#perfect way to start the school year yippee

[hana-bobo-finch]

went on the laptop that I use for school stuff and this was the last thing I’d ever done on it, a portrait of pikmin characters I drew on ms paint while having a panic attack over standardized testing back in April <3

[starpotionz]

Subway stops

Rise! Donnie x Gender Neutral! Reader

IM BACK BITCHES! Sorry it took so long, life got crazy man. But I’m at college now so yippee! And I finally present you with my long awaited Donatello one shot subway stops

Enjoy!

The first time you ever met Donatello was precisely 8 years and 6 months ago. A very specific amount of time, but since that first moment where small tear filled eyes meet the gaze of wide shocked ones you’ve counted the days between each meeting you inevitably have with the purple terrapin. Especially after you two became romantically intertwined, but I digress.

You met him when you were 6. One of your front teeth had fallen out earlier that morning so your cheery mood couldn’t even begin to be dampened. Clutching tightly onto your mother’s hand, your tiny feet stumbled across the concrete floors of the New York Subway station. She had just retrieved you from your mandatory after school extracurricular activity and wanted to get the both you home as soon as possible. It was Dad’s turn to make dinner that night. You remembered him mentioning it that morning before your mother took you to school.

Your father’s cooking by all means wasn’t perfect, but he was definitely the better cook out of your parents. Your mother’s stride quickened as she weaved through the thick crowd of New Yorkers.

In the corner of your eye you saw an old poster for the 5th Lou Jitsu movie on the wall. Your interest was immediately peaked and you slowed down your jog to stare at it longer. You stood there admiring the poster as your mother’s grip slipped and she continued through the crowd without you.

It was a few moments of uninterrupted admiring went bye till you reached to squeeze your mother’s hand but it wasn’t there. She was gone and you were left all alone.

All

Alone ……

Shocked to your core, you numbly glance back at the Lou Jitsu poster hoping it’ll bring you comfort.

Someone shoved into you as they were heading towards their own destination and the impact brown your resolve. You started bawling and ran towards the least crowded area you could see with your blurry vision.

Everything was caving in on you, ringing all around. There was no way out. No salvation. No mom to comfort you.

No one

No way out

NO

WAY

OUT

“Um.. A-are you ok?” A small voice inquired. You shoved you face farther into your arms. During your panic you had fallen and closed in upon yourself for some semblance of comfort.

“ ‘mn not ok. I’m lost and I don’t have my mommy a-and someone shoved me and I-I-I” you could barely get out a full sentence before the tears came out like a flood.

This startled the other child and he sat down next to you rocking back and forth. “I’m not the best at comforting others, but I promised my brothers I’d try so uh don’t cry…..please.”

You glanced up from your arms and sniffed “…..you really aren’t good at comforting”

“HEY! AT LEAST IM TRYING! Empathy isn’t really my thing” he snapped. Looking at his face you realized he was a turtle… or well a turtle who looked human. Or was he a Herman looking turtle-ANYWAY back to the turtle boy thing.

“Well..” you pondered “what is your thing Mr. Turtle” Your lips upturned a bit at his frustration, he may not be good at comforting but he was really funny to talk too that’s for sure.

“I’m glad you asked peasant for I am the greatest GENUIS SCIENTIST, DONATELLO! You can applaud now. Go ahead.” He boasted as he waved his three fingered hand at you, urging you to clap.

You snickered as a laugh bubbled from your chest, “Oh yea? Great and powerful scientist Donatello. What science do you do?”

“I invent things obviously” he rolled his eyes. Donatello’s face went blank for a moment, his eyes focused ahead as he mulled over a thought. He looked back at you and thought once more before speaking again.

“You can call me Donnie, not even my dad calls me Donatello.” He fiddled with his fingers “-WAIT! you never told me your name”

“My name? Oh uh-“ you uttered your name to Donnie and he nodded as he repeated it.

“Well now that we are properly acquainted-“

Donnie stopped his sentence as both of you hear your name being frantically yelled. The woman sounded heartbroken and desperate to find you. Wait, you knew who that was.

“MOMMA!” you jumped up as you faced her direction. You couldn’t see her from where you were but she was here. She had really came.

“Is that your mom?” Donnie asked. His words startled you as you quickly turned around to face him.

“Yea it is” Your tone got quieter, but an idea popped into you head and you jumped up startling the port turtle, “ Hey, let’s be friends ok? I think your funny so um meet me here tomorrow ok?” You proposed with stars in your eyes.

“Oh uh yea ok.” Donnie nodded, taking over your proposition, “Yea I’ll see you tomorrow right here”

“Right here!” You smiled at him and grabbed his hands to swing around with your own. Your mother cried your name and you yelled back to her that your coming.

You took one last look at Donnie before you let his hands go and went back to your mother’s waiting arms. As you were walking , you turned around to walk backwards and yelled “TOMMOROW!”

Donnie gave a small smile and cupped his hands over his mouth to yell back “TOMORROW!”

He waved as you turned back around rushing towards your frantic mother. Yeah Donnie was definitely looking forward to tomorrow. After all, he had his own special friend to hang out with and show how cool he was.

Tomorrow was gonna be amazing.

It took me two years BUT ITS DONE HAHAHAHAH also Imma change my name cause I’m not felling my old one anymore. As always Thxs for reading and Cowabunga

[camirazone]

Miracle of Chu: The Rogues Gallery

It wouldn’t be a good superhero story without some villains, although really only one of them is an actual villain and the other two were dragged into this nonsense.

Without further ado, here is our gang!

Sapphirus.

The whole story starts because of Sig accidentally finding the peacock miraculous on a search for bugs. He’s granted the power to become Sapphirus, who can make sentimonsters, and Sig just goes “why not lmao” and starts making some bug friends. Unfortunately he loses control of them pretty quickly due to being pretty new to his powers and they start causing issues, making him the catalyst for the events to unfold. 

Thank god for Argos existing as it gave me some good reference for what a male Mayura may look like. Thanks to @greenysoliatre​ for her original design as well which you can see next to Black Sig. Eventually he ditches the hood once everyone realizes he’s not a threat at all, but they still have a lot of work to do.

Lepidoptera

“Who the hell is this” This is Carmen, Greeny’s OC and sort of the catalyst for why this AU even became a thing in the first place. She found the butterfly miraculous in Oshare’s shop, the latter finding it randomly and thinking it looked ugly, so he put it up for sale at a cheap price. Carmen is immediately rushed into action by Nooroo, who tells her about a great threat, and feeling bad for buying her way into being a hero, she accepts the offer and becomes Lepidoptera. Initially she believes Sig’s sentimonsters are the great threat, so using her powers, she can turn the citizens of Primp into champions...until THEY’RE mistaken for the great threat. Of course, while everyone is tangled up in a huge misunderstanding, the real threat is lurking in the shadows.

I don’t have much to say on her design wise, other than that I was watching way too many Callimara videos for my own good and gave Greeny the idea to add a hat because I liked the idea of it looking quite sinister. She ditches it after it’s revealed she’s also not really much of a threat.

Drache

By far one of my favorite characters to write. Ayashii sounded like a kwami name, so we decided to make him a core part of the story.

Long ago, when Accord was Chat Noire, she was up against the all powerful demon Ayashii. Before Ayashii could get away with all the Miraculous, she used cataclysm to strip him of his corporeal form. This caused the miraculous to get spread out across the world and possibly other dimensions as well, but that part is irrelevant. Ayashii was lodged into the Dragon Miraculous, taking over the kwami’s body. Conveniently, it happened to be the kwami of perfection.

Years later, while Klug has a rough day at school, he goes home only to find one of Lepidoptera’s butterflies going about. Curious, he touches it and is accidentally turned into a champion. Of course his ass is kicked pretty quickly by Coccinella and Chat Noire, so he’s a little upset at losing this cool power. Luckily, or I suppose unluckily, he find the Dragon Choker, and thinking someone lost it, he just keeps it on him hoping to find the owner. Ayashii grins, finding a new body after all these years.

Now Drache goes around menacingly, hoping to get all the Miraculous in hopes of world domination. He is able to use the 5 Chinese Zodiac Elements (Fire, Water, Wood, Metal, and Earth) at his disposal (The OG show only really had Water, Lightning, and Wind which is kinda unfitting with Ryuko’s design.) His hair is blue here because it reflects the elemental dragons in Chinese mythos, who were blue. Longg was also that color before Ayashii’s possession of him, so it definitely adds to it. 

Character design isn’t my strong suit but it is definitely fun. Now we got our whole crew done. (Yippee!!)

[wrrrenff]

Fireworks

Super Mario Bros. Universe Luigi x GN! reader Synopsis: The Mario brothers are back in town after 6 years throwing a New Years Eve party. Your old crush Luigi will be there. Will he remember you? Warnings: Brief mentions of bullying.

It’s New Year's Eve already. Welp, another year wasted. Still stuck at your dead-end job, no relationships, a few close friends but we didn’t do much this year. You can’t be too surprised though. The past few years have been pretty much the same. And the perfect end to such a boring year, you’ll count down on your couch with your cat and a beer. Yippee…

*buzz* *buzz*

You look towards you phone that’s plugged in on your nightstand. Hmm, wonder who that could be. You go to your phone and unlock it to see a text from your friend Pauline.

Pauline: superstar wyd tonight?

You: absolute dog shit. U?

