#the other people in the cafe: that’s a meta right there. one that is apparently super tired. mood.

[thecaptainhelm]

The next on-shift barista, after Danny leaves: uh, is this baggie of crack cocaine or whatever?

Tim, who prayed to anybody who would listen for Danny to somehow leave his caffeine powder: let me see

Barista: uh?!

Tim, dumping the entire bag into his thermos: bottoms up

Tim, slamming down the thermos: it's whatever

Barista: I, I need an adult.

Tim: I am adult.

(The whole thing about ghosts and liminals having fast metabolisms and resistance to chemicals, making Danny have to take way higher dose of things like medications, caffeinated drinks, and other substances for them to even do anything.)

Danny’s in Gotham and goes to get coffee from a random cafe. He asks the barista what the caffeine content of their strongest drink is and lets out a disappointed sigh when they tell him. (It wouldn’t do anything to him and would just taste super bitter)

Danny proceeds to order some super sweet and sugary drink with multiple pumps of flavored syrup and drizzle on it. And when Danny gets his drink he takes out a canister of white powder and dumps a whole tablespoon of it into his drink and stirs it.

Danny after drinking some of it and being more awake he realizes that most of the shop saw what he did and that an unknown white power in Gotham is usually something illegal. Danny knowing his luck doesn’t want to risk even the slightest chance someone decides to do something about the teenager with a container of unknown white powder just straight up tells everyone it’s pure powdered caffeine.

This somehow causes an even more dramatic reaction, after all no normal human can survive that much caffeine.

—

Tim who both saw the whole thing and ordered the strongest drink they made: That’s like 75 cups of coffee… should I order caffeine powder?

[luvreyn]

VILLAIN

PAIRING: SHOTO X READER

Shoto knows (probably more than anyone) that villains aren't inherently evil, not really. Villains are just broken people—broken heroes who society failed.

His brother was an example of that.

That's why, when he saw you cowering under his power, he knew. He accompanied his sister to Kamino for an errand, and it just so happens that you and your companions have stolen goods from a grocery store downtown.

You look about the same age as him, but it’s not apparent with how thin and sickly you look. You’re not the villain they should capture; you are someone they should give another chance to.

"Here," he says, handing you the hand warmer he often carries around during the winter. "Take it."

He stands straighter. "You should go left from here if you don’t want to be captured."

He dusted his pants and left.

One of the local heroes in the area stopped him in his tracks. "Todoroki? Did you catch them?" He shakes his head, eyes darting towards the space he left you in. "Damn it!"

The second time he met you, you'd become involved in a more dangerous crime than just stealing food. You’re now stealing money from a highly secured bank.

Shoto eyes the money you drop on the ground as you raise your hand to surrender. Body shaking due to fear.

"Do you want to change?" He held out his hand, like Deku did with him, and like what he had done to his brother before. And there was no denying the joy he felt when you accepted it.

He learns much about you in the following weeks as he helps you get your life together.

Your quirk is an interesting one. The power to cause vibration, which is dangerous since you can’t control it yet and it reacts to your negative emotions,

You never had a formal education or training, having been left to fend for yourself since you were a child, and now you are at the mercy of villains who are much more powerful and cunning than you.

That was why he couldn’t help the happiness and pride he felt when you excitedly told him about your interview and when you got the job.

"Shoto, look!" you say, twirling excitedly. "I got accepted! My first real job!"

His visits to Kamino are so frequent that his sister and brother have already asked him twice if he is seeing anyone. Even his dad and friends were interested in what was so interesting in Kamino.

But they wouldn’t know just yet... Shoto would just like to keep you to himself just for a little bit longer.

"I didn’t order this," he protested when you laid a slice of cake on his plate. He was met with a grin and a wink.

"It’s on the house. Kinda see-you-soon food before your trip later."

And who was he to deny you?

You were trying to be better, trying to do good, but it seems that the past has yet to let you go.

That's why he was beyond shocked when he saw the news on his overseas mission the next day.

"A mall has collapsed after an altercation between a villain and heroes in a cafe in Kamino. The number of deaths is still rising. The villain is still out large, citizens are advised to stay indoors and report any suspicious acti-"

His heart stopped when he saw footage of you running.

One call was all it took for him to make the trip home that same hour.

He tried to call you numerous times, but his calls went straight to voice mail, and he feared the worst.

The situation isn't ideal. The Senate and public alike are pushing for your execution. He and the rest of the former members of Class A and other heroes have been pushing for the amendment of the law that executes criminals. The law was passed after the war with Meta Liberation and AFO, with the world fearing what would happen if someone like AFO appeared again.

It's better to kill the criminals right away instead of letting them live.

And because of that law, you will die.

The worry and dread he felt vanished when you answered the door. Eyes wide and red.

He lets himself in, making sure no one is in sight. He hasn’t even opened his mouth before you broke down, apologizing repeatedly while you shared what happened.

It turns out that the heroes who were supposed to apprehend you the night he met you saw you working and confronted you.

He closes his eyes as he imagines the scene unfolding. Those heroes were huge, power-type heroes. He can imagine them confronting you, taunting you, you tripping, and your quirk activating.

Shoto wished he had never been sent on that overseas trip. He should have been here.

"I swear," you sobbed. "I didn't mean for the building to collapse. I didn't mean for that accident to happen. I was just so startled and scared—I'm so sorr-"

He shushes you, crushing you into a tight embrace. "I know," he says softly in your eyes. "I know. Don’t worry, I’ll protect you."

He’s a hero, after all.

The meeting for the law amendment ended in disaster, with the citizens and some heroes against it because of what happened in the mall, which left hundreds injured and hundreds dead.

The man standing in front of him falls, eyes open in shock, as if he couldn't believe what he has done. All the while, Shoto remains unfazed. This was one of the heroes who confronted you in the cafe, and one of the heroes who was against the law amendment.

He lets out a breath as he walks away from the scene. One down, more to go.

There's something you couldn't know though (because he knows you would just blame yourself): Shoto doesn't mind being a villain if it means protecting you.

[olivia-anderson-fanfic]

And when dick finds out jason KNEW and didn't tell b/c of the bet. oh man. Can we get a chapter in dick's pov on this? idc where u put it I just really want to read it.

Dick rolled his eyes at his brother’s antics. Honestly, he didn’t really care who Ladybug was. They had more than enough proof that she was on the good side and their little squabble didn’t seem all that serious.

Besides, no one in France knew who she was after her being a hero for four years. Dick wasn’t one to attempt the impossible (he loved things that seemed impossible, but that’s different than things that actually are).

Still, Damian had come to him for help and he was fine taking some time out of his day to research with him.

And what did they find? Pretty much nothing.

The Parisians either guessed her age as 15-21 or somewhere in the thousands.

She had to have come over from France over the past two days but there wasn’t a single person even moderately matching her description who had come over.

Her friend group was iffy. Supposedly she was friends with someone named Chloe Bourgeois, who’d had the bee miraculous for a short period of time. Then again, some footage indicated that Ladybug might actually hate the girl, so that information was useless. All the other heroes she’d worked with were still a mystery.

And her powers? God, don’t even get him started on her powers. Did she know what she was going to summon or not -- sometimes it seemed like it and sometimes it didn’t. Just how far did the apparent invulnerability go? How does someone take a miraculous? How does her outfit work? Why won’t the mask come off? How much did her cure actually fix? The only thing they knew for sure was that she had to participate in a battle for her to be able to use it.

Even Tim hadn’t been able to scrounge up more than rumors.

But Damian still wanted Dick to be there when he confronted Ladybug with the information and question her, and he didn’t really have anything better to do.

Finding her was way harder than they thought it’d be. You’d think someone in bright red would be easy to spot in the middle of the night, but apparently not.

But, eventually, they found her.

She didn’t seem to notice them for a while. She hopped from rooftop to rooftop, drink in hand.

And then she stopped. She took a long sip from her drink.

“What do you want?” She asked. Well, at least they knew for sure she was French. Her accent was still pretty thick.

Dick and Damian looked at each other awkwardly. What were they supposed to say? ‘We tried to stalk you on the internet but it didn’t work’?

She spun on her heel and repeated herself: “What do you want?” Her smile was getting more strained.

Damian crossed his arms over his chest. “Who are you?”

Wow. Smooth. He fought the urge to sigh.

Ladybug grinned cheekily as she matched his posture. “I’m Ladybug, of course.”

He could already tell they weren’t going to get anything of substance from her. Still, Damian was sending him pleading looks out of the corner of his eyes. He brought a smile to his face. “We’ve spent the last few days researching you. We looked up immigration records, plane flights, everything. No one matches your descriptions. You, frankly, don’t exist.”

She tapped her earrings. “That’s ‘cause of magic. It keeps people from finding out my identity if I don’t want them to.”

He blinked and looked at Robin, trying to gauge if this could be true. Sure, metas existed and the internet had attributed her powers to the earrings she wore, but the idea of earrings giving people powers was still kinda odd for him.

Robin didn’t know. Great.

And then Ladybug took a sip of her drink and Dick gave pause. He’d seen that cup before. Pretty much every day, actually. He could ask Tim about it later --.

He was pulled back to the present when Damian groaned and left. He broke into a wide smile. Maybe this wouldn’t be impossible, after all.

He held out a hand to shake. “It’s been nice meeting you. Sorry about my…” He hesitated for a half-second, unsure whether he wanted to say ‘brother’. He glanced at her eyes and decided against it. He didn’t like how intent they looked. Whoever she was, she wasn’t stupid, that much was obvious.  “... partner. He’s a bit annoying.”

She beamed as she shook his hand. “It’s fine. It’s been a pleasure meeting you, Mr. Nightwing. I hope next time we can get to know each other without him around.”

He chuckled. “Just Nightwing would be fine. And that sounds great.” He gave one last wave before hopping away.

~

Jason’s phone rang and Dick grinned, glad for an excuse to stop working for even a second.

“Who wants to talk to you?”

He held up his phone to show it was ‘Timberly’.

They both frowned at this. Tim? Calling during work? He must be dying.

Jason turned on his speaker.

“Heya, Replacement, what’s up?”

“Hey, I’m going to take the day off.”

Jason and Dick looked at each other for a long time, stunned. And then they finally processed it. “WHAT?!”

“WHO IS THIS?!”

“WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO HIM?!”

“ARE YOU OKAY?!”

“IS THIS A PRANK?!”

“Yes, I’m fine. No, it’s not a prank. I’ve met someone --”

Jason laughed.

“-- not like that, Jay -- and I’m giving her a tour of the city. She just got here from France a while ago.”

Cafe person? From France? Dick’s brain clicked and he shoved Jason out of the way to get to the phone. “Did you meet her at the cafe?”

“Yes, I met her at the coffee shop, Dick. What does it matter?”

“She could be Ladybug.”

Tim and Jason laughed at him. Laughed.

“You’re insane. Can I have time off or not?”

Dick fought back his annoyance. Tim was actually asking to leave and he wasn’t going to stop him. “Yes!”

“Please!” Added Jason.

The line went dead. Dick dropped back onto the couch and pulled out his own phone.

How could he bully Tim into bringing (the person who might be) Ladybug over?

He opened up the family group chat.

Idontwantpicturesthatsjustmyname: Guys you will not BELIEVE this

~

Dick rested his head on his hands as he watched Marinette from across the table.

“So, what do you know about Ladybug?”

Her eyes widened slightly. Whether this was because of the suddenness of the question or because he was right he wasn’t sure.

“Subtle,” Jason said sarcastically. He sent Dick a short glare as if to say ‘don’t scare her off we just met her’ and then gave Marinette an apologetic smile. “Sorry, ‘bout that. He’s been obsessed since she appeared, and most of his research has been a dead end. He’s grasping at straws.”

She relaxed and gave a soft laugh. “I’m too klutzy to ever be Ladybug, you can ask anyone.”

Dick tried not to look too skeptical. He’d purposefully surprised her with a rather forceful hug when he’d met her to see how good her balance was when she wasn’t paying attention. She’d had no problem both staying up and supporting their weight.

He couldn’t tell her that, though.

He groaned. “And I don’t suppose you know who it is?”

“Nope.”

And, just like that, the conversation moved on. Damn it, Jason, can’t you relax for a few seconds so he can interrogate her? Ugh.

Still, he smiled at Tim’s expression as Marinette began to explain exactly how they’d met. Even if it annoyed him that he hadn’t gotten any information, no one could ever pass up on the opportunity to mess with their siblings.

~

Jason sent Dick a glare as he pulled on his leather jacket. “You want to what?”

“Do a stakeout!” Dick said brightly. “I’m pretty sure Marinette is Ladybug.”

Tim sighed. “So we’re going to stalk my new friend? Great. Maybe this is why my friendships don’t last.”

“C’mon! It’s not like you even have to go, Tim.”

“And let you guys embarrass me? No thanks.”

“She won’t know --,” Jason said.

Tim sighed and put on his mask. “No. Come on. Dick, you owe me a coffee.”

Dick groaned but nodded. “Fine, I’m paying for snacks. Let’s go.”

~

“For the record, I think you’re stupid,” said Jason as they started to pull themselves up the fire escape.

“Thanks!” Said Dick brightly. “I know I’m right, but thanks!”

Jason laughed quietly. “Suuuure. Wanna bet?”

“Sure. How about 3k?”

He rolled his eyes. “Only 3? Are you really sure?”

Dick scoffed. “Fine. 5k.”

Jason smirked and pulled himself up the last rung and sat himself down on the edge. “Sucker.”

Tim glanced inside and gave sarcastic jazz hands. “Wow. How suspicious. She’s going to sleep.”

“Can’t you guys even pretend to believe me?”

“Nope. You’re insane, dude, the girl probably couldn’t hurt a fly if she wanted to.”

“I know what I saw. That coffee cup was the same one he --” he pointed at Tim “-- brings home all the time. And he saw her get one that day. She’s French and new in town. It’s got to be her.”

Tim sighed. “This feels wrong,” he mumbled. He took a long sip of his drink before continuing: “She’s a civvie, we can’t just watch her.”

“She might be a civvie,” corrected Dick.

His brothers groaned and they all opened their bags of Doritos.

And then Marinette flung the window open and stuck her head out. “Could you guys not do this outside my window?”

Everyone jumped. Tim literally jumped, nearly falling over the side of the fire escape in his surprise. They got into fighting poses on instinct.

Marinette had gone a little pale at the sight of them.

They quickly dropped their guards.

She flashed a weak smile. “Oh, I’m sorry, sirs. I thought you were just guys on my fire escape. You on a stakeout?”

Everyone looked at each other confusedly. Did her accent somehow get worse in the few hours since they met her? Tim looked especially confused by the development.

“Of sorts,” said Red Hood carefully.

She yawned and rubbed her eyes and her accent slipped back towards normal as she spoke: “If you’re staking out, can you…?” She trailed off and her eyes found their way to their Doritos. “Is that really all you’re eating tonight?” She asked, her lips falling into a frown.

The three all looked at each other.

“I mean... yeah, it’s stakeout food,” said Dick.

She clicked her tongue. “C’mon,” she waved them inside and began walking to her kitchen.

They all shrugged as they stepped through her window. What did it matter?

Dick snooped around her apartment with his brothers. He didn’t really know what he was looking for, just evidence that she did anything shady, but really he didn’t know where she’d hide anything. The place was pretty empty.

‘Damn, you live like this?’ He thought, giving her a glance and shaking his head.

His eyes found their way to her bed and he frowned. She’d set up a fake version of herself with pillows and blankets… but hadn’t she made it seem like she’d gone straight from bed to the window? How awake had she really been? And, if she’d been awake, had the accent been faked? Why?

He raised an eyebrow at the real Marinette.

“There were three people outside my window, did you want me not to take precautions?”

He looked away. Fair enough.

He continued looking for anything, but his attempts were fruitless. He would have thrown his hands up in frustration if he didn’t think that would make her suspicious of their true intentions.

Unable to do much else without making it obvious, he wandered over to watch her bake.

~

Dick looked the NightMare outfit up and down.

Ladybug sighed. “What?”

Maybe he could get some information on how her powers worked.

“Why is this outfit more intricate than your normal one?”

Ladybug rolled her eyes. “Because I was intending to make it look like a coincidence that I showed up here right after the Ladybug in Paris defeated Hawkmoth,” she said.

He knew she was lying. He didn’t know how he knew she was lying, maybe it was the cadence of her voice or the fact that she had a tendency to keep them as in the dark about her identity as possible, but she was definitely lying.

But he couldn’t prove it.

So he moved on.

~

She stumbled out of her portal and sent them all a tiny wave. “Salut.”

Dick’s eyes widened and he rushed forward to catch her in case she fell. She didn’t, but he still wrapped her arm around his shoulders to hold her upright. “Christ! What did they do to you?”

"Some sort of tranquilizer,” she mumbled, closing her eyes. “We need to warn the Waynes.”

He tensed and looked at his family, who were anxiously shifting from foot to foot.

“You’re not in any state to do that,” said Bruce, finally.

“I can open a portal.”

A wide smile stretched across his face. Aha! She’d admitted that she had to have been somewhere to open a portal. He had her now! “You’ve been to Wayne Manor?”

