he have talked to any of the others? Yeah, probably. 

But here's why I don't think Buck thought that it actually mattered: Buck is depressed and upset prior to the tsunami and yet afterwards he pulls himself out of that and he actually goes and takes the fire marshal job and he might not want it but he's there doing it and I think he was content doing that as long as he needed to because he absolutely felt that eventually when the fire department decided he was ready or he got off the blood thinners that he would be cleared to work. 

Buck even has this idea that hey maybe if his friends/coworkers and captain write a letter pleading his case that it might help change the minds of the department or fire chief or whoever decided that he was a liability while on blood thinners. Buck is so sure that he has their loyalty and their friendship that he fudges their numbers for the drill and that he tells the lawyer that he is absolutely not going to help him sue the city or the first responders. And the lawyer sees him as a victim, he sees Buck as someone that is wrongfully kept from his job and yet despite Buck agreeing with that, Buck in that moment defends the department and his friends and essentially says that they have his back and he has their backs too. That Buck is willing to wait to get back to his job and yet in yearning for it back and in seeing the way that the others are working and seeing Bosko, Buck comes up with a plan. It’s what he does. And he thinks that maybe he just needs the support of the 118 to get the department to let him return to work. 

I don’t think that Buck even fully believes that something as little as a letter would help, but he wants to be active and he wants to do something and that’s the only thing to him that he can do. 

I’ll pause here to talk about Bobby. I don’t believe 100% that Bobby wanted to keep his decision to keep Buck from working from Buck. I will always be left wondering if Bobby was going to talk to Buck in that moment at the station before the call comes in and they all leave Buck at the station because it does seem like Bobby wants to talk to Buck about something...it just doesn’t happen. I just have to wonder about when Bobby was asked his opinion and how much time passes between that and Buck finding out. 

Instead, Athena invites Buck over to their house for dinner and Bobby isn’t too happy with that and he’s especially not happy about it once Buck starts talking about his plan. It’s interesting to me that Bobby didn’t have to say anything to Buck about his part in keeping Buck from returning. He could have just let Buck go on and on about what he hoped to do with the help of the team. Maybe he could have told Buck that it was a long shot or he could have explained that it wouldn’t work. Instead, Bobby admits that he’s the one keeping Buck from returning to work and Bobby explains his reasoning behind it. So I actually don’t really see this as lack of communication or clarity as much as Buck finding out at the wrong moment and Bobby not giving him all the info. 

So for me the problem is not that Bobby made that decision and didn’t tell Buck...it’s the way that Bobby delivers the information to Buck. It’s the way that he isn’t exactly gentle with Buck or explains himself — he sort of treats Buck like a child that’s done something wrong and the worst thing is that Bobby is making excuses to rationalize his decision instead of admitting that it’s entirely an emotional response. Bobby is scared and he’s probably guilty because the kid involved in the bombing was after him and he’s also afraid of losing Buck and we see this fear the moment that he gets that call about Buck at the hospital during the Halloween episode. None of this makes Bobby any less guilty, but I think his part in this isn’t as bad as everyone makes it out and Bobby’s mistake is in that he doesn’t share his feelings with Buck — he isn’t open about his real reasons for not wanting Buck back at work and instead makes it about the job and about his duty as a Captain and that’s not what Buck needs not when Buck is someone that is very open with his heart and his feelings as we see in the Christmas episode where he tells Bobby how much he cares about him. 

The reason that Buck is so shocked and upset is because Bobby goes against everything he believed — Bobby does the exact thing that Buck never expected from him. He expected Bobby to support him and for Bobby to be just as eager to have Buck back at work. And the thing is that no one seems to fully understand why Buck is so eager to have his job back. Maddie doesn’t get it. Ali left him over it. And he’s seen his team working with someone new and seemingly not missing him. Because despite how much Bobby cares and how he tells the others that Buck has them no one but Eddie actually makes it clear to Buck that Buck has them. (Although Buck is pretty sure that they’re in his corner too) Eddie is the one that reaches out and pulls Buck out of bed and forces him to watch Chris and while we know how that ends, it does seem to make a difference to Buck in that after all of that is done, he does take the fire marshal job. 

I also see a lot of mention of Eddie not being there for Buck, but he was. He went and tried to help in the only way that Eddie could. And after the tsunami we get that amazing scene where Eddie tells him that he trusts Buck with Christopher — with the most important person in Eddie’s life. But we then have to remember that Christopher went through a trauma and that Eddie is dealing with a lot post-tsunami and he can’t worry about Buck because Chris comes first. Not to mention that since Buck got back to work (even as a fire marshal) that Eddie probably figured he was okay and over it. The others probably felt that Buck was okay too. And life is busy so it’s perfectly understandable why they might not be constantly checking up on Buck. 

But let’s also take note that Athena invites Buck over perhaps because she feels like checking in on him or just because she cares about him and she knows that he isn’t around his friends often and I think also because she knows what Bobby’s done and she assumes that Buck already knows and she likely wanted to clear the air or at least make sure they were okay except that Bobby didn’t tell Buck and then there’s just drama at her dinner table and you can tell in that scene how much she feels for Buck. Bobby did not handle that well at all and Athena is well aware of it. 

But now as to the lawsuit. So Buck leaves Bobby and Athena’s and he feels betrayed and I think that had Buck not met that lawyer, it wouldn’t have even been a thought to him. He probably would have quit being a fire marshal though...or maybe he would have spoken to the department directly. But Buck is completely worried about himself and his job only. He had no time to think about anyone else or to presume that anyone else on the team would be on his side (or maybe he expected the rest of them to be and for them to just understand and accept what Buck is doing and not hold the lawsuit against him) or be able to do anything about it past commiserate with him. But the lawyer...now he can absolutely do something for Buck. And I think Buck absolutely feels like it is his only option. Bobby has after all told him that he won’t be approving Buck coming back until he is no longer on blood thinners but now Buck has some idea that the department might think otherwise and Buck can be a bit impatient and he’s also desperate and he’s really doing what he needs to do and what he feels to be his only option. 

The real problem with the lawsuit is the lawyer. He’s sleazy and he’s basically out for a payday and nothing more. We actually don’t fully know how much Buck tells him and how much he already knows or finds out on his own. After all, we do know that he’s looked into Buck before he even tries to talk Buck into suing. This lawyer doesn’t care about Buck or what Buck wants and I think it’s important to note that Buck does end up refusing the money and also that the city and the department felt that they needed to settle the lawsuit rather than take it to court. 

I could argue that the city doesn’t want to deal with a lawsuit and the press and all of that and that’s why they decide to settle and it’s sort of what Bobby tells Buck when he tells him he can return to work, but I think it can be equally true that they settle because they feel that they might lose if they go to court and that will make things worse than just giving Buck a payday. But that’s not what Buck wants...he wants his job back. And if they can admit that he’s right through settling then clearly Buck is right about how he should have been back at work long before this. And it isn’t in some ways about Buck winning or being right as much as it is about Buck being treated equally and how Buck’s decision to take the risk and work while on blood thinners is being taken away. It speaks to anyone that’s had their workplace refuse to let them return to work because they’re unwilling to work with their disabilities or their injuries or their medical conditions. And using examples about the others and how quickly they were allowed to get back to work in comparison despite perhaps not being fully ready in a mental or physical capacity was an important thing for the case even if it brought up personal things that clearly upset the others a little. 

I get why people were upset about Buck going through with the lawsuit. I get why Eddie was upset and why Bobby didn’t want Buck back at work, but I don’t feel that any of that negates how important and how necessary it was for Buck to go through with the lawsuit because he clearly had a winning chance and because Bobby’s reasons for not allowing Buck to return to work were personal and emotion based and shouldn’t have played a part in spite of the blood thinners clearly being a setback and being a concern and a risk. But it’s a high risk job anyway and something that Buck has already signed up for. 

It’s just interesting that Buck goes and tells Bobby directly what he’s done and that Hen and Chim aren’t too bothered by it. Hen is probably the most understanding of all of them because she knows how little Buck has outside of the 118 and because she doesn’t take any of it personally. Chim understands what it’s like to not be at work and I think he recognizes that things were handled differently for Buck than him. They both welcome him back in their own ways and don’t hold the lawsuit against him. Bobby is clearly just worried about Buck but he doesn’t ever share that with Buck and instead does everything he can to keep Buck out of danger. And Eddie...well to Eddie it felt like being left and abandoned and especially so when he can’t even call Buck to bail him out of jail. He’s definitely having his own issues and projecting and not really understanding Buck’s side of it at all because he just doesn’t think that Buck’s problems are important or at least not worth a lawsuit and to Eddie that feels like betrayal but that all goes back to his issues with being left by Shannon. 

All of this to say that Buck was absolutely in the right to do what he needed to do for himself and to get what he wanted which is his job and his family back.

[believingispowerfulmagic]

We All Will Be Together Chapter 5: “Mother’s Day”

"So, what's Robin doing for you this weekend?" Mal asked, leaning against Regina's door as she watched the brunette packed up at the end of the day.

"Barbecue picnic in the backyard with the boys," Regina replied, closing her bag before shrugging on the light coat she had brought. While the days had gotten warmer, the temperatures were almost cold once the sun went down. As she pulled her hair from the collar, she added: "Archie will stop by at one point too."

Mal raised an eyebrow. "Robin's okay with that?"

"Yes, he is," Regina said. "He understands how important Archie is to me and Henry."

"Just checking," she replied. "Robin seems to be a pretty understanding and laidback guy but he also seems to be big on family. I would figure he'd be a stickler for keeping family celebrations to, you know, family."

Regina frowned, straightening up to look at Mal. "Robin is big on family but doesn't give a fuck about blood ties. He's all about found family, just like me. So Archie is family. Tink is family. John is family. Granny is family. You are family."

Mal's expression softened. "You consider me family?"

"Of course we do," Regina told her, shouldering her bag. "And you would be invited over if I didn't know you already have plans for Mother's Day yourself."

"Yes, I do. Not that I know what they are exactly. Lily refuses to tell me anything. Not even how to dress – she says she's going to handle that," Mal told her, rolling her eyes.

Regina grinned, knowing where Lily was going to take her mother that weekend. She had been sworn to secrecy and didn't want to give her friend any clue she knew. "I'm sure it'll be fine. Lily has a great sense of fashion," she told Mal.

"I guess so," she replied with a sigh. "You just know how I feel."

"I know. I usually feel the same. But I've been learning how to be more spontaneous and to trust my loved ones," Regina said.

Mal looked her up and down before smirking. "You and Robin have barely been married half a year and you're already changing."

Regina raised an eyebrow. "I prefer growing."

"Fair enough," her friend allowed. "Either way, I like it. It's about time you let someone lift you up rather than tear you down."

They left the office together, locking it up. Once they got to the parking lot, Regina said her goodbyes to her friend. "Happy Mother's Day, Mal. I'll see you Monday."

"Happy Mother's Day, Regina," Mal replied, unlocking her car and getting into it. As she started it up, Regina walked toward her car to head home as well.

She unlocked her car and opened the passenger door, placing her bag on the seat. Closing it, she heard a familiar voice that sent a chill down her spine. "I thought you two would never leave."

"Mother," she said tersely. She turned around to find Cora standing next to her car, wearing a black power suit and her brown hair immaculately coiffed. It looked like she was there for a dinner date rather than to undoubtedly harass Regina.

Regina crossed her arms. "What are you doing here?"

"You won't take our calls," Cora replied, stepping forward. "I wanted to talk to you."

"I don't think I'm allowed to talk to you," Regina told her, trying to step away from her. "I'm suing you, remember?"

Cora paused, waving her hand dismissively. "Oh, right. That unpleasantness."

"Unpleasantness? You stole from my trust and made me lick your boots to get money that was always mine," Regina argued, feeling her anger over the situation rising again.

"That's a bit colorful, dear, but you always had a flair for the dramatics. I'm sure if we talk this over, we can come to a peaceful resolution that doesn't involve dragging this through the courts and media," her mother replied as if she were commenting on the weather.

Regina scowled at her. "No."

Cora frowned. "You're being unreasonable."

"Translation – I'm not doing what you want me to do," Regina replied, heading toward the driver's side door. "I'm not going to dinner with you, Mother. Goodnight."

"What about Sunday? It's Mother's Day. You and Henry should come up to the house for brunch," Cora replied, almost sounding desperate.

Cora Mills-Blanchard never sounded desperate.

Regina paused before slowly turning around, tilting her head as she studied her mother. Cora was trying to keep her poker face but Regina could see some sadness lurking in her eyes. Did it really mean that much to her for Regina and Henry to see her on Mother's Day? Or was something else going on?

"I already have plans on Mother's Day with my family," she replied, knowing she had to hold firm. "I'm sure you'd rather celebrate with Zelena and Poppy anyway."

"Your sister and her family have their own plans," Cora said, trying to keep her voice light. "The same with Mary Margaret."

