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starr-fall-knight-rise · 4 years ago

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Humans are Space Orcs, “Comic-con.”

You guys wanted something fluffier and lighthearted, so I took a suggestion from a group of the Discord server, and did this with it I hope you guys like, and thank you for the suggestions. “Where are you taking me? And why am I wearing this?”

Adam frowned at her, “Don’t be such a party pooper, I took you to watch MMA last week, and now its my turn to pick the fun activity.”

Sunny held up the glowing weapon --of facsimile of a weapon--, “What is this called again.”

“It’s an energy sword, from a really REALLY old video game.”

“And what are you supposed to be.”

Adam turned to look at her, shaking his head in disappointment, “Sometimes, I am sad for your lack of pop culture education.”

“And whose fault is it for my lack of pop culture education?”

He tapped his chin, “I suppose that is true.”

“To be fair the pop culture you subscribe to is like two thousand years old.” She looked him up and down. He was wearing a spacesuit and a jetpack. This might have been normal for him were it not for the painstaking hours that he had spent painting the thing and applying decals.

Where the standard issue UNSC space - suit ranged anywhere from white to silver to dark blue, this one was in a gaudy combination of white with green and purple highlights with a blue decal on the front embossed with the outline of stylized white wings. Under that, he had taken the time to dye one of the old undersuits purple, and was now wearing the hood to complete ‘the affect’

“Seriously though. What are You?”

He turned to look at her grinning and patted her on the shoulder, “Just wait.”

She sighed and did as told following him out of the underground parking lot and up into the sun. She threw her hand over her face as they came up into the sun, and when she withdrew her hand, she found herself surrounded by hundreds of humans all walking towards the same destination, and all of them were dressed, strangely… she couldn’t tell which ones for sure, because humans always seemed to dress strangely, but something bout this gave her the feeling that these ones were doing it on purpose..

At her side, Adam was grinning.

Following the line of people her eyes traced up to the large, and spacious building just up ahead. The walls were made out of metal and glass paneling, and across their surface scrolling scenes from movies and comic strips flashed.

Off to her side, a man in a blue and red suit, with a big yellow S on the front went floating past, his hover boots giving him the effect as if he were flying, red cape billowing out behind him.

Someone else to their side was walking a rather large brown dog towards the building. It had a teel collar and a couple of painted on black spots, while he was wearing a green shirt and brown pants. He looked like he really needed a haircut.

Sunny tilted her head to better read the letters on the building before her.

J. HAIL CONVENTION HALL

They were just outside the doors when someone ran up to them. THey looked younger, maybe in their teens, dressed with an elaborately colored wig, and strange colorful clothes, “Holy Shit! Your costumes are awesome, Can I get a picture?”

“Hell yeah.” Adam motioned the kid closer, pulling Sunny down beside them so the kid could grab a picture and then turn to look at Sunny, “How did you make it look so real. You look just like the Drev from that movie.”

She stared at him before looking down at herself.

Adam laughed, “It looks real because it IS real.”

The kid stared at them in disbelief, “No way.”

“Yeah she's a real life actual alien.”

Eyes went even wider, I...w...wow.”

Sunny shrugged and waved one of her arms to the kid as Adam dragged her further up the line.

“Here, hold out your hand.” She did as told and he wrapped a small plastic bracelet around her wrist. The letters on the band read VIP

Walking over to the doors they were stopped by a group of people holding up their hands. One of them walked around them, and pointed at Adam’s jetpack, “YOu have a licence for that?”

“As a matter of fact, I do.”

He reached into one of the pockets on his suit and pulled it out to show them. THey looked it over and then nodded, and he grinned. Tey read off some rules before they were suddenly interrupted.

Voices behind them, and Sunny turned.

A group of people walked up, one of them was dressed like a cowboy with a yellow shirt and blue pants, with a brown hat.

Another human in a blow up dinosaur costume pointed at Adam’s uniform,

“And what does that button do.”

Adam grinned, and Sunny watched him with a fond shake of her head as he approached them, putting on some sort of character voice.

“Ill show you.” Looking around to make sure that everyone was clear, he deployed the wings of the jetpack, striped in red and white.

The group oohed and ahhed.

THe cowboy moved forward, “Oh what, these are plastic, he can’t fly.”

“They are a trillium carbonic alloy and I CAN fly.”

“No you can’t”

“Yes I can.”

“Can’t.”

“CAN.”

“Can’t Can’t Can’t.”

“I could fly around this convention center with my eyes closed.”

Sunny just stood there watching them nervously shifting back and forth. She had a feeling that they were arguing, but it also felt very scripted, though how it could be scripted, she didn’t know. They had never seen these people as far as she was concerned.

The other man moved very close, “Ok then my light beer, prove it.”

“Alright then, I will.”

He held out his hands voice growing a bit more serious as he did, “Everyone step back.”

They did as told, and the cowboy was smiling now instead of frowning.

“Adam, is this legal.” Sunny wondered.

He turned to look at her, “Yes, the convention center has its own airspace just for this. I had to sign a waver.” He turned back to the others and ignited the engin on the jetpack kicking off the ground.

His flight was far more controlled than his original flight, and he flew in a fast circle around the area, dropping in with a flip to land before them to the cheering of an amassed crowd.

He pointed at the cowboy, “CAN.”

“That wasn’t flying, that was falling with style.” The man protested though he was grinning even as he walked over to take a picture with Adam.

“Pretty sure that made my day, your costume is awesome. Is this a real spacesuit.”

“You bet it is.”

“Where did you get your hands on one.”

“Oh I have my sources. Did you make your costume?”

“Sewed it myself. The hat and boots I bought though.”

They parted ways with Adam’s new friend and stepped inside the convention center scanning their bracelets as they went in.

“Welcome, Sunny to the biggest nerd convention ever conceived of by man...ComicCon.”

She turned in a wide circle eyes wide at thousands of booths, thousands of people all talking and laughing. He grabbed her hand and dragged hr further inside, “IF your good, I’ll buy you a sword.”

“Nerds want swords?”

He raised an eyebrow at her, “Of course nerds want swords. Here, lets start over there and movie this way, through the art section first.”

Sunny did as told, following after him.

She never knew Adam being one to spend a lot of money, he had no reason too, but after the first ten minutes she figured out that he was a little bit of a spender when it came to nerdy things. Posters and drawings and other related items.

However, she was surprised to find that they did have leather workers and blacksmiths as they were called, and she did…. In fact… get herself a sword which she recognized from the lord of the rings movie he had made her watch. It was a pretty good sword all things considered as if whoever made it actually knew how to make swords.

They were coming around a corner when they almost ran into another group of people. Adam dropped one of his bags and the other reached down to pick it up. When he stood, Sunny's eyes widened. Blond hair green eyes and an eyepatch, “Sweet Costume!”

She shook herself thinking she had bumped her head or something and was seeing double, but no, when she looked closer she realised that this person couldnt have been more than fifteen or sixteen…. And dressed like Adam.

She looked over at Adam who was standing mouth open eyes wide.

“Can I get a picture!”

Sunny just nodded her head as the kid jumped over next to her and had his friend take it before running off yelling back at her about her amazing costume.

Adam turned to look at Sunny, “Did I just>”

“I think you did.”

He shook himself, “Wow.”

She nodded

After that it started happening more and more.

Adam was everywhere, in all stages of life. They had recreated his uniforms, his flight suits, his space suits. They brought their dogs. There were even gender bent versions of him, blond women wearing eyepatches, brown jackets and jeans making it very clear who they were .

It got even more weird when Sunny started seeing herself.

Small children in costumes made of foam.

People wearing onesies that sort of looked like her, and even one costume that had a woman on stilts for her legs, and a complex system of homemade mechanics to allow her to move around.

Adam stood there mouth open just staring at them.

Sunny laughed at the irony.

He was here as a guest, and no one knew.

If only they had any idea that the real deal was here and dressed like a space ranger from a two thousand year old cartoon.

Sunny tilted her head listening to the announcements which said there would be a “Adam Vir look alike contest going on on the other side of the convention.

She turned to look at Adam and they both began to laugh hysterically. She grabbed his arm. We have to see this.

They wandered over just as the others were filtering in. And there were TONS of them, all dressed like Adam. One stopped next to him, spiky blond hair, clearly dyed for the occasion, wearing a flight suit and aviators.

Adam Tried to avoid eye contact with anyone as they sat down to watch, however no one recognized him, not even close.

They sat, watching the judging.

An adorable little boy with blond hair and a NASA T-shirt won for the younger age bracket.

The jumpsuit wearing kid to their right won for his teenage years.

At the end it was up between two men, one in casual wearing and one in a uniform. The one wearing the uniform had a similar lopsided grin as Adam and she would have chosen him as a dead ringer, and was almost put off when they chose the other man, who was, on the other hand, roguishly handsome.

She snorted, “He looks nothing like you.”

“But he does look like Keith Jenning who played me, so I guess people sort of conflate us as being the same person.”

“This is so unreal.”

They laughed again as they walked away sunny pointing out he probably would have lost the contest if he had tried to enter, and he laughed along with her.

THey were perusing through a booth with a bunch of old vintage movies when another announcement came over the intercom, saying that the cast of Adam’s movie was going to be speaking.”

Adam’s eyes widened, and together they made their way wanting to see what all the fuss was about. There were hundreds of people packed into the large room, and they were only able to get space just along one wall.

Up at the table, he recognized Keith Jenning, Rita. Ortiz, and Adler Handen, the voice actor for Krill and the woman who played Sunny.

Adam leaned back against the wall to watch.

Keith didn’t look anything like Adam at this moment, his hair back to brown like it usually was.

Hands raised in the crowd as questions were shot out, “What was the hardest part of playing Adam Vir?”

Keith laughed and then paused, “I think it might have been the eyepatch. I stubbed my toe like…. What was it Rita, we kept track on set.”

“About 456 times during the course of filming.” She added, and the group of them laughed.

“How accurate is the story to what actually happened?” Someone called out

Adler Handen leaned forward, “You know it was actually pretty accurate because Adam Vir was actually consulting through the whole process, though I think it is glammed up to make him look maybe a little more….”

“Poised.” Rita added, “Ellis gave him a bit of an action hero spin.”

“What is he actually like?”

Keith smiled as did Rita, “He’s hilarious, and kind, and a bit of a clutz I would say.”

Rita laughed, “That is one part of the movie that is inaccurate. I think they should have put it in, but he was like the last man to step onto Proxima B, and when he did he says he actually fell out of the shuttle and landed on his face.”

There was laughter from the crowd.

“Honestly a really modest guy all told.

“He has the personality of a golden retriever…. In a good way obviously.” Rita said

Keith had stood up from his palace at the table and was looking around the crowd for more questions, when his eyes fell on Adam and Sunny not a few rows away leaning against the wall.

The recognition was instantaneous, despite them not having seen for a long time. He pointed his eyes wide, “Adam…. Adam is that you. Sunny?”

The entire crowd turned and thousands of eyes fell on them.

Adam was stuck like a deer in the headlights hands held up.

“No way It IS YOU. Someone grab a chair and get him up here.”

Rita stood in her seat and waved.

Now people were standing to get a good look at them as two security people motioned them up.

Adam was bright red in the face as he was pushed to come on stage. The people looked confused, but when Adam pulled off his hood, and pulled on his eyepatch the entire convention center began cheering.

“Yeah give the man a round of applause.” Keith said pulling out a chair for him to sit on while Rita did the same for Sunny.

Adam shifted awkwardly in his seat.

“Nice costume, is that from Toy story?”

Adam shrugged, ‘Yeah, or the Tv show I guess.”

Someone hurried over with another microphone as the crowd below continued to babble and point.

Keith leaned forward, “Did I mention he was a raging nerd. Did you wear the costume to hide or….”

Adam shook his head, “No, I've been coming to the convention since I was a kid.”

There was cheering in the crowd.

Hands were raised high into the air for questions, and Adam blinked a bit red in the face still.

“Is it true what they said about Proxima B?”

Adam smiled, “uh yeah I fell flat on my face, right out the door. You see the movie had a ramp, but a ot of our ships don’t have ramps, they have doors because it would kind of be…. Impractical to have a whole ramp opening up into an airlock. So instead it had a door and stairs. And I got so excited that I missed the second stair and just fell.

“How accurate is the rest of the movie?”

He shrugged, still blushing, “They did make me look a little more… heroic, than I actually am. I mean there is a little known fact among members of the UNSC that doing a warp without a warp dampener like we did on the Enterprise was…. How shall we say… extremely hard on the body. About fifty percent of the men on the bridge peed themselves and passed out.”

There was laugher from the crowd.

“Were you part of the fifty percent?”

He snorted, “ I was nineteen of COURSE I was part of the fifty percent. Captain Kelly had a bladder of Iron though.”

More laughter.

“And when it came to meeting with aliens for the first time, I was so excited that I ran after them right….. Well as it turns out, to the aliens it looked really, really bad. Like they thought I was going to eat them.” More laughter, “We are still trying to repair human/Bran relations five years later because of me.”

More questions.

“What is your funniest story, something that didn’t appear in the movie?”

Adam had to think about it for a minute, “Did I ever tell you about the first time we met Iotins or the Celzex.”

Cheering in the crowd,.

“Ok ok, so The one thing you need to know about Iotins is that they smell good, and I don’t mean your girl’s perfume good, I mean like continental breakfast with bacon and eggs and potatoes and I don’t know what else.” Sunny smiled as she listened to the sound of the crowd’s amusement, “This is the kind of smell that turns you into one of pavlov’s Dogs. Drooling all over yourself stomach grumbling the whole nine. So when we met them for the first time, it was during a GA convention and my men hadn’t eaten since breakfast. It was so bad, I drooled all over my uniform and we scared the Iotin council half to death.”

He smiled as the crowd encouraged him into more stories.

“Then of course there is the Celzex, a very war-like race, very honor bound and very easy to offend. And yet they are about a foot tall rainbow colored, fluffy and with adorable pig ears. These guys were designed to be cuddled, and yet, not one human has ever done it for fear of pissing them off since they have weapons that could glass our entire planet.”

He was Animated as he told his stories, and the crowd was animated with him

“Sunny, i have a question.” She lifted her head in surprise, “Is it true you grew up in a stone hut/”

She hummed deep in her chest, “Yes, where else would I have grown up.”

“So you didn’t have electricity?”

She shook her head, “No, why would we need it?”

She answered a few more questions.

And then one young man stood.

“So, I was wondering, you supported the LFIL during their protests.”

Adam shifted nervously in his seat, “I did.”

“And it’s because of you that they are in a probationary state of legality.”

“Yes.”

.”“So I was wondering, considering all that and considering your relationship with Sunny. Have you tow ever thought about dating.” Adam blanched white and you could have heard a pin drop.

Sunny glanced quickly over at adam. A part of her really wanted him to admit it to people, but another part of her-- the bigger part-- knew that doing it here in front of thousands of people would be a disaster. He opened his mouth to stammer out a question but Sunny leaned forward towards her mic.

“You misunderstand Drev courting customs. He would have to be able to beat me in a fight first.

Factions of the room muttered, and Sunny quickly moved the conversation on to more Funny stories.

Adam turned his head towards her with a look of relief.

With her head turned form the cameras she gave him a brief wink before turning back.

They didn’t exactly get to see the rest of the convention as they were waylaid by people wanting autographs and to talk to him. He of course was good natured and answered all their questions with a smile and gave pictures with enthusiasm.

She smiled

He was kind like that.

Thought some worries gnawed at the back of her mind.

People were beginning to suspect, and that could be a big problem for Adam.

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fandomlurker · 4 years ago

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A Ponderous Rewatch: Pavlov’s Mice and Cameo

So thanks to Tumblr nerfing my ability to make an admittedly absurdly long post combining the previous episode rewatch with this one, I had to do this entry in two parts.

But at least now we’re in for the real treat: The first episode in airing order that’s animated by TMS Entertainment. And hey, even the Animaniacs show itself seems to acknowledge that this is special, because theme song rhyme is…

We're Animanie! Totally insane-y!~

Pinky and the Brainy!~

…which hasn’t been done since their debut. So this is gonna be fun.

Might as well get this out of the way, then, since this episode obviously involves Ivan Pavlov. I think most people who know of Pavlov through cultural osmosis pretty much know him as just “that one scientist who got dogs to respond to the sound of bells as if they were being offered food”. This is what happened, but it’s only part of the story. In reality, Ivan Pavlov was doing research on the physiology of digestion in dogs and he noticed one day that the dogs he was studying started to drool in the mere presence of the lab technician who regularly fed them even if the technician didn’t have food with them. Pavlov developed a way to redirect the dogs’ digestive juices outside of the body so that they could be measured, and then he ran some conditioning experiments to see if he could get them to salivate in response to external stimuli that had nothing to do with food, like ringing a bell.

The year in the title card, 1904, was the year Ivan Pavlov was awarded the Nobel Prize for the previously mentioned experiments, which he published the results of in “The Work of the Digestive Glands” in 1897. Basically, by 1904 he was done with his work with dogs and he moved on to experimenting with mice…at least according to this article in National Geographic by Virgina Hughes.

With that, let’s begin the episode proper.

“At the dawn of the 20th century, Russian scientist, Ivan Pavlov, trained animals through his technique of conditioned reflex” says the narrator as we zoom in on a laboratory with Pavlov and our lovable mouse duo.

“Time to earn your dinner, my little mousey friends!”

It’s interesting how Pinky is the one that flinches uncomfortably at the loud sound of the gong while Brain simply snaps into his conditioned response. And that response? Uhhh…

“I’m a little teapot, short and stout.~”

“This is my handle, this is my spout.~”

(Is he…you know…?)

“When I get all steamed up, hear me shout!~”

“Tip me over and pour me out.~”

Oh no… This is a cute and funny scene and all, but when you know about Brain’s canonical issues with how he hates not being in control of a situation and all the traumas he’s endured (for those of you not in the know, yes, Brain does have a lot of trauma in his backstory that we learn about much later, both in the 90s spin-off and the reboot) regarding both general control and losing family and friends…there’s a bitter tinge to this scene.

He’s so embarrassed and humiliated.

He takes the cheese but he is positively fuming with rage, and I can’t exactly blame him from what I know about him.

This is made all the worse by Pinky’s innocent reaction to Brain’s little song and dance.

“Hahahahaha! Wonderful! Hahaha! EGAD, Brain, I could watch you do that dance all day! Haha, narf!”

For Pinky, this is harmless silliness and he gets to see Brain sing and dance and “have fun”, which is not a usual occurrence. But for Brain? Well...

“You have watched it all day, Pinky. Sixty-one times, to be exact. It’s a conditioned reflex to that infernal gong.”

“I’m powerless to stop it!”

Well, Brain, at the very least it’s not like you were a part of a more inhumane experiment like one regarding, say, learned helplessness or anything. …Oh wait. Whoops. (For those sensitive to animal abuse, I suggest refraining from clicking on the second link, and caution against clicking on the first if even more clinical text descriptions of such would upset you. The third link is spoilers for the reboot.)

All that aside, it seems like it’s Pinky’s turn. He gets the more traditional bell chime for his stimulus.

And the result is him going into an uncontrollable and very enthusiastic Slavic folk dance.

With violent results. I hope you appreciate that last screencap, as the animation goes by so quickly I had a lot of trouble isolating the part where Pinky kicks Brain and he goes flying.

Pinky is all too happy to get a reward of cheese, his favourite food, for doing something that he has no memory of.

“What’cha doin’ over there, Brain?”

“Contemplating your afterlife, Pinky.”

That’s not exactly fair, Brain, you know he has no control over this. To Brain’s credit, though, he doesn’t bop him or anything for kicking him involuntarily.

Pavlov leaves, playfully saying that he hopes the mice dream of cheese tonight, and the mice are immediately down to business.

“At last, he’s gone.”

“Now we can begin our conquest of the world!”

We’re already back to it being “our” conquest of the world, eh?

“Behold my latest creation, Pinky: The Vacuum-o-nator.”

Brain has never been good with naming things, has he? At least, not so far. I wonder if this will continue throughout the franchise?

Pinky is certainly very happy and impressed, though.

“It uses reverse air pressure to vacuum everything toward it.”

You know, I was just about to roast Brain for thinking that making a very odd version of a vacuum cleaner was such a brilliant thing, but then I remembered that this takes place in 1904. The vacuum cleaner as we know it was “invented independently by British engineer Hubert Cecil Booth and American inventor David T. Kenney” in 1901 according to Wikipedia, and portable vacuums were available to the general public starting in 1905.My apologies, Brain, that actually is very impressive.

Although, this all hinges on if the viewer considers episodes that take place in the past and/or at different locations than Acme Labs California to be mere Alternate Universe/What If? stories or Brain and Pinky using some kind of time machine to go to a different place and time for these episodes. (Before you tell me that this is just a cartoon and sicc the Please, Please Get a Life Foundation on me, I do this to have fun and maybe educate myself and the reader along the way. I promise I have a life. Barely.)

