#time 2 nap i fuckin guess

[depravedangelbaby]

every night I set my silly little alarms and see that I'm barely getting 6 hours of sleep and die a little inside

[introspectivememories]

jon kent is so fucking funny. he sees a dictator and is like "is anyone gonna overthrow that?" and then just doesn't wait for answer

[the-sslimmest-shady]

How would yall feel if I started insane posting about my batshit self-made religion

[luxthestrange]

TWST Incorrect quotes#421 PE

In NRC-PE period

Ambrose: Alright so given Vargas is taking a necessary day off along with some of the faculty...who im not surprised haven't had time to have family time, I'll be taking care of PE for abit

Ambrose: So we're just gonna go on a 15-minute run, nothing crazy

Trey: Okaaay?...

Idia: T-then what?

Ambrose:...Um, I guess we can play a game or something? Like, capture the Flag...Kickball

Leona*Snickers and crosses his arms*WEEEAK!

Vil*Rolls eyes at him and ignores him as he sticks his tongue at self*Shut up

Mal: Okay sir what do we do after that?

Ambrose*Blinks and raises a brow hand on his hips*I dont know, STRETCH or something...*feels like he doesn't want to know...but has to ask*What do you all usually do?

3rd Years*All stay quiet and look at each other*"A moment of silence...for those pansies with You being in charge of PE"

-Somewhere in a forest-

3rd Years Rsa are waking up and taking off their blindfolds

Student1:AAAH!Where ARE we!, Are we even ON campus?

Student 2:OH HELL NO-I AM TOO PRETTY FOR THIS SHIT!

Yuu voice cuts thru the walkie-talkies they put on their pockets

Yuu: That's what I thought your BITCHASS would say

Student1:Is this a radio?*Takes out the device from their pocket*

Yuu: WOOOOW you are sooo perceptive~You have one thing to do for PE, Make it back to campus before lunchtime...and MAYBE I'll allow you to eat

Student3:YOU DROVE US HERE!?

Yuu: That sounds like a 'You' problem, Im sure one of you can fly or some shit FIGURE IT OUT-Oh also you're in a LIVE minefield-hehehe~Goodluck!~

Student 2:WHAT THE FUCK!?*Threw the walkie in a direction...activating a bomb*

Rsa Students: AAAAH!?!

-In RSA-

Yuu*Sitting in a comfy chair with Grim napping on their lap watching the RSA students panic thru the cameras, drinking and eating calmly*This non-alcoholic wine from briar valley is FUCKIN' fabulous~

Part 3 of:

[kalak]

Au where luke has a weird ancient force superpower. He literally can come back from the dead. He can resurrect, just like that- the more gruesome the death is, the longer it takes for him to come back, but other than that there's no side effect whatsoever.

This contributes to luke being even more reckless than in canon (obiwan having an aneurysm in the background); he gets killed by slavers, Tusken raiders, a random mugger, a malfunctioning vaporater, being out in the desert for too long, getting lost in the desert... etc etc. But he comes back! Every time! So Owen, Beru, and Ben are like oh no. This power is the worst thing this boy could have but also it apparently is the only thing keeping him alive so. You win some you lose some I guess (Owen still grounds luke every time he comes back from the dead though)

Now in the rebellion, luke kinda.. doesn't tell anyone about this power bc 1. He got drilled into his head to keep it secret as he was growing up becausr he'll definitely get experimented on (obiwan led many of the cover ups) 2. He got self conscious about it. Other people were so praising of his 'selflessness' and 'sacrificial nature' but he thinks he's like That because he can shrug off death. How can you tell people that when they're all like woah you're awesome!!!

But! That doesn't mean luke doesn't utilize his power. Whenever an imp catches him he's like fuckin kill me you wuss. You coward. And then he gets up after they shoot him and leave his dead body. He has a tracking device on him in case he gets stranded in space after his ship gets blown up. Han & Leia were horrified at first but by the fifteenth time they're like *resigned sigh* *pulls out a mop*. Luke calls it just having a little nap :]

Now for the fun part: Vader has no idea about any of this. So when he reads the spy intel, the impression he gets is that Luke is reckless to the point of being suicidal, and that. He might be fatalistic and actually craving death at every moment.

This gets worse when Luke jumps off in cloud city - (he actually just dies here falling but he's ok again :)) after that, with a mental connection between the two established, vader's like ??!?@?@?? because luke's force presence keeps blinking out.. Like he's dying?? But that can't be it...? And he just keeps flashbacking to padme's death and hyperventilating about it but it's actually just luke blastering himself bc he woke up at the wrong side of the bed.

And then Vader finally captures luke. Luke is like oh no fuck you fuck you fuck you and he tries to jump out of the airlock - (vader catches him at the nick of time) steals vader's saber - (vader thinks that he's gonna attack but nope, luke tries to skewer himself) and vader's like oh no. Oh no I need to protect him from himself.

Then there's a hostage situation - tarkin's gripping luke, blaster to head, threatening Vader. Vader is backing off for once in his life, fearful... he's ready to accept any deal, almost agrees - but Luke's like no. Vader might be an arse but he's been nicer than tarkin and amicable, I'm not letting him lose to tarkin of all people. Also this would be a nice fuck you to both of them.

So he goads tarkin, telling him that he's a wuss and that tarkin thinks the tarkin doctrine only works because tarkin himself is a coward dictated by fear, who ironically hasn't known true fear - fear for someone rather than himself - his way will never work because a seven year old has more backbone than him- And that's when the blaster goes off, tarkin's temper getting the best of him.

Vader rushes to Luke's side, but it's too late and Luke's dead. Vader's like *flashbacks to padme* *flashbacks to shmi* and he's apologizing to Luke's body, telling him that he's Luke's father,

That's when luke comes back being all like yeah I needed that that's much nicer and vader's like. ??what in the palpatine's saggy nutsack and Luke's like what the fuck do you mean you're my father-

[wordywarriorwrites]

Calendar Girl: June, Part 2

Series Masterlist: Calendar Girl Joel Miller Masterlist Author: @wordywarriorwrites​ Summary: The story of how Joel Miller falls in love again, told over a series of months. Series Warnings: NSFW. Smut. Language. Violence. Discussions of rape and consent. Alcohol consumption. Age-gap.

June: Part 2 

For the first time in nearly a month, Joel had slept through the night.

He’d celebrated the return of his energy that morning by making love to you twice. Now, it was the middle of the afternoon, and instead of feeding him or letting him shower or allowing him to take what he believed to be a well-deserved nap, you kept him abed, and asked him to explain the scars that littered his body from damn near head-to-toe.  

“What’s this one from?” you wondered.  

“Knife, I think?” 

“And this one?”  

Joel glanced at the puckered skin on his thigh and yawned, “A bat wrapped in barbed wire.”   

You let out a low whistle, “And I thought my knicks and burns were bad.”  

He hummed, rolled onto his side, and trailed his fingertip along what appeared to be an incision just above your pubic bone. When he observed that you had an intense looking scar of your own, you placed your hand over his and smiled ruefully.  

“Lemme guess,” Joel mused aloud. “Battle with a samurai?” 

“Adenomyosis diagnosis at seventeen,” you explained quietly. “After they harvested my eggs, I had a hysterectomy.” 

“Shit,” Joel exhaled.   

“It was better than being in excruciating pain and requiring monthly blood transfusions,” you replied with a slight shrug. “Besides, I figured I could always get a surrogate. But then, the world went to hell in a handbasket, and that was that.”  

He swallowed hard and shook his head, “M’sorry, sweetheart.” 

You ran your hand down his cheek and trailed your thumb along his chin, “I made my peace with it a long time ago.” 

Your solemnity reminded him age was more than simply chronological. You’d grown, lived, and evolved in the before as well as the after. At 17, you probably hadn’t fully taken motherhood into consideration until you were robbed of the choice. As for him, fatherhood had been an unexpected joy cut far too short, and he couldn’t imagine the man he’d be if Sarah hadn’t been born. Yes, he still grieved for her loss, but Joel had you and Ellie now, and for the first time in over twenty years, he felt satisfied.  

But in twenty years, could you – would you – say the same?  

You rolled onto your side to face him and ran a fingertip over his furrowed brow, “You know, you should be relieved.” 

He grasped your hand and pressed a kiss to the back of it, “Yeah? And why’s that?”  

“Because you can come inside me instead of pulling out and praying.” 

Joel paused. Inhaled sharply. Allowed your remark to sink in. When he looked up at you, your lips twitched, then, slowly spread into a cheeky grin that made his stomach flip. The wicked gleam in your eye suggested your gallows humor had the desired effect, and when he swatted you on the ass for it, you yelped and laughed uproariously.   

“Think you’re real fuckin’ funny, don’t ya’?” he murmured as he put you on your back and kissed his way across your collarbone and down your sternum.  

You smirked and raked your nails over his scalp, “I’m fuckin’ hilarious.” 

Joel sank his teeth into your nipple, and when you hissed, he made a mock-contrite sound. You pinched his earlobe in retaliation, and that prompted him to roll his eyes up to meet your gaze, drag his tongue across your chest, and envelope your other nipple with his lips. Joel laved, nibbled, and sucked his way along your body until your spine bowed, and after he administered a tender kiss to the scar on your abdomen, he hitched your legs over his shoulders, and skimmed his hands and nose up your inner thigh. 

“This mean we’re done talkin’?” you gasped. 

“That’s up to you, sweetheart,” he mumbled against your sex. “You’re the one in charge.” 

“Are you speaking to me or my pu – fuck, Joel!” 

Face pressed tight against you, Joel alternated between suckling your clit and dipping his tongue inside you. When he languidly added his fingers to the mix, you writhed, and treated him to a delicious view of your belly, breasts, and throat when you arched beneath him. Hands fisted in the sheets and then, in his hair; he knew you were close when your thighs trembled against his ears, and you clenched vice-like around his index and middle fingers.  

“That’s it, sweetheart,” Joel crooned. “Come on my mouth.” 

You did as commanded – soaked his tongue and beard, and he helped you though it until you’d gone boneless. The kisses he dropped on the path back up were smeared with your release, and after Joel rolled you onto your stomach, he tucked a pillow beneath your hips, and guided your leg up and to the side.  

“M’gonna fuck you,” he murmured as he dug his teeth into your shoulder. “Just like this.” 

You whimpered and braced your hand on the wall, “Do it. Do whatever you want, Joel.”  

Of course, you encouraged him – offered yourself up like some sort of sensuous sacrifice. He thrust into you, all the way to the hilt, and you simply took it – pulled him in and allowed him to keep you pinned down and wide open beneath him. Joel grunted and growled with the effort, more than happy to put his back into it to ensure you were satisfied. 

“S’tight. It’s like you don’t want me inside’a you,” Joel rasped against your shoulder.  

You pushed back against him, “But I do. You know I do.” 

Eyes rolled back, cheek smashed into the pillow, and swollen lips parted – you were a vision, and when he kissed you, it was so damn sloppy – comprised of little more than bared teeth, spit, and tongue, but it was good. Joel took you with deliberate, deep strokes, and it was perfect. You were perfect – so hot and wet around him, your plump ass a flawless cushion for his groin, and when he sought out your clit and rubbed it – firm and slow, just how he knew you liked it – you became utterly magnificent.  

“More,” you begged sweetly, breathlessly. “Harder.”  

He didn’t hesitate to wrangle your limbs into a position that allowed him to give you exactly what you asked for. One. Two. Three thrusts. You clamped down and he struggled to hold back and see you through it properly, and when you moaned in that rich, satisfied way that made his head buzz and his ego inflate? 

He gritted his teeth. Hauled you up off your hands and knees. Pressed his back to your chest and cupped your breasts in his calloused hands. Joel held you tightly in place and used his cock like a piston until he finally, finally felt the heat of his impending release rush through him.  

“You feel so fuckin’ good, sweetheart,” he drawled against your temple. “Fuck, you’re gonna make me come.” 

You tipped your head back and dug your nails into his flank, “Good. Come inside me, Joel. I want you to.”  

Your permission was all he’d needed. Joel’s body flooded with euphoric relief as he spilled into you and filled you to the brim. He held himself deep inside. Stayed until he softened and slipped out, and as you eased back down onto your stomach, his eyes were drawn to your inner thighs, coated in a mixture of his release and yours. 

You made that sound again – the one that danced up his spine and made him shiver – and he smirked as he trailed his fingers though the mess he’d made. It was barbaric and hedonistic of him to think that his come was finally where it belonged – that he’d somehow claimed you as his with his cock and spend – and Joel’s chest swelled with something brutally possessive as he watched you slowly turn over and smile up at him.    

