#prob got carried away and tunneled

[thankstothe]

Some notes on Wilson's marriages/divorces, and how he met House:

• House didn't just meet a freshly divorced Wilson. He met barely married Wilson, who just got notified about his #1 divorce by a lawyer, not his wife

• Wilson walked around with papers on hand, long enough to give House a chance to sneak a peek. The same day he received the news. (there's a chance it was some sort of middle step in the divorce procedure, but "just served", checkmate your honor)

• House 100% knew that when he bailed him out. No, I don't have any concrete evidence besides "it's fucking House"

• House had Wilson observed the entire time to know he didn't open the papers. The divorce lawyer prob gave him an idea of what it is, and he was just marinating in the suffering juice

• House had to be nosy and stealthy when he checked the package Wilson clung to, he saw what's written on it

• They didn't actually talk at the conference itself, so House did it silently too

• There was a law firm address on the papers, and you couldn't just google shit then. House's had to remember it to investigate it further, or he already knew of the firm (or it said "BLAH LAW FIRM BLAH HERE'S YOUR DIVORCE PAPERS, LOSER", which is possible)

• Wilson likely opened them in a hotel room (or he looked at the package sadly/angrily there too), needed a drink, and House was at the bar

• House was watching Wilson at that conference, then at the bar, then meltdown over the song, then the whole fight and the mess, then the detention, and was like yeah I'll bail that

• "First words you ever said to me." This is when they first talked, Wilson was in jail and the one in need

• Ok alright, hear me out, if House didn't know what the papers were at the time of bailing. There are 2 paths for him to find out

• Wilson STILL had them on hand in jail

• Or Housey saw them at Wilson's hotel room. Yeah

• It's been over the decade since they've met and they both vividly remember the details of that drunk night (I get why for storytelling purposes. Still... Much to think about)

• That conference is either the last one, or one of the lasts, House attended. And that one was already boring to House without Wilson. 15 years prior to s06e06 "Known Unknowns", can't do the timeline magic I just eyeball it

• House also introduced Wilson to Cuddy pretty soon, since she was a witness to the levels of despair he was apparently in

• House might've pestered Cuddy to hire him, or she chose to do so herself (whenever she was dean). Maybe House chased away some poor oncologist to make an opening. Even if House isn't as obsessed with Wilson at the start of season 1, he's always plotting

• There's the brother thing too. Wilson still fresh out of med school, still divorcing, still guilty af and looking for the brother in Princeton, so he was happy to work there

• Prior to that, Wilson was working 2 jobs to support himself and Sam and was ready to follow her to Baltimore

• The divorce and meeting House happened in 1991, the same year USSR completely fell apart. Just thought I'll throw that in #educational

• Wilson was married, non-fraudulently, for 12 years total

• Marriage #1 has only lasted 1 year

• That means every marriage House was present for has lasted longer #math

• Wilson found a way to get fulfilled while in the marriage

• Now he's got a needy bitch with infinite problems and who will slurp any poison he has to siphon

• I'd argue House is what made Wilson bearable at home

• At the same time, House is what kept Wilson away from home, ultimately contributing to the divorce

• Wilson himself describes his marriages as crappy - he doesn't really need help destroying them. House still helps~✨

• Timeline gets wonky, but there couldn't have been much of a downtime between marriages, a couple of years max

• "Fell in love at the wedding" - whatever the fuck that means for Wilson

• Either Wilson met Sam through that wedding, and she also aimed to work in medicine - how they've connected. Or they went there as a couple, both being med students? Got high on emotions and jumped into marriage

• Wilson speedruns relationships once he's in them, so it could've gone "hey that was a nice wedding, how about we have our own?"

• He fucking sucks at proposals, his looks and general air of niceness carried him all 3 times, I will not be hearing any objections on the matter

• When Wilson talks to Cameron about cheating. He says, "I have (cheated). I always told them"

• "Them"

• It's could've been every marriage (#1, #2 and #3). If boy managed to sneak in cheating in his 1-year lightning marriage #1, while he was studying + 2 jobs (now I don't doubt his time management skills, but it's still a hassle. On the other hand, all that stress couldn't have been helping)

• Or it could be #1 and #2, or #1 and #3. But #3 is pretty much a certainty (he flirts with nurses on screen, House is also there), and it's "them", so why would he randomly stop in the middle? Don't think so

• What's most likely is - #2 and #3. When arguing with Sam (#1) again she didn't mention or allude to the cheating, her problem was that Wilson didn't communicate ANY emotions to her, she even admitted to House she made the most mistakes in that marriage, let's say there's some truth in that

• Wilson either didn't tell Sam about cheating, she didn't have a problem with it, or he lied to Cameron

• OR he didn't cheat on Sam

• He started to cheat after the first divorce AND his marriages started to last longer, which is funnier too

• He could've started cheating prior to House entering the picture, but much more likely - after. Divorce and/or House are the cause

• Speaking of. Meeting House is very tightly linked to the #1 divorce. Every time Wilson would think back on it, he would have to think about all the turmoil and getting bailed by House. And vice versa - every time he'd think back on meeting House...

• "I met someone who made me feel funny. And I didn't want to let that feeling go." Another Cameron talk. Ur honor, there's something on that wall

• btw, he is STILL married while meeting House, so if you hilson 1st-night-fuck truther, that meeting is his cheater origin story in a more practical sense. He then could've really meant all the marriages, but then he lied about telling Sam/Cameron, he might not count it since he's divorcing to tell Sam

• Ultimately, he's a huge liar, and I'm wasting my time. What I'm saying - nothing is really off the table with this guy in terms of hcs

• Aftermaths of #2 and #3 aren't really talked about like #1. It must've been really nuclear

• House says neither of them recovered from (#1) divorce to Wilson's face, Wilson doesn't contest that in any way. Even tho House didn't know Wilson before the divorce he usually right on the money with these things

• After the divorce #2 Wilson got 3 legged cat

• After failing to secure marriage #4 (#1 part 2) he got a diabetic cat

• Just like the thing he has with missing phone calls, after every divorce, consciously or not, he might expect a savior to bail him out

• After and during #3 he crashed at House's, then surfed hotels, then moved in with a dying patient, then Amber's, then House moved in with him (still Amber's)

• Maybe his wives kept taking properties in the divorce, and he just stopped getting them

• Man frankly didn't have a home for a while (HOMELESS BUT NOT HOUSELESS)

• Then Wilson finally commits and gets the place for himself and House, from Bonnie (#2)

• Wilson adamantly remains on good terms with his ex-wives (but not random exes. One helps House with a prank, House kept tabs bc of course)

• But Wilson thinks they hate him. Did he ever pay attention to them?

• While spending all the time with House, then cheating, telling his wives about it, Wilson gave them more attention and emotions to delay the divorce

• He also learned how not to get attached in marriage, to not get destroyed by the divorce (excellent gambit if you expect your marriage to fail)

• He has a better support system now too. Can't believe House is your support system, fucking lmao and ouch. Cuddy is his only other friend we see, maybe Stacy at some point (he kept in touch with after the incident)

• All his other friends and family we hear next to nothing about, at best they're surface level

• In season 5 he's only visited by the coworkers/House's team + Cuddy <- all that is pretty much House's tolerance circle

• House is pathetic, but Wilson is something else entirely

[luvrsux]

I saw your desperate cries for requests - thus I heed your call ;-;

Picture this: Law receives a heart plushie from reader, because he‘s tunnel visioning himself in work and/or Luffy‘s been pestering that aloof man yet again.

(remember those heart plushies from IKEA XD THAT plushie…maybe without those arms tho, they‘re wack)

Reader just wants to be considerate (practically yeets that plushed organ at him) and Law is as oblivious as ever, just overall confuddled/flustered xD

Hope you like that lil‘ idea? If it‘s too boring you can leave it out no prob :3

*may the writer‘s force be with you* xx

thank you for the request! \(◦´-`◦)/♡

“Heart Pillow”

word count: 2.4k

summary: after living with the dr. trafalgar, you noticed he’s just overwhelmed with work, and on a particular day, it took a toll on him. you took it upon yourself to purchase him a gift that’ll completely make him go love-struck

content: fluff, mentions of insomnia

It’s been ages since you and Law moved in together as roommates. Considering you two knew each other since diapers, it was bound to happen. You stayed at home working at a local cafe while Law rotted away in his office from his doctorates. Ever since he finally became a professional doctor and surgeon, you’ve never seen him drown in so much work and get little to no sleep. Even when he was a little scholar in medical school, he’d still have the decency to remember to eat and get a few sustainable hours. Now, you’d hear him just get ready for bed while you got up and bright early for work. You’d see him leave the bathroom after a shower and rub his eyes with tired hands, while you were already dressed for your shift. You’d constantly nag him every chance you’d get to make sure he’d get the proper sleep he needed.

“I’m fine, (F/N)-ya…”

He’d always say in a groggy tone. This man was quite stubborn and didn’t really heed any warning anyone told him. Despite all of that, his studies and hard work paid off extremely. He was known as the best surgeon in the hospital he groggily worked at—too bad he wasn’t much of a people person. You always wondered why Law chose an ambition that required him to converse with a plethora of people and he just replied with a shrug. He’d always come home tired and annoyed by his coworkers and his patients that day. You couldn’t lie, though, they were interesting stories.

You’ve lived under the roof of the doctor for ages, as said before. The more you were drawn closer to him, the more your feelings shifted from platonic to romantic. You knew that Law wasn’t swinging towards you that way with the way he was suffocating at work, but you’d notice that he’d get a little flustered and go blank-minded whenever you did something nice for him. It could be something as simple as preparing him a cooked meal, recipes gifted by the one and only Vinsmoke Sanji, to taking him out on a day to take a break. Law loved how considerate you were, and he wished he wasn’t so busy to continue the nice moments you’d share with him. Considering Law made more money than you, he’d make it up to you by buying small gifts here and there. His excuse would always be something along the lines of “I had money to spare…” like he was embarrassed to show that he truly wanted to gift you for your kindness. Law would sometimes also see you knocked out on the couch, completely drained from your shifts, and carry you to bed without you noticing. You’d definitely catch on in the morning, but he’d act as if nothing happened.

Now, you were humming a tune with a sweet smile while you cleaned the kitchen after you prepared yet another loving meal for the missing doctor. He had a much longer shift today and you knew he’d be hungry as well as tired. Despite it being daylight outdoors, Law had been away for a whole 24-hour shift at the hospital. You wanted to make him feel extra special by cooking his favorite meal.

Behind, you heard the door knob jiggle and twist before swinging open. You were pleased to already know who entered the comfort of your home and you didn’t hesitate to exit the kitchen to greet the raven boy. Upon looking at him, he immediately crashed his leather bag onto the ground and kicked off his shoes. He seemed to be more than relieved to arrive home and see you all cheery at his presence.

“How did your shift go this time?” You asked with a cheeky smile, already knowing the answer. He tore off his lab coat to reveal his short, black button-up and inked arms. Rather ironic for being a doctor.

“Never wanted to quit my job so badly in my life” The man grumbled and exhaled, finally relieved to decompress from his occupation. He reached to pick up his neglected bag.

“How so?” You let out a small giggle before disappearing into the kitchen to show the stressed Law a plate of his favorite rice balls, but he was already tunnel-visioning his work.

“That idiot Strawhat-ya decided to get admitted to the hospital after a fight and…” Law sighed in pure annoyance, you could sense it from the kitchen. “He can never not cause chaos… Of course, I had to do a procedure on him”

Law explained. This wasn’t the first time the guy explained his annoyance for the scruffy boy named Luffy, nicknamed Strawhat for his iconic headwear. Law paced around the room, explaining the ruckus Luffy caused at his job and constantly saying things like "He's so aggravating!" or "I can't believe him!"

“I have to finish a lot of paperwork, I’m so sorry I can’t have dinner yet” Law apologized, de-escalating his anger. Despite his sour attitude, he looked sincere knowing you had probably spent time on it. You frowned.

“You can’t just procrastinate a little? I made your favorite” You tried convincing. Law just rubbed the back his his neck.

“No, just wanna get this over with” You heard his voice slowly fade down the hallway that led to the office he constantly stays in.

“Leave whatever you made in the fridge! I’ll promise I’ll eat it!”

You just removed your hand from the plate of rice balls and let them sit in the fridge they previously stayed on. You weren’t heartbroken or saddened Law didn’t stay for dinner like he usually does, you were more so concerned. Law would typically spend a few moments with you to eat. You’d share small talk about each other's day and you could’ve sworn you’d be able to put a small smile on his face at the end of it. Without that, it made you think about what you could do to snap Law out of his stressful trance.

You sat on the couch on your phone for a few moments to think about it, but soon enough you had a bugging nerve to check in on Law. You’d never disturb him during his working hours but this time you decided to take an impulsive action. You swung open his shut tight door to reveal a dimly lit room, the only thing illuminating the entire room was a small lamp on his desk. Despite your intrusion, Law didn’t flinch or remove his busy eyes from his paperwork. He just sighed.

“What is it, (F/N)-ya?” He spoke in a monotone voice and just continued scribbling down on sheets of paper. It seemed to really annoy him and you assumed the paperwork involved the scruffy Strawhat.

“How’s your… work?” You asked awkwardly. Law combed his printed fingers through his noir locks and dropped his pen.

“Terrible. I just want to burn it all” Law hissed. You saw him flip through each and every one, getting more and more annoyed as the amount increased. “I should’ve transferred that idiot to a different hospital…”

“I see… When you’re finished, I was wondering if we could watch a movie. It’s been forever!” You giggled. Law tried not to carve a smile at your enthusiasm, but the sheer amount of work is the very thing to his decline.

“I can’t, I think I’m going to be at this for a while before you head to bed” Those words made you frown. You wish you could remove all the stress from him for his own sake as well as your own.

“Don’t kill yourself over this work, Law” You gave him a small smile. You eyed his chair and realized the seat looked increasingly uncomfortable. You raised an eyebrow.

“Does your back hurt at all?” You abruptly asked. Your random question finally had Law made eye contact with you, but his head was still tilted toward his desk.

“Whaddya' talking about?”

“Your chair looks uncomfortable as hell. It might as well be a torture chamber”

Law peered to his office chair which was just a regular wheeled chair with thin cushioning. It was a decent chair to relax on, but not to stay seated for hours on end like Law.

“It does its job, I guess. Besides, I take painkillers” He went right back to scribbling like his life depended on it. You grumbled.

“I’m starting to think you need a doctor” You teased before leaving the room. Before Law could scold you for your demeanor you quickly left the room. You giggled as soon as you heard Law scream on the other side of the room, saying; “What do you mean by that!?”

You stood behind the door for a few moments before you quickly decided on what you could do to make Law ease up just a bit.

・❥・

Law didn’t realize he had been so focused on working. He felt like it was just a few minutes ago when he heard you yell ‘Law, I’ll be right back’. Now, you just arrived back home and he heard the door swing open from his office. He flicked his wrist toward him to reveal he was working for over an hour on his watch. He grumbled, seeing as how he still wasn’t done despite the length it took him to do it.

He was pleased to hear you made it home safe, but he didn’t budge from his desk. He felt himself slowly carve a smile when he heard your faint humming and bag rustling from the kitchen which wasn’t far. Then, he faintly heard footsteps.

“(F/N)-ya, I’m still busy-“

His face was met with red and plush. He flinched, causing a minor hiccup from his pen, and dropped it. Law could hear your manic giggles as he pulled away the plush.

“What the-…” Law made eye contact with whatever was thrown straight at his face. He raised an eyebrow at the bright red heart pillow in his hands that also had… arms?

“(F/N), what the hell is this?” He asked, continuing to analyze its rather odd features. Despite it being rather questionable, it was rather soft.

“I thought I’d buy you something since your day was pretty rough… And your chair sucks” You proudly placed your hands on your hips. Law turned his eyes to you before flickering them back at the plush.

With those words, as confuddled as he was, he swore he couldn't stop himself from blushing. He quickly tilted his head revealing the fact yet another kind gesture made his heart skip a beat. Law felt like squeezing the thing until its plush popped right out.

“…What’s with the arms?” Law finally asked, questioning the entire plush and its odd choice of design.

“Ikea, sorry” You giggled. Your humorous giggle made Law carve an amused smile and you could clearly see it. It caused a small tint of blush to form on your cheeks. “Do you like it?”

Law gave it a tender squeeze with his palms before placing it on his bed, the hugging arms springing once it made contact. He cleared his throat to prevent any further flustered emotions from seeping through.

“It’s… nice,” He said ever so casually. He sat back down in his brick chair and wheeled into his desk. “Thank you, (F/N)-ya…”

You hummed, shutting the door behind you. As soon as Law heard the click of the door, he bolted to his bed to tightly hug the gifted organ to his chest. He buried his gushing smile behind it as well as his tinted cheeks. Despite the odd arms, he greatly appreciated your kindness to him. He was afraid he’d expose his feelings about you right there and then if you stayed any longer. As his eyes trailed along the brightly colored plush, he began to ponder. There was no point in being so implicit about his feelings. This gift was a transparent way of saying you care about him more than he thought you did. He regretted pushing you away constantly for his work. With that, with the plush in hand, he exited his office.

There you were, laid back on the couch with a relaxed expression. You hadn’t expected Law to come out of his office at all, especially with the new gift you gave him in his arms. His cheeks looked more pigmented than a sickly bedridden patient he’d dealt with. You sat up almost immediately and formed a smile.

“Finally out, huh?”

Law averted eye contact, still flustered and embarrassed. He just plopped down next to you, rather close at that. You raised an eyebrow, wondering what he was going here instead of his dark office.

“Shut up…” He grumbled. “Play that movie…”

Law said, getting comfortable under the blanket that was draped along the couch. You stared at him with wide eyes that refused to make eye contact with you. You beamed before you flicked on the movie you were excited to watch with the busy boy.

About halfway, Law noticed you were falling asleep while he was wide-eyed awake. He gulped, wanting to make a rather bold move to you. He saw you jerking your head every now and then from your low energy. Once he saw you scare yourself awake from almost falling face-first into the coffee table in front, Law pulled an arm around your shoulders to lay on his chest. Safe to say you were no longer tired thanks to your rapid heartbeat. You could faintly hear his own.

Meanwhile, Law was internally screaming in his head wondering why the hell he decided to do that bold of a move on you. Seeing as how you didn’t object or call him out on his odd behavior, his internal battle began to die down. The plush lingered right in between both of you, like a token of your newfound relationship.

“Get some rest, (F/N)-ya” You could’ve sworn you heard Law slightly stammer before he could formulate his sentence. You felt a palm caress your arm and head for a few moments. Your tiredness soon came flooding back.

Law had adjusted in his seat to get comfortable himself, knowing he’d soon follow you and your sleep. He’d never felt this tired before. He’d have trouble falling asleep due to his insane insomnia but with you in his arms, a wave of fatigue came flooding forward. Maybe it was your body's warmth. Maybe it was the way he could feel your calm breath on his chest from your peaceful slumber. Maybe it was because Law had passionate feelings for you. He couldn’t decide, considering he was now fast asleep on the couch with his arms now wrapped around you.

Law never slept better that night.

All listening and ownership belong to Eiichiro Oda

[helliontherapscallion]

(Y/n) and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Week: Thursday (Part 1)

Monday     Tuesday     Wednesday     Thursday (Part 2)     Friday     Saturday     Sunday

Spotify Playlist (collaborative)

Warnings: swearing, homophobia (f slurs and d slur), panic attacks, toxic friends, mentions of attempted suicide/getting told to kill yourself

Word count: 6,377

(A/N): ok, so I definitely got carried away with this, so I had to split Thursday into two parts. If I kept it in one part, it’d probs be like 10k-11k words long lmao

You woke up feeling strangely more refreshed than usual. Glancing at your clock, you saw that you actually woke up about thirty minutes before your alarm went off. You got a whopping twelve hours of sleep, a stark contrast from your recent sleep schedule consisting of no more than four hours a night. You felt like you could rule the world with how much energy you had. Sure, you felt anxiety pooling in your stomach like you usually did and you had a terrible dream about Haley rejecting you and getting completely outed to the entire school, but that did not stop you from throwing your covers off your bed and walking down the hall to the kitchen with the most confidence you’ve had since starting high school.

When you got to the kitchen, you saw a dead looking Uncle Schlatt slumped at the table chugging coffee and a chipper Philza trying to make conversation. Usually, you would’ve joined Schlatt in being dead inside, but today was different. You were filled to the brim with energy that you haven’t had in years. As you walked through the door, their heads turned towards you.

“Mornin Dad, mornin Uncle Schlatt!”

Your uncle merely grunted before going back to guzzling down his coffee. Your dad smiled at you, “well, looks like someone’s well rested.”

“Yeah, I got like twelve hours of sleep last night.”

“Glad to hear it, hun. You really needed it.”

“Glad to hear someone’s feeling well rested,” your uncle grumbled into his coffee. 

“Schlatt, don’t be such a downer all the time,” Philza rolled his eyes at your uncle. 

“Fuck you Phil, I’m a ball of fuckin sunshine. Ain’t that right, sweetheart?” 

