#oh who am i kidding its gonna be black sails

[alexiavonv]

Seas of Treachery EP 1 - Warm Welcomes From The Shining Star

(The Ol' Treachery Arc | previous post | this epsiode's song)

As a reminder, this is part of the summaries recounting each session of my D&D campaign, Seas of Treachery. I'll write a little TLDR at the end of each post in case you'd like it! I'm gonna be including some images here and there, but I am no artist, so most of the time I will probably be using heroforge minis to represent people. Regardless, enjoy

-

The campaign starts with our characters sailing in to the city of Barthélonia, the shining star of the sea. The city is known for being the home of the Tribunal, the Acqeuduct of a Thousand Years (an over 100-foot tall aqueduct/bridge connecting the island of Barthélon Norte to Barthélon Sud), it's massive industrial district, and being the "center of the seas". Each of our characters had their own reason to come to the island - Izzy was looking for a rare ship component, Srian was looking for a forbidden biology book, Alyssane was hired for an unspecified "job", so on and so forth.

The Crew was brought here by a frogman named Rob-Rōnna - a tall, green bullfrog man with a large afro and white disco suit, done down a few extra buttons. He's a fisherman that seems to know just about everybody in the Barthélonian Sea who does any kind of seawork - pirates, squeadores, navymen, fishers, even just random dockworkers. He's an amicable man, even to the people he hates, and thus, he has earned himself somewhat of a chill reputation across the sea. He's the adoptive father of both Triggerfish and Rosemary, and the rest of the crew were able to hitch a ride with him and his kids to come to the city. When the crew left the ship, he did also, stating very firmly "Don't come with me, I have some business I've gotta take care of on my own."

Too bad Trig has authority issues.

Triggerfish decided to follow him, as he led her into the shady back alley black markets of the city. Narrow alleyways, bustling crowds of people, stalls of various illicit, rare, and dangerous materials scattering the dank, musty alleyways. She was in her humanoid form, attempting to keep at least a little bit of attention off of her. Rob walked into a café on a cornerside, sitting down at a stall with a cloaked man who asked "Do you have it?", to which Rob responded "It's all there." Trig found out he was trading some sort of golden idol, likely for cash.

Unfortunately for him, this was a setup, as Admiral Lucia Kirikoban (one of the leaders of the tribunal and its navy - pictured below) walked in with a troupe of navy soldiers. "Rob-Rōnna! Good to see ya', bud! You didn't think you'd be able to run forever, didn't 'cha? Well, the law never forgets, and the law never forgives!" She said to him, getting handcuffs ready to arrest him.

"Oh great, the little pig came out to play! I'm craving bacon." Trig finally piped up from the other seat.

"Who is she?"

"I don't know, who is she?" Rob tried to save face for Trig, telling her he had a plan before handing her a talking head - a magical stone that works like a radio/walkie talkie. Trig is too hot-headed to handle things normally though, and she decided to poke the pig until the pig demanded her dogs kill the snake. Or, for those confused, Trig made Kirikoban amgy, so Kirikoban had her guards attack.

The fight wouldn't last that long, however, as Rob used his Espíritu Power: Bubble Cage on Trig, encasing her in a bubble before kicking her out onto the streets into relative safety. She bounced around, ran over a few horse-riding guards (no biggie), then went back to the ship, where everyone else met.

(Pretty much everything up till this point was part of a pre-campaign side session with Trig's player)

The group all talked about their days and their quests, but Trig scrunched herself awkwardly into the corner with a look of wanting to say something, but refusing to on her face. Eventually, however, Izzy forced the story out of her. With this, the crew decided to at least follow the string he left behind, and they used the talking head.

A mysterious feminine voice came from the other end. "Who are you, what do you want, and how did you contact me?" Was their introduction to a woman named Sarah Saunders (pictured below), who they met in a café next to the industrial district. Around the town, unions and workers have begun striking and protesting, leading to clashes in the streets that even our crew almost got swept up into. The source of these riots all came back to Sarah and her group, Las Unionistas.

Sarah didn't meet the group on very nice terms, cutting straight to business. She said she had a plan to save Rob, and essentially just thanked them for telling her. Trig and Rosemary weren't okay with this, and asked them to let them help save him. Sarah had no trust in them, but through Izzy and Rosemary's combined silver tongues, she was eventually swayed to let them meet Las Unionistas. A half-orc private of the navy walked into the cafe with his guards and shouted at her - "Sarah Saunders, you're under arrest for inciting a riot!" said Private Arbor Whey (pictured below), to which Sarah responded "No need, Arbor. They're in." The two originally planned to test the crew's loyalty by having them beat up Arbor to protect Sarah.

The Crew, Sarah, and Arbor all went down to the basement of the café, then through a false stone wall into the Las Unionistas HQ - a large stone basement with an exit out of a drain pipe into the local canal. Sarah then told the crew that before she could get any work done on saving him, she needed intel from the man himself, who was beind held in the Judicial Fortress. The Judicial Fortress is a massive, 100-story tall stone fortress on a small island in the west Barthélonian strait (only a few minutes from Barthélonia). The Fortress is known for its high security, as well as being where the worst criminals are tried by the Tribunal themselves, and thus was quite an intimidating thing for the party to take on.

Arbor Whey piped up, saying that he could get them in there. "Tribunal law states that you have the right to a lawyer, and I just so happen to have a law degree, as well as experience in the Fortress itself!" He said he could get all the Intel they needed, and that he knew how to get them in. The party decided to begrudgingly take him up on his offer, and thus, the episode came to an end!

-

TLDR; The Funsize Crew came to the city of Barthélonia with their frogman friend with a boat, Rob-Rōnna. They had their own adventures, but Rob went to a café as Trig was following him in secret, where he tried selling a golden idol, but was instead busted by Admiral Lucia Kirikoban of the Naval Tribunal. Trig tried to fight, but Rob used his Espíritu Power to get her to safety after giving her a talking head (communication device). The crew used the device and met Sarah Saunders, who didn't want to work with them to save Rob at first, but was convinced to. They met a man named Private Arbor Whey who could help them get intel on where Rob was being held, and they begrudgingly accepted.

[callioope]

I finished Rebels! Let the rambling begin...

I have a lot of thoughts just swirling around, so this probably won’t be significantly coherent but bear with me.

Favorites: 

Characters: Hera has, hands down, been my fave from the get-go. Competent! Snarky! Awesome pilot! What’s not to love? Sabine was also fantastic; I particularly loved her arc with the Darksaber, her family, and Mandalore. I enjoyed “meeting” her family; very interesting characters and a family dynamic, and I was eating that all up. And to see Bo-Katan!!! And Sabine looking for the right person to give the Darksaber, and handing it to her? My heart!!! Also Bo being upset that Sabine named her weapon after her sister! (Yes, indeed, many mistakes were made!)

Ships: I knew people shipped Ezra/Sabine, but I wasn’t really “feeling” it until Sabine started training with the Darksaber. Loved their sparring! Also it felt like they were starting to jive as partners from that point on. I can’t recall how many missions before that they were assigned on together, but after that it seemed like all the time they were working together. I loved it! So gonna need to look for some fic there.

Plot Lines: I did love the tie in to the Mortis arc (and that artwork was so beautiful -- both the art of the daughter, father, and son, and also the way that other plane/dimension area was depicted). Idk, it felt like a lot of things coming together -- Ezra using the Daughter’s art to open the portal to ultimately save Ahsoka... I appreciated how that went down. Although I HAVE to know what Vader was thinking when Ahsoka just vanished before him??

Issues

Okay, going to be forever mad that Star Wars tortured Hera when she would have had to been pregnant. First of all, that’s dark. Second of all it’s hard enough to get pregnant why do they have to put her under that kind of

It felt like Ezra’s ending was a cop out to avoid “breaking” the original trilogy. Like, “oh no, we have two three Jedi -- we have to explain why they weren’t there for Luke! So we’ll kill one, have the other vanish into space with hyperspace traveling space whales, and Ahsoka? Um? idk we’ll give her a robe and imply she’s some kind of fancy time traveller?” Kanan’s end was written well, I think, but I have trouble buying Ezra’s logic that Kanan’s last lesson was that Ezra also needed to sacrifice himself? And as soon as possible, apparently? It just felt like too much.

It seems like Lucasfilm really bends over backwards to avoid contradicting the canon of the Original Trilogy, but many times it feels totally unnecessary. Other explanations could be found rather than killing people off or mysteriously removing them from the chess board. 

So let’s take a look at what they conceive the problem to be: “If Ezra was hanging around the rebellion, why doesn’t Luke meet him?” I could probably think of lots of reason. Hell, wouldn’t it be a fun running gag that they never cross paths? I could get behind that. (Kind of like my headcanon that Jyn and Cassian almost meet a ton of times and gosh it’d be nice if Jyn made a cameo background appearance in the Cassian tv series.) 

But I’d still think even that type of explanation would be unnecessary. We know by ESB that Luke has learned to use the Force a bit, why couldn’t Ezra have been his informal teacher? Ezra would still be learning himself, only a few years ahead of Luke, so he wouldn’t be a great teacher, and they’d have separate missions, so they don’t see each other often. I think that’d be just enough to get Luke to where he is in ESB. And just because a character isn’t mentioned, doesn’t mean he didn’t exist? Just that he’s not on Luke’s mind during Luke’s screen time?

I do understand why Luke knowing Ahsoka could “break” things, but I don’t think Ezra would have. So YEAH. EZRA FLEEING WITH THE SPACE WHALES WAS DUMB. and again, gonna need some fix it fic.

And finally, the whole “TIME TRAVEL” stuff

So this got spoiled for me at some point, and I was pretty mad about the little that I heard about it. anyone who’s talked to me about time travel knows i absolutely loathe it as a plot device; i think it’s incredibly tricky to pull off. you either have to be campy/silly about it and it’s just for fun so w/e. OR you have to really really balance the effects appropriately. An example of time travel that I like is Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban bc there’s closed loops. (And an example of time travel I loathe is The Cursed Child but let’s not go there today. you had a good time travel approach in previous books why would you)

But in Rebels -- is it really, technically time travel? I’d like to think no, actually, not to the extent that such plot devices usually play out. I think it’s a little different. (And I’m sure there’ve been like a million articles since this episode aired but I have read none of them so *shrugs* and I also don’t know what Lucasfilm has had to say on the matter.)

anyways, I feel this way: that that cool-looking starry circle plane grants access to key points in time that are like, Force-charged. The only two actual moments we saw were very Force-charged: Vader & Ahsoka fighting, and Kanan’s use of the Force to block the explosion to help his friends escape. The third open portal is Palpy attempting to hack into the system, so, yeah, powerful Force-user that he is, that still checks out.

Also, Ahsoka spends some time and effort convincing Ezra not to save Kanan because it would have too powerful of an effect on the course of events since then. So there’s some balances to the way this works, although we’re not really told explicitly. Ahsoka and Ezra both return to the portals they came through; I’d like to think that this is another necessary thing to keep things functioning properly (that there would be some kind of bad consequences to moving to wrong places). 

All in all, I think canon is just vague enough that I can project my personal opinions on how I want it to work. This is good for me because I was honestly expecting to hate this particular arc, and I didn’t at all.

So, I’m open to this world between worlds thing, but Lucasfilm better not abuse it.

Is that everything? I think that’s everything

And also, one last thought, I’ve said it before but those crystal foxes on Crait were toootally cribbed from “Kindred” so. You know. way to go TLJ *eyeroll* 

Also also, Thrawn is impossible to understand at all times. Why does he talk so quietly?! Thanks now my volume is up at a ridiculous level so I can kill my eardrums later when I turn it off.

Finally, ALSO ALSO ALSO, if Thrawn exists in canon then Mara Jade must too and I will never get over it if she’s never made canon <-- me, barely holding out hope that she’ll appear in Ep 9. (She won’t, I keep trying to tell myself. but you know. headcanons and fanon and fanfiction are built on hope.)

[dragonjesterwrites]

Sun and Moom separately with a Reader who comes to work dressed as a Pirate? They change their personality and act all cocky and teasy too? Thank you and I love your blog 💓

Ohoho I really liked this ask! I got a wee bit carried away with it haha, hope you enjoy! (And thank you! 🥺💛)

~~~~~

"Moon, have you seen my hat?" Sun asked as he dropped to a squat and lifted a box. He couldn't believe it- it was only the first day of the Pizzaplex's Halloween Week, Pirate Day, and he'd already lost his hat.

"Er, no. Sorry. Did you check the play structures?" Came the reply from the other side of their shared room. The rustling of fabric resumed again as Sun sighed.

"Only about three times now. Oh, what am I going to do…" He reached up to tug at his rays, pacing back and forth across the wooden floorboards.

"You could make one." Moon suggested, and Sun paused in his distressed pacing, lifted foot slowly dropping down to the ground.

"Ooh, that's not a bad idea at all…" Sun began tapping his fingers on his hips, head quickly swiveling to look for pieces of construction paper. "Do you think-"

"They'll love it." If Sun could smile wider, he would. While he appreciated having his own body, sharing with Moon for so long left them on the same wavelength, so to speak. They were different people, sure, with differing personalities and opinions, but they'd known each other so long they usually had a general idea of what the other was thinking about.

Sun clambered through the tube into Moon's side of the room, standing up and brushing himself off. Moon's side of the room was dark on account of his visual sensitivity, and Sun couldn't see terribly well in it, but he could see enough. Moon turned to greet him, arms stretched out so Sun could give him his opinion. His nightcap had been swapped out for a silver-trimmed bicorn hat with a large white feather. He wore a black long coat with silver buttons and a ruffled shirt, tucked into dark breeches, which were in turn tucked into knee-high boots. Sun wore a very similar outfit, though his was lighter and had gold accents instead of silver- and he still needed a hat.

"And you! They'll love you, you look amazing, Moony! Very dashing." Sun walked forward to adjust Moon's ruffled shirt, patting him on the shoulders when he was done.

"Thank you, Sunny." Moon spun his faceplate excitedly, making Sun giggle. "Y'know, I think I saw a packet of craft feathers at the very top of the leftmost storage shelf in the back."

"Oh-? I'm gonna go look, thank you!" Sun ran up the stairs to the entrance of the balcony, turned to Moon to wave, then slipped through the velvet curtains, leaving his counterpart to the darkness. He called the cable, but feeling adventurous, chose to ride it down, one foot fitting snugly in the curve of the hook. "Yohoho!"

~~~~~

Several hours of teaching the little ones "pirate words" like "mutiny" and "poop deck" (that one got lots of giggles), foam-sword fighting, and various high-seas themed arts and crafts sessions later, the main event was about to begin. Sun and Moon called everyone back to the "ship", the massive lime green playground structure connected to its red twin by a large bridge. The two monoliths had had some easy modifications done; hollow masts with large cloth sails had been stuck on top of each, large painted foam cutouts of ships were propped up against the entire lengths of the bridge-sides, several foam-ball cannons had been installed sporadically in the gaps, and treasure chests filled with stuffed animals, snacks, and various pieces of cheap Fazbear merch lay scattered throughout the padded levels.

"Yarr-har-har! 'Tis a good day to be a pirate, ey Cap'n Moon?" Sun asked, throwing an arm around Moon from where he kneeled close to the entrance of the bridge. The cluster of kids dressed in various pieces of pirate garb giggled and turned to Moon, picking up on the beginning of something.

"Aye, certainly is, Cap'n Sun. We got a good haul." Moon patted the treasure chest next to him.

"Aye, we did, we did! And 'tis such a beautiful day on our ship, nothin' but clear skies, good company, and-" Sun suddenly let out a dramatic gasp and rose slightly from where he was kneeling, the children's eyes going wide and turning to see what he was looking at. "Yarggh! It be a bunch of scallywags! A raiding party! Quickly, pirates, to the cannons!"

Sun and Moon shared a quiet chuckle as the little ones began gasping and yelling in delight. Through the double doors streamed a ragtag group of preteens and teenagers dressed in eyepatches, ruffled shirts, and bandanas- unbeknownst to the little ones, their older siblings had signed up to engage in a glorious battle against them, led by you, their own Captain. As you raised your bedazzled foam sword high in the air, your other hand on your hip, your eyes locked with Sun and Moon, and you winked at them before unleashing your battle cry.

"Arrgh! Attack!"

Your group of pirates lifted their own swords into the air, whooping and cheering as they surged towards their "ship" while their younger siblings pelted them with foam balls from the cannons. Within minutes, the Daycare was in chaos- the best kind of chaos, Sun thought. Everyone was having a blast.

In his peripherals as he crawled through his ship, he saw Moon engaging in battle with none other than you. Moon parried a strike at his torso, an overhead swipe, and a jab at his chest before making a move of his own and swinging his sword down with a cackle.

But you grinned and leapt back on the swinging bridge, ducking as a foam ball soared over your head with that lovely laugh, then darted forward and took a swipe at his legs.

"Hello, Captain Moon, hello Captain Sun. I like yer clothes. Especially yer hat, there, Sunny."

"Hello, Cap'n. Come to take our treasure, I take it?" Moon asked, cocking his faceplate to the side as he jabbed at you.

"Aye, I have." You replied with a confident smirk that made Sun's servos stutter. "But ta tell the truth, I'm also after somethin' far more valuable than all the Fizzy Faz in the Pizzaplex."

"And what would that be?" Sun called from his position as he aimed a cannon at you. Your eyes and grin widened and you just managed to deflect the foam ball he shot at you, before jumping back out of reach of Moon and placing a hand over your heart.

"Why, yer affections, of course." You winked at them both again, and hoo, boy, if your flirting didn't send Sun's fans into overdrive. He wasn't used to you being this forward, but he couldn't say he minded, not in the slightest.

"Is that right?" Moon asked calmly, but even over the din of battle cries and laughter, Sun could hear Moon's own fans kicking up a notch or two.

You beamed at them before lunging forward to strike at Moon, catching him off guard and making him stumble. "Aye! The two of ye have captured my heart, 'tis only fair I have yers, ey?"