Regina already knew Mary Margaret had declined to go to Mother's Day brunch, explaining that she usually had gone in the past to support Regina as she didn't really consider Cora much of a mother. Yet Zelena was always eager to get their mother's approval, so why would she not attend brunch this year? Or not even include Cora in her plans? Something wasn't right.

But she didn't have time to figure out what was really going on. She was tired, hungry and just done.

"I don't have all night to play your games, Mother. I need to get home. And it's probably best if the next time you have anything to say to me, you have your lawyer talk to mine," Regina said, opening the door and finally getting in.

Cora caught the door. "I understand. You are stubborn and you don't want to admit you made a mistake. But I promise you, if you come back now and drop this silly lawsuit, everything can go back to normal and all will be forgiven."

"No," Regina said firmly. "Now let go of my door or I will hit the panic button and make a scene."

"That man has changed you," her mother sniffed.

Regina nodded. "You're right. His love and support have given me the strength to stand up to you and you don't like that. Now, let go."

She held up her keys, her thumb hovering over the panic button. One push and her car's alarm would go off, sending security running from the courthouse. Cora wouldn't like the embarrassment that would cause, so Regina knew she would back down.

"Fine," Cora replied, letting go of the door. "But you'll regret this. One day you'll come crawling back and I may not be inclined to forgive you."

Regina closed the door on her mother, gripping the steering wheel and staring straight ahead. She took a few calming breaths before sticking her key in the ignition, turning her car on. The last thing she would ever do was crawl back to her mother. No matter what happened with Robin, that much would always be true.

She pulled out of her spot and as she headed to the exit, she looked around the parking lot for her mother or her car. Neither were there, so she felt confident that Cora had left and gone some place else. As long as it was far away from her and her family, Regina didn't care where she went.

It was a short ride home, which meant she could spend more time with her family but it also meant she couldn't shake off her conversation with her mother before facing them. She took a few more calming breaths in her car before heading inside, hoping she was able to hide it a bit longer.

Continue reading on FFN, AO3 or Wattpad.

[violetsystems]

#personal

I guess tomorrow will be a month since I was let go from work.  The severance finally deposited along with the payout for my paid time off.  The way unemployment works today would have been the earliest I could have applied.  As everyone reads in the news about America, the extra benefits expired this week.  My situation is very unique but it’s not without precedent.  I’m simply not eligible.  Which means I have to adopt the term “self-employed.”  The CARES act did have some less than obvious help for my situation though I had to do the digging.  The last four weeks I’ve had little or no help from anyone other than the counsel of my parents and here.  So the good news was that I spent the last four weeks trying to work through the financial ambiguities.  I learned a lot about tax law.  I set up a brokerage.  I divested my entire life from the last twenty years of my career.  And nobody said anything.  I’m sure people wanted to say things.  Yesterday I had to narrowly avoid two interactions with some people who haven’t talked to me in over a year.  It was obvious that someone wants me to talk out in public.  It was also obvious enough to avoid altogether.  Like someone is always trying to set up these quasi “magical” encounters with people who could literally just reach out and call.  They don’t.  That’s a clear sign of either social engineering or a flat out scam on my public identity.  I’ve travelled around the world at this point and had hundreds of such street interactions.  It’s not worth my time to play catch up about something that I’ve already started healing from.  It’s baggage to me.  Just like the tax burden I’m facing making sure I don’t get caught up in an election year spectacle.  Everybody is talking about people “like me” but nobody bothers to address my situation by name.  If all I were was my job then I’d be a failure right now.  But I spent the last week building an investment portfolio after rolling out of bed sleeplessly at three thirty in the morning.  I ended the week twenty five dollars down.  Blizzard leading the top of my modest leads.  I invested in both AMD and Intel.  Throughout the research on the Internet I read about these companies and products I purchase.  Stocks are supposed to be fun.  No one would know because everyone talks over each other just like in real life.  But investing in these times is a lot more.  Savings accounts don’t yield near anything due to the interest rates.  Money is held onto all the time which doesn’t really help the liquidity of the markets or the economy.  Greedy companies don’t help either.  Intel was the market leader.  Also had one of the highest paid CEO’s.  Also has a processor delayed a year in a market surrounded by wolves.  Apple has the ARM.  AMD has the Ryzen.  The computer I built does too.  The laptop I’m currently on is a coffee lake i7.  Matched with the 144hz refresh on the display, it plays Overwatch on a clip I’ve never experienced.  It’s butter.  AMD is affordable.  AMD is also making the jump from hobbyist darling to OEM distribution.  I invested in both because of a simple fact.  Both companies are now led by women.  AMD is led by Lisa Su.  Intel’s  Ann Kelleher will lead the initiative for the future to bridge the industry gap and opportunities for women.  These are the things I’ve been connecting my money with after twenty years of maturation.  And mostly how I’ve been “wasting my time” the last four weeks.

Not that anyone would know other than from what I’ve written.  People are friendly enough.  I’ve been out on my bike trying to clear a path in my life for the next six months.  I’m in a situation in which incurring any more income this year makes things more difficult.  And when I skim the jobs on LinkedIn I see more of me sidelining my life to make other people money.  Stability is a weird thing.  In America, you think it’s your job.  But it really is just money.  The way things work out I have amazing health insurance for a year at a price.  I also have the option to add a spouse and child at any time during that period.  It’s expensive.  I could have shopped around.  Skimped on dental or vision.  But in the end, I could afford to sit things out.  And in a time of complete and utter desperation, I come off cool and calm to a point.  The reality is I could just sit here and play games at the kitchen table.  I could write to my friends.  I could keep following the same love in my heart that I’ve been following for a few years.  I was more impressed that I could broadcast where I wanted to work on LinkedIn more than what opportunities are out there.  I selected Chicago, New York, Los Angeles and China.  I’ve been treated as human capital for years without my consent.  I’m worth more than this.  I’m sick of listening to people talk about themselves and do nothing about it.  They compare and contrast.  They plot and they scheme.  They gossip and backstab.  And every year they’re more and more buried.  In their emotional baggage.  In the problems they won’t dare face head on.  In the debt they accrue.  Silently yesterday I ended all my credit card debt in a series of transactions.  I still have a small loan which will be paid come September.  I have never sat quietly and never had to owe anyone money I didn’t have.  I spent twenty years at a salaried job weighed down by lifestyle creep.  When you aren’t happy in a job, you spend more to compensate.  This happens to medical students often.  They get great jobs out of school but are also in debt from loans.  They burn out on spending.  The debt piles up.  And there is no escape other than to work harder.  The same goes with student loans, home mortgages, and whatever else ties you down to revenue generation for someone else.  I’m not there anymore.  And I don’t really have any interest in going back.  The brokerage account was a late night brainstorm.  I talk less about politics now.  The politics don’t help me.  I talk to myself about tax law and investment.  I write about it here but I would never talk about it in public.  Just like I’d never discuss magic the gathering strategy with a person who wants to talk about celebrity gossip instead.  I see change in my life when I act for myself.  And excuses don’t pay the bills.

And then there’s the awful reality that people still think they know better.  This is a dangerous time in that respect.  People forgot about me the whole last month.  I literally had no real human contact via email after the 15th.  I missed the window to clear out my office waiting for this laptop.  People really expected me to use all my psychic powers to read into what they want me to do with my life.  I’d rather save the telepathy for the girl I like.  In that respect, not really trying to change my agenda.  My agenda isn’t hidden or anything.  People just don’t ask me the right questions.  People don’t ask questions at all.  In the last month, I’ve felt the most human and been treated the least humane.  And that is just life.  Would the girl of my dreams really want to see me break down and cry for help?  Or would it be better to see how no matter how hard I get thrown I always land on my feet?  I’m more than on my feet.  I’m on stable ground and a little tired of the world and its bullshit.  I’m also not really mad about it anymore.  I’m just me.  I have some time to organize my life for a change.  I got new glasses.  They are Versace.  I have time to take care of myself.  I have a monthly and yearly cash forward budget.  It is very necessary to know your expenses first when looking for a job.  It is the key to negotiating a salary and benefits.  Ironically LinkedIn solved the problem for me.  It thinks I should be making 10k more than I was.  And more in New York.  Nobody told me that outright.  I had to figure it out for myself.  Because the difference between what you want to do and what you can afford to do is a real line.  I worked for a non profit for years and barely got a raise or promotion.  The salary wasn’t industry standard at all.  And now the position just doesn’t exist.  I can’t comfortably say I can even work until I consult a tax lawyer.  That was a decision that I made for myself.  There’s a lot of decisions I make for myself that nobody gives me a warm hug in public for.  Nobody is privy to them because they either are afraid to treat me like a human being or they don’t read these journals.  This is to say that I realize nobody “really” cares.  If they did I wouldn’t have gone through any of this.  I wouldn’t feel forgotten.  I wouldn’t have taken that rage and moved on.  Being angry is dumb.  You saw it on my face for years.  I was stressed.  I was strained.  I listened with genuine concern and intent to the feelings everyone had.  I accepted everyone face value.  I worked to make people feel included.  And in the end I was excluded for whatever reason.  I didn’t fit in.  I always had to surrender my identity to the “discourse” that was more interested in using me a punching bag than an ally.  I don’t have to be the beacon for a lawsuit anymore.  I don’t have to raise my blood pressure for people who would rather see me drop dead.  I can just stay out of the way completely.  And in a time when American politicians on either side have no real answers, I’d rather rely on myself to get through.  I’d rather wait for people to recognize how utterly horrible I’ve been treated in terms of my value as a person.  I am not human capital.  I am a fucking person.  And the one thing I know is that my value over time here is not wasted.  And the time I’ve spent writing to you has made me who I am.  Impervious to hipster bullshit.  <3 Tim

[fuhrmana]

An Incomplete List of Fics I’m Not Writing (Pt 2/?)

I would come up with a title based on Texas and LA (Slight AU, set around the time of the Halloween episode in s3)

Probably when Captain Strand was recruiting, Buck got an offer (c’mon, you know that Owen would have a soft spot for a man fighting to not let an illness keep him from firefighting)

Buck probably turned it down initially, because he was convinced that the lawsuit was going to work, and his family would accept him back with open arms

Then Buck gets back, and it’s off. Eddie’s closed off and mean, Bobby keeps punishing him, and Hen and Chimney keep making jokes that Buck doesn’t get, and that, that’s even worse than them being mad at him. He missed so much, and he feels so left out, and it’s hard to jump in and stay positive when the two feelings he gets from work are “begrudging hostility” and “you’re third wheeling on the greatest friendship in the house”

Buck starts worrying that the lawyer was right, and maybe he should have taken the money

That’s when Buck reaches out to Captain Strand and asks if he can come and formally interview

Buck usually thinks things through, but this time he’s pretty impulsive and he requests a week off 

(note, I don’t know how firefighter interviews go, but in this case he’s doing a few shifts with the team to see how they fit)

Bobby signs off on it

There would be panic from the 118 except they think he’s doing Spring Break in Texas and there is some good natured teasing going on in one of the group chats, not one Buck is a part of

(Well this got aggressively long)

Buck fits in even better than he thought he would

TK and Captain Strand’s respectful and loving Father/Son relationship is #goals af, and Buck basks in the reflected light of it

Marjan Marwani (who Buck has 10000% watched youtube videos of) is possibly the coolest firefighter Buck has ever met. They bond over videos of them doing amazing rescues, and no one at the 126 treats her like she’s an idiot for jumping into danger to save people

Meanwhile, Mateo is hanging with them, watching all of these videos, and Thriving. Buck is so happy to have someone who looks up to him? It’s what he thought he was going to get when Eddie joined as a probie

Paul looks at Buck for three minutes on the first day, and says seven insightful things about Buck

Buck frantically googles “are psychics real” on his phone 

Judd doesn’t know how he feels about Buck, but hell, he’s always liked dogs, and Buttercup and Buck are pretty similar 

Buck loves being liked, so he considers them fast friends by the end of the first shift 

TK and Buck bond over shared hospital trauma, and TK ends up taking Buck to the gay bar with Carlos and Paul

Paul looks at Buck while they’re in the car and says “I guess I’m the token straight again”

Buck blushes but does not deny it

Buck watches TK and Carlos a lot

It makes him. Think about. Things.

There is an ambiguous scene where Buck maybe goes home with someone

Buck goes on two more shifts

There are some funny calls

Some serious calls

And one call that makes local news 

And picked up by national news

Buck gets a pinged in the group chat about how funny it is that he has a lookalike in Texas

Austin Texas

Where he’s on vacation

Wait a minute that’s not a look alike

Buck why are you riding with the 126?

Buck leaves them on read 

Halfway through his final trial shift, Buck is drinking a coffee out of a truly magical device, when Marjan, Mateo and Paul drag him over to some couches, and shove him up next to Buttercup

Judd spots them across the firehouse and walks in another direction 

Owen and TK are at the chemo place

It’s kind of an intervention 

Buck has been pretty chatty about his current team, and they’re all confused as to why he’s thinking about leaving 

Marjan makes at least one joke about not wanting to share the spotlight with him

Buck tries to explain, but he’s stumbling over his words and he ends it with 

“You’ve known me for five days, but you asked me to explain myself. My team’s known me for years, and they would have told me what I was thinking. I’m worried I can’t. Grow with them. And that’s why I left Pennsylvania”. 

