#the strangest things found on the planet ever

[masr356]

The strangest things found on the planet

The strangest things found on the planet

The Earth is a strange and mysterious place, full of wonders and oddities that defy explanation. From the depths of the oceans to the heights of the mountains, there are countless peculiarities that have puzzled scientists and fascinated the general public. In this essay, we will explore some of the strangest things that have been found on our planet, from bizarre geological formations to strange…

[stealingyourbones]

Hi! So I was into DP years ago, then earlier this year got into Batfam fics, then saw my first DC x DP crossover and just 💥

So now I’m on a new obsession that has me reading every one of your prompts and any stories that come from it and I just had this one flood my brain:

Presumed Alien Danny

So for [insert reason here] Danny has to flea Amity and the living world to stay in the Zone. He’s injured, and therefore forced to use the Fenton Specter Speeder, and flies it into the portal. Only, whether due to a malfunction, Clockwork, or something else, instead of the Ghost Zone, the Speeder gets spat out of a portal in the DC universe.

So, on the other side, the Watchtower gives an alert that an unknown energy is spiking nearby, and then a spaceship/pod looking thing comes flying out of a flash of green. It’s spinning out of control, and headed for a desert on Earth. A team is dispatched, I’m thinking Superman (alien), Green Lantern (alien law enforcement) and Batman (obvious. Kid bait).

So they get there within moments of the crash, find the thing totaled, Superman hears a strange, humming/thrumming accompanied by groans, and he cracks what’s left of it open to see this green-eyed, white-haired kid with very bad injuries and green blood covering what looks like it could have been some kind of space suit. He grabs the kid, gets him out, and Lantern makes a shield that contains the massive explosion that leaves the ship/pod nothing but charred bits lying scattered across the sand.

They get the clearly alien child to the watchtower for medical help, and though they heal very quickly they still need a lot of stitches, mainly because the first set melted and they had to use ones designed for metas with corrosive abilities.

Then, a day or so later, still healing but not in danger, the kid wakes up, stares wide-eyed at the people around him, and exclaims something I a strange language.

Yeah, definitely alien.

Danny wakes up, sees a bunch of weird, costumed people all around him, and tries to ask what the heck is going on. They all stare in confusion. One guys, who’s glowing green but a different shade, had a ring that starts speaking in a different language.

So, I figure, in an alternate dimension, the English language developed differently, so Danny’s English and the DCU’s English aren’t the same. Hence more Misunderstandings.

Also, if Connor is in this, it’s not until after Danny’s been found. 😎

So Danny gets introduced via the Green Guys magic translating ring, finds out they think he’s an alien, thinks he’s still in his world, where the Anti-Ecto Acts are a thing, and goes with it. They introduce him to the younger hero’s his age, and once he’s better they set him up in their base to live, since obviously he can’t stay on the watchtower or blend in. A few weeks in is enough for Danny to get confused by all the differences and look into it, and realize he’s in a new dimension. But he’s already knee-deep in this, so he just doesn’t ever mention it, and just refers to his ‘home planet’ as Amity.

Meanwhile, the alien kid, Danny, seems to be adjusting well, if a bit confused by the strangest things at times. The planet he mentioned as home was listed by the Lantern Corps as one destroyed by a black hole a few days before Danny’s pod showed up, so they avoid asking about the clearly painful and traumatizing experience. Superman, upon learning about the boys skill set, takes him under his wing.

TLDR-

Through a series of misunderstandings and coincidences Danny is premised to be an alien child by the Justice League and taken in as Superman’s apprentice/son. He does not correct this assumption, either ever or until he is outed by something/one else.

homie I am in love with this idea. Presumed Alien Danny makes me so happy.

I will like to add: The not-quite-english that Danny is speaking is akin to old English.

[cascade05]

Book Girl

Heads up: Language, suggestive but definitely not descriptive, also Bakugo Katsuki (he comes with a warning), and unedited—super unedited

Kay, so, hear me out… Bakugo Katsuki and an author reader. Yes, ooh, ahh, I know I know. For those of you, and I am sure there are many, who have no idea what I mean, lemme explain:

Bakugo with a reader who asks him the strangest, borderline worrisome question about his work. “What’s it feel like to get stabbed?” “Have you ever gotten shot? With a gun? Explain it to me. How did it feel?” Sometimes he thinks you’re a little psycho but it’s oddly therapeutic for him to explain the worst parts of his job and not care about being judged so he don’t mind none.

Bakugo with a reader who patches up his wounds like a pro and mumble “this would be perfect in chapter twelve.” And he’s just staring at her like “ma’m I’m dying plz don’t immortalize this in literature.”

Most importantly (the thought that had me on this tangent), Bakugo Katsuki with his cute little writer baby who tests things on him. It’s never easy to deal with things either. It’s not, like, fighting related things. You don’t go up to him and ask him if you could put him in arm-bar or ask him if he could put you in an arm-bar (Actually you did ask him to do that cause you wanted to know how to get out of one but—)

She does this… thing where she goes up to him and whispers the nastiest shit in his ear, like, you know, innocent book girl shit. Ya’ll know what I mean. Book girls are fucking wild and they read the sauciest shit. So she whispers some knee numbing curse and Bakugo freezes like a little schoolboy who just found out what puberty hormones are and she has the audacity to take a step back, examine him like he’s a fucking lab rat or some shit, then ask him if that made his heart flutter. Like, bitch it made something flutter, the hell did you think saying that would do? Does he answer? The first few times it happened, he couldn’t. The next few times he tried to deny it but mumbled and slurred his words like a drunk. When he wasn’t caught horribly off guard, he started just throwing her over his shoulder and showing her what it did to him. (It really helped her with that one scene—)

But that’s not the worst of it. No. No no no. You see, before Bakugo, she had never been in a relationship before. She had never been in love before and she most certainly had never done anything physical with someone else before. He was her first everything. So she has trouble writing particularly steamy scenes, at least when it comes to describing everything and it has to be perfect. Well, that’s what a boyfriend’s for, right?

So, there are times in Bakugo’s life where his writer girlfriend just decides to make out with him. That’s a normal thing to do, they’re together, but she doesn’t just kiss him. Remember, book girl shit, girl goes fucking—well, Bakugo doesn’t know what but it’s ridiculous.

Kay, first time it happens: She comes up to him all casually and cute-like and asks if she can try something. Blissfully unaware Bakugo raises a brow but lets her and she takes his breath away with a kiss that’s all passion and it’s hot—he’s hot. He’s melting, actually, and she takes it further and put her hands in exactly the right places and just when he’s getting ready to go all the way with it, she pulls back. Bakugo’s never felt whiplash quite so jarring but there she was asking him how it felt because she wants to write the scene from a man’s perspective. She asking him all these questions and bro’s on a different planet right now, he can’t answer, kay. Like, give him a second to breathe cause he can’t find the air, ya know. And it happens, well not all the time but enough for the poor man to think she just isn’t in to him like he’s in to her. If she was, she would’ve been frustrated too, right? But she wasn’t and there he was, sitting alone like a fool while she ran off to go write it all down before she forgot.

But, well, book girls, right? Those freaky shits know how to please a guy so you can bet your bottom dollar that she made it up to him. Thoroughly :)

Or, alternatively, writer gf who doesn’t write steamy shit and just does all of this to fuck with him cause his reactions are *chief’s kiss*

[kybercrystals94]

Everyday We’ve Got

By KyberCrystals94

Read here on Ao3!

Whumptober 2023|Day 16|Prompt 16: “Don’t go where I can’t follow.”

Rating: G

Words: 696

Summary: Hunter wonders what will happen to Omega when they’re gone.

“She’s going to be alone someday.”

Echo’s awareness is ripped out of report he was reading. “What?”

Hunter doesn’t look at him, his eyes fixated on the little girl chasing Wrecker through the tall grass, their laughter floating over the clean, clear air. Hunter’s face is drawn, and he absently kneads his right thumb into the palm of his left hand. “How long do you suppose the Kaminoans planned for clones to live? Naturally, I mean. If we weren’t killed during the war.”

“Honestly, I don’t think the long necks thought that far ahead,” Echo says.

Hunter nods. “Tech said that the average human lives to approximately 75 standard years. But for us that would be halved, since clones age twice as fast. So, if we’re lucky, we might live for 35 standard years.” Hunter clears his throat, but doesn’t say anything else.

“And Omega will still be a young woman,” Echo finishes for him.

Hunter nods again, jaw tightening.

“For what it’s worth,” Echo says, “I don’t think Omega will be ever alone. That kid has got a good head on her shoulders, and an affinity to finding friends in the strangest places.” Echo breathes a laugh, but Hunter only smirks grimly.

“Well, that affinity also gets her into trouble,” Hunter mutters.

Echo chuckles. “She’s still a kid, Sarge. But she’s still got us.” Echo nudges Hunter in the shoulder with a fist. “She’s still got you.”

A shrill, delighted squeal pierces the air, and the two men see Wrecker scooping Omega up and throwing her over his shoulder like a sack. He starts walking up the hill toward the tree Hunter and Echo have been sitting against the past half hour while the two of them played.

Echo continues before the roughhousing duo are in earshot. “Supposing you’re right, and we’ve got 35 years in this galaxy…that means we have a little over twenty years left, right?”

“I suppose.”

“Then I say,” Echo says, keeping his voice low, “that we make the most of everyday we’ve got with her.”

Hunter is looking at him now, the sadness still lingering in his eyes. But there is an edge of hope that wasn’t there before.

That’s the moment Wrecker lumbers up, a giggling Omega still draped over his shoulder.

“Look what I found! A wild Omega,” Wrecker crows, “You know they’re rare in these parts?”

“Put me down!” Omega squeaks out through her breathless laughter.

“Mouthy little thing,” Wrecker goes on, “Can we keep her?”

Hunter cracks a smile. “I don’t know. Tech doesn’t like pets on his ship.”

“Hey!” Omega cries, wiggling around in Wrecker’s grip so she can turn her head to see Hunter.

“I think he’d like this one,” Wrecker says. “She’s pretty smart.”

“And the Marauder could use a mascot,” Echo puts in.

“Guys!” Omega whines good-naturedly.

Wrecker laughs and swings Omega off his shoulder, setting her gently on her feet. She smiles brightly up at all of them, but her focus hones on Hunter. “I like this planet! How long are we going to stay?” she asks.

“Probably only until Tech is done with inventory,” Hunter says.

“Can we stay through the night cycle? We can have a campfire!” Omega bounces on her toes, and she reaches out to grasp Hunter’s hand. “Wrecker told me all about campfires, and they sound like the best thing ever!”

“Yeah, Hunter, can we?” Wrecker asks, sounding, if possible, more hopeful than their sister.

Hunter exchanges a glance with Echo, and Echo grins and shrugs. “It is a nice planet. Might as well make the most of it,” he says.

The Sergeant keeps his gaze for only a moment, a silent acknowledgement, before he looks down at the golden-haired child in their care. “Sure, kid. A campfire sounds like a good plan.”

Omega gasps delightedly. “Thank you, Hunter! This is going to be so much fun!”

Later that night, around a crackling, roaring campfire, Omega falls asleep tucked into Hunter’s side, and Hunter holds her close. “Someday,” he whispers, “I’m gonna go where you can’t follow…but while you’ve got me, little one, I’ll protect you to the ends of the galaxy. I promise.”

Tag List: @isthereanechoinhere96 @followthepurrgil @amorfista

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[ivystoryweaver]

The Only One

Episode 2

prev | next | Fic Masterlist | My Masterlist

Pairing: Poe Dameron x female original character. Fic is written in second person, but the female "you" has a name

Word Count: 2.1k

Content: fluff, angst-ish (more below the cut)

Warnings: ableism, bullying, self-worth issues, briefest mention of sex, but no actual sex, not beta'd

PREVIOUSLY on "The Only One"...

Poe left that first encounter with you a little weary, mildly bored, and terribly intrigued. He found you a little odd, but extremely adorable. Something about your twin hair buns, little backpack, intelligence and bluntness piqued his interest. Although he couldn't honestly say he was interested in a date from day one. That came later.