That did it, you were going to make him short-circuit. Moon was in no better shape, barely moving quickly enough to dodge your next swipe. You advanced across the bridge, and two more slashes through the air inches from Moon's chest had him fall backwards next to Sun with an "oof". Sun went to withdraw his own sword to defend him, only to remember it had been nicked by one of your crew members early into the fray.

His gaze snapped to your face as you entered their ship in a half crouch, watching as you took your sword and tilted Moon's faceplate up with the tip. You turned to eye Sun, and he gave an amused, shaky huff and held his hands up in surrender. A quick glance around revealed none of the children nearby, most were battling playfully down below.

"Ya fought bravely, Captains, but I do believe the victory is mine." You tilted your own head to the side with that cocky grin.

"Aye." Moon propped himself up on his elbows with a grunt, your foam sword pressing harmlessly against his neck. "But I think we're the real winners here, hm?"

"Agreed." Sun said, with a softness he didn't often use, rays fluttering.

Your gaze softened and you lowered your sword, grin transforming into an adorable smile. You leaned forward and pressed a loving kiss to Moon's faceplate, and Sun only had to long a second or two before you turned to him, cupping his faceplate with your warm, gentle hand, your fingers between his rays and kissing him against his silicone smile, and oh, he could just melt.

But sadly, decommissioning via affection would have to wait- you had walked right into their trap. Their words and love were genuine, but they wouldn't allow you to win so easily, oh no. You jumped and pulled away from Sun as Moon snatched your sword from your limp hand with a cackle, flipping up into a crouch. He tossed the weapon to Sun, who deftly caught it. Eyes wide, you twirled around to grab Moon's from where he had dropped it, but he had already picked it up, and poked you in the back with it as Sun held the edge of yours against your own neck.

"Oh, you scurvy dogs." It seemed you were trying your best to glare, but your broad, amused smile and impressed tone did nothing to help your case.

"Well, how rude." Sun gasped in mock offense, free hand coming up to cover his chest. "What do we do with rude scallywags, Captain Moon?"

"Why, we toss 'em into the shark-infested ballpit, Captain Sun." Moon replied smoothly, the spinning of his faceplate the only thing conveying his amusement.

"Now, ye wait just a minute-" You were practically laughing by this point, but they ignored your giggly protests in favor of scooping you up and carrying you to the center of the bridge.

"Listen up, you lot! We 'ave yer Cap'n! Best surrender now, ya hear?" Sun called out to the fighting siblings below. Your crew stopped and stared up at you, some surprised, some disappointed, and some amused. Sun and Moon's crew, on the other hand, began yelling in delight and stomping their little feet, grouping up to snatch your crew's swords away and begin surrounding them while the three of you made your way down.

"Well done, pirates." Moon praised their crew as you reached them, patting the nearest tot on the head. "Now then… let's throw them into the pit!" Their crew let out a roar of approval, and surged forward, bringing their prisoners along with.

Sun took you from Moon, and as he secured his hold on you, he admired the effort you'd put into your costume, careful not to knock your hat off your head. Moon strode beside you both, both crews in tow, one groaning and the other giggling excitedly. They reached the bridge, and Sun lifted you high in the air, while Moon spread his arms dramatically.

"Ready, pirates? We're gonna throw this marauder overboard! On the count of three, count with me now…"

The little pirates counted down between delighted giggles, and Sun was happy to see even you and your crew couldn't help but begin to grin in anticipation. "Oi, what's this smiling about? This is mutin-" you began, but before you could finish, the countdown did, and Sun turned and tossed you into the pit.

"To Davy Jones Locker with ye!" He cried to the cheers of the crew.

You popped out with a grin on your face, flailing and sinking deeper into the pit on your back. "Arghh! The sharks! They've got me!" Sun and Moon's crew began laughing and giggling, a few even picking up the plastic balls to throw at you before their crewmates pushed past so they could begin throwing their older siblings into the pit.

Moon leaned over and nudged Sun in the side. "Told you they'd like the hat."

Sun chuckled warmly and nudged Moon back. "Told you you'd get the first kiss."

Moon made a breathy noise of amusement and began fidgeting with the bells on his wrist. "I thought they never would."

"Well, lucky for us, we've got five more days of themes! What's tomorrow? Medieval day?" Sun tilted his faceplate to the side as he thought.

"Yes. They gave us some fancier jester costumes." Moon paused. "I wonder… will they be our liege, or the dragon?"

"Either way, I hope they kiss us again." Sun giggled.

"You kissed the other captain?" Sun and Moon's attention snapped to a young child, wearing an eyepatch and clutching a toy parrot, staring up at them suspiciously.

Thinking quickly, Sun picked Moon up and flung him into the pit, earning a gasp from all the children and a startled yelp from Moon as he landed in the pit next to you, spraying colorful plastic balls everywhere.

"I declare a mutiny! Every pirate on my side, ta me!" Sun laughed, sprinting away from Moon, who was scrambling out of the pit. 

"Betrayal!" Moon growled. "Every one of ye that sides with me gets the good blankets at naptime!"

Sun reached the ship and turned to watch as the fun began once more, about to call out a counter offer, when suddenly a sword came up from behind and pressed against his throat. Well, except for Moon, there was only one person tall enough to pull this off. His suspicions were confirmed when his audio sensors picked up a whisper, practically a purr that put butterflies in his waist cavity.

"Why, hello, Captain Sunny."

"Ah- hello again, Sunshine."

[popopretty]

Storm Bringer Spoilers (10)

A small part from the Epilogue where Chuuya and Dazai met up with Dr. Wollstonecraft. It was from one of the translation requests I got long ago and this part is fun, everyone is so adorable, so here it is.

Feel free to retranslate if you want. Just note that I am not a native speaker in either Japanese or English so I make mistakes sometimes.

Chuuya went back to the pier, and as he was about to get on his bike, a black car slowly approached him. The window at the back seat slowly came down and the person inside called out, "Chuuya".

That was Dazai. It was a rare sight. He had his black suit and his tie on, the formal attire for guests greeting.

"Work is in five minutes."

Chuuya and Dazai were standing under the gangway of a luxury passenger ship.

That was a ridiculously expensive fancy liner. The ship that Shirase had boarded before that was incomparable to it, both in size and materials. Its paint was chalk-white without a spot, the five-story guest rooms were decorated like the finest hotels. No matter where the passengers went, they would be accompanied by a skilled guide on board. The ship was also known for its navigational capability. Even when it sailed at twice the speed of an ordinary ship, its turbulence was less than one tenth of a normal one.

That ship was called "The Boswellian".

The government's passenger ship that only high-ranking government officials were allowed to board.

The gangway was lowered and delegation descended in front of Chuuya and Dazai's eyes.

First were the guardsmen in black suits. They cautiously looked around at all directions. The bulges around their waists showed that they were all carrying guns.

After that came some bearded men who looked like officials. Old, capable, with gray brown eyes that showed no hints of what they were thinking. Their clothes were of top-quality. A man carrying a cane with a golden spiral pattern on it was pushing the crew who was trying to help him off board with the tip of his cane, so crudely as if he was chasing away a stray dog on the street.

"The noble demons of England have showed up." Dazai murmured in a voice that only Chuuya who was standing next to him could hear.

Those people were high-ranking officials of the British government who came here for the post-incident investigation, the “Assassination King incident" that occurred through multiple levels of state secrets. A team of investigators were dispatched to Japan to investigate this serious case that went beyond a normal criminal case, and report to the government. And Port Mafia had come forward to welcome the team and cooperate with them in the investigation, as a party to the case.

Illegal organization Port Mafia is in charge of welcoming the investigation team of the British government.

It was an odd situation, but there was a certain rationale and calculation of the Boss behind it.

First of all, the one who had the whole picture of the incident this time was neither the Ministry of Foreign Affairs nor the police, but Port Mafia. As from the beginning, the European governments had been trying to hide it completely from the Japanese government. Also from the Port Mafia side, they also had a reason to keep a close eye on the movements of the mighty British government.

That was because they suspected that these people might try to eliminate every person of Port Mafia who was involved in this incident to cover up the "Assasination King incident" that arose from the state secrets.

Obviously, Port Mafia had no intention to reveal the truth and the secrets of the case. But it was hard to tell how much the British would believe in words of a criminal organization. That was why Dazai was sent to greet them. If they really had the intention to eliminate the people involved, Dazai would have to negotiate to stop that from happening. If the negotiation failed, then Port Mafia would have to eliminate the investigation team before the other party had the chance to eliminate them. That was why Chuuya was accompanying him. Depending on the other party's actions, this might turn into an interstate war that involved the whole Port Mafia.

“Well, let the fun deception game begin.”, Dazai said excitedly as he headed towards the investigation team.

The guard men immediately reacted to the person approaching, their hands reaching for their waists where the guns were.

“Thank you for coming all the way here, ladies and gentlemen of the great British Empire.” Dazai's attitude changed completely as he greeted the guests with a fluent and courteous voice. “You must be the members of the investigation team? I know this is sudden but may I ask who your representative is?”

“Representative?” the guardsman whom Dazai directed this question to looked rather confused and tilted his head. "This is the technical advisory unit of the investigation team so if you say representative, I think that might be Dr. Wollstonecraft...”

Dr. Wollstonecraft?

Chuuya tilted his head. He had heard that name somewhere before.

“Aa!” Dazai seemed to get it right away. “I heard that name before. That’s the skilled engineer who designed Investigator Adam Frankenstein, right? Hmm... you must be Dr. Wollstonecraft then?” Dazai followed the gazed of the guardsman and called out to the most dignified and oldest man in the investigation team. He had a shaggy white beard, a receding hairline, and two medals for achievements in the military science sector pinned to his chest.

The old man noticed Dazai’s voice and laughed out cheerfully.

“No no, I’m not Dr. Wollstonecraft. I’m just tagging along. Doctor is... Look! She's getting off the ship right now.”

Dazai and Chuuya followed the old man’s eyes and looked up at the ship’s gangway. At the top of it, an oversized travel suitcase was left there unassisted. Wait...

“Okay. Nice to meet you. I’m Dr. Wollstonecraft... Oh so this is the said country? It looks bigger than on the map.”

The small figure that appeared from behind the suitcase, no matter how you looked at her...

“... How old is that?”

That was a little girl.

Blond hair, white blouse. The suitcase was big, but she was also small enough to be completely hidden behind it. She wore a big pair of round glasses that covered half of her face. And on her chest were more than twenty medals for achievements in science.

“Hey hey...” Chuuya made a drawn face.

“Oh! It's getting interesting.” Dazai laughed happily.

The little girl struggled down the gangway. She was holding the oversized suitcase, or rather, clinging onto it as it dragged her downwards.

“Heave ho! I am.. heave-ho... Dr... heave-ho! Wollstonecraft Godwin Shelley, heave-ho!”. The girl spoke every time she got off one step, still clinging on to the heavy luggage. “People call me the girl with a genius brain but, heave-ho, those are people who don't have the ability to see the essence of things. Heave-ho! My achievements are thanks to my special skill that make any designs possible. Heave-ho! And because I am a genius.”

“Hey, aren't you going to help her with that heavy luggage?” Chuuya couldn't stand it anymore and asked the bearded old man next to him.

“Hahaha. Doctor is the type of person who doesn't want anyone to touch her luggage.” the old man laughed cheerfully. "Even Her Majesty wouldn't be able to take that from her. Because if we do so, she will start crying and screaming, just like a kid who has gone back 10 years in time."

“If she goes back that much, isn't she gonna end up in her mother’s belly again...?” Chuuya said with a tired face.

“Also, she may look like that, but Doctor was really looking forward to this trip. That case is filled with her favorite essentials for this trip. No-one will be able to take it from her.”

“Old man! Don’t go around talking about me like I am just a normal little girl! I might be short but I will be a full-grown decent adult very soon.... heave-ho!”

Dr. Shelley finally got to the end of the gangway. She wiped off the sweat on her face and fixed her clothes with her hands. “Phew! Nice to meet you again, people of Japan. Well... you are Chuuya-kun right? Thanks for taking care of Adam.”

Upon hearing Adam’s name, Chuuya's face looked like he just shallowed a bitter thing down his throat. "I am not sure." , he then said. "The one who was taken care of was me."

The little girl fixed the big glasses to the middle of her face and stared at Chuuya.

“He died saving me... Doctor, Adam is your best work, right? I'm sorry for breaking it.”

“Hmm.”

Doctor Shelley observed Chuuya from the left, from the right, then stared at him closely from the front. Like she was observing an interesting research subject.

"You are right, Adam is my greatest work." , she said with her arms crossed. “Rather than sending him to a good-for-nothing island country like this for investigation, I’d have him in the lab and continue the research to upgrade him.”

Chuuya listened in silence. His expression was not looking at something in front of him at that moment. What he was seeing was some scenes of the past.

Doctor Shelley cleared her throat like a child then continued, “The best thing about Adam is that, he is equipped with the intelligence to think and judge the situation by himself. In other words, Adam chose to sacrifice himself out of his own will, his own judgement.” Dr. Shelley smiled. “Because you are worth it. I believe in Adam. I appreciate your apology, but it’s not something you need to worry about.”

Chuuya opened his mouth, trying to say something but he couldn't put it into words. Just like a child who had forgotten his way home, he just stood there with a stunned look on his face.

Seeing Chuuya like that, Dazai giggled as if he couldn't do anything about it.

“First off, from the beginning I didn't like the idea of using Adam for such a worthless investigation.” Dr. Shelley crossed her arms, looking sullen. “The government is always like that! They send out machine investigators for missions and when they are done with it, they just blow it up together with all the secret information. Even though we could have got the best test data from interacting with different cultures from those solo missions! Just because it's for the sake of human's life, they think that they can neglect science like that?”

To Chuuya and Dazai’s surprise, Doctor Shelley ordered her subordinate for “that” and had a black tube the length of an arm brought to her.

"That's why, such an ill-natured person like me had installed a detachable sub-processor and non-volatile memory. Without telling the government.” She took out the thing inside the black tube. “In here.”

The thing inside the tube that had the length of an arm, was actually an arm.

That was Adam’s right arm, the arm that Chuuya sent flying and stuck into the ground when he was escaping from inside of the Demonic Beast Guivre.

“This is...” , a question mark appeared on Chuuya’s face. “After the incident, I searched the scene but couldn't find it anywhere. Why is it here?”

“I mean, it's rather obvious to do this, isn't it?” Dr. Shelley put her finger on her huge travel suitcase. After her vital signals were verified, the auto-lock was released.

The figure that came out from the suitcase took the arm. And he said as he was attaching it to himself, “Do you want to hear an Android joke, Chuuya-sama?”

Chuuya stood still in shock. He kept his mouth open in surprise. Finally, he took a breath slowly through that mouth. A deep breath, as deep as he could. Then his expression changed as if he was about to burst.

And he laughed, "Hahaha...!"

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

An imagine for adeuce please! They hang out someplace in their hometown during vacation but awkwardly run into crewel. I think treys family bakery would be a nice location but the setting is your choice in case you want to limit the dialogue and number of characters

Ps. I personally feel like the game needs more interactions between the students and teachers. Hopefully we can get more in the new event

Teacher-student interactions are so much fun! We definitely got more from Vargas Camp (which I’m really thankful for), and I hope we keep getting more!

So far, my favorite teacher-student dynamic has been Vargas and Azul. I’d feel bad for octoboi if I wasn’t laughing so hard at his flying fails--

I really liked this prompt, so I wrote more than my usual ~1000 word imagine; please enjoy!

***Mild spoilers for chapter 4!***

Imagine this...

The Rose Kingdom was aptly named for the flowers that bloomed in nearly every corner of its land. In the summer time, they blossomed magnificently, perfuming the warm air with their heady aroma—but in the winter, those delicate rosebuds were banished by a spell of frost. Without fail, a great cold would wash over the region every year, casting their famous red flowers in a thick layer of white.

It was a pattern that the kingdom’s residents had long since grown accustomed to. This was, after all, their beloved home—amid the roses, frozen as they were.

“Oi, Deuce! Hurry it up, will you?!” Ace called, tossing an annoyed glance over his shoulder.

His friend—wearing so many layers that he resembled a moving blueberry more than a human—lagged several paces behind.

Deuce attempted to return the sass, but his words caught in the scarf bound tightly around his mouth, coming out muffled instead. The puffball on his winter hat furiously bobbed up and down, as though communicating his frustration for him.

“If we don’t pick up the pace, they’re gonna sell out of hot chocolate and fresh pastries!” Ace rushed back, grabbed Deuce by the arm, and tugged. “C’mon!! I thought you were in Track and Field Club or something—so let’s get moving!”

Deuce loosened his scarf with his free hand and, glaring at Ace, declared, “No way am I running with the roads this icy. That’s a recipe for disaster.”

“Hah? You serious? I already got wasted enough time waiting for you to dress in your 101 layers of coats,” Ace grumped, gesturing to Deuce’s ridiculous outfit. “It can’t hurt to be a little quicker about it.”

“Mom wanted me to stay warm,” Deuce countered stiffly. “I’m gonna respect that, no matter what.”

Ace rolled his eyes and waves dismissively. “Yeah, yeah, whatever—enough talk, we really gotta get going...!! I’ll be damned if I freeze out here.”

“The Clover Bakery isn’t that far from here, so we don’t need to rush.” Deuce indicated a warm building at the end of the block, which gave off delicious fumes—spun sugar, baked bread, and spices. “Slow and steady wins the race.”

Ace groaned loudly. At this rate, it would take all day for them to waddle on over. He was about to bury his head in his hands when an idea dawned on him.

A mean, but clever, idea.

“Betcha I could make it there faster than you,” Ace chirped, his voice casual.

“It’s not a competition,” Deuce reminded him sternly.

“No one said it was, dummy! I’m just saying I could definitely beat you at your own game.”

“Tough words for someone shaking like a leaf in the cold.”

“Oh yeah?” Ace’s grin was wicked. “Prove me wrong, then.”

“I don’’t have to prove anything. It’d be dangerous to run in this weather, anyway.”

“I bet it’s way more snowy in Pyroxene—and Jack’s probably totally fine with running through it!”

“That’s Jack, and this is me. I said I wasn’t going to rush things, and I meant it.”

