#the reason my aunt and uncle are feeding me lol

[shadow-bender]

Diversity win the pilots flying the fighter jets in the U.S milatary propganda event are all women!

[yappingmoxie]

idk I think a few years ago when I really realized what all was happening. like I loved (and love that’s important) my family and wanted as much time with them as possible. but a part of me was like “this is bad. this is really bad. and it’s gonna get worse. for sure it is going to get worse. but then you can grieve and things will be lighter and eventually easier. you’ll find new ways to cope and things will suck and you’ll miss them forever but it won’t be so painful. for them or for you. they’ve made their peace so you need to start too” and I know it’s selfish. but none of that is true lol. not in the least. I want em all back. even in the worst of it. I knew how to handle that. knew how to just be when they were here. knew how to care for them and look after them and help. I mean that’s all I’ve ever done. and that’s not a complaint for anyone except my mom. but now I just don’t have that. and life feels a little purposeless. idk. when you’ve been taught since a kid that your reason for being there is looking after people and then all the people you have to care for die it’s hard. and I mean. those were some of the most traumatizing years of my life. having to see family slowly go from strong and themselves to weak and not. like I wouldn’t wish watching ppl you love waste away like that on anyone bc it genuinely is the worst thing I’ve ever seen. but yet I’d be right back there in the worst of it. feeling like there’s no way my heart could break any more if it meant I had them back and could love them. all of them. I talk about my grandma a lot but really I think that’s just because she was always with everyone. I miss my aunt. and my uncle. and my papa. and even sometimes I miss my stupid ass mom. I saw every one of my family cry and they never cried. and I think about that a lot. I remember when my aunt was in hospice and how my uncle never left her side. he still talked to her just like he did before. kept saying how he heard that their hearing is the last thing to go and that broke me a little bit. he didn’t want her to be lonely and I don’t think she was. she had a room full of people loving her. and that was right. that is how everyone should leave. but it doesn’t work that way and it makes me so so so angry. I was the only one who visited my papa. I was the only one who took my grandma to see him. me and her had to be there alone and hear him cry and beg to come home and talk about how he missed us. and we couldn’t and that broke me too. the fact that that was only a few weeks before he died hurts to think about. I think the last thing I remember feeding him was some cherry pie. idk why I remember weird little things like that. I’m glad I do but I also hate it. because I love remembering them. all of them. but I hate it too because it hurts so fucking much all the goddamn time. they’re everywhere but actually here with me. they were all so ingrained into my life for my whole life that it genuinely just feels like bits of me, the bits that are me, are missing. just snatched right out of me and I feel so empty and literally nothing has can or will make me feel whole again. I do not see how people deal with grief when it is so suffocating for me. I know I’m not the only person to experience grief. and I’m sure other people have experienced it worse, as hard as that is to imagine. but grief is so fucking tricky that it really does just make you feel alone in it.

[exvangelicalrage]

christian Music Sucks

5/10/23

I have this very specific, strange set of songs in my head. It's kinda like mental shrapnel that never got excised, despite having long ago left christianity.

I was listening to music with my in-laws the other day, and the song "American Pie" came on the playlist. But the thing is, when I was a kid, I learned a christian parody version of it. So while a normal person's brain is going, "A long long time ago, I can still remember / How that music used to make me smile..." my brain instead offers, "A long, long time ago, a lowly couple made a journey / to a place called... bethlehem." 

Yes. They made it into a christmas song. 

The chorus goes, "And my, my can you feel it inside / there's no other like a brother who would lay down his life / he was sent by the father just to be crucified / so that you and I can never die / you and I can never dieeee..." 

"Mambo #5" became "The Farmer Song" (Jump up outta bed at 4:02 / because a hard workin' farmer's got a lot to do / no time for a meal cuz the clock is tickin' / when you gotta milk the cows and you gotta feed the chickens—and yes it had a christian theme about faith and how god provides); "Stayin' Alive" became "Stayin' Awake," which was about being tired and trusting god to take care of your needs; "We Are the Champions" became "We Serve The Champion"; "We Didn't Start the Fire" became "We Didn't Say Your Town Right" (which was a fundraising song)—and so far I've only mentioned songs done by John and Denny who were the hosts of The Morning Show for Family Life Network in upstate New York. 

Apologetix was the other big parody band from the 2000s that I remember. Among others, they ruined "Absolutely" by 9 Days by turning it into "Story of A Squirrel":

This is the story of a squirrel Who God preserved when He drowned the whole world And while things looked so dark and Noah's ark was absolutely flooded Yet she's fine

You can look them up if you need a good laugh (or a good cry). 

The thing is, I never know when one of these songs is going to blindside me. I'll just be walking through a store, and suddenly my brain will be singing "this is the story of a squirrel" and it'll get stuck in my head for hours. Mental shrapnel, like I said. 

I find find that these moments trigger a very special kind of rage. 

Because here's the thing: most christian music sucks. And the originals of many of these songs are absolute historical pieces of art. American Pie? Bohemian Rhapsody? Sounds of Silence? As a reasonably musically talented kid, these songs were incredible to 11-year-old me, who only really had hymns and Michael W Smith for comparison. They were some of the best songs I'd ever heard—catchy, interesting, complex. 

And christians ruined them. 

I get it too. I get why they did it. I like Word Crimes by Weird Al a million times better than whatever the original is. And it makes sense christians might want actually good music but with lyrics that didn't offend them. I get it. Like, I remember how shocked I was when I heard the original lyrics to Mambo #5 lol. So yeah. I see the logic.

It still sucks.

It's a bit of joke now between me and my spouse. A song will come on a playlist or in a TV show, and suddenly I'll be singing some weird-ass lyrics that don't make any sense, and J will be rolling his eyes and teasing me. I usually laugh too.

But sometimes, instead, I'm struck with this deep, abiding sadness. That something as simple as culturally relevant music was ripped away from me because it was "evil." J can sing along to music with his parents, grandparents, aunts & uncles, cousins & friends, and coworkers, no matter their age—simply because he was allowed to listen to the radio. It's a shared experience, a bridge, a way to establish connection between generations, between strangers, between friends. 

And yeah, of course I've now learned most of the originals. I can sing along too. But it's not the same. It's not a memory I have from childhood, of listening to the radio or having my parents introduce me to their favorite musicians or recalling the song played at my senior prom.

Everyone else isn't just sharing music. They're sharing memories. They're sharing nostalgia. They're sharing emotion. 

And I'm over here stuck with "this is the story of a squirrel..." 

[quaranmine]

HOW COULD I FORGET TO INCLUDE MY (VERY BELOVED) IDIOT UNCLE IN THIS POST?

guys he's been rescued by rangers like. multiple times. they Know him. I won't go into it but at least he's never made it into a public incident report so I can't doxx myself LOL. He's actually very experienced, and has even written featured articles to backpacker magazines, he's just also very scatterbrained, injury prone, and a little too idealistic about his hiking partner's abilities.

He once forgot all his food for a 5 day river trip and my dad just happened to have enough extra to feed him too.

in dec 2019 me, my friend, my dad, and my other uncle had to rescue him and my cousins on a hike. We did a hike as a long one day loop (like? 14-16?? miles) and they were going to backpack one or two nights. We coordinated to start on opposite ends in order so we'd cross paths at one point. Well now it's ~5 pm and the sun is setting soon and we have about 3 miles of trail left. But we haven't seen them yet. They weren't at their first night campsite. We're worried.

Then we see them at twilight. They're still like 3 miles from their campsite and only made it 2 miles down the trail. THEY RAN OUT OF WATER. TWO MILES INTO A 3 DAY TRIP? I had already hiked like 14 miles that day but I donated all my remaining water to them to use since I was reasonably confident I could make it to the bottom without dying.

My aunt wasn't in physical shape to do this trail to begin with so we had to co-opt a nearby campsite have set them up to spend the night, hoping that it wasn't booked by someone else who hadn't arrived yet. Then me and my friend hiked down with my younger cousins in the pitch dark (in bear and mountain lion country.) We got to the parking lot at 9 pm.

This, my friends, is why you always bring a headlamp on a day hike. And more water than you think you need. And a jacket even if you didn't need it earlier.

And that's how I managed to (help) save my silly family from needing (another) ranger rescue back in 2019.

psychological investigation of the path between me reading (and rereading) Death in Big Bend by Laurence Parent when I was like 11 years old to me writing firewatch au at 22 years old

[clonehub]

Wait wait wait, I'm turning my Anthropologists brain on--

Verocians are by nature more communal than humans are. I'm talking all of Verocian society is physically, verbally, economically structured around a) families, and b) reliance on other people

(Yuza living by herself in an apartment for as long as she did was incredibly strange to her friends. Even her boss started getting worried since she clearly had no nearby family)

(clones I think would mesh very well with Verocian society if for nothing but the sheer need to Be With People)

Specifically I'm gonna talk about the birth event now. Many parts of who I am as a writer are fueled by spite against whatever happens to be bothering me in the moment. The American birth culture is ass, absolute booty cheeks. Wouldn't recommend it

Verocians mostly do home births except for high-risk pregnancies, in which case the birthing parent is placed in a hospital. But even still, this doesn't mean that family and/or friends can't be present (except for during the most emergent of times, obv, like surgery or something) but for example, when Kiki was delivering her kids, her aunt (Force sensitive and a midwife, basically ran the medical aspects of the household when Kiki showed up) was present, delivering the kids. Cord was there. Jax was there. Crusade Squad was in an out. At her first birth, her two best friends were there.

Irl, birth tends to be viewed through two main lenses: as a natural event or as a thoroughly medicalized event (guess which America is lol). Verocia is the first. Birth is seen as not just a medical event, but a family event--a new child is about to be added to the ranks, and it's everyone's duty to support their and the mothers journey getting there.

Maternal/infant mortality rates are low for a variety of reasons.

In terms of child rearing, again it's more family based. The parents are the ultimate authority, but aunts and uncles help to raise, feed, clothe, etc the kids. Cousins watch kids, learn about how babies work, etc. Siblings are not off the hook lmao. Households are multigenerational. As an example, Kiki's kids were always sneaking into Marik's bed, her other nieces and nephews liked to play with and be carried by her, and all the children would take naps with Bliz when they were young.

[lgchyera]

yo yo yo what is upppp!! some of you know me but for the majority who do not, it is sun here with my first muse ever at lgc lol after all the overwhelming moments of contemplating lgc over the how many months ive finally decided to give it a shot and join bec ngl ive been dying to fc moon gayoung for a while!! anddd also finally got over the intimidation of the points system i would drown in everytime i viewed the guidelines lol. anyway, i present to you all my bean hyera elise yoo. below is tldr. i still dont really know what im doing or how to rp a muse in an idol rp so idk how to make plots. i also just want to fyi that i lost the ability to plot a long while ago as well, but mm, comment an emoji or word or feeling and i will get a starter up for us heh

ps if you have ideas/connections or propositions you think hyera would fit pls feel free to let me know

hyera elise yoo, born in melbourne, australia on may 6, 1998

third year trainee and currently wanting to pursue the path of an actress

family consists of parents, older sister, older brother and a younger sister

she lived melbourne for about 10 years. in this time, she actively participated in school plays, choir, musicals, anything that put her on stage you can count she was in it. it’s not really the attention that hyera seeks, it’s more the thrill and adrenaline, the enjoyment and vibe that she gets on stage and gets to share with the audience that she loves. more or less, she likes making people happy and smile.

it’s towards the end of her sixth year in school though that her parents get the news that her grandmother is getting sick. it’s inevitable with old age but considering that her grandfather is old as well and they have no one to take care of them while managing a tangerine farm on jeju…

after knowing her aunt and uncle would both refuse to take on the responsibility to give up their lifestyles and careers to take care of their ailing parents. well… her parents make the ultimate decision to uproot the entire family and move to jeju. hyera’s father makes the sacrifice. he lets go of his job as a university professor to run the farm he had grown up on while hyera’s mother secures a job at the biggest hospital in the closest city.

however, her older sister stays in melbourne to continue her university studies, and her brother? he ends up moving in with his aunt’s family in seoul to attend a prestigious high school for his education. which means that leaves only hyera and her younger sister to move to jeju with her parents to a small farm on the countryside.

this leaves hyera and her younger sister to attend the small local school. and in all honesty, it’s not the absolute worst. but to hyera it truly is because they have nothing to feed her exuberant soul that wants to perform. the small school plays they do have are barely enough to satiate hyera’s want to get involved but its all she has.

the lack of opportunity to grow in her creative endeavor influences the death of her passion through the years until hyera completely buries it because with where they live… there’s really no reason for hyera to try so hard if she’s the only one. and it’s a change her parents can see clearly in her.

eventually, hyera continues to university for a decent degree on her way to build a normal life. but during a hot july when her family visits her brother and aunt’s family in seoul, hyera comes across an open audition for legacy entertainment. and her parents still remembering how much the move from australia impacted hyera, they encourage her to give it a try.

hyera doesn’t really understand why because she’s past the age of what companies look for in trainees. but gives in with her parents overwhelming support and surprisingly gets accepted.

getting accepted was a catalyst for hyera. it sparks the buried passion she had for performing from years ago and as she trained, it became stronger and stronger until she realized that she eventually was training not just to see where she could go but because she actually wanted to go somewhere with it.

PERSONALITY

hyera comes off a bit cold and aloof only because she’s pretty focused on herself and her end goal now that she knows she wants to do something and make something of herself at legacy

to top it off, she’s also pretty honest and straightforward which doesn’t help the idea that she’s cold enough as is

but in reality, hyera is really kind and genuine. it’s just that she kind of sucks at delivery. because when she told that younger trainee the song they didn’t sing the song well, she really meant they would be able to showcase their talents with another song. and when she told her friend that the dress she really liked and wanted to buy didn’t look good on her, it was because another dress she had tried on earlier complemented her natural curves way better.

so her sucky delivery adds onto people thinking that hyera is kind of ruthless and inconsiderate but she’s far from that. hyera tends to focus on accomplishing her own goals and putting herself first but it’s not unlike her to step aside and help someone she sees struggling when no one else is willing to give them a hand

despite being an extrovert, hyera tends to like being alone with one person at a time. her anti-socialness tends to lead people to think that she has a superiority complex because when she first joined the company, she didn’t really try that hard at her lessons. some saw her as someone that just got things easy

except, it’s only because hyera has an unshakeable self-esteem ( a double-edged sword ) because she never really doubts her abilities at all.

she seems very well put together but she’s also really dreamy which is probably the most contradictory thing about her. count on hyera seeming like she’s focused on something but she’s really wondering what they’re serving at the cafeteria or if she should watch that one 20 minute documentary on how zip-ties are made.

FUN FACTS

hyera doesn’t believe in ghosts. so it takes a good lot to scare her. she’ll definitely watch movies to enjoy other aspects such as plots or production.

along with the thrill she seeks on stage, she also looks for that in intense activities like bungee jumping or rollercoasters, speed running through challenges she’s all for them.

has an incredibly high tolerance for spicy foods. despite wanting to be an actress, crying on command was always one of the hardest things for her so she resorted to eating peppers as training. it worked until her tolerance built up lol

[frustrated-writer-skyeknight]

Afterstory

Read here

For a moment, can we just talk about how Tony pretty much claimed a home not his as his new boyfriend’s family’s home? This kid is living the thug life lol.

"Thank you for letting us stay here, till the next birthday, Frederick. Oh, and do tell if you're planning on snacking on the humans. I call dibs on the adorable munchkin."

Rudolph placed a hand on his forehead, with Tony hiding behind his shoulder. "Auntie, for the last time; they're friends. Besides, we have that 'no biting humans' rule, right?"

"Wasn't that for before? When we were lying low, right?"

Frederick chuckles, "Regardless, the rule still stands." he says.

"We just made our peace with the mortals," Freda interjects, "no need to start it up again." she says.