“Yeah, Dad, I don’t know what you’re talkin about. Uncle Schlatt’s the heart and soul of this house. Even if he doesn’t live here.”

Schlatt gave a booming laugh, “suck it Phil. And that, (y/n), is why you’re my favorite niece.”

“At least I’m someone’s- wait. I’m your only niece.”

“Still my favorite niece!”

You grinned happily, that was better than nothing. “Love ya, Uncle Schlatt!”

Your uncle’s cocky grin turned more sincere and he diverted his full attention to you, “love ya too, kid.”

“Love each other quieter, you woke me up.” Wilbur’s tired voice complained as he walked into the room and slumped into his chair next to Schlatt. Schlatt clapped a hand onto his shoulder and rustled his hair.

“My man! How’s Sally, huh?”

Wilbur flushed red and started sputtering as Philza turned his confused gaze to his son. “Who’s Sally, Wilbur?”

You couldn’t leave your brother high and dry when he accepted you for being yourself so readily yesterday, so you quickly jumped in for him. “Sally’s just one of his friends at school. They’re job shadowing together for their project. Right, Wilbur?” You turned towards the flustered man with a somewhat forced smile and raised eyebrows. He looked at you with immense relief and nodded vigorously, his hair flopping onto his forehead. 

“Yes! We’re planning on job shadowing our band director, he said that it’d be a good idea if we want to major in music.” 

“Oh, why didn’t you tell me about her before! You should invite her over for dinner, I’d love to meet her!” Oh, your dad did not buy your terrible excuse for Wilbur, that man is like a bloodhound when it comes to sniffing out lies. Poor, poor Wilbur. 

Despite the blush remaining on his cheeks, Wilbur seemed to think that Philza actually bought his weak excuse. “I’ll invite her over soon. Does Friday night next week work?”

Philza grinned cheekily, “yes! I can’t believe you haven’t brought her over sooner if you’re close enough to job shadow with her!”

At this point, Schlatt’s face was cherry red with his almost failed attempt to hold in his laughter. “I’m not missin this. Me an’ Tubbs are comin over next Friday.” 

Wilbur still hasn’t noticed that they hadn’t bought it, you thought he was more perceptive than that. Eventually, Philza started to make breakfast and conversation lulled into a comfortable silence as everybody waited for Techno, Tommy, and Tubbo. Deciding to pull out your phone, you scrolled through your notifi- wait. Why did you have forty-two messages from Adrian and Sammy? Why did they make a groupchat with everyone except Annie? Furrowing your brows in confusion, you opened the group chat. What you read made your breathing catch in your chest and your skin blanch, it wasn’t a dream. Everything was real.

Sammy <3

(y/n) you fucking pervert

How could you do this to us????

Adrian <3

We’ve given you everything and yet you’re still a disgusting person. 

Fucking faggot

We thought we could fix you, but you’re broken

You’re always going to be

Sammy <3

And now, you’re gonna go to hell with all the other dykes and fairies.

It’ll probably be heaven for you, surrounded by perverts like yourself

You’re staying far away from Annie

Adrian <3

You’ve put her through so much shit and now this

We swear to god if you talk to her again we’re gonna make you wish you would’ve gone through with killing yourself freshman year

We’re leaking the pictures slut

You felt your anxiety melt away into betrayal. So they were yours and Haley’s stalkers? How dare they try to leak Haley’s pictures. They could leak yours, you didn’t give a shit if yours were leaked. You could learn to live with it, you always did after all the shit you put yourself through throughout the years, but Haley’s? She didn’t do anything. Even if her rejection was painful, you still deeply cared for her. She didn’t deserve that. You, however, did for not being normal. For making people around you uncomfortable with your presence. 

(Y/n)

That was you guys?????

Why the fuck would you do that

I trusted you 

All of you

Sammy <3

We trusted you too dyke

But you’re a two-faced bitch

And to think we actually thought you were our friend

Were you only friends with Ann and I so you could get into our pants?

I’m disgusted

You’re a fucking pervert.

Adrian <3

We shouldn’t have talked you out of suicide freshman year

You fucking deserve it

Make Annie’s life easier and just swan dive off a roof

You’ll be doing everyone a favor

(Y/n)

Listen, I don’t care if you leak my pictures.

Just don’t leak Haley’s

She has no part in this

I’ll leave you guys alone if you delete Haley’s pictures

Hell, I’ll do anything for you if you could release them after the final volleyball match today

It’s Haley’s time to shine and she deserves the attention as team captain

She’s worked so hard to get there all of high school and leaking my nudes would take the attention away from her

Let her have her moment

Sammy <3

For once she has a point

She probably manipulated the poor girl

Who knows what the fag would’ve done to her if we didn’t expose her

Adrian <3

Fine, we’ll delete Haley’s pictures and we’ll wait until after the game

But we’re leaking yours

You deserve it for what you did to Annie and Haley

“Kid, are you okay? You’re kinda pale over there buddy.”

Looking up from your phone, you saw everybody’s eyes on you. They each looked concerned, but Wilbur even more so. He was the only one in the room at the moment that knew about your panic attacks. He stood up from his spot and walked over to you with long strides.

“She just remembered the homework in stats that we forgot about. Techno asked us in the group chat about it, we were just about to go and see if he could help us.” 

“But Wilbur, I thought you took statistics last year.”

“No, that was algebra two, I’m taking stats this year,” that was a lie, he was in pre-calculus this year. “C’mon (y/n), lets go finish that assignment.” 

He grabbed your shoulder and hauled you into a stand before grabbing your hand and practically dragging you up the stairs and into Techno’s room. Said pink-haired teenager looked up angrily. “What’d I say about kno- (y/n)?”

Wilbur closed the door and locked it behind him. He dragged you over to Techno’s bed and sat you down on the edge before kneeling down to look you in the eyes.

“(Y/n), can I touch you? Is that alright?”

After you shakily nodded, he grabbed your hand and placed it over his chest. “Breathe with me.” Like yesterday, you tried to copy his movements, but it wasn’t working. Your panic attack was just getting worse by the minute. Techno pushed Wilbur aside and took his place kneeling in front of you and grabbing your hand, rubbing his thumb over your knuckles.

“(Y/n), can you tell me five things you can see around the room?”

When you didn’t move your wide eyes away from Techno’s face, he frowned and gently squeezed your hand. “You can get through this. What’re five things you can see around the room?”

You reluctantly tore your eyes away from his face and peered around the room. You hadn’t noticed that your blurred vision had tunneled until you realized that you couldn’t see anything in your peripheral vision. Your unseeing eyes flicked around the room. 

You tried to swallow, but you couldn’t do anything through the lump in your throat. With a shaky voice, you gasped out “I-I can’t breathe. I-”

“Deep breath in through your nose and out through your mouth. Follow me.”

You tried to breathe with him, and you eventually got to the point where you could speak. Your eyes flicked around the room once again and slowly recognized your surroundings. 

“You… Wilbur… Desk… Window…”

“That’s good, just one more.”

Your eyes flicked around the room, “...Book.”

“Look back at me, you’re doing so good,” when you looked back at him, he had a small smile on his face. “Nice job. Now, four things you can feel. Can you do that for me?”

You shakily nodded and looked at your hands and around your surroundings. “Bed… Pants… You… Carpet.”

“Three things you can hear?”

“You… Birds… Breathing.”

“You’re almost there, I’m so proud of you. Two things you can smell?”

“Toast and… and burning?”

Despite his confusion about the sudden burning smell, he continued to smile at you. “Good, last one. One thing you can taste?”

You licked your lips before scrunching your nose slightly, “...snot.”

“Wilbur, can you go get her a few kleenexes and a glass of water?” Techno asked his brother without taking his eyes off you.

Wordlessly, he swiftly left the room. “Are you feeling better?”

You panted as you reached up to rub at your teary eyes, “yeah, how’d you know what to do?”

His smile turned slightly bashful, “I did some research last night. I’m glad I did, that was a bad panic attack. Can I- can I ask what caused it?”

You pulled out your phone and handed it to him, letting him scroll through the messages while you brought up your knees to your chest and rested your chin on your knees. You felt tired after that attack, however you had a little bit more energy than you usually did. Only a little bit more. It was probably because you slept for half the day and through the night yesterday. You watched your brother scroll through your texts with tired eyes. 

He was emotionless as he scrolled, making you somewhat scared about what his reaction would be. He probably hasn’t gotten to the whole “go kill yourself” or the stalking parts. Judging by his set jaw and labored breathing, he was pissed already and he didn’t even get to the bad parts yet.

In the middle of his scrolling, Wilbur came back with a box of tissues, a glass of water, and a plate of bacon, eggs, and toast. When you hardly moved to grab them, he sat on the bed beside you and handed you a tissue. After cleaning up, you took the glass of water and started to slowly sip at it. “Thanks, Wil.” 

He wrapped an arm around you and pulled you close to him. When he looked over Techno’s shoulder at your phone, you saw his eyebrows furrow. “Tech, what’s-”

He was interrupted as Techno shoved your phone into his hands and stood up to start pacing around his room. “Read it yourself.” He sounded more monotone than usual. He was absolutely furious.

You watched Wilbur’s face as he read through your messages. Unlike Technoblade, he looked furious. His eyes were set ablaze as his entire face turned an angry red. “(Y/n), what the absolute fuck? Why didn’t you tell us this was happening?”

Shrinking in on yourself and pulling your knees closer to your chest, you murmured out a small “sorry.” You saw him quickly turn his head to you as his face softened. He pulled you into a full hug.

“This isn’t your fault. None of it is, it’s all their fault,” he spat with disgust. “How’d they even get your nudes? Did you send them to anyone?”

You leaned your head against his shoulder, “that’s the thing, Wil. I’ve never taken nudes before. They took them through my window. I deserve it.”

You felt him freeze up and heard Techno pause his pacing to stomp over to you. He tore Wilbur’s arms off from you and held you out at arms length by your shoulders. He looked the most angry than you’ve ever seen him with his furious eyes burning into your own and his mouth set in a firm frown. It was terrifying to see him that angry.

“(Y/n), you don’t deserve a single fucking thing that’s happened to you. You were manipulated and gaslit by a group of self righteous assholes. You. Do. Not. Deserve. Anything. That. Happened. To. You. Do you understand me?” 

Despite your fears of him, you were determined to protect your friends. “But I do deserve it though. I was a bad friend to them. I tried so hard, but I couldn’t be a good friend to them when they were always helping me. I’m just not a good person in general. I deserve it for not being normal.”

“(Y/n)-”

“Technoblade, that’s enough.” Wilbur cut him off with a firm tone, putting a comforting hand on your arm.

“No it isn’t Wilbur. It’s not enough until she realizes how fucking toxic they are. What they’re doing is gaslighting. You’re in a psychology class, you should know what that is. Give me the definition of it. Now.”

“It’s when someone manipulates another person for their own personal gain… I’d know if I’m being gaslit, and I’m not. They’re just telling me the truth, they keep me in check. I could put more effort into my appearance and personality. I could stand to lose a couple of pounds.” “How do you not- ya know what? Listen. Just listen. That’s the definition of being gaslit. They’re constantly putting you down and making you self conscious about every. Little. Thing because they need to put someone down to fuel their own damaged egos and they laugh at you when you show that you’re hurt by their comments. That’s not a healthy friendship, (y/n). It’s toxic. 

“Real friends would never, and I mean never, do that to you. Real friends would never tell you that you looked like shit when you’re as beautiful as Aphrodite. Real friends would never out you to the entire school when you weren’t ready. Real friends would never tell you to lose weight because they wouldn’t care about what you look like. Real friends care about your well being and they look out for you. They love you for you.”

You fell silent as you contemplated his words. Were they really that toxic? You were planning on being a psychology major in college, so why didn’t you notice that they were actually always against you? You learned in your class that manipulative people are naturally cunning and sneaky, but you couldn’t help but feel stupid. You thought that they were helping you when they were clearly toxic. It was right under your nose and you didn’t even see the signs. What kind of psychology student were you if you couldn’t recognize the obvious signs of manipulation? 

On one hand, you were filled with betrayal. But on the other hand, you felt molten hot anger overwhelm and swirl around your entire body like a cyclone absolutely decimating everything in its path with its violent winds hurling in a blind rage anything and everything without a care of the outcome. You felt the burning hatred of a thousand suns rise up from deep within your being, filling you with a hatred that you didn’t know you were capable of. 

They fucked up your entire life, not you. They were the ones with the ugly personalities, not you. They were the ones that needed to improve themselves, not you. They were bad friends, not you. They laughed at the pain they brought upon you purposefully. They completely humiliated you. They betrayed your trust. They took pictures of you without your consent. They fucked up your relationship with Haley. They violated Haley. They fucking stole her dignity from her with those disgusting pictures they took of her. They were truly vile creatures undeserving of any mercy. Not that you were actually considering being merciful, that would be too good for them. They deserved everything you were going to throw at them. You were going to rise like a phoenix from the ashes of your past self. 

You felt yourself practically vibrate with fury as you held Technoblade’s intense gaze with one of your own. “Those bastards fucking used me for years. Literal years and I thought they were there for me,” you gave a sardonic laugh, your voice shaking with anger. “I-I’m gonna fuckin kill them the next time I see their sorry asses. Make them feel what it’s like to get tossed out of a car. Make them feel what it’s like to constantly get beaten down.”

Techno’s hands gripped your shoulders in a vice grip as his eyes sparked with a crazed delight and he grinned widely at you, “that’s the spirit! You’re gonna rain hellfire upon them, beat their asses (y/n)! Fuck em up! FUCK! EM! UP!”

Wilbur, always thinking about potential consequences and the voice of reason, spoke up with hesitance. “As much as I love that you’re finally realizing that they’re toxic as hell and want revenge, you’d have to wait at least until tomorrow. If you did it today, you wouldn’t be allowed to go to finals. Besides, I don’t think that you should even fight them. You would be out- wait. They’re the ones that opened the car door and fucked up your back?” Seeing you nod, his face darkened in anger. “...(Y/n), you’re gonna fuck em up as soon as you can tomorrow. We’ll back you up if they try to gang up on you, we aren’t eighteen yet, so it’s still legal. ”

“YES, SUCCUMB TO THE ANARCHY! WE’RE GONNA FUCK EM UP!”

“YOU ARE NOT FUCKING ANYONE UP ANYTIME SOON, TECHNOBLADE.” Philza’s voice boomed from behind the closed door. Said door swung open to reveal your father’s angry form and your uncle’s intrigued, slightly proud form.

You three stared at the two for a while with gaping mouths, your previous intensity substantially diminuendos into a quiet shock. No one fucks with an angry Dadza. Techno was the quickest to get over the shock. “...How long were you standing there?”

Your father sneered. “Well, long enough to hear that you three are going to fight someone! Why the hell would you do that?” 

Your brothers looked at you in a silent question. Shaking your head, you answered in a small voice, “there’s just some people messing with me at school. They were just worried about me. We weren’t gonna actually fight someone, they were just talking about how it’d be nice to get some revenge for me. I was just about to tell them that I could handle myself and we didn’t need to fight.”

Immediately, your dad’s stiff stance relaxed slightly as his eyes pierced into your own, searching them to see if you’re lying to him or not. You felt a cold sweat drip down the back of your head at the intensity of his gaze, you hated when he did that. It always made you feel like he was staring right at your soul. Eventually, his gaze softened.

“Why didn’t you tell me? I could’ve helped you through it.”

“I didn’t want to bother you. Plus, it’s nothing I can’t handle by myself.”

“But you looked really panicked earlier hun. Are you sure you can-”

“I just forgot about my stats homework until this morning and I thought I wouldn’t be able to get it done in time, but I did! No worries,” you spoke a little faster than usual. You prayed that he wouldn’t see through your lie. 

“...Alright. Just let me know if it gets to be too much for you and I can talk with your principal about it. Now go eat something and get ready, you only have,” he glanced at the clock on the wall, “an hour before you have to be at school. Hurry up or you’re going to be late.”

Your dad turned around and walked down the hallway away from the room. Schlatt, however, loomed in the doorway for a while before he came into the room and closed the door behind him. You three watched him warily as he eyed you and your brothers.

“...Ya know, I approve,” after seeing your confused looks, he chuckled and spoke again. “I approve of you three fuckin em up. I heard part of your conversation, and those snot nosed brats deserve it for what they did to my favorite niece.”

You three stared at him with shock, making him laugh at you. “Close your mouths, you’re gonna catch flies.” He paused for a second before leaning towards you and whispering “now, you didn’t hear it from me, but the key to a good punch is following through with it. Don’t hesitate. Don’t tuck your thumb in, that’ll break it. Make sure you center your hit on your index and middle fingers, they are the strongest points of the hand. If you need to, go for the eyes, nose, and groin.”

“I-thank you Uncle Schlatt. I really appreciate it. Just- please don’t tell dad?”

“Of course not! I mean, if you don’t fuck em up enough I will. (Y/n), when you’re done, I want details.”

You saluted sarcastically, “yessir, will do!”

He gave a boisterous laugh, “you better. Now go get ready.” 

As he was about to walk out of the room, he suddenly paused and his hand shot to his pants pocket. He pulled something out before putting it into your hand and turning again to walk out of the room. “This is from Tubbo and Tommy. They were worried about you.” In your hand laid three of your favorite candies. You felt your heart swell at their innocent, caring natures. They were honestly some of the sweetest kids you’ve ever met. 

“Well boys, you get first pics!” You held out the candy to them.

Wilbur looked at you with knitted eyebrows, “but they gave those to you.”

“I wouldn’t have gotten through that panic attack without you guys helping me, so take this as a temporary thank you.” You watched as they glanced at each other before reaching out to grab a piece of candy.

“Alright, I’m gonna go get ready, you guys can take the bathroom before me. Love you guys!”

You went into your room and made sure your curtains were closed before turning to your closet. Humming in thought, you picked out a white button up and the nicest sweater you owned. You put on the collared button up then slipped the sweater on over it so that the collar poked out of the neck. You smiled at yourself in the mirror, feeling more confident in yourself than you’ve felt since you started hanging out with them. Fuck them, they always lied to you. You looked great in anything you put on. You felt elated and basked in the spectacular feeling of being able to like what you wore. 

While you waited for your brothers to leave the bathroom, you pulled out your phone and scrolled through your contacts before you stopped on one: Haley’s. The girl that stole your heart and relentlessly stomped on it until it was a red puddle at her feet. Despite the pain, you still loved her. She was your everything. Your thumb hovered over her icon, contemplating on texting her. You had to tell her that she didn’t have to worry about her pictures anymore. 

(Y/n)

Haley

I know you don’t want to talk to me, but I have good news

You don’t have to worry about your pics anymore

I took care of it.

You don’t have to reply to this

Just know that I took care of it and you don’t have to worry about it anymore.

You sat on your bed staring at your phone screen waiting for her to open your messages. You stared at the ‘delivered’ icon at the bottom of your message, waiting for it to say ‘read’. You stared for about ten minutes before you gave up, putting your phone in your pocket and standing up with a sigh. She would see it eventually. Just as you reached your door, you felt a vibration in your pocket. You whipped out your phone and smiled at Haley’s face on your screen. She was calling you. 

Taking a deep breath to calm yourself down, you clicked the answer button, “hey Hales.”

“(Y/n), what’d you do?”

“I took care of it. That’s all you have to know.”

“I think I should know more. What’d you do?”

You paused for a moment before you hesitantly said, “I asked them to delete your pictures and they have to, it’s part of our deal.”

“...You found out who they were?”

“Yeah, but that’s not important. You don’t have to worry about it.”

“(Y/n), don’t tell me what to worry about. Who are they?”

“...Fine, it was Adrian Schnieder, Annie Lockhart, and Sammy McConnor. Ya know, you’re scary when you’re mad Hales. Remind me not to get on your bad side again.”

“It was them? You hang out around them all the time, I thought you were good friends. Why would they do that?”

Even though she couldn’t see you, you shrugged. “I dunno. I think they were just jealous. They’re assholes and I can’t believe I haven’t noticed it a lot sooner. I’m sorry they put you through that, you didn’t deserve what they did to you.”

“God (y/n),” she sighed out, you imagined that she was running a hand through her hair. “I can’t imagine how much that hurt you. You four were really close.”

“I know, but it was a long time coming. Like I said, I should’ve noticed that it was them. They’ve always been toxic as hell.”

“How’d you find out? What happened?”

“Did you hear about what they did to me yesterday?”

“Should I? If you’re not comfortable talking about it, that’s totally okay. You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t wanna.”

“No, it’s fine. You’re gonna hear about it eventually, shit spreads like wildfire at Klinkver. Long story short, they outed me to the entire school and thought that I was only friends with them to get in their pants. They basically told me to kill myself,” you added nonchalantly. “But that’s not the important part about this. They told me that they were the people that took those pictures of you.”

“...(Y/n), how could you say that’s not important! They fucked up your life and all you care about is my pictures? What’d they say they’d do with yours?”

“I asked them to not leak them until after the match tonight so you could have the spotlight. You deserve it after all the hard work you’ve put in to get team captain. Zuri was hard to beat and you deserve the recognition for that.”

You heard her take a deep breath through her nose, “(y/n), for once in your life care about yourself over others. You’re gonna be exposed to the entire school and it bothers me that you’re being so nonchalant about that.”

