#praying for more spd actually

[baekuras]

trying my god damndes best to farm relics for Acheron (-rope and sphere, waiting for new simulated universe ones 🙏) and uh....it's going

anyhow on another note my future Aventurine is doing just a bit better

[narwhalandchill]

Nuzlocke update wahoo

so uh it appears that precisely Because i was like. scared shitless going towards elesa. that it ended up just a straight fucking sweep that was Brutal 😭 to her. i overprepared Again

(tw: MASSIVE pokemon nerd moment)

bc like. i was there thinking abt worst case scenarios and how none of my new encounters since route 4 (darumaka, yamask, minccino, gothita, cottonee) seemed to leave me with any better options than what i had before aka. myyr the drilbur that cant even evolve for the level cap and just pray i hit those 1hkos on dig and that rock slide (better known as rock miss in some circles) hits emolga and that static and paralysis doesnt fuck me over. but then its like. even putting aside how i Dont want to lose this mon bc excadrill is so good. if myyr falls the answers i would have left against whichever elesas pokemon remained were still ehhh like. zip the herdier with eviolite and dig?? and emolga remains a problem still.

so yeah i was stressed tf out bc. bitch i remember elesa terrorizing me as a kid and that zebstrika never stopped being scary as hell. so i ended up just. looking up if theres maybe some well known and used nuzlocke strat there and. Well. not exactly but an ancient reddit thread had a comment w an Interesting suggestion

So. turns out theres an NPC on route 4 in black 2 that trades a cottonee for a petilil. a mon whose (stone) evolution . Happens to learn a very funny silly move . called quiver dance . within elesas level caps.

.....and im just. hey why the fuck not. so bye bye peony the cottonee it is. hello petulia the petilil (based NPC nickname btw thats so cute) who learns giga drain at lvl 26 and then with sun stone becomes lilligant who gets quiver dance at 28.

and you know what this girl has?????????????

atk reducing spd boosting nature and THIRTY-ONE IVs in special atk 💀💀💀 on a quiver dancer??????????? this is a weapon of mass destruction holy Shit. (her speed stat aint half bad either!!!!!)

anyway i was still getting stressed abt it bc like. chances were in the actual fight if i lead w lilligant elesas emolga will just volt switch straight to zebstrika who has flame charge so i. unironically went to relic castle to get enough defense EVs to survive 3 flame charges if necessary too JSJSJSKSKDKSK and bc i didnt know (and did not look up at first) the IVs her team would have i just assumed worst case scenario aka all 31s meaning the initial damage calcs looked Way scarier

bc the way i was looking at this was just. ill obviously have to lead w lilligant (bc a sweeper needs to setup 1 to 2 qdances depending on how many turns i get before zebstrika is in) and have myyr who was originally meant to be the Star against elesa be more the. emolga cleanup crew and/or emergency hidden ace. And bc i actually fucking planned this shit all out so it Could Not Fail (or close to it)

scenario 1: emolga wastes a turn on like. pursuit before volt switching zebstrika in. i get 2 quiver dances up and just win (+2 boosted SpA giga drain from lvl 30 lilligant w miracle seed is just a 1hko every time. Yes i calced it). Almost unfairly easy

scenario 2: emolga volt switches immediately (most likely) and i only get one quiver dance. this means giga drain is 2hko against zebstrika. i will outspeed on the next turn bc petulia at +1 and then i take a flame charge (leaving me outsped w zebstrika at +1 speed). and whats scary is that while i would survive a crit flame charge on that turn (non crits are ez). i Would die to the second one afterward bc zebstrika is faster again. so then itd have to be like. myyr to the rescue. alternatively my giga drain Could high roll the dmg & get zebstrika into hyper potion range which means free quiver dance turn as elesa heals and we outspeed and win again.

but like. okay. these odds are acceptable. best case scenario petulia sweep worst case scenario petulia gets crit and myyr just needs to clean up a fairly scary +2 speed zebstrika thats Luckily below 50% hp. im also still giving zip the eviolite and teaching it dig so we have a 3rd hail mary in the back.

Anyway then i look up the actual in game IVs for bw2 gym leaders and in non-challenge mode theyre all set at 12 💀💀💀💀💀 so like. Scratch all this with the new IVs a +1 boosted giga drain is actually a roll for a 1hko not a guaranteed 2hko KSKSKAJEKSKSKDKEK which means even if i dont 1shot with just one quiver dance elesa Will heal and thats +2 boost.

so yeah i walk in to the gym slightly relieved slightly embarrassed of yet nonetheless taking some pride in my first foray to Proper big nuzlocker strategy planning and looking up damage strats (might be needing those in the future fr) . even if it was due to making way too scary assumptions abt elesas team stats lmao

anyway the fight itself was uhhh. Truly anticlimactic. emolga did volt switch on first turn but petulias +1 giga drain just Casually rolled the 1hko on zebstrika after all and then proceeded to eviscerate flaaffy and then i let myyr handle emolga just for some exp 💀💀💀

Anyway. Well if nothing else this is absolutely a teammate i will be utilizing again . Very soon in fact. Clay watch the fuck out ive created a monster.

Like did my girl calla (the OT NPC) even know what kinda godlike power she was casually handing to me there???? 😭😭 guess she rly wanted a whimsicott

but like. Hell yeah we continue after deathless elesa and with a new powerful companion thats a W for sure SHSKDKSKFKJS

current team btw (i kinda like these cards for a visual update of sorts tbh). fig evolved so i can finally stop looking at golbats ugly design <33 crobat is so much better man

[in-your-dreams-vn]

Can we get some facts about traums true from? Cause hot damn I am barking respectfully

Well if you ask that nicely who am I to deny you?~ Below some fun facts about Albtraum and some minor design/world building talk at the end:

They are massive and I mean MASSIVE. In the shortstory prologue they are described as filling the room floor to ceiling which would average their height (hunched!) at about 2,40m including horns.

They are much more feral and run on base instinct. They can be reasoned with in some stages but when they are hungry or enraged you have better luck just praying to whatever god you believe in.

They can unhinge their jaw like a snake.

They are very top heavy. Their shoulders have about the width of a single bed while their lower body is about half that, seeming almost emaciated.

So hairy. Sheds like crazy. Fur is very dull and matt. This boy needs a good scrub and a proper diet.

They only wears the cape and hood and is otherwise nekkid. (no peeping though because of long fur and more animalistic anatomy ;p)

I imagine they sound like a mix of a mountain goat and an elk. Just those kind of animals in general. Maybe mix in some injured horse.

Their speaking voice is deep. It makes your chest vibrate.

The gas they emit is a strong anasthetic. When in contact with skin it gives an immediate pins and needles feeling and if inhaled for a prolongued time it can cause heart failure. They always stop before that though. No fun in killing your foodsource (unless otherwise provoked).

If they are in a good mood and you pet them and call them a Good Boy you get tail waggles

Oh yes they have a goat tail btw. It looks very fluffy and sticks up.

Design and Worldbuilding under the cut

Main Design influence for Albtraum are horses with dog muzzles (google it they are freaky) as well as Chopper's (One Piece) Monster Point.

Albtraum is German for Nightmare

They used to be an actual Dreamcatcher before turning into a Sleep-Paralysis-Demon

SPDs are Dreamcatchers that have eaten too many nightmares and now feed on fear itself (mostly on children but some stay for adulthood)

SPDs are specific to a person (mostly) and play into their personal fears. Albtraum is a fear of loss of control, being prey, and being eaten by a predator.

[planetjisungie]

lucky charms- h.rj

characters; ravenclaw! renjun x hufflepuff! reader ft. gryffindor! mark and gryffindor! jeno (sigh)

summary; with the exams coming up, you need a little help with your charms. well you dont, you just needed an excuse to talk to your long time crush, huang renjun

an; i literally changed this on the spot 🤡 plot holes here i come- (also id like to think jeno is more of a hufflepuff but idk man)

sigh okay this is a long boi

end of year exams were in just a few weeks

yay, your absolute favourite !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

sarcasm

now, charms

in room 99, classroom 2E in the south tower

i did my research

you were pretty good at charms, not nearly as good as you were in the care of magical creatures and herbology though

still above averagely good

you know who else was good at charms?

huang renjun

the star ravenclaw prince boy, the pride of the house and a very beautiful boy

best boi renjun

if jeno was being quite honest he was SICK AND TIRED of hearing you two pine over eachother

jeno met you in first year, and you quickly became best friends and even ended up in the same house as eachother

despite having different friend groups (your friend group consisted of you and eunji), you stayed best friends until now aka 5th year

just go with it okay

so as he was saying before i digressed, jeno physically is pained as he watched the longing glances both you and renjun throw when the other isnt looking

but it isnt his business to meddle with your lack of relationship problems

best boi part 2

BUT! but! he will give you both a tiny! eensy! little! minuscule! nudge

that nudge being forming a plan with you

you were slightly reluctant when jenos very enthusiastic face greeted you at the table saying he had ‘a totally brilliant, spectacular, show stopping, wonderful, flawless plan’

this was jeno we were talking about

the same boy who planned the failed midnight snack run a few weeks before

and as soon as he mentioned renjun your eyes narrowed

"proceed."

the plan was for jeno to ask renjun to tutor his friend who was falling behind in charms

said friend was you

and you were ahead of the class

bUT!! you agreed because he wasnt in your class, so there was no way he could know that right?

wrong.

who was in your class?

mark lee. one of renjuns best friends.

also the boyfriend of eunji and the reason you wanted to gauge your eyeballs out everytime you turned around to talk to them

thats right eunji ditched you to sit next to her little markie. bitch.

nonetheless, you agreed because your dumb, spontaneous ass forgot that renjun even knew mark, because if someone said ‘whos mark?’ you would go ‘eunjis boyfriend’

so of course, when all the students were making their way to their class, jeno caught up with renjun seeing as they both had muggle studdies

"hey man, i have a favour to ask"

stage one of operation: stop the oblivious fuckers from pining over eachother (that name may need some revamping) was a-go

"depends what said favour is"

smart boi™️

"is it possible to tutor one of my friends in charms for the upcoming OWLs?"

oh? this piqued china pretty boys interest

"i mean, sure, i could do with some revision too. tell them to meet me at the library after school"

and so jeno walked away with a smug smirk, victorious

and when jeno told you he had agreed later in potions, you were yet you werent surprised

so of you trotted after last period, kinda nervous because youre about to be in the literal breathing proximity of renjun

like obviously youve talked to him before but this time it was just you and him

alone

no get those thoughts out of your head

n e ways u perv

renjun sat at the back table, textbooks and notebooks with his neat writing in both chinese and korean all over the pages

smart boi part 2

so seeing him not looking at you

attention whore

wow why am i so mean today

you sat down and cleared your throat, placing your blank notebooks on the table so the boy wouldnt get suspicious

you had to pray to whatever gods were listening for your cheeks not to flare up the colour of the strawberries you had for breakfast

healthy girl™️

and the gods apparently answered your prayers

because as soon as renjun looked up and into your eyes you swore you were too distracted for your blood cells to even think about moving towards your face

and renjun nearly had a heart attack (by aoa)

poor boy

jeno had NOT told him that he would be tutoring you

he was going to be choked later

"sorry im late"

renjun was nearly offended that you would even apologise to him for being late by

2 minutes and 48 seconds

"no no its okay i havent been here long"

that was a lie he had study period last and has been sat in the same goddamn chair for an hour already but your presence made his ass cheeks ache less

so he started teaching you, but ???

you seemed to fully grasp the concepts

confused boi

excuse me ma’am/sir/señor/señorita whatever you prefer to go by-

you need to brush up on your acting skills dude

appalling smh your drama teacher back from your muggle school would be completely distraught

so for the next hour renjun ‘tutored’ you

things you already knew but this was a dream-

and actually he was a funny guy

he was also muggle born, so you could both relate over things you experienced as a kid

this lead to a raging debate over dora the explorer

that bitch was shaded in said debate, fully annihilated

hola soy dora your asshole

but,, it was fun. because jeno was pureblood and grew up knowing about all his magicky stuff so he was kinda boring sometimes

no tea no shade

but you ended the session with smiles on both your faces, cheeks literally aching with how hard youd been laughing and smiling

so lads

the next day at breakfast renjun was all happy, plonking himself next to mark at the gryffindor table because

man does not give a SHIT about the looks he was getting. he is huang renjun.

"why are you so smiley this morning? and why didn’t you come to my common room last night"

the gryffindor common room was the dreamie hang out

no one dared tell THE mark lee to go somewhere else with his friends

"sorry, last night i was tutoring y/n in charms" smiley boy still

mark seagull eyebrows: activated

excuse him?? charms?? you?? the one who got an outstanding in your report card??

something smells fishy here

"renjun... y/n got an outstanding on her charms"

eunji who had magically appeared next to mark basically said what he was just thinking

confused boi part ??

"wait what?"

but later on he didnt question you about it

he silently observed you

he told himself that anyway

quite honestly if you were spending time with him he was not about to complain

he was staring at you, simply put

my leng bby (thats you, youre my leng bby)

so for the next 2 weeks every day after school you would meet up to ‘catch up’ on your charms

that being said it literally always, every time, ended up with you two talking about something unrelated

like the 5th day you had a conversation about which series of power rangers was better

"SPD, obviously"

AM I THAT OLD?? on god i hate it here

"no, y/n, we all know that dino force is better"

i agree with y/n on this one pal

on the 7th day you talked about muggle sports that you both enjoyed

"i played a lot of cricket"

"cricket? okay tory"

"i am NOT a tory"

on the last day when you should have been, you know, LEARNING

you were having a lovely old chinwag about the x factor

"simon cowell is a king"

"i agree"

legend behaviour if you ask me

wait does chinwag exist in other countries??? translation: chat

so of course the exams came up

but you were dreading them for a different reason

this meant the end of tutoring with renjun

this was super bittersweet, you wanted to spend more time with eachother

you literally could it wasn’t that deep both of you are so dumb smh aint nothing stopping you

jeno agrees with me too, mans pulling out his hair still as you had somehow not gotten together yet

it was like watching snails race, incredibly frustrating but you know that there is the finish line somwhere over the horizon

so you took your exams and both of you passed with flying colours, obviously

smart kids

and you ran right to renjun to celebrate

seeing as he had

not really helped you but you thought that he thought he helped you

oh no honey he knew that you didnt need help

but he didnt know whether to confront you about it?

rip your guilty conscience

so after a long discussion with mark, our china boy decided to ask why the heck you wanted his help when you were absolutely fully capable

unlike mark

and when you saw him approach you first in the halls your heart went

NYYOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM

that was the sound of a fast motorbike

"hi y/n"

‘damn renjun, couldnt have thought of anything better than that?’