She opened an eye just enough to send him a glare. “No, but I’ve been outside it.”

His smile dropped. Damn. That’s a good point. The outside was a pretty popular tourist spot. He sighed.

“You need to get home,” said Tim. “I’ll make sure everyone turns around.”

Dick sent him a slight glare but let go of Ladybug and turned away. As much as he wanted to be right, the idea of watching her stumble into her room while half-awake in order to confirm this made him feel a little sick.

He could figure it out some other time, at least.

~

Jason dropped Ladybug onto the bed and they all scrambled around her.

Dick picked up a knife and started attempting to cut the suit around her wound and a curse slipped from his lips as it attempted to reform itself instantly.

After a few attempts, he reached for Ladybug’s earrings. He hadn’t even really been thinking about her identity, he’d just been frustrated about the apparent inability to help her.

Her hand shot up and grabbed his wrist before he could touch them. She tried to say something but couldn’t talk above the blood gurgling in her mouth.

He pulled his hand from her grip.

‘Fine, but when you die stupidly it’s not my fault,’ he thought.

He went back to attempting to tend to her wounds through her outfit.

~

Listen, just because he hadn’t done that didn’t mean that he didn’t still want to know.

He sent a text to Marinette. He’d check every once in a while to see if she responded, but if it took however long Ladybug was out then he would be right.

~

He stepped into the apartment and was stunned to see that Jason and Tim were already there.

But then he watched Marinette walk over. And she was probably injured, with how hard she was trying to hide her limp. And she clearly knew that he was onto her, otherwise why would she be trying to hide it?

“You’re walking a little weird, are you alright?” He said, a smug grin on his face.

But then Tim came to her rescue. He walked over and slung an arm over her shoulders protectively. “Maybe if you weren’t watching her walk she wouldn’t be overthinking it so much.”

Damn it. He hated it when Tim had a point.

Whatever. At least he’d thought of a plan B. He watched as Marinette’s eyes fell on Robin. She’d never met the vigilante before, so there was no reason why they shouldn’t get along.

And then she was nice to him.

He wanted to kick a wall. Was he actually wrong or was she just aware of what he was doing?

She pulled a bottle of wine from her cupboard. “You guys can all have this, right?”

There, a perfectly acceptable way to be petty. He snatched the drink from her hands. “It doesn’t matter because you can’t drink!”

Marinette raised her eyebrows. “It’s legal in my country.”

“But not in ours! Where you are currently staying! How did you even get your hands on this?”

She shrugged innocently.  “You’re more uptight than my actual mom.”

He scoffed. Rude!

So rude, in fact, that he didn’t realize that she had changed the subject until there was no natural way to come back to it.

He stared at the wine in his hands.

Screw it.

~

Dick glanced at his phone as he received a text.

His eyes lit up at the username. Marinette! Aha! He had her now! It had only been a day since Ladybug was released, surely this was proof --!

Definitelyforgottosleep: lemme in

He frowned. All thoughts of Ladybug were pushed out of his mind at the two words. Was she okay? What had happened?

~

Chloe Bourgeois? Where had he heard that name before?

A frown found its way to his face as he tried to recall this. “I know you.”

“You do?”

He nodded slightly and scratched the back of his head. “Definitely... so where...?”

Marinette looked a little pale. “Don’t all rich people kind of know each other?”

Dick gave a small nod. “I guess...” He said despite being sure that wasn’t it.

She grabbed both of them by their sleeves. “C’moooon. It’s cold out, we can at least do this inside.”

~

Dick watched from a bit away, trying to fight back a grin as Marinette and Cass greeted each other.

“Hi,” Marinette squeaked.

Cass looked Marinette up and down. If anyone could crack this case in two seconds, it was her…

And she did.

“Are you a vigilante?”

He fought the urge to squeal. Yes! Yesyesyesyesyesyes --!

And then Jason appeared out of nowhere to tackle Marinette in a hug.

This couldn’t ruin his good mood, though. Nothing could.

“Cass thinks that Mari could be a vigilante,” said Dick with a cheeky look on his face.

Jason and Marinette tensed slightly and looked at each other.

Then, Cass gave a short laugh. “No, wait, I was wrong. Don’t worry about it, Dick.”

Ah. Nothing could ruin his good mood except for that.

His smile dropped instantly and he groaned. “Dang…”

~

Dick looked between Marinette and Tim with horror. Ladybug had confessed literally hours ago and here he was dating Marinette? What the heck? Sure, they were cute together, but that was just cold. Couldn’t he have waited a few days at least?

It didn’t even occur to him that maybe the whole ‘Ladybug confessing’ thing could be linked.

~

When he’d turned on his comm, he hadn’t expected anything much from it.

“The bug’s been bugged,” said Cass.

“She’s been what?”

“Bugged. Someone bad found out her identity and now she’s got a bug.”

There was a silence as this sunk in.

Then Dick was yelling. “WHAT DO YOU MEAN SOMEONE FOUND OUT HER CIVILIAN IDENTITY?!”

“Damn, Nightwing, didn’t know you cared so much,” said Tim, who sounded a bit on edge.

“WHY DID THEY GET TO KNOW BEFORE ME?!”

“Because everyone gets to know before you,” said Cass calmly. “You’re officially the last to know.”

“IM SORRY?! EVERYONE KNEW?!”

“Yep.”

He couldn’t believe he’d been betrayed like this, especially by his own family.

And so he questioned them.

Tim had apparently figured her out the second day and not said anything about it because ‘her identity clearly matters to her, she didn’t even know I knew it until a little while ago’. Damn him. Dick couldn’t even get mad at him for that.

And then Jason was next. He’d apparently found out when Marinette had gotten shot. He’d given the same reasoning as Tim, which was more than a little suspicious.

Bruce was next. He’d found out on the Wayne Manor cams and hadn’t said anything because he thought everyone already knew. Ouch.

Duke said that he had just found out when Marinette had touched her comm. He got a pass.

And then Cass said she’d found out the moment she’d met the girl. Dick had suspected that, considering the conversation they’d had on Thanksgiving, but then he’d questioned her on why she hadn’t told him and…

“Red Hood and Marinette didn’t want you to know, so.”

Dick was practicing breathing exercises. It didn’t work, though. “WHO IS SHE?!”

He had a strong suspicion he knew, considering Jason had kept the answer from him, but he wanted to hear it directly from someone.

Jason attempted to steer the conversation away: “Hey, so about that bug thing --.”

Whatever attempts to save his wallet he was about to make was ruined by Cass, who simply said: “Marinette.”

Let’s just say Jason was lucky that Dick was against murder.

