#scheduled this for the completely wrong time initially whoops

[hyrule-kingdom-updates]

🌼 any of them

Whoops, wrote a fic

Describe one of your OC’s worst nightmares.

An optimist would look at the world of divination with wonder. The universe is a but a magnificent hall of tapestries, beautiful pieces of art woven into anything you could imagine. Tapestries where you are a hero, tapestries where you are royalty, tapestries where your people live with riches, tapestries depicting your eternal victory over your enemies. The universe is endless and bountiful, for in the future, all futures are possible.

This is how Astor usually can depict the good fortune tellers from the worse.

If they’re an optimist, they’re most likely a faker.

The only true divinator that he had met that was even a bit of an optimist was his mother, and even then, he had always had the sinking feeling that she hid a deeper sorrow behind her simple shoes of colorful flames and shining moon and starlight. No, it was quite hard to stick to true, unfiltered optimism in this field, as while it was true that all futures and choices were possible, that freewill ran its course through all who walked the vast possibilities of the universe, the issue came in the fact that you could not travel it to and fro.

There are futures where you live, there are futures where you achieve your wildest dreams, timelines where your childhood is happier, and timelines where you find true love and satisfaction.

But you aren’t in those timelines. The future you have is this one, and it is set in stone.

Walk all the roads you want, say all the words, read all the stories, but when a seer analyzed exactly what world we live in, exactly what end is destined for this string of the universe, there will be no holding back. There is only the unfiltered, raw, typically pessimistic truth of the end. Savor it.

“In truth, Elane, I hate my job. Fear it, even,” Astor set his teacup down, looking out the balcony towards the inky, midnight view. “I fear one day I will find the prediction—the true, ultimate glimpse into the night, that seals in the fact that we’re doomed.”

The Queen only cocked her head with a smile. “Well, I’m flattered that there’s still a ‘we’ in this scenario. Good to know I’ll be joining you in the lockup when my mother find our contraband cucco nuggets—“

“I’m serious, Elane.”

She only laughed quietly, before leaning back in her chair, and gazing out into the pleasant evening. “I know...”

There was a quiet between them, not quite awkward or stiffening, but quiet in the way that you might hold your breath after someone embraces you warmly. Quiet in acceptance, quiet to make room for the sounds of something rare and fickle.

“I swear, I might retire early,” Astor finally said. “Quit while I’m ahead. Head off to Hateno or Mabe and bury my head in the sand.”

“You might want to try Gerudo then, if sand is what you’re searching for. I’m sure Urbosa would be thrilled.”

“Tsk. I am inclined to disagree.”

Elane chuckled again, and she let the quiet embrace her for a moment.

“Eternal doom aside, for a moment, I would posit that there’s hardly anything to fear. You’ve foreseen my daughter’s growth, analyzed the future livelihood of the kingdom, and predicted our victory over Ganon. I’d say it’s hard to bargain with that.”

“Maybe, but I could be wrong.” Astor circled his finger on the lip of his cup. “It happens, people make a prediction, but miss one star, or slip up one word...or perhaps one cow suddenly dies, or one ember quickly fades, and suddenly we’re actually in an entirely different timeline than predicted.”

“Didymos Astor? Wrong about something? Oh my, I never thought I’d see the day...” Elane smiled to herself again as she lifted her cup for another sip.

Astor clicked his tongue. “Well. You should hope I’m not wrong about anything. If someone of my skill makes an incorrect prediction, it would probably be disastrous for everyone.”

Elane winked as she set down her cup. “Well, good thing you’re a prodigy, then.”

“Good thing, indeed.”

Quiet keep their third company once again. Astor still had not sipped from his cup, but Elane was already heading for her fourth refill, no doubt begging for any energy after tucking her daughter to bed. A young toddler with enough energy to power a Guardian army, Elane has always found it quite odd that she used up a lot of her energy to annoy the Royal Seer. It was charming to see him get put off by a Mallory’s boundless curious aura, but mostly relieving in the sense that the Queen could get a moments rest and trust little Zelda would be alright.

Elane looked back inside through the half open door, and smiled at a bundled sleeping figure, surrounded by an army of stuffed animals. She then turned back and finally noticed Astor’s continued silence on the next refill.

She sighed. “Although I would be saddened to see you leave,” she began, “If a retirement would make you happy, Astor, I would loathe to do anything to stand in your way.”

He looked up at her, analyzing her body language and expression. She was genuine, of course, as she always was in these sorts of talks. Astor finally let himself exhale in peace, as he smiled and shook his head.

“Unfortunately I don’t think it would do me much good, anyways. Location won’t let me escape my own thoughts and visions.” He took a sip of his tea—a bit citrusy this evening, a hint of apple—and relaxed. “I’d imagine His Majesty would miss me dearly, and I simply wouldn’t want to leave him in distress.”

“Ha! Oh yes of course, Rhoam would be crying tears if you left us...” she replied, sarcastically. “Tears of deep, deep sorrow.”

Astor looked out into the night in silence again, not touching his cup.

“But I’ll tell you what Astor,” Elane began again. “If you ever receive that world dooming prediction, whatever may happen that may instigate your view of the deepest hells,” she raised her cup. “You come find me, and we’ll have a drink.”

He raised an eyebrow. “A drink? What sort of drink?”

She shrugged. “Whatever you like. Tea, wine, beer, water or juice if it’s your fancy. Whatever will keep your spirits high.”

Astor smirked, solemnly. “I don’t think you understand just how severe and dreadful certain predictions can be. When we say ‘all futures are possible,’ we do mean all possibilities.”

“And I understand, dear seer. I truly do.” She tilted her head as she kept her cup in the air. “But the way I see it, is that with divination or not, doom and hell come into people’s lives one way or the other. But it hasn’t really stopped the majority from loving their lives now, has it?” Her eyes twinkled like starlight. “Dearest Astor, if our destined doom is predicted one day, I command you to at least smile through our tea party.”

Quiet.

He finally sighed, the corners of his lips perking. His protests drowning in her expression.

“I suppose if you’re the one pouring, it’d be difficult to refuse.” He raised his cup and clinked it with hers.

She was dead eight days later.

With her death came the final factor. The final star.

“Your daughter is destined to fail us,” he said again. “The Calamity shall rise and consume us all, and she won’t stop it in time.”

Rhoam slammed his fists on the desk, but the seer did not flinch. “We’ll train her hard, we’ll start now, even! I’ll get those clerics from the temple to teach her the starting prayers!” he yelled.

“It won’t work.” Astor replied, simply. “Perhaps she might attain them down the line, but she most certainly won’t awaken her powers by Ganon’s rise. It’s over.”

“You told me we could do this!” Rhoam pointed a finger, accusingly. “You saw our prosperity, our victory!”

“That was what I initially saw, yes. But unfortunately we live in world where the Queen of Hyrule is dead, and thus the threads of our future weave accordingly.”

“You’re a liar!” Rhoam bellowed again. “You saw her death, saw our end and lied to us since the beginning, haven’t you?!!”

“Don’t you think that if I knew Elane would die, I would say something?! That I would give ample time for her to say goodbye to you and her daughter??” Astor finally raised his voice, met with equal silence. “I failed to correctly analyze our timeline the first time around, and for that I am sorry. But I can not control what pieces of the future fate allows me to see. It’s not an open novel for you to give me a bad book report grade on. It’s a museum of endless tapestries, of which I am task with analyzing one stroke at a time to identify which is woven to a singular man, and the fact that I have given you a complete enough answer now is a gift within itself, so don’t even try to accuse me forgery and lies.”

The two men clenched their jaws, staring angrily at each other.

Astor finally whispered. “Overtime I might gather more specifics, but overall—this is over.”

Rhoam balles his hand into a fist. “We’ll start a new schedule for Zelda first thing in the morning—“

“It won’t work, it’s futile—“

“We’ll make it work—“

“This is set in stone, this is the world you live in—“

“Well what if you’re wrong again?”

“I’m not.”

“But what if you are?”

“I’m. Not. I’ve read the signs again and again and again, in fact I’ve been reaching the same conclusions repeatedly for the last four weeks. It. Is set. In stone.” He tapped his finger on the wood with each syllable to emphasize. “Perhaps the futures of prosperity are accurate for the Rhoams and Mallorys that live in a different time, but unfortunately for us, we live in one where Elane is dead. This is our reality and you’re doing no good denying as such.”

Silence.

Rhoam made his way towards the door. “You’re a liar.” The seer scoffed. “You’re a liar and you don’t know what you’re saying! Borderline treason if I’m being honest! You’re pathetic, and a rotten fake—“

“If it pleases His Majesty to confirm the integrity of his humble subject,” Astor cut in, sarcastically, “It might be good to know that also I’ve predicted you won’t imprison me, or exile me, or execute me, given you’re still ever reliant on my uncontested skills for more personal matters. That, and you wish to try and keep me around to hopefully prove me wrong, in which you can then tell yourself you’d be in the right to truly punish me.” He stared the regent dead in the eyes. “But don’t worry, you won’t.”

Rhoam slammed the door shut as he stomped off.

That night, Astor has another dream. Or perhaps it was a vision, he wasn’t sure, as the details were so surreal and horrific and captivating that it would have surely been a blessing to chalk it up entirely to vivid imagination.

There were screams and the sound of rocks crumbling. Bones were cracking and monsters were squealing and shrieking. And be felt his arms burn, and he felt his soul drain, and he looked down to see his skin peeling into dark flakes, his muscles, sludge. And in the distance, a young woman with golden hair laughed at him, but her eyes were hollow and gold. And she laughed and laughed as his body was slowly broken to pieces, bones torn asunder, skin burned to smoldering malice, senses vivid until the final moment when he woke.

But the good thing about nightmares, was that...that was it. There was no where else to go. There was nothing left to offer. No more pain to fear.

It made sense of course. Of course, of course. He never went to the funeral, he never offered his sympathies. There was no longer anything to mourn, as he allowed himself to view the world in its true, disgusting form. The people were doomed, and the dead, well...perhaps they might have deserved it. Yes, that was the only way this all made sense, of course. He even stopped trying to warn other folk after a few too many dozen harsh rejections to his character. No, now in complete isolation and resignation of his path, there was nothing else that could possibly drag him back to—

“How do I die?” Zelda Mallory Hyrule asked, one day.

At first, he was confused, and he turned in his chair. “What?”

She was seven at the time, and it was truly an odd and concerning thing to be coming from a seven year old girl’s mouth. Or perhaps it wasn’t, given the circumstances.

“How do I die?” she said again. She was laying down on his worn carpet, fiddling with the frilled edge.

Was she truly that bored? Already out of other questions? Hmph, he had always warned her to stay away, as a seer’s office wasn’t really meant for childish entertainment. Yet still she always came and asked to hide away from her father, and, well...anything to spite that man...

“Why do you ask?” he finally replied. Had someone said something to her? A threat? He clenched his jaw. I swear, if that fool tried to force her powers by—

“You’re always going on about how I’m wasting my time with praying and stuff...but father says I still gotta to stop the Calamity or else we could all die.” She didn’t look up from the bits of carpet string she was playing with (and contemplating on popping in her mouth), “So I figured if you tell me how I die we can settle the debate for good!”

Astor just sighed. “Well, of course you d—“

He stopped himself, but not for the reasons a more put together person, might. Not because of the generally frowned upon action of telling a child how she dies, no, that was not exactly beyond him. No, Astor cut off his sentence simply because it had crossed his mind that—

“...I’m not entirely sure...” he whispered.

He suddenly stood. Walking towards the other end of his office, carefully stepping over the child. “E-Excuse me a moment.”

Why had he never considered this? Of course, he had seen the signs clearly enough, the visions, the stars. A girl cries over a corpse, a light vanishes in the night. Malice plagued the sky and dooms the day. But did the Calamity actually kill her? Does she drown in rubble and malice like the others? Slain by a demon or monster perhaps? Or if not, then, would that mean...?

The princess soon forgot about the question by the next day, and the next, and the next, and the next, and the next.

Astor spent nearly eight sleepless nights into finding an answer.

But he never truly did.

These things happened more times than one may think, when it came to predictions. Vagueness was commonplace, but specificities and straightforward answers were about as rare as a green sunset. Of course, he knew she would die, goddess blood or not, she lived the life of a mortal. But how? When? While it certainly wasn’t impossible to predict a person’s death, but whatever the circumstances of Mallory’s was made the process was infuriatingly impossible.

It was possible she would die of malice or suffocation under rubble, even circumstances where she dies at the Ganon’s hand himself. But then there were clear visions of her living, walking through a grassy field, ruins in the distance covered in leaves and moss, her turning and calling to a friend to keep up with her pace.

But no, nonono. She would die during the Calamity’s rise, that was the majority of what the futures offered to her were. That was the probable outcome.

But the factors and visions and signs and alignments were so fine and minuscule in difference, that Astor truly couldn’t a true statement, a true prediction, a true answer to the question. What timeline did we live in?

It taunted him.

Maybe it was better if the question was put to rest, did it even matter?

“Mallory?” he asked. “That’s a stupid name.”

“What?! No it’s not!” Elane laughed and shoved his shoulder. “Please, YOU’RE not one to talk.”

“Well as a victim of stupid first names, I think I’m qualified to speak accurately on the subject.”

“Aha! But it’s not technically a first name.” Elane tapped his head. “It’s a middle name, her first name would be ‘Zelda,’ of course.”

“Yes, and that is also a s—“

The queen shoved his shoulder into the wall before he even finished the sentence. “Oh would you shut up...”

He laughed, unconventionally carefree. Her Majesty’s happiness these days truly was contagious. Or perhaps that was a side effect of pregnancy? Did all expecting mother’s give off this aura?

“I think it’s a wonderful name.” Elane said. “Reminds me of a cute little duck, like a mallard!” She tucked her arms and flapped her elbows to imitate as such. “Quack, quack!”

“This is further adding to my argument actually”

“Hmph! Ok then Mr. Overseer of all names” She tapped a finger to his chest. “If it’s such a stupid name, then when she starts getting bullied for it around the castle, I shall expect you to take care of her in full.”

He scoffed. “Oh, I’ll be sure to do so. She’ll definitely need it.”

Elane pecked his head with a kiss.

“Good! I grant you my blessing lovingly tease her, as well. And I expect the best from you, Astor!”

His face suddenly warmed for some reason, and he couldn’t form words.

“What?”

“.....W...”

He was suddenly whack in the head with a rolled up piece of paper. Astor sprang awake from his desk. “...W...What...?”

“Morning, Mr. Astor!!” Princess Zelda-Mallory beamed. “And happy birthday!!! Sorry I woke you up early, but I needed to give this to you before the winter solstice festival later and—“

She continued to ramble on and on, but Astor simply opened the rolled up paper she had handed to him. It was simply filled with dozens and dozens, arguably hundreds, of hand drawn stars. In the corner was written, “You always look at the same stars so here’s some new ones!” in crude purple crayon. At the time, he failed to notice the accompanying note on the back that read “One for each year of how old you are!” Thankfully he was too busy looking through the different stars, with varying degrees of sparkles and smiley faces.

He finally looked back at the princess, who was still rambling on and on about her day, and her father’s day, and her newest stuffy dress, and her latest adventures with her stuffed toys, and—

“Why are you always here, Zelda?” Astor finally said. She stopped talking, looking at him, quizzically. “I mean...” he grumbled, “You know I don’t really like you, right?

“Eh, I don’t care. I think you’re neat!!” She held out her arms as she zoomed around his circular office. “Your room is so cool! And you got fun books!”

“Necromancy isn’t necessarily what I would consider ‘fun’ reading material—“

“Plus your outfits are cool, and you’re super smart, like my mom.”

He blinked.

“Plus, you’re the only one that’s not mean to me about my dumb powers. But really that’s just a chair on the top!”

“Do you mean cherry on top?”

“No! I meant chair! Watch me!! I’m gonna do a backflip off of this—“

“NO.” Astor immediately stood up, and snatched the girl off of the wooden chair. “NO. No backflips.” He set her down on the rug and pointed to a side of the room which held a broken table, stool, and a few old chairs—the victims of the princess’ previous acrobatic attempts.

She crossed her arms and stuck out her tongue. “You’re no fun!”

“I’m running out of furniture, is what I am.”

“But I’ll let this slide since it’s your birthday! Hmph.”

She started pulling at the loose threads of the carpet. “Don’t know why you had to stop my birthday backflip! Who cares if I get a little scratch?”

“I do—“

“YOU DO?!” Mallory was immediately up and clinging to his robes.

Astor sputtered, instinctively waving his arms to free himself from the child’s grip. But then he finally processed her question, and...

“I...” He looked at her starlight eyes. She had that stupid, naive grin that he always remembered from her mother. A stupid, pathetic, horrible, terrible, optimistic smile.

He finally scoffed. “I just can’t have you getting hurt on my watch, as otherwise, I’d probably be a dead man. That’s all.”

The princess lifted her hands in a “hooray!” fashion, and yelled the exclamation, accordingly. She then resumed her zipping and zooming around the room, much to Astor’s unexpected relief.

That night, he visited the question again.

Why? He didn’t really know.

The question wouldn’t offer him anything, it wouldn’t relieve him of anything—in fact it really did just the opposite. If he found that died miserably, it would be another scream in the nightmare, another nail in the comforting coffin of despair. But if he someone found that she lived, that there was a day after the Calamity, where even a child such as her could possibly prosper...

Having hope and seeing it fail anyway would probably be the most torturous of all.

Again, he had a dream, of a world tainted by blood and malice. But this time he was floating. He was floating and watching the end of it all.

Castle Town was nothing but ruins and ash, and no colors existed but red, black, and grey.

He couldn’t hear anything but a shrill hum in his ears, but he knew there was screaming. He looked to his hand, expecting to see malice or blackened skin, but instead found a strange floating device in his palm. It spin slowly, pink constellations drifting across its surface.

The hum in his ears turned into a groan, and then a whisper. It said something familiar, but he was sure he had never heard it before.

It is time.

The next night he had a dream of a girl standing in a green field, calling out to her friends somewhere behind her. She rested under the ruins of a collapsed pillar, and ate a homemade sandwich with a memorable smile.

Astor reached a conclusion.

In most futures, the girl dies horribly. He wrote in his journal. To be expected, I would assume the rise of the Calamity isn’t exactly easy to survive from.

But what I have discovered is a very specific set of circumstances that lead to a more favorable outcome, at least for her.

I have no way of knowing if it accurately depicts the comings of our time, or another. There are too many variables and specifics. Too long I have spent trying to discern our fate, but the probabilities and possibilities for doom are so interchangeable that it really go either way. The only truth I know is that she lives if—

He paused, tapping the dry quill to the desk again in thought. He dipped it once more.

I’ve decided that if I ever find myself in the scenario where I can solidify her a more favorable destiny, I will take it. I can only hope dare to alter my existing nightmare into something different, there’s really nothing left to lose, is there?

Astor leaned in his chair for a moment, savoring the silence of his office. He looked out the window and took in the night. The stars were gorgeous this evening.

Although if it fails I hope it kills me.

Call it arrogance, but I don’t think I can handle being wrong again.

The seer sighed, then suddenly flipped to the next blank page, angrily.

If I had never met her it would have been fine. If I had just minded my own damn business and continued to work in being resigned to our fate, at least then I could have—

There was a soft knock at his door.

He knew who it was.

Astor pinched the bridge of his nose as he opened it. “It’s past 2am, Princess, what could you possibly have to tell me?”

She looked down and shuffled her feet. “I had a nightmare...”

“Yes, people do have those sometimes.” He immediately closed the door.

Another knock.

After a moment, Astor opened it again. “Don’t you have guards outside your room, how did you sneak up here?”

“Secret tunnel!” She grinned, proudly, as she replied with a sort of sing-song tone.

“That’s nice.”

The door slammed shut again.

She knocked once more. There was the longest pause.

“FFFFFFine!” The world was out of his lips before he even fully swung open the door, and Mallory happily scrambled inside. “But no touching anything, I’m working.”

“It’s ok, I just wanna stay up all night and read your books!” She was already scrambling for the necromancy section, again.

Astor sighed, and went to slump back into his desk. The princess was already sprawled across the floor, distracting herself with another stack of wondrous, ill-recommended book. He didn’t really care.

I don’t really care. He wrote once again. I know there are futures where I dedicate myself to the Calamity, and she dies anyway. I know it doesn’t really matter, I know it’s hopeless to care, and that’s why I don’t.

He looked back at Zelda, he saw her slowly blink back her tiredness. He knew in a few hours or so, he’d have to drop her sleepy figure back off to those useless guards, and berate then for letting her wander off again, as it always was.

If I do this and it’s all for nothing, he began, I fear it will be worse than if I had just stood to the side and perished. It’s already doomed, and this pathetic, foolish optimism might cause me to turn this nightmare into something even worse.

He sighed, and the hours passed as he just sat with his thoughts.

Zelda was using and open book as a pillow.

Astor opened the door, and went to pick her up.

I’m not living through another nightmare. He thought, as he descended the stairs from the observatory. The girl’s breathing was steady as she wrapped an arm by his shoulder.

If it fails I hope it kills me before I see it. He repeated again.

I can’t handle being wrong again.

[nazyalenskyism]

Sweeter Things

A/N: Here’s a mini @grishaversebigbang fic from Kaz’s P.O.V. Please check out the amazing artwork this fic is based on below by the fantastic artists I was lucky enough to work with on this! Hope you enjoy!

Find the beautiful art for this fic by @wellwatersurprise​ & @iri-lynx here!

Summary: Kaz discovers a few things about himself and his fellow Crows thanks to an outing to Ketterdam’s most expensive café.

Ao3: Sweeter Things

Kaz tapped his cane against the pristine marble tiles, punctuating each passing second displayed on his pocket watch with a sharp rap. Nina Zenik was late, again. He leaned back against the wall, propping a foot against the ghastly gilded wallpaper, resting his head against a window frame. From the stories he’d overheard Nina telling Inej, he’d assumed that the Ravkan army generals who she feared had instilled a sense of punctuality in her but evidently, being on time to a meeting she planned was not a skill of hers.

When she finally drifted through the door, her bright red blouse with its flowing sleeves billowing in the breeze, it was more than a quarter hour after their scheduled meeting time. 

“Kaz!” Nina beamed.

“Zenik,” He ground out.

They followed the server to a small booth tucked in the side of the restaurant, Nina looking at the menu for all but three seconds before she ordered. For both of them.

“I didn’t come here to eat.”

“Well I did,” Nina sniffed. “Being seen in public with you is horrible enough, I need something to ease the pain.”

He’d never had waffles before, and he certainly didn’t want to try them for the first time while sitting across from Nina of all people. Did Ravka not have the dish? Why was she so entranced by glorified pancakes?

She frowned at him, as if she could sense what he was thinking. Maybe she could. As much research as he’d done, he didn’t know the full extent of her Corporalki powers. “Keep up appearances, Kaz. This place is notoriously difficult to get into, people wait months for a table. If you don’t eat your food like someone who has been waiting ages to try it, you will be raising suspicions.”

“No one knows me here, this isn’t the Barrel, Zenik. What do I care?”

“The new owner of the place is soon to be married to a high ranking member of the Dime Lions, so unless you want someone whispering to their lover about an oddly behaving rat with greasy hair in a perfectly tailored suit, you better eat up.”

Kaz had never wished the rumors that his glare could kill were true more than he did in this moment. Nina Zenik was a nuisance in a class of her own.

