#so either he would have pulled a GW on her or she would have been confined to Zanado for the rest of her long life

[randomnameless]

The quintessential problem with Claude and the deer is that they should not have been involved in the war at all, or at least not Claude. What does he have to gain participating on it? Nothing, and he makes it even more explicit in azure moon when he dissolves the alliance. He could've pretty easely given the power to Lorenz or Hilda and nope out of there (what he does in silver snow), as it is clear througouht white clouds that he doesn't have as much of an attachtment to Fodlan as he does Almyra. And it isn't like the devs couldn't take the deer studients out during post-TS, when Marianne unless recruited is pressumed dead, and Lorenz unless recruited joins the imperial forces and dies helping the empire.

Outside of the problems with racism and the bigoted tropes related to "savage cultures" the Fodlan games perpetuate, the devs did not know how to use one of their house leaders for the main plot of "church vs empire", and idk if that's because they bit more than they could chew, or if it was intentional taking into account who gets the short end of the stick in both games happens to be mixed and from one of those "savage cultures".

TBH...

It's on the devs for having wanted to add a third lord to their game, but failing to, well, link him to any of those plots.

Supreme Leader's war of unification?

Well, Nopes gave him a part this plot - and yet there's no third choice in this plot : you bend the knee or you die. Nopes' wise, Clout decided (in his route) to bend the knee with his "alliance" that is totally supposed to make Supreme Leader reconsider her desire to roll over Leicester and make it part of Adrestia again!

(Granted, Nopes don't tell us how his plea to stop the war after killing the evil lizard lady will play out and leaves an open ending...)

In Houses, well, he doesn't want Leicester to be flattened, and goes on the offensive (counter offensive?) when Billy pops up with basically what is the plot events of Silver Snow (down to using the same strategy with disguises) with the Gronder Map.

And that addition radically changes... well, everything regarding Claude's relevance : he cannot form an alliance with the Blue Lord or the Kingdom to get rid of the Empire because "plot convenient myopia" and apparently Dimitri BaD enough that he attacks Alliance troops for no reason.

Forget SS, GW (and AM, in a way) is just using plot contrived excuse to... not have an united from to face the Empire. Why? IDK. Each Lord must be the hero of his story, or the unification boner means only one of them can "win" an unified Fodlan i'd guess.

Nabateans and the plot ?

No one gives a fig about that "plot", so it's basically pursuing a side-quest for no payoff.

Now, as @fantasyinvader wrote, Claude's story and journey as one who is ignorant and gets to learn and clear his misconceptions + the background of the land we're living in could have been interesting, doubly so given how Billy is voiceless and cannot play the "protag discovers the world at the same time as the player does" role.

But it has... no payoff.

Much like Rhea's infodump about the World, Relics and Nabateans... Claude reacts to the mention that Billy has a rock for heart, and not about his crest, his shiny bow or the fact that Rhea also had a vested interest in, uh, getting rid of prejudice against people who are perceived as "different" because her family was genocided for that.

Hell, the entire "prejudice" angle from Supreme Leader's war is swept under the rug, so we can have the Deers say nonsense like wanting to rekt Thales for Supreme Leader's sake, while only Flayn and Seteth can hear her "nabateans shouldn't have power over the people"...

There's no parallel drawn in the game about Claude and Rhea's situation - since she's at the center of this subplot - about being perceived as "outsiders" and not being able to do various things from existing to "rule over the people" because of what they are, or even faking their identities and building metaphorical walls between them and the people they're living with because they are afraid of rejection.

Nah, we can't have that, Rhea must be irrelevant to the possible, while also being the biggest scapegoat/dragon of this saga at the same time as a nebulous red herring to sell pots of tea.

Ihthe "fight against prejudice and make people accept each other" angle was that relevant to his route, Claude would have most likely talked or interacted with Dimitri and learnt of his plan to cleanse Duscur's name in his Father's assassination, raised a brow at Petra being a hostage and done something else than give a surprised pikachu face at Rhea's infodumps.

He could have reacted at her reveal that if you might want to live in peace with some people, if those people don't want that and label you as nothing more than fodder or things to be looted, it's not going to work.

And of course, gave a reaction at your second in command (unofficially?)'s reveal that, uh, her house keeps identured Almyran children as war prisoners?

Some people already made some AUs or "what ifs" routes for a proper Claude route and not the nonsense that we got in FE16 where it's basically "I react to the same plot events that happen in the other routes but top it all with a zombie".

The Deers could have been "better introduced" in a plot about getting rid of prejudice, or learning the causes of this prejudice : Marianne was/is hunted because of her blood ties to Maurice - not because what she did, but because what Momo did back then! - Lysithea was treated as a guinea pig and her house rolled over by Adrestia who has a less than rosy views about the "offshoots" that are called Leicester and Faerghus, Lorenz could explain that prejudice, just like piety, are tools used by people whenever they're relevant, like, some people being pissed at foreigners and some who aren't because they make money through international trading like Margrave Edmund does, Hilda justifying her House's animosity towards Almyrans because they lost many people in those pointless skirmishes (maybe a closed ones? Her mom or Uncle or whatever?) which would make Claude realise that "ending prejudice" is a much more difficult quest than, idk, just killing one or two randoms.

The commoner trio might share Claude's views about prejudice and welcoming foreigners, but have more "mundane" worries like being able to have a roof and food to eat, which might be the case of some people in Leicester, or tell us more about Leicester and how it works (give us more insight about the different countries if Fodlan ffs).

Maybe we could have add a Claude who learns and discovers Fodlan, and along the way, starts to love the land as much, if not more, than Almyra and really wanting to protect this land from whatever Supreme Leader's cooking, or becoming an Almyra v.2.

I don't think making Claude the third wheel of the plot was maliciously intentional because of the, uh, implications with RL cultures and Almyra, but more like they didn't know where to put him.

I noticed you wrote the conflict as one that is "the church vs the empire", but I do not really agree - if that was the case, the war would have stopped in VW/AM/SS the second Rhea was caught.

The main conflict is Supreme Leader's war of conquest - with the twist that the devs were really banking on their brilliant idea of making the red emperor the titular waifu of the game that each person/lord/whatever Rhea is must find a way to excuse and/or justify her actions.

With this in mind, AM is basically Dimitri's fall (and rise!) because of his ties to Supreme Leader.

In VW? The game cannot explore too much outside of the Supreme Leader scope so we're left with.. well, what VW was.

Claude cannot go on a journey to discover Fodlan and get rid of his misconceptions... because part of those same misconceptions are used by Supreme Leader to start her war, or the sheer concept of a conquest, aka a nation being rolled over by another is anathema to his, supposed, ideal of wanting people to accept each other despite their differences.

I ranted about it since day 5, but the Nabatean subplot (and Fodlan in general) is accessory to Supreme Leader war, there is no point aka no payoff for learning all of that, because you cannot challenge the one who wants to unify the continent.

As such, Claude cannot deviate too far from this plot - while receiving infodumps about "the lore" - and we end up with third wheel of a bike and characters who, at first and second glance, appear to be irrelevant.

Fodlan ends up unified despite starting as three separate countries, we feel bad for Supreme Leader and mourn her unknown ideals, Rhea is gone and the Agarthans aren't a problem anymore.

the second the devs said leicester was a republic, claude was doomed. Merchant republics are always irrelevent or straight up useless in the FE series!

[crowleysgirl67]

Grave Danger

Author: @crowleysgirl67

Word Count: 1124

Parings/Characters: (Y/N) Gordon, Melinda Gordon, BAU, Jim, Delia, Prof. Rick Payne, 

Warnings: CM/GW/SPN ish crossover/mix, loosely based on S3 E5 of ghost whisperer, specifically parts of the caved in scene, angst,   

A/N: Thanks for reading! 

“Melinda!” you threw your body over hers as the cavern came crashing down. 

Both of you coughed as you sat up in the darkness. 

“Are you alright?” you asked, hands searching the ground for your cellphones.

“Yeah, I’m ok are you?”

“I think so.” you answered as you finally found a phone. Switching on the flashlight, you looked her over now that you had some light. She appeared to be as good as she could be given the circumstances. 

Tessa appeared, “Don't waste your breath. You'll need it. You're not the first ones to come down here and look for us. Others have come and been trapped, too. I... I've watched them panic. Help comes, but they don't last until it gets there.”

“Is help coming for us?” Melinda asked.

“Yes. But it's too far away.”

While Tessa and Melinda spoke you assessed the wall for a possible way out. Or at the very least a way to get Melinda out. There wasn’t enough air for one person let alone two of you. 

**Meanwhile on the surface**

The under current of worry hung in the air as Jim and Morgan worked on knocking the wall in the antique store. 

“Jim, Agent Morgan, have some water.” Delia said, holding two bottles of water.

“You guys haven't taken a break in over an hour.” Payne commented.

“No. We’re almost through. I can feel it.” Jim answered, swinging at the wall again.

Morgan swung after Jim, the wall crumbling beneath the pickaxe. “We’re through!”

“Let’s make this big enough to get through.” Jim nods at Morgan as they work in tandem.

“Back up, give them some room.” Emily guided Delia and Payne back. 

****

You managed to make a small hole to the other side and propped Melinda up next to it to get some air. It wasn't big enough to let a bunch of air into the space you occupied, but it was just big enough for one of you to be near it and able to subsist a little while longer.  

“Your friends are close. But they won't know where to look if you don't make noise.” Tessa reappeared in a frantic fashion. 

“Noise?” you mumbled, nudging Melinda a bit, from your position of using yourself to keep her propped up. She had to do it, she had what little air was being provided. All you had to do was focus on making sure she made it.  

“You have to call out now. Quickly!” Tessa urged. 

“Hello?!” Melinda called out.

“Louder! They won’t hear you like that.” Tessa encouraged her. 

Fighting against the black spots in your vision, you drew your weapon. If she wasn’t loud enough surely gunfire would be. It would be risky, especially without knowing how small of a space you were in. The bullets could ricochet, harming either one of you.

 "Cover your ears.” you mumbled to Melinda.

Once you were sure she’d done as you asked, you used the last bit of strength and pulled the trigger three times in quick succession, bullets flying off into the darkness.

*POP, POP, POP*

“Quiet. Did everyone hear that?” Jim questioned.

“Gunfire that way,” Hotch pointed down the corridor. 

“Come on, they're this way.” Morgan took off, Jim hot on his heels.

“Melinda!” Jim shouted.

 “(Y/N)!” came a chorus of your name from your friends as well.

“Here! We’re in here!” Melinda cried out.

“Mel!”

“Jim!” 

“I'm coming.” He reassured her.

“Almost there,” Morgan said.

At last the rocks and debris crumbled away allowing Melinda to crawl out. Morgan crawled in after she was out when you didn’t emerge with her. 

“(Y/N)!” Melinda called out, frantic after Morgan went in after you. 

“She’s got a pulse but just barely.” Morgan said, dragging your limp body out.  

Jim let go of Melinda to assess you as he grabbed things from the bag he brought. 

“Weak pulse and respirations. Here, I need to bag her.” Jim nudged Morgan out of his way as he began to bag you. He checked your pulse again after a few. “It’s steadier but we need to move her out.”

“It’ll be faster if we take her.” Hotch said, glancing at Reid who nodded already having done the calculations in his head. 

“She's stable enough. I agree it’ll be faster to take her ourselves.” Jim nods, packing up his things. 

Hotch helps lift you into Morgan's arms. Once settled Morgan takes off back to where they entered from the store.  

***

The rhythmic beeping of monitors is what you woke up to.  Hospital you were in a hospital. Panic surged within you as your eyes shot open and you sat up abruptly. Where was your sister? Was she alright?

You hardly noticed the monitors screaming at your elevated vitals. Nor did you notice your boss sitting in a chair a little off to the side of your bed. 

“Easy there (Y/N).”

 You turned to face him a little startled, “Hotch?”

“Melinda's fine.” he reassured you almost as if he knew what you needed to hear. 

You relaxed a little with the knowledge she was safe. You didn't get a chance to ask him what he was doing here as the door flew open and in rushed Melinda. Followed by Jim, Delia, Payne and the rest of your team. They must have seen you were awake through the window.

“(Y/N)!” Melinda cried a little as she gathered you into a tight hug.   

You hugged her back, “It’s ok we’re safe. I’m here, I’m ok.” 

When she finally released you, your other friends took turns giving you hugs as well.

“Not that I’m not glad to see y’all, but what are you doing here?” you asked.

“Garcia couldn’t get ahold of you. Then she couldn’t find your location.” JJ spoke.  

“Luckily we weren’t too far away on a consult, so we stopped by.” Emily chimed in.

“Definitely wasn’t expecting a bunch of Feds at our front door.” Jim chuckled a little. 

Your brow furrowed a little as you remembered your gun, hand unconsciously moving to your hip.  

“I’ve got it.” Hotch said catching your movement. 

You relaxed with a small nod of acknowledgment. 

“Ya know maybe Hotch should stop approving your vacations if you’re gonna get yourself into trouble like this.” Morgan teased. 

“Hey, I'm not the one getting us into trouble.” you glared playfully at your sister. 

“You didn’t have to come with me.” she rolls her eyes, grinning.

“Oh yes she did.” Jim wrapped his arm around her. “I’m glad someone can at least try to keep you safe in your impulsive decisions.” 

“Hey!” she shoved him gently.  

You leaned back against the bed, smiling softly as you watched. Grateful that all was well after that whole ordeal. 

[cauldron-be-damned]

Bro like STOP trying to tell me that gw*n and azriel look good together or that their vibes mesh. They DON'T. Every fanart I see of them looks wrong. It's all very contrived. Their personalities don't mesh either. You KNOW he's an introvert, he's not just quiet and aloof bc of trauma or whatever. Introverts get their energy from spending time alone and having quiet time to recharge. He likes the quiet and his shadows are there to keep him company in the quiet, right? (Az and his shadows are definitely endgame.)

I can say that as a very strong fellow introvert, I'm not super comfortable in a group of lots of people either. Even people that I know well! Especially not being in a room with the rest of the IC, who are rowdy AF and have no trouble filling the silence without Az needing to weigh in. He clearly prefers to be one-on-one. You get a LOT more of his personality in ACOWAR (Feyre's POV), ACOFAS (Rhys's POV), and ACOSF (Cass's POV) when you're seeing him one-on-one with each of them. And he certainly has a personality and a sense of humor, it's just subtle and dry.

This is nothing against extroverts of course, but I think gw*n is an extrovert. Now it's hard to say bc she's only made an appearance in ACOSF and we've had way more books to get to know Az (not to mention we've encountered Elain and her also-subtle, quiet presence in literally all the books so far). But her vibe is much more forward and assertive and social-butterfly, at least to me. She seems to be more extroverted and outgoing. At a party she's not gonna sit in a corner bathed in shadows. I really do like her character, especially as a friend to Nesta. She seems like a very loyal person and she's funny and determined. And it's not that Az isn't exciting. But I feel like she'd be better suited to someone who could party with her, who would challenge her, who makes friends everywhere they go, like her. She seems like the life of a party, honestly. And that's great. But as someone who relates more to Az and honestly Elain more than any other character, Gw*n would not be my go-to romantic choice (not bc she's a female, I'm bi and fiery redheads are HOT.) Why? Because long-term, I would someone who can be my quiet companion. I just don't see that in her. An awesome friend to hang out with, someone who won't let you pull punches? Sure.

