#no idea how the company got these little guys but hey funky

[maybeimamuppet]

you happened

hey darlings!! happy wednesday!!!

let’s get right into it shall we?

tw for

discussion of canon events in mg (outing, etc)

discussion of canon events in the prom (homophobia, etc.)

this was requested by @spidy-nugget like forever ago so thank you for your patience and i hope you enjoy!

—

“Oh!” Cady says, interrupting herself in the middle of a sentence. “I just remembered! My cousin is coming to visit next week, do you guys want to meet her?”

“Emma?” Damian asks excitedly. Cady nods. “Yes! Is she bringing the-her… Broadway friends?”

“I dunno, she didn’t tell me,” Cady giggles. “But probably, she said they usually visit her at some point every summer.”

“I should probably be there to stop him from combusting if they do come,” Janis huffs. “But also, yes, I want to meet her too.”

“She’s an absolute icon,” Damian says happily. “God, her song. Still makes me cry.”

“You cried watching Finding Dory yesterday,” Janis retaliates.

“It’s a sad movie! Sometimes!” Damian defends. “Anyway, tell me all about Emma.”

“Okay,” Cady giggles again. “She’s a year older than us, and she’s my cousin on my mom’s side. Um… you know her whole… prom fiasco. I’ve only met her in person once when I was ten, for Rhys’ funeral. But we were pen pals when we were really little. And now we just text and stuff.”

“Cute,” Damian says. “And is her girlfriend coming?”

“Oh! Yeah,” Cady says around a mouthful of Janis’ milkshake. “Her name is Alyssa, she’s, like, super smart. Did every possible activity in high school, that kind of thing. But she’s been with Emma when we’ve Facetimed and stuff before and she’s super sweet.”

“Aww,” Damian coos. “I can’t wait!”

————-

Luckily for him, Damian doesn’t have to wait too long. Emma and Alyssa arrive the following week in Emma’s pickup. Damian has been pressed against the window all day, like a small child watching for the ice cream truck. He gasps dramatically when four people in matching sequined tracksuits also hop out of the backseat, grumbling about being cramped together for such a long trip.

Cady opens the door to let everyone in, and is quickly swamped by a crowd of people much taller than her. Janis pops up on her tippy toes to try and find her girlfriend to save her, but doesn’t succeed.

Everyone heads into the living room, and Janis laughs when she finds Cady being carried in like a sack of potatoes by one of the men that came with Emma.

“Emma, why didn’t you tell me your cousin was so adorable?” He demands. “Look at this, she’s so small.”

“Please put me down,” Cady squeaks. Janis heads over and reaches for her.

“Can I have my girlfriend back, please?”

“And she’s gay!” The man says happily, passing Cady over like she’s a small dog. Janis holds her close and smoothes her hair back to where it was.

“Bi, actually,” Cady grumbles.

“Well, aren’t you something. Oh, my name is Barry, by the way. As if you haven’t heard of me.”

“Barry, we talked about this,” Emma chides. “They haven’t. Except Damian.”

“And where is this Damian? I want to meet him,” one of the ladies says. “Oh, and my name is Dee Dee.”

Damian enters shyly and gives a little wave. Janis cackles, “Dude, you’re totally starstruck, look at you!”

“Uh-hi,” he stutters. “I’m Damian.”

“Aww!” The other lady says. “Look at your little cheeks, what a sweetheart! I’m Angie.”

Damian blushes violently as he’s cooed over by Angie. Barry hauls her off to get a good look at him.

“I like this,” he says. “It’s like a mini me.”

“Just don’t break him,” Emma pleads. “Damian, can I trust you to babysit for a while?”

That prompts a, ‘Hey!’ from all four adults, and an eager nod from Damian. “I can show them around town.”

“This is not a town, darling,” Dee Dee says gently. “But what is there to see?”

“We have… uh-“

“There’s an IHOP!” Cady chirps. “And the mall. That’s kind of it until you get to Chicago. Or the lake.”

“This is the most precious soul,” Barry says happily.

“Dame, we did it. I never thought I’d see the day we found someone gayer than you,” Janis laughs.

“Oh, I like this one too,” Barry says. “Funky little lesbian. She dresses like Emma but goth.”

“I do love the hair,” Emma agrees. “I’m dressed more like Cady today though.”

They both look down at their almost-matching flannels and jean shorts, then back at each other with a nod.

“Same boots though,” Janis cheers, lifting a foot. Emma laughs and nudges it with one of her own doc martens. “Nice.”

“Precious,” Angie says. “Okay, we’ll leave you gals alone now. Damian, show us the sights.”

“It would be my pleasure,” Damian says, leading the adults to the door.

“Yes, show us to the… hopping eyes,” Dee Dee says, sounding both bored and intrigued at the same time. Damian waves goodbye to Janis excitedly and closes the door after him.

“Well,” Emma chuckles. “Oh, I hope he’ll be okay.”

“I think he’ll be fine,” Alyssa soothes. “He’s in good company, and he’s a theatre kid, he gets their… vibes.”

“Theatre kid is an understatement for that boy,” Janis tuts affectionately.

“True,” Cady giggles. “Anyway, we can hang out in my room, if you want?”

Emma and Alyssa nod, so Cady leads everyone up to her bedroom. Janis flops onto the bed and Cady crawls in behind her, lifting her head onto her lap. Alyssa and Emma look around curiously for a second before joining them.

“Who did these?” Alyssa asks, pointing to the paintings and collages adorning the walls. “They’re incredible, especially this one. It looks just like you guys!”

Janis flushes as she points to the one she won her art contest with, of she and Damian and Cady all together. “I did.”

“Dang,” Emma breathes. “You have some serious talent, Janis.”

“Thanks,” Janis squeaks.

“No, seriously! Do you have stuff here?” Emma insists.

“A few things, yeah,” Janis says confusedly, raising an eyebrow. “Why?”

Emma lifts her guitar case onto the bed and flicks the latches open, pulling out her famous instrument. It’s covered in stickers and little doodles, much like Janis’ jackets.

“Will you do something on this for me?”

Janis’ eyes go wide. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah, of course!” Emma chuckles. “There’s room down here if you want it visible, or on the back.”

Janis carefully takes the instrument and assesses the material, trying to put an idea together in her mind. She runs to Cady’s desk when one comes to her, where she keeps a supply of basic colors and brushes in case of emergency. Cady doesn’t mind keeping them, they remind her of her girlfriend.

Cady grins affectionately as Emma and Alyssa cuddle in together. “How did you two meet?”

Her cousin turns to smile at her girlfriend. “I kind of always knew of her from school and stuff, but we didn’t really get close until sophomore year.”

Alyssa nods in agreement. “My mom wanted me to be more creative and have another skill or whatever, so she signed me up for guitar classes. Just so happens she was my teacher.”

“You really sucked,” Emma teases. Alyssa scoffs, aghast, and shoves her so hard she nearly falls off the bed. “Ack! Hey, I was kidding!”

“I know,” Alyssa giggles. “I did suck, I’ve never been much good at artsy stuff.”

“I was never good at art either,” Cady chuckles at their antics. “Jay’s tried to teach me to paint a couple times and it hasn’t gone too well.”

She peeks around the other couple to where her own girlfriend is sitting cross-legged on the ground, tongue poked out to the side as she carefully brushes a stroke of paint onto Emma’s guitar. Janis looks up when she feels her gaze, and grins happily when she sees Cady.

“You have the right instincts, I keep telling you,” she says. “You just get cranky too fast and then start attacking me with it.”

Everyone else bursts out laughing. Emma says, “I don’t blame her, I hated art class. What were we talking about?”

“How we met, dummy,” Alyssa huffs, kissing behind Emma’s ear.

“Oh yeah! So, we started off with actual lessons, but then we started getting to know each other more,” Emma explains. “And then I came out and got kicked out, which… a lot of people heard about, so Lyss figured I was a safe person to tell that she was questioning.”

Cady nods, listening intently to the story.

“I came out to her that summer,” Alyssa says. “And she said she’d had a crush on me all along, and asked me out. So we went on a walk and then got coffee and the rest is history.”

“We forgot to mention the serious gay panic I had during our first lesson,” Emma chuckles. “But that’s the gist of it.”

“How cute,” Cady coos.

“What about you two, how long have you been together?” Alyssa asks kindly, flicking Emma’s ear gently as she aggressively plops down onto her lap.

“Four months,” Janis pipes up immediately.

“Man, you crushed on her for that long without saying anything, Cades?” Emma says, impressed. Janis pops her head up and listens in.

“Oh?”

“She never shut up about you for, like, almost a year,” Emma laughs. Cady flushes scarlet and looks down at her lap with a flustered squeak. “I’m assuming it was you, she never gave a name. But it was always a tall, hot artist with cool hair and nice muscles. And I think she mentioned your butt a few times, she thinks that’s cute.”

Janis cackles as Cady flops facedown onto her bed and groans into a pillow. “How cute, I didn’t know that. But I shouldn’t laugh, I definitely wasn’t any better.”

“How did you get together?” Alyssa asks, patting Cady’s shoulder in an attempt to comfort her. Janis snorts from the ground and Cady gives another groan into her pillow. “What?”

“You tell them,” Cady grumbles, poking her face out just long enough that it’s not muffled.

“Baby, it’s cute,” Janis coos.

“No it’s not!”

“Okay, fine, I’ll tell it in a way that makes me look just as dorky,” Janis compromises. “Caddy came to my school in September from Kenya, and she had these adorable little cargo shorts and socks with sandals on, and-“

“Hold on, what?” Alyssa insists. “Kenya?”

“Cady grew up there, her parents are zoologists,” Emma explains.

“How many conversations have we had with her? And you never thought to tell me she’s from Africa?”

“It never came up! We both had a lot going on the first year and then we just didn’t bring it up,” Emma defends. “And now you know.”

“Sorry,” Alyssa says. “Keep going.”

“It’s all good,” Janis chuckles. “Anyway, I fell for her so bad the first day that I dragged Damian into the bathroom at lunch and made him let her join our group.”

Cady pops her head up and looks to her girlfriend. “You did?”

“Yeah, duh,” Janis says. “We’re not known for socializing with the new kids, I just thought you were cute.”

Cady blushes again, but doesn’t return to her pillow. “Keep going.”

Janis chuckles and continues telling the story as she finishes her small painting on Emma’s guitar. “So we became friends that day, and then had… an ordeal, through the rest of junior year and didn’t really reconnect until spring.”

Cady’s told Emma and Alyssa the whole story, so they both nod at Janis’ quick explanation.

“We got really close over the summer, and apparently we were both crushing on each other. But we didn’t notice, somehow. And then I sorta snapped on her birthday this year and decided to fess up, so I made that,” Janis points to the black and white collage hanging next to one of her paintings on the wall. “But before I could give it to her, this little firecracker got wasted and started crying in my lap about how much she loved me.”

“I wasn’t that drunk!” Cady huffs.

“I found you lying on the ground singing yourself to sleep,” Janis giggles. “And you didn’t recognize me, clearly. Just climbed into my lap and spilled your guts. I was lucky it wasn’t literal.”

“Janis Sarkisian,” Cady grumbles. “Behave.”

“Fine, fine,” Janis chuckles. “Anyway, once she sobered up a little bit we had a chat and realized we both had feelings for each other, so we started dating. And now we’re here.”

“That did not make you sound anywhere near as dorky as me,” Cady huffs. “But yeah, that’s… that’s it.”

Emma snorts once the story is done. “That does sound like Cady. But if that’s what it took, then I guess it was worth it.”

Cady turns to look at Janis again. “It was. But you guys went through a lot more than us, that must have been tough on both of you.”

“I wouldn’t say that,” Emma chuckles, trying to sneak a peek at Janis’ work. The angle isn’t quite right, so she gives up before she falls off her girlfriend. “You guys went through a lot. But yeah, it was really tough. I’m so lucky.”

“I’m the lucky one,” Alyssa murmurs back. “You guys know the story?”

“I do,” Cady says. “I think Jay and Damian just know the bare bones. It’s your story to tell, I didn’t want to give too many details away.”

Alyssa gives her a grateful smile, and Cady grins back. “Do you want to hear it?”

“Of course,” Janis pipes up. “I finished, by the way. Um, here.”

“Hey, you stole my idea!” Cady jokingly whines when she sees what Janis has done.

“But it’s so perfect!” Janis defends. Emma takes her guitar to see, and smiles at the new lion with a rainbow mane in the spot they’d picked. “And it’s kind of for both of us.”

“This is awesome,” Emma says. “Oh! I get it, it’s a pride thing! Pride of lions, and then… oh. Clever!”

“It was actually Caddy’s idea, she made me a rock with it at pride last week,” Janis says. “I thought it fit.”

“It does, you’re really talented!” Alyssa says, leaning over her girlfriend’s shoulder to see it. Janis’ text tone goes off, so she pulls her phone out of the pocket of her shorts to check it. Cady peeks over to see what it is too as Janis bursts out laughing. It’s a picture of Damian surrounded by his new friends, now in a matching tracksuit all of his own.

jamian: Sent a picture: JAN LOOKIT

danis: nice outfit

jamian: Thank u it really suits me doesnt it

danis: honestly

danis: yeah kinda

jamian: Sent a picture: Thank u

jamian: Anyway we’re going to ihop next yall should meet us there

danis: kk love u

jamian: Love u too

“I think your little crew adopted Damian,” Janis chuckles at Emma and Alyssa, showing them the photo of a very excited Damian.

“Aww,” Emma chuckles. “I’m glad they didn’t kill him, they can be a lot to handle.”

“He seems fine,” Janis shrugs. “Whose truck are we taking?”

“Oh, is that one in the driveway yours?” Emma says excitedly. Janis nods. “It’s nice!”

“We’ve been in Em’s all day,” Alyssa chuckles. “Probably best to take yours.”

“I call shotgun!” Cady yells, already tugging on her shoes and running downstairs.

“As if I’d let anyone else,” Janis mumbles affectionately under her breath.

————-

The waitstaff at IHOP look more than a little frightened at the size of their group, and especially at the crew in tracksuits.

“Ey, yo!” One of them calls. “Guys, come here! It’s that guy from the thing! That show!”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Trent grumbles under his breath. “Why is it always that? I played Hamlet!”

They’re quickly escorted to a large table near the back, and Trent signs a few menus as a little gift to the now very excited waiters.

“Was Juilliard worth it?” He mutters to himself. Angie, who’s sat next to him, nudges him with an elbow to shut him up.

Janis and Emma both order for their girlfriends, and also order themselves the same meal of chicken and waffles. Dee Dee gets french toast, Angie gets an omelet, Trent gets some crepes, and Barry gets the most horrifically sweet looking pancakes anyone’s ever seen. Apparently they’re cupcake flavored.

Alyssa looks very content with her large Belgian waffle, and Cady seems delighted with her chocolate chip pancakes decorated with whipped cream to look like a face. It’s definitely from the children’s menu, but nobody says anything.

“So tell us about you guys,” Dee Dee says once their food gets delivered. She looks eagerly to her friends, as if to say, ‘Look how nice I can be when I want to.’ Barry claps quietly for her.

“What do you want to know?” Damian asks. Dee Dee puts her head in her hands, clearly not knowing how to continue. Trent takes over for her.

“How do you guys know each other?”

“Oh!” Damian says excitedly. “Janis and I have been friends, like, forever. We met in tap dance class when we were three.”

“And you knocked my fucking teeth out in that class when we were five,” Janis grumbles.

“By accident!” Damian defends amidst the giggles of their whole group. “I got really into it. Anyway, so we’ve been friends forever. And then little Caddy happened along in junior year, and we kind of kidnapped her for a while.”

“No, I needed to be kidnapped,” Cady laughs. “I was a total wreck. They actually sort of rescued me from the school bathroom at lunch.”

“You were eating in the bathroom?” Barry asks, sounding both empathetic and disgusted. “Oh, you poor sweet thing.”

“I was the new kid, y’know?” Cady shrugs. “Nobody wanted to eat with the dork from Africa.”

Angie chokes on a bite of her food, and Trent thumps her on the back. “From what now?”

“I’m from Kenya,” Cady giggles. “Well, technically I was born in Oregon. But I lived in Kenya for thirteen years.”

“Just, like, in the wilderness?” Barry asks in shock. “With the lions and tigers and… bears and stuff?”

Cady laughs out loud. “Pretty much. But there’s no tigers or bears.”

“But there were lions?” Trent insists.

“Oh, yeah,” Cady says like it’s entirely normal. “That’s mostly what we were studying. They were kind of my only friends.”

“And they never showed any interest in… consuming you?” Dee Dee asks worriedly. Cady laughs again.

“Lions are just big cats, you know, guys? As long as you’re careful and respect their boundaries they won’t hurt you,” she chuckles. “I got swiped at a few times when I was little, but I never needed more than fifteen stitches.”

“Fifteen?” Angie yelps.

“That is kind of a lot, Cades,” Emma chuckles. “I never had to get more than three as a kid.”

“Oh. Well, I was kind of asking for it, I was playing too rough,” Cady hums.

“With a lion,” Alyssa insists. “Do you have pictures?” Cady nods and passes over her phone for them to scroll through her camera roll.

“Anyway, please keep going,” Angie says, leaning across the table to try to see.

“That’s basically it,” Janis shrugs. “Until you get into the whole mess that happened junior year.”

Cady and Damian nod in agreement. The adults all look very excited at the prospect of some new drama. “Do tell.”

The art freaks all look to one another warily, wondering who should begin. Cady decides to after a second of back and forth.

“Well, um… I sat with these two on my first day,” she begins. “But then just before lunch ended I met these three girls. We called them the Plastics.”

“Why?” Angie asks curiously. Damian shows them all a photo. “Oh. I already don’t like this one.” Janis snorts quietly as she points to Regina.

“Anyway, they said I should sit with them, and Janis and Damian wanted me to so I could spy on them,” Cady says sheepishly. “They have some… personal history.”

“Oh?” Trent asks. Cady looks to Janis, this bit is her story to tell.

“Regina, the one in the middle, outed me in eighth grade,” Janis says. “Carved slurs into my locker, that kinda thing.”

“Oh, honey,” Barry says sadly. “That bitch.”

Janis chuckles weakly. “Yeah. The other two just kind of went along with it. They were just generally bitchy to everyone. But I didn’t have many friends because of her, and I went through a lot of counseling and stuff because of it. Spent some time in the hospital for… reasons, but that’s not… something we need to discuss right now.”

Everyone nods, respecting her privacy. Cady continues telling the story. “So, I pretended to join them and would kind of report back to Janis and Damian. I learned that they had this book, called the Burn Book, where they would write mean things about people from the yearbook and stuff. And at the same time I was crushing for a long time on this boy named Aaron, but he was Regina’s ex. She had dumped him earlier for another guy. And she was actually cheating on him with the other one.”

“Oh, can I tell this bit?” Janis asks. Cady nods and gestures for her to keep going. “So, around Halloween, Cady went to Aaron’s party, and I don’t know exactly what happened, but he basically got back together with Regina.”

“What kind of idiot-“ Trent begins, getting cut off by a stomp on the foot from Dee Dee.

“So poor Caddy came to my house,” Janis says, trying to keep down giggles at the memory. “Fucking slams my basement door open, but Dame and I were watching horror movies. Caddy was dressed as some corpse bride with a knife in her back and everything, and Damian screamed so loud, like, higher than I’ve ever heard. But she was crying, so we helped her and then came up with a revenge plot.”

Dee Dee suddenly looks very interested, leaning forwards slightly and resting her head on her folded hands.

“Caddy had these snack bars from Kenya, they’re… Swedish, I think?” Damian says. Cady nods. “They make you gain weight, like, really quickly. Regina was kind of obsessed with her weight and image and stuff, so we got Caddy to tell her they were actually a diet bar to help lose weight.”

“No,” Angie gasps. Everyone laughs at her reaction.

“Yeah,” Cady laughs. “I don’t think anything major happened until around Christmas. The Plastics did this dance every year at the winter talent show, and we had to wear these skimpy little Santa outfits. But Regina had already gained a fair bit of weight, so her skirt didn’t fit…”

“It fell off in the middle of the routine in front of everyone,” Janis cackles. Emma and Alyssa both look slightly scared of her. “Sorry. Personal vindication. But yeah, that was kind of the beginning of the end for her. Cady kind of… got lost in it, by that point. It was hard to tell if she was pretending or not.”

Cady looks down at her lap in shame, so Janis takes her hand under the table and kisses the side of her head a few times to comfort her. Damian keeps going with the story.

“So, Caddy basically overthrew Regina as Queen Bee of the school. She threw a little party and didn’t invite us or Regina, so she kind of was attacking both fronts. We got pretty mad and stopped associating with her, and Regina was obviously furious,” he says. “And so as revenge for that, Regina photocopied the Burn Book and spread all the pages around the school. I saw, like, seven fights before first period even started that day.”

“But didn’t they know that she had written it?” Trent asks.

“That’s the thing, she put herself in it,” Janis adds, now holding Cady on her lap. “So nobody suspected her. She went to the principal and blamed Gretchen and Karen, they’re the other two, and Cady.”

“I don’t like this story,” Barry whines. “Tell me something good happens.”

“Oh, just wait,” Janis chuckles darkly. “There was an assembly called that day, and they tried to make us apologize to each other and do trust exercises or something like that. I kind of went rogue and only apologized to myself and rallied the rest of the girls in our grade.”

“Go Janis,” Angie says, sounding impressed. “Stick it to the man.”

“Thanks,” Janis laughs. “But it only lasted a few minutes.”

“Damn it,” Barry groans. “What happened?”

“Regina got hit by a bus,” Cady says. Angie spits her mouthful of lemonade over Trent.

“She what?”

“Yeah,” Cady laughs. “So, that time kind of sucked for both of us. She was in the hospital recovering, and everyone was saying that I pushed her in front of it or that she jumped in front of it on purpose because of me.”

“She didn’t die?” Dee Dee clarifies. Everyone is more than a little concerned at the disappointment in her voice.

“No,” Cady chuckles. “Well, she died for, like, fifteen seconds, but she was resuscitated and she’s fine now.”

“And did you push her?” Barry asks. “We’re all friends here, you can tell us.”

“No!” Cady huffs. “I may have been a raging bitch, but I’m not an attempted murderer.”

“You didn’t feed anyone to a lion back in Kenya?” Janis teases gently.

“I’ll do it to you if you’re not careful,” Cady retaliates with a laugh. “Where did we leave off?”

“Regina got hit by a bus and you didn’t push her,” Trent says helpfully, still dabbing some lemonade out of his sweater with a wad of napkins.

“Oh,” Damian says. “Okay, so, I don’t… totally remember what happened in between that and Spring Fling, but it’s really not important.”

“I was suspended for the Book, that’s kind of it,” Cady says, gesturing for him to continue.

“Oh, yeah! Anyway, Spring Fling at our school is basically prom but for underclassmen, prom is just for the seniors. Jan and I were each other’s dates, she decorated our outfits and stuff, we looked killer if I do say so myself.”

Janis rolls her eyes lovingly and whacks him with an elbow.

“And Caddy was banned, so she wasn’t supposed to be there, but she showed up towards the end with the Mathletes,” Damian continues. “And she had been nominated for queen, and she won. So she went up on stage and gave the most beautiful speech I’ve ever heard and broke her crown, and we all got a piece. So now we’re all friends and life is good.”

“Nice ending, Dame,” Janis laughs. “Hasty conclusions. But that it is basically how it happened.”

Everyone blinks at them. Trent says, “That was like being in a war zone. Just one bombshell after another.”

“It kinda was, our math teacher got stabbed in the leg at one point,” Cady hums. “Anyway, what’s your guys’ story? If you want to share.”

“Oh, yeah, I’d like to know more,” Damian says. “Jan and I really only know the bare bones. What was in the news, and stuff.”

“You guys can start,” Emma says, pulling a face as Alyssa gently dabs some syrup off her lip. Alyssa giggles when Emma tries to bite her hand and kisses Emma’s cheek.

“Ooh, okay!” Barry says eagerly. “We were in a show. Well, Dee Dee and I. We were in a delightful little show called Eleanor.”

“As in…” Janis says confusedly.

“Eleanor Roosevelt,” Dee Dee explains. She seems surprised when the kids all nod in understanding. “You’ve heard of her?”

“Yeah?” Cady says, tilting her head. “She’s one of the most famous first ladies of all time, we learned about her in our history class.”

“Not nearly enough,” Janis grumbles. “Gotta make time for the men.”

“Amen sister,” Angie huffs.

“Really…” Dee Dee hums interestedly. “Anyway, it was… not a success. Poor advance sales, and then…”

“We bombed opening night,” Barry grumbles. “Apparently. But it wasn’t the show, it was… it was us. The media panned us as aging narcissists and we had to close.”