He stretched out next to you. Pulled you close until you were tucked up beside him. As he held you in his arms, he realized you’d asked about his scars to better understand all he’d seen and been through. While his scars were visible, visceral reminders, yours were mostly secreted away, and the only reason Joel knew about them was because you’d shared that hidden part of yourself with him.  

You trusted him.  

“Can I make you something to eat?” you asked, lips pressed to his pec.  

He nodded. Followed you with his eyes as you slipped out of bed and pushed your arms through the sleeves of his flannel. Breathed you in when you leaned over, kissed him, and told him you’d be right back.  

Before you could leave, he sat up, and cupped the back of your neck in his hand.  

“Food. Shower. Nap,” Joel listed between kisses. “Then, we’ll talk all you want.”  

You quirked a brow, “Promise?”  

“Yeah, sweetheart. I promise.”

Next Chapter: July

[sparkedblaze]

PART 3 LET'S GOOOOO

*sigh*

Parts 1 and 2

@raggedy-albert tagging you bc you yelled at me ;-;

T/W cursing, talk of violence

"WHERE DOES IT SAY A GUY CAN'T CATCH A BREAK WHY SHOULD YOU ONLY TAKE WHAT YOU'RE GIVEN WHY SHOULD YOU SPEND YOUR WHOLE LIFE LIVIN' TRAPPED WHERE THERE AIN'T NO FUTURE EVEN AT SEVENTEEN BREAKIN' YOUR BACK FOR SOMEONE ELSE'S SAKE"

THOSE LYRICS HIT SO FUCKING HARD MY DUDES

JEREMY JORDAN'S VOCALS HOLY SHIT

HIS FACIAL EXPRESSIONS

MOVEMENTS

HIS A C T I N G

"I'll be there"

"Just be real is all I'm askin'."

"I GOT NOTHIN IF I AIN'T GOT SAAAAANTAAAAAAAAA FEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE"

That's the end of act 1. I only just finished act 1. I pause it too much to type everything out. And also I napped earlier and it felt g r e a t

Finch laying across the table

"Just ask a fish in the desert"

LES SITTING UNDER THE TABLE

"Why do old people talk?" "To prove they's still alive"

Mush's eyeroll

Squeeze Elmer's shoulder

FRONT PAGE?!

IAIN'S SMILE FUCK HIS SMILE IS SO DAMN CUTE

"WOULD YA LOOKIT THAT'S ME!"

"WHERE'S ME?! WHERE'S ME?!"

"I WON'T BE LAST IN LINE FOR THE TUB TONIIIGHT"

Tommy snatching the pape from Davey

"There's a headline even Elmer could sell"

HENRY'S LAUGH/REACTION TO ^

"JACK DON'T RUN FROM NO FIGHT"

"Take it down shortstop"

"FOR JUMPIN' JACKS SAKE CAN YOU STOW THE SERIOSITY LONG ENOUGH TO JUST DRINK IN THE MOMENT"

HIS LIL PUNCHIES

Albert's look of disgust at being touched without permission

"I'M FAYHMUS"

Henry: So?

"When ya fayhmus tha woild is ya erster."

😕 Wot?

????

"Ya erster"

"What are you saying???"

"EY YAKNOW YA FANCY CLAM WIT THA POIL INSIDE"

"O Y S T E R"

"HOW MUCH DOES BEIN' FAYHMUS P A Y?!"

"U DON'T🚫 NEED MONEY 💲 WHEN UR FAYHMUS😎 THEY GIVES YA WHATEVA YA WANT G R A T I S"

HEARING THE FIRST LIKE CHORDS (?) OF KONY IS THE BEST BC KONY IS THE BEST SONG IF YOU CAN'T TELL BY HOW LONG THIS POST ALREADY IS P MUCH ONLY WITH KONY THINGS

RACE AND KATH DOING THE PLAYFUL HIT THINGS

WHY DID THEY CHANGE RACE'S LINE?! IT DOESN'T MAKE SENSE FOR ROMEO TO WANT A PERMANENT BOX AT THE SHEEPSHEAD RACES

"Oh no"

*tucks emotional support stick under arm* "knOBBin WIt AlL DA MuCKeTY MuCks I'M BLowIN MY doUGH AND gOIN dELuxE"

Statue of Liberty

The obscene amount of times Racer sticks his tongue out

Raver ruffling Mush's hair

"AMSCRAY PUNK"

"BUNCHA WET NOODLES" "PULITZER'S POODLES"

Davey and Ike playing dogs even after everyone else drops it

EVERY SINGLE FACE IN THE POODLES SCENE

Lemme just (bad quality but I can’t clip it ;-;)

LIKE ALBERT WTF ARE YOU DOING???

JOJO MY MAIN MAN WHY

RACER THAT SMILE CREEPY AS HELL STOP

DAVEY AND IKE, AS STATED ABOVE

MIKE WTF

ELMER LOOKING ABSOLUTELY DONE

"LET'S GET DRUNK" 😃 Y E A H "NOT WITH LIQUOR" 😧

Clap

Hop

TAPPITY TAPPITY TAPPITY TAP MAKE ME STIM SO HARD ILY

FINCH AND HIS SUSPENDERS

EVERYONE GETTING OFFENDED AT GETTING ONE UPPED

TAPPITY TAP TAPPITY TAP TAPPITY TAP TAPPITY TAP

KICK

SPIN

BUMP BUMP

BUTTONS'S BROOM

EVERYONE GETTING SPOONS

"A L R I G H T RED"

SMALLS

ILY

SPOON FIGHT

EVERYONE JOINING IN

"GOT EM"

CHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCCCKCKCKCCH

TAPTAPTAPTAPTAPTAPTAPTAPTAPTAPTAP

*shoving Kath out of chair*

*cleans off ground with hat*

BOOOOOOOOOOOOO

THE WAY THEIR LITTLE ARM THING TICKLES MY BRAIN

Albert: Ehhhh Albert: Oh shit that's actually p good

THE CHOREOGRAPHY IS SO GOOD

"LOOK AT ME I'M THE KING OF NEW YORK"

"THIS IS GONNA MAKE BOTH THE DELANCEYS PEE IN THEIR PANTSIES"

ELMER'S FACE

FINCH'S LIL FACE BANDAGE

THE SHOT WHEN THEY SING "GUTS AND GLORY"

SPIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIN

TKTKTKTKTKTKTTKTTKTKTTKTKTKTKT

"OF NEW YORK!!!"

SEEING THEM ALL OUT OF BREATH AND GRINNING AND IK THEY HAD SO MUCH FUN

SMALLS

Point

Clapclap clap

ROMEO AND FINCH HAVING SO MUCH FUN

FUCK WAIT NOW IT'S LETTER FROM THE REFUGE

"Dear Jack..."

I paused it.

I don't wanna watch anymore ;-;

I wanna pretend they're all still happy and tappin' around Jacobi's

"Guess I wasn't much help yest'aday"

"Oh, yeah, Jack This is Crutchie by the way"

Andrew Keenan Bolger is just so fuckin good

"So far they ain't brung us no fooood..." lol

"Maybe though... heh heh... Not tonight..."

"We miiiight just go..."

Definitely NOT Ike sleeping next to him SHHHHHHHHHHHHH

"Damn this place."

"Your friend Your best friend Your brother Crutchiiiieeeee"

Albert Some other redheaded newsie: "Enough already!"

Everyone looking for Jack

MISS MEDDA I FUCKING LOVE YOU

Jack pretending to not be crying

"You're a gem"

"Does it matta?"

"If you're running away, nowhere is ever the right place"

"How about lettin' a pal know you're alive?!" Jack: Ffs 🙄

"Why don't I leave you with your boyfriend?"

"YaevathinkIdidntwannabefound"

"A B O V E THE FOLD"

Bap

Smack

They're so close just lean forward a lil and give him a lil smooch

Poke

:|

"JUST LIKE I SAID"

"We're inevitable"

"Fame is one intoxicating potion"

"Yes he did and then he died :)"

Kath's lil supportive nod

"Smart enough to get you committed to a padded room"

JACK'S ART

"Lighten up, no one died."

LES'S LIL WORRIED FACE WHEN JACK TELLS THEM ABOUT CRUTCHIE

"If I wanted a sermon I would show up for church."😠

"Tell me how quitting does Crutchie any good."

"Exactly."

"Here's how it goes-"

T E E T H

"Jackie think about it"

JACK HOW WERE YOU EXPECTING TO MAKE IT IN SANTA FE WITHOUT KNOWING WHY A SNAKE RATTLES

"poor GUYS head IS SPINNING"

"Whywouldhesendforthegoonsanentirearmydozensofgoonsplusthecopsand-"

Kath’s amazement at Jack admitting being wrong

ETHAN’S DUMB FACE 😭😭😭

“Stay on track”

“AND WEVE GOT JACK”

Spit shake

Davey being disgusted

“And I’ve got a date!!!”

Kath being nervous asf to confront her dad

“The newsies are striking against… me”

Kath trying to melt into her chair

I’m gonna kick Snyder

*WHACK* “WHAT GOOD WOULD QUIET DO ME”

Kath’s panic when Jack shows up

“Ask and ye shall be received”

S i t

“Good aftanoon bois”

“Aaand which Jack Kelly is this? The charismatic union organizer? Or the petty thief, and escaped convict?”

“Which one gives us more in common? Eh?” *wiggles finger*

“Crowwlin”

“Want i should save ya a spot on the bill?”

B o y

“When New York wakes up to-“ 😗🧐 “-front page photos of our rally”

“Even some reporters”

THE BIG REVEAL

JACKS FACE

KATHS FACE

“Yeeeeeessss”

Why does Pulitzer hit his desk so much? Take a Xan and calm down my guy

I’m gonna kick Snyder pt 2

THE DELANCEYS CATCHING AND HOLDING JACK SO HE CANT GET OUT DHSGWHMFKE

Morris looking 100% done with Pulitzers shit

“They know I don’t care” 🙂

“Tossed 🫴🏼➰ to the rats🐀 Will they ever be able to thank you enough?💅🏻”

BOTTOM LINE REPRISE

I like that he calls Jack ‘Cowboy’ in this song as a little homage to the original, but (bc I saw Livesies first) I was so confused when I watched it at first.

So ik they only use the newsies to move sets bc they can go fairly unnoticed by the audience when they’re going on and off stage. But just the idea that even if they aren’t actually there with him, them still do everything for Pulitzer is a statement to me

Morris hopp of stairrrrrrs

*bonk bonk bonk* “That there… is firm”

Jacks lil tantrum

“NEWSIES NEED OUR HELP TODAYYY”

HELLO SPOT LOML

TOMMY BRACCO 😍😍😍 (congrutalions on his engagement 😭😭)

THE LIL GAP IN HIS TEETH IS EVERYTHING TO ME

Reasons I love Brooklyn (from left to right:

Graves

Myron

Spot

Hotshot

Bart

Ty for coming to my Ted Talk

“We’ll getcha payback with some PAY BACK”

Speepy Jack

Spot’s dramatic ass taking his hat off

“BOROUGH WHAT GAVE ME BOITH”

Everyone else hurriedly taking off their hats

“FRIENDLIEST PLACE ON OITH”

“PAYUS A VISIT AND SEE WHAT WE MEANS”

“AND WHEN YA DOOOOOO”

“WE’LL KICK YA HALFWAY TO QUEENS”

Definitely totally Jack Kelly on that printing press and definitely NOT Devin Lewis

The entirety of the boroughs introducing themselves

PFFPTTHHH

“WE IS HEEEEEERRRREEEE”

Davey’s first spit shake without wiping it off 🥹

MISS

MEDDA

LARKIN

Bart’s lil hops 🥺🥺

THE CROWD CONTROL

Eyebrows

Jack Jack Jack Jack

Everyone smacking signs against the ground

“Youwannabetalkedtolikeanadultstartactinlikeone”

Racer’s smile 😭😭😭

“That’s was a lousy thing to do�� Everyone else: HELL YEAH IT WAS

Elmer’s Graves’ smile

Pulitzer

S H O V E

“He’s a sellout”

JACK RAISING HIS HAND AT LES

“YOU'RE A TRAITOR JACK”

DAVEY'S DEVASTATION

“HESAIDYOUCOULDGOTHROUGHMYSTUFF?!”

Kath plz be more considerate

THE

FUCKING

PROJECTIONS

"A little different from where you were raised?" s n a t c h

"I DO NOT THINK YOU ARE ONE TO TALK ABOUT TURNIN' ON FOLKS"

"Ya ffffffffADDA"

"a ffffffist in ya mouth"

Finger wiggle

Paper wiggle

"good for you"

"The children's crusade..."