There is something to be said for a companionate love where you and the other person can sit in complete silence doing nothing or doing your own thing and enjoy the shit out of it. That's what it's like being an introvert married to another introvert. I personally love that my husband and I can feel like we're spending quality time together while not actively filling the silence or socializing. We also don't feel the need to be around other people all the time.

I'm basically making a case for Elriel here because just look at Elain!! A kindred spirit! She loves her quiet afternoons in the sunny garden just doing her own thing. Yall see how Az went out there to sit with her while she was doing that? Do ya think there was a ton of convo going on? Does he know shit about gardening? Most likely not. But he was SUNNING HIS WINGS. Illyrians are taught to protect their wings at all costs, and they only open them up when not flying if they're comfortable around the person they're with (and/or if they are peacocking, which you know he absolutely was.)

And who was the first person to offer to take her out to the garden in the first place?? 👀

This isn't even a question of whether Az likes Elain. It's been very clearly confirmed in the bonus chapter and by LITERALLY EVERY INTERACTION BETWEEN THE TWO OF THEM. The question I guess is who is endgame for Az...

In a companionate love there is still passion. But when you're an introvert you need a lover AND a friend who can sit in silence with you and not make you feel like you have to do any emotional work. You need someone who wants to leave the party early with you so you can go home and snuggle on the couch and watch your couple-show. And then have some great sex afterward!

Maybe I'm missing something that gw*nriels are seeing, but I feel like they are blatantly ignoring all the things SJM has been very obviously trying to tell us about elriel. I don't understand the connection. Don't even get me started on how beautiful Elriel's whole "light meets the darkness" aesthetic is.

ALSO sjm loves the light-meets-dark thing. Remember in chapter 56 of ACOMAF when Feyre was glowing and Rhys went all king-of-darkness and the 2 blended together? It's yin and yang, people.

[oh-for-merlins-sake]

CRUMBS ‘N’ CRUMPETS | gw

summary: ever since y/n opened a bakery across from weasleys’ wizard wheezes, george hasn’t stopped thinking about her. he hopes that holiday cheer, a blanket of snowfall, and one chocolatey recipe will give him the courage he needs to make his christmas wish come true.

pairing: george weasley x fem!reader

word count: 1.6k

warnings: several mentions of food, gets a lil steamy, alcohol

a/n: ok so i was feeling HELLA COZY and wanted to write a comfy christmas fic hehehehe. enjoy! and happy holidays!!! 💛

taglist: @iliveiloveiwrite @andromedaa-tonks @pansydaisy​ @a-little-too-much @slytherinsunrise @marvelettesassemble @msmarklee1213​ @letsgotothehop @finnishslytherin @starlightweasley @witch-and-a-half​ (message/ask to be added/removed, loves!)

The twinkle of shimmering white lights danced across your vision as George twirled you in a sloppy circle, keeping time with the vibrations of familiar Christmas songs that rattled your feet.

“I’m going to need to sit after this!” You laughed.

“Can’t keep up, darling?” George teased, a mischievous smirk tugging at his lips.

You gripped his arms, slowing him to a halt. “Oh, don’t flatter yourself, Weasley.”

He raked a hand through his disheveled ginger locks. “I don’t have to — you do plenty of it for me.”

George shot you a wink, but the only response you could muster was a dramatic scoff. Just as he opened his mouth to quip further, someone toppled into you, resulting in a heaping dose of eggnog poured directly down your front.

You gasped from the sudden, thick chill and glared at George, who was stifling a raucous laugh.

“‘M sorry, Y/N,” she mumbled.

“It’s all right, Eleanor, you didn’t mean to,” you assured as you propped her back up.

You passed her back to her seemingly sober friend who apologized profusely on her behalf. She tugged Eleanor out of the shop, and you heard a boisterous laugh erupt from behind you. You spun on your heel to find George with his head on the nearest display case, trembling from how hard he was laughing.

You feigned anger, “George!”

“Honestly, Y/N, I think eggnog suits you!”

You swiped your wand across your body to instantly launder your bright red blouse. George protested, “Oh, c’mon, at least save me some!”

You rolled your eyes and playfully shoved his shoulder.

The stuffiness of the shop began to settle on your sweaty skin as clusters of people roved around you. A gust of icy air blew in as another horde of people clamored through the door. The chill was inviting.

Your eyes fluttered shut as you tossed your head back, exposing your sticky neck as you relished in the fleeting cold. George bit his lip, averting his gaze, knowing all too well how he longed to taste your salty skin.

“I could really use some fresh air,” you sighed, opening your eyes. “Care to join me?”

“It’s getting a touch hot for me as well,” George nodded in agreement, absentmindedly loosening his tie.

You gulped at the sight and quickly pivoted to lead him towards the door. He followed achingly close behind, and you resisted the overwhelming urge to spin and close the gap.

You were grateful to reach the wintry air.

“You sure know how to throw a Christmas party, Weasley,” you said as you tamed your tousled hair.

George chuckled and shook his head. “Every year, we think it’s going to be a hell of a lot smaller than it ever is.”

“Well, it gets my official stamp of approval!” You curtsied before mimicking a grandiose stamping motion. “Of course, only if the new girl’s opinion even matters.”

George laughed. “‘Course the new girl’s opinion matters!” He pointed sternly. “Some may say it’s the most important one.”

Only a few months had passed since you opened Crumbs ‘N’ Crumpets, your bakery across the street, but it felt like you’d known George for years. Like clockwork, he’d stop in on Tuesdays and Thursdays, sampling the daily special and shoving a few bills into the tip jar; and every Saturday morning, you’d leave a steaming cup of coffee with a warm chocolate chip muffin on the doorstep to Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes; and after a bustling day of business, when the shops all closed and the keepers turned in, you’d both walk down the alley, admiring the colorful Christmas lights that strung above the streets.

Neither of you dared to discuss it, and neither of you would admit that the routine meant more than you ever led on, but as he watched you giggle and admire the twinkling lights above your head yet again, he knew that he was careening down a treacherous path.

“Fancy a snack, George?” You asked suddenly. “I’m starving!”

The firewhisky you downed earlier created a cavern in your stomach; and the same was true of George. “What can I get you?” He asked, turning back towards the party.

You stopped him and nodded towards the bakery. “I was thinking we could make something of our own,” you challenged.

A faint blush sprawled across his freckled face as you dragged him by the hand. “Are you sure you want my help? I was banned from the kitchen as a child — blew up far too many things with my brother.”

You giggled as you unlocked the door to the bakery, pushing it with your shoulder and causing the silver bell overhead to chime. Guided by the moonlight that crept through the storefront, you led George to the back before flipping a switch to illuminate the messy kitchen.

A doughy mixing bowl sat unwashed in the sink, patches of flour blotted the countertops, and a few holly-patterned pot warmers sat on the cool, linoleum floor.

“Neat as a pin,” George teased, nudging his hip against yours.

“Do you want a snack, or don’t you?”

George chuckled as you pulled a delicate recipe box from a nearby shelf and flipped through the cards within. Eventually, you withdrew an old-time favorite: your mother’s homemade, melt-in-your-mouth, triple chocolate cookies. George was eager to learn how to concoct such an extraordinary confection — or rather, pretend to learn.

Honestly, George couldn’t comprehend much when he was around you. You raptured every ounce of his attention and always managed to short-circuit his brain and send his stomach into an endless bout of somersaults. Focusing on anything but you was a fruitless task.

His heart fluttered as you danced around the kitchen, spinning dough, sprinkling flour, and sampling chocolate. You were completely in your element. It seemed an intimate blessing to be standing there, rolling globs of sticky dough between his palms beside of you.

“I shattered my ulna when I was eight, and these cookies were the only thing to get me through those bloody buckets of Skele-Gro,” you recalled, slapping the last ball of dough onto the aluminum cookie sheet.

George grimaced. He was all too familiar with the sensation that accompanied a hearty helping of Skele-Gro. “These must be pretty wicked cookies then!”

You laughed and slid the tray into the toasty oven. “You’re in for a real treat, Weasley!”

George’s mouth was practically drooling at the delicious chocolate aroma that wafted through the air as he scrubbed colorful measuring cups and wooden spoons in the sink. Each time he passed you a dish to dry, your hand would gently graze his, which sent him into a complete and utter tizzy.

As soon as the timer chimed, George practically raced you to the oven.

You laughed as you stood between him and the oven, turning off the timer and placing your hand against his chest. “You’ve got to let them cool, Georgie!”

He peered down at you, suddenly overwhelmed by how little distance separated the two of you. “Sorry,” he muttered. The faintest trace of a smirk lined his lips. “I can be a bit... impatient.”

You gazed up at him, stammering as you attempted to craft some sort of coherent response. You were well aware of the fact that merely standing on your tiptoes at this point would close the minute gap between your lips and his; how the scent of chocolate evaporated as you inhaled his musky cologne and the notes of cinnamon that escaped his breath; how you’d been standing in silence for probably longer than what was socially acceptable — perhaps you should say something, you thought.

“That makes two of us,” you whispered. You were doused with a sudden wave of courage before swiftly tugging George to your lips by his evergreen tie, worried that if you waited another second, that courage may dissipate into another missed opportunity.

His lips melted into yours as he pressed you against the balmy glass of the stacked ovens behind you. You sighed into the kiss and tugged the ends of his ginger hair as his large hands swept underneath your blouse to rake at the small of your back. You gently tossed your head back, giving George’s mouth free rein to finally dance across your neck. A soft moan escaped your lips as you hooked your fingers through his belt loops to pull him completely against you.

You were perfectly content to continue indulging in your finally realized fantasies until a faint, burning odor infiltrated the kitchen.

You gasped and pushed George off of you, flinging the oven door open to reveal greatly crisped, blackened cookies.

“Blimey, I’m sorry, Y/N!” George exclaimed.

You safely extracted the sheet of cookies and set it on the counter before turning off the oven. You couldn’t help but laugh at how carried away you’d gotten.

“Bet they’re still bloody delicious,” George assured, reaching for a scorched cookie.

You giggled as he audibly crunched on the sweet, doing his best to hide the grimace that threatened to surface. “Well,” he muttered, “Guess that means we’ll have to try again another day!”

The two of you tossed the charred sweets in the bin, both flushed and bashful about the events that had just transpired. Neither of you mentioned it as you locked the bakery once more or as you migrated back to the Christmas party across the street. You wondered when either of you would bring it up, if at all; if either of you would ever muster the courage to do such a thing again.

As you both maneuvered to settle against a wall, George chirped, “Oh, look!” He pointed above your heads. “Mistletoe.”

He smirked as you rolled your eyes.

Well that didn’t take long.

[starkidpotty]

Should’ve Known Better [GW]

After the Second Wizarding War, the wizarding world faces a great recession that puts you and George in financially and morally compromising situations.

Pairing: George Weasley x Reader

Word Count: 3.3k

Warnings: swearing and terrible use of tenses (im sorry for the grammar)

A/N: written for angst prompt #14 for @kalimagik​‘s 1.3k writing challenge!! congrats on 1.3k again!! <3 

You had always been good–exceptional, actually–at writing since your teenage years. Essays you’ve written for work assigned by Professor Flitwick managed you top marks. Hell, even Snape commended your writing from time to time (if he wasn’t too busy taking away points from Gryffindor.) Throughout your years at Hogwarts, you entered multiple wizarding writing competitions and won them all. It made sense to you to seek out a job at the Daily Prophet after graduating from Hogwarts to put those writing skills  to good use. 

Your first year at the Daily Prophet was difficult, to say the least. You were paid almost next to nothing and writing on an empty stomach while worrying if you had enough galleons to pay rent was terrible for your creative process. On top of that, it seems as though whatever piece you made never satisfied your boss, Angel Hornbeam, editor of the Tragedies and Mishaps section of the paper. Each piece you wrote was either sent back with red ink splattered across the parchment with scathing comments on how sophomoric & crass your writing was or outright discarded. You didn’t know what Angel hated more: you or your writing. 

There you were walking down Diagon Alley after a grueling day at work. You made two pieces today–only two pieces–that were immediately thrown out to the rejection pile at the corner of Angel’s office. Roan Staghart, a colleague of yours, accidentally spilled pumpkin juice all over you which Angel pointed out and subsequently prompted her to give you a long-winded lecture on how unbecoming it was to sport such an unprofessional appearance in a place of work. You made your way down Diagon Alley with your path only being illuminated by the lights in the shops you passed.  You were downtrodden and hungry and lonely and unmotivated and uninspired. You thought about the eviction notice plastered to your flat’s door that you received earlier that day before heading off to work. You thought about the empty pantry in said flat, which then reminded you of your empty wallet. Lost in thought and not looking directly straight ahead, you ram your head straight into the open door of Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes. Your arse lands on the cobblestoned path and you’re clutching your bleeding nose with your right hand, while your left provides support. 

“Merlin, I’m sorry!” says one of the Weasley twins as he hurriedly walks toward you. 

“Georgie, go get her some ice.” says the twin to the other behind him, still clutching the door open. 

“Fred, right? Sorry, I’m shite at telling you and your brother apart.” You say while letting out a humourless chuckle, wincing in pain as you clutch your nose. Fred crouches down to your level.

“S’alright, just know I’m the better looking one.” He pauses, “You’re [Y/N], you were in [Hogwarts House], correct? I remember you selling a pre-written essay  to Lee in our fourth year. T’was the only he got an O for, if I recall.” says Fred with a joking grin. George runs back with ice wrapped in a handkerchief which he passes to Fred, which Fred passes to you. 

“Had to make money to buy butterbeer at Hogsmeade somehow.” You answer him as you bring the wrapped ice to your nose. Both the brothers smile at you and you smile back. 

“Fred and I were actually headed off to dinner at our flat, join us. I suppose it’s the least we could do after the damage we’ve inflicted onto your poor nose.” George proposes. 

“I couldn’t impose–” 

“Nonsense!” They say in unison. Fred offers you a hand, which you graciously take. He pulls you up and you walk with them to their flat.  

You were now at the Weasley twins’ shared flat at the edge of Diagon Alley. It was the best meal you’ve had in weeks, not to mention the twins’ presence was a morale booster in itself. Dinner lasted an hour, but the conversations after lasted well into the night. You wondered why you weren’t friends with the twins during their school years. Perhaps if you detached your hand from your favorite quill and parchment, you would have been. Regardless, that night sparked a friendship. 

You were stopping by the shop on your way home from work on the daily and the twins enjoyed your presence so much so they offered you a small, part-time job as a stock keeper as a means to keep yourself afloat while your work your way up the Daily Prophet ladder. They’d come to visit you in their spare time at your dinky flat  on the border of Knockturn and Diagon alley. As hard as your first year at the Daily was, your newfound friendship with Fred and George made it all the worthwhile. While you and Fred remained friends, you and George had begun to engage in a shameless “flirtationship” as you coined–always dancing on the border of friends and being more than friends. Stealing kisses in the shop, holding hands underneath dinner tables, George reasoning out to Fred that you needed help at your flat only for him to spend the night, writing little notes for George before he left in the morning. Everyone around you knew you and George were it, as much as you and he tried to suppress it. One day, George decided to make it real and official.  

