#the only downside is that she never actually appears

[stardusteyes]

Library of Ruina was so based for making the Wizard of Oz a lady

[uniivrz]

mic'd up

katie mccabe x reader

+ summary: reader, still on the acl squad, has been approached by the arsenal media staff asking if she'd go mic'd up in the stands for one of arsenal's games.

+ warnings: ACL injury mentions right off the bat. swearing. made up game (arsenal v tottenham). reader really embracing the WAG life.

a/n: i came across a video of katie during one of the covid matches, and due to the empty stadium you could hear everything she said— and that's where i got this idea :) my first post, hope you enjoy!

like any other football player, you hated the dreaded three letters that would take whoever was the unlucky soul out of the game for a long while.

of course it had always been a fear in the back of your mind, you just never thought it would actually happen to you.

that day you went down on the pitch had been one of the worst. not just for you, but for katie as well as the rest of your arsenal team.

everything had been fine. arsenal was up by two, and half time had just ended. it was around the 52nd minute, when a purposely bad tackle from a chelsea player left you on the ground, clutching your knee as you attempted to keep the tears at bay. (only to fail).

some time later you were holed up in one of the physio rooms of the stadium, when katie came in, the look on your face confirming her worst fear.

honestly, it was getting quite scary how many arsenal players were getting ACL injuries.

she had been by your side for all of it, constantly making sure you were comfortable and had everything you needed, as well as driving you to and from appointments.

the downside meant you weren't able to travel with the team for away games, forcing yourself to be holed up in your flat you shared with katie— often inviting the rest of the ACL squad over to watch the game together, knowing you'd be insufferable on your own.

luckily for you, today was a home game. you woke up before katie that morning, hobbling down the stairs on your good leg, (and nearly eating shit in the process), you'd prepared her a proper breakfast, consisting of pancakes, bacon, & eggs.

the brunette soon appeared in the kitchen behind your unsuspecting frame, an adoring smile crossing her face at the sight of you lightly nodding your head to whatever song came from the speaker on the marble counter.

nearly jumping out of your skin at the feeling of two strong arms wrapping around your waist, your body relaxed as you registered the familiar feeling of katie, her arms clad in her arsenal training jacket.

you leaned into her touch as you finished up with the bacon, her thick irish accent rang through your ears as her nose brushed against your neck gently. "you should not be on your feet,"

rolling your eyes fondly, you forced yourself to suppress a smile. ever since your injury, katie had been treating you as if you were a porcelain doll— going to break at the slightest touch.

while sometimes it became a little overbearing, it warmed your heart for her to be this protecting with you, and you wouldn't trade it for the world.

"i was cleared to walk without my crutches, katie," your giggled, relishing in the ticklish feeling of her light breathing against the back of your neck.

"still. ya should have waited for me." she murmured. "i could have carried you down here."

you rolled your eyes once again.

for the first few weeks/months of your injury, she had insisted on carrying you everywhere. from the bed to downstairs, from the front door to the car. no matter where it was— she wanted to carry you. wether it was bridal style, your legs wrapped around her waist, or giving you a piggy back, she didn't care.

after breakfast was finished, you rushed back up to change. you settled on one of katie's hoodie's, along with her jersey which you threw on top, and a pair of her sweatpants. nearly everything you wore was hers.

when you'd returned downstairs, she grinned widely at the sight of you dressed in her attire, and couldn't restrain herself from letting her hands roam your body as you shoved your feet into some sneakers.

"oi hands off, mccabe."

the ireland captain chuckled, tapping your rear end before you stood back up, sending you a cheeky wink when you glared at her.

arriving at the emirates with your personal chauffeur, the two of you made your way through the grounds, greeting any staff members you'd passed by and waving to the media staff as you each made your way toward your separate destinations.

you had a brief session with a physio to assure everything was still fine and dandy with your knee, whereas katie was heading off toward the locker room with the others.

as you left your meeting 15-ish minutes later, you had been wandering the halls when you were stopped by one of the media staff, claiming they had a task for you.

since you were going to be in the stands again, they had asked if you would go mic'd up, thinking it'd be a fun video idea for arsenal's youtube channel.

you agreed quickly, thrilled at the idea. they had informed you that there would be a camera a little ways away from you, to capture your reactions in both your voice as well as your actions.

one of the members clipped a small square microphone device to the collar of your (katie's) jersey, as another member held a camera and recorded your actions.

Youtube

Y/N L/N MIC'D UP • ARSENAL V TOTTENHAM

Arsenal 578K views 6:38

0:00

[Camera fades in from black to show you, stood in one of the many corridors of the Emirates Stadium.]

grinning, you gripped your shirt and pulled it closer, "we've got mccabe! katie mccabe! can you hear me?" you asked, looking into the camera that was recording you.

[Laughter is heard around you before the scene cuts and fades into a brief black screen. When it returns, the camera is unfocused, going in an out before focusing on you, looking at the camera as you don't realize it's recording.]

"is it going?" you asked with a dopey smile, the cameraman behind you nodding. "right. hi, i'm y/n l/n and today i'll be mic'd up as i watch tonight's game." you giggle, pointing at the microphone clipped to your shirt before you make your way toward your seat.

[Camera follows you down the hall before cutting to you sat with Beth, Viv, and Leah, the former two sat in the row below you. You pull a small, barely noticeable box out of your pocket. The camera zooms in on your hand, revealing the box is actually a miniature uno deck.]

"i know how we can pass the time," you grin micheviously.

0:45

[Camera cuts to the four of you playing uno, Beth and Viv swiveled in their seats to face you and Leah above them. It catches Leah attempting to peek at your cards before you shove her head away, the scene then switching to a new clip of the four women arguing.]

"absolutely not, beth cheated!" leah yells, hands dropping dramatically onto her thighs with a loud smack.

"you fucking wish! you just suck williamson!"

[Viv is seen trying to keep the peace as you laugh loudly, the four of you gaining looks from surrounding match watchers— only for them to look away at the sight of four of arsenal's own. Your laughter becomes louder as Leah slams her tiny cards aggressively onto your thigh, folding her arms and leaning back in her chair with a pout.]

"oh, cheer up captain," you pout mockingly, reaching to pinch her cheeks between your fingers.

1:02

[Camera cuts to the teams walkout, briefly showing Katie McCabe before turning back to you, a large grin on your face, never failing to leave.]

"that's my girl!" you shout, hands cupped around your mouth to make yourself louder. "let's go number fifteen!"

1:39

[Cuts to you leaned back in your seat with your arms folded. An amused look is on your face as you shake your head. Camera pans to the big screen as Katie's name is shown, a yellow card next to it.]

"it's been like thirty minutes and she already has a card," you giggle to yourself before sighing fondly, a gentle smile on your face. "that's my girl."

2:06

[Different camera shows Katie sliding her foot in front of a Tottenham player, successfully and cleanly retrieving the ball from her feet before panning to you with your elbows propped up on your knees, head resting in your hands.]

"oh my god, she's so hot." you sighed absentmindedly, momentarily forgetting about those surrounding you and the microphone attached to your collar.

[Beside you, Leah bursts out laughing, the sound picking up through your mic as the blonde discretely turning to the cameraman who has now directed it toward her, pointing at you before fake wretching.]

3:21

[Camera shows you jumping up out of your seat, annoyance clear on your face as your hands are perched on your hips.]

"oh, come the fuck on! that's so clearly a foul!"

4:38

[During halftime, the camera follows as the four of you briefly leave your seats to join the girls in the locker room. The cameraman does not enter, only filming the door, however you can be heard from inside.]

"north london is what?!"

"north london is red!" an irish voice answers you.

"hell yeah it is!" you reply, then followed by the sound of palms smacking against each other.

another voice cuts in, "alright, simmer down you two!"

"oi! put her down, she's fragile!"

4:50

[Camera cuts to you stood with your hands on Katie's shoulders, giving her your usual half time pep talk, brushing stray fly-aways out of her face as she smiles at you. The sound is cut off, so the viewers can only see the motion of both players' lips moving as you speak to each other, the final thing being Katie moving toward you, scenes changing just before any PDA is shown.]

5:47

[Camera pans from Katie running around the pitch celebrating, arms in the air and then back to you, the four Arsenal players chanting together, you being the loudest and most enthusiastic of the four.]

"we've got mccabe! katie mccabe! i just don't think you understand! she plays out on the wing! she hits it with a zing! we've got katie mccabe!"

6:25

[Video closes out with you and Katie stood outside of the stadium, her arm wrapped around your shoulder as you do the outro.]

"that was me mic'd up, i hope i was entertaining enough for you all. thanks for watching." you grin shyly, waving with both hands. "leave a comment if you think katie should get mic'd up next."

[Katie laughs before kissing your cheek affectionately, the brunette waving bye with her free hand before the video fades to black.]

Instagram Posts

ynln

Liked by victoriapelova and 51,094 others

ynln Watch me go Mic'd Up as I watch Arsenal Women's recent match against Tottenham!

Video is out now on the Arsenal Youtube Channel and the Arsenal Instagram Account!

— view all comments

katie_mccabe11 It's a good one 😉

⤿ bethmead_ We know why you think that 🙄

username petition to get yn mic'd up again, sign here

�� username signed

⤿ username signed

⤿ ynln signed

leahwilliamson Alternate title, YN thirsting over Katie for 6 minutes straight 🤢

⤿ katie_mccabe11 Jealous are we, Williamson?

Twitter/X

ynsmccabe that new video arsenal posted of y/n l/n is now my favorite thing

⤿ the clip of her and katie in the hall OMG

⤿ mccardlover no because they literally the only couple ever

⤿ meadema99 leah getting upset over beth cheating in uno after she literally tried to look at y/n's cards 😭😭

username pls the amount of bleeps they had to add to this video because of yn 😭

⤿ username never heard someone curse so many times in 6 minutes

katiespelova oh i need more mic'd up videos with the rest of the team now

username if my relationship isn't like katie's and yn's i don't want it

[hauntedhokage]

𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒎𝒐𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏

Satoru Gojo/F!Reader

you should know better than to make a deal with Mei Mei, because everything comes at a price.

word count: 2.9k

warnings: drugging (aphrodisiac use), manipulation, non-consensual photos and recording, non-sexual slapping, uneven power dynamics, canon typical Mei Mei behavior, unprotected sex, breeding, yan!gojo

notes: some parts of this are intentionally a bit exaggerated because Gojo is a showman, if nothing else. This was also requested in uh....march so dear anon if you're still here I love you and I'm sorry.

There is always a price. Even in the jujutsu world, nothing just happened because of merit. It was all about who you knew and what you could give them in return for helping you out. Never simply receiving because you worked hard and earned it. 

Which is why you knew paying off Mei Mei to support your promotion to grade one was going to end badly. But she was your only in to get the promotion you knew you deserved quickly. Gojo had been an option, but his price was “be a good girl for twenty-four hours” and that would cost you way more than Mei Mei’s negotiated price of five hundred thousand yen just to consider putting you up for promotion. The higher ups hated Gojo anyway, your paperwork would just get “lost” and then you’d have to resubmit multiple times, and Gojo resubmitting paperwork would come at a cost that grew steeper with every re-submission. The cost of doing business with him.

But that came at the price of Mei Mei not being able to supervise your missions that would fall under consideration, the ultimate price being that your final mission for consideration would be performed with Satoru Gojo at your side - and he looked way too happy to be sitting next to you in the car. 

“Ijichi, there was nobody else?” 

“You ask that as if I make the assignments,” the supervisor retorts, and you sit back in your seat as he sighs. “You’ll live. We always persevere.”

“I am right here, y’know,” Gojo interjects, and you sigh as you lean into the door when he scoots closer. “It’ll be like I’m not even there.”