“On opening night?” Damian gasps in horror. Dee Dee and Barry both nod sadly.

“Regretfully, yes. So, we had to try to change the narrative,” Dee Dee says. “We decided to find a good cause and do something. So we were going to build houses for Habitat for Humanity.”

“But Barry has a bad back,” Trent pipes up. “So then we thought about, like, recycling or fixing poverty or world hunger.”

“But that was all too much for us to handle,” Angie says. “So I went on Twitter and found-”

“Me!” Emma says. “Apparently that all happened on the same night as the first assembly where the PTA cancelled prom in the first place. I guess we were trending.”

“And they only cancelled it because you two wanted to go together?” Janis asks sadly.

“Yep. Well, nobody knew about Alyssa, but they cancelled it because they knew I wanted to bring my girlfriend,” Emma explains.

“Those bitches,” Janis grumbles. “Sorry.”

“Believe me, we get it,” Emma laughs. “But my bit of the story isn’t quite here yet.”

“Oh, yes!” Dee Dee realizes. “So, we decided to help Emma, but we were completely out of funds and had no way to get all the way to Indiana from New York.”

“But I had just booked a non-equity tour of Godspell,” Trent half-brags. The other half seems rather depressed at that statement. “So we came on the tour bus.”

“Can I start our part?” Alyssa asks. Emma nods and squeezes her hand under the table. “So, they obviously gave no indication that they were coming. Emma and Principal Hawkins had gone to the State’s Attorney by that point and put some legal pressure on the PTA, so we had another assembly to discuss options.”

“We?” Damian asks.

“Oh, my mom was the head of the PTA,” Alyssa says casually. Damian chokes on his drink and Janis nearly drops Cady on the ground.

“Your mom cancelled your prom?” Janis asks in shock. Alyssa nods sadly. “Oh, because you… she didn’t know. I’m sorry.”

“It was what it was. She knows now,” Alyssa hums. “Anyway, I was there to speak for student council. I was mid-sentence, and then they come barreling into the gym with signs and yelling at everyone.”

“Educating everyone,” Barry corrects. “Loudly and with signs.”

“Right, educating. Sorry,” Alyssa laughs. “So my mom totally loses her shit. It’s chaos. I think Trent had a cowbell at some point?”

Trent reaches into a messenger bag next to him and pulls out a cowbell, resting it on the table with a quiet thunk.

“You just keep that with you?” Janis chuckles.

“For emergencies,” Trent explains. “You’d be surprised.”

Janis tries to think of what emergencies she’s faced that would either be helped or solved with the addition of a cowbell, and surprisingly, she can think of a few.

“Of course he keeps it all the time,” Emma chuckles. “I don’t remember… most of what happened that time. But after a few days they announced that the prom was back on.”

“Because of you?” Damian asks, looking to the stars.

“No,” they all say at the same time Emma says, “I think so.”

Everyone looks her way. “I told you this at the time, but you guys really scared people! I think you at least had a part.”

“How sweet,” Dee Dee says. “Let’s say we had an ensemble part in getting it back on.”

That gets a chuckle from everyone at the table, before Barry continues with the story.

“I, obviously, had to take Emma shopping,” he says. “She only had one dress and it was… a travesty would be an understatement.”

“I’m honestly not sure where it came from,” Emma chuckles. “Just think Little House on the Prarie but somehow so much worse.”

“So we went to the mall, and found this lovely blue dress and some good shoes,” Barry says. Emma looks like she would disagree with his choice of adjectives, but nods. “Did her hair and makeup all fancy, and bought her a corsage.”

“Aww,” Cady coos. “How sweet.”

“That part was fun,” Emma agrees fondly. “But…”

“When we got there,” Barry says. “Poor thing was so excited, but it was-it was just-“

Dee Dee continues for him, as Barry gets too emotional to keep going. “It was totally empty. Barry took Emma into the gym, and it was just horrific. There were barely any decorations, and they were just thrown up. I would be stunned if they spent more than ten dollars on the whole thing.”

“Oh god,” Damian says sadly. “I heard it was a fake, but I didn’t know it was that bad.”

“It sucked,” Emma chuckles sardonically, trying not to get too heavy in the middle of an IHOP. “More than anything. I didn’t care about the decorations, I just… it was so lonely, you know? I realized then that so many people I thought cared about me just didn’t. So many people I thought were my friends, weren’t. I had never felt more alone.”

“It sounds awful,” Janis says.

“It was,” Emma mumbles. Alyssa takes her hand under the table and gives it a gentle squeeze. Emma looks up and gives her a sad but grateful grin.

“I was at the… other prom. The real one,” Alyssa continues, seeming ashamed. “I had no idea what they had done, everyone on student council and the PTA hid it from me too. Some of my friends had seen us together and realized I was the ‘secret girlfriend’ and were trying to break us up.”

“Which worked,” Emma admits sadly. “I called her to try to get her to come to my own personal prom so I could at least have her there, but her mom was at the real one with her and she couldn’t leave. And I just sort of… lost it. I hung up and we didn’t talk again for a week.”

“I never blamed you for that,” Alyssa murmurs gently. “You were still trying to process everything and I just added to it.”

“No, you didn’t,” Emma insists. “We can talk more later. Anyway. I ran out, obviously. And Angie actually came after me, which was nice. She just let me cry and didn’t make me do anything. Helped me get my makeup off and stuff. She even slept on my bedroom floor in case I needed something. It was kind of like having a mom there, which I really needed.”

“How fucking old-“ Angie begins, but Trent claps a hand over her mouth. Emma laughs and continues.

“And then the rest of them came by the next day even though I yelled at them,” she says.

“With ice cream!” Barry butts in. “That’s an important detail.”

“Oh yeah, they brought me Häagen Dazs,” Emma laughs. “It was cute. Especially because they thought I wouldn’t know what it was.”

“Can you blame us? You live in the most yeehaw hick town in Indiana,” Trent says. “And that’s saying something.”

“It’s not that bad,” Emma tuts. “Anyway, they brought ice cream and were trying to convince me to do something to bring more attention to what was happening. Dee Dee actually got me on a talk show at one point, but I knew I would never be able to do something like that.”

“You still owe me a house,” Dee Dee grumbles under her breath. “But what she wound up doing was much better anyway.”

“The song?” Damian asks. Emma nods.

“I had it sort of in my head for a while, and I managed to piece it together in about a week,” she replies. “I was terrified, but it was just an overnight thing. I woke up the next day and it already had two million views.”

Alyssa squeezes her hand with a proud smile. “Half of them were me.”

“The other half were Damian,” Janis chuckles. “He made me watch it at lunch one day and we both watched it so many times we knew all the words by the next day.”

“Aww,” Emma says. “You guys are so sweet.”

“We try,” Janis and Damian say at the same time, locking eyes and glaring at each other once they notice. Cady giggles at their antics.

“Anyway,” Emma laughs. “I wasn’t expecting even that many, but people just kept watching, and then I started getting all these comments on it that were so precious. All these other queer kids all over the world sharing their stories too. Eventually it got back to Principal Hawkins and all of them, and they helped figure out how to set up an inclusive prom. And funded it, which was very helpful.”

“Yeah, helpful,” Dee Dee grumbles under her breath.

“Once we saw where the money was going it was so worth it,” Barry says, gently kicking Dee Dee under the table. “It was beautiful.”

“It really was,” Emma agrees. “But god, it took forever to set up.”

“God, yeah,” Alyssa says. “Oh, and we got back together, like, as we were setting everything up, we forgot to mention that.”

“Oh yeah,” Emma says. “Her mom came when she heard what we were doing in the gym because we never got PTA approval-“

“So she was mad,” Alyssa butts in.

“Very mad,” Emma chuckles. “But you came with her and told her to stop talking, which was both hilarious and terrifying. And then you told me you loved me in front of everyone. I don’t think I’ll ever forget that.”

“Me either,” Alyssa says quietly.

“Aww,” Cady says, even though she’s heard the whole story before. It’s always a good one to repeat. “How sweet.”

“So after that whole thing we finished setting everything up,” Emma continues, smiling at her girlfriend. “And it was beautiful, even I was impressed.”

“You looked so happy when everyone started showing up,” Alyssa says fondly. “I was so proud of you. I still am. You gave so many people an incredible night they wouldn’t have had without you.”

Emma flushes slightly and looks down at her lap. Alyssa squishes her cheeks in her hand to get her to look back up.

“It really was an incredible night,” she says. “And we finally got to dance together, I think that was my favorite part.”

“That was good,” Alyssa nods. “But you’re a terrible dancer.”

“Hey! Just because I didn’t take dance classes for years,” Emma pouts.

“Oh, hush, I’m joking,” Alyssa says, kissing Emma’s cheek.

“You missed,” Emma continues pouting. Alyssa frowns in confusion and kisses her cheek again, but in a different spot. “You missed.”

Alyssa gives her a chaste kiss on the lips this time, and Emma finally smiles. Alyssa rolls her eyes lovingly. “You’re such a dork, goodness gracious.”

“You guys are almost as cute as Caddy and Janis,” Damian says, trying to snap them out of it and get them to remember the presence of the group.

“Almost?” Alyssa says, her competitive side making a slight appearance. “I think you’re biased.”

“Oh, definitely,” Damian agrees. “We don’t really have any unbiased judges though.”

“True. We’ll say it’s a truce for now,” Alyssa says. “Are we all done? I need to get up for a bit. I’m stuffed.”

“I think so,” Cady says, looking around at all the empty plates around. “We could go to the beach for the sunset, if you guys want. It’s not too far a drive.”

“Ooh, yes please,” Emma says excitedly. The adults play rock paper scissors to work out payment, and Dee Dee grumbles under her breath when she loses.

“Hungry kids. Why are pancakes so expensive?”

————-

“Oh, guys, look!” Damian says, pointing to a window of a thrift shop nearby. “We could go try on dresses!”

“We?” Janis chuckles, carrying Cady on her back. “You gonna get into a ballgown, D?”

“Why not?” Damian asks. “I have the figure for it, shut up.”

“I thought we were going to the beach,” Angie says.

“We can do both,” Barry says, seeming strangely excited. “Wear dresses to the beach.”

“Yeah, yeah!” Cady says eagerly, squeezing her legs together a bit to get Janis to go in, as if she’s riding a pony. “Please?”

“I am not paying,” Dee Dee says immediately. Everyone else nods, that’s only fair.

“Fine, fine. Come along,” Trent says, leading them into the shop as their gaggle of children follow like ducklings.

—-

The employees look a bit concerned as all nine of them parade to the discounted gown section and start looking for ones in their sizes. Damian finds his first, a royal purple gown with a high neck and a slit that would reach about to his knee. He takes it off the rack and heads over to the changing room, rapidly followed by Barry with his silver gown.

“How did-“ Emma stutters. “I guess they knew what they were looking for.”

Angie helps Trent find one that would fit him, an emerald green dress with long sleeves and a nice v-neck collar. He shrugs and follows Barry and Damian. Angie then moves on to find one of her own, and picks out a sleek black dress made of lace and with a shorter skirt, about to the knee. Dee Dee follows with one she seems to have grabbed at random, a nice yellow gown complete with a cape.

Alyssa picks a pink dress with a longer train, since she wore a short dress to both of her real proms and wants to experiment a little. Cady picks a yellow one, with longer sleeves and a bow in the back. The skirt is short, which makes her a little nervous, but she decides to give it a go.

Janis and Emma both look a bit lost, staring aimlessly at the racks and flicking through them weakly.

“Jayjay, try this one,” Cady says, offering a long, red, short-sleeved gown that looks like it would have a rather tight fit. Maybe Cady has some selfish motivations here, but she’ll never admit it. Janis raises a slightly suspicious eyebrow, but takes the dress and hauls her girlfriend off to the changing rooms.

“They all look so itchy,” Emma shudders slightly. Alyssa laughs and takes one of her hands.

“If you got one made of something like this it wouldn’t be too bad,” she says, showing Emma one made of an almost satin-like material. “And it’ll only be a couple hours at most. We’re going to the beach, sand is itchy anyway.”

“True,” Emma agrees with a little nod. “I like this one.”

“So try it,” Alyssa chuckles as Emma grabs an amethyst colored ballgown with a big poofy skirt. “Come on.”

Most of their group is waiting outside the rooms, clad in their ill fitting gowns. Trent’s is a bit too big, Barry’s is missing some sequins, and Angie’s has a small hole in the sleeve, but none of them complain.

Cady and Janis open the curtains to their respective rooms, revealing their dresses to one another. Janis is somehow not tall enough to fill her dress out, which makes her look a bit like Morticia Addams, but she doesn’t mind. Cady’s is almost perfect, but the skirt clings to her legs in an odd way.

“You look nice!” Cady says, gently adjusting Janis’ sleeve as Janis tugs at her collar.

“It’s a bit tight,” Janis says, sounding rather choked.

“I can fix that once we buy it,” Barry says, looking at himself in the mirror. Everyone looks at him in concern. “What? I have a stitch kit, I’ll just cut the collar off it.”

“Oh,” everyone says. Alyssa and Emma exit the changing rooms then, prompting coos from everyone.

“Emmy, you look beautiful!” Alyssa says, pulling her girlfriend into a hug. “The color really suits you.”

“Does it?” Emma says, sarcastically striking a pose. “It feels very… purple.”

“I like purple,” Alyssa hums, adjusting Emma’s skirt.

“You look really nice,” Emma replies, looking at Alyssa’s long dress. Hers is the closest to fitting correctly out of everyone’s.

“Thanks!” Alyssa says, putting her hands on her hips and popping out a knee. Emma laughs and kisses her gently.

“Okay, let’s go!” Angie says happily, having been taking pictures of everyone like a proud mom taking photos for her Facebook. Angie, Trent, and Barry split the cost among them, and they unleash their prom-ready selves onto the public.

—————-

“So you guys just graduated, right?” Alyssa asks, strolling down the shore holding hands with Emma. Cady and Janis are also hand in hand walking next to them.

“Yep!” Cady chirps.

“So you must’ve just had your senior prom too, what was yours like?”

“It was so fun! Damian took me shopping and I had the most beautiful dress,” Cady replies eagerly. “And Janis had a suit to match and it was… she looked… so hot.”

“Ooh,” Emma teases. “Scandalous.”

“Hey,” Cady says. “I’m allowed to think she’s hot.”

“Fair enough,” Emma shrugs.

“What about you guys, how are you handling your post-prom fame?” Janis jokes.

“Pretty well,” Emma chuckles. “Or at least I think we are.”

“You certainly are,” Alyssa murmurs.

“Oh yeah, aren’t you starting a nonprofit or something?” Cady asks.

“Wait, what?” Janis asks.

“I’m trying,” Emma laughs again. “Lyss’ mom is actually helping me. And trying to start a charity looks, like, super good on college applications, so that’s nice.”

“I thought your mom started this whole fiasco,” Janis says confusedly.

“Oh, she did,” Alyssa confirms. “But she’s cool with the gays now. She had a lot of questions and stuff, and she’s still having to work pretty hard at it. Changing opinions and thought patterns that were instilled in you from

childhood is tough. But she’s trying.”

“Yeah, she came to pride with us this year,” Emma says. “It was cute, she had a rainbow pantsuit and everything.”

“Go mom,” Janis chuckles. “I’m glad she turned things around.”

“Me too,” Alyssa murmurs quietly.

“Me three,” Emma says, squeezing her hand.

“So what’s this charity you’re getting going?” Cady asks.

“It’s called the Unruly Hearts Foundation,” Emma explains. “It’s a nonprofit that takes donations and stuff to throw other inclusive events around the country. Create safe spaces. And we also donate a fair bit to LGBTQ+ shelters and stuff, too.”

“That’s awesome,” Janis says. “I’m broke but I’ll donate a bit once I get my commissions business going.”

“Thanks, Janis,” Emma chuckles. “You know, we could use some branding. A logo, stuff for our website. If you’re interest-“

“Yes,” Janis interrupts. “I’m interested. Please.”

“Groovy,” Emma laughs. “I’ll be in touch, get Cady to give you my number.”

“You say groovy too?!” Damian asks eagerly as he makes an appearance. “These two always make fun of me for it.”

“Hell yeah I say groovy,” Emma says, giving Damian a fist bump. “Sometimes it’s the only word that fits the vibes, you know?”

“Yes!” Damian says. “See? Emma gets it.”

“I think ‘tits’ is pretty versatile,” Janis says. “You kind of look like Ursula, by the way, Dame.”

“Thanks,” Damian says, swishing his purple skirt around. “I’m gonna take that as a compliment.”

“It was,” Janis huffs. “As if I’d ever insult you.”

“You called me a ‘fucking deplorable kneecap’ on the way here,” Damian retaliates. Emma and Alyssa rode separately and burst out laughing.

“And now I have grown as a person. Developed myself.”

“It was ten minutes ago!”

“And? I’m not the same me I was two minutes ago, let alone ten,” Janis defends.

“Thank god,” Damian grumbles jokingly.

“Hey!” Janis says, breaking away from Cady and running after him. Damian shrieks and holds up his skirts to run away.

“Do we need to intervene here, Cades?” Emma asks with a slight chuckle as Damian and Janis sprint up and down the shoreline in a sort of oval.

“Nah,” Cady shrugs. “They do stuff like this about once a week. Janis knows she needs him, she won’t actually do anything.”

Just as she says that, Damian takes a hard left and runs full tilt into the lake. Janis pauses for a second before shrugging and running after him.

“Or maybe she will.”

“That water must be cold,” Alyssa chuckles in concern.

“Let’s find out!” Emma says boldly, tightening her grip on Alyssa’s hand and running them towards the water as well. Alyssa shrieks as they leap into the lake with a splash. Cady realizes she’s alone and also runs in, managing a cannonball into the water.

“What the fuck are you doing?” Barry yells, walking up on a sort of puddle of teenagers in soaking wet dresses.

“They’re being kids, let them live,” Dee Dee says. “Unrelated, can you swim?”

“Yeah, wh- don’t you dare,” Barry says, turning to face her.

“Oh, I would never,” Dee Dee says, aghast at the mere suggestion. Trent then comes sprinting up and tackles Barry into the lake. “But he would.”

Angie cackles and high fives her. Dee Dee crosses her arms over her chest and smiles down as Barry pops back up with a splutter.

“Dee Dee Allen!” Barry demands. “Get your ass in here.”

“No, I don’t think I will, thank you,” Dee Dee says casually, rocking slightly on the balls of her feet.

“Oh come on,” Angie coaxes. “It’s only fair.”

“I didn’t push him!”

“You had a role.”

Dee Dee ponders this for a moment before she begrudgingly reaches to take Angie’s hand, and they leap in together.

“Yay!” Emma cheers, delighted that all her friends made it into the lake one way or another. Some of them are significantly less happy about this, but everyone is laughing eventually.

“Hey, Caddy,” Janis says. She swims over to her girlfriend and kisses her gently, before booping her nose. “Tag. You’re it.”

Cady laughs as Janis swims away as fast as she can, rapidly followed by the rest of the group. Cady swims around for a second while she ponders her options to decide who to go after. Emma is a strong swimmer, being on her high school swim team and all. Alyssa is okay, but a bit weaker.

Barry seems to be the slowest, and gives her the best chance of success. He looks very anxious as Cady stares him down before lunging for him. He shrieks as Cady manages to snag his skirt and tap his arm under the water before she backstrokes away.

“Damn it,” he puffs. “I’m having elementary school flashbacks.”

“Better than middle school flashbacks,” Angie calls.

“Amen,” Janis says. She screams as Barry goes for her and swims away, huddling behind Damian for protection.

“Hey!” Damian whines, swimming away from her and creating a sort of three-way chase. Janis quickly gives up on Damian’s protection and swims to Cady instead.

“Protect me,” she pleads. Cady smiles as Janis hides behind her, peeking over her shoulder to check where the threat is.

“You’re so cute.”

“No I’m not,” Janis pouts. “I’m being stealthy.”

“Uhhuh,” Cady says as Janis clings to her like a precious little octopus. “If you get me tagged again I’m breaking up with you.”

“That’s fair,” Janis agrees with a shrug. Alyssa suddenly gives a shriek as Barry taps her leg under the water. “Uh oh.”

————-

After an hour or so of tag, the sun begins to set for the day. The water temperature plummets and everyone swims to shore to watch the sky be painted beautiful shades of pink and orange and purple. The adults and Damian head back to the car to go hunt for towels and dry clothes somewhere.

But Cady, Janis, Emma and Alyssa stay behind, deciding they don’t mind so much if they’re in heavy, cold dresses and getting covered in itchy sand. Cady holds Janis on her lap and Alyssa has Emma in hers, all of them staring out over the expanse of the water before them together.

“You guys should visit more often,” Cady says quietly as the first stars begin to make an appearance.

“Absolutely,” Alyssa says, looking down at her girlfriend. “This was an awesome day.”

“And we’ll have more,” Emma says.

Together.

—-

thank you so much for reading! hope you enjoyed!

lots of love,

ezzy

[moonlit-imagines]

Headcanons for being Jane Foster’s child

Jane Foster x child!reader

Thor Odinson x Foster!child!reader

warnings:

a/n: no not a foster child, jane foster’s child 😌 also im so super glad you liked those!!! hope these are just as good!!! and im genuinely so sorry these took so long

prompt: anonymous: “Hey! I just read the Tony Stark x Potts!child!reader HC and I loved it! Would you do the same but with Thor and Jane? ❤️”

no babysitter = go to work with mom

dr. selvig gave you a rubik’s cube to keep you entertained

“fuck that! here, y/n, you can play my DS” -darcy

“can you not swear in front of my child?” -jane

you thought tonight would be boring, but then your mom and darcy collectively hit a homeless guy with a car!

“holy crap, we’re all going to jail!” -you

“don’t say ‘crap,’ y/n! we need to get him to a hospital!” -jane

ngl this dude was kinda funky

darcy used her taser and your mom covered your eyes, but you still peaked ;)

ride to the hospital

“don’t touch him, y/n”

“sorry, doc”

and the very next day you guys stole him 💕

“mr. thor, where are you from?”

“i am from asgard! it is much different from this realm, but your’s is adequate, i suppose”

“thanks?”

you could see the way your mom looked at him, though

he ate all the pop tarts >:(

she gave thor her ex boyfriends clothes

“yeah, donald was a real ass—” -you

“don’t say ‘ass.’ darcy curses too much” -jane

“sorry, mom...anyways, donald forgot to pick me up from soccer practice like, a dozen times. he sucked” -you

“this ‘donald’ doesn’t seem like a very good man...also, what is ‘soccer?’” -thor

you grabbed a soccer ball and tried to show him how to play but there was some other stuff the *scientists* had to take care of

you were a regular at izzy’s diner (well, mom was) and they always made you cute pancakes in different shapes!!

“ah, it’s a smiley face! that’s adorable!” -thor

“yeah! they like to surprise me whenever i come in. they’re pretty awesome” -you

*your mom literally beaming at how good thor is with you already*

you and thor were drawing on paper placemats

and then he broke a glass and you started giggling hdhshshs

but he had to leave

“no, thor, please don’t go!”

“i hope to meet you again one day, little one. hopefully fate sees it through”

:((((

no time to be sad bc ur mom’s lab got hijacked by the government

“hey, no fair! that’s my diary!” -you

“sorry, kid. there are constellation drawings we have to observe” -coulson

“aw, you draw constellations? wait, not now. you can’t just take all our stuff. especially that! that belongs to a child!” -jane

“sic ‘em, y/n!” -darcy

“don’t listen to darcy, y/n” -selvig

chilling in the trailer and missing thor bc he was the most interesting thing to happen to you and your mom in a while

and you wanted her to be happy even tho he was kind of crazy

“hey, mom? do you want to watch the stars tonight like we used to do? we could make s’mores?”

“that sounds like a great idea, baby! i’ve gotta go take care of some science stuff, so i’ll pick up some s’mores stuff while i’m out. love you!”

yeah she went to go see thor and he kinda got arrested but your mom came back home so you could watch the stars!

“so, do you like thor?” -you

“what? what makes you say that?” -jane

“it’s cool if you do, i think he’s awesome. a little weird, but at least he’s nice”

then thor and selvig came home and selvig was drunk as a skunk

*poking him while he giggles and tells you about thor*

“i wish your grandfather could have met that guy! he would have loved him...i wish you met your grandfather, too” -selvig

thor inviting you back outside

“i’d like you to teach me more about this ‘soccer’”

by the time you guys were done, it was 3am and you were too pumped to go to sleep

so thor told you stories of his home and battle and family

you didn’t want him to stop, you were fascinated by it all

and uhhhh yeah then earth kinda had some vikings show up

they told you that you’d “make a fine warrior one day”

and then yall got attacked by a ????? a what??? a destroyer???????