"Oh no"

"Ya just gonna take back lAta"

Gotta be honest, Something to Believe In makes me so irrationally angry. Their whole relationship feels forced and only there for the romance grab :)

I feel like they could've done a lot with Kath's character without making her fall for Jack

Like it makes sense that Jack would feel things for her. She represents this freedom he's never gotten to have. She helped get the newsies a better hand in life. Granted it isn't perfect, but it's a hell of a lot better. Not to mention all the newsies have the emotional range of a speck of dust.

Kath, on the other hand, seems very in tune with her emotions. She knows how she feels about Jack during Watch What Happens, and I personally don't think much changed between them between that and StBI.

I think it would've been far better to have Jack, this emotionally ignorant artist pining after Kath, the 'sure of herself' journalist helping make a better life for his family, despite the repercussions of going against her father, who was originally in it just to further her career but has grown to care for and love all of these kids.

Have I mentioned the projections?

I also haven't mentioned this at all, but I love the newsies that push in Jack's 'penthouse' and just sit at the bottom of the set pieces.

Bump

SHOVE

Also seeing Kath deck Jack right here (bc she doesn't know how to respond to him trying to kiss her) would be so much better than a kiss

Don't ask me why, just trust me

Their hug at the end of it though

IS IT NORMAL TO KNOW WHICH NEWSIE IS GOING UP THE STAIRS BY THEIR SILHOUETTE?

"We could hold a hoedown in here and no one would be the wiser"

"Hey!" "Hm?" "It's good to have you back again"🥰 "Shaddup."

BillDarcy

Y'ALL THEY TRADED VESTS AND THEY WANT US TO BELIEVE EITHER OF THESE BOYS ARE STRAIGHT???

Darcy's disgust

"B B Bill. So I suppose you're the son of William Randolph Hearst." "And proud to be a part of your revolution"😃

Nicholas Masson rolling his sleeves up-

Can we talk about how perfect a Javey first kiss would've been at "we ain't come this far to lose" without Kath being there

"HEEEEERRRREEE THEY COOOOMMMMEEE"

Tommy Bracco

Albert's lil nod

Smalls doing nothing but wiggling that bolt

look look

"BLEED EEEEM"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH FREEDOM"

Spot doing nothing but standing and looking intimidating

WHACK

HENRY HELP SMALLS

Ty 🥰

ALL THE ANGLES THROWING PAPES

"TEN THOUSAND FISTS"

LAYERS

LAYERING VOCALS IS MY KRYPTONITE

A;SLDKFHAPSHGPAIUSFGP

BAM "THERE'S CHANGE COMIN ONCE AND FOR ALL"

THE FUCKING KEY CHANGE A;LSDGHPAOUSFGPANS I SCREAM. I CRY. I FOAM AT THE MOUTH. I LOVE THIS SHOW

Stomp

"WELL I'M SORRY-I AM-"

"Sorry"

"Such language"

"MORNIN GENTS"

hat

I didn't know you could throw money in an inherently queer-coded way but here we are

The way Jack sits in the chair and gets confy

"Oh, we're your loyal employees"

"Oooohhhh"

"WHAT'S THAT MAKE YOU"

Ben Fankhauser

The chorus starting up again and Jack just 👀

Spot taking off his hat again

wavey wavey wavey

Race 'cheers'ing with his cigar

"So what's your next move"

MISS

MEDDA

"Joseph Joseph Joseph"

Hummy hummy hummy

"Bully"

Shakes hand "My god"

"I'd do it with a SMILE"

"A soft head"

"He doesn't do happiness does he?"

HANNAH

HANNAH ILY

"I'm young. I ain't stupid"

"I GOT CONTITUENTS WITH A LEGITIMATE GRIPE"

Wiggle finger

"iT's a CoMprOMIse WE cAn All LiVE WiTH"

Spit shake

"andtheWorldwillknow"

TOMMY

FINCH

RACE BUTTONS ALBERT ROMEO I LOVE ALL OF YOU

THEIR SIGNS

HUGS FOR EVERYONE

Why does every actor who plays Roosevelt look exactly the same????

"Ya miss me?!" YES😭

Davey swallowing his laugh when Crutchie calls Roosevelt 'your highness'

"Don't sweat it, gov"

"tarantulas?"

"And we're family" YEAH YOU ARE BABY

"show me that backseat I been hearing so much about"

Albert's gimme gimme gimme motion

"G U Y S"

Race's lil hop

"I been I been BUSY"

smacksmacksmack

"CARRYIN THE BANNER MAN TO MAN"

"HERE'S THE HEADLINE"

Jeremy Jordan counting his steps

"WHOO"

"OF NEW YORK"

*incoherent shouting* "NEWSIES OF NEW YOOOORK AYOOOOO"

Tommy being slightly off

Kick

Spin

Flip

Clap clap

CHAZ WOLCOTT IS SO FKING TALENTED

shrug

BART

slide

I DON'T REMEMBER HIS NAME BUT THE GUY WHO PLAYS DARCY DOING FLIPS WITH NICK MASSON (WHO PLAYS BILL)

Specs falling when they do the lil cartwheels

All their lil hops and bows

THE DELANCEYS HANDSHAKE

AKB

Kara Lindsay being a lil early

JJ almost eating it

HYPEHYPEHYPEHYPE- Race, Mike, Ike, and Spot

JJ boogeyin

Kara and Ethan boogeyin

Kara and Jordan hugging

Nick swinging from the set

Ben and Sky doing a handshake and Ben almost knocking Sky over going for a chest bump when Sky wanted a hug

I DID IT

I FINISHED IT WITH ENOUGH ROOM

I HONESTLY THOUGHT KONY WOULD MAKE ME NEED AT LEAST ONE MORE, BUT I THINK STBI COUNTERED IT

[syn4k]

Hello I would like to hear you ramble. What’s on your mind?

I care about you so much thank you for doing this one little thing. you are genuinely one of the sweetest people in our life right now and i do not thank you enough for it

i'm thinking about how some of my favorite characters would act while sleepy

naturally of course this means My Usual Set Of Blorbos but ok. let me explain further.

if you fall asleep next to or generally nearby someone, that generally belies that you trust them to not hurt or kill you while you're at your most vulnerable. also a person can be guessed on how generally uptight/anxious they are by how quickly they can get to sleep, with obvious differences and caveats to this of course

some very quick notes on this feat. some of the guys we often have thoughts about

xisuma generally just doesn't have any serious feuds or enemies. like he's just not the sort of guy to start something serious with someone and especially not if they'd like, fuckin' murk him over it while in close proximity (the EX arc in s8 is an outlier here but i might discuss that later. might not. dont have many coherent thoughts on this. idk)

we have held for a while, though, that he Does often stay up late working (paperwork is no joke! it fucking sucks!) and so often falls asleep in random places, like at the table while working or even while standing up a few times in the kitchen. he's just the sort of guy who can do that but also it just sucks like imagine waking up and oh my god how long have i been standing here my legs HURT christ above i didn't even pause my music jeez!

one time doc walked in on him in the "asleep standing up in the kitchen" state at like 4am because doc doesn't sleep being a creeper hybrid and just. carried him to the couch and dropped him off there. doc is one of the only people who can do that sort of thing because he's just built like that physically btw. i like to think that x still has no idea how that happened to this day

(Hmngh,) Pibble Riffs

i think s2 pix also stays up late working but since he also gets a lot of naps during the day this doesn't matter. his sleep schedule is just eternally fucked and he's accepted this. the emperors get a lot of messages sent at 4am from him, but they all know this man is just Like That and don't worry about it too bad

archeologist pix can sleep Anywhere. i mean anywhere. he holds that the ground is actually hella comfortable if you're used to it and he's also been spotted just sleeping on solid rocks in the middle of caves in a place where no mobs can reach him

s1 pix has anxiety and only sleeps during the day due to Desert so usually the nonhuman emperors are on standby to drop by if he has like. an anxiety attack at 2:30 AM or whatever.

jimmy, opening his door: i brought blankets and chocolate pix, curled up in bed in a fetal position: [mumbled] thanks jimmy, pull up a chair: the horrors again? pix: yeah jimmy: you realize you can't eat chocolate lying down right pix, sighing and sitting up: i know

many thoughts. this ramble was sponsored by My Nickname Isn't Sleepy Boy For No Reason, Y'all

[the1975attheirverybest]

Can I share my camping experience because it has been…traumatic.

I got in line this morning for Charlotte around 3:45am while everyone else was sleeping, napped in my lawn chair for about 2 hours, and then was woken up around 5:50 by an older man standing over me. He had bags with him and knew this was a camping line for a concert so at first I thought he was also a camper, then he started hitting on me. Asking for my number repeatedly, asking where I was from, my age. He got up, told me he’d be back to “take care of me”, and left. 10 minutes later he was back except now he had weed and was offering to me. He also asked for my height and weight, if I was a lesbian, and if I planned on having kids?? He sat on the ground next to me and our knees were touching, he kept making weird sexual comments. I was almost in tears until three other girls showed up and he decided it was time to leave.

Anyways, He told me he’d be back again and guess what!! I had an issue at my hotel and had to leave for about an hour and when I got back my stuff was moved and a group of girls were surrounding it. They said a creepy man was smoking in the space I was in. They also said he was peeping in tents and asking all these young girls how old they were. Not 100% sure it was the same guy but sounds like it. The line leader ended up moving us all a little closer and I’m pretty sure someone told the cops but this has been awful.

Worst part is I literally just saw him again, on the opposite side of the street, just staring at us. He told me he’d be back in the evening/overnight so I’m absolutely terrified to sleep. I’ve been up since 6am Wednesday morning but I just can’t.

Oh! And when I refused to give him my phone number 4 times he asked me if it was because I was a racist.

I love being a woman ❤️ Barricade secured at #38 though

OH MY GOODNESS BABEE ARE YOU ALRIGHT?!!!!!!

Sending you hugs. Seriously though how’re you doing?

Please, please, please find a buddy. Don’t walk around alone. Especially not at night. I know tons of folks who are going to Charlotte. Would you like me to message them to hang out with you? That way you’ll at least be in a group?

Fuckin hell man. Men are disgusting and awful. Stay safe out there.

CONGRATS ON BARRICADE THOUGHHH 💖

[sleepsmackdown]

I have arrived with The Second Coming propaganda

Spoilers ahead. if you even care (Also I'll just be calling her TSC from now on bcs it's faster)

(Obligatory None of the stick figures in this series have canonical genders/pronouns and I'm just using what I want disclaimer)

Literally the FIRST thing girlie did when brought to life was make friends who were instantly fuckin murdered. She got reasonably mad and tried to fight back but ermm bein stuck in a computer when the person you're fighting exists irl isn't exactly a fair fight. They did end up talking it over (and her friends were revived) but you cannot fucking tell me that's a pleasant experience to have after being alive for like 2 minutes

Next she discovered minecraft and decided to show it to her friends!!! One of them instantly got possessed by Herobrine and tried to kill them all. They barely managed to delete the game in time. And guess who had to make the entire plan to get to the damn trash binnnnn it was TSC!!!! yippie she cannot catch a fucking break

There have been multiple occasions where she was trying to sleep but her friends were playing music so fucking loudly

Then her friends disappeared and she had to go find them and she almost gave up bcs she was lost and had no idea where she was and had almost died a few times. Then they showed up and BARELY managed to make it back home they were SO close to becoming monster food

Then all of her friends got possessed (AGAIN) (INCLUDING HER BTW) but they somehow managed to squeak by and free themselves

Then she found out she has predecesors (The Chosen One and The Dark Lord) who were in the middle of. an argument. yea She and her pals went to see what's goin on and Dark and Chosen were fighting each other neck to neck bcs Dark was trying to dsetroy the entire INTERNET so TSC and her friends stepped in after Chosen was too tired to keep fighting and Dark instantly demolished them all. The ONLY reason TSC didn't fucking die while her friends did was bcs she was made the same way as Dark (and Chosen). Getting stabbed a bajilion times unlocked her powers and she managed to beat the shit out of Dark and revive everyone. It's implied that she doesn't really remember that though. And she never really uses her powers again so I imagine they only come out in specific circimstances

SURELY she'll catch a break nowNOPE this guy she's never seen before is trying to destroy the fucking world so they gotta stop him now!!!! The entirety of season 3 happens in the span of like 2 hours which is so fucked. They all almost fucking die AGAIN MULTIPLE TIMES. Literally every single tragedy ends with a close call. PLEASE let my girl have a nice, long nap she needs it SO bad

.

