#she and her frank end up going back to their own universe at some point but the other frank gets a few days to have her back

[greasydumbfuck]

frank and his stupid girlfriend he hates

[inbarfink]

So one of the cool and interesting ways ‘Steven Universe’ used to try and balance being both a series of 11-minutes episodes that each have their own satisfying emotional resolution and being an overarching story with complicated character arcs that take multiple seasons to resolve is the… I’m going to call it the ‘Not Quite Right Lesson’ episodes. Episodes where a character kinda learns a Very Important Lesson… but a more careful and retrospective look at the situation shows that what they learned is not Quite the Right Thing for them. They internalized something in that adventure which just ended up causing more Emotional Troubles for themselves farther down the line.

‘The Test’ is the most classic example. 

As a standalone thing, it’s just a sweet episode about Steven learning to accept that his caretakers are also flawed and confused and figuring this shit up as they’re going along just like he is, and then doing a nice thing for their sake.

But looking back at this episode, it is quite obviously the nadir of Steven appointing himself as the Family Therapist and repressing all of his problems so he could better help the Gems’ with theirs. Like, there have been some early warning signs for this Complex, but this episode is the one that really cemented that idea in his mind and probably the reason it took him like the Entire Rest of the Show Including a Post-Finale Season to really untangle it.

But… also, I’ve been thinking a lot about the episode right after that, ‘Future Vision’. I think it’s also a very important ‘Not Quite Right Lesson Episode’ for the character of Garnet, and to some extent, the Crystal Gems as a whole. In many ways, it is to the CGs' character arcs' what 'the Test' is to Steven's.

So in this episode, Garnet reveals to Steven the fact that she has Future Vision. She hoped that telling Steven a little bit more about herself and being honest with him will lead to a greater understanding and a greater bond between them… but it backfired. It just led Steven to become a total paranoid, terrified wreck stuck in a total existential crisis.

And it seems like the lesson Garnet learned is that… she should’ve never taken that risk at all. That it would’ve been better for everyone if she just kept Steven ignorant of the truth forever.

Extremely reinforced with the ending of the episode, where Garnet chooses to once again hide an uncomfortable truth (that he just came very close to dying again) from Steven, for the sake of his own ‘peace of mind’.

So, like, the Gems were already hiding uncomfortable truths from Steven since day one. “If you could only know what we really are” and all of that. But I think… With the actual truth of Homeworld encroaching on them more and more at this point of the story arc, this would’ve been a great time for the Gems to reconsider their attitude and actually Explain to Steven What the Hell is Going On. 

But instead, I think Garnet saw the events of ‘Future Vision’ as a reinforcement of the idea that there’s just some things Steven is Better Off Not Knowing. Actually being frank with him about Homeworld and the Diamonds and the War right there and then, that would have just overwhelmed Steven with fears and worries and would’ve ended up doing nothing but hurting him. And Garnet can’t accept that possibility, not again.

And so, Garnet, alongside Amethyst and Pearl, keep all these truths from Steven as long as possible. Only revealing bits of information when they have to. For Amethyst it’s about her emotionally-evasive attitude (also, she legit doesn’t know all of that stuff herself). For Pearl it’s about how she learned to romanticize Rose’s own fucked-up obsession with secrets. For Garnet, with her usually very direct attitude and preference for the most straightforward solutions, I think it’s very much the events of ‘Future Vision’ that were still playing in her head every time she had the choice to actually Explain something to Steven and decided not to. 

But that, indeed, was Not Quite the Right Lesson. While being bluntly and directly told by Garnet all about the Many Ways He Could Die caused Steven to go into an anxiety spiral and an existential crisis for an episode - the way the Gems have been consistently secretive and evasive with Steven ended up causing him so much more emotional grief to him in the long run. As all of these secrets ended up revealed to him in the most surprising, dramatic and traumatizing way possible.

And the secretive attitudes ended up driving a wedge between Steven and the Gems. 

Even after they promised to be more honest with him. Because the sight of Steven crying on the roof that day is one that Garnet can easily move away from. Because Garnet’s Not Quite Right Lesson was almost as difficult for her to unlearn as Steven’s own. 

But after the big confrontation at the start of the Zoo Arc, Garnet ended up being the most upfront about the Crystal Gems’ history. Almost overeager to share what she knows about the past.

I mean also, again, Amethyst just has less to tell and Pearl is hiding secrets for reasons beyond her control - but I think it’s also important to consider from the perspective of Garnet’s arc.

Because the fallout of the Pink Diamond Reveal is very much centered around Garnet (or, well, Ruby and Sapphire). That was the Truth that was hidden from her 'for her own good'. And at the end of the day, despite all the grief that unveiling that truth has caused

It has also brought them, all of them, a lot closer.

There's a reason why 'the Truth' is Garnet's Final Missing Piece in the movie. It is as central to her character arc in the series as Lesbian AngstTM grief over lost love is to Pearl.

And still, some remnants of the Trauma of 'Future Vision' remained...

After all, even the very last episode of 'Future' was centered around the Gems once again trying to hide things from Steven (at that case, their turmoil about him leaving) for his own sake

Even though it once again just caused Steven a whole lot of grief.

It's maybe notable that at the end of this episode, Garnet, once again, tells Steven what's waiting for him in his Future...

[slitheringghost]

Making Sense of Lily's Last Moments

Lily Evans is textually and in fandom lauded for her sacrifice, but if you stop and really think about it, Lily's last moments are extremely bizarre, and, to be frank, make her seem kind of incompetent rather than the battle hardened soldier she was:

1. She doesn't have her wand on her when Voldemort is hunting her family down and they could be in danger any moment, which is insanely careless (James does have his, even though he leaves it for just a couple moments just as Voldemort arrives)

2. She wastes precious time blocking the door with cardboard boxes when she knows Voldemort can just wave them away and then more precious time trying to reason with Lord fucking Voldemort despite having wandless magic abilities, begging Voldemort for mercy when the entire reason they've been in hiding for a year is because they all know that, y'know, Voldemort has no mercy (And Lily, the Muggleborn, who has lost the most to this war, knows this better than anyone)

As I explain in this post, we have similar scenarios in which the characters do fight - Amelia Bones "put up a real fight” against Voldemort. Bellatrix uses knives as backup when disarmed of her wand. Dobby saves Harry via wandless magic in the same book we see Lily’s death and her controlling wandless magic at 9. Harry avoids curses from Voldemort/Bellatrix/other Death Eaters by hiding behind stuff. Bellatrix initially escapes Dumbledore who's the better duelist over Voldemort, etc. So while escape is highly unlikely, isn't impossible either. And there's no way Lily wouldn't go down fighting if she had the option.

There's a lot of moments in the series where we as readers go "well why didn't the characters just do XYZ instead, it's such an obvious answer!" especially with how limitless magic in HP is. But I generally assume there's some in-universe reason that would make the characters' choices make sense rather than just accepting that they're stupid and incompetent.

I'm constantly on my soapbox about how fandom should adapt the interpretation that Lily had a plan and did dark magic to save Harry and to defeat Voldemort, which is my personal reading of the text However, if I haven't convinced you on that (...yet), here are some possible ways to fill in the gaps and make Lily's choices seem less strange. (Even if you don't think the canon version makes her look incompetent, these are just fun ideas to play with regardless!)

Why Lily didn't have her wand

Lily's wand broke at some point during a particular dangerous experiment. We have canon examples - Ron's wand in CoS, Harry's in DH (How did Voldemort's wand survive the blast if his body evaporated and end up with him in GoF then? Who knows...). Realistically, the Order would prioritize getting Lily a new wand ASAP because it's so obviously necessary, so maybe it happened close-ish to Halloween and they didn't have the time or opportunity. It could be an interesting parallel to Harry's own powerlessness in DH without his phoenix wand.

@keepmycandleburning's explanation in her fic I'm quicker includes a dark interpretation of James and Lily's marriage, where James took Lily's wand hostage as a method of abuse.

Why Lily didn't fight with wandless magic

Despair and depression can sap your magical power - examples include Merope, Tonks, dementors affecting the magical power of Azkaban prisoners', etc. Perhaps Lily had post-partum depression which sapped her wandless powers, or even just the general despair of fear for Harry's and her own and her loved ones' lives, being trapped in hiding, her family and other friends being dead, etc. Also interesting because until then Lily had a safety net compared to a lot of other Muggleborns - who were in constant fear of having their wands taken away and no wandless magic to fall back on - due to her magical power, but she ultimately ends up deprived of that too.

I still think Lily would've tried, like, anything else other than the cardboard box thing and begging Voldemort, but at least this makes her actions less weird and more like the brilliant witch we know she was.

[sexysapphicshopowner]

🤎 Context/AU (Alternate Universe): Modern AU- You and Sevika are coworkers turned best friends at her mechanic shop. She's having a little trouble telling you...something. She uses her Secret Santa gift to you to tell you.

🤎 soft!mechanic!Sevika x bubbly!mechanic!reader

🤎 CW/TW: lesbians being lesbians, Sevika is Sevika but you make her feel things...she's not sure what to make of that, blossoming relationship, pining, christmas, santa, fluff, pet names, first kiss, mistletoe, suggestive talk (you gotta close your eyes though), no use of y/n, not proofread

🤎 A/N: I know I should be writing part 2 to 'Our Love' but this idea (and Sevika period) is giving me serious brain rot. Enjoy my probably ooc ass version of Sev. This sucks ass, butttt I'll make up for it with a better post later, I promise!!

🤎 Notes: most times, I will be explicitly writing a black reader. this is not one of those times. this is a fully ambiguous reader save for the gender- female. I'm a firm believer in the beauty of Sevika's scars so to keep them in this we'll say she's a surviving burn victim.

🤎 Word count: 2.7k

🤎 You were one of the first people to apply for work when Sev first opened her shop

🤎 It was basically run by the two of you the way you became quick friends

🤎 You had come in, already dressed in a worker's jumper, the top half off and wrapped around your waist with a black cami on

🤎 If it weren't for how you were dressed, she wouldn't have even realized you were here about the job posting because she was too busy focusing on how pretty she thought you were

🤎 You started the same day

🤎 It wasn't like you two didn't notice each other, but you both put into your heads that it would be unwise for you to let your attraction go anywhere due to you guys basically running a business together

🤎 So every time you caught yourself drooling over Sev as she worked under the hood of a car, muscles rippling, grease covering her in smudges here and there....whew boy, let's just say you take a lot of....water breaks

🤎 She's no better either

🤎 The way her eyes follow your curves every time you bend over to pick something up

🤎 She stares at your lips whenever the two of you are talking, be it inside or outside of work

🤎 Speaking of which, you guys hang out- a lot

🤎 Within the first month of you working for her, she had already invited you over for dinner- as a friend

🤎 Once you guys become besties, you're over her place more than your own

🤎 You two will talk about any and everything together

🤎 At some point you call yourself trying to ignore your raging crush on your best friend and get a girlfriend

🤎 It ends in you being cheated on serially

🤎 You go to cry at Sev's the night of the breakup

🤎 This is the first time....something happens between you two

🤎 You're both drunk of your asses, you moreso than her

🤎 She's watching you intently as you curse out your ex and ramble on about all the things she wasn't meeting the bare minimum with

🤎 It's not until you've been silent for a while, lips no longer moving, that Sevika looks back up to your eyes, the two of you now dangerously close to one another

🤎 "What's wrong? I was listening I swear," she starts to defend herself

🤎 Your pupils are blown, your eyes glassy and your face flushed- whether from the alcohol, your proximity to Sevika, or a combination of both, you were too inebriated to tell

🤎 You reached up, fingers just barely grazing her jaw as you spoke

🤎 "Your face is so....you're beautiful..." you slurred, fingers ghosting over the scars that were etched into the lower left side of her face, trailing down her neck and disappearing underneath the collar of her t-shirt.

🤎 Her ears burned red hot as she just let you talk

🤎 You continued to slur on, but she chalked it all up to you being drunk until you said some words that made her heart beat faster in her chest

🤎 "'M not....s'posed to....I think....I like you...." you whispered as you leaned against her chest

🤎 Had you been a little more sober, you would've noticed the way her heart started to beat out of her chest at your words.

🤎 Actually, had you been a little more sober...you wouldn't have said that, but shhhh....

🤎 You were out like a light afterward

🤎 It wasn't until that night that Sevika started to get worse with hiding her feelings for you

🤎 She was taking you on more...friend dates

🤎 Buying you flowers because she knew you liked them and "I know you don't have anyone to get them for you right now, so..."

🤎 If you have a hobby like reading or maybe art, she's buying you new sketchbooks and supplies or she's getting you the newest editions of your favorites- all signed because hello??? she's that type of bitch fr

🤎 She gets you guys matching bracelets for your birthday after 2 years of friendship- yes, it's been that long now

🤎 Then comes Christmastime

🤎 You talked her a long time ago into doing Secret Santa with the peeps at the shop

🤎 She doesn't really see the hype, not having much experience with Christmas and it's traditions given her rocky relationship with her father, but she does it (only for you though)

🤎 This is the second annual Secret Santa for the shop

🤎 Just your luck, you don't end up getting Sevika like you wanted

🤎 That's okay though because Sevika got you

🤎 And you know she got you because of how much she's suddenly stressing the secret part of Secret Santa

🤎 Last year, she told you who she had gotten immediately, the two of you picking out your gifts for your respective people together and everything

🤎 Not this year

🤎 This year she doesn't tell anyone, not you, not anybody in the shop- and you know it, you asked around about it

🤎 She racking her brain trying to decide what to get you

🤎 Doesn't help that you're starting to render her useless

🤎 You're catching her spacing out while staring at you more often

🤎 She gets this fuzzy feeling and this misty look in her eyes whenever you're around

🤎 You kinda have an idea that she likes you back, you play into it

🤎 6 months ago, you had started returning her actions- buying her little gifts, making her lunch everyday because she'd forgotten one so many times that now she 'doesn't even have to worry about it', you plan a few friend dates yourself, you cuddle up to her more often whenever you two have your annual movie nights every week

🤎 It's all making her think maybe you know, but...last she checked you kinda liked someone

🤎 You hadn't told her who, even though you knew it was her, but in her mind she was competing with whoever this mystery crush was

🤎 She just wants you to look at her the way she looks at you

🤎 Back to Secret Santa though

🤎 The Christmas party is fast approaching and you still have no clue what the hell you're gonna do to figure out what Sevika's gotten you since you know she's your Santa this year

🤎 You've tried begging, bribing, snooping, everything at this point

🤎 She's keeping her lips locked tighter than a chastity belt at this point

🤎 The party is being hosted at Sevika's penthouse this year

🤎 You aren't allowed to help set up

🤎 You are not happy about that fact

🤎 "Relax, sweets...can't have you snooping in the gifts while we put them under the tree. You might accidentally see whatever your Santa got for you," she teased, running her finger playfully down your cheek

🤎 It was a trick. Your gift is in fact not under the tree

🤎 You decide to play her at her own game

🤎 If she wants to flirt and do all of this stuff for you, you'll do a little something for her as well

🤎 Everybody knows Sevika's got a thing for your body

🤎 You two are best friends

🤎 Best friends.

🤎 You know...those best friends that share a bed like they're a married couple

🤎 The touchy ones that make people question if they're actually secretly in a relationship

🤎 She's never shy about grabbing or smacking your ass- I mean you aren't shy about doing the same to her so it's fair

🤎 The two of you will regularly poke each other’s breasts in passing 

🤎 Whenever she’s driving you to you guys’ “friend dates”, she has to hold your thigh- will 100% make up some lie that it’s for your safety (“How does you caressing my thigh make me safer, Sev?” “You’re asking too many questions here, sweets. Do you want me to move it?” “.....no.” “Then let’s ride.”) 

🤎 So, with all of that known, you decided to show off said body for the party tonight 

🤎 You wore a form fitting dress that was advertised as a sexy Mrs. Claus dress 

🤎 The soft fabric clung to your body like it was practically painted on, the cute little fur trimmings not helping cover the fact that the hem stopped right at your mid-thigh 

🤎 The spaghetti straps and plunging neckline were hidden underneath your dramatic (faux) fur coat 

🤎 You topped it all off with a Santa hat and your matching bracelet Sev had gotten you 

🤎 Needless to say she wanted nothing more than to see what you had on under that coat when you were the last to arrive to party- a detail you made sure you kept since she refused to let you come over to help with set up for the party 

🤎 Her jaw actually dropped when you finally did take your coat off 

🤎 You teasingly closed her mouth, smirking almost knowingly at her, “You’ll catch flies, hotshot.” 