Buck looks stricken after he says this and gets up walks away

Paul sighs

“He’d be a good fit here, but I don’t think he’s going to accept the offer. 

At the end of the shift, Captain Strand says “we can make it work for you to join us, but I need an answer within a week.” 

Buck shakes his hand, tells Captain Strand that he’ll be letting him know as soon as he’d had a chance to talk to his family

This is mostly referring to Maddie, but...

Buck gets back to LA, and finally responds to all of the messages he’s gotten since the lookalike kerfuffle 

“Haha, yeah that was me. It’s kind of a funny story, I’ll tell you all tomorrow during the shift.”

He shoots a different text off to Maddie

Hey, can I see you? Just got back from the airport

He ends up at Maddie’s place, explaining how the whole week has been, and how he doesn’t want to abandon her in LA after she moved there for him, and that he feels stupid because he sued to get his job back and now he’s thinking about leaving, and probably both of them cry

Buck probably sleeps there (for old times sake)

In the morning, before he heads off to work, she stops him and says “Don’t stay for me. But see if you want to stay for yourself”

Buck goes into the firehouse, and Bobby does the breakdown of the day, and then looks at Buck and says “we’re all waiting to hear how you ended up helping the 126 during your vacation”

And Buck laughs nervously and says “Well, so I was actually doing a trial week with them” and there is a Ruckus 

Chim is upset because of Maddie, but also Buck

Eddie is furious because of Eddie reasons 

Bobby had kind of assumed it had to be something like that, but it Hurts to have it confirmed

Hen looks conflicted. She’s thought about leaving this job before, but never to transfer somewhere else, and she needs a minute to think it through 

Buck frowns and says “I really liked working with the 118, but they aren’t my family. I don’t want to leave another family, but I need to know that you all want me here too”

Bobby is starting to wonder if he should call out his whole team and do emergency therapy 

Buck is kind of hoping the bell will go off so it can end here

The bell does not go off

Bobby starts talking, but trails off before he finishes the sentence and restarts

“Athena told me I either had to let you do the job or go somewhere where you could. Buck, I want you here, and I’m sorry I haven’t shown it. I don’t think this can be fixed overnight, so maybe we should talk about your timeline

the bell rings right after this

Bobby gets dramatic timing better than Buck does

When they get back from the call, Buck and Bobby and the spirit of every sponsor and therapist the two of them have ever had have a conversation about what Buck needs at his job

And the fact that Bobby is willing to make a few concessions and admit that he was in the wrong about a few things

Buck leaves the office to find that the rest of the team has divvied up his time to talk through why exactly he was leaving and why he shouldn’t

Chim is blunt, Hen is supportive of whatever decision Buck needs to make and Eddie glares at Buck and tells him that they’re meeting at Eddie’s house after the shift

Buck wants to see Christopher, but he’s hoping that Eddie isn’t going to use Chris as the reason that Buck should stay 

Buck gets to Eddie’s house after shift, only to find out that Christopher isn’t... home that night

Buck is uneasy

Eddie sticks Buck on the couch, shoves a beer into Buck’s hand and starts pacing 

Eddie and Buck both aren’t great at words

Eddie starts and stops for an eternity (three minutes)

Finally Eddie sits on the couch, takes the beer he gave Buck, takes a swig and hands it back 

I have to stress, there is only one beer

Eddie got Buck one, but not himself

Eddie finally settles on a sentence 

“I finally started seeing a therapist”

Buck doesn’t say anything and neither does Buck

Eddie continues

“He thinks I’m projecting. Like I’m mad at you for what I was doing, and I think he’s right.”

Buck opens his mouth, but Eddie holds his hand up. 

“I want you to know that I don’t want you to leave, but I won’t be angry at you if you leave, and I’ll make sure we stay in contact.”

Eddie won’t be mad at Buck, he’ll finally get mad at the person who deserves it

(that’s himself, just fyi)

Buck very carefully takes a sip of the beer.

It doesn’t seem like Eddie has anything else to say, so Buck finally speaks

“I don’t think I’m leaving. I fought to come back to you for a reason. If we’re all ready to work towards each other, I’m not going to bail. 

There’s silence for a little longer. Buck hands the beer over to Eddie and continues. 

“I think it was good that I tried it though. I think I needed to see how other houses work to see what I should be asking for.”

Buck wants to talk about some of the other things he’s seen but it feels like too much

Instead they play video games

Buck calls up Captain Strand and volunteers for any temporary help they may need, but nothing permanent. Bobby and Buck continue working on their relationship. Slowly Buck becomes a part of the inside jokes of Chim and Hen again. Eddie and Buck continue to spend time together, and Buck continues talking to the 126 for a while. 

This is probably where this particular story ends

[writersrealmbts]

Secure

Description: Sanctuary Series: Joining His Pack, Namjoon and his lovely wolf preparing for mating.

Warnings: None

Posted: 03/15/2019

Tags:  Hybrid Namjoon, Wolf Hybrid Namjoon, Wolf Hybrid Reader

Fluff and angst: 3,193 words

A/N: Some of you voted, and I listened so here are our favorite wolves!

You pounced into a snow bank, chasing a squirrel but losing it as you sank into the snow and it ran on top. A growl curled from your throat and you tried to get up and get to the tree it climbed up but you couldn’t get out of the snow because it was so deep. You mind was going crazy, trying to spot the next possible prey to sate the hunger you were feeling. Someone approached you and you snarled at them, ready to attack if they got closer. They were making sounds and part of you, the human part that was sort of trapped at the moment, knew that they were trying to talk to you. But they were threatening your hunting territory and you and you were vulnerable. Your rational mind couldn’t even piece together how you ended up wherever it was that you were. You just knew you were hungry and you had lost the third potential meal you had tried to catch. The scent that reached your nose was somewhat familiar, but it wasn’t a scent from your pack. So when they got close, you lashed out at them. More enemies came running after you had injured your enemy and you snarled at them all. They were talking to you, but you just heard their threatening sounds and saw that they were ready to pounce on you. You were outnumbered. They had you trapped against the snow bank, surrounded, and were closing in on you. You growled low in your throat, desperation, fear, and hunger making you bold. Then someone else pushed through, voice cutting through. “Y/n, it’s okay!” His scent reached you after.

