#poor gran only gets two routes

[itsukismoon]

Main Story - Chapter 4 (Summary)

For previous chapters, please refer to here and here

Heads up: very long summary. 憧蝶 Is the name of the organisation Nanashi, Testament, Mirror and the Dark Night Duo are a part of. I’m unsure of how to translate the name so I’ll just call them “Butterfly”.

Est reveals that 150 years ago, separated cases w the same symptoms as the ones from black fairies’ miasma already appeared. finding the records of this was extremely hard for two reasons: 1) either medical limitation (medicine at the time still didnt know what was going on) 2) someone is currently trying to hide the information. hes pretty sure theres some kind of connection. but anyway, knowing this can be a huge help to Kaiai, who will go back w Sion to Sorciana (capital of the Country of Magic, the setting of ch.2 and HQ of Magia Seminar Guild) to look further into the matter. now its Gui’s turn to speak, and he drops a few bombs:

If they want to know more about the key, they need to go to the mechanics’ guild (Niji no kanata) and look for Oswald, a grandmeister whos a leading figure in mechanical engineering. in the now out-of-print record book by him, the encyclopaedia of inventions and dreams, there is a secret box (secret boxes open only if certain instructions are followed, kind of like in da vinci’s code). in particular, said secret box presents the same motifs and decorations as Emma’s key, and apparently it was made for Eden, Emma’s father. the box’s whereabouts are unclear, but they still should go find Oswald and ask.

In order to go there, the mechanical city of Woodman, the shortest route is to take the moon road to Dilettant, gastronomy’s country. so that’ll be their next destination! Emma’s worried that the butterfly will act and break some havoc, but Camus walks in and tells her not to worry, Bloody lady will take it upon itself to keep in control the situation so that they cant do anything without being noticed. Mam’s pride has been hurt after the incident, so she has already sent multiple spies all across the world. they will get revenge on the Butterfly. Camus also reminds Emma about her purification powers, and that she should definitely check that out. Crow chimes in adding that if they get to Oswald and find out more about eden, Emma will find out more about herself and her origins! and when that happens they will definitely be there for her, since shes their nakama :)

The gang arrives in Dilettant, and Rouge starts fawning over the mouth-watering smells and sounds of wine glasses being clinked, but before he can run off the others stop him: they’re not here to have fun, they have to be careful about the butterfly! Itsuki apologises, saying that the next moon road to Woodman will take some more time to appear, so in the meantime they’re stuck here. Noah scolds rouge for his usual careless behaviour, and Gran approaches Rouge asking something but seeming very indecisive about it, like he doesn't want to ask it in front of the others. Victor arrives, happy to have found a nice brand of liquor. apparently, while everyone at Bloody lady is busy dealing w the aftermath of the incident, he joined tsukiwatari to look for some ingredients. he says that his job is to keep the bar lively and provide for a resting place when things are rough. he also notices that everyone has a weary face, and asks if they're going to spend the entire week being miserable. they should enjoy their time here, after all, tsukiwatari is the guild of exploration, they should be having fun in new places.

He explains that Dilettant used to be the country of manors (荘園) with an extremely elitist society and poor culture. the feudal lords who owned the land had all the power, and if you were not one of them, your life was basically terrible. social status used to be everything, but then Oscar, the duke of Dilettant and self-proclaimed “genius of the tongue”, came and changed the way of life of the entire country, whose economy is now based on food and good cuisine. he has an extremely refined sense of taste and chose only the finest of flavours while promoting all talented chefs regardless of their social status. Emma remembers hearing of him from Lannes, who had to spend three entire days analysing all of his guild’s (Gastronomy) reports. apparently Oscar eats 20 meals a day lol. Itsuki explains that the prestigious guild reviews local specialties, has a magazine with all kinds of recipes, and the guild home is a restaurant, Ballroom, whose reservations run out for months at a time. although tsukiwatari would like to eat there, they’ll have to settle for something else.

All around them are shops self promoting themselves as Oscars favourites, etc. all of a sudden, said Oscar walks out of a restaurant, people gathering all around and the owner following in tow. Oscar walks to the restaurant banner saying that the food has been “approved by Oscar himself”, and he tears it down, adding “what a foolish thing”. as this happens, tsukiwatari can clearly see that he has a black fairy with him, although he doesn't seem to be losing his control. Emma calls Navi to ask if he has any idea of whats going on, but he's just as clueless as them. in the meantime Oscar leaves, so they chase after him in the back alleys of the town, but instead they find some monster/black fairy familiars. after defeating them, Gran asks Rouge if he knows something

Rouge:” what?? why would i know something??”

Gran:” ah… i see…. yeah, that makes sense…”

Anyway, since they have lost sight of Oscar, they decide to go to the guild hq to see if they can talk things out. they meet Walter, who notices Emma’s guildkeeper pin and asks if shes here on federation business. he's a bit scary, so the interaction goes like this:

Emma: "u-uhm-" Crow: "cmon don't be scared" rouge: "ahah, get in the right spirit! those arms and neck etc... so broad" Noah: "..." Itsuki: "don't be afraid. if its broadness, Gran wont lose either" Gran: "oi💢"

They tell him they want to meet w Oscar, but Walter is crystal clear: the duke is not meeting anyone as hes busy preparing for the week’s big event; and he walks off. the gang hears a pair of familiar voices: Joe and Ace are working as trainees at the guild to become chefs because apparently they just got fired from the Butterfly AND they know nothing about Oscar’s black fairy. Emma asks them what their goal is, trying to destroy people’s dreams.

“its for the greater evil! the greater evil is just greater evil!!! right Ace?

“yeah!!! nothing more nothing less!” (they're just stupid)

They ask more questions to them but they just don't know shit. Noah says they're about as useless as Rouge. someone from the Gastronomy guild steps in, asking them to go wash the dishes instead of wasting their time around… it’s Cuit! he introduces himself to the group, telling them he couldn't help but overhear those two talking about evil, black fairies and Oscar’s name being mentioned.

In the meantime, at the Butterfly’s hq, Mirror asks if they’ve made today’s move yet. Testament denies, saying that they overdid it last time, so now the federation is keeping a close eye on them. furthermore, Bloody lady has apparently found the hq? they predicted this, but its still quite a bother: its best to lay low for a while. in the meantime, Nanashi should infiltrate somewhere… he complains about being alone, since Testament fired the Dark Night duo. doesn't Mirror want to help wink wink? “no, I'm a bystander.”

Back to the guild, Cuit apologises to the others for Walter: he’s very quiet and due to his appearance he can come off as a bit scary; in truth, Cuit describes him as a gentle bear in the forest (+side note for those who do not know it: he's a poison expert! thats his job at the guild since, according to Cuit, the more poisonous the ingredient the tastier it is). while the entire place is in chaos due to the upcoming big event, a crying woman is yelling at Kuchen, Cuit’s older brother. she and Kuchen had a date yesterday, but he didn't go, and she asks him whether his job or her are more important.

K:”shut uppp. and don't come to my workplace, its annoying” + “don't say such embarrassing things. its obvious that my job is more important”

After the woman runs away in tears, Riche, Kuchen and Cuit’s younger brother and Gastronomy’s sommelier, comes into the picture, lightly scolding him. Kuchen defends himself, it’s not his fault that she’s taking it so seriously: he was just playing around with her. Cuit adds that sometimes the other person will take things more seriously, so he has to think about these things.

before Kuchen can say anything else, he notices the group and asks about them. they all move to a more secluded space where they introduce each other (Emma holds her hand out to Riche in greeting but he hides behind Cuit, they don't say it here but Riche has a fear of women or smth lol; then Kuchen teases Emma saying shes easy to read, and its obvious shes angry at him for making the girl cry early; they don't start on the right foot). they tell the trio about black fairies, and the fact that Oscar is currently being possessed. according to Riche this adds up onto his recent behaviour: he's been distancing himself from everyone more than usual, he's been visiting restaurants alone, places he had previously rated as bad, etc. the problem is that Oscar is the pillar of gastronomy in the country, and with this upcoming event of the week, the “Grand Ball”, the fact that Oscar is like this while also being the one in charge for all the chefs and dishes in charge is a HUGE problem. the event will be a national banquet where many foreign royals and nobles will attend: if it doesn't go well, it’ll be over for the entire country. but here comes the dilemma the group cant wrap their head around: black fairies make people aggressive and go out if control; why is it that Oscar looks so calm? the only way to find out is to meet him.

In the mean time, in a small alleyway, a chef is yelling and complaining that he didn't get chosen for the Grand Ball banquet. this is so unfair blah blah blah. all of a sudden, though, Oscar approaches him…

Walter is updated of the situation, but he refuses to force a meeting between the group and Oscar unless actual chaos happens. Oscar’s daily work is still fundamentally important, and mustn't be impeded in any way. the only way to actually get them to meet him is by proposing a food that he has never eaten before… Crow remembers an ancient recipe of a banished dish they found during an expedition, the Dark Pot. according to Cuit, its a legend among chefs worldwide, and it was banned because of its extremely strong flavour. Walter is certain Oscar has never eaten the dish before, since he’s never had to poison taste it; if they manage to make it, he will surely come. however, since the main chef and menu for the Grand Ball haven't been chosen yet, the group will have to handle this themselves, as even Cuit is working to get Oscar’s approval. the Dark Night duo overhears the convo, and they challenge the group to become the world’s best chefs. moving on, with Lannes’ help Emma manages to get a copy of the translated recipe, which leaves everyone confused:

ingredients: slim pig belly, floppy onions, blissful cabbage, smiling potatoes, snow grass (”sukisusuki kusa” lol), magma cacao pulp, mad grapes (according to Cuit they can all be purchased in Dilettant)

some of the steps include: sprinkle salt following your heart, stir the ingredients while shouting the food spell “◯◉◇☆x~!”, simmer it as hot as your first love.

the recipe doesn't make sense. they decide to rely on crow’s good luck to make a decent dish.

snow grass: ill be very brief because these chapters are mostly humour based. Emma, Noah, Itsuki, Crow and Walter go to a forest to get the grass; there’s plenty of poisonous plants which is why Walter is tagging along. the Dark Night duo is also following the group and they eat poisonous plants bc they see Walter doing it thus getting food poisoning. they get to where the grass is, and the taller they get it the better. the duo jumps ahead, but they get trapped by the grass who traps enemies in self-defence. Itsuki follows suit, but when extracting the grass, the plant lets out a soul-wrenching scream, while also working an aphrodisiac on Itsuki, making him fall in love. Crow jumps in to the rescue and everything goes well. heres a few things we find out during this ch: Itsuki loves cooking but he’s terrible at it (which is why he’s giving it his all to make this dish), Noah used to live in a forest with other kids but said forest doesn't exist anymore, Walter comes from a family of poison specialists, and he holds Oscar in an extremely high regard.

magma cocoa powder: now its only Emma and Kuchen, and he takes her to a shop that sells the cocoa they need, which is apparently extremely spicy. Emma politely thanks him, but he tells her to stop being so formal and to drop the “-san” honorific. as he laughs at her stiffness, and a crowd of girls go crazy from afar because omg THE Kuchen just laughed!!!! and who is that his new gf???? they banter for a bit until Emma changes the topic, asking him if he’s ready for the Grand Ball. Kuchen replies saying that he’ll just do it the same as always: if he’s the one making the chocolate then obviously it will be the best. then Emma says “you have so much confidence. you truly are a genius chocolatier, aren't you?” to which Kuchen doesn't reply, a troubled expression on his face. as they walk, Emma spots a shop with a poster saying their chocolate was even approved by Kuchen, who stops dead in his tracks and asks Emma to buy him some. she does, but apparently the chocolate is low-quality. he tears the poster down and starts fighting with the owner, who apparently knows him. Kuchen accuses him of copying the recipe of the chocolatier who used to work for the shop, the one he had actually praised, and of mass-producing the chocolate to save money. they get into a bitter fight, and the owner yells at Kuchen that an arrogant person like him will be shunned immediately the moment he loses Oscar’s backing. they walk off, and kuchen explains that things like these happen quite often; but in any case, he has no intention of leaving the guild: if there’s anywhere he can create the best chocolate in the world, that’s next to Oscar. Emma says that she understands, and that his passion for chocolate is shining through, which leaves Kuchen shocked (they usually take him for a fool). they go back to the guild, where Victor is fighting w Riche to make him try a spritz (Riche is a full believer of pure wine only despite liking the spritz). Emma approaches Cuit, complimenting him for his hard work and adding that she should truly be more like him. Cuit says “yeah thats right… if it wasn't for hard work I probably… (implying he’s no one without hard work → talentless), leaving Emma like ???????

mud grapes: Riche, Victor and Emma this time! they visit the most famous vineyard in the outskirts of the city, and they easily get the grapes as the vineyard gifts them for the special occasion, although usually mud grapes cannot be grown artificially. Emma mentions that she thanks both Kuchen and Riche-san, and Riche stops dead in his tracks. DID SHE JUST CALL KUCHEN WITHOUT A HONORIFIC?? ARE THEY ALREADY THIS CLOSE??? WHAT HAPPENED DURING THAT OUTING!!! IS SHE TRYING TO DISTRACT HIS BROTHERS!!! etc. Emma is trying to defend herself but Riche is literally standing meters away bc of his (hasnt been explained yet) problem with women, whatever that is (Emma believes he just hates her, but Victor understands right away).

(im not putting many pics in these summaries but i just want you guys to understand)

He gets closer while still hiding behind Victor. he admits she’s different from all the other women that get close to his brothers, and they kinda make peace? but Emma feels a weird sensation, the same one she felt when she saw Oscar from afar, and shivers. Navi appears from the key, scaring Riche shitless, telling her she’s almost got the right answer! this time its just familiars though! a fight ensues, and once its over, due to the presence of the familiars, Emma knows that a black fairy is nearby, although shes unsure as to who might be behind this all.

In the meantime, in the city, Gran is alone with Rouge. the latter playfully asks him whats going on: everyone’s busy gathering the ingredients but he's inviting him out to hang out. Gran tells him that he's grateful for his presence, and that despite acting sleazy, he's always very helpful, especially when the others get a bit chaotic. however, he's been doubting him ever since the incident at Bloody lady. when Itsuki and Noah were abducted, the kidnapper dropped a handkerchief: its the one Gran gave Rouge on the very first day they met. furthermore, he guided them around the casino, gave them information on the secret gathering, and he was able to precede the DN duo. Gran asks if he’s a tsukiwatari nakama, if he's truly family?

Emma and Gran meet up at the guild. Noah didn't really care about the cooking part so he went somewhere. as for Rouge… Gran says he went for a drink somewhere. Victor is also somewhere in the city. this means that Itsuki and Crow are the only two ones cooking (aka… its BAD). when they walk in the kitchen, Gran nearly collapses to the floor, attacked by a black miasma coming from Itsuki’s plate. he begs Emma to try the food (its actually black materia), and Emma is like “THIS IS EDIBLE????”; she wants to try regardless, since Itsuki’s eyes are shining like two stars. Gran tells her to wait, he needs to fetch stomach medicine first- and Crow just tells Itsuki that theres no way Emma can eat that unless he wants to actually kill her… Itsuki apologises, he got too ahead of himself :( the black fairies appear and start making fun of him (”this… this has the smell of death”, “humans eat such trash??? their foolishness knows no bounds…”). The rest of the preparations are a bit of a mess, with Crow cutting the vegetables in fist-sized portions, the unclear instructions on seasoning, etc. As the dish is slow cooking, Emma meets Riche outside the kitchen, and together they overhear Kuchen and Cuit talking from another kitchen. Cuit, despite being terribly busy with managing guests and staff, has decided to change his menu, in order to better suit Kuchen’s perfect dessert. Riche accuses Emma of peeping, but Kuchen overhears their banter and invites them in, where he has Emma try the desert he’ll serve at the grand ball: a multilayered chocolate cake. Emma finds it perfect, commenting that this is why Kuchen is so confident… this remark leaves Cuit feeling insecure, so he excuses himself with a lie and leaves.

Emma returns to the dark pot kitchen, and we are told the DN duo’s past (directly narrated by them despite no one asking lol). They lived in a nameless country, in a nameless city, with no parents nor house, a place rampant with diseases and crime. Their dream was to become the world’s no.1 heroes of justice. They would stand up to adults bullying children, getting beaten up in their stead. One day, they fell into a trap made by the bad guys, were confronted by the police and had to run away from the city. Then, they arrived to a certain country, where they started working as servants to a certain noble, an evil man who stole money from the people. They tried finding evidence of his crimes to get him prosecuted, but failed and were accused instead. This process of being kicked out and being accused repeated itself a few times, until they decided to become bounty hunters to make ends meet. On their first job, they got saved by Nanashi who, upon hearing of their past, told them that since they had always lost to “evil” then they just had to become even more “evil” to win. To conquer evil with evil (ikemen villains im looking at you). And thats how they started working with the Butterfly. Unfortunately, they were fired from there too, and after Oscar approached them in Dilettant, they have decided to prove their worth through cooking. Crow says that Joe (pink haired brother, the oldest one) is making a terrible face, and that dreams are supposed to be more fun to talk about. Ace disagrees, some happy people with sparkling dreams like them and no hardships could never understand. The duo goes back to taking care of their pot.

In the meantime, Victor and Noah are talking together as they stroll through town. Noah thinks the others act a bit too friendly, and he points out how weird Primus club is for having members that don't trust each other like Camus and Ymir. Victor says that although his guild is made up of selfish people with different agendas and personalities, the casino is an irreplaceable home to all of them. As they talk, they spot Oscar with no black fairy, and they chase after him. Scene cuts to Nanashi who has successfully infiltrated somewhere, he talks to himself until he goes “damn… I'm already at the talking to myself stage? I might be missing Joe and Ace more than i thought… hey, black fairy, you’re the only one I can count on here; there’s someone that’ll be perfect for you…”.