Pauline: yay! the mario bros are back in town and they decided to throw a nye party and YOU are coming with me :)

A party, huh? Not typically your scene but it would be nice to end the year with a bang. And you liked the Mario bros. You didn’t know Mario too well but you were super close friends with Luigi in your school days. You guys were best friends until the brothers moved ‘out of town’. Nobody really knows where they moved but hey, as long as they’re happy. As long as he’s happy. You missed the younger twin so much. It would be nice to see them him again.

You: ok yeah that sounds fun

Pauline: i knew you’d be down. be ready at 10 ok?

You looked at the clock. You had about 2 and a half hours until the party. Better start getting ready. I mean, you want to look good for this reunion, right? You go to your closet and scour through your dresses and jumpers until you land on the PERFECT piece! Now that that decision has been made, you lay your choice out on the bed and go take a shower. As you stand there, the hot water raining down, shaving your legs, you start to think back on your memories with the younger twin. 

You met when some kids were bullying him at recess in the 2nd grade. He was curled up under the slide crying while these two 3rd graders made fun of his overalls. I stepped in front of the boy and kicked one of those third graders right in the gut. Totally worth it. From there it was history. As the years went on you and luigi had grown so close. In middle school you developed a crush on him but it was clear he never felt the same way. Any time you flirted with him he just never seemed interested. So you pushed your feelings aside. You were content staying friends. A part of you never let go of those feelings though. 

The razor nicked your leg, snapping you out of your thoughts. Now was not the time to think about your crush. Besides, he’s probably got a beautiful partner now. There’s no way someone hasn’t snatched him but in the past 6 years. Anyways, you finish up shaving, washing, and hop out of the shower. You dry off, blow-dry and style your hair and then sit down to do your makeup. You debated between full glamor and something nice and subtle, ultimately deciding to go with the latter. Sitting in front of your vanity, it finally hits you. You're actually going to see Luigi after so long. You want somebody to pinch you! You wonder if Pauline told him you’re coming or if he’s going to be totally blindsided. Would he even be excited to see you after so long? You hoped yes but to be honest, you don’t know. It’s been so long and he might have changed. He could have completely forgotten about you. God, you hoped that wasn’t true. In fact, you’re just going to tell yourself that he hadn’t forgotten or else you’d spiral and you’re in far too deep at this point to back out.

You finish your makeup and slip into your garment. After putting on your shoes, you take one final look at yourself all put together. Not bad. If you saw yourself from across the room you would absolutely go up to yourself and hit on you. Perfect. You check the clock and you’re about 3 minutes ahead of when Pauline said she’d be here. You decided you would go ahead and wait outside for her. Just as you lock your door you hear a whistle followed by the voice of your friend.

“DAMN BABE YOU CLEAN UP NICE” Oh Pauline. Thank you for giving my neighbors a reason to hate me. You quickly run to her car before she has any more chances to disturb the neighborhood. “Hey hot stuff. Are you trying to get laid tonight or what?” Your face turns a deep red color and Pauline’s face lights up. “You still have the hots for the plumber boy don’t you!” You roll your eyes already regretting accepting the invite for tonight. “Can you just drive please?!” “Fine, fine. I bet he’s gonna explode as soon as he gets a piece of you.” You decided not to acknowledge her and try to control your mind on the ride to the party.

Music starts pumping into your ears as you walk up to the house. This is it. Your old best friend is right inside. You’ve got this. You both enter the house and get a little overwhelmed at just how packed it is. But that didn’t matter because you immediately spotted green. Pauline followed your eyeline and smirked. “I’ll meet up with you later” she says and then disappears into the crowd. After waving her off you notice the elder twin dressed in a classy red suit with his arm wrapped around this gorgeous tall blonde dressed in pink. Good for him, you thought.  You then speed over to the younger twin and just before you reach him you run into some random dude and get knocked onto the ground.

“Oh! Miss, are you okay? Let me help you-” You look up and lock eyes with Luigi. He recognized you instantly and for a moment it was like time stilled and your two were the only people in the room. No, the only people on earth. You take his outstretched hand and he lifts you back on your feet. “Hey.” You take what feels like years to respond. “Hi Weegee. It’s been so long” He smiles wide at the old nickname you called him. Quickly, he wraps you up in a tight cozy hug which you are just as quick to reciprocate. “I’ve missed you so much mi amore” You were so excited to see Luigi you almost didn’t catch the name he gave you. Almost. 

After getting over the shock of seeing each other, Luigi finally takes a good look at you. “You look absolutely bellissima!” You turned red at the compliment. First the nickname and now the complement? You don’t remember Luigi ever being so forward before. Not that you were complaining. “Thank you Weegee. You look pretty handsome yourself.” He was wearing an elegant emerald green suit with a tie embroidered with green mushrooms. He looked jaw droppingly gorgeous. “So where did you and Mario end up moving all those years ago? I would’ve visited you guys if I knew where you were all these years!” At this Luigi’s face contorted to a mix of embarrassment and guilt. “Maybe we should go outside to talk '' He leads you both to the backyard where there's virtually nobody and it’s much quieter. You both sit down on a bench that faces a bird bath. “I’m so sorry I never told you we were leaving or where we went. It’s actually pretty confusing to me even to this day how it all happened. You might not even believe me.” You look at him kind of confused for a moment before smiling. “I’m sure I can understand. Try me.” You nudge his arm with your elbow. Luigi takes a deep breath and explains how he and Mario fell through this thing called a ‘warp pipe’ and landed in this place called the ‘Mushroom Kingdom’. He said for a long time they couldn’t find a way back to New York but eventually the princess of the mushroom kingdom helped them find a way to travel between the kingdom and earth. He even explained that the very princess that had helped them get home was the woman you had seen with Mario earlier.

You feel like your whole world got turned upside down. Luigi didn’t just leave you. He had no choice in the matter. But he sounded happy about living in this new kingdom. Would he just leave again forever after tonight? And don’t even get you started thinking about the fact that there's just a bunch of pipes that can send you to other worldly places!! Lost in thought, you jump when you feel Luigi’s hand on your shoulder. “Are you alright mi amore?” You take another quick moment to process everything before responding. “Luigi, it does all sound insane but I do believe you. I missed you so much. Are you planning on staying in New York now that you’ve found a pipe that connects? I need my best friend back.” Luigi looks sad. There’s something else in his expression that you can’t quite place. “The mushroom kingdom is my home now. I will come back here more often but I can’t just abandon what I’ve built there.” He pauses, takes a deep breath, and grabs your hands. “I want to go back to the mushroom kingdom but I can’t without telling you how much you mean to me. I should have done it years ago before we fell into that stupid warp pipe.”

“Luigi…” You were breathless. Was this real? Was he actually saying what you think he is saying? Your eyes start to get a little watery thinking about how you’ve been waiting for this moment for years. Luigi fully faces you and puts one hand on your cheek, his thumbs wiping away the few tears that formed. “Ever since we met I have been head over heels in love with you. Not a moment passed where I wasn’t thinking about you. Not a moment I didn’t want to hold you or kiss you. You have always been my comfort and my home. You made the hard days easier. You still do. When things get hard in the mushroom kingdom I always think of you and how amazing you are. How you’d cheer me on when things got tough.” He suddenly got very shy and started rubbing his neck. “Do you feel the same principessa?”

You were overwhelmed with love. All of the feelings you’ve been fostering for years are coming to the surface. You can’t be sure this was real. You tried to remember back to your school days, scanning the memories and finally realizing those moments where you thought Luigi was just being nice, he was flirting with you. It was all falling into place for you. You were just too caught up in your feelings for him that you didn’t realize that he did in fact like you too and he wasn’t blowing you off. “Of course I feel the same, Weegee! I just never said anything because I thought you didn’t feel the same.” At that Luigi sprung forward bringing you into a tight embrace, lifting you off the bench and spun you around the backyard. You both were so giddy with love and could not stop the giggles that sprung out. 

As your giggles died down, Luigi slowly brought you both to a stop, letting you back down on the ground. You just stare at each other, drinking each other in. You noticed his mustache and curly hair have a few grays in them. His eyes were so round and full of life. Little freckles were sprinkled across his cheeks and nose. At this moment you were sure there was no one you’d rather be with ever. “Take me with you.” You blurt out, surprising both of you. “What are you saying mia amata?” You grab hold of Luigi’s arms and lock eyes with him. “Take me with you back to the mushroom kingdom. I want to be with you. I don’t want to keep you from your home but I can’t be here if you’re not. Let's start a life together.” Now it’s Luigi’s turn to start tearing up. He can’t get any words out so he just shakes his head aggressively. 

“I love you so much Weegee.” Luigi tucks a strand of hair behind your ear. “I love you too mi amore” Luigi looks at your lips for a brief moment. You close your eyes and lean in until you feel Luigi meet your lips. The kiss was passionate, filled with more than a decade of what each of you thought was unrequited love. He tasted like basil. It was delicious. Suddenly fireworks started going off in the night sky, startling both of you and breaking up the kiss. You chuckle. “It must be midnight. Happy New Year Weegee.” Luigi leans down and gives you a sweet but quick peck in the lips. “Happy New Year vita mia.”

[pxrtalchopped]

So Shell Feed

one : ✧ prologue

a various! rise tmnt / reader fanfiction. [with textfic and lit!]

Kendra asks you to test out an app for her. Turns out, that app was not hers to let you test. And now you've stumbled into the groupchat of four vigilante, mutant turtles and consequently, their lives.

But seeing as you had just gotten out of a toxic friend group, you were luckily in dire need of a new one! So fun, how these things turn out for the better.