Mate. My mate. And he had his catch of the day. “Come on, it’s time to eat,” He said, blinking slowly, tail wagging ever so slightly. You eyed the people around him, cautiously stepping forward. He stepped forward as well, then came to you completely when he saw that you preferred that. He gently put the container of food in your hands, the warmth of the contents seeping into your snow-soaked hands. “Here you go, love. I know you’re hungry, I got this for you.” He nuzzled affectionately against your neck when you exposed it for him. Licking over the spot where he would mark you. Right, not your mate yet. The whine that left your lips made you feel pathetic. “I know, it’s okay. Come on, I have more food back at our den. You need to eat well for a few days if we’re going to mate,” He whispered, then wrapped his scarf around you. His tone was comforting You were starting to register how cold you were now that your head was starting to think with both sides of your being. You were absolutely soaked. You looked up at him. “Joonie?” ���It’s okay, baby, come on, we’ll go get you warm and fed.” You blinked a couple more times, finally recognizing the Sanctuary security team. You could see kids behind them. “Hey, you didn’t hurt anyone.” “She hurt me!” Someone protested. Namjoon just smirked. “You’ve got an excellent left hook, good job clocking him, honey.” You peeked around Namjoon to whoever it was you had punched. He must have been one of the newer guards that you had seen but hadn’t spoken to yet. Namjoon gently tugged on you. “Which way?” You nodded, remembering that he hadn’t been to your apartment before. You were panting, your body starting to react to the cold, despite the food being in your hands. “Rough day, love?” You looked up at him, unsure how to respond. Instead, you led him to your apartment, letting him unlock it because your hands were shaking too badly. He got you inside, taking the food and then stripping your coat, gloves, hat, scarves, boots, then he hesitated. He looked at your face, then led you to your bedroom, a low growl in his throat, then stripped your soaked clothing from your shivering form. He left your underwear in place, quickly helping you put on some sweatpants, a long-sleeved shirt that you had stolen from him at Christmas, and then your sweatshirt. He wrapped a blanket around you and guided you back to your living room, he brought you the food, feeding you himself. It took a lot of food and warmth for you to become fully aware again. When you did, the first thing you became fully aware of was Namjoon. He looked good. Amazing. Except he kept glancing around with a frown. “I…I know I don’t have much…” “Your bed is a mattress on the floor and your couch looks like it should be thrown away.” You flinched, whimpering since you were still in that half-way mindset. He locked his gaze on you. “I don’t mean…you did good, love. Providing for yourself. But seeing how little you have makes me…upset.” He shifted closer to you, using his hand to tilt your head to the side. His lips ghosted across your skin, resting on the artery and sending a delightful chill up your spine. Your body went limp in his hold, trusting him to hold you. He hummed against your neck. “Warmer now?” “Mmhmm.” “What happened, baby?” He asked, kissing your cheek and then meeting your eyes. You looked away as you tried to piece together memories of earlier today. “I…didn’t have time for breakfast, and I need to get groceries. Then my lunch got ruined, and work was really bad today. I was so hungry but then I looked at my account but because of that stupid lawsuit I didn’t have enough money to buy groceries and—” “Lawsuit?” You fell quiet. “Someone sued me, said I bit them. They were acting like I was a wild animal. Said that wolf-hybrids shouldn’t be free to threaten the public.” “What?” He scowled. “They yanked on my tail and I snapped at them, but I didn’t bite them. They realized I was a wolf-hybrid and I guess they had prejudice. Called me a werewolf. And other things. I had to pay for the lawyer.” “You know there are—” “I know. But they’ve been backed up ever since the tornado and I needed a lawyer fast.” You tucked into his arms, head under his chin. You breathed in his scent, finding comfort in it. He hummed softly. “You were living in town during the tornado?” “I had just moved here. And then with all that crazy mess where the police were guarding this place…your family was part of that, weren’t they?” “Yeah, Emma had the twins right after all of that ended.” You smiled. “Mmm, the twins are adorable. Cute little pups. I think Emma thought I would kidnap them.” “I almost kidnapped them when I saw you holding Jaehyun.” He kissed the top of your head. “Hey, um, I was wondering if we should talk about moving in together? Before we mate.” You nudged his neck with your nose, snuggling down into him and the blankets. “I’ll consider it.” “You’re going to make me court you, aren’t you?” He chuckled. You shrugged, but it was probably lost to the bundling you were in. “No.” “Are you lying to me?” You smiled at his teasing tone. “No.” “Really?” He asked, squeezing you playfully. You giggled, nibbling at his neck and rubbing against it. He chuckled, playfully wrestling you. You giggled, fighting back and somehow pinning him after getting him tangled in the blanket. You kissed him, then looked deeply into his eyes. He was completely relaxed, gazing back at you. He had freed one of his hands and he touched your cheek with it. You went limp as he flipped you both over, giving him control. He looked down at you and smiled softly. “I’ll get you some groceries, okay?” You took a breath to protest, but didn’t at the slight warning growl he gave while still managing to smile at you. “It’s my job to provide for you as my mate. You curl back up, pick out a movie for when I get back, watch an episode of a show and I’ll go get groceries.” You nodded. “Stay warm, you were cold and going into a frenzy like that can put us in shock. Especially this time of year.” He got off of you and started bundling you up again. “I’m going to take care of you, baby.” “Okay, alpha,” You murmured, closing your eyes as his attention and care washed over you. His love. He chuckled softly, then nuzzled beside your ear before tucking your head back into the hood of your sweatshirt. “I’ll be back, angel.” “No, you’re the angel. You’re my snow angel.” “We’ll be angels together, then,” He proposed, kissing you lightly. You melted into the cocoon, smiling. “Okay.” ——— You grinned across the table at him. “Thanks again for picking me up from work.” He smiled back at you, holding his iced coffee. “Happy to. Besides, I know how stressful your job is for you. And I know your job is getting worse.” You sighed, looking at your cup of tea. “Let’s not talk about that.” “Y/n, it’s not…I don’t like seeing you stressed. Especially not if we’re planning on mating.” You blinked at him, smiling again. “Speaking of, we did say wait for pups?” He nodded. “Yeah. We should wait until we’ve been together for a year. You know?” “Yup. I’m not actually ready for pups. Well, I am, but I’m not. Does that make sense?” He laughed, nodding. “So, what are you up to for the rest of the day?” “I thought I’d spend it with you. Are you okay with that?” You nodded emphatically, grinning. “That sounds great.” “Good. I thought I could show you my place.” He spoke so casually, but your heart started racing. “Really?” “Well, you still have to choose a den for us.” Your shoulders went back and your tail stilled as you stared at him with wide eyes. “Den.” He nodded, suddenly looking unsure. “For us to mate. It’s important that you choose a den for us.” You nodded, mind going a million places at once. “My place won’t work.” “Definitely not.” You stuck your tongue out at him. “No comments from the peanut gallery.” He just chuckled. “So your place is technically the only option we have.” “If it isn’t right for you, we’ll find another place.” “But…that could take a while…” “Well, it’s not like we can’t move in together before we mate, but we’ll do our best to find a place quickly if my place doesn’t work out.” He got up and waited for you to slip your coat back on. He held the door open for you and then walked with his arm around your waist, leading you towards his apartment. You considered it then shrugged. “It’s all hypothetical anyway. Your place will probably be fine. And we can always test it out.” “Please.” You grinned and laughed. “So hungry, alpha.” He squeezed you close and kissed your cheek as you reached a crosswalk. “I’m only responding to the neediness of my omega.” “Mmm, and you putting out more scent around me isn’t to get me needy?” You asked, playfully skipping ahead a couple steps before turning toward him and walking backwards, holding onto his hand but otherwise just out of reach. “I’m surprised you can smell me through the fog of your own scent. Not that I’m complaining, but it is a wonder that you seem to be trying to attract every female for a mile.” He laughed, rolling his eyes and shaking his head. “The only one I care about is you.” “Good,” You chirped, dropping his hand as you turned and kept walking. He didn’t catch up right away, walking behind you for a bit before you heard a suppressed growl and he quickly caught up to you. You grinned ahead of you, able to sense his need. “How far is your apartment, snow angel?” “Another block.” You glanced around and your smile faded as you noticed the only apartment building it could have been. “W-what do you do for a living again?” He just chuckled in response. “Think the chances of it being our den went up?” You nodded. The two of you took the stairs up to his apartment on the fifth floor because there was some sort of Chihuahua hybrid in the elevator and she reeked and you had started growling the moment you smelled that sad excuse for a dog. That and the exercise helped calm you. He was a little winded by the time you reached his floor. “I hate stairs.” You gave a slightly breathless laugh. “Sorry.” “No, she reeked. I would have gone crazy in a confined space with her, even if it was for less than—” He looked at you startled as you started growling. “I wouldn’t have gone crazy for her like I go crazy for you.” You didn’t stop growling so he came over and rubbed himself over you. “I meant I would go into a frenzy trying to get the smell out of my nose and off of me.” You pouted for a moment, perking up when he kissed you. “I love you, y/n. Only you.” He nuzzled your cheek, pressing kisses. “Mmm, your skin is so soft.” “I try, for you.” He chuckled softly, then guided you over to his door. “Alright, ready to decide if this is our den or not?” You nodded, straightening your shoulders and becoming alert. He opened the door for you. “This is my place.” You entered, looking around carefully. It was nice, well-furnished and spoke of his ability to care for you effectively. Clean—probably because you were coming—and seemed to be decorated with purpose. It was nice. And it smelled like him. He let you investigate the whole place, knowing that you had to scope it out and see what you thought. If it was the place for you two to den up. If it met all of your instinctual criteria. You tested his bed, then grinned and flopped back. “Nice bed.” “It is.” You sat back up and looked around some more, the bathroom, the kitchen, everywhere. He watched you hopefully. You looked out the window, trying to figure out how you felt about it. He joined you, wrapping around your waist. “Baby?” You bit your lip. “Neither place is right.” He nodded. “That’s okay. We’ll find a place that’s ours, then.” You whimpered a little, daunted by the task. What if it took months? You didn’t want to wait months. He immediately tucked into your neck, holding onto you tightly. Securely. “It’ll be okay. We can find a place. It’s the best option anyway. Your place is out of the way for my work and my place is out of the way for yours. Not that I like you working there, your boss is a—” “I know. It’s temporary.” You turned in his arms and pressed your face to his chest. He stroked your head, lovingly nipping your ear. “I’ll start looking, you start packing. Okay?” You nodded, then kissed his lips. “Besides, I know a few people who work construction and realty. Like Micheal, Becca, Emma, and Jimin…” “Jimin works in realty?” He nodded. “He got a general business degree because he didn’t know what he actually wanted to do with his life, and then he worked for Micheal for a summer and decided he liked selling buildings and houses. He’s doing well because he’s charming. But I can call him and ask him to keep an eye out for a place we might like. I think you’d like a house, am I right?” You felt yourself blush. “Nothing fancy, just…I want a yard.” He grinned. “So do I. A big one where we can enjoy the outdoors and watch our pups run around.” “And a fireplace!” You added, grinning. He nodded, squeezing you tightly. “And with a cozy bedroom where we can rest peacefully. Secure from any perceived threats.” You melted into his chest, making a happy sound. “And where people won’t be scared of us being their neighbors.” He pushed you away so that he could kiss you, his anger about it showing in the ferocity of the kiss. “We shouldn’t have to worry about it. I hate that you worry about that.” “Speak from experience,” You shrugged. “I can deal with anything as long as I have you.” “I don’t want you to have to deal with anything,” He whispered, sounding so heart-broken that you whimpered and quickly nuzzled up to him. “I hate that you haven’t ever had a pack. I wish I could take away all the pain and loneliness you’ve ever had to endure. I wish you’d had better friends, a better owner, a family…” You just tried to comfort him. There wasn’t anything else you could do. Your past was what it was, and part of you was glad because it had led you to him. You’d wasted enough time regretting your past and present and part of you still feared your owner coming around and taking control of your life since that part of hybrid laws was still vague. Usually owners just give up their authority over their hybrids, and in some cases their authority is taken away if the hybrid feels that they are in danger. Despite technically having freedom, if an owner that hasn’t given up authority or had authority taken away from them were to come they could completely manage their hybrid’s life without legal consequences unless a hybrid could make a case for it. You knew who to call if that happened, especially since the first order was usually financial, but just the thought of having to face her again made you a little nauseous. “Baby? You okay?” You peeked up at him with teary eyes. “Um…” He frowned, worried. “I got lost in thought, sorry,” You whispered, hugging him tightly and pressing your face to his chest. He had a nice chest. He hummed, close to a growl as he grew more protective of you. “And those thoughts went to…?” “My owner. She never officially gave me my freedom. What if…what if she came and…” “She wouldn’t. She didn’t care about you while you were there, she won’t care about you now. If she does come around she’ll have to deal with your pack. She’ll have to deal with me.” He bent his knees so that he could pick you up, tugging you so your legs wrapped around his waist. He kissed you, lightly, carrying you to his room and then laying on the bed on top of you. He sighed, rubbing against you to comfort you. “You’re my mate. No one is going to take you from me.” You sighed beneath him, breathing in his scent, focusing on his scent. On the sense of security and love you felt from his weight. “You’re part of my pack and I won’t let anyone else hurt you.”

Masterlist.   Series Masterpost.   Previous Part.   Next Part. 

[call-me-rei]

Chapter 21

“It’s getting darker and I’m starting to get anxious.”

---

Life has been weird lately.

I guess that’s what every angsty teenager says when things aren’t going as planned, but I actually mean it. Life’s been weird.

It’s been a couple days since I had dinner at Vic’s. That whole “longing look” thing at the end of the night caught me by surprise, but I managed to convince myself that I was seeing or imagining things. Vic wasn’t gay or bi. Even if he was, why would he be looking at me?

Now, before you start, I’m not the kind of “I’m not pretty/smart/cool enough for the popular kid.“ No, I’m more of the “I’m a really introverted, why the hell would a popular extrovert want to hang out with or even date a kid who’d rather read at home than go anywhere? I’m just being rational” type. Just putting that out there.

Aside from all of that, there were weird things happening at home, as usual. We’d finally heard from Rick, but it wasn’t in the best way.

The night after I had dinner at Vic’s Mom got a threatening text message. She didn’t want me to read it, but me being the sneaky and rebellious bitch I am, I took the liberty to see what made the color drain from her face when she looked at her phone.

God, I wish I hadn’t.

Rick has sent my mom a message saying he’d gotten lawyers and that he was gonna sue her for deformation of character. Apparently, he’d lost his job and he believes it was Mom’s fault. That she said something to his boss and that’s why he fired him. I’m pretty sure it was because of Rick’s drinking. I’m convinced he showed up to work drunk and his boss didn’t like it. Either way, I know my mom didn’t do anything.

Then he said he was going to take legal action against me for the “fight” that happened when he was drunk. The “fight” that was him trying to attack my mom then me stepping in and getting my ass kicked by his drunk ass.

He said that I’d attacked him first then lunged at him when he was defenseless and threatened to kill him. While I secretly wish I’d done that, I know that that is out of character for me. Yes, I did get his attention away from Mom by provoking him, but that’s the extent of it. If anything, I should be suing him.

Unfortunately, we don’t have money so…

I sat at my group’s usual table in the cafeteria and held my head in my hands. It was lunchtime, but somehow I was the first one at our table. Maybe it was because I beelined to the spot immediately after my teacher dismissed the class.

I was so out of it. After reading through those messages I hadn’t been able to process much of anything. The same three thoughts kept running through my mind:

You’re getting sued.

No one can help.

You’re all alone in this.

Sure, I wasn’t frightened by these thoughts, but when obsessive thoughts get into your mind, they become frightening all at once.

What’s even more frightening is that I didn’t have anyone to vent to. Mom didn’t know I knew what Rick said, and I couldn’t talk to my friends at school. Family matters such as this one were way too personal to share with people you’ve only known a few months and only hung out with once after school.

Damn, did I convince myself that I need therapy? Probably. Fuck.

I laid my head down on the table and covered it with my arms. Maybe if I could go unnoticed these problems would go away?

No, I know, but it was a nice thought.

“Kells?” I jumped slightly. I hadn’t heard someone walk up. “Kellin?” I hummed in response. “You good?” A lower hum left my throat.

“Wanna talk about it?”

I sighed. “Sure,” I said from inside my arms.

“C’mon, I know a place we can go.” I listened for footsteps walking away from me before I lifted my head. Still, to my surprise, my friends weren’t at the table. Maybe they were in the lunch line. Oh well.

I looked up at the cafeteria doors to see Vic giving me an expectant look. I sighed and stood. I couldn’t back out of talking to him now that I said I’d go with him. Besides, I needed to vent to someone.

I followed Vic out of the cafeteria then out of the school. “Where are we going?” I asked, slightly worried.

“Chill, I’m not gonna kill you, promise.”

“If you weren’t gonna do it then you wouldn’t have said ‘promise’. That means you’re lying.”

“What are you, a psychologist?” he asked with a chuckle.

“Ask all the questions you want; you didn’t deny it.”

I looked to Vic to see his face fall. “Shut up, nerd.” I couldn’t help the snort that left my nose. Vic looked at me for a second with a smirk before he returned his attention to the secret location he was leading us to.

We went past the parking lot to the wooded area next to the school. Vic moved some fallen branches out of the way and held the clearing open for me to walk through. He followed after me.

“We’re close, c’mon.”

He took the lead again and walked about three yards forward before stopping near a small creek.

“Wow,” I whispered in awe. “I didn’t expect to see this here.”

“Yeah, no one does. You’ve gotta know the right turns to get here. I think I’m one of a handful of people who’ve been able to come back here more than once.”

I nodded to show I was listening then went back to looking around. There was nothing but trees surrounding us. The sun was shining through the many branches. The gentle sound of the water flowing just a few feet away from us put my mind at ease.

Vic walked over to a big rock and sat down. He noticed me looking at him and patted the open spot next to him. I obliged and sat next to him.

“Alright, we’re alone, it’s quiet. Talk.”

I sighed, knowing that when I started I’d continue until everything was out. I had to brace myself.

“I can’t just start like that.”

He nodded, as if he understood. “What’s on your mind?”

I smiled very slightly. He did understand; he prompted me like I needed.

“There’s…a lot of stuff going on at home.”

“Like?”

I chewed on my lip. I couldn’t go into too much detail, but I also didn’t know where to start. How much about the situation should I tell him? Should he know that Rick and I got physical? Should he know that that’s why I came to school looking fucked up? Should he-

I was brought out of my thoughts by a deep, heavy sigh from the person sitting next to me. I refocused and looked at him just as his eyes moved from my lips to my eyes.

I ignored that and spoke. “My stepdad’s a dick.”

That started the conversation with Vic Fuentes that lasted our entire lunch period. I told him about how Rick was a pretty good stepdad up until a few weeks ago. I told him about how his drinking had gotten bad and how Mom kicked him out. I left out the physical altercation but did tell him that he had threatened legal action about getting kicked out of the house. Vic listened and hardly intervened unless it was to ask clarifying questions. He really did just let me vent.

By the time lunch was over I felt like a weight had been lifted off my chest, like I could breathe again. I stole a glance at Vic as he brushed off his pants. I had him to thank for this good feeling.

Vic and I didn’t talk as we walked back on campus. It felt as if everything I needed to say was said and he didn’t really know what to say. I was worried that I’d expressed too much but a reassuring smile from him put my mind at ease.