The dark pot has been completed! Emma goes into the courtyard to report to Cuit, and finds him sitting on a bench. He apologises for not being of much help, and when asked about how his menu is proceeding, he answers that it’s still a bit… blurry. Emma notices a mug with snow grass soup in it. Cuit asks if she wants to try it, and when she does she’s overjoyed! Then, they proceed to have a cute little interaction where he asks her to drop the honourifics, while he switches from “Emma-san” to “Emma-chan”! Feeling a bit less shy, she asks him if he’s worried about anything, adding that as a guildkeeper she can help him with anything at all! Cuit laughs and inches closer, he’s so happy: first she compliments his cooking with sparkling eyes, now she’s lending an ear to him… he explains that his Grand Ball full course meal included Riche’s wines and Kuchen’s chocolate; however, he knows that Oscar won’t choose him for the event, so he’s just holding back his brothers. On the other hand, Kuchen managed to create the perfect dish effortlessly, so he can’t help but compare himself to his brother. Emma tells him that the only thing she can say is that the soup he made was so delicious, she smiled. that’s why—

Victor: “WE HAVE A PROBLEM!”.

Victor and Noah come rushing in the garden and they start telling how they chased Oscar into a suspicious building where he was having a suspicious meeting with about 10 suspicious looking chefs, where he told them that the Ball is approaching soon so failure will not be an option as his black fairy hovered behind him. Emma and Cuit suspect he’s planning to make the black fairy go wild at the Grand Ball. Riche approaches them, but he seems unresponsive. A black fairy appears at his side, together with Nanashi, who declares not to know anything about Oscar’s situation (is he telling the truth though?); Crow and the others went to patrol the streets, so now they have to handle Riche by themselves. Riche pours wine into a glass, then smashes it on the ground once he’s gulped it all down. Kuchen arrives at the scene, and Riche starts with a monologue on how he will never forgive his brothers! They are just TOO WONDERFUL! Kuchen has received a gift from God, Which is why he’s the best chocolatier around; the women he dates are unworthy, and he should just cut them all off!!!!!! And why is Cuit so insecure when his cooking is one of the best around!!!!!!!!! When he was a kid he was a troublemaker who got into fights a lot, but he always made sure to come back home in time because he wanted to eat Cuit’s meals!!!!!!!! He will never forgive him for underestimating his own cooking. Kuchen understands, then asks Cuit if he’s been looking at the face of the person who eats his food lately. Emma joins in, but before much can be said, Riche continues: HOW DARES OSCAR LEAVE HIS BROTHERS OUT THE GRAND BALL!!!!!! HE CANT FORGIVE HIM! HE’LL DESTROY EVERYTHING!!!!!!

Fight ensues, the black fairy is purified and sucked into the key, and riche collapses to the ground. Nanashi says “purification complete, met my quota, time to leave!”. Then he swears he doesn't know anything about Oscar’s black fairy: things have been tough on them lately. Noah:”So cant u just stay still??” Nanashi:”Nope! I wanted to see Emma-chan! ;P”. Dark night duo walk into the scene by chance, where they see Nanashi. The latter comments how they have given up so easily on their dream to become the most evil duo in the world; but whatever, he didn’t really mind their stupid positivism (Joe and Ace are left “!!!!”). Then he leaves.

Riche awakens some time later in one of the castle bedrooms (IDK if i said this before but the guild’s hq is called castle Edouard) after getting patched up by Walter, who pats him on the head and looks at Kuchen before stepping to the side. This prompts the eldest to speak up, apologising to Riche and promising he’ll try not to worry him too much in the future. Cuit also promises to believe in himself more, and that he’ll definitely have Oscar approve of his cooking for the Ball (cue Walter patting his head lol; every time he does it everyone always gets embarrassed and blushes. He approached Kuchen like 👁️👁️ and Kuchen goes “N-no…im fine….”). Crow, Gran and Itsuki come into the room, and they start discussing what just happened. Regardless of whether it’s the Butterfly’s work or not, they have to stop the duke before things turn violent. However, Cuit asks for 2 days of time: if there’s truly something wrong with Oscar, Cuit and his brothers want to ascertain it w their own hands.

Flashback: Cuit loses a competition because a rival chef mixed something into his dishes. Oscar steps in, saying that he ate Cuit’s dish, and that man added 25.8 grams of Bougetto (?) liquor in the sauce. The other chef defends himself: even if this is Oscar we’re talking about, he can’t treat him however he wants, he’s the chef of the yadda yadda family and blah blah blah. Oscar has no ears for someone tarnishing gourmet food. “Cuit, let’s go”. That Noble family is actually really close with the royal family, And they don’t let anyone get in their way, so Oscar’s position could be in trouble; but he doesn’t care, as he will not allow food to be degraded. He adds that if something were to happen to him, then Cuit and the others will have to take up his role.

If the black fairy is distorting Oscar’s belief, then it is up to them to do something about it; this is their gourmet pride (chapter title drop oooh). Walter will keep an eye on Oscar and let them know if he does anything suspicious, whereas Emma promises to step in in case things go south: as a guildkeeper, she wont let meisters get hurt!

Three days later, they finally get to meet Oscar to have him try the dark pot; he gives them some kind of backhanded compliments which make the group feel like he’s indirectly yelling/mad at them. However, before trying their dish, they request him to try Cuit/Riche/Kuchen’s meal first. I will not be translating the entirety of the meal the they give Oscar however: Cuit proposes a dish made with foreign vegetables, and Oscar is not happy with this decision; Cuit points out that these vegetables are not inferior in quality despite being cheaper, but they give a more homely feeling, something that is kind of important to Oscar if you read his past story. He then goes on to explain how they tried incorporating the guests’ countries of origin in the menu for the grand ball. This is a great responsibility, because it means that all dishes must be equally good, or the guests from a certain country will be displeased; it’s why Cuit wants to be the one to handle the menu: the skill of a chef is seen in these situations. After the meal, it appears that Oscar is extremely pleased. But.

“I will not let you serve this at the Grand Ball”.

Everyone’s appalled, so they just hit him with their suspicions. Oscar’s black fairy, Feld, appears. And he seems to be, extremely angry, to the point where Oscar is struggling to stand up. He directly addresses him by name, telling him to calm down (meaning he’s by now acquainted with the fairy). Navi comes out of the key, and he points out how Feld is different from all other black fairies they have met until now: instead of being violently out of control, he feels a bit weak. They explain to Oscar what the situation is and what black fairies are. Feld appeared in front of Oscar one day, and “stirred” his emotions, which he accepted as a good thing, as he, too, is driven by anger just like Feld. This basically means that the fairy has been trying to go out of control, but Oscar has been resisting through sheer willpower alone, although his body suffers from it. Emma gets ready to purify him, but Oscar refuses to let go of this anger now. Emma, ask him what in the world is he so angry about? He mysteriously tells her that if she wants to understand she has to follow him.

Fast forward a bit, Emma is accompanying Oscar to a party held at an aristocratic mansion. she doesn’t really know what’s happening plus she’s worried about messing up w her manners in such a lavish place. Oscar says:” don’t worry about the nobles, just think of them as potatoes” (lol) “but Oscar that’s disrespectful!” “Yeah, poor potatoes, sorry for comparing you to these people..” (LOLL). During the meal all the aristocrats are chatting among themselves and Oscar looks angrier and angrier although Emma doesn’t really understand why. Then, an aristocrat approaches Oscar and they start talking: the latter asks about how his chef (someone who Oscar noticed as being quite talented) was doing, and the noble replied saying that he was replaced with a chef from another noble family of chefs who are famous for producing top-quality cooks. The aristocrat keeps talking, looking down on “untalented nobodies” and whatnot. When dinner is over, Emma confesses she kind of understands him now: what most of those people enjoyed was not the good food but the title and brand that came with the chefs. Oscar goes on to say how these people eat food that is made with high-quality ingredients and praise it because of the quality of the ingredients themselves; as he says this a dark aura surrounds him. This is the disease that is currently rampant in the country: chefs’ competitiveness should be encouraged, but the people evaluating them are rotten to the core. As a result, unknown but skilled chefs are being deprived of opportunities to grow. He is enraged at the current state of the country, which is why the guild is having the Grand Ball. He simply tells her to look forward to it.

The day comes and Emma is allowed to sit next to Oscar in case the black fairy goes crazy. The dishes are brought in and everyone is enjoying the taste of them without knowing the names of the chefs and where the ingredients come from; therefore Oscar is forcing them to “enjoy the food” rather than the titles that come with it.

At the end of the night he presents the 10 chefs who prepared the entire menu to the invitees: the Dilettant aristocrats recognised them as being the unknown chefs they fired from their kitchens in favour of celebrity chefs; Oscar exposes their hypocrisy in front of the foreign guests, making them appear as fools. On the other hand, foreign guests are delighted at the idea of hiring these unknown but extremely skilled chefs. Later, Oscar finally confronts the Dilettant aristocrats, outing his ire and disgust. The aristocrats fall silent and when they leave, they are embarrassed and with red faces. Oscar delightfully laughs like a child at them. Him and Emma chitchat about everything that went on and the way Oscar had to train the chefs by making them do the dishes 300 times. As they talk, they are approached by an extremely well-dressed man and his attendant: it’s Dilettant’s king, who thanks Oscar for hitting at those nobles’ reputation in public. The country can now finally start working to meet the standards of its reputation as a country of food lovers.

Later on Emma purifies Oscar of the black fairy who now regains some kind of consciousness and he starts speaking (after he sends Evan flying with a punch). The person he used to protect once upon a time was a man who was accused of a crime he didn’t commit and who died in despair. Navi ask him what the hell he is since he wasn’t inside the key nor he was losing control. Mateo and Rive (?) come from the key, and mentioned their own experiences: they were overwhelmed by negative emotions and it is impossible for the host to maintain a sense of self. Feld doesn’t remember anything at all. However, he has a vague memory of a huge tree, which is the one Emma saw during the “purification incident” back with Bloody Lady (CH2 PT18). This seems to resonate with all black fairies present. 

Emma reports the information to Crow, and they surmise that the tree might be the place where black fairies originate from. They also suppose that Eden, Emma’s father, might be there.

The next day it is officially a week since the group has arrived in the city and tomorrow they will have to leave to the next country. Before that, they are having Oscar to try the dark pots: Itsuki and Crow’s being red, whereas joe and ace’s being black. All of a sudden Rouge has also come back from whatever he was doing in the city, leaving a very perplexed Gran, and an angry Victor and Noah. Oscar tries both but the first is terrible, and the second just tastes weird (is this goldilocks?); Crow defends himself by asking if this is not the taste of rare and ancient cuisine. But no later than he speaks, Cuit walks in with a third pot, containing a golden coloured soup. Obviously it’s amazing. The DN duo says that technically the others’ rating was “terrible”, whereas theirs is “weird”, meaning they technically won the challenge. Regardless, they don’t feel as happy as they thought they would, because, as Emma points out, this is not their real dream (she says that despite them being villains, she really liked the look in their eyes). Oscar admits approaching them not for their cooking skills but for their anger. They realise that what the others are saying is right and that they are destined to fight evil with evil. Before leaving Joe turns to Emma and tells her that although he was flattered at her “love confession” (which never happened), he cannot accept her feelings yet (Emma:”i somehow got dumped!!!”).

(Some sort of flashback i think?) Rouge tells Gran how kind Emma is to everyone, even someone like him. The fact that the others consider him as family makes him a bit uncomfortable and he thinks he doesn’t really deserve it, especially since he doesn’t believe in the “ fundamentals” (?) of people. However, Gran points out, he still mindful of them which is why he doesn’t say anything about it. Rouge cannot bring himself to tell those kids that there is a traitor among us (amogus…).

The DN duo is leaving; Emma tries to inform them of something but Joe is like “no I’m sorry I can’t be with you even if you try to stop me we cannot be together. I have something to do. Blah blah blah”. The truth was that actually Cuit had invited all of them to the guild’s top famous restaurant. There, he manages to guess what everyone wants to eat specifically without them saying anything at all. Everyone pretty much starts eating like animals since Cuit’s food is so good. Even Victor, who normally speaks in a very polite and kind of effeminate way goes “BRO WHAT THE HELL THIS IS SO FUC- i mean! How delicious^^!”. Kuchen brings in some chocolates he made with the super spicy magma cacao, telling Emma that the smile on her face when eating these chocolates is the cutest and most honest until now. Oscar walks in, apologising for not being able to show his gratitude better. He notices Kuchen’s chocolates and tells him to use no additives next time, just make it 100% spicy (kuchen:”YOU’LL DIE LIKE THAT??” But of course he accepts the challenge from Oscar). Oscar then turns to Cuit, informing him that the course menu he proposed the other day is to be served to the next trilateral talks under direct request of his majesty. Oscar and Walter pretty much run away after this because after the Grand Ball happened the avalanche of work that was put off is now cascading on top of them like crazy. Cuit feels sorry that they can’t help him in any way and he wishes that they had a guild keeper, hinting at Emma. He lets her know that since Oscar went through the trouble of coming all the way here to bid farwell to them, he must’ve surely taken a liking to her.

The time to go to Woodland has come, and the moonroad has appeared without delay. Victor is to return to Grayland, and Rouge appears to be leaving as well (“the winds are calling for me! Being a wandering poet is toughhh-“ Noah:”then just fly to the ends of the world.”). He says he’s joking, there’s something he actually needs to look into, though he promises he’ll come rushing to help them when they’re in a pinch. We find out through the conversation that he has with Victor after the others leave that Rouge is actually going to Record as he has business with the federation. While the others are walking and talking to each other on the moon road, Navi appears from the key and informs Emma that the black fairy they captured in record, the one that had been asleep all along, has just woken up. Emma is engulfed by a white light and the black fairy tells her that he has awakened due to her powers of purification growing stronger. Then he disappears and when Emma returns to normal, nobody but Navi can see her. The scene cut to Testament commenting how the Awakening has started.

[boss-the-goofball]

Prequel Game Routes Under Cut

~Inko~

Demon Lord (All for One) - The Canon Route and the favorite of most fans because they wished they could be the ones to get with the old Demon Lord because they found him hotter than the Demon Lord in the original game.

Toshinori - The second most popular Inko-centric route, though there are split opinions on him due to his characterization in the novelization. He is still a well-loved character and people want good things for him.

Enji - The least popular route because the fans want his children to still exist.

~Mitsuki~

Masaru - The Canon Route, though some fans don’t care for how much of a doormat he can be. He’s part of why Mitsuki is the least popular heroine.

Enji - Not as popular as him in the Inko side of things, which is saying something. The fans thought it was funny at first having Bakugou and Todoroki as brothers, but overall they prefer having them as unrelated rivals.

Demon Lord (All for One) - The actual least popular in Mitsuki’s side of the game, primarily because the fans didn’t think he and Mitsuki were a good match for each other.

~Rei~

Enji - The Canon Route and the third most popular route in the entire game. The fans think there might be a chance to salvage their relationship here so they can rework the og game so it doesn’t end in tragedy.

Masaru - Decently popular, the fans just thought he and Rei looked cute together.

Toshinori - The fans just thought it was funny having Enji’s rival steal his future wife from him.

~Sorahiko~

Demon Lord (All for One) - Not the Canon Route, but the AfOhiko truthers say this is the absolute best route in the game. It is literally neck and neck with Inko’s Canon Route. Also the only mlm route in the game.

Nana - Schrödinger’s Canon. No one knows if this is Sorahiko’s Canon Route or not because it isn’t mentioned anywhere in the novelization or the original game. Only that Nana was close to Sorahiko in the past.

[talas-starlight]

Killing me softly - Sokka x reader

SUMMARY: Having only heard good things about Sokka, you always wanted to see how great he is for yourself. When you finally get the opportunity, you struggle to find him as funny as everyone said.  

This is based off the song killing me softly by the fugees which you can listen to: here! or there is a version by zhavia: here!

I strongly suggest you listen to the song because I think the whole vibe you get from it will get you in the mindset for this (and hopefully distract you from how poorly this was executed AHAH)

WORD COUNT: 2.6k

WARNINGS: angsty vibes. tried to have a hopeful ending but idk if it worked lol. poor writing skills.

A/N: ahA I really couldn’t get this idea out of my head so here we are! most certainly did not do this concept/ song fic justice to the way I imagined it but lol this shit low key hurted my feelings but also tried to turn it around? Idk I think this is okay?

KEY: words in-between dividers = lyrics MY MASTERLIST: here!

I heard he sang a good song, I heard he had a style And so I came to see him, to listen for a while And there he was, this young boy, a stranger to my eyes

You knew nothing and everything about him all at the same time. Hakoda allowed you to join them as they recruited people across the nations to prepare for invasion day. In doing so, you unknowingly signed a non-verbal contract to hear all the stories and jokes about his son, Sokka. Of course, he spoke highly of his daughter, but there was an unrelenting sense of pride and joy that came with hearing about him.

“You’ll really enjoy speaking with him y/n. He can take any dull or sad moment and turn it into something that will make you laugh beyond your years. He’s been through so much, but he’s become the warrior I knew he was always destined to be.”

It was impossible not to want to meet him. You wanted to hear the stories in the flesh as he became the light in the darkness of this war.

Yet when he finally boarded the ship with his friends after Ba Sing Se, that’s all he became, a story. As a mechanic and strategist, your time was booked to the brim, building upon the plans Sokka created himself. Somehow, you managed to have interactions with Katara and Toph, even Momo, but being in the same room as Sokka? Impossible. You weren’t avoiding him by any means, and neither was he, it just seemed that even when confined to the space of a ship your duties dragged both of you into different directions…. Until now.

Finally having time to relax as you finished reviewing a draft for one segment of the invasion, you made your way mess hall in a desperate search to consume any food you could get your hands on. Walking in, Toph perked up at feeling your presence when entering the room. Considering you were always busy when working on something and she was not too chatty, you got along well with minimal conversations and comfortable silence.

You grab a bowl, filling it to the brim with fresh soup and sat at their table across from her. Feeling content as you feel the soups warm and wholesome scent fill your senses, you glance around to see who else is sitting at the table. Eyes zeroing in on Sokka’s frame at the other end of the table, your breath instantly hitches. Suddenly your face feels as warm as your soup, and you want to kick yourself for letting yourself be so affected just by your incredibly short glance at him. Shifting your focus back to your soup you make the painfully obvious decision to focus all of your attention towards it, only listening to their interactions around you. You reminded yourself that you didn’t truly know him, only what everyone else has told you. You knew better than to let yourself become a total fool for the Watertribe boy without having any proper interactions with him. Hence, you’d be lying if you said you weren’t at the edge of your seat in anticipation to see Sokka joke around and tell stories with your friends. After all, that is what you were told about from the moment you met his father.

Strumming my pain with his fingers (one time, one time) Singing my life with his words (two times, two times) Killing me softly with his song Killing me softly with his song Telling my whole life with his words Killing me softly with his song

The excitement quickly dissipated when he began to dive into this evenings’ jokes and anecdotes.