🤎 She’s flustered all night 

🤎 Not only because you seem to be genuinely flirting with her, but because she knows what she has in store for you

Sevika was a bundle of nerves every time you looked up to catch her staring at you. You were drinking a glass of champagne, talking to...someone...she didn’t know, she was too busy looking at you to figure out which of her employees you were fraternizing with at the moment. 

The time to exchange gifts couldn’t come any sooner for her. 

She had been trying to work up the courage to just tell you that she’s in love with you for weeks now, and you with your games weren’t making it any easier. 

You’d take all her gifts with such a grateful smile, throwing your arms around her neck, pressing a kiss to her cheek, but then the very next day you were talking about your mystery crush again. 

You hadn’t said anything to the effect that you didn’t like all the advances she had been making, so she knew you at least felt...something for her...but she needed you to know exactly what she felt for you. 

You looked up to catch her looking at you again, throwing her a bright smile before you excused yourself from conversation with Danny and his girlfriend who’s name you forgot the second he’d introduced her, moving across the living room to go talk to her, “Hey you.” 

Boy if you could feel the way her heart was pumping and how sweaty her hands were the second you walked up. 

It took her a few moments- which you noticed- to find her voice, but she managed to smile back at you, “Hey yourself, Ms. Social butterfly. You’ve talked to everyone already.” 

You gave a soft shrug, “I mean, it’s not that hard to talk to them, I do work with them all, save for the people who brought their partners. Besides, I haven’t talked to you yet, hence why I’m over here.” 

“Hm, true, true....How come you didn’t bring your little secret crush? Not serious enough for that yet?” 

If only you know, huh? 

You gave a half-hearted shrug, “It’s...complicated.” 

“I see. W-” before she could continue, the alarm on her watch went off, signaling that it was time to exchange gifts. 

Seeing as she was hosting this year (you had hosted last year), she was in charge of pulling every gift from under the tree and giving them to whoever’s name was on them, that person then trying to guess who bought their gift. 

You didn’t get anything. 

There’s no way you couldn’t have been chosen. And no one else had gotten their gift from Sevika. 

With everyone else focused on their gifts, she pulled you aside into the kitchen, once again fdgety and nervous, “So...” 

“So?” 

“About your gift....before I....before I give it to you...I have to say a couple of things....” 

“Yeah?” 

She looked at you for a few moments, you could see her contemplating in her mind what she wanted to say. 

She had spent hours in her mirror rehearsing this moment, yet now that it was here, she couldn’t remember a single word she had wanted to say to you. 

She blinked as your hand came up to cup her cheek, “Huh?” 

You gave a soft chuckle, stroking your thumb over her skin, “I said what’s wrong? You’ve been acting all weird with me all night. You’re nervous. Just tell me, babes, you know I’ll love whatever it is, especially if it’s from you.” 

That did not help her calm down. 

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath before looking back to you again, “Okay, so...I know that we’ve been really good friends for....a while now....but lately I’ve been thinking and....I....I like you...you’re nice...and you’ve managed to make 2 years feel more like 20...so...what I’m trying to say is that I....I’m-” 

Your lips pressing to her cheek in a fleeting kiss cut her off as she stared at you baffled, sputtering. 

You giggled again when she couldn’t come up with something to say, pointing above her head, “Sorry, couldn’t help myself.” 

She looked up to find herself standing underneath a sprig of mistletoe. Her cheeks flamed red as she looked away, pulling a small box out of the pocket of her slacks, “Here.” 

You eyed her for a few seconds before opening the box, gasping softly at the necklace inside. 

You knew that necklace anywhere. 

She told you about it the first time you slept over at her place. 

She had drawn up the design years ago, saying she was going to get it made when she fell in love with a girl. 

You were not emotionally prepared for more than a n ‘i like you’ tonight. 

Neither was your makeup when you started crying. 

She looked up worriedly, “You don’t like it....” she mumbled under her breath, sounding so unbelievably hurt. 

“No, Sev....I love it.....I love you.....” 

“You do?” 

You chuckled through your tears, “Yes, you idiot. Who’d you think my secret crush was? I thought you would’ve gotten it when I said ‘she brought me flowers yesterday’, but instead you brought me an even bigger bouquet the next day as if you weren’t the only person that had gotten me flowers.” 

She rolled her eyes, “Look, I just knew that I really, really liked you, and if I had to compete with someone else to show you how I felt, so be it.” 

“You’re cute.” 

“And you look like a drowned rat, stop crying sweets and let me put the damned thing on for you.” 

You rolled your eyes, turning around anyway as she took the dainty necklace to clasp it around your neck. You punched her in the shoulder, “That’s for saying I look like a drowned rat.” 

She took the jab in stride, pulling you closer to her as she lifted your chin with her other hand, “You’re the prettiest little drowned rat I’ve ever seen...” 

You bit your lip, looking away, “You’re gay.” 

“As are you, your point?” 

“My poi-” 

“Look at me when you talk, sweets.” 

She knew what the fuck she was doing. 

Even still, you brought your eyes back to hers, your voice soft as you whispered breathily, “I love you...” 

“I love you too....” 

“So....” 

“So?” 

“What now?” 

She looked back up to the mistletoe above her head, pulling you forward so that it was over you now, “I show you how to actually kiss under the mistletoe.” 

Kissing Sevika was instantly your new favorite thing. 

She tastes like bourbon and cigar smoke with a hint of cinnamon. 

Her hands went straight to your hips, pulling you flush against her, her lips were surprisingly really soft- you had yourself to thank for that for helping her “discover” lip balm- sucking you in and drawing all the air from your lungs. 

You had a giddy almost drunken smile as she smirked down at you, “I think that may be my new favorite tradition.” 

🤎©️ All work belongs to sexysapphicshopowner. Do not use or repost my content in any way without my consent or permission. Thank you! 🤎

🤎 Taglist 🤎:

@certainlynotasimp @trafalgardvivi @love-sugarr

[flowerandblood]

The Pearl and the Sapphire (2)

[ modern! • Aemond x Baratheon! • female ]

[ warnings: sexual tension, anxiety, angst ]

[ description: As a representative of a large family-owned gemstone business, Aemond is attending a major jewellery event where jewellery makers from all over the world are exhibiting. One of them is the Baratheon family. Aemond is tasked with focusing on attracting new customers, but his attention is diverted by the youngest daughter of the eminent maker Borros Baratheon. Slow burn, bitchy, possessive and obsessive Aemond, lots of dark angst and sexual tension. ]

A story which is an alternative universe of The Impossbile Choice taking place in modern times. The characters are all the same as in the main series, however, for obvious reasons they will behave differently and experience things differently from medieval times. You can read this without having to delve into the main series.

Series moodboard: Aemond & Miss Baratheon

* English is not my first language. Please, do not repost. Enjoy! *

Previous and next chapters: Masterlist

______

Working on costumes for their family's show at Crystal EXPO was the only thing that kept her from sinking into her grief and sadness after Cregan told her he felt he wasn't ready for a serious relationship yet. Although they had been together officially for several months, he had apparently realised that he was still attracted to other women and didn't want to deny himself from adventures with them.

Cregan was a handsome, warm and open men, constantly making her laugh. She met him when he came to their house to pick up an order for his father's jewellery shop and stayed for dinner with them. They immediately caught a great connection, found each other on Facebook and frequently wrote to one another.

She experienced her first time with him.

He was affectionate and gentle, took his time and gave her a huge sense of comfort, for which she was grateful. Before he even entered her he brought her to orgasm with his tongue, wanting to make sure she was definitely well moistened, and then with slow, gentle movements he took her on her bed in her bedroom, kissing her face tenderly.

Cregan was always frank and direct; she felt safe with him. However, she could see that at some point something was off, that something was wrong. One day she plucked up the courage to finally ask him what was going on and that's when he told her.

"There is a woman in my work. There is chemistry between us, but I would never hurt you or humiliate you with betrayal. However, the way I feel when I look at her has made me realise that I don't think I'm suited to a relationship with one person." He said and covered his face with his hands, his voice breaking as if he was about to cry.

She felt a tightness in her throat and stomach as she looked at him, sitting next to him on the couch, her hands clenched into fists on her lap.

"I'm so sorry. I like and appreciate you so much, I'm so comfortable with you. But…but I think I'd rather end this before I hurt you, you deserve better. Forgive me." He said and broke into sobs.

She stroked his back, feeling strange with the fact that she was the one who had to comfort him. She swallowed with difficulty tears that ran down her face.

He begged her to remain friends, to keep writing to each other, to keep in touch, but she said she needed a break and that she understood him. That she was grateful to him for telling her before he did anything bad.

Still, she felt pain at the thought that she wasn't enough.

She wasn't enough for him to want only her.

She didn't show in front of him how badly she had broken down so as not to further deepen his remorse, however, as soon as he left she called Royce and started sobbing into the receiver. Royce had finished work at his father's workshop early to come to her and spent the night in her room, just sleeping next to her and stroking her head.

He couldn't put his feelings into words, but he was always there for her when she needed him.

When she suggested to her father that their show this year would be themed and that she would sew outfits in which they would present their jewellery pieces he was delighted and kissed her forehead, teasing her skin with his rough beard. Her sisters were also thrilled that they would be able to perform in beautiful costumes at such a prestigious festival tailor-made especially for them.

Thinking about the show, planning everything and sewing filled her days between college classes making her feel better and better.

Once every few days she would get a message from Cregan telling her about his day, each time announcing at the end that he hoped she was doing well and that he was thinking about her constantly. On the one hand, she was glad that he hadn't forgotten her; on the other hand, she found it even harder to understand why they had broken up in the first place.

Months flew through her fingers and she didn't even know when there was only a week left until the whole event. Everyone was excited and had gone there early to prepare their stand. Royce poked her on the shoulder as they arranged the ruby necklaces made by their father on display.

"Have some fun. Pick out some rich snob and spend a nice time with him." He said, and she looked at him with pity.

"I don't think that would make me feel any better." She said amused, a wide smile on her face.

If it had only been about the adventure, breaking up with Cregan wouldn't have hurt her so much.

Before the show itself, she began to feel stressed. She and her sister looked beautiful, on the backstage she was still tweaking their hairstyles and tightening their gowns to make them look their best. Cassandra looked at herself in the mirror, turning with satisfaction.

"Great job, sister. I look like Marie Antoinette!"

Filled with euphoria and adrenaline, she remembered little of it when she and Royce stepped out into the middle, the lights directed at them so that she couldn't see the faces of those sitting around her. Her older brother's presence and smile gave her courage, she just looked at him to avoid distraction.

They knew the dance routines by heart and both had an excellent sense of rhythm, so dancing with him was a pleasure. She was frightened when she turned around during one of the moves and a blue glow flashed before her eyes.

What was that?

She turned again, falling into Royce's embrace, and they continued on for a while until finally the music ended and they moved into their final position. There was thunderous applause all around them. Royce took her hand and pressed it to his lips, placing a respectful kiss on her skin.

"I think you sold us perfectly, sister." He said amused, and she laughed lightly at his words, stepping closer to the audience with him to bow.

"We'll see about that yet, I'm curious…" She said and froze, seeing out of the corner of her eye a men looking at her with a look as if he wanted to kill her, in his left eye socket a large, sparkling sapphire.

Who is this?

She pressed her lips together, unsure of what to do, and blinked, reminding herself that she'd broken off in the middle of a sentence.

"…I'm curious if our father liked it." She said smiling again, bowing along with him, her brother's only response was 'I'm sure he did.'

She breathed a sigh of relief afterwards, when they returned backstage her sisters hugged her saying that it was a great experience and that they should do something similar next year.

She was glad that although they didn't always agree, this time she had the support of her whole family. Her father approached her in tears of emotion, saying that his works of art had never looked more beautiful and the audience was delighted.

For the first time since her split with Cregan, she felt happiness and warmth filling her body.

She and Royce decided to stay in their costumes at the banquet, wanting to draw attention to their father and their products. Borros thought this was an excellent idea and they entered the hall as a trio.

Indeed, they were surrounded by various celebrities congratulating them on their idea and workmanship, asking who was responsible for their attires and expressing admiration when her father boasted that his own daughter had sewn them.

"This is my greatest jewel." He said curtly. She felt embarrassed and looked away, feeling her cheeks burning.

She cast a glance around the hall and spotted from afar the man who had been watching her so demonically during her dance. He was looking at her again, but in the lamplight he looked less dark than she had originally thought.

He was tall, his light hair slicked back, dressed in a black turtleneck, jacket and trousers that perfectly emphasised how well built he was. His artificial sapphire eye sparkled, his scar stretching across the entire left half of his face aroused her curiosity.

She thought he was very brave and clever creating an asset out of his wound and smiled in his direction, wanting to show him that his appearance did not scare her at all.

She saw him tighten his lips and avert his gaze immediately, taking a greedy sip of alcohol from his glass, a mature woman in a long, tight gold dress was saying something to him, but he did not seem to be listening to her.

She wondered if they were together, but the age difference between them was striking.

Perhaps it was his mother?

When she finally pulled off all the layers of her gown in the evening and changed into a Tshirt she breathed a sigh of relief, feeling lighter. She got lots of messages on Instagram from people who found her after the show.

Once she had written them back she remembered the man she had seen during the dance and his disturbing fake sapphire eye. She asked her father at dinner if he knew who he was, and when he found out it was someone without an eye he said it was definitely Viserys Targaryen's son.

She knew that her father had turned down an offer from his grandfather to be their exclusive supplier. Her father, however, did not want to hear about it.

"They want to lock us in their golden cage, fill us with their paperwork and make us dependent. I'd rather be independent and pay more for the stones than let them put a collar on me." He told them then furiously, and none of them had the courage to contradict him.

She involuntarily typed the name 'Targaryen' into a google search to read a little more.

She knew that Viserys Targaryen was his father and one of the main directors of the company, but who was Aemond? She clicked on that suggestion and immediately knew she had hit on it. The first thing that popped up was a newspaper article, so she opened it right away.

She felt an unpleasant tightness in her stomach reading it all. She thought that if she read such things about herself in newspapers she would be horrified and heartbroken. The realisation that their own employees were reporting them to the press to make a bit of money on the side seemed horrible to her, let alone trying to maintain any privacy.

She thought she was not surprised to see no satisfaction or joy on his face, as he had no reason to be happy. He looked as if he was prepared to take a hit from either side, but only now did she understand why.

She thought she felt sorry for him.

The title 'One-eyed heir to a fortune' seemed cruel and mocking to her, as if the absence of his eye was the only thing that defined him as a man. She remembered the sapphire he wore and felt a kind of pride in the fact that he had turned his weakness into strength.

She thought she would like to get to know him.

To see what kind of man he was.

The opportunity came the next day. She was just choosing her tea at breakfast when she heard someone stand down beside her and place his cup under the coffee machine. She glanced involuntarily to the side and saw that Aemond Targaryen in the flesh was again looking at her as if he wanted to murder her. Her lips twitched in amusement, a smile appeared on her face.

"Good morning." She said softly, curious to see if he would answer her, dropping a bag of Earl Grey into her mug.

"Good morning." He replied after a moment, lowly, languidly, with some kind of tension, pressing the button for a double espresso in a reluctant manner, the machine rattled and liquid began to pour out of it.

She pressed her lips together, not knowing if she should say something or if he felt like talking. She poured two teaspoons of sugar into her cup, waiting for his machine to free up so she could pour herself some water, and glanced at him again.

She swallowed loudly when she saw that his gaze had moved from her mug to her face again, looking at her as if he wanted to say something but couldn't.

She lowered her head, tightening her lips, not wanting to offend him, amused that for some reason she had apparently also piqued his interest, which he had been unable to verbally articulate in any way.

She saw that at her gesture he tensed all over and with a swift movement grabbed his cup, apparently wanting to leave. Her heart pounded harder and she looked behind him.

"Your sapphire eye. It's beautiful." She said, and only when it came out of her mouth did she realise how pathetic it sounded.

She wanted to use it to say how much she appreciated his bravery, but it sounded like she, like everyone else, was only paying attention to that one thing about his whole person.

She felt ashamed.

She placed her cup under the vending machine he was using, stepping closer, feeling her heart pounding hard. He didn't walk away, he stood looking at her, his gaze almost burning her.

