#the tests are good to find long lost cousins and stuff so there's that

[hennythejetsmith]

Woodford 12/30

It isn't a lack of truth; I overthink entirely too much, but level with me..this isn't the first time & very similar circumstances & I'm not sure if this is some universal test? Karmic retribution for my past mistakes, maybe this is nothing at all, but if that were the case, then why am I up at 5:53 on a Saturday morning deep in a glass of whisky untangling the infinite hypotheticals...? Surely, this pusillanimous state I'm in, the endless synapses firing off that are slowly drowning in the double oak barrel reserve being forced down my throat for the fear of any unpleasant crossroad because I LOATHE the lows .. potential for them anyhow. Happy New Years Eve Eve

Christmas was good. We spent time with her family to which I discovered that crime, specifically shoplifting, was decriminalized in New York? The jury is still deliberating this no pun intended. In all seriousness, it was a beautiful experience. I remember when my Grandamommy's house was once teeming with love. Granted, we didn't have nearly as many members, that's not to say my mother's house isn't overabundant in love, but I lost track of the amount of people & being quizzed 5 minutes on Aunt Dina & Cousin Madelyn & who has on the orange top with black bottom versus who has on black top with orange bottom can somewhat paint the picture for the swaths of individuals. Uncle Shawn's a good guy. Eagles fan or not, I could talk sports & shoot the shit with him until the last grain of sand fell from my hourglass, as long as some cowboys fans were there hah

I'm going to try therapy soon. I wonder how Kurt felt, or was that just a fleeting thought. The most recent still of he playing a guitar juxtapose a girl wearing something of a tie dye Nirvana shirt with the bold print "Disrespectful" stamped across the screen shot through my mind like a comet. I'm not sure it would've mattered to him at this point of his life had he still been with us. Fathering his daughter seemed to be of utmost importance to him prior to his death, why should we believe that would change? My focus is similar, despite my vice to the brown stuff, I want to nurture & grow all my relationships. Maybe therapy is the answer for me. One office turned me down & another didn't respond. The third said they couldn't help while they offered a suggestion, so maybe they did help after all. We'll see, I hope. As I sit here at 6:13, contemplating what's next... I know I'm going to keep reading. My father would appreciate that. Oh, Update on my Pop Pop, he is doing better from last I spoke with Aunt Pat & my dad. I wish I wasn't under the weather so I could see him.

What was the root cause of the Civil War? That is the new point of contention for the internet discourse among troglodytes, or at least one of them. I'm just glad it isn't "if he invites you on a date, should you split the bill if he asks" because i'm tired. WE are not a monolith either, but damn! Well, who am I to judge, I find joy in watching minecraft videos from time to time & my humor is so broken... I cannot be the first to cast a stone or call the kettle black.

I'm not sure if i'm drunk or it does feel good to write like this. I used to be a poet, you know? if you take some time & scroll, you'll see. That's if anyone else is actually reading this. Or, & I sometimes feel like these little rants are for me to look back over, maybe you should scroll down, yourself, writer & see what you've done. Give yourself a bit of a jolt that you need. Lil prognostication here. Put it together 2024.. all of it. Make the people around you proud. Whoever isn't around, wish them the same. No need to say fuck em, that mantra is adopted by one too many & we

see how the world is turning out now, don't we. Genocides are filmed with no definite end in sight. Whether it be for something like this: a laptop to type my first world problems on or the direct attempt at the erasure of a Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip.. we've lost sight of Humanitarianism. I know, these are the hot button topics, but what happens when they turn cold? What happens when the news cycle filters in a new story that captivates the audiences across the world? Are we to forget the atrocities that occurred under our watchful eye. This needs its own section(see here for the reason of break midsentence). Are we doomed to these primitive ways of conflict resolution? I'd hope not, otherwise dystopian novelists have some explaining to do & why were they not picking lotto tickets instead of shaping the landscape for my future? How selfish of me...so many other people in desolate corners of the world, with little to no hope of survival & here we are.. what type of Chai would you like, sir? Pathetic. Even though a chai latte sounds nice, from your local coffeeshop, because its f*** the Bucks, it just confirms this whole disconnect from the rest of the world. That isn't to say that I don't face my own issues as a Black man, but I could rant less...I could do a bit more for other people...being denied from a therapist really frustrated me while people gave birth & lost their newborn because one group of people, backed by an empire, decided that they were not important enough to live.

I pocket these thoughts...because...well I don't know... Jigglypuff

[blorbfoosh]

PART IV - Gala of Ruse

‘Yet with tears in her eyes, the girl stood with her head high- Now a woman, who passed all her tests. And she took a bow, to the man who gave her all.. Since she’s just made for performance.’ The onyx-haired woman beside her winced slightly at the choice of words. Jeez. This Gastiel M. guy had an interesting choice of music… Rou lightly nudged her cousin, a small, reassuring smile stretching on her lips. Nillyx returned it with her own, albeit weak, and nodded. They were gonna be okay.

The duo had waltzed by the receptionist without a second glance. The cameras all were angled away from them- Kudos to Rei and Anti for pulling that off last minute. All they needed to do was get under that shimmery curtain, and they’d be in. For a showcasing, the security of the whole event was tight. What did Gastiel have to hide..?

The redhead lightly tapped the underside of a random plant, trying to poke her head around the many people milling about. Jeez. Guess they were lucky to get in like this… Rou almost felt sorry for the poor saps that lost their invites.

“Tani. The curtain.”

A light tug on her sleeve was all she needed. Upon looking closer, she saw that the shining, almost glowing curtain was made of-..

“Fuck. Strings.”

“Should we be worried? They could might as well be some tech shit that they’re showing off.”

..She was right. Still, it doesn’t hurt to be safe.

‘Yeah, no, Nils is def right. Just some holograms.’

W h e w. Thanks for that heads-up, Nia.

‘No prob, boss. Just kick this guy’s ass. Lu and I are gonna go scout the rest of the areas ahead, dropping the bombs in the back offices. Weird how a corporate building is a lab and has a ballroom at the same time, eh? For a company that isn’t even a year old, they’re prestigious.’

Rou could only hum in agreement. She couldn’t help but feel like there was more to the story. Something sick. ..But then again, that could come from her past experiences with labs. Minus her own. Haha.

———

“Mpch- See anything yet?” Ryso asked, looking over their shoulder at Rei. The teen shook her head, focusing back on the screens in front of her. Anti had to go do something, so he let her take over. Not that she minded, she knew some bits and bobs thanks to Ace, Ryso, and Anti’s teaching all combined. It wasn’t that complex as of the moment, Ryso was working on that. All she had to do was watch the cams- The ones she helped them get into. Hehehe, this was fun. It felt… Nice. In a weird way? Because she knew she could keep an eye on her aunts, and the event. And the best part? She got to hang with Ryso, Anti, and Psyche(although her mother doesn’t know that), which was always fun. Hell- Somehow, Rou convinced Sikan to go along with this. ..Actually that wasn’t much of a stretch since they all knew if it was science-y stuff there was always Sikan going around. But whatever. “Anything on you, Ryso?” The purple-haired kid clicked through a few tabs, some screens popping around them as they quickly typed something down. “Mnnah. Just the old man texting shit.” “Hah. Of course. I thought you-” “The old man fixed that.” Well, shit. Of course. Ryso’s parent, Jynx, was an expert coder. It wasn’t surprising that they’d somehow find a way to change codes in-between realms… “So they know?” “I can’t lie to Jynx. Plus, one way or another, they’ll wriggle it out of me if they ever found out.” That seemed to be the end of it, as Ryso let their screens glitch out of existence. Just as they did so, a familiar, fluffy head popped out of a mirror nearby. Anti. Her partner, best friend, and fellow sugar tooth. “Hey~! :] Anything new? Sorry I was gone so long.”

He flipped on a chair beside Rei, large paws holding a basket of treats. Psyche, who was sitting on the floor, immediately went grabby hands as her eyes spotted peach danishes. Anti chuckled, handing the pastry to the teen, before turning to the purple head. “Want anything, kiddo- Hey, you good-?” Ryso seemed agitated, their hands swiftly going from tab to tab, before groaning softly. Upon noticing her friend’s discomfort, Psyche stood up and patted Ryso’s arm reassuringly. “Hey, Rys- If you needa back out, you can. We still have Anti and Rei here. Or you can just do the thing from the house!” At this, both Ryso and Anti shook their heads. “A h- See, Psy, it’s a little complicated-” Ryso nodded. “When dealing with things like these, it’s best to keep to the same locations and devices. Because you know- Privacy and all that. Who knows if people might be trying to get to us, right now. At least if we’re all here, Anti can monitor our devices and whatnot. If I back out now, I need to stay out until I can go back in.” “..We can’t just hold private meets over the FAM.net?” “..We could, but that thing has call history, remember?” Anti sighed, his ears flicking back and forth in thought. “How long have you got?” Ryso bit their lips, a few glitches appearing around them. “Thirty mins and counting. I can stay here, but Rei’ll have to take my place once I leave. I’ll try and pop back in tho once Ma’s off my shoulders.” A new message flashed on one of the screens around Ryso, and they sighed, typing back a new reply. “What is it?” Psyche asked, poking her head around Ryso’s shoulder. “Just the old man asking if they can come here. I said it’s best for them not to, and that I’ll update them periodically until I can ESC out of here.” Anti nodded with a sigh. “That should be good enough.” ———

Matiz grunted in annoyance, trying yet again to access the foreign network that had breached his security. Ugh, they’ve got access to the cameras, the tracking system- Everything. Little pests. Didn’t seem like they did anything important, however. Well- At least not yet. He was sure that this was Fyr- No, Tani- Or was it Rou? Whatever. It was her plan. She had grown numbers lately, he had to give it to the brat. But ohhh, hunny. He just couldn’t wait for what’ll happen.

Pressing a button, he watched as the floor below began to open, giving him a clear view of his personal lab. A smaller body was strapped to an experimental table, a few IV stands standing beside it as the chemicals flowed into their bloodstream. Their SOUL hung suspended over their body, a brilliant dark teal hue painting it. Loyalty. He didn’t even have to alter it. Seemed like the boy was made just for this. Body and everything. Sadly, just not the mind.

No matter. A few months of training, and the lad had shaped up well. Perfectly, even. Just how he liked it. Now, all he had to do was wait a little bit longer. And then, he’ll be done.

“Are you ready, R30N? Cause~ It’s showtime.”

———

“Ugh, how much LONGER are these damn formality things?”

Rou mumbled, running a hand through her hair as the speaker droned on and on about the success of Woven Hues. Nilly didn’t blame her. They were here to find evidence, not listen to the backstory of how this came to place. Although- The cat must admit, it was a little interesting, listening to all of this play out.

“But of course, Mr. Gastiel wasn’t alone as he started Woven Hues. He had help from a dear friend of his, one we’ll call Lady Estrella, as per her request. She deftly wove the delicate foundation- Helping Mr. Gastiel mold it into what it is now. Without her, we wouldn’t have the framework for all of this. So please, give it up for Lady Estrella!”

Estrella. Like strings.

As the applause echoed around her, the crowd tightened around the duo. She took a deep breath to settle her nerves. There was a job to do. No need to focus on the amount of people, the amount of eyes- Dammit, Nillyx. They’re NOT staring at you.

They’re not. Stop. You aren’t the center of attention.

‘Ey, katto? You good? Cause we need to get a move on- And soon. Nia just saw a flock of guys drawing near, they’re gonna block off the area soon.’ Rou caught her eye with a grim nod. Seems like she got the tip too. The onyx-haired woman nodded softly at the stickman, watching her vanish into the shadows once more. Just as planned. Once they got out of the ballroom, they were gonna go their separate ways, to cover more ground. It was dumb, but more effective. All they needed now was information- Solid, hard evidence to back up these claims. ..Evidence to put Nillyx’s mind at ease. She hoped that Areon didn’t get dragged into this. She really, really did. But that would make so much sense.. All of it, if he did. And yet, the mere thought made her SOUL ache. To think such a young one like him, being put through experimental hell- He doesn’t deserve that. No child did. No innocent. Only the sinners… Deserve to fall. “There’s an opening. Meet you at… uh. Where, again?” “Atrium, second floor, right in the middle. Can’t miss it.” “Aye. Good luck out there, D.” Nillyx nodded, taking out her fan as she watched her cousin vanish into the myriad of people, turning her back to the stage and ducking into the hallways beyond. And lawd, if there’s one thing she wasn’t grateful for, it was the efficiency of the clothes. How do you expect to run in this thing? The heels weren’t that bad- But stars, Rou got it better. Double slits… What was Polar thinking, that wench-?! She was definitely getting a scolding later on that- But Nillyx had to give it to the stubborn woman, it did look good. Just not… Eugh. Never again. Maybe. Wait- Enough. Just-... Just go. You’ve stayed long enough. ———

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. BeepbeepbeepBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEP- Garnet orbs shot open, small hands clawing at their surroundings. They were frantic, yet slowed down- Lethargic, even. I can’t breathe, I can’t breathe, I can’t breathe- BreathebreathebreathebreathebREATHE- They reached out, pressing cool glass. A restraint. They couldn’t see anything through this murkiness.. They banged weakly on the glass, trying harder, harder, harder- A dull thunk after the other. How long were they doing this? It seemed all too familiar to h e r, this cycle… A cycle they were determined to break. Putting all their strength into this last push, they used their feet this time- The impact sending the glass forward. It didn’t shatter, only landing on the floor beyond with a muffled tonk. The liquid.. The serum, that held them in all this time drained, revealing bare sandy skin, air-conditioned air kissing it and chilling the small, bare body to the bone. They hiccuped, letting their feet gingerly reach the bottom of the capsule. The capsule that had been their prison for so long. The sensations were so foreign, yet so familiar. They knew this from.. Somewhere. Not trusting themself to take a step, they peeked out, looking at their reflection in the milky liquid. A sharp, scared child stared back at them. Wide eyes, garnet red. Thin face, sandy, slightly freckled skin. Pale from lack of sun for ages. How long, they didn’t know. ..wait. She. She was a she. Good to know? Who was she? Where was she? So many questions. But first- She had to get rid of this cold. She’ll get sick.. And she can’t be sick. They’ll tell her off for being useless, and send her to the cellar again- She hated the cellar. Making her run all those laps barefoot, with sacks chained to her legs, in sand- She shivered from the memory.

Was she in Mr. Matiz’s lab? She didn’t like waking up there. It was cold. But she never ended up wet or bare like this before… Wasn’t there always a spare hospit- Ah. There. Tucked neatly into the corner, just as it was before. It was a little too large for her now, but it was still covering. She ran her hands through her wet mop of reddish copper hair, and gulped- Spitting immediately at the bitter taste in her mouth. Ugh. She hated that taste. Fishy, bitter, stinky. She could taste the stench. ..she wanted water. And information. Why can’t she remember her name? Or what time it was? She must surely be in the Lab, but everything else was lost to her. The child took a few steps forward. Not that wobbly. Okay. She can go. But she didn’t want to find Mr. Matiz. He was scary.. Scarier than her father, or Xrylle when he was pissy. She hated the way he talked to her, the way he touched her when they were doing experiments. It wasn’t anything harsh, just small taps on her shoulders, arms, legs- But it made her feel icky. What was worse was the way he looked at her. Especially when she did something right. The child would rather bear the wrath than be gazed upon with that smile. It was sick, just sick. It made her feel like ice was being poured inside her spine, crawling down the bones and touching everything inside her. E w. Just- Ew. Looking around, she spotted a scalpel. Good enough. She could use that. Grabbing the blade, she made her way across, and into the hallways beyond. ——— “Oh~! This is an interesting turn indeed. Seems like the little piece of firewood found her way out~.. Wonder who’ll she encounter?” Fate looked down, grinning at the scene that played out before her. Oh, how lovely. Roulette was on her way to Matiz, just as planned, Nil-... The hanging doll on her way to her beloved child, and! The cataclyst, wandering alone. However would this play out, Fate didn’t know. But boy, was she excited to find out. She set down her cup of tea and waved the image away, just as a familiar man burst through her door. 