“Are you thinking what I’m thinking, Pinky?”

“Uhh… Yeah, Brain! But where are we gonna find rubber pants our size?”

Pinky, that’s… Listen, folks, don’t make the same mistake I did and google “rubber pants”. It’s not what you think it is. You will be disappointed.

BONK!

Seems like you’re enjoying yourself there, Pinky.

“No, Pinky. We’re going to use the Vacuum-o-nator to steal Russia’s crown jewels!”

Man, the animation for even this one small proclamation by Brain is so, so good. Brain standing authoritatively and holding the pen like a scepter or spear, the grand sweep of his arm as he says “no”, the serious and slightly menacing expression on his face, a violent and grabby swing of his arm on the word “steal”, and a dramatic point and look up towards the sky when he finishes. TMS does great work, folks.

“Narf! Genius, Brain!”

Look at Brain’s satisfied smile at Pinky’s simple compliment. Remember what I said earlier about Brain going through his explanations to show off to and impress Pinky? At this point I’m absolutely convinced that that’s why Brain turns up the theatrics more than necessary when going through his plans. After all, Pinky is (oddly and rather sadly) the only one in-universe who thinks Brain is a genius and a good person.

…Of course, the effect can sometimes be lessened by subsequent innocent bumbling.

“Turn it off, Pinky.”

He says this so exasperatedly yet so deadpan at the same time, it’s great.

“Oh! Right-o!”

Even Pinky immediately knows that he fucked up.

“Zort! Whew! Wild hairdo, Brain! Heh heh, I like it.”

He even pets Brain’s “hairdo”, aww. And though I personally could take or leave the ‘do, I like the pointed, sharp look this mishap’s given to his ears.

BONK!

“Now I feel cleansed.”

Okay, this one might have been a little too much, Brain.

“But Brain, aren’t the crown jewels always guarded by giant Cossacks?”

Well, Pinky, from what I know Cossacks were usually used extensively in the police force and as border guards during this time, so I guess that’s possible?

Brain picking the lock with the pen is a fun little detail.

“Don’t worry about the guards… For tonight, Pinky, at precisely 1 am, there’s a total lunar eclipse. “

Again, this is probably not a thing the average person could look up quickly and easily in the 90s and the writers most likely didn’t care about accuracy here, but there were no total lunar eclipses in 1904. There were some penumbral lunar eclipses in March and September of that year, though. Just a fun fact for you folks.

“The Earth’s shadow will completely cover the moon, blacking out all of St. Petersburg for a period of 30 seconds.”

Brain…?!? Brain, how did you get the diagram on that piece of paper to animate like that? What kind of Harry Potter-style magic bullshit is this?

I know this is a cartoon and all and I’m not truly upset but this honestly came out of nowhere and made me do a double-take.

“In that brief time, we will sneak past the Czar’s guards under the cover of darkness and steal the crown jewels…for he who controls the jewels controls Mother Russia!”

More dramatics!

“But…I thought your mother’s name was Désirée?”

I love Brain’s pose here. Very grumpy and sassy.

As for Pinky’s comment: We do get to meet Brain’s parents way later in the spin-off, though neither are addressed by any name. I’m taking this joke as canon anyway because it’s funny.

Well, well, well… Looks like we’re shaking things up a bit with an inking instead of a bonk. That’s gonna be a pain to get out of his white fur, though.

“Soon, Pinky, I will rule Russia…so from now on, call me Czar.”

Another sassy hand-on-hip pose.

“Right-o, Brain!”

“—eek! Czar Brain!”

“Come along, Pinky… Conquest awaits!”

Nice to know that despite the inking, Pinky’s still following him anyway. Plus he’s doing it with that fond look on his face again. Hmm…

What follows is a cute and ingenious sequence of Brain launching Pinky and himself through an open window via the spring force of a mousetrap. It goes by very quickly, but I just wanted to highlight a few things I managed to notice while pausing through it. Kudos to the animators again for these little details.

Pinky’s the one that wraps one arm around Brain’s shoulders so that Brain has both hands free to spring the mousetrap properly and so that they’ll be launched together.

Interestingly enough, Pinky’s the cautious one who braces for impact right away while Brain gleefully flies through the air with his arms outstretched.

The “camera” changes perspective and while Brain is still boldly flying forward with confidence, Pinky is still worried but has now opened his eyes as they fly towards the window.

Pinky’s still holding onto Brain and the Vacuum-o-nator as tight as he can. As they get closer to the window, however…

…Pinky seems to realize he’s going to smash into the wall above the window if he doesn’t let go, so he lets go of Brain. Brain doesn’t realize where his trajectory is taking him.

Pinky angles himself downward and through the open window, but it’s too late for Brain.

WHAM! RIP, Brain.

But his pain is not done! It looks like Pinky’s landing was in the soft snow. Meanwhile, Brain slides down onto the window and through the opening, only to bash into the lid of a garbage can, much to Pinky’s concern.

Then Brain falls headfirst into the snow.

And finally, Brain is clonked on the head by the same garbage can lid, which makes a loud gong noise. Someone get this poor mouse some Aspirin.

But since there was a gong noise, you all know what that means!

Cutely, Pinky joins in on the dance in the middle of it.

“Ha! Oh that was fun, Czar Brain! But let’s give it another go, right? Only this time with feeling!”

Man, that side-eye at the beginning from Brain…

Pinky’s body language is great in this episode, too. The gleeful flapping of his arms and feet and the “with feeling” gesture are fantastic examples of his more open and energetic nature coming through.

Oh hey, there’s that one shot of Brain being ticked off used in the spin-off theme song! I can’t exactly blame him for his anger here. He just went through a lot of pain in a short amount of time and was then involuntarily made to humiliate himself. Pinky doesn’t mean to be mean here—he genuinely wants to have some sing and dance fun with Brain—but it’s gotta sting to have the humiliation highlighted.

Pinky still doesn’t deserve a bonking for it, though. But it’s slapstick, so he’s fine.

Heh, “deliveries to rear” indeed.

Oh, are those jingle bells on a sleigh that I see?

Uh oh…

“No, Pinky… Not now!”

It cannot be stopped, Brain. He must dance!

Another quick detail as Brain launches himself at Pinky’s midsection to either topple him over or hold him still to get Pinky to stop.

Alas, Pinky’s dancing is too strong.

OUCH!

The face of regret.

His punishment is swiftly thwarted, though.

“…That was unpleasant.”

They take a different and more uneventful ride on a hay wagon to the palace.

I love the exaggerated perspective going on here.

Peekin’.

“We made it inside, Brain!”

“…’Czar Brain’.”

“Czar Brain.”

He says it so quietly and sweetly, aww.

“Yes, Pinky. There are fleeting moments when I even amaze myself.”

I…don’t know if it’s much of an accomplishment yet, Brain. Settle that ego down a bit.

Oh, that’s some classic Looney Tunes-style sneaking animation there.

Wait, why is the door to the treasure room just open behind them? Czar Nicolas II, what gives?

Speaking of…

Hello, Czar Nicolas II. I hope you’re enjoying your “eclipse party”. You only have another 14 years or so to live it up, after all.

“In just a few minutes, it’ll be totally dark and scary. OooOOoo!~ But don’t anyone touch me, I have cooties!”

I, uhhh. Okay, then.

Same, boys. Same. Best to get down to business.

“Behold the crown jewels of Mother Russia, Pinky. World conquest will soon be ours!”

Again, world conquest is “ours” and not just Brain’s. Also you can just tell Pinky’s thinking “I’m going to wear so much of this jewelry!”

“Now, Brain?”

“Not yet. Wait for the total eclipse.”

Speaking of…

“Complete darkness, Pinky. Start the Vacuum-o-nator…”

“NOW!”

That gonging noise is an interesting choice for a chime. Surely this ornate clock is only an omen of good things for our duo.

Pinky, you’re swooning again. And Brain…

Oh no.

Another clock! Who’d have thought Russian nobility loved clocks so much? This one has a more pleasant bell chime, though.

…Oh NO!

Well, looks like things are going to hell pretty quickly.

Goodbye, boys.

Goodbye, Czar Nicolas II! You might wanna look out for a man named Grigori Rasputin in the future, okay?

Nice hat, Brain.

“Whu--? The eclipse is over? Narf! What happened, Brain?”

BONK!

“Zort! I mean, Czar Brain.”

“We failed again, Pinky… But just wait until tomorrow night!”

“Why? What are we going to do tomorrow night, Brain?”

“What else, Pinky?: Try to take over the world!”

It was a nice try, boys, but honestly I don’t know how you were going to fit all those crown jewels into that tiny improvised vacuum bag, anyway.

One last cute little detail in this episode is our mousey duo jumping up with enthusiastic determination in front of the silhouette of the moon on the last note of the theme reprise. One day, you guys. One day…

Oh! And before I forget, have another short cameo from “Plane Pals”. It’s a tiny one.

Pinky and the Brain steal a sheep off of an airplane. For what purpose? Who knows? But that’s it. I’m kind of wondering if the writers wanted to make a running joke of them making cameos to steal random things for world conquering purposes and just sort of gave up.

Anyway, so ends our recap for this post. It sure was a long one, but what can I say? There were some very cute details that needed to be shared. Have we learned anything new this time? Well, I mean, besides historical trivia.

Brain thinks both he and Pinky are great actors, despite his own near inability to lie and keep up an innocent pretense. Oh, he can be sarcastic, sure, but he can’t seem to manage to stop himself from revealing that he’s out for world domination whenever he has an audience.

For the first time we see Brain’s annoyance and humiliation resulting from him being a lab mouse. Though it’s on the more subtle side at the moment, Brain seemed extra grumpy and violent during that last episode because of the conditioning he’s unwillingly gone through. I’m curious to see if there are any more examples of this before we reach an episode touching on his origin story. Or…one of his origin stories, at least. There’s around four of them last I checked and all but one of them can reasonably fit into the others.

Pinky is truly beginning to show how much he adores Brain, which is nice. Beforehand we knew he was down with his world domination plans for whatever reason and also that he thinks Brain’s plans are great and ingenious. Now, though, we’ve gotten to the point of him literally swooning at Brain and his plans. Something’s definitely brewing there.

Next time: We get some more substantial cameos, join our mouse duo on a Fort Knox heist, and meet a new character that is both pretty important to the “lore” of the show going forward…but also doesn’t appear in person after their introductory episode until the very end of the Animaniacs and Pinky and the Brain spin-off run.

See you then!

#Pinky and the Brain #PatB #Pavlov's Mice #Plane Pals

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auncyen · 3 years ago

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grabbed this from the meme I originally posted it in--this was the first attempt I made at the AU of Akiren being the last PT to join, and I still kind of like the start (more Akira's section than Ann's), even if some aspects were obviously changed for When the Cat Dragged in the Trickster. (For one thing, I grounded Kaneshiro's Palace in this first take, then decided to let it fly and cause the PT a huge headache again lol.)

All Akira knows is that one minute, he's following a cat that looks like Takamaki's cat--mostly black, white face, white paws, he'd think it was Takamaki's cat if the little guy wasn't always in her bag or Okumura's. It also looks overwhelmingly sad, which is why he started following it. He's not sure why; he doesn't have any food on hand to offer. Maybe it's just a pathetic case of like calling to like. Anyway, one minute he's following a cat that looks like Takamaki's cat through the busy crowd in Shibuya. The next minute it turns the corner into a quieter alley, and he turns as well, and the cat's gone. Well...there's still a cat? But this one looks so outlandish that Akira stops dead on the spot, staring. It's standing upright. And it has a huge bobble head. ...And a sword and slingshot. So it's more of a cartoon than a cat. He must be dreaming if cats are turning into cartoons. He doesn't remember going back to the attic after school yet, though; he was trying to kill time so Sakura wouldn't question him again on why he hasn't been keeping himself busy. (Because no one wants to spend time with a no-good delinquent, of course, but he won't give Sakura the satisfaction.) It's a little worrying to not be sure of where he fell asleep, and Akira lifts his hands to smack his face, slap himself awake if he has to. Slapping does nothing but leave him with stinging cheeks, though.

"Hey, inmate!" ...Oh, no. Now they're crossing over into his other dreams. Akira sighs and turns to see a familiar sight: two young twins with their blonde hair done up in different styles dressed in warden uniforms, both looking down on him. Caroline literally, as she sits on a blue prison door standing on its own--that's new--while Justine does it only figuratively, her attitude radiating imperiousness when she doesn't even deign to glance up at him. At least he's not behind bars this time. "You think you can start your rehabilitation now?" Caroline shouts at him. "What a joke!" "You have already neglected your role far too long," Justine says, examining her clipboard. "Our master told you he found a substitute to take your place." "I don't care about that game," Akira calls back. They know this. He's told them it over and over, every time he has the 'Velvet Room' dream, but his subconscious still updates him about the game for the impending ruin of humanity or whatever every so often. It's completely unnecessary. He knows humanity's awful. "Then why are you here?" "I'm following the cat." Akira points, but--oh. Cartoon cat's long gone. "...I was following the cat." "Seriously? That's what finally gets you off your lazy butt?" Caroline complains, but Justine seems thoughtful. "Strange. Such a small thing, and yet it finally piqued your interest. I found it a bit curious myself." She writes something on her clipboard. "Were you to pursue it, perhaps your rehabilitation could finally begin." "I said I don't care about that," Akira tells her, pointlessly. Like everyone else in his life, she and her sister just don't listen. "Do you not care at all?" Justine asks him, her yellow eyes flicking up to hold his gaze for what might be the first time, ever. She actually looks worried. About the cat? He doesn't quite understand what the danger is, but anything that makes her nervous seems like something he should worry about, too. Then he hears, distantly, a sound low and awful. Like a cat yowling in pain. His feet move on their own, past broken down ATMs (so many ATMs, and why do they have legs and shake? What kind of shit is his subconscious on?) toward the end of the alley and the bank looming large in the center of an eerily quiet Shibuya. It must be where the cat is: it's the only building that his eyes can actually focus on, while everything else seems masked with a greenish haze when he tries to look at it. Have you finally decided to act? a new voice asks. It growls deep and sounds like the twins gained a big brother to help them pester him and Akira is done with this, he has a cat to find. "Help me or shut up!" he hisses, glancing around. He's not sure where that voice came from, but when the laughter wells up and sends a twinge of pain through his head, he starts to suspect it's from himself. His dreams are getting way too weird. It doesn't matter. The cat. He has to find the cat. It's in pain. The question of why there are so many broken ATMs around is answered when he circles the perimeter of the bank at a distance only to stumble across a group of security guards, large and dark and terrifying, beating an ATM. They bash yen out of it like it's a pinata while the thing moans in a way that sounds disturbingly more human than machine. Every time coins or bills come out, they pause to scoop up the money while the ATM catches its...breath? just enough to start pleading for them to stop, please, it's sorry, sorry, sorry, please-- "Please! Someone, help!" Akira winces, gripping his head, and reminds himself it isn't alive or real. Money gathered, the brutal guards go back to beating the ATM. Eventually the pleading stops. The moaning stops. As the guards finally lose interest in the machine and walk away, even the breathing stops. ...So. He doesn't want to be caught by those things. He's just dreaming, but it's going to end up a nightmare if he gets caught. Akira puts even more distance between himself and the guards as he resumes his search of the perimeter. He hopes--he hopes the cat's not in

the bank building. Cats don't belong in banks to begin with. He's nearly circled around the entire building when he finds the cat. The good news is it's not in the building. The bad news is he finds it already beaten, getting tossed out by two guards. It lands heavily on the pavement and doesn't move. The guards stare down at it. One idly swings a baton. "...Wanna see how much we can get from it?" "You moron. Cats don't carry cash. It's not worth our time." The second guard pauses and snickers. "Guess it could make a good fortune cat." They both laugh at that, and the cat gets propped up to sit against the wall by the side entrance with one arm lodged behind its head so that it stays raised, if crookedly, a mocking greeting to anyone who might walk by. Akira watches with gritted teeth, trying to focus on the fact that at least a quiet whimpering lets him know the cat hasn't died from its injuries. He'll rescue it as soon as they stop laughing at their own cruelty and get back to their patrol. As soon as they turn their attention to something else, like-- Yen. They like money? He's got money. Not much, but some. He turns out his wallet to gather all the coins he has, wrapping them up in two small bills like a makeshift bag. Then he creeps closer using a car parked on the side of the street as cover. Watching the guards carefully, he tries to lob the money as far away from the cat's direction as possible. The bills quickly come apart and spill the coins in mid-air, but the throw propels the mass far enough that it works as a distraction: both guards perk up at the sound of metal coins hitting the street, a sound they must know well, and they go to check it out. Akira moves to the other end of the car and then darts out. One shot: he scoops the cat up the same way he would a tired toddler--it's about that size--cradling it against his body, and then creeps to sneak behind the car again-- "Hey, you!" Creeping over. Heart hammering, Akira breaks into a sprint. A small part of his brain frets that he's going to jostle the cat too much and hurt it; a bigger chunk of his brain shouts it down with the simple fact that if those two pairs of footsteps pounding after him catch up, they're both going to get worse than jostled. "Master...?" The cat's talking. The cat's talking, but that isn't so weird at this point, and it's the least of his concerns. "Where do I go?!" "Who...?" The cat shakes its head, huge blue eyes unfocused. "Back...where we came from...you followed me, right? That's...the entrance...ugh..." Those big eyes close as it winces in pain and moves to grip Akira more tightly. That makes Akira wince a bit himself--claws are digging in--but it also makes it possible for him to take one hand off the cat and fish his wallet out of his pocket. He yanks the remaining bills out, tossing them behind him to scatter in the air. "Just take it!" he shouts at the guards. "I don't have anything else!" It's the honest truth, but he keeps running, because those guards would surely break him open like they do the ATMs just to make certain. Luckily, their fondness for money seems to be pretty reliable. One of them laughs after him, tells him how "Lord Kaneshiro" would easily squash a punk like him, but they stop to gather up the bills. Akira stops for nothing, running and running through the blurry nightmare until he's back in front of the twins. Only then does he take a break, depositing the injured cat on the ground so his muscles can rest. "How do we get out?" he asks. He's not sure if he's asking the girls or the cat. The twins shrug unhelpfully. "Our master took back the app when you made it clear you weren't going to use it," Caroline says accusingly. "Maybe he'll let you have it again if you prove yourself, but you'll need to do more than this. You've kept us waiting way too long!" ...Yeah, he must have been asking the cat. Akira leans over it and shakes its shoulder lightly, ignoring Caroline's affronted scoff. "Hey," he says. "Hey, we're here. How do we get out?" Blue eyes drowsily slide open. "Just...pick me

back up and walk out the alley, back the way you came," the cat says slowly. "I'll take care of the rest. Hey, frizzy-hair...thanks..." It trails off, obviously in pain, and Akira decides not to press for more detail. This is a dream, so if the cat says it'll work, it'll work. He picks it up, announces, "I'm walking out" for the cat's benefit, and does exactly that. Shibuya returns to normal: loud, bustling, and sunlit, even if it seems to be evening. The bank is gone. Good riddance. And Akira's still holding a cat, just now it seems to be a regular one. ...It really does look like Takamaki's cat. It's hurt. He should get it to a vet, but he hardly has the money to afford one-- "Hey," he whispers to the cat. He ducks back into the alley, watching carefully to make sure its appearance stays the same. He needs some privacy if he's going to make himself look crazy. "You do belong to Takamaki, right? Or are you Okumura's?" He's seen both girls carrying it so often, he's honestly not sure. Is it normal for girls to share pets between friends? "I don't have any money for a vet, but if you know how I could get in touch with either one of them--" The cat makes a low sound of distress. "I'm no one's, and I don't need a vet because I'm not a cat," it tells him, despite all evidence being to the contrary. Well, most evidence. It is talking, in a rather young but boyish voice. Which...either means Akira's still dreaming, or that what just happened wasn't a dream at all. "Just...take me somewhere quiet. I can rest there..." "Shouldn't I tell them about you?" Akira doesn't see any open injuries, but he saw the rough treatment it got. Even if it doesn't like the vet, he'd rather play it safe. "...Lady Ann probably wouldn't care," the cat murmurs, its blue eyes nearly closed and dark. ...Well, the vet seems to be out, then. Akira doesn't have money, and he's a little leery of going to Takamaki or Okumura when the cat seems so reluctant. Would they believe him about how the cat got hurt? They might suspect him of hurting it, given some of the rumors at school, and Akira's throat closes up just thinking about that. No. He doesn't need a repeat of that night. "Alright, then. You can rest up at Leblanc. You remember it, right? You and Takamaki's band of thieves kept hanging out there in the summer." "Yeah, of course I re--" The cat's ears swivel forward. "Wait, what did you just say?" Ah. Whoops. "You and Takamaki kept hanging out there," Akira says. "...And she and her friends are the Phantom Thieves." When the cat opens its eyes to give him a bleary stare, he shrugs. "Leblanc is so empty, I think they forgot it still has employees a few times." It helped that he'd deliberately made himself scarce to encourage them to think they were alone. Niijima had been stalking him at one point--a bit of eavesdropping seemed harmless in comparison. "Unbelievable," the cat mutters. "But, you didn't tell anyone about u--them?" Akira doesn't miss the correction. "Are you one, too?" The cat shakes its head slightly. "Not anymore." ...Oh. So Takamaki wouldn't care because they had some kind of falling out. That's a story Akira knows all too well. "Hold on a sec, I'm going to carry you in my bag," Akira tells it, scooping it carefully inside. This way he's easier to carry, and hopefully people won't question Akira on toting an injured animal around. "I didn't see a point in telling anyone. You've been trying to help people, right kitty?" Even if it seemed likely that the whole thing would crash and burn--that clash with Medjed looked like it had been a brush with disaster, and now they're apparently breaking up--they've been trying to do good. He didn't want to be the one to ruin someone else's life for that. There's an annoyed sound from inside the bag. "Not kitty, I'm Morgana," the cat protests. Right, that's what Takamaki calls it. The vehemence is there and gone in a flash, as the next moment it muses: "you know...you might not make a bad thief yourself..." Its weak voice trails off; when Akira looks in the bag to check on it, Morgana

