#next thing you know Dex is gonna make

[famousinfamous]

Dex: *breaks into the registery files aka supposedly the one of the highest security databases in the whole world and while he’s doing it breaks into all the other intelligent species networks as well. Supposedly manifests at twelve but he says he’s always been good with gadgets so he probably manifested before that. Manages to restrict the abilities of a literal super elf who was ‘made’ by some on the smartest elves and gnomes to ever exist (they spent years ‘making’ her by the way.) does this all before he turns 14* litterally everyone in the series: yeah that seems normal

[trollrider1111]

Making ocs is an art that i think was lost on me, to do that i think you need to be able to figure out a life and in order to do THAT i need experience in making ocs. Dammit i gotta do this badly, scared and for the first time

[briefinquiries]

Tyler Owens x Reader: No Hesitation

Request: From anonymous: “I had an idea for Tyler Owens!! I feel like Tyler would be the type of guy that if a girl came up to him and said ‘this guy is creepy, pls pretend to be my bf’ he would be like ‘hell yay’ and scare the guy away without making the girl uncomfortable?? Maybe you could do a scenario like that with reader?? Thank youuu!!! Lots of love!!”

Word count: 3.1k

Warnings: none

A/N: guys.... i'm down bad for tyler owens, pls send help (or requests so i can keep writing about him). anywayyy, enjoy!

“You comin’ T?” Boone asked as he peered into Tyler’s motel room. 

Tyler glanced up from where he sat on the edge of his creaky, double mattress and nodded. “Yeah, I just need to grab a shirt that doesn’t smell like pig shit.”

“Good luck with that,” Boone chuckled. “We haven't done laundry in almost three weeks– just about everything in my bag smells like pig shit.”  

“Maybe it’s time we popped home for a bit,” Tyler muttered as he continued digging through his bag. Finally, he pulled out an unused, plain, T-shirt that had been folded at the bottom of his duffel. “What kind of place is this, Boone?” he asked as he pulled the shirt over his head. 

“Just a bar, man. Nothin’ fancy. They got darts though, and a pool table. Which, by the way, I bet you fifty bucks I can smoke you at.”

“Boone, you don’t even have fifty bucks,” Tyler replied, shaking his head. He stood up from the bed and joined his friend in the hallway, shutting his motel room door behind him. 

“Do too,” Boone said defensively as they began walking towards the parking lot to join the rest of the team. 

“Oh you mean the fifty bucks I gave you to get the van’s oil changed last week? Which now I’m assuming you never did–” 

“An honest mistake,” Boone said, putting his hands up in surrender. “They were closed the day you gave it to me, then I’ll be honest, I forgot about it. But my point is, beat me at pool and that money is yours again.” 

“I don’t want the money to be mine again, I want the van to get an oil change.”

“Well you get your fifty bucks back and you can use it for whatever you’d like– oil change included.”

Tyler shook his head, knowing there was no use arguing with his friend. 

“What’re you two love birds arguing about now?” Lilly asked. She was perched on the hood of Tyler’s truck looking at footage she’d taken from her drone earlier in the day. 

“T’s too scared to play me in pool,” Boone answered before Tyler could. 

“Aw,” Lilly said teasingly. “Nothin’ to be scared of. We’ll still love ya, even if Boone kicks your ass.”

“Yeah, T,” Dani added from the front seat of the van. They had the door kicked open and their feet resting out the rolled down window. “There’s no shame in losin’. Only in never trying.”

“I oughta just leave the lot of you behind. Me and Dexter can take things from here. Isn’t that right, Dex?”

“Sure,” Dexter said casually. “But I’ll have you know I can also beat your ass at pool.”

“Unbelievable,” Tyler muttered to himself. “Who’s ridin’ with me?”

Lilly and Boone’s hands shot up. “Shotgun,” Boone announced. 

“You always get shotgun,” Lilly muttered as she climbed into the backseat of his truck. 

“We’ll meet you guys there,” Dani said as they pulled their feet into the van and started it up. Dexter climbed into the passenger seat and then the group of them were off. 

It took about fifteen minutes to get to the bar Boone had been going on about all day. He insisted they served the best chicken wings in all of Tulsa. Tyler would be the judge of that. 

The parking lot was relatively full– but not surprisingly so for a Saturday night. 

“If you have more than three drinks, you’re ridin’ back with Dani, you understand?” Tyler said to Boone as the five of them walked into the bar together. “I’m not havin’ you get sick in my truck for a second time.”

“Whatever you say, Dad,” Boone said sarcastically. “I’m gonna mark my territory at the pool table– let ‘em know we’re next. Grab me whatever’s on tap, will ya?”

He didn’t even wait for Tyler’s confirmation before darting off, Dani and Dexter on his tail. 

Meanwhile, Tyler and Lilly made their way to the bar to order for everyone else. “Man, he’s full of it today,” he muttered once they reached the counter. 

“Yeah, well. We’re all a little restless,” Lilly admitted. “It’s been a long few weeks without much action. Boone’s kinda like a puppy. Except instead of walks he needs adrenaline rushes and excessive fun. Tonight’ll be good for him.” 

Tyler chuckled as he turned to check where the bartender was at. Except, as soon as he did, his elbow collided with the person beside him. 

“Sorry–” he said quickly, eyes wandering down. 

His words caught in his mouth at the sight of an unfamiliar, but beautiful girl. You were gazing back up at him with equal surprise, mouth hung open slightly. 

“I’m sorry,” he repeated. 

“That’s okay,” you answered quickly. “I was standin’ too close.” 

“No other way to really do it in here it seems,” he said. 

You smiled sweetly. “I know– it’s never this busy here, even on the weekends.”

“You come here a lot?” he asked, just trying to keep the conversation going. 

“I wouldn’t say a lot, but enough. Any time I have a hankering for some wings.”

Tyler adjusted his body so that he was facing you entirely now. He was boxing Lilly out– but she’d understand. Especially after she got a look at how gorgeous you were. “You know, my buddy said they were good. I didn’t entirely believe him. But if you say so…”

“You’re gonna trust a total stranger over your buddy?” you asked teasingly. 

Tyler tilted his head to the side. “If you met my buddy, you’d understand why. You know we’re all gonna play some pool in a bit if you wanted to–”

“Hey Y/N, there you are!” Tyler heard someone say, cutting him off. He watched as your head snapped around. A man– tall with broad shoulders and black hair, was pushing through the crowd towards you. 

“I gotta go,” you said to Tyler quickly, instantly causing his shoulders to fall. “Have a good night.”

“Yeah, you too,” he grumbled. He turned back towards the bar to avoid seeing you reunite with who he supposed was probably your boyfriend. 

“Don’t sweat it, T,” Lilly said, clapping him on the back. “You’ll get the next one.”

Tyler rolled his eyes, kicking himself for letting himself get his hopes up over a stupid, two minute conversation. 

Once he and Lilly got everyone’s drinks, the pair of them made their way back towards the pool table which Boone had successfully taken over. No time was wasted before Boone was insisting the pair play. 

To Tyler’s absolute dismay– he really did suck. 

He lost three games in a row before finally calling it quits. He opted to sit at a high top table with Dexter, watching Lilly and Boone compete instead. 

Tyler was just about to throw down the last of his beer when suddenly, he felt an arm loop through his.  He turned to tell who he assumed was Dani, that they’d had way too much to drink, but before he could, a voice (that certainly didn't match Dani’s) rang out. 

“Hi baby, there you are!”  

Dexter, who was sitting across from Tyler, glanced at him surprised. 

Tyler looked to his left and locked eyes with the same girl from the bar earlier. Except now, she was gazing at Tyler desperately. Without warning and before Tyler could even react, you leaned closer to him. 

In a hurried whisper, you spoke so that only Tyler could hear. “There’s a guy over there. I keep asking him to, but he won’t leave me alone– can you just pretend to know me so that he’ll go away?”

Then, you press your lips to the side of Tyler’s cheek quickly, like it was a gesture the two of you had shared thousands of times. You continued holding on to his arm, your eyes wildly trying to communicate how terrified you clearly were, as you looked pleadingly at him to help you. 

Tyler’s face broke out into a huge grin as he, with absolutely no hesitation, took on the role of boyfriend for a complete stranger. He wiggled his arm out of your grasp and instead wound it around your waist, pulling you tightly into his side. 

You were taken aback by how secure and safe you suddenly felt. 

“I’ve been looking all over for you,” Tyler replied.  He could visibly see the look of relief that washed over your face once you realized he had decided to play along. 

Tyler tugged at your hip, indicating that he wanted you to lean in closer. You took his hint and tilted your head towards him.  

“Which guy is it?” he asked discreetly. 

“Red shirt, black hair,” you mumbled quietly. It was only then that you notice the other man sharing the table with your rescuer. You offered him an apologetic smile, hoping that he was intuitive enough to pick up on the cues you’d been dropping.  

Next you noticed the rest of his group scattered around the pool table. Initially, they were in the middle of a game when you came over, but now, their attention had shifted. You glanced at the beautiful girl with tanned skin and long, braided hair, holding a pool stick. She offered you a small, but cautious smile. You hoped it wasn’t her boyfriend you were currently draped over.  Then, there’s another guy– with messy black hair topped with an old, worn ball cap. He had a confused look on his face, but when the girl leaned over and whispered something in his ear, his eyes lit up in understanding. 

The man you were clinging to rubbed your hip bone gently with his thumb. The sensation sent sparks across the entire surface of your skin. You wondered if he even realized he was doing it.  

You’d seen him at the bar earlier and had gotten a good, gut feeling about his demeanor. He seemed genuine and kind– even though you’d only managed about a two minute conversation with him before the man who’d been following you around all night came back. It wasn’t until after you darted off that you realized you should have just explained what was going on right then and there. 

You’d realized he was handsome earlier, but this was the first time you’d gotten a good look at him up close, now that your nerves had calmed down and you felt like you were able to breathe again. You wanted to give yourself a pat on the back, because it seemed like you’d chosen the best looking man in the entire bar, if not world, to be your pretend boyfriend. He had distinct features– a strong jaw, tanned skin, and eyes so green, it made you feel like spring was blooming. His brows were furrowed into a firm line as he scoured the bar nonchalantly, looking for the man who had led you to him. You felt grateful that this complete stranger cared enough to help you out.  

“That him?” he asked, nodding in the direction he wanted you to look. 

You turned your head and watched in dismay as the creepy man from earlier approached. 

“Shit– yes.”

“I got ya, don’t worry,” he murmured gently. “Can I help you?” he asked, turning once the man was within earshot. 

He stopped in his tracks, eyes glued to you. “I was jus’ lookin’ for her,” the man said, words slurring together. 

“And what use do you have for my girlfriend?” he challenged, grip around your waist tightening. 

“Sorry man– she didn’t tell me she had a boyfriend.”

“But she did tell you to leave her alone, right?”

“Yeah, jus’ thought she was playin’ hard to get. You know how these girls can be–”

“No, I don’t actually,” Tyler said. “I think if she said leave her alone… you should probably leave her alone.”

The man put his hands up in surrender. “Easy man, I didn’t mean any harm by it. Like I said, I didn’t realize she was taken.”

“I don’t think you’re getting it–” Tyler said, standing up from his chair to face the man. You were surprised by how cold you felt without his hand around your waist. 

“You don’t get to just choose to respect her now that you know she has a boyfriend.” 

“You tryin’ to start something here, man?” The guy narrowed his beady eyes. 

“Why? You offerin?” Tyler took another step forward, anger surging in his chest faster than he anticipated.  

“Might be,” the man said, meeting Tyler halfway. The two were face to face now– things were escalating. 

But before things could get out of hand, the guy from behind the pool table hurried over. “Easy, T–” he placed a hand on his shoulder before facing the guy. “Why don’t you just back off, man? Get outta here.”

“Yeah, c’mon–” two more people from his group stepped forward. Like a small army, you thought. All stepping up to protect you– a total stranger. 

There was a brief moment where the man studied the scene before him. Then, like he realized that taking on the four people defending you was a bad idea, he backed off. 

“Whatever, she’s not worth it anyway,” he said, throwing you one, final nasty glare before turning and stalking off. 

You didn’t realize you’d been holding your breath until you saw him walk out the front door. Only when it snapped shut behind him were you able to exhale a shaky sigh.  

That guy’s been following me all night. I thought I could handle it, but then he got really mad when I wouldn’t let him give me a drink,” you said shakily. 

“What a creep,” one of them said. 

“Thank you so much–” you said, utterly relieved. Then, you introduced yourself to the table of people you’d abruptly intruded upon. 

“Don’t mention it, glad we could help. I’m Tyler.” 

The others had gathered around the table now and each introduced themselves as well. 

“You were right to trust your gut,” Dani said, offering you a reassuring nod. 

“Yeah, who knows what that creep might’ve stuck in your drink.”

You shivered at the thought. 

“Well, I guess I’m glad I crashed your table then,” you smiled, turning to Tyler. For more than one reason, you thought, taking in the sweet laughter lines around his eyes and full lips. You caught yourself staring and forcibly looked away. You weren’t even drunk, but Tyler made your head spin.  

“Anyways, I should go,” you said quickly. You had to remind yourself of the circumstances.  You’d practically mauled Tyler in front of his friends and forced him to get into a brawl in the middle of the bar. And no matter how breathtakingly attractive you found him, there was no denying the fact that this entire situation was awkward and uncomfortable. You cleared your throat. “I’m really sorry for intruding, thank you again.”  

Tyler was still entirely dumbstruck, even as you walked away. It was like his brain couldn’t keep up with whatever the hell just happened. He watched as you disappeared through the crowd of people. 

“Dude, what the hell are you doing?” Dani spoke up.  

“Huh?” Tyler turns towards them. 

“She was into you, Tyler.”

He wasn’t sure he heard them right. The bar was loud and Tyler’s mind wasn’t working properly tonight, thanks to you and whatever perfume you’d been wearing. 

Lilly nodded her head in agreement, “And if I had to guess by the drool on your chin, I’d say you were into her too.” 

Feeling a little ganged up on, Tyler just stares at his team in disbelief. “I don’t– I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Boone shook his head and chuckled as he walked back towards the pool table. “Man, I have never– in our entire ten years of friendship, seen a girl leave Tyler Owens speechless– this one might be special folks,” Boone chuckled. 

“Go after her, you dummy,” Lilly said. 

“And do what?” Tyler asked. 

Dani scoffed, “Talk to her– invite her back to the table– literally anything but let her just walk away, you idiot.”