“Guys! You wouldn’t believe it!! I was exploring the ship after training today, and I found all of these Fire Nation scrolls about their art and folktales in one of the rooms, and let me tell you, it’s a load of shit!”

As everyone laughed, you momentarily stopped breathing. Your entire being began to fold into itself, terrified at the prospect of him taking all of the things you favoured about your childhood and rip them to pieces.

Katara attempted to see the light in his statement. “Come on Sokka it can’t be that bad! I mean even the Watertribe has some questionable stories, I remember even the one Gran Gran told was a bit-“

“No, Katara! This is by far soooo much suckier than those stories. Okay, so there’s this one about dragons right? What happens is that there’s this Dragon Emperor who becomes bound to a mortal’s body by a Dark Water Spirit. So obviously! I was expecting this super cool battle or revenge plot, but in the end, they turned it into this lame love story where the Dragon Emperor falls in love with a mortal who turns out to be the Dragon Empress!”

“Aw I think that’s sweet! I mean surely there would have been a battle with the Dark Water Spirit so it wouldn’t have been a total loss?”

“Ugh, Katara! You don’t get it! It's just… sooooo oogie! They shouldn’t have done that. It should have been a story about battle, and warriors! I mean come on, that’s all the Fire Nation is good for right? Destruction and battle. So why did they have to ruin that story like that with all of that lovey stuff?! It just seems like nothing good can ever come out of the Fire Nation.”

Taking another mouthful of the soup, you kept your face downward as everyone laughed at Sokka’s exclamation of hatred for the nation you grew up in. No one knew where you grew up there except Hakoda, and you liked it that way. In complete fairness to you, it wasn’t your entire identity since your mother was from the Earth Kingdom, and you only spent the first seven years of your life there. But that didn’t mean it hurt any less when he tore apart the only things you dearly loved as a child.

Toph sensing your discomfort as you didn’t join in their amusement, she swiftly diverted the conversation into a new direction. While you were grateful, the thought of being in his presence any longer made you want to cry. It clearly didn’t work either as he continued to joke around about the food and other small things he picked up about the nation throughout their journey. Silently finishing up, you didn’t say a word or even give a half-hearted smile as they all laughed. Placing your bowl in the sink, you headed straight to your room.

The actions made everyone at the table confused, yet no one spoke out about it. Afterall, no one really knew you personally, nor did they understand what caused you to cut your interaction with them so short. Sokka himself became particularly curious. Afterall just like you, he heard many great things about you from his father, admiring your kindness and work ethic from afar. So, to say he wasn’t hurt that you chose not to stay longer or even crack a genuine smile, would be a lie.

Making it to your room, you took out any piece of paper or a scroll you used for your plans and began to pour out your pain onto to pages until you passed out from exhaustion. Not caring what contents were on the other side, you allowed yourself to be unfiltered.

You knew Sokka didn’t mean any harm; everyone laughed. He became the light you oh so desired to witness for yourself. Deep down, you knew you would have laughed too if it weren’t for the fact that he took the few happy memories you had with your father and set it on fire. A fire that produced the light you wished to see… but it seemed it wasn’t in the right way you hoped for.

I felt all flushed with fever, embarrassed by the crowd I felt he'd found my letters and read each one out loud I prayed that he would finish, but he just kept right on

You sighed as you finally finished fixing the pipes in the lower decks of the ship, once again tired and done with today’s work, you went to the mess hall for a late dinner.

“Hey Hakoda, I finished the plumbing problem so no one on the second floor should have any troubles now.”

“Thanks, y/n! You really are such a valuable person in this team. You’re always making sure everything is up and running.”

“Of course! What would you do without me? After all, let’s not forget how I spend my free time with your invasion plans.” You joked.

Turning your back to him to scoop some food onto your plate, he spoke up from behind you. “Oh right! That reminds me, I mentioned your ideas to Sokka earlier, and he seemed to really like them! But Sokka being Sokka, he got so excited over them and asked so many questions I didn’t even know how to respond. Anyway, I just wanted to let you know he’s probably at your desk analysing all of your scrolls right now. That kid never seems to be able to contain his excitement.”

“Yeah, that’s oka-“abruptly, you dropped your plate as your brain processed the information. If he was looking at your plans, then that meant……

Not even giving the Watertribe chief another glace or end to your response, you ran. Taking the fastest route to your room, everything in your mind and your surroundings became blurred, and you became hyper-focused on the fact that Sokka probably found what you wrote about him. Desperately trying not to cry as you bumped into people in the hallways, you couldn’t think of anything worse to happen in this very moment. The very idea of him knowing how you felt about him as well as how his words affected you made you want to scream. Maybe if you got there in time, he wouldn’t have read enough to understand your feelings fully. But when you bust through your door, it was too late. Sokka stood near your desk, with all the scrolls you ever wrote on scattered around the room. Some lay on your bed, the floor, across the desk, and even one in his hands.

“M- my dad said that you had a lot of perfect ideas for the invasion. B- but I- I found… I never thought…” His eyes never met yours as he continued to read the current scroll in his hands.

You slowly approached him, not caring as you walked over every word you wrote on the floor. “Sokka…” You silently begged him to stop reading, unsure of its contents.

He kept reading clearly in shock at the words before him, “why didn’t you s-say something?”

You sighed, somewhat unsure of how to approach the situation. “It’s not my place –“

He threw the scroll to the ground, finally looking up at you with bloodshot eyes as tears streamed down his face. “WHAT DO YOU MEAN IT’S NOT YOUR PLACE Y/N! It is your place! You had… no, you HAVE every right to say something! You sat there that night as I picked away at every single thing you ever loved, and you didn’t say a thing! Why would you let me do that to you!” Sobs wracked his body, falling to his knees in front of you. Torn apart on the inside about how much he hurt you. He never wanted this to happen, not just because of his small crush on you- that didn’t matter at this very moment. The very idea that he hurt someone who was so kind and selfless as a person, ruined him.

Beginning to feel immensely guilty for his current state, you knelt down to his level. Placing your hands to his wrists, you gently moved his hands away from his face. “Sokka… hey, Sokka look at me…”

As he looked at you, you struggled to keep your composure as tears began to fill your own eyes.

“It’s okay. What you said hurt, I don’t need to explain that for you to know it. Even though it felt like a small dig into who I am as a person and what I grew up to love, it’s true. What the Fire Nation did, what they are doing is awful, but I can’t speak up to defend them. I am in many ways apart of them. I grew up there, I celebrated their holidays, cooked and ate their food, and read their folktales. As much as I hate what the words ‘Fire Nation’ symbolises to the rest of the world, to you, it’s a part of who I am. No one can take that away from me, not even myself. Despite how much it hurt me, I can’t get mad at you or anyone because your feelings, and everything you said, is valid.” Moving his arms out of your grasp, he wrapped himself around you, holding you close to his chest.

“I’m so sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. You didn’t deserve to hear that, you’re amazing y/n. You deserve to be treated with the kindness and love you give to everyone on this ship. I’m sorry. I was wrong. I’m going to be better, I promise. I promise.” Overcome with emotion, the tears you tried so hard to hold back burst at his words.

Strumming my pain with his fingers (one time, one time) Singing my life with his words (two times, two times) Killing me softly with his song Killing me softly with his song Telling my whole life with his words Killing me softly with his song

Neither you nor Sokka bothered to move from your intertwined embrace on the floor of your room. You were both a sobbing, crying mess. The pain from both of you suffocated the air around you as you cling onto one another for forgiveness.

Forgiveness for being from the very place that caused him so much pain.

Forgiveness for being unable to embrace so much of who you are.

The pain was unrelenting as he weaved his fingers through your hair, shifting so your noses’ and foreheads against one another as he whispered words begging for forgiveness. Wishing, praying, to the Spirits he could take it all away. Sokka’s heart burns from the raging pain that has awoken inside of him. He doesn’t stop running his fingers through your hair almost as if he can stroke away the broken pieces inside of you, looking for new ones underneath so he can start again. Because despite his resentment for where you came from, he knows that to him, you are like a divine angel. You both have your own complex and conflicting backgrounds of life, but he has a desperate desire to care for you in a way he will never be able to explain.

You wanted to lie to him. Say it didn’t hurt, say you could forget. You could do it easily, but you wouldn’t. Knowing you both suffered enough, you didn’t want to do something that could potentially cause each other more pain. This was enough. As you both continued to cry, holding one another with his hands still in your hair, you leant back slightly, bringing a shaky, tender hand to his cheek.

Looking up into his eyes, it’s awfully evident how much pain swims in his beautiful shades of blue. Yet, there seems to be an unspoken understanding as you see a small glimmer behind all the tears. The light you have been yearning for. He sees it in your eyes too. Neither of you can change or take back what’s already been said, but in this very moment there’s hope. You know you can move forward and heal together.

“We’re going to be okay.”

A/N: hi friends!! I hope you liked this one 😊

TO THE TAGLIST: hi all! i was a bit torn on what to do here because i wasn’t sure if you all only wanted to be tagged in my zuko series or my other works as well?? so im so sorry if you didn’t want to be tagged in this so please just let me know if you’d only like to be on the list for the series, zuko, sokka or other characters in general :)

TAGLIST: @slythergirlimagines​​ @mangoberry43​​ @eridanuswave​​ @whiskeywinter89​​​ @kaylove12​​ @simplyfandomish​​ @khaleesi-of-assassins​ @callums-keith​ @ilovespideyyy​ @calciumcow​ @blackhood5sos​ @nnon-it-up​

[milkywinnie]

"𝐈𝐠𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧" || PRINCE ZUKO

𝟎𝟎. 𝐒𝐰𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐖𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 (2,579 Words)

"You know, I live with many regrets, but the biggest things I regret at this moment was not bringing a jacket..."

You huffed, shivering from the cool breeze that swept past in your direction. Shakily, you rubbed your hands together, and lifted them next to each other to ignite a small flame from within your palms.

'It's so cold that I have to spare my breaths.' You sighed, spreading out the map down on the wooden surface. "I need to find a village soon. My food supply is running low." Ever since you had escaped from the Fire Nation and its kingdom, times have never been harder, especially knowing that you're constantly on the run.

The water currents shifted and swayed in a variety of directions, signaling the upcoming of a dangerous storm. "Oh no...! This can't be any good." You clenched your fists, discarding of the flames rising upon your palms, and rushed to find a secure shore to rest upon.

The tides raised chaotically as you let out a muffled scream as the waves crashed against the frail boat. With haste, you tucked the letter securely into your bag, before you felt your body being submerged into the icy waters below you. 'I can't go out like this...! I have to find the Avatar!'

But the air escaping from your lungs refused your desire to call for help. Desperately, you clung onto a scrap from the broken boat. "Someone, please..." You coughed out, your consciousness slipping from your being, feeling your body become lethargic, and your mind hazy and clouded.

In the distance, figures approached you, but they were too late - you had passed out.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

When you woke up, you realized that you were in an area unfamiliar of your own. "W-Where the hell am I...?" You murmured softly, lifting yourself from upon the firm polar bear skin you were snuggling upon. All you could actually recognize was the throbbing headache that was pounding against your head.

"Hey, I think she's waking up!" A feminine voice exclaimed, causing you to rise from your dazed state. "Who's there?" You stated in a demanding tone as you scrambled from the floor to get into your fighting stance. "O-Oh, don't worry! I'm not a threat to you!"

You skeptically glanced over  at the pretty, young girl in front of you. Her long, deep brown hair that was braided into a singular braid. Her sapphire-colored eyes shined brightly - maybe out of fear or bewilderment from your actions.

Her custom tribal clothing let alone made you immediately aware of the fact she was from the Water Tribe, and knowing your directions, most likely from the southern district.

"My name is Katara, and I come in peace. My brother and I found you washed upon a glacier." She introduced herself, extending a hand out in your direction. Relaxing your posture, you shook her extended hand. "Thank you for rescuing, I'm in your gratitude." You thanked her, before pulling your hand away.

"I'm sorry, but where is my bag? I must continue my venture as quickly as possible." You wondered, looking aimlessly in multiple directions in search of you beaten and probably soaked luggage, much like your cloak.

"Oh, everything was soaked to the bone in that bag, so my tribe took the custody into warming it up." Katara explained, placing a bowl of soup down on the low tea table in front of you. "I'm sorry, but I must be on my way! I have to meet up with the Avatar!" You instantly froze at her statement.

"The Avatar?!" You yelled, rushing up to her to clutch her shoulders tightly. Katara, obviously, flinched from your sudden burst of energy, but she nodded nonetheless. "Yes... His name is Aang, and he brought us back here while we were trying to reach out to you."

You were completely stunned with the news that you had received. "T-This is amazing! I'm actually speechless!" You gasped in amazement as you giddily embraced the younger girl into a hug. "Yeah, I definitely agree!" She beamed, hugging you back. Now that you've realized that your hunt was over, you felt a little more at ease.

"Wow, Katara, real professional, and you say I couldn't snuggle up with her while trying to warm her up." A make voice whined with disbelief. "And I'm going to assume that he's the brother you speak of, right?" The both of you giggled, pulling away from the rather warm hug.

"Hey, the name's Sokka, gorgeous." "And I'm not interested, lover boy." You hummed, winking playfully at the boy in front of you. His brown hair was shaved amongst most of its perimeter, leaving him with a parting on the top of his hair, which was formed into a bun. The boy, most likely the same age as you, eyes burned in your direction, mentally plotting as to what to do next.

He wore a familiar uniform, much like Katara's, but with his own weaponry slung around him. "But now..." Sokka began, before aiming his dagger, which was constructed into the form of a boomerang, pointing directly at you.

"What are you doing within this region?" He sneered shakily, but his voice demanded answers. You chuckled at his brute approach, watching how Katara attempted to calm her elder brother down. "Me? I'm just a mere traveler who sought to travel the world..."

The lies slipped past your lips with ease as you faked a wry smile. "It was so frightening on my own, and I appreciate such kind, humble citizens like yourself saving me." Sokka and Katara exchanged glances between themselves, watching their facial expressions shift into ones that displayed guilt.

"It's no problem, miss, really." Katara comforted, patting your shoulder gently. Sokka released a stream of incoherent words muffled under his breath in defeat.

"Fine, she can stay a little while longer, but by sunrise she must go." Sokka declared, looking over at you. you could feel his distraught, suspicious demeanor still wavering from off of him, but for now, you knew that you were in the clear.

"Great! Now you can stay, and even meet the Avatar!" Katara grinned happily, pulling you along outside of the tent. You squinted from the harsh sunlight that was being emitted, and reflecting from the pale white snow. Looking further, you noticed several little children and adults in awe, watching an entity fly throughout the cool winds.

You couldn't believe it, you were in amazement to the sight you were viewing. There he was, flying his in the bright blue sky. "Amazing..." Was the only word you could muster as you watched what took sight from above. Well, it was amazing up until the point where the poor boy crashed into the watchtower.

"My watchtower!" Sokka cried out, rushing to the pile of rubbish that as left behind for him. "That was amazing!" Katara gushed before rushing to Aang's side to help him up. "Definitely, I dare say that I am impressed." You smiled, clapping your hands together. Though the Avatar was much younger than you thought, it he was intriguing.

As Sokka was digging through the broken watchtower, Aang released a powerful gust of wind, causing snow to topple down upon him. You tried to muffle your giggle by covering your hand over your mouth.

"Great. You're an airbender, Katara's a waterbender, together you can just waste time all day long." Sokka taunted, patting the snow from off from his body. 'A waterbender, huh? Duly noted.' Your [e/c] eyes glanced over at the pair of teens conversing happily about their abilities, knowing that you couldn't put your input of your firebender powers.

'People fear others from the Fire Nation, they hate them...'

Sokka noticed your discomfort, and decided to approach you. "Hey, it's okay to be uncomfortable around benders. They're overrated, anyway." Sokka blushed slightly from your little laugh, watching as you shuffled closer next to him.

The invite to converse with another was refreshing, along with Sokka's vivid personality. Despite his misogynistic conceptions, you could tell that he was genuine with his passions., and you liked that especially about him.

"Hey, I've gotta go train my men, but you're allowed to observe, if a girl like yourself is into that type of thing."

You had to scoff at Sokka's comment. "Although I'd love to show you off at your little lesson, out of gratitude, I'll watch."

Sitting on the frozen water, you watched as Sokka assembled the team together with haste. While he was getting everything together, you quickly looked around for your bag, and an escape route, if things went in the wrong direction for you.

You were astonished to see a flying bison that was sleeping on the floor across from you. Its arrow symbols that trailed up and down its body made it easy to realize that it was Aang's, but then again, only the Airbenders wielded such useful and kind creatures.

'Maybe the flying bison wouldn't mind helping me...' You pondered, also mentally noting to grab your bag as well. Hopefully, no one bothered to look through it, or else you'd be given away.

"Now men, it's important that you show no fear when you face a Firebender. In the Water Tribe, we fight to the last man standing. For without courage, how can we call ourselves men?" You quickly realized that Sokka's training has begun, and decided to pay a bit more attention to him.

Not to mention that his "men", were a group of little toddlers who clearly didn't want to be here, especially one kid, who was desperately trying to go to the restroom. "I gotta pee!" He cried out, trying to hold his bladder best that the poor boy could.

"Just let the boy go, Sokka." You intervened, placing a hand on the boy's shoulder. Though Sokka was ready to protest, you asked, "Actually, who else needs to go on a potty trip?" Every other kid raises their hands, and Sokka sighs at the sight.

You send them off to the bathroom, watching as Sokka slaps his forehead in embarrassment and disgust of his mini crew mates. "It's okay, Sokka. They're just little kids, after all."

After Sokka's failed lesson, Katara approached the two of you. "Have you seen Aang? Gran Gran said he disappeared over an hour ago." Katara's voice wavered, concerned for the younger boy as she looked around for him.

"No, I haven't seen him around, but I'm sure he's fine, Katara." As if on cue, Aang exits the bathroom with a childish grin. "Wow! Everything freezes in there!" The children laughed at his statement as Sokka becomes upset from the constant interruptions.

"Ugh! Katara, get him out of here. This lesson is for warriors only." Sokka grunted, making a shooing motion towards Aang. You barely managed to suppress a laugh. "I think your lesson is gonna be cut short, Sokka." You mentioned, directing your eyes over to the children playing around the bison.