“get y/n out of here now! they shouldn’t have to see this!” -thor

you were still nearby and saw thor become thor again

after he was done fighting the destroyer, you ran to give him a hug

“that was awesome! can i hold your hammer?”

“maybe someday, little one”

then you didn’t see him for 2 years

which upset your mom a good bit, you had to help her through that episode. lots of sitting on the couch and eating ice cream together talking about how he wasn’t worth her time even tho you missed him too

but he came back! and then your mom sent everything flying bc she had an “infinity stone” inside her and thor took you two to asgard

“y/n! you’ve grown so much, i almost didn’t recognize you!” -thor

tbh you really digged the outfit they gave you, but also you were on another planet? thor insisted on giving you a tour (by flying you around)

“i do hope you’re having fun, little one!”

worrying about your mom simultaneously bc you overheard she was sick

but asgard got attacked and you and jane were confined to a room in the palace, which sucked because you wanted to see it all

but thor sent guards to bring you anything to keep you entertained

“maybe we’ll skip the mace for now, thank you” -jane

after several events that count as child endangerment, this chapter came to an end and your mom and thor finally made it official

loki called you a rodent and then saved your life so you were kinda iffy about him

about a year or two later, your mom had to travel a great deal in order to get some work done, so you were left in the care of thor, who took you to avengers tower

“oh, my girlfriend’s child is an angel! and they’re so intelligent, just like their mother!” -thor gushing to other partygoers

“yeah, thor, your ‘angel’ is sneaking drinks from the elderly” -tony

*sipping his beer* “they’re a growing teenager”

you did have an amazing time interacting with the avengers

and once they tried grabbing the hammer, you knew you had to get in on it (but you failed like the rest)

“don’t worry, my y/n, you have to be eighteen years of age to be able to lift mjölnir!” -thor

“oh, that makes sense!” -you, while thor aggressively shakes his head at the other avengers. he just wanted to make sure you didn’t feel bad you weren’t worthy yet :(

more child endangerment but really what did you expect?

thor went off world and your mom split it off w him but you did have his email so you were still in contact with him

swearing you saw odin on the street once or twice (fast forward)

and then your mom dusted and thor found you as soon as he possibly could, it was so good to see him

he took you in since you were alone now, you moved to new asgard and became prince(ss) of the new land by relation?? makes sense right

basically you and valkyrie made all the calls while thor grieved for years

but he still took care of you

“y/n, would you like to play video games with me? i think it may be a good bonding experience, what do you say?” -thor

“duh!”

uncle korg made you help him with fortnite while thor was asleep

you wished to wield stormbreaker one day

showing thor earth media! his favorite star wars character is r2-d2 dont ask why

he taught you asgardian recipes and you taught him...earth recipes?

when he was drunk he’d ramble on about his childhood and battle and enemies and jane and loki and hela and frigga and literally anything that came to mind

“y/n, could you please get me a beer? and get one for yourself, too” -thor

valkyrie most definitely gave you some battle training so you you blow off some steam, you were glad she taught you how to fight like a true warrior

thor wanted to teach you battle tactics so you could fight alongside him, but he never got around to it

a raccoon and bruce banner visited later on, proposing a way to get your family back, thor was an emotional wreck

his debriefing on the reality stone was tense when he started crying about your mom and everyone stared at you

“hey, don’t look at me. i don’t control the god, i just keep him company”

ending up waiting 1 second for the avengers to come back from their mission, resulting in you being stuck in the middle of a very heavy battle

“y/n, get out of here!” -thor

“don’t worry, thor! valkyrie taught me a few moves!”

“you make me incredibly proud, little one!”

“i’m not so little anymore, am i?”

“you will always be my little one, y/n. blood or not, that will not change!”

victory, but at what cost? it was a rough ride, you needed to get patched up, but your mom was finally home and thor...he decided it was time to leave earth again

“don’t worry, my y/n. i will see you again.” *tearing up* “i’m so glad i got the pleasure of raising you these past few years. i love you dearly, now go be with your mother”

you straight up wanted to bawl your eyes out right there

“well, y/n, you’re next in line for the throne of new asgard. what is your first command?” -valkyrie

“actually, i think you’d make a much better ruler than me. i’ve got to spend some time with my mother now that she’s home”

“you’re so much like him, you know that?”

staying with your mother, who was diagnosed with cancer not long after returning from the soul stone (a/n: jane getting cancer is canon in the comics and confirmed for thor 4)

“i missed five years of your life and now i’m sick, that’s just our luck, isn’t it?” -jane

she was understandably upset, but she also felt guilty

“mom, don’t beat yourself up. everything is okay, we’re still together right now. i won’t be going anywhere, i promise”

taglist: @alwaysananglophile // @rorybutnotgilmore // @locke-writes // @sweetheartliz07 // @queen-destenie // @natasha-danvers // @lokihiddles // @frostedgiantfavs // @emygirl // @lotsoffandomrecs // @johnmurphyisbisexual // @teenwaywardasgardian // @pappydaddy // @captainshazamerica // @freya-xo // @ravenmoore14 // @purpleskiesstorm // @ofthedewthesunlight // @canarypoint // @zoeyserpentluck //

[imagine-lcorp]

Enchanted (One Shot)

Request

Can you do one where Lena gets kissed by a girl at a masquerade party aka Reader who works at L-Corp's lab (she had had the longest crush on her boss) and it's the first time Lena has kissed a woman. Lena is smitten by that kiss and the stranger in a beautiful mask and the only distinct recognition she has is a tattoo on their wrist. They dance and talk during the party. Finding common interests and likes. Lena falling for R harder. R plays everything surprisingly cool despite her heart hammering in her chest. Must be the wine. Lena tries to hunt down the stranger in every way she could think of. One day just as she was falling in total despair she frozes at L-Corp cafeteria when she sees a lab worker paying for coffee and their sleeve rise high enough to reveal the tattoo Lena recognizes. The rest is up to you ^^

A/N: Ok so I know I took my time with this one, but it was so much fun and I’m so happy I could finish it!! Guess I’m gonna be really productive this quarantine. Pls enjoy!

Lena Luthor x Fem!R|Modern Cinderella AU//Word Count: 2,550 -------------------------------------------------------

Two glasses of wine in and you're still not sure how your best friend managed to drag you at a masquerade party. Not that you weren't enjoying the glamour of it, with the withe tables, the fine silverware, the music, a surprisingly well done mix of classical music with a great beat, and the overall fanciness of it all, but it definitely wasn't what you were expecting to do on a Friday night. That and the fact that your friend had disappeared a while ago, leaving you to wander around the place all by yourself.

"Come on, (Y/N), I got us invitations to one of the best and most exclusive parties in National City." She had said as you arrived in her car.

She stopped in front of the hotel that was hosting the party and handed you masquerade mask, selected especially for her to go with the outfit she had also chosen for you to wear tonight.

"Whoever thought, having a masquerade party was fun must have a serious obsession with Disney princesses." You took the mask form her hand and looked at it.

"Could be, but I'm not about to question the person who did all of this and who is letting me enjoy it for free." She said adjusting her own mask on her face.

"Didn't you sell your soul to the devil for the invitations or something?" You put on the mask and looked at the rear view mirror making sure you looked as good as your friend had pretended with the outfit.

"Yeah, yours included. Now, shut up and have some fun." She turned to look at you and smiled."And who knows? Maybe you'll find your Disney princess."

It had been a couple of hours already since you arrived and the only thing you had found was yourself back again at the bar, asking for your third glass of wine. You tried to enjoy the party, just like your friend had said, but it was difficult considering you were there by yourself and you had no idea who were all these people. However, you couldn't completely blame your friend for all of this. She was just making sure you had some other activities besides staying at home watching tv or at work... drooling over your boss.

When you moved to National City you had no idea you would actually land that job at L-Corp and you of course weren't aware Lena Luthor could be that awesome in person. You were collaborating in one of the many projects the company had but she was always involved in every single one of them, making sure the team had everything you needed to continue with the research and talking to the heads of the projects at least once a month.

You didn't even talk to each other and there was no real need for that since you were just a lab technician but it was ridiculous the way it made you feel when she was in the same room. It was obvious she was as beautiful as she was smart and that was enough to make your brain collapse. Having a crush on Lena Luthor had been unexpected, just like hearing her voice beside you.

You turned your face and turned it again so quickly it could have given you whiplash, with just a quick glance you were sure Lena Luthor was attending the same party as you. She had walked to the bar along with someone else, and you stood there waiting for your own glass of wine, tapping your fingers impatiently on the marble table of the bar, and panicking over someone the presence of someone you hand't actually meet. Your whole body as you kept waiting for you wine and even if it wasn't your conscious intention your ears only registered her voice.

Her conversation didn't seem enjoyable at all. The man who accompanied her was trying to have some kind of conversation that Lena wasn't even trying to follow, if anything she sounded annoyed, responding with only a yes or no or a nod, as he raised his voice making sure she was listening to whatever he was saying. It was clear she wasn't interested. The man wasn't getting the hint, and you wanted nothing but to take her away from that uncomfortable situation.

Then, you weren't sure if you were going to regret it or not, you didn't know if it was the alcohol already running on your system or the advantage of anonymity the mask on your face gave you but, you did something.

As soon as the bartender put your glass of wine in front of you, you turned around to face them both.

"Hey, I knew I recognized that voice." You said taking the glass on your hand. "How did you find me? I went into the crowd twice thinking I had lost you! Here, I got your wine."

They both turned in your direction, and you could see the confusion through the holes in their masks. She only needed one second to figure what you were doing, and she wondered if she had really sounded as tired of the conversation she was having for someone to come and save her.

"Hey, yes, sorry." You handed her your glass and she took it from you automatically.

"Don't worry, I see you're making new friends." You pulled your best smile. "Who is this?"

"This is..." Lena looked at the guy next to her but couldn't remember his actual name.

"Just a guy she just met." He said with a cocky smile, trying to appear charming.

"Well, nice to meet you." You turned to face her. "Now, if I recall correctly, the next dance is mine. So, shall we dance, madame?"

"Of course." She said and took the hand you offered with a little bow.

"See you around, guy she just met." You waved behind him as you and Lena walked hand in hand to the center of the room, away from him. Your heart was hammering inside your chest and you prayed the hand that was holding hers wasn't as sweaty as you thought it was.

She let you drag her to one corner of the room and when you realized you had walked around for a good minute you stopped and turned to face her once more.

"Please, tell me I didn't actually ruin a potential date for you." You asked.

"No, not at all. His conversation wasn't that compelling to start with."

"So I heard." You thought about your words and felt your cheeks turn red. "Not that I was spying but he was really loud."

"Don't worry. In fact, I think I own you one... and a glass of wine too." She raised the glass to show it half empty. "Sorry."

You smiled at her and responded with more confidence than you knew you were capable of. "Maybe you can repay me with that dance. I also promise to make for an interesting chat."

"Deal." She chuckled, a sound so precious it threatened to melt your heart.

She had let you take her hand, guiding her once more among the crowd, and you found yourselves in the middle of the dance floor, with the thousand lights illuminating it and the music loud enough to fill the whole room. Then a dance soon turned into two and then three and so on, until you both tried a funky waltz none of you were sure how to dance.

"I think," she said after all your dances with a little panting, "it's time for a drink. Would you like to join me?"

"I would be delighted." You said and felt her hand on yours, leading you to the bar.

She was glad you accepted another glass of wine and she was even happier that you had kept your promise of an interesting conversation. Sitting at the bar, you talked and talked about nothing and everything. About the things you loved and hated, what you wanted, what you hoped, the crazy things you did or never did in your youth and the things that were yet to come.

Maybe it was the way you moved around or the way you spoke to her, like you had already met sometime, somewhere, but Lena imagined this connection she had started to feel with you had to do with the masks you were wearing. No introductions were needed. There was no need for a name, especially not a name like hers which people used to run from.

You were just part of the people, that big mass of singular personalities, drinking, twirling, chatting, laughing, without a care in the world, and if Lena ever believed in love at first sight she was sure this could very much be it.

You felt as if you were in a modern fairy tale and made a mental note to thank your friend for dragging you there. Never in a thousand lives you had imagined you would end up sharing the night with Lena Luthor and, even when you felt your heart could cause an earthquake, you thanked whatever god was out there for not making a fool of yourself.

However, every night and every tale has to come to and end and you had to remind yourself of that has your phone started to ring. Your friend's name was announced on the screen along with a message. You had to leave the party right away, she would do the explaining later.

"Something wrong?" Lena asked seeing a hint of worry in your eyes.

"I hope not." You cursed under your breath and put your phone back in its pocket. "Sorry, I really wish I didn't to, but I need to go."

You were leaving your seat when she quickly grabbed you by the wrist. You both looked at your hands and, for the first time, Lena noticed the little tattoo that covered the inside of your wrist. For a moment, it was all she saw but then looked at you remembering she had something to say.

"I'm Lena." She said with a small pause, hoping the revelation of her name wouldn't arouse any sign of fear or disgust. "Lena Luthor."

"Enchanted to meet you, Lena." You replied with a little smile. Then, almost on impulse and knowing this could be the only change you would get at it, you closed the distance between you two and kissed her. "I'm the girl you just met."

Just like that you were gone, and a kiss had never been as haunting for Lena as the one you gave her.

The night ended, and Lena went home already thinking on all the algorithms and possibilities she would need to find you again. Not an easy job, since you only left her with the feeling of your lips on hers, the first woman that had dared to kiss her and the image of your wrist tattoo. Even for a genius like her, it would take so much time to track you down with only the memories of that night to keep her going.

You, on the other hand, were still banging your head against the wall. As it turned out, the night of the ballroom party your friend had faced a little bit of trouble when she decided to steal a few boxes of snacks from the kitchen in the hotel. None had actually noticed but she swore she and the dude who convinced her of doing so were being followed and had to run away from the party before anyone could notice. So you had to drive with a coupe of drunk idiots who had stolen nothing but snack boxes already prepared for the guests.

The next morning, when you were safe back on her apartment and she was sober enough to listen to you, you told her everything that had happened.

"Wait, no. No, no, no." She had said. "So, you're telling me you left her there and didn't even give her your name?"

Yes, that's exactly what you had done and that was something she would never let you forget. The chance of a lifetime lost forever. But it was enough, you had thought. One magical night in the presence of Lena Luthor had been everything you never knew you needed. Besides, what could you had done after that? She was a genius entrepreneur, member of the still most influential families in the world and the owner of the company you worked for. At the end of the day, you were just you. So days passed and you continued with your daily routine with that night printing into your mind as a good memory. Although you wondered sometimes, what would have been if you had told her your name.

Those same days passes for Lena but it was slightly different. She kept looking for you but found nothing more than dead ends. There was no guest list where she could look up for your name, no surveillance that could show her your face behind the mask, and no place where she could look for you. You were a beautiful ghost dancing in the ballroom of her memory, threatening to make her crazy of she couldn't find you.

Then one day, against all odds, she found you.

It had been a busy morning in the labs and you had arrived almost late to your shift. You had been awake until late and needed some sleep. Thankfully, one of your coworkers had noticed your tired eyes and was kind enough to cover for you, so you could head to the cafeteria for a coffee to keep you awake.

You were about to pay for it when you heard her voice beside you.

"It is you."

Lena had been headed to one of the labs when she decided maybe the cafeteria could make for a good short cut. Some employees were already seated or ordering some food, some of them even saluted her. She was half way across the cafeteria when she noticed someone asking for a cup of coffee, nothing out of the ordinary, and she would have continued walking were it not for the mark she noticed in her wrist. The sleeve of her lab coat was high enough that she could distinguish that mark as a tattoo. It was just a couple of seconds but it was enough for Lena to recognize it as yours.

She approached you and just when you were paying for your coffee your sleeve rose again, proving she wasn't wrong.

"It is you." She said.

You had frozen for a moment with your cup in hand before you turned to look at your boss, at Lena, in front of you. The same green eyes that looked at you that night were looking at you right there and there was something in them that told you they had waited for this moment.

The chance of a lifetime that you thought had been lost forever was back at you. This was it, the chance to say the one thing you had forgot to say.

"Guess I own you a name." You said slowly, wondering what could happen now that there were no masks between you two.

"Yes, you do." She said with a tone that you didn't believe possible could sound both commanding and tender. She took a look at your ID and smiled. "Well, enchanted to meet you, (Y/N) (Y/L/N)."

[voleurdesoleil-archive]

The things you feel inside

Fandom: Haikyuu!

Characters: Ushijima Wakatoshi, Bokuto Koutarou

Word count: 1.7k

A/N: this was a gift for my pe, and I didn't plan on posting it here but I'm really proud of it so here you go

read on ao3

-Wasn't the captain's reunion supposed to be today?

-It is.

-Then why are you still on your phone?

Ushijima stares at Tendou's text, he doesn't know what to answer. He’d like to tell him that it’s because he’s not here with him, but Ushijima knows he can’t say that, it wouldn’t be fair to his husband. He knows Tendou would be capable of giving up his store and buying a plane ticket if he sent that, so he keeps it for himself and lies. He tells him the other captains went out to order food when Kuroo is actually in the kitchen, on the phone with some fast food place, ordering for all of them, while the others are playing video games with Kenma.

"Hey!"

Ushijima lifts his head from his phone as Bokuto flops himself next to him on the couch.

"You're quieter than usual, are you okay?" Bokuto asks, concern seeping through his voice.

He's not. He wants to say it out loud, but Ushijima knows that if he does, it will only result in more questions and he isn't ready to open up. Not yet.

So, when Ushijima's answer doesn't come, Bokuto adds: "You know I'm here if you need to talk. "

Ushijima nods. They aren't close but ever since they met Bokuto always made sure all of them felt at ease or that no one was feeling left out during their meetings. People often seem to mistake MSBY's ace for someone careless or egotistical, but Bokuto has proven on multiple occasions that he is someone with great empathy who cares deeply for people he loves and Ushijima really admires him for it.

Ushijima's attention is drawn away as his phone lights up with another text from Tendou.

"How's Tendou doing?" Bokuto asks as Ushijima types a reply to his husband. "I saw him in a food magazine the other day. He looked super cool with his chef's hat and all!"

"He is doing great. His chocolaterie has been getting a lot of success thanks to social media. He says people really like his "vibe", although I'm not quite sure what he means by that. And-" Ushijima starts rummaging through his photos, until he finds pictures of Vabo-chan and other volleyball related figurines that he shows Bokuto. "-he's been trying to create a volleyball collection, but his colleagues aren't really up for it."

"Wow man! They're awesome! You should put them in the groupchat, the guys would love them!"

Ushijima nods as he gets another text from Tendou telling him he's going to open the shop soon and urging him to have fun.

"You miss him, don't you?"

"I do…"

"Must be hard. I'm lucky that all my partners live around here, but Kuroo and Kenma often have to go away for work and I miss them a lot when they do. So I can't imagine how hard it must be to be so far away from Tendou…"

Ushijima doesn't quite know what to answer to that so he stays silent as his heart clenches a bit tighter in his chest. Bokuto's deduction is correct. Of course it's hard being away from Tendou, harder than what he thought actually.

When Tendou left after high school it was only supposed to be for a couple of years - he had gotten an internship with a renowned pâtissier, he couldn’t let the opportunity go away, so he took it - and he did come back after that. They lived together for a few years, bought their first house together. They even got married.

But last year Tendou decided he wanted to have his own chocolaterie in France, so Ushijima let him go. It was only for a few years, until Tendou could expand and open a chocolaterie in Japan too. They had done it already, so Ushijima thought it would be easy. But this time it was different. Harder. Simply because they had shared a home.

They had learned to live together, to appreciate each other's company. They had cared for the other when he fell sick. They had prepared the other's favorite meal just because they wanted to surprise him. They got used to coming back to the other after a long day at work or after practice. Ushijima got used to trying Tendou's new recipes just like Tendou got used to seeing Ushijima bring home plants on the verge of death to revive them. They got used to each other's quirks and routine.

So it is hard. Coming back home to an empty house. Not having to open the windows because of a funky smell coming from the kitchen. Waking up in an empty bed. Not being able to touch each other. Saying he misses Tendou terribly would be an understatement.

And what's not helping is the fact that he hasn't seen Daichi in a while either. Because in addition to missing his husband, he now also misses his boyfriend.

Until this morning, he thought that he would finally be able to see him but that was only when Kuroo wished Daichi a happy anniversary that Ushijima remembered his boyfriend wouldn't be here tonight as he was taking Sugawara and Asahi out to dinner for their anniversary.

"Do you want to cuddle?"

"What?" Ushijima blinks, thinking he misunderstood.

"I know it's coming out of nowhere, but Daichi said you're a pretty cuddly person and I thought, maybe, it would make you feel a little better, but if you're not comfortable I totally get that, I mean we don't really know each other that well. I just wanna help and you do look like you give the best cuddles…did I say that? Sorry I'm rambling. "

Trying to hide his embarrassment, Bokuto lifts his arms to rub the back of his neck and gives him a sheepish smile, causing Ushijima to let out a chuckle.

He takes a moment to consider the idea. He indeed has been craving physical affection, so Bokuto’s offer sounds appealing. On the other hand, although Ushijima loves to cuddle, it takes him a while to get comfortable enough around someone to even just consider cuddling with them and, as MSBY’s ace stated it, they’re aren’t really close. So Ushijima doesn’t exactly know why he answers:

"I would love that Bokuto"

"For real?"

"If you didn't change your mind, yes."

Bokuto almost throws himself on Ushijima but stops midway. "Wait, how do you want to do this?"

"I don't know?"

"Okay, first maybe we should- can you stand up for a sec?" Ushijima does as he is told and watches as Bokuto folds out the sofa bed to make more room for them. MSBY's ace then runs out of the room to come back carrying way more pillows than they need. "We'll be a little more comfortable like that." Bokuto says before letting himself fall in the mountain of pillows.

Ushijima pushes aside a few of them to make space for himself beside Bokuto. They stay still for a while, facing each other. Ushijima isn't particularly uncomfortable but Tendou often is the one who initiates their cuddling session and while Ushijima has been working on being the one to initiate them with Daichi he still hasn't fully worked out how to.

Bokuto must sense Ushijima's hesitation because he opens his arms and softly says: "You can lay on me for starters, or maybe you'd be more comfortable spooning, you tell me."

Ushijima takes in Bokuto's reassuring smile, which reminds him of Daichi's the first time they cuddled together - they have that same gentle smile that instantly puts you at ease - and finally dares getting closer to him. He hesitantly drapes an arm across his waist and checks on Bokuto's expression to make sure he's comfortable with this before laying his head on his chest. Bokuto's arms instinctively find their place around him.

"Would you like me to play with your hair?"

"Please…" The word comes out of Ushijima's mouth as barely more than a whisper.

This is awkward at first but, as Bokuto slowly runs his fingers through Ushijima's hair, brushing aside the stray hair lying about his forehead, his whole body relaxes and he makes himself more comfortable in Bokuto's arms.

The ace's embrace is tight around him but offers just the right amount of give, so that Ushijima can escape if he ever feels the need to. His own hold on the ace's waist becomes less stiff and Bokuto shifts slightly so that their bodies fit together more naturally. Their legs tangle together and a faint smile makes its way on Ushijima's lips.

He remembers the first time he and Tendou cuddled. They weren't together yet at the time and, just like today, Ushijima had been getting overwhelmed with his feelings. He remembers how grounding and soothing Tendou's feathering touch had been at the time. How all the stress he had accumulated had melted away when, with a simple touch, Tendou's brightness enveloped him. And right now, subject to Bokuto's touch, this is exactly how he feels.

Almost as a way to prove him how vulnerable he is, Ushijima's breath catches in his throat as Bokuto's thumb starts rubbing up and down the small of his back. Daichi once mentioned that one particular detail about cuddling with Bokuto and Ushijima now understands what he meant when he said that felt heavenly as that small movement sends shivers down his spine.

"Is this okay?" Bokuto asks.

Ushijima nods against his chest and mumbles a soft "yes" as his breathing catches up with Bokuto's.

Ushijima hears the door open behind him but he doesn't look back to see who has entered the room. Whistling fills the room and Ushijima has a hunch Oikawa is the one who entered the room. Bokuto's hand leaves his hair and he intimates to the other captain to stay quiet before combing through Ushijima's hair again.

When they're alone again, he brings MSBY's ace a little closer and, basking in Bokuto's warmth, Ushijima closes his eyes for a second and the ambient noise slowly fades until all he can hear is the steady rhythm of Bokuto's heartbeat. He feels safe.