“What did you need to--”

“Oh,” she sighed, cutting him off completely, “we can’t talk about business when there’s a chance the servers might overhear while bringing us our food. We’ll have to wait until we eat.”

Fantastic.

They sat in silence for a few minutes, Nina’s few feeble attempts to initiate a conversation died out when he refused to respond, and apparently for the first time, Nina Zenik wasn’t in the mood to talk herself to sleep. Finally, some quiet, he thought, letting him consider why she’d invited him here for this meeting in the first place. Before he would think too much about it, two steaming plates were deposited before them, and before he’d reached for his cutlery, Nina was already digging in. He took his time, and when he finally raised the fork to his mouth, he thought he was about to lose his reputation, here in the middle of the Finance District.

Great Ghenzhen’s gavel, they were delicious. Kaz reached for his coffee, hoping the bitterness of the dark roast would help him regain his composure. He disliked sugary things for a reason, because he’d loved them as a child. The once light aftertaste of sugar on his tongue was now acerbic, reminding him of money they’d never had, spent on frivolous things like melted chocolate and spun sugar. Sweet things were not meant for Barrel rats like him, they belonged in the hands of Merchers who had grown too comfortable, forgetting that the fall was always easier than the climb, especially when they hadn’t been the ones clawing to the top themselves. He finally looked up from his plate to see Nina half-finished, and a waiter walking away from their table. Had he been that entranced with the food that he’d missed someone visiting the table? His companion tilted her head at him, her gaze assessing him before she finally spoke.

“Inej likes the double cinnamon waffles with the orange syrup.” Kaz stared at her. “Jesper’s favourite is plain waffles with apple syrup and a side of eggs and bacon.” Kaz kept staring at her. “Incase you liked what you tasted and wanted more.” He narrowed his eyes, she was more observant than she let on, though the mile-wide smirk on her face was enough to make sure those words never reached her ears.

Kaz said nothing, simply took his fork in his left hand, his knife in his right and slowly cut into his breakfast, maintaining eye contact with Nina the entire time he popped the bite into his mouth, chewing slowly. He reached for his mug, taking a long swig before putting it down. “They taste awful.”

Nina scoffed, “grow up, Kaz.”

“Why am I here, Zenik?”

She shrugged, “why do you think you’re here?”

“Because you arranged this meeting to talk about an important topic, which you didn’t want overheard in the barrel,” Kaz growled, “that’s what you said yesterday.”

“I was wrong,” she said simply, taking the last bite from her plate. “The information is irrelevant now.”

“ Nina, tell me what it is.” The knife in his hand was feeling like a good motivational tool.

Her eyes crinkled stubbornly, “are you helping me get my prisoner out of jail?”

“No.” The answer was always no.

“Then I have nothing more to offer you today.” She slipped from her seat, smiling at the server who placed a large bag on the table, “thanks for the breakfast but I have to get back. My break’s over.” Without another word she flounced over to the hostess, undoubtedly flirting her way into another tin of their spiced syrup and then she was disappearing down the street with her giant bag of waffles in tow.

Kaz scowled in the direction she’d disappeared off into. Then he scowled down at his food. A few minutes later he scowled as he flagged down a server for a menu, and he scowled as he placed far too many Kruge on the table. Kaz scowled all the way home, curse Nina Zenik.

                                                          ***

“Ghafa, Fahey,” Anika called from the doorway, “there’re parcels here for you.” Inej and Jesper shared a look, who was sending them packages here? Inej had never been sent anything, and if people who took a liking to Jesper wanted to give him something, they usually used it as a way to get another meeting with him. Jesper’s long legs got him to the entryway first, and he let out a whoop of delight as he picked up the bags from the ground. There were two, one labeled “Jesper,” the other labeled “Inej,” in an unfamiliar scrawl. The smell emanating from them was heavenly. 

“Waffles,” Jesper moaned clutching his bag to his chest. “Who sent us waffles?”

“Nina?”

“These are from the most expensive cafe in Ketterdam, I don’t know if she could afford it.”

Inej frowned, she knew someone who had that type of money. “Come, food like this deserves to be eaten in a place with a view. I know the perfect rooftop.”

As they passed through the alleyway towards the Zemeni Embassy she glanced up at the top floors of the Slat, at his office. She thought she caught the edge of a black coat flapping in the window, but then it was gone and all she could see was the static layout of the room. Inej caught back up with Jesper, letting his animated tales of his latest escapade wash over her, her thanks sent to the Saints instead of someone who didn’t want them.

                                                               *** Kaz settled back in his chair once his sharpshooter and Wraith had passed, his pen flipping through his fingers. He could still hear their cheerful banter from the other end of the alley and he allowed himself a single moment to close his eyes, dreaming of a world where he could join them. Then his eyes snapped open and he turned back to the books. He didn’t live in a fantasy world, he lived in this one and no amount of whimpering was going to change the fact that he would always be the one watching from afar. And that was the way  he liked it.

[peppersonironi]

For @duketectivecomics‘s Duke Week Day Five: Leadership (A day late, I know, but I had wifi trouble)

Summary: Nightwing offers Signal a chance to lead a small group for a mission. Duke is wary, but accepts the challenge. He proves to be a rather great leader.

Notes: Takes place after Season Two of Young Justice, and ignores Season Three (I still haven’t seen it, unfortunately).

“So will you do it?” Duke looked over at Dick, who had decided to brave the day as Nightwing in order to ask a favor.

“I’m not sure, Nightwing, That’s your team, and I’m perfectly happy taking care of Gotham.”

Dick pouted and dramatically flung himself over the nearest gargoyle. “You sure? I could really use the help. Don't you want to lend aid to your poor, poor brother?”

“You are literally a billionaire.”

“Ha ha, Signal. You know what I mean.”

Duke sighed and joined Dick beside the gargoyle. “Yeah, I do. Are you sure you need me? Why not Tim? Steph? Heck, even Damian would love the chance to boos those guys around.”

Dick sighed. “I told you, The mission occurs at the same time as one on the opposite side of the world, which I already have Tim scheduled for. Steph is woking a case in Hong Kong with Cass. And Frankly, I doubt the Team would appreciate Damian's … style of leadership. This one is smaller, and less of a priority. I have some of the newbies and more older members on it, but none of them have experience with leading stealth missions.”

“So give one of them the experience!” Duke was getting a bit exasperated. Why did Dick think it would be a good idea to handle a mission on a covert team he'd never even met before?

“It's not that simple.” Dick frowned. “This mission is time sensitive, and delicate. It really does need someone with experience leading it, but all my best people are elsewhere.”

Duke tilted his head, considering. “Why me?”

Dick laughed. “Why NOT you? Seriously, Signal. You handled a whole group of Robins, by yourself. No Batman. You proved yourself, and you've earned respect. I trust you with this.”

Duke considered, thinking through everything Dick had said. “Alright,” He sighed, “What's the mission?”

*****

“Team, I'd like you to meet Signal. He'll be joining you on the mission, as well as over seeing things.” Nightwing stood at the front of the group of heroes, turning to where Duke had just come in from the zeta tubes.

Duke walked forward, surveying the group. “ 'Sup?” He asked, unsure of what else to say.

“Signal, meet Beast Boy, Kid Flash, Wonder Girl, and Blue Beatle.”

Duke nodded and extended his hand, “Nice to meet you.”

“I've been waiting to meet you for so long, dude!” Kid Flash said, racing forward to shake Duke's hand. “I've heard all about you, but the dates on when you actively joined the guys in Gotham were murky, and since I couldn't ask Nightwing or Robin – wait, does that mean Tim's no longer Robin? Why didn't he say anything? Unless the history books got it wrong, in which case woah, sorry I said anything – anyway  it was a bit of a tricky situation. Of course, I probably could have looked it up on the internet, but that feels like cheating y'know?”

Duke blinked several times. “Um, thanks, I guess? I didn't really think anyone bothered with me.”

“Are you kidding?!” Kid Flash was literally bouncing at this point. “You're one of the coolest bats! You patrol during the day, for one thing, plus your costume is pretty crash. Not to mention you're literally the only meta human Batman has ever let stay in Gotham! Although Black Bat might be one, no one was ever really clear on that.”

“You're a meta human?!” Beast Boy asked, shoving Kid Flash to the side. “Seriously? And you work with Batman?! How does that work?”

Duke laughed. “Yes, I am a meta. No, Black Bat isn't. She's just awesome. And I was Batman's protege before I gained my powers. When we found out, we kinda just rolled with it.”

“Translation,” Nightwing added, “He grumbled a bit before deciding that the rule only really covers Green Lantern.”

“Didn't it always though?” Duke asked his brother.

Nightwing laughed. “Probably. He never seemed to keen on Superman either, to be honest.”

Duke frowned. “Wait, then why did he stop by for tea last week?”

“Wait, he did?! Why wasn't I invited?!”

Duke shook his head and tsked. “Downside to no longer living at the house dude, that's all I'm saying.”

The Team was looking back and forth at the exchange. “Wait,” Blue Beatle said, holding up his hands. “Superman comes over for tea, at Batman's house, which you live in, but Nightwing doesn't anymore?”

“Yup,” Both of the bats said.

Blue Beatle blinked, then nodded. “Alright then.”

“What are your powers,” Wonder girl asked.

“Light stuff, basically,” Duke said. “I can see in several different light spectrums, lets me do a bunch of stuff, like limited x-ray vision. I can also 'replay' what happens in rooms, due to the light residue. I can also see a few seconds into the future.”

Everyone blinked at him.

“Not to mention you can control shadows!” Nightwing added helpfully.

Duke cringed. “Yeah, but that's new. I'm not really familiar with it.”

Everyone stared, except Kid Flash, who just continued bouncing.

“Alright,” Nightwing said after a moment, “Let's get on with the briefing.”

*****

The mission was simple: Infiltrate a high rise owned by Lex Luther in San Francisco, and retrieve information that was being stored on a hard drive. Said drive was only going to be present in the tower for twelve hours, nine of which Lex was also present. Hence the need for a small team, and the precise timing.

The infiltration was scheduled at 1400 hours, after Lex had left for lunch, and before the buyer of the information had arrived. Duke had been given the plans of the building, and multiple suggested strategies. One of these strategies was modified by Duke, and was what led Beast Boy (who insisted Duke call him Garth) turning into a fly in order to get through the vents.

“Are you sure I can't go for something more fun?” Garth asked on the way to San Francisco, “Like a snake? Maybe even a monkey!”

“No,” Duke had said, “A fly is the best option, it's the least likely to set off motion sensors.” At the disappointed face, however, Duke conceded, “You can be a monkey when you open the side entrance.” Garth had whooped in triumph, and Duke had to crack a smile.

Once Beast Boy had managed to get into the building, he made his way to the main security center and dismantled whatever detection systems Lex had in place, allowing Kid Flash (Bart, Duke learned) and Signal himself to make their entrance. The trio made their way to Lex's office, only needing to take out a single guard, and retrieve the hard drive from one of Lex's many (There were like thirty, sheesh) safes in the room. The cracking of said safe took longer than initially planned, but Duke managed to hack the system in time for the guard change. Boy was he glad Tim taught him how to hack.

With the target in hand, they made their way out to the back alley, where Blue Beatle (Jaime, he said his name was) and Wonder Girl (Cassie) were keeping watch. They were almost caught at one point, but Duke saw the guards coming and quickly shoved his teammates into a closet, along with himself. In the end, two guards who were lagging behind on their shift change intercepted them, but Blue Beetle knocked one out, and Wonder Girl got the other.

“Took you long enough,” Cassie said with a grin when she saw the trio returning.

Duke grinned right back at her. “You have any trouble?”

“If these two count as trouble,” She replied, kicking one of the goons.

“Sounds crash!” Kid Flash replied. “How about we get out of here before something blows up?”

Duke frowned. “Why would anything blow up?”

Everyone turned and gave him a look. “You'd be surprised,” Blue Beetle said.

“Better not jinx it, then.” Duke spook, and the team made their escape.

*****

“ - Complete insubordination! Do you know what you did?!”

Duke paused at the doors, looking in on the meeting room where he and the others were supposed to go for their debriefing. Turns out, the other part of the Team was already there, and being chewed out by Batman himself.

“This was supposed to be a covert mission, and you go and get the entire building blown up!” Huh, they weren't kidding about explosions, Duke thought. “You clearly disobeyed the mission parameters, opting instead to joyride with the robots you were sent to destroy! Do you know how many lives you put in danger?!”

“It wasn't our fault!” Tim Drake, better known as Red Robin (Though Duke thought Bart mention that he still went as Robin here? Boy, Damian was gonna be pissed!) told Batman. “The robots got activated remotely, and dragged us along. In the end, they self destructed!”

Batman sighed, and muttered something that sounded suspiciously like “I let Kaldur go one one vacation …”

“You can at least acknowledge we got the job done.” Tim said, and Bruce sighed once more. He looked so tired, and Duke could barely hold in a grin. From the scared faces of everyone else in the room, Duke gathered that no one else found it quite so funny.

“Yes, you got it done,” Batman conceded, “But your methods are far from acceptable! All of you need to reevaluate how you-”

“It's almost kinda funny when I'm not the one being chewed out!” Duke turned to find Jaime and Garth standing in the door beside him, the latter of whom had spoken.

“Oh it's definitely funny,” Duke replied. “I've had front row seats to these types of things since I joined the bats. I”m almost never the one in trouble. Surprised it's Tim, though. Usually Nightwing.”

Both of their eyes widened. “Nightwing is the one in trouble?”

“Yup. We – the other bats and I – have a running bet on how long the rants last. B's best record is two hours, fifty minutes, thirty-seven seconds. It was right after Nightwing spray painted the bat-suit glittery pink, though I'm pretty sure Spoiler helped.”

Jaime opened and closed his mouth for a few moments. “Wow.”

Just then, Bart and Cassie showed up. “Are we late for the debriefing?” The latter asked.

Duke shrugged and pointed into the room, where Batman had moved onto a rant about aerial combat and unneeded fuel. “Nope, There's is running late.”

The group turned and went back to viewing the scene before them. After another fifteen minutes, Batman said. “I have another team coming in soon for debriefing, so let's hope that they were at least partially competent.”

Duke thought that would be as good a place as any to make an entrance, so he brought his fist to his mouth and coughed a bit.

Everyone turned slowly to find the grinning group standing at the doorway.

“Signal,” Batman said, and Duke knew he was relieved, “Did you just get back?”

“We've been standing here for twenty minutes, B. Seriously, your lecturing skills have not gone unpracticed.”

Batman sighed, putting his fingers on the bridge of his nose, not a sight unfamiliar to Duke, but from the gaping mouths, Duke was pretty sure no one else thought anything about the exchange was normal. “Please tell me your mission went well?”

“Without a hitch,” Duke replied grinning. “We got in and out easily. Had a tad of trouble with hacking the safe, but we got it open.” Duke turned to Tim, “Thanks for those lessons last week, they really paid off.”

Tim grinned “Welcome. Wanna continue when we get home?”

Duke nodded. “Sounds good.”

“Were there any complications?” Batman growled.

“We took out three guards quietly, and avoided two more that I saw coming right before they turned a corner, but other than that, no.”

Batman glared suspiciously down at Duke, who only smiled. “Any explosions?”

Duke frowned. “What is it with this team and explosions?” Batman glared some more, “Calm down B, no explosions. Everything was quiet.”

Batman nodded. “Good job, Signal. You dropped off the target with Nightwing, I assume?” At Duke's nod, he continued, “You get head back to Gotham, then. Finish your report in the cave, and finish up your patrol if you want. I'll make a note on the file if we ever need you again.” He paused, and looked critically at Duke. “Would you?”

Duke looked back at Garth, Jaime, Bart, and Cassie, who were all nodding their heads furiously. “Sure,” Duke said, “Why not?”

[akitokihojo]

Delicate - Chapter 6

Lol, I forgot it was Friday and almost didn't post this. Whoops.

----------

It was like Kagome had completely lost the ability to read Inuyasha - if that was something she was ever able to claim at all. She’d noticed a difference in him over the weeks. He seemed a little more calm, a little more forthcoming, a little more receptive, a little more welcoming. She’d seen his smile so many times before, but there was something about the looks he’d give her on occasions few and far between, only in passing, robbing her heart of a beat as he bequeathed this warm and tender grin. What did it mean? 

Initially, she’d thought the effort he was putting forth was to overcompensate for the argument they’d gotten into, but as time kept ticking, the facade didn’t appear to be so much of a facade anymore. She could see herself getting used to his new demeanor around her. It wasn’t a change that was so substantial that she felt something was wrong. She actually felt like Inuyasha was just more comfortable. With her, in particular. Everything else seemed almost normal.

Maybe she was looking too far into it; seeing things that weren’t actually there. Maybe she’d inadvertently received an extra dash of hope one day and clung to it like static on clothing. She’d tried shaking it off, rationalizing, but she couldn’t get it out of her mind. Suddenly, she desperately wanted her plaguing thoughts to be true. She wanted him to like her.

It couldn’t be possible, though. Could it? No. Yes? Maybe? It wasn’t healthy to go back and forth with herself so often, wondering how another person felt. But, she couldn’t help it. He’d come over to study, and when he was trying to explain something to her in more depth, he’d scoot closer. Not like before. He wouldn’t just lean in a little. Inuyasha would move his entire body toward her. She’d physically feel his body heat, smell his intoxicating and subtle scent, and god, was it difficult to focus through that. So, therein of itself, it had to all just be her imagination at play. If their knees grazed, he’d usually move away. If he got a little too close by accident, he’d scoot himself back an inch or two. Then, there were times where it seemed he wanted to touch her but wouldn’t; another scenario she could blame on her overactive imagination. Inuyasha was just being nice, and her stupid emotions were clearly getting the better of her. 

Truth be told, she was impeccably embarrassed for having her feelings exposed to him. She felt even more vulnerable than before. They hadn’t been acknowledged since or formally rejected, so her admittance did nothing more than hang in the air between them. The lack thereof was as much a rejection as anything, though, and she told herself that. It didn’t matter that they texted more often, it didn’t matter that he looked at her a little lighter, it didn’t matter that she, herself, felt considerably more drawn to him. None of it meant a thing. Did it?

What was the worse option here? To hope or to not get her hopes up? 

Unfortunately, as easy as it was to try and logically think things through in her alone time, when she was around him that was all shot to hell. For some reason, he seemed even more attractive lately than ever. She liked the way his brows relaxed when he looked at her - consciously or subconsciously, she couldn’t tell. When he had his nose in his own homework, Kagome couldn’t help but stare. Just a little. He had a wonderfully calm expression to him when he wrote out answers on the sheet, his long hair swooping over his shoulder from the tie at the crown of his head. Not a single part of his features crinkled when he concentrated, unlike hers. The sound of his voice was soothing. When he spoke, the pace of her heart would increase for a few seconds, and then slow to a peaceful rhythm. She liked that. She enjoyed the way he made her feel just by being near.

At the same time, she couldn’t even tell if she was miserable or not. It was so difficult to love someone while trying to convince yourself it would never happen. Love. Was she even old enough to experience that emotion? Did it have an age cap? Was it an eighteen-or-older sort of thing, or was it legitimate at whatever stage you were in life? It had to be legitimate; there was no other excuse for the throbbing intensity that overwhelmed her chest, or the loneliness she felt whenever he left her side.

She was scared. Scared she was right and he didn’t feel the same, scared he’d ghost her again no matter the reassurance he’d given, scared she’d be this hopeless forever. Sometimes, Kagome felt life would be a bit more manageable if Inuyasha would just be straightforward and turn her down already. Then she’d at least have a direct answer to go off of. Then she could move on.

“Kagome?” Her mom’s voice was soft as she approached her bedroom, poking her head through the cracked door that creaked as the angle widened. Kagome had responded with an audible yeah, but she’d tossed herself facedown on her mattress the moment she got home from school and had been laying that way ever since, so the word came out muffled and groan-like. “Well, you look like you’re hanging in there.” She remarked, the playful hint of sarcasm ringing through.

This time, Kagome intended for the broken groan she’d replied with, dragging it out as she felt the vibration of her voice on her pillow.

“I totally understand. I feel the same way.” Her mom giggled.

She shot up to sit on her knees, twisting around to face her mother leaning against the doorframe. “I hate feelings!”

“Oh?”

“Who needs them, anyway!? Are they gonna get me into college!? Get me a good job!? Nope! I shouldn’t even be focusing on them! I’m seventeen, I’m too young for this! Right?”

“I met your dad at fifteen.” She smiled warmly. Just like that, Kagome huffed out some of her frustration, furrowing her brows as her lips sealed. “I knew I loved him from the start. He was a little older, a little rough around the edges, and it took him forever to outright tell me he loved me.”

“But, you knew.” Kagome drawled. She’d heard the story before, multiple times. It just hit different now that there were similarities to what she was currently going through.

“It’s all about taking the hints. People have different love languages. Learning their fluency is difficult but rewarding.”

“What if there’s a misunderstanding or miscommunication, though?” She asked, a little on the gentler side. “What if you misinterpret what they’re trying to tell you, entirely?”

Her mom gave a one-sided shrug, the smile never leaving her face. “Then you ask for clarification.” She noticed the uncertainty on her daughter’s face, the way her big, brown eyes seemed wary as they flickered away. “And, you keep the negative thoughts at bay until then. No use jumping to conclusions, good or bad.”

Kagome, defeated as she was, thanked her mom with a lazy smile. “You going into work?”

“Yup. Nightshift again. Sota’s at Shippo’s, would you mind getting him around eight-thirty?”

“Sure.” Kagome agreed, looking at the clock to see how much time she had. Two hours. She crawled off her mattress, heading to her dresser to get out different clothes to wear.

“Oh and,” She waited for her daughter to turn her way, making sure she had her attention as she gripped the door to close on her way out. “Love may not get you anywhere, but it can get you through everything. You’ll come to appreciate it. Believe me.”

“Yeah, well it sucks so far.” Kagome chuckled.

“I’ll bring home ice cream.” She droned, shutting the door as she left.

Kagome shoved her hands in her hoodie pockets, tucking herself inward as she approached the train station. Of course her brother, no longer in a cast and crutches but still hobbling around on a weak ankle, would want to hang out with the friend that lives furthest. Their mom pitied him since he’d been cooped up day and night ever since he’d gotten hurt, so she allowed him to get out now that the cast was finally off, but could he have gone to see someone down the street? Nope. Of course, not.

She pulled a hand free, reaching into the back pocket of her jeans to pull out her station pass to enter through the gate. The seasons were changing, the nights growing colder to really communicate the shift, making her wish she’d thought of bringing her muffler out of the entry closet ahead of time to freshen up. For now, it wasn’t too bad. The air was just a little nippy, but as she made her way further into the station to wait for her train, she adjusted to the comfortable temperature inside.

A rail line pulled up to empty, the car doors opening as several people filed out and Kagome moved out of their way. According to the schedule, hers should be there in the next ten minutes. From the side, silver caught her eye, bringing her attention to immediately shoot toward it. That’s how it’d been lately. Anything, anything at all, that could potentially remind her of Inuyasha was impossible to ignore, a shutter of excitement ricocheting along her ribcage. Whenever it turned out to be nothing, she felt disappointed and embarrassed, and ultimately glad no one had a pathway to read her mind and see the pathetic basket case she’d become. Not even Sango knew the degree of her state, and if Kagome had her way, it’d stay like that. More often than not, all she wanted to do was crawl under a rock and wait everything out until her feelings subsided and she could coexist with Inuyasha like a normal person with rational thinking abilities. But, as her brown eyes flashed over and she actually spotted the half demon trudging through the small crowd, an inexplicable mixture of happiness and trepidation crawled over her skin. His head was slightly hung while he dabbed the back of the sleeve of his pullover sweater to his mouth, pulling it away to look at it, then dabbing it again. Her mouth had opened, her breath hitching as she almost called his name, but he’d already looked up, golden eyes landing on her instantly.

