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hoyaanae · 3 years ago

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The beautiful dialogue of Lovely Us

Ep 01

"Once people become parents, their memory begins to become biased. They always remember they are their children's most reliable parents, but often forget that they are also children loved by their own parents. When they are waiting for their children to come back home, they forget that their own parents are also waiting for their return in a similar mood."

"When I'm absent from the concert, my idol won't know or feel sad. But when I don't go back to accompany my mom to celebrate her birthday, she'll know it. I don't want to make her sad."

Ep 02

"A lot of things are good at hide and seek - the old scarf I bought last year, the new eraser, Mom's favorite sewing needle, and a feeling of heartbeat for someone. We try to find them, but in vain. Then when we give it up, they just appear somewhere unexpected - on the back of the chair, in the book, in the cotton thread, and behind my back.

Human heart beats 60 to 100 times per minute on average. That day, I failed to count my heartbeat per minute. Even the water droplets falling from the umbrella were disrupted together with me. The joy, the thrill and the butterfly in the stomach converged into the restless heartbeats. On this raining day, a girl's heart beat 101 times in a minute."

Ep 03

"Huang Chengzi, why is the starry sky beautiful? Do you think it is because of the brightest star? Of course, everyone might say "Look, the Venus" while pointing at the brightest one. However, for those stars shining together and forming the Big Dipper and Orion, don't they look beautiful? They cannot be described as a foil. Anyway, I think some stars that keep shining might be more beautiful than the brightest one however dark they are."

Ep 07

"The audio frequency of the sound when a snowflake falls on the water surface is over 50,000 Hz. Because it falls beyond human beings' hearing range, this snowy day is still so quiet that it seems I can only hear my own heartbeat and that it seems there is only me and the person in front of me on this planet with a population of 6.6 billion. I hope this world can be noiser so that I can pretend that I've never discovered this secret."

"Do you have such a feeling? People around you always tell you that you are already standing on the top of the mountain, but when clouds and mist scatter, you find there is another higher peak waiting for you. After going out, I've found there are so many people who work harder and are more excellent than me. It's just like in an originally easy marathon race, I suddenly find all the people around are sprinting. So, I must run faster. Otherwise, others will surpass me. I'm a little bit out of breath."

"At the age of 17, we all have our own secrets. We are trying to hide those secrets, but they are still going to be discovered. We are unwilling to admit those secrets, but the more we conceal them, the more conspicuous they become. We are very clear about those secrets, but eventually, we are still willing to turn them into memories. And these secrets that cannot be told, are found so similar to each other after a long time. It turns out they are all about unexpected feelings for someone."

Ep 08

"I've always been content with what I have and I'm in need of nothing. I can remember what I read and I'm surrounded by nice people. My life has always been smooth and I thought the life that had been planned was not bad for me. Just like a sailing ship, with enough food, I didn't look forward to rains and storms. I just wanted to follow the prescribed route and go back fo the safe zone of the harbor in the end. That was my perfect ending. But from the very beginning, you've been determined to brave the storm and to see the bigger world. Wind and rain can't knock you down and the waves can't overturn you. You've shown me a life course that's completely different from mine. So, since her dream is to explore this world, I just can't let her go through it alone. Zhu Jinxiao, I like you."

"At the age of 17, the first habit developed by boys is to hide their affections. They think that the probability is just 0.01, so they put on the emperor's new clothes, trying to hide their affections with magic. But affections are not that easy to hide. Even if the probability is pretty low, it will be revealed at a certain moment. So on that rainy night, while looking at her back, he found that the most obvious evidence of falling in love with her was the feeling of easement in his heart and the smile on his face when he looked at her."

Ep 09

"In the past, we always felt a year with 365 days was exceedingly long, but only when it comes to this moment do we understand that we become one year older all of a sudden. The significance of spending the Spring Festival, extending from ancient times to the present, is shining brightly like fireworks, giving us the courage to heal each other many times. And then we can have a new start. It doesn't matter that you can't eat steaming hot dishes. It doesn't matter that you perhaps don't know the secret hidden in the couplet. It doesn't matter that you listen to your grandma's nagging sometimes. Even if it takes too long on the way back, as long as there are people we care about, we won't be lonely. We will return to the home we are familiar with."

Ep 10

"Actually we never forget the happy hours with our parents in childhood. Maybe the so-called alienation is because we walk so fast while our parents are staying where they are. One meter, a hundred meters, a kilometer. The distance becomes farther and farther until we can't hear them calling us. That's why we mistakenly think love is silent. So while we are confused, our parents feel the same too. They are confused about how they can give us their deep love in a smart manner."

"Those who love hiding their feelings most in this world are fathers. They hide their inarticulate concerns in warm lights. In every precious certificate of merit, they put their unmentionable encouragement. Besides, there are many silent surprises they carefully arrange in every day when we are marching to the future. They firmly care about us with such silent fathers' love, and we firmly love them."

Ep 11

"We think that many things and many people in this world can wait til tomorrow. So when you pause it or when you turn around, you think that everything will still be the same tomorrow, or you won't even realize this hope in your mind, because you think tomorrow should be the same as today. And you think nothing will change as time flies by. But this time, the moment you let go and turned around, some things completely changed. The sun went down and before it rises again, some people will leave you forever. We always thought that there would be a big ceremony to say goodbye, so we keep waiting for a warm hug, a refreshing drink, and a heartfelt goodbye. But in the end, we realized that most goodbyes in our lives are all silent."

Ep 12

"At that silent corner in my mind, there are a number of weird illusions. For example, can I become Alice who enters the wonderland with White Rabbit? For example, can I become the little girl who enters the forest with Totoro? For example, is there some special switch in this box which can teleport me? No, none of them exist. There's no flying dragons or knights, and I'm not the heroine of some comics for girls, either. However, the only thing I'm sure about is that this escape greatly shocks my world. My palms would sweat, and my sight would be indistinct. Then my view becomes narrower and narrower until there's room for only one person in my eyes. After a long time, I know such a moment is named adventure, in which the one in your eyes is irreplaceable."

Ep 13

"In the summer of 2008, in retrospect, the most impressive thing may not be the world-famous Olympic Games, but the silly things we did because we were fearless. What is shining and unexpected is everything that is closely related to friendship. We wanted to pick the brightest stars and make the most beautiful wishes, so we became the bravest boys and girls. While crying and laughing, with the bond between each other, toward the most beautiful end of youth, we keep running all the way and never stop."

"The familiar chirping of cicadas on summer nights, the familiar bear doll who must lean by the lamb, the familiar lovely girl who frowns even when she sleeps, and the 17-year-old time wrapped by the sense of familiarity never seem to have changed. The only difference is that when I look at the familiar him, I feel a flurry and uneasiness that I have never expected."

Ep 14

"That night, it was the first time I found there's magic hidden in my mom's smile. Those feelings between adults and children which I thought are hard to express in words don't have to be spoken out. They can be understood through her smile. Indeed, adults don't often say I love you, and seldom say sorry. But it doesn't matter. Action speaks louder than explanation. There's no need to express deep feelings in words. If you stand there quietly, you can automatically receive all their love for you."

"There are many new days like today. Today, he holds my hand. Today, he holds me in his arms. Today, he carries me on his back and runs in the street in the early morning. Many days with him like today will eventually become my unforgettable past days. I'll remember days like today for a long time."

Ep 15

"In the last hundred days, I heard countless times "Hurry up to walk! Hurry up to eat! Hurry up to take the notes! And hurry up to go to the toilet." But it's strange. When you try to seize time by the forelock, it goes faster. Then after the exams, we graduated."

"I just want to be an ordinary person. I'll live on a small fruit stand in the future or continue your small shop, which makes me happy. This is life. It's my own choice and I will bear the results. Different people have different dreams. Let those extraordinary people be extraordinary. I just want to be a happy and ordinary person."

"Friendship means so much to us. It brings us close, and makes me flinch, so sometimes we just tell ourselves that as long as we're together, I can be just a friend of hers. But the taxi that I failed to catch, the phone calls that have been hung up, the time that's flying and my restless heart are telling me eagerly that in this world, both love and friendship are important. Every detail related to you is reminding me that we can't be just friends. So when it's still not too late, I have to tell you the things that I want to tell you as soon as possible. Huang Chengzi, I like you."

Ep 16

"In this world, it seems like all wishes have a guardian. Wishing wells, shooting stars, the aquarium's white whale. They're all hiding in the corners of the universe caressing the sorrow of loving someone alone. It's just that the god of happiness can't bless everyone out there. They let some people be happy and their wishes come true, and let some be sad, but they can't admit how sad they really are. The feeling of being in love is like a butterfly gently flapping its wings, that stirs up a hurricane in people's hearts. The second you realize it, then there's no escape."

"That's you when you're happy. And that's you when you're mad. Over there is the jealous you, and you when you're being naughty and pretending to cry. I was just going to draw one to start with, but every expression you have is floating around in my head, and I really love every single one of them."

"I've never been afraid of growing up. And I've never worried that growing up would be lonely. Not because I'm so strong, but because I have faith that I will never be alone. The guy who held my hand will continue to grow up closely together with me. The guy who's in my diary and I in his, will exchange even more secrets in the future. All of us have walked together through the years and will continue to walk together farther into the future. This world never lets lovely people down, and we are all lovely."

#如此可爱的我们 #Lovely Us #Lovely Us Cdrama #Cdrama #李明德 #Li Ming De #田曦薇 #Tian Xi Wei #李寅��#Li Ying Ying #李明源 #Li Ming Yuan #尤浩然 #You Hao Ran

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danganronpa-21 · 4 years ago

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Naegiri Week Day 3 - Sunset

Happy third day of Naegiri Week! In my personal opinion, this is probably my favourite piece that I’ve written this year. It’s a sweet one with just a twinge of angst. As with the past two pieces, I have no warnings to issue aside from a little bit of graphically violent metaphor. It’s a blink and you’ll miss it kind of thing though, so there’s no need to worry too much. I hope you enjoy the piece, and that I have done our beautiful couple some justice.

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A boy and a girl stood on top of the school building; their gazes turned towards the sky. The day was in the process of dying slowly, the natural cerulean fading away, melting into colours the likes of which they almost never got to see. Life so often dragged them away from something as simple as watching the sky’s transitions. Before, when the times would begin to change, they would spend their time preparing for cram school or going out to do extra work. They nearly never took notice of the refashioning. Maybe, if they were lucky, they’d stop for a second and remark to themselves about its beauty. Their eyes would catch just a hint of the rosy pinks and fruity oranges, and they could smile to themselves about what a nice view they would have during their journeys. Then, just as they always did, they would move along with their day. Never taking notice of the sky again, and missing it turn to something much more beautiful than what they had previously seen.

Getting to ignore a sunset, they quickly realized, was a privilege. A privilege that they could no longer have. When the Biggest, Most Awful, Most Despair-Inducing Incident in human history came to fruition, there was no time for trivial things like watching a sunset. Every day melted into a flurry of rioting, fighting, and danger that could eat them alive if they weren’t careful. The students of Hope’s Peak Academy got the worst of it, and Makoto and Kyoko were no exception to this rule. Walking onto campus every morning was gambling for one’s life as the Parade clamoured for justice at the gates. Makoto’s own parents had been so terrified of him getting assaulted on his way from their house to the school that they’d begged the headmaster to set him up in a dorm for the time being. And since Jin Kirigiri was a slightly foolish, but not entirely unreasonable man, he obliged. In the end, however, it only made things a little better. He and Kyoko still promised to walk every day to and from class together every day, just to be sure that the other would arrive safely.

It was no real life that the two of them were living, but then again, they wondered if anybody’s life was much of anything at this point. This wave of anger that consumed more than just Tokyo. It reigned across the entirety of Japan, and bled even further. Neighbouring countries began to get caught up in the tide, and then their neighbours came in, and then their allies, and then their enemies. Before anyone could so much as breathe a word of soothing nature, the world had sliced itself open and soaked its people with its bloody rage. Now, all anyone could do was attempt to rinse themselves off and stitch up the wounds. There was nothing anyone could do about the fact that some were determined to keep opening new ones. Especially not at Hope’s Peak – as far as everyone was concerned, Jin offered the students as much protection as he could give.

Makoto just wished there was more. Not just on his side of things, but on the side of the Reserve Course students as well. He could have been in their shoes, had he not been so lucky. Hell, he probably would have been one of the students even further on the outside, who couldn’t even breathe the same air as a Hope’s Peak student. If they wanted to send him there on money alone, one of them would have had to fork over a kidney to the black market just to get enough. His family was not financially stable enough for that, and he felt certain that many of the Reserve Course kids were not that financially stable either. Yet there they were, clamouring even as the sun began to drift off to sleep. He wished they would, too. At the very least, he took comfort in the fact that their numbers were dwindling for the day.

“They look so small down there.”

Kyoko’s voice was flatter than soda in the sun. If he didn’t know her as well as he did, he might have thought her uninvested in the situation.

“They do.” He muttered; his gaze fixed on a pair of boys picking a fight with the head of security. The sight of their shouting and waving their fists made him cringe. Juzo Sakakura was an alumnus of Hope’s Peak; the Super High School Level Boxer to be more specific. Not exactly the kind of man that anyone should want to mess with, especially on account of his hot temper. Pity stirred within him when he thought about how this would end. “Sakakura-san will crush them like small bugs, too.”

She nodded curtly. “They should know better than to mess with him. He and the others have beaten up more than their fair share of Reserve Course students already.”

Makoto bit his lip, wishing he had it within himself to do something. He was a small fish in a big pond. What could he possibly do? There was no control to be had over this situation, and yet he craved it.

“I don’t know what they think that’s going to accomplish.”

“Well, my understanding is that they think this will earn them some sort of equality or change, but so far their attempts haven’t born fruit-”

“No,” he cut in, surprised even by his own interruption, “That’s not what I meant.”

She blinked at him; her expression unchanging. Not even a twitch of the eyebrow or the lip to tell him what she was thinking. The girl was somewhere beyond neutral at this point, but she didn’t seem keen on showing it. “What did you mean, then?”

“I don’t understand why the school hasn’t given in or tried to fix things. I’m surprised the police haven’t gotten involved,” heart thundering in his head, he continued, “Do you know if the school’s paying them hush money, or something?”

Ah. A frown etched itself into her face within a matter of seconds, clearly the product of dredged up memories. So there was a little bit of emotion hiding behind that iron mask. Her father had had a case for her a few weeks back, after all. Though she refused to share many details, what she did tell him was that he suspended the case rather abruptly. He even went as far as saying that he “wasn’t satisfied with her work”. Her eyes had been glassy when she told him that. Keeping himself from pulling her into his arms had been more difficult than one might have expected.

“I haven’t spoken to my father since the case.” Her eyebrows knitted themselves together as she glared at the students below. “Nor do I have any desire to speak to him again about much of anything.”

Makoto could think to do nothing else but nod. “I don’t blame you. You were pretty upset after the whole thing.”

“Should I not have been?” Her arms folded across her chest. “It was as if he gave me the case just to humiliate me by taking it away later. Not that it matters anyway. He doesn’t really care about the investigation. The one thing I know for certain is that he doesn’t care as much about the Steering Committee as he pretends he does.”

Why would he not do something if that were the case? Was he honestly just sitting around twiddling his thumbs? He definitely tried not to make his impressions on people he didn’t know based on what others told him, but this seemed a little too suspicious to swallow.

“What do you mean?” He dared to ask, shuffling slightly closer to her. Her refusal to meet his gaze remained rather blatant, but her face relaxed slowly.

“He has little impact on the school overall,” she sighed, tucking a strand of hair back into place, “Jin Kirigiri is Hope’s Peak headmaster in title more than anything. They attempt to take his ideas into account, but he is a figurehead first and foremost.”

“So he can’t do anything about the protests?”

Kyoko shrugged. “He probably has been trying to, but the committee will not allow him that privilege.”

His fingers gripped at his hoodie sleeves, as if to beg him to ground them in some way. If it weren’t for the cool air brushing delicately against his face, he might have thought himself to be in a movie scene. If Kyoko’s father really was doing all that he could, what chance did they have against the world? Things were already so close to falling off the edge into a chasm of desolation, and now nobody could do anything? The phantom sensation of a fist squeezed his throat. Part of him ached to reach his hand out to take hold of Kyoko’s own, feeling the smooth leather of her gloves against the palms of his hands. Would it be appropriate? She did still look pretty mad, but… god, he wanted to feel like everything around him was real for once. Throughout all of this chaos, she was one of a few things that reminded him that things were not as bad as he thought them to be.

Shutting his eyes, he turned away from the scene. A few steps away from the rooftop’s chained fence managed to soothe his nerves within mere seconds. It somehow caught Kyoko’s attention, too.

“I… I can’t watch them anymore.” He answered to the question she didn’t ask. Watching the Reserve Course students scream at shout like that is what they did all day in class and all day after. God, they needed a break from it. Regret stirred within him any time he drew himself back to the simpler days, when he took things like getting boba tea with Sayaka or rough housing with Mondo and Taka for granted. He’d give anything to go home and sit with his mom, and listen to those incredibly annoying women blather through their talk show. He missed the brief period of time in which his dad had begun to teach him how to drive, and the two would squabble over the controls and road safety. He even missed fighting with Komaru over who would get the TV on a Friday night, inducing many groans of frustrations from their parents. When all of these people were suffering, he knew was wrong to want it back, but… How could he not? Makoto’s heart was much too soft to comfortably look on as others suffered.

The clacking of Kyoko’s high-heeled boots against the stone tiles of the roof signalled to him that she, too, had found it easier to turn away. “I can understand that. I don’t fancy watching them either.”

“Kirigiri-san, could we…” To this surprise, his voice sounded like it was breaking. “Could we talk about something else? Something other than… whatever this is?”

The clacking echoed closer as she moved to stand at his side; her hand found a soothing spot on his shoulder. One simple movement, and relief crashed over him in a waterfall. Warmth spread through his chest and for one moment, he felt completely safe. After so many weeks of fear and struggling, he finally remembered the sensation. His grandmother used to say that that was how you knew you loved someone. If you could find comfort in their touch during your darkest times. He definitely had it bad for Kyoko Kirigiri. The lovesickness, as his grandfather might say.

“Is there something you want to talk about?” She spoke in a voice that felt like he was running his hand along a fleece blanket, taking in all of its softness. She tilted her body forward to try and get a good look at his face.

A small smile tugged at his lips as he watched her out of the corner of his eye. He couldn’t stop himself from turning to meet her. “Anything, really. Preferably something happy.”

“Happy, hmm?” She tapped her chin, pursing her lips slightly. It was rare that one actually got to see the cogs turning in Kyoko’s mind, but it was always a sight to behold. “Umm… Sweden has a rabbit show all about jumping? I heard about it when my grandfather and I were there on a case when I was a girl. I think it might have been called Kaninhoppning?”

Makoto laughed, shaking his head. “That’s adorable.”

“It really is. Come to think of it, I have many happy memories from that trip… Although I never did get to see Kaninhoppning, I did manage to slip out onto our hotel room balcony for a half an hour to catch the most beautiful sunset I’ve ever seen.”

Having the chance to slip away from her grandfather on those trips was a rare occurrence, that he knew well. Though Makoto had never met Kyoko’s grandfather, he couldn’t say that he felt like he would particularly like the man. The manner in which he treated Kyoko as she grew felt strange to him, in the least. She even confessed to being connected to him more by blood than by love, much to Makoto’s shock.

“What did it look like?”

It became Kyoko’s turn to smile as she turned her head to the sky, extending a gloved hand to point at the atmosphere spread above them. “A lot like this one, I found. A smattering of colours.”

He followed suit, breathing in a calming breath as his eyes found a familiar sky. Puffs of pink and oranges sailed across the surface of blue like mystical ships in a vast ocean; sunlight breaking through like the heavens smiling down on them. Almost like proof that someone was still sitting up there, waiting to give this sign.

“It’s really something, isn’t it?”

She nodded, stepping closer to him and sliding her hand to his other shoulder. Oh god, she put her arm around him?! That made his heartbeat skip. He prayed his face hadn’t turned fire truck red. She would most definitely resort to teasing him if she caught wind of his embarrassment. Apart of him wonder if she could sense it, for only a few seconds later she tilted her head as if to rest on his shoulder. Rather than leave her there by herself, he moved his own to meet it.

“It is rather special, I agree,” she answered him with a smile, “Dare I say it, this is perhaps even more special than the one during my travels.”

God. That skin of his had definitely flushed red by now. It was a battle to avoid stuttering while he spoke, and a fight he lost easily. “R-Really? What m-makes this so special?”

Kyoko shrugged her shoulders; her voice pouring from her mouth like smooth molasses. “I’m here with you.”

Butterflies began to beat around his stomach the moment the words fell from her lips. Ack! Don’t think about her lips, he commanded himself internally. The last thing he needed was thinking about kissing those soft, full lips… a pair so perfectly rose in colour and that probably would feel so sweet against his own… Aah! No kissing, no kissing! She wanted to try and be his friend, and he was worrying about kissing. He should have been worried about thinking what to say. Could she tell that he was thinking about that?

A quick glance at her out of the corner of his eye told him no; Kyoko Kirigiri was not a mind reader. Very adept at reading body language, but she could not telepathically tell that someone was thinking about kissing her. However, he had to admit that she could definitely tell that he was nervous. So much so that she started to apologize.

“Sorry,” she muttered, darting her gaze to the floor, “I hadn’t mean to embarrass you.”

He waved his hands around frantically. “No, no! I’m not embarrassed, you just… caught me off-guard, that’s all. I like hearing you say stuff like that. You’re a lot more sentimental than you let on.”

The detective bit her lip awkwardly, doing her best to act like her face was not slowly growing poppy-red. The sight of her made him have to fight to suppress a few giggles. She has no right to be this cute, he thought with amusement. Even stereotypically cute girls like Sayaka couldn’t rival the sheer adorability of his Kyoko.

“I’ve never really thought about myself like that… Would you consider it a good thing?”

Makoto laughed and nuzzled her shoulder affectionately. “It’s a great thing. In fact, it’s something I like about you.”

“I like that about you too,” she murmured, her voice cracking as she continued, “Your sentimentality, I mean. Not mine, that would be… that would be strange, wouldn’t it?”

Oh, how the tables had turned. Now Kyoko was the one standing there, totally embarrassed. Though it had been him only for a moment earlier, he wondered if it were wrong to relish it. Seeing Kyoko flustered was as rare as Shikoku’s glowing mushroom forests; one could barely help wanting to take in all of the charm.

“It would be, yeah,” he laughed, “I’m glad you like that about me, though. In fact, I’d like to ask you something about it.”

Kyoko nodded ever so slightly, careful not to hurt either of their heads with the movement. “Of course.”

“Kirigiri-san, would you promise me something?”

“As long as it’s not to help you cover up a murder, most certainly.”

He laughed. Ever blunt, as always. “No, nothing like that. I just… I want you to promise me that no matter what happens next, that you and I will always be there to support each other. Could you do that for me?”

Though he expected a moment of hesitation, he was met with none. Only a smile greeted him alongside her words. “I’m surprised that you felt as if you had to ask. I would do that for you in a heart beat.”

Makoto pressed his cheek further into her shoulder. “I never doubted you.”

#naegiri2020 #danganronpa #naegiri #danganronpa 3 #kyoko kirigiri #makoto naegi #makoto x kyoko #naegi x kirigiri #despair arc #kyouko kirigiri #naegi makoto #kirigiri kyoko

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takingcourage · 4 years ago

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Color and Light

Characters: Thomas Mendez, MC (Allison), and MC’s daughter (Kira)

Word Count: 2,400

Summary: With Luz away and Allison occupied for the morning, Thomas has a special strategy to pass the time with Kira.

Note: I’ve been wanting to write a story about Thomas and MC’s daughter for ages. The lack of scenes between them is one of the very few complaints I have about MotY, so I thought I’d fill in a little bit of that gap with this fic. It was originally intended to fulfill a Choices August Challenge (kaleidoscope), but life got hectic in August and it this story was pushed to the back burner. All of that to say, the summer setting and inspiration for this story aren’t quite as random as they may seem.

I hope you enjoy! Thanks so much for reading. : )

Crick.

Crack.

Thomas's stride broke as he became aware of the noise. Brow furrowing as he continued toward the kitchen, he mentally filtered through the possible causes: pipes, dishwasher, trash compactor... He was relatively certain that he hadn’t left anything running after making Allison’s coffee a half hour before. Whatever was happening in the kitchen must be taking place without his influence.

Bracing himself, he rounded the corner.

Though the room had no windows, the morning light still made its way into the space, relieving his fears before he'd even had a chance to flip the switch back on.

Nothing.

There was no burst pipe, no invading animal waiting to jump out at him from the countertops, nothing at all out of the ordinary.

It was the ice maker, he realized in relief.

Thomas couldn’t recall the last time the house had been quiet enough for him to make out the background noises. With Luz around, there was always music or the television or the steady thud of soccer drills against the outside wall...With a quick shake of his head, he padded to the other end of the silent kitchen to brew a second carafe of coffee.

The air conditioner was working; he could hear the distinct hum from the upstairs unit keeping the house a pleasant 74 degrees. Soledad had chosen the best. Almost fifteen years in this house, and it had never needed more than routine maintenance to keep things perfectly cool.

And yet, there was no mistaking the sheen breaking out on the back of his neck.

Stress had been mounting for the past twenty minutes -- ever since Allison had kissed him and slipped through the front door. Ordinarily, he'd be lacing his running shoes by now, determined to master the involuntary responses that his body was lapsing into. Today, he needed to work through it in another way.

Thomas glanced at the microwave clock, performing the calculations as he opened the refrigerator door to retrieve milk and a pair of eggs. Kira had gone to bed around 9:00 the night before. Based on the many nights she'd stayed over at the house since the start of summer, she’d wake up to join him any minute. Hot sweat returned with the confirmation.

This was hardly the first day he’d spent alone with a ten year old. It certainly wasn’t the only time he’d been with Kira without Allison there. But it was the first morning he’d spent without Luz serving as a buffer. Somehow, ten years of experience with one child hadn’t left him feeling prepared to take on the other.

He was a lawyer and a recovering workaholic, for goodness sake -- hardly the sort of person a preteen girl wanted to spend the day with.

Lowering the lid on the waffle maker, his eyes glazed over as the steam rose from between the metal plates. He bit down on the inside of his cheek, finally glancing away when the indicator light flickered on.

A creak sounded from the bottom of the stairs, and his heart flew into his throat. He cast a quick glance around the room before peering across the counter to the house’s other occupant.

“Morning, Kira,” he greeted, voice sounding mostly normal. “How’d you sleep?”

“Fine. That bunk bed is really comfortable."

“Great!” His response was a little too hasty. Pulling himself back, he topped off his mug of coffee, blew, and watched the wave ripple over the glassy surface. “I took a gamble and made some waffles for breakfast. Does that sound okay to you?”

Kira looked at the metal contraption with a curious half-smile. “It sounds delicious!”

“With orange juice?”

“Mmhmm, thank you,” she confirmed, already climbing onto a barstool. “Did my mom leave for class?”

Thomas snagged a plate from the overhead cabinet and used a pair of tongs to extract a perfectly golden-brown waffle from the mold. “She headed out about half an hour ago,” he answered before sliding her breakfast across the countertop.

Kira’s face puckered with disappointment. “She doesn’t usually leave so early; I thought I’d be up in time to see her.”

“She had to run an errand on the way," he explained. "Do you need to talk to her? You can borrow my phone if you want.”

Food forgotten, she set the syrup upright, its contents slowly oozing back down toward the bottom of the bottle. “That would be great! I wanted to wish her luck on her test.”

Passing her the device, he turned to give her some privacy. By the time he’d rinsed the mixing bowl and unplugged the waffle maker, Kira had composed the message.

“Keep in in case she texts back,” he suggested, reaching for his coffee again.

“Thanks.” She went back to pouring syrup, alternating squares in the waffle until she’d achieved a checkerboard effect.

Concealing his raised brow, Thomas took another sip of his drink. The two girls could not be more different. With Luz, it was always a challenge to keep her from using half the bottle. Kira’s measured approach was far less troubling by comparison. If the girls already fought like real sisters, they complemented one another perfectly as well. He’d lost track of the number of times that one girl’s vice had been counteracted by the other’s virtue.

Yet another sign that this is meant to be.

The phone screen came to life before their eyes, and Kira tapped to view her mother’s message. “She got it in time.” With a grin, she handed it back to Thomas. “Thank you!”

“You’re welcome.” Based on the angle, there was no way for him to take it without casting an eye over the messages.

Good luck, mom! You’ve got this!⚡️

Thanks! Love you, kiddo. ⚡️

Something within him melted on reading the exchange, though the sensation was quickly replaced by something far less pleasant: fear.

Allison knew Kira so well. It was one of the things that had stood out to them when they’d first met, and it had only become more abundantly clear in the months that had followed. And while Guy didn’t take much of an interest in his daughter’s life, Kira still seemed to thrive on the time they spent together. In short, she already had two parents. Where did that leave him?

Sighing as he slide the phone back into his pocket, he walked around to the other side of the kitchen so he could join her at the counter.

“Thanks for making breakfast,” she acknowledged as he sat down. “You didn’t have to do that for me.”

“I wanted to. It’s not often that the two of us get to have time together.”

Kira met his eyes with an amused smile. "True, but Luz is going to be jealous when she finds out we had waffles.”

“We’ll make them again when she gets back,” he promised, feeling the anxiety stir his stomach again. Breakfast was easy. If the rest of the morning ran as smoothly, it would be a miracle.

Kira cut another bite and chewed thoughtfully. "You're really good at it. The machine my mom has always burns the middles. Yours are better,” she whispered, green eyes narrowing with the conspiratorial whisper.

“Maybe we should buy her a new machine one of these days.”

Swallowing her bite, Kira regarded him with a creased brow. “But she can just use yours -- we’re over all the time! And it would be silly to buy another one when you’re just going to get married.”

Thomas could only hope that the girl wasn't perceptive enough to notice the way his cheeks darkened at the suggestion. He forced a sip of coffee down and tried to counteract his mortification. “What makes you think we’re getting married?”

“Luz told me she found a ri--” her face froze. “Nevermind. I don’t know anything. Forget I said that.”

Sensing an opportunity, Thomas pressed her further. “Do you want us to get married?”

"Yeah." The corner of her mouth lifted as her eyes crinkled. “Mom’s really happy when she’s with you, and Luz and I would get to be sisters for real! It would be perfect.”

He smiled in agreement before deciding it would be prudent to change the subject. “How should we spend the rest of our morning?”

Inadvertently, the question came just as she’d placed another forkful of waffle into her mouth. Thomas offered a repentant chuckle as she worked over the bite of food, though she didn’t seem to hold it against him.

“I brought a book,” she informed him after swallowing. “I can be super quiet while you’re working. Oh! Or do you have a case I can help with? I could read tracking numbers to you again if you want.”

“Actually,” he began, growing almost shy with the suggestion, “I was hoping you might be up for a science project today -- whatever you like.” He set his near-empty cup on the marble surface, hoping he hadn’t misstepped.

“Really?” Her eyes flashed to life again, scrunching up at the corners in exactly the same way Allison’s did when she was passionate about something. Even if he’d never met her mother, the girl’s expression would have been impossible to resist.

“Really. It would be fun to make something we can show your mom when she gets back this afternoon.”

“And Luz, when she gets back from soccer camp!”

“And Luz,” he added with a grin. He wondered vaguely if the two girls would be so eager to see each other once they were living under the same roof all of the time. “I’ll let you decide on a project while I clean up from breakfast. Doesn’t matter what it is.”

“Okay!” she took a pensive bite while he walked back around to the kitchen. “You’re sure it can be anything?”