"uhh hi renjun"

awkward silence by stray kids

"i just wanted to know why you asked for my help"

okay where is the nearest shovel and what is the most efficient way to dig a large hole-

as if renjun sensed your panic radiating off you in waves

which he did

"not that it was an issue! i enjoyed spending time with you, it was just, you didnt really need help"

he was a pure boy

so you puffed your cheeks and decided to just come clean

somewhere, jeno felt his senses tingling

"genuinely i just wanted to spend some time with you because i really like you"

renjun froze and wanted to smack his head into a wall

bruh

you noticed his expression and panicked yet again

stop panicking man its okay i gotchu

"it was jenos idea"

blame jeno is always a fool-proof plan b

unless you get pregnant, that would not be a good idea

so i guess its not fool proof

BUT I DIGRESS

renjun face palms and groans

"youre kidding me! all this time we wasted doing boringass charms work when we couldve gone on dates"

confusion™️

but?? you felt hopeful??

"i dont think im on the same wavelength"

"i like you too dumbass"

oH so YOURE the dumbass??

yes, yes you are renjun is best boi, accept the L which is really a W bc renjun likes you back

jeno who had found his way to you, listening from around the corner sighed in happiness

"fucking finally!!"

[tokupedia]

Japan World Heroes II Preview Night

The event started as all days do, with a nice brunch before heading out to the con.

In this particular case, I scratched off my food exploration list the fabled Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffles, a staple of L.A. since the 1970s and one of the many reasons Chicken and Waffles has endured as a staple of American cuisine. What you see is the Carol C special, one large tender Chicken Breast with waffles and a Sunrise to drink (Its an LA thing. half Orange Juice, Half Lemonade, 100% tasty). 

After that indulgence, I headed to the convention hall. Last time, we shared space with a Lego convention. This time, there was a convention for rich fat cats only next door discussing how to market and profit from *ahem* the local herbal supplements, man.

Upon entry, one of the most notable things was the con had new sponsors/vendors, particularly the Legends Comics and Games shop and even Hasbro made a small contribution with a prize for the upcoming cosplay contest. This is good, this means growth by attracting more businesses and con-goers for future iterations of this still very young bi-annual fandom event.

CS Toys did coverage of the con and were setting up, I didn’t see as many high profile members of the Toku community I recognized this time around as I did last time, but I thought I caught a glimpse of one or two members of Team Tokunet getting ready for the big weekend. It’s fine, we all have busy lives and sometimes things just don’t work out, what matters is the passion we feel for this genre and that alone means we were all here at least in spirit.

Given who some of our guests were, the viewing room naturally had marathons of Dekaranger and Kamen Rider Blade as well as the Space Squad films.

Sentai Jackets returned to the con, this time with brand new merch!

They had little 2017 Power Rangers movie keychains! 

And metal badges, Power Coins, pins and buckles and all other sorts of shiny shiny goods were at Henshin Vault! I got a new Time Fire/Quantum Ranger badge later on. 

One highlight was that props direct from the vault of Toei Studios were on display!

GingaiOh’s/Galaxy Megazord’s sword, Gavan’s Laser Blade, some of the Black RX prop belts and the Revolcane..

Inside a protective case was an actual Kamen Rider Blade stunt helmet worn by Seiji Takaiwa himself! (Which was actually here before at JWH 1, but seemed more relevant given one of the celebrity star attractions)

Later on, they brought out mannequins and adorned them with the garb of the Child of the Sun and the man who Walks the Path of Heaven! Rider Suits! *geeks out*

After that shock of awesome, another vendor booth had a former Hollywood prop maker who was selling various oddities such as prop boots of the Yellow Ranger, old scripts of MMPR, vintage trading cards and comics, autographed photos and merch, even a production crew jacket from Power Rangers Lost Galaxy (though that might have been his). He also unwisely left a stack of hundreds on his table, just saying dude, keep it in a safebox or something so its secure, I only bring it up ‘cuz you seemed like a nice guy and I wouldn’t want to see you get robbed.

A gent by the callname of Nickranger was pleased when I became his first customer, I purchased the Kamen Rider 1 vs. Captain America poster and the Dekared/SPD Red Battilizer art poster. The latter was of course for Ryuji Sainei to sign later. (Mr. McLaren didn’t seem all that interested in the con based on facial expressions, so I didn’t want to be “that fan” and annoy him and gave him space. You have to be considerate of people even if they are famous.)

Lots of vintage toys and collectibles were on display, my first wallet bleeding prize was a metal Cheetah Core Medal keychain, which I wore proudly on the lanyard for the rest of the event. I also, in an oddball moment, prayed to it, hoping my desire fuels it so our precious KR Valkyrie whose totem animal she shares with the coin does not get sacrificed to the Curse of Yuriko Misaki next season.

Of course, if you were not into this stuff, there were bits of hidden prizes that might have piqued your interest at the vendor booths...

Such as Neoroids from various franchises, the Proplica of Sailor Moon’s wand the Moon Stick, DBZ goodies...

Stuff from Takara Tomy such as imported Transformers and Gaogaigar dolls and Chogokins, Gatchaman toys, Custom Lego Minifigs of Mazinger and various other characters, Disney pins...

And Disney owned characters artistically depicted as Meisho period samurai, ninjas, soldiers, noblemen and warlords from the mind of Kamen Rider and Godzilla concept artist Takayuki Takeya!

So yes, even if you have only a passive fan love for Godzilla or none at all, there was at least one bit of plastic nostalgia or curiosity to tickle your fancy and make your checkbook scream in agony. But never despair about that, as you are supporting local business, tourism and commerce. 

So the first day was dedicated to scoping out the place. A few repeats also appeared such as the Super Dimension Macross Store. The most disheartening thing was the lack of Garo representation...but that was by design in compliance with the “PG-13″ family friendly rules of JWH. 

Garo needs its own con or maybe it would be more welcomed in a spot at Halloween and Horror conventions where its nudity and gore would be more tolerated by its base.

Preview night was fun, but the full mayhem was about to begin....

[resident-of-storybrooke]

Making My Way To You

Summary: What happens when a stubborn Sheriff Emma Swan loses her soulmate mark, only to meet Killian Jones five years later? Will the two find love during the holiday season, or perhaps were they always meant to be? 

Rated: T (for language and a bit of angst)

Word count: wee bit above 9.5k

A/N: I am excited to reveal that this is my @cssecretsanta2k18 gift for @imagnifika It has been an absolute joy getting to talk to you over these last few weeks!! I loved writing this story for you, and I hope you enjoy this! Still can’t believe I didn’t ruin the surprise! A massive thank you to @kymbersmith-90 and @hookedonapirate for their help with this story!! I hope everyone is enjoying their holiday season!! 

You can read this on: ff.net, ao3, or wattpad

December 23, 2013 Storybrooke, MA

As Emma drove the cruiser down the street, she took a deep breath in, taking pause over how far she’d come in her life. An orphan left on the side of the road by her “parents”, bounced around from home to home, and the whole Neal thing. Yet despite everything, here she was, a proud member of the Storybrooke PD, with a decent apartment, and some friends. For the first time, she felt comfortable with herself.

She had only joined SPD six months ago, but it felt right. She loved her job, and even her co-workers were slowly growing on her. Emma had been top of her class at the academy and was able to quickly put to rest any pranks usually played on rookies. The way she carried herself, everyone respected her and treated her instantly as an equal - not a probe.

She was the first of her class to be allowed to patrol alone. Although it was only the graveyard shift, Emma didn’t mind at all. She felt as though it gave her time to really become comfortable with the town, to learn some of the ins and outs. Not that there was much to learn. But she still appreciated the adjustment period that Sheriff Graham gave her.

The streets were dead, as they typically were in Storybrooke, even more so on a Monday night. Although this was a cute town, not a lot of people passed through unless they were heading to Boston, and wanted a detour.

Most people were already home for the night, and anyone who was out was harmless. Emma pulled up to the intersection, the only one in town with an actual light. It had taken her a few months to get used to the idea of living in such a small town, but it had eventually grown on her. And now, Storybrooke felt like home.

Then it happened.

In a blink of an eye, Emma watched as the semi truck barely missed her, ran the red light, and then collided with another car. The semi spun out of control, only stopping once it ran into the town’s Christmas tree. The vehicle, however, flipped twice before it finally came to a halt.

Without a second thought, Emma jumped into action, calling for backup and an ambulance, as she sprinted out of her car. She went first to the semi truck, the driver was moaning in pain, but conscious enough for Emma to go and check on the vehicle.

As Emma approached the other vehicle if you could still call it that, she was terrified of what she would find inside. She knew accidents happened, and this was a part of the job, but she just knew this one was going to be bad. The Chevy Malibu had probably been new, but right then it looked like a crushed soda can.

As she approached the car she saw two people inside, a male driver and a female passenger. The passenger’s side was crashed, from where the semi had crashed into. The woman appeared to be in her late thirties, brown hair. She looked beautiful. However, there were cuts all over her body. Without even having to check for a pulse, Emma knew that she was already gone. She could only hope that the woman hadn’t suffered unnecessarily. Emma took a breath, silently praying that this stranger had found some peace.

She quickly ran around to the driver’s side, where she got her first look at him. His black hair was a mess from the wreck, and he had a few cuts, but nothing like the injuries his passenger had sustained. Emma was able to rip the door open, and attempted to check his pulse. It was faint, but he was still alive. For now.

With a quick sigh of relief, Emma tried to assess the damage done to him. As she decided to look for anything, but as she gently dropped her fingers from his neck, she heard him grumble in pain.

“Sir, my name is Em - Officer Swan. I am going to help you. Sir, jut....” He responded only with a groan, but Emma would take what she could get for the moment.

It was then when she spotted his left hand. It had been completely torn to shreds as if he was trying to protect the female passenger, while the car was rolling. Emma realized a sigh of relieved when she heard the sounds of sirens in the distance, thankful that this man would soon be getting the help he so desperately needed.

“Sir, do you hear that? They’re coming to help. Sir? Sir!” He wasn’t responding anymore, and Emma knew what she needed to do. She reclined the chair as far back as she could, and moved him up so she could begin performing CPR.

“Come back to me. Come on, dammit,” she screamed in between breaths and compressions. Emma had to save him. She knew it was a part of her job, but there was something more. Something told her that she couldn’t let him go.

She continued administering CPR until the EMTs arrived to take over.

“Help him, please. Watch his left hand, it’s...you’ll see.” One of the EMTs ran over to the other side, but Emma stopped him before he could open the door, “She’s...she’s gone. The driver, he’s still alive, but he needs a lot of help.” They nodded in appreciation of the information, and Emma slowly backed away from the scene.

Sheriff Graham walked over to her, instantly bringing her into his arms. Graham was only a few years older than Emma, but he acted like her big brother. Emma must’ve been in shock, as she still couldn’t move her arms to go around him. “You did good, Emma. I hope you know that. Go home, and get some rest.” Emma was about to argue that she needed to finish her shift, but Graham added, “that’s an order officer. You need to rest. Get in the cruiser, Blanchard will drive you home.”

Emma looked over to see her fellow rookie officer, Mary Margaret Blanchard, waiting for her. She slowly made her way over to where the other woman was expecting, and Mary Margaret didn’t hesitate to wrap Emma up in her arms before she escorted Emma to the cruiser.

Mary Margaret drove them both in silence. They understood this was a part of the job, but this was Emma’s first accident, and she had a feeling she’d never forget her first. As her fellow rookie put the car into park Emma realized they were not at her complex, but before she could speak, Mary Margaret interrupted her.

“Emma, I know we haven’t known each other very long, and I have a feeling you usually keep to yourself. But I just - well I just figured tonight maybe you wouldn’t want to be alone.” They sat there in more silence, as Emma tried to process why this woman was so kind to her, even though they barely knew each other. “Listen, if I was wrong to do this tell me, and I will drive you back to your place, but I wanted to-”

“No, thank you. This is, uh...I’d like to stay here.”

Mary Margaret just nodded, as she attempted to keep her enthusiasm at a minimum, knowing this was not the best reason for a sleepover. As they walked into her apartment, Emma was still on autopilot and she remained that way as she attempted to get ready for bed.

Before Emma went upstairs to the guest bedroom, Mary Margaret stopped her. “Hey, you know I’m here for you, right? As much or as little as you want, I have your back.”

Emma was overwhelmed by the woman’s kind words and finally pulled Mary Margaret in for a hug, as she let out the tears she had so desperately tried to hold back. After a few moments, she finally managed to pull herself together. Giving Mary Margaret one last squeeze, before both women headed for their own beds for the night.

Emma knew she did everything right. Or she thinks she did everything she could to help everyone involved. She knew that needed to move on from the accident, and not let it hold her back from being the officer she had always wanted to be.

What Emma failed to realize that night, amidst all the chaos, was that her soulmate mark had disappeared.

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November 2018

As Emma drove the cruiser down the street, she took a deep breath in, taking pause over how far she’d come in her life. After working with SPD for the last five and a half years, Emma had moved up the ranks. In fact, as of last year, she was now the new sheriff of Storybrooke.

No one had really seen it coming, but Graham had decided to step down after he had started his own family. Although Storybrooke wasn't a criminal hotspot, he felt that it was the best decision for his family. Graham had asked Emma if she wanted the job, and at first, she had laughed him off. But when she realized that he was serious, Emma had run unopposed for the position. It was the fastest election in the town’s history.

However, as proud as Emma was of her career success, the real progress was that she now had friends. Friends who had somehow sneaked their way into her life, and she was so thankful for that. Mary Margaret had also worked her way up the ranks, side by side with Emma, and their friendship had grown along the way.