is fast asleep from exhaustion. Just as well. Become a Phantom Thief? That doesn't seem like it'd work out with his probation very well. ...At least he finally understands how Sakamoto could argue so vehemently with a cat. - Day three of no Morgana is miserable. Futaba's withdrawn in her texts throughout the morning, and Ann's afraid that the poor girl is blaming herself for the situation even though it's really not her fault. Haru explicitly blames herself for the situation, saying she had noticed Morgana seemed more withdrawn and that she should have done more to help him open up, only to apologize for making Ann comfort her when she tries to assure the older classmate that they'll work things out with him when he comes back. Ryuji's still too annoyed about the argument to consider that maybe repeatedly taunting Morgana about being upstaged by Futaba was kind of a jerk move (and Ann does get why he's annoyed, because Morgana can be a little jerk sometimes himself and was definitely being one that day, but still, it's just...ugh). Yusuke is still stuck on the argument they were having about their popularity as the Phantom Thieves before Morgana threw a hissy fit. Being the leader's hard, sometimes. Makoto's calm when she meets up with her for lunch, at least. Makoto, like Ann, believes Morgana will come back. "Of course he will," Makoto says. "Where else would he go? We're the only people he can even talk to." Ann takes a deep breath and a big bite of her cookie. So much for Makoto being her rock. "That actually makes me feel worse about this." Like, if he does come back, would it just be Stockholm's syndrome? Wait, no, that's for kidnapping. Morgana came with her and Ryuji of his own free will in Kamoshida's Palace; he was the one who followed them and pushed the whole plan to steal Kamoshida's heart, not that Ann had needed much persuasion at the time. So it's not Stockholm's, but the idea that Morgana would come back to them only because he can't turn to anyone else is...not great. The student council president makes a pained expression. "It's just---Haru and Futaba seem to think he's left forever, and I'm certain that's not the case for that reason alone. We'll make sure it's not his only reason to stay." She pauses. "Actually, Haru wants to make lost-and-found posters for him. He can find his way through the city, so it's not really necessary, but if it helps him see that we do want him back... I was thinking of asking Futaba to make one up before school ends, and once classes are done I could make copies for us to post today." That actually sounds like a really good idea, and Ann perks up a little. Makoto gets really into logic and planning, but that's just the way she cares. "Yeah, that shouldn't be too much trouble for Futaba. I'm guessing we'll post them around Shibuya?" Makoto nods. "Morgana's most likely to see them there. Assuming he meant what he said when he walked out. The distortion must be somewhere in that area, considering...all the other activity..." Yeah, the gang activity. The criminal activity that had left them a little torn on if it was really wise to go after bigger and bigger targets that would just spur the public fad they'd become into something that already seemed a little out-of-control. 'The mafia targeting students' was definitely deserving of punishment, it just...seemed kind of too big for them. Where were the police in this? But that made Ann even more worried about Morgana trying to tackle a Palace like that on his own. They need to talk him out of being reckless--yeah, it must be hard missing his memories, but still-- Her phone vibrating distracts her from those thoughts, and she picks it up. Her forehead creases at the message. "Something wrong?" Makoto asks. "...Uh, Mishima just messaged me to say thanks," Ann says, turning the phone to Makoto so she wouldn't have to say out loud what the thanks was for: the Phantom Thieves taking down another two requests from the Phansite. "The funny thing is, I don't remember doing this. Do you?" Makoto stares at the message with

a growing frown. "Very funny. I don't remember it either." "Guess we at least know Morgana has been in Shibuya recently," Ann says, turning the phone back around to tap out a quick response to Mishima and then jumping into the Phantom Thief group chat. Ann: Someone besides us has been doing Phansite requests. Three guesses who. Ryuji: That little liar! He talks all big about taking down a crime boss, then goes after small fry?! Haru: This might be good, though! We don't yet have enough information for the Palace, but if Mona-chan has been going to Mementos instead, we can just wait for him at the entrance. Yusuke: Yes, we have a clear opportunity to catch up with our wayward companion. Yusuke: Ah. "Cat-ch up"... Ann: Yusuke, don't you dare make that pun to Morgana when we find him. Haru: Kindly refrain from any cat-related humor. Makoto: Please don't aggravate the situation. Futaba: I'll kick you, Inari. Ryuji: Huh. It's not me this time. Yusuke: ...I found it amusing, but very well. I understand. Makoto sighs as the bell rang to signal the end of the lunch period. "I suppose the posters aren't necessary, then..." "No, go ahead and talk to Futaba about them," Ann tells her, jumping up from her seat. "As long as she's fine with it--there's always a chance he won't come today, after all." Makoto nods her understanding. Both girls gather their things from the table (in Makoto's case, two books, while Ann grabs her purse) and walk out of the cafeteria together, though they soon have to split as Ann goes up to the second-years' floor. The blonde feels lighter now, if a little annoyed with Morgana. They have two different ways to get his attention now, so they'll definitely get him back soon. She frowns, though, when she get back into the classroom. Akira Kurusu, the student transferred to Shujin after assaulting someone in his hometown, sleeps at his desk. He usually stays at his desk during lunch and ate by himself, so that isn't surprising, but his face resting on his arms showcases how his upturned cheek has one shiner of a bruise that she missed in the morning. ...It's probably not from a fight, even if it definitely looks like there was a wallop packed behind it. Kurusu's been requested on the Phansite multiple times; Mishima used to forward each request to the Phantom Thieves, stressing that people were worried about Kurusu, why weren't they doing something about him, until the last time Ann finally broke down enough to ask Mishima what made him so sure Kurusu hadn't already had a change of heart. Kurusu hasn't had a change of heart, is the thing. Well, not the Phantom Thief brand of heart-changing, anyway. He doesn't show up in the Nav at all. He isn't doing anything wrong, as far as they can tell, despite all the rumors swirling around him: he works part-time at Leblanc, works part-time at 777, and works part-time at a beef bowl shop. Basically, all they could find Kurusu doing when they investigated him as a target was working or staying at Leblanc, and Futaba confirmed after joining that he's been living there. Though apparently Boss hasn't actually told her he's living there, just that he's a part-timer, and she's finding it hard to casually ask either of them about that arrangement without revealing that she's had Leblanc's ground floor bugged for about a year. Whoops. But the bottom line is, Kurusu hasn't done anything since coming to Shujin as far as they can tell, and the Nav can't find him as a target, so he's probably not getting into fights. Getting arrested for assault and punished was probably enough to change his heart. Probably. Ann still finds herself surreptitiously opening the Metanav on her phone as she sits at her own desk. "Akira Kurusu," she whispers. "Candidate not found." He stirs lightly behind her, and Ann quickly shoves her phone into her desk and picks up a textbook, trying to look like the most studious student to ever study. Makoto. She's trying to look like Makoto. If Kurusu heard her say his name, he gives no sign of it, and she relaxes as the lesson starts. They have a way

to find Morgana, and Akira Kurusu is still staying out of trouble. So, all's well...?

#cat and trickster #lmfao I have way too many scraps all over

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mackeydoodledoo · 4 years ago

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The Female Pro-Box Fighter who is also a Ranger

Pairing: Izzy Garcia x (FemKnight!)Reader

Summary: It follows a girl: Y/N Y/L/N, who currently owns the "Pteradon Champion Zord", along with its DinoSoul Key, who is currently a Professional Box Fighter. The youngest ever to be a pro. What she doesn't know is that she is a direct descendant of the supposed Mythical "DinoSoul" Tribe. [Equivalent to the Ryusoul Tribe]. Her partner, she calls him, "buddy" as she doesn't have a proper name for him. The two of them embark on a journey to figure out who she is, finding an old flame and developing a new crush in the process.

Warnings: None(?) I hope none

A/n: So I just started watching Power Rangers Dino Fury and I'M IN LOVE WITH IZZY GARCIA!! Originally this story’s main character is my MC for Dino Fury, I think ya’ll should have the benefit to have your own character name in this story. However, the touch of MC being a “Ryusoul Tribe” Descendant/Is Ryusoul Cyan/Arctic Knight Ranger is definitely staying in there! Have fun on my first Power Rangers Imagine Series!

--------------------------------------------

As you watch from afar, another battle with a sporix beast, you wince at your arm in pain from your weekly practice-boxing session.

"Don't you think you're over doing your job?" A voice asks you

You turn to a Cyan colored egg, "It's a consequence I'm willing to pay."

Later, you were at the recreation center to get your workout in for the day. Nothing too rigorous. As you were heading off to the treadmills you didn't realize you bumped your shoulder into someone, nearly knocking them over. Your instincts immediately kicked in and caught whoever was falling.

"You okay?" You ask the girl wearing green

"Yeah," she sighs as you let her back onto her feet, "You're-you're Y/N Y/L/N! The Best Female Pro-Boxing Fighter!"

"That's me," you smiled but let out a sigh

"I watch your matches every Friday," The girl smiles, "I'm Izzy."

"Do you now?" You ask, "I'm glad you do though. Hey, I'm just about to head over to the treadmills. You possibly want to join me Izzy?"

Before she could answer, she notices her watch going off.

"Another time?" She asks, sighing in disappointment

You could easily see the disappointment in her eyes. You felt for her. You actually looked up to the Power Rangers. The Green Ranger specifically.

"Here's my card," you smile, handing it to her

She mouths 'thanks' before heading off. You go to the treadmills to finish out your workout.

When you walk your way back to your apartment, music blaring into your ears as you don't even realize the people running past you before you see their shadows and with that, you finally look up. Although you weren't as terrified as the other civilians, you were scared. However, before you could even engage battle, the five rangers jump in front of you; the Green Ranger helping you up.

"Get somewhere safe," the green Ranger says

The green ranger sounded familiar.... Was she-? No, not possible. You don't linger on to think about it and run away.

"I thought you weren't afraid anymore!" The small voice says to you

You pull your backpack to face you and you open the zipper; the same Cyan-colored egg.

"I don't need them to know," You whisper, "Not now at least, next time for sure."

The next day, you're at the gym, practicing your punches for an upcoming match.

"Y/N Y/L/N?" A familiar voice calls

You happily stop your workout and turn to Izzy.

"Hey!" You said, "Izzy right?"

She happily nods, "Would you possibly give me some pointers on workouts? And maybe your boxing style?"

"Sure Izzy," you smile, beginning to unwrap your hands

"Green wraps?" Izzy asks, pointing to your bruised hands

"Green's my favorite color," you smile

You could see the pink flush in Izzy's cheeks as she looks at you.

"You want to get started Izz?" You ask, fanning out your hands from their sweat

She shakes herself out of her daze and walks over to you.

After the day, you two walk out of the rec center, you hear her watch beep again.

"Gotta run," Izzy sighs, "But I had fun today!! See you Friday?"

"See you Friday Izzy," you smile

You watch her run off. As soon as she rounds the corner, you look into your backpack.

"It's time buddy," you whisper, beginning to trace Izzy's footsteps

"Finally!" He says

As you round the corner to the downtown courtyard, you watch closely as the Rangers fight a sporix beast; waiting for the right opportunity to make your debut.

"What are you waiting for???" He asks

"The right opportunity to morph bud," you say, taking out a Cyan-colored key and a caliber, similar to the rangers' sabers.

As you continue watching the rangers fight, you notice how they're getting knocked back over and over.

"HieHie soul," you say, opening your caliber's 'mouth'

"HieHie Soul!" It announces as you insert it

You close the mouth of the hilt and open and close it rapidly twice. Your sword begins emitting a triumphant tune as you open and close the hilt

"Kyo!", "Ryu, Sou, Sou!!", "Kono Kanjiii!", "HieHie."

A cold steam emits from your area and is easily noticed by both the rangers and the Sporix beast. You launch yourself off the ground and fly towards the beast, slashing it twice. You land between the rangers and the sporix beast.

"You know, I've been told once," you start, "The more you bully people the harder it is to make friends."

"I'm not here to make friends I'm here to get more Dino keys for Void Knight," The sporix beast explains

"Ooooh," you sigh in disappointment, "You see, that's where We come in; The Power Rangers. This is where we stop fools like you!"

You break into a run and slash the sporix beast, however, he deflects your slash and slashes you. You almost fall back, not until the Green Ranger catches you.

"Hey, Thanks," you sigh, opening and closing your hilt rapidly once more, "Combine our final smashes?"

"You know it," the green Ranger agrees, following your movements

"Ptera-Tiger Slash!" The both of you say in unison, making an 'X' slash toward the sporix beast, defeating it

As soon as it turns into a sporix ball, you immediately catch it just as Void Knight appears. Using your 'cape' you immediately fly backwards, still holding onto the sporix.

"You-Gaisoulg!" You say, recognizing the armor

"I don't know what you're talking about kid but I'm not that person anymore!" He says, "You may have won this round but I will get you next time, Arctic Knight."

He teleports away. You hand the sporix to the red Ranger as they de-morph.

"Who are you?" Amelia asks

"Why don't we save introductions another time yeah?" You suggest, flying away

"Wait!" Izzy calls out to you, but you were long gone

Once you reached your apartment, you de-morph.

"Why didn't you tell them who you are?" He asks

"I know the green ranger and the pink ranger..." you say, "The pink ranger is my ex and the green Ranger is my trainee."

"Oh... Oh that's bad." He says

"Yeah..." you sigh, "Hey I'm going to make food what do you want to watch while you're waiting for me?"

"Cartoons!!" He screams happily

You sigh but oblige to his request and put on the first cartoon channel that was there and leave him to watch his cartoons as you begin making food for yourself; enough to last you the next couple of days.

Throwing whatever food you made into the oven, you clean your hands but hear a vibration coming off the island counter. You turn around and notice your screen lit up. You walk over to it and open your phone back up.

"Oh, it's Izzy," you say to yourself, opening the text

Hey, it's me. So my trainer is helping Mona, who has a broken leg. She told me she wouldn't be able to train me until 2pm, you wouldn't mind helping me out until she's able to come? I have a competition next week and I don't want to train by myself.

Hey, I can definitely help you! What time do you need me to be there? And is the rec center a good place to train at?

5 am, sharp. And yeah! So I'll meet you there! I owe you one Y/N!

No worries!

The following morning you wait outside of the rec center, waiting for Izzy to show. You wanted to be there early, wanting to show her that you'd be a great trainer by showing up early.

"Morning coach," Izzy calls out to you, smiling

"You ready kid?" You ask

"Listen here Coach, you have to be no older than 23," Izzy jokes

"I'm 18," you smile, "And yes, I got recruited at 16. Thus, I'm the youngest pro box-fighter. Ever."

"And I thought you were about 16-17," Izzy teases, "But that's a good thing right?"

"Oh yeah," you say, "It's fun when you give servers your ID to check if you're old enough to buy alcohol and they need to do a double-take to make sure its actually you."

You and Izzy break out into a laugh as you follow her into the rec center to train her.

"Now, what you want to do is make a 'thumbs up'," You explain, "You'd want the trajectory to line up with the tip of your thumb as it begins to land. That way, you can get a greater distance."

You watch her line up her javelin with her thumb and get a running start; throwing it when she had enough momentum to throw it.

"Wow you were right Y/N!" Izzy says

"Why don't we call it day?" You suggest, "We've been at this for hours. It'd be nice if we got a break. Unless you still want to keep going?"

"I was actually hoping you could get me started on your boxing style?" Izzy asks, nervously

"Okay," You break into a smile, "But, it's not an easy style to work with. So I'm only starting you with basics today."

Izzy nods, "Okay."

The both of you pack your stuff and move over to the where the punching bags were and you take a moment to rewrap your wrists.

"Here put these on," You say, gently tossing Izzy a new pair of wrist wraps and padding, "You're gonna get bruises and almost break your skin open and we don't need that. Well, if you overdo it then it will."

As you finish wrapping your own wrists and hands, you look over and notice Izzy having trouble wrapping hers.

"Here, let me show you," You say, kneeling in front of her, gently taking her hands into yours as you thoroughly wrap her hands, “No worries, I’ve had this happen to me too when I began Professional Boxing.”

You didn't realize it as you were so focused on Izzy's wrists/hands, you didn't know she wasn't paying attention to your wrapping skills, but how you looked. You were close to her face, pretty much kissing distance, she fought the urge to pull your face to hers but she managed to win that battle.

"There," You finish, looking up at Izzy, who was just dazed looking at you, "Izzy? Were you even paying attention?"

You got no response other than the 'dazed' look on Izzy's face. You smiled, you thought she looked cute.

"Come on," You say one more time, wrapping your hand around Izzy's and dragging her up off the bench to get her started on your boxing basics.

Part 2

#izzy garcia #power rangers #power rangers dino fury #amelia jones #izzy garcia x reader #female reader #power rangers imagine #ollie akana #zayto #javi garcia

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clearsky · 4 years ago

Text

My Top Comfort Characters/Kins and My Main HCs For Them

(Note, not all my kins/comfort characters are on here, just the ones I have more than 5 hcs for)

CW: Korekiyo Shinguji (DRV3), Himiko Yumeno (DRV3), Shinsou Hitoshi (BNHA), Kyoko Kirigiri (THH), Tsuyu Asui (BNHA), Entrapta (Spop), Ibuki Mioda (SDR2), Celestia Ludenberg (THH), Funtime Foxy (FNAF), Peril (WOF)

Korekiyo Shinguji (DRV3)

Nonbinary

He/They pronouns

Autistic

Chains and loose accessories are for stimming

Likes the feeling of silk and cotton

Can't stand the feeling of anything rough or bumpy

He likes collecting small trinkets and the bones of small mammals

Can't stand anything salty. He'll eat it but he certainly won't enjoy it

Dating Rantaro

Can flirt, but only if he doesn't try

Petnames are a hell yea

Gets sunburnt really easily

Group dates with Celesnaegiri and Ikuzono

Can't cook for s h i t

Had a scene kid phase in middle school

Went to the same middle school as Celeste and Maki

Knew them when Celeste went through her "I'm not like other girls" phase and Maki was a Band Kid™

Himiko Yumeno (DRV3)

Female

She/Her pronouns

Lesbian

Can force herself to fall asleep within seconds regardless of where she is

100% forces herself to fall asleep when she doesn't wanna listen/talk to someone

Himiko/Angie/Tenko relationship. I'm calling them the Traffic Light Trio

She likes taking naps in the forest

She prefers enclosed/tight spaces more than open ones

Has several hundred stress balls and squishies laying around

She overheats easy

Shinsou Hitoshi (BNHA)

Questioning his gender, but goes by any pronouns

Knows he's Asexual, at least

Has no clue what his romantic orientation is though

The kind of person to carry treats in his pocket just in case he runs into a cat

Will stop to pet literally every cat he comes across

Great at reading people

Doesn't talk unless it's 100% needed

Hangs with Tokoyami, Jirou, and Denki most often

Aizawa has 100% unofficially adopted him

Fosters kittens

Not a big fan of physical touch

He is 100% in the bakusquad. Anyone who says he's in the Dekusquad is a c o w a r d

He and Tsuyu vibe

Knows a bunch of random facts

Dark humour? Dark humour

*skates backwards into his therapist's room slowly sipping from an absurdly huge cup of coffee* Candice you're not gonna BELIEVE the shit I just went through

In case I forgot to mention it, he skates

Kyoko Kirigiri (THH)

Mtf

She/Her

Bi with female preference

Burns go up to her shoulders/collarbone/chest

Prefers to just listen as opposed to saying anything

Knows a ton of random trivia about everyone else in her class

She keeps a notebook she fills with all the trivia

Doesn't celebrate her birthday. She just doesn't see the point of it

Doesn't hate sugar/sweets, but if given the choice she would choose literally everything else

Cuts her own hair

A cat person

Permanent dark circles

T-Tall 😳

Like,,, 6'1 at LEAST

Only person taller than her is Yasuhiro (6'3)

Canon no longer exist

Ahahaha healthy life habits? What are those?

