#only the WiFi master of all Internet could stop it

[rainbowangel110]

Among Us for the love of God....

LET ME PLAY ONE DAMN GAME WITHOUT GETTING KICKED OUT CUZ MY PING WAS LOW DAMNIT-

[balkanradfem]

I have a story to tell! It's about the laptop's broken power button.

I realized I wouldn't be able to turn my laptop back on if I ever shut it off, so I decided to keep it in 'Sleep mode', from which it can wake up by the spacebar key. I got an advice from a cool woman on tumblr to try and download a program that would allow me to power it up by opening the lid – however I didn't have internet at home, and so I had to wait for tomorrow, to go outside and get some public wifi.

I wake up at 6am, go to the park with my laptop in sleep mode, and discover that my laptop, has decided to power off completely, and is not interested in turning back on. I try to open and close the lid a few times, because that's how I brought it back to life last 2 times, but nothing. The plastic frame of the laptop is so badly broken it's being held together only by ductape and some internal parts have completely crumbled, including the power button.

At this point I had to go to work, so I spent my morning at work, putting a plan together in my head. When I came back home, I opened the closet, and got my old laptop out, the one that stopped working 3 years ago. I liked my old laptop so much, that after it died, I bought a used one that was the exact same mark and build, so that if my new laptop had a broken part, I could take it out of the old one. And now, I would figure out how to replace the power button.

I had not ever dissembled my laptop to this depth, to get to the power button you have to dissemble most of it, so I thought it would be a good practice to do it on the old laptop first. I tried to also watch a video on my phone on how to do that, but my phone just looked at me and went 'do you know how old I am? I am older than youtube. Respect me and get this nonsense out of my screen' and then it died. So I was on my own for this. I had experience replacing the hard drive, and the power jack, but I usually did the power jack in a sneaky way, only dissembling it partially and plugging it in at an angle. I didn't know if I could do the power button in a sneaky way.

Dissembling an old laptop was fun, but I did have to remove and unplug almost every single hardware in there, and I managed to remove the power button without removing the motherboard, so at least I had that going on for me. Dissembling my current laptop was an anxiety-ridden nightmare, I kept reminding myself that laptops are machinery, and they're made to be dissembled by males, so the parts can't be so fragile that they would stop working if I just unplug them and set them aside, and I would remember to plug everything back where it was. But even so, my brain was going 'The save of Stardew Valley is in here! If you mess it up its gone!'

I decided I wanted more shortcuts, and the frame of my laptop is already so broken, I was able to twist it and pull it apart without a complete disassembly, and I jammed the new power button and the little card that goes with it, in there, and screwed it in at an angle, using a knife tip instead of a screwdriver. You should have seen it; I had another knife handle stuck inside the laptop to keep it opened enough, a lamp on my shoulder, lightbulb aimed inside the laptop so I could see what I was doing, my hands at odd angles trying to locate the place where I could plug the card into the motherboard, it was brilliant. I was like an old master at work. And I plugged the damn thing in!

I assembled the laptop back nervously, again telling myself that putting a single screw into the wrong place will likely not destroy the laptop, and that it only matters it's all plugged in correctly. I opened the laptop, pressed the power button, and nothing. It didn't work.

Well what now? That was my only plan. I turned it over, started dissembling it, and I noticed right away that even with my trickery, the thing unplugged from the motherboard because I did not, in my mischief, pin it inside correctly. So I did the whole thing again, lamp on the shoulder and everything, and even before I managed to assemble the laptop back, the power button triggered from some internal debris and the laptop started powering on.

It's working now! I did it correctly. Now, while I was assembling it back and putting ductape all over it, it turned off 4 more times just because the frame is so broken it keeps triggering the power button accidentally, so I'm not having high hopes of this laptop surviving a long time, it's very old at this point, the fact that it works is a miracle and my persistence in replacing the parts. I can only have access to tumblr while I have a laptop! My phone laughs at me if I try to open an app on it. So, I'm here for now, due to the mischief and courage to open the laptop and mess with it, but, if I disappear randomly, the laptop said no, and I didn't manage to access tumblr in the local library because they block risky sites a lot.

[hotforharrison]

My ex-husband was going to gradually reduce the amount of time that he stayed here for my sake, but at his girlfriend's detriment because she wanted to wake up with him every morning.

That's completely reasonable -- I would want to wake up to my boyfriend every morning, too, if I had one who I loved the way she loves him. (I hope I do get to have that again someday.)

I told him several days ago to go be with her because she's his girlfriend, and I'm his nothing --well, his ex-- and I don't get that priority anymore.

He said he was worried about me, didn't want me to feel like he was abandoning me, and I told him that I'd be fine.

I knew I was lying to him, but I didn't know to what degree.

I'm really not okay, but I wouldn't have been okay now or at that point in the future when he stopped staying here.

The nights are the worst, being in the house alone other than the cats.

I've been struggling with paranoia, and last night, I woke up at 3:30am to some pounding on the window of the room I was in, and it wasn't just me -- the cat I was cuddling was startled, too.

I was terrified for hours.

It's been hard on me spending most of my time in what still feels like his space, but his former room has a window AC unit, and I really need it because of the heat here. It's cheaper to cool one room to a reasonable temperature than an entire house.

I moved my computer desk in here on Saturday and got his futon together so I could sleep on it as a bed.

His blankets and sheets are still on the futon, and I'm going to change those out later today to make it less "his" and more "mine," although there are quite a few of his things in this room still.

It will still be "his" even with floral sheets and different blankets.

I want to be back in the master bedroom so bad because it feels a little different in there --not this partial time capsule of what will never be again-- but it's repeatedly gotten up to 84 degrees in there, and that's just too hot, and especially when I'm cuddling warm kitties in bed.

I seriously don't know how I'd get through this without my two ginger cats and their love and support.

I'm barely keeping it together, and on top of that, I got super sick over the weekend and have a kidney infection that I started antibiotics for this morning.

I also had a phone appointment scheduled with a case manager for the vocational rehabilitation program this morning, but it didn't end up happening.

The internet went out for about 20 minutes during a thunderstorm. My phone was on wifi, and I quickly turned it onto the cellular network when I realized about 10 minutes into the appointment window.

I immediately called the case manager's office and left a message, but I've heard nothing back.

The appointment was supposed to be between 10:30am-11:30am, and now it's after 3pm.

I have counseling tonight, and I really need it.

The only thing that's been going right is my weight loss.

Being in the 250s again for the first time since around 2007 feels hollow today.

I'm within 6 lbs of being at 100 lbs lost since my highest weight, but I don't feel at all excited at the moment.

I'm just sick, and in pain, and worried, and ridiculously sad.

[digitalmarketingagencyseo]

Mastering Social Media Marketing: A Strategic Guide for Businesses in 2024

Well, folks, it happened. I jumped into the exciting world of social media marketing. Now, before you become too envious of my exciting life spent looking at screens and studying numbers, allow me to say - it's not only sunshine and hashtag all around the Internet.

What is Social Media Marketing anyways?

I know, I know - I'm the expert here. But in case you've been living under a rock without WiFi, let me explain it clearly for you. Basically, Social Media Marketing is about using sites like Facebook and Instagram to make a business or brand well-known. The aim is to get people informed, make website visitors increase, talk with customers and other fun stuff like that.

When I told my mom about me becoming a social media marketer, she did not seem to understand and asked if I could get her more friends on Facebook. Bless her heart. After I told her what it was really about, she stopped being interested very fast. I don't blame her - it does sound dull when you say that.

The Growing Importance of Social Media Marketing

Social media has transformed marketing. What used to be a message sent by brands that people received without responding has changed into an interactive talk where everyone can participate. People don't just see content now - they talk with it, share it around and make their own. For brands, the implications are clear: If you're not part of social talk, you'll miss chances to bond with your customers.

The numbers show how important social media marketing is getting. By 2024, more than three out of every four internet users will be using social media. Also, nowadays people spend nearly two and a half hours every day on social media sites. For marketers, these websites are very important places - ways to connect with crowds and spread brand names.

But to be good at social media marketing, you need more than just making accounts and putting things up often. Businesses must create smart plans that focus on what they want to achieve and the likes of their customers. The businesses getting the highest profits focus on building relationships and community first, then sales.

Defining Goals and KPIs

The first thing to do in any social media marketing plan is setting your goals and key performance Indicators(KPIs). You can't know if your plan is working well without numbers connected to business goals. Goals also help decide what to share and how to use resources.

Common social media goals include:

Increased brand awareness and reach

Improved brand loyalty and advocacy

Higher lead generation and sales

Better customer satisfaction and engagement

To watch how well they are doing, smart brands keep an eye on both fun (vanity) and serious business KPIs. Metrics like followers and likes show how well the platform or content is liked by people. But businesses should give more importance to business measures like getting new leads, increasing website visitors, reducing the cost of gaining customers and sales linked with social platforms.

The Benefits of Social Media Marketing

The strength of social media is from the connections, groups and talks happening all day and night. Tapping into these allows brands to:

Make People Know Your Brand - Showing yourself to new people where they are actively busy.

Guide People to Your Website - Taking social friends to personal places online.

Get Ideas - Watching talks to know what people want.

Improve SEO - Sharing content helps to increase search visibility.

Increase Interaction - Building links with meaningful content.

Help word-of-mouth - Turn fans into brand supporters.

Understanding Your Audience Through Social Media Marketing.

The companies doing well on social media don't just push out content. They pull it based on what they see in their audience information. To know your followers better, you need to study things like age and personality traits. Helpful information includes place, age, gender, likes or dislikes and shopping trips.

Social media tools help us understand our audience better with just a few clicks. Facebook Analytics provides page details about your followers. Twitter gives audience reports that show interests and behaviors. Instagram and YouTube also let brands go deep into the people who are watching their content.

With knowledge about their audience, companies can make better plans for social media. Content and interaction strategies can match what followers like, showing where they are most open. Making content by users and teaming up with influencers becomes easier to use.

Conclusion

If done correctly, social media marketing can create strong word-of-mouth effects. Good content gets likes, comments and shares that increase brand visibility. The related knowledge then helps to aim better for both natural and cost campaigns. It turns into a wheel that keeps giving higher rewards as time goes on.

5 FAQs

What is social media marketing?

It is the act of pushing a product or service using social media sites.

What are the 5 methods of using social media for marketing?

The 5 ways are: Social sharing, social posting, ads on social media and tracking people's opinions online are used. There is also a system that helps manage companies using these tools.

What are the 5 P's of marketing on social media?

The 5 P’s are: product, price, promotion, place, and people.

What is the idea of social media?

Social media is a place where people can make, send and trade information, thoughts and stuff.

Why is SMM necessary?

SMM is needed because it helps businesses connect with more people, make their brand known and talk directly to customers.

Visit for more Information at: Risezonic

Contact Us: 8178857250

[looye29]

Looking for a great fitness program? Is building chiseled washboard abs your ultimate goal? You are reading the right stuff!! Here I’m giving you the real deal on the popular ab fitness program called The Crunchless Core. It is all about getting perfectly chiseled abs without doing any crunches AT ALL! The Crunchless Core is a fitness secret that debunks old myths regarding crunches, helps you reset your core, and work at getting 6-pack abs at any age. As the website states, this program gives you the formula to “Breathe better, stand taller, and enjoy better health and more vitality, every waking hour.” NEW RESEARCH from the top professor of spine bio-mechanics at the University of Waterloo PROVES how stopping this one outdated dangerous exercise holds the key to helping you sculpt the deep, chiseled washboard abs you deserve while spending less time working out. The Product What struck me first as very surprising is the fact that this program says a big NO to crunches. We all mostly believed that religiously doing crunches will get us a flat stomach, but apparently, it does more harm than good! The site reveals that crunches hurt our spine in the long run and can have long-lasting damaging effects. So, this program says something daringly different! Let’s get into what the product is all about: The Crunchless Core is an eight-week program designed to strengthen your core by working within three motion planes, i.e., in 3D. It is divided into two phases of four weeks each. There are over 70 exercises given in easy-to-follow videos that demonstrate exactly what needs to be done, the correct postures, and for how long. It’s all very simple. Phase 1 works with functional exercises designed to reset your core by building its strength and stability. This is the relatively easier phase, which is really not tough to follow. It works to correctly position and realigns your core to its base level. Phase 2 gets you to work with advanced exercises that work with deep core muscles to get you those rock-solid washboard abs! Exercise can be addictive. In fact, after the first few days, I was hooked – I was looking forward to my session every day! When you buy the product, you get access to the digital version that you can use to watch on your phone, tab, or computer; if you want, they also deliver two copies of their DVD (this is included in the price) which you can keep handy. So, internet or no internet, you can always work with this program, so say goodbye to wifi worries! Who is the Program for? The Crunchless Core site states that this fitness program is designed for people of all ages and across all genders. It can be done by amateurs as well as professionals. I liked this aspect – the universal appeal of the program. You can just be starting out with exercises, you could’ve had an injury in the past, or you could be a pro-level athlete, the program is designed with all fitness levels in mind. The Creator The Crunchless Core program has been designed by Brian Klepacki, a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist Coach in the US. He is the Fat Loss & Core Training Advisor at CriticalBench.com and a certified Triathlon Level 1 Coach in the USA and has trained numerous professional athletes. He is equipped with a Masters in Exercise Science with a Concentration of Strength and Conditioning. Pros The Crunchless Core has a lot going for it and here are some of the positives: The fitness program is designed for people of all ages and exercise levels. It works for both men and women and is aimed at getting perfectly chiseled abs. The program is available online as well as delivered physically in DVDs. This works for you even if you have had an injury in the past. In fact, by following this program, your injury pain can be highly minimized or even go away altogether. The man behind the product, Brian Klepacki is a well certified Coach and has the requisite education to back his teaching.

Brian’s program is backed by medical experts who explain the harmful effects crunches can have on the spine. The exercises promise to get you better body posture and a strengthened core. There are no extreme diets to follow. You can eat everything as along as its in moderation of course! Price at a one-time fee of just $17, it is a highly affordable fitness program. Cons As with any product, this one too has its downside. Some of the negatives here are: You will have to work hard on the exercises and I mean like, sweat-it-out hard! They are no cakewalk; I can tell you that having tried them myself. Some of the exercises shown in the program, especially those in Phase 2, require basic gym equipment. So, you will either need to get the equipment or get access to a gym to complete the program. In this regard, it is not completely a do-it-yourself-at-home program. My Verdict The Crunchless Core seems to be a very effective program by a trusted and certified FitnessSpecialist. His reasoning makes sense and is backed by advice from medical experts. At the given price, this program is definitely worth a shot for those dreamy, perfectly toned chiseled abs. Brian also promises a 60-day money-back guarantee, which is really awesome as ultimately, this kind of program works only if you work hard at it! Just a word of caution – be prepared to work hard at those exercises (but then, you already know that the six-pack look cannot be achieved with basic exercising!). Follow the program and say hello to a hot-shot body soon!!

[gale-gentlepenguin]

ML Fic: Soulmate Survey Part 36

Sorry about the delay. But now its here and its ready for consumption.

Also, Shout to @asongeverlasting for beta reading for me and making sure I actually got this out.

Check her writing out on AO3 as ShamelesslyRomantic,

(Master post)

(Read the fic in a more condensed on Ao3)

_____________________________________________________________

“Finished,” the artist akuma stated as he addressed his master.

Masquerade got up from her throne to look at the room. The classroom had been transformed into a rather spacious throne room. The artist had erased and redrawn walls to ensure the room was much larger. This new space also had several large windows adorned with elegant black and white curtains hanging from the top. Reflekta servants decked out in masquerade themed armor stood at attention on each step leading to her throne. Beautiful artwork of her decorated the walls, including an imposing portrait of her behind her throne that made it look as if she was looking down at everyone looking up at it. To her that came off as self-interested yet tasteful. The masked akuma even loved the addition of a red carpet that led up to her throne.

“This is quite satisfactory, Evillustrator. Just be sure to reinforce the walls of the room then head to the roof and locate Simularé. I want this place to be a fortress,” Masquerade ordered

“Understood,” the akuma nodded, his expression unreadable from the white face mask. He quickly headed to the door out of the room and Stone heart was guarding the door with his large frame and had to let the artist out.

“Gamer! Robostus! Status report!”

“We have made it so we could hack into every screen in Paris that is connected to the internet, as per your request,” the Gamer responded in monotone.

Masquerade smiled at that.

“Excellent. Do we have the cameras ready?”

The Reflekta copies near the robot akuma were being outfitted with recording gear.

“Affirmative, we will be ready to go live at your request.”

The masked akuma smiled at that news, she turned her attention to Princess Fragrance and the original Reflekta, who had just finished turning the last of the captured individuals into obedient copies of her.

“Has everyone in the school been rounded up and handled?”

“Dark Cupid and Reverser are doing a final sweep of any runaway stragglers. Stormy weather is going around flooding and freezing any empty hallways to flush out any that are hiding. There are Reflekta copies guarding the blocked off exits should anyone try and escape. But over 96% of the student body has been accounted for and 99% of all Faculty.” Princess Fragrance answered.

‘The missing ones are likely Marinette and Adrien. Those two never did make anything easy for me, did they? But it didn’t matter, their luck would run out soon enough. Once Ladybug and Chat noir were handled, then I could focus on making them pay,’ Masquerade grinned to herself.

She could picture how it would be, finding them and seeing their desperate faces as they realized that no hero would be able to save them. The first thing she would do was show them both her little empire. They thought she was bad when she had the school wrapped around her finger, they will be mortified when they see Paris. She would have all their friends and family captured, their best friends leading the cruel treatment of the rest. This would have them in tears and begging for mercy.

She did once consider letting Adrien be her boyfriend, with some perfume to sway him. He would have been a perfect boytoy to taunt Marinette with, but Masquerade realized how far above him she was now. She didn’t need him anymore, and truthfully, he was just as bad as Marinette, if not worse. Marinette had the audacity to dislike her and challenge her, but Adrien, he was so condescending, acting like she should be better than her actions. She could swear she saw pity in his eyes, and that was so much worse.

Though she wasn’t completely heartless, if they begged to be her personal servants and apologized for standing against her, then maybe she would let them have some mercy. Having Marinette clean up after her and make those admittedly delicious baked goods would be nice and having Adrien wait on her hand and foot like a personal butler would be quite fun. Maybe they would think if they did a good enough job their families would suffer less.

She did want to daydream about that idea more but she knew that she needed to focus on the present.

“Alright, Let’s start moving to stage 2. Gamer! I want a comprehensive list of every akuma victim outside of the school. Robostus! Make sure the cameras and broadcast are ready when I tell you. I want everything to go off without a hitch.”

“Affirmative!” Gamer and Robostus responded in equal robotic unison.

“Reflekta! Princess Fragrance! After all of the copies pick up the stragglers, I want you scanning the area for Ladybug and Chat noir. Bubbler and Lady Wifi… wait. I think I remember something.”

She paused to check her charm, she noticed the question mark charm and touched it, allowing her to focus and see what akuma it was.

“Cancel that order, remain on standby unless we get approached.”

