#to be fair we probably should call it our plot retreat

[izar-tarazed]

Off to bed to hopefully sleep off the remainder of this stupid cold since I'll be on my way to the traditional New Year's writing retreat with friends! Hoping to get to all the open replies there over the next few days.

[popculturebuffet]

Of Moons, Millionares and Mothers Part 3: Storkules in Duckburg! aka THE INCREDIBLE STORKULES TERRIBLE BUT WELL MEANING ROOMATE OUT OF MYTH

Hello all you happy people! And welcome and welcome back to Of Moons, Millionares and Mothers, my look at the season 2 arcs of Ducktales! This arc was paid for by WeirdKev27 and I truly enjoy his support. if you want to know how to commission your own reviews or to get a guarnateed review of me of your choice from me a month, stick around to the end. I realized that shoving all my plugs in up top may be driving people away and while I DO make them because I want to make a living off this, i’ts not fair to those of you who simply can’t afford to buy a lot of extra shit like myself to keep shoving it in your face. 

Previously on the Louie Inc Arc, Louie, after believing he had no skills and it was a matter of when not if he ws going to die, found his talent: seeing all the angles and thus being Sharper than the Sharpies. With newfound confidence and a chip on his shoulder from Scrooge saying he could one day be a bigger success than Scrooge himself, founding Louie Inc as a result. But what is Louie Inc? Does he actually have a plan or a bunch of buzzwords. And what does STORKULES, MANLY GAY OUT OF MYTH have to do with any of this? Join me under the cut to find out. 

We open with Louie giving Scrooge his sales pitch that is essentially...

Naturally Scrooge buys none of it. I mean he’s somewhere in his hundreds, he’s probably seen about 80 thousand pitches that amount to “I have no plan but give me money anyway”. There’s a reason there’s a Butch Hartman shaped crater on the lawn from where he threw his ass out. 

Scrooge does mentor the lad, or at least attempt to pointing out he needs an actual product or service (Louie rejects the idea of a lemonade stand as too easy), or as he puts it “Find a problem and create a solution”. 

While the basic PRINCIPAL isn’t bad, find something people want or need and provide it, phrasing it that way sounds like “find a problem people are having and exploit the shit out of that problem for fun and profit.” Granted that IS a guiding principal of business, it’s just not something an uncle should be teaching his kids. They should be teaching them about the anime and cartoons they grew up with as I do with my niece and nibling. 

He does show him a valid example of this in action in the form of Donald. Turns out Donald has found a good way to make money while he looks for a job, can relate: since Duckburg is facing a housing shortage, likely because several square blocks probably get destroyed by Scrooge’s Adventures, Glomgold’s Schemes, Superhero Battles, whatever creation went horribly wrong for Gyro, etc at least once a week. So he’s taken it upon himself to offer up the spare room to whoever can rent it.. and to steal Scrooge’s chandelier which even when caught he still takes anyway. Scrooge.. you called the guy a god-damn moocher in the season premiere, despite the fact he lives there soley because YOU offered and because he’s you know, being responsible and staying by his boys so they have their father figure around. So yeah I feel he’s doing this partly out of spite as is the McDuck way. I mean if your going to call him a freeloader just for being a responsible parent, then he’s going to take it up a damn notch.

Scrooge proceeds to laugh off Louie wanting a million dollars and gives him a dime instead because of course he was. Seriously Louie there are two other billionaires in town who are FAR dumber and far more easily swindled. Just go get star up capital from them. Hell with Glomgold all you’d have to do is tell him it’d upset scrooge and he’d literally throw money at you. Or give you a shark full of money. He needs the shark back though. He’s family. 

Meanwhile Donald prepares for his new tenant and finds.. THE INCREDIBLE STORKULES! Who to his mounting horror as he realizes it, IS the new tenant. And who throws him into the sun. Cue credits. 

So after Donald somehow survives being thrown into the sun, Storkules explains why he’s here: Zeus responded to his son playing the lute a lot like any rational reasonable 

No of course he responded to the “crime” of “playing his instrument a lot” with sending a swarm of harpies on the town then blaming Storkules for it and casting him out. What’s most shocking is not the action, this is honestly him staying the course of being a fucking disgrace, but that Zeus somehow ISN’T the biggest asshole i’ve dealt with this week. No that honor is reserved as always for this bitch:

Keep in mind she manages to be this obnoxious in only TWO scenes. Also keep in mind I had to put up with Julie for a MUCH larger chunk of the previous two volumes I covered before volume 5 yesterday for my Scott Pilgrim Retrospective and she is ALWAYS like this and you now feel my pain. 

This does create a problem though: Zeus casts Storkules out until he’s a responsible adult.. and thus paints Storkules as the bad guy... in a situation where the only other person in the story sent a swarm of HARPIES down at him for simply playing his music too loud. It just dosen’t work as a catalyst: Storkules objectively did nothing wrong. The only person he annoyed was a person who clearly dosen’t love, respect or like his son in any way shape or form anyway and essentially assaulted him and a bunch of innocent people via harpie and then cast him out. Zeus is an abusive asshole and i’ts weird the narrative sides with HIM and not our well meaning doofus. Zeus being an asshole with harpies is not a bad catalyst for the episode, and the harpies being unleashed is used well.. it’s just not a good catalyst for THIS story to try and portray an abuser as in the right. And make no mistake Zeus is a domestic abuser: he had his son mind controlled to try and MURDER innocent people, something Storkules begged him not to do, sent a swarm of creatures after him for the crime of playing his music too loud and in his next episode manipulatives Storkules sad emotional state for personal gain. Why would you try and paint THIS jackass as in the right?

Speaking of painting this jackass in the right sadly.. this episode does not do my boy donald justice. In most episodes he’s pretty nuanced and i’ts fair enough he’d be frustrated by Storkules as a roomate. Storkules has little sense of personal space, breaks his stove thinking theirs hydra in it, makes a mess of the kitchen making them a meal, and in general clearly dosen’t know how to live with a roomate much less in modern society. He has valid concerns and the episode COULD have used it that way.. but he’s also horribly impatient with Storkules. He refuses to get the guy just hasn’t had to live in a modern society and dosen’t know HOW to function in it and instead of helping him just gets mad again and again and gets really pissed when it’s clear Storkules dosen’t have a job and didn’t consider paying rent. He’s not WRONG to want him to pay Rent, despite what ironically the musical Rent would try and have you believe, but he dosen’t have any patience with the guy. And stork isn’t nearly coming on as strong as he normally does. The worst he does is cook the guy lunch and bring his donald fan art with him. Which we don’t see but I am assuming is mostly naked. What i’m saying is for once that while still bombastic, Storkules isn’t trying to force a relationship/friendship on him and simply wants to learn t be an adult from his best friend.. and Donald isn’t bothering teaching him.

Asking for rent or for him not to destroy the stove is fine, but not explaining WHY he needs either of those things or why he needs boundaries, he makes a roomate list, isn’t helping the guy. And this would be fine... but the episode dosen’t call Donald out on it for no real reason. It feels like it’s setting up for a “you should learn to wokrk with someone instead of just screaming at them aseop” that never comes and like with Zeus takes his side because shutup. I’d also LIKE to say this is the only time the writers reduced one of the cast to a caracture of themselves.. but I can’t.  Several episodes in season 3 forgot Louie’s character development and another episode in season 2, The Duck Knight Returns!, somehow reduced both Scrooge and Dewey to parodies of themselves with Scrooge SOMEHOW, despite Della as stubborn as she is being in his care and by his side for decades and Movies bein ga huge business, not having seen a movie since the 1920′s and not knowing how they work and Dewey being reduced to just hyperactive moron. It isn’t as common as other shows like say Regular Show, The Loud House or, for the exact reason I lost intrest, Rick and Morty, but I still expect better, especially since they went into this season KNOWING Donald would be gone for half of it and this would likely be one of his only spotlight episodes. 

Back at the good part of the plot, Louie is having a company meeting aka already treating Huey and Webby like his employees. Webby of course is glad to sign on, if little help in actually coming up with a product while Huey just wants to nope out. And if your wondering why Dewey isn’t involved Louie outright says he’d make a bad employee and while Dewey rises from his bed to object.. he stops halfway to opening his mouth and concludes he has a point. Best gag of the episode. Louie being louie easily cons Huey into staying by making Webby his charts officer. 

So the three have a corporate retreat at Funso’s... granted they don’t have a product but Louie figures this might help. Huey.. still wants out of this and suggest since they already spent what they had on ski ball “Company over?”. It’s clear that Huey just sees this as another one of Louie’s short sighted schemes... and while he’s not ENITRELY wrong, Louie has genuine ambition.. he just has no earthly idea what he’s doing and is shooting way too high.. but for understandable reasons. 1) He’s 11 at this point. 11 year olds aren’t great at business strategy or reinging it in. 2) he wants to live up to what Scrooge said to prove he can be successful and really be worth something like his mom was. 

But sometimes fate throws you one and the harpies bust in. And while Louie wants to do nothing and hope they go away Huey and Webby spring into action.. as does Storkules, who had to leave but warns donald there’s Orzo in the slowcooker and to not open it “LEST THE PASTA FAIL TO ABSORB THE BROTH!” Which is just.... Chris’ best line dleivery the episode. He says it like he’s saying the title of an old Stan Lee and Jack Kirby comic, i’ts wonderful.

So our heroes defeat them and Louie steps in to charge for the service and quickly comes up with a company idea and name “Harp-B-Gone” (A Subsidary of Louie Inc). Louie hires Storkules on the spot. Storkules proudly tells Donald he has a job the next day and goes off to it. What follows is our heroes hilarously shooting a commerical with Storkules playing a baby to promote themselves so they can help who needs it. They just need to find out what they want.. and thanks to the JWG and the harpies stealing it find out they go after people’s most treasured posessions   Cue Ghostbusters-Style Montage

And this isn’t just me saying thing. The Rewriting History Entry (Which as a series weirdly stops around mid-season 2 and I don’t get why frank hasn’t gone back and finished it since) states they specifically based this whole operation on ghostbusters and the entire sequence of our heroes cleanin up the town reminds me of it. The highlight of it is a glomgold cameo where he’s kidnapped.. and refuses to pay so Louie just lets him go. And were this an innocent person who couldn’t afford it, i’d call him a monster.. but it’s glomgold. he brought this on himself.. and also sues himself for it. Wonder if he won. 

So with their stars rising, our heroes get booked on the hottest show in town: Dewey Dew-Night! I had honestly forgotten there was a Dewey Dew-Night segment in there, and delighted I get to talk about this recurring bit.  It’s one of the shows funniest runners and just perfectly FITS Dewey: of course the most egotistical and energetic of the kids would not only want to be a late hnight host but make up his own show. I also love the slow evolution of it: it started as something everyone clearly knew about but he stlill tried to keep hidden, slowly escalated to him allowing the rest of his siblings (Webby very much included) and the giant man who stalks his uncle in, and by later this season he’s putting the show online in the web shorts and gladly shooting it into space, with Season 3 having him spend the first half of let’s get dangerous making a documentary that includes an episode of the show featuring Darkwing. It’s a small thing sure, but it’s the little things like this that make the show special. 

The show does reveal a problem though as it turns out they’ve GOT all the harpies and while Storkules merely wanted to help, Louie points out they need more to keep a buisness going and naturally never bothered to ask Storkules just how many there were. They need SOME plan to get going. Webby submits a legitamte and great idea, training the harpies as she’s been trying to do in the background of the episode and aside from a hole in the floor they are starting to listen. But Huey is an ass about it and not only shoots it down saying let’s keep the dangerous creatures contained, even though A) he has no idea WHERE they’ve been kept so he can’t verify it’s safe, and since i’ts Donald’s Closet no no it’s not. and B)There’s no where he knows of to keep them. He isn’t aware of the other bin till next season. and C) it’s not ehtical to keep creatures locked up forever epsecially since while the harpies are dangerous they arent’ MALEVOLENT and are clearly acting on instinct. oh and for D) at least she has a plan to keep the company going instead of just wanting to end this and cash out. 

Which Huey tries to.. but naturally Louie spent all their money on...

So their broke.. and Storkules has no rent money and feels like a failure despite having done NOTHING wrong. We do get a clever little nod to Disney’s hercules though “I”m not a hero, i’m a zero”. Webby rightfully glares at Louie who decides to fix it... by sneaking into Donald’s house that night to free the harpies. 

Though to the shows credit it’s a VERY bad idea, and Storkules coming in mid attempt and congradulating Louie when he lies about checking the door gets the kid to come clean. And it’s a nice character moment: He could still go through with it.. but it’s clear he realizes just HOW low he was about to sink to save his own skin and that as much as Storkules WANTS a paycheck and deserves one, it’s not worth hurting people to get it. Louie tries to justify after this.. but can’t. 