"Who made these for you?" She added, pressing the button that caused hot water to start pouring into her mug. He was silent for a moment, but didn't move from his place.

"The Hightowers." He replied coolly and she looked at him again, his gaze full of tension, dark and indifferent, there was a vast, black void. She swallowed loudly at the thought, lowering her gaze and nodded.

"The jewellery you were wearing at the show. Will it be possible to see it up close?" He asked uncertainly, with difficulty, and she looked at him surprised, not expecting him to say anything else.

"Yes, of course. At our stand, they will be on display along with other works of my father and brother worn yesterday by me and my sisters." She said softly, and he furrowed his brow, as if something she said had puzzled him.

They both flinched and moved away with their mugs when a man apparently also wanting to make himself a coffee stopped behind them.

She glanced over her shoulder at him, his gaze still fixed on her, piercing and disturbing, making her shiver.

Why was he looking at her like that?

"See you later." She said lightly, and he merely nodded.

She moved towards the table where her family were sitting, feeling that her legs were as soft as cotton wool, her heart pounding in her chest like mad, her cheeks were all red from the effort that this exchange of words had turned out to be for her.

She glanced from the corner of her eye at the table where he was sitting, saw that he had said something to the woman sitting opposite him, the same one she had taken for his mother, his expression one of displeasure.

They were arguing about something.

She shuddered when she saw him get up suddenly and move to the exit, leaving the woman alone. She swallowed loudly when the woman turned her gaze on her, as if accusing her of something, and then took her things and left as well. She lowered her gaze to her tea and began to think hard.

What if they weren't family or co-workers?

She felt a squeeze in her heart at the thought of Cregan. She involuntarily grabbed her phone lying on the table and unlocked it only to see two new messages from him.

She pressed her lips together, feeling the pain, not knowing what to do. She knew that he wanted to continue their friendship, that in his own way he still loved her, but she felt tears under her eyelids.

She thought maybe it would have been better if he had left her alone, instead of tearing her wound over and over again whenever she thought it had had time to heal. She swallowed quietly and wrote him back quickly.

She locked and muted her phone, then set it aside so that she wasn't looking at the display. Royce looked at her anxiously, but didn't want to broach the subject in front of his father.

After they broke up Cregan was his number one enemy.

She managed to distract herself from her gloomy thoughts when they started working on the stand, they were attracting more interest than ever. Their show had been a huge success and she felt a burst of pride.

They had several ancillary rooms with illuminated tables. On one of them she laid out the jewellery she had worn the day before and other items in which sapphires had been used, to show them to Targaryen when he arrived, as promised.

After a couple of hours, when she had just finished talking to a customer, Royce approached her and grunted, a clear embarrassment on his face.

"Listen… young Targaryen wanted to talk to our father, but he said he didn't want to see him. He came with his grandfather. I don't know what to tell them, they just came here. Will you talk to him somehow? You have a talent for diplomatic refusal." He said, scratching his chin, and she laughed under her breath.

"I'll listen to what he has to say and then politely refuse him. If he say anything interesting, I'll pass it on to my father myself, maybe then he'll take it better." She said lightly and her brother nodded, patting her on the back and said he would replace her.

She stepped out from behind the counter and that's when she spotted him, standing in front of one of their shop windows, watching her vigilantly from the side.

"Come with me." She said softly and heard him move behind her with an unhurried step.

She led him into the dark room she had prepared for him earlier and made him realise that whatever he had to say to her father, he would have to pass it on to her first.

He looked at her from across the room like a predator, frowning his eyebrows, clearly not expecting this turn of events. She could see that he was thinking about something strenuously, saw his tongue involuntarily hit the inside wall of his cheek.

"We'll talk on my terms." He said coolly, and she tensed all over feeling that he was not happy with what he had just heard. She thought he was going to tell her that he wouldn't talk about business and such big contracts with a child.

"Tonight at 7 p.m. You, me, wine and a hotel restaurant."

She felt her lips part involuntarily, her heart stopping for a moment. She blinked, wanting to see something in his face that would tell her he was joking.

What?

She swallowed loudly feeling that she hadn't answered for too long, his gaze grew darker, he turned his face to the side, tightening his lips, impatient.

"I… yes, of course." She choked out finally, not knowing what else she could say. He looked at her again then.

"Mmm." It came out of his throat like a murmur, his lips curving for a second into what she could call a smirk of satisfaction. He turned and left without saying goodbye, closing the door behind him.

She was tired and sleepy after a full day on the stand; however, she also felt a strong rush of adrenaline at the thought that she was about to meet him. She opened the wardrobe in her hotel room, scratching her head, wondering strenuously what she should wear.

This wasn't a date, was it?

It was official meeting, but she wasn't prepared for such an occasion.

In the end her choice was a black suede fitted knee-length dress with a white collar and long sleeves, deciding it was the most elegant thing she had.

She decided to leave the blue ribbon in her hair, not wanting to look like she was going to a funeral, and took her pastel blue clutch bag with her, throwing her phone into it, not looking from the morning to see if she had received any messages.

She was afraid to look in there.

She walked down the stairs to the ground floor, heading for the hotel restaurant. She had no idea why but felt her legs shaking with stress. She turned up five minutes early and was pleased to find that he wasn't late either.

He was sitting at a two-person table arranged at the very end of the room, gazing out the window, his hand outstretched on the table moving restlessly. He was dressed in a black leather jacket, black Tshirt and black trousers.

She felt ashamed that she had dressed like a girl for the end of the school year, but it was too late to go back to change into something more lightweight. When she stopped in front of him he flinched suddenly and looked at her as if frightened. He stood up and they both looked at each other uncertainly, not knowing how they should greet each other.

She thought that she certainly couldn't embrace him, however, as a woman, she had to offer something else. She held out her hand to him and he swallowed loudly before shaking it, his hand was large and warm. She sat down opposite him, putting her clutch bag aside, smiling at him, trying to hide how stressed she was. She saw his gaze escape to the side, raised his hand and nodded towards the waiter.

After a moment a young men, not much older than her, approached them asking what they wanted to order. She was silent for a moment and then saw that Targaryen was looking at her expectantly, clearly wanting to hear what she wanted to drink. She leaned quickly over the card and glanced at him uncertainly.

"Red semi-sweet wine?" She asked more than stated, and he nodded.

"We'll have the whole bottle, please." He added, and she swallowed loudly, wondering how long this conversation was going to be and why.

Was he trying to tire her out and muddle her so that she would eventually succumb and accept his terms on behalf of her father?

She twisted uneasily in her seat at the thought, sensing that he was watching her closely and feeling like he could see her cheeks burning.

"Why did your father refuse to speak to me in person?" He asked abruptly. She looked up at him and grunted quietly, rubbing her palms against her knees in an attempt to calm herself.

She had no intention of lying to him.

"My father doesn't want to tie himself to you for a monopoly on supplies. He wants a free hand in this." She said, looking bravely into his face. His gaze was so intense that she felt a tightening in her pit. He tapped his finger on the table top involuntarily, as if he was thinking about something.

"It's a condition for such good prices. We can change them, but then the prices will also go up." He said coolly, and she pressed her lips together.

"That's why in his opinion it doesn't make sense. Why should he engage with you if at the end of the day you will offer him the same prices as the others, and you will be more demanding and restrict him more?" She asked and shuddered as the waiter placed a glass in front of her and then in front of him.

She fell silent as she waited patiently for the boy to pour them some wine and smiled as she saw his hands tremble, she thought he had worked here for a short time. She shuddered and moved away when a few drops fell on the tablecloth right next to her clutch bag, Targaryen gave him a warning look.

"I'm very, very sorry." The boy said, and she and he reached for a napkin, but she was quicker and applied it quickly to the stain, looking at him with a smile.

"Nothing happened, thank you very much." She said softly. He nodded and apologised a few more times before walking away, taking the dirty handkerchief from her.

She glanced at her companion, he was sitting leaning casually against the back of the chair watching her closely with the same gaze she had seen on their show.

"What do you mean by 'restricted'?" He alluded to her earlier statement as if something about it frustrated him. She swallowed loudly at the thought, wondering how to explain it to him so as not to offend him.

"My father values freedom of action. Also the choice of materials to work with. He now works with who he wants and decides for himself what is best for him. He fears that your company, with lawyers deliberating over every comma in the contract, will arrange it so as to influence his decisions as much as possible." She said finally, saw that he furrowed his brow at her words.

"You think we're going to try to trick your father?" He asked with a note of irritation, and she threw him an impatient look.

"Can I trust you?" She asked suddenly and saw that he froze, his lips slightly parted. He clenched his jaw and began to play with his fingers extended on the armrest.

Silence.

"What do you mean?" He asked cautiously, she could feel her heart pounding. She sighed quietly, not taking her eyes off him.

"I mean exactly what I asked. Can I trust you?" She repeated, looking at him pleadingly, simply wanting to hear that he meant well and understood what she was saying. His lips twitched impassively.

"No."

She looked at him and blinked rapidly, unable to believe he had said that.

No?

So what was the point of this conversation?

"You can't trust me, just as I can't trust you. You will protect your father's interests and I will protect mine. There is no friendship in business or holding hands in the sunset light." He said dryly and lowly, looking at her as if he thought she was out of her mind.

She furrowed her brow, feeling humiliation spread across her face, felt a burning sensation under her eyelids, but did not allow herself to show anything more.

"I didn't know that to trust someone you had to be able to be friends and hold hands. I thought it was enough to be a decent human being." She said in pain and for the first time she saw something twitch in his face, as if an electric current had passed through him, his hand clenched into a fist.

She reached for her glass and took a deep sip from it, feeling the dryness in her throat, her heart pounding like mad. She saw him turn his face away, running his hand over his chin, impatient, apparently trying to calm himself down internally. He, too, took his glass and took a deep sip from it, setting it down with a loud clink of glass.

"I'm not a decent person." He said finally, and she felt a tightening in her throat, as if he had slapped her.

Why did she feel around him like she did around Cregan when he broke up with her?

"Nevertheless, I have with me the terms and conditions of our company written down on paper, without paragraphs written in small print. You can look them over and determine whether you want to pass them on to your father or not." He said a little softer, biting his lower lip.

"We can't be together, I'm not ready, I want to have some fun. But we can be friends, I want to know what's going on with you, I miss you."

She felt tears running down her cheeks in embarrassment, her lower lip trembling involuntarily at the same feeling of humiliation.

She saw his healthy eye widen in shock, his lips parted. He swallowed loudly, looking at her in disbelief, and wanted to say something clearly, but they both flinched when her phone began to vibrate in her clutch bag.

She wiped her cheeks quickly, wondering what she had actually been doing, and with a trembling hand opened her purse, thinking it was her father or Royce looking for her. She felt a tightening in her stomach and turned pale when she saw that she had four new messages from Cregan and three missed calls from him, including one incoming.

The phone vibrated in her hand and she didn't know what to do, so she dismissed the call, slipping it quickly back into her bag. Targaryen looked at her as if he thought she was about to faint.

"… Are you all right?" He choked out finally, clearly horrified by her condition.

"No." She mumbled at the same time bursting out laughing, making an essentially pathetic mixture of it, grabbing the bottle standing next to her and pouring herself a full glass of wine, struggling to hold back the tears that were once again pushing their way into her eyes.

She drew in a loud breath and took a large sip, setting the glass down, looking at her hands, trying to calm herself.

She saw that he moved uncomfortably in his seat, swallowing loudly, his fingers rubbing together quickly in a sign of his anxiety. She looked at him surprised when, after a long moment, he suddenly leaned forward, took a bottle of wine from her side of the table and poured himself a full glass, as did she.

For a while they sat and drank in silence.

She felt embarrassment at the thought that she had taken it out on him for what Cregan was doing to her.

Whoever Aemond Targaryen was at least he did not lie and tried to be honest when she accused him of false intentions towards her father.

He had said nothing for which she had any right to condemn him.

She swallowed quietly at the thought and looked at him.

"I'm sorry. Thank you for your honesty. Can I have these documents?" She asked in a slightly hoarse voice.

He looked at her for a moment surprised, then nodded and reached for the folder lying next to him on the windowsill. He leaned towards her handing it to her.

She took it from him and saw that he had placed his elbows on the table, remained bent over, being closer to her. She smelled the scent of his perfume and aftershave, a pleasant, intense, masculine smell that made her head spin.

"Go over it calmly. You don't have to rush. My grandfather really cares about this and is willing to wait and read your version of the agreement if you want to present us with one." He said in a slightly softer, calmer tone, and she smiled gratefully at him and nodded.

"All right. Thank you." She said and squeezed her eyes shut as she heard her phone vibrate again.

She took it out and turned the sound off, putting it back in her purse. She saw that he was looking in that direction, involuntarily running his tongue over his lower lip.

"Someone doesn't understand the word 'no'?" He asked suddenly, and she looked at him surprised, not expecting him to dare ask anything private.

She could see that he too was surprised that the question had escaped his throat and swallowed loudly, waiting to see if she would answer him.

She lowered her gaze, embarrassed, not knowing how she would explain her situation without going into detail.

"In a way." She said finally, grabbing for her glass again, feeling that at the moment the one thing that could calm her down was alcohol.

"Mmm." Came out of his throat, he lowered his gaze for a moment, as if thoughtful. He reached for his glass and also took a sip of wine from it.

"Let's move to my room." He said suddenly, throwing her an intense, anxious look, and she felt a shiver pass through her.

Not a proposal, not a question.

A statement.

What was he planning?

She swallowed loudly.

What if he did something to her?

What if he hurt her?

It seemed to her that he saw all these questions on her face, because he pressed his lips together, playing with his glass in his hand.

"We can think together about what to answer to a man who won't let you alone." He suggested, lifting his gaze to her again, a challenge in his eye.

She swallowed loudly, playing nervously with her fingers resting in her lap, her heart pounding hard like crazy, the alcohol slowly humming in her head.

Have some fun, she heard her brother's voice in her head.

"All right."

_____

Taglist 1

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[bonefall]

Since the ask box commands to vote Bumble in that tourament (which I did, cuz she was SCREWED over to the extreme) could you talk a whole lot about BB!Bumble's dyspraxia? Since we are talking about the *everything in canon* she got for the High Crime of being a fat foreigner woman and abuse victm in warrior cats, let's talk about the universe where we add disabled to her list of High Crimes but she isnt done dirty as balls(sorry if all this is worded weird)

Plus, I'm personally having issues writing a dyspraxic character (mostly because i kinda suck at absorbing information about things like disability when not using characters as exemples) and you've really helped me in the past with making characters with BPD, so it would be personally useful in character making

(Sorry if I'm rude, I deeply respect your work and it greatly inspires me, especially Clanmew)

All righty! BB!Bumble's dyspraxia!

First off, for newcomers;

WHY I ADDED DYSPRAXIA TO BUMBLE

In canon, Bumble is called a fat, useless kittypet, before being dragged back to her domestic abuser. She then dies while trying to survive on her own, starved to the point of emaciation before Clear Sky murders her.

A very common fandom response to this is essentially, "shes NOT useless! She could hunt/fight if you taught her!" And a lot of AUs will have her survive, learning how to be Truly Useful with all the same skills as everyone else.

I won't lie; I think that's very disappointing.

You're not refuting the rotten heart of this ideology, you're just doing what DOTC already does with Jagged Peak. You're AGREEING. You're saying she WOULD be useless if she couldn't hunt or fight like a wild cat, giving her Coolgirl Badass moments to haha embarass her bigots, and Actually the only problem here is that they didn't give her a chance.

What if they GAVE her that chance, and she COULDN'T hunt or fight like them? Would it be okay to send the battered housewife back to her domestic abuser? Hopefully fucking not!

Let's be frank; None of the groups in DOTC are starving. Not even after the prey sickness pandemic.

"Starvation Rhetoric" is an excuse, only ever rolled out by monsters like Clear Sky as justification for stealing land, murder, and throwing out cats the groups deem unworthy of life.

Yet, this gets rolled out for Bumble specifically, by the MOOR CATS, who are supposed to be opposing his ideology.

And that's where I'm starting from.

Okay. What if she couldn't perform physically like other cats?

What if she was part of a group that DID have real concerns about not having enough food?

How does Bumble herself cope with her feelings, and her desire to help her friends and contribute to a group that loves her?

Let's go through all that, and attack the heart of the idea. In fact, we're going to be doing a lot of it, with a significant portion of early ThunderClan being disabled cats.

