#they got all dressed up in matching outfits for some good old revenge what a power couple clearly in denial

[lilianhuas]

“If it’s you or him, I always choose him.” - Tencent’s Stand By Me - Epi 18

[olivia-anderson-fanfic]

Stalker X Stalker, Part 8

First

Previous

Next

Perma tag: @nathleigh @peachmuses

Stalker x Stalker taglist: @aespades @jayjayspixiepop @blueslushgueen @fan-written @seraphichana @nerd-nowandforever @toodaloo-kangaroo

Tim woke up the next morning, because that’s how things work.

He fought back a groan as he slowly flexed each muscle individually, making sure that everything was still working. To his surprise, it actually was. His brain stuttered to a stop. Why had he been asleep, then? He was pretty sure it wasn’t his usual sleep day…

Then, he finally processed the fact that his face was pressed to something that definitely wasn’t his pillow.

He cracked an eye open. He was laying on top of Marinette, head resting on her stomach. She was still asleep, he noted, one of her hands was thrown over her eyes and the other tangled in his hair.

He vaguely considered just staying there. He could stay in that position forever…

Except he couldn’t. He had responsibilities. He was pretty sure that if he skipped both patrols and work his family would assume he’d been brainwashed in some way.

So, reluctantly, he pushed himself up and reached a hand out to poke Marinette awake.

She grumbled a little and caught his hand, blinking her eyes open. She looked up at him for a moment, uncomprehending in her sleepy state, and he couldn’t help but smile. He leaned down and pressed a kiss to her forehead before clambering away from their tangle of limbs so he could take a quick shower and get ready.

First, though, he started up the coffee machine. He’d known that she’d had coffee, he’d been there when she bought it... but, really, if she was worried enough to lie about it he’d at least try and alleviate those fears a little.

That done, he took a quick shower. He already had a towel and toothbrush at the house -- wow, Marinette really wasn’t joking, he had basically moved in already, oops -- so he used those.

Then he pulled on the outfit she’d made him. By the time he needed help lacing up the corset, Marinette had stumbled into the room in a daze.

“Hi,” she said.

“Hello?”

She held out one of two mugs for him and he was forced to hide his smile behind his cup.

“Could you help me with this,” he asked.

She nodded and downed her entire mug before walking behind him. He felt her forehead tip forward to rest against the back of his shoulder as she worked and he was very glad she couldn’t see his face because he was sure that he was beginning to get redder than their costumes.

She pulled the lace tight and tied it off and he had no clue if the tightness in his chest was because she had laced him too tightly or because of nerves but either way he didn’t really mind. He turned back around, pressing another kiss to her forehead.

“I’ll see you later?”

She smiled at him. “I’ll make some bacon for you to eat on the go. Don’t want you to be hungry.”

He considered saying no but, really, he didn’t see her all that often in the morning and he had to admit that it was pretty cute. “If you remember to make some for yourself then sure.”

She hummed a little and turned around to go make food. He’d check on her in a few minutes to make sure she hadn’t fallen back asleep while cooking.

For now, he absently checked his clothes over for bugs. It was an old habit from years of living with the bats and, had he been even slightly more awake, he wouldn’t have done it.

Except he did. And there, hidden in the cuff of his shirt, was a bug.

… he hadn’t even been this happy when Damian had bugged him for the first time. She cared about him and his well-being! He was accepted!

When he made his way back into the kitchen he made sure to give her a long hug.

~

Marinette was so tired. She had been working on attaching the diamonds to Cassandra Wayne’s dress and there were so fucking many.

So, when Robin climbed through her window, all she did was give a vague wave of acknowledgement.

“You need better window locks,” he informed her.

“Most people don’t know how to pick every lock in existence, kid.”

“But some do.”

She thought about whether or not she really wanted this to be the argument that took up valuable work time. The answer was no, definitely not.

She finally turned to face him, resting her cheek against the couch. She didn’t know Damian personally outside of messing with Tim when they were in their superhero identities, she wasn’t even completely sure that this was Damian (though he did match up with the measurements she had for his outfits), so there was no good reason for him to be there.

She squinted suspiciously at him. Now that she was paying attention, she could see that he had his hands behind his back.

“What do you want?”

“I saw on your lease that you are allowed to have pets in your apartment.”

Oh no.

“Please tell me you didn’t,” she whispered, her voice close to begging.

He slowly brought his hands out from behind his back to reveal a black cat with almost luminous green eyes. She rested her head in her hands, taking deep breaths to remain calm.

“I wish to coparent with you.”

“... your dad didn’t let you get another pet?”

(Yes, she knew about the pet problem. She had seen Batcow. She had seen the Batbats all over the cave that he had apparently taken in.)

He cleared his throat awkwardly. “Possibly.”

She slowly lifted her head from her hands to glare at him. Unfortunately for her, he puffed out his little baby cheeks in a pout and, even if most of what she did was played up to mess with Tim, she was weak for little kids that look sad.

“Fine. But you’re paying for everything and you better actually help me take care of it.”

“She! And her name is Vanelope!”

“Van --?” She decided she didn’t care. She glanced at Damian’s still disapproving expression and rolled her eyes before leaning down to be at the cat’s eye level: “I’m sorry for calling you an ‘it’, Vanelope.”

He nodded, apparently satisfied by her begrudging apology.

“C’mon, put Vanelope down, we’re going to the pet store.”

Damian beamed. She pulled the front of his hood down over his eyes in retaliation for the dumb situation he’d put her in. Revenge achieved, she transformed and ducked out her window before she could get stabbed.

~

Scarecrow’s parties were always the best.

For one thing, there was the haunted house. Scarecrow took the whole ‘scaring people’ thing very seriously, it was his whole shtick, so you could always count on him to dream up the best haunted houses. Even better, he’d give out brownies laced with minute traces of fear toxin to make the whole thing just a little bit scarier.

Speaking of brownies: the food. Tim was pretty sure that some of the stuff served at the parties could rival the things Marinette and Alfred made.

Then there were the venues he picked. They had to get bigger every year, what with Bruce’s adoption problem and the Rogue’s ever-expanding roster. This year the man had rented out an entire park and the building nearby. The building had a dance floor and a kind of second floor that overlooked everyone. The park held all the people that the building could not.

Add in the fact that every single person was probably clinically insane in some way or another and you’d have the reason for why he was always excited to go.

Tim attended the party as a Red Robin employee. He had to, it was on brand.

Marinette raised her eyebrows when she saw him. She’d gotten there before him, which had been a little bit of a surprise. He’d thought she’d at least wait for a few vigilantes to come to make sure it was safe --.

Oh. Nevermind. He stifled a grin when his eyes landed on a blonde in an outfit he recognized as Cassie’s. He was pretty sure dressing up as Wonder Girl was betraying the bats but he wasn’t going to be the one to call Steph out on it. Cassie was pretty cool...

Cassie -- no, Steph -- was suddenly grabbed by the arm by an excited Marinette and pulled her over to him. Marinette was wearing a pirate costume and he suspected that the bottle of wine in her free hand was more than an accessory.

“Red Robin, yum~,” both women chorused.

He rolled his eyes. “They’ve infected you already. Soon you’ll be disappearing into the shadows without ending conversations.”

Marinette grinned, the corner of her mask (now tinted black in some places to mimic a pirate’s beard) twitching. “It’s about time you assholes got a taste of your own medicine.”

Tim rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah. Whatever.” He leaned down and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Y’know, for someone who didn’t like the idea of the party before, you sure did get into your outfit.’

“Please, I put effort into all my outfits.”

“Except for the Ladybug one,” teased Steph.

She huffed. “I was on a time crunch --.”

Tim grinned. “That’s no excuse.”

“... you had thought about it for who knows how long and not only did you come up with the name Drake, but you also came up with an ugly brown outfit. You don’t get a say in this.”

Steph grinned. “And me?”

“Your outfits are okay,” said Marinette after a few second’s thought.

Tim gasped in mock offense. “And I thought we were friends.”

“Friends call each other out for their stupid fashion choices.”

Steph smirked and slung her arm around Marinette’s shoulders. “And, really, you need an intervention.”

When did they start ganging up on Tim?

“Whatever. This outfit is nice, so that makes up for all past mistakes.”

“It’d be nicer if you didn’t make the same joke every year,” Steph teased.

He huffed and pouted, but then something caught his eyes. Dick had arrived, Tim could see him perched on a second floor railing in his work clothes… of course, the name tag marking him as Nurse Grayson was gone, but it was still the same light blue scrubs.

He paled a little under his domino for two reasons. The first was the instantaneous worry about their identities; sure, Gotham had many medical workers, but who knows, Gotham and Bludhaven twitter both insisted that Dick had a very distinct body. The second was Marinette was going to end up liking Dick quite a lot -- she already looked up to him for his fighting style, there was no way she was going to be able to resist the signature Grayson charm that had won over every superhero, vigilante, and villain on Earth (and a few other planets as well).

He knew that, inevitably, Dick would win her over… but he was definitely going to stall it as much as he possibly could.

So, he pulled a grin to his face. “Oh, Ladybug, you haven’t gone in the haunted house yet, have you?”

She gave him a slightly wary look. “I don’t do good with scary things.”

He grinned. “I’ll protect you.”

She raised her eyebrows slightly before sighing. “Fine.”

So, they made their way across the park to the haunted house. Scarecrow had, somehow, built an entire house in the one month since he had broken out of Arkham. It looked like it had been torn right out of a video game, with the blackened, decaying, and peeling wood and rickety steps.

Jonathan Crane smiled when he saw the two of them approaching. He was dressed as a scarecrow, but the one from the Wizard of Oz instead of the creepy one he was usually dressed as.

“Crane!” Tim greeted.

Crane held out the plate of fear toxin brownies for them. “Nice to see you, Red Robin. And nice to meet you, Ladybug.”

Marinette blushed a little, her head tipping to the side. “I’d shake your hand but you haven’t set down that tray the entire time I’ve been here. Starting to think you can’t.”

He laughed a little. “I appreciate the sentiment.”

Tim smiled a little and popped a brownie in his mouth. Fear toxin tasted a lot like chili powder and, he had to admit, it was pretty good.

Marinette took a brownie with a lot more hesitance.

“Oh! Have you been exposed to fear toxin yet?” Asked Crane before she could take a bite.

Marinette looked a little worried about the use of the word ‘yet’.

Marinette shook her head, though. “No.”

“Then your immunity isn’t built up. I’d suggest just eating half of that.”

She nodded thoughtfully and broke the brownie in half. She held the halves in her hand awkwardly, unsure what to do now.

“I’ll take the half you haven’t eaten,” suggested Crane.

He set down the tray -- Tim swore he could hear a cartoon sound effect as the man struggled to unstick his hand to the metal -- and took her other half.

“Since it’s a lower dose it’ll probably take longer to take effect,” said Tim. “We’ll have to wait a bit so you can have the full experience.”

Marinette took a tentative bite and her eyes lit up. “This is really good. What’s your recipe?”

Apparently, Crane had once tried to replicate the taste with normal chili powder and had fallen short. Tim watched the two of them theorize what it could be that his attempts had been missing. It was clear that Marinette had missed living in a bakery more than she was willing to admit and, unfortunately, none of the bats were particularly good at even cooking basic meals, let alone the kinds of things she was able to do. Alfred was the only exception and, even then, Bruce wouldn’t let him near her most of the time because of Identity Reasons. Tim was glad that she had someone to talk to about it, he just kinda wished that that person wasn’t a Rogue.

Tim jolted out of watching them when Marinette started rubbing up and down her arms absently. Ah, the toxin must be setting in for her now.

“Ladybug, ready to head inside?”

She blinked and looked up from the conversation. “Oh. Sure. I’ll talk to you later!”

“I’ll try not to get thrown into Arkham by anyone else while you’re gone,” joked Crane.

Tim grinned and took Marinette’s hand, pulling her inside.

It turns out she actually wasn’t all that good with scary things. Or, at least, jumpscares. She clung to his arm, dull nails doing their best to dig into his skin.

On one hand, he kind of felt bad for telling her to come along. On the other hand he thought it was kind of cute, maybe the next movie they watched together could be a horror.

He would probably be able to enjoy it a little more if he wasn’t tripping out on fear toxin himself. There was a creepy little girl following them around and he wasn’t going to acknowledge her and her creepy little white clothes because talking to hallucinations is always bad.

But then, towards the end, she disappeared.

He didn’t like that either. It set him on edge. It shouldn’t, the fear toxin was just wearing off… but he didn’t feel like it was wearing off. He was still a little shaky and the buzzing under his skin was still present, so maybe she’d been real and something was up.

He got his answer when he heard the sound of little feet dashing overhead.

Marinette squeaked and her grip on his arm tightened, somehow.

When the end was in sight and Tim was waiting anxiously for the final scare, he heard someone running towards them. High pitched laughter echoed around them.

“Oh fuck no,” he yelped when he saw the little girl running towards them, arms outstretched, pretty white dress splattered with red.

Marinette seemed to agree with the sentiment. She nearly pulled his arm out of its socket as she pushed herself into a sprint. He stumbled awkwardly a few steps before catching his footing and returning the tight grip.

And then, like the vigilantes with nerves of steel they were, they ran from the child.

~

She tried to look calm when the door swung shut behind them. She was pretty good at managing her emotions, she thought (or, at least, good at pushing them down).

But it wasn’t necessary because, when they reached the safety of the outside, they were handed a framed picture of them sprinting away from the creepy little girl, horror written plainly on their faces.

She blushed, more than a little embarrassed.

Thankfully, she was quickly distracted from her embarrassment. Her eyes landed on Bruce, who was dressed as a vampire. She waved for his attention, intending to point out the similarities in their outfits to mess with him, only for his eyes to zero in on the wine bottle in her hand.

Marinette mumbled a curse.

She turned and pressed a ‘kiss’ to Tim’s cheek through her mask. “Gotta go,” she chirped, before promptly disappearing into the crowd.

Alright, time to avoid Bruce. Where is the last place she’d be? Actually, no, he’d probably check the last place...

Her eyes landed on where Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn were hanging out by the drinks.

Hm... a negative (people she was wary about) and a positive (drinks!) to balance each other out. A good middle ground.

She walked over and picked up a weird drink with a lot of different candies sticking out of it. She did not know why Scarecrow felt the need to sully the good name of alcohol with American candies but, since it was apparently the only option, she slipped a straw under her mouth to drink.

The drink was taken from her fingers.

She looked at her now-empty hand, brain struggling to catch up, straw hanging limply from her mouth. Then she spat out the straw and cursed.

She slowly turned to look at the person who had stolen it from her, expecting to see a disappointed Bruce, only to meet eyes with Poison Ivy.

(Ivy had dressed up as a stereotypical martian. Marinette wondered, vaguely, if actual aliens were ever offended when people dressed up like the movie versions of them.)

“I’d like that back, thanks,” she said, reaching for the drink.

She held it out of reach -- holy shit she was tall -- and raised an unimpressed eyebrow at her. “You’re a child.”

“I’m nineteen.”

“Exactly: a child,” she said.

Marinette rolled her eyes. Was this how Damian felt? Damn, no wonder he was always so angry about it… but, to be fair, Damian actually was a child. She was nineteen. She had a job and an apartment. Completely different.

But, since convincing Ivy she wasn’t a child wasn’t working, she had to come up with a new approach: “I’ve been drinking since I was six.”

For some reason, this didn’t seem to soothe the woman in front of her.

Thankfully, Harley Quinn -- who was wearing a knockoff Riddler costume -- decided to take pity on her: “Let her drink, Ives, Europeans drink differently than we do.”

Marinette and Poison Ivy exchanged confused looks. Marinette hadn’t gone out drinking with anyone properly in America outside of occasionally dropping into bars to trick old men into giving her drinks and then disappearing. Poison Ivy just, apparently, wasn’t aware of the difference.

“For them it’s a social thing, they don’t really get drunk like we do.”

Ivy hesitated. “You don’t get drunk?”

“I mean… we can get drunk,” she said slowly. She cringed visibly. “I did, once. The day I turned eighteen my mom told me ‘Just this once, to see what it’s like’... the pictures… they deleted them, but I will never live it down...”

She reached for the drink again and, this time, Ivy gave it to her. She was lucky she had her mask to hide the smirk on her face.

When Poison Ivy didn’t leave after that, Marinette knit her eyebrows together. The woman blushed (she blushed green?) and Harley pushed her towards Marinette a step.

“I would like to apologize for how we met…” Ivy said slowly. “Joker was an asshole in Arkham and I’d had a fight with Harley and I guess I just…” She snapped her fingers.

Marinette raised her eyebrows. “It’s fine. It’s not the first world-ending event I’ve had to stop because someone had had a bad day.”

Harley hesitated. “That’s… different.”

She shrugged. “New city, same shit… just sometimes easier, I guess. People are actually scared of Joker?”

“Now, that isn’t very nice!” Said a painfully cheery voice behind her.

She’d summoned him.

Marinette took a long, deep breath, before turning around to greet Joker and Punchline. They were dressed as circus clowns, because of course they would. “Hey! Still alive, I see.”

Joker smiled, like he always did. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Pretty sure you’ve died more than B-man over there,” said Harley.

“No clue why they keep bringing you back.”

Marinette’s eyebrows scrunched together. The man had died? And they had brought him back? Willingly? Weird.

“It’s ‘cause I’m Batsy’s favorite,” cooed Joker.

“Favorite punching bag, maybe,” said Ivy.

Marinette, wisely, decided to back up a step so she wasn’t between the two fighting groups.

“At least people pick him as their first choice,” said Punchline.

“You’d be the expert on what it’s like to be the second choice, I guess, since you’re just me but purple,” said Harley.

“I’m you but self-aware,” Punchline corrected her.

Ivy raised her eyebrows. “Some would say that’s worse.”

Punchline almost punched her.

She didn’t stop because of some amazing show of self-restraint, of course. Nightwing had just chosen that moment to drop down between the two groups. And then Nightwing, with his all-amazing powers of getting pretty much everyone on his side, got them to declare a truce and go to opposite sides of the room.

Marinette was a little disappointed as she took a sip of her drink. It had just started getting good.

But also: Nightwing!

“Is it true that you can do a quadruple somersault?”

Nightwing smiled widely.

~

Tim was beginning to think that maybe Marinette was so interested in Dick because she was secretly his long lost sister or something. They had the same ability to make even some of the worst people like them.

But, no. Dick having a secret half sister or something? How stupid would that be?

Still, Tim had seen her making friends with: all of his siblings that lived in Gotham, Scarecrow, Poison Ivy, Harley Quinn, Dick (damn it, he’d hoped he could keep them apart just a little longer)... the only people she hadn’t gotten to like her were Punchline and Joker, and even then she was choosing to annoy them, who knows what would happen if she actually tried to befriend them… and now she was hanging out with Riddler...

He sat next to them on their bench. “I’m beginning to think you can’t make friends with anyone normal.”

She grinned. “It’s a blessing and a curse.”

Riddler (dressed as the gameshow host he would probably be if he hadn’t gone off the deep end) looked over at Tim with barely hidden disdain. “Red Robin,” he greeted coolly.

Marinette frowned. “Why don’t you like him?”

“Him and all the bats… they always answer my riddles before I finish telling them.”

“Well, that’s an easy fix: Red, wait until he finishes telling the riddles before answering.”

He scoffed. “Why would I?”

“For the drama!” Riddler said in a tone that made it obvious he thought it was obvious.

“Half the time you have people’s lives on the line. Lower the stakes and maybe we’ll be more attuned to the dramatic tension.”

Riddler scowled. “You bats just don’t appreciate my art.”

“You’d think that they’d be all for drama.”

“Right? They have a whole brooding cave! But I want high stakes and suddenly I’m too concerned with the vibes of things.”

Marinette grinned and leaned towards Riddler conspiratorially. “They have more than a brooding cave. They have brooding gargoyles, brooding rooftops, brooding cars… I once caught Red over there brooding on his motorbike. Who can brood on a motorcycle? It’s a motorcycle!”

Tim huffed. “I thought we agreed to keep that a secret.”

“Sorry, darling, it’s just too easy to mess with you.”

Tim started to respond, but then he realized something.

‘Darling’?

That could mean one of three things. He needed to excuse himself from the conversation to figure out which was the truth.

He sent the two of them a halfhearted glare. “I will not put up with this bullying any longer.”

“Fine, fine. If you’re going to come back, bring me a cookie.”

Tim rolled his eyes. “If I must.”

With that, he turned on his heel and strode off, a man on a mission.

After questioning all of the family she had talked to (she had yet to meet Jason, apparently), he determined that she didn’t use nicknames all that often. When she did it was usually just to make things quicker for herself. The only people outside of him that she ever used nicknames for were Bruce (‘B’) and maybe Damian (‘kid’).

And he had a nickname like that, too, of course. She called him ‘Red’ from time to time, probably just because she was too lazy to go through the hassle of saying his entire codename.

… but ‘darling’ was different. He had a pet name. In both identities, apparently.

Which meant one of two things:

a) he was special to her in both identities

or b) she knew he was Red Robin.

He was kinda hoping for the first one, but he wasn’t about to let emotions cloud his judgement. He sought out the world’s only accurate lie detector.

He found her surveying the crowd with Jason. They looked like they’d been transported directly from the renaissance, with her plague doctor outfit and his Shakespeare costume.

Tim grinned at them despite his slight anxiety. “Nice of you to bring a Green Arrow costume back from Star City, Flamebird.”

Jason touched the ugly goatee and mustache that both of them shared before sending him a glare. “And you all wonder why I don’t come home more often.”

“Really? I thought it was because you and Roy were --.”

Jason’s face reddened with either anger or embarrassment, Tim didn’t know and didn’t particularly care as his brother left them in a huff.

He couldn’t see Cass’s face but he could feel the disapproval.