Her husband. Destiny. “...Fate. What are you doing.” She turned to look at him, an innocent smile spreading on her figures. “What? I’m just enjoying my tea, Desu.” Her smile widened upon seeing the enraged glint in his deep navy eyes. “Don’t. Call me that.” His usually placid voice came out in a quiet growl. Fate tutted, setting her teacup down and walking over to her husband, batting her eyes at him. “Oh~ But it’s been so long, Destiny. Can’t you forget that witch?” He closed his eyes, fists tight at his side. He was on his last nerve, and she knew that. Yet she pushed him so. Ugh. He was no fun. Fate sighed, turning away. “..Enough meddling with her children and her family. I’ve had enough.” “It’s part of my job, dear. Plus, I haven’t touched that fallenspawn lately.” “DO- Don’t call her kin that.” She scoffed, sipping her tea. “Very well. Now, if you please, do kindly escort yourself out. You are interrupting my peaceful afternoon tea. Thank you.” Destiny sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose, before leaving without a word, the door closing with a soft click behind him. Once making sure he was gone, she waved her hand once more- Letting the strings construct a viewing web. Oh, silly man. She’d never give this up for the world~! A gal needs her entertainment, after all. And what better than the tales of real people? She sighed, her eyes drifting across the map lazily. The real show had just begun.

[luckystarite]

Long Obnoxious Vent Post: Please Ignore

Everything has gone to hell again. I'm really not doing well. I know, big shocker.

I haven't been able to get my doctor to fill my prescription for my antidepressants. It's been over 2 weeks. I'm completely out. I found some on my floor I've been taking to get me through. Still not a single word.

I've been in and out of the emergency room multiple times in the past week and nobody can figure out what's wrong with me. The doctors clearly think I'm faking and are sick of me coming in. But they think it's seizures so I'm not allowed to drive until I get a test done. I can't get the people who schedule the tests to call me back.

I tried really hard to have a good day anyway. I got dressed up and went to my cousin's graduation. Really proud of him. My mom showed up like 2 hours late so drugged out of her mind that she can't string words together. She doesn't think anything's wrong and is getting combative when people try to tell her she doesn't make any sense... but she keeps interrupting people while they're talking to interject with things that are literal gibberish. I have to take care of her when she gets home. By myself. Despite not being qualified. I can't leave because I'm not allowed to drive.

I told people I was in the ER after I had a seizure, they don't believe me. "No I think it's probably this nerve thing. I have it, too! It's just an inflammation thing, you'll be fine." Don't worry buddy, the doctors don't believe me either so at least someone in this story is on the same page.

I feel like I can't connect with people. My brain is being so mean to me. I'm convinced people are secretly just tolerating me and don't actually like me. I offer absolutely nothing to relationships. My jokes keep falling flat. All of this is stuff that happened after I lost my last friend group upon finding out they didn't actually like me. Very concerned that none of my friends actually like me and I'm just too autistic to get the subtle hints.

I haven't felt well enough to exist, let alone to clean. My room is a mess and we have an inspection coming up. If I don't clean it, no one will.

I'm trying to get in with a new doctor because of all this shit going on with my current one.

I'm just an absolute mess... and now my grandma is telling me that if I want things to get better that I have to rely on a god I don't believe in. Because apparently this all-knowing benevolent deity loves me even tho nobody else seems to. But I can't just deny it because it's a nice gesture and she's literally the only person irl who cares enough to even ask me why I left the party.

I don't know how much longer I can keep doing this. I really want to keep up this whole sunshine and rainbows thing, but I'm falling apart in every direction.

And to top it all off, I'm sunburned.

[devotedrigelianflower]

~*~

Never in her wildest dreams did Josephine ever imagine that she would have to stop a coup. She knew that many of the nobles were not happy having to share power and would have preferred if Berkut had become the emperor instead. However, since Berkut was helping his cousin, perhaps many did not like this change of heart. “As much as I would love to talk to Rebecca about this, time is not exactly on our side. Perhaps having a compartment that looks like a bag’s lining might work. We did find some old carrier bags used for holding books.” Josephine did have some sewing skills so she felt she could handle the task. She picked up one of the carrier bags near her and took a look inside. “Oh! This one has a hidden compartment!” Josephine showed the inside of the bag to Hunter. There was a hidden flap that was used to hide documents. It was empty because it seemed the people wanted to move them to a safer location which in this case was the secret hideout. “Well, I suppose now we know how they managed to steal stuff and not get caught.” This made things easier for Josephine to go to meet with Alm. “Alright. First this is getting the main documents to show Alm into the bag. Then I finish the rest of the wedding plan while you work on the report of the last battle. I think Alm would be understanding why you did the report instead of me.” Josephine said as she still lost her aunt and while she felt better many of the others would know she would be in mourning.

“Be sure to make the report as basic as possible without revealing the full truth that we know now. So, let’s just say we met the Witch at my family gravesite and I recognized right away who the Witch was. We prepared ourselves for a battle and realizes we needed blessed weapons and thus we had to run to the base and she was following us. Then we can tell the truth from that point and end it when the battle finally ended.” Josephine told Hunter as she felt that was the best plan to go with. “To throw the suspicious people off we should wait at least two days before I make the long travel to Rigel Castle the normal carriage way. You can go back to work at the base as normal.” It could take up to a day or two travel if there is no rush to get there. Wedding planning was not a necessary rush but a royal wedding was still important. Plus, everyone who was at the battle would know that Josephine would want Hunter to comfort her for at a day. “We should at least get the main documents ready first.” Josephe said before getting the documents needed in a folder with dividers and made sure to test the bag to make sure the bag was good to go.

Josephine started to feel the tiredness from not getting enough sleep. “We should get some sleep but let’s put the rest away in their original locations. We are going to be very busy for the rest of the week.” Josephine knew the next two days were critical to get the wedding plans done. It will be a nice distraction but there was that fear that perhaps getting caught by a member of the group. She had to take that risk in order to save not only the royal couples from an assassination attempt with but the lives of the commoners who were being cruelly mistreated depended on her. Alm and Celica were working hard to try to make Valentia a better place for everyone and it would be a disaster if the corrupted nobles regain their power once more…

Those two days flew by as the couple prepared on the surface preparing to the wedding plans for Berkut and Rinea’s wedding and Josephine getting ready to travel to Rigel Castle. Her family’s home would be on the way there so she knew she would have to stop by and tell them some of the news about the Witch. She brought the purple necklace that her aunt Edith always wore to give to her father. That would be imitate proof that she was telling the truth as Edith was supposed to have been buried with it. Josephine was dress in a darker red color than normal as to indicate that she was in the process of mourning. She had woken up early in the morning to finished packing a traveling bag typical for trips that take more than a day and was now waiting inside her manor for the carriage. She made sure to have the carrying back with Hunter’s report, wedding plans and secret documents to show Alm inside. “Well since my family’s manor is the half way point to Rigel Castle, I will have to tell them what happened to Edith. Since it is common for me to always stop there before going to see Rinea…it makes sense.” Josephine was making sure this looked like a normal trip to see Berkut and Rinea at the castle. This was not going to be a fun trip for her but it was something that had to be done. “Oh, I can see the carriage and our mission begins the moment I open the door.” Josephine said before giving Hunter a small smile before opening the door to see the coachman and footman ready to take her travel bag. She got to hold onto her carrying bag and they didn’t ask to see into it. If they did, they would first see fabric examples for wedding dresses. Before she got onto the coach, she turned to look at Hunter. “I’m going to miss you but I know it’s only going to be a few days. Good luck with work. I love you!” Josephine said before giving him a quick kiss on the lips before going into the carriage. At this point everyone around them Josephine was sweet to her soon to be husband. As the carriage started to move, she gave a wave to her beloved before settling down at her seat and looked up at the blue sky. She hoped that her grandfather and aunt Edith were watching over her knowing that Josephine was going to be successful on her mission to protect Valentia...

~*~

"My apologies. You're right, the coup does needs the primary focus."

He did learn a little more about Josephine's family history. Edward seemed to be the name of a warrior but records would be spotty at best if they were to try and find it again. Perhaps it would make a good name for a child if they decided to have them and if the child was male.

When Josephine started to search through the papers and notes that were scattered around the room, Hunter would join her by trying to collect as much as he could and try to organize it while handing papers that she requested. He would organize it from repeated names, locations, and other mentions of importance. It would help if he had S.T.A.R here to categorize and store the information from each page. She would have also been able to find repeats in information to narrow down possible leads but it seemed like it was up to Josephine and Hunter to do some good old fashion detective work. He looked over to his fiancé when she began to put the pieces together.

"Loss of power is a leading cause for people to do drastic things." He commented.

He nodded at the comment about having to split up to not draw attention to the fact that they knew that a coup was being attempted. This would take a lot of maneuvering and sheath if they were to be successful and Josephine also had a way to inform the emperor about it too with the wedding plans.

As a Spartan, Hunter had been sent on some covert missions such as reconnaissance and assassination. The Spartans that worked closely with ONI were more selected for those types of missions. He thought about ways to conceal a message with the more limited resources they had here than what he normally worked with in the UNSC.

"Well, there are a couple of ways we can go about it. In the UNSC we never really used paper as most messages were encrypted and could be hidden on the person instead but there are multiple ways to hide such documents in bags and safes. You can put hidden compartments that look as if it's part of the bag's lining. We can write messages in a certain type of ink that when exposed to lemon juice or anything acidic it will appear by chemical reaction. I could check in with Rebecca to see if she can send us something from the UEG that may do the job."

[emerging-jew]

DNA tests are bullshit and here's why:

*attempt 2 because tumblr mobile only posted the first and last paragraph last time I tried this*

So to start I have a degree in anthropolgy and have studied under people with Ph.Ds in this subject so I have a pretty solid understanding of the issue with them. This post is gonna be a little oversimplified, just to make it more accessible to people.

The reason im making this post is that I've seen several accounts where a person takes the test and is incredibly distraught because "I'm not actually Jewish!" or "I grew up on the reservation but this says im %100 white!" both of those are referencing real cases and it is heartbreaking to see someone think they are a fraud and do not belong in their own culture because of a bogus test.

So what is the the issue with the tests?

Glad you asked. There's a number of issues with these tests, mostly that people don't know what's actually being tested. So let's talk about how (people think) they work:

You put your spit in the tube, send it off, some lab magic produces your whole genetic code and then the scientists look and see what percentage of you is German or Indian or English or whatever. Except that's not actually possible.

There's a misunderstanding about genetics in the general population that's being taken advantage of. There are no genes that can show your race/ethnicity with 100% accuracy. There is no gene that only Asians and no one else has and no gene that only Germans have an no one else. There are genes that are more common in certain groups, maybe people from Germany tend to have Gene "a" but the key word there is "tend", as in not always. There are people from Germany who would not have gene "a" but they are still German.

Going along with this, genes are not specific to a group, so maybe gene "a" is common for Germans... but also common for Nigerians and Polish people.

And another wrench is that people move, a lot. The tests base their findings on going out to the world, finding people, and using them as a base for what genes are common in that population. (this example is simplified so people can understand the basic principle of how it's working) So they'll test a bunch of people that say they're 100% definitely German and use that as the base. So maybe the test a bunch of Germans, find they tend to have genes "a" and "b" a lot and go "well people who have genes a and b are German".

Except those Germans might not actually be German. The standard they use is having lived somewhere for 3 generations (so if someone's great-grandparents immigrated to Germany from Russia their DNA counts as the standard for 100% German). So that gene "a" might actually be coming from an ethnic group in Russia not Germany.

now with a big enough sample size this problem would theoretically go away. Except everyone is moving all the time. Very rarely are there populations that are incredibly isolated and distinct. So most people being tested are going to have some sort of mixed ancestry they probably don't even know about (and also there's the issue of borders, race categories, ethnic categories, etc. being something which is changing and shifting all the time). But even if that issue was solved some groups don't have a big sample sizes, sometimes there's only a handful of people willing to share their DNA to be the base of their entire ethnic group (especially non-european groups).

Not to mention the issue of "trash DNA". One of the people I studied under did a lot of genetic research in Mexico. For over a decade they kept finding really strange genetic markers that didn't match up with what they expected to find so they just ignored it; until eventually figuring out those markers came from the sephardic Jews who fled the inquisition to Mexico so all of those people tested were having Jewish ancestory over looked because it wasnt understood at the time.

The tests can be fun. I wouldnt reccomend it because they're collecting health data and genetic markers to be sold and really don't tell you anything, but some people find it fun. Just treat ot more like an over priced horoscope than somthing that determines if you really belong to your culture. Your community and your family and your history determine that, not some spit in a tube.

[skellebonez]

32. Are you aware of how much money you spent? Tang and Pigsy

go wild god of fanfic prompts, go wild

I WOULDN'T GO THAT FAR ANON JDFKLSJFAS But that's very sweet of you to say! And I couldn't pass up a great chance to write these two as the old (but not that old) married couple I know them to be in my heart. I tried something a little experimental, this isn't exactly how I would normally write them but I had a little idea and wanted to see what I could do with it.

Are you aware of how much money you spent? 

Tang loved Pigsy. And he wasn't afraid of who knew that fact.

"You sure you wanna come with me to the market after... you know,” Pigsy said with a shrug as he rubbed his neck awkwardly.

Tang knew. He remembered the events of quite a few months ago very well. Over half a year if he remembered correctly. It was the last time he had gone with the chef to purchase his ingredients at the market, not wanting to go anywhere close to what was likely still far too close to the lair of the Spider Queen.

Especially not after their later encounters on the new year and the following weeks.

“I’m sure.”

It wasn’t as if they didn’t spend pretty much all their time together anyway. Tang had work, of course he did, and he wasn’t always in the shop 24/7. But whenever he could take his work on the go or take a break or just have the day off he would be by the chef’s side. He always had been for as long as he could remember since their first meeting in college.

At first it was simply from a sense of loyalty to an old friend. He’d kept in touch with Pigsy since they had graduated together, went to the restaurant from day one since it opened, and went back almost every day since then.

And then... he’d lost his apartment, an accidental electrical fire no one could have prevented and he had been glad no one was hurt, and Pigsy had just offered him his spare room like it was nothing.

Tang could have possibly stayed in a hotel until he was able to find another apartment, at least for a while. But not forever. Not the way people who knew who he really was thought he could.

Once someone learned you were the descendant of a long distant cousin of the Tang Sanzang they had a tendency to assume and want things from you after all.

He wasn't in any way rich, far from it. But people thought he was the second they learned he was related to Tang Sanzang and he was just well off enough for people to assume they were right. Just enough for people to expect more from him than he could really give. And he gave all the same, scared to disappoint. Scared to be left alone. Scared to be alone.

Not Pigsy, though. He didn't tell the chef for a long while before moving in and not for quite some time after, guilt from not revealing who he was making Tang leave him far more money than would be his reasonable share of the rent despite the fact he didn't really have it to spare, and the charade would only last as long as Pigsy was willing to ignore that.

It took 1 month and 28 bowls of noodles that Tang vastly overpaid for before Pigsy dropped an overstuffed envelope with all the excess money (which was really nearly all the money he could spare) he had given the chef right into his lap while he was attempting to study a book on their now shared couch.

Pigsy barely got out his question of "why?" before Tang buckled under the pressure and revealed everything.

His heritage.

His past with others.

His feelings.

That last one had been an accident. Truly it had. He'd never planned on telling Pigsy that he had developed a crush on him ever since he had asked him to taste test some of the recipes for his shop. That he kept going to the shop not because the food was amazing (even though it absolutely was, the best he'd ever had and he was certain ever would have) but because he just wanted to see Pigsy more. That the day he'd asked Tang to move into his spare room in his own apartment his heart had skipped a beat and he wondered if there was a deity out there both enjoying the idea of giving him everything he wanted on a silver platter while also reveling in the idea of it being snatched away in an instant because he was certain Pigsy had never liked him back.

Well. Was certain.

Until Pigsy stared at him for a few second too long before a lopsided grin spread on his face and he ignored every single other part of his confession to ask "you had a crush on me too?"

It had taken a minute or two for them to realize they were both hopeless idiots who had been mutually pining for each other the entire time.

They felt pretty silly after that, having lived together for a month when they probably could have been doing so long before.

~

"You don't have to keep givin me all this, you know," Pigsy said firmly once everything was out in the open, gesturing to the envelope that Tang now held in his hands.

"I know," Tang admitted, worrying his fingers over the edges. "It's just... everyone else always wanted more from me and... I was scared, I guess..."

"I'm not everyone else." Pigsy gently took hold of Tang's hand, giving it a careful squeeze. "I don't care who your great uncle or cousin or whoever was. I mean, I do, cause they're your family!" The chef corrected himself, flushing a deep crimson in embarrassment. "But you could be related to nobodies or a king and that wouldn't make you less you to me. I like you for you! I... am I makin any sense? I didn't go to college to sound nice, I went for business stuff!"