(Thunder Storm has three legs. Bright Storm has asthma. Sunlit Frost loses the use of both front paws and ends up with chronic pain.)

Bumble's Dyspraxia

The first thing to know about dyspraxia (or DCD, Developmental Coordination Disorder) is that it comes in a LOT of different forms. The next thing to know is that it's RIDICULOUSLY common. Some estimates say 5% of the population has it-- 1 in 20 people.

It's heavily associated with autism and ADHD. The "classic" symptoms are general clumsiness and motor control issues, like having a hard time tying shoes. But these are also symptoms of dyspraxia;

Short-term memory issues, but not long-term

Being constantly covered in bumps and bruises

Having a hard time telling lefts and rights

Difficulties holding pencils or writing in general

"Wobbliness" including tripping mid-step or tripping over your own feet

Issues in the acquisition of "muscle memories," being slow to acquire physical skills.

Stuttering and taking long pauses before responding to someone else speaking

Most dyspraxics won't have all of these, these are symptoms. Not a checklist.

My partner describes theirs as like "constantly working with cold hands through a layer of gloves." The stiffness of being in a freezer, paired with the general delay of having a cover over your skin.

Mine is more focused on the mental side, acquiring new skills is unnaturally difficult, my reaction time is delayed, and I stumble into things.

Every person with dyspraxia is different, but what links us is that we're uncoordinated. We can't help it, telling us to try harder or pay more attention doesn't work. We aren't being careless-- our brains don't send signals to our bodies properly.

I'm basing Bumble's off my own. Her mate, Turtle Heart, shows her over and over how to hunt. It never sticks. She tries to pick up battle moves from Thunder Storm to help defend herself from Clear Sky's goons. It doesn't work.

She's really trying, she really is. The Moor group quickly loses patience with her, and Bumble is well aware that she's only tolerated on Turtle Heart's vouch. Her worst fears come true when Tom steals their children, and her mate is killed trying to retreive them.

That messes with her, and makes her believe that she really is worthless and a burden.

ThunderClan was FOUNDED on Thunder Storm's fury, breaking off his supporters to retreive her from exile, and Bumble's struggle with self-worth begins in earnest.

There's one thing she's confident about, and really loves. Bumble is trilingual, outgoing, and confident in her ability to talk to others. That's what she can add, and what she wants to do.

ThunderClan is different. It works with every strength and weakness of its members, and values diplomacy to keep it afloat against the odds. Bumble really is needed, but eventually even her translation work becomes less special as more kits grow up bilingual. Eventually, this too feels taken from her.

And then it's back to square one. Her mate is gone, one of her kits betrayed her, Owl Eyes is a big strong man who doesn't need his mum anymore. She's left with her fumbling paws, taking more from the pile than she puts in.

One can only hope she realizes that ThunderClan was born out of love for her. That it was never about what she could add. She didn't have to confront it in the main story because so much was happening, but as peace settles over the forest, it's time for her to start to unpack that idea.

[sjsmith56]

Assignment Bucky Barnes, Chapter 5 - Going Steady

Summary: Ariel confides in Merton after Bucky spends the night. The couple, along with Steve, attend a free Benny Goodman concert in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park.

Length: 5.2 K

Characters: Ariel, Bucky, Merton, Mrs. Houseman, Steve.

Warnings: Frank talk about sexuality, mean girls, Ariel dealing with her own rapidly developing feelings for Bucky.

Author notes: While writing this chapter I listened to Benny Goodman songs online.  What fun it was to imagine a young Bucky Barnes jitterbugging to the music, especially the song Sing, Sing, Sing.  From what I read, the dancing at Benny Goodman concerts was as frenetic as that at modern concerts.   He did appear at a free concert at Prospect Park, although I couldn’t find out if it was pre-war or post-war.  Goodman and his orchestra were the first jazz artists to play in Carnegie Hall.  The concert was sold out with a top ticket price of $2.75 (equivalent to $53 in today's currency).  It was recorded but not released as a record until 1950, and is still considered one of the best live recordings of a jazz big band orchestra. 

<<Chapter 4

Bucky stayed the night with Ariel, curled together in her bed.  In the morning, when the sun rose he awakened first and watched her sleep, then gently kissed and woke her so that she could get up for work at the library.  While she watched from the bed he got up, got dressed and kissed her goodbye before climbing out the window, looking back at her from the windowsill. 

"I'll walk you home from the Library," he promised before he left.

After he was gone she put her robe on and took clean underwear with her to the bathroom which she changed into after her shower.  Merton was up and looked appraisingly at her as she came out from her morning ablutions.

"Well?" he asked.

"It was good," she said.  "He's a giving man and he made me feel like I was the centre of his universe.  When he asked if we could skip the movie and go watch the ocean I knew we would end up together.  He didn't want our first time to be in the back seat of the car so that's when we came here."

"How about the rest?"

"He's a gentleman," she stated.  "It was probably one of the best dates I've ever been on.  He didn't leave until after the sun rose and he woke me up first.  He's meeting me to walk me home from the library."

"Did you learn anything?" was Merton's final question.

"He's afraid," she said, in a quiet voice.  "For all of his bravado I think he's fearful of ending up alone and unloved.  It made him vulnerable.  Considering all of his sexual experience I don't think he's ever been emotionally intimate with a woman, until last night.  I'm going to write it down in the diary before I go to work."

While she dressed he made them both breakfast, oatmeal with brown sugar and fruit.  As she ate, Ariel wrote in the diary.  Some researchers would physically record sexual acts as they happened but Ariel always thought that was not respecting the intimacy of the moment with the partner.  Merton watched her as she wrote, trying not to read her writing.  He could hear them from his room while they made love and while he appreciated they tried to keep it quiet he felt at some point, he as "uncle" would have to discover them in the act and then behave accordingly after.  He decided to bring it up.

"May I ask you a question?" he asked and Ariel stopped writing.  "At some moment I am going to have to catch you two in your bed.  It's been my experience, from when I've heard of acquaintances discovering their daughter or niece in a similar situation that a proposal of marriage is needed to make the act acceptable.  Have you anticipated that?"

"Yes and no," she said.  "I don't think I can accept a proposal for marriage as that would be dishonest of me, since I know of his fate.  I don't know if I can adequately pretend that we would have a future together.  I could consent to a formal declaration of a relationship.  In fact, we had a moment where he asked if he was now my beau and I said yes.  Would that be sufficient to a "father figure" of this time to justify the physical relationship?"

"To an enlightened one, perhaps," replied Merton.  "To a traditional one, no.  Not under any circumstances.  Considering they have already determined that I am gay there is good reason for him to perceive that I am likely to be more enlightened.  I could perhaps justify giving you the privacy of your bedroom for your encounters by being sympathetic to you exploring your physical relationship.  Will Bucky believe and accept that?"

"I think he would," answered Ariel.  "I can leave the time of your discovery of us together to you.  It would certainly add to the authenticity of my reaction.  It may also provide an opportunity to determine how deep Bucky's feelings for me go."

"Was he prepared for the encounter?" asked Merton.  "Did he have contraceptives?"

"Condom," replied Ariel.  "He said he brought them just in case but didn't expect I would go along with it.  I understand many men of this time pull out early, which isn't the most effective method, so I appreciated his thoughtfulness."

Ariel returned to her writing and finished the diary entry before leaving for the library.  Being Saturday it was very busy in the branch, and she found herself on the circulation desk for most of the day.  One of the highlights of her day occurred twenty minutes before closing when Bucky came inside to borrow some books, taking out a couple of C.S. Lewis books and the Raymond Chandler book that Mrs. Houseman put on hold for him on Saturday morning as soon as she arrived.  They both noticed Bucky in line with the other patrons and smiled at him when he presented his card and the two Lewis books.  Mrs. Houseman brought the Chandler book over to Ariel to sign out to him.  When the return date was stamped on the Return by slip fastened above the book pocket he leaned closer to Ariel.

"I'll wait outside for you," he said loud enough for Alma and Irina to hear from their stations.  "We can go walking again, can't we?"

Ariel nodded her assent, bringing another brilliant smile from him that lit up the Library.  He sauntered out as she helped the next patron.  While she didn't look at the other two women, Mrs. Houseman leaned close so that Ariel could see her smile.  She, at least, was happy for the young librarian.  With an announcement of closing a couple of minutes before closing time, they helped all the remaining patrons sign out their books.  While the door was locked the women went through the library, pushing chairs in, picking up books left on the tables and placing them on the carts for re-shelving Monday as the Library was closed on Sundays.

Ariel went to the staff room to pick up her purse and coat.  Even there she could hear Alma and Irina whispering inside, with her name mentioned.  Before she entered to give them a piece of her mind she heard Mrs. Houseman's voice tell them to stop being gossips.

"You know a petition is being circulated asking for Sunday hours," she said loud enough for Ariel to hear.  "It would mean more work for those of you who are unmarried but don't think for a moment that I will assign you those hours if you treat Miss Black with anything but respect."

"We tried to warn her off of Barnes," said Alma's voice.  "He'll ruin her reputation."

"Or she'll improve his," stated Mrs. Houseman.  "You only have yourselves to blame for giving in so quickly to him.  Look, girls, he's an attractive man with a healthy interest in the opposite sex.  If he prefers Miss Black to you then accept it.  I personally think he has good intentions for her and I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.  I don't want to hear you making insinuations about Miss Black's reputation.  If I hear any gossip spreading here I will know it came from you."

Quickly, Ariel stepped into the ladies room to wash her hands.  Mrs. Houseman came in and looked at her, shaking her head in exasperation.

"You heard them," she stated.  "They're jealous of you.  Both of them fell prey to his charms on the first date but were disappointed when he didn't call either of them for a second.  He is a womanizer but he's not a gossip, never once have I heard of him bragging about his exploits.  The girls on the other hand ...." She sighed.  "He hasn't had an easy time of it.  His father was in the military then lost an eye in an accident.  The only job he could get after was at the shipyard.  At least he had a job but the family's prospects dropped considerably, especially during the Depression, forcing Bucky to work manual labour instead of going to college.  Bucky is smart, whip smart, but also cursed with a handsome face, attractive body, and an easy attitude towards women.  Both your uncle, Mr. Burnett, and I have encouraged him to be more well read."

"You know my uncle?" asked Ariel, not realizing they were acquainted.

"Quite well," she said, "better than you think, and I say that with the greatest delicacy."  She looked at the door to make sure there were no eavesdropper's legs visible through the grate at the bottom.  "If you and Bucky are an item, be discreet.  Encourage him to better himself.  He is a fine man but he needs to hear that to believe it.  Now, I really must be going.  Mr. Houseman will be wanting his dinner on the table before 7 o'clock."

She went into a stall while Ariel went into the staff room, empty now, to pick up her coat and purse.  The security guard was on duty at the door and smiled at her as he unlocked it for her to leave.  Bucky sat on the steps and stood up, his books in his arms, as she came out.

"I was worried when you didn't come out right away," he said.  "Everything alright?"

"Just had a little chat with Mrs. Houseman," she replied, then she smiled at him as they began walking.  "How was your day?"

"I did some yard work for my mother," he said.  "Trimmed some plants, dug up some vegetables that were ready."  He looked down for a moment.  "I told them I stayed at Steve's last night.  You might not believe me but I've never spent the whole night with a woman.  Usually, I leave after ... you know."

"That's quite an admission to make," noted Ariel.  "Why are you telling me?"

"Because I don't want there to be any secrets between us," he admitted.  "I meant what I said about finding a girl to commit to.  I really want it to be you."

His face was flushed and for a moment Ariel almost wanted to tell him everything but she bit her tongue and instead placed her hand in the crook of his free arm, then lightly leaned her head against his arm.  Aside from the warm feeling it gave her it was definitely new information about the enigmatic man James "Bucky" Barnes, information which justified the increased familiarity of this assignment.

"So, what does Bucky Barnes do on a Saturday night and on a Sunday?" she asked breezily.

"Well, tonight I thought we could take the bus to Prospect Park," he said.  "There's a free outdoor concert.   Several jazz musicians are supposed to be there but it's a surprise who."

"That sounds like fun," replied Ariel. "I would love to go."

"Are you alright if Steve comes with us?" he asked, with a hopeful catch in his voice.

"Certainly, why wouldn't I be?" she retorted. 

"You're the best, you know that, right?" he smiled broadly.  "Do you think your uncle will lend us the van to go to the beach tomorrow?  My parents go to church and need the car for that."

"You're just full of surprises," she replied.  "I'll ask.  What do I wear to a concert in the park?"

"Not as dressy as dinner last night," he said.  "If you have a nice summer dress and bring a sweater.  Bare legs are alright.  Most of the women that go don't wear stockings because of the heat and the dancing.  It's perfectly respectable."

Soon they were at the antique store and waved to Merton as he helped a customer inside.  Bucky pulled Ariel into the stairwell again and they stood in the heat at the bottom of the stairs.  Putting his books on the bottom step Bucky put his arms around Ariel and kissed her firmly. 

"I like your lips," he said when he stopped the kiss.  "They're so soft.  I just want to kiss them all the time."

"Thank you," she replied.  "You're a good kisser.  When are you staying over at Steve's again?"

He grinned then looked intently at her.  "Anytime you want," he said soberly.  "I liked waking up with you in my arms."

"So did I," replied Ariel, then she cupped his jaw with her hand and they kissed again, more sensuously.

"I'll be back at 7 o'clock," he said.  "The concert starts at 8:15 and it will take us a while to get there."

He almost said something else but smiled and opened the stairwell door instead then stepped out onto the street.  Ariel noticed he left the books on the step and called to him, handing him the three books.  Taking them from her hands he walked away, looking back a couple of times.  She went into the store where Merton was now alone.  He was tallying up the day's sales as he looked at her from his ledger.

"Plans for tonight?" he asked.

"Free concert at Prospect Park," she said.  "Steve is coming with us.  He told his parents he stayed over at Steve's last night.  Said he never slept over with any of his dates before."

"That's new information," said Merton.  "Some of those concerts are quite good.  Did he say who's performing?"

"Apparently it's a surprise," she replied.  "Before I forget he wanted to know if he could borrow the van tomorrow so we could go to the beach."

"I think so," said the older man.  "It would be best to go early and stake out a good spot before it gets too crowded.  Sounds like a fun weekend, what's left of it."  He saw that Ariel seemed distracted.  "Anything else?"

"Oh, the librarian Mrs. Houseman, said she knew you," she replied.  "Said you and her both encouraged Bucky to improve his mind.  Is she aware you're gay?"

"The short answer is yes," he said.  "There was a time I was a little indiscreet and she was sympathetic to me.  We have a very good and friendly acquaintance.  She doesn't judge me and I don't judge her.  I can't tell you any more than that without her permission."

"She's gay, isn't she?" asked Ariel, making a guess but Merton wouldn't answer so she left it alone.  "Bucky is coming for me at 7 o'clock.  What can I make you for dinner?"

"I already prepared some vegetarian lasagne," said Merton.  "Just heat the oven up to 425 and pop it in for about 30 minutes.  I thought you might like a break from all the meat dishes."

"Thank you," replied Ariel.  "I appreciate that.  You know, I'm actually enjoying the meat.  It's quite tasty."

He smiled at her, then returned his attention back to his ledger.  She went upstairs, turned on the oven and took the lasagne out of the icebox.  Rosie rubbed around her legs so she opened a tin of tuna for the kitten, spooning it out into her dish and mashing it down a bit.  While she set the table she wrote in the diary about what Bucky admitted to her.  By then the oven was hot enough and she put the lasagne in, noting the time.  She went to her closet to choose a dress for the concert and noticed a small box on her dresser.  Opening it she smiled as it held a bracelet, gold in colour with small coloured enamel flower sections on it.  She attached it to her wrist and looked at it in the mirror.  Glancing at the window, she shook her head, thinking of Bucky sneaking in during the day to leave her the gift.  As she picked up the box a small slip of paper fell out and she opened it.

A little gift for my steady girl.

B.

"Oh, you are a romantic at heart, aren't you?" she said out loud.

Immediately Ariel took the diary out and wrote about finding the box on her dresser.  Knowing money was tight she expressed concern about Bucky spending money on what could be seen as frivolous gifts but she was flattered by the thought.  Checking her watch she saw it was almost time to take the lasagne out and she went out to the kitchen where Merton was.  He glanced at her as she came in so she held her right hand up to show him the bracelet.

"How much did you charge him?" she asked.