“Yes… so this is what that voice meant by merging. How very interesting. I think I will let that new akuma keep its directive. Ladybug and Chat noir will have no chance of beating...”

An akuma merged with Lady Wifi, Bubbler and Oblivio. Combined to make something new. Something that she knew even the heroes would have trouble fighting.

“Deadzone.” Masquerade said with a devilish grin.

______________________________________________________________________________

Ladybug and Chat Noir made their way down the hall. They easily dealt with a few Reflekta clones without much effort and continued moving.

They were expecting to see more akuma lurking about, but strangely, the halls they were walking down were all either empty or only covered by Reflekta duplicates.

“Masquerade likely has her stronger forces consolidating after bringing in as many people to her as they could. Those that didn’t hit the mark likely got turned into the copies we bumped into.” Ladybug answered.

“That does explain why they were singing, like when Princess Fragrance made servants,” the cat hero added.

“This might be our only time to catch a break before confronting her.”

“So, since we have time, do you mind if I ask if you're free to go on Patrol tonight?” the cat hero casually inquired.

Ladybug stopped.

“Tonight? That is quite sudden. Plus, we still don’t know how this will play out.” Ladybug gestured to the school.

“Well I am going to assume we stop the akuma and save the day like always.” Chat noir commented. “Call it a safe bet, but we usually win.”

“Always the positive outlook, Chaton. I’m glad you have so much faith in us despite our numbers disadvantage.”

“You said it yourself, most of the servants are pushovers or just puppets. The only real threat is Lila. And we have faced worse."

“True, but not anything this sinister,” Ladybug tacked on.

“Didn’t we fight Hawkmoth a couple of months back?” Chat noir asked with a twinge of confusion. Was Ladybug implying what he thought she was?

Ladybug held her tongue.

“You’re kidding right? You think Lila is eviler than Hawkmoth!” Chat Noir exclaimed in shock.

“No no no! Not eviler … just a bit cleverer than him,” Ladybug confessed.

Chat noir looked at his partner skeptically, but then considered her words.

“She is manipulative. Considering even without being akumatized she has done some rather twisted stuff. But thinking she is evil is a bit much. Especially when there is someone responsible for forcing emotionally vulnerable people to do his bidding,” Chat noir pointed out.

“Isn’t that what she is doing right now?”

“Yes, but she was akumatized. If we started blaming people for their actions as akuma we would have to throw innocent people in jail.”

“Right… but you read that article on the Ladyblog right? She could be more than just a victim of Hawkmoth, she could be an ally.”

The Cat hero thought about it more but was still not entirely convinced.

“I guess underestimating her would be dumb, but maybe she isn’t completely evil. I mean Chloé ended up showing a bit of humanity and did some good, maybe Lila is capable of it too.”

The crimson clad heroine smiled a bit.

“That’s what I like about you, Chat, you always focus on the good in others.”

The black clad hero gave a Cheshire grin.

“When it comes to the team, you’re the brains, and I’m the sidekick who brings the smiles and the heartfelt speeches.”

“You aren’t my sidekick, Chat Noir, we are partners. And you could be the brains too, if you would use yours outside of pun making.” Ladybug playfully bonked his noggin.

The cat chuckled at the playful teasing.

“Fair enough, but I can’t help it if I FELINE making a quip.”

Ladybug could feel herself groan at the lame joke.

“I take it back… you are the sidekick,” Ladybug deadpanned, her tone of mock annoyance causing the cat to chuckle.

“Alright I’ll…” He stopped speaking as he noticed something was amiss.

Chat Noir’s left ear twitched. He heard approaching footsteps.

“We better get moving, this abandoned hallway isn’t going to be so abandoned in a minute.”

“More Reflekta clones?”

Chat Noir extended the staff to the ground, his face showing a sudden sternness.

“No… Winter is coming.”

______________________________________________________________________________

Viperion peered through the door of the locker room.

“Clear.”

The snake and dragon heroes entered with their akuma prisoner.

“Pick a locker and let’s toss her in,” Ryuuko commented as she held the squirming akuma.

The two paused their movement when they heard a rustling in the lockers.

“Do you hear that?” Viperion questioned.

“How could I not?” Ryuuko replied.

Just as the two stared at the rustling lockers. The two shaking lockers doors flew off their hinges.

And stepped out an akuma that neither hero recognized.

“I don’t remember seeing that akuma before,” Ryuuko stated.

“Neither do I, but it seems vaguely familiar,”  Viperion responded.

As the Akuma was gathering its bearings, the heroes tried to gauge its powers. It had broad shoulders that had spherical, dark purple balls around them, which were connected to tight black sleeves with 3 white circular stripes at the end that ended at his wrists. Its left hand had a fingerless black glove which showed its skin akin to a purple silhouette. The other hand was what appeared to be a black laser canon with a phone attached to it. On its back was a large red, purple and black pipe which seemed to act as a holster to a blue bubble wand.  Its face was obscured by a large white theater mask much like all the other akuma. But there was the impression that it had distinct features. Its chest had a rounded purple bubble on the top half of its body akin to round armor and it had a logo that appeared to be a WiFi signal within an eye in a cage. The lower half appeared more akin to a skintight jumpsuit that was black with white stripes at the feet.

The akuma turned its attention to the two heroes.

“So umm… what are you doing in the locker room?”

“Merge complete, Deadzone is active. Mission objective, Capture Ladybug and Chat Noir,” The akuma answered in a robotic tone less as a response to the question and more as a statement, their voice sounded like the mix of two people.

“Well, Deadzone, we can’t let you do that!”  Ryuuko exclaimed as she glared at the akuma.

The akuma pointed its blaster at her.

“Your opinion on that really doesn’t have an impact on us.”

Deadzone’s left hand touched the phone on their blaster, and a purple bubble with a pause insignia shot out. Ryuuko and Viperion both jumped back as the bubble had direct contact with their akuma prisoner, causing her to be motionless as the bubble turned green and floated to the roof of the room.

“Okay, so don’t touch the bubbles,” Viperion noted.

“Positive side, we don’t need to worry about that one akuma,” Ryuuko commented.

Viperion and Ryuuko knew this akuma would be trouble if it got to Ladybug and Chat noir. They were going to need to find a way to stop it.

______________________________________________________________________

Fu had been observing the spoiled Mayor’s daughter after her confrontation with the Reflekta replicas. Using it as a means to help him find Ladybug and Chat Noir. He was aware that this girl had a knack for getting into trouble and making akuma target her, so it would not be too far off to assume she would be useful in locating his chosen. He would have called her, but communication was down, so he would need to adapt. But now he had a rather interesting quandary.

“Should I lend her the miraculous or not?” Fu spoke quietly as he pondered.

It was a tougher question he had initially thought. If he was asked if she was worthy of being a miraculous user, the answer would undoubtedly be negative. She was clearly a spoiled brat who saw herself above others. But after the events when the bee miraculous temporarily fell into her hands, he had started observing her. He did this with all of the chosen ones that Marinette had picked. Not because he didn’t trust his student, but more out of curiosity of why Marinette picked these individuals.

With the one she picked for the fox miraculous, Fu could see that the girl valued justice, but was cunning and saw the importance of distinguishing truth from illusion, an ideal pick for the fox miraculous. As for the Turtle miraculous wielder, Wayzz spoke highly of Nino, which really made him curious about the young lad. That boy showed a willingness to protect those close to him even if it meant getting hurt, and the calm to be ready to wait and roll with things. The miraculous of protection required someone that can keep a cool head and be ready to defend at the drop of a hat.

The other temporary heroes matched pretty well with the traits of the Kwami and were all good people deep down. Fu had no doubts that Marinette had the instincts of a guardian. The only one that brought doubt was Chloé. After the incident where she found the miraculous and got akumatized, Chloé was trusted with the bee miraculous 3 times. And her record had been mixed but overall she was decent when she fell in line and worked with Ladybug and Chat Noir.

Marinette mentioned that she didn’t want to trust Chloé with the miraculous after the last time. But has admitted to Fu that if needed she was a decent Bee heroine.

But if he was wrong and she decided to use this chance to stay being a miraculous wielder, he would have to deal with her as a rogue. Though, considering the circumstances, that would honestly not be the worst situation, as her identity was public and Ladybug and Chat Noir would deal with her like before.

“Wayzz, what do you think?”

His kwami companion popped out of his shirt pocket.

“This is quite a dilemma, Master. The situation is dire, but putting the miraculous in the wrong hands would also make things worse. Perhaps Pollen would be able to give better insight.”

“Very true, my friend.” Fu patted the kwami.

Fu cautiously went into the cleaning cart and pulled out the Bee Miraculous. The bee kwami popped out.

“Good morning, Master,” Pollen greeted the guardian with respect.

“Good afternoon, Pollen. We have a situation and I would like to know your opinion.”

“Very well, I am happy to serve,” The bee kwami replied.

“What do you think of Chloé Bourgeois? The one that used your miraculous recently.”

The kwami put her little hand to her face as she compiled her thoughts.

“She is complicated, Master. She didn’t talk to me much but I kind of got to feel a lot about who she was as a person. She is brash, she is confident, yet she is insecure. She is blunt, stubborn, and set in her ways. But I can tell that she is at a crossroads in her life. There is some small part of her that wants to be good and do good for others outside of herself, but her upbringing has made such a mindset seem like weakness, and she is scared of letting herself be vulnerable. Ladybug has been a good influence on her, but she is still immature in several aspects. She has the potential to be a good queen. If she could break through that self-imposed selfish mentality, she could be something extraordinary,” Pollen explained, finally.

“I see, well that is quite informative. Thank you,” Fu responded, nodding thoughtfully.

He put the Bee Miraculous back in a tiny box, causing her to go dormant.

“So, she is at a crossroad.”  Fu repeated as he stroked his chin

He turned his attention back to Chloé, who had continued walking towards another dead end. When he caught the eye of approaching Reflekta clones. And with that, Fu figured out a way to know.

“I think I just found a way to know the correct answer.”

______________________________________________________________________

“I swear this place is a maze.” Mayura grumbled to herself as she walked the halls.

She noticed her fan shake, notifying her of someone calling. It was Hawkmoth

“Yes?”

“Mayura what are you doing?! You were supposed to find the target and get out!” Hawkmoth exclaimed angrily. “And why did you transform? You knowutilizing the Peacock Miraculous is dangerous.”

Though she wouldn’t admit it, she was somewhat touched by the concern in his voice. Unfortunately, she did not have time to dwell on that so she was going to ignore it, as she had a task at hand

“Some unforeseen circumstances have caused some rather unfortunate delays. I am going to locate the sentimonster and gather information regarding the target. Afterwards, I will assist in getting Ladybug and Chat Noir’s Miraculous.” Mayura responded.

As she was speaking, an akuma with black wings flew into view along with an akuma riding a paper airplane.

“Seems the akuma servants have located me.”

She notices the akuma began preparing to attack her. They were practically mindless puppets that saw anyone who wasn’t their master as an enemy. This was quite an oversight, but it fit with the motif of the akuma villain. She felt the emotions of that girl, she knew exactly the type of insecurities Lila held. Thankfully for her, it meant they could easily be exploited.

“Get out of there this instant it is too dangerous. You are in no shape to…”

The akumas aimed at the unidentified villainess and fired off paper airplanes and arrows.

“We will discuss this later.” Mayura hung up before turning her attention to the two servants of Masquerade.

Mayura dashed through the hall, expertly avoiding projectiles and blocking with her fan those she couldn’t dodge. She jumped onto Reverser’s glider, grabbed the akuma and threw him at the flying Dark Cupid, leaving the two dazed and tangled together.

“I’m weakened, not helpless,” Mayura commented as she dusted herself off and hopped off the floating paper airplane.

She noticed that the two akuma that attacked her were slow in getting up.

‘Seems the akuma created by Masquerade aren’t just mindless, they are also rather slow in reacting. Ladybug and Chat Noir can exploit that. I suppose with the number of servants she made, this was to be expected. I should locate Simularé and get some details on our akuma’s little plan. I should step in and seize control if she gets too distracted like the last one. Gabriel has always been far too cautious when it comes to his plans, it’s time we were more active.’ Mayura mentally concluded.

She closed her eyes and focused on locating the sentimonster.

“She is on the roof. Odd placement for her most powerful ally, but I suppose there must be some sort of logical reason for what she is planning,” Mayura rationalized.

The peacock themed villainess noticed that the akuma that attacked her were starting to move again, and she decided to pick up her pace a bit.

______________________________________________________________________________

“This is super ridiculous! Utterly ridiculous!” she exclaimed with anger. “Not a single exit in this place! Why is every exit coated in icky slime?”

She checked her phone.

“And still no signal.”

She ended up chucking her phone out of frustration.

“I wish Ladybug would just get here and beat the akuma, or better yet, come here and give me the bee miraculous so I can help kick butt,” she grumbled as she went to go see where she threw her phone. She'd remembered she actually liked the case she just bought for it and losing that would be a waste.

“H-help me please!” The wails of a person in danger caught Chloé’s attention.

“That sounds like a non-me issue,” the blonde told herself. As she continued walking to her phone.

“If only there was someone here to save me!” the voice called out again.

Chloé stopped moving for a moment.

“Well I am not a hero without the Bee, so I guess he better hope Ladybug and Chat Noir are nearby, or maybe those other two costumed nobodies that I saw earlier,” she said, clearly trying to convince herself not to do anything.

“Please! Ladybug! Chat Noir…. “

"The heroes will handle it." Chloé reasoned with herself as she picked up her phone. Now getting ready to go somewhere else and likely away from the screaming.

“ And a…Queen Bee.”

Chloé’s eyes went wide. Did someone call out for… Queen Bee?!

Chloé started dashing down the halls to the sound of the voice.

“Did someone call for a hero!” Chloé called out, looking confident.

She arrived to see an old man in an ugly Hawaiian shirt being cornered by 3 Reflekta copies. The akuma copies turn to Chloé.

“Surrender,” they sing-songed as they began to approach.

Chloé ran right at them, and proceeded to push them into each other, and let the impractical heels make it hard for them to get back up.

She rushed to the old man.

“Don’t worry, old man with good taste in heroes and nothing else. I, Queen Bee, am here to save you,” Chloé blustered.

“Thank you.” Fu said with a forced smile. She clearly only came when he mentioned her name. But she did show up. In hindsight, maybe his test was not as conclusive as he thought. But then again, he actually planned those out more.

Chloé looked around.

“Alright old man, normally I would have just left you to get saved by Ladybug, but you have good taste in heroes, so I am going to help you out. We need to move before those creepy akumas get back up. So follow me, I know a place you can hide out.” Her tone tried to come off as abrasive, but it did show an inkling of care.

Chloé began moving away from the cluster of Reflektas. The old man shrugged and followed behind. He supposed that this would be another good test for her. Maybe he will get a more definitive answer by keeping an eye on her. And if worse comes to worse, he had a feeling she would make a good distraction should he need to escape a band of akuma.

______________________________________________________________________

“Did you just make a...”

Ladybug was able to pick up on the sound of harsh wind heading their way and decided her scolding of lame references could wait for later. She grabbed her partner's arm and pulled him into the nearby science lab.

She quickly closed the door just as a cold front blasted right past them. The window on the door was covered in ice.

“Stormy Weather?”

“Stormy Weather.”

The two both look at each other with a bit of worry. The storm akuma was one of their more powerful foes, and with complete control of the weather in such a tight space, things were going to get tough.

“Any ideas?”

Ladybug weighed her options. Would now be the time to use her lucky charm? or should she save it for when they are in front of Masquerade? It was starting to get harder to make that call.

“We can’t have her roaming the halls, we will need to incapacitate her. So I say have your ice power up ready, and be ready to swap power ups at the drop of a hat. Stormy Weather may be tough, but we still have tricks up our sleeve.”

Chat Noir nodded.

“Sounds like a plan.”

Ladybug and Chat Noir both popped their Ice blue power ups and shift into their Ice forms. The two watched as the other’s suit gained ice skates, ice crystal and snowflake accents, becoming Ladyice and Icecat.

(AN: Yes, according to the Wiki, that’s what they are calling them. Personally, I would have called them Ladyfrost and Cold noir/ Cool Cat but that’s just me. This isn’t relevant to the story, I just wanted you all to know that.)

“You know, Ladybug, you really give off the ice skater vibe. Would you say you have experience ice skating outside of this form?” Chat Noir asked.

Ladybug felt her mind flash to her date with Adrien and her cheeks turned red.

“I- I may have some experience. And how about you, Kitty?” she deflected.

“Well, now that you mention it, I…”

They heard a loud bang on the door, cracking the ice that covered the window to reveal the white theater mask that Stormy Weather had covering her face.

“I’m gonna give it to her, she really knows how to break the Ice,” Chat Noir joked.

“Chaton, cool it with all of the ice puns,” she stated.

“Wait, was that a pun? My Lady I... OH SHI…”

A large ice stalactite burst through the door interrupting their banter and almost skewering them.

Chat Noir was about to say something when Ladybug cut in.

“Chat Noir, you are my partner and I respect you greatly. But so help me, if you say we should put this conversation on ‘Freeze’, I will not save you if you get impaled.” Ladybug stated.

Chat Noir paused.

“You know me so well,” he said with a smile.

The two watched as Stormy Weather entered the room through the stalactite hole.

______________________________________________________________________

“Hey Viperion?”

“Yea Ryuuko?”

“We both agree that we need to stop that crazy akuma right?”

“That is correct.”

“Then why are you carrying me away from it!?” Ryuuko exclaimed.

Viperion had picked up the dragon heroine fireman style in order to pull her away from the pursuing akuma.

“Do you want the reasons in alphabetical order?” the snake hero sassed.

“We can take it,” Ryuuko asserted. “We can’t retreat! There is no honor in it!”

“Well considering neither of our weapons can touch them, the concept of honor has flown out the window. Not to mention, I seriously doubt that we can take them on without a plan, and don’t say ‘try to hit them harder’ is a plan. It isn’t.”

Viperion had a smug look as he noticed Ryuuko look away.

“You’re right, but I'm mad about it,” the dragon heroine huffed.

“I can live with that.”

Viperion took a sharp left and noticed a dozen Reflekta duplicates.

“Juleka?”

“Come with us,” the clones sang.

“I’m going to assume they aren’t her,” Ryuuko said as she got off Viperion’s shoulders.

She punched his arm.

“Ow.”

“Your shoulder was bumpy.”

Ryuuko drew her weapon and dashed past the group of Reflekta clones. After a second, she holstered her weapon and all of the clones dropped to the floor groaning.

“Wow.” Viperion was impressed. He had to admit that it was super cool.

“Don’t worry, I used the flat end of the sword. They will be fine, and hopefully they will slow down the akuma.”

The two continued running, but glanced back as Deadzone arrived. He looked at the clones getting up and blasted each one into a green bubble in which they remained motionless and floated to the ceiling of the hall.

“It can’t distinguish between friend or foe,” Viperion commented.

“What?”

Viperion turned to his comrade.

“I think I just got an idea.”

__________________________________________________________________________

“This way,” the bossy blond teen motioned.

Fu pushed his janitor cart as they moved in the hallway.