“They’ve put me through worse. Besides,” you wove a hand in the air, “it’ll all blow over sooner or later when another person gets their nudes leaked. You remember how fast people forgot about Marlene’s nudes when May’s got leaked like a week later.”

“Still, it’s degrading to have people see you like that. No matter how fast they get over it, it doesn’t change the fact that they’ve seen you. You can’t come back from that sweetheart.”

You felt your heart skip a beat at the nickname. Even if she called almost everybody that, you felt special. “I don’t care if people see my boobs, it wasn’t even a clear picture anyways. It was hella blurry.”

Your door swung open for the second time today. There stood Tommy, his eyes peering innocently at you. “Dad wanted me to tell you to hurry up.”

You smiled at him, “thank you buddy. Let him know I’ll be down in a minute. Oh, and thank you for the candy, it really made me happy.”

He beamed brightly before he sprinted down the stairs. “Was that Tommy? Is he gonna be at the match tonight?”

“Of course, he and Tubbo are our team’s mascots after all. They would never miss a game, especially our final match.”

“I can’t wait to see them, but we need to talk about this. It’s more serious than you paint it as. How are you not pissed at those dumbasses? You trusted them and they betrayed you.”

“Oh, believe me I’m furious. Heh, I’m actually kinda shaking right now because of how pissed I am. But for now, I’m just gonna imagine their faces on the ball so I can keep my mind off them until tomorrow.”

“...Please don’t tell me you’re gonna do something stupid tomorrow.”

“I wouldn’t call it stupid per se, they deserve it for what they put you through. It’s more getting justice than being stupid.”

“(Y/n), I swear to god if you start a fight just to get back at them for me, I’m gonna slap you. Think about yourself every once and a while, they put you through so much. If you feel comfortable, you’re gonna tell me everything they did to you tonight on the bus coming home.”

“So we’re gonna sit together?” You tried and failed to stomp the hopeful tone from your voice.

Her laugh sounded angelic in your ear, “of course we are silly, you’re my best friend. I gotta go, my dad’s calling me. I’ll talk to you later!”

“See ya!” When you hung up, you danced around your room with joy. You- no, they- didn’t ruin your friendship with Haley after all! Oh, you felt like your heart was going to burst out of your chest with joy. Even if she didn’t like you like you adored her, you still cherished your friendship. Looking back, Haley and the team always had your back, they genuinely cared about you. They were perhaps the only ones you would fully trust in the future. 

“(Y/N), HURRY UP YOU’RE GONNA BE LATE!” Tommy’s voice outside your door shook you from your happy dance. “Coming!”

You ran to the bathroom and hastily went through your routine. Despite your rushing, you tried your best to look presentable. You were going to prove those snakes wrong, you were beautiful no matter what you wore or how you looked.

After running down the stairs with your bag, your dad stopped you before you could run out the door with your keys. “You look nice today hun.”

“Thanks Dad, I just wanted to dress up a bit for finals today. I’m honestly really pumped to play tonight.”

“That’s good,” he smiled at you before pulling you into a quick hug. “Just take it easy today, you need to save your energy for the match tonight... Listen, I don’t know what happened to you this morning and I don’t know exactly what’s going on in your life right now, but just know that I’m always gonna be here for you. Whether you need help with homework, advice, or if you want me to beat up someone else’s dad for you,” he chuckled, “I’ll do it.” 

You closed your eyes and leaned into his touch, happy with the contact. You two stood in the hall for a moment before he pulled away and told you to leave for school. 

The drive to the school was uneventful with your brothers mainly holding up the conversation. As you pulled into the parking lot, you realized that you needed to catch up on two full days of stats homework.

“Hey Tech?” He hummed, looking over to you.

“Sorry, but would I be able to maybe copy your stats notes from Tuesday?”

“Yeah, I’ll give em to you so you can copy it before school starts. We’d have to go to Mr. Mullins for yesterday’s notes though. We can just ask him about it before school starts.”

As you pulled into a space and moved to leave the car, a hand stopped you. “(Y/n), if any of those two-faced bitches bother you at all, let us know. Don’t deal with this on your own, we’re here for you,” Wilbur said genuinely.

“Yeah, if they say anything bad about you, it’s on sight.”

You laughed, “thanks guys, I’ll let you guys know if they do anything. We gotta get going though if Tech and I wanna get those notes done.”

In the school, you and Techno successfully got your notes done before the first bell rang. The rest of class went by without a hitch with you actually somewhat understanding mostly everything being taught. You even got a question right when you were called on! Turns out not feeling weighed down by toxic people helps a lot with concentration.

The only block you were dreading was the second block. You were sure that if you even glanced at Annie and Adrian, you’d go apeshit on them. Luckily for them, they didn’t show up to class today. They were probably comforting Annie after you “manipulated” her, you thought with an eye roll. Today was just another work day, so you pulled out your laptop and opened Google Docs. You saw Annie’s and Adrian’s unfinished and you were slapped in the face with inspiration. 

They were still expecting you to finish their essays, so you were gonna finish them alright. You were going to completely rewrite their essays all about how they were terrible homophobes and how LGBT+ people are always facing some form of discrimination amongst their peers, complete with attached screenshots of them calling you slurs over text. You’d even write a little note at the beginning that would tell your teacher that they didn’t write this, but they made you write it so you deserved the credit for it. You didn’t care that this would take a while, the satisfaction that you would get would be worth it. This was going to completely screw up their grades, this essay was worth twenty five percent of your overall grade. Mr. Todd was really laid back, so he only had a few rules in the classroom. First was to respect your classmate’s time and work, second was to clean up after yourselves, and third (“the most important one” he said on the first day of school) was that he would never tolerate racism, sexism, transphobia, or homophobia in his classroom. Your masterpieces you were writing would definitely earn them a failing grade, a good scolding from Mr. Todd, and maybe a visit to the principal’s office. This would be first in a long line of gifts you have in mind for them. 

At lunch, you were slightly stumped as to where you should sit. You didn’t really know anybody in your lunch period, so you just sat at the empty table Adrian, Annie, and Sammy left for you today and ate while working on your masterpieces. Finding sources was extremely easy for you, you remembered doing extensive research about discrimination when you first found out that you weren’t the straight girl you thought you were. Luckily for you, you still had the old Google Doc full of sources you wanted to save for later. Thank you, freshman you. 

Third and fourth block went by relatively quickly, you completely finished the work in both classes with plenty of time left for you to continue typing up the essays. You had gotten Adrian’s completely done and Annie’s thesis written. Oh, revenge is sweet. You weren’t even done with what you had in store for them. 

You had their parent’s phone numbers and you got Adrian’s boss’ number from Marlene, who worked with him as a waitress. Annie’s parents were total sweethearts that would be absolutely fuming if you showed them what she said to you. You weren’t sure about Adrian’s or Sammy’s parents, but you were going to send them screenshots anyways. If Adrian’s parents were as bigoted as he was, you still had his boss to fall back on. You could email the screenshots to the principal and the athletic director so that you could have something to rely on if Sammy’s parents had the same beliefs as she did. She valued cross country more than everything, so you could fuck that up for her. Revenge never tasted so sweet to you before, it felt like you were high with how giddy you were. Techno and Wilbur were going to love this. 

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[literaphobe]

sapnap is a phenomenal stand alone player but sot is an example of where that can breakdown in a team game where it’s difficult to hard carry a team.

when he’s focusing he has trouble both listening and processing what his teammates are saying to him and responding to them. He’s still a great player because of his mechanical skills but things will go wrong because he’s not as aware of what is going on

about sapnap death in 21

cpk went down a tunnel mined some cracked bricks in wall exposing a spawner, doesn’t light up or break the spawner. turns around places a carpet and leaves. goes to do something else comes back places 3 carpets on that same tunnel then breaks all 3? making it look like no one been in the tunnel.

later sapnap goes down that tunnel completely unaware cpk has been in that tunnel. He falls into the water and has a bunch of mobs from the spawner attack him. i don’t really think that one was really his fault.

i see… anyway i just watched sapnap’s mcc18 sot pov and it tells me everything wrong w playing randomly and why dream’s role assignment vault rush strategy works so well

because it’s not just about finding the vaults fast, it’s that whoever is put in charge of red key goes down red path, and whoever’s in charge of blue key goes down blue path, and green vault should always be collected by the sandkeeper

sapnap collected both green and blue vault in mcc18, and even though he found green key and blue vault, he shouldn’t have been the one doing those things. sapnap’s got good efficient movement when it comes to SoT, but his decision making from start to end is why his teams hardly ever come first or top 3 in SoT

so here are things i took note of, ifl he possibly vod reviewed and made changes in future mccs, but these are some of sapnap’s biggest issues in mcc18, just for fun:

- excessively kills mobs, sometimes even going for mobs that won’t hurt him in any way, such as a spider on the corner of the ceiling far away from him, it was just one spider, but he went all the way to attempt to kill it, failed(?) and then caused the spider to aggro him which slowed him down when he was already at the end of the section and planning on leaving, the spider wouldn’t’ve done anything to anyone, especially not on his cracked ass team, so he should’ve left it alone. he goes out of his way to kill almost every mob in this game when it wasn’t necessary

- doesn’t seem to have a clear vision of what he wants to do, randomly saw spawn parkour (which is what u should only do if u have nowhere else to go and a shit load of coins at the end), went OOH :D tried it, failed, ran into green vault, which is in the same place it always is, but he thought he discovered it for some reason, he kills the two spiders in the room and mines the one spawner and collects all the sand (this should’ve been scott’s job, and he prob wouldn’t have went out of his way to kill both spiders either) is excited that he did this (its very endearing) and then leaves to go down another tunnel, where he finds green key

- his next mistake which led to more situations that amplified that it was a mistake for him to do this, was collecting green vault. now he has so much money. Too much money, which would’ve been safe with scott. And so now hes too scared to take risks. He spent ages being like Oooooh there’s lava parkour But i think i could totally do it… [cue tubbo’s agonized screams] haha im just joshing u guys….. [looks over at lava parkour several times clearly tempted to do it but scared as he murders so many skeletons bc he has many coins, comes back to this place like twice] and so when sylvee tells him she found two parkour spots she couldn’t do, one being the pressure plate one the other being this lava thingy that led to a huge tunnel—sapnap easily did the pressure plate one but both he and sylvee were scared, and at this point he had already gotten green vault, so scott was also scared and did not want him to risk anything, which is perfectly understandable, but if sapnap had not collected a vault, it wouldn’t have been that hard for his skillset

- later on, sapnap goes down a tunnel he’s already been down at least twice and finally finds blue vault. The problem is, he doesn’t have blue key, and has to go all the way back to scott and get the key and go all the way back to the vault again. ifl this shows the importance of dream’s SoT strat. If u assign someone blue key and make them go down blue vault, they won’t have to come back and get blue key when they find it. going back and forth the tunnel an extra time to get a key is a waste of 20-30 seconds, which is Everything in sands

- if there’s anything else notable i forgot about it already. but overall sapnap has the skills to be one of the best sands of time players, but his decision making and communication w his team is lacking a bit, and that’s why he’s not as efficient and likes collecting vaults

[palettepainter]

I��ve got post vaccine (moderna gang) shivers so I need to express fluff headcanons to spread good vibes

When Ecto was planning to propose, he had to keep it so hush hush because Higari can easily find things out. He didn’t tell anyone but higaris mother and his own parents. He was very happy that Higari was actually surprised with the proposal. Higari wears the rings on a necklace- his quirk doesn’t exactly make wedding rings easy to find.

As much as Higari prefers being a support hero, search and rescue jobs that go smoothly it’s very rewarding. He often checks up on those he’s managed to rescue, keeps in touch with some too. There’s this lovely older woman who he rescued from a crumbling retirement home who sends him baked goods every holiday. He visits her every month for tea.

When Ecto is sick, Higari cares for him easily. Even when Ecto acts like he isn’t sick. He’ll make him soup, make sure he’s resting, cold compress on his forehead. As stubborn as he is, ecto appreciates it.

Higaris favorite memory with his dad is digging around in the yard with him. Since they had the same quirks, it worked out. He showed him how to carve tunnels without the ground crumbling, or just played around in the dirt. There’s a picture of Higari when he was three, covered in dirt with his head peaking out of a hole. His dad was grinning, sitting near by like he was cheering him on. Sometimes, especially on days where thinking about his dad is hard, he’ll tell Ecto stories.

As someone who also got shivers after getting a vaccine I know the feeling, how you’re doing well!

Ecto proposing, Yes! I love the idea of Ecto proposing to Higari, and his rugged flirting smirking self just crumbles in the face of Ecto holding a ring to him. Ecto’s eyes are so full of love and he has such a soft grin on his face that Higari can’t help but tearing up, he tries to think of something flirty to say back, but he just can’t. He’s overwhelmed - probably ended up tackling Ecto in a hug with a big kiss, which threw Ecto off guard, thinking at first maybe he’d overwhelmed Higari when he started crying.

Higari wearing is around his neck, also yes. Higari’s wedding ring is the only thing that he will spend careful hours cleaning and polishing at the end of each day to make sure it stays in good condition, wears is around UA proudly - though I imagine for interviews outside of UA or when he’s called out for hero work he leaves it at home in a special box on his dresser or safely tucks it away in a drawer in the design studio, as much as he loves wearing the rink around his neck he dreads the thought of loosing it in a rescue, or having some nosy reports pester him for answers if they catch sight of it. 

With Higari’s gear I’m a firm believer he’d be a great rescue hero in say like natural disasters or if a building collapsed. With his giant robotic suit and his know how on construction he could easily map a safe route to evacuate citizens from an unstable building, or quickly find a way to clean up after a land slide. Need to move a giant tree? No problem he’ll move it no prob. Citizen can’t move because they’re leg hurts? He can carry em out to safety. Kids they rescued are bored while they’re waiting for parents to pick them up? Higari tolerates them clambering about on his hero suit like it’s a jungle gym

Anything with Higari caring for Ecto or vise versa is so wholesome! In my NGAU I imagine Higari prolly knows all the tricks to help when someone is sick, he grew up in a big house with tones of little siblings, as kids they got sick a lot with how often they played in the garden and mud, they’ve all got very strong immune systems so it’s rare Higari or his siblings get sick - but Higari still knows all the tricks to help nursing someone back to health. He remembers to give Ecto some medicine, make him some soup, hot water bottle if he’d cold, flannel if he’s too hot and plenty of liquids. A teenie tiny part of Ecto might even enjoy all the attention, appreciating Higari’s concern. Too bad Higari is too stubborn to actually treat himself when he’s sick, with how little he gets sick he doesn’t take it all that seriously - thankfully Ecto is a patient man with many clones, so is willing to drag Higari back to bed if needed XD

And the last one with his dad...

Anon: Are you trying to make me cry-

In my NGAU Powerloader’s dad was all over him, spoiled Higari so so much. Spent many lazy afternoons slacking off work when the missus wasn’t looking to play around with Higari (bragged for like a week straight that he got his quirk, proud dad moment). Higari’s mother came out into the garden to see how the boys where doing, she finds her husband and toddler son covered head to toe in dirt and mud. She gets angry at them, insisting the two need a bath if they want to have dinner. Toddler Higari hated baths from the day he was born apparently, and it’s only until dear old papa gives him a bath is he willing to get clean. His dad puts bubbles in Higari’s hair, and Higari splashes bubbles onto his dads beard, who then makes a silly face to make Higari laugh. Too bad only one hour after tea the two got dirty again-

The first time Higari used his quirk was when he was outside with his dad. His dad was working on fixing up the shed, Higari sitting in a small play pen outside with some toys while his dad stood close by, able to work while also keeping an eye on Higari. Higari, bored of playing with his building blocks, begins to drag his little hands at the ground, and before he knows it he’s tunneling his way to freedome beyond the bounds of his baby playpen. This kind of scneario probably ensued:

Kaigo (PL’s dad): Phew *picks up tool box and turns around* Alright sweetpea, time to go back insi- *freezes when he sees the playpen is empty, and no baby in sight* W-WHAT?! *drops tool box, and rapidly looks around* Uh- H-Higari?! Sweetpea?! Where’d you go?? Come to dad, this isn’t funny! *rushes around a bit*

Higari: *tunnles his way up to the surface in his mothers flowerbed, a small pile of dirt with a flower sticking out the top sitting on his head*

Kaigo: *searching in the bushes* H-Higari?! Higari! Where are you?! *mumbles* Shit I took my eyes off him for two minutes! Where the hell could he-

Higari: BAPA!

Kaigo: *jumps and whirls around*..*heaves and sigh and rushes over* Oh thank god! *scoops him into his arms for a hug* You stupid lil’ ankle biter! Don’t you ever do that again! *holds him out at arms length* How in the world did you even get out??

Higari: *sneezes from the dirt, making the flower fall off his head*

Kaigo:..Wait. Did..D-Did you, DIG your way out?!

Higari: *incoherent baby noises*

Kaigo;...Ooooh you are in SO much trouble young man, you know how many years off my life you just took? Huh?...*scowls as Higari giggles* Oh so you think this is FUNNY?-

Higari: *grabs his nose* BA!

Kaigo:............*sighs* You’re damn lucky you’re cute, you know that?...Uh, how about we DON’T tell your Ma about this, okay?

Ever since then his dad had to watch him like a hawk, one minute Higari was sitting playing with his toys, the next he was trying to dig his way to the other side of the world. When he was old enough his dad did give him some lessons in how to dig safely so the ground wouldn’t become unstable. I imagine Higari may have madea  few tunnels as a kid that where too close to the surface, and his very unsuspecting mum and dad would just sink into the ground collapsing an old tunnel Higari made. And Higari having pictures?? YES. His mum probably has a whole stash of pictures of Higari as a baby playing outside with his dad and her. Including the embarrassing photos, the kind of photos Higari would never want Ecto to see, but his mum showed him anyway. 

Now I wanna write angst with Powerloader and his dad aaaaa-

[silver-wield]

Can you do an analysis on Cloud and Tifa’s body language during that scene when they’re in Cloud’s room and he’s slyly referring to his promise to Tifa? There was crazy sexual tension in that scene and it honestly looked like Cloud was subtly being flirty with her 😭

No probs, Nonny! I actually already touched on their body language in a reply to a gif set of this bit, so we'll just expand on that ^=^

Ok, spoiler warning for ppl who haven't played – do I still need to do this? Eh ok, (I tag FF7R spoilers as final fantasy 7 remake spoilers) and it's gonna be a VERY long one so prepare to scroll.

Also, this is one person's interpretation of the scene, so if you disagree that's cool and we'll agree to disagree.

You're also gonna have to excuse the janky quality on some of the screens, I'm grabbing them from Youtube and it's frustrating af trying to get the exact moment I want.

Other analyses if anyone's interested.

Shinra HQ vision scene (Cloti/plot analysis) 

Chapter 3 (Cloti reblog) 

Tifa character analysis 

Aerith Resolution (plot analysis/theory – I should probably update this since I've had other ideas since then) 

Train graveyard (not really an analysis, but I got some sweet screenshots of Cloti) 

Clotiscrew tunnel analysis 

Cloti reunion analysis 

The Promise Analysis 

Andrea's approval (Cloti ask response) 

Leslie analysis (not mine, but a good read) 

Cloti action touching 

Aerti friendship analysis 

Now, strap in and enjoy the ride.

Keep reading

Recap time! Yall know the drill by now if you've read my other ramblings.

Chapter 3, where we get a room (lol), do some jobs and have a chat with Tifa. It's pretty basic stuff until the cut scene after Marle gives Cloud a talking to. She's the overprotective grandmother figure that Tifa needs in her life and she wants to make sure Cloud isn't messing with her. Now, why would she think that? Well, maybe she picked up some hints when Tifa mentioned Cloud to her about wanting a place to stay? Marle's pretty sharp, after all, and if she got the impression Tifa is carrying a torch, she'd definitely make sure Cloud's not about to blow it out. She tells him to pay attention to her, to listen. This is the very first instance of Cloud taking in that kind of info and it changes how he treats others for the rest of the game.

After the chapter 4 mission where Cloud reflects on his promise to Tifa, it's back to the slums for some rest. Then Tifa knocks on his door and enters. She mentions Cloud was gone for a while, and he answers he was walking so that he keeps Jessie's secret – because he's that kind of guy.

Small talking Tifa is cute, but lol, Cloud seems to have purposely forgotten Johnny since he's yet another admirer of Tifa. For a guy who doesn't forget info like morons who could cause them trouble in the long run, it's pretty telling how quickly he is to dismiss Johnny.

Onto something more interesting in this pic, though. Cloud is sitting on the bed. Now, if he wasn't comfortable around Tifa he'd have got up. His eyeline is lower than hers so he has to look up at her. This puts her in a position of dominance over him – also not surprising since his mentality is that of a 16yr old around her and she's the adult in the relationship. Tifa for her part has her body turned to the side in a non-confrontational pose.

Tifa has her hands clasped in front of herself (couple of seconds before this screen) which indicates she's trying to protect herself as she asks the question if Cloud is leaving Midgar. Not surprising since she's afraid of losing people she cares about and even just someone heading off somewhere else would upset her, though she'd try not to show it.