Your personal life had improved immensely after your horrendous first year as a journalist. You were dating George Weasley, your pantry was always full now, and you didn’t have to worry about getting evicted anymore. Your work life wasn’t as terrible as before as Angel Hornbeam turned over a new leaf and was much more forgiving at work. You were finally given a small promotion–not a choice Angel made, but by a higher-up as you stayed loyal to the good of the wizarding world–which offered you enough stability to leave the shop. 

The wizarding world at this point in time, however, was not improving. Death eaters infiltrated the ministry and your beloved Hogwarts. They started censoring pieces at the Daily Prophet, much to your chagrin. You couldn’t write or report about tragedies happening as the Death Eaters wanted the media to depict dark wizards as righteous and justify their actions. You moved over to making crossword puzzles for the paper as opposed to spewing lies about Lord Voldemort and his mission to take over the wizarding world. Fred and George had to close down shop for the time being as the Weasleys went into hiding.

Then the Battle of Hogwarts happened. You fought alongside Fred and George, casting spells and charms. Blasting death eaters left and right. You did everything you could to fight against the Death Eaters. But you couldn’t save Fred, nor could George. George was never the same after Fred’s death and neither were you. You were both deeply resigned to grieving and still continue to do so everyday. The sun still rose and set like it always did, but Fred was gone and the world just kept spinning. It left you and George no time to breathe. 

The wizarding world slowly built itself back up after the war, with Kingsley Shacklebolt acting as the Minister for Magic. He’d done a bloody good job of it. He purged out the dark wizards from the ministry and from the Daily Prophet, effectively returning most things back to normal. You were back to writing in the Tragedies and Mishap department, but the wizarding world hit a great recession after the war. People were losing jobs left and right; you knew for a fact that your neck was next on the chopping board if you didn’t come up with a good piece soon. Though George was slowly reopening the shop, with the help of his family, it wasn’t enough to keep you and he afloat. Losing this job would bring your right back to where you were your first year out of Hogwarts and you were determined to avoid that. 

--

It was 3 o’clock in the afternoon, two hours to the end of the work week. You haven’t written anything substantial in a while and your desk was evidence. The brown wood was stained with droplets of stray ink from your quill, but they weren’t as obvious because of the crumpled pieces of ripped parchment scattered across the desk. Your hand was ink-stained and your hair was in disarray. To say the least, you looked a mess. 

“[Y/N], I need you in my office,” Angel called out to you, peering out of her office door. 

You stood up, straightening out your top, trying to look as presentable as possible. Walking over to her office catches the attention of your many officemates. Your stomach begins to feel like a vacuum, sucking in all the air around you, ineffectively trying to get you to breathe. Were your fears getting realized? Was this it for your writing career? So many thoughts raced in your head as you walked–slogged, rather–the distance from your desk to Angel’s office. You reach the archway of her door and she instructs you to close it. You gulp heavily. 

“Yes, Angel? Anything I could do for you?” You anxiously choke out. You feel like your guts are about to unceremoniously find its way out your mouth and onto her office floor. 

Her office was decorated all in black, from her quills to her velvet wallpaper. Angel stood out in the gloomy decor of her office, sporting an all-white outfit. She says it’s a metaphor–tragedies are both light and dark, simultaneously and she wants to embody that. A little pretentious, but she’s right nonetheless. 

“Don’t look at me like that, I’m not going to fire you, darling.” Darling, a term of endearment, but never when it came from Angel’s lips. “I’m close, but I won’t. I have a proposition” 

You look at her intently, your eyes almost bulging. 

“I want an editorial piece on grief and love. I want romance wrapped in despair, topped with angst.” Angel mused. 

“I beg your pardon?” You muster out.

“Write about lost love, the war did just happen–it’ll be fresh, uncut,” Angel pauses for dramatic effect, “Absolutely raw.” She clenches her fist in such a theatrical manner, it's almost comical. 

You stay silent, unsure of what to say or do. Your face must’ve looked bewildered, as she slouches and rolls her eyes. 

“Godric, I want you to interview someone who lost the love of their life because of the war, so to speak. It’ll do wonders for readership. Have you read that muggle story–Romeo and Juliet? Love and tragedy create such a spicy little mix.” She says in response to your look. 

“Wouldn’t that be exploitative, no? Everyone’s still grieving.” You question Angel. 

“That’s journalism.” Angel’s brows are furrowed and you can tell she’s trying to control her temper. “I better have a damn well-written editorial on my desk come Monday morning. May I remind you, you are the last of your colleagues to have either been promoted up or let go. Do you want to be the latter?” 

You gulp, she hasn’t threatened you since your first year at the office. You shakily let out a soft no. She returns with a softly-said good and points you to the direction of her door. 

--

You were on your way home to you and George’s shared flat in Diagon Alley. Your mind was raking itself for who you could possibly call to satisfy Angel’s wants. The gears were grinding hard until you had the aha moment–Angelina. Her and Fred’s relationship was complicated to say the least. They weren’t friends but they weren’t boyfriend and girlfriend, but they didn’t want to see other people. You could no longer recall what they were and with Fred gone, the answer didn’t seem to matter anymore. The “almost” aspect of the relationship would provide the angst–unfinished business, if you will. Fred’s death and the love that could’ve been. You lit up at the ideas forming in your head, but you feel your conscience gnawing at you. However, you and George had to keep the lights on somehow. 

George had beaten you home that night and was eating a packed dinner from Molly on your couch. You hang your bag on the rack next to the door, taking your coat off as well. You walk over to George, plotting your body next to him. Resting your head against his shoulder you say, “How was your day?” 

You each share quips about your days at work, leaving out Angel’s request entirely. A silence ensues and you find this to be the most opportune moment to ask him. 

“D’you mind having Angelina over tomorrow? A light catch-up? Haven’t seen her since, well, y’know when.” You ask George. His face stiffens. 

“Alright, would be good to see an old friend, yeah?” He manages to say. He gets up to write an owl to Angelina. He sends the owl off and within the hour, Angelina’s response comes back. She agrees. 

-- 

It’s the day of your interview-not-interview with Angelina. You are in the bathroom getting ready while George waits by the door for Angelina. Your self-writing quill for note taking and its accompanying notebook are hidden in a cupboard at the corner of the kitchen that could not be seen from the dining room, ready to start writing at your will. 

“Love, Angelina’s here!” George says through the bathroom door. You quickly get out, rounding the corner to get to the living room and see Angelina sat on your sofa. You bring her in for a hug which she happily returns, you feel the guilt creep up again. You try and dismiss the feeling as hard as you can but it lingers like an unwanted guest. Trying to ease your nerves, you invite her to the dining room, where food you cooked in the morning lay waiting. 

Angeline told stories about her life as a bigtime Quidditch match commentator and you entertained her with stories from the Sports department. You were both marveling at how much time has changed things since your graduation from Hogwarts to the war to life now. Now’s a good a time as any, your mind reasons out. You muster what little courage you had and shift the topic over to Fred. 

“So, Angelina, how have you been holding up, since the battle?” You ask her. George looks at you strangely, as he notes the shift and tone in your voice. 

“Uh, well I’m here. Coping. Grieving.” She responds.

“We’re here for you, tell us more.” You say, trying to probe more information out of her. A slimy feeling makes itself known in the insides of your stomach and you try your hardest to ignore it. 

Angelina stays silent and then starts, “It’s been rough, Fred–” The winning ticket. 

“What about Fred? It was a bit complicated before he died.” Cutting her off, you were siphoning as much information as you can. 

“Yes, it was. You know that.” Angelina deflected, but she continued. “I wish there was more time. More time with him.” Her voice grew heavy, but you tried to turn up the pressure.

“Tell me, what would you have done with that time? Were there things you would’ve said? Done?” 

Angelina takes an ugly pause. 

“Well?” You don’t mean to say this in such a crass and impatient manner, but you do.  

At this point, George stands up. He gets uncomfortable and goes to the cupboard to fetch himself a glass of water. As he inches to the cupboard, he hears scratching noises like a quill writing on parchment. He knows exactly what you’re doing now. Opening the cupboard he sees your quill and notebook scribbling away. On the pad is written, “‘A love lost, an almost,’ says Angelina as she begins to tell me about what could’ve been had Fred avoided his untimely death…” George stopped reading. It clicks in George’s head now. It explains the sudden decision to send an owl over to her last night. George’s jaw tenses up. 

He grabs a glass, closing the cupboard, while leaving the quill and notebook in there. He heads to the front of the refrigerator where you’d be unable to see him. It gives him time to rethink his next move while calming down. He knew journalism would be gross, but he didn’t think you’d prey on your friends–especially since you knew how everyone was still mourning the loss of his twin brother. 

Angelina begins to cry from the other room, but you continue to hound her with questions. “What would you be doing now if Fred were still around? Do you still dream of a life with him? What else have you been doing to fill the space? Do you wish there was more you could’ve done?” The words were practically marathoning out your mouth. The guilt in you subsides and all you feel now is a desire to get the truth out of Angelina. It’s as though you were watching this unfold from the corner of the room; it wasn’t you shoving questions down Angelina’s throat, but an entirely different entity. 

“Merlin, will you stop!” Angelina boomed. “I’m leaving. I missed you and George, I really did. But, how dare you. We’re all grieving and if this is your sick at attempt at therapy, I’ve damn near had it.” 

You’re silent and you feel yourself float back to your body, sat in front of a tearful and red-faced Angelina. She angrily gets up, dropping her fork onto the table. She makes a beeline for the coat rack, grabbing her things, and leaves–making sure to slam the door. 

“What the fuck was that, [Y/N]?” George shot at you, as he emerged from the kitchen. He was holding his glass of water with his fingers by the brim, both his arms by his side. The expression plastered on his face was a mixture between disappointed, frustration, and anger. You stay silent. 

“Answer me, what was that?” George repeats again. You still stay silent, you don’t know how to answer him. “Were you trying to make a piece out of Angelina?” 

You look down at your lap repentantly. “Angel said she’d fire me if I didn’t.”

George makes his way over to you, placing his glass on the dining room table. He doesn’t take a seat, instead he looks down at you in anger. 

“She’s our friend. She’s grieving, mourning–like you and me fucking both.” George was fuming, “You were being a prick and I didn’t like it, obviously neither did Angelina. I could say more, but out of respect, I won’t.” 

“George, we have to eat one way or another. I didn’t want to lose any more income than we already had!” You tried very hard to justify your reasons as to why. 

“At expense of a good friend of ours? Merlin, [Y/N].” George rebutted. “I can’t even look at you right now. I know you love writing, I do. I love your writing, in fact. But, this is low. All for what? A few fucking galleons? Merlin.” 

George turns his heel and stomps to the door, grabbing his coat and slamming the door shut in one swift motion. He presumably chases after Angelina to apologize on your behalf. You hang your head, trying to recollect yourself, and think about what to say to Angelina and George. 

You decide right then and there that you were going to quit your job at the Daily Prophet–there was always a need for writers in the Wizarding World anyway and jobs of that sort were probably not as exploitative in nature. Deciding to write a Letter of Resignation later that night, you trudge your way to the door, grab your coat, and run after George. 

--

masterlist here

[oh-obrien]

Take Me Out

Relationships: Dylan O'Brien x OFC

Word Count: 4,496

Author’s note: Sorry I disappeared y’all and sorry this one’s a little short. I had finals and then I found out my grandpa has cancer so we’re a little bit all over the place, but I’m getting back in the grove. Here’s some baseball and jealous Dylan for you all. All my characters are oc’s as I didn’t want to pull any real life players to use. 

“Imagine liking the Mets,” Cameron mumbled around the white hair tie she held between her teeth. She watched through the mirror while Dylan pulled his jersey on, finishing dutch braiding the left side of her hair at the same time. “Orange and Blue just, it doesn’t go together well at all,” she continued while tying her braid off with the hair tie. 

Dylan rolled his eyes and walked back into the bathroom after he pulled Cameron’s jersey out of the closet, holding it up at an arm's length and wrinkling his nose. “Because pinstripes are any better?” He asked while leaning against the counter, crossing his arms over his chest, watching his girlfriend continue to braid her hair. “Tabloids later are going to be like, Dylan O'Brien's girlfriend seen wearing a Yankees jersey at the first game of the Subway Series: Is this the beginning of the end?” He couldn’t hold in his laugh at the end.

Cameron also tried to stop herself from laughing while she sectioned off the hair on the right side of her head, not wanting the braid to be uneven. “Oh god,” she mumbled, “I’m going to have to tweet that everyone needs to remember my dad is one of the coaches for the Yankees,” she rolled her eyes. “You’re lucky he let you stay the first time I brought you home and you had a Mets hat on.” Dylan watched her fingers braiding her hair while she spoke. “At least you don’t care about hockey. It would have been bad if you blurted out you were an Islanders fan too.”

“I remember that!” He started laughing lightly again, his shoulders shaking slightly while he did, “he just grilled me after that.” Dylan remembered the first time he met Cameron’s parents, the week of the Subway Series two years earlier. The pair had been together for only a couple months at the time and Cameron had surprised him with tickets for all three games that year, her dad had also offered that the couple could stay at the family’s house in Sagaponack for the time they were visiting. Dylan and Cameron had pulled up in front of Cameron’s childhood home in a car her dad had hired to drive them out to Sagaponack from MacArthur airport, and Cameron swore she saw Dylan’s jaw hit the floor of the car when they pulled through the front gates.

“He had that custom made, I think it’s a bit much,” Cameron referred to the large wooden Yankees logo that had been put on the front door to their home. “And if you get past that and how huge the house is, actually who am I kidding,” she rolled her eyes while they got out of the car. “I cannot stand this house,” they thanked the driver after he got their suitcases out of the back. “And I can't stand that I spent eighteen years of my life here.”

Dylan snorted at the memory and Cameron cocked her head to the side at his outburst. “You say how much you hated living here when you were younger every time we come out to visit, and I’m just stringing it all together,” he shrugged.

“I also hated going to private school, but clearly something paid off somewhere,” Cameron tied off her second braid, the two falling even in front of her chest. “Because I got into my dream college and then I was somehow lucky enough to bump into you and then got you to sick around long enough to actually tell you my dad coached the Yankees,” she hooked her fingers into the loops of Dylan’s shorts and pulled him closer. 

Dylan pulled his face away from Cameron’s, a tight lipped smirk spreading across his face. “Did it really now?” He asked, watching pout spread across her full lips. “Because if I remember it correctly I actually asked you out that first night,” he brought his hands up to rest on Cameron’s waist, right above the curve of her ass.

“But then for some reason you decided to keep talking to me,” Cameron leaned up slightly to peck Dylan’s lips, “a bunch of sorority girls on a bar crawl after finals and you decided it would be a good idea to talk to me out of that group?” She cocked her head to the side slightly, clearly pressing the issue further in a playful way.

Dylan rolled his eyes and pulled Cameron even closer to him. “Okay so,” he slipped his hands along the line of skin on Cameron’s back that was left uncovered by her white cropped t-shirt, “you were cute, I made a move.” Cameron looked up and gave Dylan a ‘really’ look, knowing a lot of her sorority sisters she had been with were more than cute. “You were cute, and the only one without some basic fruity drink in your hand,” he added the last part.

“Yeah I did look pretty cute that night,” Cameron just shrugged and watched Dylan shake his head at her usual antics. “And then there was you, you looked half dead my dude,” she reminded. Cameron patted Dylan’s chest lightly and pulled away, grabbing her jersey off the counter and pulling it on.