Inuyasha didn’t seem all that happy. In fact, it looked as if he’d ducked his head an inch or two, keeping the back of his fist raised to his mouth. He’d stopped walking, the station emptying and leaving the two of them alone where they stood. Without thought, Kagome walked over, noticing the way he notched his face away when she approached. It didn’t take a genius to know something was wrong. Disconcertment began to bubble in her abdomen, and she briefly wondered why he wouldn’t look at her or greet her with the smile she’d grown accustomed to.

“Hey,” She spoke softly. The side of his lips that she could see were curved in a frown, one that pinched together in unsettlement while she waited for any sort of response from him. She could hear the clenched breath in his throat as he sighed out heatedly, practically feeling his frustration and discomfiture. It wasn’t difficult to understand now why he was hiding his face. In fact, his adamant reluctance to show her was all she needed in order to know. “What happened?” Kagome’s voice echoed her concern.

“Don’t want to talk about it.” Inuyasha brusquely replied, resisting the temptation to meet her gaze. He didn’t expect to feel so ashamed just by seeing her at the worst possible moment, but the murky sensation swam through each vein in his body, one at a time. “I’ve gotta go.”

“Don’t do that.” She shook her head. He hadn’t tried to step around her at all, but she moved closer anyway, cocking her head in an attempt to get him to look at her. “Don’t shut me out. You don’t have to, you know this.”

She was comforting him, yet his shame increased, making him want to duck his face further. It was two against one, and they’d gotten him good this time around. The last thing he wanted was for her to see the evidence of the incident. He didn’t want anything to mar her picture of him. 

Her hands reached up, and his abdominals tensed rigidly, but not a single bone in his body pulled away from her touch, gentle, cold hands wrapping around his wrist to pull it away from his mouth. There was little hesitance from him. It wasn’t entirely passive, though. Inuyasha still needed to assure himself that she, Kagome, wasn’t the enemy. She’d never be his enemy. She wouldn’t hurt him. He trusted her, and with firm reminders, he was progressively believing that she was a safe zone.

Kagome observed the way his lids closed as she guided his hand away from his mouth, his head turning to her so that she could see. There was a fierce cut on his bottom lip, the area angry, red, with a hint of purple developing over the soft flesh. Crimson was smeared along his chin, cleaned with his sleeve but the tinted smudge still remained. His cheek was bruised and scraped, the dark hues already settling in. Inuyasha opened his eyes, leveling with her own, his tongue slowly licking away fresh blood that seeped from his mouth.

“One of the bastards was wearing a ring.” He huskily mentioned.

She couldn’t withhold the exasperated grunt she’d released at his state, gripping his wrist a little tighter as she about-faced and led him to a nearby bench. Pulling him in front of her, she pushed down on his wrist to gesture for him to sit, releasing him as he followed suit with zero argument. His gaze sat along the far wall away from her as she gently held his jaw, looking him over to see the damage.

“Are you okay?” Kagome was heavily distraught, her fingers barely skimming the soft skin as she worried more of aggravating bruises that may not have developed yet. When she saw no markings beneath her fingertips, she’d set them down, running over the line of his jaw before reaching for each hand, one at a time, looking over his knuckles to see if harm had been done to his fists. He took his right hand back just as she ran her icy thumb over his scabbing middle knuckle, using the back of his sleeve to dab at his lip before setting his arm back in his lap.

“Fine.”

“There was more than one guy?”

“Two.” Inuyasha plainly stated.

“And, they just - they just attacked you?”

“No. Not quite.” He sighed. “It’s complicated.”

“How is it complicated? I don’t understand.”

“No, Kagome, don’t start. I don’t want you getting involved.” The hanyou stood, and Kagome instinctively gave him space as he stepped around her, heading to the vending machine.

“I’d hardly consider it getting involved if all you’re doing is explaining the situation.”

He slipped a dollar in, hitting the first cold drink in the machine and watching it clank to the bottom before reaching in for it, immediately pressing the beverage to his offended, bottom lip. He glanced back over, noting the concern in her eyes and the way her mouth pouted with the pressing emotion. Wow. How unpredictable that he’d grow so remarkably weak in the wake of her regard. “I told you, I used to associate with a shit crowd.”

“Yeah. Used to. Why are they still coming after you?”

“They didn’t think it was very respectful of me to just up and disappear on them when I wanted out. Then, I told them all to fuck off, which is always received well.” He sarcastically chuckled, sauntering back her way. “Their little leader, Bankotsu, wants to have a word with me, which typically means he wants to beat me senseless, but it’s more fun avoiding that and pissing him off than anything. Whenever I’ve bumped into any of his lackeys since then, they tell me to come with them and I always say if they can manage to kick my ass, I’ll go.”

“So, you challenge them.”

“Yeah. Pretty much. I’m not just gonna roll over.”

“But, why’d you get involved with them in the first place?” Her brow furrowed, dismay etched imperfectly in the way the skin between bunched.

The hanyou sighed, his chest deflating entirely, lowering the drink from his lip and letting it hang in his hand. “I was always angry, I was lashing out, so I went and got myself inducted into this team of misfit toys that I thought were relatable. It was fucking stupid, I know, and they treated me like trash from the get-go. I realized half demons always got the short end of the stick, but damn, even the lowlives of the alley made me feel like I didn’t belong anywhere.”

Kagome could hear the lick of resentment in his tone. Truthfully, she felt resentment for him.

“They actually had me wishing for a way to become a full demon for a while. Can you imagine how much easier my life would have been if I was a full fucking demon?” His aggravation was expanding, boiling in his gut, hot and bitter and vicious as the hard feelings of everything had never completely been dealt with. “I still think things would be better if I could just change. One or the other. Demon or human. No in between so there’s no bullshit to deal with.”

“Don’t you think that’s bullshit in itself?” Kagome boldly asked. “What good would that do? You’d only end up miserable.”

He’d reacted habitually, his defense shooting up as his scowl formed. “Oh, because I’m so much better off as it is? You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

She froze for a second, unsuspecting of his tone. Sheepishly, she ducked her head, swallowing and taking a small step back. Maybe she shouldn’t have said that. Maybe it wasn’t her place. Maybe it didn’t matter what she thought, and her opinion was only received as an insult. Maybe that’s why he didn’t want her getting involved; because she always gave her two cents, like he’d said before. “Right. You’re right. That came out wrong. I’d only meant that you shouldn’t have to change who you are to be happy.”

Fuck. His temper was going to be his downfall. He could feel her guard going up, figuring he’d made her feel shut down. It was obvious she meant well, so why the fuck would he react like that? “Kagome -“

“No, you’re right. I don’t know what I’m talking about. I don’t know what you’ve been through. I just - I can’t imagine you as anything but a half demon.”

“I didn’t mean to offend you.” Inuyasha breathed.

“You didn’t. I get it; where you’re coming from, that is.” She assured, shaking her head. He didn’t firmly believe her. Her eye contact wasn’t holding. Inuyasha stepped inward to close the minute gap she’d created with the insecurity that had risen, appearing as invested in what she had to say as possible. He honestly wanted to know where she was going with her statement, his wary tendencies shadowing his surprise that she’d even have a rebuttal to his diffidence.

He wanted more from her, she could tell. He hadn’t meant to react so rashly, she could understand that, too. It took a moment to regain her bearings, her fingers balling in her sweater pockets, letting her confidence and comfort build while pushing the negative thoughts away as she leaned her head back to look up at him.

“Everyone who thinks little of you is shit.” Inuyasha watched her lips as she spoke, the words acting as fingers that steadily held onto his heart. There was no grip yet, but he was positive one would develop. It would wring him dry. It would bring him to his knees, he just fucking knew it. One statement. One statement in and he was already terrified of the beautiful damage she was about to inflict on him. Terrified and, oddly enough, thrilled. “I don’t care how many people that turns out to be, they’re all shit. This is you, and you are not bad or worthless or unnatural or whatever else they may have told you. If you could see you the way I do maybe you’d understand what I’m getting at, but I don’t think there’s any possible way you could be you in a different form. And,”

Kagome paused, her nerves clenching her stomach.

Inuyasha was breaking as everything he’d ever needed to hear was so easily spread out between them.

“I’d be -“

His eyes stared at her with astonishment, glowing through the shadow of his brow. She wanted to touch him, wanted to help him feel the adoration behind her sentiment, but she trembled so badly that she worried he’d confuse that with literally anything other than what she wanted to convey. The rest of her sentence was knotted in her throat, she almost had to coax it free. Her face grew hot, and she swore he’d inched down her way.

“I’d be devastated if a part of you were permanently thrown away. I like you the way you are.” She’d whispered.

Inuyasha felt himself moving without his command, drawn to her like she was the missing piece of a puzzle he’d been working on for so long now. He was slow in his action, achingly so, but he never once tried to regain control. Nor, did Kagome pull away. She was allowing his hands to cradle her jaw, to bring the two of them closer to one another, to breathe her in one inch at a time. He loved her. Fate was finally kind to him. He was intentionally tender, the tips of their noses grazing incredibly softly, her inhale short and broken and hitching in her chest, their lips just barely brushing together when the train’s horn alerted them as it came into the station.

Inuyasha tensed, pulling back and releasing her. Any conviction inside of him dwindled away with the startle, his nervousness intensifying to take hold of what was.

“I’m sorry.” He blurted, eyes bouncing back and forth from the stopping train to the blushing girl before him.

“It’s okay.” Kagome quickly assured.

“H-heat of the moment.” The excuse left his mouth before he had the chance to stop it. His mind was always looking for a scapegoat, for a way out of any situation, willing to toss out anything, and no matter how innocent this may have seemed in the split second it had flashed through his mind, it was also the most insensitive thing he could have said. He looked at her, his lungs no longer cooperating as they clasped his breath hostage, taking in the series of expressions that formed on her face. Mild shock, brown eyes wide and mouth slightly agape. Then her lips sealed and she gazed away, her cheeks still as red as before but her disappointment was so vivid. Then, when she smiled, as if she was trying to hide what he’d already witnessed, her eyes blinked quickly and he caught the faint scent of tears. He could have kicked himself. “Fuck, no, Kagome I -“

“That’s my train.” She mentioned, pointing, regarding him slightly, then walking away.

“Wait, where are you going?” Inuyasha followed, panic striking him. Hardly anyone had left the train, the cars mostly empty to begin with.

“I have to get my brother.” Kagome didn’t know which emotion predominated the other; humiliation or dejection. Her heart had dropped when he leaned in to kiss her, warmth flooding over her so wonderfully, only to have it all plummet to the floor when he’d said he hadn’t meant to. How much more vulnerable could she get without the promise of someone catching her as she fell? At this rate, she was bound to hit the ground. Hard. She was ready to cry, her chest was tight, and the absolute last thing she wanted was for Inuyasha to see her that way. She took deep breaths, as deep as her lungs would permit, gathering herself hastily.

The half demon lunged forward, snagging her arm and stopping her before she stepped through the open door of the train, her attention reactively flying right back to him. “I’m sorry, I said the wrong thing. I didn’t mean that.”

The warning announcement went off for all passengers to be on the train. Kagome looked back at the open car, stepping in, Inuyasha’s hand gliding from her upper arm, down to her elbow, her forearm, her wrist, and then her hand, gripping her there. His palm was hot and large around hers, and she couldn’t help but hold his hand in return, adding to the weight on her shoulders. She gave him a smile, trying to relax the distress on his brow. It didn’t work.

“It’s okay, it was an accident. You don’t have to worry about it.” She politely dismissed. He gripped her hand a little tighter, his jaw clenching. “It would have probably hurt your lip, anyway.”

“No, shit, I don’t care about that!” Another warning chime interrupting, rushing him. He wanted to tell her that if he had the guts, he would have never pulled away or moved so slowly that he’d lost his chance to begin with. He wanted to tell her that if he could, he would kiss her over and over and over and over, whenever he got the chance. It’s just not easy for him. None of this is easy for him. If he could communicate that with words, he would have, but they failed him just like so many times before. And, he wished the way he held her hand was enough, but it wasn’t. Who would understand what he was trying to say through the simplest of gestures, right? “It - it wasn’t - it wasn’t an accident. Believe me.”

Whatever was left of Kagome’s smile had faded.

Oh. Oh.

He’d wanted to kiss her?

Is that what he was telling her, that he’d wanted to kiss her? Because, it sure felt like it, and the intensity of his stare pierced her in such a different way than ever before. Kagome inadvertently clutched his hand tightly, topping the fervor of his hold. How did he feel right now, in this moment? It wasn’t right to guess. Assuming would only make matters worse for her at this point.

“Let me know when you get home safe, okay?”

She nodded, her fingers finally sliding out of his palm. As the door closed, Kagome ducked her head, fighting the thickness of her confliction.

—

“Woah, woah, wooooooah! Back up!” Sango sat on the edge of her bed as Kagome paced the floor of her bedroom, her friend unable to stop her finger-fidgeting in her current state. She’d come over to talk as the evening was setting in on their Saturday, claiming to need a distraction, and no wonder. The girl was loaded with clashing thoughts. “Is this why you’ve been acting so weird the past couple of days?”

“Yes.” Kagome replied unthinkingly, worrying her lip as she finally stopped in front of Sango.

“Not gonna lie, this was definitely a twist I wasn’t expecting. He kissed you?” She leaned forward in her spot, her fingers gripping the very edge of her mattress to hold steady.

“No. Almost.” Kagome corrected.

“But he leaned in?”

“Yes.”

“And then said it was a mistake?”

“Yes.”

“And then said that was a mistake?”

“Yes.”

“Wow. Okay. That’s not confusing at all. Repeat the rest of what you said, I got stuck on that part.”

“I don’t know what to think, Sango.” Kagome stated powerfully, the frown on her lips deepening. “Does he like me? Does he not like me? Did he really want to kiss me? Does it mean anything? Oh, what if he didn’t mean to almost kiss me but also didn’t mean to say what he said, so all he was trying to do was retract that? He wanted me to text him when I got home; isn’t that something someone only says when they really care about you? Am I reading too much into everything, or -“ She trailed off in a loud groan, flailing her hands out at her sides, resuming her pacing briefly and then abruptly stopping in front of Sango once more.

“First of all, breathe.” Sango said cautiously, watching her best friend with wide eyes. Never, in all the years they’d known each other, had she ever seen Kagome like this. It was worrisome. Kagome didn’t do as instructed, instead huffing to express a little more of her vexation. “Second, I don’t get it. I knew something was up with you, but this was far from what I imagined. You guys have been talking in school, standing all close to each other, texting… you seemed totally fine around him.”

“Yeah, because he can’t know what’s going through my head!”

“Shouldn’t he?” Sango almost flinched at the incredulous stare Kagome shot her way. “Look, I’ve told you a million times that I think he likes you, but it’s not good enough - which I totally get. The best thing is to hear it from Inuyasha, and the only way to get that right now is to ask him, yourself. Tell him that you’re losing your freaking mind playing this guessing game, and he needs to give you a straight yes or no.”

Kagome’s face fell, dark brown eyes falling to the floor. For the first time that night, she seemed a little more stable, maybe taking in Sango’s advice. Sauntering over, she sat next to Sango on the bed, her raven hair gliding over her shoulders as she sagged forward slightly.

“What if he says no?”

“Hey,” Sango cooed, twisting to face Kagome’s riddled form. She dragged the hair away from hiding Kagome’s face, pushing it behind her ear before rubbing her hand up and down her back as soothingly as possible. “I really don’t think he’ll say no. To me, all the signs are there. Maybe feelings just kind of freak him out and that leads him to literally say all the wrong things. All the time. He’s not Captain Charisma, babe. I mean, I could give you my theories all night long, from most likely to least likely, and in alphabetical order, but you and I both know it won’t be nearly as comforting as hearing it from the source. You just have to ask.”

“How do you ask someone how they feel about you? I’d be putting him on the spot.”

“Yeah, and in my unpopular opinion, that’s exactly what he needs!”

“He’d freeze and say something stupid. I know him.”

“Mm.” Sango hummed, pursing her lips. “You got me there. But, he’d only say something stupid if there’s something to hide.”

“You think?” Kagome inquired, her pout deeming innocence.

“Yeah.” She giggled. “That’s usually how it goes. You said it yourself, Inuyasha isn’t this big mystery. He’s expressive. You’re in your own head. What’s really got you so wrapped up here? You’re not usually like this.”

Kagome gave a small shrug, shying her eyes away before she could muster up an answer. “I think I might be falling in love with him.” She admitted, her voice small and timid, sinking to lay her head in Sango’s lap. “It’s very stressful.”

Sango laughed, stroking the black hair out of Kagome’s face to comfort her. “And not knowing how he feels is scary, right?”

Kagome nodded.

“Would it make you feel any better if I told you he has feelings for you, again?”

Kagome shook her head, her chin giving a little quiver.

“Oh no. Kay, it’s gonna be fine. Okay, here, stay the night and we’ll watch movies, and my dad got that jumbo bag of pizza rolls so we can go to town with those. I have The Wedding Singer, and Adam Sandler literally sings a song about how much love stings, yeah yeah?”

Kagome feigned a smile, sitting up and shaking her head. “I can’t tonight. Gotta get Sota.” She was lying. She really was her own worst enemy right now, but she couldn’t get her mind to calm down. It would be too difficult to enjoy the time with her best friend with how distracted she was. As much as she’d already sat alone in her bedroom and tried to sort out her thoughts,  maybe now she’d stand a better chance since she’d vented and gotten her main frustrations out in the open.

“Rain check?” Sango asked, cocking her head to the side sympathetically.

“Yeah. Thanks. I should get going.”

The night air was brisk, the skin of her arms covered in goosebumps, and she cursed herself for not bringing a sweater to Sango’s in the first place. Kagome didn’t want to go home, though. She felt so restless, so ridiculous, so antsy and weighted with how she was too nervous to convince herself Inuyasha had feelings for her, because the letdown of potential rejection was too harsh. If she was wrong, it would hurt so much worse if she’d allowed herself to believe otherwise without his affirmation. Just thinking of it was mortifying. 

Sango was right, this was unlike her. Sure, she was human, and sometimes she got as insecure as anyone else, but she never usually stayed down due to the density of her constant, nagging second-guessing. Even if she wasn’t sure about something, Kagome was the kind of person that gave it time for the air to clear so that she could see the situation a little better. Or, just took it all head-on. So, what was going on with her now? 

Everyone was right, if she was this riddled, she needed to just get it over with and ask, but she was so timorous about the ordeal. If she were on the other end of this, it would be incredibly awkward to answer. No matter the outcome, it would be uncomfortable. If it were a yes, you’re put in a position where you have to confirm before you’re ready to do so on your own. If it were a no, you’re put in a position where you have to turn someone down and then your friendship is on the line. 

And then your friendship is on the line.

No. She didn’t want that. She didn’t want to lose him.

Above all else, she just couldn’t bring herself to be selfish enough to ask for an answer. She could handle this on her own. She’d get over it. It didn’t matter that she was feeling down right now, because one of these days she was going to wake up and feel a percentage of the pressure had lifted from her chest. 

Was the pressure even normal? Was anything that she was feeling normal?

Kagome pulled her phone out of the back pocket of her jeans, dropping her butt onto a nearby bench as she let out a deep, guttural sigh. She’d texted her mom a little while ago saying she was staying a little later at Sango’s than anticipated so she wouldn’t worry, and she’d been wandering about ever since. Some fresh air was supposed to do her good. 

Truthfully, the one thing she wanted, the one thing she truly felt would actually do her any good, was to talk to Inuyasha. Not to bring up her feelings, or his, or the now-infamous almost kiss, or anything pertaining to them at all. She just wanted to talk to him. To hear his voice. To listen to that low rumble as he spoke. It was always so comforting to her, now more so than ever. She wanted him to say her name in his calm tone, hell even his grumpy one would help her feel stable right about now. Anything. Anything from him, she would happily accept.

It was kind of late; almost nine. Would he lecture her for calling at this hour? Would he ignore her altogether? Either way, she’d take the risk. This was the least she could do for herself. She clicked on his text from a few hours ago, hitting his picture-less icon, then the phone call button that appeared beneath.

Inuyasha laid on his bed, flipping through the channels on the tv in his room, donned in his joggers and nothing else. His ear flicked as his phone gave a long vibrate on the surface of his nightstand. He was half-tempted to ignore the damn thing, figuring it was Miroku trying to coerce him out of the house to hang out, and he was too damn comfortable to even entertain the idea. Just to be sure, he reached over, tilting the device his way to see who was calling.

A grin grew on his face when he noticed her name was the one illuminating his screen. She’d never called before. Whatever her reason, he didn’t care. Inuyasha immediately swiped to answer, putting her on speaker as he muted the television.

“Hey.” He spoke, his voice on the lazy side.

“Hi.” Kagome said weakly, unable to swallow the sadness that had balled in her throat. She hoped it wasn’t evident. “Were you asleep?”

“It’s nine, of course I wasn’t.” He replied. He couldn’t tell if this was just how she sounded over the phone, or if something was wrong, but he was leaning more towards the latter. Her voice sounded off, small, and it immediately piqued his concern. “Are you okay?”

She went to say she was fine, but her stomach was sinking and it was almost like she couldn’t think straight. She went to say it again, but instead she inhaled shakily to gain her bearings.

“Kagome?”

“I’m okay.” She finally said.

“What’s wrong?” Inuyasha sat up. He didn’t believe her. Of course, he didn’t believe her. That was the worst lie she’d ever said if she’d spoken one. Something was up.

“Nothing. I just - I, um -“

“Did something happen?” The half demon asked, his tone approaching more on the severe side. Kagome wasn’t replying, but he could hear her slow and trembling breathing, a sniffle breaking through, and he even heard her whispered curse toward herself. It was away from the speaker, but he’d caught it all the same. “Kagome…”

“I’m fine.” She said with a little more conviction. “I’m sorry, I -“

“Where are you?”

“What?”

“Are you at home?” Kagome could hear it. She could hear his worry. It was in the direct way he spoke, the tone that demanded an answer without so much as raising his voice. 

“No.” She responded just as meekly as her hello. 

“Where are you?” There it was again. Stronger. There was a bit of rustling, too, like he was moving around. “Kagome, where are you?”

“You know the park with that statue of the famous archer?”

“Yeah.”

“I’m there. I don’t know the nearest street name.”

“Are you alone?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay, I’m coming. Where in the park are you?” Inuyasha set the phone back on his nightstand, grabbing his discarded jeans from the floor to change into them, his jaw clenching as his gut wrung with a budding panic.

“No, you don’t - that’s not why I called. It’s okay! I’m fine! Really!” She tried to reassure him, her heart giving an uneven thud behind her ribcage. 

“No, you’re not! Don’t lie to me! I’m coming, so I can either track your scent or you can make the process faster by telling me where you are!”

Kagome swallowed thickly, her chest heavy as she breathed. “I’m on a bench along the walking path.” She looked around for a notable landmark to guide him. “I think I’m in the thicker tree area.”