“I just… I wanted to ask you something in private…”

Cass didn’t leave, so he assumed it was okay.

“Does Ladybug know our identities?”

Cass was motionless for a moment and he wished she didn’t have such a bulky outfit because it was hard to get a read on her…

And then she nodded, tapping the side of her forehead (the sign for ‘know’) to further emphasize the point.

He looked down at where Marinette was excitedly describing something to an enthused Riddler.

He’d been anxious about her finding out but, now that she had, he found that it was a huge weight off his shoulders. She knew who he was and she accepted it.

He leaned against the railing, a smile threatening to make its way across his face.

She accepted him.

[flufflepuffle296]

Heathers au: Beautiful Songfic

This is more centred around Veronica/Marinette so not really any mentions of Heather/Heather/Heather. Sorry if someone’s done this before I apologise I just got into Heathers like two days ago. Also I changed some lyrics and took others out to make it more “realistic”. Sorry I suck at endings, it’s 5:30am rn and this is my first fic so be nice please! (I’m on mobile so I can’t add the keep reading tag so sorry if you don’t like this) xxx

I brushed down my dress: I couldn’t give them anything to criticise me over. Everything had to be perfect. I had to be perfect. Chloé sat next to me, my beautiful fiancée, slipping on her kitten heels. She may be 3 months pregnant but no Bourgeois woman would be seen wearing flats. I was in a red floor length a line dress — I grew out of my childish pink years ago, before it even went out of fashion! My hair was twisted into two plaits that were knotted together into a stylish bun at the back. Chloé meanwhile had stuck to her white and gold aesthetic, currently in a slim fitting white dress, showing off her small baby bump, decorated with gold jewellery. I rummaged through my drawers, trying to find a lipstick, when a thin book toppled out. I picked it up, and laughed fondly when I saw what it was.

My old Collège and Lycée diary.

I flipped through it, landing on the page that stuck most clearly in my mind. It was the day my class reminded me of my current reality at that time, shocking me out of a bubble that had surrounded me during the summer holidays that year.

September 1st, 1989.

Dear Diary: I believe I'm a good person. You know, I think that there's good in everyone, but—here we are! First day of senior year!

And uh... I look around at these kids that I've known all my life and I ask myself—what happened?

I bit my lip. What happened? I knew darn well what happened. Lila Rossi. She came in, flaunting her friendships and connections, a new disability every other week to cry about, another rumour about me coming out every 3 days.

Alya ended our friendship, Adrien continued to cry about Lila’s feelings. Lila just kept doing what she did best. The class gave up on changing my mind and instead decided that calling me names would be better. Because logic?!

“Freak!” “Slut!” “Burnout!” “Bug-eyes!” “Poser!” “Lard-ass!” Were the insults they liked to yell daily. Yeah, they weren’t the most creative...

We were so tiny, happy and shiny. Playing tag and getting chased. Singing and clapping, laughing and napping. Baking cookies, eating paste.

Nino and Kim used to come over to the bakery when we were kids, where we’d gorge ourselves on sweets, before celebrating our sugar rushes by chasing each other in the park and then crashing on my sofa, cuddled in blankets and laying on top of each other.

Then we got bigger, that was the trigger. Like the Huns invading Rome. Welcome to my school, this ain't no high school: This is the Thunderdome. Hold your breath and count the days, we're graduating soon. College will be paradise, if I'm not dead by June!

But I know, I know, life can be beautiful. I pray, I pray for a better way. If we changed back then, we could change again. We can be beautiful...Just not today.

I scoffed at my optimism back then. Them changing? They never did, I don’t know why I bothered trying at that point. I should’ve moved on but hey! We all make mistakes. It’s just that sometimes you make 11 friendships worth of mistakes.

“Freak!” “Slut!” “Cripple!” “Homo!” “Homo!” “Homo!”

I cringed as I read their old “insults”. They would write homophobic messages across my locker, getting Alix to spray paint a few slurs across my work after I came out as bisexual.

Things will get better soon as my letter comes from Harvard, Duke, or Brown. Wake from this coma, take my diploma. Then I can blow this town. Dream of ivy-covered walls, no smoky French cafés. Fight the urge to strike a match and set this dump ablaze!

I had purposefully sent out applications to universities far away from these people, from Paris. All three schools accepted me, something I can’t say about my classmates, most of whom were rejected for essays on false information (sourced by Lila) and a quick scan over the Ladyblog meant not a single newspaper would even consider my ex-best friend. Gabriel Agreste, as I later found out through my internship in America, had to bribe several schools with double tuition to get even one to accept Adrien, after he got exposed as sexual harasser and disgraced hero “Chat Noir”. I turned back to my diary, having to peel off rock hard gum from the page that someone had smeared in “revenge”.

Le Chiên Kim. Third year as linebacker and eighth year of smacking lunch trays and being a huge dick.

“What did you say to me, skank?” He would yell, his fist raised in the hallway.

“Aah, nothing!” I then cowered. I may be Ladybug, but he was 150lbs of pure rage. No one can compete with that!

But I know, I know... Life can be beautiful. I pray, I pray, For a better way. We can be beautiful...

“Marinette! Wide load! Honnnnnk!”

He was the smartest guy on the football team. Which is kind of like being the tallest dwarf.

“Hey! Pick that up! Right now!”

“I’m sorry, are you actually talking to me?” He used to snarl, his hands covered in sauce from knocking my tray.

I stood my ground, I had been practising for this moment. “Yes, I am. I wanna know what gives you the right to pick on me. You're a high school has-been waiting to happen. A future gas station attendant.”

Kim then smirked, crouching down to eye level and pressing a finger to my forehead. “You have a zit right there...” he pointed out, causing the cafeteria to laugh at my expense.

I used to ask myself “Why... Why do they hate me?”

And hear Adrien whisper “Why don't I fight back?”

Watch as Max Googled “Why do I act like such a creep?”

Listen in on Lila stamping her feet in the bathroom asking “Why won't he date me?” Clearly frustrated.

Kim panicking as he wondered “Why did I hit him?”

And Chloé sob down the phone “Why do I cry myself to sleep?”

I would stay up late, screaming, begging. At my lowest points I would cry out “Somebody hug me! Somebody fix me! Somebody save me! Send me a sign, God! Give me some hope, here! Something to live for!”

I remember when I first met my real friends. The famed trio had gone into the bathroom and I followed after them, clearly my throat.

“Who are you?”

“Uh... Marinette Dupain Cheng. I crave a boon”

“What boon?” Chloé asked, filing her nails.

“Um. Let me sit at your table, at lunch. If our class think that you guys tolerate me, then they'll leave me alone...”

Chloé threw her nail file out and began circling around me, running her hands through my hair, commenting that “For a greasy little nobody, you do have good bone structure!” Before coming to a conclusion.

“And ya know, ya know, ya know? This could be beautiful. Mascara, maybe some lip gloss, and we're on our way. Get this girl some blush; and Kagami, I need your brush. Let's make her beautiful.” Sabrina and Kagami, chimed in, echoing her words.

“Let's make her beautiful...”

“Let’s make her beautiful...”

“Make her beautiful...Okay?” Chloé ordered, dragging me out with Kagami and Sabrina, driving me to her hotel. They sat me down, taking my hair out of its bunches and brushing it out. Kagami painted my nails a deep navy with surprising precision, manning my cuticles. Sabrina twirled my hair into a high bun, leaving a few pieces at the front to frame my face. Chloé came back from her wardrobe, throwing a blue blazer and grey skirt at me. I changed into my outfit for them, to which they clapped their hands in glee. They dragged me back to school, taking in everyone’s reactions to the new and improved me. This became my new daily outfit for the rest of the year — the class couldn’t find anything bad about it, and even if they did Chloé would threaten them with her father’s power.

I was happy with my squad. Kagami taught us Japanese and Chloé taught us American English that she’d picked up from her mother. I taught them self defence, under the guise of learning it from my mum, unknowingly training them for the day I would rip Chat Noir’s miraculous from him, before slamming it into Kagami’s palm. I needed help that day, so thrust them bee and the fox miraculous at Chloé and Sabrina respectively. They became permanent heroes, Kagami under the name “Noirette”, Chloé under the new guise of “Buttercup” and Sabrina “Renard Rouge”. Akuma attacks have never lasted more than 15 minutes since we got rid of that alley cat, and we’ve been closing in on Hawkmoth recently.

I shook my head, snapping the crude book shut, throwing the diary in the bin. Today was going to be the day I made peace with all that happened, our 10 year school reunion. Doesn’t mean I’m gonna make up with anyone, just that I will finally leave everything behind. I found my lipstick and smeared on the crimson lip, smacking my lips together. I grabbed my clutch and helped Chloé stand up, though she wobbled a little in her heels. I slid her miraculous into her updo, blowing a kiss at her as to not ruin her makeup.

We met up with Kagami and Sabrina in the hallway, Kagami in a wine red suit with gold jewellery, and Sabrina was in emerald green to compliment her red hair. We stepped into the limo awaiting us outside and set off, arriving at the school 10 minutes later. We walked up the steps, hitching up our dresses and arrived in the courtyard. It had been lit up with fairy lights, with stands of food and drinks scattered around the court. Our old classmates were huddled in small groups, whilst Mlle. Mendeleiev’s was in a large group, enjoying each other’s company after 10 years apart.

No one noticed us, until Rose pointed at me and whispered “Who’s that with Chloé?” The group turned to stare at us, trying to place my face. Adrien looked up from talking to Lila, who seemed to be flaunting a rather tacky Gabriel engagement ring, and whispered,

“Marinette?!”

The class began gossiping amongst themselves, “Marinette? Marinette? Marinette?!”

I ignored them, their childish ways were behind me, and walked up to Aurore and Mireille, fawning over their relationship. They turned Kagami, asking her about her life and squealing over her Olympic medal for fencing. I grinned as I watched my old class, happy that they had moved on from each other — well apart from Alya and Adrien, who were still hooked on Lila. I was finally, content! I thought back on my diary, one particular paragraph standing out to me at this time.

And you know, you know, you know, life can be beautiful. You hope, you dream, you pray, and you get your way! Ask me how it feels, lookin' like hell on wheels...My God, it's beautiful! I feel so beautiful... And when you're beautiful...It's a beautiful frickin' day!

Chloé boasted my achievements, my business, my awards, and the entire of Mendeleiev’s class started chanting “Marinette! Marinette! Marinette!”, much to my embarrassment. I boasted her’s in return, Sabrina revealed how far she’d come as a lawyer, Kagami swung her prized sword from side to side as she listened to us all catching up, laughing at the memories.

It really was a beautiful day.

[sunnypogue]

jj visits you at school (headcanon)

ok so i took a very innocent prompt and turned it into my old ass reliving my college days (this is an ode to college football + texas food)

(warnings: nsfw-ish, drinking, cursing)

after high school, you decided you needed to get the hell out of north carolina

didn’t even consider duke/chapel hill/state

applied to schools all over the country before deciding on university of texas

(jj was sad because you were leaving - and he wasn’t - but it was closer than cal, which was your next choice)

as soon as you settled in, you bought him a flight out for a home football game

basically a religious experience in texas

you swooped him late thursday night from austin-bergstrom, borrowing your big’s boyfriend’s chevy silverado

yes you had joined a sorority. yes you lowkey loved it.

you could barely see over the wheel, and were basically falling asleep because you had to book it to the airport right after your 2 hour bio lab

but you got so excited when you saw jj - he was all amped up from flying for the first time

he waved you down, holding his beat up duffle bag on the sidewalk outside of arrivals

laughed at you as you tried navigating the truck (it was HARD okay, your big’s boyfriend owned a ranch - it wasn’t meant for the streets of austin), swung open the door as you rolled to a stop, slid into the passenger seat, gave you a “howdy, ma’am” before leaning over the gear shift & tongue fucking you.

woke ya right up!

you welcomed him to texas the traditional way - honey butter chicken biscuit from whataburger

he inhaled it - “god, what the FUCK is this?”

y’all spooned in your twin xl bed - you elbowed him in the chest, twice.

took him to your gen ed history class the next morning - y’all hid in the back and sent each other dirty texts the whole time (nothing new there)

gave him the full tour of campus after & rewarded him with torchy’s after - peg leg margarita + trailer trash tacos.

he had never had queso before - blew his fuckin’ mind

“why is the food here so GOOD?”

took him to your sorority mixer that night - 70’s themed, so y’all blew it out of the water with some very authentic ABBA costumes that you coordinated with your best friend + her boyfriend

jj let you round brush dry his hair & wore the classic all white outfit to match yours

y’all fucked in the costumes later that night - you couldn’t stop laughing, and he wouldn’t stop humming “super trouper”

woke up at the ass crack of day for game day - 2pm kick off meant 10 am tailgate

jj let you dress him (you were worried about getting him into the tailgate - you weren’t really in the mood for him to have to answer the “who do you know here?” question a thousand times)

of course, you had the frat boy game day uniform all ready for him - black ut polo, wranglers & cowboy boots.

he drew the line at the cowboy hat, opting for a backwards baseball cap

he wasn’t excited about the boots, until you handed him a flask & told him that was the only way he was sneaking alc into the game

jj immediately filled it with jack, before slipping into the side of his boot - “alright alright alright”

shockingly, getting him into the frat tailgate was no problem (you wisely chose to bring him to your big’s boyfriend’s frat - while he wasn’t pledge master, he had a lot of pull, and didn’t bat an eye as you brought your semi-incognito boyfriend into the house)

and of course, he made friends with literally EVERYONE he met

shotgunning beers with your best friends and their boyfriends

betting people to ride the mechanical bull in the middle of the backyard (because what the fuck)

sharing his boot flask (“yeah, my girlfriend got it for me - yeah, she’s pretty great.”)

of course, you taught him how to “hook ‘em”

and suckered him into a picture 

literally y’all only got one good one, you on his back, throwing the horns, him grinning at you as he half-assed the horns

he was flipping off the camera in every other photo

when y’all got to the stadium, he lost his shit

easily the biggest place (with the most people) he had EVER been in

completely took it in stride - learning all the chants, (“we’re gonna beat the hell outta you!” was his favorite) cheering as pledges were forced to chug whatever crazy shit the older frat members smuggled into the stadium between the student section bleachers, going absolutely apeshit when texas would score

jj didn’t know football could be fun - football was synonymous with his dad betting big and losing hard, which meant he got the brunt of...that

after the game (horns win!), y’all headed back to your dorm for a shower & power nap before hitting sixth street later that night

you changed your outfit three times and your panties once, because SOMEONE thought it would be funny to finger you while you tried to do your hair 

you weren’t really complaining, tbh

y’all walked to a pregame, jj wearing his boots & sipping from his flask, arm slung around you

same group y’all tailgated with earlier, so jj was like an old friend at this point 

(he even got the invite to the fraternity mardi gras trip in the spring - he asked if you were going to be flashing for beads - you smacked him on the arm)

wrangled him into an intense game of rage cage (you won - he bragged about you for the rest of the night)

laughed as you and your friends sat in the uber to the bars, memorizing your fake id’s 

jj had the same one from high school - he had a whole life story for his id at this point

let you drag him to a country bar - he kept your drink full as you & your sorority sisters drunkenly line danced to “any man of mine” and “cottonhead road”

you even got him to two step 

he ended up half-carrying your wasted ass home - you passed the fuck out the second you were back in your dorm

being the good boyfriend he is, he helped you take your makeup off and change into your pj’s

you woke up in his cutoff coors shirt, and nothing else - for revenge, you woke him up with a blow job - obviously.

you both had mind numbing hangovers (he refused to admit it, but he was feelin’ a lil rough after a game day + night out on sixth), so you dragged him to brunch - hair of the dog, baby.

knocked a couple mimosas back & made plans to lay out by the pool - nothing like getting absolutely fried by the sun to revive your hungover ass

as you were falling asleep on the lounger by the school’s outdoor pool, you heard him mumble something 

“you know where austin community college is, baby?”

you nodded, not following the conversation whatsoever, playing around with his baseball cap (you forgot your sunglasses, he offered it up to protect your eyes from the sun)

“lookin’ at it” he shrugged, holding his phone up, home page for ACC on his browser

you sat up a lil bit. “you’d consider leaving the outer banks?” 

he didn’t respond right away - you poked him with your foot a couple times

“I don’t think I’d ever leave the outer banks for good - but for a few years? maybe.” “for me?” 

he poked you back ��nah, i’m coming for torchy’s + whataburger. you’re just an added bonus”

you nailed him with the hat, square in the face. “shut up.”

he laughed - sat up, swung your legs onto his lap, “i’m coming for you. you shut up.”

[ratsoh-writes]

Oh no! Their brother just got turned back into babybones, what will they do? Ok so I just thought of this prompt to see some brotherly shenanigans with cute babybones (๑♡⌓♡๑). They don't have to be really young babies btw

Sans: whelp this is weird. Until he’s able to find a way to turn papyrus back, sans has no issue taking care of him. He did practically raise papyrus after all. He’ll have a fun time taking him everywhere. Papyrus is a really charismatic baby, so they’ll both get a lot of attention

Papyrus: ok he’s actually having a lot of fun right now! Papyrus loves kids, and even though he’s a bit inexperienced, he seems to be doing fine. Sans will be in good hands until this mess is over. Papyrus totally dresses him in a matching battle body. It’s adorable and sibling blackmail material! Two for one!

Star: oh wow. Star is definitely surprised but not horrified or anything. He raised honey before and he can do it again. (Luckily this isn’t permanent). He pulls out the old baby carrier. As long as honey is being held, he’s a chill baby. Star and honey live off of take out until honey changes back

Honey: once he’s done panicking, honey actually does a pretty great job taking care of baby star. His gentle and caring nature makes him perfect for any sort of fatherly role. It also helps that honey loves babies. He definitely dresses star up in silly outfits though. It’s revenge time for all the older brother shi*t he pulled on him.

Red: red is a natural when it comes to raising kids. Plus he’s already done it for edge, so it’s not like this is new to him. Red dutifully keeps edge safe and happy until he changes back. He’ll be exhausted when edge changes back though. Edge was an active baby

Edge: he’s gonna be wildly uncomfortable with the whole situation. But edge is also too prideful to ask for help. The first few days are a bit of a mess, but he eventually gets the hang of taking care of a baby red. In fact he gets pretty into it and will be secretly a little disappointed once red changes back. He enjoyed having a kid.

Mal: mal doesn’t like kids, but that doesn’t mean he’s not gonna take care of baby cash. He stoically does all his daily duties with cash strapped to his chest. Cash is a very talkative baby, so he gets a ton of attention while mal is at work. All of mals customers are loosing their minds. Of course mal teases cash mercilessly afterwards

Cash: he’s super worried and will enlist undyne to help out the first few days. Once cash feels like he’s got the hang of it, then he has some fun. When mal comes back, the whole house will be decked out in his baby photos. There will be a murder

Oak: he also gets a friend to help out. Oak knows how to care for a kid, but his memory issues are a big problem. He doesn’t want to risk willows health in any way. Like papyrus, willow is a really charismatic/flirty baby. Oak gets pretty embarrassed from all the attention willow brings

Willow: willow is terriefied without oak, but refuses to let anything happen to baby oak. He does a good job taking care of him, but willow is on high alert the entire time. He’ll break down when oak finally comes back. Honestly the whole situation was too stressful for him to enjoy it.

[the-hero-unknown]

Summary : Haekhael gets ready for a fancy dance with her friends, proceeds to be mildly insulted. Not only that, once at the dance, she got shot by an arrow to her shoulder. Fortunately, the injury is fixed by magic. Mild revenge and after all that, Haekhael dances with Voryn's brother. 

Edit : Forgot to @chaoticnart for being such a big inspiration for this fic with all their House Dagoth head canons! They are an absolute blessing 💖

__________________________________

It was an interesting day, at least in Kogoruhn where the chimer and dwemer would almost seamlessly be one. Nerevar kept the delicate fabric woven, but this was where the fabric had first come from. In truth, Haekhael found it beautiful. She hadn't seen anything quite like it before. She stood out of the meeting hall, right infront of the door. Inside, they were discussing trade routes and some missing shipments. Nothing out of the ordinary. The meetings always bored her anyways. 

Haekhael felt out of place. Like a square in a circle. All around her were the chimer folk of House Dagoth, nobles of the other chimer houses, and the dwemer. Yet she was the only human. Not even a familiar Nord, no. Haekhael was Yokudan. In a way, Haekhael had not felt so distant from how they dressed. The pauldrons that were made of bone and shell, and then the silk robes during the summer that almost reminded her of Yokuda. Far was the memory of her homeland, but it was there. Not to mention it was winter. Her arms were crossed as she looked around the halls. 

Satisfied that no assassin seemed to slip through the shadows and doors remained closed, Haekhael leaned against the wall. Soon, chatter came closer to the door. Haekhael flinched when it was opened. The door made one of the most awful sounds.  Though the elves that came from the room ignored it. For they were going to take a brief recess from all the politicking.  Almalexia would pull Haekhael to the side for a moment as Nerevar would follow the dwemer king Dunmac and the tonal architect, Kagrenac. 

The chimer queen of Mournhold would say,"There's a dance this evening. I know you say you have left feet, but I figured you may want to come along." "I might just tag along. I've been standing here all day with nothing to do. Goodness, you all talk so much yet get nothing done." 

Almalexia rolled her eyes, allowing the comment to slide. Haekhael would not be sorry though. She hated standing with nothing to do but anxiously wait for someone to try to kill her or any one in the meeting halls. A dance wouldn't hurt her, but the armor she wore might. 

Almalexia quietly pulled Haekhael along to a guest room. 

"I have some old robes of Nerevar's that you could wear. Though, be careful with them, they are far older than you'll ever be." 