___

Later that night, Ushijima is on the bus back home when he gets a text from Bokuto.

It's a picture of them both, asleep, cuddled up on the couch.

-Kuroo took it

-Look how adorable we are!

Ushijima can't help a smile to grow on his face. He's so glad they're friends.

[nelliebrookstone]

( BRIANNE HOWEY, 29, CIS WOMAN, SHE/HER ) * hey, i’m looking for the office of ELEANOR ‘NELL’ BROOKSTONE. they’re the EMPLOYEE who’s known around the office as THE BURN BOOK, if that helps ? not to be a gossip, but i’ve heard that they’re SUPPORTIVE but PETTY, is that true ? i also heard that they’re the one who CRIED IN THE BATHROOM BECAUSE SOMEONE TOOK HER YOGURT. anyways, here’s the coffee they ordered.

Greetings Earthlings, my name is Asha I am simply a fellow human from planet earth looking to hang out with my cool friends at the Build-A-Bear. I’m excited to be here! I have more information on Eleanor (nellie if you know here, nell if you don’t) below the cut! If you give this a lil like I’ll slide into your exclusive tumblr DMs to plot! 

So, who is Nell? Well let me tell you. As far as most people know, Nell is a former Masters Model turned Head of Talent Management for models. She’s a mix of sweet Alabama charm and scary dead smile energy, and she always has a compact for you to borrow in her purse. Most people know she always has a perfect french manicure and knows most people by first name. You might also know she recently divorced Parker and is no longer using his last name, please do not call her Mrs. Carson she’ll cry in the bathroom and then leave you a bad yelp review. You’re not even on yelp, you say? She’ll make one for you and then leave a bad review. 

But like a curated Insta, this ain’t it folks. So buckle up. (I say this dramatically but tbh she has had a pretty stable life)

Nellie grew up in a smallish town in Alabama. If you ask her, it wasn’t small at all. But it certainly was compared to large city centers, and definitely compared to New York. It was the kind of town where everyone knew your business, and Nellie had a lot of business. 

She was a teen queen! Head cheerleader, student president, shining volunteer of the county and Lady Alabama of 2010 (not to be confused with Miss Alabama, but if you ask her it’s basically the same thing). She was very involved in her community and her parents were well known in the area for their construction company. Everyone loved her that she was like the golden child of the town.

It was a great, privileged life! Her parents got married young, had a bunch of kids, and had the means to care for them! Her parents also have a very genuine love story, still passionate about each other years later. She and her sisters (all five of them) have always wanted a life like their parents’. 

The one difference between her and her parents remained her desire to roam and see the world. She wanted to travel, or at least live in a place where she could meet new people from new places. Moving to New York seemed like a great place to get some experience, though if you ask her mother she probably got the idea from some dumb TV show. She did. It was a lot of shows. And a lot of movies. There were a ton of romantic comedies that TRULY shaped this desire. 

she started sending in applications to various schools in New York. She was an honor list student with a lot of extra-circulars and passion to be at these places that shown through on all her apps. She got many a rejection, the one from Columbia was the hardest. It was the worst thing that ever happened to her at the time, so you can imagine how her life must have been. 

She DID get accepted to NYU for Public Relations! CHEERS ALL AROUND! She was so excited. She was gonna see the world and be a big city bitch 10/10. In college, she was quickly involved in everything from various clubs, to sorority, to trying to get involved with the community. It didn’t work out as well. New York was just such a different town...in that it was...big. And she wasn’t used to that. 

But she did meet a funky guy named Parker Carson! And they fell in love! And here is a short synopsis of their relationship: 

they met at a department store. Parker looked a little lost in the dress shirt area so she helped him pick out an outfit and the rest was, as they say, history. 

they had a great relationship at first, full of love and passion and fun times. he had a pokemon tattoo, she used to play pokemon snap. what a team! 

but really, they had a great time together...which led them to get married real early. In fact, for Nell, this was even a little late. She thought she’d be married with kids by 23. 

a lot of little things led to their downfall, but it can be boiled down to not fully understanding what it takes to live with another person who doesn’t mesh with your lifestyle. A big issue for Nell was kids. She wanted them, right then and there. He didn’t! No one’s fault, but it seemed to be a block they couldn’t get over. 

they’re divorced now. it’s fresh. she’s got a lot of conflicts about it. She cannot believe she is divorced before 30. she cannot believe she doesn’t have kids by now. She is under the impression she’s run out of time for everything, which is not true at all but it’s how she feels. She’s none too fond of the man at the moment. 

But listen! Nellie is a fun girl! She’s got a lot of ~zest~ for life and likes to do new things and try new places. She’s also just as comfortable spending the day at home on the couch with everything she needs within arms reach. She seems like someone who would be into partying but that’s really not her scene. She’s a brunch girl, a drive-thru movie theater girl, and an all-day 90 day fiance girl. She has an addiction to cherry cokes and always misses her stop on the subway because she gets distracted listening to her music and zoning out. She cries a lot during sad AND happy movies and can’t eat pork because she once knew a pig named Babe (no relation to the famous babe). Her favorite animal is the octopus and she volunteers with the homeless shelter every weekend. 

All of this doesn’t really come across in her work persona. She always seems like she’s extremely put together and very good at what she does. She’s quick, snappy, and not afraid to speak her mind. She’s a master at the backhanded compliment and is the master of the delayed burn (you won’t know you’ve been roasted until she’s down the hallway). She has a very charming way of speaking with a thick southern accent and tons of sayings that no one knows the meaning of, but sometimes that Nice Southern Girl smile comes out and you know she would be stabbing you if such an act were socially acceptable. Despite this, Nellie doesn’t think she’s a mean person. 

But I’m sure there are MANY people who think she is. Because...sometimes she is! No one is perfect, and she definitely has a reputation of being a major pain in the ass if you’re on her bad side. Nell remembers EVERY slight against her. Oh, she remembers when you commented on the amount of emails she sends. She remembers when you mentioned that you thought her font type was a little too bold. She remembers it all...and stores it in her mental burn book. 

This also happens often because she is...pretty sensitive. And because she’s going through a divorce, which is NOT what she had planned for in life, she’s like a stubbed toe away from a full cry every day. She’s started to invest in waterproof mascara but it’s not working out. She really DID cry in the bathroom over her yogurt. She also came back the next day and wrote a VERY angry letter on the fridge titled ‘to the person who likes to take things that don’t belong to them, I hope your mother knows she raised a THIEF.’

As petty as she can be, she’s also a great person to have in your corner. If you’re a friend, she will fight for you to the end. She’s very loyal and will often drop whatever she’s doing if you need her. She can be very generous, no expenses spared to lift up someone she loves. If you’re a friend of hers, she’s a great friend. The kind you can call at 2 am when she’s dead asleep and she’ll still come help you move out of your shitty ex’s apartment. 

Basically, Nell is a whole lot of things. Not all of them are great. But she likes to think of herself as a good person that cares about other people. She generally is! She’s also fairly good at having heart to heart conversations, and isn’t afraid to own her mistakes if she’s not still upset about the issue. But she’ll also try to ruin your career if you steal her yogurt. Fun! 

I’ll add more as I think of it, but for now I’m here for all the plots. Best friends, enemies, the person who caught her crying in the bathroom, the person who caught her angrily scribbling her name on all her yogurt, you name it! 

[writingsbychlo]

you and mitch attending a halloween party, and mitch leaves you alone for one minute and some creepy dude starts hitting on you

You sent this in so long ago but I mean, Mitchtober? Halloween? it had to be saved. this has been in the queue since April.

matching costumes? I think yes. it was Mitch’s idea, too. He knows he locked himself away after everything that happened, and you’ve always been so patient with him. He knew you were different from the second he met you, though, because the small smile he gave you when he politely shook your hand when Stan introduced you was the first one he gave out that wasn’t fake.

After that, it had taken a full year of him coming to terms with the fact that he not only deeply admired you as an agent, but also deeply admired you as a person, (and also that he wanted to fuck you senseless) until he was finally ready to make a move. One that you had been long anticipating, apparently, if that wicked smirk he’d come to know well over the last year was any indication. A year later, Mitch felt like a new man. He smiled, and he laughed, and he loved, when he was with you.

So, when he’d found out that you loved Halloween and were planning to go to a costume party, he’d agreed to go. He was actually thrilled with your costume choice, because it meant he could match you, without having to go all out, and he could surprise you.

He knew the second you both got home that it was going to be a wild night, because when you stepped out into the bedroom after spending an absurd amount of time in front of the bathroom mirror, he throat felt almost as tight as your leather pants must’ve been, and he feigned surprise. “You’re going as ‘Sandy’?”

“Tell me about, stud.” You shot him a wink, pouting your pretty red lips at him and pushing a strip of pink bubblegum between them as you looked over him, not that he had much time to notice because he was checking out the way your ass looked in leather and he was not disappointed. “What did you do to your hair?”

He tilted his head at you, grinning as you still hadn’t caught on, the white t-shirt and black jeans he was wearing doing nothing to give it away, and he could imagine how odd his slicked back hair must look without the final piece. Making his way to the closet, he slipped your pink jacket from its hanger, sneaking the custom made leather one he’d been hiding for two weeks with it, and pulling it over his shoulders as he handed you the final piece for your costume. “Couldn’t exactly let my Sandy go without a Danny, now could I?”

He spun around, finally revealing the ‘T-Birds’ insignia stitched into the fabric carefully, and you gasped happily. “You’re going in costume with me?!”

“Of course. Anything for you, kitten.” He grinned, your arms lacing around his neck as he scooped you up, winking as your legs wrapped around his hips and he swung then from side to side a little as he awkwardly danced around your bedroom. “We’re good at this already.”

The party itself was actually quite fun, he had to admit to that. He’d done three Jell-O shots from syringes, and you had done the same. He had danced with you once, before freeing you up to go and find your friends, all of whom were wearing similar pink jackets, apparently, this had been coordinated.

When you’d eventually migrated your way back to him, your hair had fallen from the tight ringlet curls you’d put it in and were now loose waves, your skin was slightly shiny with a thin layer of sweat from the warmth of the room and your cheeks were flushed from all your dancing. His arms wrapped around your waist, leaning back against the wall as you leant into his chest, humming happily and brushing stray stands of hair from his face as they fell from their slicked position when he looked down at you.

“You kinda’ look like you do when we just finish fucking. Except for your lipstick, I haven’t messed that up yet.” He grinned, pressing a quick peck to your lips as not to smudge it, and you grinned, bumping your nose with his.

“You wanna’ leave? You look lonely over here.”

“No, I’m having some fun. How about, we have another drink and then we go, hm?” You nodded at his offer, and he told you to stay put before he slipped away to make you both a fresh drink.

When he returned, his smile was gone.

There you were, happily waiting for him as you glanced around, politely trying to dismiss the sleazy Batman that had a hand on the wall next to your head and was pressing in closer and closer to you with each step back you took.

He knew you could take care of yourself, and that he had nothing to worry about, but you couldn’t exactly go all CIA superstar on him here, and he should be the only one close enough to you to smell the bubblegum still lingering on your breath.

“Hey, buddy! Thanks for keeping my girl company while I was gone. I think I can take it from here.” He flashed him a menacing smile, tilting his head as he stepped up beside you and the Batman had the audacity to look him up and down.

“Your girl? And what exactly are you supposed to be?” He sneered, Mitch’s face dropping as you giggled, taking a solo cup from his hands and sipping it to stifle your laughs.

“Dude, have you never watched ‘Grease’? It’s really not hard to tell we’re Danny and Sandy.”

His eyes seemed to widen for a second, and Mitch could see the red lining them, and he was sure if he took a sniff, he’d be able to smell the funky scent of bud smoke on him. “I thought you were Harley Quinn!”

“She’s wearing pink and black, Harley Quinn wears red and blue? And booty shorts? What?”

“I don’t know, the red lips and the jacket style! Maybe her ass isn’t good enough for the shorts!” Mitch’s entertainment in the guy’s stupidity slipped away the second he insulted you, and his gaze narrowed as he glared at the man before him.

“Leave. Now.” The Batman raised his hands in surrender, looking around for another woman to talk to as he left, and Mitch turned to you, the arm around your waist sliding down until it was sitting on your ass, fingers tucked into the back pocket as he squeezed lightly. “Your ass is fucking fantastic, for the record. You could absolutely pull of Harley Quinn.”

“Those tiny shorts that look like underwear? Not my thing. If I wore those, that means I’d have to let you walk around wearing a coat and no shirt, and we both know I get way too jealous for that.” He chuckled, sipping his drink and nodding as he pressed a kiss to your temple.

“I’m the only one that gets to see you in your panties, because I like to rip them off of you a second later. I don’t think I could spend a whole night not being able to.” You grinned, your arms looping around his neck as you tossed your emptied cup away and onto the floor.

“You know, these leather pants are really tight. Too tight for panties to be worn underneath.” Mitch groaned, looking down at you as his gaze darkened.

“How about we go home and I rip these off of you instead, then?” He teased, trailing kisses along your jaw before pulling back and finishing his own drink.

“Sounds like a plan.”

[thehandsomeasshole]

@starttheanarchy from X

She kept silent as he talked, rambling about some rather interesting work that was being handed to a CEO. Wouldn't that kind of issues fall into a mixture of legal and HR? Ah poor is the chain of command. Well Gaige held her tongue on those thoughts, leaving the man to his legal headaches. Though at the mention of a wife, her eyes cut to the sky, right to the giant H that loomed overhead no mater where she was. And she felt a small bit of pain for the older man, not having a chance to mourn or process. Just work as usual. And she could tell that this was something she at the very least wasn't suppose to know with how he cut himself off. A small light humm came from her throat, a form of acknowledgment that she was listening and that this was marked down in her memory.

The topic swap back into technology got her moving again, nearing the garage that Ellie owned. Said woman was in front of the compactor doing what she seemed to love best, and Gaige just sent her a wave before ducking into the building.

"Yes, but is it not a sign of good quality when even the parts of your work can be used beyond others?" Gaige was going to be nice this once and allow the conversation to flow away from his past. "No, I can say with absolute certainty I would never take any shortcuts with DT. Or own a company, why would I want to be a sell out like that?" And that is where the anarchist started to come out. Ah the amount of times in class she debated the ethics and morals of the different corporations of the universe.

"Well then it is poor design then to have all the sensors in one place, and you can't say that you don't with how fast they are rendered useless once shot in the blatantly obvious eye." Stairs were taken two at a time as she head over to the workbench beside the vending machines. "I could care less about the funky stuff, would probably be a downgrade more then anything else to my work of art.” The tool case dropped onto the workbench, and a loud snort at the agree to disagreement. Eyes roll at the claim of superiority.

Gaige stills at the mention of what happened at the science fair. Eyes narrow as she was trying to figure out if he was trying to insinuate if the accident was not actually one. Fingers grip the workbench, dents forming under her robotic ones. It had been a moment since she had even had a single thought of that day, one of her worst days even compared to what Pandora had thrown at her so far. And something to think about when there was far less on her plate, one more issues shelved for the eventual emotional and mental break down.

"Actually, DT is programed to react to hostility. Meaning they will only take action after aggression has happened. Reactive rather then active, always has been like that." Sure it was a stupid idea to keep one of her main ways of defending herself on a more passive setting, but Gaige refused to to cause harm first.

"Yes I will admit, there is a fair amount of blood on my hands. But when did I ever claim to be the good guy? You have always been the one to bring it up, usually to either defend your actions or yourself. Since when have heroes ever claimed to be one? When have they allowed cruelty into their actions? To break apart families?"

Jack leaned away from the echo, burying his face into his sweater sleeve and he groaned loudly.

Well, that was definitely going to come back and bite him in the ass.

"Uh… No." Jack raised his head and turned back towards the echo, "No, it is not. You see, I don't exactly design my bots to help you jerks. I design 'em for maximum efficiency in production and combat. Got that? Good."

"Ooh, ouch! Look at you go, insulting me left and right. Good for you." He snorted, shaking his head, "Listen, kid, you can shit on the corpos all you'd like–trust me, I did my fair share of it when I was younger–but it's not as bad as it looks from the outside. And, hey! At least we don't have slaves like- Oh, actually, I think that's confidential… But, my workers get honest pay for, mostly, honest work. If they don't work hard enough, then, yeah. They get the crap beaten outta them or, if they're real lucky, they get airlocked. Much quicker. And funnier, actually. Their little eyes popping out of their heads and they just burst."

For a moment, Jack considered disagreeing. Telling her that the sensors were all strategically placed for maximum energy efficiency. While it was partially true, it wasn't entirely for that reason.

"Nah, I know," Jack laughed slightly, "you're right. It's mostly for the aesthetic, everything just slots together so nicely that way. Looks all sleek and tidy, y'know? You know."

Jack had taken the silence as confirmation he'd made her uncomfortable, talking about her killing her classmate, though it hadn't felt as good as he'd hoped.

She's probably around Angel's age, you asshole, he thought to himself, even more displeased now he'd made himself uncomfortable, too. 

"I did the same thing with the loaders. Can't have them mowing down all my workers, can I? No matter how funny it would be." Jack hummed slightly, picking his pen up off the desk and beginning to rapidly click it, "That did happen once, though. Rouge claptrap unit, got it's gross little hands onto an assault rifle after it found out it was gonna get shot down onto Pandora cause it was useless."

He shook his head, shuddering, "Something you'd never want to see, an ugly little trashcan of a robot coming at you sixty miles an hour and screaming 'you'll never take me alive!' at the top of it's voice module." A small laugh slipped past Jack's lips, "We didn't, the turrets finally kicked in and slaughtered the bastard."

"You're-..." Jack paused, the expression of frustration slowly melting off his face and he leaned back into his seat, "Actually kinda right. I always forget it's not you I hate. Well, I don't like you by any means but… Heh, guess I'm just amazed you'd work for the Crimson Raiders with their track record for screwing everyone over."

He shrugged, satisfied with planting the little seed of doubt in her mind, "I mean, whatever. No hair off my head if they try to kill you, right? Just less effort on my part."

"But, to answer your question…" he leaned forward again, letting out a quiet chuckle, "When they think it's the right thing to do. Y'know, human flaws and all that. The whole trolley problem thing or whatever. Would you rather kill one person you hold dear, or ten you don't? That kinda bullshit."

In all truth, he couldn't remember what they were talking about.

"Next time you wander into a bandit camp, stop and ask yourself: am I doing what I need to? Or am I just doing what I'm told? Always thought it was kinda funny how y'all just run around like headless chickens doing whatever your 'leaders' told you to, bet you don't even question it, do you? They say kill, and you just ask how much you're gonna get paid or if you'll get a shiny, new gun outta it."

"So, how am I doing so far? Pissing you off enough to keep you interested?"

[acockius]

I love your writing and I love the holidays so I love this idea. what about a lil something about ugly sweater shopping (or making??) with Joe??

you’re my only fan - but the greatest one i will ever have! this is truly a *chef’s kiss* idea, so i hope you like it. it’s a little bit on the longer side, so i apologize!

~ you and joe had been dating for a quite some time now, but you’d never really put a label on what you were. your relationship was riding a fine line between semi-casual and semi-serious. this was the first holiday season that you’d experience together, and that brought about a lot of nerves from both parties. 

~ joe was very into doing a lot of cliche holiday activities - shocking no one. you’d hate to admit it but he probably was a lot better at choosing things to get you both into the holiday spirit than you were. 

joe mazzello was the kind of guy who hand-picked and chopped down his own Christmas tree the weekend after thanksgiving. but of course he’d enlist your help to decorate it. he raved about how incredible it looked, but you weren’t quite sure if he was trying to get extra affection or not. joe was right when he said that an authentic Christmas tree had a lot more character than an artificial one. 

~ when the time came around for your annual holiday get together with your best friends and their partners, joe eagerly accepted the invitation to be your date. it had been the first time in a long time that you actually had someone to bring. you were certain that joe would make a good impression because he always did. and that’s why you loved him. 

~ when joe showed up at your flat the night of the party, to say that you were nervous was an understatement. this night meant a lot to you and you wanted everything to go perfectly. you were in the middle of curling your hair, so joe let himself in and took off his jacket before joining you in your bedroom to keep you company while you finished getting ready.

~ you saw his reflection in the mirror and smiled to yourself. joe wore deep brown boots and tan slacks paired with a knit crewneck sweater. the base of the sweater was black and the fairisle pattern incorporated several different colors throughout.

“hey, neat ugly sweater!” you grinned at joe’s reflection in the mirror in the hopes that he’d see your enthusiasm. 

“ugly?” joe asked “what do you mean by that?”

you were silent for a moment. “you know - it’s like an ugly christmas sweater, right? it’s got all of these funky colors and weird patterns.”

“nana mazzello knitted me this sweater.” joe stated as a matter-of-factly

the panic began to set in as you quickly tried to think of a way to talk yourself out of the mess you’d made. you turned your attention to joe, instead of talking to him through your vanity mirror, and attempted to find the words to fix what you’d said.

his face broke out into a huge smile after a moment and he snickered to himself. “i was just kidding; it’s a super ugly sweater, and i definitely bought it at kohl’s” 

~ you were equal parts relieved and peeved. you let out a huff and shook your head as you picked up your curling iron to continue to do your hair.

“you’re lucky i love you, mazzello.” you grumbled, holding the curling iron still to create the perfect ringlet.

“you do?” 

“do what?

“love me.” 

you bit your lip and shrugged. “perhaps i do...” 

~ and you did.

request a holiday hc/blurb 

[riskeith]

through my lens, the image of you (1,975)

After his last day on set, professional photographer Lance receives a present from the subject of his photos, Keith. When he opens the gift, he finds out that he has been on the other side of the lens, for the model.

PAIRING: Keith/Lance

RATING: teen and up audiences

TAGS: alternate universe, photographer lance, model keith, except he takes photos too in his spare time, fluff, getting together, confessions

read on AO3 or under the cut

Lance has just stepped foot inside his house, and he’s exhausted. He wants nothing more than to collapse and sleep for sixteen hours straight, except he promised a certain someone he’d open his present the moment got home.

He makes his way to his kitchen counter and takes out the package, after wrestling himself into a chair. The gift is neatly wrapped, he tests the weight, then inspects it from all sides. It’s not heavy, nor intricate. It’s simply rectangular. When he peels away the first layer of wrapping, he recognises what it is immediately. It’s arguably one of the things he’s most familiar with, after all—a photo album.

When Lance was assigned to the collaboration between Voltron and the Marmora, he was beyond excited. It was a huge deal; the two companies were considered the best in their respective fields, so having them work together meant a lot. Lance didn’t know every detail, but there was a rumour circulating that they were doing a merger, and would become a larger organisation called ‘The Coalition’.

More information was revealed later. The shoot would take place over several weeks, and on various sets. Photographers would be working with a single model the entire time, but they’ll get together for group photos at the end. There weren’t many restrictions or themes, just show off the location, and the model as well. Lance didn’t love the fact he was given such freedom of choice, but figured he could work it out with the model, who he soon found out would be Keith.

Keith was the youngest model signed with the Marmora. He and Lance were around the same age, both thought to be ‘prodigies’, the ones who would lead their companies into a golden age. He was, of course, very attractive as well. Lance looked forward to meeting him, and to finding out what kind of a person he was.

The first location was a beach. It was beautiful—brilliant blue ocean, golden sand, picturesque plants. Lance didn’t have any time to admire it though, because he was running late. He sprinted down the gravel path towards the equipment that had already been set up. He cursed, picking up the pace, thankful his camera wasn’t on him.

When he finally arrived, he approached the person closest to him. They were behind a camera, so Lance couldn’t recognise who it was, but that didn’t matter.

“Hey, do you know where I’m supposed to go?”

“No. I don’t know you.”

This shocked Lance. It wasn’t that he was conceited, but everyone knew him. He felt like he was being demeaned.

“Who do you think you are?”

The camera was lowered, and Lance blanched. It was Keith. Keith, who had his hair tied in a low ponytail, wearing a black cap and a red shirt with white palm trees on it. Lance’s face burned, but it wasn’t from the sun, nor embarrassment. Although, he did want to launch himself into the ocean because of that.

“Uh…” Lance was at a loss for words. He had no clue how to apologise. “I didn’t know you took photos.” Lance mentally facepalmed himself. What was he doing?

“Yeah,” Keith eyed him up and down, “I picked it up in my early days. It’s nothing professional though, just a hobby.”

“Ah. Well, sorry about that; you were, uh,” Lance gestured vaguely, hoping it got his message across. He then held his hand out, “I’m Lance.”