Posting on ao3, wattpad, and now tumblr! I hope the image formatting works omg! Enjoy!

___________________________________

Your first day of Junior Year - yippee - and you started it like any other:

Getting work done, which consisted of the same icebreaker papers like any other classroom, doodling random scribbles in your sketchbook till the clock hit next hour, and passing between hours by blasting sped up tiktok songs through your earbuds because fuck talking to people irl.

Don't get me wrong, you weren't an outcast or anything. Sure, you had interests the popular kids might not have been into (take your embarassing and reawakened FnaF phase last year-) but you were widely liked, if not, then not necessarily disliked, by most of the people in your classes.

This was kind of a given, as you've had school with a good handful of these kids in your previous years.

Take Kendra and her little crew, for example. Kendra, Jeremy and Jase had been found in almost every tech class you took as a kid. (Ez school credits you just worked off instruction books) And ignoring their incessant bickerings amoungst eachother, or the ocassional cocky and narcissisticly snide remarks they'd give you if you asked them for help - they actually quite liked you.

Liked you is a nice way of saying you were an easy target for spreading havoc that wouldn't be traced back to them.

Did you know this? No. But that wasn't your fault, you're just a little optimistic about their underlying evilness that they're surprisingly so good at hiding from faculty.

"Hey, ___!" she would coo at you, "our club is entering an app contest, and we need some people to test it out. Can't make any reviews ourselves since they'd call us out on bias, ya' know?"

- All this to say, you weren't at all suspicious when Kendra walked up to you [Jace in tow and Jeremy nowhere to be seen] with a pleasant smirk amoung her bright blue lips, and a cheery tone to boot.

-: ✧ :-　　

She put an arm around your shoulder. Her silk jacket was really cold and she smelled like mint, a scent you found common in her clubroom. Maybe it was her signature that she threw across the room every day.

In front of you, she pulled her free hand out with her phone to showcase the club's aforementioned "app".

It seemed to look exceedingly similar to Funstagram.

"Uhh.."

"Don't mention what it looks like, this is just a wip - references were needed for beta," she spoke fast and mumbled, similar to the last three seconds of a commercial as if to help you ignore the blatant copyright.

"Basically what we need you to do is make an account, converse with the... other volunteers we asked, and in about a month or so let me know how it goes!" While talking, she meagerly scrolls through the app, showing you all the functions and controls.

Then, she sends the app's downloadable apk to your phone and explains that your help would be compensated.

You weren't interested until that last part, so you hurriedly downloaded it before the next period started and got to fuckin' work.

Now, when you typed "themaincharacter" as your username you weren't necessarily thinking anything cocky, you just thought you were being funny and a little cute. No one should give it a second thought, right? You'd be fine.

You needed a profile picture.

Fucking perfect.

And now you just had to look at the explo- oh what the fuck?

Okay... randomly added to a gc immediately after creating an account. That's chill.

You felt bad for BootyyyShaker9000. Dude looked like he was about to have an aneurysm.

Or.. I guess typed like it. Yknow.

Okay, so they're kind of funny. But you're still insanely confused and they're responding exponentially fast - you're about to get a headache.

Still, you were curious about them. You want to be cautious and polite, so better not tease them in case they're trigger happy with the kick button.

....You're kind of stupid.

Oh, okay, they're much chiller than you thought! And also just as stupid as you!

Not that you didn't register their names by now, but at least you're getting somewhere with your confusion. You're still a little guilty for the purple one.

... purple guy?!!!?!? DID YOU GET SUCKED INTO FNAF?!?!

The teacher was looking at you, so you decided to put your phone away for the rest of the class.

You could feel your phone vibrate with about 20 more messages before the bell rang.

Okay, sweet. If being accepted into a group of weird nerds online [who had just literally doxxed you] wasn't enough to leave you on edge, the blackmailing threat of some unknown stranger definitely set you in a sturry.

You had a handful of guesses as to who 'April' was. You knew about three April's personally from your school but none seem the type to talk to guys of this... energy. You made a note to be extra cautious tomorrow; already planning your inconspicuous oversized hoodie and baggy sweats to wear tomorrow.

You'll look like a major red flag or depressed college student buttttt at least you'll be harder to spot in a crowd!

You turned your phone off as you headed out the doors of the school. The battery was getting pretty low anyway. Your guess? Kendra totally gave your phone some virus to get dirt or probably destroy the group of guys you'd just become friends with.

You only had a few hours left before the day ended but it was most likely going to be filled with chores and applications to a part time job now that summer's over - so your schedule was pretty low on free time.

Not to mention now you have to wake up early for your second day of school. Early hours was not something you missed in July.

...All this to say, knowing the person you are, you couldn't risk hopping back in the group chat for the rest of the night. You'd hopped on your phone last year and it would take you till 4 AM before you actually went to bed only to wake up two hours later to get dressed for school.

Oh, you missed summer. Oh, you missed lonely, miserable and depressing summer so so bad.

-: ✧ :-　　

Word count: Around 1.1k, not counting the texts.

[missnight0wl]

Here’s something interesting about the most recent plot of HPHM.

Y6Ch6:

Good news: We have consistency, guys! Yippee-ki-yay!

Bad news: I feel it might be another proof that some parts of the original Y6 were moved to Y7 and vice versa. I mean, it’d make more sense if Jacob’s search from Y6 ended in the same year. I assume we’re gonna say that R thought that the Dark Scroll is in the final Cursed Vault, but sike! It wasn’t! But still, I think it should be kept together. Either way, I believe that we can expect more messy storytelling related to Jam City mixing things up.

Of course, it’s also possible that the Dark Scroll is indeed still in the Sunken Vault – and it’s gonna be connected to the theory that we’re not done with it at all, and we’ll have to return there (like I keep saying).

All right, but let’s talk about Y7Ch23 in general because I have some thoughts.

First of all: Protego Diabolica. I don’t really mind that they included this spell, but there’s something… off about it. This is what we know from Dumbledore:

But the thing about this spell is that it doesn’t only harm one’s enemies – it recognises one’s enemies. If you don’t know, Grindelwald used Protego Diabolica in Crimes of Grindelwald to make a selection of his true followers. If someone’s intention to join him wasn’t entirely genuine – POOF! You’re dead! It almost seems like the spell has some form of Legilimency to it. So, it kind of makes sense that Dai Ryusaki would use it to protect his Dark Scroll, right? Only a person who can make good use of this dangerous weapon could safely cross the fire protection. Well, yeah, but… What if it’s the opposite?

Believe it or not, but I actually had the idea to include Protego Diabolica in my own design of the final Cursed Vault a long time ago. The thing is that its role was supposed to be to recognise a person pure of heart. Because the Cursed Vaults were allegedly created to protect something dangerous, right? So, technically, their creators should care that nobody evil could reach “the treasure”. So… Protego Diabolica could be the perfect final protection – because I believe that whether it harms good or bad people depends entirely on the intention of the caster. But… Dai Ryusaki was a Dark Wizard, so he’d want his Dark Scroll to be used for bad things… right? Well, I don’t think so.

I know I’m repeating myself at this point, but I do believe that we’re still for a big reveal that what seems evil is not really evil. The story is basically built on this idea. We started with Jacob being obsessed with the Cursed Vaults and putting the whole school in danger, but then we slowly learnt that no, Jacob was worried about people getting hurt, and R actually blackmailed him into the whole thing. In Y7, we have Corey with their talk that people can have different reasons for doing bad things. So, I really wouldn’t be surprised if a similar motive was present in the story of Dai Ryusaki. What if he actually recognised that his invention is dangerous and that’s why he wanted to hide it from everyone? What if Ryusaki himself thought that his Dark Scroll shouldn’t be used?

All right, but let’s go back to the present events and to Jacob. And the first thing I want to talk about is that we weirdly don’t talk much about how and why he got burnt. Let’s ignore for a moment my proposition that Ryusaki wasn’t really bad. Let’s say that Jacob was burnt because he doesn’t want to use the Dark Scroll for evil. It makes sense, right? Technically yes, but something still feels strange, in my opinion. For example, Jacob told us:

… but… what the hell does he mean by “a trap”? I mean, even if it was a regular fire, it’s hardly A TRAP. If anything, it’s an obstacle, protection. Like… I know vault!Jacob is an idiot, but he has to understand the meaning of the word: “a trap”. I’m sorry, but in this context, “a trap” sounds like he was expecting that he should be able to go through the fire safely. But why would he think that? 

(Because he’s the fucking evil imposter, and he thinks that the Dark Scroll is meant for evil people – that’s why.)

Another possibility I see here is that Jacob wasn’t burnt by Protego Diabolica at all. I mean, the only reason we know about this spell is Dumbledore. And all the comments we heard about Jacob’s recovery are a bit suspicious, if you ask me:

Sure, the treatment was successful in the end, but perhaps that’s just because Jacob was burnt by some imitation of Protego Diabolica. Hell, Dumbledore even mentioned that Fiendfyre is similar.

But why Jacob would be lying? Well, I explained it already in my previous post. Basically, I believe that R wants to use MC for finding another half of the Dark Scroll or the half Jacob has is not even real. It’s simply bait to send MC on the new chase, which isn’t even really new – that’s probably what it was about all that time.

[it-was-all-a-beautiful-dream]

Silva Lining (Saul Silva x Reader) Chapter 10

Warnings: swearing

Word count: 3.3k

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You were on cloud nine. Waking up in Sauls arms the next morning was the highlight of your life. Granted, you were sore! The discomfort was something you were willing to put up with however because last night was mind blowing.