Laughter bubbled up from somewhere in Tang's chest, making him squeeze the chef's hand back.

"You are," he said, feeling a lightness inside him that he didn't realize he hadn't felt in a long time. "I get it. I like you for you too, Pigsy."

"Good," the chef said, a chuckle of his own resounding in unison. "Good..."

The two sat for a moment longer, staring at each other before Tang started to lean forward. Pigsy followed, just as he had with the laughter.

It didn't take long for noses to bump each other awkwardly and for the two of them to burst into cackles as they realized they would need to remember to turn their heads before they kissed.

And then they shared their first.

~

They'd been together for years after that. Scholar and chef, old college buddies now roommates turned boyfriends and then later husbands. Most people didn't even know they were married at all, "if they couldn't see it when it was right in front of their faces why explain it" was Tang and Pigsy's mutual reasoning. And for those that did know, some people didn't really understand their relationship. Not with how they carried on with the whole "freeloader" thing.

But that was because of one of Pigsy's only requests when they started dating.

"Don't feel like you gotta pay me for anything, ok? I don't know what other people have said to you, but you don't gotta do that with me."

Tang liked to take that a little far, admittedly, for the fun of it with the noodle orders at the shop. He couldn't help it, he loved everything about Pigsy! His smile, how much he cared behind his gruff exterior, his cooking (obviously), and how cute he was when he would let out that exasperated sigh at the end of the month and just look at Tang's tab as he took out whatever was extra in his half of the month's rent to pay for all but a few yuan of it and just change into that soft smile all over again.

The tab was real, but Tang always paid it at the end of the month. Even if Pigsy always insisted behind the scenes that he didn't have to. He could just stop giving Pigsy the extra cash and they'd wash their hands of the tab and the freeloading completely if he wanted to.

But Tang liked teasing his husband too much and Pigsy was happy as long as Tang was alright with that.

Something in the back of Tang's mind wondered if he was still just scared though, despite everything. As if the ideas of his youth were too deep seated to really go away, intrusive thoughts needling into his brain in a way that would need something even more life altering than he already gone through to get them to leave, and he kept the tab and the teasing around just for some extra security so he would know he'd get to see Pigsy's exasperated smile and hear him say he could stop again. He was certain he was just overthinking things, something he did more often than he would like to admit.

Of course... that was until Spider Queen.

It hadn't been a good morning already, the selection at the market had been poor and Tang was tired from a long work week. Pigsy had been determined to find the right ingredients for... something that, frankly, Tang couldn't remember after all these months. What he did remember was the way the Spider Queen drew Pigsy in, despite his sniping at him while they were tied up he knew that the chef really was only after actual vegetable, and being in that lair.

It was awful.

They hadn't been down there long, but it was long enough for Tang to suggest Pigsy stay away from the market entirely and order his food via online delivery. Pigsy thought he'd been jealous at first, until he realized that Tang was just... scared. Scared of Pigsy getting hurt, scared of losing him. Just scared.

Until MK had shown up there really was no telling if they would have made it out. And that scared Tang. A lot.

Pigsy didn't stop going to the market entirely, but for Tang's peace of mind he bought most of his food via delivery like he suggested and took MK with him every time instead. Tang refused to go back, not when he knew how close that stand was.

And then the Lunar New Year happened and Tang no longer really felt safe anywhere.

Oh he acted like everything was fine alright, but he knew Pigsy could tell how defeated he was in knowing that Spider Queen and her crew could just show up anywhere at any time now. It left him tired, having trouble sleeping, and just emotionally exhausted.

Until this morning. When he woke up before Pigsy and got dressed and ready to go and suggested they go to the market together.

He was tired. Too tired.

Tired of letting himself be afraid. Of Spider Queen. Of the market. Of his old intrusive thoughts.

After all he had used a giant gun sword on that one spider guy with the pony tail who insisted on teasing Pigsy for some reason. And went through whatever happened with that weird shadow puppet guy. Why be afraid anymore after all that weirdness?

So at the market they were, looking over the selection of ingredients together for the first time in months almost as if nothing had happened. No one would have been able to tell except for the way Pigsy kept looking over at Tang to make sure he was alright.

Tang loved that about Pigsy too.

“Tang you don’t have t-”

“I want to,” the scholar said firmly, handing his card to the merchant they had stopped at over Pigsy’s head before the other even had a chance to argue further.

“Tang!” Pigsy yelped as his card was handed back, gesturing to the bag of food he was being handed shortly after. “Are you aware of how much money you spent? That stuff’s expensive!”

“I know,” Tang said nonchalantly, smiling softly as he turned to head to the next stall. “I told you, I wanted to buy them.”

“But why?” Pigsy insisted, looking a bit lost at having to be the one to follow someone else through the market for once. “You know I’d never make you pay for anything... well, heh, except your tab that you insist on keeping open.”

“About that" Tang said, smiling softly as he turned back to the man he loved for so long. "I don't think we need to keep that open anymore."

Pigsy froze, staring at Tang in confusion for a moment before his eyes widened as he realized what he'd just said. He blinked, looking at the bag of ingredients, thinking about the amount of yuan Tang had spent before he finally caught on to what the scholar had so sneakily done.

The exact amount down to the last little bit.

Paid in full.

"You're serious," The chef said as he took in Tang's expression carefully, reaching out to grab his free hand softly and squeeze. "What brought this on?"

"Just thought it was time to let go of old fears," Tang answered with a shrug, and he barely had time to react before Pigsy tugged him forward with a tilt of his head and pressed their lips together.

Tang didn't keep count of how many times they kissed over the years, who would after so long, but he was sure he'd remember this one as vividly as the first.

"Let's get back," Pigsy said after he pulled back, smiling warm and bright and just looking the way being home felt. "MK's probably waiting to get that out of the city training started and we don't wanna keep them all waiting."

He loved Pigsy.

And the one thing he was never ever afraid of was who knew that.

[quinntamsin]

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Checking her blaster she hears the read playing through her HUD. The mandalorian helmet was covered in the marks of Clan Rancor. A small droid hovered behind her head as she sheathed the vibrablade at her hip. "Kwynn we are registering a new hit over the Holonet, it's a former Jei" the words drew her attention.

Obi-wan Part 1 opens with the attack on the Jedi Temple. We see a jedi bravely defining a group of kids before following to blade fire. Next shifting ten years later to Tatooine the Inquisitor Third Sister, and another arrive in a rather jagged looking ship. They immediately move into a small cantina and smoke out a an armed Jedi before nearly taking him. Riva aka Third Sister shows her ferocity and uses her saber to burn the man's shoulder before the Inquisitor knocks her aside. THe man gets away without much trouble and we switch back over to Ben. He's working at what appears to be a butcher location. All of those participating are grizzled and outright abused by the foreman. The gonk keeping time and pay is pretty cute. We see Ben swiftly head back to what I believe is Mos Eisely. He gets an ride out to a small jawa to get a parts stolen from him. THe Jawa appears pretty damn enthusiastic and offers a bit new savage and this is where Kenobi learns of our runaway Jedi. Ben heads home and finds himself experience night terrors featuring his fall from grace. The death of his master and the fall to the darkside by Anakin. Ben truly is on his last legs. We see him venturing away from his hideout to keep an eye on a young Luke and Uncle Owen. Seeing little Luke on the top of the house pretending to be a podracer like his father was...a bit of light in a place of sorrow. The early Empire was just so damn rough to so many. Nari, the Jedi tries to get ahold of Ben and confronts him on the way home from his watch of the Lars homestead. Nari questions his need to hide and Ben informs him the time of the order is now quite over. Switching to Alderaan we see the beauty of the lost planet. Yeah this is definitely a world that was something I've wanted to see outside of the Old Republic Games for a while. Little Leia and her droid are pretty adorable and so was the trick she played on her mom. It's cool to see that the Skywalker love of spacecraft. Seeing her mother try hard to teacher her and Leia just con her is pretty cute in so many ways. Back to the grind as wee see Obiwan still working whatever he is doing. The long ride home on the back of a massive speeder truck. Owen confronts Ben about watching Luke and our lovely band of darksiders pop back up. Reva cuts off a hand which seems apt for her. I want to say here that the actor playing Reva, Moses Ingram, really was picked well for the part. She's just so fucking dark. The two Inquistors leave, and Own basically tells Ben he did it for Luke and not his sorry ass. Meanwhile back on Alderaan we get a great example of a planet with modern almost Elvish styled architecture as well as how plants are actively part of their city building. It's funny to see the sperm shaped helmets worn by the guards. I guess we know that Alderaanian surplus became part of the Rebellion. Plus watching Leia tear down her terrible cousin and then keep her ground was good. It shows the little girl has solid morals which will be needed later in her life. THe little girl runs off to the woods to have some fun and there we see our resident creep. The enemy takes the little girl, and almost immediately she's bagged and our episode nearly ends. Switching back to Ben we see he's receiving a call (this is obviously Bail calling him). Ben gets his morals tested and yup he decides to toss out excuses. As the ship with an imprisoned Leia zips away from her home, we see Ben once again on his sad life. Nari has been caught and hung the next day. What is he doing? Why is he letting all of this injustice happen? Because he's fucking afraid. Bail comes all the way to push him and damn. This is a confrontation that Ben needs. He needs to be pushed to be a Knight once again. And I get wy this story is being written and set up only as a miniseries. LOla tries to save Leia and the villain kills the little Droid. Man, this piece of shit isn't really smart. Wait til he's got a saber burning through his chest. Watching Ben dig out his light saber and Luke's really feels nostalgic. Yup, this is definitely a good move on Reva's end. IT's also nice that the woman has no hint of Leia's own force sensitive ability.

Hottakes:

Reva is peak inquisitor, love her as Third Sister.

Ewan is really selling the sad old man Ben here.

Owen staring down a woman who literally cut of another woman's hand was ballsy.

Leia is channeling Lyanna Mormon and I am here for it!

[fictionadventurer]

I can’t stop thinking about the Superman AU where Kara doesn’t get lost in the Phantom Zone so both children are raised by the Kents.

Kara’s ship was set up to teach her English (and possibly other Earth languages) during the trip, so the Kents learn the whole story of Krypton right away. Both kids keep their Kryptonian first names.

Kara’s extremely protective/possessive of Kal at first. She was sent across solar systems to take care of this kid, and it’s hard to step back and let anyone else fill that parent role.

Right away, the Kents notice that Kara’s stronger and faster and more durable than a human, but she doesn’t start developing outright superpowers for at least a few years. Kal starts showing signs of it by the time he’s in kindergarten, though extreme powers don’t really start to develop until his teenage years.

Kara’s homeschooled for a few years, but she does attend Smallville High for, yes, the socialization. (And to quell some of the rumors about the weird kids the Kents adopted).

The Kents have a swingset that’s the site of tons of terrifying acrobatic stunts from two children who are developing powers of invulnerability and flight.

Kara never quite loses her Kryptonian accent. In high school, there’s a running gag where she claims the accent is from more and more ridiculous places. Metropolis. France. Antarctica. Mars. Middle Earth.

(One time someone joked that her accent was from Alderaan, and it hit way too close to home).

(The official story from the Kents is that Kara was adopted from parents who did a lot of traveling and her mixed-up accent was worsened by a mild hearing/speech impairment).

The Kent household is bilingual. The kids are both fluent in Kryptonian, and Martha and Jon made sincere efforts to learn, though they’ll never be really adept. About half of the conversations in the house occur in a pidgin Krypt-lish.

For Kara’s sake, they try to adopt Kryptonian celebrations into their family traditions, but it’s difficult when a good chunk of Kryptonian holidays celebrate celestial events that they can no longer see or family connections that no longer exist.

Kara = Jock Girl. Kal = Nerd Boy.

Kara’s smart, but her early education on a different planet makes it harder to adapt to this world’s knowledge system, so she doesn’t put her focus toward academics.

She’s somehow both a tomboy and the girliest possible girl. She’ll be shoveling manure one minute and buying mascara the next.

She’s also got a very practical, no-nonsense personality, but she’s devoted to her carefully curated selection of stuff animals. She may have made one or two based on memories of Kryptonian animals.

Kara’s on a couple of athletic teams in high school. I could see her being on a dance team because good performance requires her to work in sync with the entire team, so her superpowers don’t give her that much of an advantage. And she’s in volleyball because she has a volleyball girl vibe.

Kal’s more introverted and sheltered (especially with two protective mother figures hovering over him), but he grows up comfortably human while fully acknowledging his Kryptonian heritage. He really does need glasses as a kid, learns to read young, and overall slots comfortably into the role of Friendly Neighborhood Nerd from his early elementary years.

(”What’s Kal short for?” people ask him. “Kaleidoscope”, he replies.)

Both kids are close with both Kents, but Kara has a particularly strong bond with Jonathan while Kal is more similar to Martha.

Kal bonds with Martha over her collection of pulp sci-fi books. (Kara finds their depictions of other worlds too unrealistic). They’re also both Star Trek fans--Kal prefers the original series, while Martha prefers Next Gen.

Kara stays on the farm after graduating high school. She still feels a strong duty to stay and care for Kal, and though she won’t say it out loud, she needs to cling to the sense of home that Smallville provides after losing her home planet.

She helps out with the farm work, and also works as a paramedic and/or firefighter. The job serves her caretaker strengths, and also provides a lot of opportunities to use her powers to rush to the rescue. It doesn’t take long for the “Smallville Angel” to become a local cryptid.

Her love interest is a down-home Smallville boy. Possibly a high school sweetheart, possibly someone she meets on the job, whether working alongside him or helping to rescue him. He has a very hands-on job, whether it’s as a firefighter, construction worker, or a farmer.

By the time Kal’s a high school freshman, he takes over the Smallville High paper and transforms it from a sports-scores-and-lunch-menus fluff page into a hard-hitting investigative paper. Within his first few months on the paper, he uncovers an embezzlement scandal at the school.

Kal is far more at home in Smallville than Kara is, but because it’s the only home he’s known, he also feels more of a drive to explore the world outside it. He does some traveling after high school, goes to Metropolis for college, and though he visits Smallville frequently, he never lives there again after leaving.

Kara gets married (to the above-mentioned love interest) around the same time that Kal graduates high school. They settle down in Smallville.

Kara has at least one biological kid, but she also becomes a stepmother/adopted mother. Could be that her love interest is a widower with children from his previous marriage. Maybe they adopt a couple of his brother’s kids. Maybe they adopt some kids from a rescue situation Kara came across. But I want Kara to have to deal with some of the “You’re not my real mom” stuff that she put Martha through.

(And it’s even more interesting from the perspective of the kids. When do you tell them? How do they deal with “my stepmother is a space alien who shoots lasers from her eyes”?)

Kal takes up hero work in Metropolis, but has a harder time keeping his identity secret with so many eyes around. With his imagination primed by pulp sci-fi, it doesn’t take long to come up with the idea of a costumed alter ego. Kara thinks it’s a bit silly, but her heart soars when she sees the costume’s focal point is the House of El crest, and she loves that it becomes a symbol of hope for this world.

It’s a big step when Kal brings Lois home to meet the parents, but the real test is when she meets Kara.

“She’s my big sister. Well, really my cousin. Also kind of my mom.”

“I didn’t think you were that kind of hick, Smallville.”

If she’s being completely honest, Lois is intimidated by the idea of meeting someone with all of Kal’s abilities and a mother-wolf instinct to protect him. But the Kents are intimidated by Kal getting involved with an investigative journalist who’s the daughter of a military general.

They hit it off great, though, and both sides quickly realize they have nothing to worry about.

There’s also a huge Kent extended family that was involved with these kids from the moment that Jon and Martha found spaceships in their cornfield. The Kents are exactly the clan you want at your back when you need to hide two alien kids from the government. Need fake identification and adoption papers? Someone to steer the Men in Black off the trail? The Kents will pitch in with enthusiasm.

Not everyone in the family knows about their abilities or secret identities, but they’re a close-knit clan anyway. They have a harder time adjusting to having city-gal Lois among their ranks than two space alien kids.

It’s a crazy, chaotic, blended and adopted family that’s growing and shifting over the years and always provides a place for Kara and Kal to belong.