After the interesting events that transpired for the last three days, Tony managed to convince his parents to prolong their stay, and  the Sackville-Bagg family got used to their new home and the old couple more or less come to terms that the vampires are not so bad. It took a while and a whole lot convincing (Anna not to do it using her spell, included.) But after a few nights, and with their necks still free from being bitten, they came to a compromise, thanks to Tony; that every Halloween, the family would act out and role play to attract some tourists annually, insinuating that they would be moving statues or vampire actors, similar to the attraction in Disneyland, so that The Bed and the Breakfast could attract more tourists. Tony was already begging his parents to let him take a week off from school to come visit during Halloween for their debut. Rudolph was just glad that the old humans let his family stay without reporting them to any vampire hunter.

Considering they got Rookery thrown into a mental asylum with his claims of vampires are real, it wasn't really a problem. Nevertheless, Frederick and Freda found that they liked their new home.

The Thompsons were more or less accepting the fact that vampires exists at all.

Tony Thompson was more or less psyched about the entire thing. Definitely more.

(Except when Rudolph's relatives tried biting him the first few times. But that was an understandable exception.)

────────────────────────────────────

Rudolph and Tony were now hanging out in the human's room. Apparently, Rudolph hasn't chosen a room for himself yet. While his friend was there, he decided to stay with him. The only change was that they got an actual coffin for Rudolph now. They were exchanging stories... well, the vampire was. Tony's sharing was mostly information, some explained in anecdotes. Half the time, he had to stop in the middle of it to explain some expressions.

"Okay, how about this." Tony starts, nibbling on some chips. He got Rudolph to fly him into the nearest town to buy snacks that this castle was severely lacking. "he looks like one, and she looks like one, but just to confirm, is your father an alpha, and mother, an omega?"

Rudolph frowns, scratching his head. He was only familiar with that term when it came to werewolves, and even he hasn't met an actual one yet. "My parents are vampires; those terms are used on those canine creatures. A counterpart to our patriarch and matriarch term referring to male and female heads of family."

"Ah, no, no. Not that kind of alpha, omega." Tony said, waving his head dismissively. "Hmm, maybe it doesn't really apply to vampires, anyway. I can explain it better if we just have some internet, and I can show you this link that popped out on my Facebook News feed just before coming here..."

Every time Tony says something, Rudolph has a new word to learn. "Facebook?"

"Oh, and this is what we call Facebook." Tony explains, showing the vampire his phone and pointing at an icon. "I can't use it right now because I don't have any data, and this castle doesn't have any internet. Well, yet. I heard mom and dad convincing those old folks to get it installed since tourists would be expecting that in order to post on their timeline. Or Instagram it, which is getting popular these days."

Rudolph nods, "Hmm, interesting technology. But," he frowns, "what is internet? And... 'Instagram'?"

"Heh, we should have one day where I dedicate explaining internet and apps alone." Tony chuckles, "Basically, it's some special features on a this device we call mobile phones."

Rudolph examines the device, "So these days, humans don't use phones for calling?"

"We do, but we also use it for other stuff. Like... Well, just think of it as... a very advance phone. You've seen phones, right?"

Rudolph hums, "A bit... But yours is way different than what I saw before father moved us to the vault, and pretty much just stayed there since. So I never really got to use it since I wasn't human anymore by then." he shrugs.

"Huh, human..." Tony repeats, thoughtful. "you say that... So that means you weren't a vampire from the start. And your parents...?"

Rudolph turns to Tony, "Still my parents. Only ones I've ever known, anyway." He says, "Whoever my parents were, they couldn't keep us. Too poor, or so Gregory remembers. I definitely don't remember, not after being turned anyway, only wondered if I've ever met them at all. Gregory was the only one who really cared for me and Anna, till our parents, the ones now, took us in."

"Oh, I didn't think that... I'm sorry, Rudolph."

However, the vampire just raised a brow at this. "Why do you apologize?"

"Well, it's just that... You're technically all dead, after all." Tony points out, "and it's a shame; somehow... you never got to meet your parents."

Rudolph just shrugs, "Don't know if it even counts as being dead, we still sort of do what the 'alive' does. As for my birth parents, well, no point on dwelling on what I never knew. Older brother was sent to the workhouse at one point. We never saw him again until after he was turned, and had father change us as well so we could be a family with Frederick and Freda Sackville-Bagg. Those were my parents then, and they're still my parents."

"Well, if you say so," Tony manages to smile, "it's kinda cool, that you all look alike even if you aren't related. Well, to your parents, that is."

Rudolph shrugs, "Father says that those turned tend to develop some semblance to the one who turned them." he says.

"So how about your parents then, who turned them?"

"In their case, they were born as vampires." Rudolph told him.

Tony frowns, "Born... As in babies?" he repeats, "I thought vampires don't age. Aren't you guys stuck the way you were when you're turned?"

"How do you explain me being thirteen then?" Rudolph made a look, "of course we age, just differently. Have you seen my aunts and uncles?"

Tony scratched the back of his head, "Yeah, that did raise some questions for me." he admitted. "But how does aging work for you guys? I mean, I really thought vampires were immortal. Timeless."

"We are immortal, in the sense that time means nothing to us." Rudolph waves a dismissive hand, "as for why my aunts and uncles look like who you humans would call the 'elderly' is because of the blood they've consumed. I don't drink blood except for animals', both mother and father haven't had a drop since... well, since they turned us."

Tony raised a brow, "Blood ages you?"

"Not exactly. We choose the form we wish to stay as, which is why I've been thirteen all my immortal life so far. It's a bit like that expression you said the other day, uh, 'Time flies when you're having fun?' Did I say it right?"

Tony nods, "So... you guys don't age when you don't have... fun?"

"No, not that either. But it's like the breeze, sometimes you don't notice it among other more visible things in your surroundings. Especially in our case, nothing special ever happens, as if we're stuck doing the same thing all over again when the next moon rises." Rudolph tells him, "Basically, we can choose not to rush our aging. According to Gregory, mother was in the form of a fifteen year old till she met father." Rudolph says, "But human blood, while a pleasurable nourishment to us, also acts like a drug. Likewise, too much of it weakens the willpower needed to maintain the form of our choice." Tony still looks thoroughly confused. "All right. Think of it this way. You mortals have lifelines, think of the numbers of age a human would miss out on once they're drank, or turned." he explains further, "the 'growing old' part of mortal living transfers to the vampire who drank it's blood. My aunts and uncles can no longer will themselves to maintain a youthful appearance because some of them drank too much human blood. Then again, not so bad a thing; that's why our clan is so big. However, for the same reason, father and mother don't like having human blood as much anymore, Well, aside from the initial plan of maintaining a low profile. They prefer and are contented with their form right now."

Tony nods, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "I get it now... I guess." he says.

"Hmm, that reminds me..." Rudolph starts, frowning suddenly. "you're gonna die someday, too, right?"

Tony gapes, staring at his friend. "Wow, this took a bleak turn fast." he says. "But yeah, technically. Still young though, so my lifespan still has some ways to go." he elbows Rudolph. "you're gonna see me hanging around for at least a hundred years, if I'm lucky to live that long."

"Huh, yeah..."

Rudolph suddenly felt apprehensive, something he hasn't felt in a long time. That thing he dealt with when Rookery invaded his old home didn't compare. Even while he was afraid for his family, some small part inside him still knew he wasn't going to lose his family and maybe Tony had something to do with that small part. But the thing with Tony being human, like others, growing old and eventually dying, being buried while vampires wait for their bones to disintegrate to occupy their coffins... It left a cold ache in him.

He didn't want Tony to be reduced to that.

After being turned, Rudolph never knew anyone close to his age. Or sort of his age, in Tony's case. He had Anna, sure, but she was his sister. She was family, like Gregory was, and like the whole Sackville-Bagg clan was. But he never had a friend, a real friend like Tony. Someone who would go through lengths to help him without family ties and responsibility compelling him to. Even when they just met, and even when Tony didn't know exactly what he was getting into by fighting against vampire hunters, he still did. Because Tony had a good heart. Which was one of the things that Rudolph loved about him.

Loved? Rudolph blinks, shaking his head. He blushes, No, like... It's like. Friends like each other after all...

Which was why he was thoroughly annoyed with Anna, who tried stealing his friend with her spell, didn't even let it come naturally. Rudolph may not remember much of his old human life, but he does remember that it wasn't right. Besides, Tony was his not hers... his friend and not hers. And Rudolph knew there was only one way he could keep his friend for a very, very long time.

But Rudolph had a feeling that Tony wouldn't agree to that idea, not just yet. Plus, there were his parents to think about. And while Tony seemed to find vampires cool, it didn't seem like he wanted to be one himself. For one thing, while the blond enjoyed their night excursions, Tony would probably miss going out in daylight freely. He did want to drag him and Anna to swim down the lake earlier in the morning till he remembered that vampires burn in the sun.

So maybe not now, Rudolph thought. But... maybe someday.

Because for some reasons, after meeting Tony, even while he couldn't explain why, Rudolph couldn't imagine spending more than one hundreds without him.

"Hey look, I think the sun's going down." Tony approached the curtains, and opened them. True enough, the sun has finally set. He grins, turning towards Rudolph. "Hey, I just remember the old lady mentioning something about a natural hot spring somewhere up the mountains. Better than the chilly lake those jerks dumped me in last week; how about that swim, huh?"

Rudolph grins, getting on his feet. He walk towards the window and they both pushed it open. "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's fly."

"Right on! Oh," Tony pauses, thinking. "how about your sister? She might want to join—woah!"

The blond didn't get to finish his sentence as Rudolph drags him out into the night.

────────────────────────────────────

The weeks of summer seemed like days by how fast they went by, and the next thing Tony knew, it was time to return to America. While he was disappointed that summer was coming to an end, like most boys his age would be, he was especially upset now. After everything he's been through... Everything he and Rudolph's been through, it was hard for Tony to imagine going back to his normal reality.

More to the point, it was hard that he needed to say good bye to Rudolph.

He's never had a friend, not quite like Rudolph, and not just because said guy was a freaking vampire. While he did have some friends back home, no one really understood his obsession with vampires. He didn't understand it himself, to be honest. Most kids his age didn't strongly believe in the supernatural anymore, unless they were conspiracy theorists or the like. But even Tony knew that wasn't it; he was drawn to the concept of vampires. Even his mom said his first word was vampire. (Vam-vam, technically.) And while he would cry easily when anybody tried scaring him when he was a baby, seeing vampire movies just made him laugh, even the not-safe-for-kids type of movies.

He even wished his future soulmate would be a vampire at one point, no matter how his parents kept telling him that they didn't exist.

Speaking of, it was almost his time for that. Although it didn't necessarily happen every single time, but a person would usually end up meeting a soul mate prospect by the age of fourteen, since fourteen was the age people usually started presenting their secondary gender. More often than not, the first prospect doesn't always work out because both individuals weren't mature enough to understand the concept of soul mates, so they break it off by mutual agreement. And just like that, the link is broken, giving the individuals freedom from the bond, and to find the next prospect without ties to the past. But the thing about soul mates is that the first prospect is the most ideal, if it was managed properly the first time.

Nowadays, most people don't end up with their ideal soul mates. Tony knew his parents weren't each others' ideals, after all. But maybe it came with his obsession with the supernatural, but Tony was hoping to get it right the first time. At first, he thought it had been Anna. But when he looks at her, when she wasn't looking back at her or talking to him to use her spell, he didn't really feel connected to her at all, not the way his mom would describe the soul link sensation.

Then again, he wasn't fourteen and has yet to present as a beta, like his parents, or the unlikelihood of being an alpha or omega.

"Tony, dear, hurry." Dottie Thompson calls out to her son, "we need to catch our flight."

Tony waves at her from where he still stood, near the castle's entrance. "Give me another minute, mom!" he turns back to the Sackville-Bagg family, but mostly Rudolph. "So, remember how to log into Skype. Cause that's the only way we're talking till next summer."

"Or Halloween." Rudolph says insistently.

Tony chuckles, "Fingers-crossed." he literally did just that. He saw the confusion on, not only Rudolph's, but the family's faces. "Oh, uh, it means... Something along the lines of 'Hopefully, it happens'."

"Oh, well, in that case," Anna smiles, showing off her perfectly white teeth, "Fingers crossed."

Tony smiles back at her, enchanted for a moment again. Gregory rolls his eyes before purposefully getting between his sister and the mortal, to which Anna made an opposing cry. Undeterred, Rudolph steps forward and holds Tony in an embrace. The first time the vampire did it, the human was too startled by the gesture to react, and maybe a little awkward. But this time, Tony returned the hug, finding that he was already missing the vampire, and he hasn't even left yet.

Rudolph pulled back first, "I'll see you in the skies." he says.

"It's Skype, but pretty close." Tony chuckled before stepping back, practically walking backwards to the car until finally reaching it. He inhales, and turns towards his parents. "Can I please—"

Bob Thompson sighed, expecting. "Your mom and I discussed it, yes, we'll let you off for Halloween IF" he pauses, "you get mostly A's or A+'s on your card before then."

"But that's—" Tony starts before sighing, "Fine." He gets in, and Bob drives off as the first ray of dawn starts showing.

The youngest looks back to the castle, already shrinking as they got farther and farther into the road. He wished to catch one more glance of his friend, but he knew the family already returned into the castle for refuge from the sun.

Soon... Fingers-crossed.

[jobrookekarev]

Little Turkey (Updated)

Summary: Jo and Alex celebrate Thanksgiving with everybody in Meredith’s backyard and Jo tries to induce labor. 

Chapter: 1/1

Fandom: Grey's Anatomy.

Relationship: Alex Karev/Jo Wilson Karev.

Characters: Alex Karev, Jo Wilson Karev, Meredith Grey, Maggie Pierce, Jackson Avery, Amelia Shepherd, Atticus Lincoln, Zola Grey Shepherd, Ellis Shepherd, Derek Bailey Shepherd, and Carina DeLuca.

Rating: General Audiences.

Additional Tags: thanksgiving, pregnancy, birth, babies, and tiny adorable turkey onesies. 

AN: New edits because I forgot to add the reason why Jo didn't realize she was in labor and her water breaking because I was in a rush to get this posted!! You think that someone who studied to be a doula would get it right but nope. LOL. So hopefully this makes more sense and seems more realistic.

Read at AO3

Read at FFN

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Jo pushed open the gate to Meredith’s backyard and was greeted with the sight of the socially distant Thanksgiving dinner in full swing. It might be the holidays, but there was a rise of COVID in the past few weeks and the governor had shut down the state. Despite how the group was constantly tested at work, none of them were willing to take any risks for an inside formal dinner. Which meant that tables were 6 feet apart, plates of food were already set out, and masks were required. Jo didn’t mind the outdoor activities, even with the November air as her pregnancy meant that she often ran hot. 

Amelia and Link were at one table with her godson, the three kids and Meredith were painting at one table. Maggie and Winston were off to the side, and Jackson, April, and Harriett were at the third table. The last table was for her and Alex, Meredith had already set out plates for them that were already filled with turkey, stuffing, casseroles, and Amelia’s pie.

“Hey, Aunt Jo,” Zola said, being the first one to greet her and waved at her with her paintbrush still in her hand. She wore a white and purple butterfly mask that matched her butterfly coat.

Everyone else followed Zola’s hello with waves as Jo walked up to the only empty table. Link bounded over like a puppy and hugged her as tightly as he could with her full belly between them. The two of them had been together for most of the pandemic with her and Alex helping them with Scout and Link and Amelia returning the favor to help with Jo’s pregnancy.

“Where’s Uncle Alex?” Zola asked holding up her turkey painting to show Jo. 

“That looks very cool Zola and he is on his way. He had a meeting so he's just running a little late,” Jo said as she put a hand on her belly and eased herself into the lawn chair and put her feet up on Alex's empty chair. “I see you all left me the good chair.” 

“Yeah well the rest of us didn’t want to hear you complain about it for the entire night,” Amelia said, sending Jo a wink.

“I did not complain last time!” Jo insisted, looking over at Link who just looked at her wide eyed.