“Uhhh,” he wavered, remembering too well the sorts of things that ten-year-old girls were capable of when there were no boundaries. It’s Kira, he had to remind himself. At worst, we’re looking at a bunsen-burner fire or some kind of mild chemical reaction. “Anything,” he confirmed after a pause.

“Okay, I figured it out,” she announced moments later as he was wiping down the countertops.

“And...?”

“I wanna make a kaleidoscope!”

“Sounds perfect, though I think we’ll need to go on a supply run. Can you make a list?”

She held out one hand to begin ticking items on her fingers. “Well, I’ve already got confetti for the bottom. Faye gave me a bunch from one of her promo boxes and told me to use it for something cool. If we can run by our apartment, I know exactly where it is. After that, we’ll need some PVC pipe, mirrors, a glass cutter, a petri dish....” Still bending her fingers, she paused for further consideration.

“You’ve really thought about this, haven’t you?”

“I’ve wanted to make one for forever!” Catching herself, she backpedaled a bit. “If you’re sure it’s okay...”

“I have one condition...” Squeezing the excess water from the towel, he draped it over the faucet to dry. Kira’s eyes were glued to him when he turned, her brows slanted with something approaching consternation. “You have to explain what you’re doing each step of the way so I know how it works.”

Her mouth fell open for a beat before snapping shut again. “Sure!”

This time, the smile that came to Thomas’s face was a little more confident. So far, so good.

_____

For the next several hours, all worries were in vain. There were no awkward silences or stumbling uncertainties. Each minute was consumed with questions and explanations, safety tutorials for cutting glass, excited strategizing, and careful construction. They’d just started clearing up their lunch dishes when Allison’s key clicked in the lock.

“Mom!” Kira rushed to finish loading her plate in the dishwasher. “How was your test?” Her whole face was lifted in anticipation.

“I passed with a 96%.”

“You’re so smart, mom!”

Retrieving the elastic band from her wrist, Allison swept her hair into a loose bun at the nape of her neck. “And you’re so sweet. Thanks for the energy zap this morning.”

“Welcome! Do you wanna see what Thomas and I made?”

At Allison’s eager nod, Kira led her to the den. Thomas stayed behind until the rest of the dishes were in the machine, content to hear their lively chatter a couple of rooms away.

When he joined them, Allison was waiting by the arched doorway. “Kira’s never going to forget this. I can’t thank you enough.”

"The pleasure was mine. And I have to admit, it was a very educational day for me. I didn’t realize how rusty I’d gotten in geometry and physics.”

“She’ll keep your mind sharp, that one.”

“One of the many perks to having the two of you around.”

“Ooh! Look at this!” Kira called out in the closest thing to a shriek that he’d ever heard from her. “The pattern is sooo cool. It looks like a gamma-ray burst!”

Taking the proffered object, he held it to his eye and squinted until he had a proper view. Between the mirrors and the lights, Faye’s bits of paper had taken on new life in a pattern that was at once both uniform and wild. And though he had only the faintest idea what a gamma-ray burst looked like, satisfaction took hold of him as he gazed through the tiny opening.

Since her birth, Luz had been his light. She’d carried him through on the days when he hadn’t even been certain he wanted to go on. For a time, that light had been all he’d needed. But Allison and Kira had brought more to the equation: a beauty, a vibrance, a curiosity and passion for life that he hadn’t even realized he’d been missing. Together, the three of them made for a fuller world than he had ever thought possible.

“Did you know they’re the brightest explosions in the universe?”

“I didn’t,” he whispered, careful not to shift the design as he passed the cylinder back to Kira.

Thomas settled next to Allison, her shoulder a comfortable weight against his while they listened to the enthusiastic science lesson that followed. As her fingers sought his, Thomas’s thoughts drifted (ever so slightly) to the ring Luz had found a few days before. If all went the way he was hoping, his home -- and his life -- would never be colorless again.

#playchoices #playchoices fanfiction #mother of the year #thomas mendez #thomas mendez x mc

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peachieboysnetwork · 4 years ago

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The Bracelet - PJY

Today is your dear friend Jinwoo's baby shower. She is 8 months into her pregnancy and looks as if the baby girl could come at any moment. Her husband Youngjae has been her rock throughout the whole pregnancy. Meaning, she has hardly lifted a finger, any wish is his command. At first, Youngjae and Jinwoo didn't want a baby shower because it seemed like too much planning, especially with the games and party favors involved. But then Jinwoo realized that she could never have her first baby shower with her first baby ever again! So, best believe Youngjae started planning the baby shower but on the condition, it was a small gathering of close family and friends with good games and food…

After getting dressed and grabbing the baby present and my personal belongings, I headed to their house. _I saw so many cars parked around the block...I thought this was gonna be a small gathering. _I opened the gate leading to the backyard and it was beautifully lit by fairy lights and lanterns that were labeled “Soojae”. That's probably what they are gonna name her… cute. I kept admiring the set up until I got a surprise bear hug from the lady of the party.

“JIN WOO!” I screamed and turned around to hug her back. She giggled and mumbled a “Hi” into my hair while clutching on to me. We let go of our hug just so I can admire her belly! She looked at me grinning and just said, “She’s coming soon and I am so freaky dinky excited!” While slightly jumping up and down but suddenly stopped due to Youngjae coming over trying to calm her down because the woman is a ticking baby bomb. “Honey, what are you doing? I need you to calm down a little bit because I will probably die of a heart attack tonight if you keep running, jumping or tripping within the five hours of this party that is for our little bean inside of you.”

“I just wanted to greet my guest and show her to the table of party game sign-ups and THEN lead her to a table THEN lead her to get food!” Jinwoo whisper-yelled at him because both the stress has been catching up quite enough. Youngjae looked at the love of his life and sighed then kissed her head and slightly smiled, “Okay then but let me say hi to her and place the gift with the others for later tonight, huh?” Jinwoo back to her adorable self nodded.

Youngjae turned and hugged you, “Hey y/n, how you’ve been?” “Hi, I've been great. Just working and doing nothing with my free time, the usual.” I laughed. “Well that’s slightly good, you need a boyfriend to fill the empty space in your life…”

“Nah, I think I'm good. You sound like my mom.” I say while laughing.

“Mhm sure... Who knows maybe you’ll find love tonight” he said this with a smirk and wink._ I hope he doesn’t try to play cupid tonight._ He then walked away with his baby girl’s gift in his hands.

“Now, let us begin!” Jinwoo grabbed my arm and dragged me to a colorful table with three sign up sheets… “There are 3 games, being played Pin the baby in the uterus, the bracelet challenge and measuring my belly… interested in any?” She looked back at me. I replied, “Just the bracelet one, that one is my favorite.” She nodded and slipped on a purple bracelet that had their daughter's name on it onto my wrist. “Okay, I'm certain you know the rules but a refresher: remove bracelet only if their arms or legs are crossed! Winner gets a designer bag and second place gets a bottle of wine.” I nodded excitedly and then followed her to the table where there were a few of our past classmates as well. I said a quick hello to them because Jinwoo was quickly dragging me to the buffet. “Hey, quit dragging me there's no rush it's just food,” I reassured her. Jinwoo looked at me straight into my eyes and said: “wait for it”. One of the servers at the buffet announced: “ONE HOUR LEFT!” Suddenly, so many people rushed up to get more food and even encouraged their kids to get another plate. It was so mind-boggling, that Jinwoo closed my mouth shut with her palm claiming I would catch a fly if I kept it open any longer.

After, getting served my food. I retreated back to my table and made small talk with my table mates. Catching up on life and joking on things we didn’t understand that we did back then when it was “cool”. After finishing my two plates of food. I was lucky, got pushed but lucky. I began to slowly scope the area of people with crossed limbs… The rambunctious boys kept blocking my view. Finally, I saw two girls chatting away about their future vacation with legs crossed! I casually walked to them and leaned in to ask if I could have their bracelet. They grumbled but gave them up. I already have three on my wrist. Hell Yes! As I was walking back to my table, I finally realized how loud these people are! I looked over to them and made eye contact with this brown doe-eyed fella then looked at his wrist there was a bracelet but no crosses limbs. Dang. As I reached my table everyone had their arms crossed due to the windy weather. _Jackpot. I now have eight bracelets. _

As the party continued. Measuring the belly and pin the baby on the uterus occurred. I learned the six rambunctious guys are Youngjae’s friends from college. There’s Jackson, who screamed after taking off his blindfold to see that he pinned the baby on the breast! Mark, who is quiet but often gets swept away with the loudness especially while listening to the hints given by his friends. Jaebum, who kept getting egged on to try the game once! Bambam, the one who kept screaming “My baby, baby, baby woooaaahhh!” while pinning the baby on an ovary. Yugyeom, a shy tall man who couldn’t help the fact that he pinned it on the wall next to the picture. And finally Jinyoung, the mysterious brown doe-eyed man. who is actually quite cute and pinned the baby correctly on the uterus. He had seven bracelets on him! You are beating him at least. I need to keep an eye out for more people…

Ten bracelets now… you took them from Jinwoo’s parents who enjoyed catching up with you. Youngjae shouted, “TWENTY MINUTES LEFT IN THE BRACELET GAME!”

This was going to be a long time. You wandered around the backyard, with roaming eyes on the crowd. I think there are only ten minutes left… Finally! Someone is crossing their legs but I only see their back. This is gonna be awkward but I want the damn prize …

You tapped on the guy’s shoulder “Excuse me but can I have your brac-“ Jinyoung turned around and looked at me and smiled, only for him to say, “No.”

“I’m sorry? But you’re crossing your legs and arms! It's the rules, you cross em, you lose.”

“No need to apologize but I don’t want you to have it .” He said so calmly. The other boys quiet down to listen.

“FIVE MINUTES LEFT” Youngjae shouted.

“But I need them to win the game! Please.” You look at Jinyoung with pleading eyes.

Jinyoung looks back at you and sighs, “fine but I want something in return.”

“Deal.” You took his bracelet and was ready to walk away but you got tapped on the shoulder. You look over to see a very tall Jinyoung towering over you handing you six more bracelets.

He smiled and showed these cute little eye crinkles and a dimple appeared. “Here, you said you wanted to win right?”

You look back up at him and ogle him and suddenly had the urge to hug him. Maybe kiss him?

“Thank you very much.”

As you walked back to your table with seventeen bracelets on your wrist. Jinwoo announced that the game is over and will be coming to each table to receive the scores. You gave her your score and she left to the front of the backyard to determine the winners.

“OKAY, the bracelet game first place winner is Soobin! Congrats, you receive a purse! The second-place winner is y/n! Congrats, you receive a wine bottle! “

_A freaking wine bottle, what in the actual hell? I thought I was clearly in the lead! _

Jinwoo comes up to me with the wine bottle, “Sorry hun, she had twenty bracelets.”

“It’s okay, at least I get free alcohol.”

“Y/n! Jinwoo, honey! Come over here and sit with us for a bit. “

Youngjae was sitting with his group of friends. Jinyoung had his eye on you. Maybe you could share the bottle with him?

You guys made your way over and sat in the two empty chairs one next to Jinyoung and the other next to Youngjae.

“Congrats” Jinyoung whispers to you

“Thanks, I thought I would easily have gotten first place though.” How did I not notice it?

“It’s okay, but don’t forget my end of the bargain…”

“I know, how should I repay you back?” God I hope he isn’t a creep about it..

“ Maybe you can keep me company the rest of the night and hopefully I’ll be able to drink your prize with you over a date?” He looks at you with hopeful eyes

_This handsome man just asked me out. how the hell? When the hell? Oh shit, answer now! _

“Hello, y/n?”

“Yes” that’s all you could spit out before it was too late

“I will take up that offer,” you said smiling

“Good, now would you like to tell me why you are obsessed with this game and how come Youngjae has never introduced me to you?” He said this then eyeing Youngjae.

Youngjae raised his arms in defense, “hey! This isn’t my fault! You both have no lives other than work. I'm glad you two met cause you both need a major change in your routine.”

Everyone laughed and cheered for new beginnings!

The night proceeded to the couple opening gifts and thanking everyone for the gifts and their company.

While, Jinyoung and you talked the whole night about books, alone time, cooking, and favorite tv shows to recommend.

Jinyoung waited for you to say your goodbyes to the expecting couple. Both of you left side by side with your hands slightly touching every now and then.

You were now in front of your car. Jinyoung stuffed his hands in your pockets and said, “ I’ll pick you up next Saturday at 4pm?”

“It’s a date!” You said giggling

Jinyoung chuckled and took one hand out of his pocket and patted my head. “Be safe and text me when you arrive home.”

You nodded and bid your farewell.

As you drove home, you thought about how Jinyoung might be the best thing to come from this entire event. Sorry, Soojae.

Authors Note:

Hi there! I hope you enjoyed this piece of writing and feel encouraged to request something!

Stay safe and healthy.

#park jinyoung #got7 #jinyoung fanfic #jinyoung fluff #jinyoung #jinyoung park #got7 fanfic #kpop #peachieboysnetworkwriting #PJY #the bracelet pjy #got7 jinyoung #got7 imagines

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inscribed-in-asteroids · 4 years ago

Text

AN: Here’s chapter two!

Title: The Ripple Effect

Characters: Hordak, Entrapta, Odessa, features original characters

Pairing: Entrapdak, features other canon couples (and some fanon)

Rating: M

Read on AO3. It’s always posted there first.

Evaluation

“You want us to help you… find your dad’s… home planet?” Hydrangea questions.

“Not necessarily that,” Odessa replies. “I’ve been mulling over this the last couple of years. Wandering through space, it’s apparent that my father’s species has predominantly settled into Etherian life. But when I ask my father where we are from, he has no answer.”

“Not in the withholding information way,” Tristan clarifies.

“Exactly. In the sense he has no answer to give. Period. I’ve discussed it with my mother, and she believes it could be an exciting chance to find out where he’s from!” Odessa claps her hands together. “We know about the biology, physiology, mental health, behavior of one person. My father has been studied thoroughly for years, but his makeup can only tell us so much.”

They nod in understanding. It does make sense. He has been genetically manufactured over and over, thousands of versions of him co-existing among species that still have yet to see anything like him before. Hordak has lived among Etherians, has explored world upon world, but they know he is an anomaly. They all do.

Odessa looks down at her hands, an anomaly herself. Her parents have always been supportive of her intellectual pursuits, and this could very well be one of the greatest. She has filled a medical textbook composed of both Entrapta’s research, Hordak’s explanations, and her own observations, theories and notes about how his species operates. But what good is it if it simply applies to a single individual; that’s not applicable to how science or medical practice works.

Hydrangea pours them tea. She knows how determined Odessa can be once she sets her mind to something. There’s no stopping her once her brain gains traction on an idea. Tristan’s set face comprehends this as well.

Tristan speaks first, “When would you like us to begin?”

Odessa smirks, “Soon as you’re done with your drink.”

“Hm, of course you’d say that.”

“Damn right,” Odessa answers.

Hydrangea places her hands on her hips, “Alright, Des. We’ll get going soon as we’re done!”

“Or you could chug your chamomile in one go.”

“No.”

Dryl is etched further into rocky cliffs, its labyrinth excavated deep inside the mountain. Its residents welcome their princess, happy to see her return. Entrapta’s kingdom had been left to its own devices for years, even prior to Entrapta’s departure; yet they view Odessa as the rightful heir, and treat her as such. She supposes it's something to be grateful for, as it does leave them with a place to rest and organize without much interference.

Though she could do without the large paintings of herself lining the walls.

“I never get over how cute you were as a baby,” Hydrangea says, giggling. “Look how chubby you were!”

“You were so adorable,” Tristan gushes. “So innocent.”

“The sweetest little baby,” she continues. “I still want to pinch your itty bitty face!”

“Shut up,” Odessa pouts, blushing. Curse these portraits… and curse their laughter...

“Odessa! Hello, hello!”

Relieved, she turns, smiling at the friendly face, “Hi, Uncle Wrong-Man.”

Crushing her to his chest, he presses their cheeks together, “It’s been so long since I’ve seen my most favorite niece in the world!”

“You’re going to make all the other nieces jealous,” she says. Then smiles, “But it’s true.”

“I can’t help it, you were the first niece I had!”

Back on her feet, Odessa glances at the vicinity. Normally, there’s more of her uncles wandering through the halls. “Where is everyone?”

“Oh, they’re working outside or in the kitchens. We heard you were back and we felt a welcoming party would be fun!”

“You don’t have to throw one every time we come back.”

His eyes turn watery, a sad, morose frown on his features, “Oh… I see… You don’t… like my parties anymore…”

“No, no, that’s not it!” Odessa says, trying to cheer him back up. “I just meant you don’t need to go through all the trouble each visit.”

He looks up at her, ears drooping lower, “Do you like them?”

“Yes, Uncle Wrong-Man, I love your parties,” she insists. “You’re the best at it!”

In seconds, his bubbly personality returns, “Excellent! I look forward to giving you another party suited to your tastes!”

Tristan leans toward Odessa, hand held up to his mouth, “Wow, for a minute I thought I heard violins.”

“He has that dramatic flair to him,” she agrees.

“How have your parents been? I haven’t seen them yet!” W.H. asks.

“Mom and Dad are fine,” Odessa tells him, following him through the halls. The maze has been modified to be easier to map out. The first time she had come here, they had gotten lost since Entrapta couldn’t quite recall where all the secret entrances were. Odessa took it upon herself to make her own layout, and added to it whenever a change had been made. “They went to Beast Island to see how it is there.”

His ears fall for a moment, “Aw, I hope they’ll visit soon!”

“I’m sure they will,” she assures him. “They had some business to conduct over there.”

“In the meantime, what brings you to Dryl?”

“I wanted to talk to you and some of the others regarding your past,” she explains.

W.H. enters the closest kitchen, walking toward the oven. Tucking on mitts, a perplexed expression crosses his features, “Our past? My dearest niece… have you been afflicted by amnesia?”

“No, my memories serve me right,” Odessa says, patient. “I am asking for information regarding where we had come from, as a whole species. What world we originated from, what our culture was like. I had spoken with father about the matter, but he said he didn’t know due to being younger than the rest of you.”

W.H. crosses over to the countertop, removing the cookies onto a cooling rack. He is silent for a few moments, and it is clear he is choosing his words carefully, trying to understand what she’s asking. He turns, a serious mien about him, unusual on his face. “I… I’m not sure, either.”

Odessa walks over to him, “Is it because you were separated from the hivemind?”

“I don’t believe so,” he replies. Folding his arms over his chest, the fact they’re all one person reveals itself in his posture and tone. “We had been created to serve Horde Prime. Nothing more or less. And I do think that I myself had been cloned after your father. He had been Horde Prime’s general as well, and if he didn’t know, one of our elder brothers might have the knowledge you seek.”

Odessa glances at Hydrangea and Tristan, then back to her uncle. “Do you know who would?”

W.H. ponders for a minute. “Hm, no one here, I am certain. The residents of Dryl are like myself—of the younger group, since we have more people skills to associate with the Etherians.”

Hydrangea says, “I always wondered how that worked. Where you were designated and why.”

W.H. nods, “Oh, yes, we put thought into what our new purposes would be. After I helped my brother and sister with Beast Island, I came here to demonstrate how to function with Etherians!”

Tristan walks over to the counter, “Where do you recommend we go, then? Also, can I have one?”

W.H. beams, nodding enthusiastically, “Please do! I am going to make much more. But in regards to your first question, I would suggest visiting family in Mystacore or Beast Island.”

Odessa takes a cookie off the rack as well, munching. Mystacore is closer, so it would be prudent to try there before traveling to Beast Island. There are portals stationed throughout Etheria, but it’ll be worth stopping by Mystacore. She hasn’t seen anyone there at all yet. Although, it’s not as if there are many who live in the clouds, visiting her family there is always exciting.

“Thank you, Uncle Wrong-Man,” Odessa says, reaching up to kiss his cheek. “We’ll head there now!”

“Take some food with you to go,” he insists. In a flash, he’s bagging the cookies into a cellophane sack, tying it with a pink ribbon that shapes into a butterfly. “Healthy meals are important, but so are treats! Otherwise, you get moody.”

Hydrangea and Tristan are handed their own bags, much to their surprised delight. Before Odessa can accompany them out the door, W.H. stops her, giving her another, “Would you mind taking this with you for your cousin?”

Odessa smiles, “I wouldn’t mind at all.”

Hordak and his brothers were categorized not by their clothes, or hair dye choices, but by their eyes. Odessa and her mother had noted the various shades of eye color, their teeth matching them the most; however, inside of their mouths, it adjusts to mimic the change as well, affecting the tongue and beneath it, gums, hard and soft palates, uvula, even extending down to the oropharynx. All her uncles are in good health, and with none of them dead, she can only assume that the change continues down the esophagus. She got it in writing several years ago that, should any be willing to be dissected for scientific purposes, she has a few choices for her study.

Their eye colors are fascinating: while they all reflect light to glow, which is meant to intimidate opponents, she has observed the change serves as behavioral distinction. The lighter the color, the more mellow and passive the personality; the darker or more intense, the more independent and aggressive. A chameleon-like feature, reflecting mood. And, in turn, signifying mental and physical health, as peppier individuals tend to be less plagued by feelings of inadequacy, anger, and low self-esteem. W.H. had his eye color eventually become the joyful chartreuse yellow she’s known since birth, and her father’s returned to their fiery red sometime after the war. This is the one true variation that doesn’t need attire or fanciful hair styles and dyes to show that no matter how alike they are by DNA, they are their own separate people.

So when she teleports to Mystacore, and she finds dark blue eyes staring at her from above, she remembers, quite immediately, that sometimes, darker eye colors don’t indicate low self-esteem but rather, an egregious amount of confidence.

Her uncle jumps down from his perch, landing daintily on his feet. He narrows his eyes, leering, “Odessa… it has been ages since you’ve arrived on Mystacore.”

“Hi, Talon,” Odessa says.

He looks at her friends, “You two are faring well, I hope.”

Hydrangea smiles, “Yes, thank you for asking!”

Tristan nods, “You look good, too, Talon.”

“Indeed,” Talon answers. “It would be a shame if I lost my abilities.”

With that, he throws knives out from his sleeve. Tristan dodges the attack by barreling to the side, somersaulting along the ground. Hydrangea calls up plants from underground, knives embedding into the sides. Odessa leaps into the air, reaching behind her to draw out a handheld bar. With a click, it extends to a staff, and another morphs it quickly into a pilum.

Reeling back her arm, she launches it with full ferocity at Talon. He avoids it, jumping to the left and pulling out more knives, but he aims them at Tristan, who runs toward the nearest fountain to pull water out from its containment. Tristan moves his arms upward, pushing out enough water to create a vertical depth, the knives slowing down as they pierce its surface and float inside.

Odessa tugs her spear out from the dirt, cornering her uncle at the right. Hydrangea pulls plants forward, fingers splayed in the air. From her fingertips, electricity strings across her exoskeleton. Tristan rushes to their side, water sloshing around them, encasing Talon in its center, creating a barrier.

Talon sneers, then bursts out laughing. His stance loosens, standing upright, “Your senses haven’t weakened. Good. I’d be vexed if you squandered my generosity to teach you combat.”

Odessa smirks, minimizing her staff and settling it behind her back, “We wouldn’t do that.”

Hydrangea grins, “Tristan and I do practice on our own.”

Tristan shifts the water back toward its source, then rubs the back of his neck, “Which is great, since there was no holding back from that attack.”

“Enemies don’t show mercy,” Talon says. Adjusting his collar, he nods his head, “But tell me, what brings my niece and her companions to Mystacore?”

Odessa speaks, “I wanted to ask you something.”

“Me?” he replies, curious.

“Yes. It’s about your origins. Uncle Wrong-Man said it might be beneficial to come to Mystacore and question my relatives here.”

Talon raises a brow. He looks up at his home, then addresses the trio, “Are you intending to stay for longer than an hour?”

“Most likely.”

“I will invite you to my home, then. Come. Dinner will be prepared soon, and we may discuss the topic during.”

Accepting this, they head in the direction of his home. An impressive, ornate building that’s three stories high; they tread up wide steps, where one can overlook the weigela bushes lined around the vicinity’s front entrance, a fountain spouting water in the garden’s center, surrounded by lilacs and roses. Cool air wafts over their bodies, welcome from the heat outside. Odessa remarks that the decor has only slightly changed, the furniture taking on silver, blue, and white qualities, polished until they gleam.

Going to the stairs, Talon nods at them, “Make yourselves at home. As usual, do not break anything. I will see you at dinner promptly.”

Once he’s gone, Hydrangea chuckles, “He’s still intense.”

“He’s gonna kill us one day,” Tristan sighs.

Odessa pats his shoulder, “Only if we let him.”

He lips thin out, “Not reassuring, Des.”

Climbing the steps, they decide to wait until they are called, and opt to entertain themselves by bothering someone else.

�� -

Magic radiates within the room, energy felt even behind the door. Odessa carefully pushes it open, seeing a slim figure move around. Putting a finger to her lips, she leads her friends into her cousin’s quarters. His face is stern, staring at the spell hovering over the ground at shoulder height.

Hydrangea sits quietly on a cushion on the floor, and Tristan does the same. Odessa leans against the wall, and they all watch. Eon is her cousin, and their similarities begin and end with their fathers having chosen Etherian women as their partners. He differs from her, and any other potential cousin, by having the capability to do magic. Real, Etherian magic.

Eon takes measured breathing, focusing on the spell. It elongates toward the ceiling and floor, then narrows to a thin line. Reaching for it, he plucks it with his forefinger. It snaps, and a discordant sound follows, uncomfortable and shrill. Hydrangea and Tristan cover their ears, as Odessa winces.

Eon looks at them, brow raised. He grins, “Did you all enjoy the show?”

“We did, until that,” Hydrangea complains, glaring at him. She frowns, lightly slapping her ears, “Aw no, there’s some ringing!”

“It’ll pass in a few moments,” Eon explains. “Besides, you three coming into my room unannounced and unwelcome deserves a bit of retribution.”

“By popping our eardrums?” Tristan asks, deadpan.

“Exactly,” Eon says, one hand on his hip. He turns to Odessa, and smiles. “You’re here sooner than expected.”

“I believe we arrived on time,” she answers, grinning back. She hasn’t seen him for a while, but he has gotten taller since then. He takes after their species' propensity for large heights, but she knows he’s grown a few inches and might continue to grow for the next couple of years as well.

Eon begins putting away his spellbook and notes, arranging them neatly, “What are the three of you doing here? With you on Etheria, you normally visit me later on your returns.”

“I came to ask your father some questions, but then he invited us to dinner.”

“He can be standoffish, but oddly enough, never when it comes to hosting meals.”

Hydrangea sits up, “We got into a sparring session with him right away too.”

Eon joins them on the floor, one knee bent to prop up an arm, “I had mine early this morning. You know him, he’s never done with training.”

Crossing outstretched legs, Tristan reclines against the wall, “Your parents don’t let up, huh?”

“No, but I head to my place at Bright Moon later in the month. I check in biweekly to continue my sparring and magic training, then head back and repeat.”

“That’s a lot of back and forth,” Hydrangea adds, holding a pillow to her chest.

Shrugging, Eon says, “I don’t mind. Keeps me busy.”

Odessa chuckles lightly, taking a seat beside Tristan, “For being super busy, Uncle Wrong-Man said to give you this.” Pulling out the bag, she tosses it to him.

Eon catches it deftly, a quiet ‘yes’ of triumph leaving his lips. His diet is strict when he’s with his parents, for optimal nutrition and betterment. But he has a sweet tooth that rivals Odessa and Entrapta, thus any opportunity to consume sugar is taken. Using a levitation spell, he has it placed atop his desk, and an invisibility spell follows after, keeping it from view.

“Won’t your parents find it? It’s not like you can’t smell cookies,” Odessa states.

“I’ll say it was one of you.”

Hydrangea laughs, “I don’t think they’ll be entirely fooled by that.”

“If not, that’s fine by me too,” Eon says. “I let them think they’re savvier than myself.”

Tristan smirks, “How often has that worked?”

“More than for you,” Eon says, smirking back.

Odessa and Hydrangea whoop at Tristan, who laughs in good humor.

Stretching his arms up and to the side, Eon turns to his cousin, “How did the last journey go?”

“It went as planned. We went to Pilan, and my parents found what they needed for research.”

“And you two?” he asks, addressing the others.

Hydrangea lays on her stomach, drawing circles on the pillow, “Hm… my moms have started taking me to council meetings, which is interesting. We had a gathering with some of the leaders in Plumeria that are helping to manage its growing space. And New Chelicerata has been thriving for years now, since we removed all the machinery in the Fright Zone and expanded it into the Flower Field.”

“Not all the toxins have been removed, I’m assuming.”

“Some of the groundwater had been too polluted, and it leaked into larger bodies of water, but, as a whole, we started seeing real progress six years ago.”

“I’ve been helping the residents there by removing water too far gone,” Tristan adds. “We’ve been separating them into larger containers as instructed, and we’re hoping that newer technology from Entrapta and Hordak will yield positive results in another decade or so.”

“Even if it’s slow, progression is always good.”

Odessa glances to her left, letting her mind drift. Time doesn’t pass by the same when traveling through space. She watches her mother age, while her father stays the same, and that’s the extent of how often she pays attention to the changes happening around her. It’s not from ignorance, but from not giving too much thought to it, even with the years she has spent returning to Etheria to evaluate and aid her people here.

Settling against Tristan, Odessa yawns. He keeps his body still as she falls asleep, finding their chatter relaxing. Dinner will arrive sooner if she’s napping. Even closing her eyes is enough for her body to rest, breathing quietly as she listens to them discuss any topic they happen upon.

Her friends are interrupted mid-conversation, a knock at the door grabbing their attention. Odessa opens an eye. The housekeeper bows her head, addressing Eon, “Your parents are waiting for you in the dining room. Please, follow me.”

Odessa knows her uncle, Talon, is a force to be reckoned with in combat, but her aunt, Nyxia, is a woman with severe features and a severer personality. If there was ever given a choice between fighting him or her, they may have to weigh their options a little more carefully.

She is seated next to Eon, with Hydrangea and Tristan placed across from them. Odessa leans toward her cousin, “Did Nyxia poison the food this time?”

Eon shakes his head, “Maybe Tristan’s.”

Tristan bawks, “Hey!”

Waving his hand, Eon smiles, “I’m teasing. It’s more than likely Hydrangea.”

“What?!” she demands, worried.

“You two are making this easy,” Eon grins, shaking his head. “Really, after all this time, you continue to doubt my parents’ hospitality.”

“I haven’t seen your mom in a while, okay? I wouldn’t know if I offended her last time,” Hydrangea breathes out, leaning back in her chair.

Ear twitching, Odessa catches the sound of footfalls, her aunt coming into view from the corridor, chin-length, violet hair framing lithe, dark features, gown flowing behind her. Definitely not a person to be out of line around.

But that only applies to non-relatives.

Nyxia smiles warmly at her niece, “Odessa! My charming girl, how have you been?”

“Wonderful, Aunt Nyxia, thank you,” Odessa replies, nodding her head in respect.

“Excellent. I heard all of you did well in your impromptu session with my husband earlier,” she says, making her way to the other end of the table. Standing beside her chair, she looks at her son’s other friends, “Talon remarked that you’ve improved considerably.”

“Thank you, ma’am,” Hydrangea and Tristan reply at once.

Talon comes from the opposite corridor, walking toward Nyxia. Pulling out the chair for her and sliding it beneath, he moves to the other end and takes his place at the head. The staff bring out their meal: roasted pheasants and potatoes, slathered in its drippings, with baked seasoned vegetables on the side. Wine is served to all of them, as Nyxia and Talon are lax in this department of child-rearing, though the option to have different beverages is always available. Odessa requests her usual fizzy drink, as Hydrangea asks for lemon water. Tristan and Eon have no qualms with the choice displayed in front of them.