Cloud, for his part, looks away, appearing as though he's thinking it over, but we're already aware he's decided to stay and help Tifa out, so this is a fake out on his part. He's half-teasing, half trying to get a positive response from her (remember the water tower? Yeah, this is that Cloud. The dork. The one who is useless at talking to girls).

I'm sorry, but Cloud is such a cheeky bastard I just can't with him! This is giving me all the throwbacks to his behaviour at the water tower and I love that it mirrors that moment, but with more success on his part this time. He's looking all around trying not to give himself away before it's needed. He's smiling and looks relaxed. He might be sitting but he definitely believes he has the upper hand between them at this point. Remember, I've said before that eye contact is important. Well, in this case, Cloud's deliberate refusal to make eye contact shows he's teasing. This is such a cute moment between them!

Oh ho! But here's where his teasing ends. Cloud is being completely serious and obviously took the promise between them as being special. Ducking his head out of sight completely prevents us from seeing his expression and allows him to act in a casual way about something that's such an important part of who he became. But, he's not quite pulling it off because he's also looking quite defensive in this pose. His hands are clasped in front of him and he's leaning forward, looking at the floor. This is something very meaningful for him to talk about and he's hoping Tifa doesn't brush it off, so if he doesn't look at her he won't have to see her reaction.

Tifa's obviously got her own interpretation of how that promise went. We can guess she did it because she just wanted a guarantee she'd see Cloud again some day from how she acted during the water tower cut scene. Here, she's leaning back on her hands which leaves her body language open, but also conceals something. She's looking down, the same way Cloud did. She's also hiding her true feelings towards Cloud the same way he's hiding from her, but she's being as honest as she can be as the same time. I've seen people call Tifa a liar because of how she doesn't address Cloud's memory problems in OG, but when you really take a close look at her, lying just isn't her. This is a complex moment between them. They've not long met again and they're having this heavy conversation. The feelings between them are still there, but there's all this other stuff that's more important. But, they know they're friends, and that's a good place to start getting to know each other again, and Cloud choosing to stay is that first step, with the quick follow up of him reminding her of their shared history.

Cloud, you smooth bastard I love you for this! This is definitely flirting! He's looking directly at her, then dips his head to the side in an inviting gesture. His eyes soften and he gets this tiny smile on his face. His body language has changed, too. He's sitting up and back slightly with both arms by his sides. There's no more defensiveness about him. He wants to listen to her. Cloud is choosing to ask for Tifa's confidence. He's letting her know she can rely on him. That he's interested.

For her part, Tifa's pleased, but surprised. She's not long got back in touch with Cloud and, while he's been a decent guy, she's had the overall impression he isn't the same as the soft boi she knew, so this is a revelation for her. The Cloud she knew is still within this Cloud – which anyone who knows the real!Cloud SOLDIER!Cloud storyline is exactly the point of this moment. Tifa knows his true self. The true self that comes out only when he's with her.

Cloud, bro, I'm gonna combust from all these flirty gestures! Fully open body language, a smile, teasing tone. Goddamnit, just say you love her already! Yes, please, invite Tifa to check you out. Remember, he's still sitting. He's so relaxed and natural around her. Even if all you saw was two friends and no ship, you'd be insane to think he isn't a different person in this scene. He's not SOLDIER Cloud here.

Tifa, for her part, isn't flirting here. She likes Cloud, that's clear, and her body language is reaching towards him, which suggests she has feelings towards him, but her tone is more playful and her expression is pleased. She's happy to see her friend isn't too different from the one she knows. Most of the flirting in this scene is on Cloud's side, which makes sense when you think of the torch he's been carrying for her. He's trying to get her attention, same way he did when they were kids. Tifa's oblivious but receptive because she likes him back, but she won't show it as much because she thinks he's not interested. Someone knock their heads together please lol

OMG FUCKING HELL CLOUD JUST TELL HER YOU LOVE HER! Leaning back on the bed, totally vulnerable body language, drawing attention to the bod in an attempt to spark her interest – since he's clearly interpreted this line from Tifa as a rejection – this boi is trying so hard! He even looks a little disappointed she's not more impressed with SOLDIER Cloud, but we knew she preferred the dork anyway lol

Now, I know everyone talks about the physical and emotional distance between them here, which is obvious, but what I'm gonna point out is after feeling like SOLDER Cloud has been rejected by Tifa – thanks to her preference for the real deal – Cloud looks away from her. She's brushed him off and he's hiding his upset by not meeting her eyes.

Tifa is still oblivious to this, but Cloud definitely has a look of disappointment on his face.

Now, after that last bit you'd think Cloud would assume he's got no chance, but then Tifa says how glad she is to have him back and that cheers him up. He's still in that mindset of a 16yr old with a crush, whereas Tifa's moved on. She's had 5 years apart from him (she thinks it's 7, I know, but he saw her in Nibelheim and how she'd matured a little). She's not thinking of him in an openly romantic sense, whereas Cloud is definitely still deep in his feelings for her. Hearing she's happy to see him hints to him that he might still have a chance with her if they spend more time together. His soft af goodnight is the last indicator of his strong feelings for her. His body language is open once more, he's staring after her with a longing look and a smile and doesn't look away until the door closes.

Conclusion

JUST GET FUCKING MARRIED ALREADY IT'S BEEN 23 YEARS!

Lol seriously though, Cloud is definitely still deep in the throes of his childhood crush. Tifa could resurrect hers with time because it's clear she does still harbour feelings for him, but she's not the type to be pushy or insistent. She'll let Cloud take the lead and offer subtle hints how she feels, hoping he feels the same. She doesn't pick up on Cloud's subtle flirting compared to those more in your face things he tried earlier. Through all of those interactions with her he's definitely trying to say that he likes her and he'd like her to accept his feelings, but the bigger gestures get the brush off, although she blushes and looks shy, and the smaller ones go over her head.

Unfortunately, these two are oblivious af and it's gonna take everyone's help to get them together.

[momentofmemory]

fictober - day thirteen

Prompt #13: “I never knew it could be this way.”

Fandom: BBC’s Merlin

Warnings: None

Characters: Merlin, Gwen

Words: 1160

Author’s Note: probs gonna write my nano around these two this year, so i thought i’d start practicing. which was a good idea, bc i’m clearly v v rusty.

>>A Kind of Warmth

Gwen sat at the table at the front of her chamber, the reports requiring additional laws on magic use laid out before her. She held a feather quill in her right hand, the ink slowly percolating out of the tip, staining the sheets a dark black.

Merlin was really supposed to be consulted for most of these, but he’d been helping with a mild outbreak in the lower town that morning. Gwen had planned to delay dealing with the reports (which were nearly as high as her forearm at this point) until he could join her, but after she’d gotten dragged into her fourth meeting on the intricacies of visitation etiquette, she’d used them as an excuse to hole herself up in her room. She’d even gone so far as to give strict orders for absolutely no one to bother her, short of a large-scale attack on the citadel.

(She almost hadn’t even added that stipulation, given their uncanny track record with such things, but it seemed irresponsible to not.)

She stretched her back and looked at the amount of paperwork she still had left, and let her head fall to the table with a resigned thud. She didn’t know how Arthur ever got through it all.

Her frustration ebbed at that thought, replaced with the melancholy she always associated with her late husband. She took the signet ring out of the pocket hidden under her skirts, and turned it about in her fingers.

Her chambers were so quiet at night.

The space had always felt large to Gwen, coming as she had from a one-room cottage with a curtain as its only division, but it only started feeling empty after Arthur was gone. Things were better now that Merlin had come back, and the kingdom wasn’t falling apart around her ears, but the yawning silence still got to her at times.

The bed pillows where she still surprised herself by finding strands of Arthur’s hair trapped in the frills. The metal cup on the desk, dented around the rim from the many times Arthur had hurled it at the wall, or more aptly, at Merlin. The dying fire in the hearth that she, Arthur, and Merlin had sat around for hours at a time trying to sort out the intricacies of centuries old trade agreements.

So many ghosts.

She shook her head and stood: clearly it was time to take a walk.

Gwen slipped her cloak on and then crept out the door, mindful to avoid her own guards just in case. She headed towards the hidden, winding passageways that allowed servants to pass unnoticed through the castle, hopeful that the late hour would mean no one would be about to spot her.

Her heels clicked on the stone floors and the sound echoed all the way down the hallway. Gwen winced and thought for not the first time that the soft-soled slippers she had worn as a servant were far better suited for such nightly exploits. Gwen did the next best thing, and took them off entirely.

She wandered deeper into the castle, her feet carrying her without direction, and eventually she found herself in one of the older tunnels that led out into the lower towns.

It was here that she stopped, because the light around the bend was glowing green.

Gwen shifted both shoes into one hand, and with the other pulled her sword from its sheath. She crept forward, thinking again about Camelot’s absurd odds of being attacked, and rounded the corner.

“Merlin!”

The sorcerer in question yelped and nearly fell over from where he’d been sitting on the floor. Gwen dropped her sword to her side and looked at the surrounding air. The green glow was not from a torch or another, earthly light source, she realized, but from Merlin himself.

He caught her eyes, and the glow vanished, leaving only the light from Gwen’s own candle.

“Gwen!” he stammered, rising to his feet in an awkward bow. “What’re you doing out so late?”

Gwen ignored him, and carefully placed a hand in the space the glow had just been. The light was gone, but it still felt warm to her touch. “Was that you?”

“Um.” Merlin shrugged. “Yeah.”

“Oh.” Gwen lowered her hand. “…It was beautiful.”

Merlin’s eyes widened, like no one had ever said that to him before.

Probably, Gwen realized, because no one had.

Hesitantly, Merlin raised a closed fist to his chest, and whispered a word Gwen didn’t understand as he opened it.

A brilliant, shining blue butterfly stood in what was once empty space.

Merlin stretched his hand out to Gwen, and to her delight, after a moment’s pause the winged creature inched over to her own. She marveled at the weightlessness of it; how infinitely delicate and beautiful it was.

“This is magic?”

Merlin nodded, and Gwen felt a giggle bubble up in her chest. “I never knew it could be this way.”

Another butterfly materialized on Merlin’s arm, his eyes growing soft. “I don’t think I did, either.”

“What do you mean?”

Merlin frowned, clearly trying to figure out how to put his thoughts into words. “…I think there wasn’t a lot of beauty in magic, after the Purge. Not because it turned evil or anything, but because beauty has a kind of… warmth to it, I guess.”

The butterfly on Gwen’s arm decided she was not, in fact, a flower, and flew back over to Merlin to try her luck with his scarf. Merlin watched it burrow into the folds before continuing.

“It’s terrifying,” Merlin said. “But it feels safe, too.”

Gwen bit her lip, thinking about all the years Merlin had spent afraid. “Not much safety going around during the Purge.”

He huffed out a laugh, and the butterflies faded away. “No.”

Gwen felt a sense of loss as Merlin’s magic faded, and she decided she wouldn’t stand for that. She cleared her throat.

“What else can you do?”

Merlin looked at her, a grin sliding across his face. “You sure you want the answer to that?”

“Don’t go all Gaius on me.”

Merlin laughed, and then light and colour such as Gwen had never seen exploded from his fingertips.

He spoke in a tongue Gwen had learned to associate with danger, but was also inescapably Merlin, and Gwen could never be afraid of him.

Gold swirled in his eyes and reflected in the dark brown of Gwen’s own, and she watched as his deft motions pulled the air from its natural currents and swirled it through the space. Gravity-defying flowers and twinkling lights materialized around them, caught up in the wind, and wrapped around Gwen’s arms and skirts such that she herself was glowing. The walls danced with colours more vivid than the brightest sunset.

A grin wide enough to match Merlin’s own spread across Gwen’s face, and she reveled in the tingling sensation of magic running along her spine.

She’d never felt safer.

[botls]

meeting the hadestown cast 9/29/19

here are my posts breaking down acts 1 and 2 of hadestown and here is my post about meeting tltm cast the same day :) enjoy and if you have more questions PLEASE ask 

patrick page:

so??? YES I MET PATRICK PAGE i was floored bc he never stage doors but on our way in he was walking in too and i typed it out right after it happened while we were on the ticket line and this is what i wrote: saw patrick page walking in to the theater talking to some kids i walked over in a trance - said hiiiiii really dreamily he said “hi enjoy the show” and i said “oh my gosh thank you you too wow” and he walking in i’m SHAKKKKKJIIIIIIINGGGG HE NEVER STAGE DOORS like yeah i was shaking so bad lmao i’ll never forget he was wearing a black short sleeve and carrying his lunch in a brown paper bag and his voice was otherworldly it was in-fucking-credible i didn’t get a picture or obviously not his signature on my playbill since it was before the show but yeah it was the coolest thing to ever happen to me

kimberly:

she was SOO sweet and smiley when she came over i told her ‘i LOVED your performance your facial expressions were fantastic” and she was like “oh my goodness thank you” so i was like “no for real i was already crying during if it’s true but when you stepped forward and faced the audience with that /look/ on your face i was done for” and she looked so happy i sadly didn’t get a picture WITH her bc i was passing up playbills and then she was unfortunately a little too far down the row but you live and you learn i guess i did get this picture of her though and i noticed her floral themed outfit and i just was like “on brand” and everyone around me Felt That

jewelle:

jewelle came out next and she was STUNNING like. seriously a QUEEN i told her how i loved her earrings and she was so happy she said she loves them and then the guy behind me said he loved her voice so then we were talking about that for a while as she was talking about how she wished there were more roles for deeper voices we all sent an f in the chat for that one then when she was walking away the woman next to me was like “oh your pocket is open” and she didn’t hear so we all tried to get her attention and we told her and she said  “oh i know it won’t close - that’s my ghetto bag”

timothy:

timothy !!!!!! taller than you’ve ever imagined wow i had my three inch platform sandals on and it was still a Struggle to get us both in frame but yeah he was super nice and i told him “my favorite memes are ones about you being tall” and he was like “oh there are a lot” and i just said “thank goodness for that tho” ajjshdgduis when i went to take our pic i had the camera facing the wrong way and he was like “you’re gonna have to try that again” lmfao

yvette:

yvette came out and she was GORGEOUS like seriously. i told her so like a million times ajjshdjskms i told her how i loved her hair, how good her lipstick looked, how good her make up was, how beautiful she looked in general poor girl probably wished she looked uglier with how many times i told her like i honestly don’t remember any conversation beyond that except maybe me telling her she did great idek literally all i remember was being floored to be in the presence of such beauty

reeve fucking carney:

then next we see the door open and i go “REEVE” and lo and behold who walks out but reeve carney i couldn’t believe it i was freaking out over his bandanna i was like “holy shit im about to meet reeve carney in a bandanna” ajshdgfhdj but anyway as he got closer i was like “oh my god look at his bracelets” then we were all looking and one matched jewelle’s earrings so i said so and the guy behind me was like “i was JUST gonna say that” we both ajshdgftydusk together then the whole time the lady next to me had been taking pictures of every cast member for her daughter so she asks reeve “could i please get a picture of you?” like she did with everyone else but reeve was the first one to be like “sure––do you want to get in?” and without missing a beat she goes “no” so we all laughed and i said “turned DOWN” and reeve turned to me and made a fake sad face so then he was signing someone from the back’s playbill right before me and i saw his eva bracelet and my heart LEPT i was like “ohmygod i LOVE your eva bracelet” i think i might have said “uwu” out loud rip and then he goes “thanks someone actually gave it to me at the stage door” and i said “i wish someone would give ME an eva bracelet at the stage door” and everyone around me that Got It was laughing and saying yeah but reeve just made a face like “can’t relate rip you guys this one is MINE” and he was signing more playbills and i was like i am not wasting any time with this man in silence so i said “so uh this is gonna be really random but i loved you in taylor swift’s i knew you were trouble music video” he must have been so confused he was just like “yeah uh thanks it was? uh? a lot of fun” ajhsdgfudi so then after i was done passing playbills he was kind of moving down the line and i was like “WAIT REEVE CAN WE PLEASE GET A PHOTO” so he leaned back for us to take it and then he almost started moving away again but the guy behind me was trying to get his attention and he was like “mr. reeve” and we were all laughing so he goes “mr. reeve carney, mr. carney” and at the same time like three of us in unison went “mr. carney comma reeve” and THAT made him look up ajshdgfd he was prob like “get these freaks away from me” and then like the wind he was gone. but then i got tunnel vision for his shoes which i took a blurry photo of lmao but they were Great for the show aesthetic and yeah that was that. right after i met him this was how i described it in my notes: “reeve carney in person looks perpetually stressed and anxious i was 🥺”

extra extra read all about it:

so our restaurant was right down the block like two buildings over and we were eating outside and GUESS FUCKING WHAT yvette walked past and then a few minutes later REEVE WALKED PAST when yvette was walking i yelled “hi yvette you look so beautiful—uh i mean––still from before when i told you” and then reeve was walking past on his phone and i waved in what i can only describe as the wave the boy does in the “youre all going to hell” vine (appropriate lmao) and i yelled “hi reeve carney! i love you” he was like “hi haha thanks”

[krungle]

Major Liberal Talking Points...

...That you will see repeatedly over the next few months/year.

1. Republicans had control over the House, Senate and White House and still didn’t get anything done:

Truth is all about the Senate. Republicans had a simple majority (51 seats out of 100) of the Senate. However it takes a 2/3′s majority (66 votes out of 100) to pass almost anything in the Senate (or more precisely, to bring something to a vote because of the Filibuster Rule of the Senate). 

The Democrats repeatedly blocked Bills in the Senate, many containing things the Democrats demanded having, because these Bills also gave either the President of the Republicans things they wanted. For instance: the Democrats blocked several measures that would give DACA people (all of which are now adults) a pathway to citizenship because in one case (a budget Bill) it would fund The Wall, and in another case (Immigration Reform Bill) it would end Chain Migration and the VISA Lottery.

So the truth here is that the Republicans got a ton done, and are continuing to do so, in spite of interference from the Democrat Party, interference based on not forcing compromise but an ‘all or nothing’ policy of legislation. i.e.: Give us everything and get nothing in return.

2. The Special Council Reports in the past were delivered unredacted... so what are they hiding under the redactions?

The law for the Special Councils were changed by the Democrat Party after the impeachment of President Clinton. Under the new laws Bill’s Affair with Monica Lewinsky would never have come to attention of the Congress in the first place. Remember the Special Counsel was tasked to investigate Real Estate deals known as White Water, not blow jobs in the Oval Office. This is precisely why the Democrats changed the laws.

The new Law states that the Special Council hand his report to the DOJ, the head of the DOJ, the Attorney General, then reviews the report and writes his own report submitting that to Congress. Under the Law the Democrats wrote, they do not have the legal right to see any of the Special Council’s Report, not one word of it, much less any of the work material behind it.

Also under the Law that the Democrats wrote, the President has the legal right to review the DOJ Report and any other paperwork handed over the Congress and to redact it as the President wishes claiming Executive Privilege before it gets to Congress, even demanding that the Attorney General completely rewrite the report if the President Wishes. This is a legal right that President Trump is fully and completely passing on.

Under current law the DOJ cannot hand over an unredacted report to the Congress. However the DOJ is being really nice with the redactions and color-coding them to show why they made redactions at certain points, according to four legal categories.

Finally the Attorney General, under the current Democrat made law, has the sole responsibility to report to Congress, however in this case Attorney General Barr is having the Deputy Attorney General (an Obama Administration holdover who appointed the Special Council in the first place, Rod Rosenstein) and Robert Mueller (the Special Council himself) are working together on the redactions. It is highly unlikely that these two Never-Tumpers would allow Barr to hide anything from Congress. 

3. Charlottesville proves Trump is Racist

I made a post at the time of the Charlottesville event detailing what actually happened there and what Trump said about it. Here are the facts.

AntiFa and BLM were protesting and even vandalizing statues and monuments across the country. Many people became upset at the vandalization of historic monuments and wanted to stop this destruction of U.S. History. A group who presented themselves as being mainstream Conservative on several social media platforms formed a protest in response to BLM and AntiFa targeting of a statue in Charlottesville, Virginia in a way of drawing a line against vandalism, the destruction of historic landmarks, and the rewriting of history. Unknown by many who answered the call the organizers were not mainstream, not one bit.

Friday night about 525 (exact number is in my original post and gotten from AntiFa sources) torch carrying protesters carrying descended on a Confederate Statue in Charlottesville, Virginia. The organizers had convinced the people who showed up for a march that was scheduled for Saturday that BLM and AntiFa had planned on tearing down the statue that night and the group had to surround the statue to protect it. Once the group of protesters arrived at the statue a series of Tweets went out to summon a flash-mob of BLM and AntiFa counter-protesters that outnumbered the protesters by a large margin and who surrounded the protesters. The police formed a circle separating the two groups but did nothing as the BLM and AntiFa counter-protesters threw objects over the police into the protesters.

At about this same time the organizers of the pro-statue/history protest showed their true colors as the began chanting Anti-Semitic and racist chants. Many of the other people there refused to chant along with the White Supremacists but knew it was not safe to try to walk away through the bottle and rock throwing mob that surrounded them. Eventually the pro-statue protesters left the park and dispersed.