“Impossible,” you mumble, grateful that the car has slowed to a stop meaning you can get out before Gojo is pressed into your side. Personal space didn’t exist for you when he was around, that’s why you did your best to avoid him. 

Like he’s not even there, he says. 

But he certainly enjoyed standing right next to you as you walked through the closed down hotel in search of the curse. His presence was unsettling for a multitude of reasons, the biggest one being that you didn’t like how he looked at you. Always with a stupid little smirk on his face, like he knew something you didn’t, and then there was the fact that he always had something to say about your appearance. New haircut, wearing your jacket a certain way, he even clocked the one time you smelled like someone else’s cologne. You weren’t bold enough to assume that he wanted anything more than to say he’d fucked you, but the way he just kept trying after the first rejection was creepy. But he was Satoru Gojo - the strongest sorcerer - despite any complaints about his conduct, the higher ups wouldn’t be able to actually do anything. The perk of being Satoru Gojo, and the true downside to hating him. 

“Maybe the windows were mistaken?” you consider, poking your head into another open door and seeing nothing of interest. “I can’t sense any cursed energy besides ours. If this truly was a grade one or higher, we’d have felt it by now.”

“I’m not here, so you should feel it.”

“Are you telling me that you sense something I don’t?” His six eyes technique was annoying, he was annoying, so you keep walking even when he stops to go into a different open room. Maybe without him hovering your senses would be cleared enough to tell what he wasn’t telling you about. You just hoped you found it soon, because searching a hotel top to bottom with Gojo over your shoulder was not how you wanted to spend a Friday night. Maybe you’d call Nanami, see if he was going to leave that office building and at least get a drink? Or go to Yaga and see if there was any way you could get sent overseas to keep an ocean between you and Gojo at all times?

You hear movement behind you but pay it no mind, knowing that it was just Gojo pretending to not be near you. The cursed energy was the same, no residuals to be found, so you were going to let your guard stay dropped until you had a true reason to be on guard. Creaks in the floorboards of an old hotel wasn’t reason enough to stress yourself out. 

A rag covering your mouth while an arm snakes around your torso to pull you against a chest and back through a doorway was, however, cause for great distress. This wasn’t a curse attacking you, even high grade curses weren’t smart enough to stage an attack like this - this was Gojo. And he’s too strong for you to truly be able to fight back, the best you can do is kick and flail and hope that his infinity wouldn’t block it given your close proximity to him. Screaming was pointless, since sound wouldn’t escape the veil, but you do manage to wiggle free just as he kicks the door shut. 

The room is a bit blurry, your body feels warm and fuzzy when it certainly should not be, and every time you inhale you’re getting hints of pomegranate - not normal considering everywhere else in the hotel smelled like dust covered up with lemon cleaning solution. You have to get away from him, but there’s only one exit and he’s blocking it. 

“Well damn. It’s supposed to make you more receptive, guess I didn’t use enough,” he mumbles, tossing the rag to the side as you back away from him. “Or maybe there’s a delay? I really should have read the instructions closer.”

“W-what the fuck is wrong with you!?”

“To start, this hard on. I get like this whenever you’re around, y'know.” And he’s dropping his pants easily, exposing his lower half while he steps closer to you. “You’re just so cute. Even cuter when you make those angry faces at me, like I don’t know how badly you want me, too.” “You’re delusional.”

“And you’re dripping wet, aren’t you? Maybe it is working? Or do you just want me that badly?”

He’s wrong. You know he’s wrong because you did not have any desire for him in the slightest. Satoru Gojo was an annoyance who gave you the creeps, not someone you were attracted to at all. The bastard drugged you, after all, that’s why you had this reaction. 

“Why are you doing this?”

“You want that promotion, right?” His hand is stroking the bulge in his briefs, and your eyes struggle to stay focused on his as he smirks at you. “This is how you’ll get it. I was a little hurt that you didn’t ask me to put your name forward, though, I had our day all planned out.”

“That’s why I didn't ask you. Mei only wanted money, the lesser evil.”

“And isn’t it funny that paying Mei is how we ended up here?” And he’s got you boxed against the wall, long fingers carefully unbuttoning your jacket as he watches you process the implication of that statement. “Five million is a pretty steep price to take on such a bother that’s supervising an exorcism, but alone time with a sweet little thing like you is pretty priceless.”

And your jacket falls to the floor, your blouse coming undone shortly after while you stand frozen in place. Mei Mei sold you to the highest bidder, knowing damn well you paid her to get out of possibly needing to fuck Gojo to get promoted. Five million. What’s more concerning is that you’re sure Gojo would’ve paid more for this opportunity to get you alone on a mission with a veil separating you from society and Ijichi as the Supervisory Assistant - someone who wouldn’t dare intervene in a mission Gojo was on unless the man himself instructed it. The perfect plan.

“Don’t think you can get all frigid on me, don’t you want to be a grade one sorcerer?”

“You know I do.”

“Then you’d better show me how much.” A firm hand on your shoulder has you sliding down the wall to rest on your knees, nodding at his instruction to be cute about it and pressing your cheek to his covered cock. His phone is pointed down at you, pictures taken before you could even consider slapping it away, but you can only grin and bear it as you nuzzle against his crotch. “You want to suck my cock, don’t you? Wanna show me how badly you want to get promoted?”

“Please,” you whisper, kissing along the bulge until you get to the waistband. Your fingers hook into the elastic, but you wait for Gojo’s nod before starting to pull the fabric down. “But can you not record this?”

“Honey, I need this so we can both remember that even when you’re being mean, you want me. That deep down, for all your posturing, you’re just as eager to take my cock as any random woman off the streets in Tokyo.” 

He’s such a bastard. You’d make this the worst blowjob of his life if he wasn’t your only hope of getting promoted, but you can only sigh in resignation. You weren’t getting what you wanted until he was satisfied, but you didn’t know what would truly satisfy him. He paid five million for this opportunity, what more would he spend to get more from you? Or what “tragic accident” could occur should you choose to be noncompliant? A promotion meant nothing if you weren’t alive to use it. 

“Now be good and look cute while you suck me off, don’t want to have to tell the higher ups you can’t take instruction.

Just don’t bite him, you have to tell yourself as he gently taps your cheek with his cock. He’d probably like it, anyway, which wouldn’t be any kind of fun for you. 

Before he can make any kind of request, you gently take the base of his cock in your hand while sucking the tip into your mouth. The taste of his pre on your tongue makes you want to throw up, but you maintain your composure as you take more of him into your mouth. His hand around your wrist pulls your hand from his length, holding it tightly as his other hand settles atop your head, his phone tossed to the side hopefully for the rest of the Awanight. He says something about testing your endurance just before he pushes his length further into your mouth. A sharp thrust makes you choke, but he gives no reprieve - instead warning you that you’d need to sharpen up that performance if you ever wanted to become a grade one sorcerer and reminding you that this was all so you could get a promotion. 

“Oh, you recovered quickly,” he observes aloud, gently tugging on a couple strands of hair while continuing to keep you still. “Has this pretty mouth been used by someone else? Not like it matters, I’ll ruin you for anyone else.”

Fuck him and his confidence, honestly. He’s just rich and untouchable, nothing special. Fucking guy. 

Breathing is your only priority since he’d taken his pleasure into his own hands - that and not biting him or throwing up. Shit, was it hot in here now? Why was it so warm?

It’s supposed to make you more receptive, he’d said, the words bouncing in your head as you feel yourself clench around nothing. The drugs were truly kicking in; your greatest fear of the night being realized in knowing that he’d get your skirt off and realize that you were, in fact, dripping wet. Technically because of him, the artificial assistance simply a footnote in the grander scheme of his memories of the event. 

The way he fucks into your mouth should not make you as wet as you are. But it does, your thighs rubbing together in search of friction you wouldn’t get until he was satisfied with intruding your throat, and you know he’s going to be thrilled when he gets you on that bed to finally get to the main event. 

“Oh, are you ready for me?” he asks, and you curse his damn six eyes technique because he truly missed nothing, but you know better than to lie to him if he had all the control in this situation. It takes all of your strength to nod against around his cock, pulling back to confirm his statement and ask him to fuck you. Playing into his game would make this go faster, and you could go home and scrub your skin while waiting for the results of your promotion mission. 

He’s lifting you effortlessly, carefully dropping you onto the bed and pouncing almost instantly. His fingers play with your soaked cunt for only a few seconds before he’s lining himself up, stretching you out with his thick cock with little regard for your comfort as the recipient. 

“Oh, you feel like heaven, just like I thought you would.” His praise comes out half a whine, and you feel nauseous at just how much pleasure he’s getting from simply pushing into you. Even more nauseous at how eagerly your body allowed the intrusion. “Maybe you’ve got potential to help me breed more little Gojos. Being the only one is a bit lonely, y’know.”

“That’s not part of the deal, Go-fuck!” A slap to your cheek has you stopping, just as he forces the rest of his length in to bottom out, leaving you winded and in different types of pain. 

“You should really use my first name. I think we’re well past formalities and all that cold indifference you tried to maintain.” And he’s setting a brutal pace, leaving you no time to adjust to how he was stretching you out. “C’mon, say it for me. Nice and sweet, now.”

You don’t want to give him the satisfaction, but you also don’t want him to hit you again. This was all about control, a game you had no hope of winning because Gojo was stronger with or without the aphrodisiac, but saying his name was conceding your defeat. 

As if you hadn’t lost the second you’d set foot in this hotel.  

And it slips out when his fingers pinch your clit, a truly pathetic whine of “S-Satrou,” pushing past your lips only to be swallowed by his delighted groan and his mouth covering yours. He would be getting everything he wanted, and your nausea only intensifies before it’s pushed down by the pleasure you begin to feel as he pushes your legs back while praising how good and tight you felt and how he hoped to break your pussy so only he could have it for the rest of your life. This fucking aphrodisiac would make sure of it, and you know he’d keep dosing you to keep you compliant with what he wanted. Satoru Gojo didn’t take no for an answer. 

His pace becomes unbearably slow, you’re not sure if it’s frustrating because of the need bubbling in your core from the aphrodisiac or the fact that you just wanted this to end. Your attempt at meeting his thrusts is met with a shake of his head and a whispered request that you let him take care of you, his words heavy with an intimacy that you didn’t want to have directed at you and hate that you had any reaction to it. To keep you from moving, his large hands grip your thighs to hold them back - also providing him an angle to allow for his thrusts to reach deeper inside your already tormented cunt. The groan that leaves him is almost primal, eyes darkening as he leans in again and forces your legs to your chest. 

“I’m gonna fill you,” he whispers, sending a chill down your spine. “Are you ready?”

You shake your head, knowing you weren’t getting any semblance of a choice but hoping he’d maybe pull out. You also had to hope that Shoko wasn’t in on this, too. Because she would be able to swap anything you might request out for a placebo if Gojo told her to. Bastard had it all mapped out, you were sure. 

“Satoru, please, you can’t-”

You’re cut off by his groan, your cunt being flooded by the sheer amount of his cum that makes your body feel impossibly hotter while he tilts your body back more, tears rolling down your cheeks that have him grinning before resting his head on the pillow against yours. And you lie there with your thighs pushed back and his hands holding you in place, his breathing heavy and hot against your ear. His hips pressed flush against yours, every other moment pulling back a bit only to push himself back in, a pleasured sigh leaving him every so often and fanning your cheek with his hot breath.  

“You did so well. So good for me, darling,” he purrs into your ear, carefully nipping at your lobe before trailing a line of kisses down your neck. “Ijichi is bound to start getting suspicious, so I can’t keep you here all night. But let's get dinner and drinks after we file your report, then you can come to my place and we’ll continue this assessment of your skills so I can comfortably approve your promotion.”