[burgundyhaven]

Send Her to Me: Teen! Kit Walker x Reader

Description: basically high school kit walker is trying to ask y/n out to the dance but everytime he tries to ask her out he keeps on missing her so he asks for his friends to send her to him

Word count: 1,702

Warnings: cursing, fluff? Nothing else that I can think of :)

A/n: I had a lot of fun making this, I’ve been in my 60s/70s phase as of recent so I’ve been listening to a lot of 60s garage rock and this is inspired by “send her to me” by the dark knights which is amazing you should go check the song out expeditiously. This is taking place in November of 1957 btw :)))) enjoy!!! Sorry if this is messy I finished writing this at 3:48 am  which explains lots of the spelling and punctuation errors it’s whatever 

Link to send her to me by the dark knights-https://youtu.be/BJKQks4neiI

It was November of 1957 and it was Kit Walkers final year of high school

He just wanted the stress of all of the work and uncertain future to be over

But there was one thing he would miss, you

He’s had a huge crush on you ever since you were in 9th grade, but only now worked up the courage to ask you out

You were putting your things away in your locker when you saw kit coming towards you

“Hey y/n”

“Oh- hi kit! what class you got next?”

“History. you?”

“English”

“Oh- uh… cool”

“Yeah.cool?” you chuckled

“Um-“

“Yeah?”

“Would you want to-“ he stops for a while

“Would I want to what?”

“Would you want to-“

he gets cut off by a loud bell

“Sorry! I gotta go i can’t be late again that’ll be three days in a row, catch you after this class though?”

“Oh. yeah sure” Kit says almost whispering and looking down at his shoes after waving at you

He went to history, though his attention was on the clock waiting for the next chance to see you

Finally, the bell rang and he went right to your locker, but…you weren’t there

He didn’t know, but you just didn’t need to go to your locker that class, but he knew he’d be able to talk to you in lunch

He went to his friends and asked them if they would send a message for him. He knew at least two of them had that class with you

“Hey- hold on wait, Jimmy tell y/n to meet me at the 6th lunch table, I keep on missing her at hall time”

“What for?”

“Nothing I just wanted to talk to her, if you don’t have her class next ask Henry I know he has the same class as her right now”

“Alright good luck… on whatever crazy shit your doing”

“Yeah thanks” he chuckled and looked down at his shoes

You were in your class when you saw one of Kits friends walking into your class, which was normal. But, he never talked to you in particular

He approached you and spoke quickly and quietly

“Kit wants you to meet him at the sixth table in the cafeteria in lunchtime”

“Why”

“I don’t know? He didn’t give a reason”

“Alright… thanks”

*45 minutes later*

Finally, it was lunchtime and he spotted you sitting alone in the corner of the cafeteria,where he told you to meet him

He walked over to the table and sat right in front of you

“Hey what’re you doing here all alone again”

you smiled and put a strand of hair behind your ear

“Sorry about forgetting to tell you i wouldn’t be at my locker, i forgot i didn’t need any books for my class after english”

“no don’t worry about it it’s fine”

“So what did you wanna tell me kit?”

“Oh,uh i wanted to actually show you something”

He walked over and dragged his lunch to your side and sat down

He pulled out a photo from his bag

“Here it is”

He slid the photo to your side

“Oh my god Kit! That’s us! God we were so little” you laughed

“But- how’d you find these i thought you lost all your pictures in the move”

“Yeah, but we found a tin inside of the box with my moms clothes and it had all my baby photos and stuff like that”

“You got any more?”

“Yeah, If you wanna come over afterschool and I could look through them with you. I haven’t gotten a chance to see them all yet?”

“Yeah, of course! we’d have to walk though, i can’t go alone”

“yeah that’s no problem,meet me by the front of the school at around 2:00?”

“K, see you then”

He knew this was going to work perfectly, you would be thinking about the past you guys had and then he’d ask you out and you would just have to say yes

2:00 came and you were out in front waiting for about 8 minutes, he was a little late but he came out eventually

“Sorry i kept you waiting so long. That son of a bitch Mr. Wells made me stay after class for not finishing the test in time”

“No don’t worry it’s okay,it’s only 2:08 you didn’t keep me waiting for that long” you said while smiling at him

“Alright,let’s go- wait did you call

your house and tell them you were coming over?”

“ Uh-yeah I told my mom i’d be home a little late and i’d be at your place for school”

“For school?”

“She wouldn’t let me at any guys house if it wasn’t school related,even though she’s known you since you were born”

“Makes sense” he laughs and looks at you

The cold november breeze made you start to shiver and you put your books close to your chest but it was no use

Kit noticed you were getting cold and gave you his jacket, and even though you told him you weren’t cold, he knew you just didn’t want to seem like you needed anything, so he put it on you anyways

you made it to his house and he got his key out

you went in and his parents weren’t home

His dad was at work, and his mom left a note saying she wouldn’t be home until around 8 as she was out running errands

“Well i guess this is my house for the after noon” he said smiling

You laughed and smiled back

You asked if he wanted his jacket back, but he said you could keep it, so you put it on completely

“So,you wanna eat anything?”

“No, thanks though”

“I’ll go get the box then wait here”

You sat on the couch and heard him coming down shortly after you touched down on the seat cushion

“got it!”

you sat on the floor and the both of you looked through the box and uncovered dozens of forgotten memories

“Oh my god that was your 12th birthday”Kit said pointing to a photo from 1952

“Look at this one we were babies here!” you pulled out the photo form the small stack

“Kit is that you?” you pointed to a picture of him in a bathtub as a baby

He grabbed it and slid the photo under the couch

“No uh- thats my cousin. You won’t see him much because he’s- twice removed? Yeah”

“Yeah sure. don’t be embarrassed you were cute”

“Yeah whatever” he rolled his eyes

“It’s so crazy that we’ve known each other literally since we were born” you say still looking at the pictures

“Well technically…i’m older by a month so since you were born” Kit whispers

“You’re only older because you were born premature” you patted him on the back while getting up to go to the couch

He got up to sit next to you and turned on the tv for background noise

He scooted in closer to you and eventually you found that he had his arm wrapped around you and you were falling asleep

“hey it’s only 4:15, wake up” he tapped your shoulder

“Yeah i know- i just went to bed super late last night and i-“

“No it’s fine- do you want me to drive you home i could use the extra one we have”

“no i uh- i like it here it’s quiet, plus i can’t sleep now. I won’t be able to make it to school tomorrow”

“y/n. Its Friday ?”

“Oh.yeah well still”

“Okay nevermind” kit faintly laughed

You got up to get a snack as you hadn’t eaten for quite some time,then went right back to the couch

You sat crossed on the floor, looking right at the pictures on the wall

You observed all of them, specifically just seeing how much he’s changed over the years

He suddenly spoke out of nowhere

“Hey, so you heard about that senior ball the schools havin in a couple weeks”

“Yeah what about It?”

“You uh- planning on going”

“Probably, I just don’t really have anyone to go with”

“If you want, I could take you. I- I mean it doesn’t have to be like as a date or anything we could’ve go as friends if you wa-“

You hugged him and stopped him from saying anything else

“Thank you so much kit,I didn’t wanna have to go alone.And… yes we could go as a date ”

“Really?” He scratched his neck

You nodded and looked at him for a while, contemplating what you were going to do

You kissed him, out of nowhere

Now, you had just had your first kiss, and he had just had his

It was extremely awkward afterwards, you both just stared at each other and didn’t know what to say

“So uh- what’re we gonna wear” you said, still being in front of him as you were after you kissed him

“ Uhhh- i”

“we could match?” You started to get up to leave

“Yeah, we could match “ he spoke breathily

“I- uh, I gotta go my moms probably worried sick about me it’s” 

you look down to check your watch 

“7:15!”

“I could drive you and take the spare car? It’s kinda cold out”

“Oh yeah thanks sure “

The short 7 minute drive was quiet but lovely and you couldn’t help but stare at him for the whole car ride

You arrived home and quickly  walked to the door

You rang the doorbell and your mom opened the door, she looked pretty pissed but nothing over the top

You turned around and Kit was still there in the car, and your mom moved away from the door

You walked back a little closer to the where his car was  and he said “ come by my place tommorow … for school”

You laughed quietly and whispered “yeah for school… goodnight kit”

“Goodnight”

And he drove away into the distance, back to his house

You went to your room, and got ready for bed, and all you could think about was Kit and the wonderful day you had with him. And about the wonderful day you would have with him tomorrow

[azrielsribbon]

!!! A COURT OF SILVER FLAME SPOILERS !!!

Alternatively, Asli finished the book in like six hours and has many, many thoughts.

ON THE TOPIC OF NESTA, SOME CASSIAN AND NESSIAN AS A WHOLE.

holy shit. this is a lot.

She has grown so much, and I mean that by the little things.

I love that sjm didn’t make it so she was addicted to the wine and sex

Okay I understand Nesta was frustrating sometimes because she really was stubborn but some of the shit Cassian said was really out of line. Especially when he screamed that no one like fucking liked her.

Cassian was down so bad this entire book and I knew that the moment he said he hadn’t bed a female in two years. He was STARVINGGG

Her determination in getting down those stairs, I probably wouldve tested myself down a window or something.

I liked how she bonded with the House. It was a refreshing, different take on loneliness and finding a friend.

The House and how it looked after her. It was the biggest thing in her journey.

One theme I see in Nesta a lot is self sabotage, especially when it means the safety of others. She’s ready to throw herself in front of them.

Her banter with Cassian was really nice to read.

WHEN SHE MENTIONED HAVING A THREESOME TWICE I DIED

Cassian and his backstory was rip. It was really sad thinking about how little kid Cass really regretted some of the things that even he couldn’t control.

sjm did not disappoint with inner thoughts. Those were really refreshing.

She wasn’t vividly jealous or furious at Mor and Cassian’s friendship and I really liked that take.

Cassian’s silent jealously when Helion tries to flirt with Nesta and she dodged it LMAOOO

When Cassian kisses her in front of their family to help her get out of the map

Her silent bond with Az! That kept me going honestly. He was a sly bastard sometimes.

Sometimes I really questioned somethings, like those fast smut scenes but that’s just my preference.

Her marching down to Amren’s after she finds out they voted against her having the weapons she Made

Not to mention how she told Feyre about the baby and the labor risk out of anger, that really hurt both of them and me.

When she stayed silent during her punishment hike with Cassian. Each thought tore me apart.

When he warned her about falling and she was glad he didn’t see the expression on her face. How she didn’t mind if she fell down and how it would better.

When she cried after all those days of silence and finally told him how she felt underneath all that.

He softened up fast too and blamed himself for not realizing all this time why she hated the fire.

Can we talk about that dancing scene with Eris? And how Cassian was secretly exploding on the side as he remembered her mother wanted her to marry a Prince just like Eris.

WHEN ERIS ASKED RHYS WHAT HE WANTED IN EXCHANGE FOR NESTA TO BE HIS BRIDE AFTER LIKE A COUPLE DANCED LMAOO

The Solstice scene had my heart. The gift Az got Nesta and how she hugged him after he told her about it. How Cassian smiled at the sight.

HOW CASS GOT HER A LITTLE MUSIC BOX RECORDED WITH THE MUSIC FROM THE BALLROOM AND HOW HE ASKED THE MUSICIANS TO PERFORM IT FOR HIM AFTER EVERYONE LEFT SO HE COULD GET IT FOR HERRRR

They really kept shit away from each other till it exploded in an argument and that’s a reoccurring theme with this book couple.

WHAT MADE ME SO FRUSTRATED WAS HOW HE WANTED TO STAY IN HER BED AFTER SEX AND SHE WANTED TO CUDDLE BUT THEY DIDNT SAY ANYTHING AND ASSUMED THE OTHER DIDNT WANT IT

The topic of mates was RUSHED. Like I mean really rushed. First they argue, he says shackled and then the next time they get to speak (after the forced Blood Rite and labor scene) they accept it? I dont know, it didn’t sit with me.

I wish Nesta would elaborate on why she didn’t believe in Mates even more and Cassian would actually listen for once. Again, rushed.

The ending was fast paced in my opinion. We could’ve really had more to go off of, I needed more domestic Nessian.

ON THE TOPIC OF NESTA, GWYN, EMERIE

I am obsessed with Gwyn, Emerie and their friendship with Nesta.

I love how Gwyn and Nesta started, both gritting their teeth and still appreciating that aspect of each other.

How Nesta raced to help her with a book even when their first encounter wasn’t the friendliest.

Gwyn being persistent in paying back her small debt. I love her.

When Gwyn applied to defense lessons after Nesta defended them from the scholar priestess.

Emerie, my homegirl. I love her to death. The way she easily befriends Nesta, how Nesta stands up for her when her cousin comes to bother her.

I don’t know if it was just me, but Emerie and Mor might possibly be something. Either good friends or interested lovers.

THE WAY EMERIE BONDED OVER SMUTTY NOVELS WITH THE OTHER GIRLS AND LET THEM BORROW HER STUFFFFFF

Gwyn helping Nesta with her research on Valkyries. Muah.

Gwyn and Az, I feel like something might happen here and if it does, I do not want any Elriel drama getting dragged in, MY GIRL GWYN HAS BEEN THROUGH ENOUGH OKAY

Gwyn thinking she doesn’t deserve the purity jewel the other priestesses wear and her backstory honestly just broke me. She endured so much.

Emerie and everything she lost. Her mother, her brother, her wings and any dreams she had of flying. How she distracts herself with work and gardening to keep that off her mind.

The way the girls all developed inside jokes, jokingly hanged up on Cassian at training and always had Nesta’s back.

The way they were dedicated to each other even during the Rite when they couldve let one another behind and won.

HER SISTERSSS I CRIED I WOULD DIE FOR THIS MF TRIOOOO

ON THE TOPIC OF THE INNER CIRCLE + THE ARCHERON PARENTS

Fey-ruh was pregoooo she and Rhys raw dogged it

I felt really really bad when no one fucking told her she would die because the baby had wings and she wasn’t fit to give birth like that. Like. What.

Can we talk about how they fucked when Feyre was in her Illyrian form and didn’t think the thing through?

Rhys, I can’t stand the guy. First he wants to make a bargain with his mate that they die together and then he wants to keep it from her that she can die when giving birth to their kid.

I think what pissed me off the most was when he was trying to help Cassian get Nesta out of a nightmare/power “episode” and had to experience what she did with the Cauldron and seeing Elain and Cassian hurt. He said he knew she was feeling something but seeing and feeling it yourself was different. Yeah, what else did you think smartass.

Rhys has a habit of keeping important shit secret, Amren is no better either. I think that’s what pissed me off the most. They sometimes kept the too important shit away.

As much as Nesta grew, so did Feyre. They both developed pretty good in my mind, I don’t hate her as much as I despise Rhys sometimes. All and all I love how she and Nesta ended up.

Amren....I get her point about Nesta using and abusing their friendship. At the same time, sometimes she was too harsh.

Elain, darling old cottage core aesthetic Elain. I found her to be a little insufferable sometimes. How she showed up unexpectedly at the Library to talk to Nesta and they got into an argument was funny to me since Nesta pulled out some stuff on her.

ELAIN THANKING NESTA AND SAYING FINALLY AFTER SHE TELLS HER TO “OH FUCK OFF” AT THE SOLSTICE PARTY WAS SO RANDOM

Elain and Lucien is some fucked up shit. I understand how she doesn’t want to acknowledge the fact that they’re mates and all that but you can atleast thank the guy when he gives you a gift on Solstice.

I feel bad for Lucien because as sweet as Elain might show to be, she’s really hurting him and could just reject him if she really doesn’t want him.

AZ AZ AZ I LOVE HIM AND HIS SLY MOMENTS

Az when he cockblocks is the best thing. Do it more often.

Az and Nesta’s bond is something I want to see more, as well as how she literally thought about a threesome with him and Cassian.

Morriiiiigan. Everyone mentions her beauty and how she’s like the sun walking and I admire that. She wasn’t as annoying as I thought she’d be on the topic of Nesta and Cassian being an item.

She also wasn’t in the book as much which made sense since she was in Vallahan. I did like how she accepted Nessian towards the end.

The long awaited Mrs Archeron. Some of my theories about her proved true! About how she groomed her daughters into marriage ideologies at the worst age. 12 and 11? What the fuck?

The way she called Elain a pretty thing with no ambition at 11, no wonder Nesta and Elain have no proper knowledge of survival like Feyre did. She was set on making sure Nesta married someone who would treat her well, Elain married someone rich since her beauty was beyond all three of them.

Literally Mrs Archeron was not okay LMAOOO why are you telling your daughters this when they haven’t even bled yet damn CHILL

I felt bad since she didn’t care for Feyre and only their father doted on Elain and Feyre. Nesta was kept all to her mother to feed off Mrs Archeron’s narcissism.