"I charged him exactly what he offered," he said, somewhat defiantly.  "He wanted you to have something pretty from him and he liked it."

"Merton, you can't let him spend money on frivolous purchases like this," she admonished him.  "Money is tight."

"I'm not going to say no to the man," he replied.  "He likes you, more than likes you.  At least if he comes to me I'll make sure he gets value for his money.  Now be a good girl and accept the gift."  He looked up at her with a horrified expression on his face.  "I'm so sorry it came out like that.  I think I've been here too long."

Ariel began to laugh.  "Your face just now," she said.  "It was priceless.  Alright, but don't let him spend too much on me."

They sat down to their meal, talking about events of the day.  When they were finished Ariel began to clean up but Merton sent her to get ready instead.  By the time she was finished Bucky and Steve were there with a bouquet of flowers like he promised.  She took a vase out of the cupboard and filled it with water, arranging the flowers in it.  Then she thanked him for the flowers and the bracelet.  He tried to say he didn't know what she was talking about but Merton shook his head.

"She figured it out pretty quickly," he said.  "She's one smart cookie, Bucky.  You won't get much past her.  Oh, and you can borrow the van for the beach tomorrow.  Just make sure to put some gas in it."

Bucky agreed and they headed down the stairs to catch the bus to Prospect Park.  The closer they got the more people got on and both Steve and Bucky speculated that the rumours were true about who was performing.

"Who do you think is playing?" asked Ariel.

"Benny Goodman," said Bucky. "If so it will be a dance concert.  We'll be up there all the time."

"Bucky, I told you I'm not a good dancer," said Ariel.

"Darling, I can make you look good, trust me," he said, putting his arm around her.

When she wouldn't respond he made pouty faces at her to make her laugh and she finally had to give in.

"I'm not a good dancer either," said Steve.  "But I'm willing to give it a go, if you will.  You'll let me dance with Ariel, won't you Buck?"

"Sure, just not the romantic ones," he said.  "You'll have to find your own girl for that."

Steve turned beet red, and immediately Bucky put his hand on his friend's arm, then gave him a friendly smile, knowing he had touched a nerve.  More people crowded onto the bus and both men gave up their seats for some women.  Although they gave Bucky the eye he made sure they knew he was there with Ariel.  Eventually they arrived at Prospect Park, finding it quite crowded.  They finally found some seats and Bucky suggested taking their jackets and sweater off to reserve their chairs.  It was a very warm evening and others were doing the same so Ariel took her sweater off.  As the two men speculated it was confirmed that the Benny Goodman orchestra was performing, with Helen Forrest singing.  Bucky was over the moon.  Fortunately for Ariel she had listened to some Benny Goodman recordings and watched some ancient film footage of the band so was somewhat familiar with the musicians in Goodman's band.  For herself she was looking forward to seeing Gene Krupa play drums having seen his intense performance of Sing, Sing, Sing on footage from an appearance of the band in a film and with his own quartet on the Ed Sullivan Show sometime in the 1950s.

"Do you think they'll play Sing, Sing, Sing?" she asked.  "I love that song."

"I hope so," said Bucky.  "If they do it will be the last song.  Darling, would you be offended if I danced with someone else for it?  It's pretty energetic and I wouldn't want you to try it without some practice with me."

"You can dance with anyone, Bucky," she said.  "As long as they know you're going home with me."

He kissed her enthusiastically on the cheek and by the smile on Steve's face it was the right answer.   Soon, the musicians took the stage and Benny Goodman was announced.  When he came out, Ariel was surprised how normal he appeared considering he was one of the top jazz artists of the time.  He reminded her of a mild mannered teacher.  As Goodman stood in front of the crowd he commented on how many couples seemed to be there that night so to get things going the band would play Taking a Chance on Love.  Immediately Bucky stood up, took Ariel's hand and proceeded to show her what a good dancer he was.  When he said he could make her look good he wasn't kidding as he led her so well she thought she was in a movie musical.  The next song was How Long Has This Been Going On? introduced as a new arrangement.  The third straight song they danced to was The Man I Love sung by Forrest but played only by Goodman, his piano player, the drummer, and a man on the xylophone.  Bucky bent his head close to Ariel's while they danced, close enough that she could feel his breath on her neck.  It was very intimate and when it was over he looked intently at her.  They sat for a breather and listened to some of the faster tunes.  By the look on Bucky's face she could see he wanted to be out there dancing and she felt bad that her dancing wasn't up to his level.  Tugging on his sleeve she raised her lips to his ear.

"I don't mind if you dance the faster ones with someone else," she said loudly.  "Really.  I like watching you dance.  Just come back to me for the slow ones."

He looked at her and kissed her intimately on the forehead.  "I love you," he said, then he got up and found a single girl who agreed to dance with him.

For a moment Ariel didn't know whether to laugh or cry but she must have had some look on her face because Steve leaned towards her and put his hand on her arm.

"Are you alright?" he asked, his face close to her ear.  "Did Bucky say something bad?"

"No, he said he loved me," she admitted, then she did cry, stunned that his words would affect her so much.

Immediately, Steve took his handkerchief out and gave it to her.  He held her hand while she dabbed her tears with the handkerchief through two fast songs.  When Bucky came back and saw she was crying he frowned and sat next to Ariel, then looked at Steve, his face confused.

"Are you mad at me, doll?" She shook her head no.  "You told me to dance the fast ones with another girl."  She nodded her head yes.  "Then what's wrong?"

Ariel began crying again so Steve motioned him close.  "You told her you loved her," he said loudly, in Bucky's ear.

The band was particularly loud at that moment but neither of them needed to hear as Bucky very clearly mouthed the word "shit."  He took a deep breath and put his arm around Ariel, holding her close and bending his head to hers.  Pressing his lips to the side of her head he ignored the band and looked intensely at the crying woman in his arms.  Then he picked up her left hand and kissed it.  Suddenly she got up and ran towards the back of the audience.  Bucky stood up and ran after her, leaving Steve to look behind him then he faced forward and stayed where he was.  This was Bucky's mess and he would have to fix it.

At the back Bucky lost sight of Ariel but an acquaintance he recognized asked if he was looking for the crying girl and pointed in the direction she went.  Bucky ran in that direction and finally found her on the path surrounding the pond.  She was standing looking over the water, her shoulders hunched over.  He ran towards her, slowing up as he got closer.  Unsure what to say he stepped in front of her and ran his hands over her upper arms.  Her sobs subsided and with the sounds of the music in the background he looked at her in the darkness, lit by the rising moon.

"Has no one ever told you they loved you before?" he asked gently.  She shook her head no.  "So, you're not ready to hear it yet?  Is that what this is about?" She nodded yes and Bucky took a deep breath, looking up at the sky.  "It just slipped out but I've felt it all day, since last night.  Do you like me?"  She looked up at him and he could see how emotional she was so he nodded.  "I'll take that as a yes.  Do you think you might love me, but you're afraid to say it?"  She looked away and nodded yes.  "I can understand that.  I didn't even realize I said it.  I'm not sorry I said it, Ariel.  It's true and it's frightening for me, but obviously not as frightening as it is for you.  Oh Baby, come here."

He held her close in his arms and she wrapped her arms around him, feeling his heart pound through his shirt.  The declaration had caught her completely by surprise and even though she knew pragmatically that it was said in a matter of fact way it hit her hard.  She had never told anyone she loved them or been told that in return.  Despite her active sex life in college it had never been more than casual sex, ever.  Now it was, and she was torn between telling Bucky everything or continuing to pretend she was a 1940s woman.  The problem was that if she told him she knew it would make him angry, if he didn't think she was crazy first.  But the longer she didn't tell him the more she felt like an imposter, that she was leading him on, even though she did have feelings for him, strong, deep feelings.  She took a ragged breath and buried her face in his chest, feeling safe there and he accepted it, not moving, or asking her to do anything but be there with him.  After several minutes Ariel finally felt calm enough to let Bucky go and she stepped back looking at him.  He bent over, placed his hand on her cheek and kissed her, then smiled, as if confirming she was better.

"Do you want to go back now?" he asked.  "It is is a good concert, isn't it?"

"It's the best," she said.  "I'm sorry I ruined it."

"You ruined nothing," he replied emphatically.  "You're my girl and nothing you do ruins anything.  Come on, it will be intermission soon and I'll get you a shaved ice."

After nodding her head in agreement, Bucky put his arm around her and led her back to their seats.  The intermission came up a couple of songs later and he went to get them some shaved ice, bringing three back.  She returned Steve's handkerchief, thanking him for it.  The smaller man looked at her sympathetically but said nothing, which she appreciated.  Before the second half started she told Bucky to dance and she would watch, then kissed him full on the lips in front of everyone after she said it, to make sure he knew she was okay with it. 

The second half was fun as the energy level of the dancers was high, Bucky included.  There were a couple of slow songs that he returned to Ariel for and even a couple that Steve danced with her but he danced the rest of the energetic songs with assorted women including the finale, Sing, Sing, Sing, which was over 8 minutes long by Ariel's estimation.  She was torn between watching Bucky dance and watching Gene Krupa pound the drums.  After a standing ovation for the band with the rest of the dancers Bucky returned to Ariel's side, kissing her firmly.  Then he put his arm around her shoulders and they began making their way through the crowd, before queuing for the bus.  It was well after midnight when the two men stood outside the antique store with Ariel.

"I had a good time with you two," said Steve, offering Ariel his hand.  "I'm glad you worked out your misunderstanding."

Ariel kissed Steve on the cheek.  "Thank you for being there for me," she said.  "You are a gentleman, Steve.  I know there's someone for you and you will find her one day."

He blushed, noticeable even in the dark, and walked about half a block away so they could have their privacy.  Bucky caressed her cheek, smiling softly at her.

"It doesn't look like I'm staying over tonight," he said quietly.  "You are important to me, Ariel.  What you did tonight, trusting me to dance with other women meant so much to me."  He looked up at the sky and suddenly smiled, pointing upwards.  "Meteor.  That's supposed to be good luck, isn't it?  A shooting star?" 

He looked back at Ariel and gathered her in his arms, kissing her passionately.  She returned his embrace just as passionately.  Then she swallowed hard and pulled Bucky's head down to hers.

"I love you, too," she whispered, before she turned and opened the door, running up the stairs before he could say anything.

He stood and watched the door for several moments, debating whether he should go after her or go home.  Reason won out and he began walking towards Steve, then looked back at the second floor apartment and a soft smile crossed his face.  She loved him.

Chapter 6>>

Series Masterlist

Comments and reblogs are most appreciated.

[rezonan]

Would the Bat-Clan/Family really be better off without Bruce?

You know. I often hear the critism that Batman raises child soliders or whatever and I happily.... Agree, I mean it's obviously what they are. Kid vigilantes are something that should have become extinct in comics since the 70s but DC kept them. I don't really care cause I love them so much and I don't like to push realism into comics in a world where aliens exist and vigilantes actually work as a method to bring Peace.

What I'm hear to argue about was that Bruce was probably a GOOD(kinda?) thing for them honestly. So let's imagine a world where Batman faced with the opportunity to take in any of these kids as Vigilantes and give them training and tech/supplies refuses or just ignores them or just never even meets them.

You have

Dick - who tried to hunt down Tony Zucco by himself

Barbara - had gone out as Batgirl on her own

Jason - lived on the streets in Gotham, we meet him trying to steal Batman's tires.

Tim - followed Batman and Robin around with a camera for years before being Robin

Damian and Cassandra - both trained assassins since birth

Stephanie - was already already a vigilante before Batman took her in and is the daughter of Cluemaster

Duke - was a member of the Robins gang that tried to keep the piece during Batman's absence.

Leaving out Batwoman and Huntress because I have yet to read through thier stuff(forgive me). Will get there eventually though

Right of the Bat(Pun intended)

Dick is likely dead, let's be real. No 10 to 13 year old is taking down a small gang of criminals without training outside acrobatics. In some versions even his father who had the same exact training plus actual muscle couldn't take them down.

Jason is a 50/50 there is a big chance that he becomes either another criminal in the endless see of early Gotham or a vigilante protecting crime alley and die eventually either way. Sadly there's a bug chance he becomes one of those faceless mooks Bruce punches every now and then. You could argue this is a better fate than his time as Robin and Red Hood but I disagree

Tim probably has the best ending here. He could literally just stop following Batman and have a completely normal life. That or he dies eventually following Batman around.

Barbara has police self defense training and is insanely smart. I actually genuinely think there is a solid chance she survives her time as a vigilante if she plays it safe and picks her battles. Heck if she survives long enough she could even hook up with Huntress or something.

Damian if Bruce rejected him and with no Dick in this world. Not only doesn't become a Robin but either goed back with his mother to satu with the league or becomes a sorta frank Castle style vigilante trying to prove himself to his father.

Cassandra is interesting. Not exactly sure but I think she has a chance to be picked up by some other hero out there that or she straight up gets found by her dad or mom. But if this was a connected world kind thing she probably gets picked up by Huntress and Barbara maybe?

Stephanie imo doesn't last particularly long without sufficient training. Good chance of her dying in a similar way to war games actually (god I hate that story). Again if you see this as a whole world, she probably gets picked up by Huntress and Barbara too.

Duke unless he gets his metahuman ability is pretty surely gonna die eventually. I know the least about him so not much to say here.

I'm incredibly open to arguments against my opinions tho. But I genuinely think Bruce did more good than bad here. Especially with Dick. Who while being dead would never be able to reform Damian or help Bruce chill out during those early years. To talk about how his death would affect stuff like the titans and the wider DC universe.

Damn maybe the guys who say he's the heart of the DC universe have a point.

[joltning]

rvb aus

when I said I had a lot brewing I meant a LOT brewing…! god I need motivation

I’ll be splitting these into 3 sections: one offs/fic ideas, less expanded on ideas, and then my main aus/ones I have more ideas on

one offs/jokey aus/fic ideas:

feel free to take these ideas as your own, im not too attached to them

• grimmons fic where kai lives on iris and simmons is super nervous around her. grif thinks it’s because he has a crush on her but actually it’s because she keeps teasing him about his crush on grif

• teen beach rvb au. think about it man.

• au where lopez and felix betray locus before he can betray felix. and they kiss or something I don’t know

• freelancer donut au…!!! one of my firsts. not very good. has no substance. but it exists. tex donut beef goes CRAZY

• trivia murder party rvb au. i have no clue what this would entail

• slipspace (the grifball miniseries guys) team up with fh57 from s14. this was before I learned that fh57 was just funhouse. womp womp

• shis tril writer mentions that locus now “owns a food truck on Fiji” or something. someone write that Please im begging

• fast food au focusing on the lieutenants. + Frank from s15. i know him and bitters gonna be oomfs or whatever

• au where church stays in the s3 time loop and experiences generation loss, feeding bits of himself into the other soldiers in order to save them

• au where the s5 ending where they all die is canon and they all go to hell

less expanded ideas

• so basic but I’m putting it in this tier anyway. A song fic battle of the bands au, but MY WAY…!!!! I have a vision. Don’t know what it is yet but I have it

• campy horror movie rvb au, where they all claim to see different things in the woods, but it turns out literally every single person is the horror. they all embody horror tropes and are, of course, alone in the woods in a summer camp.

• started as an everything everywhere all at once au but turned into something more Evil. Anyway regular domestic au but then the ai from the “alpha universe” jump into people in the main universe when they’re “compatible.” GRIMMONS JUMPSCARE….!!!!! Simmons is gonna be the one to end the world and the ai are either helping or hindering that process. he becomes a literal monster. originally this au was made so I could experiment with purple prose + text art etc but I guess not anymore what the hell

• rvbz au…! Viper and shatter squad are two organizations, viper being a splinter group from the AOD. When they start fighting on chorus, the reds and blues take sides, splitting off into two groups, some staying neutral. both are somewhat regarded as terrorist groups, viper being victims of starlight labs and shatter being a sort of vigilante group that. isn’t very good at it.

• “split ends” au…!! I really hope to bring this one up to the top tier at some point! geotah focus because im ill but it’s mostly balanced as i wanna get all dynamics in. project freelancer, instead of having ai, has units run using a partner. Only one can use it at a time, and the other has to focus on running it, leaving them vulnerable on the battlefield. This goes for enhancements, but it also goes for other things, such as calculations, enemy tracking, etc. they can switch whenever they want. each pair has one unit. god i wish I could write the unseen freelancers because all those silly powers would be chaos. Oh, also, you can steal the armor enhancements like you would ai. Hmm.

more expanded ideas

these are in order from least important to me to most

• trailer au! one of my first aus, and the ONLY au I’ve written a full outline for. (it’s not very good now that I look back on it.) it asks the question: what if the s15 trailer was EXACTLY what it was eluding to? featuring…Frank staying on the film team and making a trio with jax and dylan, insane murder party reds and blues, spencer plot relevance (somewhat) omalley coming back, the reds and blues failing to beat Hargrove, tucker shooting wash, and one armor enhanced, cobalt colored Tucker.