Dylan watched Cameron quickly tie a knot out of the two ends at the front of the jersey instead of buttoning it, letting it hang open most of the way. “I was in the middle of filming an entire movie in sixty days,” he pointed out while Cameron adjusted the knot of the jersey so it would be even with her cropped shirt. “And in my defense I had also filmed twelve hours that day but somehow got convinced to go out!”

Cameron tucked her phone into the pock on her ripped jean shorts, “well I’m glad they convinced you,” she brushed past Dylan and back into her childhood bedroom. She sat down on her bed and pulled her navy converse off the floor, slipping them on before tying them tightly. “You have everything you need?” Cameron turned to face Dylan after she grabbed her RayBans case off her dresser. 

Dylan patted around at his pockets, making sure he had his wallet and phone. “I think I have everything,” he shrugged, “if not it’s not that important.”

“You are so go with the flow it hurts sometimes,” Cameron shook her head and held her hand out for Dylan to take. “C’mon, the car is waiting downstairs and I don’t want to be stuck in rush hour traffic, nothing is worse than the LIE during rush hour!”

“How about the George Washington during rush hour?” Dylan smirked while he spoke, knowing he would get a reaction out of Cameron. She had mentioned numerous times throughout the visits they took to New York how much she hated having to take the GW Bridge to leave the state.

Sliding her fingers through Dylan’s cameron just huffed, squeezing his hand a little harder than she normally would. “Never speak of that godforsaken bridge ever again,” she mumbled as the pair started down the staircase. 

✧༝┉┉┉┉┉˚*❋ ❋ ❋*˚┉┉┉┉┉༝✧

Dylan watched the beaches of where Cameron grew up slowly fade away as the pair got closer and closer to Queens, suburban neighborhoods turning into taller and more condensed buildings. Of course growing up he had lived quite close to the ‘Big Apple’ himself, but he knew he didn’t visit nearly as often as Cameron did. 

“I practically grew up in Yankee Stadium,” Dylan remembered Cameron telling him on their first date. At the time he had thought that must have been one of the coolest childhoods ever, having a parent who coached an MLB team, but he quickly realized it probably wasn’t as glamorous as it seemed. 

Dylan learned that in the winter months Cameron’s dad would travel with the team for their winter training and there would be an extended period of time where Cameron wouldn't get to see him. Dylan also remembered her noting that it taught her what she didn’t want to be as a parent, and that had been something that had scared him, although he didn’t yet express it. He would often travel for filming or press tours and through Cameron, he realized just how much a parent constantly being away could impact a kid. 

However, kids weren’t yet on the couple’s mind. The pair had met in Louisiana while Dylan had been filming the first movie in The Maze Runner series, and Cameron had been in the process of wrapping up her junior year of college at Louisiana State University playing for their softball team. She had also started to cram for her LSAT’s right before they met. In a fast paced two months which consisted of seeing each other when there had been any time in either of their schedules and texting on the days there wasn’t, the couple had quickly started falling for each other. 

Once Dylan had flown back to Los Angeles after The Maze Runner had wrapped, Cameron found herself reconsidering her law school options and studied even harder for her LSAT’s. After receiving a 178 out of 180 on the test, Cameron had applied to as many law schools as she could, but had her eyes on getting into University of California at Berkeley’s School of Law.

Prior to flying out to New York for the year’s Subway Series between three Mets and Yankees, the couple’s two year anniversary had just passed. Dylan’s career had started to take off even more while Cameron found herself attending law school at UC Berkeley. After quite a few long conversations and consulting with friends and family, the pair had recently decided to settle in a spacious home right outside of Los Angeles together. With Cameron in her second year of Law School and already receiving job offers for after graduation and Dylan’s career only growing, they both knew that they wouldn’t be leaving the area for quite awhile. 

“You’re thinking pretty hard over there O’Brien,” Cameron laughed lightly while she drummed her fingers lightly on his thigh. Dylan took a moment to regain his thoughts before he looked out the window, realizing that their car had pulled off on to the exit that would take them to Citi Field. “Pretty sure I saw some steam coming out of your ears,” she pulled his Mets cap off his head and ran her fingers through his hair. 

Dylan leaned into Cameron’s touch but let out a small huff in protest of her previous statement, “believe me,” he closed his eyes, “if anyone is going to be thinking that hard it’s going to be you.” Cameron just smiled and smoothed her boyfriend’s hair down again, settling his hat back on his head while their car pulled around the back of Citi Field. 

Watching as Dylan’s eyes took in the sights around them Cameron just shook her head while the driver pulled up near the coaches and players entrance. Sometimes it amazed her just how starstruck certain things could get her boyfriend and she wasn’t sure if she would ever fully understand it. He had nearly everything he ever wanted in his reach, but coming to Citi Field would always make his face light up like a kid in a candy store. “Let’s go, Superstar,” Cameron pushed open the door to the Suburban and held her hand out for Dylan to take. “It’s just Queens, basically still the Island.”

Threading their fingers together, the couple thanked their driver before approaching the entrance where two security guards stood, chatting with each other while leaning against the wall of the stadium. Cameron reached into one of the back pockets of her shorts with her free hand and pulled out the passes that would give them access to nearly anywhere they wanted inside Citi Field. 

Cameron held the passes up and the security guards waved them past with kind smiles. She scanned hers on the pad next to the door and heard the heavy metal lock click open before she grabbed the handle. “I want to go see my dad and brother before the game,” Cameron looked over to Dylan who let out an over dramatic goran. “Oh please,” she rolled her eyes, “all the guys know I’m dating a,” she fake gagged, “a Mets fan.” Untangling their hands Dylan reached over to pinch Cmaeron on the ass which made her squeak and quickly take off down the hallway they were in. 

“Oh fuck off!” Dylan laughed making sure he saw what direction Cameron had taken off in, following a safe distance behind. He just shook his head while following the directions that would lead them both to the visitor’s locker room. He also assumed that after years of attending Subway Series games Cameron probably didn’t need the directions around Citi field for herself anymore. 

Cameron found herself jogging through the hallways of Citi Field, leaving enough distance between her and Dylan that he couldn’t catch her easily but could still follow her so he wouldn’t get lost. She looked behind her to make sure she could still see Dylan before she turned the last corner that would lead to the visitor locker room before crashing into a hard body. “Shit!” She felt a pair of hands catch her waist so she didn’t trip.

“Yeah what the fuck, Cam?” Carson, Cameron’s older brother, asked while he steadied his sister on her feet. Carson has his jersey half buttoned and his cap sat backwards on his head, a smile spreading across his face “And where’s Dylan? You can’t let him get lost in here,” Carson let out a long sigh, hoping his sister’s boyfriend didn’t actually get lost in the depth of Citi Field.

Cameron rolled her eyes and turned around to watch Dylan round the corner, shaking his head when he finally caught up to his girlfriend. “What’s up, man?” Dylan and Carson pulled each other into a ‘bro-hug’ before separating.

“Ahh, nothing much!” Carson laughed while he finished buttoning up his jersey, “just got a series game to play nothing too big,” he shrugged. Cameron let out an overly dramatic huff to get both of the boy’s attention back on her. “Dad’s out on the field, most of the guys are too.” Carson pointed towards the staircase that led up into the visitor’s dugout. 

Cameron nodded in thanks before taking Dylan’s hand in hers, opting to pull him towards the field, itching to be outside on the diamond again. “Can you handle being in the Yankees dugout or is your ego too fragile?” She looked over to Dylan while she scanned the door open with the passes her dad had gotten for the couple. 

“Okay, I’m not that bad,” Dylan rolled his eyes while Cameron pushed the metal door open, the humid, hot and heavy summer New York air hitting them in the face when she did. “I’m just dedicated to my team.” Dedicated Dylan was indeed, it would always be a competition between the two when they would watch games back home. Whose team did better that week, whose team had the better stats, whose team had better chances of making it to the World Series. The competition would always be in good fun of course, nothing ever really rode on whose team did better, except bragging rights. 

Cameron leaned over and kissed his cheek, “and I think that’s adorable,” she reminded him. Once the pair stepped out on to the field they noticed most of the players were warming up in some shape or form. The infielders were running drills and those not participating were found in the back of the stadium, sitting on the fence of the bullpen, talking with the relief pitchers who were getting their arms loose before the game. 

“Someone is all grown up,” Cameron heard a familiar voice speak from next to her and turned to see Mark, one of the newer players, walking out of the bullpen. Mark had also gone to college with Cameron, although he had been a year ahead of her, he played on the LSU baseball team and had been a starter his freshman year.

Cameron rolled her eyes and accepted his offer of a hug. “You only graduated a year before me!” She laughed while he lifted her off the ground. She looked behind her once Mark put her down to see Dylan kicking the dirt with his beat up Adidas sneakers, an angry frown evident on his face.

Biting her bottom lip, Cameron walked over to Dylan and grabbed one of his hands that hung at his side and squeezed it, but he didn’t squeeze back like he usually would. Great, now she had to deal with a moody boyfriend for the rest of the day too. “Mark this is Dylan, Dylan this is Mark,” she leaned into Dylan’s side more. “You actually probably saw each other the night me and Dyl met at that bar we went to after finals your senior year.

“Nice to meet you for real man!” Mark laughed while he offered Dylan his hand to shake. “You got a real catch, I asked her out when?” Mark looked over to Cameron for confirmation on the years after he dropped Dylan’s hand.

Fuck, now she would really deal with a moody boyfriend for the rest of the day. “My sophomore year your junior,” she filled in. She knew that Dylan would be even less happy now that Cameron had just been getting all cozy with a guy she had rejected before she had started dating him. 

“Yeah she said no though, said it would be like dating her brother. Which was more of an insult than anything,” he nodded to where Carson was dumping a water bottle over one of the other player’s heads in the outfield while they warmed up, “he is something special.” Mark noticed that Cameron’s dad stood neat home plate, trying to round everyone up for batting practice and Mark offered Cameron a final smile. “Gotta go, see you later?”

Cameron nodded with a small smile, “yeah!” Mark leaned in and kissed her on the cheek before running off, his bat and batting gloves in his hands. Cameron had always thought that Mark would grow up to be incredibly handsome while they were in college together, she had just never been attracted to him.

“He asked you out?” Dylan asked once Mark would definitely be out of earshot of the couple. “And you didn’t tell me?” He sounded more hurt than anything. That would be how most of their arguments, if they could even be called that, went. Someone would feel hurt by something the other did and they’d voice their opinion about it and from there on it would be a downward spiral. It usually resulted in someone sleeping in the guest bedroom for a night and waking up to an elaborate breakfast the next morning.

Cameron ran her hands over her face, not in the mood to argue with Dylan around her dad’s players and staff. “It was sophomore year of college Dylan and I said no!” She pinched the bridge of her nose and let out a long sigh. “Look, I don’t want to get into this here. I’m going to say hi to my dad. If you want to pout over here feel free but I’m looking to enjoy the rest of today.” She spoke calmly before leaning up to peck his lips lightly before walking over to her dad.

“Look who it is!” He paused what he had been saying to his players to pull Cameron into a tight hug. Cameron smiled and squeezed her dad before pulling away, waving to the rest of the plays, most of who she knew. “How was the flight out this morning?” He asked after dismissing the players to get a few extra swings in before the game. “And why’s the boy toy pouting?” He nodded towards Dylan. 

Cameron just shrugged, “LAX is LAX, even if we did leave at three in the morning.” The couple had figured it would be the best time to fly into New York from Los Angeles, catch some sleep on the plane and nap once they got to her parents house. It had become their system when visiting there. “He’s not a fan of Mark, that’s why he looks so upset,” Cameron watched as Carson approached her boyfriend. 

Dylan offered Carson a halfhearted smile and then tucked his phone into his front pocket, crossing his arms over his chest before falling into conversation with the ball player. “Mark’s still trying?” James, Cameron’s dad, asked. “I think it’s pretty clear you and Dylan are in it for the long haul now,” he added.

“He’s not usually the jealous type,” Cameron spoke while she walked into the dugout with her dad. “I just,” she sighed, leaning against the bench. “I think it’s the fact that I’ve known Mark so long that’s getting under his skin, like the fact that me and Mark have more history will suddenly make me dump him for Mark ot something.” Cameron watched her dad hang the line up on the wall of the dugout, Mark not on the starting roster for the day.

James turned back to his daughter, a sympathetic smile on his face, “well if it makes Dylan feel any better, I’ll bench lover boy for the day,” he laughed lightly. “Just don’t tell him that I had already planned to take Mark off the roster for the day, he’s been making a ton of errors lately and we can’t have that right now.” Cameron looked at the lineup to see that her brother had been placed in the clean up position, as per usual. 

“Thanks dad,” Cameron sighed and wrapped her arms around her dad again, pulling him into another tight hug.

James just laughed and pulled away from his daughter, “don’t thank me, now go save Dylan from your brother before he talks his ear off about how we’re going to win today,” he nodded towards the two boys. Cameron just rolled her eyes and started up the stairs that lead out of the dugout. “And Cam,” she turned around again, “you mother and I are staying out here tonight.”

“Dad!” Cameron groaned, her face turning red, before she took the last two stairs, both in the same step to get out of the dugout faster. Walking over towards Carson and Dylan, Cameron knew the pair had seen her, but Dylan didn’t hold his hand out for her to take like he usually would. A pang of heart coursed through her chest, but she knew she had upset Dylan, and she should have realized what her actions would have done sooner.

Settling next to her boyfriend, Cameron saw her brother eye them both suspiciously before he fell back into his conversation with Dylan. Once there was a lull in the conversation and it appeared it would be dying off Cameron reached out and grabbed Dylan’s hand, but it stayed limp in hers. “If you don’t mind,” she butted in, “I’m going to steal him for a few minutes before the game starts because we need to talk about something.”

“There’s nothing to-” Dylan started, but Cameron cut him off with a sharp look that said they weren’t pushing this off until later. Dylan let out a long sigh, “I’ll catch up with you later dude,” he told Carson. 

Carson looked between his sister and her boyfriend before nodding shallowly, “yeah, catch up later,” he raised an eyebrow at Cameron, asking if she was okay. After she mouth an ‘all good’ back, he jogged towards the dugout and down the concrete stairs, emerging a few seconds later with his glove in hand. 

“Cameron I really don’t-”

“Nope,” Cameron tugged Dylan off a little further to the side of the field, where she knew no one could overheard anything. “If we leave this until later we both know that won’t end well,” she told him leaving absolutely no room to argue. “Now, you want to go first?” she dropped his hand and crossed her arms over her chest. 

Dylan tucked both of his hands into his shorts pockets and shrugged, kicking the dirt under his feet again. “I really don’t have anything to say,” he mumbled, clearly ignoring what Cameron had just said. 

“Well, I’ll tell you that I was never interested in him,” Cameron watched Dylan carefully even if he wouldn’t look up to meet her eyes. “He’s a self centered douche who always bragged about how amazing he was and everything was about him, he wasn’t humble and he never cared about anyone else, he just cared about how he looked to everyone else,” she took in a deep breath and when Didn’t reply she let out a long groan. “He’s not humble and he’s not willing to better himself, he doesn’t care about how anyone else feels and he never will. He’s not funny and his smile and laugh always seems fake and quite frankly my dad took him off the lineup for today because he’s such a self centered dick. And you should have more trust in me, I’m dating you and only you, my eyes are on you only, not anyone else, especially not him!”