Can't handle horror games

She's the kind of person you'd go to if you needed to rant but didn't want any advice

Polyamourous yo

Celeste/Kyoko/Makoto

She's a dom yall are just scared to admit it

Tsuyu Asui (BNHA)

They go by They/Them

Lesbian

They and Ochaco are dating

They like to hang with Shinsou

Which mainly just means the two sitting in one of their dorms in near total silence doing whatever

Can speak English and French as well as Japanese

Learned English from cartoons

Picked up French bc they thought it'd be fun

Prefers to stay neutral in the whole Bakusquad / Dekusquad thing

They're invited to all outings/events by/for both squads

They like puns

They're a dumbass but willingly, and for fun

Like "someone says they like dark humour and they'll turn off the lights before telling a joke" kind dumbass for fun

Great at poker

Likes Disney Movies

Very touchy once you get close enough

Not in a sexual way, just likes physical contact

Especially fond of piggyback rides and cuddles

Extreme fear of needles

Entrapta (She-Ra)

She/Her or It/Its

Doesn't bother trying to figure out whether she's cis, trans, nonbinary, or what

Was AMAB though

Short as fuck (4'7)

Strong as fuck though

Cuddle game strong

Physical touch is a fuck yes

Cuddles

Piggyback rides

Hugs

Anything where she's touching someone is wonderful in her book

As long as she's the one that initiates it

Anyone else touching her without her permission makes her freak

Prefers being high up

Makes it harder for anyone to sneak up on her

An ace at video games

When it comes to sexuality she just says she's Questioning

Ibuki Mioda (SDR2)

Any pronouns + Pup/Pupself + It/Its

No idea what their gender is otherwise

Biromantic Asexual

Just likes sexual jokes

Gets distracted easily

Has severe hearing problems

She's plays her instruments as loud as possible, with the amp right next to her, without ANY ear protection

It's caused some damage

She talks so loud bc she has no idea how loud is considered acceptable

Wears hearings aids most of the time

Several piercings and tattoos

Likes hearing things jingle

She has a bracelet with a few bells hanging from it

She'll shake it whenever she's bored

LOVES hair accessories

Ribbons are a particular favourite

Occasionally she'll hang little charms from her hair "horns"

The kind of person who never takes any pills/medicine bc she keeps forgetting she has to

Frequently uses emojis

Skates everywhere but she isn't very good at it

She keeps crashing into everything

Has broken every bone in her body at least 3 times

Most of which was bc she keeps trying to kick in doors and skating down the stairs

Celestia Ludenberg (THH)

Nonbinary

Any pronouns, mainly goes by She/They

Bi, 70:30

Collects mini hand sanitizers and can tabs

Has single handedly gotten Mario Kart, Mario Party, Monopoly, Uno, and Clue banned a grand total of 17 times (and counting)

The kind of person to purposefully target someone regardless of what game was being played

Favourite victim is Byakuya (bc he gets so upset about it and she finds that hilarious)

Mains Waluigi

Celeste/Kyoko/Makoto

Has several banned Twitter accounts bc whenever she's bored she'll start discourse on purpose

Hangs with Korekiyo, Ibuki, Byakuya, Yasuhiro, and Leon most often

It's a weird friend group but everyone's sorta gotten used to it

She and Byakuya gamble together occasionally

She tries to avoid it bc he'll willingly blow his entire fortune in an attempt to beat her

Autustic

Can't stand the feeling of water

Mainly bc she can't swim for shit

Horror movies? Hates them

Gets flustered super easily

Taka is her twin brother

Kotoko, Kokichi, and Gundham are their half siblings (Same father)

Peko and Toko are their cousins

She sucks ass at go fish

Fuck canon she's 4'11 now

C h u b b y

Freckles

Once she gets comfortable enough with herself she dyes her hair in the peekaboo style

Either black and red or black and blonde

Haven't decided yet

I'll be doing Celesnaegiri hcs as a seperate post but I just feel it's important for you to know that she expresses her affection verbally and is a very touchy person

Went to middle school with Maki and Korekiyo

Has horrible eyesight

She wears contacts most of the time but she always puts off buying more

After the 5th or so time she ended up blindly stumbling around a week after her contacts ran out Kyoko convinced her to buy glasses as well

Religious accessories yo

Like chokers and dangly earrings with crosses and pentagrams and shit

Likes wearing wacky earrings

Can run and do all sorts of tricks in heels

She and Mukuro are exes yo

Keeps her hair short so it's easier to manage

Hair never gets longer than her shoulders if she can help it

She seems like the kind of person who'd keep her bangs grown past her eyes regardless of how frustrating or inconvenient it is

She's a sub yall just don't wanna admit it

Funtime Foxy (FNAF)

I'm going on the record to say this

Funtime Foxy is genderfluid and that is that

Goes by Funtime

Any pronouns, They/Them most commonly

Plays music (keyboard and guitar mainly)

They and Funtime Freddy (Freds) mainly play with the kids

Freds mainly tells stories with Bonbon while Funtime more so plays one-on-one

Has nicknames for everyone

Circus Baby - Ringleader

Ballora - Bells

Funtime Freddy - Partner

Bon Bon - Bun

Peril (WOF)

I like both Nonbinary She/They Peril and Mtf She/Her Peril

They're both such good concepts

She's a lesbian, Harold

She only had a crush on Clay bc he was pretty much everything she was supposed to like in a guy

Gimme a moment while I force all my mental disorders onto this poor child

Autistic, Anxiety (Social anxiety, mainly, but she has most types), Adhd, PTSD

I'd like to reiterate yet again that She's a lesbian

Sunny and Glory were her gay awakening

Peril in Book 1: Damn, Sunny and Glory sure are pretty. Anyone would be lucky to date them. Clay would probably go for them over me. He would be stupid if he didn't. I myself would willingly date them over someone like me. They're just so pretty :(

Peril waking up in a cold sweat in the middle of arc 2: WAIT-

Rarepair alert but Peril/Sora

Peril meeting Sora: "Hmmm She's attractive. I would love to date her. Too bad I'm straight and in love with her brother lmao :P"

Peril, a mere month later, waiting for Ruby to leave Jade Mountain, pacing in her cave, running face first into a wall: WAIT-

I remember reading this one amazing story where Sora taught Peril to read/write and Peril found out she set off the bomb and comforted her/convinced her her run so that's canon now

Btw if anyone can remember what that story was called/what platform it was on and could tell me I'd appreciate it very much

I'd even be willing to draw a character of your's or make you an icon or something

I usually don't accept requests bc I get burnt out easy but this is a special case

She runs into Sora again sometime between the beginning of TOP and the end

I like to imagine she just goes wandering around

Anyway she confesses like a mere few minutes after running into her again bc Peril is just subtle like that

The actual confession takes 15 minutes and the entire time Sora is just sitting here like "👁👄👁 sure"

Bam Peril/Sora

Peril plans to keep it a secret for a little while longer but she spends 3 seconds around Clay and pretty much blurts it out

Clay, who wasn't even aware that Peril was a lesbian, is just "👁👄👁"

I wanna say Clay doesn't know what a lesbian is but in my canon Sunny is a lesbian so Starflight has already told him

Anyway he's super supportive

From that point Peril is sorta open about her sexuality?

Like, she gives Clay permission to tell the rest of the D.O.D bc she isn't about to risk being in front of them when they hear the news

(When Sunny starts actively seeking her out as a hang out buddy and Tsunami, Glory, and Starflight appear to tolerate her presence just a bit more afterwards she pretends she isn't confused by the change)

She's pink, white, and blue bc I said so

If you look at a certain angle in the right lighting her eyes, mouth, fire, and under her scales all look purple

But her fire is normally white and blue bc I said so

Also she pale as fuck bc in my canon their fire just sorta burns their colour away

You know how you leave something outside for too long and it gets sunbleached? Where it gets all washed out?

Like that but more extreme

By the age of 10-12 firescale dragons are just white with pale eyes

That's right not even the eyes are safe

Ram horns :P

I'm also fond of Peril/Sunny

Or maybe Peril/Sora/Sunny

But Peril/Sora is the main thing

On the topic of that bringing in my hc that if one sib in a sib group is fire resistant all of them are

She,,, She can change her scale colour

But only slightly and only if her emotions are strong enough

Bc I don't give a fuck about Darkstalker's scroll we were robbed of hybrid Peril

Unfortunately all of Peril's emotions are strong

Rainwing ruff along her head and neck

It's like a hood

It's mainly smoothed to her sides but when she's startled it flares out

RAINWING PUPILS

Y'all will know what those look like as soon as I get off my ass :P

She,,, She can mimic bird cries

Hates the summer

She has more than enough body heat already and the outside is just hot enough to add on and make her feel sick

She can somewhat control her heat but most of the time it's based on her emotions

It can go from standing-in-the-middle-of-a-burning-building-cant-see-your-nose-smoke-is-so-thick heat (Strong emotion) to Hey-thats-a-nice-cozy-campfire heat (Calm/"weak" emotion/Sleeping)

I'm just gonna make a different post with all my Peril hcs cuz there isnt enough room for all of them here

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casmybelovedass · 4 years ago

Text

The Destiel Folder: Season 7

[Season 4; Season 5; Season 6]

This season is mostly Dean being a depressed bi who can't cope with his crush's death.

This is, in my opinion, the season where Dean actually starts realizing he might for real think of Cas as something more.

Episode 1:

Cas is basically gone, both Bobby and Sam (almost) are ready to compel to whatever he says, but Dean still tries to get him to come back. "You can turn this around. Please!" (3:13) Denial

Dean has no idea how to deal with God!Castiel, but desperate to find him, and getting emotional "I don't even know what book to hit for this." "Then figure it out!" (5:47) Anger

As we have said many times already, angels don't have a sex, Castiel is not a man, and as he states, he is "utterly indifferent to sexual orientation" (8:03), and so is Chuck, God himself, who has admitted having had both girlfriends and boyfriends.

Dean turns off the news the moment he hears a woman describe Cas as "young and sexy", while doing that jaw clentch thing of his (10:14) ... huh... [and this doesn't really matter, but after this we immediately see Dean in a purple flannel. PURPLE! Go Bi!Dean]

"He's not a guy, he's a God [...] Cas is never coming back. He's lied to us, he's used us, he's cracked your gourd like it was nothing. No more talk. We've spent enough on him." (11:09) Dean trying to jump to the 5th stage of grief. Yeah, no baby that's not how it works

Dean tries so hard to convince himself that Cas's gone so he can kill him, but can't really. "Just kill him now!" and struggles hard to hold Castiel's glare. And as soon as Death offers a second option to killing him, Dean takes it. Bargening

"Dean, look, I know you think Cas is gone." "That's because he is." (31:22) Again with trying to jump to acceptance. Not doing great, Dean. In fact, "Yeah, you know how I'm gonna deal? I'm gonna stuff my pie hole, I'm gonna drink, and I'm gonna watch some asian cartoon porn. And act like the world's about to explode, because it is." (32:17) There it is. Depression.

[Remember this: Dean has no shame in watching porn in front of his brother. Wait a few seasons and see]

Just moments earlier, Dean was all "That's not Cas, Cas is dead" and shit, and now he goes "What? You need something else?" worried-husband-mode the moment Cas asks for help (34:50). Also#MARRIED (35:16)

Bobby: "Where's Sam? It's go time." Dean: *looks back at Cas worried* (37:12)

MUST HELP HUSBAND (38:06) look at Dean's eyes!!! They're like 'It's okay, it's okay. You've got this.' "I'm sorry, Dean." Cas chose these words to be his last, thinking he was going to die. LOOK AT DEAN (38:21) ICWAW this would MEAN SOMETHING ELSE

"CAS! [...] Is he breathing? ... Maybe angels don't need to breathe." says the one who was going around saying Cas was gone for good. "He's gone, Dean." "... damn it... *tears up* Cas, you child... Why didn't you listen to me." #MARRIED (39:15) Then he goes "CAS?!" as soon as he starts breathing again. ICWAW, we would SCREAM "LOVE" in this scene

"Imma find some way to redeem myself to you *looks at Dean straight in the eyes*" "*looks at Cas up and down*... Alright, well, one thing at the time, come on. Let's get you out of here." "I mean it, Dean." *eye love-making* "... Okay." (40:30) ICWAW, oooohhh, the meanings this scene would have...

Dean's face when the Leviathans tell him Cas is dead. Again. (41:18)

Episode 2:

Dean looking at the Leviathans occupying Cas' body. The HATE (1:44)

"... okay... so he's gone. *shakes while tearing up* [...] Dumb son of a bitch..." (5:14) Here we go again... I'm fine, shut up

Dean picks up, washes, folds and keeps Cas' coat (5:23) SWEET

"You just lost one of the best friends you've ever had." this hurts me. "... I'm fine, really." (12:11)

"You asked me how I was doing? Well, not good." (38:54)

Episode 5:

Dean progressively drinks more as his nightmares get worse and he misses Cas more and more. 3 times we see him drink, only in the first 12 minutes.

Sam can tell Dean feels like shit, and bet one of those reasons is Cas "Like it or not, the stuff you don't talk about, it doesn't just go away. It builds up." (39:33) Yeah, and not only problems or grief... even love

Episode 7:

Not a destiel moment, but Dean totally got hit on by the waiter. LOL (7:30)

And again. What is it with men in this town and Dean. "We're looking for a necklace." "Romantic. *looks at Dean*" (12:17). Is it an energy reading thing or something? Can they feel the bi energy?

"The Campbell brothers. [...] They weren't actually brothers. That was a cover for their, uhm... alternative life style." (22:40) Huh... I guess calling your lover "brother" runs in the family

"Ever since Cas... I'm having a hard time trusting anybody." (40:44) ouch

Episode 9:

Dean is drunk/high on Leviathan juice, and the first thing he thinks and blabbers about, is Cas (19:48) "I don't even care anymore." Oooohh ICWAW... the possibilities for this scene

Episode 12:

Dean totally checked out that man in uniform. FIGHT ME (16:27)

Episode 13:

"You're head's not in it, man. When Cas died, you were wobbly, but now-" "Now what!!" (39:35) as soon as Sam mentions Cas' death, Dean gets snappy

Episode 17:

Dean keeps getting snappy whenever Sam mentions Cas

"OH my God the love of my life is alive!" (13:02-13:06)

Dean's face when Daphne touches Cas (13:25), and when he calls her his wife (13:41)

AND HIS FUCKING FACE TRYING NOT TO TEAR UP BECAUSE CAS DOESN'T REMEMBER ANYTHING ABOUT HIM (14:16)

You mean to tell me that ICWAW this wouldn't be seen as a mini desperation moment from a man seeing his lover in this situation? Yeah, I don't think so

"What if you were some sort of... I don't know, bad guy." "I... I don't feel like a bad person." Dean's face is like "Damn right you aren't" (16:50)

"He betrayed you, this dude. He was your friend?" Dean looking at him... can't even answer the question (19:59)

Dean says Cas' betrayal is something he cant get over like everything else. And that he doesn't know why. "It doesn't matter why." "Of course it matters!" (20:25)

Dean gets visibly uneasy about Meg being so close to Cas (25:34) jealous boyfriend is jealous

Dean doesn't want Cas to remember, afraid he'll leave again (32:18)

"I've known you for years!" (32:34) poor baby. Also "You're an angel." "Uhm, I'm sorry? Is that a flirtation?" DEAN'S FACE (32:42)

Dean doesn't want Cas to be hurt by his own memories and past actions (33:00)

"You used to fight together. Bestest friends, actually." Yeah, look at that reaction. Let's see how he reacts to being called his boyfriend later on (33:09)

#MARRIED!!! I'll just leave this. No comment (33:41)

As Cas regains his memories, only 2 of the ones we see are not of Dean. And the only one we hear is the "I'm sorry, Dean." . That is what matters to Cas (and this looks like a slash video. Kudos to the editors) "I remember you... I remember everything." Yeah, no-homo save (34:35)

Not even an hour earlier, Dean was ranting about Cas betraying him, how he couldn't forget and forgive him, and now he is saying Cas did "the best you could at the time", but Cas actually feels guilt and doesn't want Dean to defend him, but Dean does anyway (36:53)

"We didn't part as friends, Dean." "*looks at Cas up and down*... So what?" "I deserved to die." the look on Dean's face (37:18)

Dean gives Cas his trench coat back. The trench coat he kept, folded and all the the truck, for weeks. And that's not even Baby. So he moved the coat, to always have it with him (37:26). I'm not crying, shut up

Also, here, have a deleted scene that breaks my heart

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Episode 20:

Let us all appreciate that one time Dean helped a lesbian flirt with a dude (24:27-25:03)

Episode 21:

Dean is devastated about Cas' mental state, that he did that to himself to save Sam. Look at his eyes in this scene (16:08). Also, Dean still resents Cas for the whole 'New God' crap, but it feels like the real reason is the fact that he left (19:18)

"Cas! Don't make me pull this car over!" "Are you angry? Why are you angry? *puppy eyes*" "... No I-I'm..." #MARRIED (27:28)

Cas says he won't fight anymore, but as soon as Dean's in trouble, he FLIPS

"The angels... they don't care... I think maybe they don't have the equipment to care." (31:49) Touchy much, Dean?, are you trying to convince yourself about that? It feels like he's making excuses to not let himself feel anything for Cas. "It seems like when they try, it just... breaks them apart." ... OK, fuck everything, ICWAW this would totally be seen as romantic angsty reference to Cas

Cas is so lost in his guilt for what he has caused. He looks like a baby, and it gets worse when it comes to Dean

"Why should we give you anything? After everything you have taken from us? The very touch of you curropts. When Castiel first laid a hand on you in Hell, he was lost!" (36:50) okay damn, ICWAW all of this would seem as if they were talking about a love relationship between the two and you can't tell me otherwise

'HURT HUSBAND-MUST PROTECT MODE' (37:17)

"The bone of a righteous mortal and the blood of a fallen angel" ... shut up, I'm dying over these clues (39:11)

"What are you gonna do, Cas?" Dean's eyes are begging him to stay. ICWAW, we would point that out without a shadow of a doubt (39:40)

Episode 23:

"Dude... on my car. He showed up naked... covered in bees!" ... come on, ICWAW this would be a HUGE deal (5:10)

"Go ask him. He was your boyfriend first." (8:51) LISTEN HERE. I study psychology, and one of the first things they teach you is that jokes are based on the truth. HOW MANY OF THESE JOKES WERE MADE?! HUH??!! (plus all the "Dick" jokes Sam made) Also Dean's reaction with the jaw clentch... just saying

Cas keeps stating he doesn't want to fight, but again, Dean's in trouble? FIGHT MODE

"*soft shoulder touch, puppy eyes, serves Dean a sandwich*" ... SOFT #MARRIED COUPLE (18:27)

"You got anything to say on the topic of dicks?" you'd like that, wouldn't you, Dean? (26:42)

Cas is afraid he will do something to cause Dean more trouble. Let's remember he chose what he believed were his last words to be "I'm sorry, Dean.", but as we know, Dean deals with feelings by showing anger... Cas gets upset and copes by playing twister... pathetic. "I can't help. [...] I destroyed everything and I will destroy everything again!" for a moment, Cas is lucid, and expresses his fear, but as soon as Dean gets angry with him, Cas gows back to hide in his world of crazy (26:47)

"I'm not good luck, Dean." "... You know what? [...] I'd rather have you. Cursed or not." Look at Cas' soft little smile as it grows. ICWAW, this would be read as another confession (32:38)

"I'll go with you." SOFT

SEE??! The MOMENT Dick threatens Dean, Cas goes full Angel of the Lord on his ass. MUST PROTECT HUSBAND (36:52) and the utter shock on Dean's face is priceless

And here comes PurGAYtory

[Season 8>>]

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thebrownssociety · 3 years ago

Text

Across The Serververse, Chapter 7

Back on the spaceship a debate was brewing.

“-But all I’m saying is that it makes sense to get Sam!” Penelope said, for about the 5th time. “Then we know we’ve got everyone who was connected with the cartoon network universe!”

“But that’s completely illogical.” Marvin said, bluntly. “Sam, as we know, can take care of himself and is unlikely to cause great harm to himself or others. Sam is also in the ‘Wacky Racers’ universe, which is not unlike our own. Wile.E and Roady however are in the ‘Mad Max’ universe. That’s a completely different ballgame, so to speak, and we should retrieve them first so they can’t cause damage to other people, each other and themselves in that order.”