“Vic?” I started before we walked through the doors of the school.

“Hm?”

“Just, thanks for listening. It felt good to tell someone that stuff.”

“Don’t mention it Quinn. I’m happy to help.” He gave me a warm smile that made me swoon.

Or maybe that was the fact that I hadn’t eaten all day.

My stomach growled loudly, giving my thoughts away. I chucked nervously.

“I guess I should’ve let you have lunch before I brought you out here, huh?” Vic asked with the same nervous chuckle. I shrugged.

“I shouldn’t have kept us out here the whole time. That’s kinda on me.”

“Well, either way, what’s done is done.” I nodded. I was still hungry though.

“I wish lunch wasn’t done. Actually, I wish I’d had breakfast.”

Vic bit his bottom lip in thought. His eyes were on me but also clouded with…confusion? Uncertainty? Maybe both, but also some anxiety.

I was about to ask what was on his mind when he spoke.

“How about we get some food sometime after school today?”

I thought about it. I did need food and even though there was stuff at home, I didn’t really want to eat alone while Mom was at work.

“Sure,” I answered. “Where are we meeting?”

“Actually…,” he hesitated, “I was thinking I’d pick you up.”

I scrunched my eyebrows in confusion. “You wanna pick me up? You don’t want to get food right after school?”

He blew out a breath. “Yeah, I’ll pick you up from your house after school. We’ll get dinner.” I frowned. I wanted to eat sooner than dinnertime.

Vic sighed. “Look, this was all a very failed attempt to…” He paused, squeezed his eyes, and sighed again. “This was an attempt to ask you out,” he mumbled.

I stood frozen with my mouth open in shock.

“Please don’t look at me like that,” Vic said, sounding defeated. “At least let me ask properly before you reject me. Kellin, will you go on a date with me tonight?”

I blinked a few times I regain composure. I debated pinching myself but that would’ve made him feel worse than he already did.

Did Vic Fuentes really just ask me out on a date? Me? Kellin Quinn, the guy he threatened the first day he saw me. The guy who he constantly pesters. Honestly, what did he see in me? Was this a joke? I thought Vic was straight.

Guess that goes to show that you can’t assume people’s sexuality.

I looked at the guy standing in front of me. Since I hadn’t replied he was looking down at his shoes. He did look very nervous. It was cute.

I smiled at the boy before me. He lifted his head; he might’ve felt my eyes on him. “Yes,” I answered, “I’d love to go out with you tonight.”

Vic’s eyes lit up significantly at my response. He smiled that winning smile while he spoke to me. “Great! I’ll pick you up at 7:00?”

“Sounds good,” I said with a nod.

“Cool.”

We walked back into the school and went our separate ways to our classes with smiles on our faces.

I was going on a date with Vic.

Wait, that meant…

How did Vic know I was gay?

[raywritesthings]

What Have They Lost? 4/?

My Writing Fandom: Arrow, The Flash Characters: Laurel Lance, Oliver Queen, Thea Queen, Barbara Gordon, Barry Allen, Wally West, Bruce Wayne, Tommy Merlyn Pairings: Barry Allen/Iris West, Laurel Lance/Oliver Queen, Pamela Isley/Harleen Quinzel Summary: “I can definitely tell you that there’s a way we’re going to bring [Laurel] back and she’s going to be alive and well. And Flashpoint might have a little bit to do with that.“ -Wendy Mericle AKA: The AU where that wasn’t a blatant lie, and Flashpoint has bigger repercussions for Barry’s friends and allies than he first realized. *Can be read on my AO3, link is in my bio*

After the weird encounter with a man named Barry and seeing Dinah from Birds of Prey in one night, Mia’s life had gone back to depressingly normal. How was that fair?

She’d thought about sharing the discovery she’d made about Larry online, but then who would really believe her? And pop stars had to have lawyers and stuff looking out for their image. She really couldn’t afford getting sued.

A part of her still didn’t believe it anyway. How could someone so cool like Dinah have such a schlub for a father? But then again, nobody knew her past.

Mia has always kind of assumed — or maybe hoped — that her idol was a kid from the system, like her. No parents, no roots, free to do as they pleased for good or ill. More ill in her case, as it had turned out so far.

It was another long night of pouring shots and drying glasses. The nights all seemed to blur together after a while, unless something extraordinary happened.

And then something did. “I’m gonna take my fifteen,” she called out, not really waiting for a response. Mia tossed her apron aside and walked to the door, only vaguely noticing the guy who stood from one of the two-seater booths to do so as well.

She did notice when he followed her around the corner. “Hey, buddy, this is kind of the unofficial employee-only section, so if you could—” The rest of her words died in her throat once she’d turned towards him.

Because it was Oliver Queen.

“Yeah, sorry,” he was saying, his eyes jumping all over her appearance. “I just wanted to ask you when your shift ends.”

Mia raised both eyebrows. She’d heard he was some kind of player back in the day, but seriously? “Don’t you think I’m a little young for you?”

His jaw dropped. “No! No, that’s not what I — I promise, this is not a come-on. I just...we need to talk, about something important.”

This was so weird. That Barry guy had asked her what she knew about Oliver Queen, and less than a week out he turned up looking for her?

“I’m here for another four,” she said, breaking every rule of how to interact with male customers, but this one was famous so it wasn’t like he could get away with too much.

“Okay,” he said. There was a spark in his eye, like the prospect of getting to talk to her more was something to be happy about. He was about the only one who’d ever thought so.

“Yeah, so can you let me have the last of my break?”

“Right. Yeah, I can do that.” He retreated back inside.

Mia shook her head. What was even going on anymore?

Four hours later, he was still at his booth. She sighed, throwing herself down into the empty seat across from him.

“Okay, what’s this about?”

“Did you want to talk here? We could go somewhere else.”

“I’m not going somewhere with you. Stranger danger and all that.”

“Right,” he said with a wince. “That’s good. That’s smart.” He scrubbed at his goatee. “So that’s probably where we should start. Uh, recently I learned that you and I — we’re not exactly strangers.”

“Aren’t we?”

“Well, in a way. The thing is...I’m your half-brother,” he told her.

Now it was her turn for her jaw to drop.

“On my mother’s side,” he added, like he thought that was helpful.

Thea placed her head in her hands. “Okay, really, what’s the joke? Is it the last names thing? Cause that guy was in earlier—”

“What guy? Barry?”

“Wait, you know him?”

“He’s my friend. He’s the one who told me.”

Mia sat back. “What do you mean? Why would he know?”

“That’s kind of complicated. But we can talk about that, too. I...gosh, there’s so much to talk about.” He said gosh. Who even said gosh anymore?

Her shock was starting to give way, however, and Mia found herself narrowing her eyes. “Why?”

“What?”

“Why do we have anything to talk about? For over twenty years, you couldn’t be bothered to even notice my existence. Now because some guy says we’re related, you’re suddenly interested?”

He was stunned speechless for a few moments. “Mia, I- I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”

“Right, because our mom — your mom — didn’t tell you. Because she didn’t want me.”

“I’m not sure why she sent you to the orphanage. But she kept an eye on you, made payments—”

“Oh, because that makes everything better?” Mia said with a nasty laugh. A couple people glanced over their way, but she paid them little mind. “Trust a Queen to think that money solves all problems!”

“That’s not what I meant. I’m still trying to figure everything out, I just wanted—”

“Screw what you want, alright? I’ve survived my whole life without a family. I don’t need you swooping in to force me to be yours.” Mia stood and stormed out of the bar.

“Mia!” He called after her, but she didn’t stop and he didn’t follow.

What did he expect? That she’d move in with him and his bastard kid, they could forget everything that had come before and sing kumbaya? If what he said was true, she’d had parents, and they’d willingly given her away. Not out of some kind of necessity, not because they couldn’t afford it, but because they hadn’t wanted her. She’d long ago given up wondering what her family might have been like, but the reality was worse than anything she’d ever imagined.

Mia stopped and let herself lean against a wall, willing her eyes to just stop stinging already. She’d promised to stop feeling sorry for herself.

“Well, that wasn’t very nice of him.”

Mia stiffened at the unfamiliar voice and looked up. Standing across from her was a man with dark hair and a beard. He looked about the same age as Oliver Queen and even richer in his expensive suit. Mia sighed. She so did not want to deal with this.

“Sorry, I couldn’t help noticing what was going on back there. It was Mia, right?”

“What do you want?” She huffed. “You about to tell me you’re my secret brother, too?”

He smiled, but there was something off about it. It didn’t reach his eyes.

“Funny you should mention that.”

---

Dinah looked at the street down below and gulped. “Why’d I let you guys talk me into this?”

“Hey, you’ll be fine. Think of it like stage-diving.” She was used to earpieces on stage, but it usually wasn’t Babs’ voice in her ear. It hadn’t surprised her in the least Ted had a working pair of comm links, though.

“I am not jumping from this high. Not without a wire, at least. Just...getting a feel for things. Lay of the land.” It sounded unconvincing to her own ears. Dinah scowled at herself and reached to tug on the material resting around her eyes.

“Stop picking at the mask.”

“What makes you think I’m doing that?”

“Because I can see you through the security cam mounted on the high rise across from you.”

Dinah made a face in the high rise’s direction.

“Cute.”

“I try. Look, Babs—”

“No names on the comm. We use code.”

She rolled her eyes. “Alright, Bat-ling.”

“Please don’t call me that.”

“Well, what do you want to be called? Lady Bat? Batgirl?”

“I’m kind of thinking of making up my own thing. You know, since this is just us.”

Dinah felt herself smile. “Alright. Just let me know once you have something.”

“Sure thing. You start thinking about one, too.”

“Yeah,” Dinah sighed. It wasn’t like she wasn’t used to rebranding. From Laurel to Dinah, after all.

She’d been hearing the name she’d gone by in childhood a lot, recently. Visits to her dad tended to do that, but she could’ve sworn that one camera guy from the Central City publication had nearly called her it the other week. Maybe she’d imagined it, or maybe it had just been a herald of the strange turn her life was about to take.

Her eyes caught shapes moving down on the street below, and she quickly went to the fire escape and slid down the railing partway.

A few young men were giving chase to another of their group, yelling epithets as they went.

“You’re a dead man!”

“You think you can walk away? You think it’s that easy, huh?”

“Maybe not a damsel in distress situation, but one less murder’s always a good thing,” Dinah muttered to herself. She continued down to the ground level, doing her best to blend in with the shadows as she tracked the men to an alley.

“There’s nowhere to run!”

“Come on, guys, I don’t want a part of this anymore! I gave you my cut!”

“We said at the start, all in. That was the deal. And you gave us barely half!”

“I had bills, man! I can get you the rest later!”

Dinah cleared her throat. She’d heard plenty to get the gist. “Boys?”

The ones cornering their former friend turned, looking her up and down in clear confusion. Aside from the mask, she supposed she didn’t look much like a vigilante; Ted was working on getting something a little more durable made for her, but for now Dinah was in her jacket, a navy tank top and a set of her workout leggings. She was working on a limited wardrobe here since she didn’t exactly want anyone recognizing her outfit. Instagram was terrible for going unnoticed.

These guys were probably also expecting a big man in green, she reflected on a moment later.

“Who the hell are you?”

Damn, she hadn’t expected to need a name already. Was she supposed to tell people her codename? How did that even work?

“A concerned citizen?”

They scoffed at her. Dinah hadn’t had anyone scoff to her face in a long time, outside of the band anyway. It was kind of refreshing.

“We’re just settling a score here, lady. Nothing to get ‘concerned’ about.”

“Settling it physically?”

“What exactly is your plan here?” Babs asked in her ear. Dinah ignored her, mostly since she didn’t feel like looking crazy talking to the air.

One of the men looked about fed up. “Yeah, physically.”

“Okay, just wanted to confirm.” They’d admitted to trying to commit a crime, right? That gave her due cause or something. She stepped forward and grabbed the arm of the man closest to her, whirling him around and throwing him towards a dumpster behind her.

“What the fuck?”

“Get her!”

She ducked a fist that came careening at her and tripped the guy it was attached to. With her planted foot, she pivoted to send a kick to his rear end.

A third man grabbed her elbow, and Dinah pushed instead of pulled, jabbing him in the chest and sending him sprawling into his back.

They weren’t exactly hardened thugs, it turned out. Dinah glanced around at the three of them groaning on the ground. Her blood was pumping and she was fully in the zone, but here they were just...lying there. “Figures. No stamina,” she grumbled under her breath.

Dinah started to leave when the young man she’d been defending called out, “Um, thank you.”

“Some free advice? Turn yourself over to the cops. They can get you protection I’m not able to provide 24/7.” Dinah turned, marching over the fallen man in her path. “What did you think?”

“Couldn’t see much,” Barbara told her. “But not bad. Want to take on something a bit more challenging?”

“Why not? Night’s still young.” And she doubted this was the only crime or almost-crime happening in the whole city. Though that caused a thought. “So where do you think Green Arrow is?”

“Who knows? Why, you want to meet him?”