Unforutnately Donald took a lot of stupid pills this episode, yells about his no pets rule and frees them instead of you know, THINKING for five minutes.

So yeah NATURALLY Donald is an angry shit about it , refusing to actually TALK to Storkules about this or maybe admit this is partly HIS OWN FAULT. Yes their both at fault, Storkules shoudln’t of shoved a bunch of harpies in a closet. That’s a classic blunder. But Donald still opened it and isn’t called out on taking zero responsibility. Huey sees the fracas and just takes down their days without an accident placard, good stuff and he and webby arrive to help. Donald fights with Storkules and Storkules worries about loosing his friend.. lead to them going after the thing he values most aka donlad and hyjacking the house boat, though the kids manage to get aboard. 

As Storkules saves Donald, Louie realizes the most precious thing he has is  his merch and willingly gives it, and his buisness up to save everyone. It’s good character stuff and shows that despite his problems with greed, Louie IS a good kid and will do the right thing. It’s what seperates him from the Rouges Gallery the family faces: He has FLEXIBLE morals but he has morals when it comes down to it. So everyone tosses the stoff to help direct the hapries and make it home tying them up. Donald has a heart to heart with Storkules and agrees to help him find another place, but still considers him a friend and they hug. Awww.  One intresting thing I DID find out from rewriting history is they originally fully intended to have Storkules STAY on the houseboat. He was going to be a permenant member of the household, at least as far as Season 2 was concenred and plans were made for several episodes down the road: the whole bit with him in “The Golden Spear” was simply because he lived there, he was going to be the one Della met in the houseboat, obliviously guilting her about what she’d missed, and he was going to set off the kids subplot in “Whatever Happened to Donald Duck?”

This ended up not happneing for logistical reasons: Frank, and I swear this was the term he used, felt they already had the perfect Himbo in Launchpad and it was just too much HImbo energy for the two to coexist without one taking the others screen time or neither getting a lot. 

The next reason was having a god around simply broke the story: He cited the gilded man from “Nothing Can Stop Della Duck!” as a specific example. There were just too many hoops to jump to have him not break any story he should be around for.  Finally with Della being added to the cast soon there simply wasn’t room in the main cast. Della brought it up to 9, Storkules would make it 10, and as i’ve gone on about the show already had trouble ballancing it’s cast, something Frank admitted to. Adding him would both be too big a stiatus quo change and be one on top of the massive one of Della joining the cast. So he was dropped back to recurring and only showed up one more time. And while it was the right call I am dismayed he didn’t show up for the whatever happened to donald duck subplot and it does feel very weird he never adresses Donald being gone despite, at least for season 2, apparently living in Duckburg. Otherwise though as funny as this wouldv’e been.. yeah it was the right call. 

Scrooge returns... having been absent all episode because otherwise it wouldn’t work and easily saw Louie loosing it all coming.. but gives him a can of lemonade for his troubles and comforts the boy. The heart of htis arc and what makes it work at it’s best.. is these two. Scrooge GENUINELY wants to help Louie see his potetial successor in buisness: oh sure adventure wise he’s throughly covered.. but Webby, Dewey and Della all are more focused on the addventure part and that’s where their passion and talent lies, Huey’s better at science and given his close frinedship with fenton and how much that part of things seems to truly inspire him, i’ts what he was born for, and Donald just wants a regualar life and can’t manage his own life much less a company. 

Louie is the only one in his family whose the right fit to inhereit that part of his legacy and I feel that’s why he takes a special intrest in him and webby over the other two: While he loves all of them and will clearly again leave a piece of his fortune and empire to all of them, Webby is the most like him, as we later find out not coincidentally in the slightest, when it comes to adventuring and curosity and a love of exploration. But Louie is the most like him in other ways; He’s cynical, money driven and passionate. Scrooge simply wants him to be as good a person and buisnessperson as he can be and is trying to push him in the right direction. And does so here by pointing out that failure isn’t a huge problem..it happens, comes with the terriotiry and as we’ve seen with life and times, even with portions of it clearly not happening in this universe, he failed a LOT to get here. What matters is that he tries and tries to do it the right way. 

Scrooge also sympathizes as he was buying a lemonade company in cape suzette, giving Louie the can as a present... but laments there’s no cheap effective way to deliver the lemons. Louie notices the harpies going after the can after he throws it and Webby controlling them with it and muses that theyd idn’t think about what THEY wanted.. nad rightfully gets punched across the lawn by Webby, whose had to spend an entire episode having her surrogate brothers talk down to her and ignore her valid ideas. She dosen’t even open her eyes she just bops him one.

So we end with Scrooge having enlisted the hapries, Louie trying to take credit again and both realizing they might just steal the lemons instead of work for them. Ha ha ha their going to get so sued. 

Final Thoughts: This one was mediocre. It has some good points, Louies arc continues to fascenate me, Huey’s done with this shit attitude is hilarous, and Storkules is at his best in this episode: his crush on Donald is toned down from this..

To this

To the point I could see shipping them off this one if Storkules episode didn’t have him do eveyrthing short of .. well see above.  So it’s not WITHOUT merit: I love me a ghost busters style plot, there are great jokes and Chris Dimatopolis is a gem as always. Glad he’s getting work after this show on Invincible and hope he gets to play Darkwing again some day. But the Donald stuff and the fairly predictable plot drag this one down. I’ts fairly obvious they’ll run out of harpies, Louie will have spent the money and they’ll somehow get free. It’s not a terrible episode but it’s it’s sandwiched story wise between two straight up classics on both sides: the previous two episodes were even better than I remembered and the next two are incredibly good: Whateve Happened to Della Duck?! is one of their finest hours and The Outlaw Scrooge McDuck, while not making my best of list for the series as a whole is still one of my favorites for the season.  It’s just disapointing this one wasn’t nearly as good as I remmebered and it’s understandable why I forgot almost all of it, unlike the previous two episodes. Thankfully as I said better’s over the horizon.

NEXT TIME ON OF MOONS, MILLIONARES AND MOTHERS: I’m taking a break for a week. One of two weeklong breaks for the arc, the other being the first week of July where i’m on vacation anyway (Though i’ll be doing the episode I would’ve done for that week the week before to keep the pace up, so no worries),

 As for why, it’s my utmost honor to announce GOOF WEEK! Goof Week is a weeklong celebration of Goofy’s birthday. The idea came about because as I do for the big three, I intended to just do a shorts special. But Kev , the guy who made this very review possible, suggested doing the two part Goof Troop pilot. And since kev pays for a house of mouth episode a month anyway and thaks to you lovely people I hit my patreon stretch goal to review the goofy movie, I figured “why not make a week out of it. Hence Goof week. So next week we’ll have a review of the two part pilot for Goof Troop, the special Sports Goof, the House of Mouse episode Super Goof, your regularly schedule shorts spectacular, with The Goofy Movie for the grand finale! yaaahoooooieeee! 

When we come back i’ll be shuffling episodes around slightly so I can do the Della comics from the Ducktales Tie-In Comic before her debut and in time for Donald’s own theme week in June, i’ll be saving “Whatever Happened to Della Duck?” for the week after Donald Week. Instead next we get a fun wild west adventure as Scrooge tells a story of his outlaw days, his tension with goldie and his encounter with a certain robber baron as John D Rockerduck FINALLY makes his screen debut. Yee-Haw!

If you liked this review, subscribe and follow for more and consider joining my patroen, patreon.com/popculturebuffet. I have exclusive reviews, my most recent duck based one being an obscure carl barks story about wigs and the boys attempting to murder a guy with a blow gun, and your contribution helps me reach my goals and thus gets everyone, patreon or not, a bunch of neat new reviews. If you get me to 20 dollars a month, i’m currently at 15, EVERYONE will get a monthly darkwing duck reviews, reviews of the two remaning ducktales 87 mini series including the origin of GIZMOOOODDUUUUUCCCKKKK, and a review of the Danny Phantom movie The Ultimate Enemy. And with the month running out NOW’S the time to join. YOu’ll also get to pick one of the shorts for my Donald Duck birthday specail next month, so if you want to join in NOWS the time. But wether you can or you can’t, thank you for reading, i’ts been a pleasure. 

[depressedacadamia]

Sore Losers

A/N: This was meant to be a simple one shot but I couldn’t help myself and now it’s a twoshot because I’m extra af. I hope you enjoy it and please comment!

Summary: Percy and Annabeth are both the most competitve people to ever exist by far. So when they both lead teams in a match of Capture the Flag Paintball edition, a very fun game ends up becoming a battle. Annabeth and Percy also happen to be the biggest pair of sore losers out there. 

Word count: 3.8K

Tagging: @showtunesandsolangelo

Chapter I

Let it be known that Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase were both the biggest pair of sore losers on this side of the Atlantic. You’d think that a large group of teenagers at a paintballing park would cause a lot of trouble. Yes, yes they would indeed. But not nearly as much trouble a group of traumatised teenage demigods could cause.

They had 1 rule- don't use any powers.

However, the demigods were never really much good at following rules.

Percy promised Annabeth that his team would win and Annabeth, unable to help herself, boasted back how amazing her team were going to be. It was quite obvious how their fatal flaws- hubris and loyalty- were going to be their downfall in a game of paintball.

“Oi! You two stop flirting and get on the damned bus, would you!” Piper shouted from the window seat with Hazel to her. The yellow bus was warm due to the sunny weather outside and it smelt like teenagers.

“We aren’t flirting!” Annbeth protested violently as she threw her sports bag over her shoulder while climbing the steps. Percy, being the gentleman he was, took the bag off her shoulder and carried it for her- not that it was truly hard.

“Even I can tell that you’re flirting,” Leo called out from the back where his fingers idly fiddled with some copper wire, a battery and a nail- it seemed like he was making an electromagnet.

“Can you blame me if Percy thinks his team is going to win Pipes?” Annabeth turned around in her seat.

“That’s because we are going to win,” Will commented with a hint of sarcasm from the side of the bus where Percy’s team sat. Nico, who sat next to Reyna and was on Annabeth’s team, was more invested in fidgeting with his rings until Will spoke up.

“Says you, traitor,” He snorted.

“Death boy, it’s a game. You chose Annabeth's team- it would be unfair if we were on the same team. Besides, If anything, I should be upset. You chose Annabeth's team after I chose Percy’s!”

Nico refused to answer, his arm clinging to Reyna who barely took notice and smirked at the boy’s ego’s.

“How sad must it be that you genuinely believe that you will win?” Reyna was about to sheath her spear when Hazel put her hand on hers.

“Reyna! We aren’t allowed to bring weapons. We need to prove we can beat them without weapons!” Hazel argued.

“Having second thoughts over there?” Frank called out from beside Jason. Hazel stuck her tongue out at him- he pulled a funny face in return. While these two were considered the most mature, when they were talking to each other, they were no better than 5 year olds.

The venue was huge. It was like an abandoned forest with upside down vehicles, camo everywhere and at least 3 places to get perfectly shot in the head- not that it was allowed. There was a specific reason behind the demigods choosing to go paintballing- they were never trained to use guns. It was something that none of them were familiar in, thus they were all at a completely fair level. Had they been sword fighting, they would have all destroyed each other. They had to pull on protection suits- which were also camouflage.

“Okay, this is to capture the flag but in paintball. You’re all familiar with capturing the flag- the only difference here is instead of our regular weapons, today we have these peculiar things…” Calypso trailed off slightly.

“Guns,” Hazel and Nico finished off together. The entire squad gave an alarmed look at them saying Why in the name of Hades do you know that? In sync, they both replied.

“World War 1,” Hazel sighed.

“Hitler,” Nico grunted, kicking at the floor. A couple of scattered snorts came from the group who could not picture them in the 1900s.

“Enough enemy mingling! Comrades, let us unite to beat the Owls!” Percy commanded his group comedically. Nico raised his eyebrow at the communist joke while everyone laughed slightly.

“I see you’ve learnt something in History- let’s find out if your seaweed brain can figure out how to surrender shall we?” Annabeth challenged as she took steps towards Percy, her hands resting on her hips confidently- Her hubris was showing. She half expected Percy to slip his hand around her waist or try and show off like she did but instead, he turned to his team and began frantically whispering.

The game was so on.

“Okay, this is it. We go in, storm the boys and capture their flag,” Annabeth decided.

“And don't forget to shoot as many of them as you can!” Piper added and the group happily agreed.

“Okay Comrades, Mission ‘infiltrate’ the owls is about to end- when we meet at what I like to call No man's land, we shall take their flag while they attempt to take ours. Will, guard our flag- the rest of you, position ourselves in the formation we discussed earlier. Jason and Leo, you’re my backup soldiers if I’m down,” Percy announced. The boys nodded and prepared for the plan.