“I’ll find you.” He promised, slipping a tee shirt over his head. “Don’t move.”

“Inuyasha…”

“I don’t want to hear it. Don’t move, Kagome. I’ll be right there.” The line ended, beeping three times to signify he’d hung up.

She felt defeated and slightly embarrassed by the whole thing. She couldn’t even pull herself together to talk to him for five minutes like she’d wanted. The effects of his voice were, ironically, too soothing. Where she’d expected the gruff reverberation would calm her mind enough to stabilize, it in fact calmed her so much she almost crumbled instantaneously. It was like she suddenly felt safe enough to fall before him and know he’d help with whatever, and that wasn’t what she was aiming for.

Kagome waited as instructed, setting her phone in her lap so she could hug her exposed arms to her chest to defend against the bite of the air. The night was still, quiet, cars driving in the far distance where the hum of the wheels on pavement barely met her ears. Shoes clapping against the cement path grew closer and closer at a quick pace, bringing her attention to the side as she noticed Inuyasha curve the bend. Even as she stood, catching her phone before it slipped off her leg and to the floor, stepping into plain view, he didn’t stop.

He didn’t stop.

Not until he was within reach did he abruptly slow, grabbing onto her arms, his momentum still forceful enough to have them stumble back a few steps, but his strength enough to compensate and not allow her to trip.

Inuyasha had been worried fucking sick, his mind running wild with each passing moment he hadn’t gotten to her. Something happened but he didn’t know what, which meant anything could have happened to her, and he wasn’t okay with a single thought that crossed his mind to serve as the purpose of her distress. His first instinct was to look her over, his hands traveling to her forearms to bring them before him so he could check her flesh for markings of an assault.

“What happened, are you hurt!?”

“No.” Kagome answered promptly, wide-eyed, surprised by the way his hot hands moved over her. He took her jaw in his hold next, his fingers threading through her messy hair as he stepped in and analyzed her face.

“You sure?”

He was so gentle, his thumbs caressing her cheek, amber eyes radiating such consternation as he stared into her own.

Oh.

She’d been so blind. So foolish. Right then and there, with his current silence and his tender care, with the way he’d dropped whatever he was doing at the sound of her discernible sadness, ran straight to her, his chest now heaving up and down as his lungs demanded air but his question demanded an answer that he clearly needed to hear exponentially more than his body needed oxygen - that was his love language. He was saying so much more, and truth be told, probably had been for the entire time she’d been doubting it all. She shadowed herself, more capable of believing what her fear told her instead of him.

With her stomach still in knots and shambles, she laughed, more of disbelief than anything, as her eyes prickled and her body grew hot. She was so stupid. Tucking her head, Kagome pulled herself into his chest, his hands curving from where they’d sat at her jaw to the nape of her neck. They were light on her, no real firmness to them anymore, but she didn’t care. When they finally settled on her, bringing her against him securely, she felt herself falter, her emotions winning over as tears spilled out.

Carefully, Inuyasha smoothed his hands over Kagome’s soft waves, every barrier of his virtually nonexistent when it came to her now. It was hardly evident, but he could still feel her unsteadiness in the way she leaned her weight against him, ripping his soul apart, breaking his heart with the little quakes of her inhales. His grip around her tightened, and he curled his back to really support her, his cheek propped against the top of her head, pillowing into her thick hair.

“What happened?” He whispered. She gave a small chuckle through her crying, the noise wet but still pleasant. Against the center of his chest, she shook her head, her fingers clutching onto the back of his sweater a little stronger. “Tell me what’s wrong. Please.”

Kagome backed away, hiding her face as she wiped her cheeks with the heels of her hands, sniffling but regaining composure without having to hide anything anymore. She was smiling, little giggles slipping out, humiliated but the unhappiness fading away. “I’ve just been having a rough night. I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to worry you like this. That wasn’t why I called.”

“I’m glad you called.” Inuyasha immediately stated. She looked up at him, dazed, her cheeks red from her consistent wiping and the blood pooling beneath her skin, evident under the lamppost they stood beneath. “If something’s wrong, I want you to be able to turn to me. Unapologetically. What’s going on?”

He pulled off his sweater, twirling it over her shoulders and holding it steady so she could slip her arms through. His body heat was still soaked into the cloth, warming her arms, smelling so much like him the trembling in her muscles almost instantly stopped from the way it quelled her nerves. If she had just been paying attention all along, if she had just taken a step out of her confined box, she could have probably avoided all of this. Inuyasha had been trying to be more open toward her. For her. Now, here he was, unabashedly tending to her in the midsts of her breakdown because she’d gotten so deep into her own head that she just couldn’t handle it anymore. She was the cause of her own misery while Inuyasha had been right there all along. How stupid. Again, she laughed at herself. All she had to do was listen, and she would have understood the way he communicated. Just like her mom said.

“It was just one of those nights.” Kagome said, not wanting him to know the true reason behind it all. It was unnecessary at this point. She wanted to let it go. She wanted to let everything go and just feel the way she wanted without holding herself back anymore. “Everything was going wrong, but it was my fault.”

“What do you mean?”

“I-I was thinking so negatively and I just couldn’t stop. I felt really insecure, so I went for a walk but it wasn’t helping. And, that’s why I called you. I wanted to hear your voice so I could calm down.”

There was a hitch in his chest. Was it his heart or his lungs? His face grew hot, and mild embarrassment washed over him faster than he could process the words she’d spoken. She likes his voice. It’s soothing to her. A part of him wanted to retreat behind a cool demeanor and brush off what she’d said, but a larger, more dominating part of him refused to. What she said held meaning. Meaning he understood loud and clear. This was what he’d wanted from the moment he’d realized he’d fallen for her. This right here, being in her comfort zone, being the one who runs to her just to make sure she’s okay, responsible for holding her when she wasn’t, and adhering to her smile. The dull ache in his torso when she spoke in such a low voice was significant, and if she was going to so honestly rock his core with a single statement of her vulnerability, he wasn’t about to turn away from it.

“I was gonna come up with some stupid homework question to get you talking,” Kagome continued. “But, I blanked. I’m so sorry.”

Inuyasha reached over, gently petting her hair, flowing along her black waves to lay his hand on her shoulder. “What can I do for you right now? How can I help?”

“You already have.” She smiled. 

His fingers curved around the back of her neck, pulling her back into his body to tuck her safely into his arms. She relaxed against him, hugging his waist, and god dammit, he shouldn’t have been so happy just by the way her chest gave a minor hitch to adjust and follow his own breathing. In a moment of boldness, he rested his mouth against the top of her head, muffling the small kiss he gave.

“Thank you.” Kagome shyly said as they just about reached the front of her house. Inuyasha had been adamant on walking her home. He didn’t even have to argue with her on how she was stupid for saying he didn’t need to; all he did was give her a stern stare that effectively shut her mouth and shut her up. The entire walk home, he kept close, their arms occasionally brushing. A few times, if their paces ever accidentally differed, he’d pinch the baggy sleeves of the sweater he’d lent her, pulling her back to his side. 

That was never there before. She could only be grateful for the new development.

“Don’t worry about it. Are you okay now?” Inuyasha asked, giving a small cock of his head.

“Yeah, I’m fine.”

“Hey, look at me. Are you okay now?” He repeated, wanting to see it in her eyes when she spoke.

She smiled, nodding. “I’m really okay. Embarrassed, but okay. I promise.”

“You’ll let me know if you need me, right?”

“Yeah.”

“You promise that, too?”

She let that one sink in for a moment, taking in the sweetness of his gaze. He wasn’t joking, or teasing her. He wanted assurance that she’d trust him. “I promise.”

“Good. Get inside.” He said. Kagome wiggled her shoulders to remove his sweater, but he swiftly stopped her by reaching behind and pulling the hood over her head. “Keep it. It looks good on you.”

“Won’t you get cold?” She blushed, pushing the hood back and biting her lip.

He gifted her a crooked grin, taking a few steps backwards. “Half demon, remember?”

“Right. Impervious to the elements.”

“Warmer blood, dummy.” He chuckled. “Go.”

“Will you, um, will you text me when you get home?”

“Sure. Whatever you want.”

Kagome bundled herself further into his sweater, enjoying the way his scent still engulfed her. “Good night.” She smiled, heading inside.

| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |

[princesssarcastia]

aos!star trek sense8 au

okay so. i had a thought as I was watching star trek 2009.  mainly, i was pissed that we got jim being a fucked up troublemaker and spock being an ostracized genius, but we didn’t get:

uhura growing up with her huge family devouring information about alien cultures, or bby!sulu learning how to fence or bby!checkov doing spiraling math equations on the wall of his bedroom or little scotty running around with an outrageous brogue and a penchant for taking apart the replicator, or bones being adorably, earnestly caring

fuck that noise.  I want baby-faced versions of the whole bridge crew.

thus, the sense8 AU. I’ve never watched sense8 but I’m 90% sure they’re all supposed to be the same age, which is alright.  i can do that.  it just means that they know each other a little differently; some things happen earlier or different, but that’s fine.

oh my god this is going to be ridiculous.  okay. again, never seen sense8, never will, so i’m pulling this out of thin air

                                                          —

clusters are so rare no one knows about them at this point; there are myths and legends from the eugenics wars—the very wars which essentially wiped them out, actually—but for the most part, everyone has forgotten.

very rarely will someone from a cluster speak about their experiences, but whenever they do, it’s written off as part and parcel of mingling with telepathic alien races.

(little do they know it’s the one form of telepathy completely indigenous to Earth)

—

Spock is the most powerful telepath of his generation because of his uniquely human experience fielding the emotions of six other people.

—

nyota is five when she decides she wants to learn to speak all the other languages, because then she can talk to pavel and spock with their words.  she learns to speak swahili with her mother and father and aunts and uncles and cousins and grandparents at home, and standard at school.  having to translate things in her mind because people don’t know her language, her words, is hard.  and if she can keep pavel and spock from having to do that, she will.

—

nyota is the reason they all join starfleet, in the end.  she meets a recruiter at school when they’re seven years old.  when the woman starts to talk about experiencing alien cultures and first contacts and languages she excitedly pulls everyone to her.  they all sit bunched up at this woman’s feet and learn about starfleet for the first time, together.  maybe they don’t all know what they want to do yet, or even that this is what they want.

but nyota wins out, in the end.  she always does.

—

when Jim breaks the security on Frank’s car, ribs still aching from the night before, Hikaru slips into the passenger seat.  they don’t—none of them really know how to respond when things like this happen to jim, when jim pulls these stunts

(sometimes, Spock can get through to him, speak to his anger.  but spock is...having his own problems today)

but when Jim frantically pulls out of their driveway and down the dusty half-road, only thinking awayawayaway Hikaru grins at him and whoops as they push sixty, seventy, eighty, ninety

then the cop pulls up alongside them and he gets nervous.  jim throws him a wild grin and yanks the wheel to the side, crashing through the gates and heading straight for a ravine.

“Jim,” Hikaru says in a panic.  “Jim, jim ,jim stop the car!  Stop the car!  JIM!”

they’re 20 feet away from the edge when sulu makes a desperate, useless grab for the wheel and Jim finally gives in.  everyone steps onto the edge of the cliff as he frantically grabs at sand and dust, living only because his friends family cluster are screaming at him.

they huddle around him in shock as he pushes to his feet and mouths off to the police officer; scotty giggles at his nonchalance and nyota thwaps him on the back of his head and leo wraps him in a hug, careful of his ribs.

—

everyone piles into pavel’s room the nights his uncle tells stories.  exciting adventures with spies and snipers and assassins.

—

nyota spends quiet afternoons with spock on his balcony under the hot vulcan sun, pouring over whatever data has drawn Spock’s attention this week.  he helps her with her pronunciation and lets her practice golic scripture on his pads.  vulcan is her third language she ever learns.

—

Hikaru goes on hikes with Scotty through the still-preserved highlands, stopping every five minutes to pester him for the names of the plants.  when they first start out, there are a lot of “i don’t knows,” or asking of scotty’s mother, but eventually Scotty starts learning them ahead of time, just to see Hikaru’s grin as they discuss foliage patterns and pollination.

—

Jim, Spock and Pavel will spend hours debating mathematical theories, wearing out the wrist of whoever’s room they’re in.  every once in a while pavel will say something that gets and eyebrow raise out of spock and a look of utter shock from Jim, because he proven them completely wrong in an effortless manner

—

Tarsus—

when Jim understands what’s happening, what Governor Kodos means, it’s—fuck.  he just.  he just shuts down, starts grabbing as many people as he can, other kids, mainly.

and everyone else freezes right where they are.  in the middle of class and fencing practice and church and after bolting upright in the middle of the night.

Spock initiates an emergency shutdown of his pod and rushes up the stairs, politely requesting (demanding) that the instructor contact his father immediately.

Pavel jumps out of bed and bangs on his Uncle’s door, begging him to open up, please open up, you still have friends on the federation council, yes?

Nyota pulls the...enhanced radio transmitter Scotty helped her build out and immediately breaks into contacts starfleet command’s private frequency to begin relaying everything she has so far, as Jim gets it, and Scotty sits right next to her, helping find new ways to break in every time starfleet shuts them out until they have to listen, please listen, this is not a joke!

Leo and Hikaru...they stay with Jim, as he scrambles through the facility where Kodos penned them in to be slaughtered; grabbing a phaser off of a corpse and shooting the guards who chase after them; kicking the legs out from under one who gets too close; keeping track of little Kevin who’s screaming and crying for his mother.

(instead of waiting six months until their scheduled check-in to find the remains of the Tarsus IV colony, Starfleet finds out about the massacre of 4,000 federation citizens almost as it’s happening; finds out from, oddly enough, the Vulcan ambassador to Earth, a former incredibly classified russian special ops agent for the United Earth, and one very persistent child in the African Confederacy with a souped-up radio communicator.

it still take three weeks for the nearest ship to warp to Tarsus, near the edge of uncharted space, and rescue the remaining colonists)

Hikaru advises Jim on whether they can eat what few plants they find; Leo uses his rudimentary medical knowledge to help patch up the injured children.  Nyota and Spock take turns helping Jim translate for the young Vulcan among them, young enough that her Standard is not yet perfected.

Spock demands that his father demand information on the rescue mission, so that he may coordinate with Jim on how long they have and where to meet the survivors that Jim is slowly, carefully, gathering.

—

the minute Jim is settled in the med-bay of the starfleet vessel carrying him and the other 73 survivors of Kodos’ condemned colonists, he breaks.  break in half, breaks down sobbing, curls up into a ball and just lets himself feel, again.

all six of the others pile around him on the biobed, surrounding him, until all he can see are other parts of himself.

—

Jim is fourteen years old.  There are six other people living in his head.  He has survived a massacre and a genocide and his mother is—

His mother is—

Not coming.  She’s not coming.  She’s sending him back to Frank, who chased Sam away and let Jim go to Tarsus.  She barely even looks at him when she sentences him to another six years of terror.

Before, he might have panicked.  Now he just...shuts down again, steals a datapad, and hacks into starfleet’s communications with his mother and frank.  Jim-as-Frank says he’s beaming to Risa to pick Jim up as soon as possible, and Jim-as-Winona signs off on it.

With Leo yelling at him and Nyota reminding him he can just come stay with her family and Pavel saying my uncle would be happy to—, Jim steps onto the transporter pad and beams down to Risa, hastily making his way out of the starfleet outpost and into the crushing crowds of the pleasure planet, and disappears.

—

They all worry about Jim, and keep tabs on him, but they have their own lives to live, too.  Even if they never give up on pulling him to one of them before he gets himself killed.

—

Pavel gets admitted to starfleet academy when they’re fifteen and Nyota is not jealous!  No, no, she’s not jealous, shut up, Hikaru.  And it’s fine, anyway, because they all know the reason half of them are planning on joining starfleet (at least, right then) is because of her. So there.

And when he gets homesick his second week there, Nyota plops herself down on his bed and babbles with him in Russian (her fourth language) until the ache in his chest recedes.

—

Hikaru and Pavel are the first of them to meet in person, because Hikaru lives in San Francisco.  Whenever Pavel is granted leave from the Academy, Hikaru shows up to drag him surfing, or to his favorite restaurant, or to meet his parents.

—

Six months after Pavel starts at Starfleet, Leo is needling Spock about the Kohlinar so much that he actually seeks out his mother to ensure Leo is wrong, that he is not needlessly repressing his “humanity” at the expense of a real part of himself.

Leo stands there in shock, glee and utter disbelief as Spock tells the old racist bastards at the Vulcan Science Academy where to put it; just claps him on the shoulder on his way out.

(Jim quietly grins to himself as he listens in)

(Nyota high-fives Pavel, Hikaru and Scotty; five down, two to go)

—

Given the nature of Vulcan secondary education and Spock’s desire to be a science officer, he tests out of basically the first two years of classes.  Then he does such an exemplary job that he earns an officer’s commission right after graduation under fucking Pike, are you kidding me?? Nyota screeches and jumps up and down and generally makes an emotional scene while Spock suffers. 

—

When they are seventeen, Leo gets his girlfriend Jocelyn pregnant. 

What.

—

After Tarsus, the times that they all get together are few and far between; but when Joanna is born they all stop what they’re doing to gather around Jocelyn’s biobed and coo, or congratulate, or tease Leo for being the one to have a kid, come on, I really had money on Jim.

He smiles at Jocelyn and stares in awe at Joanna and feels how much they all love him, how much they already love his daughter (not their daughter; not yet).

—

When they’re eighteen, Scotty and Hikaru and Nyota are finally (!!!! Nyota is so excited) going to Starfleet Academy, to join Pavel in his third year and catch Spock in passing whenever he’s on leave.

Before they leave, Nyota stands in the center of her sisters and cousins and aunts and nieces and sobs, happy to be one step closer to starfleet but unashamedly grieving for the stage of her life that she’s leaving behind.  And she decides then that she’s going to start going by Uhura, her family name, so that she can take them with her into the stars.

—

Jim is, oddly enough, the one to sit up with Leo on those long nights when Joanna just. won’t. sleep.  He quietly chats him up and stares in awe at this baby girl who came into the world peacefully and wanted, if not fully expected.  This baby girl whose parents will never raise a hand to her and has a dozen people willing to lay down their lives for her and, more importantly, take her in if god forbid it becomes necessary.

He whispers sweet nothings she can’t hear to her and Leo throws an arm over his shoulders, grateful and missing him even though he right there.

—

His feet hit the ground on Earth for the first time in four years two weeks later, after doing a few things he shut the others out for (he and spock are the only ones who bothered to learn how to do that) to get onto a shuttle headed straight back...home.

Not home because he lived there Before, but home because that’s where all the other pieces of him are living.

Because he a masochist (shut up, Leo) he acquires a hover bike and zips over to Iowa, and starts haunting Riverside, Iowa.  He lets the corn and small-town bullshit crawl under his skin and takes it out on anyone stupid enough to provoke him when he’s drunk.

He’s completely smashed when Leo finally admits he’s going to be a doctor and tries to call him sawbones; only, the first part doesn’t quite make it out of his mouth.

Leo—Bones—groans because the others are never gonna let this go.

(he is correct on that front)

—

The others are trying to give him space, he knows, but they’re also not at all subtle about their excitement at his being so close for the first time.

Hikaru, Scotty, Pavel, and Uhura orbit each other in San Fran, with Spock the occasional comet passing through their system, together in person, for real, and so eager to share that with the last two of them who’ve never met any of them in person.

They descend on they newly-christened Bones for winter break that first semester (well, actually, it’s Pavel’s seventh semester—i swear to god Chekov i’m gonna knock that smirk off your face) to meet Jocelyn and Joanna. 

And god, they spoil that girl.  Almost a year old, toddling around and bumping into everything and so curious about everything.

Spock couldn’t quite swing leave time to go with them, but they video comm him a few times so Joanna can see him, too.

Jocelyn is quietly unnerved by these people her partner is so close with, who he talks about all the time but has apparently never...met in person before?  Who call him Bones, of all things. And they all take the time to talk to her, get to know her and try and connect, but it’s overwhelming.

And then Uhura sits Bones down in person and lays out all the reasons he should transfer to the Starfleet Academy to finish out his med degree; they have a track laid out to get your doctorate and become an officer, you’re majoring in xenobiology anyway and there’s no better place for that, the opportunities for residencies will be so much better, the trauma surgeons at the academy are unmatched, and—

and we’ll be there.  Joanna can grow up with all of us around to help.

Six down, one to go.

—

The first time Hikaru sits at the helm of a shuttle, he doesn’t stop grinning the rest of the day.  Botany is his first and best love, but by god he’s going to qualify to be a pilot, too.  Maybe someday he’ll get to fly something like the Enterprise.

—

Scotty has taken engineering by storm.  All his professors have an opinion on him, and it’s always love ‘em or hate ‘em.  He’s absolutely brilliant or completely mad, should be given the flagship at the earliest opportunity or marooned somewhere he can’t do any real damage.

—

Uhura comes in knowing eight languages: Swahili, Standard, Vulcan, Russian, French, one of the Rhiannsu (Romulan) dialects, Tellaran, and rudimentary Andoran.  She knows exactly what she’s going to do and has been preparing for it her whole life.

The rest of them grin to each other when they start hearing about Uhura’s exploits in astounding the communications track time and time again.

—

Spock lets them know before anyone else that Captain Pike has been re-assigned to Starfleet Academy for a round of teaching...and that Spock himself will also finally be accepting the Science track’s increasingly desperate demands that he teach.

He’ll also be offering courses in communications; ones Uhura will have to take before graduation.  A clear conflict of interest.

(Uhura is ecstatic; Spock is concerned, but will only volunteer the incredibly personal information when it becomes relevant)

—

When Uhura sees the sign-up for a summer tour of the shipyards in Riverside, she smirks to herself and signs the fuck up, then goes directly to Jim to needle him about it.

Jim sighs and orders another drink, but...finally getting to see one of them in person after all these years...something settles in his chest that hasn’t sat right since he was just a kid.

—

Uhura is practically vibrating as she bursts into the club.  Practically half their class is stuffed around chair and in booths, and she makes a brief stop by some of her friends, but she’s on a mission now.

She can feel a subtle itch under her skin that means Jim is so close.  So close, after so long. After being so alone for so long.

He doesn’t quite understand how unwilling she’s going to be to let him go, once she has him in her clutches.

They practically run into each other next to the stools by the bar and she fights the urge to throw her arms around him.  He looks breathless and a little disbelieving, even though he knew this was coming for months, until a bright and easy smile breaks out on his face.  The one she hasn’t seen since they were still kids.

“Jim,” she laughs, giddy, and he laughs back at her, leaning onto the bar.  She sidles up next to him, as close as his current general aura of “don’t touch me” will allow, and just...breathes, for a second. 

He’s definitely drunk (although, when isn’t he, these days) but still lucid.  “I’m glad you’re here,” he says softly, so low she almost can’t hear it over the throbbing music.

“I’m glad you’re here,” she shoots back, still unable to let go of her smile.

They’re still just basking in each other’s physical presence (after all these years, she still sometimes has no idea what to do with Jim Kirk, except be there with him), when asshole security track cadet Hendorff and his pals make their way up to the bar behind the pair of them.

She can feel the way Jim perks up at the tension in their figures and sighs internally.

“This townie isn’t bothering you, right?” He asks with a smirk, like, what, he has the authority to protect her?

“Oh, beyond belief, but it’s nothing I can’t handle,”  Uhura turns toward Jim and tries to make it clear that he has no business interrupting their conversation, but Jim...