He was not, however, against cursing him out for the entire family to hear.

~~~

When you have to read 44 chapters of your own fic to answer a prompt--

I probably missed some things, too. I put a lot of little things in

[katsidhe]

for episode review s7 Magicians and Slice Girls, or like just general thoughts on the Amy drama especially the dialogue in The Mentalists and Emma killing

7.07 Final Thoughts

Mmm, Amy drama. This episode has both an escalation and a deescalation.

The scene in the cafe when Sam doesn’t say anything is very easy to read as Sam, unsure of his reality, unwilling to verbally acknowledge Dean until the waiter confirms he’s really there. His tense defensiveness makes me wonder how often “Dean” has showed up in the interim.

How quiet Sam is! and Dean, even though he’s the one asking Sam to forget his anger, graciously offers not to ask “where the hell you’ve been”. Lmao.

Can I just say how much I love the shitty car, and how much it annoys Dean. SPN should have killed the Impala more often!!

Sam spends this case visibly, wonderfully annoyed, in brusque silence: it’s a relentlessly internal kind of reaction, as Sam both focuses on his anger and ignores it.

Which meshes really well with how Sam spends most of s7—that is, with tunnel vision. Everything Sam does, he focuses on with single-minded determination. He has to focus so completely on what’s in front of him so that he has very little time to dwell on anything else. Even in episodes like this one, where Hallucifer doesn’t explicitly come up, it’s obvious how easy Sam is to catch off guard, how little personal involvement he has with the case and the witnesses, how much of himself is focused on either bare facts, or his annoyance. He doesn’t make the connection that all the headlining acts had been targeted. He storms the Lamaze class, gun out. He fails to notice the emporium man’s involvement, even when he’s acting very squirrelly.

One thing I always find at least a little bit baffling about S7 is its meta-level preoccupation with people loudly wondering if Dean is okay—like in this episode, for some reason, Ellen, courtesy of the museum psychic. If this level of random characters’ concern for Dean were situated, eg, in s4 post-Hell or s8 post-Purgatory, I wouldn’t bat an eye. But it’s not. It’s a strange and noticeable choice, given that Sam is the one currently in an active psychotic break. With a couple of characters, it makes in-universe sense: Bobby, for instance, has always been way more comfortable with Dean’s dysfunction than Sam’s. But, like, 7.04 focusing on Dean’s guilt, and Frank in 7.11 addressing Dean’s depression, and a host of other examples, make it clear that this is a ~Storyline~ that apparently needs to be pointed out to us or we’ll miss it.

Let me clarify that I very much enjoy Dean’s depression in s7, especially because, somewhat uniquely for Dean, it isn’t particularly muddled by his anger/rage issues. It’s probably the lowest extended point of sheer blank misery he’s got in the entire run of the show, and that’s fun. I just don’t buy that Everyone In the World is preoccupied with Dean’s depression (especially when Sam’s psychosis is very visible and very RIGHT THERE).

I love Dean’s logic about Amy. It’s absolutely batshit: Amy killed “bad” people to save her son, but killing people is always wrong. Therefore, Dean kills Amy, a “bad” person. But also, the actual moral question about Amy is kinda irrelevant to where Sam and Dean are right now. Their reasoning is divorced from the ethical problem.

Sam, unable to trust reality, decided to trust his gut about Amy. He wasn’t using a logical or pragmatic or even moral argument the way he might have in s6 or s4: about how Amy was unlikely to reoffend, or about how they shouldn’t kill a repentant single mother, or that leaving her child an orphan would undoubtedly lead to more killings. Instead, fresh off of his crisis in 7.02, he used a Dean-approach: it felt wrong to kill her. He decided that even if he couldn’t trust his eyes, he could rely on his instincts, and his personal history with her.

But Dean tells him he was wrong to trust himself, that Sam’s subjectivity in 7.03 was the source of his error, rather than something Sam should trust as in 7.02! And then he tells Sam that he wouldn’t have kept Amy’s killing a secret if it weren’t for Sam’s hallucinations.

It’s hard to overstate how comprehensive this attack is. Dean calls into question Sam’s mental stability, Sam’s ability to trust his instincts, and, most fundamentally, Sam’s fitness to do his job, to make life-or-death decisions and keep them both alive. It’s got shades of how he treated Sam most recently when soulless—that Sam isn’t trustworthy, and Sam isn’t capable, because there’s something intrinsically off about him.

And it works. Sam accedes. He confesses that he’s unsure if he was doing the right thing about Amy, and that he’ll never know. Dean admits that he went with his gut (which is okay because Dean’s gut is right, lol). The funny thing here is that Dean even admits he’s having trust issues since Cas, and that that might have affected his judgment—but he and Sam brush right by that. Even though Dean himself called his instincts into question, there’s no back-and-forth on whether he did the right thing.

[currentfandomkick]

Bio! Dad Strange part 3

Marinette, she had no idea how this happened, she swore, somehow got lost in gotham during an Arkham jailbreak. All she knew was one minute she was talking to Uncle Ed and then the next there was explosions and then she was... wherever she was.

Apparently Two-Face recognized her on the streets and grabbed her... only she didnt know him.

Her response was to flip him over her tiny shoulder and flee with a vengence. Guess which member of the batfam saw?

If you guessed Tim before he became a Robin because Dick was still Robin—albeit in charge of the Titans and not in Gotham at the time.

Tim did the reasonable thing and somehow convinced the freaked out french girl to go into a cafe while they called her parents.

Two-Face, convinced that tiny Tim kidnapped tiny Marinette and somehow his family would hurt tiny Marinette. Which given that she has how many Rogues around her little finger—Strange, Joker, Quinn, Ivy, Riddler, Penguin AND Zsasz. He did a coin flip to see if he should save her from being in the public eye and possibly expose her family. The coin was in favor of keeping Marinette from being on the news with pictures.

Two-Face decided it was safer to kidnap her from said public place and bring her to Ivy and Harley.

So he grabbed mutliple machine guns, raided the cafe and threw tiny Marinette over his shoulder and sent out shots at abyone that tried to get near them. He wasnt dying becuase of this kid, ok?

Of course said kid is super-powered, terrified, and did i mention its sunny out so her treatments are wearing out faster? No, well they are. This means everything is much scarier and louder and overwhelming that bwing thrown over a stranger that shot at people should be in any situation.

Tiny Tim is very scared for her. He finds Batman and alerts him to the tiny foreigner’s kidnapping—nearly getting killed by Mr. Freeze in the process to boot.

Batman is angry for many reasons, manages to take down Mr. Freeze and tells Gordon to be on alert for Two-Face who kidnapped a tiny french girl.

Only it gets worse.

Superman saw what was going on in Gotham and went to help out—his freind was dealing with a mass prison break of very dangerous criminals, why wouldnt he help?

And on hearing a tiny kid that freaked out in french was in danger? Well, what was he supposed to do Bruce? Ignore her?

He sent Conner after her while he helped out with a number of distrubed individuals, including a pyromaniac (firefly).

Conner manages to track down the pair on his own and almost loses it when he sees tiny Marinette kick Two-Face hard enough he falls down and the girl bolts a lot faster than a normal kid should. He comms in that the girl is a scared foriegn meta, and requests backup.

Kidflash is the one who answers, and takes care of Twoface while Conner tries to track down a terrifed tiny meta that screams in french.

Conner sees her running to a greenhouse and follows her in. Especially as the tiny girl jumped a lot higher than she should and it felt too familiar for comfort.

He manages to sneak in, followed by Kidflash, and they have an ‘oh shit’ moment when they see the scared girl run to a younger Poison Ivy with brown hair, crying. This teen holding a crying child is Rose.

Rose is visibly pissed. “Do you want me to kill him? J called dibs on his brother this time and Harley’s aiming for Tetch after last week.”

Tiny marinette shakes her head and delivers the best line for the young justice members, but worst for a baby Rogue.

“I dont want him to die, i just want him to stop hurting people.”

*remember, she is Jill in Gotham.

“Jilly bean, the world isnt nice. If it was, then batsy wouldnt have dropped me onto an ecoterrorist when i was a week old, and i would be allowed to leave the greenhouse. You wouldnt need to have nearly as many aliases as you do. You can try to make it nice in a lot of ways. I’m happy to handle extermination sicne thats the only thing i have shot at besides the rkc.”

Tiny marinette is frowning. “But then the world wins. I want to beat the world, not lose by being like it.”

Conner is (understandably) confused. Kidflash is processing that oh fuck. This is a meta raised by villians. And another meta raised by villians and goddamnit batman, why did you give a villian a baby? (He didnt. He gave ivy a ten year old. He thought she was her kid and she was raising her or something.)

Tiny Marinette is not happy with Rose’s conclusions.

“Can we call Ghoul and Frost? Maybe they can help with their dads?”

“And why not Puzzles?”

“He has asthma and he cant dodge.”

Rose considers for a moment before nodding. She grabs a plant and talks into it. “Ghoul, Frost, i need you at HQ. Someone has to reign in our dumbass parents. Bring the nuetralizers and tranqs.”

A voice came from another flower. “Should we have zsasz come with?”

“No! He’ll switch sides again!” Marinette yelled.

“Oh. Nets, what the hell are you doing at HQ?”

“Two-Face stole me. I ran.”

“Well, Fuck. Be there in five. Uh, how are your treatments holding?”

“She’s getting lighter. Might want to break out the rocks again.”

“Double fuck. Ill force Frost out of lab. Be there in a few—any crews to aviod or...”

“If they have a green arm band dont give them the fear toxin fixes, and Jerimah’s cult is back,” Marinette added.

“Fuck me up why dont you Gotham!” Ghoul cursed.

“Hey, she’s a kid!” Rose snapped

“Im older than you though!” Marientte chirped.

Conner had a lot to process with this information. Kidflash put together that they were applarently going to try to help the gothamites rather than the rogues, and decided they should leave and focus on helping the others.

Given that Marinette didnt catch the pair (she was still trying to focus on near things) she doesnt know that anyone but Batman and maybe Batgirl is fighting.

So she doesnt hide her abilities, flying at low levels to aviod Batman’s attention. But Kidflash and Batman see her and have a Moment of ‘which of us is telling Superman he might have another clone?’

Marinette, oblivious to this, is seen beside Jason Todd giving people Fear Toxin Antidote and Joker Gas Nuetralizer. Marinette is getting and distributing the antidotes. Jason Todd is making sure she doesnt die by wielding his baseball bat and riding his bike while she flies.

The day ends with most going back to Arkham and Marinette and Jason hiding from heroes for obvious reasons—including a teen and small child ignoring evacuation orders and avoiding GCPS.

Batman is aware of Marinette’s existence as “Jill” and “Nets” and that she helps a group of Rogue’s children that are content to undercut their parents crime. And now he knows Rose is either mcuh younger than he thought when he gave her (he thought brought her back home to) Poison Ivy. And is feeling guiltyTM

If you thought he was having a case of Serial Adopter Bruce Wayne, you are correct. He is now actively looking for these kids and where they are hiding since they moved post-breakout.

Zsasz is only slightly disappointed that Marinette didnt kill Two-Face. Jerome thinks its great and somehow convinces him to apoligize to her by offering to make up a number of contracts between rogues and the gotham underground in general to make things more organized so she and other rogue kids have a safe way of handling situations like that in the future.

Why dies JEROME of all people think this up and not Eddy or Riddler? The answer is he stole the idea from them, gave them no credit, and yes, is doing this as an attempt to score a few extra of marinette’s cookies. He has no shame in this, and riddler hates sweets so he isnt mad. Ed is too busy teaching Marinette Science to realize what happened until long after it did.

This puts Marinette and the RKC in a very odd position. Not only is The Batman trying to find them now, but they have to handle the Rogues trying to baby them. Ghoul and Frost are almost an adults, most people think Rose is almost an adult when irl she’s 5, and yes, Marinette is very much now Gotham Underground’s Princess as the Council is basically set up to ensure her safety.

Marinette knows none of this, as she is small child that just wants to cuddle her stuffed kitty Chaton and sleep on her Father (Strange) while he finishes up in his lab. She does this.

Mr. Freeze and Scarecrow got pictures. They use these to insert themselves in the Teach the Kids Science and Dangerous ThingsTM.

At one point marientte learns how to diassemble a bomb, reassemble one, and diffuse various bombs.

Riddler starts to use bombs more when she’s around to help her practice. Batman is confused as that is Not his usual M.O. Robin/ Dick gets called in and thigns get messy for the Batfam dynamics (he saw the research on the RKC and is pissed that He Was Right! Ivy Didnt Have Rose! and then saw plans for new batkids and reacted BadlyTM due to Teen AngstTM).

The summer ends with Batman having a bad fallout with Robin, Marinette thinking No One knows she’s kyptonian. When Conner suspects, Batman and Kidflash put two and two together, and no one has told Superman yet because um. Well.

They need the girl as proof and would rather not send Clark into another spiral about havig kids he wasnt aware of, ok? He just got decent with Conner. No need to rock the boat, right? (Wrong)

[mosylufanfic]

On a Wednesday, in a Cafe

<sidles in> ahem so.

I meant to have this done for Valentine’s Day. I really, really did. But then I didn’t. I don’t know what to tell you. But hey, it’s still February, I haven’t finished eating my giant heart-shaped box of chocolates, and I ship these two dum-dums the whole year round so I’m going to slap it up here anyway.

Title from “Begin Again” by Taylor Swift

On a Wednesday, in a Cafe

"Hi, welcome to Jitters," the barista said when she walked up to the counter. "Decaf chai latte from the app, right?"

"Right. Thanks." Caitlin forced a pleasant smile onto her tired face and reached out for her drink.

But instead of handing it over, the girl said, "Look who's here!"

Caitlin blinked at her. It had been a long day and she really just wanted to sit quietly in a corner  and unwind before going home and to bed.

But the barista waved a hand. "Look!" she said insistently.

Caitlin turned her head and saw a man sitting at her usual table. She started to be annoyed, but something throttled the emotion before it could fully form. She knew those shoulders. She knew the sheen of that dark hair, even if it was caught back in a ponytail at the nape of his neck. She knew that broad-palmed hand that lifted to tuck a stray lock behind his ear. She even knew that huge hockey bag down by his feet.

"That's your friend, right? You guys always used to be in here together."

"Right," Caitlin said faintly. She took her drink and walked over to the table. "Cisco?"

His head whipped around, and she knew that smile too, even if it was buried in a thick, dark beard. "Caitlin! Hey!"

He leapt up and hugged her. She hugged him back, the solid feel of his body against hers feeding some hunger inside her.

He let her go first, and she made herself release him. "I literally just texted you," he said. 

She pulled her phone out and saw his message glowing on the screen. Just got into the CC, it said. Can I crash with you for the night?

She looked up. "Of course you can. You don't even need to ask."

He grinned. "Thought maybe I should check. Just in case you had a, uh, a guest already."

She felt her cheeks heat. "No guests," she said. "Not for awhile." Nobody but you, she almost said, and felt herself blush hotter. 

He looked at her for a moment, and then said, "Well. Good."

She popped the lid off her drink and stirred it absently. "So," she said. "How long are you in town this time?"

He'd been gone for months, on the road checking out what had changed after Crisis. He would upload his findings to the Star Labs database and stop into Central City for a day or two when his path took him there. The last time, he'd stayed with Caitlin.

"I think," he said slowly, "that I'm back for good."

She looked up. "For good? Really?"

"Yeah, I've hit all the major cities with a meta presence. Think I got a handle on what's changed now. We'll probably still get the occasional shock here and there, but the project's done as far as I'm concerned. And - " He met her eyes. "It's time, you know? I took my break."

She put her hand over his. "You know there's a high chance you'll run into Kamilla. She still works with Iris."

"Yeah. I know."

"How are you doing?" she asked.

The night it had happened, he'd texted her. It's over. We broke up. I can't stay here. Can I crash on your couch?

She'd texted back of course immediately. 

He'd come over with a bottle of vodka and no information other than that long distance had been too hard on their relationship. He'd asked to watch Star Wars ("original trilogy, obvs"), and had only cried a little, when Princess Leia told Han Solo she loved him and he'd said he knew. 

He'd been gone by the time she'd woken up the next morning, her sofa bed folded up and the blankets and pillows stacked neatly on the cushions. 

They usually texted when he was on the road, and when he video-called, it was to the cortex because he'd learned something everyone needed to know. So it had been hard to gauge how he was handling the breakup, and when she asked, he just texted back that he was handling it okay.

He did look okay. Not nearly as wrecked as he had been after Cynthia. Of course, it had been two months.

He met her eyes. "I'm doing okay," he said. "I won't lie, being out of Central City really helped."

"Your stuff is all in storage," she said. "Kamilla packed it all up for you."

"I know. She sent me the address of the storage place. And the bill, which is fair." He toyed with his phone. "I did a lot of thinking. A little drinking. And, uh, for future reference, 'I'm in town for a week and I'm newly single' is apparently, like, Tinder catnip."

It hit her like a thump in the chest, and she pretended to take a sip of her latte to cover her baffling reaction. 

They'd talked about their sex lives before. Not in graphic detail or anything, but she'd always known when he was dating or had an FWB or having a dry spell, just like he had with her.

Of course he would have had a few hookups. She should have known he would. That was one of his breakup go-tos, along with drinking more than he should and watching the angstiest, most dramatic telenovelas so he would have an excuse to cry. 

"Hey," he said, and she looked up. "I know what you're thinking."

She felt her cheeks heat. "What's that?"

"Yes, I was safe, and yes, they were nice."

That hadn't been even close to what she'd been thinking, but she went with it. "Well, good. That's all I ask."

His smile faded. "How's, uh, how's she doing?"

"I haven't seen her much," she said tactfully. "It would be awkward, you know."

"Right."

"But Iris says she's doing okay."

Iris had also added that if she never heard that one Lizzo song again, it would be too soon, but Caitlin didn't share that.

She bunched up her napkin and made herself drop it, smoothing it on the table. “Are you going to let her know you’re home?”

“I should,” he said, scratching at the edge of his beard. “Just as a heads up. Maybe we’ll get coffee or something, just for closure. But that’s her call.”

She was quiet a moment more, but he didn't seem to be up for talking about it. She thought closure and realized again that they really had broken up. Somehow it had been hard to believe it.

"So, how are things around here? You mentioned Frost and Sue were getting into it a little.”

“Oh, adjustment pains,” she assured him. “You know how Frost doesn't like new people in the group, and Sue is kind of like a cat, in that if someone doesn't like her, she makes it her mission in life to annoy them. It’s much better now. They've worked it out."

"Yeah? Really? What happened?"

"I don't have all the details, but judging by the hangover the next morning, tequila shots were involved."

"Just tequila shots?"

"Sue pleaded the Fifth and so far there's not a warrant out for Frost, so I thought it best to leave it there."

He laughed. "So otherwise, how is the famous Sue?"

She started filling him in on all the ways that Sue was tying Ralph in knots, and how much he was enjoying it, while acting like he wasn't. As usual with them, they found more and more things to talk about, until their drinks were stone-cold and they were the only people in the cafe.

She looked across the table at him as he was telling some story about his time in Gotham, and thought I missed you. 

They'd had long stretches of separation before, like after Ronnie had died the second time or after Savitar. But this was the first time it hadn't been due to some trauma, and the first time they'd kept in touch. She'd started to live for the buzz of her phone, and more than once Barry had called her out for sneaking a look at her texts when they were trying to brainstorm about the enemy-of-the-week.