He knows what he’s doing. With your limbs easily pinned down, his cock still snugly plugged in your cunt, you couldn’t go anywhere unless he allowed it - and he wouldn’t allow it until he got the answer he wanted. The answer you desperately didn’t want to give because you wanted to be anywhere but by his side. But you nod anyway, teary eyes meeting his hopeful gaze as you whisper, “I’d really like that, Satoru.”

“I knew you would. Gotta thank Mei for giving me a pretty little girlfriend.”

[ghcstao3]

ok more of this already because i’m so normal. anyway disregarding canon for the 66th hunger games because that’s where i’m putting ghost

(also only bullet points because i might write a whole thing)

cw for usual hunger games things

anyway some hcs/details mostly about ghost’s games (this is long so strap in):

- by this point, it isn’t unheard of for tributes to act unthreatening during the days leading to the games, to maybe have a chance at surprise attacks—which is a strategy simon takes. what is unheard of in recent years, however, is something like simon’s insistence on having no allies. on being a lone wolf. he does it because he always has been alone, in some sense, and he doesn’t trust these other tributes in any capacity to not turn on him.

- his mentor isn’t any help. vernon is nothing but a bitter old man who, in simon’s opinion, didn’t earn his victory. he knows that’s something horrible to say, but it’s true. not with the way he treats simon, and presumably the other previous tributes, too. simon may as well be going in blind.

- the shy, awkward boy act isn’t at all an act. simon’s never been a people person, his outfits all itch, and the feeling of eyes on him has him nervous. paranoid. the upside is that the capitol somehow finds it endearing, which means sponsors. the downside is that, because of the lack of insight into him as a person as a cause of his quiet nature, it leaves too much room for speculation. it’s part of the reason he becomes sought out after winning—the capitol sees a nice face, assumes things that aren’t true, and suddenly he’s stuck as nothing more than a trophy to be passed around.

- he only scores an 8 after evaluation—this is done with intent.

- his arena is a jungle (not unlike the comics.. hint), foliage too thick to navigate with decent speed, and full of muttation insects, reptiles, and amphibians. the trees are too thin to climb or use to hide, and nor are there any caves—essentially, staying on the ground is anyone’s only option. the cornucopia is a large grove, and after the first day, it rains for days straight, until the ninth day.

- simon runs for the cornucopia. he knows it’s stupid, but he also knows how to dodge blows courtesy of his father, so he’s able to grab supplies and get out alive, granted with a few mostly superficial cuts. he knew he needed knives from the start—his most familiar weapon.

- it takes two days before he makes his first kill. it’s too easy, when it’s a girl paralysed and slowly dying from a poison spreading through her, turning her veins an inky black and rotting her skin. simon’s first kill is mercy.

- his second is a career, the boy from 4. the career pack is together when he comes across them, but he finds them first. when the opportunity presents itself and the boy is just separated enough, simon silently appears and slits his throat before disappearing back into the foliage. the rest of the pack only notices they’re missing someone because the cannon fires. none of them ever find out simon had done it.

- stealth ends up his strategy, and it’s what gets him the nickname ghost. he acts like an apparition and is done his work before anyone is the wiser of his actions. he ends up killing 8 of 24 tributes.

- he doesn’t sleep almost the entirety of the games. haunted by his actions, because part of him knows all of it wasn’t necessary. some kills, sure, were to protect himself—but not all of them. some were just to get ahead of the game, and it plants a gnawing guilt in the pit of his stomach.

- simon almost dies when the girl from 7 tries to kill him in the rare time he’s drifted off. he wakes up to an unbearable heat around him, sweat beading off his skin and light behind his eyes and when he’s finally up, he’s burning. she’d lit a fire around himin the hopes it would kill him because she didn’t want the guilt of having actually done the action. he lives—escapes—but suffers burns on part of his face and body that all just contribute more to the nickname. he’d come back from the dead, they all say, but really, he just woke up in the nick of time. but because the capitol still wants him desirable after he wins, to use him, extensive measures and surgery are taken to visibly reverse the damage once the games are over.

- simon wins on the twelfth day using, fittingly, a butcher’s cleaver. he had picked it up around day six off another tribute, and uses it to kill the one other tribute—the boy from 5—after a fight that comes much closer to killing them both than anyone would’ve liked. eventually, though, simon turns out victor.

- his father barely acknowledges him when he comes back. simon returns to work for a bit, despite the insistence that he doesn’t have to, but he needs something to occupy his mind. but then killing cattle and other livestock rears up too much trauma, and he ends up quitting and isolating himself for a while afterwards—but only until president snow had decided to fix him up and sell him to the capitol.

- seven years after his game is when he’s introduced to johnny. immediately, he’s struck by the man as someone he could maybe, maybe eventually trust. johnny isn’t like the man that had made the current transaction for him, or anyone simon had been put with previously, so it’s… nice. for once, he isn’t used. not for his body, anyway.

- when simon thinks he’s seen the last of johnny after that visit, the man puts in another bid for him, one that’d last longer. only to talk, he says, and that this is really the only way he can get him to the capitol. it happens again and again and the most they ever do is kiss during their last visit before simon has to mentor another tribute for the 73rd games, because better him than vernon.

- the visits continue following—they also spend quite a bit of time together during simon’s mentoring, and johnny even helps with getting sponsors—and they fall into something of a relationship, though it’s kept a very well-hidden secret.

- their routine continues until the second rebellion starts up, but that’s another post (or a fic itself) >:)

[seat-safety-switch]

Once, a long time ago, I was bestowed with an eerie power, beyond the ken of mortal man. In the back of a van that I purchased from the auctions laid an artifact of incomparable might. It let me disappear from the sight of police officers, security guards, journalists, and miscellaneous snoops. I could travel throughout the city, uninterrupted, into its most sensitive areas. Perhaps you, too, have received such a gift from the heavens. I speak, of course, of a high-visibility jacket and plastic hard-hat.

When you are wearing them, nobody at all will ever bother you. Why would you be wearing those dorky clothes if you didn’t belong here? And why would you be here if something weren’t abnormal? The human mind can ignore a whole shitload of stuff, like why a 1965 Ford Econoline camper van is parked haphazardly on the side of the road while a greasy, filthy dude is rifling through a phone swi- oh, he has a high-visibility jacket on. He must know what he’s doing. Even if what he’s doing appears to be pulling several hundred feet of copper wire out of that telco box and stuffing it into the back of his grotty van.

There’s only one downside. Now that I’ve figured out this secret of the human race, I wonder how many others around me are also imposters. Once in awhile, I’ll try to make eye contact with another be-vested individual, really stare him or her down. They usually break the eye contact, and then quickly slink away. Once, some lady ran back to her still-running XTerra, and did a Rockford turn out of the parking lot, before speeding the wrong way down the highway for a few seconds. I’ll never know what she was really up to. Maybe she was actually doing her job.

So if you see me out there, and you’re doing the same thing I am, make sure you let me know that you don’t belong there, too. Together, we can team up to loot even more shit from The Man, and nobody at all will expect that an impromptu team meeting is actually a front for a criminal enterprise of gettin’ stuff.

[theeeveetamer]

Fields of Mistria initial thoughts

As you may or may not know I am a total sucker for farming simulator games. I don't usually go for Early Access games, but Fields of Mistria seemed extremely promising even though it's just launched into Early Access. So I want to talk about a few of the things I really like about it (and maybe a few that I don't). I will probably be drawing comparisons to Stardew Valley since it's the current preeminent Farming Sim of our time (but I'm not dissing it I love Stardew Valley as well. I think Fields of Mistria does a good job of taking what worked about Stardew and tweaking some things to improve even further)

But the tl;dr if you want it: I think this game is worth the money even in its current state

Trying to keep things as spoiler-free as possible, not that it's hard since the story isn't really too far yet in early access

Things that I like:

1 There is a wide range of cosmetics! Also, you don't have to store them anywhere. You "unlock" them, and then you can change your clothes, hair, skin tone, etc. at any time from the character customization menu. I'd have to check because I don't have the game right in front of me atm, but I think you can even change your name and the name of your farm at any time as well?

2) You don't actually need to have materials on hand to construct farm buildings, nor do you need to pre-clear the space! You buy the blueprint from the carpenter shop, which goes to your inventory. You take it back to your farm yourself and lay it down. Once you lay it down it spawns a drop box for materials, and you can put the materials in at your own pace. This makes it super easy to just drop a couple of wood in at the end of every day until it's done. This is a godsend for me especially, since I never remember to bring all the materials with me when I want to build things in Stardew

3) Speaking of convenience: you don't need to have any materials on hand when you're crafting! This is a godsend because when you initially start the game, all the crafting stations are in town and you have like no bag space. It'll just automatically withdraw things from your chest

The downside is, if you were trying to save stuff you have to be careful (the game will indicate when it starts drawing from your chests to craft the next item though, which is nice!)

4) Also speaking of convenience: shops are open and unlocked 24/7, and you don't have to have someone working there to buy things! This means if you realize you forgot to re-plant your crops at 10 pm you can still pop up to the general store to buy more seeds before the day is done

5) The romance events are all interesting and done well so far! I've only seen a couple though. It also appears that triggering them is based on completing a request on the community board, so you can't miss them like you might in Stardew

The downside is that there's so many community board quests that it's easy for these to get buried. I'm sure I've picked up half a dozen that I just haven't done yet because I haven't gotten around to knocking out some of these requests

6) I like that progressing in the mines requires you to collect items from the previous set of floors in the mines. It's good incentive to go back and collect more resources while still feeling like you're advancing

7) Dropping stuff on the ground and leaving it there won't de-spawn it. That means you can go around and "collect" resources, leave them there, and then circle back in a few hours or even a few days!

8) There's at least one older bachelor and bachelorette option! For the guys you have fellow farmer Hayden (who has a bit of a dad bod build) and the town's doctor Valen (she's a bit more masc looking). I'll take it

9) You can bang a dragon. They haven't completed the story enough to get events with him yet in Early Access, but he's a dragon. nuff said

10) You don't have to upgrade your tools in sequence, and equipment is separate from your cosmetics. This means you can skip straight from the worn pickaxe to the silver one!

Things I don't like (honestly most of these are minor nitpicks that can/might be improved upon):

1 I do wish there was some more body diversity, especially among the women. With the exception of Hayden pretty much all the romance options are pretty/handsome and slender (with pretty decently sized chests in the case of the women and pretty decently sized muscles in the case of the men)

I know they can design different body types because one of the Saturday Market vendors is a bit bigger (but she's not a romance option obviously), so why not?

2) Pretty much every item sells for less than it would if you were to craft it into something else. E.g. Iron ore sells for less than iron bars, and iron bars sell for less than an iron pickaxe

This is kind of half positive, half negative. It's good incentive to craft stuff! On the other hand, I'm a massive video-game hoarder so if I know I might be able to craft something that's worth more down the line I'll just save the item. This has turned my organization into a nightmare, and because I sell almost nothing money is much harder to come by

3) Backpack and storage management is. Woof. You start out with only ten item slots, and if you're like me and you carry all your tools all the time then that's going to fill up fast. At the start you'll only have ~2 slots to actually carry things other than tools. I think it only goes up in increments of 10 too, so even with the third bag upgrade you have about 30 slots (for reference, Stardew starts you with 12 and goes up in increments of 12 before capping out at 36)

I don't think this would be a problem if they just gave you a separate "tool bag" inventory where you could keep all your tools all the time, that didn't also take up bag space. Tools taking up bag space is honestly one of those "we should be over this by now" things in farming sims, IMO

4) Speaking of the bag... this is probably only a consideration if you play on controller, but the controls for swapping between items could use some work

If you've played Stardew with a controller then you know how it works. The left and right bumpers will swap between bag "tabs" and the triggers will move you between items in the currently selected tab. I haven't played around with trying to remap it, but by default Mistria doesn't do this.