“You can handle me, that’s an invitation,” He smirks at her and knows exactly what he’s doing.

And she has half a mind to let him do it; if he wants to get his ass beat that’s his business.

“Hey, farmboy,” but then Hendorff lays his hands on Jim.  “Maybe you can’t count, but there are four of us and one of you.”

He lays his hands on Jim.  He’s interrupted their first meeting in person after nineteen years living in each other’s minds, and laid his hands on her cluster-mate.

Jim lets his gaze flit to her for half a second and then steps into Hendorff’s space, clapping him on the cheek.  “So go get some more guys and then it’ll be an even fight.”

Uhura rolls her eyes and her shoulders and knows from Jim’s experience the exact moment the tension will spill over into violence.

Hendorff draws back and decks Jim, who falls into the bar; as he makes his next move, before Jim can fully turn around, Uhura draws her heeled boot up and buries it in Hendorff’s stomach, flinging him back into the crowd.

The other three look at her in shock before Jim draws their attention again and they start—god, brawling is the only word for it.  Flinging wild punches and bottles and chairs.

When one of them gets Jim in a lock Uhura swings behind him and pinches the nerve on his shoulder, just like Spock taught them, and he goes down like a light.

But the other two still get four good hits in while she’s doing it, and between the alcohol and the concussion one of them manages to fling him onto a table while Uhura goes for the other one.

Unfortunately a whistle pierces the din before she can kick his ass.

Captain Pike is standing at the entrance to the club, staring in disbelief at the mess they’ve made of the place, and of Jim.  “Outside, all of you,” he orders.

Uhura seethes at the lost time; she didn’t even have the chance to make her annual pitch for him to join starfleet.  But she also doesn’t make her way out with the others, instead grabbing some napkins from a nearby table and hurrying over to Jim, who’s in that fun in-between state between conscious and unconscious he’s so very familiar with.

“I can feel you judging me from over here,” he mumbles, then lolls his head back to say something about whistling to Captain Pike.

She dunks one of the napkins in a glass of water and starts wiping at his face automatically, until Captain Pike clears his throat.

“Cadet, you know this man?”  He asks pointedly.  God, she’s going to get court-martialed for this, but she looks down at Jim before she answers.  He’s been off Starfleet’s radar since he was fourteen, and has never been keen to get back on it.

But he sort of shrugs at her, so she looks back up.  Pike is giving her a bemused eyebrow raise she’s pretty sure he got from Spock as she says, “Yes, sir.  This is Jim Kirk, my...” she doesn’t even know the word for it.  Cluster-mate?  Bonded?  There’s no true word for it in Standard, or even Vulcan.

“Boyfriend?” Captain Pike finishes dryly, but then watches as they both gag.  Uh, no.

“No, sir, Jim is one of my...bond-mates.”  She grimaces.  “I don’t know the exact term for it, but that’s close enough, sir.”

“Well, Cadet Uhura, if you don’t know the word than it the word must not exist,” Captain Pike says, and she fights the urge to flush. 

Decides to raise her chin instead.  “Thank you, sir.”  Deeming his face clean enough for now, she hauls Jim off the table and hands him the rest of the napkins.  She draws the line at stuffing things up his nose for him. 

“Why don’t we all sit down for a minute and discuss what the hell just happened here,” he suggest-orders.

—

Spock has a very interesting comm message from Captain Pike the next morning, and fights the very human urge to rub his temples in exasperation.  Uhura is supposed to be his partner in sensibility, not Jim's back-up in bar fights.

Perhaps they all bring out different sides of one another.

—

Uhura screeches at Jim when he shows up at the shipyard the next morning.

“Are you kidding me?  All I had to do, all this time, was dare you to join Starfleet?  Are you six fucking years old?!?”

Jim grins at her, and is incredibly lucky they’re lifting off so she can’t get up and strangle him.

—

Of course Jim joined for Them.  But it’s funnier to let Uhura think Pike could just dare him into it.

[vrainsrewatch]

episode 18 thoughts

so i decided i wanted to watch this duel all in one day, so that’s why i wasn’t around yesterday~ tomorrow is the last day of my break before starting my new job, so hopefully i can work out a new schedule for this after i get used to it.

enough about that though!! this is one of my favorite duels in all of vrains, so i’m super pumped to be rewatching it! this one gets pretty heavy though, be warned lol

the episode starts out with akira explaining what he’s just learned...

and man, part of the reason i love this duel so much is because of how they absolutely nailed playmaker’s expressions. i won’t go into too much detail, but i’ve been in a...somewhat similar situation, where there was someone who for whatever reason believed they understood what i had gone through and should just let them handle everything, while not understanding part of my healing process was handling it myself. the idea of giving up my control over certain things was completely out of the question, and that’s part of what makes this duel was great to me. playmaker perfectly illustrates those thoughts and feelings.

i’m sure i’ll talk a lot about that throughout the next few posts, but i’ll stop myself there for the time being lol. 

anyways,

this was already hinted to us, the viewers, but not to any of the characters really, so i love how shocked kusanagi is. big businesses are generally pretty shady, but the LI is obviously in a different league lol. it makes sense that he was surprised.

and here’s one of my biggest reasons for disliking akira initially. i think he does grow as a character, but to be honest with y’all, i’m still not overly fond of him lol. i love his relationship with aoi, i appreciate his growth, but man.

the fact that he saw any of that data and was like, “nah, better not let the kid who was used for this project see any of the data. nvm the fact that he is searching it out on his own, so clearly it’s important to him, but he shouldn’t have to worry about this. i can do it” just. 

i’ve seen a few people say that they like akira for this, and i won’t disagree that it’s a realistic way to react. but playmaker is right. he has the right to learn what he went through. why he went through it.

then we get:

it’s still a bit weird to see everyone in vrains questioning this when i’m so used to the concept and to the characters being used to it, lol. but it’s nice to see that train of thought continued. they all have time to come to terms with it, just like we, the viewers, do. it’s cool.

but then akira continues to be an idiot:

and like, honestly. i don’t think he’s doing anything horrible. i don’t think he’s being mean. i think he’s being stupid lmao. he obviously does care, just... doesn’t know how to handle this kind of situation. he’s so used to handling everything, taking care of aoi, and even in his former position he had employees that worked under him, so it makes sense. but he’s not the only capable person around, and he needs to let others handle their own issues.

and also, is it any wonder why playmaker doesn’t let akira take care of it? besides all of the obvious, he’s just gotten confirmation that the company he works for had something to do with the lost incident, lmao.

seriously, people knock on vrains for a lot of things, and like, you do you man. if this show wasn’t your fave, that’s cool. not everything is gonna jive with everyone and there’s nothing wrong with that!

but vrains really, really does this right. i love and will always love how it handles yusaku’s trauma through the series, and i genuinely feel blessed that we got him as a ygo protag.

but on yusaku’s last point, they agree to duel:

i hate to break it to you, ai, but you’re in a ygo show. you don’t really have a choice LOL

i also really love how kusanagi is handled in these eps. he’s not a victim, not in the same way his brother or yusaku were involved, but he was still deeply effected. how could he not be? he basically gave up his life to become a hacker and try to figure out what happened to his brother so he could help him. he had to watch as his once sweet little brother became a shell of a person, and nothing he did could stop it.

but anyways, something sad in a different way for a sec:

i, of course, immediately thought of the final duel and how yusaku finished the duel with decode talker. that....really hurt to hear with that context lol. 

ow, my heart.

but at least ai’s also got some non-depressing lines to break things up a little:

seriously lmao what is duelsick??? i always wondered why it bothered him so much lol

but this episode is very depressing so that didn’t last long, whoops. we get to find out next about akira and aoi’s upbringing:

but here’s the thing: this is so, so different. it’s why playmaker and kusanagi get so angry and lash out. i am not at all denying that what akira and aoi lived through was terrible. they had it really rough, and it clearly hurt them both and changed how they view the world and live in general. 

but he literally just looked through the LI files he knows at least somewhat how different these situations are, in fact, he literally says that he doesn’t know the pain playmaker endured. 

my own personal feelings aside, this is a great look into akira’s character. just like with his own little sister, he has a hard time relating to other’s problems. he has a hard time understanding how they’re feeling, glancing at something and thinking he knows what’s best. it’s consistent with everything we’ve seen from him so far, and while it makes it easy for me to dislike him, i completely understand why people really liked him and his development. 

he was never a bad person. just a misguided person trying to help when he shouldn’t have, or should’ve done differently. his heart is truly in the right place, and yusaku even acknowledges that:

and it’s good to see that by the end of the series, he and aoi can finally fight together, understanding each other. and i’m really happy about that.

i really do love their relationship. they’re great siblings, even if they’re not related by blood. it’s really rare to see such caring step siblings in media, so i’m really happy we got them!!

but also, talk about a smack in the face. i won’t let this six year old be unhappy, he explains to the person who, as a six year old, was kidnapped and tortured for six months as he hides the explanation of that event from them. lmao. but this emotional investment i have is what makes this such a good duel for me! it’s so high stakes, and the voice acting is so on point. i love. 

obviously, though, neither kusanagi nor playmaker take that very well:

i remember sitting on my couch, watching this episode for the first time, and just being blown away by this scene. it’s so powerful. every time i rewatch this, i am still amazed and i can feel my heart pound lmao. it’s not very often we see playmaker get this emotional, which definitely makes this impact greater, but the same for kusanagi.

he’s a much more expressive character, but while he’s serious about his job of helping yusaku, he’s more laid back in every day situations. and even while he’s on the job, he often smiles. to see that kind of character in this kind of a fury makes for a really, really big impact.

i love this. it so perfectly sums up that feeling, why someone would get so angry in this kind of situation. i could talk all day about it, but i have a few other episodes of this duel and i’ve been writing this post for like 40 minutes lol

i wonder if this is also in reference to her own brother situation? i felt like that reveal... didn’t exactly come out of nowhere, most people had guessed it by the time they dueled -- as had i -- but it was definitely rushed imo. i liked their development a lot, don’t get me wrong, but i think it would’ve been cool if she’d like... mentioned it, a few times beforehand. i suppose this could be taken that way, though i definitely hadn’t thought about it that way before haha

also, the dueling in this episode is great. i love the pacing of this duel. even without all the emotional stuff that’s done so well, i think i’d still enjoy just watching this duel because it’s solid all around. 

that’s all i’ve got for this one, but i’m gonna start episode 19 in just a little bit!

[talkingismylifewrites]

Broo ok could you give me ANYTHING HONESTLY ANYTHING with a king scenario?? Like theres johanna and regina (or whatever names you want idc) and ronald (gdhdns UGLY NAME SORRY) and dominic? Like sexy stuff, fluffy stuff, sexy fluffy stuff I DONT CARE (also its understandable if you dont write genderbends i just love ur hcs and style of writing SO MUCH)

i love genderbends, don’t worry! one day i will write my joger epic wherein roger is regina, the kickass drummer who blows john richard deacon’s mind because this fandom is lacking in genderbends particularly with girl!roger

Anyways, hope you enjoy!!

i feel like??? it just goes without saying that in the king!au they’re a little more...cautious about having babies

Regina and Johanna aren’t just like, normal women, they are Musicians and their job is 24/7 and demanding

Johanna getting pregnant initially was a Big Deal and not just because of Ron’s uber catholic family but because the band had to wrap up a tour as fast as possible, start working on a new album, and schedule in some maternity leave because yknow BABY

(Johanna was SO SCARED to tell the girls?? like she was worried they’d kick her out and make her leave because it was so ill-timed)

(not that you can TIME an accidental pregnancy. and really, if we’re gonna blame anyone blame Melina because she’s the one who literally poured tequila down her’s and Ron’s throats)

(so when Johanna found out she told, in order, her doctor, Ron, her mother, Ron’s mother, the cab driver who picked her up from the station, the woman who gave her the chocolate chip scone at her favorite bakery, and then the girls)

(Regina was the first to recover from the shock. she practically flew into her arms and started babbling about how wonderful it all was, how exciting, a baby!! what would they name it?? definitely Regina, such a regal name, and of course she’ll be godmother--

While Melina tried to hide that she was crying before sending Miami off to go fetch a bottle of sparkling apple cider as they deserved a toast! 

Brianna was the only one who was hesitant in celebrating, after all, they’d have a lot to manage before it came, but yes, congrats, Johanna! such a blessing)

Yes, so babies

Very strict about the babies because while little Rebecca was the reason they all got together, another baby could easily be why they all fell apart

Regina never wants to give up touring and making music, which a baby could impede

Johanna of course wants more, but she also doesn’t want to stop while they’re still going

(it’s also so not her turn, okay she only just managed to fit back into her prebaby jeans)

Ron and Dominic? 

They definitely want more kids 

For sure

Like Dominic just wants more little girls with Regina’s eyes and Ron’s reddish hair or Johanna’s smile and his own nose

But they’d never enforce that on their girls 

So they all decide: no babies until they’re ready

(they last exactly one year)

On Dominic’s birthday, they all proceed to get absolutely blitzed on too much red wine and too much good food while on tour in the south of Spain

Regina is the one who suggests skinny dipping in the Mediterranean but its Ron who initiates the sex

what originally was just Regina and Johanna splashing each other turns into Ron carrying Johanna caveman style back into their rental house and laying her out on the floor and licking the salt from her skin while Regina throws her legs over her shoulders and goes to town

Dominic follows shortly behind, shouting that it’s his birthday and he will not be ignored like this and someone better touch his dick before he leaves them all on grounds of emotional cruelty

Needless to say, everyone :) has :) fun :)

A month later, Regina is aware that Something Is Not Right

Regina is very in tune with her body

She has to be, as it is the most important part of her job for everything to be in working order

Drumming is more than just wrists and arms, if she’s sick or her legs are hurting she won’t be able to play like she usually does

So when she begins to feel...different? 

She freaks out, goes to the doctor, and discovers that their passion filled night by the mediterranean blitzed their Planned Babies Only Decision 

Regina freaks and drives straight to Miami’s office because, well

there’s a huge giant possibility that this baby’s father is a married man (Ron)

Miami, who already dealt with the logistics of their relationship and potential baby the moment he found out they were together gives her a big hug

 (Regina is totally his favorite he would rather die than admit it but it’s true) 

And tells her that he’s already figured it all out and that she’ll be taken care of

Also, they were due for time in the studio anyways, so they can work on a new album until regina has the baby and then they’ll have the break before the tour

With the band all handled, Regina decides that all she has to do is tell the others 

She goes back to the doctor, gets her first scan, and then she comes home, puts the picture of the Bean in a frame, and hangs it on the wall

“There’s no way they won’t notice it,” Regina says, resting her hands on her hips and admiring her little miracle

FAMOUS LAST WORDS

It takes them three weeks

At first it was cute

Then it was annoying

By the third week she’s ready to take the baby herself and find another three people who are more observant

Desperate times call for desperate measures 

She asks Dom if the photos in the living room are crooked and he’s like, nope, they’re looking good, Reg!

She asks Johanna to help her dust, and sends her to take care of the pictures in the living room. She watches as Jo dusts for 15min, chattering away about the new album but not noticing a thing

She straight up asks Ron if he noticed the new frame in the living room and Ron was like, oh, no, but i’m sure it looks great!

She’s completely given up when Melina, Marc, Brianna, and Chris come to dinner

Dom and Brianna have commandeered the kitchen, working side by side to make a roast with lots of vegetarian options

(Dom keeps trying to hip check her away when she starts Touching The Meat because what does she know about a roast??? They are Delicate Cuts of Meat and You Cannot Disturb Them! No Brianna, it’s not too dry!!) 

Her and Jo are curled up next to each other the couch chatting with Marc and Ron about the upcoming album

While Melina and Chris stand around shooting the shit and drinking beers by their record player

It’s Chris who spots it first, just out of the corner of his eye

Regina was quite proud the way she set it up. It’s just the picture in the frame, but underneath she’s written

Condom Failed: Deacon-Taylor-Tetlaff-Beyrand Baby, Due Spring 1977

She had a bit of a giggle when she was writing it, but now, knowing that she’s involved with Three Idiots, she thinks it was more than just condom failure that led her here

So Chris sees it, and he immediately drops his beer bottle, reaching out to grab Melina’s arm tightly

“The fuck, Mullen,” Regina snaps, staring at the mess on her floor.

“Are you alright?” Johanna asks, standing up to check on him

Melina stares at him, then his arm, before looking at where he’s staring

She sees the picture, and lets out a scream of excitement, her hands covering her mouth 

“Holy fuck!” 

Brianna comes running out of the kitchen at the sound, Dom on her heels (after he checked to make sure the roast was okay)

Meanwhile, Chris is really trying not to blubber because he really just loves babies and well, CLEARLY this is why they invited them over!

(Dom just wanted an excuse to make a roast) (he’s very proud of his recipe) (So So So Proud)

“Oh my god, you guys, congratulations!” Chris cries, moving to pull Johanna into a hug

Because let’s face it, she was the last one pregnant, so it’s a safe bet!

He’s Wrong though

“Thank you...?” Johanna says, returning the hug and making a face at Brianna over his shoulder. 

Brianna shrugs

“I can’t believe it! This is so exciting, you must be so excited!” Melina shrieks, barely able to get the words out

Chris is still hugging Jo tight

He pulls back, staring at her in horror, then at the wine glass in her hand

The wine glass

That he filled

Twice

“Johanna!” he yelps, unaware that Regina is burrying her face in her hands while Johanna is Confused

“You can’t drink when you’re pregnant!” 

There is a long pause

Very long

Johanna stares him deadass in the eyes and takes a large sip

“I’m not,” she says, as dry as her Merlot

“Then who’s sonogram is on the wall?” Melina demands

“What sonogram?” Ron snorts turning to look at the wall. 

“God you’re so lucky you’re cute,” Regina drawls, still perched on the edge of the couch, sipping at her tonic-lime-mint-hold-the-vodka

Ron frowns

Johanna gasps

Dom freezes

“Regina,” Dom says, his voice fragile. “Regina, are you--?”

“Hi Papa.” she smirks before looking at the other three, “Daddy, Mummy. Took you long enough to notice.” 

Johanna, who has never once shrieked in her life, shrieks before pressing their mouths together, her thumbs brushing the apples of Regina’s cheeks, whispering, “I love you so much.” 

Ron jumps to his feet with a whoop, grabbing Regina so as to spin her around and around in circles before letting her go to yank Johanna into a kiss

“We’re having a baby!” he cheers

Dom rushes towards her, falling to his knees before Regina and buries his face into her stomach

There may be tears

“Hi, baby,” he whispers, “It’s your Papa.” 

Regina runs her fingers through his hair, smiling wetly at the other three

“I hope the baby gets my brains because otherwise they’re fucked,” she laughs. “That photo’s been up for three fucking weeks!” 

The three of them laugh and cry and kiss

Regina is passed around the rest of them, where they, too, press kisses to her cheeks and hands to the slight curve of her stomach

It’s not until the faint scent of smoke wafts to them do they remember why they were all together to begin with

“My roast!” Dom wails

(seven and a half months later, Regina cuddles her newborn daughter while the three stand around, all three ready to greet the newest member of their family)

("Im just saying she looks like a Tiger Lily,” Regina coos) 

(”Over my dead body,” Johanna says wetly. Picking her name has been the second biggest fight in their entire relationship. “She’s too perfect for that.”) 

(They name her Catherine)

(It isn’t until they bring her home to they realize their mistake) 

(”This is my daughter, Cat,” Regina smirks.) 

("Goddamnit,” Johanna hisses.) 

[nyxrsh]

The Livestream gone haywire

AO3 link

Words :  2441

Marinette finds the face and the reason behind the appearance of mystery cookies at her desk each morning. Sure she had prepared for everything she thought was possible, but the face to be the renowned Adrien Agreste and the reason being that the internet believed them to be dating wasn’t something just anyone could come to terms with. 

Chapter 1

It had, coincidentally, started on what probably was the most stressful day of her life.

Finding her way through Gabriel as a new intern was hard enough. But Marinette, thanks to her amazingly clumsy self, had somehow managed to knock into the Gabriel Agreste right on the third day of her internship while she was running late. Had it not been while holding her loose pages from her design portfolio, she might just have lost the opportunity of a lifetime for herself.

But having her designs scatter in every direction in front of her idol posed a completely different situation.

Marinette prided herself on being a multitasker. It was something that often helped her wade through different situations. For instance like the one she was currently stuck into.

So by the time it took Gabriel to look what she could only describe as an eagle’s gaze fixed upon its latest prey, she had managed to get worried about being humiliated right at the doorstep of the office, talked herself out of being worried because she was being silly damn it , picked up all her sheets and smoothed her dress. It was quite applauded considering that it took Gabriel like five seconds to provide the first critique. And on seeing that Marinette took his comments in stride rather than running off crying as he probably expected, he called her up to his office during her break and dumped seven folders brimming with designs of clothes for just about everyone . He then proceeded to dump the mammoth task of asking her to compile her opinion on each and every design by the next week.

She was screwed .

Gabriel Agreste was an absolute villain. And he definitely knew that.

Which left her now dragging herself up to her desk to hopefully get her work done, planning her schedule for the day. Quite stressfully might she add. So imagine her sheer joy at seeing the most beautifully packaged chocolate-chip cookie sitting right in the middle of the desk!

Silently thanking her unknown saviour to her empty stomach, Marinette carefully removed the bright pink ribbon from the bag and pulled the cookie from its tiny plastic bag. She then munched on the cookie for a good two minutes savouring the gooey chocolate chips and started her day much happier than she before.

As she plugged her earphones into her ears and raised the volume of the white noise music listening to which she felt the most productive, she failed to hear the silent whoop that resonated from down the corridor from where she sat. The blonde responsible for this took one last look at her and walked away.

The next day she arrived, she forgotten about the entire incident with the cookie. On seeing the present on the same spot Marinette stopped in her tracks and opted to briefly think about just why that thing was there. Seeing her contemplating about the cookie’s arrival, her desk mate and fellow intern, Ines, started giggling.

Marinette glared at the brunette without any heat behind it and asked her if she knew who kept the cookie.

Ines just playfully winked at her and said, “I have been bribed to keep my mouth shut about this 'Nette. But seriously you have nothing to worry about! The guy wouldn’t even hurt a fly if someone asked him to.”

“So it’s a guy?” Marinette asked.

“Oops.” Ines didn’t even look both bothered that she had revealed any information about her gifter. She grinned and said, “I also won’t tell you that he’s an absolute dork and,” raising her voice added, “ doesn’t agree with me that this entire incident can he handled in a much simpler way. ”

“Ines?”

“Yeah?”

“You are ridiculous”

She beamed. “I try.”

A week down this routine that she had got herself accustomed to, Marinette was absolutely determined to find out the identity of the man Ines had started to call Chat Noir for some reason. Her guess was that the guy was someone within hearing distance from her in the office and Ines just wanted to tease the guy for not doing things the way that she considered normal. As a consequence, Marinette hatched out her brilliant and flawless plan of finally not arriving to her internship with five minutes to spare. Rather she decided to come in an hour early under the pretence of wanting to organize her report before it had to be submitted to Gabriel.

Marinette had prepared herself for what she thought was every situation that would unfold. She had prepared herself for a colleague shy to proclaim his or her feelings. She had prepared herself for mortification on knowing that the cookie was actually not meant for her regardless of what Ines had said. She even had prepared for it to be Ines because why wouldn’t she like doing this?