Haekhael glared, it was a constantly reminded fact of her short mortality. She'd die long before Almalexia or even Voryn, which Haekhael was sure he was the oldest of the First Council. Though, the woman dare not say a word about their ages lest she want to be exiled for a second time for a much sillier reason. 

"Don't look at me like that, you know it to be true." Almalexia shut the door behind them, heading over to a small wardrobe and opening it. Inside were many long robes. Some were a crimson red, others a forest-like green, there were even sky blue robes. There were also some very nice silk belts. Almalexia tapped Haekhael's shoulder,"Well, are you just going to stand there, jaw-dropped and not choose?" "Well... I mean, I'm simply processing what is infront of me, my queen." "Could you process faster? The robes are quite difficult to put on. Trust me, I've tried to do it alone. And that dance is tonight!" "Why would you wait until the day of a dance to ask me this, wouldn't it be easier to be asked a day beforehand?" 

The queen would shrug,"I figured you didn't want to come, but when I came out the meeting room, you seemed uneasy." "So dancing would all the sudden ease me?" "Hey! That's not what I meant, think of it like a small break. Now go choose one or I'll choose for you." 

Almalexia went behind Haekhael and gave her a light shove to the wardrobe to encourage her to hurry. The woman sighed and looked around at the robes. She found it rather odd of Almalexia to care for if she wanted to dance or not, but she wasn't about to question her persistence. Haekhael picked out a light blue robe. Almalexia picked up a robe of emerald green and a long seafoam colored scarf. Getting the gist of it now, Haekhael grabbed a golden colored belt. Almalexia looked at Haekhael and down at her boots and said,"We'll find something nicer than those in here, I'm sure." "Say, does Nerevar know that I'm going to be wearing these?" "I know we don't talk often as I'm busy ruling Mournhold and such, but yes we had a private discussion. I think Vivec and Sotha Sil are helping as well." "... So does everyone just assume I'm coming along?" "Well of course, you're still my body guard. We plan on hiding some weapons on you." 

In some peculiar way, this relieved Haekhael. 

"I'm sure Sotha Sil has some nice shoes you could borrow-" "No. That mer is constantly covered in oil and probably other weird alchemical ingredients. Wearing anything of his is asking for death." "Tell me, would you prefer Nerevar's shoes?" "You make a fair point." "Exactly." 

Haekhael began to undress, and with Almalexia's help, she was in exquisite clothing. Almalexia tied the belt, securing the robes in proper place. She had Haekhael wear the scarf draped over her arms and lower back. Soon, Haekhael was dragged along with Almalexia to help her with her robes. Haekhael was happy to help. Vivec was already in the room, sitting on the bed. Vivec was in a vibrantly red robe with a light blue to contrast it underneath, with pauldrons of shells on hir shoulders. Hir hair was braided, showing the shaved sides of hir head. It was surprising to hir all dressed up, Vivec seemed to feel the same way about Haekhael. Hir eyes were wide. 

"You look like you've been swept right out of rags and into riches!" "... I'll try to keep that as the compliment I assumed it to be." 

Almalexia clapped her hands,"We need to hurry up. We still need to get her some weapons. And I still need to get dressed up myself. I can't disappoint anyone." 

Vivec got on hir feet immediately,"Right. Haekhael, c'mon stop standing there." 

"I just got in here and the robes are dragging me down, forgive me for being slow." 

Haekhael and Vivec helped dress Almalexia in the finest of robes. The first robe was a soft green, the next robe was jade that matched her eyes. The final robe reminded Haekhael of the pines in Skyrim. Haekhael stared in awe for a moment before grabbing a pair of extravagant shoes. They were also another shade of green, jade. With yellow woven patterns of flowers and pointed toes. Almalexia hastily put on the shoes as Vivec began to do her hair. Haekhael went to a small chest and grabbed a pair of earrings for Almalexia, after all, she was a queen. So while Vivec braided Almalexia's hair with hir nimble fingers, Haekhael carefully put in the golden ruby jeweled earrings in the lobes of Almalexia's ears. Then there were small brass ringlets to add to the middle and top of Almalexia's pointed ears. Once Vivec finished braiding Almalexia's hair it was stunning. It reminded Haekhael of a circlet put on backwards. The rest of Almalexia's long,red, curly hair was left down. 

"Haekhael? Haekhael? Are... Are you alright?" "Huh? Oh yes. I'm fine." "If you say so, you've just been awkwardly looking up, does she look bad?"

Haekhael's cheeks were warm with frustration,"Vivec! No! Almalexia just... Is beautiful." "Alright, do us the favor and pull yourself together,  we still have to attend the dance." "That reminds me, I never asked, what time is this dance?" "Late in the evening. It's going to last all night long!"

Haekhael huffed. Vivec just grinned. And the three were of to see the court wizard, Sotha Sil. 

Sotha Sil swung open the door, it made a loud creak, he seemed to just ignore the worst sound in the world as he spoke,"Come along, I've got some pauldrons you can use and a few things you can hide in your sleeves. Can't have you be too boring." 

Haekhael was beyond offended as she set a hand over her heart,"Boring? This is by far the nicest thing I've worn in my life! And fashionable." "You are several eras behind with fashion then. But fear not, I have some things I'm willing to hand over to you. And maybe let you keep."

Haekhael was slightly frustrated as Sotha Sil led her in. Almalexia and Vivec laughed behind her back for a bit before Almalexia cleared her throat. In a silver lined box, Sotha Sil pulled out a brass wide-toothed hair comb. Vivec sat Haekhael down at on Sotha Sil's bed,"Is it alright if I put up your hair?" "I mean I guess, what's with the comb though?" 

"This old thing?" Sotha Sil said, waving it infront of her face,"It's from when I was a child. I wore it often, and quite frankly, it fits your outfit enough. Please give it back though, after tonight." 

Haekhael would nod her head, Sotha Sil delicately placed it in her hands. He seemed to regret it. He turned away, as if afraid to look at her. Vivec put most of Haekhael's braided hairs into a bun, leaving four braids down. After using a thin netch leather strip in her hair to keep the bun in place, Vivec got infront of her. Vivec lightly lifted two of the braids over Haekhael's shoulder. Ze handled the other two braids with a delicate manner of moving it over her other shoulder. Vivec had almost a childish grin whenever Haekhael carefully handed the old comb to hir. Vivec gently place the comb in the braids and cover hir mouth," Ayem, Seht, look!" 

Almalexia stood next to Haekhael and lifted Haekhael's hand up,"She's beautiful!" 

Sotha Sil turned his head over slowly, still nervous of the comb. He had a gentle smile, relief even? Sotha Sil said,"You do look lovely Haekhael, even if in... ancient clothing." 

"Replies the mer, all centuries upon centuries years older than I!"

Sotha Sil rolled his eyes while Vivec stuck hir tongue out. Almalexia let go of Haekhael's hand and moved it to her shoulder. Sotha Sil picked up a small but freshly sharpened dagger. He handed it to Haekhael,"This is to put on your leg." "My leg? Forgive me, but how am I to put this on my leg?" "I have a small harness for it." "Wait, I almost forgot. I need to borrow a pair of shoes." "Is that really a good idea?" "... Yes." 

Sotha Sil raised a brow, lightly tossing the small harness. He bent over and grabbed some shoes from his dresser. They were a light blue. The shoes looked light worn. Much like Almalexia's shoes, they were pointed and had yellow embroidery. The shoes yellow embroidery was not flowers but cogs, like the dwemer machines. "Custom made I take it?" "Shut up and put them on, or I'll take them back." 

Haekhael grinned and put up her hands up with the shoes,"Hey, I was just stating what I thought." 

She quickly slid on the harness, sliding the dagger into it. Haekhael was just a little worried it would jab her thigh, but fortunately, it seems secure. Haekhael put on the shoes, which rather by fortune or misfortune, fit just fine. Almalexia offered her hand as Haekhael would pull it to stand up. 

Soon the three would arrive with Nerevar and Voryn. Haekhael stuck close to Almalexia, as it was her duty. Almalexia danced with Nerevar, Vivec, and she even got Sotha Sil to dance. Haekhael watched closely standing beside whoever paired with Almalexia. Although a very taller chimer would nervously tap her shoulder. She raised a brow, having to look up to see who tapped her shoulder. He looked much like Voryn. His hair was braided beautifully, and his voice was sweet,"Hi, I was wondering if I may take a dance with you." 

Haekhael would shake her head,"No sir, I'm on duty. I thank you for the offer." 

She smiled a bit, the mer politely bowed his head and left. She felt a little bad, and she really had wanted to dance, but Haekhael had to focus on protecting Almalexia. And that's when Haekhael heard bow string snap and then the whistle of an arrow. She side stepped, holding out her arm in front of Almalexia. Instead of the arrow landing presumably to kill Almalexia or Nerevar, it landed in Haekhael's shoulder. A soft gasp echoed in the room. But all Haekhael could see was red. In her rage, she grabbed the arrow and pulled it from her arm. She ran and pushed anyone out of the way. This included Voryn Dagoth, as he was shoved to the side.

The woman would push through the crowd of tall and short mer alike and cornered the assassin. The assassin wore a wornout Morag Tong uniform, and an amulet. 

"Halt assassin!" 

"Never!" The mer cried, Haekhael tackled the armored assassin. She put her hand on the mer's neck and they fought. Haekhael tore off the elf's helmet to reveal an elderly dwemer. Many scars laid on his face. It was fragile, Haekhael would remain merciless. 

_______________________

Her arm had need to be patched up. Voryn had her laying down. As he began to cleanse the wound he said,"This could have been avoided if you just  wore pauldrons." 

Haekhael flinched from Voryn touching the tender shoulder. She tightly gripped on part of her robes, as to not slap Voryn. She grunted as he began to heal the small wound with a spell,"Hopefully that wasn't poisoned." "Well, if it was, it was poorly done. Although, I am surprised you're not dead." "That is the story of my life." 

Voryn rolled his eyes,"Whatever you say, sit up. I need to see you move your arm around." 

Haekhael ignored his request and leaned back,"I don't know, I feel pretty tired after ripping an arrow out of my shoulder and crippling an elderly mer." "I will yank you up myself if I have to. Do not test me." "Alright, alright, I'm getting up. Just don't murder me." 

Haekhael sat up slowly, nervously holding out her arm. She moved her shoulder around. There was no pain, only movement. Haekhael used her other hand and pressed against what was left. The memory of where the arrow hit. There was now a scar in the place. 

A soft knock was at the door. Voryn looked over,"Whoever it is, you can come in." "Almalexia was almost assassinated and I would have died, and you're going to allow anyone in?" "Well you're not dead and neither is she, I doubt anyone will try again tonight."

The door creaked open,"It's just me, I swear, I mean no harm." "Ah, Araynys. Have you met tonight's hero?"

The mer was familiar, his braided hair was over his shoulder. He had a light stubble of ebony hair. In a cheery voice the tall mer would say,"Oh, yes! I tried to ask her for a dance. Foolish, as she was on duty."

Haekhael chuckled a bit,"Well, at the moment I'm off duty. My name is Haekhael by the way." 

Araynys walked over and picked up her hand,"It's a pleasure to properly meet you. And a shame I haven't heard more of you! I saw how you wrangled that assassin with ease. Almalexia is blessed to have you as part of her guard." 

Voryn rolled his eyes,"Stop, you're feeding an already big ego." "Speak for your self, I think its quite nice to be appreciated for my work. It's nice to meet you as well, Araynys."

Araynys let go and put his hands at his sides, he seemed childishly shy. He put his hands together and mustered up the little bit of confidence he could and said,"I know there's no music to dance to, but since you said you were off duty, may I have a short dance?" 

Haekhael stood up and grabbed Araynys hand,"Of course, its always nice to make new friends. Though, out of common courtesy I must say I can't dance well. Forgive me if I step on any toes." "That's alright, I know how to dance and I'm still terrible." 

"Have fun being terrible together, try not to get shot with another arrow." Voryn said as he went to the door, shutting it behind him. 

Araynys towered over Haekhael, yet he was gentle as he grabbed her hand and waist. The two carefully stepped along. Still, they managed to step on each other. Haekhael led the dance in the small room as they spun around. Haekhael ended up slipping, and thus, taking Araynys with her. As they crashed, they laughed. Haekhael sat up and apologized. Araynys just shrugged it off,"Don't worry about it. I hope to get to know you more." 

Haekhael smiled,"Yes... You best be off though. I hope to see you more often, preferably under different circumstances."

[ironwoman18]

Garvez Moments part 12

This is a jump in time for our little Andrew Alvez. He's older and we will see his friendship with Max and Spencer's twins.

Chapter 12: Park and Movies, a kid's life

A little boy, about four years old, black hair and light brown skin ran in his parents room and jumped on his father's legs "PAPI!! IT'S SATURDAY!! IT'S PARK DAY!!" he jumped excited.

Luke Alvez signed still sleepy "your son is here" he whispered at his wife.

"At this hour, he's your son" he rubbed his eyes.

"hey buddy it's too early"

"But you promised to go early so we can go to eat pizza with Sammy, Rachel and Jason" he pouted at his dad.

Jeez... He thought, this kid is Penelope Garcia- Alvez' son. The latino agent signed and nodded "ok let's get ready" the little boy was excited and carefully got out of bed. Then ran to his bedroom "are you coming?"

"I can't... My stupid coworker Daniel needs help with a course today. He said 'I will need you Garcia, you are the best' and yes I know but I work from Monday to Friday until almost midnight. I want my free Saturday"

He chuckled "maybe you can call it sick?" He suggested and she smirked softly.

"Oh babe I wish I could but I'm sure he won't believe it... He knows I wasn't happy and if I don't go he might take revenge" her husband sighed "have fun and take pictures. I will try to be here for movie night and build a pillow fort"

He smiled and kissed her then gets up and goes to get dressed and brush his teeth. She later got up to take a shower. He went to make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for them and a veggie one for Penelope. He fed Roxy and Lou with their raw meat and vegetables. Then fed Sergio with his favorite fish snacks.

"Daddy. Doggies can come?" Asked the little boy drinking some apple juice.

"Yeah, they love the park" he smiled.

After some minutes Penelope walked out wearing one her colorful outfit with matching glasses. They ate plannings which movie what they will watch that night.

"I want Cars!" Said Andrew holding his Lightning McQueen up "he's the best!" His parents laughed and after some more minutes they left to their destinations.

Luke, Andrew, Roxy and Lou were on the truck to go to the park, Penelope drove her car to her job's office.

The four of them arrived to the park and the Reid family was already there.

Andrew ran with the two dogs to the twins. They played with the football and had a good time. They took some minutes to eat cookies and juice.

Meanwhile Spencer, Luke and Max talked.

"where's Penelope?" Asked Max sitting next to Spencer.

"She had to go to her job" Luke said looking at the kids "she had to go because her coworker is annoying" he rolled his eyes.

"My boss wanted a meeting and I told him I had to do something else, Saturday are for family and I only change my Saturday if it's something very important"

"Yeah I know. And she does the same but she had to go"

The couple nodded "I know Penelope enjoy her Saturday but if she's there then it most be important" Luke nodded.

"Yeah it is but she will be at the movie night. Drew wants Cars"

Max sighed "Rachel wants Frozen" she looked at Luke "and Jason wants a documentary about whales" she looked at Spencer from the corner of her eye so did Luke.

"What? He's a scientist kind of guy" the other two laughed "he and I watched it at night and he asks me a lot about them"

"Drew asks me about cars and dogs" Luke laughed.

"And Rach wants to control ice" she rolled her eyes "she is the least grounded of the three of them"

"Thats why I never liked Disney tales..." And Max could predict a speech of her husband about fairly tails.

So she stood up "if you excuse me I will go to check the kids" and she left.

Spencer looked at Luke wanting to throw facts at him so Luke also stood up "I will check my dogs" and left.

Spencer had a puppy face looking at them leaving him. Max laughed softly as they reached the kids "I love him and I could hear him rambling about his science things but I know where this is going and he will start to talk about a case they had where this girl killed men because she was obsessed with the Cinderella and I'm not in the mood for that"

Luke laughed and nodded "yeah I read that file when I was studying to be a profiler. It was pretty impressive"

"Yeah and I'm proud of him but... I don't want it right now" he nodded and watched the kids playing with the dogs "Rachel wants a dog everytime they play with Roxy and Lou"

"Dogs are great and they help kids to have responsability"

"Yeah but they are too young for that. Spence and I think we can buy them a dog when they are about 8 maybe 10 years old"

"Those are good ages for a dog" he said looking at them.

They spent the rest of the morning playing and having a good day. They stopped now and then to drink water or eat ice cream.

About three o'clock both couples left to the pizzeria to buy their lunch and goes to the Alvez's house.

The kids wanted three different movies, as the adults expected. Rachel wanted Frozen, Andrew wanted Cars and Jason animal's documentaries.

So Max did a teacher thing. She ordered them to draw what they liked the most about the movie, the fasted and the prettiest will win.

They needed to do it fast but pretty. The first was Rachel who did both things, second Andrew and last one was Jason, mostly because he was perfectionist and wanted accuracy.

Penelope arrived just in time to eat and watch the movie.

They watched Frozen first and the four adults had to bite their lower lip to not laughs as they seemed Andrew softly singing Let it go.

Later they watched Cars and could tell Rachel enjoyed the movie too and lastly they watched the documentary and the three kids were hooked up.

They picked one about lions hunting, Jason's favorite, and they covered their eyes when the lion almost catched a zebra.

That night they slept in a tent, inside Andrew's room and with Roxy as their pillow. Spencer and Max left because they wanted to have a night for themselves. Next weekend was their turn to have the kids so Luke and Penelope can enjoy a free Saturday night.

"Park and movies... This is a kid's life" said Penelope from the bedroom's room.

"the best thing in life" complemented Luke "I just hope JJ's new daughter gets older enough to play with them"

"Oh she will. She's already starting to walk. Baby Erin will play with there three sooner" they smiled and left the room to go to their own.

OOooOOooOO

And that's all for this chapter. I'm sorry it took so long but I ran out of ideas for these fic. If you have more ideas leave then down in the comments.

Just to let you know. Rachel and Jason are 10 month older than Andrew. So they are close in ages. I thought about adding JJ little girl but she is about a year or two years old so she's younger than Garvez/ Maxcer babies.

Hope you enjoyed this and we'll catch up in the next chapter.

[thebookwormfairy]

Daminette/Maribat Fairy Tail Au Part 2

Part 1

As the months turned into years Marinette's bond grew stronger with her spirits and her guild mates

Durning this time she gained 2 more golden gate keys, Pollen spirit of subjection, and Kaalki spirit of teleportation

Kaalki was one of Damian's favorite spirit because most of the time she eliminated the need for long travel on vehicles that make him sick

Marinette was able to use star dress with Tixx and Pollen now, but Kaalki refused to do it so far, which Marinette respected

Damian, Marinette, and Jon's team became one of the top teams in the guild

Though they didn't have an official name a lot of the other guild members called them team Hatchling much to their chagrin

Marinette also noticed that Damian was very protective of her

He still let her fight and go on missions with other people, but he was also quick to shield her or step in front of her when facing off against dark wizards

Marinette acted like she was annoyed with it sometimes, but really she was flattered and couldn't help but feel a little flustere at his actions

Jon sometimes joked that he felt like a third wheel, but never made him feel left out or unwanted

They were a tight knit team so much so that when Marinette, the youngest of the group, turned 18 they decided to pool their money and buy a house together

They ended up buying a nice 2 story house close to the guild

It had 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms

It was decided early on after Damian almost burned down the kitchen that cooking would be left to Marinette and Jon and Damian would do any repair work that was needed around the house

About a month after moving in together Marinette started to wake up with Damian in her bed

Not like that you weirdos

Marinette would go to sleep alone in her bed and wake up snuggling with Damian

Not that she minded, but she did wish that he would at least ask before he snuck in

Damian claimed no knowledge in how he got in her bed

He says that he would fall asleep in his own bed and wake up in hers

When he told his brothers they all got the same smug look

Dick: oh you're growing up so fast hatchling

Jason: I guess we should be expecting wedding bells in the future now, huh?

Tim: Should have known, you wouldn't bring just anybody back to the guild with you

Damian: What are you morons babbling about? And I brought Marinette back because she's a powerful wizard

Dick: We're talking about how you are showing all the signs of a dragon slayer whi has found his mate

Damian: WHAT?!?!

Jason: That's right Demon Spawn, it looks like you found your mate

Tim: Dick acted the exact same way when he first met Kori

Damian continued to deny it until one day he found Marinette trying on her new white sundress that flowed around her like water

Something just clicked in his brain

Marinette was his mate no doubt about it

Now he only had to tell Marinette that

And he had every intention to tell Marinette there was just never a good time

As time past the Grand Magic Games approached

This is the first year that Damian, Jon, and Marinette were competing along with Dick, Jason, and Tim

This was also the first year that Marinette's old guild was competing

Their team consisted of Adrien, Alya, Nino, Lila, Natalie, and Ms. Bustier

Unknown to the Justice League guild Grabriel had a nefarious plot cooking up

Gabriel had ordered Lila and Natalie to try and get Marinette's keys no matter what

Marinette was the only person who stood in his way of attaining the final 6 golden keys

Once he gets those keys his wish can be granted and nobody will be able to stand in his way ever again

This wasn't the first time he tried to get the keys from the blasted girl

He sent wizard after wizard to get those keys and all were defeated and either sent back or sent off to jail

He even tried to send a dark guild after the girl and that led to her joining freaking Justice League!