[sword-and-lance]

((okay

okay

I had to literally go nap and then walk 2 miles to get my brain to stop howling along at a bazillion miles a second until I felt like my head was about to explode

but

SPOILERS PAST HERE FOR THE RAID SHIT YOU BEEN WARNED

reeeeeally not sure what the difference between "memory" and "soul" is, game, y'all keep using those interchangeably and I am Confused As Fuck and likely gonna just ignore that in my own personal canon at this point lmao

good I am completely vindicated about pretty much everything about Athena, namely: yeah she's always just been Like That, y'know, an asshole (also that really unnerving bright blue eye color was an A+ choice good job on the design there). That entire thing was chilling as fuck

the P12 music sounding like a fuckin dance remix made me cackle though, Athena throwing the BEST raves over here, you go girl even if you're probably about to wind up in Runya's head sorry

Lahabrea you're bizarrely calm about this whole thing?

MY BELOVED, THOUGH. god you're such a fucking mess Lahabrea I fucking love you even though Nereus is 200% not about to allow you to just run off into the literal aether like that in my own canon <3

okay okay even if the Hegemone thing very neatly dovetails with a headcanon I have (namely: she didn't have many friends and Athena 200% took advantage of that), that was one helluva ass pull at the last second

It makes much more thematic sense to have Lahabrea re-merge himself for the sake of making Zodiark IMO but I get that they wanted/needed to show that he actually. did that. and that's fine I guess even if my own canon's gonna go with the Zodiark idea lmao

Themis, bb ;n; you need a hug dude I'm so sorry

working out what I wanna do with Nemesis and Nereus here is gonna be ~*kind of ass*~ but I'll figure it out lmao

The actual fights weren't too too bad to sightread but I stg the snapshotting got me a solid few times and that fucking spiderweb bridge in P10 is a shit and a half to navigate and my friend with hand mobility issues was also having Problems (TM) there despite being fine everywhere else, which is no bueno))

[safyresky]

Frostmas Year 7: Behind the Scenes

Prologue | Y1 | Y2 | Y3 | Y4 | Y5 | Y6 | Y7 | Y8 | Y9 | Y10 | Y11 | Y12

Lmao I JUST posted Y6 and the BTS for it like, YESTERDAY as of starting this post, and I'm ALREADY HITTING UP YEAR 7 LMAO LET'S GOOOOoOOOOoooooOOo

Year Seven was a fun one! My notes were small and it ended up being one of the longer chapters which was genuinely shocking to me. Year 9 also did the SAME THING. Check out the OG notes below the cut! :)

[ID in ALT]

Short enough it fits in a screenshot. WILD. ALTHOUGH! It is SURROUNDED with little snippets from the year (hence the "see right side" note up top)—I imagine they were written while I was struggling with Year 6.

Anyway! Let's hecking get into this, yeah?

Jacqueline's Intro

Guess who scrapped it!

THIS GAL

Fun fact: I actually never liked the intro. I felt it really deterred from where I left off in Y6, so when I went back to read it and still felt this feeling, I scrapped it

As of writing this, I THINK I'm going to add it post-the tree and fast freeze hair scene? But we'll see if it works with the funky flow of things~

OKAY REGROUPING A WEEK LATER BC YOU GUYS. AS I READ THROUGH IT TO FILL THIS THING OUT I REALIZED SOMETHING. THE EVENTS OF YEAR SEVEN? THE WAY I WROTE IT, ALL HAPPEN WITHIN A DAY:

Jacqueline heads back to the Pole January 3rd

She has the convo about the Final Form Resort with B on January 3rd

They come up with the arson idea on January 3rd

She gets the twins clearance from Santa Jack during his wee lil interview on January 3rd

SHE GOES HOME AND GETS BLINTER APPROVAL AND THE TWINS TO AGREE ON J A N U A R Y 3RD

THEY THEN. IMMEDIATELY GO UP TO THE NORTH POLE AND JACQUELINE DOES THE WHOLE AIRPORT SHENANIGANS WITH JACK ON JANUARY THIRD

WHILE BELOW THEM. THE TWINS WING IT UNDER BERNARD'S WATCHFUL EYE. AND BURN THE NORTH POLE RESORT STUFF TO THE GROUND.

ON

JANUARY

THIRD

Now when I originally wrote this, I had not picked up on that at ALL. I thought that there'd been some time in between, but alas! I did it all on the SAME DAY. It only FELT LIKE IN BETWEEN TIME BECAUSE I KEPT TAKING LONG BREAKS BETWEEN WRITING SESSIONS!

AH!

SO I HAD TO OVERHAUL THAT WHICH DRASTICALLY CHANGED THE WHOLE CHAPTER FROM HOW IT ORIGINALLY WAS, ESPECIALLY SINCE THE TWINS ARE 12, NOT 8 (hundred) LIKE I ORIGINALLY HAD THEM IN LIKE. 2012! FUCKIN EH!

So NOW, without FURTHER ado. The Behind the Scenes of Year 7 Mark 2 because ah-fuck-i-can't-believe-i've-done-this dot vine.

Scene 1: Freedom

As per the crossed out original opening of this BTS, I decided to move the intro somewhere else, and found a good place for it, I think. I didn't want to break up the flow from Y6 into Y7, and I kind of like it a LOT better like this! :)

"Right now immediately" is tumblr vernacular/maybe a reference to the breadsticks meme?

Don't worry, she DOES find her left shoe again! Snow likes her a lot so when she went back up north she was like "HEY SNOW. YOU SEEN MY SHOE." and the snow yeeted it right out of a huge drift and slid it her way :)

And FINALLY she decides to come CLEAN to Blinter

I gotta tell you guys. Writing Blinter has been a STRUGGLE in these old parts. I have to keep remembering that CS has not happened, nor has MtF, so Winter's frozey and Blaise needs a Fucking Nap. I ALSO have to remember that they are decent parents. Like, they are trying their best. And as I read through these old chapters, some things they said were phrased in such a way that I was like "Hmm. My parents would say that. Let's change that!"

The other thing too is that a lot of lines in Frostmas were peer reviewed and quite well liked in the reviews, so trying to keep those in (because I liked them too!) while updating the vernacular and making sure everyone is in character has been a CHALLENGE. But I think I did well enough! HOPEFULLY.

My apologies if there was a line you liked that's GONZO now 🫠

Scene 2: Coming Clean to Blinter

This scene actually held up pretty well!

One major change was Blaise's anger. It was directed at her, so this time around I tweaked his vocab to make sure it was directed at her disappearance, and to hopefully show that it's coming from a place of concern and fear and that's why he's angry about it lmao

Winter too! Though she deffs didn't appreciate Jacqueline's sass levels, which are 100% hints I've dropped about what happens to her at the end of Year 10 >:)

"...they had grown into a sentient enchantment"

^So the gates at Frost Manor were NOT enchanted by Blaise to open on their own, funnily enough! They grew into sentience on their own. It happens sometimes ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

But the gates are one of my fave characters and they really love the family which is a good thing given they've been standing on that lot for like, four thousand or so years

RIGHT INTO THE FUN BITS

"Mom’s thumb rubbed my cheeks, her lips pursed. “Jacqueline darling…what have you done to yourself.” She chipped away at the ice on my face, head tilted, looking…perplexed."

The MOMENT she sees Jacqueline she's like "this is fake as fuck. why have you put all this ice on your face. what in the actual fuck, Jacqueline"

She's gd Winter ffs!!! And Jacqueline ain't SLICK! She thinks she is but she's really not :) But she tries and we gotta give her credit where it's due!

"I know it's convincing" says Jacqueline, meanwhile Winter's thinking "it's a mess, actually, and close up not convincing in the slightest but you've had a long day so I'm not going to roast you about that this time :)"

"Your FATHER trying to reach out" is a new line! Since I decided how Blaise's connections with the kids worked I figured I'd mention in in Y7 lmao. He's like "I'll leave you be but I am there if you need me" meanwhile Winter's like "I am a constant threat presence"

It's an interesting view into how they both grew up, actually, how they approach parenting and how their connections work!

Winter was surrounded by loud, loving sisters and a lovely mum. They were/are very tight knit and it shows with how active her connections with the kids are

Blaise didn't have a lot of freedom growing up, CONSTANTLY under the watchful eye of his parents AND brother AND the entire nobility AND the entire gd continent so he, of course, is very much like. Give them the freedom they need but support where you can kind of thing

sups off topic. Getting back ON topic. AH.

the line about the spiked warm drink was one of MY faves and I did my best to make sure I could keep it in there >:)

Scene 2.5: The Actual Chat

Blaise's hair is his worst tell. And the truth of the matter is, he can 100% keep it temperate if he wants too but he doesn't—he is the reason Winter always beats him at poker or any card game involving bluffing, really :P

Blinter deffs were unsure she'd be back by Christmas, given how everything went with the first child. They tried very hard to be hopeful and they were, doubt just creeps in REAL EASY especially when you're THAT old and have SEEN SOME SHIT

And the thing is, they DO understand! They've both been there. Dealing with some gnarly extenuating circumstance, that may or may not have been caused by family members or at least, contributed to by them, and they have fought through it and clawed their way out of the ground time and time again and are reminding Jacqueline about that in this whole scene. And also me. Because I frequently forget the shit I put these two through when they were younger (see: civil war, the call, day of darkness)

Blaise's speech about how many times can you keep doing it is loosely inspired by this post which whenever I see it I go hope IS messy, and also, BLAISE VIBES bc that's his core lmao

And it makes me feel better for constantly trying again and again even when things seem hopeless

hope really is messy business, isn't it? ANYWAY

"I am a simple woman. I just like to watch people flail on ice until they fall over.” “A worthy pursuit.” “Thank you, dear.” Dad nodded over the rim of his cup.

this was newly added, i fucking LOVE Winter she's so funny and Blaise is just like "you're valid hun" like. I love them? 🥰🥰🥰

And WHAMMO! WE INTRODUCE THE ACCIDENTAL FREEZE!

Which was HUGE foreshadowing, lol, as that's LITERALLY what HAPPENS as we know by now in Year 10!

You've heard of sad. You've heard of bad. Get ready for ANGRY. REALLY, REALLY FUCKING ANGRY! That's Jacqueline's nature as a frozen sprite, if you haven't noticed lmao

Reading this now post writing it, I'm like, DAMN, I could go for a Blinter sammy hug. That sounds delectable!

Scene 3

I have I ever told you all how I can pinpoint the exact moment Jacqueline's heart freezes? No? Well, I can, and if you're curious to know, it's in this scene 🤫

Scene 4: Visiting Gran

Yet ANOTHER instance of fixing shady character shit, oy VEY.

One of my pet peeves is Mother Nature being characterized as the BIGGEST bitch, derogatory, completely uncaring and cold. Like, yeah, Nature do be like that but also, it do be warm and comforting and nurturing, you know?

And she always seems very nice in her scenes in the movies so, you know, the MOMENT someone is like "she doesn't CARE" or ANYTHING like that I'm OUT.

So when I catch it happening in MY work I'm like, oh HELL NOOO

And I think this scene had a few instances of it that have since been refreshed and cleared out :)

CS HEADCANON ALERT: Fairies can shrink their size to get into small places! So can Pixies.

CS HEADCANON ALERT: The Legendary Figures all guard a specific type of magic that was used to create the World. Oh, there's all sorts of magic involved there. But the big ones, the ones that are easy to pick up on and most common? The Legendary Figures guard it, and make sure it keeps flowing and that the world keeps turning

This is why MN says that she felt a shift and things felt righted—Jacqueline, being a Legendary Figure atm, coming back out into the world proper, tips the magic balance back to where it should be.

Hence the comment of "having the legendary magics back in the fold, and all that" and the meaning behind it! Which maybe you didn't need to know. But hey! You know now! :)

Scene 5: VINDICATION

Because that's Jacqueline's thought the ENTIRE time the council is meeting. I WAS RIGHT THE ENTIRE TIME and she is READY to gloat about it and WILL gloat about it FOREVER

And now we're getting into the messy business of "how come the Council didn't know Jack wasn't supposed to be Santa" and the obvious plot hole in tsc3 of "How did FT NOT pick up on Jack doing that?" which are smaller facets of the whole HOW DID THEY LET THE THEME PARK HAPPEN ANYWAY?! Argument

They didn't! Jack just did it. And as for timelines, well, FT coming in CLUTCH with an explanation! Of sorts.

I mean, they gave us the answer in tsc3—their powers don't work on other Legendary Figures! So if a Clause is used, Christmas magic, in conjunction with Time magic, BY the guy who uses the WINTER MAGIC, well. It's going to get messy and the timeline's gonna be all sorts of fucked up and FT is popping up now to start tackling that problem

And because we are more than halfway through, and we all know how the movie ends, so...time to start having FT figure out the shit going on!