Annabeth was crouching, gun in hand with Hazel behind her. Annabeth's blonde hair made her stand out a bit whereas Hazel had a greater advantage- from a vantage point, one wouldn’t even be able to see her. As Annabeth approached through the clearing she froze. Up ahead was a dangerous place. No bushes, no trees, no cars- she’d be totally exposed to whatever Percy was plotting. She did not doubt that he had some person watching this area, ready to release fire on any enemies. Annabeth was going to wait, she crouched by the bush before the clearing and kept her gun pointed and her eyes on the lookout.

She was about to move when paint balls began exploding all around her. The sound ricocheted in her ears and the droplets of paint remained floating about in the air. The boys had planned an ambush! Annabeth knew she had 2 options- retreat and play defensive or attack and play offensive.

“Hazel, you’re in charge. Nico, you’re coming with me. Make sure Reyna is still guarding the flag!” She whisper- shouted as she began running across No Mans Land with Nico trailing close behind her. He may or may not have been using his powers to bring shards of earth encased in shadows to protect himself and Annabeth from the shower of paintballs heading towards them. Nobody really needed to know- besides, he was forbidden from using death powers, not earthly ones.

“Nico, I hear something,” Annabeth warned. The sound of crackling and rushing water surrounded them.

“It’s coming from the creak…,” Nico mumbled.

They both made eye contact, agreeing on a time to run. 3 ,2 ,1- Now! They began sprinting, dodging the rocks and the flames which were scattered across the field. The other team were really going all out and being ruthless. Leo had set half of their frontier on fire that was only being controlled by the fact that Percy had a lot of water coming in from the creak preventing the fire from spreading too far. Flashes of light came striking down on the trees, causing crackles in the trees. There were echoes of thunder rumbling throughout their section and the smell of carbon monoxide slowly rising into the air.

The tree that had been struck by lightning was causing an awful mount of crackling, a bit too much for comfort. It wasn’t until the distinct sound of a tree snapping did Annabeth and Nico realise that the tree in front of them was falling.

Directly. Onto. them.

Back at Annabeth's side of the frontier, Hazel had decided to play dirty and get powers involved. It was only fair, was it not? Piper, Reyna and Calypso were all very happy to oblige to this. They had restructured their battle plan with Piper guarding the flag and using her charmspeak if necessary. Hazel, Calypso and Reyna were at the front, using their powers to their advantage. Reyna had not decided to use her empowerment- it wasn’t necessary and it was never comforting knowing she had made her friends feel brave; she felt like she was manipulating them whenever she did use it.

“So Hazel, what were you saying about not using weapons?” Reyna raised an eyebrow as she impressively pulled out her spear of imperial gold, glimmering in the sunlight. Hazel who sheathed her Spatha simply shrugged.

“Calypso are you ready?” Hazel asked, slightly concerned- she didn't want to overwork her so quickly after she had only just started to get her magic back.

“You think I’m going to let Leo win?” She scoffed slightly as she raised her hands slightly, the magical aura around them visible.

“We have a battle to win,” Reyna announced.

Nico grabbed onto Annabeth and closed his eyes. She felt herself slip into the darkness with Nico- the moment was awful. Dark, cold and creepy whisperings surrounded her. She did not want to know how Nico was able to do that. As he pulled them out the shadows, Nico dropped to his knees, trying to catch his breath. His eyes looked significantly tired post- shadow travelling.

“Don’t tell Will, he’ll go crazy if he found out that I shadow travelled,” he said weakly, his hand clutching his ribs. Annabeth slowly helped him up to his feet, only one gun still with the both of them- Nico had dropped his when he had to shadow travel them.

“Nico, I’ve got another plan if you’re up for it,” Annabeth offered. She leaned over and whispered her strategy. The corners of Nico’s lips twisted upwards into a cruel smile- cold and menacing. Was this plan extremely dangerous if one part went wrong? Probably. But Nico decided he liked the idea of winning too much to really care.

He dug his feet into the ground again, pushing every ounce of energy into controlling the shadows. He needed to keep this accurate- too much and Hazel’s side of the field goes dark, too little and Percy’s team will be able to see what's coming.

Slowly, shadows covered every inch of Percy’s field. Nico and Annabeth were grasping onto each other, Nico was holding onto her for strength while Annabeth was staying with the only person who could control what was happening. The only light that was visible were the fires ignited by Leo but by now, they were weak. All they had to do was wait for a figure to light up their hands- all the members would flock to the light, except whoever was protecting the flag.

“What just happened?” Percy yelled as he followed the stream of water that led to the fires.

“Someone’s using their powers… probably Nico, I can hear whisperings and these shadows are really cold!” Leo responded, lifting his hands up to signal his location to his teammates- though that may have not been a good idea. A giant flash of light came striking down to the ground again and the loud rumble of thunder came soon after, only adding to the creepiness of the game.

“It’s definitely Nico using powers which means he’s somehow gotten through our borders,” Jason gritted out. They all looked at each other agreeing to search for the son of Hades.

“Nico, you can summon the skeletons now, right?” Annabeth asked as she supported Nico on her shoulder. Feebly, Nico nodded while trying to summon some of his own strength. His skin which had almost returned to it’s olive hue was now close to a deathly pale. Annabeth could feel his cold fingers and slightly shivered- it was like holding a corpse. The ground started cracking, the earth splitting open as a skeletal arm reached out, climbing into the real world. Within a minute, Nico had summoned enough skeletons for the plan to work.

Annabeth knew what had to happen next- she would either run after the flag or go drive the remainder of Percy’s team far back enough so that her team could attack them from behind. She cherished the idea of getting the flag, a truly victorious moment, but she knew that if she went after the flag, she’d be sending Nico who seemed as fragile as glass right now to go fight 4 of the most powerful demigods. She decided to take her chances- hopefully whoever was guarding the flag wasn’t too hard for Nico.

“Nico, here take the gun and go after the flag. I will push back the other team.”

“I don’t need that- you’re going to be 4 against one, take it.” He batted his hand, refusing to allow Annabeth to hand over her gun to him.

“Nic-”

“-If you want to actually win this, you need your gun. You don’t stand a chance fighting 4 of them alone. Take the gun,” He managed to snap. Annabeth actually smiled at this. If Nico could give her snappy comebacks, then he still had a bit of strength in him. She kept her gun as she ran into the shadows, the skeleton army close behind.

“Does the other side look kinda funny?” Hazel asked, tilting her head to the side with her spatha in hand.

“It’s...it’s dark. I can't see anything there,” Calypso responded, slightly shocked.

What in the name of the gods was going on over there?

It seemed that the answer hit Reyna and Hazel at the same time- Nico! Not that they were about to admit it, but they were a tad concerned- you know, if you saw pure shadows just floating about, you would also be slightly concerned.

“We should move ourselves further up the frontier into No Mans Land. Annabeth must have planned something with Nico.” Calypso announced. They all agreed and moved further downwards, cautious for any ambushes.

“Oh Annabeth, aren’t you meant to be the smart one? You know, daughter of Athena?” Percy mockingly asked as she approached them, the shadows encasing most of her but not enough to go unnoticed. The skeletons however, were hiding perfectly in the dark.

“And where is the little shit?” Jason looked around Annabeth, trying to see if Nico had hid himself among the shadows- something that wouldn’t be too hard for him.

“Technically this is cheating,” Leo pointed out. Annabeth snapped her head towards him, still wondering where the skeletons were.

“We weren’t the ones who started it- if I remember correctly, you literally almost crushed us under a tree.”

“That was an accident,” Jason sheepishly rubbed his head.

“Don't think you can walk in here without being defeated, Wise girl.”

“If all 4 of you are going to fight me, I think all guns should be prohibited- does that sound fair Jackson?”

“3. All 3 of us. Frank has been… patrolling.” Leo rubbed his hands mysteriously. Annabeth wanted to gasp, they had been cheating from the beginning, using Frank as surveillance on them.

“Well since you were cheating from the very beginning, you definitely cannot use your guns,” Annabeth protested, enforcing her plan. The boy shrugged and threw their guns to the floor- Annabeth did the same but the gun was still close enough for… a change of heart. Fire raged from Leo’s hands, Percy had Riptide in hand and Jason had his Gladius, the charge of lighting running through it. Annabeth had to try to not visibly gulp- Where on earth were the skeletons? Here getting toasted was not part of the plan. She could only start to take them one when the distraction was set.

Nico forcibly pushed his foot one in front of another, searching for the flag. The entire half of the arena was covered like a blanket. The only light source being Leo’s fire and the occasional fires that Nico let loose through the ground to help him see. Up head, Nico could see another light source- did he just walk himself into a circle? He couldn’t see Leo or any fires. In fact all he really saw was light.

Light?

He trudged forwards, keeping to the shadows. As he got closer, he realised the light source was Will- his skin was the lightsource, literally. It was like he was watching a firefly for the first time- Will was glowing! No, focus Nico. The game, the flag. Capture it and reign victorious with Annabeth.

“Frank, dude, get off my shoulder,” Jason said. As the hand remained on his shoulder, Jason grew slightly agitated and turned around before jumping back and letting out a scream of surprise. Catching the attention of Percy and Leo, the skeletons began to close in on them. Now was Annabeth's chance. While the skeletons pushed them back, hopefully Hazel would have the team ready for an ambush on all sides.

“You’re very shiny today,” Nico commented.

“Well if you didn’t plunge us into semi- eternal darkness, I wouldn’t be a night light,” Will retorted crossing his arms.

“I’ve always wanted my own personal nightlight. Also now, I have an actual justification to call you sunshine- you’re literally glowing.”

“Quit laughing at me.”

“I’m not laughing at you… I’m just stealing,” Nico shrugged as he made a dash for the flag. Will scrambled for his gun but it was too late, Nico had pulled the flag into the shadows- the paintballs from Will’s gun had only hit the tree that Nico had once stood in front of. As Nico emerged from his travelling, the shadows that once covered the entire field started fading.

With their guns strapped to their backs, Hazel and the team made their way across No Mans Land- trying to avoid the shower of paintballs from the other side.

“You made a machine gun out of this?” Hazel asked in dismay as she dodged the fireball coming from Leo.

“I am Admiral Leo, of course I made a machine gun, Hazel.”

“Hazel, on your left!”

Hazel swiftly ducked a paintball coming her left which proceeded to hit Leo square in the chest. He groaned as he felt the bruise start to form across his chest. Saddened by getting hit, he fell to the ground dramatically.

“Oh I’m wounded! Tell Calypso I might not make it!”

“Tell her yourself,” a voice snorted. Jason and Reyna were both fighting- Jason’s gladius would come down harshly onto Reyna’s spear, who continuously tried to disarm him. When Jason came down again with his sword, Reyna twisted her spear towards the hilt and pushed the butt of her spear upwards successfully disarming the sword with a clatter from his hands. She placed her foot on the sword and kicked it backwards, away from Jason before she dropped her spear.

“Hand to hand?” Jason asked. Reyna did not reply and instead charged towards him.

Calypso was trying to not get set on fire- while Leo had been shot, he was not about to let her win so easily. Her magic could only do so much and it annoyed her that Leo was setting everything on fire.

“Calypso, don’t you have telekinesis?” Annabeth shouted nodding towards Leo as she dodged another slash from Percy. Calypso got the memo and closed her eyes, harvesting as much power as she could. Being an ex-titaness came with it’s privileges from time to time. She opened her eyes and flung her hands towards Leo. Easily, she threw him into the creek where he landed with an ‘oomph’ and a very loud curse word that will not be repeated.

Piper hated being the guard. Everyone was probably having a blast and here she was, away from the action. There was a buzzing noise that was annoying her and she really did not want to deal with it. She had one of her daggers clutched in her hand while the gun was slung over her shoulder. She had gotten so bored that she had resorted to talking to the crow opposite her who had just sat there. It would tilt its head every once in a while when she said anything that could be deemed controversial.

Suddenly, the crow flew towards her, as to rest on her shoulder but instead, went towards the flag. Nothing wrong there, just a crow going towards a flag. Afterall it wasn’t as if it was trying to pull it out of the ground. Just as Piper turned around to see what the crow was really doing, she caught Frank with his hand wrapped around the flag, smiling and saluting towards her as he turned around and ran, flag in hand. Piper swore she had run as fast she ever had in her entire life, trying to get her charmspeak to work. The panting did not help her.

Annabeth slashed her knife in Percy’s direction, missing him by a millimeter as he stepped back to avoid it. Riptide came back at her, instead of it going for a blow to the chest as she expected, Percy aimed for her feet. As he wanted, she tripped and fell but her knife was still in hand. Just as she was about to use it, Riptide was held under her chin- she could feel the cool metal of it as Percy smirked and lightly teased her neck with it.