The night he'd broken up with Kamilla, she'd stared at the ceiling for close to an hour before she was able to make herself go to sleep, wondering why she had butterflies in her stomach, and why she kept thinking about him asleep in the next room, and why the door between them seemed so thin and the distance between the sofabed and her own bed seemed so short.

It would have been a bad idea, she knew that. Bad timing. But somehow she couldn't come up with any reasons not to do it besides that.

The barista started wiping down the tables near them, and she checked her phone. “Oh, they closed half an hour ago.”

“It’s fine!” the girl chirped in the tones of someone who’d been instructed by corporate not to ever kick someone out. “You stay as long as you like."

"No, we should go." Caitlin got up and tossed her cup into the trash. Cisco followed suit and hoisted his bag over his shoulder. She tried not to stare too openly at the flex of muscle in his arm as he did so.

The night was warm. He'd left in early February, hat crammed firmly on his head and mittens enveloping his hands as they said goodbye at the train station. She'd looked away from him kissing Kamilla and wrapped her arms around herself against the snowy morning, wishing as she always did that Frost could share some of her temperature imperviousness. 

Now, they strolled down the street, just the two of them, in the balmy evening. The steam-heat of summer lurked on the horizon. 

After nixing the idea of a taxi - "I've been traveling all day. Be good to stretch my legs. Unless you want one?" - Cisco was quiet. They'd turned down her street when he said, "So there's something I didn't tell you earlier about my Tinder dates."

"They weren't nice?"

"They were. But I made it sound like I had a bunch and actually I only had one."

She looked at the sidewalk, pretending she had to pick her way across perfectly flat and clear concrete. "You can have as many or as few Tinder dates as you want," she said. "It's really none of my business."

"They were nice," he persisted. "And I had fun. But I also felt kind of . . . empty afterwards. I'd gotten used to sleeping with someone that I loved, and just sex was like whipped cream without the hot chocolate. Still a good time," he added. "But not really satisfying, you know?"

She took that in, staring at the sidewalk. "Are - are you thinking of getting back together with Kamilla?"

He shook his head at once. "No. We were good together for awhile, but we had good reasons to break up."

"But you thought she was the one."

He was quiet for so long that she looked up, half-dreading his expression. But he just looked sad and pensive.

"You know, I think I wanted her to be the one," he said. "I wanted it so hard that I stuck with us way past our natural expiration date. And it wasn't good for either of us." He looked away, brushing his hair back. "But about a month into my trip, I started to realize that I missed - " He shot her a look. " - other people more than I missed her. And after that it was like things just started unraveling."

She felt her face heat and her heart thump, but he was talking again. 

"So, no, I'm not getting back together with her, and I'm pretty sure she'd feel the same if I asked her."

"So you're going to start looking again?" she asked.

He was quiet for a moment. "Being on the road, you know, it gave me a lot of time to think. Time to look at my life from the outside. Figure out what was making me happy and what wasn't. I worked some things out."

"Good," she said. "I think you needed that." It was why she'd made the suggestion in the first place, no matter how much she'd missed him.

"And I got to see a lot of people who'd had different lives before Crisis."

Her mouth fell open. "Did you vibe?"

He shook his head. "Mostly my powers are still gone. But every so often something did happen where I'd look at someone, and I'd see their other lives, and I'd see where the path - " He waved his hands. "Where they sort of branched. Where one version made one choice and another version made a different one.”

"Wow," she said, because she couldn't think of any other response.

"Like, it was all chance which version won out, you know? Sometimes they were living their best life and sometimes their worst one and - god, this was a mindfuck - sometimes they were living one that was just as good. It wasn't the same, but it was just as good."

"That's pretty wild."

"And you know, a lot of times it was down to the stupidest little things like whether they braked for a yellow or not. But sometimes it was something big, like deciding to marry someone or move or take a job."

She frowned at him. He was rambling, and she couldn't completely follow his train of thought. "Well, yes."

"I know, I know, life's like that sometimes. We all know that. But seeing it like that really made me think, you know, about all the big and little choices I've ever made in my life and how just changing one of them could have changed everything and, you know?"

"Y . . . es," she said slowly. She wasn't sure she did, but it seemed important to him.

"And then I started thinking how I've still got time. We've all got time, right? We've got all the time in the world until we're dead."

"That's a little morbid."

"I know! I know. But, like, we have all this time, right? But we just spend it doing all the things we always do, in this rut, complaining about our lives and not actually doing anything that might change them. And then we keep saying, what if, what if."

If she hadn't been with him for the past two hours, she would have suspected him of being a little drunk. Instead, she cocked her head. "Cisco, how long have you been awake today?”

"I slept on the train," he said. "But do you get what I'm saying?"

"I don't think I do." Her heart was thumping heavily in her chest, dark and slow with dread.

What if he wanted to leave Central City? Or even just Star Labs? He’d said he was home for good, but what if he’d just meant he was done with his tour? What if he wanted to take off all over the world? 

He rubbed his hand over his hair and muttered, "Okay, I - okay. Look. I'm saying I missed you."

Well. That wasn't what she'd expected.

She tucked her hands in her pockets. "I missed you, too."

"You did?” 

“Of course I did. You’re one of my best friends.”

“Friend,” he echoed. “Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Long time now.”

“What’s it been, eight years?”

“Something like that.”

“So of course I missed you.” She unlocked the front door of her building and held it open for him. “I’m glad you’re back.”

He put his hand on her arm, stopping them in front of the mailboxes. "Do you ever think about that? About how our lives would change if something was different?"

"Who doesn't?" She searched his face. "Cisco, what are you getting at, exactly?"

His mouth opened and closed for a moment, and then he let out a soft groan. Before Caitlin could do anything else, he'd taken her face in his hands and kissed her.

For some reason, the only thought in her head was that kissing a man with a beard was surprisingly nice. Or maybe it was kissing Cisco that was nice. More than nice.

Oh. 

Oh.

Cisco was kissing her.

He let go before she could get her jumbled thoughts in order and retreated a step or two. "Shit," he said. "Shit, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to just - like that - I - "

She grabbed his jacket and hauled, and he stumbled back towards her until she could kiss him back. He was much faster on the uptake than she was, and it was only a moment before his arms wrapped around her. 

Sometime later, his forehead rested against hers. "So," he said, eyes closed, "that's okay then."

"Very much okay," she said.

His hands skimmed up her sides and then down. "Every time my phone buzzed I grabbed it. Hoping it was you.”

“So did I,” she whispered.

He smiled at her, eyes bright. “I know the timing is weird and bad. But it’s always been weird, bad timing with us. That’s why I never did this before.”

She found herself smiling goofily. “You wanted to do this before?”

“More than once. A lot of times.”

“So we have some catching up to do.” She kissed him again. 

Someone cleared their throat, and Caitlin pulled away from Cisco to see one of her neighbors looking judgemental at her for making out with a strange man in the middle of the lobby. "I need to get my mail," she said.

“Sorry,” she lied to Mrs. Trainor, not sorry at all, and scooted a few steps down.

“Hey Mrs. T,” Cisco said. 

She squinted at him. “Cisco? Is that you?" She'd seen him reasonably often, and Cisco was the kind of person who could chat amiably to neighbors that Caitlin had never said two words to. 

“Yep. The beard threw you off, right? I’ve been traveling and it was easier than shaving every day.”

She looked a little mollified. “Well, welcome back.” She looked between them. “Nice to see the two of you finally got it together. Only maybe not in front of the mailboxes.”

Cisco snickered, and Caitlin elbowed him. “Sorry about that. We’ll get out of your way. Have a good night.” She grabbed Cisco's hand and tugged him toward the elevators.

He gave her a delighted look. “I think your neighbor’s been shipping us!” he whispered. 

Caitlin hit the button. “And to think all this time I thought she just had the hots for you, asking about you so much.”

He snickered again. “No reason it can’t be both.” He turned serious. “So, I’m still staying?”

She blinked at him. “I said you could.”

“Yeah, but that was before,” he said. “I don’t want you to feel pressured or anything. I can crash at Barry and Iris's place. Or get a hotel.”

She took that in and smiled. He knew as well as she did that inviting a man you’d just kissed into your home was a different thing than letting your friend stay for the night. “It’s fine,” she said as the elevator doors slid open. “I don’t feel pressured at all.”

He took her hand, smiling back. “Good. We can talk this out. Figure out how this is going to work. And then kiss some more.”

“That sounds like a good plan,” she said, hitting the button for her floor and sending him a coy look. “And if we both feel like it, maybe we can have some hot chocolate.”

FINIS

[tk-observer]

Scandinavia + Netherlands

It’s been two years since I wrote in here! Gasp!! There’s been one more trip to Japan in that time with Joanna too!

Anyway, before I get too caught up in that—this year’s trip!

Copenhagen!

WAS A BEAUTIFUL BIKING UTOPIA. I loved biking there so much! Even though it was cold and around like 6–10°C the entire time, the city was so flat and the bike lines so well thought out. We never got close to hitting anyone or in the way of anything. Even when we were confused, the bike lanes were made such that you couldn’t cross traffic and get in the way if you stayed in the lines.

We ate so many pastries. I also ate the world’s most beautiful chocolate croissant at Andersen & Maillard. Ugh, it was so beautiful. That cafe was so beautiful.

Lydia and I stayed in Nørrebro, the cutest little neighborhood. We also got to enjoy someone’s tiny apartment, which they shared with a kid?? We don’t know. We had two theories going:

1. They have a baby that comes to visit often, or 2. They’re moving out of the apartment.

Because the apartment was smaller than my studio, and they had maybe 1/3 of the things that I own. Just wow. Really makes you re-evaluate the amount of stuff you have…

Anyway, we biked around, visited Assisten’s Cemetery, which apparently is a place people go to hang out in during the summer. Half of it is public, with grave sites from like the 1800s or something like that, the other half is an active graveyard, where there are memorial services. We visited Hans Christian Anderson’s grave and Niels Bohr’s grave. Niels Bohr!!

Went to Nyhavn, visited the beauuuuuuuuuuutiful public library, went to the royal Danish museum which had a cool exhibit on what “modern” life is like in Denmark now with submissions that were voted on by the museum’s FB group. Also a surprise Pika Pika booth. Visited Christiania in the dark, the time when people are there to actually buy drugs instead of be tourists, Lydia biked with a flat for like four miles (two different bikes!). Food hall was amazing, went to a Zara home I think (dat Scandinavian design tho). Also walking around the Halloween themed Tivoli Gardens at night!! They had all these cute kiosks where people were selling their wares and glögg.

Also randomly while walking around Kastellet after visiting the Little Mermaid statue, we stumbled on a drum core practicing. Copenhagen is really beautiful, especially with all the fall leaves changing colors.

I think my favorite part has to be coming home and watching Pitbulls and Parolees on our AirBnB’s TV. That and Say Yes to the Dress which I surprisingly love to watch. 

Amsterdam!

Was warmer! But there was a mix up at our Hotel Not Hotel which was a little annoying, but still kinda cool. It’s a very gimicky kind of hotel. Our room door was a bookcase. One thing I like nightmare dreamed about was a fire and then for the rest of the time I was worried that firemen wouldn’t be able to find our room if they needed to… Well, there was no fire.

The canals did make it difficult to navigate since the city was shaped in concentric rings. Also, when you were around the neighborhood that was known for selling weed, you would just smell it everywhere. I don’t smoke bc I am small and I don’t like the way it makes me feel, and I really don’t like the smell. @___@

We had dutch pancakes, ate a lot of pasta, discovered Yogurt Barn which was SO GOOD. Biked some more, but in Amsterdam it’s a bit more chaotic. The bike lanes are clearly marked, but that’s kind of it. They cross each other a lot more, so it’s easier to get startled. Also on the smaller streets along the canals, it’s not clear who has right of way, so a few times there was a car coming from my left or right where I did not know if they were going to stop or if I should stop or what.

Visited the cat boat!! Walked through the Bloemmarket, also went to this BEAUTIFUL, fancy restaurant called De Kas. It’s a greenhouse in the middle of a big park, so it’s just magical because you can see all the park around you outside. Also the food was so good. It’s a set course, but my favorite was the salad. They served it with a raw egg yolk, and I don’t know where that egg came from, but it is the best egg yolk I have ever had.

Museum of the canals was super cool! A great little museum executed really well, had tons of cute stop-motion animations to illustrate how the city was built (they put logs in the ground! Just tons of logs that they imported from Scandinavia), and this dollhouse which was my favorite. One of the rooms of the dollhouse you could look into was the room where the dollhouse was. So meta.

Anne Frank house, jeez man. I don’t think I’ve read the book, so I bought it, and I’m going slowly through it.

Moco museum, a modern gallery kinda deal. Lots of Bansky which eh, I’m never really into since I can’t shake the feeling that he’s kind of arrogant, but the Icy and Sot exhibit was so good. I bought their book even though it only goes up to 2016 and doesn’t have their environmental pieces, which I think are amazing. 

Tea at the smallest house in Amsterdam! IT’S SO FUCKING CUTE. Also our host was a surprise historian! He taught us about the history of the house and was a great local host. He told us about how his family was like the fourth/fifth? people to own the home since it was built. Also a proper tea house since it seems that Scandinavia and Netherlands is really into coffee over tea.

Stockholm!

I think this is the point where we were kinda tired from going out all the time. Stockholm again was way colder and even the city bikes were taken in for the season. We took a lot of busses which were expensive (~$5 for a one-way ticket for 75 mins), but the central bus station. THE CENTRAL BUS STATION. Was so gorgeous. It looked kinda like ancient greek pottery.

Stockholm is gooooorgeous. It’s the in-between of the two cities to me. I think Amsterdam was old smashed with new, Copenhagen was mostly old, but Stockholm was like modern old. It didn’t have as many narrow buildings, and way more cobblestones streets and hills. I think biking there regularly would be more difficult. But also, Stockholm is a archipelago city, spread out over small islands. The water’s never far.

Fika everywhere! Unguarded coffee!

We ate Swedish meatballs, walked around the super cute neighborhoods Södermalm and Ostermalm (I think), visited the ABBA museum which was really fun, and the Vasa Museum, which has a 17th century ship preserved from the sea. Like they literally dragged the whole thing out of the ocean and restored it. It’s crazy.

It was also at this time that I discovered that season 2 of Castlevania came out so I ended up watching it with Lydia since she was interested despite all the gore and violence. Season 2 had much more plot going on, way more people, but the animation was kinda stilted. Since it had 8 episodes, it felt like they saved up all the budget for the fight scenes, which were still really good, but I like my dialogue scenes with more than just shots of people eyes. Also, plot was a bit more messy (poor Godbran!). Still, fun to watch! It was interesting to see more of Dracula’s perspective in this one since he was missing the entire first season. I’m really glad they didn’t skimp out on the background artists though. They were A+.

Went to IKEA on the free IKEA bus from central station, which was soooo much fun ahahha. Ate at the nice restaurant (more meatballs!) there and then just walked around. I don’t think we even bought anything, just had fun sitting on things and looking at all the cute children’s furniture and toys. It was so big. So, so big.

And then home!!

I’m so jetlagged rn. It’s like 2000 but it feels like 0200. Waiting on my last laundry load, and then I’m going to SLEEP

[squidproquoclarice]

hopefully tumblr mobile doesn’t eff this up: They watched from a cafe across the street when Maria Tompkins got almost mugged, and the tall man with dirty blond hair chased down the man for her, then came back to check on her. “Job done, I see,” Flynn said, not really watching to see the conversation take place between Maria and Asher. “Let’s go home.” “You don’t want to--” He shook his head. “She already saw me in Houston in ‘69. We talked, and I saved Gabriel. She would remember my face.

Tumblr did not, in fact, eff it up!

Ilijia “Asher” Flynn was raised by a widowed mother as his father died in WWII.  Ex-Yugoslav military at this point and a police officer in Split, Croatia, on holiday in Zagreb that day.  Maria almost got mugged, Asher decided to play the gallant, and something about this very out-of-place American woman kind of struck a chord, so he asked her to dinner.I actually deliberately wrote this as sort of rushed and “just the facts” since it easily could have been several thousand words in its own right.  It’s Lucy’s POV but she’s sensing that Flynn’s really just wanting this one to be just business and be as emotionally uninvolved as possible. More or less “OK, saved my parents, they met, I exist, yay.  We done here?”

I wrote a whole meta about the fact too much makes sense if Asher and Maria’s marriage was an unhappy one, and in some other fics I have Flynn explain more: Maria could never quite move on, and Asher was a widower himself.  For a little while, it was two lonely people being there for each other before they figured out neither of them had much in common and couldn’t ever quite bridge the gap, and the loneliness and loss became the thing that broke them rather than a shared pain.  Asher turned alcoholic and then abusive, Maria buried herself in her work and raising Garcia.  She loved him as much a she could, and he clearly adored his mother but she never quite got over depression over losing Gabriel.  So he grew up aware that he was a fresh start who became the (seemingly) inferior replacement, and between both his parents, that’s left him with some of this mentality that he has to always try so damn hard to be someone good and brave, to earn love through actions, because he’s not enough in his own right.  Which, yeah, he can relate to that same sentiment in Lucy.  As for Asher, much like many abusive parents, there was the confusing cycle of abuse and then overwhelming love, especially in revenge against Maria of well you can’t love him like he deserves, so I’ll show you he’s my boy.  A lot of this Flynn has dealt with.  He’s consciously broken the cycle.  He chose to be a loving husband to Lorena, and a gentle and kind father to Iris.  He doesn’t hate his father per se, but he never wants to be the worst parts of him.  But there are still some pieces of it left, and yeah, the things he did in season 1 has him feeling uncomfortable with that sense of legacy.As to Flynn specifically mentioning not wanting to talk to Maria, he’s telling/reminding Lucy of the situation since it was Wyatt on-scene for that, not her.  A lot of it’s trying to keep that emotional distance from the question of whether it’s a good thing to let two people make a marital mistake simply so he exists.  But he’s also not wrong.  Maria’s going to clearly remember her very strange day in 1969 where a man with a faint Slavic accent apparently followed her around, saved her son’s life by having just the right medication, and then said very weird and seemingly nonsensical things about remembering her and needing to help save her son.  Flynn is a rather physically striking man, so she’ll remember him. If that same man showed up in Zagreb in 1973 and approached her again, Maria’s going to have a massive WTF.Now–Maria’s a very smart cookie.  She’s figured that was all too coincidental for this guy to be a random mental patient, but she can’t explain it.  (I think subconsciously she noticed some similar looks/coloring between her and Really Strange Slavic Guy but she isn’t ready to think about that.  Yet.  She may look at a gangly teen Garcia who’s suddenly hit 6′+ and is so passionate to help save people, and have Some Thoughts.)But yeah, I have some Feelings about the possibility of Flynn getting to a place of not walling himself off from all of that, and talking to either Maria or Asher in the future.  Who knows–it won’t change his own memories, but maybe he’ll have changed the future enough so that Maria and Asher Flynn were actually two people who genuinely fell in love and became each other’s support, and where Asher was a great stepdad to Gabriel and a great dad to Garcia.    