He hoped that with all of the choas from the Grand Magic Games that getting the keys would be easy

Oh boy was he wrong

Marinette was nervous

This would be the first time Marinette would see her old guild in about 3 years

She hoped for the best, but new she wouldn't get it

And she was proven right as her, Damian, and Jon were making her away back to their hotel after exploring the city when they were stop by her old team

Alya: Oh if it isn't the weak little wizard that abandoned us

Marinette sighing: Hey guys how is it going

Lila: Great our team's status has gone way up since you left. We should have kicked you off the team way before

Marinette: You didn't kick me out I left on my own after you abandoned me with no way to protect myself from a dangerous wizard

Nino: Dont be so dramatic dudette. It's not like you got seriously hurt or anything.

Lila: In all honesty the only downside was losing that quick clean up your spirit did. You should have really left her and the rest of your keys with us.

Lila held out her hand like she actually expected Marinette to hand over her keys to her

Marinette stepped back covering her keys with her hands

Damian stepped in front of Marinette and Jon stepped closer to her side

Damian: You know compulsive rings are illegal. Luckily for us we were trained on how to spot those and other illegal rings right away, because their weakness is awareness

Lila growled under her breath

Why couldn't Marinette make this easy for her. It's not like she even deserve those keys

Adrien glaring: And who are you?

Jon: I'm Jon her guildmate

Damian: I'm Damian her...Guildmate!

Damian wanted to say mate, but he still hadn't had that talk with her yet about it and this was definitely not how he wanted her to find out

Alya snorting: Anothe rguild actually took you in? Who did you trick to pull that off

Marinette: I didn't trick anybody! I earned my spot in Justice League!

Marinette showed off her guild mark to her ex-friends

All their jaws dropped

Damian: That's right so unless you want to make some very powerful enemies you'll leave us alone

Damian wrapped his arm around Marinette's shoulder and lead her away from her ex-guild mates with Jon on her other side running her arm in comfort

The games started the next day full of different competitions and different match ups

Marinette hadn't had to go one on one against her ex guild yet until she was put up against Lila in a match up

The two girls stood across from eachother glaring

Lila in the taunting voice how about we make this more interesting Dupen-Cheng. If I win I get your celestial keys if you win I will admit every lie I've ever told

Marinette glaring even harder: NO WAY LILA! No decent celestial wizard would trade their keys away on a bet. My spirits are my friends. No, they're more than that they're my family, I would rather die then let you touch even 1 of them!

Lila with and evil glint in her eye: So be it. If you win it's not like it would actually count. You'll just hide behind you spirits the whole time

Marinette glared at the girl wanting to prove her wrong

The battle that followed was brutal

Marinette didn't call her celestial spirits right away she used her star dress to fight Lila

She would switch between her star dresses impressing the crowd

She switch from ladybug, to black cat, to turtle, which was a soldier looking outfit, to Bee, which was black overall shorts with a yellow off the shoulder crop top striped tights and yellow converses with her hair in a bun.

Marinette finished Lila using her fox star dress creating a illusion of herself to lure Lila out and knocked her out with a blow to the back of her head

Marinette won

She felt a weight ahe didn't realize was there lift off her shoulders

She just proved that everything Lila had ever said about her and other celestial wizards wrong

She felt her teammates engulf her in a hug yelling congratulations before lifting her up and carrying her out of the stadium cheering

The rest of the games were just as exhilarating the final match up that will decide if Justice League or Miraculous Moth would win the whole tournament was between Damian and Adrien

Damian remember all the times Marinette cried over how her old team treated her and he wanted revengs

Nobody treated his mate like that and got away from it

The battle was brutal if one boy gained the upper hand the other would take it back quickly

But Damian won the match up and the tournament with a well time shadow dragon roar

Justice League piled into the stadium surrounding Damian as they cheered over their victory as Adrien was being carried out by medics

Marinette squeezed her way through the crowd reaching Damian

Marinette: Congregations Damian you did great

Damian: Thanks Ang-

Marinette cut him off with a kiss on the lips

Damian froze for a moment before wrapping his arms around her waist and kissing her back enjoying every second of it

The two vaguely registered that the cheering seemed to get louder but ignored it

The guild continued the celebrate throughout the night

Most of the guild was so hungover the next day that they had to put off leaving till another day

A decision they would soon regret as they were attacked the next day by Miraculous Moth

Apparently Grabriel was tired if waiting and decided to attack Justice League whe. He thought they would be at their weakness

Miraculous Moth wasn't as powerful as as Justice League, but they had more members

It was 4 to 1

But Justice League refused to give down without a fight

The battle that followed destroyed half of the town they were in

Luckily Barry, Wally, and Kaalki were able to work together using speed and teleportation magic to get the civilians out of the town

During the climax of the battle Marinette finally learned what type of magic her former guild master possessed

He was a celestial wizard just like her

He also had 6 golden gate keys

During the fight Marinette called put Tikki and Plagg while having Wayzz star dress while Gabriel called his own spirits

Gabriel: Give up you stupid girl! You're no match for me!

Marinette hiding behind her shield: Why are you doing this?

Grabiel: To bring back my wife and to gain power over the celestial king

Marinette: You're planning on using the 12 golden gate keys to form a key for the celestial king!?! That will destroy the other spirits! IT WILL KILL THEM!!! I CAN'T LET YOU DO THIS!

Gabriel: And what are you going to do about it?

Marinette darted her eyes around trying to think of a solution when her eyes landed on Damian and she remember a spell her grandfather taught her. One that only the most powerful celestial wizards could cast, and one that must only be used in emergencies.

Marinette closed Tikki's and Plagg's gates before yelling to Damian

Marinette: DAMIAN CATCH!

Marinette threw her keys to Damian who gave her a confused looked but trusted Marinette and her apparent plan

Marinette charged towards Gabriel not dropping her star dress until the very last minutes

Marinette grabbed his keys not letting go as Gabriel tried to claw them out of his hands: Scattered these keys to the four winds. Use the stars as their guide to lead them to partners. Let them shoot across the sky like falling stars and hope that they land within good hands!

As Marinette finished her spell Gabriel's key ring exploded sending his keys across the continent.

The shock wave from the explosion pushed Marinette and Gabriel back

The shock was just what Justice League needed to end the battle and win

Gabriel: NNNOOOOO!!! What have you've done?

Marinette: I've scattered your keys and I won't let you hurt any of them ever again.

With the battle over and Miraculous Moth in custody life was able to settle down

Damian was finally able to talk to Marinette about them being mates

They started dating and 2 years in after a sorcerers' weekly article (a/n: going to do a seperate ova post telling that story) Damian marked her as his mate showing everybody they were together forever

Team Hatchlings adventures continued on for many years

Through marriage, kids, and old age the team of three remained the best of friends, Damian and Marinette welcoming Jon's wife into their team with open arms

No matter what the friends stuck together and fought for what was not only for themselves and their friends but for the future.

@loysydark

@mikantsume

@doli09

@krissykat0207

@czgamz

@myazael

@renscorpio

@mochinek0

@daminett4life

@kuroko26

@vixen-uchiha

[tornrose24]

I recently got the color editions of the third and fourth Captain Underpants books for my eldest nephew. I looked through them for fun (and because I remembered reading these books specifically in 4th grade). Here are random things I picked up or thought about:

Book 3

-According to the book, Fyde isn’t evil its just that he’s pretty boring as a teacher. I’d have to agree because the information he teaches feels like its more for middle/high school students.

-Good thing Ree didn’t have to clean up the green mess all by himself.

-According to the original lunch ladies, the school as about 1000 students and staff. If you do some math, that means there should be around 950 students (Assuming that the staff is around 20 or more members). Now in my experience working at a school, you need additional staff depending on how big the school is, but you especially need Assistant Principals if the count is too large.

I don’t know if 950-ish students is normal for a regular elementary school or not, but you’d think Krupp would hire an AP to help him out. (However I’m sure he’d hate sharing even a fraction of his position with anyone).

-While Edith was created for the movie, its very clear how much of this book played a role in her creation. The way the original lunch ladies are dressed is almost similar to her, but there is an outfit that Anthrope is wearing that not only nearly resembles key elements of Edith’s attire, but the way Pilkey describes the outfit is almost exactly like it. (Not sure about the ‘ugly loafers’ bit). By the way, you see the outfit in question when she’s eating Krupp’s desk.

-Speaking of which, why did the colorist make her look like a zombie when she’s NOT a zombie?

-In the in-verse CU comic books, the principal looks like George’s dad, but isn’t presented as smart. Was this a way for the boys to avoid using Krupp’s likeness and avoid getting in further trouble?

-This was weird, but the lunch ladies present the comic as proof that the boys were behind their recent prank, but then Krupp is all ‘well this isn’t actual proof even though I know you’re right.’ 

-As I’m reading this book, I’m wondering ‘how did they get the idea for Krupp to be stupid in the cartoon?’ Because I can’t recall him EVER being that dumb in the books. Also, I think this is the first time he’s briefly forced to team up with the boys.

-The boys eating the gross food combos in front of Krupp is a lot funnier now when you know that in the cartoon Krupp has worse eating habits than them, in addition to that shout out in the choice-o-rama.

–While there are similarities, the aliens in the book aren’t an exact match to the ones in the cartoons (or at least the ones we THOUGHT were going to be important for season 4).

-When the boys and CU are falling from the spaceship, Harold yells “Hallelujah!” Ironically, he and George (and CU!) would sing the famous ‘Hallelujah’ song in the movie.

-Personal Trivia: This was the first CU book I read as a ten year old eying the books in my fourth grade classroom. I was wondering why CU wasn’t showing up for much of it and I didn’t realize that Mr. Krupp was CU’s other half OR realize that he looked like CU until the finger snap happens.

Book 4

-Something I picked up was that Poopypants wasn’t a pleasant fellow to begin with, even before he became an official bad guy. He doesn’t treat his assistant that well and is full of himself when we first meet him.

-The annual field trip to the Piqua Pizza Place (Palace?) is awfully generous (and almost out of character) of the school, considering its track record of field trips across all three incarnations.

-Before Krupp catches the boys arranging the sign, we see that he’s waiting in the bushes nearby even before they get to it as if he was anticipating it. I think he knows the boys more than he’d care to admit.

-Also, how the HELL could he not see that forcing the boys to clean the teachers’ lounge would backfire horribly on him when he should have known better?

-When Fyde is listing off his reasons as to why he’s quitting, Krupp doesn’t believe him at first. But then is all “Holy cow, you ARE crazy!” when Fyde specifically mentions CU. As if THAT’S the craziest thing imaginable and not talking toilets. (Not to mention the irony).

-If you read the add for the science teacher position, it comes off as especially bitter and lazy (Want a low paying job with lots of red tape? Hate children? etc.) And there’s also a ‘no need for credential, experience, etc.’ It really paints a poor picture of the school and especially shows Krupp’s lack of caring.

-It makes me wonder how the interview in the movie would have gone down with Krupp instead of CU since Krupp was more competent/intelligent in the film. (And I don’t think the flyer was as lazy as the add in the book).

-For their next comic, the boys are inspired title wise by a story Ribble is reading. The story is ‘The Pied Piper of Hammelin.’ The title character uses his music to drive the rats out of town and when the townsfolk refuse to pay up, he gets revenge by having their children follow him out of town via that same music. I can see how it influenced the in-comic story, but its interesting how George and Harold didn’t realize that the piper took his revenge on others for not respecting him enough much like Poopypants does. Also there’s the connection of hypnotism in that story to the hypnotism in Captain Underpants.

-I wonder how Cher thought about getting dissed in this book.

-This is the first time we hear Krupp’s first name, but he calls himself ‘Benny’ instead of ‘Benjamin.’ I find that odd that he used his nickname instead of the full name since he was clearly reluctant to reveal it. (‘Benny’ does sound more friendly/childish than ‘Benjamin.’)

-Speaking of which, I think this is the first time we see him in a slightly more human light/in a moment of cowardice. Sure he’s being a coward and hiding under his desk when the school is shrunk, but its kind of a normal reaction.

-The second half of the book shows Harold wearing what would soon be his signature green and white stripped shirt which he’d be wearing in the movie.

-I think not only is this where we especially see CU in papa wolf mode, but the boys are more appreciative of him here. And the school cheers for all three of them when the day is saved.

–Dav makes it a point to show that the boys have the Shrinky Pig and the super power juice in their tree house at the end of the book. The latter becomes important for the next book.

-In the original first edition of the book, the cover teases ‘Romance! (Just kidding!’) Years later, when this book was among the books to be used for the film, they actually meant it.

-Also in the original first edition of the book, Dav had a drawing teasing the fifth book (I think it had the boys trapped in underwear and a hand is lifting it up).

[angelicmichael]

Imminient Annihilation Sounds so Dope, Chapter Two

Michael Langdon x reader

Summary: After realizing that your stuck as Micheal for a couple more hours, you decide to do everything in your power to ruin his life.

Words: 3k+

A/N: here’s another chapter reuploaded :) please reblog or like if you enjoyed!!

Previous Chapter

Next Chapter

This had to a dream or some kind of a fucked up nightmare. There’s no way that your soulmate could really be the person you hated the most in this world. But, sadly, it was reality.

Well, what the hell were you supposed to do now?

Atleast the strange decor around the room made sense now. The candles, the pentagram and the upside cross. You bet this fucker was doing a ritual. By the upside down and the pentagram, it wasn’t hard to imagine what he was doing a ritual for.

No wonder why he didn’t want you talk to you. Everything was making sense now. Your a witch and he knew that, he’s in Robichaux’s as you speak. Fuck.. he’s in Robichaux’s. He despises witches, he swore to kill them all which, includes you.

You were such a idiot, you should’ve known immeaditly as you woke up. Maybe if you went through more of his texts, or opened his laptop earlier on you could’ve known it was Micheal sooner. You couldn’t imagine what he was doing in Robichaux’s.

He could be doing anything from eavesdropping to literally committing mass genocide. If he really did kill everyone at Robichaux’s, it was likely that he could be headed back to his hotel to finish you off. Although, the ocean that the hotel had a view of did not look like it belonged anywhere near Louisiana.

Sure you haven’t seen every single beach in Louisiana but, something in you knew you were far away from your previous home and that sort of brought you comfort.

Even if Micheal killed every single witch at Robichaux’s, you knew you would be able to bring them all back. The power of bringing back the dead was the first power you discovered you had, and your most powerful one. Even though you conquered this power, simpler ones like moving objects with your mind were difficult. Because of this, you grew rather close to Misty, since she was similar to you in that regard. She’s practically your mentor.

You still felt incredibly anxious and helpless. The thought of trying to message micheal again briefly passed your mind but you knew that wouldn’t work.

You knew you couldn’t do absolutely nothing while your sisters were possibly being murdered. You knew that if you were going to go down, you were atleast going to go down with a fight. It might be childish to try to get revenge on something that maybe never happened, but you knew you would never forgive yourself if you sat back and did nothing if Micheal actually did kill all of your sisters.

So, your current plan was to absolutely ruin Micheals life the most you possibly could in a 24 hour span. Well, now it was more like a 9 hour span since it was 2 pm. You knew that if he did in fact murder all your sister witches, he would come straight for you right after.

However, if you left him with a bunch of shit to deal with it would postpone him coming to kill you - and give you time to prepare and bring everyone back from the dead.

The first thing you would do was get more information on that ‘Cooperative’ group that Micheal seemed to be a part of.

You nearly forgot that you still had the laptop open, on the tab with the email that gave away Micheals identity in the first place.

You quickly skimmed the email. It was a reminder that there was a meeting tonight for The Cooperative. You smirked. Perfect. So this is why Micheal didn’t want you to leave the hotel. He seemed awfully unprepared for this whole soulmate ideal. You think he would’ve atleast logged himself out of his laptop last night, and tried to hide some candles somewhere, and maybe clean up the damn pentagram. It was strange indeed. The email entailed that the meeting was at 6 pm. Perfect. You had plenty of time since it was only 2 pm.

You spent the couple of remaining hours completely scavenging Micheals laptop for any information you could find on The Cooperative. You found tons of documents of his exact speeches he would give at these meetings which was perfect in helping you create a rough idea of what you would say at tonight’s meeting.

You had learned, to your horror that it was the Illuminati. The literal illumanti. Worse of all, Micheal was now running and in charge of this said group. You thought being the antichrist and the son of Satan could be enough for him but apparently not.

So, what were you supposed to do, just show up to this meeting and shut it all down? Announce your resignation?

By the looks of things, the end of the world was coming soon. As in, next month soon. Even if you were to resign, whose to say they wouldn’t continue on with these plans without Micheal?

It was extremely likely that The Cooperative would still carry on with these plans but you had to try. You kept telling yourself that you had to try for the coven, for yourself, for 7 billion people and everything else that was good in the world.

You knew what you had to do. But, you would have to leave now to the meeting if you wanted to make it on time.

Micheal did not have much of a wardrobe to choose from, the little clothes he had, you found in his old beat up backpack. You managed to put together a semi decent black outfit - something he could be taken serisouly in.

You brushed your hair - or Micheals hair, down and took a minuete to stare at yourself in the mirror. Even if this guy really was the end of the world and everything good - he was gorgeous. It really was a damn shame things had to be like this. You took a deep breath and then left to your cab.

You never felt so free and happy in your entire life. Leaving the dark energy in that hotel room was so freeing in words you couldn’t even describe. Sitting in the back seat of the cab, the scenery made it obvious where you were. California, most likely somewhere near L.A. Before you knew you were a witch, you spent the majority of your time watching movies, the majority of which are filmed at beautiful California. But before you knew it, You had arrived. You made sure to make it there about 30 ealier before 6 pm so that you could have time to mentally prepare yourself and maybe even practice what you were going to say.

After nearly getting lost trying to find the right room. The room was a sleek black, dark and mostly plain execpt for the small tabletop lamps that were in front of every seat. The only furniture in the room was a long dining room table with black chairs to match. The table was huge. You had no idea how you were going to talk to all these people.

You palms were moist with sweat. You did come here pretty early. You wonder where Micheal even went before these meetings, were you just supposed to stand here while each cooperative member came in? Did he greet them?

You didn’t know much about Micheal personality wise, besides knowing that he was a hateful and spiteful bitch. Knowing this, you seriously doubt he was greeting anyone.

You left the room, which led out to a dark and narrow hallway. After wandering for about 10 minuets, you finally found a decent hiding spot to stay in until the meeting actually started. It was a small balcony that looked over the city. It was beautiful, you definitely could get used to this view.

A ‘ping!’ from your phone interrupted your thoughts and nearly made you jump out of your skin. You shook your head, you swear to god, if it was who you thought it was... Ironically, Now it was you who did not have time for this.

You opened your phone and sure enough, it was him.

‘I need to know where you are’.

So much for when he said that this would be the last time you would hear from him. Maybe he suspected that you would find out he had a meeting tonight, and that you would attend it? Bet he wasn’t suspecting that you would crash it though.

‘Tough shit’

You replied. You checked the time and you realized that if you really were going to crash this cooperative meeting, you would have to go now.

Leaving the patio, you heard another ‘ping’ from your phone but it would have to wait. You had shit to do.

You opened the door to the room that you inhabitated ealier where the cooperative meeting would take place. You quickly paced to far side of the room at the very end of the table.

The first thing you noticed was that the room was completely full, every seat was taken. And everyone.. looked exactly the same. It was the Illuminati, you don’t know what exactly what kind of dress code you were expecting but it wasn’t this. Everyone was wearing black, with jet black tinted helmets to match. To conceal their identity you assumed. Your happy you chose to go with a black outfit and not something flamboyant atleast. That would’ve been awkward. Not that Micheal really had anything flamboyant in his wardrobe anyway, everything was pretty plain.

Everyone was making casual conversation with each other and you defintly felt butterflies in your stomach. You quickly silenced your phone so that if Micheal had the nerve to keep texting you - the notifications wouldn’t distract you.

Slipping your phone back into your pocket, you knew it was now or never. You cleared your throat loudly, and then began.

“Welcome, members of the cooperative’.

Everyone instantly stopped their conversation and shifted in their chairs to face you.

“I’m sorry for the inconvenience but this meeting is not going to be what you might have expected”

You could hear your voice slightly shaking. You couldn’t be nervous, if these people were truly going to think it was Micheal Langdon talking, you needed to sound confident. You would have to fake it until you made it.

“Due to some unforseen circumstances, I decided that.. “

Your throat got incredibly dry so you swallowed hard and tried again. Here it goes.

“... I decided that our plans of the apocalypse and causing a nuclear winter need to be cancelled. Or atleast postponed”.

The room went into a instant uproar. People flew out of their seats, you couldn’t even make our distinct words that people were even saying since there was so many people talking at once so loudly.

“QUIET”!

You snarled. That shut everyone up quickly. The cooperative members reluctantly sank back into their seats.

“There will be no more future meetings. I don’t have time to answer questions, thank you for your time. I have to go”.

You said and started on your way out the room. Short and sweet but it certainly got the job done. When you were halfway across the room, almost to the door, one of the members flew out of their seat and cut you off.

“This is bullshit”!

From the shrill high pitched tone, you guessed it was a woman. Something in you told you that Micheal wouldn’t take being spoke to like this and would put her in her place.

However, you were exactly the opposite. You hated conflict, confrontation and violence more than anything. So instead, you let out a sheepish,

“Excuse me”

You awkwardly weaseled your way around the woman and successfully left the room. Now walking down the hallway and reaching your back pocket to grab your phone to call a cab, you felt a light hand touch your shoulder.

“What the hell, man”?!

It was a males voice. You turned around, bewildered. Two men who, by their attire, were obvisouly cooperative members stood before you. They had taken their helmets off and you had to bite your cheek to keep your self from laughing.

These two men looked like they were straight from the seventies. They both had ridiculously awful bowl hair cuts. Facial structure wise, they each looked extremely similar to one another. Almost like they could be related. The biggest difference between them was that, the one on the left that had spoken to you had brass blonde colored hair while the one on the right had dark brown hair. The most notable feature about these two men were the light white powder that left dusted around their noses. You tried your hardest not to stare too long or notice out of politeness.