Cameron watched Dylan look up to meet her eyes, his slightly shiny, but no longer hurt. He had his bottom lip between his teeth and pulled his hat off to card his fingers through his hair. “Sorry I doubted you, he’s just, everything you grew up with and probably wanted growing up,” Dylan mumbled. “And I just got jealous and afraid you’d leave me for someone like him, like everyone expected you to end up with,” he held his hands out for Cameron to take. 

Letting out a tiny sigh, Cameron threaded their fingers together and pulled Dylan closer to her. “Never doubt yourself, bubs,” Cameron kissed him lightly. “I have eyes for you and only you.”

“Love you,” Dylan kissed her again.

“I love you too, dork,” she smiled and pulled away slightly. “Now let’s go say good luck to my dad and thank you for the seats behind home plate,” she started pulling him towards the direction of the dugout. 

Dylan laughed behind her and rolled his eyes, “like I’d ever tell the Yankees good luck,” he said it just loud enough that Cameron could hear. Pausing in just far enough away from the dugout that they would still be out of earshot, Cameron pulled Dylan closer again.

“Say good luck,” she leaned up to whisper in his ear, “and we have the house to ourselves tonight,” she pulled gently on her earlobe with her teeth to drive her point home. 

Dylan closed his eyes and let out a quiet groan, “I hope they win then!” He pulled her towards the dugout again. “In extra innings though, of course.”

[murasaki-murasame]

Let’s just say that I decided to do some desperation summons in GBF because I only got two Tier 4 prizes in the ticket event thing and I became a being fueled by pure salt :)

So let’s just see how that went.

I did like 100 or so summons on the new gala and here’s what I got:

-SSR Sen

-Filene

-Grand Drang

-Summer Shiva [x2]

-Grand Shiva [also x2, lol]

-Summer Mandrake

-a couple of random weapon and summon dupes

I suppose I’m a little sad I didn’t get Summer Shalem, but she wasn’t a huge priority for me. Considering that I was only able to do a third of a spark before I ran out of resources, I’m really happy I at least got Summer Shiva, who was my main target. It’s also nice to get regular grand Shiva, but he didn’t really factor into my decision to pull here, lol. I guess having his weapon gives me yet another option for my up and coming Agni grid.

I’m actually really excited to get Drang, since he’s one of those grand units where I really wanted him, but not enough to spark for him. In terms of this grand pool I’d rather spark Jeanne [who I still want, but I guess it’ll be a while before I get her at this point]. I dunno how much use I’ll get out of him, but it’s nice to finally have him.

I guess Filene’s also nice to have, but from what little I remember of how she works I don’t think she’s super noteworthy.

I’ve never looked at Sen’s kit until now, but she actually looks better than I expected, lol. I dunno how much use I’d get out of her either since I have a lot of good wind units, but that just reminds me that I’m still missing Grand Naru, and since I didn’t get lucky with the lottery I probably won’t be getting her until the end of the year, which is when I plan to do my next spark.

Anyway, I was going to want Summer Shiva just based on his design alone [especially since he continues the trend of male seasonal units getting absolutely insane uncap art], but I’m glad that he seems extremely good. I guess it depends on the exact numbers of his kit, since with how long his cooldowns are and how punishing his G-Naru style passive is, he kinda needs his number to be worth it, but on paper he looks extremely good, especially in the current landscape of light.

The main thing is that, even with his passive, he basically has an unconditional unworldly charge attack, and it also gives him an assassin buff, which at first didn’t seem super crazy, but then I remembered that Nehan exists and can immediately give everyone double strike, which should mean that you on turn one you can use his charge attack and then immediately do a round of assassin-enhanced autos. Which effectively means that, at least in that team comp, he’s the turn one anytime assassin that light has been desperately needing, which is kinda insane. I’m curious to see who he replaces in the current meta team of Nehan, Jeanne, and HalMal/Zahl. I’d be surprised if he can’t compete with any of them, at least.

He also gets a free seraphic passive, which is great for freeing up a grid slot. The free refresh passive is kinda interesting, but probably not as important when it comes to racing. Depending on the numbers, it might do a lot to counteract Nehan’s debuffs, though. It seems like his first two skills also enhance the effect of those two passives, so I’m curious to see the exact numbers on those as well.

Summer Mandrake also seems surprising neat, especially with the upcoming introduction of dedicated sub-aura summon slots, since she gives your earth team immediate one-time dispel cancel. Which would have been really nice to have in earth GW so I could have used G-Sandalphon more easily, lol. But still.

Summer Shalem has an interesting kit, but she seems like she’s designed for hard endgame fights so I’m not really in a position to judge her properly. Her weapon is extremely bizarre in a bad way , though.

So yeah, all in all I think these desperation rolls were well worth it. I guess I could have saved this for the end of the month, but I wouldn’t have had a full spark by then either, and I think I’d prioritize Summer Shiva over basically all of the other new 2021 summer units I don’t already have.

At the very least, this worked out a fair bit better than the desperation rolls I ended up doing after this in Dragalia Lost, lmao.

[nemrut]

Epic 7 x Guilty Gear Collab

It is a good thing, but it is hard to say whether anyone should roll for it atm.

Sol is free and I did use him in one of the later abyss levels and after his buff he should be somewhat more usable but as to the rest, it is difficult to say. Sol is the "worst" hero of the lot, unless you really love him.

Baiken is and her artifact are good for hunts. Baiken makes Banshee one shot teams very attainable without needing ridiculous gear like you would need for someone like Yufine or the one newish green sword hero for the simple reason that she attacks twice and applies bleed with each attack. She does a lot more dmg with two attacks and a ton of bleed than the other heroes do with one attack. No great mystery there. In earlier days, back when the collab came out for the first time, some people used Baiken like they do with Topmodel Luluca today but that just doesn't work today anymore. You cannot build her fast enough to outspeed the faster units of today, so that one option is out. The other option is to make her slow and hit really, really hard and have like Aux Lots boost her but the problem there is, well, most units have immunity so her two attacks would not apply any of her debuffs on most heroes. You would need a unit that strips to also go before her, like Cerise, which is of course doable but at this point you are basically building a team to just set up a single target dmg hero with no real survivability and people just have way better options now.

And outside of Banshee 13, I don't think I have ever used Baiken. Maybe there is a boss in the challenges where she would work but dunno. She is really, really good for Banshee 13 but for (I think) literally nothing else so hard to say if she is worth rolling for at this point.

Her artifact is similarly really good for hunt, only for Wyvern as that extra debuff can make things more stable but it is in the end a crutch you will inevitably grow out of.

Elphelt is interesting because she was a strict PVP unit who was not that great at it. Her buffs make her better at it, granted, but a bit of a wait and see thing to actually observe how she performs with her buffs. I already have her, so thinking about throwing some molas at her but will see. Her artifact is good though, especially for Cerise. Artifact is also good for Wyvern or hunts in general.

Dizzy, well, Dizzy is still worth pulling...if it not were for the incoming collab, lol. She is just so good. Her usefulness in PVP has declined a lot, due to cleanse and immunity being a lot more prevalent these days and both of them shut her down but it is not like she can't be used at all. She can be used in RTA, arena and GW if you put some thought into it or as a counter. Heck, counter dizzy with either the cleanse artifact or abyssal crown is still useful. So, while not a 10 out of 10 there, she can still be useful. But where she really shines is the pve stuff. Dizzy has been invaluable in so many abyss stages. Her stuns, her blinds, her pushback, everything just makes a lot of bosses and stages just so much easier to deal with. Your tank is not that great, well if the enemy boss is slower, has its attack halved and also misses most of the time, your not-that-great tank can still endure for a long time.

But if you have already cleared all PVE content, well, don't think Dizzy will bring much to the table for you.

Granted, nowadays, she is not an absolute must have and rather just really handy and useful at times, but if you are in the earlier stages of the game, Dizzy will make your life in abyss a lot easier. Her artifact is meh, haven't really used it. It is not bad, but there are just so many really good mage artifacts that hers is just rarely useful. People said that ML mercedes (the four star) would be good with it but then again, absolutely NO ONE uses her, and hasn't for years at this point so, not really a reason to waste BMs to get it for that.

All that said, next month we will get a new collab. The GG collab units, at least Dizzy, has been meta defining for about a year. She was everywhere in PVP, and she still has a solid presence. She is also everywhere in PVE. For all we know, the next collab will also havea unit like that, maybe even two. So it could be that someone who used most of their current resources on the GG stuff will be unable to get the really good heroes of the next collab.

But the opposite could be true as well. Someone who passes on Dizzy and Elphelt could come to bitterly regret it because the other new collab heroes are super meh or from an IP that they absolutely dislike. Kizuna Ai is a pretty subpar hero and while she was a very half-hearted collab and I assume this next one will have a lot more effort and thought put into it, but it is possible that we might get gimmick heroes.

We just don't know what the collab partner will be and what kind of heroes will be released.

So, it is hard to say one way or the other. On one hand, you kinda want all heroes in the game, especially all limited heroes, on the other Baiken has a very limited usage and mine sat in storage or unused for over two years before I built her for a banshee oneshot team. We don't know how much Elphelt was improved and while Dizzy's usage has gone down, her worth and capabilities are well established and documented.

[yunharlaquin]

@rebelmade​ asked:      “plots please”

MAL YESSSSS... all the plots.

1.  Sequels

I had a sequels idea and went MWAHAHAHA when I saw you had a verse already which fits.    So, in Legends, Jaina is at the center of a HUGE pyschops mission in which she works heavily with Republic intelligence to pull of and ends up doing similar missions (of the intel variety) over time because of it.

So... it would only fit that in a sequels verse, Jaina is somehow involved with Resistance intelligence, if only because at first when she’s running supplies, she listens for intel.  As hot headed as she is in a fight, she has her mother’s intelligence and head for planning, so the likelihood of her having something to do at all with Cassian is pretty high in a world where he’s involved still.  It could even evolve into a sort of AU of what I have for sequels maybe?  If he thinks she’s a good asset, especially with her force training, perhaps he could get her involved in intelligence rather than starfighters.  She may be the daughter of a well known pair, but not many people know what she looks like as an adult or even know she’s still alive, so she’s not a bad fit.  Definitely potential mentorship things?

Could also be her getting more Jedi like and having issues with some of his more extreme methods...... or defending them.  I never know with her and these things. XD

2.  American  Revolution

Okay but this could ALSO apply to a lot of revolutions (not all... a few I can see her being on the defending side) or resistances, but since this is my favorite war hands down, I’m laying out this one.

Cassian could either directly tied into Continental intelligence (a la Turn) having been born in one of the then Thirteen colonies or immigrated there or is through being a Spanish intelligence officer (Spain helps the baby US during the war so this works) from the colonies (or mainland Spain idk where you’d want him to be from!)  BUT ANYWAY, is involved in some way with GW’s spy rings (he’d fit in so well with them, it hurts)   

Jaina could either be part of his ring of assets/be suggested by one of the already existing ones as a source due to... living in a British occupied area? city?  Or she could be a campfollower as her father and brother(s) are fighting in the Army and Leia and her can’t stay home because between Han’s smuggling and Leia’s involvement in politics with the boycotts and all, they don’t feel safe... but here, perhaps she could be employed to help out with idk cleaning, laundry, mending, something to merit her following the Army and she happens to demonstrate a head for such things, IDK.   I just thought Cassian would make such a perfect fit for an intel officer in this war I HAD TO.

3.  OT  but  Not  Solo

Okay, this is the... weirdest of the ideas I’ve had lately, but basically, pre rogue one and all that, Jaina being there but not through time travel... she’s just a force sensitive, maybe orphaned by the end of the clone wars, maybe she actually has the last name of Solo, but she’s not related to anyone she is in canon.  but she’s been dodging the Empire all her life trying to not get dragged into a program or killed, probably holds a lot of resentment toward them, so make her day, Cassian.

[incorrectgundamwingquotes]

Character ask game: Treize Khushrenada, Zechs Merquise, Lucrezia Noin

Treize

favorite thing about them: He’s clever and certain of himself, which was very refreshing when compared to Zechs and the chaotic dumbass protagonists.

least favorite thing about them: The fact that he’s memorized all the names of all the people killed in the war really irritated me. Look, it’s fine if you want a gray morality main antagonist with redeeming qualities and I know GW enjoys ham-handedly punching me in the face with some of its characters, but Treize has consistently shown that he values the people fighting/dying in war. This character aspect was shown with his dislike of using mobile dolls to fight. The audience never doubted how much Treize valued his soldiers, or even fighters in general (as shown when he fought Heero/Wufei). But then the show treated it like some Big Character Moment when he revealed he knew all the names of the people that had died in the course of the war, when it would have been far more telling if he hadn’t – that the human cost of the war had been so grievous and Treize was just another tool used to cut those people down. I just thought GW’s message of war being messy and horrible and trying for pacifism would have been carried out a lot better if it hadn’t been so intent on sucking Treize’s character dick to pass him off as the Ultimate     Mastermind. Treize was just another victim of war.

favorite line: “Humans need a higher system than God.”

brOTP: Treize+Zechs

OTP: 13xUne (Treize x Une)

nOTP: 13x5 (Treize x Wufei)

random headcanon: Treize had a lot of followers but very few friends, which was why he got so attached to Zechs.

unpopular opinion: Probably what my ‘least favorite thing about them’ is.

song I associate with them: “Feeling Good” by Michael Buble

favorite picture of them:

This angle is the funniest goddamn thing but like all of his pics are like this, it was so hard to choose just one

Zechs

favorite thing about them: His…hair…? j/k (kinda) ... His belief in fair play was an interesting thing to see, even going so far as to rebuild Wing so he could have a proper duel with Heero.

least favorite thing about them: He’s too smart to be acting as idiotic as he does. Even a bunch of traumatized 15-year-olds knew better than to destroy the planet despite how terribly Earth-born groups made their childhoods and Zechs still couldn’t get it right. I hope Noin uses that to win every domestic argument they ever have.  

favorite line: “Space calls out to humans. And the earth tries to pull us back down, saying that what we are doing is wrong...”

brOTP: Zechs+Treize

OTP: ZechsxCommon Sense and Basic Reasoning

nOTP: ZechsxAnyone But Noin

random headcanon: He’s pegged by Noin.

unpopular opinion: He either should have died at the end of the series, or stayed with Preventers instead of trotting off to Mars with Noin, because he should honestly never be trusted to be left to his own devices.

song I associate with them: “Wires” by The Neighbourhood

favorite picture of them:

kf;efnueaf;uejke -choking-

Noin

favorite thing about them: She’s an awesome soldier with a good head on her shoulders, and also still nurturing and maternal to the younger people around her. Action Girls tend to be either damsels or ice queens, but Noin shows you can be highly-competent and still kind, which was awesome to see.

least favorite thing about them: Her infatuation with Zechs.

favorite line: “In my mind, the value of life versus war is something one can’t even compare.”

brOTP: Noin+Relena, Noin+Sally, Noin+Une (post-series)

OTP: 9xS (Noin x Sally), 6x9 (Zechs x Noin)

nOTP: Noin x Relena

random headcanon: She never truly forgave Wufei for killing her soldiers in such an underhanded way, but this doesn’t stop her from working with him post-war because making sure a war doesn’t break out again is more important to her.

unpopular opinion: I hate how she chose Zechs at the end of the main series. I understand how…complicated…her relationship is with Zechs, but girl – everyone’s literally fighting a war here and your boo is trying to destroy the planet. Her choice to not shoot him essentially boiled down to her choosing Zechs over Earth, and she’s lucky that worked out in the end.

song I associate with them: “E.V.O.L.” by Marina and the Diamonds

favorite picture of them:

-continues wheezing-

[darkspellmaster]

Young Justice Theory: Final Crisis connections

Given events that have taken place over the last three episodes and the clue that the episodes spell Prepare the Anti life equation, it’s becoming more and more clear that that Greg and Brandon probably are pulling from Final Crisis and the events surrounding it. 