Keith looked at it, then up at Lance. There was a pause, during which Lance panicked, thinking he wouldn’t take it, but he did. “I’m Keith,” he replied, giving a firm shake.

Thankfully, Keith didn’t seem to hold any grudges following that disastrous first meeting. He did get his revenge though. For one of their other shoots, they went to a mountain. Every other team stayed at the base, which provided plenty of scenery, but Keith decided he wanted to climb it, and take photos at the peak. It was a smart idea of course, and the view was breathtaking, but Lance suspects Keith just wanted to see him suffer. Lance isn’t unfit, however hiking with all the required equipment was difficult.

The two of them actually get along very well. People were under the impression they didn’t, because they got each other riled up all the time and were always bantering, but really, it was all in good nature.

The ongoing thing was about Keith’s pictures. Lance would always ask to see them, to the point of pestering, because you could tell a lot about a person from the kinds of photos they took, and Lance was very curious about Keith, but the guy never relented. And then, as if to taunt Lance, he’d bring his own camera along to shoots and take pictures while they were there.

Lance was near devastated when the project ended, because it was the most fun he had on a job in ages, and, he’d started falling for the model. It was bound to happen, Lance supposed. Keith was a good-looking guy, and despite the occasional rash behaviour, he only had everyone’s best interests at heart. The two already exchanged numbers, but Lance didn’t know when they’d see each other next. Just before they bid farewell to each other, Lance jokingly asked if he could finally see Keith’s photos now. Keith simply smiled, and handed Lance a present in lieu of a response. Lance didn’t think much of it, and started to accept the fact he’d never see the pictures, but now…

He holds it all in his hands. After opening the photo album, Lance finds a note, written on the inside front cover. It reads:

‘thought it’d be weird to gift you photos of my own stuff, but you were always asking to see, so here.

– k.’

Keith’s handwriting, to Lance’s delight, is scrawly. He does find it endearing to look at—it’s very him, but it’s also comforting to know that not everything about him is beautiful. His photos, though… They’re amazing. He said he wasn’t a professional, but he could definitely go pro if he wanted.

Lance doesn’t need to flip past the first page to know that Keith’s a landscape photographer. Every single shot is scenic—of mountainscapes, of forests, of lakes and oceans. Most are in colour, but a few are black and white. A cityscape is featured occasionally—of different cities’ skylines, of high-rise buildings during the night with lights as bright as stars.

There’s a note next to each image, detailing when it was taken, and where. Most of the locations, Lance discovers, are places Keith has visited for shoots. He wonders if he’ll see ones from theirs. Under that, Keith left little messages, describing the places and his experiences there.

‘olkari; look at those trees, they winded in all sorts of shapes. the people made wood carvings, there may be one of me there.’

‘altea; home to the beautiful juniberry flowers. I thought this grass field covered in pink with the mountains in the background really summed the scenery up.’

‘naxzela; cool as architecture, super funky buildings. it was a ghost town though, eerily quiet. I was more than happy to get out of there.’

‘kosmo; obviously not a place, just a very cute wild wolf I came across. wish I could’ve taken him home with me.’

One photo, when Lance reaches it, takes his breath away. He stops and stares at it, longer than any of the others, and recognises every single detail. It’s his home. If he strains his ears, he can hear it in the distance.

‘veradera beach; gorgeous place. I’m not someone who loves being in the heat, but I wanted to stay out there forever. the water reminded me of the colour of your eyes.’

The last statement brings a blush to Lance’s cheeks, and butterflies to his stomach. He thinks that’s the worst of it, but then he turns the page. 

“What do you take photos of?” Lance asked once, early on. It was one of the only times Keith actually answered.

“Well, not people, that’s for sure,” Keith had replied, with a glint in his eye.

The statement wasn’t true anymore. Because following the photo of beautiful ocean blues, the pages were filled with images of Lance. Most are candid shots—Lance looking off into the distance, or directing someone, or messily eating his lunch. He’s surprised, honestly. For someone who’s around cameras all the time, he sure sucks at noticing when one’s on him. There are a few Lance recalls posing for, thinking it was joke. He can barely process it all right now. The notes, he can handle even less.

‘first meeting; I’m a bit irked the picture is blurry, but I think it represents what happened really well. your first impression was memorable, to say the least.’

‘after our eating contest; at first I wasn’t sure what to think about you. you came off as cocky, but I realised that you had a right to be—you’re good at your art. there was, of course, this side to you as well. I definitely won the competition, by the way.’

‘ethereal; I was just supposed to call you to come back, but I was awestruck. I knew you were hot, but the way you looked standing at the top of the hill, with the breeze gently blowing your hair… that was something else. and in that moment, you were the model.’

‘striking a pose; I already liked you by this point. you were funny, and witty, and I really liked spending time with you. that day I laughed harder than I have my whole life, I swear.’

Lance rereads the message over and over again, to make sure he’s seeing it right. Keith likes him. His feelings are mutual. He starts to look for his phone to contact him, but then he notices something.

The very last photo is missing. Lance does a quick flick through to make sure it hasn’t fallen out, and checks that it isn’t behind another. He starts to panic when nothing turns up, he doesn’t want to have lost something, but then something written next to the empty space catches his attention.

‘score!; I asked you out, and you said yes. this is the first photo of us as boyfriends.’

Lance nearly trips over his feet getting to where his phone is, but he manages to call Keith.

“Hello?” Keith’s voice sounds raspy, and shit, Lance didn’t think about time zones. He’s sorry, but also, Keith sounds really good. His heartbeat increases.

“Hey, it’s Lance.”

“Oh, hey,” Lance hears the smirk in Keith’s voice, “I take that is a ‘yes’ then?”

“You haven’t actually asked me yet, you know.” Lance’s voice trembles slightly, and he’s stalling. He doesn’t know why.

Keith hums, and Lance feels it rumble through the phone to his ear. “I suppose you’re right.” There’s a beat, and then, “Will you go out with me?”

“Yes,” Lance replies, exactly as the note says. It doesn’t say he grins, but he’s beaming.

“Alright. Where are you? I’ll come over.”

“What? You’re—What? I’m in another country right now!”

“And? We have to take that photo, don’t we?”

If there’s one thing Lance has learnt about Keith, it’s that he’s adamant. There’s no changing his mind, not that Lance wants to. “I guess so,” he says, biting back another smile.

They hang up shortly after; Keith goes to catch the next plane out, and Lance impatiently waits for him. He wonders if Keith is bringing his own camera, but gets his out anyways. He also starts thinking about how to one-up this. Curse Keith, and his ingenuity. Lance will get him. In the meantime, there’s a photo album to be completed, and a whole new adventure to be started.

[vrepitsorrynotsorry]

Voltron Exchange Gift

Title: A Pox on You Recipient: @voxiferous (The @ isn’t working… Have you changed your name? I hope this finds you and you enjoy it.) for @voltronexchange  Rating: PG Pairing: Hunk/Keith (established implied); narrated in Hunk POV, though not first-person. Other Characters: The whole Voltron crew (which of course includes Coran), Matt, and Lotor, but they appear fairly briefly. The main focus was meant to be Hunk and Keith. Warnings/Spoilers: Spoils through the end of Season 4. There is discussion of minor ickiness that goes with being sick, as this is a sick!fic. If you’re very sensitive to that kind of thing, be aware. There is also very brief and what I feel to be mild and absolutely necessary to be addressed angst. A/N: The idea for this struck me during a recent stay home from work with some horrible coughing, fever, achy monster of a bug. This is approximately equal parts being sick is awful and wishful thinking that I could have somebody looking after me. Also, I hope I did the ship justice. It’s my first time writing the pairing.

Hunk totally got why Keith felt he had to go off with the Blades, but that didn’t mean he liked it, and it definitely didn’t mean he didn’t miss his boyfriend like crazy. This most recent major victory should mean they could all catch a break for a while, right? You know, after they figured out what they were going to do with Lotor.

As tended to be the case, Allura, Coran, and Shiro were debating the pros and cons of letting the guy stay at the castle with what could be graciously called relative self-control, and everybody else occasionally interjected less diplomatic opinions. For his part, Lotor was wisely silent, watching the conversation intently. Hunk was mostly keeping out of it too, but not because he had no opinion–his was “Heck no!” by the way–but because Keith was all the way across the room, and he was acting…weird.

Hunk started casually inching his way around the perimeter. Keith didn’t notice, which was unusual. His normally sharp and attentive eyes were unfocused, and he was slumping over much more than his usual, casual slouch. He was sweating, and he kept pulling at the collar of his Blade of Marmora uniform and scratching furtively at any places not covered by armor. As he he got closer, Hunk could also make out what looked like faint, blue spots on Keith’s face.

“Hey, you okay?” He rested a hand gently on Keith’s shoulder and the normally hyper-alert fighter jumped. It was another clear indication that the answer was “no.”

“I’m not feeling too great,” Keith downplayed his condition, which was a bit of normal behavior.

“I’m not surprised. We’ve all been really stressed lately, and you haven’t had my awesome home-cooking to bolster your immune system.”

Keith’s mouth twitched into a small smile. “I wonder what kind of crazy alien bug I managed to catch.”

“Galra pox.” The voice made them both jump. Lotor had somehow snuck up next to them. “I can’t recall the scientific name off the top of my head.”

“This is a private conversation,” Keith snarled, eyes narrowed. “Don’t you have more important things to worry about?” He cocked his head at the still furiously arguing group in the center of the room.

“They’ve begun to repeat themselves,” Lotor offered, obligingly turning his piercing gaze back to the debate about his own fate. “It’s a fairly harmless virus, but I strongly suggest you go lie down before you fall down.” With that parting comment, he sauntered back over to the spot he’d been sitting previously. Good riddance.

Keith huffed, and at first, Hunk thought he may have said that aloud, but then his boyfriend mumbled, “I’m not that far gone.”

Two seconds later, he proved himself wrong by stumbling, and he might have actually fallen, but Hunk was there to help prop him up. Of freaking course, everybody looked over at that moment.

“Keith?” multiple voices chorused.

“Is he injured?”

“What happened?”

“What should we do?”

Hunk knew that if Keith had the strength, he would have been out of that room in a flash, embarrassed to be caught in such a blatant display of weakness, even though it wasn’t his fault at all.

When Keith said nothing and they all started to crowd closer, Hunk decided to cut in. Keith could chew him out later if he wanted.

“He’s okay, really! He’s just come down with a little bug, that’s all. Nothing some rest and fluids won’t fix. I’ll help him to his room, and you guys can just pick up where you left off.”

Some of them, Shiro in particular, didn’t seem very convinced. There was a long, awkward pause.

“I believe we were back on con number one again,” Lotor offered blankly, face resting on one fist, for all the world like he didn’t care at all about their decision, “that I’m prince of the Galra.”

That got the conversation going again! It gave Hunk a chance to half-drag Keith out of the room without further delay though, so maybe Lotor had one, tiny point in his favor in Hunk’s book. Maybe.

The door to Keith’s quarters slid open and Hunk wrinkled his nose at the stale air. Nobody had been in here in quite some time. Keith stumbled toward the bed, but Hunk rerouted him to his desk chair.

“Uh uh, man! You gotta let me change the sheets first so you’re nice and comfy.” Keith let out a whiny grumble of protest but obediently let Hunk go about preparing the bunk to his satisfaction. Then Hunk helped his boyfriend strip off the more rigid outer armor of the Blade getup, and Keith snuggled under the blankets. He was still shivering and he looked pretty miserable.

“Want some company?” Hunk asked.

“ ‘M all gross,” Keith complained. “You sure?”

“I am totally like the world’s–scratch that–the universe’s best electric blanket. Scooch over.”

Hunk spooned up behind the smaller man and let his lips rest briefly on the nape of his neck. Yep, he definitely had a fever!

“I’ve missed you,” Hunk offered into the quiet. “You were gone so long, I think Lance was making a move on the ‘moody one’ spot. You know, to maintain the balance.” he teased.

“No way,” Keith snickered. “He can’t stay serious for more than a few minutes at a time!”

“Ah, you don’t mean that. I’ve known the guy for years–he could do it. I could totally take over as ‘goofball.’ ”

“Who would be the ‘voice of reason?’ ”

Hunk let out a mock dramatic sigh. “I guess you’ve got me there! Anyways, it’s good to have you back here, next to me.”

“Good to be back. I missed you, too.” Hunk could tell he was finally starting to nod off, and he waited until Keith’s breathing was deep and even before letting his own eyelids droop closed.

***

He didn’t know how long they slept, but it sure didn’t feel like long enough before Keith woke him up scratching at the blue spots.

“Stop that,” he grumbled and Keith stilled. A stomach growled, and Hunk honestly wasn’t sure whose.

“I’m going to go get us something to eat and drink and something for that funky rash. Can I trust you to behave for a few minutes?”

“Who me?” Keith asked with smirk. Good, he was feeling well enough to make stupid jokes.

“I’ll be back before you know it.”

***

When he entered the galley–it was a castle ship–he found Pidge, Matt, and Lance picking at some food goo. While he was grateful they hadn’t messed up his carefully arranged system for the space, that was just sad.

“I’m going to make some soup,” he told them. “You guys are welcome to some.”

“Awesome!” Lance hooted. “How’s Keith doing?”

“He’s resting. Well, when I make him, he is.

“Where’s everybody else, and did you guys decide what to do with Prince Pain-in-the-neck?”

Everyone frowned at the question. “Apparently, the ‘Paladin Code’ says we can’t just let him die if he came to us for help,” Lance explained. “We’re taking turns keeping an eye on him since he won’t stay locked up.”

“Huh?” Hunk began gathering ingredients as he awaited further details.

“Matt and I programmed one of the personal quarters’ doors to only open from the outside with a password,” Pidge told him sullenly, “but he figured out how to open it somehow.”

“So, he escaped?” Next, Hunk roughly chopped some veggies and herbs and set them to boil in some water. He was getting pretty good at finding alternatives for Earth ingredients.

“No,” Matt added with a shrug. “According to the castle surveillance he didn’t leave the room or do anything. It’s like he just opened the door to show us that he could.”

“Sure made Allura mad, anyway.” Lance paused to chuckle. “She tried to punch him right in the nose, but that guy is crazy fast! Shiro and Coran had to drag her off ‘im. Since we can’t have him just wandering around, somebody’s got to be with him all the time. It’s Coran’s turn right now, but Allura and Shiro are always stalking him, even when it’s not their turns. The rebels are still hanging around, but the Blades disappeared, like usual.”

A quick sip of the broth and a few adjustments later, Hunk set the heating surface to a good level and turned to the others. “Well, that’s got to cook for a while yet. I’m going to let the others know there’ll be soup soon and check on Keith again. Maybe later I can see if we can bump up the hardware on the locks as well as the software.”

“I think Coran brought Lotor to the common room after he mentioned some old Altean game,” Pidge told him.

Sure enough, Hunk located Coran and Lotor staring each other down over an elaborate board covered in small, carved pieces sitting on the small table in the middle of the room. Shiro and Allura were propping up a nearby wall with identical disapproving frowns on their faces and crossed arms.

Shiro was closer to the door, so Hunk leaned next to him and took a moment to observe the “game.” Neither player seemed to be doing much of anything other than maintaining eye contact. Hunk’s eyes were starting to water in sympathy.

“Not exactly a nail-biter of a game, is it?” Hunk remarked.

“Apparently, it’s more about reading the other player than moving the pieces,” Shiro explained. “It sounds a little like Earth chess from what I could gather.”

Hunk grunted. “I never understood chess.”

“Really?” Shiro asked, honest surprise in his voice. “You seem like the kind of guy who would love strategy games. You never learned?”

“That’s not what I said,” Hunk returned with a grin. “I know the rules to chess, I just don’t understand them. They’re pretty random. I mean, knights can jump over other pieces because of the horse, okay, but why only in little L-shapes? Seems overly complicated.”

Shiro rolled his eyes but smiled himself. “Did you need something? Is Keith okay?”

“Keith’s all right for now. I’m making some soup.”

“Soup?” Lotor asked without blinking or looking away from his eye-lock with Coran.

“Oh, it’s a delightful human food subset that’s primarily liquid and can be eaten either hot or cold, but usually hot,” Coran elaborated, hands moving animatedly but eyes never moving, either.

“Liquid,” Lotor mused, “but it’s a food and not a beverage?”

“Coran!” Allura scolded. “What did we say about not giving away any information that wasn’t absolutely necessary?”

“Oh yes,” Lotor scoffed in a dry tone, “once I inevitably betray you and return to the Empire with the secrets of soup, we will be truly unstoppable.”

Hunk made a strategic withdrawal while Shiro did his best to keep Allura from committing cold-blooded murder with her bare hands.

***

Just before the door to Keith’s room slid open, Hunk heard frantic scrambling behind it, and Keith was in his desk chair again when it did.

“Why aren’t you in bed?” Hunk asked him, and then his eyes narrowed. “You weren’t working out or something were you?”

“Not exactly,” Keith hedged.

“You’re supposed to be taking it easy–you’re sick!”

“I don’t like feeling useless,” Keith complained. “If I’m just lying around in here, I’m not helping anybody.”

“Sure you are,” Hunk argued. “You’re helping me and my peace of mind. Everybody else’s too, I bet. Besides, you’re always there for us when we need you.”

“I almost wasn’t.” Keith scowled. “You don’t know what it was like thinking there was no way to help you guys.”

Hunk huffed. “We’ve all been in those situations with Voltron. We always figure out something in the end. I mean, you had a plan before Lotor swooped in, right?” Keith looked away. “Right?” Alarm bells went off in the back of Hunk’s mind. “What was the plan, Keith?” he asked in a kind but firm tone.

Keith mumbled something unintelligible, but Hunk wasn’t about to let it drop. “I was going to crash into the shield, okay?” he finally blurted.

Hunk gaped for a couple of moments as he processed that, then dragged Keith out of the chair and into a tight hug. Keith squawked in protest but Hunk ignored him.

“You are not expendable,” Hunk stated firmly. “I’m not going to make a big deal of this because it didn’t actually happen, but I am gonna make sure you know you’ve got people who care a whole lot about you and that you never even consider that kind of plan again. Sound good?”

When Keith didn’t respond right away, he squeezed a little tighter.

“Fine!” Keith wheezed, and when Hunk finally let up, he smiled up at his taller boyfriend. “It wasn’t like it was a choice I was going to be happy to make. I fully realize it was pretty dumb.”

“Good. Now get back in that bed, and you’d better still be there when I come back with soup.”

***

Hunk managed to break the staring contest when he plunked a bowl of steaming soup down on the table next to Lotor. The Galra prince blinked at him in genuine surprise. “I’m allowed to have some of your soup?”

“Yeah,” Hunk agreed with a shrug. “You probably don’t really deserve it, so don’t push your luck.”

“Thank you.” Lotor sniffed at a spoonful, blew on it to cool it down a little, and took a bite. It was that girl in the food court of the space mall all over again, and Hunk had to admit he loved it when anybody enjoyed his food that much.

Hunk had just delivered Coran’s bowl of soup when Lotor found the use of words again. It was a nice, peaceful five ticks while it lasted.

“You should probably go lie down and stop handling other people’s food for a while,” Lotor said much less arrogantly than usual.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Hunk asked defensively and then realized he was scratching a blue spot on the back of his hand. Ah, quiznak. He should have seen that coming.

“You know,” Coran offered, “nunvill is also an excellent skin ointment. I’ll bring a bottle by for you later.”

“Nunvill?” Lotor perked up. “Do you brew your own?”

“Of course! Would you like to try a bit?”

“Coran!” Allura was glaring sternly again. “He’s not a guest.”

“So, I am a prisoner, then?” Lotor asked with a smirk.

“I never said that.”

“Then what am I, precisely?”

“On my last nerve is what!”

Hunk made a quick exit again. He had somewhere more pleasant to be.

***

He rigged a bed tray out of a few items in the galley and brought two bowls back for himself and Keith. He nudged the smaller man closer to the wall, partly because it was easier to get in that side of the bed and partly because that way Keith couldn’t try and get up again without him knowing.

“Good news,” Hunk announced as he cheerily flashed his own blue spot, “we get to look forward to some awesome downtime together.”

Keith chuckled. “How can you be happy about getting sick?”

“We have a legitimate excuse to snuggle all day and get out of training and chores. Coran’s going to bring us something for the itching. What’s not to enjoy?”

Keith scooted over so they were connected all along one side and smiled down at his soup bowl. “You’re right. Sounds pretty great.”

[rpchive]

123rd Encounter-- Fortissimo

another new guy! but will he be joining us...?

Demo and Maya wait around with Paprika in the console room for the IT to land at its next destination. Daedalus casually makes his way inside the console room and stops when he notices the others. "You guys seem like you're having fun." Maya: Well, we've been sitting here tossing some ideas for things back and forth, but aside from that, yeah, nothing's been happening. Daedalus: What, you guys trying to decide our next vacation spot or something? Paprika: Well, no; the IT is just a very...adverse atmosphere; so I was just thinking, well, why're the bedrooms the only really different looking things? Everywhere else looks pretty normal; so I figured maybe we could all just change the place up a little? Everything looked exactly the same in Lobotomy, so I don't see any reason to keep everything the same anywhere else. Daedalus: Huh, I wouldn't have taken you for an interior designer. So you want to remodel the IT? Paprika: Well, not alone, but yeah, why not? No sense in keeping everything all the same forever. You can have a bunch of different kinds of bread over time, but if you ate nothing but the same sandwich for a while, you'd get pretty sick of it. Daedalus: I... guess? I'm not exactly sure how you'd go about changing the place though. Seems like it just kinda does its own thing every now and then. Unless that console has a "press here to redecorate" button, I'm not sure where to start on that one. Paprika: Well, uhh...I mean, it does what people need of it, right? So maybe if everyone wanted stuff to change, it would? Daedalus: Sheesh, this is starting to feel like a Carebears episode or something. Paprika: Uhh! Umm, besides that...! The IT's gonna land soon enough, so...you don't need to stay here, unless you want to... Daedalus: Are we going anywhere specific, or is it just sorta following its heart again? Paprika: It's somewhere we haven't been before! But that's about all I know right now... Daedalus: Aaalrighty. I guess I can bounce while you guys try and make the place look nice. Anyone else going? Demo: Dunno, haven't seen tweedles dee and dumb yet today, but I'll come along.

Maya: I'll go too; we oughtta give Nydins and Rio a chance to look this over.

Paprika: Oh, yeah, of course! I'll go, uhh...find them, then. Soon enough, Jay, Collin, and Fawkes join the rest of the group in the console room.

Fawkes: Is this everyone? Maya: Looks like it for today. Daedalus: Cool, let's bounce then. I'm not sure what the IT's gonna do when it starts remodeling, but it's probably gonna be pretty funky. The exploring group exits the IT into a large city; the sun seems to have set some time ago, however, leaving the streets lit with lamps and the headlights of the occasional passing car; though no one seems to notice the group exit the IT. Daedalus: Huh, surprisingly urban for a change.

Collin: It's kind of pretty, honestly. Feels like it's been a while since I've been in a city like this. A man rushes by the group, bumping into Maya slightly as he passes. There is a moment where he glances behind himself to apologize only to truly get a look at his surroundings. Stumbling backwards a bit, he remembers what he's running from and keeps going regardless, however he does call back to the group: "You'd better run too; we've got company coming!"

Moments later, the ground begins to shake as something large charges forward through the mess of buildings, its form mostly obscured by the darkness of the night; however, it is clearly about half the height of any of the current surrounding buildings. Daedalus: Oh for fuck's- We just got here! alienrabitt: I don't think whatever's coming this way is gonna care...! Daedalus: Screw it, just run!

He spins around and darts after the man that ran into Maya just a moment ago, quickly followed by the rest of the group. Stopping for a second, the man looks around himself, muttering "I gotta get to a roof" before taking off again, making his decision as the beast behind the group rounds the corner and begins to make its way down the street; a mass of black scales, red eyes, and a multitude of arms, legs, and mouths running across the length of its body, which has a more round shape in comparison to everything else. Screeching, the beast continues to hurry after its prey.

Demo: What the hell is that thing?!

???: That's what we wanna know! Things like that just started showin' up outta nowhere one day! Collin: Why isn't anyone trying to stop them?!

Daedalus: I'm pretty sure eldritch abominations are outside of the police's paygrade! ???: I watched that thing eat a car; I don't think guns are gonna do anything! Besides, most people can't even see that! Or...me! Well, when I'm like this, anyway... Collin: What is that supposed to mean? ???: It's just...I don't know, unless I wanna be seen, most people just...can't see me here. It's like these things exist in a different dimension or somethin', but the damage they do happens on both sides. Fawkes: Do you know how to stop that creature, then? You said something about a rooftop a moment ago. ???: Oh, I can stop it, I just need to get some distance between us! Daedalus: Alright, you lead the way then, but if you turn into one of those things I'm gonna be pissed! Grabbing a fire escape ladder, the man yanks it down in one smooth motion and begins to race up the stairs as the creature slowly approaches the building.