“Yeah? Too bad~” The redhead gave an exaggerated sigh and a shrug. “Backing out, huh...? Oh well. Guess if you snooze, you lose...!!”

“Hey, I never said...” Deuce’s voice trailed off, for Ace had shoved by him, darting off in the direction of the bakery. “H-Hey...!! Ace...!! ACE!! GET BACK HERE!!”

He tore after his friend, shouting at him all the while—and Ace, with his (cheating) head start, only laughed in return. Deuce soon caught up (no thanks to his club conditioning), and they were neck-and-neck for first place.

Windchill, knives upon their faces. The biting cold seeped into their lungs, making it hurt to breathe as they hurtled toward their destination. Yet they sailed on, determined to outdo the other.

Both boys launched themselves at the bakery entrance, grasping the handle at the same time.

“EXCUSE US!!” Ace and Deuce yelled in unison, yanking open the door (struggling to cram through the doorway at the same time) and stumbling in.

They were greeted by a blast of warmth and the smells of sweet cakes and toasted breads. The employee manning the counter glanced up, startled at the duo’s sudden appearance. When he saw who it was that had barged in, he sighed and calmly readjusted his glasses.

He looked a little different than usual, wearing a white shirt with green plaid that showed off his broad shoulders. The sleeves were rolled up to reveal thick forearms forged from years of lifting flour sacks and kneading dough. A brown apron was slung over his attire, four-leafed clovers sewn on the pockets.

“If it isn’t Ace and Deuce. How are the two troublemakers of Heartslabyul doing?” Trey asked, his smile lopsided as his underclassmen approached.

“A-Are we really troublemakers in your eyes, Clover-senpai?!”

“I’m just kidding,” he reassured Deuce. “Well, you are troublemakers, but more for Riddle than for me.”

“Geez... thanks for the vote of confidence...” Ace grumbled, casting the third year a cheeky look. “Some senpai you are, huh?”

“Now, now... I’m allowed to have some fun, aren’t I? We’re all ‘off-duty’, so to speak.” Trey said light heartedly. “Anyway, what brings you guys to the Clover Bakery? I’m assuming you’re not dropping by just to say hello.”

“Hehe. Obviously we’re hungry, so we came by for some grub!” Ace held up his index finger. “One large hot chocolate, and a plate of assorted butter cookies for me!”

“I’m okay with a small spiced apple cider,” Deuce chimed in, “please and thank you.”

“Gotcha. I’ll get you your drinks in a bit,” Trey nodded, “but as for the butter cookies, I’m afraid I won’t be able to sell those to you.”

“Huh?” Ace’s face collapsed. “Why not?”

“We’ve only got a few dozen left, and they’re reserved for a client that preordered them. Sorry.” Trey pointed to a neatly wrapped box already set upon the counter, done up in a bright green bow.

Through the plastic window in the box, Ace could see that the cookies had been converted into little sandwiches. Each pair housed a generous dollop of cream, caramelized raisins threaded throughout it.

“What? Who needs that many butter cookies? And why are there gross raisins in them--“

The door to the bakery flung open, summoning a gale of cold once more. A bell suspended above jingled, ringing in a new customer.

“Ah, speak of deville the devil,” Trey said—while his underclassmen balked in terror.

There, in the doorway, was a tall man in black faux leather gloves and a voluminous fur coat—striped, black and white. Beneath that, he boasted a crimson turtle neck and a blazer, half solid white, the other half a black , checkerboard pattern. This, paired with his slicked back hair, steely eyes, and regal face, made him appear as though he had just strutted off the runway, were it not for the leashes he gripped.

Two Dalmatians—one in a blue coat, the other in a red one—stood alert by his feet. They caught Ace and Deuce’s eyes and barked in greeting, but the two boys were far too fixated on the Dalmatians’ owner to gush over dogs.

“Crewel...”

“... Sensei?”

Ace and Deuce glanced to one another, then back at their Alchemy teacher.

“C-CREWEL-SENSEI?!”

“Wh-What’re you doing here?!” Ace demanded, pointing an accusatory finger. “School’s out for winter break...!! You... You didn’t hunt us down to make us do our homework, did you?!”

Crewel snorted. “Spare me your theatrics, Trappola. Your instructors are granted a vacation for the duration of winter break as well. Were you not aware?”

“I-I knew that! I just didn’t know you lived in the Rose Kingdom, too!”

“I thought teachers lived at school...”

“... Seriously, Deuce?!”

“The more you know.” Crewel narrowed his eyes at Ace. “But speaking of homework, I trust you pups are keeping on top of your assignments? Being on break is no excuse to slack on your studies.”

“D-Duh! Of course I haven’t been slacking!” A lie, Ace grimaced, thinking to the piles of homework he had abandoned in his bedroom in favor of hanging out with friends. Whatever, he could just pester his brother for help later. “Right, Deuce? Back me up here!”

“I’ve been diligently studying and working on my homework bit by bit every day, Crewel-sensei!”

“... But have you done it accurately?” Crewel asked, raising an eyebrow. “Simply writing down an answer does not guarantee full marks, Spade.”

“... Errrrrr, okay, maybe I need to work on it a little more.”

“You’ve got your notes and a reliable Science Club member to count on for assistance,” Crewel quipped, gesturing to Trey with a gloved hand. “There is no excuse for why you should not do well. That goes for you as well, Trappola.”

“Y-Yessir!”

“Crewel-sensei, I think that’s enough interrogation,” Trey called, waving for him to come to the counter. Outwardly, he wore a smile, but inwardly, he sighed. For the love of the Great Seven, don’t offer my help for me. “Here, I have your order prepared--oh, but be sure to keep your dogs at the doorway. No pets allowed beyond a certain threshold for health and safety reasons.”

“I am aware, yes.” Crewel’s eyes passed over to the two scared stiff underclassmen. “... Trappola, Spade--come here. Do your professor a favor and tend to my Dalmatians for me.”

“What? You want us to watch your dogs?”

“I’ll do my best, Sensei!!”

“Don’t just blindly agree to it, Deuce!”

“It will only be for a moment,” Crewel insisted, shoving his leashes into Ace and Deuce’s hands. The boys fumbled, but held firm--the Dalmatians eagerly staring up at them.

“... Oi, don’t give me those looks,” Ace grumbled. “You’re... You’re too cute looking and innocent to be Crewel-sensei’s pets.”

The dog in the red coat gave a happy bark, as if pleased with the compliment. Its partner, in the blue coat, panted with delight as Deuce gave it a firm head pat.

Crewel received the box of raisin butter cookies--but allowed his eyes to quickly a scan the glass display case as he strode up. “Do you have dog treats in stock as well?”

“We do.”

“Then add two to my total, please--peanut butter flavor.”

“Alright, you’ve got it.” Trey ducked, retrieved a pair of tongs, and fished out two bone-shaped biscuits. He dropped them into a paper bag and handed them over to his teacher. “That’ll be--”

He was cut off by several bills being fanned out on the counter.

“I’ve ordered enough from your bakery to know the general prices,” Crewel smirked, tucking his wallet away into his massive fur coat. “If there is a discrepancy, you may keep the change.”

“Ah, thanks for that. Hope you and the dogs enjoy--” Trey paused, cut off this time by the sound of several small footsteps from the back room of the bakery. He groaned, already knowing what was coming. “Oh no...”

“Trey-nii!!” A chorus of high-pitched voices piped up, startling Ace and Deuce. “We heard bark-barks!! Did Mr. Fluffy Coat bring back his doggies?”

Three heads of green hair poked above the counter--just barely. One girl and two boys, probably elementary school age, all of them sharing Trey’s mustard yellow eyes.

“Guys, not now. Big bro’s busy with the customers,” Trey warned. He passed an apologetic look to his underclassmen and teacher. “Sorry, my siblings are excitable sometimes.”

“I wanna pet the doggies!”

“I wanna feed’m snackies!”

“I wanna dress them up!”

To the boys’ surprise, Crewel merely chuckled. “No worries. Fellow canine lovers are always welcome.”

“Mr. Fluffy Coat!! Can we feed your doggies?”

“Pretty please with candied violets on top!”

“Please, please, please!!”

Crewel barked with laughter. “Perhaps I can allow it, little ones--permitted that your brother grants his permission.”

All three Clover siblings looked expectantly at their eldest sibling.

Trey heaved a sigh. “... I guess I’ve got no choice. Go ahead.”

Excited squeals filled the interior of the bakery. The Clover siblings nearly tripped over themselves racing over to Crewel’s dogs (they nearly trampled Ace and Deuce’s feet, too).

“Hey, watch it! We’re the ones babysitting these dogs, not you!” Ace cried as the kids descended on the Dalmatians. I’ve only had these dogs for five minutes but if anything happened to them, I’d kill everyone here and then--

“We can share, Ace!”

“Spade is correct. There is plenty of the pups to go around,” Crewel interjected. He produced two dog treats and broke them into smaller pieces, offering them to Ace, Deuce, and the Clover siblings. “Go on, then. One for each of you to feed them.”

The Clovers cheered and eagerly claimed their pieces, holding them out and allowing each Dalmatian to sniff and lick the treats straight out of their palms. As soon as the food was slurped up, the Clovers proceeded to vigorously pet the pups. But the first years hesitated.

“You’re... being awfully nice,” Ace noted, eying him suspiciously. “Are you gonna spring a pop quiz on us as soon as I take the treat?”

“Keep biting the hand that feeds you, and I just might consider it,” Crewel warned with a dark smirk.

“W-We’ll take the treats!” Deuce snatched up two pieces, shoving one into Ace’s hands. “Come on, let’s not worry too much. We’re on winter break, after all. Let’s just relax while we still can.”

“You’re right, you’re right! Let’s not sweat it!”

They exchanged a brief laugh before kneeling and offering up their own dog treat pieces to the Dalmatians. Just as the dogs’ sloppy, wet tongues connected with the boys’ hands, their cell phones went off.

“... Huh? Did you just get a text, Deuce?”

“I think I did. I heard your phone ping too, though. Did you get a text too?”

“I can check. One sec...” With his free hand, Ace fished his phone out of his coat pocket and consulted it. He immediately paled. “Oh, shit.”

(“Hey, language!” Trey shouted--but his protest seemingly went ignored.)

“What’s wrong?” Deuce asked, frowning.

“Check your phone. Check it right now.”

“Is it something seri...” Deuce’s face dropped as soon as he looked at his messages. “Fuck.”

(“I said, language!” Trey tried again, only to be snubbed a second time.)

The distressing text they had received?

SOS SEND HE LP STRAND ED D IN SCAR ABIA CANT GET OUT - Yuu, Grim

Ace and Deuce abruptly stood and bolted toward the exit, much to everyone’s surprise. They paid no mind to the concerned shouts of Trey, nor Crewel, or to the excited barks of Dalmatians no longer held by leashes.

All that remained of where the duo once stood were soggy, half-finished peanut butter dog treats.

[yourdeepestfathoms]

Requiem (part one)

[Spiritfarer AU]

Note: The spirits are anthropomorphic. So their forms are on two legs and are humanoid, they’re not actually four-legged animals.

Word count: 1938

---------------------------

-Lost and Found-

The night was finally calm, the Spiritfarer weary from a long day worth of intense afterlife business. Nobody ever said becoming the next sailor for the dead was going to be easy, after all. 

The water lapped quietly at the sides of the ship. The huge expanse of the ocean that stretched out in every direction was glittering black, reflecting the twinkle of silver stars overhead. The moon was out and glowed brightly, illuminating the path to a large island in the near distance.

Her legs ached to be on earth again. It’s felt like forever since she walked on solid ground, which was strange. How long had it been exactly? She couldn’t remember much aside from waking up that morning in that small boat with the cat, in front of that giant portal... 

The Spiritfarer leaned back until her spine rested against the back wall of her cabin, the rough wood chafing her skin underneath her salt-eaten white gown. She watched the stars, the countless lamps lighting the world beyond. She spotted a mythical ship in the sky, sailing along the river of the ethereal gods.

  “Ah, there you are,” 

The voice was smooth like molten honey and tickled her ears in just the right way to send shivers down her spine. The Spiritfarer sat up, stretching sore spots along her back, and looked down at her first passenger.

Catherine of Aragon, the former queen of England, was a sight for sore eyes. In her spiritual body, she took the form of an elegant maned lioness. Sleek chocolate brown fur with a caramel underbelly and snout blaze, and a golden mane that swayed in the sea breeze. The spiky crown she wore was a sign of her former status as a ruler.

  “I was wondering where you went,” Aragon said, climbing up onto the ledge. 

  “I thought you were asleep already,” Joan said, moving over so the spirit could sit next to her. The fluffy black cat in her lap, John, blinked up at her, then flopped back over.

  “Not yet,” Aragon said. She sat crisscross, curling her tail in close to her. Her eyes were seemingly the only thing that she retained from her former self- they were dark brown, almost black, and they glittered in the moonlight. “Are you nervous?”

  “Nervous?” Joan echoed.

  “You got a big day ahead of you,” Aragon clarified. “A lot of big days, actually. Being a Spiritfarer is tough work, I’ve heard. You’ll be dealing with a lot.”

  “...Like?”

  “Several spirits, for one,” Aragon said. “But you’ll also have to help us cope with our deaths and fulfill our final wishes and demands and settle any quarrels before we can pass on…” She turned her head to look at Joan and smiled. “It’s a lot.”

Joan paled. “Oh…”

Aragon chuckled. “I’m sure you’ll be fine, though,” She said. “You seem like a smart kid. I think you can do it.”

  “Really?”

  “I mean, you were chosen for a reason, weren’t you?” Aragon stood up and stretched. “We’ll have to find some more spirits tomorrow. Oh, and just a heads up: You may want to look the part a little bit more.”

------

  “Okay, when I said ‘look the part’, this isn’t what I meant.” 

Joan blinked down at the sunflower yellow shirt and light blue overalls she was wearing. “What do you mean?”

  “You look like a farmer,” Aragon said. “Not a Spiritfarer.”

Joan gave the lioness a wounded expression. “I think I look perfectly professional!”

Aragon snorted lightly. “If you say so.”

The two of them cross over a stone bridge that was swathed by big red flowers and entered fully into the island village. The smell of baking bread and cooking meat wove through the streets, and Joan could hear the tink-tink of small hammers, the clattering of mugs, and the light echo of voices calling from inside houses. Some kind of stringed instrument greeted the sunrise with musical scales and half-played melodies.

  “So, what exactly are we looking for?” Joan asked. She had to look up at Aragon, as the spirit was much taller than she was.

  “Other spirits, of course,” Aragon answered. She quirked an eyebrow down at Joan. “Have you already forgotten your task?”

  “N-no!” Joan squeaked. “I’m just...making sure YOU know what we’re doing!”

  “Ah,” Aragon nodded wisely. “I see.”

They continued their trek into the village, stopping every once and awhile to check out different shops. It was then, at a stall selling vegetable seeds, Joan felt eyes burning into her back. She whipped around to see a shadow bounding towards her.

  “It’s so good to see you! I’ve been counting the days until you finally came. Though, I didn’t expect to see YOU of all people. Did you miss me at all?”

The familiar voice poured into Joan’s mind like a cup of cool water.

The spirit was clad in emerald green robes, shadowing its featureless face, aside from its big white eyes, which glowed even in the sunlight. Green smoke wreathed from its body, dissipating into the air around it. Nothing about it screamed ‘former queen Anne Boleyn’ but Joan knew this was her, and not just because of the voice.

  “Oh, Catalina! It’s so good to see you, too! It’s been a long time!” Anne babbled on, turning to the lioness, who had her snout wrinkled in distaste for the green spirit.

  “Hello, Anne.” Aragon said bitterly. “I’ve been really good after you usurped me.”

  “Oh, I bet!” Anne laughed, dismissing the comment and making Aragon growl lowly in her throat. “I got beheaded, so I think we’re even.”

Joan peered at the spirit. Despite her jolly tone, she has tight, tense shoulders, head slightly pulling back, like she’s anticipating a threat of some kind. Something doesn’t add up.

Seeing each other again should be a happy occasion--yet something has Anne stressed out. Joan suspected she would find out the longer she got to know Anne on her journey as a Spiritfarer.

  “Overall, I would say…I am content enough here.” Anne began. “It was weird waking up here and looking like THIS,” She held up her shadowy hands, “but I got used to it. It’s a nice village. They got some really good food here! The worst thing about it is probably Jane’s tantrums, and even then she’s usually avoiding me. Oh, but another lady is here, too! Anna, I think her name is? Or maybe it was just Anne and I heard it as Anna because I want to be the only Anne…”

Joan perked up a little. “Did you say Jane?” She asked. “As in, Jane Seymour?”

  “As in, that wench is super whiny and spoiled. So, yes.” Anne tittered.

  “What does she throw these ‘tantrums’ about?” Joan asked.

  “I’m gonna guess it has to do with being on the same island as her.” Aragon glared at Anne, who blithely ignored it.

Anne shakes her head. “She yells about ‘not being able to do her life’s work,’ and it’s been getting worse. She’s been like this for the last six months or so.”

Speak of the devil, a distant sound cut through the air--violent and thunderous. It grew louder, like bomb blasts in rapid succession, until a piercing silver light beamed through the area.

The light came from a spirit, which was as shadowy as Anne, but was slightly bigger and wore glowing silver robes. The smoke puffing off of her body could have possibly been coming from her nostrils and mouth and ears, which weren’t even present on her features, because she was practically shaking with rage.

  “Where is the Spiritfarer?” She screamed at no one in particular. Even with just blank white eyes on her black face, her fury was clear.

Anne turned to Joan and coughed daintily.

Joan craned her neck to look up at the spirit. She seethed with anger.

  “I have been waiting for the Spiritfarer for almost a full year and I cannot wait any longer!!” The spirit bellowed on. “This place is a hellhole--a prison! I’d rather be completely dead than have to spend any longer on this island!!”

A few other spirits, normal ones that didn’t need Joan’s aid, turned to stare, but looked away quickly when they realized exactly who was making a scene. It seemed this was a normal affair for the village.