“Do you really need to move that hideous thing with us?” Chloé questioned with clear aggravation.

“It's very important,” Fu responded.

“Ugh, whatever. Just move faster, then.”

Fu nodded and picked up the pace.

The mayor’s daughter led them down the hall and they had managed to avoid attracting attention.

“Okay, we are here.”

Fu looked at the door and realized that it was the nurse’s office.

“Hopefully the nurse didn’t get herself captured while I was gone.”

Chloé went to open the door and noticed it was locked.

“What the…”

“Let me try.” Fu interjected.

“Fine, just hurry up.”

He pulls out a jingling set of keys. Chloé shrugged as she turned around to keep watch.

Fu let his kwami companion out to open the door. Wayzz quickly undid the lock and opened the door before sliding back out of view.

“All done,” Fu said.

Chloé turned around as Fu opened the door.

The two quickly ran inside and locked the door behind them.

“Nurse Arugula!” Chloé called out. “I have a guest for you!”

“Arugala?”

“It was something with an A.” Chloé commented.

The two waited a few seconds, but there was no response.

They moved deeper into the office.

“Are you here?” Chloé questioned.

They flicked on the light switch to see the nurse in the cot.

“Oh, that’s great, I leave to go get help and be a hero and she goes off napping!” Chloé fumed.

Fu moved to the nurse and noticed she had a bruise on her neck, indicating that she was clearly forced into this state. He jabbed a pressure point and the nurse jolted awake.

“HUAGH!”

She nearly fell out of the cot.

“Glad you can join us from your nap,” Chloé hissed.

“Chloé? Did you call for help?” The nurse inquired as she gathered her bearings.

“No, the school is a total dead zone, and I couldn’t find a way out because they are all blocked by slime. Side note, I found this old guy.”

The nurse turned to the old man.

“Hello. I’m Angela.” She politely introduced herself.

“Nice to meet you. I am… Fung,” Fu lied. He couldn’t be too careful.

“Nice to meet you Fung, despite the circumstances,” she tried to make light of the situation.

“Every meeting can have a positive circumstance if one is looking for it.”

The calm in the air died when Angela realized that someone was missing.

“Oh no! The women you left in my care! She knocked me out and stormed out of here.” Angela exclaimed.

“Welp, she is probably captured,” Chloé shrugged.

“We have to find her, she has some sort of strange illness. Leaving her out there might be dangerous, akuma or not.”

Angela prepared to move to the door but was stopped by Chloé.

“Oh no you don’t! I brought this old man here for safety. You stay here with him.”

“But my patient!”

The woman was clearly shaking, but she was determined, she wanted to help her patient even if it meant going into danger. But much to Fu’s surprise, Chloé stepped up.

“I will bring your patient back. Mostly because being stuck in here seems much worse than dealing with a bunch of dumb akuma.”

Angela hugged Chloé.

“Thank you.”

Chloé tried to look annoyed, but a ghost of a smile appeared on the mayor’s daughter’s face. She accepted the hug for a moment.

Fu took notice. He had made his decision.

“Alright, enough touching! You deal with sick people all day. I don’t want germs,” Chloé stated as she tried to give off her usual air.

“That is very brave of you, young one.” Fu spoke.

“Pff, this is nothing. It’s what heroes do.”

As Chloé began making her way out of the nurse’s office, Fu quietly slipped the tiny miracle box into her bag.

‘I hope this was worth the risk.’

_____________________________________________________________

(END OF CHAPTER)

Well things are really heating up.

Will Ladyice and Icenoir be able to deal with stormy weather? Will Deadzone be the dead end for Ryuuko and Viperion? What is Masquerade's villainous plan? Will I update faster than every 40 or so days?

Let me know your thoughts and if you did enjoy the story.

REBLOG it and comment. Likes are nice but they don't really help content creators like they should.

[whumpurr]

Adrien and Sawdust part 6

cw: pet whump, whump recovery, bodily mutilation, self harm, brief and vague mention of past noncon, dehumanization, conditioned whumpee, unreliable narrator, brief mention of dissociation

masterlist

Sawdust was searching for his bag the second Master was gone. He hopped out of bed, punctuated with a fit of dizziness as he got to his feet, and crawled around the room looking for his duffel bag. The bright blue bag was nowhere to be found, and Sawdust wasn’t great at seeing in the dark either.

He started to wonder, to second guess himself. Did Master put the bag somewhere in the room and Sawdust just isn’t seeing it? Is he overlooking it? Did he even have a bag at all? Did it come with him to this new house, or was it left with his previous master? No, no, he remembered seeing it next to his kennel with those other people.

If he left the room now, Master would surely hear it and question him, or worse, punish him for disturbing his sleep. As much as Sawdust wanted his ears back, he just had to trust that Master would return them in due time.

Sleeping was difficult without the familiar squeeze of his headband around his head, but with a full stomach he managed to eventually fall asleep even if it took a while.

Sunlight came all too soon for Sawdust. The light peeked through the curtains and he couldn’t physically sleep any more. He was dreading going downstairs and having to face his master, having to eat beside him. He could only imagine what his master was going to do to him. Would he record him? Bring his friends over and show him how pathetic and stupid he looked eating out of a bowl on the floor? Sawdust shook himself out of his thoughts; he was just a dog anyways, he shouldn’t have enough of an ego to be embarrassed.

He was getting himself out of bed, going down onto his hands and knees when he heard a soft knock on the door, followed by Master’s quiet voice.

“Sawdust?” Master said from the other side of the heavy wooden door. “Come on, let’s go get some food.”

Sawdust got to the door and opened it with his paw, stepping out and following Master.

Master gave him a bowl of dog food once he was downstairs. Sawdust half contemplated asking Master about his ears, but really, if Master had taken them away then it was because Sawdust did not deserve them any more.

“Master,” Sawdust murmured, “Is- is there anything your pet can- can do? To assist?”

Master looked thoughtful for a moment then laughed, laughed at Sawdust.

“I think my work stuff is a bit advanced for you,” Master took a bite of his own food, “I want you to focus on… recovery, for now. Okay? That means you rest up and come get me if you want anything, food, water, whatever.”

Sawdust nodded, “Yes, Master,” before he continued eating, the hard kibble crunching satisfyingly between his teeth. He couldn’t work up the courage to ask Master about the ears or his bag, or where they’ve gone.

Lunch and dinner went similarly, with Master coming, getting his pet, and taking him downstairs to eat. Each time Sawdust couldn’t work himself up enough to ask Master about his ears. The lack of his ears made Sawdust feel… Wrong. Like he wasn’t a real dog, like he was a subpar pet. He wasn’t good enough to this new Master who had otherwise been so kind to him. What had he done to deserve this?

Night eventually fell, and Sawdust did his best to do as Master said and get to sleep. He curled up in the nest of blankets and pillows that his Master had made in the corner for him, and let himself begin to drift off. As he was doing so, he couldn’t help but wonder why his Master was withholding his belongings from him. Nevertheless, his eyelids grew heavy, and he eventually fell into a deep sleep.

--

Adrien was still getting accustomed to feeding someone using a dog bowl, with dog food, on the floor. It was a strange experience, and doing it made him feel dirty, but it was all Sawdust was going to accept so if it was between that or making the pet starve again, he would have to go with the former.

He was still very aware of just how lost he was in all of this. He searched the internet and scoured his social media for something that could give him some kind of life preserver in all of this. Finally, finally, he found something. A chatroom for pet owners. From the looks of it, it was heavily moderated and geared more towards pet liberation activists, and pet rehabbers, and people who actually cared for their pets. He requested to join and was accepted within the hour. He immediately sent a message to the ‘help’ section.

Adrien: >> Hey guys, I’m a new owner and I didn’t do as much research as I should have. >> Long story short, I didn’t keep as close an eye on my pet as I should’ve, and he ended up not eating because I wasn’t giving him dog food. Is that a normal thing? How can I help him?

It wasn’t five minutes before one of the other owners responded,

1Y4N4: >> oof, thats no good dude.. definitely watch him harder and probably just stick to feeding him what he wants for now. u said hes new right? let him stay in his comfort zone for a little bit probably

Adrien: >> Thanks. I’ll do that.

1Y4N4: >> np, im a bit more experienced as an owner but i dont think mine were as conditioned as urs >> at least not in that way

Zo: >> Bro wtf? You’re the source of your pet’s whole life and shit, you really should’ve done more research.

Adrien sat and watched as this ‘Zo’ person continued to rip into Adrien for his irresponsibility, though the ‘1Y4N4’ user at least tried to defend Adrien. It wasn’t long before Zo quieted down and 1Y4N4 was able to speak up again,

1Y4N4: >> lots of actual dogs eat things that arent dog chow >> maybe show your pet some videos of people feeding their dogs other stuff, maybe hell be more open then

Adrien thanked the user, and used the rest of his evening compiling some videos and researching, finding the outer bounds of what dogs could eat in hopes that he could convince Sawdust. It was far from exactly what he wanted, but he felt some semblance of satisfaction that there was at least a way to progress forwards.

--

Sawdust finally came up with a plan when he was coming out of the bathroom the next morning. It was before Adrien had gotten up. As Sawdust was leaving the bathroom, he caught sight of himself in the mirror.

His hair was all matted, and the fringe at his forehead was beginning to grow to hide his eyes. He looked lacking without his ears. There were deep circles under his eyes. At least the peaks of his cheeks and his lips were starting to regain some color now that he had a steady supply of food which he undoubtedly did not deserve. The scratched scar across his nose bridge and cheek that one of the other dogs gave him was still there. He looked at that and followed it across his face to his second ears.

His dumb second ears, the ones on either side of his head that his last master hated so much. His previous master had always told him that they made him look less like a dog, less like a pet, when a pet was all Sawdust ever wanted to be. Because if he wasn’t a pet, then he was a toy for both Master and the other dogs, and that was one step above the most reprehensible thing he could be. He had been downgraded to ‘toy’ for a short amount of time previously, and he was eternally grateful that he was never dropped even lower, to being nothing but food for the other dogs.

Master threatened that sometimes, chopping him up and feeding him to the other dogs.

Whenever Sawdust looked at himself in the mirror, he couldn’t help imagine it. Being cut up and thrown to other animals to eat. He found some part of himself that felt that- even if he could never do anything else right- he could do that right. He tried to halt that train of thought as quickly as he could, before his mind shunted him off to some dark, foggy place where he couldn’t think or feel until the bad thoughts went away.

But at the root of those thoughts, he found the problem, as well as the solution. He scrambled down to the kitchen as fast as he could go, wanting to work quickly before he could stop himself.

He got to the kitchen sink, and stood up on trembling, unused legs. They could hardly support his weight, he had to lean onto the granite countertop with his elbows as he reluctantly removed the tape from his paws using his teeth. He would need his fingers for this.

Sawdust’s breath was quick in his throat, the edges of his vision grew blurry as he tried to focus on this and only this. He had one task and he was not going to fail it. He wanted his ears back. He wanted his master to be happy with him again. Maybe this way he could earn his master’s attention and... Maybe even his affection, if a pet was allowed to hope.

Sawdust’s paws were shaky and clumsy as they took out the biggest knife out of the wooden blog. It was heavy and cold in his paw. With one paw he held the tip of one of his second ears and pulled it as far away from his head as he could.

The cold edge of the blade rested on his skin, at the valley between his second ear and his head. He squeezed his eyes shut, he couldn’t break down now, he couldn’t stop now. He took a deep, sharp breath and pressed down on the knife as hard as his feeble paws could.

--

Adrien shot out of bed to the sound of a piercing, howling scream from downstairs.

taglist: @starnight-whump @just-a-whumping-racoon-with-wifi@neuro-whump @whump-me-all-night-long @cupcakes-and-pain @whumpzone @whumpcreations @dancinglifeboat @pinkraindropsfell @looptheloup @cowboy-anon @meetmeinhellcroutons @thingsthatgo-whump-inthenight @firewheeesky @maracujatangerine

[funtimebunnyblog]

I'M BACK!!! 🥰😍❤ Did you all miss me? I'm happy to say that I've finally gotten some WiFi where I'm currently living and updates are gonna try to be more steady here in the future but I can't make any promises because I get very busy with my work 😅😇 Please continue to bear with me!

In other words, a while back I wrote the OG version of this little short fic on A03 but I realized that I had never posted it here! 😱 Nevertheless, I decided to write the Part 2 to this and then decided to remaster that first part before posting it here! 🙂🙂🙂 I'm thinking about turning this into a little mini series 🤔🥰

Anyways, I'll stop rambling! Please enjoy! 😚

Pillarroomates (Chapter 1: Roommate wanted)

(This is dedicated to Dagdoth and Sureynot; 2 of the best bad influences I could ever ask for 🥰😍❤)

The steady click-clacking of keys filled the pleasant silence of the little kitchen, Kars typing away on the laptop before him at the table.

It was just a little after noon, a time where he usually put down his work for a brief session to sit back in silence and enjoy a cup of coffee, or maybe a mug of tea depending on his mood, with whatever baked-good had been whipped up recently. Today however, he chose to cut his little break out of schedule completely to get a jump on the deadline of the month that he was currently picking away at.

Hunched over, eyes glued to the screen, one could've swore he was a living statue perched like that so quietly if it weren't for his typing fingers.

The sweet smell hanging in the air came much closer as Wamuu strode over to the table, a soft smile was painted across the mans lips as he placed an oven fresh cookie on a plate down next to the mug of black tea his Master was letting steep at his side.

"Thank you, Wamuu." Kars said quietly, watching the blonde depart in his peripheral vision for only a beat before regaining his sharp focus on the sea of numbers staring back at him.

Kars had his own room with a desk to work in of course but he always found himself enjoying doing work down here this time of day. The heavenly smell of the kitchen when something was being baked and the pleasant background noise of the radio chiming softly, sometimes accompanied by Wamuu humming along, was something sort of relaxing to Kars.

Relaxing around here tended to be something rare too, as there never seemed to be a dull moment in the lives of the Pillarmen these days.

Not in this neighbourhood, no.

The younger man hummed in response, heading back to the stove to finish scraping fresh cookies off the pan to place on a rack to cool. He was sure Santana would make an appearance soon to try one, with the lovely smell filling the air and all.

Santana could never stay asleep (as heavy of a sleeper as he had the tendency to be) holed up in his room when there was something yummy being cooked.

The times where he appeared the quickest was when Kars flicked on the coffee machine first thing in the morning, the red-head manifesting at his side at the very first spew of hot caffeine never failed to nearly give him a heartattack; especially when it was 5 in the morning in a dark kitchen.

Kars' head lifted, cocking an eyebrow as there suddenly came a knock at the front door; three evenly spaced thumps on the wood. The thought of another complaining neighbour was the first thing to cross his mind, making him sigh as he moved to get up from his chair.

"PIZZA'S HERE!!!"

The sounds of heavy footfalls coming at a rapid speed from down the hallway accompanying the cry stopped him in his tracks.

The plum-haired man grimaced, Wamuu glancing over his shoulder with a frown, as none-other-than Esidisi sped by; the one hand clutching the towel around his waist was the only thing keeping it from blowing away completely.

Despite only catching a glimpse of his speedy companion, Kars didn't miss the fact that the other was sopping wet and trailing water.

Esidisi had simply lept out of the shower the second he heard the knock at the door, leaving with only a towel (just barely even) and the foamy suds that were still clinging to his hair and his body.

No doubt about it, he was dripping all over the place.

And all over his clean floor too.

Kars clicked his tongue, more than tempted to sigh again.

"Really, Esidisi?" He called out to the other.

It was hard to tell whether he was more displeased with his state of soapy undress or the fact that the oldest Pillarmen had gone and ordered yet ANOTHER pizza this week with only God-knows-what on it.

Sure, he the others found themselves actually partaking in "Human food" casually these days. Wamuu even went so far as to teach himself how to cook as a hobby to fill time around the house when he wasn't going to the Gym or to work, but Esidisi had become something of a strange enthusiast on the matter.

Some people in this world got a little riled up over something as simple as Pinapple being added as a topping on a pizza but Kars had a feeling those people would have an absolute fit listening to Esidisi's phone order of a multi-fruit pizza (consisting of: oranges, apples, watermelon and strawberries) with cheese, olives and pepperoni.

He was starting to wonder if his longtime companion was simply doing it just to see how far he could push a Pizza place with his barrage of odd orders until they yelled at him or worse, barred him completely from the place.

His question was only met with laughter. "I decided to ask for Mac and Cheese and Jalapeños on it this time!" Esidisi called back, voice echoing off the walls, as he finally reached the front door.

Wamuu's nose crinkled at the very sound of that, choosing wisely to direct his attention to his cookies once more.

Kars decided to follow suit and do the same with his own work.

He supposed it wasn't really his problem, therefore; he shouldn't say anything.

☆☆☆

The advertisment had been a strange one for sure, but really, you had no choice but to at least look into it. It never hurt to try and you were already desperate enough as it was.

Apartments and open housing in the area was becoming a rarity at best these days, this busy time of year didn't help things either, and you had been scouring the internet for every opportunity or opening there was to move in with someone in this portion of the city.

Sadly, you had turned up empty handed quite a few times.

The last one you had looked into had been great; a nice building, nice seeming people, decent budget; but alas, the people who put out the advert took it down just a day later.

They had decided to give the opening to a close friend of theirs who wanted to come across the country and live with them instead.

You had been starting to consider checking the complete other side of the city and trying to squeeze yourself in somewhere there or maybe even just going with the option of moving cities completely! The hassle of finding a place was just becoming too much until... this one happened to pop up.

☆ Roomate requSWIGGITY SWOOMATE, WE NEED A ROOMATE!!11!!!1!

We are Four Men seeking out a Human roomate to live with us in our rented house.

4 bedroom, 1 bath, 1 kitchen; upstairs, downstairs and basement.

Location: Western side of the city, 929 Bizzare av.

Rent and chores are divided equally among us.

Requirements as followed:

• Must be a CLEAN Human.

• Human must not bear the surname of "Joestar" under ANY means necessary.

•Must be actively working and have claims to have the ability to hold their job.

• Must be willing to contribute to the household via chores and yard work when necessary.

• must be CUTE!!!

• Mus

•

• Must like llf6io78fjjl0

•

• Jo9sjw6jnsjej27ebeolu

• Jsjsij wkk d18kkjs lkdjsjsns52jsjjsnend2njsmdv 6272jsndbdhs2672 jd Djjsija bsij eeskdnne9s782728 jd bjejrn rnusjjsj

• the human must not be loud

• It would be most appreciated if the Human was a mannered person, who holds appreciation for similar hobbies we do. -W

•

Ask within to apply! ☆

You couldn't help but wonder if whoever had written this advert had been drunk at the time by looking at the grabbed mess that took up half the page.

Better yet, you could only hope this was a real advertisement and not some sort of stupid prank.

Either way, you were determined to find out today and claim this oppertunity before anyone else got the chance.

Glancing down at the print out you had made of the ad at the Library, you sighed as you kept going down the street. You had been walking all morning and were beginning to wish you had the foresight to pack a snack or a drink for your seemingly endless sojourn for this supposed place.