“Smells delicious, Miss Nyxia,” Hydrangea compliments.

“Thank you, my dear,” she answers, laying a cloth on her lap. “When I heard you three were in Mystacore, I chose to make this instead.”

Odessa and Eon twiddle each other’s fingers under the table, a silent ‘fuck yeah’ to the change in menu. Nyxia is a phenomenal chef, but she abhors cooking. The usual staff do lovely work, except they are meant to keep things simple, clean, and balanced. Nyxia, despite agreeing with her husband on meal preparation, manages to create rich, satisfying food each time. Normally, when Odessa and her family are visiting.

Relishing this opportunity, Eon cuts into his pheasant, stabbing a portion of potato with it, melting on his tongue. Trying not to pretend-weep. Or actually weep.

“What was your question, Odessa?” Talon asks, swirling the wine in its glass. “It’s not like you to come without your parents.”

Dabbing her mouth, Odessa looks at him, “I wanted to ask you questions about your time serving as a soldier for Prime.”

He doesn’t break the smooth motion of his wrist, not minding that part of his life, “Yes?”

“I was told that older clones might have information regarding our origins. A life before Prime sought out to conquer the universe. My father and W.H. are too young to remember, or were never privy to it. You’re one of the eldest, so I figured to come here before heading to Beast Island.”

Talon sets down his glass, lifting his fork and knife. He takes a bite of his food, chewing quietly. Swallowing, he says, “I will be blunt: it is not possible to know such a thing. Our purpose, our life, was to do Prime’s bidding.”

“There isn’t anything you can think of?”

Talon mulls the question, glancing up at his wife, then back to the plate. He narrows his eyes, and they flicker to an even darker shade of blue for a fraction of a moment. He gives a minute shake of his head, imperceptible to all but his wife.

Odessa waits for him to speak, slipping out her recorder with a strand of hair.

“I… cannot remember a time before Horde Prime. There was only war. Ravaged lands, and screaming,” he leans forward. He meets his niece’s gaze, “You might have to go to Beast Island for your answers, though I do not trust they will know more. Many of us have been alive for decades, but not millennia.”

“Is there a reason for that?” Tristan wonders. “The hivemind was the source of connection. Did you lose memories once it left?”

“No, it doesn’t seem to be that way,” Talon answers, sipping his drink. “It’s more… you have recollections, starting from the present. And it continues backwards until it stops. A wall in your head, which is the moment of when we, for lack of a better word, are ‘born.’ From what I’ve gathered, raising Eon, and observing all of you growing up, an infant that develops naturally can have memories that are faint—both in sensation and imagery, and the mind’s eye develops scenarios of what could’ve happened. Piecing puzzles in your memory banks. Attempting to make sense of your childhood and surroundings, and it even causes you to feel certain emotions into adulthood on a subconscious level. For us, and my brothers, there is no guesswork. There is the instant of emerging from the vitrine, and from there it goes on. Our memories are crystal clear, and gaps do not occur. If we feel emotion, it’s from direct experiences, not preconceived ideas of maybe how we experienced living. The hivemind being removed made us how we are now, but its absence didn’t seem to affect anything else.”

“Fascinating,” Odessa says, forgetting her meal. “So, you remember everything?”

“Yes. It would seem my brothers and I recall memories at greater capacities than most.”

“Would you say you have photographic memory?” Hydrangea asks, leaning forward.

“Our superior intellect allows us to retain knowledge quicker, and we remember things for longer, but a true photographic memory isn’t an aspect we have considered.”

Nyxia cuts into her pheasant, “It’s not unlikely. Your brothers and you have shown an uncanny ability to remember things more greatly than Etherians. It might be prudent to research it further, wouldn’t you say?”

Nodding in agreement, Odessa would not rule it out. She’ll discuss it with her mother for an unbiased opinion later.

Dinner finishes with chiffon cake and fruit, leaving guests and hosts satisfied. Talon and Nyxia wave at the door, as Eon walks them to the portal.

“It was good to see you all,” Hydrangea says, turning to Eon. She clasps his hands, “You should visit more!”

Eon blushes slightly, still not used to open demeanors, “I’ll try to make an effort.”

Tristan pats his shoulder, “You have to get out more. Between you and Odessa, I don’t know who’s more of the hermit.”

“It’s definitely me,” Eon replies. “Odessa’s too needy.”

Punching him in the arm, Odessa gives a side-hug right after. She and her friends step onto the portal, “I’ll drop by again soon! And visit my parents sometime, dumbass.”

He flips her off, smirking.

Hopping through the portal, they arrive in Plumeria, where she bids goodbye to her friends. Then, she heads to Beast Island.

“Odessa! My little cupcake, how was your trip to Mystacore?” Entrapta asks. Imp, crawling around on the walls, chirps his greetings with Emily beeping at her return.

“It was very interesting,” Odessa says, pulling out her recorder. “Would you like to listen with me?”

“You bet!” Entrapta shouts, sidling over to sit on her hair. Odessa takes a proffered seat before playing back the conversation at dinner. She listens with rapt attention, the two of them quiet. Afterward, Entrapta grins, “That was fascinating! I had noticed that your relatives tend to be more affluent with recollection than most, but this requires more study.”

“Do you think there is a possibility that they have photographic memory?”

“We won’t know unless we test the hypothesis,” Entrapta turns to her daughter, grinning wide. “You know what that means!”

Odessa grins wide too, saying it with her.

“Time to experiment!”

Odessa and Entrapta had to decide what and how to measure. The test is simple on paper, but part of the reason memory tests can be difficult is due to fallibility of nature. Recalling a memory does not equate accuracy. They also had to take into account that Etherian children were more susceptible to false memories, which could affect them as adults, hence, why Talon said that there’s no guesswork for his brothers and himself. And when it came to the ethics, Entrapta reminded Odessa that it’s part of experimentation, much to the latter’s chagrin. Odessa would’ve followed, regardless, but she’s more determined to see things through without obstacles.

A lack of true full-blooded children for Hordak’s species, and Eon and Odessa were not little anymore, that wasn’t necessary to entertain. However, Odessa and Entrapta believed it would be prudent to test the memory of Eon and any other hybrid cousins simultaneously to the Etherian and Horde groups, sans Odessa.

After deliberating, they chose to experiment by gathering Etherians between the ages of 15-50, to cover the age bases of both Etherian teens and adults, hybrid offspring, and Horde descendants. After age 14, correct absolute judgments and relative judgments have better succession rates and are not as affected by false positives. With this in mind, Odessa sends out a mass message asking if anyone would like to be part of a study.

She receives her answers quickly from her uncles, who would be more than delighted to aid her in any quest. She splits them into four groups, Group A, B, C and D. To accommodate for the choice in subjects, they will be separated into three sections, Etherians being the first, hybrids the second, and her uncles will be the third subsect. Over the course of the week, she receives the rest of her subjects at Beast Island.

Tristan and Hydrangea are the first to arrive, looking forward to spending time with her and her family in the meantime. Hydrangea gives Emily and Imp hugs and kisses, cooing over them incessantly. Imp clings to Hydrangea’s neck, completely at ease.

Tristan pats Emily’s surface, smiling at her beeps, “It’s good to see you too.”

She beeps even louder and harder, spinning around in place.

Entrapta grins, “Aw, you made her day!”

“No one else is my favorite robot, are they, Ems?” Tristan asks. She spins again, and the whirring becomes softer, almost shy.

Odessa nudges his ribs, “Great, my sister has a crush on you.”

Tristan rolls his eyes, smiling.

Odessa peers at his face, “Hey, you shaved!”

“Yeah, you were right. It was horrible,” Tristan remarks.

“You look better this way,” Odessa affirms, pinching his cheek, and he lightly whacks her fingers away.

Scorpia comes a moment later, and immediately bolts over to them all. Once the hugs are done, Scorpia and Entrapta discuss things on their own. Entrapta settles into the crook of Hordak’s arm, resting easily over her shoulders. Scorpia gushes over how cute they are. Hordak humphs in disdain, despite the blush on his cheeks.

Another five minutes pass and the portal hums. Catra, Adora, and two of their children come through.

Odessa sighs. Not looking forward to having some of them here. But she smiles, walking to Adora, “Hi! Thanks for coming.”

Adora smiles, giving Odessa a warm hug. She pulls back, holding her at arm’s length, “It’s no problem. We’re glad to help! You’ve gotten taller.”

“You’ve definitely sprouted more than we thought. I remember when you were knee-high,” Catra says. “You were the worst ankle-biter in Etheria.”

Odessa teases, “Still am.”

Laughing, Catra pats her back, walking hand in hand with Adora to their friends.

Her smile falters after that, though she manages to keep it in place. If Catra and Adora weren’t there, she wouldn’t hide her contempt or indifference.

They have four children in total. Quadruplets in fact. All a year younger than her at 15. Two of them, Clawdeen and Marlena, tend to spend their time in Bright Moon, and she has no opinion of them other than they’re not her sort of people. Well, that’s not true. They’re surprisingly elitist and refuse to associate with anyone they find unworthy of their time. They mind their business enough, however, so Odessa doesn’t pay them attention.

Barely coming to five feet tall, Molly is one of the children here today, a skittish, timid thing; the runt of her litter. She inherited Catra’s heterochromia, one eye blue, the other green, and that’s the one interesting thing about her. She stands, unsure, by the portal. Her appearance here is odd, since she tends to be alone. Odessa doesn’t hate her, or even dislike her, but the girl’s meekness doesn’t make her striking enough to have an opinion on either.

Adam, their one son, is another story. His eyes are bright blue, and slightly jarring in the feline face. The opposite of Molly, he is loud, prone to temper tantrums, and his temerity leaves much to be desired. She prefers the company of confident, open people, but he’s, without a doubt, the most obnoxious fucker she’s ever had the misfortune of knowing.

His eyes, the only one to resemble Adora’s, land on hers, and he leaps over, grinning. Placing an arm on her shoulder, leaning, he says, “Yooooo, what’s up, girl?”

Odessa turns to him, narrowing her eyes, “Please don’t take my smile for welcome, you complete ass.”

“Ooh, baby, you need to chill,” Adam says, poking her nose.

“Try that one more time and I’ll bite it off.”

He winks, “That a promise, thottie from space?”

Odessa smiles wider, eyes flashing, “It’s a threat, you parasitic fool.”

Sensing her growing irritation, her friends bound over. Hydrangea waves at Adam, “Hey! We haven’t seen you in a long time. How’ve you been?”

Adam turns to her, “Hey, Dragon Fruit! You know how I be—taking care of all this,” Adam gestures to his thin body, puffing out his chest. “What you been up to lately? Those flower braids are doing everything for your look.”

Hydrangea urges him to walk far, far, far, far away from Odessa’s area.

Rubbing her temples, Odessa takes a breath.

Tristan rubs her back, “Remember, Des: think of the experiment.”

Odessa nods at him. Science. Her one true refuge. “I know. It’s a little… irritating that he’s here. But I’m sure that empty-headed dolt will yield some results for me.”

Tristan smiles at her, ensuring she doesn’t lose her cool. Once he’s sure she won’t murder, he looks at Molly, “Hi! I didn’t think I’d see you here.”

Molly brushes hair away, looking briefly at the ground before addressing him. “Yeah… Um, my moms thought it would be cool to take one or two of us. To help Odessa out.”

Odessa shakes her head, “So glad about that.”

“Um… I’m sorry about Adam...” Molly starts.

“It’s fine,” Odessa replies, focusing back on her clipboard, walking away.

Sighing, Molly bites her lower lip, feeling uneasy.

Noticing that, Tristan smiles at Molly, “Come on. We can wait over here.”

“Sorry you’re stuck with me,” she mumbles.

“I’m not stuck with you,” Tristan answers. He leads her to an unoccupied stone ledge, the occasional pooka darting across it. “Though, I didn’t think this was your sort of thing.”

“It isn’t. I don’t really want to be here,” Molly answers, pulling her legs to her chest.

“It might be fun, right?” Tristan asks.

Shrugging, Molly places her chin onto her hands.

They both watch the portal light up, a plethora of clones marching through. It has to pause for a brief moment, then it continues to spew individuals out of it. Tristan glances down at Molly, knowing there’s no point in attempting to converse. The silence doesn’t bother him, and she seems to take more comfort out of not having to make dreadful small talk. He hates it too, so this works.

Eon and his parents eventually pass through. Waving at him, Tristan reclines in his seat, “You and your folks actually came. I didn’t think any of you left the house.”

Standing with his arms behind his back, at ease, Eon smirks, “You’re all lucky we don’t come out more often.”

Tristan sticks his tongue out at him. He gestures to his left, “You remember Molly?”

Eon looks down at her, “Yes, we have met before. Nice to see you again.”

Molly flushes, turning away, “Nice to see you too…”

He glances at Tristan, who gives a one-shoulder shrug.

She keeps quiet, looking at the people around her. Hordak and his brothers all stand out as one unit, and other cousins similar to Eon slowly arrive. Not as large in number, with more variation than Hordak’s species but less than natives. She watches Etherians coming forth as well, and doesn’t wave or acknowledge them. Hoping to blend with the background, she scoots further away, sinking behind Tristan.

Tristan notes her discomfort and doesn’t move.

Eon, however, waves at some relatives, who rush over to greet him.

Molly frowns, accepting her fate. She takes to watching Eon speak with his family, his tall, sleek body impressive even among those similar to him in build. His hair, cropped shorter at the sides, falls in front of his forehead, a darker hue than his cousin Odessa. His eyes are a lovely shade, bordering on magenta with a stronger red tint, the sclera an equally pretty color, lighter than his irises. His usual confident smirk remains on his face throughout, bright, sharp teeth against the usual backdrop of pale face with the sides of his cheekbones and neck becoming a shock of dark blue or purple. It seems to be a common male trait, since Odessa’s face is white all around, but she isn’t sure. She doesn’t see the other cousins close enough to tell.

She spies Odessa wandering with her device, either barking orders or quietly checking off things. Long, lilac hair floats behind her when not in use, her frame just as slim and tight as the others, and inheriting a tall height seems to be the norm for them. Despite her gorgeous features, Molly finds it interesting, also intimidating, how much redder Odessa’s eyes and sclera are compared to Eon’s.

Hydrangea is speaking with Odessa now, platinum blonde hair brushing against her body, falling in the softest of waves to the small of her back. Her lithe frame befits the gentler, kinder nature she has, which isn’t surprising considering who her parents are. But there’s that powerful change in limb, her arms spiking at the shoulder in dark red, the skin of her arms mottled with it, until it reaches her elbows, where it spikes again, hardens, forming another patch of chitinous skin that reaches her fingertips, claws neatly filed down. And then there’s the tail, shorter, but as potent as Scorpia’s. Deadly and graceful.

She looks up at Tristan, beautiful, brown eyes staring off to the distance. Long lashes frame them, delicate yet full. His hands rest lightly over his knees, fingernails painted black. Hair reaching the end of his neck, lightly touching muscular shoulders, it enriches brown skin with its color, more than a mere dark purple. It’s the color of wine in the dark, of a gorgeous night as the last remnants of light dash away. The blue of his clothes highlight everything further, lavish gold trim clashing against the bright colors, revealing every taut muscle without meaning to, and she traces the curve of his spine with her eyes.

She feels a gaze on her, and finds her brother staring at her from a distance. Molly, snapping from her reverie, darts her sight to the ground. Unaware of Tristan looking in her direction.

Once enough participants have arrived, Odessa claps her hands, “Alright, people! Listen up: I have divided you all into the following groups. Step up this way, where I will assign you all with a place to go to.”

Adam bounds up out of nowhere, whispering, “Can whatever group I’m in be called Team Sexy?”

Odessa ignores him, “Let’s begin, shall we?”

HYDRANGEA

Age: 15

Species: Etherian

“Alright,” Odessa says. “I’m going to show you 10 pictures. You will have seven seconds to absorb all the details for them, and afterward, I will ask you one simple question about what you can remember.”

“You got it!” Hydrangea sits in her chair, comfortable. “Sounds easy enough.”

Odessa smiles, “Here’s your first one.”

She holds up a simple image of table mats atop a wooden surface, decorated with plates of breakfast foods, drinks, and fresh fruits.

“Okay, ready for the question?”

“Yep!”

“What fruits topped the waffles?”

“Oh, um… berries and apples?”

Writing it down, Odessa proceeds with the next image.

TRISTAN

Age: 17

Species: Etherian

“Hello!” Entrapta says, bringing him in. “I’m going to show you 10 pictures for less than 10 seconds each, and you’ll let me know what you remember.”

“Sure thing,” Tristan replies, sitting upright.

She pulls out an image of miscellaneous items and personal effects on a desk, three photographs in the middle, a drawing in one of the corners, a grey notebook, and a folder with intricate patterns.

“Okay, ready for the question?”

“Yes.”

“Were there tickets on the table?”

Tristan mulls his answers for a moment, “No.”

MOLLY

Age: 15

Species: Etherian

Odessa approaches the girl, relieved that she doesn’t have to deal with the handful that was her brother. She looks at Molly, “I’m going to hold up 10 pictures for you, and you will have seven seconds to absorb the image. Afterward, I will ask you questions.”

“Alright,” Molly nods, nails clicking against each other.

The image is of a mountain peak, glinting from the light; the moon shines above it, and a trip of hoofed animals moving along its surface.

“What was the total number of baby goats in the image?”

Molly thinks over the total, and says, “Five.”

ADAM

Age: 15

Species: Etherian

Entrapta comes into the room, “Hello! I’m going to be showing you some pictures—”

Adam interrupts her, “Is this going to take long?”

“Nope! It takes less than five minutes for this segment to be complet—”

“Do we get paid to do this?”

“...No.”

Scratching his nose, Adam leans back in his chair, “Got it, got it. Lay it on me, girl!”

Entrapta smiles, “Great! So, I have 10 pictures and I will show them to you for about seven seconds. I will ask you questions after each one about what you saw.”

“Question real quick: is this one of those tests that explain anything about your psychosis?”

“What do you mean?”

“Is it gonna tell me anything, like, am I gonna learn about who is the most likely to be a murderer or nymphomaniac?”

Raising a brow at him, Entrapta says, “I can’t divulge too much about the study to participants. But this is not that kind of test.”

“Aw… okay,” Adam shifts back further in his seat, lifting the front legs from the ground. “Well, that’s less fun.”

Entrapta proceeds to bring out a picture: a series of potted plants are lined on shelves, different heights and colors smashed closely together in the frame, their pots not resembling the others save for a few.

“What was the centre motif for the pots?”

Adam scratches his chin, “Frog, I think.”

EON

Age: 18

Species: Etherian and ?

Odessa approaches her cousin, sitting relaxed in the seat. She had gone through the first ten pictures with him already. She glances at him, “Are you ready to continue with the process?”

“Whatever this study is, I’m assuming that you need me to come back again for another trial run.”

“Yes, you will be returning a few times after today to aid in the study, as per your agreement on the written form.”

“Of course.”

“You went through the first half, and you’re going to begin the second half now. This is slightly different,” Odessa explains. Instead of photographs, she holds up a pad, similar in size and weight to her telecommunicator. “I am going to hold up one image: a grid of white and black squares. Then, I will show you a second image, of the same number of squares on the grid; however, you will choose the one square you believe was white in both image one and image two. Image three will have the grids with numbers in the squares instead for you to pick. The amount of time will be the same, seven seconds. There are four levels of difficulty, and you will proceed until we reach the last level.”

Nodding, Eon watches her lift the screen to his eyes. A grid of white and black appears, and he keeps in mind which are white only. The second image appears. Then the third. He makes his decision. He will not know if he is right, as the data is processed within for the researchers alone.

Odessa keeps her face neutral the entire time, intrigued at what this part of the test will yield from everyone else.

TALON

Age: approx. 90 (total) | approx. 52 (mental) | approx. 52 (physiological)

Species: ?

Entrapta smiles, “We do appreciate you helping with the test.”

“It is no trouble,” Talon states. “You and my niece are a select few that do not leave me…”

“Irritated?”

“We’ll use that word.”

Entrapta approaches her brother-in-law, setting herself down on swathes of hair, “Are you ready for the second half of the test?”

“Yes. By all means, little sister, proceed.”

“Excellent! I’m going to show you a grid with black and white squares. Another image will appear after on the device. The number of squares will not change, however, you have to decide what is the one square that remained white. You will pick that in the third image, where the squares will all be numbered.”

“Understood. You may show me the first image.”

W.H.

Age: approx. 40 (total) | approx. 23 (mental) | approx. 27 (physiological)

Species: ?

“This must be exciting for you, isn’t it?” W.H. asks. “You haven’t done a study like this in a while.”

Readying the pad, she nods, “It has been a few years since I’ve conducted anything in this manner.”

“I still remember when you were little, and you insisted on having your first experiment be a methane explosion. You were so cute!”

Odessa smiles, “Speaking of memory, we’re going to begin the second half of the test. You will have the same amount of time to memorize the image on screen. Another will follow right after, and your task is to choose which square on the grid remained white. The image will be your selection on a numbered grid.”

“Sounds fun!”

Holding it up for him, Odessa watches his eyes stay in place, focused. A flicker to indicate change on the screen, then another before he makes his decision.

HORDAK

Age: approx. 56 (total) | approx. 57 (mental) | approx. 35 (physiological)

Species: ?

Entrapta can’t help but smile at him, “Thanks for helping, Lab Partner!”

Hordak smiles back, rising from the chair, “Of course. The experiment seems to be going well.”

“It’s been so fascinating!” Entrapta lifts herself up in the air, at his height. “Everyone has been super helpful, even when they’re rambling about their own assumptions!”

“Who was rambling?”

“One of Catra’s kids—the boy. He was very interesting when he talked, but I had to stay focused! We’re collecting so much data… Odessa is going to be ecstatic!”

Happy to see her in good spirits, Hordak leans forward, kissing her cheek, “When you’re done, I will be waiting for you in our room.”

Entrapta waggles her eyebrows at him, wrapping her arms around his neck, “Ooh! Is this about that new maneuver you wanted to show me?”

“We’ll see if your memory serves you just as well tonight,” Hordak smirks.

Squealing, Entrapta kicks her legs behind her, pecking his mouth with her own. “Can’t wait!”

The results, overall, took two months to compile through the data machine and to check back in with the participants. None of the groups had different numbers, pictures, objects, or words. Odessa and Entrapta tested everyone on their eidetic and photographic memory ability. Group A had no distractions, Group B had Etherians with distractions only, Group C was where her cousins had the disturbances, and Group D it was her uncles with diversions.

When it came to eidetic memory, the numbers didn’t vary too much. But the photographic memory yielded noteworthy results. Each group was brought back a month after being tested to see if they could recall things better. A few Etherians showed some promising ability for it, but overall it wasn’t strong. Her cousins showed stronger signs for photographic memory, Eon being one of the best candidates.

But her uncles were nearly at a 97% rate of accuracy. Talon and W.H. showed an adeptness for remembering things weeks later. Hordak was somewhere in the middle. She wonders why.

“Mom,” she says, holding the charts in her hair. “I know that photographic memory is rare, but these numbers are unreal.”

“I know! The majority of your relatives have a knack for it! That’s so fascinating.”

“I have a theory that it might be due to the hivemind, and perhaps the military training they underwent. It would make sense why they have such capability, even two decades later,” Odessa says. She pulls another chart toward them, tapping her forefinger in quick successions behind it. “It may or may not be that, since we’re not certain of Dad’s origins, but it would explain aspects of it.”

Entrapta’s hair moves her behind her daughter, peering over her shoulder, “It may. I saw that Wrong Hordak was remarkable with photographic memory, and Talon as well.”

“I believe it’s possible that it might be due to neither having depressive episodes. It may have been a group study, but I saw that clones similar to Dad in terms of mental health had a tendency toward memory loss or confusion. It’s not as often or strong as Etherians, or a couple of my cousins, but it’s there. Brains are brains after all.”

“It is exceptional to write this in our records. I wish we had more examples to go by,” Entrapta says. She smiles, “I think it says quite a lot when you compare it to Etherians and your cousins, though.”

“I do find this riveting. Even if it’s Dad cloned thousands of times, there’s something in their brains, their minds, that can provide clues to them as a whole. It’d be prudent to conduct more research, but I’d like to begin as soon as possible, and I can add notes as I go along.”

Entrapta pats her daughter’s head, “And now that you have this information, what do you intend to do with it?”

Odessa looks up at her mother, then back at the data. “I’m going to have Tris and Gea come with me on a little field trip.”

#entrapdak #entrapta #hordak #entrapdak fankid #odessa #shera #spop

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optimistic-dinosaur-nacho · 4 years ago

Text

Chapter XII

Warnings: Violence, Murder, Mentions of Murder, Language, Mentions of Rape, Mentions of Suicide Summary: Y/N is Andy and Laurie Barber’s 14-year-old daughter who is a high-grade student in Archer Middle School. Her best friend, Alice Miller had been gone for a while. They search for the lost student and find out that Alice Miller’s body has the prints of Andy and Laurie Barber’s daughter, Y/N.

Chapter I Chapter II Chapter III Chapter IV Chapter V Chapter VI Chapter VII Chapter VIII Chapter IX Chapter X Chapter XI Chapter XII Chapter XIII