Especially with Y8 being right around the corner, lol.

"Picture of poise and grace and such" was I think, "Picture of sophisticated grace" originally and yes, it was a Frozen reference.

Scene 6: Jacqueline's Intro

Tada! This is where I moved it! When the New Year starts proper! I thought that was rather brilliant on my end :3

Apparently, this opening was one of the heavily enjoyed ones? Idk. But I'm happy with where it is and glad I didn't have to scrap it entirely! I kind of like them, you know? I like that Jacqueline essentially TW's us for what shenanigans are gonna happen NEXT before telling us about said shenanigans.

Also. Sometimes. the Canadian just SLIPS OUT. And it sure fucking did with the last line of the intro lol

Fun fact! Jacqueline's a dual citizen. Her other citizenship is Canadian 🤭🤭

Scene 7: Breaking into B-Man's. Again

Idk WHY. When I was writing this. Jacqueline was like. I commit breaking and entering as a hobby into Bernard's house, specifically. But! Here we are!~

We can also see the uh. Friction getting to Bernard, with him being snappish @ Jacqueline

tho admittedly it's ah. well deserved given that ah. She did break into his house and deliver bad on bad on badder news!

Scene 8: LOTS of BAD Ideas

Like. SOO many bad ideas.

Okay. So we got like. The final version of the Resort, right? Then we have Jacqueline's big plan: FIRE.

And Jack calling in actual reporters from the ordibeing world

So you'll NOTICE that THAT detail wasn't on the notes! That'd be because I added it as I was writing! I realized that like, if he'd dropped off all these tickets and people were calling it a scam and y'know, social media circa 2001 was going OFF about it, it'd be ideal for Jack to fess up asap before other people took the credit for it OR everyone deemed it a scam with fruitless investigations and whatnot (if that makes sense)

BASICALLY it was to give the Resort a sense of legitimacy given that it was this close || to being brushed off as a scam or silly marketing scheme (which aren't totally untrue statements)

Do I know where Jeff works? NO! All I know is he's the only reporter (him and his team) to come up and the interview is gonna be SO exclusive lmao

Bernard probably had to talk Jack down from hosting a whole ass PRESS CONFERENCE lol, bc he absolutely would. 100%.

An aside: I bet the pieces on news stations when reporters who have kids go to the Resort are interesting pieces lmao. The whole world is probably like "wow! crazy!" and the news casters are probably like "A fun activity to do with your kids this Christmas!" and the Council is probably like "Woahg. They're?? Not thinking it's the real deal? Crazy"

This got off topic, but YEAH! The reporter bit was added in as I was originally writing! Neat facts!

"Your fascination with arson concerns me, Jacqueline. Especially considering your alignment and all."

^Okokok this is one of my fave lines. It's a call back to her suggesting they burn his satchel the year before. It's also very true: she quite enjoys starting fires. Loves her a good fire, that Jacqueline. DEFFS the summer sprite blood there. The Twins also have more winter sprite tendencies! Fiera constantly overheats and LOVES being cold. Fino always has a window open when it's nice and cold outside. That sorta thing!

Jacqueline: suggests the TWINS join their efforts

Literally Everyone: are you insane

Jacqueline: >:O. YES! OBVIOUSLY!

"...I know listening is hard for them, but I would rather have a controlled fire than something akin to the Great Fire of London." “Hey! They were young! It was an accident.” “They started that?!” “Oh! I assumed you knew? I thought that’s why you brought it up.”

The Twins did, in fact, start the Great Fire of London. In 1666 specifically. That one.

They didn't mean too! They were quite young and missed Jacqueline so they took the long maiden voyage out of Crystal springs, all the way across the world to Europe and met up with her in London, promptly SETTING IT ON FIRE.

I think they're both complicit. Fiera was sparky and Fino wanted to pet the animals in the barn. It is what it is, I suppose ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Scene 9: Crashing the Interview

Making Jacqueline channel Jack brings me great joy for reasons I cannot express but could probably be easily summed up as ANGST

“And his name is Jeff, which I think is very funny for a bigshot journalist doing a travel piece. On Santa Claus.”

->She's calling me out :( I didn't have a name for Jeff so I went with Jeff bc I had just watched WWDITS and Jesk existed and was a thing 🙃🙃🙃

(In Nadja voice: It's like a weak ejaculation!)

“On the biggest news story this year!” “The year is still young, y’know."

I wrote this bit. Remembered that Y7 takes place in 2001. And my face was immediately like

"Since this is an off-school year" Jacqueline says, surprising even ME as I didn't know that's how they did school in CS

But I'm getting the vibe for magibeans, they take decent breaks between schooling years just bc of longevity or something. Idk. I'm working on it? I guess?

Like when people take gap years to travel or whatever, lol. Would NOT be surprised if Magibeans did something similar but the students would go travel into the ordibeing world or do magical research or projects or SOMETHING like that, lol

"I winked at Jeff, which seemed to do the trick as he laughed heartily, thinking it was some sort of joke amongst us magibeans"

I spent this whole passage thinking of the culture shock Jeff must be dealing with and cackling

Also. Love having Jacqueline throw her title in Jack's face, makes me cackle >:)

Scene 10: Best Laid Plans Start. A MONTH OR SO LATER! NOT ON THE SAME DAY!

I am so mad about this same day thing, honestly

SO HERE WE SEE THE FIX! THE PLAN HAS BEEN SET UP AND N O W JACQUELINE IS BROACHING IT WITH THE PARENTS AND IT IS NOT A ONE DAY THING, IT IS AN OVER TIME THING

Imagine being Jack. And dealing with THESE THREE GREMLINS on the most STRESSFUL year of your REIGN AS SANTA SO FAR.

It's also been very fun writing Bernard, especially when he gets a little win—like ruining everything on airport day specifically >:)

Jacqueline references this CS fact when she talks about how Fiera and Fino may have invented the fire hazard/fire safety

Hot girl soot is just a play on hot girl shit. So it's. You know. hot girl shit. Eating hot chips. Girlbossing. Starting fires. Practising elemental control. That sort of thing!

And this is immediately followed up with ANGST. I surprised myself with it too, tbh!

"And thinking of the amounts of paperwork the Resort will result in? Arson just seems more and more promising" Blaise is not here for the paperwork at ALL. I am thoroughly convinced that if he remembered Frostmas, he'd throw Jack into a lake and yell THE PAPER WORK I HAD TO DEAL WITH! And Jack would resurface and be like "gee dad. you really need to cool off" and push him into the lake with a snowy assist

The news the next day: Old Man is thrown Into Lake By Even Older Man.

Byline: IT'S ABOUT THE MASSIVE AMOUNTS OF PAPERWORK!

So that's why he's all "hell yeah" for arson, lol. He really really isn't looking forward to the bureaucratic NIGHTMARE the Resort will be—between the secrecy laws being broken, preventing the other secret magibean places from being exposed, and lady only KNOWS how much witness damage control? YEAH. BURN IT BEFORE HE DOES WHEN IT ALL CROSSES HIS DESK

Scene 11: Actually LAYING the PLAN

One day. What is WRONG WITH ME

Anyway! This scene is all new! To explain how the twins get up there and make a lil name for themselves BEING up there so that when the fire ACTUALLY HAPPENS it's not as sus as could be. even tho. y'know. it's DAMN OBVIOUS LOL

It turned into another one of those back into the present scenes where the cold front is recounting the tale with one another and this one was SO FUN and made me weak

the implication is that the twins somehow managed to weasel themselves into the cold front's day off plans? I think that comes across

Not that Jacqueline minds, of course! She sees Jack too often at this point and is more than happy to have her other siblings hanging out too, let someone else bother the man while she takes a beach nap

She just likes to tease him bc yes, the twins absolutely DO have Jack right in the palm of their hands, the sneaky lil hotheads

Scene 12 & 13 & 14: Fire Time

12 is deffs my favourite scene! Well, one of them, lol. Just. The image of disgruntled Santa Cosplay Jack watching two fiery beings try to shove themselves into a backpack while the other sibling loses it laughing beside them and just being like. I GUESS THIS IS MY LIFE NOW. Just SENDS me.

"He stopped beside Fiera; they stared at each other quietly for a moment before Fino nodded" <- this is twin telepathy at play right here

"Bermuda?" "Neutral Territory" <- don't quote me on this. to my understanding Summer mostly deals with Bermuda so she's HAPPY to host fight dates for Spring and Winter, helps ease their squabbling and also makes it easier for Summer when she hands off with Spring.

This could be why the Bermuda Triangle is Like That, lol.

(I know there's science in that shit. Let me suspend my disbelief for one goddamn moment, where is the WHIMSY)

Yes I named the Fire Marshal Marshal. A silly thing that was unappreciated when originally revealed so now I am making it VERY OBVIOUS

But also, he's more of a character in Y7 PROPER now, given the whole. FIRE thing we have going on here, so now his name has to be in your face instead of one off wordplay joke.

RIGHT! SO! FIRE TIME

You guys would not BELIEVE the pause this scene caused me. I got right up to go time and then paused like "huh. how do you start fires".

Did I google it? Yes! Needless to say, reddit has a sub for EVERYTHING and I learnt about a very prolific serial arsonist and now may have to take out another book from the library, but that's neither here NOR there

I also googled "is varnish flammable" and it is, more so than paint so, here we are lmao!

Would NOT be surprised if I was on some kind of list, especially since half this research was. In fact. Done at work 😬

Scene 15: Cold Front Time

I went on a whole ass OTHER research rabbit hole involving PLANES and POLAR TRAVEL for this one lmao

Boeings don't GO into polar regions! I know this now! And more! The wikipedia page on the Lockheed planes was very very very long and informative, wow.

when Jacqueline says "terrible new paint job" please know it is the exact design it had on it in the movie. The Santa flying on top of the plane design. That one lmao

As for the crew, I was thinking about this and I wasn't sure they'd be human/ordinary, non-magical people, y'know? But I FIGURED that Jack would know some seedy mofos/have people who owe him or vice versa and he'd be able to cash in on that for a situation like THIS.

I know nothing about the crew, other than the pilot is very tiny, dressed like an old timey pilot, and you cannot see their defining features so all you know is that they are a creature of some sort but that's it!!!

"Have you ever waded through molasses, let alone cold, non-magical molasses? It’s exhausting.” “I wouldn’t know. I was in Chicago at the time, not Boston.

You guys. I have been resisting the urge to reference the molasses flood of Boston MA the ENTIRE TIME Jack has compared the Christmas magic to Molasses. I finally caved. Hashtag worth it.

Trying to figure out how the people got into the pole, given the itty bitty hole and GIANT plane and lack of any environmental storytelling was a CHALLENGE, but I'm quite happy with it!

I originally wanted to have Jack talk about putting in a historic display that leads UP to the Resort and say some BS like "It's the FINEST iteration YET" but I was like "woah there, dani, you need to calm DOWN" and so I canned it at the uh, Disney pre-show mentions lol

Anyway. Jack never says the I told you so as they head down and see the FIRE, but I think it speaks for itself 🤭🤭

Scene 16: Twinsplinations

When I tell you. Fino and Fiera have been practising this bit ALL YEAR. I mean it

They are giant hams. This whole family is tbh (and we love them for it? I think?)

They're so good that even Jacqueline was like HEY LIVE THEM ALONE >:( despite knowing they were playing it up--but this is also a side effect of her own predicament lol. She's entering her angry era ;)

I deffs modelled the "what's salvageable" bit after the exact same scene in tsc3! I love me a bit of mirroring here and there >:)

I am pretty sure they would've gotten away with it if Jacqueline hadn't ended the scene the way she did. Absolute banger, of course, but my GOD she's causing problems on purpose, isn't she? heh.

REGARDLESS. These two continue to vex one another and quite frankly, exhaust me. Remember when I wanted to update every thirteenth? And this was updated late July? And the BTS is now being posted in (checks watch) AUGUST?!!? AND YEAR EIGHT HASN'T GONE UP YET???

AHHHH

Scene 17: Home Safe

So I reworked this scene quite a bit! Blinter is now included, and Jacqueline's mood post-arson can only be described as:

So. Let's see what notes and references I snuck in here!

None, apparently! But I am a big fan of this whole scene and interaction. Hitting us with the Winter angst when she asks Jacqueline to stick around! Whatever the heck Blaise and Winter are saying with their facial expression! I sure as shit don't know, but they sure do!

Scene 18 and 19: The Finale

When Jacqueline finally goes back up North to spy/scout/antagonize Jack for the most part, and she talks to Jack about everything, and he mentions the security footage and how the missing bits and how security was just like WHOOPS, I 100% pictured Gary(?) from the series. Heard it in his voice and everything!