  “Nobody listens to me! I can’t wait another year--you have to get me out of here!”

  “Okay, okay!” Joan said. “Calm down! That’s why I’m here!”

Jane’s tantrum halted. She gazed down at Joan, blinking.

  “You...are the Spiritfarer?” She asked.

  “Yes, I am,” Joan answered. “My name is Joan.”

  “I know who you are.” Jane said. “You just--weren’t what I was expecting.” She tilted her head. “You are very young.”

Joan ruffled. “I’m sixteen. That’s the age I was when I started working in the palace. It’s not that young.”

Jane has calmed completely, now. “I see.” She cleared her throat. “Well. I am ready to leave this horrid place. Please, take me to the ship.”

Joan looked up at Aragon, who nodded. “Let’s go then!” Upon arriving at the docks, where they would take the dinghy to get to the main ship, a red-robed spirit was waiting patiently for them. She introduced herself as Anna of Cleves while Joan was rowing back to the ship.

  “Not quite what I was expecting,” Jane said, looking around. “But I’ll take it.”

  “Good, because you don’t have a choice,” Aragon said. She climbed up onto the roof of the kitchen to watch. 

  “I like it.” Cleves said. “If that means anything.”

  “It does,” Joan smiled slightly. “Thank you.”

  “Well, I’m ready to get out of this body!” Anne declared. She ran to the front of the ship and spread her arms wide. White light began to envelope her body, whisking away the robes and setting free the form that lay beneath the shadows.

Sunlight glinted off emerald green scales. Spines bristled upwards towards the clear blue sky. A powerful tail swished behind feet that were hooked with razor sharp talons. Too-human brown eyes for an iguana blinked at them all.

  “Haha!” Anne cheered, throwing her arms up. “Finally! /This/ is much better. Even better than my human body! Look at this, I got a tail!”

  “So do I,” Aragon called. “You aren’t special.”

  “Hphm.” Jane huffed. “You’re just a lizard.”

  “And what are you, your majesty?” Anne teased.

Jane glared at Anne, then allowed her body to change shape. It was swarmed with light, as did Anne’s, but she was left with a blanket of pure white fur, a bushy tail, steel grey eyes, and large, branching antlers.

  “Voila,” The white stag bowed. “There you go.”

  “Oooo,” Anne cooed in interest. “Pretty good! What about you, Anna?”

The red spirit shrugged and reverted into her full form, which turned out to be a huge grizzly bear. She stretched out her thickly muscled arms, then shook out her shaggy brown fur.

  “Woah,” Anne said. “You are very big.”

  “Thanks?” Cleves laughed.

Joan watched them all begin to chat, luckily without an argument breaking out instantly. After she was assured that the conversation was tame, she walked into her cabin, where the map projector sat. She used it and the Everlight, the golden orb on her belt, to control the entire ship, though she was still working out all the mechanics. She opened up the map as John hopped up onto her shoulder.

Four down, five more to go.

  “TOUCH MY ANTLERS AGAIN, BOLEYN, AND I WILL BUCK YOU OFF THIS SHIP RIGHT NOW!!!”

Joan sucked in a breath. “This is going to be a long journey.”

[dragonheartedslifer]

Drabble!-confidant

Just some Aster x Megan junk lol or as i decided to dub it "Destinywingshipping"

♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡

The wind blew through Megan's hair as she leaned again the small lighthouse at the docks of duel academy. She thought everyone was asleep. Keyword thought. She sniffled and wiped her eyes. The events of today finally were finally wearing on her.

"Stupid snobs....twice as bad since that light crap...." she grumbled. She would've went to jaden but he had enough on his plate...

"Megan?" Came a familier voice. Megan turned surprised to see aster standing on the deck of his boat.

"A-aster!!" She exclaimed. She quickly wiped her face. "U-uh s-sorry....I uh...didnt know you were up i--uhhhh...." she stammered. "Its late I need to uh...head back sorry for disturbing you!"

"Megan! Hey wait!" He called after before she could get too far. She was abit surprised to see actual concern on the pro duelists face.

"W-what?" She asked. Aster awkwardly itched the back of his head. Did his cheeks look abit red or was the slifer imagining things?

"Uh...do you...wanna come aboard? Uh...I got tea." Megan looked back In the direction of the slifer dorm then at the ground, then looked back to aster, smiling abit.

"Sure...why not." She replied. Aster let down the boats steps and helped her board. She looked around, taking in the look of everything. "This...is honestly neat." She said. She glanced at aster, a playful smile on her face. "You're not gonna kidnap me are you?" Aster snorted smiling back.

"In your dreams queen scales." He retorted. He shrugged. "But you did look like you needed some company. With the crying and all." Megan blushed, embarrassed.

"Ah. You caught that." She said, looking away. Aster raised an eyebrow.

"Not that hard to miss." He said. He turned to open the door to the inside of the ship. "What do you like? Black tea? Chamomile? Chai?" He asked.

"Chamomile. Two spoons of sugar. My mom used to give it to Jay and I alot when we couldn't sleep. Before her and dad started leaving us alone more and more cuz apparently work was more important than their kids...." she said, saying more than she meant to. She groaned covering her face. "Sorry that was...way too random to say and I do not know why I let myself say that..." aster waved a hand.

"Relax it's ok. Honestly if you wanna get junk off your chest I dont mind." He shrugged. "As much as we go back and forth, I'm not a total dick as to ignore someone I care about crying." Megan snorted amused.

"Oh? You care about me?" Aster grinned mischeviously.

"Well yeah. If I didnt, I would've called you unbearable by now." He teased. He went inside into the kitchen. Megan snorted again shaking her head. But she smiled abit, grateful for asters words. A few minutes later he came out with two cups of tea. "Tadaaa." He said, handing meg her cup. She leaned against the railing and took it.

"Thanks." She said gratefully. The sea breeze caressed her messy brown hair abit. She took a sip, loving the soft sweet taste. Aster leaned against the boat rail too.

"No prob." Quiet. A few minutes passed then aster spoke again. "So....what's up that has the mighty queen of blue eyes crying?" He asked. Meg looked at her cup then looked at aster.

"Would you believe I have bullies?" Asters eyebrows raised, surprised.

"I had heard rumors but I just pushed em off as rumors." He said. He looked confused then. "Who are they? And what on earth do they pick on you about?" He asked. Megan set her cup on a nearby little stand then gestured at herself.

"My whole personality. How I do things, how I duel, how I act." She sighed then her voice turned whiny as she mocked the other girls. "'You're so tomboyish and sloppy! You're not even a proper girl! Ugly! Haha! Go die alone with your stupid brother!"' Megan resisted punching the rail, remembering the time she got so angry at people that she punched a tree too hard, her hand bled. "Is it so hard for people to just let me be me?" She teared up again. "Its silly huh? I shouldn't be crying over this....." aster looked at the water.

"Its not stupid. Their words hurt. And that's valid. Wanna know a secret?" Aster asked. Megan wiped her face again, sniffling and grabbing her cup.

"What?" She asked, interested. Aster hummed.

"I'm not entirely immune to everything the paparazzi and junk say about me." He admitted. "Its hard. Sometimes I'll do one thing and the media twists it into another thing entirely just because they want me to look bad." Megan's face softened as the other spoke. "Sometimes I wonder if I really am bad...." he mumbled. Megan caught that. She placed her free hand on asters.

"You're not bad. Yeah you can be a butthead, overly cocky. Kind of a dumbass." She smiled. She blushed. "But you're not bad." Aster smiled back blushing abit too.

"And...i...rather like your tomboyishness." Megan snorted at that, tucking some hair behind her ear.

"Oh please." She laughed. Aster grinned.

"I'm serious! If you wanna know my personal preference, I'd rather someone strong and determined than someone like....them." he gestured smiling. Megan's face turned redder.

"Thanks aster." She said sweetly. She sipped at her tea more. Her heart was pounding. "Uh so....what's it like to sail in this anyway?" She asked, trying to change the subject. Aster hummed, drumming his fingers against his cup. Then he smiled broadly.

"Wanna find out?"

[thewritewolf]

Two For Two Chapter 12: Falling

A sky-high supervillain forces our heroes to use the yellow potion of flight.

@ladynoirjuly2020

Enjoy!

First Chapter | Previous Chapter | Next Chapter

Read on Ao3

If Hawkmoth was going to repeat akuma ideas, Adrien would prefer if he’d at least repeat the fun ones. Like Gamer 2.0 or Mister Pidgeon. Well, maybe not Mister Pidgeon exactly since Adrien was always sent into sneezing fits for those fights, but still. Something easy or at least fun.

Certainly not being shot into space, like with Startrain or the Bubbler. And yet, that was exactly where Adrien found himself now. Riding a tiny spaceship - almost more a rocket with some cargo space - into the upper atmosphere.

Adrien shook his head and started digging through his bag.

“Correct me if I am wrong but,” Sass began, looking out the convenient window. “I feel that thisss is not good?”

“Great job, sass, you’ve really nailed it,” Plagg said, rolling his eyes. He crossed his arms and looked at Adrien. “So what’s the plan, kid? I doubt the bug is gonna be able to get you out of this mess.”

“Well, she sort of already did.”

“Huh?”

“Just give me a second… Aha!” He pulled out the container full of dyed cheeses. “Yellow is going to be our best bet, I think.”

“Bleh! Yellow potion tastes awful.” Plagg stuck out his tongue. He grabbed Sass and pushed him towards Adrien. “You’re the new kwami on the block, so you’re gonna have to take this one for me.”

Adrien gave a worried look to Sass who shrugged.

“Worry not, I am sssure you are in harmony enough with me to make full ussse of my powersss.” Sass tentatively took the cheese, his thin forked tongue darting out to taste it. “Hm… It has been some time since I have had some of the Guardians’ brew.”

“Okay, let’s give this a shot…” Adrien cleared his throat. “Plagg, claws out! Sky Sass, Plagg, unify!”

Snake Noir took a moment to stretch his wings and look at himself before he busted out of his rocket. His eyebrows rose when he saw in the reflection of the window that his bald cap had been replaced with a mane of rainbow feathers, and his mask had lost its domino mask appearance and looked painted on.

It suddenly hit him and he blinked in surprise. Wings?

Sure enough, he glanced to the sides and saw emerald green wings made of long feathers that reached to his knees even when held out completely. The edges and tips of the wings were lined with short white feathers, which naturally drew his eyes toward his chest, which was now coated with a crimson plumage.

He wasn’t sure what he had been expecting with a flight transformation, but in hindsight wings made sense. What surprised him even more was how using them already felt like second nature. Snake Noir punched out the window with cataclysm and leapt out of the rocket, plummeting towards the ground where he knew that his lady was fighting alone.

-------------------------------

Marinette watched another set of rockets blasting off into the sky, her lips pressed into a thin line of determination.

“If I am not mistaken, that doesn’t seem like the standard fare for Parisian life,” Longg commented drily. “What is to be done about it?”

“Marinette is going to go after them, of course!” Tikki said resolutely, brimming with confidence. “Right, Marinette?”

“No doubt about it, Tikki.” Marinette pulled out a yellow dyed cookie. “But I think we’ll need a little extra help this time, just in case whoever this is catches us.”

“That’s a great idea!” Tikki’s enthusiasm dimmed a bit. “But it might be best if you give that to Longg.”

“Why’s that?” Marinette scrunched up her eyebrows.

“Not all power ups are created equal, young Guardian,” Longg said with a bow. “Some kwami take better to the brews than others.”

“Yes. I’ll give you the power of flight, sure. But Longg’s is faster and more nimble.”

Longg nodded sagely. “The lack of wings also means you cannot be suddenly robbed of your gifts.”

“No wings? Then how do you-” Marinette shook her head vigorously. “Never mind, I guess I’ll find out.” She passed the cookie to Longg. While he was eating, she said, “Tikki, spots on!”

The potion took effect and Ladybug took a moment to brace herself for whatever was about to happen. “Tikki, Sky Longg, unify!”

At first, she didn’t really notice anything different. That lasted until she realized that she was floating a couple meters off the ground and her hair had lengthened into a massive, shimmering wave that rippled behind her like a dragon’s tail. She willed herself to move and found that her hair always stayed behind her and glided of its own accord as she flew in a direction.

Dragonbug understood what Tikki meant about Longg’s power of flight. The smoothness of it was like a dream as she easily sailed into the air and looked for the akuma. Which, judging by the yelling, called himself Rocketman. He lived up to the name too - besides the rockets that he sent people up in, he had what looked like a jet-boosted surfboard that he used to fly around and an outfit that looked like a fashion moghul had been given five minutes to design a suit with only the word ‘rocket’ as their guiding principle.

Not only was Dragonbug fighting for Paris and its people today - she was fighting to end this abomination in the eyes of fashion.

Rocketman was just about to catch another group of people when she snared his board with her yoyo and yanked it to the side, sending the rockets harmless into the ground. There, they burst into smoke after failing to capture anyone. An angry glare was on his face as he whipped around to look at her, before quickly melding into a look of maddened joy.

“Its about time one of you showed up. I was beginning to think you’d already been sent sky high!” He spun his board around to face her. “And now you will have the honor of being beaten by ROCKETMAN!”

“Keep dreaming,” Dragonbug said as she nimbly dodged the rockets sent toward her. “Way better villains than you have had their butts kicked by me.”

“They had to fight two meddling heroes.” Rocketman grinned. “I only have to fight one.”

He unleashed a wild barrage of rockets and it was all she could do to avoid it. Despite her earlier confidence, she was worried she would have to waste time - or worse yet, one of her powers - to break free. Especially when she had to go at double speed to dodge one rocket… and the momentum carried her into the path of another.

Her jaw clenched as she prepared to take the hit.

But it never came.

Instead, there was a loud clanging noise and a wild blur of greens and blacks and reds. Snake Noir had plummeted from above and smacked the rocket, sending it into a tailspin toward the ground. His wings stabilized him and he shot her a playful wink before turning back toward the Rocketman.

“You were pretty close there! You almost winged my lady. I can’t let you get away with that, now can I?”

“Nice wings, chaton.”

“Thank you, m’lady! And can I just say, I love what you’ve done with your hair today?”

“Hey! How dare you-” While Rocketman launched into a tirade about them not taking him seriously, Dragonbug drifted forward toward her partner.

“Chat,” she whispered. “Can you distract him while I summon my lucky charm?”

“Leave it to this cat to cause some mayhem!” He grinned and with a few powerful strokes of his wings soared above Rocketman and dived toward him.

With the akuma on the backfoot for now, Dragonbug summoned her lucky charm. A frown creased her face as a tall glass bottle - red and spotted, naturally - dropped into her hands.

“A bottle?” She shook it and felt liquid slosh around inside it. “Full of… something. Reminds me of-” Her eyes widened as she had a moment of remembering the meal her papa had made just the day before. “Oh!”

She threw it over the akuma and yelled out to her partner. “Chat! Break it!”

There was no hesitation or any questions on his part. In the span of a second he’d glanced from her to the bottle and immediately extended his baton and smashed the bottle. The akuma raised its arms to block as glass shards and a pale yellow liquid rained down on him.

Confusion gripped his face as he sniffed it. “...Olive oil?”

Snake Noir glanced back at her and she made a subtle motion to follow her. Then she flew away from the akuma at top speed, staying close to street level, but not so fast that he couldn’t keep up. Snake Noir was right behind her.

“Hey! Get back here,” Rocketman shouted indignantly as he gave pursuit. Even from this distance she could see the purple mask outline around his face - no doubt Hawkmoth was warning him about a trap, but Rocketman was in no mood to listen.

“What’s the plan, LB?”

“Just follow right behind me, okay? We’re going to make a hard turn in 3… 2… Now!”

They both suddenly veered to the right around a building. Rocketman turned as well…

...only to slide right off his board.

“Oh, the oil!” Snake Noir hit his forehead. “I get it now.”

“Mhm. Now if you’d be a good chaton and break that board.”

“Your wish is my command, bugaboo.”

A quick purification and Ladybug Cure later, and the two of them were fistbumping over another victory.

[frighthouseofalighthouse]

I'm gonna do it. I'll take all the history asks for 500, Alex!

OKAy. I may have to reblog and do an add-on, because I will almost certainly go over the 250 paragraph limit. ALSO NICE JEOPARDY REFERNCE. Okay, ready? Go.

1: Historical role model?

We could all stand to be more like Julie D'Aubigny.

2: Favorite underrated historical figure?

See above.

3: Funniest historical kerfuffle?

In 1774 Boston's Committee of Safety (John and Samuel Adams as well as Joseph Warren and PaulRevere were on it) was made up almost entirely of patriots, except for one man: Daniel Leonard. They couldn't decide anything important with him around so they would have a fake meeting and then be like OKAY IT'S AUGUST WE'RE HOT AND TIRED, LET'S GO HOME, and then after he'd left they'd lock themselves in a room and have their REAL, TREASONOUS MEETING. Reading about this is objectively one of the funniest things I have ever heard. It's literally the beack house episode of Brooklyn Nine-Nine where they have a fake party for Captain Holt.

4: Favorite conspiracy theory revolving around history?

Whatever the fuck the real story of the X FIles was (I've watched the whole thing multiple times and I still don't know what exactly what the point was. DOn't get me wrong I love it. It just makes no sense.)

5: Favorite political scandal to examine?

The XYZ Affair because I was there for it all and it's...a lot

6: Opinion on the presidential assassinations and their impact on America?

I answered this in depth last time I got that question and you can read my response here.

7: Which time period would you like to live in?

Either take me back to the revolution or put me in Victorian England (BARRING MEDICAL NONSENSE AND SOCIAL BARRIERS)

6 (again?!): Favorite historical fiction book?

See the assassination link!

8: Favorite tv show based on historical events, but not really faithful to real life?

Top choices are Outlander, TURN: Washington's Spies, Black Sails, and Ripper Street.

9: Favorite musical based on history?

*sarcasm* Definitely NOT Hamilton whaaaaaaat why would you even assume that?! Ahem. Also Les Mis is cool I guess.

10: Favorite movie based on history?

Wonder Woman!!!

11: Favorite biography?