—DEFENDING JACOB SPOILERS—

Your Full Name Initials - F/N/I

Also some sad dog scene. Very sad. Not abuse no that would’ve been a warning but it’s not that. No gore either

~~~

“You’ve been with the state’s crime lab how long?” Neal asked. The woman at the witness stand sighs, “Eleven years, almost 12,” She replied. Neal nods, “Ms. Carlson, could you describe the blood evidence at the point of attack?”

“There were a few small spatters less than an inch in diameter,” She says. Neal looks over to the jury, “Yesterday, we heard defense contend that there should have been blood on the clothing of an attacker in a stabbing like this.”

Andy shuffles in his chair. “Do you have an opinion on that?” Neal asks.

“Yes. That’s not necessarily true, since no spatter seemed to cast off with force. It’s also possible the assailant stood behind the victim when she stabbed him which would have meant she was out of the trajectory of any spray or spatter.”

Laurie gotten a flashback when she first caught Y/N almost hurting another girl at the bowling alley. Y/N went to attack from behind. She shook her head. “What can you tell us about the murder weapon?” Neal asks.

“We were looking for a knife with a four- to six-inch blade and a serrated-edge.” Neal walks over and pulls out a box from under his table, “I see.” Andy leans forward to right somethings down. “So, a knife like this one?” Neal asked.

Andy turns to the recent call from Neal, lifting up his head, his blood ran cold when Neal held up a familiar blade. “Objection,” Joanna says. “Commonwealth moves to enter into evidence--”

“Objection!” Joanna calls, everyone seem to whisper and gasp at the slightest. Neal looks at French, “Your Honor, the jury will soon hear testimony from the defendant’s best friend that the defendant owned a knife exactly like this one: a Schnell Tactical.” Neal was holding it up towards the jury.

“Your Honor, this is a cheap stunt. The Commonwealth had yet to link any such knife to the defendant, and to wave it around in here now is irresponsible. It’s inflammatory,” Joanna states.

“Agreed. Objection sustained. Put away the knife, Mr. Logiudice,” Judge French says lowly. Neal nods and turns away, “In that case, no more questions, Your Honor.”

“Cross,” French said. Joanna nods, “Absolutely, Your Honor.” Joann stands up and walks over, “Ms. Carlson, we were just on the subject of blood. Was there any blood evidence recovered from the defendant?” She asks.

“No,” Ms. Carlson said. “Genetic evidence?” Joanna asks, “DNA? Hairs? Fibers?” Ms. Carlson shook her head, “No, just the fingerprint.”

Joanna stood by the jury, “May I propose a hypothetical?” She asked. Ms.Carlson nods at the slightest, “Okay.” Y/N looked over to the old woman, “Let’s suppose the defendant Y/N, was walking on her way back home after the party when she was left behind by Alice and came across the victim lying on the ground. And suppose Y/N lifted the victim by the collar to see if she was okay. Might that create a fingerprint consistent with the one you found?” Joanna asks.

“Yes, that is possible.”

“Now the knife-” Joanna says to the court, “-that the Commonwealth attempted to enter into evidence had you ever seen it before?” Neal leans forward, “Objection. Relevance.” The judge looks over to him, “Overruled. You opened the door, counselor.” Neal sat there in silence.

“Yes,” Ms. Carlson says, “The DA’s office asked me to determine if that particular model of knife was consistent with the victim’s wounds.” Joanna nods, “Ah. And I assume they gave you other models to compare as well?”

“No.”

“No?” Joanna turns to the jury, “Did they at least ask you to determine how many other knives might have made those wounds?” Ms. Carlon’s brows go inward and she shook her head, “No.”

“Well, how many would you think?”

“I-- I don’t know. That-- That would be speculating,” Ms. Carlson replies. Joanna grins, “A thousand?” Ms. Carlson slowly shook her head to think, “Uh... A large number?” She sounded too unsure.

“Seven hundred? Five hundred?” Joanna counts. Ms. Carlson nods, very confused, “Somewhere... somewhere in that range.” Joanna had them now, “In other words, the chances of it being the actual knife are one in 500. Correct?” Andy tried not to grin, holding his hands near his face to hide the small grin.

“Objection. Calls for speculation,” Neal nearly growled. The Judge turns, “Sustained.” Joanna grins and turns to the jury, shaking her head, “No further questions, Your Honor.” Y/N looked over to the jury and saw one of them smiled. And just that, Y/N felt her heart jolt with slight happiness.

Laurie had began to leave the restrooms and head over back to her family in that small room. The halls were crowded with people in nice suits. She heard faint distress from a familiar voice.

“This is all going to shit. She’s gonna walk. Can’t you see that? She’s gonna get away with killing our daughter because of that asshole and his goddamn theatrics.” Laurie spotted Eric and his wife Marla standing off to the side.

“Please, I can’t take this,” Marla says. Eric turns back to her, “Yeah, well, I can’t take it either.” The man turns and walks away. “Eric. Eric,” Marla called, her husband did not look back.

Marla sat down on the bench, pulling a hand up to her face as Laurie looked back. But there was nothing she could do. After Marla had done to Laurie at the mall that morning, Laurie was sure she’d do it again. And Laurie didn’t want someone to drag her out or try to help the mom. Laurie continued on and walked in the room.

“How he didn’t know that that stunt would backfire is beyond me,” Joanna says. Andy nods, “Because he’s reckless.” Laurie sits down and rubs Y/N’s back, “You doing all right?” She asked. Y/N nods, “Yeah.” Y/N remembered the guy who smile.

Y/N turned to the adults, “One of them smiled.” Andy and Joanna look up to the girl. “One of the juror, the guy with the goatee.” Andy sounded shock to hear that, “He smiled? Really?” Andy grins at Joanna.

Y/N smiles, “Yeah, when she admitted it was a one in 500 chance, he smiled.” Andy grins at her while Joanna’s phone dinged. The woman looked at her phone and cleared her throat, causing Andy to turn. “Something wrong?”

Joanna shook her head, “No. No, it’s nothing. We’ll talk later.”

“You and Mr. Barber have worked together on many cases. Is that right?” Neal asks, looking towards the next witness at the stand. Pam Duffy. She nodded at him, “We go back, yes,” Her monotone voice was loud and clear. “Would you describe him as diligent when it came to his work?” Neal asks.

“More than that. He was relentless,” She said.

“Was that relentlessness on display when you were attempting to cut through the school’s red tape?” He asked. “He didn’t feel the classmates were a priority,” Pam answered, “We’d already interviewed Alice’s close friends.”

Neal turns, “Once you did interview the students, finally, was there anything useful that came out of that?” He asks. Pam remembered the day they did, none of them kids spoke much, “After the initial meetings, nothing much. But with some follow-up, we came to learn that there was an ongoing beef between the victim and the defendant.”

“Meaning Alice had been bullying the defendant,” Neal states. “For some time, yes,” Pam replied.

“Was this around the time that you started to view the defendant as a suspect?” Neal asks. Pam looks over to him, “It was.”

“Even as her father was still running the investigation?” Neal asks. Pam blinks at him, “Certain aspects of the investigation had to be carried out without Mr. Barber’s knowledge.” Pam looks over to Andy who sat next to Y/N, he seem to shuffle in his seat as he looked upon her.

“What did that reveal?” Neal asked.

Pam looked away, “That the defendant supposedly had a knife consistent with the wounds, that she had sufficient motive, and she had opportunity in that her movements the night of the attack placed her near or at the scene.”

“Did you arrest her at this time?” He asked. “Not until the fingerprint came back,” She says, “We then obtained a warrant and searched the house, trying to find the knife, which we did not.”

Neal looks down at the notes in his hand, “Did you seize the defendant’s computer?” Pam nods, “We did, but we found nothing directly incriminating.” Neal looks down at the ground, “Detective, are you aware of a program called Disk Scraper?”

“I am. It’s a program that wipes hard drives, deletes files, that kind of thing.”

“Was that program on the defendant’s laptop?” Neal asks. Pam took a while to answer, “It was.” Laurie furrows her brows and Andy looked over to Y/N. He noticed her swallow and stare blankly away from him. “Is it possible that there was incriminating evidence on the laptop, and it was removed by the defendant?”

“Objection. Calls for speculation,” Joanna called. Neal thought of a different question, “What about pornography?”

“Objection. Relevance.”

“Sustained,” French says. Neal shrugs, “Let me be more specific. Did you find any violent pornography on the defendant’s laptop?” Y/N slightly turned her head to the sound of that. Pam looks up, “I think all pornography is violent.”

Neal nods, “Of course. I mean, specifically, images glorifying abuse or torture.”

“Objection. Relevance,” Joanna calls again. The Judge furrowed his brows, “Overruled. The witness will answer.” Pam turned her head to the judge and nodded at Neal, “Some, yeah.”

The spectators began to mutter and Laurie raised her hand up to her face. Andy looks over to Y/N as she tried not to look at him. Neal nodded, “No further questions.”

Once Neal went back to his desk, Joanna stood up, “Detective, I assume you have executed countless search warrants in your career, yes?” She asked. “Sure,” Pam said.

“Seized a lot of laptops.”

“Yes,” Pam says. Joanna continues, “Have you ever found one that didn’t have some pornography on it?” The whole court chuckle while Pam grins, “I don’t think so.”

“Detective, is it true that you were the first to identify Leonard Patz as a person of interest, and not Mr. Barber?” Pam nods, “Yes. I brought Patz to Andy’s attention, and we agreed that he was someone we should be looking at.” Joanna points, “One last question.” Joanna looks over to Y/N and Andy before going back to Pam.

“At any point in the investigation, did Andy Barber behave in any way to suggest that he suspected his own daughter?” Pam shook her head, “No, not in the slightest.”

Joanna nods, “No further questions, Your Honor.” French looks down at his desk. “Mr. Logiudice, redirect?” For a second, Neal looks over to Andy, waiting to find the moment to admit the event to everyone. Andy looked over as well and so Neal turns away. “Detective...” Neal stood, fixing his suit, “...have you ever known Mr. Barber to be violent?”

Andy turns his head to Pam with his brows creasing inward. Pam furrowed hers, “No.”

“Are you sure? Never seen him grab somebody by the jacket? Push them into a wall?” Andy rolls his eyes and drops his pen on the table, leaning back. “Objection. Relevance,” Joanna calls. French looked upon Neal and he felt curious, “Overruled.”

Pam licked her lips and slowly sighed, “Once. You,” She answers, “After your provoked him with that crack about his father doing time for--” Pam cuts herself off knowing that “Bloody” Billy Barber was close to mentioning. It was too late.

“Doing time for murder?” Neal asked.

“Objection! Your Honor!” Joanna shouts, slamming her hand on the table. The jury began to look over with grimace. “Sustained,” French says, “I’ll see counsel at sidebar, right now.” Joanna and Neal both walked over to the sidebar with Judge French.

“I’m appalled at what I just saw. We went over this in pretrial,” Judge says. “Your Honor, it was the defense counsel who first raised the issue of whether the defendant’s father had reason to suspect his own daughter. I am simply trying to make that argument.”

Joanna rolls her eyes, “You have got to be kidding me. Your Honor, the defense moves for a mistrial-”

“Oh, come on,” Neal says.

“-He was given specific instructions.” French glares at Neal, “You are on extraordinarily thin ice, Mr. Logiudice, you understand me?” He asks, “Now you wrap it up with this witness right now. And if I hear even a whispers about the defendant’s grandfather going forward, Ms. Klein will get her mistrial. Am I clear?”

“Yes,” Neal says, a bit too harshly, his eyes drew away, “Your Honor.” After that, Neal goes back to his table, looking over to Andy who shook his head at him. Everyone in the court seem to calm down after the recent question about “Bloody” Billy Barber.

“Ladies and gentlemen, there’s a saying in the law, ‘You cannot unring the bell’...” Andy turns to Laurie and he shook his head, mouthing towards her. Laurie turns her head and shook it. “...but I’m going to insist that you do just that with regard to the last question.” Andy turned back to the front and shook his head.

Before the next trial, Andy had visited Joanna during nights. Looking over their next witness who would be going up at the stand. Derek Yoo. Andy tried to find pulls and connections between Leonard Patz and Derek, find strategies to keep this going.

So, the day of the trial. The usual thing was sitting and waiting. Laurie looked over to the Yoo family who sat on the other side. But that wasn’t the only problem. Joanna received a text and stood up, walking over to Andy. Her hand gently goes on Andy’s back. “We’ve got a problem.” Andy turns to her. “Madelyn McGrath. I can’t find her.”

“What?” Andy asks.

“Ellen’s been trying to call her cell all week, and she finally got in touch with her mother this morning. And she said that she and Madelyn had a fight three days ago, and that she took off. And her girlfriend just posted online from Florida, and the mom thinks that she’s down there with her.”

“What are we supposed to do? She’s supposed to take the stand tomorrow,” Andy says, gesturing to the stand. “Don’t worry. We’re gonna think of something. Okay.” Joanna taps his shoulder and walks back to her seat, leaving Andy in thought.

Madelyn needed to take the stand tomorrow. She was the one who could end the trial from there. Now it made it look like they didn’t have enough evidence that Leonard Patz is not the suspect here.

Andy turns to look over to the laughter and chatter by Neal and his assistant. The two laughing as if they were best friends. Even when Andy helped Neal through his time being the commonwealth. Taught him everything he knew. Like a friend would.

Neal felt Andy’s eyes and looked over, his smile slowly dropped and he turned away without any other expressions to continue his conversation with his assistant. Andy turned back to the front again, Laurie behind him was stressing more as she rubbed her face in her hand.

Turning around, Andy made eye contact with her. All he could do was give her a gentle smile. Laurie nodded to indicate him that she was doing okay and that he didn’t need to worry much about her.

But then someone brought his attention. Walking into the courtroom, Lynn looked around the room and her eyes landed on Andy’s. The two shared a long gaze and he was the first to turn away from her and stare at his own notes that were written either from last night or today.

“Court, all rise!” The woman shouts. The whole court rose in silence. And their witness was put up to the stand.

“I was like, ‘That’s the same way you go to school. Did you see anything?’ And Y/N said no,” Derek says.

“Nothing about seeing Alice on the ground or trying to help him?” Neal asks. Derek fidgets in his seat, “No. Uh, and she made a joke. Said something like, ‘Couldn’t happen to a nicer girl’,” Derek’s eyes seem to look only at his hands or the wooden surface, eyes locking with Y/N’s he saw the cold stare from her. He looked away immediately.

“And this is within a week after learning about Alice’s murder?”

“I guess, yeah. We were at Y/N’s house, playing video games during the break,” Derek said. Neal nods, “When you said that Alice used to pick on Y/N, what did you mean by that?”

“Alice always kinda had it in for Y/N. She was always calling her ‘bitch’. Like a nickname. Like she’d ask Y/N questions about different sex things lesbians do, but in front of everyone, to embarrass her. Or she’d fake soccer kick at Y/N if she passed her in the hall. Stuff like that.”

“And all of this bullying, it upset Y/N,” Neal said.

“Yeah, of course,” Derek replies. “Did it make her angry?” Neal asked. Derek shook his head slowly, “Not so much in front of Alice, but... privately, she’d go off on how much she hated Alice’s guts. Which I got. I mean, Alice would be a jerk to me too sometimes.”

Neal licks his lips, “At what point after Alice’s murder did you begin to consider your friend Y/N’s role in it?” Andy didn’t like that. “Objection. Leading the witness,” He called out.

The Judge turns to him, completely not phased by his objection. “Overruled.” Joanna looked over to Andy who did as well, he didn’t say anything to her. As if he gave her a silent ‘sorry’. “You can go ahead and answer young man,” French says.

Derek nods, “I guess it was three days later.”

“Was there anything other than her temper that began to make you suspicious?” Neal asks. Derek stutters, “Well, yeah. The knife. Y/N had this scary combat knife she’d bought in town. She used to bring it to school sometimes.”

“To show it off or-- or what?”

“Not really. I mean, she showed it to me and our friend Dylan but it was more like she liked having it on her, walking around with it. Like... it was this secret thing she had,” The boy says.

“I see,” Neal replied, “So the bullying and the knife... But you knew about these things, and still, you didn’t suspect Y/N immediately?” Derek stammers, “I don’t know. Maybe part of me did, a little. But it wasn’t until I read what she wrote online.”

“Online?”

Andy peered up to the boy. Was he talking about the photo Y/N posted? Or that Cut Up Room?

“This messed up site Y/N was into called The Cut Up Room,” Derek says. “By ‘messed up,’ I’m assuming you mean pornographic.” Derek nods, “Yeah, but, it’s not really so much about sex. More violence. Like, really graphic stuff.”

Joanna writes three question marks and shows it towards Andy who just moves his brows. “Are there stories on this site?” Neal asked. “Yeah, people post all kinds of stuff. Photos, videos, stories.”

“And do you know if Y/N posted any stories?” Derek looks up and shuffled a bit, hands fidgeting with each other. “She did. Yeah. She called them F/N/I stories.”

“F/N/I stories?” Neal asked.

“Yeah, you know, like her initials, F-M-B?” Andy looks over to Y/N, her leg began to bounce on the floor again. “That was her screen name on there.” Joanna leans in towards Andy, “What do you know about this?” She asks.

“Not enough. You got to shut it down,” Andy whispers back. “And did F/N/I post a story about the murder of Alice Miller?”

Derek took a while to answer before he spoke, “Yes.” The answer made the spectators murmur all around the court. Andy froze in his seat. “Commonwealth moves to enter into evidence--”

“Objection,” Joanna calls, she stood up, “Your Honor, may we approach?”

“Settle down, please,” French raps the gavel onto his desk. Joanna sighs, “Respectfully, Your Honor, we ask to approach.” The judge nods and Joanna walks up to his desk. “Your Honor, this is an ambush. None of this was disclosed in discovery.”

Neal comes in, “Your Honor, this story was authored by the defendant. If she chose to hide it from his attorney, that’s hardly the Commonwealth’s fault.” Andy turns to his daughter who hung her head low.

“What’s this about, Y/N?” He whispers to her. She never answered. “Y/N?” Her hands began to twist in each other as her legs bounce anxiously. Laurie stared at the back of Y/N’s head. The courtroom goes silent when Joanna began to read the story about Alice’s murder. Seeing every single detail of it.

Turning back to the judge, “Your Honor, I need to confer with my client.” French nods, “All right, go ahead.” Neal and Joanna separate from the Judge to their own tables. Neal took a good look at Y/N who sat in her chair fidgeting. Not once did he show empathy. Not guilt.

“I’m gonna ask your patience while I allow defense counselor a moment to confer with her client.” Andy leans on the table once Joanna sat down to talk to them.

“He’s going to allow it unless our position is that Y/N didn’t write that story.”

“Then that’s our plan--”

“They know that she wrote it, Andy. They’ve got an IP address,” The two look over to Y/N who didn’t budge to look up at them. Joanna looks at her closely, “Y/N.” Lifting up her head, she looked at Joanna and just nodded. Joanna turns back to Andy, “If we push back now, we’re only going to shine a brighter light on it.”

“How bad is it?” Andy asks. Joanna didn’t even have to tell him on how bad it was. He didn’t bother to have her answer.

“Emma stood there on the path as Kate kept walking toward her, grinning. If Kate knew the real Emma, she would have been scared shitless. ‘Don’t fuck with me,’ Emma warned him, ‘I mean it.’ But Kate just laughed and grabbed her by the arm, twisting it back like she’d down so many times before. ‘Stop. You’re hurting me,’ Emma said. But it didn’t hurt that much. She just wanted Kate to think that, so she would let go.”

Andy was leaned to the side, holding a hand up to his face. Anxious to see this come together from what the man from last trial had said. “Kate laughed again, the way she always did, a fake laugh. Emma’s hand slipped into her sweatshirt pocket. There it was, her trusted friend. She curled her fingers around the grip and felt a surge of power through her arm, up into her shoulder. She knew there was no turning back now. The park seemed to know it too. She could hear the breeze in the leaves and birds chirping.”

Everyone was still silent throughout the reading. Laurie began to stare at the boy who slightly shook the paper in hand, afraid.

“Kate saw the knife coming for her, but it was too late to do anything but stare. It slipped in so easily Emma thought she was stabbing air. That surprised her. She did it twice more, telling her brain to remember the feeling for later. Other than feeling hands on my arms during that party at Hannah’s.” Andy knew that sentence was referring to his daughter in the bedroom.

Did Alice do it? Derek continued the story, flipping the page.

“Kate fell backward and rolled down the slope, until she stopped down below. Emma knew she should go, but she couldn’t help herself. She went down to Kate’s body to make sure she was dead. The smell of blood in the air made her feel dizzy. She found a small stream nearby and washed the knife off, and her hand too. She could see her reflection in the water, but her face looked different to her now. ‘It’ll be our secret,’ it seemed to say.”

Y/N felt a tear fall down her cheek as she lightly twitched her fingers. Derek puts the packet in front of him, “The End.” The silence was ended when Marla choked a sob, covering her face in her hands.

Neal sighs, “This story was posted three days after Alice Miller’s body was found?”

“Yeah.” Laurie could hear her own heartbeat, knowing this wasn’t right to her. Y/N had done enough. And Laurie was doubting.

The day, the trial had ended. Laurie, Andy and Y/N began to head to the car in the garage. The three were silent throughout the whole walk there. What were they supposed to say? Whatever was said during that trial, no one could say anything about it.

They were distraught. Laurie and Y/N jumped in the car and buckled their seat belts. Laurie already reaching for her face to rethink on what just happened. Andy got in last and kept his eyes low. Staring at the ground as the family sat in silence.

Y/N only looked out the window. “It was just a story,” She says softly. Andy closes his eyes. “I didn’t know it would be a big deal,” She sounded heart broken. Scared. Everything coming to his head, he didn’t want to say it. But he had to. This is what’s happening right now. And they needed answers from this teenage girl.

He took it out. “Did you do it?” He asked, lowly. Y/N looks over to the front and Andy turns to face her. “Just tell me. Did you kill her?” The hurt in his eyes and the look of doubt. Y/N looked broken. Scared. It took a while for her to answer and they stared at each other.

“No,” She muttered, his stare made her look away and her eyes began to tear up, “No.” Laurie didn’t even say a word. Not even took a breath. After what happened today. She couldn’t trust Y/N’s innocence.

That night, the family and Joanna sat in the kitchen. Trying to go over things for the next trial, knowing that this next one is going to be difficult. Madelyn wasn’t there for the witness stand. They were in trouble.

“I could ask the judge to issue a bench warrant for Madelyn McGrath,” Joanna states. Andy sat in the chair, leg on the other as he held his head, “He won’t. Not for some secondary witness holed up in Florida. We don’t have a choice. We gotta go straight at Patz,” He says.

“Yeah, his subpoena was served this morning. I’ll call him as a hostile witness and see what we can get out of him,” Joanna says back. Andy uncrosses his legs and leans on his knees, “We gotta run every play we have. Not just on the Patz front, Derek too.” He scratches the back of his neck.

“You don’t think we covered Derek on cross?” She asked. Andy stands up, “You did your best,” He sat at the table, “You were distracted.” Andy looked over to Y/N, “Everyone was.”

Andy flips open the file while Laurie began to head over to the table. “We need to backstop Patz. I say we go harder on Derek, subpoena Sarah.” Y/N turns to Sarah’s name that came out. Y/N didn’t like that. Not to bring in her friend into her case and her problem.

“Andy, we discussed this,” Joanna said. “That was before. We need Sarah to hammer home Derek’s obsessing. We need to have her repeat his words on the stand,” Andy looks up to the old woman.

“Yeah, you’re right. That could be powerful,” Joanna says. “Show the jury the selfie again-”

“No.”

The three look over to Y/N’s word. “I don’t wanna bring her or Matt into this. It’s my trial. I’m saying no.” Laurie looks over to Andy. He looked at his hands, “Sorry, but you don’t get a say in this anymore. Not after today.” Y/N sat there in silence, staring at Andy with a cold look.

What was colder was the food that was untouched by her. She stood up and walked away. Milo peering up while laying down as Y/N stormed up the stairs. Joanna sighs, “I’ll get into it first thing tomorrow.”

Later that night after Andy organized the things in his office, he headed into the kitchen and saw Laurie at the sink. Leaning in the walkway he watched her. Laurie felt his presence and stopped cleaning the cup in hand.

“You haven’t said one word all night,” Andy says.

Laurie thought about that story. Feeling hands on my arms during that party at Hannah’s. The story about the murder and that sentence stuck in her mind. Andy didn’t tell her. “Did you know?” She asked, “About the story?”

“No,” Andy answered, his forehead creasing. “Just tell me the truth,” Laurie says.

“I am-” Laurie turns around, “The truth. I need to know,” She insists. Andy steps in, “Laurie, I swear I’m telling you the truth.”

“What about the website? The Cut Up Room?” She asks. Andy comes to the edge of the table and leans on it, lowering his head, “I only kept it from you ‘cause I knew it would--”

“Don’t. Don’t,” Laurie cuts him off. Andy lifts his head up confused, “Don’t what?” Laurie shook her head, “Explain it away like you do everything. Excuse it away.”

“I knew it would set you off,” He says, “You were already half convinced that Y/N was guilty. I didn’t want to add--” Laurie shook her head. “Not anymore.” Andy’s eyes were hurtful at the start. But when she said that, he fixed his posture, “What’d you just say?”

“I don’t believe her. Not after what I heard today.”

“Not listening to the fact that our daughter had been raped, Laurie. So you’re gonna let this one thing change--”

“It’s always one thing,” Laurie cuts him off, Andy sighs, “Don’t you see?” She asked. “We’re guilty too. If we protect her, we’re as guilty as she is.” Andy hisses and lifts up his hand, “All right. Just keep your voice down. You’re gonna freak out the dog.”

“I’m not even saying I know what to do about it, I don’t. But I know what I heard, and I know what it means,” She said. Andy held his hand up still, “Laurie, I’m begging you. Don’t talk yourself into something ‘cause of some made-up story.”

“It’s not a story,” She shook her head.

“Yes, it is!” Andy turns, “This is a girl that bullied her. Maybe did rape her. She probably fantasized about hurting her a thousand times. So she let her imagination run wild, and she wrote it down,” He tried not to yell as everything came out as a low whisper, “Maybe...” He sighs.

“Maybe she got some sick thrill imagining it. And is that horrible? Yes. It’s terrible, and it was wrong, and it was stupid, but it was a story,” He lowly says, he walks towards her. “Joanna vetted every single line from it. There wasn’t one detail that hadn’t already been reported by the news. She was fantasizing.”

“She was confessing,” Laurie said, Andy sighed and leaned on the counter, “To call it anything else is just lawyer spin, and you know it.” Andy turns around and walks back to where he originally was. His back was turned to her. “What if you knew?” Laurie asked, “What if you knew in your heart that our daughter did this unforgivable thing? Took the like of another child? Would it even matter?”

“I’d still love her, if that’s what you’re asking.”

“No, it’s not. I’d still love her too,” Laurie held her hand to her heart, “I will always love her, no matter what.” Andy turns back to her. “You don’t know how badly I wanted to hold her tonight and tell her it’s all going to be okay. But I can’t play this game anymore, letting her pretend she didn’t do it, pretending to each other.”

“She’s not pretending. She didn’t do this. I know she didn’t do it,” Andy snaps.

“No, you don’t!” Milo peered up at the couple, “No one can sustain that level of deception-”

“Of course she could. You of all people should know that,” Laurie says. Andy leans back and lets out a scoff, seeing Laurie tear up, he shook his head, “Yeah. Yeah, of course. She learned it from me,” He shrugs.

“Maybe she learned it from both of us,” Laurie says. Andy looks over to her, seeing her look for an answer, “What do you want me to say Laurie? You’re right. Our marriage is a lie. Our whole fucking family is based on a fairy tale, built on nothing. And our daughter’s a murderer. Is that what you want to hear?” He asks.

Laurie shook her head, “No. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t true.” Andy stared at her before turning away and walked up the stairs without another word. Leaving Laurie in the kitchen sobbing.

That night, he was gonna take the couch. He made sure not to see Laurie the rest of the night. Not speak to her. Once he settled the things on the couch, he looked over to Milo who sat on the couch. Andy stared at him, “Down.” Milo jumps off and follows Andy to the backdoor.

Andy let Milo outside. The large dog spins to look at his boss who just stared and closed the door on him. Leaving Milo out in the cold. The dog sniffed the door and slightly scratched it. Snorting once, the hound turns and walks into the dog house that sat in the corner.

The next morning, the house was silent throughout the next hours. The sun shining through the home. Andy had slept on the couch. After the big argument, he wasn’t sure if Laurie wanted him in bed that night.

So he gave her space.

His phone began to buzz on the stand. His eyes fluttered open and he began to rub his eyes. Looking over the armrest, he sees his phone. Shuffling on the couch, he leans up to grab his phone. Squinting at it, he answers. “Yeah. Hey, Joanna. No, it’s okay.” Andy began to stretch on the couch, “What’s going on?” He grunts.

Sitting up with a sigh, he froze when Joanna gave the news. “What? When?”

After talking with Joanna, he knew he had to tell Laurie about it. He wasn’t sure to think it was good news or bad news. Either way it was messed up. He stepped into the bedroom and reaches for Laurie, “Laurie.” He sits down. “Honey.” His hand rubs her back.

“What?” She asks.

“It’s over,” He says. Laurie looks at him, “What?” Andy looked heartbroken, “He confessed. Patz.” Laurie was confused on what he was talking about, “I-- I don’t...”

“Joanna just called. Leonard Patz hung himself last night. He left a note for the Rifkins. It’s a full confession,” He says, Laurie began to sit up, “The cops just confirmed his handwriting.”

Laurie stares at him with the same look, “Are you sure?” Andy nods, “Yeah,” He sobs, “I know it doesn’t feel real, but it is. Joanna’s moving for a dismissal first thing this morning.”

“Oh, my...” Laurie whispers, “I was so... I thought--”

“Don’t,” Andy says, “Doesn’t matter now. It’s over.”

Though the suicide was unbelievable and very despairing. Andy and Laurie had to tell their 15-year-old daughter about her dismissal. So, they walked into her room. Seeing her laying on her bed asleep. Laurie was the first to hold her, “Y/N,” She whispers.

“Wake up, sweetheart,” Andy says, Y/N inhales sharply and turns, “We got something to tell you.”

“Court, all rise. Hear ye, hear ye, hear ye. The Honorable Judge French presiding. This court’s now open. Please be seated,” With a small grin, Y/N and the rest of the courtroom sits down.

French raps the gavel, “Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, at 8:00 am, this morning, the Commonwealth filed a nolle prosequi announcing its decision to drop the charges against the defendant, Y/N Barber.” Joanna looks over to the distraught Neal Logiudice who failed his mission to prosecute an old friend’s kid.

“This is a response to recent development in the case you, no doubt, will be learning of shortly. The defendant will please rise,” French says. Y/N stands up for the Judge.

“Young lady, I’m sure you’re anxious to get out of here. So let me be the first to say to you the words you and your family are, no doubt longing to hear. Y/N Barber,” He states.

“You are now a free woman,”With the hit of the gavel, the spectators began to all clap causing Laurie and Andy to smile with glee. Y/N couldn’t help but smile as well, “Y/N M/N Barber in the matter of indictment 08-44-07, it is ordered by the court that you be discharged of this indictment and go without day. Bail posted shall be returned to the surety. Case dismissed.”

With more of the claps, Laurie stands up along with Andy, the two pull Y/N into a huge hug. And after that, they were free to go. But, of course, they would answer a few questions by the reporters that have been sitting outside.

The clicking sounds of their cameras and people holding their mics towards the woman. “Obviously, we are thrilled with this outcome. But as you can imagine, this family has been through a lot. So we’re gonna ask that you respect their privacy and allow them to process this ordeal. Thank you very much.”

“Y/N, how do you feel?” A woman calls out, Joanna looks over to her, letting her do her thing with the question. Y/N grins, “Uh, great.” The short pause was then interrupted by the clamoring of the reporters once the family began to step down. Police holding them back as Andy held Y/N by her shoulder to keep her close.

The four stepped out of the elevator and began to head toward their cars. Andy pulls out his keys and sighed, “Joanna, I don’t even have the words.”

“Oh, please,” Joanna grins. “Andy’s right,” Laurie says, “We couldn’t have gotten through any of this without you.” Joanna chuckles softly, “The best I could’ve done was a verdict of not guilty. This is a thousand times better. This is proof of innocence.” Andy grins.

Joanna held out her hand and Y/N took it with a smile, “Congratulations, young lady.”

“Thank you, Joanna,” Y/N says. Joanna nods, “I know that this has been rough for you. But I think that someday you’re gonna realize...” Y/N’s eyes look away to the figure who came from the stairs. Eric Miller. Alice’s dad. He began to storm up to the family and Y/N tensed up.

Then a bald man came up behind Eric. “Dad?” Y/N asks. Andy follows Y/N’s gaze and he sees Eric. “I know it was you,” Eric points, Laurie instantly pulls Y/N close to her while Andy jumps in front, “Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey!” Andy shouts. Andy holds Eric back as he points at her. “I know it was you! I know it! I know it!”

Eric gets grabbed by the bald man in the blue Lincoln, “Whoa! Whoa!” Andy says as Eric gets pulled back and slammed onto the back of the car. “Let me go!” Eric sobs.

Andy turns to his girls, “Are you okay?” He looks back to the sobbing Eric. The bald man turns, “What do you want me to do with this guy? Want me to hold him for the cops or what?” He asked.

“No!” Eric shouts. Laurie knew the family was in much pain than they were. They went through enough, “No,” She says. “Let him go,” She nods. Eric sobs on the hood of the car while being pushed into it. “Please,” Laurie says.

The man pulls Eric up and pushes him back, “Come on. Get outta here.” Eric turns back to the family with Andy standing guard in front of his family. “She didn’t do it, Eric.”

And with that, Eric took that and walked away, wiping the tears off his cheeks as he headed back for the stairs. The man turns, “You okay, kid?” Andy looks over to him, “Who the hell are you?”

“I’m an old friend of your pop’s. He asked me to look out for you. Congratulations, by the way. I guess it was your lucky day, huh, kid?” Laurie held Y/N close. “Get in the car,” Joanna insists, helping the two girls over to Andy’s car.

Joanna looks up to Andy, “I’ll call you later.” Andy nods at her. With the man standing there, Laurie looks up to him and nods, “Thank you.” The man swats his hand, “Anything for old Billy.” Laurie jumped in the car while Andy was the last to get in.

“Make sure you give your old man my best, okay?” He asked. Andy slightly glares at the man one last time, before getting in his car without another word said to him.

They returned home to a street filled with new reporters and journalists. People taking photos as Andy drives up the driveway. The family stepped out and gave their grins towards the people while they headed back inside their home.

Ever since Y/N was freed by the charges, Andy knew there was no normal to go back to. There was a before. Then after. No one couldn’t get it out of their minds. Not even Laurie.

After their meal outside, Laurie thought to go through her daughter’s photo book. Seeing her as a baby. Growing up in every picture they had. She quietly cried as she flipped through every page.

“Hey, honey. I’m gonna make some coffee. You want some?” Andy comes in and looks around to see Laurie on the couch, crying. His face falters in worry, “Hey. What’s going on?” He comes near and sits next to her, instantly bringing his hand to her back.

“That day in court, when Derek read the story, I was so sure. In some crazy way, I was almost relieved. I thought ‘At least now I know’,” She sniffles. Laurie turned to look at him, “What kind of mother would think that about her child?”

Andy inhales softly, “You were under a ton of stress. We both were. That story shook me up too. More than I let on,” He says. Laurie felt his hand stroke her hair and looked up at him. He shook his head, “You just gotta let it go.”

Laurie nods, “I’m trying.” Andy grins sadly and takes the book out of her hands to place it behind him before he brought her into a hug.

~~~

The story is close to its end guys.

TAGS:

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#chris evans x reader #chris evans #cevans #andy barber #andy barber x daughter!reader #andy barber x reader #andy barber as a dad #defending jacob #the cut up room #murder #defending jacob x reader #laurie barber #imprisoned series #optimistic-dinosaur-nacho #opti-dino-nacho #opti-dino-nacho series #steve rogers #captain america #chrisevans

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werewolfdays · 4 years ago

Text

first impressions

We’re gonna backtrack in their timeline a bit. Just have the normal Bring Your Werewolf Girlfriend To Meet The Family stuff. Yeah, totally normal. (CONTENT WARNING: abuse mention) -

We sat in our car, parked in front of the strange house, and I silently stared out of my window to regard it. Nothing about it looked particularly sinister or out of place in the slightest, it was simply another house on the street. There were two stories, a welcoming shade of sky blue with a white trim, the small lawn was perfectly green and mowed. If I had searched for stock photos of a suburban home on the internet, there would be countless versions of this house plastered all over my laptop screen. The entire image was meant to be calming and inviting. But this was the place where Nadya grew up. Where she spent most of her childhood in fear of her brother with no one else besides clueless parents to protect her. I hated this house. And we were about to spend the entire weekend in it.

I gripped the steering wheel in a white knuckled grasp for an entirely different reason than my loathing of the building. My jaw clenched as I prepared for what was about to come. Without turning to look at Nadya, I spoke, “You’re sure about this?”

“I have to do this, Jay.” Nadya answered.

“You don’t.”

“They’re my parents,” Her tone wasn’t as sure as the words she was speaking, “If I don’t at least try... then I know I’ll regret it.”

I finally turned to look at her beside me in the passenger seat. Nadya’s expression matched the apprehension and dread I sensed coming off of her, but she still managed to look determined. Her eyes implored me to trust her. Of course I would trust her no matter what. I also found it endearing that she was willing to put in this much effort to reconnect with her parents, even if I was certain that they didn’t deserve a daughter like her.

“Okay.” I relented with an exhale and threw a wary glance at the house again.

“Are you nervous?” Nadya asked curiously.

My gaze shot back to her with a frown. “No.”

She raised an eyebrow at me, not fooled by that lie in the slightest, “You are.”

“You’re nervous, so I’m nervous.” I deflected.

While that wasn’t a completely untrue statement, she still saw through it. Nadya studied my face for a few short moments before an understanding dawned on her, “You’re scared to meet them.”