Bugs sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. Why, WHY did he think this would be simple? Just go round the universes and get everyone back. A hard conversation may be needed here and there [he was anticipating one with Daffy, for instance] but on the whole he was certain the others would come back. After all, why wouldn’t they? The entire family was here after all, would they really want to be left behind?

Just as Tweety was yelling that actuawwy GRANNY would be a good idea as she was - and direct quote - ‘owd and fwail’ [which Bugs personally found hilarious as he’d seen frailer cement mixers] the decision was taken out of there hands.

“Stop!” Pepe yelled at the top of his lungs, seeing he now had everyone’s attention he said, calmly. “Why do we not see what planet we are closest to and retrieve the toons on there, yes? Make it simple, no?”

A thought flashed across Bugs’s mind that if they carried on down that route it meant Fudd would be last, but he shook the thought away like it was an irritating insect. Fudd would be fine, Bugs reasoned, he was more quick-witted and intelligent than people gave him credit for. He would be fine. Fine! Absolutely fine...

Marvin smiled [or at least the others assumed he was smiling. It was a bit hard to tell] and ‘full-speeded ahead’ to Mad Max Universe.

“Be careful!” Pepe yelled as Penelope crashed into him. “You are not on the racing track now, non?”

Marvin - somewhat uncharacteristically - ignored him and just landed the spaceship with a small ‘thud!’ “Well.” The Martian said, as he zeroed in on Wile.E’s and the Roadrunners trackers. “Here we are. The Mad Max universe. There was a pause before Marvin said, with faux brightness. “So, who’s going to volunteer to get our two brothers then?”

It soon transpired that it was Bugs himself who was going to ‘volunteer’ for this no doubt arduous task, what with the rabbit being the fastest amongst them.

“How do I get meself into dese situations?” Bugs wondered aloud, as he stood in the middle of a dust road looking for any sign of either the road runner or the coyote. Then he saw it. The familiar dust trail of the roadrunner which Bugs knew from previous experience meant he was about five-

-zoom!-

...make that two seconds away. And if the roadrunner was here, that meant the coyote wasn’t that far behind-

-zoom!-

Aaaaaannnnnnnnddddddddddd there he went! Bugs turned tail and ran after him.

Wile.E, Bugs could hardly fail to notice, looked like an advertisement for leather. Leather coat, leather gloves and a weird looking mask tied across his eyes, making him look like a robber. In one hand he wielded what looked like a extended litter-picker with the end significantly modified so it was [in theory] capable of catching roadrunners. The other hand was clutching the steering wheel of the motorbike he’d presumably ‘borrowed’ from somewhere.

Bugs ran flat out as he did his best to get level with the coyote, and it was a testament to his abilities and pig-headed determination that he actually managed it. “Wile.E!” Bugs called, loudly in order to ensure he was heard over the noise. “Wile E! It’s me Bugs!”

The coyote looked at him in startled surprise, taking his eyes of the road for literally about two seconds, but that two seconds was all the universe needed for Wile.E to fall flat on his face and go skidding into a rock, which caused a boulder to fall from above onto him, just for good measure.

Bugs winced and slowly sidled up to the rock where the coyotes arm was sticking out from under it. The rabbit waited for his younger brother to come crawling out from under it, probably glaring daggers, but nothing happened. After a few more seconds he got concerned and tried to move the boulder himself.

Back in Tune World this wouldn’t be a problem. As long as Bugs timed it at either a funny moment, or a moment that made sense within the narration, he’d have been able to do it. But, Bugs realised as he pushed, shoved and yelled curses at the rock, this wasn’t Toon World.

“Beap, beap!”

Bugs let out a shout of surprise and jumped about ten metres in the air, before landing with a thud. He sighed, got up and turned to see the road runner examining the rock critically. Seeing Bugs looking at him, Roadie held up a sign which said. ‘You get one side, I’ll get the other.’

Really, Bugs thought, this might be a good time to get Marvin’s disintegration ray, or maybe the other toons, but he didn’t really have time to argue so he just grabbed the other end of the rock [which was thankfully quite jagged, so easy enough to get a grip onto as opposed to the smooth round boulders that usually fell on Wile.E.] and together he and Roadie lifted the boulder of off the coyote and looked at the crushed noodle-like body beneath it.

Bugs stared silently, trying to digest what had just happened, while the roadrunner donned a black suit and tie and threw a random wreath at the coyote’s still body.

As soon as that wreath made contact with Wile.E’s stomach the coyote ‘rose from the dead’ ala Mushu style saying dramatically. “IIIIII LLLLLLIIIIIIIVVVVVVVEEEEEE!”

He was rewarded for this Oscar-worthy spot of acting by tomatoes being thrown at him by Roadie and Bugs. “Dat’s for quotin’ Disney!” Bugs told him sternly.

Wile.E shrugged. “Don’t blame me, inferior creature, I didn’t write the script.”

They glared at each other and then, going a 180, hugged and laughed joyously. “Oh!” Wile.E exclaimed, as he swung Bugs around. “I’m so glad you’re alive! I would like to say we never gave up hope, but I’m afraid that would be a lie as we’ve thought you were dead for the past few months now.”

Wile.E popped Bugs back on the ground and the rabbit wasted no time shaking himself to get all of the dust and rocks and like out his fur. “Oi’m gonna be hearin’ that for de next few chapters, ain’t I?” He reflected.

In response Wile.E simply pointed. Bugs followed the point and saw Roadie holding up a sign that said. ‘Well, the last time we saw you you were left alone with an angry psycho. So, you know, assumptions were made.”

Bugs grinned and flapped his arms. “Ah, never mind all dat! C’mon, Oi’ve managed to get some of the gang already, we’re all on Marvin’s spaceship! C’mon, follow me brothers!” And with that he dramatically turned heal and started in the direction of the spaceship. [Which wasn’t actually visible from where they were, Bugs having had to go on something of a hunt for his younger brothers.]

He got about ten steps in before realising he was Coyote-and-Roadrunner-less and turned back to see Wile.E standing in the middle of the dust track with his arms folded and his nose in the air, while Roadrunner looked confused and kept looking between the two like he was a spectator at a volleyball match.

Bugs approached his coyote brother carefully and asked. “Eh...what’s up, Wile.E?”

Wile.E scoffed and holding his nose up even higher [if that was possible] said; “I find it interesting, Mr Bunny, that you assume I shall just go with you?”

The rabbit frowned. confused by this question. “...Why wouldn’t ya?” He asked, eventually.

Wile.E scoffed again, as if to say ‘if you don’t know I’m not going to tell you’ and turned his back on the rabbit.

Bugs was now very confused and started pulling apart the conversation they’d just had in his mind to see if there was anything he’d said that would explain the coyote’s behaviour. About ten seconds into this thinking Bugs was gently pushed aside by Roadrunner who held up a sign that said: ‘Leave this to me.’

[Note from Author: The following conversation has been translated into English for ease of reading. Within the universe of the fic, on the other hand, the below conversation was said in roadrunner style beaps from both parties concerned. The author has also tried to keep Roadie’s rhyming style of speech. Whether she’s succeeded or not is a different matter.]

Roadrunner stepped closer to his brother and said, in a kindly tone.

“Wile.E, my brother,

From one twin to another

Would you be so kind?

Tell me what is on your mind?”

Wile.E took a moment to think about exactly what was bothering him, before saying in a measured manner. “I’m thinking Roadie that...I’m old.”

Roadie’s eyes went wide and Wile.E hurriedly clarified. “Oh, I know what you’re going to say, I’m in my early 70′s, early 70′s is no longer considered ‘old’. Except, factually, it is. Even if you take into consideration the fact that I’m a toon and therefore immortal, I just can’t help wondering...how much longer can I do this?”

His brother looked at him in a manner that suggested he was unsure of what he meant. Clicking his tongue impatiently Wile.E snapped. “For Newton’s sake, do I have to spell it out!? How much longer can I keep throwing myself off of cliffs and under boulders and the like without damage? Even with gadgets like these...” Here he looked down at the custom-made grabber and chuckled. “...Not that we’ve got anything like this back on Tune Town. I mean, look at this!” Here he went into a half-mad description of what exactly the grabber was made of, what it could do and why exactly it was the best thing since sliced bread. Roadrunner waited patiently the whole time this lecture went on, nodding at what he felt were appropriate intervals until, finally, Wile.E finished with: “But what’s the use? I’ll never be able to invent another one.”

Roadrunner frowned and said, rapidly. “But Wile.E, why ever not?

Seeing as you’re a total swot*

Would it not be so very easy,

to build something just as great?

From an engineers point of view,

it should be easy to recreate

And with me by your side

You’ll be sure to hit your stride.” At the end of his little rhyme, Roadie smiled brightly at his twin and waited for the verdict.

“Because, my fraternal twin brother, I made THIS one via the materials on this planet and seeing as when I step on Marvin’s ship I’m presumably not coming back here then that means I’m somewhat sunk, aren't I? More than usual, I mean.” Wile.E looked at the grabber and lovingly stroked it.

While he was doing that Roadie thought. Truth be told he had heard this more than a few times before. Wile.E periodically went through periods where he thought he was reaching the end of his genius, but he usually pulled through. This time he sounded different though. More wistful and melancholy. It concerned Roadie, but he was unsure of what to say and went quiet for a bit trying to think of the right words.

While he was doing that Wile.E’s ginormous brain was ticking, slotting the pieces together as he looked down at the grabber. Really, now he was actually thinking about it instead of running on emotion, the materials the grabber was made with weren't that different to similar materials that could be found on Tune Town. Melt an anvil down, for instance, and simply reshape it...

Wile.E smiled. Oh yes, that would work alright. He was an idiot to have not thought of it before!

Roadrunner saw the familiar smile and, immediately perking up, said rapidly to Bugs. “I think you will be happy to know, we are finally ready to go.”

Bugs made a celebrationary air-grab and grabbing his brothers by the arm and wing respectably pulled them in the direction of the spaceship. Luckily Roadrunners brain was ahead of Bugs’s on this occasional and he had also see where the spaceship was earlier on in the chapter when he’d speeded ahead; so, with his usual catchphrase, he ran under Bugs so the rabbit was forced to cling to him and sped of at about 1000 miles an hour, not wanting to waste any time.

Behind them Wile.E smiled wickedly and activated the grabber which enabled him to swing between boulders [how he managed not to crush himself the author only knows] essentially becoming the coyote version of Tarzan and together they speeded towards the ship

#Across The Serververse #Bugs Bunny #Marvin The Martian #Wile.E.Coyote #Roadrunner #Looney Tunes #Pepe Le Pew #penelope pussycat #roadrunners rhyming is literally the hardest thing to write #Wile.E and Roadie are twins though #Space Jam 2 Fanfiction

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eliyah-de-dark · 5 years ago

Text

Two Lies and A Truth part 2

Turns out the Startrain can get a person from London to Paris in what feels like a matter of minutes. Marinette waited on the platform, alone in a crowd of commuters, with her wide brim hat pulled down low over her face. She wore her hair down, a countermeasure against any old friends who might recognize her style, and opted for an equally unfamiliar white and pink sundress. She'd originally made it for her dream date with Adrien. Now it would meet one of the only friends she had left.

The train from London pulled in, and Felix Graham de Vanily was the first off. He wore his signature dark gray three piece suit, a white shirt making his skin seemed more tanned. He scanned the crowd, forcing people to move around him as his vibrant green eyes searched for her.

She wove a path through the crowd and grabbed his hand. "Hey," she said weakly.

He froze, taking in her changed appearance before speaking. "Your hair looks nice." He touched just the tip of her blue hair, admiring the length. "What prompted the change?"

Marinette's smile dropped. "Don't want to be recognized." Her voice was almost imperceptible in the din of the station.

The pair walked out hand in hand, Felix's heart racing where Marinette's barely caught her attention. Together they wove their way through Paris. Their only pause was with Andre Glacier to get ice cream, Andre's idea not theirs. Finally their meandering brought them to the bakery where they first truly met.

Sabine and Tom waved to the kids as they went up into the apartment. Marinette noticed her mother's calculating look while Felix caught her father's questioning gaze. The young man thought their journey would end in the living room, but Marinette kept his hand in her own until they'd climbed up into her pink painted room. The walls were nearly bare, with the crumpled up pictures of Adrien in her waste basket. Felix took good note of that.

In the safety of her room, Marinette started talking. She repeated a lot of what Felix already knew: how her class had been turned, how the teacher punished her when it wasn't her fault, about how she had only 3 people left in the whole city she could trust. When she brought up the arrival of Suzette, he could tell from the stormy expression of her face that this girl did more than bother Marinette.

"What do you care if she's Ladybug?" Felix asked, waving his hand as if to present the situation on a platter. "Sounds like she'll prove herself wrong soon enough."

"But she's put the entire school in danger!" Marinette cried. She slumped onto her chaise and sighed. "If Hawkmoth thinks anyone in François Dupont is his arch nemesis..." She didn't finish the sentence. She didn't have to. Felix had seen the chaos akumas caused, and if it weren't for the Ladybug Cure, everyone in Paris would be dead ten times over.

He nodded, and Marinette sighed with relief. She wanted to tell him the real reason, that she was the one suffering stolen identity here, but she couldn't. She thought of Master Fu's threat. Being Ladybug was stressful, sure, but it was one of the best things in her life right now.

Their phones buzzed simultaneously. Felix had his out first, sparing Marinette the trouble. Nadia Chamack's face filled the screen completely. "Don't be bemused, it's just the news. On this special report, we have Alya Cesaire live in our studio to talk about a remarkable post she's put on her Ladyblog." The camera switched to show the red haired girl Marinette used to call friend. As the audience applauded, the pair in a pink room sat on Marinette's chaise.

"Thanks for having me, Madame Chamack." At least she had her manners. "I'm a big fan of yours."

Nadja laughed and made a little dismissive gesture. "If you're a fan of mine, then you know here at the station we love our Ladybug, and your blog has been a key source of information on her. Let's show the audience what you posted today that's sweeping our city!"

Nadia's large screens showed Alya close up in the frame, breathing heavily. "How unbecoming." Felix scrunched his nose in disgust while Marinette laughed.

The video showed Alya rushing back to her seat where across from her sat...Ladybug? The costume was fairly well made, superior to Chloe's in many ways. There was still the glaring issue of a zipper on the back and her mask slowly dropping on the left side.

The two began talking like old friends, Alya crediting Lila for getting the interview squared away. Felix watched Marinette as her face switched from shock to horror.

Once the Ladybug interview had wrapped up, Nadja began asking questions about the whos, whats, wheres and whens of the impromptu video. "Lila, my best friend," Alya emphasized that title like she knew Marinette was watching, "promised me an interview with LB, and it turns out Ladybug is wonderful in and out of costume!" She pasted a surprised look on her face and murmured, "Oh, I shouldn't have said that." in such a perfect copy of Lila that Marinette searched for a wig line or something.

"In and out of costume? Does that mean - hold on, you know who Ladybug is?" Nadja had real shock on her face, and if the camera had turned then Felix imagined the audience would have that same look too.

Alya smiled sweetly. "I couldn't say."

The interview continued, but Felix set his phone away. Marinette was shaking now, and he put an arm around her. She leaned on his shoulder, her body slowing to matching his heartbeat. He rested his head on top of hers and took a deep breath. She smelled like strawberries, glue, and mint.

Now he jumped up and paced. Her eyes followed back and forth as he moved, pausing every so often to muse on a particular idea.

"I've got it." He smiled, a devious grin that split his face like a demon.

Marinette listened with rapt attention.

"Blast Master, I am Hawkmoth. You want to expose the truth about Lila Rossi and save your friend. I'm giving you the power to control explo-"

"That's a no on the name."

"I beg your pardon?"

"Then beg."

"...what is happening?"

"Listen, you're right about why I'm pissed, and I'll gladly take the explosion power, but I'm not calling myself Blast Master."

"I...suppose?"

"Excellent, glad we're on the same page."

Suzette Lambert basked in the attention of her schoolmates like a cat basks in the sun. Lila was right, she mused, these idiots are too easy. Only two weeks and she had near god like worship. She almost didn't regret transferring out of her private English school.

The two people who didn't immediately succumb to her will were Chloe Bourgeois and Marinette Dupain-Cheng. Chloe made snide comments here and there but hardly went toe to toe with the new queen of the school. It helped that literally anytime she tried, either that nuisance Alya would snap at her or the teacher would gently redirect the class.

Her teal eyes caught sight of the little pariah, who'd snuck in early and taken her spot at the farthest desk in the room. Marinette never spoke. Not even when the teacher called on her. When she'd asked, Lila bemoaned, "Oh Mari? She's just the worst. She's always so mean to me and everyone hates her for it. I wouldnt even bother talking to her."

Suzette couldn't say it was hard to get on Lila's bad side, but that seemed a bit extreme. It all made sense after her little "slip-up" though.

It was the Italian's idea to say she was the heroine. "Trust me, no one will even question it." As much as Suzette hated to admit it, Lila was right. Everyone latched onto the biggest lie of her life and now the royal treatment was just a standard. The only bad reaction she got was Dupain-Cheng running out of the room. That was weird on so many levels, but Suzette ignored it.

Class was going smoothly until the volley of ringtones interrupted the lesson.

"An akuma?"

"It's just down the street!"

"Hold up Alix, let me see!"

Suzette checked her phone, lazily scanning the report of a dancing harlequin-style akuma moving steadily towards François Dupont.

"Go suit up, Suzette!"

She looked at Alya with a tired expression. "What?"

The reporter pointed her cellphone at Suzette. "Don't you need to transform? To defeat the akuma?" Her quizzical look spread like a virus through the class.

"I can't." She needed to think, quick. "The Guardian took my miraculous for safe keeping." She mentally congratulated herself for the excuse.

Nino spoke up next. "Why?"

"Repairs."

"Why would a miraculous need repairs?" And why was Kim of all people chiming in?

"Oh puh-lease." Now came Chloe Bourgeois. She sat on her desk and ignored Madame Bustier's reprimand as she continued. "Obviously she can't because she isn't Ladybug." Sabrina nodded vigorously, the nasty little cockroach.

Alya naturally spoke next, loud enough to give the queen standing next to her a headache. "No one asked you, Chloe." She snapped. "Why dont you keep your opinions to yourself?"

"Why dont you you little gossip rag wannabe?"

Wow, Suzette thought. That's an interesting shade of red in Alya's face.

Chloe turned those sky blue eyes back to her rival. "What form does your miraculous take? Or better yet, what's mine?" She leaned forward, her head tilted as if to listen for an answer.

Suzette crossed her arms. "Why would I care about yours?"

"Because you're the one that gives it to me, Ladybug. And I know for a fact if you were the real Ladybug, you would've kept your mouth closed about your identity."

No one noticed Marinette in the back of the room staring wide eyed at Chloe.

"Who are you to talk to me like that?!" Suzette yelled. Lila grabbed her arm, locking her in place. "You're just the mayor's spoiled brat who only cares about herself!" Chloe smiled at Suzette's words. The audacity.

"Maybe, but at least I'm honest."

Another insult began forming in the mind of the false Ladybug when the door came off its hinges with an explosion.

((@goblinwhoships @ml-cartoons @enchanted-nerd since you three specifically requested being tagged, here you go))

((Yeah so people really seemed to like part one. That's pretty hekking neat. Hopefully part 2 can live up to the hype))

#fanfic #ml #ml ladybug #marinette dupain cheng #felinette #felix de vanily #adrein agreste #adrien you dunce #chloe bourgeois #lila salt #lila rossi #oc #suzette lambert #part 2

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brycelahelalover · 4 years ago

Text

Take care of you

Pairing: Bryce × f!MC (Tesse Sterling)

Author's note: Hi! I know I said I would start posting fics more regularly but then I didn't, so.. sorry:(

Bryce closed the apartment door behind him, having just come back from his morning run. He doesn't get to do much of those anymore since he started his residency, what with him having to be at work at 6 a.m on the dot. But you better believe that whenever he had a day off, he would spend at least 40 minutes jogging around the neighbourhood.

After disposing of his water bottle in the kitchen sink, Bryce headed straight to his and Tesse's in suite bathroom, needing a shower immediately. Cracking the door open slowly as to not make any sound and wake up his girlfriend, he made his way inside carefully, noticing the still drawn blinds and the darkness of the room. After all, it was still 8 in the morning. He didn't exactly expect her to be awake at this hour. At least not in her day off.