Not to mention she died a year later

I found it funny Elain mentioned how at 15, Nesta even had their dad fearing her. Like it’s your daughter, wdym you fear her

The backstory on how Nesta treated him and how she feels now looking back. It was saddening and I unfortunately know the regret of not doing somethings. It must eat her alive.

I enjoyed reading this book, even if I wasn’t content with the ending. I tabbed a LOT of things so you’ll probably catch me editing and adding more to this in the morning. Thank you for reading all the way down here! 🤍

[fanartfunart]

ghost hunting!!

(for the prompt thing)

Anonymous said: for the prompt thing, maybe some sleepy cuddles for intruality?

@fightmedragonwitch​ said: Logan hesitantly asking for group cuddles from everyone?

I do love when combining suggestions/prompts when they fit so nicely all together. Thanks for the prompts!

Here’s that Kid Ghost AU again.

AO3 link

Relationships: Platonic Intruality & Creativitwins, background platonic DLAMPR

Summery: Roman is a child ghost and Remus’s best friend. Logan doesn’t believe in ghosts and it turns into a challenge to prove it.

Warnings: Brief gross statements from Remus, but overall fairly tame and fluffy. One mention of animal abuse (that didn’t actually happen.)

-

Remus marched into school confident, and even slightly excited. He marched out of the school grounds, glaring at the ground and grumbling to himself.

“Ghosts aren’t real.” Logan had said, his round, rosy face full of confidence, chin poised like a stuck-up prince or something. Which really was supposed to be a Roman thing.

Remus, who had been showcasing the art Roman had drawn for him, pouted. “Yes they are!”

“Well then prove it.” Logan demanded, crossing his arms behind his back. He thought it made him look smart. Really it just made him jut his chest out more. “If you can show me tangible evidence of ghosts, I’ll con-confe-confer-uh ....I’ll believe you.”

“Well- well fine!”

“Oooo, are you guys going ghost hunting?” Janus had asked, smiling in a way that made Remus want to think he was just saying that to get someone riled up. So obviously, it did.

Patton gasped, eyes big and wide, “You’re not going to hurt the ghosts, right? They have feelings too!”

Logan, to his credit, did not immediately tell Patton ghosts did not exist. “Of course we wouldn’t hurt them. If we did find evidence of ghost activity we would study them in their natural habitat and record our findings. That’s what scientists do.” He adjusted his glasses and his shirt’s collar. “Also they don’t exist.”

“Yes, they do!” Remus shrieked and did immediately go to pull Logan’s hair.

Virgil, who had been watching the interaction from a small distance sighed. Because this meant it was going to be a long day. Roman, who was busy being a ghost back home, had no clue what havoc Remus was bringing home to him. Which also meant a long day was approaching.

Remus was a little lost as to when this “ghost hunting” plan became a slumber party. Logan had arrived first. Yet, despite the fact that Roman literally opened the door for him, it was not proof apparently. Roman just shrugged when Remus tried to glare him into being visible to the other boy.

Logan set up a collection of toys in the living room, explaining as he did so. Logan called it a spirit box and an emp reader. Roman was pretty sure it was just an old radio and a thermostat. Remus was absolutely certain they were from a playset like the mini kitchen his cousin had.

Patton and Janus showed up together. Janus had a stuffed snake curled around his neck and on top of his head, covering half of his face, and Patton had a stuffed cat with its arms tied around his neck turning the toy into a cape. Patton was holding two sleeping bags and Janus had one.

Remus tilted his head. “What’s the second cocoon for Patterpillar?”

“The ghost! I don’t want him to be left out!”

Roman cooed and looked at Remus “That’s so cute! He got me a sleeping bag! Which one’s mine?”

“Can you even use it?” Remus asked.

Roman shrugged.

Patton meanwhile, yelled into the air. “The blue one is mine! It has Stitch on it. You can have the red one, Mr. Ghost! It’s got Minnie and Micky Mouse on it!”

“You don’t have to yell, he’s right there,” Remus said, gesturing at Roman.

Janus just laughed, dumping his stuff on Patton, and wandered off to give himself a tour of the house.

Virgil arrived last, hands in his pockets as he stood in the threshold. “Can I come in?”

“Of course Grump-a Vamps!” Remus announced loudly.

Both Logan and Virgil protested he was “not a vampire.” Although Logan yelled it, Virgil sighed it.

“You’re next on my ‘convince Logan’ list,” Remus said, grinning.

Virgil spared a glance at Roman, who was glaring at him from next to where Patton and Logan were setting up a blanket fort, and then at Remus. “Good luck.”

After a dinner of pizza, Logan, adjusting his pajama’s hoodie, announced, “I think we can begin our ‘Ghost hunt’ now.”

“I found one! Right behind you!” Remus announced, pointing at Roman.

Logan shrieked and turned to look next to him where Remus was pointing, clutching his emp reader/ thermostat/ toy. “OH, don’t do that!” Logan cried, turning his glare towards Remus. Roman went wide-eyed and glared at Remus as well.

“Damn, he almost believed me.”

“I think his screeching scared me more than I scared him,” Roman whined “Are we sure we want him to be able to see me?”

Logan scoffed. “Let’s get started, hopefully, we’ll find something before bedtime."

Logan collected his other toy/ radio/ spirit box and turned to Remus. "So, where is your ghost's favorite spot?"

"Right next to the TV and the window in the living room." Remus said, drowning out Roman's answer of not having a favorite spot. Not that anyone but Remus heard it anyway.

Remus grinned at Roman and motioned for the group to follow him.

"If we get killed by an angry ghost do you think we would become ghosts too?" Janus asked with a hum. Patton smacked him in the arm.

Logan rolled his eyes. "Remus lives here. If the hyp-hypothe- If the ghost was dangerous we would know."

Virgil made a skeptical hum. Smirking, he muttered, "Says the kid who screamed over him being next to him."

Roman laughed and floated above Remus's head. "Honestly if anyone here is dangerous I think it’s you, Remus.”

"Actually the ghost is super dangerous." Remus said, grinning directly at Roman. "He turned my cat into a hat. Guts and all!"

Patton gasped in horror. Janus laughed. Which earned Janus another shove.

Roman shook his head "I hate you. You're terrible."

"Thank you!"

When they reached the living room, Remus gestured to Roman's favorite spot to stand around in. Roman rolled his eyes. "Still not my favorite spot."

Logan checked it over with the emp reader, seemingly satisfied with the answer. Then set up his spirit box right next to the spot, and turned it on. "Ok… If you are here, please use this to try and communicate with us."

"Yeah! I'm gonna loose if you don't use the dumb box" Remus yelled to the air, pretending he didn't see Roman glaring at him.

"Did this turn into a bet when I wasn’t looking?” Roman grumbled.

Remus shrugged “I have no idea. But I already owe him an ice cream sandwich.”

“Ugh, fine." Roman wandered over to the spirit box and crouched in front of it. "What do I do?" 

Remus shrugged. 

"Ask him." Roman sighed, waving an intangible hand through Logan’s head. Logan shivered when he did so. 

"Ugh fine. What's Roman supposed to do to make it work? Sing Bloody Mary and summon his mom?"

"Hey!" Roman gasped, placing a hand on his chest.

"Uh…." Logan glanced at the box. "I always guessed it was sorta like possessing it or something."

"Ew." Roman grumbled and placed a hand through the box, earning them a crackle over the static of the box. 

"Did you hear that?" Patton asked, hugging Virgil's arm. 

"It was just a crackle." Logan said, shaking his head.

"Oh this should be funny." Roman grinned and for a moment, disappeared. Instead, the box spoke between crackles of static. "Logan…"

Logan shrieked at the mention of his name through the box.

"Don't… tell the group...to split up… Horror movie tips… 101."

Remus cackled as Roman reappeared from the box. Virgil snorted. Looking at the box with wide eyes, Logan seemed frozen for a moment. He looked up and glanced around at everyone else.

Patton gave the box a disapproving look, which made Roman shrink, grumbling to himself that at least Remus found it funny.

"You...guys heard that, right?" Logan asked.

Janus hummed, grinning lightly. "Good advice. We don't have Scooby-Doo. It wouldn't work right without him."

Logan turned to the box, bouncing in place, "Can you do it again?" 

Roman shook his head. "Made me dizzy, I get why ghosts don't do that often."

"He said it made him dizzy." Remus parroted, shrugging.

He adjusted his glasses with a frown. "Ok…" Logan fumbled to get out a notebook from his bag and scribbled a note inside. "Scientifically recorded. I do want another test though.” Logan glanced around the building. “Uh..... Can he move something?"

A plastic cup fell in the kitchen with a clatter. Logan and Janus both jumped, clinging to Virgil. Logan laughed awkwardly and pushed himself away.

"Sorry! I wanted some juice." Patton called, tilting his head out from the kitchen.

Roman laughed and shook his head. "Your friends are jumpy. You sure you want to prove ghosts are real?"

"Yesss" Remus pleaded "Please show them something undeniable. Please!"

Roman made a face, brows furrowed, "I don't know if I can. I haven't been able to prove anything to your parents."

"Just try. And if not then we have at least scared Logan out of his pants!"

"Hey! ….I'm not even wearing pants. It's a onesie."

Roman sighed and floated over to the table and Remus directed the group to follow him. Roman hummed softly for a moment, and picked up a crayon. His form flickered and the crayon fell to the ground.

Logan however, was transfixed on the fallen crayon. "Okay proof enough for me. Congra-congre-congrata- er, you win, Remus."

Remus punched a fist in the air with a whoop. "Win for team Ghost! Ha!"

"I never doubted you for a moment," Janus drawled, earning himself a glare from Virgil. 

Logan folded his arms behind his back and rolled his eyes. 

"Did you hear that Ro- uh…. Where'd Roman go?" Remus frowned at the spot Roman had last hovered in, and then looked around the room. "Roman?" 

His friends, to their credit, looked around as well, despite not being able to see the ghost either way. 

Remus frowned at the lack of response and glanced at the group of his more alive friends (and Virgil).

"Maybe he went to get something?" Patton suggested, juice in hand. 

Remus frowned and shook his head. "I… He probably used too much energy with the box." Remus ran to the stairwell and called again "Roman?!"

"Do you want to try and find him?" Virgil asked, voice surprisingly soft.

Remus nodded. The group of them searched the house, Remus, Janus and Patton searching one half of the house and Virgil and Logan in the other.

They had to give up after Remus's mom told them it was bedtime. The sky well past dark, wind howling outside the window. They settled in a small group on Remus's bedroom floor. The trees swaying and creaking outside.

Dispite the room being filled with the hushed whispers of children, Patton begin to snore almost immediately. Soon, it seemed everyone was soon asleep except Remus. The door creaked slowly open. Logan sat up abruptly, staring wide-eyed at the door. Remus wasn't the only one who couldn't sleep it seemed. Remus sat up as well, finding a very small looking Roman. He barely even glowed. Remus smiled anyway.

Logan looked at Remus. "Was that him?"

"Yeah." 

Roman floated over next to Remus and gave him a misty feeling hug. Like a bubble of heavy fog sitting on your shoulder. 

"Is he okay?" Logan whispered, getting out of his sleeping bag and crawling over to Remus.

Roman nodded and Remus copied the motion. 

Logan leaned back. "That's good. Sorry if I pressured you into doing something you didn't want to…"

Roman tilted his head and smiled. "Don't worry about it, Science Lo-g." Remus parroted him.

A wood creaked ominously overhead, making Logan yelp. Virgil shot right up, hitting Janus in the face. Janus gasped and sat up as well, glaring at Virgil.

"What was that for?"

"Why are you all uppppp," Patton groggily whined.

Remus giggled. "Roman's back and Logan’s a big scaredy-cat."

Logan hugged himself, frowning. "No I'm not."

"Boo!" Janus exclaimed, abruptly leaning forward towards Logan. Logan shrieked and shoved Janus away. Janus cackled.

"Jan that was rude," Patton said, shoving his brother's arm. Janus just rolled his eyes with a giggle.

"You Ok L?" Virgil asked, tilting his head. 

Logan nodded. "Uh….yeah…"

Remus shook his head "You're all dorks. I remember why Ghosts are better than People now. Ghosts are cool."

Roman brightened, giggling. Remus's alive (really, does Virgil count?) friends giggled too.

“We’re cool... and dorky.” Janus said, sticking his tongue out at Remus. “About half and half.”

Remus giggled, “Eh, the ghost is dorky too, so I think it’s even.”

The group dissolved into further giggles, the following quiet eased with a gentle air of happiness.

The winds outsides still billowed ominously. The wood groaning.

Logan glanced around the old house, and took in a big breath. "Can I… sleep in the middle?"

"Of course!" Patton said, despite being closer to the outside of the group.

Janus shrugged and Virgil nodded. Logan crawled in between Virgil and Janus's spots, right in the middle and let out a heavy sigh.

A quiet that fell over the group. "You were really scared, huh?" Remus whispered, leaning over Virgil. Virgil grunted at being squished.

Logan looked somewhat sheepish and rubbed his eyes. "...Uh… A little. But not of Roman…. Mostly." Logan shrugged.

Virgil shifted, opening one eye. "Wanna hug? Hugs usually help me."

Logan was quiet for a moment. "Yes please."

Remus immediately glued himself to Logan’s side, and Virgil followed soon after. Logan giggled, and after a moment, Janus and Patton joined the cuddle pile.

Roman looking somewhat curious, floated over to Logan and placed a hand on his shoulder. Logan glanced at the spot. "What's that?"

"Roman" Remus replied.

Logan let out a soft "Oh."

"Unless he screams, I'm gonna hug him too now." Roman informed Remus. His misty heavy-airiness fell over the group hug, and only solidified the sleepy air. 

Logan smiled. "Remind me to put this in the notebook." He muttered.

Remus laughed. "Go to sleep, ghost hunter."

A round of good nights circled the room and it wasn't long until Patton was snoring next to the wheeze of the wind in the trees outside and the creak of the happily haunted house.

[jmoriarty-221b]

New AU idea: I’ve found out that there’s some versions of the Batman comics where Tim Drake becomes Red Robin straight off the bat (he was never Robin & didn’t go to Batman) so I’m running with that

This Tim Drake doesn’t find Batman all that amazing, he recognizes Batman as a hero and as a symbol of Hope for Gotham, but he also sees him as just one man trying to make a difference, he holds more admiration towards Robin, specifically Jason’s Robin since he knows Gotham in ways Batman doesn’t, he checks on the street kids and the homeless, makes hot chocolate runs for the working girls when he can, and he is more interested in helping those in Crime Alley, a place where Batman and the previous Robin didn’t tend to patrol before Jason

And Tim has never been a normal child, there’s really no way for him to be human but there’s also no way to prove that he isn’t human, he passes the DNA tests, he doesn’t have a meta gene, he doesn’t have a mutation nor a difference in genetics, physiologically? There’s nothing to prove that Tim is anything other than human. In practice? Tim isn’t exactly limited if he cut off a limb, if he were to be shot in the head it would take approximately five minutes for him to heal back up, he can decide whether or not a wound will leave scars on his body, he can choose whether or not a mortal wound would put him in the ground permanently, most importantly, he can choose whether or not to contact his crew from the Isle that was supposed to be his home

There’s a reason as to why Tim isn’t exactly fond of heroes, after all, heroes decided to sentence countless of children yet to be born to a life of pain, suffering and poverty amongst an island filled with villains, heroes are the ones who put a barrier over the Isle that prevented its occupants from accessing their magic, heroes are the reason that his fae sisters and djinn brother and sea witch cousin and pirate friends are unable to access a part of themselves, he reason that they are unable to grow up properly and learn to control and feel and channel their magical cores, heroes are the reason for why him and his family hide behind fake names, and if it wasn’t for his parents’ quick thinking and preparations to flee then heroes would’ve been the reason he would’ve also grown up imprisoned and unable to access an integral part of himself

So no, Tim isn’t exactly impressed by the Batman

But Gotham exudes a similar signature as the one of the Isle of the Lost, making it the one place to where his parents could establish themselves undetected as the pollution would obscure their magical signatures had anyone looked for them, of course, Tim wasn’t old enough to learn how to lock down his own magical core in a way that wasn’t detrimental to himself, so he couldn’t be taken out of Gotham to accompany his parents on their numerous trips around the world, and such was his boredom that he decided to take advantage of his lack of adult supervision and explore Gotham

Having been taught about what became of the people he would’ve known as family from his parents as well as reading up every book he could in the ancient family library regarding long distance communication with magical kin, Tim ends up with a plan to meet with kids on the Isle as soon as he can, it turns out that establishing communication with the Isle requires for him to be in a part of Gotham that has the same atmosphere as the Isle, so Little Tim sets up shop in a semi secure rooftop in Crime Alley and establishes communication, needless to say he’s in for a surprise because “Oh wow why are you there Mr. Hades, you could escape any time and there’s no way those mortals could hope to contain your power, so why are you on the Isle?”