Slightly offended, but more motivated, Tyler stood up from the table and finally took the last sip of his beer. It was warm, but he used it as a final attempt at some liquid courage, before striding off after you. The crowd of people was thick, but he was confident that no matter where you were, you’d stand out.  

Sure enough, he spotted you across the bar. You had left your glass on the counter and were currently shifting through your bag, looking for something. Tyler took a deep breath before walking over.  

He called your name, which he was proud to now know, causing you to look up from your things.  

“Tyler, hey,” you said, unable to hide the surprised smile that crept across your face.  

“So that was pretty weird, huh–” Tyler tried to swallow the lump in his throat, but all he did was realize how dry his mouth was. 

You bit your lip, “Yeah, I’m really sorry about that. I didn’t mean to make it weird– I just– I was scared. He was so creepy, and you just looked like you’d make a good fake date…” 

Oh my god, what were you saying? You were rambling, like you always did when you were nervous. You took another sip of your drink, wishing it was something stronger. 

But a smirk crept up on Tyler’s face, like he could tell you were floundering. 

“Oh yeah?” His voice was playful. “And how do you think I’d be as a real date?”

Butterflies ran rampant in your stomach as you clenched down on your jaw, trying to play it cool. But it was hard to remain casual when you were pretty sure Tyler was asking you out. 

Your voice was hitched slightly higher than normal when you responded, “I think I’d like to find out sometime.”

Tyler flashed his white teeth in a stunning smile before nodding back towards the table he’d just come from. “How about we start now? I got a hankering for some wings, what do you say I get us a plate to share?”

With no hesitation, you reached for his outstretched hand. 

“Should we eat before or after I kick your ass at pool?” you smiled sweetly. 

[fabricated-misslieness]

ᴘᴀɪʀɪɴɢ: tyler owens x gn reader

ᴡᴏʀᴅ ᴄᴏᴜɴᴛ: 2.39k | part 2

ᴡᴀʀɴɪɴɢꜱ: not communicating and not talking about your feelings (not miscommunication since you don't even communicate)

☾⋆☆⋆☽

There's too many beds.

The one night where you guys don't manage to make it to a motel, there's too many damn beds.

The camper van can fit pretty much all of you at once, not that the seven of you will do that anyway. Dani and Dexter have claim on it, as the drivers, and will probably accept two more comfortably.

In Lilly's van there's the backseat and the floor, but if we're counting, for how many beds there are by technicality, the two front seats as well.

You always have tents and sleeping bags around too, just in case you guys can't drive everyone from any recently unfortunate communities to the nearest hotel (although you'd certainly try). To give a rough estimate, about a dozen tents?

Then there's Tyler's truck, the two front seats and the back seat, and the truck bed. It's a bit short, but it can fit plenty people curled up.

So what to choose?

You should probably stay in a car. Much more heat that way, but who's gonna take you in? The designated drivers obviously prefer their own cars, so... Dexter's campervan is pretty spacious? Then again, so's Lilly's, and to be honest she's more of a vibe than the other two, but also why would you need vibes if you're just sleeping?

Maybe you should start a fire, huddle around that? No, that's a hazard, nevermind the fact you only know how to start a fire in theory.

Let's stick to a car, then. Lilly or Dex & Dan for space... Lilly, sure, why not?

As you start heading over to Lilly's van, you hear a sharp whistle. You don't have time to wonder who it's from, as Tyler spins you around.

"You're coming with me." He proclaims, taking you by the shoulders, and you can only laugh.

"Why me?"

Tyler grins, walking you unceremoniously towards his truck bed. "Because you're you, dove." That alone sounds rather intimate, so he fixes his mistake quickly. You're just friends, after all. "And Boone kicks people in his sleep, Lilly's hair gets everywhere, Dani steals the blankets, Dexter snores, and Ben...it's pitiful how he squeezes himself into the corner whenever he's sleeping next to someone, so we always give him his own space."

Right, all good points you'd forgotten.

"So why exactly am I better?" You tease, stopping in your tracks so Tyler bumps into your back and stay close.

"You're warm." And at first it seems like that's the only thing he'll say, your only benefit, as he pauses; but then the rest comes spilling out like a toad strangler. "You're also soft, you don't steal the blanket, you don't complain when I suddenly start talking and you don't snore."

Tyler doesn't mention that the two of you cuddle when you bunk together, and that you bunk together often. He doesn't mention how tonight he'll let you cuddle up on his chest, or perhaps how he'll press his nose against yours and let you play with his hair, because simply mentioning it will mean you'll have to talk about it.

You don't want to talk about, you think; and neither does he. You don't want to talk about how there's something different with the way he slings his arm around your shoulder, or the way you knock your head against his, or how he always gives out your share of whatever (pizza, cookies, etc.) before anyone else, or how you always offer your help to him no matter what.

They're always easy things to ignore, his skinship is not conditional and neither is your kindness, but there's something about the way you look into his eyes when you say thank you, and something about the way his touch lingers.

You don't want to put your finger on it, at least not this season. You'll say it again the next season, and the next, but you ignore that.

"So then I'm your favorite person?" You turn around and bonk your fist against his chest.

He whistles again, drawn-out like he does in awkward moments, but you know it's only playful. "Don't push your luck, dove. You're like... top 5!"

"Top 5? Aww," You feign offense, plopping your hand over your own chest now, "I didn't make it to top 3?"

He splays out his hand and begins to count on his fingers. "There's my mom, then my dad, then the family dog, Liam from the rodeo, and then you."

"The family dog?" Your eyebrows furrow, and the acting seems a bit too real until the look on your face gives away to a memory of his dog giving you kisses. "Oh, yeah, okay. I get it."

"See? You get it." Tyler chuckles, spins you back around and keeps on walking.

The spot you guys picked today is drier than the last, which is something you're thankful for. It's quite far from any town, but the streetlights that adorn the far off road make you feel a bit safer that civilization is just around the corner. There's a light breeze, not too cold and not too fast, and the stars! Oh, the stars.

They're damn nice out here cause they're actually visible tonight, a little less light pollution, you think. It's certainly a lot brighter than, say, NYC or Washington.

"Ain't they pretty today?" Tyler comments, his hands on your shoulders squeezing.

"Yeah. Sparkly too. You know any constellations?"

"No," He hums, his voice holding a bit of lament. "I tried, once. I tried taking a class in college. Astrology."

"How'd that go?" You ask offhandedly, hopping onto the bed of the truck.

"Ended up being too stressed with my main curriculum and dropped the class before it got too far." He fixes a tarp over the top of the truck bed, over the exoskeleton, so not much light will shine over your eyes when you try to sleep.

"The smart Tyler Owens got too stressed?" You ask as you help him up.

"Being smart doesn't mean I have good time management." Tyler says as he sits next to you, and you shrug. Suppose he's right.

"Still pretty though." You hum, leaning your head against his shoulder as you look up.

"Yeah." He agrees. His arm comes to wrap around you naturally, running up and down your side. "Have you ever tried to come up with constellations with... I don't know, whoever you were looking at the sky with?"

"You know what? I don't think so." You raise a finger, tracing a path in the stars for a moment, trying to find something interesting.

He finds one before you, pointing at a group of stars in a weird glob shape. "There, a cloud!"

That alone gets you to let out an ugly, surprised laugh; despite how ugly you might've thought it to be, he thinks it's cute. "You trynna cloudgaze with stars, cowboy?"

"Shut up." He laughs, knocking his head against yours. "You try, genius."

After a couple seconds, you point out a distinct...cone shape in the sky. "Unicorn horn."

"Unicorn horn?"

"What am I supposed to say, cone?"

"You could've said ice cream cone, a little more age appropriate, you know?" He holds out his hand, holding out a small gap between his index and thumb fingers to accentuate little.

"Yeah, well it has no ice cream, dumbass."

"Woah," Tyler withdraws, raising his hands in surrender. "no need to get so defensive, dove."

You slap his hands only to draw them back around you. He has no complaints about that. "Clearly we both suck at this. Let's just admire the stars normally."

He huffs out a laugh but turns his gaze back to the night sky without complaint. It's rather peaceful, this moment, and so nice. Maybe it's not rare that you get comfortably quiet moments with him, nor is it ever rare for Tyler to hold you close like this, but it doesn't make it any less endearing.

"Look!" Tyler breaks the silence suddenly, finger tracing a path in the stars. "A heart."

"You're kidding." You huff out. He's just playing with you, he has to be, especially after your miserable attempts at finding shapes in the sky.

Despite yourself, your eyes will the stars above you into the shape of a heart. Goddamnit, you think, because it's definitely a sign.

"I'm going to sleep." You tear yourself away from his grip and he laughs and tries to steal you back to him, but you fight briefly and end up winning. It's a nice victory, especially because you won over him, but it's not on par with actually finding something in the sky (and you're avoiding the sign).

Tyler chases after you, flopping down beside you. The tarp above casts darkness over the back of the truck bed, but a soft glow still shines through.

You sigh and tuck a hair of Tyler's behind his ear, to which he only laughs. "Jealous, much?"

"Oh, totally." You'd roll your eyes, but they're stuck on his.

"I won." He's triumphant, but you can only focus on how pretty his smile looks.

"You did." You reply, not fighting him on it, and slowly his amusement fades away with the deflation of his body.

"You're not making this fun." Tyler steals your hand, presses the back of it to his lips and notably does not pucker up and kiss. It might be payback, or it might be avoiding the obvious intimacy that kissing you is.

"It wasn't a competition, anyway." You remind him, and he rolls his eyes.

His attitude eventually exudes out of him with a sigh, and he lets go of your hand to push closer. His head rests below your chin, his nose against your neck, and it's not new, but it's not old either.

"I'm sick n' tired of you." He huffs against your neck as you take the opportunity to tuck the both of you in.

You hold back a laugh. "Oh, yeah? Tell me why."

His voice is muffled against your neck, and maybe the vibrations tickle, but you don't dare move away. "I won! We should be celebrating that."

"Celebrate it in your dreams." Despite it being practically the same thing as in your dreams, it actually sounds quite genuine.

"Don't be like that," Tyler whines. "let me stay up for a little while."

You put your hand in his hair, then, twirling strands around your fingers and scratching his scalp, and Tyler hates you and also loves you, because it feels so good that it pulls a groan out of him, but it's lulling him to sleep.

"You're cheating." He whines again. He's being rather childish, huh?

"It's way past your bedtime." You say in a sing-songy way. Curiosity takes over, and you pull his head away from you gently to look into his eyes.

They open once you pull him off you, just barely. Half-lidded, not by lust, but by sleep. "I just wanna hold you for a little while longer." He says, and you don't know how he does it, but his eyes have turned pleading.

"That's on you to try, cowboy." You huddle close again, allowing him to take up the same position as before.

Despite himself, Tyler sighs contently, wrapping his arms around your midriff. One of your hands is on his back, rubbing slow circles, and the other is back on his hair.

He's definitely not going to last long now.

"When's the last time you've ridden a horse?" Tyler babbles on to try to keep awake, but you can hear the sleepy lilt in his voice. "I think my last time was when I last visited home, before the season started."

"One sheep over the fence, two sheep over the fence–"

"Shuddup."

You laugh, hands smoothing over his hair again. You're not sure how you're not very sleepy right now, tucked under the blankets, in his warm hold. Maybe it's the subconscious thought of not accidentally hitting your head on the spare wheel above you, or the faraway feel of the ridges of the truck bed below you.

Or maybe it's wanting to tease him.

"Kiss me."

"What?"

You've kissed before, little playful things: cheek kisses for the camera, neck kisses to either scare you or tickle you, forehead kisses after particularly dangerous scares, hand kisses when he's trying to act all gentlemanly, temple kisses after hugs. You've never kissed him on the lips before, and actually, neither of you have ever explicitly asked for a kiss. They've always been given without question.

"Please?" He asks again, pulling back so that his forehead is off your neck.

Oh, he only wanted a forehead kiss.

You oblige happily, press your lips against his forehead and let out and exaggerated muah!

"No, not there." He pulls away almost entirely, scooting up to be face to face.

You'd laugh, if what he was asking you for wasn't a kiss on the lips. You can't lie, you've thought about it before, when the sun shines a particular way over his face at sunset, or when he's considerably too hot to ignore.

...you're going to have to talk about this tomorrow.

Except tomorrow is not today yet, and so you cup his cheek. You debate it for a moment, a yes or a no, but there's one answer clear in your mind, a yes.

You press your lips against his, and it's more subtle than that forehead kiss, and it feels so much more tangible, in a way. His lips move against yours, a languid thing, a soft thing.

You wonder if he's going to remember this tomorrow, if being as sleepy as this is equivalent to being drunk.

"Thank you." Tyler says as you part, and he settles back where he was, head against your neck. He seems satisfied now, willing to nod off.

"Don't mention it." You say automatically.

Okay you're definitely going to have to talk about this tomorrow. For now, though, you'll just hold him. It's a strange thing to say, but he's always been rather nice to hold, a big man to fill your entire hug, even if he does make your heartbeat spike.

"Goodnight." He says.

"Sweet dreams." You reply.

There's nothing else to think about but the feeling of him in your arms and the warmth of his body as your eyes draw closed.

[sturniololuvz]

Omg. Can we get another one with their diabetic sister? Her blood sugar goes crazy high (like 400+) and she is feeling like shit? Headache, nauseous, irritated. They take care of her and make sure that her pump is working properly.

yess! i actually love these !

⸻

“Riding It Out”

You weren’t sure when it started—probably sometime after lunch—but now your head is pounding, your stomach is twisting, and your eyes are heavy despite the overhead lights in the living room. Your limbs feel heavy. Your chest is tight. And the worst part is you know exactly what it is.

Your Dexcom beeps quietly from underneath your hoodie. High. Rising. The little triangle on the screen mocks you. 397.

You’re curled up at the far end of the couch, hoodie sleeves tugged over your hands, knees pulled to your chest. Matt’s editing on his laptop across from you, Chris is pacing the kitchen on the phone, and Nick is half-asleep with a blanket draped over his head and only one sock on. You don’t want to say anything. You hate interrupting. You hate feeling needy.

You hate this part of diabetes the most.

Your mouth tastes metallic. You blink hard, trying to clear the fog. The Dexcom buzzes again—this time louder—and you press it against your stomach through your sweatshirt to muffle it.

“Yo.” Matt’s voice breaks through the haze. “You good?”