[rogue-snorunt]

Why I made a ko-fi

I got an anon who said that if I'm going to ask the public for money, than I need to explain why and it better be good. Which. Subtlety kind of rude but I get it. I'd want to know the story too and while I did give the explanation already in my first post about it, because I broke my own link with my incredible stupidity, I took it down.

reposted the link to my Kofi that hopefully works now but did leave out the explanation because I feel bad involving others in my problems and I don't want people to hear em and feel guilted into anything.

So here it is: the full obnoxiously long saga of the series of unfortunate events that had led me to making the Kofi from start to finish describing my 2017-2018 life presently.

It all started back in January of last year..

The cafe in which I work.. Worked? Work.. closes every January for cleaning for anywhere between 2wks and a month and in the time they encourage us to apply early and collect unemployment. This would be my first and last ever time doing this.

Why close? Mainly because my bakery is an old fashion French bakery where our lawyer city boy rich owner went to France and liked some countrymans brick oven so much he dropped I think it was a million or so to not only buy the oven, but to actually bring said oven to America brick by fucking brick.

And to clean this wood fed oven the size of a living room, you need AT LEAST 2-3 wks to let it cool down enough for some poor scrawny guy to climb in through the tiny wood stuffing hole and excerise all that soot. Plus deep cleaning a detached two story bakery; the kitchen and cafe itself..

Anyway back to the plot:

So on Jan 1st,2017 I applied and by Jan 14th2017, the place temp closed for cleaning.

I had saved 900$ for this because I'd be okay for the month.. $200/month for rent; $50 for phone, $35 for gas, $130 for groceries for me (who has strict diet of lactose and gluten free diet because I WILL die if I eat gluten because my organs swell; attack themselves and try and shut down. Rip™ my diet gets fucking hella expensive. Bread alone is &4-$5 bucks) $300 monthly student loan etc..

Well: not a week in our gas heater said fuck you. So to help repair, there went -$400 bucks. A WEEK IN. Than my grandmas car died, -$250 a week later. Fuck me gently.

Than the fateful blizzard night of Jan 31st 2017 that would be the catalyst of unfortunate bullshit leading today.. at 4:35 on my friend was bringing me home after a fun weekend, as I do not have a car, and he wanted to make sure I got home safe before the super storm hit. The cafe was reopening Feb 10th.

I was later informed that at around 4:56, my friend hit black ice and we °360 hard into a tree. I only remember seeing it about to happen and worrying about my glasses about to break, then nothing. Then looking at my blurry hand and even with my one good but still kind of blind eye, I saw that it was black; blue and I couldn't move it. Then I guess I said "well shit" and went to sleep.

I had broken not only my glasses trying to protect them, the fucking irony.. but my metacarpals; my nose, inhaled the chemical death from the airbag and recieved mild chemic Burns to face and throat. My smol rib cage was punched by the airbag so hard it got bullied out of place and was now compressing my lungs and a severe concussion.

My friend luckily being a 6' ft some man was set far away from air bag and being the impact was more my side, had only bad bruising to the limbs but okay. His truck now an accordion.

The doctor only looked at my hand and ignored my concussion, as I had an in the ambulance and was apparently making stupid nonsense jokes. So they assumed I was fine I guess.

I had to call in to my job and sadly tell them the news I would not be able to work for maybe a few months.

A month later while home and coming down the stairs, I suddenly could not breathe and got light-headed. Not good when you on stairs. I ended up refuckin up my metas and now add broken tail bone to the list.

My return to work just went from hopeful 3-4 months to 6. I was not financially equipped for this

But wait rogue! The unemployment!

Ah yes. The fucking thing that would fuck me harder then the airbag and stairs combined.. You see:

I had asked everyone I knew that had ever collected unemployment before what to do and even the girl who did the disability thing: for I was unable to work; disability would not kick in until at least a month. I got bills men, life don't stop cause bad shit you know?

Everyone told me, collect unemployment until Disability kicked in. Then stop. Okay.. these 6 people would know best right? Dingdong: unfortunate event #3 so far:

By the time disability kicked in I had collected $700 caps. Nice! Right? Well my honest naive ass thought how you cancelled unemployment was to tell em to cease and why. So I did.I explained what happened. This proved to be the biggest mistake of my pathetic life and installed the lesson of "don't be honest with big brother." They said "oh no you got injured? Well guess what fucko. You now have to pay back the $700, or else and guess what, we adding an bonus fuck you of $200 ."

Hahahahahaha-what?

I'm not able to work; disability only gave$100 some and I got friends and family I am in debt to for helping during these shenanigans.

Then unfortunate events #4-#9 took place. my aunt died.

I had to be hospitalized for pancreatitis; kidney stones and infections a few times, sometimes for all em at once.

Then my dog prostate cancer became apparent and despite the medicine and surgery every thing that could hell, he had to leave us for the rainbow bridge.

Than my grandma's car died again.

Then my stepmother died.

Grandma had to get surgery for her knees and began to complain of occasional blindness and migraines.

Went back to work early because you guys do what you gotta do man, only it's 7 months later and in a couple more, the fucking Cafe is going to close again.

By the time it did, I had been using every paycheck to catch up on bills; pay back the my friends and family lent, paying the late bills from my dog and car repairs, back owed payment and feedback to the student loan. and just as I had started seeing the light at the tunnel.. we closed and I wasn't prepared.

Unemployment have nothing but the middle finger.

It'll be fine.. I can handle a month. It'll suck but-

ITS NOW MAY AND THEY AIN'T OPEN.

During the time I was laid off this year I spent my time as follows:

Joined Tumblr and began to meme to counter that bi-polar depression and made some friends, looking at you @m-is-for-mungo 😘💞💞

A man grabbed my hand that didn't heal right and squeezed it so hard he fucked the bone. Had to go back to p.t. Hand once again fucking useless and I had posted about this way back, if you dig in my archive, you'll find the posts.

Applied for a state job at our prison with my friend whose already there, as kitchen worker

Got the surgery that I could no longer put off as it was too fix the anatomical problem contributing factor to my organs rioting like they do, but thankfully since it was considered life threatening, my insurance covered it.

Finally deal with death of my dog; and my family. Then my dad having a stroke and other family stuff.

Got that pesky rogue ribcage displacement taken care of

Fell down the fucking stairs again.

Adopted a special needs cat.

Became once again a financial burden and the moment I could, filled the still laid off time by trying to help my friend at their restaurant as much as possible.

Got the "we want you asap BUT thanks to state Bullshit like budget stuff.. We have to wait for the actual state to say yes" call from the prison call.

My uncle was discovered to cancer but by the time it was found, he had a week left. Then he died.

Got my shit broken by the scorned ex of our roommate

And then got the fucking letter from unemployment mildly threatening me to pay up.

But you said you didn't have a car in January 31st but then you do now??

After the car event, my friend told me to seek comp because I did get fucked up and being a baker who broke their hands, shit ain't good.. I did not want to because it was my friend, it wasn't their fault and if I had had my own car or just during go there in the first place this wouldn't have happened. Reluctantly after much badgering, I did.I did not get anything however until a year and half half later. and yeah, I’ll tell you how much seeing how Im being brutally honest: $10,000.

I immediately bought a $4000 car so I would never again be a burden and every single car I’ve ever owned have been $100+ garbage death traps I got from shady people and for once in my fucking life I wanted a car that wouldnt break down or try to kill me a week later; helped my grandma buy a car that wouldn't fail her, bought her a new fridge because hers died and paid some of her bills she got behind on. My friend had fallen behind on their bills as well and I owe everything I am and still being alive to these people.

You bet my stupid ass, I used almost every dime to help them. And id fucking do it again because: homies help homies.. And when your Nana whose been both mom; dad and nana to you and is the reason you weren't place in foster care needs you.. You fucking help her no matter what.I did have enough to pay the student loan for last month and this month. I got a new track phone because mine broke, bought a pair of shoes because I've only ever had my loafers and the soles fell off finally and I brought groceries. I have enough to pay rent and I am now tapped out.

My only debt is this $900 fuck you from the government and my $15000k student loan.

And now y'all caught up on the fucking disaster that is my life.

I'm sorry for this sobstory of me crying about my problems but i.. I really do not like asking for help.i hate asking for help. I hate that I have to ask for money because I've been in desperate shitty situations my whole damn life and managed to somehow scrape by but for the first time, I'm in a situation that I can't fix alone. And I fucking hate it and that I have to admit it. but I need help .

This is why I made the Kofi

A kofi that is absolutely only for and will only be used, to pay that $900. I promise you that even if I become homeless, I am going to pay that goddamn bill before anything else. Because I helped everyone with their debt and they are all good now, we all squared and now it's my turn to be okay glib-dimit

[alorconsulting]

Do you ever have that magical dream, the one where you’re flying? A normal dream full of random people, surroundings, conversations, everyone walking along together, then, a feeling of defiance, “I can do this” and you take off running. With one flap of your arms (yes silly as that seems) and a mighty leap, running turns to flight and you take off.

In mine, I can sense it, feel myself fighting, trying hard to stay aloft. For a minute, it seems as if I’m caught in an extra long leap, that the inevitable gravity will pull me down, yet it doesn’t. Even in my dreams, flying is something I fight for, work hard for and I feel that fight, every, single, second, even when soaring high above the ground smiling triumphant in my flight.

After over 20 years in the work force, I realized those dreams had stopped happening.

I wonder sometimes if that was just me, just me that lost the magic of flight in my dreams somewhere in my mid 20’s? The sad part is, I didn’t realize these dreams had stopped until just last week, when one returned. I woke delighted and surprised, wondering “where did that come from?”

As one does these days, I did a little online research and found that dreams of flight can be interpreted many, many ways. You’re in control or you’ve lost control. You’re overcoming or your struggling with obstacles.

So here’s what I’ve decided, I’m interpreting the return to flight in my dreams as a positive thing. I welcome the flight and if it’s a sign of challenge, I welcome that too.

Perhaps not incidentally, I’ve been writing about how my Husband and I pulled up roots from New York City after a decade. We wanted nature in our lives, to travel, we wanted to work for ourselves. Saving $5,000 a month in fixed expenses, mostly rent, certainly has been freeing, I’ll say that for sure. So has been getting rid of nearly everything we owned with the exception of 20 boxes, 2 chairs, 2 desks and our clothes.

There is literally nothing holding us back, down or in place. It’s scary, it’s exhilarating and it’s really, really not the norm with the average American household carrying credit card debt in excess of $15,000. 

At 39 and 40 years old, we own no car, no home, no signifiers of wealth. We do own Art, but it’s made and sold by my Husband at PaoloFerrarisColors. As a couple we are also odd, not simply because we chose not to acquire, but because we are 100% debt free. We owe not a penny, to anyone. No lease, no mortgage, no credit card debt of any kind.

This is a mistake I made early in my 20’s, thinking that Mulberry purse was important enough to charge it. I’ve changed my ways and a few years back, started doing more than maxing out my 401K, I started saving to have cash on hand. I started saving to take a flying leap from the corporate world.

Bello is a born saver. As a Northern Italian, debt is considered embarrassing. So he never accumulated it or anything beyond a wardrobe and the equipment he needed for his passion for photography. We’re well matched.

I’m really hoping the clothing I invested in during my spending years in New York serve me well for years to come. I’m selling what no longer fits my lifestyle. We’ve saved, we’ve held back on things we would like to own but did not need. I cook all of our meals, we make our own coffee, we give each other gifts of travel and experience.

What would happen if we prioritized our dreams and forget about the American dream? I’ve been asking myself and acting on that question this year.

Right now, I’m testing my own personal theory:

The things you own, own you. 

When things own you, they hold you back. You have to fret, care, pay for them and a place to put them. You have to keep that job that gives you chest pains just to pay for the stuff you thought you needed. You wake to numbers and add, subtract and count on paychecks to come.

As adults, the rules of life, bills, debts, mistakes and the lessons we’ve learned force us to be more grounded, more responsible. Is the parallel of that less dreaming I wonder?

Standing on the edge in Northern California

Bello and I are on uncharted ground and we’re not sure yet how things will turn out. The stresses are there at times but they are by in large self imposed. We’re pressuring ourselves to figure out, if we give ourselves time instead of things with our money, what can we do with our lives.

Could we make a go of our passions? Could we build something of our own? We’re trying hard, we’ll see. 

It all comes at a cost. We don’t fit in with many other couples, we don’t try and can’t keep up with the Jones. My creative mind, struggles with the discipline needed to stay the course, create a schedule for myself and stick to it. We’re in each others faces 24×7. Thankfully, I still wake grateful each day to see his.

Bello and I agreed our savings for retirement are off limit. What will happen is ours to determine. It’s a matter of time right now, we have a year to make things work, or face returning to corporate, working for others.

Did I mention it’s scary?

Did I mention it’s freeing?

It used to be, we were only truly happy when we were traveling. I apparently have a relaxed “travel pose.” One I was unaware of, that Bello has been photographing along the way. Hands on my head, I’ve relaxed around the world with him.

With hard work and a little luck, perhaps he’ll capture a photo of me with my laptop relaxing while I work on my project sometime soon.

Fingers crossed my theory that owning nothing while we’re finding our path is the right way to go, otherwise… I’m going to be eating some humble pie out of my hand since I donated all of our dishes.

Shoreline in Northern Califorinia

Cafe Del Mar Cartagena Colombia

Devil’s Golf Course Death Valley California

Waterside Repose

Honeymoon Island State Park Florida

Breathing in Oceanside Beach Oregon

More About Our Debt Free Ways

Off-Season aka Cheap Travel for Introverts

Let low season and flexible travel plans be your budget’s saving grace. Read More. 

Josiah’s Bay on Tortola to Ourselves

Pop Your Cork in Private 

5 Cheap travel tips including ways to save on meals on the go. Read More

Rooftop Apéritif in Cartagena Colombia

Power In Living Debt Free Do you ever have that magical dream, the one where you're flying? A normal dream full of random people, surroundings, conversations, everyone walking along together, then, a feeling of defiance, "I can do this" and you take off running.

[yukifeari]

Hot YouTube Stars: Why Should YouTube Be Your Main Focus? - A Killer YouTube Strategy

Why not something other than what's expected like Meta Cafe or Viddler or other video sharing destinations? Why YouTube explicitly? We should see that now.

 The First Thing Is That YouTube Is Owned By Google

 As I've said beforehand. This causes them to surprise suggestions for YouTube and for its future. As you may know, YouTube started as an association that was not asserted by Google. Believe it or not, it was only for the most part starting late that Google got them.

 If you look at Google and what they're on about, they're in the worthwhile game. They're enthused about benefiting Hot YouTube Stars on the web. Having an association like Google behind you can simply spell helpful things to the extent achievement to the extent benefitting.

 That is something different. Google has significant pockets with money. They can finance an association like YouTube for a serious long opportunity to arrive if they have to. They've decided to back YouTube considering the way that they've seen the potential that YouTube has. That is a genuinely clear sign that YouTube is a development you should keep an eye out for.

 I accept they're the second most-visited website on the Internet right now. I think Google is #1. I should twofold check those subtleties there, anyway YouTube is colossal.

 Google in like manner needs you to be viable. On the off chance that you're compelling, it will make them Breaking News Today more money as well and make them progressively productive. So basically the way that they're behind YouTube suggests that they're attempting to make YouTube as straightforward for you as possible to be productive.

 If you look at the movements that YouTube has encountered since Google gotten them, you can see thrilling differences. You can see it in the AdSense program that has been introduced in the YouTube accounts. You can discover in the different structures and configurations that they've been advancing toward. You can see how YouTube accounts are situating much better inside the Google web crawlers. Having Google on their side is basically gigantic.

 YouTube Videos Rank In Google Search Results

 So you have that on your side. On the off chance that you're simply submitting to YouTube, your chances of getting situated in Google are so much higher diverged from the different video sharing goals.

 It's An Incredible Traffic Source

 This is somewhat of a humble portrayal of reality, anyway in case you look at YouTube, they similarly starting late landed at one billion points of view for consistently. I'm for no situation sure in case we can picture that number, anyway imagine one billion coins, you'd apparently have the alternative to finish off a whole field stacked with coins. One billion points of view every day is colossal, and this is essentially from one site.

 In 2008 an assessment was done that exhibited that there were 71 million stand-out customers in consistently. That number has apparently been superseded now, anyway this is the latest information we have on that particular estimation. It's a colossal notwithstanding. On the off chance that you're not using this as a traffic age source, you're leaving behind an extraordinary chance.

 I think with the model that I used, FreeMagicLive, we've quite recently reached the surface. We've amazingly as of late begun to uncover what's underneath and we're presently sitting on 15,000 people on our email list.

 It Is A Search Engine On Its Own

 Have you anytime gone to YouTube and started searching for something, as in the request box straightforwardly here? A regularly expanding number of people presently are using YouTube as their guideline web search apparatus appeared differently in relation to Google. Is this perhaps an example that will continue later on and as opposed to people just doing chases on Google, essentially go to YouTube to do look? Perhaps YouTube will transform into the #1 site where people need to filter for information.

 Think about this. What are the recommendations? In case YouTube is possibly going to transform into the #1 web crawler on the planet, what are the proposals for your online business? Besides, OK should be in the ideal spot at the right time with YouTube? I certainly think so.

 YouTube Is Not Just For Teenagers Anymore

 This is a request that I've had from numerous people. They state, "Sure, you had the choice to get achievement on YouTube, yet your market is only for youngsters." Now that may have been the circumstance when YouTube was basically starting, however at this point things have changed. Economics for YouTube are changing and they are changing at a gigantic rate. It's not just for youngsters any more, so in the event that you're exhibiting to other age social affairs, this is elevating news.

 Youngsters are so far the most raised number, yet as you'll discover in a part of these bits of knowledge, YouTube is staggering for other age bundles as well. Look at this: 85% of the United States people has seen YouTube chronicles. That is gigantic. 85% of the whole United States has seen a YouTube video. This is unfathomable!

 In any case, by and by, look at this. 71% of folks between 45-54 have seen a YouTube video. How cool is that? In addition, this is the other thing, look at all these other age bundles combined. These are people who ordinarily have money. These are people who have livelihoods and can stand to pay for something on the web. In case you incorporate all of these people, that is verifiably something past the youths.