NOW...

Poe supposed that going on a date during desperate war times might be considered a little frivolous. There wasn't exactly a lot to do around the Resistance base, so he decided to search out a place to take you in the nearest town. Even there, the two of you would have to tread carefully. The First Order had not yet corrupted this lush little planet, but there was always the possibility of running into a spy, even potentially among the Resistance ranks.

Poe had a bit of a social life, of course, between his numerous missions. After all, he was friends with everyone and had no trouble finding companionship if he wanted it. But he felt like it had been a while since he had made such a specific point to take someone out.

The two of you had plans to meet in the hangar - a familiar spot to you both, and just the thought of seeing his ship made him wish he could take you off planet somewhere. But every ounce of energy and fuel had to be preserved for missions, as per Leia's directive.

So, as Poe arrived at the hangar, he was pleased to find you had beat him there, and were waiting for him beside his prized, black and orange T-70 X-wing. You faced away from him, bouncing a little on your toes and tugging at the straps of your backpack.

The little pack momentarily distracted him from the fit of your standard issue attire, but his eyes quickly thereafter drifted down to the swell of your hips, and the unique way you tucked the bottom of your pants into your unlaced boots.

Your hair remained twisted up in your signature twin buns - a look he'd come to adore - specifically when soft, errant strands would tumble down the smooth column of your neck.

Watching you unguarded for another indulgent moment, he found himself amused, somehow, that your date look was the same as your everyday look. Nothing wrong with that, of course - it was just so refreshingly you. He found your familiar quirks comforting, although he did wonder why you might need your backpack. He had always assumed your pack held your work tools or something related to your purpose in the Resistance.

Perhaps it was something more. So many in the Resistance had so few possessions - they could get attached to the strangest of things, not unlike the way he was attached to his mother's ring, which dangled from the chain around his neck.

"Elia," he called out, alerting you to his presence, eager to get the evening started.

You whirled around, tugging fiercely on your backpack straps before bounding over with a bright smile.

"Hi, Poe," you chirped, scuffing your unlaced boot against the ground. "I think you're six minutes late."

Chomping down on his lip to keep from laughing, Poe nodded in agreement. Blunt and literal as ever - his Elia. Or maybe someday, his.

"I am indeed," he agreed with a shrug. "Although I've actually been here for a few minutes. I was just watching you."

Damn, that sounded creepy as soon as the thought left his mind and transformed into words.

"Watching me do what?" You innocently asked, your eyes wide and blinking.

"Just...standing there," he smiled warmly. "I like your hair."

"You do? Oh! Thanks, I always do the same thing with it because it's really thick and well..." You trailed off, which was something rare for you. "I like your hair too. I mean, everyone does."

"Yeah?" He grinned, nodding for you to start walking with him. "Everyone?"

"Mm-hmm," you responded, skipping just a little as the two of you exited the hangar. "Yeah, um, Lira in medical always talks about wanting to grab it, and Dane's old roommate said you have so much hair that you should give him half."

If Poe had been drinking anything, he would have spit it out. Dane's former roommate was bald.

"Good to know," he chuckled. "So why do you like it?"

"It looks soft. Like your eyes," you instantly answered, with no pretension or hesitation.

Those brown eyes swept over to you adoringly.

Noticing this, you nodded eagerly as the two of you continued your stroll. "See? Like that. You look at me nicer than everyone else."

Earlier that morning...

"Seriously, what does Poe see in her?" Lira from the med bay asked her friend, the two of them flipping through some medical charts, pretending to get some work done. Perhaps they had forgotten that you were working on one of the medical computers a few rooms down the hall. Or perhaps they were just rude.

"Wait, who is he going out with?"

You didn't recognize the second voice, but she seemed eager to gossip with the most beautiful girl in the Resistance. (which was definitely not you)

"Elia, or whatever her name is. You know, that computer girl who wears a backpack all the time?"

Hearing your name, and the mention of your backpack made you flinch, halting your computer repair. Almost reflexively, you frantically reached to make sure said pack was still securely connected to your shoulders.

"Wait, Poe is going out with her?" the other girl gasped. "Why? Is he that desperate? Because, let me tell you - what I wouldn't give to sink my fingers into his gorgeous hair while we..."

You pressed the heels of your palms tightly to your ears while Lira's friends spewed whatever disgusting things she was going to say about Poe.

It wasn't that you had a problem with sex. You had been with people before. Well...person. One person. It was nice. Until it wasn't.

Anyway, you just weren't sure why people needed to discuss sex so often. And it's not that you couldn't talk about sex, but the absolutely moronic things people said out loud sometimes made your skin crawl.

Tentatively removing your hands from your ears, hoping to quickly finish your repair and leave the med bay, you heard Lira's voice again.

"Believe me, I used to grab his hair every chance I got." She paused, sighing defeatedly. "That was before he got so boring. I just wanted to have a little fun, but Poe takes things so seriously."

"Poe Dameron is serious?" her friend questioned, disbelievingly. "Mr. Can-Have-Anybody? Why?"

"The answer to that question must be the same answer to the question of why he is going out with Elia. He could do so much better. That girl is weird."

Frowning, you tried your best to tune out their voices. It was nothing new. Everyone thought you were weird. Hell, you thought you were weird. And it wasn't as if you were completely oblivious to the surprise that Commander Dameron asked you out on a date.

You almost said no, when he asked. You were quite a literal person, and typically took people at their word, even if they were screwing with you. But something about Poe Dameron asking to take you out did give you pause.

Still...he seemed so sincere and he'd always been kind to you. So you believed him.

"Finished with the computer," you announced, appearing in the doorway where Lira and her friend had been chatting instead of working. Both girls shot out of their chairs as if caught doing something wrong.

"Oh, Elia, it's just you," Unknown Friend chimed, plopping back down in her seat. "Did you fix that computer?"

"Computer's fine," you shrugged. "I think it was user error."

With that, you turned on your booted heel and bounded out of the med bay.

"Okay, Ells, you got this," Poe encouraged, rubbing his palms together conspiratorially.

Drawing a deep breath, you focused intently on the Holo-dart board, raising your arm to try and even hit the thing.

"All right, move your arm back a little more," he guided, "and then, your foot, just - here, let me show you." Poe bravely crowded in behind you, attempting to help you correct your terrible stance. But he noticed your slight flinch - your free hand gripping your backpack strap at shoulder level.

"Sorry, I'm sorry," he said quickly, moving out of your personal space. "I...should have asked you."

Trying to brush off your weird personal space thing, you attempted a laugh. "No, it's okay. It just surprised me, is all."

Poe's eyes darkened in concern, and he wondered, for a moment, if someone had hurt you in the past - made you afraid to be touched.

"I should probably just let you take my last turn," you offered, smiling helplessly. "Hand-eye coordination is not really my thing."

"But you work on computers and microchips and all that intricate stuff," Poe argued. "You have to be coordinated to do that, right?"

"Not like this. It's different."

Okay, maybe beating you at Holo-darts was not a good first date idea. Poe's reflexes were unbeatable. He was incredibly coordinated and good at almost everything. Thankfully, you didn't seem to be terribly competitive, at least not at this game.

"Here, why don't you copy me," he offered, standing beside you instead of crowding in behind you. "Put your left foot forward, just a little bit, like this..."

He waited for you to get into position, which you quickly did.

"That's it, and then raise your arm - copy the shape of my arm."

He went on to guide you through a stance with the greatest chance of success - then waited while you let the Holo-dart fly...

...it actually hit the edge of the board, giving you the fewest number of points possible, but you were thrilled.

"Poe, I did it! I hit the board!" You cried, jumping up and down.

"Yeah! That's my girl," he cheered, fighting the urge to reach out and grab you for a hug.

A small section of your hair plopped across your eye, having worked itself loose from one of your hair buns. Your nose was adorably scrunched with laughter as you held up two hands to high five your date.

Poe slapped his palms to yours, thrilled when you took hold of his hands and squeezed.

"You are a good teacher," you complimented warmly. "I guess that's why everyone wants to learn to fly from you."

Poe gazed down into your eyes, so sincere, even as they sparkled with merriment. "I could teach you to fly, if you want."

"Me?" You gawked, quickly pulling your hands away. "No, I...I couldn't do that. I could never fly. I just work on the computers."

"Okay," he softly agreed, wishing he would have said something else - something that would have allowed him to hold onto your hands a little longer.

"This has been fun," you changed the subject, reaching up to tuck your loose strands of hair back where they belonged. "It was nice of you...to bring me on a date."

"It was nice of you to say yes to a date," Poe countered, smiling down at you fondly. "You didn't have to."

"Of course I was gonna say yes, I mean who would say no to you? No one. Because you're so nice to everyone, and you're good at everything and, you know, like we talked about - your hair. So, like, of course I was going to say yes, because you're always so sweet to me, Poe. Sweeter than anyone."

Shifting a bit uncomfortably, your fingers found the frayed ends of your backpack straps. "I know, you know...what people think about me. That I'm...weird. So, it's just...it's really so nice of you to ask me out tonight."

Poe melted.

Who had made you feel this way? So, you were a little talkative. And literal. Big deal. At least he always knew where he stood with you. You were direct; without guile or pretense. It was refreshing.

"I like the way you are," he attempted, holding your gaze as long as you would allow it. "You're honest and interesting and smart. I always have fun with you. And it doesn't hurt that you're pretty." His dark eyebrows shot up suggestively.

"Me? No, I'm not. I'm not." Your hands were a completely tangled mess, woefully wound several rounds deep into the straps of your pack.

He thought about firing back a joke, such as, 'Oh, you're not? My mistake' but he thought better of it. You responded to sincerity and jokes were often confusing to you.

"You are to me, Ells," he plainly stated.

Your eyes went wide and your strap tugging momentarily halted. Chewing on your lip, you blinked a few times, wondering if you were missing something.

"Thanks," you finally said, although your voice had dropped to a whisper. Maybe Poe really thought you were cute. After all, your hair buns did look kind of cute, if you did say so yourself. On a good day maybe. Tonight they were a mess.

But he didn't know the real you. Not all of you. If he saw all of you - if he ever got close enough, he would realize what you were. And he would know that you were not only ugly, but completely malformed, from the inside out.*

next

*note: I am in no way insinuating that to be neurodivergent is to be malformed. This story is set in a fantasy universe and there are many things at play here. note #2: don't worry, the entire story won't be repeats of Elia hearing people talk about her behind her back. We're just getting set up.

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[midnightshard06]

Fictober Day 17: "Strangest thing I ever heard"

You can check it out on ao3 here if you prefer.

Summary: Sonic tells Super about his adventure fixing a broken planet. Super clearly doesn't know what to think about Sonic's odd adventures.

Set in my Chaos Uncontrolled AU

Warnings: None

Word Count: ~900 words

Sonic stretched as he relaxed in the headspace he and Super shared. The two didn't meet here often, typically just talking and being able to feel each other's emotions was enough, but Sonic had specifically requested a "face to face" for this. He wanted, no needed to see Super's reactions when he told him about this particular adventure. "You just gonna keep sitting there or are you actually going to start this?" Super sat cross legged across from him, chin balanced on his hand and bored look on his face.

"Just collecting my thoughts dude." Sonic chuckled. "Now then… where to start…" He snapped. "Ah right! Eggman trying to threaten the planet with a fleet of spaceships. I of course went up to stop him. Things got a little dicey so I ended up using the emeralds." He looked away. "Guess Eggman had been expecting me to come with them though cause he ended up trapping me and using the emeralds to power some big laser that broke the planet apart. Draining the emeralds in the process."

Super held up a hand, a mildly bewildered look on his face. "Why the hell did you mention the planet literally breaking into pieces so casually?"

"Well as you could probably tell we got it all fixed so." Sonic shrugged. "If I think too hard about it I realize just how serious Eggman can be sometimes."

Super growled. "Alright whatever. Continue."

"Right. Turns out he split the planet apart to wake up Dark Gaia. Somehow him using me kinda as a battery for that caused me to uh, gain an additional form for a bit." He tapped his chin. "You know werewolves right?" 