The Swamp Fox by John Oller

12: If you could prevent one tragedy, which would you choose?

The Trump Administration.

13: Fun fact?

MLK and Anne Frank were born in the same year.

14: Favorite female monarch?

Cleopatra or Mary Queen of Scots.

15: Favorite war leader?

I'm biased but George Washington.

16: Favorite controversial leader?

Winston Churchill

17: Favorite feminist pioneer?

J U L I E D ' A U B I G N Y. Also Mary Read and ANne Bonney my queer pirate gals

18: Which president, in your opinion, was the best speaker?

No contest, Abraham Lincoln.

19: If you would travel back in time and kill anyone, who would it be?

Listen I’m not a fan of these questions when people are like “I’d kill Hitler” etc. bc butterfly effect, BUT The British officer who shot John Laurens can CATCH THESE MF HANDS

20: Opinion on each of the founding fathers?

Oh boy. This is an interesting question at this point in time because I am currently grappling with the fact that the people I worked with did not really believe in equality for all, and the system we built was designed to reflect this. However, it is a system that I believed in and put my everything towards so I have many conflicted feelings toward it rn. Anyway here's the low-down on the major ones. GEORGE WASHINGTON: Good guy, needed to loosen up and not be a slaveholder. JOHN ADAMS: old stinky man. Called me mushroom excrement once. Put him back in the swamp from whence he came. THOMAS JEFFERSON: Rapist. Slaveholder. Really stuffy. Founded an entire political party for People Who Don't Like Hamilton. Fuck him foreverrrr. JAMES MADISON: Friendly with me but betrayed me when Jefferson came back from France. 2/10, cute but do not trust him with your secrets or coffee order. JAMES MONROE: A teenager during the war and I barely ever saw him after that but he was fine ig. ALEXANDER HAMILTON: that me! Made mistakes but all around a cool(tm) guy. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN: fresh funky and really funny. Cooler than you'd expect an old man with gout to be.

21: Which leader do you think would make the best spouse?

No leaders are good spouses bc superiority complex.

22: Most pointless war in your opinion?

All. But King Phillip's War was especially whack.

23: John Wilkes Booth - crazy or crazy with a cause?

I mean of course he had a cause, but it was a bad one and having a cause doesn't make him less crazy. He was...really yikes.

24: Why do you think Lee Harvey Oswald killed JFK and did he act alone?

Most certainly did not act alone. But I feel based on timeline of events and maps of the area that either he was paid off either by our own government or the Soviets, or one of the two set him up as a patsy. Then Jack Ruby was paid to cover up the tracks.

25: Opinion on assassinations of leaders in general?

Same as killing anyone else, I guess, murder is bad, and I don't think that's really the route that should be taken to remove dangerous parties from power. But in some cases it may be the only way of removing them, and, well, that is what it is.

26: Do you think we're going to repeat history because we haven't learned from it?

Always. It is constantly happening. There is nothing new.

27: Have you ever been teased for being a history nerd?

hahahahahahahahaha yeah. Ever since first grade.

28: Which historical figure do you think has been subject to the most fictionalization and elevated to a godlike status nowadays?

Due to the musical, Alexander Hamilton (me.) People need to realize that I wasn't perfect but also not evil. Just human.

29: Rant about your favorite topic?

See the other part of my Lincoln Assassination rant here

30: Favorite kids/teens history books?

The Dear America series and the Liberty's Kids novelizations are WHERE ITS AT.

31: How was your interest in history started?

I don't even know exactly when or how anymore. My mom's a book nerd and an archaeology/anthropology major, so I grew up in a house chock full of books, including history books. I've loved it ever since I could read, honestly.

32: Do you know a history professor?

I do not!

33: How did your favorite history teacher structure their class?

I was homeschooled so it was my mom. She made sure we covered every period, but other than that just let me pick out what interested me and what I wanted to read and explore. She read a ton of big historical books right alongside me and we'd discuss as we read. We still do this!

AND THAT'S THE HALFWAY POINT OF THESE. I HAVE TO GET READY FOR AN OVERNIGHT SHIFT AT WORK SOON SO I WILL LEAVE THIS HERE FOR NOW AND REBLOG WITH THE REST OF THEM UPDATED TOMORROW. THANK YOU SO MUCH.

[vannahfanfics]

Yo, I just read your Haynette fanfic, and I gotta say, I'm impressed with what you've written. Would you mind making another one of this couple? They're super cute together, and I feel like they're the most "normal" couple in KH since they're just two teenagers who live normal lives in comparison to the other KH characters. How about a Part 2 where Pence finds out about the 3 a.m. meeting, and starts coaching Hayner on what to do in relationships (with copious amounts of teasing, of course). 😋

Hey there, Anon! Sorry it took me such a hot minute to get to this; this last year has been crazy for me, as you can imagine. But, at long last, here is your Haynette story! Thank you for giving me the opportunity to write for one of my favorite Kingdom Hearts rarepairs <3 

3 a.m. Musings and Cherry Lip Gloss Part II

Before you read, here’s Part I! 

Hayner groaned loudly as the persistent chirping of his alarm clock finally bled through his feather pillow down into his eardrum. While using one hand to press the soft, downy pillow further against his head, his other blindly slapped at his nightstand. After his palm thumped uselessly against the wood a few times, displacing a few knickknacks, candy wrappers, and coins, he finally smashed the snooze button. He groaned miserably again, burying his face into his mattress as he clung to the last shreds of sweet, sweet sleep. As he smacked his lips, the succulent taste of cherries bloomed across his tongue. 

“Oh my gosh!” he cried, jerking upright in bed with owlish eyes. His pillow sailed across his bedroom to smack into his dresser, shaking the framed posters and other baubles crammed on its top surface. Still bleary from sleep, Hayner’s hands rummaged nonsensically through his sheets and comforter a few times in search of his phone until he realized it was sitting on his nightstand. He snatched it up, using muscle memory to pull up Pence’s contact information to dial his number. 

“Yello?” the cheery boy answered quickly. 

“Pence! Hey! I got something important to talk to you about! Get your butt over here!” Hayner screeched into the phone. As he crawled across his bed, his foot became tangled in the linens; when he tried to step off, his leg lurched back and he face-planted into the carpet. He heard Pence hiss at the very loud thump Hayner’s body made as it hit the floor. “Agh… Just get here, man!” 

“All right, all right, I’m coming! I’m getting milkshakes.” 

“What? No, I don’t have time for—” His stomach yowled ardently, making the words die in his throat. Groaning, he smacked his forehead down against the floor. “Chocolate, please…” 

“Roger that!” Pence quipped before ending the call. Hayner dropped his phone down onto the carpet, just continuing to lay there with one of his legs still trapped in the blankets and reclined up over his body. He swiped his tongue gingerly across his bottom lip again; yep, faint as it was, there was the saccharine flavor of cherry lip gloss. His cheeks heated with a fierce blush. 

“I… kissed Olette…” he whispered. A giddy smile spread across his face, pulling on his cheeks until they ached a little. However, after a brief blip of dreamy euphoria, reality came crashing down, as did his stupid grin. Hayner had kissed Olette. He had confessed to Olette. Gasping, he snatched his phone back up to check his notifications— specifically, his text messages with Olette. A quick review of the conversation confirmed that they had in fact snuck out at 3 a.m., and unless he had blacked out on the road somewhere and had a strangely realistic fever dream, that meant everything in the Secret Hideout had also occurred. 

“Oh, man,” he groaned anxiously, fisting his tousled honey-blond hair. “What am I gonna do now?” Should he text her? No. No, that was stupid! Hayner would make a great big fool of himself for sure. No, he needed advice, advice from a smart person— and Pence was the smartest guy he knew. Surely Pence would know what to do. 

He plopped the phone back down before melting back onto the floor. If he was lucky, the molecules of his body would blend with the fibers of the carpet, turning him into a puddle of goo so he could avoid this situation. That did not happen. Instead, Pence found him still lying there after tromping up the stairs, following a jovial exchange with Hayner’s parents, of course. 

“Man. You weren’t kidding when you said you needed to talk,” the brunet said and took a loud sip of his milkshake— cookies and cream, probably. In reply, Hayner released a frustrated scream that vibrated the floor as the carpet muffled it. Pence clicked his tongue reassuringly as he rolled Hayner’s computer chair over and plopped down, his chest pressed against the leather back and his legs hanging over the sides. “Come now, talk to Pence,” he crooned as he set the milkshake down next to Hayner’s head. 

Hayner just groaned again and rolled onto his side so he could drown his anxieties in sweet, thick, sugary chocolate milkshake. He sucked the chunky concoction through the straw for two minutes straight before popping his lips off of it. His stomach whirled as the last dregs of cherry lip gloss slipped in, making a flavor reminiscent of chocolate-covered cherries. Should he provide context? 

Nah, better to rip it off like a bandage. 

“I kissed Olette.” 

“You did what?!” Pence spluttered. He had unfortunately been drinking his milkshake at the time, leading to him spitting it out all over his front. He scowled as he scrubbed at his face and shirt. “Dude! Are you serious?!” 

“Yeah, I’m serious! Do you think I would joke about something like that?” Hayner reported hotly as he pushed his upper body up with his arm. Pence sighed deeply and pinched the bridge of his nose, shaking his half-empty milkshake cup with the other hand. 

“Wait, wait, wait, wait… Tell me the whole story…” 

So Hayner did. As he explained it, taking long, stressed sips of his shake in-between, Pence listened intently. He pinched the end of his chin and nodded his head sagely, and when things got especially good, he took a long drag of his cookies and cream shake. By the time Hayner finished, the other boy was scraping at the bottom of the styrofoam cup to scoop ice cream chunks out with the straw. 

“So this morning you woke up and now you have no idea what your relationship with her is gonna be like?” 

“Exactly!” Hayner cried and slapped his hand down into the carpet. He followed by thunking his head down again. “Ugh, man… I should’ve known better. I’m too stupid in the early hours of the morning.” 

“You certainly do lose all common sense. Remember the time we stayed up for the new year and you tried to steal one of the trams?” Pence chuckled. Hayner rolled his head to glare at him from underneath one of his golden strands of hair. “Right, not helpful,” Pence said, adjusting himself in the computer chair. “Now then, do you like her?” 

“Uh, yeah. I wouldn’t have kissed her if I didn’t.” 

“Look, man, I’m no judge. People do what they do,” Pence shrugged while waving a hand placatingly. Hayner rolled his eyes and shoved his face back down into the carpet. He should have stayed in bed; dust bunnies and crumbs were definitely not a good substitute for soft sheets. “Anyway, so then, do you want to date her?” 

Hayner could feel his face flush so hot that it was a wonder that the heat didn’t singe the carpet fibers. Despite his immense embarrassment, he didn’t have the urge to refuse; even doing so defensively seemed sacrilegious. As his face continued to burn, he meekly spoke into the carpet, “Yeah… I do…” 

“Then date her!” Pence exclaimed, making Hayner jerk violently in surprise. The blond pushed himself up onto his forearms to see that his friend had thrown up his arms in exasperation. “What’s the problem, man? It’s pretty clear to me that Olette likes you back, considering she didn’t slap you silly when you planted one on her.” 

Hayner pursed his lips dourly. Pence made it sound so simple as if girls weren’t complex beings, like the inner machinations of their minds weren’t complete enigmas. Could it be that simple? Frowning, Hayner pushed himself into a seated position, crossing his legs and slumping over a little as he took out his phone again. As he pulled up his chat history with Olette, he found a goofy smile worming on his face just seeing her name. 

Before he could talk himself out of it, he shot her a message that simply said, Good morning. 

The bubble with three little dots popped up immediately, followed by a cheerful, Good morning! I hope you finally got some sleep~ Hayner leaned back a little as his smile widened, a warm and fuzzy feeling bubbling up inside of him to spread from his toes to the crown of his head. Pence, realizing that his work was done, strolled out of the room to call down to Hayner’s mother and ask what was for breakfast. Rather than text a response, Hayner took it as Pence’s silent demand to put on his big boy britches, so he hit the call button. 

It only rang once before Olette’s curious voice chimed on the other line, “Hello?” 

“Hey, Olette.” 

“Hey.” He could hear the coquettishness in her voice; she was probably lying on her belly in her bed with her ankles crossed, twirling a lock of her bouncy brunette hair around her finger. “So, um… Last night…” 

“Yeah,” Hayner gulped, turning to lean against his bedframe as he nervously scratched at the back of his neck. “Last night.” A silence fell between them. Hayner felt like a balloon was swelling in his chest, stretching him to the point of bursting. Unable to take the tension, he decided to burst the bubble himself. “I hope you know that wasn’t just 3 a.m. delirium— me kissing you,” he said, blushing at how silly it sounded. 

“I hope you know that kissing you back wasn’t delirium, either,” Olette giggled girlishly. Hayner melted against his bed in relief; if she was joking so casually about it, then perhaps he really had been freaking out over nothing. Olette grew silent on the other end of the line again, but he knew her well enough to know that she was chewing on the inside of her cheek thoughtfully. 

Hayner drummed his fingers nervously on the floor, trying to find an eloquent way to ask her out. Instead, impatience got the better of him and he blurted, “So you wanna be my girlfriend?” 

He turned beet red as she snorted in laughter on the other end of the line, momentarily panicking. Did I misread the situation? I couldn’t have, right?!

“Sorry!” Olette hastily said though she was suppressing giggles. “Sorry, that was just— that was really cute.” Hayner never, ever thought he would think fondly of being referred to as “cute,” but he’d be damned if he didn’t admit that it made his heart flutter in his chest. “Anyway, I would love to be your girlfriend, Hayner.” 

“Great!” he exclaimed, unable to control the extreme burst of happiness that shot through him. Once he realized he’d said it aloud— evidenced by Olette laughing again— his face turned a deep burgundy color. “I-I-I-I mean, um, great. Um. Would you… like to come over for breakfast at my place, then?” He smacked his forehead immediately after. What was he thinking? It wasn’t romantic to have breakfast with his parents and Pence around! God, he needed smooth 3 a.m. Hayner back. Luckily, Olette was too sweet for her own good. 

“Sure! Your mom makes the best pancakes.” 

“Pancakes! Right!” Hayner jumped up, slipping and sliding on his carpet as he tried to scramble to the door so he could shout at his mom to make pancakes. He relaxed when she called affirmation (and demanded he tell Olette she said hello). Smiling wryly, Hayner turned around to lean against the hallway wall. He chuckled lightly as he threaded his fingers through his wavy blond tresses, still blushing a carnation pink. “Um… See you when you get here, then.” 

“See you soon, Hayner,” she said, and the warmth in her tone made Hayner melt against the wall in adoration. He continued to hold the phone up to his ear even after she hung up, smiling dreamily as if it made him closer to her somehow. He finally lowered it when Pence came tromping up the stairs, chewing on a cereal bar. 

“So?” 

All it took was Hayner’s big grin and Pence exclaimed excitedly. “All right! Good for you guys, man!” he said as he sauntered over, doing a happy dance for Hayner’s benefit. The taller boy laughed and gave Pence a high-five, then looked adoringly down at Olette’s contact information. After a moment of consideration, he smirked and hit the edit button to add a heart and a lip gloss Emoji to her name. Pence peeked over his shoulder, then laughed dryly and punched Hayner in the shoulder. “Man, you’re such a sap already.” 

“Shut up,” Hayner laughed and shoved him in the side of his head before stowing his phone. “Which one of us is single?” 

“Bro! You were single, like, two minutes ago!” 

“Keyword: were,” Hayner teased as he flashed him a wink. Pence groaned, muttering something about how he should’ve just ignored Hayner’s phone call, while the blond sauntered to the bathroom to do his hair. As he wrangled his locks into submission, he licked his lips again, smiling widely at the faint taste of cherry still lingering there. 

Maybe 3 a.m. Hayner had some sense after all.

Enjoy this oneshot? Feel free to peruse my Table of Contents!

[dzamie-oc]

Smaugust 05 - Sea

A man meets up with an online friend of his to explore the uncharted parts of the sea. I mean, that's what "hic sunt dracones" means on old maps, so that must be what they're doing, right?

Cedric looked up from the picture he had printed out. He looked again, just to be certain he had the right guy. The sailor he had sought out was, in fact, right there. Rough-looking, stocky, and sporting a face with an impressive beard and the scars from a lifetime of battling the weather, the sea, and even his boat herself. Still, from his chats with the man, Cedric knew him to be kind at heart. Despite that, he was slightly nervous as he approached.

"Hey. Zilch, is it? I'm Cedric." He offered his hand out, and Zilch took it in his meaty paw and heartily shook with such spirit that it left Cedric a little sore.

"Aye, Cedric, I'm glad yer coming along!" Zilch said in exactly the loud, booming voice the younger man had guessed he'd have. It was warm and strong, and Cedric figured he could hear it half a mile off it the sailor so wanted. "Have ye looked over the itener- itinor- our planned route yet?"

Cedric smiled. "Of course, damn near first thing I did." He turned over the picture of Zilch he'd brought along to show a map. Hand-drawn, but the land was very accurate, and it noted the currents likely to show up in that time of year. And, one more, curious, feature. "Though, I've gotta ask. Mapmakers of old used to do that whole, 'hic sunt dracones,' thing because it was uncharted territory. It's... no longer uncharted. I looked up a satellite photo; aside from some rocks, it seems just like any other darker patch of sea."

Zilch beamed at him. "A scholar through and through, my lad. But, tell me, what does hic sunt dracones mean in English?"

This earned him an odd look from the younger man. "It means, 'here be dragons,' or 'here there be...' but that was generally also an excuse for the cartographer to doodle some-"

"Aye," the sailor cut him off, jabbing a thick finger right where the words were written, "and there, there be dragons."

Cedric's smile grew into a small chuckle as he shook his head as playful as he figured Zilch was being. "Okay, so we're going whalewatching. That's fair enough, but why not just say that?"

"I say we'll see dragons, and we'll see dragons." He walked towards his boat and beckoned Cedric on. "Now come on, lad, at worst you'll get to see the beautiful ocean and talk about Mage And Demon Queen with me in person rather than through a screen!"