As Emma thought back on how much had changed, she noticed the kid. She had always tried her hardest to give back to others in the community, that’s given so much to her. Emma had made it her mission to make sure anyone who needed some assistance in town, got it. But she took a particular interest in helping the kids of Storybrooke, making sure they always had a warm meal and a place to stay.

Emma recognized this particular kid right away. Grace. Emma knew things weren’t always great at home, for her, and sometimes Grace would roam the streets to find something to eat. She reminded Emma a lot of herself, refusing help at first, and not always trusting of others. However, after a few run-ins Grace had opened up to Emma about her situation, and Emma couldn’t help but take the young girl under her wing.

The two of them made their way to Shelter by the Seashore, a fantastic shelter that always tried its best for the community. Due to Storybrooke’s somewhat limited size, the place’s resources were rather limited as well. Sometimes if the shelter were lucky, some of the more prominent organizations in Boston would send some of their leftovers down to them.

As the two made their way over to the front door, Emma was a little shocked to find a notice tacked to the window while Grace pushed her way inside.

Attention Storybrooke residents,

It is with great sadness we announce that Shelter by the Seashore will be closing its doors after 15 years, after Thanksgiving. It has been with great joy that we have served you, our community. We are forever thankful for the memories we have shared together.

Thank you for everything!

All the love,

Shelter by the Seashore

“Yeah, I know, Emma. It caught me off guard at first, too.” Emma turned her head at the sound of the voice. Ashley was the owner of the shelter and had become a good friend to Emma over the past five years. “But, it’s for a good reason. Someone bought the shelter, they’re going to do this big renovation. It’s going to be better than ever before. We’re even going to have different classes for people to take for free, like how to open a bank account, and help with searching for jobs.”

“Oh wow, that’s amazing, Ashley. But what about you? I thought this place was your life.” Emma moved over to the counter Ashley was sat behind.

“I’m not gonna lie, at first it was heartbreaking. But now? I know the shelter is going to be in better hands. Oh, and the new owner is letting me stay on as manager, so I still get to do the work I love.”

Emma reached her hand out to Ashley’s shoulder and decided to get back out to her cruiser. She had this feeling in her gut, telling her that this new shelter was going to be important, not just for the community, but to her as well.

Emma shook off the feeling as quickly as it had come. She wasn’t some grand romantic, or anything even close to that. With her soulmate mark disappearing a few years ago back, she had completely given up on the idea of finding love.

She thought she had met soulmate one. She had been sure that Neal was it for her. After a life of bouncing around the system, and living on and off the streets, Emma thought she had found someone to make a home with. Neal, however, had different plans.

Before she could carry on with her pity party, Emma decided to snap out it of, and finish her patrol.

She was almost able to ignore the strange sensation on her left wrist.

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December 2018

With all the craziness - as much as Storybrooke could have - over the last few weeks Emma missed the grand opening of the new shelter. When she first saw the name, Neverland Shelter, in the newspaper she couldn’t help but laugh. Emma hoped that this shelter would bring some hope and magic to the area.

Emma drove past the new shelter every day, she meant to stop in by now to introduce herself, but she never had a free moment from work. Speaking of, work seemed to have taken a whole new level of busy. Nothing too crazy, but little squabbles over how late Christmas lights could be on for, a few porch pirates, but nothing SPD couldn’t handle.

As Emma walked into the department for her evening shift Mary Margaret was already there waiting for her with her drink of poison, hot chocolate with whipped cream and cinnamon on top. Emma took a moment to reflect on their friendship, how far they’d come in the years since that car accident.

She instantly became a confidant, her person, and someone she was genuinely thankful for. Emma was never a girly girl who had a lot of girlfriends, never had any friends really. And yet, her and Mary Margaret just clicked. Although Mary Margaret loved to tease Emma about finding true love and pushing her to put herself out there, there was an understanding and respect between the two women’s perspective on the whole soulmate thing.

Mary Margaret was your stereotypical fairytale princess, Emma swore she was like the real-life version of Snow White. When Emma found out her marker resembled an apple, Emma about lost her mind, saying she only proved her point further. Mary Margaret ever the optimist kept her eyes out for her Prince Charming. It, of course, wasn’t until a horrible case of a missing child brought SPD and the neighboring town of Lancaster together.

The case was on the brink of driving the LPD insane, they asked Emma and the rest of the department for assistance. Their sheriff, August, reminded Emma a lot of herself and they instantly bonded. However, their bond was more brother/sister than romantic, and Emma was always thankful for their relationship. August didn’t come alone, he brought Deputy David Nolan.

One look and Emma could tell, Mary Margaret and David were smitten They had one of those slow-motion movie moments, even massive love critic Emma knew this was something special.

The Charmings, as Emma dubbed them, took only one week before they showed their soulmate marks revealing they both had an apple on their biceps. One year later they had their fairytale wedding, it was honestly perfect. Now three years later, they even more disgusting in love. As much as Emma loved to make fun of them, she admired their passion and dedication to one another. It wasn’t just because they were soulmates, they legitimately loved each other.

Mary Margaret only asked Emma once about her mark, as closed off as Emma was to love her losing her mark just reified her commitment issues. She explained to Mary Margaret how one day it was here and the next thing Emma knew her mark disappeared from her wrist. Emma wondered if she would ever find someone to spend her life with since she lost her mark Emma believed she lost her soulmate.

“Hey, you okay? You left me for a minute.” Emma was finally pulled out of her own thoughts, eventually grabbing the hot chocolate for her.

“Yeah, sorry about that. You know just thinking about stuff.” Mary Margaret gave her a questioning look but decided not to press Emma on the matter.

“Anyways, I was wondering what your plans were for Christmas? David and I are going to host our annual party, and we wanted to make sure you were still free?”

Emma couldn’t help but to laugh, “Well since I’ve gone to the last four Christmas parties I guess I could make an appearance.”

“Oh good,” Mary Margaret squealed, “and I know we promised no setups, but Davids old friend is going to be there, and I was just hoping you would just help make him feel welcomed. He used to live here a few years ago apparently, but moved back to England for whatever reason.”

Emma gave her friend a wary eye, but figured to give into the Christmas spirit and perhaps being nice to him wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.

“Fine, I’ll be nice to him - whoever he may be - as my good deed for the world. Deal?”

“Thank you, Emma. Seriously, we really appreciate it.” Mary Margaret walked over and embraced Emma to help show her thanks.

“Alright, lady time to get to work, I want to make sure all of this is done before Christmas.” Mary Margaret gave a fake salute and went to work herself.

Emma relished in the thought of actually being helpful to their friend, in helping someone adjust to life in Storybrooke, and giving someone perhaps the very same thing Emma once needed - a home.

Before Emma could get too comfortable, a call came in. Someone spotted another teenager on the street, the caller couldn’t get to them in time, but wanted to make sure Emma was aware someone should help take the kid to the shelter. Emma loved these types of calls if she was honest with herself. She loved that everyone looked out everyone else, even if they didn’t know them personally.

When Emma walked outside she decided to leave the cruiser at the station, it was still early enough in her shift that the sun was shining and would be for another hour or so. Luckily, Emma’s hunt for the teen didn’t last too long.

Emma found Kate with ease on Main Street, and even better Kate was more than happy to go to the new shelter with Emma. The two walked in comfortable silence across town to Neverland. Emma was excited to see the renovations and to hopefully meet the owner to finally introduce herself.

When the two women walked to the front door Emma could instantly feel the difference, it was absolutely fantastic. However, Emma’s joy was quickly short lived upon entering the new shelter.

Emma walked up to the counter to find a short blonde hair woman, the name tag said Tink. Either she was really dedicated to the whole Peter Pan thing, or that was an unfortunate coincidence.

“Hey there, I’m Sheriff Swan, I was wondering if you all had room for one more tonight?” Emma turned her attention towards Kate who was sitting in the waiting area which looked more like a living room with the couches and TV.

Sadly, a frown overtook the blonde’s face, “I’m really sorry to say we’re out of beds for the night. We ordered more, but they haven’t come yet, I’m sorry ladies. If you’d like Sheriff Swan, I can give you the number to -”

“Oi, wait for a second, Tink! There’s always room in Neverland!” Emma turned around to see the man with the beautiful British accent was also by far the most handsome man alive, and immediately captured by his baby blue eyes. It seemed she the only one affected, he instantly froze in his place when he saw her too.

“Mr. Jones,” Tink said ruining whatever moment they were having, “we just gave the last bed away for the night.”

“Ah, but you see lady Tink, we did not give all the beds away,” he paused for dramatic effect Emma assumed, “there’s still my bed!”

Emma was in awe of this man, not only was he handsome, but he seemed to have a good heart as well. It was incredible to see someone like this in the community, perhaps he really did bring the magic Emma wished for.

“Are you sure, Mr. Jones? There’s another shelter I can take her to out of town, I don’t want to put you out for the night.”

Mr. Jones finally made his way over to Emma, who seemed to be stuck in place unable to move a muscle. “Aye, love, and please it’s Killian. I have a spare cot in my office, I’ve slept here the last few weeks to make sure everything is in tip-top shape for the opening. Plus I have an apartment with an actual bed I should make use of eventually. Besides, it’d be bad form not to help the sheriff out.”

Emma let out a giggle, which made her seem like a school girl around her first crush. She didn’t even know the man’s first name, and she was already acting like a ten-year-old. “Well then, Mr. Jones seems like we have a deal.”

“Aye, we have an accord. Oh, and remember it’s Killian, love.” Emma reached out her hand to shake his, he immediately reached out to meet her and then she felt it.

This spark.

It was unlike anything Emma had ever felt before, so of course, she quickly removed her hand from his in an attempt to get a hold of herself.

“Well, uh Killian thanks for the extra bed tonight I appreciate it. If you all ever need anything here’s my card or just dial 911 that works too. Well, have a good night!” Emma tried to escape with an ounce of her dignity still intact, but Killian - or fate - had other plans.

Killian quickly reached his left out without even thinking, and seamlessly grabbed Emma back from leaving. What he did not realize was that he used his prosthetic hand instead of his right hand, he then took his turn in quickly removing his hand from Emma.

“Sorry about that, I didn’t think I just -”

“Please, Killian, it’s more than fine,” Emma wanted to reassure him that his prosthetic was nothing to hide or that it was off-putting by any means.

“Right, well good. I know you have to get back to the station it’s...well, uh, you just seem so familiar. Have, have we ever met before?”

Of course, without thinking, Emma said, “I doubt I’d forget a face like yours.” Emma immediately turned bright red while Killian scratched behind his right ear.

“What I meant to say, uh, what I meant was I have an excellent memory, helps with the job, and you have very distinct features that I would not forget if you were in a lineup. Not that you would be in a lineup, you seem like a very stand up guy, I mean look at this shelter! It’s never looked better, and you look fantastic - I mean the shelter looks fantastic. I’m, I am just going to go back to the precinct now so if you need anything please call, but it was nice meeting you, Killian.” Emma finally took a breathe, realizing she hadn’t stopped to breath during that rambling rant.

Killian seemed to enjoy her rambling, he laughed as she came to the end of the speech. In Emma’s attempt to keep any dignity she reached out her hand to give him a farewell shake; however, Killian takes her hand and brings it up to his lips for a soft kiss on the knuckles.

Emma let out a breathy gasp and walked back outside without another word. As she walked away, Emma could still feel it, that spark. She swore it was all inside her head, but she couldn’t shake this feeling. Perhaps it wasn’t just the shelter that brought some magic to Storybrooke, maybe it was a tall, dark, handsome British good-doer.

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For the next week, Emma and Killian could not help but to continuously run into each other. Although Emma made frequent stops at the shelter to see her friends who still worked there and to get the grand tour, but they also ran into each other all over town.

No matter where Emma went, Killian was never far behind her or vise versa. One morning Emma decided to get one last outside run in for the year, and although she was not the fastest woman in the world she enjoyed getting her heart racing.

Not even ten minutes into her run she found Killian, who looked like he was about to begin a run of his own. Emma debated going over to him, not sure where they stood as professionals or if he would consider them friends. Emma was still not over how incredibly handsome he was and somehow made a fool of herself every chance she got.

While the debate continued on in Emma’s head, Killian spotted Emma and decided to work his way over to her. The two ran together, silently challenging and pushing one another throughout their run.

The two parted ways, Killian jokingly mentioned how tomorrow he was going to be at Granny’s around noon if she just so happened to be hungry around that time. At first, Emma felt the panic set in, but quickly it diminished on her own. There was no harm in getting lunch together, she merely nodded and headed back to her apartment.

Emma was enjoying the rest of her day off when Mary Margaret texted her saying how they should do a girl’s night. Although Emma was hesitant she knew it was harmless, Ruby was busy, so Emma knew she was safe from any real danger.

Like always, Emma waited until the last minute to get ready, it was her thing. She took one look at herself in the mirror for any final touches. For waiting until last minute Emma was actually pleased with herself, her bright red dress hugging her curves perfectly and her hair fell naturally.

Mary Margaret seldom invited Emma to go out, only because this was not Mary Margaret’s scene at all. However, the girls did enjoy the occasional night out, but that usually included wine nights at someone’s house.

The Hole was unusually packed, but when Emma walked inside, she spotted two seats at the bar for them. She rushed over to make sure the seats were not swiped last second. Emma sat there as she waited for Mary Margaret to show up. Mary Margaret was never late, that was Emma’s thing. Emma checked her phone and found a new text from Mary Margaret; the said that she didn’t feel well and wouldn’t be making it out tonight.

Emma slid off her barstool and grabbed her stuff when she heard a familiar voice, “Hello, love, fancy running into you here.” When she looked up, she was met by her favorite pair of blue eyes, Killian.

“Well, hello stranger. Don’t you have a shelter to be taking care of?” Emma was surprised at the teasing tone that came out, but she couldn’t help it. She had a few drinks in her, she felt good, and this was harmless, right?

“Ah right, well sometimes I enjoy the occasional glass of rum or two, and a beautiful maiden's company is always an extra bonus.” He added a wink for good measure and that smirk that made Emma’s stomach flip. “What do you say, love? Fancy another round?”