“I dunno. We’re in the same neighborhood and all, he might get nervous I’m on his turf.”

“And you’re worried about that?”

Dinah smirked. “Worried? No, that’s the fun part.”

Barbara’s laughter filled her ear, and Dinah picked up her step.

---

Bruce was a very busy man. Even if he didn’t have a secret night job, he would likely be considered a busy man. A ridiculous notion; CEOs tended to delegate more than anything. Nevertheless, running Wayne Enterprises was only one in a very long list of tasks he had to complete each day to ensure his city stayed afloat. 

Which was why he didn’t appreciate when others came asking for his help in their own cities unannounced. Particularly when said others bypassed all his security measures.

Alfred tsked whenever he wore the cowl in the cave, but it was necessary for times such as these when two speedsters zipped right into being.

“Woah,” the older of the two said, looking around the cavernous space.

Bruce hit a button on the console which locked the door to the upstairs from the inside to ensure Alfred didn’t accidentally arrive in the middle of whatever this was.

The younger one nudged his mentor, who gave a start. “Oh, right! Uh, Batman.”

“Yes?”

“We wanted to ask if you could run a background check for a case we’re working?” Allen probably didn’t realize how much his easy parlance with law enforcement terminology gave away about his identity, but Bruce wasn’t going to point it out to him.

Especially when he could tell the man was hiding something. “What’s this really about?”

“What do you mean?” Flash asked, as if a desperate attempt at casual was going to smooth everything over.

“You’re acting like you’ve never seen this place or me before.”

“That’s...because I haven’t.”

Bruce worked to keep any surprise off his face. If Flash was out of step with the rest of their reality, there was only one logical explanation. “Time travel.”

The speedster gaped. “How did you—”

His sidekick, West under the mask, raised both hands. “Don’t look at me. We’ve never told him about the time travel.”

Bruce rolled his eyes. “You both are capable of reaching speeds that break the sound barrier and beyond. It’s a logical assumption that should you achieve a velocity higher than the speed of light, it would allow you to transcend the normal barriers of linear time as well.” Not that he liked it, but that was a discussion for another day.

“Okay. Well, yes, there was time travel involved. It’s better for the universe if I don’t say much more.”

“Then why did you come here?”

Flash blinked. It seemed he was once again unused to Bruce’s gruffness. “Well, Kid Flash said you call yourself a detective?”

Bruce frowned. “Others do.”

“I need your help finding out information about a woman. She’s a meta, potentially dangerous or potentially not. I need to know more about her.”

“What do you already have? A name?”

“Dinah Laurel Lance, born um...1985!” Said Flash, as though he’d just recalled it.

Bruce turned to his computer and started to type. He could sense the speedsters shifting restlessly on their feet behind him as he did so but pushed that minor irritation to the back of his mind.

“Dinah Laurel Lance, as you say, born in 1985. Her father gained sole custody of her when she was about seven years old but lost it in another year due to his alcoholism making him an unfit parent. She was sent into the foster care system. No record of adoption.”

“Oh man,” West murmured. Sympathy, likely from his own history with a parent embroiled in addiction.

“Any, uh, criminal record?” Allen asked, his nerves plain even behind the mask.

Bruce narrowed his eyes but scanned through the documents.

“Some records indicate a tendency to get into fights, but nothing beyond juvenile censure. What was she doing when you came across her?”

“That’s the thing, I really don’t know. She might have been helping a woman, but then she might have been trying to hurt some guys just for the heck of it. It’s...she’s complicated. But she was definitely born here?”

“She was born in Starling City.”

Allen shook his head. “Right, never mind.”

Bruce grit his teeth. He wasn’t being told something still.

“Thanks for the help.” The speedsters were both gone in an eye blink, leaving him alone once more.

Bruce frowned as he looked over the information. He could see why Flash had needed help; her records for the most part seemed to stop several years ago. But then, if he was right…

Dinah, the singer. They were the same woman. And Barbara Gordon was involved with this woman, a member of her band after leaving Gotham. A metahuman with powers he still didn’t know what were capable of doing.

If this Dinah was dangerous like Flash was fearing, and Barbara thought this was her in to the sort of life he’d tried to shield her from for Jim’s sake…

He was going to have to keep his eyes on this one.

[amnachil]

The College Society Chapter 3 Part 3

4 days late is better than a week so be happy :)

I should be posting the next part of TP tomorow but you know me, I never do what I say :p

Damian Nicholas Smith-Carrey Saturday January 26

It had been the worst three days of Damian Nicholas Smith-Carrey's life. Maybe not exactly, but among the worst. On wednesday, he had tried to speak with Liam, but the freshman had avoided him, of course. Zack had told him to play it cool. To stay quiet a bit, and then talk with his "boyfriend". To stay quiet. Me. Stay quiet and wait ? What more ? Make the puppy ? And talk to him ? He meant apologise right ? Zack wants me to apologise. Me. Everything had happened because Amber and Theo had tricked him. She had got her hands on four tickets. She had gone on her own at the festival, and then she had waited the perfect moment. I can't express how mad I am. I can't say enough curse to calm down. After this horrible humilition, he had headed straight back home. He had wanked several times. Until he had felt pain and tiredness. And since then, he had met some old friends, some old and smart hunters. And he had banged them all. Some old preys too. He had been having sex, sex and more sex, but he still felt frustrated. He pictured Liam's smile. His soft voice. His cute booty. Damian Nicholas Smith-Carrey was a predator. The best of his kind. He had chased hundreds of people. Gay, hetero, even alleged lesbian. He had always succeeded. His thought went to Liam again. This lad had a lovable expression. When they ate together, he was so genuinely happy. Zack wants me to apologise. Fuck Theophile and Amber. And all those assholes who had bet against him. He was ruling the university for god's sake ! And Zack wants me to apologise. Fine. For the first and only time of his life, Damian Nicholas Smith-Carrey would beg forgiveness.

The lad headed towards Pasta's Place, where Liam was working this night, when he bumped into Theophile. This... Man I don't know. Fuckin' shitty greedy idiotic douchebag ? Nah. Bally foolish bitchy rotten bastard, it's better.

"Hi Damian Nicholas Smith-Carrey. Going somewhere ?"

"Go back in the bloody pussy you came from nasty stupid bitch. I'm busy."

"Sounds like you're a bit more vulgar than usual. Are you scared to lose ?"

The blond lad did his best to stay calm. At least to not be even angrier than he already was.

"You're sure talking a lot moronic asshole." he grumbled aggressively. "Still, you didn't catch the prey either. Maybe it's too much for your prick to handle ? Go back to these fatty shit of yours, idiot."

"I never realised how many curse words you were able to use in only one sentence." applauded Theo with a laugh. "It make me horny. Look, let's make a little deal. You let me Liam. And you let me bang you from time to time because I reckon, you're the best lay around. Oh, and you put on some pounds, because I like you more with a belly. In exchange, you can keep your 1000$."

"Here is my counterproposal. I take Liam. I put my dick in your ass or mouth or any hole you have when I want to. I keep my money. And you go fuck yourself somewhere I can't see you. It's the last warning, don't play with me."

"For now, I'm winning. So be it."

When Damian Nicholas Smith-Carrey arrived at Pasta's Place, he was barely calmed down. Judy glimpsed him first. At start, she wanted to make him clear off, but when she saw his eyes, she just led him to Liam. Apparently, this one just finished his shift and was about to left. When they glanced at each other, the Dean's grandson didn't know what to say. He wasn't good to make apologies. He didn't even know how to apologise in the first place. And this baboon was just standing there, looking at him. Damnit Zack, I hate you. Why did you convince me to do this ?

"Listen to me Liam. I'll not say this twice. I'm..."

Damnit, it was harder than he tought. The chestnut lad openned his eyes wide.

"Are you gonna..."

"Shut up, don't make it even more difficult." interupted Damian Nicholas Smith-Carrey. "All I want to say is I'm..."

I can't. I can't do this, it's so humiliating. It was Amber and Theo who should be apologising. Not him. Liam slowly took his hands. He had a wonderful face. And damnit, his touch was so soft.

"You're what Dami ?"

It's not my fuckin' name. Please stop it. Stop with this cute nickname.

"I'm sorry." he finally spilt.

And a moment of silent. Say something.

"You're blushing." whispered Liam. "You're cute."

Don't say anything more. Don't. The freshman himself was as red as a tomato. This whole situation was the weirdest Damian Nicholas Smith-Carrey ever lived. Even when he had had sex in a field, on the back of a cow, it had been less embarrassing. (Not with the cow, of course, just on her).

"We never really said we were dating or anything." admitted Liam. "I guess you have the right to see other people ?"

"You mean I can't if we are a couple ?"

It's mortifying. How could he survive like this ? As far as he could remember, he had always be with several people at the same time.

"I don't want to force you to do something you won't like." whispered Liam. "Listen Dami, I think you're very nice. Maybe you don't know this, but in a way, you helped me when my world was falling apart. Deliberately or not, you made my life better, and I thank you for this. To be perfectly honest, I'm not sure to understand what you see in me but... I'm okay, and I want to be your boyfriend. And I'm ready to let you have sex with other people like you're used too."

"Wait. How would you know I..."

"You've quite a reputation, but it's Theo who told me. But whatever, I don't mind this as long as your respect some conditions. Please ?"

Conditions. Is this baboon putting conditions at me ? Damian Nicholas Smith-Carrey shook his head. What the hell was going on ? Why he felt so shy all of sudden ? Why I'm listening to him ? I should be leading the conversation.

"Which ones ?" he simply asked, much for his own displeasure.

"First, when I call you, you come, whoever you're having sex with. I'm number one for everything. Maybe it'll just be for a cuddle, or to see a movie, but I'm your priority." commanded Liam. "Second, you don't fall in love with any of them. Just sex, nothing more. I don't want you do be sentimentally involved with anyone but me..."

I'm not even loving you. You're just a prey. So why the hell I'm blushing everytime you open your fuckin' mouth ? Why ?

"Okay." the Dean's grandson agreed. "It works for me."

"Third, don't sleep with my relatives. Not my roommate, not my friends nor people I used to know in my past... It would be awkward. And four, you call me. I'm your boyfriend so if you need help with something, I'll be there. If you're sad, happy or angry, I wanna know."

Damnit. That's not what I planned at all. Things were getting out of hand. Damian Nicholas Smith-Carrey tried his best to rationalize. To be his former self. But he just felt butterflies in his belly.

"And I've one last request. It's very important to me."

"Whatever it is, I'm fine with it." quickly promised the lad.

No ! What did I just say ?! What's wrong with my body ? With my brain ? I'm broken ! Someone needs to help me, I'm fuckin' broken !

"All the pastries and the plates you're making ? All for me. No sharing. I want them all."

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

"Sure. All my cooking is for you."

And then they kissed.

Liam Sunday January 27 – Monday January 28

My mother was right, with each piece of good news come a piece of bad news. Yesterday, Dami had agreed to be his boyfriend. (They still had some stuff to work on, like how to be faithful). (He had what ? Two or three lovers, no more right ?). But Liam wanted to be comprehensive and to respect Dami. If his new boyfriend needed to have sex to feel happy, Liam didn't want to stop him. As soon as I will be ready, I'll have sex with him too... But the chesnut lad wasn't feeling confident enough for that. I don't even know what exactly we are doing. Anyway, this late morning, when Liam woke up, he discovered Theo. He first thought the dark-haired junior had crept into their flat in order to devour Nick. He was ready to hit him with a baguette when his roommate said they had sex. Sex. Liam didn't even know Nick was interested in men... The ogre is having sex with his preys. It was bad, really bad. Liam understood the long-run plan of the monster : he intented to make Nick addicted to him. But can I do something ? I don't know what...

"You look worried." smiled Theo. "Have you some problems I can help with ?"

At this point, Liam wanted to hid under his bed with the unicorns. (They were friends. They would protect him). But he couldn't let Nick alone in this dangerous situation.

"By the way, I heard your father sued your mother." continued the ogre. "I think I can help you with that, since we all are friend here."

What ? Now it was sure. Theo was sent by the forces of evil to harm them. Liam had to find a way out !

"My father is your dad's lawyer. I'm surprised you never realised it. Anyway, I think we can talk to him. Maybe find an arrangement ?"

"Liam dude, it would be nice." added Nick.

"I have one question." interrupted Liam. "It's unrelated to the topic but... Ain't you bothered by cheating on Laura ? Does she know what you're doing ? And you Nick ?"

"We have an agreement." explained Theo. "I'm free to have sex with cute and sweet men like Nick, she's okay with that. I can sleep with you too if you want."

Oh. That's straight. Liam didn't want to sleep with an ogre. And he already have a boyfriend. Not the most faithful in the world but... he was cooking very well at least.

"You should try." excitedly said Nick. "Theo is like... very good ! Trust me, you'll quickly understand why I did that !"

"Uh well... I'm not interested." Liam diplomatically said. "But I'm okay to meet your father and negociate."