"Yeah..?" Super blinked.

"Great. So I basically turned into one at night. Called it the werehog." Sonic chuckled to himself. "After the planet was in pieces Eggman launched me abd the emeralds out of his ship and I got sent hurtling towards the planet. I survived though, of course."

"... I have so many questions." Super's face was blank. 

"Please save any questions for the end of the story. Cause I know there'll be more." Sonic grinned. "Not long after I crash landed I found this little guy I ended up calling Chip. He couldn't remember anything and that included a name. I promised I'd help him out."

"On top of literally fixing the planet?" Super rose a brow.

"Yep." Sonic nodded. "It just felt like the right thing to do." He shrugged. "Anyway it was that first night after meeting Chip that I realized that the werehog would be a nightly thing. Also found out that Dark Gaia could mess with people's emotions. Oh yeah, and my arms could stretch. Useful, but odd." Super's face twisted up into some emotion Sonic couldn't place. "Questions after remember?" 

Super took in a sharp breath. "Fine." His voice was tight.

Sonic took a deep breath before really getting into the meat of the adventure. Super did his best to keep his face neutral throughout everything but the other hedgehog was clearly failing. With every new thing Sonic brought up, whether it be placing the drained Chaos Emeralds in the Gaia Temples to restore them and pieces of the planet or mentioning Professor Pickles’ love for very specific cucumber sandwiches, Super’s face grew more and more confused. 

“-in the end it turned out Chip was Light Gaia. His memories were all messed up because he and Dark Gaia got woken up early.” Sonic let a wistful smile slip onto his face. “In the end me and him teamed up and sent Dark Gaia back to sleep. Ended up fighting the thing in the core of the planet using the emeralds, and Chip making a golem out of the Gaia Temples.” He sighed. “Had to say goodbye after that, Chip had to go back to sleep.”

Super had his head in his hands. He groaned before looking up at Sonic again. “Done?”

“Yeeeep.” Sonic popped the p.

“Good, because that was the strangest thing I’ve ever heard in my relatively short life.” Super gestured to Sonic. “You becoming a werewolf, the planet literally being in pieces, you fighting a god in the core of the earth alongside another god?” The other hedgehog sounded slightly out of it by the end.

“You clearly have no idea how weird some of my adventures can get.” Sonic chuckled. 

“And I’m not sure I even want to know now. What could be weirder than all that?” Super had a deadpan look on his face. Sonic simply shrugged. “You know what-” Super held his hands up. “Even if there is something weirder I don’t wanna know right now. I still need to process all that.” He rubbed his temples.

“Hey, you asked me to tell you about this one.” Sonic chuckled.

“I was naive and blinded by curiosity as to what the heck those people were talking about in Holoska.” Super pinned his ears down and pointed at Sonic. “I thought they were just exaggerating something.”

“Nope.” Sonic stood up and stretched. “Well I’ll leave you be to… process.” He couldn’t help the short chuckle that left him.

“Yeah, fine, good.” Super waved him off, looking distracted.

As Sonic blinked open his real eyes he couldn’t help the amused smile that came to his face. He’d definitely have to tell Super about his other adventures some time.

[jaguarys]

Qui-Gon has been on Tatooine for no more than a few standard hours and already he wants nothing more than to be off it. There’s a strange feeling to it; he feels vaguely, strangely, in ways he hasn’t before, that he is not supposed to be here. That there is something wrong with the very planet itself.

It’s a foreign feeling, and the longer they stay the stronger it feels. It’s almost a stain in the Force, and that more than anything convinces him it’s not the planet, or at least not entirely. It’s something. Someone, perhaps.

When he was making to step out of the ship initially, Obi-Wan had thrown him a glance that said he felt it too. Qui-Gon did his best to shove reassurance at him, but even he couldn’t help to admit that something about it all unsettled him.

As they make their way further into town, the feeling only grows stronger. He feels, more and more increasingly, as though he is simply just not meant to be here.

It doesn’t seem targeted, oddly enough. It doesn’t feel as though whatever entity is so unwelcoming is entirely aware of his presence, but moreso just as though it’s displeased.

And then he feels the pull. He feels the Force as though it’s shock coated in disdain, coated in anger, coated in horror, as though it’s thrashing. It’s overwhelming in its intensity, in its potency, and for a moment Qui-Gon feels bowled off his feet.

And then it’s gone, just like that, snuffed out like a candle. Or like someone who knows well how to control their presence and was simply caught off guard, someone who had realized he was there.

Well, then.

He finds himself looking for the presence in the faces of the people they pass by, but it’s a futile effort. Whoever he sensed, they had tamped hard down on whatever had caused their initial reaction.

The disappearance is perhaps in and of itself a stranger sensation than the original feeling itself. He feels like a pressure has stepped itself off his chest, but then again, it’s like a blank space in the air where a person should be.

Qui-Gon shakes it off, and he and his group try as best they can to find a shop.

He has had the fortune, thus far, as has much of the wider galaxy, of avoiding Tatooine. He’d heard many things, of course, but he’d never before had a need to grace its surface.

Of course, had he had the chance, this would not have changed. But as he had not, he instead braces himself.

Qui-Gon finds himself, almost against himself, conducting business with perhaps the most unpleasant of Toydarians the galaxy has to offer. He knows very well he is being ripped off, thank you very much, but they don’t have many other options, and then––

A boy runs into the shop, and it’s like the popping of a balloon, of the discomfort of coming up for air after a dive, of ears popping at a change in altitude.

And Qui-Gon thinks, Ah. That’s it, then.

He has found the presence, and it’s a child with the strangest Force signature he has ever seen.

Qui-Gon is not and has never been a seeker, but that doesn’t mean he hasn’t found younglings. He has never, of course, found a child this old. He has never, of course, ever been on Tatooine, either.

The boy doesn’t seem to notice him, but Qui-Gon knows better than that. The child’s Force signature is carefully concealed, far better than someone his age should be able to achieve, but even still it’s leaking out like water through cracks in a glass, like someone trying to catch sand in their fingers. And even with this cursory glance, he can tell: this youngling is unlike anyone, anything he has seen.

Qui-Gon knows, then, that this unfortunate and inopportune trip to Tatooine’s surface has not been in vain. For he has found the planet’s third sun.

>>

The child resolutely ignores them. Qui-Gon thinks at first that he may simply be reading too much into it, his focus honed in as it is on his unusual Force signature. It quickly becomes clear this is not the case.

No. He is very deliberately being ignored.

And so they follow him, because Qui-Gon is fascinated.

Qui-Gon knows–– he knows–– that this child is important. He knows he cannot let him simply run on past with his... everything, with whatever immeasurable ability he has tucked away in the folds of his sand-covered tunic.

The queen's handmaiden does not know the same. She shoots him what she probably thinks are well-hidden looks, but Qui-Gon gestures for her to be quiet, and she fortunately follows his direction.

He's certain the child knows he's being followed. He does a good show of pretending, but if Qui-Gon focuses, very very closely, he can feel the vaguest tendrils of the boy's signature reaching out intermittently.

They're led from Watto's shop what could barely be called the stretch of commerce and through to an even more rundown neighborhood, and Qui-Gon realizes, Oh.

Perhaps he'd been fooled by the pride evident in the boy's posture, but he is not naïve, and he knows very well what this means.

He’s distracted from those thoughts when the child turns to them, then.

“Are you just going to allow yourselves to be caught up in the sandstorm?” He demands, his voice imbued with so much feeling it would seem precocious on anyone else but seems fitting on him. “I thought you were a Jedi.”

Qui-Gon blinks and wonders how no one else on this planet but the youngling recognizes him. But as unwise as it is, he doesn’t feel threatened. Simply chastised.

“We’ll head back to our ship,” he explains. “But thank you for your warning.”

“And you will die,” the child states.

Qui-Gon hums. The wind is already starting to pick up, swirling sand around their feet and ankles. The child is likely right.

“Is there someplace we could shelter?” The queen’s handmaiden– Padmé, her name is– asks from beside him. The child shifts his heavy gaze to her, expression tightening. He seems unduly offended by her ask, reasonable as it is.

“That’s none of my business.”

Qui-Gon opens his mouth to try to protest, but he’s cut off by another voice.

“Ani?”

A woman pops out of one of the doors– they’re small homes, Qui-Gon realizes– with a worried look on her face. She zeroes in on the child and scolds, “I was worried about you.”

Qui-Gon can’t help but smile at the scene of this strange youngling being reprimanded like any other despite his undeniable oddness. It’s strangely comforting, not least because the boy’s hard eyes immediately soften in her presence, and he seems so much younger, all of a sudden, more his apparent age.

Then the woman seems to notice his strange entourage, and she straightens.

“Are you with Ani?” She asks, half gently, half apprehensively. Qui-Gon reads the tightness in her presence. “Do you need shelter for the storm?”

Qui-Gon nods deeply. “If you have room, it would be terribly appreciated.”

She softens.

“Always,” she says, and she ushers the small group in.

Qui-Gon spends the evening trying to softly ignore the death glares the child probably thinks he's doing a good job of masking and gently trying to pry information out of Shmi Skywalker.

He learns the boy's name: Anakin Skywalker. He rolls it around in his mouth, incurably and unequivocally fascinated with this child and who he is, what he is.

He learns more than he could have hoped. He learns he was correct about the small family's predicament. He learns more about Tatooine.

He learns about the upcoming podrace. He learns about the importance of winning.

An idea grows in his mind.

He likes to think there would be more trepidation, if he were more convinced this child truly were one. If the little blond thing didn't have whispers of power around him every time Qui-Gon saw him out of the corner of his eye.

(Of course, he has no way of knowing this is not true. But Ani does. For Ani knows all of this, knows what happens before and after in this and so many worlds.

Qui-Gon does not, but perhaps he should.)

As such, Qui-Gon does not hesitate to put the boy forward for the race when Shmi mentions his aptitude. For he has no reason not to, when he has always been a pragmatic man and has prophecy in the back of his mind besides.

Shmi gives him a sharp look when he mentions it, but she doesn't protest, or at least not much past a few grumbles. He doesn't intend to get on her bad side, but it's difficult when he can't help but resist the urge to ask her how she attempts to parent something like this.

Dinner is a short affair after that. Ani continually has very little interest in him–– Qui-Gon can't tell if he's done something to offend, but from the way Ani seems to avoid the queen's handmaiden even more ardently he begins to suspect it's simply in the child's nature.

(And perhaps it is, if not in the way he might think.)

>>

Qui-Gon approaches the Toydarian the next morning on the possibility of a bet.

It's easier than he'd expected, and he hadn't expected much. Watto is a horrible creature, and he is easily swayed by money if nothing else.

Watto throws the die.

Qui-Gon eyes it, watches it fall, reaches out to subtly shift it—

And then a pressure hits him, the force of a million hands, and the die shifts back. He gasps despite himself, the exhalation of breath as the wind is knocked out of him. For a moment he stands frozen, and then, despite himself, his gaze snaps up.

Ani is staring back at him from across the room.

Qui-Gon’s thoughts race. That was so much… more than he’d expected. He’d expected much, and yet––

And yet, he knows— he knows— that it must have been. He felt, in the supernova of strength, the traces he’s sensed around Ani.

It should not be possible.

(But through the Force, all things are. He smiles.)

“You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” Watto leers. “Didn’t get the result you were looking for?”

Qui-Gon pulls his gaze away, leans down to pick up the die, and holds it in his fingers like it will give him answers.

He schools his expression carefully, and says, “What do you think of a more intense bet?”

Watto grunts expectantly.

“Say, if Ani were to win… easily, let’s say. Without damage done to his racer. Would that be worth both him and his mother?”

Watto squints at him for a moment, as though he can’t quite believe Qui-Gon’s words, and Qui-Gon can’t quite blame him.

He wonders if he’s making a horrible mistake. All the same, he feels— he knows— it’s right. That he’s right.

That Anakin Skywalker will, somehow, succeed.

Qui-Gon is startled out of his thoughts by an ugly bark of laughter.