Heck she’d even prepared herself to see a literal black cat showing up with a cookie it nabbed from a nearby bakery.

What Marinette had not prepared to see was Adrien Agreste pacing along the length of her desk muttering to himself about god knows what.

Seeing him there however seemed to explain a lot of things which had plagued her mind. Adrien Agreste would probably have been expected to wear top quality business suits wherever he went. He, for some reason had decided it was the highest tier of fashion to wear black ripped jeans with a simple black hoodie topping it off with a beanie that had seemed like cat ears?  And why did it feel like she’d seen this exact outfit elsewhere?

Huh. Weird.

“Uhh…Monsieur Agreste?”

Adrien froze. He turned towards herself with wide eyes as if he’d just been robbed of the most delicious cake he owned right in front of his eyes. But Marinette thought it was fair. After all anyone would be shocked to see her in the office an entire hour before she was supposed to be present.

“……yeah?”

“Can I help you in any way?”

“Oh yeah that uhh….I was actually— uhh— waiting for…Ines! Yeah! Her! I, uhh, lost a bet to her….and you know how she gets right?” He said nervously while flapping one of his arms around and reaching the other up to his nape of his neck.

“Oh! You’re a bit early then. Ines doesn’t come in for another—” she checks her watch “—fifteen minutes, give or take. But seriously Monsieur Agreste? I’d think that you’d know better than to bet against Ines of all people.” She ended with an almost smirk.

“Please, call me Adrien. And honestly I thought I had this one in the bag.” He said sighing. “She does know me better than I thought.”

Marinette chuckled.

“If you’d like to wait for Ines, then you’re welcome to stay here as long as you like Adrien.”

“I’d—” Adrien’s phone rings. He accepts the call and walks away near the window for privacy, somehow managing to mouth ‘I’m sorry about this’ and listening raptly to the caller at the same time.

Then again the Agrestes were known for doing too many things at the same time.

There wasn’t much to be said about Gabriel on this issue. Anyone who saw would agree that the man was a little insane with the amount of work that he did.

But Adrien, he was always a mystery for her.

The guy initially had been working as a model for the brand. And then he just stopped all of a sudden. With unfinished contracts and everything.

Marinette had thought Gabriel would be absolutely livid . He was known for going on a rage when any employee of his,even his own son, not finish something within the given time restraint. So she had confidently gone as far as say to Ines, ‘Bet you 20 euros he’s going to cause the best drama the company has ever seen.’ Ines had just laughed and said that they’d see.

(That was the day Marinette learned to never make the mistake of making a bet against Ines.)

But, Gabriel proved her wrong by acting like his son didn’t just act like he’d freaking died. He managed the situation too calmly. He explained that Adrien decided to pursue a different career path and provided replacement models for every shoot that his son had missed.

But that didn’t stop Adrien from stopping by every now and then. He come in unannounced. Walk around for a while. Talk to people he felt like conversing to. And then left as if it was something entirely normal.

Regardless, Marinette thought, it’s useless thinking about it.

So Marinette started unpacking her bag. Under the pretence of making it seem as if she was paying attention to the report that she needed to submit today, she couldn’t help but notice that the cookie hadn’t arrived yet. She mentally high—fived herself and pulled a calm façade over her face, waiting for someone suspicious to arrive.

“—honestly A, I told you this would’ve— OH MY GOD!” Ines shrieked and almost dropped her cell phone as she walked towards her desk.

Marinette jerked upright on hearing the commotion. However, on seeing just who the cause of it was, she relaxed.

Walking up to her, she asked her friend dryly. “Ines. What happened?”

Ines stared at her wide—eyed for an entire minute and then fake gasped. She asked, “How on Earth are you early today?! Aren't you supposed to be sleeping till at least another minute or two?!”

“Ines.”

Hearing their exchange, Adrien, having finished his call, sighed deeply, let out a few choice words and reluctantly shuffled up to them.

(Was she missing something that was going on between them?)

As Adrien, finally, walked up to them, Ines took one look at him and started laughing. And hearing her laugh at something that they apparently discussed about earlier, Adrien started to groan asking her to shut her mouth for god’s sake.

“…I’m guessing you lost the bet rather tragically?” Marinette hesitantly asked.

“Oh my gosh—” Ines wheezed, “so you mean this dork told you we—” again interrupted herself to allow a laugh, “—we had a bet going on?!”

“Ines,” Adrien whined, “What was I even supposed to do?!”

“Don’t give me that! I told you exactly what to do.”

“But you acted like this was a genius move. Wasn’t it you who said she’d totally understand if I did this!”

“It’s called sarcasm, you dumb— ”

“Okay enough!” Marinette interrupted the two of them before the entire company could be privy of whatever the two of them were arguing about.

The both of them stilled.

“Would you like to tell me what this is about? Ines?”

“....Adrien? I think it’s time you face your demons.”

“ Why are you so extra?” Adrien groaned.

Marinette looked at the two of them confused.

Adrien took a deep sigh. “You’re right. I was going to do this today anyway. Do you think…?” He asked flapping his hands.

“Sure,” she said trying hard to hide her smirk, ”but i’m only going any to make sure i have enough caffeine in me to deal with the kids that you two are!” Saying which Ines went away.

Adrien laughed somewhat nervously and went quiet, fiddling the nape of his neck with his hand. Marinette could just feel the nervousness oozing out from him. And considering she had about fifteen minutes before she needed to start her day, she really needed to get the younger Agreste start talking otherwise his father might just kick her out because ‘she inconvenienced his precious child.’

“So Adrien,” she began,”I know whatever you have to say is, I don’t know, big I guess? But the thing is,” she pointedly showed her watch, “I don’t have much time with me if you’re going to take this long.” As soon as she said this, Marinette chastised herself for coming out so bluntly. “Not that I’m not being inconsiderate to you! It’s just that I don’t think Nathalie would consider, you know, you and I talking about whatever, even if you do happen to be—”

Adrien interrupted her rambling. “Mademoiselle Dupain-Cheng—”

“Marinette’s fine.”

He sent a small smile her way.

“Marinette,” Adrien said, “you have been the most considerate person to me so far. Even if I don’t really deserve it.”

“What?”

“First things first, I’m the guy Ines dubs as Chat Noir.” He gauged for her reaction.

“Okay.” she said indifferently.

Surprised at her lack of any, he asked, “You aren’t mad?”

“I’m sure you are going to tell me why you though that was necessary. Aren’t you?”

“Yeah,” he paused, ”but just to be clear, please don’t hit me on my nose. I’ve heard from a girl that it pains like hell.”

“Okay...?”

“Uh, see, I’m you know, a youtuber….”

“....And?”

“I, uh, like to do livestreams okay? Sometimes, like once a month or maybe twice at the most. Because Paris you know—”

“Adrien.”

“—It’s a beautiful city right? People interact with me! Thankfully don’t fawn over me as much as they used to before. But you know—”

“Adrien. As much as I’d love to know what sort of videos and livestreams you have going on on your channel, could we please get to the point?”

He shot forward at once. “Inevermeantforthistohappenbutmyfollowersthinkthatwe’redatingandohgodi’vetriedmyhardest—”

“Adrien breathe.” Marinette interrupted his rant mid way failing to understand any part of it.

As Adrien hesitantly, on her insistence, all the while eyeing her as is she’d burst like a volcano at any instance.

Seriously, anything that he had to say couldn’t be that bad for her, right?

Right?

“Now do your worst. Just this time a bit slowly?” Marinette smiled encouragingly.

Adrien laughed nervously and said, “A week back during one of my livestreams, you accidentally stumbled upon me,” a genuine laugh flowed out of him at this, “I think you said something like ‘This is the third time this week this shit is happening to me. I’m so sorry about this!’ and rushed away. But considering you work here , it’s understandable why you ran away. But the thing is, my followers took it in an entirely different after one guy just asked me if you were my girlfriend. And now….” Adrien paused waiting to gauge her reaction.

“...everyone thinks we’re dating?” she asked, unsure about it.

“Yeah, pretty much that covers the situation.” Adrien finished somewhat lamely.

“Okay….let’s think about our options.” Marinette tapped her foot against the floor. “How many followers do you have anyway?”

“About 2.5 million I guess?”

“WHAT?!”

Scratch that. If possibly the entire internet thought that she was dating her boss’s only son, the matter could definitely be that bad.

[ashen-laguz]

For the pairing ask, do Ian and Charles

proposes - Ian for sure. Even ignoring Ian being the Ian he is, Charles doesn’t really know what a marriage is

shops for groceries - well it aint Ian. Charles technically isn’t allowed in the kitchen due to using shitty ingredients like bugs and rats, and their usual diet tends to be Tip’s food or restaurants, but he still likes cooking and will cool when Ian’s not home to stop him, so any grocery shopping is done by him. ‘till kids happen anyways. kids learn to cook and then end up doing most of the grocery shopping too

kills the spiders - probably ian. the idea of charles being terrified of spiders is really funny to me tbh

comes home drunk at 3am - More likely Ian. If Charles is gonna get drunk, he’s probably gonna stay home, or at least be at a friends house, but never someplace out and about. Not because he’s trying to be responsible or what not, I just don’t see him enjoying the bar scene or anything like that. meanwhile ian, while more responsible than you’d think about drinking (alex’s drinking problem when ian was a teen kinda impacted his thoughts on drinking =w=‘) still does occasionally enjoy it for social reasons, and just having some drinks with a friend... he’s not super drunk, but probably drunk enough to have needed nicole to take him home or something, just to be safe

remembers to feed the fish - their kids. ian’s prone to overfeeding it and charles forgets it’s their

initiates duets - ian tries but charles doesn’t know the songs. rip ian

falls asleep first - Charles. He still gets to sleep pretty late though

plans spontaneous trips - i a n. charles would just stay at home a lot if ian didn’t drag him around

wakes the other up at 3am demanding pancakes - neither are asleep and also neither of them are allowed in the kitchen

sends the other unsolicited nudes - i was gonna make a goof but it just occurred to me that neither of them really could anyways. Charles is shit with technology, so the only phone he ever gets is something that can text and call, never anything with good picture options, so sending each other nudes isn’t an option. whoops

brags about knowing karate even though they never made it past yellow belt - ian. he was doing pretty ok in karate, don’t get it wrong, but it wasn’t really that fun to him and kinda got in the way of other stuff in his schedule at the time, so he’d rather go for a run or smthn else to work out and dropped karate pretty quickly. he’ll still brag tho. ian

comes to a complete halt outside bakeries/candy shops -

blows sarcastic kisses after doing ridiculous shit - i a n

killed the guy (also, which hid the body) - charles for both. he’s not telling ian tho. never tell ian. please.

wears the least clothing around the house - ian stop walking around the house in just your boxers.

has icky sentimental moments for no apparent reason - ian is the most emotional fuck, soooo

[earthobservingsystem]

Sherlock Four

It’s a strange day at the office when one moment Paul Weller is sitting next to you, dressed as a Viking and the next you’re playing the violin in a mental asylum opposite Benedict Cumberbatch. Strange, but brilliant.

I had bumped into Mark Gatiss months earlier whilst walking the dogs, and he had gleefully forewarned me that season four, episode three would involve a LOT of violining. He wasn’t wrong. I mean he wouldn’t be - he should know.

A few weeks passed and a voice message came up on my phone. BC. Benedict. He had left a lovely message, asking after my wellbeing, my family and whether I’d be able to coach him in Ealing today. On the set of Doctor Strange. I like to think I played it cool, and I’m going to keep telling myself that. I was out with the dogs at the time. I should point out that I had been home in between these events, I don’t just wander the local parks, hoping for some work on Sherlock, (although that tactic has proved quite fruitful of late). Time was of the essence so I skipped home, swapped the dogs for my violin and headed to Ealing, in my muddy paw mark adorned jeans. Yeah. Super cool and not at all like a swamp creature.

Benedict needed to learn three pieces, one of which wasn’t yet written. He swished off set and called me into his dressing room to recap on all things violin. “Don’t touch the beard!” pleaded his makeup artist, “he’s back on set any minute”. His hands were covered in scars, which he insisted they sprayed with fixative away from me, what a gent. We just got started and he was called back on set. He offered me his dressing room while he was on set and to make myself at home. Tilda Swinton appeared In the doorway asking if I knew where Benedict was. This is always happening to me at home. Over the next few hours of grabbed moments, as well as in Cardiff on the set of Sherlock, and once at his house, we managed to work out 1) what he needed to play 2) that there was one hell of a lot to play and memorise whilst also delivering lines in some intensely emotionally charged scenes and 3)that he is a perfectionist and holds himself to the highest standards at all times.

But we knew #3 already.

Meanwhile David Arnold had met up with Ben Caron, the director to discuss the best way to approach the filming of this sequence. It would take some doing but it could be done.

I was coaching Benedict in his Sherlock trailer, with Ben Caron and David Arnold. We tried out timings to see how to fit the music with the dialogue to make sure we hit the right point in the music at the right time for the script.

For the first time on Sherlock there were to be two people playing the violin. Sherlock, and his sister, Eurus.

I was called by the lovely Siân Brooke, for some coaching at RADA. Benedict and Siân were both equally trepidatious of the huge task ahead of them, and concerned to find out how the other one was faring. Siân had played the cello on a film before, so had some experience of playing a stringed instrument.

Despite Benedict and Siân being exceptionally fast learners, coaching was hard at first because the final big duet hadn’t yet been written- this scene was scheduled to be filmed near the beginning of the whole shoot, so David Arnold and Michael Price, the composers on Sherlock had only just discovered they needed to write this epic duet at the same time as I was meant to be coaching. But there was a lot to be done anyway- recapping on stance and how to hold the bow, what angle to hold the arms and wrists etc. As with previous screen coaching, I’d say it’s 70% choreography, 30% actual playing and 10% bad maths.

Once the duet was written I picked some small ‘key’ passages of the music for them to learn. Learning the whole duet as well as the other two themes, ‘Irene’s theme’ and ‘Eurus’s Theme’ would be a huge ask, what with having to learn the violin from scratch and everything. I recorded video clips for both Siân and Benedict to help them practice in between lessons. Because they had LOADS of time to do that. (None).

The final scene of the series was to be a 360 shot of the two duetting together, tentatively at first, in a question and answer conversation of sorts, then beginning to build. It’s a beautiful piece of music, perfectly conveying all the shifting emotions of the series, gathering strength until the full orchestra joins for the rousing Sherlock Theme

Filming

The atmosphere around the sets was very warm and familial, people bringing in kids and swapping baby photos, handing around biscuits, that sort of thing.

But when I was taken onto the actual set for the first time, Eurus’s cell- I felt a cold shudder. That Arwel Wyn Jones certainly knows how to design a set. All cold, grey surfaces, no windows or door handles and 360 degree security cameras really created a chilling atmosphere. I was fitted with a radio in-ear monitor so that I could hear the cues from Ben, the director.

The first thing to to be filmed was Sherlock’s reaction to Eurus’s playing. Benedict asked that I play the theme there live in order to help him cry. Sweet revenge for last time when he made me cry: previously on A Scandal in Belgravia, his tearing up when playing Irene’s theme had made me tear up - which was good because the alternative would be bricking myself. I could get quite nervous in these situations - there are a LOT of people involved on set, and they all fall silent before the director calls “set, and… action” - but he is an utterly captivating actor, he draws you in so that everything else drops away. You forget yourself and all that’s left is the moment. Ben Caron helped create this warm atmosphere on set, by being incredibly calm and friendly whilst being clear about what he wanted. I was grateful given the pressure everyone was under that he wasn’t one for barking orders or steamrollering anyone. When I didn’t know what a particular visual cue was (I didn’t have a script- but there’s a scene in Eurus’s cell when Sherlock enters for the first time. She is playing a tune- Sherlock steps forward, the lights change, Eurus plays angrily, he steps back and she resumes playing the tune) Ben patiently and calmly explained those cues and we carried on- it felt like no biggy despite the massive time constraints he was under. It makes for a good working atmosphere and I’m sure it means that things get done more quickly and to a higher standard because people aren’t loaded with any unnecessary extra stress.

We all rushed off with an early end that day because Wales was playing Belgium in the quarter finals. We won 3-1 and there was rainbow over Cardiff (my second favourite type of bow.)

On the second day we were shooting close-ups for the big duet. Depending on the shot, Either Sherlock or Eurus would play the theme alone, following my movements. The final day of violining was the final duet scene again in 360, but this time they were filming full-length shots. The biggy. After all the planning and rehearsals and coaching and memorising and camera rehearsals this was it. I’d play in the eyeline of Sherlock and Eurus, because I had the track in my in-ear monitor, so they could keep in time with that. As the camera spun through its 360 movement I sometimes had to move to avoid being in shot. To their huge credit- and despite the considerable stress of the task, let alone of the scenes and plot line and all the acting- they were so patient and diligent and just totally on it. Of the violin scenes- this was the one everyone was most worried about. Once it was in the can, cheers and whoops were let out (but in a Welsh way, ŴP! ) Benedict and Siân had done an amazing job. The cast and crew then erupted into a big chorus of Happy Birthday for Ben Caron’s 40th. The relief. And the cake. He said that successfully completing that scene was the best birthday present he could have hoped for.

Recording the music

Once all the filming and editing is completed- the music is recorded. We knew we’d need someone other than me to record Eurus’s violin parts to the picture, as she had a Stradivarius and had taught Sherlock how to play, so their sounds would naturally be quite different from one another. I knew that my long time band-mate, Tania Davis would be perfect, so David Arnold asked her and she gladly accepted. Tania and I have been playing together for 17 years *cough* ( www.bondquartet.com ) and we have a natural rapport. She is a stunning player and has a beautiful violin too. Set up with two music stands and a screen in our own little space ship in Air Studios, we were set to record to the picture. We do this for a clean recording with no distracting, or unwanted background noises and because during the edit things can change synch and be slightly out of time with the picture. For example they might choose a shot because the actor’s performance is the perfect one- but the violin isn’t quite in time. Indeed, a childhood folk song was added after filming had ended, which we had to match to existing shots of a different theme being played. All fun and games!

We ended the afternoon on the first take of the duet, when Tania’s E string broke on the final chord - which spookily was the initial promo picture for this episode. It was obviously meant to be!

[entj-werewolf]

ISFJ, INFJ, ISFP, ESTJ

1. ISFJ: What's a memory that you look back on often?

I’m not sure what memories I look back on often, so I don’t quite know what one to pick. But, hmmm... I think in general, I’ll look back on lots of my days that I had been pretty physically crippled from my anxiety. It comes back to mind a lot because I’m in such a better state, that I can’t help but realize how much better I really got after that. It doesn’t always fully hit me until I’m doing something I hadn’t been able to do for 4 years, y’know? But at the same time, I missed out on a lot during those years and got very behind in some of my own pursuits/passions (like programming). I want to “catch up” somehow and make up for that lost time, but I probably can’t. I can still dream though... And keep trying.

Related to those general memories of that rough patch in my life, the bigger memories that stick out are the times I ended up in the hospital from horrifying panic attacks (which shot my heart rate too high and needed monitoring and serious calming down). Stuff like that?

2. INFJ: Is there something that people tend to misunderstand about you?

Definitely depends on the person, but there have been times I was misunderstood as being neglectful and/or not caring at all about someone - this usually coming from friends who haven’t known me for too long yet or are in defensive/skeptical states of mind. I’m not blaming them, of course, as I did do things that probably came off wrong despite not having any ill intentions. It’s just one of those strange matters of different perspectives that everyone deals with in other people at some point. I have mostly Feeling type friends who do want to feel absolutely loved, valued, etc., so I have times that I screw up in my wording and the context bursts into flames at them.

I mean, one time I made some off-handed jokes to some friends about how I wasn’t sure what caused lots of people I know (including one of these friends) to have crushes on me and so on. And I talked about how idk what crushes feel like, and joked that it’s kinda a “waste” for people to have said feelings for me and they should try to “stop” the feelings. Then, I accidentally remarked something in the midst of it (can’t fully remember what anymore now though).

I was mostly intending its harsher tone toward the people I had left from my life since they were being too creepy/manipulative with their crushes, but one of the friends with this crush thought it was directed at ‘em too. That friend didn’t really react hurt at first, but later in a private conversation brought it up and thought I was treating those feelings as a joke or something. Didn’t help that I was telling these people how I find such feelings as things that can be stopped out of sheer will (which is something I’ve done and continue to do for some other emotion things). Ughhh... Whoops.

There’s also the weird misunderstanding my different family members have toward me, buuut I won’t get into those here, really. It’s messy and would make this answer too long!

3. ISFP: How do you express yourself?

Usually my artwork, since that’s where I can draw anything I enjoy and have interest in. Sometimes, I also express myself through the clothes I wear, but that’s if I have reason for using those clothes at all. (Like when I was having fun with the Pokemon Go craze, I had a blast wearing my Pokemon clothes to go with it!)

4. ESTJ: How would you describe your work ethic?

Okay, so... Let’s see how to explain my work ethics... I will quickly disclaim too, however, that I cannot consider myself an outright expert on this who knows everything. This is just what I’ve figured out at this point in my life at 22 years old, mixed with some things I find ideal for the best kind of workplace in general. There��s also some stuff I observe in a “how to improve or use to best potential” kind of way, so I might have a few views that aren’t “fully practiced” or “tried and true.” I cannot claim either that my views on this are perfect, blahblah. This just goes on ‘cause I don’t know if to expect anything explosive or just a-okay to come from this, pfffft.

(This got really long and probably seems boring, so I have it under a read more only for those who really are curious and have time to read a near-essay on this crud. -coughs-)

People need to be respectful to each other and not be whiny about stuff (they’re allowed to have complaints, but those have to be reasonable and legitimate). Overall, constructive criticism is much more preferred over people just complaining all the time for the sake of complaining. I sortaaa see this as a general “interact with anyone” rule too, though....

Don’t underpay, and don’t overpay either. Really know how to measure monetary value in things and/or employees. But, also take advantage of “deals” in value changes. Supply and demand is cool and should be used for good reason when it comes to making product prices! Position and purpose that each person has in a job, plus the amount of quality work they actually do (not just the time spent doing it), is also important to measuring their paycheck’s worth. No favoritism, just fair observations and analyses of all of these values.

Speaking of favoritism, really avoid that too. It can screw things up, shake things out of balance, and put too many others at a disadvantage. Then, they likely are the type of people to think you’re being stupid with such actions. (This is more of a strict case to people working as employers or have this higher position, though... Doesn’t matter too much if regular employees have “favoritism” out of being friends. It just has to not distract them too much while they’re clocked in, and it’s all okay!)

Another issue with favoritism is an employer that clings too much to the work one of their employees brings to the business/job/whatever. This can be a huge hinderance on this favored employee, but also hinder the employer and their business in the long term. It’s like one of those obsessive girlfriends/boyfriends that never leave you alone and leech off your work! Avoid at all freaking costs! Teach the employer to let go if you’re one of these favored employees and you want to do something else with your life. Quitting is a free option, but you do have to balance the consequences of it. Don’t quit if you don’t have the next job to join, but also make sure your leave is on a good note so you don’t obliterate your reputation as someone people want to hire. Also, if that employer is rich with a tantrum, maybe avoid upsetting them with any dramatic quitting or anything. Idk if a person can seriously be sued just for quitting, but hey, I’ve seen people get sued for dumber reasons. It’s just a form of caution you have to learn, ‘cause there are ridiculous people out there even in professional positions, man.