There was no picture put onto the advertisement, even a proper description of the place would've been nice, and finding a direct address wasn't exactly a piece of cake to you.

Nonetheless, you kept going. Stopping at every house you passed in hopes to spot a matching address; finding nothing but different numbers and barking dogs tethered in yards.

With every different number meeting your eyes, the possibility of this just being a fake ad just kept growing and growing in your mind.

You were even starting to consider just giving up entirely when, at last, there it was. "292" the numbers were bolted to the front porch, the 9 starting to tilt to one side.

It seemed nice enough. The lawn was well kept, the walkway however looked as if it needed to be redone. The building was a sunbleached blue, probably a nice clean periwinkle once upon a time, but now leaning a tad white and staring to flake. The place was definitely in need of a touch up.

This was the place, now if someone was Home to even just talk to you about this ad that would be great.

You gathered up the courage to leave the sidewalk and start up the overgrown walkway, the wood of the porch whined under your feet as you stepped onto it. A couple of chairs, a book carelessly left behind in one, a little cage sat all by its lonesome in the far corner, and a big unmissable stain (probably coffee) caught your eye on the wood.

The word "Pillarmen" was scrawled on the name card over the mail slot of the front door.

A strange surname, you had never heard of it before, but it must've been safe to assume that it belonged to someone here. Presumably one of the men who had made this advertisement in the first place.

With only a moments hesitation, clutching the print-out in hand, you reached out and rapped on the door hard with your knuckles, then stood back and waited.

Silence... You took the opportunity to fix your appearance slightly, suddenly becoming a little self-conscious, smoothing out your shirt before clasping your hands behind your back neatly and putting on your best smile.

First impressions were important, most especially a first impression made at the door after all.

There came the sounds of voices, too muffled for you to hear through the walls, followed closely by the unmistakable thundering of footsteps coming closer and closer from within.

Finally, the door flung open.

You felt your eyes go a little wide, the smile drained from your face as you craned your neck back slightly to meet the gaze of the very tall and very muscular dark-skinned man that now stood before you.

Belatedly, as your eyes followed the droplets of water that were dripping off him, trickling down every inch of his muscular body and pooling at his feet, you realized he was practically naked; clutching only a fluffy white towel around his waist.

The towel didn't look nearly as fluffy and white as his hair, however.

"Uh--" Your tongue swole in your mouth as you both found yourselves staring at one another, seemingly sharing a similar dumbfounded moment.

He blinked owlishly.

"You're not the Pizza delivery." He said matter-of-factly, breaking the tense silence that had fallen between the two of you.

Your head shook violently, broke from your sudden stupor, pulling out the slightly crumpled piece of paper out for him to see.

"Uh-- I--... N-No! I'm not-- I'm uh.... here ab-about the-- the roomate ad...?" You sputtered, the words felt as garbled as alphabet soup falling off your tongue, you felt a nervous sweat beading on your skin under your clothes as it hit you for a second time that wasn't wearing any. "Oh! If uh-- this is a bad time I-- I can come back later!"

His face lit up suddenly, eyes shimmering like sapphires. "Oh!" He cried. "I forgot about that!"

The massive man turned, calling back over his shoulder deeper into the apartment.

"Kars! There's a Human here, they saw our advert!"

You happened to be so gobsmacked, still reeling from the slight shock of the very first of your encounter, you hadn't even noticed he distinctly used the word "Human" there.

"What?!"

You couldn't see past the mans hulking figure but you could very well hear the scraping of a chair in the distance, followed by more thundering footsteps heading towards the door.

You blinked as yet another larger-than-life sized man made his appearance, pushing past the first with a frown. The both of them looked almost comically squashed where they stood taking up the whole doorway.

This man was just as tall and as muscular as the first. His skin was like ivory, framed by dark cloth wrapped from his neck to the top of his head with only a tuft of deep purple hair dangling precariously out over his pointed nose.

More importantly, very much unlike the first, this one was fully clothed.

Clad in a dress shirt that matched his hair, slightly unbuttoned to just give you a peak of the buldging muscles he had underneath and the sleeves rolled up to the elbow, neatly pressed black dress pants and house shoes.

Kars blinked in surprise as he caught sight of you at last, eyes scanning over you. He honestly hadn't expected someone to come to their door about the advertisement they had put out so quickly, they had only put it out less than a day ago.

If anything, by the way it had turned out, he was surprised someone responded to it at all.

"Please, come in." Kars told you, making his best attempt to save this lousy first impression.

His surprised look was short-lived, turning sharp as he directed it onto Esidisi. The other man smiled sheepishly, turning and retreat back to the bathroom to finish his shower without the pizza he had left it for...

☆☆☆

☆Previously...☆

Kars hummed, reading over the advert for a 4th time with pursed lips.

He had listed all the necessary information about them and the living situation and even put down a few requirements to set the bar for any Human who would happen to want to apply.

However, even with the ground rules set, it still just seemed a little too bare to him.

"Hmm," Kars peered over his shoulder towards the living room doorway; he swore he could hear more of the crunching of the flaming hot cheetos Esidisi was enjoying rather than the actual program he was watching. "Is there anything specific you would like to add to this before I post it?"

"Shay they mush be cute!" came the reply though a mouthful of spicy junkfood. Kars could only hope he wasn't getting crumbs all over the couch again, not to mention getting too handsy with the T.V remote eating those things...

"That isn't what qualifies as a 'requirement', Esidisi..." he sighed.

The other swallowed, now blessed with the ability to speak much clearer; the crinkling of the cheeto bag hit Kars' ears next.

"Well excuse me for having standards." He heard his oldest companion grumble, drowned out by the crunch of more food.

Wamuu's head peered out of the kitchen, the pie he was just about to place in the oven cradled in oven-mit hands. He had decided to try his hand at fudge pie this time, having mastered apple so quickly.

"It would be nice if the Human were a Warrior as well," he said, disappearing from Kars' sight again as he went back into the kitchen, carrying the pie to the awaiting oven. "Or perhaps if they were interested in going to the Gym or baking as I do..."

Kars sighed, "Wamuu, I understand you would like someone to train with but this--"

"The Human must not be loud."

The Pillarman practically jumped out of his chair, the tiniest yelp escaping his lips as he swiveled his head to find none other than Santana looming over him. The sheet lines imprinted in the others face indicated he had just arisen from a deep sleep; most likely venturing out of his cave and into the kitchen to see what Wamuu was up to.

Even after thousands of years, he still couldn't get used to the youngest Pillarman sneaking up on him.

It probably didn't even count as "sneaking" anyways as Santana was just so naturally quiet he just happened to go unnoticed until he spoke up.

Kars opened his mouth to make an attempt to speak again, only to be cut off one more time as Esidisi finally made his own appearance; leaning over the purple-haired man to see the advert in the works.

"See, this is all wrong." Esidisi told him, frowning at the screen. "This is too formal! If we're going to get someone at all, we need to grab their attention somehow. Here, I'll fix it!"

The other practically clamored over him, cheeto bag tucked under arm as he reached over to type on the computer, deleting the majority of the title Kars had written out and already replacing it with one of his own creation.

Kars belatedly realized the others' hands were still coated in hot cheeto crumbs, smudging the keys of his pristine computer with imprints of red and orange as he typed away.

"Esidisi, stop this at once!" He commanded, trying to push him at arms length, only to be met with a hand pushing back and smooshing against his face. The smell of spicy cheese flavoring hit his nostrils, only fueling his fire. "This is my work computer! I'm the one writing this advertisement!"

Santana merely stood back, watching the two elder Pillarmen fight over the computer in silence. Esidisi was pushed by Kars into the keyboard a handful of times before their focus was solely on one another and no longer the ad.

"Get your grubby hands off me!" Kars growled as the other straddled him in the chair, his face now smudged like his keyboard. They kept pushing on one another, a clumsy slap war already underway, obscenities and curses getting mangled as they argued back and forth.

"You never let me--"

"I told you that--"

"I wanna do it! Just let me--"

Santana peered down at the computer curiously, uninterested in watching the display before him any longer.

The red-head typed out his own request before picking up the device and carrying it to the kitchen for Wamuu to see and whatever he wished; Santana ignored the sound of two bodies toppeling out of the chair and hitting the floor as he left.

Kars didn't even get to see the ad (or rather; the remainder of what qualified as an advert) before it was posted online by Santana.

[lucadansembourg]

         𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐝𝐨𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠…  𝐖𝐑𝐄𝐍 𝐃’𝐀𝐍𝐒𝐄𝐌𝐁𝐎𝐔𝐑𝐆

the basics.

name. wren albert d’ansembourg.

title. his royal highness, prince of luxembourg & duke of esch-sur-alzette.

age. 25-31.

family. luca ( @lucadansembourg​ ), wendy ( @wendyjuliette​ ) & lara d’ansembourg (ADOPT HERE) - siblings ; theodor ( @theodcr​ ) & josefina olderburg (ADOPT HERE) - cousins 

relationship status. utp.

occupation. socialite & influencer.

follower count. 27 million followers on twitter,16 million followers on instagram, 11 million followers on tiktok, 6 million subscribers on youtube & 2 million followers on twitch. 

faceclaim options. maxence danet-fauvel, charlie rowe, alex fitzalan, henrik holm, tarjei sandvik moe, deaken bluman, chase stokes, brenton thwaites, felix mallard, charlie gillespie, george sear. 

group. @highsocietyhq

the story.

the d’ansembourg twins were a shock to the world, and maybe that’s the way that wren preferred things. from the moment he was born, he wanted to be an outsider. while his sisters were prim, proper and put together, and his brother an overemotional idiot, wren stood as a monument to the weird that most people kept hidden away, locked in a drawer for no one to see. 

he might have grown up in the palace, but he would escape as often as he could. wren craved normalcy in his early years, and he managed to achieve that by sneaking out a side door to play football in a side alley with the local kids. his friends that may not have been “approved” by his parents, but they were approved to show him about the world - the real world, not the one of royalty. 

wren thought of himself as separate from his siblings, and not just because he was the baby of the family, but because he was just... different. he didn’t care for politics, didn’t care for other royal activities. in his teen years, wren was practically a recluse to his family, hidden away in his dorm room at le rosey or his own private rooms in the grand palace, constantly feeling like the only puzzle piece that didn’t quite fit. 

wendy jokes sometimes that he must have been adopted, but wren is sure he wasn’t meant to be born into palaces and riches beyond anyone’s wildest dreams. 

while his parents always expected him to grow out of it, he did the opposite. he never stopped caring about the strange things he’d always regarded as more important that schoolwork. following lara to le rosey was one of the first truly “royal” things wren had done in his entire life, and he still managed to be awful at that. he was constantly in disciplinary hearings or getting shouted at by whichever teacher he pissed off with his detached attitude. but it didn’t crush his spirit at all, in fact, it only made him act out more. 

maybe it was an attention thing - that would explain the next ten years of his life that he’d spend vying for the favor of strangers over the internet to determine his own self worth, or whatever the therapist said. 

perhaps it was the years of his only friends being two kids raised by their laptop screens just outside the palace, or the hundreds of hours of looking at memes instead of actually doing as he was told, but something in wren made him want to do whatever he liked, no matter what others thought of him. 

when lara went off to oxford, wren took a gap year. and then another. and then another, and soon it had been five years - his sister had a master’s degree and he had a massive social media fanbase. he’s not sure which of them did better for themselves.

when his father died, wren realized that he was actually going to have to be a prince for the first time in his life. before, he’d let lara take the reins on anything and just showed up to parties in bright colored suits and weird patterned socks and ties that didn’t match. but now that his older brother was king: wren was expected to pull his weight. 

he was terrible at it, for starters. he said too much, threw jokes and lies out to the press just to see what they’d print the next day. he became somewhat of a cryptid for gossip columnists and tmz reporters, because if you could manage to catch him, wren would deliver biting remarks and hilarious anecdotes about the royalty around him. he loves to watch reporters scramble to confirm stories in any way they can. 

when nathalie died, he came back to luxembourg and found himself a bit aimless. he took up art during this time, making some really dark paintings and a whole lot of collage work, which he then had to convince luca to not hang up around the palace, because luca constantly plays at being everyone’s proud older brother. 

but he managed to pull the family back together, and things got easier, gradually. mainly, he helped everyone heal by not changing a thing - he stayed unabashedly strange through the entire ordeal, and in the process became a rock the others could rely on. 

maybe he wasn’t a misshapen puzzle piece, but just a weird one that took some time to figure out the location of. he didn’t feel like the outcast anymore, but instead a valued member of the family - and had they always treated him like that? he wasn’t sure - and that was the worst part. how could he stay in their favor if he didn’t know what he did to earn it?  

his (not so) “secret  twitter" is well known by most of royal stan twitter, and getting a follow back from him is something that is worn like a badge of honor. he pretty much exists on there to roast his siblings’ outfits and choices, but also to poke fun at all other royals. truly, it’s just one more piece of controlled rebellion. he wouldn’t say things to hurt his family... on purpose, at least. 

it became an arnauld d’orleans hate twitter during the occupation. he would come up with very colorful roasts to go along with photos taken of the french king from bad angles. it was resistance, the only way wren d’ansembourg knew how to do it. his plenty of instagram lives and twitch streams helped, too - bringing visibility tothe occupation of luxembourg to places that many people would have turned away from it altogether. 

and when the occupation ended, he threw a party in the back alley behind the palace that he grew up in. by the end of the night, it was attended by thousands of luxembourgian citizens. lara frowned upon it, but wendy had the time of her life, so he had enough support to call their “sibling vote” on whether he’d fucked up, a dead tie. 

he ran a charity stream that raised over eight million dollars for relief in belgium after the bombings, taking requests for things he could do in his room. he only broke four priceless artifacts during it,.

when he was invited to the protection program, he was the most wary of it. he didn’t need to network, he didn’t need to be protected from anything. wren knew he could care of himself, but a change of scenery seemed... kind of fun. it was getting boring in luxembourg, now that things have settled. and as long as he’s able to be connected to wifi, and he’s allowed to do at least three stupid tings a week, everything ill be alright. 

interested? contact me! 

i do want to say that i feel like the main thing i am looking for in a wren applicant is that his vibe is.... strange. i imagine wren is a 100 gecs song if it came to life.  he’s an ancient chaos god trapped in the lanky body of a d’ansembourg man.

most things are negotiable, and i’d love to discuss any changes or ideas you have. please contact me ( @lucadansembourg​ ) if you’re interested in filling this connection !!

[delicatejisung]

༻✦༺ 𝐛𝐞𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐰 ༻✦༺

✦ yanna was more hyped than nervous for the live

✦ as soon as the music started, she got even more hyped and excited for the show

✦ when they decided to introduce themselves in different languages, yanna grabbed her neobong from the side of the stage just to show it off the the streamers

✦ she was in between hyuck and jisung

✦ when jisung introduced himself in japanese, she inmediately went “wow suge!”

✦ she then introduced herself in filipino, it was hard for her but she managed

✦ she started acting like her neobong was a mic when hyuck introduced himself in thai

✦ when the introductions ended, she began showing her neobong off to the members

✦ “i wanna talk about this, i’m also a fan of nct dream” she said, a bunch of “oh” and “really?” came from the members

✦ she showed of the stickers that she put all around it, one side of the block had jaemin’s face on it while the other had jisung

✦ the handle had renjun, chenle, jeno and hyuck stickers on it

✦ “but, there’s a point.” she said while covering the top of the block.

✦ she suddenly showed a mark sticker at the top and the members went “wahhhh”

✦ “AMAZING” jaemin said

✦ she then went on saying “this means, mark-hyung will always be there to lead us even though they don’t see him with us.”

✦ they sang a few more songs and yanna’s energy during “dunk shot” was almost scary

✦ she kept on skipping and even kissed chenle on the cheek during their center part

✦ they were all amazed when the streamers appeared behind them, yanna couldn’t stop waving at them while smiling

✦ they started getting questions from fans and were asked how they see each other

✦ chenle answered that he thinks of dream as his family and hyuck said that they were another version of him

✦ “i’m a girl version of you, then?” yanna asked and hyuck jokingly hesitated for a while so yanna hit him

✦ yanna was supposed to answer but renjun cut her off

✦ “wait, sorry. the comments keep saying ‘boyfriend’” and he acted unsure of something before laughing

✦ yanna looked at the comments and it was true, the fans keep saying she sees the dreamies as her boyfriends, they all laughed at this

✦ it was an inside joke because she said before that they’re all her boyfriends and they agreed

✦ “no~” she said before thinking again

✦ “oh, i got it. i see them as my strength. whenever i feel like i can’t do something anymore or i can’t go on anymore, they’re there to show me that i can and i really hold unto them in rough times.” she answered.

✦ jisung answered that they saw them as cute little brothers and the members immediately couldn’t believe their ears

✦ yanna and jaemin then proceeded to baby the maknae and ignore his words

✦ when the fan said that czennies will be there for them 7 days a week, yanna got teary eyed but could only smile

✦ the second fans who asked were speaking in english and they all got awkward but talked to them

✦ yanna then yelled out that she misses mark because she wasn’t sure how to translate what the fan said in korean but the members were like “it’s okay, we understood”

✦ they were asked what their dream is

✦ when chenle said that his dream was to still be able to dance “chewing gum” with them even when they get old, yanna almost cried but held it in

✦ when jeno answered in english, yanna got to brag that she taught jeno because he wanted to learn

✦ yanna answered that her biggest dream is “to stay with all of you forever and for all of us to celebrate our successes alongside each other.”

✦ during dnyl, yanna delivered her part with sad eyes and then she smiled sadly after

✦ during “puzzle piece” she was sitting at the edge of the stage, slowly standing up and walking to her position when the camera panned to another member

✦ 7 days was fun for yanna, she was on the right side with jeno and jaemin and the three of them swayed in sync while they were carrying her

✦ yanna wasn’t really surprised when the challenge masters were mark, jungwoo and doyoung

✦ because doyoung let it slip the day before when she called him

✦ but she acted like it was a surprise and went “OH MY GOSH!! DAEBAK!!” while the others laughed

✦ their internet connection was bad so yanna imitated mark during the superm concert and said “mark-hyung, is your wifi okay?”

✦ when doyoung asked jeno about the “2:30” thing in his dnyl line, he also said that taeyong was asking who she wanted to stay up all night with [referring to her line in 7 days, which she also wrote] but she just laughed

✦ doyoung was like “i’m serious though” but also laughed right after

✦ during the ending ment, she casually thanked everyone who were watching and said that even though she couldn’t really see them in person, she’ll always see them in her heart

✦ she also yelled out “forever”

[regolithheart]

Love In The Time of Coronavirus: Chapter Five

Summary: One pandemic, one lake house, and two people who loathe one another. Will they be able to survive the outbreak...and each other?

MASTER LIST

Read on AO3.

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

CHAPTER FIVE:

Cassian shuffled through his dresser to find clothes to change into. It would be so easy to throw on a pair of clean sweats, but he didn’t want to resort to that. It was only day two of their self-isolation and if he wasn’t careful, it would be a slippery slope. Besides, he could just imagine the look of distain on Nesta’s face to see him walking around in pajamas in the middle of the day. 