Without a word, Emma slid back on her stool while her hand grazed upon his leg. She saw his Adam's apple bob at the touch, made Emma happy that she was not the only one affected.

As the night continued and one drink turned into five both and both their inhibitions lowered, the flirty eyes, and the accidental touches lasted a second too long. At one point without a thought, Emma leaned into Killian's embrace, and he held her for a moment. Emma felt his warmth come over her, she felt safe in his embrace and wanted it to last forever. Then she realized what she just thought and instantly sobered up.

Killian felt Emma tense up and decided it was time to go home. The two of them of slid off their stools, and as they walked outside Killian kept his arm around Emma. “Alright, thank you for a fun evening Killian, but I, uh, I think I should head home.”

Killian pulled away to look down at her, “Aye, I agree love. Let me walk you home?”

“Oh, no I’m fine I can walk home, Killian.” He kept his eyes on her, he could tell her walls had crept back up, and she was spooked.

“I know, but it wouldn’t be good form to let you walk home alone love. Please allow me to do the honors?” His made sure to make his tone was light, an attempt to help ease any of Emma’s worries.

“Oh so now you’re a gentleman?” Emma teased right back at him.

“I’m always a gentleman.” Killian walked towards Emma’s apartment, and Emma caught up to him so they could walk arm in arm.

When they arrived at Emma’s apartment, the two of them stood at the door neither one of them knowing what to do next.

“I know, uh, this wasn’t the original plan for the night, but I had a really nice time tonight, Killian.”

Killian met Emma’s eyes and a wide smile took over his face, “Aye, I had a wonderful time tonight too, Emma.” She was caught off guard when he actually said her name.

“Well, I should get inside early morning. Thank you, Killian, for being a gentleman and walking me home, I appreciate it.” Before Killian could say anything, Emma reached up and gave him a kiss on the cheek and ran inside before anything else could happen.

Killian stood frozen on her stoop, unable to process what happened. Killian moved his hand to his cheek, he still could feel her soft lips on his stubble. He never thought he’d feel this warmth again, for the first time in five years he felt alive again. He walked home a smile plastered on his face.

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Throughout the week which led to Christmas Emma and Killian spent every moment together - well as much as they could with the shelter and is the sheriff of a small town. When they weren’t together, they would text or call one another.

As nervous as Emma was she knew that she couldn’t ignore her feelings for Killian. He was attractive, but it was more than that for her. She felt this connection to him, she felt safe, and she was tired of being alone. She decided that after Christmas she would finally admit her true feelings for Killian, because who didn’t love a late Christmas gift of sharing your feelings?

Killian, on the other hand, was ready to share his feelings with Emma. After everything that’s happened during his life, especially what happened five years ago. He was prepared to move on, he was ready to do so with Emma. Even though Killian lost his mark and would probably never find his soulmate, he still wanted to find some form of love.

Killian decided to be honest and direct with Emma, so he called her and asked her to come over. Of course, he did not thoroughly think that through and tried to quickly clean his apartment. He was usually a tidy man, but he wanted to make sure everything was perfect for her. He made sure to organize the magazines he pretended to read to make himself look good. Picked up any clothes or jackets there were not hung up.

Then he finally looked at his outfit and decided to freshen up for their impromptu hang-out-not-date-but-he-wished-it-was-a-date date. He went with a dark blue henley that brought out his eyes and some jeans that he knew for a fact made his arse look good. As he made the final touches in his bed hair, Killian heard his bell ring.

He rushed to the door and took a deep breath before he opened the door, and there she stood once again taking his breath away.

“Hi, Killian, thanks for asking me to come over.”

As Emma stood there Killian took her in, still amazed she would give a lad like him a second glance. She was more than just beautiful, she was fierce, funny, and she had this sparkle in her eye when she smiled that Killian found so remarkable. Killian then realized he had been staring for too long and finally moved over so Emma could finally come into his apartment.

“Here love can I get you a drink?” He said as he helped removed her jacket.

“Ah gentleman thing was real, that’s refreshing. And I’ll take water thank you.”

Killian moved to be right behind her, “why’s that, love? Afraid you’d find me even more irresistible after a few libations?”

Emma started to laugh, but when she turned around to face him, she could only feel the tension between them. The two stood there in silence taking the other in until the spell was broken by Killian’s bell.

“Right, that would be the pizza I ordered for us. Although I do love to cook my own meals, I seem to remember a certain lass the other night who said she would kill for a slice of pizza. Now, I wouldn’t want my favorite sheriff to be locked up now, would ruin my plans I have with her.”

“Oh and would plan would that be Mr. Jones?” Emma teased him, perhaps to her it was harmless, but Killian figured it was time to stop hiding.

“Ah, well you see my darling, Emma, I have every intention of knowing you better. Although I would come and visit you if you just so happened to murder for said slice of pizza, I would be irrevocably sad to see you behind bars.”

Killian could tell Emma was taken back by his confession, joking or not, she could read between the lines of what Killian said. Right, when Killian thought he’d gone too far, Emma reached out to him and said, “I would be sad too if I couldn’t see my favorite shelter owner either.” She then walked by him, which then left him frozen. Right when Killian thought he finally had her, she was already two steps ahead of him. One of the things he loved about her.

Oh shit.

Well, Killian was not actually that surprised by that admission, but figured it was best not to tell Emma quite yet about his feelings.

The two settled in and ate their pizza, the conversation flowed naturally. Even if there were silent pauses, it was never uncomfortable, in fact, both relished in the ability to be with another person and feel so at ease.

As the night continued on both unconsciously moved towards the other so that there was only a merely inch between the two of them. Emma eventually closed the space between them so that she was leaning into him, Killian held her and without thinking opened his mouth.

“How can someone as phenomenal as you not have found their soulmate by now?” That’s when he felt her tense in his arms once more. “Emma, I’m sorry I shouldn’t have asked that I’m sorry I-”

“I lost my mark...that’s why, uh, I haven’t found my soulmate.”

“Oh, I didn’t mean to pry like this, Swan.” Killian couldn’t imagine knowing you had someone and then it just disappearing.

“You can ask Killian, I can tell you want to.” Emma broke him out of his train of thought.

“Do you know what happened to them?” He held her a bit tighter scared himself of what her answer could be.

“No, I never knew them. I just had it one day, and then I looked down, and it was gone. I never met anyone with my mark, and honestly, it’s probably for the best. After everything else, I just don’t think I could’ve survived meeting the one person who’s supposed to be there for me and then losing them like that. You know?”

Emma stayed still as she laid in Killian’s arms. Killian had to pull away for just a moment to make sure the angel in his arms was real. When she finally looked up at him, she could see the tears welled up. He held her tighter, he tried to reassure her that he isn’t going anywhere.

“Emma, I promise I would never hurt you.”

“You say that Killian, but you have to understand I have a lifetime of proof that people do leave. My parents left me on the side of a road, they didn’t even bother taking me to a hospital. I bounced around in the system a lot. Then I met Neal and he...he fucked me up.”

Killian didn’t interrupt and stop her from opening up to him. He merely nodded for her to continue if she wished.

“I was 16 and decided that it was time for me to be on my own, I was going to age out anyways. Figured just to get it over with, you know? Then, I met Neal, and I thought I found my home. He was older, and I knew he was trouble, but he was fun.

Few months went by, we did what we had to do to survive, I’m not proud of it. But then, we decided to go on the straight and narrow, to find our forever home. We had everything ready to go, but then Neal’s face was plastered all over town. He had robbed this watch shop a few months before we met, and now the cops were after him. He still had the watches in some locker, too. Neal threatened to cancel the trip and leave me, and it almost broke me. I thought I found my person, so stupid naive me offered to get the watches for him. Got them, no problem, thought I was in the clear. Until the cops, he called on me caught me. I was still a minor, so I did a few months in juvie and decided to be a cop to help others on the streets.”

Emma held back her tears during her story, but the moment she looked up at Killian the floodgates opened. This was the first time she had told the story in full, it took her nearly three years to tell Mary Margaret the truth.

Killian rubbed her back, he tried to let Emma catch her breath on her own time. Finally after a moment of silence that overtook the two of them. As Emma leaned back into Killian.

“Thank you for sharing, Emma. Truly thank you for letting me see a bit more of the beautiful lass that’s completely bewitched me. But I did already knew that one part love, we orphans all have the same look.” Emma looked at him confused for a moment, “I too am an orphan, I lost my family when I was young. My mum died of cancer, I barely knew her. My father, if you could call him that, left after things got too hard. He left my brother, Liam, in charge of me. A wee lad himself, only 15, in charge of his own brother? Liam tried his best, and he was my best mate.

When I turned 17 he left for the Royal Navy, I joined him a year later. Finally, we were supposed to go on this mission together, but I...I was sleeping off a bender, and I missed the car to the ship. When I finally realized I was late, our commanding officer was already on the other side of my door. Their ship barely made it to open waters before an engine fire blew up the damn thing.

I drowned myself in liquor, like you I am not proud of some of the things I did in my past, but I did them, can’t take them back. But I’m here, now and -” Killian got emotional as he thought of everything he’d been through during his life.

“Oh Killian, I am so sorry. I didn’t -”

“Shh shh, it’s okay, love. I didn’t tell you for you to feel sorry, I told you, so you know that you’re not alone.” As he stared at her, Emma felt that spark again and knew there was something special between the two of them. But in an attempt to lighten the mood after everything Emma decided to change the subject.

“Killian, do you mind me asking why did you open the shelter?”

Killian pulled Emma back, so she was able to rest her head against his chest once more.

“Well, I never thought about opening a shelter until I met Milah. She was the most wonderful woman I knew, she had this spirit about her that just encaptured you. I fell in love with her, we weren’t soulmates, but we didn’t care. She had a rough childhood, like me, and she said if she ever had the money she would open a shelter to help others.

One night in December a few years ago we were out, we finally had the money for a shelter. We were actually here in Storybrooke celebrating with some friends. Anyways, we decided to call it an early night and get ready for the hard part of running the shelter now.

I was the DD for the night, and we were driving home like we’d done a million times and then this truck...it came out of nowhere. Milah died on impact, I, however, gained this souvenir,” he raised his prosthetic hand, “the driver had a stroke so I couldn’t even hate the man. I don’t remember much about the accident, but I do remember this angel.”

Emma let out a gasp, she finally knew why Killian looked so familiar. He looked so different now, he looked alive. Killian seemed to have missed Emma’s revelation, he continued to share how this angel kept him alive long enough for help to arrive.

“Everyone thought I was barking mad, said it was a police officer that saved me. Regardless, she’s my angel, my savior.” Killian looked away from his hand to see Emma who looked off into the distance as she tried to explain how she was the one that saved him.

“Swan? Emma, are you alright?” Emma moved away from Killian, which only added to his concern.

Emma refused to make eye contact when she finally spoke she slowly looked up at him. “Was the accident on December 23, 2013, at Main Street?”

“Aye, it was. How did you - oh Emma, you’re my savior aren’t you?” Emma only nodded in response. “Emma Swan, I have been searching for you for nearly five years now to thank you. Thank you for saving my life, my sweet Emma.” He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “And of course it’s no one other than the woman who has starred my dreams for nearly the last month.”

With that admission, Emma’s head snapped to meet his eyes. Both of them holding back tears of their own. However, as much as Killian knew Emma felt this too, but of them had shared a lot tonight. Both of them had experienced a massive emotional rollercoaster and Killian could not in good conscience take advantage of Emma while they were in this state.

“Killian, listen I-”

“Shhh, it’s okay, Emma. You don’t have to say anything back to me, love. I just want you to know that no matter what I am not going anywhere, not without you.”

With that, Emma slowly leaned in and placed a soft kiss on his lips. “Be patient,” she merely said.

Killian gave her a boyish smile in return and said, “Aye love, I have all the time in the world.”

Emma decided it was time for her to drive home, as much as she didn’t want to leave Killian. He walked her town to her bug where he gave her one last goodbye kiss.

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December 24, 2018

As the weekend came to a close Emma and Killian had barely spoken, both so busy with work. Emma missed him, more than she thought possible. She was at the Charming’s Christmas party wondering what Killian was up to, where he was and who he was with.

A new spark ignited in her, jealousy. Emma Swan was not a jealous person, but apparently, when it came to Killian Jones, she had become a bit jealous of anyone else who had the pleasure of being in his company. She’d already debated texting him inviting him over, but she didn’t want to bother him. It’s not that Emma wanted to play games, but she didn’t want to push any chances she had.

Emma was in the kitchen when Mary Margaret and David came in, with cups in hand - well cup in David’s hand. Then Emma figured it out.

“Holy shit! M’s are you…?”

Before Mary Margaret even confirmed it, she ran into Emma’s arms. The three of them enjoyed their moment in the midst of the party. “This is why I bailed the other night, I’m sorry! I don’t know why they call it morning sickness when you get sick at all hours of the night. Regardless, you are going to be Aunt Emma in a few short months. How’s that sound?”

Emma closed the space between them once more, “Sounds perfect. Congratulations to the Charming family!”

“Oi, who are in the bloody hell are the Charming’s?”

Emma looked up and found Killian, decked out in the ugliest Christmas sweater she had ever seen. He seemed to be just as surprised to see Emma there with the Nolan’s.

“Swan? What are you doing here?” He made his way over to the trio, and they broke apart from their hug.

“I was just about to ask the same of you, Jones. Crashing parties now?”

“Uh, so Emma seems as though you don’t need any introductions since you and Killian already seem to know each other. Which don’t think I won’t question you about later. But Killian is our friend we told you about that just moved back here.”

“Oh, the one I was supposed to welcome?”

“One in the same missy.” Emma could feel her blush as it crept up her neck to her face. “Right, well David and I are going to say hi to a few other people. You two play nice or whatever.” David reluctantly went, wanting to investigate the relationship Emma and Killian already have.

The two are stuck like glue throughout the rest of the night. Throughout the night both slowly become more comfortable with little displays of affection with touches that last longer than they should for just friends. Both enjoy the night in each other’s company, both let down the walls that have held them back in the past.

At one point Emma excuses herself to use the restroom; however, both seem to miss the comfort of sitting next to one another immediately, so Killian walked over to the kitchen while he waits for her to return.

That’s when they question him. He was surprised they waited this long.