"Haha, yeah!" Aang nodded, noticing your presence. "Hey, you're the girl Appa and I saved!" He grinned, making his way over to where you and Katara stood. "Appa?" You raised a brow at the unfamiliar name.

"Yeah! Appa's my flying bison, and I'm Aang!" He introduced himself, smiling proudly. A slight smile crossed your face as you waved politely.

"Nice to meet you, Aang. My name is-"

"Stop! Stop it right now!" Sokka yelled, finally done with putting up with all the chaos going on around him. "What's wrong with you? We don't have time for fun and games with a war going on." He seethed, pointing his finger directly into Aang's chest.

"What war? What are you talking about?" Aang stopped playing around at the mention of a war. He was so stunned at the fact that the world he used to know was changing all around him in an instance, and that scared him.

Though the feeling wasn't as severe as it were have been for you, knowing that your father had left for the war, and knowing that he would never return back home was always a sad thought. Knowing this, your mother was forced into careers that wasn't a pleasant lifestyle, but was something that she could provide for you.

"You're kidding, right?" Sokka's jaw dropped in surprise, unable to  believe that Aang was unaware of the constant war that was occurring for over one-hundred years. "Something's not right here..." You murmured softly to yourself, mentally connecting the dots as to why Aang didn't know everything that had transpired.

You were about to investigate deeper with Aang, but he was gone with the wind, along with Katara following after him. "Now that there's no more distractions, care to observe in peace?" Sokka flirtatiously wiggled his eyebrows as you rolled your eyes in amusement. "Sure, after I find my bag. I have a change of clothes in there." You motioned to your beaten up satchel.

"Fine, go look through your purse, I'll start again with my men."

"Sure, ponytail, but you'll be upset when I won't see what's going on."

And you wished you were out there when a sudden strike was laid upon the once peaceful village, and the heat of the attack made it all to familiar as to the enemies that were fighting.

"The Fire Nation..." You growled in disgust, quickly changing into your other outfit that covered more of your [s/t] skin, and covered your hair. You reached through your bag, grabbing your silver-trimmed fan with thin blades that structured the weapon.

You rushed out of the tent to see a large, metal ship heading in the direction of the village, already see part of the once frozen grounds melted with ease. "Oh no, they've already started attacking." You muttered, running up to where Sokka was tightly wielding his weapon, his hand shaking out of either fear or anger.

"You told them about us being here!" Sokka yelled, jabbing his pointer finger in my direction. "Maybe you just infiltrated our home, so that they could take over!" "And why the hell would I do that when I'm on the run from them!?" You shot back, aiming your weapon into his chest.

"Well, because we don't even know a lot of information about you like your name?!" Sokka defended his case, crossing his arms in protest. "Well, I tried to tell it to Aang, but you interrupted our conversation, dumba-"

"What the heck is going on here?"

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

[NOTE]: Thank you all for reading my Zuko x Reader Story! The purpose of this story was not only to relive one of my first childhood crushes, but to allow everyone who is new to this community to experience a proper fanfic that follows the plot of the story, and still with a hint of romance with our best boy, since I am aware that there is not many! Please know that this story will be a slow burn, and will have some moments of smut, so be aware!

Any who, please make sure to like, comment, and share this story to others who may enjoy it as well! Much love, and I hope to see you all in the next chapter, lovelies!

[damn-daemon]

Critical Mass - Prologue

(While I’m still writing this for NaNo, I have no self control - @chuck-hansens​ did this to me. This isn’t the final version, but please let me know what you think!)

Ring of Kafrene

It had once been a populous mining site, home to a multitude of cultures and corporations, but the collapse of the Empire lead to many of the mines being closed down – no more Death Stars to build after all – and the area fell into disrepair. The Hutts attempted to take control of the area, but their reach had dwindled over the past decade, leaving the station in the hands of local gangs. It had become a hotbed of illegal activity – not that things had been easygoing under Imperial rule – with a reputation that rivaled some of the Outer Rim worlds.

So, of course his person of interest would be holed up here. 

Poe Dameron sighed as he stepped into the space port, vaguely paying attention as the docking clamps ground into place. The old, two-seater freighter was a far cry from his T-70, but the point of the mission was to not draw attention to himself. Also to preferably not get his ship stolen. An X-Wing wouldn’t last more than an hour in this space port. He didn’t even think the freighter would, and that rusting block hadn’t seen active service since before the Clone Wars. 

BB-8 rolled up beside him, gently nudging his boot and whistling softly. 

“Yeah, buddy, I’m starting to think I should have left you home too,” he replied.

The air was stale and stank of grease, oil, and other things he’d rather not think about. Most of the equipment was retrofitted mining machinery with exposed wires and layers of rust. Something electrical was sparking on the far end of the docking bay, and there was a lone astromech lying on the ground. Occasionally it beeped, but no one seemed to care. 

Inside the station was bound to be interesting. 

“I wouldn’t linger, if I were you.”

Poe turned to the bay doors, finding them open and occupied by a dark green Rodian. He was tapping on a datapad. 

“This level’s got a faulty grid. Power tends to cut and then you’re off for a nice – if brief – space trip.”

Panicking, BB-8 cried, launching a cable into the nearest wall. 

Poe pat the poor droid before walking to the doors. Eventually, he heard the sound of his friend rolling behind him – and then rapidly in front of him. 

“What’s my docking fee?” he asked, feeling a small amount of relief when the doors closed behind him. 

“Hundred fifty credits first day. One hundred for every day after.”

“And what’s the fee if I don’t want my ship to go mysteriously missing?”

If Rodians were capable of smiling, the one before him would be grinning from ear to ear. 

“Add another fifty credits on top,” the Rodian replied, accepting his credit chit. “Here I thought you were another one of those Core pilots. Come to this heap looking for adventure, and they lose everything but the clothes on their backs. Sometimes, they lose those too.”

“I used to be,” Poe said, walking down the narrow corridor. He ignored the way the lights flickered as he walked by, as well as what could be described as whimpering on BB-8’s part. 

The doors at the end opened slowly, grinding on gears that were undoubtedly rusted as well, revealing an unusual world. 

The Ring of Kafrene was an outpost that connected two asteroids. There was no atmosphere, gravity, or vegetation. It was rock and metal, a self-contained unit that relied heavily on trade to keep running. Problem was, Kafrene didn’t lie on any well-traveled trade routes. Without the allure of a thriving mining community, most vessels moved on to safer, better known stops. 

Metal towers, conduits, and piping shot upward for as far as Poe could see. The air was thick with steam and other chemicals being churned into the atmosphere out of various vents, clouding the passageways so that there always appeared to be a fog. Everything was a shade of brown, and he doubted that it started that way. 

Outside the few windowpanes, ships drifted outside. As did garbage.

Aliens of every type shuffled around the area, some in piloting gear, others armed to the teeth, a few sat on the ground begging for spare credits. A bounty hunter dragged a shouting Dug through the crowd. No one reacted. Most just moved along, quiet and plodding. It was another day for them. 

“Maybe I still am,” he whispered. 

He wandered with the crowd for some time, actively keeping BB-8 in front of him – only three passersby attempted to interact with the droid, each met with the same number of volts – until he came across the cantina he was looking for. At least it smelled like something remotely edible over the same stale air. 

A young Twi’lek held her hand up as he entered the space, looking him over like she could smell the offworlder on him. 

“We don’t serve droids here.”

Poe looked down at BB-8, who looked up at him. They both looked at the droid working behind the bar, serving drinks and making programmed small talk. 

“Well, I’ve never seen a droid eat anything.”

Her eyes glazed over, pupils momentarily scraping the top of her head, before she sighed and moved on, handing drinks over to a rowdy table of miners. 

Poe shrugged, and sauntered up to the bar, taking a seat on one of the stools.

And there he waited. 

Time passed slowly, and Poe had to actively restrain himself from constantly checking the door. General Organa’s mission layout was simple: the contact would come to him. He wasn’t to move until then. 

Three days ago, C-3PO received an encoded message from one of his contacts – frankly, the idea that a protocol droid had an underground spy network at his proverbial fingertips was still strange to him – detailing a curious event that had occurred on Canto Bight. It alleged that a First Order operative had gone rogue. Leia had decided to err on the side of caution until yesterday when 3PO received a second transmission from this space port. 

It was potentially the largest lead on the First Order they had ever received – someone who was actually on the inside, and actively seeking a way out – yet Leia had still offered him a choice. It would be dangerous – and was possibly a trap – and if he felt the risk was too great, then they would leave it be. 

“It’s like you don’t know me, General,” he’d said with a smile. “I haven’t met a risk yet that wasn’t worth the effort.”

Her smile wasn’t quite there. “Sometimes, Dameron, I wish you had.”

He’d spent the entire trip mulling over those words. 

The Gran that had been occupying the bar since he arrived stood to leave, mumbling some obscenities as he shuffled toward the door. That left Poe alone at the bar – nearly alone in the cantina minus the miner party – and a little sullen at that. A crowded place was better for meeting. Here might have been downright suspicious. 

He chanced a glance at the door. 

“You humans never were good at being subtle.” 

Poe looked back to the droid behind the bar. It was a tall, thin thing, with one red sensor that watched him. Perhaps the only thing not rusting in the area, it still maintained a metallic sheen. Someone had jokingly tied a bow tie to what would have been its neck region. 

“Excuse me?” 

The entire time, the droid had been speaking in simple phrases, exhibiting a simple etiquette programming, but that appeared to have been a ruse on its part. 

“Your species fidgets too much. It has a low tolerance for sitting still. Imagine how little would get done if a droid acted the same way.”

Poe lowered his voice. “Are you…?”

He could have sworn the droid looked disappointed. “Were you expecting something organic?”

You know, he really didn’t have an answer for that. 

Poe waited as the droid continued cleaning the bar top, now acutely aware of how much movement his body was making. He continually caught his fingers tapping on the counter-top and would put his hands on his lap, only then his knee would start bouncing. BB-8 had grabbed his foot with a little claw to keep it still. 

“You’re not helping.”

The droid whistled shrilly.

Poe pointed a finger at him. “That was rude.”

Eventually, the bar droid placed a small cup in front of him without a word. Poe watched it briefly, but it no longer acknowledged him, chirping out a chipper greeting to a Talz that had just entered. 

Inside the cup was a small data drive.

Poe watched it a moment, wondering if he shouldn’t pretend to take a drink. Instead, he counted to one hundred, grabbed the drive, and made his way out of the cantina. 

The crowds had died down slightly, apparently having gone through a shift change when he first entered. Still, there was a steady current of aliens traveling down the narrow passageways. Poe let himself be directed by them, hoping to blend in as much as possible until he chanced upon a more private setting. 

They passed through a small market place, where the citizens of the station haggled over used equipment and fried food. The walk became suffocating as it was apparent that the stalls had not initially been considered as part of the station’s original layout, leaving the travelers packed shoulder to shoulder. 

A small fist fight broke out, knocking over a fruit stand. This led to several individuals grabbing the wayward Jogan fruit and making a run for it, leaving the owner cursing in what he thought was Huttese. 

Poe took the momentary chaos as an opportunity to stray from the beaten path, taking a narrow passageway that was lined with piping and probably served as more of a maintenance access. It widened out at the middle, opening up to a chamber that was filled with steam drifting from various vents rising up through dozens of levels. BB-8 just barely managed to roll through, leaving him somewhat confident that they would be alright for the time being. 

“Alright, buddy,” he said, taking a knee before BB-8 and handing out the drive. “Let’s see what you can make of this.”

BB-8 beep in acknowledgement, taking the drive. It only took a moment for his systems to process the data, producing a hologram of a still image – a young woman looking over her shoulder, face slightly blurred – and a few sentences of info. 

“Arrived on the station in an unauthorized Republic ship,” Poe mumbled, confused by how random the information seemed to be. “Logs wiped clean. Dock personnel unable to locate. Incident on level eighty-two involving half a dozen casualties potentially tied to her. I don’t know, this seems like a lot of loosely connected stuff. How do we know it’s her?”

His droid whistled and another image appeared, this one dated for the incident in Canto Bight. The projection wasn’t nearly as clear as the first, but Poe could tell it was clearly the same woman. 

“Alright,” Poe acknowledged, standing up at the holograms disappeared. “So, now we just have to find her…in the middle of all this. Yeah, no problem.”

The droid beeped.

“Yes, I know I said it would be worth it.”

Poe ran a hand over his face. It wouldn’t have been the first time he was wrong. 

“Is that a BB-series astromech?!” 

Startled by the sudden voice, Poe almost pulled the blaster hidden in his jacket, but was able to restrain himself long enough to get a good look at the boy that was now watching them from the opening. 

He couldn’t have been older than ten, staring at them with curious hazel eyes and a grin nearly too big for his face. His blonde hair stuck up in all directions, his clothes were covered in grease and grime, and in his hand, he held a single Jogan fruit, clearly having taken advantage of the tussle as well. 

BB-8 whistled, his head bobbing back and forth like a proud little shake. 

“How did you get one here?” the boy asked, darting out from the narrow passageway and fallen to his knees in front of the droid. “Last decent looking droid I saw got scrapped for parts within the hour.”

Ignoring the cries of panic from his friend, Poe actually smiled at the kid. At least someone around the area hadn’t had their spirits dampened yet. 

“Beebee-Ate isn’t about to go down with out a fight, and trust me, this guy’s got a lot of it in him,” he replied, patting the droid.

“Has he seen a lot of action?”

Poe shrugged. “A skirmish or two. Nothing he couldn’t handle.”

BB-8 was practically humming from the attention. 

The boy looked up at him. “So, you’re not from around here. Why come to this place? We’re not exactly near anything.”

“Business.”

“What kind of business?”

Poe felt his eyes narrowing. “What’s with all the questions, kid?”

The boy shrugged, taking a bite from the Jogan. “I have to ask them.”

“Why?”

“I needed to distract you somehow,” he replied, eyes landing on something that was definitely behind him. 

Poe didn’t even get the chance to reach for his blaster before something struck the back of his knee, hard, and his leg crumpled to the ground. The other leg followed suit as something struck it as well, except when it hit the ground, he felt a mass remain there, applying pressure to his calf. It felt like a knee. 

An arm wrapped around his neck, squeezing. The pressure wasn’t enough to render him unconscious, but warned that the outcome was possible if he didn’t comply. 

A shot fired, an electrical burst striking BB-8. The poor droid short-circuited, his components shooting out haphazardly before his systems automatically shut down to prevent further damage to his internal drives. 

“Hey! What are you-” Poe choked as the arm squeezed tighter, making his vision pulse. He held his hands up in surrender. “Okay. Okay.”

The boy frowned. “Sorry.”

He felt the attacker’s hand reach under his jacket, securing the blaster. 

“Can I have it?” the boy asked, face lighting up briefly before he assumed the attacker gave him a look. The frown returned. “Okay.”

“So, I take it you’re the fugitive from the First Order, right?” Poe asked, risking further damage to himself, but the arm did not squeeze again. “I mean, you have to be. You’re not asking for any credits.”

There was no response.

“You didn’t shoot me, which is nice. Means you don’t want me dead. And if you don’t want me dead, that means I have something you want, right?”

Still nothing. 

“You know, I’ve never been good at these guessing games. You’re gonna have to speak u-”

Their free hand slapped against his forehead, pulling his head back until he had a good – albeit upside down – view of their face. 

And there she was, the woman in the hologram. 

She was young, somewhere around his age, though the stern look on her face made her look older. Her dark hair was falling out of a bun, framing a bruised face – the incident wasn’t completely one sided then – and equally dark eyes. 

“Do all members of the Resistance talk this much?”

“No. Just me,” he mumbled. “I’ve been told it’s a problem.”

She sighed and shoved his head forward again.

“Get the droid,” she ordered. The boy dropped his fruit and immediately went to BB-8, pushing all his components back in place.

Poe watched it happen, slowly moving his free leg to the side. If he could just knock her off balance, he might have a chance. 

When the time felt right, he clasped her arm with both hands and pushed with his leg, careening them both to the side. Using his weight against her, Poe made her land on her back, the force of his shoulders striking her chest causing her arm to release him. 

He scrambled out of her grasp, rolling to the side, but the woman recovered fast. Poe felt her hands grasp the back of his jacket, halting his escape attempt and pulling him back. She swung her leg over his body, sitting on his chest, this time not bothering to ease the pressure. Breathing was difficult. 

She pointed a blaster at him. 

“Using the stun setting within two feet of a target causes irreparable damage to the nervous system,” the woman said, the words tumbling from her mouth without a single inflection, as if she was reciting it from a lesson. “You won’t be doing that again.”

Poe Dameron couldn’t help but wonder if General Organa wasn’t suddenly feeling smug at that moment.

@marvelousthronewars​ Look a present for youuuuu.

[shellyscribbles]

Stream of consciousness

Thinking about marriage and my values.  I read an argument on twitter about abortion this morning.  There was a woman who is married, pregnant with a wanted child but a difficult pregnancy.  She said it made her understand that no woman should be forced to undergo that against her will.  

How is it possible that someone could think that?

I have migraines with auras. I can’t take combination birth control that mimics pregnancy because I would have a migraine for weeks on end.  So, while I have not been pregnant, I do not really expect it to be the best time of my life.  I still want children.  I would never terminate a pregnancy if I could help it.  I don’t think my comfort is the goal of life.  I tried it.  I would rather struggle and suffer and do something worth while than waste all my time chasing down comfort.  

I feel like that is missing from society, the notion of suffering.  We want to eradicate it at all costs.  We must give people free stuff because they are poor; they are suffering.

We all make choices in life and while I believe in compassion, I don’t think hand-outs do the soul of a person good.  I think that’s why people get stuck on welfare.  People need opportunity and maybe guidance to make better decisions.  Just giving someone something because they don’t have it doesn’t take into account whether or not they are responsible for having nothing.

I made choices when I was young that resulted in me being a bit delayed in self-sufficiency.  Granted, I was never fully comfortable with the notion of being some career woman who made a bunch of money and lived in a big house alone.  While I did desire to run my own business at one point, maybe I will in the future, I understood I would be in debt for a long time before succeeding at it.  When I got married the notion of doing anything to put us into debt pushed that idea back.  