The more I’m looking at the events of good old Final crisis the more I’m seeing stuff going down with the YJ crew that mirror stuff going on with Final Crisis. And, while I don’t think that this event will happen in this season, I feel like we’ll see this whole event going on with either Season 4 or Season 5. 

-New Gods are at war and Darkseid manages to manifest inside the body of a human, and making him want to be the architect of a new universe. On top of this a Monitor is placed inside a human to deal with his failings in his duties. 

So we know that Darkseid is up to something since he’s making deals with the Light. We also know that Halo’s powers came from the sky. The question is was it coming from outside her or coming from inside her already. She knows facts about New Genesis, and realizes a lot of things about  herself and yet she doesn’t connect to her past self. Meaning that there’s the option that this can either be the Mother box they pulled apart and put into her, or that this could be a New God that is reacting to things around her. 

We know Orion is missing, or rather away, according to Bear. Could he or another God be in her? This could also be a Monitor, as they can also come in male or female forms and being placed in her as her body has the ability through the Mother Box to connect to the New Gods. 

-New God Granny Goodness posses a body of a Green Lantern to frame Hal Jordan for Murder, and that leads to Bruce deducing who she is and him being captured. This also leads to the call to arms by the Heroes for a war against Darkseid. 

So how might this play in. Well we know that the VR Sets that  are being put out are pushing the GW network which is run by jerk faced G. Gordon Godfrey, aka,  Glorious Godfrey -who works for Darkseid himself. 

Oh but that’s not all. As others have pointed out these goggles seem to connect to Granny Goodness, the head of the Female Furies on Apokolips and also a right monster. While it’s clear that these goggles are being used for possible corruption purposes, I think they’re also being used for scanning. Namely to identify children who have Meta genes to exploit them to build the army that Darkseid needs, and more than likely it’s scanning for pieces of the equation itself. 

Granny could very well be Helga Jace or anyone in disguise, and it’s clear that the others in the Light have someone that they’re working with outside of Godfrey. On top of this, given what happens in Final, it’s very easy to see Granny getting her hands on Batman after maybe framing someone on the team for murder. 

Having the JL have to rise up against them would make sense, which could lead to other issues with the Light later. 

Keep in mind the ones that they are going after meaning to Apokolips their minds can be ore easily played with. And who are the ones using the VR sets the most? Kids. 

-Outsiders and the Judas contract act as a distraction and the possible infection of various characters. 

With team Batman working their own and the looming implications for the Judas contract coming into play it’s not hard to see this working in favor for the Light. It wouldn’t be that hard to see, through some means, Wonder Woman and others being infected while out in space and carrying the illness to earth. This could led to a lot of problems, namely the title of Antisocial  Pathologies. Which more than likely will be covering the whole situation with the bacteria named Morticoccous. 

-Time Travel again and the return of Bart and Conner. 

So in the original story Lois get’s mortally wounded when a bomb goes off and wounds her at the Daily Planet. Meanwhile Barry and Wally have to race against the Black Death -the death of the New Gods, and stop a bullet from killing Orion. Meanwhile both Bart and Connner were returned from their deaths via the LoSH from the future and the two sent back to help save everyone. 

Likely we’re going to see Barry and Bart doing the running with Wally returning along with Conner if he’s killed to stop the situation. This may tie into the idea that Barry may go into the future with Iris leaving Bart with someone like Max or grow up Bart, or leave Wally as the only Flash with Jay joining them. 

-Dan Turpin searching for Missing kids leads him to the Dark Side Club, failure to stop Orion’s death and the fall out of Darkseid using the Anti life equation on the humans. 

So we already have people looking for missing kids, although we don’t have a Dark Side Club, and we already have a missing Orion, so that all checks out and connects. I don’t think he’s dead...yet, but it could come into play later. 

Okay so this is somewhat important. The Anti Life Equation is more commonly a math problem that is a math proof of the futility of life. This is unleashed through the net in the original story. However! I don’t think that will happen this time. 

Behind Babs is the Oracle Eye. Now this is not the normal Oracle looking icon. 

That is the oracle Symbol. You know what the eye is for? 

This is Brother Eye, a program that was created by Batman due to his paranoia from his memory being erased by Zantana in Identity Crisis. Brother eye is a huge satellite that watches Metahumans and can infect people with nanotechnology. 

It’s more likely that Darkseid will wind up controlling this and end up using that to infect or corrupt the people of earth. 

Meanwhile we would probably see Barry and Bart probably meeting Wally and possibly Conner in some future time line and fighting against the super human army that Darkseid created. More than likely we would see exactly how the supers that are not infected stay uninfected by the equation and possibly a cure to all of this in the form of a symbol by Anthro given to Metron of the New Gods. 

-Heroes of unlikely types. 

Given that Lex and Dr. Sivana play a huge role towards the end of this story helping to go against Darkseid I would not be surprised if we got the story point that, with the tech that Lex has, he and Silvana are able to get control from the Justifiers in this story with the heroes in the future and turn them back to normal so they can fight against Darkseid. We probably will see Damian here in this future. 

I’m really not sure how things will play out for the rest of the story. But given the ending being called Nevermore I think we may see some really depressing endings come out of this. 

Superman comes back from the future, and Batman get’s “killed” by Darkseid after escaping from being held by Commander D. The Flashes end up leading the Black death racer to Darkseid to kill him, meanwhile the Ray traces the Metron symbol across the earth freeing everyone, and then everything gets sucked into darkness after Wonder Woman releases Darkseid from the body of Dan Turpin. Superman, thanks to the LoSH finds a wish granting machine and has to sing to it to counter Darkseid, and winds up fighting against the evil monitor that has been mostly controlling Darkside. This leads to the army of Supermen from the multiverse to come and that leads to the arrival of various teams from across the multiverse to fight with the Darkness. In the end they win and Superman wishes for a happy ending. 

Turns out that Bruce isn’t dead, he’s sent back in time and has to time jump back to the future. This leads to the Battle for the Cowl, leading Dick to become batman, Damian to become Robin. Tim to search for Bruce as Red Robin and Jason to become a protector of Gotham. Barry Allen comes back from the dead, the Teen Titans reform with some fall out regarding Conner trying to figure out himself now, and Bart dealing with being dead and alive again. 

Honestly it’s hard to guess what they’re going to pull from this story but if I had to guess...

Return of Wally West from the Future. 

Batman “dying” 

Jason, Dick, Tim and possibly Cassandra fighting for the Cowl

Birth of Jon will come out of this I’m damn sure

Conner either deciding to go to the future because he feels he can do good there being with the Legion of Super Heroes. 

We may see hints of the Guardians of Oa taking on a bigger role or hints of the Crisis on Infinite Earths looming. 

I’m sure Young Justice Season 5′s crew will look very different than what we have now. 

Halo is not going to make it as I think she’s living on borrowed time.

Terra’s death and other things may lead to Brion staying with the team and helping them go forward. 

Forger will probably go back with the New Gods and become the Bugs leader. 

[unsprouted-seed]

Yeah ... I knew this was coming. Eating is too much... Is it really a relapse at this point? was it ever not? Hard questions to answer... either way I’m definitely back.

I think it’s just... gonna be like this. At least til I see my dr. The constant fight for control, back and forth. Starve one day, eat the next. But I feel very much detached from it right now.

Got tired of being sober. Drank some more. Seems like a terrible fucking idea, especially on an empty stomach, esp after such a bad experience so recently. Oh well. I’m taking it WAY slower. Had one glass of wine and I’m already pretty tipsy... no need to push it too far, I’m just glad to be feeling a bit out of it. Sobriety’s just too hard right now. ‘sides, wine’s got lots of cals... so better if I don’t have too much...

Pulled the trigger on my new housemate. My current housing situation’s on the verge of dissolving and the alternative’s moving in with my family which... god, what a nightmare that would be. So I stopped pretending I have a real option and just told my new housemate to come on down. I’ll work out the details when I work them out... I’m sick of having to have all the answers for everyone so hopefully it’ll work out but I can’t see the future... all I know is that it’s more likely to work out okay with another person than not. Maybe it’ll be great.

My uncle’s a recovering alcoholic. Apparently so much so that the doctors were afraid that he’d go into critical withdrawals if he stopped drinking too fast. Like, a really intense alcoholic. I���ve known plenty of alcoholics, drug addicts, and mentally complex people... and I had no idea that he had this situation. When he told me it was a big surprise, because I’d always thought of him as a really stable, put-together guy. Made me wonder...

I sit here and think ... I HATE being seen to eat, I HATE being seen to gain weight, to be seen to even be the weight I am now. I hate the idea of people looking at me and thinking “She doesn’t LOOK anorexic to me...” when I told mum it was SO hard because she had exactly the reaction I expected: shock. It was like... the least likely thing I could’ve said to her. Partly cos I hid it really well and partly cos... I don’t “look anorexic.” And that makes it SO fucking hard to even consider recovery. Not just because I don’t feel anything like what I want to... I’m nowhere near a gw that would work for me. But because ... when people look at me... people who KNOW I’m anorexic... I can FEEL their judgement, FEEL them scanning me for signs and symptoms and hints and shit, I feel the need to prove myself because my body doesn’t do it for me. I LOVE blood tests because they’re a catastrophe. I can point at them and say “SEE??? SEE????? IT SAYS RIGHT THERE, STARVATION!! LOOK I’M NOT LYING!”

I know that I’m paranoid. I KNOW that I’m paranoid, I’ve looked it up, I’m definitionally paranoid, I’ve been paranoid my whole life. I KNOW that when I can ... FEEL people judgeing me, when I can almost hear their thoughts, when I’m so fucking frail to their gaze and I’m cowering by the door wondering what the delivery person will think of me for ordering whatever i’ve ordered, or when I KNOW what my family’s imagining as they look at me, or when I just...

I know I’m paranoid.

But that doesn’t make me less paranoid. It just makes me more aware of how crazy I am, and more angry at myself for not being able to change it.

And I know that paranoia is a part of anorexia. I know the two go hand in toxic hand, dragging me down the same terrible path. I know that... even as I feel absolutely powerless to stop it. But I can’t help but wonder... When I describe anorexia to people addicted to other things I find it so helpful to describe it in terms of addiction. Addiction to control, to loss, to pain, to the agony of it. I just wonder... does my uncle fear that he doesn’t look alcoholic enough? Does he sit there and think ... if people don’t see him at his worst... was it even real? If he doesn’t hit rock bottom... if he’s not in hospital... if he’s not in the grave... is he alcoholic enough for people to treat him well? For them to believe him? For him to truly, honestly recover?

Would that even make sense to him to ask?

[mrslittletall]

Can I request "Bleeding Through The Bandages" for the Bad Things Bingo? Gwyneiros again, set in my Interrupted Path AU. Gwynevere has Oceiros chained in his room, visits him and tends to the bleeding sores the scales left after falling off, all the while showing him that he's making a mistake and if he follows on this path, L&L will be fatherless and Sulyvahn will win.

Prompt: Bleeding through the BandagesFandom: Dark SoulsCharacters: Gwynevere Queen of Lothric/Oceiros the consumed KingWord Count: 1.786AO3-Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15153839/chapters/38850275

Written for @badthingshappenbingo​

Summary: Gwynevere visits her husband in his solitary confinement after she forcefully tries to reverse his dragon transformation.

(Author's note: This is set in an AU in which Oceiros slowly transforms in his dragon state, but Gwynevere gets note of it and tries to reverse the process. It is the AU of my requester, but I have put my own spin and headcanons on these characters as usual. I hope you enjoy.)

This prompt gave me a second bingo ^^Also, this concludes all the requets I got. I have ideas for the purple marked prompts but you can still send them in to getting their position in the queue up. Also, I am still searching for a whumper for “Hiding an Injury”, so here is your change.

He had found true enlightenment.

When Oceiros had stumbled upon these books, describing an ancient magic based on crystals, he instantly knew he had found something great. He had moved these books in his garden, spending almost every waking hour devouring their content until he felt that even this knowledge wasn't enough anymore.

These books, all carried together by a dragon from an age long ago, weren't enough. He felt that he was so close to actually get it, to understand what it was about, but at the same vein it slipped through his fingers. That was when he found the ancient texts about the Path of the Dragon. So Oceiros decided to become one.

The transformation was a lot slower than he had expected though. It started out with some scales slowly growing in, a very itchy experience. And so it didn't take Gwynevere long to find out what he was up to.

And instead of helping him finding true enlightenment, she was horrified. She didn't understand at all. She didn't want to see him becoming a dragon, so she forcefully intervened and tried to reverse the transformation. And it was after one of this painful treatments, that Oceiros had been chained into his room, his body covered with bandages where the growing in scales had been ripped out.

Oceiros felt weak and was shivering, he only wanted her to understand. He was so close to find enlightenment, he could be such a better king, to help them all, maybe even ending the constant binding of the flame. Instead, he was chained into his room in the dungeon, forcefully stripped from the power he searched out. He wasn't even allowed to see his own children.

The door opened and Oceiros head perked up. It was too early for another treatment, but Gwynevere only sat down on his bed.

“Have you finally understood that what you are doing is wrong?”, she asked.

“Gwynevere, I am so close to find it. I know it. Why do you take it away from me?”, Oceiros hissed as an answer.

“Oceiros, please, I need you to understand.”, Gwynevere pleaded. “You are slipping away from my, from our grasps. Don't you think I have seen enough suffering to know when something is serious?”

Oceiros stayed silent, just staring at her. Then he slowly lifted his arm, intending to reach out to her, but it dropped back on the blankets, blood seeping through it. Gwynevere shot the arm a glance.

“Oh, the wounds started to bleed again. I will get some fresh bandages, just wait for me, my love.”

On her way to the needed supplies, Gwynevere's thoughts raced in her head. It was true, she had seen a lot of suffering already. Starting with the fall of Anor Londo and she had to admit, she had copped out from it. After her father had went to bind the flame and never returned, Gwynevere had ruled as the princess of sunlight for a while before taken the first marriage offer and left to marry a god of flame and rule with him over his realm. It still hurt her a bit that all of the knights of Gwyn had chosen to stay behind in Anor Londo, at least a few of the silver knights had followed, but they had been given new armour and names, fitting for the kingdom of flames they now lived in.

But this kingdom couldn't hold itself up. And once again Gwynevere witnessed a downfall. She never had received children from her husband, so leaving this place was an easy decision. Eventually she made her way back to what once had been her home country, to see that Gwyndolin had took over Anor Londo. Luckily for her, the kingdom of Lothric, that had been built on the ruins of Lordran, already had a king in search of a wife. And while her reasons may have been a bit selfish at first, the king turned out to be really resonating with her and the both of them fell into a pure and mutual love with each other.