“Killian, why the hell didn’t you tell us that you knew Emma?”

“Listen, she came into the shelter one night with Grace, and we just started talking. It’s nothing I swear, love.”

Neither of them seemed to believe his line, he wouldn’t of if he were them. “Bullshit, Killian I’ve never seen you like this.”

Killian scratched behind his ear, the three of them begin to chat about how their friendship and their recent developments. What the trio failed to realize was Emma had returned from the bathroom and decided to listen in on the conversation. She didn’t mean to, but she didn’t want to interrupt and then she just couldn’t stop.

“Killian, I am so happy for the two of you. Seriously, both of you have this glow about you tonight, it’s incredible. Have you guys talked about your marks at all?”

Emma was surprised Mary Margaret brought this up, she knew Emma lost her mark all those years ago.

“No, I lost my mark because of the accident. When they cut off my hand my hand, they also cut off my mark in the process. I thought, I thought maybe the mark would return after time. I thought...with all this time I’d been spending with Emma it would appear again. I’ve never felt like this before, it’s incredible.”

Emma felt her smile creep back on her face. She felt it too, whatever it was, it was incredible to hear Killian say he felt the same way.

“Oh Killian, you know marks don’t come back. Once they’re gone, they’re gone for good. I’m so sorry you lost yours. What even was your mark?”

He looked down at his left wrist, where his mark used to be. “It looked a wee bit like a compass. I know some people thought it was a blob, but I always thought it was a compass leading me to my soulmate.”

Emma swore for a moment time stood still and she was hot. Too hot. She had to get out of the apartment right away. She came into the kitchen with the rest of them, she refused to make eye contact with Killian.

“Hey, sorry but I’m not feeling well I’m gonna go home. Thank you for an amazing party.” Emma tried to make her escape, but Killian was concerned about her.

“Love, let me drive you-”

“No! I mean, no thank you, I just want to get home. Good night, Killian.” She stormed out the apartment and left behind a very confused Killian.

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The week between Christmas and New Years was always this awkward time, but now it was indeed the worst. Emma spent the last few days avoiding Killian. She couldn’t believe that Killian was her soulmate. She could believe it, but she didn’t want to.

Emma always thought she lost her soulmate, that they left before they even knew her. Turned out her soulmate was the man she had slowly fallen in love with. Which scared the hell out of her.

She felt terrible, but she couldn’t give him this power. Emma just couldn’t take that final leap, and she hated herself for it. She also hated ignoring his messages and calls, but Emma knew if she heard his voice she would give in. Then she debated if giving in was such a horrible option, which for some reason the little voice in the back of her head kept saying yes.

Emma still took people to Neverland when she found them, she just would drive them to the shelter. She never dared to take a step in there. She couldn’t face him, Emma couldn’t face the hurt she brought to him either. Emma could tell in his messages that she wasn’t the only one suffering from her childish behavior.

Emma decided to take the New Year’s Eve shift, not much in the partying mood. The only people she’d want to spend the night with were surely spending their time with the one person Emma could not be around at the moment.

These nights were usually easy enough, Storybrooke didn’t have much of a nightlife. While Emma drove around, she spotted someone who seemed to have fallen in an alley.

She walked over to the person, they were mumbling to themselves. Emma figured it was someone who was inebriated and needed to sleep it off. As she approached them, Emma announced her presence, which apparently was the wrong thing to do.

They quickly became aggravated with Emma’s help and tried to resist. Emma didn’t recognize the boy, he was taller than her with curly sandy blonde hair and a hell of a lot stronger than he looked. Emma was able to finally pin him down and reached for her cuffs. She was thankful she decided to bring them out with her, she had almost left them in the car.

That’s when the guy flipped her over. Emma’s head was the first thing to hit the pavement, knocking her out almost instantly.

The only thing Emma saw was the kid fleeing instantly. Right before the darkness took her, she heard someone. A voice, she recognized it immediately.

“Swan! SWAN! Stay with me, Emma!”

That’s when Emma passed out.

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Emma woke up with a pounding headache. When she finally opened her eyes, she realized she was in a hospital. Then she saw Killian sitting there in the chair pulled right up to her bed. She can’t believe what an ass she’d been the last few days, as she looked at him she knew there was no one else she wanted by her side.

“Killian,” she croaked out, “Killian, hey sleepy wake up now.” Killian slowly came to, and for a moment it seemed as though he also did not recognize his surroundings.

“Emma, love oh god. Are you alright?”

“Yeah, my head hurts, but I’m fine. Far better than what I deserve after what I put you through.”

Killian moved from out his chair so that he was now sitting on the bed with Emma, he took her hand as well. “You stubborn woman, ha, I am so happy you’re alright love. But why? Why did you run, Emma? I thought things were going well.”

Emma then realized he must’ve not come to the same conclusion that she had, she wasn’t sure if that made things better or worse. “It’s just, I may have overheard the conversation you had with the Charmings, and I ran because-”

“Emma, did I say something too far? I keep replaying that night over and over again, and I can’t think of anything. Please tell me, love?”

“Killian, you mentioned something about your mark to them, and I, phew god this is harder than I thought. You know I lost my mark? I lost my mark after December 23, 2013, I lost my blob of a mark that if you tilted your head looked like a compass. I ran because we’re…”

“We’re soulmates,” he said it with every ounce of hope he had left in him. Then a realization hit him which caused his features to fall. “You didn’t want me to be your soulmate though.”

“OH! God yes Killian, I wanted it to be you so badly. But I ran, that’s what I’ve been doing my whole life. It’s the one thing I’m good at. And then I realized too late that I didn’t want to run, not from you and not anymore. But I was a fool, and I hurt you, and I couldn’t face you after that. I couldn’t...I couldn’t see the pain I caused you.” Emma began to cry which caused Killian to get in the bed and he held Emma until she calmed down.

“Emma Swan, look at me love, I love you. I loved you before I knew were soulmates, and mark or no stupid mark changes how I feel about you.”

“You love me?” Emma’s voice broke as she heard his confession, unable to believe he loved her back.

“Aye,” he nodded, and with that Emma closed the distance between them. The kiss was passionate and full of love; however, it did not last long because Emma’s heartbeat picked up too much which caused a concerned nurse to come sprinting in. The nurse left after giving them a harsh pair of judgy eyes.

The two of them were back in their own world until they heard the nurses counting down to the new year.

“This feels all like a fairytale, Killian.”

“Aye, love it does. So does that mean you finally have it? Your own happy ending?

Five...four...three…two...one

“No, it’s a happy beginning.”

Next year, the two rang in the new year with a wedding of their own, with new matching compass tattoos on their right wrists.

[theemakingsofmi]

Choose: You

In honor of Domestic Violence Awareness Month I choose to tell my story. My truth of why compromising is never ok when it comes to dating, why you should not move too fast in a relationship and why you must choose love over hate, choose to live.

I don’t really know what to say because I guess you can say I allowed it to get this far.

In September of 2018 I met a man, not intentionally. I just asked him for a lighter and things took off from there. He wanted to be a bad person so bad, but I always saw the good in him like I see everybody. I tried to love him, I tried to be there for him, I tried to show him something different in not just a woman, but just a person period and he took advantage of it.

Things happened so fast, I pregnant after the first month and a half of us talking. Wound up moving in with him and things just went down hill from there. The first time he hit me I was in bed trying to go to sleep, still pregnant, and it was extremely late, I had to work in the morning. He got drunk off a 5th of E N’ J and after a conversation with his friends he swore up and down I was using him because I didn’t want to have sex that night.

Next thing I know as I’m laying in bed trying to sleep I feel a hard hand going across my face and blood filling my mouth right after. I should’ve left then but I tried to stick it out. I thought God had placed me in his life for a reason. I thought I would be the one to change him. A couple weeks later my 25th birthday arrived and I spent it with him, then it went on into Thanksgiving. I should’ve been in Chicago with my family but I spent it in Springfield with him because I had to work the next day. A week later after another hand went across my face and I was told to leave. I wound up in a homeless shelter... Still pregnant.

I chose abortion because I knew that I wasn’t fit to bring another baby in the world, let alone with a man like him. So I went through it, and I tell you it was the worst 3 minutes of pain I have ever experienced in my life and I never want to experience again. The kind of pain that takes your breath away and all you can feel is forced tension in your uterus as the tears just roll down your face. The type of pain where you think you won’t make it through, and I told myself I would never do it again.

I went back to him after Christmas and it got worse and worse everytime I went back. I got slapped up so many times I can’t even count. Sometimes my wounds would heal before he went upside my head again, sometimes they didn’t. I’ve lost hundreds of dollars in clothes, spent hundreds of dollars on phones, even more money on alcohol to cope with the reality that I was living with bum, insecure, piece of shit ass man. But the last straw was one night when he got really drunk after arguing with his child’s mother for not allowing her children to call him twice a week and I see why. He’s a hazard to himself and everybody around him.

That was the first time I ever thought I would not make it back to Chicago to see my children. Everytime I think about it I can still feel his hands gripping around my neck, the burning sensation of him ringing me by my neck, the sweat dripping down my face from not being able to breathe or speak, but most importantly the look in his eye. I was looking the devil right in his face. Death himself and so I left. Refusing to go back to that shelter, I stayed with a friend until I could get back to Chicago, and when I returned back I got the phone call that I had a 3 bedroom house waiting for me.

So lonely and depressed, trying to pick myself back up after being pushed all the way down to the ground, the first few weeks I didn’t even go home. And instead of filling my  house with love, joy and God, I allowed the devil not only back into my life but into my house.

Promising he wouldn’t do it again I let him back in and we were cool at first. He was my bestfriend for a few weeks, but then I started praying more and God starting showing me that I was on a slow path to hell. That I would kill myself if I didn’t get away from him and I kept ignoring Him because I was lonely. The fighting went on all summer. One incident occurred where I wound up in jail for defending myself. That’s when it really dawned on me that this man was nothing and he had nothing and he wanted me to be nothing without him.

I could go into detail about the busted head, busted lips, numbness in feelings but I will let the pictures speak for themselves.

This is what hate looks like. This is not love, this is what happens when you get fed up. This is what happens when the police don’t take your side because you’ve called them so many times for your abusers abuse. This is what happens when you give in and let unhappiness back into your life constantly. This is what happens when you don’t choose you.

I left my house for 4 days because the police would not make him leave after choke slamming me head first into the hard ground of my dining room floor. Pregnant again, they did not care. They told me I should not have let him back in. So I left until I could get an OP to have him removed from my house. And everytime I came back to see if he was still there and he was, I left again.

When I returned home with my OP this is what I came home to. My house was destroyed. Everything to the covers on my vents was gone. He threw away all my food all my clothes were damaged, kicked in my front door. From the kitchen to the bathroom, Everything was destroyed and once he knew he could not come back, he even tried to break in my house with the help of his friend because he knew he was nothing and had nothing without me. But he also knew that he couldn’t hurt me anymore.

After getting fed up with SPD’S bullshit of them not protecting me from him, I left with a garbage bag full of ruined clothes on the first thing smoking to a location where I could find peace and love. Somewhere I could think, and that place is called home. Sometimes home isn’t where you receive mail or where you pay bills. Home is where you feel loved and welcomed. Worry free, and I was embraced with nothing short of it when I got off the train. I told myself that I would never have another abortion but I did because I refused to make a child suffer the pain of not knowing it’s father and I wanted to rid him out of my life for good.

Is he still harassing me? Of course, only by email in the spam folder because he has no other form of direct contact with me. He’s hurting and miserable without me. Do I feel bad? Fuck no. Do I hate him? Not at all, I thank him for strengthening me mentally. For showing me my worth because before him I didn’t know it, that’s how I ended up with a big blob of nothing like him. I wish him the best actually. He taught me how to love my enemies and let God have the final say so. Karma always has my side when I run into people who intentionally try to hurt me, but I’m sharing this for those of you who are going through it. Get out now while you can.

He could’ve killed me if he wanted to, and eventually he would have. He just preferred to torture me before actually doing it. He knew I was better than him so he tried to make me feel less than him. He knew he could not tear me down mentally so he tried to do it physically and here I am today a walking testimony that you can make it through it too.

Don’t lose yourself and everything that belongs to you for a temporary feeling of love. Love yourself, grow by yourself, learn to be by yourself. When he’s Godsent he won’t put you through what I had to go through to learn that it was time for me to do some self loving.

Domestic violence is real ladies, don’t become an example of what happens when you don’t choose yourself.

Love,

-Mi

[precurelegends]

Galaxy Rise Pretty Cure: Beginnings

If Hana had gotten any sleep at all, it was a miracle. She had been counting down the days until the trip to the Link Cube. And now, for the first time in her life, she’d get a chance to visit the world on the other side. A planet where apes had evolved into the dominant species. It was going to be so much fun.

As she stood in line with her fellow Zyuman students, the teacher, a Shark Zyuman told them to buddy up. “Make sure to stay with your buddy at all times, and return to the Link Cube before sunset.”

Hana had paired up with Macchu, a llama Zyuman and he was already planning their first stop, based on his own trip to Earth. “We’ve got to go get curry at this place called Snack Safari before they run out. Then we’re going to head down past JAXA...”

“Wait, what’s JAXA?” Hana asked as their double file line made its way to the Cube.

“The Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency. They’ve got some amazing technology there. You have to see it for yourself, Hana. They don’t teach us these things in Zyuland.” Macchu smiled a big dopey grin.

“Then that’s what we’ll do.” They were still six rows of students away from the Link Cube, so Hana put her paws together in prayer. “Father, wherever you are, please watch over me and Macchu.” She had lost her father a few years before. He had gone to Earth and never returned. But maybe he was still there.

Macchu, seeing his buddy in prayer, joined her. “Yeah, Mister Ookami. If you’re there, give Hana a sign so she’ll smile. She does have a pretty smile, after all.”

“Macchu!” Hana blushed and her buddy grinned.

“Hey, I’m just telling the truth. People would be blind if they didn’t see that.”

“Macchu, are you flirting with me? Because, you know...”

“I know, Hana. You’re not into boys.” The llama shakes his head. “But you and I have been friends for seven years now. I like to think you’re one of my best friends. And best friends can pay each other compliments without it being romantic, right?”