 Likewise, you'll see an equivalent example here for the females. Look at these paces of people who've seen YouTube accounts in their lifetime. It's not just youngsters. This is something to recollect when you consider using YouTube as a potential traffic hotspot for your site.

 YouTube Demographics Are Changing

 It's not just for the youngsters any more. As those youngsters grow up, they become progressively prepared, they start landing positions, and they start moving into an other measurement themselves.

 What we're seeing here is an ordinary new development assignment cycle. You may have seen what's known as the S-twist. It looks something like this, and this is an ordinary curve for new development that gets brought into another market. For YouTube it's the equivalent. They encountered a gigantic improvement arrange here. I think they bit by bit started in 2005 and a while later had this exponential improvement. We're sitting at 2010 right now, so this is the spot we are as of now.

 That suggests that in any case you have a window of two years to begin acting dependably and to start doing stuff on YouTube, in light of the fact that this bit of the market here, none of these people are on YouTube yet. If this S-twist is legitimate, that infers there will be numerous people up 'til now joining YouTube, and you should be in the right position once they're all on the web and watching chronicles. You have to have your accounts starting at now up there by 2012.

 It's significant that you start getting something on the web as fast as time grants, on YouTube explicitly. This is the spot things are at. This is maintained up by look at done by the YouTube 2009 Report. It's a free research organization that did the assessment for that.

 We should continue forward. Think about the repercussions of these bits of knowledge. Consider these economics and what that suggests for you as a business on the web. In what manner may you position yourself with the objective that you can be in the best position when this standard, people in the US and the UK, hit YouTube and bounce on YouTube and start imparting on YouTube constantly?

 What Are The Implications For Your Business Now?

 What do you need to do currently to start getting ready for that? Think about that. I don't make it mean for you as of now, and I don't make it mean for you later on? There are starting at now things you could do now that could help you with getting set up later on for YouTube.

 You have an early mover advantage. 2012 is a top for the standard in the US and the UK. I haven't looked for places like China or India, and their peoples are monster. That is the explanation I accept we're incredibly precisely close to the start of the curve still. If you have to join the whole experiences for the whole world, there will be some amazingly stimulating things happening for YouTube. That is my desire.

 The "YouTube Beach Head Strategy"

 What is such an abundance of inciting? I'm an incredibly strong lover to focus. I got this system. I'm thinking about it the YouTube Beachhead Strategy. The inspiration driving why I'm doing this is in light of the fact that I really acknowledge that you need to focus all your thought on a specific something if you should be compelling. Focus on that, hit the nail on the head, and a short time later once you have it added to your collection, continue ahead to the accompanying thing.

 So what is this? In direct terms, the Beachhead Strategy is to find a significant ball and accept the way things are. That is in reality all it suggests. It's connected to finding a significant player in the market, someone like YouTube for this circumstance, and essentially take the easiest course of action with them. Submit and use them as your impact. It's about focused impact, and place for this circumstance is focusing on YouTube.

 Where did I get this idea from? I got it from an individual called Geoffrey Moore, a shocking driving force. He created a book called Crossing The Chasm for the front line industry. What he talked about was for any new development, you have this thing allocation cycle where it starts with the early trailblazers, early adopters, early larger part, late predominant part, and slumps.

[nightingveilxo]

The Blue Carbuncle, TAB, John’s Blog, and Granada: The Musgrave Ritual

[Originally part of Justifying Holmes/Watson or Johnlock as a Player in the Drama (Part I)]

NEW OPENING (VICTORIAN) TITLES (with a Victorian twist to the theme tune). Close-up on an issue of The Strand Magazine.  Nearby, a news vendor is calling out to the passing pedestrians.  He is holding newspapers and another copy of The Strand with a small red sleeve around it on which are the words “SHERLOCK HOLMES” and an in-profile white silhouette of the detective.  Offscreen, carollers can be heard singing “Hark!  The Herald Angels Sing.” NEWS VENDOR: Papers!  Papers! (A hansom cab approaches along the street.) NEWS VENDOR: Papers!  Papers! (The cab slows down as Watson leans out of the window a little and gestures to attract the attention of the vendor.) WATSON: Here. (The cab stops.) WATSON: How’s ‘The Blue Carbuncle’ doing? NEWS VENDOR: Very popular, Doctor Watson. Is there gonna be a proper murder next time? WATSON: I’ll have a word with the criminal classes. NEWS VENDOR: If you wouldn’t mind. (He points towards the figure sitting next to Watson.) NEWS VENDOR: Is that ’im?  Is ’e in there? (Holmes, mostly obscured from the vendor’s view, apparently kicks Watson, who grunts.) WATSON: No.  No, no, not at all.  (He tips a finger to his hat.)  Ah, good day to you. CABBIE (to his horse, shaking the reins at it): Walk on. (The cab sets off again.  The news vendor calls after it.) NEWS VENDOR: Merry Christmas, Mr Holmes!

The Blue Carbuncle. This is interesting, because that case isn’t on 21st century John’s blog. According to John, it wasn’t a case interesting enough for Sherlock to take on, and they go through a series of comments about Bond films and cat videos. [Side Note: In Granada, The Aluminium Crutch and the “Singular Affair of Ricoletti and His Abominable Bride” were cases Holmes did before meeting Watson.]

The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone was one of two instances where the original canon story was written in third person. It was based on a play, and Watson was barely in it. The other story was His Last Bow (HLB). The action in TAotMS all takes places in one room, rather similar to the beginning of TAB. The plot twist comes that the play has been what Holmes has overheard of a conversation between two criminals. Now, apply this idea to the one that Sherlock is still unconscious in hospital, but capable of overhearing and processing what is heard around him. It echoes Sherlock’s comment in TAB about his MP being able to do things more than what Mycroft knows, and Mycroft agrees.

Be sure to read @jenna221b meta about how the cases are twins, and fixes are being added in as well as Sherlock S4 as Epic Theatre.

In Terror By Night, which we know Mofftiss used in MHR, includes aspects from TAofMS. In Granada adaptations, this case was merged with The Three Garridebs, which were practically absent in S4 of Sherlock.

Mofftiss would have us believe all we got was the three men hanging around at the mercy of Eurus, but I’ve been working with the idea that Moffttis is re-enacting the post Reichenbach behavior of Holmes and Watson from Granada. Hardwicke replaced Burke after TFP (comparable to Sherlock TRF), and Johnlock wasn’t the same afterward. It takes several episodes before it returns to the warm, close physical proximity, flirtatious pairing we see before Holmes “dies” and Burke was replaced.

Interestingly, the cases that do show it, are the ones where Mofftiss borrowed the most from Granada. Granada The Devil’s Foot, Sherlock S4 Imagery, and Moriarty or Mortimer & A Little Glimpse Into Granada’s ‘Eligible Bachelor’ by @ebaeschnbliah (Also interesting that we posted these meta within hours of one another, without having talked about the influence factor at all.) As you can tell from the second meta, Eurus had an obvious reference in EB (although The Musgrave Ritual–which is used in Sherlock TFP), also gave a visual hint via Rachel, the one that allowed a man to die down a hole, and it showed the coming revival of Johnlock closeness–although it wouldn’t happen until TDF. If you don’t think that’s important, remember that Moffttiss said TD12 as a name only happened, because the name they wanted to use was taken. While writing this, I found a similar meta to mine about TDF by @devoursjohnlock Maybe I am helping connect dots…

From this meta by @may-shepard we see that Doyle’s story The Parasite, coincides with S4, and the also the dates from the story fill in the missing dates on John’s blog.

At the end of TLD, John and Lestrade are discussing the morgue incident. They specifically mention HLV (HLB in canon). It seems like they are wrapping up those loose ends Sherlock doesn’t like to have on his watch, but he’s been in hospital, even though according to what Sherlock and Mycroft know from T6T–the loose ends from HLV are already edited and he’s free of that.

According to TAB, all the modern elements we know of from Sherlock, are all lunatic fantasy…or metaphorical flights of fancy…Holmes theorizes it could come to pass, but only after the echo of the idea of having proper murders. Moffttis was adamant that Mary had to die, because that’s how it was in the stories, but it isn’t. We’re never told what happened to Mary.

TAB

Shortly afterwards, the car pulls away and drives off along the tarmac.  As the scene fades out, the familiar ‘Pursuit’ music starts … and almost immediately grinds to a halt. The screen remains dark for a moment and then … WATSON (offscreen): Flying machines; these, er, telephone contraptions … (The screen fades up to reveal Holmes and Watson sitting in their armchairs in the sitting room of 221B.  Each of them is smoking a pipe.) WATSON: What sort of lunatic fantasy is that? HOLMES: It was simply my conjecture of what a future world might look like, and how you and I might fit inside it. (Watson nods.) HOLMES: From a drop of water, a logician should be able to infer the possibility of an Atlantic or a Niagara. WATSON: Or a Reichenbach. HOLMES: Have you written up your account of the case? WATSON: Yes. HOLMES: Hmm.  Modified to put it down as one of my rare failures, of course? WATSON: Of course. (Holmes looks thoughtful for a moment.) HOLMES: “The Adventure of … the Invisible Army.” (Watson looks upwards, considering it.) HOLMES: “The League of Furies”?  (He leans forward, smiling.) “The Monstrous Regiment.” WATSON: I rather thought … “The Abominable Bride.” HOLMES (sitting back): A trifle lurid. WATSON: It’ll sell.  It’s got proper murders in it, too. HOLMES (pointing his pipe at him): You’re the expert. WATSON: As for your own tale, are you sure it’s still just a seven percent solution that you take?  I think you may have increased the dosage. HOLMES: Perhaps I was being a little fanciful … (He looks down thoughtfully.) HOLMES: … but perhaps such things could come to pass. (He stands up.) HOLMES: In any case, I know I would be very much at home in such a world. (Watson chuckles as Holmes walks across the room towards the right-hand window.) WATSON: Don’t think I would be. HOLMES: I beg to differ. (He looks out of the window.) HOLMES: But then I’ve always known I was a man out of his time. (He puts his pipe in his mouth and continues to look out of the window.  The ‘Pursuit’ theme starts again, this time with a Victorian twist to it, as the camera slowly pulls back.  Down in the street below, customers are going into SPEEDY’S Sandwich Bar & Cafe while more people – all dressed in modern-day clothing – walk past, and the road is busy with cars. A black cab passes a number 11 bus – destination Baker Street – as they drive past 221B … … where it is always 1895.)  

Transcript ( x )

[ellana-ravenwood]

I don’t talk to fish - Aquaman x reader

Can you one with Aquaman? Where he and the reader know each other but they hate each other an then they fall in love eventually? Requested by @itsrebeca

I accidentaly delated the original message so...yeah. Here we go. It’s really long because I didn’t wanna make more than one part huh. And it kinda sucks...Oh well, I tried. It’s so late...

You can find my masterlist here : @ella-ravenwood-archives

______________________________________________________________________

The first time you met Arthur Curry, aka Aquaman, you were having a nice lunch date at your favorite cafe in Metropolis with your brother, Clark. 

You weren’t happy that one of his super-friend ruined your chance to spent time just the two of you. Since he moved to Metropolis and became Superman, you nearly never saw your brother, and you missed him. You guys have always been very close, and despite his overprotecting you, he just didn’t had time to hang out with you that much anymore...Especially since you stayed in Smallville to take care of the family farm with your ma’. 

You often joked about the fact that you’d have to be in grave danger to see him. Worst thing was, it was true...So when he called you and asked if you wanted to come for the week-end to Metropolis, you said yes without hesitation...The first day, he saved the world from aliens with the Justice League, and only came back late at night. You had to almost dragged him out of bed for him to follow you to the café to have lunch...and now, that Aqua-dude was ruining it. 

-Oh, hey Arthur, something the matter ?

Clark asked, concerned. 

-Is it a problem with...You know ?

-What ? Oh no, no don’t worry. I was just passing threw the neighborhood when I saw you. Thought I’d say hello. And who is your lovely partner ?

-My little sister, Y/N. 

-And I’m not lovely. 

-Oh, the grumpy one eh ?

You glared at your brother, and he looked away, embarrassed. It was kinda true that you didn’t always had the best temper, but talking about it with total strangers, really Clark ? You squinted your eyes at Aquaman. 

-Since he has only one sister, seems like it. 

-I’m...

-The guy that talks to fish, I know. 

-I don’t talk to fish. 

-Whatever you say Waterdude. 

-Aquaman. 

Clark chuckled lightly, looking around nervously to make sure no one heard you two. He was used to your provoking way, but a man like Arthur, a King used to respect and such...

-Play nice guys, and talk a bit lower, we’re in a public place.

-She started it. 

-No I didn't Liquidguy, you did by calling me grumpy !

-But you are grumpy !

-And you do talk to fish !

-I DON'T TALK TO FISH !

The crowd in the cafe suddenly went silent, and everyone was staring at you. You exploded in a fit of laughter. 

-Hahaha, man, Clark, you’re friend is COMPLETELY nuts. Sorry people, he has problems. 

You gestured to you brother to go pay as you dragged Aquaman out of the cafe. 

-You know, you aren’t good at hiding your secret identity fish talker. 

He winced. 

-I don't talk to them ! I mentally force them to do my will.

-Alright Fish whisperer...Wait, you force them to do your will ?

-Yes. I don't actually talk to them. Or whisper for that matter.

-Nevermind the talking situation, you FORCE them to do YOUR will ?

-Like I said. 

-Oh, you’re disgusting. 

-Sorry ?

-Yeaaaah, you act all grand like the fucking King you are, but you force beings to do whatever you want them to do, without knowing if they’re ok with it ?

-That’s not exactly how...

-Disgusting. Uh. I thought Clark’s friends were nice. 

-What are you even on about ?

You scoffed and looked away. Clark arrived and you grabbed his arm, dragging him away, ignoring Aquaman. Your brother tried to say goodbye awkwardly, hoping Arthur wouldn’t be mad at him. 

******

The second time you met Arthur Curry, aka Aquaman, was when he saved your ass. You were on vacation, and went on a boat trip with friends. You weren’t too fond of the oceans, but somehow your friends convinced you and you ended up on a boat in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by deep water full of your only fears in life : sharks. However, everything was going smoothly...at least, until a storm hit. You were too sea sick to even realize the danger you were in, until the boat toppled over and you found yourself thrown into a roaming sea. 

You were never a good swimmer, and you struggle to keep afloat. And...Oh my god, was that a shark fin you saw a bit further ? You couldn’t see any of your friends, and the boat had already disappear in the tall waves surrounding you. AND YES THAT WAS DEFINITELY A SHARK FIN ! You tried to swim away, but the force of the water kept swinging you in every directions. You were quickly getting exhausted, and you were now sure sharks surrounded you...You hated sharks, there were the only thing in the world to actually scare you. You screamed for help, you screamed for Clark to come...after all, he already heard you from Metropolis while you were in trouble in Smallville...But you couldn’t scream much, water invading your mouth. And the fear made you even dizzier...The last thing you saw was four shark fins coming straight at you before you passed out. 

When you opened your eyes, you were on a beach, surrounded by your friends. They were glad you finally woke up. 

-What...Are we dead ?

They all laughed. No. No you guys weren’t dead. A nice and hot blond man saved you and...Blond man ? You whipped around and cursed. Of course. It had to be. 

-Waterdude...

-Aquaman. 

-Whatever fish enslaver...

He rolled his eyes, and your friends looked at you with a : “Really dude ?” look on their face. You rolled your eyes back at them and stood up...just to immediately fall back down. 

Arthur was the only one with fast enough reflexes to catch you before you hit the ground. 

-You, you knew I was deadly afraid of sharks...

-No, I didn’t. I knew I should have...”enslaved” dolphins. 

-Fish monster.

-Dolphins are not fish, they’re mammals. 

For some reason, this made you smile, but you quickly regained yourself and jump out of his arms. He scoffed, and after saying a quick goodbye to your friends, who were in awe of him (ew), he went back to the ocean. 

You were annoyed, but couldn’t help staring at his ass. It was a damn fine ass...He turned around. Damn fine six packs as well. 

-You’re welcome, by the way, grumpy one. I’ll tell your brother your safe. 

-Wait what ?

-Please, do you honestly think I was there by coincidence ? I was only giving back a favor I owed to your brother. Apparently, you tend to have bad luck, he was afraid something might happened. Guess he was right. 

-Tell him to fuck off and to take care of his own business. 

-Yeah, I’ll make sure, so that next time sharks can actually eat you before you drown. 

You shudder. You really didn’t like sharks. 

****

The third time you met Aquaman, aka Arthur Curry, was at a party Bruce Wayne was throwing. He was dashing. You were stunning. You greeted each other coldly, but whenever you thought the other one was looking away, you stared at each other, completely ignoring the date you took with you. Clark noticed, and smiled lightly to himself. He knew since the first time you met what was going to happen. 

****

The fourth time you met Aquaman, aka Arthur Curry, you were sitting on the dock of Metropolis, a bit depressed because your boyfriend just dumped you. For some reason, you didn’t feel sad, you didn’t like him THAT much, but you hated failure. The sole of your shoes were lightly touching the water...and you quickly put your legs back on shore when you saw a fin lurking around, terrified shitless...Until you realized it was actually a dolphin. A beautiful, majestic dolphin. 

-Got ya. 

You turned around and saw him, in casual clothes, not in his ridiculous yellow and green suit. 

-Are you following me ? Like the creature of the Black lagoon ? 

-Wow, I hope I’m a bit more attractive than him...and no, not following you. I was literally just walking around...I hang out a lot on the docks you know, and the occasion to scare you was too good.

-You really are an asshole. And controlling...

-I’m not controlling them. Yes, I will them with my mind to do things, but if they really didn’t want to, then they wouldn’t.

-You mean “your” sharks could have attacked me if they wanted to ?

-Never actually happened for any fish or sea mammals to resist me...I’m their king after all. 

-Such a show off. 

-What, why ? I am their king !

You scoffed. At this point, he was used of this reaction towards him, but still...

-Why do you hate me so ? 

-What ? I don’t hate you. Why do you think that seaweed brain ? 

-Maybe because every time we see each other you...

-Don’t take it personally. I’m like that with everyone. But I guess you being a King, you’re not used to people telling you what they think. 

-...

-I mean, not what they think, just...teasing you and such. I don’t think you’re an asshole...or, you are sometimes but...Hum...

-Teasing where I come from is a bit more enjoyable...

-Ah...uh...I...Hum...

You blushed. He smiled. Damn his smile was cute. 

-I don’t understand you at all. 

-...It’s because I don’t speak fish.

He turned quickly to you, and the smile on your face made him realized you were joking. You had a wonderful smile...

*******

The fifth time you saw Aquaman, aka Arthur Curry, it was on the TV. Him, your brother and the rest of the league were fighting a particularly fierce enemy, and your heart stopped each times it showed the ones you loved in danger. The ones ? With an s ? ...That’s the time you figured out your brother wasn’t your only concern, maybe a certain blond seaman was also in your mind....

*******

The sixth time you saw Aquaman, aka Arthur Curry, you didn’t even mocked him once. He thought it was odd, and when he asked explanation to your brother, Clark just laughed in his face calling him daft. 

********* The seventh time you saw Aquaman, aka Arthur Curry, you had slightly given up on a possible romance with the King of the seven seas. He was a King, he was your brother’s friend, he was a meta-human, and most of all, he thought you hated him...So you were on a date with another man. 

You met Arthur “randomly” in Metropolis’ streets, and he was so awful to you that it comforted you in the fact he actually hated you for real. You ran to your brother, acting as if your date went wrong, when in reality it was your encounter with Arthur that threw you aback. Clark you, and called you daft. 