His phone buzzed on the bed behind him and picking it up, he saw Rhys was on the other line. Cassian grinned as he accepted the FaceTime call.

“Good morning, sweetheart.”

“Good morning!” He heard Mor’s voice calling back although out of view from the camera and distant but cheerful.

Rhys shook his head. “It’s 4:30pm here.”

Leaning back against his headboard, Cassian shrugged. “Sorry, I’m not on Parisian-time. Seeing as I’m in Sonoma right now with a woman who hates my guts. Have I thanked you recently for that?”

Rhys gave him a wry smile. “You can take your grievances up with France and the U.S. government. Do you want Macron’s number?”

Cassian snorted. “Yeah, text it to me.” He wouldn’t have been surprised if Rhys really did have the French President’s personal number.

There was a moment of silence before Cassian raised an eyebrow.

“So….to what do I owe the pleasure of this call?” 

The corner of Rhys’ mouth quirked up, but there was no amusement on his face. He opened his mouth, but before he could answer, Cassian held up a hand to stop him.

“No. If you’re going to give me bad news, I want it from one of the girls or Az. At least then I can take comfort from their beautiful faces. “

Rhys rolled his eyes, but again, he was interrupted. 

Cassian watched the phone shuffle between hands and caught a glimpse of the ceiling of Rhys and Feyre’s pied-à-terre and the blue Parisian sky beyond. Soon, he was looking at Feyre.

“Hey.” Her smile was too sweet and she had drawn out her vowels for too long. 

Cassian’s reply was cautious. “Feyre. What’s up?”

Her eyes flickered to someone off screen before smiling even wider at Cassian. “So listen. I just got off the phone with Elain and she and Graysen are actually staying in L.A. for the time being.”

Cassian dragged his free hand down the length of his face, groaning. 

If there had been any saving grace in his current predicament, it was that Elain and her boyfriend were on there way up. At least then Nesta would have been appeased and he’d have more people to talk to. It was hard to strike up a conversation with someone who only answered in single word sentences or told him to eat shit half of the time. 

He had even been prepared to make friends with Graysen—who was maybe the most boring person Cassian had ever met. 

Graysen. Was that his name? Why did he think it was Gregory?

Cassian shook his head. “I gotta tell you, Feyre. You guys are really screwing me over, here.”

“I’m sorry!” Her voice was pleading. “If there was any other way—“ 

“I know, I know. It’s fine.” He knew they weren’t doing it on purpose, but it still didn’t stop the bubble of irritation that was building in the pit of his stomach. “Just tell Rhys that he better be prepared to sell this house at half it’s market value because there’s a good chance your sister is going to murder me in my sleep. I’m leaving all of my records to Az.”

“Hey!” He heard Mor object in the background. 

“You can also tell your fiancé that he has surrendered his entire booze collection and I remember seeing a bottle of McCallan 1926 the last time I checked.” Cassian was starting to feel better just thinking about the prospect.

Rhys shoved his face into view. “Cassian, don’t you dare.”

“What? I can’t hear you over my emotional distress. Gotta go drown my sorrows in a fancy bottle of whiskey.”

“Cassian,” Rhys threatened again. 

But Feyre had elbowed him out of the frame and looked at Cassian one more time. “There’s one more thing.”

Cassian raised his eyebrow.

“Elain is giving Nesta the news any minute now and you might want to avoid her for a little while.”

“This is why I’m not going to feel bad for drinking the McCallan.” 

“I’m sorry, Cass.” Feyre’s smile was weak.

“Yeah. I gotta go find a hiding spot now. If I don’t make it out alive, it was nice knowing ya.”

He saw various arms waving at him and a received a chorus of goodbyes before he hung up. 

Shit, shit, shit. 

Abandoning the idea of a shower, Cassian tip-toed out of his room and threw a glance down the hallway. Nesta’s bedroom door was closed and he didn’t hear her angry voice coming from the other side. Quickly, he snuck downstairs and headed towards the gym. 

He figured he’d be safe in there.

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

After ninety minutes in the gym and sauna, Cassian decided it was safe to come out. He had heard Nesta’s angry footfalls on the stairs fifteen minutes earlier, but it had been quiet after that.

As he passed the door to the office, he heard the scrape of a chair against the wooden floors, a thud, and Nesta cursing.

“Damnit!”

Cassian was all too happy to ignore the commotion, but before he got to the stairs, he heard the sound of something falling to the ground with a thud and Nesta’s long, defeated sigh. 

Running a hand through his hair, he sent a silent apology to his future self and turned around to knock on the office door.

“What?” Nesta’s answer was curt. 

He opened the door slowly, allowing himself a peak into the room in case Nesta felt like throwing something at him. He still remembered the day Pictionary was banned. 

“Do you need some help?”

Nesta was on her knees. Her work bag was laying on its side, it’s contents scattered across the floor.

Cassian picked up a highlighter that had rolled to his feet. He began picking up random pens and markers on his way closer to her. She took them silently from him and stuffed them into her work bag, not sparing a glance his way. 

“I can’t find the wifi password.”

He was amused for a moment until he realized he didn’t know what the password was either. They had set up the lake house’s internet years ago and everyone had saved it on their devices and promptly forgot it. Come to think of it, he really should update the password and run a security check on the house’s connections. He made a mental note to himself.

“Did you check the back of the router?” He had warned Rhys not to leave the password taped there, but wouldn’t have been surprised if his friend ignored his advice.

“Of course I did.”

“And?”

“And I wouldn’t be talking to you if it had worked, would I?” Nesta crossed her arms over her chest.

Cassian ignored her scowl and marched over to the desk to take a look himself. Sure enough, there was a sticker with the default password stuck behind the router. They couldn’t have been that lazy, could they?

“May I?” Cassian asked, gesturing to Nesta’s laptop opened on the desk.

“Sure. Go ahead and waste my time.”

Cassian ignored that too and punched in the password. A error ping sounded followed closely by a snort from Nesta behind him.

Drumming his fingers against the wooden desk, he searched his memory, trying to recall if they had ever written the password down. He began pulling out the desk drawers and shuffling through its contents. Not that there was much to look through. He would have been surprised if Rhys did any actual work in that room. 

In the drawers Cassian found a stack of business cards, a letter opener, an empty leather bound notebook with gold gilded pages, a cigar trimmer and two cigars still in their plastic sleeves, but no sign of a wifi password. 

He could image Nesta rolling her eyes at him, but when he looked up, he found that she wasn’t paying him any attention at all. Instead, she was on the other side of the room, looking at the framed pictures on the bookshelves and running a delicate finger across one of the photos, lost in her thoughts. 

And that’s when Cassian finally remembered. 

He reached over to the black and white photo of a woman and teenage girl, both with thick dark hair and  matching brilliant smiles. The silver frame was heavy and well-polished. Turning it over, Cassian unlatched the back and revealed a yellow sticky note with Rhys’ tiny, yet neat handwriting. 

“All set,” Cassian said, setting the photo back in it’s place on the desk.

“Who’s that?” Nesta asked as she watched him. 

He hesitated. “Rhys’ mother and sister.”

Nesta was silent. Feyre must have told her what happened six years ago and he was glad he didn’t have to. It still made his heart ache just thinking about it.

Cassian cleared his throat and stood up to leave. Before closing the door behind him, he heard Nesta say, “Thank you.”

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

Nesta splashed water on her face and looked at herself in the mirror. She looked pale and the smudges under her eyes showed just how tired she really was. Sighing, she redid her braid and pinned it back in its usual crown, smoothing the flyaways down with her damp fingertips. 

There. It wasn’t much, but it was an improvement. 

She had escaped to her room for a moment after getting off a two-and-a-half hour conference call where the majority of it was taken up by Devlon and their client’s anecdotes about their second day of self-isolation and lamenting the fact that they were going to be missing a lot of golf. She had gritted her teeth through the whole thing, but remained silent. 

Her only saving grace was the little satisfaction of knowing she was billing the client for this meeting and the more he droned on about the eighth hole at Pebble Beach, the more he was being charged. 

She took a deep breath and began making her way back downstairs, to the long list of unread emails she had ignored all day. 

Cassian’s bedroom door was ajar again.

God, did he ever close it?

Slowing down, she chanced a peak inside. His laptop sat open on the otherwise orderly bed, but he was nowhere to be seen. 

When Nesta got back to the office, she crossed her arms and looked suspiciously around the room. 

Next to her laptop, sitting on a coaster was a gin and tonic. 

She glanced down at her watch. It was 5 o’lock on the dot and she wondered if Cassian had been waiting to hear her footsteps coming down the stairs. She didn’t see him in the living room or hear him in the kitchen and that annoyed her. 

Pushing the drink away, she was even more annoyed when she saw that it was exactly how she liked—with a twist of lemon and an extra slice for good measure. She didn’t want to think about what it meant that Cassian knew her favorite drink, or how he knew it. 

Instead, she focused on her mountain of emails. Half of them were office-wide emails, reminding everyone to be safe and to reach out to their clients to let them of their new Work From Home procedures and all of the additional spreadsheets and reports that they needed to keep up to date now that people were no longer in the office. It was exhausting to shift through. But then an email from Devlon made her pound her fist on the desk.

The ice from the gin and tonic tinkled.

She dialed Devlon’s number, nostrils flaring at every ring. He picked up on the fourth one.

“Are you kidding me?!”

Devlon’s voice was even-toned. “I had no choice.”

“But, Eris? I said anyone but him!”

“You do remember that I’m your boss, right?”

Nesta didn’t reply, just seethed. 

“Listen, I know it’s not ideal. I wouldn’t have put him on the Carver project at all but…” he sighed. 

“Tamlin put a hold on Rose Hall and I’m in a staffing bind.”

“Can’t you shift some other people around?”

Devlon was not amused. “I need to find projects for eight people.”

“I’ll take Amren.”

“Good. Then you have to take Eris, too. He’s the only one on the viz team that’s available and can do the work.”

Nesta huffed. “Fine. But he needs to be reminded that I’m the Project Architect and he answers to me.”

“Don’t we all?”

Nesta hung up the phone and leaned back in her chair, still annoyed. She was glad Amren was now on her team, but she wasn’t looking forward to babysitting Eris. 

Looking up, she saw the photo of Rhys’ mother and sister smiling at her. She averted her eyes. 

She hated that room.

For an office, it was surprisingly lacking. She had only been able to find one single pen in the whole entire room and it was a Mont Blanc fountain pen. Judging by the weight, no doubt it was made of platinum.

The rest of the room was more of a treasure chest of knick-knacks, travel paraphernalia, and photos. So many framed photos. 

She had perused them earlier that day when Cassian was looking for the wi-fi password and her eyes had snagged on a photo sitting in a simple wood frame. It was all of them: Rhys, Cassian, Azriel, Mor, and Feyre. 

Nesta had not been able to tell where the photo had been taken. Judging from what they were wearing, they could have been anywhere at any time. To anyone else it would have just been a typical photo of a group of friends, but it had struck Nesta to see how happy they all were, especially Feyre. Rhys’ arm was around her waist, but Feyre’s head was leaning on Mor’s shoulder. And her sister’s arm was stretched behind the blonde, her hand clasping Cassian’s.

Nesta couldn’t recall if she, Elain, and Feyre had ever a photo similar to that one. Maybe they did before, but certainly not after their mother…

She snapped her laptop shut, revealing the gin and tonic she had nudged aside earlier. The ice had began to melt, but she finished it in three gulps.

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

Nesta found Cassian in the kitchen. Not that she had been looking for him.

She was returning her glass and he just happened to be there, pulling items from the fridge. The sound of ice clinking against the tumbler made him look up. 

He raised his eyebrow, but his smile was soft.

“Looks like you could use another.”

Given the day that Nesta had, she agreed.

Cassian held out his hand and Nesta placed the glass into his awaiting palm. 

She was surprised when he put the dirty glass into the sink and watched as he deftly prepared her a new drink in a clean one. She was even impressed when he managed to carve the perfect sliver of lemon peel with the large chef’s knife in his hand and gave it a delicate twist before nestling it into the ice and handing her the drink. 

Nesta took a sip. It was perfect.

“Thank you.”

Cassian made a noise in the back of his throat. “So are you going to be eating dinner tonight?” His tone was casual and he didn’t look up at her as he organized the food on the counter.

She hesitated, but he was being nice so she could at least try to be civil. “What are you making?”

He finally looked up at her, his grin wide, canines gleaming as he held up a parcel wrapped in butcher’s paper. “Steaks!”

“Isn’t that a little extravagant?” 

“You’ve never heard of steak night Wednesday?” He grinned at his own joke. “We’re celebrating.”

“What are we celebrating?”

There was that grin again and Nesta blamed the heat rising in her chest on the two gin and tonics she’d had. 

“We’re celebrating the fact that I just broke into Rhys’ prized whiskey collection.” He nodded to a bottle that other than the color of the liquid—a deep, dark caramel—and the label that said Years 60 Old, didn’t look like anything special to Nesta. 

Cassian could tell she was unimpressed. “That is a $75,000 bottle of Scotch.”

Nesta laughed. “You’re shitting me!”

“I would never joke about McCallan.”

Nesta picked up the bottle to examine it further. It was heavier than she had expected it to be. The label was thick and had a beautiful texture that was imprinted with a gold border, but she still couldn’t believe that she was holding a bottle of alcohol that was worth a year’s salary.

“So what do you say, Nesta Archeron? Have dinner with me tonight.”

She looked at him. At the checkered button down with the sleeves rolled up, and his hair which was half pulled back in a knot. His smile was easy and the light from the setting sun streaming into the kitchen made his eyes glow amber.

He cleaned up nice. It wasn’t the first time Nesta had noticed, but it always took her by surprise. 

“Okay,” she said and took a sip of her drink—an excuse to avert her eyes. 

“Great! You can start on the potatoes.”

Her head snapped up. “What?”

“The potatoes.” Cassian repeated, pointing to a bag of small yellow potatoes. 

Nesta started backing away from the island. “No. No one said I had to cook.”

“Boiling potatoes isn’t exactly rocket science.” Cassian looked amused. “Just grab those potatoes, wash them, fill that pot with water, and wait.” 

Nesta eyed the potatoes. “How many?” 

Cassian shrugged. “Ten? Eleven?”

Nesta grabbed the bag and pulled out twelve golf-sized potatoes. 

Eleven. What kind of maniac was he?

When the pot was on the stove, Cassian tossed in two healthy pinches of salt into the water. 

“That wasn’t so bad, was it?”

“That’s it? How long until they’re done?”

Cassian looked at her incredulous. “Have you really never boiled potatoes before?”

Nesta didn’t answer. It wasn’t as though she had never boiled potatoes before, but the few times she deigned to cook, she always followed a step-by-step recipe to the tee. 

“When the water starts boiling, poke them with a fork. If they’re soft, they’re done and if not give them a couple more minutes.”

She nodded.

“In the meantime, turn the oven on to 400 and relax.”

Nesta let her shoulders drop. She hadn’t realized how tense she was. 

When the potatoes were done, Cassian strained them and dumped them all onto a sheet tray. 

“Now here’s the fun part,” he said, grabbing a wooden spoon. “Take this spoon and press it into the potatoes like this. Really smash it.”

He demonstrated and Nesta watched as the potato flattened under the pressure of the spoon, it’s edges splitting into craggy fissures. 

“Your turn.”

Nesta took the wooden spoon from Cassian and tried to mimic his technique. 

“Come on, Archeron. You can do better than that. Really smash it. Pretend it’s my face you’re crushing.”

Nesta hid her smirk, and pressed hard. It was oddly satisfying.

When she was done, Cassian tossed in some herbs, a couple of crushed garlic cloves, a few glugs of olive oil and told Nesta to mix it up with her hands. She did as she was instructed, but cringed the whole entire time. As soon as the contents of the tray were mixed, she rushed to the sink to wash her hands. 

That was one of the reasons why she didn’t cook. But aside from getting gross oil fingers, thirty minutes later they were sitting at the dining table with the most amazing smelling dinner in front of them, and Nesta decided it hadn’t been too bad. 

 Cassian held up the bottle of McCallen 1926. “Can I tempt you?”

She wasn’t a whiskey drinker in the least, but she was curious to see. When she nodded, he poured her two fingers’ worth.

Nesta twirled the liquid in her glass, trying to determine if she could spot how special it was just by looking at it. It looked pretty ordinary to her. She glanced at Cassian before taking a sip. 

It was much more sweet than she had expected it to be. There were hints of dried fruit—figs, maybe. And as the liquid rolled over her tongue she picked up a bit of vanilla and something warm and nutty. Cinnamon? It was definitely familiar. When she finally swallowed, the aroma hit her. Christmas. This tasted like Christmas. Warm and comforting and…special.

She cleared her throat. “It’s okay.”

Cassian simply shook his head, torn between amusement and disbelief. He took his own sip and Nesta watched his face closely. It was subtle—almost imperceivable—but she saw his discovery mirror her own. 

When he opened his eyes, his voice was awed. “It’s incredible.” He grinned. “I am never drinking anything else, ever again.” 

Nesta rolled her eyes and he winked.

“Well, lets eat!”

Everything tasted as amazing as it looked and Nesta felt a flash of pride at how wonderful the potatoes were. They had baked them in the oven and the edges were crispy and fragrant. If that was all Nesta was allowed to eat for the rest of her life, she’d be happy. 

“These potatoes are incredible.” 

Cassian grinned. “They’re the easiest thing.” 

“I never learned how to cook.” The words slipped out of Nesta’s mouth before she could stop them. 

Cassian looked up, surprised. “Really? Then who taught Feyre? I thought…” He stopped himself from finishing that sentence. 

Nesta looked away. She hated how he became quiet. Probably because he knew the truth about what happened all those years ago. Sometimes it felt like a lifetime ago. Sometimes, like at that very moment, it felt all too fresh.

She cleared her throat and straightened. When she turned back to him, her face was neutral, calm. 

“How did you learn to cook?”

Taking her cue, Cassian’s smile came easily. “I used to be a line cook,” he answered, popping a piece of steak into his mouth.

For the rest of the dinner, Cassian told Nesta of all the jobs he had had growing up. First as a dishwasher, then a line cook. There was the summer in high school when he was a life guard at the public pool but had to quit because all the moms were hitting on him. 

Nesta rolled her eyes at that story, but then laughed when he told her about his stint as a dog walker. She almost choked when he told her about the time he baby-sat a nine-year-old. 

“You were a manny?!” 

“Yeah.” His grin turned into a scowl. “But then I was fired because the kid was failing math! I was only supposed to pick him up from school and made sure he didn’t break his neck until his parents got home. I didn’t sign up to teach long division.”

Nesta had to brush a tear of laughter from her eyes as Cassian cleared away the dirty dishes. 

She smoothed her hair back and saw Cassian leaning against the kitchen counter, watching her. 

“Wanna watch a movie?”

She sobered quickly. “I…um…no. I have to get back to work.”

He raised his eyebrow. “It’s 8pm.”

She stood up. “I have a lot of emails to get to.”

They held each other’s stare long enough for Nesta to feel uncomfortable, but then Cassian shrugged his shoulder and moved towards the sink.