But back to being young, I worked a dead-end job for years.  I lived with my parents going to a junior college with no real aim and working this job.  For years. Seven of them.  It wasn’t until one of my teachers whom I had for four different classes finally noticed I wasn’t going away and pulled me aside and asked what my plans were.  I realized I didn’t really have any.  I wanted to be a worship leader, so I was taking music classes, but I hadn’t really thought of getting a degree.  So, we looked at my transcript and found the first degree I could get.  Music History. 

I became a full-time student after years of taking two classes at a time, and realized that I didn’t want to study music.  I love music. I love singing and I still plan on leading worship, but I have learned worship isn’t about musical skill.  A good worship leader has a strong relationship with God, not a fancy degree.  Plus, I hated those two years of grueling work to get that degree.  

With music ruled out I then found myself without a path to follow.  What would I do if I wasn’t studying music?  I remembered being young and all the little businesses I tried to start and so I registered for some business classes.  I love accounting.  I fell in love with business.  I wanted to study accounting, but I ended up really behind in an application and got rejected to the closest school with an accounting program so I looked at the other close university and picked the closest thing, management.  

I have doubled my income from my dead-end job and I now have promotion options available to me if I say the word.  But now I am married and hoping to start a family soon and I have zero desire to be working full time while trying to be a wife and mother.  My boss does it and she is amazing, but she also lives with extended family and has a massive support network as well as a different mindset than I have.

As I look back on my life to this point, I have always wanted to be married.  That has always been priority one.  It took me 28 years to find my husband.  Well, I met him when I was 17, but I was 26 before we began dating. But even when I discovered accounting and toyed with the idea of being a big wig accountant, I had a check in my heart. How would a family fit into that? Would I be okay with paying someone else to take care of my kids?  Would I be okay with delaying it?  Would my future husband be okay with that choice?  Would I want to marry someone who was okay with that?

I think ultimately the accounting path was not truly what I wanted.  I think I meandered through school because none of it was really what I wanted.  I wanted a family.  No one really expresses that as an option for women.  We are supposed to pick a career path, no a life path.  Would I have made different choices if I had thought of what I really wanted when I was young?

I think the one time I was on the right track with regards to school was in high school.  I was looking around for schools with good English programs because I wanted to be a writer.  Not really sure why I didn’t take that route.  I guess I am glad I didn’t, I do like the skills I have acquired throughout the years, but sometimes I just wonder why I made that choice. Now that I think of it, I started the junior college meaning to study computer networking and then I learned that I would have to run wires and that sounded like no fun at all.  

I think I started really seeking to be comfortable while I was caring for my grandmother.  She had a heart attack and we discovered she had pretty advanced Alzheimer’s as well.  We knew when we went to the hospital to see her that she could not live alone anymore.  My sister was just newly divorced with a plethora of obstacles of her own to deal with.  My parents both have pretty hefty health constraints, plus they have their own home that isn’t quite designed for an elderly person to live in.  Grans house was specifically designed with convalescence in mind because of her husband who often used a wheelchair due to his health issues and experimental surgeries to correct it with no success.  Given the fact that I was 26 and still living with the parents, plus I went to school where my grandmother lived, I was the perfect option.  

When I moved in with my grandmother, I was terrified.  The first night I remember getting there, gran was settled into the din on the couch where she loved to lay and I sat in the living room on the green chair and my dad started to head out.  He gave me his friend’s number that lived around the corner so I would have someone closer than twenty-five minutes away.  Then he left.  I sat there thinking of the vest the hospital had given grandma which was supposed to shock her heart back into rhythm if it stopped.  It felt like her life was in my hands and I wanted to cry thinking of how I hadn’t even taken care of myself on my own, now I had another person to care for.

I think I took to it fairly well.  It was difficult to not be alone in the way that one is not alone when they live with someone with dementia.  She was afraid and always needed to know where I was.  I had to prepare all of the food, keep the house up, keep the bills paid (granted not with my money, its different doing that with your own money haha), keep gran clean and entertained.  My sister would tell me it was like having a child and I would get so frustrated because I was watching her die not grow.  She knew less at the end of each week.  It was getting increasingly difficult, not better.  The only reward was knowing that I got to show her that she was loved which is something I always wanted for my grandma.  She lived as a widow for thirty years and I wanted her to know she was a treasure.  I got to show her that.  

But it was so hard.  I experienced depression for the first time in those two years.  It’s ridiculous how all day all I wanted to do was sleep and as soon as it was time to sleep, I would become incapable of it.  I would be up until 2 or 3 in the morning watching Netflix, mostly because it was better than laying there thinking about everything.  I wanted anything to make the weight of it lighter, the pain of it less.  I was relieved when it was agreed in my family upon my engagement that I could not bring that stress into my new marriage (there is that instinct I had again, the marriage was priority and I needed to protect it). Gran was moved into a care home on the first day of the month my husband and I were married.  For twenty days I had the house to myself with the exception of my family getting an estate sale together.  The property is in a trust and it was agreed it would be best if my husband and I could move in and keep up the house rather than sell it or rent it to strangers.  

So, then I was married. I had everything I wanted.  It was amazing.  Now I was running the house with my own money and it was so real.  It was nice having the advantage of I knew this house; I knew these bills.  It was nice. It was kind of too nice.  I suddenly felt aimless again.  What now?  I even felt like a bad Christian.  I struggled to read and pray.  I still just wanted to be comfortable, I took no risks.  

I think the struggle and my realization that I have a selfish streak, exacerbated by that period of depression, came when my husband began to mention his interest in going into law enforcement as well as our discussions of beginning a family.  I slowly began to realize that I don’t get everything I want when I get everything I want.  Supporting my husband as he goes through the academy is difficult.  I work over thirty hours a week while keeping up the house and yard on my own as well as the meals.  I don’t always want to, it isn’t always fun, it isn’t always appreciated as I wish it were, but its right.  Its good.  It’s working to get us through to when he gets his full job and we become able to support a family with me not working over thirty hours a week.  

I got on this train of thought because of a pregnant woman saying women should get the option of abortion because pregnancy is uncomfortable.  What good thing comes from comfort?  There is a cost to everything.  You can’t have everything for nothing.  That isn’t how the world works.  And looking back, it was that season of seeking comfort as my priority that was the least fulfilling of all of it.  I am happier now that something has forced my own comfort to play second fiddle to something with some meat to it.  

[st33d]

I’m not bored of RPGs

I would prefer to take my own screenshots but Steam has given me a big update queue and getting shots off of the Switch is a different kind of chore. Instead I will be using appropriate pictures of cats I found on shutterstock.com.

Pillars of Eternity 2

Almost all isometric computer roleplaying games are broken into islands. There is a campaign map operating like a vast sea, and within that sea one visits small places with a clearly marked border. Instanced dungeons where a poor laptop can muster a fireworks display for your heroes.

How refreshing that Pillars 2 leans into that. Islands within islands. Thematically a voyage across the sea, replete with sea shanties. I applaud the structure of this game. It is a delight to discover remote islands that hold illustrated text adventures in addition to the meat and potatoes combat.

And the combat really is meat and potatoes. You get to choose two professions, allowing really dumb combinations like my paladin who had to choose between summoning bats or tanking the front line. The benefit of all this is that you can find ways to entertain yourself if you get bored of all the murdering. I avoided the ship to ship combat as it is a weird mini game that I don’t like. You can largely do without it, and if you make enough allies during the main quest you can get to the final battle free of cannon balls or uninspiring melee.

The main story suffers from trying to have a connection to the first game. I really would have preferred to tackle this adventure without that baggage. When I go off the beaten track the game is a lot of fun. Fortunately the open sea has little in the way of tracks. It is a game weighed down by hubris and experiment but still manages to tread water in a sea of similar titles.

Tangledeep

This is a mostly classic roguelike. I say mostly because it has some very linear boss fights you’re forced to repeat, and it offsets the lack of a hunger clock by just dumping more monsters into a level. By “dump” I mean they’re just new things there without any logic or tactical threat.

However, Tangledeep has a lot of nonsense you can get up to: You can summon plant monsters. Multiclass into a soul drinking summoner. Plant trees. Keep pets. Visit bonus dungeons. Make food (mostly curry). There’s other stuff too, I just kinda lost track.

I got invested enough to come up with a specific build. One that would summon lots of monsters and teleport around the map with a combination of skills I’d pick up from two of the fighting professions. Eventually I died and I couldn’t imagine playing a different style of character. The new classes I was unlocking weren’t offering new pets or movement skills so I haven’t played since.

I enjoyed my time with Tangledeep a lot. Mining the powers from all the classes was a fun project to play out during the delve. Had I survived I’m sure I would have engaged with all the other features the game has. I want to say you should play the game without permadeath, because the structure doesn’t reward it. I think one should play their first game with permadeath on to get to grips with using skills, then turn it on to start a new game. Picking classes in the right order and taking only the skills you need. The game kind of expects you to do this by offering a tougher dungeon on future play-throughs. Some solid fun to be had here when you figure out what settings you should turn on and off. The developer has been kind enough to offer a lot of them.

Devil May Cry 5

Okay, it’s not an RPG but it’s really good. A pure expression of joy in videogame form. It dares me into thinking it’s gone too stupid, but then yes, yes I really do need to cut down this boss with two motorcycles, it’s the best tactical option.

I’m too old and slow for these sort of games and yet DMC5 encouraged me instead of frustrating me. From fans of the series I’ve heard it does its forebears credit. One can only hope that its creators have more games like this to share in the future.

Final Fantasy X

I’ve stopped at the Blitzball tutorial, I do not want to play this mini game. I don’t like any of the characters in this game either. It took The Witcher 3 about eight hours to win me over, which is kind of acceptable in a huge RPG. But I’m not even meeting NPCs that I like.

I’ll have to come back to this one.

Final Fantasy XII

Constraints do interesting things to games. In FF12 we have what wants to be an open world MMO type of game and it thinks it’s running on a Playstation 2. So the whole world is broken into islands.

Sounds like an isometric CRPG to me. It even leans into that constraint, creating strange geometries to navigate with a pace to encounters that you don’t really see in modern sandbox games. In an open world there must be empty spaces. To create immersion and to allow monsters to chase you for a reasonable distance before giving up. You need boring bits. FF12 removes those boring bits, creating a world that feels like a traditional dungeon on a massive scale.

Then it puts those boring bits right back in. All the way in.

FF12 is a real-time game. You assign commands and your heroes act them out. You can also set your heroes on auto pilot. The game lets you buy more specific commands from shops, allowing you to create an undying death machine out of your party. This starts out really fun. You unlock abilities on your character’s skill-tree-board-thing and continue to tinker with the death ball. But even though you’ve unlocked an ability, you have to first find it in the dungeon world. And some of the ways you find them are bullshit. Be prepared to walk in and out of an area to dice roll a boss fight into appearing (not a bug - that’s what you have to do). Be prepared to navigate a dungeon that has a 42 minute explanation on youtube (and it’s been edited). Be prepared to find Dispelga on route to a boss and only find Dispel after you looked it up on a wiki (it’s in the corner of a really easy dungeon that I already cleared). Unlocking abilities this way sets expectations. I know I’m missing something and I’ve paid to unlock it - I’m committed. As I got further into the game’s list of status effects and party buffs my frustration grew.

The story has a cast of amiable characters struggling against occupation by the Empire. It’s alright. I remember all their names but couldn’t honestly tell you how I got to where I am or what started it. In a game which is largely about exploration it works pretty well as a backdrop.

It’s a very unique game. A hybrid of MMO and isometric RPG made from the JRPG mindset. The modern ports of the game feature fast-forward buttons that apologise for the self-indulgences taken in its original form. It is a decent thirty hours of fun and a further ten hours of not much fun. I certainly recommend it to roleplaying game enthusiasts, but with caveats for completionists.

World of Final Fantasy

I experienced Pokemon Red on my then-desktop-PC whilst listening to the album Gran Turismo by The Cardigans. I couldn’t stand the high pitched beeps of the menu so I preferred to listen to the latest CD I had. The song Explode is burned into my mind next to stamping on a monster’s head and stuffing it into a ball. It’s not something you need to know, but I thought I’d tell you about it.

The conceit of why you are stuffing classic monsters from Final Fantasy games into balls prisms does not need explaining. Nor does one need to know why the two main characters help form two stacks of three creatures. Who cares why these stacks combine the powers of those within to create a hybrid JRPG avatar.

World of Final Fantasy cares. Oh boy does it care. There’s not a single button on my gamepad this isn’t getting away without two minutes of banter between the characters to explain it. Cutscene after cutscene rolls by. They often come in pairs so I pause and skip ahead just in case. Even after you complete a cutscene the characters lock out the controls and have a jolly good chat about what they’ve just seen. In its defence it lets you skip being waterboarded with the story and run the game at what feels like 1.5x speed. But there’s still a lot of busy work when it comes to skipping cutscenes. There’s loads of them.

I really like the combat. That is, I really like it when I have a monster that does the right colour damage for capturing a new monster. It’s a refreshing take on Pokemon that is utterly wasted on the Final Fantasy franchise, but I guess it needed the brand for this weird game to even exist. If you like the combat you found in Pokemon and want something with more nuance and challenge then you should pick it up and skip those cutscenes. If you need some story to wash it down with and don’t like a shockingly linear campaign map, then perhaps put it off for a while.

7DBL (7 Day Broughlike) Challenge

I’ve often been accused of making a Broughlike. To make a game that reminds you of Michael Brough’s work: A small grid with a turn based avatar that can cast spells. I’ve often refuted this because I tend to avoid having spells in my games. There’s just never a nice way to do the UI. Us iPad owners are fine, phone owners less so, desktop users get lots of keys to press, and hooray for gamepads if they aren’t awful for any type of menu.

Those more patient than I have stepped up to the challenge. Echoing the 7 Day Roguelike Challenge (7DRL, of which I am a yearly participant) developers across the globe attempted to make a small grid with a turn based avatar that cast spells. In 7 days. They also scheduled this challenge right before the gaming event called E3. Much like the 7DRL always gets scheduled before the gaming event called GDC. We can’t have a game jam making niche games and let reporters have time to talk about it. That wouldn’t be the done thing.

The results are above average. I say this coming from the 7DRL which is generally average, equal parts good and bad. The games produced in this jam are mostly good. There’s a few which clearly aren’t finished, and yet they show a great deal of promise. Even Brough himself submitted a game, one which is quite accessible and fun. Highlights for me included controlling a rather awkward squid that had to shoot in order to turn and a one dimensional roguelike that adds depth by throwing your weapons.

I hope they do it again next year.

My RPGs

I released my roguelite runner Bump 2 for the small audience that appreciates it. It’s one of those games that really appeals to a handful of people, and not to others in the slightest. In homage to my own select tastes and to unjinx my collection of unfinished projects, I resolved to make Bump 2 into its best form before walking away from it. And so I did.

I’m currently working on Kobold Dungeon Tester. This is my 4th (5th if you count Roomba Quest) interactive text project. I twice tried to write a novel in my youth and this project feel like a penance for my failures. Normally I would move on, satisfied the base idea works, like a puzzle, or a high score. A few kind words have convinced me that this one is different - it’s a story, it needs an ending. I shall try to finish it as best as I can.

[nadineselfships-archived]

Please tell more about these children please, also omg so many, (like my uncles and Tías) you two gonna get lots of gran-kids.-☆~=

ASkafkshfkashksf I didn’t think anyone would be interested in my babies oh my gosh thank you?? And yes ten is a lot of kids I will admit,, really they first came to life when Remy (my big sibling) told me they had a dream about me and Wade and our small army of children. (in their dream their was a lot more than ten but damn i don’t think I could handle that.) Okay here we go, Dadpool and co.

I’m gonna name them all from oldest to youngest;

Katherine, (16)

Vincent, (12)

Daniel, (11)

Pietro and Wanda, (the twins) (guess who their named after) (9)

Logan, (9)

Peter, (7)

Abigail, (6 1/2)

Lucy, (5)

Natasha. (3)

You probably noticed some familiar names in there, that’s because; one, I am not creative and two, I am very close with other people in the universe and I wanted to name my kids after them okay.

Kathrine is the oldest and is a stubborn hothead, (Wade would say “just like you!’ and I would hit him. Even if it’s true.) she’s a bookworm and loves astrology and anything to do with space. But she also is very interesting in fighting and is always asking Wade to ‘show her some moves’. Surprisingly I was for this idea and Wade was against, as Katherine was our first child she was like glass to him, he didn’t want anything to happen to her and he didn’t want her to be anything like him. (aahhh that hurts to write.) He gives in and teaches her some ‘advance’ self defense. So my baby is booksmart and street smart. She likes to enter school competitions and go on excursions like any normal kid, but she also likes to study or learn some more fighting techniques instead of meeting or making freidns with people her age. Since i’m very close with the avengers and the X-men she always finds ways to hang out with them whenever she can. Wade is always a little worried about her hanging out with all these ‘heroes’ because he thinks Katherine will realize her Dad isn’t as great as she thinks he is and she’ll want one of them to ‘be her new Dad’ or whatever else his crazy mind comes up with. (He’s wrong, Katherine has every little tiny piece of Deadpool merchandise, talks about her ‘amazing, awesome’ dad on her blog and too people at school, is ready to fight anyone who bad mouths her Dad and she always gets him #1 Dad cups. Also on her HANDMADE birthday cards she always makes sure he knows he’s her hero.) (My baby girl is aware of her Dads ever growing doubt and is just a very self aware, genius, amazing girl and I love her.) She’s a daddy’s girl, if you couldn’t tell. She also loves her siblings, very much, she will fight anyone who dares upset them and she’s the one they all run to at school if they need help.