“You’re not kidding!” Watto exclaims.

“I’m not,” Qui-Gon confirms with a nod. Internally, he laughs at himself. If Obi-Wan knew what he was doing…

Watto bares his teeth in what is a mean grin. “Well, then. I can’t turn that down, Master Jedi.”

And despite how ill-advised this is, how much of a mistake he must by all accounts be making, Qui-Gon can’t bring himself to regret his bet. Because he knows, somehow, somehow, it will work. He knows Ani will win. For this supernova couldn’t not.

>>

In the coming days, Qui-Gon finds it impossible to find the child. Ani does a spectacular job of avoiding him.

After days of unsuccessful attempt, he finally corners manages to corner him when Ani's at work on the podracer.

The child refuses to look at him, acts as though he’s not even there, and Qui-Gon feels out of his depth. He knows how to deal with younglings, likes them even, but Ani is unlike any child he has ever encountered.

He brushes up against Ani’s half-concealed Force presence, and the child in front of him cannot hide the way he bristles.

Qui-Gon settles against the outer wall of the building behind them, leaning back against the rock. It still holds the last remnants of the day's heat, holding on even in the dusk.

They sit in silence for a few moments, only the sound of tool on machinery and creatures in the distance filling the air.

Qui-Gon leans forward, sighing to himself. “Are you confident in your ability to win?”

Ani gives him a look. It is, altogether, unimpressed. Qui-Gon considers it a win that he looks at him at all.

“I'm confident,” he says with a twist of his wrench.

Something stops Qui-Gon from telling him about the bet. With what he knows of Ani's abilities, perhaps he assumes the boy already knows. Perhaps he wants to keep it a suprise, when Ani pulls it off. Perhaps he's not sure why.

Neither of them say anything, after that. Qui-Gon watches him for a few minutes more, and then he makes his way back into the house.

Ani stays out for a long while after that.

>>

It’s just as expected. Ani wins easily.

Qui-Gon can’t stop himself from turning to Shmi as the final lap finishes. Her expression is indecipherable, some mix of pride and fear and worry and relief.

Since he chanced upon this odd family, he’s had the sense Shmi knows something of her son’s… oddities. She’s not Force-sensitive, certainly not, and yet…

And yet, there’s something to her. Something that says she is more than aware, that she is wildly, terribly cognizant of something or other that curls in the Force like a warning.

He leans closer. “You knew he could do this.”

She looks up at him, and there’s a sort of guard to her gaze, though her tone is jovial. “He’s my son. Of course I did.”

He almost says, That’s not what I meant.

Instead he says, “You must be proud.”

She does not smile. They both know what he means. “Of course I am.”

He leaves to help her son out of a podracer far too big for him, and he tries not to laugh at the irony of it all.

>>

Qui-Gon finds Ani in the evening, suns setting in the distance. He’s settled himself on a low stone wall, staring out into the wastes.

For a moment Qui-Gon catches him out of the corner of his eye and his silhouette seems much larger than the little boy he is. Qui-Gon sternly tells the Force to stop messing with him.

Ani looks up at him, and Qui-Gon nods his hello, settles beside him. They stay quiet for a long moment. He cuts his losses and starts.

“Do you know what I’m going to ask you?” He asks.

“I can guess,” Ani says in the far-too-old tone of his little voice.

Qui-Gon decides he’s a little bit done treating this kid like one. “You could come with us, if you’d like. I would teach you to be a Jedi.”

“I’ve no interest in the Jedi,” Ani says in a voice that says he very much does indeed have an interest in the Jedi, but Qui-Gon doesn’t point it out.

“That’s your choice. In my eyes, though…” He sighs. “It would be a terrible waste of your talent.”

“No such thing,” Ani huffs. He holds out a hand. “The credits you won.”

Once again, Qui-Gon does not point out he didn’t tell Ani about the credits, about their freedom. Instead, he simply chuckles and hands them over.

Ani cradles them to his chest in the most blatant act of tenderness Qui-Gon’s seen from him. There’s a sort of vulnerability there, like an animal showing its soft belly, and it makes the Jedi want to avert his eyes.

Ani climbs to his feet, then turns back to him.

“When you leave,” he starts. “I expect you to tell no one of my presence here. Mine or my mother’s. You will leave us alone, and the rest of the Jedi will as well.”

Qui-Gon blinks. He feels, again, the pressure of the Force, pulsating around the child in front of him. He has the urge both to pull back and to lean forward, the urge to run and the urge to absorb every bit of information Ani is letting leak through the cracks of his carefully constructed walls.

He’s so terribly intrigued by this boy. He yearns to know where and how he’s learned any of this, who he is, what he is.

But he won’t.

“I understand entirely,” he answers. “Me and mine will be gone by morning.”

Ani shakes his head firmly. “Tonight. You will leave tonight.”

Qui-Gon opens his mouth to protest, and then he catches the look in the kid’s eye. He resists the urge to frown.

This isn’t rudeness. This is a warning.

Finally, he nods. “We’ll leave tonight.”

Ani watches him for a long moment, and Qui-Gon gets the sense he’s being analyzed. He keeps his gaze.

Eventually, Ani must have whatever answer he was looking for, because he nods once, decisively, and turns again to leave.

Qui-Gon watches him disappear into his home and gets the sense that this will be the last time he sees him.

>>

(This is the second chapter of my fic It's Quicker and Easier to Eat Your Young!, which is posted on AO3. The link in my description :))

[adventure-showdown]

What is your favourite Doctor Who story?

ROUND 2 MASTERPOST

synopses and propaganda under the cut

Anachrophobia

Synopsis

Imagine a war. A war that has lasted centuries, a war which has transformed an entire planet into a desolate No Man's Land. A war where time itself is being used as a weapon.

You can create zones of decelerated time and bring the enemy troops to a standstill. You can create storms of accelerated time and reduce the opposition to dust in a matter of seconds.

But now the war has reached a stalemate. Neither the Plutocrats nor the Defaulters have made any gains for over a hundred years.

The Doctor, Fitz and Anji arrive at Isolation Station Forty, a military research establishment on the verge of a breakthrough. A breakthrough which will change the entire course of the war.

They have found a way to send soldiers back in time. But time travel is a primitive, unpredictable and dangerous business. And not without its own sinister side effects...

Propaganda

YOU THINK MIDNIGHT IS SCARY? YOU THINK MIDNIGHT IS HORROR? TRY READING ANACHROPHOBIA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! imagine. there is a war that has been raging for centuries between two groups - the plutocrats and the defaulters (YEAH THIS IS ALSO A COMMENTARY ON THE FUTILITY OF CAPITALISM AND WAR ECONOMICS!) - and both sides have developed time technology that allows them to either Speed Time Up (which can age someone to dust in the span of a few seconds) or Slow Time Down (trapping someone in a single second for millennia). the doctor and his friends are trapped in a military base that is studying time travel. they send a pod into the past, but when it comes back it brings Something With It. something that makes people Lose Their Whole Past and relive moments again and again. and also turns their faces into clocks. read this fuckkng book (@eightdoctor )

ANACHROPHOBIA ANACHROPHOBIA ANACHROPHOBIA ITS SO GOOD ITS SO GOOD YOU DONT UNDERSTAND YOU DONT UNDERSTAND. IT DEALS WITH THE TIME JUST AFTER (TWO BOOKS AFTER) THE DOCTOR HAD HIS SECOND HEART REMOVED AND IT DOES IT SO WELL. ‘‘LIKE A MAN WHO HAS LOST AN ARM STILL BEING ABLE TO SENSE MOVEMENTS IN HIS FINGERS. LIKE A MAN WHO STILL SOMETIMES FEELS THE BEAT OF A SECOND HEART’’ ARATFTFY ITS SO GOOD IT CHANGED MY BRAIN CHEMISTRY. THE LAST TWO BOOKS (MAD DOGS AND ENGLISHMEN + HOPE) DIDNT MENTION MUCH ABOUT THE EFFECTS OF LOSING AN ENTIRE FUCKING HEART BUT ANACHROPHOBIA IS ALL ABOUT IT. THE DOCTOR IS SICK, WEAKER THAN USUAL, FITZ AND ANJI ARE CONCERNED, SO CONCERNED THEY’RE WONDERING IF HE CAN LIVE WITH ONLY ONE HEART. THEY GET OXYGEN CANNISTERS AND A MASK OUT FOR HIM JUST IN CASE!!!!! AND OH THE BODY HORROR OH THE BODY HORROR. IT'S GOOD ITS SO GOOD. AND SABBATH IS IN IT AND HES DISGUISED AS A GUY (ISN'T REVEALED UNTIL THE END) AND HE PRETENDS TO PANIC WHEN HE REALISES HIS COWORKERS ARE DEAD AND IT MAKES ME FEEL SICK SO SICK WHEN I REALISED HIS EMOTION WAS FAKE. ITS GOOD ITS SO GOOD ITS SO FUCKING GOOD (nix)

Alien Bodies

Synopsis

On an island in the East Indies, in a lost city buried deep in the heart of the rainforest, agents of the most formidable powers in the galaxy are gathering. They have been invited there to bid for what could turn out to be the deadliest weapon ever created.

When the Doctor and Sam arrive in the city, the Time Lord soon realises they've walked into the middle of the strangest auction in history — and what's on sale to the highest bidder is something more horrifying than even the Doctor could have imagined, something that could change his life forever.

And just when it seems things can't get any worse, the Doctor finds out who else is on the guest list.

Propaganda

Doctor ends up at an auction for his own dead body (anonymous)

One of the most notable Eighth Doctor books, the first by Lawrence Miles and the beginning of Faction Paradox. Generally very good. (anonymous)

Banger of a story where 8 goes to an auction in order to purchase 3's dead body. Then the weird shit starts happening. (@eighthdoctor )

[yeehaw-in-magic-space]

Session 2 Recap: Part 3/3

Prometheus and Chuck both went silent and still for a time. Neither of them had wanted trouble today, and they’d found trouble like nothing they’d ever seen. Geraldine wasted no time in whipping out her notebook and recounting every detail she could remember of the battle. Dolly saw this, and immediately began to follow in her example. The two kept very different notes: Dolly was making a web of information and events in an attempt to put together details in conjunction with rumors she’d heard. Geraldine recorded the whole thing in a dreamy, narrative focused journal entry. She recorded the details of her first heroic adventure, which Chuck pressed her about when he arrived at their table with as many bottles of alcohol as he could snatch up from the bar at once. Geraldine took the opportunity to tell the party about her favorite novels: The Dashing Adventures of Mike Hawk, a daring and promiscuous cowboy who roamed the frontier worlds in search of love, justice, and good fortune. She explained her motivations were to write an adventure of her own, and live out her fantasies of being just like the esteemed Mr. Hawk. 

No one quite knew what to say, so Geraldine urged the conversation forward. She interrogated each of the party members about their motivations. Chuck explained that he was simply escorting Dolly to the nearest satellite containing an Information Station, which he had promised to do in exchange for the interview. Dolly revealed that she hadn’t written a single question for the interview, and wasn’t honestly terribly invested in it. She was out taking whatever jobs "Choice Information" would pay her to do, and doing them with as little effort as possible. 

Prometheus did not reveal his intentions heading out to the edge of the frontier, but he did unknowingly reveal far more interesting information. While dodging the question, he let his true accent slip. He did not have the voice of a smooth talking snake oil salesman, but in fact, the accent of an upper-class citizen from the core worlds (though this combined with his scarlet eyes to raise more questions than it did reveal anything).

Chuck took this opportunity to remove the breathing apparatus he had been wearing so that he could drink. He revealed himself as a Thri-Kreen, a rare ant-like species of alien that none of the rest of the party had ever encountered before. No one asked any follow up questions, as this was not the strangest thing they had been forced to deal with today, and no one said a word as his insectoid tongue found its way to the bottom of one of the whiskey bottles. 