“Yeah. So let’s see what’s on the other side of the Cube.” Hana smiled. “Besides, you’re always going to be in spitting distance of me, right?”

“Hey, that was one time!” Macchu gave his best friend a little shove as they approached the Link Cube and Hana smiled in response. At least she’d have some fun adventures with him by her side.

--

Sleep did not come easily to Perelta Malin. By the time the sounds from the spaceport had died down, it was just after midnight, and Perelta had been keeping track of the different engine sounds. She knew full well what the engines of SPD ships sounded like, and thankfully, that sound had not crossed her ears all night. And yet, as she came down from the loft, she has a sensation of uneasiness. Her parents had been gone for the better part of two days. Their little “expeditions” always put Perelta on edge. So she sinks into her own blankets, praying to the god of journeys that she’d at least get some good dreams.

Some prayers are answered immediately, but the desires answer is not always the one that is given. A mere hour passes before the doors slam open. Perelta falls from her bed, knowing what that sounds means. Yet another uprooting.

“Get up, take only what you can carry and get ready to go.” Her mother says from the doorframe.

“No.” She’s been steeling her nerves for this moment for a long time. But it’s finally time to put her foot down. “I am not involved in yours and father’s crimes. I’m not a thief, I’m not wanted by SPD. I am my own woman and I will not be relocated because you two took a job too far. Not now, not ever again.”

Her outburst catches her father’s attention and he enters Perelta’s room, fire in his eyes. “What did you say, young lady?”

“You heard me. I have no need to repeat myself. You two can run, you two can go to another safehouse. I am not part of that life, and unlike you, I have nothing to hide.” Her adrenaline is rushing. She quickly grabs up her favorite clothes, some towels and body washes and throws them all into a travel bag.

“I am leaving. I would say ‘farewell’ but I never want to see you two again.”

Perelta pushes her way past her parents, aiming for the front door.

“Young lady, if you go through that door, you’re in for a world of pain.” Her father calls to her back

Perelta has her hand on the console to open the door. She gives her parents one last look before waving her hand to open the door. “I will take my chances.”

If she had learned anything from them, it was how to shake a tail. Her size makes it possible to blend in with the back alleys of the spaceport. Finally, she found her way to the refueling station. Choosing the ship that looked like it was outfitted for long distance travel, she slips past the guards and hides herself in the cargo compartment. There, she finally has some time to catch up on her sleep.

---

“Wake up, little bird.” The voice of her mother came from the PA system.

As Kilena’s eyes fluttered open, she waved her hand over the panel by her bedside, letting the light flow through conduits around the room. Bright enough to see by, but not so bright to blind her after her long slumber. A quick run through the sonic shower and a few more minutes to preen her feathers, and Kilena was ready to head for the cockpit of the ship.

“Good morning, Starlotta.” Kilena smiled at her bodyguard waiting outside her door.

“Good morning, Kilena. Your parents are waiting for you up ahead. Is it true they never told you what planet they’re going to be serving on?” Starlotta falls into step beside her charge, and Kilena giggles, a laugh that sounds more a songbird twittering.

“Nope. I’ve known that we’d be going across the Milky Way, but they wanted me to be surprised. I guess we’re about to find out.” Kilena runs her fingers over the nestmate necklace and enters the cockpit.

“Kilena, are you ready to see your new home?” Her mother, a beautiful corvid with bright blue feathers asks as she takes her daughter’s wing in her own.

“Of course, Mother. I can’t wait.” She walks with her mother until they reach the center of the bridge, and she stands next to her father, his midnight black feathers displaying his pride in his family and their future.

“Turn on the viewing screen.” Ambassador Mitres Akralis orders his men, and soon the external cameras show off an obscure body in the SK system.

Kilena puts a free hand to her mouth in surprise. “Earth? Your new posting is Earth?” She looks between her parents with a combination of joy and amazement. “I’ve heard so much about Earth from my penpal at SPD. It’s full of natural wonders, strange creatures and giant robots! This is the best posting ever!”

“That’s why we requested it.” Her father puts a hand on her shoulder. We’re going to be touching down at the SPD spaceport soon to get our paperwork finalized. Get in the chair over there and get ready for landing.”

As the energy barrier around the planet falls, Kilena gets into position, bracing for the landing. The inertial dampeners on the ship make such an action just a formality, but she still does it.

---

When the ship lands at SPD, the space police run a scan of the ship to make sure it’s decontaminated and free of any kind of contraband. To their surprise, and the suprise of the Raloi ambassadors, they find a stowaway. A green-haired staggers from the hold, her hands above her head. “Please, don’t shoot. I surrender.”

“We have no intention of shooting you.” An SPD officer in green steps forward. “Put your thumb on this scanner, please.” Perelta complies, and the identification software brings back a match.

“Perelta Malin, daughter of Corus Malin and Mori Malin. You have no criminal record of your own, thankfully.”

“And I would like to keep it that way. I am willing to give information regarding my parents, whether or not doing so would afford me police protection.” She says, running a hand through her hair.

“Hold off on any confessions until you’ve had a chance to meet our child legal advocate.” The officer waves down an alien woman in a black pant suit. “Mrs Shinsei, this young lady would like to offer evidence against wanted criminals.”

“Thank you, Officer Enari. I will take her to get cleaned up and fed, with your leave.” The advocate nods, offering her hand to Peralta. “It will be my pleasure to represent you, Perelta.”

“If it pleases you, I would prefer a new name for the legal records..”

As this conversation is happening, Ambassador Akralis calls over Officer Enari. “Sorry to distract you, Officer, but I have an important question.”

“We have a security detail preparing the route your vehicles can take to the embassy.” The SPD officer says quickly.

“That’s good, but it’s not the question I was going to ask.” He points to Kilena, who is currently watching the conversation between the green-haired stowaway and the advocate. “My daughter has recently entered her adolescent years, and as such, we will need to send her for the best education she can obtain. Do you have any recommendations for schools that would be friendly to extraterrestrials?”

Officer Enari strokes his chin. “My suggestion would be Amanogawa High School. Make sure to request Kisaragi Gentaro as her teacher. There isn’t a human teacher alive who cares for their students like he does.”

---

Several hours later, after Perelta has finished her testimony, she emerges from the SPD headquarters to see Kilena waiting there for her.

“May I help you?” She looks over to the humanoid bird girl with curiosity.

“Actually, I wanted to help you. You came a long way to get away from a terrible family life, and since you were on my ship, I figured I’d offer you something you probably need. A friend.” With Starlotta looking on, Kilena approaches, her hand extended to the other. “I’m Kilena Akralis. What name should I call you?”

The runaway looks to her own legal advocate with a soft smile. “You can call me Michiko. Michiko Shinsei.”

“That’s a pretty name. So, Michiko, if it’s all right, how about we go take a tour of Earth?” The bodyguard and legal advocate talk for a moment and agree that it would be a good thing for both of their charges.

As they travel down the street, they come to the front of JAXA where Hana and Macchu are checking out the rockets out front.

“This vehicle is rather antiquated.” Michiko says to Kilena. She wasn’t expecting the wolf girl to hear her.

“Maybe to you, but where I come from, they don’t even have these.” Hana answers.

“Where do you come from that they don’t have a space program?” Kilena asks. 

“It’s a dimensionally shifted version of Earth called Zyuland.” Hana points to Kilena’s feathers. “You’d fit in just fine there.”

“Really? What’s your world like?” Kilena is now curious, though judging by the wolf and llama before her... “Humanoid animals, right?”

“That’s right!” As Hana smiles at the other two girls, the lights go out. Not just the lights in the aerospace building, but the sunlight itself seems to fade away.

Hana feels Macchu’s hand in her own and it’s shaking, with good reason. Then in a moment, that hand is ripped away. A sudden gravitational pull drags Macchu away.

A similar fate falls upon Mrs. Shinsei and Starlotta. As they try to get their girls, they’re pulled away.

“And now, let’s let this experiment begin!” A voice carries over the area, as if over a loudspeaker. Hana, Michiko and Kilena turn to see a tall man in a bedraggled lab coat, holding up a strange disc, which he throws at the rocket.

The rocket reshapes itself into a giant humanoid shape, howling at the three girls. In the center of the rocket monster are what appears to be the bodies of Macchu, Mrs Shinsei and Starlotta.

Hana narrows her eyes and with her Zyuman speed, she dashes over to the mad scientist and rakes her claws across his face. “HOW DARE YOU? How dare you hurt them? What gives you the right?” As she says that last word, she claws him down the other side of the face, giving him two sets of matching scars.

“It’s all in the name of science, little girl!” The mad scientist is suddenly driven back by another impact to the side of his face. He looks over to see Michiko holding up a chunk of concrete that had broken from the mooring when the monster was made. It matches the one on the ground by his feet.

“I do not care for your motivations. You took the first person that had ever shown me kindness and turned her into a monster.” Michiko hurls the second rock, and the mad scientist catches it. But this leaves him open to an attack on the right side from Kilena. She takes off the glove covering her own talons and slashes at the madman’s left arm.

“You clearly have no interest in scientific progress. Very well. I will take my leave. Alypse! Destroy them!”

“Alypse!” The monster roars again as the madman leaves.

The three girls gather with Hana and Kilena standing in front of Michiko. “Any ideas, girls?” Hana asks.

“We fight!” Michiko answers. “Even if we’re not strong enough to beat that thing, we have to fight! For my new mother!”

“For my bodyguard!” Kilena answers, her feathers bristling.

“For my best friend!” Hana answers and she lets out a loud howl that causes the Alypse to pause for a moment. And in that pause, the darkness is broken up by a shining star.

“Your wish has been heard.” A melodious voice speaks to the girls. “Reach out the heavens and call upon the stars.”

With no other options, the girls raise their hands, shouting in unison “Come to me, power of the stars!”

A shooting star blazes across the sky, and the stars hear their cry. The shooting star flies across their hands, dropping two items into their palms. The first item is a cellphone like device with a rocket charm on the front. The second item each of them receives is a living creature, seemingly combining rabbits and technology.

“Introductions later. You three have to transform.” The apparent leader of these creatures says to Michiko. “Take the rocket charm and slide it up the outside of the phone! Then say “Pretty Cure! Blast Off!”

Not really knowing why, but knowing that they have to step into action, the girls follow the orders of the strange creatures. As soon as they say the transformation phrase, the cellphone devices sprout fins like rockets and fly around their bodies, covering them in stardust.

Soon their outfits have formed around them, leading into their first rollcall.

“The Shimmering Northern Lights, Cure Aurora!”

“The Sparkling Cosmic Cloud, Cure Nebula!”

“The Shining Starburst, Cure Nova!”

“As long as light shines in the heavens, evil shall not go unpunished. Galaxy Rise Pretty Cure!”

Though the new heroines had never done anything like this before, their companions named Mir, Hayabusa and Hubble, guided them through the fight. And just like that, a new team is born.

Once they are sure that their loved ones ae safe, they head back home for something they all needed. Sleep.

--

As Kilena and Starlotta returns to the Embassy, the bodyguard shakes her head. “After all that, am I really needed? You can clearly handle yourself.”

“Of course. You’re not just my bodyguard. You’re my friend.” Kilena answers before sliding into bed with her favorite stuffed animal in one hand, and Hayabusa in the other.

--

Michiko stands outside the door of Mrs Shinsei’s home, not certain if she really belongs. But that doubt is quickly cast aside as Mrs Shinsei opens the door. “I’ve got a room set up for you, Michiko. Tomorrow, we can go shopping to decorate it.”

With a tear in her eye, Michiko doffs her shoes and crosses the threshold. “I’m home!”

“Welcome Home, Michiko.” Mrs Shinsei is all too happy to have a daughter, even an adopted one.

--

Hana looks over at her mother, and the shrine dedicated to her father. “Mom, you know how it’s getting time for me to choose a high school? I want to study on Earth.”

Her mother smiles. “We’ll talk about it in the morning, my cub. Now, get some sleep.”

“Good night, mom.” And then quietly, she says “Good night Michiko, Good night, Kilena. I’ll see you soon.”

[junglekarmapippa]

The Singularity

Chapter 2: One odd asset

Jen was surprised that Charles and Alex hadn't been lying or exaggerating when they said the ship was downright comfortable. The seat hugged her body and reclined comfortably and from the start of the launch sequence until the end of the landing sequence she didn't feel a thing, not even noise from the engine. The ship remained still and silent throughout the entire journey. As if it hadn't moved at all. Before getting out, she checked the files of her mission. Even though it wasn't technically a mission, she had found no other way to refer to it. The other stop programmed on the ship was in the year 2025, just outside of Newtech City. She was there to find a cadet from the intergalactic law enforcement agency, Space Patrol Delta. This cadet, Bridge Carson, was a B-squad ranger, whatever that meant; and was specially skilled in interrogation and interviewing. The file said his DNA signature had been programmed into her scanner, which she could access by touching it on the equipment access screen, and it would lead her to him.