Reports were that over hundred more protesters came into town over night to join the White Supremacists for the scheduled Saturday March. However the count of the marchers on Saturday was just over 300 in number. This means that only about 200 of the 525 or so of the people at the statue on Friday night remained to march on Saturday. The rest, the majority of the people there Friday night, had left town once they saw the protest was a White Supremacist thing and not mainstream Conservative as it had been billed.

It was this 300 or so people who walked away from the protest that Trump was referring to when he said that there were good people on both sides of the protests in Charlottesville.

4. Trump Tower meeting proves the Trump Campaign colluded with Russians

First there is nothing illegal or even odd about one campaign getting dirt on another, in fact this is normal. But that is not what happened here.

Let us take a look at the Russian, Natalia Vladimirovna Veselnitskaya, involved in the ‘scandal’. She is a lawyer with connection to the both the Russian and Ukrainian government, has connections with Fusion GPS and Uranium One. Through Paul Manafort, who was still being secretly paid by Ukraine for consulting, Natalia was introduced to Jared Cushner and Donald Trump Jr. as having some undisclosed dirt on Hillery that she was willing to give for free.

Once she got to the meeting at Trump Tower she did not discuss Hillery but instead began lobbying for a loosening of economic sanctions against Russia, if Trump got elected, in exchange for loosening of Russia’s adoption rules and limitations for Russian orphans to US families.

Trump Jr. walked in, stayed for about five minutes or so then walked back out. Jared hung around for a little longer but also ended up concluding that the entire thing was based on false pretenses and was a complete waste of time.

The Mueller Report states that Russia had made many attempts to infiltrate the Trump Campiagn but failed to do so. This may have been one of those attempts if it wasn’t a blatant attempt by Hillery to sabotage the Trump Campaign. But any way it is looked at nothing illegal or even improper on either Jared Cushner’s or Trump Jr.’s point took place, either going into or coming out of the meeting.

5. Walls are a 14th Century solution to a 21st Century problem

This is a completely false narrative. Every single time a wall has been built throughout history, ancient history to modern history, they have worked and worked well.

In modern times the Israel Wall has stopped terrorist bombings and other activity in Israel. All that terrorist organizations such as Hamas can do now is to fire rockets over the walls. Attempts to tunnel under the wall have been thwarted several times.

Obama gave Jordan over a half a billion dollars to Jordan to build it’s own wall, and the US Congress is continuing to give Jordan more money every year towards that project.

Hamas (of Palestine) and the Muslim Brotherhood (of Egypt) were working together to cause problems in both Israel and Egypt until a wall was built near the Egyptian Border. The two groups are no longer exchanging weapons and other hardware with each other and the terrorist activities of both have been reduced substantially as a result.

5a. The Berlin Wall - Although the Berlin Wall stopped over a thousand defections a day from Communist East Berlin into Democratic West Berlin and reduced those numbers to less than two dozen over the next sixty years. (Wikipedia includes defections by people, like ballet dancers and musicians, who were in West Berlin on VISAs and defected in their numbers, significantly inflating the defection numbers even though those defections had nothing to do with climbing over the Berlin Wall) It must be kept in mind that the Berlin Wall was about keeping people in while the Mexican Wall is about keeping people out. Keeping people in is making prisoners of people; keeping people out is not making a prisoner of anyone.

6. We have the Right to see Trump’s Tax Returns

The President is not above the Law, nor is he below it. Every one of us has the following Constitutional Right:  Amendment IV The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized. 

This includes the President. Since the Mueller Report specifically states that the Trump Administration in no way colluded with Russians, there is no ‘probable cause’ to suspect pay-offs from the Russians (or anyone else) to Trump so therefor the Right of Trump to ‘Secure in their papers’ remains sacrosanct.

Although Congress may have passed a law that says the IRS must hand over tax returns to Congress when asked, there are many laws that the US Supreme Court have found to be Unconstitutional in the past, including Jim Crow Laws, Poll Taxes and Abortion Prohibitions. This law, even if it is being interpreted correctly in this case (which I doubt), may just be one more law that SCOTUS will find unconstitutional.

So, no, the Congress has no Right to see any specific person’s tax returns. The congress does have a right to see any number of random and anonymous tax returns but not any specific person’s. Even a judge cannot insist on seeing a specific person’s tax returns until Probable Cause of misdoing is proven.

7. The World is going to end in twelve years

As one person so eloquently said: If someone says to you ‘give me all your money or you are going to die’ the person is a shyster who is lieing to you and just wants your money.

8. Trump wants to take away your Healthcare

Just like ‘Republicans want to take away preexisting conditions’ was a lie, so is this. Trump believes that States can better figure out how to give healthcare to the needy than people in Washington, D.C. can. I happen to agree that the closer people the solution is made the better the needs of the individual is met.

Trump has been hinting at Block Grants to States so they can apply the money how they best see fit, whether that be keeping the Medicaid Expansion or opening a series of Free Clinics or something else, each individual States are best at figuring out how best to aide their own people.

The best that the Federal Government can do is to change things, like buying health insurance across State Lines and Torte Reform, to reduce or at least keep down healthcare costs for everyone, especially small businesses and the self-employed.

One thing Trump has in mind is to cap prescription costs to an average of the cost of that item on the World Market. This would help many people, especially those that are complaining of no longer being able to afford their medication, medication that now costs much more in the USA than it costs anywhere else on the planet.

Right now many people are forgoing Obamacare because the deductibles are so high it makes the insurance worthless. In other words you are out so much money before the insurance pays squat you’d already be broke long before that.

Of course those on Medicaid Expansion that pay nothing for everything are not in this boat at all, although that boat is what is supposed to pay for theirs, which it cannot, never has been able to and never can. However those who are part of the FreeCare is what the Black Grants to States that Trump is contemplating to ‘replace’ Obamacare.

9. Trump is anti-LGBTQ+

9a. As ‘proof’ people point to Trump’s rejecting Transsexuals in the military. However people are not giving this policy any thought at all. Rejecting Transsexuals is not discriminating against them, but allowing them in is giving them special treatment, treatment that no other people get.

Transsexuals suffer from Dysphoria. Two of the major symptoms of Dysphoria are eating disorders and suicidal thoughts. Either one of those, by itself, is a valid reason to reject someone from military service, yet Transsexuals, by definition, have both psychosis.

Therefor allowing Transsexuals into the military is giving them special treatment and is not ‘equal rights’ but ‘special rights’. Not only that but anyone in the military has access to stuff that can take out entire city blocks, if not entire cities. Allowing someone who is suicidal, someone who might decide to take as many with them as they can, access to such things is unconscionable. And before you try to argue against this point do you support taking away guns from people who the police think may be a danger to themselves or others? Don’t be self-contradictory with me.

9b. Trump took away the housing allowance for the SO’s of gay couples living overseas and serving the Executive Branch. This is true, but only half of it. The full of it is straight couples who are not married, the SO does not get the extra housing allowance either. This was another case of Obama disobeying the law and giving gay couples extra privileges that no one else had.

When Trump reversed this illegal Obama policy, Trump recognized Gay Marriage for all people employed in the Executive Branch, something that Obama did not do and something that Congress has failed to do for the rest of the Federal Government employees. In this way Trump is well ahead of the curve for Gay Rights, even further ahead of the curve than Obama was.

9c. Trump is the first President to hire into a Cabinet position an openly gay person. Although Wikipedia notes that Richard Grenell, US Ambassador to Germany is “the highest-ranking openly gay official ever in a Republican administration“ this source could have left out the word ‘Republican’ and been even more accurate, for no Democrat Administration has put a gay person is such a high position ever. Every State Department position that has come open since Trump appointed Ambassador Grenell has had him on Trump’s Short List.

9d. I present as final proof that Trump is actually Pro-Gay is the fact he has tasked the State Department to push for Gay Rights across the globe especially as it relates to fighting laws and punishment against gay people. Many Liberal groups and liberal press have twisted this around to be something bad but their arguments make no sense and can only be accepted if your only thought is to hate Trump no matter what.

10. Trump is anti-immigrant

Trump married an immigrant. Like with most legal immigrants, his wife had to go through a long and expensive legal process to become a permanent resident then a citizen. This makes Trump uniquely positioned to understand immigration laws and processes.

Trump, like Ben Franklin, believes that the USA has enough low-skilled workers to make due with from our own pool of citizens. What we need is skilled workers to fill positions that our nation is currently lacking the people to fill. To Ben Franklin this was a call for Blacksmiths, Wheelwrights and carpenters.

If a nation continues to import low-skilled labor then the Blue Collar and lowest paid (not the same thing) workers both suffer from stagnant or decreasing wages, just as we have seen here in the USA for nearly twenty years. Wages, like everything else, is based on Supply and Demand. The higher the demand and lower the supply the higher the price (wages).

Through lower taxes and lower regulations Trump has brought manufacturing back to the USA. Manufacturing is what created the Middle Class and only by having a strong manufacturing sector can a nation have a strong Middle Class. Period. But we need Americans to fill these jobs, have Americans that can fill these jobs. These Americans are generally from the poor-class, Americans that with manufacturing jobs leave the poor-class and enter the Middle Class. The poor-class is made up of Poor Whites (which tends to be generational), Blacks and Hispanics (Latinos). If our nation imports workers that compete with those people we are hurting minorities hard.

What Trump is doing by fighting ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION is protecting the most vulnerable sectors of our nation, protecting minorities and the poor, and increasing the wages of the lowest paid and blue collar workers. Again, illegal immigration effects Blacks, as a race, more than any other demographic. Do you hate blacks that much?

11. Hate Crimes have increased under Trump

Trump has tasked the DOJ and FBI to get an accurate measure of hate inspired crimes and hate groups in the USA. Although Obama may have given this lip-service, Trump is actually pushing for more accurate reporting, and getting it. Hate Crimes probably have not increased, only the reporting of them has.

The numbers of White Supremacist groups and memberships have remained basically even. Although Hate Crimes are reported to the DOJ from local police agencies, the FBI gets their own numbers for groups and memberships.

What has increased without a doubt since Trump has been elected is Hate Crime Hoaxes perpetrated by members of the group that is the made-out victim. I can make a post even longer than this one posting the hoaxes but if you just do a little of your own due diligence and go back to incidents you have heard about over the last few years and search for updates you will find almost always one of two things: it is either still unsolved or it was a hoax. Really. Pick any ten and you might find one that was proven to be real, and I doubt you ever find more than two that are proven to be real, but more than half will be proven to be hoaxes. Try it, I have.

12. Trump is a X-ist

Aristotle stated in his treatise titled “On Rhetoric”, which is used in every University in the USA  as a guide to public speaking and discourse, that a person who devolves to calling another person names and attacking their character has no valid argument left to debate the other person’s ideas with. this means those who spout off a long list of -ists in relation to Trump have admitted defeat to any debate of his policies that they might have.

[p-artsypants]

Arcadia or Bust (Part 2)

Thank you all for your sweet and kind reviews! They mean a lot to me! :)

I don’t know if this is quite a story with a plot…more like a series of odd circumstances that Jim and Claire get themselves in. And Jim getting used to being himself in general. So…might be a little bit of a rough ride. Hope you enjoy anyway!

( @avannak )

AO3 | FF.net

—

After sunset, Jim and Claire were both awakened by shaking.

“Rise and shine, Mr. and Mrs. reconnaissance!”

“Blinky?” Jim muttered, waking up.

“It’s dark enough out that you can go up and get supplies for us to use! Come on, come on! No time to waste!”

Claire moaned and stretched her arms out, though, one was still in Jim’s grasp.

“Jim?”

“Morning,” he smiled with his sharp teeth.

“What are we…?” She glanced at her surroundings, and then at him. “Where did your armor go?”

He tapped the amulet. “Where it’s supposed to go.”

She sat up. “Was I using you as a mattress?”

“Yeah, but I wanted you to.”

Claire’s eyes widened as she blushed.

“I mean—you’ve been sleeping on rocks for a while now. I thought I might be a little softer.”

She assessed him, feeling his chest and stomach, just like she had in her sleepy state. Then she rolled her shoulders and cracked her neck. “Well, I’m not as sore. So I think it worked.” She leaned in, and kissed his nose. Then she rolled off of him, and stood. “So what are we doing?”

Jim sat up, smacking his lips. “We have to go into town, and find supplies.”

“Oh yeah, we found the stone.” Then she frowned. “You mean, I’ll be going into town, while you watch from the rooftops.”

“Sadly to say.”

Claire glanced over his new found form, instantly noticing his poorly fit clothing.

It was hard dealing with Jim’s transformation. He had struggled tremendously, and still did, to an extent. But Claire had a hard time coping as well, though she never vocalized those thoughts to him. When she told Jim she loved him, she really meant it, not just to make him feel better. She was sixteen, the time when girls start to imagine all the fun things they’ll do in the future with their husbands. Having 2.5 kids, a dog, and a white picket fence. With her love becoming a permanent half-troll, things seemed bleak. She had decidedly given up the idea of a normal marriage.

She’d never admit to anyone, but the idea of never having sex with him, because of his armor, was a real bummer.

But she had just resolved changed her mind. An ideal future with Jim might mean sleeping in caves, and eating nutri-grain bars. But as long as she was with him, it was fine.

But now, seeing the almost human skin poking out from his ripped clothes, the hope of the picket fence began to return.

“Hello? Claire?” He waved.

“Oh! Sorry!” She laughed.

“You okay? Do you need more sleep?”

“No, I’m fine.” She grinned, “I was just admiring you.”

“Me?” He asked, bewildered. “Really?”

“Yeah, you look cute. And…hot.” She added, with a blush.

“Even with the teeth?”

“Even with the teeth.”

“And the horns?”

“Especially the horns.” She reached up and took hold of one, tugging him towards her. “They make it easier to do this.” Then she stood on her tip-toes and kissed him, just long enough to urge him to kiss back. When she pulled away, his lips were still puckered between his teeth.

Then he blinked, and looked at her. “That’s…that’s the first time we’ve kissed since I transformed.”

She shrugged, looking away. “We’ve been busy.”

“Are you two ready yet!?” Blinky shouted. “We’re burning darkness here!”

Jim took Claire’s hand and together, they made their way to the surface.

New Jersey was different from Arcadia. Cooler, for one thing. At least today. They had found a service tunnel that ran under the sidewalk, and using Jim’s strength, they forced open the grate and came out into the city. They had just enough time to close the door before a group of pedestrians came around the corner. But Jim didn’t have the chance to hide. So he acted casual, hoping to pull off a costume.

It was a couple of teenagers that saw them, and as they passed, they both seemed to study Jim for a second.

“Dude, sick costume!” One said.

It worked like a charm. “Thanks!” Jim sighed.

“Are you guys going to the horror convention?” The girl asked.  

Claire muttered over to Jim. “Horror convention?”

“Uhh...yeah! Well, we’re looking for a Walmart first.”

“Well you’re going the wrong way,” the guy stepped up. “I’m Henry, by the way. This is my dear, sweet Astrid.”

“Sup?”

Jim held out his human hand. “I’m Jim, and this is my girlfriend Claire.”

Henry smiled. “Nice to know you. We’re making our way to the convention center now. If you want to come?”

“Are you entering in the costume contest? First place is 5,000 dollars!” Astrid interjected. “I bet you could win!”

5,000 dollars could get a couple of hotel rooms and decent meals for Claire. Not to mention, they could get their cart for the Heartstone. “I’m in,” Jim agreed.

“Awesome!” Said Henry. “I made a costume too, but my dad accidentally trashed it. But there’s always next year!”

The group of four made their way through the city, chatting like normal teens. Passerby stopped them every once in a while to take pictures with Jim.

After several of these, Claire sided up to him, taking his hand. “Do you think that’s a good idea?” She whispered.

“I’m not a hundred percent sure, but we need to act casual. So if people think this is a costume, then so be it.”

“So Jim,” Henry called over, interrupting their conversation. “Those horns are super cool. What are they made of?”

“Oh, uh…real horns! From a ram!”

Claire held back a snort.

“Can I touch them?”

“Yeah, just…don’t yank on them.” Jim bowed his head as his new friends all rubbed his horns, ‘ooh’ing and ‘aww’ing all the while.

Finally, they reached the hotel where the convention was being held.

“Oh, you guys don’t have passes yet, right?” Henry asked. “I think you can still get them. They’re 30 bucks for a day pass.”

Jim winced. 30 bucks each? He had the money, but if he didn’t win the contest, they wouldn’t have much left over for a cart. Claire seemed to notice this too, and nudged him. “Hey, let’s go for it. Let’s be normal kids for a while, huh?”

Jim smiled at her, taking her hand. “Yeah, normal.”

At the ticket booth, the attendee nearly jumped to his feet. “Oh man! That is an awesome costume! What are you?”

“Uh…troll. Trollhunt—…Troll knight.”

“Wicked! Are you entered in the costume contest?”

“Not yet,” Jim smiled, baring his fangs.

“I can get you signed up here. Name?”

“Jim Lake.”

“And you said you’re a Troll knight?”

“That’s right.”

The man tapped away at his iPad. “And qualifying contestants for the contest get in for free.”

“What do I need to qualify?”

The man printed out a pass and put it in a lanyard. “I’m the preliminary judge. You qualify. It’s just to keep people from mediocre costumes from entering, like obviously half-assed costumes to get in for free. Y’know?”

“Gotcha.” Jim grinned, putting on the pass.

“But it is going to be 30 bucks for the lady.”

“If only I had worn my armor.” Claire whispered.

Jim took out his wallet and handed over his card. “No worries, at least I got in.”

“Alright, you both are all set, good luck in the contest! Judging is at midnight!”  

“Thank you!” They both called. Then they met up with their new friends.

“You in, man?” Asked Henry.

“Yep! All set!”

“Awesome!” Astrid took out her phone and checked the time. “Well, it’s nine now. We have some friends here, if you want to come with us to hang out.”

Jim looked at Claire, and she looked back at him. If her face said what he thought it said, he replied, “Uh, I think we’ll catch you guys later.”

“No prob! You guys still want to go to Walmart later, right? We’ll go with you.”

“And we have to see Jim win the competition.”

“We’ll see you later, then!” And off they went.

Jim spoke once they were alone. “That is what that look meant, right?”

“Yeah, as much as I’ve missed human interaction, I also feel really gross.”

“I think you look beautiful.”

She was wearing dirty clothes, her usual jeans and t-shirt. And she hadn’t washed her hair in days. She blushed. “Thanks, Jim.”

“I’m going to call Blinky and tell him what we’re up to. If I may borrow your phone?”

“Sure,” she handed it over. “And while you do that, I’m going to go freshen up in the bathroom.” She bid him adieu by standing on her tip-toes and kissing his cheek. “I’ll be back in a minute.”

“Take your time, we’re in no rush.”

He unlocked her phone, and found his own picture in her contacts. The line rang twice before Blinky’s cheerful voice picked up.

“Ah Master Jim! Have you and Claire located supplies? Or perhaps a vessel to help us carry our new Heartstone?”

“Um…not quite.”

Blinky paused on the other line, then his voice took on a dangerous tone. “What happened?”

“Okay, so like…we came to the surface, and immediately these teenagers saw us.”

“Don’t tell me you killed them!”

“No! Why would—?! Look, they thought I was in costume. There’s a Horror convention going on a few blocks away, and I entered the costume contest.”

“As what?”

“As myself. Well, a ‘Troll Knight’ is what I put on the application.”

“YOU WHAT?!” Blinky yelled, as Jim moved the phone away from his ear. “How could you ever think this was a good idea!?”

“First prize is 5,000 dollars, okay? I figured if I win, I could have enough money to put Claire and I up in a hotel over night and treat her to a nice meal. Okay? Plus, we could probably buy a really sturdy cart for the stone.”

Blinky was silent, supposedly thinking. “And no one suspects you?”

“Not a bit.”

“Hmm…alright. Just, try to lay low.”

“We will, I promise.”

Right after he hung up, Clair returned. The hair around the edge of her face was wet. “You know, you really stick out. I mean, in this crowd, you still fit really well, but…I’m worried about your clothes.” She hooked a finger in his waistband a gave a gentle tug. It had no give. “Aren’t you dying? Aren’t those pants like…super tight?”

He sighed. “Yeah. I am, actually. But I figured the ripped clothes would help with the costume.”

“But didn’t you say you were a troll knight?”

“Yeah?”

“Then put your armor on! That will win the contest!”

“You think?”

“Yeah! It’s super Tron!”

Jim glanced down at himself, thinking. Some of his clothes were just hanging on by a thread. It would only take a weird, sudden movement for there to be an awkward rip in his pants.

“Yeah, the last thing I want is a Spongebob moment up on stage. We just need to find a secluded place for me to suit up.”

“The bathrooms were pretty crowded.” Claire blanched.

“Wait,” Jim spoke, staring at the stage in the middle of the convention. “I have an idea, but I need you as a lookout.”

“Lead the way.”

The duo snuck their way over to the middle of the room and Jim slipped under the cloth covered stage.

From the outside, there was a brief glow of red that blended in with the other stage lights. Then, Jim emerged again, in his armor. “Ah, much better.”