You nod quickly, too quickly, and immediately regret it as the motion makes your head spin. “Yeah,” you whisper. “Just tired.”

He watches you for a second longer than usual.

You look away.

You don’t even notice how pale you’ve gotten. Your lips are dry. Your legs ache. You adjust the waistband of your sweatpants, suddenly way too warm, and the effort alone makes you feel winded.

The Dexcom buzzes again.

This time, all three boys look over.

“Okay, that’s the third time it’s gone off,” Chris says, stepping into the living room. “What’s it at?”

You shake your head. “It’s fine.”

Nick, now fully sitting up, raises an eyebrow. “Can we see it?”

“No.”

“Why not?” Matt’s voice softens as he sits up straighter. “Is it high?”

You swallow, but your mouth’s too dry. “Just a little.”

Chris is already walking over. “A little high for you is, like… 270. Which means it’s probably not a little.”

You don’t respond. You’re staring at the rug now, vision slightly spinning.

“Come here,” Matt says gently, crouching down in front of you. “Let me see your Dex.”

You want to tell him no again. You want to say you’ve got it. But instead you try to stand to go get some water—and the room sways hard. Your knees buckle. The next thing you know, you’re sitting back on the couch, having collapsed onto the cushion with a gasp.

“Whoa—whoa, hey!” Matt catches your shoulder before you can tip again. “Okay. That’s it.”

“Jesus, she’s clammy,” Chris mutters, pressing his hand lightly to your forehead. “You look like you’re gonna pass out.”

You finally admit it. “It’s four-something.”

Nick’s already grabbing the glucose monitor and a water bottle from the kitchen. “Like 400?”

“Like 412,” you say quietly.

Matt takes your Dexcom gently from under your hoodie. “Okay. It’s still rising.”

“I feel like crap,” you whisper, voice starting to shake. “My head’s killing me. I’m nauseous. And—” Your chest tightens. “I think my sensor’s off. It’s been burning.”

Chris crouches in front of you, voice calm. “Okay. That means we need to change it. New site, new reading. You can do this, alright?”

You don’t want to. You’re scared it’s gonna hurt. You’re overwhelmed and irritable and nauseous and your head feels too heavy to hold up. But you nod, because you trust them. You always have.

Nick’s already bringing over a fresh Dexcom, alcohol wipes, and the adhesive remover. You notice he also grabbed your stuffed bear—the one you pretend you don’t need anymore but secretly keep in your drawer.

Matt sits down beside you on the couch and gently guides your legs into his lap so you’re lying across him. “Just breathe, okay? I’ve got you.”

You lean your head on his shoulder, eyes glassy now. “I hate this.”

“I know,” he says softly, smoothing your hair down. “But you’re not alone.”

Chris peels off the old Dex carefully while Nick holds your hand. The adhesive rips against your raw skin and you hiss, tears prickling at your eyes.

“Almost done, okay?” Chris says. “Then we’ll clean it and put the new one in.”

You nod, lips trembling.

Matt squeezes your hand.

The new Dexcom clicks into place. You wince again, tears sliding quietly down your cheeks.

“Okay, baby,” Nick whispers, brushing them away. “It’s on. New sensor’s warming up. You did it.”

You don’t even care about the tears now. Your head still hurts. The nausea’s still there. But your brothers are close and warm and careful, and that makes it a little easier to ride out.

Matt adjusts your hoodie back down and hugs you close. “Proud of you,” he says.

Chris nods. “Now we wait for it to calibrate, and once your sugar starts dropping, you’ll feel better.”

You nod into Matt’s chest, whispering, “Can someone stay with me?”

“You’re stuck with all three of us now,” Nick jokes softly. “Nice try.”

Matt grabs a blanket and drapes it over you while you lie across his lap. Nick’s curled up on the other side of the couch with your legs across both of them. Chris is on the floor with a pillow, leaned against your knees, watching the monitor like a hawk.

You still feel like hell. But you’re safe. And that makes all the difference.

⸻

[methylholicbm]

CHAPTER 4 | FIXATION | BRIAN MOSER

Description: Debra’s grinning... It's abnormal. When she invites you to meet her mysterious new boyfriend, Rudy, you expect awkward drinks and small talk. What you don’t expect is how drawn you are to him. Rudy’s charming, attentive… disarmingly perfect. But perfection always has a price. And when he lets a single word slip—angel—you start to wonder who exactly it was meant for. Word Count: 1.7k

༺♱༻

The precinct has been busy all morning—phones buzzing, papers shuffling, cops grumbling. Apparently, they’ve caught the Ice Truck Killer, but none of that registers. Not when Debra is smiling. Not the polite kind either. The real kind. The kind that’s wide and bright and genuinely reached her eyes.

Something’s up.

She practically bumps into me as she turns the corner outside the locker room, hair bouncing, and giddy with excitement.

“Hey,” she says. I know this voice; it’s her asking-me-to-do-something-I-don’t-want-to voice. “What are you doing tonight?”

I blink. “Why?”

She grins wider. “Okay, better one—how do you feel about playing the bestie role for real today?”

I raise a brow. “Sounds like a trap. Wait, are we not already best friends?”

“It’s not, and no, give it another two weeks.” Then suddenly she leans in like she’s avoiding anyone hearing us talk. “I’ve been seeing someone. Not seeing, seeing. But like... seeing. You know?”

I nod slowly, lips twitching. “Since when?”

“A couple weeks. But I didn’t wanna jinx it.” She bobs on her heels. “But now I’m ready. And I need you to meet him. First.”

I stop. “Not Dexter?”

Her face falters just for a second, then is quickly overshadowed by excitement. “Dexter’s busy with… whatever weird shit he does in that blood lab. And anyway, you’re more normal than he is. Mostly. Plus, I need an honest opinion, someone who won’t lie for my sake.”

Something in her voice doesn’t sit right. It’s casual—but laced with something.

Nervousness.

I pretend not to notice.

“What’s his name?”

“Rudy.”

“Rudy…. okay. “Fine,” I say. “But you owe me food and drinks afterward.”

She claps her hands together, triumphant. “Done. You’re gonna love him. He’s sweet. Charming. Super smart. Dexter’ll probably hate him.” She laughs, and I nod along. “I’ll send you the address after work.” Then she gets up and nearly skips over to her work desk.

I subconsciously smile for her, then turn my attention back to the files I came to collect. I slightly turn my eyes up to peer through the door ahead of me; it’s slightly ajar, and I faintly make out the shape of someone inside. It’s Dexter’s lab area. He’s hunched over his computer, typing whos and whats. I look at him a little longer than I should, and the next thing I know, he makes direct eye contact with me and quickly averts his eyes. “I’m not gonna bite Dex. You can’t avoid every form of contact, you know.” I stride over to his door.

“Says who?” He says to me, fake smiling.

“Says me,” I pick up one of the blood vials on his desk, observing it. “Your sister is having me meet her boyfriend… seems like something she’d ask you to do.” Dex doesn’t look up at me, though; instead, he reaches for the vial from what he assumes is my hand and grabs my wrist instead. Not rough but not gentle either. He looks up and looks a little lost in thought when I offer the vial back to him. I take that as my cue to leave the room.

A short while later, I’m pulling up outside of the restaurant Deb gave me the address to. I’m wearing one of the outfits she gave me—a deep brown halter dress that clings to my waist and flares at the bottom. It’s soft, vintage, probably something she bought on impulse and never wore. A pearl-beaded necklace with a silver heart sits heavy at my chest, and a stack of gold bangles—thick, mismatched, loud—clinks against my wrist every time I move.

My purse is black leather; it’s a bit chunky, but it balances the rest of the look. My shoes are denim heels, probably from some expensive brand, but I wouldn’t know the difference. They’ve got little silver hearts hanging from them too. Even if I’m not confident in how I look, at least it looks like I am. I brush my bangs out of my face when I walk up to the door, and I see her laughing at a small raised table. Dark brown hair pulled back, hands gesturing wildly as she talks to a man whose back is turned.

I’m mentally rehearsing my smile and tone before I even get through the door and reach the table. Deb spots me, and her face practically beams. She beckons me over frantically, and the man she’s talking to turns his head over his shoulder. Something in my body feels odd. I try and push it down when I’m at the table, but it grows wilder by the second. “Y/N, this is my boyfriend, Rudy.”

He stands as I approach, polite, a little bashful even. Handsome in that crisp, unfussy way—dark shirt, clean jawline, eyes that crinkle when he smiles, and dark eyes.

“Rudy Cooper, or Captain Hook,” he says, offering his hand. His grip is warm, not too firm; in fact, it’s perfect against mine, like he’s felt them before. “Deb’s told me all about you. Honestly, I was getting a little jealous.”

I laugh. “Should I be flattered or concerned?”

“Definitely flattered.” His voice is smooth but dripping in charisma. Something about him is deeply present. “You’re more… flamboyant than she described.” He says, eyes wavering over my outfit.

He says it lightly, without hesitation. I glance at Deb, who rolls her eyes and takes a long sip from her drink. “Yeah, well, it’s all thanks to her. Slowly bringing me out of my inner shell and whatnot.” I say, easing into the seat across from them.

We talk, the three of us, making small talk and conversation about food, Miami, and work. He’s talkative but not too much; his words come out exactly how he thinks them. Controlled, trained. It’s annoying, maybe not to Deb, but to me. She starts telling a story of how they got together, and he leans toward her, lips brushing against her ear fondly. “You’re lucky you’re cute,” he says, loud enough for me to hear.

“You just noticed?” She says flirtatiously, there's a sarcastic undertone to it, but it doesn’t get past them making love eyes at each other. This third-wheeling shit sucks. I see why Dex said no.

“I guess I just have a thing for angel faces.” I snapped out of my thoughts when I heard him. He says it clearly; his tone never changes. It’s not as if it’s strange to say, Debra is beautiful and has soft features. He says it easily, like he’s said it a thousand times. But it’s off for me. He asks me a question about my work, but I don’t hear him.

“I’m gonna go to the bathroom for a second.” I excuse myself from the table and begin to pace to the restrooms. I faintly hear Deb’s voice and then the sound of heels following behind me. Once inside the bathroom, I put my purse on the sink, and Deb quietly pushes the door closed, standing next to me.

“Are you okay? What was going on back there?” She says, placing a hand on my back.

“Nothing, everything is fine. I’m just a little shaken up from things at work, you know. Blood gets to a girl sometimes.” I joke, but she isn’t laughing.

“Is that all?” Her eyes search mine.

“Yes, Deb, I’m cool.” I hug her, not because I need it, but maybe that's the type of reassurance women give each other. Debra pulls away and smiles at me, then she walks out of the bathroom. I look in the mirror, my lips stained black and red from liner and lipstick, mascara and eyeliner sleek, untouched. I never see myself like this.

Perhaps it was just a coincidence. I should be enjoying myself since I hardly ever go out. I brush off the Angel comment and take a few deep breaths before resetting my composure and walking out the door.

I reach the table, and Debra isn’t there, just Rudy. “Where'd Deb go?” I ask as I sit in the seat.

“She just stepped out for a smoke,” Rudy says, gesturing lazily with his glass. He’s relaxed in his seat now, one arm draped over the back of Debra’s chair. “Said she’d be right back.”

I nod, sliding back into my seat. My fingers toy with the condensation on my water glass, but I keep my eyes on him. He looks… at ease. He appears to be too relaxed. Still, I tell myself to let it go. Don’t overthink. Don’t ruin this for her.

“She’s crazy about you, you know,” I say, voice light but testing.

Rudy smiles, not bashfully this time; instead, there's something more knowing. “Yeah,” he says. “It’s mutual.” The table goes quiet for a moment. I glance out the window, then back to him; he’s not looking at me but instead at his surroundings. I take the time to look at him. His features are sculpted in a model-type way. His shirt sleeves are rolled to the elbows, exposing his forearms; they’re strong but not bulky, like he could easily lift something heavy if he wasn’t trying to be subtle about his strength. His hands are clean and deliberate. He catches me staring, smirks, and then, as Debra walks in and he looks toward the door, the tendons flex just enough to draw my attention.

He leans back slightly in his chair, and the stretch of his shirt across his chest makes me choke on the margarita I’m sipping. I clear my throat and try to play it off, but my thighs shift subtly under the table involuntarily. I scold myself internally, but it’s too late. I’m already curious. Not just about who he is, but what he feels like.

Debra leans into Rudy, whispering something that makes him laugh. I watch the way his hand drapes over her knee, as if it were just routine for them at this point in their relationship.

I should be happy for her.

By the time we part ways outside, she’s ecstatic and flashes a smile at me, and for a moment, I feel like the worst person in the world for letting her. Rudy is every bit the gentleman Deb promised he’d be, and I’m… conflicted. Caught between my friendship with Deb and the walking danger she brought to dinner. Not to mention how he’d made me feel. The night air presses in around me as I walk back to my car, heels clicking against the pavement, the buzz of streetlights overhead. It should’ve been a lovely evening.

All that’s in the back of my head is that stupid fucking word.

And how, for a split second, it felt like it wasn’t meant for Debra.

It was meant for me.

༺♱༻

✦ ⛧ Masterlist ⛧ ✦

[cyberdragoninfinity]

I would love to hear your thoughts about the fucked-up turtle (Terapagos)

"Now let's talk about the turtle. Can we talk about the turtle please, Mac? I've been dying to talk about the turtle with you all day."

Ok so. Short Answer Re: Thoughts About Terapagos:

WHAT THE FUCK. WHAT THE FUCK. WHAT THE FUCK. WHY DID IT DO THAT. WHY DID THEY [GAMEFREAK] DO THAT.

Long Answer Re: Thoughts About Terapagos [SPOILERS FOR THE SCARVIO DLC naturally. i havent seen Horizons so i dont rly know whats goin on with this little guy in the anime, just what we've got in the games]:

When the last little batch of new Pokemon in Indigo Disk leaked, about 12 hours or so-ish before the DLC dropped, I was at dinner with my bestie and we were looking at our phones like we were reading breaking world news. And I was looking at this tiny ass png of Terapagos's full Tera (Stellar) form.

And I immediately blurted out "holy SHIT it's turtles all the way down."

If you're not familiar with the phrase, check out its wikipedia page; here it's most relevant as a saying thrown around with regards to the philosophical concept of infinite regress, i.e. a series of elements (or questions begging an explanation) that that goes on infinitely with each member producing the next. So let's say the world rests on the back of a giant turtle--well, then, what does that turtle stand on to keep it from falling into the void? Why, another, bigger turtle, of course! But what about that turtle? Well, you're not gonna believe this, but it's turtles all the way down.