******

The eighth time you saw Aquaman, aka Arthur Curry, you were completely drunk at your brother’s birthday party. Singing “Show must go on” at the top of your lungs, you were having a good time...until you saw him. You were about to say something extremely mean, your drunkness inducing your cynical and sarcastic usual self, but he spoke first. 

-I’m sorry about...last time. Clark told me you cried. 

-Not because of you, because my date was ruined. 

-Ruined by me so...A bit because of me. 

-Hic...No...Or maybe yes. Completely. 

He was embarrassed, and you didn’t get why. Were you that bad looking right now ? Probably a bit disheveled, maybe your make up wasn’t as good as it was at the beginning of the party but...Why was he looking at you this awkwardly. You made a fake reverence, and he looked taken aback. 

-Sorry your highness, majesty, waterdude, if I inconvenient yourself right now with...the...sight of me...Am I speaking proper English ? Wait, you can’t understand me, I’m not talking fish. 

-I don’t talk to fish...and if I’m being honest, I’m not that sorry I ruined your date...I’m just sorry I made you cry. 

You turned your head towards him, curious.

-Yeah, the guy you were with, he kinda seemed to be an asshole. 

-On the contrary, he was lovely, but he wasn’t you. 

You froze, suddenly realizing what you just said. 

-Wh...What was that ? 

-I said he wasn’t as big of an asshole as you. 

-Oh...

On that note, Clark appeared out of nowhere with a very drunk Wonder Woman on his back and said :

-No, she said he wasn’t you, implying she’d rather go on a date...with you. 

You swore that if you were sure not to break your hand on him, you would have smacked your stupid brother. He widely smiled at you, and you frowned. 

-Diana, Clark has been in love with you for years. 

-Oh that’s so low little sister...

But given the state the mighty Wonder Woman was in, she probably wouldn’t remember anything the next day. Clark suddenly rushed out to the toilet, sensing she was going to throw up. 

You stood awkwardly in front of Arthur, too drunk to actually stand straight, so you were kinda gently swaying from side to side, trying to keep your balance. 

He smile, feeling as awkward as you.

-You...wanna go on a date with me ?

-No. 

-No ? 

-Yes. If there’s no sharks. 

-Promise, no sharks. 

You just both stood there, staring curiously at each other. If over a year ago someone would have told you you’d somewhat ask Arthur bloody Curry out, you probably would have laughed in their faces and ask Clark to punch them into space. 

-So...are you free next friday ?

-No. 

-No ?

-No, I have a date. With a king. 

-A king ? How many kings do you know exactly ? 

-...Are you being an idiot on purpose ?

-What ? Oh. Oooooh. Ok. I see. Yeah. Gotcha. So, next friday ?

-Yes, but I can’t wait. 

-Yeah, strangely enough I’m pretty excited too. 

-No, I mean...

You decided “fuck it”, he liked you enough to ask you out anyway. And it was true, you couldn’t wait. You grabbed his shirt and tugged him down to you, kissing him gently at first, before he deepened the kiss. You pulled away for air moments later, smiling like idiots. 

-So...Are you going to teach me how to speak to fishes ?

You asked, a mischievous smile on your lips. He rolled his eyes, before pulling you in for another kiss that tasted like alcohol and...Sushi. 

**********

The 2976 time you saw Aquaman, aka Arthur Cury, you were slowly waking up in your shared bed. One of his arm was wrapped around your waist, the other was gently resting on your stomach. Your rather big stomach. That stopped your habit of sleeping on your belly. 

His hand was lovingly resting over your stomach, already protecting your unborn child. 

[chan-chanyeol]

first impressions // college!au baekhyun drabble

its still his birthday for me rn so im posting this! i dont have his other thing done yet oops. also, its my birthday tomorrow, he and i are practically twins lmao. 

First impressions are forever.

You work at the coffee shop on the west side of campus. You were so ecstatic to snag a job close to your dorm, that pays well, and that understands you’re a third year college student. Sometimes, when you take a night shift (since your coffee shop is open 24hrs) you get to lounge around with some homework until a customer walks in. You often see people who live in your building, and it’s a great way to make friends.

But now it’s finals week and your shop is slammed.

You don’t really mind, this isn’t your first rodeo, but you’re worried about your psychology final and you haven’t had much time to study. You’re not stressing about any of your other finals, you’ve had a pretty easy workload so far, so you’ve managed to cover a couple extra shifts to make some more money before you go on break. If you could only get maybe half an hour to look over your psychology notes, but people keep coming in.

However, it’s nearing 2am, and the amount of people are waning. You lean against the counter, peering over at the two other people in the shop. One is aggressively highlighting her textbook and the other is falling in and out of sleep as he reads through his notes. You pick up your psych notebook and start flipping through the pages, leaning against the counter. You manage a good twenty minutes of studying intelligence and social psych when the boy with his notes finally calls it quits and trudges out, and another half hour until the girl slams her textbook, orders another coffee to go, and leaves.

Now the shop is empty and you hop up onto the counter and read your notes intently. You read over the old psychologists, the idea of behavioral psych growing into something more, about aggression and altruism and—

Thwack.

You look up at the door and see a guy on the other side cradling his face, mumbling and whining to himself. Did he just walk into the glass door? You stifle a laugh, closing your notebook and tossing it aside. You hop off the counter and go to the door, opening it.

“Hello,” you say.

The guy peeks through his fingers at you, his eyes slightly watery. “Hello,” he croaks. “I ran into your door. I’m sorry.”

You let out a laugh and step aside, inviting him in. He stumbles forward and you follow him in, slipping behind the counter again. He finally releases his face, a red spot on his forehead and nose, stepping up to the counter and looking up at the menu.

You unabashedly admire his face, his soft look features accented his ruddy brunet hair. Which, was a mess, but you can’t blame him, it’s nearly 3 in the morning on the third day of finals. He was dressed in a plain white t-shirt and some sweatpants, flip-flops on his feet. You’re thankful the weather has decided to be nice this week, allowing students to dress more comfortably. All he has with him is a small bookbag slung over his shoulder, maybe a notebook or two in there.

He looks back down to you and you give him a smile, which he returns. “What can I get you?” You ask, finger poised to press buttons on the register.

He hums and shifts his weight side to side, and you notice his eyes glance down to your name tag. “A medium macchiato with no whipped cream but extra caramel?”

You nod and type it in, then grab the medium cup. “And your name?”

“Baekhyun,” he replies.

You write his name on the cup and mark out what he wants, then go over to make it. The quiet coffee shop is momentarily alive with the sounds of the machine, and you make sure to slather the drink with caramel. You pop a lid and a sleeve on the cup before handing it back to him.

“Here you go, Baekhyun,” you say, smiling at him again.

“Thank you,” he says, taking the drink and returning the smile. “I haven’t paid yet.”

“It’s on the house tonight,” you say, clearing the order on the register. “A pity drink since you ran face first into the door.”

His smile turns bashful and holds the drink closer to himself. “I appreciate it,” he mumbles, reaching into his pocket for a couple of small bills and shoving them into the tip jar. Baekhyun turned around and found a table, setting down his coffee and grabbing a notebook out of his bag.

And thus he began studying, so you returned to sitting on the counter and studying, too. A half hour flew by before you knew it, and you hopped up to make yourself a small hot chocolate to keep you cozy in the last couple hours of your shift.

“Aren’t you in my psych class?”

You look up from your notebook towards Baekhyun across the counter. “Am I?”

Baekhyun props his elbows up on the table and rests his cheek on his hand, staring at you intently. “I think you are. I feel like I recognize you.”

You hop off the counter and close your notebook. “I think I would recognize you, especially if you’re clumsy enough to run into a door.”

Baekhyun droops his head and lets out a laugh. “That’s seriously just the first time I’ve done that since I’ve been here!”

You laugh with him, grabbing your hot chocolate and notebook, coming out from behind the counter and sitting down in front of him. You open back up your notebook to where you left off; aggression and altruism. “Who’s your professor?” You ask.

Baekhyun sips his coffee, bright eyes focused on you and not his notes. “Professor Park, with the hair that’s half grey, half black, and the glasses that are way more circular than they should be.”

You let out a laugh at his description and nod. “Apparently we do have the same psychology professor. Same class and everything?”

Baekhyun smiles at you, glancing down at his notes. “Yeah, I see you sometimes, you always sit at the front. I sit in the back.”

“That’s why I don’t see you,” you note. “It’s a bummer the class is ending, we could’ve studied together or something.”

He tilts his head in an endearing way, watching you closing with a small smile on his lips. “Yeah, it’s a shame. We could study right now though, unless you’ve got work to do.”

You make a show of looking around the empty cafe, then back to him. You shrug. “If somebody comes in, I’ll help them, but I have a couple more hours in my shift I’d love to spend studying with you.”

He brightens up even more, sitting straighter in his seat and flipping through his notebook. “Awesome. Since you sit at the front of the class, you must be smart, so can you help me with the subsets of the nervous system?”

And thus began your cram session of the entire psychology textbook before your shift ended. You and Baekhyun passed questions back and forth, filling each other in or supplying whatever decent answer either of you could. It was nice to study with somebody else, and talking about the concepts out loud really helps you grasp them. And, now Baekhyun understands biases and meta-analyses, which apparently were giving him a run for his money.

But 6am comes too fast, the sun breaks the horizon and you’re both too busy to notice the sunlight seeping through the windows. You only glance up at Baekhyun every now and then to make eye contact during a very intense discussion of a definition, or a study that changed psych, or something like that, and you nearly miss the fact that the red mark on his forehead has faded away.

The bell on the door rings and draws both of your attentions away from your notes, from each other, and you crane your neck to see your coworker waltzing in, bedhead a beautiful mess and her undereye bags designer.

“What’s up?” She asks you, finding her way behind the counter and started herself a coffee.

“Just studying,” you inform, closing your notebook. Baekhyun watches you with big eyes. “My shift is over, so I better go sleep before our psych final this evening. You should, too.”

Baekhyun heaves out a sigh, closing his own notebook and nodding. “Good point. So, I’ll see you then?”

You give him a smile as you grab your notebook and slip behind the counter, collecting your things. You slip on your jacket and sling your bag over your shoulder, watching as Baekhyun stands up and grabs his own bag.

“Yeah,” you reply. “Maybe I’ll sit with you in the back so we can cheat off each other.”

He gives you a sly smile, eyes sparkly as he opens the door for you. “It’s a bummer we didn’t notice each other under the end of the semester.”

“I know,” you sigh. “But, I guess that’s college.”

“Yeah,” he says, stopping a few feet in front of the coffee shop. He gestures back to it. “You work here often?”

You nod, adjusting your bag on your shoulder. “Yeah, usually just Tuesday and Thursday nights.”

Baekhyun bites his bottom lip for a second before giving you a stunning smile. “Then I’ll see you around.”

You return the smile brightly, feeling your cheeks heat up a little. “Yeah, see you.”

And you both turn and go your separate ways, but you know in the back of your mind that you’re going to be seeing a lot more of him in the near future.

[hiikisekki-blog]

Smeb x Faker

Sanghyeok was more or less the one who initiated their meeting.

When he walked into that quaint little café in Seoul - bundled up in his puffy black jacket during the off-season, when people were supposed to be at home away from League and spending time with their family, or girlfriends for that matter - Kyungho was too surprised.

He watched Sanghyeok glance around the café, frowning slightly, before his gazes directed right at Kyungho, boring into his eyes. Too late, he was already striding forward towards his table.

Sanghyeok stepped onto the elevated wooden platform of the booth, before hesitating, his eyes suddenly cast to the side like he shouldn’t be there.

“Sorry, Kyungho, can I sit here?”

A few options ran through Kyungho’s mind. He could reject him, coming up with some lame excuse like there was no space for the two of them in that little booth, or that he wanted his privacy. but this was Sanghyeok. They knew each other, and there were no other seats in the café. Kyungho suddenly realised that Sanghyeok’s brown eyes were once again focused on him, waiting for his reaction. Kyungho cleared his throat awkwardly.

“umm... of course. “ Kyungho shifted the laptop he brought with him to give Sanghyeok some of his own space, taking the bag he had put on the table and throwing it down haphazardly on the floor.

Sanghyeok slid opposite of Kyungho, taking off his jacket and throwing it around the chair, letting it hang off the back, before standing up, blending himself into the queue for coffee.

Kyungho glanced back at his queue, clicking through the different windows until he land on KaKao Talk, clicking for that one person he knew would be living online 24/7.

Smeb: “does sanghyeok not go back during hols?”

Peanut: “yeah. Says family r not nice ot be with and company of computers are better.”

peanut: “btw why do you ask?”

Smeb: “Nah, its nothing.”

Peanut: “tell me u saw him.”

Smeb: “I did not see him.”

Peanut: “seems like someone's in a mood.”

Kyungho groaned slightly, flicking back to his queue screen in hops of finding a game. Obviously to no avail.

Smeb: “I am not in a mood.”

peanut: “Apparently.”

There was a pause in their conversation, Kyungho unsure what he should say next. he should really ask Wangho what to do when Sanghyeok suddenly walks up to your table and is now sitting with you.

Peanut: “well, if you do see him, talk to him about League.”

Kyungho pondered over that suggestion. Talk to Sanghyeok about League? But, technically, by their teams and their standing, they were depicted arch enemies by OGN, both fighting for the top spot in the League ladder. Talking to Faker about the one thing they both loved most couldn’t be that bad right?

Smeb: “okay, thanks.”

Peanut: “np, good luck on yr date.”

Smeb: “it’s not a date.”

Peanut: “yeah right it isn’t.”

Kyungho groaned, closing his KaKao Talk. His queue was everlasting, his last game about 20 minutes ago. On hindsight, he had absolutely forgotten to ask Wangho what about League he should ask about. Obviously not pro league. Then what else was there?

-------------------------------------------------

Sanghyeok stared at him, incredulity in his dark eyes, quickly wiped away before being replaced by an almost childlike curiosity.

He had come back with his own mug of hot latte, and one of the cafe’s famous waffles in the other. The hand that he was using to stir the coffee had stopped, and was now idly holding the plasting white stirrer, and Kyungho desperately hoped that his queue would find a game or something like a natural disaster could occur now so that he could just run out of this awkward situation. (although he realises that it would just be rather rude to wish for death to just come upon the other innocent people in the cafe.)

Then, quickly, Sanghyeok turned his gaze away from Kyungho’s, and the hand was stirring again.

“How do I think about the current meta? Well,” Sanghyeok paused, his voice already hollowing out to that famous monotone of his, “I think that Ashe following into the meta from last year was a nice surprise and especially with Camille now, there are more power picks than ever.”

“Don’t talk to me like that.” The words were out of Kyungho’s mouth before he could stop them. “I play pro league too, and I dare say that my team is one of the best in the world. So stop treating this like an interview and actually try to have a decent conversation with me.”

Okay, this is where he probably just crashed through some unseen line that he and Sanghyeok had drawn, and Kyungho ducked down the screen of his computer, trying to muster up some apology for being exceedingly rude to someone older than him, when Sanghyeok seemed to take pity of his flustered form in the form of answering with a little bit more life in his tone.

“Well, I’m not sure what to say about the current meta that you won’t know.”

Right. Kyung forgot that they were both absolute conversation killers when it came to socialising. They would usually leave it to their more, active, friendly and outgoing teammates to do it for them.

“I wish that Fiora was played more often. She’s a good carry, but I don’t think that she’ll be any match against Camille.”

“Camille has already been severely NERFed since the 7.1 patch came out, especially since there were a ton of NERFs in that patch with so few updates to other things.”

“But even with the NERFs I think Camille is still a huge threat with LeBlanc and Rengar. Even if they’re both assassins and LeBlanc has been on a losing streak.”

“Are you implying that I should play LeBlanc when the season starts again?”

“Yeah.” Kyungho hesitated a little, knowing how Faker had been so cautious on LeBlanc ever since MSI 2015 and it was a touchy subject for them both. But he had Sanghyeok’s attention, even if they both didn’t maintain eye contact. “Wangho is on a Lee Sin winning streak right now, and he’s the one who broke the curse on Lee Sin during the LCK Spring Split. And he’s still undefeated on the Lee Sin. Maybe you could do the same with LeBlanc. Make her absolute.”

“Perhaps.” Sanghyeok said vaguely, even if Kyungho could see the glimmer of eagerness in his eyes. “But the team has 4 potential hyper carries, and lately I’ve been plying a more utility and support role in mid to help either Wangho or Junsik be the carry.” Sanghyeok let out a frustrated sigh through his nose. “it’s not that I don’t like others hard carrying the game instead of me, it’s just that when Wangho picks Lee Sin he just goes crazy on it.”

Just look at MSI, came unspoken. They both knew what happened. Although not as disasterous as the start of 2016 MSI, it was a bit too over the top, playing with their opponents, have them run around in circles when SKT had a chokehold on them the whole time. When they picked a team composition that worked especially well at dismantling rookie or unexperienced teams, they just absolutely destroyed them. Wangho got 14 kills before the 20 minute mark.

“it kinda feels the same here. Just that I end up being one of the hyper carries.”

“Nah. Well, I may be wrong but,” Sanghyeok paused, but when he spoke, there was no doubt in his voice. “I think you play a rather similar role to my own in most games. We both can be hyper carries on the champions that we pick but it’s usually the planned carry that gets all the kills, the CS, the gold. And then I just run in  to back them up with Orianna or Lulu.”

“But I don’t think you particularly like to be in the shadows.”

“I think you would. Especially if you guys won that game. That thing that you did against Samsung in Spring Split Semis? That was it.” Sanghyeok took another gulp from his rapidly cooling coffee.Kyungho took the opportunity to scroll through his windows and check his queue again. What Sanghyeok said had been partially right. After all, he knew that he was a better team player than Sanghyeok from the start, which had placed him in the top position for the best players of Worlds 2016 by the casters, garnering him more fans but also the stiff, scripted drama between Sanghyeok and himself, causing a rather unintentional divide between them. But the casters underestimated how strong the rest of SKT actually was.

“But are you not happy that you don’t get to be the carry? I mean, you’re someone who got scouted just from your ranked solo queue stats. you were meant to be the carry. Especially with your Katarina plays at the beginning of the Spring Split.”

“Sadly, it’s supposed to have all been left behind the moment SKT T1 K disbanded.” Sanghyeok eyed his mug before taking another gulp, giving Kyungho a clear view of his throat as he swallowed. “K was meant to be built around me, but we were all from solo queue. We all had talent. And Coach did a good job of blending us all together.”

Perhaps this was just Sanghyeok’s own way in saying that he did miss being the carry. And Kyungho knew how that felt. He’d made it all the way to the semifinals in LCK Spring Split, only to fall to SKT in the finals. Much reminiscent of World 2015. And of Worlds 2016, but they had made their last stand during Semifinals against SKT, and they could have beat them. Hell, they could have beaten Samsung after they supposedly beat SKT. But that was all ‘could have’s and ‘what if’s. There was only now, where that SKT mountain, that SKT house that Faker, Kkoma, and all of the other SKT members had painstakingly built up and maintained with their blood, sweat and tears. (perhaps not so much tears, but the words served it own effect.)