The morning after was filled with gentle playing and heated make out sessions. It was Sunday so luckily neither of you were expected to be anywhere. You showered together, learning each others bodies further. Saul made you breakfast and after that you lay and watched a movie together. Normal, mundane, relationship stuff. It was all you could dream of.

Unfortunately the time came where you had to go back to your dorm. Instead of doing the walk of shame you opted for your new favourite method of transportation. Portal. Saul kissed you deeply before the black whole appeared and you disappeared through it. At least now you could teleport back and forward into his room having seen the inside more clearly.

The girls jumped when your portal appeared in the middle of the room. They’re were on your instantly, eager for the juicy details. You sat down and gave them the PG version, not delving into too much detail. What you both did last night was personal and not for the faint hearted. You also showed off the presents Saul had gotten you and the Winx club squealed in delight when they saw the ring. After your lowdown of the events last night, the girls let you know that the party was a massive hit and if it wasn’t for Terras hangover potion they’d all still be in bed.

Presents adorned the floor of the main room you notice, someone must have brought them up for you. There were so many you didn’t know if you’d manage to open them all on your own. So one by one the girls helped you unwrap the gracious gifts. That took up a chunk of time. Still chatting and opening, Terra blushed and rattled off about how Helia had kissed her goodnight at the end of the party, then you noticed Aisha blushing too, the same thing had happened with her. The specialists were making moves and you couldn’t help but swell with excitement for your friends. Everything was perfect, maybe too perfect.

——————————————————————————————————

-The Next day-

“What do you think the assembly is about?” Your arm was linked with Stella’s as you walked through the grand halls of the castle you called your school. You’d never get used to your real life Hogwarts.

“It’s a burned one assembly apparently and even worse, my mother is leading it. Yippee. She’s really just here to check on my progress and remind me how much of a disappointment I am.” Your best friend rolled her eyes. You were slightly nervous about meeting the Queen of Solaria, I mean, who wouldn’t be. Stella had insisted you’d stay with her. Emotional support. You took her hand in yours and gave it a squeeze.

The cars pulled up and the chauffeur opened the door for the Queen. Regal and gorgeous, the spitting image of Stella apart from she had brown hair instead of blonde. She came over and greeted Stella with a hug and then stopped. Her eyes widened as she looked at you. She was starring and you didn’t know why….

“Pleasure to meet you your highness.” You curtsied, Stella had shown you how. It seemed to snap the Queen from her daze and she smiled at you.

“How lovely, you must be Y/N, Stella’s told me a lot about you.”

——————————————————————————————————

You’d left Stella to catch up with her mum. Aimlessly wondering the halls looking at features you’d never stopped to appreciate before. Then you saw one flustered looking man.

“Sa- Mr Silva!.” You jogged to catch up to him. He stopped turning. He didn’t smile. Woooah. He looked stressed.

“Now isn’t a great time Y/N.” You wanted to reach out and touch him but there were students all around. Did he really just brush you off though? Must be something serious going on for his shitty attitude.

“Okay.” You whispered. “Well, maybe we can talk when you change your attitude anyway.” You were annoyed. You knew his job was stressful and you knew that you had to act like student and teacher during school hours, however, you’d like to think that he would be a bit more… kinder, even when he was pissed at something else. Before he spoke you’d turned on your heel, flicking your hair behind you and walked off. Suck on that.

——————————————————————————————————

The assembly had started. You weren’t there. You were too annoyed with Saul to sit there while he was up at the front acting as if he wasn’t rude to you two minutes ago. You skipped, wondering the school grounds when you bumped into Bloom.

“Whats your excuse for skipping?” You fell into step with the red head, who explained she was trying to find more about where she came from. Part of you realised that maybe you should have been making more effort in that department. You were still a mystery and going through the books you had stolen from the library in Magix hadn’t turned anything up yet.

You reached a storage cellar, old books, pictures and other junk filled the room to the brim, all covered in dust and cobwebs. Sky was there, he seemed surprised to see you, like wise.

“Maybe while were looking I might find something about me too.” You started searching through things. Not sure at all about what you were looking for when you were then joined by Beatrix and Riven. Not two of your favourite people to say the least.

You didn’t know them too well, but there was a reason for that. Trouble seemed to follow them everywhere and Beatrix gave you a weird vibe. Not good juju. Riven was just a punk. He thought he was the bad boy but it was all an act which you saw straight through. Example A. Beatrix just dropped the bomb that Riven was the one walking around school telling everyone Bloom was a changeling. You still didn’t see the big deal about changelings. You were one too after all. Sky and Riven left, leaving you alone with the two girls.

“So, that door is locked. Are we breaking in or not?” You didn’t wait for their answer. Curiosity getting the best of you. Walking over you put your hand on the lock and picture it heating up. Fire. Another one of the many abilities you possessed. Your magic was second nature to you now. Like you’d been practising for years. It was scary and cool at the same time just how intone with your abilities you were. The lock fell off and the door swung open.

——————————————————————————————————

What the hell had you been dragged into. Honestly this wasn’t really your style. But hey, you’d gotten this far. You were currently in a stolen car, driving to some place called Asterdale. Bloom had a theory that’s where her parents might be from and hey, what do you know, Beatrix knows where it is. So yup, you were in the front of a stolen.. ROYAL car.

Ohhh lord. This wasn’t going to end well.

- Sauls POV -

Where the hell was she. Why wasn’t she at the assembly?! Saul was ragging, scared, angry at himself for being so flippant with Y/N earlier. The visit from the Queen and with the death of a teacher, it was a lot to deal with. He hadn’t meant to take it out on his sweet girl. Now he was just worried. Leaving the assembly would look suspicious so he stayed, part of him hoping she was just running late.

His fears got worse when he went back to Farah’s office. Farah had noticed Y/N wasn’t there either. She was more worried than she’d ever been. Then Y/N’s suit mates burst through the door looking worried too.

“Y/N and Bloom were in the east wing its Beatrix during assembly.” Saul, Farah and Ben all looked at each other.

“Okay and why were they down there?” Farah was quick to get it in the neck from Musa. Who was visibly concerned about something. Saul couldn’t stand still, pacing back and forward.

“Omg we know, we know that someone killed Callum and you think it was a fairy and that’s what you were looking for in the assembly!” Saul’s head whipped round to Terra. “We haven’t heard from them in hours and no one as seen Beatrix either.” Saul’s thoughts were interrupted by a voice through the ear piece he was wearing.

“One of the Queens Guards are knocked out, his SUV is gone.” Sauls jaw clenched and made his way to the door. He was mad. If Beatrix had hurt his girl in any way, there would be hell to pay.

“We will find them, I promise.”

——————————————————————————————————

-Your POV-

The place Beatrix took you to was bare. Was this some kind of sick joke? You drove two hours for this? Nothing but open fields and shrubs next to a steep looking cliff over looking choppy, cold water.

“And this is where you’ve taken us to kill us, right?” You joked but part of you was actually worried. You’d always thought Beatrix was a shady bitch. “Asterdale is a town right? So where is it?” You stopped, looking into the vastness. Bloom looked twitchy, annoyed almost because you guaranteed she was thinking the same thing as you.

You were alarmed all of a sudden when your ears pricked up at the sound of electricity, turning just in time to see Bloom shouting at Beatrix who’s hands were glowing with power.

“You’re not the only powerful fairies at Alfea you know.” Yup, you were right. You were so about to die. You raised your hands ready for a fight but the bolt of blue electricity burst past you hitting an invisible forcefield just like the one that surrounded the school and crashed with a loud bang, revealing chaos behind it.

Beatrix went on to tell you both about how Asterdale used to be a beautiful place, but one winter Burned Ones surrounded the settlement and a Military Unit from Alfea decided destroying the Burned Ones was more important than the lives of the people living there. How Queen Luna was the one who had put up the veil that stopped people from really seeing what had happened to the once thriving village. Then she went onto drop the bomb that Asterdale is where she was born and her family were killed there. The only people who survived were her… and you and Bloom. You were from Asterdale?

“I saw it, Dowling, Silva, Harvey.” Beatrix had tears rolling down her face. No, no…. Saul would never kill innocent people. Never. He couldn’t… that wasn’t your Saul. You whipped quickly at the stray tears that had fallen. He knew about this and he didn’t tell you? Did he know where you were from and he didn’t tell you because… he had a hand in killing a village full of innocents?

You’d heard enough and couldn’t bare to listen to anymore. You walked away, Beatrix and Bloom still talking about what had happened. You watched as the veil came down again slowly, covering up the evidence of a war crime. It was gone, just like that. As if nothing ever happened. As if the people that had once lived there never mattered. Forgotten in time.

Bloom still didn’t trust Beatrix, and neither did you. You opted for sitting in the back this time. Keeping an eye on the girl you hardly knew. What game was she playing? You felt like there had to be more to the story. Why would you and Bloom be hidden away in the first world? Why would Dowling, let you and Bloom into the school knowing that she killed your families?

“And we will get it because Rosalind is alive.” You caught the tail end of the convo, having been zoned out with your own thoughts. Hold the fuck up. The mysterious woman who had been leaving cryptic messages in Blooms head was.. Alive? After Miss Dowling told her that she had been dead for years. The plot thickens. You were about to make a comment but something on the road caught your eye.