You left out a deep sigh, pretending to be annoyed and fed up that you were being stopped in the hallway. Meanwhile, you were secretly hoping these men knew something personal about Micheal that they could reveal to you. No one else was in the hallway after all. Shit was most likely still going down in the conference room.

“I told you I don’t have time-“

“Bullshit you don’t have time! What the hell are we supposed to do with your Ms. Mead”?!

Ms. Mead? Why did that name sound so familiar to you? Could that possibly be Micheals strange mother figure he had? That was impossible... She died. That was the whole reason why micheal despises witches so much in the first place.

“I-My what”?

You stammered. Even though you were incredibly confused and trying to price the puzzle together, you tried your hardest not to show it. You needed to be taken seriously.

And then they started laughing. They were laughing loud.

The brown haired one leaned over and whispered (pretty loudly) to the blonde haired one,

“He’s totally tweaking out. Give him a day or two to come back to his senses”

They both started giggling together obnoxiously, and then each patted on you the back as they each walked past you.

So these men just thought you were on drugs? Oh no. This could not do. The whole point of even making Micheal attend this cooperative meeting was to cancel this whole organization. You had to make sure they were taking you seriously and to not blow this whole thing off.

This is the last chance you had to get more information on, well whatever the hell was happening. This didn’t make any sense.

The two men were far down the hall now, and were about to turn a corner that lead to the elevators. You quickly paced down the hall, nearly jogging, and then put your hand on the blonde mans shoulder, making him turn around.

“Look, I’m not on drugs. But I just need you to cancel what your doing with Mead as soon as possible. Please”.

You looked at them and tried to seem sincere as possible. You were still trying to stifle bursting out laughing since these men were nearly impossible to be taken serisouly.

“Can you just come back to Kineros with us another day and sit down to talk to us about this”?

The blonde haired one pleaded.

“No. I have to go”

You said and walked past them. As you walked away from them, you could basically feel their gaze piercing your back. However, as you were leaving you swear you heard one of them mutter under their breath,

“It’s fine, man. We can always the spare parts for another project”.

Spare parts? Even though this was strange you thought nothing of it. There was no use in taking coke heads seriosuly after all.

To avoid having to endure a elevator ride with them, you decided to take the stairs down. Micheal looked to be in good shape anyway, since you did see him shirtless ealier. Taking the stairs wouldn’t hurt.

Before you knew it, you were back in Langdon’s fancy penthouse. Turns out you were correct, he really was in a damn penthouse. You took your phone out and saw about 5 missed calls that were from none other than Micheal Langdon. You deleted all 5 notifications.

It was currently 8 pm. 4 more hours to go of this hell, but you knew you weren’t going to stay awake until midnight. You wanted to get this day over with as soon as possible.

You figure you would do a full factory reset on both his laptop and phone to cut his communication off with as many people as possible. But of course that would mean he would lose your number as well... Damn.

You walked over and found the hotel had left a complimentary note pad with a pen. You wrote your phone number down. You didn’t bother labeling it, you knew that he would know it was you that had left it.

You did hate Micheal, but some small part of you still wanted him to be able to access you and talk to you just in the rare circumstance that maybe he had changed. You felt incredibly naive and stupid hoping that he would change. You supposed it was just human nature to hope that Micheal would change so that you two could live happily ever after. So that you could live with your soulmate. That’s why you left your number, so that you wouldn’t completely be giving up on micheal. He was your soulmate after all, and even though he was probably trying to ruin your life and you were ruining his, the very least you could do was give him your number. Just in case.

Getting ready for bed seemed to be a very easy task since Micheal barely had any belongings. No pajamas, no skin care routine, just a flimsy cheap toothbrush was all you had to prep for bed.

You took off his shirt and quickly wiped his phone and laptop clean of any data or history. You decided to call it a night and sank into the fluffy white sheets, and tried to not have nightmares of what horrors Micheal made your coven face today.

[embeanwrites]

Finding Home Gavin Reed x Reader

Chapter 15

Masterlist

Connor had driven me home after we finished the movie and now, I was laying in bed looking at my phone. I decided to send Gavin a text before heading to bed.

 How’s burning the midnight oil with Nines?

 lame, i wish i was with my cats

 Me too lol

 how was dinner

 Pretty good, we watched Into the Spider-Verse after. Connor had never seen it!

 i haven’t either

 You’re joking, right? Is this the Jameson and Ginger Ale thing again?

 i barely have time for new movies, let alone old ones

 We’re watching it ASAP

 lol ok pipsqueak

hey i have bad news

 Damn, you couldn’t secure a place for the Dead Mom Society to meet? Or is the bakery out of chocolate chip cookies?

 no i have to work through lunch on monday

 :(

What are you going to have for lunch then?

 idk a pb&j from the breakroom

 Would it ruin your “working through lunch” if I brought you lunch and we eat it in the breakroom?

 nines wont be too happy

 Tell him it’s revenge for lying and setting us up!

 ok ill work on him and let u know

 Awesome! Good luck saving the city tonight, Batman!

 ur the biggest nerd ive ever met

yet for some reason i like u

 Awwwwww you like me

 …hm

 Yeah, yeah I like you too

I gotta go to bed, talk to you later

 Sleep tight, pipsqueak

I smiled at the screen for a moment, even if that nickname was rude and had started as an insult, it was his thing for me now. I'm an adult woman. A nickname shouldn't make me feel this giddy, but here I am, grinning at a now black phone screen, thinking about how he only grins and never smiles and how handsome it is when half his face scrunches up to accommodate those grins. I wonder if he's grinning now, a small one at his desk, maybe into a cup of coffee to hide it while he returns to his case files. I hope he's grinning, feeling like a stupid teenager. I hope he likes me as much as I'm starting to like him. I fell asleep soon after, thinking of what I should bring him for lunch, trying to guess what would surprise him most without being too flashy, what I could do to make him grin for me again.

 I woke up the next morning around 10 am, and laid in bed for a moment questioning how necessary it was for me to get out of this nice warm cocoon of blankets, with the sunlight streaming in gently just out of my eyes, and sighed loudly when I remembered that it was indeed necessary that I get out of bed, as Tina would be here to pick me up at 11:30. I kicked the covers off, grabbing my phone off the charger and moving to sit on the edge of the bed to check it before truly getting up. The first notification was a text from Gavin, sent around 5 a.m. 

u can come on monday probs around 11 bring whatever im not picky

 Will do, Batman!

I turned on a throwback playlist while I got ready, a quick shower where I debated too long over shaving my legs before I actually did so, thinking about how Tina might have me try on a suit or dress for the wedding. I hadn't decided what I wanted to go for yet, hence the indecisiveness with the razor. Eventually I bit the bullet and just took the extra five minutes to shave just to the tops of my knees, not bothering with my thighs as I highly doubted I'd be wearing a mini dress to a formal event, though it might be fun to see how Gavin would react to more revealing clothes. I filed the thought away while I got out of the shower, toweling off and tying the towel around my hair and brushing my teeth. By the time I had thrown on a pair of well loved jeans and a plain tee, Tina was calling me, I answered and before I could even put the phone to my ear, I could hear music blaring in the background, and then Tina screamed "HERE BITCH!" and promptly hung up. I pocketed the phone, and hurried looking for my Birkenstocks, of course they weren't by the door, they were in front of the fridge, where I had stopped last night upon arriving home to grab some food before heading to bed. I slid the sandals on, stopping for a moment to grab two packets of the applesauce squeezies for a quick breakfast. 

By the time I got to the car, Tina was listening to a different song, but the volume was the same, I'm sure my poor neighbors who were trying to sleep in on a Sunday morning were not very pleased. I opened the door and slid in, Tina turned the volume down. What a shame, she had excellent taste in music, ‘Do I Wanna Know?’ by Arctic Monkeys isn't a song you just turn down! 

"Took you long enough!" She laughed, a smile stretching across her face. 

"Shut up I couldn't find my shoes!" I shouted, holding up my feet and wiggling my toes in the most comfortable pair of shoes ever made. She looked at my feet and raised her eyebrows, snorting.

"Jesus Christ I’m a lesbian and I still wouldn’t wear those ugly ass shoes, (Y/n)!” I gasped and smacked her arm. 

“You’re disrespecting your culture!” I shouted, as the car silently started and began to pull out into the street, heading towards the dress store. Tina just giggled and I huffed. 

“For that, I’m not giving you the applesauce I brought for you.” I tore open the packets, double fisting them and squeezing all their contents into my mouth. Tina howled with laughter 

“What are you, fucking two years old! I cannot believe you!” 

“You’re just jealous that you aren’t as stylish as me and now I’ve had a healthy breakfast which I assume you didn’t as you were at the station all night. I was going to be a good, kind, maid of honor and offer you sustenance but if you disrespect the birks, you disrespect me.” I joked, crossing my arms and looking out the windshield past her. 

“Oh my god my maid of honor is two years old!!” 

“Hey! That’s uncalled for, I’m not a toddler, if anything I’m like a seven year old, I make sense but just barely.” I joked. She laughed and nodded. 

“Still can’t buy booze.”

“That’s why there are other best people who are of age who can.” 

There was a natural pause in the conversation, the song changed and we both listened for a moment before Tina turned to me, a devilish grin on her face making me nervous. 

“What?”

“So, I noticed something strange at work last night.”

“Yeah, what did you notice?” I laughed.

“A certain someone kept texting on their phone and smiling AND Nines wasn’t giving them a hard time for being on their phone.” She smirked. “I thought the date went bad?”

“How do you even know it was me, future Detective Chen?”

“Well, I may have glanced over his shoulder at some point and saw your name.” I laughed.

“Tina! I was going to tell you. You didn’t have to spy on Gavin!” She laughed.

“It was the heat of the moment. I promise the next time I spy on him I won’t tell you.” I shoved her shoulder and we both laughed.

“Man, I’ve missed you.”

“I’ve missed you too.” The automatic car pulled into the bridal shop and we both squealed, jumping out of the car and practically running inside.

"I win." Tina said smugly as she crossed the threshold of the store before me. 

"Hey who's the kid now!"

Time went by fast in the shop, the consultants immediately brought us back to a sitting area, offering us complimentary champagne that we happily took. Our consultant, a happy-go-lucky android named Lance, brought out a selection of pantsuits for Tina to try, and offered excellent counsel on all of Tina's concerns. She wanted something elegant and more masculine. She tried a couple things before deciding pinstripe made her feel like a mobster and that white was definitely not her color. Lance was always smiling and laughing with them, not minding at all when they laughed at one of the options or didn't like what he had brought for her. He was very efficient in bringing options, and after three 'no's' he brought out a selection of black jackets and pants, assisting her in a pair of slim fit high waisted slacks with a center vertical pleat to help her look taller, a simple white dress shirt with a short popped collar, and a sleek black satin jacket, with a black lining. The fabric shone nicely in the light, a little bit of a sparkle in the thread. She looked gorgeous, and I could tell she felt it too, the way her eyes shone a bit, and her cheeks flushed, though she would probably blame that on the champagne if I brought it up later.

“You should try on some bridesmaids’ dresses. I’ve got my suit and now I want to judge others!”  Tina plopped down on the couch next to me and took my champagne from me.

"You haven't even decided on the style you want! Are you matching both bridal parties? Doesn't Valerie have a say in it then!" I squawked, reaching for the champagne flute she'd stolen from me. 

"We actually have talked about it, and we decided that as long as everyone has blush pink or yellow in their outfit, whatever style they want is best. It eliminates the drama and keeps our wedding day happy." Tina said, tipping her head back and downing my champagne in one big gulp. I smacked her arm. 

"Ah, I'd be happy to help you find a dress Miss. (L/N)." Lance offered, moving to sit next to me and offered out his hand, images of dresses popping up on his hand. 

"What are you thinking Miss (L/N)? Would you prefer the blush tone or yellow?" Lance asked, looking at my face instead of his hand. 

"Ah, blush please." I requested. 

"Not a problem, it's a popular color so we have a lot of options. Now, what style cut do you like?" I looked at him like a fish out of water. 

"I'm not sure, what do you think would look best, Lance?" He smiled, before pulling up a couple of images on his hand and explaining the styles and what design choices would flatter my features. I nodded, and he guided me back to the dressing room. 

"I'm going to run and grab some of the options we discussed Miss. (L/N)." He told me, before shutting the door. He knocked when he returned about five minutes later, hanging six dresses on the wall for me. "When you're ready, join us in the showing room, and we can adjust the fit and see what the bride thinks." He told me. I shouted 'Thanks!' through the door before turning to decide which dress I wanted to try first. 

 “Wow.” I murmured looking at myself in the mirror. From the tag on the dress I learned it’s a ‘long chiffon dress with halter neckline.’ I didn’t really understand what any of those words meant, but this dress was…amazing. It made me feel like a goddamn princess. 

“What’s taking so long!” I heard Tina shout.

“Give me a minute, you drunk!” I walked out of the dressing room, towards where Tina was sitting.

“Holy shit.” I laughed and spun around.

“It’s pretty good, right?” She got up and walked towards me.

“You’re getting this one. No question. I’m not letting you leave without it!”

“Are you sure? I can try a light-yellow dress if you want.”

“No, this one is perfect.” She smashed her cheek on mine and we both looked at ourselves in the mirror. I was smiling so wide my face was starting to hurt. She quickly grabbed her phone and snapped a picture of us, and I laughed.

“Tina!”

“What! I want to remember this moment.” She kissed my cheek. “I can’t wait to come back here with you when Gavin proposes.” She teased, causing you to laugh. 

“We’ve gone on one date! How much champagne have you had?” She shook her head.

“Just three glasses, I’m drunk on happiness! Come on, change back and buy that dress!” I laughed and walked back to the changing room. I picked up my phone and saw Tina had sent me the picture already. Smiling, I sent the picture to my dad.

 Got my dress for the wedding!

 Beautiful kiddo!

[artificialqueens]

You Know You Love Me, Chapter 7 (Branjie) - Kiki

A/N: Chapter 7 is here later than I promised but it’s been less than a week so I’ll accept it! I think we can all agree online college is so draining haha I hope you enjoy this chapter, I can’t believe I’ve actually managed to write seven whole chapters of something! If you enjoy, please let me know and I hope you all have a magical week!

Summary: Brooke Lynn Hytes returns to New York City after being shipped off to boarding school and her ex best friend, Vanessa Mateo, isn’t too happy about it…which would be bad enough but add in the fact that they’re lowkey in love with each other. (Gossip Girl AU)

Brooke was about to kill her mother.

It was one of Brooke’s least favourite times of year. Her mother was planning the annual charity ball for the Manhattan Women’s League that she was apart of which meant that tensions were running high twenty-four seven in the Hytes’ household. Brooke had spent her morning on the phone to caterers and decorators since her mother was forcing her to help plan the event and she was miserable and not to mention, extremely bored.

She had stopped to make herself a cup of coffee to try and get some energy to push through the torture that was being enforced upon her but her mom saw that she had stopped working which prompted a screaming match between the two of them. Brooke Lynn was close to pouring the hot coffee over her mother’s head if she didn’t stop with the constant nagging.

Her mom left the room to go check that her outfit for the ball was ready and Brooke noticed her phone lighting up with a picture of Vanessa’s face on it, which meant that Vanessa was calling her. Vanessa had taken the picture of herself on Brooke’s phone and set it as the contact photo for herself. It was a cute picture of her winking with her tongue out and it made Brooke happy every time she saw it. She quickly answered the call and prayed that her mother didn’t come back downstairs and catch her.

“B! Thank God you picked up, I’m soooo bored!,” Vanessa exclaimed as if she had been trying to get in contact with Brooke for hours when in reality, this was the first time she had called her. Brooke chuckled and quickly double checked that her mom hadn’t come back downstairs. “Can we hang out or something? I finished all my homework and I have nothing to do now.” Brooke rolled her eyes fondly at the fact that Vanessa already had all of her homework done at 11am on a Saturday morning.

“I wish I could, V, but this stupid ball is taking up all my time. I swear to god, Ness, if she even catches me on the phone to you, she might kill me.” Brooke replied, being completely serious about how her mother would react but Vanessa just laughed in response.

“You think you’re gonna be busy all day?” Vanessa asked and Brooke swore she could hear that Vanessa was pouting from the tone of her voice.

“I hope not…it depends on how crazy my mom is later on. We could probably go fir dinner later if you want?” Brooke asked hopefully and before she could hear Vanessa’s response, her phone was snatched from her hand. She quickly turned around and saw her mother putting her cell phone up to her ear.

“Vanessa, darling, Brooke and I are very busy over here. She’ll call you when she’s free, okay?” Mrs Hytes said and without letting Vanessa reply, she hung up the phone and handed it back to Brooke Lynn who was furious. Brooke had to take several deep breaths before being able to think properly again and quickly sent Vanessa an apology text saying that she would be buying them dinner tonight.

“Brooke took one more deep breath to mentally prepare herself for dealing with her mother again and got back to work.

—

Vanessa was bored. She had finished her homework, watched Dorota organise her handbag collection and had already started studying for an exam that was a few months ago. Usually she was good at entertaining herself and finding things to do when she didn’t have plans but she found it hard to focus on other things when she knew that she could be spending time with Brooke Lynn. So when Brooke’s mom had hung up on her and Brooke had said they would still get dinner later, Vanessa had to come to terms with the fact that she had an entire day to kill.

Normally she would go shopping or try out a new restaurant or simply just hang out with her friends but ever since Gossip Girl had outed her, she still wasn’t totally comfortable with being out in public alone. She had gone back to school and her friends had not left her side which she was so grateful for. Her life hadn’t changed that much, really. Her mom treated her the same, her friends treated her the same and no one in school had said anything rude to her. But she just wasn’t ready to go back to normal yet.

There was one thing that had been on her mind a lot since she had been outed though, and that was revenge. She was absolutely furious that Kameron had gotten away with what she did to her. She almost moved to a different country because of what Kameron had done and she couldn’t let it go on any longer without Kameron being punished.

Akeria had hinted at taking Kameron down a few times but Vanessa had always refused, only because Brooke was there and Brooke didn’t like when Vanessa schemed and planned revenge on people. But as Vanessa was sitting on her bed thinking about the entire situation, she knew there was only one thing to do: call Silky and Akeria and finally plan some revenge on the bitch that tried to ruin her life.

Silky and Akeria came over immediately, ready to research Kameron Michaels as much as they possibly could. The three of them had their laptops out and were scouring the Internet and all of her social media platforms, determined to find something they could use against her. Unfortunately, Kameron didn’t live in New York since she was originally from Nashville so there wasn’t really anything about her on Gossip Girl and Vanessa was starting to lose hope of ever finding any dirt on her.

“OOH BITCH I’VE GOT IT!” Silky screamed in excitement as she leaped up from the armchair she was sitting on and ran over to the couch opposite her where Akeria and Vanessa were. She sat down in between them the two girls and pointed at a picture of Kameron on her Facebook profile that had been posted about eight months ago. Vanessa quickly did the math in her head and realised that it must’ve been posted just before Kameron had left boarding school after what went down between her and Brooke Lynn. Akeria scrunched her face up in confusion and leaned in to look at the picture up close.

“What am I supposed to be looking at, Silk?” Akeria asked. Vanessa slightly nodded her head in agreement.

“Yeah, Silk…I don’t get it.” Silky looked down at the screen and realised that what she had wanted to show them wasn’t on the screen anymore. She clicked the comments on the picture and as the comments tab popped up, it all clicked into place in Vanessa’s mind.

The comments were two girls, presumably from boarding school, asking Kameron where she had gone and why she had left school suddenly. As Vanessa continued to read the rest of the comments, her eyes went wide and she felt stupid that she had missed this when she had been looking at Kameron’s profile a couple of hours ago.

There was a comment from none other than Kameron’s mother saying that Kameron had to be checked into a rehab centre because of her anger issues and her dependency on alcohol and drugs. Vanessa thought it was super rude and embarrassing of Kameron’s mother to post that information online but she quickly stopped feeling bad for the girl after she remembered what Kameron had done to her. Then, there was a comment from just two weeks ago, again from Kameron’s mother, saying that Kameron had escaped from rehab and if the girls knew where she was, they should tell her or the police.

Vanessa’s eyes opened wide in shock, as did Akeria’s while Silky had an extremely proud look on her face. She was thinking she would find an embarrassing photo or some old gossip of Kameron’s that she could use against her, but this was something else entirely. She knew that it could be risky, but she had a chance to get Kameron out of New York and she was definitely going to take that opportunity.

After brainstorming with Silky and Akeria for an hour or so, she had a plan and she knew what she had to do…and she wasn’t going to stop until that plan succeeded.

—

Vanessa walked out of the elevator into the Hytes’ penthouse apartment and walked straight into chaos. Brooke Lynn and her mother were screaming at each other with such intensity that Vanessa secretly wanted to walk back out before either of them saw her. Any other time, she could have easily done that but right now, she had a mission to complete and coming here was the first part of that plan.

Vanessa pieced together from the screaming and shouting that they seemed to be fighting over the outfit that Brooke had planned to wear to her mother’s ball. Her mom was saying that the dress was too inappropriate and that it made her look like a prostitute and while that made Vanessa very excited to see Brooke in that dress, she pushed it to the back of her mind because she knew she had bigger things to focus on in that moment.

Mrs Hytes was the first one to notice Vanessa standing in the hallway and didn’t seem too happy that she had shown up to their home unannounced. When Brooke noticed that her mother had gone quiet, she turned around to see what was there and her eyes lit up in excitement when she saw Vanessa standing there and it made Vanessa’s heart melt just a tiny bit.

“Hey! I know you guys are busy but I just thought I’d come by for a few minutes and bring you both some coffee!” Vanessa handed the paper tray filled with two disposable coffee cups to Brooke who took it graciously and handed the other cup to her mother, who seemed to be a lot more welcoming to Vanessa as soon as she had her first sip of the coffee.