Turns out that attempting communication from a place surrounded by death and sorrow would lead to Tim establishing a magical video chat with the Lord of the Underworld, who’d’ve thunk? Anyway, Hades is literally just chilling for the next hundred years on the Isle because it’s easier to agree to mortals’ demands than obliterate them, and it’s less paperwork too so win-win, and one afternoon he’s suddenly communicating with one of the cutest little chipmunks he’s seen (kids are cute, and Tim is still a baby so he’s Tiny Cute) who introduced himself as Timothy Dwake and isn’t that just precious that the little tyke still has trouble with his r’s but how is he able to communicate with him on the Isle oh, that’s Janet’s kid, well shit guess he has a godson now (Janet had always wanted for Tim to be protected and that’s why she had been one of the few to escape the Isle, she had been a good friend back in the day so it seemed only fair for him to return the favor by looking out for Tiny Tim; it has nothing to do with Tim’s very cute face and slightly chubby cheeks that he kinda wants to pinch and his cute little lisp no Persephone I’m not attached-)

Anyway, so Tim ends up learning from his Uncle H on how to control his magical core and how to defend himself against physical and magical threats, he has a talent for using shadows to conceal himself as well as to listen in on others and gather information, if he concentrates really hard he can even manipulate shadows into solid figures, once he told this to his Uncle new training lessons began and now Tim is able to maintain his shadow constructs solid for longer periods of time as well as give them shape, over time he would learn more control over his ability and it will become easier to make weapons from shadows, his Uncle H also trains him in combat, particularly lost forms of combat from ancient civilizations

One particular night Tim wasn’t able to go to their meeting spot in Crime Alley, there was an Arkham Breakout and he wasn’t about to be caught up in that shit because could he fight off some villains and protect himself? Sure, but that would mean a possibility of getting the Batman’s attention and he’s not about to do that so staying at home it is, and now he is walking alone in the Drake gardens, he has no one to practice his fighting techniques with, no one to talk to, no one to teach him about what’s happening in the Isle, no one to teach him how to control his powers and his parents are gone for most of the year and they say that they’ll take him with them when he’s older but they’ve been saying that for years and now he’s much better at concealing his power and the King of Auradon believes he put every villain away for good so it’s not like they’re searching for his magical signature anyway so WHY WON’T HIS PARENTS TAKE HIM WITH THEM!?!?!? WHY IS HE ALWAYS LEFT ALONE!?!?!?

As he got progressively angrier, Tim hadn’t noticed how his power became stronger, how shadows grew larger, nor how the ground seemed to tremble and crack, it wasn’t until the ground literally split in front of him that he realized that maybe his power may have gotten out of hand, a bit, maybe, to be fair, he didn’t mean to summon a skeleton warrior with who he could practice his fighting with but hey, silver lining and all that, and he has something else to tell his Uncle H about in their next meeting (Hades may or may not have blessed his godson, and the blessing may or may not have given Tim some sort of control over his domains)

Anyway, eventually Tim learns how to see what’s happening in the Isle on his own from a sort of bird’s eye view, he sees what kids his age are going through and tries to find ways to alleviate the pain, he begins to talk to the kids and establishes rapport with them, he becomes friends with little Uma and Harry by bonding over swordplay, he gives Jay and Carlos tips for how to find the best hiding spots, he learns from Evie how to hide more stuff in his clothes and how to add more protective fabrics to his wardrobe, he and Mal bond over high parental expectations (she reminds him of Hades sometimes, and he thinks her eyes are a very pretty green with gold flecks sprinkled in, he may have a crush???) (Psssst, Mal likes Tim’s eyes too, she thinks it’s very pretty how they seem to change shades depending on his mood and when he’s happy they match her purple hair) *cue cuteness from these unfortunate little beans because yes*

Anyway, Tim has been working on creating a portal to a secluded part of the Isle from where he could send supplies to kids there, he was 8 years old when he started looking into this possibility after managing to make friends with the kids and now, at 13, he has finally managed to make it happen, he can only send non-living things through the portal tho, because although theoretically he Could send himself over, then he’d be stuck behind the barrier and couldn’t access his magic so that’s a big no, and he also can’t take the risk of getting someone from the Isle out because he can’t guarantee their safety (he tried with small insects and one time with a mouse; they died); the first thing he sends are medical supplies, food and bottled water, at first it’s only for his close friends, then they all establish a sort of routine and plan to get these supplies to other kids while hiding what they’re doing from their parents behind the guise of building their own gang on the Isle, Uma with the pirates and Mal with the inner city, Tim becomes their sort of advisor on important matters having seen what strategy tends to work when recruiting people as well as how to better approach street kids, he gets nicknamed the Shadow Angel for helping from behind the curtain, literally

Tim continues to learn as much as he can from his Uncle H, shadows Robin around Crime Alley, avoids gaining Batman’s attention and acquires supplies to send to the Isle three times a week from different places (he’s gotta cover his tracks, otherwise he runs the risk of getting Batman’s attention even if it’s just because the same person keeps buying food, water and medical supplies from various stores each week) but Tim has money, and he has experience regarding gangs and their recruiting and internal works (he’s helping his friends make their own gangs after all) and these people are in need of help as well, so he decides to make his own ‘gang’ by hiring people to do supply runs for him, he poses as a recruiter and gives fliers with information about his own gang and the benefits that joining will have (health insurance, dental, payed maternity leave, payed recuperation period, payed physical therapy and medical bills in case Batman decides to pop in, education is provided for anyone who wishes to get their GED and continue their education, etc); in the end, Tim keeps the Boss’ identity a secret until he reaches adulthood because no one would take a kid seriously, but he ends up amassing his own gang in Gotham while at the same time improving the life of people in poverty areas like Crime Alley and the Bowery

Of course, everything comes to a head when Mal, Evie, Jay and Carlos are elected to go to school in Auradon leaving Uma as the only leader on the Isle, meanwhile Tim has been keeping tabs on Robin and gets to save Jason from Joker in Ethiopia (turns out being able to summon a skeleton army comes in handy when rescuing Robin from a deranged psychopath like Joker) so Tim is simultaneously saving Jason while still trying to remain anonymous to Batman (he’s built and maintained an entire gang in the most crime ridden part of Gotham for years, he’s not about to get involved with the Bats now)

So Tim only finds out about what happened to Mal, Evie, Jay and Carlos until they’re already in Auradon and decides you know what? Fuck it, I’m gonna meet my friends face to face, besides, he can handle maintaining a gang in Gotham, he’s sure he can handle Auradon (update: he cannot, he’s this close 🤏 to rocking someone’s shit, he proposes overtaking the kingdom twice a day, he knows they could do it, and it’ll be easy even, but it’s the paperwork that’s holding them back, meh, let Ben do the grunt work and become an advisor, at least their manipulations would be in favor of improving the life of kids in poverty unlike other people who just want to get more money from their position close to the crown, gotta love politics)

Anyway, Tim Drake does become Red Robin, gang leader and benevolent overlord of Crime Alley and the Bowery, helping Gotham citizens and being the Shadow Angel of the Isle, plotting Auradon’s downfall for fun on his slow days as well as working on taking out the kids from the Isle and setting up safe houses for them for when he and his friends figure out how to save the kids

[prydeofthexmen23]

Candlelight

A Dwayne From The Lost Boys One Shot

Okay, so this is my first Lost Boys Imagine with Dwayne. It’s with one of my OCs and it’s inspired by a convo I had with @80s-whore-university. I apologize in advance for my grammar and spelling errors. Enjoy!

~*~

Laura huffed against the window, allowing her breath to fuse with the glass. She'd often done this as a child when she was bored at her grandparents house and her cousins were too busy watching Scooby Doo re-runs to notice she'd moved to another room. Her fingers traced the little white spot until it became a transparent heart. Laura smiled, then immediately frowned. “I've officially lost it.”

She wiped the heart away with her sleeve and made her way to the door, unbolting it again and peeking out. She tried to avoid the rain, but it dripped from the gutters and dotted her bangs. I don't even know why I bother, she thought, locking the door again with an exasperated sigh. If it's raining, there's no reason for him to come. They'll keep him since the Boardwalk's closed. She nodded her head. She knew their habits well. Dwayne wasn't coming - not in this weather.

"I need tea," she said to her pup. Bandit's ears perked up at the word. Tea meant cookies. Cookies meant crumbs. And crumbs meant he'd surely get a snack. In her laziness, Laura grabbed a mug from the cabinet – the little one with constellations on the side Dwayne had given her for her birthday. She smiled at the memory, then quickly filled the cup with water, and shoved it into the microwave. Pushing the buttons, Laura felt herself relax as she watched the little stars rotate under the fluorescent light.

At first, she didn't even notice his arms wrap around her torso. She'd grown accustomed to the sensation – the feeling of his arms drawing her closer, the weight of his chin on her shoulder.

"I thought you weren't coming," she whispered, relaxing into the embrace. "I didn't hear you come in."

"Bandit let me in."

"Bandit doesn't have opposable thumbs." He didn't answer, but Laura could feel him smile as he kissed her neck. "I'm surprised David let you leave."

"Oh, he didn't."

"Ah, so you betrayed your leader."

"Betrayed is a strong word," he replied, releasing her as the microwave beeped. He removed the mug, quickly moving to the cabinets above the sink. "I just left without asking.” He extracted a packet of Chamomile. After ripping the packet with teeth, a habit Laura never quite understood, but respected, Dwayne placed the tea in the mug and motioned her toward the couch.

"I'd say that's a betrayal. I mean he probably expected you to spend the day with Laddie."

"Nah, Paul and Marko have it covered. When I left, they were making a Tik Tok to Savage."

"Real classy."

"I think you mean Bougie and ratchet." Dwayne laughed as Laura's eyes widened.

"Please," she began, rubbing her eyes. "Please, never use those words again. Or you'll turn into Paul."

"Ah, and we can't have that." Dwayne grabbed some throw pillows from the couch and placed gently on the floor before taking a seat on the ground. "Come on, sweets." Laura obliged, settling herself between his legs as she sipped her tea. Dwayne flipped on the television and made his way to Netflix. He might have struggled with the concept at first, but now he couldn't get enough. The platform really did have everything he could ever dream of watching.

"Really, again?" Laura whined as he hovered over The Crown.

"You don't want to see Diana pass the Balmoral test?"

Laura looked up at him with a smirk. "Okay, the fact that you know what that is and I don't proves that you've been watching this for too long. No.” Dwayne placed a kiss on her forehead. Shit, well played. "Fine, let's watch Camilla and Charles fuck up a perfectly normal teenage girl."

"Thank you."

"You know for someone who idolizes Karl Marx, I don't think your obsession with the English monarchy is healthy."

"Shhhh.” He kissed her gently on the lips. "Let people enjoy things," he whispered as Laura laughed.

~*~

Laura felt herself begin to doze off. What is it about Chamomile that makes you sleepy? she wondered as she leaned against Dwayne. At first, he didn't seem to notice her drowsiness – too engrossed in the world of royals. For the last two hours, Laura and Dwayne had watched Diana and Charles tie the knot, have a child, travel to Australia, and, as usual, fight over his relationship with Camilla. Laura's eyes closed as Diana demanded that Charles leave Camilla...for the umtempth time. Silently, she tried to sync her breathing with Dwayne's as he lowered the volume for the newest screaming match.

"What the hell?" Dwayne cried.

Laura's eyes fluttered open. The entire room was dark, pitch black. If she wasn't sitting against Dwayne, Laura would have been more panicked.

“No! Diana was about to confront Camilla at the birthday party!"

"We must have blown a fuse,” Laura replied through her giggles. She wished she could see Dwayne’s face. Laura was certain it read frustrated fangirl.

Dwayne let out an exasperated sigh before flinging the remote onto the couch. "You okay, babe?"

"I'm good. You can see right?" She felt Dwayne nod against her before picking her up. He wrapped his arms underneath her knees as he moved to the fuse box. Using her phone, Laura tried each switch twice, flipping the little dials back and forth.

"The rain must have caused an outage."

"You got candles?"

"Kitchen," Laura replied as she snuggled into his chest. Dwayne carried her into the kitchen and helped her onto the counter, where she pulled a menorah from the cabinet.

"Got it?" he asked, stretching out his arms.

Yup," she replied, jumping back into his arms. She didn't bother to ask where he was. He was always where she needed him. Catching her again, Dwayne carried her back into the living room, where Laura struck a match. The tiny flame guided her toward the blue and white candles.

"Really?" Dwayne laughed as Laura placed the candles into their waxed slots. Gradually, the blue menorah began to glow, painting the room in a pale yellow light.

"It's all I had!" Laura protested. "Besides, my grandmother used to light hers when the power went out. It's tradition." Dwayne threw her a lopsided grin. "What? I'm serious...Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Nothing," Dwayne said. "I didn't say anything."

"Oh shut up." She pushed him as he stood up. Taking off his leather jacket, he laid down on the couch and kicked up off his converse. In the soft candlelight, Laura took in the sight of his bare chest. He closed his eyes for a moment, shifting to get comfortable as Laura fiddled with her candles. For some reason, she was finding it difficult to concentrate.

"Enjoying the view," Dwayne teased.

"Mmmm...maybe."

"Then come join me," he said, open his arms to her. Laura obeyed, setting the final candle in place. The rain continued to beat against the sides of her home, but Laura paid it little mind. Instead, she buried her nose in the crook of Dwayne’s neck, inhaling his scent. Something about it put her at ease – even in the middle of a black out. Dwayne drew a blanket over them, rubbing gentle circles on the small of her back.

"Dwayne," Laura began. He hummed in reply, closing his eyes. "Can I ask you something?"

"What is it, baby?"

"Where'd you get this scar?” she asked, tracing over the mark on his shoulder.

"Long story," he said, placing a kiss on her lips. He was trying to change the subject and she knew it.

"We got time," she sighed through his embrace. "I don't think you're gonna be watching The Crown again anytime soon and I'm genuinely curious."

Dwayne leaned his forehead against hers. “You really wanna know, kid?” She nodded. “Alright, well...” He paused, closing his eyes again. His lips formed a thin line. Uh oh, I know that look. Laura kissed his neck.

“There’s no pressure. You don’t have to tell me.”

“I don’t mind. To be honest, I’m surprised it didn’t go away when David changed me.”

“Yeah, I thought his blood would have smoothed everything out. Made you look all shiny like Edward Cullen.”

Dwayne rolled his eyes. “Yeah I’m sure that’s what David expected too, but I guess it stuck.” He paused again, taking a deep breath.

“Take your time.”

“I got it when I was thirteen,” he continued. “When I was with some friends...Did I ever tell you my family lived on a Rez?”

“Rez?”

“Reservation. Back in the 30’s.”

“No, you didn’t,” Laura replied, trailing her fingers across his chest. Then again, she thought, you haven’t really told me anything about your past. She thought of saying so, but bit her tongue. She wanted to hear what he had to say.

“In Arizona. There’s not much to do there. It’s hot and unless you really like red rocks the view can get pretty boring.”

Laura gulped. He was talking more than usual. She wondered how long it would last.

“My friends and I always tried to invent stuff to do. Ya know, to pass the time. We’d go down to the railroads and try to find work laying tracks. But that got pretty boring after awhile. Sometimes, my friend Adam would sneak cigarettes out of his mom’s bedroom drawer and we’d smoke those.”

“Sounds like you were a handful.”

“Every thirteen year old boy is.”

“Okay, true. I’m sorry, continue.”

“Well one day, we got bored smoking and my best friend Pete got this dumb idea. Pete was a year older than me but for some reason he liked having me around. He always called me his little brother, which was funny considering he already had five little brothers to spare. I don’t even remember how Pete and I met, but he was the best.”

Dwayne rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand. Looking down at Laura he smiled.

“What’s that look?”

“Nothing. I just didn’t know you were such a good storyteller.”

“Oh bullshit.”