After taking a hot and very needed shower, Bryce got out, drying his wet curls, to notice his still sleeping girlfriend. He was quite surprised by this fact since Tesse is usually a really light sleeper. And even thought he tried his best to not wake her up, Bryce thought by the time he got out of the shower she would be awake. Waiting for him with a very strong case of an icy, steely glare for waking her up that early. But he decided to shrug that off to the fact that they had a late celebration at Donahue's with their friends last night.

Deciding that he was too hungry to wait until Tesse woke up, Bryce went to prepare some breakfast for himself. Making up his mind that when she did wake up, he would make her his infamous omelet that she seems to really enjoy and prepare one for himself too so his girlfriend wouldn't have to eat by herself. And because it's chance at a second breakfast, who can say no to that?

After preparing his meal, Bryce settled in front of the living room TV, turning on the kids channel to catch up on his favorite morning cartoon. He really doesn't understand what's going on since he's not home to watch most of the episodes and he's way too tired on the evenings to sit down and watch the replays. But still he trys his best to understand

After watching an episode of the anime and a whole movie which now when he thinks about it, doesn't have any kind of plot, Bryce decided that he was done spending his day alone. Checking his phone, he saw that it was past noon.

"So much for spending the day together.." he murdered under his breath, marching up to their bedroom to wake up his sleeping beauty.

Upon making it there, he found himself in the same atmosphere as earlier. Drawn blinds, darkness throughout the room and soft breathing coming from the bed which he approaches before shaking the body sleeping in it gently.

"Tesse? Come on, babe, wake up. It's already past noon." He whispered lowly as to not spook her.

But alas, his first try was fruitless.

"Come on, sleepy, wake up." He tried again and was met by a soft groan.

"Noo, I'm so tired." Tesse whimpered softly.

"You've been sleeping for the last 10 hours." He chuckled back.

But before Tesse could answer him, a coughing fit wrecked her body. That's when Bryce placed his palm on her forehead, to be met with a surface so hot, it reminded him of that one time when he placed his hand on the stove by mistake, but that's a story for another time..

"Tesse, babe, you're so hot."

"Really? Thank you." She countered back, cheekily.

"No, I mean, you're hotter than usual.."

Trying to sit up, Tesse accidentally knocked the duvet down which caused a gust of coldness to penetrate her body and go down all the way to her soul.

Bryce watched his girlfriend shiver like it was the middle of winter in Boston before he headed to the bathroom, turning the faucet on to fill the bath tub before coming back to the bedroom and carrying Tesse back.

"Babe, you have to give up that blanket at some point.." He said after setting her down.

"But it's so cold. Do I really need to bath?" Tesse said, tucking the blanket more tightly around herself.

"It'll make you feel better."

"Says who?"

"Says the doctor who's going to be taking care of you."

"Well, as a doctor myself, I object."

"Well, first of all, we're not in court and second of all, you know I'm right. You're just too sick and stubborn to see it." He said, throwing her one of his famous smirks.

"Ugh, fine.." she relented before giving up the duvet, crossing her arms and sulking like a petulant child.

Bryce shook his before pecking her pouting lips and then helping her undress.

"Now, in the tub with you."

He then helped her step into the water, taking a bit a shower milk from the bottle to apply to her body.

"You can be really whiny sometimes." He said after a while, breaking the silence.

"Excuse you, I'm sick." Tesse responded, glaring at his smirking face.

"You're proving my point."

"You know for someone this sick, you have lot of sarcasm to throw around." He said to which he was met by an arched brow from Tesse.

After bath full of even more whimpering from Tesse, Bryce helped his girlfriend out of the tub, taking one of the towels to dry her up before carrying her bridal style into the bedroom.

After setting her down, Bryce turned to one of their wardrobe drawers, opening to take a pair of underwear and then taking one Tesse's favorite PJ's. He then helped her dress up before taking her hand and the duvet, which he pushed out of the bathroom earlier, and lead the way the living room.

After tucking Tesse into the couch with the blanket around her, Bryce headed to the kitchen.

"You know how to cook soup?" Replied Tesse with a question of her own.

"How do you feel about some soup?" He asked while opening the fridge.

"I watched a cooking show last week where they made it. I probably still remember the recipe." He answered with a surety only Bryce could master.

"Well, if it's edible, then I'm good with soup." Tesse said cheekily.

"Oh, excuse you. You'll see that my culinary skills are unmatched. And anyway, if I faced any obstacles, there's always the internet." Bryce replied, mocking offense.

After a little bit more than an hour of Bryce struggling to figure out how to cook this darn soup, he presented Tesse with a plat that looks.. quite nice actually, much to her surprise. She really needs to start having faith in her boyfriend's ability to cook.

"Behold, the Bryce special. Soup à la française."

"Are you sure of what you're saying?"

"..No, I'm not sure of what I'm saying. Now, open your mouth so I can feed you."

"You know I can eat by myself, right?" She asked playfully.

"Oh, really? I seem to remember that you were so sick you couldn't go from one room to another by yourself."

"You were the one who carried me. I wasn't exactly going to stop you." She said, happy with herself.

"Still, I started this, I may as well end it. Now open your mouth.."

"Bryce?" Tesse broke the silence after a few spoons.

"Yeah?"

"Thank you. For taking care of me."

"You know I'll always take of you."

The end

A/N: Hi guys, so you wouldn't believe the amount of trouble this fic gave me but I finaly managed to get it out. Phew. So I hope that you would find it good. And please ignore the read more's place, I know it makes no sense but it was the only way of posting this fic whole. And I hope OH won't take forever to come out.

Tagging: @eleanorbloom @lahamseiroshoe @choicest @anotherbeingsworld @princesslahela

#Bryce lahela #Bryce Lahela fanfiction #Open heart #Choices stories you play #bryce×mc

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loveislattes · 4 years ago

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Patience Is Key (Darkiplier/Fem!Reader) Chapter 1

Commission prompt: Reader only knows that sex is pain, so Dark shows her otherwise...?

Caution! This story does contain mentions of past borderline-abusive relationship and there is one scene that slightly delves into the situation, but it never goes further than pushing and forced kissing.

This chapter is SFW other than some cursing. The next chapter will be the oh so lovely smutty bit. ^^ Chapter 2 will be out next week!

“Ah, damn it!”

The curse left my lips the second I finally registered that I had dropped the extremely large box of pots and pans on my toe, and not on the flat floor as intended. Jerking back, I fell into the rickety wooden chair behind me and pulled my injured foot up into my lap with a wince.

“Why am I such a fucking klutz?!” I wheezed through the pulses of pain.

It took a few minutes of babying my poor toe but eventually, I managed to soothe away the pain and get back onto my feet. Why was it that toe injuries always felt so much worse than other injuries? As I debated that question, as well as the existential existence of pain at all, I got moving about the sparse kitchen once more. The boxes weren’t going to empty themselves after all and I only had the two days until I started my new job to get it all done.

“Lord knows if I had to take one more extra day off, it’d be the end of the world,” I muttered under my breath.

Working retail had to be one of the worst career choices in the world. Sadly, it was all I could find for the time being and this new house mortgage, low as it was, wouldn’t pay itself; Not to mention that my savings were meager at best and wouldn’t last long if I had to rely on them, thanks to my problematic ex.

This house was a blessing in disguise and I definitely couldn’t afford to lose it. A beautiful victorian-style two-story home at only four hundred fifty a month, with no real damage other than cosmetic updates needed? Yeah. It was practically impossible. My first thought was that it had a sordid past, whether drug crime or murder related, but that didn’t seem to be the case thankfully. The owners had inherited it and we’re willing to sell it for a steal just to get rid of it so they didn’t have to pay taxes and insurance. Their loss, my gain, apparently.

I had gotten so lost in my thoughts about work and the house that I was done moving the last of the boxes before too long. Score one for daydreaming!

I set about organizing my cabinets next, emptying the boxes one by one until they were all barren and tossed to the back of the room.

“That’s a problem for future-me,” I muttered, running a hand through my hair with a huff, “I guess dinner is next on the list. Never a better time to find out what take out they have around here!”

I meandered into the living room and plopped down on the worn couch, pulling my laptop into my lap. While waiting for the screen to wake up, I grabbed the TV remote from the coffee table and turned it on as well, needing the background noise with how silent the old home was. I’d definitely have to keep an eye on that or else I’d find myself creeped out even without anything happening. A random cartoon filled the large screen and jaunty music spilled from the speakers as the characters conversed. Shrugging, I tossed the remote back down on the table and returned to my laptop.

After logging in, a quick google search led me to a page full of restaurants both familiar and new to me. Moving to a big city definitely had its perks!

“Now the question is which one,” I sighed.

It took a few minutes of debating but I finally settled on ordering from a highly rated Chinese restaurant across town. I was promised my food in about twenty-five minutes and a delivery tracker popped up on the screen right after.

“That’s nifty!”

Setting the laptop back onto the table with the dimmed screen facing my direction, I let myself be pulled into the ridiculous antics of the cartoon characters on TV until a commercial came on. My eyes instinctively drifted over to the laptop to check on the tracker. The red line was about halfway across, indicating they would be leaving the store soon. Nice! Unfortunately, I also caught my reflection on the screen and couldn’t help but take a moment to fix my hair out of reflex. As I adjusted my top to look less wrinkled, I suddenly noticed a black shape in the background, near what would be the corner of the room behind the couch. I froze, heart pounding in my throat as my eyes widened.

“No way,” I whispered.

Leaning in closer, I focused on the shadow. Too afraid to actually turn around and look, I hoped I could debunk it from this angle alone. I was just about convinced it was actually a part of the LCD going out in that one spot- when suddenly it moved!

“FUCK!”

An uncontrollable screech left my lips as I leaped up from the couch. Spinning to face the shadow, I reflexively snagged up the throw pillow on the couch and tossed it full force in that direction while trying to move away. Unfortunately, I forgot exactly where I was standing in the new layout and the fact that the table was behind me. I was reminded painfully of that fact as my calf muscle slammed hard into the solid wood and I went careening backward. I frantically tried to catch myself but only succeeded in slamming my elbow into the edge of the table and whacking my fingers against the floor in a way that made me see stars.

Tears pricked behind my eyelids as I hissed through the urge to cry. I was about to lie in a puddle of agonizing defeat until I remembered the whole reason I fell. With a curse, I rolled over to my hands and knees, panting as I looked toward the offending part of the room. There was nothing there. No shadow and no reason I should have ever seen one there; no coat rack, no bookshelf, nothing. Just a bare wall.

“What the hell was that?!” I groaned.

Now that there was no impending, visible, threat, I spent a good few minutes taking all my injuries into account. Sore calf, elbow, and fingers. Bruises were likely in each spot, unfortunately. Thankfully it didn’t get any worse than that. With my luck, I was surprised I didn’t crack my head open on the floor instead. It was with a heavy, defeated sigh, that I succumbed to the need to lay flat on the floor and catch my breath.

“I’m losing it. That has to be it. All the stress of the move and being alone just got to me,” I assured myself quietly.

I wasn’t sure how long I wallowed there in self-pity, but it couldn’t have been as long as it felt because I was soon roused by the sound of someone knocking at the door.

“Foooood!”

Collecting my fallen pride and battle wounds, I scrambled up off the floor and rushed to the front door, snagging my wallet from my purse on the way. The delivery driver was nice enough and we made small talk as we exchanged food and money. I thanked him after he mentioned their loyalty program then shut the door before hesitantly making my way back into the living room. As I scanned the rather empty space, I was relieved to find it just as it was before; no shadows in sight.

“I’m probably gonna have nightmares from that shit too,” I muttered, plopping onto the couch and popping open the box.

With a little shake of my head to clear my thoughts, I returned to the show and let the thoughts from the day slowly melt away with every mouth full of delicious food.

…

It took two months of living in the new house to finally feel more at home. Most everything was put away and decorations filled the walls, warming up the once empty and creepy place. I no longer felt like an uncomfortably unwelcome stranger. The thought of that shadow did, unfortunately, still linger in the back of my mind every night though. I’d be fine all day until it was nighttime and dark in the house. Once the sun was down, it was like my gorgeous home was a totally different place. I didn’t see that moving shadow anymore, but I swore I saw things out of the corner of my eye and it constantly felt like I wasn’t alone.

One particularly rough night left me searching the entire house for hidden cameras and trapped doors because I could have sworn I was being watched. Of course, I found nothing of the sort, but it didn’t lessen the fear by much. I even started making myself go to bed earlier than usual just to avoid being alone with my paranoid thoughts. Something had to give before I went crazy!

I was even to the point of considering making new friends; Something to break up the monotony and constant feeling of being alone. Maybe inviting another person into the house would make the eerie feeling go away? One could hope! I wasn’t in the habit of bringing home people, due to my ex, but it was getting to the point where it might be necessary. A person could only take so much alone time!

A rapid knocking on my door tore me out of my lonely thoughts and back to reality with a jolt.

“Who could that be?” I muttered under my breath.

I hadn’t ordered any food and I was pretty sure I hadn’t ordered anything off Amazon recently. Uncurling from my nest of blankets, I hastened to the front door when the visitor knocked again. Impatient buggers weren’t they?

“I’m coming!”

Without thinking to check the peephole first, I pulled the door open and instantly recognized the horrible mistake I had made. I tried slamming the door shut before he could enter but already I was too weak with fear; simply seeing his menacing face leaving me powerless. He was easily able to catch the wood and shove his way in as if I weren’t even there.

“Heeeey baby.”

I wasn’t even given a breath’s moment to respond. Instantly his hands were on my shoulders and I was slammed into the wall. Pain exploded through my skull and my knees weakened dangerously as I struggled through frustration and fear.

“You thought ya could just move away and I wouldn’t find ya, baby? Ya outta know better’n that.”

The familiar sensation of bile rose in my throat when his lips smacked against mine. It took all of my resolves to hold it down. It would only add insult to my injury because he wouldn't give a damn and I’d be left worse for wear.

“Aw, come on. Play nice with me, won’t cha? It’s been far too long since I’ve seen ya.”

All I could manage was a timid shake of my head.

Fuck, it was like this any time he was around! Just being in his presence made the littlest of movements hard, like my body just instinctively gave up to avoid more trouble even though my heart told me to fight. If I could fight back, he’d probably back off after a while but I just couldn’t. Flashes of the times he tried to force himself on me, drunk and belligerent, held me back from it. Giving in was just easier, safer, in the long run.

I felt the numbing sensation of acceptance slide through my muscles when his mouth pressed on mine again. Disgust and hatred bubbled in my gut; not only for him but also for myself. So weak, pathetic.

Out of nowhere, the deafening sound of doors slamming rang through the air, causing us both to jump apart. With a Yelp, I clapped my hands over my ears to block out the painful noise as I looked around in shock for the source. To my utter disbelief, I found the cause to my cabinet doors, opening and shutting at breakneck speed. It only lasted for about half a minute before suddenly they stopped, just as abruptly as they had started. My astonishment was cut short by a cry from across the room.

Having abandoned his pursuit, my ex now stood frozen near the door, ashen white and shaking. Upon closer inspection, I thought I could see a faint shadow around his throat but my line of vision was disrupted when he turned and rocketed out the door. Once the entryway was clear, the door shut calmly behind him.

It was deadly quiet in the aftermath of whatever the hell happened. The sounds of my heavy breath were the only noises in the air. Scared, but thankful, I hesitantly surveyed the kitchen and the living room for any sign of what had caused the disruption. There was nothing, of course. Not even a hint of the shadow I had spotted months ago.

Letting out a nervous sigh, I ran a hand through my hair and said, “Thank you… whoever you are."

I didn’t wait for a response before high tailing it to my room and diving under my fluffy comforter, torn between calling my mom or crying until I fell asleep. My body made the decision for me before I could contemplate it for long, shutting down and passing out quicker than anticipated.

When I woke, it was dark in the room. The radio clock beside my bed read an irritating one thirty am. Despite having slept for six hours, I felt like I hadn’t slept a wink; nightmares resounding in my head like sirens the entire time.

Rather than trying to force myself back to sleep, I slipped out of the bed, determined to get some hot tea or cocoa to help soothe my inner demons. Unfortunately, I spotted my reflection in my vanity mirror on the way by and I felt compelled to stop. My usually glowing skin looked pallor and lifeless and the bags under my eyes gave the same sentiment.

“Fucking hell,” I muttered, pulling at my bedhead locks in frustration, “I’m not gonna recover from this.”

My outside reflection was only a sliver of the mess that was inside my mind though. And I knew I would get over it in the long run but it always felt so impossible at the start. I just had to turn the sadness into anger. My thoughts were derailed by the sudden feeling of eyes on my back; That familiar itching sensation of being watched sending shivers down my spine. I didn’t see anything in the room around me but when I finally turned back to the mirror I spotted it; an eerily familiar shadow. It was only moments before there was a man suddenly standing behind me in the reflection.

Although my mouth moved, trying to scream or make any sort of sound, nothing would come out. Scads of questions bombarded my already frazzled sense of sanity as I tried to scream until eventually a worrying sense of calm washed over me in place of the stilted panic.

“I’m not going to hurt you,” he assured me as if reading my mind.

The low timbre of his voice made the rational part of my brain melt but the way it reverberated around the room sent my hairs standing on end. My body instinctively went stiff and still as his arms reached around my sides. Cool fingers rested on my forearms and slowly rubbed the goosebumps away in a soothing manner while he stepped closer. I could hardly meet his eyes in the reflection without feeling as if I were staring a predator head-on.

“How did you get in here?” I finally managed to ask.

An absolutely devastatingly handsome smirk curled up his lips before he flashed large, sharp, pearly whites down at me.

Oooh fuck, those were some pointy fangs.

“I’ve been here the entire time, darling. You’re the one who barged in rather abruptly when you decided to move in.”

I began to question my sanity once more as his form slowly lost color and brightness in the mirror, becoming a barely distinguishable shadow behind me. Though his touch on my skin never diminished, to the eye he was nearly invisible. Just as gradually, he filtered back into view.

His reasoning was lost to me as I tried to figure out just what was going on until eventually, it clicked.

“You’re the mother fucking shadow that has been driving me insane, aren’t you?!” I shouted, jerking out of his reach and spinning to face him, “Just how in the hell did you do that? Why have you been scaring me? What-”

His hand came up swiftly and I froze immediately, only able to watch as he cupped my jaw. A whimper reflexively slipped out as his thumb pressed against my lips.

“To answer your questions in order: Yes, I am. Shifting is just one of my many abilities. I have not meant to scare you, well, not these last few weeks anyhow. I’ve become- let’s call it- fascinated. Most would have left by now and yet here you stand, heels dug in like a stubborn mule. You’re intriguing.”

The moment he released his hold, I found myself asking, “What are you?”

“What do you think I am?” he retorted, stepping back and slipping his hands into his pockets.

I simply shrugged. How should I know? Before now, I didn’t believe in anything supernatural, but now I was questioning that stance.

“A demon? A ghost?” I replied.

He hummed momentarily before cocking his head to the side, eyes narrowing as they burned into mine.

“Does that scare you?”

So many freaking questions! I scrubbed a hand over my face wearily before slapping my palms against my thighs and mentally admitting defeat.

“Unless you’re going to kill me, no. You were terrifying in that shadow form but now that I’ve seen you face to face, I’m not so scared. Don’t get me wrong, I have a healthy respect for you but it’s also comforting to see that you’re not some decayed-looking ghost who is going to warp my face by looking me in the eyes,” I hesitated as another realization hit me hard then carefully added, “Not to mention, I’m pretty sure you’re what saved my ass earlier… right?”

There was a flurry of emotions across his face as his brows knitted together before he seemed to relax some and amusement showed at last.

“You are just full of surprises, aren’t you?”

I shrugged in response before finally slipping past him to sit on the bed, the shakiness of my legs becoming too much to bear. I could put on a brave face but my body could give way any second. I had been through too much in the last twenty-four hours. Once seated and more comfortable, I met his gaze again.

“Am I right? Were you the one that scared him away?”

He hummed and tilted his head once in a positive indication before adding, “Luckily for him, he’s as cowardly and self-concerned as most of you humans. Had that not have worked, I would have been forced to take further measures.”

The way his echo deepened and his fangs flashed in an animalistic snarl sent more goosebumps up my arms and neck. Fucking hell. My emotions were having a hard time keeping up through it all; enamored by his good looks, terrified by his powerful aura, curious about his existence. He was, simply put, overwhelming.

If it wasn’t for his discoloration, echoing voice, and the fangs, he’d seem like any ordinary human. A very attractive human at that… I had to stop that train of thought right there! I’d be just like me and my horrible taste in men to get a crush on the ghost- demon- thing.

“So, um, you said you were here before me. Are you stuck here, like a ghost or something?” I managed to ask while rubbing my goosebumps away.

“No. This is merely a residence of convenience. Your closet holds a portal to my realm and it’s the simplest way in and out for me. I choose to stay here when I must remain in the human world for any amount of time. You’re the first person to live here in decades.”