“Another time then.”

Nesta watched him for three more seconds, then turned and left. 

[fairly-small-love]

Fairly Small Asks (15)

just-some-gt-trash asked: I’ve been trying to tell them to not hurt you and they didn’t listen, why do you think it’ll be any different if I tell them to free you so that you could shrink them and capture them again

“Cause they are mine! Tell them now!”

Dee’s phone buzzed and he pulled it out. “So the votes are in and-”

“Can we slice off his wings!?” Roman squeaked, his mouth full of the delicious pizza.

“We cannot. The majority voted no,” he explained, shrugging. “Oh well, I guess we will have to wait.”

“Dammit.”

AN: Thank you too: @just-some-gt-trash , @poppyflowerlesbian666, @tiny-peter-rabbit, Lupis (Wolf Anon), and Ghosty (Ghost Anon) for voting!

Anonymous asked: Patton, buddy, that's not going to happen. You know the way you're feeling right now? The fear and anger? You made them all feel that way for a long, LONG time. You're lucky they're having so much restraint. You're lucky you that you aren't dead yet. -👻

“I want them to be mine!” Patton hissed, pushing the jar towards the edge. “I am done! I want them I want them I want them now! They need to be punished and they were bad!”

Anonymous asked: Dude, i am late to the party. But things seem a liiiiil messed up. What did i miss? 🍭

An: A Lot. A whole, whole……WHOLE Lot

Anonymous asked: There's nothing you can do. You have been set apart from the rest of your kind, but you are not the first, nor is this a damnation. You are not alone and still have people who are willing to stand by you, some even share your fate and understand. And if a human life weighs heavy on you, then my halls will always welcome another ~ 🍁

“T-thank you….I think,” Virgil mumbled, sighing. “And I’m not like you…..I’m a dirty, dirty halfbreed.” he mumbled, rubbing his ears, which were slowly growing pointier. He tensed, fighting back tears. “What am I gonna do?”

just-some-gt-trash asked: But they won’t listen *sighs* at least be grateful they’re not going to slice off your wings yet Pat

“I want them now!” He hissed, giving it a hard shove and knocking the jar off the counter.

just-some-gt-trash asked: Oh shit, guys you should check on Patton

“Why?” Roman mumbled, sighing. “I don’t even like him.”

Anonymous asked: You think you are the only half breed? There is a reason i do not fall sway to fae charms. I am both one of them and yet not. And people like us, dear Virgil. We forge our OWN paths. We do what we can to make some good where we go ~ 🍁

“That is true I guess……..You’re okay, Riddler,” he mumbled, stuffing his hands into his pockets. “I……I can’t believe I fell for Patton’s charms, I’m an idiot.”

Anonymous asked: Um... Hate to tell you guys, but your pixie dude just took a dive 🍭

“W-what?” Dee asked, running to the kitchen.

The jar smashed against the ground, covering Patton in shards.

Anonymous asked: NO IMP. IT IS YOU WHO HAVE BEEN BAD. You test my patience. Are you incapable of even basic empathy? -👻

“I am not bad!” Patton squeaked, trying to get the shards off of him.

Anonymous asked: What happened to Patton!? - 💚

“N-Nothing!” Patton squeaked, whimpering when the glass cut and tore open his wings.

Anonymous asked: Patton? I don’t want them to hurt you, but what you did really hurt them, very badly. You remember when you threw Virgil to the wall? Now think about it that happened to you at your size. Wouldn’t it really hurt?-💚

“I’m allowed to h-hurt them! They are mine to do as I please!”

Anonymous asked: Guys morality broke the jar don’t let him escape 🐺

“On it!” Dee cried diving down and grabbing Patton up in a towel. He didn’t want to get cut by the glass after all.

Anonymous asked: Patton you couldn’t possibly have thought that was a good idea right? 🐺

“I don’t care!” He squeaked, thrashing and cutting his wings open more. At this point were they even wings?

just-some-gt-trash asked: It’s not that you’re entirely bad, you just do bad things, and you don’t even realize when you do them, and that’s bad

“Shut up!” Patton cried out, yelping when the towel was pulled away.

“Guys?” Dee mumbled, looking at the torn wings. “We…..might have to cut them off anyways.”

Anonymous asked: People aren’t pets or possessions Patton. 🐺

“Yes they are! The are mine!”

just-some-gt-trash asked: I won't! Not this time! It doesn't matter if I care about you, you need to understand, what you dis was wrong and hurt them, you probably even traumatized them!

“Shut up!” Patton cried out, sniffling. “I-I NO!”

Dee had Laid Patton out on the counter, his back up in the air. “Roman, get me the scissors please.”

just-some-gt-trash asked: Pat... ngh, I don't want to argue with you right now, They're about to cut your wings...

“Stop them! Stop them!” He sobbed, thrashing and squirming around.

Roman handed Dee the scissors, humming. “I thought we took a vote?”

“We did, but if We don’t take them off now they will get infected. And in my…..personal experience, wings are too fragile to bandage.”

Virgil started back to the house, just wanting to get home.

just-some-gt-trash asked: Patton, they're already torn, there's not much they can do, the best option is to cut them

“No No No No No!” Patton screamed out, but it was too late. Dee took the scissors and, with careful precision, snipped them off.

Anonymous asked: Virgil, please, Goldenleaf. And his charms ARE almost irresistible, especially when he uses you weaknesses against you. He is a master manipulator. You either have to be very old or very wise to the ways of the fae to resist ~ 🍁

“Yeah that is true…..still gonna call you the Riddler till you speak-” He heard a loud scream, causing him to run into the kitchen. There were torn fairy wings on the counter, a crying Patton, Dee, who looked pleased with himself, and Roman and Logan, who both wore matching smirks.

just-some-gt-trash asked: Okay, they're off, are you happy now?

“Very,” Roman purred, nuzzling closer to Logan. Logan, who never usually liked physical touch, wrapped an arm around Roman.

“Extremely pleased.”

Dee shrugged, looking at his nails. “Had to be done……but I am also satisfied as well.”

Virgil watched as Patton screamed louder when Dee put the shredded wings into a plastic baggie. “W-What the fuck?” Morality shut up!” He snapped, sighing in relief when Patton went deathly quiet.

Anonymous asked: Haaaaa! Dude! He looks like a borrower now! You know you can probably just stick some bug wings on him and he'll be fine, right? 🍭

“A what? And no, it doesn’t work like that sadly,” Dee mumbled, humming. “I suppose that he will have to walk everywhere from now on…..shame.” He didn’t sound sorry at all.

Anonymous asked: Are all humans this messed up? Because yeah, you want to get payback, and he sort of shredded his wings on his own first but... you don’t have to look so happy about it. 🐺

“You try being murdered a million times by a giant winged prick. Then you tell me we are messed up,” Roman snapped, hissing. “He took me away from my family! I had a little sister you know! And guess what? She’s dead!”

just-some-gt-trash asked: Virgil? Isn't this what you wanted?

“I-I mean yeah but I……..I kinda didn’t,” He mumbled, cringing. “W-What the fuck do we do with him now?”

Anonymous asked: Can we glue some on anyways and see what happens? For "science"? 🍭

Dee shrugged, grabbing Patton and washing him off with cold water. “Maybe, we will see. But for now, I’m done with him.” He dropped Patton into another jar, a plastic one. Then he put a giant phone book on top it.

just-some-gt-trash asked: The only option that I see is to keep him as a pet, take him back to the fae realm is dangerous

“That is true…..but if we take him back he is out of our hair. Fucking fae, jesus,” Roman mumbled, his confusion growing with Virgil flinched violently. “What?”

“N-Nothing!”

just-some-gt-trash asked: By the way, Virge do you feel better?

“I feel…..well I’m alive,” Virgil mumbled, shrugging. “And I blew off some steam so…I’m better.”

Anonymous asked: *sigh* Look... if you continue to put him through pointless suffering, without any regard for what will happen, you may lose your humanity. And that is something that you can’t let happen. 🐺

“We won’t………and what will happen if we keep this up?” Dee asked, curiously, sighing. “Red, blue. If you too could like…….chill with the lovey dovey shit for a second I will take you to your room.”

Anonymous asked: There are ways to fix him. But whether he deserves it is a different matter. He will be alright as he is. Despite his complaining ~ 🍁

“What are the ways to fix him?” Dee asked, taking Virgil’s hand and dragging him along as he lead Roman and Logan to his room.

“You know we have names, right?” Logan asked, sighing. “I’m Logan and my companion is Roman.”

Anonymous asked: I'm just waiting till Roman and Logan are introduced to the internet

“Who’s the internet?” Roman asked, cocking his head to the side. “Are they nice?”

just-some-gt-trash asked: *smiles* I'm glad, oh Roman, I just remembered, there are some sites online that allow you to search for relatives, in case you want to know about your family, Dee and Virgil can explain the wifi to you

“R-really?” Roman asked, looking up. “D-Do you…think anyone remembers me?”

Anonymous asked: (Psst, goldy, you aren’t talking about That, are you?) Do you guys think it’s best to leave Patton alone again? 🐺

“Why shouldn’t we?” Dee asked, dropping Logan and Roman off in their new room. “I mean, the jar is plastic. and He can’t go anywhere because the idiot had to get his wings removed.”

Anonymous asked: Oh dear, this is quite a dilemma. Patton dear, I know you can't currently speak but remember when I asked you if you can feel pain? You know the situation you're in right now? Lorded over by beings far larger than you? In constant pain? You feel pain and so did they. They were scared and trapped and HURT for so, so, long. You're scared now. I can tell. Stop behaving like an impetuous child, ignoring our words. Learn and grow and maybe, just maybe you'll eventually earn forgiveness someday.-👻

Patton glared and he waved the spirit away. He turned his back, pouting and kicking at the jar to try and get out.

Anonymous asked: I know your names, dear ones. I try not to use them overmuch in case i cause discomfort on your part. One of magyck with the knowledge could easily mend him. But as i said. He must redeem himself to your satisfaction first. Until then he is fine, it is painful at first, but it does not last ~ 🍁

“….Yeah no way in hell can he do that,” Roman hissed, flopping onto the massive bed in the room. “If given the chance he would turn us into his little dolls again. Fuck that.”

Anonymous asked: Roman, Logan, take my advice. Stay away from the internet. 🐺

“Who’s the internet and why do you hate them so!?” Roman whined, pouting. “Come on, they can’t be that bad, right?”

Anonymous asked: The internet is made up of millions of separate sentient beings. Some are kind where as others... not so much. So much information that is better left alone is thrown in your face. Just... don’t bother. If anything let Dee and Virgil deal with it. They have more experience. 🐺

“Okay! Jeez the internet sounds really neat! I still wanna meet them…..and ask them not to throw things in my face.”

Anonymous asked: Also Roman it’s possible your family passed down stories of you. My family has a famous story about my great-great-great-great-great grandfather who fled his homeland because he thought he killed someone. Only to become extremely successful in other lands and eventually find out that the person he thought he killed wasn’t who he thought he was but also didn’t die. 🐺

“R-Really?” Roman asked, his heart swelling with hope. Maybe he wasn’t forgotten!

just-some-gt-trash asked: I don’t know if anyone remembers you... but some families talk to the young ones about their ancestors, an when they grow up they pass that knowledge to the next generation

Am I really worth talking about?” Roman asked hesitantly, biting his lip. “I….don’t really think so.”

Anonymous asked: It is up to you when his punishment is complete, dear Roman, i will not sway you either way. Justice is in your hands now ~ 🍁

“I will take justice!” Roman called out, huffing. “I will take justice for everything he did to me.”

Anonymous asked: Uh- woah. What exactly is going on here? -❄️

“Hell if I know,” Virgil mumbled, shaking his head. “What I do know, Is that Dee’s bed is comfy as hell.”

Anonymous asked: I remember my grandma talking me about her cousin Logan! She said he was the smartest person she knew!

“I don’t believe I had any cousins. My mother and father were only children I’m sorry to say….but thank you for trying.” Logan gave a small smile, nodding. “I have accepted the fact that I am forgotten, I accepted it long ago. I just hope that….with this second chance at life I make something of myself…..even if I can not be myself to do it.”

Anonymous asked: My pal, the internet is both awesome and horrifying, i spend most my time there. Plus, take it from me, friendo, you get used to being forgotten 😝 🍭

“I don’t want to be forgotten though,” Roman mumbled, sighing. “I wanna be remembered.”

Anonymous asked: How are all your sudden house guests doing, Dee? 🐺

“I think Roman and Logan are alright…..they aren’t yelling.” He reached over, running a hand through Virgil’s hair. “Virgil is fast asleep….poor raccoon,” he mumbled fondly, sighing. “And Patton is……in the jar where he belongs.”

Anonymous asked: Just be sure not to go too far. But you will find he is still quite resilient. And worry not, Logan. People are not so easily forgotten, and you shall make new memories with those around you ~ 🍁

Logan flushed, nodding. “I-I well I suppose that’s true…….makes sense.”

just-some-gt-trash asked: The internet is also a way of communication and entertainment, yeah some of it is weird and maybe dangerous, but most of it is fun and interesting, you can now things that are happening at the other end of the world in a matter of seconds!

“Oh gods the internet is cool! Make Virgil and Dee show me! I wanna see!”

just-some-gt-trash asked: Dee what do you say? Do you want to show them?

“Maybe tomorrow….for now I would like to rest.” He laid down, letting Virgil grab onto him, hugging him like a teddy bear. It was almost as if he knew Virgil was a sleep cuddler.

just-some-gt-trash asked: Roman Logan, are you tired too?

“Very,” Roman mumbled, flopping down with his face in a pillow. “This is like a fucking cloud.” Logan sighed, carefully climbing into bed. “It’s okay I suppose……better than what Patton gave us.”

Anonymous asked: What’s the plan for tomorrow? 🐺

Dee shrugged, sighing. “I dunno……feed them that’s for sure. Maybe make documents for Roman and Logan……so they can actually get jobs and shit…….or maybe not.”

Anonymous asked: Awww frick yeah! Sleepy sleep time! *yeets self onto a pillow* 🍭

Dee shook his head, an amused smirk on his face. “I’m glad you seem to enjoy my….pillows. But yes, it is sleepy time.”

Anonymous asked: They should be given the opportunity to decide their future. I am not so sure, however, how well they shall adjust to the modern world ~ 🍁

“I know, I know that……I’m just scared they would like…..get hit by a car or something……or get sent to a mental hospital.”

Anonymous asked: GAVE you Logan. You aren’t it that situation anymore. You can have a real life now! A full life! With happy feelings!! -💚

“Can We?” Logan asked, looking up. “Can we all honestly have a real life….a good life in a time period that isn’t our own?”

roseof-alltrades3 asked: Of course you can have a good life! You're all incredibly adaptive, resourceful, smart people! It might take a while but I'm sure you can do it!

“But we have no knowledge of anything. Roman doesn’t even understand what the internet is!”

just-some-gt-trash asked: You'll get used to it, and Virgil and Dee will help you right?

“I hope they will……or at least I hope they don’t get sick of us.”

just-some-gt-trash asked: I’m sure they wont, and we’re here to help too

“Thank you,” Dee mumbled, before he tensed. “Thank you for the offer but I can’t accept. This is my responsibility now.”

Anonymous asked: There’s been a ton of scientific discoveries since Logan was taken. We even have a picture of a black hole. But I hate to tell you Roman that almost no one uses swords anymore. Unfortunately. 🐺

“A picture of a black hole!?” Logan asked, his eyes wide. “You’re joking!”

Roman groaned, flopping back. “I will bring it back! It is called……trending, right? Logan tried to teach me about that once….he failed.”

((An: So Sorry about the disappearance, I had so much school work))

Anonymous asked: You have friends around to help you, dear ones. You will find a way to live again, rather than just survive ~ 🍁

“Is that possible when me and Roman are supposed to be dead?” Logan asked, but he felt a soft blooming in his chest. Maybe there is a bit of hope.

Anonymous asked: It'll be fiiiiiine, dudes. The world's changed a lot but it's better than living in a box, eh? 🍭

“Yeah I guess,” Logan mumbled, sighing. “I just……I hope that somewhere, somehow me and Roman find a place where we can be happy.”

[p-artsypants]

Longest Night (21) Confessing

Marinette had thought Highschool had been hard. Right now, in this moment, she'd give anything to go back to those petty arguments and gossip fueled drama. But she couldn't. Instead, she and Adrien were trapped here, being punished, humiliated, tortured, for being heroes, all broadcasted for the world to see. At least she and her kitty were in this together. For now. Whump!Fic

Ao3 | FF.net

This chapter has some mentions of Episode ‘Feast’.

—

“I’ve come to apologize. My name is Wang Fu…and I am the one that bestowed the Miraculous on your children.”

The jolly atmosphere of the room turned to ice in a second, as everyone sat too stunned to say a word.

Sabine stood suddenly, her chair clattering on the floor behind her. “You—You did this?”

He nodded solemnly. “Words…cannot express how sorry I am, for what has happened.”

Sabine slammed her fist down on the table. “They were children! They still are children!” All the fake smiles she had been holding onto all day fluttered away, and all that was left was a seething, grieving mother. “How could you think that was a good idea!?”

They waited for his response.

He waited for someone else to yell at him.

When silence passed for far too long, Master Fu finally confessed, “Hawkmoth had to be stopped. I tried to stop him on my own…but I’m far too old for that.”  He sighed, gathering his thoughts. “I’m sure, whatever excuse I will say won’t feel like enough. But…I ask you to please, understand where I came from.” He swallowed. “I was just a few years younger than them when I was picked to be a guardian. Children…they bond with the Miraculous far easier than adults. And they can drop their lives much easier than an adult. You’ve seen it. Marinette’s absence from a class, Adrien being in a different place than he’s expected to be. They get a slap on the wrist, but if they were adults with jobs? Fired, easily. Being a superhero is a full time job, one that you can’t plan around. One that you can’t use as an excuse.”

Sabine began to relax her tense shoulders, not liking what he was saying, but still understanding it logically.

“But why them?” Tom whispered. “What did our little girl do to deserve this?”

“I gave them a test. Who would be most willing to drop everything in a given moment to do the right thing? And they both passed. And most importantly, they had to be compatible. Soulmates even.”

“They…they’re soulmates?” Sabine whispered.

“Two halves of the same whole. They were made to wield their Miraculous stones. Once, Marinette picked Adrien to be the wielder of the Snake Miraculous, but it wasn’t the right stone for him. They didn’t achieve victory until he passed on the snake to someone else, and returned to being Chat Noir.”

The assembled considered this with some thought.

“Anyone could have picked up those Miraculous. But no one could have gotten this far. And…their only job was to stop Hawkmoth. Because of who they are, they took the extra initiative to stop regular criminals too.” Master Fu raised his head and looked levelly at each of the parents. “Your children are exceptional, I recognized it right away and rewarded them for it. I never wanted…never expected—“ He choked.

Sabine’s anger disappeared as she watched this old man collapse into tears.

“I mentored them. I trained Marinette to be a guardian, to be the greatest hero in the whole world…but I never expected this…this woman to…”

The room was silent, as everyone mulled over his words.