I have to keep reminding myself that Jacqueline and Bernard are on the same team here, lol. And that the elves are HAPPY to help make things messy for Santa! So the erasure of the bits of security footage that showed the twins causing the fires was added to aide that bit

And I feel deep in my bones that they pulled a Speed and looped old footage of the twins eating with Bernard in case Jack was a wee bit too clever lol

And then we have the reveal as to why the security officers in the movie were human, and not elves! Jack time out'd them, which means Jacqueline made cute little ice statues of them and sent them off to help the others with the TUNNEL lol

The permanency of the PEN. me @ me:

Um, the carbon monoxide thing is new! I think about that story of the guy who was leaving notes for himself he couldn't remember, and how it ended up being carbon monoxide and a broken detector, quite frequently.

This year had like a LOT of explanatory semantics re: how the Resort was received/took off in the mortal world. That was one HECK of a summary passage to write in this last scene!

And I SOMEHOW managed to preserve the same end sentence. FUNK YEAH!!!

GOD this year was a MESS of a year. Glad to have fixed it up though! It's still holding up a month later (I started this BTS July 7th, and a week later ran into my IT WAS ONE DAY?!?!? problem, and FINALLY got around to posting it after finishing Year EIGHT) which is GREAT and now I can take a break from these bad boys since Y8 and Y9 already have a BTS! That'll make things MUCH easier! RIGHTO. Enjoy this raging dumpster fire of me RAMBLING. Prommy I'll get last week's scrimble done and this week's too at some point, and HOPEFULLY will throw Y8 onto ao3 BEFORE September (she says, on August 28th 🙃🙃🙃🙃🙃

[hollownoire]

I love insomnia. Sleepy? Yes. Tired? Very. Exhausted? Extremely.

Though no matter how I fuckin' time taking my sleeping med, or if I say fuck you to screens before bed, it just doesn't work. I need a hard reset, man, sleeping fucking sucks.

But I don't want it to! That's when I should be having dreams, that's when I should be fluttering off to dreamland on a chariot made of clouds and joy. I wanna close my eyes and fall asleep in minutes, seconds, not....HOURS?!?! I DONT KNOW ANYONE ELSE WHO JUST LIKE CANT SLEEP WHAT THE FUCK

ALL NIGHT BRO. ITS 5 FUCKING 30. HOW DO I TAKE MY SLEEP BACK?

Roll over, not comfy. Change positions, not comfy. Roll over. Roll over. Roll over. Curl up into the fetal position and pray to God my body realizes its time to shut the fuck up and go to bed, not comfy.

Melatonin? MelaNonin. Nothing. Nada. One. Two. Three, nothing. Take none, nothing. Nothing. Nothing.

Weighted blanket? Nothing. Peaceful as a babe? Almost never, but still nothing.

Talking to my damn doctor, I'm losing my goddamn mind. My insomnia has never been this bad, hell, I thought it was normal to flip around fucking over and over again until morning. No! It's not! I'm just a goddamn skyrim draugr dissolving into dust with all my fuckin' bones hurting.

I'm fucking sleep deprived and I STILL CANT FALL ASLEEP? What kind of bullshit is this?

ALSO SOME MOTHERFUCKING TRICKSTER DEITY THOUGHT IT WOULD BE FUNNY TO GIVE ME THE WORST HICCUPS RIGHT AS I LAID DOWN

Well! No sleep for me I guess! I'll just stay up until I fold over like a melted fucking peep in the microwave.

My friend, the other day, after I got like four hours of sleep, was fucking with me saying that friend 2 was never there. Like in the call. I was talking to friend 2 for like 5 minutes straight, realized he wasn't there, and asked friend 1 where he went

He fucking said he was getting his doctorate in college, AND I JUST BELIEVED HIM.

Oh, yes, that makes sense. Friend 2 IS in COLLEGE afterall! Of course he'd be doing that right now!

BUUUUT then he asked if i was talking to him for the past five minutes, and he fucking gaslit me into thinking he was never there and I about had a goddamn panic attack thinking I was hallucinating. (It's a bit he does, it's funny, normally, this was just like too real to be funny in the moment, but it is pretty funny now despite it being like my biggest fear)

So....yeah. Shit myself goddamn sideways and now yet again sleep evades me expertly, and I'm pissed, uncomfortable, I just wanna sleep but the sun is peaking it's stupid fucking mug over the goddamn treeline and I want to go fucking throw hands with it and teach it a fucking lesson. I need like, TWO or THREE hours more of TOTAL DARKNESS or I'm gonna fucking scream!

I WOULD go to bed earlier but should this SHIT repeat itself I'd just be speedrunning Misery and Dissapointment.

Oh, what's that, you wanna toss and turn starting at 9 instead of 12 or 1? Be my guest! NONONO.

I'm gonna fucking flip through YouTube now. So fucking pissed. I have shit to do!!! My music! Art! I don't have time to nap, man, naps SUCK. Everyone fuckin' applauds sleepy-cozy time like it's a bag of chips WITH A SANDWICH but it's NOT. Its NOT!!!

It's like a fucking dark ritual you do when you failed to do the proper arcane invocation, and you close your eyes and it's shitty cause you don't fall asleep! It's just staring at my goddamn eyelids for thirty minutes until I give the fuck up.

OR, I COMMIT TO THE NAP, AND I WAKE UP IN DARKNESS AND HAVE TO SCOOP MY BRAIN BACK TOGETHER

Somebody, please, I need sleep Master's (or Mistresses I guess but that's...whatever) to fucking tell me how to sleep. Absurd. Yes. I've tried TURKEY, I've tried MILK, I've tried STRETCHING, I've tried GETTING UP AND COMING BACK LATER and NONE OF IT WORKSSSSS

PLEASEEEEEE

[sarahjanesdiary]

April 12th 2024

I have such a strange relationship with “work.” Not the physical demands or how complicated the job may be just.. work as a whole. I struggle to remember things like.. Friday my tire was flat before I left work to go home. That day I pumped it then went home and just forgot the event happened. I had 4 days off. This morning I started to leave and what do you know… my tire was flat again. I forgot to take care of the issue and now I have to go to work again. (Shame 1 - Sarah 0)

I call my sister because she lives close but she’s actually at our moms’ this morning, too far. My friend lives close by, I ask her to help me with my tire and I message my boss. Twenty minutes to type a text asking if I can come in an hour late. “Okay” (Shame 2 - Sarah 0)

I start down the road after my friend drives away. I make it 5 minutes down the road. The car starts overheating. 

I pull over. I turn on my blinkers. I close my eyes.

I can’t do this today.

I message my boss and apologize. I call off. (Shame 3 - Sarah 0)

I drop my things off in my living room. I sit down. I pick up Stardew Valley. 50 pounds in my shoes. 

So now what? Do I spend the rest of my day doing productive things to make myself feel better for calling off? Do I listen to self-help podcasts to try to fight this overwhelm that is coming up? Do I go to sleep, or take a nap? 

I feel like so easily these feelings can take me on this troubling emotional ride that leaves me feeling broken and panicked. 

Bad morning - Bad day - Bad life 

But that’s silly. That doesn’t make sense. How can I go from having a bad morning to “Where’s the closest bridge?” 

Why is it me against me?

I’m in the ring with a blob of a monster. They’re tall, frightening, casting shadows on me they’re so large. I’m so scared. I’m watching it come closer and I can feel my body trembling. My stomach is upset, my hands sweaty, crying/snotty. I’m petrified. Anyone would be if they saw this. If they were in the same ring with this monster every day. 

The monster isn’t a monster at all. The monster ends up being like one of those costumed characters from Scooby Doo. Take the mask off and there’s a real monster I think except… It’s me. Little me. Child me. 

I’m just a kid stuck in protective armor. Trying to seem big and scary to protect me. I guess us. 

Edit: I wrote this on a day when I felt fed up, tired, and all-around shitty. Unreliable. Chronically late. Subpar job. 

I did it again. catastrophizing.  

I spent some time in the little outdoor area. Read the names of the “in memory of” stones. (I work as a housekeeper at a hospice. I’m fun at parties.) Drank my Pepsi for lunch. Not ideal but I just wasn’t hungry. I don’t know why. 

I wrote on my phone about an interaction I had with my sister and a patient. I felt inspired by her I think. Both of them. 

I came home and spent such a good evening with Brian. God that man. He makes me feel safe. Being in his arms, I truly understand what it means to have your worries melt away. 

There have been times like over dad, where I cried for so long I didn’t know if it was gonna fuckin stop. But then there are times like today when I immediately fell into him. melted.  

[handsomewrites]

Coparents with Benefits; ch.2

A hike, then a science class, then a touch-tank, then a dissection, then another hike. A full day of nature-themed activities await the students and their less enthusiastic chaperones!

read on ao3 here

Whoever had the idea to get teenagers up for a sunrise hike was not a friend of Glenn’s. It was hard enough getting his own ass out of bed, but twenty-some odd high-school students? By the time everyone was up and moving, it was barely a sunrise hike as much as it was an early morning hike.

Henry was annoyingly chipper, but that was no surprise as someone who claimed his favorite show was the sunrise. Jodie, once he got a cup of black coffee in his system and another in a travel mug, was also annoyingly chipper, which was no surprise as someone whose entire purpose in life was to grate on Glenn’s nerves in every way possible.

The kids picked up a bit once they got going, invigorated by the fresh air and the prospect of minimal supervision in the wild with their friends. They walked and talked, laughing with each other, the groups of teens shifting and morphing as they went. Henry started out walking with Jodie, chatting amicably. Glenn couldn't deny that he was curious what they were talking about. He was bringing up the rear, trudging behind the group with his hands stuffed in the pockets of his jacket. 

Stupid charismatic Jodie.

At some point along the hike, the Oak boys did what the Oak boys do, drawing their father away to try to limit the damage they did to the Catalina Island ecosystem. Jodie shook his head, chuckling, and hurried his gait to catch up with Nick, since the loss of Lark and Sparrow sent the remaining three boys into different teen-bubbles. Glenn's instinct was to interrupt the two, to try and separate Jodie from his son, but... Nick laughed, giving Jodie's arm a shove. Jodie was laughing too, which wasn't something Glenn saw often. 

As much as he wanted to hate everything about Jodie, Glenn loved his son, and Glenn loved his w—Morgan. And his son and his Morgan loved Jodie, for some godforsaken reason, so... he let them be, putting his fingers into the innermost pocket of his jacket to pull out one of his special cigarettes to get him through the end of this hike. While Jodie was too distracted to be an ass about it.

---

The chill of the morning abated through their hike as the sun rose in the sky. They gave the kids a bit of free time before lunch, to hang out by the water or walk the trails with their friends. Glenn went back to the cabin to grab a nap. He woke up ravenous, but it was lunchtime with teenage boys, so he wasn't the only one.

After lunch, they helped corral the kids into the Science Center for a series of academic-type activities. The schedule, as Glenn was told, started with a lecture in the classroom, followed by a walk through the center's exhibits, then back to the classroom to dissect something.

Since it had warmed up so much, he left his jacket back at the cabin, swapping it out for a torn up denim vest. It had some patches on it, and it showed off his biceps, so losing the jacket wasn't too much of a downgrade. It worked great for lunch at the picnic tables outside, but the center itself gave him a bit of a chill as he watched the kids file into their seats.

"Shouldn't've ditched the jacket," Jodie pointed out as he rubbed his hands against his upper arms.

"Guess not," Glenn grumbled. "I didn't know they were gonna have the A/C up high enough to recreate the fuckin' arctic."

"Well, I guess they say it's melting. Gotta make a new one."

Was that a joke? Glenn genuinely couldn't tell. He just hummed, crossing his arms. As he did, he heard a little ugh from Jodie, and glanced over to see him wrinkling his nose in disgust.

"What?"

"I keep forgetting."

"Forgetting what?"

Jodie rolled his eyes, lightly thumping Glenn's bicep with the back of his hand. "Your stupid tattoo. Are you ever going to get that ugly thing covered?"

Glenn had forgotten too, to be honest. A shit-eating grin grew across his face. "Oh, does it bother you?"

"It doesn't bother me, it's just juvenile and idiotic."

He still remembered the look on Jodie's face when he had first seen the art that adorned Glenn's upper arm. It was a stylish, rock-n-roll block of four stylized letters— ACAB. At first glance, it could be mistaken for an AC/DC logo, which he figured was why it took a few months for Jodie to recognize it for what it was.

"You're setting a bad example for Nicholas," he had said, and Glenn had scoffed.