Jo knew that Link’s mouth was open under his mask as he was trying to find something to say to her before retreating back over to Amelia. 

Ellis grabbed a plate of paint and dragged her cat chair to Jo. “Aunt Jo, can I paint your belly?” 

“What?”

“She wants to paint your baby belly,” Meredith clarified for her, handing Bailey a plate of food. “She saw a picture of someone doing it online and now all she talks about is painting your belly.”

Jo looked back down at Ellis who looked up at her with the biggest puppy eyes and Jo knew that she was pouting under her mask. Jo smiled and nodded, how could she refuse Ellis’ request. Jo put her feet down and grabbed a pillow, putting it behind her back before she pulled up her shirt and tucking it under her breasts. Ellis giggled and grabbed her brush to paint a streak across Jo's belly. Jo shivered at the cold paint, but the feeling of Ellis’s brush was oddly soft and Jo found herself relaxing back as Ellis painted. 

The party continued and the conversation flowed. It had been a while since everyone had gotten together outside the hospital, especially with the kids and it was nice to relax and enjoy the night. 

“Oh that’s so cute,” Jo said as Link handed her a small canvas of one of her godson’s baby bumpkins. “I can’t wait to do that with this baby.” 

Jo smiled as she stared over at Amelia and her godson. Back when she and Link were serving coffee, just trying to make it through college. They talked about how their kids would grow up together and be friends. They would be each other’s family. After Jo left, she didn’t think she’d ever see him again, but she was so glad he came to Grey-Sloan and gave her a second chance.

“Yeah, it does make a good keepsake for Christmas too,” Link said, smiling back over at Amelia and the baby as well.

“Nuh-uh,” Jo mumbled, shaking her head as she took a bit of the nacho that she had dumped hot sauce on. “I’m having this baby tonight.”

Immediately all eyes were on her. 

“You're in labor!” Meredith shouted standing up and pulling out her phone, no doubt to call Alex.

“You're in labor!” Maggie freaked out as she dropped Zola’s painting.

“The baby’s coming today!” Zola cheered her eyes sparkling as she raced over to them.

“The baby’s coming!” Ellis shrieked, putting both of her hands on Jo’s belly that was still wet with paint.

“Oh my god, Jo why didn’t you say anything?” Link said, dropping down to his knees and putting a hand on her shoulder.

“No, I’m not in Labor,” Jo shouted above the noise.

“Josephine Brooke Karev are you still trying to induce labor a week before your due date?”

“Uncle Alex!” All the kids screamed, so excited to see him, they all talked over each other as they showed him their paintings. 

“For heaven's sake Jo,” Link said, his eyes wide as he sat down on the grass leaning on the arm of her chair. “Between you and Amelia, the stress is gonna kill me.”

“Why would you want to have your baby today?” Meredith asked, moving her chair over to sit next across from Jo.

“Well, our anniversary is Halloween. I just thought I’d keep with the theme, that way we'd always remember and it’d be extra special,” Jo said, with a shrug as she felt the baby kick inside her as if they were agreeing. 

“Regardless of the date it will be special, trust me. You're never going to forget your baby's birthday because it's also your labor day,” Meredith said her eyes sparkling and Jo knew that she was smirking over at her.

“I know, but I just thought I'd be fun,” Jo said, putting a hand on her baby belly where Ellis hadn’t painted, feeling them kick again as she turned to see Alex talking to the kids. 

He was nodding along to everything they were telling him and acting like Bailey's messy painted turkey was the greatest piece of artwork he's ever seen. She loved seeing Alex with all the kids so much that she didn’t mind being second best to her husband. He was so good to them, always listening to them talk and going along with whatever they wanted. She couldn't wait to see him with their kid and she knew that they already had them wrapped around their finger. 

“I painted Aunt Jo’s belly!” Ellis said putting her paint covered hands on Alex’s shirt. 

“And now we match,” Alex said looking down at his nice button up shirt to see two small handprints.

Jo laughed as Alex looked down at the sight of his ruined shirt. Meredith got up and took Ellis inside to wash her hands and Alex sat down next to her. He pulled down his mask to greet her with a kiss and settled in. Jo grabbed another bite of her pineapple spicy nachos and Alex took a piece from her plate.

“Hey,” Jo said, pulling the plate away from him.

“Sorry,” Alex laughed before feeding her the chip. 

Jo thought that he would have long since learned not to get between a pregnant woman and her food, but apparently not. 

Alex’s eyes turned serious as he looked over at her. “How are you feeling?” 

“My heartburn is better than it was this morning, my braxton hicks haven't been as intense as they were yesterday, and I did a hepatectomy on a guy who almost burnt down his house trying to cook a turkey with Jackson,” Jo said in between bites of her nachos.

“Yeah I’m surprised I got here before you,” Jackson said as he held Harriett and offered her a bite of green beans. “You finished the resection before I was done debriding his wounds.”

“I scrubbed in on a surgical extraction with Dr. Bailey right after,” Jo said with a laugh, remembering the case. “Some guy shoved a corn husk up you know where.”

“A corn husk?” Meredith asked in disbelief. “I can’t believe I missed that!”

“You can scrub in with me next year after COVID is cured and you can come back to work.”

“I’ll hold you to it, Karev.”

“It sounds like you had a good day,” Alex said, leaving in to wrap his arm around her shoulders.

“I did.” 

Jo could see Alex smile under his mask as his eyes wrinkled and sparkled. Jo leaned in and pressed a masked kiss to his cheek. Alex chuckled, squeezed her shoulder as she leaned in and put her head on his shoulder. 

They watched the kids paint and ate too much of April's pumpkin pie and stayed long after the kids fell asleep as the alcohol came out for the adults. It was the first time they had all congregated outside of the hospital and no one was eager to leave. Her sober buddy, Amelia, came to sit next closer to her, and Jo cooed at her godson, gushing over his cute little baby cheeks even after he fell asleep. 

The cold night air set in and soon they were all bundling up in blankets, but no one wanted to head home first. Jo put the baby down inside and curled up against Alex as her braxton hicks started up again. She didn't mean to fall asleep but the next thing she knew Alex was shifting against her and pulling her onto her feet and putting one arm around her as he half carried her to the car, Jo mumbled goodbye to everyone. 

Jo fell asleep in the car and she didn't remember getting into bed, but the next thing she knew it’s 4 a.m. and she's waking up with a braxton hick. She rolled over in bed realizing that Alex changed her into pajamas. Jo’s not sure if it's because she was exhausted or what but, as soon as it passed she rolled over and fell asleep again. 

Somewhere around sunrise, just as the sun was shining into the windows, Jo got up with another braxton hick. She knew that moving helped and she had to pee anyway, but Jo only made it to the table behind the couch before she felt a trickle of water run down her leg. At first, she thought she had an accident, but the trickle of water just kept coming as Jo tried to clean herself up. Then she realized it was amniotic fluid. Her water broke. 

Jo turned around to wake up Alex, but before she could she doubled over in pain as her next contraction started. She knew that her contractions would increase in pain after her water broke that this was on a whole different level. 

Jo leaned against the table she tried to call out to Alex but she can’t speak. She was frozen in place until it passed. She knew that these weren't braxton hick, these were contractions, she was in labor. When she felt like she could move again Jo looked back at Alex, but she couldn't manage to call out to him. Instead, Jo got out her phone and pulled up her contacts, she blindly pressed Alex’s name and waited to hear his phone ring. Instead, she heard someone else answer her call.

“Hey Jo, what’s up” 

Meredith’s voice was music to her ears. Jo opened her eyes and shook her head as she looked down at the phone. Jo was so relieved to see her friend. Although she had originally planned to just call Alex, it seemed she had set up a video call with Meredith. Because of the restriction, Jo couldn't have anyone other than Alex with her when she gave birth. Despite her initial plan to have Meredith with her, they had agreed to have Meredith be there over video call to support her through it. In the midst of a contraction she could barely speak, but Meredith seemed to know exactly what was going on.

“Are you in labor?” 

Jo nodded, closing her eyes and swaying her hips, she wasn't sure why but somehow it seemed to help.

“How long have you been having contractions?” 

“I don't know,” Jo said, blowing out a breath as the contraction passed. “A few hours maybe.”

“What do you mean maybe?” Meredith asked, glaring at her. “When did the pain start?” 

“Before I went to bed last night I think.” 

“So you've been in labor for six hours, Jo how did you ignore this?” Meredith said as she rubbed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose

“I have a high pain tolerance, and I'm used to sleeping through the pain and I was really tired,” Jo said, the memories of when she used to fall asleep after Paul beat her were not once she liked to remember, but as a result, Jo often ignored her pain out of habit.

“Well, where's Alex? He should have been keeping an eye on you.”

“Alex he's …” Jo shook her head, and trailed off as she had another contraction.

“Do you need me to get Alex?”

Jo nodded, the contraction had passed but she was so exhausted and let Meredith help her.

“Okay, hang on Jo I'm going to call him from a second phone,” Meredith reassured her as Jo heard her stuff laying around on the other end of the phone. “Amelia gimme your phone Jo’s in labor.”

Jo chuckled as Meredith continued to harass Amelia for her phone. Ever since Meredith had recovered from COVID she had been working from home and harassing them all via phone call. Especially her as Jo continue their work on the mini-livers from their lab at the hospital. 

“Okay, I'm calling him now.” 

Jo looked back at Alex who was still sleeping peacefully in their bed. The blanket was pulled back on her side and his arm was laying over her pillow leaving the impression of an empty space where she had been. Alex had that evening morning scruff that she loved and his lips were parted as he snored. He was completely oblivious to how his world was going to change in a few hours. 

Alex’s phone rang, the sound bouncing around the apartment. He rolled over and reached for his nightstand, cursing as he looked for his phone. Another contraction distracted her from calling out to him, but she heard him silence his phone and roll over again.

“Jo, Meredith is calling you.”

“No, I'm calling you,” Meredith yelled at him through Jo's phone. “Your wife is in labor Karev, get the hell up.”

Jo looked over to see Alex sit up and stared at her. He blinked once and then twice before he scrambled to get up, getting tangled in the blankets and tripping several times before he made it over to her.

“You're in labor?”

“Yes,” Jo and Meredith yelled at the same time.

“We’re having a baby!” 

“Yes, we're having a baby!”

“Okay well let’s go,” Alex said and Jo could see it on his face as he went from paranoid dad to helpful husband. “Let’s have a baby.”

“Let’s have a baby.” Jo smiled as Alex kissed her before another contraction hit and she closed her eyes in pain. They were for sure having a baby today. Happy Thanksgiving to her.

“How far apart are the contractions?”

“Every four minutes,” Meredith answered for her.

“Has your water broken?” 

“Not that I can tell.” 

“Jo?” Alex asked looked down to check, but Jo shook her head.

“Okay, let's check how dilated you are, but regardless we're going to head to the hospital. I'll call Carina and tell her to have a room waiting for us.” Alex said as he put his arms around her waist and Jo heavily leaned in on him.

Alex helped her over to the bed and Jo laid down, sinking into the mattress. Another contraction hit and Jo closed her eyes taking a deep breath and slowly letting it out. 

“That’s it Jo, deep breaths, you're doing so good,” Alex praised her as he held her hand, and mirrored her breaths.

Jo felt the tears collect in her eyes and Alex spoke, she was so thankful that he was there cheering her on. He had been so supportive through her pregnancy. He braided her hair and rubbed her back when she puked. He tied her shoes and helped her reach for things. He rubbed her back and her feet when they ached, and he talked to their baby when they kicked her ribs. When the contraction passed and Jo opened her eyes to see Alex smiling down at her. She sighed and relaxed as he leaned forward and kissed her.

“He is right, you're doing everything like you're supposed to, you're doing great Jo,” Meredith said, from where Jo had left her phone propped up on the table.

Jo returned their smiles and squeezed Alex’s hand. “I’m having a baby.”

“You are, and you're handling it like a champ,” Alex said, moving back and putting a hand on her knees, Jo saw his face shift from proud and supportive husband to concerned doctor. “Your contractions are pretty close together. Can I check and see how dilated you are now.”

Jo nodded and lifted up her hips as he pulled off her pajama pants. Jo put her feet up by her hips and let her knees fall apart. Alex waited for her to nod before he checked her cervix, despite how many times they had sex, he always waited for her consent. Alex quickly checked her and then smiled looking down at her.

“Jo, have you felt the need to push?”

“No, why?” she asked, confused as she pushed herself up on her elbows. He had pulled back his hand, but didn't give her back her pants.

“You’re about 9 cm dilated, but we should get to the hospital before you have this baby in the car,” Alex said as he patted her knee and got up. “I’m gonna grab your bag and stuff and put it in the car then come back for you.”

“Oh my god!” Jo shouted as she sat up and watched Alex run around their apartment.

“Hey it’s okay Jo, just take a deep breath,” Meredith said, Leaning into the phone so Jo could see her whole face.

Jo nodded and took a deep breath, knowing that panicking wouldn't get her anywhere, and put a hand on her belly. She couldn't feel her baby kick, only the contractions that seemed endlessly painful. After a few deep breaths, she held herself calm back down and had to open her eyes and look back at Meredith who greeted her with a nod.

“Wait Alex, give me Meredith,” Jo shouted as she heard him open the door.

Alex stopped everything and grabbed the phone before handing it to her and running off again. Jo just smiled as she watched him go, running around like a mad dad, panicked as she labor. After everything they had been through, he was still so excited and nervous for their baby.

Another contraction hit and Jo closed her eyes, tuning out everything as Meredith talked her through it and Alex ran around with the bags. Finally, he came back and helped her down the stairs, and into the car. 

Jo barely remembered the car ride to the hospital. In between her contraction, Meredith and Alex talked to her and tried to distract her. She was so exhausted and could barely think as Alex and Meredith prompted her to move and breathe when they got to the hospital. It sort of worked, but it was all just a blur as they got her up to a room.

“Hello Jo,” Carina said that she came into the room rubbing fresh hand sanitizer over her hands before she reached for a pair of gloves. “I wasn't expecting to see you so soon.”

“I need to push,” Jo shouted, already bearing down, this baby was coming now, regardless of whether anyone was ready for them or not.

“Now!” Alex shouted in disbelief. “Shit we should have been here hours ago.”

“She said now!” Meredith insisted, yelling through the phone.

“You don’t have to do that you know,” Alex said, as he crawled in behind her, rather than push on her back they had her upright and Jo sat on the end of the bed while Alex held her up and squeezed both of her hands. 

“Jo wants me to advocate for her, this is me advocating.”

“Okay Jo push on the next contraction,” Carina said, shutting them both up as she got ready to catch the baby in between Jo’s legs.

Jo closed her eyes and tried to breathe as another contraction hit and she pushed with every bit of energy she had left. It felt like an endless circle of pain and pushing, then a break, and then more pain and pushing. She was so exhausted and she couldn't imagine doing this for an endless amount of hours. 

“You're doing great Jo, just a little bit longer and they're gonna be here,” Alex whispered in her ear.

“He’s right Jo. Everything is perfect and your little bambino is going to be here very soon,” Carina said giving her a short nod. 

Jo pushed for what seemed like hours and then Carina was announcing she could see the head. Jo knew that she had to keep going and pushed again and suddenly her baby was out and Carina held them up for them to see. 

The second their baby cried, Jo's heart stopped as Carina held up this tiny little red baby screened in their ears. Jo pulled down her gown so they could do some skin to skin and Carina quickly placed them on Jo’s chest. Jo's arm instantly moved to cradle them and she leaned back against Alex as the tears filled her eyes. She and her baby's cries filled the room. 

“She's so beautiful,” Alex sobbed on her shoulder as he wrapped his arms around them both. 

“It's a girl,” Jo said in astonishment, she looked down to where the baby laid in her arms and their daughter looked up at them with big eyes as her cries quieted. 

“Alex do you want to cut the cord?”

Alex nodded and moved to cut the cord, taking the surgical scissors from the nurse. Meredith took a few pictures and Jo was glad she had asked her to beforehand because all she could focus on was the beautiful little girl in her arms.