Sabine was still angry, but seeing this man so filled with regret…it eased her slightly. She was so angry and hopeless all week long, she had basically burnt out.

With a short sigh, she righted her chair. “I need a moment,” she declared, walking out of the room.

Tom didn’t move. He was in shock. And he wasn’t an angry man, so there wasn’t anything to say. ‘How could you?’ and ‘You’re insane!’ Came to the tip of his tongue, but he didn’t end up voicing those thoughts. Because Fu’s explanation made sense, and Tom was finding it increasingly difficult to blame the old man.

“This is Hawkmoth’s fault.” He finally said, his voice wavering. “If he hadn’t sent out that first akuma, no one would have been picked as Ladybug or Chat Noir. No one would be in this place.”

“I agree.” Said Gabriel, who had been eerily quiet this whole time. “If Hawkmoth wasn’t…such a monster. This never would have happened.”

The Mayor and Nadja both clenched their fists in anticipation. Gabriel was not known for his mercy, and for endangering his son, surely this man would be ripped to shreds.

But his wrath never came. Instead, he just sat at the head of the table, staring at his plate in thought.

“And another thing!” Sabine shouted, coming back into the room. “What about the other Miraculous users!? Are they children too?! Do you plan to take all these kids away from their parents!?”

“Most of the other users identities, I don’t even know. Marinette was entrusted with the decisions of bestowing the Miraculous. She chose people she trusted and people she could work with. I…would assume most of them are people her age.”

Everyone turned and looked at Alya and Chloe.

“My Chloe is Queen Bee.” Stated the Mayor, “so does that mean…?”

Alya glanced at Master Fu, trying to gauge what she was supposed to do.

He gave her a solemn nod.

She sighed, “Yeah…I’m Rena Rouge.”

At the announcement, Trixx flew out of his hiding spot. “Hiya! This looks super yummy and I’m starving!” He swooped up a brioche bun and started to tear into it.  

“I apologize, Alya, my intention in coming was not to reveal your identity.”

“It’s alright Master. I…I kinda figured since Marinette was outed, it wouldn’t be too hard to figure me out.”

“Then what was your intention of coming here, Mr. Fu?” Asked Sabine with an edge to the question.

“Well, most importantly…to apologize. And secondly, to assure you I’m trying to make it right. I…have a plan. It’s risky, but…it’s a plan.”

“Well, let’s hear it!” Jagged stated, kicking his feet up on the table. “Are you going to give us Miraculous? Because I think I’d be amazing at the Snake. Or is there an alligator? Or maybe a lion?”

Master Fu shook his head. “I’m not comfortable with giving out any more Miraculous. I enlisted Rena Rouge, Carapace, and Queen Bee the moment I saw the broadcast. But it is far too dangerous to let anyone else have that kind of power. Especially right now, when the Ladybug Miraculous is dormant, and unable to use cure.”

“Then what do you suppose we do?” Sabine asked. “We barely know what country they’re in.”

Master Fu inhaled deeply, preparing the for the reaction he was about to receive. “It would require…Hawkmoth’s assistance. We would need to lure him out, and then I could bribe him with the Miraculous—“

“You are insane!” Sabine shouted. “How dare you! My daughter has been working tirelessly for years trying to keep the Miraculous out of Hawkmoth’s hands! And you’d give them away?! Just like that?!”

The old man tensed. “I’m open for other suggestions! There’s no Miraculous that can help with this! The Horse can create portals, but only if he knows where it’s supposed to go! The Rabbit can travel back in time and stop this from happening, but I don’t even have that one right now! All the other Miraculous would require us to actually know where they are! I have nothing else!”  

“What did you expect Hawkmoth to do?” Gabriel asked, his voice completely neutral.

“How are you so calm about this, Gabriel!? Aren’t you upset?! This man endangered your son!”

“No.” Gabriel replied calmly. “Hawkmoth endangered my son. Adrien is as close to perfect as man can get. Academically brilliant, an athletic champion, accomplished in everything he does. Why wouldn’t he be picked to be Chat Noir?”

Sabine just stared at him. Rightfully unable to comprehend the insanity that just came from his mouth.

“I ask again, Mr. Fu. What were you expecting from Hawkmoth?”

Again, the old man clenched his fists. “The champions created by Hawkmoth are extremely powerful, especially the more volatile the emotions of the victim. I went through the Ladyblog, looking back at the akumatized villains and their traits. He turned Alya Cesaire an akuma named Lady Wifi, who was able to travel through wifi signals, and pause people in real time. If we can convince Hawkmoth to get on our side, we can have him recreate her. She would be able to travel through the broadcast, and find out where they are.”

“Absolutely!” Alya shouted. “I’d do it in a heartbeat! I’m totally on board with this plan!”

“Can you pause bullets?” Asked Gabriel, with a stony voice.

“W-what?”

“If there were several men with guns shooting at you in a ten foot room, could you pause them fast enough that you wouldn’t get shot?”

Alya swallowed, but didn’t answer.

“And if they simply turned off the router, would you be able to find an escape? Knowing we know nothing about the building they’re in?”

She grimaced. He made a very good point. “We have to try! We have to risk it! What else can we do!?”

Gabriel rested his elbows on the table, folding his hands in front of his face. “If I’m right, Hawkmoth is looking for them anyways. And once he finds them, he’s going to akumatize them.”

“How can you be so sure?” Asked Nadja. “He hasn’t made a single akuma since the capture.”

“He’s tried.” Clarified Chloe. “Both me and Ces—er, Alya have both almost been akumatized. I think Nino too. But Hawkmoth removed it once we told him no.”

“Still…” wondered Nadja, “there’s a lot of people upset right now. It’s amazing that he hasn’t had someone akumatized just…rampaging and looking through abandoned places.”

“Salo still has the Miraculous. I’ve had my people scouring the internet and blackmarket for any trace of them. If she does try to sell them, I will snatch them up. But until then, we have to assume that the Miraculous are wherever Marinette and Adrien are. And akumatizing them would be the easiest way to get them.”

“So, we have two objectives,” stated Alya, pulling out her notebook. “One, get Hawkmoth on our side. And two, find out an approximate location of Adrien and Marinette. And an akuma could help us accomplish that second one.” She scribbled some notes down, and then crossed them out. “We still can’t do this!”

“Alya, it’s all we have.” Said Master Fu.

“No it’s not!” She turned to the Mayor. “Mr. Mayor, you said you and the Minister of Interior are entering a plea deal with Edward Savauge, right? Does that mean a lighter sentence if he tells us where they are?”

The Mayor looked away, his cheeks becoming more and more red. “Well, I’m not sure exactly…the Minister is the one that’s in charge of that.”

Chloe slapped her hand against the table. “Are you going to save my Adrikins or not?!”

“Chloe dear, you don’t understand…there’s a lot of politics involved…”

“Politics.” Jagged scoffed. “Why bring politics into this? You know what really makes people nervous? Attention. We throw the biggest most rocking concert ever, and we really turn up the heat on these goons!”

“If these people didn’t want attention, they wouldn’t be broadcasting everything!”

“They aren’t.” Gabriel clarified. “These people haven’t said their names on camera. They wear big sunglasses so they can’t be completely ID’d. The only reason we have an idea of who Salo is, is because she let it slip that she was involved with Savauge.”

“The detective gave her name too.” Said Tom.

“Detective?” Asked the Mayor.

Gabriel shot Tom a warning look.

“I mean…yeah. There was a detective…don’t really know who he was though…” He swallowed.

The Mayor wiped his forehead with his napkin. “You’ll have to excuse me. I’m not really used to situations like these. The appearance of superheroes was bizarre enough, but such a public kidnapping is so…so nerve wracking. I’m trying my best, I promise.”

“But politics.” Scoffed Chloe. “What do politics even have to do with anything? Doesn’t everyone want Ladybug and Chat Noir to come back? Shouldn’t that be something to unite over?”

“You’d be surprised.” Said Alya with a shrug. “You’d think that everyone would be grateful for them and all they do…but theres a lot of people who think the akumas and Hawkmoth are just part of Ladybug’s plan.”

“Wait so…like conspiracy theorists?” Asked Jagged. “They shouldn’t count!”

“Exactly. They shouldn’t. But they are very loud and dangerous. Like anti-vaxxers. Their stance is spreading. I see it all the time in the forums on the blog. And there’s a rumor going around that this broadcast is being staged too.”

Sabine gasped and covered her mouth. “How could they think that?”

Alya shrugged. “I first heard about it because Lila was telling it to some of our classmates. Sometimes, it’s nicer to think that someone couldn’t actually be this awful. They’re in denial.”

The Mayor stood. “Miss Sabine, thank you for the wonderful meal. I’m afraid I must be getting back to the office.”

“Andre.” Gabriel stood as well, his voice an octave deeper. “Don’t breathe a word of what’s been spoken to anyone. Do you understand me? Not a word.”

“Crystal clear, Mr. Agreste.”

“That goes for everyone. Mr. Fu and Rena Rouge’s identities must remain a secret. As well as all talk of Hawkmoth. Forget everything that you heard at this table.”

“Of course, Mr. Agreste.” Nadja agreed, getting her stuff together. “I should be going too. I will send an email to your secretary with the questions for the interview. Feel free to add or nix any you’d like.” She stooped and pressed a kiss to Sabine’s cheek. “Goodbye dear, let me know if I can do anything for you.”

“Thank you Nadja. This was already a great help.”

She shook Tom and Gabriel’s hand, and then finally Master Fu’s. “It was nice meeting you. Er—actually, I have no idea who you are and I’ve never seen you before in my life.” She shot a thumbs up back at Gabriel, before leaving the room.

The Mayor was quick to follow, only offering an awkward wave as he left.

“Well, that wasn’t suspicious at all.” Said Jagged, putting a toothpick in his mouth.

Master Fu was frowning, deep in thought, before Gabriel cleared his throat. “Mr. Fu, may I talk to you in my office? Alone?”

Master Fu cringed, but knew it was inevitable. “Yes, I suppose that would be fine.”  

“You don’t mind if I hang around a while, do you Mr. Agreste? Alya and I are going to plan that concert.”

“Not at all, Jagged. Please make yourself at home.” And with that, he and Master Fu left the room.

As they crossed the lobby in silence, Fu couldn’t help but feel like a child again. He was 150 years older than this man, but he felt like a young guardian in training, about to be scolded by his master.

“It was foolish of you to reveal your identity like that, in front of those people.” Gabriel scolded once the door closed to the office, his back turned.

Master Fu nodded solemnly. “That may be. But I had to get you to listen. This is a very dangerous time for you and Marinette’s parents. You wouldn’t trust a stranger.”

Gabriel sighed. “I understand that. But I knew who you were the moment I saw you.”

Master Fu frowned at that, still standing just in front of the door of the office. “A hunch?”

“No…from Feast.”

Fu’s eyes widened, with growing horror in his stomach. “Then, I suppose it really was foolish for me to reveal myself.” He backed up into the door. “I…I must be on my way.”

“I’m not finished with you yet.” Gabriel said with a bite. “You have to understand the position I’m in.”

Fu was immensely happy that he purposefully left the Miracle Box in the care of Marianne for the evening. He knew he was taking a risk when he came here and decided to reveal himself to them. At least he had that much forethought. “What position? I will not ease the burden of guilt you have put on your own shoulders.”

“Nor do I expect you to. Please, come away from there. Have a seat.”

Hesitantly, Fu did as the man instructed, and sat in a chair in front of his desk.

“You wanted to get in contact with Hawkmoth, correct? You wanted to persuade him to get on your side.”

“Yes, I was just…not expecting to deal with him without preparation.”

“I’m not going to hurt you.” Gabriel said with finality. “I…need your help.”

“I understand,” said Fu with a nod. “But I can only offer my assistance, not any more Miraculous. I already said this.”

“And that is something I understand as well.” Gabriel sighed. “I…I will worry about Adrien and Marinette. My plan is to akumatize them the moment I can figure out where they are. Alya and Nino suspect they’re in Germany, so I plan to take my leave and see if I can sense them.”

“I see.”

Gabriel rested his elbows on the desk, steepling his fingers. “Many years ago, when Adrien was still a boy, my wife and I took a trip to Tibet.”

Master Fu was startled by this abrupt change in topic, but didn’t comment.

“There was a jewelry artisan there, peddling his wares. Most of his pieces were garbage, but there were two that stood out from the rest. A peacock and a butterfly brooch. I bought them as a pair, the butterfly for me, and the peacock for my wife. The artisan admitted that he wasn’t the original creator, that the jewels had been discovered in a cavern nearby, along with a book. I bought that as well.”

Master Fu listened intently, not saying a word.

“Soon after returning to Paris, my wife and I discovered the truth of our brooches. The kwamis appeared one day, and allowed us to transform. I used Nooroo as a muse, taking inspiration when given. My wife, likewise used Duusuu to create sentimonsters, just of small size, to keep around as pets, and even more artistic inspiration. We, of course, hid this from Adrien.” Gabriel stood suddenly, and beckoned Fu to follow him.

The old man did so, with some level of caution.

Gabriel went to the painting of his wife, gesturing to the spot next to him.

As Master Fu stepped up to look at the woman, Gabriel continued. “While we prospered in business and bonded over this magic and strengthened our marriage, my wife became sick. It started with a cough. Then coughing fits that had her doubled over. She was extremely weak and had more and more dizzy spells. Eventually, we realized it was because the peacock Miraculous was broken, but by then, it was too late.” He reached out, and pushed a sequence of buttons on the canvas, the floor shuddering and beginning to sink underneath them.

Master Fu had to scoot closer as the elevator descended.

They took the ride in silence, eventually coming into a cavernous atrium. There were trees and a garden up ahead.

Still wary, Master Fu followed Gabriel down the steel bridge, ending up in front of a glass coffin, with the woman in the painting asleep inside.

Fu gasped at the sight.

“She’s in a coma.” Gabriel explained, with real, actual sorrow in his voice. “And there’s no way for her to wake up. I wanted the Black Cat and Ladybug miraculous…because Nooroo told me together they create ultimate power, and that I could make any wish I wanted. I could wish for Emilie to wake up. I’d…I’d have her back again. Then I wouldn’t need the Miraculous after that. You could have them back!” He swallowed. “I know the world thinks I’m selfish, awful, cruel, and they probably imagine the worst case scenario if I were to get them. I might take over the world, or destroy it…or something equally evil. But…all I wanted was my wife back…for my son to have his mother back.”

They stood there in silence, as Master Fu digested all the information he just received.

“I’m sorry.” He began. “But…even if you had both of the Miraculous, things would not go the way you’d want them to.”

Gabriel turned to face him, indicating that he was listening, but not doing more than that.

“The wish from ultimate power works in equivalent exchange. It changes what is true, but only by a step. If you wished for unfathomable riches, someone else would lose their wealth. If you wished for power, someone in power would fall. And…if you wished for your wife to wake, someone else dearly beloved by you would fall into a coma in her stead. Most likely, Adrien.”

Gabriel let out an anguished moan at the news, holding his arms over his chest.

“Further more, the Miraculous, when used together, take a toll on the body. Marinette used the mouse, the fox, the cat, and the Ladybug at the same time, but as different versions of herself, because of the mouse miraculous. If she had activated them all together at once, she would have fallen ill, or even died. It was a heavy enough burden even to wear them.

“If you were to activate the Cat and Ladybug at the same time, and survive that intense power, you’d never be the same person.”

“So what am I going to do?” He dropped his arms in frustration. “Let her go? I can’t! She’s still here! Still alive!”

Master Fu looked back to the coffin. “Do you mind if I examine her?”

With a sigh, Gabriel pressed a button on the coffin, opening it. “Please hurry. She can’t survive long without the respirator.”

Fu nodded and got to work, feeling her wrist, and her neck right under her jaw. He pressed softly on her temple, and pinched the base of her neck.

“How long has she been in this state?”

“Four years.”

He rested the back of his hand against her nose.

“Well?” Asked Gabriel, now becoming impatient.

“She can be saved.” Fu determined, backing away from her and allowing the lid to close again.

“What will it take?”

“Time, and money.” Fu said outright. “Because of you awakening the old sentimonster from Tibet, the temple of the guardians has been restored. If you were to send Emilie and the peacock miraculous there, they would surely be able to help her. But they will most likely take the Miraculous in exchange. And…I don’t know how long it will take for her to be healed.”

Gabriel breathed. A real, true breath of relief. “Money is no problem. I can send the private jet there and have a helicopter waiting on site. As for time…I’ve waited this long. I can wait a little longer.”

“You should also send whoever is currently using the Peacock too. Mayura is not well.”

“Nathalie…she would be the best to go anyways, to explain to the monks what has happened.”

“I will write a letter,” said Fu. “They don’t speak French.”

“I would go too, but I have to be here for Adrien. I…I hate that I have to pick between them.”

“Emilie will be in good hands.” Master Fu assured.

Gabriel took Fu’s hand in a firm handshake. “Thank you, Mr. Fu. This eases my mind. The thought of losing both of them…” He harshly inhaled, holding in emotion. “…is not something I’d like to think about.”

“I understand. I will prepare the arrangements for the flight.”

—

Detective Joseph Bertony. One of Europol’s best and brightest. A sharp man who lived a hard life.

He’d seen some shit.

At present, he’s at his hotel room in Le Grand Paris, reviewing the facts. Again.

There were countless coffee cups strewn all over the room, as he had been awake for days watching and noting everything in the stream.

The hotel room looked like a library had diarrhea. Papers and maps were scattered across every surface.

Among it all, the detective stood looking at the map on the coffee table. The very same map that Alya and Nino had marked a few days prior. The detective had his own map, in which he cross-referenced with theirs.

His map was covered in little red ‘X’s, of all the places his hunches had taken him to.

Given the report he had just received, he crossed one more location off.

There was only one left.

It couldn’t be.

But all the evidence made sense! Every scrap of information he had snagged, every bit of information logged from the servers in Montparnasse.  

They weren’t in Germany at all! They were—

There was a knock at the door.

The detective didn’t answer. He had put the ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign on the handle. Why was anyone bothering him?

Another knock. “Room service.”

“I’m busy!” He shouted back, rather harshly. God, he was so tired!

The interloper persisted, and knocked again, harder.

Annoyed about being interrupted, the detective crossed the floor to the threshold. “Look, I’m really not in need of anything, so if you could just leave me—“

He opened the door, only to stare into the barrel of a gun.