“You know Miss Brainiac, you really have yourself in a bad position, giving up would be easy, wouldn't it?”

“Jackson, you are enjoying this too much. I think you’ve forgotten the point.” Annabeth grabbed Riptide and twisted it before roling backwards slightly and throwing herself forwards. The sword clattered to the ground making Percy pout slightly but he wasn’t disheartened. Annabeth backslashed towards Percy who grabbed her arm, rendering the weapon in hand useless.

Annabeth had one last plan.

She leaned forwards and pressed her lips against Percy. It was quick and daring and Percy certainly did not expect it. Their lips met gently- it was comforting, warm and soft. Their lips brushed and when she pulled away lightly, he could taste her chapstick.

“Ouch!” Percy yelped as he jumped away from Annabeth and let go of her wrist. She held the knife under his chin and winked at Nico who held the gun with the flag under his arm. There was a giant yellow splatter on his back.

“That's not fair!” Percy sputtered. “ You seduced me!”

“All's fair in love and war.” Annabeth winked.

“I’ve got it! I’ve got the flag!” Frank gasped slightly- mainly due to being out of breath. He looked at Jason who was on the ground, Leo who was soaking, Percy who had a massive paintball splatter on his back and then at Nico who was holding the flag.

“We planned this. To make you win. We were taking it easy on you guys,” Frank decided. All the boys nodded in agreement only making Annabeth's teams chuckle.

[whyiask]

more bitter than sweet (Ch. 1)

Masterpost Ao3 Link TWs: there is a gun and non-graphic violence during the flashback (in italics) so mind that part Note: okay so. so. for people who have seen TUA, you might be saying "Joy, why on earth would you have Tommy as Vanya instead of Tommy as Five?" and the answer to that is: I just realllly wanted Tommy as Vanya, so Niki is Five, because badass Niki. also, the plot will have some changes, obviously, as it's driven by the characters and the role of Five's character is filled by a quite different person in this au. SO, on with the show. Other than that, it'll follow the original plot fairly well, probably. (also Schlatt is probably ooc, he got dealt the unfortunate hand of Luther and I don't really like Luther and don't really know how to write him, so F in the chat for schlatt lmao)

---

The sky was overcast and dreary. Fitting for the occasion. The manor house, which had been near silent for just over a year, was dusty and creaking. Normally Philza wouldn’t let the house get to such a state. The vines stretched high up the walls and Tommy craned his neck to view the once majestic mansion he had lived in. It was a far cry from the rigid upkeep of the grounds Reginald Hargreeves had insisted upon.

Tommy wasn’t looking forward to seeing his siblings again. Although he missed them dearly, he was afraid, not that he’d ever tell anyone, of how they would shun him. It had been years since any of them spoke to him. Wilbur had moved away from the house as soon as he could, forgetting about Tommy and never bothering to check in. Techno’s abrupt lack of communication was purposeful. He really did only have himself to blame.

Heaving a great sigh, Tommy mounted the steps. At least he would get to see Wilbur again.

His key fit into the door and as it swung open, a wave of nostalgia washed over him. The burning of the fireplace, the musty scent of the old, worn down rugs and furniture. The blood that had stained the floors time and time again. Pushing down his nausea, Tommy stepped forward into the open space.

“Big Man Tommyinnit has arrived,” he announced, but it fell flat, even to his own ears. It didn’t echo, trailing off in the lonely entryway. The whole house was a void, a black hole that had sucked his childhood away. He supposed he had never really gotten to be a child in the first place.

He didn’t hear the footsteps coming. He only looked up the grand staircase at the sound of a wall being punched.

“You shouldn’t have come,” Technoblade ground out. His eyebrows were drawn tight and his fists were curled. Tommy bit back a wince. He deserved this. After all, it was his brilliant idea to write a book exposing all of their family secrets. He had seen it as a way to try and cope with his trauma at the time, but it quickly became clear the rest of the family did not share his views.

A mess of curly brown hair poked out around the doorway that Techno was leaning against. A yellow sweater and a maroon beanie. A guitar strapped to his back. Tommy was hit with another wave of memories and it took all of his willpower not to run into his brother’s arms.

“Is that Tommy I hear?” Wilbur asked, and Techno moved aside reluctantly. Wilbur’s entire face lit up and he rushed down the stairs, nearly tripping in his haste. Tommy moved forward at a slower speed, and they met at the base of the stairs.

“Awww,” Wilbur whispered. “You’ve grown so much.” He raised a hand hesitantly, almost as if to pat Tommy’s head, and Tommy swatted him away.

“Oh bug off, you’d know that if you had actually stuck around.”

Wilbur’s smile faltered. He put his hand back at his side and a brief look of regret passed his face. “I’m sorry, Tommy, but I couldn’t stay here.”

“You could’ve taken me with you.” Tommy took a deep breath. He was getting too sentimental for his own good. Wilbur lifted his arms and wrapped them around Tommy’s lanky body. Tommy hesitated for a second, before returning the hug. It was awkward, nowhere near as smooth as it had been in their childhood.

“I missed you, Tommy. It’s good to see you again, you little gremlin,” Wilbur muttered into Tommy’s hair.

From up on the second floor, Tommy heard Techno scoff. He pulled away from Wilbur to look up at their brother. Techno was sharpening a knife, leaning back against the doorframe. His red cloak was settled comfortably on his shoulders and his face held a large scowl.

Wilbur frowned up at him. “Got a problem, Techno?”

Technoblade scoffed again, straightening up and coming to lean over the railing. He sneered down at Wilbur. “‘You missed him? You missed him?’” Techno’s eyes drifted over to Tommy with a glare. “Do you even know what he’s done?”

Wilbur stepped protectively in front of Tommy, and he had to resist rolling his eyes.

“He’s still our brother.”

“He’s still in the room,” Tommy interjected dryly. Wilbur shushed him and this time he actually did roll his eyes.

“Tommy was never part of our family to begin with. What gives him the right to talk about our family as if he belongs to it now?”

Tommy stiffened. Wilbur tensed beside him as well. “Techno,” he said, voice dark. “You know that’s not true.”

“Congratulations, we all have our own fucking trauma. Thank you Tommy, truly, for sharing it with the world!” He turned and his cape swished behind him dramatically. He spared one last look over his shoulder before walking back into the living room. Tommy barely caught his parting statement. “You’ve never been my brother and never will be. Stop acting like you are."

Tommy reeled back like he’d been hit, but when he noticed Wilbur looking at him worriedly, he plastered on a smile.

“Are you-” he started.

“Don’t worry about me, big man,” Tommy said, louder than necessary. “It’s Techno you should be concerned about, he’s clearly got some major problems.”

Wilbur looked at him doubtfully but nodded along anyways. He patted Tommy’s shoulder once.

“Well, I’m glad you’re back, despite the awful circumstances. I did miss you.”

“I missed you too, Wil,” Tommy muttered, watching Wilbur’s back retreating up the stairs.

---

The living room was tense. You could cut through the thickness of the air with a butter knife. Techno leaned on one of the support pillars behind the couch, as far away from everyone else as possible. Schlatt was sitting in one of the large armchairs, and Ranboo had swung his feet up onto the couch, taking up the whole thing.

Wilbur immediately plopped himself onto the other chair, leaving Tommy to try and fit on the couch. Ranboo curled his legs in and Tommy nodded to him with a smile. Ranboo smiled back, before looking over his shoulder at the air and grinning wider.

Schlatt cleared his throat, calling everyone to attention. He stood up.

“I think you all know why we are here,” he said lazily, moving his gaze across everyone in the room. There were several murmurs of agreement.

“Our father is dead, and we have to pay respects to him,” Schlatt continued.

Techno snorted slightly and Schlatt ignored him.

“However,” he stressed, and Tommy rolled his eyes, recognizing the tone in his oldest brother’s voice. “I believe there was foul play involved.”

“Foul play?” Techno asked, disbelieving. “You think someone murdered dad?”

Schlatt bristled at Techno’s words. “Yes, as a matter of fact. When his body was found, he didn’t have his monocle on him, and it was nowhere in the room.”

Even Wilbur had to raise an eyebrow at that. “And…?” he said.

Schlatt groaned. “C’mon guys, you have to use your brains. When have you ever, ever seen dad without his monocle?” At the silence, Schlatt grinned triumphantly as if he had won. “See? My point is that someone took his monocle, right before or after his death. It must’ve been personal.”

He turned to Techno. “Philza was the one who found him, no?”

Techno’s mouth pressed together into a thin line. “You can’t seriously be accusing Phil,” he said, a threat clear in his voice.

“Well, who knows,” Schlatt threw up his hands. “Maybe he finally got tired of being the perfect little housekeeper. Who else could’ve done it, you?”

Techno’s eyes widened a fraction, before narrowing again. Tommy would’ve missed it if he had not grown up with him.

Schlatt must’ve noticed it too, because his jaw opened so fast that Tommy was worried it would come off.

“I mean,” Techno said, interrupting whatever yelling storm Schlatt had planned. “As much as I would’ve enjoyed the honors, it wasn’t me.”

Schlatt’s eyes narrowed down to slits. “I don’t trust him,” he announced.

Wilbur gave a single bark of laughter. “What else is new?”

“I don’t trust you either, and yet here I am. What’re you accusing me of?” Techno butted in.

Schlatt sputtered. “You know damn well what.”

As Techno reared up to argue back, Tommy tuned out their mindless bickering. Somehow, he thought they could’ve changed. Maybe he thought they could’ve grown up. He clearly expected too much. Techno was still a vigilante, still hot-headed. And Schlatt? Well, four years without any human interaction had really screwed up his subtlety. To be fair, Tommy wasn’t sure if he had had any to begin with.

Tommy sighed and stood up, grabbing Ranboo’s arm and pulling him up as well. The arguing brothers didn’t pay them any heed. Wilbur stood up too, trying to break up the argument that threatened to turn violent. Ranboo got Tommy’s drift and they exited the room.

There was no point in staying.

--

They are ten years old. The robbers are holding hostages, and Schlatt starts to tell the others his plan, when Niki jumps into the building. Schlatt curses and runs into the room after her. Techno, never one to miss out on the action, follows closely behind.

Ranboo, Tubbo, and Wilbur are slightly slower and stick closer to the wall.

They arrive in time to see Niki teleporting around, distracting the robbers, as Techno hurls a knife with deadly accuracy into one of the men’s shoulders. He falls with a cry. Schlatt lifts another and tosses him into a wall like a ragdoll.

A voice cries out over the chaos and all three freeze. One of the others has pulled a gun on the civilians. Without wasting a moment, Niki blinks right in between the gun and the civilians, sitting on the bank check-in desk. The man swings the gun down towards her but she’s already gone.

Niki is behind him now, calling out, “Hey, loser.” As he spins around to face her, she quickly blinks his gun out of his hands in exchange for a stapler. “Nice stapler.”

She grabs his hand and twists it upwards. He hits himself in the head with the stapler in his hand. Niki tosses the gun to Schlatt, who catches it easily.

The three boys in the corner smile. Ranboo hated feeling useless in fights, but his power wasn’t cut out for combat. Tubbo was glad he didn’t have to use his. And Wilbur was just happy for his siblings to do the fighting instead of him.

Outside, Reginald Hargreeves stands, monocle and top hat, leaning on a stylish cane. A young boy stands next to him, fidgeting with his uniform.

“Why can’t I be with them?” Tommy asks his father.

“We’ve gone over this, Tommy,” Reginald says, irritated. “Because you are not special.”

When the police arrive, and the news is scrambling over themselves to take pictures of the young superheroes who saved the bank and the hostages, Schlatt, Techno, Wilbur, Niki, Tubbo, and Ranboo all line up to have their picture taken. They stand with good posture and smiles, having it ingrained into them.

Reginald walks out with a dramatic flair onto the steps of the bank, setting his hand on Schlatt’s shoulder. Schlatt huffs out his chest in pride.

“These,” Reginald announces to the gathered press. “Are your new superheroes. Meet the SBI.” The people clap.

“I adopted 6 children with superpowers, and I have been training them to fight against the evil in this city.”

Reginald’s speech continues. Tommy continues to stand out of sight, as Reginald introduces his siblings to the press. Reginald doesn’t even look in his direction as he states he had only adopted six kids.

They are ten. This is their first mission as a team. The SBI is born. And Tommy isn’t allowed to be a part of it.

--

Tommy’s old room was exactly how he remembered it. The plain bedspread on the plain bed. The posters on the wall, one of the few things he was allowed to customize. A neatly organized bookshelf and a cabinet full of music books. A keyboard by the window, coated in a thick layer of dust.