"Fair, can't argue with that." Folding up the paper and stowing it in his pocket, Cedric nodded and stepped onto the boat. It was a rather small sailboat with a motor in case of no wind. Could probably take along four men, though outside of rough weather, Cedric had no doubt Zilch captained it just fine all by himself. The boat rocked with the light waves lapping at the pier, and Cedric found himself leaning on the railing a bit harder than he thought he'd need.

Zilch, who was busy unwinding the rope anchoring the boat to the dock, gave him a glance and a nod. "Yer sea legs'll come in, don't ye mind. Can just take a wee bit if yer not used to her like I am." He coiled up the rope on the deck, then secured it so it wouldn't slide all over, and started raising the main sail. "So," he said, as his powerful, seafaring muscles made easy work of the task, "ye got any questions about the dragons afore we get to see them? Or are we getting to the weeb stuff early?"

Cedric looked around, seeing if there was anything he could help with. "Eh, I still think you're pulling my leg on that, so I'll have to think of stuff to throw at you along the way. But in the meantime..." he said, pausing to mime pushing a pair of glasses up the bridge of his nose before resuming in a nasally voice, "um, ackshually, the word 'weeaboo' refers specifically as a derogatory of 'otaku,' and as such does not apply to a work of art as truthfully deserving of proper respec-" He had to stop as a grin split his face, and he and Zilch shared a laugh at the joke.

"Well, if the wind is good," the sailor said, letting some rope out to catch said wind, "ye've got a couple hours for that. So, did ye see snek waifu save Generic Isekai Dude in the recent episode?"

"Oh, did I ever. I was surprised she could deflect Vel's bolts, seeing as..."

---

"Okay, I thought of a question."

"Aye?"

"Really broad one, but no teasing on how long it took for me to mention it."

Zilch shrugged. "Ye had more important matters on yer mind. Like lamia in stockings."

Cedric assumed a mock-regal pose. "A true gentleman's interest, to be sure."

His friend smiled and wagged a finger at him, saying, "och, them's fighting words. Call me a gentleman one more time, see what happens."

Cedric opened his mouth and inhaled, as though about to do just that, then shook his head. "Ah, but really. So, the dragons. What do they look like?"

"Oh, there are so many of them, lad. Blue, red, brown, green, and in all shapes and sizes. A lot of them spiky, some of them... less so. My favorites be probably this family - least, I assume they're family - of real sleek, black and white beasties. The leaders are an elegant blue-white, almost ethereal girl. Well, I think she's a girl. They haven't corrected me on it. Anyway, this white lass, and then her mate, black as the night sky, with gorgeous green eyes. And then there's the rest, kids and grandkids, I reckon, all black and white in areas. I see them the most."

"Never corrected you?" Cedric asked, still skeptical."

"Well, only time they set me on fire was when one of them sneezed, so either I'm right, or... well, they probably can't speak English." Zilch shrugged. "I don't know a thing about what goes on between a dragon's legs-"

"Malori, hopefully," Cedric interjected.

"In more fanfics than ye could shake a stick at, aye," the man agreed, "but I mean in real life. Not that I particularly look, mind ye."

A thick mist washed over the boat. It was easy enough for the two men to see each other, but Zilch immediately trimmed the sails and watched carefully off the bow for incoming rocks. "We're getting close now. If we're lucky, we'll catch 'em flapping aboot to enjoy the air outside of their hole."

"They do that?"

"Well, mostly the family. I see the black one the most. Occasionally there's a spiky blue dragon, or a red two-legged one... what's the name, wyvern. But aye, it's generally just the black and white fellers."

Cedric squinted through the mist, trying to see whatever Zilch thought was a dragon. "You seem pretty familiar and, uh, normalized isn't quite the right word, but... used to them? Yeah. Surprised you haven't named any."

Zilch spun the wheel to dodge a water-worn rock, then readjuste to keep his bearing. "Oh, I have, but I'd lose ye if I just started saying stuff like, 'I was watching a couple of The Dragon Torches sunbathe the other day when a Pinchicken started yelling at them' or 'a Loud Fucker kept harrassing me last week so I left early.' So, colors." He pondered for a moment, then added, "oh, but I do think I figured out the big black one's name. Said it after he showed a trick he does when being all friendly, and he responded real well to it."

"Pinchicken, huh? That sounds kinda funny." It's not that Cedric had stopped being skeptical, but at the least, he could enjoy his friend's thoroughness with the whole dragon thing. "Too bad of all this fog, gonna be hard to see a dolphin, let alone a mythological creature. So, what'd you name the bl-"

He was interrupted by a loud THUMP! on the deck behind them. Cedric and Zilch grabbed for the railing to avoid falling over, and the sailor, naturally, recovered faster, walking towards the sound. Cedric turned, and his eyes grew wide.

Standing on the deck was a sleek, black, scaly figure, easily fifteen, maybe twenty-five feet in length. It stood on stubby, lizard-like legs with leathery, bat-like wings on its back as it looked around. It spotted Cedric, then Zilch, and turned its broad head back and forth before deciding to approach the sailor. Cedric was so caught up in seeing an actual, living, flying dragon, that he barely registered that Zilch was about half a second from touching a wild animal. But before he could voice his concern, Zilch placed his hand on the creature's snout, and it pressed its head against him, burbling and crooning softly.

"Ah, hello again, Toothless."

[likemymask]

One Piece Daemon AU

Presented with only slight spelling corrections and some elaborations, the mess of a One Piece Daemon/His Dark Materials AU that would not leave me alone and would only let me work on it at 1-3AM.

Also now I’m writing snippets for it just like my Gundam Wing and Star Trek daemon AU. Because.

Luffy: sea king with Conqueror Haki so they can’t be controlled. Separated but not because that’s as free as you can get. Fuck yea, she’s in north blue chilling the fuck out (heh) half the time and being absolutely chaotic as shit the other half. Her attitude is diametrically opposed to what Luffy is doing at the time. LOL she runs/swims into Shanks when Luffy’s still barely a pirate so he has no idea (not that the marines do either) one time. This 2000ft tall monster is squinting at him, and he thinks he’s about to get ate and then she goes “oh you’re so much smaller now!” Cause of course she spent her formative years as a baby version of his daemon. The entire crew is goddamn losing it, cause what kind of monster is this that even Red Hair’s Haki can’t control it, until Shanks yells out her name and then everyone loses it further still. I have decided Eastern dragon aesthetic but water/earth theme as opposed to Kaido’s air/fire theme. Still blue, but blue-green, tiger stripes cause camoflage and also badass and maybe she settles after Luffy meets Zoro’s daemon *whistles*

Zoro: tiger obviously normal colors or green and black cause why the fuck not, Zoro is not into stealth really. ”The only one who can call me stupid is me. “ “.....stupid” Cat vs sword fight ensues. Can be found cuddling Chopper when Zoro’s tired, super sloshed, both.

Nami: monkey? Lemur: small, fast, quick hands, caring but only when you prove you deserve it. Absolutely torments Zoro’s when she’s pissed because tigers can’t normally climb fucking main masts but a) she parkours and b) when has that ever stopped Zoro/her? Likes to hang out in the tree grove, absolutely pick pockets people while Nami plays distraction.

Robin: cat some kind of cat not big CARACAL. Looks aloof but absolutely ready to be ridiculous at any opportunity.

Franky: dog or dolphin. Something excitable loyal ready to throw down Newfoundland? Big, friendly, over-excitable, likes water and sailing...yes.

Usopp: Corvid or monkey; curious, intelligent, stubborn, inventive, tool solving/using. Lives in groups/troops and cares for others. Probably corvid, too similar to Nami otherwise. Crow most likely.

Sanji: swan. Black, and absolutely a viper and very sorry about Sanji’s attitude towards woman cause she’s more refined about it. Same intensity though. Will bite the shit out of you. Tiger vs swan fight, GO. Do also groom each other though cause human affectionate displays are stupid sometimes.

Fishmen don’t have daemons its another conflict and excuse for racism.

Law: wolf but like starved and Eurasian crazy with it. LONG leggos. Spiky black fur around the head, grey black white speckled cause T R A U M A

Ace: was a fire hawk, no actual fire but red as hell and BIG tail and wings. Her species not liked on most islands cause they don’t leave once they’re settled. They stand their ground. More angst ha ha. Never met settled Luffys daemon because I’M A MONSTER.

Sabo: never settled until he learned Ace was dead and then she settled as fire hawk because trauma and angst and also he knows who he is now. Not being settled was useful for a while when he did infiltration etc but now they’re both happy/sad about it.

Garp. Big dog. Bull mastiff dog. Not good with kids only with attacking things and defending but very loyal. Also big. “ Bullmastiffs are also difficult even for adults to control, so they aren’t a good choice if your child wants to help walk the dog. They like to please and crave attention, but they’re so big that even a well-intentioned nudge can end up hurting small children. ” HMMMMM RINGS A BELL, THIS DOES

Chopper: also no daemon or if so then monkey because HANDS. OH BOI THAT MUST HAVE BEEN A FUN THING. EAT SOME FRUIT, WAKE UP WITH A SOUL. Wait no people think he’s a pet. No daemon then.

Mihawk: literally whatever Shank’s daemon is he insists this is why they’re friends while Mihawk wine aunts in the background. He’s more refined though than Shanks and his soul (this is not a challenge). Like absolutely cold as ice until he cracks a pun, but no one believes the victim cause no way Mihawk would do that. Soooo proud, regal, loyal but willing to have a good time. Some kind of dog or cat. Big and fast and POWER. Could do big cat to be more like Zoro or a dog/canid to foil it. Maned wolf?

Vivi: it’s lazy to say her bird Caracue I can’t spell it’s one am but imma do it. KAROO HOW THE FUCK DID I MISSPELL THAT.

Crocodile: big fuck off alligator cause fuck you that’s why. HOLY FUCK I FORGOT HE HAD THE BANANA ONES IN HIS CASINO THAT’S GREAT

Logias turn to same element so Ace’s daemon is now a literal actual fire hawk, fuck the history books I’m writing this shit.

Don fuck face Flamingo: is what it is but like Kipo And the Age of Wonderbeasts it got TEETH, cause anything that survived acid water and shit is not cool. In fact, you know what, she’s albino and thinks that makes her special, honey you just don’t got shrimp vitamins, you buffoon of a bird.

All the dino Zoans are modern descendant of those animals so chickens. Or birds. Chickens would be so goddamn funny especially the 3 foot tall fluffy ones...fuck what’re they called(Brahmas). Oh wait. Emus. Ohhhhhhh fuck emus as an option.

Mammoth Zoan can have a Mammoth daemon because I want to see that on a ship.

(Makino) Bartender lady I can’t remember her name starts with m capybara cause she’s chill as shit and friend shaped. 

Dadan: is not friend shaped but is friend. Big fuck off bear or buffalo or wildebeest

Brooke: Laboon, Lampoon whatever Moby Dick. There’s some trauma, they had to leave him, but they didn’t want to and Brooke offered to stay but Laboon thought he’d be fine. Spoiler alert He Is Not. No one is fine.

Ohhhhhhh fuck bad good idea: Rogers daemon also a Sea King but the marines never goddamn figured it out, hoooooo my gods Shanks is having goddamn flashbacks. 

Momo and Kaido both have Eastern dragon daemons cause fake fruit.mythical zoan fruit but Momos is the size of a gecko and black so she’s hide-able. Kaido’s isn’t as big but is still Fuck Off huge. Red because I said so. 

Beastmen also do not have daemons because fuck the amount of significant characters in One Piece

Cora(zon): also had a wolf, because yay trauma and repeats and trauma bonding!But she was like, pretty yellow white and dog-ish up until the moment she ripped your throat out for offending her/harming her pack. Law learned much from her about appearances, being underestimated, and then for the most part did the exact opposite.

Slime man: *Aka Trebol* has a hagfish cause fuck him and Doflamingo

Boa: her snake weapon thing. Big noodley boy. The skull is for A E S T H E T I C

   Ace's daemon named Picaro: Spanish for naughty/badly behaved and that is a synonym for rogue cause MOMMA'S BOI and I keep misreading Rouge as rogue cause PIRATES, and this way it's a little better than naming the fire hawk Red though Ace does call her that sometimes .          You know what, he has the same daemon as Rouge/mom actually cause stubborn enough to not go into labor for 20 months is bonkers and that shit deserves recognition. Also because FUCK the number of characters in One Piece.              Celestial Dragons don't have special daemons but they do splice/separate cause they're fuckers that's why              AU of AU        Luffy's daemon close enough to WRECK MARINEFORD'S SHIT THAT'S RIGHT BABEY ACE LIVES, ASL REUNION AND SUCH          Sabo's daemon settles as a dog but one of the CRAZY breeds, like poodle or husky.

AU OF AU PART TWO: originally when thinking about a One Piece daemon AU Luffy was gonna have a cheetah; long, fast, use recoil to increase speed and change directions, males live in groups with their brothers and are highly affectionate. Tendency to run into walls. Has a fur pattern presentation named King Cheetah, looks like a more Armament Haki version.

[the--sad--hatter]

Ice Cream and Grass Stains (Bucky x Reader)

Requested - #15 from My Avengers Prompt List 

Person A: This isn’t how I imagined saying this but… take all your clothes off. – With Bucky, for the two anons who requested it.

Warnings - Violence, Gore, Swearing and Really Bad Flirting...

Ice Cream and Grass Stains

When The Black Widow tracked you down and dragged your ass back to the Avengers compound, you’d really thought she was arresting you. She had jumped you in the middle of a heist after all, but she knew more than you thought she did. She’d known you were stealing classified files from a Hydra Agent and she presented those files and you to the team and recommended you join them. And the rest was history.

That had been three months ago.

Now, you were a fledgling hero on her first team mission. You had hoped for something easy, like taking down a base in the middle of nowhere. Not a knock down, free for all, fight to the death with aliens in the middle of Chicago.

 “Newbie, Falcon needs help getting civilians to safety, three block south of you.” Clint said in your ear, through the comm unit.

 “On it.” You said, running towards where you’d been instructed.

 You saw Sam pulling a group of people out of a café and pointing them towards the safety of the police blockade.

 “Little bird, big bird said you needed a hand?” You said as you jogged up to him.

 “Yeah, get these people to safety. I need to get back up there.” Sam told you, clasping you on the shoulder and making sure you were ok with it.

 “Fly away my friend, I’ve got it from here.” You assured.

 He gave you a toothy grin and took off.

 “Folks, if you’ll follow me?” You asked politely, trying not to show them how nervous you were.

 They dutifully followed you until you handed them off to the police officers who’d set up a perimeter around the battle.

 “Civvies are A-Ok, where to next, eye in the sky?” You asked Clint.

 “Barnes has been cornered in an office block not far from you. He says he’s fine but just tell him you got lost and needed his help to find your way back to the rest of the team.” Clint suggested.

 You bit back a snort of laughter at the fact Clint had Cheat Codes for dealing with The Winter Soldier and let him direct you to the office building.

 Bucky was on the fourth floor and he was decidedly NOT fine. He was fighting off twelve of the outer space bad guys with a pocket knife. Though to be fair to him, he was holding them back and looking unfairly hot whilst doing so. You sprung onto the backs of one of the aliens before they could even notice you were in the room and used your own knife to slice it across the throat, landing in a crouch when it fell dead.

 You spun around in the crouch, slicing through the calves of a second alien and angling your knife so it impaled its own skull on the blade as it fell. Out of the corner of your eyes you saw him take down three of them in rapid succession.

 “What are you doing here?” He snarled while he broke the neck of another with a sickeningly satisfying crunch.

 “Helping?” You offered, ducking under the swing of one of the extra-terrestrials coming at you.

 “Get out of here, go find the others.” He commanded.

 “But…”

 “Get out!” He shouted, kicking one of the ones coming after you in the ribs.

 You ignored him and tackled an alien round the middle of it’s long body, piledriving it to the ground and stabbing it through the eye socket. One of it’s friends grabbed your shoulder, fingernails piercing your skin. You hissed in pain as it bodily picked you up and flung you a good twelve feet across the room. You smashed into the wall, cracking the plaster and landing on the floor with a thump.

 You were seriously winded and it took you nearly a full minute to stand up. There was a horrific burning pain across your back and you saw the sharp jagged edge of a piece of metal on the wall. You must have caught your back on it, which explained why you felt so very dizzy and weak.

  Bucky saw your body sail past him and heard the impact it made with the wall and he snapped. Red clouded his vision and he tore through the remaining aliens viciously, destroying them before they could even think about going after you while you were vulnerable. When the last one died under his metal grip he whipped his head around to look at where you were landed and he felt relief flood his system when he saw you standing upright and looking sheepish.

 “Are you ok?” You called over to him tentatively.

 “Unlike you, I can take care of myself. Unlike you, I can heal on the off chance I actually do get hurt. I don’t need a pathetic, unskilled, wannabe hero to jump in and save me. You just ended up getting on the way and I had to save your ass.” He snarled.

 “Sorry.” You mumbled.

 “What, no snappy comeback? No witty one-liners?” He snapped.

 “Not today.” You said, hanging your head low.

 “Are… are you crying?” he asked derisively, noticing the sheen in your eyes.

 “You know what? I am. Because I’m bleeding to death over here and you STILL have to take the time to make me feel two inches tall.” You choked out.

 He rolled his eyes at you and stomped over, pulling the tact suit away from your injured shoulder.

 “It’s barely bleeding. You’re fine.” He told you, his eyes widening when he was the smear of blood on the wall and the puddle of the thick red liquid pooling at your feet.

 He cautiously leaned over to look at you back and let out a sharp intake of breath when he saw the large gash from your right shoulder to your left hip. It was deep and ragged, bleeding heavily.

 “Shit!” He swore, springing into action.

 “I need a med evac on the south side of the west building here.” He said into the comms, ripping his own jacket off and trying to use it to stem the bleeding.

 “Damnit. Ok kid, they’re coming but it’s going to be a while. I can’t move you, I’ll tear up your wounds worse.” He told you.

 You mumbled something in reply, swaying slightly.