“Oh fuck.” You braced yourself against the seat in the back as you watched Saul fire an arrow at the wheel of the car. It burst, sending the car skidding across the road. This was nottt going to be good.

You all jumped out of the car, Beatrix tried to run but Farah had used her magic and she was slowly sinking into the ground. Miss Dowling walked over, slapping on two bracelets on Beatrix’ wrists, it looked like coiled pieces of barbed wire. You didn’t care if B was shady, no one deserved that pain. Both you and Bloom bolted from the car with shouts of protest. You were lifted up into Sauls arms where you kicked and screamed to get free. Bloom was held back by Mr Harvey who was a lot stronger than he looked. You gave up, settling into Sauls arms, he was whispering in your ear trying to calm you, his hold on you tightening. Normally you’d feel comfort in his touch, but the story from Beatrix left you with some unanswered questions too big to go ignored.

——————————————————————————————————

The girls were waiting for you outside. Stella grabbed you in a hug, you could tell she was worried. Saul was carting Beatrix away to her magic prison cell, not before letting you know that he’d speak to you later. Duty called. Duty sucked.

“Y/N, after we deal with Beatrix see me in my office, there’s something important we must discuss.” You glared at Miss Dowling who gave you a sympathetic look. Stella squeezed your arm.

“Y/N, you need to hear what she has to say. It’s important.” How did Stella know what she wanted to talk about. This whole day was one big bowl of confusing and you just wanted it to be over with. “Just know, I’ll be here when you’re ready, I promise.” Okay, so that wasn’t worrying at all…..

“I’m afraid miss Y/L/N, Stella won’t be able to keep that promise any time soon. Were leaving, Stella get in the car.” Stella’s eyes widened as she watched her things from the dorm being packed into her mothers car. The Queen was waiting for Stella to do what she said and this was one battle you wouldn’t win. Could you catch a break?

“No, No, NO, Stella you can’t leave, please I need you, you’re my best friend.” You were crying, the frustrations of the day coming out all at once. Stella was crying too but the Queens guards took her by the arms despite her struggles and stuffed her in the car. It was too much, you were sobbing, your vision blurry from the tears. You felt someone come up behind you and noticed the familiar tingle, crying harder as the car sped off into the distance. You turned and screamed in Sauls chest, luckily his strong arms were around you otherwise you’d have fallen to the ground in despair. Could today get any worse?

——————————————————————————————————

Replaying the events from today to the other girls was hard. Luckily Bloom did most of the talking. Beatrix had apparently killed Callum and things were even more confusing now. You didn’t know who to trust, who to believe. Your thoughts were interrupted by a knock at the door.

Saul. Your tired looking soldier was standing at the door with heavy eyes. “Babe, can you come with me please, Farah wants to talk to you.” She’d already spoken to Bloom about the events earlier. Now it was your turn after having time to calm down about Stella.

Standing up silently, you made your way to the door, the girls hugging you on the way out. You had the urge to ask Saul everything there and then. Let the cat out of the bag. Say ‘I know what you did,’ but you couldn’t bring yourself to do it. You didn’t want to believe the reason you were an orphan was because of the man you loved. Instead you took his hand when the coast was clear and sighed, having needed his touch all day.

You found yourself at the Headmistresses office more often than not these days, but this time something felt different. You turned to Saul and look him in the eyes.

“Why do I feel like if I go in there life will never be the same again.” His hand came up to touch your cheek which you leant into, savouring his warm touch.

“Darling, everything is okay, everything will be okay I promise.” People had been making a lot of promises today, hopefully they would be able to keep them. You started for the door but then noticed Saul didn’t budge.

“Are you not coming in?” You tilted your head. He shook his and gave you a kiss before you went through the doors.

“I’ll be right outside if you need me though.” With that you left him, facing whatever punishment Headmistress Dowling had in store for you.

——————————————————————————————————

It hadn’t been as bad as you thought in the beginning. She sat you down, asked you if you wanted a drink or anything. Then she got into the nitty gritty stuff about what compelled you to go with Beatrix and Bloom. Answers. Answers you needed, that’s why you went with them.

“Bloom said something about her parents being from a place called Asterdale, Beatrix knew where it was. She took us there, we hoped we would find answers about why we were changelings. Turns out we learnt an ugly truth instead.” Farah looked shocked but you continued. “She said that Rosalind took her, me and Bloom, saved us from destruction cause by you, Silva and Harvey. Is that true?” Farah had her head in her hands. Guilt. You could practically smell it on her.

“It’s not what you think Y/N, please believe me, there’s more to the story.” She stood up, walking around to stand next to you. You stood up to, moving away from the woman who had set Saul up to spy on you. How could you believe her, all she’s done since you joined this world was lie.

“Why would I believe you! You killed my fucking parents!” You were angry. So angry, You could feel your eyes turning black. The shouting had alerted Saul who tried the door handles to get into the room but with a swish of your hand, the door was sealed shut, fire melting the hinges closed.

“Just calm down Y/N, please, lets talk about this.” In the background Saul was banging on the door and calling your name.

“Because of you, I don’t have a father, because of you I’ll never know my mother!” You advanced on the woman who had her hands up ready for a fight if that’s what it came to. You could feel the power coursing through your whole body. This is why you could control your magic so easily, you were so emotional.

“Y/N, I am your mother!” Farah screamed, Saul stopped banging on the door and your eyes faded back to their normal colour.

You knew before stepping into the room that something was going to happen and you were right, your world would be changed forever.

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So, I bet you didnt expect that to happen.. Please let me know what you thought in the comments, Like, Follow and Reblog! <3 If you want to join the tag list please let me know !

CHAPTER 11 ------- CLICK HERE

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[armyhallows]

Crown (a TXT inspired story)  get to know the devil

summery: this story is about a girl named laana who is looked at as a devil by every one she knows,but as life goes on she just realizes how special she is with the help of her friend she found her crown.

warning:none

request: no 

Crown masterlist

chapter 2

Hello this is my first post on here,but I just wanted to say this is not like y/n fanfiction these are just stories I got inspiration from these songs

I recommend hearing crown by txt while reading it's a good song

And I'm adding the lyrics so it would make more sense

Crown lyrics

You who’s staring at me blankly in the mirror is not me

dizzy headaches and something on my head Wanna run away, wanna disappear. Far away(Save me) Who am I, I don’t know who I am My body must have gone mad There’s a horn coming out of my head,What do I do, I don’t know how to stop it I’m the only bad thing in this world Save me, maybe I have turned into a monster got no one but you Who you?Are you my salvation who found me deserted Who you?Are your wings the same pain like mine There’s a horn rising up on my head But I love it You become my crown The sensation of going pit-a-pat My heart is mayhem but I love it We have finally become perfect The two of us, us, us Stop the loneliness, abracadabra Stop the suffering, abracadabra Why is the world treating me like this Got a horn on me all of a sudden Would there be light? Even for the devils?And then your wings were spread in front of my eyes Tell me please, I’m the one who completes your half This moment of my name being called Who you?Are you my salvation who found me deserted Who you?Are your wings the same pain like mine There’s a horn rising up on my head But I love it You become my crown The sensation of going pit-a-pat My heart is mayhem but I love it We have finally become perfect The two of us, us, us Stop the loneliness, abracadabra Stop the suffering, abracadabra Actually I’m still a little worried I’m standing in between the cold sneer and the loneliness nobody can understand But it’s you Your existence changes my world like magic I’m not in pain anymore got crown on my head There’s a horn rising up on my head But I love it You become my crown The sensation of going pit-a-pat My heart is mayhem but I love it We have finally become perfect The two of us, us, us Stop the loneliness, abracadabra Stop the suffering, abracadabra

lyricstranslate.com

crown the story

Looking at the person who at a point I was dreaming would become the most popular person in history,just friends no enemy type of person but in reality is nothing but a devil in everyone's eye.

To be honest there's no point in even explaining who I'm talking about but I'll say it anyways I'm talking about myself So let me introduce myself _ I'm Kim laana just a fifteen year old in high school. as normal as it sounds my life is nothing compared to what I wanted it to be. You'll understand later on now moving on,as I put on my backpack really wishing to throw it into the nearest dumpster, I start wondering which of my deeds will get me in trouble today and before I know it I'm out...on my way to school,Yippee(sarcasm)

And another reminder I might or might not have completed my assignment which is why I'm even more not thrilled to go to school than usual,it's not I'm like a teachers pet or anything it's just that it would give people more opportunities to pick on me

2 mins later

I try to rush into my school hallway to not get caught, but faith has its ways

"Hey Kim loony "said the face I was most excited to see(sarcasm) Ugh i thought before I said

"Yes queen of rats" I said with a smirk

"yo I thought demons were good at giving comebacks well I guess I was wrong, "

Out of nowhere one of her minions shouted"and the names quara dont tell me demons have gone dead now"

"Its okay suz~ I'd rather not here my name from a demons mouth" said quara

Okay now hold up since when did miss quara start acting like an angle! I mean yeah I guess she is the "angle" of my school but calling people by there nickname its just to hilarious ,I unknowingly singer but the rat caught me

"Oh my God I've seen a pig laugh today"said quara

So I said"such a big accomplishment where did u see it In the mirror"

And before the fool could say another word I left from there.

This is an everyday routine for me to look like a devil straight from hell being made fun of by corny angles but am I anyone to judge if I'm the daughter of a alcoholic who hurted his own wife and daughter,well now I live with my uncle but it's no better cuz I am still seen as the daughter of a devil which makes me a devil to.