And here's the other thing about infinite regress: it's a logical fallacy, it's circular reasoning--honestly it's a little bit of a cousin to the "which came first?" chicken and egg argument. The question in these cases never truly gets answered, it just goes on and on forever. Bigger turtles on top of even bigger turtles.

It's a paradox. :)

So Stellar Terapagos, just look at that thing. Even its dex entries talk about how it looks like a planet, how it resembles "the world as the ancients saw it"--it's very much not only trying to evoke the World Turtle concept, but the symbolism of a classic paradoxical saying. So we've already got that going on with it, that already makes me bonkers. AND THAT'S JUST THE SURFACE LEVEL.

Cuz when we look at how Terapagos behaves, things start to go from "well isnt this guy a little weird" to "oh. oh this thing is kind of fucked up and terrifying, hello, what the hell is wrong with it" REAL FAST. Its two most stressed features we see in Indigo Disk are A.) its crystalline nature and how its the progenitor of Terastalization, but also B.) it is ferociously powerful and borderline uncontrollable. It's violent. It bursts out of a Master Ball and almost kills Kieran for daring to try and control it. Heath's illustration of its Stellar form in the Scarlet/Violet Book looks so otherworldly and almost cosmically horrifying. It has Weird Fucking Powers the game does NOT elaborate on (but I will; see more below.)

And also, hey, yeah, its Stellar Form looks like a stack of world turtles, but why the FUCK does its Terastal form also look like a goddamn dream catcher.

Personally I've been a big fan of the 'imagination theory' re: the Professors and the Paradox Pokemon and Area Zero, and folks have been arguing that Indigo Disk debunks that, but honestly I feel like we're loitering around some untold explanation that's even more bizarre. Terapagos is at least on some level tied to dreams and existentialism, and I really feel like there's more to Tera Crystals and Terapagos's relationship with them than what we've been told. Hell, its cry is even the noise we hear all game when we Terastalize our Pokemon, which produces its own myriad of questions (Are the Crystals some degree of alive? The Tera Crowns all do have Terapago's little turtle head at their base, too--does Terapagos physically or spiritually connect with a Terastalizing Pokemon? And what about that weird crystalizing the AI Professor does during its big boss fight? MUCH TO THINK ABOUT.)

Oh, speaking of Crystals--yeah. I can't NOT talk about the Indigo Disk Crystal Pool Postgame Secret when talking about Terapagos. ONE MORE SPOILER WARNING FOR THAT--SERIOUSLY GO TO THE CRYSTAL POOL AFTER GETTING THE DLC CREDITS. IT WILL BLAST YOU TO BITS. anyway.

Yeah so that's what I mean with Why Did It [Terapagos] Do That. The fact that you dont even need to have it in your party for the postgame Crystal Pool cutscene to trigger and for Terapagos to just pop out of the PC boxes on its own accord and warp space and time (and maybe even reality itself) to irreversible consequence, implying once again some great and uncontrollable power within this beast. Crazy Ass Moments in Pokemon History for CERTAIN.

And the thing that makes me most insane, thinking about Terapagos twisting time to allow you to meet the Professor, the Real Live Professor, to swap notes with them so to speak, the way it facilitates all of that, is the position it now puts the player and Scarvio itself in. If the Professor's research rests on the back of a white book given to them by a child, then what does the research of that white book rest upon? Ah, well, the expedition of Area Zero spurred forth by the fallout of the Professor's research. And what did THAT research rest upon, again...?

Turtles. The whole way down. Chickens and eggs and a paradox you're now responsible for. At the hands of a Normal Type Pokemon that tried to kill a 14 year old.

Terapagos scares the shit out of me. I love it so much. Why Did They Make It Like That <3

[ghostofskywalker]

Life Day Wishes

Hunter/Fem!Reader

Words: 4,478

Summary: [Modern/Neighbors AU] You had long since become a true member of Hunter's family, even if it took him over five years to actually admit to you how he feels.

Prompts: gift exchange || "i hope you know how much i love you" (which was slightly modified to fit the fic - i hope that's okay!)

Note: this is one of my contributions to the @cloneficgiftexchange life day exchange, which i ran! i was so excited to receive @captainpains as my giftee, and i wanted to write something silly, fluffy, and fun for you :) hope you enjoy!

Clone Troopers Masterlist

Holiday advertisements were playing on practically every channel as you flipped through the stations on the TV, different snippets of Life Day music being cut short with each press of the remote. It’s not that you were tired of the holidays or that you disliked them, but right now everything was a constant reminder of the fact that you wouldn’t have anyone to spend them with this year. Your sister and her family would be spending the holidays at a soccer tournament for your nephew, so you didn’t really envy her, but it still meant that you would be spending Life Day completely alone for the first time. 

An infomercial for a fancy kind of chiller was lighting up the screen as you turned back to check on Omega. Hunched over the kitchen table with homework spread out in front of you, she was hard at work. You worked at the school she attended (though you didn’t usually see her at all during the day), so you drove her home in the afternoons and made sure she didn’t accidentally set the house on fire until her dad got home from work. 

“You almost done over there?” you asked, a smile on your face. This evening, Hunter had told you that he would be home a little later than usual, so you had a small surprise for Omega. 

“Just two more math problems!” she called back, still focused intently on the papers in front of her. “I already did my social studies homework.” 

You hummed in response as you turned your attention back to the TV, not wanting to bother her while she was still working. Despite the fact that it was a Friday and she technically didn’t have to finish everything, you had heard stories in the past of forgotten projects and her rushing to get everything done before bed on Sunday night, which you weren’t looking to facilitate. 

A few moments later though, you were getting up from Hunter’s (incredibly comfortable) armchair and pulling a folder out of your bag. “Since it’s gonna be us this evening, I thought we could order a pizza and then make some Life Day cookies,” you said, watching Omega’s face light up at the idea. 

“Yes!” Omega said, running over and throwing her arms around you as you pulled out a cookie recipe. “Can we get the tooka shaped pizza from Dex’s?” 

“Of course!” You said, returning her hug. You knew that Hunter tried his best to be there for her, but the fact that he was a single dad certainly made things a little more difficult. He had confided in you that he picked up some overtime to make sure he could get the best Life Day gifts for Omega, but she didn’t know that, and you could tell she was probably feeling a little sad that she didn’t see him as much.

A little while later, after the two of you were done tearing into your adorably shaped dinner, ingredients for cookies were being removed from cabinets as you asked Omega about her plans for Life Day. 

“My uncles are going to come over and we’ll have a big dinner,” she said. “I think next weekend my dad and I are going to put up the decorations.” 

“That’s great,” you said. “Do you know what you’re going to get your dad and uncles yet?” 

Omega shook her head. “I don’t, and I don’t think the holiday market at school will have things they’d want.” 

You laughed; she was certainly right about that statement. The school holiday market, which was great for getting kids used to handling money and making a budget based on how many people they had to buy gifts for, was not the best place to look for meaningful presents. “I’m sure your dad and uncles would appreciate anything, as long as it came from you.” 

You weren’t lying about that. Living next door to Hunter and Omega for the past five years meant that you were also close with her uncles and even some of her extended family, and many a summer night had been spent sitting around the fire pit in their backyard, drinking with Hunter and his brothers as Omega hung out with her friends on the swingset. You knew for a fact that even if she handed them a pile of painted bantha shit, Tech, Wrecker, Echo, and even Crosshair would smile and pretend she had gifted them a priceless artifact. 

“I know,” she said, placing her measuring cup in the container of sugar and starting to scoop out what the recipe required. “But I still want to get them something nice.” 

“Why don’t you ask your dad to take you out shopping?” you asked. “He’s spent enough time with his brothers to help you pick something out.” 

Omega nodded. “That’s a good idea.” 

“And if you want, I can help you out when it comes to shopping for your dad,” you said. “I don’t even know what I’m going to get him anyway.” 

Your statement was not one you considered to be scandalous or abnormal, but Omega stopped what she was doing to stare incredulously in your direction. “Why are you getting my dad a gift?” 

The real answer was considerably more complicated, but you didn’t dare get into that with a middle schooler as you stood in the center of her kitchen. “Because we’re friends,” you said. “I got him and your uncles something last year, why would this year be any different?” 

“Oh,” was Omega’s response, and the way she latched onto your words certainly struck you as odd. There was no way she picked up on your feelings for her father, you had done so well hiding them from everyone (yourself included, since you didn’t even realize you liked Hunter until a little over a year ago). “I forgot how long we’ve known you.” 

“That’s okay, sometimes I do the same thing,” you said, a smile on your face. “You can make it up to me by telling me what your dad might want for Life Day though.” 

The young girl paused before speaking. “There is this caf machine he’s been looking at,” she said. “But I think it’s pretty expensive.” 

You nodded as Omega tried to remember the name of the machine, but it just wasn’t coming to her. “Don’t worry about it,” you said. “If he talks about it again, let me know and we can look for it when we go shopping. If you still want to go shopping with me of course.” Omega nodded brightly, and the conversation trailed off as things began to require your full attention. 

Hunter walked in the door about an hour later, and the house was alight with laughter as the two of you rolled out cookies and dipped them in sprinkles and sugar before placing them on baking sheets. The moment she noticed her dad, Omega dropped her rolling pin and ran over to tackle him in a hug, effectively covering him in flour as it transferred from her clothes. 

“Hey Megs!” Hunter said, happily returning his daughter’s powdery hug. “Having fun?” 

“We’re making cookies!”

“I can tell,” he said, gaze meeting yours as he surveyed his (now very messy) kitchen. 

“We’re almost done,” you said warmly, holding up the last dough ball that has yet to be shaped. “Do you want to do the honors?” 

 Hunter nodded, walking over to you (after a quick detour to the sink, where Omega made him wash his hands) and taking the rolling pin from where it had been discarded before, and with a little bit of help, the last cookie took shape. 

Once the kitchen had been cleaned and the cookies lay cooling, it was just you and Hunter. “Thank you for doing this with her,” he said sincerely. “I know she can tell I’ve been gone longer than usual.” 

You nodded. “She doesn’t blame you, but I think she worries.” 

“I know,” Hunter sighed. “Maker, I wish things were easier.”

“You’re definitely not alone with that sentiment.” 

“I have the week after Life Day off, I think I’m going to see if she wants to do anything special.”

“That’s a good idea,” you said. “I know things get busy as you’re planning everything for the holiday.” 

Hunter nodded. “Yeah. At least you only host half the time.” 

“And this year I don’t have to do anything,” you said, continuing when Hunter shot you a quizzical look. “My sister and her family are going to a soccer tournament over break, so I’ll have the day to myself.” 

“You should come over here,” was his immediate response, followed by a rushed “only if you want to.” 

“Please, you know I enjoy spending time with your family,” you laughed. “I don’t want to be any trouble though, if things are already planned.” 

Now it was his turn to scoff. “You could never be a bother,” he said. “I promise.” 

“Then I’ll be there,” you said. 

The smile he gave you in response nearly stopped your heart right then and there. Now your gift for him definitely had to be perfect. 

***

The rotations until Life Day were slipping away faster than Hunter could have ever expected, and it still felt like he hadn’t even started preparing. There was still so much to shop for, plan for, and don’t even get him started on the pile of gifts for his daughter slowly accumulating in the trunk of his car and the back of his closet (that would all need to be wrapped when she wasn’t around to peek at them). 

It was something of a relief when you offered to take Omega shopping for Life Day presents one weekend, because that meant he could recruit his brothers to help out in other ways and he didn’t have to worry about Omega walking in and seeing any of her gifts.

Tech and Crosshair were in charge of gift wrapping, and they operated like a well-oiled machine as they sat on the floor in the living room, tinsel, bows and patterned rolls of paper spread all within arm’s reach. The mountain of presents had been pulled from their hiding places, and it appears that Hunter may have gone a little overboard this year when shopping for Omega. 

Echo and Wrecker were in charge of the menu and the grocery list for Life Day dinner, and Hunter could hear the playful bickering between the two as they squabbled over how many side dishes they should have and whether or not three dessert options was too much (Wrecker believed there should be at least five options, a sentiment Hunter did not disagree with, if he was being honest). 

His job out of all this was looking at the gifts already purchased and making a list of people he still needed to shop for, along with making sure the gifts they had for Omega’s teachers were done. Omega would (hopefully) be returning from her outing today with presents purchased for all her uncles, but that still meant Hunter had to buy something for them, as well as for a few other friends. He had just finished the list of people he would need to shop for when he heard Crosshair’s voice over his shoulder. 

“I expected that we’d be low on the list of priorities, but your girlfriend? That’s just mean.” 

Hunter, his mind still running through a list of all the people he knew in an effort to make sure he hadn’t forgotten anyone, looked up at him with confusion. “What are you talking about? I don’t have a girlfriend.” 

Crosshair raised his eyebrows, and everyone else in the house stopped what they were doing to stare at Hunter, because they knew exactly where this conversation was heading. “Really? Where’s your kid right now?” 

“She’s with-” Hunter started to respond before catching on to his brother’s implication. “How many times do I have to tell you that we’re not together?” 

“You could be, if you just asked her out already. Honestly, if you keep at this pace Omega will have bought a house of her own before you even think about making a move.” 

A heaving sigh left Hunter’s mouth. “First of all, I don’t like her in that way.”

Before he could continue his statement, the house erupted with laughter (a reaction that Hunter did not appreciate). “Give it up Hunter,” Echo said as he looked up from the menu he was penning. “Omega practically calls her mom and you get a stupid look on your face whenever you mention her.” 

As much as he would have liked to continue denying his feelings to protect his pride, Hunter had to admit that his brothers were right. He had been absolutely smitten from the first moment he met you five years ago. You had knocked on their door to introduce yourself, with homemade muffins in your hands and a smile on your face, and he had almost forgotten how to talk. As the years went by and you got closer and closer to him and his daughter, it had become increasingly more difficult to ignore the attraction he felt. “Fine, you di’kuts are right,” he said. “But she doesn’t feel the same way, and I’m not going to ruin the positive relationship she has with Omega. Besides, I can’t afford an actual babysitter.” 

“Omega is more than capable of spending the afternoons by herself, and she could take the bus home after school,” Tech said. “Also, you are decidedly incorrect about her not feeling the same way.” 

“Guys-” 

“It’s true!” Wrecker boomed. “We’ve spent enough time with her at your summer barbecues to catch how she looks at you.”