(I may or may not also be this favored employee and hate it because I want to move on, the job is bad for my carpal tunnel and respitory health, and the boss doesn’t seem interested in hiring anyone else or able to find another person to take my place.... Help.)

Don’t be too pushy. This is coming from someone who’s seen as pushy sometimes (or lots of times), but there’s a time and place for everything no matter what position you have in a job. Often times, people are less likely to listen to you or value your opinions (whether reasonable or not), because instead they just see you as someone wanting everything to go your own way, and not open to anything else. Just, be wary of this. I’ve made mistakes on it (out of stress) and it probably diminished a bit of how my own parents view my ability to be an employee. It produces frustrating results - believe me. Wording is also important. If you’re careful with your wording and its timing, and how frequently you bring up the same reasonable or unreasonable criticism/complaint, then you won’t be seen as pushy quite that easily. You just increase your odds of seeming too pushy if you really are, y’know, lacking tact in your wording and constantly emphasizing stuff. It’s a bad habit of mine that I’m working on, but it’s something that all people gotta work on too in their own ways.

Clear communication is the most important thing in a job! No matter your position, status, role, whatever in a job.... This is key and can prevent so many future problems. If there’s a completely decided change in a schedule, policy, or anything else that affects the job, you need to make it clear ASAP. Don’t wait on it, don’t bounce around it, and don’t even try to be vague on this stuff to others. Make it clear, concise, and don’t screw up the information. Have it prepared as quick as possible, and then share it with others as quick as possible. It’s like the whole “rip off the bandage” thing. Slowly peeling it and delaying its removal is only going to hurt more, man. Comminucation is a bit of a problem in my current job, and it’s absolutely frustrating and exhausting. Not to complete fault of my boss, but that’s a whole other topic and again - not what I’ll get into here. Just saying, I definitely know how cruddy it can be for bad comminucation skills/tactics in a workplace (or anything involving cooperative efforts). I’m also saying this as someone who is still very socially awkward and is a bit shy, but if it’s something serious like this with vital consequences, I do try and step out of my awkwardness and hope to initiate this communication well. (I’m usually okay with responding to communication, but yeah, I try to force myself into the initiative parts for the sake of things like this.)

-DEEP BREATH- I think that’s the most I can write on this here. It’s as brief as I can keep this while also making sure the ethics are clear - in case this is actually decent advice for people. I’m not too sure myself, so who knows.

Thanks for the questions as always!

[star-trekkin-across-theuniverse]

Happy Birthday, Alex!!

Author’s Note: It’s Alex’s ( @youre-on-a-starship ) birthday! And in case my followers haven’t noticed, I love a good beginning. I love the start of romances, when everything is shiny and new. So while there’s been a number of established relationship fics today, I stuck with what I love best. Beginnings. P.S. I found out what kind of alien Keenser is, just for this fic. Thanks @kilismaiden for making this all happen! <3 Word Count: 1568 Special Note: Scotty x NAMED READER (Alex)

You’d been dancing with excitement since you’d received your transfer papers, a current of electricity dancing under your skin in anticipation. Everyone wanted to get onto the flagship. You’d somehow scored a transfer. You were sad to be leaving the USS Magellan behind. The engineering department had quickly become your second family, and news of your transfer initially had been devastating. But once you’d received that glorious assignment, the bittersweet transfer was more sweet than bitter.

You looked out the shuttle window and saw the Enterprise, docked at the starbase, and felt your heart flutter. It was beautiful. Her sleek lines gave her a fast look. Warp 8, if you remembered correctly. All that power was a heady consideration. And you were going to be part of the team that kept her flying.

Your orders said you were to report to Lieutenant Commander Montgomery Scott once you were shipside. He would have your quarters assignment and would assign an Ensign to give you an orientation to the ship. You gathered your bags and made your way to Engineering after the shuttle had docked.

Engineering was in disarray when you arrived, responding to a breach in water reclamation. You knew the drill, and just stayed out of the way until the issue was settled. Finally, someone approached you. The Roylan seemed to be exceptionally tall.

“You’re the new kid?” The alien gave you an appraising look. “Scotty’ll appreciate you stayed out of the way during that mess. I’ll grab him.” You watched as he wandered back the same direction he came from. When he returned, he was leading a dripping wet and filthy engineer.

“Alex!” The man exclaimed. “That’s right, isn’t it? I’m Lieutenant Commander Montgomery Scott, Chief Engineer. My friends call me Scotty.”

“Sir -”

“I said, my friends call me Scotty,” he corrected, pulling a towel out from the cupboards behind you. He gestured for you to follow him into the next room. It was a haphazard mess of partially completed repairs on parts you were sure were probably needed.

“This is the repair bay. Jim tells me it’s my office, but I need an office like I need another hole in my head. So parts that we need to repair are kept in here. When you have down time, you’re expected to put in hours on them. We’re the best and brightest Starfleet has to offer, we either repair them or rebuild them before we reorder them,” he explained as he led you past the table, towelling his hair. “We’ll have to stop at my quarters before I take you to yours. I apologize for that, hen, but I’d rather not drip the entire time I’m showing you around the ship.”

“You’re giving me orientation?” You asked, surprised.

“Aye, lass, I am,” he nodded. “I like to get to know my team, and I don’t think that’s something that can be done by having an Ensign who’s still wet behind the ears tromping you about the ship. Come along then.”

You followed him through the corridors of the ship, trailing just a step behind him. He stopped at a room, keyed in a series of numbers and gestured for you to follow him in. You realized he’d started pulling his clothes off as soon as he entered the room and hastily turned away, choosing to look at a framed blueprint on the wall. It was yellowing at the edges, and you stepped closer, cocking your head to one side. Scotty appeared beside you, pulling a clean tunic over his head.

“It’s a blueprint of the Vostok spacecraft, which was -”

“The first manned spacecraft,” you interrupted. “This is amazing. Is this an original? Is that a signature?”

“That’s the signature of the chief engineer on the project,” he explained. You felt goosbumps rising on your arms and looked again at the blueprint.

“Incredible,” you murmured, reaching out to touch the frame, and drawing back your hand before your fingers touched the glass. You didn’t notice the way Scotty’s features softened as he smiled at you.

“Come on, I’ll show you your quarters.”

He keyed in the security sequence to open your door and gestured for you to walk through. “There you go, lass, home sweet home for the next few years.”

You stepped through the doors, surprised the lights didn’t immediately come on, and dropped your bags before moving further into the room. “Computer, lights at eighty percent please.”

As the lights came up, a crowd of people jumped out from behind furniture, and around corners, yelling, and blowing noise makers. You turned, wide-eyed, from them back to Scotty.

“I read personnel files before crew come aboard,” Scotty explained. “It’s your birthday, is it not?”

“Well, yes, but -”

“Happy birthday, Alex. Welcome to the Enterprise,” he smiled. “This isn’t a big party, just a short welcome and introduction. We’ve still got to get your ship orientation managed.” You nodded, mutely, and stood beside Scotty as he introduced you to each member of the Engineering team as they filed past on their way back to their posts. When the Roylan approached, last, he smiled.

“And this wee man is Keenser. He’s my second, and he’s brilliant. Great friend to have if food is scarce, as he eats but naught,” Scotty introduced, affection for his co-worker obvious. Keenser shook your hand and mumbled something about special treatment before leaving the room. “I’m sure you’d like to take some time to get settled. I can give you an hour.”

“I’m fine, Scotty. I’d rather continue the orientation, if that works with your schedule?” You asked.

“Provided we make a stop in the commissary, I’d be happy to,” he smiled.

You spent lunch sharing stories about the experiences you’d had on the Magellan, and Scotty shared a couple of stories about his experiences that had you in stitches.

“I’d heard the story about the admiral’s dog,” you admitted, wheezing with laughter. “It’s taken on urban myth status at the Academy. Last I heard though, you’d spliced the dog with the Alfa 177 canine, and the admiral’s poor beagle had a unicorn horn coming out of its butt.”

Scotty let out a whoop of laughter and shook his head. “Nothing so exciting. I just sent it off. Somewhere. I should probably take you round to MedBay, and introduce you. Doctor McCoy likes to get a look at all new engineering crew before their first injuries.”

You laughed and followed him down to MedBay.

“Scotty!” A tall handsome man approached. “What brings you in?”

“Alex, this is Doctor McCoy, CMO. Bones, this is Alex, my new crewman. Just giving her the show around -”

“Right, Ensign Michaels was in this morning complaining he’d been bumped from the orientation,” McCoy replied, arching an eyebrow. “Can’t say I blame you, Scotty.”

You looked between Scotty and the CMO in confusion, and noticed Scotty’s ears were turning pink. “Right then, you’ve got her medical file?” Scotty changed the topic quickly. McCoy smirked and looked down at his PADD.

“Lieutenant, I need to schedule you for an intake physical. Come in tomorrow at the start of Alpha, and I’ll have you cleared for duty before your coffee takes effect,” McCoy said. You nodded.

“Sure thing, Doc,” you nodded. When Scotty led you back into the hall, you stopped once you’d taken a few steps from MedBay. “Scotty?”

“Hen?” He looked at you and then down at his feet.

“Ensign Michaels?” You left the question unasked, but quirked an eyebrow. The side of Scotty’s mouth lifted in a soft smile as he blushed.

“I do prefer to give orientations,” he started. “I don’t often have time for them. But after I read your personnel file, I knew I wanted to ensure I did yours.”

“Why?” You felt your face wrinkle in confusion. He shook his head and smiled broadly.

“You were top of your class, you’ve been out of the Academy a scant few years, and yet you’re highly decorated, and you’ve published,” he explained. “I read your paper on dilithium depletion, and it’s brilliant. I wanted to get to know you right away, make sure you’d be a good fit on the ship.”

“You read my paper?” It was a long, boring slog through various theories of how to slow down the degradation of dilithium crystals on long cruises.

“I did. I specifically requested your transfer because I think we can answer some of the questions you had left,” Scotty explained.

“A good fit for the ship?” You asked.

“We’ll be working rather closely on a number of projects, lass,” he explained, flushing even redder. “I don’t want to start off on the wrong foot with you. But it’s important to me that we get along if we’ll be -”

“Are you flirting with me, Lieutenant Commander Scott?” You suddenly blurted. He broke eye contact with you and laughed, shaking his head.

“Not terribly well, I don’t think, if you feel the need to ask,” he admitted.

“How about we start with dinner?” You suggested.

“You’re sure?” He asked, sounding vulnerable. You smiled, and took in his soft smile. “I am your superior officer. I wouldn’t want you feeling pressured.”

“Well, we’ll be working rather closely,” you teased. “We should probably ensure our compatibility. Round pegs don’t go well with square holes, am I right?”

“I’ll even buy you a birthday cupcake, hen,” he smiled. “Come on then.”

[maischwartz566]

2018 Year in Review

I had big plans in 2018, namely to finish a 70.3.

Well, we all know how those plans went. 2018 quickly went off the rails, but I did my best to regroup and reframe my goals. One of my goals was to get healthy and I can successfully say that I did that by rehabbing my hip. I’m back to running pain free, so I consider that a huge win.

January

January was definitely a month of discovery. I started the month with an awesome trip to Disney to cheer for the marathon, but ended the month with a diagnosed labral tear as well as MRI findings showing some sort of mass on my ovary. Unexpected, for sure.

Though I had been working with my PT prior to this (she’s the one who initially suspected the labral tear), at this point, we started doing focused work on my hip.

February

In February I saw an amazing doc who confirmed my super cool ovarian cyst and told me she was going to take it out at the beginning of March. I really appreciated her no-nonsense attitude.

This also began the month of cancelled plans. With the labral tear, racing the Donna half was out. Given that I wasn’t sure what surgery was going to cost me after insurance, I opted to cancel that trip to conserve expenses. Thanks to Southwest’s awesome policies, I transferred that flight to a trip to my parents’ house to see family. Always worth it (and much cheaper lodging too).

March

I started March with surgery. It was not as bad as I feared, save for the fact that we discovered that hydrocodone doesn’t have an effect on me. After surgery, my heart rate was elevated, and when the nurses asked if I was in pain, I said yes, but it wasn’t awful. They gave me more pain meds, which didn’t really help. I just figured the pain made sense. I had just been cut open. It was bearable after all. Turns out with the drugs I had been given, I shouldn’t have been feeling anything. Whoops. I discovered this later, when at home and alternating hydrocodone and ibuprofen, I realized that the ibuprofen helped and the hydrocodone did nothing. (Turns out this is a fun family trait. Thanks, Dad.)

Because of my surgery, I had to step back on some of my PT exercises. My surgeon was great and told me which of my exercises I could do, but it turns out that when your abdomen has been sliced open, you don’t want to do anything where you are leaning or laying such that the weight of your organs is pushing towards those incisions. So I lost a bit of recovery time here.

This was also the second cancelled trip, as I missed out on BDR New Orleans. This month, I also officially pulled out of 70.3 Chattanooga. I didn’t cancel my trip – I was way too excited to spend time with my Coeur teammates. I just knew I wouldn’t be racing.

April

This month, I started easing back into training. All self-guided, but it felt good to be back. I also started pushing my hip rehab now that my incisions were mostly healed.

This was the third missed race of the year – the local National Women’s Half. This one didn’t feel like as much of a loss, since it was a local race.

In April, I also got to see Hamilton with my family! It was even better than I thought it would be, seeing as I knew the soundtrack inside and out.

May

May was a big month. Though I wasn’t racing (fourth missed race of the year), I still traveled to 70.3 Chattanooga with some friends and it was worth every single minute. I don’t know that I could have had more fun. It was awesome to cheer for friends and strangers, help out where needed, and just enjoy the company of friends and my Coeur teammates. I’m so very glad I went and didn’t sit at home feeling sorry for myself.

I also went to see Harry Potter & the Cursed Child with my sister and my cousins – our first of two trips for the year. I wasn’t the biggest Harry Potter fan – I liked the books and movies, but wasn’t into it as much as some of them, but I really loved the play. We saw both parts in one day, and that’s a lot of time in a theater, but it never dragged. Definitely worth the trip.

Finally, in May, I started working with a new coach. Nothing against my old coach, but after a few years of working together, we just weren’t fitting as well as we had been, so I took the opportunity for a new start, knowing that I was spending the year rebuilding.

June

June was a bit of a quiet month, but it was also a month of a lot of training. This was my big push back to running, my big push towards racing. It was a month of a lot of hard work.

July

This was the month I had been working towards. Finally, my first race of the year. I’m so glad that it was Rev3 Williamsburg, a great way to start my season (and sadly, say goodbye to one of my favorite races). I was nervous, since I was still recovering, but it went so incredibly well and proved that all my training and PT was working.

August

Obviously, the Baltic Cruise was the highlight of August. I still can’t believe all of the things we got to see on that trip. I’m still trying to put together a photo book from the trip. Of course, I didn’t even get it close to finished by Christmas! It was worth every single penny spent, and I hope my sister and my cousins and I all get to travel together again in the next few years.

September

Choir started back up this month with our new conductor following two seasons of guest conductors. It was absolutely a change, but a welcome change. I appreciate someone who insists on hard work, but doesn’t ask more than you can give.

This month was also the end of my triathlon season with the Giant Acorn Oly. I had goals for this race, and was really happy with my finish. I managed to PR the course! All my work had paid off. It was a great race that felt incredibly good, and I was sad that my triathlon season was so short, but glad that it was a successful season.

October

October was a bit of a blur. I raced my 11th Army Ten Miler. It certainly wasn’t a fast race, but I raced without pain, which was the whole goal.

We also had a huge choir concert this month, premiering a work that was written in 1917 and had never been performed. It was absolutely exhausting. So many hours spent rehearsing. But when it was all said and done, it was a very cool thing to be a part of, and I’m looking forward to hearing the recordings once they’re complete.

November

I finally made it back to book club (then promptly missed the December meeting). I need to find a way to prioritize this in my schedule – I really like spending time with these ladies!

The month ended with a triumphant return to half marathon racing, nearly a full year since my last 13.1. It was like I wrapped up the past year in a nice bow when I finished that race. The previous year, I was struggling with my hip, and this year, I finished strong.

That was followed by an amazing whirlwind trip to Disney World to see the decorations. It was exhausting and so much fun. Anyone who thinks Disney isn’t for adults is wrong.

December

Finally, a relatively easy month. It’s a month of rest and recovery from an intense year of training. I sang three holiday concerts (still less work than October’s premiere) and am currently spending Christmas with my family, which is the best way to end a great year.

The post 2018 Year in Review appeared first on Elbowglitter.

[wanderlustlondon]

16 July

rip france weekend 

megan looked into some churches in the morning and i was going to go with her, but none of them were convenient so we slept in until a whopping 9 am! we went down to breakfast and tried to stuff our faces to buy less at lunch. we didn’t hear anything from the others girls so we just checked our luggage and started walking around this c ute lil market right outside our hotel. it felt like a super french experience, complete with plenty of fish, plants, and chickens with their heads still on! but it also helped all of my french grocery vocab come back to me so that was cool. we both bought some cheap little things to finish off our souvenir lists. 

we decided just to head over to the area we were getting lunch to see what was around. we sat at a mcdonalds to use their wifi and we kept seeing that the restaurant opened at 2 even though our reservation was at 1. so we decided to go walk around a park for awhile to kill time. it was pretty, but hone when we climbed a billion steps to the top of some little lookout, it was stunning. we found a little lookout to see the entire city. if i wasn’t already out of breath from the steps, that view sure would’ve taken it. we started walking into some garden area when megan got a call from emily that they were waiting for us at the restaurant. so we literally sprinted to get there and hen there were a bunch of steps to climb bc it’s a rooftop resto so I was absolutely completely out of breath by the time we made it to the top. to make it even better they didn’t have the fruit salads we wanted so i ended up getting something super nasty that had fish in it. the others liked it but i wanted to vomit with my first bite. it was fish AND onions and idk what the fuck i got into. i didn’t say a whole lot while we were eating and i didn’t really care. i just enjoyed looking out over the city. all of a sudden carly said she didn’t think we’d have time to take pictures by the eiffel tower and i had to speak up. i said something about how that’s the top thing i want to do here and i understand it’s emily’s birthday and we should do things she wants to do like go to this shakespeare bookstore, but this is one of the few things i really want to do and i think we can make time for both. luckily everyone else wants dot see the eiffel too so it didn’t take much to make carly come over to our side. all it meant was they couldn’t get dessert. OH NO SO SAD. 

so we got to the bookstore and it’s fine, but then i ended up leaving my credit card in there and having a panic attack looking for it. mel kept telling game not to keep all (2) of my cards in the same p pocket but like you keep it all in your wallet and this is my wallet?????? it was just not helpful and not what i needed to hear. so i went back with michelle to get my card and she was talking a little about how demanding carly is and when she’s in a good mood she can be really fun but i really appreciated hearing someone else say she’s a bitch. someone who’s friends with her for real. we got back and carly was buying a fucking crepe. we don’t have time to buy crepes right now, we’re on a time crunch. we were already running behind our schedule and this was making all of us crabby. at some point i heard carly telling emily how we shouldn’t be mad at her for getting a crepe bc it was something on her bucket list (even though the other 5 of us had already had crepes bc they had them at EVERY RESTAURANT) and it just rubbed me the wrong way. like seeing the eiffel tower (in the light) is on my bucket list, but that’s not good enough because she doesn’t want to go. her bucket list is more important than mine. but you know that’s jus how this whole trip was. on the rain at one point i was sitting, kind of zoning out bc i was feeling overwhelmed and everyone else was talking about what to do next and i’m pretty sure they were talking about me at some point bc i’m the party pooper of the group...bc i want to do things i like and feel comfortable with!!!!! but it was all good when we made it to the tower. we got some pictures and even carly took some and we got back to the hotels to get our luggage and made it to the train station with a fine amount of time.

but this fucking train station. nothing in my life could’ve prepared me for this shit show. ok maybe we’re there later than we should’ve been but there were so many other problems it wouldn’t have mattered anyway. but then to get up where we need to go there’s this huge mob of people. they were only letting like,e 4 people on the escalator at a time, it was ridiculous. luckily a lot of people in the group were on our train so we knew we wouldn’t miss it (or be the only ones stranded). it took us a lot of shoving to get to it but we finally made it to the stairs to get up. then we had to wait forever for the passport check. then we had to wait even more for customs, which was weird that we had to do it first. the first lady yelled at michelle for not having her paper filled out ahead of time but??? usually you do it on the train/plane??? but then the other guy worker called us all over and asked us a lot of questions and just took one customs form from carly and trusted that the rest of us were falling the rules and it was so nice and considerate of him, it helped pick up the pace a lot. security had no problems, but then we found out our initial train was having technical difficulties and they needed a new train, so everyone needed new boarding passes. that’s when i about lost my mind. it had already been almost 2 hours since we first got there, in a crowded area with no air conditioning on a 90 degree day. we’d been sweating pretty much nonstop for over 3 hours at this point. also mel and carly went to buy waters and they bought 5 and carly got a personal soda. alright. fine. don’t get me one when i specifically asked for one. get yourself a soda AND a water instead. when they were handing them out i felt like they purposely didn’t get me one. whatever i guess. we kept waiting for our boarding passes, which once again take forever but FINALLY  we make it on the train at about 7:30, about an hour after we were supposed to initially leave. 

the train wasn’t as cold as last time but it was more comfortable than the station was. i was a little annoyed i wasn’t in the window seat though, bc i never get up on trains and i just wanted to sleep but megan kept needing things so i felt like i couldn’t. it was a little frustrating but nothing compared to carly in the background. i could hear her through my headphones, she was so loud. i never want to travel with her again in my life. she makes me feel absolutely miserable. 

FINALLY OUR TRAIN GETS TO KING’S CROSS (technically st. pancras since that’s the international but shh) and it’s like 9 pm and we’re exhausted beyond belief but it’s also exciting to be back and i never though ti would deb so happy to see elephant and castle in my life. when we were waiting for our lift some guy kept walking around singing about how nice she was and then eventually yelled MY PROSTITUTE SHE WAS SO NICE and it was just like ah yes welcome back to london, home sweet home. 

i actually emptied out my bag and got dinner and everything before sitting down (bc i knew once i was on my bed i wasn’t gonna get up) and then i relaxed for awhile before calling mom and talking to her until 1 am. whoops. no regrets, though, because it was late enough where i knew i would sleep with ease, only to have another packed day tomorrow. 

[seminarsacademy]

Marisa Murgatroyd – Your Website In A Weekend

Marisa Murgatroyd – Your Website In A Weekend

Marisa Murgatroyd – Your Website In A Weekend

How Are You Going to Make Money with Your Website?

Most web designers & agencies never ask (or answer) this all-important question…

It’s true…

Most web designers and agencies never ask (or answer) this all-important question…

After all, they went to design school, not business school, so they can focus on the wrong things.

Like the newest & coolest things… instead of what’s going to reliably work day in & day out to convert traffic into paying customers.

It’s not their fault, but when you trust your business to folks with no proven experience in direct response marketing, you’re taking a big risk of ending up with an expensive “brochure website” that sits there collecting dust.

Big whoops!

I can’t tell you how many people have told me, “Marisa, I wish I had met you a year ago before I wasted $10K on a website that does nothing for my business.”

We believe that your online platform is an investment in your business that should quickly pay for itself.

We’re Here to Help…

We totally get it.

You live in the real world where fires need to be put out in your business every single day.