Dolly made her way to the bar to find something else to drink and discovered that the dining car was remarkably well stocked. There were supplies for serving ice cream sundaes, milkshakes, sarsaparilla, and meals both fresh and canned. The place was full of food and drink, enough to last them a few planetary visits. This combined with its ability to vaguely function as a ship to make the dining car appealing as a base of operations, at least until they could all safely go their separate ways. 

The ship began to make a rough entry into the atmosphere of the nearest planet: a prairie world that had one island of farmland and was otherwise covered in frigid saltwater. Chuck landed them as gently as possible in the outskirts of a town, and each of them split up into different parts of the car to get some rest. Their journey was far from over, but for now, they were safe.

[bluejaysandblackbats]

Daily Planet Classifieds

Fandom: DC Comics, Superfam, Young Justice 98, Titans

Summary: Laney Hausler is currently attending classes at Metropolis University when he sees a boy with his face in the library. At first, he thinks he's seeing things. Later, he starts to realize something strange is going on.

Conner Kent lives off-campus with his friends, but he sees a boy who eerily resembles him, and he hires a private investigator to look into the life of his doppelganger.

Chapters: 11/?

Characters: Jonathan Lane Kent, Conner Kent, Eddie Bloomberg, Rose Wilson, Bart Allen, Cassie Sandsmark, Cissie King-Jones, Clark Kent, Lois Lane, Meloni Thawne, Vic Sage, Slade Wilson

Relationships: Past KonBart, Clois

Additional Tags: Father-Son Relationship, Father-Daughter Relationship, No Powers AU, Found Family, Family Secrets, No Powers AU, No Capes AU, Complicated Relationships, University AU, Roommates, Private Investigator, Twins, Multiple POV, First Person POV, Psychological Drama, Complicated Relationships, Unrequited Love, Platonic Relationships

Chapter Eleven: Don't Know Why (Laney's POV)

I went to the corner store to buy aspirin when I heard a camera click. I turned my head, but there was no one there. Rose joined me in line and rubbed my back. “You good?” Rose questioned. 

“I’m okay… I thought—. Did you see anyone with a camera?” I asked. Rose shook her head. “I have the strangest feeling that someone’s following me. Ever since the—. Remember how we talked about my double?” 

“You don’t think there’s some guy with your face, stalking you? Do you?” Rose asked. 

I rubbed my neck and chuckled. When she put it like that, it sounded silly. “Can we get something to eat? Maybe that’ll settle my nerves. I haven’t eaten much,” I replied, pushing my bangs out of my face. Rose looked up into my eyes and squinted. 

“Are you alright?” Rose asked. I nodded. “I’m not trying to diminish what you’re going through. I just—. Do you want to talk about it?” 

“Um… I don’t—. There’s nothing to talk about. It’s just—. I get these feelings. I don’t know what to do with them. I don’t like the unknown… It feels—. Rose, I want to know why I feel like this. I want to—.” A child played a song on a phone loudly, distracting me. I’d heard it before. I heard it as a little boy but didn’t know where. “Rose, what song is that?” She frowned. 

“Hey, Lane… Calm down,” Rose whispered. “What’s the matter?” 

“What’s that song? Rose, I know it,” I replied. Rose listened for a moment. Then, she pulled out her phone. 

“Don’t Know Why by Norah Jones,” Rose answered. I swallowed hard. “Are you okay?” 

The song stopped. “Rose, can you play it for me? Can you play that song in the car?” Rose nodded. 

We didn’t speak when we got to the car. She played the song and handed me her phone. I shut my eyes, rocking as a wave of grief washed over me. I remembered the faint smell of perfume. I pressed my palms to my eyelids. “Lane? What’s wrong?” Rose questioned.

I started crying. It was my first unmistakable memory of my mother. “My mom sang this to me when I was sick. I was too weak to open my eyes, but I heard her. I could smell her, Rose. My mom—. I had a mom,” I wept. I didn’t know why it upset me, but it triggered a string of seemingly unconnected memories. I recalled myself crying in the car in the middle of the night. 

Rose turned the song off and pulled me into her arms. “Hey,” Rose whispered, “Hey… It’s okay. I’ve got you.” 

I opened my eyes, and she pulled away to look at me. She leaned in for a kiss, and I shook my head. “No,” I whispered. Rose pulled back and shakily inhaled with her eyes closed. 

“Sorry, that was—. I shouldn’t—. You’re a lot like a woman—. I don’t—.” 

“You’re my friend. We live together. You’re very—. Of course… I find you attractive, but I can’t,” I whispered. I sniffed and wiped my eyes. 

“Right… Um, can we keep this from—?” 

“Nothing happened… And crying about—.”

“It never happened,” Rose smiled. 

“One thing, though… I’m a lot like a woman?” I asked. Rose pinched the bridge of her nose.

“You’re so soft and sweet-smelling… And the way you—. Your tone of voice and—. I don’t usually like men,” Rose replied. I nodded.

“Oh, that’s interesting… I didn’t know that about you,” I replied. I wasn’t sure what that meant, but I had an unrelenting respect for her. She was the strongest and kindest person I had the pleasure of meeting. 

“I’m a lesbian, Lane,” Rose whispered. 

“That means you like women… Right?” I questioned. Rose chuckled. 

“I wanna know what bubble you grew up in… You’re spectacular,” Rose smiled.

“I like who you are, too. You know so much about life. Also, I hope I wasn’t being disrespectful for saying you’re attractive. That was a—.” 

“Oh, no. It wasn’t disrespectful. Thank you,” Rose replied, “Are you alright?” 

“Mhm… I should probably talk to Father later. Not yet, though… I don’t want to get upset over the phone,” I replied. Rose nodded, putting on her seatbelt. 

We almost made it home, when Rose turned to me. “Wanna learn how to drive?” Rose offered. 

“Today?” I questioned. 

“In general,” Rose replied, “If you get your license you can drive your dad around on family weekend in my car… Wait, Lane. Hold on.” She backed out of the parking lot. She started driving toward the department store near campus. “You were right.” 

She turned on a random street and parked in front of a record store. “Rose, what are we—?” 

“Someone’s following you. I didn’t want him to follow us home. Let’s wait and see if he gets out,” Rose mumbled. Her phone rang, and I answered it. “Lane—.”

“Hello?” I asked. 

“Who is this?” a man’s voice asked. He was authoritative in tone, and it frightened me. 

“Slade, that’s my roommate,” Rose muttered, “And Lane. This is my dad.” 

“Why you’d choose to have two male roommates is beyond me—.” 

“Slade, you’re on speaker, and Lane’s an upstanding citizen,” Rose sighed, “If we want to talk about untrustworthy men—.” 

“Fine… I called for an update,” Slade interrupted. 

“Someone’s following Lane, so I parked in front of the record store. Do you want anything while we’re here?” Rose asked. 

“Nope… Do you have a knife?” Slade questioned. 

“Mhm,” Rose answered. 

“See you next weekend, then,” Slade replied before hanging up. 

My lips twitched into a frown. “Your father isn’t—.” 

“I know. But, I can count on him to stalk your stalker,” Rose replied. She seemed calm, but my nerves were frayed. “What’s the matter?” 

“Is this normal for bigger cities?” I asked. Rose shook her head. “But you’re so calm.”

“I’ve been taking self-defense classes my whole life… And Slade had me kidnapped as a survival exercise on my sixteenth birthday, so—.” 

“That’s awful,” I interrupted. Rose chuckled.

“Let’s go in this record store… Do you wanna get something to listen to?” Rose asked, changing the subject. I knew to leave it alone. Some things didn’t need elaboration. 

We entered the record store, and I nudged her. I loved music. It was an integral part of my relatively quiet life. Father played music during surgeries, and I listened to music when I studied. Unfortunately, I didn’t take any CDs with me when I left home. “Are you in my film class?” a girl asked. I shook my head. “Hm… Are you sure?” 

“Mhm, I’m a STEM major,” I answered. She squinted at me and walked to the next row of records. Rose chuckled. “Did I say something wrong?”

“No, I just—. Remember that party I took you to? I swear I saw you go upstairs, and then I—. I saw you outside. I thought I was crazy, but you might have a lookalike,” Rose half-joked. I didn’t laugh. The thought of it terrified me. Rose stood on her tiptoes to whisper something to me. “Don’t look. He’s leaving. He didn’t wanna risk us seeing his face. This guy’s good…” 

“Do you think he’s dangerous?” I asked. Rose shook her head. 

“Nah… He’s probably a professional or something. Maybe your dad hired him to see how you were,” Rose reassured me, “Don’t worry. Okay?” 

“Okay,” I replied. But I was worried. I was terrified.

[free--therapy]

How to Find Happiness: 5 Tips to Help you Find True Happiness

By Ali | Published on February 21, 2022

Is happiness the ultimate human goal? Our search for that elusive happiness state leads us to a never-ending list of books and articles. But we sometimes look for happiness in the strangest of places. Have you ever searched for happiness at the bottom of a bottle? Or perhaps in a nicer car? Maybe you thought happiness would present itself with a new house or job. Does this type of happiness last? 

There are an infinite number of resources telling us where to find happiness. But do these articles actually know us? Do they take our nuances and idiosyncrasies into account? If happiness could be prescribed in a pill, how many of us would line up to take it?

Let’s dive in and discuss how you can find your own happiness. I am not here to tell you to emulate the things I have done that have brought me happiness. I want to guide you to look deep into yourself to find your own happiness. 

What is happiness? 

Happiness is a feeling of joy and fulfillment. That blissful contentment that brings us internal peace. But here’s the kicker. We are perpetually in different fluctuations of happiness. Happiness is not a destination, it’s a journey. 

Happiness is interlinked with our sense of living a life we are satisfied with. One which brings us fulfillment. So, to find happiness we must first find fulfillment and satisfaction. 

The path to fulfillment looks different for everyone. 

Mine involves lots of animals, no children of my own, authentic friendships, and plenty of running. Yours might be centered around parenting. Someone else may find their happiness in activism. There is no wrong or right. 

Two types of happiness 

We can split happiness into what I perceive as acute and chronic. Aristotle distinguished between two very different types of happiness.

Hedonia

Eudaimonia 

Veronika Huta clarifies the differences between these two approaches by suggesting that a hedonic orientation involves actively seeking happiness, positive affect, life satisfaction, and reduced negative affect. 

Whereas a Eudaimonic orientation is more concerned with seeking authenticity, meaning, excellence, and personal growth

Let’s explore these terms in a little more detail. 

Hedonia

Hedonia is not dissimilar to the word hedonistic. In fact, these words share linguistic lineage. Hedonia happiness is pleasure-driven. It is preoccupied with what feels good in the moment. Seeking enjoyment and satisfaction. 

This is linked to the euphoric feelings associated with food, drugs, alcohol and sex. But it is also linked with self-care such as exercise, yoga and meditation. 

Eudaimonia 

Eudaimonia is concerned with seeking meaning and purpose in life. From working towards long-term goals to being concerned for others' wellbeing and nurturing. Eudaimonia brings a sense of satisfaction and happiness from fulfilling responsibilities and finding value in life. 

This makes me think of striving to better ourselves, perhaps serving our community through voluntary work. 

How do we measure happiness? 

And herein lies a little problem. Happiness is subjective. Historically in order to measure it, we have relied on self-reporting through questionnaires. 

There is an interesting modern study that uses technology to measure happiness. It introduced a “Happimeter” which uses a smartwatch to gather data such as heart rate and timely feedback from the wearer. 

The fascinating thing with this is they found that measuring happiness actually increased happiness. Perhaps the process of bringing happiness to the subject’s attention made it a more pertinent thing for them to focus on. Perhaps they strived to see their happiness levels increase on their Happimeter. Either way, it has to be a good thing. 

The secrets of the happiest person on the planet

I couldn’t help but wonder who the happiest person on the planet is. 

Capitalism will have you believe it was someone wealthy. Large consumer organizations will tell you it is someone who drives their car, wears their trainers, eats their food, or uses their magic skin lotions. 

But actually, the happiest person in the world apparently is Matthieu Ricard, a Tibetan Monk. 

For 12 years Matthieu had hundreds of sensors attached to his brain whilst he meditated. This operation was led by Richard Davidson, a neuroscientist from Wisconsin University. 