"...These things get bigger when they eat metal; so if it starts eating the stairs, we're in trouble! Keep it back if you can!" Fawkes: They get bigger if they eat what?

you’re on the menu, buddy

Daedalus: Just don't try to hug it and you'll be fine! ???: Like I said, keep your distance!! Once I make it to the roof, just try not to get caught up in anything! Daedalus: Whatever that's supposed to mean!

He takes several steps forward as he summons forth a bow of flames, backed up shortly by Collin as he starts charging an electrical current. Fawkes changes his arm into a laser configuration as he keeps a sizable distance behind the other two. The creature reaches the edge of the building, desperately attempting to squeeze into the alley between the two buildings the fire escape is on as it snaps its jaws and reaches out for the man rushing towards the roof, who is only halfway there. All three open fire simultaneously, barraging the creature with a hail of fire, electricity, and concentrated energy. Fawkes tries to focus more on the eyes with his laser while the other two seem more preoccupied trying to take out the arms reaching for the man trying to climb up the building. The creature recoils from the onslaught of force, screeching and hissing as it desperately attempts to swat away its assailants. The man on the fire escape makes it up another few levels. Dodging a swipe, Daedalus looses another couple of shots as he calls out behind him. "Hurry up, will you? This ugly bastard can't seem to take a hint!" Reaching the edge of the rooftop, the man hastily starts to pull something out from somewhere on his person. "Working on it!"

Retrieving the currently unidentified object, which seems to be glowing purple and green in the dark, the man stands on the edge of the building for a moment. "Hey, ugly! You picked the wrong city to fuck with! Tell your friends the concert's gonna run as long as there's an audience!" The creature turns its attention to the roof and screeches one last time as it attempts to scale the side of the building, only for the sound of a string instrument to physically cut through the night air. The man on top of the roof plays an entire song, each note tearing into the beast below, sending chunks of it crashing down onto the pavement, only for them to burst like glass and dissipate into the shadows. The man's music continues to carve into the beast until nothing is left behind save for a small, glittering object that falls down onto the sidewalk in front of the building, unidentifiable from the current distance. With that, the dimensional disruption seems to stop, and pedestrians wandering aimlessly around distant buildings come into view.

Carefully, the man on the roof makes his way back down to the group, no longer having distance or darkness obscuring his features. The man appears to be no older than 30 at the most; a pair of yellow, round-rimmed glasses sitting atop his dark, round face; soft, green eyes staring out from behind him. The man's hair seems to be up in some small, tight braids that have been pulled into something like a ponytail; a gradient from a deep turquoise to a brilliant green color. His outfit seems to be some common street clothes; a purple jacket resting over a black shirt and some dark colored jeans over some white sneakers. Slung over his shoulder is what appears to be an old, blue gym bag of some sort; one of the ends has clearly been sewn shut several times over, a multitude of colorful threads sewn across in various patterns, some with added flair, as if it had become something of a game to whoever's been mending it. There are several patches ironed and sewn on across the bag as well; some with names or dates on them; some shaped like stars, or musical notes, or other miscellaneous things.

Letting out a sigh of relief, the man addresses the group again. "Thanks for the help! Couldn't have done it without you." Daedalus: What. Was. That?

he’s based off this guy, so imagine that when he plays!

He dispels his bow and pushes his sunglasses back up against his face, having slid down his nose slightly during the man's musical onslaught. "Did you just play an instrument so hard that you shredded that thing apart?" ???: I mean, yeah, I guess. Seems like it ran in the family. Magic, I mean; not...music, but that did too. Daedalus: Just who are you, anyway? ???: Folks around here call me Falsetto; but you guys can call me TJ.

short for Terrence Jones! neither of those are his last name

TJ’s our Daedalus’ bf!

Collin: So is this how you normally spend your evenings, or is this a recent thing? TJ: Well, those...things started showing up about 7 months ago. Nobody knows where they came from, and nobody knows what they are. Once something stops being a part of the body, it just...disappears; and if you kill 'em, then nothing gets left behind...

He glances off where the object fell. "...Most of the time." Daedalus: Oh right, I thought I heard something when you blew that thing apart. Did it leave us a present? Walking over to where the object fell on the sidewalk, TJ brings back some unrecognizable, crystalline mass twisted up in all different directions. "Just another one of these. I'd say about a third of these things leave one behind..."

Demo: ...It looks so...sad...who's art project broke out of an eldritch seal?

alienrabitt: 7 months ago...did, uhh...anything else show up?

TJ: Not that I've seen, why?

alienrabitt: Well, something else happened about that long ago, but we weren't here... Daedalus: Uh, someone want to get me up to speed here? I wasn't exactly around back then. You guys didn't break something, did you? alienrabitt: The opposite, actually. We kinda...fixed a god? Collin: But why would putting Phoenix back together make these things? alienrabitt: Well, um...I know that thing's really messed up, but...has anyone killed a shalvenn before? I mean, everyone kept saying it corrupted their bodies; why couldn't it ruin their oracles?

Demo: Wait, so you think these things are saas?

alienrabitt: Um, well, were...

Demo: That's bullshit; nobody here could be corrupting saas like this, especially if nobody else even has magic.

Maya: But you don't need bad magic to make a kleivenn into a shalvenn; Jay started turning just because he kept messing things up...

alienrabitt: H-hey, it was...more complicated than that...! Collin: But why would saas start corrupting more once Phoenix was back? Wouldn't the opposite make more sense? alienrabitt: No, no, I think it's that saas started showing up because Phoenix came back, but something is making them go bad!

Demo: But how would anybody here even know about what a saa is...? Daedalus: I get the feeling we're talking over TJ's head a little here at this point. How 'bout it, maestro? You know anything about magical creatures or anything that could turn them into those things? TJ: I've only seen the monsters; I don't know anything about them...nothing else weird's been happening. Collin: Something isn't right here. There has to be something that's causing saas to corrupt like this, but what? TJ: Your guess is as good as mine. I haven't found any leads on any of this...

Demo: Maybe if we took all those fucked up oracles to Phoenix she'd know what's happening? Even if she can't fix the saas, she could probably find out what happened before they...got twisty... Daedalus: Is that a patented term?

Collin: I think it's worth a shot, at least. Probably the best lead we've got at the moment. TJ: Then I'll have to go get the rest from my place. I don't carry 'em around in case somethin' comes out of 'em. Daedalus: You've got a collection of these things? TJ: Hey, I wasn't gonna leave 'em in the city! What if they reformed or somethin'? Daedalus: I doubt your closet or wherever you're keeping them is gonna hold up much better, but I get what you're saying. How many do you have? TJ: I'd say about 7; 8 including this one. Nothing else left one behind.

alienrabitt: You were probably breaking them...

TJ: Can't help it; my music's not precise. Collin: Let's not worry about that right now. We should take the rest that you have to Phoenix and see if she can figure out what's going on here. TJ: Alright; sounds good with me. I'll go get 'em and meet you back at your vending machine. Daedalus: I'm surprised you're not more confused about that one... TJ: I'm more confused about why you put a keypad on it... Daedalus: Hey, I didn't make the thing. Talk to that guy if you're giving critique.

He jabs a thumb over his shoulder in Jay's direction. alienrabitt: In my defense, it didn't look like a vending machine when I built it... Collin: It was also way more cramped inside though... alienrabitt: I didn't make it for like...four people; I just needed to get out of the session...y'know, 'cause I was the only one left.

TJ: I don't know what you guys are going on about, but I'm gonna go home to get the...whatever you called these things.

He shakes the twisted oracle a little for emphasis before turning to walk away.

Maya: You sure you should go alone? What if one of those things pops out?

TJ: I've got my instrument. Daedalus: If we hear another concert starting, we'll come running. With a dismissive wave, TJ heads for the eastern part of the city.

Daedalus taps his foot impatiently as TJ starts to walk away, a pensive look on his face, then lets out an annoyed groan before he begins to follow after him.   "Hang on, someone needs to go with you. If another one of those things shows up, you're gonna need someone to run interference." TJ: Suit yourself. Just don't get lost; not like you could... Daedalus: I don't intend to sightsee, don't worry about me. The pair heads off into the night, no passerbys nor cars paying them much mind. Daedalus: This place seems awfully tame considering their nightlife includes giant balls of arms and teeth, doesn't it? TJ: Well, most people can't see those things. It's like they exist in a separate dimension or somethin'... Daedalus: Oh right, forgot you said that earlier. That's pretty weird, considering most people can see kleivenn. Whatever's screwing with these saas must also be making them invisible to most people too. 'Course that begs the question of why we can see them... TJ: That's what I'd like to know. Daedalus: Guess that'll be Phoenix's job to explain. So, what did you do before taking up vigilante justice? Can't imagine fighting monsters was the first thing on your mind when you picked up... whatever that was you were playing. TJ: Not much. Dad was in music; mom...isn't around. I've been livin' with my aunt and uncle for a while now. Had a part time job as a barista for a little while, but I had to split the scene when some shit hit the fan at home. Daedalus: Ah, sorry to hear. So you don't have much luck with family stuff either then, huh? TJ: My dad's a real in and out kind of guy. Always has some new big project he's gotta get to; and, I mean, I don't mind, but when the family business became my business, I just wish everyone'd been honest with me from the start. Daedalus: Family business? TJ: Magical affairs; keeping the city safe from things that bump in the night; like these weird mouth things. Daedalus: Ah, so you suddenly found out that you're from a line of magical crime fighters. I guess that was probably a more interesting talk than the birds and the bees though. TJ: Less crime, more monsters. This whole area's got a long history of magic users; but a lot of the people here try to keep it a secret. Doesn't change the fact that there's something in the area that's basically a magnet for trouble, though; so every time some new kind of monster or somethin' comes tearing through a district, people just cover it up and move on. Daedalus: Is that so? Hmm...

He seems to drift off in thought about something, too far to finish a proper response.

watcha thinkin’ sunshine?

A little confused by the reaction, TJ ultimately doesn't confront Daedalus over it as he reaches the house his aunt and uncle live in.

"...You can come in if you want; I've never brought anyone home, but they'll probably be happy about it." Daedalus: Huh? Oh, uh, I guess? I figured I'd draw unwanted attention, but if you insist... TJ enters the house, entering a little room with some stairs to the left; a doorway to the kitchen on the right; and an open path to the living room straight ahead, where TJ's uncle can be seen sleeping in front of a TV he forgot to turn off while a couple of children play on the floor in front of it. One of the kids, a little girl with her poofy hair pulled into a pair of pigtails, glances up from their toys to wave at TJ, only to notice Daedalus and point it out to the little boy across from her. Excitedly, the kids get up, sneak around the uncle, and meet TJ at the base of the stairs.

???: You brought somebody home! You never bring people home! Who is he? Is he your friend?

TJ: Somethin' like that. Hey, Mika, keep it down, alright? Uncle Tom's trying to sleep; don't get grounded.

The little girl rolls her eyes, crossing her arms as she gives TJ a particular look. "I won't..."

With a little smirk, she glances over at Daedalus, then back at TJ. "Risa's gonna get mad if she finds out you came home this late again."

TJ: Yeah, well, she's gonna be mad if she finds out you two're still up too, so we should all be goin' upstairs.

Grabbing the little boy's hand, Mika rolls her eyes again as she heads upstairs. "Somebody had to wait for you..." Daedalus glances over at TJ. "Siblings, I'm guessing?" TJ: Niece and nephew, actually. Daedalus: Ah, gotcha. Sounds like you get along, at least. TJ: We try.

Heading upstairs, TJ goes off to what's presumably his room, then comes back downstairs with a backpack in his hands. "Alright, let's get outta here before anyone wakes up." Daedalus: You got it. You leaving a note or something? I get the impression that you're coming with us to sort this out. TJ: Nah, they're used to me going in and out too. They know what I'm doing. Daedalus: Fair enough. After you, then. TJ backtracks back into the city and starts heading back towards where he saw the IT. "So, do you guys just...show up in places?"

Daedalus: Sometimes. Other times we choose where we land! We basically just follow the smell of trouble and help where we can. It makes for a very, uh... adventurous lifestyle. TJ: Don't you get tired of it? Daedalus: I haven't been at it for as long as the others, so I'm not exactly burnt out yet. I've definitely seen it wear on some of the older members though. Not sure what the long term plan is there, frankly. TJ: Why're you all doin' that anyway? Do you have to? Daedalus: I think everyone has their own reasons. It started out as one thing, but as more and more people started to join up with us, it kinda turned into what it is now. Just a ragtag group working to make things better for others, and all that other sappy nonsense. TJ: I guess that makes sense; but why not just...have people stay where they're needed? Daedalus: Not everyone has a place to go back to, including yours truly. Hell, most of us don't, really. That soda machine's all we've got. TJ: So you're a bunch of...homeless orphan superheroes? Daedalus: Now you're gettin' it! TJ: I mean, I guess I know why you do it, but you can't solve everybody's problems forever... Daedalus: I'm not arguing with you there, but we don't have a lot of other options right now. I'm sure some day we'll hang up our hats and move to the countryside or go our separate ways or... whatever people do when they stop adventuring. Mm...

He makes a face like something he thought about left a bad taste in his mouth.

[bastille voice] and you’re scared of being left behind

TJ: ...Well, I'm sure everyone's gonna be needing you guys for a long time. However long that is.

The pair returns to the IT's location. "Anyway, guess you should let me in." Daedalus: Oh, right.

He swings the door open and lets TJ go inside before him, closing the door behind them as he follows TJ in.

I know it’s been like 3 seasons since it’s been relevant but there’s a code you need to unlock the door to the IT, and it’s “CC”

"Well, welcome to the IT. It's a lot bigger than you expected, probably." TJ: I mean...it is; I was just expecting a couple of rooms or somethin'; but this thing's a spaceship, huh?

Paprika: Not too far off!

TJ: ...Well, uhh...where do we need to go? Collin: Kujaar, the only kleivenn city around as far as I know. That's where Phoenix lives, and hopefully she'll know what's happening to all of these saas. Are the oracles you found in that bag? TJ: Yeah; all the ones so far. Hopefully there won't be more of those things while I'm gone. Daedalus: Shouldn't be too long. Do we have an ETA on that, Paprika? Paprika: Same day; shouldn't take longer than half an hour. Daedalus: There you have it. Not bad for hopping across worlds and dimensions, huh? TJ: That's genuinely impressive. Alright; let's get these things to Phoenix. The IT heads for Kujaar, where it eventually lands. Nine greets the group upon arrival, but has no further questions beyond who TJ is before allowing everyone back into Kujaar. Collin: Well that's good, we've brought new people here once or twice before, but I wasn't sure how smoothly that was gonna go. alienrabitt: Usually they're more wary of humans...guess they didn't care this time. Daedalus: I'm guessing they trust us not to drag in someone that's going to cause problems, so don't go blowing our winning streak now, TJ. TJ: I'll keep the violins to a minimum, then. Daedalus: Was... that a pun? Paprika: Yes; and sax is out of the question!

Daedalus: Oh hell, I thought it was just Clair but it's already spreading. Demo: Hey, if puns are the worst thing he can do, I welcome the change of pace. Daedalus: True, he hasn't pulled a gun on anyone yet, so credit where it's due. Maya: It was one time...

alienrabitt: Uhh, I guess we should go talk to Phoenix about this stuff? Collin: That's the plan. I just hope she doesn't get too freaked out by a bag of oracles... Jay; TJ; Daedalus; Collin; and Clair all head off to Phoenix, who seems as pleasantly surprised as ever to have the company.

Phoenix: You're back again! And with such an interesting group again; you're always so full of surprises...! Collin: It's in our nature, I suppose. Anyway, we have something we were hoping you might be able to help us with. It turns out that saas are beginning to show up again, but... well... TJ: Well, I don't know if these are saas, but they're certainly...somethin'...

Opening the backpack, TJ shows Phoenix one of the twisted oracles.

Practically lying down to get closer to everyone's level, Phoenix squints at the backpack before shaking her head. "These aren't kleivenn. They look like they were made with the intention of looking like kleivenn, but they aren't quite right...something else is making these by itself." Daedalus: Someone's making bootleg kleivenn? I didn't even think that was possible. Phoenix: By all accounts, it shouldn't be possible to make a kleivenn from scratch; but...I don't know about these things. It looks like...like somebody heard about a saa, then tried to make one from memory.

alienrabitt: But how would anybody there even know about kleivenn? Didn't the war cover them up?

Phoenix: Here, yes; but we are an alien race. It's entirely possible they could exist beyond this planet. Collin: So someone or something back in TJ's world remembers kleivenn and is trying to make them itself? I don't suppose that rings any bells, does it? TJ: This is the first I've heard or even seen of all this stuff; so unfortunately, I don't think I'm gonna figure this out any time soon... Daedalus: Can we use one of those fake oracles to find the thing that made it? Phoenix: I could probably draw the memories out of it, but I don't know how well it would react. Collin: Do you think it would wake up and attack again? Phoenix: These things are twisted and ruined because they're unstable; who or whatever made them did it very hastily. I'm more worried the thing could detonate; and now that it's around actual kleivenn, if it woke up, who knows what it would do in its desperation to complete itself.

they’re eating metal because they’re mistaking it for oracles

Daedalus: Let's... not do that then, perhaps. That does leave us with the question of "how the hell do we find the source of these things", though. Phoenix: Unfortunately, I don't have any other answers for you, unless you can find a kleivenn that can definitely keep these things dormant while looking for answers... Daedalus thinks for a second, then reaches out behind Clair and gives her a fairly hefty pat on the back. "Found one."

Phoenix: ...You can?

Clair: I...haven't really tried anything like that, but maybe I could...

alienrabitt: Let's just be ready in case it tries to get back up again anyway. Daedalus forms a two-handed hammer in his hands and rests it on his shoulder. "You got it." Taking one of the twisted oracles from TJ's backpack, Clair sits on the floor with it in her hands, closing her eyes as she quietly begins to focus. She seems to look a little nervous every once in a while before she speaks again.

"...It looks like there's...a book? Somebody has a book somewhere...I can't quite tell...somebody young, but not a kid...I think they're a girl? She's sneaking off with something that doesn't belong to her...to a place nobody really goes...these things don't look so bad when she makes them...little marbles; tiny creatures..."

She puts the oracle back in the bag.

"...I...I can't figure anything else out; sorry..." Daedalus: Don't worry too much, it's better than nothing. Does that give you anything to work with, maestro? TJ: It's...close enough; uhh. A part of the city nobody really goes to, but it's close enough somebody could keep sneaking something like a book out to...I think I can find where that is. Daedalus: Look at that, Clair saves the day!

Dispelling his hammer, he reaches down to help Clair up off the floor. Accepting the help up, Clair quietly glances away before looking to TJ. "I don't think she's doing it to hurt anybody; I think she just...doesn't want to be alone. That or she's just practicing magic..."

TJ: The first time I saw one of those things, it swallowed a tanker whole. If I hadn't stopped it, it would've eaten an entire bridge. This is a little more than practice; even if she doesn't know what's happening. Daedalus: She's just worried about the girl. The monsters we can stop however we need to. TJ: ...I know; I just don't want this getting even more out of hand. Collin: We're with you there, don't worry.

Daedalus: Sounds like we're done here, then. Let's pile back inside and make our way back. You said you think you know where this girl might be, right TJ?

TJ: Well, I think I might know the area, but I'm not so sure I'll be able to find the exact building...

Daedalus: I mean, we just gotta find the one that monsters keep popping out of. Probably got some busted doors, maybe some holes in the walls, all that good stuff.

TJ: You've...got a point, yeah.Clair: But I don't think they're big and scary when they first show up; I think something's just...making them like that? I don't think it's the girl that's bringing them out, though...

Collin: I thought you said that she was making them just a minute ago. Or do you just mean she's not making them like that?

Clair: She's creating the things that are leaving these oracles behind, but they don't start out as those weird mouth things...

Collin: That's what I meant, yeah.Daedalus: Well, we're not gonna find 'em sticking around here, I can tell you that much.

Let's head back to TJ's place and see if we can track this book down, then.

Daedalus: Sounds like a plan.

Collin: Thanks for your help, Phoenix!

Phoenix: I wish you luck in helping these poor creatures find their peace./The group returns to the IT, which returns to the station it had previously parked at when the group had met TJ.

TJ: So, do we wanna split up or somethin'? I doubt we're gonna need a huge group, though...

Collin: I guess that depends on how long you think it'll take to search. If it's a big area, more people might help. If it's not so big, we might not need to.

TJ: I'd say the part of town that matched that description is roughly a block or two big.

Daedalus: Bah, that's not so bad. Alright, so who wants to go hunting for a monster factory?

I don’t think griffin’d appreciate these monsters

Demo, Jay, and Clair remain around.

Collin, Daedalus, and Fawkes also remain behind.

TJ: Alright, so this thing's probably gonna be in the northeastern district.

Fawkes: What makes you suspect that area?

TJ: Only one school nearby; a lot of businesses are pretty close; it's backed by the ocean; and there's a lot of empty buildings closer to the docks.

Daedalus: Sounds like a plan. I'll bet she's in one of the empty buildings in that case.

TJ: Just don't go racing around or anything. This kid's sneaking off with something she's not supposed to have, doing something she knows is wrong; if she thinks she'll get caught, she'll try to run or hide.

Daedalus: Don't you worry, fiddler man. I don't make a habit of running off on my own.

it’s a violin :/

The group heads for the northeast side of town, and TJ stands at the edge of the two blocks the girl could be at. "...Your best bet will be a building with a lot of metal missing. If these things eat metal to get bigger, people won't be parking cars or anything close to where stuff's gone missing."

Daedalus: If push comes to shove, we could always have tiny over here run around and try to lure 'em out.

Fawkes: I am not going to be monster bait!

TJ: Let's not get anyone eaten...

Daedalus: Fine, fine, I'll just rattle some tin cans or something then.

Collin: I guess we should start looking around, then. I get the feeling it'll be obvious when we start getting close.

The group searches around for a bit until they eventually find that a lot of cars seem to be parking on the opposite side of half of one of the two blocks, narrowing down the location of the building to that area.

Fawkes: I think we're getting closer now. I haven't detected anything too out of the ordinary yet, however.

TJ: We're definitely in the right place; just gotta find the right building...

Daedalus: My money's still on the one that looks the most abandoned or trashed.

Demo: I dunno, if these things started turning into creepy mouth monsters in front of a kid, don't you think she'd quit trying to make more?

Daedalus: I... can't argue there.

Collin: I guess all that we can do now is poke around and see if anyone is inside.

The group continues to look around the area, but there are no obvious signs of anyone breaking into any of the abandoned buildings. There is, however, a building missing its entire fire escape.

Fawkes: That seems to be a safety code violation. Do you think this might be our place?

Demo: I don't know what else'd strip a building of an entire fire escape...

Daedalus: Someone who really needs a nice set of stairs?

Collin: I kiiinda doubt that. Let's see if we can get inside.

It looks like some of the boards that have been sealing one of the windows up have all had nails pried open on various sides, allowing them to be rotated in a way that unobstructs the entire window, but only if all of them are rotated in very specific ways

alienrabitt: This kid seriously didn't want to make it look like anyone was coming in and out of here...

Daedalus: I get that she stole some special book or whatever, but she's acting like she's running a damn meth lab or something. Is the book really that big of a deal?

TJ: Is she trying to hide the book, or is she hiding from something...?

Collin: If that's the case, we need to find her first.

Demo: Do we seriously have the time to look through all these rooms?

Daedalus: Unless you've got a faster way, I'm not sure what else we can do.

Demo: What, can't the brave little machine gun scan for heat signatures or some shit?

that’s just the worst nickname possible

Fawkes: Already on it. Also don't call me that, please.

Aside from everybody on ground level, there's only one other person visible near the upper floors. They seem to have a couple of smaller, cooler signatures with them as well.

Fawkes: I see three signatures up above us. One is human, but the other two are unidentifiable. I assume they're more of those creatures in their early stages.

Clair: We can go look, but maybe you should, um...stay in the hall or something? If they get bigger when they eat metal...

Fawkes: I suppose that would be the best choice. Stay safe, I'll be waiting.

The remainder of the group heads up to where Fawkes found the heat signature, where they hear a young girl quietly talking to what are presumably the smaller monsters. "...You guys sure are hungry. That's all the screws I could sneak out from around town, though; you're just gonna have to wait til next weekend. But maybe you'll run off too. Seriously, how do you guys keep sneaking out of here...?"