So seeing him like this... it was destroying her. She realized that she had stand before the door for a while now, one hand on her stomach. She knew she was pregnant with their third child. She hadn't told anyone but the old Emma about this for now, Gwynevere felt like the high priestess was the only one she could trust about this in the current state of the kingdom. Everyone else was starting to fall out of her grasp, her husband trying to turn into a dragon, her sons were spending more and more time with the Pontiff Sulyvahn, a man she held a deep mistrust for. She really needed her husband to be there for her in this dire times.

She finally had opened the door and got the bandages she needed. On her way back she really wished her brother was here. Not Gwyndolin, they were at good terms and they were busy ruling over Anor Londo, which they apparently had rebuild from scratch after even the last knight of Gwyn had left. It was Gwynfor who she longed for. He had been so fascinated by dragons that he gave up everything to be with them. She didn't had a clue what she was doing, she was just trying to reverse Oceiros transformation by trying out different things based on her knowledge about dragons. But... maybe it was better that Gwynfor wasn't here, he may have actually encouraged Oceiros into completing the path of the dragon.

Gwynevere finally re-entered Oceiros' room. The king shifted his gaze to her, saying: “Gw.. Gwynevere, you were gone for so long.”

“I am sorry, I didn't want to make you worry.”, Gwynevere said and inspected the bandage that had bled through. She cringed by looking at it, the bandages were soaked in red and needed to get changed quickly. She silently got to work, removing the drenched bandage and taking a look at the wound the scales had left.

“You know, Osi.”, she said, wiping away the blood from the wound. “My father had a dragon as one of his closest consultants. He was called Seath. He betrayed his race. He did it because he lacked something they had.”

“What are you trying to say..?”, Oceiros asked.

“The 'knowledge' you talked about, the things that make you want to walk the path of the dragon. They sound very similar to Seath's research.” She sighed. “And Seath didn't gain anything from it. My brother told me that he had gone completely mad and had to be put out of his misery.”

She finished applying the bandages and the lowered her head, so that she could look into Oceiros eyes: “Please don't do this. The kingdom needs you. Our sons need you. I need you. We don't need a man that has got mad...” A tear formed in her eye.

“Oh, Gwynevere...”, Oceiros said. “I.. I am sorry, I didn't knew how you feel. What have I done? My.. our sons. Lorian, Lothric. Where are they? Can I see them?”

Gwynevere shook her head: “I am afraid I can't allow them to see you in this state by now. But maybe there is another thing I can do for you? Speak your wish.”

“Then.. let me just lay my head on your lap...” Gwynevere could hear the disappointment in his voice, but she knew it was too early for Oceiros to see his sons. He had completely neglected both of them during his “studies” and they had gotten close to that awful priest, Sulyvahn. She really hoped that he would snap out of it soon and help her winning their sons back and prevent the kingdom from being taken over.

Gwynevere slid to the site and made her lap available for Oceiros to lay his head in. As a goddess of bounty and fertility her body was quite matching to this title and she had a very comfortable lap to offer. Oceiros laid her head into it and she stroked his hair, having an eye on the bandages, hoping that no other wound would bleed through.

They stayed in comfortable silence for a while until Oceiros shifted more on her stomach. She did had an uncomplicated pregnancy so far, but this sudden weight made her feel slightly nauseous.

“Osi, please, don't shift your weight on my stomach...”, she whispered.

Oceiros raised his head, looking at her with worried eyes. “My love, is something wrong? Are you sick? Or hurt?”

There he was, bandaged from the treatment she had put him through, still weak and he was worrying about her. “I am not sick.”, she said. “And I am not hurt either... It is... something else...”

A small sigh escaped her lips. “I know I should have told you this, but... I wanted to stay quiet about it for now. There is barely anyone that knows yet. I am carrying another child.”

Oceiros' eyes first showed signs of confusion, then they lit up and he pulled himself up as much as the chains allowed him to give her a gently hug.

“Oh, my love, hearing this makes me so happy.”, he said. “This time... this time we won't do anything wrong. We will raise them with all the love and care we can give.”

“And we will surely get Lothric and Lorian back from this accursed priest.”, Gwynevere said, returning the hug. “But you know... doing this would be so much easier when you are not a dragon.” She released him and he sank bed onto the bed. “So please, think about it. For me, for our sons, for our unborn child.”

Oceiros eyes locked to hers. “I want to, I really want to. But, enlightenment. I am so close to it. I can't. Please don't take this away from me.”

Gwynevere just stared at him with a sad look. She had been so close. So close to snap it out of him. But at least, it had been some progress.

“I think you should try and get some sleep now, my dear.”, she said. “I will stay with you until you have calmed down.”

Oceiros laid his head back down in her lap again, carefully avoiding to upset her stomach. Gwynevere stroked his hair until she could hear the regular breathing of him having fallen asleep. She sighed, then slowly stood up, getting a blanket for her husband and headed for the door.

At least she had gathered enough strength to face another day defending her kingdom from the corruption within.

[jdmainman123]

#Report and we have it why I was brought here to these parts of the cities? We called it the integration and anticedent BUT MORE IMPORTANTLY LET'S HOPE YOU GUYS ARE TRYING TO COVER UP FOR THE STAGING WALL STREET OUTSIDE?

But what it has come down to is putting men around in the city to follow me? TO FOLLOW THEIR LITTLE GIRLS MAKE SURE THEY'RE NOT HAVING SEX OUTSIDE

I called it

WE CALLED IT WE NAME THIS BEHAVIOR THE REASON WHY THEY BROUGHT ME HERE TO THESE CITIES? A BROKEN SATELLITE when I'm in an area and you guys forced me to bleed and then make me thirsty and I have to get up and go and get a drink? Cigarettes are your answer and your remedy but what I have noticed about your cities they wouldn't have been built if it wasn't for cigarettes being sold at gas stations NEVER MIND IT'S JASON'S FAULT OR YOUR SON'S FAULT HE COULDN'T FEED HIS DAUGHTER 100% sure the only reason I get up sometimes is to smoke a cigarette? Because my mouth is closed and I forget to open it to breathe? EITHER I'M SICK OR I'M 6 OR I'M SEX so you guys broke down this language and found out the word that we always use to describe things is just the sound and is a wrong word? Thank you I mean f*** you up for her

So being in the cities I've noticed one behavior forcing me to get up and it's my balls or piss? Here's what really describes it all you brought me to cities where you have hired security guards to kick me off of properties

BUT THERE'S NOTHING MORE BEING PROTECTED HERE THAN THE ANTECEDENT BLACK SKIN MAN'S FACE OUTSIDE and allowing him to run around say no b******* no b******* outside after all we know it's a little girl searching for a nice warm cup of milk through a straw THAT'S RIGHT STRAW WOULD BE DICK HERE IN THIS STATEMENT

So there's nothing more you guys are doing here but follow me around making sure you cause incidences that boys and girls will remember and it will save their lives because they're better off dead NO B******* NO B******* NO B******* NO B******* THAT F****** N***** FOLLOWS ME EVERYWHERE TELLING EVERYONE NO B******* OUTSIDE NO B******* OUTSIDE

And we still need to figure out because the satellite is cut on cut out eyes it was very intentional and very specific of why I was here China doesn't like it I do not like it the cutout eyes reference BUT IT IS ONE IN THE SAME OF CUT OFF BLACK DICKS

If you guys want to cut out someone's eyes or cut off their dick it's easier you take a stick or a bat and smash their head in GW REFERRED TO THIS AS TWO BIRDS ONE STONE

The archive is very specific she didn't get sick wipe her ass with one hand and throw it in Gold sons face SHE LITERALLY PULLED HER PANTIES DOWN TO THE SIDE AND SAT ON MY DICK OUTSIDE

I told you they would all be with the wrong archive? If you guys wanted to do this the right way and save innocent lives in that force them because after you take away their money there's no reason to stricken them by fear with an incident YOU COULD HAVE KILLED EVERYBODY USING HIS COVID SHE WIPED HER ASS AFTER DIARRHEA WITH ONE HAND AND IT THREW IT IN GOLD SON FACE

And that lunatic n***** follows me I'm going to save you I'm going to shoot you in the head I'm in pain right now me continuing to be followed by you f****** people saying you're going to save me by shooting me doesn't promise me any less pain after all the statement is hashtag happened you don't do that to him well it happened THROUGH MY PAIN AND SUFFERING I HAVE MANAGED TO IMITATE OR CALCULATE OVER 10 BROKEN BONE CEREMONIES

If you guys are telling me the b******* f****** punishment satellite maker offered you break your leg break your arm then within 3 minutes shoot you in a head I'M LOOKING AT 3 TRILLION TIMES I'VE BEEN MAKING THIS BEHAVIOR? ALMOST EVERY TIME I CRACK MY KNUCKLES? IT'S JUST AN EXAMPLE

I called it

[tatooedlaura-blog]

Friday

the series read as follows:

Superman … Monday … Cheezy Pouffs … Bacon … Stumbling … Trail Mix ...  Punch

___________________

Scully was truly glad it was a cloudy morning. The sun, at this moment in her life, would have killed her … instantaneous eyeball burning and brain bursting … dead in the hammock …

How the hell did they get to the hammock?

And her tongue still felt numb.

Screw it, she was going back to sleep.

&&&&&&&&&

Then the neighbor fired up his lawn mower.

Mr. Delphine was a lovely man 99.9% of the time but right now, she was going to mulch him to death with his own machinery.

At least after a minute, he moved to his front yard, reducing Scully’s unqualified hatred to functional levels, “Mulder?”

“I’m going to kill whoever the hell that is.”

Before more conversation could occur, the mower was back and being the good boy he was, Mulder shifted hands to cover her ears, holding them mercifully closed until the mower disappeared again, “true love means holding your woman’s ears closed to deafening sounds while your own head throbs like the Rockettes are dancing on your brain.”

Not wanting to deal with noise again, she pushed him towards the side of the hammock, “go inside before he comes back and I can’t be held responsible for my actions.”

They stumbled into the house, managing the back door with difficulty, clumsy fingers smacking screen several times before making it to the kitchen, the quiet pushing down stuffily on their ears. Feeling the need to whisper, “I think your tongue is blue.”

Nodding, then groaning, “will be until at least Sunday. Can you get some water?”

“Sshh, why are you yelling?”

Scully ignored him, remembering where the bathroom was after a moment but still taking out a chair in the process of getting there. Mulder stumbled in before she could flush and peed standing beside her while she washed her hands, both too whatever to care. Immediately shutting the lid, he sat down, pulling her onto his lap, burying his face in her neck, “I feel terrible.”

As they both tipped off the toilet and onto the floor, “it only gets worse, believe me.”

Maggie found them a few minutes later, leaned on the wall, wedged between toilet and sink, “everything all right in here?”

“That stuff should be banned, Mom. Every watch list in the world should contain Ruth’s punch.”

Not approaching, knowing it might be best just to shut the door and leave them be, “I should have cut you off earlier or watered it down a little.”

Mulder squinted up at Maggie, “how are you not dying like we are?”

“Decades of practice. I’ve been drinking that punch for the last 30 years. I know precisely how much I can drink and how long to stretch it out for. You, my innocent darlings, need time and aspirin.” Throwing it out there and seeing if it stuck, “would you like me to make you some breakfast? Maybe some toast to go with your aspirin?”

Mulder turned green but Scully nodded, “yes, please. You wouldn’t happen to have tacos hidden somewhere in the fridge, would you?”

“No, but I do have bacon, pancake mix and ham.”

“Ham slabs?”

“Half inch thick if you’d like.”

Mulder pushed Scully from his lap, depositing her on her side on the rug while he hovered over the now open toilet, waiting to lose his stomach contents in front of two pairs of sympathetic blue eyes. When it didn’t happen, however and the feeling passed, Mulder glanced up at them, “ham slabs?”

&&&&&&&&&

Maggie made them breakfast, burning the bacon to extra carcinogenic and slapping more butter on the pancakes than Heart Healthy Diet approved. Letting them eat in peace, she sat down across the table, beginning her grocery list. As Maggie turned the sheet of paper over, Scully’s curiosity got the better of her, “is that your shopping list? Are you packing in for the apocalypse?”

Chuckling, “remember I have most of the kids for the next ten days so they’re going to want to eat.”

“Oh, yeah. I forgot that was next week.”

Mulder, his head not quite so angry with him, managed to work up a semblance of inquiry, “what?”

“Charlie and Dave and the girls are going on a 10-day cruise to the Mediterranean for their anniversaries and asked if I would be able to watch the kids while they were gone. I’m getting them Sunday afternoon.”

Raising an eyebrow at Maggie, “either you are very brave or they drugged you into compliance.”

Maggie slid the list across to Scully, “see if I missed anything and yes, Fox, I am very brave indeed. Where do you think Dana gets it from?”

Doing her best to focus on her mother’s handwriting, she gave up in a minute, “I can’t focus, Mom, I’m sorry. Just make sure to have an industrial jar of peanut butter and boxes of pasta and they’ll be just fine.” Fingers crossed under the table, “do you need any help shopping? I can go if you’d like.”

As she moved to stand, Maggie patted her shoulder gently, “it’s Friday, honey. I think Mr. Skinner would like to have you come in to work today.”

“Damn it.”

Mulder managed to do the hard math and figured out, through squinting and judicious use of his fingers, “we have about an hour until we have to leave. We’ll be late because of showers and changing but not late enough for him to scream at us for more than five minutes.”

“Sold.” Looking up at her mom, “can we go take a nap while you’re gone?”

She waved towards the stairs, “make sure to take another aspirin and drink a glass of water with it.”

&&&&&&&&&&

They made it as far as the living room couch, Mulder on his back, one foot still on the floor, while Scully scooted in beside him on her side, her four inches of real estate enough to have her in dreamland not 30 seconds later.

Maggie took a few pictures before she left, for posterity sake and the fact that she adored them both.

22 minutes later, he had to pee. He fought it valiantly but in the end, he had to extricate himself and find a toilet. While occupied, he heard a cell phone ring and he was not pleased. Grumbling while he washed his hands and headed back to Scully, cursing quietly the whole way, he saw her already off the phone, “if that was Skinner, just tell him we quit. We can live on tuna and city water and have the dental school at GW clean out teeth for free.”

Scully found her voice, thickly coated in fear and shock, “It wasn’t Skinner. It’s Mom. She was in an accident and I need to go to DC General.”

“Shit. I’m sorry.” Hurrying over, “is she okay? What happened?” Already heading towards the stairs to get his shoes on, “let’s go.”

Standing still another moment, she managed to get her legs moving, jamming her bare feet into sneakers as Mulder dug around for the keys he’d set somewhere the previous night. As she locked the door behind them, Scully continued her narrative, “they found my number in her phone. She was in a car accident and she’s not awake but they said she was stable.”

“That’s it?”

“It’s been maybe 15 minutes since it happened.”

Rolling his eyes and opening the car door for her, “that’s 12 minutes more than you’d need to figure out what was wrong and fix it.”

Even through her mounting panic, she slipped a half-second smile, “I’m not magic, Mulder, and neither are they.”

“Yes, you are and they should be.”

Not pulling away from the curb yet, Scully looked at him, his eyes closed, his skin pale, “do you want me to drive?”

Really wanting to be the guy who took care of his girl in time of need, he nodded, his head dizzy still from the liquor, “I think I might still be a little drunk.”