“And now she’s coming to Life Day dinner,” Crosshair said. “Face it Hunter, you’re in love.”

“I invited her because she didn’t have anywhere else to go!” 

“Two things can be true at the same time,” Tech said. 

“Maybe you could say something on Life Day,” Wrecker cut in. “What are you going to get her?” 

There was a significant pause before Hunter responded, his voice much quieter than it had been before. “I don’t know.” 

Hunter loved his brothers, he truly did. But right now, as they rattled off endless suggestions of things he could get you, he wanted to be anywhere else but here at the moment. 

The feeling of his phone buzzing in his pocket provided a welcome distraction, and he looked down to see your name on the screen. Omega and I are going out to lunch and then we’ll be home, you’ve got about an hour left to finish wrapping her gifts, the text message read. 

Thanks for the heads up, he texted back. I’ll make sure things are all cleaned up by then. 

No matter how hard he tried to hide the smile that crossed his face, it was an impossible feat, as was getting his brothers to stop teasing him and get back to work, since they really didn’t have much time to get everything done. 

He still needed to think about a gift for you, and time was certainly running out. Trying to ignore the way his brain wandered towards easy daydreams was another unattainable goal, and he couldn’t help but play through all different scenarios in his head of you and him, hearts and souls intertwined in domestic bliss. 

As much as he didn’t want to admit it, his brothers were right. Five years was long enough, he just needed to find the courage to actually tell you how he felt without chickening out, and maybe this Life Day he would prove successful. 

***

Hunter’s home was less than a minute walk for you, but your heart was racing as you stepped up to the front door, as if you had run a marathon on the way. But the homemade cake you had brought was balanced precariously atop the gifts in your hands, and a single misstep could have spelled imminent disaster.

Thankfully, the door opened before you had finished ascending the porch stairs, and Hunter immediately pulled the cake from the top of the gift stack. “Need any other help?” he asked.

“No, but thank you,” you breathed, stepping inside and immediately walking through to the living room. Once the presents in your arms were deposited safely next to the tree, you were nearly tackled in a hug. 

“Happy Life Day!” Omega said brightly, arms tight around your middle. 

“Happy Life Day to you too,” you said, unable to keep a goofy smile from appearing on your face. Despite the fact that you didn’t live here, something about this space, and especially these people, felt like home in a way you could never truly articulate. 

When Omega finally let you go, you turned to Hunter. “Am I the first one here?” Even though you lived next door, you would have thought someone else would be here by now, especially since you arrived a little late (trying to close your own door with the gifts and cake was quite a challenge, but you managed). 

Hunter nodded. “The others aren’t supposed to be here for another half hour,” he said. “Omega wanted to give you your gift as early as possible.” 

You looked back at Omega, who was practically vibrating with excitement. “Well, I can’t leave her waiting any longer, can I?” 

After being directed to the couch, you watched Hunter sit down on the armchair across the room with a smile on his face. As Omega brought over a small box wrapped in tooka-patterned paper, you jokingly shook it, feeling something heavy rustle around. As you tore open the paper and opened the box, your eyes widened. 

Glittering in the light of the tree across the room were two crystalline statues of your favorite animal. You had spent many hours doodling with Omega when she was younger at her kitchen table, and it was clear that this gift was her idea, as she had seen enough of your attempts at drawing these to know they were your favorite. “I love them,” you said sincerely, placing the statues on the couch side table before sweeping her up in a hug. “Do you want to open your gift now?” you asked, and her eyes lit up. 

Hunter watched in amusement as you walked over to the tree and presented Omega’s two gifts to her. She was much less gentle with the wrapping than you were, but that didn’t really matter. “Wow!” she said as she realized what it was, eyes wide as she took in the present, a high-quality set of paints, paintbrushes, and a pack of canvases, since she talked all the time about how much she enjoyed painting in art class. 

Hunter opened his mouth, probably to prompt his daughter to say thank you, but she beat him to it, wrapping you in a hug once more and babbling excitedly about what she’s going to paint with her new supplies. 

When she finally let you go, you got up from the couch and stepped over towards the tree, where you picked up a large box and presented it to Hunter. His eyes widened. “For me?” 

“Yes!” you said. “Omega helped me pick it out, so technically it’s from both of us.” 

He took the box from you. “It’s heavy.”

You watched with bated breath as he ripped open the paper, a smile crossing his face as he realized what it was. “Omega spilled the beans about you wanting a new caf machine,” you said. “And I’ll admit, we did get a slightly better model than the one you have now.” 

“That’s an understatement,” he said, staring at the graphics on the box that outlined all the different things this machine could do. “You didn’t have to get me anything.” 

“I wanted to,” you said, and the two of you locked eyes for a moment. There was so much you wanted to tell him, but you didn’t exactly want to do it with an audience.

“Thank you,” he said warmly, putting the box down to get up from his chair. He moved to hug you, but his daughter beat him to it. You had hugged Omega so many times today that part of your mind wished Hunter was the one to wrap your arms around you, but you tried to push those thoughts away. 

After the moment had ended, you immediately moved to grab the used wrapping paper from the floor, and Omega took off somewhere else in the house, excitedly talking about how she couldn’t wait for her uncles to arrive. 

You and Hunter worked like you could read each others’ minds, something you only noticed when you realized that you had wordlessly begun setting out hors d'oeuvres on the table in preparation for the rest of the family to arrive. Maker, things just felt so right here, with him, so much so that you never wanted to leave.  

“Hey,” Hunter’s voice interrupted your thoughts. “You didn’t open all your gifts yet.” 

You looked at him with a confused look on your face. “But-” 

He shook his head. “We- I have one more thing for you.” 

You took note of the way he corrected himself, watching as he left the kitchen and returned with a small box in his hands. It was completely silent as you tore open the paper and popped open the jewelry box to reveal a simple necklace, your first initial hanging from a silver chain. 

“I didn’t know what to get you, and then my brothers got in my head about making sure I got something good, so-”

“Hunter,” you said softly, cutting off his rambling. “I love it.” 

He breathed an obvious sigh of relief, and you gently put the box down on the counter before moving towards him, throwing your arms around him and breathing in his scent. He returned the hug, and you felt as though you might die right here and now. You had hugged Hunter before, but they had always been quick goodbyes and polite greetings, never something like his. 

As you moved to pull away, he gripped your side a little tighter. “Wait,” he said, voice soft. Your faces were much closer than they had ever been before, and you wondered if he could hear the way your heart was beating faster than usual. 

“What is it?” you breathed.

“Can I kiss you?” 

Despite having daydreamed about him saying those words to you multiple times since you met, it took a few seconds for you to register that they were actually leaving his lips at this moment. “Yes,” you responded, allowing him to close the gap between you. 

Kissing Hunter was like coming upon an oasis in the desert, the feeling of his lips on yours suddenly becoming a desperate need. If you were dreaming, you never wanted to wake up. One of your hands moved to his hair as his tightened around your waist, every ounce of passion that both of you had been keeping locked away finally bubbling to the forefront. 

The sound of excited shrieking was what finally detached your lips from each other, and you both turned to see Omega standing in the doorway of the kitchen, a smile on her face. “Does this mean I can call you mom?” she asked, looking expectantly at you. 

Hunter shifted where he stood. “Omega-” 

But before he could say anything, you jumped in. “If you promise not to say anything to your uncles, yes.” 

She nodded excitedly and ran up to the two of you for a hug before mumbling something about giving you space, leaving the room as empty as it had been a minute ago.

“I’m sorry if I’m overstepping,” you said quickly. “If you don’t want her to call me that I can tell her I was mistaken.” 

“I was about to tell her that it was your decision,” he said warmly. “I don’t want you to think that just because we kissed I was expecting anything more.” 

“What if I wanted something more?” you asked. “Hunter, I’ve cared about you for so long now I barely even noticed my feelings until a year ago. But there’s no mistaking how I feel anymore, and I want you to know how much I love you.” 

He pulled you into another hug. “I think I fell in love with you the moment we met,” he said. “My brothers have been bugging me about you for longer than I want to admit.” 

You laughed, only imagining the types of teasing he has endured over the last few years. “Then let’s go for it.” 

Hunter responded by leaning down to kiss you again, and you certainly weren’t complaining. 

The next thing to grab your attention was the sound of the doorbell ringing, and you pulled away from Hunter (who, swear to Maker, emitted something of a whine as he lost contact with your lips). “How long do you think it’s going to take Omega to spill the beans?” you whispered as you heard her footsteps through the house, no doubt moving to open the door for whichever of her uncles had arrived first. 

“Seconds, probably,” he whispered back.

You laughed. “Come on, let’s go see who it is.” 

“Do we have to?” 

Playfully swatting his shoulder as his face morphed into a pout, you nodded before pulling away from his touch.

You greeted Crosshair with a bright smile and a polite hug, and he didn’t say anything about knowing what had just transpired between you and his brother moments before, so there was a small sliver of hope that Omega had been able to keep your secret. 

However, the moment you sat down on the couch with a plate of snacks, you could feel your phone buzz in your pocket, and a text from Crosshair to both you and Hunter reflected on the home screen. 

Have a good makeout session? 

Before you could think about what to say, a response from Hunter followed. 

Did Omega tell you?

Crosshair, who was sitting on the armchair as Omega rooted around under the tree for his gift, just smiled as he typed back. 

She didn’t have to, one look at your hair told me everything I needed to know.

Hunter quickly tried to tame his hair where your hands had mussed it, and Crosshair just watched with an amused smile. As the doorbell rang once more and Omega ran to greet the next arrival, a sincere smile appeared on his face. “Congrats you two.” 

“Thanks,” you said sincerely. “We finally figured things out.” 

As Hunter sat down on the couch next to you and intertwined your fingers with his, you realized that you couldn’t have dreamed of a more perfect Life Day, and you would never again have to consider spending the holiday alone.

- the end -

i no longer have a taglist! if you're interested in being notified when i post, you can follow my library blog @ghostofskywalker-library and turn on notifications!

[pkmndaisuki]

Here's some new guesses/hopes for Legends ZA following those new trailers in no particular order:

Inverse Battles return

Inverse Battles were battles where the entire type chart was reversed. Normal was Super-Effective against Ghost, Steel was weak to almost everything, it was so cool. But it was only available in one random house... right next to Terminus Cave. Where Zygarde was. (ORAS had them as well, but only in a specific place in Mauville.) They were such a unique gimmick, I would love to see at least one place where you can do them.

PokéDex can be completed single-player

Legends Arceus let the player finish the entire Dex without being forced to trade, so I get the feeling that's just gonna be a thing with Legends games going forward. Makes sense since there's only one version.

No multiplayer battles, but trading is allowed

Like the last point, Legends Arceus had no way to battle other players. Likely because of its battle system with the Strong and Agile Style moves. And now that we'll have full free movement in battle, I can see that being a logistical disaster between two human-controlled players. So the only major multiplayer thing will probably be trading.

Trainer Customization expands as the story progresses

Again, Legends Arceus did this with Anthe's store selection upgrading at certain milestones. So I could definitely see Boutique selections rotate as they did in X&Y, or just continually add more options. X&Y invented Boutiques and outfits and haircuts and all that, it would be criminal not to have extensive customization.

Chespin, Fennekin, and Froakie will be Wild Encounters from the start; Chikorita, Tepig, and Totodile will be Gifted and/or Wild Encounters post-credits

This was the case with the Sinnoh starters and the Hisui starters, so it wouldn't surprise me if they did the same with both sets of Kalos starters. Bonus guess: each of the original Kalos starters will be in a different Plaza. Bleu for Froakie, Vert for Chespin, and Rouge for Fennekin.

More areas underground

Paris has famous catacombs beneath the city. Zygarde is a Ground-type typically found underground. One of its signature moves is Land's Wrath. Something's gotta happen down there. (Plus, we went under the city in X&Y already: Lysandre Labs just beneath Lysandre Café between Rouge and Magenta Plazas.)

Prism Tower is more of a Battle Tower than Gym

That little teaser at the end of the trailer had a logo of Prism Tower. Since we're confined to Lumiose, we're not taking on the Gym Challenge, so it being a Gym wouldn't make as much narrative sense. Instead, I can see it being a different kind of battle facility, and I hope it's still run by Clemont.

Roller Skates return

Roller Skating was so fun in X&Y and used to illustrate the full 3D movement on the 3DS, and you learned most of the techniques in Lumiose. There was even a café just for skating enthusiasts! I really hope it comes back, skating around Lumiose was so fun.

Emma will return

We saw a brief glimpse of the Looker Bureau. By the end of Looker's postgame story, he leaves the Bureau to Emma. I really really hope we get to see her she's such a fascinating character please let it happen

A special Legendary will be available postgame

Enamorous was introduced in Legends Arceus' postgame, so it could be that's just gonna be a feature of Legends games. Not saying something brand new like her is gonna show up for sure, but maybe something else that hadn't be easily available. Like Volcanion maybe? It seems, design-wise, associated with part of the Kalos Power Plant, which is just Northwest of Lumiose. It was distribution-only back then, it would be neat to have it available to battle and capture.

Who knows if any of this will be right, but I'm looking forward to PLZA!

[lodien]

DD:BA EP8 LIVEBLOG!!! SPOILERS BELOW CUT!!

DEX DEX DEX DEX DEX YEAHHHHHH WOOOOHOOOOO I lowkey wish they kept him paralyzed

Putting him general population is just inviting death oh my god??

Matt and Heather need to break up they do not work together at ALL 😭 Also I feel like they’re trying to make Heather hateable bc “they’re the same animal” shit is just kinda annoying? I wish they would develop her perspective a little more or SOMETHING, because right now it makes no sense for her to be saying that? Like… objectively, she was dead without Daredevil. There is no world in which she wasn’t. It doesn’t make sense for her to be against vigilantes, especially from the angle she currently has.

I wish we had Wesley back he made everything better 💔💔 Also why does EVERYBODY have amnesia regarding Fisk’s crimes? If he were a felon that turned “good” (or a Trump-like figure) it would work alright, but there’s nothing like that anywhere. I wish they would just address it at least a LITTLE bit.

Heather ignoring why Matt might be anxious about an EX MOB MAN knowing where they live, especially after the Ayala case, just makes her even more annoying? Do they hate this woman?? Also what does she have against vigilantes after Daredevil objectively saved her? I feel like Heather exists solely as a plot device, which sucks, because she’s like THE female character with the most screen time (maybe after Vanessa).