“Keep going!” Laura exclaimed, lightly smacking his cheek. “I’m invested.” He kissed her again, deeper this time. Laura sighed softly as he pulled away. “Tease,” she whispered.

“Proud of it. Anyway, Pete, Adam and I were down by the tracks. It was almost midnight and we’d snuck out like always. We were just goofing around and waiting for the sun to come up when we heard a whistle.”

“A train?”

“Yup. Trains passed by all the time at night. They went straight through reservation because they figured the natives wouldn’t mind the noise. It was always big freights carrying supplies and sometimes hobos.”

“Dwayne-“

“That was the term we used at the time. Don’t hold it against me. After we heard the whistle, Pete got this weird look on his face. And he jumped down and went straight to the tracks, standing on them and whistling back at the train. At first, I thought it was a joke. I thought he was playing chicken with the train.”

“Like in Footloose?”

“Yeah, like that. People did that all the time. They liked to test their odds and see if they could cheat death. Thing was Pete’s dad had recently left and his family didn’t have any money to pay their rent let alone eat. I knew he was having a rough time, but I didn’t know how bad things really were, ya know? As the train got closer, that look on his face started to freak me out. Suddenly, it didn’t feel like a joke. Pete wasn’t playing chicken. He wasn’t playing at all.”

Laura felt her body stiffen and Dwayne pulled her closer in response.

“Adam and I keep yelling at him to get off the tracks. The train just kept getting closer and I started to panic. I don’t know what came over me. As soon as I saw the train lights hit Pete’s face, adrenaline took over. The next thing I knew I was on the ground on top of Pete watching the train going by. At first, I didn’t feel any pain. Then I felt dizzy and Adam yelled that I was bleeding. It took me a minute to realize my shoulder had knocked the side of the train.”

“Oh god, babe.” Laura sat up, her eyes welling with tears. Dwayne sat up too, wiping her cheeks with his thumbs.

“Hey, hey, hey I was fine. A few stitches and I was cleaned up. No broken bones and thank god because my mom would have killed me. But it was Pete that had it the worst. He kept apologizing and came to see me to make sure I recovered.”

“I’m sure he felt horrible.”

“Yeah but it made him wake up. After that, he got a job and helped his family out. I think he even got married and had some kids after I left town. We weren’t as close after what happened, but that didn’t matter.”

“You saved his life.”

“Nah,” Dwayne replied, lowering his head.

Laura placed a finger under his chin, lifting it so he met her green eyes. “You did. And you should be proud.” Laura gazed at the jagged line on his shoulder. “I think I know why you got to keep this scar.”

“Oh yeah why?”

“To remind you that you’re still a good person. To help you remember that there was a time you saved someone’s life instead of ending it.”

“Maybe,” Dwayne sighed, kissing her again. “Since when did you get so philosophical?”

“Blame Kafka. We started reading him yesterday.” Dwayne laughed. It wasn’t his usual soft giggle, but a heartier one that seemed to echo from his chest. “Thank you for sharing that with me,” Laura added as she yawned.

“Thank you for listening. It was nice to talk about Pete again.” Laura leaned into his shoulder, kissing the scar for good measure. “You tired babe?”

“A little. Your voice...it’s very soothing.”

“Lay back down baby,” Dwayne whispered as Laura rested on his chest. “Let’s go to sleep.”

“But you can’t sleep,” Laura argued, closing her eyes. “Not at this hour.”

“It’s okay. You rest. I’ll wait for the lights to come back on.”

[cousinslavellan-archive]

Testing

[Hi have another ‘Willow is Pretend Commander Shepard’ oneshot because why the hell not. Ttly self-indulgent shenanigans idk, this would be earlier/mid ME2 idk.]

“You said you wanted a test, Miranda? I’m giving you a test.”

“This isn’t what I meant, Shepard. Throwing yourself into full-combat after just one injection-”

“Stuff it, Lawson.” Willow’s smile is all teeth as the shuttle lands, red hair whipping around her face as the door pulls open, “Let’s see how true your promise of a cure was.”

She’s out the hatch without another word, helmet in place as she strides across the barren plain that greets them, and Thane barely hears Mirandas dammit as he follows silently after the nearly glowing Commander.

No. Not nearly glowing - she is glowing, biotics surrounding her in a purple haze, pulsing in a steady beat that matches her footfalls.

Willow has been an anomaly since he’d first met her, two years before on the Citadel - neither knowing much of the other, just two souls finding a brief moments respite over coffee.

She had just lost her cousin - the cousin she is now pretending to be, per Cerberus’ request.

‘You’re one of the few loose strings from my past, Thane. Can I trust you to keep it to yourself?’

‘Of course, Willow. Outside of this room, you are Commander Shepard, no one else.’

Willow grins - a flat smile, more of a grimace - and says ‘Thanks, Thane. It’s nice to not lose everything of myself. Even if Cerberus is going to Cure me as payment.’

And that’s why they’re here, now. To test the Cure for her AEND.

The first dose of it, at least. Miranda and Mordin had been hard at work, and she’d had the first injection a mere hour ago - long enough for it to have some effect, apparently.

She’d been in Life Support not half an hour later - bright and grinning, almost manic, full to the brim with an energy he hasn’t seen from her before.

‘We’re going planetside, me and Miranda, I want to test this. I want you with us. You know - and I trust you.’

It’s an honor he feels he doesn’t deserve, but one he will always cherish - and so he had nodded and immediately set about getting ready, heading down to the barren planet alongside the false Commander and her scowling XO.

Not barren. Movement further in catches his eyes the same moment it catches Willows, going by the clench of her fist, Overridden.

Husks - shambling along, moaning their broken, chilling cries… and then charging when they notice Willow, standing ahead of them.

Thane tastes the biotics in the air a second before she’s charging - full-body slamming through the crowd of Husks, sending them flying as she goes.

He moves closer, ready to assist if need be - his own energy pulsing around his fist, ready to be thrown - but there is no need.

She is agile and never-slowing, ruthless and efficient - biotics tearing through the creatures even as her fists make contact - and Thane catches laughter through the comm, a sound so pure it strikes right through him.

If there had been any doubt in his mind before that Willow Shepard is a Siha, it has fled.

A moment of still hits as the final Husks fall, and he registers panting through the comm - harsh and pained, not just from exhaustion but from overexertion, from a body pushed too far.

And he’s striding forwards even as WIllow turns towards them, her movements shaky and off-balance, the strength from a moment before sapped as the biotics fade.

“Dammit, Shepard!” Miranda is close behind him, boots striking the ground harshly, “I told you you shouldn’t push it after one injection!”

Willow only flashed her middle finger at the other woman before collapsing backwards - giving a quiet oof when she’s met by Thane’s chest and hands gripping her.

“Shit.” she coughs, laughs, “Sorry. Couldn’t resist - felt too good.”

“I understand, Siha. But now you need to rest.”

“Mhm.” Willow allows him to hook her arm over his shoulders, managing a half-shuffle back towards the shuttle with his help. “Thanks, Thane… for putting up with me.”

“No need for thanks, Siha - I am happy to be here.”

Her head turns, and he can feel her squinting at him through her helmet, “What did you call me?”

Thane hides a smile, adjusting his grip when she hisses in pain, “I’ll tell you later.”

[simonalkenmayer]

I have so many questions because the implications of this are absolutely fascinating, ill bullet it so it should be easier to answer

1.my first question, how do you deal with permanent injuries, specifically how if one breaks an arm and then it isn’t set properly it heals wrong, is that not something you have to deal with because of the healing factor or some difference in bone structure.

2.how does your body handle things like scarred tissue and do you know what would happen if you lost an organ somehow.

3.have you ever heard of Roanoke and do you have any inside info.

4.how would you suggest(if you would) a human would go about opening up their extra senses you say we posses, since technically this is one of the things I can test I’m curious how.(also power)

5. You say you know about extensive martial arts but as you have superior abilities to humans and your different bodily structures would any of these be useful to you, or is it just something you know that you don’t use.(though I guess the info itself would likely make you a better fighter)

6.out of all the martial arts you know which is your favorite, this could be in how it looks or effectiveness or just general preference.

7.last martial arts question,out of the ones you know, which one do you think a master of would be the most difficult for you to fight.(unless my other theory is right and your abilities are to the point where it’s kinda pointless to fight you)

8.are you lying about not knowing how your species can die, if you are I get it it would be a terrible idea to reveal that but I’m curious if you are.

9.you say all other mythology on land comes from you so how do you perceive stories of sea monsters like specifically mermaids and also other stuff but I’m especially curious what you think about mermaids cause of your statement on how you think your more related to water stuff than land stuff.

That’s all I can really think of right now but I’ll probably have more and I’m extremely interested in building a professional relationship and hopefully a good friendship with you so you’ll probably see me again, I look forward to your response.

Sincerely,

Berch decoure

Welcome to the experiment.

1. I have found thay my few truly bad injuries of structure thay occurred farthest back, have largely fixed themselves. This includes a few from battle, including shrapnel from canon fire, a fall, and blunt force trauma. The more recent few have been giving me trouble. I became curious when affected joints began to freeze, and so had a friend X-ray. Turns out I had what are akin to bone spurs growing within. My healing mechanism seems to be either lacking direction, or has become overzealous. No idea why. Possibly age. As for scarring, I have found that only wounds thay reach all the way through the skin to the muscle beneath seem to scar, and only a few of those have left marks thay have lasted centuries. I have a few arrow marks, gin shots, one stabbing, and a long gash from taking a piece of would you the torso. Other than thay, it seems that marks don’t last long, including burns.

2. That last answer provides some footing for this one. I’ve never cut out my own organs to find out. So I have no idea what would happen. I’d be happy to experiment on Fred.

3. Of course I’ve heard of Roanoke. Who hasn’t? Do I live under a rock? I was a colonist, arrived in 1729. I was in PA, but Roanoke was a well established lord by the time I got here. Most people at the time presumed it was native dissatisfaction that did away with them. I think it was likely a combination of factors. Possibly a cousin of mine was one. Other than that, I never wasted much time contemplating it. Few people realize how difficult life was for us back then—no infrastructure, no established farms, new climate so no seed stock would work, disease, inclement weather, so on...I was the only one who made out alright.

4. Usually, tinkering with weak current can assist one in becoming aware and recognizing the feeling of EMF. You can get a device or make one. Usually you need an electrical current and open or poorly insulated wiring, with some kind of indicator, such as a light. You can then toy with affecting the current. A good example of this would be a slightly screwed together hand held flashlight. You see so called “ghost hunters” using these to communicate with the spirits, but really they’re most likely influencing the flashlights themselves. Once you have a good handle on it and can duplicate results consistently, the experiments get more complex, but the truth is, it comes down to neuroplasticity. Your frontal lobe ahas to be trained to read other types of sensory data as visual, at least that is what I have come to understand from my reading.

5. & 6. I do not practice martial arts. I know of them because I decided to learn about them. I find my natural physical attributes seem to intuitively instruct me in a way that is similar to how martial artists do things(which makes sense, since the arts developed over time, working with bodies and basic physics). I use momentum, force, and a knowledge of anatomy. They do also. For me, the ones that have actually provided some instruction are those thay deal with modern weaponry and evasion of it, and those that have indicated both non-damaging submission holds, and nerve based attacks, pressure points and all thay. I don’t have a body like yours, so I don’t intrinsically know what hurts, and what could damage. So this is helpful to learn. I think, perhaps my favorite, is Krav Magaw, simply because of its utility and hybrid form.

7. That’s a difficult question. I reckon it would be any that trains a fighter to be flexibly and use momentum properly. Probably Brazilian or Chinese ji kin do. Personally I’ve never found it to matter. The few times I’ve had cause to deal with a martial artist, it ended swiftly. I’m much stronger. So if I get hold of your arm, I’ll simply break it.

8. Yes, it would be very silly to reveal how we die. Or even that I might know but won’t say. Terribly bad idea.

9. I think that mermaids and their ancient roots (I discuss one in my monstrous myths series on my website) are likely my species, as we do like to swim and most likely are evolved from sea creatures. The sea monsters? I think the vast majority of cases are either misunderstandings or hoaxes. Perhaps the odd mutated sturgeon or eel. I was, for a time, a bit baffled by Loch Ness, until the most famous photograph was proven a hoax. That’s sad, but true. There have been, however, several amazing videos of large mutated eels and so forth. I also think it quite possible that on the deep ocean there are creatures yet undiscovered. The difficulty is that the planet is no longer one that supports large scale life, so these will inevitably die out.

Thank you for your questions.

[five-rivers]

Mask

Danny slouched against the back wall of the ballroom, mask dangling from his fingers. He didn't want to be here. If his parents weren't out there having the time of their lives, he wouldn't be here, but someone had to keep an eye on them and keep them from getting sucked into whatever scheme Vlad had this time.

He sighed, tracking the bulk of his father across the dance floor. His mother was harder to see, but she was never far behind.

A masquerade ball. Really. Ancients, Vlad was so pretentious.

(Internally, Danny thought that a masquerade ball could be cool... except, well. Vlad.)

His mother briefly emerged from the crowd, caught his eye, and mimed putting on his mask. Apparently she was watching him, too. With a grumble, he put the mask back on. Vlad had given it to him, and although he couldn't see or feel anything wrong with it, he still felt that it was suspect.

"Did your parents make you come, too?"

Danny glanced over. A girl was standing a few feet away. Her dress was red and puffy, and her mask was golden. Her hair was done up in complicated braids. She was, perhaps, one or two years younger than he was, though it was hard to tell with the mask. She was certainly shorter than him.

The silhouette of her dress crumpled as she also slumped against the wall. "You'd think that a masked ball would be, you know, cool, but it's just a bunch of old people jumping around and trying to talk business with the 'great Vlad Masters.'"

"Ouch," said Danny. "At least my parents aren't trying to do that, I guess."

"Oh, yeah? What are they doing, then?" asked the girl.

"I honestly have no idea," said Danny, watching his parents gyrate across the floor again. "Dancing? You could call it dancing." He shrugged.

"Ah," said the girl. "My name's Ellie, by the way."

"Danny," said Danny. "Nice to meet you."

"Same. So, what do your parents do?"

"They're scientists," said Danny, not wanting to get into the whole 'ghost hunting' thing. This wasn't Amity Park. Most people didn't believe in ghosts.

Ellie bobbed her head. "Cool, cool. I kinda want to be a scientist. Like, finding out new things, it just sounds really awesome?"

"Yeah, it can be fun sometimes," said Danny. "I don't understand most of it, though." He rolled his shoulders. Actually, he understood a lot more of his parents' work than he let on, in some specific areas more than them, even. Admitting that wasn't wise, however. "What field are you interested."

"Astrophysics, definitely," said Ellie, firmly. "Space is the coolest thing."

Danny grinned. "Oh, yeah. There's just so much. I mean, have you ever looked at the Hubble Deep Fields?"

.

Two teens talking together and having a good time evidently had a magnetic property. Three other high school kids had come to join them, all boys.

One boy was very tall and broad. During their introduction, Danny reflected that if he was on Casper's football team, Dash wouldn't be the star player anymore. Unlike Dash, however, Dustin was quiet, barely speaking at all and always deferring to the others.

The second boy introduced himself as Damien, and he was also tall, but thin and skeletal, like a strong breeze would blow him away. He seemed to realize this, because he had a pair of small enamel pins on the lapel of his suit: a skeleton and a scarecrow.

The last, Dmitri, a redhead, was about the same size as Danny. He reminded Danny of Jazz, for some reason (clearly, her psychology-camp-induced absence was driving him a little crazy). And, less pleasantly, of Wes. He had... a lot of questions. Not quite to the point of being annoying, but still a lot. There was also something wrong with his mask. It was hard to tell, but it looked almost as if one eye of it had been filled in. Danny didn't want to mention it, and ruin the atmosphere, though.

There was an atmosphere. Shockingly enough, these kids liked him, and they were much cooler than Danny would have expected of kids who's parents had been invited by Vlad. Which, yeah, was maybe a weird prejudice on his part. His parents had been invited by Vlad, after all.

Danny liked them back.

"... and the names of the dark matter candidates, whoever thought them up was a genius," said Dmitri, waving his hands.

"Well, yeah," said Danny, grinning, "if they were allowed to pick the names, they probably were the ones to come up with the whole idea for it in the first place. But I think MACHOs might be more likely than WIMPs. You've heard about the exoplanets they found last year?" He let his eyes briefly lose focus. "I bet there are even more of them, that we just can't see yet."