 “Whoa, stay with me. I need you to watch my six while I’m cleaning up this mess.” He joked, gesturing to your back.

 “m’kay.” You muttered.

 “This isn’t how I imagined saying this but… take all your clothes off.” He instructed, getting up to search the room for anything that could be even remotely classed as medical supplies.

 He heard you fumble with the zipper of your tact suit as he tore through desk drawers, until he lucked out and found a first-aid kit with sterile wipes and a suturing kit. He also found a half-empty bottle of vodka. When he turned back to you, you were wincing in pain and trying to pull off the tact suit without moving.

 “I’ve got you.” He said softly, grabbing a hold of you.

 You were losing more blood than he had initially realised. He shoved stuff off of a desk and picked you up, gently laying you down on your front on the desk.

 “Sorry about this doll.” He apologised, using one of his many knives to cut the tact suit off your back.

 “How did you imagine it?” You asked him weakly.

 “Imagine what?” He replied, using someone’s discarded scarf to mop up as much of the blood as he could.

 “You said, you imagined it differently. Telling me to take my clothes off.” You told him and he briefly faltered in his actions.

 He hadn’t even realised he’d said that. He’d been distracted by your injuries, it must have slipped out.

 “Sorry.” He apologised, wiping his hands with a sterile wipe before gently probing at the edges of the gash.

 “Tell me…” You pushed.

  He sighed wearily and let out a self-deprecating laugh.

 “You’re not gonna let me live this down, are you?” He asked.

 “Well you’ll probably get lucky and I’ll die before I have the chance to tell anyone.” You laughed softly.

 “You’re not going to fucking die. That’s an order, do you understand me?” He commanded.

 “This isn’t how I imagined saying this but… Whatever you want, Sergeant.” You said cheekily.

 He laughed at your wit, even in the throes of agony.

 “I can stitch this up, there’s enough supplies but I need to clean it first and I’m sorry, but it’s going to hurt.” He apologised, holding the bottle of vodka.  

 “Gimme.” You demanded, gesturing to it and he sighed, but opened it and handed it to you.

 You managed to angle your head to the side and take several long gulps before handing it back to him. Before you could think about what he was going to do, he poured the alcohol directly over the gash.

 “MOTHERFUCKING FUCKER! FUCK YOU BARNES!” You screamed and he had to pin you down to stop you from thrashing.

 “Sorry.” He winced.

 “Don’t apologise you absolute wanker, I’m going to give you something to actually be sorry about. As soon as I can stand up.” You vowed.

 “I believe you sweetheart.”

 Oh so now I’m your sweetheart? Few minutes ago I was a thorn in your side.” You scoffed.

 He swallowed thickly, guilt seeping through his bones at the harsh words he’d spat in your face.

 “I was angry. I didn’t mean to make you upset.” He said, threading the needle and pinching the edges of the gaping wound together.

 “Well, fuck that hurts, I forgive you. Especially since now I know it was mostly just your pent up sexual frustration.” You said.  

 “We’re back to that huh?” He sighed.

 “I wanna know how you imagined it.” You pushed.

 “It starts with me finally working up the nerve to ask you to let me take you out.” He admitted.

 “And if I said yes? How would it have gone?” You asked him.

 “I would have picked you up at your door and given you flowers, the one’s you always stop and look at through the window in the grounds. We would take my bike, you’d have to sit behind me and wrap your arms around me.” He chuckled.

 “And where we would we go?”

 “Somewhere quiet, where nobody else was. I would have said a picnic but I know you, I’d just take you to the fucking McDonalds drive through because you’re a cheap date.” He scoffed and you tried to hold yourself still while you laughed.

 “I’d get a McFlurry right?” You checked.

 “With an apple pie to smoosh into it.” He confirmed.

 “That sounds good right about now. So then what?” You asked, biting down on your lip when he got to the widest part of the wound.

 “I’d take you to the park, and I’d lay my jacket on the ground for you to sit on. You always look so fucking beautiful in the moonlight you know?”

 “I didn’t know actually.” You giggled.

 “Stars have got nothin on you sweetheart, surprised they don’t just stop shining altogether.” He said, his old Brooklyn accent coming through.

 You let out a low, impressed whistle.

 “You’ve got lines Barnes.” You teased him.

 “And I’d pull them all out on our date, I’d make an ass of myself trying to impress you.” He laughed.

 “I’d think it was cute.” You assured him.

 “Yeah, you would. Eventually you’d get tired of it though and you’d kiss me just to get me to shut up.” He revealed.

 “Devious plan, I like it.” You sniggered.

 “I’d kiss you till you couldn’t think straight doll, then I’d keep kissing you. I think once I started, I wouldn’t be able to stop.” He admitted.

 “And when I was all dumbed out from your kisses, then you’d tell me to take all my clothes off?” You whispered.

 “You know me too well.” He confirmed.

 “Bucky?”

 “Yeah, sweetheart?”

 “I can’t believe you wanna fuck me in a public park, I didn’t figure you for such a pervert.” You said and his shoulders shook with the force of his laughter.

 “Couldn’t even spring for a motel room huh?” You continued and he had to stop stitching for a second he was laughing so hard.

 “You want The Ritz doll? I’ll get us The Ritz.” He asked, continuing with his task of sewing your back together.

 “Nah, I want Ice cream and grass stains.” You told him sleepily.

 He chewed his bottom lip anxiously as he tried to figure out if you were humouring him, or if he might actually stand a chance. He would have never have admitted any of this if he hadn’t accidentally blurted it out and needed to distract you from the pain.

 “So Doc, I’m I gonna live? My Sergeant says I gotta and I hate to disobey an order.” You asked.

 “You’re going to be just fine. Banner and Cho can fix this in no time, you’ll be up and about in a couple of days.” He promised.

 “Good, good. I’ve got a date this weekend.” You sighed.

 His heart panged painfully in his chest. You had a date… So you were only humouring him. You probably thought he was joking around, trying to keep you amused while he stitched you up.

 “Anyone I know?” He asked with a false cheeriness.

 “Yeah actually. Sam finally got it together and asked me out.” You told him.

 “Sam? Sam Wilson? Sam Wilson the Falcon?” He stuttered.

 “That’s the one, not sure if he has anymore nicknames though. I’ll let you know once I’ve seen him naked if there’s anymore we can add to the list.” You joked as he pulled the final stitch through your skin.  

 He felt physically ill at the idea of you and Sam, never mind you and Sam naked. Of course someone else would have asked you out though, you were beautiful and funny and brave. Even if he had moved faster, you would have probably turned him down, he wasn’t

 “You do know I’m joking right?” You interrupted his internal takedown of himself.

 “Oh. So it’s not Sam?” He said, almost relieved.

 But if it wasn’t Sam, it was still someone else.

 “Bucky…”

 “Yeah?” He said softly.

 “Ask me out you fucking idiot.” You commanded.

 “What?” He said, choking on his own saliva and scooting back from the desk so he could see your face.

 “I told you, I want ice cream and grass stains.” You said, smiling at him softly with so much fondness in your eyes it literally took his breath away.

 “Me, you want to go on a date with me?” He checked.

 “Unless you didn’t mean it? Oh god, you didn’t mean it. Ugh, I’m such an idiot.” You groaned, burying your face in your arms.

 “I meant it!” He exclaimed loudly.

 You peered up at him with a mischievous, cocky grin and he huffed out a laugh as he realized you’d played him.

 “Sweetheart, will you let this idiot take you out?” He asked, grinning.

 “Hmm, I’ll have to check my diary… make sure Sam’s not free this weekend.” You joked.

 “Doll…” He groaned.

 “You can take me out Barnes. I’ll wear something easy to take off.” You said.

 A/N - All is ok in my world again so I’m coming back to writing :) 

[thecorteztwins]

More Alt-Marauders time! This time it’s Pyro and Claudine in “Left Untold”, Madelyne and Shinobi in “Motherly Instinct” and then a couple of untitled Haven and Sebastian snippets that didn’t evolve into full things. I hope you enjoy!

LEFT UNTOLD “Man, family drama, eh?” Pyro said, stepping into the kitchen where Claudine was fixing a drink. There was...a lot going on, at the moment. Shaw and his son. Haven and her brother. Madelyne and her....er, was the teenage Cable the same Cable that was her son? Pyro wasn’t clear and he wasn’t getting close enough to that mess to find out. “Mm,” Claudine replied, eyes not leaving the bottle she was pouring from. “Glad I don’t have one,” Pyro added. “Is this the part where I’m supposed to tell you whether I do or not?” “Well, it’d make conversation. But uh, not DYING to know either.” It was true, Pyro was not usually into that kind of thing, getting close with folks needlessly. But lately, he wasn’t opposed to it either, if only because everyone here seemed to have a real interesting story. If he had to listen to somebody’s personal tragedy, it should at least be intriguing and unique, and this crew had that in SPADES. “Suppose I’m just a little curious about you, since I know a bit about everyone else now,” he admitted. She looked at him now, glass in hand, smiling in that damnable Cheshire Cat way she had that he was SURE she did deliberately for the purpose of driving other people nuts, “Does it worry you? Not knowing? Or are you curious for another reason?” “I’m a writer, love---a journalist, once,” he put his hands on his body waist and stuck out his slim chest a bit,  “I follow leads, follow stories, figure things out. Just instinct. If I feel like there’s a story...I want to know it. And you got one, I’m sure---from before that old ghost got his hooks in you. But you ain’t all THAT important to me either, so don’t flatter yourself. I wasn’t digging, just asking.” Claudine smirked a bit, “Yes, I do have a story. I have a “me” from before Sinister. But I like having it to myself. I don’t have much to myself anymore, you know.” “Yeah---I understand that. “ He did. He understood all to deeply wanting to keep some kind of control, when things were out of your control, your body turned against you into the weapon killing you, yeah, he understood that. He understood it painfully well. “Well, it’s getting so I could choke on the tension in there, what say you and I go out and not talk about ourselves at all?” “Sounds like a time, St. John,” she put down the drink, “I’ll put on my dancing shoes.” They went out to Bangok that night, and then a few hip Eastern European clubs, and they didn’t talk a word about themselves all night. *** MOTHERLY INSTINCT “I can’t believe this,” Shinobi was near panicking, “Of all the times not to have Haven on board!” “Excuse me?” Madelyne turned a look of irritation towards Shinobi, and then picked up one of the infants. There was at least a dozen, all visibly mutation. This one was a lovely sea-green color with upward-curving little horns. Madelyne held it perfectly. “She’s not the only one with motherly instincts around here, you know.” Shinobi, in fact, did not know. He was completely surprised by this information. Madelyne didn’t have mom vibes, not even MILF vibes---well, hot step-MILF, maybe---she wore a black leather keyhole top and stiletto heels and she was totally kickass and he LOVED that! But she wasn’t all...nice. She wasn’t mean, until she got tired with his attempts at flirtation, but she was...well she was the most normal person on here, he supposed, her and Pyro. But a mom? That did work out well for him though, because... “Oh, uh, well, you’ve got it well in hand then,” he said, and started to leave, only to have Madelyne telekinetically pull him back by the velvet color of his sparkly satin purple blazer. “Not so fast, pal,” she said sternly, “There’s a LOT of kids here, and even telekinesis won’t let me watch them all at once.” She could use her telepathy to put them all to sleep, but she damn well WASN’T going to do that. It seemed to be common for telepaths to have issues around consent, for even the best and most benevolent of them to use their powers in ethically dubious ways at times, but in Madelyne’s case, one could understand why agency, even for infants, would be something she’d be defensive of, to say the least. “But I don’t know anything about them!” Shinobi whimpered. He couldn’t take care of babies, HE WAS BABY! Madelyne was unmoved, “Well you’re gonna learn!” A few hours later, they were seated on the floor crosslegged, each one bottle-feeding one of the little shit machines. Shinobi was still kind of weirded out by the whole thing but, after many disasters, had been deemed by Maddie to be ‘doing alright’ at last. “So uh, how’d you learn all this, huh?” Shinobi asked “You used to baby sit?” He could SO see her as a hot babysitter. Seducing the dad...or the mom...oh man... “I had a son,” she said flatly, in a hostile tone that got through to even Shinobi that she didn’t want to talk about it. “Oh,” Shinobi said, and assumed the kid must have died. Then, in the true fashion of the idiot that he was, asked   “With Cyclops or my dad?” “Cyclops!” Madelyne exclaimed, in shock at very idea of other suggestion, so much so distracted her from even being mad that he’d pried, “God, Shinobi, I wouldn’t----look there are some things your father is good for but that is NOT one of them!” Shinobi laughed, “Ha! You think he’s sterile? Oh boy did he pull the wool over your---” “No! I mean---being a father---or a mother---isn’t just about getting someone pregnant, you know.” That made her think though...that really was all the “mother” she’d been to Nathan. She’d only gotten to actually care for him for less than a year before...before he was taken. Before she died. Before she tried to...to kill him. And he was left to be raised by the man who had walked out on him, and the witch he had walked out for. She’d reunited with him years later, when he was older than she was, she had cast Sebastian aside to help him...ad he’d rejected her. He’d known what she did, he’d thrown it in her face. She couldn’t blame him---how could he know the full story, that it was out of her control? All he would have heard from his “parents” was that she was the evil witch, the babykiller, the Goblyn Queen, not his real mother, not really. And when she’d run into Nate Grey, drawn to him without knowing why, the version of Nathan from another world, it turned out he’d just wanted Jean too, that wanting Jean in this world was why he’d brought Maddie back from the dead, to be HIS Jean. Everyone always thought that Scott’s rejection was all that mattered to Madelyne, that she was just the Crazy Evil Ex, that she was only bitter over that, over him. No one ever considered how much more it hurt her to have her SON push her away. For god’s sakes Scott’s ship had sailed, but her CHILD...and she’d heard he was a teenager again, on Krakoa? He’d been a grizzled old man when she met him, all the years they should have had together taken away by time travel...could she maybe, now...no, they’d never let her. But that was fine. No one “let” Madelyne Pryor do things. She just DID them. Made her own path. Always had, til she’d found it had already been laid out for her from the start. And still, she’d forked the road---Sinister sure hadn’t planned on Inferno! “So uh, you know all the stuff then,” Shinobi said, snapping her out of it, “Yyou should definitely change the diapers, then.” She realized he was holding out the baby he had been feeding. Holding it VERY far from his body. “Cuz you know how to best. Wouldn’t want them to have a crappy diaper change. I mean that’s why you’re changing it!” Ugh. “Fine,” she said, “Give him here.” She didn’t trust Shinobi not to botch a diaper change anyway. She passed the baby in her arms to him, then got to work with this one, much to Shinobi’s disgust. “That’s kind of cool though, that you were a mom,” he said, once she’d finished up. She looked at him, wondered for a moment if-- “It makes you a total MILF, literally.” Nevermind. *** SMALL HAVEN/SHAW SCENES THAT NEVER EVOLVED INTO FULL FICLETS “I’m telling you, I can’t,” Haven said plaintively. It was a firm statement of fact, and a pained one. Not emotionally pained as was her whiny usual, but physically. And for good reason---her entire right foot was crushed, the bones shattered inside it by the rocks of the terrain they were trapped upon for the moment. But that was really no excuse for giving up and slowing him down, and Sebastian Shaw was not about to let her make it one. “And I am telling you,” he said, looking down at her contemptuously, his tone and expression completely devoid of any sympathy, “That you have to. We must reach the portal. Once there, we can get you a healer. Whinge all you want, woman, but get up!” “Let me lean on you, Mr. Shaw, if you will. I cannot walk on my own, but I may limp that way.” Sebastian furrowed his brows, and crouched down so that he was on eye to eye level with her. Then, with one hand, he struck her across the face in irritation, and then, with the opposite arm, immediately scooped her up and hauled her over one shoulder. It would be much quicker this way than a limping pace.“I want you to know, I would dearly like to leave you, Ms. Dastoor,” he growled, “But I expect Charles would count that in violation of the rules he set regarding your preservation.” *** Neither Madelyne nor Claudine had been able to reverse the bodyswap, so for the time being it looked as though Haven and Shaw had to live in each other, rather than simply with each other. It irritated Sebastian tremendously. It unnerved Haven. “I shall endeavor not to take your clothes off, but understand that this might not be feasible depending how long we’re stuck like this,” he grumped from her mouth, “I already had to use the washroom once. It was an...experience.” “I did as well,” Haven said, from his face. The new gentleness behind its eyes was terrifying to look at for anyone who was familiar with him; Shinobi couldn’t be in the same room with her like this. “Did you look?” Sebastian smirked, an expression her mouth had likely never made before. “Certainly not! I assure you, I am granting you the same privacy that---” “Go ahead next time. There’s a full-length mirror in my bedroom. Take it all in. I expect you’ll see some things you never have before. It would explain a lot about you, Ms. Dastoor.”

[bonneyq]

I am saddened by your announcement But I will continue to support you. :) about your new project, I know for Sure that you will do well on it. I read all your stories and you are really really amazing!! I would just like to know if you will give us a summary of the ending of your stories like The Duchess, The Birds and the Bees, Much Stronger than Forever and Someone Else’s Life. I really love those stories and would like to know how it supposed to end. Thank you!

Thanks for the support, sweetheart! But here we go! Let’s talk about my plans oh how I would’ve handled some of my stories, since I’ll most likely not end them.

1. The Birds and the Bees: Honestly, I had just this scene in my head where Juvia tells Gray she needed to wear a wedding ring when she went out and lie her age, tell people she always looked young. so not to be judged by older people. Anther scene was of a parents’ metting at school wanting her to be expelled and Silver going full protective over her and later on, Gray moving in with her. I started this story when I started to get sick, so… not much thought into it, I’m afraid.

2.   Much Stronger than Forever: When they’d arrive at Polyuska’s, she would have another potion for Juvia, since she started to remember, something to boost her memories and the thing that would “finish” it, would be Gray kissing her. Cliché, I know, but I promise I would’ve made it real nice haha

3.   Someone Else’s Life: Another cliché one, but just after the baby was born, I would make Gray faint and wake up at the hospital, before all of it began. He would’ve been hit with some weird magic that allowed him to see the future, it meant ti be just for a few minutes, but he was in a coma and stayed longer. He would literally cry because he learned to love his son, Future!Juvia and the new baby and would like to return  but what would help him through it would be the knowledge it would happen eventually. Again, cliché. HAHAHA 

Sorry, so many clichés. My excuse is that I was so much younger when I wrote those last two, sorry.