Jo looked down at her beautiful, perfect daughter and moved to stroke her cheek. She hardly noticed the nurses cleaning her and taking their daughter’s Apgar scores. All she could think about was a perfect little baby in her arms. For her, falling in love was a gradual process, but Jo loved their baby from the moment she found out she was pregnant and she was so overwhelmed with love for her baby as she stared down at them.

Jo looked over at Alex as he moved out from behind her to stand next to her. As all the nurses attended to her and the baby. He looked so nervous as he stared down at her shifting his weight on his feet and stuffing his hands into his pockets. It was so unusual to see him so concerned and nervous. 

Jo looked down at their daughter, she’d had her for nine months and although it felt like she had only been holding her for a few minutes, Jo was sure that she was ready to watch Alex hold their baby for the first time. 

“Do you want to hold her?” Jo whispered, already moving the blanket that had been placed over both of them to loosely swaddle her and transferred their daughter into her chest.

Alex just nodded and took off his shirt so they could do skin to skin, then held out his arms for their daughter. Once she placed her in his arms, Alex slowly sank down in the chair next to her bed. He held her close to his chest before he seemed to remember how to hold a baby and cradled her in his arms as he relaxed back into the chair. She watched as Alex just gazed down at her with an expression of pure love. 

Jo could tell by the way that his eyes sparkled that he was smiling down at their daughter under his mask. Tears collected his eyes and a few escaped the corner of his eyes as he whispered to her. The baby opened her eyes and squirmed, crying out for a moment before Alex soothes her as he began to rock in the chair. The baby flailed her arms out and Alex reached out to hold one of her hands as her tiny hand wrapped around his big finger.

Jo finished pushing out the placenta and laid back onto the bed before Alex put their daughter back on her chest and put the blanket over both of them. Jo just stared down at her in amazement. She was so perfect, from her tiny little forehead to the thick tufts of dark hair. She stretched out her legs, kicking Jo before she curled back up into a tiny little ball and closed her eyes.

“She’s perfect,” Jo said to Alex, not taking her eyes off her daughter. “Even if her big head caused me a second degree tear.”

“Sorry about,” Alex said, sliding in to sit next to her.

“Well you and her big Karev heads are perfect and I can’t feel anything down there anyway,” Jo’s legs felt like mush and she couldn't tell how many stitches Carina was doing.

Alex wrapped an arm around her shoulders leaning in to kiss her cheek. Jo turned and tilted her head to give him a proper kiss. 

“You did so good Jo, I'm so proud of you and she is absolutely beautiful,” Meredith said with a smile as they all look down at the baby. “I’m gonna let you two enjoy your baby and I’ll send you the pictures I took in a few minutes.” 

“Thank you,” Jo said as she looked over at Meredith who smiled.

“It was my pleasure,” Meredith said, tilting her head as she looked down at the baby. “Besides if it wasn’t for me you would still be laboring in the loft and Alex would be fast asleep.”

“Har har,” Alex said as Jo laughed. 

“But you Jo Karev,” Meredith said turning a pointed finger at her. “You have to keep remembering to watch your braxton hicks and not sleep through your labor until your nine centimeters dilated!”

“Meredith is right Jo, your labor progressed very quickly without you realizing it,” Carina said, as she set Jo with a look. “Next time, I want to see you in here as soon as your braxton hicks are consistent for more than an hour. I'd rather send you away with false labor then put you or your baby at risk.

“Yeah, we can’t have the next one on the couch in our living room,” Alex added, kissing her forehead.

“I know I said I wanted two kids, but let's not talk about a second one until my vagina starts hurting from having the first one,” Jo said as she glared at him as Alex turned to look down at their baby girl.

“She needs a name,” Alex said, changing the subject as he trailed a finger across her little hand as she wiggled her fingers.

“Meredith does make a really good name,” Meredith sang, raising her eyebrows and giving them a look.

“We'll take it into consideration,” Jo said looking back at Alex. They had a list of names they were still arguing over, some of the names were new, but others were after friends and family.

Meredith ended the call and most of the nurses left, it was just them and Carina, who was finishing the last of Jo’s stitches. The baby fussed, turning her head and opening her mouth, signaling that she was hungry. Jo moved her down and Carina helped her and the baby get a good latch on her breast. Soon their baby was making happy little eating noises as her parents smiled down at her.

“She does need a name,” Alex whispered to her, setting his head on her shoulder and he looked down at their daughter as she nursed. 

“You know which one I like.”

“I know,” Alex sighed, looking away from her.

“You should call her,” Jo said, turning to look at him as he gazed off into space. “Call her and then decide, and if you still don't want the name. we can choose a different one.”

“Okay.” Alex nodded and kissed her shoulder as they turned their attention back to their baby girl.

After their daughter finished eating and Carina finished her stitches, Alex ran to grab her some food from the cafeteria. Jo chatted with Meredith again for a few minutes about the pictures before Alex came back and they ate. He put on a movie some kind of Christmas movie that Jo wasn't really interested in so she closed her eyes. She must have fallen asleep and slept for a few hours only to be woken up by Carina and the nurses checking on her. 

It’s still later in the early afternoon but the closed blinds and curtains made it seem like night and it was easy for her to close her eyes. She stared at the baby in Alex's arms before she fell asleep again and when Jo woke up and the baby was in the bassinet next to her bed. She reached out an arm to lay a hand on her chest feeling the baby breathing under her hand and fell back asleep. 

When Jo woke up again she heard Alex talking faintly on the phone again. The baby was not under her hand and for a moment Jo panicked, she looked around the room and she saw Alex holding the baby in a football hold, as he rocked back and forth with his back to her. Jo relaxed and closed her eyes as she listened to the baby gurgle and coo as Alex talked on the phone. 

“Yeah, thanks Mom, we can’t wait for you to see her,” Alex said as he walked back over and sat down next to her. Jo blinked and caught his eyes and he smiled at her. “Hang on Jo’s awake, let me give her the baby.”

Alex set the phone down and unswaddle the baby before setting her on Jo’s chest. The baby settled on Jo as she put a hand on her back tracing her spine and noting her clean skin. While she was asleep, Alex and the nurses must have bathed her and they put her in a plain hospital hat and onesie and Jo safely tucked those away for safekeeping. Jo reached over to the bag on the chair next to her and pulled out the little turkey onesie along with a dark orange hat to match. 

Jo sat the bed up and put the baby on her lap as she changed her clothes, the baby slept through the whole thing and Jo pulled her close to whisper to her daughter. She tried out the names they had on their list, including Meredith, and just as she expected, the name Jo wanted for her fit. 

Jo looked up at Alex as he finished the call with his mom and smiled at him as he put down his phone and came to sit down next to her. “She needs a name. We can't just call her baby forever.”

“I know,” Alex said, looking down at the baby as Jo shook her head. 

“Let's try them all out and see which one fits,” Jo said, she knew that Alex was still hesitant, but that he would know that the moment he heard it and connected the name to the sight of their daughter. 

“Okay, hello Stephanie,” Alex said looking down at their daughter before he shook his head. Jo chuckled, she knew Stephanie would be disappointed, like Meredith they had considered the name as they wanted her to be named after someone they loved, but it just didn't fit. “Okay, you do the next one.”

“Alright, hello Meredith or Edith for short,” Jo said to her, it was the name Alex wanted and Jo liked it too. Meredith meant so much to them and they had agreed to have it as her middle name regardless, but it wasn’t her first name.

“You're right, it doesn't fit,” Alex said as he sighed and leaned back into the chair.

“No,” Jo said looking down at the baby in her arms. She took Alex's hand and pulled it over to hold their daughter's hands that had wiggled out from the swaddle. “Her name is Helena, after your mom and Mrs. Schmidt.”

Alex smiled as he looked down at their daughter and rubbed the back of her hand. “Yeah, she's Helena.”

“Helena,” Jo said as their daughters fluttered open and she stared up at them.

Alex's phone lit up with a video call from Meredith. He looked over at Jo, they had agreed to the video call beforehand, and although Jo hadn't had any time to shower or even wash her face she knew none of them would care and nodded as he answered the call. They were greeted with the sight of their family. Meredith, Amelia, Lincoln, Maggie, Winston, Jackson, April, Ben, Bailey, Richard, all the kids, and even Levi and Helm joined the call. Everybody cooed and gushed over the baby and the kids talked about how excited they were.

“Have you two decided on a name yet?” Meredith asked as everybody went silent waiting for them to respond.

“Guys say hello to Helena Meredith Karev.”

[hanamuranobuyuki]

About the Amanda, Jyushi, Jiro, Love, Life series

Today I thought I would try to give a little bit of insight to the ongoing series right now. It’s surprisingly been a couple of months since I began this journey, and with how much I have planned to write for this, it will probably take a few more until I’ve written all that I have planned out. With the sheer length of these works it does take a long time, so I might have forgotten about a loooot of stuff, but I’ll try to list off the things I remember quq. If you’re interested in reading some of these backstories, you can after the line break^^

For those interested in reading the series as it gets updated, you can read it here! I hope you enjoy this!

To be completely honest, I should have been done with this little excursion after writing Amanda’s Journey to Bringing Jyushi Happiness. I thought that this much was enough, and I was having low confidence issues as to whether or not things were likable, if they were in character (or somewhat at the very least...) and the list could go on forever.

But ideas kept popping into my head and what was supposed to be disjointed scenes out of everyday life for Jiro and Jyushi as they manage a long distance relationship after only being together for a day turned into Closing the Distance Between Us..... quite comical if you ask me considering the word count just got longer from there *cries into the distance*

But to tell you the truth, I’m happy I continued this journey despite the challenges. I feel like the way I’m progressing through this is giving it a more complete story that embodies the “circle of life and love” I imagine thanks to Amanda’s existence. This is also the reason why I named the series the Amanda, Jyushi, Jiro, Love, Life series. It’s a circle of connections, founded by Amanda, and it branches off into love for Jyushi and Jiro, which betters their life and/or changes it drastically from what it could have been. So with that kinda pushed out of the way, lemme tell you about some good old background info.

1. Amanda’s Journey to Bringing Jyushi Happiness is not my first Jiroshi fic

... it’s just the first one I’ve completed. After being immersed in the Hypmi fanfic archives and devouring the sweetness that is Jiroshi I started thinking about things I could write. The first one came in the form of Jyushi wearing red lipstick, which to this day I don’t know if I’m making it fluff or more explicit but I was hooked on the idea and... stopped writing 500 words into the work. The second one came in the form of An Outrageous Circumstance. I wasn’t surprised about Buster Bros making an appearance in my strange dreams, but after reflecting on it I realized I could use this and switch Jyushi with me in the dream plot. I fortunately did manage to finish writing that, so if you’d like to read that, you can here.

Amanda’s Journey to Bringing Jyushi Happiness was born from the concept that Amanda has more of an importance to Jyushi’s life than ever imagined. I wondered, what would happen if Amanda had a soul and supported Jyushi? And from there this was born. Initially I was content with leaving it as it was since I didn’t know just how much power I could give Amanda, but they grew on me so much okay? I practically love Amanda as much as I do Jyushi and Saburo. I can’t produce them tho aha... having Amanda as a support person is one of the best things I could write for Jyushi. And I hope people can enjoy this as much as I have.

2. The soulmates concept is mostly forgotten about 90% of the time for me.

Whenever I write more installments I forget that this is kind of a soulmates au, based on the fact that Amanda can see the fated linkage between Jyushi and Jiro. I always imagine this is kinda like a semi rewrite of canon world but at the same time it’s like it’s own little world quq. But whenever I have to stop and think about how much fluff I need to add and just sequential things like that... the soulmates concept come out. I guess I do have to thank myself for actually remembering about it every once in awhile XD

But I will mention that this fate concept will come out more in some of the newer installments. I have prewritten something a little more into the future that heavily talks about the fated pair deal. I hope you’ll look forward to it!

2.1. Why is Jiro the only one that has a fated string?

I wrote this specifically in Amanda’s point of view. If anyone had a fated string, Amanda would believe this person to be Jyushi’s fated partner, because their duty is to look over Jyushi and make sure he receives the happiness he deserves. Amanda cannot see the fated strings of anyone else in the world, because Jyushi is all Amanda truly cares about. Think of it as a special gift Amanda was gifted by the gods for their journey to giving Jyushi his happiness.

From here, I don’t know what else might be important, but I’ll list off some other things that might’ve been written in notes and other things like that.

3. Jyushi has “graduated” high school.

Jyushi’s school circumstances are kinda strange now that I think about it. THINKING ABOUT IT LOGICALLY, Jyushi should be a third year in high school at his age of 18 (or at least... I thought so lmao). Instead, I’ve given him a job and a life outside of school lol. So I’ll just say Jyushi got into school a little earlier than he should have thanks to his parent’s frequent travels abroad. He was raised by his grandmother most of the time, whenever his parents couldn’t stay in Japan. Around middle school, Jyushi transferred to a middle school that was closer to his grandmother’s residence, rather than feed into the middle school his elementary school was joined with, so then the commute from his grandmother’s residence wouldn’t be as problematic.

Amanda was born around this time, and they got to witness the extremely difficult times Jyushi faced. When Jyushi’s grandmother passes, Jyushi moves in with his aunt and uncle who lived in the next town over. Feeling bad about being a nuisance when they were planning on having a family, Jyushi finds a high school with a boarding plan so he doesn’t have to inconvenience them any more than he did. Along with these plans Jyushi also found part time jobs that were allowed in accordance to the school rules. This is where he finds his passion with making music, which is more than just listening to it and singing in general.

Jyushi was fortunate enough that he had his own dorm. Most of that reason came in the form of his “eccentric personality” which came out a lot whenever he was nervous. He had classmates who talked to him, but he didn’t really have friends. With that said and done, Jyushi quietly progressed through school and quietly graduated around his 18th birthday. He was already set with a job though, with the label he is currently under giving him a contract whilst in his third year of high school. The company officially advertises Argo Kishii Gakudan, and Jyushi becomes the lead singer who produces everything on his own. They gain popularity almost instantly thanks to the copious amount of lives they have done.

Technically, Argo Kishii Gakudan was already a couple years old however. They were made up of Jyushi’s upperclassmen that recognized his talent for music, Takeru, Jun, and Keisuke. You will see more of them in Side N. But because they were so small, and had to pay for all their bookings and everything on their own, going out to share their music, even when they were a hit in their frequent live houses, was nearly impossible. Thanks to the backing of their label, Argo Kishii Gakudan was able to perform around the country and do tours. The fateful one that brings Jiro and Jyushi together is their first one to Ikebukuro.

Jyushi in the current day doesn’t have many opportunities to see his mother and father. They’re successful in their own respective companies, and it shows in the way they send copious amounts of money to Jyushi whenever they can’t meet. Jyushi never has used it though, instead saving it and using only his own earnings from his contract and his previous part time jobs.

Sooo that’s my sorry attempt to document the reason why Jyushi doesn’t attend school lmao. And maybe a little insight on Argo Kishii Gakudan lol.

4. Room settings are soooo difficult to envision, especially whenever they’re different from whatever it is you’re looking at

When I started writing Side: I, and even before when I was writing the ending of Closing the Distance Between Us, I didn’t have the image of Jiro’s room to refer to. How I imagined his room was somewhat drastically different, and thanks to that, I ended up not really giving much of a description to those fics. As of today though, I wrote some hefty descriptions of Jyushi’s room because it’s building up on the imagery I had, in combination to Jyushi’s room in ARB.

You’ll get to read it in the next fic I post from this series. Hope you look forward to it!!

5. Music kinda defines a lot of my inspirations to adding to this series

I listen to music all the time while I’m writing. As a result, there are times I get sidetracked based on songs that come to the shuffle. When I wrote Amanda’s Journey to Bringing Jyushi Happiness and Closing the Distance Between Us, I shuffled a lot of the Hypmi music into my playlist, with a focus on Moonlight Shadow XD. But then I started writing Side: I, and then I came across a really inspirational song when I watched a Men’s Rhythmic Gymnastics routine. While I don’t really associate with the story this song was for, I love this song enough I played it on repeat for like. 80% of that fic entirely.