Claire gazed up at him, a look of adoration on her face.

“What?”

“I love seeing you in your armor. My knight, my prince, my Romeo.”

“Your Trollmeo,” he corrected.  

She scoffed.

“Whoa! Dude, sick costume!” A guy in a realistic Freddy Krueger costume said. “What’s that made out of? Foam?”

The question took Jim off guard, as he touched his armor. He honestly didn’t know. Some kind of metal. “Uh, real steel.”

“What?! Can I touch?” Freddy reached his claws out.

“Yeah, but if you could…not scratch it…?”

“Oh sure!”

Another cosplayer, dressed as the Creature from the Black Lagoon, approached the group and looked in awe.

“Is that like, a medieval Beast from the X-men? No, you’ve got horns…”

Freddy felt the pauldron on Jim’s shoulder. “This is amazing craftsmanship. Did you make this yourself?”

“Ah, no. A…friend did. Custom, just for me. He’s somewhat of a wizard.”

“I’ll say!” Said the Fishman.

Yet another cosplayer came into the group, this one dressed in a black leotard with white and black face paint and a spiky black wig. “And, what…or who, are you supposed to be?” Asked he.

“I’m a troll knight,” answered Jim, becoming more confident in his story.

“A troll knight? There’s no such thing.” Said the newcomer. “Besides, trolls are supposed to be big and ugly with fat noses and beady eyes. In Lord of the Rings, they’re dumb, huge, and hairless. Or the Elder Scroll Trolls, they’re more like three eyed apes.” He narrowed his eyes. “Though, I suppose you got the ugly down.”

Jim’s nose flared and he nearly snarled.

“Dude, chill.” Freddy interrupted. “It’s a costume.”

“That’s why I’m being so picky!” The other kid said. “Last year, some slut painted her body green, glued some leaves on, and called herself Poison Ivy. She won 5,000 dollars.”

Freddy Kruger and the Fishman crossed their arms. “I saw her last year,” said Freddy. “There was a lot more to the costume than that. And who cares if he’s got a different interpretation of Trolls? Dreamworks made the film about the vintage troll dolls from the 80’s! They had long fuzzy hair!”

Jim wanted to speak up, but his knee jerk reaction in arguments now was to roar and snarl, not use his wits. He was not in practice for this.  

“But that’s an established franchise! This is…a bad homestuck OC! His horns aren’t even the right color for that!”

Claire gave Jim a look, and he returned it with a shrug.

“Well,” said the Fishman, “I think your costume is dope…uh…”

“Jim.”

“Jim. You are entered in the contest, right?”

“Yep! I was basically forced into it.” He laughed.

“We are too!”

“As am I,” the rude interloper stated. “It appears as though we are opponents.”

Jim smiled, trying to stay polite and fight back the urge to let his trollish instincts take control. “Fun! What are you supposed to be?”  

“Uh, hello?! I’m Ryuk, from Death Note!?”

Jim stared blankly. “Um, I don’t know who that is.”

“Seriously?! The main Shinigami of the series? The perfect character that crosses the border of both antagonist and protagonist?! The very god of death himself!?”

“It’s an anime,” Freddy added.

“Oh, right right. I see…” Jim lied.

“Anyways,” said Ryuk, “how about you and I make things interesting?”

Jim wasn’t much of a gambling man, but the amount of praise he had received inclined him to believe the odds were in his favor. “Go on…”

“If you win, I will pay for your hotel room and a dinner at a modest restaurant. If I win, I get to destroy your costume and take your friend out on a date.”

Jim’s restraint was reached as he let out an almost tiger-like snarl. “Not on your life!”

Ryuk backed away a step. “What, are you—afraid or something?”

“Claire isn’t a possession, damnit. I will never barter her life or her time. She’s mine, so back off!!”

Claire quickly put a hand on Jim’s chest and urged him to back down. “Jim, honey, you still have that injury. Don’t exert yourself.”

As if she summoned it, a painful throb hit Jim in the chest, and he winced.

“Whoa, you okay dude?” Asked Freddy, “you want some water?”

Jim shook his head. “No, I’m fine. Just a…minor injury.” He took some stabilizing breaths and willed his troll half into submission. Then he re-engaged the enemy. “I’ll pass on that bet.”

“Oh, so you are a chicken!”

“No, I’m just not a moron.”

The other boy crossed his arms, “And I’m not either. I’ve been to hundreds of cons, and seen and smelt every unbathed human you could imagine.”

“Ew…”

“But you two…You don’t have a hotel room, or any place to stay, do you? You look like you’ve been sleeping in the woods somewhere.”

Jim frowned hard, his teeth poking his cheeks. “So what if we have? That’s none of your business.”

“I’ll pay for your hotel room and food, if you drop out of the contest all together.” He challenged.

Claire took Jim’s hand. “Don’t. Even if you don’t win, we’ll still have money to get the cart. For once, Jim, you don’t need to be the hero and protect me. Just don’t let this punk walk all over you.”

She made a good point. Jim shrugged. “You know what? If you didn’t think I was a threat, you wouldn’t have made this bet. So forget it. We need that money.”

Freddy and the Creature from the Black Lagoon stepped up and put a hand each on Jim’s shoulder.

“If I win, I’ll pay for your guy’s stay.”

“Ditto!”

“Then may the best monster win!”  

Ryuk scoffed at the others and stormed off.

Jim snorted. “What a jerk.”

“There’s always guys like that at cons.” Said the Fishman. “Guys that are ‘purist fanboys’, guys that think that girls aren’t allowed to like pop-culture like comics and video games. Basically just asshats.”

“Well, we appreciate the support back there.” Jim grinned. “But you don’t have to pay for our room…”

“Con goers get a special price for rooms here. It’s only a 75 bucks a night. That’s a drop in the bucket for a 5,000 prize.”

“Then,” Jim decided. “If I win, I’ll pay for you!”

“Too bad! We already paid! Guess you just have to accept charity!”

The rest of the con went much smoother. The cosplayers went their separate ways, all enjoying the con at their own pace. Sometimes they’d bump into Henry and Astrid, or Freddy and Fishman.

And for just a few hours, Jim could pretend to be normal.

“You seem pretty chipper.” Claire noted, “don’t relax too much, or your armor is going to disappear.”

“It’s weird how much you forget in a month.” Jim replied. He was looking at Astrid and Henry as they gushed over dragon figurines on a booth. “I’ve spent the last few weeks in the darkness, in caves and sewers, protecting Trolls. I almost forgot that I protect the humans as well.”

“And you did, from Gunmar and Morgana.” Claire assured.

“I just…this is nice.”

Claire’s hand was in his, her thumb rubbed over his knuckles. “We should see what life is like in Arcadia. Maybe people remember the attack. Maybe you won’t have to hide.”

Jim didn’t answer initially, but then finally said. “Except from the sun.”

Finally, 11:45 rolled around. Claire caught up with Astrid and Henry, while Jim went up to the stage with Freddy and Fishman. Ryuk lurked in the background, glaring daggers at Jim.

“Wow! What a great turn out!” The announcer called on stage.

The hall was alive with cheers.

“And we have a lot of contestants in the cosplay contest this year! All competing for that sweet, sweet moola. 5,000 bucks! Cash!”

Somebody whistled.

“But you’re not all gathered here to hear me talk, so without further adieu…Jason McHaughtly as Jason Voorhees!”

There was about 20 contestants. Some had better costumes than others. Others…not so much.

“Ian Reese as Ryuk from Death Note.”

The kid that had harassed Jim earlier walked out on stage, standing ramrod straight. Whether it was stage fright or just an attempt to be creepy was unknown.

There was a polite round of applause.

“Jim Lake, as a ‘Troll Knight’.”

Jim could have simply walked out on stage, but he was in it to win it. So he ran out on stage, did a cartwheel, flipped in the air, landed in a crouch and unsheathed his sword, spinning it in a flurry of twirls. He ended in a fighting pose.

“That’s my man!” Claire shouted over the crowd.

With his advanced hearing, he could just barely hear her.

Jim sheathed his sword and began to walk off stage, when he was suddenly tackled from behind. For being kind of chubby, Ryuk was awfully nimble, as he clambered up on Jim’s back.

“This was my year! I was going to win!” He shouted, yanking on Jim’s horns.

Obviously, they weren’t going to come off, but it was still painful.

“Ouch! Dude! Get off!” Jim reached back and removed the pest with one hand, even as Ryuk held fast to his horns. Jim’s short fuse had reached it’s end as he tore the kid off and easily threw him into the crowd.

An animalistic roar tore from his throat, echoing in the hall.

The audience was silent, before they erupted in deafening cheers.

Jim took several panting breaths, before calming down and smiling awkwardly. Then he hustled off stage and out of the limelight.

“Wow, that’s going to be hard to beat!”

Jim peeked out from behind the curtain, trying to spy the kid he threw. He looked fine, but he was off to the side having a chat with the hotel security.

Jim hoped this wasn’t going to backfire on him.

He watched the rest of the competition from backstage. Everyone else was a lot calmer.

“Hey,” Freddy whispered. “That was awesome! How did you do that roar? Is it like, a speaker?”

“Uh…no, actually. I really am a troll.”

Freddy smiled. “Oh nice, this really isn’t a costume either. I really am a burn victim.”

After a pause, the two snickered.

“Alright, if we could have all the contestants come back out, please.”

Jim and Freddy stood next to each other.

“Good luck,” Jim whispered.

“Nah, you got this in the bag.”

The announcer looked at the card. “And third place, winning the 1,000 dollar prize is…Logan Garfield as Freddy Kruger!”

Jim gave him a friendly pat on the back as Logan gave him a thumbs up and accepted his reward.

“Second place, with the 2,000 dollar prize…Luna Nox as the Creature from the Black Lagoon!”

“Yes!” Jim heard his new friend cheer from the other end of the stage.

“And finally, our first place winner…”

—

Jim, Claire, and a small group of new friends walked down the sidewalk together. They had met up in the hotel lobby, and things quickly got weird once Freddy and Fishman showed up out of costume. Now Jim was the odd one out, though he had found a secluded place to get out of his armor.

“Even if you hadn’t won, I’m sure you easily could have sold that costume for 5,000 dollars.” Henry determined.

Jim had been handed a fat stack of hundreds, which was a good thing in the long run. He didn’t know what he would do if it had been a check. Once he and Claire had had their fun fanning themselves with the cash, he had stashed the money inside his breastplate for safe keeping. When he had dissolved his armor, the money went with it, only leaving 300 bucks for groceries and their room behind in his wallet.

“Yeah, but I don’t want to sell it, you dig?”

The group was making their way to a 24-hour pizza joint for a celebratory dinner, and then to Walmart. After, they’d return to the hotel, where Jim and Claire would spend the day.

Jim bumped his girl’s side. “You doing okay?”

“I’m wonderful,” she smiled at him. “Especially since we’re about to get pizza!”

“It’ll be nice to have a real meal, uh?”

“Yeah,” then she met his eyes. “But Jim, please don’t feel bad. I wanted to come with you, and I knew the circumstances.”

His hand rested on her waist as he gently pulled her to him. “I know…I just want to take care of you.”

They were getting away from downtown now. There were houses all closely gathered together, with wire fences.

Almost immediately, Jim halted.

“What is it?” Claire asked.

Everyone else stopped, wondering what the hold up was.

Jim’s gaze was locked on a ‘For Sale’ sign on a blue pick-up truck. One that looked like it had some lifting power. The price was 2,000 dollars.

“Claire.” He said, pointing at it. “How much weight do you think that truck can carry?”

A smiled stretched over her face. “Probably a boulder that weighs a metric ton.” She took out her phone and snapped a picture of the truck, and then the house it was in front of. “This would be better than a cart.”

“What are you guys carrying?” Henry asked.

“Uh…a rock.”

“A crystal, to be precise. We’re geo-nerds.”

“Like a quartz?”

“Yep! Exactly! A big ole quartz we found.” Despite finding strength in his new form, Jim was still an awkward teenage boy. Luckily, no one noticed.

“Well, if you guys need help loading it, just let us know.” Freddy offered.

“Oh, thanks! That’s so kind!” Claire smiled. They had plenty of help from the Trolls, but it was a nice gesture.

—

Dinner went well, as the kids chowed down on pizza, and Jim snuck a fork when no one was looking. After, Freddy and Fishman bid them adieu and returned to the hotel, while Jim, Claire, Astrid, and Henry went to Walmart.

“I’m surprised you didn’t take your costume off at the hotel,” Astrid noted. “It must be uncomfortable.”

“Well, actually…I can’t take it off yet.” Jim lied, “I used a super powerful glue, and it’s going to take a while before I can take my horns off. And my skin is just stained.”

It was obvious that they didn’t believe him, but they thankfully didn’t press it. “Don’t you have a change of clothes?”

“Nope! That’s why we’re going to Walmart!”

At the store, the group split. Astrid and Henry going for food, while Claire and Jim went to clothes.

“So I’m thinking long sleeves and long pants are going to be important. Maybe something with a hood. We’ll have to cut holes in it, though.” Said Claire, looking at a clearance rack.

“The more I’m protected from the sun, the better.”

“I don’t want you to get overheated though…”

“I won’t. Don’t worry.” He shrugged, flipping through the sweatshirts. “I don’t get cold or hot anymore.”

Claire half-smiled. “Must be convenient.” She pulled a pair of sweatpants off the rack. “Do you think these are big enough?” She held them up to his waist.

“It won’t hurt to try them on.”

Jim went up six sizes in pants, and he went from a medium to a XL in shirts. To say it was weird was an understatement.

Currently, he wore a black T with a skull on it that Claire had picked out, a red zip-up with thumb-holes, gray sweats, and cheap, size 13 wide sneakers. “I feel like an emo.”

Claire almost had stars in her eyes. “You look perfect.”  

He chuckled, “well, as long as I’m covered, I don’t care. Did you find a few things?”

“If we stop at the laundromat before we leave, I’ll be fine with just these.” She held up a pair of black sweatpants, something comfier to sleep in than jeans.

“Awesome. Snacks?”

“Snacks.”

—

The sun was just barely starting to poke over the corner when they returned to the hotel and got a room. Once inside, Claire dropped all the supplies on the floor as she resisted on leaping on the bed.

“I’m going to take a shower, immediately.” She stated. “I can’t wait to sleep in a nice warm bed.”

“Go for it, if I may use your phone?”

She handed it to him, then found her new pajamas in their bags.

As the bathroom door closed, Jim called Blinky and found the hidden bag of groceries he had purchased without telling Claire.

“Ah, Master Jim. We were beginning to wonder when you would call. What became of the costume contest?”

“I won! We got 5,000 bucks.”

“Wonderful! I assume at least. And what of the cart?”

Jim set the avocados, veggies, and spices on the counter. It had been a while since he had made anything, but the muscle memory was there. “We found something even better. There’s a truck for sale just down the road, and it’s in our price range.”

“Excellent! What is...a truck?”

“You’ve seen them. It’s like a car, but the back is like a cart, and people put stuff in them.”

“Oh yes! Now I understand. You think that will be strong enough? It is quite the hefty stone.”

“I think we can get it. The thing is, a truck is a lot faster than Trolls. So some of us will get back before the others. I’m the one who knows how to operate it, and I think Claire and Merlin should come as well, since they’re human and will need to sleep and eat.”

“I see.” Blinky paused. “We will discuss this among the group. For now, just secure the vehicle.”

“We will, later in the day. Talk to you later.” Jim hung up, and finished mixing the guacamole. He munched on the spoon idly as he set the bowl and tortilla chips on the table.

Then he poked through the items he bought, finding soap and shampoo, toothbrush and toothpaste, clean socks and underwear, and a wide hairbrush. He might have been a troll, but he wasn’t a wild animal.

The bathroom door opened in a billow of steam.

“Ahh…” said Claire. “I’ve never felt so clean in my life.”

Jim gathered his belongings. “Then it’s my turn.” He kissed her cheek as he passed. He got a whiff of her smell and almost went back to kiss her again.

“Jim!” She shouted.

“Hmm?”

“Did you make me guacamole!?”

He grinned. “Maybe.”

He could have sworn there were tears in her eyes. “Thank you, you’re so good to me.”

“I try.”

In the bathroom, Jim stripped and climbed into the shower. It was a weird moment remembering that the temperature of the water didn’t bother him. He felt it more on some of his more human parts, like his chest and his five fingered hand.

He lathered up well, using the loofa he bought as well.

It was like scrubbing a rock. He couldn’t exactly tell when he was clean, but he did his best. His horns got in the way as he shampooed his hair and scruff, but he made sure they got cleaned as well.

Finally, he decided he was done and dried off, rubbing the towel frantically through his hair. It fluffed up, and made him look wild. He brushed his teeth and then combed through his mane.

When he emerged, Claire was laying on her stomach on the bed, idly watching cartoons.

“There’s my fluffy boy.” She grinned, seeing him without his shirt.

“I tried to comb it out.”

“Come here,” she urged, sitting up.

Jim sat on the floor by her feet.

The brushing felt nice. Not so much the brush itself, but the way Claire’s hand ran over the hair after.

“So…” she began. “What are we?”

Jim was confused, and turned slightly to give her a look, but she forced him to sit straight. “I thought we were boyfriend and girlfriend?”

“Still?”

The question had hurt a little, honestly.

“You’ve…we’ve been kind of distant. I thought things…had changed.”

He curled in on himself a little. “I didn’t know if you would think it was weird…I’m not exactly human anymore.”

“No, no you’re not.” She agreed.

He looked at his hands. “I still love you, I’m just scared.”

She finished brushing out his hair and allowed him to move. He stayed on the ground, kneeling in front of her.

“You’ve never said you loved me before.”

Jim opened his mouth to speak, but then shut it, frowning hard.

“Are you scared of me?”

He didn’t say yes, but he didn’t say no either.

She reached out and held his face with her hands. “Jim, I told you before, whatever you are…I love you. Please, don’t pull away from me.”

She watched his adam’s apple bob as he swallowed hard.

She continued, “My life was…boring without you. I thought a play was important! But since I met you, my life has been nothing but adventure. Even our dullest days are exciting, because you’re here.”

He shook his head as his eyes started to water. “I tried my damnedest to impress you.” His voice broke, “I did the play because I was crushing on you. And I was so hoping to get the girl in the end…but…” A few tears escaped, as he sniffed. “I can’t.”

“You can, and you have.” She pulled him closer by the horns. “Because unless you tell me to leave, I will stay by your side.” She brushed his tears away with her thumbs. “So don’t cry, Trollhunter. Your sacrifices weren’t in vain.”

He nodded, rising to his feet. He scooped Claire up, holding her to him close as she wrapped her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist.

Finally, he laid her down on the bed, giving her a cute kiss to the forehead. He climbed up on the bed with her, and reclined on his side, looking at her.

And in the quiet moment of serenity, the two just looked at each other. With their souls this time, looking past outside appearances and just living in the moment. For words were not enough to convey what needed to be said.

Still, something nagged at Claire’s mind, and she sat up, crossing her legs.

“So, I…I actually meant something else when I asked what we were,” she began. “My parents kind of figured if I was leaving with you, that meant…well, when we came back…we’d be married.”

His eyebrows rose. “Oh.”

“Yeah…”

His lower lip stuck out, a quizzical look. “We’re kind of young, don’t you think?”

She leaned back on her arms. “Yeah, I suppose. But the thing is…I can’t see myself with anyone else. I’ve crushed on and dated a handful of guys…and none of them are like you.”

“As far as we know, I’m the only half-troll in the world.” He giggled.

Claire hit him with a pillow. “That’s not what I meant! You’re just putting words in my mouth!”

“That’s not the only thing I’m going to put in your mouth.” He wiggled his eyebrows.

Two could play at this game, “oh yeah, and what’s that? Hmm?”

He hadn’t expected her to call him on his bluff. “Uhh…my…tongue?”

She giggled. “Ooo, risky!”

His nostrils flared. “What were you saying about me being different?”

She sobered, and leaned closer to him. “No one, not a single man I’ve met in my life, was willing to sacrifice what you did. You risked not only your life, but everything else you had to save my baby brother from the Darklands. You came for me in the void…Then…you gave up your body…your freedom…to save us. You could have just risked it, but you made the extra decision to ensure we were safe.”

He looked up at her with his blue, blue eyes. “I had to Claire. I…I couldn’t just…”

She cupped his face. “You are fantastic, and lovely, and wonderful. I want to spend the rest of my life with you, my Romeo.”

Jim tugged on her, pulling her to him. He wrapped his arms around her, hugging her tightly. He nuzzled his nose in her hair, breathing in her shampoo. “And I want you, too.” Then he leaned in and kissed her tenderly. When he pulled away, he smiled at her warmly. “I want to make sure I can take care of you, though. I don’t want our married life to be remembered by sleeping on hard rocks and not bathing for weeks.”

“I mean…”

“I know you can handle it.” He interjected. “But I can’t. I can’t handle seeing you uncomfortable. You deserve the very best.” He ran his fingers through her hair. “So, when we return to Arcadia…I’m going to make us a home in Troll market. Then I will ask, officially. I’ll get permission and everything.”

Claire smiled, her cheeks hurting. “Thank you,” she whispered.