Instead one of the triggers is to use a magic spell, the other is to throw items, and the bumpers are to swap between items in your bag. This means if you're on tab "A" and you need an item in tab "C" you need to manually press the bumper 10+ times until it scrolls aaaaaaaaaaaaaaall the way around to tab "C"

I think if you play with keyboard and mouse then you can just tap the different tabs so it's less of a problem

5) Minor nitpick, but when I play with a controller it doesn't get rid of the cursor. The cursor is pretty big and chunky so this is pretty distracting (I play on a dual monitor setup so I just move the mouse to the other monitor while I play, but it'd be nice if the cursor stayed gone while I played

6) So far the magic is a bit underutilized. I think I've only used the restore spell a handful of times when I was deep in the mines or fishing (fishing takes SO much energy). You have VERY limited magical stamina so you're probably not going to be using spells too much

I'll try to add to this if I think of more, but this is the stuff that's sticking out to me right now!

[ahllohehn]

gem gem gem gem gem gem gem

maybe how she became the oracle in the first place?

definitely not gonna use this as a base for smth no siree

Gem swallowed nervously, keeping her gaze on the small table that separated her from the two older teens across from her.

She doesn't know how she got in this situation, or maybe she did but she found the reasoning too insane to actually believe it.

All she remembered was accidentally almost causing the death of her senior after attempting to backseat how he should fight a chimera who broke in during their school basketball event. Honestly, if she were in the right mind that time, she would've known to keep quiet and run away along with the other kids. But, unfortunately, she wasn't. She couldn't help but hype up the person fighting off the chimera, only for her hype to backfire as the next thing she knew her senior was too distracted by her shouting that he got flung across the gym. She was too high on excitement when she first saw how one of the students stayed and directly confronted the monster who Gem would've otherwise assumed she was hallucinating about again.

But alas, excitement gets her nowhere. Or, actually, excitement gets her a free meal to one of her favorite cafes with the downside of being inspected closely by her very much alive schoolmate and his concerningly curious hawaiian shirt wearing companion.

Gem was picking at her pasta for the 10th time before Xisuma finally spoke up.

"You saw the chimera," he started.

The ginger haired girl nodded, "I also saw you get absolutely destroyed by it."

Silence, and then followed by badly hidden snickering from... Keralis, was it?

The snickering helped to ease Gem's nerves a bit before the nervousness returned after glancing at Xisuma's unmoving figure. Even under the mask she swears he never wore to school, she could tell he didn't take this situation as lightly as the other did.

"That... Yes, you did," the masked teen sighed.

She hunched over herself and tried not to overthink his sighs and his stiff body language, but she must've made for quite a pitiful figure if Xisuma had to will himself to transform into a friendlier appearance to make her talk.

Gem's eyes sparkled as she came face to face with a brown furred bunny rabbit with purple eyes.

"Do you feel more at ease if I talk like this?"

"Yes," the answer was immediate.

Shamelessly, Gem's hand went to gently pinch at Xisuma's furry ball form as he nonchalantly continued to converse, ignoring the way he was getting petted and cooed at by both of his companions as he seriously oriented Gem on why they gathered in the first place.

"It is not always that mortals can see what we can--" Pinch.

"The oracle is on her last legs and we--" Pet.

"--think that you seem gifted enough to take on the job on her behalf--" Stretching both of his cheeks.

"Apollo had informed us that he--" A giggle and another pinch to his furry form.

"-- had prepared you long before you knew of him and your own abilities--" A poke to his floppy ear.

"He told us to send a message--" A pause.

"Little sunseed, the future is now--" Xisuma was once again cut off as Gem excitedly patted his head like a button.

"....Gem,"

"You're too cute!"

"..."

Keralis finally couldn't help but cackle.

[blueikeproductions]

So with TFONE attempting to simplify the Primes and some recent cartoons trying to theme some shows around them, it has led to a thought how this could work.

The biggest problem the Primes have is that nobody really knows or cares that much about them. The only one most actually care about is The Fallen because of the Bay film. Vector Prime via Galaxy Force is fondly remembered by TF fans, but that version also predates the modern Prime mythology.

Transformers Prime was intended to look more into what it means to be a Prime, but never truly does so. It also introduced the modern 13 Prime lore, but also does very little with it. It’s mostly limited to Solus’ Forge being a reoccurring weapon, Megatron grafting a Prime arm on to him, with creatives unable to decide who it’s supposed to be, and Alpha Trion making a cameo (more so to reference G1 than do much with the Primes).

RiD15 also uses the Primes, with Micronus (the main rep and Optimus’ life coach) and The Fallen (the first season’s main villain) as the stand out ones. Despite Micronus being the first Mini-Con, he has no influence on the cartoon’s Mini-Con gimmick it adapted later in its run. Liege Maximo appeared in chapter books and is the only (not Fallen) one who got to properly do something. I still greatly insist Onyx Prime should’ve been the rep due to the Beast theme instead. Also Thundertron, but that’s a different problem.

Cyberverse used Alchemist Prime specifically, but while being one of the better characters, he’s not very memorable. Onyx and Alpha Trion have minor roles, with Alpha Trion getting a toy… that nobody bought. He was also there for G1 ‘memberberries, in a role similar to the old cartoon. The Cyberverse staff were not shy admitting to only writing the show for themselves and like minded fans and not actual children.

And now EarthSpark uses Quintus in a major role… but it feels like there’s some conflicting ideas about who he is. Storyboards suggest he’s more benevolent having everyone’s best interests in mind, while the show keeps insisting he might be shady and a dead beat dad.

And like the aforementioned Onyx, the series isn’t great about using Primes better themed to a show. Combiner Wars opts to NOT use Nexus Prime, when instead perhaps they could’ve made him into the evil leader of the Combiners, forcing them to wipe out non Combiners so Cybertron is theirs to rule. Vs the show just having them fight… because reasons. He also never got a toy in the Combiner themed line. This could’ve also been tinkered with once more in RiD15 for its Combiner Force, casting him as a neutral who gifts power of combination to the Bee Team and the Pack, seeing who’s more worthy to use the Enigma for an upcoming problem involving an ancient Combiner unique to the show. (Also having Chop Shop as a minor villain again.)

I think the problem is largely NOT letting the other Primes being proper characters. Vector Prime and The Fallen are allowed to be characters, with Vector allowed to be part of the Autobots, make bonds with them and the kids, and have a little arc of his own, remembering the value of life throughout time.

I think if we went back to that, having a surviving Prime join the Autobots and find their footing in the modern era on Earth during the battle against the Decepticons would help.

It’s actually kind of shocking in the current “DEI” era that they don’t have Solus Prime in such a role, working alongside Optimus. The downside to this is current writers would probably make her into a more arrogant Captain Marvel type, but ideally Solus should be cast in a role similar to Vector in Galaxy Force. I feel like it’d be funny if she especially bonded with the kids, a loving but firm grandma, who drives them around, with the gag being the kids are ferried around in a big purple construction vehicle. Solus is also happy to fix things with a gentle tap of her Fixit Felix hammer, usually the kids’ phones, but an episode sees some repercussions, where the phones and other gadgets start Transforming into semi sentient-semi automatic weapons.

Think the Appliance Bots from ROTF.

Amalgamous is really the only one that’s too abstract to use as he is. I feel like the trick is to create an in-story reason why he can’t infinitely Transform, limiting him to being a Six Changer like Sixshot. This way the writers and artists can be more creative, and have a character arc where Amalgamous learns to be one of the Autobots with a running gag he forgets he can’t change into whatever he wants anymore and turns into a car or dinosaur that isn’t appropriate to the situation.

Liege is easy enough. He’s the Sideways trying to nudge the Autobots, Decepticons and humans into doing what he wants for nefarious reasons.

I feel like Prima would be a hybrid of TFA Ratchet & TFA Ultra Magnus, a cranky foxy grandpa that means well and tries to guide Optimus and the kids, but he’s quite literally an overbearing helicopter parent trying to dictate what Optimus should be doing. While still powerful in his own right, Prima does get overwhelmed by Megatron’s sheer rage.

The 13th Prime is up in the air. It could be Zeta, Rodimus, Adaptus, Mortilus or a brand new Prime for the scenario. I got nothing.

I am a bit concerned about Vector. He was already used effectively, but his schtick is time travel and manipulation, and to move the story of TFONE along that didn’t help him against Quints or Sentinel. Can you even use time travel effectively anymore? Maybe if Vector was more in line with Time Patrol Bon, not that anyone watched the Netflix reboot of it.

[goodboyaudios]

So I was rewatching the "betraying your friends" ep from MOTH, and was wondering something...when Cataclysm offered power to Zed, what if he DID accept it? What would happen then?

I actually made a while AU about this on Discord so I'm happy to share it here!

I'm now calling it: BIRTH OF THE SECOND SUN In this timeline, Mirrin is killed by Mahann and Zed is humiliated by Mahann and Gienne. He does manage to snatch away the Demonomicon, but he is truly alone with no one to warn him or comfort him in any way. Without hesitation, he accepts Cataclysm's offer…

After accepting Cataclysm's gift for power, Zed becomes a sorcerer of Untempic and Faenic elements. He is now just as powerful as the guardian, but while the guardian has a balance on such energies, Zed does not. On top of that, the quick influx of power overwhelms him, forcing him to go crazy, but he doesn't become the next Anarchanist, he transcends it. He sees things beyond normal perception, witnesses events that may never happen, but always had, he decides to continue where his long deceased mother left off.

He teleports straight to Makkaro's house in a display of divine fury. Makkaro, realizing the power Zed has received, panics and flees to his castle, narrowly avoiding his death. He knows its only a matter of time before Zed finds him again. He summons forth the Snake Titan and prepares for battle. Both of them are connected in some way to Cataclysm and they both have similar goals, but while Makkaro wants to do it in the name of justice and revenge, Zed wants to do it to unify and prepare the Manasians for something that could spell the end of everything. Just as Makkaro has set up a few rudimentary defenses, Zed appears.

The battle is hard fought and the effects are felt across the world. The undead and vampires pose no threat to Zed and are instantaneously dealt with. The snake titan is the only edge Makkaro has over Zed as its body cannot be destroyed, nor can it even be penetrated by anything from Manas. Even the Guardian couldn't defeat it. So instead, Zed, being the little smarty-pants he is, uses his incredible power to create time magic out of thin air, and using it to reset Shee Khan into it's original form. It is now alive, containing its soul that was once trapped in the desert of Shee, and it is pissed off at Makkaro.

But Makkaro isn't a fool either. He wasn't sure if Shee Khan would be always willing to serve him, so he implanted magical runes within the body of Shee Khan to send it back to the desert if something were to go awry. The downside of this teleport is that it causes massive seismic and ecological damage to the ocean, creating chasms and sending tsunamis to the east and west. Now, its just Zed and Makkaro. Makkaro attempts to reason with Zed. He asks him what he wants, to which Zed responds, "To crush any opposition". Makkaro realizes that he has no choice now, but to fully submit himself to the demonic magic. In order to prevent this tyrant from rising, he must become what he was doomed to be. A Lich Anarchanist. After submitting to his dark power, the fight truly begins…

Raze, the Guardian, hasn't been able to be touched, because the magic that gets near her cell fizzles away to nothing. However, that doesn't stop the shockwaves from knocking the walls loose and allowing Raze to rescue Taurus. Upon reuniting and seeing Zed and Makkaro go at it like Dragonball characters, Raze intervenes. She realizes she can't kill either of them as Makkaro's lich form seems to be un-killable and Zed is using BS time magic. As she looks at the two fighting, she remembers the time she entered through the Lightmaster engines. She recognizes that these two, through their conflict have become a source of infinite power. They have become the sentient light.