VANESSA KILLS SOMEONE 🥳🥳🥳🥳 God she’s beautiful

Matt’s eye rolls are so silly to me. Also him and Kirsten having a moment where they seem like friends! yay!!

Dex is so evil lmfao why would he do that 😭😭😭 Matt don’t do this. Matt don’t make the dumbest choices imaginable please 😭😭

“Is that on our schedule?” Daniel is growing on me. Can’t wait to see him die next season (I don’t think they’re killing him in ep9?)

Am I tweaking out or have they used a somewhat fisheye lens like twice this episode. I swear to god I’m losing my mind

Why are Kirsten and Matt finally getting to be friends on like… the episodes where he’s falling apart? Anyway I love her and he needs to stop abandoning his legal partners in the middle of cases

Matt’s umbrella is so stupidly large why is it like that

The way they made me actually kinda like Cherry more in a single scene than in the entire show so far is CRAZY. Him and Josie gained like +20 emotional investment points

Ooooohhhhh Matt’s losing his mind 😭 visiting Dex is objectively bad for you baby don’t do this… taunting him is crazy by the way

Matt is about to make a decision that everybody is going to hate him for!! Good for him. Also beating Dex up is crazy work

Why are Artemis/Arthur not the Stromwyns? Just functionally they work in the same way and it woulda been a cool nod to the comics

Vanessa in the blood red OOOOOOOOOO got me monkey brain

DEX DID THE TOOTH THING oh my god ew

Fisheye lens again I swear to God I’m not crazy they just did it again (also Bullseye color!! yay!!! I’m manifesting the forehead scar)

Matt is making so many poor decisions in a row I love this for him. Yes king implode yourself!!

“Matt you have been checking out on me…” immediately checks out. That is so funny. He is the Worst

Swordsman 😭 who is that. I’m losing my comic reader aura rn I have no clue who bro is

Shoulda made Powell say “Dere-lick my ass.” It would’ve been so very Disney of them and I would’ve loved it so deeply

I like BB and the commissioner…. I’m a fan

Matt Murdock conspiracy theorist is so fun he is so broken

Oh! OH!!! OH MY GOD??? LMFAO???? Matt bro it’s gonna be okay just walk it off you’ll be fine bro

—

Why are they developing all the things I like at the very end? I actually have an understanding of half the cast that I didn’t have before, except it’s like… about to be over? Which sucks. But also, this episode was really good! Like, really, REALLY good.

[stiffyck]

I think for me Daredevil: born again is turning out to be a disappointment. I was really hoping it'd pick up at some point but i feel like i just keep getting disappointed.

Foggy dying and Karen leaving? I would be fine with it if it happened at the end of the season or the middle. Build up to it. Let us have a chance to enjoy having Nelson, Murdock and Page back before destroying that! It'd be much more impactful and I think it'd work much better. I wanted to see Matt dealing with the grief in the worst way possible, i wanted to see Karen struggling to keep it together before finally giving up and leaving as a last resort.

I think the time skip right at the start was weird. We skipped over the period of time where Matt and Karen were grieving. Sure we saw the trial but that was about it. We saw Karen leaving but that was it.

It was very rushed and just. not satisfying in the slightest.

I think killing off Foggy midway through the season would have been the best- we would get a proper emotional buildup for his death and then we'd explore matt and karens grief and their struggles after foggy dies.

I think matt should have picked up the mask towards the end of the season.

next thing that has been disappointing: Muse. I'm gonna be so honest- that was an incredibly underwhelming and wasted villain. I wish we could have had a same build up for him becoming Muse like we had with Dex becoming Bullseye.

I think it would have even been a fun contrast between matt and muses story. before foggys death, matt finding his footing and getting better and finally getting his life sorta together, while Bastian is getting worse and struggling to find his place in the world- and then flip that.

foggy dies and suddenly matt is the one struggling and losing everything he built for himself, suddenly he doesnt really know what to do and how to continue forward, meanwhile bastion finally figures out how to express himself and who he wants to be and he becomes muse and his life seemingly becomes better.

then theres the thing with bullseye. i really hope we see him again this season because if they put him at the start just to kill foggy (why exactly was he after foggy anyway???) only to have him locked up for the rest of the series im gonna be really disappointed.

Fisk is another issue. i do like the relationship struggles between fisk and vanessa, but it feels so hollow i couldnt care less. in the original series, i adored vanessas and fisks relationship. it was so unsettling and they were so perfect for each other. i really think if they took a different approach with their relaitonship struggles it could have been much better and a perfect continuation of their story.

on the topic of relationships: matt and heather are so fucking shallow i could not care less about their relationship. i dont know why this relationship is even a thing besides just the fact that i guess they wanted matt to find muse through her???? i dont know. their relationship is boring and annoying and if you know me you know i fucking LOATHE unnecessary romances. i think matt and heather are a boring couple and i think heather is a boring character who could have been done in a much better way and i hope they actually do make her a more interesting character. please.

kirsten and cherry. theyre interesting but underutilized i feel like. born again seems to have so many characters and i dont think they know what to do with all of them. why did they introduce so many characters anyway.

[crippling-pages]

random kotlc headcanons :p

*clears throat* *puts fancy suit on* *pulls out whiteboard* @swans-chirping-in-the-distance you wanted headcanons, right? sooooooooo

Tam wears glasses, mainly to see things farther away better. He didn't know it until sometime during Flashback, he just thought everyone sees stuff that way. Tiergan helped him figure out that he needed them and helped get the perfect pair.

Biana buys Tam flower bouquets. He mentioned that he really liked flowers, and the next day she comes up to the door of Solreef, and blushing very, very hard, she gives Tam the bouquet. Linh had to spend a full 15 minutes with a dazed Tam.

When Keefe comes back from the Forbidden Cities, he uses all these weird slang words. One time, he told Councilor Emery that "You have no rizz, man. If you wanna become the alpha, you need to up your aura."

Emery is scarred for life after that exchange.

Sophie is a Red stan. She doesn't listen to Taylor Swift often, but she is forever a fan of the album Red.

When Fitz was looking for Sophie, he found a video of one of those kids baking competitions, and he was just amazed. It's how he started to get into baking.

Tam and Dex have this amazing friendship no one really knows about. It's not like they kept it a secret, it's just no one really notices either of them.

Tam can be chaotic as heck when he wants to be. Most of the time, he's the quiet and chill yet quite comfortable introvert. Though if he's got the right energy, BOOM he's as crazy as the triplets with enough energy to make the world explode.

One time, Dex asked Tam to watch the triplets (feeling pretty bad because the triplets are you know, the triplets) for him and his parents because they all were out that day, and when he came back home, they were asleep. And they stayed asleep, for hours.

It was one of the best days ever in the Dizznee household.

The reason Tam got them to sleep was because his chaotic side clicked in. It was a hour and a half game of tag.

(It was only that one time though. Next time Tam babysat, the triplets were prepared).

Even after making up with Tam, Linh still didn't really trust Rayni. But for every little conversation they have, they both start to ease up on each other.

One morning, when everyone's up for breakfast, Linh comes down and Rayni grins and goes, "What's up, Water-Gir?" and everyone is doing a double take because Linh was gonna kill Rayni. But it gets worse when Linh replies, also grinning, with "Good morning, RayRay."

Everyone else almost had a heart attack because it seemed like yesterday they were about to kill each other.

At one point, Keefe cracks a joke about Tam having a crush on Rayni (before he knew about Tam and Biana already dating), and Tam says, "Okay, for one: She's like, 25 and I'm like 16, I think, so that's disgusting, and secondly: Rayni is old and ugly, and-"

But he doesn't get to finish because Rayni hears and runs downstairs, pissed and yelling "WHAT THE HECK TAM?! WELL, AT LEAST I DON'T USE THE OVERUSED SHADY AND EMO IMAGE" and then that gets Tam pissed, so then there's this whole argument that goes on for about 10 minutes.

Basically, Tam and Rayni are siblings. Rayni is the oldest sister, and Tam is the annoying little brother.

Marella and Tam have gossip sessions during lunch; they also just have this really great friendship. (And by friendship, I mean they each have blackmail on each other and are forced to interact so the other doesn't spill their secrets).

Keefoster and Tiana double dates :>

At Solreef, Tiergan has this huge library, filled with elven books and even human books.

Tam has read almost every book in there. His favorites are the fantasy books.

His favorite book series ever is Percy Jackson. He's read every single PJO book in the library.

When Sophie finds out, oh boy do they geek out about it.

Forkle set them up on a sleepover one time, because "You kids need to be kids" or something like that.

None of them expected to have much fun, but they did. They even made a plan that once a week, at someones house they'd meet up and have a sleepover or just have fun.

TA-DA!!!!!!! KOTLC HEADCANONS YAYYYYYYYYY!!! Most of the are about Tam but Tam's amazing so its fine <3

hope you enjoyed! <3

[dr-futbol-blog]

Epiphany, Pt. 18

We then move on to McKay and the others approaching the village, and while they are not running the way Sheppard had been running as he had made his way back from the cave the previous night, based on the fact that we can hear McKay being out of breath, they are keeping good pace. Given that we just watched Sheppard leave the village at a run back to them, the sequence of events here is interesting.

McKay: You know, I was just thinking: this entire field, I mean, not the field, I mean the field field, must generate its own day and night cycle, not to mention its own artificial climate. I mean, it's incredible! When you think... Dex: You wanna pick up the pace, McKay? McKay: Hey, he's waited for months. Another half hour isn't gonna kill him.

McKay mentions that keeping the walking pace that they have, it is going to take them half an hour to reach the village that it had taken 10 hours for Sheppard to have reached at a run. This suggest that they had indeed crossed the threshold the previous night and it is entirely possible that McKay patting the ground next to him for Weir to sit had happened just as Teer had told Sheppard to sit (and let us also note the similarity in the names, Weir and Teer -- pronounced Tier and rhyming with Weir -- that is probably not accidental; in fact, Teer = Teyla + Weir). If McKay's assessment of five minutes for the others to get in had been correct, they had started walking toward the village just as Teer kissed him, meaning that McKay was getting physically closer to Sheppard the further they were engaged in the sex. This also seems to indicate that McKay's "You know, I was just thinking" epiphany here about the artificial climate coincided with Sheppard's discussion on thunder storms over breakfast, which would mean that it had taken them c. 12-13 hours to make the same distance as had taken Sheppard 9,5-10 hours to run. This tracks.

What this means is that this is not the same place as where Avrid had first ran out of the woods to meet Sheppard, which had been "across the sanctuary" and hence closer to the cave, but that they have already crossed the sanctuary and are approaching the village. This is important for establishing that McKay's "You know, I was just thinking" was synchronous with Sheppard's "Haven't any of you seen thunderstorms?" of the previous scene. And that is curious, to say the least. The minimum of what is happening here is that Sheppard and McKay are, for umpteenth time, thinking the same thing at the same time like that keeps happening by sheer coincidence. McKay is saying "I mean, it's incredible!" just as Sheppard is saying "it's also very cool!" but because we see these things happen in sequence, we cannot appreciate the synchronicity.

It is also curious that as worried as McKay has been over Sheppard, earlier insisting Beckett come along because he does not know if Sheppard is seriously injured or even alive, he now seems entirely carefree to the point of being careless, like he is no longer concerned for Sheppard. Like he knows that Sheppard is alive and well and waiting for them where they are heading. And how could he possibly know that? That McKay does not care about him is not even an option. For some reason that is never explained, McKay seems to know. And he is feeling good, here. Like every step they take, he is feeling more at ease. And, just to re-iterate, they have bee walking for hours and he does not even seem to feel it.

Weir: We don't know how long it's gonna take to find him. Beckett: Aye, and besides that, I have a date planned with Lieutenant Cadman for tomorrow night. McKay: Oh, no, so we've only got twelve years in here! What? What is it? I'm not detecting anything. Dex: Doesn't mean it isn't there.

Ronon drops a lampshade on the viewers: just because you don't detect it does not mean it is not there. That something cannot be seen with the naked eye does not mean that it cannot have tangible effects. This being said, the t-shirt is both visible and tangible but it only has meaning in context.

But let us back-track a little. Beckett mentions that he has a date with Cadman, the first time that their budding romance from Duet (S02E04) is revisited. Later on, Beckett tells them that the affair had fizzled out and let us recall that it was only until Cadman was occupying McKay's body that she seemed to develop this interest in co-Ancient gene having Beckett. Regardless, it is clear that Beckett is here both on the field and has "got" a woman, both of which McKay had claimed that Beckett was jealous over for him during his enzyme-fueled possession in the previous episode. What is obvious here is that McKay is not jealous of Beckett for having gotten Cadman because Cadman is -- although blonde and beautiful -- among the last women that McKay would ever want, along with Heightmeyer, and that is curious given how he keeps claiming to be into hot blondes. He could care less about Cadman, and Beckett's luck with women is a peripheral concern for him when he is in control of his faculties and not trying to goad his best friend into scoring him some wraith dope. This also tracks. Also, we do not know if this is an on-going thing or this is their first date -- it might be McKay's words had even pushed Beckett into asking her out for all we know. What is interesting is that both of McKay's claims are revisited here, Beckett's dislike and not jealousy for being on the field and McKay's not getting (or wanting) all the women.

Second thing to note is that while McKay's "twelve years" here might well be hyperbole, his math just keeps not mathing. Sheppard has spent around six months inside the time dilation field which had been c. 17 hours of real time. Assuming that by "tomorrow night" Beckett was referring to a time that, given the 28-hour "day and night cycle" on Atlantis, would be 30-35 hours from when they went in (it was daylight on the planet they left from, which of course tells us next to nothing about what time it was currently on Atlantis, but it had also been daytime when McKay had been in his lab chiding Conan and Xena). With all of this, it would still only give them about a year inside the field until it was date time for Beckett meaning that McKay's assessment of how fast time is running is way off. And what it also tells us is that it feels like years to him since he has seen Sheppard. He can quip about another half hour not killing Sheppard all he wants but dissociating has made all of this feel a lot longer for him than it has been for the others, and he keeps approximating time to have been much longer. And also that he is just not not good at mental math, he kind of sucks at it, if we are perfectly honest.