He had been just as surprised as everyone else when their father had allowed him to take up piano like he wanted to. There was a grand piano downstairs, he knew. It was probably out of tune.

Still better than sitting around. Ranboo had wandered off a while ago, so he didn’t have anyone to talk to, and everyone else was either busy or likely to ignore him. Tommy made his way to the spacious room. He sat down at the piano bench, blowing the dust from the keys and tentatively played a chord. It wasn’t horribly out of tune, though it definitely wasn’t in perfect upkeep.

Letting his doubts free, he let himself fold into the music, allowing his fingers to move across the keys. The song wasn’t particularly hard, though it wasn’t one he had played in a while. It was a song he remembered playing often when he still lived here.

.

Unknown to him, around the house, everyone perked up at the distant echoing of his playing, unconsciously swaying to the once-familiar tune.

[wwjacksparrowd]

Sneak Peek for Ch. 18 of CtNT

Here it is, the 1k excerpt from Chapter 18 of Chase the Neon Throne that I promised... yesterday. Whoops. If it wasn’t at least a day late, though, could you even be sure that I was the one posting it? :P

Warning: Spoilers below if you’re not caught up with Ch. 17. Other than that, I don’t think it gives any real spoilers for Ch. 18.

Mai exited her tent, spotted Zuko, and made a beeline for him. “Hey, Zuko. Can we talk?”

Mai had never once in Zuko’s life actively sought conversation. “Sure,” Zuko agreed, intrigued.

The two of them meandered further down the beach from their camp in the opposite direction of Aang and the others. Mai considered him for a couple of moments, her gaze sharp, and finally said, “I didn’t know you’d been brainwashed.” The statement was such a non-sequitur that for a moment, Zuko wasn’t sure what she was talking about. Seeing this on his face, Mai added helpfully, “Before Azula took over the city and imprisoned you in the Fire Nation. I wasn’t part of the brainwashing in Lake Laogai. All Azula told me was where to go and what to do, and that when her plan was over, Ba Sing Se and the Avatar would have fallen. I mean, I didn’t ask, either. I didn’t care what she was doing.”

Zuko had never truly considered Mai’s role in everything beyond a vague assumption that she had been in on whatever Azula and Ty Lee had planned, so while the revelation did not specifically detract from that assumption, it still surprised him a little. “I see.”

“If I had known that Azula’s plan included capturing you and bringing you back to the Fire Nation where she could do what she liked,” Mai continued ruefully, “I would have done something about it. I don’t know if I could have succeeded without putting my life and my freedom on the line with yours, and I don’t think I would have taken that kind of risk, but I would have done something, for what it’s worth. I would have at least tried.”

“I wouldn’t have expected that,” Zuko replied honestly. “We didn’t see each other for years, after all, and it’s not like we were especially close before I was banished.”

Mai shrugged. “Maybe if I’d thought she would just throw you into a jail cell and be done with you, I wouldn’t have. Once you actively sided against her, though, I knew exactly what would happen if she ever caught you.”

Zuko hummed. “Well…, thanks.”

“Don’t thank me.” Mai snorted. “I didn’t do anything, after all. I just thought you should know that I wasn’t part of any of that.”

“Hey, guys!” Ty Lee shouted from just beyond their camp. “Lunch is ready!”

Zuko and Mai retreated to their friends’ company. Aang waved Zuko over to a seat around the campfire between Aang and Katara which had been saved for him.

“What’s the plan for tomorrow?” Ty Lee asked the group at large.

“I felt some scam artists in the marketplace earlier,” Toph quickly announced.

“No,” Katara rejected just as quickly.

“I thought you were cool with that now! It worked out well enough back in that other city,” Toph complained. “Oh, man, I still wish I could have stuck around long enough for the guards to find out I’d busted out of that metal cell they put me in.”

“Yes, that was fun,” Katara conceded, “and maybe - maybe - we could do it again someday, but do you really think we should be drawing attention to ourselves right now? Here, in the Fire Lord’s old vacation spot?”

“…Okay, that’s fair,” Toph allowed. “What else is there to do in town?”

“I’m so glad you asked!” Sokka exclaimed, hastily withdrawing parchment from his satchel –

“If that’s another schedule, I’m breaking up with you,” Suki threatened.

“It’s not,” Sokka promised, but the sudden gleam in his eyes promised that there would soon be a schedule regardless of Suki’s warning. “Check it out!” He displayed a poster for a play called The Boy in the Iceberg, depicting clear parodies of Aang, Suki, Sokka, Katara, Toph, and Zuko.

“Hang on a second,” Ty Lee objected. “Where are Longshot and I in this poster? And Jet? And Smellerbee?”

“We didn’t really travel with any of you guys,” Sokka reasoned. “…The three of them are in the character list, though.”

Ty Lee huffed. “Rude.”

(She would soon come to appreciate her absence from the play.)

“No way.” Zuko wrinkled his nose in disgust as he registered the cast that had been credited with the play. “The Ember Island Players? My mother used to take me to see them. They butchered Love Amongst the Dragons every year. I never understood why they were so popular.”

“I can’t believe our options for entertainment are ‘become criminals’ and ‘attend a play about ourselves,’” Katara complained. “Have any of you ever considered subtlety?”

“Absolutely not,” Toph said pleasantly. “I vote for ‘become criminals.’”

“It’s not until tomorrow night,” Sokka pointed out. “We have time for both!”

“Didn’t we rule out ‘become criminals?’” Aang reminded everyone, glancing nervously at the steadily rising frustration on Katara’s face. “Like Katara said, this is a particularly dangerous place to draw attention to ourselves….” His face brightened. “I don’t think it’s too dangerous to go to the play, though! We’re all wearing disguises anyway.”

Sokka turned to Zuko. “Just because they butchered that one play doesn’t mean they butcher every play, right? Don’t you think it’d be fun to see a play about us?”

Zuko did not particularly see the appeal, but Sokka seemed intent on getting a ‘yes’ out of him. “I… I guess…?”

Immediately, Sokka turned back to Katara, eyes wide as he gestured dramatically at Zuko. “You can’t possibly say ‘no’ to Zuko! The poor guy’s never had fun in his life!”

“Wait a second,” Zuko interjected. He hadn’t realized he was enlisting as a weapon in Sokka’s arsenal of persuasion tactics.

Aang eagerly joined Sokka’s argument. “Zuko told me once that the only things he’s ever done for fun are make tea and plot his father’s demise!” he insisted, which was, while not exactly what Zuko had said at the time, true all the same.

“Zuko’s not going to be heartbroken if we don’t see a play by a cast that he doesn’t like,” Suki deadpanned. “That being said….” She tilted her head contemplatively at Katara. “If the Ember Island Players are popular, most of the people around here are probably going to see the play. It might end up being more suspicious if we haven’t seen the play.”

“I didn’t even think of that,” Katara admitted. “Well… if everyone wants to see it, I’m not going to stop us.”

“Great!” Aang exclaimed. He reached past Zuko and Katara to high-five Sokka.

[guiltysecretpasttime]

Adversity

A fanfic story

Overview: Lin and Tenzin are both at the height of their respective careers – she with the Metalbending Police and he with the Air Nation. Questions about their future begin to arise and things come to a head when Lin responded to an emergency call. Would her job take them from each other forever? Eventual HEA. Non-canon compliant, AU. (Notes at the end of the post.)

Chapter 1

Lin was once again pulling a double shift, finishing up this month’s crime stats report that needed to be filed at city hall tomorrow. Aside from having the routine meeting at city hall, tomorrow also marks Lin’s first ninety days as the chief of police.

She lightly rubbed a crick at her neck as she proofread the document.

Having taken over the Republic City Police Department when her mother, the metalbender Toph Beifong, stepped down, Lin Beifong recognized that taking on this responsibility goes beyond upholding the family legacy.

She pushed on, double checking the figures. Hoping that this was enough at least to keep the council contented. While some of the council members saw her growing up, she knew they were going to be fair as in all their dealings. However, the rest of the members were likely to be more difficult with her, with the mistaken notion that they needed to compensate for the perceived bias of the city founders. It also did not help that her mother was not as charismatic as the other founders.

Lin sighed tiredly as she pulled out another case folder; she had her work cut out.

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

Tenzin frowned deeply at his bowl, as though the stew his mother prepared offended him greatly.

His sullen mood was out of place amidst the boisterous laughter of his family at the dinner table. On another day, he would have eaten his sea prune stew with gusto. Tonight, he should have done so as well, given that his mother went all out with the dishes as the extended family was present.

Bumi, his eldest brother, arrived two days ago on shore leave. His uncle Sokka, meanwhile, landed at Air Temple island that afternoon, in preparation for tomorrow’s council meeting.

His uncle continued to regal the table with stories, getting more and more exaggerated as the night wore on. His father, the Avatar Aang laughed accordingly at the right moments, encouraging the stories further. Beside Sokka, his wife Suki held his glass upright without skipping a beat as he pounded on the table in emphasis on how heavy the imported cabbages were in the Southern Water Tribe. Tenzin’s sister Kya chatted their aunt’s ear off at her other side.

It was a lovely meal indeed and the company was not so bad either. In fact, Tenzin was looking forward to this family dinner. The week was ending and it was particularly challenging one.

He had a long session with the new Air Acolytes earlier and he had a vague impression that they were not taking him seriously as they would his father. He just wanted to have a relaxing night with the family and Lin.

Granted, Lin was practically family. But it was her that Tenzin was specifically anticipating to spend time with that night. He had a lot of things on his mind but he knew Lin’s presence would help tamp down his worries.

Katara noticed her son’s preoccupation as the dinner went on. Every couple of minutes or so, Tenzin would look up at the doorway, as though expecting someone. As the night went on, his mood turned sour.

Presently, he attempted to stab the sea prune with his spoon.

“Tenzin, dear, would you like a fork?” Katara called out, lightly touching his arm, startling him from his reverie.

“Wha-?” Tenzin was drawn out of his thoughts, as the stew splashed on his robes when the prune slipped from his utensil.

“Fork? Or a knife?” His mother held out a small table knife to him. “Is something bothering you?” Katara had an inkling on what (or rather who) was on his mind. “How was the session today?”

Tenzin shrugged but took the knife. “It was fine, mother.” He wanted to share his misgivings about the air acolytes but did not want his siblings to overhear. “We were able to start and end on time.” Lame as it was, that was the only positive outcome of that meditation session.

“That’s good to hear,” Katara took a bite of her own stew. “They are from the Southern Air Temples, right? How is the restoration going on from their end, did they share anything about it?” She intended to draw him away from his obviously stormy ruminations.

Just as Tenzin was about to respond, Sokka suddenly turned his attention to mother and son. “Heeey – I knew I forgot something! Where’s Lin?”

Tenzin grew uncomfortable as the table went silent, each person looking at him expectantly. He cleared his throat as he loosened his collar. “She’s still at the precinct, I believe.” He did not miss Katara and Aang share a look but he chose not to acknowledge it.

“That young lady is working too hard,” Sokka run his hand at his beard. “On the other hand, look at her sister Suyin, with two kids at the age of twenty-four. I mean, sure they’re both productive, if you get what I mean. Am I right?” He elbowed his wife, looking for affirmation. Suki looked nonplussed. So he leaned to his other side, elbowing Bumi instead, who gave him a thumbs up.

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

Finally, at half past eleven in the evening, Lin found herself unlocking the door to the apartment after satisfactorily completing the documents in time for tomorrow’s meeting.

“Tenzin, I’m home.” She called out, as she took off her boots and removed her armor. “I’m sorry I’m late.” She pulled her long black hair from the bun it was in the whole day. “Had to finish up some paper-.” She finally realized she was alone. “Work.”

The dark and empty room puzzled her but she ignored the unease that crept and proceeded to the bathroom to wash her face.

Seeing the empty space where she and Tenzin kept their toothbrushes and toiletries, Lin cursed.

She just realized she forgot something tonight.

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

After somewhat successfully averting the disaster called Sokka’s big mouth by introducing dessert, Katara followed her youngest child who excused himself to the patio once dessert was served. She studied his stiff posture as he gazed at the distant lights of Republic City.

“Son, is everything okay with Lin?” Katara was not one to beat around the bush. “She’s not in trouble, is she?”

Tenzin shook his head quietly. “She’s fine, Mother.” He really did not want to discuss his relationship right now.

“Don’t mind Sokka,” Katara plodded on. “He’s just probably excited to hear about more grandchildren within our group. You know how he doted on Iroh when Zuko used to bring him over.” She smiled in recollection how Sokka had pranced around with the toddler on his back, pretending to be a dragon.

“Iroh is just a couple of years younger than me.” Tenzin grumbled, not liking where the conversation was headed.