I broke eye contact and focused back on the steering wheel, releasing another sigh, “Well, like you said, they’re your parents… a part of me still wants them to like me.”

Nadya’s hand reached out and wrapped around my wrist, gently pulling my hand away from the steering wheel and up to her lips where she placed a kiss to the back of it. My eyes locked on to hers yet again while her lips began to caress my knuckles and I felt my muscles slowly relax. I would miss being so candidly affectionate with her while we were here. I knew it would only be for the weekend, but I was already dreading having to keep my urges to touch her and kiss her whenever I wanted in check.

“I’m sure they’ll like you.” Nadya offered.

I gave her a grateful smile, “Maybe they’ll like me as your friend.”

She lowered my hand to cradle against her chest and pursed her lips, “I guess we’ll find out on Sunday…”

I sensed her anxiety spike at that sentence and it made both me and my wolf restless. Nadya truly didn’t have any clue how her parents would react to them knowing that she was a lesbian, that her and I were together, but she was adamant about telling them before we left. Until then, I couldn’t give anything away about her or us.

“Think you can pretend that you aren’t in love with me for a few days?” She asked with a small sly smile.

My head tilted to the side, resting on the seat of the car, and I continued to gaze at her. It was always far too easy to get lost in those warm brown eyes of hers, especially when they caught a single ray of sunlight breaking through the clouds like they were right now, “I hope so. I’ll try my best, at least.”

Her sly smile grew into a full grin, her cheeks flushing, “Maybe start by not looking at me like that.”

I felt my face grow hot, as I hadn’t noticed I was doing it, and I forced myself to look away. Then I realized this moment in the car with her would be the last place where we wouldn’t have to hide until the weekend was over. Like a magnet, my eyes found hers again, soaking up every bit of her that they could without apology, making sure I had enough of her memorized to keep myself satiated for a few days. There was just one more thing I needed to get me through it.

“I probably shouldn’t kiss you like this either,” I muttered as I leaned in.

The sensation of Nadya’s softness against my mouth seemed to slow time itself around us. My senses zeroed in on her, the rest of the world dimming like a dying fire, turning into an unimportant muffled buzz at the back of my mind. Her taste and her warmth pulled me in, pulled me closer to her as my hand reached up to tangle in her hair. The rhythmic thumping of her heart skipped a few beats and her lips parted mine in a silent plea for more. I was eager to give her whatever she wanted while also indulging in what every instinct inside of me was aching for.

Our passion was just as easy to get lost in as staring into her eyes. Maybe even more because soon it wasn’t just my surroundings that became forgotten, it was our reason for being here. If it were up to me, we would stay in this car until we had to break away for breath, then I would drive us far away from here where Nadya wouldn’t have to worry about a family that didn’t love her like my pack and I could.

But I knew that’s not what Nadya wanted. Not yet at least. So I had to be the one to pull away from her and bring her back from the intoxication that was consuming the both of us. She tried to follow my retreating lips and I couldn’t resist giving her one more soft peck before severing all contact.

Nadya blinked at me a few times to shake herself out of it. Her fingertips touched her own lips with a small smile, almost like she could still feel mine, “Yeah… probably not like that.” she uttered breathlessly.

I couldn’t hold back a crooked grin, “You think you will be able to pretend you aren’t in love with me for a few days?”

She released a quiet scoff and lowered her hand, “I can’t make any promises.”

I noticed her eyes kept shifting down to my mouth like she was fighting the urge to kiss me again. I leaned further away from her in the hopes of lessening the temptation. As much as I wanted to tease her, this would not be the place for it, “Are you ready?”

Nadya took in a very deep breath, holding it for several beats, and then releasing it in a sigh that nearly trembled, “As ready as I’ll ever be.”

“Okay,” My hand squeezed hers in encouragement, silently promising that this wouldn’t be our last touch this weekend. I would find ways to remind her I was by her side, even if I had to sneak affection like some love-struck idiot teenager, “Let’s go.”

We got out of the car and I went to the trunk to retrieve our bags. A part of me hesitated to grab my duffle once I slung Nadya’s pack over my shoulder. I was fairly certain I wouldn’t need it, and if I got caught with it somehow, that would result in a completely different level of awkwardness, but I would feel too vulnerable without something. I did a quick glance over my surroundings, making sure there were no witnesses, and then opened the secret compartment in the trunk to pull out a handgun. After subtly checking the loaded chamber and making sure the safety was on, I slipped it into my bag and buried it in my belongings.

I looked up as I was rearranging things to see Nadya come into view. She looked into the trunk when I zipped the bag up and met my eyes again in a way that confirmed she knew exactly what I had been doing. I offered an apologetic wince, but didn’t remove the gun. Nadya didn’t say anything despite her disapproving expression. A part of me wanted to put the gun back, I really didn’t want to bring a weapon like that into her parents’ home, but I hadn’t survived this many years being hunted without being a little paranoid. I suspected Nadya understood that, which was why she kept quiet.

“It’s just in case. I don’t plan on using it.” I explained.

“I know.” She said with a simple nod, then gestured for me to follow her, “Come on.”

With the duffle’s straps in my hand, I pulled it out and shut the trunk. Every step closer to the house made my nerves prickle under my skin, almost as if my wolf wanted to protect both me and Nadya from the people inside. I had to remind myself that her brother was thousands of miles away, deployed overseas. With any luck, he’d get blown to bits and I wouldn’t have to worry about doing it myself one day.

Nadya didn’t bother knocking on the front door of the house. I suppose it was her house after all, but I was slightly thrown that I wouldn’t have the few moments to prepare myself that waiting for her parents to answer would have given me. She noticed my hesitation at the threshold and offered an encouraging smile.

“You’re gonna do great.” She promised quietly, briefly grabbing my wrist to pull me inside.

“Sure…” I mumbled under my breath.

“Mom? Dad?” Nadya called into the house, “We’re here!”

Towards the back of the house, I heard a running faucet suddenly shut off. The kitchen, I suspected. Then I heard someone else stir from a separate room, perhaps an office, soon followed by two sets of footsteps approaching us in the living room.

I cautioned a glance around, appreciating the fireplace and how surprisingly warm the atmosphere in the home was. A collection of picture frames rested on the mantle and I caught a glimpse of a much younger looking Nadya in one of the photos. I smiled to myself as my eyes lingered there, but it quickly faded when I saw Ruben standing next to her. He couldn’t have been older than sixteen in the picture, but I still wanted to tear his throat out. I forced myself to look away and took a deep breath to snuff out my short rush of fury.

A middle aged man, Nadya’s father, arrived first. The lines on his face that framed light blue eyes seemed to give him a permanent stern glower, even his grin did little to soften it, and his teeth were so perfect and white that it would put the Kincades’ flawless smiles to shame. His light brown hair, that was more salt and pepper at the sides, was gelled and styled almost formally, and he wore a button-up shirt as white as his teeth tucked into khaki slacks. Even the way he carried himself was professional.

He noted my presence, giving me a quick once-over and sizing me up. It wasn’t a very welcoming feeling to be scrutinized on the spot, but I stood my ground and allowed him to inspect the stranger in his home that was accompanying his daughter.

“Hey, dad.” Nadya greeted, pulling his attention away from me.

I watched Nadya’s father inspect her in almost the same manner as he had inspected me. Then I realized it had to be a long time since they’ve seen each other. Maybe it’s even been years.

He gave her another smile and a nod, “Good to see you, sweetie.”

It puzzled me when there was no attempt at an embrace. I hardly expected anything over the top, but there was a noticeable awkwardness between parent and child that I’ve never witnessed before, and certainly never experienced myself. My father would have wrapped me in a big hug as soon as he saw me, called me ‘pup’, and kissed the top of my head. At first glance, I would have never guessed these two were even related.

Before I was able to dwell on it any further, Nadya’s mother entered the living room. Long black hair, with only a few streaks of gray here and there, fell smoothly down her shoulders and to the woman’s mid back. Her eyes were the same warm brown as Nadya’s were and her skin tone was several shades lighter than that, but still noticeably darker than the fair skin of the father. It took me a moment to place the woman as a Native American.

Nadya shared more facial features with her mother than her father. The eye color, of course, but also the nose and cheekbones. Nadya’s mother also had a natural softness in her expression, just like her daughter did, one that made me more at ease in the strange home.

The reunion between mother and daughter was warmer than with her father, “Oh, I’m so glad you’re finally home.” Nadya’s mother cooed with a smile, grabbing her daughter’s hands and leaning in to place a kiss on her cheek.

“Me too, mom.” Nadya said. Her muscles were still tense, but I watched her relax a fraction under the comfort from her mother. Then Nadya turned to me, “This is my friend, Jayde.”

The word friend made me cringe internally, and I could hear a subtle fluctuation in Nadya’s voice when she spoke it that told me she didn’t like it any more than I did, but I still stepped forward and offered my hand, “It’s nice to meet you both.”

Her mother shook my hand first, “Nice to meet you too, I’m Winona.”

“Richard.” Her father said next, giving me an almost delicate handshake. Feeling a little offended that he held back, I squeezed his hand firmly and watched his brow perk up a centimeter.

A tiny bit of rebelliousness didn’t stop me from being polite and pleasant, “Thank you for inviting me into your home.”

“Please, it’s our pleasure.” Winona replied, then noticed the bags I was holding, “Here, I’ll show you where you can put your things.”

Nadya reached for her bag, I handed it to her and followed Winona towards the stairs. Nadya followed close behind me, but Richard remained in the living room. I felt his eyes on me through my entire ascent up the stairs and had to resist the urge to throw him a scowl. He was very unsure of me. Maybe it was my appearance that threw him off. I was a bit rough around the edges, even cleaning up couldn’t hide the scars and my unintentionally intimidating resting expression. If I had done something to deserve it, I could let it go, but I’d hardly done anything to arouse suspicion or mistrust yet, so I was a little annoyed.

“You can stay in Ruben’s room while you’re here.” Winona told me once we reached the top of the stairs.

I should have expected that, but the sentence made my stomach drop and the rest of my body recoil in utter disgust beyond my control. I tried to recover when Winona looked over at me, “Oh, that’s okay, I can sleep on the couch just fine.”

“No, you’re a guest here.” Winona insisted. She saw that I was about to argue further and put a hand up, “He hasn’t been home in a long time, I’m sure he won’t mind.”

“Jayde can take my room and I can take Ruben’s.” Nadya offered.

“No.” I replied, probably too quickly and too firmly. Both Nadya and her mother looked a little taken aback by my intensity. I forced an easy going smile and relented, “I’ll take his room. Thank you.”

Winona brushed my behavior off rather easily, “Or course. Why don’t you two get settled and come downstairs so we can figure out where to go for lunch?”

“We’ll be down in a couple minutes.” Nadya confirmed, “Thanks mom.”

Her mother gave her a smile and squeezed her upper arm as she walked past us to go back down the stairs. As soon as her mother was out of sight, Nadya looked at me with deep regret. She must not have thought they would just offer up her brother’s room so easily, even in his absence. I simply shook my head with a small smile to ease her worry and made my way to the room Winona had motioned towards as Nadya reluctantly disappeared into her own room.

While I have never met Ruben, his stench still made me want to retch. There wasn’t anything objectively bad about it, I suppose, but it was so heavily ingrained into his room and all I could picture was his grin in that photo with Nadya. All I could imagine was that story about her confronting him for the first time in this very room and him nearly strangling her to death because of it. I eyed every wall, thinking, Was that where he shoved her? Where he threatened to take her life?

I did not want to touch a single thing, didn’t even want to set my duffle bag on the neatly made bed. The only thing I could do was stand in the center of the room and silently seethe. After a few long moments of trying to calm myself down, I just dropped my bag on the floor where I was standing, kneeling down to retrieve the weapon I had stashed inside of it.

“I’m sorry.” Nadya suddenly said behind me, causing me to look over my shoulder at her standing in the doorway, “I thought maybe they would let us stay in the same room or something. Guess this isn’t really like a high school sleepover…”

“It’s not your fault, Nadya.” I assured her quietly, focusing back on rifling through my bag, “It’s not like I’m actually gonna sleep in here anyway.”

“Still… you shouldn’t have to be in here.”

I looked behind me at her again, this time in shock. After a couple of confused blinks, I retrieved my gun, tucking it into my waistband to conceal it, and stood, “You shouldn’t have to be in here.” I corrected, walking over to her and gently leading her away from the room with my hand on her back, “You shouldn’t ever have to set foot in that room again.”

“I’m fine, Jay.” Nadya told me.

Surprisingly, her tone didn’t suggest otherwise, “So am I. Don’t worry about me.”

“Says the girl with the gun hidden in her pants.” She countered with a lighthearted grin.

I matched her expression, “Exactly.”

As soon as we arrived back in the living room, Richard spoke up, “Have you ever been to the city, Jayde?”

“You mean San Francisco?” I assumed and he nodded, “I can’t say that I have.”

“Perfect. I know an excellent deem sum place.” He didn’t wait for the others to approve before he retrieved a coat and made his way towards the front door, “Maybe we can even show you around a little afterwards, since you’ve never been.”

“That sounds great.” I agreed amicably, “Should we drive together or separately?”

“Oh, together.” Richard answered, like that should have been the most obvious thing, “You never want to take more than one car into the city if you can help it.”

“That congested, huh?”

“Some days it’s worse.”

“That’s usually why I try to avoid highly populated areas.” Too many people meant too much traffic, too much traffic meant no easy escape routes, no easy escape routes meant capture or death. I usually avoided big cities at all costs for this very reason, but surely I could convincingly act like a human for a few hours with Nadya’s family. I doubted San Francisco will be teeming with hunters.

He chuckled, “Very smart of you.”

I glanced at Nadya while we were walking out the door as if to say, Did you see? I can get along! Her response was an amused, yet encouraging, smile.

Richard owned a very well kept Cadillac. There wasn’t a single scratch on the black paint, its surface so spotless that its reflections were crystal clear, and the interior smelled of fine leather, which was more comforting than I expected it to be. Nadya sat next to me in the back with both her parents in front, making me feel better to be so close to her.

Most of the car ride was spent in a silence that wasn’t exactly comfortable. The closer we got to the cluster of tall buildings in the distance, the more tense my body became. I ran through all kinds of different scenarios, ranging from me completely blowing this entire visit to being jumped by hunters and having to figure out a way to get Nadya and her family to safety. The skyscrapers looming on the approaching horizon was a sight to behold for sure, but all I could see was a death trap.

As I was lost in my own anxious thoughts, I felt the barest brush against my pinky finger. I risked a quick glance at my hand that was resting on the seat in between me and Nadya to see her pinky subtly reaching for mine. When my glance traveled up to her face, she was silently staring out of her window, giving no indication that she was doing such a thing, besides the hint of a smile at the corner of her mouth.

The small touch was significant in calming my nerves. I wanted nothing more than to take her hand in mine and pull her close, but I settled for sticking my finger out to caress her back in recognition. We were able to stay like that for a while, until we entered the city itself and Richard finally spoke up again, yanking me out of Nadya’s orbit.

“There are lots of amazing places to eat in the city, I have a few favorites to stop by on my lunch breaks, but we only go to this restaurant for special occasions.”

The sound of his voice made me reflexively pull my hand away from Nadya’s, but I was certain he didn’t notice. “You work in the city?”

“Yes, at my family's dentistry.” He answered while navigating the narrow streets, “What do you do for work, Jayde?”

I expected this to be a question, but I still struggled with an answer that wouldn’t give too much away. All of the overwhelming noises of the city outside weren’t helping, “Um, well, I’m a security guard of sorts.”

“A security guard, huh? What do you guard?”

“If I told you that, I’d have to kill you.” I replied humorously in hopes to deflect on the topic and I was relieved to hear some amused laughs.

“Sounds like you’re bound by an NDA.” Richard mused.

“Yeah, something like that.”

“You’re gonna love this place we’re going to, Jay.” Nadya spoke, changing the subject, much to my relief, “The food is so delicious and there’s an amazing waterfall indoors.”

“Yes, it’s the perfect place to bring someone you want to impress.” Winona added, casting a smile over her shoulder at me and Nadya.

Maybe it was mostly meant in jest, but I couldn’t help feeling a little encouraged by it, “Speaking of impressing people, I hope you guys don’t mind me cooking dinner for you tonight.”

“Oh, you cook?” Winona asked excitedly.

“She’s an amazing cook,” Nadya jumped in with the same amount of enthusiasm, “She put together this beautiful dinner for our first- uh, for the first time we hung out together as friends. It was over a campfire and she cooked for everyone that was there. It had to be the best meal I’ve ever had.”

Winona thankfully didn’t seem to catch Nadya stumbling over her words and nearly mentioning our first date. Instead, she looked impressed by her daughter’s praise for my talent, “Wow. In that case, I can’t wait to taste what you have planned for us.”

“I hope you’ll enjoy it.”

Richard announced our arrival when the car came to a stop in front of one of the seemingly endless tall buildings in this city. I reluctantly got out of the car and tried not to get vertigo from looking up at the gargantuan structures all around me. The one we were about to enter wasn’t the largest one by far- actually, its size could be deemed modest compared to the others, but it still stretched several stories up, apart from a couple of wings branching off that only appeared to be about five stories.

I hadn’t realized how much the inside of the car shielded me from the cacophony of sounds and smells that assaulted my senses. Car engines, sirens, crowds, all flooded my hearing. There were far too many scents to name, almost all of them terrible enough to taste on my tongue, but I hung on to the ones that didn’t make me want to cover my mouth and nose to avoid gagging. Like the scents of restaurants serving food carrying through the wind. And the comforting scent of Nadya as she inched closer to me.

I met her gaze to see her studying me with a concerned frown. The corners of my mouth perked up to reassure her that I was okay. It was only a little overwhelming. I’d get used to it eventually.

We followed her parents into one of the shorter wings of the center and my line of sight was immediately drawn to the impressive glass ceiling. It rose up as high as the building, letting massive rays of light pour in and reflect off of the spotless tiled floor. It made the entire interior of the building look incredibly open and lively, almost like we were outside and not confined to a space. Then I noticed a square in the glass ceiling that was dropping a waterfall down into the center of everything, a glittering shower that looked enchanting in its own right.

I couldn’t hold back a grin at how beautiful this was. It calmed whatever anxiety was lingering in my head. “Wow…” I mumbled as I continued to stare.

Nadya playfully bumped my shoulder with hers, “Pretty cool, huh?”

“I see why you would bring people here to impress them.” I agreed with a nod.

“Wait until you taste the food.” Richard said with a proud look on his face.

The four of us sat at a table close enough to the waterfall that I could feel the occasional spray of mist on my arm. The food itself was well deserving of all the praise it had been given, every bite was as fulfilling as the last and I soon found my plate becoming empty. Small talk was the only kind of discussion around the table and I was trying my hardest to maintain a pleasant face despite the fact that it was starting to get unbearably tedious. That is, until a particular question from Richard made the remnants of my food suddenly inedible.

“So, Jayde, what does your family do?”

My jaw clenched for a moment as I reached for my glass of water, “My sister is a computer technician.”

“And your parents?” He pressed curiously.

“Dad,” Nadya said in a soft warning tone.

“It’s okay.” I told Nadya and cleared my throat before addressing her father, “They passed a long time ago.”

“Oh.” Was all he said, though he looked slightly embarrassed.

“That’s terrible.” Winona sounded more empathic, her hand coming up to her chest, “What happened?”

“An accident. I was sixteen.” I answered curtly.

Her head shook, “I’m so sorry for your loss, I can’t imagine what that must have been like for you.”

You have no idea, I wanted to say sarcastically, but bit my tongue, “It was hard, but it was also a long time ago.”

“The accident… Is that where…?” Richard pointed at his own face, around the areas where I had scars on mine.

“Some of them, yes.” I answered truthfully.

“Some of them?”

“Jayde was in another accident.” Nadya chimed in quickly, “That’s how we met. I was treating her at the hospital.”

Richard’s eyebrows raised in surprise and he looked back at me, “You don’t have much luck with cars, it seems.”

“More like I don’t have much luck with people.” I corrected him with a smug grin, “I’m actually pretty handy with cars.”

“Are you?” He asked in a patronizing tone.

My eyes narrowed slightly, “I was an apprentice to a mechanic for about six months a few years ago. I was in that shop all day, every day, and he taught me everything personally. I even still have the bike he gave me and I take care of it as well as the people you pay to take care of your Cadillac.”

Richard’s eyes narrowed back at me for a few long moments. I could tell he was trying to make me back down for the snide comment, but I held my ground and didn’t break eye contact. Just when I thought the tension had grown too thick, he let out a laugh. It still sounded a bit strained, but it lightened the mood once more.

“Well, maybe I’ll ask you for some pointers then.”

I bared my teeth in what could barely pass as a smile, “I’d gladly give them.”

Then Richard directed his attention to his daughter, “Since you mentioned it, Nadya, how are things going at the hospital? At school?”

The sudden change in topic caught Nadya completely off guard. She had been so focused on covering for me that she must not have predicted that this question would arise, at least not here, because I was fairly sure that her father knew she was no longer attending school in person or working at the hospital. His tone and expression, one of a scolding parent, confirmed that suspicion.

Nadya slowly sat up straight, her whole body frozen, and her mouth hung open as she tried to form words, “Uh, well, things have changed a bit…”

I shot Richard a contempt glare for making Nadya uncomfortable, but it was like I no longer existed to him in this moment. He was only focused on his daughter, staring her down for an explanation. Why he chose to confront her here in a public place, and in front of me, was even more puzzling. The only reason I could think of was public humiliation as a form of punishment. That thought made a quiet growl rumble at the back of my throat.

“I’ve noticed.” He said with a flat smile.

“Richard…” Winona pleaded under her breath.

He didn’t take his eyes off of Nadya, “She knows how much I’ve invested to get her into that school. To help her pay rent, utilities, whatever she needs. And suddenly she’s no longer there anymore?”

“I’m still going to school, Dad. I’m still learning.” Nadya’s leg started to bounce with nerves underneath the table, “Listen, I got an opportunity that I couldn’t pass up. It’s a doctors without borders program and I’m helping people that really need it. I’m doing what I’ve always wanted to do… but I had to leave to do it.”

“It’s true, I’ve been with her the whole time.” I couldn’t stand by and leave Nadya fumbling to defend herself. I absolutely hated the way Richard was looking at her, the way he was making her feel with the overbearing posture he was exuding, “When she isn’t working, she’s studying. No one works harder than your daughter.”

After a brief glance at me, he continued his interrogation, “How come you didn’t talk to me about it first?”

“It was a last minute thing. I felt like I could make that decision for myself.” Nadya answered with a more confident tone, though her anxiety still pulsed off of her with every heavy heartbeat.

Just then, a waiter arrived to clear any empty plates. The momentary distraction allowed me the time to reach under the table and place a comforting hand on Nadya’s thigh without getting caught. I brushed my thumb across her leg a few times and felt relieved when the bouncing stilled under my touch, her body relaxing. Her hand came to rest on top of mine, but then the waiter left with a stack full of dishes and I forced myself to pull away from her before her parents could notice anything. Even though every cell in my body screamed against it, I couldn’t risk outing Nadya before she was ready.

“We’ll talk about this more at home.” Richard stated as he motioned for the check.

I didn’t even bother to hide my eye roll. It took more than a little will power not to snap at him. Just because Richard was her father, didn’t mean he could speak to her like she was a disobeying child. Especially when it wasn’t Nadya’s fault that she had to leave school. It was mine. Realizing that I was witnessing one of the consequences to dragging Nadya into my life made my shoulders start to slump in shame. I wanted to redirect Richard’s ire away from Nadya and towards me more than anything.

I tried to distract myself with some of the sights we ended up driving through, it was a beautiful city after all. All of the colorful houses and overly steep hills were something whimsical and unique to see, everything so mismatched, but it surprisingly fit cohesively. I listened patiently as I was told about this place or that, appreciating the history involved and nodding along like an eager student. Despite being such a large and crowded city, San Francisco had a handful of peaceful looking spots where you could pretend you weren’t in a concrete jungle.

One place in particular, that we visited at Nadya’s request, looked like something plucked straight out of ancient Rome. A small artificial lagoon surrounded a massive dome structure, flanked by Roman style columns and trees dotted here and there to make it look like it had sprung up in the middle of a forest. The lagoon reflected the whole scene like a mirror, giving the illusion of two separate worlds being connected at the edge of the water. Small clusters of tourists followed a trail around the lagoon that even went under the dome and I wanted to see it up close just like they were.

I followed Nadya and her parents as they led me down that path, feeling more at ease with the scents of a tiny piece of nature. I could see why Nadya wanted to show me this place. It was gorgeous, and I soon found myself getting so enthralled by everything that I was lagging behind a bit to appreciate it all at my own pace.

Then we arrived at the central rotunda. The underside of the dome was the most notable. It stretched well over a hundred feet up, the design reminding me of a honeycomb, and the acoustics echoed voices and footsteps in a way that almost gave me the urge to sing. The dome itself was held up by several columns, each had a statue of an angel of some sort perched on top and looking down at the witnesses to their beauty.

I must have looked like a little kid, staring straight up with an expression of awe as I slowly shuffled around underneath the massive work of art. This was worth coming into the congestion of a big city to see. The only thing that pulled me out of it was the sound of a camera shutter. My gaze shot back down to look for the source and I saw Nadya giving me a sheepish smile after she lowered her camera. I hadn’t even known she had it, but I suppose she secretly stashed it in her shoulder bag the same way I secretly stashed a gun in my waistband.

“I couldn’t resist.” she stated in her defense.

“I don’t mind.” I told her with a beaming grin and looked back up at the dome before quietly saying, “It’s a bit romantic, isn’t it?”

She nodded, “That’s why it’s my favorite place in the city.”

“I’m glad I got to see it.”

“Me too.” Nadya stepped closer to me, filling all of my senses with her presence, and then I felt her fingers lace with mine.

My eyes darted around in case her parents were nearby. They weren’t anywhere to be found, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t suddenly appear from around a corner.

“They went back to the car.” She told me, “They’ve seen this place about a thousand times already.”

Her words filled me with relief, finally allowing me to enjoy some bit of contact with her. I didn’t know how anyone could ever get sick of a sight like this, but I was grateful for their absence nonetheless, “Good.”

“Thank you, by the way,” Nadya said, caressing her thumb over the back of my hand. When I gave her a look in question, she elaborated, “For what you said at lunch. I was worried he wasn’t going to believe me.”

My hand squeezed hers protectively, “I hated the way he was talking to you.”

“I understand where he’s coming from though.” She gave me a sad smile, “He’s done a lot for me and it’s like I just up and left.”

“But that wasn’t your fault at all.” I pointed out.

“No,” Nadya agreed with a shake of her head, “But we can’t exactly tell him that without explaining why. And that isn’t an option.” When that made the weight of my guilt feel heavier, she gave my hand a gentle shake, “Hey, I can handle this. I promise.”

“I know you can, Nadya.” I said fondly.

She looked at me in adoration, the warmth in her brown eyes nearly glittering with the love she had for me, and I felt my heart swell. Suddenly nothing, not even the impressive architecture around us, couldn’t compare to how gorgeous she was. I would be content to stare at her for the rest of the day, everything else be damned.

Then Nadya took me by surprise yet again when she leaned in to press a kiss to my lips. The incredibly bold action made my muscles freeze up, but I was soon soothed by the familiar feeling and had to fight with every fiber of my being not to deepen it. It was over far too quickly, but it would have been too risky if we had indulged ourselves any more than that.

Nadya pulled back and looked at me, her expression becoming smug and amused, “I thought I told you not to look at me like that.”

“You’re killing me.”

She bit her lip playfully, bringing my hand up to plant another peck on my skin, and then backed away from me until our contact was severed. My chest pinched, but the smile on her face kept it from stinging too terribly, “Let’s get back.”

I was less uncomfortable when the awkward silence in the car returned because the butterflies in my stomach were still fluttering like crazy from the brief kiss Nadya gave me under the giant rotunda. Actually, I was glad to not have to engage in many words, for my mind to be free to replay the memory over and over. I couldn’t wait to hold her tonight when I planned to sneak into her room.

By the time we returned to the Bishops’ house, the sun was starting its descent into the horizon. I could also sense the growing tension in the family, understanding full well that Richard planned to confront his daughter yet again while I was occupied with cooking the dinner I had promised. No part of me wanted to leave Nadya alone to that, but she gave me a confident nod after I hesitated to exit the living room. After a few moments of a fleeting glance between us, I disappeared to the back of the house.

As time went on, being alone in the kitchen and watching over our cooking dinner while Nadya talked with her parents in the living room started making me more and more uneasy. But then I remembered her insistence that she could handle it. I believed her when she said that, but it just didn’t feel right not being by her side. At least I could distract myself with cooking. My role as chef tonight was one of the few things I was comfortable with.

The back door to the house came into the kitchen and it suddenly opened. My first instinct was to tense for an attack, reach for the gun that I had stupidly hid back in my bag upstairs, but I quickly calmed myself at the casual movements of the man entering the house. An intruder wouldn’t come into a home like he lived in it.

The young man was probably a few years older than me and I heard the clinking of dog tags around his neck. Military. When he saw me, we sized each other up curiously. There was something familiar about his features that wasn’t easy to place right away. After a moment, I realized that I recognized the face. I had seen a younger version of it in a picture on the mantle above the fireplace. A large and dark pit formed in my stomach when it finally clicked, swirling like an abyss, waiting to claim a victim. This was Nadya’s brother. Everything that she told me about him came back into my mind with a rush of blood and the blackness of the pit turned into roiling fire.

“Oh,” Ruben said, sounding disinterested, “You’re the friend.”

“I didn’t know you were going to be here.” I replied, grinding my teeth and desperately trying to keep my rage under control.

He shrugged with an infuriating smirk, “Don’t feel too bad, I didn’t tell anyone. I heard my kid sister was coming home and I just had to surprise her.”

Ruben’s words utterly disgusted me. I was certain he knew damn well that Nadya would be terrified to know that he was here. The sickening smile on his face made it obvious that he took pleasure in that. That’s when I noticed something slightly odd about him, besides the obvious. He certainly shared a lot of resemblance to Richard, but there was very little of Nadya and hardly anything resembling Winona. Where Nadya’s brown eyes were warm and comforting, his blue ones were cold and cruel. Where Winona’s face was calm and inviting, his was calculating and standoffish.

I listened for the family a few rooms away. They remained deep in conversation and were most likely oblivious to Ruben’s presence. There was still time to kick his ass out.

“I don’t think she would enjoy that.” I said, turning to face him completely. “Maybe you should leave.” My expression let him know that it wasn’t a suggestion.

Ruben’s eyes narrowed as he studied me for a few seconds. Then he scoffed, “What did she tell you?”

“Nothing.” I continued to stare him down, “I just know a douche when I see one.”

His lip twitched in anger and he took an aggressive step towards me. Ruben’s eyes sparkled with cruelty. It was the polar opposite of what I had grown to love in Nadya’s eyes, that sparkle being something I’ve never seen even a hint of in her. He couldn’t even outwardly hide his intentions for the world and it was shocking to think that someone so closely related to her could be this much of an asshole. Just standing this close to him, feeling the bad energy he exuded, made wolf under my skin bristle.

His body language practically oozed arrogance. “Nadya is a little confused about some things. She’s messed up in the head. Maybe think about that before you believe every dramatic story she tells you.”

My fury spiked when he mentioned her name, his words wearing what little patience I had even thinner. “This is the last time I’ll say it. You need to leave.”

Ruben’s grin was both chilling and enraging. “This is my house. The only way you’re getting me out of here is if you make a huge scene and something tells me you don’t wanna do that.”