“Thank you Vanessa, darling. You shouldn’t have.” Mrs Hytes said graciously and Vanessa was happy that Brooke’s mom approved of her. Of course, she had known Mrs Hytes for years at this point but it felt different now that her and Brooke were kind of dating. She felt like she had to make a new good impression all over again.

“I don’t wanna stand in your way or anything, I know how busy you are, I just wanted to drop these off and be on my way. But do you mind if I quickly use your restroom?” Vanessa said politely, while her eyes searched the area they were in for what she needed to complete the plan. Mrs Hytes said that she could go ahead and use the restroom and Brooke was talking about how she wished she could hang out with Vanessa right now, but Vanessa was so distracted once her eyes landed on what she was searching for: Brooke’s cell phone.

It was on the counter that was directly behind Brooke and Vanessa knew she would have to be extra sneaky to be able to grab it. She leaned in to give Brooke a hug and told her how she wished that she could be hanging out with her too, and while it wasn’t a lie, she did feel kind of guilty for planning revenge on Kameron and not telling Brooke about it. As soon as Brooke hugged her back, Vanessa’s hand quickly grabbed the phone and tried her best to hide it from Brooke. She broke the hug apart and walked over to the bathroom and quickly locked the door.

The first part of her master plan was to text Kameron on Brooke’s phone pretending to be Brooke and ask her to meet up with her, that way she could guarantee that Kameron would show up. The second part of her plan was being completed by Silky and Akeria at, they were sending Kameron’s parents the information of where Kameron was going to be later on so they could take her home and out of Vanessa’s life permanently.

She quickly typed in Brooke’s password and thanked god that Brooke hadn’t changed it in years. She scrolled through her contacts and quickly found Kameron’s number, again grateful that Brooke never deleted anyone’s number once she put it into her contacts. She knew she didn’t have a lot of time to waste and she tried to come up with a text that would sound like Brooke had wrote it but it was proving to be kind of difficult for her.

She decided to keep the text simple and wrote: “Hey Kameron, it’s Brooke. I made a mistake telling you to leave and I wanna talk. Meet me at that bridge in Central Park at 5pm? Don’t text back, Vanessa might see my phone. -Brooke.”

It had been Akeria’s idea to say that Kameron shouldn’t text back and Vanessa was very appreciative because she didn’t know if she would have thought of that on her own. She wiped the message from Brooke’s phone and pretended to flush the toilet, washed her hands and left the phone on a coffee table outside the bathroom and hoped that Brooke wouldn’t remember exactly where she had put it.

She said goodbye to Mrs Hytes and gave Brooke a hug and a kiss goodbye and told her she would see her later that night for dinner if Brooke had time. Vanessa was hoping that by the time they went for dinner, Kameron would be gone for good and she wouldn’t have to worry anymore.

She sent a quick text to Akeria telling her that part one of the plan was done and Akeria text back fast assuring her that part two had been taken care of as well. Vanessa took a deep breathe in to calm her nerves as she mentally prepared herself for the next part.

Part three of the plan was making sure that Kameron showed up to the park thinking that she was meeting Brooke but instead, she would find Vanessa, Akeria, Silky and her parents ready to take her back to wherever the hell she came from.

Vanessa couldn’t wait.      

—

Kameron walked into the park and it was safe to say that she was buzzing with excitement. She knew that her plan of outing Vanessa would work eventually but she didn’t think it would happen as quickly as it did. She was so happy that Brooke Lynn had finally come to her senses and realised that Kameron would make a way better girlfriend than Vanessa ever could. She stopped at the bridge that Brooke had mentioned, the one that Brooke and Vanessa had kissed under and waited for Brooke to arrive.

She was looking around and couldn’t see Brooke Lynn’s signature blonde hair anywhere. The only people around were three girls who had their backs to her. She looked down at her phone and opened the text from Brooke to make sure she had the right time and once she confirmed that she did, she was about to call Brooke to ask where she was when she heard a voice say her name.

“Kameron?” Kameron turned around expecting to be met with Brooke’s tall figure but instead, she was met with Vanessa Mateo and her two best friends. Kameron was confused, why was Vanessa here? Why would Brooke tell Vanessa about them meeting up? What was going on? Vanessa could see the confused look on Kameron’s face and couldn’t help but feel pure joy from it.

“Confused? Yeah, you should be.” Akeria said with her hand on her hip.

“You didn’t really think Brooke was gonna show up, did you?” Silky asked with a mocking tone to her voice as her and Akeria tried to supress a laugh.

“Come on girls, no need to be rude. Let’s just let Kameron know why we’re here and we can get on with the rest of our day.” Vanessa said light heartedly as if she wasn’t about to ruin Kameron’s day.

“What are you talking about? Where the hell is Brooke Lynn?” Kameron said angrily and it was clear that she was about to get extremely pissed off.

“That doesn’t matter, she’s not here. However, there are some people here who have been super worried about you, Kam.” Vanessa pointed behind her and Kameron turned around slowly and was met by the only two people she feared: her mom and dad. When Kameron had escaped from rehab, she knew her dad would be pissed and her mom would be worried but she didn’t really care, she just wanted to get to Brooke Lynn as soon as she could. However, she knew if she got caught, there would be hell to pay for it.

“Mom, dad…I promise, it’s not what you think, I swear I had to leave, you should have seen how they were treating me—” Kameron was interrupted by her dad as soon as she started her rambling.

“Shut up, Kameron. We’re fed up with your lies.” Kameron’s dad said angrily while her mom just looked extremely disappointed.

“Mom, you have to believe me!” Kameron said making direct eye contact with her mother.

“Don’t worry Kameron, it’ll be okay.” Vanessa said with a mocking tone of reassurance in her voice. Silky and Akeria were trying not to laugh behind her.

“No, this time it won’t.” Kameron’s mother said with a bitter tone to her voice and it made Silky giggle.

“Or it won’t!,” Vanessa replied and walked over to where Kameron’s parents were standing. “Oh, I almost forgot to give you the information that I discussed with your parents!” Vanessa handed Kameron a pamphlet and Kameron looked down at it in confusion.

“What’s this?” Kameron asked in a worried tone, as if she didn’t want to know the answer to her own question.

“It’s where you’re going, immediately.” Kameron’s mom said. Before Kameron could even begin to protest, her dad spoke up.

“It’s a school for troubled girls and you won’t be leaving until we see an improvement in your behaviour…and it’s not up for discussion.” Vanessa could see Kameron’s body twitch as if she was about to run but out of nowhere, three security guards walked over to the group and situated themselves around Kameron so she couldn’t run away. Vanessa was impressed by the extra touch that Kameron’s parents added by bringing the guards. She wished she would’ve thought of it.

Kameron’s father pointed in the direction of the street and began to walk to where their car was parked and two of the security guards started to get closer to Kameron, ready to take her away. Vanessa waved goodbye with a massive smile on her face. As Kameron was being escorted away, Vanessa knew she had to have the last word.

“Oh, and Kameron?,” Vanessa said and Kameron turned around promptly. “Haven’t you heard? I’m the crazy bitch around here. Have fun in your new school.” With that, Vanessa linked arms with Silky and Akeria and they walked away in the opposite direction, holding in their laughter until they were at least a couple more feet away from Kameron and her parents. Once they were gone, they burst into laughter and Vanessa was so happy about what they had accomplished.

She looked around at her two best friends and was immediately filled with love. She was so grateful for how they helped her get back at someone who had massively wronged her and she knew that they would always have her back and support her in whatever she did.

Now, she just had to hope and pray that Brooke Lynn wouldn’t find out.  

[fisheoctrashdump]

Kristen 1-20 ewe

I did,,, I did my best ;_;

Holiday

After much thought to this, I've decided to give the ldwl a yearly festival. It's one the wizards started celebrating in honor of Adizora. Elementals aren't allowed to attend, obviously, because Adizora was supposedly killed by an elemental group.

Kristen's elemental group sneaks in every year, though. She loves everything about it, from the music and dancing to the food. Her favorite is the light show, though. Three wizards get together and guide multicolored lights through the air in different shapes and patterns.

Kristen and Luna have been secretly attending this festival since they were kids ;w;

Cooking

Kristen always leaves a huge mess after cooking (and she never cleans it up). Kole threatened to set her leftovers on fire once because she refused to clean her mess lol

She likes cooking with Kole, though, even if he isn't that great at it.

Sleeping

Kristen sleeps in her bed super weird. She is always waking up in a different position than she layed down. She also throws everything off the bed somehow while sleeping. Sometimes, when she really needs company because of the mess in her mind, she will take her blanket to Kole's room and sleep on his floor

Driving

Cars were brought over into their world once the portal had been opened, so it's not like cars don't exist there anymore.

However, Kristen refuses to learn to drive one (or even ride in one) unlike her brother, who loves the convenience of them. Her reasoning for why she doesn't want to is a lot more complex than "they scare her" but it's so much easier to say that than the truth

Hugging

She hugs Kole nearly all the time. She knows he gets kinda awkward when she does, but it's very comfortable for her.

Sex

She's never had sex before (in both timelines). She wants her first to be Luna, and has been waiting because of that.

When she does have sex, I don't imagine she will be very good at it lol idk what else to say cause Kristen having a sex life is a very new concept to me lolol

General physical contact

Physical contact is very important to her. Because of the two different realities constantly streaming through her mind, Kristen uses her sense of touch to keep herself grounded. She's very affectionate with Kole and Zero, but not so much with Luna. It hurts too much to be physically close to her.

Physical appearance

She's the same height as Kole (so 5'11)

Her hair is wavy and reaches her midback. In this timeline, she's a blonde. In the other, a brunette.

She wears makeup, but not nearly as much as Luna does.

Wardrobe

Kristen wears a lot of green and yellow. This is something she and Luna have in common ;_;

She has a specific dress I imagine she wears for most of the story (which I attempted to recreate in animal crossing alasnfjfkfl) but I do imagine her wearing other outfits. Scarves seem to be something I imagine her wearing often, but I don't have any ideas on how to match them to her outfits. When she wears jeans or skirts, they are usually white or light blue, with the occasional green and yellow thrown in.

Jewelry

Kristen makes her own jewelry! I'm not entirely sure what it looks like yet, but I know she has necklaces and earrings as her favorite accessories. (Mostly earrings tho)

Soft spot

Her elemental group, but mostly Kole and Luna.

In a way, Jedediah.

She loves animals of all kinds, but she especially loves the animals that are undomesticated.

She was really close to Vince, and will want to be close to him again when she finds out he's alive.

Pretty lights, like fireworks

Relationship with ___

Kole

Old timeline -

In the old timeline, Kristen and Kole were very distant from each other. Through all her attempts to build a solid relationship with Kole, he continuously pushed her away. They never really spoke to each other unless necessary.

All that changed after Kole lost Vince. Because of that, he had been planning to kill himself, but instead broke down to Kristen very suddenly. The distance they felt between each other through the years was closed, and Kole began working to make up for the way he treated Kristen in the past.

New timeline -

They grew up very close, because all they had was each other. Kole never knew Vince in this timeline, so he never had to go through losing him.

Currently, Kristen and Kole are still extremely close. They do pretty much everything together, and it's not just because they're in the same elemental group. Kole has and would do anything for Kristen. Kristen is so happy to see Kole happy, and in a way, she's glad her wish changed the timeline. Sometimes.

Luna

Kristen has had a crush on Luna for as long as they've known each other.

They met when they were kids, and because of being pushed away and mistreated by her family, Kristen was in desperate need of a friend.

Luna and Kristen spent all their time together. As they grew up, they both realized they had feelings for each other. Eventually, they began dating.

This didn't happen in the new timeline. In fact, Kristen hadn't met Luna in the new timeline until two years before, and they were never very close. Luna was a part of the elemental group more out of convenience than anything. She also had feelings for Kole, unfortunately for everyone involved (cause Kole is turbo gay, Luna had to deal with knowing her feelings wouldn't be returned, and Kristen got to watch all this go on all while missing Luna.)

Kristen has been trying to get closer to Luna, but she remains uninterested in letting this happen. It's caused Kristen a lot of pain to remember her time with Luna, but knowing Luna doesn't realize how close they were.

Jedediah

I imagine they knew each other before the wish, which is why Kristen felt comfortable coming to him for help. She knows all about what Jedediah deals with from his past, and she had always felt bad for him. Jedediah assumes Kristen forgot everything he told her before because of the new timeline they're living in, but he's wrong.

Despite all the horrible shit he's put Kristen through, they don't hate each other. In fact, I can see Kristen wishing for Jedediah to heal from his past and being friends again. Jedediah's feelings about Kristen is something he chooses to ignore, because he is fueled only by his desire for revenge and the need to make everyone around him hurt in the way he has for so long. He will sacrifice everyone he knows, the entire world if necessary, to achieve his goals. He sees everyone as disposable, and Kristen is no exception (or so he tries to convince himself of.)

Extra Kristen info

I have some Kristen/Luna stuff, since you asked before ;w;

They would have been together 7 years now if the wish had never happened. I imagine Kristen had feelings for Luna much longer than Luna did for Kristen. They were closer with each other than they were with their bio families.

I imagine they moved in together as soon as they were able to. Despite Luna and Vince trying to get Kristen and Kole closer to each other, it never really worked out. Kristen loved living with Luna, and it didn't bother her too much leaving Kole behind. She still saw him occasionally, but it was only because of Vince's efforts to keep them in contact.

Luna and Kristen had their own elemental group with Vince (because Kole was already a fire elemental in his elemental group, so Vince didn't really have a place with Kole's group) and Jedediah (Jed was not an elemental, and the group knew this, but he was able to pretend to be a water elemental from his years of practice of different types of magic in different worlds). So yeah, Luna was also close to Jedediah.

I keep thinking about Kristen and Luna having a flower garden straight up in one of the rooms in their house. With Kristen being an earth elemental, she took care of the flowers for Luna. The garden was made for Luna specifically, because she loves flowers so much.

I also like to imagine that Luna always did Kristen's hair for her,,,,, like, Kristen was capable of doing it on her own, but Luna insisted that was something she wanted to do for Kristen. So soft..,.,.,.,,

Other things about Kristen I keep thinking about is like, she is a pacifist (like the rest of her elemental group), and she doesn't want to see any conflict between them and Jedediah, but like .., he's hurting her, and her friends. She has to toss all that aside to keep her friends safe

She tries to be prepared for every possible scenario, which means sometimes she can go a little overboard on the "what if this happens? we need a plan!"

I can't get anymore words out of my dumb brain, I'm sorry ;m;

[onebadwinter]

Name: James Buchanan Barnes

Meaning of Name:  James: It means "supplanter," one who follows., Buchanan: The place name is thought to derive from the Gaelic elements buth, meaning "house" and chanain, meaning "of the canon.",  Barnes: Warrior,  Nickname(s):  Bucky, Winter Soldier, Captain America, The Man On The Wall, Bucky Barnes, Buck, Sarge, Prisoner #56898,, Солдат, The Asset, The New Fist of HYDRA, Fallen Comrade, The Shooter, Ghost, Manchurian Candidate, Semi-Stable 100-Year-Old Man, Canary, Sidekick, W.S., Jim Barnes,

Age: Unknown, a few years younger than Steve Rogers, originally. But willing to make fit Steve’s age, properly if requested and I’m willing.

Birthday/Place: Unknown, March 10th or 20th, 1910-30s. Shelbyville, Indiana.

Species/Nationality:  Human/Super Soldier, American, Ice Elf on his mothers side,  American, Badoon,  German, The Chosen, Canadian, Scandinavian

Accent: American

Language spoken: English, Spanish, Hindi, Portuguese,Galician, German, Russian, Ancient Greek, Latin, Thai, Japanese, Old Norse, Aramaic,

Powers/Abilities:  Super Human Strength, Enhanced Reaction Time, Sensory Array, Extended Reach, EMP Discharge, Expert Spy, Electrical Discharge, Bionic Arm, Master Martial Artist, Expert Marksmen, Expert Assassin, Skilled Shield Fighter, Acrobatic, Advanced Scouting, Peak Human Condition, Enhanced Durability, Enhanced Reflexes, Enhanced Endurance, Enhanced Stamina, Regenerative Healing, Cybernetic Enhanced Physiology,

Pet: Mole (Orla)

Illness/Allergies:  Not prior to, or after, being genetically altered. PTSD, Brain Damage. Apathy.

Occupation:  Solder/Assassin/ Experiment

Faceclaim: Sebastian Stan

Description: Looks just like Sebastian Stan in his twenties. Has blue grey eyes, light to dark brown hair,  has a metallic robotic arm. Scars litter his body from injuries sustained during the plane explosion that had originally killed him, plus wounds that followed from his time as a Winter Solder, and a wound between his shoulders from his time as Captain America, as well as several others.

Outfit/Accessories/Jewelry: Tactical outfit, casual clothing, half face mask, goggles, Bionic arm, guns.

Height: 5′9″

Weight: 234 (Counting Cybernetic arm)

Body Build: Athletic

Backstory/Background:

James was born James Buchanan Barnes in Shelbyville, Indiana in the early to late 1920s. Where he was raised on Army bases by his mother Winifred and his father George. He was born the eldest of four children. For most of the beginning of his life he and his family moved from base to base, as most army family's tended to do. Along these moves James had grown up being an Army brat, picking up on and getting actively involved in the army, even for such a young child. The happiness of course, as in most cases, didn't appear to last for too long. As in his young age his mother had died tragically early in his life.  Leaving the young James to help in raising his younger siblings while his father had continued to work in the army.

This had affected James' early maternal emotions in wanting to protect others. James had learned these skills while taking care of his younger siblings through the years. As well as picking up how to fight in a skillful manner. To the point that he became a sort of mascot to the base his father seemed to come to settle on. On this base it is here that James comes to meet a boy only a few years older than himself, Steve Rodgers. Here they begin to form a close friendship. James coming to learn all about Steve's home life, and eventual becoming an orphan, as well as Steve's weakened sickly life style. This is until they are both eventually separated  off and on until James is older.

This too, also did not last very long, either. When tragic news had come to the teenaged James that their father had died in an accident while away training on another base in a base in Virginia where they had finally moved to. After this event, James, old enough to not be sent to an orphanage has his siblings taken away from him, where they are sent away and eventually taken in by other families. James chooses to remain on the base and indulge in his enjoyment of the man who everyone called Captain America. Which James had been a huge fan of for the last several years since Captain America had started to appear on magazines and on bases. 

During these days he tended to get into some trouble but showed he had the potential of being great, one day, if he had worked hard enough and remained focused on joining the army as more than just a mascot. At some point however, while Captain America had been visiting a base, James took the chance to actually meet his 'hero', and when offered a training position on a S.A.S Unit, he took it. Leading him taking fighting lessons from the very same people who also trained the Sentinel of Liberty.

During this training James was considered to be a perfect match in partnering up with Captain America. This all in mostly an attempt to capture the attention of America's you, so they would invest in the building war against the Axis. But it also was to the dirty work. While fighting against the axis. James and Captain America, who James had accidentally stumbled upon one evening when walking in on Steve getting dressed, found out that Steve, his friend from many years ago had gone on to become Captain America, his hero. Which was a bit weird, he had to admit in some part. But eventually he got over it, because it was also so cool. 

The two eventually ended up fighting the Nazi's, and doing other heroic things in attempts to protect America and strike down evil. All that *Yawn* hero stuff, you want to know more about, read a Steve Bio. Anyway, eventually while trying to take down Baron Zemo who was trying to destroy and experimental Drone Plane, James had tried to stop the explosion and ended up getting blown the fuck up, as you do. With Steve being tossed into a frozen lake and freezing. James had apparently died. Or well, he literally died.

For quite a few years that followed James' death, he had remained frozen in the icy waters that his body landed in after Baron Zemo had blown the plane up. All but his right arm had frozen over in the icy coffin, as it had somehow become severed before the soldier landed in the waters. Upon being discovered by Hydra, James was soon revived but had suffered from severe brain damage and amnesia following his revival. This of course had lead to James no knowing who he was for many years to follow. During his time with Hydra they had used him to assassinate other political or enemies in general of their interest.

That was until one mission led to James kidnapping Sharon Carter,  many years after James' death and revival. Afterward the young woman brought it up to Steve and several others, which prompted Steve to look into it himself and finding out that it was indeed his former best friend. Which would lead to Steve trying to protect and save James, and several attempts to try and bring the other man back to his senses, or as the case was, remember who he was before all of these tragic events happened to him.  However, in Steve's attempt to reclaim his friend he had managed to do a bit more damage. Which results in the Cosmic Cube that James had on hand, being shattered.

In the years to follow James had tried in mostly success, at being the hero he had always dreamed himself of being in his childhood. At first he had to do this from within the shadows as the people had still not trusted him. Nick Fury had given him his missions and the chance to redeem himself, however. But these circumstances did not last long when it appeared that Steve had been assassinated, one day while going to trial for having instigated the Civil War over some accords, against the US Government and such else in the like. James had witnessed Steve's assassination and quickly, with the help of others he had befriend that were also Steve's friends, taken revenge on the person responsible, Crossbones, and Sharon?

However, it came to be found that Steve was not necessarily dead, just stuck in a time loop and Sharon was being manipulated and then framed for the assassination on Steve. Whose body had been taken over by Red Skull. James at this time was portraying himself as Captain America and was sent to fight off the Possessed Steve, who had by then started a Hydra Empire in the United States. During this fight James had sustained quite a lot of damage in order to give Steve enough time to fight of Red Skull. After this James decided to then go after sleeper agents for a while until Natasha got her own memories wiped by the last remaining of them, which ended fairly well for James in the end, not so much Natasha herself.