The whole conversation felt surreal. I didn't know Nick was interested in men. Or that Laura was aware... This is sooo weird. (Weirder than believing in unicorns, yes).

"Nice, let's say next saturday ?" suggested Theo. "I know the trial is in early february."

"Okay..."

Liam still needed help to save Nick. But he had had an illumination. His boyfriend was someone important after all, maybe he could help. (The chestnut lad had heard something about the Dean, but still couldn't remember what).

The young freshman went to work at 4pm. Judy welcomed him with a concerned look. Exactly like the last time they had talked about the forces of evil. While he got ready, she mumbled :

"Big guy, there's something you need to know."

"What's the matter ?"

He was captivated by his suit. The waiters here had cool suit, nice and warm. He tried once to steal one, but she had stopped him.

"I saw you kiss Damian Nicholas Smith-Carrey yesterday. And I don't think it's a good idea." she said. "I know you're a grown-up man, and it's your call but... Do you know how awful he can be ? I think you're only another prey for his tally to be honest."

Liam had already thought about this. And he asked Nate's advice. After all, if Dami was actually sleeping with two or three other person at the moment, he probably had also a lot of ex. (And the freshman was known to be naive so maybe his boyfriend played him). (But he was trusting Dami, he felt it was the right thing to do).

"Thank you Judy but... I don't know. I think I can trust him. He's sweet with me. I've a gut feeling about this. And I appreciate him."

"You sure ? I thought this at first too. Then he ditched me."

It took Liam a moment to undestand. So... they used to be a thing. Okay. Now he was wondering, who had slept with Dami ? Stop it Liam. Stop it now. As Nate said, he shouldn't think about his boyfriend's past. After all, he didn't want his own past to resurface.

"I'm sorry to hear that Judy, because you're a nice girl." he assured. "But I still think it's different. Maybe I'm a fool, and maybe I'm really stupid, but I want to try."

The next morning in class, the professor of macroeconomics gave them an important information. They would make a journey in France. It would take place during the winter holidays. It was unusual for first year students, but the Dean and the administration decided to chose the thirty best students in economics, and give them this opportunity. It appeared Nick was the major of their promotion, so he would be part of it. Rebecca, Barbara and Colton aswell. But Liam never expected to heard his name. Apparently, he was among the best ? I can't believe it. For real ? He felt really happy about it. (In case some people wonder : Liam was bright. With focus, he could probably be a very good student). (But the chestnut lad wasn't thinking about it at all). Some of his friends weren't really pleased with the group, but he was. Plus, the professor anounced they would select some junior and sophomore to come with them. All I need to do is convince Dami to come. Easy-peasy.

Barbara Wednesday January 30

At first, she had thought it would a piece of cake. All she had to do was convince a professor to support her more than Summer. But Ms. Weber wasn't cooperative at all. It was already hard to find the hunters among thousands of students and staff in the university. Barbara discovered some names thanks to Javier, but not enough. And now, one of them, Linda wouldn't help her.

"Look, I'm not sayin' I won't be in your side at the end." she explained. "But for now, I'm trusting Summer. The girl's good. She knows what she has to do to maintain order."

"But isn't she a kind of rival ?" asked Barbara. "For the hunt I mean."

"That's right, we're looking for the same kind of prey. But there are plenty of young male around here. I don't have any gripe against her honestly. Prove you're better or worthier and I'll support you."

I already am... The short blonde just smiled. Obviously, the hunters weren't glad to see her. According to Javier, it took time to build a name in their society.

"Damian Nicholas Smith-Carrey himself was my very first support." she reminded. "Does this count for nothing to you ?"

"It depend. Did you ever sleep with the man ?"

"No."

"Well, it's normally easy to turn him on. The man only love his prick you know ? If he hadn't sleep with you, it means he doesn't have much interest for you. And Summer knows how to talk with him. She's the head of student for the second year in a row, it mean something."

"Yeah, I understood this. Thanks you Ms. Webers. See you soon."

Damned. Such a waste of time. It wasn't the firt person she tried to convince. But the hunters were all supporting her opponent. Summer was useless and definitely not smart, but she had numerous great allies. I need to make a move to impress them. An important move. She was heading towards the library when a dark-haired lad approached her. He was tall and ripped, pretty imposing.

"Hey there." he greeted. "I'm Theo Meyers, nice to you meet you."

She knew him. Javier had said he had challenged Damian Nicholas Smith-Carrey for his title of best hunter. And whoever is the best hunter is likely able to be the king.

"I heard you were trying to take Summer's position ?" he asked. "I guess you need a little help to make all these hunters work with you ? I mean, powerful people don't really like rookies. Are you a rookie ?"

Barbara smiled prudently. She had already met people like him. Psychopaths.

"I'm not." she replied. "And I'll figure out something."

"Why not beat the most famous and feared hunter ? You could win some respect that way."

Now it became interesting. But she had to be cautious. Obviously, Damian Nicholas Smith-Carrey had a lot of ressources. And he didn't seem to have a weakness.

"You've only one thing to do for me, and it's a win." explained Theo. "Distract him on saturday. I'm gonna win the bet this day. Can you do that ?"

"Yes."

She already had the start of a plan.

To be continued

Quite an important part becaure YAY They are finally together !!!! It’s not like... the perfect couple yet, but here they are. Liam is a very eager feedee, he wants the cook to feed him and only him ;) But they’ve still many problems to solve and many hardship to face. The happy end is far away, count on me for that.

And speaking of problems, Barbara and Theo made a deal. Which is not good news...

[theaftermathgossip]

Aftermath Unsolved || The Cray Cray Case of Patricia Walker

RYAN: This week on Aftermath Unsolved we are investigating the Cray Cray case of Patricia Walker. SHANE: Can... can we legally say that? RYAN: What? SHANE: Cray Cray? Like - isn't that trademarked? RYAN: Probably. But I think that as long as we demonetize it's... fine? SHANE: I - What? That's not how it works. No. It - *what*? RYAN: I mean? If we're not making a profit from it they can't sue! SHANE: That... does not check out. RYAN: Let the lawyers handle it. SHANE: God, I feel bad for whoever has to talk to Dorothy Walker on the phone after *this*. RYAN: Well, I know one thing, and that is it won't be me. SHANE: (tsks) Causin' all the trouble and dealing with none of the aftermath. RYAN: YOU SAID IT. SHANE: OH SHIT. RYAN: (wheezing) Wow. That didn't take long. SHANE: Go big or go home - RYAN: Does that apply? SHANE: (shrugs) It does now. RYAN: Okay, okay. So, this one is a doozy. SHANE: *Doozy*. RYAN: Shut - shut up. So, Patricia Walker, formerly known as Patsy Walker and currently know as Trish Walker, was a child star that most of us grew up on - and she is now a talk show host. She's had a rollercoaster of a life, riddled with all sort of things - SHANE: Drug addiction... public breakdowns... RYAN: Just... just right out there with that, really? SHANE: IT'S PUBLIC RECORD. RYAN: I'M TRYING TO KEEP US FROM GETTING SUED BY DOROTHY WALKER. SHANE: She can sue us but she won't stop the truth! RYAN: But she can stop us. SHANE: Okay but wasn't Trish Walker like, *fucked up* at that club in Brooklyn? RYAN: Vortex? SHANE: THAT ONE, yeah, it's not like she's really *trying* to hide any of this. RYAN: I feel like Dorothy Walker won't take that as an excuse. SHANE: (shakes his head) Dorothy be cray cray. RYAN: (wheezes) You can't - you SHANE: I did. RYAN: We should amend the intro to 'on our final episode.' SHANE: Don't be dramatic. You too, Dorothy Walker. Stop it. Just. Just stop it. RYAN: You done? SHANE: I'm done. For now. RYAN: There are a lot of things that have happened in Trish Walker's life, but focusing on a more recent event - we're looking at how she was reported as dead and now she's - SHANE: Walkin' around all hunky-dory with a Starbucks? RYAN: I mean - you have to admit she seems different since she came back from 'the dead.' SHANE: She went to rehab this fake death stuff... I can't. RYAN: Ahahaha! SHANE: I can't! I cannot deal with this. Just admit you went to rehab. Case closed. RYAN: Wait, wait - you have to hear the rest first. SHANE: (mouths) Rehab. RYAN: Trish Walker was admitted to the hospital with a gunshot wound to the head and an additional gunshot wound in her stomach. The story was covered up by Dorothy Walker at first, presumably to protect Trish from the fallout of a public scandal - or to prevent whoever tried to assassinate her from coming to the hospital to finish the job. SHANE: Who the fuck would want to assassinate her? RYAN: Let me finish! SHANE: Hurry up! RYAN: Anyway, Trish Walker succumbed to her wounds in the hospital and was declared dead. A week later, her body goes missing from the morgue and a short time after that, there are reported sightings of her. SHANE: (sighs) RYAN: What? SHANE: Is it really believable that she just... got up out of the morgue and went back to life? Like, what? A fucking zombie? They fucking misidentified a Jane Doe, called her Trish Walker and when Trish showed up alive - oops the body went missing. RYAN: *Oops the body went missing*? SHANE: Makes more sense than this bullshit zombie story. RYAN: And with that - we're on our first theory. Trish Walker is a known addict, and most online communities feel that it is totally plausible that Trish Walker went to rehab and that - I hate to say it - but you were right and that this was a case of misidentification - maybe even purposeful misidentification of the body to keep Trish Walker's stint in rehab a secret. SHANE: Because being dead is better than going to rehab? RYAN: Well - wait, wait put yourself in Trish Walker's shoes - SHANE: (closes eyes and starts humming the tune of cray cray) RYAN: What... what are you doing? SHANE: Getting into character. RYAN: ... Okay. Your life is under a microscope and you're headed to rehab *again*. Your career is hanging on by a thread and you're pretty sure that it can't survive if you go to rehab. SHANE: So I fake my death? RYAN: So you vanish from the public eye to sober up. A body of a - a homeless woman shows up and she looks kinda like you and there you go! Perfect alibi. You can't be in rehab if you're dead. SHANE: Please tell me this gets better. RYAN: You are so hard to please. SHANE: I have standards, Ryan! RYAN: Fine, well, they only get weird from here. SHANE: Goddamnit. RYAN: Theory number two is that Trish Walker was abducted by aliens, but only her consciousness and not her physical body. The separation of her body from her mind killed her - SHANE: I hate this. RYAN: And so Trish Walker did technically die, but only for a short time before the aliens returned her. SHANE: So, how does that explain the double-tap? RYAN: Double-tap? SHANE: Two shots. One to the head - one to the stomach? RYAN: It - someone shot her after? SHANE: WHAT? Really? That's - that's so flimsy. Even for you, Ryan. RYAN: This theory doesn't talk about the gunshot wounds - it's completely focused on aliens. SHANE: Okay, fine. What did the aliens do? Why did they take her? RYAN: For... science? SHANE: And they picked *her*? RYAN: Maybe they liked the song? You know - SHANE: THEY TOOK HER FOR HER MUSIC, and what? Found out she didn't sing anymore and went "ah, shit, nevermind?" RYAN: (wheezing) Maybe? SHANE: (sighs) RYAN: You know what? Fine - just, just fine. The next theory though, it's... it's better. SHANE: Is it really? RYAN: Lizard people. SHANE: Rock bottom early? RYAN: Think about it - Trish Walker is assassinated, reported dead, two gunshot wounds, and then her body just... vanishes? What if she was being replaced by a lizard person, assimilated into the hierarchy of lizard people - you know, like how Beyonce is a clone? SHANE: I can't... No. RYAN: No? You can't just 'no' it - SHANE: No. RYAN: What else explains the fact that she is reported and confirmed dead and then is suddenly walkin' around? SHANE: Nope. You're trying to combine the clone theory and lizard people? That's too much. RYAN: You can't - SHANE: Ryan. No. Nope. It's just. No. Absolutely not. RYAN: You are a frustrating man. SHANE: I take great pride in that status. RYAN: And it infuriates me. SHANE: Good. RYAN: So, this next theory is another one that we've heard on the show, and that's that Trish Walker, the one we see now, is actually -- wait for it SHANE: (sighs heavily) RYAN: A clone. SHANE: This shit again? RYAN: It's a popular theory that the elite - SHANE: Are lizards and/or clones. RYAN: First of all, it's not and/or it's one or the other. Only *or*. SHANE: Uh-huh. RYAN: So the going theory is that Trish Walker was spiraling right? Her drug habit was coming back with a fury and she was showing increased signs of irritability. SHANE: Sure. Because no one else ever has shown signs of irritability. RYAN: Anyway, what I'mn getting at, is that Trish Walker was hurting the Walker brand. It was less than a year ago when she came back to Trish Talk and starts hosting regular shows, everything looked fine on the surface. SHANE: I'm hearing an *except* coming. RYAN: Except - SHANE: Called it! RYAN: (wheezing) Stop -- just stop it. There are some rumors surrounding her coming back to the show and these rumors suggest that coming back wasn’t *her* choice, but in fact, Dorothy Walker's. SHANE: Ugh. That name makes me itchy. RYAN: Itchy? SHANE: Like hives, Ryan. Dorothy Walker makes me feel like I'm breaking out in hives. RYAN: I... I have no words. SHANE: (shrugs) RYAN: This metaphorical toilet that Trish was being flushed down - it was too much, right? So she turns back to drugs and starts falling into old habits and in an attempt to protect the Walker brand, and Trish from herself, Dorothy had Trish replaced with a clone. Though I think an android, in this case, makes more sense because clones start as babies. SHANE: So, let me get this straight -- clones but not clones? RYAN: An android. SHANE: Like... what? An LMD? RYAN: I -- I don't know what that is. SHANE: (sighs) I expect too much of you. RYAN: Wow okay, okay. Fine. Let's google this random string of words and see who the real idiot is here - SHANE: Do it. RYAN: I'm doing it! (RYAN pulls out of his phone) RYAN: Urban dictionary says it means 'let me die.' SHANE: Not what I meant, but relatable. RYAN: So what did *you* mean? SHANE: A life model decoy. Fancy word for android. RYAN: (sighs and shakes his head) Alright. SHANE: Don't get mad at me because you didn't know the word. RYAN: Okay, well, since you have a fancy name for this, is this the theory you like? SHANE: No - (laughing) androids might be more believable than lizard people but no. I'm still on board with Trish going to rehab. The dead body is some dramatic flair but celebrities, man. RYAN: (wheezing) Dead bodies and celebrities huh? SHANE: You got enough money, you can get away with anything (winks) RYAN: Did you just - you know what. No. I'm not gonna engage. SHANE: For this theory though, I do like the involvement of Dorothy Walker. She seems the type to have a backup daughter or ten. Just... hidden away. RYAN: And what? Rotates them? SHANE: Yeah, one starts to show any signs of, I don't know, mental instability and she replaces them. Pulls another fucking daughter out of the basement and is like (waves finger) "the last Patricia was a *very* naughty girl" RYAN: That is a horrifying idea. SHANE: I feel like it's the right level of yikes. Just enough that you can see it happening but also so far out there that you're like: nah, that'd NEVER happen! And then, oops, it does. RYAN: OOPS, IT DOES? (wheezing) SHANE: It's only an oops if you get caught!   RYAN: Our last theory is a bit of a stretch, even for me. SHANE: Oh goody. RYAN: (wheezing) You have no faith in me! SHANE: Zero. RYAN: Trish Walker is actually a servant of Satan and sold her soul for extended life. SHANE: (wheezing) Is Trish Walker supposed to be Dracula? Who - who said this? Who did this? Who put this dumb idea in your brain. RYAN: I'm just the messenger! SHANE: Except you believe it! RYAN: You can't prove if I believe or not - SHANE: Just - replay the episode. He believes. RYAN: (wheezing) How dare you - SHANE: HOW DARE I? How dare you, whispering these... these heracies about Trish Walker being a bride of Satan! RYAN: I said no such thing! SHANE: You implied it with your 'selling her soul' thing. RYAN: Okay fine, maybe she's a bride of Satan - SHANE: So, Patsy Walker went to Hadestown? Do you think they did a cover of 'Wait for me'? RYAN: *What*? SHANE: It's a good song. I don't think Patsy had the voice for it but you know, maybe the devil can't tell. RYAN: And you know enough about music to make this assessment? SHANE: I have the internet. That's all I need. RYAN: That is... a frustrating answer. You are a frustrating person, Shane. SHANE: So, what's her biopic going to be called? It's Patsy, the bride to Satan? RYAN: A Woman of Nine Lives: A Patsy Walker story. SHANE: Oh -- oh that's actually good! RYAN: I know, right? SHANE: I like what you're implying here. Nine lives - so she's like a cat. Like a, uh, a hellcat! RYAN: Hellcat: A Patsy Walker Story? SHANE: Bingo. Perfect. Love it. RYAN: We got it? SHANE: Nailed it. RYAN: (wheezing) Okay good. So, out of all the theories, which one do you like? SHANE: Like, which one do I believe or which one I find the most interesting? RYAN: Both. Both is good. SHANE: (laughs) Okay. Well, as far as one that I can believe in? I am firmly sold on rehab. And the body being misidentified. But one that I *want* to be true is the clone theory. RYAN: Realy? That one? SHANE: Well, my addition to that theory. I just... I love the idea of Dorothy Walker having a small army of children in her basement and she just rotates them like dolls. It's delectably evil. RYAN: That's twisted. SHANE: That would be the plot twist that blue screens the world. And I for one, am here for it. RYAN: (wheezing) I - I have no words. SHANE: Okay, are we done? This, this has been something else. RYAN: Yeah, we're done. SHANE: Good. Let's hope that we don't get sued by Dorothy Walker - RYAN: We might just because of that daughter dungeon theory  - SHANE: That was comedy, Ryan. She can't sue over that! RYAN: I feel like she'd find a way. SHANE: You're right. She's the type. See you next week, or not! Who knows? We sure don't! RYAN, voiceover: Have any weird, unsolved mysteries you’d like us to cover? Send in a comment or an ask and maybe we’ll pick your story next!