• s15 rewrite au. after disliking the trailer au I made this one! the blues and reds, instead of being mirrors or even reflections of the main cast, is reflections of what they could have become if they hadn’t changed their old ways, if things had gotten worse. this is basically my snider cut i reorder a shit ton of things etc. also very important carolina was not there when biff died it was just Tex and she didn’t kill biff, she just refused to help him (that kill goes to our friend loco!) anyway it’s more centric of the idea of comparisons between people who have distinguishing differences. Also kuane exists

• interstate au! honestly I have so little in terms of plot but idea wise I have Everyhting. I cannot stop thinking about it sooo..that’s why it’s so high up. Okay I’ll be real this is honestly like a glorified swap au but it’s MY swap au. Basically everything after s5 (also the miniseries) is noncanon and it diverges from there. ft…wash getting sigmapilled by eta, red team maine, red and blue road trip, the quest to find kai (she’s kissing women) and the run from DEAD CAROLINA..!! DEAD..!! oh and church and tex are literally just ghosts. Instead of the director trying to bring back allison and fragmenting one full ai into attributes, he is trying to pair FULL AI with freelancers in an attempt to boil them down to one trait, to harvest them and combine them into a Super Dead Daughter Carolina. wash and eta, or Data (see what I did there) are the collectors which is why they’re the main antags or whatever

• TRIPLETS TRILOGY. OHHHH MY GOOODDDD. I can’t say much because I intend to actually show this one to the world, but WOW. love this one. Basically, the triplets and sherry’s squad are alive. After an alien crash lands on their planet years later, they’re left to explore and find out what they’ve missed while they were gone. It’s split into 3 ‘seasons,’ (with one scrapped mini series), takes place during the recollections, and is looking to be way shorter than I intended it to be, but oh well. It’s where my obsession with the green guy and the white fuck and sherryvera insanity comes from. why did I have to fixate on these random ass mfers what the hell. It’s canon plausible….!! It would never happen!!! But it could!!

now the rant’s done, here’s some older images. oh god ray’s hair is So wrong

[spaghettificationandpretzels]

Congratulations on the milestone!!🎈🎉And yes I'm running in at the last minute to beg for

Frank Castle & #15

plus smut, if you please. He & I both know he was made for it.

I'm sorry this took me so long. I've rewritten it a million times and I still hate it.

Masterlist

Midnight Serenade

Contains: Fluff, smut. Takes place in a universe where Billy was a good guy.

1.2K words

So often the end of a love affair is death by a thousand cuts, so often its survival is life by a thousand stitches - Robert Breault.

Frank knew owning and running a business would be hard, even if it was with his best friend, but he didn't think it would be like that. All he wanted to do was go home and put his feet up, but instead, he had to waste his time standing around making sure some twenty something influencer didn't get themselves shot.

Chad Money, as he called himself, had gone too far with some comments online and ended up on the wrong side of a local gang, and now he needed help. Billy and Frank had done their best to send him in another direction, by another client, one who paid them a great deal of money, was insistent that they take him on. It got worse when they realised that insistence came from Chad having dated the client's daughter.

"You got a girl?" Chad sounded like he was trying to be Justin Timberlake at the high of his frosted tip days.

"I got a woman, and she's at home waiting for me, so I would appreciate it if you'd finish buying your shirts so I can get home to her." Frank had been here for hours, no man needs ten of the same shirt in a different colour, especially when they were two thousand dollars each.

Chad flashed him a grin, "You got a photo?"

Frank shook his head, "No, I don't keep one on my person when I'm working. For her safety." That was a lie, Frank had one in his wallet and one in his car, but he wasn't going to say that.

"Shame, I bet she's pretty." Frank wanted to punch him.

"She's very pretty," Frank looked at his watch, "How long will you be? I will need to call someone to relieve me if you're going to be much longer."

Chad shrugged, "I'm done now. I'll buy these and then you can go home to your girl, sorry, your woman."

Frank gave him a tight smile, "Thank you Mr Money."

****

Frank's back ached for the couch as he walked in the door, "By day dearest?" Frank grunted, "Oh, that bad. I imagine it has something to do your new client."

Frank huffed, "He fucking sucks. You know he admitted cheating on that client's daughter. He's fucking shameless."

You shook your head, "I'll get you a beer and you can put Justin Plywoodpond behind you."

Frank made a face, "Plywoodpond, did you come up with that on the fly?"

"Nope, I've been thinking about it since the first text you sent me." You could see the upset fade from Frank's face, "You gotta admit it's pretty good."

Frank already has his phone out, "Hell yeah it is, I'm telling Billy."

"I'd ordered a Pizza from eight just before you came in," you pointed to the freezer as you opened the fridge to get his beer, "I also battered some ice cream when I got home so we can have deep fried ice cream for dessert."

He grinned, "Fucking A, I'm a lucky man."

****

Frank stood behind you in the bathroom as you washed your face, toothbrush in his mouth and a skip in his step, but you waited until he was done to ask him why he was so happy, "What's gotten into you? The ice cream couldn't have been that good."

He smiled, "I just get to do what I've been thinking about all day."

Frank's lips met yours, he tasted of tingle mint, "You already did that when you got home Frank, more than once."

He shook his head, "I wasn't talking about the kiss."

"Oh, I see." You pointed to the bed and smiled, "I'll go wait for you, don't take long or I'll start early."

Frank shot you a look, "I'll be two minutes, you're not that impatient."

Sure enough, two minutes after you were settled, Frank emerged from the bathroom and flopped down into bed next to you, "So?"

You rolled onto your side, threw your leg over Frank's hip and straddled him, "So." You bent down and kissed him and he placed hands on your hips only to slide them all the way up to your face as the kiss deepened.

You felt Frank's cock harden underneath you as he broke the kiss to pull off your shirt. His hands were rough on your bare skin as he sat up and yanked you into his lap. There was an awkward shuffle as your parted so Frank could pull off his sweatpants and he stifled a laugh when you lost your balance on the way back to his lap, "It's not funny Frank."

Frank took your face in his hands and sighed, "It's kinda funny."

Frank pressed his lips to yours and gripped your panties before pulling them down your legs. You placed one hand on his cheek and grinned through the kiss as you ran the other hand all the way down his body to wrap around his cock.

Frank bit off a grunt and nipped your lips as you stroked him, and with a giggle, you removed your hand from his cheek and gave him a shove. It wasn't much in the way of force but he went down onto his back nonetheless. You removed your hand from his cock and slid it back up his body, placing both has on his chest and looking down at him with a smile, "What do you want to do here?"

Frank's eyes racked from where you were sitting on him to your eyes but not before lingering on your breasts, "Whatever you want." One of his huge hands moved from your thigh to your centre and a look of pride came over his face when he found you wet, "All this just from that?"

You sighed, "You're a smug bastard." Further words were stolen when he slid two thick fingers inside you, and it took all your control not to crumple over as he pressed his palm into your clit, "I love you."

Frank didn't slow, "Tell me you love me again."

"I love you." You could feel the tension of his muscles under your hands as you started to rock against his fingers.

"Again." His voice was tight and you wondered what he was thinking as his eyes locked on the hand between your legs.

"I love you." You clenched your legs around him to keep yourself stable as you came around his fingers and Frank huffed as your fingernails pricked the skin on his chest, "I need you."

Frank was already rushing to give you what you asked, pulling his fingers away so he could grab your hips as you gipped his cock and sunk down with a whimper, "Tell me you love me again."

"I love you Frank." You bent down and kissed him as your hips moved and Frank bucked into you.

"I love you too y/n." The rest was a hurried mess of teeth and tongue as one of Frank's hands reached down to rub your clit, "Come on, I'm right behind you."

You were powerless to resist as Frank noised turned feral as you clenched around him, "Atta girl." His hand moved off your clit, and he gripped your hip so hard you knew you would have bruises before he bucked his hips one last time. You felt him pulse inside you and you finally crumpled over as Frank ran his hands up and down your back, "You good?"

You nodded, "I'm great. You wanna order pancakes?"

Frank chuckled, "You got a sudden craving?"

"Yes I do. That place down the street does delivery." You took him in a kiss and he rubbed your nose with his, "It's still open."

Frank sighed, "Ok, pancakes sound good. I love you."

"I love you too Frank."

Fin

[rosetyler42]

Ericka Pregnancy Dump Part 2!

1. Cute/funny idea I recently came up with of sleepy pregnant Ericka trying to get some work done (I'm sure both in WIR-Verse and in her regular one, she'd try to keep working as long as she can. Even if she gets taken off in-game duties. She's very much the cheerful enthusiastic passionate about her job workaholic like Joy is. And we all know about Joy's Stonetide faceplant.) Mavis of course is helpful, having been there once in a way. And Van Helsing...well, let's just say it's a little bit of payback for the times Ericka's been annoyed by his tendency to take impromptu naps. Not the best idea to be making those jokes next to the daughter of his former rival who's the one of the 3 who's actually BEEN there, but still. He would. XD

2/3. XD I drew Hungry pregnant Ericka. Along with a fun bit of fluff that spun out of it. Yes, I broke my craving rule but him calming her down/distracting her with a kiss is adorable. And it does have the spirit of the idea anyway.

4. Was in the mood for some new mom Ericka stuff. (Again, it's regular Ericka to make it workable for both universes.) When I drew the first one with Drac, I kinda figured Ericka would be wiped out from the end of a twin pregnancy and either birth or a c-cection. So she waited a bit to hold the twins so she could rest up. Thinking about that and the irony of Ericka worrying about being cold since she was raised by her strict, by-the-book Great-Grandfather with how I think she'd actually be (I do love Mama Ericka, whether it's with Mavis or the twins.), It inspired this.

Don't worry, she'll get to the "Look at these! I made these!" Showing the twins off to everybody point eventually. But everyone else had a chance while she was wiped, she wants her moment to bond and she's not letting go of her baby bats that easily.

5. Wanted to draw Ericka curled up asleep in the cape. Ended up being pregnant Ericka. Bonus sleepy Transylvanian and Ericka hugging her bump as she sleeps!

(And she was worried she might be a harsh cold mom, having beem raised by a strict, not-too-affectionate guardian herself.)

6. This one came to me while I was working on a previous idea. I liked the idea of Drac, despite actually being the one killable by sunlight, shielding/sheltering Ericka under his cape. Even better with her being pregnant since pregnancy DOES make your skin more sensitive AND can cause you to overheat since you feel warmer anyway with all the extra bloodflow. Hense this wholesome moment. (This may possibly be in Game Central Station. I've played with the idea that, like Bot Fighter, HT's time zones are flipped since most of the game happens at night.

Bonus:

" Nice hat...Isn't that your monster festival hat?"

"**blushing, looking away** Y-yez. I know it lookz zilly on me, but it'z ztill the mozt protective thing I have. Vell, I mean, bezidez the babushkaz, and-"

"Hmm, well you're hot to me, handsome vamp. **chuckle** ...Seriously, though. I like it. Sure, it's no ax. But...You look charming in ANYTHING."

7. This started out as a gag where Frank (being something of the calmer laid-back one of the group normally and almost the 2nd in command of the pack before Ericka came along. Especially in the first one. He's also kinda Ericka's "big brother" figure I think.) was trying to keep the guys from crowding Ericka trying to touch her bump and ended up being just general "family with a new/expectant mom" chaos of everybody around Ericka and her kind of giggling to herself about being surrounded by all this. I kinda like that, it shows how far my girl has come. Going from being largely on her own, doing for others more than herself, and actually at one point ignored or intimidated when she was upset to being fussed over and surrounded by family. It's sweet.

8. Drew this one a while back based on some fat Serleena screenshots XD (Since Ericka's pregnant with Twins and MIB 2 is also a Columbia Pictures film, I think the comparison is...kinda funny. Plus Ericka WOULD joke about eating people to those who point out how big she's gotten.)

9. I had to do the packs' reaction to finding out about Ericka having twins some point. while all of them ribbing him would be funny, I ended up going a little more with personality: Frank being the happy supportive guy, Murray's the excited one, Wayne's the experienced one trying to offer help, and of course Griffin is the smart-alec jokester. Drac's reaction to this is...well, what you'd expect. XD

Kinda fun to include Wayne in this considering he didn't really get a chance to react to Drac's crush on Ericka with the others (Aside from his comment in the Novelization which it's a shame it didn't happen in the film XD)

10. And the first drawing of the new year: Wanted to draw Dracula with his newborn twin babies. Ended up adding bonus post-labor Ericka. (Been whembling about if she actually does labor or a C-section.)

@gothicthundra @ebevkisk @neo-storm @that-obsessed-gay-girl @sine-qua-noon @chica-chuu @animatedpixie @erickadracula @ericka-van-helsing @erickaanddraculasblog @ericka4ever @elenadracula @drericka @drericka-prompts @drericka-is-lyfe-blog @drerickastan @thenerdynightprincess13 @thesecreatoroftrans @f-mhoteltransylvaniacomicseries @kittyball23 @lovelylivelyv

[earth-18104]

Earth-18104 - 1990

Events that occurred in the year 1990, when the Avengers first appeared as a group of super heroes.

The stories are not complete or are summarized, and are inspired by other medias, like the movies, comics and series, but don't follow Marvel Canon or the time-line established so faithfully, and include stories of my OCs.

The (N) at the end of names serves to indicate character births and the numbers are their ages. I will include more events as I write more about the characters.

The Battle of New York, the event that marks the first apparition of the Avengers, is just a resume, I will put the whole thing in another post.

(Some characters have different stories from the comics. Dr. Octavius is a woman in this universe, and we got 2 versions of Nick Fury: Sr., who is part of the Howling Commandos, and is like the version of the comics; and Jr., who is the director of SHIELD and is inspired by the MCU version or Marcus Jonhson, the comic character)

List of Events of Earth-18104 (Resume)

Tw: Mention of suicide very early on.

1990 -

• (February)

• After failling to commit suicide, Wade Wilson (18) was invited by Francine Cavalcante (182) and Tereza Márquez (175) OC, heads of Sister Margaret's Home, where he was raised, to go back and join a clandestine group of mercenary assassins.

• Frank Castle (34) and his wife had a happy life together living in New York City. At some point he then went abroad and returned to meet his second son, Frank Castle, Jr. for the first time, discovering that he was already walking.

• Flint Marko (31) marries Alma Alvarado and shortly afterwards the two have a daughter, Keemia. (N)

• Patsy Walker (23) had a brief career as a model and married her childhood friend, Robert "Buzz" Baxter, who was on her old childhood show. After her marriage, Patsy spent the next few years of her life on Air Force bases as her husband was in the officer training program.

• Greer Grant's husband, William Nelson, was seriously injured during a police raid, dying in his wife's arms.

• Now alone, Greer (30) was unable to stay in her old home and moved into the apartment of an old friend, Dr. Joanne Tumolo, a university professor.

• During a physical examination, the doctor noticed some unusual bruising and lumps on Warren Worthington's (15) back.

• Worried that he might be removed from school if his parents thought he was being mistreated, Warren lied that he had injured himself during jumping practice.

• He kept the bruises a secret, in addition to the pain in his back that little by little began to get worse.

• One day, Warren woke up with severe pain and found a white feather in his bed. Over the next weeks, more feathers appeared and his pain increased, but he refused to go to the hospital, as his friends had suggested.

• (Earth's mightiest heroes)

• (April 1, Sunday)

• On earth, Nick Fury Jr (42), Maria Hill (25), Barbara Morse (24), Clint Barton (24), Phil Coulson (43), Henry Pym (27), Janet van Dyne (24) and Erik Selvig are called to the Joint Dark Energy Mission Facility in the Mojave Desert, where Dr. Selvig is researching the Tesseract, which has recently begun emitting strange amounts of energy on its own, leading the facility to be evacuated.

• Aided by Thanos, Loki, the god of mischief, activates the Tesseract from within the Sanctuary, teleporting to the SHIELD complex.