James continues on about whatever doing his Winter Soldier thing, going to prison, breaking himself out, with the help of Natasha, before she got he brain wiped of all memories of him that is. Things are good? Well as good as they can be for a short while. That would be until Kobiks arrived on the scene and started doing whatever it is she enjoys doing. She's made out of the shards of Cosmic Cube, by the way. Steve, who keeps retiring, not retiring and now is the director of S.H.I.E.L.D  since Nick killed a Watcher and James confronted him before Nick eventually peaces the fuck out to REPLACE the Watcher he killed, and left James to take Nick's place as "The Man on the Wall". Anyway. So Kobiks revitalized Steve, making him YOUNG, again, because Steve keeps getting older and James is has Infinity Formula in his vains from having died prior, again.

Moving on, James and Steve and everyone of their besties fight Kobiks new band mates who I guess then becomes protectors of Earth.  But who cares about that.  What's important to note here is that Helmut Zemo, son of Baron Zemo, he's mad, okay. He tries to kill James with the same plan his father tried to do before, intentionally this time, blow up a fucking plane. This family is absolutely, #Original.  However, the plan fails, much worse this time, for Helmut because James manages to escape with his life from the explosion and takes out Zemo for daring to even try to front him.  With having survived all of the attempts on his life, and mortal wounding up until now, and being abel to stab God Steve with a shard of the Cosmic Cube, since God Steve is all " Let me be a fucking asshole."

Afterward, all is returned to peace and Steve is back to not being a fucking asshole again, as well, they save Kobics by once again reforming the Cosmic Cube. But wait, there's more. James and Hawkeye soon team up to go on wild and crazy adventures together. Also, Thanos comes along and dusts most of everyone and Steve brings them all back, with the help of whatever Heros managed to not get dusted. It's a happy ending for all involved, except for Thanos,...and ...his army. But who cares about anyone of them? I am sure they'll be back, right?!  James now lives a moderately 'peaceful life', continuing his teamwork along side Hawkeye and occasionally teaming up with other heroes on the fly every so often, as he would see fit. ....But I don't know, how would you guys feel about this being an evil run? Hehehe.

Quirks/Savvies/Other: 

Knows a lot about Weapons.

Is good in a fight, just using a hunting knife.

Likes Heroics and Idolized Captain America in his youth.

Probably pretty good at engineering and science, but had never been trained in it. He is a Fixer, however.

Acts stupid, but is actually very intelligent.

Believes in mythology.

Interested in conspiracies.

Tinkers with things when he’s nervous.

Believes in magic.

Becomes tired when it’s too hot.

When he’s bored he will rearrange things.

Sings to himself.

He believes in dragons.

Is annoyed by Stuttering.

Interested in fairies.

Bothered by not knowing things.

Swears at every opportunity.

Extremely flexible.

Names and talks to his his personal weapons.

Gets uncomfortable in places with no windows.

Dark sense of humor.

Personality:

Charming, Honest, Ruthless, Punctual, Brave, Loyal, Elegant, Brutal, Forgetful, Resilient,Driving,  Headstrong, Dangerous, Rustic, Elusive, Unfathomable, Objective, Aggressive, Distant, Sadistic, Ashamed, Just,  Earthy, Honorable, Erratic, Self-Contained, Depressive, Tainted, Unlucky, Sarcastic,  Moralistic, Tense, Light Hearted, Casual,

Likes:  Taking care of his family, Adventure, Tigers, Gothic Literature, Botany, Mathematics, Cats, Science, Technology, Philosophy, Weapons, Peace and Quiet, Taking care of the people he loves, Protecting Others, Captain America,

Dislikes: Goldfish, Hydra, Centaurs, Winter, Jack o'Lanterns, Vampire Hunters, Shoes, Television Comedies, Politics, Performance Arts, The Guilt of what he’s done, Steve getting them into trouble,

Fears:  Deep Water, Windowless Rooms, Being Trapped, explosions, Extreme Heat, Strange Noises or any noises at all in the middle of the night, Being held Captive.

Personality Tests:  ESTP/INTJ-T, Type 8 The Challenger, Type 7 The Enthusiast, Type 5 The Investigator, 8w7,

Other: Pisces, Tropes,

Spouses:  N/A

Children:  One or more.

Significant Other: N/A

Parent(s):

-> Father: George M. Barnes

-> Mother: Winifred C. Barnes 

Sibling(s):  Rebecca P Barnes, Evelyn Harlee Barnes, Harrison Douglas Barnes

Starters

Chat’s

Para’s

Face

Stuff

Information

Asks

All

                                                                             Alternate Universes

[your-worst-knightmare]

Red: Pt. 10

Masterlist here

Jason’s whole morning was a mess of bleary-eyed madness. Louis had left the safehouse with Bizarro long before Alfred had arrived in a limo to pick Artemis and Jason up. Both of them didn’t have many belongings save for weapons, which Alfred insisted that they let him take care of. 

“Master Jason, it’s wonderful you and Miss Artemis are able to visit this time of year. Your stay will be busy, I must warn you, but everyone will be there.”

“Wait, what’s happening?” Jason asked, trying to shake the weariness from his brain. 

“Have you really forgotten, Master Jason?  The annual Wayne charity gala is tomorrow.”

“Well it seems that you won’t have to call the rest of your family now,” Artemis remarked. 

Jason could only slap his forehead. “Alf, i came for business, not to party. We’re all in danger. I mean, we don’t know for sure, but–”

“Then it seems suitable that you wait until at least the gala is over. Most of the family hasn’t arrived yet anyhow. Oh, and Miss Stephanie has arranged a shopping trip for the two of you. She assumes you both hadn’t brought adequate clothing in advance.”

“Aw, Alfred–” he was swiftly cut off by a jab to the side. 

“Thank you Alfred. I’m sure Jason can enjoy some time with his family without any talk of business.” Artemis gave Jason a look, and he knew better than to oppose both her and Alfred.

The old man chuckled to himself as he pulled up to Wayne Manor. A full house was always nice, if not a bit of a handful. “I’m sure he can, Miss Artemis, I’m sure he can. Try to enjoy yourselves for a while. In the meantime, let me show you to your rooms.”

In short, Jason was not enjoying himself in the least. He was hungry and tired, and of course stupid Stephanie Brown made him go shopping. And Replacement would never let Damian hear the end of it if Jason dared complain. He would get his revenge. Somehow. 

The one person Jason wouldn’t mind seeing wasn’t even in the city. Yeah, because Damian’s got friends now. Like Jason wasn’t the first friend Damian ever had. The little brat left him a note apologizing for his absence, but its formality only made Jason laugh. The kid should be with his friends, maybe learning how to talk like a normal ten-year-old. 

Naturally, Steph wouldn’t make Damian go shopping. It was dreadful, with Steph practically hijacking Artemis and leaving Jason and Replacement (Tim)  stranded in high end stores suspended in utter confusion. It wasn’t that Jason didn’t know how to shop, it was that stupid Brown wouldn’t let him touch anything without her approval of the item first. That left very few items in the store left for Jason to choose from. 

It was simply maddening. Steph finally brought him a green suit and insisted that it was the one. “It’s viridian. It’s so in Jason,” he mocked when she asked to see it on him. He didn’t even get to see what she had gotten Artemis. 

He didn’t have to try it on. And hallelujah, he got to go home. Much to nobody’s surprise, he didn’t get much rest when he got back to Wayne Manor either. Jason had scarcely returned to his room when he was tacked by a ten-year old whirlwind. Damian. The boy greeted him in the formal dialect of the League, a habit not yet broken. “Akhi! You came back!”

“Well that’s obvious, isn’t it? Woah, okay, let me breathe here Damian.” The boy obeyed and sat on the bed. He clearly wasn’t ready to leave anytime soon.

“Where have you been?” he asked, crossing his arms.” You haven't visited most– if any of your safehouses lately. I… I’ve been worried.”

Well the kid had changed then. Jason had to give the little prince some credit. The kid would never have said that in his right mind had he still been with the League. 

“I’ve been busy.”

“Too busy to not even go on patrol? To not answer any messages? You practically disappeared, Todd.” Damian wasn’t buying it. One thing hadn’t changed, that was for sure. The prince would get the truth out of him one way or another. Honestly, Jason was a little (okay, maybe a lot) embarrassed to tell Damian that he’d been caught and in custody for two months. He hadn’t even tried, really tried to get out. 

But, Jason figured it was better to be up front. Especially with a family of detectives with a notorious history of using secrets as blackmail.

Damian only scoffed in response.” Tt’. Really, akhi? You’re getting soft.” 

“Speak for yourself, brat. Now let me sleep. I’m tired.” He flopped onto the bed, with no regard for the assassin prince still sitting there. 

Instead of leaving, Damian snuggled up into the crook of Jason’s arm and soon fell asleep listening to the rhythmic beating of his brother’s heart. 

Jason’s next interruption (named Artemis) came too early into the next morning. Damian was still where he had fallen asleep, dozing softly. At the sound of a knock, Jason regrettably blinked himself awake. “Come in,” he yawned.

“I see you’ve been able to rest. I was going to ask if you wanted to come train with me.” Artemis raised an eyebrow at the scene. “ It seems that you can tolerate at least one of your brothers' presence.”

“It’s a love-hate relationship.”

The Amazon snorted. “So are you going to take me up on my offer or not?”

“Yeah, I’m coming Red.” He carefully shifted Damian off of himself. Thankfully, the kid’s eyes remained closed. “Wait, before you go can you help me with my shoulder?”

“Are you not capable?” she asked, nevertheless sitting down beside him. Jason pulled off his shirt to let her inspect the wound. Most of his torso was covered in bandages as well as his shoulder. Peeling them back to see how the wound healed was a tedious task. Enhanced healing made it even more annoying on account of never knowing what to expect. 

“Ow. Easy, Arty.”

“ Oh, be quiet. You should be fine by tomorrow. Just keep the gauze on for compression,” Artemis said, starting to re-wrap the bandages. 

Jason closed his eyes with a small sigh, glad to sit there and do nothing. Relaxing was a weird way to put it, but he couldn’t find any other way to describe it. The tips of her hair brushed his face, surrounding him the scent of her shampoo. For the first time in months, he felt… calm. 

“I assume you’ll be able to take care of yourself from here. Meet me downstairs in five.” 

“Thanks Princess!” he called after her.

As soon as Artemis left, Damian’s eyes flew open. Jason groaned.”You’ve been awake this whole time?”

Damian nodded, grinning devilishly. “You’re getting soft akhi,” he piped, poking his brother in the ribs. 

“And I’m going to kill you if another word comes out of your mouth.” Jason pulled on some suitable clothes for training and shooed Damian out before going to join Artemis. 

Surprisingly, the training room was empty. That was especially unusual for this time in the morning with the Bats. Then Jason realized that everyone was probably helping out Alfred downstairs for that night. Not that training was easy work either. But he’d go help after. 

“Took you long enough.” Artemis said, smirking. “Warm up and then we spar.”

She was going to kick his butt. He knew it. But he wasn’t going to argue. “Yes ma'am.”

Jason had half a mind to say that being an Amazon was plain cheating. Yeah, he held his own, but barely. The strength of the Lazarus wasn’t always on his side. Then again, Jason didn’t always have the privilege of fighting people his own size. 

“Another round?”” Artemis asked, helping him up from the floor. 

“Yeah, give me a sec,” he huffed, wiping the sweat from his forehead with his shirt. “Next round, I pick the weapon though.”

By the time Artemis was satisfied with the amount of training done, Jason felt like he was going to drop dead on the spot. Which–in a weird way– reminded him of how much he’d missed training with her. She didn’t let anyone get away with slacking off. Neither did Alfred, for that matter, which was why Jason needed to hurry up in the showers or else face the wrath of an all-powerful butler. A butler much too tired to deal with any kind of nonsense. 

The evening came faster than Jason had anticipated. He examined his appearance in the mirror, doing his best at looking presentable. At first, he hadn’t been sure of Steph’s choice of colour, but he was surprised to say that he actually looked… good? Fingering the cuffs of his jacket, he eyed the ‘finishing touch’ that Bruce insisted he wear. A Rolex– one that Bruce had originally got Jason for his sixteenth birthday. He’d never gotten to wear it. Death tended to preoccupy a person. 

 After staring at the timepiece for at least five minutes, he finally made the decision to put it on. He headed downstairs, where a few of Bruce’s close friends  as well as the boys were already present. The girls were soon to arrive, fashionably late, as Alfred had put it. 

As if on cue, the doors to the hall were thrown open (a bit dramatically if Jason had anything to say about it). And Jason stopped. Wow. The girls all looked supermodel gorgeous. And Artemis– Just woah. 

Her dress was clearly made to match his own outfit. Steph had clearly outdone herself there. It was green, high-necked and sleeveless, which flowed elegantly to her shins. Her red hair was pulled back, keeping the delicate curls out of her face and making the designs etched into her side-shave all the more striking. A gold armband circled her bicep, emphasizing her muscular physique. 

“Good evening, Jason,” she said coolly, practically gliding across the floor.”Tell me, when did you decide to fulfill your dreams of being a statue?”

“This? Oh, this is a technique used to evade the reporters. You should try it sometime. Works wonders.”

The Amazon’s lips curled upward in amusement. “I see.” She reached across the table to steal an untouched patry from Jason’s plate.

“Hey! I was going to eat that.”

“It can’t possibly be that hard to get another,” she said, taking a bite. “Besides, you weren’t eating it.”

He gave her a look. Artemis shrugged, mouth full. “Ah, it’s fine. I’ll steal another one from the kitchen. Bruce wants us there for a briefing anyway.”

“Briefing?”

“Yeah, so the press doesn’t find anything fishy with us.” It sounded like a weird thing to do, but even when he was a kid, Jason had pre-gala briefings. What to say to the reporters, how to act (well mostly) what impression to give off. There was a whole science to it. Alfred didn’t teach the Bats  drama in vain. 

The kitchen, which seemed colossal while empty, slowly shrank as more and more people shuffled inside. Bruce quizzed each of them of their roles, and things they were not to do. Jason, for example, was not to get drunk and cuss out the press. Much to his own chagrin, Jason was expected to actually talk to some of the guests, and give off a good impression.

“Remember, you are all representing the Wayne name, even if you don’t bear it. Please act accordingly.” 

On the bright side, Jason was able to sneak another pastry out. Man, he’d missed Alfred’s cooking. For all of his redeemable traits, Louis hadn’t been the best chef. It was a step up from the cooking at the correctional facility, but Alfred’s skillset was simply legendary. 

The flash of cameras and clamouring reporters soon arrived to the manor. Limos that looked long enough to fit thirty people pulled up one after the other. He remembered watching them as a kid, in awe of the lavish use of their money. He remembered smiling so much at the cameras that his cheeks hurt. He remembered eating so much food that he felt sick afterwards- thereafter getting to wait the rest of the party out in his room. There was something satisfying about knowing there was a party downstairs and choosing not to be a part of it. 

Jason was relieved once the guests settled into the hall and calmed down. Because he spent so little time with his own family, he felt like more of a guest himself. His brothers were busy talking to the elite, making small talk about whatever rich people were interested in. Artemis didn’t have much care to mingle, which was a small comfort to Jason. At least he could talk to her and not seem like a total loner. 

“Bruce said I have to talk to some people this time.”

“Do you really plan to?”

“Well I’m talking to you now, aren’t I?”

“Oh quit your blather Jason. What’s on your mind?”

He leaned an arm on the table, sighing. There were so many things. Coming back to Wayne Manor made him enough of a trainwreck as it was. Add onto that the threat of lurking Owls and the thought of Biz and Louis by themselves didn’t help. And the gala? All of that was the perfect recipe for something to go wrong. Artemis was the one thing that kept him from losing his mind. Well, partially. 

“So many things Arty. Everything just piles up, you know?” She nodded solemnly, silently telling him to continue. “And I just…” he stopped, shaking his head, his entire vocabulary ceasing to exist. 

She took his hand and looked him in the eye. “I know. It really does happen at the worst times. Family is a difficult thing, Jason, but it’s better to keep them in your life, despite how much you may want to drop-kick some of them off a roof.” 

He laughed dryly. “How are you so perfect with everything Princess?”

“Perfect? I’m far from it. But you may keep believing that if you like,” she smiled.

 Oh, he was so glad she was back. Her presence alone was strangely soothing. She could say nothing and deliver a whole conversation. He hoped she understood his mess of a mind. Words alone couldn’t convey his thoughts. Life was hard, feelings more so. He’d have to unwind all of that later. Public settings weren’t the place to get emotional. 

“How do you think Biz and Louis are doing?” Jason asked, taking a sip of whatever carbonated drink the waiter had given him. 

“I’m sure they’re getting along. Louis seems likable enough.”

“I thought you two didn’t get along?”

“Yes, we may not see eye to eye, but I know a sincere man when I see one. He’s dedicated to doing right, and I respect that.”

Jason gave her a small round of applause, making the Amazon roll her eyes. “So glad to see my favorite people getting along.” He raised his glass. “To the reunion of the Outlaws, and you being friendly,”Jason toasted and drained the rest of his drink without another word. Artemis gave him an exasperated look before following suit. 

Tipping his glass to the light, he could’ve sworn he saw something. Was that… an owl? There was too much evidence of the Court following them for it not to be. What did they put in his drink? Upon placing the glass down, he nudged Artemis, motioning to his drink. Thankfully, she got his message. 

She swirled her own glass around in her hand, watching the last sips slosh around. Finally, she set it on the table. “We really must ask the waiter what mystery drink he is giving out. I simply must have some more,” Artemis said, throwing a little too much enthusiasm into her last sentence. 

The guests started to file to the middle of the hall. What the elite of Gotham had with waltzes, Jason would never know. But it seemed like a good way to pass information around the room discreetly. Jason got up, offering a hand to Artemis. “A dance, m’lady?” 

“Sounds wonderful.” The pair glided across the floor, Jason grateful for Alfred’s training in this type of thing. He leaned close to Artemis’ ear, scarcely daring to whisper. “We need to tell someone they’re here.”

“We’ll split up,” she breathed. “Find Barbara. I’ll find Dick.”

 “‘Kay.”

Jason was just about to hand her off to another partner when Artemis winced. “You okay?”

“Yes, it’s just… my head.” She brought a hand to her temple, grimacing. “I’ve got to go.”

Jason nodded. He could tell Dick himself. “Go on, I’ll meet you later.” He saw her off, and sat down in the corner, trying to locate Dick. He managed to catch his attention, only– his head started to pound too.

 “You okay, Jay? You look terrible.”

Jason sucked in a breath. “Some’n messed with–” his tongue felt like lead. Nope nope nope. He needed to leave. “–drink.” he managed, dashing out the door and to the nearest washroom.  

[redstreakfox]

HAPPY MAO-LLOWEEN

To celebrate this glorious day of spooks and terrors, I’m posting my secret halloween submission for @shapeshiftinterest ! They wanted a story about Rufus and Reggie trying to get candy from the Pure Heart citizens. I ended up mixing a few of their ideas into one story since I loved them so much. I really hope you enjoy it! :) and a shout out to @maomaosmother for organizing this whole event, it’s been a lot of fun to watch. You can read the fic here at AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21258122

Or down below the tag:

Any con artist worth their salt will tell you the number one rule is to always conduct yourself as if you’re being watched. It’s always meant as a formality, an adage passed around to remind oneself that even the smallest slip up could land you broke and in the nearest jail cell. Or, in rarer cases, crawling through a sewer after being pummeled by a five year old. Tonight, to Rufus’ annoyance, that thieving proverb was going to be taken far, far too literally than he would have liked.

Looking high up above the arching gate that leads into Pure Heart Valley’s kingdom, he saw the crown jewel he knew he’d never be able to have. Not even if he planned the largest heist of his career over the course of eight-and-eighty years did he think he’d have the slightest sliver of a chance in stealing it. It didn’t matter anyway, though. The Ruby Pure Heart wasn’t the focus of tonight’s current plan.

Thank god, too.

Staring back at him, from its place perched up on the mountaintop, was the visage of a ghastly jack-o-lantern; a hellish fire burning through its eyes and an upturned grin carved entirely out of malice. It was a ghoulish, frightening image projected across the entire surface of the heart shaped ruby, an homage meant to accentuate the ongoing Halloween festivities. And no matter where Rufus stood, whether there at the gate’s entrance or from the miles and miles back that he and Reggie had travelled through to arrive here, it was as if those fire haunted eyes were following him closely all the same.

Most likely the work of that peacocking king and his damned chameleon sorceress.

Nevertheless, he had a twofold scheme to accomplish that night and thus had no intention of letting any harvest season horrors deter him from it. He held out a hand in front of Reggie to stop him and then pointed it further to his left, indicating for the raccoon to follow him into a more discrete section of the woods that rung the outside of the kingdom’s walls. Settling into the shadowed underbrush, the fox pulled out from behind him a large burlap sack.

“So, what’s the plan again Rufus?” the raccoon asked, threading his fingers together as he watched the conniving fox dive arms deep into the sack. From out of it, Rufus retrieved a matching bag and handed it to his companion.

“This Hallow’s Eve, my furry friend, we’ll be engaging in a rousing rendition of trick-or-treat,” Rufus grinned. “Tricks for them. Treats for us. Tricks especially for that blasted sheriff and his snivelling cohorts.”

“But, won’t they recognize us? They didn’t seem to like us too much last time.”

“Reggie, you mean the world to me but this is why I come up with the plans. Remember when I told you to start practicing different voices? To see if you could mimic a certain one? Well, look around you.”

The raccoon began swiveling his head in every direction he could, puzzled at what he was meant to find other than dirt and trees. The fox merely rolled his eyes.