[askjeeveshypno-blog]

What I know about consent violations from having seen a lot of them

Crossposted to Fetlife. 

*TLDR: This stuff is complicated, memories and stories are often flawed, and outside of a few sharp lines there is no consensus on what IS a consent violation to say nothing of what is the correct punishment for one. *

Hi, I’m AskJeeves.  I’m a “community leader” but please don’t blame my communities for what I’m about to say.  I literally ran this past nobody but my wife so the responsibility for my words would be entirely mine and indeed, it’s possible some folks I work with running organizations will be unhappy with me for my directness here.  FWIW, I also have never been the head consent person in any organization.  I’m just a board member of three different kink groups who has also been in the community for a really long time.

But anyway, in various kink positions of responsibility in hypnokink, regular kink and a kinky arts organization, I’ve seen quite a few complaints.  And here are some general impressions.   I’ve messed with some details for privacy but kept the spirit of the complaints intact.

1. Most of the scene likes to gossip and the drama around consent violations is pretty sweet gossip.  The chain of secrecy is almost never intact.  I’m good at keeping secrets.  When I hear about a consent complaint, I treat it as confidential and don’t talk about it.  But people who know I’m in a position to know VERY FREQUENTLY talk to me.   This puts me in this wacky position of “A complained about B, and everyone seems to know that.  A is talking about it and B is talking about it, and people want to talk to me about it, but I don’t 100 percent know WHAT A and B are saying and if one of them is leaving a detail or two out on purpose and I reveal it, I’ve seriously breached my responsibilities,” so I do a lot of smiling and nodding about consent complaints.  Also, “B and I are at the same party and B is recounting a romanticized version of what they did that leaves out a lot of facts and if I’m quiet it looks like I agree but I’m really not in a position to speak up,” which also sucks, but they way.

2. The vast majority of complaints we get are in gray areas, and it’s almost impossible to nail down what a “consent violation” actually is outside of what’s actually illegal or specific enough to be spelled out in rules we already had:

a. A guy wrote about kink stuff on his public facebook on the regular.  Somebody who was mad at him got drunk and posted something on the same facebook page about how much he sucked for not coming to her play party.  Said guy got drunk person banned from a dungeon for “outing her” in a place he’d already outed himself.  

b. I’m pretty judgy about JK Rowling retweeting TERFS, but should a con punish someone for retweeting a post that outs somebody?  

c. If someone steals someone else’s money without permission, is that a consent violation?  

d. If C and D make plans to play, and then C loses interest but never actually says “actually, I changed my mind,” and just puts off or ghosts D, how many times can D follow up, in what ways and getting what responses, without it becoming harassment?    (Soft nos are VERY complicated from a “trying to enforce consent rules” perspective.  In this situation,  C almost always says that D is ignoring a “no” and D almost always says that C seems really busy so D thought D would keep trying and they were eager to do the play C had earlier said they wanted.)

e. If E made a promise to follow a bunch of rules set by a group, and then broke one of them, and F, a member of the other group, complains to a my group that E consented to follow the rules and broke them and the complain to MY group, which has different rules, is that violating the first group’s consent?

f. Hypno-specifically, what counts as non-negotiated use of persuasive language and where?

g. The above complexities quadruple for trying to ban someone from an event or organization for something they did online.  Does this happen in rare circumstances?  Yes.  But the bar is quite high.  

h. Some of y’all who are black and white thinkers or just very decisive will feel like you can go down this list going “Yes, no, yes, yes, no” but suffice to say, even if one of these seems straightforward to you, it hasn’t to me in the past, perhaps because of further details I’ve left out for brevity or something I changed to make the situations less specific..

3. If you’ve been banned or whatever, threatening to bring in a lawyer never helps you.  Kink organizations are private.  We mostly have our own lawyers and know very well how incredibly legal it is to exclude someone from a private organization for a good reason, a bad reason or no reason at all unless it’s a discriminatory reason.  Proving “discrimination” is very difficult, proving “defamation” is too.   Suing a kink organization for not letting you in requires money up front that almost none of us have, so it’s an empty threat anyway unless the person making the threat is independently wealthy.  I write this under the assumption that if you ARE independently wealthy and are willing to sue us into the ground if you don’t get what you want, these words won’t stop us anyway.

a. Suffice to say that when you threaten to sue it indicates to me as a person in a position of responsibility is that “bringing in a lawyer to make threats” is something you’re willing to do when you don’t get what you want, and if my organization continues to deal with you, this will almost certainly happen again.  So why would we want you in our private organization?  Do you really provide so much benefit to the organization that this constant threat is worth it to us?

b. Caveat: If someone has sexually assaulted you, by all means, call the cops or a lawyer if you feel comfortable doing so.  I’m not at all saying that legal mechanisms have no place in kink when directed at the person who hurt you. But as fair as organizations are concerned threatening to sue, or coy letters about how you might threaten to sue if you don’t get your way, are counterproductive and have a strong whiff of bullshit, which is never a good thing if you’re trying to convince us you’re not lying about anything else.

4. Long relationships that end in one or both parties accusing one another of consent violations the moment they break up are a nightmare to deal with on the consent side.   Because abuse REALLY DOES happen in long term relationships.  But there are many ways  of being a shitty partner that are consent violations.  People who have just broken up last week can almost never tell the difference.  

5. People who talk about consent ALL THE TIME have a bad habit of setting their own rules about it in ways that benefit their own bullshit.  Such people are often so excited to talk about other people’s consent violations that they make a big deal without having investigated or otherwise gotten the full story.  So people who make a big public deal about rumors of other people’s problems have raised a red flag about themselves.  This is completely irrelevant if they never have a consent complaint raised about them.  But if they do, the red flag is there.  A red flag doesn’t decide anything, but people are going to notice it.

6. I get that Jeff Mach got paid.  Just about nobody else in kink does and if you’re looking to get paid, running a con is a terrible way to do it.  We’re volunteers throwing parties/events for the community. We want people to be safe but we also hang out at our own parties/cons and we don’t want to hang with jerks.  Nobody gets banned for being a jerk alone, but if you’ve yelled at us, been an asshole when you dumped our friend, been accused of minor things many times before, or otherwise caused a lot of problems, that’s not going to help you get what you want. Again, if I personally think you’re a jerk but no one ever complains about you, that’s fine.  Some of you ARE jerks and I demonstrably haven’t.  But if you’ve got what feels like a long history of being difficult or causing problems, that’s a strike against you.  My kid brother has a long history of cussing out cops and has been told he has the worst driving record in the county where we live. Most of the judges and cops in our county have met him and he was unpleasant every time.   If you think every new time he’s a defendant there is a clean slate and none of that prior stuff matters, you’ve been sold of a vision of our justice system, and possibly humanity, that doesn’t exist.  We are trying to be fair but it would be weird to expect a bunch of volunteer kinksters to be less susceptible to their own perceptions.

7. Rumors people have heard about bad behavior, complaints from unverifiable and likely fake scene names, or a friend making a complaint on behalf of an anonymous friend are simply impossible to investigate or do anything about.

8. Two years ago, a group of people got together to lie about an innocent person assaulting someone.  They were people the consent folks at the event liked and trusted.  And then the truth came out.  It is never impossible that this is happening.  And it ruined what seemed like a pretty solid kink organization.   There are mitigating factors here and there but the bones of it are an organization people put thousands of dollars and untold hours into that brought a lot of people joy was ruined, because like eight people didn’t get what they want on something incredibly minor and broke the consent system, and the con, on purpose.  Again, the consent folks didn’t handle things optimally either, but when eight people are willing to tell the same lie it’s tough to imagine that ending well for them, their victim or the organization.  Consent organizers never want that to happen to us, but it’s unrealistic not to accept that it could.  

This stuff is complicated.   And again, I’m only writing on behalf of myself.  But these kinds of issues are what folks who seriously work on consent face.   I'm happy to talk about them.  But if you think you have an iron-clad, one-size-fits-all solution, you probably don't?