Collin: Uh... excuse us? You might want to stop feeding those things, they're kinda making a huge mess when they get out of here.

The girl quickly drops something as she rushes over to the edge of the doorway, though she makes a point not to look into the hallway as she addresses the group. "Wh-who are you?! How'd you get in here?!"

TJ: Calm down; we're not here to hurt you. Your little friends in there just have some seriously big appetites, and the ones that are sneaking out have been eating cars and stuff.

???: "Wh-what?! Cars?! They can't eat--...!! They're...they're not even the size of a house cat! I know they eat fast, but...!"

Daedalus: Yeah, well, turns out things grow if you keep feeding 'em, kid. It's all fun and games until your little metal muncher is the size of a small house.

???: "That would take ages! They're just animals! ...I think..."

Demo: Yeah, animals that come out of a magic book and eat nothing but metal; totally normal.

???: "...Look, what do you want? If you're not here 'cause you're gonna rat me out, you're here for something else, right?"

Collin: We're here to stop whatever was creating these creatures you're making. I don't know why you have that book or why you're making these things, but you've got to stop. They're wreaking havoc once they get out of here.

???: "I just wanted to see a kleivenn up close! But they're starting out so small...I thought I needed to raise it or something; maybe that'd make it be like a real one..."

alienrabitt: Wait, so you know these things aren't actually kleivenn?

???: "I thought I could make one. This book's all about kleivenn; so I figured I could just...make one."

Collin: Trust us, it's not working the way you think it is. I don't even think you can make a kleivenn that way.

???: "How would you know?"

Demo: Two of us are kleivenn; will you come out now?

???: "You're just saying that to make me stop!"

Daedalus: No, seriously. The wonder-twins here are both fullblown kleivenn.

???: "Prove it!"

Rolling her eyes, Demo shoves Jay through the door into the room with the girl. "Would a human have an arm like that?"

alienrabitt: H-hey!!

The girl's quiet for a little bit before she lets Jay open the door the rest of the way as she heads back to the back of the room.

???: "...I...don't know what to say..."

Collin: Hey, don't go shoving him around like that! Why do you even want to see a kleivenn so bad anyway?

???: This book just makes them sound cool, so I wanted to see one...

Daedalus: .... Well, at least she's easy to read.

TJ: How'd you get a book like that, anyway? Those things aren't even from around here.

???: Oh, my dad got it from one of his business partners! He said the guy works with a kleivenn called, uhh...A Bus?

alienrabitt: ...A bus...? I don't think anyone's named after a bus...

???: He said they're named A Bus; not named after a bus...

Demo is suddenly trying to find a way out of the building without drawing any attention to herself.

Collin: ... Are you sure he didn't say "Anubis"?

???: No, not A new Bus, his name is A Bus.

Daedalus: Uh, Demo, where are you going?

Demo keeps her voice low, but urgent as she answers: "Anywhere but here! I don't know who the hell she's talking about, but every anubis I have is telling me that kleivenn's worse news than Xentrilis."

Daedalus unconsciously lowers his voice to match. "So you're just keeping that little tidbit to yourself?"

Demo: What am I supposed to do?! My anubis can't talk like we can; whatever I understand is the equivalent of trying to translate a phrase through six different languages before you can even get a word everybody else recognizes! I don't know who they're afraid of, or why; I just know that whoever's with that kleivenn is...whoever's with that kleiven is responsible for the whole war...

Daedalus: They're WHAT?

The little girl peaks into the hallway to look at Daedalus and Demo, though she locks her gaze with Demo. Speaking softly, she addresses Demo: "...Aren't you gonna let me see you too?"

Without even humoring her with a response, Demo summons forth the Candy Cane, smashes the nearest window open, and practically throws herself out of it, shifting to a massive, black sand dragon with a large, yellow stripe running all the way down its back as she races away from the building as quickly as possible. A little stunned, the girl backs back into the room. "Um...your friend just left..."

there’s Y, so we’ve seen R and Y now I think?

Daedalus: Yeah, because that book of yours is from someone who's worse news than an eye surgeon with Parkinson's. If I were you, I'd ditch that book and go back to whatever it is you were doing before you took up summoning these little shits.

???: But...! But I just wanted to see one first...! There's none left here! Dad said they're never gonna come back...!

Collin: Why'd he say that?

???: Because he and his friends don't want them here anymore...but you guys are here, so maybe they're gonna come back if I keep trying!

alienrabitt: N-no, we only show up if something bad is happening; we show up to stop things...

???: But...why would you wanna stop me? I just wanna bring the kleivenn back here...

TJ: Maybe they weren't sent here to stop you...tell you what, you quit bringing those little guys out of that book, and we'll make sure the kleivenn come back, alright?

???: How can I trust you?

Daedalus: Two of us are kleivenn and we haven't even tried to take your book despite the fact that you keep summoning monsters out of it. What more do you want, a friendship bracelet?

A little skeptical, the girl closes up the book, though the two small monsters continue to scavenge around the room, searching for scraps of metal. Neither of them are much bigger than a softball at the moment, essentially beaks with tiny bird feet and three tiny, slitted, yellow eyes on their faces. One of them is softly pecking at Collin's boot, though it doesn't seem to be doing much to it.

Collin: Hey, hey! You get away from that!

He pulls his left leg back and nudges the creature back with his other foot.

The monster hops a bit, peeping softly, though it can't seem to do much else than protest.

it’s....cute...............

Daedalus: Alright, so problem one solved. Now we've gotta find Demo and figure out what the hell to do about this bus guy.

alienrabitt: Easier said than done...

Daedalus: Tell me about it. Why the hell did she have to go and take off like that...?

Clair: I guess we'll have to ask her...

Collin: Does she have a communicator on her? It has a GPS thing in it, right?

alienrabitt: She should...

Collin fishes his communicator out of his cloak and fiddles with the screen for a few moments, trying to figure out how to find Demo.

Managing to get to the locaters, there are two obvious groups, one where Collin is, and one where the IT is. Counting the icons, it seems like Demo's returned to the IT.

Collin: Oh, I think she just went back to the IT. Either that or she left it there...

alienrabitt: Let's hope she just went home...

Daedalus: Let's at least go look. If she's not there, we're seriously up a creek.

Reuniting with Fawkes, the group returns to the IT, where Silky; Firefly; Maya; and Karumet are all waiting outside with Demo.

Maya: That kid didn't do anything weird, did she?

Collin: Aside from thinking these weird bird things were kleivenn, not really. She's just a little uninformed about kleivenn.

Firefly squints in the darkness. "There's something trying to climb into your boot..."

Collin: Wh- I told you to shoo!

He bends down and hastily plucks the little creature out of his shoe and holds it out away from himself.

There's a small tinkling sound as the little bird monster's tiny legs kick against Collin's leg, the bird itself squawking in protest as it wiggles around in his grasp. Its beak does not open, however, as it seems to be holding something in it.

Collin: H-Hey, that better not be a piece of my leg!

Holding the bird firmly in one hand, he grabs onto the object in its beak with the other hand and tries to pull it out.

It is not a piece of his leg, but rather, one of the shards that should be inside of it. The shard seems to be entirely unharmed, but is no longer glowing.

Maya: That...doesn't look good.

Collin: How did you even...? That was inside a glass chamber!

Silky: Did it peck through it?

Maya: Wouldn't he have heard that?

Firefly: We can't take that thing onto the IT...we'll have to get rid of it here. I guess Collin's still able to walk alright if he got this far with that thing messing around...you guys go inside and see what you can do about that; I'll deal with the bird.

With a slight hint of reluctance, Collin hands the bird over to Firefly and heads inside the IT.

Clair: I guess we'll try to look into whoever's been getting rid of the kleivenn here. Are you gonna try too?

TJ: Yeah; I'll let you guys know what I find out.

Daedalus: Running your own investigation, huh?

TJ: Better to have people looking around in as many places as possible, right?

Daedalus: I guess. Just be careful you don't get in over your head. This "Abus" person is sounds like some seriously bad news, even by our standards.

it’s actually spelled Aebos but we’ll learn more about them later

TJ: Trust me, I'll let you know if something weird happens that I can't handle.

Daedalus: Sounds like a plan, then.

With that, the group returns to the IT.

alrighty, idk what happens next but that’s that log finally, lol

[regrettablewritings]

Storytime

So in an act of procrastinating on exam work and entertaining for an audience of who knows, I thought I’d share some stories from my life because I think more people ought to do this and this blog is my dumping ground anyway, might as well, right? At the very least, @xemopeachx might be entertained.

So two summers ago, I was, as usual, scrambling to find a summer job. For those of you who haven’t gotten into college yet, the reality is that if you don’t secure an internship, don’t go to school nearby where you’re trying to find a summer job, or can’t lie about when you graduate, finding a summer job is damn difficult. At least, in my experience it was.

So when I got an offer for an interview, I was hype. In hindsight, I don’t really remember applying for the job due to going through 20+ online applications in just June alone but I’m pretty sure it was for a secretarial position. It therefore should’ve been a red flag that they were offering me a more . . . sales-y position. We’re gonna call the company “Pinnacle.”

The crazy thing about Pinnacle was that it didn’t look shady. It wasn’t in a sketchy part of town in a rundown building or anything. In fact, it was on a high floor in a beautiful building where you could go so high up that you could see rain falling from a cloud in the distance. So appearance-wise, I had no reason to suspect anything. I did well in the interview and was told that if they wanted me, I would receive a call that evening for the second round of interviewing. Surprise, surprise, I get the round 2. I’m advised to dress nicely but comfortably, as I would be walking around the city that day with a mentor of sorts who would show me the ropes.

So my mentor, Titus (as we’ll call him), seemed like a great guy. In hindsight, though, his story seemed a bit clunky in places but, hey, I needed the money so of course I wasn’t thinking thoroughly. He explains that if I’m hired by Pinnacle, my job would basically be to go around town, talking to a . . . certain kind of clientele, offering this phone plan for those on a certain kind of healthcare or welfare or something like that, I don’t know. As you can imagine, though, marching up to people who look a certain way and asking them something personal like that wasn’t exactly winning over any clients. Plus, at this point, my social anxiety was beginning to worsen for some reason. But I thought, “I need this job, I need this money, suck it up!” and rolled with it.

We return to Pinnacle’s office and I’m put in a room with a bunch of other candidates and y’all . . . I try not to be judgemental. Especially when it comes to looks. But the image Pinnacle presented itself as, the image they told me to come as, and the image some of these people were? Fit together like a Rubik’s Cube glued with all the wrong colors in the wrong spots. That should’ve probably also have been a red flag but, hey, maybe they just want to hire a variety of people. Despite, you know, everyone who already works here looking nothing like some of the candidates. Anyway, I get the job and am advised to come in the next day for paperwork.

Now, this third day is the day the siren testing becomes absolute siren blaring. I arrive at the office, I hear thudding in the back. Like, funky music thudding. There’s no-one at the front desk. I have no choice but to head back and look for somebody. There, in the back room, is this loudass music playing and I mean somebody cranked up stuff on the electronica workout station of Pandora or something. And speaking over this loudass music is this chick to, like, several other people taking notes as she writes on a board. I have to yell over the music to ask about what I’m supposed to do and I just get told to stay there and take notes.

So guys, basically what happens every morning at Pinnacle is this sort of . . .  I don’t even know, I guess it’s to motivate the workers? They read off the rules and sales tactics or something (I have the packets from it somewhere) and I guess they played the music loudly to make people enunciate but really it was annoying.

But! What made this shit start setting off bells in my head was what they did every time they went through a point: The instructor would go, “And when do we do this?”, the subjects go, “All the time.” Instructor: “AND WHEN DO WE DO THIS!?” Subjects: “ALL THE TIME!!!” And then, the instructor would go, “Gimme some juice!”, to which the subjects would respond, “Juicccccccceeee” while giving the instructor a high-five.

I don’t know if it’s just my paranoia or anxiety, but something about this weirded me out to no fucking end. But to be fair, how would you feel if Major Lazer’s “Somebody to Lean On” was blaring in a small room with a lady surrounded by several people eagerly listening to her mad ravings with the following exchange going on:

“And when do we do this?” “All the time.” “AND WHEN DO WE DO THIS?!?!” “ALL THE TIME!!!” “Gimme some juice!” *holds out hand for high-five* “Juicccccceeeeee!”*gives her high-five*

There was also a freaking tiny gong in the corner and I don’t know why but it freaked me out, I guess it just made me think of cults?? There were some other things that made me think of cults involving chants but I think I repressed them because that juice mess was the strangest shit to me. And yet, I went through with the paperwork anyway because how do you tell somebody, “Your business seems shady and it’s making me want to curl into that corner right by the tiny gong”?

I honestly didn’t calm down until I caught the bus home, when I walked inside and told my mom about it. She was confused, but ultimately not excited about the idea of me walking around the shadier parts of town by myself as the job would require. We looked through the paperwork and realized that the payment method also sounded a little too fishy and decided that it just wasn’t gonna be worth it. I quit the next day and avoided going down certain streets the Pinnacle people frequented for the rest of the summer, lest they learn that I really didn’t “find a better opportunity for myself” as I had claimed.

[virginiamurrayblog]

Corporate Style: How To Stand Out While Blending In

from He Spoke Style – Men’s Style, Fashion, Grooming, Tips and Advice

Corporate style doesn’t have to be an oxymoron

Corporate and style are two words you might not expect to see together. In fact, to some, the term “corporate style” might seem like something of an oxymoron. There is definitely a style to corporate attire, but you might argue that its style is devoid of style with a capital ‘s’. In that type of environment, it’s all about fitting in and not rocking the boat. So how do you stand out while still blending in? Here are five things to consider.

Make the investment in yourself. To be sure, investing in yourself certainly has a monetary component. You have to be willing to funnel some resources and throw a bit of cash at your project, which is yourself. However, in addition to money, there is also an investment in time. Time spent reflecting on what you hope to achieve. And time spent researching and learning about a variety of things related to clothing and style. We live in a fast-paced world filled with instant gratification. Aim to be the guy who makes considered and informed decisions rather than the one who is overeager and shows no regard for knowledge or quality. In other words, be a man of substance, not a man of superfluousness.

Have a suit made. Having a suit made is a perfect illustration of the idea expressed above. Number one, it takes time. And number two, you can almost guarantee that nobody will have the same exact suit. Sure, you could get that Ludlow suit from J.Crew tomorrow. You could go to SuitSupply. But so could everyone else. And a lot of people do because they need/want a new suit, and stat. Hunting for sartorial instant gratification will almost certainly lead to you awkwardly bumping into a coworker (or someone on the sidewalk) and being like, “Hey, um, we’ve got the same SuitSupply blazer…cool…”

Not being impulsive when it comes to developing your wardrobe will not only save you from a potentially embarrassing situation, but it will also give you complete control over your vision. When you have a suit made you have authority over your fabric as well as details like lapel style, pocket style, buttons, whether your trousers are cuffed, and lining. Not only that, but if you’ve gone to a company that knows their craft, you’re going to get a superior fit. And there’s nothing better than that.

| WEARING | Michael Andrews Bespoke suit, shirt and tie, Frank Clegg briefcase, Rolex watch, Tommy Hilfiger shoes | PHOTOGRAPHY | by Rob McIver Photo

Carry an enviable briefcase. Just say no to the ubiquitous black Targus briefcase and look for a high-quality leather example. Not only will it get better as it ages, but chances are you’ll be able to hand it down someday. Walk in with a Frank Clegg briefcase in shrunken leather and I’ll wager your boss will ask you where you bought it.

Consider your watch game. Here’s where a lot of time will be spent researching and considering. Now, if you want to be like everyone else, go ahead and buy that damn Daniel Wellington watch. If you detect my disdain for DW, it has nothing to do with price. I wouldn’t tell you that a Seiko 5 would be an infinitely better choice–which it most certainly is–if price were my only criteria. Rather, it’s its ubiquitousness and the FOMO that it induces.

If you hope to climb the corporate ladder, you’re going to have to follow the herd and play by the rules to some extent. Think of your clothing and accessories, especially your choice of watch, as a subtle way to be unique and intriguing. The most astute and perceptive of your colleagues will likely take note of these things and that will go a long way in their positive perception of you.

Buckles instead of laces. Anchor your suit with a pair of double monk straps instead of oxfords or derbies. (Here’s the difference between oxfords and derbies, if you were wondering.) A little Italian flair down there will certainly garner some positive feedback. Just be sure to skip the funky socks to avoid being “that guy”.

Thanks for reading.

Stylishly Yours,

Brian Sacawa He Spoke Style

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[breakthruecode]

Dave “Kombucha” Lindenbaum Interview – Biggest Entrepreneur Lessons

Dave “Kombucha” Lindenbaum Interview on his biggest breakthroughs in personal & business life. Dave is an awesome guest that shares his background in making a 7 figure online business and starting off in Kombucha. He’s also starting a hot sauce business. Great interviewee and you’ll want to listen in!

Vince: Welcome back breakthru entrepreneurs! My name is Vince and this is another one of our breakthru interview series that we did in Denver, Colorado. We go to talk to some amazing seven eight figure business owners, marketers, coaches, mentor, just people doing amazing thing in life and in business. I have Dave Kombucha Lindenbaum today aka Dave Lindenbaum, aka about five other nicknames. Why does he have so many nicknames because he’s a unique personality has a great perspective on life and business and he’s just a joy to listen to and he’s entertaining as heck as well. So if you haven’t heard or haven’t subscribed to our breakthru interview series. Subscribe below, turn on  your notifications, like the video if it gave you some great insight, leave a comment below on what you liked about this video what you didn’t like, what you want us to ask next time. We ask roughly about three questions in the breakthru interview series. What was some of your biggest personal breakthroughs, what are some of your biggest business breakthroughs, how to align all of that for it as an entrepreneur or just in your life in general to live a life of passion and fulfillment as well. So subscribe below enjoy the video and please let us know what you think and we will see you on the other end. Listen to Dave Kombucha Lindenbaum right after this. Take care!

Dave Lindenbaum: My name’s Dave Lindenbaum. I have multiple nicknames, but we’ll say Golden Showers Lindenbaum. We’ll talk about that one in a second. Dave Kombucha Lindenbaum, Dave Multiple Pants Lindenbaum, Dave Joshua Lindenbaum. The golden showers, just to get that out of the way, I like to give as much value as I can to my fellow entrepreneurs, people I coach, students and really anybody. If I catch them on the street, I’ll talk to them. Yeah, that’s my name.

Dave Lindenbaum: Golden showers of value. Value showers, if you will. I also like to have fun and so that name is, I don’t like to take myself too seriously. That might be one of my little secrets to success, maybe. The Kombucha came from, originally one of my businesses. In fact, the first business I started was an online tea company, particularly for kombucha. For those that don’t know, kombucha’s a fermented funky probiotic-rich beverage.

Dave Lindenbaum: Like many entrepreneur stories, it came from a personal breakthrough. I had acid reflux for a very, very long time. A buddy of mine told me to try this drink. I drank it. I had the best bowel movement of my life and no acid reflux. The next day, I drank it again. Then after a week I got rid of all my acid reflux medicine but then, like the hero’s journey, the problem was buying these drinks were actually costing me more than my prescription drugs. As entrepreneurs, we always try to find better ways.

Dave Lindenbaum: We always talk about this way of serving, giving more value but I was trying to give more value, better value to myself, trying to serve myself. Figure out how I could solve my own problem. That came from figuring out how to make the stuff at home, which then said, “Well, if I’m helping myself, I wonder if I could help others and make it others?” Now, I picked the middle name Kombucha because I was trying to game the SEO in Facebook at the time, and then it just stuck.

Dave Lindenbaum: On the personal side, and it might not sound sexy but it’s treating your personal goals with as much respect as your business goals, let’s say. Whether you’re in a relationship, whether you want to change your sleep habits or fitness habits or anything like that. I saw the most success in my business when I was writing my goals down, tracking them, trying to find help and support, outsourcing.

Dave Lindenbaum: All these things we do in business, what if I could apply that to my personal goals? That was a big breakthrough. Really thinking in business terms, if that’s where you are thinking. Now from the opposite, if you’re being too business structured, maybe you need the opposite but that idea of things that you get breakthroughs in your business. See if those same things that led to that can give you breakthroughs in your personal.

Dave Lindenbaum: It’s really being willing to adapt and pivot and audible. I started … And evolve. All those words, gosh. I’m sure if you looked in the dictionary, they all mean different things. This idea of, your growth never stops. I’ll give you one example. Our first business Get Kombucha was on our own eCommerce store. Then Amazon came around and I combed into it. I was like, “Well, let me just try this out.”

Dave Lindenbaum: At the time, when we put up our product on Amazon, 90% of our revenue was on our income store. Shopify store or something like that at the time, and 10% was on Amazon.  If you could see trends and it doesn’t … I reasoned with myself said, “Okay, listen. If I make the decision to put my product up on Amazon today, I’ll worry about optimizing, worry about all these other things another time but let me at least have it work for me.”

Dave Lindenbaum: This model works really well. I’m not a real estate guy. I don’t know too much about real estate, but this idea of real estate with passive income, like it’s working for you. Well, there’s tactical things you can do in your business today. Like setting up an autoresponder. Adding a product on a marketplace that people are already going to. That it might be running ads, retargeting ads. That the sooner you get that done, it doesn’t have to be perfect, but get it done today because then it’ll start working for you.

Dave Lindenbaum: While you’re improving it, you’re getting results. You might not be making money. Maybe those ads are losing, but you’re getting results then, to turn those ads off or something like that over time. Look for things that might not have a huge impact today, but will start paying you today the minute you implement it, there’s easy enough implement. That’s one idea I guess, of evolving or pivoting.

Dave Lindenbaum: Another idea of like in our products. Kombucha was our first company, but then we’re like, “Hey. People are writing to us that the reason why they love this product so much isn’t just because it makes kombucha but they enjoy just making stuff.” That idea, that experience. Kind of like the love hate I have with Ikea. You know what I mean? Schlepping this thing home and putting it together. You feel your shoulder’s about to fall off with this little Allen wrench, but you feel so much accomplishment that you put this together.

Dave Lindenbaum: I started looking at trends like Blue Apron and these make your own meal kits. I’m thinking of all this stuff like, “Well, what if we started doing more kits?” Not just for kombucha, but kits in general. Then I started searching, what are people really into? I saw that people are really obsessed with hot sauces. What if we made a hot sauce? Probably, actually, this is cool. This is like inside of how my brain works. Everything just becomes a little bit easier, at least to know that, or that that’s expected. Watching other people’s stories was a huge thing too.

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[lookbackmachine]

The Simpson’s Shorts History

Simpsons Shorts from Seward Street

[music]

00:05 Speaker 1: The animation industry was not in the best place in the 1980s. Disney due to expense, was considering shutting down its historic animation studio and its much needed renaissance was still far in the distance. Meanwhile, Hanna-Barbera had only produced one major hit in the 1980s with The Smurfs, not to mention that animation was continually being shipped overseas. Yet something was about to change. While Paul Germain and Jeffrey Townsend were busy at the offices of Gracie Films, something special was happening on Seward Street. Gábor Csupó and his wife, Arlene Klasky had managed to land The Simpsons shorts. Now all they had to do was make them. And that would require a team of animators that were young and hungry, so hungry in fact, two of them were ready to say goodbye to the animation business, entirely. And if they had left, The Simpsons would certainly be very different.

00:56 S1: Bill Kopp is an energetic life-long animator and a pack rat. He still has original Simpsons drawings in his storage units at undisclosed locations. This is Bill's voice when he played Eek! The Cat on a show he later created for Fox Kids.

01:10 Bill Kopp: It's swell and it's [01:10] ____ which is a green actually, but it's much more fun to say [01:17] ____ when you have a list.

01:19 S1: And this, well, this is Bill's regular speaking voice.

01:22 BK: Oh God... Okay, listen, this goes back to... The Simpsons was my third official job, there was Better Off Dead and One Crazy Summer and right after One Crazy Summer, and we did those back to back. And Wes was on there and so was David. All of a sudden, we were like out of work for the first time ever, we're like, "Wow, what do we do?" And then Wes was the one that got, that Gábor contacted. I don't know how.

01:44 S1: Wes Archer, animator.

01:47 Wes Archer: I studied at CalArts in the Film Graphics/Experimental Animation program. At CalArts there were two animation schools that were very segregated: The Disney school, they wanted you to learn how to animate Disney characters such as Bambi and 101 Dalmatians and the like. The Film Graphics/Experimental Animation, the title states, very experimental. You could do anything, it was geared more for television. At the time, I had no interest in studying Disney movies. I thought I would go to CalArts, learned how to animate and [02:19] ____ in fact I still worked on commercials. And I was looking for work, and I solicited worked from them. I called them, just cold called them and dropped off my portfolio there. It was kind of a freelance situation where I'd go work at Gábor's studio, at Klasky Csupo on Seward Street on individual commercials or whatever work he had for me as an animator.