While I'm still thinking about this, I'd like to say Raze also made Makkaro and Zed dream in the Second sun. In this dream, Zed and the guardian went on an adventure and ran into Detective Aetherward and Gienne on another case. While working together, Zed realizes that he just wanted a family and Makkaro and Gienne have talked about children. In this timeline, Makkaro and Gienne are safely together without threat from the family. And Zed's family isn't murdered, but just travels a lot and doesn't have as much time for him. Zed becomes adopted by Makkaro and Gienne and even becomes a big brother to their birth child. The Guardian watches over them as a close friend and even helps Zed reunite with his long lost family on occasion. But in the end, it's just a dream shared by two dying consciousnesses.

[lemonxlimee]

Do You ship leafy x evil leafy?

Alright this is a complicated one to answer

Ahem

It depends on how you define "ship." They have a relationship but it's not romantic. Someone with a weaker vocabulary might call it queerplatonic but I think it's even more than that. In the most simple explanation, they belong to each other, like yin and yang, not the characters but sure that's a good comparison to make.

They won't function well if they're apart for too long because they literally complete each other. There can't be evil leafy without leafy and there can't be leafy without evil leafy. There can't be evil without good and there can't be good without evil. You know, the whole thing.

I like to think Leafy would "soften the blow" so to speak of Evil Leafy. Without the tooth-rotting goodness of Leafy to balance it out, EL would be a menace — like she is in canon bfdia. Similarly, EL softens the blow of Leafy. Leafy is (obviously) a bit of a. Nice Girl. Unfortunately (as portrayed in many fan works including my own and some of my favourite fanfictions) that comes with Downsides. EL is there to help her out with that.

I also like to think EL is part of Leafy, in a way. You could call it plurality, and that's kind of how I like to think of it, but maybe a better word to describe it would be like a spiritual connection. Imagine the coinpin mind link — it's like that times twelve.

My interpretation of BFDIA and their relationship is obviously very biased because of. Me. But I'll try to summarize it. Keep in mind this is indeed my interpretation and yes there are headcanons and it is RIDDLED with queer subtext as always and also we are going to heavily ignore canon because it doesn't make sense and I don't like it

Going back to the last sentence of three paragraphs ago, EL was there to help with Leafy for basically the entirety of BFDIA.

BFDIA was probably at the very least traumatizing for Leafy; when she was all by herself in Yoyleland, with no one and nothing around, all she had was her thoughts and weapons. She's not a regular character and is mostly seen as A Thing Of Before. Something else notable about BFDIA is that EL was there, obviously, but unlike any of the other "evil [character]" we'd seen (evil Bubble in bfdi 20, for example), EL actually makes regular appearances and is seen as a character. She's the main antagonistic figure of the season, in fact, but she's never seen again after IDFB.

Anyway, enough background.

Leafy was all alone and EL suddenly existed. Leafy came back to the main cast and EL suddenly (seemingly) doesn't exist anymore. What does this likely mean? EL came into existence because of Leafy. So, yes, they are part of each other.

Their relationship is very hard to summarize. EL (I'm just gonna refer to her as Red from now on) is there to protect Leafy, and Leafy is there to calm Red down. But it's deeper than that. Red sees Leafy as special, and that's because to her she is; she's the only person she loves and trusts, the only person she can love and trust, and the only person who can get so deep into her heart without getting hurt or hurting her. Red protects Leafy with her life, and for her, it kind of is her life on the line — she wouldn't exist without Leafy. (Again, we're ignoring canon heavily right now.) Leafy likes Red because she's her companion and family, and because she protects her when she needs it. It's mutually beneficial for them, along with some other secret benefits they get.

Actually, did anyone notice how Leafy "walked" back to Goiky at the same time Evil Leafy got there, and EL vanished when Leafy died in BFDIA 4? Unless I'm remembering wrong, this means they're connected somehow.

But that's beside the point. This really is a yap fest, so I'll shut up now with one final point:

To summarize, yes, I do "ship" them — in a way. They're each other's other half, and they help each other in more than one way. They're attached spiritually and probably physically as well, and they have what seems to be a mental connection as we can see in BFDI 25 and BFB 1 — with EL's first appearance and sudden disappearance being fully connected to whether Leafy is upset or happy. Basically, they're yin and yang for each other.

isn't this ship called leafcest? Unfortunate. It's not incest at all. At MOST it's an intra-system relationship.

Holy yap fest, batman!

[ygsunflower]

I know I’m not the first one to notice this, but Carina is a lot more laidback with Maya- She’s comfortable with letting Maya speak for her both in serious (at her visa interview) and non-serious (here at the bar letting Maya order her white wine) situations, or at least allowing Maya to take charge first.

At first I did not like this character “change” at all and I blamed it on the inconsistent writings on Carina’s character between when she first appeared on Grey’s Anatomy and when she moved to Station 19. However, as we see her appearing more on both Station 19 and Grey’s (only occasionally), and as she started to have more storylines apart from Maya and their relationship, I kinda appreciate her different personalities (for lack of a better word).

When Carina DeLuca was first introduced on Grey’s, she was this straightforward, no-filter fireball of a sexy Italian goddess. She was extremely confident and firm about her profession and her sexuality. Yet she has a soft spot for her brother. And we also see her almost losing her usual confidence and fieriness in front her father. She was never afraid to speak her mind, but when she was with her father, and later on her mentally-illed brother, she almost became too scared to speak up and be firm with them. I’m not a mental health expert/psychologist, but from what I saw, Carina has the tendency to shrink her ego and be extra soft to those she loves. I don’t think it’s uncommon for people, but it’s just a more obvious trait for her. Anyways, this is the justification I made to understand Carina’s different personalities with Maya and everyone else.

She loves Maya deeply, so she feels comfortable enough to shrink her ego. It’s not about Maya dominating her in the relationship, but more so about Carina feeling safe to let Maya take care of her and she doesn’t feel like she has to constantly putting her feet down and be firm. But I cannot draw this conclusion until the S6b of Station 19 and Grey’s S19b. Before this two half seasons, we did not see much of her as her independent self. But now we get to see her having her own storylines. The abortion clinic storyline and her running this trauma here on Grey’s showed us the good-old confident Dr. DeLuca is still very much present.

Her scenes in 6x07 of Station 19 even proved my previous point on her trusting her loved ones to make the call for them- once she got yelled by an obviously unstable Maya, she no longer considered this Maya her safe place. She immediately switched to her stern doctor voice to Maya and took back her trust in Maya to make any decisions. Carina did not back down as her last resort to try saving her wife from essentially killing herself.

In terms of her fun and almost rambunctious side of personalities, even though we don’t see her as excited Dr. Orgasm again (wasted potentials if you ask me, both the actual research topic and her overall mannerism during that storyline were gold), we still have the fake abortion clinic comedy and her scenes with Vic and Dr. Lewis are always fun. Her comedic side now is just toned down which I can accept. (Props to Stefania, I love her little physical comedy acting for Carina.)

That to be said, her personality trait of being extremely soft around her loved ones also made it easy for her to get walked-over by her loved ones… Both her father and Maya, as much as I hate putting Maya next to Carina’s dad, they abused and took advantage of Carina’s love and softness around them when they were in a mental health crisis (a longggg crisis). Her love to them made her tongue-tied in front of them and almost turned her into a slight pushover… And that’s why this second half of S6b has been great for Carina’s character- A slow burn Marina recovering road allows us to see Carina realizing the downside of her “weakened heart” around those she loves. After repeatedly getting hurt by her loved ones, Carina is finally burned out this time. She lost her strengths to pick herself up from the pain caused by her loved ones and keep loving them. She is so hurt that she’s scared of not surviving the next pain. She still wants Maya and she is still hopelessly in love with her but she needs Maya to win her back despite her instincts to forgive her again and again. She needs to see Maya’s changes to regain the courage to comfortably let go of her rationale to love Maya fearlessly again. What makes it worthy for Carina is that this time her love is changing, for the better. Maya is healing and she apologized to Carina. And the difference between Maya and Carina’s dad is that Maya now listens to Carina and respects her needs. Despite their downs and heartaches, Carina is still able to feel safe enough to spill all her fears to Maya.

This long rant is just to say that with the past few episodes of Grey’s and Station 19, we finally get a holistic understanding of the character Carina DeLuca. Rather than inconsistent writings, with simultaneous appearances of both Dr. Carina DeLuca and loving wife Carina DeLuca on 19 and Grey’s, her different personalities are explained and demonstrated well. These seemly contradicting personalities now make her more human and endearing.

[singswan-springswan]

rebels mermaid au where fishman!kanan has been stuck in an aquarium for a few years but can't do anything about it so oh well. He's bored out of his mind. Misses his family :( on the bright side he never gets tired of scaring guests that come to ogle at him. Only downside is he's not allowed to kill them. He tries whenever the chance presents itself, but that's not often. So he's really bored.

Zeb's his primary caregiver. They've developed a grudging respect for each other since Zeb is usually the one saving people from Kanan during every attempt, beat Kanan up the first time Kanan went for him. Secretly Zeb is a selkie that lost his skin and got the job at the aquarium to try and get it back from that idiot oblivious bloke working the rescue & rehab branch (kallus). The condescending son of a bantha doesn't even realize his favorite trench coat to wear outside of work is not,,, technically his. Zeb's been trying for years kriff someone help him.

Hera recently transferred from another branch location of the aquarium with her apprentice Sabine, who's an intern that gained access to the merman's care and research schedule via undisclosed means. She just wants to follow in Hera's footsteps. Hera recently managed to score research access to the merman through merit, hard work, and a good measure of association with the right people. Her focus is behavioral analysis, which---surprisingly---is not a test anyone at the aquarium has yet thought to conduct (not natural behavior, at least. A few specialized tests such as range of tolerance, response to stimuli, and others cracked right off the bat).

At first Hera's given a whole shakedown by security officials "don't do this or that, log all your hours with the asset so we can assign a protection detail, yada yada" but all those rules go against the structure for her research experiments plus she's friends with Mr. Garson the chief of security and manages to sneak in at times when the cameras run on a loop and no one else is there. It's this sneaking around and deviation from routine that first catches Kanan's attention. He's curious of course, and he hasn't tried to drown this particular human before so at least it's something to soothe the boredom. But then, get this, Hera introduces herself and ohoho that ethereal voice stops Kanan right in his fishy little tracks. Then she asks for his name and it snaps him out of his goofy frozen little daze and he blurts out "Kanan" because it's the first thing that came to mind and tbh it's been a long time since he's spoken out loud much less heard his real name.

Hera is just as surprised to hear him talk, actually. She'd been told that the merman didn't exhibit signs of high intelligence (lol) and had been acting pretty bestial so don't expect much engagement. It takes him two seconds to start chatting her up and then like two more seconds to fall hopelessly in love because come on she's hera and he's kanan. Zeb and Sabine eventually catch on to the late night sessions and join in a few times. Where's Chopper in all of this? He's probably a cat that just lives at the aquarium rent free and steals fish and knocks stuff over because he's a kriffing criminal. You'd think an animal that fat would be easier to catch and get rid of but no one's ever managed to do it so they just glare at him bitterly whenever he appears because they know there's not a single thing they can do to stop him. He did primarily terrorize the campus that Hera previously worked at and she brought him with when she transferred.

Enter Ezra after a few months or so idk. Rip the poor guy. He's another mer that got snatched from the sea somewhere and dumped in the aquarium after being subjected to all the same tests and experiements that Kanan had to survive when he was first taken. He's totally out of his element, confused and disoriented and thoroughly traumatized expecting at any moment to be pulled from the enclosure again and subjected to more "scientific" torment. Kanan is very startled to see Ezra. It's been years since he's seen another mer, and this one is just a kid. He's only fifteen! How could they just throw a kid in here for guests to gawk at? It must be the money. As far as Kanan knows, he's one of few mer in the whole world living in captivity, so the rare sight is really attractive for humans and they'll pay big bucks to come and stare all day. He's gotten used to it after years waking up to their dumbstruck faces every morning, but this is all very new to poor Ezra who is fresh off torture, going through puberty, and far more alone in the world than Kanan ever was. The kid takes to tailing Kanan all over the tank, glued to his side and can barely sleep because he's afraid Kanan will get up and leave him alone. At first the clinginess annoys Kanan but he eventually caves to compassion and does his best to offer comfort to the frightened boy.