This, now, as Teyla detects something in the woods also seems to be when Teer got the shining about the beast being upon them and when Sheppard started off at a run toward them, and that also tracks. McKay's dismissive comment toward Beckett's date coincides with Sheppard being dismissive toward Teer. In fact, it is possible Teyla detected it even before Teer. While McKay seems to respect Teyla's instinct, he also relies heavily on the scanner and hence he seems to have trouble reconciling the evidence from these two sources and this too may be symbolic. Ronon, on the other hand, trusts Teyla over a machine any day of the week.

Dex: Can you see anything? Teyla: No. But I sense something is close. Weir: Maybe we should try another way. Dex: Won't make any difference. It's stalking us. Beckett: Sounds like it's more than one. McKay: Yeah, more than one what? Teyla: I do not know.

And so the beast is "upon them," the Jabberwock has found them. And it is interesting that the beast comprising of the fears of the villagers has come for them because while each and every one of them feels fear, to be sure, they are also all of them much more in touch with their fears than the locals are. They can admit that they are afraid which allows them to conquer their fears, and it seems as though all of Sheppard's friends fight their fears almost on a daily basis, fight their fears like it's their job.

The three times that we have now "seen" the beast, it seems like Teer's fear of either not getting Sheppard or losing him to another has been at the heart of its manifestation, and let us be generous and make a claim that she fears losing Sheppard to all of them here, losing him to his friends that have come to get him home. It is not as though the beast is going for McKay specifically as we see him take hold of his weapon, the one that Sheppard has taught him how to use to protect himself, and prepare to protect not himself but also the weakest member of their rescue party, Weir. McKay is afraid but that has never stopped him from being brave because It's OK to be scared, it's part of life. That is something that Sheppard has learned from Rodney McKay.

They all fire on the invisible beast, and Ronon and Teyla attempt to take it head on while both McKay and Beckett close rank on Weir. The two of them are protecting the weakest link and also the leader of the expedition who may not be the most vital of them for the running of the mission (certainly all three of the are "vital, vital to this mission"), but is nonetheless really important. And this is precisely why McKay had wanted her to stay back. But she had insisted on coming for the reason we are able to see as Sheppard comes running out of the forest, throwing himself at the beast with not a hint of fear or hesitation.

And let us point out the fact that somehow Sheppard knew exactly where to find them, he ran directly to them having gotten no direction from Teer. He knew where they would be. The fact that he was drawn directly to them is rather interesting. Sheppard loves these people, all of them, every one of them in different ways and if his time in this prison has taught him anything, it is that he does not want to live without them. And so the beast vanishes and he finds himself face down on the ground just like most of his team, and Weir runs right to him again like she is the heroine of a romantic film rushing to her beloved that has been lost for so long -- when that is not at all what this is.

Note that McKay sees Sheppard first, looks at him first, and Weir and McKay start moving toward him at the same time. But McKay loses time putting down his scanner and so, as Weir gets to Sheppard first, McKay decides to put his gun away and then goes to help Teyla where Beckett had gone to help Ronon, because both of them might have been injured by getting hurled away by the beast. And Weir goes directly to Sheppard, puts her hand on him, on his shoulder, but then draws it back almost as quickly as she lays it on. It is, frankly, impossible to say if she even really makes contact. What is important is this: she is not the first person he looks at. He looks past her shoulder before seeing her.

Teyla told us "Something is close." Beckett said: "Sounds like it's more than one." Again we find the writers are speaking to the audience through the characters. Dex had asked "Can you see anything?" We are given the option of seeing the t-shirt or ignoring it. And what we cannot see here is him touching her. We see him throwing his shoulder back because he does not want to be touched by her. Weir had tried to touch him when he does not want to be touched and while we see women frequently override his boundaries, we have never seen McKay do that. McKay has never violated Sheppard's boundaries or done things to him he did not have his consent to do. That is the difference. We saw this already in Sanctuary (S01E14), and it is as true on this day as it had been then.

Continued in Pt. 19

[noturusualpotato]

I’ve read so many fics where Obi-Wan gets a different Jedi Master or like gets adopted by Mandalorians or whatnot, but I had an epiphany recently and like what about Dex? Like, imagine the AU where Dex adopts Obi (post Melida/Daan) and Obi grows up flipping burgers as part time job, and throwing out Quin from the Diner because Quinlan won’t let him study and steals chips. And then, Dex being there smacking pple trying to get into Obi-Wan’s pants with like a rump of meat on the head and if you dared to hurt his precious son he will reactivate his underworld network and send some of his old associates after you and like Dex just sort of collecting Obi-Wan’s feral friends like he would collect cats bc like what difference one more makes. Dex is gonna be the best Dad, fight me on it. Poor Dex is severely underused in Star Wars fics if you ask me (and I know there is a book where he meets Obi when Obi is 16 and THEN opens the diner, but hells to it, m changing that).

This is it. That’s the next thing I’m writing when I find the moment between my ongoing stuff. Stay tuned, I’ve got like lots of airport time next week. I’m making a whole YA fanfic series out of it. The Diner Diary AU or sth.

[petertingle-yipyip]

WORLD CLASS SINNER- FRANK CASTLE

four - we’re not alike

three // five // masterlist

Pairing: frank x livia (exodus), billy x livia

Word Count: 4,350

Summary: A confrontation that was meant to end it all fails, but that tension snaps in an unexpected way, leaving two allies in a short standoff.

You didn’t blame Dinah for her obsession with taking down Billy. You were sure if he had shot you in the head and you survived that you’d have one hell of a bone to pick with him, too. You’d be lying if you said you didn’t hold grudges of your own. Daredevil, Fisk, Dreykov, Dex. But you never obsessed over any one man enough to lose sleep, to torment them day in and day out.

You tried to chalk it up to trauma but it was more than that. A vendetta at the very least. It made you worry but not enough for you to spring into action.

Curtis gave Frank the information he knew and sent him on his way to track down Billy Russo. You told him to call if he wanted or needed help. Until then, life would continue.

Billy Russo may have stopped Dinah’s world from spinning but you’d be damned if he got that power over you.

You spent the day doing one of the many things you’d neglected since you got back. You were unpacking your apartment. You washed and put away dishes, arranged the furniture in your living room, unpacked your decor, and organized your clothes. You went through your case and found the broken mask, chipped edges and stained lens. That mask had seen two of your more brutal fights in New York and you wanted to both frame it and burn it.

Frank and Curtis called you that night and asked you to come on their stakeout, something about a bar they knew Billy and his new crew frequented. At that point, most of your belongings were back in place and it was almost as if you had never left.

The nostalgic feeling didn’t last long, especially once you caught a glimpse of yourself. Your shorts left you with bare legs,  littered in scars varying from just faint discolorations even you hardly noticed to still raised lines across your skin or divots where your body just couldn’t replace it. You didn’t want to think of the marks across your back, chest, or stomach.

You didn’t go with them that night, but that didn’t stop them from reaching out the next day. No calls or words, just an address.

You dressed in fitted pants, high top shoes, and a black compression shirt. Your vest fit neatly over and you covered it all with a pullover. You slipped a knife under each sleeve and a gun at your back, mask in your pocket just in case, and left.

“…SERE course. Bad news is I took it too. It ain’t gonna work, not today.” Frank explained as you made your way inside the small apartment.

A man sat tied to a chair in the center of the living area while Frank stood on the opposite side of the room. After a few more words, Frank brought up Billy.

They spoke some more and you moved further into the small space. It was then when you noticed Dinah and Curtis on Frank’s other side. Subtly, you reached under your sleeves and pushed the blades up higher.

“I know who you are.” The man, Jake, told Frank.

“Do you know me?” You spoke, allowing your voice to change to the accented, slightly deeper tone Exodus used. “Or… Do you know what fear does to a person?”

You moved closer, gesturing as you spoke while the yellow fog collected across your palm.

“Fear, it can choke you. Freeze you. Enough of it can break you.” Your hand pushed forward and the fog acted accordingly, slithering around the man’s neck and creeping up his skin like a snake. “You know the expression about choking on fear? I can make it very real for you. One way or the other, Jake, every man has his limit… And I think yours isn’t as far as you want to believe.”

Frank put a hand on your arm and pulled you back a few steps. The calm contact was enough to snap your focus and your fog dissipated. Jake made a few smart mouth comments about Dinah and Curtis being there, mouthing off that you and Frank wouldn’t be so tough if he was untied. You scoffed and when Frank looked at you, you nodded.

He moved to cut the tape and you shook your arm to let a blade fall. You watched Dinah’s eyes drop to your hand before she met your gaze with an expression you didn’t quite understand. Before you could dig deeper, you heard the scrape of the chair.

You turned and saw Jake coming at you. He drove his knife towards you but you easily controlled his wrist and spun him back to face Frank. You kicked out a knee and he fell to the ground, just before Frank slammed his foot against the man’s chest. He doubled over and you moved in a slow circle, flipping your blade as you moved.

“Это тот парень, с которым бежит Билли?” You laughed slightly before you kicked the knife away from Jake’s reaching hand. “Как упали могущественные.” You clicked your tongue in disappointment. (This is the guy Billy runs with? How the mighty have fallen.)

You hauled Jake up by the back of his shirt and threw him over the small table. You grabbed a hand and flattened his palm against the table. You glanced over your shoulder and Frank nodded as he moved closer. You gripped the knife firmly and drove it through the back of Jake’s hand. You kept your grip on the knife handle, twisting it to add on to the pressure Frank was putting. Your head cocked as you watched the man’s eyes grow wide until Frank backed off. Dinah yelled for you both to stop and you yanked your blade out. You wiped the blade across Jake’s sleeve to clean it before Frank gently pushed you out to follow Dinah.

She nagged that you two were out of control, that you were going too far. You said nothing while Frank told her to walk away. He told her she couldn’t do it and she needed to let whatever would happen happen. You didn’t care to listen to what she said next.

You went back into the apartment and pulled Jake to his knees. You took your blade and pressed it against the soft skin of his jaw, balling up his shirt with the other. You trailed the tip along the bone and down his throat until it sat at the small vulnerability at the base, right where the collarbones met. You looked at him for a moment, seeing the fear in his eyes and you willed it higher. The tip of your blade broke skin and as the yellow covered his eyes, he broke.

“They’re hitting the ReadyQuick check-cashing spot.” He confessed and you withdrew your blade while he spilled the information like a broken faucet.

You hummed to yourself in satisfaction and concealed your blade.You pushed yourself to stand and led your group out once you had enough.

“Wait. I can’t let you do this.” Dinah tried and you tilted your head up and muttered to the sky.

“Not asking for permission.” Frank shot back and opened the car door for you.

“I felt bad. I did, okay? Everything that was done to you.” She continued and you leaned on the open door with raised brows. “So I swallowed a mountain of shit because I felt like I owed you. But I owe myself, too.”

She came closer but you put yourself in front of her.

“When I met him, I felt I owed him, too.” You said pointedly, head nodding as you spoke. “I tried to help him, too, and it blew up my goddamn law firm.”

“Get out of my way, Yersova.”

“No.” You laughed.

“I took an oath.”

“Yeah? So did I. A few, actually. You wanna know what oaths get you? Knives in your stomach, bullets in your wrists, men cutting into your body to place trackers or remove your reproductive system or initiate pheromone blockers.”

Every example was another step closer, backing her up a good distance.

“The only oath I ever took that was worth a damn was the one to myself… And maybe to Daredevil.”

“I’m calling Mahoney. Let him take Billy down.” She continued and you couldn’t help but roll your eyes. “Frank, you need to get out of New York before they come looking for you.”

“Do what you need to do, Madani.” Frank said flatly. “You coming, Princess?”

“The law didn’t stop Wilson Fisk. Daredevil and I did. It didn’t stop the Punisher. No one did. It didn’t stop Ben Poindexter or Billy Russo or the Yakuza or the Russians. I did… It won’t stop him now either.”

You backed away as Dinah scrambled for a response. You shrugged slightly and climbed into the backseat.

Thanks to your little disagreement of morality with Dinah, the three of you missed the caravan leaving the warehouse. Meaning you had to take it to the ReadyQuick if you wanted to get him. And you’d have to dawn the mask.

You slid it into place on the drive over and pulled your hair out of your face. You tapped the side and it hummed to life, small icons and messages flashing quickly before regulating the usual idle display. You pulled your sweater over your head and you reached for your wrists instinctively but the joints were bare.

You left your Bites.

You sighed to yourself and shook your head in annoyance. You tucked your blades between your pants and your belt. You tightened the strap of your vest and focused back on the drive when you realized you were pulled over.

Frank and Curtis went back and forth quickly but it was ultimately decided Curtis would stay.

“I’ll look after him.” You promised before you got

out. “And if she ends up going to Madani, call Matt Murdock. Tell him I sent you.”

Frank revealed himself first while you were crouched behind one of the parked cars and there was something from Billy’s that wasn’t there last time you spoke to him. There was an edge, an uncertainty that bordered insanity. You knew that you cultivated an aura of unpredictability as Exodus, but what you could hear and feel from Billy was the only thing you thought could ever compare.

The thought sent a chill down your spine, a twitch at your scarred wrist.

You groaned to yourself in frustration and grabbed the joint firmly, allowing your own anger to soak your palm and you let it sit on the scar. You forced the heat to burn out the twitch and instead, the anger took its place. Anger that he had the audacity to live after what he’d done. Anger that he had left a permanent mark on your body. Anger that he didn’t know who you were or what you were.

Death was your shadow, ghosts and wraiths were your teachers. And Billy Russo would do good to remember that about you, if nothing else.

You came into view when the gunfire rang out, despite Frank trying to pull you out of the way. You maintained eye contact with Billy, and lucky for you, his men were more worried about the Punisher. You palmed a blade when a bullet whizzed past your head, causing your attention to snap upwards. You saw the sniper on the roof and your lip curled into a slight snarl.

You couldn’t hit him with your blade. The height of the building left too much time for him to dodge your blade, no matter how hard you threw it. You could shoot out the scope, maybe take his eye out with it, but he had a perfect shot at you. He’d likely clip you before you could get your gun out.

“We gotta move, Ex!” Frank yelled and it pulled you back into the fight. You heard tires screeching and turned to see Frank climbing into a car.

You jumped in the passenger side and the chase began. You had to duck and evade the sniper’s bullets coming through the window, once having to reach over and push Frank down. Rounding a corner led you straight into Billy’s gunfire and you had to drop to the footwell. You rattled around as the car crashed and you felt a hand on your shoulder. Frank looked at you with wide, worried eyes as Billy was yelling something.

“I’m fine.” You said sharply and pushed yourself up to climb into the backseat.