Vincent is the second eldest, he’s very calm and laid-back; he likes to help people and if he weren’t so popular i’m sure he’d be called a teacher’s pet. His kind and welcoming nature naturally draws people to him, he has a lot of friends and discourages them from being jerks and is basically like a mini messiah teaching other little kids to be nice. (he’s so sweet I love my baby.) Vincent is very much a momma’s boy, he helps me around the house, he goes with me everytime I go shopping, he’s always showing me his work and is the kid to see me walk into school and yell at his friends, “THAT’S MY MUM!” before rushing up to hug me. He’s very affectionate, he’s also very soft, he dabbles in sports but he really has a passion for music. His favourite genre is classical and Wade and I got him a violin for his tenth birthday. He was so happy he put on a little concert for us the next night, he’s not the fastest learner and there were messed up chords here and there but we gave him a standing ovation naturally. (with hard work and determination my baby can now play some amazing songs that I do not know the name of because classical isn’t really my thing, but i’m so proud of him.) Vincent, like Katherine, I svery protective of his siblings. He looks up to Katherine and is always looking for his big sisters approval, (which she give more often than not.) He sticks close with Daniel, Logan and Peter. He protects Daniel from bullies and causes mischief with Logan and Peter. Daniel is a very shy, quiet boy; he likes to be around books and just out of sight from people if he can. (He has social anxiety and has had two panic attacks, both in school.) He was the quietest when he was a baby, and most cooperative. Wade is always saying that Daniel is too quiet to be our kid, as we’re both very loud and brash individuals; but then again Wade always says these kids are too beautiful to be his. (my husband needs to stop being so hard on himself I swear that man,,) Daniel has told us that some other kids have bothered him once or twice, (Wade was pulling out his katanas and I was getting ready to tear some parents heads off, but Katherine and Vincent are somehow more grown up than their parents and calmed us both down.) I did nearly tear the principals head off though, Wade managed to find out who the kids were and they got suspended. (And the parents got the shit scared out of them by my amazingly intimidating husband, I love him so much.) Daniel is very interested in flowers and animals, he can name a lot of flowers off the top of his head and their meaning and has listed a lot of different butterflies, my children are geniuses what the heck. He’s very attached to Katherine and Vincent as they’re his big siblings and they have been there at time Wade and I weren’t able to be.  Logan teases Daniel a lot as Daniel sometimes has a stutter, we’re working on getting him not make fun of his brother but their little humans and they do what they will. Pietro and Wanda are my twin angels!! It’s very obvious who their named after, their both very polite and very playful. They do almost everything together but they do like to involve other people or their siblings in their games. They’re both very imaginative and while I am so proud of my babies beautiful minds it does make them slack off a bit in school, they can’t focus for very long in class and would rather doodle in their book or make up crazy game/story ideas. I had the exact same problems while I was in school so I suggested to Wade we get them check for adhd or something like that, Wade was iffy about it and said they were just kids being hyper, imaginative kids. (I honestly just want to go on about how Wade interacts with them all because he is so loving and understanding and patient and he just slows down so much when he’s with them, he wants them all to know he’s giving them his utmost attention and support and love and GOD I LOVE THIS MAN.) It turns out they do have adhd (I have adhd and so i’m basing theirs sort of on mine.) and it’s a pretty sever case of it, we’ve worked very hard on getting all our kids top notch education because we did not get the best and we want to give them what we never had. (but we don’t want to force them in an environment where they won’t learn or grow so instead we choose another route of alternative learning.) It’s not home schooling because neither Wade or I am fit to teach anyone anything, It’s a mixture of distance education and a group that is based more around active learning. (So they can focus easier because their doing stuff with their hands and being fully immersed into the learning process.) They like to create things, anything, they have a new hobby every day and never really stick to one thing. Wade and I love this about our children and we’re happy to go along with whatever they choose to do on that day. Wanda and Pietro love to dress Lucy and Natasha up and show them off to everyone because, “look at our cute younger siblings, look.”Logan is Wade, moving on. No, okay, but really, if Wade was a nine year old boy, he’d be Logan. Logan is a trouble maker, he has a heart of gold but he loves to cause trouble anywhere he can. Pranks are his thing. He loves chimichangas and Mexican food almost more than wade does, he loves video games more than anyone i’ve ever known. If Logan is playing video games, pulling a prank on his siblings, or eating, he is napping. With his Dad. On the couch. (*sigh* my boys, I love my boys.) Logan is constantly roping Peter into helping him with pranks, Peter just likes hanging out with his sibling and doesn’t mind whatever they’re doing. While Logan is a big mischief maker, he does truly have the biggest heart. He sneaks in stray/injured animals so he can take care of them (you know i’m buying random animal food and helping take care of that little baby too, Wade will definitely try to get me to keep them all.) He sits with his younger siblings if they’ve had a nightmare, he makes me and Wade #1 Coolest Mum and #1 Coolest Dad things, he’s always saying when he’s older he’s gonna change the world and fix so many problems. He donated his pocket money to a homeless shelter,, asfhlkshflhjf- my boy- (it was only like fifty bucks at the time but that’s still a lot of money tbh) He loves being with his dad and pretending to ‘fight’ him, Wade will obviously feign losing and Logan will revel in his victory. Logan likes to bake cakes with me even though he decorates them,,, creatively. (vvv messy,, but it’s always made with love and that’s what counts.)Peter, named after the one and only spider dude, is a little bundle of sunshine and I love him. He’s so positive, and sweet and always has something nice to say. He’s a tad clumsy and can trip over air but that’s okay because we’re always there to catch him. My poor baby gets sick very easily but he’s tough and always pulls through. (the first time Katherine got sick Wade burst into tears, he got so scared, she had the stomach bug and was throwing up a lot. Wade dotted on her hand and foot, didn’t let hr move and inch, he sang her to sleep and did not leave her side until she was better and talking about stars and galaxies again.) Wade is always very concerned with how easily Peter gets sick, but doesn’t show it. Peter is very optimistic and is always reassuring everyone he’s fine. He loves soccer, he’s a little champion. He’s also dubbed himself Natasha’s bodyguard, he’s always carrying her around and always boasting about how cute his little sister is. Peter is terrified of big bugs, especially spiders, but if there’s one near Natasha he is going to get a big plastic container and capture the threat, escort it outside and run back inside screaming at a very high pitch as it scurries the opposite direction.Abigail is my darling princess, and also a very big tsundere. (i’m assuming everyone knows what that means.) Her favourite name for Wade is “butthead”, she has many other creative names for everyone else but I just really love butthead, it’s really my favourite. (mostly because Wade just laughs at it and can never think of what to say to it.) (She’s a big Daddy’s girl but that means he gets a lot of the hitting and name calling and whatnot.) She’s really very sweet, she likes acting and has been in three plays now. She won’t tolerate bullying, she stands up for some of the kids that can’t stand up for themselves. But then she calls them dumb for listening to what the jerkheads were saying and it’s just a lot of mixed signals, she’s trying her best okay. She talks to me a lot, i’ve held her while she’s cried more times than i’d like, my baby just doesn’t know how to deal with her emotions very well but she’s trying so hard. (she’s six and a half and already having trouble, is this my fault, am I bad parents?) She has a select few friends, as not many of the sensitive children her age can deal with her small outbursts, but her friends are very lovely and understanding. (it’s mostly the people she stands up for that end up being friends with her, because my baby is an actual angel and wonderful company once she is comfortable with you.) She mainly hangs out with Lucy and they both follow Katherine around like little ducklings. Abigail and Logan,,, do not get along,,, at all,,, Logan my baby I know it’s easy to rile your sister up but could you not please. Lucy is a normal five year old, she likes to play in the mud, make flower crowns, pet dogs, doodle very abstract things on the walls. She is near sighted and needs glasses, (Katherine has glasses too, to help correct her lazy eye.) she loves playing dress up and being with her siblings. She has a speech impediment and so she can’t pronounce some words but luckily no one makes fun of her for it, Wade carries her around on his shoulders and calls her his little princess. We give her princess outfits, tiara and everything. Their all very pretty outfits which I spend a lot of time cleaning after her backyard adventures. (I love my babies and am willing to spend hours doing laundry if it means they’ll be happy.) Lucy is very bubbly and the literal light of our lives, she gets along with all her siblings as she is the second youngest and is just very lovable and sweet. (I feel like i’m biased, I love my children and just keep saying how great they are, oh well.) Did I mention she loves bugs. Because, she does. I love having worms, beatles, crickets and whatnot dropped on my dinign room table, I love it. (I don’t love it.) Also this is not so good when Peter is with her and she pulls out a tarantula like, “Peter look, isn’t he cute?” No lucy, please put him down. Please. (Wade is in charge of getting rid of the bugs, I don’t do bugs. I am very strict on him not just squishing them though, killing of any kind stays outside my house.) And last but not least my lil’ baby Natasha!! She is three and already has a huge personality, she is very bashful and sweet. She loves to give people flowers, and just listen to people. It took her a lot longer to talk than any of our other kids and we were worried she couldn’t talk, she can, she’s just very soft spoken and prefers to listen. She likes to finger paint, on the walls, the floor, the roof,,, everywhere,,, It’s okay though, cleaning is now my new favourite past time. (it’s not. Save me Wade’s to lazy to clean.) (okay that’s a lie he will help out but very rarely.) Natasha is often being carried around by her older siblings, or Wade, or me, she’s three and she’s adorable and we love her okay. She loves sweets, and strawberries. She loves to spend time with animals, and she’s learning how to use my phone already. (accidently selfies are her specialty.) (gah I love her, I love my baby.) This is very long, I could go on even more, I love my kids. Ah okay, thank you so much for asking about my babies I never get to talk about this stuff, I really love them all so much and Wade does too. I need to draw them all at some point, i’ve drawn Wanda and Pietro and Peter and Natasha. There is this sketchy picture I have of all of us but it’s really rough and i’ve changed their designs in my head since then so,, yeah. (and omg don’t even mention grandkids, Wade would blow the entire planet up before he let anyone near his babies; “Oh so you wanna date my daughter/son, huh?” He pulls out his katana and runs his hand down it, pretending to observe it, “Interesting.” He’s gonna scare the crap out of so many teenagers, rip.)

[neubauje]

BEGT chapter 3

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3 AO3 mirror

Things happened all too fast after that. Arriving at home uneventfully, All Might had hung his outdated costume back up, shared access to the video feeds from the day's combat training with Aizawa, taken a quick shower, and crawled into bed for a few more hours of proper sleep... just as soon as he'd outlined a plan for a new type of lesson, based on the feedback he'd received from his peer.

Head swimming with fresh ideas the next day, the Symbol of Peace soon found himself running late for school and had to take the short route across downtown, which of course led to several unplanned stops to take care of some quick hero work. Which was in and of itself worrisome, having to pick up the slack of the city's local agencies, he shouldn't even be needed this much anymore... And of course, by the time he'd put out all the fires, both literal and figurative, he had just about used up all his stamina and had to be caught up on the media mob that had somehow broken in, trying to hunt him down for an interview. The bus to the planned Rescue lesson at USJ had already left, and he didn't have the strength to follow along after it just yet. A guilty call to Thirteen, begging for a couple more hours of rest, would have to do for now. Thankfully one hour of rest (and failed check-in phone calls to USJ) and one hour of lecturing, theory, and tea with Principal Nezu would do almost as well.

By the time All Might had gotten away from the Principal's lesson and recovered enough strength to check in on the Rescue lesson in person, he found Iida rushing to meet him halfway there. (More under the cut)

The pro hero's heart sank as his worst fears were confirmed by the student's accounts of a hoard of invading villains, Thirteen incapacitated or worse, and Aizawa trying to take them all on by himself. Urging Iida to continue his rush back to the main campus to gather more reinforcements, All Might pushed onward and rammed the USJ security doors down, arriving just in time. Eraserhead had clearly fought valiantly, going up against a scenario which was very much NOT his forte (their conversation the previous night suddenly all the more poignant), until he'd finally been beaten; bruised, bloodied, brutalized, and partially disintegrated, it was hard to tell at a glance whether the poor man was even still BREATHING until All Might snatched his limp form into a gentle but protective hold. "I'm sorry, Aizawa. I should have been here." He could only trust the students to get the defeated teachers to safety as he stalled for time, hoping to god that reinforcements would arrive before his strength gave out again, leaving him weak enough to be slain in front of Midoriya and the other students.

Needless to say, Recovery Girl had her work cut out for her. Thirteen and Eraserhead were brought to the hospital until they were stable again, while All Might and Midoriya were safe enough to bring straight to her for patching up. She would have to work with Aizawa over the course of the coming weeks to help quicken his recovery, but even with her aid, class would still have to be cancelled for a few days while he healed enough to speak, stand, and walk... and several weeks more before he'd be in any shape to do any hero work. Seeing the steadfast Eraserhead bed-ridden and covered in casts and bandages, All Might can't help but feel as though this could have all been prevented, or at least stopped far sooner, had he not foolishly depleted his reserves so early on in the day.

The next few days are a bit of a blur. All Might splits his time between consulting with the police investigative force, patrolling the empty campus to help set up stronger defenses for the main UA campus, the USJ, and the stadium for the fast-approaching sports festival, writing to Gran Torino, and returning to the nurse's office to get some additional healing boosts from Recovery Girl and to check on Aizawa once he'd been transferred there from the hospital. All Might finds himself lingering there in the nurse's office to rest whenever possible, rather than returning home and having to deal with the outside world just yet. Catching up via mobile apps from the relative comfort of an old-fashioned hospital bed proves to be mentally exhausting enough for now.

"Hello?" The voice from the other bed is quiet and raspy, and All Might gasps and sits up to look over upon hearing it. "All Might, is that you?"

"Aizawa, you're awake!" The less injured hero sets his phone on the mattress and scoots the whole bed away from the window, closer to the other in order to sit by his side. His heart thuds heavily as though it's just restarted for the first time since seeing Aizawa's limp form in the midst of battle. "Yeah, it's me. How do you feel?"

"I... can't move. But everything still hurts, so I take it I'm not paralyzed. Who else is here? Where is 'here'?"

All Might coughs up a little blood as he laughs at the immediate barrage of questions. "It's just us for now, Recovery Girl went out for a few minutes. We're in her office." He goes to place a reassuring hand on Aizawa's shoulder but falters, remembering the various injuries, and settles for a knee instead. "You probably can't move because of all the casts they've got you in. You were pretty well battered by the time I got to you, they had to take you to the hospital to operate and get you stable. We almost lost you."

Eraserhead, to his credit, seems to be keeping fairly calm through this rough debriefing. He even shifts a little at the touch, affirming his ability to move his leg, at least. Voice just a little rougher, he ventures, "Toshinori? I... I can't see. That monster of a villain must have crushed my face so badly it damaged my eyes." His voice breaks on the last word, imagining a sudden end to his sight, his quirk, and his pro hero career.

All Might sighs and bows his head, "The doctors mentioned that might be the case, but they were pretty hopeful that they'd been able to reconstruct your orbital floor. Let's give it a few more sessions with Recovery Girl, see if she can't get your vision working again." He gives a gentle squeeze to the kneecap before pulling his hand away as the office door opens.

"My ears are burning," Recovery Girl teases as she pushes her way in with a tray of goodies from the cafeteria. "Either Shouta is awake, or Yagi's talking to himself." She chuckles and sets the tray down on her desk, then brings a cup of rice to All Might and shoves it into his hands before tending to Eraserhead. "Ah good, glad to have you conscious again. And if your jaw is whole enough to talk, that means you can handle a bit of soup. We'll get some nutrients in you, then go for another round of healing, how's that sound?"

All Might sits back to let her work, picking noncommittally at his food as Recovery Girl carefully props Aizawa up on an extra pillow and spoons some soup between the bandages on his face. He watches apprehensively, pretending to be occupied with his phone as he steals glances now and then, finally relaxing when the promised round of healing returns the gift of sight to Aizawa's sore eyes. The two of them may have gained some new scars, but they'd be all right.

Chapter 4 - Chapter 5 - Chapter 6 - Chapter 7 - Chapter 8 - Chapter 9 - Chapter 10 (rated M) - Chapter 11 (rated M) - Chapter 12

[sanerontheinside]

Hey, so, I honestly don’t know what I’m writing anymore? But this is probably the start of one of a set of short, probably possibly maybe interconnected stories that go into the Still on Patrol AU, which is kinda ghost/creepy/thingy/idkwtf2callitactually??? ghost stories, yeah, kinda. ish. 

I call it the Belief!verse, or thoughtform!’verse. The premise is something like, people create gods/pets/imaginary friends by believing in them. But then, because the Force is hella messed up, eventually this gets a bit more... complicated. 

brrrrrr

It’s... something. @norcumi​ I’ve thrown this one at you, the one with the two confused SD’s. This short story is—it was gonna be ‘imaginary friend’

hmm... @aidava​ but I think you might enjoy the style XD

They say there’s no place for magic and fairytales in the Empire. Nothing but stark grey and black reality, shined and brushed durasteel, clear transparisteel, clean and irritatingly precise design of controls and viewscreens. Most people don’t actually realise that the technology is rather old—nothing innovative here. But even the knowledge of it reinforces the frustrating, grating sameness of robotic precision, unimaginative repetition. 

The same must be said of the stormtrooper armor. In spite of the grumbling one might hear snatches of as they pass—did you hear they’re replacing the T14’s? About time—No they’re not, the upgrade is shite, worse trash than last time—it’s always the same conversation, where only the numbers change. 

At least cargo pilots are refreshingly imperfect: living, warm, and fallible flesh. Few other pilots carry obvious tokens with them, and certainly not drawings or creased and dog-eared flatpics of Twi’lek dancers. Few of them live long enough to acquire such precious tokens, or to want them. 

How unfortunate for the Empire, with its Humanocentric policies, that Humans chafe under sameness. How unfortunate that it never thought to provide substantial relief from monotony. How unfortunate that it never even bothered to try to convince its soldiers of their worth.

The strangest things form with the aid of steady, constant pressure.

I. 

“Your life is only as rich as you believe it to be. And the same must, therefore, be said for your death.”

Lyda was bored out of her skull, drumming her fingers on the console in a rhythm of four-beats-and-hold, four-beats-and-hold, four-beats-and-hold, and humming along to herself.

Nothing to do, nothing to do, nothing to do…

Long-distance hauls ran on a mostly pre-programmed route, barring extenuating circumstances. If your cargo got taken by smugglers, generally the loss was taken out of your pay, but it wasn’t like you saw pay for months anyhow. You lived on stims and ration bars, you lived on caff substitute thick as tar and vile enough to strip your teeth. Fuck, it was a wonder if most pilots didn’t die of malnutrition, honestly. 

Lyda looked down at her bony fingers, briefly suspending the rhythm.

Time felt suspended, like she was moving too fast through a morass, all the while sitting down. She went on tapping, deliberately off-beat now just to break the eerie feeling.

It didn’t help.

Lyda hummed. She improvised around the base drone of the engine, the electric wine of the circuitry, dancing around in the half-tone scales she remembered from her childhood.

That lasted maybe five minutes before she realised she inevitably kept falling back onto the drone notes, and gave up. Fuck that, anyhow.