I hated to admit it, but he was right. I didn’t know him enough to tell if he was bluffing or not, but my instincts told me he was serious. If a scene broke out, then that would ruin everything Nadya was trying so hard to mend, putting her in more stress. On the other hand, Ruben would force her to relive the trauma that she thought she escaped. I wasn’t sure which option was worse for her right now. If Ruben had to stay, then I could protect her from him. As long as I’m here, he wouldn’t get anywhere near her.

The moment of silence ended with me swiftly wrapping my hand around Ruben’s throat and shoving him against the pantry. I held back slightly so the impact he made against the cupboard wouldn’t alert the others. My hand squeezed and a huge part of me just wanted to break his goddamn neck right here and now. Everyone would be a lot better off. But then I would have a body to deal with. Not to mention, I would have killed Nadya’s parents’ son right under their roof. Doesn’t really make the best first impression.

“Listen to me,” I growled, low and menacing, right in his face, “You stay as far away from her as possible. You don’t look at her. You don’t talk to her. Matter of fact, she no longer exists to you anymore.” Each slow word I spoke was dripping with all the rage I felt towards him. “If you break any of these rules, I will kill you. Do you understand me?”

The sudden fear I smelled coming off of him nearly threw my wolf into a frenzy. This pathetic thing in my grasp was weak and all I had was hatred for it. I wanted to rip him apart for everything that he did to her. I wanted to squeeze the life out of him and watch that cruel light of his flicker out. The last time I wanted to kill someone this badly was when I watched my father die. Raw fury made my skin tingle, my body shake, and I could tell my eyes began to shine, but I didn’t care as long as it got my point across.

Ruben’s horrified expression took me in. He didn’t react to my words in any other way, so I shook him roughly, “Do you understand me?”

When I saw him struggle to nod, I released my grip. Ruben scrambled away from me, desperately gasping for breath. Maybe I’d get lucky and that would scare him enough to run. “What the fuck are you?”

“Your worst nightmare.” I answered and turned back to cooking dinner. As soon as I let him go, I felt my eyes fade back to their usual color. Regaining my control, yet still feeling the burning rage within me.

“I’ll tell them-”

“Tell them what?” I cut him off with a dangerous look. “Nobody will believe a damn word out of your mouth.”

Ruben stood staring at me for what felt like minutes. No doubt trying to calculate exactly how many choices he had in this moment. My hard, unwavering glare reminded him that he didn’t have many if he wanted to come out of this in one piece. I may not kill him tonight, but every bone in my body, every instinct and impulse I had, wanted me to end his worthless life. Ruben’s days were numbered.

The moment passed with him unable to come up with anything to say or do other than try to move past me. I immediately knew I couldn’t let Nadya see him before I got the chance to warn her. My hand reached out, grabbing a fistful of his shirt to stop him in his tracks, “Go outside and come in through the front door.” I ordered, shoving him backwards. He scowled at me, but did as I commanded.

As soon as Ruben went out the back door, I moved out of the kitchen and made my way to the living room. Nadya was still talking with her parents. A part of me felt bad for interrupting, but I had no choice. “Nadya, can you come help me with dinner for a minute?”

Nadya must have seen something in my expression that caused her to give me an odd look. Thankfully, her parents seemed oblivious. “Be right back.” Nadya told them and got up from the couch to follow me.

Once we were in the kitchen, Nadya asked, “Is everything okay?”

I ran a frustrated hand through my hair, turning to her and reaching to hold her hands in mine. “I want you to know that if we were anywhere else besides here, I wouldn’t have let this happen. And I am so sorry.”

“Okay, now you’re freaking me out.” she replied hesitantly.

“Ruben is here.”

All the color drained from her face as her expression went blank. “He, um… he’s supposed to be overseas.” Nadya’s voice was hollow.

I gently raised my hands to cup her face. “Listen to me.” I said softly. I might’ve even felt her temperature drop. Her eyes were bright with fear. “You are safe. I’m here and I will not let him do anything to you, okay? You just say the word and we’ll come up with an excuse to leave.”

Nadya gripped my forearms tightly and shut her eyes. She stayed like that for a full minute while she controlled her breathing. Thinking that my presence was helping, I rested my forehead against hers to let her know I wasn’t going anywhere.

“We can go.” I eventually said again. “We should go.”

“No,” Nadya shook her head, leaning back to look at me. “No, I can’t leave yet. Just- please stay close to me.”

“I won’t leave you while he’s here.” I promised.

Dinner was almost ready, so Nadya stayed with me until it was finished. I waited and listened, but it was almost ten minutes before I heard the front door open and close. Who knows why it took Ruben so long to just walk around the house. It made me nervous. I started thinking of ways to sneak upstairs for my gun.

“Did you talk to him?” Nadya asked quietly.

I nodded, “Tried to get him to leave, but he wouldn’t without making a scene. He’ll behave though. I made sure of it.”

“You don’t know him.” She warned.

“Well, I threatened to kill him, so,” I shrugged, plating some of our dinner.

“You did what?”

Her outright shock surprised me. I thought that would make her feel better. “I told him to stay away from you or I’d kill him.”

“Why would you say that?” Nadya’s voice became a frantic whisper, “You don’t know what Ruben is capable of when he’s pissed off.”

“Nadya, I can handle him. I didn’t just piss him off, he’s afraid of me. I doubt he’ll try anything.” Ruben likes to prey on people that he thinks are weak. He didn’t scare me, therefore he had no power over me. In time, Nadya will learn that she is more powerful than he ever was, but until then, I could deal with him to protect her.

“Jayde, don’t underestimate him.”

She was still staring at me with a mixture of disbelief and fear when we heard her mother call to us, “Nadya! Your brother is here, come say hi!”

Nadya finally tore her gaze from me, grabbing my shirt sleeve and tugging at it to get me to follow her. I couldn’t hold her hand, or put an arm around her, or even stand too close while we were here, but I wouldn’t leave her side. Hopefully my presence will keep Ruben in check. As much as I wanted to kill him, I didn’t want it to be tonight. But he had to know I meant it or he would never take me seriously and that was dangerous.

We got into the living room and as soon as Ruben saw me, he took a subtle step back. Good. Remember your place.

“Look who wanted to surprise us.” Winona said pleasantly.

“Wasn’t expecting you.” Nadya forced her fear down rather convincingly, though I could still smell it all over her. I guess she knew how to suppress it around her parents. Years of practice being under Ruben’s threats conditioned her.

The rage started to boil up again, making my skin tingle. I took a deep breath to settle my fury, making sure to keep my eyes down as much as possible. It was one thing to show some of my true nature in front of Ruben as a scare tactic, but I wasn’t sure their parents would react well to my eyes glowing.

Ruben addressed his parents even though he made it sound like he was answering Nadya. “Yeah, it’s been a while since I’ve been home.”

“What a nice time for you to come visit.” Winona mused, “How'd you get the time off?”

I’d had about enough with the pleasantries. “Dinner’s ready.”

“Oh,” Richard chimed in like he had forgotten that I was there. “This is your sister’s friend, Jayde.”

I stepped forward and reached my hand out to shake with Ruben. He looked at me warily, but accepted my handshake. I gripped his hand hard enough that he had to suppress a wince. It was another reminder of what I told him, but instead of cowering like I expected, Ruben’s eyes burned and he squeezed back with all his might. The human’s strength hardly even registered, so all I did was smirk.

“Nice meeting you.” I told him coldly and he nodded.

All throughout dinner, I could feel how scared Nadya was sitting beside me. Even placing myself between her and Ruben did little to relieve her anxiety, it lingered in the air around her like a thick invisible cloud. Knowing and feeling what she was going through certainly made me lose any appetite I had. I wanted to reach under the table and place a comforting hand on her thigh like I did at lunch, but there were no easy distractions to hide behind. The best I could do was a subtle bump of my elbow to hers, hoping that reminding her of my presence would help. Nadya bumped me back in recognition.

I could also feel Ruben’s growing fury while we ate. Every few minutes I would throw a glare in his direction, but his jaw was set in such a tight clench that I was anticipating the sound of his teeth breaking any minute. Winona and Richard didn’t seem at all concerned with Ruben, despite him not bothering to hide the mood he was in, and I recalled that Nadya told me what an angry kid he was when they were growing up. This kind of behavior was normal to their parents. Which just made me angrier. I should’ve just killed him.

I couldn’t even focus on the conversations happening at the table. Richard and Winona praised me for the food I made and that was all I reacted to, giving them short responses to loosen my clenched jaw. It was so obvious that Ruben wanted to test the boundaries that I set for him. I was silently warning him not to, but the guy was just too fucking stupid and arrogant.

Towards the end of dinner, Ruben stood up, “I’m gonna go for a smoke break.” He announced, coming around to our side of the table, walking behind me, and placed a hand on Nadya’s shoulder. The pat was swift, and even gentle, but Nadya still froze like a statue under his touch. Then he leaned down to whisper in her ear, “I’m happy you’re here, Nadya.” before continuing on his way.

Every cell in me ignited with a fire that burned hot enough to frighten me. Every muscle had suddenly tensed to the snapping point. I actually started to see red and immediately looked down because I knew my eyes were definitely shining.

No way. No fucking way was he getting away with that.

“Excuse me.” I growled, getting up a little more aggressively than I intended, causing the chair to screech backwards loudly.

“Jay,” Nadya started, but I was already gone.

Ruben wasn’t out back, but I caught his putrid scent. It led down the neighborhood, behind all the houses. I followed it. He was smart enough to know there was going to be repercussions for what he did and I was smart enough to know that he was probably setting a trap of some kind. I didn’t give a single shit. Didn’t even care that I hadn’t gone upstairs to retrieve my gun first. As soon as I saw him, I was going to beat him to death. Ruben couldn’t stop me no matter what he had planned.

In his bad attempt at an ambush, I found him pressed up against the side of a garage behind one of the empty houses on this street, tucked in the shadows. My hands gripped his shirt before he could react and I pulled him away from the brick wall only to slam him against it with enough force that must have cracked his skull. Not enough to kill him or knock him out. I wanted to take a little bit of time with this. Ruben grunted, just barely keeping his footing. As I held him up and pulled a fist back to smash his face in, I heard a click.

The barrel of a handgun was resting on my chest. “Not expecting this, huh?”

I stared down at it, then back up as his smug face. There was a moment of silence and I scoffed at him. My hand quickly snatched the wrist holding the gun, slowly forcing the barrel up towards the sky, and I squeezed with all my strength. The iron vice I had on Ruben was too tight to allow him to pull the trigger. After a moment, with even more unrelenting force applied while he was struggling against me, I heard and felt a pop in his wrist. Ruben let out a cry in pain and had no choice but to release his weapon. The gun clattered on the ground and I tore him off the wall again, shoving him into the alley hard enough that he fell.

“Not expecting that, huh?” I mimicked his tone. Leaning down, I picked up the gun. Ejecting the cartridge and the loaded bullet, tossing them all in different directions. Ruben didn’t deserve a quick death. “What did I say to you?” My rage was still prevalent. Bad enough that I started to feel some of my bones shift. I was dangerously close to turning. I haven’t been this close to losing control since my first few full moons.

Ruben sat before me, clutching his wrist and looking pissed as ever. “You’re not gonna kill me.”

“I am.” My growl sounded.

“Jayde!” Nadya appeared, breathing heavily and scrambling to place herself between me and Ruben. “Jayde, don’t do this!”

I stared at her, completely dumbfounded. “What are you doing?”

“Whatever it is you’re about to do, I am begging you not to.” She held a hand out like she was prepared to physically stop me if she had to, her eyes were so frantic and terrified that all I could do was stare at her blankly. Seeing that I was distracted, Nadya looked over her shoulder. “Go.” She ordered Ruben. He went to say something, but she wouldn’t let him. “Just go!”

Ruben hesitated for another moment, but shot up and stumbled away. I continued to stare at Nadya. Not understanding. It was jarring enough that my anger started to fade, allowing me the control I nearly lost. “Why did you do that?”

“He’s my brother, Jayde.” It didn’t even sound like it was Nadya who said that.

“What?” I said in disbelief, “He’s your abuser. He put his hands on you right in front of me after I told him not to!”

“This isn’t as black and white as ‘he’s the bad guy and needs to die’, Jayde!” She was trying to keep her voice down so no one would be alerted by our argument. “Think about the consequences!”

“I did!”

“No, you clearly didn’t!” Nadya took a deep breath, frustrated tears running down her cheeks. “I appreciate you trying to protect me, but you just almost murdered my brother in the neighborhood we grew up in, four houses from where our parents are wondering what the hell is going on. Don’t you get it?”

It made my stomach flip every time she called Ruben her brother. I didn’t know how she could claim him like that, but I understood what she was saying. My rage got the better of me. The timing couldn’t have been worse and I played right into Ruben’s scheme. I relented with a loud, groaning sigh. “I get it. I don’t really agree, but I get it.”

“That’s fine. Just think more, okay?” I nodded and Nadya moved closer to me, placing one hand on my shoulder while the other cupped underneath my jaw. “Now, are you alright? Did he hurt you?”

“No.” I reassured her as she was inspecting my face, “He can’t fight for shit.”

“He also holds grudges.” She warned, dropping her arms.

I rolled my eyes at the ridiculous concept of Ruben being a formidable enemy, “He doesn’t scare me.”

A small, sad smile came across her lips. “That makes one of us.”

My heart seized and I looked at her regretfully, “I’m sorry I didn’t stop it.”

“What could you have done without making a scene?” Nadya pointed out to make me feel better. It didn’t. “It’s okay, he’s done worse.”

That definitely didn’t make me feel better. I pulled her in for a hug and Nadya eagerly accepted it. I shut my eyes and held her as tightly as she held me. Her scent and her warmth calmed my restless and vengeful wolf, soothing what remained of my rage. Finally, I felt her body relax and melt against mine as she buried her face in my neck. I continued to hold her for as long as she needed to remind her that I was here and she was safe.

Nadya reluctantly disentangled herself from me and wiped at her stray tears. “Come on, we gotta go explain to my parent’s that you had a reaction to an ingredient in the food or something.”

“Okay.” I said with a sigh and followed her back to the house.

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skz-candy · 5 years ago

Text

what happens in LA, stays in LA

“What do you think happened in L.A.?” Chan asked, plopping down on the floor next to Woojin. Both of them were eyeing Candy and Jisung, who were dancing around the middle of the room. Everyone else was taking a break while the two had their fun, meaning everyone was staring at them. The two didn’t seem to have a clue.

“Whatever it was, it was good,” Woojin stated. “Was she really not going to come back?” He looked at him. Chan shrugged.

“Apparently she talked to the staff member she went with about not coming back, and it got all the way back here.”

“I couldn’t imagine not having her here, you know? Ten or nothing, right? She makes Stray Kids,” Woojin nodded, wiping sweat from his brow.

“I still want to know how Jisung got her to come back,” Minho slid in front of them, blocking their view of the two. “I mean, it is Jisung. He was alone with her - the girl he is in love with.”

“Do you think she caught feelings?” Woojin looked between Minho and Chan.

“More likely, she realized them,” Chan smirked.

“You know something, don’t you?” Minho asked, but before Chan could reply there was a thud and an eruption of laughter. Everyone looked to the middle of the room, eyes falling upon Candy and Jisung laying on the ground and their laughter filling the whole room. Looking around, everyone was smiling and, for the first time in a while, everyone was happy.

“Knock knock.” Felix tapped on her door, pushing it all the way open. She paused hanging a shirt in her closet to look at him.

“Hey! Come in!” She motioned him to come forward before hanging the shirt up. “What’s up?”

“I have some questions regarding the thieving Los Angeles.” He closed the door.

“Thieving?”

“The city stole you,” he pouted.

“What are your questions, Lix?” Candy sat on her bed, waiting patiently as he cautiously sat next to her.

“Do you have a new best friend?”

“No.”

“Are you going to leave again?”

“Not for three months.”

“You’re leaving?!”

“Not anytime soon, calm down.”

“Okay, uh,” Felix paused, his fingers fumbling with her blanket.

“My goodness, just ask me already,” Candy laughed, pushing him slightly.

“What did you and Jisung do for a week, by yourselves?”

“Are you embarrassed to ask me that?” Candy raised an eyebrow. “I just showed him around a bit. We went shopping and stuff. We just hung out.”

“I’m your best friend, tell me the truth!” Felix whined.

“You really want to know?”

“Tell me your favorite day!”

“Okay, okay, so it was the day before we left…”

“Jisung! Get up!” Candy threw a pillow at him, making him groan and roll over. “Come on!!”

“Why? It’s not even daylight out,” Jisung complained, pulling the blanket over his head.

“Please?” Candy sat down on the floor, right next to his face. He opened an eye and saw her pouting, to which he responded by throwing a pillow back at her.

“Give me a minute and I’ll be ready,” he mumbled, making her giggle with joy.

After a few minutes, Jisung was awake and dressed. Candy was sat at the island drinking a smoothie she’d made when he came in, making her choke. He was wearing one of her favorite outfits he had recently bought in LA, and now that she kinda sorta realized some feelings for him she thought she would die seeing him actually in it all together. A black leather jacket, a white tee, black jeans, black shoes, a black hat, some sunglasses hanging on his shirt. Candy was aware she was staring, but she couldn’t stop.

“You know, I came over here with like, nothing, but somehow I gotta get it back,” Jisung laughed, sitting next to her. “What are you drinking?”

“A smoothie,” she mumbled, pushing it toward him. He took a sip and nodded.

“Strawberry banana, your favorite,” he placed it back in front of her. “Why’d you rush me out of bed?”

“It’s our last full day here, we gotta make the most of it,” Candy stood up, grabbing her cup. “Do you want anything before we set off?”

“I’ll just drink yours,” he winked, opening the door for her.

“You think you could get to the good part? You woke him up and had a smoothie, awesome,” Felix rolled his eyes. “Where’s the juicy stuff?”

“It is a whole day, Lix, calm down! As I was saying…”

The two walked around the downtown area, seeing people rush around and in between them. Finally, they found a shop that had some antique like things. They spent almost two hours looking around without buying anything.

“What kid of antiques do you like?” Jisung asked. “You look at everything so intently, but only pick up certain ones.”

“I like a good story. I know I can’t tell by looking at them, but my chest just kind of tightens when I find the right one.” Candy looked at him while he stared at an old camera. She found it kind of odd he’d notice something like that about her.

“Are you going to buy anything?” Jisung stood up straight.

“Antique shops are like museums, you have to pay a big price for a part of someone’s life.”

“When did you get so intellectual?” He teased as they went to the door.

“Always,” she shrugged. “But no one listens like you do.”

Eventually they just went into all kinds of stores, from toy stores to thrift stores, and bought far too many little things they would never need. By then, it was lunch and they got hungry.

“I know I didn’t mention this earlier, but you look nice today,” Jisung said, taking a bite of the pizza they’d bought.

Candy rolled her eyes, “I have shorts on, a gray tee, a flannel, and some boots. Real cute.”

“It’s different from what you normally wear. I just like it, is all. This style fits you better,” Jisung shrugged.

“You know what style fits you?” Candy questioned him. He just looked at her. “Flannels, jeans, and hats.”

“Not this?” Jisung sat up, showing his leather jacket and white shirt.

“It looks nice,” Candy shrugged, laughing as he put a look of hurt on his face.

“You picked it out!”

“I can’t have you looking better than me!”

“That’ll never happen,” Jisung became serious. “You’re the most beautiful girl in the world.”

“You’ve seen all the girls in the world?”

“I don’t need to, I get to look at you.”

“So you shopped, got lunch, and talked about clothes. What a magical day,” Felix threw himself back on her bed.

“Come on! It was a great day!!” Candy argued, poking his side.

“Oh yeah, I bet.”

“Can I continue?” Silence. “Okay, after lunch we…”

Candy dragged Jisung to a pumpkin patch, one she and her family had gone to forever. She felt the excitement in her chest rise the closer they got. She couldn’t wait to carve pumpkins and light them up and have them on her front porch. She looked, at Jisung, who was casually walking beside her, and realized it’d be the first time she’d carve a pumpkin with a boy.

“You seem nervous. Should I be nervous?” Jisung frowned.

“No, silly,” she laughed, nudging him slightly. “I’m excited! I haven’t carved one since being in Korea. It feels surreal.”

“Ah,” he nodded.

They got in and wandered around, looking at various things. There were people stopping and taking tons of pictures with the buildings, skeletons, and all the other decorations on the property. Jisung was more determined to get a good pumpkin.

“Jisung, are you even listening?” Candy asked after asking him three times if he wanted to get a picture somewhere first.

“I like this one,” Jisung replied, picking up the most perfect pumpkin. She couldn’t even be mad.

“You picked a great one. Picture?”

“I could never turn down a picture with you!” He smiled, coming to stand next to her. She quickly took a selfie with him when a girl came up to them.

“I can take a picture or two of you guys if you want,” she offered.

The two posed with the pumpkin between them. Candy’s smile was as wide as could be. Before she knew it, Jisung kissed her cheek as the girl took their picture again. Candy was in shock, so Jisung took her phone back.

“Look how cute you are,” he laughed, showing her the picture. “You look so happy.”

“I am happy,” Candy finally replied, shrugging. “Come on, I need a pumpkin.”

“This story is absolutely boring. A pumpkin patch, some pumpkins, and pictures,” Felix sat up. “Does anything exciting going to happen?”

“That is all exciting!” Candy argued, laughing.

“Finish the day,” Felix waved her on.

“Okay, so, we got the pumpkins…”

“Candy, how do you do this?” Jisung asked, holding the knife.

“I don’t know how to explain it,” Candy laughed. “You pick your design and go with it.”

“That’s so complicated,” Jisung whined.

“Here, let me show you,” Candy took her pumpkin and showed him the design she put on her pumpkin. And thus, she stabbed the pumpkin.

“That is so violent!”

“Actually, it’s about precision.”

“Oh, I guess since you watched people put IVs and shots in people you learned a lot about that.”

“I guess so. Now you do it.”

Jisung stabbed the pumpkin, but he stabbed it so roughly it cut more than he intended. He pouted at Candy.

“Don’t worry, I’ll just carve yours too,” she gently pushed him out of the way.

“Come on,” he put his head on her shoulder, wrapping his arms around her waist. “Can’t I just do something random?”

“I guess so,” Candy hummed, but her heart was racing. When was the last time she was this close with a boy…with a boy she was starting to see forever with. Jisung pulled away as her mother came in.

“Do you two need dinner plans?” Her mother asked.

“Why, what are we going to have? We took up the whole island with pumpkin and pumpkin vomit,” Candy laughed, and Jisung did too.

“Your brother wants a fancy dinner before you leave again, so do what you can right now and come back to them after,” her mother explained.

“Of course, ma'am,” Jisung nodded to her. Before her mother could leave the kitchen, Candy’s dad came in with a camcorder.

“Dad!” Candy laughed, shaking her head.

“Can’t an old man record to keep some family memories?” He looked at Jisung. “Women, huh?”

“Don’t answer that,” Candy and her mom said, laughing.

“Started carving pumpkins, stopped, and got ready for dinner. Fantastic stuff.”

“Sometimes you just gotta be there,” Candy laid back. “That day was absolutely magical for me.”

“Do I want to even know about dinner and after?”

“I’m gonna say it anyway,” Candy poked Felix’s cheek.

Candy had on a simple black dress, paired with black pumps and her hair curled. Jisung borrowed one of her dad’s white button ups to go with his jeans and black shoes. When he came out of the bathroom, his hair was styled and he looked even better than earlier that day. To distract herself, Candy tried to take selfies in the mirror in the hall.

“Can we take some together?” Jisung asked, looking at her in the mirror.

“Of course,” Candy laughed, and if he could hear the nervousness in her voice, he didn’t show it.

They took pictures for what felt like forever. Candy liked the feelings she was having. It felt like they were going on a date, one where they didn’t have to hide or be scared of someone seeing them. It felt like they were proud to be together and even being in Stray Kids would keep them from that.

She liked the way she could smell all his cologne as he put his head on her shoulder. She liked the way the shirt fit him, as if it was made for him. She liked the way he could take serious and goofy pictures with her. She like the way his arm felt around her shoulders and waist. She wanted to be like this with him forever.

Eventually, Cameron came to join them while taking pictures. Then her parents. It was one of the few times her family was all together and dressed up. Jisung took a few pictures of just them, but they did all get to have some of the five of them. It was a movie scene feeling Candy was having, and she didn’t want the movie to end.

The ride to the restaurant was how must road trips with her family were: jamming out to music and laughter. Candy could tell he enjoyed it, even if he didn’t know half the songs everyone was screaming the lyrics to. He would join in sometimes, getting the words all wrong and making Cameron laugh so hard he couldn’t breathe. Candy liked that, liked seeing Jisung fit so easily into her family.

Dinner was nice, but her family could have cared less about the food. All they did was talk and make jokes. Stories swirled around the table from work to school to Jisung to music to a terrible story about Candy’s childhood. She’d imagined this type of atmosphere with Jeongin, Yedam, and Seungmin. In her mind it never made sense. Here it was, making complete sense with Jisung.

Candy couldn’t stop smiling, and she couldn’t remember anything about the food they ate or the name of the restaurant or if she ever stopped looking at Jisung. He held her hand as they walked out, and Candy couldn’t help but feel like a schoolgirl hopelessly in love.

Not that she was…

“That sounds like the most boring dinner ever,” Felix huffed. “You got dressed, drove there, shared a few laughs, ate some fancy food, then left.”

“Wanna know what happened after we got home?” Candy hummed.

“What are you hiding?” Felix sat up.

“Well, after we got back and changed, Jisung and I finally carved our pumpkins. We put them on the porch when they were lit up we took some pictures. Then, we got ready for bed. I wrote a little while he laid in bed first, then I joined him.”

“YOU SLEPT IN THE SAME BED?!”

“Lix, we’ve slept in the same bed,” Candy laughed.

“That was the most exciting part of the story, I’m telling everyone,” Felix jumped up, leaving her room.

Candy giggled, grabbing her phone to check the time. She didn’t even notice the time because her eyes went to the picture of her and Jisung in the mirror all dressed up.

#candy #candy au #kpop #kpop au #stray kids #stray kids au #stray kids 10th member #stray kids 10th member au #stray kids scenarios #stray kids writing #stray kids imagines

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bffhreprise · 4 years ago

Text

Entry 345

Water was running. This sound was water. I had never imagined water to have a sound, especially not one like what Mila played, but Jarod had assured me this really was water. Without reading his lips, I wouldn’t have recognized the words immediately, but I would eventually… soon. I couldn’t let Maxine feel she had beaten me.

A new voice entered my ears, startling my eyes open. “James, is that you?” I questioned, seeing words above displayed by Mila after I caught sight of him walking toward us.

James’ voice had a soothing quality to it, much better than running water. He had asked “How are things going?”

“We’re acclimating her to hearing. She’s getting all these sounds for the first time.” explained Maxine, watching James as easily as me. She had developed the technology to see years ago, leaving me no time to catch up with the new tech.

“Well, not the first, really. Portentia could hear through the fey's visions, but she never had time to figure them all out. She's still lip reading at this point to understand what we're saying.” corrected Jarod, though his eyes were still on me as I read what he had said. He didn’t want me worrying about what people said around me yet, insisting I start with other sounds when we had started this.

James’ lips turned down slightly as he said, “Ah. Sorry. Perhaps the concert was a bit too optimistic.” Having him frown even a little spurred my determination even further.

“No. I can do this.” I assured him, knowing he wouldn’t mind me taking time while wishing I had already mastered this task.

“Just don't overdo it. There's no real rush.” he insisted as he studied my face. “I merely thought this could be nice for you and wanted to give you the option.”

Shaking my head slightly, I explained “James, I'm doing this. Maxine can do it, so I can as well.” There was no way I was ever going to let Maxine outdo me. Villains must lose.

“I'd love to see you design your own equipment.” stated Maxine, the sounds barely reaching my ears as I read what she had said. Whispering. The first whisper of my life came from my prisoner.

“Let's see you beat me in a fight.” I taunted, knowing she didn’t have a chance.

Her head snapped up to look at me in a satisfying way before she asked “Did you understand what I said!?” The sound of her voice had changed as she spoke, growing louder and… sharper.

For a moment, I was tempted to lie, just to remind her I had skills too, but lying to a captured enemy was beneath me. “Look behind James. Mila’s still helping me.” I told her, happy that she still didn’t see everything.

“I didn't think we'd be able to fine-tune the input to her brain as quickly as we did, but Alma came down and helped us.” commented Jarod, his voice smooth and steady. “Portentia was able to compare what she was hearing to what Alma projected into her head, and we adjusted accordingly. She's really calmer now, isn't she?”

“Oddly calm. She didn't threaten me once.” agreed Maxine, her voice steady once more. As much as I didn’t like hearing her, the difference of sound between her and the guys was notable.

“She knows you're working with us now.” I stated, trying to pretend I didn’t mind Maxine being here.

“Hooray for letting tyranny reign while you stop petty theft and gang wars.” she told me in a way where the sounds seemed steady, with less variation than normal.

“You'll eventually see that we're doing far more than you currently think. I promise you.” replied James before I even opened my mouth.

The sound of water stopped, just as I had gotten used to it, and was replaced by something somewhat similar in a way. “What's that?” I asked.

“I’ll show you.” replied Mila, changing the mirror I watched into an image of a tree with wind blowing through its branches.

After briefly viewing what I was, James turned to me, signing as he said, “Good luck. Let me know if there's anything I can do for you.”

I smiled and nodded, feeling somewhat envious of his abilities again as he easily jumped from the floor clear up to the lift in one enormous leap. With strength like his, I could do even more good in the city.

,,,^._.^,,,

After jogging into the garage, I stared down the lift to see my daddy reaching the bottom. Before I could react, he was at the top. “Daddy!” I exclaimed as I stepped away from the open lift. “Mila told me you were down there. Are you busy?”

Shaking his head and smiling at me, he said, “Never too busy for you. What's on your mind?”

“Mila's taking me to the Intergalactic House of Awesome Sauce soon, and I wanted to know if you would ride along.” I explained, watching him hopefully.

“Sure. Let's go.” he told me, his smile broadening.

“Mom’s busy. She's on a con-... um… group call, so I just told her I was heading out. I didn't know she worked.” I explained as I followed him out of the garage.

He laughed and said, “Before our honeymoon, all she did was work. She's missed it, though her perspective on it has changed a bit. She'll gladly come along too if you ask.”

“Nah. That's okay.” I assured him, not wanting to tear Mom away from something she enjoyed. Realizing the limo wasn’t waiting for us, I stared at the silver vehicle before us before asking “What's this?”

“A remake of my first car. You'll find a few more features than in the limousine, though there aren't refreshments.” he told me as he stepped through the open door.

I nodded, walked around, and hopped inside, taking a better look at the interior. “Sure is tiny in here.”

“You've seen smaller vehicles.” he reminded me.

“Yeah, but they flew.” I told him, wondering again how the people of this planet got anything done.

He focused on me for a moment, casting a complicated spell that made my features look human. Then he said, “I know, but you can visit your friends as often as you like. Life isn't so bad here, is it?”

Fighting a sudden impulse to blurt out everything on my mind, I took the time to sort my thoughts and think over his question. Outside of home, the technology was practically stoneaged, but inside of the house was perfectly livable. Mila made all of the difference, far surpassing even what I had seen on the most advanced planets I had visited with my parents. Doing my best to put my thoughts into English, I said, “I like it here. Everyone’s friendly, and my band is going to be amazing! I'm not… umm…” Frustratingly, I couldn’t think of the right words. They were there, just waiting for me to remember, but...

“Cheat.” ordered Daddy, smiling at me. “Mom's not around to know.”

I was certain that she’d know, but she wouldn’t say anything. Grinning in relief, I said, “Accustomed to this world! The technology is quaint! I'm amazed Marco makes such incredible food using that weird kitchen. How does he know when to remove the implements from the heat? What are those things he sprinkles? How does Emma change the size of the uncooked stuff with a touch!?” Everything came out in a rush, but I knew I was slow compared with him.