There’s a couple lines where Jiro thinks about how some romantic music would be playing in the background if it was a drama of some sorts, and this song was a tribute to the fact I was listening to one song... almost entirely. Please listen to it here.

For Side: I-02, another song was put on replay for a little while as well. I made mention of it in the upload post I did for that fic, but I’ll list it here as well.

I hope you’ll give these tracks a listen one day!

7. Some references kinda inside the fics.

I guess I’ll wrap up this mini list of nonsense by mentioning some things I’ve added into these fics based on inspiration from other things or just in random I guess.

Amanda’s Journey to Bringing Jyushi Happiness: I didn’t know how a love at first sight type of story with soulmates au would work out when I wrote it. I was inspired to write the arcade portion of the date because 1. I wanted to write a kiss segment. And 2. I thought arcade dates would be enjoyable XD.

Closing the Distance Between Us: I never expected this would be in sequential order, like I think I mentioned earlier. I intended on this being more like texting and messaging moments between the two while coping with their long distance relationship. Because of this... I... I don’t really know. I didn’t have an excuse to write this XD I just loved the two and my inspiration was the fuel that was this series? Ahahaha XD

You, Me, and Summer: Side I: a lot of romantic feels fueled this fic, among other things. I was inspired to write a whole lot on Jyushi’s hair routine bc of the tsunami season voice lines on ARB. When I did write this, I was also watching a sports anime called Bakuten. It is a Men’s rhythmic gymnastics anime, and it was what I mentioned when Jyushi watches the anime with Ichiro. The game that they all play is the Game of Life, more or less. I played a few games from the game boy edition just to get a grasp on the game ahaha. But the reason why I added this game was because the ARB event that ran me over with Jiro and Jyushi SSRs. They were event scout SSRs... and the fact that I was drowning in Jiroshi feels only to have MORE thanks to official content even if they weren’t in the same team just made me internally scream and dance all night long.

These two... destroyed my account in more ways than one. I’m now technically a Jiro and Jyushi stan rather than a Saburo and Jyushi stan bc Saburo or Ichiro on that matter never come home. But thanks to this I had to play enough to rank on two accounts. Thus... the one month delay.

Side I-02: because of this event, I decided that they should okay their own human sized Life game. I had to give tribute to the event that wrecked me aha. When I was writing this, I drew something on the side as well. . . And while I’m not sure I like it anymore, I thought I’d share it as well.

One hour of watching the sun rise and not being able to sleep led me to drawing this prototype on a whim. And because I’m a fan of drawing Jyushi’s wardrobe... I thought it would be fun ahaha XD I am a newbie still when it comes to digitally drawing but I am happy at how this turned out!

Finally, I will make mention of the haunted house. While hopping through logs on pixiv, I came across some log that showed how Jiro and Jyushi are scared of scary things, but Jyushi is like a sobbing mess and Jiro is just flat out scared. And later, I heard Jiro react negatively to a horror movie in ARB. When I heard this, I couldn’t resist the temptation! And since technically, Jiro and Jyushi don’t know more about each other than you would think, I thought it was a good opportunity to get them to know something else about them.

Sooo... I think that’s all I can think of right now! I hope you enjoyed learning about some of these small tidbits I could remember when I started working on this series. There’s a lot more to this you can look forward to, and I hope you look forward to it!

I will also apologize in advance for the sheer amount of mistakes there may be. I am my own beta, and I’m usually finishing these up at 5am like clockwork XD whenever I hit a slump in my writing, or miraculously reach the end of this series, I will make sure to clean them up I swear TTuTT thank you for understanding QuQ

If you have any questions, you can ask me here! I’ll try to get to them as quickly as possible. Thank you for taking the time to read this!

[mukamibabe]

Uuwuwwuuwuwuuu i totally wanna comtinue this aunt/uncle train cuz its rlly funnn! Same request But with the brothers talking to the sibling as adults???? Sending lots of luuuv💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖

Shu: “…Spare your words and don’t even bother talking to me.”• he doesn’t mean to be rude,, he just.. doesn’t want to talk to them• like.. they didn’t help him or reiji so?? why should he talk to them?? what do they want??• he just.. he won’t talk to them. he’s not going to feed off of them, so he doesn’t see any reason to interact with them

Reiji: “Oh..? What.. are you doing here? It’s nice to see you again, (Name). Is there anything you need? Wait- No, wait right here, I’ll go get you some tea.”• he’s kinda surprised• which isn’t.. weird but also he literally murdered his mother so he’s unsure why his aunt/uncle is back in their lives• are they gonna scold him or something?? • he’s much different from how he was as a child, and the aunt/uncle will most likely notice that, but he will still remain respectful.

Ayato: “What.. What the hell are you doing here?”• like reiji he’s also a little concerned that they came here to confront him about killing his mother• so he’ll seem really defensive but if his aunt/uncle is being friendly, he’ll be kinda nice to them• tell em about what’s been going on and stuff.. including how his mother was a bitch so he and his brothers killed her

Kanato: “Oh.. Auntie/Uncle..?”• big hug for them• he’s so happy to see them again!• he’s also going to catch them up on the latest news on what’s going on and what happened. he doesn’t care if they don’t wanna hear it he’s gonna tell them anyways• he doesn’t want to let them go, so he’s very clingy• “Auntie/Uncle, follow me, I have something to show you!”• “Auntie/Uncle, would you like to join me and Teddy?”

Laito: “Oh, hello my dear Aunt/Uncle~ It’s nice to see you again~!”• um lol no it’s not. he’s kinda dying inside• why.. why are they here and what do they want?? you know what never mind he doesn’t even care• if they piss him off, he can just kill them, right?? he’s done it before so it shouldn’t be too hard.. yeah..

Subaru: “Why are you here? Is everything okay? Is she alright?”• he panics at first and doesn’t even bother to hide it• like.. why else would his aunt/uncle visit?? it’s not like they’d want to see him just because they want to• he’s so worried.. hopefully his aunt/uncle will help him like.. i’m not even there but i feel bad lol

[insanely-creative-things]

Big Hero 7: The Series

Big Hero 7 S2

Mini-Maximum Trouble!

* The morning is bright and warm, the birds were singing and the cherry blossoms dancing through the breeze. At the Lucky Cat Café everyone had been relaxing and doing their own thing. Cora's phone beeps up with a text message from Kage.*

Cora: *Chuckles* Uncle Kage sure is a lot happier, look at this.

*Cora sends what her uncle had sent to her via group text. It was a picture of Kage with Chara at home with their Baymax along with Kaguya.*

Honey Lemon: I'm really happy for him. He's changed so much for the better.

Fred: His story is a proper redemption arc in this universe.

Hiro: *Rolls his eyes before turning his head to Cora* So Cora, do you have an official day for your lessons with your grandmother?

Cora: We're thinking the weekend. She wants all of us to be there... I may have to create you guys underwater suits as well.

Gogo: *Mutters softly* Still can't believe your grandmother's a mermaid.

Cora: Don't I know it... I wonder what Mom's mermaid tail would've looked like...?

Fred: Do you think you'll ever get your own mermaid tail?

Cora: I really don't know and as far as my human half plus the tech embedded inside me is concerned, chances are pretty slim... But lets not focus on that now.. I'm happy with how things are going.

*The comforting silence returns when the resume their own thing. Wasabi, being busy with his phone, uses his other hand to grab his mug only to accidentally knock over the salt shaker... much to his chagrin. He quickly sets the salt up and uses the fallen salt to throw over his shoulder, to which he relaxes... which just so happens to catch Fred's attention.*

Fred: uh... What was that?

Wasabi: *Shifty eyes* What? What thing? I don't know what you're talking about.

*Wasabi gets up to get more coffee from Aunt Cass... only to be confronted by Fred once more.*

Fred: The thing with the salt? Why did you do it? Why?

Wasabi: Ok... spilling salt brings bad luck and throwing a pinch over your shoulder reverses the bad luck.

Fred: I don't know Wasabi, sounds like some weird superstition to me-

Wasabi: Sh! I'm a scientist! I'm supposed to believe in facts and data not bad luck and superstitions.

*Fred then proceeds to bring over a salt shaker and spill it, making Wasabi panic a little.*

Wasabi: *Picking up spilt salt* Ah! What are you doing?

Fred: Helping you by proving bad luck isn't real. Wait for it... Wait for it...

*Wasabi silently squirms as Fred looks around.*

Fred: See? Nothing bad happened?

Wasabi: Are you sure you don't want to throw a little over your shoulder?

*That is when Hiro's phone rings up to show a pic of Megan to which he answers.*

Hiro; Hey Megan.

Megan: Hi Hiro! How's Cora?

Hiro: She's alright.

Megan: With all the crazy stuff that happened at Sycorax that targeted her and her family, I'm glad. it must've been insanely scary.

Cora: *Joining in the face call* Yeah it was, but like he said, we're cool now and Big Hero 7 got them shut down.

Megan: Yeah. There's something else too. I can't hang out with you two today, I have to stay behind to work on the Westerburg's school news feed.

Hiro: No problem.

Cora: Whats the story about?

Megan: Its huge! I'm gonna find out the secret identities of Big Hero 7!

*That got everyone at the table off guard. Honey Lemon starts coughing while Wasabi drops his phone and spills the salt again.*

Hiro: Oh...

Cora: That's something...

Megan: Exciting! I can't wait to get to work! See you two around!

Gogo: Should we be concerned about this?

Fred: No way! Super hero identity? Nobody can crack that code! Except Kage who was Obake…..Momakase… Kaguya… Cora's Giant dad... Chara...Orso Knox...Krei… well I guess Gradnville knew the whole time...

Cora: We've been a little sloppy huh?

Hiro: Fred, Cora, it'll be fine.

Wasabi: I hope you're right!

*Honey Lemon knocks over the salt to which wasabi throws the spilt salt over his shoulder once more... to which happened to hit Mochi's face and cause him to attack Wasabi's face and land on the table, with Wasabi on the floor.*

Mochi: Meow

*The next day Wasabi and Fred are at SFIT in the robotics lab where the former is currently blindfolded and strapped to a chair.*

Fred: OK, you don't see anything right?

Wasabi: Listen Fred, I don't see how blindfolding me is gonna help me get over my superstitions.

*Minimax jumps up to Wasabi's shoulders, ready for Fred's plan to unfold. Once Fred snaps his fingers Minimax removes the blindfold off Wasabi's face.*

Minimax: You are once again free to enjoy your visual abilities!

*That is when Wasabi sees in front of him Fred standing next to a ladder.*

Wasabi: why is there a ladder in- Oh no...

Fred: Oh yes! I have created a superstition obstacle course which I will go through after which I will not have any bad luck! Thus proving there's no such thing as bad luck and you shall be cured Wasabi!

Wasabi: …*To the author writing this scene* He doesn't mean it! He doesn't mean it! He doesn't understand! Please show us mercy! (A.N: Lol no)

*Wasabi's panic rises higher than ever as he is forced to watch Fred dance through the ladder.*

Wasabi: He's under a ladder!

Fred: Look! *Shows Wasabi a broken mirror* A broken mirror!

*Wasabi squirms as Minimax forces Wasabi to look at his reflection.*

Fred: Is the forecast calling for...*Pulls out umbrella* Rain?

Wasabi: No! Don't do it! Don't!

*Fred opens the umbrella anyways.*

Wasabi; Not inside man!

Fred: OK Ok I'll put it away! right in here!

*He closes the umbrella and heads over to put it away when he opens the door to reveal a black cat wearing mini hover boots flying to the room. This causes Wasabi to push himself backwards as he tries to get away from the black cat only for Fred to hold him still.*

Wasabi; Ah! Not a black cat! Its crossing my path! repeatedly! There its goes again!

*Wasabi's panic finally tilts him back to Fred, freeing him from the bonds to his chair. When the cat comes to Wasabi the man runs away only to hit a cabinet, causing it to fall to the ground with the man avoiding it just in time. The box then knocks to a laser where it shoots into one of the pipes nearby.*

Wasabi: You ruined both our lives.

Fred: Maybe if I- *Water pressure pushing him back* Uh nope! That'snotworkingMinimaxhelp!

Minimax: Stand aside! Water is a precious resource!

*Minimax hops over and plugs it up with his own body.*

Fred: Yeah!

Minimax: Concelation-Ablughgubabugha

*The water had seeped into Minimax's body, finally throwing him away and hitting him to a wall. Water seeps out his body as sparks fly out before it fizzles.*

Fred: Oh that's probably not good!

Wasabi: Mini-Maximum Bad luck!

*Rather than going to Hiro and Cora and admitting what he had done, alongside the knowledge they would be busy hanging out with Megan, he opts to take Minimax home and bury him up to his neck in a glass of rice for a rice bath. Finally after he deems it long enough, Fred takes out Minimax from the rice and checks him over.*

Fred: Please work! Please Work! Please work! Please!

*Fred taps on the top of Minimax's head where after his eyes adjust he is finally online.*

Fred: Hey there buddy~ Its me! Fred.

Minimax: Fred...

Fred: Are you OK?...

Minimax: I am... Minimax!

*Minimax falls off the counter and starts running in circles sideways.*

Minimax: Mini Max-Max Max-Max-Max-

Fred: OK, gonna be honest. You need a little more rice time.

*He places minimax back to his rice jar bath. As of while Megan sets up a bulletin board with all the facts, newspaper clips, photos, and familiar locations of Big Hero 7... and all with red string. Its a rambunctious project, she has to admit, but she knew that could crack the code and show San Fransokyo the identities of Big Hero 7 so they may properly thank them for their service. That's when a knock is heard from her door.*

Megan: Come in.

*That's when the door opens to reveal her dad, Chief Cruz.*

Chief Cruz: You have visitors... familiar visitors..

*That's when Hiro and Cora show themselves.*

Megan: Hiro! Cora! I wanna show you two what I been working on!

Hiro: This is... impressive...

Cora: Definitely...

Megan: I haven't had any break throughs yet-

Chief Cruz: *Pats Megan's head* I'm confident you will... *To all three teens* Hey you kids want some cookies?

Megan: No we-

Chief Cruz: *Pushes Hiro and Cora away* I'm bringing cookies anyway!

*The chief goes out the door.. to then peek at the three before officially leaving them be to get said cookies.*

Cora:... So how are you with all this?

Megan: I've started with a timeline where it really began. *Points to picture of Kreitech* This is where Big Hero 7 first appeared when they fought off Robert Callaghan...there's got to be some reason they showed up when they did.

Hiro: Yeaaah… Or it could've just been random.

Megan: Why are you acting weird?

Hiro: *Lying through his teeth* Weird? I'm not acting... weird..? But did you think that maybe Big Hero 7's identities should stay secret?

Megan: No, why?

Hiro: I don't know... hehe.. maybe anonymity is what enables them to protect the city?

Megan: No, their super powers are what enabled them to protect the city.

Hiro: Yeah but...

Megan: Hiro, this is the biggest story ever! And as a journalist its my job to find out the truth! *to Cora* And besides, wouldn't you like to know the people who saved you and your family from Diane Amara?..

Cora:... Megan... think about this... what do you think will happen if you do reveal the identities of Big Hero 7? What good would come out of it?

Megan: I know the city would be grateful for it and know whom to thank for their service..

Cora: Yeah... and then there's the bad guys, their Rouge Gallery lets say, who may not have any grateful bone in their body... and instead have some extreme hatred for them...

Megan: *Catching on*… Learning their identities would make Big Hero 7 targets at their most vulnerable!...and everyone they know too...

Hiro: Exactly..