You opened the rear driver side door and climbed out, now feeling a growing ache in your ribs. You scooted further down to allow Frank to follow you out. The sounds of sirens filled the silence before Billy spoke again.

“Did you do this to me?” He yelled, seemingly more confident in the idea.

“You’re goddamn right I did!” Frank yelled back and you slipped around the car. Your pistol was gripped in your hand as you maneuvered the crashed vehicles and kept your body low to avoid the next round of automatic gun fire.

The incoming sirens grew louder and it felt like the timer was ticking down at the same time. You were able to get behind Billy and you had to act quickly if you wanted the chance before the NYPD got too close.

Move, Exodus. You thought. If you don’t, you’ll miss your chance.

The incoming officers served as a perfect distraction.

You forced yourself to vault over the hood of the car you were crouched behind. You landed softly, soundlessly even, and reached out. You yanked Billy back by the hood of his jacket and his bullets immediately ceased.

You threw your arm around his neck and pressed your gun under his chin.

“Скучаешь по мне?” You said lowly in his ear. (Miss me?) “You should’ve died.”

“Should’ve done it yourself then.” He growled back and grabbed your arm.

He pulled you over his shoulder and your back hit the ground. He quickly put a knee on your chest and reached for the gun in your hand. You searched for the foot he had against the ground and slammed your elbow against the ankle. His foot skidded and he was thrown off balance so you could roll away.

You planted one foot on the ground and turned to slam the opposing heel into his kidney and he fell to his face. You rolled him to his back and used your knees to pin his arms down at the shoulders. Your gun had fallen away so you pulled a blade instead.

“Say my name.” You ordered, accent dripping off the simple syllables.

He stared at you with no fear. Either he didn’t care if he died or he didn’t believe you’d do it.

“Say it!” You commanded again, your anger heating the knife in your hand. 

“You’re just a Mask.” He taunted and your lip curled. “Without it, you’re nothing.”

“Without it, I owned you all the same.” You spoke plainly.

You raised your knife overhead, pushing his head to the side with the other hand, when the bullet grazed. The knife clattered from your hand and the metallic sting burned a line against the back of your hand. You clutched the injury and turned quickly to find the shooter. An NYPD officer. If it wasn’t just a man doing his job, you would’ve fired back.

The second your attention shifted, Billy threw you off and ran. You collected your discarded weapons quickly and saw Frank motioning for you to follow.

A new car had arrived and the driver dragged Billy away. You slammed a hand against the ground before you ran after Frank. He waited for you a few blocks over and took off again once he saw you’d match his stride.

You dared one look over your shoulder and saw Mahoney a few paces behind you.

You rolled your eyes slightly and faced forward. You knew Mahoney was a good guy but you wished he’d chase someone else for once.

You and Frank ended up cornered in an alley. Before you could get the lock off, Mahoney had found you.

“Drop the gun, Frank.” He ordered and you kept your back to him. “Drop your weapons, too, Exodus.”

You felt Frank tap your arm in reassurance so you lifted your already empty hands. You looked over and saw Frank was moving closer to Mahoney and you followed suit. He fell to his knees as Brett ordered and you did the same.

“Been a while from either of you.” Brett said carefully. His gun never wavered.

“Nothing big enough after Fisk.” You answered, intently letting your accent coat your words.

“Explains the downgrade in outfits.”

Your neutral expression shifted to a glare at the comment.

“How is his little Bullseye, by the way? Shattered spine is no joke. Shame he still lives.”

“I thought you only come out when Daredevil’s around.”

“He’s not my keeper:”

“Yeah.” He scoffed slightly. “Didn’t think you had one.”

You shrugged as a bullet hit the wall behind Brett. Your eyes darted over and saw Curtis with a rifle. You quickly pieced together that he had taken out the sniper from the rooftop. You nodded in thanks and stood carefully, allowing the boys to talk.

“Сожалею об этом.” You said with a sharp nod. (Sorry about this.)

When Brett looked your way, you threw a hard roundhouse that sent him slamming into the dumpster behind him before collapsing to the ground. You grabbed Frank’s hand and you two took off behind Curtis.

As you were leaving, you felt the wave of emotions coming for you. It was from the direction of the warehouse you had checked before going after Billy. He was remembering that night in better detail. He was remembering you and Frank. You liked that he was tore up about it. You wanted to make that worse, to drive him insane, but two things stopped you.

One, he was too far. Your influence likely wouldn’t reach or it would impact someone else. Two, you didn’t know exactly how he’d react if you truly broke him. It made you think of what happened to Dex, the way he attacked you and Matt at the church, the knife - your knife - burying itself to the hilt in your stomach.

No, you weren’t convinced you’d survive that again.

So you sat in the backseat of Curtis’ car and took off your mask. You hid your vest under your sweater and simply looked in the direction of the waves while your hand sat on the scar on your stomach. The burn seemed to shift to the back of your hand and you finally turned focus to the bullet graze against the bony area.

You brought your hand closer to your face and examined it. You took a deep breath and willed it to hurt. You forced that emotion nagging at the back of your mind to move across your skin and mend the shallow wound. It caused you to clench your jaw as you saw the imaginary bubble of pain sitting on the back of your hand, waiting for its job.

For a moment, you let it hurt.

Then you clamped your other hand down on top and popped the imaginary bubble. The skin under it was warm but the wound had healed. Now it was just another scar.

When Curtis got you and Frank back to the trailer, you stepped out first. You put yourself in front and whistled the two notes you had taught Amy. You waited a second but got no reply. The potential made your stomach drop but you pulled a blade either way.

You tried your whistle again and were met with another silence. With worried eyes, you looked to Frank.

“Kid!” He tried. “It’s Frank!”

Silence.

“Kid!” 

Frank turned to you and you simply shrugged. Both of you had given your indicators and yet there was no response. You glanced around and saw no footprints. No tire marks. There was no blood or bullet holes or any signs of struggle. Has she gone that easily?

“Open it.” You said lowly, letting the blade flip over your knuckles to face the other way.

Frank gave a quick nod and opened the door. He stepped in first and you were right behind him. Your brows furrowed as worry gnawed at your stomach. You gripped your blade tighter just as a tennis ball came over yours and Frank’s shoulders.

You turned and lifted the other hand defensively. The figure went for Frank first and when he flipped the attacker over his shoulder, you realized it was Amy. You dropped your knife instantly and then regretted it.

“What are you doing?” Frank yelled as he kneeled over her. “You out of your mind?”

“Get off of her!” You shouted.

“You think it’s a game?” He ignored you. “How about now?” He put his gun against her jaw.

Suddenly, for a split second, you were a scared little kid again. You were training in the Red Room. One of your teachers, a man with a cold hand and an empty look in his eyes, had his cold hand around your throat while he slammed you to the ground. 

At that, something inside you snapped.

You reached forward and grabbed his arm. You twisted it towards you and pulled his hand towards the floor. You leaned into it and swung your legs, letting your knees collide with his chest. The move took you both to the ground and you heard the small whimpers as Amy clambered away in a panic. Vaguely, you heard Curtis’ voice either trying to console Amy or get you two to stop.

Frank tried to shove you off but you kept a firm hold of his jacket. His other hand grabbed at the back of your sweater and he rolled you two so he would pin you down. You shoved a knee between your bodies as the position changed and flattened the other foot against the floor. You kicked off the ground and then extended the knee to flip Frank over your head and you followed suit.

He landed with a heavy thud and you pulled your second blade. You yanked the excess fabric of his jacket and slammed the knife through it and into the floor. You knew it wouldn’t hold long, but it was enough for you to get to your feet and hurry to Amy’s side.

The girl was practically vibrating with panic and you felt it jolt through your own bones as she threw herself into your arms. You dropped all your walls and let her panic seep into you. She cried against you and you said nothing, just gently rubbed her back while you glared at Frank.

He angrily stared back with your knife in one hand and his gun in the other. You were hyper aware of your own handgun waiting at your back.

“She’s gonna get herself killed.” He said lowly.

“She shouldn’t have to worry about it from you.” You shot back, wrapping your arms around Amy a bit tighter. “What the hell were you thinking?” 

“Don’t give me that shit. You see how close I came to killing her?” He fired one shot into the wall and Amy flinched. “That’s her head all over that wall.”

“Enough.” You said sharply.

Another shot. “Just like that!”

Amy yelped but the sound was muffled by your sweater.

“I was just-“ She hiccuped. “I was just practicing the move you showed me!”

“Bullshit!” Frank continued. “Bullshit! Quit your goddamn crying!”

You moved Amy behind you and reached your hand to rest on your gun. Neither you or Frank backed down. He threw your knife at your feet and you planted your foot on top of it. You knew your other discarded blade was somewhere between the two of you, but looking away to find it wasn’t an option. Not when Frank seemed so erratic.

“She’s. A. Kid.” You said firmly. “You can’t talk to her like that. You can’t treat her like that.”

“This isn’t a goddamn game, Livia.”

“You think I don’t know that?”

“She needs to know that. We make mistakes and people die. They die!”

“I know!” You shouted. Elektra, Sam Stein, Father Lantom, Matt - or so you thought, at least - other Widows you grew up with.

“A man died today because I dropped the ball, and you did too.”

You scoffed. “Some dickhead guy running with Billy. Is that supposed to make me feel bad?” You offered a mock pout.

“She needs to know she could wind up dead.”

“You pinning her down and pointing a gun at her isn’t going to teach her that.” You continued and Frank rolled his eyes.

You gently removed Amy’s hand from your sweater and took a couple steps forward. You made sure you slid the knife further behind you as you did so.

“You try that again, and my knife won’t go through your jacket.” You warned quietly. “Get your fucking head on straight or I do this without you.”

“You think you’re that goddamn tough, huh?” He asked in the same low tone, standing toe to toe with you.

“If that cop didn’t graze me, it would’ve been over already. I’m not afraid of Billy or the man from Ohio. And I’m damn sure not afraid of you. I don’t think you really want to see what it looks like from the other side when I go after someone.”

Frank shoved past you and went outside. Curtis was right behind while the two bickered about the keys. You collected your second knife and went after them.

“Wait, wait, wait!” Amy panicked and grabbed your hand. “You’re coming back, right?”

“I promise.” You nodded. “Just stay here and don’t do anything stupid. Call me if something happens and remember that shotgun.”

She nodded vigorously as the tears welled in her eyes. You patted her cheek and shut the door behind yourself.

[ohmygoly]

KotLC Economy

I wasn't gonna post anything, and this probably won't be very noticed, but I saw a poll about the worst part of the KotLC books and now I'm thinking about this.

The way that money is handled in the books is not only super inaccurate and pretty much impossible, it's actually damaging to the story as well. Everyone just gets about 500 million lusters in their accounts at the beginning of their lives and somehow the currency is still more valuable than American/European money? Even though that's not how value works from an economical standpoint anywhere in the world? Just the fact that EVERYONE gets that much money instantly negates its value at all, because no one needs anymore money and therefore any money you possibly could've payed anyone is worthless.

Why do any elves even sell stuff? I get having hobbies, and I get giving it away, but at that point an elf wouldn't even bother charging lusters for it because they would have to ask for so much to match the value while at the same time not needing any more because they have infinite money themselves. Elves would just ask for some other belonging in exchange and life would go back to some primitive form of society where everyone had to pay service with service directly. That or everybody gets everything for free and in that case, material supplies that actually did have value would deplete rapidly and it would destroy the Earth because every resource would be drained for nothing (and that just doesn't happen because any intelligent species should know not to deplete resources and put a value on it. In a free system like the latter describes, elves would actually be doing much worse for the planet than even humans because at least humans know they must preserve some things for more profit).

It's also lazy writing because it's just a way for Shannon Messenger not to have to honestly think about how much a character is spending in the books and it means she can focus more on other prejudices like abilities, twins, or matches without factoring anything else into it. I'll get to that next but for now, it's also a glaring worldbuilding issue because while all elves are supposed to get enough money to last them a lifetime, the books state that elves don't actually know how long they live for. That means that they would have to have an infinite amount of money, to their own knowledge, to last them a lifetime.

Back to focusing on other prejudices, its all well that she came up with creative ways elves would segregate as it makes for a distinct cultural species but money and class is always important in a society because money is always a societal must in any type of advanced civilization. How it's important and how it separates people, as well as how the government controls it, is what makes the societies different. To not have this in here ruins the opportunity for government oppression in the form of labor and money that would amplify the effects of being a twin, a bad match, or talentless. Sure, you could just banish everyone that isn't perfect, I'm sure that has happened, but even then there would be a lot of elves who would be banished and at that point they would be their own society (something else that hasnt really been shown to exist within the elven world).

It also makes being a bad match or talentless less scary because yes society judges you but look at Juline and Kesler, they still live in an ice mansion and have immense wealth. Social oppression and physical oppression are two different things and one is far more drastic and dystopian. Sophie doesn't even need to see it at first. Maybe while not banished, those parts of the elven world are even more hidden than the glittering ones and since Sophie goes to Foxfire she still wouldn't see it right away and it would serve the same effect of what appears to be a utopia to the readers (I forgot who posted it but someone else made a great analysis on this point) but is actually a dystopia.

I think Dex, Marella, and Jensi should've been part of a lower economic class, and I even think Stina should be very close to it. So much so that she has to be mean and bully Dex to separate herself from what is a very possible future for her family. Maybe Sophie meets them another way. Maybe Dex is accepted into Foxfire because his mom is still "noble" or because his aunt is and its very apparent he still doesnt fit in with the rest of the students. Maybe the councillors created a special test to allow only the smartest of the lower class to also join Foxfire, and Marella and Jensi passed. That would make the council seem a little more progressive from the outside at first as well as allow Sophie to meet them as soon as she does as well as give Marella and Jensi a unique perspective.

Jensi is part of the drooly boys but even from the beginning he is clearly not a part of the group because while gross, theyre still noble. Jensi is still poor. Marella's mom getting drunk and getting a disability would be another way for the kids to scorn the lower class, as if its Marella's fault. Maybe even make way for a storyline where a noble elf was at fault for her impairment (because they have a lower class to oppress). Them becoming talentless and a pyrokinetic would be that much worse because they lose a chance to continue schooling at Foxfire. They are faced with the fact that they have to continue the life their families led before them because they don't have what society wants them to have. Because of this they also still work for the rich and they still have no money. That is much better than just "I can't work for the council and am instead stuck with no obligations to them while I sit comfortably in my mansion with my 500 million lusters. But oh no, I'm not noble so it means I'm oppressed"