The results were staggering. They showed abnormal and unheard-of activity in his left prefrontal cortex. This allowed him a greater capacity for happiness and also served to reduce his propensity for negativity. 

Now, this is where things get interesting. Matthieu puts his happiness down to his benevolence. He is a passionate executioner of altruism. In fact, he believes when we focus too much on ourselves, we invite stress into our lives. 

So, in short, the kinder we are, the happier we are. This is supported by a scientific study that suggests that kind people experience more happiness and have happier memories. 

Best of all, Matthieu suggests that all it takes to be happy is to think good and happy thoughts for 10 minutes a day. Try it. 

5 tips to help identify and find your own happiness 

When we join up all the dots of this article, there is a clear distinction between types of happiness. 

We have acute happiness which is perhaps short-lived, represented by Hedonia. And we have chronic happiness, represented by Eudaimonia. Our happiest man in the world taps into Eudaimonia happiness with his benevolence, kindness, compassion and altruism. 

With this in mind, here are 5 tips to help you identify and seek out your own happiness. 

1. Be your authentic self 

Follow your own yearnings. Who are you? Live a life true to yourself. How do you feel? What does your heart seek? Dance to the beat of your own drum. 

There is sometimes a paradox between our innate need to fit in whilst also desiring to stand out.  We want to be part of the group, but we also want to celebrate our differences. We strive to keep the authenticity of being ourselves. Interestingly scientists confirm that following our authenticity leads to greater wellbeing. We can quench our need for belonging by finding community groups of interest. 

When we try to be someone we are not, we won't end up finding happiness. 

This has taken me a while to practice. For a decade or so I was a bit lost. Perhaps I followed the crowd to try and fit in. To seek approval and popularity. But this didn’t bring me happiness. 

I am slowly seeping into my own skin. I may not be the most popular person anymore. But I am the happiest I have ever been. I am learning to be unapologetically me!

2. Find your purpose and passion

Find your own purpose and passion. Does it involve the arts or sport? Maybe you feel your purpose is in helping rescue animals or in the nursing of the sick. Perhaps you are passionate about educating children or fighting for human rights.

Whatever your own sense of purpose is, find it. Explore it, and commit to it with all of your heart. 

I co-founded a dog running club. This year is its 10th anniversary. Whilst I am no longer part of the club, I take great pride in it as my legacy. I dedicated many years of my life to helping people get fit and have fun with their dogs.

For a long time, this was my key life purpose. It was an overarching passion and made me find happiness. 

Our purpose and passion can evolve over time. The important thing is we find our calling and put energy into it. 

3. Find a community where you belong 

Working in your local community is a sure way to find happiness. Giving back through voluntary work has been proven to increase our own happiness and sense of wellbeing. Not only are we helping others when we volunteer, but we are helping ourselves. 

Perhaps you have a skill you can take into your community. Could you offer your services as a befriender? Or maybe you can help at a local charity shop. 

I volunteered for a week at a camp for terminally ill children. The sense of fulfillment and purpose I felt was overwhelming.

When we do good, we feel good. 

4. Meditate 

I have heard that if you only have time to meditate for 10 minutes, then you actually need to meditate for 20 minutes. 

The truth is, I don’t habitually meditate. I want to and I know it will bring immeasurable benefits into my life. But my mum used to describe me as having “ants in my pants”. I struggle to stay still for any length of time. All the more reason for me to commit to a daily meditation practice. 

A daily meditation practice increases our feelings of positivity, reduces our symptoms of illness, increases our connection with ourselves and others, and promotes our overall well-being. 

So, if I promise to start a meditation habit, will you join me?  If this is the secret of the happiest person in the world, then it must be worthwhile. 

5. Be kind to others

I believe kindness is the most important attribute any person can have. Kindness is my superpower. I have recently learned that being kind does not require self-sacrifice. Sometimes a true test of our kindness is in showing kindness to ourselves.

In this manner, I have learned to let go of decomposing friendships. It has taken me 40 years, but I now recognize the importance of meeting my own needs. 

Be kind to yourself. Forgive yourself for past regrets, and speak to yourself with compassion. Help other people with your words and your actions. But when something is no longer bringing you joy or happiness, give yourself permission to let it go. 

[gameinfoxtbr]

Freaky Duckling Codes

As a highly addictive game if you enjoy weird and wonderfully different games then Freaky Duckling is definitely for you! Have you ever thought about how it will feel like collecting eggs and nurturing these peculiar and mighty babies together with becoming friends with these babies, each of them is different. Freaky Duckling will make you cover an incredible journey in which your ducks can be equipped with weapons, wear armor, and fight. That’s where it’s fun, creative, and relatively strategic at the same time—I wonder if gamers would appreciate the elixir of the unexpected and the difficult.

GameInfoX Freaky Duckling codes are your ticket to unlocking special goodies and boosts within the game including items, equipment and so much more to enhance your duckling’s powers! Well, let’s dig deeper into the dirt of this strange and peculiar universe!

🦆 What is Freaky Duckling?

In Freaky Duckling you have to pick up duck eggs and each of them has its unique strange symbols or patterns. Now the question is, would you incubate them or would you toss them in the trash? Each time you hatch an egg you have prospects of getting a freaky duck that can be your ultimate fighter. These ducks are not your mundane birds they fly, grow up, level up, and even wear special accessories and gear as they battle it out amidst difficult battles!

🔥 Key Features of Freaky Duckling

GameInfoX 1 Farm and Hatch Duck Eggs The whole concept of the game revolves around having to search for extraordinary special and specific freaky eggs. Guess what kind of duckling you will get when you hatch one of those eggs – who knows? Some ducks are adorable, others are terrifying. Yet all are similarly mighty. 2 Battle with Evolved Ducks I mean, your ducks can turn into new forms with greater might, into warriors. Arm them with an assortment of gears and weapons as a plan for some real tactics. In every form, they are getting stronger, set to conquer as many tasks as possible. 3 Immortality and War Against AllAJOR Fight your freaky army of ducks on different battlefields. From plains, fields, and freeways to other planets and the strangest of tops, you will always be advancing and training your army. Time for endless enemies and your strategy is the only thing that will decide whether the ducks are alive or not. 4 Item Collection and Synthesis Throughout the game, you can arm your ducks with nearly any weapon or piece of protection known to man – swords, shields, armor, and whatnot. Most of these items can be produced and enhanced to be more powerful than the original to provide your ducklings with the upper hand in fights. For more insights on strategies, check out the Freaky Duckling Codes Game Guide.

🎁 Unlock Amazing Rewards Using Freaky Duckling Codes

But if one wants to get the most out of the game, then using freaky duckling codes is all that a player can do. Many codes are like ‘Free Gifts” which encompass things such as new and exclusive supplementary currencies for spending, and special bonuses for your ducks as they fight in the game. - DUCK777 - Redeem gift code for Diamond x200 and Wooden Hammer x50 - FD5HOT - Redeem gift code for Diamond x100 and Wooden Hammer x30 (Valid until May 30th, 2024) To redeem Freaky Duckling codes, simply: - To turn off motion blur, open the game and click on the settings mentioned above. - Tap on "Redeem Code." - Enter the code you’ve found. - Enjoy your awesome rewards! Tip: Always receive Freaky Duckling codes and news to get new items and bonuses – follow the link!

GameInfoX

🎮 The Best Strategies for Building Your Duck Army

von Criegel offers valuable tips on how to win in Freaky Duckling; it helps to have the right ducks to evolve. Here are some top tips to help you build the best duck army: - Balance Your Ducks: These ducks should be a combination of both the defensive and the offense hunters. Healthy ducks on a small level can guard your better attack characters in the battle. - Focus on Evolution: Do not invest your efforts and money in low-yielding ducks. Always focus on developing the specific and special kind of ducks you possess to the height they can count on. - Use Codes Often: Update often to redeem codes, as they’re a great bonus – stronger items, or materials that otherwise are very difficult to acquire. Need help planning your team? Here we have a Freaky Duckling Tier List if you’re interested in getting the best ducks to invest in!

👑 The Freaky Duckling Experience

The thing that makes Freaky Duckling stand out from other casual games is the game’s silliness and strategy laid down in it. Every duckling are unique and seeing them grow from funny little birds into mighty soldiers is very rewarding. If you enjoy playing games for entertainment without extensive levels of strategy, Freaky Duckling brings back that element of fun and strategy you would love. It isn’t boring whether you are incubating eggs, dressing ducks with silly items, or fighting through new levels. Visit Freaky Duckling and share these adventures with your beloved companion right now! Please be sure to visit the developer’s page more often to read more about new features and occurrences.

❓ FAQs about Freaky Duckling Codes

Q-1 Where can I find Freaky Duckling codes?A-1 The codes can be redeemed by going to the settings of the game, then choosing the “Redeem Code” tab in the settings and typing the code. Our rewards are immediate and once you are accepted, you will receive it on the same day.Q-2 What I want to know is where can I find the newest codes for Freaky Duckling.A-2 Official social media pages, gaming sites, and the official code page that the developers run are the best places to check out for the most current Freaky Duckling codes.Q-3 What can I earn with Freaky Duckling codes?A-3 Usually, codes give players special items such as shiny Pokemons, additional in-game coins, evolution items, and other bonuses that get you through the game faster.Q-4 Is Freaky Duckling free to use the codes?A-4 Yes, all the Freaky Duckling codes are open to the public and any player can use them without having to make any payment.Q-5 How frequently does Freaky Duckling release their new codes?A-5 New codes can be redeemed during events, while new game updates, or when special holidays are around the corner. Even if you are not interested in earning money, make sure to check it frequently so that you won’t miss anything!Q-6 Can Freaky Duckling codes stop working?A-6 Yes, most of the codes have used by date meaning that you should use the code immediately to make sure that you do not let the date elapse without making any gains.

🎉 Conclusion: Start Your Freaky Duckling Adventure Now!

Freaky Duckling is one such game that does not get boring at any time as it is full of fun and surprises. No matter whether you are hatching some mysterious eggs, raising exciting and strong ducks, or preparing for combats, there is never a dull moment. Also containing freaky duckling codes, there is, even more, to gain to improve the fun factor of the game. Gather your ducks get ready for an amazing time of fun and start assembling the coolest duck team right now! Word Count: 1661 Read the full article

[eventheodds]

❝ every time you go off, i worry you’re not coming back. ❞ (outlaw!vash)

red dead redemption starters.

She'd not told them where they'd be going, only that she needed to get there. And, much to her relief, neither Vash nor Wolfwood questioned her until routes began to appear familiar. It was then that she could feel the pit in her stomach growing heavier and heavier as their tomas' carried them into December City.

The fact that they continued on with her, even through those moments of silence or clipped conversations, meant that they were not going to let her do this alone.

Even as they navigated away from the busier streets and avoided as much contact as possible—Wolfwood seeming to avoid the outskirts entirely—she told them she needed a moment to be alone.

The familiar sight of the graveyard came into view and Meryl could feel that pit growing ever still larger.

Her legs felt like they'd turned into lead as she dismounted the toma, tethering it nearby, yet her feet carried her towards the entrance. The groundskeeper was nowhere to be found, and that was alright with her.

Pulling the brim of her hat lower against her face, Meryl walked in, noticing the few others who had come here for the same purpose as she had. Once she found the markers she was looking for, the last of the people who had been visiting left and she was alone.

Standing there, she knew what she would be looking at if she raised her head. She'd read the names of her parents and of Roberto, two graves placed side by side. Roberto had no other family that could be found and she'd always thought he and her father were more like brothers than friends.

If things had been different, she would have followed in his footsteps and become a reporter, the best in No Man's Land.

Meryl only realizes her shoulders are quaking once the tears start stinging her eyes, though she never raises her head to look at the headstones.

She doesn't even register the soft crunch of footsteps, though they stop several feet away from her. When he speaks, she has the strangest thought that his voice is too airy, too light, to be heard in the likes of a graveyard.