*Megan looks at Hiro and Cora then at the bulletin board containing the pictures of the heroes... and their villains... She heard from her father that Diane Amara and her twin Sister were taken to prison due to all their crimes, and that Cora was a witness. Diane almost got away with capturing her friend through marrying her father to get whatever she wanted... Putting the people that had rescued her in danger is the opposite of what she wanted to do.*

Megan:... You're right... If they wanted to be known who they are they would have told the city already.

Hiro: Yup!

Megan: And Dad does work with Big Hero 7... Alright. *Sighs* Guess I'll look for something else to write the news about.

*Hiro and Cora smile at this news before they quickly wipe it off.*

Cora: Sorry I burst your bubble Megan..

Megan: Nah, its cool... But what will I even write about?

Hiro: How about any of the big games at your school?...

Megan: *raises eyebrow*… The big game? What game?

Hiro: Isn't there usually a big game at your school?

Megan: Well, either way, I'll think of something. But I also want it to be unique and exciting!

*That is when a plate of cookies come up between their faces.*

Chief Cruz: I got the cookies!

Megan: Dad! Really?

*At the Frederickson Manor Fred is playing one of his most beloved arcade games without a care in the world. That is when his phone rings to which he answers while playing the game.*

Fred: Hiro! My main man! What's what?

*Hiro and Cora are at the streets heading back home.*

Hiro: Its about Megan.

Fred: Relax buddy, Its like I said before: No one can crack-

Hiro: She has a conspiracy wall.

Fred: *Growing worried* Is there red yarn?

Cora: A lot Fred... A whole lot...

*Fred is standing in shock, so much shock that he lost focus of his game and lost. That is when Cora pipes in.*

Cora: But not to worry! We actually convinced her to not go forward with discovering our identities.

Fred: Really? Whew... that sounded like a close call... I can't wait to tell Minimax!.. Though.. I would need to find somethings if...

Cora: If what?

Fred: Megan may not be the only one!... BRB guys!

*He hangs up the phone and rushes to Minimax's resting body in the jar of rice.*

Fred: Minimax! I'm going to the comic book store! I'm going to research Superheroes Unmasked! Specifically how bad is that! Granted Megan gave it up, but that's dodging the first bullet! We need to be prepared!... Wanna come?

Minimax: My enemy must be-be-be-be-be-

Fred: *Putting Minimax is jar of rice* OK back in the rice!

*When Fred goes out, the beeping of Minimax slow down as the wiring within him grows more unstable the more its left unattended. Fred steps out the door cheerily humming to himself when he felt some pebbles hit his head... that is when he looks up to see the top of the porch fall. He dodges in time, leaving him with a racing heart.*

Fred: Heathcliff! The porch broke!

*Fred then gets up to leave while Heathcliff steps outside and begins to tidy up the place. At the comic book store Fred is searching for any comics that have the plotline of their identities revealed and the major consequences that follow. But just when he found one he notices that the bookshelf is now starting to topple over and land above him, resulting in Fred being hit with comics sprawled around him.*

Fred: K, that was a little weird...

*Later on Fred is crossing the street while reading his newly purchased comic.*

Fred: Watch out danger face! DR Tobox is right behind you!

Stranger: Watch out!

*Fred turns around to see the lady pointing up to reveal a runaway trolley heading down fast, to which he narrowly dodges away. But that still left a runaway streetcar zooming through the city.*

Fred: *Getting up* Wasabi was right! Bad luck is real!

_______

*Quickly pulling out his phone he gets Skymax to deliver his chameleon suit and hide in an alley to suit up*

Fred: *Fully dressed* Enter Fredmillian!

*He runs down to catch the runaway streetcar, hopping up and using his tongue to grab hold of it. But the mere speed is too much as Fred is instead joining involuntarily to its path, being hit by various objects like stop signs and branches. That is when Wasabi and Honey Lemon join up to stop the runaway streetcar and rescue Fred. Honey Lemon uses her chem purse bazooka to take aim of the path to which allows the street car to fly up avoiding pedestrians and cars on its path... and Fred screaming his lungs out. Once landing down its goes down the road where Gogo zooms in to pull out an elderly woman out of harms way.*

Gogo: Your welcome.

*That is when Megan is up there, and she is holding her phone... she had been taking a walk looking through her phone for any juicy story to tackle on when she saw Velocity rescue the old woman. Gogo zooms out the way... Even though she decided to not pursue their identities... she did want to see how they work in action. With that Megan rides her bike to follow.*

Cora: Hiro and I are on our way!

*Finally the three show up when Wasabi comes up with this news.*

Wasabi: We got big problems ahead!

*And up ahead Fred is flung off the street car and up to the air.*

Honey Lemon: Fredzilla! *Looks farther ahead* Oh no!

*A school bus filled with children is unfortunately stuck in traffic and directly in the street car's path.*

Hiro: We're on it!

*Hiro launches his magnetic discs at the street car, creating magnetic pulls for Hiro to use. Hiro nearly falls off only for Cora and Baymax to hold on to him to stop the street car. With all their might, they stopped the street car and thus save the lives inside the school bus. Megan sees this and can't help but smile at the three heroes that saved the cheering crowd of children. Megan takes a deep breath before she goes over and catches their attention.*

Megan: Hey! If you have a moment could I talk to you guys for a second?

Hiro: Uh... sure?...I guess?

Cora: What would you like to talk about?

Megan: I just wanna say.. thank you for helping San Fransokyo... and for saving one of my friends from Diane Amara.

Cora: Oh... um... Y-Your welcome miss!

Hiro: We appreciate it. We gotta go now!

*And so the three leave along with the rest of Big Hero 7 where they meet up at SFIT. The teens explained to the team how they talked Megan out of searching up their real identities, though they do feel a little guilty to making her quit a subject she was clearly passionate about. That is when they all see Fred spread around salt in the lab.*

Cora: *Tilts head* Whats up Fred? Why are you spilling salt?

Honey Lemon: Freddie are you OK you look-

Gogo: Terrible.

Hiro: What happened to your arm?

Baymax: *Carrying buckets of salt behind Fred* Fred has an oblique radial fracture.

Fred: Yeah! Because of the bad luck!

*Fred inadvertently hits his injured arm against a hard surface to which he winces in pain.*

Gogo: Whats he talking about?

Fred: Minimax got soaked! I nearly got hit by a part of my house! Then a bookshelf, then almost a cable car!

*Fred throws salt over his shoulder which landed on Hiro, Cora, and Wasabi.*

Hiro: Wow.. Sorry Fred...

Cora: Wait... Mini-max had been water logged? And you didn't tell us?

Fred: I'm sorry Cora! But that was only yesterday! Today was worse!

*He removes his beanie to show his head injury.*

Fred: I need to break this bad luck streak.

Wasabi: Told ya.

Fred: You were right! I shouldn't have messed with the forces of bad luck; please, for the love of all that is good.. help me!

Wasabi:... alright.

Fred: Thank you so much!

Hiro: After you get this over could you bring Minimax over for us to check over? He's probably on the fritz.

Fred: I put him in a rice bath so his wires and such should be dry by now.

Cora: That still doesn't fic the circuits and coding inside him. Just remember to bring him over K?

Fred: Alright!

*And so Fred and Wasabi are at the streets of San Fransokyo in the search for a good luck charm.*

Fred: You sure this will work?

Wasabi: Positive! The only way to counteract the bad luck is with something that brings good luck! Like a heads up coin!

Fred: I see one!

*Fred eagerly jumps over when he spots the coin up the street.*

Wasabi: Is it heads up?

Fred: Yes!

Wasabi: Pick it up!

Fred: Free! I'm free! The curse is broken! *Kisses coin*

Wasabi: Don't kiss the dirty street money!

Fred: But you said it was lucky.

Wasabi: Lucky yes! Sanitary no.

Fred: All I know is I broke the curse~.

*He does a little celebratory dance where he celebrate by seeing Kentucky Kaiju: Return to the Midwest. Once he heads out to the theater his mind rings up with a thought.*

Fred: Oh right! *Calls Heathcliff* Hey Heathcliff! Could you go to the kitchen and check on Minimax? I'm gonna bring him over to Hiro and Cora to check him over.

Heathcliff: Master Frederickson, it appears that the rice jar you had placed master Minimax is empty.

Fred: Empty?! Oh man, he must've gotten out and ran off! I'll go look for him while-Ah!

*When he was walking faster he so happened to step on the skateboard and land down on the floor. His lucky penny turning tails. At the garage, Hiro and Cora are fixing up Baymax's armored fist.*

Cora: hmm, I wonder whats taking Fred.

Hiro: Don't worry, he'll come by with Minimax and check him over. You almost sound like your dad.

Cora: Yeah *chuckles*… And sides, this isn't as huge as Megan nearly going through her plan of identifying Big Hero 7... *Smiles softly* And its nice hearing her thank us...

Hiro: Yeah... *To Baymax* What do you think Baymax?

Baymax: Megan is right here.

*Baymax points to the garage door opening up... with Baymax's armored fist exposed.*

Cora: Oh no!

Hiro: We gotta hide it!

*The teens rush around looking for a good place to hide the rocket fist. After many mishaps they opt to cover it up with tarp and use it as a chair.*

Megan: Hey Hiro, Cora.

Hiro: Whats up?

Megan: Just wanna hang around. Still kicking around ideas for my scoop.

Cora: That's so?

Megan: Yeah. And I talked to Big Hero 7 too!

Hiro: That's pretty sweet!

Megan: Yeah. *To Baymax* Hey Baymax, wanna finish up that chess game?

Baymax: Of course.*Setting up Chess game* It is your move.

*Hiro sighs while Cora watches Baymax and Megan play chess. As the teen boy goes through his computer to finish up work, Cora decides to chat a little.*

Cora: So what type of story were you hoping to go for?

Megan: *Focused on game* Something that would get their attention with facts they never knew before! Something they always wanted to see but never did.

Cora: And finding Big Hero 7's identities would've been it huh?

Megan: Yup. But you guys have a point; I would risk their lives if I do succeed. The only other ones are unsolved mysteries...mysteries... mysteries... *Gets lightbulb* That's it!*To Baymax* Check!

*Megan gets up and rushes out the door.*

Megan: Bye guys! See ya later! And thanks for the idea!

Hiro: What idea?

Baymax: Good bye.

*That is when Baymax's fist launches up and lands back down with Hiro. Cora then pulls up her phone to call Fred. Somewhere Fred is awakening to the ringing of his phone. And that is when he takes a good look at his surroundings.*

Fred: Exposed pipes? Beams? Plastic tarps? Oh no! I've been captured by an evil doer!

*He sees to his right his phone with the icon of Cora calling him. He struggles for a bit until he realizes his ropes are tight.*

Fred: OK, plan B... Help! Halp! Somebody help!

*The lights turn on in Fred's right side...and the hopping figure of Minimax coming towards him.*

Fred: MiniMax! You're alright! Heathcliff said you were missing from your rice bath! Now could you untie me so we can escape?

Minimax: I could...

Fred: Thanks-

Minimax: *Walking past Fred* But I'm not going too! You are my prisoner! Evil laugh sequence initiated. Muahahahahahahaha!

Fred: Wait? Prisoner? You brought me here?

Minimax: Indeed! I am also responsible for all of your *Uses hands for air quotes* 'Accidents'. Finger quotes intended!

*He then regals Fred with the times of how he tried to assassinate the comic book geek, from the porch falling down on him all the way to his skateboard kidnapping.*

Fred: But why? We're best friends! We're supposed to be on the same side? Fighting for justice?

Minimax: Mua! *Brings Fred's chair up* I laugh at the face of justice! Wickedness is my aim! And you , Fred, are my foe!

Fred: Wait, why are you- *Realization* The water! It must've messed with your inside worky parts! At least that's what Hiro would explain it... Cora was right about this..

*Minimax throws a handful of rice at Fred's face in retaliation.*

Minimax: Empty carbs can't save you now Fred!

Fred: Maybe not. But Big Hero 7 can! I bet they're on their way here right now!

*The lights turn on as Baymax spins around.*

Minimax: I'm counting on it! Why only take out one?

*And while he spins pieces of red armor form on his body to show a more villainous look to fit his more viscous personality.*

Minimax: When I could destroy all of Big Hero 7? Mini Maximum Villainy! Evil dance sequence initiated.

*As Minimax does his dance of doom, Fred is left to think how will his friends save him and recover Minimax.*

________

*Hiro and Cora contacted the rest of the gang when they explained that they had called Fred to talk about Minimax only to learn that Minimax is gone from Heathcliff since Fred wouldn't pick up. That is when they received a face call from Minimax himself.*

Minimax: A hearty hello nemeses! It is I! Minimax! If you ever want to see your Fred again, you must come and face me! good luck!

Hiro: The water must've damaged his personality chip.

Cora: I told Fred to bring him over to check him! And now he's held hostage by his own side kick!

Minimax: Initiate evil laugh. Muahahahaha!-

Gogo: *Shuts off call* Nope.

Honey Lemon: We need to find Freddie now.

Hiro; Baymax, can you scan the city for Fred?

Baymax: Scanning...

*Once they find a location the gang suit up and fly/drive over to rescue their friend from the mini bot gone rouge.*

Cora: Fred is up on the 23rd floor.

Gogo: On our way!

*Hiro, Cora, and Baymax are the first to land inside where they tread carefully to see Fred up ahead.*

Cora: Are you OK Fred? Did he hurt you?

Fred: No... *Reveals a scribbled face* My sidekick betrayed me!

*The alarms are set off to reveal flying magnets heading their way to pin down Fred's rescue party. Hiro and Cora manage to get away but Baymax is ultimately pinned down.*

Baymax: Please note. I am unable to move.

*The teens then move out of the way of a falling beams meant to crush them. They managed to get themselves safely to a metal bench to the wall, but because of the beams blocking their way, they are essentially trapped as well. Hiro and Cora try to push the beams together with all their strength.*

Hiro: Its … Too heavy-

Minimax: Mua!

*The teens jump back startled as Minimax pops his head to see them.*

Minimax: You have taken my bait! *Takes Baymax's rocket fist* And now I will take this!

Baymax: That is rocket fist.

Minimax: And now your powerful fist will do my bidding! Muahahahaha!

*The elevator ding is heard as the door opens to reveal Wasabi, Gogo, and Honey Lemon coming up to join the fight.*

Wasabi: Wow, Minimax did this?

Hiro: Guys!

Cora: Its a trap!

Minimax: Evil fist sequence initiated.

Wasabi: AAh!

*Wasabi presses the close button multiple times as Honey Lemon uses her chem boots to seal up the opening just in time to stop the fist.*

Wasabi: OK! He can't get in!...*He tries to push the wall back*… and we can't get out.

Honey Lemon: Oops.

Gogo: Well that was fun.

Wasabi: *Looking up the ceiling* We might be able to go this way!

*He cuts open a circle up where Wasabi is the first to pull himself out..*

Minimax: I am right here.

*And greeted by the evil Minimax. Wasabi falls back as the minibot removes one of his plasma blades and activates it.*

Wasabi: No no! Please don't do that!

Minimax: Sorry lowly adversary but you are going down! Minimaximum literalness!

*He cuts the cables connecting to the elevator to which leads it falling down and Wasabi screaming his lungs out.*

Honey Lemon: Guys hold on!

*Honey Lemon uses her chem boots to launch up as she grabs her girlfriend and Wasabi out of the crashing elevator. Soon she throws out chemballs to act as cushions for their fall.*

Wasabi: OK! This is better...

*Fred, during all the ruckus, had managed to walk a little bit and start rubbing the ropes against the metal beam to cut himself loose. Baymax looks at Fred.*

Fred: Don't worry, I have a plan! *Continues to rub the ropes* Just. Need, to work. a little- Yes!

*With his ropes now loose he stands up, removes the ink from his face, and calls up his skymax for his super suit.*

Fred: Fly! Fly like the wind Skymax!

*As Skymax soars towards his owner, Gogo kicks down the door after they found a staircase and headed up to the 23rd floor again. Gogo heads over to Baymax as the other two look for their friends*

Wasabi: Fred? Fred?