• She steals the Tesseract and uses the Scepter given to her by Thanos to control the minds of several S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, including Selvig and Barton.

• They escape and the Tesseract's energy destroys the base, starting the Chitauri Invasion. In response, Nick Fury Jr. reactivates the Avengers Initiative.

• In Asgard, Heimdall sees Loki on Earth with the Tesseract, and informs Thor and Odin, who sends his sons Tyr, Vidar, Honir, Balder and Thor to Earth to bring Loki back to Asgard for punishment.

• (April 5)

• The Battle of New York happens after Loki opened a portal to allow the Chitauri Army to invade Earth. The Avengers, Fantastic Four and other superhumans teamed up to protect the planet.

• After the Battle, the Avengers were recognized as "Earth's mightiest heroes".

• (Details of the Battle)

• After his return to the modern world as a renowned hero, Steve Rogers (70) is chosen to be the face of many campaigns.

• One, not long after the Battle of New York, includes a set of videos for students in schools. He films many videos, including a fitness challenge, a video for students in detention, and another on the importance of patience.

• Peter Parker (9) tells his classmates that he was saved by Captain America, but no one believes him, until Harry Osborn defends him, saying that he also saw Cap and the Wasp.

• (Wasp and Ant-Man vs. Egghead)

• Deciding to increase his powers to be more useful to the Avengers, Henry Pym (27) designed a growth formula. In one of his tests, he accidentally destroys the house's roof, scaring one of his neighbors.

• Maria Trovaya arrives and helps him free himself from the house. Henry explains that he was testing his new size-changing capsules. Giving her a demonstration, Pym grows to the height of 12 feet.

• Maria takes one of the pills and shrinks it to the size of a wasp and lands on Henry's finger. Bringing his girlfriend back to normal, Henry jokes that she would make a great partner.

• Maria smiles and then becomes serious as she remembers that he already has a partner, pointing to the window, where they can see Janet van Dyne (24) crossing her garden.

• Maria leaves irritated, leaving Henry to greet Janet. He takes her to her lab, saying he has a surprise for her: a new gun that shoots compressed air. Each "wasp sting" has enough power to knock over objects.

• In the kitchen, Maria angrily prepares food, throwing things across the counter with force while complaining to herself about the rich girl in her house.

• Meanwhile, Egghead, one of Ant-Man's new enemies, has decided that now is the time to launch his next attack against his nemesis. Using a transmitter implanted in a nearby anthill, he uses it to broadcast false messages about Ant-Man.

• Maria intercepts the transmitter signal and warns Pym and van Dyne, but refuses to join them.

• Deciding to get to the bottom of things, Pym, now calling himself Giant-Man, sends Wasp to locate Egghead and tells her not to attack him alone. However, when Wasp encounters the villain she is caught in his mind control and returns to attack Pym, while Egghead watches from a monitor in his hideout.

• Hiring a gang of thugs, Egghead plans a robbery, starting by calling the police and informing them about the battle between Ant-Man and the Wasp.

• While the police are distracted by the battle in the east end of the city, Egghead plans to rob an armored car in the west end.

• Taking a rented truck, they quickly take the armored car off the road and load it into the back of their specially equipped truck. The police, Giant Man and Wasp soon realize that they have all been tricked.

• Using Ant-Man's spy ants to track Egghead's truck, the two heroes follow Egghead to his secret hideout near the docks. They stop Egghead and defeat his gang of crooks.

• With all the bandits reunited and their loot returned, the two heroes return to Pym's house.

• (July)

• The Avengers helped the United States military recover a flying fortress that was stolen by Victor Von Doom (27), who had escaped from his prison.

• Fighting aboard the ship, the Avengers managed to stop Doom from recovering his ship thanks in part to Giant-Man using his newly developed powers.

• While the aerial fortress was destroyed, the Avengers were unable to capture Doom, who actually sent one of his Doombots to capture the fortress for him.

• (X-Men - Iceman)

• Bobby Drake (12) continued to train in using his powers.

• Upon discovering that his classmate Judy Harmon liked him, Bobby was convinced by his friend Tommy to invite her to the movies during Halloween, even if just to become friends, as he didn't reciprocate her feelings.

• When the movie ended, Bobby and Judy separated from their friends and were confronted by the school bully, Rocky Beasely and his gang. Fearing for Judy's safety, Bobby used his mutant powers to freeze Rocky in a block of ice, trapping him from the waist down.

• Horrified by what happened, the boys, Tommy and Judy fled the scene, leaving Rocky behind. Bobby tried to free the boy, but he had never tried to unfreeze objects; so he ran home to tell what had happened.

• Not long after, the local sheriff showed up to take Bobby into police custody. Believing he would get a fair trial, Bobby surrendered to the police. When the story hit the news, Professor Xavier and Scott went to visit Bobby to invite him to join their group.

• With the help of Fred Duncan, Xavier managed to meet with Bobby, but the boy refused to join him, shouting for Xavier to leave. His attitude irritated Scott and the two began to fight.

• Xavier separated the two and promised Bobby that he would use his powers to erase the incident from the memory of everyone in the city, showing that a mob angry with Bobby was forming outside the prison.

• Bobby asked Xavier to make sure Rocky and Judy weren't hurt and agreed to join his school. Xavier fulfilled his part of the deal and talked to Bobby's parents who at first didn't want to send him to Westchester, but in the end agreed to keep their son safe.

• Upon arriving at the Graymalkin residence, the first thing Bobby did was use his powers, happy to finally be somewhere where he could be himself.

• (The disappearance of Kevin Brashear)

• Kevin (20) and Adam Brashear (64), the former hero Blue Marvel, were on a mission together. They tracked Dr. Skorpion to Giza, where the villain planned to open a portal to another dimension, the Neutral Zone.

• However, if the portal remained open much longer, the feedback would destroy this dimension, and that was Skorpion's plan.

• Kevin attacked Skorpion and made him fall against the console that controlled the portal, randomly pressing buttons and causing a short circuit in the system.

• The portal expanded and transported Kevin to the Neutral Zone. Adam tried to reach the portal, but the difference between his super-powered nature and that of the Neutral Zone prevented him from getting within six feet of it.

• As the portal was also becoming unstable, Adam had no choice but to destroy it.

• The loss of Kevin tore the Brashear family apart, and Adam spent years investigating the Neutral Zone trying to get his son back while his son Max (17) distanced himself from his family, asking never to be contacted again.

• (December)

• Jean Grey is taken by Xavier to Graymalkin Lane, where she lives with Bobby Drake and Scott Summers, starting her training as an X-Men with the codename Marvel Girl.

[kudzucataclysm]

how about some Vague Questions about Vague

1. who’s arc is going to be the most surprising? you do not have to specify if it is positive or negative lmao

2. what is The Most ridiculous thing dez/frank or jack/vincent have gotten up to separately and together. bonus points if all four of them have had a shenanigan or two.

3. who would be the worst kid to baby sit?

4. who would kill each other if they were left alone as the last two people on earth?

5. worst take someone could have about se or any of the characters that would make you lay in the earth until the heat death of the universe? what about the best take that would fully ascend you to Best Weather Boy aka god

YIPPEE!!!!!! TYSM FOR THE QS!!!

1. who’s arc is going to be the most surprising? you do not have to specify if it is positive or negative lmao

funnily enough….Thursday’s!! His arc is most definitely gonna be the one to sort of throw people for a loop and (hopefully) make people sort of..question the way they view him! like dw at the end of the day he’s still gonna be a garbage person, like. that’s just who he is lmao but when it comes to his arc for Friday and even Francis i hope to surprise people :3

2. what is The Most ridiculous thing dez/frank or jack/vincent have gotten up to separately and together. bonus points if all four of them have had a shenanigan or two.

Desmond: Helped his older sibling Happy steal someone else’s cable (unknowingly), but ended up dropping the ladder becuz a hornet was trying to sting him so Happy ended up banging their head against the wall on the way down

Francis: Almost ate a couch and died. Once beat up an old lady for cutting her in line at Pfaffs and got arrested for it

Vincent: Fortnite danced her way out of getting killed by a rival drug dealer. Got scammed out of 40$ by a crystal seller while on acid cuz she was told her “vibes were bad”

Francis/Vincent: Vince tried to force Francis to bathe and as a result ended up flooding the apartment

Jack: i honest to god can’t think of anything he would do that would be ridiculous…he’s too CoolTM for this question i think lol. but he WAS there during the whole Vincent dancing incident and he just let that shit happen

3. who would be the worst kid to baby sit?

FRANCIS. FRANCIS 100% (backed up by JJ)

4. who would kill each other if they were left alone as the last two people on earth?

Lamia and Azel for FUCK sure. Lamia wouldn’t give a fuck if she was the last person on the planet, she’s taking revenge no matter what

5. worst take someone could have about se or any of the characters that would make you lay in the earth until the heat death of the universe? what about the best take that would fully ascend you to Best Weather Boy aka god

worst take: SO MANY TBH… part of me feels like yea this is vague and i actually do wanna answer this in a more serious/nuanced way so i’m gonna do a long hard think abt it and hopefully come back with actual answers…but meanwhile have these fake horrible SE takes that @bloody-hugs came up with:

best take: honestly i dunno…like people just coming away from this story learning something new abt themselves or realizing something or just enjoying the story trying to come up with theories and their own headcanons abt the characters like. i don’t think there’d be a “best take” in regards to a story like this but ummm i just want people to enjoy it uwu that’s how i complete my ascension to godhood

[theuniverseawakens347]

okay so we leave one sectour together… Chloe and hailey

… ya go into the next… ur given options to do x y n z… ya DECIDED WHO TAKES WHAT PLATE N HOW MUCH YA WILLINGLY TO DO

Chloe: well I like sex so I’ll do that BIG FAN of Beyoncé she’s there more…

Halle: well I believe in starseeds spiritual over god so I’ll do this one…

ya go two two different rooms … to different times before ur final destination until you get uncomfortable and want to turn back.. so they put you in a room of what feels watered down from where you just came but it’s masked w the same sin .. devils red dress.. now you in that sector and realizing … this don’t feel right… ima go chat to the top dawgs,.. but my fan base my money my idols what will they think.. I WANA fit Ina me have a fan base… I don’t wan be a Kesha I don’t WANA be Amanda bynes or Brittney… I WANA keep my money w my control … well Chloe you never had control over it … bank n loans., checks n balances ..,

ur name alone is a business ur mom is ur house but she got bankrupt when ya came to America … NOT ALL WILLINGLY SOME STOLEN.. damn dash to JAYZ and JAYZ to 50 cent back.. ya hold heads educate those lost souls… but ya know which ones GOT TRUE INTENT TO MAKE AND DO BETTER AND NOT AVOID DEATH ROW.. or crimes oushed onto someone else .. like Lee garlington been harassing my family since she was 10 .. her mom step mom family friends to my elders.., they passed AND FUCKING HER FAMILY UP IN THE SPIRITUAL WORLD… OTHER DEMINSIONS..

I’m trying to give you grace n dignity here WITH ME… but ya won sneak diss and torture your soul and blame me…

as a creator “ we are made in the reflection of god” … whatever that Bible versus is.. some are starting to see the BIBLE GAVE A SKELETON FOR A SANDWHICH AND YA DRESSD IT HOW YA DEEMED FIT .. you got options of toppings to try you thru away the lettuce and veggies bc “ too healthy” so you choose heavy meats all the time and carbs…n juice…

UR PLAYING GOD IN UR OWN LIFE.. YES… FREE WILL TO BE BETTER N DO BETTER…, GODS WILL STEPS IN WHEN YA NEED A REDIRECTION.. QUESTIONING UR SOUL NEW DOOR APPEARS… YOU EITHER WALK THRU IT AND SEE WHATS ON THE OTHER SIDE… OR YA KEEP ON THE SAME MISERY ROAD …road map for visual learners… I’m leaving missing pieces of purposes … metaphors symbolizism.. analogies… same thing LIFE IS A REFLECTION OF MY BUTAINED BRAINED.. I MADE AN OVER VIEW OPTIONS TO SEE US THRU… how can we trust it …MY FAMILY FROM MY SOUL HAVE ALWAYS GOT ME until some unknown walks in and even then THEY STILL WORK BEHIND THE SCENSE…

ur lesson when you walked away from good and chose bad ( god to Satan fallen angels.. U GET PUNISHED)

TRUST THE UNIVERSE ITS GOT YOU.. UR INTENTION IS TO TRUELY BE BETTER UR TAKEN CARE OF … THERES ANOTHER SIDE OF THE TAPE FRANK OCEAN CAYENDA? A AND B… but you stopped that trac waiting for me… something if life or record label.. or maybe you made it but it ended being another project.. you did or didn’t like kehlani to music woke Interview ..

AND THOSE RUNNING FROM MURDER FREESTYLE RATSHIT MIC…. THATS ALL YOU DOING .. YOU RUNNING DROM UR VICTIMS AND SCARED CUZ IM SPEAKING WHAT YA GRANDMA USED TO TELL YOU … N. C EAZYIINK LLC JUSTIN OF LONDON BEING GREEDY FOR KONEY CAUSE YA LIVED IN WHAT YOU DEEMED FILTH LISTENING TO the WRONG SOUL.. YA KILLED MY FAMILY UR “friends” AND UR KIN.. U ORGANIZE CRIME FOR EVIL MALICIOUS INTENT… YOU CAME IN W WANTING BETTER HALLE BAILEY.. AND GOT TO THE POINT OF FUCK IT THIS IS COOL I CAN GET AWAY W WRONG.. ALSO SPIRITUAL LAW… MY TEAM CAN READ BETWEEN UR BARS TO SEE WHO YOU SET UP FOR MURDER AND HOW YOU DID IT … THATS A DIFFERENT SECTOR FOR MY HIGHER FAMILY FOR THOSE JUSTIN OF LONDON CONCERN THAT LYRICS CANT GET YOU TRIALED OR JAIL TIME… UMM. WHEN YA ROPE IN SPIRITUAL LAW YES IT CAN… ALSO ALEXIS MIGHT HASPVE HARASSED YAL AS HERSELF .. IM NOT DISCOUNTING THAT.. IM SHUFFLING MY BOARD ON WHAT TAKES PRECEDENT FOR ME IM AWAY FROM MY FACE TO FACE TWIN FLAME TRISTAN BARTON… SO I DONT WANT TO JUDGE IN FULL DEPTS SO IM KEEPING IT SURFACE AS MUCH AS I CAN UNLESS THE PASSED OVER NEEDS TO THROW IN SOME INFORMATION.. YA SEEN ME TALKING W LEXI.. ABOUT MARONDA IAN BABY MAM CA$h IMPOSING AS LEXI TO HARASS.. PARTLY HOW SHE LOST HER LIFE RATSHIT MIC YA HELPED THEM HARRASS OTHERS IN HER NAME OR GOT THE SAME THING TO YOU… ALL PARTS WILL BE LOOKED AT… BUT IM ON A ISLAND MILES AWAY FROM THE BASE… TF YOU WANT ME TO DO.. I ALREADY SAID I FEEL LIKE A BAD LEADER FOR THAT THATS ANPERSONAL OPINION… WHILE FAMILY TELECOMMUNICATES FOR THE WAY THIS IS SET UP IM NOT ACTUALLY DOING A BAD JOB… U PURPOSELY TRYING TO TAKE ADVANGE OF ME AND MAKE ME LOOM LIKE IM DOING PREMEDITATIED MURDER ON YA … MY SKY FAMILY SIT AT THE TOP OF UR CARTEL AND GANGS LMAO AND THEY DONT MOVE UNLESS I SAY TO MY SKY FAMILY SIT AT THE TOP OF THE WHITEHOUSE.. WATCH DOGS WAITING FOR ME TO WAKE,,, ITS ABOUT THE NEXT “rank” WHO WRONGED US TO STEP TO ME AND HELP… THOSE WHO “accidentally” walked devils road … UR LOOKING FOR A WAY OUT TO BE CLEANSED.. IM GIVING YOU THE BLUEPRINT.. U CHOSE TO NOT HEAR ME…

How you started hating God in the first place … Satan two.

[crimsonxe]

Reblogging cause I don't know how long this will go by I have MANY damn words to say to this bullshit, especially coming from a supposed fan of either of the characters.