Having sobered up when she heard the word ‘accident’, she got back out, switching spots with him, “I wouldn’t doubt it.”

&&&&&&&&&&&

Her hands began shaking of their own volition the closer they got to the emergency room and taking one as they walked into the building, Mulder found it freezing, skin rough, fingers small, bones protruding. Her voice, however, was steady as she asked where Maggie was and then followed the nurse to the curtained off area. He vaguely listened to the scientific jargon, registering a few words at a time, namely: broken ankles (plural, holy shit!), broken wrist (singular, workable), dislocated shoulder on same arm (been there, done that, doable), glass cuts to face and neck (need to get her a better car with that tempered glass crap), bruised ribs (totally need a few days rest but that’s it), and slight concussion from knocking the door frame (if it’s anything like a gun hilt to the temple, she’ll need several Tylenol ever four hours) …

Then, gloriously, he heard Maggie’s voice drift to his ears, “honey, I’m okay but I think the car is dead.”

Scully pulled him along as she maneuvered her way towards her mother, “don’t worry about it. We’ll get you a new car.

Mulder, overjoyed that Maggie was talking clearly, piped up from behind his partner, “what happened?”

Between wincing as the nurse cleaned her cuts and the doctor injected her with something to put her out so he could re-locate her shoulder, she managed to tell them of the red light runner that hit her just in front of the driver’s door, crushing the metal and capturing her ankles between pedal and pedal and pedal and engine block housing, the door folding in on her hand, bending it back and snapping bones and her head going through the side window. Mulder wanted to throw up a little and Scully looked positively livid, Mulder firmly believing she would kill the other driver if she ever got her freezing little fingers around his throat.

Once Maggie, mid-word, drifted out of consciousness due to drug induction, the doctor politely dismissed them while they re-socketed her arm. Mulder left immediately, taking Scully with him by the elbow. Now in the hall and behind the pulled curtain, Scully turned to him, dropping her forehead to his chest, deep breath rattling a contained sob the likes of which made him want to cry himself. Sliding arms around back, he moved her to the side, out of traffic and rested his cheek atop her head, “she’s going to be fine. She was talking and she’s going to be fine. You saw her. She’s fine.”

Pressing firmly into his shirt, her voice cracked an octave, absorbed mostly by cotton and flesh, “for 15 minutes in my head, she wasn’t and I can’t … I …”

The sentence stopped there and he didn’t push, knowing exactly how she felt, his fear different but the sentiment the same.

&&&&&&&&&&&

It took almost two hours for them to finish Maggie’s arm, get better x-rays, cast her feet up, then settle her in a room. By then, Scully had returned to her natural resting state of smart, sassy and emotionally-controlled. Mulder had returned to sober.

Safely enclosed in the room, door closed to hospital sounds, Mulder moved a chair over beside the bed, “why don’t you sit down and I’ll go see if I can find something to snack on? I can hear your stomach growling from here.”

Scully moved to the end of the bed instead, giving her mother a thoroughly medical stare, sizing up injuries, competency of repair and aftercare, “Mulder?”

“Yeah?”

“Remember that time that you broke just one leg?”

Without difficulty, he recalled the boot wrapped around his appendage for six weeks, “yeah, I recall something about it.”

“Imagine that on a 60-year-old woman but triple the difficulty and surrounded by five kids under the age of 10”

Dawning hit him like a freight train, “I totally forgot about the kids. Did you call Charlie?”

Mind already churning out a plan, “yeah. He’s on his way but they can’t cancel the trip, I mean, they can but Mom would kill them.”

“I can see the hamster wheel spinning. What are you thinking?”

Moving to his side, she stared at her sleeping mother, “I’m thinking I need to move it to take care of her and since I’ll be there, the kids can stay, too.”

“We may need more of Ruth’s punch for that.”

[murasaki-murasame]

Now that the 7th anniversary roulette is over in GBF, here’s one giant post going over everything I got from it. I had to make a whole note on my computer listing everything just to remember it all, but it was worth it, lol.

This is gonna be long, so I’ll put it under a cut.

TL;DR: 19 days of pretty much hot garbage, ending with a surprisingly good spark that I wasn’t even initially expecting to do.

I’m gonna just copy-paste my exact notes since it’d be a lot easier than trying to summarize it here.

Roulette: [Dark Character Banner] Day 1: 30 Rolls [Nothing] [Character Weapon Banner] Day 2: 30 Rolls [Nothing] Day 3: 10 Rolls [Nothing] Day 4: 20 Rolls [Kou Dupe] [Summon Banner] Day 5: 100 Rolls [Florence, Danua dupe, Siren, Poseidon the Tide Father] Day 6: 20 Rolls [SSR Dark Vira] [Flash Gala Part 1] Day 7: 10 Gachapin Rolls, 10 Mukku Rolls [Garula, Herja] Day 8: 10 Rolls [Hector] Day 9: 10 Rolls [Nothing] Day 10: 10 Rolls [Nothing] [Flash Gala Part 2] Day 11: Guaranteed 100 Rolls [Shitori, Grand Europa, SR Mary, Agni dupe, Grand Grimnir dupe] Day 12: 50 Gachapin Rolls [Macula Marius Summon] [Summer Characters Rerun Banner] Day 13: 20 Rolls [Summer Lucio dupe] Day 14: 20 Rolls [Nezha Summon, Summer Tyre] [Summer Characters Rerun Banner Part 2] Day 15: 30 Rolls [Dark Jeanne, Water Silva, Olivia Summon, Summer Charlotta] Day 16: 30 Rolls [Nothing] Day 17: 30 Rolls [Summer Ayer] [Summer Characters Rerun Banner Part 3] Day 18: 10 Rolls [Owen] Day 19: 30 Rolls [Summer Silva dupe, Summer Tanya] [Gala] Day 20: 20 Rolls [Catura, Garuda Summon, Morrigna Summon, Herja dupe] Anniversary Scamcha: Noa, some Damascus Crystals Day 21: 100 Guaranteed Rolls + 50 Super Mukku Rolls + 70 normal rolls [Hallessenna, Summer Korwa, Summer Jin, Athena, Light Zooey, SR Leona, Scathacha, Macula Marius, Grand Leona, Fire Clarisse, Water Charlotta, Freezie, SR Elmott, Vajra [from spark], Catura dupe, Katapillar dupe, Lancelot dupe, Lilele dupe, Demonbream summon, Nezha summon, Zirnitra summon, Adramalech summon, Freyr summon, Aphrodite summon]

Scratcher: Day 1: Ring, Berries, Raphael summon dupe, Gold Spellbook [missed out on Europa] Day 2: Gold Moons Day 3: Silver Centrums [missed out on Shalem] Day 4: Intricacy Ring Day 5: Light Earrings Day 6: Water Earrings [missed out on Sariel and a Grand Rackam dupe] Day 7: Gold Spellbook [missed out on a sunlight stone] Day 8: Bronze Moons [missed out on Bahamut and Grand Alex] Day 9: Grand Rackam dupe [missed out on Black Knight] Day 10: Lineage Ring Day 11: Half-Elixirs Day 12: Water Earrings Day 13: 3,000 Crystals Day 14 [+ ROTB Scratchers]: Damascus Crystal, Coronation Rings, Silver Moons, Gold Moons [missed out on Sturm, Zeus, Hades dupe, Pholia dupe, and G-Vira dupe] Day 15: Sariel Summon Day 16: Half-Elixirs [missed out on Ferry dupe] Day 17: Primeval Horn [missed out on Rei] Day 18: Dark Earrings [missed out on Rosetta] Day 19: Silver Centrums [missed out on another Rackam dupe] Day 20: Wind Earrings [missed out on Sturm again] Day 21: Guaranteed Sunlight Stone

I know there was no real point even caring about all the stuff on the scratchers that I didn’t get, since the whole thing’s rigged and I was never gonna get them anyway, but I wanted to note it down just to highlight how much misery they put me through, lmao. The only grand weapon I got was a Rackam dupe, and that’s not even one of the good grand weapons, if I wanted to get into making an Agni grid.

The roulette pulls before the spark were also pretty bad, but probably not as bad on average as the scratchers. I at least got some actual new characters out of them, lol. From the ones I got, I decided to level up Dark Vira since I was already leveling up some of my other dark characters, but I dunno if I’ll ever use her. Dark is probably the element I have the fewest characters in, but I have enough good ones that there’s probably no real place for her in my team, especially after I get Six. I’m also leveling up Water Silva now along with Vajra, and I might end up using both of them in my water GW team. At least with the current state of my water grid, I think Silva might work pretty well for OTK purposes. I’ll probably also level up Europa and Macula Marius soon too, but I dunno how much I’ll actually use them. Macula will at least be nice as a backline unit to make Romeo even better, at least.

Other than that, I probably won’t use Florence since she just seems kinda niche, and I have enough good wind units, even though I like her design a lot. Shitori seems kinda meh compared to all the light units I’ve got at this point, so I dunno if I’d use her outside of maybe OTK stuff, but I think we also just got done with light GW a few months ago, lol. And since I continue to have way more earth units than I know what to do with, Herja’s at basically the bottom of the pile.

I also got a few new random SRs, but aside from using Summer Ayer and his new EX pose as a skin for his normal version, I probably won’t use them.

Then we get into the spark itself on the gala banner at the end of the month, which at least went a long way to redeem my mediocre rolls leading up to that point. Ignoring the fact that I had like 1% left to the gachapin frenzy meter on the final day and that all went to waste, lol.

Even though I did buy the annitix [which I used to get Halloween VasZeta] as well as both Yuisis and Yurius’ anniversary skins, I still would have been able to spark here without any of that, which is kinda surprising since I basically used my entire stash last month to spark V-Aglovale knowing full well that it’d probably ruin my chances to spark here. I actually ended up with nearly 70 summons worth of crystals left in my stash, and I still have like eight or so side-stories, 40-ish chapters of the main campaign, and a whole lot of fate episodes to get through. So I’ll probably be able to spark for summer as well. Super Mukku really put in a lot of work by giving me 50 extra free rolls on top of everything else.

Anyway, Vajra was my spark target, since water GW is coming up, and she’d probably benefit me more than the other zodiacs would, so I ended up just getting her that way at the end of it all. I still want to get Mahira eventually, but I just don’t think I’d get as much out of her right now. I actually might have been somewhat tempted to spark Catura since I have most of the other main wind units including V-Grimnir, but obviously I didn’t end up needing to spark her anyway, lol.

I’m still kinda baffled that I got not one but TWO copies of Catura from this banner. I would have preferred to just have gotten a second new zodiac instead, but this was at least really funny. So now I guess I’m leveling her up, along with Summer Korwa, who I also somehow lucked my way into. I’ve heard that she works nicely with Catura, so that works out really nicely. I do already have regular Korwa as well, but I’ve been wanting Summer Korwa ever since I heard about her rebalance. I’m quickly hitting the point of having more wind units than I can reasonably use, but it’s nice to have her. 

Also on the note of wind units that I stumbled my way into getting, I now have Scathacha. I knew about her as a character since I already have Wind Naoise, and I got her Valentines alt last month, but I only just looked into her kit now that I have her, lol. I’m actually pretty happy to get her, since she sounds like she synergizes really well with my wind roster. Mainly since she has full uptime on wind attack buffs to pair with Grimnir’s passive, as well as providing team echoes for V-Grimnir’s passive and both of their team shields. It also sounds like it’d synergize really nicely with Relic Buster’s team shield ability as well. I’d like to also find a use for Summer Korwa, but I could actually see myself using Scathacha in my core wind team after I level her up.

In terms of earth units, I’m probably never gonna use Hallessena since I have other units that are less risky than her to use, but it’s nice to have her. I at least like her as a character, going by the Robomi events. But aside from her [and VasZeta from my annitix], Grand Leona is probably one of the big surprises from this spark. I might actually see myself replacing Baal with her in my main earth team, since I feel like he doesn’t really do a whole lot outside of his Session buff. She also benefits from Melleau’s passive, even though she won’t benefit from Hollowsky Axe. Now that I have both her and Grand Rein, it makes me even more interested in getting Cain later, but we’ll see how that goes.

I also got Water Chatlotta along with the other new water units I got, but like with Macula I think I’m only gonna use her for her backline passive. But it’s nice to have her just for that, since it seems pretty important for certain specific set-ups that need her extra bit of charge bar.

While I’m thinking about it, I think this Danua dupe is now my *fourth* copy of her weapon, so I guess I can just fuse them all together if I want to uncap it. I probably won’t bother, though. It seems like one of the few enmity-based light gacha weapons, so it’s probably worth keeping them separate just to be safe.

Funnily enough, even though I keep saying that dark is probably my thinnest roster at the moment, I dunno if I’m gonna use or bother leveling up Dark Jeanne or Freezie. I don’t think either of them will do enough for me at the moment. But it’s always nice to get new characters. Same goes for Light Zooey and Fire Clarisse as well.

Oh yeah, and I also got the anniversary scamcha. Which I wasn’t really planning to do, and I obviously didn’t even need to do it to finish the spark, but like with the other stuff I got this month, I’ve been really needing some retail therapy lately because of IRL stuff, so here we are, lol. Part of me kinda regrets it, but it ended up getting me Noa, so it worked out for the best. It probably would have been ideal to get either Vajra or Mahira instead, but in terms of the gala units from this pool, Noa was probably the one that I wanted most. I dunno if I’m even in a position to get much use out of him, but it’s really nice to have him.

Athena was also a huge surprise. She was on my list of suptix targets, so it’s nice to cross her off the list. I dunno how much use I’ll get out of her in the short term since I have Fire Siegfried already, but I can tell that she’ll be good to have in the long run. For a long time my flame roster felt really weak and empty, but it’s REALLY improved over the last few months, now that I have Zeta, Yuisis, Siegfried, C-Nemone, Yuel, and Athena.

I didn’t get many interesting summons this time, but Zirnitra’s HP sub-aura will be nice, and Demonbream might be good for wind enmity stuff. I did get another copy of Agni, but I’m not really anywhere close to being able to make an actual Agni grid. Which makes it hurt all the more to be taunted with Sturm twice in the scratchers, lol.

On the one hand I’m glad that magnafes is being extended so I have more time to hopefully level up some of these new units with the campaign quest, but on the other hand I’ve already spent so much time grinding that map during this event that it’s kinda driving me insane. At the very least I really want to level up Vajra in time for water GW.

I guess now my priority is to save for a spark during summer. I’d like to spark Mahira at some point, but I might end up sparking a new summer unit or something instead.

I dunno when the next suptix will happen, but my current main targets for it are Light Percival and Dark Eustace. Percival seems way better after his rebalance, and he seems to synergize really well with V-Aglovale, and Eustace seems really good with his 5-star uncap. I’ll probably end up going for Percival, but we’ll see.

I’m also putting off getting into the whole M2 grind, not to mention stuff like Akasha and the dragon raids that I can do now that I’m over rank 150, lol. I wasn’t even expecting to get that high anytime soon, but the recent exp boosting event got me way more ranks than I was expecting. Either way, I can’t really act like I’m particularly limited by my roster of characters at this point, so I mostly just have to motivate myself to get into it. I do still need to do some extra stuff with my grids first, like getting my seraphic weapons to SSR, and getting my Omega summons to 4-star, though.

So yeah I think the spark itself ended up going really well, even if the journey up to that point was kinda bad, lol.