*Gogo uses her discs to break the magnets to free Baymax.*

Baymax: Thank you.

Hiro: We're over here!

*Honey Lemon tries to lift the beam only for Baymax to lift it up, letting Hiro and Cora go free.*

Cora: Thanks Baymax.

Wasabi: But where's Fred?

Minimax: Yes!

*The lights turn on to show Minimax on a chair.*

Minimax: I would like to know the same thing!

Hiro: This ends now Minimax!

Cora: By the time we defeat you you're gonna be sorry for all of this!

Minimax: What are you? My mother?!…

Gogo: Hiro and Cora are your creators. In a sense, they are your parents.

Cora: *Slightly blushing and embarrassed* E-Either way! You are grounded!

Hiro:*Also blushing* I second that!

Minimax: Never! Villainy everlasting!

*He flies up to the team where he goes around in circles, using his own rocket fists to knock them down.*

Wasabi: Where'd he go?

Minimax: Down here!

*Wasabi tries to grab Minimax only for the minibot to kick his butt. Now Gogo is left to chase down the rouge minibot. She throws her disc to hit him only for him to dance on top of it and send it back to Gogo and punch her. Minimax flies over to the recovered Honey Lemon where he uses her purse strap to try to pull off her. *

Minimax: I'll take that!

Honey Lemon: No!

Minimax: He successfully removes it from Honey Lemon, leaving him to gloat as he uses it to pin down the rest of Big Hero 7 with goo.*

Minimax: And that is how you do evil!

*That is when an invisble tongue grabs hold of the purse then to Minimax, bringing them down. That is when Fred is revealed in his chameleon suit.*

Fred: Sorry Minimax! This is gonna hurt me just as much as its gonna hurt you!

*He uses the tongue to burst open a water pipe where it sprays on Minimax, causing him to fritz once more before shutting down.*

Fred: We are going to need a whole lot more rice!

Cora: That... and Hiro and I to make a proper reparation to his circuits.

*The next day, the gang are at SFIT where Hiro and Cora are adding the finishing touches to ensure Minimax won't have that freak out ever again.*

Hiro; *To Minimax* And now you're water proof.

Cora: No more spills and leaks for this guy ever again.

Fred: Nothing like what happened will ever happen again?

Hiro: Exactly.

Cora: Still didn't like you didn't bring Minimax over as soon as possible after he dried out, but hey. No one's perfect.

*Hiro taps Minimax's head where the minibot goes through his reboot before standing up. Fred looks on guiltily at his sidekick buddy before the minibot turns around to see Fred.*

Minimax: Fred?

Fred: Minimax!

Minimax: Fred.

*The two rush towards each other where Fred picks him up and holds him close.*

Fred: Wait- Please tell me you're not going to drop anymore heavy stuff on me?

Minimax: Heart chuckle. Of course not! You are my best friend!

*Fred hugs him close as his eyes and nose start to run.*

Baymax: Would you like a tissue?

Fred: No thanks *Sniffs*

*Minimax uses his hands to blow dry Fred's face to which Fred is grateful for.*

Fred: Glad to have you back Minimax!

Minimax: Glad to be back! I apologize for the wayward fist!

*He and Baymax do the fist bump to which they do their own signature boom.*

Baymax and Minimax: Ba la la la.

Hiro: That's... our thing.

Cora: Just remember Fred, Minimax is grounded for a week, so no late night movie marathons for this little guy.

Minimax: Understood.

Fred: Yeah. Thanks guys.

Hiro: Its fine. I'm just glad things are alright now.

*Later on the teens head back to hang out with Megan where they see her put away the photos of Big Hero 7 to a box.*

Megan: Hey guys! Dad let you up?

Cora: Yup. *Looks at the box* So I'm guessing you found the next best thing?

Megan: I have! It took some convincing from Dad but he agreed. She was his friend afterall.

Hiro: She? Who's your dad friend?

*Megan goes over to another box where she pulls up a black and white photo of a teenage girl... a familiar, strawberry blonde, green eyed, freckled teenage girl. Her photo is show alongside a news clipping dating 16 years ago with the title Westerburg Cheerleader gone missing. This certainly widened Hiro's and Cora's eyes.*

Cora: Is that?-

Megan: Chara Bonete! I decided that I would write about the mystery of Chara Bonete's disappearance. And if I'm lucky, I may find out what happened to her.

Hiro: I-Is that so?... and you said your dad was friends with her?

Chief Cruz: Yup.

*The three teens turn their heads to see Chief Cruz walk in with his yearbook.*

Chief Cruz: I was a football player back then at the games. Chara was always there to bring up the spirit. We talked and hung out... she was a sweet girl... And with Super Slueth Megan Cruz on the case... We can finally find out what happened to her all those years ago.

*Of all the things their friend Megan chose... it had to be the one about Chara. And they knew they can't bring this up with them. For one, they don't know the creature was Chara. And two, how could they even explain about her time with the sirens? Revealing her, would mean revealing Kage, then her grandmother and everything else. Including Cora's more disastrously roots with her psychotic grandmother lurking like a spider, just waiting for one mistake to happen that would cost them everything. At Cora's home, Chara and Kage are sitting together as Chara reads aloud a book, a gift from Orso Knox after their recovery, while their Baymax delivers two cups of coffee with vanilla cream to their side in the living room.*

Chara:' Oh what a tangled web we weave, when we first practice to deceive...'

A.N: Hello everyone! I'm back! So from what I saw the last chapter was a bit of a mixed bag, but I do love that you have been patient for that one and this chapter! Now, someone pointed out that I've been spelling Grandville when it should have been Granville. Yes, I learned on later that is how you spell it, but at this point I've been so used to referring her as Grandville that it felt second nature. But if that is bothering you guys, I'll try to spell it as Granville from now on. this is my first chapter back so I apologize if its not much, especially since college is up and stuff will need to be done. I will try to write more with the episodes and explore some more. Till then, I hope you enjoy this chapter and thank you for reading Big Hero 7! Love you guys!

(P.s: I did add a little fourth wall humor there. May or may not be the last time. Will remove it if it really bothers ya'll. love you!)

[ziamfanfiction]

this week’s ziam ao3 feed

i’ll try to keep it going this time lol sunday updates as before! remember to leave kudos and comments

fics posted/updated from jan 1st to the 13th

It's Next Year by JoMouse

After surprising their families and friends with a wedding, Zayn and Liam return to the Isle of Wight for their annual New Year's Eve celebration. They meet a new friend on the way.

New Year's Eve by endoftheziam (wip)

"Are we breaking up?"

Those heart-wrenching words begin a phone call between Liam and Zayn, where it seems like everything's falling apart. It's the end of the year, and Liam and Zayn have been together since July. Even after everything they've been through, can they make it to the New Year? Can they figure out how it fell apart, in order to put it back together?

Is this really the end?

Prison Novel by ziamfalsete1D (wip)

Living in prison is not easy and Zayn knows it. After a complaint, he ended up in the place where all the criminals fled, just as the devil flees from the Christ. But his luck was not so generous.   Now he's going to have to face the prisoner's life and deal with his companions without causing confusion and get in more trouble. But everything gets complicated when he meets Liam Payne and he decides to make Malik's life even bigger hell.     The two do not get along and Malik wants distance. But just as his arrest was something he could not prevent, other things can happen as well. He just did not expect it to happen to him. When one does not want, they do not fight but when two fight it is because they want to. They just need to figure it out before it's too late.

Princess (Ziam) (BoyxBoy) by British_1D_Irish (wip)

Zayn has tormented Liam throughout all of highschool. Liam is openly gay, which is what Zayn mainly touches on. His favorite way to tease and bully Liam is by calling him "Princess", but when another bully dares to mess with Liam and Zayn begins to learn more about the boy he teases, the mocking word becomes a loving one.

"You're my Princess, Liam"

Love the Way You Lie by goldensouls (wip)

Zayn is a strong-willed omega with the town's alpha gang leader after his heart. Oh, and did he mention he's a stripper?

Flowers Growing, Just to Bloom by Ziam_Mayne (wip)

Prompt: It’s Liam’s birthday and Zayn has a special surprise planned for him.

Morning by Claudii85

Zayn's eyes flutter open when he feels Liam's beard tickling the sensitive skin of his neck. The bedroom bathes in a soft glow, the sun starting to rise over New York, it must be early but he's too tired to look on his phone. He closes his eyes again and he feels Liam nuzzling him under his ear, followed by an open mouth kiss. A small sigh escape his lips and and he moves his head to the side to give more room to Liam.

Sweets For My Sweet by KikoRush96 (wip)

One Wednesday, Liam receives a strange unmarked package from a sweet mail lady. He's alarmed by it, though eventually his friend Harry takes the risk and opens it to reveal Liam's favorite treat.

Zayn is the owner of the little bakery across from Liam's office building who may or may not have a crush on the man with big brown eyes who comes to the shop pretty often.

It's Cold Without You. by iwasnthere

Forget Me Not by loveandbeloved

Liam and Zayn are best friends who act like a married couple but in actuality aren't even dating. One day, Zayn gets into an accident and wakes up in the hospital with amnesia, but when Liam tries to explain their life to him, Zayn assumes they are dating. Things escalate until Liam has to decide to tell Zayn the truth or pray that his memory never comes back.

Or: an amnesia fic that's way less angsty than most.

Farm Days by StoryAnonGuy33

"I said watch out, Liam I called your name like five times" He stated regaining his breath. Liam was confused, was it horse poop? Looking down, Liam saw a cluster of flowers growing out of the dirt. "You need to watch where you're going" Zayn stated lightly as he went back to his work, leaving Liam a little dumbfounded. "Great, he's good with animals and loves nature" Liam mused

Or where Liam spends another summer at his Aunt and Uncles farm. Hoping that Zayn, the new farmhand, would notice him in a different light.

The New Teacher by mmaree (wip)

Being a novice teacher is tough, but being a novice teacher at Payne Academy is even tougher. Fortunately for Zayn, the other teachers on the staff seem friendly enough…at first.

***

Or the one where Zayn’s dream job slowly turns into his worst nightmare. And his worst nightmare may or may not be named Dr. Payne.

Champagne, Cocaine, Gasoline. by SpookyFaces (wip)

Liam should have known it was a bad idea to live in the same house with four other people.

It's not that he doesn't love his boys. He definitely loves fishing out Harry's wild curls from his food, or sharing the bathroom with the drama-queen named Louis fucking Tomlinson. He loves how Niall brings home tons of different girls every night, forgetting to send them home in the mornings, so Liam has to apologize for him and lead them out of the house. And of course - he adores Zayn Malik. A drug-addict with unbelievably long eyelashes and unhealthy obsession with weird art.

Oh, and there are three dogs that Harry dragged home from the streets. And a cat Zayn stole from the shelter.

Yeah, that's it, so far. They live in one house. They try not to kill each-other. Most of the times they fail. Good thing they've got a big basement to hide a body, just in case.

Good Form by projectanonymous (wip, mcd warning)

Zayn isn't part of the night life. He's the stay at home and watch movies type, order pizza, etc. That's his take of having a good time. He really isn't into the dramatics of what he sees on Telly. Ariana and Louis on the other hand are all about it.

After convincing Zayn to go to well-known nightclub in London to celebrate him getting a new job at Playtest Technologies, Louis and Ariana introduce him to exactly what he despises. What happens next will all be in good form...

The Way You Fell On My Feet (oh darling, I fell for you) by allthelovetohlnlz, anchormeetsrope

Tensions were running high among his parents, the constant fighting and shouting had gotten too much. Hence, Zayn decided to have a timeout. Therefore, he called up his best mate, Louis, knowing he would always be welcome here. However, he knew that Louis didn’t live alone as he has been in a relationship since he was 18. Hence, why he felt a bit awkward about staying over at Louis’ but Louis had ensured him that Harry was perfectly fine with it. As Harry had welcomed him, Zayn knew that there was no problem. However, what he didn’t know was that he was here for a reason which was going to have a huge impact on his life.

[karak9]