Jen wondered whether she should change out of her Time Force uniform before leaving the ship, but then thought that if Bridge Carson was a cadet at what was essentially an intergalactic police force, her uniform would make the best impression. She grabbed the scanner- a pair of sunglasses like the ones issued by Time Force but done with James Robertson's famous fine taste- and pressed a circle in the beautiful pattern of her control gauntlet. She was teleported out of the ship and to the ground right next to it. She put the scanner on and it began its work, finally indicating her, in a very pleasant voice directly to her ear, to walk straight ahead. "I could get used to this," Jen said out loud, and she really could. Robertson's equipment was much better than Time Force's, it was cleaner, faster and generally worked better. She wondered why James Robertson hadn't shared all these little innovations with the Time Force, given he was the head of the Applied Sciences Division. She followed the scanner's instructions to a crime scene, which was crawling with SPD officers, all properly identified by their uniforms and badges. There was a buzz of activity and the scanner indicated that Bridge Carson was within 100 meters of her current location. She looked around, moving slowly so the scanner had time to scan each person. She saw a tall, blond man whose uniform had details in blue and she prayed that was Bridge Carson because he looked very competent and secure. But he wasn't. Bridge Carson, as her scanner informed her a moment later, was the one lying on the floor, staring at a stray cat. He looked at the cat fixedly for a few seconds and then blinked very slowly. Not paying him any attention in particular, the cat looked to both sides as he did this. Jen approached him slowly, but her footsteps scared the cat away. "No! No! Come back!" Bridge yelled after it, from the floor. "Cadet Carson?" Jen asked, taking off the scanner. Bridge looked in her direction and saw her boots. He looked up as high as he could to see her silhouette against the sun. "Bridge?" Jen asked again. "Yes," the cadet said, getting up and running his hands over the front of his uniform to shake off the dirt. Then he ran his gloved hands over his buttocks, to clean the gloves. "I'm Bridge Carson," he gave her a once over and stood a little straighter. "Ma'am." Jen offered her hand. "Jen Scotts," he shook her hand distractedly, still looking around for the cat. "Sorry I scared your cat." He smiled at her. "I have to find her, you see? She's a key witness in our investigation." "The cat is a key witness?" "She saw the whole thing, I'm sure. I was trying to calm her down, I know she knows more than she's letting on, you know?" Bridge crouched, looking around for the cat. "Retrieving her statement might be vital to our case." "Right," Jen said, trying to make the moment less awkward. "Bridge, can I talk to you for a moment? This is important." "Yeah, sure," he smiled at her. "I'm all ears, well, not literally all ears but... Sorry. Go ahead." "I work with the Time Force," Jen showed him her badge. "We are a law enforcement agency that deals with time and all crimes committed against it." "So, you're like time traveler?" Bridge asked, his green eyes shinning. "Yes, I'm a time traveler. And I need your help with a mission." Bridge looked around and then pointed at himself. "You need my help? Or you need my team's help?" "I was told you were very good at interrogations and interviews. And since they have you interrogating cats, I'm sure your capacities are exceptional." Jen tried not to sound cynical about it but she wasn't sure she had managed. Everything about Bridge, from his disheveled uniform to his messy hair, to the way he talked, made her doubt he had any special capacities for anything. She could almost imagine Alex, Charles and a dark, faceless figure who was James Robertson, laughing at her, such a funny prank. Bridge shrugged. "I have my talents," he wiggled his gloved fingers in front of her. "So, is this mission in the future?" "The past,

actually." "Awesome! I've always wanted to go to the past, there is so much stuff in the past. But I wouldn't like to go to my own past, like, when I was in grammar school or something like that because that wasn't very fun, but the past, past, like really in the past, I would love to go there, there are so many things I would love to see, and so many cool people I'd love to meet-" "Well, we're only going to an specific moment in time," Jen said to stop the other officer's ramblings. "When?" "About a year after the Venjix Event." "A year after the Venjix Event? But it's not because it's back, is it? I mean, it can't be back, can it? Of course it's not back, if it were back, then this future would be changing and it hasn't changed, which means the past hasn't changed, which means Venjix can't be back, because if it were back, we would be in a different future, unless we already are in a different future and haven't noticed, would we be able to tell if we were in a different future? What if the changes of the past have already been assimilated into this timeline, or unless there is another timeline--" "Bridge!" Jen snapped, to shut him up. He closed his mouth and looked at her with the same expression a puppy makes when he's told off. "Venjix is not back. We are only going to interview some people about it." "Oh, cool," Bridge said looking much more relaxed. "Are you coming, then?" "Sure!" He looked around at the crime scene where they were standing. "But, can you bring me back to this same moment? I really need to get that cat's statement. Besides, we are in the middle of our fight against Emperor Gruumm and I don't think Commander Cruger would be too happy with me if I disappeared before Gruumm is defeated, where else would he get another green ranger? I guess he could always use someone from the C-squad but I don't think they're that ready--" "I promise they won't even notice you've been gone." They walked away from the crime scene, nobody really taking notice Bridge was leaving with a stranger in an uniform nobody had seen before, because even if they did see him, they just supposed that was Bridge being Bridge and following what he thought was a potential lead. When they got to the ship, Jen teleported them inside without delay. "Wow," Bridge let out, looking around him once he was in the ship. "This is so cool". "Don't touch anything," Jen warned. She looked around and then at Bridge, who was still admiring the ship. "She's a beauty, isn't she?" "Yeah," the green ranger admitted. "Is she yours?" Jen looked at him, not sure how to answer that. "Not really, she belongs to the people who sent me on this mission." Bridge looked at her and squinted, as if he couldn't see her clearly. "Okay," he said after a moment and smiled at her. "Take a seat, I promise the trip will be pleasant." Bridge sat down and found the way the seat adjusted to his body very comfortable. "This is very comfortable. The SPD ships aren't this comfortable. I mean, there's nothing wrong with them, they are fine, but they are not this comfortable, which is really comfortable, like really, really comfortable-" "We'll be there in no time," Jen said distractedly, looking at the controls and waiting for the palm reader to turn green. Bridge chuckled. "Nice one." Jen looked at him questioningly. "Because it's a time ship, right?" She still looked like she had no idea of what he was talking about, an expression Bridge knew all too well. "'We'll be there in no time', because it's a time ship." Jen became aware of what she had said and chuckled. "No pun intended, I'm afraid." She put her palm in the reader and the ship indicated, only by a status message on the control panel, that it was moving through time to the year 2015, a year after the RPM ranger series team had defeated Venjix, the self-aware, self-replicating computer virus that had brought humanity within an inch of extinction with its army of robotic soldiers. Jen opened the files, showing them to Bridge. "Okay, we're here to see this woman, Doctor K, that's an alias, her real name is not on

record." "What does she have to do with Venjix?" Bridge asked. She kept reading. "She created the ranger series program that defeated Venjix," Jen said. "And she coordinated Venjix's defeat." "Well, I say we go find the doctor." "Let's go, cadet. You should be back in your crime scene in-" "No time!" He completed and they both chuckled. "Come on, we landed outside of the city dome, we have a short walk to get there." She teleported them out of the ship and they were hit by the heat wave like a punch in the stomach. It felt like they had walked into an oven. "Wow, it's a little hot here," Bridge said as he unzipped his jacket. Jen imitated him and took off hers. "You can say that again." The light was very bright, so she put on her scanner, for it to act like a pair of sunglasses, and used her gauntlet to find a pair for Bridge, who was squinting as much as he could without actually closing his eyes. The second scanner materialized in her hand and she handed it to Bridge. The cadet put it on and the scanner informed him it was scanning for mutant DNA. Bridge swallowed hard, he looked down at his hands and the scanner locked on them and turned red, informing him that mutant DNA had been found. In a rather sudden move, Bridge clasped both of his hands behind his back. "Everything alright?" Jen asked, weirded out by his actions. "Why are my sunglasses scanning for mutant DNA?" He asked. "It must be the default programming. Most mutants are criminals in my time, ignore it, it's unlikely it will find anything." "Is yours doing it as well?" Bridge tried not to sound nervous. "No. Mine is programmed to find your DNA," she said. "Why, are you getting something?" She asked, moving her hand to the side of her head to adjust her scanner. "No!" Bridge said, slightly louder than he intended. "I was just curious." But Jen had already adjusted her scanner and was looking in his direction, which meant she had probably gotten the same results he had. "I can explain," Bridge said, raising his hands in front of him. "You're a mutant?" "But I'm not a criminal!" "Of course you're not a criminal," she laughed off. "You're a police officer." She put her hand on his shoulder. "Besides, you're not the type of mutant we scan for." He was completely dumbfounded. "Oh." "Come on, we have to get out of this heat." They started walking towards the Corinth city dome, which was about a kilometer away from where they were. When they were almost at the entrance of the dome, unguarded now that Venjix had been defeated, Bridge stopped walking and starting looking around, like he had heard something. Jen stopped and watched him, as he turned his head from side to side, then swept his hand in front of him, like he was pushing a veil away. "What is it?" Jen asked. "Wait a sec," he said, turning on his heel and repeating the sweeping motion. He furrowed his brow and pursed his lips, taking off his right glove. He repeated the sweeping motion barehanded, turned and did it again. "Well, that's not very helpful." "What's not very helpful?" "I'm getting a faint signal of something that walked out of this gate, but it's too faint. I can't tell if it's human or alien or... something else." "By something else you mean robotic?" "I guess. The energy signature is too faint, I can't see clearly what it was. But it was unlikely to be a robot because there is an emotion lingering, I just can't identify it anymore. It's too degraded." "Sorry, what? I'm not following." Used as he was to use his telemetry powers around his teammates, Bridge completely ignored the fact Jen didn't know about them and had no idea of what he was talking about. He turned to her and showed her his naked hand. "Sorry, my bad, I'm used to everybody around me knowing about my powers. I have telemetry, I can read auras and energy signatures and such. That's my mutation." "Oh," Jen said, catching up. "And you felt someone leaving Corinth towards the wasteland?" "Yes." "Alone?" "That's the thing, it's likely it was one person. Not a group, like you would expect from an party to find more survivors. The

energy is too faint, it was less than three people, I'm almost sure it's only one." "And you say it's not a robot because there's an emotion?" "Yes, there's an emotion. But I can't identify it." "It's too faint?" "Yes and no," Bridge started with a shrug. Jen took in a deep breath preparing for the green ranger's ramblings. "The emotion is the strongest trail left, far stronger than the energy print of this person but I can't identify the emotion, like, it's hidden or covered by something else... have you ever tried not to feel something? Like, someone made you really angry or sad and you tried very hard not to feel angry or sad but that only made it worse inside you but the other person didn't notice because you tried not to feel it so they couldn't tell you were feeling it because you didn't show it, despite being feeling it? Have you ever hid an emotion so well you yourself thought you weren't feeling it at all?" "I guess you could say something like that, yes." "Well, this emotion is hidden like that, like this person was trying so hard not to feel it, they believed they weren't feeling it when in reality, they were really feeling it a lot but it was just very well hidden under... something else." "Under what else?" Bridge shrugged and put his glove back on. "I don't know. I can't even tell what emotion it was that was hidden." Jen adjusted her scanner for human DNA and as far reach as she could. She looked around them but there was nothing. Whoever had walked out of that gate, was long gone by now. "Well, I guess we can't do anything for them now," she said. "Come one, we have to get to the city before we melt under this sun." "I wouldn't like melting under the sun," Bridge said pensively. "It would be a very painful and messy, I think." Jen said nothing and started walking towards the gate. After a couple of minutes of walking, they reached the Corinth City dome and were very happy to feel the fresh air coming from inside on their skin. "This is not how I always imagined Corinth City was," Bridge said, looking around at the lively metropolis full of people on their way home from work, walking around carrying their groceries, eating ice cream with their children or walking their dogs. "Me neither," Jen said. The last standing city of mankind wasn't a mess of post-war bunks and badly distributed food and medical supplies, with people crying in misery, dirty and decrepit. It was a state of the art, modern city full of happy citizens living life as if Venjix had never happened, perhaps even better. Jen smiled, remembering the state of her own home in the aftermath of an interplanetary war that had made the gangs of mutants look like a lazy Sunday morning. Humankind, always resilient. Always moving forward.

[feheroestips]

A Life and Death 9 +Atk -Res Raven's stats would be: 44 HP, 67 ATK, 50 SPD, 10 DEF, and 3 RES. I pray that they never make a Life and Death seal.

Hun dw, if they ever did he only actually gets 5 more wins on average, itd still be better to run heavy blade

[aubins]

ENCORE, ENCORE!​

carefreemonk​:

They lost, they lost, somehow, and Azama is prepared to throw down in protest when everything goes to hell.

(Not like, literally, but, well, close enough. Although since they’ve lost, it may as well be! Tsk.)

Well, this fight he doesn’t intend to lose. He has questions for dear Jules and Del, but they’ll have to wait. The monk may not be equipped with anything fancy - indeed, he half wagers he could have caused more damage with that phone device than with this shoddy lance - but let none say he cannot adapt no matter his given circumstances.

He isn’t a killer, not really, more of a lover he’d say!

Azama attacks Principe Reese with Iron Lance. Roll 1d20: 10-4: 6. Hit! (-1.5HP) DEADS

Even so, he does not hesitate to punch his lance through the enemy, finishing off what little is left of them after taking a beating from the combined lot of his group.

Weapon twirling to come to a stand beside him, he glances up at Laslow, brows raised. “Save it for later, lover boy.” For someone who looks like they care.

Indeed, the enemy isn’t done with any of them no matter the loss of an associate.

MJ casts Silence on Azama. Roll 1d20: 5: miss! Bun Juvie uses Rally Speed on Affenpinscher! +4 spd! Affenpinscher has gained the ability Desperation for one round! *must still be triggered by HP threshold

Azama feels the odd buzz of a silence spell - hah! HAHAHA!

“IT’LL TAKE MORE THAN THAT TO SHUT ME UP!” he proudly proclaims, grinning wildly at his would-be assailant. That said, he barely registers the other foe barreling down on them with speed. It bypasses Azama, heading straight for Laslow– yikes– Azama readies his lance, but simply isn’t quick enough to intervene.

Affenpinscher attacks Laslow with YOWLING TO THE MOON! Roll 1d20: 15: Hit! (-3HP) Laslow’s HP: 7/10

@aubins​

“What, pray tell, would it take for you to shut up?” They swing their sword idly as they wait for a place to slide between their allies and rejoin the fray, content to merely observe their foes for now. But Affenpinscher slips through their ranks as Azama busies himself with shouting, and Yuri’s sigh is plain exasperation as it passes him by to strike at Laslow.

“You can talk as much as you want so long as you actually keep up,” they advise with a sharp glance in the monk’s direction, grip tightening on their sword’s hilt as they judge the distance between them and the pair.

Yuri attacks Affenpinscher with Brave Sword. ROLL 2D20-4 !  10, 2. Hit! Barely hit! (-5HP) Affenpinscher has been defeated! Yuri takes damage from Affenpinscher’s Trendy Fringes! (-1HP)

“You, hands off!” they snap, one foot pushing off the ground to send them flying forward, blade slashing toward Laslow’s assailant. They pull back, then give a last, half-hearted jab. Their foe buckles under their combined strength, then falls with little fanfare, but they do not look back at it.