I never liked my father in fact I'll never In a million year forgive him for putting my mum in a coma ,but this is my life I can't do anything but accept it.

Well now u may be wondering why I have no friends ,well u see I suffer from OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder)so u could call me a paranoid person.there were many people who wanted to help me but I'd mess up my chances saying something I didn't mean to and make myself look bad again.

And no one pitys a devil.

I entered my English class my favourite class(cuz the teacher is always sick)I take a seat in the back of the back and wait for the class to start

15 mins later

Most of the students have taken their seats waiting for class to began I was just doodling when I could have been doing my science assignment.

But then out of nowhere someone said"u could be doing that assignment of your's"

To be continued......

I hope u liked the story and recommend ideas if u want to

See ya!!

[anoutlandishfanfic]

An Outlandish Christmas #5

Here’s another Idyllwild Fluff! You can read more from Idyllwild here!

You can find previous An Outlandish Christmas posts here.

December 15th, 2015; Idyllwild, MN, USA

It was still a full forty-five minutes before the concert was to start, but the gymnasium was already beginning to look full.

“Here, Sassenach?” Jamie gestured to a third row seat, just off the main aisle.

I counted the empty chairs quickly - Jamie, Bree, Jake, Jenny, Ian, Kate, Ellen, Brian, and I - and found we’d have more than enough.

“Perfect,” I moved to stand by the first chair, “We’ll need nine.”

“One - two - three - four - five - seven - ten - eight - nine!” Three year old Bree proudly counted and flopped onto the final folding chair. She hadn’t quite gotten the numbers in order, but she did save enough seats.

Jamie chuckled and praised her as he spread his coat over the folding chairs, “Why don’t you put your coat where you want to sit, a leannain?”

Bree had the seating arrangement planned to a T by the time her grandparents, Aunt, Uncle, and cousin arrived ten minutes later. Wee Jake, named after Jamie’s grandfather Jacob MacKenzie, ran back and forth between Jamie and I, as fast as his chubby little legs could carry him. I vainly hoped this would wear him out and he would sit through the concert without a terrible amount of fuss, but, knowing my eighteen month old son, I had packed a backup plan in the diaper bag, just in case.

Ian was the last to slip into his seat, having come from work, and ushered in the arrival of Idyllwild Elementary School’s principal, Dr Weber. She was a kind looking woman, a mother herself, who had some ten years under her belt as the leader of this wonderful school. My limited knowledge of her found her to be fair, patient with the children, and supportive of her staff.

“Hello everybody and welcome to our Holiday Concert!” She greeted cheerily, “You’re welcome to stop by your kiddo’s classroom after we’ve finished, but we ask that you remain seated until the end of the concert.”

I supposed it wouldn’t be very kind to the third graders if they only had half an audience to sing to, the parents of the previous grades having left to congratulate their children, but the notion did seem tempting.

“When is Faith, mummy?” Bree asked in the loudest whisper I’d ever heard.

IES’ music teacher, a Miss Andersen, stepped forward to explain the order of the concert and introduce the Kindergartners, but Bree still looked to me for her answer.

“She’s first, love,” I supplied, “then Maggie and Jamie.”

She clapped her hands with excitement as she knelt on her chair, turning ‘round to watch the five and six year olds file into the large room. I spotted a few of Faith’s friends from preschool, as well as a few of my patients, before her teacher’s head poked through the door.

“Mrs Turner!” Bree screeched, making the woman smile and wave.

“Shh,” I reminded her, while suppressing a laugh. She was certainly not the only excited younger sibling in attendance. Youthful shouts and cries echoed around us, adding to the general hubbub.

Faith’s class began to enter the gymnasium single file and I had to grab hold of Bree to keep her from joining them. She’d have gone off to kindergarten with her sister every day, if we’d let her, and it often seemed that she thought she was a five year old too. Bree missed nothing in the world going by around her, asking questions and making observations all day long.

“I see Faith!”

And sure enough, there she was.

My smile wobbled as I caught sight of my first born. Her unease was palpable, and my heart lurched as she scanned the crowd for a familiar face. In an instant, she saw us and her countenance completely transformed. She bounced in place as she waved her hand high over her head, her grin making her eyes dance as the green fabric of her dress sparkled beneath the harsh, artificial light.

I breathed a sigh of relief when I realized that she was right behind her dearest friend. The two of them were inseparable, and Chloe was instrumental in helping Faith navigate the chaos of Kindergarten. Unflappable, much like Bree, she balanced my sensitive Faith perfectly.

They passed by in a whirl of red and green, with a wave and a greeting as they made their way to stand in their assigned place on the risers. Each class was arraigned by height, so that the tallest children were in the middle and the smallest were on the end. There were only two classmates shorter than Faith and this meant I had a perfect view of her at the edge of the throng of singing children.

I knew every song she’d be singing today, having been treated to impromptu, solo concerts for the last three weeks, but I held my breath in anticipation as the piano began the introduction for the first number.

Frosty the Snowman, was a jolly, happy soul…

Wee Jake’s cry of frustration brought my attention back to the people around me and I instinctively reached for him. His resounding, emphatic no made it clear what he thought of that idea, making the elderly couple behind us chuckle. Jamie handed him a snack of Goldfish crackers from the diaper bag, eliciting a shriek of delight not only from our toddler, but the one in front of us as well.

“No, those are his,” the little girl’s mother reminded her, “yours are right here.”

She paid little heed to this differentiation and stretched out a hand in request.

Jake, familiar with defending his snacks from his sister’s thieving hands, clasped them tightly against his chest and insisted, “Mine!”

Jamie was nearly vibrating in silent laughter by this time as he assured his son that the little girl would not, in fact, be taking his snacks away from him. Jake looked between his father and the encroaching little girl, as if trying to decide who to believe. With a sigh, he settled himself more securely in Jamie’s lap and offered a beloved fish to him, a thank offering in honor of the battle valiantly fought to protect his crackers.

The first song ended and everyone applauded, including Bree, Jake, and Jenny and Ian’s four year old Kate. She was in between Faith and Bree in age, as well as temperament. Kate had inherited her mother’s dark hair and stubborn determination, but her father’s quiet nature, preferring to use actions over words in expressing herself. She pushed the little girl’s hand back to her side of the chairs with a frown, prompting Ian, who’s lap she was on, to remind her that her Uncle Jamie and the little girl’s mother had things under control.

The start of the next song diverted all three children’s attentions before anything more could unfold and I sent a knowing look of amusement Jamie’s way. He grinned, waggling his eyebrows as he chewed the crackers fed to him by Jake’s sticky hands.

Bree crawled onto my lap in search of a better vantage point and I absently tucked her auburn curls behind her ear. She tipped her head away from my fingers, but didn’t complain, her hand taking hold of mine and lifting it away from her hair.

“Listen to Faith, Mummy,” she instructed.

I eagerly complied, pulling her tighter against me and rising her up slightly. She giggled and patted my hand as she softly sang along.

“We wishhhh you a Merry Tis’masss, we wishhhh you a Merry Tis’masss…”

…

Faith pranced around the living room, her hair still in the “Cinderella bun” that was coiffed specifically for this morning’s concert, perfectly accented by her pink nightgown, as she belted, “They never let poor Rudolph join in any reindeer games!!”

“Like monopoly,” Fergus and Jamie echoed in unison as I sank onto the couch.

Poking him, I curled up beside my husband, “Is this her encore performance?”

“Oh, aye,” he nodded in mock gravity, “we couldn’t let Fergus go to bed without his verra own performance.”

The fifteen year old turned to grin, “Da and I are her backup singers.”

“...then how the reindeer loved him!” Faith twirled past.

“Loved him,” Jamie trilled, eyes closed and head tipped back against the cushions.

She continued singing, oblivious to my side conversation or her father’s fatigue, “And they shouted out with glee…”

“Yippee!” Fergus supplied with exuberance.

I rose a teasing brow, “Do you dance too?”

“Only at the Saturday matinee, Sassenach.”

“Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” Faith vamped into her grand finale, “you’ll go down in history!!”

Fergus applauded wildly as Jamie muttered, half asleep, “Like George Washington.”

[sermosensumvomere]

August 14, 2016

-Nevermind Triskaidekaphobia, Here's Colombia-

or “how some waste of sperm and eggs on a motorcycle assassinated part of our hopes and soul”

(well yeah I guess I’m puking again. Before you waste your time going through any of this semi-coherent messy chaos of a rant I really verily can’t stress enough that you should know there’s nothing for you to gain or profit by doing so as much as it was just something that came out because it had to. Having said that, if you’re going to waste a bit of your day with this out of excessive boredom, lack of a better thing to do or maybe fucking stupid curiosity, the cinema-school dropout in me would strongly suggest to listen to “A Orillas Del Magdalena – Cumbias from Discos Fuentes” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJbFJOzuYxM) as background music. you know, for a more immersive “experience”, I guess. But there’s probably a billion zillion trillion better ways of spending your time. IMOfuckingHO.

...holy shit I can already feel this is going to be a fucking long one. Hold on to your assholes)

-THE STORY- August 13 1999 was a Friday.