"Nick always thought it was cool."

"Well Nicholas would agree it's idiotic."

The current Nicky wouldn't tell either of them what he thought of it. Glenn figured he probably thought it was cool, but didn't want to make things weird at home.

"Sure, man," Glenn answered, back in the present, with a wave of his hand, "whatever you say. Hey, do we have to stay for the lecture or is it just for the kids?"

"I don't know. I doubt it matters—"

"Cool. Peace." Glenn pushed off the wall he'd been leaning on and wandered deeper into the Science Center as the teacher started quieting everyone down for the lesson.

He only made it about twenty minutes on his own. He was looking at a tank of garibaldi, California's state fish, when he heard Jodie grumble "there you are." He rolled his eyes to the ceiling.

"What, man? Do you have something else to lecture me about?"

"Well, I didn't, uh. Trust you wandering around on your own..." Glenn's complete and total exasperation seemed to take him off guard, and his words lacked their usual bite. After a moment he surprised Glenn with an amendment: "And, well. Henry was more interested in the lecture than I was. And there's not much else to do while we wait for them..."

Ah. The other parents didn't seem to take too much of a liking to Jodie, either. Glenn honestly wasn't sure why — he wasn't a terrible looking guy, annoyingly involved in the community, and it's not like they could claim he was a bad influence like they had said of Glenn. Maybe it was his naturally irritating personality. Maybe their dislike for Morgan was also universal enough to exist in both of their realities, and it rubbed off on her husband. Maybe they also hated cops on principle. No matter what it was, though, it left Jodie with just him, Nicky and Henry to talk to on this trip, and apparently even Glenn's company was better than being alone.

"Right." Glenn didn't look back at him, watching the garibaldi circle. Jodie came to stand next to him, hooking his thumbs into his belt as he looked up to the brightly colored fish. 

They stood in silence for a bit as the water in the tanks around them sloshed and bubbled. Glenn scratched behind his ear, grappling with his discomfort. 

"These bitches bite, you know," he mumbled, gesturing towards the fish. 

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah. Was on one of those signs back there."

"Huh. Who knew."

Glenn looked over at Jodie, studying his face as he watched the fish. The aquarium light glowed down on them, casting his profile in a strange light. Looking at him for too long felt weird, though, so after a few seconds he had to shift his gaze—

"Ooh, they have a jellyfish tank!"

---

The hour Jodie and Glenn spent among the exhibits of the Science Center was quiet, but not overly awkward. They spent a long time watching the jellyfish bob, something about their weightless floating hypnotic. A sea cucumber trundled along the bottom of the tank. Apparently all these things were native to the area, which was news to Glenn.

It was kind of cool you could just have these things living in your house, though. Glenn probably didn't have the patience to keep up on something like that, but Jodie seemed like he might be the type to have a fishtank. Or a model train. Something kind of weird and boring like that.

The kids' class let out as they pondered a shallow, hip-level tank of water and sand. The rim of the tank was about a foot wide, and Glenn had been considering if he could sit there, but the kids drew his attention back. The teachers corralled the kids past the orange fish and the floating jellies to gather by the shallow tank, so Glenn acted like they'd gone over there on purpose to direct them, gently leading the shorter kids to the front.

"Come on, kids, there's room enough for everyone," Henry was saying, spreading the kids out along the rim of the pool. "Lark, Sparrow, get in there together, make space..."

The teacher from the Science Center disappeared around the side of the tank, fiddling something metallic by the back end of it. Whatever she did shifted a panel connecting the shallow tank to a larger one, letting the waters mix between them.

"Just give them a minute," she said, running her fingers through the water. "Feel free to put your hands in. They love people, so once they know you're here they'll all come on up. Don't splash, though, or you'll scare them!"

Nick was across the tank from Glenn and Jodie, between one of Henry's twins and Terry Jr. He said something to Terry, making them both chuckle, and Terry gave him a little shove to the arm. Whichever Oak boy was on his side was also laughing, and also gave him a shove, which Henry fussed at him for almost immediately.

The kids had pushed him and Jodie together, which was... fine. He wasn't going to let Jodie’s presence keep him from touching some stingrays and shit.

The rays were the first to come out, circling the edges of the tank to brush against the proffered fingers. They had a surprising amount of muscle for tiny little pancake fish. Jodie remained leaning away, his arms folded protectively over his broad chest.

"You wanna get in here, man? They're not slimy or nothin'."

"No, I'm... good back here."

Glenn furrowed his brows, but he didn't care enough to push. He was a little surprised to see jellyfish float in behind the rays.

The Oak boy on Henry's other side from Nick sent up a small splash of water as his hand shot into the air. "Miss Hernandez! Don't jellyfish sting?"

"They do, usually," the center employee answered pleasantly. "But these are moon jellyfish! Their sting isn't usually strong enough to get through our skin to hurt us. Still, try not to touch its tentacles directly — they can still irritate your hand. Its squishy dome is perfectly safe to touch!"

The jellies floated in with the current of the water, unaware of the chaos around them. Glenn took the teacher's suggestion to poke one on its dome, and he felt Jodie peek over his shoulder.

"What," Glenn asked him, "are you scared?"

Jodie seemed surprised to be noticed, and his arms tightened across his chest. "No." Glenn was visibly not convinced, so Jodie continued, pointing into the water without unfolding his arms. "One of those things killed Steve Irwin, you know."

"A jellyfish?"

"No, a stingray. They have barbs."

"Our stingrays' barbs are actually trimmed," the employee explained, more enthusiastic than Glenn expected a girl her age would be about stingray barbs, "so they can’t sting. They're also very docile. The barbs are really just for self defense."

"Does trimming the barbs hurt them?" Henry asked, drawing her attention back off Jodie.

"It's similar to how we clip our fingernails! They take a few months to grow back, but since there aren't any predators here, they do just fine without them!" Her unbridled enthusiasm about the objectively kinda boring subject was almost reminiscent of Henry’s. He’d wonder if they were related, if he didn’t already know all about Henry’s fucked-up family. Too much, really.

"See?" Glenn said, reaching to brush a knuckle against another stingray's wing. "Harmless."

"Sure." Jodie still seemed wary.

Glenn gave it a whole second's consideration before acting. He pulled his wet hand from the touch tank, turning to grab Jodie's wrist. Jodie squawked, but he was caught off-guard enough for Glenn to yank him forward and plunge his hand into the tank, gently knocking the cop's knuckles against a jellyfish that had floated into the way.

"Glenn!" His muscles were tensed under Glenn's grip, but he only made a nominal effort to pull away. As much as he hated to admit it, Jodie was stronger than he was, so if he really wanted to get away...

"Relax. Stay still, you're scaring them all away." He could hear Jodie huff air out of his nose, but he continued to stay put, which was surprising to say the least. Maybe he was just trying to keep from drawing attention.

If that was the case, it already wasn't working terribly well — Glenn caught sight of Nick watching them across the tank, laughing and shaking his head at their foolishness. He was distracted by that when he heard Jodie suck in a breath.

"Oh. Oh my god."

"I didn't think that was a thing you could say."

Jodie didn't dignify that with a response. A stingray had taken an interest in his hand, and gently swam its wings over Jodie's fingers. Glenn could feel Jodie's pulse on his own fingertips where he held his wrist — it was faster than expected. Jodie was legitimately nervous, or at least surprised. His hand had turned demon-y from the stress, nails becoming sharp claws under the water. He buried the claws into the sand, which protected the fish exploring his hand from their sharp tips, though he probably did it to hide their transformation from anyone who looked over. The stingray was undeterred, brushing against his knuckles and up to his wrist where Glenn held it.

"It's... weird." His pulse was slowing, but he still looked uncomfortable.

"Not so scary, eh?"

"I wasn't scared," Jodie insisted. "They just... freak me out, is all. Give me the heebie jeebies."

"Sure, whatever." Glenn released his wrist, and Jodie pulled his hand out immediately, taking a few paces away from the tank. He held his hand in a fist near his chest. Glenn waved him off. "Go take a lap, man. We can hold down the fort for a bit."

Jodie looked at him with a weird expression for a moment before nodding, turning to leave the Science Center's automated front doors.

---

When everyone had their fill of the touch tank, the teacher took the kids around the rest of the Science Center's displays, and Glenn wandered outside for a smoke break. He expected Jodie to come back and nag at him for it at any moment, but he smoked half a blunt without interruption. He licked his fingers and extinguished the tip between them, tucking the remaining half into his pocket for later.

The next activity on the kids' agenda was to return to the classroom for a hands-on lab session. The lab was dissecting squids, which was rad, actually, so Glenn stuck around for this one.

He approached Henry as the teacher paired the kids off in groups of five. He looked a little green around the gills again.

"You good, man?"

"Glenn!" Henry smiled, weakly. "I, uh. I'm fine! No problem here!" He was talking in the high-pitched voice he used when he was not fine, and there absolutely was a problem. A bit more color drained from his face when the teacher started showing the kids their victims. He would've thought their time in the Forgotten Realms would have toughened Henry's stomach, but once a vegan, always a vegan, he supposed.

"Do you wanna sit this one out?"

"Uh. Yeah, I think that would be for the best." He swallowed, glancing over to the group of their kids. "Can you keep an eye on my beautiful boys? This is the sort of thing they tend to... get in trouble during."

Everything seemed like the sort of thing they would get in trouble during. "Sure thing, man. Go get some air." Glenn clapped him on the shoulder, making him stumble forward a few steps. He gave Glenn a weak smile before scurrying off, the second man Glenn had sent out for fresh air in the past few hours.

A weird trend that's started, really. Either way, he was running out of guys in the room.

He trotted over to the kids he gave a shit about, gently plucking a scalpel from Lark-or-Sparrow's hand. "Alright, kids, let's cut some motherfuckers open!"

---

Turns out squids are squishy enough to just... pull apart. Glenn had no idea where Lark-or-Sparrow had gotten a weapon. He decided it was better not to ask.

Once all the squid's parts were out on the tray, the kids set out to start labeling them, which Glenn found boring very quickly. He tried to whisper answers in Nick's ear, but they ended up being wrong.

He checked his watch. It had been almost an hour since Jodie left... It seemed like the Oak twins were probably fine on their own, now that the possible weapons had been returned to the teacher and the organs had been pinned down. The boys had looked a little feral, tearing the squids apart with their bare hands. That wasn't terribly abnormal, though.

"I'm gonna go look for Jodie," Glenn told Nick. "He's been gone a suspiciously long time."

"Sure. You guys seem to be getting along," he pointed out, leaning back to look at him.

"Uh. Well. Trying not to... you know. Argue too much, during your trip."

"Right." Nick smiled at him, in a way Glenn wasn't sure if he liked. "Good luck finding him."

He just nodded, shoving his hands deep into his pockets. He ran into Henry again on the way out, sitting on the front steps with his head between his knees.

"Oh, hey Glenn! Are the kids done already?"

"Nah, but they're done with the dissecting parts. Just doing the science bit now."

"That's usually when they cause the most trouble..."

"No sharp objects."

"Oh thank God. Where are you headed off to?"

"Looking for Jodie."

"Oh yeah, he's been gone a while, huh? Hey, you two have been getting along real well this weekend!"

"Oh my God, why do people keep saying that!" Glenn ran his hands through his hair with a groan. "We just aren't being dicks to each other for a weekend! You know, for Nick! Jesus..."

He walked off in a huff, lighting the remaining half of his blunt to calm his nerves.

The winding path between the Science Center was plenty long enough for Glenn to storm off, slow down, and finish the blunt before he saw any signs of anyone else. The weed cooled his head a bit, but not as much as he would've liked. He always packed the weakest shit for this sort of thing, smoking more out of habit and to take the edge off than a desire to get actually high. Sometimes there was just no better way to distract himself or busy his hands.

There were a few trails that branched off the main path deeper into the island... Hopefully Jodie hadn't wandered down one and gotten lost. It would be a huge pain to send out a search for him. It would probably be really embarrassing to Nick, and Glenn certainly didn't want to be the one to tell Morgan her stupid cop husband died of exposure on Catalina island.

If it was Glenn who had wandered off, he would have headed back to the cabins, so that's where Glenn went. He made it to the end of the path, to the little dirt cul-de-sac surrounded by cabins, and then he saw why Jodie hadn't come back.

In the middle of the circle stood a mountain covered in curly brown fur, placidly grazing on a tuft of weeds. The bison stood between Glenn and the building that housed the communal bathrooms and showers, his horns nearly touching the railing of its little decorative front porch. The door was cracked, and with a squint Glenn could see a familiar head peeking out.

"Jodie?" he called across the clearing.