Sabine asks Ezra if he knows any siren songs, as a joke. He brightens and tells her yeah actually, a pod of his whale friends taught him one and he's not quite perfected it yet but would she want to hear him practice? Not knowing any better, she agrees. Kriff can Ezra sing. Sabine goes catatonic for an hour or so. When she wakes up in the morning she calls in sick and spends hours and hours nonstop painting in her room at Hera's apartment, tears streaming down her face. The art she creates is absolutely breathtaking and if you tilt your head just right it looks like music too. Sabine keeps it covered.

Kanan jokes that Hera must have been a siren in a past life. Instead of getting flustered she bombards him with questions about his culture's take on the afterlife and would it really be possible that she was a mer? He has to backtrack while Zeb laughs at him. No, reincarnation is not a thing as far as his people are concerned. They don't even leave their bodies behind when they die. Apparently that seafoam thing is legit. Why else do you think they never discovered mermaids existed before capturing a live one? Hera's taking notes so fast her paper is smoking.

They order pizza a lot and just hang out together eating pizza at the poolside of the mer enclosure. It's really peaceful at the dead hours of night so there's lots of deep conversation, watching of movies, general cultural exchange, etc. etc. It doesn't take Hera too long to figure out that hey um,, these mers are people too. Why are we treating them like animals and putting them on display? They should be free and stuff. She and the rest of Ghost crew free Kanan and Ezra, maybe with the help of some others. Ahsoka swings by to give them a hand because she's got crazy powerful sea magic apparently and can give herself legs whenever the kriff she wants. Her good friend Rex might make an appearance too idk he happens to be related to a number of the security detail (corries) who hate their jobs and boss and would be more than willing to stick it to the corporation by liberating the aquarium's most prized assets. Kallus got roped into their found family by this point. He still hasn't given Zeb the skin back though what the kriff man. Is Leia there? I'd like to think she's a lobbyist for marine conservation or something, mostly because she visits her dad every weekend and the water tastes like crap sometimes especially when the big corporations play loosey goosey with polluting regulations and sea magic can only do so much to prevent extensive damage to the environment. Luke is not an activist he's just friends with Ezra so he can be a part of it too "oh him? That's my friend Luke. Yeah he can shapeshift cause his mom is human" Luke waves and everyone is too tired to question him or his chaos freak terrifying twin sister.

Oh turns out Chopper is a sea sprite? Feral mercat thing dear lord. Utter terror. The twins don't miss a beat with him because their dad has a bigger one with twice the level of cunning and an even higher body count, if that's believable (Ghost crew cannot fathom a body count higher than Chopper's but they're too afraid to ask at this point).

Anyways everything works out in the end and happily ever after and stuff. I just have fun with merm aus and *technically* this is the last day of mermay innit so i'm popping off

[blackjackkent]

OK, time to continue Rakha's adventures in Moonrise Towers. We've acquired Minthara, but Rakha's also picked up a hell of a lot of new questions, based on the fact that everyone in Moonrise seems to know her from before her memory loss - and, frankly, none of them seem to like her much.

On the bright side, this new mystery is helping distract her from the beast's obsession with going back and killing Isobel. The downside is she wants to kill Ketheric more than ever. :P

Plenty of trouble ahead for her to get into, but we left off in the middle of a long rest, and Rakha - observant as she is - notices that something is off in the camp.

Specifically, Gale is not there - and there's a hologram version of him here instead.

(The whole Moonrise camp is actually fucky atm. Gale is standing in the middle of things rather than in his tent, and Halsin doesn't appear to have a tent at all. I'm assuming this is some sort of glitchiness because Minthara is here and he and Minthara were originally supposed to be mutually exclusive? Not sure though.)

"Good evening!" the illusion says cheerfully as Rakha approaches. "I am here on behalf of Gale of Waterdeep. He wishes to extend you an invitation for a private conversation in a more suitable locale."

Rakha doesn't answer immediately. She is too busy being fascinated by the illusive construct. She's seen Gale summon these sort of images before - images of Mystra in particular - but this one is FAR more complex, a much more interesting magical invocation. The Weave swirls around it in brilliant prismatic swirls.

It takes her a moment to remember that it said something, and another moment to realize it's something she should respond to. An invitation?

"Very well," she says, mildly bemused. "Show me the way."

-----

She's more than a little displeased when the illusion leads her outside, away from Moonrise. They're safe with the pixie's blessing, of course, but still she hates wandering around in the shadow curse, feeling its corrupted sting on her skin, the way the Weave seems ripped into pieces by its darkness.

So she is equally surprised when she reaches the small clearing near the Tower to which Gale has retreated... and finds it saturated in light.

Gale sits in the middle of the clearing. His hands are lifted as if conducting a silent orchestra, and all around him the shadows have been driven back. The Weave, triumphant, exultant, swirls around him in waves of pure magical beauty. The blank emptiness of the sky is replaced with a sea of stars and rippling aurora.

She is struck to stillness and for a few minutes simply stands there, watching, drinking in the soft touch of the unbroken Weave around her. It reminds her of the night, months ago now, when he channeled his power through her and she felt safe, for almost the first time that she could remember - cocooned inside the magic that both of them love beyond anything.

Finally she stirs, takes a few soft steps forward to sit down at his side.

He watches her in silence, then slowly returns his eyes to the majestic display he has conjured above them.

"I love this time of night," he murmurs. "There's an almost reverent silence that accompanies the peak of darkness, when you'd almost believe the dawn will never break. The cradle of eternity." His lips twitch and he flicks a glance at Rakha. "The timelessness of lovers, that most beautiful of fantasies."

(A/N: This scene is a smidgen odd if you're not romancing Gale and definitely seems intended to imply he still has feelings for you regardless. I basically skipped over the initial scene implying this when it happened in Act 1 and am continuing to skip over it now; I don't think he and Rakha have that kind of relationship. So in this case I think he's just acknowledging what Rakha has found with Wyll and that he's happy for her.)

Rakha is only half-listening; her attention is still fixated on the magic surrounding them. "It's breathtaking, Gale," she says quietly - which for her is quite effusive. "Is this starry sky your doing?"

"Indeed," he answers. "The curse is still present, of course - just veiled and at arm's length for now. Not a trick I can repeat often, but tonight?" He sighs heavily. "Tonight is different."

She quirks an eyebrow questioningly but for a little while he falls silent again, contemplating the swirling magic, its eddies and ripples. "This may be my last night alive," he finally goes on quietly. "I wanted it to be under a canopy of beauty and wonder. I thought this place might bring me peace. I thought it might make the weight of what I must do a little lighter. But... I am not so sure."

She can understand that. Many times the beauty of the Weave has been the only peace that she has known against the raging war being constantly fought within her mind. What he seeks peace from, though, is something more direct and tangible.

This may be my last night alive.

He is thinking of the orb. Of Mystra's instructions that he should destroy himself.

Rakha's jaw sets with sudden rage on the wizard's behalf. Mystra, this god he follows, claims power over all of magic, and yet she has no other solution than Gale's destruction? No. She will see many other deaths before she is through - but not Gale's. Not any of her companions. That is one of the things that sets her apart from the beast in her head that would see everyone dead in the same great pool of blood.

"I refuse to believe," she mutters hoarsely, "that this is the end. We'll find another way. I promise."

Gale meets her eyes for a moment and a slight smile touches his lips. "Thank you," he says. "But... even if we do find another way, perhaps this is the right way. The end fate wishes for me."

He rubs his fingers absently against his chest, where the orb waits beneath his skin, subtly sucking at the magic around him, hungry and all-consuming.

"There is no point in running from the inevitable," he says. "Better to meet it on my own terms."

Rakha is quiet for a moment then. Yes. She can understand that, if she is honest. How many times has she raged at the beast not for its violence but for the choice that was denied her, to choose her kills with purpose?

There is much that still lies ahead. Many possibilities. She will not see Gale die if she can do anything to avoid it. But she can respect his desire to make his own choice.

"You sound sure in your course of action then," she says, her voice uncharacteristically soft.

"Resigned to it, rather," he says. His voice cracks subtly and he squeezes his eyes shut, looking away. "But that is not to say I am without fear. Far from it..."

He hesitates, then shifts so he can brush his knuckles gently against her arm. "Stay with me a while, will you? Day will come all too soon, even in this place..."

(A/N: The affirmative answer here is, "I'm not going anywhere, Gale. I'll be by your side, whatever dawn brings," which is WAY too effusive for Rakha. :P So slight artistic license here to give her a different line.)

"Yes," she agrees calmly. "And we will meet it. Whatever it brings."

He shifts with an air of sudden frustration. Around them, the rippling rhythm of the Weave stutters suddenly, bright flashes mixing with the even flow. "Yes. But there is so much to live for, and so few moments in which to house it all," he says, his voice suddenly tight, strained. "Damn you!"

Her head snaps back in surprise as he turns towards her fiercely. "Damn you," he goes on, "for giving me so much to care about! Our friends, our adventures... this would have been so much easier if it was just me."

His shoulders sag and he slumps back on his hands. "But it isn't. If there is a way - any way - to save all that's grown dear to me, I want to seize it! I just can't fathom what that might be, other than to fail Mystra and condemn the world."

He sounds tired suddenly, and deeply sad. Rakha has no answer for him - but again, she can understand what he means. It would be easy, indeed, if she did not care for him, or the others who have become her companions. If she did not have them to guide her, and could simply indulge the beast urge in whatever maniacal bloody road it chose to lead her on.

Much easier. And impossible.

He watches her expression; it's hard to say how much of her thoughts he can guess at, but he smiles slightly.

"Stay with me, will you?" he asks softly. "I don't want to think of it anymore, but I don't want to be alone either."

Stay with him and watch the stars in silence.

She nods slowly, and lets herself sink back without a word onto the grass until she is lying on her back staring at the ceiling of stars that he has constructed out of the darkness. She lets the Weave, uncorrupted and pure, sink through her skin into her bones.

And she wonders what will become of them both.

[roxannarambles]

title: tesoro

ship: nemona x juliana (fluff, pre-romance)

summary: mr. jacq’s students give their final reports on their treasure hunt

notes: edited the story, tweaked a few things, I like it better now! (also, it’s in second-person POV now. apologies if second person isn’t your thing. but I kept accidentally slipping into that pov a zillion times so I just went with it)

It was time for the class to give their oral reports on the Treasure Hunt, and you were nervous as heck.

Yes, the time spent during your independent study had been incredible, but it did come with one downside. It was still technically part of your class curriculum, so every student was expected to write and submit a paper about their experiences, as well as deliver an oral report to the class. Honestly, it wasn't particularly difficult. Most students simply went up there and rambled a bit about whatever they spent the past six months doing.

A lot of students talked about trying out the gym circuit, or about the different towns they'd visited, or about a really cool and rare pokemon they'd stumbled across while out hiking, or what-have-you. One student loved fishing so they talked about all the different places they'd fished, another student was obsessed with hunting shiny pokemon, another student had researched the historical ruins scattered throughout Paldea. It was actually kind of fun hearing about everyone's experiences.

Or at least, it would have been, if you could have focused at all. But you were too busy feeling anxious about your own presentation. Giving talks in front of a class had never been one of your strong suits. Your stomach was tied up in knots, and you were trying very hard to ignore your nausea. Beside you, Nemona gave a sympathetic smile and patted your shoulder. In a quiet voice, she said,

"It's gonna be fine, Jules. Just imagine it's like a pokemon battle! You don't get nervous when everyone's watching you battle, right?"