“Emma can control vegetation, even if it's been dead for years. She was born with the ability, so I can't teach you to do it as she does. As for the cooking, Marco was a traveler of this world for years and learned various ways to cook wherever he went. You should try it. Cooking here isn't as expedient as some other planets, but many find the process enjoyable.” he suggested encouragingly.

Switching topics a little, I asked something that concerned me. “Do you think everyone likes me? I mean really likes me?” I stared into his eyes, hoping to catch him slip for once, but his steady gaze held no answers. “I know they feel happy when we're playing around, but… what if they're just happy about something else and I'm misinterpreting something?”

“Dani, you're adored.” he assured me, smiling softly.

“Not like you.” I argued, knowing I couldn’t really compete with Daddy for being loved. “Even people you've bullied like you.”

He frowned at me as he said, “I try not to bully anyone.”

“I know. You help people, but even my friends know your reputation. Businesses have collapsed when they've caused you to frown.” I reminded him as memories of the countless stories came to mind.

“I don't know that things have been that extreme recently.” he claimed. “I simply cannot make everyone happy.”

“What's ‘recent’ when you're a time traveler?” I argued, smirking at him.

He rolled his eyes. “Fair point, but you know what I mean. Are you happy?”

Smiling, I nodded and said, “Of course! I'm with you and Mom.”

He reached over and hugged me, since Mila was doing the actual driving. “I don't want you to feel you're missing out. We can always go traveling for a bit when you need to escape.” he insisted, his incredibly strong arms imprisoning me in their warmth.

“Daddy, I'm fine!” I assured him, not wanting him to get the wrong idea just because I enjoyed hugs. “Mila's perfectly capable of helping me study and reminding me of what's out there. Don't worry.” In fact, Mila was still teaching me about new worlds regularly.

His expression grew serious as he said, “And you better still be fine when you're done visiting your friends. If I find it that you've caused unnecessary trouble, I'll… umm…” He hesitated, as if trying to come up with an appropriate punishment.

“Be grateful I'm fine and hug me till you're certain!” I exclaimed, knowing he was teasing. If something serious were to happen, he’d be there to help no matter what was foolish enough to step in his path.

“Probably.” he agreed immediately, though I knew he agreed completely.

The drive took a crazy amount of time, since we were confined to “roads”. We did arrive eventually, after a great deal of chatting about places we had seen and where my friends might want to go with me this time.

“No. No, you don’t!” I exclaimed as Daddy’s door opened.

He looked at me, seeming confused.

“You know why! My friends get distracted for hours every time they see you, wanting to talk about nothing else!” I insisted emphatically, knowing I was understating things.

His hand was out, touching something I couldn’t see, probably the spell on me, but he nodded, giving my shoulder one last squeeze. Soon, I’d be out flying ships, watching shows, or shopping for countless clothes I’d never get to wear on Earth. Spending enough money that Daddy would care would require buying populated planets, so the doors to the universe were wide open.

#Best Friend For Hire Reprise #Best #Friend #For #Hire #Reprise #Jovial Times #Jovial #Times #Fantasy #Fiction #Story

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muthaz-rapapa · 5 years ago

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StarPre Ep 29: Planet Saaman, the Frontier (??)

Alternatively, “YEARSH, MOAR LALA!!”

Sooooo many things to discuss about this episode (yay!) as I expected as much with going back to Lala’s homeland.

Therefore, I should go through everything efficiently (ahahaha~).

*cracks knuckles* Let’s begin!

1) Saaman, a world ruled by AI + Lala, the anomaly

I believe by now, most of us have consumed enough media to understand that a utopia run completely by a computer is NOT the ideal world it paints itself to be.

While there are certain perks in efficiency, the lack of freedom, authenticity and most importantly, the limit on a person’s individuality and true potential (among many other things) are so alarmingly concerning that such a reality is not worth it.

However, Saaman is just that. Its citizens not only thrive on their reliance of the AI, they are also super (!!) content with a machine deciding every single aspect of how they live.

Which suggests that Saaman’s current social infrastructure and foundation must have lasted quite long already (probably centuries) for the entire population to rarely, if ever, question the decisions that AI “Mother” made for them.

Save for one. Our lovely Lala-chan.

I mean, can you blame her for not going along with the norm like her family and fellow Saamanians do?

AI Mother’s evaluation of her determined that she was most suited to investigate garbage.

After everything we’ve seen her done, how much she’s experienced and grown on this journey, of course, she can never be satisfied with that!

Lala deserves SO👏MUCH👏 FRIGGIN’👏MORE👏 (give her the galaxy!) than to sit hours upon hours sorting through junk!

Unfortunately, given the longstanding situation and culture of her planet (again, a reminder that the people of Saaman have no problem with this lifestyle), it would be incredibly difficult for anyone to actually voice their opinions of disagreement with Mother’s decisions.

Especially Lala, whose parents are big shots in Saaman and older brother is the poster child/epitome of Saamanian values.

When the majority of your family is so ensconced in societal conventions, it’s not surprising that they would push the “lesser” relative to be more like “everybody else”.

Please don’t make the mistake that this means they don’t love and care about Lala because it doesn’t. It’s so obvious that they worry for her and only want the best for her.

BUT! It’s also obvious that they don’t really know Lala nor can they be considered close to her (she calls her parents by their given names instead of simply “Mom” or “Dad”, for stars’ sake!).

Lala’s family doesn’t understand her or her unhappiness with her assigned role on Saaman. They’re so content with their own jobs that they fail to see anyone else can feel differently about theirs. So the only solution they can think of to “help” Lala is to push her further into it, believing that eventually she’ll become content.

It’s something that happens to a lot of people and perhaps the reason why Lala left Saaman in the first place. She couldn’t exactly rebel so she ran away from the pressure on her spaceship. Maybe she didn’t intend to be away for an extended period of time but still, she left hoping to search for something that Saaman could not, would not, give her.

Then she fatefully bumped into Prunce and Fuwa running away from the Notrayders, met Hikaru, became Precure and the rest was history (or rather, destiny~).

At least, that’s how I see it.

2) Madoka relates

Y’know, at first, I thought Madoka empathizing with Lala’s discomfort was based on their similar upbringings.

Despite how close Lala and Hikaru are with each other, it’s Lala and Madoka who have the most in common out of all the other members of their team and I’ve been waiting for the writers to touch on that for some time now.

From birth or early childhood at the very least, everything was already decided for them. What they will be when they grow up, what their routines will be every single day, what expectations they’re supposed to fulfill, etc.

It’s a suffocating position that doesn’t leave a lot of room for argument and what shaped these two girls into having very detrimental perfectionist outlooks before that changed after meeting Hikaru and becoming Precure.

And now that Lala finds herself under stucky circumstances with her family, unable to enjoy the same openness with them as she does with her friends, I thought Madoka was going to try to encourage Lala not to let that get to her. She’s going through the same thing with her own father, after all, so if anyone can tell Lala’s going through a hard time, it’d be Madoka.

But turns out, that’s not quite the case here as the issue lies with them keeping their Precure identities and duties secret from their families instead.

Which is fine because at least Lala still has someone who can understand her on that.

Anyways, it’s a problem because being the upstanding, honest and serious types they are (majimeko) and both coming from families with high reputations, it’s really difficult for Lala and Madoka to not tell the people who are important to them about another part of their lives that is very important to them.

For Madoka, she feels that she’s betraying her father by hiding the fact that her friends, the very first and truest friends she’s ever made, are either aliens or helping the aliens avoid being caught.

For Lala, she’s torn between her duties as a Saamanian and wanting the acknowledgement of her family and community against the desire the protect her friends from the consequences of acting on the former.

And they are right when they suspect things would probably be worst off if they were to reveal that they are Precure.

Sure, they can probably expect to receive some more substantial support from the officials of their home planet (more from the Starscape Alliance than Earth’s government, sorry Madoka)...but at what cost?

The Star team can operate and travel smoothly throughout space precisely because nobody else is aware of who they really are. If they reveal their identities, there’s no doubt they will be targeted to be controlled.

Because sadly and not to get too political or anything, that’s just what governments do. They have to control the situation, they have to think about the interests of their own countries and more often than not, they extremely suck at it and turn everything into a huge mess (and this is just massively simplifying the general for length).

If they let other people get involved, the team’s balance and even their friendship will likely absolutely be affected and strained because no way will the universe at large care about a bunch of girls getting along as much as they do about using them for its own needs.

Which I’ll get more into on Point #3 below.

But for certain, that’s one of the reasons why Lala and Madoka are unable to tell their families about being Precure.

Yes, it makes them very uncomfortable to keep this huge secret...a secret.

But at the same time, it feels even more wrong to expose it because once that happens, nothing will be the same. Nothing can stay the same.

Even if they avoid all the worse case scenarios, the ones who will definitely suffer the most will still be the girls.

Perhaps that sounds selfish because they’re putting their friends above everything else but it’s not like the Star team isn’t also doing their best to keep the villains at bay while trying to save the universe at the same time. And they’re already doing an exceptional job without anyone breathing down their necks about it.

*cough* Sorry, getting off track a bit.

Anyways, the point is, they’re following their instincts this time which is a BIG deal for people like Lala and Madoka who have tendency to lean more towards logic.

After meeting Hikaru, after letting Hikaru teach them about valuable things they didn’t know before, both Lala and Madoka learned that there is much more to the world than the structures built around them.

Sometimes, the right answer doesn’t lie in the data or the rules, cold and fair in judgement.

Sometimes, simply trusting what you feel is just more correct.

Nobody ever said doing the right thing will be easy (in fact, many times, it never is) but the heart can never lie to you after all. And it’s even more dangerous to ignore it and live through the regrets afterwards.

So which would you choose?

Going with what you feel and doing everything you can to get the best outcome? Or choosing the opposite, knowing that doing so, the best outcome becomes more impossible to achieve and you can only hope for the best of the worse?

Eh..my phrasing isn’t very good but you get what I mean, right?

Anyways, it’s just very meaningful for Madoka to be the one to say these words to Lala.

I wouldn’t say she and Lala have completed their personal journeys yet (we still have like 20 more episodes to go after all) but I do believe that this particular moment marks a very significant point in their arcs.

Having been exposed to more of the world out there beyond their own, they would never go back to being the same Lala and Madoka from the beginning.

They are still unsure about whether their choices will lead them to what they’re looking for but they both know there’s no point in looking back. They can only move forward, trusting in what they feel as right.

Which it will be and not just because this is Precure but because it will leave a very bad taste in my mouth if I wrote all that and the right doesn’t end up prevailing. :P

3) The next step...

I’ll give you a straight up “NOPE!” to that, Pops!

Apologies for letting some of my RL views seep into this post (though can you blame me when it’s been disaster after disaster out there?) but I’m positive that “joining” the Starscape Alliance (their terms, not Precure’s), no matter how well-intentioned they are, will hurt the Star team more than benefit them.

Again, cuz it will allow busybodies to unnecessarily butt into their affairs and make things harder for the girls than they already are.

Moreover...

This is just Lala’s boss being an incompetent ass-for-brains idiot but if the Starscape Alliance is anything like him or even thinks remotely like him, then the Star team coming under their control spells doom for all.

Seriously, this is another level of messed up stupid. They just got terrorized by a flamboyant tengu woman and the person he accuses of trying to steal the Princess pen is Lala?! Even though the wrecked video footage is NOT enough sufficient evidence to point her as an accomplice to Tenjou? Even though Lala’s safely holding onto the pen in the aftermath, is noticeably NOT running away with it and showing concern for her boss?

WHAT THE SERIOUS FUCKING FUCK?!?!

D:<

That said, I hope that in midst of all the chaos of next week’s episode, Lala’s family will at least refuse to believe Lala is a thief and try to find a way to talk to her to know what’s really going on.

Because if they can’t even do that and join the chase to jail their own daughter, then I have another concern to worry about and will immediately fly to Saaman, lay waste to it, take Lala home with me and file to adopt her as my own child (don’t laugh).

But seeing how Lala fought so hard, despite her awkward relationship with her family, to make sure Lolo’s efforts weren’t for nothing, I’m sure it’ll be alright.

Having both her parents and Lolo come to understand Lala would be ideal...but if not, then either one or the other. I’m banking on Lolo atm since he’s her twin but he can be the type who chooses the system over his own kin, too, so...

The screentime we were given just wasn’t enough for me to grasp where each of Lala’s family members stand on their respective relations with her so I can only hope for the best. :/

Ooo, and also, Cancer Star Princess gets revived next week! Yay~! :D

#i gotta go #spent all morning doing this #star twinkle precure #hagoromo lala #kaguya madoka

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oodlenoodleroodle · 5 years ago

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https://www.npr.org/transcripts/530726335?storyId=530726335

Yesterday I listened to this episode of NPR’s Invisibilia podcast from 2017 about emotions, and it has some things that are very relevant to conversations about trauma, and I really wanted to share it and I know people aren’t going to go listen to a random podcast episode while they are scrolling tumblr, so I’m just gonna quote from the transcript:

SPIEGEL: Lisa Feldman Barrett is a psychology professor at Northeastern University. And for a very particular kind of person - and I'm going to grant you it is a very, very particular kind of person - Lisa is kind of a rock star because she's someone who has come up with a new mind-blowing way of thinking about emotion. Which is why Hanna and I were super excited to talk to her. And she was excited to talk to us, too - kind of.

BARRETT: Other than the pieces on emotion, I'm a totally big fan [of the podcast].

(LAUGHTER)

SPIEGEL: According to Lisa Barrett, the show that you are listening to right now, INVISIBILIA, has consistently portrayed emotion and how emotions work incorrectly. But in our defense, the reason why we've been wrong, at least according to Lisa, is because the whole culture is wrong. We think wrong about emotions, where they come from and how they work because the way that we experience the world makes it very, very hard to think right about them.

BARRETT: How I would describe what's actually happening will not make sense to people, right? It will seem really counter-intuitive to people.

SPIEGEL: So let's begin the catalogue of wrongness with this, what Lisa says is the very first thing we are taught about emotions that is wrong.

BARRETT: Emotions are built into your brain at birth.

SPIEGEL: We've been told this over and over again, that we are wired to feel X or that evolution has wired us to feel Y because our forbearers on the African savannah had to survive, needed to respond instantly and appropriately to big bad lions and hungry tigers.

BARRETT: So there's a stimulus...

SPIEGEL: Roar!

BARRETT: ...Which triggers a circuit inside you...

SPIEGEL: Holy...!

BARRETT: ...Which causes a bodily response in you...

SPIEGEL: (Gasps).

BARRETT: ...Which then causes you to behave in a particular way.

SPIEGEL: Run!

BARRETT: You know, they're not exactly seen as reflexes, but they're as close to reflexes as you might get. If the stimulus is there, the response is obligatory. That's the view. It's an automatic reaction to the world.

SPIEGEL: Now, according to this view, you can choose how you respond to the emotion that's been triggered. You can suppress it, reframe it, make a photo collage about it. But the initial emotion itself, that is universally programmed. There is nothing you can do.

BARRETT: It just seems absolutely preposterous that an emotion could be anything other than a reaction because in a moment where someone bursts into your house with a gun, there is very little that doesn't seem like a reaction. You know, it's such a strong feeling. It feels like you've been hijacked.

ROSIN: And to me anyway, there is something profound and hopeful in this way of thinking.

SPIEGEL: It's such a beautiful and connecting idea that we all share emotions. I mean, it's the kind of idea if you cut us, we bleed. If our children die, we cry.

ROSIN: That is literally the Coke ad, right? It's the Coke ad which takes you around the world and everybody smiles.

(Singing) I'd like to buy the world a home and furnish it with love.

SPIEGEL: We all smile when we're happy and so know the meaning of a smile when we see it in the face of someone else. Even if their skin is a different color or their culture feels strange, we know what they feel. Emotion is our universal language.

(Singing) I'd like to buy the world a Coke and keep it company.

SPIEGEL: But this - apparently - is not what 25 years of studying emotion has taught Lisa. Basically you're saying, not so much?

BARRETT: For every emotion category that we have in the U.S. that we think is biologically basic and universal, there's at least one culture in the world that doesn't really possess a concept for that emotion and where people don't really feel that emotion.

SPIEGEL: Fear, sadness, anger, surprise, disgust, happiness - for Lisa, there is nothing inevitable about these emotions or any emotions, including the emotion of despair.

SPIEGEL: How many emotions do you feel in a day? Recently, I found myself wondering. This morning, I woke up insecure about my worth. But by the time I got to the shower, which is about 10 feet away from where I sleep, there had been a subtle shift. I was cycling between regretful and angry.

Later at the coffee store, some music on the speakers above my head during my walk out helped me feel determined. I was energized and ready to take on the world. If I had a square jaw, it would have been set. All day long, these emotions wash over me, hundreds of them - thousands of them? I've never counted but I always seem to be feeling them.

BARRETT: Yes, they're seen as happening to you - right? - not something that you yourself make.

SPIEGEL: But that's not how Lisa sees it. Lisa is one of the most respected researchers in psychology right now, lead editor on an enormous tome on emotion. And her latest book, "How Emotions Are Made," is an attempt to synthesize emotion research from a variety of fields - neuroscience, biology, anthropology.

Which makes it hard to summarize in a pithy way, but if I had to boil it down, here's how I'd do it. The way emotion works is the opposite of what you think. Emotions aren't reactions to the world. Emotions actually construct the world.

I know, at first, it didn't make any sense to me, either. So let's start this explanation where science stories usually start these days, with the 3 pounds of meat between your ears and the very difficult job it must do all day long.

BARRETT: The reason why we have a brain is because we have to control the systems in our body. We have a tremendous number of systems.

SPIEGEL: You mostly aren't aware of all of the systems in your body that your brain is regulating.

BARRETT: Systems for glucose. We have systems for salt, systems for oxygen.

SPIEGEL: But if your brain decided to take a day off, kick back, go to the beach, you would definitely notice because you'd be dead.

BARRETT: A circulatory system.

SPIEGEL: So many systems, and all of them need to be managed perfectly in order for you to do anything - any single thing.

BARRETT: So, for example, your brain starts to change your blood pressure before you stand up because, you know, it has to make sure that blood gets to the brain with oxygen, otherwise you'll faint.

SPIEGEL: Which brings us to the obligatory fancy science word that I spent three weeks trying to pronounce correctly - interoception. Interoception?

BARRETT: Interoception is just your feeling of the sensations that come from the movements inside your body.

SPIEGEL: The easiest way to think about interoception is that it's the thing that senses the status of all these internal systems, monitors all the comings and goings. I think of it like an eye but inside your body, turned so it's looking at you.

In the same way that your eye takes in the world and then communicates what's going on to your brain, the interoception thingy surveys your body and then communicates what's going on with all these systems to your brain, only it doesn't do as thorough a job as your eye – for good reason.

BARRETT: You don't feel these sensations in very high fidelity in the way that you see things in the world with a lot of detail. And you can hear things often with a lot of detail, but you don't feel things from the inside of your body with a lot of detail because if you did, you would never pay attention to anything else in the world ever.

SPIEGEL: So your internal eye keeps things super stupid simple.

BARRETT: So the way your brain is wired is to feel interoceptive sensations - the sensations from our bodies - as simple feelings of pleasantness, unpleasantness, arousal, calmness.

SPIEGEL: That is literally all your internal eye can communicate, those four sensations.

BARRETT: Pleasantness, unpleasantness, arousal, calmness.

SPIEGEL: But all day long, it's sending your brain status updates like a teenager on Snapchat, only worse.

BARRETT: Pleasantness, unpleasantness, arousal, unpleasantness, calmness.

SPIEGEL: Feel sympathy for a moment for your brain. There it is, trapped in the dark, silent box of your skull. It's getting these updates about these important sensations in the body, but it doesn't know for certain what's causing them. That unpleasant loop in the stomach just then, was that because the body was hungry or because the man who just sat down across the table is insanely good looking?

BARRETT: Arousal, calmness.

How does it know what caused something when all it has are the effects of that thing? The answer is it has past experience, so it's guessing.

SPIEGEL: Whatever sensation you have in your body, the brain develops a theory - actually a whole bunch of theories - based on previous experience and then uses them to make a prediction about what is going on.

BARRETT: When you have an ache in your body, it asks the question essentially, you know, in this situation, in this context, the last time this happened, what was the cause of that ache? And that's really what concepts are. Concepts are your brain's using past experience in order to make sense of incoming sensory input.

SPIEGEL: OK. Let's pause on concepts because we need to talk about them and the role they play in how you feel. Your culture has a ton of emotional concepts. When you were little, a toddler, you learn them from your parents. You went to the park, and your mom and dad carefully explained to you that that feeling that you had when that two-bit kid in the red sneakers shoved you off the swing, that was anger. Acquaint yourself with that emotion, they counseled, it will likely play a major role in your teens.

SPIEGEL: Sometimes they told you not to be afraid.

SPIEGEL: Sometimes you simply watched how they responded - the contours of sadness and the things that prompted it, the experience of joy and how it was expressed. These were likely the first emotional concepts you learned but you went on. You learned regret. You learned determination. Then in college, you got introduced to the idea of schadenfreude, which during your 20s you practiced liberally.

BARRETT: That's correct.

SPIEGEL: And these concepts, these emotional concepts, they are the things that shape the raw sensations from your interoception thingy - those raw materials of pleasant, unpleasant, aroused, calm - into the actual emotions that you experience. And without these concepts, Lisa says, you wouldn't have any of the emotions that you think of as hardwired, even sadness, even fear, even all the other things that you think of as fundamental and wired into you.

BARRETT: And it's parallel for vision. For example, if you have no concepts, you will see bright and dark. You won't see objects. You know, we know this for a fact. There are people, for example, who have corneal damage or who have cataracts at birth. And then at some point in their adult life, they have a corneal transplant or their cataracts are removed, and we would imagine from the classical view that they would just be able to see everything, but they don't.

They don't see for days and sometimes weeks. And sometimes years there are things they can't see because they don't have concepts. Their brain has no past visual experience to make meaning of the visual sensations that they receive.

SPIEGEL: So all they see is light and dark?

BARRETT: All they see is light and dark.

SPIEGEL: So if you put an apple in front of them, what would it look like?

BARRETT: They wouldn't see an apple. They wouldn't even see an object.

SPIEGEL: You're saying that emotion works the exact same way? That...

BARRETT: Yes. I'm saying that instead of having blobs of light and dark, without concepts you will feel pleasant or unpleasant. You can feel pleasure. You can feel high arousal, being worked up. You can feel low activation, but you don't really feel anger, sadness, fear, disgust or any of the other emotions that we think of as being given to us by nature.

SPIEGEL: What Lisa is saying is that our concepts make the world. And it is hard to overstate how much this changes our idea of what is actually going on when we walk down the street. The usual idea is that you are taking in the true world around you and reacting to it, this real thing that exists outside of you.

But what she's saying is that everything around you is a blob until the concepts in your head shape it into a thing, and then you respond to the thing that you just created. The concepts themselves are the key.

BARRETT: Yes.

SPIEGEL: Now, if you watch the news, it's likely you've encountered a more contained version of the idea that concepts literally shape the world you see.

SPIEGEL: We've heard a lot about troubling police shootings of young black men or George Zimmerman pulling a gun on Trayvon Martin.

SPIEGEL: And part of the way that people talk about police shootings is that sometimes police are responding not to the reality of the people in front of them but to a stereotype in their head. Stereotypes are concepts. In this case, the concept that young black men are dangerous. Critics say it's that concept that shapes what the police see and can prompt them to pull the trigger when there is no actual need.

SPIEGEL: But what Lisa is saying is that concepts like these work in all of us all of the time. They take the blobs in front of us and shape them into what we see. And they take the blobs inside us and shape them into what we feel.

BARRETT: For better or for worse, experiences are constructed. And your emotional experience is not an indication of something objective about the event. That's just not true.

ROSIN: And here is the point of all this, according to Lisa.

BARRETT: That means that you have more control over your emotions than you might imagine. The horizon of control is much broader because.

ROSIN: Because concepts are not hardwired. We can change them. Ultimately, we have control.

BARRETT: Yes.

ROSIN: And this is not just a fun science fact, a trippy nugget you heard on a podcast. That's not what this is.

SPIEGEL: Like, essentially you're saying we have way more control over and therefore responsibility for our emotions.

BARRETT: Yes.

ROSIN: Control and responsibility for our emotions. It's such a puzzle. Control is fun. Who doesn't like control? But responsibility - much less fun, much, much less fun.

SPIEGEL: So if I have post-traumatic stress disorder, say, do I have control over that?

BARRETT: Well... Well, yes.

ROSIN: [Earlier in the podcast episode we told the story of] Tommy Jarrett, the trucker, [who] was traumatized [in a bad crash where a child died]. And if you look at it the court's way, Tommy's emotions start with Michael Jones, [the child’s father], who lost control of his car. But if you look at it Lisa's way, they start much earlier with the concepts in Tommy's head. In the culture where Tommy grew up, a farm in Alabama in the 1960s...

JARRETT: “A man should be strong enough to protect people.”

ROSIN: “A man should be in control of his truck and of himself. And if something goes wrong, it's his fault.” That was the underlying concept that caused Tommy to think he was a killer. So did the PTSD come from Michael Jones, or did it come from inside Tommy?

Even bringing up a question like this, it feels like a radical thing to do because we all like to assume that if we feel something, it tells us something true about the world, something that happened to me. But Lisa isn't saying that PTSD or trauma of any kind isn't real, or that people suffering shouldn't be recognized and relieved, or that we shouldn't address the individuals and systems that harm people.

She's just saying trauma isn't cancer or diabetes, where cells in your body have gone wrong. The problem has much more to do with concepts in your head created by and based in our culture. And those aren't inevitable. Those can be changed.

Lisa identifies herself as a progressive, so she really struggled when we talked about things like PTSD. But she had to admit that yes, her theory has obvious implications for lots of things in our society, even implications she doesn't like.

BARRETT: I see the risk in what I'm saying - right? - but science is science. And we have to - I feel like it's necessary to draw people's attention to what the science has to say. And in the proper context in society, in culture, people can debate the consequences. But I think, you know, I do think that it's very dangerous to treat things as objective when they're not.

SPIEGEL: Emotions are not objective. All kinds of emotions are not objective, even the emotions you have in response to a death.

...

ROSIN: So Tommy. How do we think about Tommy, his pain and the lawsuit? Lisa wants us to acknowledge that Tommy's pain, it wasn't an automatic inevitable response. It came from the concepts in his head. So does that mean he didn't deserve to win his case? Well, Lisa's just asking us to be more honest. We can say yes, it partly came from in his own head, but we as a society still think it's fair and just that he be compensated.

BARRETT: The point is that we can acknowledge the perceptions are constructed or we can ignore it and just keep doing what we're doing anyways. I think it would be much fairer if we just acknowledged how our brains actually work.

ROSIN: Our brains rely on concepts, and concepts make our world, our culture, our systems. Which is why it's useful to know which concepts are shaping us and which ones we're passing on to each other and to our children.

ROSIN: And you know what? If we make these concepts, we can unmake them. But even if we don't choose to do that, even if we decide to build the world just exactly as we've built it down to the very last brick, there in the back of our heads when we experience something that disturbs us can hover a liberating thought - this feeling I have, it doesn't have to be this way. There is nothing inevitable about the world that is.

BARRETT: You have more control over your own experience. You become more the architect of your own experience.

ROSIN: And that's exactly what Tommy did. We met up with him 10 years after the lawsuit. He ended up getting $50,000 from the court. Half went to the lawyers. And in the end, Amanda's insurance company covered it.

These days, Tommy's feeling much better. His life is great now, he says so himself. About a year after the accident, he started driving again. Now, he has his own trucking company and a motorcycle which he and his wife ride out West when they can. About the whole awful period after the accident, he understands one thing for sure now.

JARRETT: My emotions wasn't being true to me. I had every right to be upset and be hurt and distraught. I didn't need to keep telling myself that I was a killer.

ROSIN: That emotion that the court had validated, it felt real, but it wasn't telling him anything real about the world. Tommy realized that basically because he did exactly what Lisa Feldman Barrett says people should do when they feel like a powerful emotion is controlling them. He took this construct which had been in his head since he was a kid, that as a good man and a ninja of a driver he should have been able to prevent the accident.

ROSIN: And he learned a new construct. It took him a long time, more than a year, and a lot of work. And he had help from his family and from a therapist because changing the concepts we've grown up with and absorbed all of our lives is not easy at all. But eventually, Tommy did it.

He replaced his old concept with a new one that led him to the actual truth. He was not a killer. Because when that car skidded across the median, there was nothing he could have done. The new concept? Sometimes a man is not, in fact, in control.

#trauma #science #emotions #ptsd #brain

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ruwithmeguys · 5 years ago

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I was asked recently: do you enjoy writing for ll as much as you do for Felicity? You write Felicity like you can hear her thoughts. But then you go and write ll’s character and you manage to keep her IN character without making her bitchy and without pulling her to bits. Do you like writing for her?

Beyond being hugely flattered – SO FLATTERED, MY GOODNESS – and mildly sceptical – I’ve never thought I was anything special in terms of writing ability but I do love keeping characters IN character whilst placing them in new situations – I can answer with complete confidence that, yes. I like writing for LL’s character.

I like knowing just how skewed her perception is. I enjoy writing that perception because in many ways, it’s incredibly indulgent. In reality, no one who wants to be loved and who wants a family should think like LL does. It’s a point of view that’s singular and therefore, interesting. But after writing for her, I truly don’t think the writers knew what to do with their creation, and she was a creation. Just because her name is LL doesn’t make her any less of a creation than Sara. Comic LL? Well, she’s married to a cop; ergo the name Lance. This cop is abusive. Her personality is also very different and she isn’t a lawyer. The writers tried very hard to make LL morally perfect but destroyed it when they realised she’d have to compromise said morals to love Oliver. So they gave her a set of standards that no one could reach and yet had her break them every time Oliver was mentioned. However instead of showing real guilt or shame or SOMETHING that would enable her some character progression, they replaced it wit superiority. It made her a selfish character who were supposed to believe is the opposite.

But you see, well written characters – characters with substance, who aren’t there for a plot purpose but as a defined personality on a show – can be selfless and still do selfish things. They can compromise their integrity and still be morally righteous. They can be good and yet see the virtue in violence.

I give thee Felicity Smoak.

Now KC did her own damage to LL in S1 – she was very determined to make her into something she wasn’t too fast because she clearly believed this show had been created to turn her into a mask wielding superhero who’s better than everyone. But the writers are the main problem – them and the exec’s at CW who threw an actress at the show because she had a contract with them. She was SO not right for the character, but they didn’t care. She’d starred in Supernatural so her name had merit.

(just a hypothetical: if Emily had been cast as LL, would she have possessed the skill to portray the character in a way that could make us like her? I think so, though the writers made this obscenely hard with their contradictory writing. Most would have a lot of difficulty. Still, I’m almost certain that if she HAD been, Oliver would have married the BC: a BC a foot shorter with pretty blue eyes… you know like in the comics *eye roll* Her COMIC BOOK fans ignore even the comic book details.)

ANYWAY!

It’s kind of fascinating really: I made sure to watch the episodes and ingest everything about the characters I write. I don’t always do this and it’s been a while so it’s time for a re-watch (any excuse really) but a few things became incredibly clear once I started. I have a few of Felicity’s habits: I talk to myself in tangents of weirdness and get flustered/blush super easily. I’m not a genius by any definition (mostly I'm a gigantic dumbass) but I wear glasses with my hair in a ponytail and I’m not generally the first person seen in a crowded room so to speak, plus I overthink/second guess everything I say. Like Oliver, I blame myself for everything and worry too much. I’m more solitary than most. I want to save everyone but have no idea how to. I love deeply.