Katara waved him off. “You were well in your teens by then – a far cry from toddling little Iroh.” Seeing no further comment coming from her companion, she gestured to the side buildings. “Do you want me to call on the Air Acolytes to prepare Oogi tonight? I had them bring him to the barns as I thought you’d be staying overnight. They can easily prepare him for your quick trip back to Republic City though.”

“No, it’s fine.” The tall airbender was starting to hate that word: fine. “Oogi’s probably resting already. And I haven’t decided yet if I’ll stay tonight,” His equanimity would be sorely tested should he see Lin now.  “I can always borrow a glider to get back to the mainland.”

“Well, if you’re sure,” His mother gave him a side hug. “You know your father and I are always here for you and Lin, right?”  She felt him nod. “Don’t stay out too late – it’s a bit chilly these nights.”

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

Lin fought with herself as to whether she should drop a call to Air Temple Island at this time. She wanted to speak to Tenzin. Correction: she needed to apologize for forgetting about the family dinner.

Seeing that it was almost midnight with no hint of Tenzin or Oogi in sight, Lin decided to risk waking the household up.

“Pick up, pick up,” Lin murmured as she heard the phone ringing.

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

Unbeknownst to her, the raucous cacophony made by a drunk Sokka, Bumi and Kya drowned out other noises within Aang’s house.

Rolling his eyes as he saw Bumi throwing back a large tankard, Tenzin decided to retreat to his bedroom to bid his time before going home to Lin. There was no way he would allow himself to be dragged into Sokka’s drinking game, which was likely to happen should they see him crossing the threshold to glide away. With a highly skilled waterbender in said drinking group, he did not want to take any risks of possibly being pulled into the ocean at this late hour.

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

With fatigue eventually overcoming him, Tenzin barely felt the mattress shifting nor did he feel the bed dip with the weight of another person joining him. He sighed sleepily as he curled closer to the source of warmth beside him.

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

Note:  Hello to my lone reader! So here’s my trial in creating a Linzin fanfic (cross-posted in archiveofourown too). I’m hesitant to post something online but it felt nice to share it with you. Not sure if this plot has already been done, or if this is a familiar trope already, but just the same I’ll be posting it here as I’ve started to rediscover the fandom recently. I’ve been fascinated by the Linzin pairing and I wanted to give it a shot. There was something very poignant about them and while I’m a sucker for angst, I wanted to try to give it a try to give them a happy ending. This is also non-canon compliant, obviously. Let me know what you think! 😊

==

Other chapters here:

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

[f4liveblogarchives]

Fantastic Four Vol 1 #232

Fri May 01 2020 [12:04 AM] Wack'd: Opening with some really moody, atmospheric color work here from Glynis Wein

[12:05 AM] maxwellelvis: Now you might remember Diablo. Not a lot of folks wear masks that ostentatious. [12:05 AM] Wack'd: I mean. I remember the mask. [12:05 AM] Bocaj: I'm kind of angry that the issue title is back to the basics [12:05 AM] Bocaj: I want to slap it [12:05 AM] Wack'd: Same [12:06 AM] maxwellelvis: I'm still struck by the irony, because one thing you really can't accuse the Byrne era as a whole of is sticking to formuler. [12:06 AM] Aleph Null: i don’t want to slap the issue but i do want to slap john byrne [12:07 AM] Wack'd: Okay, so, like. I'm kind of immediately sold on Bryne, because: 1. making Diablo kind of a put-upon normy who makes potions in his apartment gives him some much needed personality, and 2. can you imagine being like "fuck yeah, my favorite badass villain, Diablo, he's gonna make so many potions and kick so much ass" and then this happens?

[12:08 AM] Bocaj: I can’t imagine such a person [12:08 AM] Wack'd: I mean sure but, like, the letters page seems to indicate they exist [12:08 AM] Bocaj: 😮 [12:10 AM] Wack'd: Not sure how I feel about our first look at the new Sue putting her at a salon, but I do like that she gets to be snarky.

[12:11 AM] maxwellelvis: I'm suddenly reminded of the Corman movie deciding to make Sue and Johnny kids when Reed and Ben and Victor were in college. That was... weird. [12:12 AM] Wack'd: ...i will remind you that sue being a minor in fantastic four #1 is canon [12:12 AM] maxwellelvis: *shudder* [12:12 AM] Umbramatic: welp [12:13 AM] Wack'd: Oh cool our first Sue fight scene has her immediately get her ass kicked. That's certainly back-to-basics for you.

[12:13 AM] Umbramatic: geez writers [12:14 AM] Wack'd: I like that our first look at Ben is him getting emotional! Yes! Good!

[12:14 AM] maxwellelvis: I can't remember if this play had any relation to the film, [12:15 AM] maxwellelvis: besides obviously the subject matter. [12:15 AM] Wack'd: Okay, so, in the interest of fairness, Ben immediately gets his ass kicked by a water monster who traps him inside itself where he starts to drown. [12:15 AM] Wack'd: So it might just be that this issue is gonna have everyone get their ass kicked upon introduction and it's just unintended Sue went first. [12:17 AM] maxwellelvis: With their elemental weaknesses, too [12:17 AM] Wack'd: This scene doesn't tell us a ton about Bryne's take on Johnny, but it is a pretty funny gag.

[12:18 AM] Wack'd: And it's nice to see at least one 70s character survives the Brynining. [12:18 AM] maxwellelvis: Didn't he come up with her? Or was that Roy? [12:18 AM] Wack'd: She's one of Roy's, yeah. [12:19 AM] maxwellelvis: In that case, if I had to guess, he was intrigued with her fear of fire and I guess nobody ever asked Roy what was up with that. [12:19 AM] Wack'd: Its been a good two and a half years since we saw her. [12:19 AM] maxwellelvis: Since that plot, and Frankie, were dropped. [12:20 AM] Wack'd: Reed's intro scene is nothing special and Bryne's take is the same as everyone else's. He's doing experiments and thinking technobabble to himself. [12:20 AM] Wack'd: I guess this is more Kirbyesque detail work than I remember recently.

[12:21 AM] Wack'd: Anyway he gets attacked by a fire monster and he escapes unscathed because of course he does. [12:22 AM] maxwellelvis: Should have sent an ice guy, Diablo. [12:22 AM] Bocaj: 😐 [12:22 AM] maxwellelvis: That's apparently the one thing Reed can't escape, if I remember the 2005 movie right. [12:22 AM] Bocaj: I guess this is back to basics after all [12:22 AM] Bocaj: And Reed ya basic [12:22 AM] Wack'd: Heh [12:22 AM] Wack'd: Anyway in his escape Reed glides like a plastic bag towards the park, where he finds Frankie and she explains the situation. [12:23 AM] maxwellelvis: I'd say to use the cold thing in your thing but, how many FF bad guys use cold as a gimmick? Outside of death traps and the like? [12:23 AM] Wack'd: None I can think of. [12:23 AM] maxwellelvis: So yeah, outside of death traps it probably wouldn't come up. [12:24 AM] maxwellelvis: Well, maybe if you adapted that one arctic adventure, as a reason why Sue has to go it alone there. [12:24 AM] Bocaj: 'Reed shouldn't be plastic man' letter writer intensifies [12:24 AM] Wack'd: I like that Bryne is smart enough to do different fire effects! That one annual where the artist didn't draw Johnny and Jim Hammond differently bothered me.

[12:25 AM] maxwellelvis: I blame the colorist for that. [12:25 AM] maxwellelvis: Toro looked different, at least, in the black and whites. [12:25 AM] maxwellelvis: Toro doesn't have the cross-hatching Johnny does. [12:26 AM] Wack'd: Oh hey! Sue does indeed get to be badass with no one's help. Also her new haircut is incredibly queer and I am here for it

[12:27 AM] Umbramatic: the truth come out: does sue like girls [12:27 AM] maxwellelvis: Hmm, this might be jumping the gun but the title and stock setup seems like it's more Byrne laying out the ways he's going to be different from the other runs. [12:27 AM] maxwellelvis: I.e. by taking this stock FF plot and tossing in a few tiny subversions. [12:27 AM] Wack'd: 'Sue shouldn't be Green Lantern' letter writer intensifies

[12:28 AM] maxwellelvis: Diablo's reduced to living in a tiny rent-controlled apartment, Reed isn't singlehandedly saving the day, Sue gets to do stuff again, etc. [12:30 AM] Wack'd: "There's a scuba store right there!" is some real job-for-Aquaman shit but, like, in reverse

[12:30 AM] Wack'd: Unfortunately the water monster realizes that he can force Ben to give up his oxygen if they just...try to drown someone else instead [12:31 AM] Wack'd: And so Ben makes the world's saddest heroic sacrifice [12:31 AM] Bocaj: Aw [12:31 AM] Umbramatic: don't they know that when submerged ben can breathe underwater for the rest of his life [12:32 AM] Wack'd: HAHAHAHHA SUE'S FORCE FIELDS STILL COME OUT OF HER FOREHEAD. YES.

[12:32 AM] Wack'd: I know this detail goes away at some point but it's sure hanging in there [12:32 AM] Bocaj: What a mighty BLOOSH [12:32 AM] Wack'd: 🥁 [12:33 AM] Bocaj: Thank ye [12:33 AM] Wack'd: Dangit Ben you turned it into a Sandman

[12:35 AM] Wack'd: Oh good another scene where Reed has to dictate to Sue how to use her powers. PICK A SIDE, BRYNE

[12:35 AM] Wack'd: Anyway Reed electrocutes the water monster [12:36 AM] Wack'd: Destroying it [12:36 AM] Umbramatic: Water is weak to Electric! [12:36 AM] maxwellelvis: I mean, it's kind of a step up that Sue's like, giving feedback to his plan [12:37 AM] maxwellelvis: mostly because Reed's idea hear sounded a tad suicidal but still... [12:37 AM] Wack'd: Reed determines that the key to defeating these things is to change their state of matter, so Ben uses a nearby pipe to turn the rock monster to mud. [12:37 AM] Wack'd: And Sue, uh, needs to be told what to do about the air monster. [12:37 AM] Umbramatic: by hitting it that hard? [12:37 AM] Umbramatic: ben i mean [12:37 AM] Wack'd: No it's attached to a water main [12:38 AM] Wack'd: Sue is instructed to compress the air monster until it turns to liquid which. I am not sure that's how that works but I don't know enough about air to dispute it [12:39 AM] Wack'd: Another old trope: Sue does a badass thing and then immediately suffers repercussions [12:39 AM] Wack'd: Usually it's passing out but this time it's just a headache [12:39 AM] Umbramatic: aw [12:40 AM] maxwellelvis: "Condensation commonly occurs when a vapor is cooled and/or compressed to its saturation limit when the molecular density in the gas phase reaches its maximal threshold. Vapor cooling and compressing equipment that collects condensed liquids is called a "condenser".” Checks out. Thanks, Wikipedia. [12:40 AM] Wack'd: I mean they're capable of planning and complex thought but, like, okay. This is basically just Superman's "I can murder robots" loophole.

[12:41 AM] Umbramatic: oh no [12:41 AM] Bocaj: Didn't one talk and express feelings [12:41 AM] Wack'd: You can't even argue that it's just Diablo acting through them because this happens

[12:43 AM] Bocaj: Reed isn't the guy you look to for ethics. He turned some alien invaders into cows and then let them get ground up into hamburgers [12:43 AM] Bocaj: He'll justify anything to anyone [12:43 AM] Wack'd: Anyway transmutation won't work on fire (will google that never probably) so...Johnny gets hotter than the elemental embodiment of flame and that kills it somehow [12:44 AM] Bocaj: I could see the argument that he burned up all the air before the other guy could, snuffing him [12:44 AM] Bocaj: Like how they put out oil well fires [12:44 AM] Bocaj: With explosions [12:44 AM] Wack'd: Alright [12:44 AM] Wack'd: Johnny's not a scientist so it probably didn't work for the reasons he thinks it worked anyway [12:45 AM] Wack'd: Anyway elementals = alchemy = Diablo. So deduces Reed. But how will they find him? [12:45 AM] maxwellelvis: Transmutation is another legitimate scientific term. [12:46 AM] Wack'd: I know. [12:46 AM] maxwellelvis: It's not the transformation of matter from one state to another, apparently, which is how they beat the other three elementals, but yeah, that won't work on a fire elemental because fire is not matter. [12:46 AM] Wack'd: I was saying I don't know if/why it won't work on fire [12:46 AM] Wack'd: There we go [12:46 AM] maxwellelvis: It's energy. [12:46 AM] Wack'd: Okay! The elementals are not dead, they just retreated back into Diablo's holding containers.