He watched Sanghyeok gather up his coat, saying a brief goodbye before turning for the door. He shouldn’t think that they would meet again.

---------------------------------------

A/N: okay, so this is the first part in this 5+1 LoL thing between Smeb and Faker that i’m going on. I got the inspiration after reading a good fic on AO3 (its called “when we give enough of ourselves away we lose sight of who we are and sometimes we call that love and sometimes we call that self-destruction”. it’s centered around Deft but it has a really cute Smeb and Faker scene inside, which just made me want to read the whole fic again. Props to birdring (twoif)) i’m going to write another part, but that is going to be a maybe because my exams are coming up. So like and reblog and message if you want me to continue!

(and this style of writing for Faker and Smeb may be a little to OC for you but sadly, I've never met Faker or Smeb before, and I've never been to Korea so that’s already an issue. I hope that you can use all of your wonderful imagination and pls pretend for the sake of the story. Plus, i’m open to constructive criticism if you have any. Thanks!)

[clusterassets]

New world news from Time: Brexit Could Jeopardize Peace in Northern Ireland—and America Is Ignoring It

When I moved to Belfast for a three-year fellowship in September 2001, American news was covering a nasty episode in the capital of Northern Ireland. In a segregated neighborhood, a Protestant mob shouted abuse and threw bricks and blast bombs at Catholic schoolgirls whose parents—eventually joined by riot police—were escorting them to Holy Cross School. A week later, two planes crashed into the World Trade Center. Friends never again asked if I felt safe in Belfast, and the place disappeared from international headlines.

In recent months, Northern Ireland has dominated Britain’s negotiations to leave the European Union, as the Irish border has come to symbolize the challenges of Brexit. When E.U. leaders met in Brussels on June 28-29 and assessed the status of divorce talks, the E.U.’s Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier warned “huge and serious divergences” remained over the unique problems posed by this divided island.

Despite years of American investment in the Northern Ireland peace process, this issue has received scant coverage in the U.S. press and minimal engagement by the Trump Administration. In May, I returned to Belfast, along with Dublin and London; I spoke with over 40 people from government, media, business, and civil society about the implications of Brexit for politics, prosperity, and peace in my former home. What I heard should worry Americans.

Life After the Troubles

In 1921, the island was divided: the Republic of Ireland gained independence from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (U.K.), while the six northern counties comprising Northern Ireland remained part of the U.K. The region’s constitutional status has remained contested, as the unionist and largely Protestant community wishes to remain part of the U.K. while the nationalist and predominantly Catholic community wants Irish unification. This dispute caused decades of political turmoil and violence, often known as the Troubles. More than 3,600 people were killed.

In April 1998, the signing of the Good Friday Agreement/Belfast Agreement—comprised of an international agreement between the British and Irish governments and a multi-party agreement in Northern Ireland—heralded a comprehensive approach to governance, civil rights, policing, and justice. Peace talks were shepherded by George Mitchell, the former U.S. Senate Majority Leader who served as Special Envoy for Northern Ireland.

Cathal McNaughton—Getty ImagesLocal residents of the Glenbryn area in North Belfast walk past burnt-out remains of an armored police car following overnight rioting between Nationalists and Loyalists crowds January 10, 2002 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Rioting erupted as Catholic parents picked up their children from the Holy Cross girls” primary school.

The fact that both the U.K. and Ireland belong to the E.U. has made this tenuous peace more viable—eliminating physical, economic, and psychological barriers and facilitating cross-border ties. Along with the peace process, the E.U.’s single market (which means the bloc functions as one territory without any internal borders or other regulatory obstacles to the free movement of goods and services) enabled the gradual dismantling of customs posts and military checkpoints along the border.

Northern Ireland slowly and quietly began moving in the right direction. Its new Assembly focused on routine issues of governance rather than contentious debates about identity. Invest Northern Ireland reports an influx of foreign investors focused on technology and financial services, with nearly 900 international companies employing around 100,000 people. I used to ride the bus to Dublin Airport for cheap Ryanair flights to the continent, unaware I had crossed an international border until I saw Gaelic street signs, kilometer speed limits, and euros. There are now dozens of direct flights across Europe. Belfast opened a museum about the Titanic (built at the local shipyard), served as the location for films and TV series (most notably “Game of Thrones”), revamped its city center with high-end shops and hipster cafes, and was named by Lonely Planet as the best travel destination in 2018.

Relations also improved between the U.K. and Ireland. The Good Friday Agreement created north-south and east-west institutions that enabled government officials to coordinate policies (such as agriculture and environment) across the island of Ireland. Queen Elizabeth made a state visit to Ireland in May 2011, the first trip by a British head of state since Irish independence. During a visit to Northern Ireland a year later, the Queen shook hands with Martin McGuiness, Deputy First Minister and former leader of the paramilitary Irish Republican Army (IRA). The conflict was personal for the Queen: her cousin, Louis Mountbatten, was killed in a 1979 IRA bombing. Her actions would have been unthinkable only years before.

And then Brexit happened.

Derailing the Brexit Process

In a June 2016 referendum, Britain voted to leave the E.U. by a narrow margin of 51.9 to 48.1 percent. London has now spent months entangled in messy negotiations with Brussels about the terms of separation, which will take effect on March 29, 2019. Northern Ireland, which was little discussed during the campaign, has proven the most complicated issue and could derail the process.

When leaders met at the European Council in December to assess progress on negotiations toward a withdrawal agreement, tensions quickly became apparent. The U.K. is currently part of the EU’s customs union and single market. After Brexit, it will leave both—raising the status of the Irish border to that of a customs border, with associated checks and controls. This does not just create practical and economic challenges; it is also politically and psychologically inconceivable for many who live there.

Although the U.K. committed to avoiding a hard border with Northern Ireland, it offered no formal proposals for doing so. Given uncertainty about the U.K.’s future relationship with the EU, Brussels insisted on a “backstop” provision to safeguard the status quo for Northern Ireland. If London is unable to devise alternative arrangements, the backstop says Northern Ireland will remain in the E.U. customs union and “full regulatory alignment” (at least for goods) with the single market. This effectively eradicates the need for checks and controls at the Irish land border, pushing them to sea and air entry points to the island of Ireland. In response to objections from unionists, London added a provision preventing “new regulatory barriers” between Northern Ireland and the rest of the U.K. These aims are mutually incompatible. The question is who blinks first.

Despite work in recent months, these differences were not resolved before leaders reconvened at the European Council on June 28-29. They expressed “concern that no substantial progress has yet been achieved on agreeing a backstop solution” and called for “intensified efforts” amid looming deadlines. Closer British ties with the E.U. would make it easier to manage the Irish border yet harder to achieve the autonomy that motivated Brexit.

May is running out of time in this high stakes face-off, as the U.K. could crash out of the E.U. with no deal. European Council President Donald Tusk cited a “great deal of work ahead” if the sides are to reach a deal by October. He warned May’s Cabinet, which meets next week to take major decisions on Brexit, that “This is the last call to lay the cards on the table.”

The E.U. has thus far backed Ireland, a small member state with existential policy concerns. Just last week European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker visited Dublin and warned the U.K. there would be no Brexit deal without agreement on the border. Yet Dublin fears Leo Varadkar, Ireland’s Taoiseach (Gaelic for prime minister), will be forced to make concessions when leaders next meet in October. Former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern described this nightmare scenario as “a Halloween party,” with Varadkar’s arm twisted at 2 a.m. to conclude the withdrawal agreement.

Charles McQuillan—Getty ImagesTwo men dressed as customs officers take part in a protest outside Stormont against Brexit and its possible effect on the north and south Irish border on March 29, 2017 in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

Brexit Fatigue

Dynamics in London, Dublin, and Belfast make the situation even more complicated. Theresa May became the U.K.’s prime minister in June 2016 after David Cameron resigned following the Brexit defeat. In an effort to strengthen her negotiating legitimacy, she held snap elections a year later. She had a disastrous result, falling 8 seats short of a parliamentary majority less than two weeks before EU talks began. In a dramatic twist, May became reliant on 10 MPs from Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) for a “confidence and supply” agreement (it supports the government on budget and confidence motions but is not bound by a policy platform).

In Ireland, Leo Varadkar—the young, gay, son of an Indian immigrant—has served as leader since winning a party leadership contest last June. All parties support the government’s stance in Brexit negotiations: an orderly U.K. exit that protects Ireland’s fundamental interests, including trade and a strong bilateral relationship. The challenge, an Irish official told me, “is how to achieve the first without damaging the second.”

In Northern Ireland, the Good Friday Agreement created an Assembly with a power-sharing executive to ensure representation of unionist and nationalist communities in policy-making. And although Sinn Féin, the largest nationalist party in Northern Ireland, and the DUP are on opposite sides of the Brexit debate, they sent a joint letter to May with shared concerns about its impact on Northern Ireland. Yet the region’s voice has been absent in these discussions since January 2017, when the executive collapsed amid a domestic political controversy; the polarized nature of politics amid Brexit have hindered efforts to revive the Assembly.

But May has now boxed herself in politically with a “trilemma” of three incompatible goals: an exit from the E.U. single market and customs union, no hard border with Ireland, and an all-U.K. approach to Brexit. If she reneges on the first, she will lose the backing of “Brexiteers” who would argue this undermines the point of the referendum. If she waivers on the second, Ireland (and the EU) would almost certainly reject the deal and the U.K. could crash out of the EU. If she caves on the third, the DUP could bring down her government. In recent months, British officials have explored various options, involving the creative collection of customs tariffs and advanced technology to monitor border crossings. To date, they have failed to find a workable alternative to the backstop. Brexit fatigue is palpable in London, with many arguing May simply needs to make a choice.

America’s Absence

Despite significant American investment in the Northern Ireland peace process across several administrations, Washington has been largely absent from these discussions. Former President Barack Obama visited London two months before the referendum and expressed support for “a strong U.K. in a strong E.U.”

In contrast, President Donald Trump is skeptical of the EU and called Brexit a “great thing.” He wants a free trade agreement with the U.K., which he described last summer as “a very powerful deal, great for both countries” that will get done “very, very quickly.” In reality, it seems unlikely a deal will be either quick (as most take 10 years to negotiate) or great for Britain. According to Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross, the U.K. must choose between E.U. and U.S. regulatory models. American standards on agricultural products are controversial in the UK (particularly chlorinated chicken), while any divergence would hinder the U.K.’s ability to trade with the E.U. My Brookings colleague Tom Wright has described the Trump Administration’s approach as “a predatory policy, designed to take immediate economic advantage of the dislocations and vulnerabilities created for the U.K. by the Brexit process.”

American diplomats have quietly encouraged progress in negotiations, but the U.S. has mostly remained silent on what it views as a domestic matter. The Administration has not yet nominated an ambassador for Ireland nor has it decided whether to appoint an envoy for Northern Ireland. Although the unique nature of the current Administration elicited caution in all three capitals about greater U.S. involvement (with someone in Belfast telling me “we don’t want Trump tweeting about Northern Ireland”), there was agreement that American appeals to protect the Good Friday Agreement would resonate with those who ignore Brexit’s impact. While Trump reportedly mentioned Northern Ireland in a phone call with May earlier this month, his visit to London in July seems to be a good opportunity to convey this message more strongly.

Richard Baker—In Pictures via Getty ImagesAn EU flag is waved in front of the British parliament as the British government debated US President Donald Trump’s state visit to the UK, thousands of protesters gathered in large numbers against the trip which would potentially cost millions of pounds in security alone, on February 20, 2017, in Parliament Square, London, UK.

Dividing Lines

Brexit has soured Dublin’s relations with London. A member of Irish civil society told me “Brexit triggered a historical muscle memory switch,” with tensions previously confined to the rugby pitch spilling out in daily life. My Irish interlocutors sounded like aggrieved younger siblings, as they lamented British television hosts who mispronounce “Taoiseach,” engage in “paddywhackery,” and caricature Irish politics.

Despite decades of IRA bombings in England, memories of the Troubles have faded there. Three English MPs caused outrage by suggesting the Good Friday Agreement “had outlived its usefulness” and was “not sustainable in the long term.” British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has repeatedly downplayed the threat, saying recently it is “beyond belief that we’re allowing the tail to wag the dog.”

Irish diplomats are quick to reject suggestions Brexit may lead to “Irexit,” understanding that E.U. membership gave a small and peripheral island an enhanced role on the world stage. In contrast, many outside observers see Brexit as the cry of English nationalism and are skeptical about May’s call for a “Global Britain.” As I sat in the British Foreign Office listening to a diplomat explain the concept, I looked out the window and saw a gilded, horse-drawn carriage deliver an African dignitary to a Commonwealth meeting. It was a relic of an imperial era when Britain truly had global reach.

Brexit negotiations have already caused damage in Northern Ireland, as the very idea has destabilized politics, divided families and communities, and forced people to choose sides. The Good Friday Agreement, which celebrated its 20-year anniversary in April, did not fully resolve past tensions. There were no peace commissions or reconciliation efforts, nor has there been an enduring answer to the constitutional question. Less than seven percent of children attend integrated schools, with former First Minister Peter Robinson describing the segregated system as a “benign form of apartheid which is fundamentally damaging to our society.” Localized violence remains higher in Northern Ireland than outsiders realize, with punishment beatings by paramilitary organizations increasing 60 percent in the last four years.

During my recent visit I toured the peace walls—erected to prevent attacks on residents living along the lines between mainly unionist and mainly nationalist areas. It was a marker of how physically close yet psychologically far the two communities live from one another. Community groups have toned down the militaristic nature of several murals, while some gates are staying open longer. Yet there are more peace walls now than in 1998, with the International Fund for Ireland reporting nearly 70 percent of Troubles-related murders took place within 500 yards of these walls.

Despite these remaining challenges, the Agreement allowed people to take a break from ever-present identity questions. Nearly everyone I met in Belfast lamented how Brexit has forced the return of “orange and green,” a shorthand reference to the constitutional preferences of unionists and nationalists. Many unionists supported Brexit. DUP representatives are unconcerned by border debates given their primary loyalty to Britain and loath to see the region have a “special status” (preferring “special circumstances”). Yet the reality is Northern Ireland has always been treated differently from the rest of the U.K. It is heavily subsidized by the British state. It is the only part of the U.K. where gay marriage and abortion remain illegal; it is even isolated from Ireland, which recently voted to legalize both measures. At the same time, the island’s economy has become heavily integrated, particularly in the agri-food sector.

In contrast, the overwhelming majority of nationalists voted to remain in the E.U. They view a hardening border as a political defeat given recent progress on demilitarization, a single economic market, and free movement. Sinn Féin has renewed calls for a “border poll” to determine whether Northern Ireland should remain part of the U.K. or join Ireland. A recent survey found increasing support for the E.U. in Northern Ireland amid the complexities of divorce, with 69 percent now backing Remain (compared to 56 percent in the referendum two years ago). Brexit has increased Catholic support for Irish unification: while only 28 percent would vote for a united Ireland if the U.K. remained in the E.U., 53 percent would support unification if the U.K. left the customs union and single market.

Charles McQuillan—Getty ImagesA man walks past a mural marking unionist territory on May 4, 2016 in Londonderry, Northern Ireland. The city of Londonderry is situated on the border between the north and south of Ireland. Flags, murals or kerbstone painting are sometimes the first visual indication of the border having been crossed.

What the Future Looks Like

Irrespective of political views, a hard Brexit will affect daily life in Northern Ireland in myriad ways. Business representatives worry about transport delays, supply chain disruption, and new bureaucracy. The agriculture sector will be particularly hard hit, as it comprises 35 percent of Northern Ireland’s exports with nearly a quarter shipping to Ireland. All-island healthcare has grown amid high costs and limited demand, with Brexit raising questions about future access; for example, the closure of children’s heart surgery services at a Belfast hospital led to the joint creation of a pediatric cardiology center in Dublin. Brexit could limit citizens’ rights. The most frequently cited example is a provision in the Good Friday Agreement that allows those born in Northern Ireland to hold British passports, Irish passports, or both; it is unclear how the rights of Irish (E.U.) citizens will be enforced. On the policing front, the U.K. will lose access to the European Arrest Warrant that facilitated information sharing and extradition with Irish law enforcement.

My interlocutors were careful not to overstate the risk of renewed violence and did not expect a return to the Troubles, especially as there is no appetite for conflict on either side. Yet everyone was equally clear that any infrastructure on the border would be attacked. The Chief Constable of the Northern Ireland Police Service, George Hamilton, warned customs posts would re-emphasize “the context and causes of the conflict,” be seen as “fair game” by dissident republicans, and require 24-hour police protection. Three former Irish Taoiseachs echoed this concern, with one (Bertie Ahern) explaining: “You wouldn’t have to wait for violence—the communities on both sides of the border, with their bare hands, would pull down anything that was put up.”

Northern Ireland remains a place of contradictions and challenges, of tentative steps forward and shuffles backward. In a world dotted with frozen conflicts, the Good Friday Agreement provided an imperfect but workable solution for a war-weary population. Brexit has re-opened old wounds.

An irresistible force is preparing to meet an immoveable object; the lack of a solution to the “trilemma” means something will surely break. This year will define Northern Ireland’s future. Whatever the shape of the final deal, the people will likely have to live with its consequences indefinitely. Given the fragility of the situation, Americans should help Europeans do everything possible to protect the gains of the Agreement.

June 29, 2018 at 11:35PM ClusterAssets Inc., https://ClusterAssets.wordpress.com