Another stupid long post about how I don't know my own fucking gender

This is honestly just copied and pasted from a yt comment I made on an older vid and I figured I'd share it here bc tumblr loves this shit I guess lol. God damn I've been questioning my gender for so long and ik rn im prob not still in the best position to be thinking about deep life shit like where I am mentally and im dealing with a lot in my life and also very insecure about potentially being trans bc a lot of my friends don't seem like they would be very accepting and my bf is only really into girls. I asked him how he would feel if I was nonbinary or looked like a boy and he just said he wasn't totally sure but he's only attracted to girls :c he's the sweetest bf in existence and im honestly so afraid of losing him, so aside from obviously not wanting to deal with all the other trans shit, I definitely hope im not trans bc I don't wanna lose him. Anyways, ill start with my childhood I guess. I was always super tomboyish. My older sisters (im the youngest sibling btw) were always p tomboyish so maybe I kinda got it from them but I kinda felt like I was more tomboyish than them? I felt like I was the most boyish girl I knew, like even meeting other tomboy girls in elementary school I felt like I couldn't really relate to them or like they couldnt relate to me enough idk. I also remember once making up a song about being like so tomboyish that I was basically a boy or something along those lines and sang it to my best friend at the time who I copied like all the fkin time (it honestly wasnt healthy lmao I didn't have good parents, also I think I started making up songs bc she did that and I wanted to like impress her), but she thought it was stupid and weird so I just forgot about it and moved on. I was embarrassed to even enjoy playing with dolls or play dress up games online and was determined to play masculine games like runescape (even tho I ended up doing girly shit in runescape anyways lmao) and considered myself one of the guys. In 5th grade when I started needing to wear a bra I absolutely didn't want to, tho some girls in my class thought it was weird I didn't wear a bra when they found out and that made me more insecure about it, but since then I've p much only worn sports bras. I have bought some more normal bras bc I wanted to look attractive in them for my SO or whatever but I still highly prefer my sports bras and can't stand wearing the other ones unless I have to bc my sports bras aren't clean lmfao. I always hated talking about genitalia and breasts n shit but that could just be bc of how I was raised and how my family was always so strict and such radical Christians and anything sex related was a sin, idk if its dysphoria or not. I've never rlly liked my chest and hated showing cleavage like so god damn much and still do but maybe that's the same thing or maybe I just want smaller boobs and that's it idk??? Like I'd want to appear to have a completely flat chest at least, idk if I'd want to actually like have a guy chest or not? Also huge issue with ppl seeing me naked or touching my boobs but again idk if that's gender related or just a normal issue I have. Tho I had a friend in high school (a girl, a very weird lewd girl) who would occasionally grope my chest randomly and it wasn't a huge issue but kinda made me uncomfortable and more aware of my chest. I really like when I wear big hoodies or when I lean over so my shirt kinda poofs out and it looks like I have a flat chest underneath. Though im not super uncomfortable with my boobs, like normally ill want nothing to do with them but I don't mind my SO touching them especially if they're really into it. I wouldn't say im rlly dysphoric about between my legs either, like yeah I think its weird and I hate monthlies and stuff but I think that's normal. I think if i woke up one day and had a dick I would be fine with it, I'd prob even enjoy it tbh lmao. I once had a dream that i was, well, a male dog like,,, ya know, with a female dog, and not to sound weird af (hey we were both dogs ok) but I think i kinda enjoyed it? I don't really remember any other dreams where I remember actually having a dick or feeling it but I've had several dreams as a male person, but p much all of them were like, I was seeing through a character's eyes or smth, not really that I was a guy, so idk if that's normal. I have the same dreams about being other girl characters, I'd say its split about 50/50. Because of this game community im in, a lot of ppl assume im a guy, and a lot of people still think im a guy and I haven't really bothered to correct them but idk if I find it more enjoyable bc its funny or if I enjoy not being referred to as female for once. I'll admit I feel most comfortable referred to as they/them, like without a doubt, if I could go by only 1 set of pronouns for the rest of my life it would be they/them. But ik that's not enough to call myself trans. I definitely wouldn't want to be 100% male. Like if I imagine myself as a grown man vs a grown woman id prob choose to be a woman. I don't like my voice but I think that's mostly just bc I sound 10 years younger than I actually am, and wouldn't really want a deep/masculine voice. Like a "tomboy" voice would be fine if that makes sense? I don't want facial hair or want to have a masculine body, I like that I have curves and soft skin and small hands. Personally I like my hair long bc its soft and people love it, but sometimes I kinda wish I had short hair and could pass as a boy. Like I'd wanna be a typical cute kpop boy ngl lmfao. I like the whole cute androgynous/feminine boy look and wish I could pull it off. Tho I also like really girly things sometimes and am okay being seen as a girl, i just want to be cute and attractive. Ik whether im trans or not I like being a mix of feminine and masculine, tho I admit in the past I've been kinda insecure bc I used to be super sure I was nb and thought me liking girly things and wanting to still havd long hair and wear girly clothes made me seem like "not trans enough" or whatever. But i guess here I am questioning myself again anyways. If I am nb, it sucks that ill never really be able to be openly myself and all but I've accepted by now that I kinda have to pick a binary and choose what I want to be seen as for the rest of my life, and im ok with being female. There are some things I dont like about my body whether they're really gender related or not but I can't afford to transition and wouldn't like most of the effects of T and am afraid of surgery and not sure I want top surgery enough to ever get it anyways, but I think if we lived in a perfect world and I could magically change my body at will and I wasnt afraid of judgment or being unattractive or whatever, I'd probably want to look androgynous and itd be cool to be able to change my genitalia at will lmao. If I had to choose 1 genitalia over the over I honestly have no idea what I'd choose but I have no desire to ever get bottom surgery, at the same time tho I honestly wanna someday get surgery or w/e to never be able to get pregnant. I just could not handle pregnancy or giving birth and I don't even like babies and breast feeding sounds awful so if I ever have kids they will be adopted 100% and most likely be older and like not newborn babies lmfao, babies are honestly so weird to me and they stink and cry and they're so fragile and im so afraid of like dropping them when I hold them lmao. But I like my nieces and nephews and I like being the cool aunt (is there a gender neutral version of aunt/uncle?) who lets them use my art supplies and helps them do fun stuff even if I get tired of them sometimes lol. Idk if that's gender related either but yeah I guess. This if kind of a more recent thing but I often say I'd make a great bf kinda as a joke bc of how I am in relationships like being the stereotypical sweet bf type who makes things for their partner a lot and wants to be their knight in shining armor and their protector and all that, but again prob not rlly trans related lmao just thought I'd throw that out there I guess. So when I was 17 was when I really started getting into trans stuff, prior to that I mostly just learned from my parents that trans ppl were "against god" and all that bs, and eventually started realizing lgbt+ isn't as bad as my family said and later realized I was bi. But anyways I met an agender person online when i was 17ish and I'd never heard it before and thought it was really interesting and asked them how you know you're agender bc after hearing their explanation of it i thought it described how I felt, but ofc they weren't transmed and just described it as being like a deep feeling or whatever and since then i started calling myself agender (and switched between a few labels but basically nonbinary) until my transmed friend told me I was ridiculous and that I wasn't trans, and honestly he was a huge dick but im a huge pushover lmao and I thought well he's trans so he must know what he's talking about, and though I felt discouraged about it I stopped calling myself nonbinary. Then I began questioning it again after not too long and basically since then I've been questioning my gender off and on. I'm now 22 and god I fucking hope im cis but also I feel like a part of me doesn't want to be cis if that makes sense?? Idk if that's because I don't like being a girl for some weird deep reason I don't know about despite being pretty sure I've gotten a lot of my feelings and their reasons behind them figured out, or if it's because I am trans and dont want to force myself to pretend im a girl 100% forever. At the very least, whatever the fuck my gender is, I want to continue going by they\them wherever I can and pretending to be a boy to strangers online and I'd love to cosplay male characters and bind and occasionally just dress masculine for the hell of it and probably wear sports bras for the rest of my life. I feel like in a way I cang possibly be trans because I can live with all of those things and be fairly comfortable still being seen as female for the rest of my life. But idk, I have bpd and other mental shit so sometimes im not great with my feelings (tho I do try really hard to identify all of my feelings/emotions and stuff) but at the same time bpd can cause weird identity shit so maybe its just a weird mix of a bunch of crap and im not actually trans but just weird and tomboyish enough to question my gender for 5 years and still be unsure. Also I know a lot of ppl suggest talking to a therapist/psychologist/whatever professional and trust me I would love to but I can't currently and am unsure when ill be able to bc they're expensive and I live in the middle of fucking nowhere so finding a decent therapist around where I live rn is going to be very difficult. Also, I have fucking crippling social anxiety lmao like I'd be so afraid to open up about this stuff even to a professional. So if anyone could suggest anything online that could help that would be amazing

[survey--s]

197.

When is the next time you will take a shower/bath? Which one will you take? I’ll have a shower when I get home from work tomorrow - I already had one this morning once I’d had breakfast.

Are you currently waiting on someone to do something for you/to you? Nope, I’m just passing the time until it’s time to go and feed Monty.

As a child, did you ever get the chance to go to Disney World/ Disneyland? I went to Disneyland Paris when I was eleven with my dad. He took me to Paris for October half term and pretended he wasn’t going to take me to Disneyland until the last day when he surprised me, haha. It was freezing cold but I loved it.

What state do you live in? What’s the best aspect about this state? I live in a county in England. The best thing about it is the weather and the scenery, plus how dog-friendly everything is.

Are you someone who is really committed to politics in your area/ country? Nope. I studied it at university, but I’ve pretty much done a complete 180 since I left and grew up.

When was the last time you were on a boat? Where did you travel on it? When my aunt and uncle visited and we did one of those little boat cruises on Derwentwater. It was basically just a boat trip around the lake and you can get off where you want and visit the stops.

Are you planning on going anywhere with someone, sometime today? I’ve just got to go and feed Monty in about 90 minutes or so, then that’s me done for the day. I won’t be taking anyone with me, though.

Does your family ever have any kind of weird traditions in your house? I don’t think they’re weird, but I suppose outsiders might think that.

When is the next time you will attend a family reunion? Where will it be? We don’t really have those as we all live in different countries.

Do you have any friends who act like they dont know you in public? Nope.

Do the things you do normally have to have reasons behind them, or not? I mean, everything happens for a reason of some kind, but those reasons are normally “because I want to” rather than anything moral lol.

Do you like cereal? What would you consider your favorite kind of cereal? I go through phases of eating cereal - I’ll have it daily for weeks and then won’t touch it for months, lol. My favourites are shreddies, cheerios and crunchy nut cornflakes.

Do you find your school to be loaded with hot guys or not so much? It definitely wasn’t, lol.

If you have siblings, have they moved out or do they still live with you? I don’t have any siblings.

Do you ever actually like going to Wal-Mart or is it regularly boring? We don’t have WalMart here.

Do you know anyone who has or has had any kind of mental illness/ disorder? Sure, quite a few people. People are much more open about things like that nowadays.

[catsbrew-blogs]

went over to my uncles house for a belated thanksgiving cause they were busy that day and i decided to bring my cards against humanity deck cause why not we’re all adults and as we settle in i show my uncle the game and hes all like

“hell yeah lets play” 

so we get a round going with me, my dad, Tami, and my uncle 

Its fun and we’re all havin a blast and we decide to get my aunt in on this cause the foods all done and she looked like she needed a break 

she agrees aslong as we invite her brother Johnny to the game as well and if you knew the guy like we did you would have groaned like i did 

this man is the clear cut definition of the racist fuck you see at family reunions 

so reluctantly we did and ooohhh boy if i would have know a card game would unleash a kamehameha of bullshit I would have kept my mouth shut  

before we knew it we were in a 30 minute long tangent about how HE would NEVER play that game since HE has MORALS

“I would NEVER play a game created by people trying to stop Trump from building his wall. How DARE they think they can stop Trump by buying property and saying he cant build there!”

So essentially it was this phrase for 30 minutes. Our game was put on halt for this mans shitty agenda and the only reason it was stopped cause he was hell bent on continuing (in an attempt to convert us?)

In the middle of a sentence I slam my hands on the table prompting him to shut his mouth. Carefully set my cards down and open the front door and point to it. And as calmly as I could muster (which is odd for me Im a wreck)

I said

“If you would kindly take yourself and your garbage opinions to the curb I’m sure the garbage truck coming on Tuesday would love to pick you up and take you to the dump where you belong.”

This tiny little garbage man gets soo pissed that he tries to pull the 

“You cant talk to me like that im an elder and you have to respect your elders” bull shit

and I freaking laughed. So hard in fact, it shocked him. My reply (still cool an collect, go me)

“I don’t have to respect shit. You have displayed nothing worth respecting with your tangent and because of it you have only cemented the fact you will never be worthy of respect. You are a sad little man living in your sisters house because no one else will pity you or feel for your agenda. Or feed into you bullshit ideals. Now if you excuse us all, we have a game we would like to finish”

Yeah so he huffed and left the house lol.

Anyway the game was fun but my aunt kicked all our asses. 

[leonum-matrem-blog]

1, 3, 15

Detailed Prompts | @drdumaurieraccepting

1. what sociocultural factors of your own life do you think influenced your choice of character and how you play them?

       This is a difficult question with the nature of how I chose Cersei. It felt more like she chose me in a sense I suppose. When you consider socialcultural facts we are considering society and factors of my childhood that influence my attitude today. Since Cersei and I are from two vastly different societies, and not only that, but completely different socially constructed societies. She is a Queen during far older times, one of the head figures of the most powerful families alive, and I am most definitely not a Queen, I live today, and I work at a local grocery store.

       I suppose when you consider socia cultural factors I could pull out the fact that I am both familiar with the oppression and abuses that Cersei herself has suffered. Where I live it is not only controlled by your race, but it is also who you’re literally related to. It doesn’t matter how qualified you are for a job, if your aunt, uncle, mom, or brother, is in a high position. Chances are you will get a job that is a better pay than anyone. Your social structure is literally depending on who you work for because of your name. I myself, like Cersei, took the shittiest situation and made myself what I am today. I went from working for 7.50 an hour, for six 6 hour days (i got in trouble if I wanted to work more), to my current paycheck, and now I want for nothing. And like Cersei I always find a way to get what I want, and like her i am patient to wait for as long as i need to and do what I think needs to be done in order to get it.

      I am fully aware that all native americans are born with some type of genetic depression,  I suppose it’s something I was ALWAYS aware of even when I was girl running around camp grounds. I knew what things were, how they were, and how angry I was. And like Cersei my own abuses and possible trauma has led me to have a LOT of anger that I suppress. That I can’t control. I won’t go into too much detail on abuses but I understand them, and the way in my mind she would speak of her consideration of jumping from the tower and how its related to her suicidal tendencies are pulled from personal things in my life. There is little different I suppose between the nature of our parentage i suppose. 

        We both have super long and complex life stories too I suppose? LOL

3. what iconography (symbols/images/motifs/etc.) do you associate with your character and why? how do you portray this in your writing?

        There are four things that Cersei’s identity revolve around:

      Queen      Lannister- ‘Hear Me Roar.’ , ‘A Lannister Always Pays His Debts’      Lioness - and how it play into her as a Mother.

     The reason as to this is I suppose, no thanks to her upbringing. We have a Queen, which is what Cersei was raised to know that this is her place ,and only her place. The only title that is worthy of her name-      Queen, the one thing she was promised since she was a girl by her own Lord Father. Something she is aware of I think that even her mother wanted, which in her mind would translate to further feed her entitlement of this word. I portray this in the way that she carries herself, in the confidence of how she KNOWS that she can turn every head in the room with a single smile. A regal aura that is given off with every bit of her persona as she goes about even the simplest of things. And with each compliment of the other two it also gives an end game of sorts to how Cersei’s mindset works when these things are concerned.     Lannister, a name built on fear no thanks to said Lord Father. A name that Cersei herself has taken pride in, a name that Cersei herself FOUND her pride in. A name that summons fear and caution no matter the ground they trek, there may be mockery amongst it sure, but regardless it is always stated with a coat of respect. Always respect. We have the words, ‘Hear Me Roar’ which can both be translated to a cry of victory or a growl of rage. And regardless of either the world if FORCED to listen and stand at attention. Whether someone hates them or likes them, they will listen to what they have to say, they will hear them no matter what. And this translate a LOT into Cersei’s pride, the way she carries herself in every confident step and promised threat made. Which also brings me around to the ‘debt’ saying. Again, like the first, a promise or a threat. Allies are treated well, therefore an owed debt for each loyalty or paid favor, and enemies remembered, a debt created of vengeance. So in a sense loyalty and vengeance is tied into the very name of Lannister, and therefore into the very fabrics of Cersei’s blood.      Lioness, the sigil of the Lannisters. A epitome of the very pride and strength that is expected of their namesake. The lioness is the hunter of the pride, the one who provides, brings food, and protects the cubs. The lion may rule, protect, fight, and lead. But it is the lioness who protects her cubs, kills for the good of her family, and brings in the prey. Vigilant and feared, seated at the very top of the ladder, and powerful in every form. When it comes to their cubs no one creature alive, would dare come near them. They are vicious and will rip down and all would who dare threaten their little ones.

      Each is a representation of power all on it’s own. Power. A thing that Cersei has access too ,but is bared from because of her gender. Power. Something that she knows she is robbed of so easily by everyone, including the gods themselves. She was first born, but was born female, she was the daughter of Tywin Lannister but was never allowed to continue holding a sword. She was Queen but never given the respect she was owed. This frustrates Cersei beyond extent, she has gain every aspect that allows her to be entitled to the respect she has wanted since she was a girl. So while she is prideful, while she carries her pride on her sleeve. There is always an anger beneath everything she does. And when I write her that is how I try to convey it. The angry pride that bleeds from her demeanor, 

      There is a balance with Cersei’s mindset, because she also carries herself in the way a Queen is to be seen. She knows how to play the game and to hide any and all intentions behind her. She has learned to take what little she had and now there is no other soul in the realm more deadly then she. The mastered art of court, a smile or a well placed tear, or even a gentle brush of the arm or kiss on the cheek. All ways of manipulating, all ways of carrying herself to place herself one step ahead. That’s how it works. 

      But while she is hard as stone here, immovable as a rock, where her children are concerned she can be as gentle in the place a mother is. She has learned from her few memories of Joanna and strives to model her memories after her own mother. She wants her children to feel as loved as she and Jaime were, wishes for them to feel cherished they way their family was during those so few precious moments. And even a mother’s love represents a bout of power, as Catelyn herself has mused over, even the Mother can be as fierce as the Warrior when her children are in danger.

      I think this is why they all fit together so perfectly where Cersei is concerned, the Queen Lannister Lioness, mother of Joffrey, Myrcella, and Tommen Baratheon.

15. for canons: do you think your character is a foil for another character? how so?

      The wonderful thing about ASOIAF is that every single character can easily be foil for another. Qualities of their character made to conflict with their counterpart. The most obvious is her little brother, Tyrion. There is hate, anger, blame, and most of all scorned coated fear for the day he is suppose to kill her. But there is also the need to love him as her little brother, for the short time they ACTUALLY knew one another. There is the want to respect Tyrion, there is the shoved away need to value him. But all the little things have contributed to it, Tywin’s own treatment (the man that Cersei longs to be like), and the little things that Tyrion has done that’s both angered her and made her feel equally uncomfortable. There is her clashing with Jaime, it’s  equal clashing on both ends, but it’s always in a way that long term couples do. (Couples disagree, they get angry with each other. It’s what they do. It’s realistic.). There is the clashing with her own father, Tywin Lannister, where Cersei does things thinking she is doing it for the best and Tywin seeing the logic through and turning it on it’s head because Cersei’s judgement doesn’t go into the long term. Then there is every one else…

         It’s the wonderful thing of AOSIAF. Everyone is foil for everyone, everyone clashes with everyone. It’s what makes it so great I suppose.