We were living with my dad's aunt in a room of her apartment; our house in Pinos de Marsella was being renovated to then be rented while my parents were making the last preparations to immigrate to the oh so glorious and perfect land of opportunity that was Canada, that couple-long dream they'd been chasing and which would soon become a reality, yippee fucking hurray. Little did they know that I was actually plotting my very own perfect little scheme which would hopefully result in me not having to leave with them, as there was nothing that I wanted to do less than having to leave my family and my country and everything I loved and knew aFUCKINGgain, regardless of all the abundance and providence that settling in another country could/would represent. The plan was to ask my Papa Señor (grandfather) if I could stay/live in Muzu (the name we use to refer to my grandparents’ house, which is in the neighborhood of Muzu, Bogota), in exchange I would work and help out whichever way I could around the factory (he has a textile factory, Tejidos y Confecciones Kathy, the “family business” in some ways I guess) until I was old or experienced enough to get my very own job in the grown-up world, or maybe I could start making and selling chocolates at school like that family friend of ours to “pay for my needs” I guess? I would of course swear and promise to stay in school and get an education and stuff. I would pull it off. I was going to do it. I was going to get away with it. I was 7 years old and I had a pretty bad case of denial even back then.

oh yeah, school. Since we’d been moving around from place to place to place to place since ummm gee, I dunno, for fucking ever, I was always "the new kid" (you know, the very cool and outspoken outgoing interesting type with the cool toys and the nice house that you totally want to be friends with? not that one. nervewrecky goodytwoshoes little spaz, conditioned to try and stay put and in control of evil and hyperactive impulses) and I'd have to catch up to whatever it was that the class was being taught. We had just come back from spending '98 in Portugal and their school calendar is different than in Colombia, where my classmates had been learning the multiplication tables for a couple of months by the time I joined the class. At that point I don't think I had yet experienced such amounts of pure hatred and absolute anger, but these concepts were sort of unfamiliar or unknown to me so I had no fucking clue what it was that I was feeling and just knew/felt that I did not like it at all. Math was hard for many reasons. The pressure and embarrassment to be at a lesser level than the other kids, which is weird as I didn't really bond with nor looked up to them since I had somewhat realized that any new friend I'd make could/would also involve the very painful and fun-less process of having to sever yet another relationship which for some reason seemed to affect me way much more than it did for other people. Or maybe everyone else was better at hiding it than I was back then, I didn't really know. Math also meant having to sit down and focus on the single task of cramming all this knowledge and numbers into my brain for extended periods of time, which is an almost impossible thing to do, even more so at the time. The reason being that my mind is constantly racing in a million different directions (NOT IN A SMART WAY EITHER. just fucking fractions and flashes of everything which come and go and are not profitable in any way and just splice your every single thought) hence it'd be extremely tedious to just abstract myself from the intensity of everything and concentrate on a single task. Sometimes at night I'd dream about being surrounded by endless waves of numbers and multiplication signs that would fight and ultimately beat me to a bloody messy pulp and then carry me to distant lands far away from whatever it was I had come to love or cherish, while I kicked and screamed and wept helplessly, before waking up out of breath completely terrified and asking mom and dad if they could move just a bit so I could sleep in their bed again, please, oh no reason at all I just really like you guys. (at the time I was sure that it was a common thing for people to have excruciatingly intense and draining dreams and I didn't want to needlessly worry anyone so I never really said anything; I would much later learn that it was certainly not a common thing, at all. oh well BFD ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ right? hahahaha)

So yeah basically just another fat little cheerful geeky brown kid whose favorite things in the whole wide world were climbing trees, Cuentilandia’s “Los Tres Cerditos”, Spider-Man (El Hombre Araña), Dragon Ball (Dragon Ball), music, monkeys/primates, making little stories and movies with my toys and imagination, The Empire Strikes Back (La guerra de las galaxias: El Imperio contraataca), ancient cultures, St John Bosco, Terminator 2 (FUN FACT: that great unforgettable catchphrase was actually "Sayonara, Baby" since um "Hasta la vista" was already in spanish so it didn't really make much sense in the spanish-dubbed world I grew up in), running, my younger sibling, my older cousin who was pretty much the coolest person to ever live, COMPUTER GAMES, etc etc etc (...)

His name was Jaime Garzón and he was one of my favoritestest grown-ups in the whole wide universe. Even though we never met personally him and I, my fellow country-people and I all knew and loved/cherished (or so I thought; I was wrong) this most amazing of human beings, by far truly and sincerely the truest of mensch to ever hail from Colombia, if there ever was one. Wikipedia says he “was a Colombian journalist, a comedian, lawyer, peace activist and political satirist. He was popular on Colombian television during the 1990s for his political satire. In addition to his work on television, he also had roles as a peace negotiator in the release of FARC guerrillas' hostages.” I was way too young to understand most of these things, so my vision was that he was a very smart talented man who was incredibly hilarious, played all these characters on TV that mainly talked about politics and the state of things in our country and managed to make everyone laugh and think regardless of age which was nice because it was a way to share a moment with grown-ups that wasn’t completely boring or filled with some stupid fucking moral religious lesson at the end. He also had the same given name than I did, which for some reason made me feel special and quite cool, and he was an entertainer, which I guess was something I felt I wanted/enjoyed to be too, in my very own intricate ways.

back then I was attending a school that my dad’s aunt was a teacher at, so every morning we’d wake up very early (4:30AM-5ish? I dunno man but I remember school schedules in the old country were kind of intense compared to NorthAmerican establishments), pick up another aunt on the way and drive to school. This was pretty neato for a ridiculously sensitive anxious little socially-unfit Pisces kid because it meant I wouldn’t get fucked with or bullied or whatever by taking the schoolbus (known as “la ruta” which was non-yellow and also very different from the ones here) with the other kids, so yeah, cool.

We left home and went to pick up my aunt and before she got in the car she had that look that grown-ups have when something was about to be hidden from you, the very same I trained myself to recognize once I realized that all those who taught me about the importance of honesty and transparency were actually liars themselves and that I should really avoid naively trusting every single thing that was thrown my way because sometimes the truth I was fed was but a modified watered-down kids version of the actual facts. (I was always constantly being told I was “very mature for my age” so at some point I had started taking for granted that grown-ups considered me smart or worthy enough not to have to lie to me and that I was on some sort of equal grounds of understanding, which was not the case at all.) “Have you heard?” she asked my other aunt, as the radio stations were changed. News fresher than that morning’s bread. For a moment you’re ready to complain, please don’t change the music, please don’t put boring grown-up stuff that I won’t understand. You don’t complain. You don’t want to listen, but you do. Each word cuts through your insides. This isn’t kid’s stuff, but you understand every single thing that it means.

“On Friday, August 13, at 5:45, local time, Garzón was approaching the Radionet station in his gray Jeep Cherokee. When he was turning toward the south coming from 26th Street in the Barrio Quinta Paredes sector, in front of Corferias, two men riding a high velocity white motorcycle with hidden plates approached the car and called his name, then shot him five times. He was 38 years old. The word quickly spread as his own colleagues at Radionet were the first to give the news to Colombia. Hundreds of people went out into the streets. The vehicular traffic worsened when a pedestrian bridge fell onto the North Highway, near 122nd Street, because a group of people thought wrongly that the funeral would pass by the site. Three people died and 30 were injured.”

They took him away when for once we had someone who was willing to stand up to the fucking corruption and the unfairness and change things because some/most of our people are nice and beautiful and deserve so much better. Nothing makes sense anymore; no matter how hard you force your stupid fucking little kid brain to wrap around these things that overwhelm you. You’re submerged by the true meaning of concepts such as injustice and unfairness. It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t fucking fair at all. Here was a great man that had the best intentions and they fucking murdered him. Every gunshot cuts through the very fabric of our “beautiful” country. You want to run away and hide and drown in yells until you implode and don’t have to deal with anything anymore. Your nights don’t get better. You start falling asleep in school. You can concentrate even less. You’re completely and absolutely full of anger and belligerence but you don’t even know what the fuck that means. You feel as if you finally truly and deeply learn about life and the world we live in. Not as beautiful as you were led to believe. You don’t understand how you’re still supposed to believe in a friendly loving compassionate God that would ever allow something like this to happen. You swear never to trust anything or anyone ever again, at least not before a thorough over-analysis of every single detail. Hope is evil and you should always expect the worst out of everything and everyone, especially yourself. You swear to avoid attachment at all costs because the cost of healing from it is far too much for your stupid fucking little feeble self.

It feels impossible to find anything funny or amusing anymore. You feel that you learn the meaning of giving up. You know you’re not going to be able to stay. You know you’re going to have to go with them and that you’re not at all special or unique, just a little fucking kid like any other fucking kid in a grownup world so ultimately your opinions or plans or whatever mean absolutely nothing at all. You learn about “acceptance”, but most importantly, how much you’re going to fucking hate it for as far as you live. You know that it’s going to be a long fucking time until you’re actually “in control” (you never will be) and until then there is nothing you can do but wait as you’re carried around from place to place without any saying.

“On that Friday night, sports presenter César Augusto Londoño for Noticiero CM& had to introduce a memorial note to Heriberto de la Calle, one of the characters of his murdered companion. He introduced the note saying: "that's all for sports ... f***king country!"” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-5cPRSY0_8) (...)