He kissed her, slow and deep, making her toes curl. She wrapped her arms around his neck, burying her fingers in his still damp hair as his hands ran over her body.

Claire’s heart thudded in her chest and Jim teased her with his tongue, and idly played with the waistband of her pants.

She tugged on his horn, pulling him even closer and returning his kiss with vigor.

They pulled apart, resting their foreheads together.

“I told you—“

“Yeah, yeah.” She giggled. “I liked it.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah,” she pecked him gently.

“Even with the teeth?”

She snickered. “Even with the teeth.”

“And the horns?”

She tugged on them. “What do you think?”

[verbjectives]

team rood session 27 holy shit

my dudes the first like...third was the most stressed i’ve ever been in a session and i wasn’t even playing it

shout out to @druid-faylen for being fucking amazing and thank the dice gods for rolling in her favor when it counted

faylen, the king, and the king’s wizard (zinnis) managed to infiltrate the castle thanks to some invisibility potions and a potion of gaseous form

they made it to the king’s office without much of a hitch and they managed to get the king’s seal as well as blueprints to the castle so they can navigate the servant’s tunnels

they did get into a scuffle with some blackguards that almost ended badly but they managed to run back into the servants’ tunnels and managed to lose them for just long enough

the three of them made it to the area above the throne room where they were within range to dispel the anti-magic runes that protect the throne room.

in order to successfully dispel the runes both faylen and zinnis had to roll the same number 

they both rolled a 5 and it fucking WORKED

faylen cast thunderwave to break the glass beneath them so they could drop into the throne room

they jumped down

faylen casts a wall of fire around grisha, burning part of his throne and his robes

“THIS IS FOR VALKO”

suck it grisha

and once they’re within 10 feet of eryk, zinnis teleports himself, eryk, the king, and faylen outta the castle, out of the city, and to a village a few miles away.

meanwhile...

ovak’s soul got stuck in her ring, so she spent some time stuck in a domed room, looking out at the world from inside the little red jewel on it.

she headbutted her way out breaking the gem and her soul ascended to moradin’s forge

where she had a chat with moradin (who was in his god form rather than the form ovak is used to seeing because grisha had severed her connection to her god)

iirc he told her that his son (nerull) was up to no good

i believe he also told her to watch out for valko because he’s gonna be feeling particlularly lost

she asks if she can expect any further betrayals from him

to which moradin replies that if there are they would not be his true intent and to “look to the elf” for answers.

And then she’s brought back!

...and in a pile of dead bodies...

also meanwhile...

valko...went to hell...or started heading that way

his soul started to get pulled apart so that was fun

pelor was unable to help him because grisha had severed his connection to his god 

which honestly was fine because he didn’t really expect pelor to come to his rescue again

but then the raven queen plucked him out of there and informed him that her father (nerull) is back on his bullshit

she gave him the option to come back if he promises to make sure that the dead remain dead (??? icr the exact wording n it was kind of vague so i’ll have to listen back to that at some point)

he agrees because as much as he wants to die, he knows he needs to take responsibility for what he’s done

so she brings him back

and he’s in a pile of dead bodies

SO

the running theory of grisha being the champion of nerull is heavily implied if not #confirmed

ANYWAYS

before finding each other both ovak and valko ended up wandering around the tunnels under the city

valko ended up setting off the alarm zinnis had placed on the trapdoor that led to his office

which ofc lured some patrolling blackguards that way

he rolled a nat20 acrobatics roll to essentially scott pilgrim jump over them and book it outta there and into another tunnel

he ended up making his way back to the place where they had fought the 50 goblins. he tried to find the secret door they had come through the last time they were there, but couldn’t find it because he’s got shitty investigation and i had shitty rolls

ovak literally sniffed him out and found him in there

they took a short rest there because it was relatively safe and both of them were only at 1hp so they really needed to take a breather and roll some hit dice

valko went blind for 10 hours at the end of said long rest

that took him out of commission and ovak had to carry him like a sack of potatoes

which is probably one of the best things to happen because it meant that he had little opportunity to fuck something up

ovak successfully navigated the two of them around the city without being seen by the patrolling blackguards and managed to pick up her hammer

well...

there was one point where ovak flung valko over her shoulder and he grunted because of the wind getting knocked out of him

which a blackguard heard and he found them.

he ordered them to come with him in deep speech. valko was able to piece that much together with his knowledge of undercommon

so he repeated the order back at the blackguard and ovak was holding her hammer out as a sort of offering (because the blackguards were looking for where it went/who took it)

both valko and ovak rolled an 8 on their persuasion rolls

the blackguard rolled a nat1 

they lured him back into a corner and knocked him out

onward they went to the house of enchantment to try to get their magical items back

and they were pretty damn successful in that endevor

ovak got her fancy armor and her cloak of the bat back

valko got the oathbow back and he also got the belt of dwarven kind back

along with some other misc items that will probs come in handy

ovak rolled a nat20 to find the bag of holding!!!!!!

N THEN OVAK DRANK A POTION OF FLYING THAT THEY FOUND WHILE IN THE HOUSE OF ENCHANTERS, BUSTED THROUGH THE ROOF, AND THEy FLEW OUTTA THERE

blind valko didn’t take to flying terribly well

they camped out and rested in a nearby town (that was abandoned due to the activities in the city)

also worth mentioning: every single time valko has ended up with a quiet moment and left alone with just his thoughts he’s broken down crying 

MEANWHILE

faylen informed the king of how everything went to shit so quickly

which is to say, now the king knows that valko sold out eryk

she also offers to be an ambassador to the elven country (where she’s from) to try to gather forces to fight against grisha and take back the city

LATER...

faylen rolled a nat1 while trying to cook breakfast and accidentally made some potions of poison instead

ovak and valko finish their rest and started heading towards ovak’s hometown (which is where faylen, eryk, the king, and zinnis are) because it’s the next closest village

grisha makes a little radio broadcast into their heads and says something antagonistic because that’s who he is

valko gets his vision back and gets a massive headache

he and ovak talk about some of the weird things that have been happening to them

they bond a little bit n it’s nice

they make it to ovak’s hometown

ovak gets a happy welcome

valko not so much

the king is fucking PISSED

and i think valko probably would have lost use of his hand (if not lost it entirely) if ovak hadn’t stepped in and come to his defense

ovak brings up that grisha probably cursed her and valko and so faylen casts greater restoration on them which brings their magic back (YAY)

faylen and valko go with zinnis to look for anti-scrying spells or items to try to help cloak them from grisha and valko fills faylen in on what happened from the time he died to the time he and ovak arrived in the village

there was a little bit of bonding there too

“maybe someday i’ll tell you the whole story” (re: grisha)

“i’m always here to listen”

valko sends a message to eryk’s mom to tell her eryk is safe. 

she’s ALSO pissed at valko because she knows what he did

he also sends a message to his parents, hoping that they’re safe

silence...but then thanos answers

“thank the gods...”

the gang starts packing up an abandoned vegetable cart to use as transportation to get them down south to either Port Town or Ships Haven

iirc i think we’re heading towards Ships Haven since that’s where the lord of another town/ally of the king fled to

session ended with ovak loading eryk (who has been unconscious/asleep the entire time) into the carriage part of the cart.

and just as she’s doing this, his eyes open

“ovak?”

[asheewrites]

Princess fucks u magic lesson. Accidentally curses Azar into a form that resembles his "being"? Fluffy cat. Human intelligence +magic telepathy for talk, cat instincts + desires (THROW DOWN ALL THE THINGS). When very emotional (pos or neg?) paws turn burning hot, leaves cute scorchmarcks on things? (firebreathing optional?). Gabe with maybe help of Chelle has to turn him back before he accidentally burns down the castle or Gabe starves. Raph doesn't help because: valuable magic lesson?

“Supplies are gettinglow. I will leave to trade and hunt for a few days,” said SirIsrafil, bag already slung over his shoulder.

He looked like a noble,standing there. Those wide robes in green and silver, the samestripes of colours woven into his long braid. His expression regal asalways.

Inwardly, I sighed fora moment.

Then I wondered wherehe even got these clothesfrom. And I hoped the answer was not simply 'magic', because thatwould mean I was one spell away from him withoutclothes and-

“Youare going AGAIN?!,”an agitated princess spoke up.

Oh.Right. That... that would be an issue, actually.

“Youdid promise magiclessons. And mortals' lives are short,”came from a certain dragon that... actually ate with them, now. Everyday. And wrinkles her nose at everything.It was ridiculous.

Almostas ridiculous as that statement.

So...what?!

ButSir Israfil sighed and nodded: “That is... true... and I didpromise. That is why I prepared for my absence. There is another caveunder the castle. A mermaid is residing in it. She holds a key tothis chest. The bath has another exit now, follow that way down andyou will find the cavern. The chest contains a book of magic in alanguage you all understand and also embroidery supplies. So this isa reward for actually studying a magical creature as well. You haveuntil I am back”

“Hah,as if there is any prob- EY!,” the dragon-human twitched back whenthe knight tapped her hand. Hah, that's what she gets for turning hernose up and even closing her eyes.

“Itwould be no learning experience if you were to use your abilities. Soyou are magically sealed for the time being. The cavern is also toosmall to turn into you real form. Be careful, it is a somewhatdangerous endeavour. Good luck,” and with that, he turned around.

“Youcan't do that!,” it sounded almost whiny. From a dragon.

Ihuffed. So I would have to be the sane one in this group again.

Becausethe princess suddenly looked star-struck.

“Mer...maid?,” a slow smile spread on her face.

Adeep breath and a roll of eyes later, I stood and started to clean upthe table: “I'll pack a snack...,” because I was the cook. Iwould bring snacks. And maybe mermaids liked fish. Everything thathelped, right?

“I'llfind an offering!,” and off she was.

Ihoped she would at least come back for all of us to start together.

Ourlocal knight, meanwhile, had left without much fanfare. I heard theclapping of hooves in the courtyard... which begged the questionwhere in the world we actually had horses. But... well... the castlewas large and for all I knew, he probably captured one last week...or something like that.

Itwas a bit concerning that I went with the flow like this,but... my stay in this castle was somewhat weird, okay?

Michellerolled on the floor, tail swiping through half the room. She lookedslightly constipated.

“...are you quite done?,” because yes, she still was impressive,but mostly in her dragon form. And she was a spoiled brat.With a fighting spirit.

Nowshe laid there, sprawled out. Still in the way.

“Idon't like magic seals,” she grumbled.

IfI hadn't already tried the last time this happened, I would try toknock her out right now. Unfortunately, her strength stayed. And herimpenetrable skin. So... I simply stepped over her to get back to thestove. With another sigh.

Iwould be more annoyed if I didn't have a million tiny siblings.

Thelanguage of annoying little people was apparently universal.

Thislittle person now looked at me from the floor: “What did you burnlast night?”

Istared down at her for a moment. Her expression was curious.

Well…if it kept her out of the way...

Whilecutting up the fish from the cold-chamber (however that worked), Ianswered: “... resins and some of the herbs from the greenhouse. Itseemed a good mix”

Shenodded and sad in a solemn voice: “It was. The fire was delighted.”

“Hrm,”I... could agree with that, at least.

Andthen she laid on the floor for a while, all silent. And ground herteeth a little.

“...can you burn it today again? Here? In the evening?,” she asked.

Iraised a brow and looked at her, but finally shrugged: “Sure, whynot?”

“Hrm,”was the content sound.

Ifelt approved of. Which was... strange. Because it felt almost like aphysical thing. It raised hairs. Dragons are weird, man.

Iheard the tail thump on he floor while I prepared our snacks. Andpossibly the mermaids. Who knows.

Afterabout twenty minutes, the princess showed up with... jewels. Whereverthose came from... and a gutting knife. Because she apparently was amore practical person than I expected.

Andnow she... bounced. On her heels.

“Iknow you will do what you want anyway, but... we should go downtogether. He did say it would be dangerous,” I said while Ihanded her her package.

Some...expression went over her face before she made a... a face and lookedaway: “Well... well, fine, so... are we ready yet?”

I...have gotten through to her? Impressive.

“IGO FIRST!,” came a voice from behind me.

Somuch for... making a plan. I put my hand to my eyes and sighed, whilean overeager dragon stormed past us to the cavern.

…

Atleast she would not actually be in danger at all.

“HEY!Wait for me!,” the princess hastily stuffed her food into the bagand ran after her.

Ifrowned and then... ran after them, since... as annoying as theywere, they should not run to their untimely deaths' at any moment.

Itwas ridiculous, they were both on their way down, not even thinkingagain – or regrouping – before they took these new stairs fromthe bath.

…as far as I remembered, there hadn't even been a sign of this.No door, no nothing.

But...I heard feet going down, so I go after them, at least to stop them!

Itwas... pretty claustrophobic, going down, too. A relatively smallspace. But with a railing.

Safety...first?

Ireally did not want to think too much about it.

So...I continued on my way down, as fast as my feet could carry me andlistened for the footsteps of the others and they... slowed, thankthe gods.

Andthen I heard... music.

The...most beautiful, ethereal music I've ever heard.

Ihad to get there. Now, now this very second.

Andso I ran.

Itwas far too far away.

Justwhy wasn't I there yet?

WhenI met an obstacle, I simply shoved it away. To the side of thetunnel, I wanted to move on, wanted to be close to this wonderfulsound, only wanted to see what made these beautiful sou-

Mywrist was grabbed.

Andheld.

Itried to pull away, but was only held tighter.

Igrabbed the railing to pull further. My shoulder hurt a little, but Isimply wanted to move on. I needed to go there.

Itwas important, why could I not-

WhenI blinked awake, the music was gone. The music was gone and I feltlike it was the greatest loss of my life. I immediately went to goand search for it. There... was something in the way. I blinked andstared at it. These were... bars?

Barseverywhere?

Ifrowned, looking around.

Noisescame back.

“-underit, you have to do it, understand?,” a vaguely familiarvoice said, it was not very beautiful, though.

“He'slooking at us, he's just snapping out of it!,” another very uglyvoice said.

Idismissed it, trying to find a way out... and started pulling at thebars.

Itdid not matter, I would find the voice again. That beautiful harmony,this wonderful thing will return to me. Soon.

Itwas hard, fighting against those bars.

Ifought and fought...

Andthen... I got a headache.

Aterrible headache, bad enough to let me black out.

WhenI woke up, I saw princess Gabrielle, her hands in front of her mouth,looking shocked: “I... I am so sorry, I didn't mean to do that, Iam so so so so sorry, Azar, I didn't mean to-”

“Healways looked like that, underneath all the glamours, calm down”

Ifrowned.

Theprincess gasped.

Irubbed my eyes.

Andthen... stopped rubbing, because... because it was... a paw?

Apaw?!

Istared at the taloned... taloned...

WhenI felt the headache I reached up, reached to my head and... horns?!

I...

Iblanked out again.

[rainbowdragonlair]

Glowred Mine

           The sound of metal grinding on metal filled the air as the old steam engine slowed to a halt; the destination of its passengers only a mine-track away. The group of people standing on the platform cleared a path, allowing those who were on the train to depart. A thin girl with tanned skin and auburn-brown hair stepped off, her blood-red eyes glittering with joy as she began humming.

           “A sweet little light,

           Carried far away;

           Hear the whistle blowing,

           From the iron train~”

           Some of the people, mostly teens and young adults, smiled as they listened to the girl hum her little tune. A boy stepped out behind her, ashen hair and snow-paled skin glowing from the lantern light.

           “Nice song Dennebee! But must you always sing when you come here?” The boy asked, a gentle smile showing he meant it in jest. A light flurry of snow began to fall, the tiny flakes melting as they touched the ground. “Man, I thought it was going to be clear for a little while.” The boy muttered, holding out his hand to catch a few flakes.

           “It was, according to the radio-box. Not one can predict what the sky will do though.” The girl responded, walking toward the red glow that was the entrance to the mine.

           The boy chuckled and followed the girl as they left the train platform and climbed into the large elevator; it wasn’t a long ride down, only into the bottom of a gorge which had a small section of track leading up to dispense the glowing red stones that were native to the land. The couple turned left and headed down into the cave-like mine, a dull red pulsing with the beat of pickaxes and hammers.

           “You continuing work on the, um…” Dennebee trailed off, trying to think of the word.

           “Rosterlein tunnel?” The boy picked up, grabbing a large sledgehammer from the rack of thousands. “Yes, I am. The tracks aren’t going to finish themselves!” He joked, nudging her lightly. “What about you?”

           “I’m heading for the Churnchie tunnel. Be safe Maxwell!” Dennebee called to the boy as she grabbed a slender and very sharp pickaxe, and a light yellow helmet with a teal ribbon. The boy, Maxwell, jumped into a mine cart and headed down, deeper into the cavernous mine; Dennebee however, walked along a narrow ridge until she came to a small cave. She entered the cave and followed the pitch-black tunnel down until it was illuminated by the glow of burning stones.

           She walked up to the back wall, gently nudging a smaller child out of the way. “Take a nap kid, you look like the Shadowman of the forest!” She joked to the ghostly pale child. “If you’re sick, tell the manager. He’ll let you stay in bed ‘till you’re better. A’right?” She smiled sweetly, her mangled way of normal conversation on full display. Her voice still held the elegance one would expect of a royal, but the only time her grammar and pronunciations were correct was when she was singing.

           The child got the hint and muttered a quiet, if not very disgruntled “A’right” back at her before leaving. She picked up where the tiny human had left off, breaking off chunks of shimmering black rocks in search of the beautiful light of the Glowreds. She soon saw a small cluster of the glowing rocks, digging around them before removing the jagged variant. It was very light in color, but the shape was undesirable; its value wouldn’t be determined until much later. That’s how it was; and no one really cared to change it. Dennebee placed the cluster into a nearby bucket, waiting patiently for an empty mine-cart to come down the tracks.

           The bucket was quickly filled with glowing red crystals, and a mine-cart came down the track just in time, allowing all the children to empty their buckets into the cart before sending it back up. This continued for five or six more hours before a whistle blew, signaling it was time for a break. Everyone carried their pickaxes and hammers up with them, to a large underground cafeteria; complete with lights, tables, and plenty of ways to get fresh air. Dennebee paid no mind to the food, though; instead continuing on to a stage, she gently tapped the old microphone to get everyone’s attention.

           “Hello all. I’d ‘preciate your attention for few minutes. This is a re…uh…” She paused, trying to think of how to phrase this. Just then Maxwell jumped on the stage and whispered in her ear.

           “Reminder, it’s a reminder of the Winter Festival Ball coming up in a month.”

           “Right! This is a reminder of the Winter Festival Ball coming up in a month!” Dennebee parroted, smiling shyly. “So, uh, let’s all work hard now so we…you know…don’t gotta work that night…” She finished, fidgeting nervously.

           A few giggles and ‘oh yeah’s emanated from the crowd. Dennebee smiled and removed herself from the small stage. She had no problem singing in front of a crowd of people, talking was completely different.

           “Thanks for the help Maxwell!” Dennebee giggled, lightly pecking the pale boy on the cheek.

           “Not an issue, always glad to help my favorite little miner.” He blushed, a smile giving away his happy-shyness.

           Both teens got on the line to get food. It was a simple lunch of beef-and-broth-stew, a chunk of bread, and a cake-like brownie. It was always a simple lunch, but no one complained; it was food and food was good. They both quickly ate their lunches and milled about with the other kids, talking about possible decorations and a theme. The majority seemed to vote on the theme being the forest, as it was practically every year. They would drag in snow from above and hang garlands of white paper, and make trees out of old, unusable tracks. Since this was a common theme, most of the decorations were already available; they just needed to re-make the garlands and some lights.

           “Perhaps we should start saving up the glowblues? The ones from last year are nearly extinguished.” Maxwell stated; though he usually laid tracks, he knew Dennebee would keep an eye out for the fragile blue stones.

           “Yeah, though, we still gotta tell the boss the themey-thingy.” Dennebee muttered, pointing in the direction of the head-master’s office. “I’ll be back in a moment.” She said, trotting over to the office, skipping a few steps to reach the door before knocking loudly.

           “Come in Dennebee.”

           The short girl listened to the soft male’s voice and walked into the small office. The smell of cigarette smoke and warm oak flooded her senses, creating a unique, but pleasant aura.

           “The theme for the Ball will be Forest again, correct?” The older man asked, swiveling around in his chair like some sort of super villain. His dark brown hair was slicked back and cut short, and he currently wore a deep blue suit with thin, lighter blue stripes covering it. He looked like someone from a mob movie.

           “Yeppers!” The girl blushed, giggling happily. She had no idea why, but she loved the forest, even with the legends surrounding it. “We thought we ought to start collecting glowblues.”

           “That’s a brilliant idea. I’ll make sure that all the other miners know and I’ll be sure to send extra carts down to collect them.” The boss wrote the notes down on a sheet of paper, smiling politely. “And I assume you will be singing and Maxwell will be dancing?”

           “Probs.”

           The man cleared his throat and gave the girl a stern look, making her quickly correct her sentence. “I mean-probably- but it may change for once.” The man laughed quietly at her shy look and shuffle. He usually didn’t mind his worker’s broken English, but he did make a conscious effort to teach them proper grammar and pronunciation.