You gave her a weak smile.

"Actually, that makes me kinda nervous too."

Nemona's eyes widened a little.

"Wait, seriously? No way. I had no idea. You always seem so calm and collected."

"Mmm," you mumbled, closing your eyes. Nemona patted you again, reassuring you,

"You'll do maravillosa, I know it."

You hadn't been paying any attention to the student currently talking, but they must have finished their report, because the class abruptly launched into polite applause. You snapped your eyes open and politely applauded along with everyone else, watching the student return to their seat as Mr. Jacq praised their efforts.

"Thanks again, Lorenzo, for such an engaging review of the restaurants of the west province. I definitely learned of some new places to try when I'm in the area! Now, let's see . . ."

The professor glanced down briefly at the clipboard in his hand.

"Ah! Yes, it looks like it's Juliana's turn next. Wonderful!"

You felt her heart give a sudden lurch and you swallowed, feeling the eyes of the class drawn to you. Ok, well, at least you're finally getting this over with, right? Timidly, you stood from your seat and brought over the little flash drive that had the slides for your presentation. It only took you a minute or so to plug into the computer and launch the file, but you had to focus to try and keep your hands from looking jittery.

Once the first slide appeared on the overhead projector, you turned and gave the class a nervous smile. You forced out,

"H-hi everybody . . . my name's Juliana. As. Most of you already know."

Well, yeah. You'd all spent the entire semester together by now. Not to mention you were the youngest Champion in all of Paldea, too, that kinda had been announced to the whole school.

You coughed, stammering out,

"A-anyway! Eheheh, this, is my report on my Treasure Hunt!"

From the middle of the room, Nemona gave a spirited,

"Whoo!"

There was an awkward silence. You laughed nervously before changing the slide.

"R-right, anyway . . ."

You did your best to just focus on your notes and get through the material you'd prepared. You started by talking about all the gyms you had visited and challenged, and the things you'd learned from your successive battles, each of the gym leaders offering interesting new perspectives on pokemon battling and on life in general. The same was true of the Elite Four and the Top Champion. Then you delved a little into your adventures with Arven, tracking down and battling the massive Titan pokemon and locating their secret dens with rare, exotic herbs. The battles themselves were noteworthy, but you also talked about the stuff you learned about backpacking across the wilderness and roughing it in the wild, as well as getting to know Arven better. You dedicated a portion of your talk to Koraidon, as well, because he was your precious baby boy and you loved him more than anything (well, your whole team was dear to you, too, of course). You also talked about the experience of finding and helping out the members of Team Star. It took time to earn their trust, but eventually you learned about them and about the history of Naranja Academy, both the good and the unpleasant. Eventually, you were able to help the members of Team Star gather the courage to face their pasts and return to school, mending the bridges they had thought had been burned and unmendable.

The events that had transpired in Area Zero had to be omitted from your talk, of course, but even glossing over all that, there was plenty to talk about. It had been a very, very busy six months, packed to the brim with adventure and excitement. And to your relief, the report went fairly smoothly. Once you'd gotten into things, it had become much easier to just focus on what you wanted to say and get through the talk you'd carefully practiced.

However, the main portion of the talk wasn't really the thing that had caused you the most anxiety. It was the ending of the speech that truly worried you. The ending that was now rapidly approaching.

You flipped the slide, struggling to keep your cool. You glanced at the bullet points on your slide and continued talking.

"So, ah, as I've been explaining, a lot happened during my independent study! And there are a lot of things I found that I would call my treasure. Like, for instance, my friends. I met so many new friends on this journey and they've all been so amazing. Also, my pokemon. I've raised these little guys from the itty bitty babies I found toddling around in the wild and . . . honestly, I'd do anything for them. We've been through so much. And, of course, all the experiences I had. The big exciting moments, but also all the calm, soft ones. Just having picnics out in the South Province, or walking on the beach, or seeing the sunsets from Levincia, all that stuff. I treasure all of those things. I've been really lucky."

All right, here it comes. You pulled in a nervous breath and hesitated, glancing around at your audience. Were you really doing this? Truthfully, it was probably gonna be fine. You were probably worried about nothing. It's not like there was anything weird about what you wanted to say or anything. But, well, part of you was still scared it might come off as too . . . too sappy or something.

Urgh. You just needed to quit second-guessing yourself and just do it.

Clearing your throat, you say,

"B-but, uhm, when I asked myself what my greatest treasure was, uh, there was something that . . . did come to mind. That's not to devalue any of the other things I've mentioned, of course! They are all deeply important to me. But there is something that makes me feel the most excited, that feels . . . that feels the most precious to me."

Ah, jeez. As the students watched you with intent curiosity, you could feel your heart picking up speed and a blush began to creep onto your face. Okay yeah maybe this was too sappy, but it was too late now, oh god.

You forced yourself to reach over to the laptop and hit the button, changing the slide, and a large photo of Nemona appeared, her auburn eyes bright and her grin positively jubilant, as usual. Doing your very best to speak in a normal voice, you squeaked,

"A-and t-that's my friend Nemona!"

You tried very hard to not make eye contact with anyone in the classroom and just stay focused on your report, although you couldn't help but hear a startled little gasp from somewhere in the middle of the room, which definitely sounded exactly like Nemona.

Okayjustfocusjustkeeptalking

You opened your mouth and forged ahead, the words tumbling out.

"T-the truth is, I've had a lot of difficulties in my life with anxiety and, other mental health issues. Most people don't know that, probably none of you do, I don't really talk about it. But yeah, when I first moved here, Nemona was so welcoming the moment I arrived, and she, she was . . . willing to get to know me and see me for who I am, I guess is the best way of putting it. And she actually liked that person she found? And it meant so much to me, and she became my best friend, but to be honest, she was also my first friend, the first one I was close to,  I mean-- like, truly close to. And I can't even begin to say how special that is to me."

You paused to suck in a breath, the thoughts swirling in your head, and continued ardently,

"And she's such a wonderful person. She's full of so much love for life, so much contagious energy, you know? She reminds me of the important things in life, of the stuff that matters most-- which is going after the things that you love, the stuff that makes you feel alive, and pursuing it no matter what! I feel like I'm a better person around her, like she brings out the best in me. And I admire her so much."

You had no idea if your thoughts were coming out coherently or not, but you could only hope so.

"That's not even going over how she re-ignited my interest in pokemon battles and a bunch of other stuff, but I don't wanna ramble or anything, heh . . . I just, uh . . . well, knowing that we're always gonna be there for each other, it's . . . it's the best feeling in the whole world."

You cleared your throat and glanced to the floor, adding quietly,

"S-so, um, yeah. She's. My greatest treasure."

There was a pause, the room completely silent, and you felt like you could hardly breathe. You turned and smacked the button on the computer, flipping to your end slide, and blurted quickly,

"Anyway that's my presentation, the end, thanks everyone, okay bye!"

You were about to just bail, but a smiling Mr. Jacq stepped in the way before you could, so you remained rooted to the spot.

"Thank you, Juliana! That was wonderful! Such an insightful and heartfelt report. Wouldn't you agree, class?"

There was an enthusiastic smattering of applause from the class, and you ducked her head, embarrassed but relieved at the same time. Your teacher continued to praise you for a bit, and you took the first opportunity to quickly return to your seat and exit the spotlight.

Although, returning to your seat was certainly a little awkward, considering you were returning to sit beside Nemona. You didn't have the guts to look at her during the presentation, but you could now see Nemona was blushing quite the intense shade of pink, her eyes glued to her desk, while the students around you casted glances and giggled. You sat down, feeling terrified you may have upset your friend. Did you embarrass her too much? Or . . . god, you should have asked her first if she'd be okay with this, damn it, damn it. Feeling awful, you turned to Nemona and stammered quietly,

"S-sorry if that was embarrassing, I uhh I was just, well, I was trying not to ramble or anything but I just, w-wanted to-- I'm sorry, I should have asked if you--"

Nemona's eyes darted up to yours, wide and disbelieving, and she quickly cut you off.

"Don't say sorry, Jules, that was, it was-- so sweet, I-I-- nobody's ever said anything that nice about me before! Don't you dare apologize for that, that was incredible!"

Nemona's voice had sounded so raw, and she looked nearly on the verge of tears. The fear gripping you immediately evaporated, and you released a breath. With a shy smile, you stammered,

"Oh, o-okay, good! I'm-- I'm glad you liked it . . ."

Nemona huffed, grabbing your arm and leaning in close, muttering so the class couldn't overhear;

"You're lucky I have the self-restraint to not make a big ole' scene in the middle of class, cos I am going to hug the stuffing out of you the second I get the chance, you know that? I'll be sobbing and it's gonna be sooo embarrassing."

You felt a grin edging onto your face.

"I mean, if you wanna make a scene right here, I wouldn't exactly mind . . ."

You hesitated, and then the words slipped out softly,

". . . mi tesoro."

Nemona's pretty auburn eyes went completely wide, her fingers tightening around your arm, and her entire being seemed to positively shake from the force of trying to keep quiet. Her voice was rough and squeaky when she uttered,

"Wh-what-- Jules, I-I--"

You felt worried Nemona was going to break down right then and there; her eyes were watering and she looked as though she was seriously considering picking you up and carrying you right out of the classroom, but a voice suddenly interrupted the moment, causing you both to jump.

"A-hem, now, class, I know you're excited to talk about these wonderful presentations, but I'll need to remind you to save most of that for the end of class, okay?"

You turned to see Mr. Jacq was side-eyeing you both with an amused expression.

"Y-yessir," you say, while Nemona nodded mutely. Slowly, as if it was physically painful to do so, Nemona detached herself from you. She looked so sad, like an excitable puppy that had been scolded for jumping up on someone.

Mr. Jacq had already moved on, checking his clipboard.

"I believe that Isabella is next? Do you have everything ready to go, Isabella?"

"The second after class, Jules," Nemona's whisper in your ear was so terse it practically sounded like a threat, although with the way she was struggling to maintain composure, it was a very emotional one. You suddenly felt very bad for flustering her so much, but the truth was you hadn't really intended to. Unfortunately, there were still like ten or so students left to give their reports, so you both had to keep quiet and behave for just a while longer.

Although you weren't gonna lie, you couldn't focus much. Nemona maintained a facade of listening to your fellow classmates, but she kept shooting you lingering glances, her warm eyes full of such soft adoration, and it was honestly really distracting, because you felt like your heart was melting into goo. You were pretty sure you did not absorb a single thing the presenters were saying, and boy it felt like they were taking forever.

The funniest part was, Nemona had yet to give her presentation. Which you had completely forgot. Until Mr. Jacq checked his clipboard and announced,

"And it's finally time for our last student! Nemona, are you ready?"

Nemona bounced up from her seat faster than you'd ever seen her move, as if struck by a live wire. She gave an exuberant,

"You bet I am!"

Some of the class laughed and you struggled to quash your startled expression, because how in the heck did you forget Nemona hadn't gone yet? You'd been the one to help her work on her rough drafts for weeks, jeez!

Now you felt especially bad for distracting Nemona so much before her big talk. However, as it turned out, it didn't seem to be a problem. As Nemona bounded to the front of the class, she seemed perfectly focused on giving her report. She quickly fired up her slideshow, eyes gleaming.

You felt a flash of admiration at her ability to focus so sharply. Perhaps it was all of her experience with pokemon battles. It would make sense, honestly.

Nemona proceeded to launch into her talk, positively brimming with energy.