When Lyda had been young and less hungry, her grandmother used to tell her stories. They were odd and fanciful, and sometimes there were strange wizards who wielded swords of light—just the sort of stories you told a child afraid of the dark, she'd always thought.

Now, though, she lived all but in the dark; the glow of her console switches made a poor nightlight in the vast darkness of space, and the cold streaks of hyperspace left her dizzy and nauseated. Her first time out she’d been curled up for hours in the pilot seat or on the floor, whimpering and cradling her head. On her first stop, she dragged herself out, sicked up nothing but spit. Then she’d gone and found a bucket of paint, and slathered it over the transparisteel. The muted glow she could more or less deal with, but as she kept refreshing the layers on every run, that glow became less and less.

“You need to get out more,” her grandmother muttered at her in accented Basic.

“Ipshé,” Lyda shot back without heat, a small smile curling up one corner of her mouth. She flicked at a row of switches, hiding her face behind the fall of her matted hair as if Gran were with her to see that smirk, close enough to hear the fond curse.

Her grandmother always grumbled about that—about how Lyda could use their old tongue now that she was an Imperial pilot, while she would always have to butcher her way through Basic just to keep herself alive. Lyda would deflect it, or her lips would thin into an unforgiving line that she’d copied straight from her grandmother’s face anyway.

Mostly because she hated it: she hated the loss of her mother-tongue, hated that she barely remembered how to speak it on the best of days. The day Gran refused to speak it for the first time, Lyda hadn’t even pretended to hope it would one day come back. Their language had been the language of the Resistance on their little world. The partisans used it to pass messages back and forth, shouted orders across the streets or squares while corralling Imps in place for an easy slaughter.

Gran and Lyda weren’t Resistance. They weren’t anything or anybody. Just an old woman with aching joints and three dead children, and her sickly grandchild who hated bright flashing lights and too-loud noise. The Empire didn’t treat its ill and elderly any better than the Hutts had treated their slaves in the day, and Gran had survived their treatment. She had reserve enough to raise one more youngling, teach her to read and devour every scrap of information at hand—which, by some quirk of fate, mostly turned out to be ship blueprints and flight manuals—but she didn’t have reserve enough to imagine living in a lawless world. Broken bodies demanded some degree of predictability. Or preferred it, but at Gran’s age the former was not far enough from the truth for it to matter.

“You really need to get out more, if that’s what you’re thinking of,” Gran insisted. “Sunlight! It’s good for you!”

“Not on every planet,” Lyda grumbled back, thinking of the time her face had burned in under five minutes.

“At least get out on one of the rainy ones. You’ll feel better.”

“Only while I’m out in the rain.”

“And that’s not enough?”

Enough, enough. Gran was funny that way. But she wasn’t wrong, in that something small always meant more than nothing. 

A few stops ago, a dark blue-skinned Twi’lek mostly hidden in a heavy cloak had come up to her, asking where she was headed to next. Lyda had told her, between crates heaved out of her hold. The Twi’lek had taken a careful look at her, then set about helping. 

Lyda wanted to dissuade her. She looked so slight, slender frame too delicate for lugging around the work of an Empire that would probably kill her or look away as she was sold into slavery. But the girl—she called herself Oma—insisted. 

“I have nothing to pay my way with,” she said. 

Lyda, in a moment of cresting loneliness, had nearly broken down in tears. “Just talk to me,” she sighed.

 She didn’t sound like a cargo pilot, she didn’t sound like her years at the academy. She’d sounded like herself, then, and maybe a little like Gran. 

[yourworldmyworldourworld-blog1]

My trip around the land of the Incas and much more

After spending over two weeks in Ecuador’s amazing sceneries I headed back to Peru. In September 2016, I headed to Cusco and it’s amazing secret valley. I spent just under 10 days there and loved it. This time round I decided to do the coastal areas of Peru. With these two trips I managed to cover quite a bit of Peru; just the jungle remaining. Therefore, I outline below these two trips and their itineraries. Any questions just ask!

Cusco, the Secret Valley and Machupicchu

Arrival day: We flew straight to Cusco. We landed late at night and made our way to our hostel Cuscopackers. We then headed to Morena, this amazing restaurant just by the main square. We ate ceviche and a piece to complement - truly a must! It was then time for bed as we were truly exhausted.

Day 1. The next day before heading out on any tour we bought the Boleto Turistico that includes entry to 16 archaeological and cultural sites - S/130  (£31), valid for 10 days. We bought this at Avenida el Sol 103, office next to iPeru office, or you can buy it at entries to the sites. We then booked our tours with Hotel Ruinas agency before doing a Free Walking Tour (http://www.inkanmilkyway.com/free-city-tour-cusco-10-am) which started at Plaza Regocijo/Kusipata, in front of The City Hall (look for The FTF logo on the Yellow Vest). These leave at 10am/1pm/3.30pm and last 2.5-3 hours.

Cusco City Centre

Followed by lunch at Jack’s Cafe. In the afternoon of this first day we did: the Cathedral, the Temple of the Sun or Qoricancha, Tambomachay, Sacsayhuaman, Q’enqo, and Pucapucara. The tour included transportation and group guide, entrance to the cathedral and Qoricancha; Quoricancha and Sacsyhuaman. That evening we went to the Pisco Museum for some Pisces and antichurro.

Day 2. On our second day we did: Pisac, Urubamba then to Ollantaytambo. We climbed the ruins in Ollantaytambo and then, on our own, Pinkuylluna Mountain granaries (Qollqa). This is free, and it closes at 4pm. It is more or less 2 hour round trip. It is a steep climb but with a great view of Ollantaytambo. The entry is a bit hidden; it’s through small door on Lare Street up some narrow steps. That evening we ate at one of the restaurants by the main square some Cuy.

Day 3. We spent two nights in Ollantaytambo so on the first full day, our third day of travel, in Ollantaytambo we booked a taxi that took up to Moray and Maras - also a must! We ended the day at Chinchero; a town full of textiles.

Sacred Valley 

Day 4. The following day we had booked ourselves on an early train to Machu Picchu that arrived at 9am into Aguas Calientes (the town of Macchu Picchu). I will advise you now to book your Machu Picchu entrance tickets and the train early on (we booked it two months in advance). We got to Aguas Calientes around 9am and headed up on the bus. Quick tip: buy the tickets for both days right there and then at the booth on the side of the road as the queues get big unless you think you will climb up there. We did the Sun Gate and the Inca bridge on this first day. We also stayed until the park’s closing the sunset was truly incredible.

Machu Picchu

Day 5. The second day in Machu Picchu started really early - aim for 3am queuing. That second day we left on the last train to Cusco so we trekked WaynaPicchu at 11am but would recommend booking an earlier slot as the longer route closes if you go later. We just managed to get there in time and sweet talked one of the guards to let us through. We enjoyed the rest of the day and headed back down before our train. We chilled at La Boulangerie de Paris; this amazing cafe on the other side of the river to the train station that is run by this French guy. Amazing stuff. Also before getting to Cusco that evening ask you hostal or hotel or arrange a taxi to pick you up as the Cusco station is far from the city centre. We then headed to our hostel - Millhouse, which is great and super well located. We stayed two nights.

WaynaPicchu 

Day 6. The next day we took it easy and walked around San Blas area; Mercado San Pedro; and went to a few of the museums included in the Boleto Turistico.

Day 7. On the Friday, we climbed Rainbow Mountain...in the snow, rain, hail, fog, and freezing cold. Quick tip: Rainbow Mountain should be done last as its the highest you will get to (5,009m). To celebrate getting to the top despite all odds we had dinner at Uchu Peruvian steak, which was super yummy! We then headed to Prisco Museum for some pisco sours. They had their anniversary that evening and were doing 2 for 1 deals which is a recipe for disaster and a great night. We then left the next day around 12.

SACRED VALLEY CRIBSHEET…for those not interested in the essay above or those with little time...

For Restaurants:

Cusco: Morena; Jacks cafe; Nuna Raymi; and definitely Uchu Peruvian steak. There is also: Greens Organic; Qucharitas icecream; Cioccilina; Restaurant cafe bar pucara; The meeting place - waffles; Cafe loco.

Ollantaytambo: any on the square;

Aguas Calientes: all quite expensive but a must is La Boulangerie de Paris.

For Hostels/Hotels:

Cusco try and book Millhouse. On our first two nights in Cuzco Millhouse was booked out so we stayed at Cuscopackers which is good but a bit far from the centre. There is also Ruinas Hotel for those with a roomier budget.

Ollantaytambo: El Bosque Backpackers which is good and super close to the train station which is a bonus in the morning.

Aguas Calientes: Taypikala Boutique hotel. Make sure you contact them for someone to come and grab your bags at the station so you can head straight to Machu Picchu without having to detour to the hotel.

Travel:

PeruRail sells the trains to Aguas Calientes.

To do:

Cusco: walking tour and museums; the Cathedral, the Temple of the Sun or Qoricancha, Tambomachay, Sacsayhuaman, Q’enqo, and Pucapucara

Pisac; Urubamba; Ollantaytambo (same day)

Moray and Maras (same day)

Must eats:

Savoury:

Ceviche: diced fish with lime with onion, chilli, sweet potato, corn and sometimes seafood

Anticuchos: grilled skewed meat, street food,often cattle hearth

Cuy: guinea pig

Salchipapa with sausages and potatoes

Lomo Saltado:  stir fried beef

Papa Rellena: stuffed potato

Aji de Gallina: chilli chicken

Chicarrones: pork served with fried sweet potatoes

Rocotto Relleno: stuffed peppers super typical of Arequipa

Chupe de camarones: shrimp soup super typical of Arequipa as well

Chifa: Peruvian version of Cantonese-Chinese food

Sweet:

Alfajores - baked pastry

Turron - anise and honey nougat

Lucuma - cooked fruit in dessert - popular in juice, ice cream, shakes

Mazamorra - jelly with purple maize

Picarones - sweet friter, pumpkin and molasses

Tejas - candy filled with manjar blanco or choc

Suspiro Limeno - milk, egg white, port, cinammon

Drinks:

Pisco sour - pisco, limes, sugar, alcoholic

Chicha de Jora - yellow maize, alcoholic

Inca Kola - yellow soda

Chicha Morada - purple maize, sweet, non alcoholic

Now onto my second time in Peru - the coast!

Lima, Huaraz, Paracas, Huacacchina, Arequipa & Puno

Day 1. From Cuenca, Ecuador I got on the night bus (the company I got was Azuay) to Chiclayo, Peru. We arrived on the border within 4 hours into the trip. The border crossing took two hours. You go through the Ecuadorian side then back on the bus and then out of the bus and through the Peru side. Then onwards past Mancora and Piura to end at Chiclayo around 11am ish. I went straight to the main bus station (make sure to grab a yellow taxi and no other and agree on the price before jumping in) to find a ticket to Lima. I left on the same day to Lima with Allinbus at 6pm but there are earlier buses. I arrived in Lima at 6am. Again a 12 hour ride. Be warned that there is nothing to do in Chiclayo and it is not safe so if you can fly to Lima. When you get to Lima then think about getting to Huaraz as this seemed to be the easiest and quickest way around.

Day 2. After arriving in Lima at 6am I grabbed an Uber and made my way to Catalina’s place (friend of a friend). Remember to get out at La Victoria stop if you are staying near Miraflores which I recommend. I then went to Claro to get a sim (S/35 for sim plus 30 days of 3gig plus unlimited whatsapp and calls). From there I went to Huaca Pucllana which is an awesome archaeological site and from there to AMANO museum of textiles. My day ended walking at the malecon. I also ate at Punto Marisko (good priced ceviche and they have them around the city).

Day 3. Today the day started early at 9am in the centre of Lima. I grabbed an Uber which cost me USD4 approx., which is more recommended and cheaper than any taxi on the street. I got to plaza mayor and walked to the Convento de Santo Domingo followed by the Basilica and Convento of San Francisco and did the tour of the catacombs. The entrance is S/15 and you have a tour guide for 45 minutes. The Arab inspired dome and the courtyard is absolutely stunning. Pity no pictures are allowed inside whatsoever. From there I walked to the Church of San Pedro and then the Torre Tagle Palace. I did not manage to get inside the Tagle Palace as its only open to the public on Saturdays and Sundays, and if that happens to you just look up and admire its amazing balconies from outside.

If you end up doing all of this by lunch time you must eat at L’eau Vive del Peru which is in front of the Torre Tagle Palace. This is a house that was renovated and now the sisters of the household open its doors for lunch and dinner (lunch from 12:30 to 3pm and dinner from 7:30 to 09:30 pm). The proceeds of the meals goes to serving food to the poor. The meals are well served and although they have a la carte options the meal of the day is a three course for S/19. I then walked down Jirón de la Union street which is a pedestrianised road and arrived at Plaza San Martin where I went inside the Gran Hotel Bolivar Lima, which once hosted presidents and very important people; it was one of the first luxury hotels in the area. Also walk a bit further on to admire the Club National a members’ only club with astonishing architecture.

If by this point you are a bit tired and want a sit down and/or a desert please make your way to Pastelería San Martin (Portal de Gonzales 991) on the opposite side of the Plaza to the Hotel and order their Turrón de Dona Peppa. It’s absolutely delicious and a Lima thing. From there I walked down to the Museum of Art of Lima (the MALI). The entrance is S/30 and you can and should download the MALI App from your App Store (just search “MALI App”) and there you can see each room and listen to the explanation of various paintings and sections of the museum. The museum itself is not enormous but you can expect to spend around 1-2 hours there. The MALI also has an adorable cafe and sitting areas so make most of it plus it gives out to quite a nice park. By then it was 4pm and so I headed home by taxi.

MALI

Day 4. On my third day in Lima, I went for a morning walk to the street Petit Thouars where all the artisan markets are. I would recommend you walk all the way past the electronics retail shop called Hiraoka and then enter the Indian Market Miraflores. Then you can walk around this market then down the road as there are many others although this is the largest. Plus you want to figure out where you have the best prices. Baby alpaca numbers range from S/100 to S/200. Then you have your alpaca jumpers at S/40 to S/50. You can also find silver of all kinds. You can find rings at S/50 with very nice stones to small earrings at S/20. Then you have everything in between. I would recommend you look around before buying anything. If however you are going to Cusco then stuff there is slightly cheaper. This took me around 2 - 3 hours. Then at 1pm we headed for lunch at a buffet called Chifa Internacional on Av República de Panama. It’s an all you can eat with Peruvian food and Chinese food. Worth it!

Day 5. Trip to Huaraz. I would recommend that you leave your stuff at your hostal/hotel in Lima so you can travel light to Huaraz. I bought the overnight bus to Huaraz leaving from Javier Prado (which is much closer than the Terminal Norte especially if you are staying in the Miraflores area which I recommend). I chose to leave on a Wednesday night, arriving at 6am in Huaraz on Thursday and returning at 10pm on Saturday night, arriving in Lima at 6am on Sunday. The bus company is called Cruz del Sul and each way cost me S/90. This a bit more pricey than other providers but they have a really good rating and plus you would spend twice as much getting to Terminal Norte (where most providers leave from) than Javier Prado. The hostal I booked was Alpes Huaraz which is very well located and super well priced. I then booked my day tours with the hostal themselves which is much cheaper than anywhere else - S/35 max each. As I arrived on the bus at 6am and the tour to Chavin left at 9am so I was out of the door just before 9am and spent my day out at the archeological site which is incredible. Chavin was a civilization more than 3,000 years ago. Definitely a good choice to climate to the Altitude and honestly an impressive site. Once back I went to get some food at the market just down the road.

Day 6. On my second day in Huaraz I headed to Laguna 69 (it's name comes from some counting of seismic movements and earthquakes in the region). The trek is through beautiful forests, sights of far away waterfalls and a couple of smaller lagoons so it's beautiful. However, don't be fooled. The trek is 8km each way nd most of which, apart from the first 40 minutes or so and a bit in the middle, is a steady incline. So it's flat, up (zigzagged), a bit flat ish, then zigzag. I made it in 2 hours and there were about 7 other people up there with me. Everyone else arrived between 2.5 and 3 hours. I managed to then chill for over an hour and made my descend in 1hr40 ish. So although beautiful and totally worth it, be warned. I had no issues with the altitude but some did. You go from 3,870m to 4,604m in 2 hours. Double breath in and one out helps me just make sure you don't hyperventilate. I also took coca tea in my flask, gatorade, water, snacks and lunch.. Make sure you take water and food for lunch so the night before I bought all of this. The trek can take anything from 2 to 3 and a bit hours. The trek is demanding and fairly uphill but simply beautiful.

Laguna 69

Day 7. Today wake up at 8pm for 9pm leaving for Pastoruri Glacier. We stopped at a few places to see the lakes as well as the puyhual rumondi plant that grows here. The trek up was the last thing we did. Started around 12:45noon and we had 2 hours to be back. I made it in 49 mins and in comparison to Laguna 69 it's really easy. It's beautiful. We were back for 6 ish. Shower and bus back to Lima at 10pm.

Day 8. Arrived back in Lima at 6am. I then went into town to speak to PeruHop (this company that does bus routes and I would super recommend it!). I then went to visit the Malecon, then the Barranco District (unfortunately the Pedro de Osma museum was closed but even the outside was worth seeing it) then Chorrillos and El Olivar Forest to end the tour at this amazing café - lá Bonbonniere (http://www.labonbonniere.pe/carta/postres/). So yum! If you go order Guarguero and the hot chocolate!

Day 9. Today I headed out early and was at Museo del Larco at 9am. This is an amazing museum. It is near the archeological museum but I was so taken by it that I spent nearly three hours there. The actual collection is not huge but super interesting. A lot of Nazca (1-800 AC south) and Mochica (1-800 AC but north) stuff as well as Chimu (1300-1532 AC) with amazing gold stuff. The gardens are stunning and one could just sit and chill there forever. In the afternoon the sun came out so I off to the malecón for a walk!

Day 10. I had bought the PeruHop route from Lima to La Paz with first pick up at 6:30am at the Dazzler Hotel on Prado. You can get picked up in various spots in Lima, which is super awesome. The bus is clean and there are all sorts of travellers on. Backpackers, more luxury and everything in between.