“I didn’t mean literally, Reg. It’s Halloween, the day when adults and youth alike hide themselves behind all sorts of masks and costumes to procure as much candy as they can,” he said, reaching once more inside his bag to fetch a pair of what seemed to be deflated skins; one as black as midnight while the other shone moonlit white overlayed here and there with patterns of brown. “And I believe maybe it’s time we start cashing in on the fun as well.”

The second con-artist rule, one that works well in many professions, is to always learn from your adversaries. Rufus could admit that when it came to Pure Heart Valley he had grown too complacent. The arrival of two new sheriffs were variables he hadn’t anticipated. Their use of pressed nylon suits to pretend to be other people was a tactic Rufus had anticipated even less.

He still woke up in a rush every now and then from the memory. The cat’s mocking smile appearing out of that tiny blue body, the nightmarish drill that had ripped through his partner’s head before Rufus had any idea what was happening. Reg, meanwhile, thought the entire ordeal had been hilarious in hindsight. Easy for him to say when he wasn’t the one who watched…

Regardless, it was a plan that (unfortunately) had worked near flawlessly, and it was a plan that Rufus now conspired to use himself. It was easy enough once he knew what to do. Finding the suit maker had been the first step, all it took was finding any talented tailor that practiced just even the smallest amount of magic, an occurrence that was fairly common in this day and age. The more difficult task came in collecting samples of who they needed the suits to resemble.

Pure Heart Valley was known for being a monster magnet. It was why the valley had needed a protective shield in the first place. Whether it was just a badly located area or the work of the Ruby Pure Heart attracting the creatures itself, the kingdom faced its fair share of attacks on a regular basis. It was during one of these episodes that Rufus saw an opportunity.

While he had Reg sneak into the city itself to steal what he needed from a handful of citizens distracted by the monster fight, Rufus, in turn, went to forage for hairs throughout the then empty sheriff’s department. To his excitement, it wasn’t the only valuable item he came across in his search.

“We’re going to have our fill of candy and our fill of revenge, getting those do-gooders the same way they got us,” the fox said, handing the badger suit over to Reg. “We’ll put these outfits on and mess around Pure Heart tonight as the sheriffs, using their authority to snag all the sweets and running their names through the mud in the process.”

Reggie looked at tentatively at the white nylon in his paws. “How do these even work? I’m like way too small for this to fit me.”

“Reg, both you and that badger somehow fit inside your tiny body, remember? They obviously work through magic. This isn’t some sort of cartoon show,” Rufus said. “Now help me fit inside of this.”

It was a while later, after a good half hour of struggling and stretching and preening, that the two bandits stood there wholly transformed into new people. With their appearance now in order, the pair set about preparing a decoy treat bag, filling it with a sizeable amount of pine straw and leaves found strewn about the forest floor. Once that was finished, Rufus slung the decoy over his shoulder while Reggie kept the empty one close to him.

Rufus, nodding, then led the two of them past the thinning line of trees and out into the open space just before the kingdom’s gated entrance. The fox, turning his head down to look at the raccoon before remembering that that night he would be needing to look up instead, threw his arms out wide in a grand gesture, “And now, let the show begin.”

Spinning back around, the disguised fox threw his weight against the wooden doors and pushed them open, revealing the warm glow of quaint rows of shops newly masqueraded in all sorts of Halloween decorations. The main fountain, the centerpiece of the starting plaza, ran blood red that night thanks to artificial coloring. Sweetypies of all shapes and sizes milled about the area, the ebb and flow of their mild-mannered chit-chat flowing around the two visitors in a steady hum.

The third rule to remember is that anyone who falls for a ruse once could always be made to do so again, and luckily for Rufus, this was a kingdom full of rubes he once had tied around his fingers not just once, or twice, but for three consecutive years. Or at least, it would have been three had two certain sheriffs and their shrieking bat brat not interfered with schemes they had no business meddling in.

Now, however, he had the chance to reclaim it all once more, even if just for a few fleeting hours. And for a night of sweets, what better place to start than in the baking district?

Muttons… Mittens? ...the yellow bakery mouse, whatever her name was, had been a personal favorite of Rufus’ during their Takes-giving day outings. Her offerings were never known for being on the expensive end, always usually an assortment of foods she had baked that morning, but Rufus never really cared when their taste more than made up for a lack of dollar amounts. And tonight, he planned to go straight to the source.

It was only two firm knocks before she answered her door, standing there dressed as a sunflower, a wooden spoon in one hand and a mixing bowl in the other as she stirred its contents.

“Oh, Sheriff Mao Mao, Badgerclops, I’m surprised to see you two not in costume. Where is your little deputy, Adorabat?” she asked.

“That little nuisance is probably eating out of a garbage can somewhere,” Rufus responded, trying to imitate a gruffer tone of voice. From the quizzing look the mouse suddenly gave him, he figured his voice, his response, or both was throwing her off. Unfortunately, being the sole plan maker, he hadn’t had the time to practice with his voice like he had intended. At least the nylon suits seemed to be properly working.

“Are you all right, Sheriff? You aren’t really sounding like yourself,” Muffins said, her stirring hand paused. Rufus simply stood there, mouth hung open and eyes wide as he wondered if attempting another response would only make things more suspicious. Thankfully, however, a large white badger stepped out in front of him.

“No need to worry, Muffins. This idiot’s been sick all morning. Probably from all of the doorknobs around town he’s been licking,” Reggie responded. Rufus looked up dumbfounded at the back of his partner’s head, astounded both at Reggie’s unusual quick thinking and how well his voice matched that of the badger’s. He had even managed to remember her name.

Thank goodness at least one of them was able to pull this off.

Rufus leaned around the side of the large body in front of him and offered the bakery mouse a weak smile. Her expression seemed to soften at that, her hand going back to stirring.

“Well, I’m sorry to hear that sheriff, I think. What brings the two of you to my shop tonight? Here to try my new spider cookies? Some pumpkin cobbler?” Muffins asked.

“Oh, we’re here to steal-,”

Rufus stepped in front of Reggie and made a sudden show of coughing, both to play up being sick and to cut off his partner from talking. “Seize, we’re here to seize a certain portion of your baked assets, my dear, for inspection. We’ve heard rumors of residents getting sick from some of the treats that have been passed around tonight and we’ve been making the rounds to see who’s responsible.”

“‘My dear’?” Muffins quoted him with a frown. “Well, I can assure you, sheriff, everything I’ve made today, tomorrow, forever, is done with the utmost care. Not a single person has ever been dissatisfied with anything coming out of my shop.”

Rufus leaned in, bringing his face closer to hers, “Then you should have nothing to worry about, hm?” He then stepped past her, ignoring her cries for him to stay outside. Reggie, following closely behind, locked the door behind him as Muffins tried to step through.

She hammered her fists against the door to no avail. Meanwhile, the two con men went to task raiding through her pantry and collecting as many baked goods as they wanted while still leaving plenty of room in Reggie’s sack for more of that night’s offerings. Upon opening the door, they found the little mouse seething on the other side of it.

“Sorry for the wait, my dear, we’ll have these tested out and get the results back to you as soon as we can,” Rufus said. The words had barely passed his lips before a sudden movement caught his eye. The fox ducked just in time to avoid the bowl Bakery Mouse had thrown at him.

“You will be sorry!” Muffins yelled at them. “Just wait till I call… till I call-”

“Who? Us?” the disguised fox asked as a laugh escaped him. “Sorry, citizen, the sheriff’s department has received your complaint and we’re afraid there’s nothing that can be done. Now, do try and keep yourself from causing a scene, won’t you? You’ll frighten the children,” Rufus said, stepping around the angry mouse and out onto the street again.

“Disorderly conduct is an arrestable offense, and we’ve got plenty of cell space!” Reggie yelled back towards her as he ran to catch up with Rufus, his voice still a perfect imitation.

The next couple of hours followed that near exact pattern. The two tricksters would come across a group of trick or treaters or residents passing out candy and whisk away their sugary confections under threat of legal action, sowing discord amongst the townsfolk when they could. Pretty soon, Reggie found his bag near full with only just enough room for potentially one more victim.

“This should do wonderfully for now, Reg,” Rufus said, lifting the bag as high as he could to test its weight. “That sheriff and his partner look like a fool now to half the town and we’ve got enough sweets here to topple a dentistry empire,” he grinned. He expected to hear a gleeful response from his partner, but when none came, he looked up to find Reggie staring dead faced out past the fox. “Reg?” Rufus asked.

“I can’t believe Muffins just gave you a free cobbler like that!” he heard a voice scream from somewhere yards behind him. He recognized that shrill voice, could picture the small blue bat it belonged to, and its sudden presence caused the fox to freeze right where he stood.

“More like she threw it at him, Adorabat,” he heard another voice chime, this one belonging to the real badger and not the fake one Rufus stood next to.

A growl cut through the air, “She’s just lucky I clean myself as much as I do! This could stain my fur if I let it sit long enough!” the growl said, morphing into a voice.

And there he was, the person Rufus had been hoping to avoid that night more than anyone.

“Oh yeah, I’m sure you’re just gonna hate licking cobbler off yourself for the rest of the night,” he heard the badger reply to the cat, their voices sounding even closer. They were definitely headed towards them. “What’s up with tonight anyway? Everyone’s been acting real weird around us, like we attacked them or something.”

Suddenly, Rufus heard Little Blue gasp, “Look, it’s us!” And then, out of nowhere, the little bat was there hovering just in front of his face. Instead of her normal wings, however, she wore costumed sleeves that resembled those of a fairy instead. Around the top of her head rung a thin silver loop of metal. A thin line of that same metal stretched out and away from the loop, and attached to its end was a white cardboard speech bubble pointed at the bat with the words ‘Hey, listen!’ printed across it. “Aw, well, it’s you two at least,” she said.

“Adorabat! You can’t just fly up to strangers like tha-... oh, wow, it actually is us dude,” the badger said, their voices now merely feet away. Rufus, finally mustering up the courage, turned around to meet them.

The badger, for his costume, was sporting a forest green tunic with a matching pointed green cloth hat, a plastic sword held haphazardly in his left paw. The cat, meanwhile, ignoring the splotches of cobbler, wore a short red wig with a shiny jewel affixed upon the middle of his forehead. The rest of his attire seemed like it was meant to be worn by one who would be found out wandering the desert. On top of his left paw was seen the imprint of a glowing yellow triangle.

The feline paused for a second at seeing his own self standing across from him, and then an open mouthed grin burst forth that lit up the entirety of his smug face.

“Ha! I knew the king couldn’t be right! See? There are people here that like me. Even enough to dress up like me,” the cat said, his chest puffed out to be as big as his ego. Then, his stance faltered, his expression shifting into one of hesitation, “Enough to dress up... too much like me, actually.”

“I don’t know man, I think it’s kinda neat,” the badger chuckled. Reggie, for his part, began playfully mirroring his twin’s movements as best he could, even going so far as to throw out a similar laugh.

“Ahhh, wait, never mind. It’s officially creepy now,” the real badger said, his good eye gone wide at hearing his own voice thrown back at him. Internally, it was all Rufus could do to keep himself from taking a swipe at his partner in frustration.

“All right, just who exactly are you-,” the cat began when a new timbre voice, appearing from out of nowhere, suddenly cut him off.

“Oh, sheriffs!”

‘For the love of god, no. Please, anyone but him,’ Rufus inwardly swore.

From out of a nearby side street emerged the carefully curated image of a regal street urchin. Careful rips and artistically placed smudges marked his dirty clothes, giving off the appearance of someone who spent most of their time living out on the streets rather than inside a home. The effort was wasted, however, as, under that ridiculous get up, it was still obviously Pure Heart Valley’s king. His perfectly coiffed mane and authoritative voice was a dead give away, not to mention that only feet away from him was his avian servant; a creature that followed the king more closely than his own proper shadow could.

“Your Grace,” the cat said, his attention now diverted to the newcomer, “what are you wearing?”

“Are you supposed to be some sort of smelly clown?��� the bat confusedly asked.

“Oh, goodness no! I’m around the three of you enough for that as it is,” the lion frowned. “As you are all well aware, tonight is another year of Pure Heart Valley’s wonderful Hallow’s Eve festivities. As such, I am observing the time honored tradition of costuming myself as someone I am never able to be. To put myself into another’s slippers as one might say,” he chuckled. “Quite. And so for this year’s engagement, I have decided to become… you,” he finished with a bow.

“Me?” the bat asked incredulously.

The primly lion rolled his eyes and sighed, “No, child, not you, specifically. You, as in, all of you,” he said, waving his arms out in a sweeping gesture. “I have decided to let you all enjoy mine presence this night as someone that I know I mean the world to, as someone that whom without I would be nothing. Yes, I have dressed and paraded myself around tonight as the prototypical image of one of my many loyal subjects. To see what you all see, to live as you all do. I even walked myself down from the palace without being carried, see?”

The group turned their gaze over to the lion’s expressionless servant, and while it was true that on this night he was without the king’s usual recliner, he was instead found to be towing a bag that had to be at least ten times bigger in size than the bird himself. And from its opening, if one looked hard enough, could be seen what appeared to be more candy than any one person should ever have the right to own. Unless, of course, that one person just happened to be a certain wily fox.

Rufus could already feel the drool pooling in his mouth at the sight of it.

“Do you really think we all dress like tha-”

“Ah bup bup!” the king said, waving a hand in front of the badger’s face to silence him. “I did not come here to find you three and squander my time with useless jibber jabber. It has come to my attention that you all have been skulking around town and hoarding up all the candy you could find for some sort of poisonous investigation. Naturally, I have come to preemptively bring you mine own as my safety is of the utmost importance. I expect you to deliver my candy back to me first when you have finished, of course.”

“Investigation? We haven’t been conducting any investigation,” the cat said. “This is,” he wrinkled his nose, “our night off.”

“Yeah!” the blue bat said, flitting around before landing on one of the badger’s shoulders. “And we haven’t gotten no candy neither,” she said.

“Everytime we try, the Sweetypies just start yelling at us,” the badger chimed in.

“Well, then how do you explain that?” the king asked, pointing an accusing finger at Rufus and Reggie who had been both hoping to silently slip away at any moment.

The cat then struck up a steady, measured pace towards Rufus. The look on his face turned the fox’s blood to ice as it coursed through him. His heartbeat seemed to stop, and for a moment he wasn’t sure if it was ever going to start again. The cat grabbed a handful of the silken cape the fox wore and brought his face inches from his own.

“Ok, whoever you two are. I want answers, now! What kind of mischief have you been causing in my jurisdiction tonight?” the sheriff asked, his tone carrying an obvious threat underneath.

Rufus had hoped it wouldn’t have to come to this, but thankfully he had prepared for this situation just in case. Swiftly, he reached as far as he could into the bottom of his bag until his fingers wrapped around one of the small metal balls he had lifted from the sheriff’s headquarters.

“Reggie, now!” the fox cried. He pulled the item out from his sack and threw it as hard as he could directly at the ground in front of him. A sudden explosion sounded, and in seconds the courtyard they had all been congregating in was filled with a blinding smoke. The cat, in his confusion, loosened his grip on Rufus’ collar, allowing him to wriggle free of his captor’s grasp.

“Please tell me this isn’t going to mess up my mane!” the lion shouted.

“My smoke bombs! How?” the cat yelled out in between coughs.

“Dude, I told you we didn’t take them!”

“I can’t see! I can’t see!” the bat cried.

This was exactly the outcome Rufus had been hoping for...

Rule number four: always have an escape plan.

In the surrounding chaos of the situation, the two con artists swapped bags and broke off running in different directions. Rufus carrying the real bag instead of the decoy was only part one in his attempts to confuse his potential pursuers. The fox raced down as many dark alleyways as he could, and when he finally thought he had some time, he paused in the shadows of a run down looking avenue.

Quickly, he tore out of his sheriff costume and took a deep breath of fresh air for what felt like the first time that night. He reached inside the freshly discarded skin and pulled out another one (it looked like a crocodile from what he could tell.)

Now that he had been caught, it was time to become someone new again to truly confuse those do-gooders. He slipped his second disguise on as fast as he could and tentatively crept his way out onto a crowded well lit street, swirling amongst the kingdom’s residents like just another grain of sand along the beach.

Running like a criminal would only rouse new suspicions against him. He needed to blend in with everyone else.

Rufus strolled around the city streets as innocently as he could, taking his time as he meandered about on his way to a designated meeting point. He had elected to take the long way around in getting there, hopefully giving Reg, who also should have changed outfits, enough time to find it and be there waiting.

It was a half hour later when Rufus saw it in the distance, a small public garden nestled in a secluded area of the city, and as expected, he saw someone standing there to greet him. The small pink rhino, sitting among a plot of tulips, warily looked up towards him. For some reason, he was bedecked in what appeared to be surgeon’s scrubs.

“I don’t have time to ask you where you got that, Reg, but I will commend you on the decision. It’s a nice little touch,” Rufus said. “Though, I will say I’m surprised you decided to be that annoying pink gremlin.”

The fox gasped as the rhino pulled out a shimmering scalpel from god knows where and pointed it at him.

“That’s professor-doctor-surgeon gremlin to you, Gary,” the rhino snarled. “And what’s up with your voice?” he asked, frown quickly morphing into a malignant smile, “Oh, you’re probably here for one of my patented throat surgeries, ain’t ya? You know the drill, no questions or insurance needed.”

Rufus had to hand it to him, Reggie was keeping in line with his role like a class actor, but the night was being wasted and he no time to sit and dwell on it.

“Look, let’s just swap bags and be done. That sheriff is still probably scouring every nook and cranny for us and I just want this whole thing to be done and over with,” the fox said. He reached over and grabbed the rhino’s nearby sack, pausing as he tried to pull it. Was the decoy always this heavy?

After gaining some momentum, the fox managed to sling the bag over his shoulder and made his way casually out of the garden.

“Hey! You can’t just take that! I need that for my medical practice!” the pink rhino yelled in his direction.

“Yes, yes, we get it Reg. Now remember, eastern gates, twenty minutes,” the fox called back to him.

From here, Rufus wanted to stay hidden until he made it out of the city. Sneaking down another alley, he changed costumes for a third and final time, a frog creature whose arms seemed too short for clapping. He followed down a multitude of side paths and lanes just barely wide enough for him to walk down, all while keeping himself within viewing distance of the kingdom’s most outer wall. He knew that as long as he continued this way he’d eventually find the eastern exit and avoid any unwanted attention.

He breathed a sigh of relief some fifteen minutes later once he finally found them. He didn’t know whether it was by luck or by fate that the gates stood there unguarded, its keepers had more than likely been too seduced by the call of that night’s tempered horrors and left. Rufus raced through the doors and out into the smothering darkness of the woods beyond.

He had just passed the first few pine trees when he ran into someone blocking his path, toppling them both over to the ground in the process.

“Rufus, buddy!” a familiar voice greeted the fox. Looking over, he saw his raccoon partner sprawled out on the ground near him, already out of costume and back to his normal appearance. The fox jumped up quickly and tore out of his own disguise, happy to once again see the orange fur underneath.

“Reggie, old pal! We did it!” he cried, scooping the raccoon up and into an uncharacteristic hug. “I knew we could outwit that imbecile sheriff if given another chance,” he smiled as he set his beaming partner back down on his own two feet. “Now tell me, where’s the candy?”

“What do you mean? Don’t you have it?” Reggie asked. “I never saw you at The Garden and so I came straight here after changing. I’ve been waiting out here for like an hour.”

Rufus looked at the raccoon as if he had lost his mind. “But we did meet,” the fox said. “You were there on time and we swapped bags, you were that disgusting pink fellow. We talked and everything,” the fox hesitated, thinking. “You did go to the garden, right?”

“Yeah, The Garden, that little cafe we always visited every Takes-giving,” Reggie smiled.

Rufus’ stomach dropped out from under him.

“Reg, no, I meant an actual garden, we-,” the fox paused and looked at the sack he had brought. “But, if that wasn’t you, then that means…” Rufus thought back to the scalpel that had been waved in his face and shuddered. “So then, what is this?” he asked. He reached down and pulled open the bag only to be greeted by jar upon jar of pristine, premium grade mayo.

In that moment, Rufus felt as if his brain was going to short circuit from anger. He turned to Reggie’s decoy bag and kicked it, knocking it over and spilling out a mass of spruce leaves and pinecones. “What is wrong with the people here!” the fox shouted out directionless into the night air.

“Rufus, hold on,” the raccoon implored, sidling up next to the fox and tugging at the bottom of his shirt. The fox took a few deep breaths, letting his expression relax before addressing his friend. He never wanted the raccoon to believe that his anger was ever directed at him, even if at times he was the cause of it. He cared about him too much for that.

“Yes, Reggie?”

“We still have this,” the raccoon smiled. He lifted his baseball cap to reveal a small pouch underneath. He grabbed it and tossed it to the fox who caught it. He could hear a myriad of candy wrappers rustling around inside, the smell of sweetness permeating neatly around the cloth.

He looked at it with surprise and then turned to his cohort.

“Reg, when did you-?”

“It was during all that smoke,” the raccoon said, proud of his witty thinking. “Before we traded bags I grabbed a few handfuls and stuck it in this pouch. It’s like you always told me, remember? Rule number five: ‘it’s always better to leave a heist with something rather than risk taking nothing.’”

The fox couldn’t even begin to hide his glee. “Oh, Reggie!” he exclaimed his bushy tail wagging around him. “I’m so proud that I could just about kiss you.”

The raccoon chuckled and playfully bumped the fox’s leg with his fist, “Just make sure to share some with me, Rufus.”

The fox smiled, “Reggie, I’d share the entire world with you if I could.” Bending over, he placed a paw on the top of Reggie’s head and teasingly ruffled his hair. “Now, how about we start heading home, hm? I’ll even let you have first pick of the treats.”

And then, finally, there was rule number six: through thick and thin, always have your partner’s back and treat them like the gift that they are.