I thought my heart was going to jump out of my chest in bewilderment when he suddenly moved towards the bed at an inhuman speed. A reflexive flinch had me jerking away when he reached out for me but he was quicker, hand snagging my chin to keep my gaze solely on him.

“Your turn to answer a question for me,” he stated without giving any room for argument, “Who was that man from before, and what is his concern with you?”

Eyeing him warily, I chewed on my lip then answered honestly, “My ex. I wouldn’t say he’s necessarily concerned about me. More so he’s concerned about losing his control over me. He was borderline obsessive and abusive.”

“Do you foresee him being a problem in the future?”

That was a hell of a question. Would he be back? I didn’t even really consider that after how fast he’d run away before but it was always a possibility.

“I honestly don’t know. I guess I should invest in some ADT or something, huh?” I half-assed joked, forcing on a weak smile.

The flat line of his lips told me that he didn’t find my statement as funny as I did. However he did, at last, relinquish his hold on me.

“I will not stand for a brain dead ape damaging my property. If he comes back, he will be taken care of once and for all.”

Some little devious part of my mind dared to question if he was actually talking about the house, or if he was subtly making a claim over me. The domineering air around him made it seem like a slight possibility. I felt the heat flare over my cheeks before I could stop it and quickly wrapped my arms around my chest defensively before sinking back further onto the bed.

As if a private moment were suddenly disrupted, he cleared his throat loudly and stepped back while adjusting his suit jacket.

“I need to be going. It was nice to officially meet you. If it sits well with you, I will be more prominent around the house since I no longer need to avoid you.”

I nodded and awkwardly replied, “Yeah, er, that’s fine. I mean, it’s more your home than mine anyway, right?”

He made a noise of agreement then turned toward the closet, but stopped with his hand on the doorknob. There was an indescribable expression on his face when he turned back; the whites of his eyes darker than before.

A smirk that could only be read as cruel crossed his lips and he said, “You may call me Dark. If he comes back when I’m not here, simply ask for me and I’ll be here.”

#darkiplier x reader #darkiplier fanfiction #two part post #angst #fluff #smut

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entity9silvergen · 4 years ago

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We Dance To Fast Music (ATLA Fanfiction)

Summary: Zuko didn’t like to dance. Neither did Mai. But Ty Lee did and they’d do it for her. Fortunately for them, Ty Lee cared about how they felt and wanted to show them just how wonderful music could be. All Zuko and Mai knew were slow dances, the things of ballrooms and romance. Ty Lee only knew the dances of friendship, freedom, and fun.

Fandom: ATLA

Characters: Zuko, Mai, Ty Lee, Sokka, Suki, Aang, Katara, Toph

Relationships: Ambiguous relationships, Katara/ Aang, Zuko & Mai & Ty Lee, Gaang & Mai & Ty Lee, Zuko & Mai & Ty Lee & Suki &Sokka

Other Tags: Ambiguous Relationships, AroWriMo, Dancing, Dancing Dragon, Tsungi Horn, Wedding, Platonic Relationships, Music

Warnings: None

Word Count: 8K

Chapter Count: 1 (Oneshot)

Author’s Note: This was written for Aromantic Writing Month 2021 Week 2. The prompt is Freedom & Music. It is not explicitly mentioned if characters are aro in this story. The main focus is on friendships and platonic relationships being valued equally. You can decide which however you want to interpret each character’s romantic and sexual orientations.

It also does not explicitly state if any characters are in relationships (except Aang and Katara) so you can read into it however you want. I played around with Mai/ Zuko, Mai/ Zuko/ Ty Lee, Suki/ Sokka, Mai/ Zuko/ Ty Lee/ Suki/ Sokka, or them all just being platonic friends but none of it stuck. There is emphasis that these relationships are not strictly romantic but you can interpret any of them as qprs or romantic relationships.

Also I’d like to say I know nothing about music or dance so sorry if those bits of the story don’t make sense or if their dances are really ugly.

I own none of the dances in this story. The first one is the Dancing Dragon from the cartoon and the last two are inspired by “the beginning of a new and brighter birth” by aloneintherain on Ao3.

You can also read this fic on Ao3 and FFN.

=============

Part 1

It all began at Katara and Aang’s wedding.

It was a nice wedding, it really was, and Zuko was happy for his friends but did they really have to invite so many people? Aang and Katara had a lot of friends all over the world but half these people Zuko had never even met. He was pretty sure they were all political officials. He supposed he couldn’t really complain, the Avatar’s marriage was a pretty big event for all four nations, but it was stifling to have so many people in one space, however open.

He supposed the one advantage was that no one could see if he was dancing or not.

The ceremony was lovely and Zuko meant that genuinely. Aang and Katara had danced afterward in a beautiful mix of Water Tribe and Air Nomad styles and now the floor was open to the guests. There was a live band of… Zuko wanted to say they were Air Acolytes but they may have been one of King Kuei’s bands from Ba Sing Se. Or maybe it was both. It was probably both considering they were playing a plethora of tunes from different nations and regions. Everyone seemed pretty pleased by the music selection and had taken to the dance floor with their partners.

Zuko was hiding in the corner with Mai and Ty Lee.

Zuko knew as the Fire Lord he would be expected to dance at some point. Not by Aang and Katara, they’d never do that to him, but there were so many strangers here and there was probably some important person here who would start whispers that the Fire Lord had insulted the Avatar by not dancing at his wedding and they needed to start war preparations again. Zuko didn’t know anything about weddings but he was pretty sure that was a thing. Probably. Maybe. And for peace’s sake, he’d dance. Probably. Maybe.

It was just that he didn’t want to? It wasn’t even entirely because he didn’t know how to. He didn’t really have any problems with dancing. He’d dabbled in some of the cultural restoration efforts that involved dancing directly. It just didn’t seem appealing in the slightest. Earth Kingdom officials and royalty were swaying their partners, Water Tribesmen were spinning each other around, and Air Acolytes were leaning against each other, all in tune to the gentle melody. It was nice but he and Mai just weren’t like that.

“Come on,” Ty Lee complained for the umpteenth time, tugging on their hands. “You have to come dance!”

“We don’t have to do anything,” Mai responded, leaning even further into Zuko as if to prove a point. Zuko didn’t complain.

Ty Lee frowned, her grip on both of them slackening a bit. “What’s wrong with dancing? I mean, I know the Fire Nation never really allowed dancing much but we used to do it all the time at home. And in the circus! It’s fun.”

“This looks like the farthest thing from fun,” Zuko commented and gestured vaguely at the mass of men and women before them. “It’s all so… slow. And romantic.”

“And boring,” Mai added helpfully.

“And boring,” Zuko agreed.

Ty Lee pouted for a moment before a look of excitement flashed across her face. “Wait here. I’ve got an idea.”

She was gone before Zuko could protest. Zuko reached out with his newly freed hand and called after her but she’d already vanished into the crowd of people. He frowned a bit and slumped against the pillar he and Mai were hiding by. He didn’t really want to dance but that didn’t mean he didn’t want to be around Ty Lee. She was a constant presence in his life these days and it felt odd to not have her around, even with Mai there.

“Should we go after her?” Mai asked, plucking an hors d'oeuvres off a passing server’s tray to pop into her mouth. She immediately made a face. “Ew. Vegetables. They’re not even cooked.”

“Air Nomads are vegetarian,” Zuko reminded her softly, though he probably didn’t need to. His brow furrowed a bit as he glanced back at the crowd, worried. Should they look for Ty Lee? She’d told them to wait here so maybe she would be back. How long was too long? She wasn’t in danger or anything but-

Zuko didn’t have the chance to finish his thought. Ty Lee barreled past them with the speed of a cat mongoose and the power of an elephant gorilla. She snatched up both of their hands, catching them both off guard, and dragged them both across the venue toward the dance floor.

Zuko stumbled a bit but found his footing quickly and made a noise of surprise. “Ty Lee!”

“Was this your master plan?” Mai said, her voice dripping with sarcasm, when they came to a stop and Ty Lee freed them of her grip. “To grab us when we weren’t paying attention?”

“No, silly,” Ty Lee giggled. “This was my plan.”

Nothing happened for a moment, prompting Mai and Zuko to look around in confusion. They were just kind of standing in the middle of the crowd, people dancing around them. Slowly, the song came to an end and Zuko opened his mouth to ask Ty Lee what was happening but was distracted by the most strange noise.

It was a tsungi horn, he knew that much after having played for years, but he’d never heard it make a noise like the one the band was drawing out of it. It was… hard. Not soft like most music was. And the horn’s toots were coming out sharp and abruptly, accompanied by the melody of some kind of flute. Combined with drums, some stringed devices, and some other instruments Zuko didn’t recognize, they made the strangest tune Zuko had ever heard.

“What is this?” Zuko asked, looking at Ty Lee. “And what are you doing with you hands?”

“I’m dancing!” Ty Lee said with a beaming smile. She put her hands up in the air and twirled herself around as if to prove a point. “I thought you might like this music more.”

“I don’t know if this is music,” Zuko responded with uncertainty as Ty Lee began wiggling her shoulders, “and I’m not sure if what you’re doing is dancing.”

“Isn’t music usually slower?” Mai said as she watched the people around them become inactive. Some were moving like Ty Lee, seemingly happy with the change, but most of them seemed as confused as Zuko. “Don’t you usually, I don’t know, hold your partner and shuffle around?”

“No, silly,” Ty Lee replied as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. “You don’t have to dance with a partner! That’s just the fancy stuff. Most people just dance with their friends.”

“With their friends?”

“For fun!”

“For… fun?”

“I’ll show you,” Ty Lee said cheerfully and took both their hands. She pulled on them, more gently this time, and kept moving her body. Zuko and Mai exchanged a glance, unsure what to do, but shrugged and decided to indulge their friend. Ty Lee was moving fluidly but it didn’t have any structure to it like most dances Zuko knew of. She was just… rolling in tune with the music. It was a few minutes that Zuko realized the rhythm had traveled down her arms to their joined hands and he was mimicking her movements. Ty Lee looked thrilled. “That’s the spirit!”

“This is… not horrible,” Mai said as she allowed her free arm to join in the other half of her body. Without Ty Lee’s influence, her movements were a bit more awkward but it didn’t look totally ridiculous. Ty Lee looked equally excited by her efforts and began shaking her arms around with a bit more energy than she had before.

“I thought you’d like this more,” Ty Lee said, her voice a bit quieter. Zuko’s heart softened a bit when he noticed the nervousness fading off her face. He usually brushed off her exuberance but she really wanted them to have a good time. Affection for his friend welled up inside of him. “I don’t really like slow music myself. I don’t want to slow dance with some random guy. I’d much rather dance with you two.”

“What’s different about this music?” Zuko asked, trying to warm up his body a bit so he looked less like a flailing pig chicken. “How come everyone’s dancing differently now?”

“Fast music is more freeing,” Ty Lee said without a tone of doubt and lifted up both her arms so Zuko and Mai could spin her around. She leaned back dramatically, trusting them not to let her fall. “There aren’t any steps and you don’t have to worry about stepping on anyone’s feet and you don’t have to worry about who you’re with. You can just let the music take over and let your body move.”

Zuko smiled a bit as Ty Lee bounced back up from her dip. He’d never seen three people dance like this with their hands joined but Ty Lee was somehow rocking it despite his and Mai’s hesitation. He’d gladly accept some discomfort for her.

“Looks fun!” a familiar voice said, breaking the awkward jig the three of them shared, and Sokka was suddenly on Zuko’s back. “Can we join?”

“Get off,” Zuko complained good naturedly and shrugged Sokka off him, the other man careful not to accidentally choke the Fire Lord while unhooking his arms from their place around his neck and shoulders. Sokka grinned at him bashfully and Zuko noticed Suki not far behind him. “You two know how to dance?”

“Sure!” Sokka replied. “The Fire Lord’s advisor and guard go to a lot of fancy events, don’t we? We know all kinds of dances!”

“I don’t think what you do counts as dancing,” Suki commented, looking amused. Sokka stuck her tongue out at her and began dancing with a look in his eye telling the world he was ready to prove her wrong.

Sokka’s dance was… different from Ty Lee’s. He moved his whole body, shoulders to hips, in a rippling motion like a wave was going through him. It looked odd. Zuko wondered if it was a Water Tribe thing but judging by the Water Tribe spectators’ stares, it was not.

“You look stupid,” Toph said, pushing past a group of young Earth Kingdom governors who were dancing nearby. By Agni, they were dancing so much better than Sokka. “My feet could see it all the way across the room.”

“We’re outside,” Sokka responded but didn’t let her snipes kill his spirit. In fact, it seemed to only encourage him and his arms joined in. “Come on, guys! Don’t leave me hanging.”

Ty Lee took up his offer in a heartbeat, letting go of Mai and Zuko’s hands, and began dancing in a similar fashion, though she looked far better doing it. Zuko shared a look with Mai and Suki before joining. Mai and Zuko were a bit slow and awkward but Suki didn’t say anything and matched their energy without hesitation.

The music picked up a bit and even Toph joined in, though her movements looked a bit too much like earthbending forms for Zuko to feel safe calling it dancing. The others certainly noticed because Sokka and Ty Lee exchanged a glance and began mimicking water and firebending moves. They were far from accurate, much flashier and they lacked power, but Zuko had to admit the fluidity and spunk they performed them with made them look like real dance moves.

“I now understand why Katara used to be so obsessed with doing this stuff,” Sokka said as he wiggled his arms like a current before swooshing them to one side. Zuko was pretty sure that wasn’t a real waterbending move but Sokka looked too happy for him to care.

Ty Lee gave a few punches before shifting her feet into the footing of a firebender and arching her hands up and spinning around. “I wish I was a firebender. It would be so fun to dance while firebending! Ooh, I wish I had fire like Zuko! Imagine how pretty it would be to dance with rainbow fire swirling around you!”

Zuko opened his mouth to explain that wasn’t how it works but was interrupted by Toph.

“Aang and Katara are coming over,” Toph announced after a bit as the dancers around them parted a bit for the bride and groom.

“Damn right we are,” Aang said good naturedly. He and Katara had changed out of their wedding attire and into something simpler and loose-fitting. “You guys are dancing without us?”

“Maybe!” Ty Lee responded cheekily. “I was just saying how cool it would be to dance with rainbow fire like Zuko’s!”

“Oh that would be cool!” Aang said, eyes lighting up. “Zuko, you should do it!”

“First of all, it’s not rainbow fire. It’s just multicolored.”

“Rainbow,” Sokka said through a cough.

“-And second, I don’t know how to dance, let alone with firebending.”

“What do you mean you don’t know how to dance? We learned the Dancing Dragon together!” Aang exploded without even a pause. He gasped loudly. “We should do the Dancing Dragon together! Katara, can I do the Dancing Dragon with Zuko?”

“You don’t need my permission,” she said with a smile and a step back. “Knock yourself out.”

“Not literally,” Suki piped up, feeling the need to clarify which was probably a good idea in front of someone as knuckleheaded as Aang.

Zuko swallowed nervously and glanced at his friends. Mai shot him a smirk while Ty Lee gushed out her excitement. Sokka just gave him a thumbs up and the next thing Zuko knew, he was standing beside Aang.

They started on one foot, arms spread apart and palms facing the sky. Zuko could feel the sun’s warm rays spark something deep inside him. He took a deep breath and took a step away from Aang.

Both of them shifted into a lunge, pivoting quickly in a circle. With their breathes, ribbons of colorful fire came to life, twisting around their arms with each step. Zuko flet them licking his bare arms as his sleeves rode up with the steps but the fire didn’t burn.

Then came a sharp punch and a wide sweep of the arms. The fire followed the motion and rolled off him like a wave. The heat was oddly comforting on his tight shoulders.

A final thrust of the hand and the two met at the end of the circle, arching sideways to let their fists touch. Colorful fire burst from the contact, briefly engulfing them both before dying down with a few well controlled breaths from either side.

Zuko hadn’t even noticed the spectators until the clapping began.

He jerked upright in a motion unbecoming of a Fire Lord and scratched the back of his head awkwardly. When had all these people gathered around? Had he really gotten that caught up in the dance? It was so easy to lose himself in his firebending.

People from all nations were applauding, even Fire Nation natives. They were a bit slower but the twist of distaste was merely an echo on their faces. They seemed proud. It was oddly validating, though Zuko didn’t want it to be. Maybe this was a good thing.

Aang was suddenly hugging him. “That was awesome! We need to do that more.”

Zuko couldn’t help but smile. “We do. We really do.”

Part 2

“I’m bored.”

“I know.”

“Let’s do something.”

“I’m working.”

“So?”

It was about a month after the wedding and life in the Fire Nation had returned to normal at the palace. Zuko was far less busy than he was when the war initially ended but he and all his friends were still pretty busy. Over the past few years, more and more of his companions had taken jobs with him in Caldera City. Suki and Ty Lee were here because the Kyoshi Warriors now served as guards to the throne, Mai was here because Zuko and Ty Lee were here but her sharp mind for politics quickly landed her a position as advisor, and Sokka had taken the role of Southern Water Tribe Ambassador before deciding he liked it here and took a more permanent position at Zuko’s side.

Zuko liked having his friends around but also that meant he didn’t get nearly as much work done. They were fantastic but they were equally distracting.

At the moment, Mai was leaning against the doorframe of Zuko’s office. To be honest, she kind of reminded Zuko of an outdoor cat-owl, drifting in and out as she pleased. It was a nice change from Ty Lee’s happy polar bear dog personality, Sokka’s badger falcon-like drive when he wanted attention, or Suki’s… speaking of which, where were they? He’d just spent nearly two hours working uninterrupted. Normally one of them would’ve come to bother him by now.

Sighing, Zuko rose from his seat. “Fine. Did you have anything in mind?”

Expectedly, Mai just shrugged.

“Let’s go find the others,” Zuko decided and Mai didn’t protest.

Dramatically, Zuko offered her his arm like a lord would to a court lady. Mai just snorted and flicked him in the side of the head. Zuko laughed and the two began floating down the palace’s halls at a leisurely pace. Both were familiar with it from their childhoods but it had changed a lot since that brief time they returned during the war. With Azula and Ozai gone and new friends in their place, it felt much more like home. Still, sometimes it was nice to walk down these red clad halls and remember the good times, however rare they were.

They found their way to the courtyard. It wasn’t the same one with the fountain Mai and Zuko had fallen into as children nor was it the one that Zuko had spent countless hours feeding turtle ducks. No, this one was marked by memories of sparring. Not with Azula though, with Sokka and his sword, Suki and her fans, and Ty Lee with her acrobatics. And now, apparently, with dancing.

“What are you doing?” Zuko asked as he and Mai came to a halt at the entrance. “Is that one of Aang’s staffs?”

“Yup!” Ty Lee said and swung the staff around to demonstrate, forcing Sokka and Suki to duck to avoid being boxed in the head. “Ooh! Mai! We were just going to come looking for you. We need your knives.”

Mai already had them out. “What for?”

“So you know how it was super fun dancing at Aang and Katara’s wedding?” Sokka asked, toying with his boomerang absently. Zuko suddenly noticed Suki had her fans out too. What were they doing with weapons? And why did they need so many? “We were just talking about it and Ty Lee mentioned she got her hands on some scrolls awhile back with some dances so we decided to look through them and give ‘em a shot.”

“And what do you need me for?”

“I found this dance the Avatar used to do with his teachers,” Ty Lee explained, grabbing Zuko’s interest. “It’s this dance that combines all the elements. It looks really fun so we’re trying it!”

“Wait, then wouldn’t you need me for that?” Zuko asked, confused. “Since, y’know, I’m the Avatar’s firebending teacher?”

Ty Lee giggled. “No, silly. We’ve only got firebenders in the palace. You can’t do a dance with four elements if you just have fire.”

“Which is why we decided to try it with weapons instead,” Suki said, flipping her fans around. She shot Zuko a teasing look. “See, nonbenders can do everything just as well as benders can.”

Zuko matched her look, not missing a beat. “You know I use swords, right?”

“Oh hush.” Ty Lee shuffled him off to the side and rolled out the scroll for Mai to look at. “See, look. Everyone kind of does the same dance but everyone represents their own nation. They bend their own element in their own style but then when the music changes, they switch to another style.”

“So that’s why you have Aang’s staff? We’re going to represent each element with weapons instead?”

“Yup! The only problem is that we don’t have any music.”

“We’ve got that covered,” Sokka said and shot Zuko a look the firebender couldn’t quite catch the meaning of. Zuko stared back and tipped his head slightly, confused, before he noticed Suki pushing something across the courtyard.

“Where did you get that?” he spluttered in surprise. “How did you get that? And who told you about that?!”

“Your uncle,” Suki purred in a teasing tone. She leaned on the instrument casually, careful not to put too much weight on it, and smiled with the same look on her features that Sokka had. Zuko suddenly understood it’s meaning. “Last time we visited him, he said you’re good on the tsungi horn. When we got back, I just had to find one.”