02:42 WA: The first spot that I worked on for Klasky Csupo, was it was promoting the idea of this new thing called a CD, you could listen to Phil Collins and yes, I animated an old Victrola turning into a record player, turning into a cassette player, turned into a CD player. So one day, he said, "Wes, we have the possibility of animating a short for Matt Groening," he goes, "Well, I could tell." I was very enthusiastic about that 'cause at the time, I was pretty much ready to give it up and move back to Texas and re-educate myself as an illustrator, and a painter and just try to have a career as an artist because animation wasn't paying the bills very well.

03:24 WA: I'm serious. I was in a crappy apartment in Burbank, and actually, I was giving myself two more months in LA. And at the beginning of that two months I got a call from Klasky Csupo about the Matt Groening project. And then it began in earnest, like the third month, and I could pay my rent and I knew I could move to a better place, so I broke the lease on the apartment and moved to a better place. Before I got there he said, "Are there any other animators you could recommend?" I'm like, "Sure, Bill and David."

03:54 S1: Bill Kopp, animator.

03:56 BK: And he's like, "Hey they're short cartoons, a minute-and-a-half down at this place called Klasky... " It wasn't even called Klasky Csupo then I don't think, it was just... I don't know what it was called.

04:06 BK: It was this really funky part of town, it was like all old prop houses and little editing... Really weird, like old Hollywood. We used to call it film town and those places were populated by the grumpiest old men that all worked on all these movies. Shit. And they're like smoking, there's like [04:21] ____ film around, they didn't give a shit. I learned a lot from those guys, but it was like a fishing boat.

04:26 S1: Wes Archer, animator.

04:29 WA: Yeah, [laughter], yes. The whole area around the Seward Street was this old film town, and it was kinda creepy, it was kinda David Lynch-y. We would go out to eat somewhere, and there'd be these old editor guys... One time on a job for Klasky Csupo they sent me down the block to do some rotoscoping for some cheesy sword and sorcery film or something. It was like a scene out of a David Lynch movie where I walked through this vast old Hollywood hallway art deco building, where there was this down-shooter Oxberry camera or something, and this old crusty old guy set me up to rotoscope this footage. I would sit there quietly for four hours, tracing some footage for some old school effects animation. It's the end of the old Hollywood, I guess.

05:27 BK: And so we just rolled in there, there was Gábor, who's the nicest guy in the world, crazy little... Like a hobbit. We just parked it there, Jesus Christ, we were there for like two years or three years, something... Close to three I think.

05:41 BK: I think that there were two cartoons that were on The Tracey Ullman Show and, one was Dr. N! Godatu by a comic book artist. I think she was on a San Francisco called MK Brown. I think she had stuff in National Lampoon or whatever. And then Matt, of course, had Life in Hell, in LA... Or the Reader, and later I think the LA Week. They were each like a minute-and-a-half. And it was me and Wes Archer originally, it was just the two of us working with Matt and MK Brown. And a minute-and-a-half of animation is... Well, three minutes really with the two pieces, it was too much work 'cause... We've had to live there anyway.

06:17 WA: The work in itself was very trying, it took hours and hours. I remember I didn't have much of a social life, I felt like, you know, we were kinda these monks. I just remember having a lot of hope for the future that... I remember having a lot of hope that this job would lead me to a good future in animation, which it did.

06:43 BK: And we were doing everything, we were animating, doing the backgrounds, we had to take Matt's storyboards which were [chuckle] really funny, 'cause they were just like, you know, drawn by a three-year-old. It was great. His ideas were awesome, so we needed another guy so we got Silverman, we hired David Silverman.

07:00 S1: David Silverman, animator.

07:03 David Silverman: And then believe it or not, I was considering leaving animation, or at least taking a respite from it and just focusing on my own style, thanks to the encouragement of a friend of mine from UCLA days, Gary Baseman, who of course is a very famous artist, first started as a very successful illustrator, commercial illustrator, before he completely went to fine art. And he was doing very well at the time, and he told me he had done that, he had taken a year off, had to just worked on his style. For the full year, that was his job like 9:00 to 5:00 job, and I thought that sounds intriguing. So that was the plan for '87, and then I had heard from Bill Kopp via Wes Archer that this company he used to work for or had worked for, Wes that is, had freelanced for Klasky Csupo whenever they would get a character animation piece. Mostly they did motion graphics, which was before computer graphics took over in terms of like titles and logos, there's something called motion graphics, which simulated that by taking through several passes and back-lighting effects and top-lighting effect, things like that, with a motion-controlled Oxberry camera.

08:06 DS: And they had gotten... The small company, Klasky Csupo, had gotten the Tracey Ullman Show contract and basically at the time Klasky Csupo consisted of Arlene Klasky and Gábor Csupó, and Larry and Bill Hedge, the cameraman, and Joe Russo was [08:23] ____ assistant, I forget the name of the receptionist. And they were renting out basically the bottom couple of offices from [08:28] ____ Clampett at 729 North Seward off of Melrose. So you see I remember this stuff a little bit. [chuckle] And that's what happened, so I got called up and said "Oh yeah, it sounds interesting," and it was told to me like, something called the Tracy Ullman Show, who's Tracy Ullman? I don't know, but the animation is with Matt Groening and oh, I love Life in Hell, that would be great, I'd love to meet him and I'd love to try to animate his characters. And that's how it started. But here's the thing that was interesting about it, I almost didn't do it, because then I got a call back, I think it was from Bill, maybe Wes, saying "Oh, you know they didn't get the budget that wanted, they can only hire two animators." I said "Okay, that's fine, I still have plan A." You know, I didn't think one way or the other of it.

09:09 DS: And then I got a call on, I think it was, March 11th, they called me and they said, "We really could use your help here, we're so overwhelmed with work." Gábor brought me in and I thought it was gonna be just for two weeks because he said, "Do you want to animate the opening title sequence of the Tracy Ullman Show with the letters flying in? Would you wanna do, like help out with this animation for two weeks?" And I said, "I'll help out with the animation for two weeks." And I guess it was a day or two into it, Gábor really liked my work and he said, "You know... " because they contracted for a minute a week and they were going over, and he was paying so many extra for every second he was over, he said, "I have more than enough to hire you on as a third animator, so I'm gonna do that," and I said,"Okay, great." So that's how it happened. And then we did two weeks of Dr. Janice N! Godatu and then we did two weeks of The Simpsons. Continued with The Simpsons for 48 action-packed, fun-filled episodes. Here's the thing, I had planned to visit my parents back in DC, I didn't want to cancel, it was harder cancelling a trip then, it's pretty hard these days too, for that matter.

10:09 DS: But in any event, I had to go back east and I hadn't finished the very first Simpson, you know, episode, the 'Good Night Simpson,' I had the last segment, so I was still working on the last segment where the kids run in to bed, you know, and "there's nothing to be afraid of, now everybody go to sleep." So here I am I brought my work with me, and I didn't have an animation desk, obviously, [chuckle] this was back when you need an animation desk, so I brought a peg strip like an inking strip and I had a piece of plexiglass so I took the peg strip and taped it to the peg bar, taped it to the plexiglass, and got a lamp and took off the lamp shade and that was my animation desk while I rested the thing on my knees. And then I'm running out of animation paper on a Sunday in Maryland, so there's not a lot of stores that you can go running to, to get some more animation paper, in fact, there's none of them. And I had to finish it off, this had to be clean animation 'cause it had to go to Georgie. I think I had to FedEx it on Monday 'cause she needed it Tuesday, and I wasn't going to be back 'til like Wednesday or something like that.

11:08 DS: So I kinda worked with three pieces of paper, I said these will be my roughs and I would make sure, these are animating and then I would do my cleanup drawings and I'd erase those three pieces of paper and start over again. So I was animating three pages at a time, and I just sorta barely made it without wasting too much paper. It was forced frugality on a Sunday in Maryland back in 1987.

11:33 S1: When David Silverman says Georgie, he means Georgie Peluse. Peluse is a Hungarian color designer, she worked on George Carlin's Specials and would eventually do work on the animation of Dino DNA in Jurassic Park, but she was about to start work on what she would be known for. When others said flesh tone, Georgie said yellow, and yellow it would be.

12:00 Georgie Peluse: I was trained in Hungary, in Budapest they have one of the best animation studios. And I was working at Kurtz & Friends in Los Angeles for over 35 years, we did tons of, tons of very important commercials, film titles. When Gábor came to America, tried to get a job in animation studios, he wasn't able to, how shall I say? He didn't get a job in a studio that I worked at Kurtz & Friends. But we were a small studio. And my husband and I, we were both freelancing with Gábor, in a freelance basis. So basically, Gábor didn't hire me. What happened, this is where Paul Germain comes in the picture. When Matt Groening was ready to do his animation special, Paul Germain called, it was my husband, and wanted to know if Robert would be interested to do more animations special for a different artist. And my husband wasn't really wanting to do that. And Kurtz & Friends, who we worked with, they were very busy and successful. My husband was the one who recommended to try Gábor. So that's how Gábor got involved with The Simpsons, thanks to Paul Germain and my husband.

13:24 GP: I was working in my own studio in Pasadena. I would do the work and then I would come in. I always have worked very independent, so I would just come in with a product. When we were doing The Tracey Ullman, there was two artists, MK Brown and Matt Groening. Matt Groening was completely independent. MK Brown, her stuff was more subtle and more sophisticated. She had ideas but she basically left me to do what I wanted to do. A story goes, in the lobby, he designed a Simpsons family, which is very different from what they drawn today. They gave me the drawing and I was looking at them, and I had an idea how this family should look. I want it to be very different. I never met Matt Groening so I was basically on my own. I knew he was working in black and white before and that was wonderful because it's like an interior designer getting an empty space and they basically, she can do, or he can do whatever they want. Because his drawings are kind of charmingly primitive. It's not your regular animation design. And I wanted to do something very different. I wanted to get away from people being standardized like black and white, and good and bad.

14:46 GP: To me, yellow sounded really good. Yellow is basically very close to white. And I chose a warm yellow. You definitely want to be sure your animated characters read over a background. But I wasn't choosing it so scientifically. I really wanted it to look good. That's what animation is about. It doesn't have to be what we think it's supposed to be, we can use our imagination, and we can create and put surprises out. I wanted them to be individual people. I know they are going to interact. I remember a baby, I picked purposely blue because she was a little girl, and I think mom was green. I wanted to make her hair black color but I didn't wanted to use black. She could be sitting next to Homer and they would look very well together, but they would complement each other. I'm looking at it as a painting.

15:50 S1: Bill Kopp, animator.

15:53 BK: And then it was the three of us for a long time, so we just camped out in this one big room we had there. And we listened to Bob and Ray. Tom Waits was really... He had 'Rain Dogs' had come out and we loved that.

16:05 S1: David Silverman, animator.

16:08 DS: We'd listen to Tom Waits 'Rain Dogs' to inspire us to drink more whiskey. And we would also listen to, I think we also listened to Bob and Ray a lot. It's almost a pity 'cause Bill would say, "Man, why don't we do a documentary on them while we still can?" And we said, "Yeah." We didn't exactly have careers where we were at leisure to do these projects on the side, you know what I mean? [chuckle] 'Cause we had to work, as opposed to, like, "Ooh, now we can do it." But yeah, we were big fans of Bob and Ray and Tom Waits. They kind of worked together with us.

16:41 S1: Wes Archer, animator.

16:43 WA: Gábor was in charge. He was pretty much hands-off. We just worked as a crew. Gábor would look at what we did and laugh and make comments and say, "Great stuff, guys." [chuckle] It was a super-fast schedule. We had one week to animate the entire short. So that's why it kinda looks really funky like that, 'cause we just took Matt's drawings and pretty much went with it. We didn't even have model sheet or final design turn around the characters, no official storyboard approval, we just took his drawings and ran with it. So it was the three of us in a room, animating all day, everyday. Started trying to standardize the characters and what they looked like. Season 1 was coming to a close. I think that's when Bill went into his own career writing and directing and...

17:41 BK: Right around the time Roger Rabbit came out, we all freaked out, couldn't see that in the Cinerama Dome. And then I left the show 'cause I was done with The Simpsons... It wasn't like no one would ever go anywhere, I was like, it was really cool. But Silverman was the guy that really tidied it up and toned the look, and I just wasn't that interested and I had an offer from Disney to go be the head of story on the Roger Rabbit Shorts unit, Tummy Trouble and Roller Coaster and all that. And that was like... 'Cause I was still really thinking animation so that was like graduate work for me, I was dying to get in there, it was a great... That was a great experience. 'Cause I was just back with my CalArts buddies.

18:20 WA: But David and I were really trying hard to figure out this cartoon and how the characters worked. We would take a drawing that we thought was good, one of the better ones, and put it on the wall and start drawing like that one and following that one. And deciding which mouth shapes worked better, the proportions of the head, how many spikes in Bart's hair. It was David and I that arrived at Bart has nine spikes. David was drawing like 11 or 12. I was drawing like six or seven or eight spikes. So nine, nine or 10, nine was kind of in the middle. And that was a big deal. [laughter] Actually how many spikes in Bart's hair. And then you get into the animation design where, how high are the eyes on his forehead, how tall is his forehead? How much did the mouth stretch? All those details.

19:12 S1: David Silverman, animator.

19:14 DS: I don't know, I just remember looking over each other's shoulders saying, "How are you drawing Bart this week?" or "How are you drawing Homer this week?" I will say this, we were freelancing out and when they worked it out, I guess, for whatever tax reason, they didn't pay us a salary per se, they paid us as if we were contracted for 40 hours of work a week. But we were doing more like 70 or 80, we're just working all the time. But I didn't mind it. I felt very compelled and invested in trying to do something, if no other reason I thought this would look good in my portfolio. But at the same time, I was delighted that, hey, this is our artwork on a primetime network show. It's not us doing storyboards at Ruby-Spears or character designs at Hanna-Barbera or layout formation. We're doing, these are actual animation being on a primetime show. Maybe it's worth investing something in. So that was my attitude about it, anyhow. I think everybody else's too.

20:07 S1: That investment skyrocketed when James L. Brooks took the shorts long form. But according to a Brooks interview with the Hollywood Reporter, the idea to turn the shorts into a sitcom actually came from David Silverman.

20:20 James L Brooks: He was the one who I think is as responsible for the Simpsons being a series as anyone, because he accosted me drunk on a Christmas party, office Christmas party long ago, and just spilled out passionately how there hadn't been an animated series on television for a quarter century at that time and how much it would mean to animators to have a series out there with animation. And I was really impressed. And that, I think that moment led to doing the series as much as anything.

[laughter]

20:50 DS: I can remember talking to him like that. I guess I thought I was more sober than he said I apparently was. But I did talk to him about that. I don't know... I didn't stop the party and make a speech, but I did talk to him. I guess I may have said a few, maybe a couple of sentences [21:02] ____ continued and I ran on a bit. But, [chuckle] it was like, "Oh, there he is, okay, I'll say hi to him." I thought I was being just cool and calm and collected, but I didn't know what the look on my face was, yeah. [chuckle] And that was Jim's POV which I did not have any camera to verify what it was like. He said that I accosted him, I think I introduced myself to him. [chuckle] I think I get drunker whenever he would... Every retelling of the story. But I imagine, I don't know, 'cause I don't know how drunk I was 'cause when if you've had a few drinks, you have no idea.

21:37 DS: But I probably had a cup of courage to meet him 'cause I wanted to meet him. The respect I had for him was extremely, and still is, of an extremely high level. I find him to be just a walking genius. Based on, this is only based on the work that he had done from Mary Tyler Moore Show to Terms of Endearment, even to Room 222. And, of course, Taxi and the Broadcast News. So it's like this is a real guy that really knows about comedy and [22:02] ____ pesos, and heart. At the 100th episode party of The Simpsons series, I saw Jim at the bar, and Jim turned to me and said, "Do you know what, David? Do you remember when you first introduced yourself to me?" And I was really flabbergasted, I said, "No, Jim... Well, I do, but I didn't think you remembered." He said, "Oh, no, I remember very well." And he essentially recounted the same story.

22:26 DS: And he said that, "Basically you came up, you had a few, clearly, and you were, stuck your hand out and introduced yourself," and he said it was something along the lines of that I was really glad to be doing some great adult animation on a primetime show and that there hadn't been something like this in 25 years and it'd be great if this could be a show on its own or something like that. I think it was one of the factors, I don't think it was the factor. I think it was a factor. So, I'll take some credit but I certainly won't take the lion's share. I suspect part of it, too, was that I think Matt certainly had an enthusiasm to want it to be a series. If that helped it become a show, I'm glad I spoke up. [chuckle]

23:01 WA: When it got green light to go to series, we were like, "Oh, great. This is our chance to direct." The animation business there was really depressing and... But the good thing we had going for us when it started to pick up again is that, at that time, there weren't a lot of trained animators or a lot of, there weren't a lot of people in the animation business looking for fresh work. And a lot of people, I think, were dropping out of the animation business. So when this new project came up, I was able to get on as a director because there weren't very many out of work animation directors who had the kind of new sensibility to do a show like this. But David worked on some half hour kids show, I think, at Ruby-Spears, but I had never worked on a half hour show. We thought along with Gábor it might be best bringing someone who had directed half hours to show us the rope.

23:56 WA: As the season began, we were both given director slots and then we had to hire two or three other directors, so we hired one guy who had experience, and we hired Rich Moore and Gregg Vanzo as well, and they hadn't directed half-hours either. This other guy had and then he tried to show us the ropes and that guy's episode came back. It was kind of a disaster. I'm not understating that, it was a disaster. He didn't really take what David and I had developed and used it very well. The original episode one was Babysitter Bandit and that's the one everyone had to help fix, so it became episode 13. David is actually... They had him take the lead to fix that episode. David's episode was episode two, came back looking good. And then my episode, episode three came back looking good, or pretty decent, and that was a big relief.

24:58 WA: That proved that the first episode, the disaster, was uplift. I think that director was fired or I think they told Gábor Csupó that they had to... They didn't wanna work with him anymore. That's when David really took the lead and was on that... His way to becoming Mr Simpsons, the Simpsons director they would look to. But during season one it was... It was really everyone was feeling their way through this animation process that we thought hadn't really been done since The Flintstones.

25:35 DS: First thing I did was I did the title sequence. I worked with Matt Groening and Sam Simon on working out what the gags would be and then I figured out everything beyond that... The whole opening sequence, starting with the slow pushes in and then the skateboard and the whole staging, the whole bit. We had to invent a gag for Lisa 'cause she didn't really have a character. And it was in that meeting that she got her character, thanks to Jim Brooks. 'Cause we didn't have a gag for her, 'cause she didn't really have a defined personality in the one minute shorts per se. It kind of became apparent, because we had a gag for every other character, except not a clear one for Lisa.

26:11 DS: I just put in some lame gag there for no other reason to hang a light on the fact that we don't really have something for her. I, of course, suggested, "What if she plays in a band and what if she plays the tuba?" And Jim Brooks said, "Well, I don't like the tuba, but what if she played the baritone saxophone? In fact, what if she played it really well? She could be the genius kid of the family that nobody appreciates." And boom! Lisa had a character and later on that day they started writing an episode called "Moaning Lisa", so that's how that stuff was.

26:41 S1: The first Simpsons short aired on April 19th, 1987, and almost 30 years later, David Silverman directed The Simpsons movie. Wes Archer went on to direct a multitude of Simpsons episodes and also the pilot of the acclaimed King of the Hill, for which he became the show's Supervising Director. Bill Kopp went on to animate for the lot of Roger Rabbit shorts, created Eek! The Cat and Shnookums and Meat for the Disney Afternoon. He's working on a new show, Dumb Bunny and Jackass. Georgie Peluse continues to work at our art studio, and she's still just as vibrant as the color she gave to that family of five all those years ago.

27:22 GP: My friends called me one day and said, "You are in Playboy!" I'm going, "What?" So, I went to [27:29] ____ "Excuse me, do you sell Playboy?" "No, we don't sell Playboy." So, I went to a liquor store and I said, "I'm in Playboy!" and they said, "What?" Anyhow, Matt Groening got an interview in Playboy and it's June, 2007. And it says well, he gave me two credits for the very first time. They're asking him, how tall is your mother's hair? And he says, "In the 1960s, it was very tall." "Was it ever blue?" "No. That's another tribute to Georgie Peluse." And then [28:03] ____ first it says, "Why do they have yellow skin?" He says, "Originally, they were black and white outlined. For TV, we needed color. I thought a conventional weird pink that passes for Caucasians would look repulsive." He wanted flesh color, that's not true. So it says, so when it came to give a skin color, the animator, animation colorist, Georgie Peluse, choose yellow skin. She has never gotten proper credit, after what, almost 10 years? But that's animation... That's film industry for you, not just animation. Film industry in general. But it's a wonderful world. And as Matt Groening calls himself a father of a Simpson, I call myself a mother of a Simpson.

[rogerdscotts]

Corporate Style: How To Stand Out While Blending In

from He Spoke Style - Men's Style, Fashion, Grooming, Tips and Advice

Corporate style doesn’t have to be an oxymoron

Corporate and style are two words you might not expect to see together. In fact, to some, the term “corporate style” might seem like something of an oxymoron. There is definitely a style to corporate attire, but you might argue that its style is devoid of style with a capital ‘s’. In that type of environment, it’s all about fitting in and not rocking the boat. So how do you stand out while still blending in? Here are five things to consider.

Make the investment in yourself. To be sure, investing in yourself certainly has a monetary component. You have to be willing to funnel some resources and throw a bit of cash at your project, which is yourself. However, in addition to money, there is also an investment in time. Time spent reflecting on what you hope to achieve. And time spent researching and learning about a variety of things related to clothing and style. We live in a fast-paced world filled with instant gratification. Aim to be the guy who makes considered and informed decisions rather than the one who is overeager and shows no regard for knowledge or quality. In other words, be a man of substance, not a man of superfluousness.

Have a suit made. Having a suit made is a perfect illustration of the idea expressed above. Number one, it takes time. And number two, you can almost guarantee that nobody will have the same exact suit. Sure, you could get that Ludlow suit from J.Crew tomorrow. You could go to SuitSupply. But so could everyone else. And a lot of people do because they need/want a new suit, and stat. Hunting for sartorial instant gratification will almost certainly lead to you awkwardly bumping into a coworker (or someone on the sidewalk) and being like, “Hey, um, we’ve got the same SuitSupply blazer…cool…”

Not being impulsive when it comes to developing your wardrobe will not only save you from a potentially embarrassing situation, but it will also give you complete control over your vision. When you have a suit made you have authority over your fabric as well as details like lapel style, pocket style, buttons, whether your trousers are cuffed, and lining. Not only that, but if you’ve gone to a company that knows their craft, you’re going to get a superior fit. And there’s nothing better than that.

| WEARING | Michael Andrews Bespoke suit, shirt and tie, Frank Clegg briefcase, Rolex watch, Tommy Hilfiger shoes | PHOTOGRAPHY | by Rob McIver Photo

Carry an enviable briefcase. Just say no to the ubiquitous black Targus briefcase and look for a high-quality leather example. Not only will it get better as it ages, but chances are you’ll be able to hand it down someday. Walk in with a Frank Clegg briefcase in shrunken leather and I’ll wager your boss will ask you where you bought it.

Consider your watch game. Here’s where a lot of time will be spent researching and considering. Now, if you want to be like everyone else, go ahead and buy that damn Daniel Wellington watch. If you detect my disdain for DW, it has nothing to do with price. I wouldn’t tell you that a Seiko 5 would be an infinitely better choice–which it most certainly is–if price were my only criteria. Rather, it’s its ubiquitousness and the FOMO that it induces.

If you hope to climb the corporate ladder, you’re going to have to follow the herd and play by the rules to some extent. Think of your clothing and accessories, especially your choice of watch, as a subtle way to be unique and intriguing. The most astute and perceptive of your colleagues will likely take note of these things and that will go a long way in their positive perception of you.

Buckles instead of laces. Anchor your suit with a pair of double monk straps instead of oxfords or derbies. (Here’s the difference between oxfords and derbies, if you were wondering.) A little Italian flair down there will certainly garner some positive feedback. Just be sure to skip the funky socks to avoid being “that guy”.

Thanks for reading.

Stylishly Yours,

Brian Sacawa He Spoke Style

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