Yeah they did have past issues, which they went over the majority of DURING LiS1. DontNod, y'know the ones that actually fucking get their own characters, AND the comic who also get the damn characters cause Emma is an actual fan show the two NOT having issues and being happily together with Chloe going to galleries with Max. Because they recognize that the ordeal they went through over LiS1 is of the vein that either forever bonds two people or utterly irreparably shatters their bond; according to true main canon that is DONTNOD's it did the first. Which the comic also picks up on.

vs. Decknine who don't give shit, don't understand a damn thing about the fucking characters (they write Chloe more as fucking Rachel), and as per the leaks from an ex employee are actually anti-Chloe in disliking her character.

By the halfway point of LiS1 they're biggest issues were gone and Max had shifted back into Chloe's core/behind her walls, where anyone there gets her absolute loyalty. This is shown with her and Rachel who also was in her core/behind her walls, where she kept believing in her after each reveal over LiS1; even after Frank still wanting to have something if she were still alive. Which goes into why it makes absolutely not a SHRED of sense that she'd be the one to leave Max; she WOULDN'T.

Oh fuck off, like yes I do think there'd be survivor's guilt and weight on Max from it; but not only do I say fuck the guilt trip/emotional chord your ass is trying to invoke/pull but also that these things can be resolved by other means that RESPECT PLAYER CHOICE. Max could choose to fight for the relationship thus having a separation from Chloe with Max going to Caledon for some time to get her shit in order mentally and then boom event that allows for her to explore her trauma and come to closure with it; that then leads into an ending where she has all those things done and is ready to truly move into the future with Chloe. Amanda's trash ass can be a friend cause she definitely doesn't have a shred of chemistry with Max, so for that route there'd be no romance as the focus would be on y'know Max's trauma not a femmed up lipstick lesbian chemistry-less trash ass option or a fucking Nathan Prescott fuckbag option (which that THIS is a thing shows how fucked up Decknine's writers were to choose THIS as the male option). Y'know who DID do this? The comics that were handled by a fan that actually gave a shit and understood the characters. Chloe didn't break up with Max over some "free-spirit" bullshit, she pushed her to find herself and where she belongs; even if that meant not with her. Then after a whole ass journey that tapped into her issues and even allowed her the chance of interacting with a platonic AmberPrice-Chloe, where it even dives into the circumstances that made LiS1 Chloe romantic vs. that alternate branch where it was platonic that was going through the ordeal of LiS1 events leading to fire-forging/soul-bonding. Max DOES come back to her LiS1 Chloe with her issues resolved.

LiS1 Chloe wouldn't have that paranoia, which is another thing in the comics; AmberPrice-alternate branch-Chloe does. Because LiS1 Chloe believes and trusts in Max. What's fucked up is the Decknine writers trying to inject that shit into characters that wouldn't do it. Dontnod would've gone into it if they remotely thought it was an issue, but instead we're shown Chloe being onboard with the power usage. But after seeing the Storm, I'd wager that both of them would lean AWAY from the powers.

Oh yes how dare a traumatized girl that's fucked over by life want to utilize a power that allows her to say "fuck you" to the universe. As someone not traumatized but very much at times feels fucked over by the universe, I'd abso-fucking-lutely run with that "fuck you". Also I'm so fucking tired of the "guilt trippy" bullshit, yes Chloe pulls emotional chords; but those are fucking VALID chords to pull. She is RIGHT and VALID to have anger and resentment and to use things to her benefit, cause no one else is helping her. She's not at all fucking selfish except to morons that misread/misunderstand her; and her being abrasive is one of the damn reason I LOVE her as a character. A femme character that takes-no-shit = LOVE it every single time. Sorry, not sorry she isn't some soft-toned suburb girl but an actual badass.

Yeah, you being "surprised" is a your lacking in understanding a damn thing about them. That's a YOU failing not a them one as DontNod made it very clear the two were happily together years later in LiS2- Bae, which is exactly what fits after the ordeal they went through that soul-bonded them.

So the fuck what? Not only is there an entire goddamn genre that exists in the vein of "fuck fate" for this exact thing; but it doesn't at all change the feelings involved. And if you bullshit is supposed to be that the universe will continue to go after Chloe in some Final Destination fashion; you're provably WRONG as shown in both LiS2- Bae and True Colors-Bae, where Chloe isn't being stalked by Death. On top of this the comics actually offer a different take on the entire Storm that fits, which actually puts it on MAX with her "scarring" the universe every time she Rewound and altered things. So it wasn't a matter of "Chloe's got to go", but a reversing all of the scars MAX caused. Regardless there is no world where my Max does a "well clearly Death is going to keep coming after you so probably should just let it win."; fuck that shit. And clearly DontNod said fuck that shit too, since once again there isn't any of that in LiS2-Bae or True Colors-Bae.

Yes I would which is exactly why I'm Bae over Bay and unapologetically so. Once again not a damn thing you've said actually justifies having them break up or having it go the way Decknine's shitty ass writing tried to do it. Like Decknine your ass fails at understanding the characters and their bond, even in direct contrast to what DontNod the actual canon makers for these characters presents.

a) there is an entire ass vein of "separated" that could have them coming back together after Max coincidentally landed in an exact situation allowing for her to go through her trauma. Instead Decknine chose to pull a "we know better" bullshit that is made worse by them shoving in chemistry-less trash ass romances with equally trash ass chemistry-less love interests that don't come remotely close to Max and Chloe's bond.

b) get this shit through your fucking skull: SOUL-BONDED not trauma-bonded. You can shove trauma-bonded up your know-nothing misunderstanding character ass.

Do you thought, because I'm pretty sure your sorry ass is just saying you love them to try to add credibility to your bullshit. Especially with your ass repeatedly stressing "loving them individually", not together. Like absolutely fuck the hell off.

Nah, dumbass you have a misunderstanding of the characters, the relationship, and even the entirety of the story of LiS1. Your bullshit doesn't even line up with DontNod's canon that they show in LiS2-Bae. Thankfully Decknine's trashfire is nothing more than a sorry ass "fix-it-fic" AU blue haired Chloe branch that can be fully ignored, while DontNod's green haired Chloe who's happily going to galleries with her gf Max is main canon. You know your you don't have fucking clue about Chloe like Decknine, when you have her acting closer to fucking Victoria than Max; which just shows why its not worthy of being main canon. So take your pathetic trying to defend Decknine's garbage and fuck off.

Spoilers for Life Is Strange: Double Exposure

Please read before you filet me. Now… don’t kill the messenger but I am absolutely not surprised Chloe and Max breakup in LIS:DE. And I say this as someone who chose Bae over Bay and love Max and Chloe (individually) with allllll my heart.

For starters, they had a LOT - and I mean A LOT - of unresolved trauma from their past. I’m specifically talking about Max not talking to Chloe for five years after literally leaving town once Williams funeral was over.

It’s not Max’s fault she left but she was wrong for not staying in touch with Chloe. Again, I say this as someone who also sucks at staying in touch (it’s a big big character flaw of mine).

Next, the fact that for Chloe to live means everyone - including her fucking MOM - had to die. Suddenly and horribly. In a storm. That came from nowhere in their point of view.

There’s NO WAY both Chloe and Max don’t hold major guilt from that. Chloe with survivors guilt and Max with just guilt period. And the fact that they would have started their relationship right after that… how can a healthy relationship form with that as the foundation.

Next, Max has a habit of using her powers to kinda manipulate situations to go her way. In the game AND in the comics. And from what we have seen: she doesn’t stop doing that even after the storm. Chloe literally cannot SEE a future with them together because she doesn’t know if Max went back in time or not.

Im not saying Max is a manipulative sociopath - of course not - but, damn, isn’t that just a bit fucked.

It’s not like Chloe is innocent either. She pushes Max to use her powers so much, is selfish and abrasive, and lowkey guilt trippy AS FUCK in LIS.

I love them both down individually but together.. I’m just surprised they lasted more than a few months.

Last but not least, the game kinda centers on Max trying to have Chloe stay alive. It’s actually insane how many times my girl Chloe died and my girl Max had to rewind time to save her. It’s almost like the universe was saying “Hey Chloe gotta go” imho.

Now, if you were in Max’s shoes, you would probably choose your loved one over the town in a heartbeat. However, even with this ending the situation is still fucked and I’m not surprised at all they broke up.

They needed space from each other and their past. How can they do that when they’re trauma bonded?

(Again I love them down individually and they had many cute moments but let’s be realistic y’all. Life is Strange and life is ass)

(Also also some of y’all clearly have a bias towards Chloe that is kinda blinding you from the reality. I will agree though that them breaking up over a letter is fuckeddddd and unrealistic)

[alixinwwonderland]

so the universe i started with this fic and this sequel seems to have more in store! part three, here we go! thanks @wonderlandleighleigh @bekindreblog for bouncing ideas with me and for some much-needed inspiration.

(this will probably end up on ao3 at some point, link to come!)

Since Alfie’s little sojourn into the future, Midge has been going into overdrive trying to fix everything that went wrong. And, yes, she even has a brand-new notebook to track as much of it as she can remember, how it all happened, and where she might be able to stop it in its tracks. Her notebooks haven’t let her down yet, so why should this be any different?

She makes a schedule to remind herself to spend a certain amount of time each day (or at least every other day) with each of the kids. It goes against everything in her nature not to turn that into a bit for her act, too, but if “Mrs. X at the Gaslight” could still come back to haunt her, then the last thing she needs is some greasy-haired dweeb recording her confessions of terrible motherhood just enough to have them pop up when Ethan and Esther are old enough to be permanently scarred by their mother joking about forcing herself to spend time with them. She’s not even forcing herself to spend time with them, just to schedule when that time is, but she suspects that’s not a distinction that will play well with audiences or with the kids. So, out of the act it goes, against Susie’s objections.

The family stuff, ironically enough, is easier than some of the professional. She’s still laboring away at Gordon’s show, and while it’s better than her first go-round, filled with unwanted flirting from the boss and constant opposition from coworkers, it’s still not what she wants to be doing. She knows, in the back of her mind, how future-her solved the “writers can’t be on the show” problem, but she’s not ready to take that leap or burn those bridges just yet. 

Besides, there’s a bigger problem at hand: namely, Susie having a rare lapse in street smarts and getting herself and Midge entangled with the mob. That, again, is not something that Midge wants to relive the way it was in Alfie’s version of the future, so she’s stuck with trash-can musicals once again. 

And now, she’s stuck in Chicago, doing a couple of sets at a club owned by a “friend” of Frank and Nicky’s, whose headliner pulled out at the last minute for reasons not clearly explained. It’s a weekend, and she’s got nothing to do on Saturday afternoon but explore a new city and try to figure out how to extract herself from this mess. Susie doesn’t seem to have seen as much in her vision as Midge did, or if she did, she’s keeping it secret even from Midge, and all she’ll say is that she’s “working on it.”

When she decides to indulge in a hearty sandwich for lunch, Midge picks a deli at random, knowing deep down that it’ll probably be disappointing by her standards, but hoping it will be at least passable. The bigger surprise is when the woman seated on the stool next to her turns her head and Midge realizes that she knows her, at the exact same time the other woman realizes the same thing.

“Hi,” Mei says.

“Hi,” Midge answers.

“What are you doing here?” Mei winces. “Sorry, that came out a lot ruder than I thought. I just meant—”

“Didn’t expect to see me here?” When Mei shrugs in agreement, Midge nods. “You and me both.”

Then Midge looks at Mei — really looks at her, and a thought occurs to her: a memory of a months-ago conversation with Frank and Nicky, and an allusion that Mei’s family is frightening enough to even scare off hardened mob goons.

It’s probably a bad idea. It’s almost certainly a bad idea. But, fight fire with fire, as they say, right?

“Hey,” Midge begins. “I know I have… absolutely no right to ask you this. Or ask you anything, really. But, honestly, I’m desperate.”

“I’m flattered,” Mei says dryly, and not for the first time, Midge gets the sense that, in some other life, she and Mei could have gotten along pretty well.

“My manager, she doesn’t usually get things wrong, but when she does, boy do things go wrong,” Midge continues. “Which circles back to your first question.”

“What are you doing here?”

“Exactly,” Midge says. She lowers her voice slightly, aware of the public space they’re in. “Couple of years ago, Susie made some … friends, let’s say. And now business is picking up and they’ve turned out to be less of friends and more of…”

“Ah. That kind of friend,” Mei says delicately. Midge presses her lips together tightly and nods.

“So here I am, in Chicago, using up the only free time I’ll have all month, doing sets for their friend’s club. I had to emcee a musical about municipal waste! There’s no end to it. They said they own us,” Midge hisses. “And now Joel’s sniffing around, and knowing him he’ll try to do something stupid out of some misplaced savior complex about me and the kids, and then—”

She stops and looks back at Mei.

“Sorry,” she says. “I didn’t mean to bring up—”

“It’s okay.” Mei shrugs it off. “I mean, you’re not wrong.”

“Look. I know we’re not friends, not in any definition of the word. But I may have heard … things. About the kinds of circles your family may or may not run in, and the kinds of people who are scared of them.” 

A faint grin appears on Mei’s lips. 

“And you were hoping, what, that I could call in the cavalry and save all of you from your own naivete and stupidity?” Mei asks, blunt as can be.

“Wow, they definitely haven’t gotten to the ‘bedside manner’ portion of med school, have they?” Midge cracks. 

“It’s overrated,” Mei parries back, and there’s that dry, dry humor again that makes Midge wish things had gone differently. “Okay,” she says, getting off her stool and putting a few bills by her plate to pay.

“Okay?” Midge echoes back, startled at the abrupt shift. Mei picks up her purse from the counter, then turns back to Midge.

“Your manager — Susie, you said?”

“Yeah. Susie Myerson.”

“Well. You tell Susie to keep an ear out. And if some guy shows up to deliver Chinese food but without the food, you tell her she should invite him in. Good luck with your shows, Midge.”

Mei is already almost out the door when Midge gets with the program enough to hurry after her, tossing her own money on the counter and nearly losing a shoe on the way out.

“Mei!” she calls out, hurrying after her on the sidewalk. Mei stops and turns around. When Midge reaches her, the only thing that falls out of her mouth is, “Why?”

“Why what?”

“Why would you do this for me? After everything that happened — with Joel, and with everything else — you’re just going to … help me? Without even asking for a favor or something in return?”

Mei’s eyes narrow.

“First of all, I don’t do that favor bullshit. My family might, but in case you haven’t noticed, I’m here by myself, on my own merit, no favors called in. Draw your own conclusions.”

“I’m sorry, I know you — I didn’t mean —”

“Second. You’re right that Joel is exactly the type of man who would puff himself up and try to fix things and get himself into trouble instead. And as … as badly as things ended, the image of how that could turn out isn’t one that I’m interested in seeing. And it’s not one that your kids deserve.”

Mei takes a deep breath and seems to relax a little as she looks squarely into Midge’s gaze.

“And third? I sort of owe you, anyway.”

“Me? What did I do?” Midge asks, trying to sort through her limited interactions with Mei to figure out when she’s ever done something to actually help instead of make things worse. Mei smiles, and it’s an actual smile, not a sarcastic or ironic one.

“That night, in the hospital, while we were waiting for news about Moishe, and you started in with all the questions about co-parenting and managing the kids’ schedules and me and Joel living together, and all of that.”

“I thought I scared you off with that. Joel thinks I scared you off with that,” Midge can’t help adding. Mei lets out a short huff of laughter at that.

“Of course he does. And I guess from his perspective, that’s what happened. But from mine, it’s that you showed me, clear as day, what that life would look like. What my life would have looked like, if I’d stayed and gone through with… with all the plans. I don’t know, it felt like—”

“A glimpse of a future you realized wasn’t for you?” Midge asks, a little wry. 

“Yeah. Yeah, exactly,” Mei says softly. Midge smiles.

“I know what you mean.” They’re quiet for a moment, until Mei shakes herself out of it.

“Remember. Susie. Chinese food. Don’t forget.”

“Got it. Thanks, Mei. And… good luck. I think you’re going to be a really, really great doctor.”

Mei grins.

“You bet your ass I am.”

Mei’s good to her word. A week later, Dinah ushers a skinny, bespectacled man in a suit into Susie’s office. Midge never finds out what, exactly, was in the briefcase he brought over, nor will Susie tell her what was said during her conversation with Frank and Nicky. 

“Better that you don’t know the details,” Susie says ominously.

Whatever blackmail is in there, though, it does the trick. Frank and Nicky will never be fully gone — that appears to be the cost of doing this kind of business, even if it makes Midge wary — but it’s much better than being “owned” by them. And that, Midge thinks, is good enough to make a start.