Jodie pulled the door open a bit to gesture wildly, shushing and pointing at the bison, as if Glenn couldn't see it.

He felt a laugh bubbling up in his chest. Stupid bastard looked so goofy, trying to communicate with hand signs over the head of a wild animal.

"Dude, you're—" He glanced over both shoulders, to ensure he was alone. "You're a demon, dude, just—get rid of this thing!" With both of their heightened senses, they didn’t have to shout to each other, which was good both for keeping his words between the two of them, and for keeping the wild animal calm.

"I—" Jodie visibly huffed, sending Glenn into another fit of giggles. "I'm not gonna do that!" he insisted, hiding his body behind the door in case the bison got mad.

"I'll keep watch, if you want?"

"I can't hurt it! Aren't these things endangered or something?" Glenn shrugged. "Plus, how are we gonna explain a dead bison in the middle of camp?"

Well, that was true, at least. Glenn couldn't suggest anything else, though, because the whole situation had hit his funny bone hard. He doubled over laughing, one hand resting on his thigh to hold him up.

"Glenn! Shut up and help me, you bastard!"

"Seems like a ‘you’ problem to me, Joe!"

He got to laugh for a few moments longer before he heard the distant sounds of people approaching, his pointed demon-ear twitching behind the glamored disguise. He would've been a good lookout. But he had no reason to try and save Jodie's dignity, so he just kept it to himself.

"Holy horchata!" Henry yelped, pronouncing his stupid phrase with a Spanish accent, even though he was perhaps one of the whitest fathers at San Dimas high school. Even though he was so white he could get lost in a snowstorm. Even though he was so white he already looked a bit sunburnt. Even though—

"Oh! Oh dear." Henry had approached chatting with the employee from the Science Center, who, to her credit, didn't even look like she was irritated by him. "It's fine! It's fine, everybody stay calm."

The kids had started to gather behind them, so Glenn decided to be the adult and pass responsibility off to the twenty-something year old girl instead. 

"Jodie's, uh, stuck in the can over there. Is he gonna be alright?"

"Stuck in the—oh. Hm!"

Across the clearing, Jodie had stuck his head out again to wave. Anybody else probably wouldn't be able to hear them talking from so far away, no one seemed to notice the oddity.

"Well," she said, clearly debating the best way to word what she wanted to say. "Usually we just... let them wander off on their own. Trying to scare them off has a chance of just upsetting them, and you do not want an upset bison coming at you..."

"What's next on the schedule?" Glenn asked Henry. "Is it something we need a full cadre of adults for?"

"Uh." Henry looked at his watch. "Dinner. Then a hike up the hill to map constellations."

"Oh, he'll definitely probably move within the hour," the girl piped up. “He should be gone by the time dinner is over!”

"Cool. See you after dinner, Jodie!" Glenn made a circling motion with two fingers in the air, spinning on his heel. "C'mon, kids, time to move out."

Henry followed behind, but he seemed worried about it. "We're just-- leaving him?"

"He'll be fine," Glenn insisted with a wave of his hand. "We'll save him a sandwich or something for later. Besides," he added quietly, in a tone only his demon-ears and Henry’s elf-ears could hear, "you and I both know Jodie could get out of there if he really wanted to."

Henry made a worried humming noise, but didn't argue, which Glenn took as agreement.

[echo-legend-vnandln]

Echo: At the End

Chapter 2: Carter 1 Rating: M Notes: CW: Self-Gratification "Fuck…," Lt. Carter grunted as he stepped out onto the balcony outside his room.

He rolled his shoulders as he felt the cool Aphrodite air slide across his bare chest, happy Aphrodite's humid summer was starting to wane into its fall. Quietly, he pulled out his lighter and a well hidden cigarette from his pocket then stuck the latter between his lips. As he cupped his hand over his face and started to strike his lips faltered, losing the stick from his mouth and sending it tumbling down the side of the building. "Fuck!"

"No smoking in the building sir," a honeyed voice sang out to him.

"I'm not in the building," he shot back. Rubbing his face, he whipped his head back, glowering at Sahara as she leaned against the railing of her own balcony as she rolled a small glass of whiskey in her hand.

"Filthy habit from the old man anyway," the man huffed, before reaching over to steal the glass.

Smirking, he held it up to his lips, eyes on his neighbor's displeased face as she reached out. He hesitated as the cool glass hit his lips, letting her reclaim her drink and retreat back from him. "Nice try."

The man watched as she found a spot among the menagerie of plants growing throughout her balcony to set her drink down on.

"How are you feeling? Project Aurora taking a toll yet," Sahara asked as she started to tend to her flowers.

"Aside from a killer headache? Not particularly, but there's not been much to it all. Not that I particularly care to actually do anything strenuous. A life of leisure and all it costs me is what amounts to a day time nap," he yawned before giving a stretch.

"Is it though? I would be lying if I said I wasn't curious to what it's like," the woman asked, looking up to her neighbor.

The man rubbed the back of his head then thought for a moment. "Well, yeah. When it starts I feel like I'm drifting off to sleep. I guess for the duration I'm technically awake but everything feels dream-like for the most part."

"And when you wake up?"

"I want a cigarette and my head hurts. Then it's like there's a second voice in my head whispering numbers to me ," he huffed.

"Interesting. You know, if there is something wrong, you can always let me know. If you won't let me look you over I can always ask Dr. Noir," Sahara teased, giving him a wink.

Lt. Carter pushed off the railing and looked away as he felt his ears heat up with embarrassment. "Fuck that. You can keep your hands and eyes to yourself."

"Can't blame a girl for trying, though I wouldn't stand in Noir's way if you actually got up the courage to introduce yourself properly."

"I think he's got his hands full with Zero as it is. Meeting me will just cause more damage."

He looked on as Sahara frowned then recoiled into her robe. "Honestly, you're all exhausting. Why do men have to internalize everything?"

"Who fuckin' knows," the soldier brushed off with a shrug of his shoulders, content to let it die, or at least until it got the better of him.

Plopping back in an iron chair, he rested his hands together on his abs while looking down at his black socks, zoning out until throwing his head back with a sigh. "Speaking of Zero...how is that going?"

Terracotta clinked about from the other balcony in the wake of the question. After some light cursing and shuffling Sahara answered, " As good as expected."

"Seriously?"

"What do you want me to say? He's incredibly uncomfortable with the ghost of your father hovering over his shoulder all day. He's terrible at hiding it, though a part of him recognizes that what he's saying probably hurts. He practically begged me not to leave him alone," the woman exasperatedly tossed back. "Did you think it'd be love at first sight? It's super fucked up and creepy and if Major Summers didn't beg me to ensure the happiness of his son I would have already exposed this desperate scheme."

Absorbing her words, the lieutenant sat up then looked across to the woman as she held herself. "You loved the old man didn't you? A lot."

Sahara bit her lip then tossed a glance to the man. "I did. So did Noir, though probably not in the same way. I don't know many that met him and were left uncharmed...Did you know he paid all of my tuition for grad school after hearing my first project proposal? He wanted me a part of this team so he made sure to steamroll anything that would get in my way. And not just me, most of the people in R&D too."

"I get it. I get it. He was a great man with a big heart. I'm sick of hearing it," he grunted, "Glad he could play daddy to you and all his other 'children'. Give me a break. You know his priorities were fucked and all this last minute shit to try to make up for it wasn't enough for years of neglect for his true family.”

 He received a frustrated gasp in response followed by the woman swinging her arm. The lieutenant barely had time to react as a plant, soil and all was chucked at him. 

"You're an ass," the woman chirped before disappearing into her apartment, pausing slightly at her door, "He did, get it wrong with you boys. He knew that."

Sahara looked back, though the lieutenant couldn't make out what she intended with her stare. Having said her peace, she disappeared into her apartment. Standing, the man brushed off what he could, cursing as it muddied down his body. Turning to go inside, he took off his socks, not daring to track mud onto the new carpet. Heading into the bathroom, he finished stripping then tossed his clothes into a pile before sliding into the shower to wash up.

He cranked up the heat as high as it could go, not flinching even as the water streamed off him. Participating in Project Aurora had come to dull his nerve endings, a substantial loss to someone who already enjoyed scalding showers. Even showering felt difficult, unable to fully feel his loufa scratch away at his tanned skin. 

The man sighed as he ran his hands down his abs, ensuring the dirt washed away. Brushing his palm down further, he raked gently over himself then let out a soft moan. 

“Fuck, I'm really didn't think about giving that up,” he dejectedly thought, balling his fist and slamming it against the wall before he could give into his base urge. Feeling something tickle his foot, he looked to where he'd punched, finding the tile crumbling off the wall

"Fuck, fuck, fuck," he growled, grabbing the neck of the shower head to spray down the floor, ceramic crumbs going into the drain before turning off the water. 

The soldier quickly made fast work of cleaning up the rest of his mess before checking his hand and the bottom of his foot. “Not a single puncture.”

He flexed his hand for a moment before looking up into the steamed mirror, unable to make out his features. With precious little time left before he'd have to return to work, he opted to skip shaving for another day, thinking he might try out a chin strap if he was allowed to get it that far.

Towel aloft on his waist, he moved through the darkness and into the kitchen and began his hunt. “C'mon old man. A sweet tooth was all we really had in common,” he thought palming around the bottom of all the cabinets until feeling a button. After giving it a quick press, he opened the cabinet door then watched as a compartment slid open in the back, revealing a lit up compartment in the back with some assorted packaged snacks.

“Come on smokes, show me smokes,” he wished, sifting through the packaging. Feeling something sharp, he  snatched at it then pulled out what had pricked him. He raised a brow, seeing 'son' scrawled across a thick envelope.

“Oh sure, now you want to talk,” he grumbled before chuckling the letter into the back carelessly. He took a chocolate cream filled cake then closed up the hiding place before ripping the package open with his teeth. Cautiously, he took a bite, savoring the taste until interrupted by a knock at the door.

"God damnit," he grunted, stuffing his face before hurrying to the door in a flash. Swinging it open, he quickly shot his hand down to grab the wrist of whoever had decided to interrupt his night before they could hit the bell. 

Startled, the two twins from his office looked up to him, seeming to be sharing a set of navy blue pajamas between them, one wearing the top and matching boxer briefs and socks while the other the bad the bottoms and the same socks. "Seriously? What the fuck do you two Blues want?"

The two looked to one another then stepped back, the grasped one struggling to free himself from the soldier's firm grasp. "Sorry Lieutenant, we heard a beat on our wall and..."

"And you didn't fucking think I could take care of it? Do you two really belong on this floor? If there was a problem I would have sounded the alarm, and even then the last people I'd ask for would be the walking furniture catalog and his day planner," he huffed, glowering between the two.

“Seriously? Not even gonna flinch at that,” he growled in his head as he received blank stares in return. He gave back the wrist as he blocked the doorway, one hand reaching down to keep his towel on his hips.

"We're sorry sir. Given the recent events we thought it'd be best to check in. Ah, in case you forgot, I am Azul and this is my brother Cyan."

"I don't care."

"Understood. Good night sir, enjoy your rest," Azul answered quickly, bowing before going to return to his room with his brother.

"Send someone that can fix some tile in the morning," he ordered to their backs.

Glowering, the soldier shut the door and rested his back against it. “Pathetic. So much for free will.”

After taking a moment, he strode back to the kitchen, the lieutenant ensured his cabinet was set back correctly then headed into the living room. Whipping the towel from around his waist, he tossed it around his neck and held the ends before settling onto the couch. "Screen on, volume silent," he ordered briskly, looking over his shoulder at the moment towards his bedroom before giving the screen his attention, reading through the lips of the people on screen.

“R.O.M.Hs in professional sports? Should it be allowed or should they have their own divisions? Do their classes matter? More on this-”

"Next."

“Memorial to honor Rich-”

"Next."

“Interplanetary Government on edge as pressure from Apollo and Hermes' fringe groups grow. R.O-"

"Next."

The screen soon settled on a cartoon of anthropomorphic animals trying to cause harm to one another. Giving up on anything else being on this late, he settled in, tugging at the towel to put light pressure on the back of his neck. After a moment he closed his eyes, the show pulling up a memory. His three brothers had been taking up a couch eating breakfast while watching cartoons while his dad was in the lab coat he used as a robe and boxers, getting scolded in the background for letting them make a mess of cereal and milk in the living room by the nanny, trying in vain to convince her he contributed to it all himself. He allowed himself a chuckle at the distant memory before opening his eyes to stare at the ceiling, Project Aurora Initiating flashed across his vision in violet letters. As he drifted off, a final thought crossed his mind. “Guess you found another way to make our messes yours.”