“No, no, no. No.”

“Yes.”

“No…”

“Yes…”

“Come on, Zuko.” Ty Lee looked up at Zuko, hands clasped behind her back, with the most endearing look on her face she could muster. “Please? It’ll be fun!”

Zuko felt himself caving. By Agni, he was so weak. “Fine…”

“Yay!” Ty Lee sprang up and clapped happily while Sokka and Suki whooped and clapped their hands in victory. Zuko found himself smiling. He could stomach some embarrassment to make them happy for a little while.

He tried not to sigh as he settled down on the stool next to the tsungi horn and prepared to play. It had been a long time but the feeling was familiar and the tune came to him easily. Plus, he was a much better firebender than he had back when he’d played for his crew on the ship so he could hold his breaths much longer and steadier. It wasn’t perfect but it passed as music and that was enough for Zuko.

He played a tune his mother had taught him. She’d been a beautiful singer, he remembered. Noren had told her she loved musicals back when the two performed together. Zuko hadn’t particularly liked her musical instruction as a child but now he looked back and wished he’d been a bit more keen to spend those moments with his mother. Music was one of the few connections she had to her time in theatre and those hours spent with Zuko were her way of showing him her old life without revealing the truth.

He should visit her soon. He wouldn’t bring a tsungi horn but maybe he could teach Kiyi some of his mother’s favorite songs, if she didn’t know them already.

Her favorites were always romantics. Ballroom dances for young lovers, songs from dramas telling the tale of two lovers, melodies to play in the background of celebrations- He understood why but none of them felt appropriate for the moment. He wished he knew more songs. Those songs were all he knew so his choices were limited. Still, he played.

Ty Lee, Sokka, Mai, and Suki began dancing. They were slow, getting a feel for the dance. Occasionally, their eyes would flicker back to the scroll. They couldn’t read it from that distance but Zuko could see the heistance on their faces. None of them were dancers, except maybe Ty Lee, but they were warriors so with weapons in hand, they didn’t hesitate for long.

Zuko had long suspected Ty Lee had some Air Nomad heritage with her grey eyes and flighty movements. Right now, holding Aang’s glider, he had no doubt. She was light on her feet, toes barely skimming the ground as she leapt. She didn’t seem terribly familiar with the glider and she treated it more like a bo staff than anything else but she quickly found the opening mechanism and soon the glider was paralleling her airy motions.

Sokka was normally a truly horrible dancer but he always danced with boldness. That didn’t waver with a boomerang in hand but right now, he looked a lot more confident and peaceful than Zuko had ever seen on the dance floor. His movements were fluid, his boomerang spinning out of his hand with an easy flick of his wrist. He turned and caught it with his other hand like he was born to do it.

Suki always fought with sharp, aggressive movements and this dance highlighted that part of her training. Her golden fans gleamed in the sunlight and her heavy steps kicked up dust. Where Sokka’s arms were loose, hers were tense as she jutted her fan out in a way that would slice an enemy’s throat clean open. Zuko thought she never looked more beautiful.

Mai had even less time to prepare than the others but she looked just as stunning. Her knives flipped through her fingers with lightning speed as she shifted into new stances, punching her arms out as if driving her knives into an imaginary foe. Her feet moved with the steadiness and skill of a firebender, never losing her balance, as she weaved around the others in perfect harmony.

It was kind of hard to watch them all while he was so focused on his song. They danced in a circle, mostly not bumping into each other. Zuko guessed the Avatar would normally be in the middle but they looked perfect with just the four of them representing the Avatar cycle. Their brows were furrowed in concentration but they looked like they were having fun and Zuko suddenly realized how inappropriate this song was for something like this.

What was it that Ty Lee had said at Katara and Aang’s wedding? By Agni, that felt like a long time ago. Fast music was freeing. Slow music was romantic but fast music was supposed to be fun. Something you could dance to with your friends.

The Fire Nation had never been a country of creatives, not now and not in Zuko’s youth. They were always traditional and taught their young to stick to those traditions flawlessly. But now, in this moment watching his friends float together in such a wondrous way, Zuko felt the overwhelming urge to deviate from tradition and make the song his own.

The spark of creativity pushed him to take shorter breaths. The tune came out louder and the notes were faster. His feet moved, adding the soft sound of his boots hitting the earth in rhythm with the song. It drifted away from a slow romance to something livelier and more spirited.

His friends seemed confused by the change in music but didn’t let it stop them. They shifted their stances, somewhat surprising their musician. Ty Lee had said earlier that the benders in the dance would change their style. Zuko wasn’t really sure what she meant by that but he was glad he hadn’t messed up their dance by changing his manner of playing.

Ty Lee became less bouncy and more flowy. She stopped skipping around and kept her feet on the ground. She snapped the glider open and began twisting it overhead, letting it ride the air like a boat on the ocean’s waves. Her muscles seem more relaxed and she let the music guide her.

Sokka’s movements became more rooted. He stopped throwing his boomerang, instead wielding it more like an axe. He stomped, like Suki had before though he wasn’t as aggressive as her. He was passionate, like a Water Tribe warrior, rather than fierce like a Kyoshi Warrior.

Suki’s dancing gained more of an edge. Swipes and stomps were replaced by kicks and punches. Equally powerful blows, just different. She closed her fans, wielding them more like blades before snapping them open to arch widely over her head, and lashed out with sweeping kicks.

It was strange seeing Mai move like Ty Lee but it suited her. She shifted onto one foot, balancing carefully, and she waved her knives. They still looked just as deadly as she jutted them out but the motions leading up to them were a lot more relaxed and less conformed.

Smiles had appeared on their faces, making that flitter of nervousness in Zuko’s chest melt away. He hadn’t even noticed it was there until it was gone. Knowing that he was doing something right, Zuko put more of himself into the tune.

Ty Lee’s feet fit the ground, hard and flat. She let her arms spread far apart, muscles rippling in a way Zuko rarely saw. The glider, for the first time, looked like a true weapon. It closed and began moving erratically with each step its wielder took, like it was ready to box someone’s nose in.

Sokka seemed to swell up like a flame as he became more explosive. He wielded his boomerang like an extension of himself, flipping it quickly between his hands. His feet slid across the surface of the ground, leaving slick prints in the sandy earth, while he swung his arms with the power and grace of a komodo flamingo.

Suki became more nimble and she waved her fans the way a court lady might to cool herself rather than like a sharp edged weapon. For the first time in the whole dance, she leapt and let her feet leave the floor. It was almost like she was skipping on chunks of earth, which she had done before with how much Toph liked flinging things around with her earthbending. Mai began flipping her knives again but this time it flowed through the air alongside her movements rather than sliced. She toed the ground seamlessly, steady in her motions, and seemed to drift alongside the others like a piece of wood in the sea.

If they were benders, this probably would’ve been harder for them. They were dancing in the styles of their opposite elements: Ty Lee like an Earth Kingdom native, Sokka like a Fire Nation man, Suki like an Air Nomad, and Mai like a Water Tribe warrior. Inexperienced and a bit unsure of themselves, they were still a bit awkward but no more than they were in the previous element of the cycle. It was still balanced and even in a way that benders could never hope to achieve. Something could be learned from this but Zuko didn’t dwell on it. It was time to change the music again.

Zuko tried to focus on the harmony he saw before him. His beloved friends, the four people he loved more than anyone or anything in this world, were representing the four elements as one. Truly, it was beautiful and brought warm feelings to his chest. He didn’t have the skill to wander from his roots and lessons too much but he took a few liberties and tried playing in a more foreign style, mixing in notes he knew traditionally came from other nations’ songs.

Ty Lee took to a Fire Nation style easily, swinging the glider like glades and crouching into elegant yet deadly poses. It looked kind of odd to see someone normally so sweet poised in such a manner but it suited her well. Her grip on the staff changed and she let the wings flare at the peak of each jab.

Sokka’s leaps weren’t nearly as graceful as the others with his heavier, stockier build. He let his boomerang fly far with each jump and landed neatly each time, never failing to catch his beloved weapon.

Suki waved her fans, open this time, in a way mimicking the current. She spread her arms wide, fan in each hand, and walked backwards, synced with the rhythm. She never tripped, trusting the flow of the others to guide her.

The heels of Mai’s shoes left deep imprints in the ground with each step she took. The aggression of this new gait suited her. She was always cunning and she really seemed to be owning it right now. She fisted her knives, thrusting her hands down in unison with her feet, and showed off the power in her body that she rarely had the chance to display.

Zuko slowed down a bit, the tsungi horn’s noise becoming softer and quieter. It wasn’t slow or sluggish but it was still steady and strong. His friends changed their style for the final time. Ty Lee once again became light and airy, Sokka became fluid and flowy, Suki became bold and aggressive, and Mai became sharp and ruthless. They’d returned to normal but they’d proven normal wasn’t all they are.

The song ended and Zuko lifted his mouth from the instrument to take a gasp of air, letting glorious oxygen fill his lungs. Maybe it wasn’t a good idea to go for that long, even with the lung capacity of a firebender, but it was worth it to see the dance come to an end and his friends break their formation to cheer and hug each other.

“How’d we do?” Sokka asked, turning to Zuko. He padded over to him and sat on the ground in front of him. Zuko suddenly noticed how out of breath he was and that his sweat had plastered his clothes to his skin. Who knew dancing could be so tiresome? Not Zuko. “I know I slipped up a few times there but I feel really good about it!”

“You guys did well,” Zuko said, matching the other man’s smile, and he meant it. Yeah, none of them were dancers. Their dancing wasn’t elegant and it wasn’t smooth and they looked lost sometimes but in Zuko’s eyes, they were perfect. “You adapted that dance so well. It’s hard imagining what the original was supposed to look like.”

“I think the scroll said it was supposed to represent balance,” Ty Lee said, looking around for the discarded scroll. Suki found it first and picked it up for her. Ty Lee blinked gratefully and took it from her. “I bet it looks really pretty with all the fire and the water and the earth and the air and everything all mixed together!”

“It looked, um, pretty with the weapons,” Zuko told her, stumbling over his words a bit. He wasn’t used to complimenting people but sitting here with so much affection in his heart, he couldn’t bear to hold back. They deserved to know. “Maybe even better. I know the nations are usually remembered for their bending but I think it’s important to remember nonbenders are just as important. It really shows you guys understand the different countries if you can change the way you use your weapons.”

“It does, doesn’t it?” Sokka said boastfully. He shuffled on the ground a bit so he was leaning against Zuko’s knees. Zuko let his hands rest in Sokka’s hair. “Man, wait until Aang sees this! Who needs the Avatar when you’ve got us!”

Suki and Ty Lee laughed while Mai smirked. She looked a bit thoughtful. “Maybe it would be beneficial for the four nations to see a dance like this. With bending. Maybe we should revisit the Fire Nation Dance Restoration Movement.”

“Really?” Zuko exclaimed, jostling Sokka slightly as his back straightened. “You of all people are interested in dance?”

Mai shrugged. “You think it’s a bad idea?”

“No. I’m just surprised. I thought you didn’t like dancing.”

“I don’t,” Mai responded and sat down beside Sokka. “I just think… The dance is really beautiful. And I think it would be a lot more beautiful of the people who were actually meant to do it used it for its intended purpose.”

“And if those people weren’t a bunch of amateurs,” Suki added, getting down to her level so she could knock shoulders with her. She reached out with one arm and knocked Zuko’s stool out from under him, making him fall with a yelp. “You better get on that, Fire Lord!”

Ty Lee caught him before he could hit the ground. “Don’t bully him into making him do stuff for him!”

“Yeah. Don’t bully me!”

“Being nice is a much better way to get him to do what you want.”

“Hey!” Zuko complained but didn’t protest when Ty Lee plopped him down next to Sokka and threw herself onto their laps.

“It’s true,” Sokka said, shifting so his knees didn’t dig into Ty Lee’s back. She’d done this before, they were all used to it and even welcomed it at this point. Maybe she was the most catlike of the group. Mai never did anything like this. “You let all four of us get away with everything.”

“Better not let your enemies know your weakness!” Suki cracked, playing with Ty Lee’s hair absently.

“Yeah, well, if any of my enemies find out my weakness, they have to get through you guys before using it on me.”

“Touché.”

“Do you think the other nations were like this once?” Ty Lee asked, reaching up to poke Mai in the cheek. She didn’t look amused but the quirk of her lips betrayed her. “Like us, I mean. Right now.”

“Maybe,” Mai responded. “I hope so. This is nice.”

“It is,” Zuko agreed. He looked around at his friends, all curled up together, and knew he’d savor this moment forever. “It really is.”

Part 3

When Zuko had played the tsungi horn and watched Mai, Ty Lee, Sokka, and Suki dance, he’d thought they’d looked beautiful.

How could he not? He loved them and he’d always think they were beautiful regardless of how practiced their dancing was or how much they slipped up. But what had stood out to him was how they’d mastered the Avatar’s Cycle dance. Even as nonbenders, they’d captured it’s true essence. The dance was about balance and taking another nation’s style and making it your own and they’d executed it brilliantly.

But as much as Zuko respected their spontaneity and adaptations, it really didn’t compare to the real deal.

They had to still change a few things of course. Aang’s airbending teacher wasn’t present and Aang didn’t really want the dance to focus on the role of the Avatar which meant it was just the four of them dancing in a ring like their nonbending friends had.

Ty Lee and Sokka had looked so excited when they proposed the festival to Zuko and Aang. That was months ago and finally it was all coming together. Mai, Ty Lee, Sokka, and Suki had put so much time into organizing this event and Zuko, Aang, Katara, and Toph had spent so much time perfecting this dance. Now it was time for the nations to see the fruits of their labor.

The festival was held in one of the former Fire Nation colonies on the Earth Kingdom mainland. It was a neutral ground that welcomed visitors from all three countries. Zuko had been nervous people weren’t going to want to travel all this way but right now, looking out at the crowd gathered around the stage, he wondered how he ever could’ve believed such a thing.

Aang stepped out of the shadows first, addressing the audience in his usual, endearing way. He joked a bit, got a few laughs, before sobering up and properly addressing them. “As you guys know, we’ve been trying really hard to restore some of the dances the Fire Nation had in my time but today I’d like to share another dance. One not claimed by any nation. It’s called the Avatar’s Cycle and I’ll need my teachers for that.”

That was their cue to move. Toph didn’t hesitate and stepped up to join Aang in a heartbeat. Zuko and Katara lingered a moment longer, exchanging a glance of mutual reassurance, and followed her to their places.

The music began and they began to move.

Zuko started with firebending forms. They were adapted a bit to seem more rhythmic and visually appealing but they still worked. Flames sprung to life around him, just as he sensed the others’ elements join them, as he took a big step and let himself be swept into the cycle.

A long time ago, rage was the fuel for his fire. Now it was passion. Love, respect, and understanding. That was what the dragons had taught him and what he’d carried with him all these years. Every day he felt the sun rise, anytime he felt a candle light flicker, anytime he saw the spark of life in someone he cared about, every breath he took- These things were his universal truths.

These truths made his fire bloom with beautiful colors as he lashed out in fierce punches and kicks. That couldn’t be helped, firebenders were quick to fight by nature. The breath was what was important though. With steady exhales, Zuko’s flames spiraled and twisted around him, occasionally mingling with Toph’s earth and Aang’s air on either side of him, as he danced. The burning was intense but not hostile. It found tranquility alongside the other elements. Zuko hoped the spectators would understand how meaningful the colors of his flames and its unity with the rest of the cycle was.

The Fire Nation was so angry and that anger was paralleled in their flames. Zuko was once like them, maybe angrier, but now it just seemed so distant. Joy filled his punches and the sweeps of his leg, not rage. The music guided his steps, not hate. His fire was still as strong as any of theirs, maybe stronger.

The music shifted and so did the four benders. Fire became air, air became water, water became earth, earth became fire- Though not literally. Zuko was still bending fire but he was firebending like an airbender.

He tried to think of freedom. He focused on the music and tried to let his mind go blank. It was hard for someone with roots so deep in the Fire Nation to forget tradition and conformity and let go but the music helped. It was fast and upbeat, easy to move to.

Zuko’s fire became a little less controlled as his feet began to touch the ground less. The fire moved alongside him rather than because of him and he let it come a little bit closer to his body than he usually did. He knew he wasn’t going to burn himself so he let the fire do as it pleased.

He took deeper breaths. He could feel his inner flame grow and shrink with each one. The tendrils of fire matched his breaths, swelling and deflating like it was alive as well. It probably was. Fire was just an extension of himself, after all. A part of him not limited to a physical form.

The next element in the cycle didn’t come easily to any of the benders, except Aang but that wasn’t surprising. Fire was supposed to be sharp, heated, and brilliant. Water was rounded, mysterious, and relaxed. But both elements had a hunger and wildness to them that couldn’t be satiated and those similarities were easy to draw on.

Zuko’s movements became more fluid as he mimicked waterbending forms. His fire wobbled a bit but not nearly as much as Katara’s water or Toph’s earth. Uncle’s lessons in learning from the other elements had done Zuko well. He tried to recall the steps in redirecting lightning, taking control of the chi flowing directly through his body. His fire began moving in the same pattern. Instead of surrounding his hands, it trickled like a stream downward before he pulled it back to trickle down again.

Water was one of Zuko’s favorite elements. Not in his youth, of course, but he’d grown to appreciate it over the years. It was steady like earth but also adaptable like air yet it still had some of fire’s spirit. Waterbenders could heal but they could also turn water into jagged, frozen weapons. The diversity and variety was astounding. It’s potential to help or hurt and the delicate balance of its nature made it beautiful in Zuko’s eyes.

He tried to think of change. How he’d changed. Once young and innocent, then young and angry, now aging and filled with adoration for his friends and for his people. The fire followed his hands, flowing like his chi inside of him, and rippled like the surface of the sea.

This was the hardest part of the dance and all four dancers had to slow a bit. The cycle continued but the buzz of concentration surrounded them as they used forms their element was not built for. Then came the next element and ease washed over them once again.

Zuko had to admit he understood why Toph loved throwing rocks around so much. It was fun to stomp and roar and throw weight around. Zuko’s fire seemed to think so too. It seemed to flake off him, embers sparking each time his foot hit the ground and spraying from his hands with each thrust.

Earth was supportive and grounding. Zuko tried to think of the people who had inspired those kinds of feelings for him. His uncle, the Gaang, his friends, his advisors, his mother... Just the thought of them made him feel full. His fire filled out a bit more and, still spitting embers, followed his heavy steps without fault.

They reformed to their initial styles of bending as the song began winding down. The fire sprang back to life a bit more as Zuko’s movements became familiar and seemed to burn a bit brighter. Everyone else seemed happy to regain full control of their elements and they stepped through the last motions of the dance.

The four benders struck a final pose, each breathing hard, and the crowd exploded into applause.

Zuko, Katara, and Toph stepped back to let Aang address the nations. Beforehand, Aang had asked if Zuko wanted to say anything as the Fire Lord but Zuko was happy to leave the speeches to the Avatar.

“This dance once symbolized the unity between the four nations and the friendship we share,” Aang explained once the clapping died down. “I think that’s important more now than ever which is why my friends and I wanted to share this dance with you. The war is over but there are still barriers between us. In my time, music and dance went beyond borders and I hope today’s festival can teach all of you what I’ve always known deep in my heart.”

The crowd cheered again and Aang turned to his friends with a look like a weight had been taken off his back. Katara embraced him. “You guys did great!”

“Can’t compare to the masters’ though,” Sokka called from where he was sitting in the back with Suki, Mai, and Ty Lee. He slung his arms over his shoulders and shot Aang a cheeky grin. “Nonbender gaang rules!”

Aang laughed. “Do you guys want to get out there and show some nonbenders your moves?”

He immediately blanched. “No way.”

Ty Lee giggled at his reaction. “How about you four? You guys going to get out there and teach some people how to dance?”

“Nuh-uh. I’m sitting down and taking a nap,” Aang declared. “Scoot over.”

Suki and Sokka laughed as Aang tried to push them down on the bench. Katara sighed and shook her head while Toph joined in, pushing Ty Lee and Mai on the other side. Zuko couldn’t help but smile. “Maybe we should find a better place to rest than the stage? I think we planned on some of the bands playing from up here.”

“Ugh, fine,” Toph said, giving up much to Mai’s appreciation. “Lead the way, Fire Lord.”

“Gladly,” Zuko responded with a chuckle and dragged the others off the background of stage, despite their whines and groans. It’d been a good day for the nations and hopefully it’d get even better but for now, he just wanted to spend the afternoon relaxing with his friends.

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Author’s Note: I know the nonbenders should have performed as well but I didn’t want to be repetitive. Hope you enjoyed.