Yuri’s head tilts, lips quirking as they turn to Laslow, even as an unpleasant crawl creeps across their skin. A deep breath enters their lungs, then out, but the unsettling feeling settles with a faint ache in their muscles. “All right, friend?”

TAG !  @zesevral​

[ultrakatua]

Remember when IS was nice and they allowed you to upgrade Candlelight to Candlelight+ through the weapon refinery? Cause I do, and it’s super lit for SI. It basically means you can get Candlelight, Candlelight+ AND Dazzling staff 1/2/3 out of Bridal Lyn. Feels good man. 

So I finally pulled the trigger and killed mine for my Loki on AR Defense. It’s been a while since I upgraded it... They are still doing fine, and I’ve been wanting Dull Close forever for Shigure (don’t give me that look, I still made Cormag+1)... Laslow looks like a meme and tbh at first I just put him there as a IP bot because he was maxed-out and invested and all, but I swear to god he’s OHKO a lot of things, it’s hilarious. 

Next upgrades:

-Push my Healing Tower to level 5. Since I don’t really play AR much anymore on offense, I’m lacking stones...

-Get Null-follow-up on Deirdre. It might seems weird, but with this setup she’s actually REALLY fast and it would allow her to check some nasty EP units better. She’s probably still the MVP of that team as is, though. Sabotage ATK is nice, but with both Divine Naga and Dull close, it’s not that useful.

-Get a merge on Loki to get rid of that nasty -SPD... 

-Get Sudden Panic on Silvia. Yeah, I’m not killing Gerik over that... I’ll pray for a random Fallen Corrin, or probably pull for fodder at some point.

-Bench Innes. He’s doing fine, that’s not the issue, but I need more reach and I’d replace him with Claude. No one is PP Innes anyway, so his RES is a bit redundant and as of now, there’s very little things I can see him accomplish Claude wouldn’t do better, since Deirdre and Shigure already check 99% of dragons. It means I lose an instant Luna, but tbh it was overkill. Of course for that I need a Claude rerun in the first place... But I’m fairly confident I’ll be able to +10 him by the time he comes back, or close to it, because I’ll hit 1K orbs by the end of the month. For ref, the +10 Innes cost me around 1.5K (it’s basically 70th percentile). I’ll pass if he’s on a legendary banner, though, I saw someone throw 700 orbs at Legendary Lucina only to get one lol

[sumergosuigeneris]

March 15, 2019 Part I

So I’m starting to feel human again.

Pi Day and ‘Beware the Ides of March’ rolled into one.

Because of Wednesday, I felt HORRIBLE yesterday. I stayed home. I actually slept most of the day. I did go out for food. Confession - not a big fan of pop i’s. One, it never feels like anything is cooked long enough (that could just be because I overcook things or like overcooked things), but also there appears to be one or two ingredients in the recipe that don’t sit well with me. I have to look up the recipe, because I have no idea what it is. What I do love is the rice and beans. I like the gravy too. But also, they put butter on their biscuits so that adds a stink. I’ve tried saying ‘no biscuit’ before, but that was too hard for them. Yeah. But the fried chicken breast was quite yummy, as were the rice and beans.

And later, dinner time lol, I ran over to culver’s b/c they were supposed to have cappuccino custard. So...it wasn’t custardy, and it wasn’t very cappuccinoy either. And it wasn’t plain. But! It kind of was like ice milk, and I haven’t had that in a billion years, so that was nice.

But yeah, I mostly slept. A big part because of Wednesday, but I think I’ve needed it for a while.

So today I felt human, but made the mistake of reading an article I *knew* I wasn’t gonna like, because I knew I knew before I read it. Yeah, the answer to how to really define success - your community. I mean, I’ve been looking my whole life, just never found it. I’ve thought I’ve found it a few times, but it was never real to anyone but me. It’s why I’ve been thinking for months about whether or not I should move from my building or part of the city - because I’d have to start over AGAIN.

Anyway, Wednesday.

Not sure where I left off in my normal part of my day, but I’ll just skip to the two important things. I had a therapy appointment. I was 6 minutes late after check-in, and had left all my papers, because I’d actually been focused at work and lost track of time. Boy that was nice. But so rare lately, I wonder if I actually do have ADD or ADHD. Me need more pills.

Anyway, he had had some papers on the desk, and I had a feeling. He told me he’d been dreading this, but his supervisor was making him have me sign an attendance contract. And we spent 15-20 minutes on this. At one point, I did make a snarky comment about how we were wasting my time again. So we went around and around, b/c he said he told (her?) it wasn’t my fault. But you know, he never took responsibility, at least not to me. So anyway this contract. He says I have to sign it, and I say no. I didn’t do anything wrong. He’s been pussyfooting around it, but basically it was sign or you can’t be seen here. So he says he doesn’t know what to do, looking helpless. It’s clear to me that he’s not going to speak to his supervisor, so I say let’s terminate. I’ve never had an ending session before, so I want to do that. We do a little bit about that, but then he steers us back to what happened. So I go through it again. And have to justify why I won’t sign. Again. Since I wasn’t going to get the session I wanted and paid for, I left early. So ridiculous. And you know, he made that stupid comment about ‘enjoying working with me.’ I think they all say that, that it’s just polite lingo they’re all taught to use, but it feels fake and lying and bullshit to me, so I hate it.

Anyway, I felt bad, but not too bad. In a way, it was like a relief. He’s been ridiculous this whole time, and it was not something I looked forward to. I spoke to my work friend, in a generic way. I wonder what she thinks is wrong with me. Does she remember I mentioned I have mental health issues, or does she think I have some sort of cancer or something?

It occurred to me while I was talking to her - maybe he didn’t tell his supervisor it wasn’t my fault. So I think I’m going to send in a complaint. I mean, really it’s not fair. I cancelled with over 48 hrs notice, there’s proof, and I didn’t get around to rescheduling for a couple weeks. So I didn’t miss anything. And it’s not like he couldn’t take other appointments because of me. That’s not how that works.

So I remembered it was Wednesday, and went to the grocerybar. Turns out, I kept missing my bartender b/c she works TW, not WTh. My friend was there, but didn’t remember we’d hung out a month ago. I guess she was drunk. She was talking RHOA and I was excited. At first, she didn’t get me into the convo, so her chat buddies thought I was weird. But then it worked out. And I found out a way to use my tv better. Haven’t done it yet.

I bought two beers. Then bartender gave me a free frozen margarita. I didn’t eat anything b/c cash money issues. But I figured I’d go home and eat. Then she gave me another free one. I had half, then it was time to go. We’d shut the place down. I thought I had a pleasant feeling going on, so didn’t think anything. But it turns out, which I didn’t figure out until I was driving, that I was drunk. I didn’t realize until I was on the road and couldn’t get my eyes to coordinate and see one image. No matter what I did. But I couldn’t stop where I was at. So, I drove fairly slow, prayed to god I wouldn’t hurt anyone (that was about the only not-bad thing about the situation), and got home. I knew, and I know, that that is terrible. I was/am embarrassed to admit it, but this is the one place I force myself to be honest about my fuck-ups as a form of confession (no expectations of forgiveness). Anyway, got home with everyone and myself being safe. Threw up a bit, and zonked out. Felt terrible yesterday morning, and stayed home as said above. But also, I got the throw-up freckles. They were worse than I’ve had before. All over the place, And a stretch across the bridge of my nose that I initially mistook for sleeping on my pillow wrong.

I’m supposed to go out for SPD on Saturday, but now I’d dreading it. I think I’ll be drinking mostly seltzer. And I have to swear to pay better attention from now on, to make sure I’m actually okay. Tuesday was scary as hell, and I’m ashamed of myself.

Oh, and the chicken I pulled out of the freezer so I could cook in my new skillet - went bad before I could cook it. I’m a terrible person.

[adventk-blog]

                                             — ARE YOU WHO YOU WANT TO BE,

       introducing YOON DOWOON, a MUTANT— and currently a believer of NEUTRALITY. age ( twenty-one ) and gifted with the ability of INVISIBILTY, they are currently UNEMPLOYED.

WE ARE SO MUCH MORE THAN STORIES,

Dowoon had a pretty normal life once. A mother and a father and an older sister who looked out for him and babied him around like any sister would.

He was a pretty quiet kid, never really saying much, but his parents thought he was nothing short of perfect. Though he was quiet he was always the smart one in the family, a high achiever from a very young age and always praised by his teachers for his high quality work and brains. Though this did make him enemies and as a result he was bullied mercilessly by the other kids. He was kicked, punched, shoved into lockers and made fun of behind his back. It was rare that he didn’t return home hiding a busted open lip or a black eye. Though he was always the pacifist, never lashing out or fighting back no matter how much he was shoved.

At the age of twelve, he came about his mutation.

Once again he found himself running away from his normal bullies. They’d already had a good go at him but were coming back for round two. Dowoon thought it better to hide than to continue running, cowering in a dark corner behind the bins at the back of the school and praying to the heavens that he wouldn’t be found. That he would just turn invisible.

Apparently, someone had been listening.

He heard the bins being moved and he was sure that he was going to be seen. But he wasn’t, even though he was right in plain sight, the bullies seemed as though they were just looking right through him. It was needless to say he was confused and had no idea what was happening at the time, but once he realized that he had actually turned invisible, his whole world was turned upside down.

He did the only thing he could, desperately trying to keep this secret hidden from everyone. Dowoon was scared about what would happen if someone found out, what his parents would say, how much more of an outcast he would become. And it was working, he managed to last a whole year with no one realizing that he was any different. Only practising what he could do in secret, trying to make extra sure that he wasn’t about to vanish in front of someone and ruin everything.

But his life just got worse when he was thirteen. That was when his whole family was murdered. Two men broke into the house through an open window in the dead of night with the intent to rob them. But when his father woke up and tried to phone the police, the buglers panicked and shot him. And they didn’t stop there, not wanting any witnesses they opened fire on his mother and then his sister.

Dowoon heard them coming towards his room and used his power to keep him alive, cowering under his bed and keeping himself invisible, his trembling hand pressed over his mouth to try and keep himself quiet. And it worked, when they couldn’t find him, the three men fled the scene before the police arrived, leaving their gun and a scared and crying Dowoon behind.

This was when the boy who was praised for his smarts did one of the most stupid things he could. He panicked, unsure what to do and not even thinking straight, Dowoon ran, the tears still streaming down his face. The boy just remained hidden after that, scared of what would happen if the burglars knew he was still alive, not even going to the police in fear of the questions they might ask him. How he managed to survive when the rest of his family were slaughtered. He used his mutation to get him into hotel rooms to sleep in, stealing food from shops to eat. It was when he saw his own face on the news as wanted for questioning about his family’s murder that he knew he was in deep trouble. There was no chance he could just turn up now without any serious questions being posed.

So he remained hidden, using his powers to keep himself out of sight when he needed to, just stealing to survive and sleeping wherever he could. Yoon Dowoon just stopped existing in civilization, most of the time he remained completely invisible, drifting from place to place and expanding on his own abilities to try and get a better mastery of what he could do. Besides, his invisibility was the only thing he had left.

He soon learned that he could make other objects invisible with him when he was holding them and after a little more experimentation he found he could only make specific body parts invisible instead of all of him. Dowoon started experimenting and testing his limitations, finding out exactly what he could and couldn’t do, wanting to be completely one with his mutation. It was not like he had anything else to be doing with his time. Though he still managed to keep himself occupied, keeping his mind sharp and on top of things by sneaking into the library for a couple of hours and settling by himself in a quiet corner.

Then the Daybreak Foundation found him in early 2016. They managed to track him down and accepted him, housed him, trained him, fed him, called him a potential hero. Not that Dowoon wanted to be some hero for people who never cared about him, he just saw this as a better than sleeping rough and stealing just to survive. Though this new life of his didn’t last for long, the foundation fell and they were finally outed and humanity called for blood.

He managed to flee again, his mutation once again keeping him out of sight and out of the way. Life just went back to the way it had been before, but now he was just extra careful and avoiding all protests and riots where he can. He doesn’t want to get mixed up in all of that, he is more than happy to sit by the sidelines and everyone can continue to think that he doesn’t exist. Some might call him a coward for hiding, but hiding is the only thing he has ever been really good at, so might as well stick to what you know.

THERE IS FLESH AND BLOOD BEHIND THESE TALES,

Dowoon likes keeping himself to himself and just stay out of the way of everyone else. Especially after everything, he knows he has to be extra careful so he doesn’t out himself as a mutant to less than friendly civilians. Though he’s a pacifist, always refusing to fight no matter what you might do or say to him. He practically abuses his ability on the daily, rarely spending any time visible whenever he can help it. Though this doesn’t mean he doesn’t like human interactions and can’t socialize like a normal person. If you happen to catch him when he’s, then he’s actually pretty good for a conversation, and that also means he’s probably in a good mood as well. Though he is a not a fan of people asking lots of questions, questions always make him incredibly anxious and he is much more likely to start getting incredibly snappy with you just so you get the idea and leave him alone again. Once he decides he doesn’t like you, it’s incredibly unlikely that he will ever change his mind and will hate you no matter what. But he is a smart person, having read most of a library at this point he might not have a high education after running away, but he can still keep up and could probably get into some of the top universities. Dowoon has simply always preferred books over actual people and does spend hours just sitting in a quiet corner of the library.

AND EVEN MONSTERS CAN LEARN TO WEEP.

INVISIBILITY – Dowoon has the power to render himself unseen to the naked eye and become invisible in visible spectrum.

APPLICATIONS :

Cloaking – this power is able to turn objects and other people imperceptible, hiding it from even clairvoyant sight.

LIMITATIONS :

Dowoon can still be detected by senses that don’t rely on vision, such as hearing and touch

Things such as rain and snow still show his shape even when he is invisible

Users of special vision powers such as heat vision and such, can still see him even when he is invisible

Turning invisible requires a lot of concentration and any break in concentration will break the invisibility

Can only cloak other people and objects through physical touch and the touch has to been maintained for the object/person to remain imperceptible.

Can only cloak one other person/object at a time.

THREAT LEVEL TWO.                           01+ BRWN, 04+ RSLNC, 08+ INTLCT, 06+ WLLPWR, 01+ FGHTNG, 04+ SPD