Now onto the one everyone seems to wonder about… LOL

4.   The Duchess: Okay, I’m very jealous of this one so I’m gonna just give in the basics, I’m sorry for being selfish AHAH. So, Juvia would be pregnant again because she thought she couldn’t be again while breastfeeding (which you TOTALLY can) and when she was around, 5 months or so, her and Gray would decide to go to her lands to take a look before they couldn’t travel anymore. They were going to take Ava as well, Silver too, the whole party.

Silver would sense something was wrong and tell Juvia to leave the ship slowly, with Ava (Gray was yet to board) but their escape was noticed and the ship started to sail. Arriving in Juvia’s lands, she and Ava would be locked in different rooms, only allowed to see each other once a day. Jose knew Gray would learn he was behind the stealing jewels and take his title and lands and he couldn’r let it happen. He meant to kill Gray when he arrived and once Juvia delivered, kill her too so he’d have the two heirs of great lands into his hands.

Silver had escaped the moment they arrived and one night, around two months after they got captured, Silver would reappears to save them. He’d die protecting and giving them time to run while both Juvia and Ava escaped.

They would meet Ur, who was sent by Silver, to take them back to Avalanche Castle and she’d tell Juvia to dye her hair dark so if anyone asked, Juvia was his daughter and she was escorting her and her granddaughter back home - people were looking for a pregnant woman and a toddler the first few days, not two women and a toddler. It takes them roughly a month to get close to the Castle (meanwhile Gray was going insane without his wife and daughter, but he couldn’t attack even having a greater army because Jose would kill them to keep the lands to himself).

Baby number 2, just when a snow storm starts (if it hadn’t, they would’ve been able to reach Avalanche Castle), decides to arrive early and Juvia tells them to change ways. So you guys remember when Juvia learned she was pregnant for the first time? After the Avalanche? She tells them to go to that town and they knock on the door of Nina, who is a midwife.

Of course Baby Number 2 is a troublemaker so it’s not in position, instead, it is on its side and to get it into a good position, they’d have to perform a difficult and painful maneuver and Juvia could bleed to death so she asks Ur if she doesn’t make it, to take Ava and the baby to Avalanche Castle and if her husband is not there, to not trust anyone and take them to their uncle, Lyon, to his castle. Ur had grown fond of Juvia and promises her, even though she tells her nothing will happen.

They do the procedure and Juvia blacks out after that.

Cuts to Gray in Avalanche Castle, looking like crap and helpless…

..and you know what??? I’m gonna write that scene because I’ve thought about it way too much not to. 

Gray’swalking the Great Hall of Avalanche Castle to go to his office, where his counselwaited for him. It had been 3 months. Three awful months without Juvia, theirunborn child, Ava, his father and he was about to lose his mind.

“Dada!” Hethought he heard and shook his head – he was hearing things now, great. Then he heard small steps andanother call of “Dada!” and it made him stop and turn, just in case someone hadcalled him and he somehow changed it into that in his mind. He wasn’t sleepingwell so it could very well happen.

All hiseyes could focus were on a little girl dressed in commoner’s dirty clothes,mostly, but the dark hair and blue eyes and that face, she looked just like Juvia it hurt his heart.

“Ava? How…?”He whispered to himself and didn’t even realized he was walking at thedirection of the little girl until he met her and pulled her from the ground,hugging her as tight as he could. “Ava? Ava.”He kept saying, his eyes watering. “Oh, please, don’t let me be hallucinating.”He hugged her harder.

“No, Dada!”Ava wiggled in discomfort. “Hurt Ava, Dada!”

“I’m sorry,sweetheart.” He was crying then and started to kiss her chubby cheek and hehugged her again. “Oh, I’ve missed you so much. How are you here?”

“It is quitea tale, milord.” He looked up and saw two dark haired women but he didn’t paymuch attention to them, more interested in hugging his daughter. Gray couldn’tbelieve he was holding her again, a piece of his heart was back.

“What aboutmy wife?” He asked, while looking at Ava and then to the little girl. “Where’s Mama?”He was afraid whoever they were, they could only smuggled Ava out.

At the sametime Ava pointed towards the two women, his whole body tensed when he heard: “Juviachanges her hair for a few weeks and you don’t recognize her anymore?”

Graysnapped his head so fast to look at the women it was a wonder how he didn’t hurthis neck. The older woman had her arms around the younger dark haired one, whohad a blanket over her simple clothes.

Finally looking at her, he could see her. Hecould see Juvia just a few meters away from him.

If he hadn’t been holding his daughter in hisarms, Gray’s knees would’ve given up.

“Juvia?” He said, voice low but she must’veheard him because she gave him a small watery smile.

“Sorry it took us so long to come home.” Eyeswide and tearing up, he finally made his body move and walk towards her, slowlyas if he ran she would disappear in front of him. The moment he was in front ofher, he looked into her blue eyes, still afraid she was an illusion. “Hi,Gray-sama.”

With the arm he wasn’t holding Ava with, hepulled Juvia close to his chest and he wasn’t ashamed at all to admit he criedeven harder when he had his girls in his arms, finally.

Juvia looked up and she was crying too. She puta hand on his cheek and gave him a kiss and Gray was about to hug her closerwhen she moved her hand from his cheek to his chest to push him away.

“Wait, Gray-sama.” She told him. “There’ssomeone else you have to meet first.”

He blinked twice before turning to the older womanlooking at them. “Of course, thank you for bringing my family back-”

Ur chuckled. “You are welcome, kid, but I don’tthink Juvia meant me.”

Gray frowned in confusion and then looked athis wife and saw her push the blanket away just enough he could see a baby snuggledagainst her chest. He was without breath for a moment, taking in the baby’s face,the bit of dark blue hair. The baby moved a little and fussed for just a second,just like Ava did when she was a baby herself, but even smaller, and the actionmade Gray’s heart skip a beat.

“I…” He tried.

“He is early.” Juvia told her husband, softly. “Heis a bit small, but healthy.”

“He?”

Juvia smiled at him. “We have a son, Gray-sama.”

“The little bugger decided to get into the worldin the middle of a snowstorm.” Ur snorted. “By the way, you should call yourdoctor and give them a place to rest.”

“Juvia is fine, Ur-sama.” Juvia told her whileGray’s eyes were still to leave their son.

“You just had a very complicated birth and even though after yesterday I trust thosewomen as much as I can, it’s better if you get a second opinion and you need rest,you were still bleeding when we left.”

The word made Gray snap out of it. “What? Complicatedbirth? Bleeding? Are you alright?”

“She’s not.” Ur clarified. “Get her a doctor, somebathtubs with hot water for her and the children and food. We are starving.”She said as if she owned the castle, but Gray did exactly what he was told,yelling at guards and maids to get things ready while holding on to his family.

He’d never let go of them again if he had any sayin the matter.

Now, he was free to attack Jose and he wouldlearn to never mess with a man’s family. At least not a Fullbuster’s family.

Juvia tells how Silver’s death was her fault, but he tells her it was his choice to save his family and she made the right decision: her priorities were Ava and the baby. Silver made his choice and Gray would forever be grateful for his sacrifice and they’d both wonder if that was what Silver’s vision of Mika was about (HA! Connections with earlier chapters). Gray needed him and Silver was there and helped free Juvia and Ava, even arranging Ur, an old friend, to help him.

Jose would be defeated in combat and one of Juvia’s long lost relatives would take care of the lands until Baby number 2 was old enough to take care of it, since Ava was the first born and would inherit the Duchy.

The end!

Well, here we go! I hope it wasn’t too disappointing! 

[stranger-who-writes-fiction]

People: Be the change you want to see in the world. My brain: ...Guess this means I gotta make more gen Red Daughter content.

...

“Keep a low profile.”

Eve’s voice was slightly distorted--flat and far away through the burner phone she had provided. The condescension and disdain, however, was readily apparent, in spite of the poor connection.

"Low profile,” she parroted back, slow and deliberate. 

“I’m not falling for that again,” Eve huffed on the other end of the line. “I know you know what it means.”

She smirked. “No, please. I require another poorly articulated explanation.” 

At which point Eve hung up.

She did not put the phone in her pocket right away. Instead, she waited, eyeing the screen expectantly. 

один, два...

She didn’t even get to three before the phone began to buzz, announcing a text message.

Or, rather, a string of text messages, many of which contained words unfit for polite conversation, conveniently in Russian, so that she’s be able to fully appreciate them.

The final text contained the instructions Eve had failed to give her, thanks to her abrupt and somewhat petty closing to their phone conversation.

Wait for my call. Don’t leave the park, and don’t do anything stupid.

She replied to Eve’s message with the small, smiling yellow face wearing a halo, and pocketed the phone, uninterested in whatever string of curses or irate yellow faces Eve was no doubt in the process of sending. She ignored the buzzing in her jacket and moved to a small, isolated bench along one of the paths in the park.

It was overcast, and fairly breezy. She didn’t mind the weather, of course--she barely felt the chill in the air--but it seemed to put off the residents of National City. There were only a handful of people making use of the walking trails, and the athletic fields were basically deserted.

She pulled the brim of her cap lower and sat back on the bench, tentatively expanding the scope of her hearing. She hadn’t done that much, since Kaznia. She didn’t like the intrusive sounds of the city, beyond the green boundaries of the park.

There were no gunshots, at least. ...For the present, anyway.

She tried to focus on the scant bird calls, and gentle rustling of leaves. A nearby creek provided a nice distraction, as she listened to the water make its gradual, winding way through reeds and over rocks. Occasionally, someone would jog close to the creek’s edge, and she’d pick up broken bits of conversation. She didn’t mind; she let the words fade into a meaningless jumble, not even bothering to translate.

But the sudden, high peel of childish laughter caught her off guard. She stiffened, thoughts turning traitorously to Mikhail, and an afternoon spent listening to his breathless retelling of a lunchtime relay race at school.

She shook her head, willing the memories away. Focus on the water again, she told herself sternly. Focus on--

Something brushed against her leg, startling her. She looked down, curious.

A familiar black and white pattern greeted her, and set her teeth on edge.

She lurched forward on the bench, hands gripping the wood so tightly that it splintered. Her frantic gaze swept the park. This had to be...some kind of trick. A cruel, terrible trick...perhaps Eve, getting back at her...?

But she didn’t see Eve. In fact, the park was just as empty as it had been a few minutes ago. So...who...?

“There it is!”

“I see it, I see it!”

A trio of children rounded the bend in the path, but only one of them moved to come collect the ball; the other two--they looked like they were a bit younger--came to an abrupt stop as soon as they saw her and hung back, clearly shy.

This did not deter the oldest girl, though.

“Sorry about our ball!” she said it in a rush, with something of a perfunctory air. The girl stooped to grab the ball--still at her own boot-clad feet--and seemed to be in the process of apologizing once more for good measure. “We didn’t mean to--” The girl’s eyes met her own, and her sentence tapered off.

They stared at each other for several long seconds, neither of them saying anything.

And then, rather suddenly, the girl turned on her heel and ran back to the other children, barely skidding to a halt before starting to whisper excitedly.

She ignored them and pulled her cap even lower, eyeing the damage to the bench. She wondered if Eve would consider the splintered wood ‘something stupid.’

“It’s her!”

“Nuh-uh.”

“It is!”

“Is not! She’s not wearing a skirt!”

The children continued their bickering, which was their business. But she didn’t like how they kept glancing back in her direction. She could imagine it: one of them rushing off to alert their parent about the suspicious-looking stranger on the park bench. 

There were several ways to deal with that, of course. Most of which definitely would fall under the ‘doing something stupid’ category that Eve had expressly forbidden.

She stood to leave the park. It was the lesser of two evils, in this case.

“Um!” 

She glanced over her shoulder. It was the girl, the one with the football. 

Ignore her. It was the obvious choice.

And yet. Her feet stalled.

“I was telling my brother--that’s my brother, over there,” she pointed at one of the other children. Specifically, the one who was attempting to hide a shy, nervous smile by ducking behind the third child; a girl who looked a little older than the boy, but younger than the first girl. “And my brother’s friend--that’s my brother’s friend, right there--I was telling them that you look just like Supergirl, and I thought...maybe it’s because you are Supergirl, but my brother says you’re not, because you’re not wearing a cape or a skirt or anything, but then I said that you were probably just washing it, because it got dirty or something, and then--”

“I am not her.” She cut the girl off, the words sounding more stern than she’d intended.

“...Oh,” the girl said, shoulders sagging with disappointment. “Well. Okay. Sorry, um. Thank you.”

And as the girl turned to go, she felt...badly. That she had been so blunt. She wanted to leave, yes. And maintain her cover.

But she didn’t want to...hurt a child’s feelings.

“You...” the words started tumbling out before she could think better of it, “you like...football?”

Now it was the girl who glanced back over her shoulder, caught off guard by the unexpected question.

“What?”

She pointed to the black and white ball in the girl’s arms. “That’s not a football,” the girl said.

“It’s a soccer ball!” the girl’s brother spoke up helpfully.

She offered a grateful smile. “Ah, right. Soccer. Thank you.”

Her reply sent the boy giggling and hiding behind his friend once more. 

“Me and Emma are pretty good, but Jack won’t quit touching the ball,” the oldest girl explained, glaring at her brother. “That’s against the rules Jack.”

Jack stuck his tongue out in response.

“You wanna see how good we are at passes?”

And though it was probably very ill-advised, to stay and risk drawing attention to herself, or blowing her cover, she found herself agreeing, moving to stand at the edge of one of the fields, and watched as the three kicked the ball back and forth.

(Well. Two, mostly. Jack spent most of his time either running between the two girls, or sitting and picking at the dandelions growing in the grass.)

As she watched, she had to admit that they were very good at passes. 

“I’m gonna kick it really hard this time!”

“Okay!”

At the oldest girl’s warning, Jack and Emma ran further down the field in an attempt to receive the pass. They almost had it, but the kick was solid, and the ball sailed right past them.

She reacted without thinking, planting herself in the path of the ball, allowing it to thump against her collarbone and drop to her waiting foot, where it sat, balanced, until she flicked it upwards, bouncing it off her thigh, back to her foot, and then her thigh again.

“...Whoa,” she heard Emma breathe. By now, all three of them had run over, and were watching her closely with wide eyes.

She smiled, and let the ball finally drop to the grass. She nudged it back to the trio.

“You’re good,” the girl said with obvious appreciation.

“I had a good teacher,” she replied truthfully.

“Can you show us how to do that?”

She hesitated.

Could she?

“...I can try,” she offered, which seemed agreeable to the three of them.

And that was how she found herself reciting Mikhail’s patient, thorough instructions to her three new acquaintances, smiling at each success, and diligently working through each setback. (Of which there were many, particularly in Jack’s case.)

“I think I got it!” the oldest girl declared, proudly (if somewhat unsteadily) balancing the ball on her foot. She mimicked the kind of flicking motion, and sent the ball upwards.

It didn’t have enough momentum to get too far, and when it landed on her thigh, it rolled and fell to the ground, instead of bouncing.

“That was very good,” she told the girl, who didn’t look a bit put-off by the lack of bounce. “If you practice, it will be even better.”

“Yeah!” she enthusiastically agreed. She was about to attempt it again, but they were interrupted by a sudden call.

“Okay kids, pack it in! We’re going home!”

The groans of protest were loud and long.

“If you aren’t all in the car by the time I count to ten, you’re gonna lose some privileges! One!”

“We gotta go,” the oldest girl explained as Emma and Jack ran towards the source of the shout. “Thanks for teaching us and stuff! I’m Mia, by the way. What’s your name?”

Mia gazed at her expectantly, football tucked under one arm.

She opened her mouth to answer, but nothing came out. She had no name to give.

There was Linda, she supposed. But that was a lie...and she didn’t want to lie. Not to children.

Kara Zor-El?

...Maybe...

“Mia!”

“I’m coming!” Mia yelled. “I really gotta go,” she said, starting towards the other end of the field. “Bye!”

“It’s--” she called after Mia. The girl paused, and turned. “...Supergirl.”

Mia stared for a moment, mouth slightly agape, before a broad, delighted grin displaced her shock.

“Ohmygosh, I knew it! I knew you were Supergirl! I told Jack--”

She brought a finger up to her mouth--a fairly universal sign for shhhh and keep this a secret.

Mia seemed to understand, nodding her head earnestly.

“...But I can tell Jack and Emma, right?”

She considered this for a moment.

“...Yes.”

“YES! Thanks Supergirl! Bye, Supergirl!”

She waved as Mia ran off, excitedly yelling at Jack and Emma. For her part, Mia did not shout the secret out across the soccer field. Not that it would matter if she did. As soon as the children were turned away, and she was sure no one was watching, she took off, moving at a speed that made her imperceptible to the human eye. Any claims of having played soccer with Supergirl would be chalked up to childish imagination.

She touched down several miles away, and sent a brief text updating Eve as to her location.

Many angry yellow faces followed.

Nevertheless, Eve arrived some time later in a nondescript SUV, scowling as she unlocked the passenger side door.

“What did I say?” she snapped. “I said stay in the park. I said don’t do anything stupid.”

“I didn’t do anything stupid,” she said with a shrug and climbed into the car. 

“Oh? What do you call this, then?” Even wanted to know as she turned her attention to the road.

She thought of Mikhail. Of learning games, and listening to stories...and how she had shared those things with the children here, in National City.

“...Fun,” she decided, marveling at her own answer. “...I call it. Fun.”

Notes:

- I have no idea when this would take place in the show timeline. B/c I imagine those kids wouldn’t be too keen on talking to Supergirl after she burned down the White House? - Speaking of. Don’t talk to strangers. Even if they look exactly like Supergirl. - The Russian was provided by Google, so there’s a good chance it’s wrong. Apologies. - That apology extends to any errors in the English portion as well.