"All right, class, time to strap in! Because we're about to take a trip on the Nemona Roller Coaster, guaranteed to be full of the biggest ups and downs and shocking turnabouts you've ever seen on a Pokemon Gym circuit since 2021! (That was my first time to complete the gym challenge) It all started when I met Jules and Director Clavell gave me Sprigatito, to build a new team from scratch! As you'll see from this slide, here are little Spriggy's stats, and here's his nature, which is Jolly. Now, Jolly's a great nature for this pokemon, especially if you take a look at these IVs. . ."

You glanced around at the rest of class, amused by their mixed responses. Some students looked excited and interested while others were clearly mentally checking out already. Nemona had a reputation of getting down into the nitty-gritty details of pokemon battling, including some rather lengthy blow-by-blows of her battles and strategies, which some students found to be intensely boring. However, she also was very good at making the battles seem very dramatic and exciting, so plenty of other students seemed to really enjoy it when she had the spotlight. You didn't care whether Nemona was recounting an especially pivotal moment of a match or presenting spreadsheets on her EV training; whatever she was discussing, she did with a passion that was peerless, and you could listen to her for hours. And even though you'd already seen most of this presentation content while helping her out, you still enjoyed seeing her recite it for the class, covering an incredible amount of material packed into such a short timeframe. Nemona's focus was her journey re-challenging all the gyms, although she highlighted other significant battles along the way, too, including especially feisty trainers she'd met at random or her battles with you, of course.

You knew what the pièce de résistance, the crowning jewel of Nemona's talk was. She had built her presentation's narrative carefully, to climax with the battle that the two of you had shared in the middle of the Mesagoza square; the very first time Nemona had gone at you with everything she had. During this portion of the talk, Nemona dropped most of her technical analyses, opting instead to focus more on the drama and the feelings elicited by the battle, which managed to draw in even the most bored of students in class. Nemona was practically vibrating as she recounted things, and you couldn't help feeling swept up again in the memories, the way your heart pounded, the way your hands shook when you took the pokeballs from your belt, the way your chest squeezed when you saw the fire burning in Nemona's eyes as bright as a Volcarona from across the battlefield.

When the last pokemon in Nemona's story had been felled, she rolled into her final slide, providing a conclusion that was short but sweet.

"And that's when I realized; I'd found my greatest treasure. A true rival. I'd gotten so used to holding back whenever I battled, because I was so worried about making sure people were having fun, and making sure people actually wanted to keep battling me. But it was never really satisfying, deep down. And now, I've finally found someone who can meet me exactly at where I am, an equal. Someone who really gets me!"

She looked across the classroom at you, beaming. With absolute convinction, she said,

"A battle partner for life. Mi tesorita. That's Juliana."

You blushed at her words, glancing away from her intensity. Aughhh, she was trying to kill you, you should have seen this coming.

The students began to clap enthusiastically at the report's completion, but Nemona's voice piped up over the applause.

"But wait wait wait, that's what I put in my report, that's how I ended it, but Juliana's talk, she made me realize my report isn't entirely complete!"

The class quieted down again and you watched as Nemona stepped forward, ignoring her slides and speaking off the cuff.

"Yes, I'd finally found my rival, that's true, and that's fantastic! But it's more then that. Juliana's not just an amazing rival, she's someone I trust more than anything and someone who makes me stronger, makes me better! And she always keeps me on my toes and is always surprising me, no matter how much I get to know her! And she's someone who shares my burning passion, and she makes me laugh, and she makes my heart race, even when we're not battling! Heck, just being around her is exciting, it kind of reminds me of that one time I was exploring the Alfornada cave and I had a team of like level 20's but I accidentally ran into a level SIXTY Garchomp, and it terastallized and I was shaking and--"

At this point, quite a number of students where giggling and whispering, shooting you glances, and you were quietly trying to sink into the desk, face hot and cheeks red, but Nemona kind of had a hard time noticing social cues, so she remained blissfully ignorant of her classmates. Fortunately, Professor Jacq was more perceptive in that area and coughed, stepping in.

"R-right, well, we're running a bit short on time, but thank you, Nemona, for such a beautiful talk! Class, let's thank Nemona for her incredible effort and the perfect conclusion to our Treasure Hunt reports!"

You kept your head down as the class dissolved into applause; a few moments later, the school bell chimed. Shouting over the suddenly rowdy noise of the students eager to leave, Mr. Jacq called,

"All right, class, that'll be it for today, but don't forget Monday's reflection paper, due at the start of class! Check the website if you need a reminder of the guidelines. And have a great weekend!"

Nemona returned to her desk like a streak of light, grabbing up her backpack and then seizing your hand.

"You're coming with me, tesorita. I think if I gotta wait any longer to hug you I'm gonna actually die."

You grab your backpack as she pulls you along, your heart fluttering, and you answer,

"O-okay, haha, Nemona, I'm coming, I'm coming!" Your classmates kept shooting you both glances as Nemona hauled you quickly down the halls, and you knew they were gossiping, but you couldn't seem to bring yourself to really care.

The moment you step outside, she swings you into the promised hug with such force she actually lifts you into the air a bit, and you can't help but dissolve into laughter. She squeezes you tight, so tight it almost hurt, but it's lovely and it's fierce and you don't want it to stop, but eventually you have to beg her to let you breathe again.

She released her death-grip, but switched to kissing the top of your head, over and over, and you squirmed and laughed. She eventually paused to say,

"That's for using the most adorable nickname on me in the history of ever in the middle of class! You're terrible, you know that?"

You grin up at her, and it's like gazing into the sun, her energy always filling you entirely whenever she was around, almost too bright to handle. You answer,

"To be fair, I think you managed to get pretty decent revenge during your report."

Nemona laughed, shifting into a satisfied smirk.

"True! I think I did a pretty good job, considering how hard you were trying to distract me."

Your mind echoed back the tangent that Nemona had gone on at the end of her report, and you felt a blush threatening to return at the thought of it. Before you could think the better of it, you blurt,

"U-uh, about that . . . stuff you said at the end, about the Garchomp and everything . . ."

She lit up with a smile.

"Oh, you wanna hear more about it, yeah? Of course! So, it all started when I was visiting Alfornada, and I heard people talking about a nearby cave with really strong pokemon--"

"N-no, not that," you interrupt, feeling mildly exasperated, because of course that's the part she'd focus on.

"I meant, um, the part when you said that . . . uh . . . being around me felt like facing down the level 60 Garchomp?"

You felt embarrassed repeating it, because maybe you misunderstood, maybe you were just making a fool of yourself-- but her expression shifted, just a little bit, and she hesitated for a half-second.

"Y-yeah! Well, you know! It's always an adventure with you around. You and me, we can take anything on when we work together, and it makes me so jazzed. You know what I mean, right?"

And then she was back to normal. It had been so subtle, just the briefest of hesitations, the slightest waver in her voice, it was entirely possible you'd just imagined it.

You nodded,

"Yeah, of course."

You had a funny, prickly feeling, then, like someone was watching you, and you glanced around. Almost immediately, you spotted some of your classmates, who had probably exited the building around the same time as you. They were loitering suspiciously nearby and looking kinda entertained.

Oh, right. Forgot about them. It seemed Nemona's efforts to not make a scene may not have entirely worked out. To be fair, she did tackle you the second you left the building, pretty much right in the central path everyone took, so. Um.

You quickly suggest,

"Maybe we could continue this conversation somewhere else?"

Nemona was unconcerned with your classmates (or perhaps unaware), but still seemed to love the idea.

"Sure! Y'wanna grab some ice cream? We can go hang out on the rooftops!"

That sounded perfect, so you agreed. 

She grabbed your hand and you were off, to enjoy the rest of your Friday afternoon, and to make some more treasured memories.

[meep9898]

Name: Erika Rhodes

Age: 27

Height: 5’ 5

Weight: 112 lbs (for now)

Birthday: June 17th

Growing up, at the insistence of her mannerly mother, Erika participated in a ridiculous amount of beauty pageants all over the country, never staying in one place for long. Unfortunately, she found very little success in such competitions, only winning a couple out of the hundreds she attended. Was she not cute enough? Why did she have to be cute in the first place? Why sacrifice an actual home, school, and what little friends she made in order to win those stupid pageants that idolized cuteness? Thanks to these thoughts, resentment against cute things grew inside Erika’s heart.

Later in life, a passion for playing the electric guitar awoke in her. Her love for this instrument was quickly dismissed by her mother. ‘Only hooligans and beastly rockstars play those things!’, she said. Instead, more beauty pageants and modelling photo shoots were forced upon Erika. Why did she have to sacrifice her dreams for cuteness? Resentment turned into an aberration against cuteness. She wanted to break the rules, to be free! Screw being cute!

In her first act of rebellion ever, Erika snuck out in the middle of the night and stole her mother’s van, driving as far away as she could get, taking nothing with her but a guitar. Along the road, she played here and there, but her financial situation was never stable. That was until she met a woman named Stevie, who offered her what seemed to be the deal of a lifetime. Erika had become the lead guitarist of a popular idol band named The Atomic Dolls! However, there was a major downside to this contract. In order to keep her place in the band, Erika would have to adopt a cute personality again…at least during press conferences, concerts, and basically any public appearance. Behind doors, she could still be whoever she wanted.

Yet, having to act all cutesy again may be the least of Erika’s worries. All those travels, brand deals, sponsorships, and gifts by both fans and companies brings lots of food into one’s life, and well, let’s just say the guitarist’s waistline is starting to suffer the consequences…  

[ellascreams]

Dannymay Day 1: Fantasy AU

It was six months ago now. Six month since the incident. No one quite knew when the fae became such an issue in Amity Park. Some theorized it was after the Fenton’s moved in, but it also made sense that fae hunters would move into an area with a fae problem. That sort of “chicken or the egg” question is a losing game. It didn’t matter anyway. What mattered is that they were there, and one fae didn’t like it.

She was a fan of Amity Park and humanity, they were all so cute and funny! It decided on a plan. It would take a human’s name and give them some of its powers, making them her champion of sorts. She’d use the human to fight the others.

Meanwhile, Danny’s parents created a fairy circle in their basement that they assumed had failed. Turns out they just forgot to turn on the power. When Danny stepped into it, he ended up in the magic forest. Then the fae put her plan into action.

“May I have your name, child?” It asked him. He said Fenton, but before he said his full name he had already realized his mistake. The fae was left with only half of his name. They both stood there for a moment. Neither had heard of this situation before. Neither knew what to do. Until the fae, who decided to be called Fenton, shrugged. She snapped her fingers and Danny passed out.

When he first woke up he realized, he had long pointy ears, slit pupils, and green eyes. He could create small illusions, disappear (by making everyone ignore him, not going invisible), and fly! He was much more unique than the other guys. The powers had downsides already though. A translucent illusion of Fenton followed him wherever he went. He knew what he had to do. He had to stop all the fae that were coming through. He knew this, because she wouldn’t shut up about it. Ever.

Danny could use his powers of illusion to hide his inhuman appearance, and Fenton was willing to use its name on legal documents for him. He couldn’t say it though. It took a lot of effort to hide how suspicious that was. When he was fighting fae, he took on the identity of Danny Faeton. Yes, that name is stupid. Unsurprisingly Fenton suggested it. Danny chose to keep it over hearing complaints in his ear about it for the next month.

So, just like that, Amity Park’s infamous and heroic “Illusion-Nick” was born. Danny’s life only became harder from there. He had to fight all sorts of fae. A hypnotic bard who used the power of her own name, a collector of the worlds most unique and powerful names, you name it! Actually maybe don’t one of them will probably try to steal it. Who he hated most was a college friend of his parents, Vlad. He also had half of his name taken. However, he found a way to torture the fae into doings whatever he wanted. It was cruel. As annoying as Fenton was, she was Danny’s friend, and she was a person.

It was six months ago now. Six months since the incident. But even through all of his struggles, and even though he’d never admit it, Danny wouldn’t have changed a thing. He made friends. He was a hero. He was Danny Faeton, the half controlled, and he loved it.