You can only do so much, so your site’s been sitting on the “important, but not urgent” list for months… or years.

And on top of that — you’re probably not a marketing “pro”, a technical whiz or a design genius, so the idea of needing to stay on top of it all, and make all the right decisions can be kind of overwhelming.

But consider how many thousands of leads and how many tens of thousands of dollars you’re losing every single month you delay having a website that really gets results for your business?

The Most Expensive Investment You Can Make In Your Business Is Trial & Error…

You can do it yourself and learn from your (expensive) mistakes… OR… you can learn from other people’s mistakes.

So what do we mean by that?

In short, we’ve worked with more than 1,000 clients and have sleeves-rolled-up, in-the-field experience of what works and what doesn’t for hundreds of different kinds of businesses.

In short we have a PLAN for your business.

Respect the value of your own time and invest in a proven roadmap to ensure that the time you do put in is well spent.

Marisa, I get it and I understand you GUARANTEE I will LOVE it! I want to join!

“Remember, trial & error is the most expensive investment you’ll ever make in your business!”

Marisa Murgatroyd — Remember, trial & error is The Most Expensive investment you’ll ever make in your business!. – Marisa Murgatroyd

This Is Your Invitation to Just Get It Done (With Our Help!)

Between us, we have 20 years experience in building websites that get results. We build 100 websites a year for our clients and our premium clients make millions from the sites we design them.

And thanks to that experience, we know the places where people get “stuck” (in some cases, for years.)

We’ve answered all of the tough questions that you might have been putting off.

Questions like:

What pages should you have on my site? How should they be structured to drive toward your #1 business goal? What words should you use to maximize conversion? What are you selling and how should you sell it? What COULD you be selling? How do your set up the systems behind your site so you’re free to do what you do best? … and many, many more “People are RAVING about the new sales page. We sold $925k from it in the first 12 hours and $4M during the 3-week launch, and our team feels better about what we’re offering because of the page, which was an unforeseen benefit!”

Justin Livingston — People are RAVING about the new sales page… Our team feels better about what we’re offering because of the page… That was an unforeseen benefit. We sold $925k from it in the first 12 hours and $4M during the 3-week launch Justin Livingston, Client WealthThroughWorkshops.com “I feel very proud of my website. My opt-ins are ridiculous and my list is growing by a thousand every month.”

Morgana Rae — My opt-ins are ridiculous and my list keeps growing & growing & growing by a thousand every month. Morgana Rae, Client MorganaRae.com Getting Our Help Usually Begins at $500/hour…

Marisa & Murray have 20 years experience in building websites that get results.

Marisa is the branding and image genius, and is the world’s best at teaching you how to create a unique branded look & feel that really positions you.

And Murray has been coding since before the Web. This means he knows a thing or two about how to teach the “tech stuff” in an easy-to-follow way that will leave you feeling comfortable and totally in charge of your new destiny.

And thanks to that experience, we know the places where people get “stuck” (in some cases, for years.)

To get us on the phone, we start at $500/hour and to have us build your online platform for you, you’ll be writing a check for at least $50,000.

We realize that’s out of reach for most folks and wanted to offer more people a chance to “get inside our heads” and benefit from our years of expertise.

This why Murray & I decided to offer Your Website in a Weekend — a “hands on” weekend of training where we’re going to close the office door and together make it happen.

Our goal for you is to come away with a complete “blueprint” for your site. Everything you need to take your new or improved website to the world.

This online program is your rare & valuable opportunity to get “inside our heads”, to get profitable “a-ha” after “a-ha”, and begin working on your website for just a TINY FRACTION of what our other clients pay.

Presenting Your Website in a Weekend

Click the “Add to Cart” button below. You’ll be taken to our secure checkout page, where all you have to do is enter your regular details and complete your investment while reserving your seat today.

The Complete 6 Session Pack – available as digital download

HERE’S WHAT YOU’LL UNCOVER IN DAY 1

SESSION 1: Your Path to Cash

If your online platform isn’t delivering results, it’s not because your content sucks, or because you’re bad at what you do.

In fact, the problem might have nothing to do with you at all.

It could be because your website isn’t correctly matched to your #1 most important business goal.

Makes sense — if your website’s pulling in a different direction, then how can it deliver results?

In this session you’ll:

Gain an “insane” level of clarity on exactly why your site isn’t delivering results and what your “path to cash” looks like. Learn there are in fact THREE ways your website can help grow your business, and how to make the quick fix required to flip the switch on big money Discover how to choose a memorable branded URL that positions you & what you do perfectly What’s the value to your business of creating a site that actually works toward your business goals?

SESSION 2: Optimize Your Pages, Leverage your Business

In this session, you’ll learn what your business’ “must have” pages are, and how to leverage them powerfully to build your business:

Home page — we’ll show you the 3 kinds of home pages and how to pick the one most likely to quickly take your business to the next level Consulting, services & programs pages — the best practices to command high ticket prices for what you do, even if you’re in a price-sensitive market Your blog — how to use it to powerfully position you as the authority in what you do while invisibly pulling your traffic into your product & service funnels Initial consultation page — the art and science to giving prospects a taste of working with you that ensures massive take-up of your offerings Your About page — the “ugly step-child” page of most business websites, we’ll show you ninja techniques for using the humble About page to spark massive connection, build trust and get the cash register ringing plus much more… We’ll also reveal:

The best structure to use for your site navigation so you funnel your visitors to the “money” pages as quickly as possible. How to set up an “extended footer” to keep people on your site, browsing longer and going deeper with you What If you could increase conversion by as little as 1% on each page of your site? Across even small sites, that works out to a massive multiplier effect gain!

SESSION 3: The Perfect “Calls-to-Action”

Unless you can motivate your visitor to take action to join your list, sign up, register, schedule a discovery call, etc.. within seconds, then your site can’t succeed.

So why do so many websites have no (or really really bad) calls-to-action? (That’s the definition of making things harder than they have to be.)

That’s why we’re devoting a session to:

Creating the perfect “call to action” for each page of your website to fill your funnel with as many leads as you can handle Little known conversion strategies you can use on each and every page of your site to inspire maximum conversion of visitors into action-takers and buyers Creating high-value gifts, template, tool or spreadsheet (“ethical bribes”) so that your visitors have no choice but to opt-in for what you’re offering, priming the pump for sales How to create a funnel that will first encourage those subscribers to consume your gift, and then go on to become buyers What’s the value to your business of converting up to 5% MORE of your home page visitors to action?

AND THEN, DAY 2 GETS EVEN BETTER!

SESSION 4: Your Shortcut to Massive Credibility

The difference between you and the “A” players isn’t the big stuff like how good you are at what you do.

Quite counter-intuitively, it’s in fact the small details that signal you’re a “pro”. Things like your color & font choices, your photography, and your graphics.

Getting this right is the difference between 10x-ing your conversion or turning people off in droves.

In this session, Marisa will give you her most powerful lessons. You’ll learn:

How the “pros” use “color palettes” to send the right signals about their brand in just 3 seconds that powerfully sets them apart The 4 essential font styles your site needs to be taken seriously. Most people have too few or too many and both are real “deal-killers” for your credibility Learn the right way to do your signature photo – the photo that truly captures who you are and instantly attracts your ideal client – on your website and your social media profiles And finally, you’ll learn the tricks to finding the right stock imagery for your site that sends the right signals and doesn’t instantly undermine all your hard-won credibility, making the sale that much harder What would it be worth if you could send the right signals that powerfully position your value and make selling easy & fun?

SESSION 5: Words that Sizzle

Could you really double your business with the right headline?

Honestly? No.

In fact, the right website copy can much more than double your business. In our experience, thousands of dollars in income hinge on the right words.

In this session we’re going to cover why “copy” is different to blogging and other writing you might do for the web, and how to write copy that can transform your bottom line results, without changing anything else in your business.

What we’ll cover:

Usually writing great copy involves spending time doing deep research into your market. Murray will show you a super-ninja way to “shortcut” this research and speak directly to your prospects’ deepest fears & needs How to write headlines that compel massive action – what are the kinds of words to use? What are the words to never use? We’ll also cover how to write calls-to-action that are short, punchy and really convey the benefit of what it is you’re offering And finally, we’ll talk about the new way to write emails that actually get read. Some topics we’ll touch on include structuring & pacing your email for maximum consumption, along with optimal contrast and word choice to interrupt any negative patterns in your reader that have them hitting the delete button When business success can hinge on picking the right words, what would it be worth to your bottom line to know the right ones?

SESSION 6: Demystifying The ‘Tech-Stuff’

We get it — you’re not a tech genius. That’s why we’ll dedicate this session to demystifying some tech-stuff in your business.

First, if you’re going into to business online in any volume, you’re going to need a merchant account. So in this session we’ll talk about the difference between merchant accounts and how to make sure you’re getting the most from yours (plus the lowest rates), plus we’ll introduce you to our own merchant provider — one of the good guys in the industry and our secret weapon: Neil Alcala of DirectPay Next we’ll cover the 2 key pieces of technology every online business needs to make money — your CRM (contact relationship manager), AKA where you keep your list, and your email marketing service and how to choose the right one for you depending on your goals & future needs If you’re an info-entrepreneur, an industry authority or expert, a service provider or someone who makes a living selling what you know, then we’ll show we can build your entire site for you for cheap and give you all the VA support you need so you can concentrate on what you do best — working in your “genius zone” and growing your business Video has been proven to increase conversion by up to 80% — but most people make it harder than it needs to be. We’ll show you the best, low-cost, no-tech ways to quickly & cheaply add video to your website How much value could you create if you freed yourself from drudgery, tech nightmares & everything else you weren’t good at?

“With Marisa’s help and what I learned from her materials, we created a multiple 5-figure launch for my Group Coaching Success program.”

Michelle Schubnel — With Marisa’s help and what I learned from her materials, we created a multiple 5-figure launch for my Group Coaching Success program Michelle Schubnel, Client CoachAndGrowRICH.com “Marisa & Murray are so bad-ass! The amazing tips, tricks & strategies they shared really helped me nail my messaging, boost my brand, and speak directly to the people who were looking for what I offer. My business skyrocketed and within 8 months I had my first $10k month! Their passion is contagious & they really know what they’re talking about. This is a not-to-be-missed business growth experience!”

Tanya Kersey — The Filmmaker’s Success Mentor Tanya Kersey, Client The Filmmaker’s Success Mentor

Marisa Murgatroyd – Your Website In A Weekend

Marisa Murgatroyd – Your Website In A Weekend

The post Marisa Murgatroyd – Your Website In A Weekend appeared first on Seminars Success Academy.

[cover32-yahoopartner-blog]

Power Rankings; Week Five: Top 10 gets shuffled again

September is over and the calendar has officially turned to March. For 30-of-32 teams, a quarter of the season is already in the books. Through four weeks, many things that we “knew” going into the season have proven to be wrong.

Previous Week’s Power Rankings: Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 |

There is no change at the top as the Chiefs look like the only elite team in the NFL at the moment. In a bit of a surprise, the Bills continue to climb as they currently sit in sole possession of first place in the AFC East with a 3-1 record.

The Rams continued their ascension as one of the most exciting teams to watch in the NFL. It is too early to tell but their win over the Cowboys could wind up being a statement game for this young team. The other team in Los Angeles, however, continued their DEscension as they remain winless and look lost.

Now on to the rankings!

Rank Team The Skinny 1

Record (4-0); Previous (1) – Game Recap The final touchdown aside, this game was tight and the Chiefs needed every second to remain undefeated. The sky is the limit for this team at this point.

With that said, we are only four games into the 2017 season. Let’s see where this team is at at the halfway point of the season.

2

Record (3-1); Previous (4) – Game Recap

At 3-1, the Lions are playing about as well as they are capable of, despite the controversial loss to Atlanta in Week 3.

This looks like a 10-12 win team at best, with a floor of about 7-9.

Matt Urben, Cowboys Editor

3

Record (3-1); Previous (7) – Game Recap On the “road” against the Chargers, running back, LeGarrette Blount had his best game as an Eagle. Blount rushed for 136 yards on 16 carries as the Eagles took sole possession of first place in the NFC East with the win. 4

Record (3-1); Previous (3) – Game Recap The Falcons finally lost a game and to the surprise of most, it came at the hands of the Buffalo Bills. The Bills defense contained Matt Ryan, limiting him to one touchdown and just over a 50 percent completion rate. 5

Record (3-1); Previous (8) – Game Recap Ceiling: The ceiling for the Steelers is still the Super Bowl. Seeing Bell finally breakout in Week Four gives a good sense that they could be firing on all cylinders in the coming weeks.

Floor: If healthy, a worst-case scenario feels like a Wild Card Round upset. Of course, an injury to Roethlisberger, Bell or Brown or could turn them into a team looking in from the outside with an 8-8 record.

Parker Hurley, Steelers Editor

6

Record (3-1); Previous (6) – Game Recap The Packers did what they were supposed to do against a bad Bears game. Aaron Rodgers threw for under 200 yards, however, he tossed four touchdowns in the rout. They will probably still win the division, but still unsure where they go from there. 7

Record (2-2); Previous (2) – Game Recap Ceiling: This team with Brady and Belichick, are always a Super Bowl or bust team. Despite their early defensive struggles, this team is still a favorite for the Super Bowl.

Floor: With said defensive problems, the Patriots could realistically be looking at a 10/11 win season, which, by their standards, is a poor season as they likely would struggle to win the division.

Ian Glendon, Patriots Editor

8

Record (3-1); Previous (13) – Game Recap Ceiling: For the Rams, it seems to be sky high around 12-4, they feature the best offense in the NFL in terms of scoring. Floor:An all too familiar 7-9, but I believe this is unlikely. However, last year they finished 4-12 after a 3-1 start so the possibility of a poor finish must be accounted for.

Andrew Kelly, Rams Editor

9

Record (2-2); Previous (16) – Game Recap 

Floor: For the Texans, it’s the bottom third of the power rankings. The fact of the matter is that they have a rookie quarterback. It is hard to rely on a rookie to consistently be as productive as he has been the past few weeks. Ceiling: The top third. Their defense has underperformed so far this season and can only improve. This would also be dependent on Deshaun Watson continuing his impressive play.

James Mastrucci, Texans Editor

10

Record (3-1); Previous (11) – Game Recap Floor: With this defense, the Broncos will be in every game.  There’s no way this team finishes below 9-7.

Ceiling: The offense’s inconsistencies continue to hinder Denver. The upcoming schedule also does them no favors. However, if the Broncos can find balance on offense, 11-5 will become a definite possibility.

Luke Snyder, Broncos Editor

11

Record (2-2); Previous (5) – Game Recap After a strong start, the Raiders fell to 2-2 with a 16-10 heartbreaking loss at Denver. On the positive side, Derek Carr’s back injury looks minor. Conversely, the anemic running game, spotty pass protection, and drops look to be more of a hindrance that initially anticipated. Terrance Biggs, Raiders Editor 12

Record (2-2); Previous (12) – Game Recap 

Floor: Given the team’s penchant for suffering injuries at the most crucial positions, most recently Dalvin Cook, the Vikings could realistically end up with five wins and in last place in the division.

Ceiling: If the quarterback gets healthy, the defense continues to dominate and Michael Floyd makes an impact in return from suspension, Minnesota can win 10 games and compete for a playoff spot.

Sam Smith, Vikings Editor

13

Record (2-2); Previous (14) – Game Recap The Redskins had a chance to pull off the upset of the undefeated Chiefs but they squandered a lead late in the third quarter. As of now, the Redskins and Eagles look like the class of the NFC East. 14

Record (2-2); Previous (17) – Game Recap Ceiling: Seattle wins NFC West. Defense creates turnovers and shuts down offenses to help ease the pressure on the Seattle offense. The offense continues to make improvements, relying on Russell Wilson’s arm. Floor: The offense continues to struggle, putting the defense on the field for the majority of games, causing the tired defense to get chewed up in the run game. Would leave the team battling for a Wild Card spot in the playoffs.

Danny Justik, Seahawks Editor

15

Record (3-1); Previous (20) – Game Recap Ceiling: for the Panthers is that Cam Newton is back with his run game and precision passing to Funchess and Benjamin (13-3). Floor: The Panthers secondary still needs to improve and make sure they contain open receivers and get interceptions (8-8).

Gabriela Swic, Panthers Editor

16

Record (2-2); Previous (9) – Game Recap Four games into the 2017 season it is still hard to get a read on the Dallas Cowboys. Sitting at 2-2 the Cowboys have shown the ability to be a dominant offensive team. Their performances at times against the Cardinals and Rams were reminiscent of the 13-3 team a year ago. However, their effort against the Broncos and the second half of the Rams game showed their youth and inconsistencies.While the talent is still there to repeat as NFC East division champions, the Cowboys must learn to play with much more consistency to avoid the tightly contested division’s basement.Tony Iosso, Cowboys Editor 17

Record (2-2); Previous (10) – Game Recap

Ceiling: Every team is bound to lose some time and needs a loss to not get too arrogant. The Texans soundly whooped the Titans, but it’s not that big of a deal. They could very well go 6-1 til the next time they play the Texans. They are probably a playoff team that loses and then returns next year with high hopes.

Floor: They’ve been a Mariota injury away from desperately needing a quarterback so let’s hope his hamstring is OK.

Brian Moore, Titans Editor

18

Record (3-1); Previous (21) – Game Recap No one expected the Bills to be at the top of the division by the time October came. Now, they have one of the best defenses’ in the league and their offense is starting to click. They will have to replace key players like Jordan Matthews due to injury, but if they can keep this momentum going and play Bills football, they can easily be a playoff team.

Brandon Ray, Bills Editor

19

Record (2-1); Previous (19) – Game Recap The Bucs jumped on the winless Giants, building a 16-0 lead early. However, the Giants came roaring back and the Bucs needed nine points in the fourth to hold on to the win. They now have a date with the 2-2 Patriots on Thursday Night Football. 20

Record (2-2); Previous (23) – Game Recap Floor: Saints defense has played great the past 2 weeks including a shutout in London against the Dolphins, but is this just a fluke? The floor for the Saints is that there D returns to the same old Saints D. Saints schedule doesn’t get any easier so if the D doesn’t keep this play up it could get ugly once again.

Ceiling: Again the key is the Saints D, first 2 games the D gave up 1,000 yards but in the past 2 games have given up under 500 yards. If the defense keeps playing at this elite level this Saints team could win the NFC South and be a threat in the NFC.

Brenden Ertle, Saints Editor

21

Record (2-2); Previous (15) – Game Recap Starting off 2-2 is an okay start for them but with their talent, there should be no reason why they aren’t 3-1. Right now, they look like a wild card team unless they can improve as a unit overall.

Brandon Ray, Jaguars Editor

22

Record (2-2); Previous (24) – Game Recap

Ceiling: Playoffs. At best the Cardinals may be able to sneak into the playoffs. The rest of the teams in the NFC West have problems, and they are currently 1-0 in the division, so there is still a chance to win in the West.

Floor: Top Ten Pick in the 2018 NFL Draft. With the offensive line problems continuing, who knows how long Carson Palmer will continue to play.  With the oldest team in the NFL, the Cardinals could benefit from a top ten pick to begin rebuilding.

Andrew Erickson, Cardinals Editor

23

Record (2-2); Previous (18) – Game Recap By the end of the first half, they were down 19-0 at home to the Steelers. They should be fortunate to have won two games early because it doesn’t look like they will get many more at this rate. 24

Record (1-2); Previous (22) – Game Recap And just like that, the Jay Cutler experiment is looking like a flop. The epitome of Cutler came during a wildcat play where he didn’t even bother lining up to be a decoy. It could be a long year in South Florida. 25

Record (0-3); Previous (30) – Game Recap Ceiling: This is a team that’s improved in two consecutive weeks on offense – a unit which lost them their first two games. Dalton’s performance against the Browns in the best showing an AFC North quarterback has had all season. At 1-3, Cincinnati isn’t far removed from the pole position in an unusually weak division if they can maintain their upward momentum.

Floor: On the other hand, it’s exceedingly unlikely that Dalton throws for four touchdowns with a >80% completion rate every week. The unit likely won’t dominate Buffalo to that degree next week, let alone other teams down the line once new coordinator Bill Lazor’s offensive identity is better known. Lazor has yet to have John Ross or Tyler Eifert available to him – can other players rise to fill the void, or will Lazor be forced to spend the season scheming around a limited arsenal of talent?

Andy Hammel, Bengals Editor

26

Record (2-2); Previous (31) – Game Recap Ceiling: The Jets are on their way from moving past the tank rumors. With the defense improving and offense stepping up, this team should be able to win a few more games while making some noise.

Floor: The Jets face two of the three best division in pro football this year, playing the AFC West and NFC South. A few more blowout losses may be inevitable, but hey, at least they’ll be in a good draft position come May.

Kyle Hirshkind, Jets Editor

27

Record (1-3); Previous (26) – Game Recap The Bears looked incredibly weak against the Packers last Thursday, losing 35-14. However, reports around Halas Hall state that Mitchell Trubisky will be starting against Minnesota next Monday night, and with a possible Nick Kwiatkowski return from injury, things could be looking up for the Bears after all. Tyler Kading, Bears Editor 28

Record (1-3); Previous (27) – Game Recap Floor: Somewhere around 3-4 wins. Who knows how Brissett will continue to play, and with our division being stronger, a bottom 5 finish is quite plausible. Ceiling: As farfetched as it may seem, is a playoff team. A win against Seattle on Sunday night along with some key divisional victories could push the Colts into the postseason. And is Luck is finally healthy at that time, watch out.

Ben Pfeifer, Colts Editor

29

Record (0-4); Previous (25) – Game Recap Well, the bad news is that the New York Football Giants are already on the floor, being one of four winless teams after the first quarter of the season. The good news is that it can’t get any lower. Justin Pugh and Odell Beckham Jr believe the Giants can run the table. I don’t share their enthusiasm because to make the playoffs they have to run the table. The ceiling would be 6-10 or 7-9…and with 10 of their final 12 games against teams .500 or better, that might be too high.

Curtis Rawls, Giants Editor

30

Record (0-4); Previous (28) – Game Recap Ceiling: The most promising aspect of the 49ers is their defense, which continues to improve and ranks 26th best in defense-adjusted over average, which is about as high one could consider ranking the 49ers.

Floor: The 49ers will go only as far as Brian Hoyer and the offense will take them, and despite Carlos Hyde’s strong start, Hoyer has been abysmal and the reason for their 0-4 record. Hoyer and the offense rank 30th in efficiency and 30 is about right for the team’s ranking.

Winston Chung, 49ers Editor

31

Record (0-4); Previous (29) – Game Recap

Floor: When a team is 0-4, it’s hard to say that things can get any worse. At least, Rivers, Bosa and Ingram are healthy. Nowhere to go, in Carson, but up….hopefully.

Ceiling: The Chargers are most likely headed for a top-flight draft pick. They have a lot of talent, but can’t seem to put it all together. Still, a glimmer of hope to make a run, but highly doubtful at this point.

Mike D’Abate, Chargers Editor

32

Record (0-4); Previous (32) – Game Recap It can’t get much worse for the Browns, who at 0-4, are now 1-19 in their last 20 games. The ceiling for this team is no more than one or two wins at this point. One seems like the likely number at the end of the day.

– Ian Glendon is the National Editor for cover32 and the Managing Editor for cover32/Patriots. He covers the NFL and New England Patriots. Like and follow on Follow @iglen31 Follow @cover32_NE and Facebook.