[12:47 AM] maxwellelvis: Dude, he's got the statuettes of the elemental monsters everyone saw them brawling with. [12:47 AM] Wack'd: Yes, that's what happens next

[12:48 AM] maxwellelvis: "Hello!" [12:51 AM] Bocaj: I like how Reed was ethically correct accidentally. That sure is a thing. [12:52 AM] Wack'd: Anyway, that's the end of the first story of the Bryne run. It was...okay. Obviously it fell into a few easy traps I didn't love. And of course I always hate when the plot relies on the villain wanting a grudge match when there's this much collateral damage involved. [12:53 AM] Wack'd: But there were some high points and I'm not pessimistic about the prospect of more. [12:53 AM] maxwellelvis: I liked how the elementals were defeated by actual, real-world science. [12:54 AM] maxwellelvis: Rather than the mangled misunderstandings and outright bunk Doug Moench was using. [12:54 AM] Wack'd: That was something Moench seemed real big on too. It's the sort of thing that's nice if you can get it but after ten straight issues of Moench trying to turn the book into an edutainment program I wasn't, like, thrilled. [12:54 AM] Wack'd: I think Moench's only big misstep was buying into quack neurology? The science in his other issues seemed sound enough [12:55 AM] Wack'd: Okay, also I guess there's probably not aliens inside black holes. [12:55 AM] maxwellelvis: I'm more thrilled because unlike Moench, Byrne got it right. Granted that's because it was much simpler concepts than what Moench was trying to deal in, but it did mean it was easier to utilize it in the plot without having to stand around while Reed explains everything. [12:55 AM] Wack'd: ...oh god why did he spend so much time on the science of stuff if he didn't know anything. Why did I read that [12:56 AM] Wack'd: But yeah okay I see your point

[notapaladin]

turning saints into the sea

I wanted to write possessive Teo mixed with someone going (about Acatl) “he’s a priest!” “he’s a HOT priest!” and so this fell out. Enjoy!

also on AO3

-

Three young noblemen lounged around a single palace courtyard, dressed in far too much finery for the half-hearted ball game they’d just been playing. That game was over now; the sun had risen high in the sky, and it was far too hot to exert themselves in such a way. It was almost too hot to move; even their conversation had a lazy, drowsy drawl to it.

Finally, one of them—Ocelocueitl was his name, the third son of one of Huitzilxochtin’s noble brothers—broke the latest spell of silence. “Guess who I saw yesterday?”

“...Who?” Mopouhqui lifted his head. He’d been spinning the ball between his palms, idly tracing the designs incised in the surface, but this was much more interesting.

“Teomitl’s priest, the one that’s supposed to be tutoring him in the magic of living blood.” They were allowed to address him familiarly; they were his cousins, after all. Ocelocueitl had never gotten along with him, but there was a distinct tinge of smugness in his voice now. It suggested he’d come into valuable gossip, and the other two were intrigued.

“...Teomitl has a priest?” That was Xohueyac, who rarely bothered to pay attention to anything that wasn’t the ball game or a pretty girl.

Ocelocueitl nodded. “Mm-hmm.”

Mopouhqui, not to be left out, added, “Acatl, High Priest of Mictlantecuhtli.” And if he sounded a little wistful, his cousins weren’t surprised. Mopouhqui was not known for great discernment, and it had been some time since there had been a High Priest notable for more than magical prowess or political connections.

Xohueyac muttered, “What a shame.” And then, bright red, he stammered, “I mean—that’s what my sister says…”

Mopouhqui reached over to pat him nearly sympathetically on the shoulder. It was ruined by his lascivious grin. “That’s what we all say. He’s a pretty man!”

“Do you think him and Teo are...“ Ocelocueitl trailed off with a few hand gestures that would probably make a priest of Xochipilli blush. It definitely made Xohueyac blush, and he hunkered down in his seat before it could be remarked upon.

Mopouhqui smirked. “Well, if he’s not, I will!...or hell, even if he is.” He shrugged, careless of the blasphemy he was suggesting. “Man like that breaks his vows once, he might do it again.”

Xohueyac spluttered, “He’s a priest!”

“...And he’s far too attractive for it to be at all fair.” Mopouhqui nodded sagely. Of course he was right, but that didn’t make it a good idea to say. The gods were always listening, and even if they weren’t, there was their cousin to consider.

“Teomitl got to him first.” At least someone there was displaying basic self-preservation skills, though Ocelocueitl was still wearing a smirk that would get him punched in the teeth by the man in question.

Mopouhqui raised an eyebrow. “So?”

Xohueyac shook his head. “Wow, you really don’t want to get the chance to die in battle.” He might not have known until this afternoon that the handsome High Priest for the Dead was Teomitl’s tutor, but now that he did...well. He wasn’t stupid. Teomitl had never been inclined to share.

Mopouhqui scoffed, “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Ocelocueitl’s smirk only grew. “Means Teomitl is—“

Xohueyac saw movement, froze, and waved a frantic hand. Maybe if they were all very, very quiet, the man wouldn’t notice them or their conversation. “Coming this way! Shut up!”

Mopouhqui did not shut up. In fact, he raised his hand in a jaunty, cheerful wave. “Hey, Teomitl!”

Xohueyac groaned. This was going to be painful.

&

Teomitl was going to have a good day. He’d already decided on it, and nothing would rattle his mood. Nothing. After all, it was one of the days of the week set aside for his lessons with Acatl. The man was always honest and never flattering, at least not without good cause; it made the occasional words of sincere praise lodge ever deeper in Teomitl’s heart. You’ve done well, he’d said at their last lesson, and that had been enough to make Teomitl blush all on his own, but then he’d smiled. Smiled! At him! It had turned Acatl from merely handsome to radiant, and Teomitl had had to make an excuse to leave just so he wouldn’t say or do anything stupid. Mihmatini had seen through the real reason for his visit in a heartbeat. She’d gone so far as to giggle at him, which hadn’t helped.

He sighed at the memory. At least I can see him. Talk to him. Maybe I can get more of those smiles, even if...even if I can’t… He shook his head to clear it. Gods, he was a fool.

Someone called his name. He swiveled around to see a trio of his most indolent cousins waving at him and grimaced as he checked himself midstride. He should have pretended he didn’t hear them. Ah, well, too late now. “...What do you want?”

Ocelocueitl was grinning in a way that made him long to erase the look from his face. Preferably with a fist. “What’s with the glare? We just want to talk to our favorite cousin.”

Teomitl’s eyes narrowed. Ocelocueitl never wanted to talk to him. They hadn’t been friends since a childhood sparring match had ended with sprained limbs on both sides. “I don’t really have time—“

If his cousin been a hound, his ears would have pricked up. “Where are you off to?”

“...Lessons,” he said stiffly. “In the magic of living blood.” His heart skipped a beat at the thought. He ignored it. In front of his family members, he couldn’t afford be distracted or to show weakness; they’d pounce on it like jaguars, and their idea of teasing too often hid knives.

Mopouhqui muttered, “Lucky you.”

Against his better judgement, he frowned at his cousin. “Hm?” He’s never displayed an interest in magic before.

Ocelocueitl buffed his nails on his tunic and shot him a sideways glance. “I was just telling them I saw your priest yesterday.”

His ears went hot. He prayed desperately he wasn’t blushing, but he knew the gods weren’t listening. “Acatl-tzin’s not my—“

“Suuure. But you’ve been holding out on us!” Ocelocueitl actually had the nerve to smack Teomitl’s shoulder, as though they were friends.

Ah, now he was on firmer mental ground. Fury. He wrenched himself away, glaring at all three of them—even Xohueyac, who was clearly trying to blend into the ground lest he become a target. “I beg your pardon?”

Mopouhqui, not so easily deterred, came up on his other side and knuckled companionably at his arm. “You told everyone all about his magic and how smart he was, but you didn’t tell us he looked like that.”

Now he knew he was blushing. “I don’t see how his looks are any of your concern,” he snapped, even as the part of him not plotting how best to dispose of the bodies piped up with Well, at least someone in Tenochtitlan has working eyes and excellent taste. He snarled at that mental voice until it retreated; it was one thing to have a cousin who was properly appreciative of Acatl’s looks, and another for the man to be appreciating it in that tone of voice. Nobody was allowed to use that tone about his Acatl.

Mopouhqui grinned at him. “But he’s so handsome, don’t you think? Even at his age? Bet he made all the girls in his calpulli swoon when he was younger!”

The images marched through his mind—Acatl younger, less careworn, not yet sworn to the gods, surrounded by laughing peasant girls and smiling at their flirtations. Acatl flirting back. He sucked in a hard breath. “It’s hardly—“

Ocelocueitl snickered. “Oh, definitely not just the girls.” Teomitl froze, but he was safe—his cousin had apparently meant Mopouhqui, who didn’t look in the least fazed by it. Bastard. Teomitl hoped he came down with boils.

The worst part was that now he was picturing it, and it was too easy. Acatl had studied in the boys’ calmecac, after all, and Teomitl knew perfectly well what happened there out of sight of the teachers. Acatl was beautiful now and couldn’t possibly have been less so in his school days; it was impossible that he hadn’t had admirers. Impossible to think that there hadn’t been flustered boys trying to impress him, trying to press gifts and favors upon him. He felt his face go warm at the certain knowledge that he would have been one of those flustered boys. That he was one of those boys now, far past the point where Acatl might have been free to look back at him the same way—if it had ever even been a possibility in the first place.

He turned to go. This conversation was too dangerous. “I can’t listen to this; I’ll be late.”

Mopouhqui hummed thoughtfully. “For your magic lessons. With Acatl-tzin.”

“...Yes.”

“And that’s all you’re learning from him?”

The insinuation made his teeth grind, and for a moment all he could do was draw in a long breath. “What else are you suggesting I learn from the High Priest of Mictlantecuhtli?” The man sworn to Lord Death. The man who wears Mictlan’s power like a cloak. The man who would never in a thousand years do what I know you’re thinking about.

Mopouhqui started smirking again. “I’d love for him to teach me something else—“

No, came the white-hot flash of rage through his mind. He’s mine.

At least those words settled it. Teomitl was definitely going to kill his cousin. He lunged with the intention of getting him in a headlock, but he’d already taken too many steps out of arm’s reach and Mopouhqui was faster than he looked; it was annoyingly difficult to grab him. He’d almost managed it—Mopouhqui had made the mistake of dodging in a direction that put him near Xohueyac, who’d obligingly stuck a foot out to trip him—when a voice stopped him.

He loved that voice. He desperately did not want to hear it now.

“Teomitl?”

Acatl was gazing at the tableau in front of him with an expression that said, quite clearly, that he was not going to ask for answers because he did not want to know. When Teomitl backed away from Mopouhqui and slowly unclenched his fists, it changed into the faintest of faint smiles. He wanted to collapse with relief.

Then Acatl said, “There you are,” as though nothing was out of the ordinary, and he felt himself flush hot all over.

“Acatl-tzin...” he began, unsure of how to end it. I was defending your honor. They were disrespecting you. They were saying that you—that we—

“I was looking everywhere for you.” There was a crease between Acatl’s brows, but—thank the gods—he didn’t sound annoyed. Teomitl felt himself start to relax.

And then Mopouhqui scrambled to his feet, dusted himself off, and strode over to Acatl beaming like an old friend. “Oh, so you’re Teomitl’s priest! I’m his cousin Mopouhqui; it’s a pleasure to finally meet you, Acatl-tzin!”

Though Acatl crossed his arms defensively and looked visibly taken aback as the man stepped into his personal space without so much as a by-your-leave, he didn’t back down. “Is it?”

“Mmm. Teomitl’s told us so much about you.” There was more than a suggestion of a leer in Mopouhqui’s tone. Teomitl’s fists clenched hard enough for his nails to bite into his palms; when his cousin’s gaze flicked back towards him, it took all his willpower not to lunge for his throat.

“He—he has?” Acatl sounded like he wasn’t sure whether this pleased him or not.

Mopouhqui made a nauseatingly self-satisfied humming sound and swept his gaze slowly and pointedly over Acatl’s form. “But he left something out.”

And then he set a hand on Acatl’s forearm, and Acatl blinked at him. “Gnh.”

Teomitl saw red. How dare you. How dare you, you don’t touch him—he is mine—

“We weren’t expecting the new High Priest for the Dead to be so young and vigorous, you see.” There was another quick glance at Teomitl, but then those fingers slowly trailed up Acatl’s arm to the crook of his elbow; Acatl twitched in surprise but didn’t pull away, even when Mopouhqui leaned in to murmur, “Our previous one was ancient when the Empire was born. But you, my lord…”

Enough. Acatl was clearly flustered, clearly unsure of himself, and—just as clearly—wasn’t about to risk starting a fight in the palace in front of his student. Teomitl had no such compunctions. His idiot cousin was too preoccupied with gazing into Acatl’s eyes and so didn’t notice his approach, but he definitely noticed when Teomitl lashed out, grabbed one of his dangling earrings, and twisted. Hard. “He is busy.”