And then—

[primalinfinity]

Honestly, upon re-watching Harry Potter & The Philosophers Stone, I actually kinda understand why Hermione is the way she is on the Hogwarts Express at the beginning. She gets a lot of flack for being so utterly arrogant and stuck up during that scene, and I get that. But. She is a Muggleborn, not only that but a bookworm, and an only child, so I think it's fair to assume she didn't have a great deal many friends in her childhood. And then all of a sudden she's told she has a unique skill, she's SPECIAL, and it's right in her skillset because it's based on studying theory. So on the Hogwarts Express, she's been told she's got a special gift and in her eyes she's already mastered her gift To The Best Of Her Current Ability. She likely bought all her schoolbooks ASAP and read them all. So she's like the lonely kid who's discovered their naturally great at riding a unicycle, and now she's riding her unicycle everywhere to show to the Other Kids that SHE can ride a unicycle and they can't so Get A Load Of Her. So her telling Ron to show her his spell on the train, is her saying “Oh yeah? Show me how YOU ride a unicycle then.” It's why I think she's gradually humbled throughout the course of the first film (yes, film, books are a whole different thing) and why she takes the mockery from the others so hard. Ron, for example, has grown up around magic. It’s NOTHING to him. Magic is to him what wifi has become to us. It’s nothing. So it’s nothing to him to mock her for the pride and degree of arrogance she has with her own talent for magic. To him, he’s... making fun of someone for having slower internet than him, which we’ve pretty much all done and it’s nothing to us, but to her it’s utterly belittling. He’s hammering into her that she’s STILL what she was.

There’s already been commentary on here about how insane it is that Harry isn’t totally invested in the Awesome Homework that they get to do, meanwhile Hermione smashes herself into it. It’s implied that it’s just because she’s a bookworm and a hard worker (definitely filling in her role as the Logos of the trio), but we like to believe it’s because she sees Magic Homework the same way I would see getting to write an essay on The History Of The Dwemer from Elder Scrolls. It’d be amazing and good luck stopping me.

She doesn’t have Harry’s natural talent for magic that Harry seems to have. He’s not a particularly precise wizard, there’s not a whole lot of finesse to what he does. He just has a great deal of natural power, incredible instincts, and luck. But that doesn’t really bother her because she can see he’s just as out of his comfort zone as she is. So she gets along with him far better, and has far less of a problem with him. (Honestly I could write entire essays on their friendship alone, and how much it meant to me over the years.) Hermione has always been one of the most important fictional characters to me ever written or created. Right up there with Solas, Revan, Paarthurnax, and Corvo Attano. So yeah.

[satire-please]

Take a Sad Song and Make it Better - Part 4

Day 4 - Vacation = From the beach to camping in mountains, it’s up to you.

The Bats go to the beach facing a deadly foe...the sun.

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

Tim wishes Dick would calm down on family vacations.

Just take a chill pill. Let Tim breath every once in a while, yes he needs those ribs, no he doesn’t need another layer of sunscreen. Fine. He lied, are you happy, Dick? Are you happy? Yes, give him more sunscreen. Fine, smear more of on his back, slather it on, give him a new paint job, he’s always wanted to be as white as the moon.

Sure, his ass is pasty but he plans to keep it that way, thanks.

Because the alternative? Is Jason.

Red Lobster, not mobster Jason.

Who currently writhes on the towel under the giant beach umbrella. His skin a red and peeling mess. There was a time when he declared sunscreen was for sissies. Now he growls and snarls at someone who dares to exceed a three feet radius of him. Only Alfred is allowed in the giant personal bubble, especially since the man approaches with a vast array of Aloe Vera and items to make the burn...burn less.

The sun loves a chosen few. It does not love Jason or Tim.

“Just lemme die again, Alfie. You got the gravestone and everything already. All ya need is new flowers.” He groans.

“Enough chatter Master Jason, please lean up so I can apply this to your dear shoulders.”

“Lemme die. I wanna. I can’t take it anymore. Where’s my gun?”

“Have you forgotten young sir? There is not a single firearm on the island. Nor any implements sharper than a butter knife. Nor a single internet wifi connection. Not even remote satellite will work here.” The last facts are spoken louder for Tim’s benefit.

He winces. Ouch, he’s not that bad, is he?  

Meanwhile, Jason’s whole face crumples in betrayal. “Alfie, how could ya?”

“I may have insisted on the help of a Super in our acquaintance. Clark was quite willing to scan the island several times to validate my request to make this a nonworking vacation.”

Bruce flinches minutely in a beach chair a few yards away. In his hands is a book. Tim swears by Dick’s perfect butt that Bruce isn’t even reading it. Bets it’s a cover for his ugly guilty mug.

It was Bruce’s bags that had to be checked the most….and repacked. More than once.

Thick cool globs squirt over his neck and Tim jerks only to be held in place by Dick. The grip on his shoulder firm. “Come on guys, it’s only three days! All of you could use a good dose of vitamin sea. Plus it’s overkill when your own butler has to blackmail you into taking a break!”

“Using his birthday was a dirty move,” Tim mutters out of the side of his mouth.

Alfred slowly turns his head towards Tim. One eyebrow raised. “Was it, Master Timothy?”

Tim looks away quickly. Dick takes advantage of the angle to cover his nose and cheeks in the greasy stuff that will save his life.

“It’s okay not to be workaholic for once, Timmy,” He coos. “Just think of all the fun we’ll have here!”

Tim swears Dick and Alfred must have planned this. Planned to use the butler’s birthday as an excuse, to spring a trap none of them could escape from. No one can say no to Alfred.

Not when he blew out the candle on a cupcake Jason made and Dick asked (deliberately) what he wished for.

Not when the man’s eyes grew soft and wistful. His words so quiet that no one dared interrupt with a breath.

No one rejected that request. No one.

They’re all distracted when loud laughter bursts from near the umbrella. Stephanie points a dainty finger at him and snickers, “Oh my gosh, Tim. Dick can stop now. The beacons are lit, Gondor calls for aid!” Tim scowls and Dick just works on his forehead.

Besides her, Cass nods with approval under a wide brim. The sunhat is huge, but armor takes many forms. “Look good.” She gives him a thumb up.

“Thanks, Cass. Shut it, Steph.”

She just snickers harder, “No can do, ex-boyfriend. You’re just jealous you can’t tan...like me.” She motions to miles of silky bronze skin. Steph does have the best beach body. She’s even wearing a yellow polka-dot bikini. Tim isn’t jealous...much. Just annoyed when he shifts and more sand sticks to his oily ankles. “But don’t worry, you’re the still the ‘fairest’ one of all.”

He should throw sand at her.

“There! All done.” Dick cheerfully beams, “What should we do first?”

“Bury annoying girls in the sand?”

Steph sticks her tongue at him.

“No. Tim. Remember when you tried to do that to Damian?”

Oh, yeah. Tim remembers that. He thought he was going to die. Damian proved that he has more stamina than him. The boy used to this heat, and almost chased him up a coconut tree. Speaking of, where was the assassin child?

“Father?”

Oh. There. But Tim notices something off about the kid. It’s not the bucket in hand, a small shovel inside. It’s the way he swings it slightly, almost hesitant.

“May I offer a suggestion on possible activities?” He asks. His eyes dart to the side, unable to look at anyone directly.

Everyone waits for Bruce’s answer. If he makes the wrong one, guess there will be someone to bury in the sand.

“Go on, Damian. What is it?”

“There are tidepools further up the shore, we could scavenge and classify possible specimen together.”

Cass perks up. “Tidepools?” she echoes.

“That’s a wonderful idea, Dami!” Damian bounces over to him, Damian dodges the first hug but isn’t fast enough to dodge the second. “I don’t think Cass has ever seen those. We’ll look at sea urchins–”

“You can eat those, you know.”

“Ewwwww, gross Tim,” grouses Steph.

“–play with the starfish. Later we can hunt for sand crabs and ohhhhhh poke at anemones. Maybe even find something for Jason, since he’s stuck–”

“In Hell.” Jay hisses. “Where I belong. Now go get me something pretty. And a book. Bruce gimme your book.”

“So let’s all go now. We need to seas the day!” Dick jokes. But his tone has an edge though, one that books no questions.

“Fine. It is a great suggestion, Damian.” Bruce gives his youngest a small smile. The boy's lips twist in a tiny one back at him. A real one. Not a smirk, but a shy thing he covers with a hand. The Bat stands and tosses the book to Jason and leans to take the pail. “Let’s go.”

Alfred just watches them leave all content. This may be one of his best presents yet. Perhaps it is a request he shall have to make it again.

And again.

And again.  

[longroadstonowhere]

another chapter of wild child freshly published - next chapter should come out a few weeks from now, and the last one a few weeks after that

this, by the way, is a chapter that gave me weird amounts of trouble - weird because there was no reason for the trouble, it just didn’t want to be written for some reason

but hey, here we are now

(1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 ao3)

Somehow, the inside of the house was even more ridiculous to the outside. That was mostly thanks to the gigantic wizard statue just inside the front door, but there were plenty of other bizarre things scattered all around the first floor - fantastical figures and a bronzed vacuum, plus books piled haphazardly next to any kind of seat. It was absolutely nothing like the Egbert house.

In fact, it was almost like the island.

Jade stopped short at the painful burst of emotion that observation gave her. The adults were too tied up in their conversation to really notice, and John was already snooping around their bookcases, leaning up on his tip toes to see what kinds of books the Lalondes had. The only person who saw her freeze was Bec, who shoved his snout into her hand. Automatically she reached back to scratch behind his ears, and that little bit of motion helped bring her back to where she was.

Breathing in deep to clear her mind, she gave Bec a few more enthusiastic scritches. "Thanks, boy," she said quietly to him. Bec just pushed into her with his head before loping over to sniff at a fallen wizard bust.

"It will be simply wonderful, having you all stay with us!" Doctor Lalonde was saying to Mr. Egbert as they moved up the stairs. "Just wait until you see the observatory, completely worth the cost when you see just how gorgeous the stars are at night out here..." Her voice trailed off as the adults disappeared upstairs, leaving John and Jade alone. John seemed comfortable enough poking around, but Jade had barely moved away from the front door. What was she supposed to do?

Before her trepidation could build up too high, a door in the corner opened, and a young girl peeked through the gap. "Oh, so you two did come. Mother said all three of you would be here, but she's never been the best at proper communication."

Jade sucked her lip between her teeth and shared a look with John, who looked about as confused as she felt. "Um..." Jade started to say something, but she had no idea she was supposed to say here. Nothing she'd seen or read or done had prepared her for meeting somebody like this.

The girl didn't act angry or even surprised at their reactions - at least as far as Jade could tell. "Judging by your expressions, you don't know much about me, correct?" She barely paused before continuing. "As I said, she lacks in proper communication skills. Thank the unspeakable gods for the internet, or else I'd never have learned any myself." She stuck out her hand. "My name is Rose. Rose Lalonde. Truly a pleasure to meet you both."

At the sight of her outstretched hand, John grinned and strode forward with his own hand out. "Hi! I'm John! Your house is like some kind of movie set, it's awesome!" Looking at his hand, Jade could only just make out the flesh-colored strap he used for his hand-jolty thing. Before she could even think about it, she was rushing to his side and grabbing his wrist just as he was about to shake Rose's hand. "John! I'm pretty sure it's rude to prank someone the very first time you're meeting them!"

John scowled and tried to pull his hand away. "Aw, Jade! That was the perfect set-up! I can't believe you ruined this for me." After he yanked his arm uselessly around a few times, Jade finally let go, giving him a scowl of her own. Pulling the device off his hand and sticking it back in his pocket, he said, "Honestly, the first time you meet someone is the best time to prank them, since they have no idea what to expect. I can't believe you've been living with us for months now and you still don't get the true core of pranking."

Any response Jade had for that left her brain when she realized Rose was still standing there with her hand out. "Oh geez, sorry Rose, that was rude too, wasn't it?" Jade sucked her lip in between her teeth again. All these social rules were really hard to get right. It felt like she still had way too much to learn.

After a second, Rose just smiled and put her hand down. "Actually, that's not the worst thing someone has done when I've tried to introduce myself. That was... refreshingly straightforward." Jade's brow furrowed a little as she looked at John, because that wasn't what people usually acted like when he tried to prank them. He looked kinda surprised, too, but Rose continued speaking before Jade could try to figure out what else his expression said. "Come, Mother will be giving your father a grand tour of the premises, which will take some time. Let me show you where you'll be staying." With that, she pivoted and opened the door to the room she'd entered from.

John just shrugged at Jade before following Rose into the next room. Jade looked around for Bec and found him sprawled out by some couches, perfectly content to rest for now it seemed. Since he was doing fine, she followed John and Rose.

The room looked like it used to be used for storage or paperwork - there was a desk crammed into one corner and a few boxes lining the walls. Now, though, it was dominated by three beds, beds that seemed way too nice to be temporary. Rose smiled as she gestured to them grandly. "Mother couldn't bear the thought of forcing any guests to sleep on something so crass as a pull-out couch, so she brought these in as soon as we knew you were coming."

"Sweet!" John jumped on the closest bed. "Wow, this mattress is super nice! I thought we'd just be like crashing on a couch or sleeping on the floor or something. This is way better."

"Indeed. It'll be something of a shame to lose this minor haven, but sacrifices must be made to accommodate visitors," Rose said.

Jade tilted her head. "Do you not like the rest of your house?" Rose was talking as though she liked to hide away in this ignored room, but the house was so big, why would she stay here?

Rose looked a little shocked at Jade's question. She took a little time before speaking - organizing her thoughts, maybe? Jade did that herself a lot, but most of the people she talked with didn't seem to think about what they had to say next. "The house is fine," Rose finally said. "My apologies, I have something of a... flair for the dramatic that overtakes me on occasion. Please, pay no mind to my eccentricities. I assure you they are merely a personal failing."

John scooted to the edge of the bed, letting his feet dangle over the side. "I wouldn't call it a failing if that's just how you are. I mean, Jade still acts like a dog half the time but nobody blames her for that."

"Hey!" Jade yelped, trying not to laugh. "And what about your pranks, huh?"

"My pranks," John began gravely, "are the result of generations of hard work at mastering the art of comedic slapstick. It would be a heinous crime for me not to prank everyone around me, as it would be wasting the lives of all those heroes who -"

John's speech was interrupted by Jade tackling him onto the bed and tickling him as hard as she could. The pair wrestled back and forth for a while until an unfamiliar laugh reminded them they weren't at home. They both looked at Rose, who was holding both her hands over her mouth, like she was trying to keep any other laughs from escaping.

Jade sheepishly stood up from the bed. "Sorry, Rose, was that rude?" She'd been feeling antsy from all the traveling and it had felt good to goof around a little, but you probably weren't supposed to wrestle people under someone else's roof.

For her part, Rose just waved one hand in the air. "No offense taken, I'm just... not used to such antics. I wasn't expecting it."

John clambered off the bed and dramatically dusted off his clothes, straightening himself out after their brief tussle. "So, what's your room like? Do you have any cool video games?"

Rose froze for a second, and Jade felt again a similarity to her own actions. I didn't think I'd meet anyone who had to think as much as I do about what they're supposed to do next. Rose probably wasn't freezing for the same reason, but it felt almost nice, just the same.

Rose didn't freeze for long - very quickly she was sweeping into a flourishing bow and gesturing out of the room. "It would be my honor to escort you both on a tour of my abode. Please, follow me." She led John and Jade up the stairs and into her bedroom.

Rose's bedroom was a little small, which was a big contrast to what Jade had seen of the house so far. It fit her bed, a desk, a bookcase, and a dresser, but there wasn't much space between all these things. It might've just looked smaller than it was because of all the stuff strewn about the floor - a few knitted things tossed here and there, and sloppy piles of books like she'd seen downstairs.

"Whoa!" John ran to the window and looked outside. "This window is awesome! All I can see out my window is our front yard, and that is way less cool than this."

"Being surrounded by a forest on all sides does allow for a majestic view, I suppose," Rose stated mildly. "It does wreak havoc on the wifi signal, though."

Jade looked around the room curiously. The only other bedroom she'd visited before was John's, and it was interesting to see how differently Rose lived. As she looked past the bed, a bit of bright color grabbed her attention. Moving closer, it looked like part of an arm for a stuffed animal was sticking out from under the bed. Or, not an arm... a tentacle?

"Wait, is that..." Jade knelt down and reached for the plushie, not noticing Rose's quick "Ah...!" As she pulled it out, Jade grinned widely. "It is! It's a Squiddle! Oh wow, Dave told me nobody would be into this show anymore!"

"A Squiddle?" John turned away from the view out the window to look at the lush squid creature. "Wow, yeah, I haven't thought of that show in a long time."

Rose coughed. "I haven't either, of course. Honestly, I'm surprised I still have that thing. I thought I'd gotten rid of it ages ago."

"Why would you want to get rid of Plumthroat? He's always there for his friends, even if he messes up from time to time." Jade smiled down at the Squiddle. She'd watched the entire show over the course of a Sunday, and although it had been pretty unrealistic, the joy of watching the colorful friends pull each other out of trouble time and time again had drawn her into watching the next episode as fast as possible until there weren't any left. "Do you have any of the others, like Creamsicle or Princess Berryboo?"

"Ah..." Rose looked away, her hands clasped in front of her, one finger tapping against the back of her hand. "I might have one or two more... tucked away somewhere."

"Awesome!" Jade smiled wide. Now she had something more in common with Rose. This trip could really turn out to be the start of something great.

After dinner that evening, Paul stepped out the front door to indulge in his pipe. He'd been trying to cut back, but addiction is a powerful thing, after all. He moved towards the river a little way, so as to help dissipate the smell. Pulling on his pipe, he gazed up at the stars.

Footsteps behind him gave him warning that his solitude would soon be broken. He turned to find Dr. Lalonde picking her way carefully down the path, a half-finished wine glass in her hand. "It really is a wonderful view here," Paul said. "Thank you again for funding our travel expenses. I'm glad John was able to experience something like this."

The doctor laughed and gestured wildly with her glass. "Any time, honestly. One of the best things I've spent money on in a long time, believe me." She took another sip and looked up at the stars herself, sharing in a quiet moment with Paul.

"She could be happy here, I think," Paul spoke. "She's been adjusting amazingly well, but I'm still afraid that it will all be too much for her - too many people, too many rules..." He sighed. "If only she could have come here first."

"Jake was always shoddy with details," Dr. Lalonde responded. "I'm glad you reached out for her - by the time I was contacted by his estate's lawyers, she could've been passed between a dozen foster homes." She laid a hand on Paul's arm, who covered it with one of his own. "And of course, if Jade does have to stay with me, I'll help you and John visit as much as possible. She should know her family."

Paul swallowed past the lump in his throat a few times before trying to speak. "Yes, I... I would appreciate that very much, doctor. Thank you."

"Oh, please call me Roxy!" She shoved at him playfully. "I'm not a doctor outside of the lab, just a mother." She sighed. "And definitely not a well-schooled one. I do my best with Rose, but..." She trailed off, her eyes following the flowing river. She smiled suddenly, turning to Paul with a brightness that seemed a little false. "I'm amazed at how quickly John and Jade befriended her, though! They looked like they were having a grand time together before dinner."

Paul felt a small proud smile grow on his face. "John has a strong talent for getting along with everyone, and Jade has made great strides since she moved in with us. I'm glad to see the three of them getting along so well." He took a final drag from his pipe and blew the smoke out smoothly. "So, the lawyer is coming the day after tomorrow, right?"

"Yep, that's right," Roxy stated simply. "They'll want everything tied up neatly at that point."

"Well then, tomorrow will bring an important discussion, and we should get some rest." Turning back to the house he offered his arm to Roxy. "Shall we?"

Roxy smiled coyly at him as she took his arm, and the pair made their way to rest for the following day.