I don’t love easily.

I’m not like Olicity. But when I write, I sort of become them. Or I attempt to. I feel my way through each scene and it becomes quite personal, which would explain the sentence breaks where I intermingle thought and movement with descriptions and speech.

Then I started writing for ll… now, I like to remain unbiased when I analyse a character. I don’t like ll. I don’t appreciate the way she was written in any season – I’m referring to E1 LL, E2 I’ll talk about later – nor did I enjoy KC’s horrific portrayal. It’s no secret, but that doesn’t mean I can’t be fair to her character.

I came up with three literary explanations of her character and this is one of them: the medium between the other two, from ll's point of view (please remember I am at work and therefore cannot write as well as I would like) -

She’s ordinary. Totally ordinary. A normal person who lives, works, eats, sleeps. We can empathise.

She’s part of a nuclear family and she knows her family loves her. She loves them. They’re not a perfect family but they are a good one.

She has an over exaggerated sense of how attractive and intelligent she is, exacerbated by how many people have told her that she’s smart and beautiful. She knows because she’s been told: she’s never questioned her looks or her intelligence and it’s the start of all the bad really. It was reinforced by becoming friends with the two richest kids in the city.

So she’s never had a reason to doubt herself. Not ever. There’s nothing in the world that ever could.

As for how this affects the story:

Through illogical and extremely unlikely circumstances – never explained for two reasons: it wasn’t important enough to the writers and they wrote themselves into many a corner with ll’s character as they tried to fit her into a universe that didn’t want to house their forced creation – she became good friends with Tommy Merlyn and Oliver Queen.

Oliver Queen makes her do the one thing she’s never done: doubt herself.

Surely she’s pretty enough for him to choose her. Smart enough. Good enough. Strong enough. Enough. She’s ENOUGH for him. They fit each other. He’s the Romeo to her Juliette. She’s aiming high and look, he’s right there: her partner along the way to the top. Her partner and her WAY. Her financer. Her ego boost. Her meal ticket. Her proof that she’s ENOUGH. Her proof that she’s relevant. That she’s BETTER-

THAN. HER. SISTER.

Because, gosh: LL’s world is dictated, her entire sense of self validated, by the existence of Sara Lance. I kid you not. I found this in the show… and it should make you feel sympathy for her. Should make you care. But she destroys our ability to give a crap because of how she handles everything with her sister.

Sara, who is daddy’s girl.

Sara who Oliver keeps leering over and not the older, better sister.

Sara who her mother sides with all the time.

Sara with the multitude of friends.

Sara with the better body.

Sara. Sara. Sara.

Why? Laurel does everything right: she follows the rules, does as she’s told, has become the role model. How does Sara keep BEATING her?

Is it… because Sara takes what she wants and gets away with it? She takes other people’s boyfriends - Laurel’s seen her do this (Arrow S1.5 comics) - she swindles her father for more allowance, her mother gives her free reign over the phone line… she’s selfish.

Well then, so shall LL be.

Suddenly Sara’s grounded-

And it WAS the right thing to do, Sara was too young and she didn’t want her heralded as a slut so soon. Ollie wouldn’t want anything to do with her anyway, but the way she throws herself at him is embarrassing, right?

-And the ‘Ollie Express’ is open season. He says yes. They have sex. Now she has him. She’s wanted by Ollie Queen and he’s settling down for HER. No one else and certainly not Sara. She’s beaten Sara and she’s assured a future for herself. His mother adores her. She fits in.

She can breathe freely again.

And Oliver, he’s so much more than people think: he’s sweet and kind- so what if he’s not that smart, she’s smart enough for the both of them. He’s reliable and honest. He makes her feels beautiful and wanted. All is right in the world. No matter what happens, she’ll always be the one who became Oliver’s first real girlfriend, because she’s special to him. She’s SPECIAL. She’s what he-

Except he’s having an affair behind her back.

With Sara.

Sara who she’d beaten.

Sara who isn’t as smart or as pretty or as EVERYTHING as LL.

Sara who’d gotten on a boat with her boyfriend.

She’s humiliated, but more than that… she’s confused. It’s nonsensical.

She’s everything. She’s perfect. She’s the ONE so… Oliver was happy. He was ready to move forwards with her. Why did he do this? Why does Sara keep beating her? She’s BETTER than Sara.

She’s better than all of them.

If they can't see that, see her... then why do they matter?

And then the realisation: she’s hard done to. She’s the scorned woman. She’s the one betrayed. She’s the one who’s grieving. She’s the one who deals with it in the best way. She’s the one who’ll walk out of this on top.

Oliver and Sara lost at sea? That’s nothing. NOTHING. She’s the one who got hurt and she never deserved it. They should have respected her. Should have loved her more. Ollie deserved to die at sea.

And so… an impetus is born: it generates into an unbreakable mind-set, separated from reality, one that we have to put up with until she dies. Literally.

Narcissism. It’s almost a disorder.

And it’s in the most impossible form: she sets a deliberately high standard for the world to attempt to reach and she gets to watch from up high as everyone tries to touch her seat. A standard that everyone must follow EXCEPT her. If anyone fails to meet it for whatever reason (and they always do), then they fail her expectations and therefore they fail her (this was admitted by KC herself, just fyi). They’re no longer good enough.

But she is though. She’s the ONLY one good enough. She loves her family, but she’s better than them. They’re all liars and stealers and selfish – Sara – betrayers – mom – neglecters – dad – cheaters and disappointments – Ollie – and unworthy – Tommy.

She doesn’t need them, not ever. How could she when she’s better? How could they ever meet her wavelength? How could they ever understand her mission, her heart, when they can’t meet her at the top?

But then her father, who can’t appreciate her because he isn’t capable of seeing her the way he should, makes her feel GUILT about her choice to be a DA.

Uh oh. Suddenly; she doesn’t sound righteous. She sounds like she’s becoming a lawyer for money-

NO. no, LL doesn’t do that, right? She’s better, so she can’t. She can’t fall beneath her FATHER’S set of standards because her own are so much better and she doesn’t have to meet her own because they’re for everyone else on the planet who are undeserving and have yet to face her justice. No one can outrun her justice, her standards.

Except herself.

But her father’s seen something in her, something twisted. The call of money and power and status and it’s a filthy thing isn’t it? Greed. Lust. Covetous.

She becomes the expert at coveting what others have, even as she judges them.

But she has to hide the filth: she’s better than her demons because she judges even them. Her father knows nothing. He doesn’t see her, so how could he? She’ll help him see her.

She joins CNRI to prove him wrong. She’s the pure one again whilst her father’s the alcoholic who can’t get over the daughter who left instead of adoring the daughter who stayed. The daughter who fights.

She sleeps with Tommy because she can, because she’s needy, because he’s Ollie’s best friend; the closest thing to the man she loves and hates and no one need ever know the notch she tied that night to her bed post.

Ollie did it with Sara after all. He could have had the bed post instead of just the notch. He died before he could realise that.

But it happens again and again for months and she has to admit, it’s thrilling aiming down. Obeying an urge for once and she needs the release: getting a job with CNRI immediately after law school instead of the requisite two years in a firm is impossible, but not for LL. Still, it’s tiring and it feels unrewarding, which is why she also needs the ego boost. She needs the validation, that it isn't all for nothing.

This way, she’s both fucking her past goodbye and giving it the finger.

She stops once she gets the job. Stepping stones, all of it. She doesn’t need Tommy, doesn’t need her father, doesn’t need law school anymore because she doesn’t obey the rules like everyone else HAS to.

When Oliver returns, she ignores him. He should have died: it was his punishment for forsaking their happiness.

He can’t touch her anymore; he can only watch from afar. She likes him watching. Likes him seeing exactly what he lost and can never have, what he destroyed.

Sara died because of him.

Her father became a drunk because of him.

Her mother left because of him.

She had to sleep with Tommy because of him.

All whilst he sunbathed on some island somewhere. And look, he doesn’t have to work to earn a living: he’s loaded. He doesn’t have to fight for anything, doesn’t have to strive or push like she does-

She’s envious. And she misses him. And if she misses him, he must miss her. They used to be so happy-

Wait… He suffered on the island?

He was punished?

If he suffered… does that mean he learned from his mistakes and that’s why he apologised?

He earned his stay on the island so maybe… he’s earned the right to forgiveness?

Suddenly he’s too tempting. She could have him again: he’s telling her she could. Oliver Queen, playboy billionaire, learned his lesson and wants her.

Of course he does.

She’s the best woman alive.

It’s the biggest ego boost of her life; a wave of chemicals that carries her away, that makes her kiss him. That scares her because she thought she was strong enough to not ant him again. EXCITEDLY because if he’s also the vigilante who went to HER for help-

But then… he reveals that he’s damaged and still a playboy and she has to retract once he fails her standards again.

A damaged man who won’t pursue her? Not her problem. She’s not interested. That man isn’t her Ollie. She'll check in again when he isn't quite so damaged.

Yet, even as Tommy worms into her, she keeps Oliver in mind.

It truly stuns her when he gives them his blessing. He… he was supposed to want her, to show reluctance.

Why does he look happy for them? She’s not.

He’s giving up the chance of them, and he’s SMILING?

How can he be? Doesn’t it torture him? She’s choosing his best friend over him, FEEL SOMETHING. FIGHT.

But he doesn't.

And he is changing, improving. Making waves - she’s taking notice.

So let him date lesser women, they won’t last and they DON’T.

HAH.

In the meantime, she’s fighting crime. The vigilante NEEDS her – he hasn’t asked anyone else for help: there’s only her. Tommy loves HER. Ollie loves her. Her father keeps butting in because he’s afraid for her safety and he’s realised just how prominent a figure she’s becoming, how important she is, but he’s too late to have a say in her life and he must watch her advance.

It all revolves around her now, as it should have before. She's the lead of her own story. They’re all realising how right she was, how they never should have put her second and not first. How they should have never made her feel less, and it’s ridiculous how she ever let them. They were all wrong.

She was made for greatness.

And then Ollie tells her everything she already knew about herself and it’s a king-size aphrodisiac: he thinks the same way she does. He knows she was always the best, always the ONE. He’s reached her level. And together they can soar above all others. They’re in love and will evolve and will lead the city into the future together. It's all slotting into place.

But he’s not her; he’s not righteous so she can ignore him when he gives her solid advice about staying out of the Glades. He’ll learn that she knows better, is better. That the world makes way for her and not the other way around-

Tommy dies.

It’s not because of the way she thinks. It's not because she was wrong. It’s NOT.

It was his choice, not hers. She doesn’t have to listen, but he should have. She never wanted him to come get her, she was waiting for Oliver.

And Oliver does come to her apartment: they reminisce. They’re together and that’s all that matters, so she starts planning. He’ll move in with her, there’ll be a marriage and move into the mansion-

Ollie leaves.

Again.

He left. He LEFT. HE-

No, she IS his ONE and ONLY. SHE IS. But the Hood and Malcolm ruined everything. It’s their fault Tommy died, that Ollie left. It wasn't because she was wrong or that she wasn't/isn't enough.

Their fault, not hers.

So why… does she feel guilty?

She knows really, but she pushes it back, away. Admitting to it would irrevocably damage her belief system.

And… she’s always right. And because she’s right, she leads a righteous charge against the hood, because it’s all his fault. Tommy died, ollie left, she’s feeling guilty and she keeps drinking- it’s all someone else’s fault!

Except it’s not.

It’s hers.

She'd been wrong.

Her world view crashes in on itself.

Nothing happened the way it was supposed to. She has no defence because she should have never needed one. That’s what being superior means.

Drugs and alcohol. How the mighty have fallen. No one can know… but even if they do, it doesn’t matter because she’s allowed to grieve like this. It’s grieving. Not shame. She's allowed to drink and change and be self-destructive. And everyone else doesn’t get it, they aren’t being fair.

Tommy dies.

Ollie left again.

She loses her job.

Her best friend gets a position as DA, well she’s not her best friend anymore: how dare she achieve greater. Johanna was supposed to help her, not step past her. Instead, LL is left behind and if her friend won't help her, then what good is she? She doesn’t need Johanna; she doesn’t need anyone.

She’s stronger. Better.

But then Sara comes back…

Sara died. It was her punishment. She’s not serving her punishment anymore. And she's come back, looking like she'd been on a six year pleasure cruise. That isn't fair at all. She’s unworthy. She ruined LL’s life. Her death was justice. How can the source of all her problems be alive…

And beautiful

Vibrant

Intelligent

Attractive to Oliver

Beloved by her father- her father who turned against her again in favour of Sara

Sara who went through the worst and resurfaced out untouched. Clean. As if SHE IS stronger, better. More.

How can I be like that?

She can’t.

Somewhere, deep down… she knows she can’t.

And she’s humbled by Sara who made her see how much she’d fallen… and for now, Sara can be the better of the two. She can pick up the slack and LL can watch, proud of her baby sister. She can give herself a break and compare others to her sister. Measure them by Sara’s measuring stick.

But it won’t be long at all until she’s BACK. Until she’s just as bright.

Until she’s better than Sara.

Until Sara needs her.

Until her father needs her.

Until Oliver needs her, because he stopped looking at her when she fell from on high.

She wants to return, to be part of that world.

But Sara is killed before she can become as beautiful. And it’s so clear that becoming as beautiful is impossible for LL. It too hard to digest that Sara is gone: Sara, the perfect fruition of a Lance daughter. The perfect her. The version of her that LL wished she'd been. So she’ll take on the mantle to honour Sara…

And in becoming Sara, she’s able to be more again. Be better again. Get back on that high saddle once more and she’s missed it up there. It feels right. It feels REALLY good. She’s been watching and learning… and her covetous nature had never died. She can’t be as bright as Sara.

So she’ll just become darker. A better Canary, never mind that canaries aren't dark.

She’ll wear Sara’s suit but she’ll be more. She’ll own it and make it her own, because this was always meant to be. It was never supposed to be Sara.

SHE is the justice you can’t run from.

This is the world she was made for. Oliver’s world. It was meant to be. So what if he’s angry at her presence: it’s because he cares about her, because he loves her. She'll fight him for a spot. He let Sara fight with him because he didn’t love her as much, but he loves LL too much. That’s why they aren’t together. Sometimes it’s just too painful to risk.

And it’s the best therapy. No more drugs. It’s addictive and it’s painful, but it’s better than anything else- in fact, it’s better than sex. Better than Oliver-

Oliver… Left?

With Felicity?

Because… he just wants her. HER. Out of everyone. He’s casting aside the hood… for another woman.

He and ll: they're supposed to fighting together, THAT’S how this works.

Then it’s just a phase. He’ll return and fight and realise he can’t live without the hood. He can’t without LL.

Except it’s not working, her fighting. She’s not changing the city so much as watching over it. She’s not moving forward. There’s a void.

There’s no more Sara.

She needs Sara. She needs Sara more than Ollie. The world made more sense with Sara. She might be the BC but Sara showed her the way. Her compass is gone. Her light is gone. And now LL is lost. If Sara’s back, she’ll feel better. There’ll no more void. No more emptiness. And maybe her life can WORK again.

And it’s okay, because she needs it. It’s okay to use Thea, because they’re friends and LL is loved by all. It's okay if disturbing the dead because, she wants it badly enough. It’s okay that Sara kills someone because it’s for the greater good: it’s for LL.

And with Sara alive somewhere, Oliver being with someone else doesn’t feel so bad. They’re soul mates after all, maybe one day…

And then he and Felicity break up and it’s PERFECT: no more Felicity in the basement, they don’t need her for him to stare at and Sara is alive. Oliver is TRAINING her. HE needs HER. Trusts her. LOVES her. WANTS HER.

So she suggests sex and-

He… is totally unreceptive. Isn’t… remotely interested… isn’t even remotely forward.

But… he’s in love with her and no longer tied down to Felicity. This should work. It’s been leading to this, right?

She has it all: she’s queen of the basement, Felicity is elsewhere and it doesn’t matter – so what if Thea isn’t talking to her, if Sara is out of the country. She and Oliver will fight crime together and maybe he’ll learn to love her again. Maybe he’ll-

Never. Love. Her. Not the way she loves him.

Because there’s just NOTHING there for him with her. He's alone even when he's with her and she knows what that's like.

Maybe he never could reach high enough to her again.

Maybe he knows he’ll never be good enough…

Or maybe... she’s just that conceited and Felicity… Felicity is just THAT wonderful, that necessary to him because she is, isn’t she? She was there when LL wasn’t:

Felicity believed when LL didn’t

Felicity cared when LL didn’t

Felicity led him to places LL couldn’t

Felicity is, in many ways, stronger than LL and Sara combined and that truth stings

Felicity changed him without trying to

Felicity made him better… and ll can already see the cracks in him where Felicity’s absence has hurt him.

Without Felicity, Oliver will fall: LL's presence won't stop that.

Without Felicity, the city will crumble… because in the end, ll’s just a tiny pawn in a huge movement that she hasn’t contributed much to and she admits this finally to herself and to Oliver. The dirty truth.

It was all to feel alive, not to SAVE lives. It was all for her. But that doesn’t mean she’ll just let Oliver live without her because it’s thanks to her that he got on that boat: she helped create him! She’s responsible. She’s the ALBATROSS and she will never leave him. She changed his life forever: she left her indelible hand-print: SHE IS IMPORTANT DAMMIT.

The most important.

FLATLINE.

The end.

O_O

Yeah.

There's a less harsh explanation for LL:

She’s defensive due to the bad way she was treated after believing that her life was perfect, to her own detriment. She doesn’t have the kind of personality others can enjoy and rather than try to gain friends, she decides to simply be herself no matter how she comes across.

And there’s a much harsher explanation:

LL, at heart, isn’t a very nice person. She knows this so she builds an image that opposes the inner her. Addictions make her feel better about who and what she is, but they also help her to manage the stress of being, inside, the kind of person who doesn’t feel the empathy she should. There's an image to maintain so that no one knows the truth. Becoming a vigilante is more about how it feels to break rules and gain the kind of power only a mask can provide, than it is about helping people. In the end, she’s able to gain that vindictive pleasure of knowing that Oliver will never be without her. And every version of a canary has caused Oliver nothing but grief which is fine… because he broke her. Deep down, she just wants to be bad without being judged for it. Without facing consequences, which is why black siren fit the bill so much more than E1 LL ever did.

Again, this is just an opinion and a bit of fun when writing fanfic-

Anyway, Jessica's shutting up now because that’s enough out of me for one day. Back to work.

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ionica01 · 6 years ago

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TodoMomo Disney AU

@kitanoko I don’t really have enough words to thank you Dora! Whether you know it or not, you did help me meet some of my best friends out there, and since today’s your bday, I hope to return the favor, if only a little. Last year I started a silly coffee shop AU. Keeping the tradition, here are hcs to a Todomomo Disney AU that I will, one day, write. I hope you enjoy it!!

Part 2

Momo’s Mom died after giving birth to her, leaving her an her father alone. As such, the two develop a very strong bond (they’re the only family the other has left) and can’t imagine living without the other. That’s why, despite Momo turning 18 soon, she can’t even fathom getting married, and promises she’ll never leave her sickly father, moving in with her possible mostly improbable fiance.

Her Dad, however, wants her to start a family and be happy, and it breaks his heart that Momo puts him before herself.

Momo is content with her life as it is, because she lives the adventures she’d like to embark on through books. She’s read and reread every single book in the little library in her village, and often stops to chat with Aizawa, the librarian, who seems to be the only person in town not judging her for being a literate and asseritve woman. Not that she cares what others think - she’s fine being the outcast; it means no one will bother her and her father and disrupt their feeble balance with marriage proposals stemming from shallow looks. She especially dislikes Monoma, a guy who constantly asserts his greatness through meaningless acts and tries obtaining her hand in marriage like she’s some prize to hold in his trophy case.

One day, her father goes on a business trip (their town is too small for him to make profit selling clocks, which is their family tradition) and asks Momo what she wishes for. She kisses his cheek as he leaves and says, “Nothing, father. I only wish for you to come back safe.” “Come on, dear. Your birthday is coming up - at least tell me what gift you want.” She chuckles, shaking her head softly. “Then, a rose.”

What Momo really yearns for are friends, friends that won’t approach her for her status or looks, but people that genuinely like her and don’t think she’s weird, like the rest of the town does. She wants someone to talk to about books apart from Aizawa and her own father, and he wants to be respected. Sadly, that’s not the sort of present you can just wrap in a nice red bow and ship through the post.

A week passes by, and Momo starts realising just how lonely she is without her father, how dubious the looks everyone throws her are, how disgusting the stares of the boys in the village. She goes by the post everyday, the letters and cursive writing of her father being her only company.

But one day, the envelope doesn’t come. It doesn’t come the second and third day either, and Momo grows increasingly worried. No longer able to just stand by and do nothing, she leaves the third day, at nightfall, taking a horse from the stable and following the road she knows her father always takes.

As she enters the forest (never been there before, but knows her father’s stories about how beautiful this place is and that he’s always passing by a posh mansion with an wonderful garden) the night falls. The moonlight reflects off something and catches her eye, and Momo hops off her horse to grab the glistening object - it’s a watch on an old, golden pendant, one that she knows all too well. It’s her mother’s watch, that her dad always takes with when travelling.

Momo raises her eyes to see she’s in front of the mansion her father told her so much about, only to find it completely deserted - just like in his stories. Still, it’s her best shot, cause Momo knows her Dad would never lose the watch, he just isn’t that careless, and so she pushes the huge iron gates open. To her surprise, they’re unlocked, but their screech like they haven’t been used in a long time

Meanwhile, Iida (he’s Cogsworth fight me) rushes into Todoroki’s chambers, “Lord Todoroki! We have another visitor, and this time, it’s a girl!” “So what?” “What do you fucking mean so what you bastard?!” Bakugou yells, opening and closing his doors furiously (he’s the wardrobe). “I don’t care if you think the beast suit is cool but I fucking want to be human again, so get down there and don’t you fucking dare growl at her!” “I hate trespassers,” Todoroki seethes, closing his book loudly. “Why would she be any different from anyone who passed over the threshold?” “Just fucking GO!” Bakugou roars, and Kaminari (Lumiere wohooo) lights up Todoroki’s tail. “My lord, no offense, but you brooding here won’t change anything, whereas this girl might. Besides, I heard her calling for her father, so we might as well let the old man go.” “Why were you keeping him in the first place?” Todoroki asks, rubbing the bridge of his nose. “Because, my lord,” Iida fixes his glasses, “I thought something like this might happen!” “Brilliant,” Bakugou grits out, “Now fucking get out.”

(Somewhat reluctantly) climbing down the stairs, Todoroki is met with Midoriya (Mr. Potts because there aren’t enough characters in the original story) and informs Todo, “She went to the cells.” “Oh, just marvelous,” Todo growls, storming down the stairs as Kaminari calls, “Slower, my lord, or my flames will go out!”

She finds a girl indeed, crouching in front of the cell with the old man and holding his hands in between hers. When she hears his footsteps, she whips her head around, and Todo must hand it to her: nobody has ever looked angrier upon first seeing him. There’s no ounce of fear as she looks him up and down, fire burning in her eyes as she says, “Who are you?”

“The lord of this castle.” “Why did you lock my father away?” “Momo don’t-” “He was trespassing my grounds and vandalizing my garden,” Todo lazily answers. “What do you ask for to free him?” Todoroki feels Kaminari poking him with the flamed hands again and holds back a growl of annoyance. He knows what everyone wants, but they’re honestly just raising their hopes for naught. Although this girl - this girl who stands up straight and stares him down - she may be different. “You need to take his place.”

“Momo, no!” the man yells. “Run away and save yourself!” “And leave you here? Never, father.” Looking at him again, the girl takes a step toward Todo, and he finally notices that she is shivering, but her knees don’t buckle. “I’ll stay here,” she begis, “as long as you promise that my father is allowed to go and you’ll never bother or harm him in any way, shape or form. No loopholes. No trickeries. My life for his.” “MOMO!” “That sounds fair,” Todo says with a smirk - this might be interesting.

With the flick of his fingers, the cell door opens and the old man stumbles out, throwing his arms tightly against the girl. “Momo, I can’t lose you!” she mumbles something Todo can’t make out as she shifts in his arms to hug him, and Todo turns around, stalking up the stairs. “Follow me,” he says, adding menacingly, “And don’t you try turning this around. A deal’s a deal.”

As such, after a teary goodbye Todo doesn’t stick around to witness, the old man is off and the girl turns towards him with a determined look. “Will you show me to my cell?” Todo huffs a breath laugh that sounds more like a roar. “Uraraka,” he calls, and a teapot appears. “Lead her to her chambers, and don’t bother me until dinner.” And with that, he’s off.

Uraraka does as inspected, stealing glances at a Momo who looks after Todoroki’s for. “What does he mean ‘chambers’? Am I not his prisonier?” “Oh dear no, you’re his guest!” Uraraka exclaims. “He just isn’t the best host, but we’ll take care of you!”

The room is dusty, but an old clock calls for a certain Jirou, and a feather duster waltzes in, “We get a guest once in a blue moon and suddenly I’m Cinderella minus the crystal shoes and prince,” she sighs, to which a candle holder shouts, “I’m your prince in shining armor,” he winks, the flames getting brighter. Uraraka dumps water on his head, “ruining his hairstyle” and eliciting giggles from Jirou.

Momo collapses on the bed and feels her view growing hazy. Soon enough, warm tears are streaming down her cheeks and she buries her face in her hands, sobbing rippling through her spine. The duster and candle holder stop bickering and join the teapot that hops on her bed. “Dear? What’s wrong?” Momo lets out a brittle laugh, “What do you think? I’m God knows where, with talking furniture, and a beast that has decided to hold me captive for unknown reasons and worst of all? Father is alone! How can he lose me after he lost Mom? I hate that I did this to him but what else could I have done?” Her thoughts swarm out of control and she takes a shaky breath. “I can’t believe I’m crying in public, this is so embarrassing.”

Jirou pats her hand, the feathery touch making Momo laugh, if only barely. “You did the right thing,” she says. The candle holder chimes in, “Yeah, and Todoroki is nice! He’s eccentric and kinda helps Uraraka pour water on me to dampen my mood-” at this, the teapot wiggled menacingly and Kaminari clears his throat “- but he’s a nice guy. He cares, you know? He only fed your Dad our best stuff!” “The grey stuff!” a voice from the wardrobe says, and Momo turns around to discover it is the wardrobe speaking.

“Why are you all guys-why are you all objects? Were you always like this?” They collectively shake their… heads, Momo decides to call them heads for lack of a better word. “And has he always been… a beast?” Another shake. “Have you been cursed?” At this, Jirou notes, “This one’s smart, I like her. Can we keep her?” “Am I here to help break that spell?” “Oh we’re definitely keeping her,” Uraraka adds.

Kaminari and Iida insist on giving her a tour of the mansion, and so Momo finds out that there are three cats roaming around the premises, and that Lord Todoroki personally feeds every one of them (“they can see beyond the scary exterior,” Iida contemplates, whereas Kaminari conspiratorially whispers in Momo’s ear, “They probably just think he’s one of their own”); the kitchens are impeccable, and Momo is subjected to test taste so many things she thinks she’ll burst; the main lobby is warmed by a crackling fireplace in front of which Lord Todoroki likes reading and enjoying his morning coffee (and his cups are so small, despite his claws).

And yet, it all feels very… Empty, and somewhat lacking, Momo thinks.

She doesn’t see Todoroki that day, or the next one, or the one after that. She tries knocking at his door but only gets angry growls, followed by an annoyed voice yelling, “Just fucking go out there, you moron!” and a roared, “NO!”

“What’s the point of me even being here?” she asks the humming piano in the corner, a cheery girl named Camie. “Lord Todo can be stubborn,” she singsongs. “And I think you’re confusing him.” “Confusing… him?” “Well, to be fair,” Ashido interrupts, “every other human who saw him ran away.” “It’s totally because of his weird fur. I keep telling him to wear a wig,” Camie sighs. “I think she was going for scary,” Jirou sarcastically interrupts. “Scary,” Momo muses. “It’s more like… he tries to seem scary.”

Anyhow, she decides to take a walk and clear her mind cause the sooner she breaks the spell, the sooner she sees her dad again. Kaminari and Iida accompany her in the garden, and as she marvels at the roses, she notices one of the cats crawling between the bars of the gates and into the woods. Momo immediately follows her because the servants have told her how these cats are the only company Todoroki has and that he treasures them immensely, but when she finally catches the runaway, she finds herself in the middle of the woods… surrounded by wolves.

Iida runs to get Todo, “My Lord, our guest is-” but finds the room empty and the window open because Todo was watching from the window and saw her disappear, and he figured she might be in danger.

Momo is cradling the cat to her chest, squeezing her eyes shut as the wolves get closer and trying to think but then Todo jumps in front of her and roars ferociously. The fight isn’t nice, and the wolves’ fangs cut through Todo’s arm as a pained groan rips out of him. That’s when Momo knows she has to do something and grabs Kaminari, yelling, “Shine brighter!” as she shoves the fire in the wolves faces. That makes them run away, just as Todoroki collapses behind Momo.

She carries him back to the mansion and instructs Kaminari to bring her rubbing alcohol and cotton tissues. Todoroki stirs with his head in her lap and Momo places both of her hands on his face, hissing, “Oh just stay quiet.” When Kaminari finally gets back, the alcohol warmed by his flames, Momo realizes none of the bandages is wide enough for Todo’s beastly arm and rips a piece of her dress to properly tie up his wounds.

“Why are you doing this?” Todo pants, turning away from Momo so she won’t see his face. “Because you saved me,” she simply responds, tying up the impromptu bandage. “Well that’s rich, considering I put you in danger in the first place.” “Did you ask the wolves to attack me because you re you a wolf-whisperer?” she asks, voice dripping with irony. “No, but if I wasn’t holding you here, you wouldn’t have wanted to escape, right?”

Momo bends over him so he can see her serious face and says, “I was out because your cat ran away.” As if to prove her point, the grey cat rubs against her tights and meowls. “I’m a girl of my word, Lord Todoroki, and I said I’m staying here. No trickeries.” For the first time ever, Todo sees her smile at him, and it’s dazzling. It’s been so long since anyone has smiled for him last.

Straightening herself up, Momo extends her hand. “I think we started off the wrong foot. I’m Momo Yaoyorozu, and you’ve been a horrible guest for these past three days, Lord Todoroki.” He looks at her bewildered, and Kaminari pokes him with his aflame hand to remind Todoroki he should shake her hand. To his surprise, she doesn’t flinch when his paw envelopes her slender fingers. “Todoroki Shouto,” he mumbles and watches as the smile on her face widens, reaching her eyes and sending glimmers dancing. “It’s a pleasure,” she answers.

They stay up till late in the living room with the crackling fireplace, Momo talking about the bits she’s gathered since her arrival. “I’m not leaving until I break this curse. That’s why you wanted me here, right?” Todo nods, at a loss for words, and a smirk pulls at her lips. “For a man who hasn’t talked with anyone else for years, you sure have a presence,” she jests.

He can’t quite wrap his head around her, neither does he know what to do when she dozes off way past midnight on the couch. Iida instructs him to carry ehr to her chambers, but she looks so fragile that Shouto just drapes a blanket over her and watches her peaceful face for a minute longer before facing Bakugou’s angry growls (he dad, after all, ruin one of his best suits).

This is just PART 1. The real Todomomo comes in part 2, which I still hope to get out in time for your bday:) Also I have to thank my glam fam for adding hcs to this (I should have a special edition just for punny kami thanks to @verdandys-art and a BakuCamie star-crossed lovers story thanks to @teenytraveler and @infallibleimperfection lol)

But until then, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DORA!!!

#todomomo #disney au #beauty and the beast au #todoroki shouto #yaoyorozu momo #lo writes #headcanons #hcs #drabble

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