"I can't," she tries to begin, her voice thick with tears as she tilts her head back, eyes still avoiding the markers, and looks up at the clear sky, "I can't let them get away with what they've done."

The blue overhead mocks her with how beautiful it is, how it doesn't reflect the shifting storm that's raging inside both her head and heart. She wants to see storm clouds, to see lightning crack the sky in half, and hear the rumbling thunder so loud it shakes the foundations of this planet.

When she turns, Meryl takes off her hat. Her hair is growing, almost reaching the tops of her shoulders, and the gentle breeze that passes through teases a few of those dark locks against her face. Her eyes are red-rimmed but she's stopped crying.

She does not have a death wish. She does not want this endeavour to kill her, and that she means to see this through and live a life where she feels like she's given herself a semblance of peace by doing what anger and grief have told her was necessary.

Meryl does not look back at the graves when she steps towards Vash, hat still held in her grip.

"And I want you to know something, Vash the Stampede—you're stuck with me. Both of you are. And I'm not letting go of you, either." She's standing close to him now, head tilted back slightly so that she's looking him right in the eye.

Her gaze shifts ever so slightly to the left and she can make out Wolfwood lingering by the entrance of the graveyard. The groundskeeper is still nowhere to be seen. She's now looking back at Vash, storm blue against clear blue skies.

"But I can't let them get away with what they've done. I won't."

[corner-stories]

bathed in the light of the greenhouse

Rose Wilson. Bart Allen. Watercolor Paintings. Gardening. Pots of White Flowers. 1184 words. (ao3.)

For the last few months, Bart Allen had been tending to the greenhouse in Titans Compound. 

The place had started as a home for all of Kory’s flowers, some from this planet and some not. But when the Compound was left in the hands of the next generation, Bart found it in himself to care for the plants. He was surprisingly diligent about watering every flower or tracking every berry as it grew. Perhaps someone in his position — a person capable of breaking the sound barrier in a single step — could see the beauty in things that needed time to grow. It was certainly not the strangest way to teach a person the concept of patience. 

Also for the last few months, Rose Wilson had been taking up art as a hobby. 

While she was lightyears away from having her own wing in the Louvre, Rose found comfort in watercolors and gouache. It started with her doodling in her notebooks in the midst of Titan meetings, then blossomed into sketchbook paintings and charcoal drawings. She freed herself from the concept that her art had to be “perfect” or “proper,” allowing herself to smile every time she broke out her brushes and half-pan set. What mattered to her was never the color remaining inside the lines, but if what she created made her feel something. 

And somehow, the greenhouse became Rose’s favorite place to paint.

In the pages of her sketchbook were countless interpretations of peonies, lilies, and plants she couldn’t even name. She often sat on an upside-down bucket as she sketched, inked, and painted her pieces, utilizing brush pens and her trusty watercolor kit to get the job. 

And more often than not, Rose wasn’t alone as she worked.

Bart would often tend to the plants as Rose painted them. Unsurprisingly, the team’s resident motor-mouth chatted her ear off as she tried to apply a softer shade of cyan to the petals of a forget-me-not. He spoke about whatever was on his mind — college applications, family adventures, or that time Kon entered a Superboy Look-Alike Contest and lost. 

Rose was only half-listening as Bart watered a bush that was meant to bare strawberries. For a reason he didn’t know, the poor plant was struggling to keep up with its siblings. 

As Rose let her painting dry, she looked up and noted how rare it was to see Bart to be so calm about something. He was standing on a step ladder as he watered the hanging planter, talking to the plants they were puppies that just needed a little pep talk to stand on two feet. 

Rose looked forward and took in how Bart looked when tending to the plants. As per usual, his hair was a mess of reddish-brown curls, the strands of which hung gently on his forehead and framed his bright eyes. Even with Bart approaching the end of teenhood, he still looked as boyish and pretty as ever — the only difference seemed to be that he was getting taller. 

Speaking of which, Rose wondered just when this little “growth spurt” of his was going to end. The concept of Bart potentially being tall didn’t sit well for her for petty reasons. The part of her that loved toying with him was unprepared for the possibility that he could tower over her in the future. Another part of her also hated being reminded that she wasn’t that tall in the first place and could very likely remain where she was for the rest of her life. 

Fortunately, Rose managed to distract herself from the reality of her height by looking at her now dried watercolor painting. Grabbing a black marker from her pencil case, she carefully outlined her creation to give it a cleaner look, which was admittedly one of her favorite parts of the process. There was just something so satisfying about putting the final touches on a piece that she absolutely reveled in. 

Once her painting of a forget-me-not was done, Rose gave it a final look before smiling and turning the page in her sketchbook. She then looked around for the next thing to draw. 

By now, Bart had finished watering the strawberries and had moved onto other things. Rose saw him picking a pot full of flowers, then walking towards her end of the greenhouse. He was only a few steps away from her when she realized that he was holding a bundle of white roses, fresh and in bloom. 

Rose raised an eyebrow at him, causing Bart to do the same. It only took a quick glance at the flowers in his grasp for him to realize what she was reacting to. Clearly, the situation was unintentional, but that didn’t make it any less… serendipitous. 

Bart smiled and his pretty eyes practically lit up. “Fitting, isn’t it?” 

Rose’s mouth remained in a flat line as she crooked her head to the side. “That’s one way to put it.” 

The irony was that Rose herself wasn’t too fond of her namesake flower, even the ones that reminded her of the shade of her hair. To be frank, her favorite flowers were actually lilies. 

While Bart continued to beam and savor the moment, Rose got a better look at the scene in front of her — Bart Allen standing in a greenhouse, holding a pot of white flowers, all while dirt clung to his hands, face, clothes, and even the curls of his hair. For a reason Rose couldn’t understand he seemed to be on cloud nine, whether it be because he was in his happy place or the humor of the scenario had yet to wear off. 

Yet as Rose looked at him, she raised her left hand and stuck out her index and middle finger. 

Bart's smile wore off and was replaced with a look of mild confusion “Whatcha’ doin’, Rose?”

Rose kept her hand up and used the l-shape of her fingers to frame the sight in front of her. More and more she was able to imagine the image of Bart Allen holding a flower pot being immortalized in her sketchbook. 

“Could you stay there for a second?” asked Rose. She grabbed a pencil from her case and held it over a fresh page in her book. 

Bart looked amused and decided to play along. A more subdued grin came onto his face as he straightened his back. If he was getting painted like one of Rose’s french girls, then he hoped that she could get his good side. 

“Okay, just like this?” 

Rose nodded and held up her book. “Yeah, just like that.” 

She spent a moment taking in the sight of her teammate’s hair, eyes, and pointed jawline. Under normal circumstances, Rose would make a sarcastic quip or crass dig about his boyish looks, but seeing him now bathed in the light of the greenhouse, she was compelled to appreciate the moment as is. 

As Rose began sketching Bart Allen holding a pot of white flowers, she was happy to have a reason to be around him for just a bit longer. 

[thebubblesareevil]

Life on the farm pt9 dog sitting is not for the faint of heart pt 2

It had been two days. Conner and Clark have scoured parks, graves, subways, and even the harbor. There was no sign of the pup except the collar they found near the apartment. With the collar no longer disguising Cujo they were on the lookout for a small green dog. Clark had even gotten into costume and searched from the skys. On the third day Conner got their first lead.

He was visiting a grave yard, walking amongst the stones looking for even a hint of the glowing green pup. The grave keeper was across near a mausoleum talking to a visitor. For the most part Conner tries not to listen in to strangers’ conversation but he immediately tunes in when he hears him mention a glowing green dog roaming the graves at night. Conner immediately called Clark and the two of them started to plan.

————

~Later that night~

My idiots are strange. This has got to be the strangest game of tag he had ever played. First his big idiot was hiding in a tree while the child made his way through the name stones.

Cujo stopped to scratch behind his ear, the child tried to move closer. ‘Honestly if this is how they hunt they need all the help they can get’ the child slowly tried to sneak up behind him. Cujo jumps using the child’s head to leap forward and then through the waiting arms of his big idiot.

‘It’s a good thing Phantom and the chicken overlords take such good care of his idiots. They are not very skilled at hunting. The loud story teller has her work cut out for her’

and so the chase begins.

————

The man of steel, strongest man alive, faster than a speeding bullet… was utterly defeated by a dog. Conner and Clark collapse on a park bench, the two lost sight of the green pup once again.

“He makes it look so easy” Conner groans

“I suppose it helps that he’s part ghost himself.” Clark agrees. “Think it’s time for reinforcements? I’m sure Ellie-”

Conner immediately sits up “No!” Clark looks over in confusion. Conner gives a stifled cough “Uh, I mean… she’ll never let us live it down if she finds out we lost Cujo. Could you imagine? She’s be relentless.” Clark shuddered at the thought.

“Okay then we keep looking. Got any plans?” Conner slumped.

“Not unless you’re feeling up to loosing a hundred chickens throughout metropolis.” Clark snorted

“Imagine the headline. Superman heralds in an age of chickens.”

“Perilous poultry panic!” Conner counters with a laugh.

“That’s a good one! Ever thought about going into journalism?” Clark looked at Conner curiously, he just shrugged.

“Never really thought about it really, at first when I left CADMUS I just stayed with the team. School, missions, the league decided that.” Conner smirked “then Danny came charging in and threw everything I knew out the window” he paused looking over a Clark. “I wanted to be like you know.” Clark looked away awkwardly “I don’t mean… I didn’t want to BE you I just wanted to be LIKE you. I looked up to you.” Conner stood up from bench.

“When I was at CADMUS I was taught that I was made to replace you if you died and eliminate you if you went rouge. When the team came all I wanted was to meet you, but when I did… you wanted nothing to do with me.” Conner rubbed the back of his neck. Clark sighed.

“I was the last son of a dead planet my whole life, by all rights I should have been ecstatic to meet you, you may only be half kryptonian but that’s more than I ever hoped for.” Clark looked to the ground ashamed. “It was never really you I hade a problem with, I think… I just couldn’t manage to separate the… violation that came from being cloned, from having a piece of me taken without my consent and turned into a person. You became a visible reminder of that and I just… I didn’t know how to deal with that.” Clark stood up, looking directly in Conners eyes he said “I didn’t know how to handle what happened and you suffered because of it. I’m sorry.I know an apology will never be enough to make up for how I treated you but I promise I’m going to do all I can to make it up to you.” Conner smiled

“You’ve been talking to Danny haven’t you?” Clark laughed

“I’ll admit I had some help from Danny and Jazz figuring things out. To be fair he’s had more time to process the whole cloning thing than I have.”

“Hey, there’s an upside, at least I never shot you in the back.” The two burst into laughs for a moment before Conner calms down “Thank you, it might not be much but it’s a start, it means a lot that-”

Clark speeds over to Conner covering his mouth, he raised a single finger to his lips before pointing behind him. Conner slowly turned to see a little green dog laying on his back. Conner and Clark slowly, silently make their way over to Cujo, the two of them are prepared to pounce when Cujo jumps up, tackling Conner to the ground. He then proceeds to smother Conner in kisses.

Clark let’s put a loud laugh “I guess we know who his favorite is huh?”

Conner picks Cujo up and holds him at arms length “you are in so much trouble little guy” Cujo gives a high pitched bark looking at Conner with his most efficient puppy dog eyes. Conner groans “that’s cheating, where have you been this whole time anyway?”

———

Meanwhile in the destroyed garden of a certain green eldritch horror.

“DAMN THAT MUTT TO PIECES!!!!”