The first leg of the route was to Paracas but we first stopped at Pachacamac or more like drove slowly past it. Then the Chincha Tunnels. This place is beautiful but the tunnels built for slave black market are terrible. From there another hour to Paracas. In Paracas we had lunch at the Paracas Restaurant - on the top floor where there are some amazing views. As a PeruHop traveller you get 20% off the food there although food is a bit pricey (s/31 for ceviche with discount). Then we went to the national parks in buggies and watched the sunset. Then I was back at the hostal for late afternoon. I stayed at Kokopelli Paracas hostal (s/32 for 4 bed dorm - PeruHop also gets discount there and s/32 was the discounted price) and then dinner at Misk'i - I had the quinoa and avocado salad which was well served and super nice (at s/20). The food at the hostal is cheaper for sure.

Paracas National Park

Day 11. We set off at 10:45am from Paracas to the national park (you also have the option to do the islands (Islas Ballestas) but if you have done Galapagos it is not really worth it). We then headed to Huacachina arriving around 2pm. At 3:30pm we were booked in for the buggy rides and sandboarding. If you want a driver that is a bit crazier ask for adventure and tip well. We then watched the sunset at the top of the dunes. Followed by dinner. Absolutely amazing day!

Huacacchina

Day 12. I decided to do the Pisco tour which isn't that worth it. Maybe should have gone with the guys to Nazca for the flight. When back chilled by the pool then had drinks with the guys and waved them off. I then moved hostel from Bamboo to Carola Hostal. This is more party but has a pool and my 10 bed dorm only has four people with me.

Day 13. We headed out early to Nazca, and after two hours we arrive in Nazca. We then waited another two hours for our flight. Definitely worth it if you have the time and the cash (USD60). We then waited until 6pm so four hours to the overnight bus to Arequipa. Here we go!

Day 14. Arrived in Arequipa at 6am after a hectic trip. There were heavy winds and issues on the roads. We arrived at the Dragonfly hostal not much later, dropped our bags, had breakfast and made it to the free walking tour of the city that left at 9:30am. The meeting point was by the Chicha restaurant near the Monastery. The tour took 2.5hrs. It was good but the tour guide’s English wasn't great. The other option was to wait until 10am in the same spot and do the Inka Milky tour (which also does a 3pm slot). After that I checked in, showered and went for a walk. I grabbed some food first at La Lúcha sandwich (the traditional which I highly recommend) near plaza de armas then some Queso helado and then bed.

Arequipa

Day 15. Wake up at 7am for breakfast and some admin. At 9 I headed to the Museo Andino just round the corner to see juanita (this frozen child from inca times) named after the American who found her. The tour is over an hour and super worth going with a guide (tip basis). Afterwards back at the hostal for some downtime until 11 ish when I headed out to Yanahuara district to see their church and the viewing point. I walked all the way there and the walk itself is a nice chilled walk - about 20 mins. Afterwards it was lunchtime and I headed to a picanteria called La Nueva Palomino with great food. Then uber back to the market to get some fruit. This was already 2pm. Around 3pm I headed to the Monastery. I would also recommend getting a guide here (I paid s/20). If you are in Arequipa on Tuesday or Wednesday do both day and night at the Monastery - meant to be amazing at night as well. I was looking forward to dinner at La Trattoria de la Monasteria just outside the Monastery but it was closed -  next time.

Day 16. Early wake up for the bus to Puno. After leaving Arequipa at 5am we stopped for breakfast at 11am then again at the highest lake in Peru for pictures a bit later. We made it to Puno for 13:00.  Once arriving in Puno in the afternoon I had a quick lunch then headed to the 2 hour tour of the Urus islands. You can a 2 hour tour, or a full day, or two days with a home stay. I found that the two hour was interesting and we saw the islands and the people. Perhaps a full day would mean you see a bit more.

PERU COAST CRIBSHEET...…for those not interested in the essay above or those with little time...

Restaurants:

Lima: Punto Marisco; L’eau Vive del Peru; La Bonbonniere; Pastelería San Martin (Turrón de Dona Peppa); Chifa Internacional on Av República de Panama

Huaraz: street food (by the supermarket)

Arequipa: Monasterio, La Lucha,

Hostals:

Huaraz : Alpes Huaraz Hostal

Paracas : Kokopelli Backpackers Hostal (where I stayed); Los Frayles Hotel; Paracas Backpackers Hostal (all of which have discount with PeruHop)

Huacachina: La Casa de Bamboo (where I first stayed and also has PeruHop discount); Carola Lodge (where I also stayed); Bananas looked pretty good too. Be warned that Carola is more a party hostal. Bamboo has no pool.

Arequipa: Dragonfly Hostal (where I stayed); Casa de Avila; Flying Dog; Wild Rover (party hostal) (all of which have discount with PeruHop)

To do:

Huaraz: Laguna 69; Chavin; Pastoruri Glacier; and various other walks

Lima: AMANO museum; MALI museum; Huaca Pucllana;  Convento de Santo Domingo; Basilica and Convento of San Francisco; Church of San Pedro; Torre Tagle Palace; Plaza San Martin; Malecon; Barranco District (Pedro de Osma museum); Chorrillos and El Olivar Forest

Paracas: National Park

Huacacchina: Oasis (sandboarding and buggy)

Nazca: Nazca lines

Arequipa: free walking tour; Monastery; Museo Andino

Puno: Uros islands

Thank you Peru!

Your world. My world. Our world.

[gothchic6]

Silver’s Skater Girl Chapter 3: I Kick Butt, Make An Enemy, and Two Friends

Professor Elm gets to do the Disclaimer!

Professor Elm: gothchic6 doesn't own Pokémon, and does not make any money off of this. But she does own Calypso.

Calypso: How many times do I have to tell you, I am not owned by anyone!

gothchic6: Yes, you are. I own you, which would be illegal if you were a real person. But you're not, so…

Calypso: *Punches nearby tree, and makes all of the bark fall off of the trunk*

Professor Elm: Calypso, don't hurt nature!

gothchic6: Calypso! Now look what you did!

Calypso: *Stomps off*

***

I Kick Butt, Make An Enemy, and Two Friends:

We are now walking into Route 29. I see a secluded spot over by some trees, and decide that it would be a great place to introduce Cyndi to Spirit. Cyndi and I go over to the spot.

"Okay, Cyndi, I'm going to introduce you to my other Pokémon, Spirit. She's kinda timid, so if she attacks you for no reason, it's because she's never been in this kind of area before, and has never met any other Pokémon,” I explain. 

Cyndi nods, and prepares herself by hiding herself in a bush so Spirit won't know she's there right away.

I let out Spirit, who has been in her Pokéball for about 2 hours now. She looks glad to be out; she's flapping her wings excitedly, and surveying her surroundings. 

"Hey, Spirit! How are you, girl?" Spirit caws happily, while perching on tree branch near my head. 

"I guess you like our new scenery? When you think about it, a sunny, sandy place like Cianwood is no place for a forest dwelling Pokémon like you." 

Spirit nods, and plucks a berry off of the branch she's sitting on. I like berries. They are natural Pokémon food that you don't have to pay for. The one that Spirit's eating now looks like one of those Leppa Berries.

"Okay, Spirit, don't freak out, but we have a new member on our team." Spirit looks towards me, interest in her eyes. 

"You ready to meet our newest member?" Spirit swallows the Leppa Berry, flies over onto my shoulder, and makes a squawking noise that I assume to be yes.

"Cyndi, come on out!" Cyndi walks out of the bush, and over to Spirit and I. 

Spirit jumps off my shoulder, and right in front of Cyndi. The two are having an epic stare down that I could never do myself because of my nonexistent attention span. It lasts for about 30 seconds before Spirit makes a clucking noise, and extends her wing to Cyndi. Cyndi grabs a hold of it with her paw, and they shake. Awww, it's like a initiation ceremony!

"Now that we're all acquainted, let's go train!" I run off into the grass, with both Cyndi and Spirit following me.

After about 2 minutes of running through the tall grass, a Rattata jumps out. It attempts to tackle Cyndi. 

"Cyndi, look out for the Rattata!" Cyndi manages to dodge it. 

"Use leer!" Cyndi glares at the Rattata, making it nervous, and less defensive. 

"Now, use your tackle attack!" Cyndi pretty much jumps on top of the poor creature. She sits on it until it stops struggling. 

"Yay, Cyndi, you defeated your first Pokémon!" Cyndi and I do a very elaborate victory dance.

I barely have time to look over towards Spirit, when a Pidgey flies out from behind a tree, and sends a gust towards her. 

"Spirit, watch out!" She doesn't hear me early enough, and gets hit dead on. 

"Spirit, are you okay?" She recovers from the gust quickly, and nods. 

"Okay, Spirit, use Faint Attack!" Spirit fades into darkness, and while the Pidgey is looking for her, she strikes. It's a critical hit! The Pidgey faints. 

"Yeah! Yay Spirit! You just kicked the crap out of your first Pokémon!" Spirit chirps in both pride and amusement.

So Spirit, Cyndi, and I go through Route 29, beating up any wild Pokémon stupid enough to come less than 2 feet away from us. All of us are tired by the time we get to Cherrygrove. Not to mention, hungry. My stomach makes that Wailord mating call noise that annoys me so much. I look over to Cyndi and Spirit, and sure enough, both of their stomachs are growling, too. "Hungry?" They both nod. "Let's go find the Pokémon Center."

It takes us five minutes to find the Pokémon Center. When we get there, it's already dark. 

"Come on, chicks, get into your Pokéballs. Nurse Joy needs to heal you guys. Then we'll get a room for the night, and some food. Sound good?" They both grin and nod.

They go back into their Pokéballs, and I walk into the building. I hear a grunt coming from behind the counter, but no one is there. 

"Welcome to the Pokémon Center. I'll be with you in just a moment", the voice says, from who I realize must be one of the many Nurse Joys. I walk to the counter and look behind it, only to see Nurse Joy's behind. 

"You're really lucky there's not a hormonal teenaged pervert here, because if there was, he would have seen quite a sight." 

She jumps up, a blush on her face, and profusely apologizes. 

"Hey, it's okay, you didn't know. Just try and wear some shorts under that dress, unless you want people staring at your undies", I suggest to her. 

She chuckles, and I can see that she's younger than most Nurse Joys. Probably a year or two older than me. "Thanks. Now what can I help you with", she asks me.

I hand her the Pokéballs containing Spirit and Cyndi. "I need you to heal these two, and I need a room for the night." 

She takes the Pokéballs, and puts them in the healing machine. Within a few seconds, they are healed. "Here you go. They're all healed. As for the room, you'll have to share with someone else, we are so busy at the moment", she says. 

"How much will it cost", I ask, hoping I will have enough. 

"Well, normally it would be a fee of 300 dollars, but since you told me about my little panty problem, I'll take a third of it off." 

"Really? Thanks!" 

"No problem. Here, follow me", she says as she starts to walk down a narrow hallway. I follow her.

On the way to the room, I ask her a question I've always wanted answered. "Are all of the Nurse Joys really named Joy?" 

She giggles, and says, "You know, you're the first person to ask me that. But, yes, we are all named Joy. But we all have nicknames to tell each other apart, for times when there is more one Nurse Joy in the same area", she explains. 

"Ah, that makes sense… What's your nickname?" She smiles. "It's JC. For Joy Cameron." 

"Cool, JC, my name's Calypso." 

"That's an interesting name", she tells me. 

"Yeah, I think my mom was drunk when she named me." JC laughs.

JC opens the door to a room that has stuff in it, but no people. 

"Another girl is staying in this room with you. She's out with friends at the moment, but when she comes back, I'll tell her that she's sharing with you." JC makes a strange expression, almost as if she wants to say something, but doesn't think it would be appropriate.

"Hey, I know you wanna say something, so just say it." 

JC looks to see if anyone is nearby, and shuts the door behind us. "I don't normally talk to or talk about customers like this. In fact, it's against my rules as a nurse", she looks at me nervously, "but I couldn't live with myself if I didn't warn you about…", she pauses to grimace, "Monica." 

"What's the deal with this girl, Monica", I ask, not really caring that both of us are breaking nurse rules. 

"Well… let's just say she's not the most pleasant of people." 

"Why, what did she do?"

JC grimaces again. "Well, when she first came in, she was with a group of about 5 other people, and they were all talking obnoxiously. I told them to quiet down, because there were people and Pokémon who were trying to rest, and they just started to laugh at me! One of the guys told me to", she whispers so that only I can hear her, "fuck off. It was so rude, I just wanted to throw something at him!"

I am astonished. "Couldn't you kick them out of the Pokémon Center?" 

She shakes her head. "Actually, I'm just a fill-in for the Nurse Joy who normally works here, my cousin, Jojo. I'm normally at the Pokémon Center on Route 32. 

You see, the guy who runs this Pokémon Center is a greedy guy who lets anyone stay here, regardless of their behavior. If he gets a whiff of any kind of complaint, I'll get yelled at, and the person gets a free gift card to one of the restaurants nearby. I can't win."

I just stare at her in disbelief. "This place really needs new management." 

She laughs mirthlessly. "I haven't even told you what Monica did yet." 

"What did she do?" 

“Well, when I told her I wouldn't give her service, she yelled at me, and that woke some of the baby Pokémon up. The boss walked in, and asked what was going on. Needless to say, she ratted me out, I got yelled at and had to calm down baby Pokémon, and she got a free gift card. She's at the restaurant right now, spending it. She's the worst customer I've had in a long time."

"Tell you what, JC. When I go in there, I'll set up a nice surprise for our girl, Monica. They can't prove it was me. That way, you'll get your revenge, and I'll get a laugh out of it." 

She looks at me with both disbelief and excitement. "You would really do that?! Oh my Arceus, I would be your friend for eternity", she says with gratitude. 

I grin at her, and say, "With all that's been talked about, you're already my friend, JC."

So while waiting for the beast known as Monica, I set up my stuff, and start setting up her prank. I always keep things like hair dye and hot sauce in my bag in case someone needs to be taught a lesson. I bought the green hair dye at Goldenrod Department Store, and I stole the hot sauce from Gran. They will do nicely. I painted some of the hot sauce onto some Cinnamon Gum she has in her bag. Then I put the green hair dye inside the salon quality shampoo she has.

I see two Pokéballs on the table, so I let the Pokémon out. A small honey colored bear Pokémon with a crescent moon on it's head, and a little floating grey Ghost Pokémon with awesome crazy hair come out. I stare at them, and they stare at me. Then, the bear attacks me. 

"Ow! Quit!" The ghost goes in front of me, and stops the bear from clawing my face off. 

"Thanks." She smiles at me.

"So you two like Monica? Is she a good trainer?" 

The bear glares at me, and nods. But the ghost shakes her head frantically, and makes a bunch of noises to try and communicate. But I can't understand her. 

She goes over to a picture of Monica and repeatedly beats her head against it. Okay, we'll play charades. "Ummm… she gives you a headache?" She shakes her head, and points to herself and to her, and starts banging her head against the picture again. 

"Uh… Oh my Arceus, she doesn't hit you, does she?" The ghost nods, and starts to cry.

 I hold her, and from this point on, I promise to make Monica's life a living hell in anyway I can.

"Do you want to come with me? I have a Dusk Ball right here, if you want to." 

The Pokémon lets out a cry of relief. She rubs her head against the Dusk ball, and I let her onto my team. 

"So, what should your name be? How about Dusk?" She lets out a little shout of glee, and thus, is now Dusk.

I let out Cyndi and Spirit, and tell them what happened since they went into their Pokéballs. They both smirk, and I introduce them to Dusk. They all like each other. Now, we wait.

It is about another half hour before I hear yelling in the lobby. 

"What do you mean I have to share a room?! Get that girl out, I don't want to share with another chick", a loud, nasally voice screeches. 

I walk out to the lobby, and I see a girl who is the opposite of everything I stand for. 

She has long, curly beach blonde hair. Her eyes are bubble gum pink. Eew. Her face is plastered with makeup, she has sunglasses on her head, and she's wearing all kinds of designer jewelry. Not to mention the extremely short shorts, and her low cut tank top, which obviously contains implants. The only thing that's clean about her is her red flip-flops. 

Yep, from the contents in her bag, that's definitely Monica. No wonder Dusk doesn't like her, she looks like a nightmare. Not to mention, her personality.

I walk up to them, and pull out the Swiss Army knife that I stole from Gran. I start to clean my insanely dirty fingernails with it. 

"Is there a problem here?" Monica looks at my knife with an apprehensive glance, but still manages to say something. 

"And who are you? This is a private conversation", she responds, her voice getting more nasally with each word she speaks.

"I'm the chick you have to share your room with. If you're nice, I won't have to shove my foot up your ass,” I whisper harshly. She looks scared. That's good. 

She walks over toward JC and the counter. "You can't make me share a room with this freak. She'll kill me while I'm sleeping", Monica pleads with JC. 

"Sorry, but there's no other rooms open, and she hasn't given us any reason as to why we should kick her out." JC puts on a professional tone, but I can tell she's screaming with laughter on the inside.

Monica towards both of us, her gaze lingering on me a little longer. 

"Remember, be nice, and no one will get hurt", I assure her. 

When she realizes she isn't going to get a better deal, and that this is the only inn in Cherrygrove, she accepts. She goes back to our room, and I go talk to JC over by the counter.

"Oh my Arceus, that was hilarious. Was that the prank?" 

"No,” I admit, "she's in for much more. By the way, she had a Pokémon that told me that Monica abuses it." 

JC gasps. "That's horrible!" 

I nod. "I know, I took her with me. See the Dusk Ball on my belt? She is so relieved to be free of Monica." 

"I should probably say something about this, but ultimately, you did the right thing, so I'm partially okay with it."

So JC, my Pokémon, and I go into JC's private quarters. It's around 11 pm, so JC's shift is over. She cooks us a nice meal. Then, I hear screaming from my old room, which I had removed my stuff from and vacated as soon as Monica got into the shower. 

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY SHAMPOO!?" 

Both of us giggle, and I hear a door slam open. 

"WHERE IS THAT MISERABLE PUNK GOTH WANNABE?!" 

We both giggle again as we hear people from other rooms start to tell her to shut the fuck up. Many doors slam, and with one last "Arrrgh", and one more door slam, the entire building is silent.

Here are the stats for Calypso's team at the end of this chapter:

Spirit(Murkrow):

Level: 9

Moves: Faint Attack, Peck, Astonish, and Pursuit.

Cyndi(Cyndaquil):

Level: 9

Moves: Tackle, Leer, and Smokescreen.

Dusk(Misdreavus):

Level: 7

Moves: Psywave, Growl, and Spite.