WELL GEEZ as far as childhood stories go this is probably one of the most “raw/dark” ones I can think of ever sharing. Well, I mean, I probably wasn’t as much of a fucked up little intense spaz as I remember. Or maybe I was. BUT YEAH NO most of my memories about earlier years are actually super happy and not all like this one, I probably had one of the greatest happiest most certainly undeserved childhoods one could ever ask for and I hold very fond memories of these “simpler” times so don’t go thinking that everything was misery and doom and gloom all the fucking time because, heck, in all honesty, it probably really wasn’t. If you got this far and you’re expecting some kind of meaningful statement or personal insight or artsy-fartsy lesson then I’m sorry to say I don’t have anything for you, as I have even less for myself.

mhmhmh. recently a “ceasefire” was negotiated between the government and the FARC (i.e. between the corrupted bad guys and the other corrupted bad guys), a long awaited step towards the end of the armed/social conflict that has been going on in Colombia since the early 60’s. now, I don’t know much or anything about the state of things (not as much as I should or want to) and anyways everything has changed since the last time I breathed the air of the mountains I was born in.

My country is a beautiful country, regardless of spilled blood or corruption or complete injustice.

heck, you may someday get to meet some funny little mix of absolute cynicism and blind naiveté always ready to dance and jump around and have a good time until the nostalgia hits when you’ve had too much to drink. or if you’re lucky enough someone sincere and loveable like Jaime Garzón. Que En Paz Descanse. 

[wildwandererblog]

Manitou Incline - First Day of Spring

This whole week has been unseasonable gorgeous.  I’ve been itching to get outside and hike, but we’ve been really busy with cookie sales, Girl Scout Meetings, etc.  I could probably have gone this past weekend, but I’m not a fan of hiking on weekends (too many people).  This week I’m working from home, which meant I could probably work really hard and get all my work done and still find time to hike.  Today’s weather looked perfect, so I decided to hike today.

I got up at my normal time and went to the gym, ran 5 miles, lifted for about 10 minutes, then did half an hour of yoga.  I came home, took Emily to school, and was off to the Incline.  I’ve only hiked the incline once before (back in October of 2012), but I frequent the Barr trail to hike Pikes Peak.  I figured I’ve got this.  

I could actually feel the adrenaline start pumping as I neared the trail head. I was so excited to take this hike!  It’s been way too long since I’ve been out (November 8, 2016 to be exact).  

When I got there I was surprised to find the Barr Parking Lot had increased their fees, and required reservations through an app.  NOT COOL.  I was aware last year they were considering this, but didn’t think they were foolish enough to enact a $20 per day parking fee.  They did however, and took it one step further by requiring you to plan in advance.  Do they know anything about hikers?????

...I digress.  There was a cop in the parking lot monitoring to make sure everyone had a pass (there were 2 cars in the parking lot at the time... not even paying for him to be there).  So I drove around and looked for another place to park.

Yippee!  I found one at $10 per day, only to discover it was limited to 4 hours.  I’d need to be back at my car by 12:01pm.  I inwardly cursed (this meant I’d ONLY be able to do the Incline, and not head to Barr Camp as intended because 4 hours wasn’t enough time for the hike.  I once again asked myself “What is Manitou THINKING?????” and hurried because now my time was seriously limited.

It was 8am, so not many people were at the beginning of the trail when I got there.  I started at a steady pace, and I’m proud to say not one person passed me on the way up, but I passed dozens of people.  For a Monday, there were actually a lot of people on the trail.  

I’ve only hiked the Incline once before, a long time ago before they “fixed” it.  I remembered it being difficult, and cursing the fact I’d gone to the gym in the morning.  This time it was challenging as well, but i knew what to expect.  The only “bad” part was people blasting their music as they hiked.  As if enjoying nature is too much to ask?  News flash:  no one else enjoys your music.  Wear headphones please.  

I didn’t stop until I was about 3/4 of the way up, then I would hike 100 steps then stop to take 2 deep breaths and begin again.  It seemed to work!  I made it to the top in 33 minutes 39 seconds!

I stopped to take a few selfies (something I rarely do) and contemplated the rest of the hike.  It seemed a shame to be here, pay $10 to park, and not get the most out of it I could (I did’t want to waste ANY of that $10).  So I continued hiking, and instead of turning left to take the Barr Trail back to the parking lot I turned right and headed towards Pikes Peak.

Patches of snow started around MM3, right where I’d scattered the seeds for Granny.  I didn’t expect to see any flowers this early in the season (I’m thinking late May-August they should bloom), but I looked anyway.  I did see a butterfly, which was awesome and odd because there were no flowers.  Really cool though because they symbolize someone from heaven is watching you.  

I made it to MM4 before deciding to turn back.  I would have LOVED to hike further, but I heard hikers further up the trail (I didn’t want to play leapfrog) and I was cutting it close on time.  So I took another quick selfie with the snow on the peak and headed back down.  

On my way back through Granny’s area I saw 2 more butterflies and smiled inwardly.

I did end up seeing one flower on the trail.  I was at MM2 when I saw a Pasqueflower.  They are the first flowers to bloom in Colorado Springs.  There’s usually a contest to see who can snap a photo of the first one to bloom every year.  I’m sure my photo isn’t the first, but it was my first sighting of the year!

The entire hike I felt elated.  This is why I hike!  I could feel the sunshine on my face and smell the Ponderosa Pines.  The wind felt amazing.  I made it back down the trail and snapped a quick photo of the Incline, for my out of state friends who haven’t had the pleasure of taking the hike.  

I’ll probably be back soon, but not too soon:  that $10-$20 is going to limit my hikes.  I’m thinking Red Rock Open Space is where I’ll head next (no fees).  

[lauramclark]

Manitou Incline - First Day of Spring

This whole week has been unseasonable gorgeous.  I’ve been itching to get outside and hike, but we’ve been really busy with cookie sales, Girl Scout Meetings, etc.  I could probably have gone this past weekend, but I’m not a fan of hiking on weekends (too many people).  This week I’m working from home, which meant I could probably work really hard and get all my work done and still find time to hike.  Today’s weather looked perfect, so I decided to hike today.

I got up at my normal time and went to the gym, ran 5 miles, lifted for about 10 minutes, then did half an hour of yoga.  I came home, took Emily to school, and was off to the Incline.  I’ve only hiked the incline once before (back in October of 2012), but I frequent the Barr trail to hike Pikes Peak.  I figured I’ve got this.  

I could actually feel the adrenaline start pumping as I neared the trail head. I was so excited to take this hike!  It’s been way too long since I’ve been out (November 8, 2016 to be exact).  

When I got there I was surprised to find the Barr Parking Lot had increased their fees, and required reservations through an app.  NOT COOL.  I was aware last year they were considering this, but didn’t think they were foolish enough to enact a $20 per day parking fee.  They did however, and took it one step further by requiring you to plan in advance.  Do they know anything about hikers?????

...I digress.  There was a cop in the parking lot monitoring to make sure everyone had a pass (there were 2 cars in the parking lot at the time... not even paying for him to be there).  So I drove around and looked for another place to park. 

Yippee!  I found one at $10 per day, only to discover it was limited to 4 hours.  I’d need to be back at my car by 12:01pm.  I inwardly cursed (this meant I’d ONLY be able to do the Incline, and not head to Barr Camp as intended because 4 hours wasn’t enough time for the hike.  I once again asked myself “What is Manitou THINKING?????” and hurried because now my time was seriously limited. 

It was 8am, so not many people were at the beginning of the trail when I got there.  I started at a steady pace, and I’m proud to say not one person passed me on the way up, but I passed dozens of people.  For a Monday, there were actually a lot of people on the trail.  

I’ve only hiked the Incline once before, a long time ago before they “fixed” it.  I remembered it being difficult, and cursing the fact I’d gone to the gym in the morning.  This time it was challenging as well, but i knew what to expect.  The only “bad” part was people blasting their music as they hiked.  As if enjoying nature is too much to ask?  News flash:  no one else enjoys your music.  Wear headphones please.  

I didn’t stop until I was about 3/4 of the way up, then I would hike 100 steps then stop to take 2 deep breaths and begin again.  It seemed to work!  I made it to the top in 33 minutes 39 seconds!

I stopped to take a few selfies (something I rarely do) and contemplated the rest of the hike.  It seemed a shame to be here, pay $10 to park, and not get the most out of it I could (I did’t want to waste ANY of that $10).  So I continued hiking, and instead of turning left to take the Barr Trail back to the parking lot I turned right and headed towards Pikes Peak. 

Patches of snow started around MM3, right where I’d scattered the seeds for Granny.  I didn’t expect to see any flowers this early in the season (I’m thinking late May-August they should bloom), but I looked anyway.  I did see a butterfly, which was awesome and odd because there were no flowers.  Really cool though because they symbolize someone from heaven is watching you.  

I made it to MM4 before deciding to turn back.  I would have LOVED to hike further, but I heard hikers further up the trail (I didn’t want to play leapfrog) and I was cutting it close on time.  So I took another quick selfie with the snow on the peak and headed back down.  

On my way back through Granny’s area I saw 2 more butterflies and smiled inwardly. 

I did end up seeing one flower on the trail.  I was at MM2 when I saw a Pasqueflower.  They are the first flowers to bloom in Colorado Springs.  There’s usually a contest to see who can snap a photo of the first one to bloom every year.  I’m sure my photo isn’t the first, but it was my first sighting of the year!

The entire hike I felt elated.  This is why I hike!  I could feel the sunshine on my face and smell the Ponderosa Pines.  The wind felt amazing.  I made it back down the trail and snapped a quick photo of the Incline, for my out of state friends who haven’t had the pleasure of taking the hike.  

I’ll probably be back soon, but not too soon:  that $10-$20 is going to limit my hikes.  I’m thinking Red Rock Open Space is where I’ll head next (no fees).