——-

Cujo curled up on his bed proud of his work. The giant chicken man will think twice before messing with HIS phantom again. It has been nearly a day since he allowed the child to capture him. His big idiot was on the people box fighting a group of strange looking humans. His big idiot is clearly winning so he’s not worried as he climbs into the child’s lap to demand some much deserved attention. He sat in the child’s lap as he watched his big idiot. Everything was fine… until it wasn’t. A huge crash came from the box as the child leapt from his seat. Cujo shook his head and looked over to the box only to see his idiot on the ground, floating in the air above him was a loud thing. The loud thing laughed at his idiot, yelled sharp words at his idiot, HURTING HIS IDIOT!!!!! Cujo barks at the loud thing through the box but it does not hear him. He promised his Phantom he would keep his idiots safe. His big idiot is NOT SAFE!!! Cujo runs in a circle barking at the loud thing in the box one last time for good measure. The Child is trying to sooth him, but that is not his job. Cujo charges through the tree wall followed closely by the child. With the aid of his metal horse he chases Cujo through the streets barely keeping up. All Cujo knows now is he needs to help his big idiot. He needs to keep him Ṣ̵̨͕̭̼̜̣̻̗̰̞̍̿͂̓̍̏́͐͗̐̚ͅA̷̧̮͖̠̝̟͔̬͚̗̐̐̿͑͌̌̔F̸̛͎̘̘͔̼͎̝̯̲̯̦̳̿̔̈́̅̚̚͠͝Ę̵̢̖͙̦͙̼͂͆̆͐̒͆̎̒͝.

When he finds his big idiot the loud thing is making the ground shift and change under his feet, but that doesn’t stop Cujo as he lets out a warning bark to the loud thing. The loud thing laughs at him and calls out to something near by. A large cat jumps at Cujo, but he’s not worried. Snowball is much bigger than this creature and Cujo is much bigger than snowball…

——-

Conner frantically chases behind Cujo, he was NOT about to lose him twice in one week. He jumped on his bike and raced after him. As he drove the road started to get impossible to drive as klarion cast spell after spell at Superman. He grabbed his commutator and asked for an eta on the closest magic user with no luck. Dr. Fate is unreachable and Shazam is dealing with Black Adam. Conner abandons the bike and continues his chase. When he finally makes it to the epicenter of the fight Klarion is casting spell after spell at Superman, Conner tries to get to Cujo before Klarion notices him but he’s too slow. Cujo starts barking at Klarion, who immediately focuses on the pup.

“Well, well, what have we here? A dog? BOORing! Cats are much better don’t you think TEEKL!” Conner felt like the world was moving in slow motion as the familiar stalked towards the pup, growing with every step. Cujo, poor, sweet, tiny Cujo was growling at the massive cat trying to intimidate him. Teekl leapt, Conner yelled, Clark turned, Cujo GREW.

Before their very eyes the tiny pup that was laying on conners lap not even an hour before was fighting the lord of Chaos’ familiar with ease. His massive maw rapped around his neck as Cujo threw Teekl across the street easily. Klarion screamed.

“THAT’S CHEATING!!!!” He shouted as he tried to cast a spell to stop Cujo, but with his familiar injured, his only anchor to the mortal plane, he had no choice but to retreat with proclamations that this wasn’t over. Not that they could hear much over Cujo’s deafening barks. The moment Klarion retreated Cujo turned to Clark and slowly approached, giving him soft whines as his face covered half of his body.

Clark stared at the pup with wide eyes before smiling and patting him on the head “Good boy Cujo. You kept me safe.” The pup shrunk down to his normal size and Clark handed the pup over to Conner. “Get him back to the apartment before the press gets here.” Conner nods and the two take off.

——-

After everything with Klarion, Clark and Conner were more than happy to see the portal ripped in the air of the farm as Danny climbs out. He takes one look at the messy appearance of his brothers and laughs.

“Did you have fun with Cujo?” The two of them look at Danny like he was crazy.

“Is there something you want to tell us about Cujo?” Clark asked. Danny shrugged

“Not really, why? Did he get into something he wasn’t supposed to?” He asked tilting his head.

“Why don’t you take a look for yourself?” Danny turns on the direction that conner points too only to find Cujo covered in chickens. Danny bursts out laughing.

“My noble steed has betrayed me for chickens! Whatever shall I do?!” Cujo perks up at the sound of his voice and tackles Danny to the ground. Soon enough Ma and Pa join them.

“Did you guys know about this?” Clark asks, motioning to the massive form of the ghost dog.

Pa looks at Clark like he’s crazy “of course we did, Cujo pulls the plow when the tractors down.” Conner and Clark look at each other in despair, they were the only ones who didn’t know.

“Well at least this finally explains why other dogs get so nervous around him.” Conner shrugs.

Clark smirked “It certainly surprised Klarion.” The two laughed as Danny watched them with a smile on his face.

“Good job boy.” He says cuddling the hellhound who is simply happy to be reunited with his phantom.

[noclue32]

New Auras (Poe Dameron x Jedi!Pilot! Reader) (She/her Pronouns) Slow burn

I just want to start off by saying a lot of the fic will contain my own personal head canons, although I try to stay as accurate as possible. Such as the planet Alzubith. Another thing that is not accurate is that I have aged Poe down to 22-25 although it still takes place shortly before The Force Awakens. I will also be using Y/N although I will try to not use it much. This is just part one! So stay tuned for later updates. Poe does not appear in this chapter, but he will next. This is a slow burn friends to lovers fic with a lot of Top Gun energy. When I start to publish the later chapters I will link them and make a masterlist. Thank you so much for reading! This is my first fic so reblogs are much appreciated :)

Master list can be found here

WC: 1,550

Chapter 1, Alzubith

Twenty-three years, twenty-three years ago. That’s how long it had been since General Leia Organa had felt the presence in the force. A new presence at the time, your presence. A few years back it started to dissipate, slowly but surely. Enough for the General to grow a concern for whoever possessed it. General Organa had become weary after every battle, knowing her time would soon end. A part of her wondered if the galaxy could ever be restored to balance, although her faith in the force assured her of peace whenever her anxieties rose. After the most recent battle, Leia was not satisfied with leaving the galaxy unsure of its tranquility. The former princess knew what she had to do, walking to her meditation room she thought of who could help complete her goal, when a certain commander came to mind. 

Alzubith, home of many terrains, outlaws, smugglers, pirates, bounty hunters and of course yourself. Other than the packs of criminals, there were not many people who lived on its grounds. Living there for quite a long time, you knew the ins and outs of the towns nearby, especially since you rarely left the atmosphere. You had left a few times on vacation, but mostly for supplies for work. It consumed most hours of your life, shipping in parts, fixing ships for the strangest people in the galaxy, fixing up Old Republic, Rebellion and Empire ships and of course learning to fly them. Even though the ladder was not a  part of the job. 

Both government bodies had dumped ships and bodies onto the land, leaving both for scavengers or whoever could take them fast enough. Leaving your mechanic shop in possession of a few of said planes. Including your favorite, a T-65 X-Wing starfighter. The same make and model used by Luke Skywalker, not including the scratches and missing parts yours had. Over the years, refurbishing it to its original state was the goal of your entire mechanic. It looked rough on the outside, but as a collective you were able to restore it to its flying ability. 

You couldn’t wait to fly it on your special day, your twenty third birthday. There was nothing particularly special to this specific anniversary, only that it was one of the only days out of the year you didn’t feel guilty giving into your own selfish desires. The day was bright and beautiful, the sun beating down on all who passed through, opposing the heavy rains common for that season. 

“Happy birthday Y/N!” Arynel beamed watching you cross to the entrance of the shop. “Any plans yet? Besides dealing with this Wookie’s broken speeder,” He announced looking inside the shop and making a teeth grit jokingly. 

Your eyes dart over to the aforementioned Wookie yelling at one of your colleagues. Sighing, you looked back to your friend and simply responded with, “I guess I have three items on the agenda now.”

“Oh yeah? What are the other two supposed to be?” Besides going out to cantinas on your birthdays, nobody on the planet ever had time to do much else.

“After the speeder, I’m gonna treat myself to a pastry and then hop onto the X-Wing before we all go out,” Smiling, you walked over to the Wookie and began helping him with his issue. That being it was almost completely destroyed. You predicted it would take hours out of your day, and you were right. 

When you were finished, you headed straight to devour your birthday pastry, starved and proud of the day's work. Nothing could beat that feeling of euphoria, except of course that of flying. You had about an hour and a half left until everyone ended their day and headed to the cantina. Just enough to get up in the air and enjoy yourself. The usual routine ensued, pushing your head into a musty unmarked helmet, pulling yourself up into the cockpit and slamming the door, lastly checking the wings and landing gear. Everything was fine, picture perfect clear for takeoff. Flipping the switches, reading the stick and yoke, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. When you found yourself in the air, the euphoria came rushing back to you. You were a great pilot of course, it made sense considering you had been in a cockpit since your infantry. The tricks, speed and turns you pulled in this bantha crap ship were no different than usual. It was when you had calmed completely when you felt it, something watching you. 

Quickly, you peered at the radar which was blank. No comms message about anyone else in the atmosphere. Despite this, you picked it up, “Hello this is Y/N Y/L/N from Bovdip’s shop. Are you reading anything near me on your radar? I’m flying the T-65 X-Wing.” Silence, nothing but it. You slowly reached for the comm mike again, “.....Is anyone there…?”

Prior to a response, your world turns black. There is nothing but silence and a thin layer of water beneath you. “Dank farrik…! Where’s the X-Wing? Where did everything go!?” Panicking, you looked for anything, anyone who could give you a response. It came to you then, a voice. Elderly and kind, welcoming and strong. 

“Y/N…. You have been avoiding your power for quite too long. We need you, you need us. I know what you can do, I have known ever since your birth. If you help us you can save the galaxy." 

Scanning the area quickly, you found nothing but darkness. "I'm not who you think I am, I've given up my abilities. I will not use them, we both know the harm they can cause." You stated blankly, trying to keep your composure. Although the voice could hear your own trembling and fear. "Who are you?" A seemingly easy question was not answered. Instead you were retorted. 

The voice spoke once more, "You have not given up your abilities. Maybe you think you have, but they surround you everyday. Embrace it. Use them on your own terms." This response stunned you as you still turned looking for the representative of it. Abruptly, you felt it, a hand on your shoulder. The hand ceased its contact when your world went back to the way it was before. 

“Y/N? Y/N? Do you read me?” A voice finally emerged from the comms, but you were astonished trying to put together any of what had just happened. The voice questioned again, “Y/N! You’re going dangerously fast, that relic isn’t going to make it!” Your direction focused back onto the comm, it was one of your fellow technicians. “Are you there!?” 

“Yes, yes I am!” Catching your breath you pulled the X-Wing’s yoke trying to slow it, wondering how you were even still in the air considering your unconsciousness from reality. You directed it back as far as you could, trying to crash land as smoothly as possible. Fortunately, you made it with a few bumps, leaving a new scratch on the underbelly of the fighter. Hopping out of the starfighter you pushed off your helmet and let the lines of sweat run down your face. Nothing could possibly awake you from the shock you had just experienced. 

Walking back to Bovdip’s shop, you were stopped by one of the other technicians, “We’re gonna be late to Enzar’s cantina if you don’t hurry up.” He noticed your eyes, distant and otherworldly as you tried to think of what to respond with. 

Sighing, your brain finally pieced together an excuse to miss out on your birthday celebration, “I think I’m gonna sit this one out. I’ve been very burnt out lately, so I’m going to sleep early today.” Before he could respond, you sat down on your speeder and drove as fast as you could. The feeling of air whipping around you as you drove home was the only thing keeping you in this reality as you ventured to your small and crowded house. The houses on your block were not made of strong material, and were all lined up against each other. They each housed one to two people, workers quarters. Flinging the door open you locked it and rested your back against it, taking the deep breaths you needed. After a second or two of your rest, your eyes peered towards a fake panel in your wall. Pulling it away, you pulled out the case you had hidden years ago. The case containing the saber given to you as a child, which you were now big enough to wield properly. Activating it, the green light bounced off the walls of your room, reminding you that it was in fact not some sort of fake toy gifted to you, but a weapon. Shii-cho was the only form you mastered, and you wondered if you even remembered it. If someone was able to connect with you through the force they would most likely know where you are. The way of the Jedi was something you had given up long ago, it was the reason you could never fully trust anyone, the reason you feared someone would come and kill you, or force you to join their cause. The first order being your main fear. 

You would soon find out who called out for you. 

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Thank you so much for the read !! I hope you enjoyed the first chapter of New Auras.