           The headmaster cleared his throat and snorted quietly before nodding, amused by Dennebee’s optimism. Even with all his workers being predictable as the weather, nobody in the small mining village got tired of the forest. It was one of those things that everyone was afraid of, but at the same time drew people into its depths.

           Almost like a poisonous candy that isn’t deadly but could certainly harm an individual. Yes, it was sweet, but also something to stay away from. It was the forest.

           “Alright; that sounds good. You may leave Dennebee.” The man nodded again and glanced at the door, which the girl quickly exited out of, letting go too early so it shut harshly.

           “Sorry!” She shouted from the other side of the door, running off to go back to work.

           “It’s alright.” The man chuckled to himself before looking over the profit sheets for the year so far and sighing; “Or not…oh boy…”

           Dennebee continued back to the mineshaft, picking up her pointy pick-axe and her damaged helmet. Some people might be concerned with the ratty clothes the workers wear and the heavily damaged safety gear, but most paid it no mind. Over the years, the workers had learned tricks to get around safely and without too much worry; like how they would put a small cup of water over a cave to make sure it didn’t collapse in while someone was inside; or yelling ‘up’ or ‘down’ when using the harnesses; or setting up a dance-like-step while hammering in the tracks. Yes, they had their tricks.

           Each cheap trick for safety had a purpose, and even though it brought great displeasure to the headmaster of the mine, none of the other wealthy ass-mats cared; in their minds, a penny saved by the workers was a dollar earned by the owner. But the owner of the mine didn’t think like that, he was sure that if you didn’t want a strike you had to keep your workers healthy and happy. Hence the reason he usually spent a lot on food and bedding, even if it wasn’t top-quality; he knew it would make a difference. All the workers knew he went out of the way to make sure they were comfortable, hence the reason for all the little tricks they picked up.

           “Announcement, announcement! As you all have been made aware, the ball for the Winter Festival is coming up next month. In preparation, I would like you all to start collecting glowblues. Thank you” The intercom was silent again, allowing the workers to concentrate and be aware of any dangers.

           Quiet mutter rang through the air as people began discussing what they could wear and where they would buy the needed supplies for their outfits. Most wanted to just update their dresses and suits, fixing anything that might have fallen off or torn while it was in storage.

           “Behind you song-bird!” Maxwell yelled, walking up behind Dennebee and hugging her. “So, what do you plan to wear to the ball? We have to match after all, just in case no one else wants to do a combined song-and-dance-duo, as is customary during this festival.” Maxwell spoke, ignoring the girls’ half-hearted glare.

           “Well, I was thinking of wearing a fuchsia fairy gown with royal-teal rhinestones tear-gassing down the back, and a train a mile long. Why?” The girl stated sarcastically, using her most pompous voice.

           “Why, I think that would look wonderful darling.” The boy replied in an equally obnoxious voice. Both teens burst out into laughter after a moment of silence, rubbing invisible tears from their eyes. “Ah, hilarious. But seriously, what color do you plan to use as a base for your gown?” He questioned, clearing his throat and returning to his normal speaking pattern.

           “Don’t know. I feel like red or purple would be best, but ‘m not real sure yet.” She muttered, going back to swinging her pick against the hard rocks.

           “I’d go with the purple; you have that purple scarf after all. You can wear the scarf with the dress!” Maxwell offered. Everyone knew red fabric was exceeding expensive, but on really profitable years the headmaster would sometimes splurge for the blood-colored textile.

           “That’s not a dress scarf and you know it. But I do agree, the red would probably be too expensive anyways. I swear the headmaster forgets I can read sometimes…” She trailed off, remembering the papers on the powerful man’s desk.

           “That bad?” Maxwell asked, earning a silent nod from the girl. “Shit, they aren’t going to close the mine are they?” Dennebee simply shrugged in response.

           “I didn’t see any statements, just warnings.”

           “Those are the same thing pretty much in the business world Dennebee.”

           “Oh…Shut up Maxwell. Don’t you have a track to lay?” She muttered, chipping off a large chunk of waste rock and exposing a particularly bright red crystal.

           “Okay ‘Miss Fortune’, don’t get your undergarments in a twist.” He joked, patting her on the shoulder. “We finished laying the tracks, I know I had a break before, but I like watching you work.”

           They both chuckled quietly and continued to talk until the end of the work day, waiting on the elevator until all the other workers were with them. Once everyone was on the elevator, the speaker crackled to life once again: “Announcement, announcement! The mine is to be empty for a few hours as we are leaving for town to gather supplies for the upcoming festival. Remember to dress warmly and bring your wallets, thank you.”

           “Well that was fast.” A young man muttered, he appeared no older than nineteen, and clearly was a transfer from a different mine.

           “Yeah, the headmaster guy is really nice! His rules are very basic! Don’t steal, be nice, no violence, work hard, stay at the camp when sick, and eat when food is given. Oh yeah, and he always yells about how some of us need more sleep. He actually smack my older brother once when he refused to go back to camp and sleep.” A young girl piped up; she was born into the mining business, so she knew the rules by heart as many of the other workers did.

           “He also makes an effort to teach us reading and speaking. He says it’s for our own safety.” Another boy jumped in, nodding to a sign above. “You know what that says?”

           The nineteen-year-old worker shook his head, causing Dennebee to sigh. Most headmasters didn’t care if their workers could read or speak properly. “It says that all of the workers gotta wear safety stuff. Like helmets and things.” Dennebee explained a sympathetic look in her eye.

           “If you tell the boss that you can’t read, he’ll be happy to teach you. He taught all of us.” Maxwell spoke up, gently grabbing Dennebee’s shoulder as the rickety elevator started up. “His kindness is the reason we come up with all those tricks.”

           The strange miner simply hummed in response, swaying slightly as the elevator quickly ascended to the surface. Once there, all the workers quickly boarded the train, eagerly awaiting their arrival into town. Their first stop was back at the housing district; they quickly departed and rushed into their shared dorm-like apartments to grab their wallets before leaping back onto the train, allowing for a quick departure to town.

           The train whistle bellowed loudly as it pulled into the station, nobles and upper-class people stepping away from the rusty steam-powered creature as it lurched to a stop and opened its doors, allowing the scruffy passengers to depart.

           “Lola’s Textiles?” Maxwell asked as he quirked his head towards Dennebee, raising an eyebrow to see if she agreed. They had four or five hours before they had to head back to the mine, and most workers were quick with their shopping, so spending time doing nonsensical things was common.

           “Nah. I’m going to the button emporium. You go ahead, we do purple this year.” The girl responded, sighing and wrapping her scarf tighter around herself as a frigid wind shot past. “Curse this cold weather.” She hissed quietly, glaring at the direction the wind had come from. There was nothing there, but it made her feel better.

           Maxwell laughed and pulled his coat tighter around himself, having been too lazy to ever fix the buttons. Buttons were cheaper than gems, but money didn’t fix a lack of desire to do something. “Alright; why not invest in a coat while you’re out?”

           Dennebee laughed and shook her head, a smile gracing her lips. “Honestly Maxwell…”

           “Wha-at~?”

           The girl just laughed as she walked away, waving her had dismissively. The two were joking around and hadn’t done any harm, so most just ignored them; but Dennebee’s light and sweet laughter had caught a particular pedestrian’s attention. He looked around for the tiny pixie giggles and stared in shock at the ragged looking girl who the voice unmistakably belonged to. Her hair was filled with dirt and dust, but was clearly auburn in color; her skin was also covered in dust and dirt, with irritated patches here and there, and more than a few scars shining pink against the rust-like color. To him, it was clear. She was the light.

[serene-serein]

Save Yourself, Don’t Watch Death Note

I documented my thoughts while watching the new Death Note movie so...here you go.

1. Music is nice 2. Tf is this opening scene 3. ....the quiz ?????? 4. edgy hair and all 5. Typical misunderstood girl 6. THE CIG?????? 7. what's with the dramatic wind???? did no one else see the book?? (1:37:26) 8. random hard rain???? 9. Bullies wtf 10. the girl 11. light WTF (1:36:34) 12. he sounds like an 8 year old 13. he acts like an 8 year old 14. Mia lied cuz she a ho 15. Light shut up UR SO EDGY!!! (1:35:21) 16. HIS MOM??? SHOULDNT BE DEAD?? 17. okay principal is a dick but tbh it's an edgy movie what did I expect 18. he still likes her why 19. detention?????? 20. he looks so gross 21. HE ACTS GROSS WTH (1:34:12) 22. the book looks gross 23. EW CREEPY TONGUE LICK 24. why r u reading it out loud 25. the book has been used?? why?? what?? 26. also there should be lines 27. RYUK??? BBY?????? he didn't try to scare him  in reality unmmmm what 28. "Hello?" @ monster (1:32:55) 29. RYUK LOOKS COOL DUDE 30. screaming omg I'm dead kill me 31. THE SCREAMING (1:32:14) 32. u fuckin child 33. APPLE! 34. cool voice 35. more screaming 36. AND THEN HES FINE????????? 37. "I'm asleep" stereotype 38. I love Ryuk babe 39. but what'd they do to him 40. LIGHT'S FACEEEEE IM DED (1:30:47) 41. bullies aren't like that um 42. so now Ryuk is the bad guy? 43. "I don't have a pen" 44. why does Ryuk have a pen 45. WHY IS LIGHT LISTENING 46. um wtf 47. DECAPITATION??????? 48. "Watch" IM 49. HIS FACE (1:29:02) 50. decapitated by a ladder 51. GORE IS OFF THE CHARTS 52. and then Ryuk is like "k now here lemme accept it" 53. WHAT (1:28:15) 54. apparently his dad is a drunk and they live in a trailer 55.  Light is apathetic towards the bully dying and so is the dad 56. "death of someone? meh. cheating? OH DEAR GAWD" 57. edgy kid and so disrespectful (1:26:53) 58. ......what is this family ??? 59. Light is so disrespectful and the dad doesn't even care 60. edgy music 61. A P P L E 62. what, u gonna kill ur daddy? 63. "Don't trust Rie-uk" NOT HOW U SAY IT 64. monster in the closet ;) (1:25:06) 65. let's play with the creature in the closet! 66. human hand 67. fast eating 68. screaming again 69. "Ree-you-k" a so much better 70. casually talking (1:24:13) 71. what is this... 72. "UR FINGERS R HUGE" WHAAAAT [funny line tho cuz that’d be me] 73. "No shark attacks while someone's on the toilet" admittedly funny 74. they act as if this is a casual occurrence 75. IGNORES RULES AND WARNINGS AND DECIDES TO KILL OKAY YEAH SURE (1:22:45) 76. "Gotta get mummy's killer" oh give me a break 77. Of course he's gorging himself 78. *from earlier* light didn't care about the bully dying for more than two seconds 79. that's..such an improbable way to die (1:21:10) 80. bad hiding 81. Light is so bad at hiding 82. "Ur ma was a hippie" oh okay that explains his name 83. UM LIGHT WTF UR SO BAD AT ACTING 84. EVERYONE IS BAD AT ACTING KMS 85. fuckin Ryuk 86. I like his face tho is cool (1:19:43) 87. openly uses book in school 88. "Kenny was a sociopath... i wish id seen it" 89. Mia is a bitch 90. they're awkward 91. she's so weird 92. BAD ACTING ABOUT IT 93. "Can't tell you" "k bye" "U WANNA KNOW?" (1:17:54) 94. she doesn't see Ryuk 95. "Ur poetry sucks" funny 96. HIS FUCKING FACE WHEN SHE SEEs IT 97. "I have a death god" and she S M I L E S and then just stays cuz it's so normal 98. "Lemme kill someone to prove to you" (1:16:27) 99. same school thing okay that's fine 100. why wouldn't the police just shoot him 101. Hit by a truck and that's not how it....I'm..what 102. "I killed him" BITCH RUN 103. he's a sociopath. simple 104. she doesn't care (1:14:55) 105. okay so he has an easy excuse. mommy issues 106. "Think I'm crazy?" "No, not crazy enough. we could change the world" 107. sneaking into the house together what 108. why am I spending time watching this 109. STOP KISSING PLS 110. "YOU’RE NOT SUPPOSED TO ASK" Oh okay so no consent? sure fine totally (1:13:40) 111. and they have sex okay sure 112. HIS FACE IS WHAT 113. creepy relationship 114. kissing while killing 115. Asian guy killed 116. laughing at it 117. THEY made up the name? oh hell no (1:12:08) 118. OH MY GOD "killer in Japanese so they'll look on the wrong continent" 119. laughing at it all 120. riots for him????? I can't even tbh 121. Kira is suddenly a good guy for everyone okay sure whatever u ass 122. HEY IS IT L HEY HEY 123. "Tokyo nightclub" YOU ASSES (1:10:00) 124. hey it's my boy L yo 125. he looks stupid snooping around the scene 126. bad acting 127. L is cool ig 128. I'm so confused what is this 129. very very bad acting 130. ....THE SINGING!!!!! 131. and somehow L falls asleep to it (1:07:48) 132. obvious green screen 133. Light is so obvious 134. "Is there a complaint department if I don't like one of Kira's choices" I like the dad he's funny 135. dad ig looks similar in a whitewashed way 136. all the papers on the ground and "eat shit" cuz that's normal 137. the screen wasn't even in a phone call okay 138. Watari never showed his face (1:04:57) 139. why is his dad so rude 140. no voice changer 141. he's so messy what 142. candy obsession 143. thanks for the true to anime sitting that's good 144. HOW DO YOU KNOW SEATTLE? 145. oh first kill? (1:03:49) 146. and now she's manipulative 147. "It's not like that" How do you know?? 148. not bad representation of L 149. you can't tell his age go away 150. ice cream pfft 151. "REST YOUR GLUTES" Funny 152. how did the police miss that (1:01:14) 153. why would you trust Light's dad then 154. speaking with Kira okay that's actually realistic 155. L never, and I mean NEVER, showed his face publicly 156. does light have nothing better to do 157. "He's a coward" Oh yeah do it 158. Ryuk I love you (59:17) 159. Ryuk laughing ily 160. okay so you got it light that sure okay fine 161. "THEN, James, ID BE DEAD" I love him 162. funny scene 163. why is Light sneaking downstairs You're so Obvious 164. SO OBVIOUS WTH 165. ...how is his dad so...oblivious 166. irony 167. ...more obviousness wth (56:53) 168. "A particularly bright kid" no he obviously isn't 169. stalker is obvious 170. and she's the manipulater okay 171. "Care-a" 172. SASSY LIGHT WOOT 173. she's a bitch 174. she's going to write in it isn't she 175. probably took it 176. she's a bitch okay (54:39) 177. *from earlier* why'd they change the if you touch the note thing 178. oh so the heart attack thing is back 179. agent franks is being controlled 180. L is shocked sureeeeeeeee not how he is tbh 181. what's this pop music I like it 182. inappropriate timing tho 183. and they walk off the building I'm screaming okay whatever 184. in Japan? what 185. screaming about the death note in school 186. OBVIOUSLY IT WAS HER 187. Ryuk is so sassy 188. okay so Ryuk’s killing them? Jesus that's not how it works 189. you can't kill a god of death idiot 190. what's with the name thing (51:37) 191. she's so demented 192. his dad already what is going on 193. she's insane and wanting to kill his dad.... 194. SHES TRYING TO GET HIM TO KILL HIS DAD?!?! 195. Mia what the actual fuck 196. L isn't bad 197. his dad is ready to die? (49:22) 198. is he going to kill his dad cuz I feel like he is 199. what's with L's old phone? 200. okay so he's figured out who Kira is 201. what's with the sleeping? 202. I love how Ryuk is in the book Light is reading 203. casual approaching 204. HIS SITTING L I like you 205. confronting him... 206. LIGHT IS SASSY 207. why is Ryuk like this I wonder (46:53) 208. cool lighting tho 209. giving himself away 210. face shown 211. why are they fighting 212. "I dont even carry a gun, it's distracting" best line 213. L is actually cool 214. light is fucking insane 215. no one notices the fighting 216. ew here SHE is again 217. push her into the mud she's ugly 218. "I'm a cheerleader. nothing mattered before you" best excuse 219. "I love you" I'm.. (44:16) 220. ew ew ew ew ew they're so gross 221. you need his full name um 222. not going to kill Watari 223. only 1 name able to be burned okay 224. creepy monk orphan 225. CREEPY MONK ORPHANAGE 226. why is Watari listening 227. Mia go away pls 228. L doesn't think this is weird with Watari? (41:18) 229. the tattoo is cool behind L’s ear but why is it there 230. I like L actually 231. he freaks out? unlike his character  232. top hat 233. casual L 234. so obvious um 235. girl isn't even gone and now they're talking 236. unlike L's character (39:21) 237. she's still there 238. Police brutality UMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM 239. CHOKE HOLD?! 240. THREATENING TO KILL L!!! 241. UM LIGHT WHAT THE FUCK 242. WHAT THE FUUUUUUUCK 243. AND HIS FUCKING FATHER???? (38:18) 244. pfft Ryuk 245. "Is there anything I need to know" he would 100% support Kira 246. L in the background 247. completely calm after this ???? 248. did they not look into the girl 249. why is Watari singing 250. Light is so obvious 251. THE TOPHATTT 252. Watari is probs going to die (35:41) 253. CREEPY ORPHANAGE 254. ghostly panting???????????? [subtitles] 255. Ryuk can't..I'm ...what 256. this is actually a cult tho 257. secret tunnel okay yes 258. what's with the weird music (34:12) 259. why is L so strung out 260. awkwardly morose 261. homecoming awkwardness 262. TOP HAT 263. middle fingers wouldn't be allowed 264. rat 265. I bet Watari is going to die. Light will probably be too late to/forget to burn the page 266. what happened to the monks? why did they leave the papers? plot hole 267. top hat 268. frosted tips like [ex’s name] 269. "Normal people scare me" the worst thing yet (31:32) 270. called it. Watari is dead 271. I don't get what the page 272. ohh to burn his name 273. she's fucking creepy and weird 274. and Light doesn't really care 275. top hat (29:21) 276. and then hugging 277. she's insane..... 278. "I saved you again" I'm screaming 279. ....what the actually hell is wrong with her. LIGHT FUCKING DUMP HER 280. I absolutely hate her 281. why is she able to write in it 282. ...and of course she killed him 283. she's insane, like actually completely insane (27:35) 284. What's with all the rules thing 285. I ACTUALLY HATE HER WHAT THE HELL 286. Ryuk wouldn't let this happen he isn't a bad guy 287. L is now even more insane and going to kill Light 288. inappropriate music 289. Light's ugly running (26:19) 290. why didn't he burn his own page 291. why didn't he put her in there towards the end so she couldn't see it 292. Plot holes 293. WRITE HER FING NAME (24:50) 294. did he leave the book 295. L is coming for you bitch also he can't drive so 296. inappropriate music and close ups 297. L is cool lol look @ his awesome running 298. ohhhh he's cool (23:22) 299. parkour 300. Light's running is like not pressing the correct buttons on a quick time 301. L's running is awesome 302. nice lighting tbh 303. KILL HIM KILL HIM (21:50) 304. "Lord Kira" kill me 305. is this supposed to be a romantic scene when she wrote his name in the book? 306. he's carrying a gun like literally what 307. he should kill her (20:30) 308. KILL HER KILL HER 309. inappropriate music 310. "Lets run away together" 311. she's insane and still smiling 312. he probs wrote her name (19:28) 313. probs pushes him out 314. oh look @ Ryuk 315. OH YESSSSSS HE KILLED HER OH YES 316. his reasoning 317. "You said you loved me I thought you wouldn't take it" you moron (18:17) 318. why would you take it back 319. did she already burn his page? 320. why is Ryuk involved 321. shouldn't they both die? they're both in it 322. THE MUSIC IS BACK WHAT 323. the book why would you catch it 324. THE MUSIC IS SO INAPPROPRIATE IM SCREAMING (16:51) 325. oh there they go! bye bye b 326. I love Ryuk's smile 327. the slowmo 328. everyone's faces 329. the flowers exploding 330. is Light alive???? 331. is she??? 332. I'm confused tbh (16:02) 333. she's dead 334. L is still alive yay! 335. free death note page 336. omfg it burned no 337. Light is alive probs 🙄 338. who took the random book? (14:45) 339. more killings 340. apparently everyone hates L?? that's not how he was treated 341. Who is this guy that picked up the book 342. why would you give back the book (13:42) 343. such an obvious place to leave it 344. the phone screen isn't on a call 345. is he going to wake up 346. yes 347. oh and he keeps the book you weirdo 348. she was insane why is he sorry 349. his dad is ugly and gross go away (12:10) 350. WAIT PLOT HOLE he was supposed to be in a coma but his dad knocked. his dad wouldn’t know he’s awake? 351. Dad somehow doesn't care it was Light 352. L what are you doing 353. is his dad going to join in... oh no 354. why would you need to write all this down idek man 355. what is L doing..oh nvm wait why did he act surprised by this (9:07) 356. so now L is thrown off course? oh going to write Light's name? 357. do it son, pls do it he's ugly 358. inappropriate music 359. Ryuk laughing (7:30)