"Yeah, but there have been a lot of tests for MACHOs," said Damien. "You'd think we'd have seen a least a couple. And what about dark energy?"

"I don't think those two are actually related," said Ellie.

"Sure they are. They both have the word dark in them."

"Yeah, but I don't think they actually have anything to do with each other," said Ellie.

"They just have similar names," said Dustin.

"We can look it up, later," said Dmitri.

"Speaking of related," said Danny, "how are you guys related?"

There was a pause. "How'd you know?" asked Ellie. "Like, I could understand if you could see our faces, but..."

Danny shrugged. "I don't know. It just... Felt that way?

"We're cousins," said Damien, leaning forward. His body language spoke of nerves.

Danny couldn't imagine why Damien would be nervous about that, but he probably had his reasons. Family drama, maybe. It wasn't Danny's place to ask, he was a stranger.

Even if he was rather wishing he wasn't. How often did he meet people who shared so many of his interests? Never.

(Well, they were mostly just talking about the one interest, space, but still. And Dustin had mentioned liking Dumpty Humpty.)

"That's cool," he said. He would have liked to have helped. Maybe he still could, somehow? He and his parents were going to be here for a few days.

If he focused, there was an aura of something being not quite right with the cousins. Nothing he could put his finger on, and nothing to do with them as people, but... something.

"Hey," said Ellie, "what do you say we raid the snack table? It can't all be super fancy stuff we can't name, can it? I mean, at least there's punch."

Danny followed Ellie's gaze to the refreshments table. When he'd been over there before, everything had been covered, and he hadn't felt like fighting his way back across the floor and potentially losing sight of his parents. He glanced at them now. They looked like they were having fun.

He lightly bit at his lower lip. He knew Vlad had to be up to something. Otherwise, why bother with all of this?

But... new friends... He liked friends, and Vlad was always up to something. Danny deserved to have a little fun now and again, even so.

"Sure," he said. "We can ruin our dinner."

Ellie snickered. "That's the spirit!" she said, patting Danny on the back and slipping past him.

He smirked at the pun, even if it was unintentional.

"Yeah, better do it now, before there's a punchline," said Dmitri. "Wouldn't want people to think we're in a joke."

Danny choked a little, trying to swallow a laugh.

"That was terrible. You're terrible," said Damien.

"Hey, our new friend seems to like it," said Ellie.

Danny's core did a little bounce when she said friend. He really did want to be friends. "What can I say," he said, shrugging. "Better a joke, than a fist?"

Dmitri smiled broadly. Damien groaned, arcing his long body back dramatically.

There wasn't a line for the punch, or even very many people around the snack table at all. What few people had been there moved off, glaring, when the five children descended on the table. He caught Ellie sticking her tongue out at a woman who was giving them a particularly dirty look.

They gathered cups of punch and piled tiny plates high with pastries before retreating to a nearby corner to resume their conversation.

Danny was having a harder time following it this time, though. He felt tired. Drained. A little overheated. He wasn't used to wearing this suit. He went back to refill his punch a few times.

Words started to blur together. The inside of his head felt staticky. But he also... really content... New friends... His core felt strange...

"Danny?" a hand on his shoulder made him flinch, which made him sway rather dangerously. "Are you okay?"

Danny blinked at Ellie. "I don't feel..." he mumbled. What? What didn't he feel?

"Did someone spike the punch?"

"There's a room back here, you can lie down."

"I'll go get Father, he'll know what to do."

He was gently guided out of the ballroom, most of his weight resting on Dustin. There was a reason he should stay in the ballroom, but he couldn't remember what it was. Was someone missing?

Wait, spike the punch? Was he drunk?

The thought was lost almost instantly. His core, and therefore his mind, was lost in delirium and delight. New friends! But they needed his help, there was something wrong with them. But he could help! So, everything was good, and he loved his new friends very much.

The place they took him to was darker and quieter than before. They laid him down on something soft and squishy, and he giggled, weakly. They were talking. They might have been talking to him, but he couldn't understand aaaaaaaaanything.

He was so happy, helping his new friends.

The light changed as the door to the room opened. Music and other noises from the party briefly grew in volume, and were muffled again as the door swung closed.

"Well, that was faster than expected."

Vlad's voice briefly pulled him back into lucidity, and he struggled to sit up before collapsing again. No, all his energy had to go to his friends. They needed it. No time for Vlad.

Still, he glared up at the older man as he leaned over him. There were two Vlads. Was that because he was seeing double, or because Vlad had split himself?

The question was answered as Vlad picked Danny up. Danny was distressingly limp. He couldn't redirect any energy to his muscles, and thinking was hard. There was a thunk, and one of the walls opened up, revealing a hidden staircase. Vlad carried Danny down, but that was okay, because his new friends came with them, and- Oh!

There was another new friend down here!

Danny's core reached out to his newest new friend.

.

He came back to himself with only the sensation that something was wrong wrong wrong. He jolted up, only to be stopped by a pressure across his chest and shoulders. He squinted, trying to see. His mask was gone, and the clothing he was in felt different, looser.

"What'd you do with'm?" he demanded.

"They're just in the next room, Daniel," said Vlad. "Calm down. I had no idea you'd get attached to them so quickly. I had a whole program for this week for you to get to know them."

"No," said Danny. He finally managed to get his eyes open. He was in Vlad's lab, lying on something padded. He'd been strapped down, and there were various IVs running into his arms. One of them was a lurid ectoplasmic green.

"No?"

"Won't calm down. What did you do to me?"

"Nothing."

"This isn't nothing." He finally managed to find Vlad with his eyes. The man was sitting almost behind him. It was difficult to bend his eyes to look that way.

"Oh, very well then. I increased the energy levels in your core, allowing you to wake up and us to have this lovely conversation. The rest, my dear boy, was all you. An instinctive reaction on the part of your core, although you, as usual, took it too far."

"What?"

Vlad walked around the tube, to a position where Danny could see him more easily. "This will require some explanation. I realize this situation isn't intuitive, to one such as yourself." Vlad waved a dismissive hand.

Danny scowled, but had the presence of mind to bite his tongue. He needed to know what was going on. He was beginning to suspect that Vlad had drugged him, put something in the food or punch that only affected ghosts and half ghosts, but he had a feeling that wasn't quite right.

"After you and Jasmine blew up my football field, I came to the conclusion that you would never accept me as a father," said Vlad, with the air of someone narrating a tragedy. "I was forced to reconsider my methods and goals. You see, Daniel, all I really wanted was to be loved."

In Danny's personal opinion, that was a load of crap. Vlad, more than anything else, wanted control, he wanted power.

""To be loved," continued Vlad, "and understood." He looked up at the ceiling and sighed. "And who could understand me, but a fellow half ghost? So, I decided to make one."

"Wait, wait, hold up," said Danny, beyond horrified. "You made someone a half ghost? You killed someone?"

"What? No, don't be ridiculous, Daniel. I cloned you."

He pointed at something behind and to the left of Danny, and Danny craned his head back to see a tall, vertical tube full of ectoplasm. Inside floated a boy who looked just like Danny in Phantom form. The boy's eyes were closed, and there were tubes and wires connected to his body.

"That's just as bad. Oh my gosh, Vlad, you can't just clone people! Why didn't you clone yourself?"

Vlad's face twisted like he had just bitten into a lemon. "I had attempted to do so, initially, however, my ectoacne and other instabilities in my makeup precluded me from doing so. Cloning you was my only choice."

"We cured your ectoacne," said Danny.

"Yes. But I had already started this project. It did take time to grow your brother into maturity, Daniel. Unfortunately, despite my best efforts, David was unstable."

"David?"

"The name given to him by your other siblings. Do keep up, Daniel."

"Other- You made more clones? Why?"

"I had done some research," said Vlad. "Into how ghosts normal reproduce and stabilize children. I discovered that family members, those ghosts with similar ectosignatures and core properties, play a major role in stabilizing and providing energy to newly formed ghosts. My ectosignature was too different from David's, but I thought that if I could just make one stable clone..." Vlad trailed off, the look in his eyes almost haunted. "I tried everything. A mix of your DNA and ectosignature and mine, extra DNA from your sister, your mother, even your father. Nothing worked!" Vlad threw his hands up, angrily. "They are all more stable, but none of them are completely stable!"

It took Vlad several seconds to calm down, during which Danny put a few more puzzle pieces together.

"Ellie and the others, they're all clones?" That hurt, for some reason. Did they like him at all, or were they only being nice to him because Vlad told them to.

"Yes," said Vlad. "Danielle is the most stable." He smoothed down the front of his lab coat.

"So, you need me to stabilize them. That's why you drugged me?"

"I didn't drug you Daniel. Your collapse was a surprising to me as it was to you. Based on my readings, I can only conclude that your core recognized Danielle, Dustin, Damien, and Dmitri as family, registered their instability, and attempted to rectify it by boosting your ectosignature and sending them energy. Unfortunately, the effort overwhelmed you. You are only a child yourself, and..." Vlad trailed off, almost sheepish, "it is my understanding that they process is usually undertaken by multiple adult family members, and with only one child at a time."

"Great," said Danny. "And you didn't plan for that to happen at all."

"I had believed that you would bond with them more slowly," said Vlad. "That your reaction wouldn't be so extreme."

"Well, it was," said Danny. "But they're stable now, right? So, you can let me go." He tugged against the restraints again. He hoped they were stable. He had heard his parents talk about what happened to destabilized ghosts.

"Sadly," said Vlad, sounding like he was gritting his teeth, "that is an incorrect assumption."

There was a long pause.

"I want to make a deal with you, Daniel," said Vlad.

"You- Are you asking me for help?" Not that Danny could refuse. For one, he was tied up, for another...

"I suppose. For my children. They are children, Daniel, and they will die if they aren't stabilized. Painfully. Perhaps not today, but within the month."

Danny's heart clenched, and his core shivered. Even if Ellie and the others had been tricking him, he didn't want them to die. He would do what Vlad asked, if it stabilized his... cousins.

He was going to go with cousins for now. Siblings felt a little too close at the moment, and 'clones' was sort of dehumanizing. They were the ones who had started it, calling each other cousins.

But even if he was going to cooperate with Vlad, that didn't mean he wasn't going to try to get as many concessions out of Vlad as possible. True, he wasn't going to get very many, Vlad was holding the cards in this game, but he still might be able to get something.

"What kind of deal?" he asked, cautiously.

"You cooperate with stabilizing the cores of my children," said Vlad, "and I will make sure your little town stays safe and protected. Fail to cooperate, and not only will Amity Park be exposed and helpless against any ridiculous poltergeist that comes through your parents' portal, but you will be unconscious. As demonstrated earlier, you do not need to be awake for your core to be at work."

Danny frowned. Apart from the threat (honestly, Vlad was borderline pathological) that was a pretty good deal. Heck, Danny wasn't even supposed to be back in Amity Park until the end of the week.

It was a good deal... too good.

"Exactly how long do you think it'll take, anyway?" he asked. "To stabilize all of them?"

"I don't know, Daniel, this hasn't ever been done before."

Danny scowled. He hated it when Vlad said his name with that supercilious tone of voice. "Fine. How long does it take with ghosts, Vlad? You said you researched it, didn't you?"

"The time varied based on a number of factors," said Vlad.

"It takes a long time, doesn't it?" asked Danny. "I want a cover story. One that doesn't make me disappearing for Ancients know how long my fault. I want to be able to talk to Sam, Tucker, and Jazz whenever I want. And I want to be able to veto anything too invasive or dangerous."

"You're hardly in a position to make demands."

Danny made a shrugging motion, hoping that Vlad wouldn't call his bluff.

"I can do the first," said Vlad, finally, "but if you want it to hold up, the second is impossible. The last is ridiculous. Cooperation means full cooperation, nothing less."

That was about what he had expected. "If I can't communicate with them, they'll just show up here, guns blazing. You know that."

"I think I can handle three human teenagers."

"Sure, but do you want to have to?"

Vlad frowned. "I will consider the merits of your suggestion," he said. "I'm impressed, actually. I didn't think you had it in you, to bargain with lives on the line." Danny swallowed to keep himself from gagging. "But in the meantime, do you agree to cooperate, or no?" He drummed his fingers on something Danny couldn't see.

Between Danny's Obsession, and what were apparently ghostly family bonding instincts, there really wasn't any way for him to say no. "Yes, fine, whatever. I'll cooperate. You can let me out of these things, now." He pulled at the restraints again.

"Oh, no," said Vlad, smiling, then moving out of Danny's line of sight. "Those are for your own protection. You see, your core isn't really mature enough to cope with sustaining five other cores, so we are going to have to significantly supplement your ectoenergy levels."

There was a small click, and the table Danny was on started moving backwards. After a few inches, it angled up, until it was vertical. Danny discovered that there were little platforms under his bare feet, and other supports to keep him upright in his new position. Directly to his left, floated the clone, David, in the glass tube. Danny's core seemed to strain in that direction. His eyelids fluttered.

Vlad walked back over and pulled something with two tubes attached to it from the space over Danny's head. "Open up," he said.

"Why?" asked Danny.

"This is a breathing mask," said Vlad. "It will supply you with oxygen and atomized ectoplasm at three times the levels generally available in the Ghost Zone. But this part," he tapped part of the mask that was fitted with something like a bite guard, "needs to go inside your mouth."

After a moment of hesitation, Danny opened his mouth, and Vlad inserted the breathing mask. Almost at once, Danny could tell the difference. The air coming through was just so much richer.

Vlad pressed the cup of the mask over Danny's mouth and nose and sealed the edges with tape.

"Now," Vlad said, as he began pulling other things from the ceiling and attaching them to Danny, "in a few minutes, I'm going to start giving you instructions. I want you to follow them. Cooperate, do you understand? The first thing I want to do is stabilize David enough that he is no longer dependent on the containment chamber to survive."

Danny was getting a bad feeling. Many of the wires Vlad was attaching to him mirrored wires attached to David. Vlad attached a few more wires, and inserted several needles. Danny tried to hiss at those, but the mask acted as an effective gag. Finally, Vlad inserted two small plugs into Danny's ears and stepped back, half smiling.

As Danny had almost expected, a curved glass barrier sprang from behind him and encircled him, trapping him in a chamber much like the one David occupied. Ectoplasm began to bubble up from below, from a source Danny couldn't see.

"You will be submerged shortly." Vlad's voice rang clear in the earbuds. "This will allow you to intake ectoplasm through your skin. You will also be in the same environment as David."

The ectoplasm hit the soles of Danny's feet, and he flinched. It was rising rapidly.

"Do try not to panic," said Vlad. "Now, I want you to focus on David."

It was at Danny's knees, now. He took a deep breath, reassuring himself that the mask was in place. He wasn't going to drown. He looked over at David. What did it even mean, to focus on him? Danny had no idea what he was like, not really. Like him, he guessed, but not?

"With your ghost sense, Daniel," said Vlad. "Not your eyes."

Danny scowled at him, trying to distract himself from the fact that the ectoplasm was up to his chest. He closed his eyes and tried to do... that. It wasn't something he normally did and had no idea how to go about it but-

Ah. Oh, there it was. There he was, Danny's new friend. That was easier than expected. Danny's core began to purr, some of the euphoria from earlier in the night returning.

The ectoplasm closed over his head.

"Good," said Vlad, his voice slightly warped. "It appears that you have connected. Now, I am going to stimulate and amplify that connection. I want you to stay focused."

Of course Danny would stay focused. He was helping his friend, wasn't he? He always stayed focused when it came to that.

Several of the places Vlad had attached wires began to tingle. His core jumped and he twitched. Everything briefly took on a very severe cast.

It was very hard to think, after that.

.

Vlad smiled at his readouts. Securing Daniel's cooperation beforehand had been worthwhile. Had he been struggling, it would have been difficult to establish the connection to this extent. David's energy and stability levels were increasing slowly but steadily. Despite the measure he was taking, Daniel's were dropping. Some of the data concerning his human half was less than ideal. That would be troublesome to deal with later on.

He took a moment to check in on his duplicate upstairs. The party was going well. Jack and Maddie hadn't noticed Daniel's absence yet. With luck, they wouldn't until the next morning.

Overall, tonight had been fruitful. With Daniel, he would be able to stabilize all five of the clones, and, perhaps, he would even be able to win over Daniel. He had seen the relaxed smile on his face when he had been with the clones. Vlad knew how powerful ghost instincts could be.

He stood up and walked over to the room where he had asked his children to wait. They should be told that their elder siblings would make a full recovery shortly.