Mopouhqui yelped. Ocelocueitl and Xohueyac started cackling. Acatl was staring at him—he could feel the weight of his gaze—but he refused to look. His attention was on Mopouhqui, whose single working thought had finally settled on the realization that he’d made a dangerous enemy. Teomitl channeled all his rage into his eyes; he could feel them itching, feel the slow rising tide of the ahuitzotls’ song in his mind, feel how easy it would be to reach out and end it—

It was almost a relief when Mopouhqui dropped his gaze and he had to step back. Good. Go, and know that you’ve been beaten.

He wiped his hand pointedly on his cloak and turned to Acatl, who was watching him with the most carefully blank expression he’d ever seen. It made his heart sink like a stone, but he took a deep breath and forced himself to relax anyway. “Come on, Acatl-tzin. I’ve been looking forward to today.” And I’m not going to let this pup ruin it, he thought viciously.

Even if I’m afraid he might already have.

They didn’t talk until they reached his courtyard. Teomitl didn’t know what to say. I’m sorry about my cousin didn’t cover the scope of it; besides, it would be ridiculous of him to make a big deal out of it if Acatl wasn’t. I didn’t mean to rise to his bait would be an outright lie; if Acatl hadn’t been there, he would cheerfully have made Mopouhqui bleed for his insolence. And yet to tell the truth—I’m not sorry, you’re mine, he should never have touched you—was unthinkable.

When they stopped by the shade of the pool, Acatl broke the silence. “Teomitl…”

He couldn’t look at him. His face was already warm; if he looked at him, it would surely burst into flames. “What?” he snapped, and regretted his tone immediately.

His wonderful, rational, level-headed teacher only sighed, shaking his head. “What has that tree ever done to deserve a look like that?”

Teomitl swallowed and turned to look at him; at the very least, if he could maintain eye contact it would show his sincerity. For a split second he even managed it. “Nothing. I’m fine.” Drop it. Gods, drop it. Please.

Acatl did not drop it. Acatl, in fact, met his gaze with a searching one of his own that said he knew damn well there was a problem here. “No, you’re not. You looked as though you were about to murder that cousin of yours—”

“He was flirting with you,” he ground out, and clamped his mouth shut before he could say anything else incriminating.

Acatl flushed, but he didn’t look upset. At least, not at that. “I...I realized that. What I can’t figure out is why. I mean, look at me—“

As if I ever stop. “I do. I look at you all the time.” He made himself smile, made himself sound careless, because the alternative was to start screaming. “Mopouhqui is a fool with no sense of boundaries, but he has eyes. You’re not an unattractive man, Acatl-tzin.” Understatement of the age.

Now Acatl looked even more flustered, and Teomitl cursed himself. He’d revealed too much. “I—if you say so. But he...hmm.” He trailed off, dropping his gaze to the ground thoughtfully.

The smart thing would be to change the topic; he really had been looking forward to his lesson, and he ought to go and bring out his worship-thorns and grass balls and writing implements. But that pensive, worried look on Acatl’s face pinched his heart, so instead he took a step closer and asked, “...What?”

Acatl was quiet for a long moment. “He kept looking back at you,” he said finally. “Checking your reaction. He was flirting with me, but he was trying to provoke you.”

He growled at the memory. Oh yes, he’d noticed those looks. Mopouhqui had no doubt thought he was being sly. “He thought I was—“ Learning what I want from you, which is far more than I should be. Panting after you like a dog in heat. Trying to lay a claim to you, as though I have the right.

Acatl’s head came up like a hunting hound. “Hm?”

He swallowed back his words. “...Nothing.” It sounded steady enough, but he couldn’t—couldn’t—lie and maintain eye contact, not to Acatl, so he dropped his gaze to the water and hoped Acatl only thought he was embarrassed over having been so easily angered in public. He could feel his ears burning.

“You looked like you wanted to break his hand when he touched me.” Acatl did not sound fooled, but instead of his usual dry, unimpressed tone it was almost...soft. Gentle.

It made something in Teomitl’s chest twinge hard, and he lifted his head automatically to meet warm brown eyes. Ah yes, that twinge was definitely his heart skipping a beat. “You noticed that?”

“I notice everything you do.” It was said simply enough, but there was a faint tinge of color in Acatl’s cheeks, and the little frown that was his constant companion was nowhere to be seen. It wasn’t a smile—which was probably a good thing, Teomitl didn’t think he could survive a smile right now—but Teomitl had quite clearly threatened a man over him and he was looking at him in a way that suggested he actually approved. And as he watched, those eyes softened further.

Oh gods. Teomitl felt sure that, in defiance of all biological laws, his heart had flown up into his throat and stuck there. Don’t say that, he thought frantically. Don’t say that you notice me, don’t ask me if I’m fine, and for the Duality’s sake don’t look at me like that. If you do, I swear I’ll— “It really wasn’t like that,” he blurted out. “Or—I mean—it was just—he put his hand on you and I…” His fists clenched until he forced them open, knowing there were no battles to fight here. Air. He needed air. He took a breath and let it out, feeling his still-stuck heart hammer against the walls of its cage.

And then, of course, it got worse. Acatl’s brows knit as he frowned at him, as though he was a puzzle that couldn’t be solved. Or as though it had been, but the answer wasn’t something he was prepared to believe. “...Were you—were you jealous?”

He opened his mouth. He closed his mouth. There was nothing he could say, no speech he could mount in his defense. I am. I am. He was bold enough to touch you, to smile at you, and I wanted to tear him limb from limb for it.

No, he wanted to tear himself limb from limb; he’d spent so long trying to keep his feelings hidden, and here they were written on his traitorous face and proclaimed in his every reckless action. When Acatl drew in a long breath, he had to close his eyes, sure in the knowledge that he could not face the disgust in his teacher’s gaze—or worse, the distance. The disappointment. The polite rejection that said I’m sorry, Teomitl, but you know I don’t feel the same way.

Acatl let out a sigh. Teomitl, still afraid to move, froze even further at the first touch of his hand on his arm. “Teomitl. Look at me, please.”

He opened his eyes and looked. He could do nothing else, not when the fingertips resting gently on his skin sent lightning racing through his chest. Not when the man had said please.

Acatl kissed him.

The first brush of lips against his own was sweet, tentative, as though he was afraid Teomitl would be scared away, but then Teomitl’s lips parted and Acatl grew bolder, the hand on his arm sliding in to his elbow and the curve of his waist to pull him in closer. There was a noise—from him or Acatl, he couldn’t tell—but it didn’t matter when all it took was a half-turn to press their bodies together, to let his hands rest at Acatl’s shoulders and to melt in pleasure when Acatl’s arms went around him. He’d been kissed before—a fumbling, awkward encounter with a distant cousin—but it couldn’t compare to this. He felt like melted wax, like melted rubber, and all he could do was sigh when they pulled away.

“Acatl-tzin,” he murmured through his smile. I love you.

Acatl was smiling too. One hand came up to trace the line of his jaw, so gently that it almost tickled. “Teomitl.” His voice was the softest thing Teomitl had ever heard. “You never need to be jealous of me with anyone. Who else could I care for but you? Who else would I allow into my life, into my heart?”

Teomitl drew in a breath, heart racing. “I…”

He was too slow. The hand at his jaw fell; as Acatl averted his eyes, his words took on a bitter edge. “But gods, I was so determined never to tell you…”

A thin sliver of ice seemed to have lodged itself in his chest. “...Why not?”

Acatl bit his lip; he seemed to be hunting for the right words, but they were slow in coming. Finally he huffed, “I—you’re my student. I’m responsible for you in some way; to take advantage of that...I…”

Really? Really?! He leaned in and kissed Acatl again, brief and hard; when he broke away, they were both breathing raggedly. But Acatl still looked shaken, and it nettled him. Glowering, he took a deliberate step backwards out of his loose hold. “I’ve been to war,” he snapped. “I’m no green boy.”

“I know.” Acatl grimaced and looked away again, even as he traced his own lips with a shaking hand. “But I thought you’d be—you’d reject me—and you’re my sister’s age—“ He cut himself off, turning red. “Gods. Mihmatini is going to kill me.”

He made a face. Right. Of course he’d have to tell her, and even the knowledge that she’d probably be happy for them wasn’t enough to make the idea less than cripplingly awkward on his end. He had no illusions that she’d go any easier on her older brother; in his admittedly limited experience, family never did. Maybe he could convince Acatl to wait until his wedding night to share the details, where with any luck she’d be in too good a mood to tease them about it.

Acatl was still talking, and unfortunately seemed to have settled on a much faster timetable. “I know you’ll say I’m a fool, but...but I can’t keep this secret from her. Especially not if you’re still planning to court her!” He hesitated. “I don’t mind if you are. But I really think she should know.”

Even knowing the reaction was stupid didn’t stop his face from growing hot as he muttered, “She does. Or suspects, at least. There were...hand gestures.” He waved a hand in a rough approximation. The actual ones used had been explicit enough to make him choke, and he was morbidly curious to know how she’d learned them. It was another thing best saved for his wedding night.

This clearly took a moment to sink in; when it did, Acatl turned slowly red. “...I don’t want details, do I.”

He met Acatl’s gaze steadily, voice lowering. “You do not.” This time, he was the one moving slowly and carefully; as he set his hands at Acatl’s waist, Acatl was trembling. It tore at his heart. I have to reassure him. I have to make him see. “The important thing is that you wouldn’t be upsetting her. She’ll be more than glad to know that you’re mine.”

Acatl sucked in a breath. “Yours?”

“Yes,” Teomitl closed the distance between them. Their mouths met in a biting kiss, one that made Acatl gasp and return it with equal fervor. There was a moment where Acatl didn’t seem sure of what to do with his hands, but then sharp nails were digging into Teomitl’s shoulderblades and he moaned into Acatl’s mouth. Acatl nearly growled, nails raking down his back and catching in the folds of his cloak; when Teomitl dug his fingers into his hips, it got a bone-deep shudder in response. But it wasn’t enough; he needed more, needed to see Acatl fall apart in his arms.

And so he pulled away and scraped his teeth over Acatl’s pulse, reveling at the man’s helpless gasp. “This is what I wanted to do in front of him,” he breathed. “This, over and over—I wanted to mark you as mine.”

“Oh, gods,” Acatl panted; his fingers were digging into the back of Teomitl’s neck hard enough to hurt, hard enough to make him wonder what would happen if he grew his hair out—would Acatl pull it instead? Gods, he hoped so. But now there was only flesh and muscle, and when he muffled himself by mouthing down Acatl’s throat to his collarbone the man’s whole body trembled.

He hummed into the thin skin. Yes. This is what I want. “Mmm…”

Pressed together as close as they were, it was impossible to miss how much they were both enjoying it. Acatl was hot and hard and absolutely perfect in his arms; when he pulled away, Teomitl made a sound he would never admit was a whine. Acatl’s eyes were hazy with desire, though, and the breathless pleasure in his voice made him shiver. “...I don’t think either of us can be expected to focus on lessons today.”

Teomitl’s breath hitched at the sheer possibility of it all. I could...gods, I could…

He could. His room was right there. He gave Acatl’s ass a lingering squeeze, smirking when the man gasped. “Come inside,” he whispered. “Let’s learn something else instead. Together.”

For a moment there was silence, and he prayed he hadn’t overstepped—but then Acatl breathed, “Gods, yes.”

They went inside.

It was a very, very thorough lesson indeed.

[chaniters]

Reaper and the Fiend- Epilogue.

Epilogue for @kruk-art‘s Awan Cormac’s second series.

As usual, looking back id the realization that the more characters and elements you add up, the harder it gets for the plot to keep cohesion. Many times I almost call it quits, but somehow I pulled trough to the end. 

Hope you enjoy it!

Awan and “The Question”, the precognitive surviving member of the Phoenix Rangers, reflect on the aftermath of it all before Ortega joins them. 

Spoilers inside too, for Rebirth.

_______________________________________________________

The first rays of sunlight touch your Sidestep mask, as the cloud begins to recede. Ashfall and Sentinel have been working together to try and ground the toxins into a nearby landfill for hours now.

“It’s amazing, isn’t it?” The Question comments. 

“I think it’s working,” 

“Me too” He says while checking the air analyzer’s readings. “This is the real miracle”

“You still believe in miracles?”

“Magical miracles? No. But miracles made true by people with flesh, blood, and bone? Of course.”

“Interesting way to put it”

“When you’re like me, it’s the only way to put it”

“Right, I forget you’re supposed to know the future or something?” You didn’t forget. His mind is a maze that rivals yours, but he’s got a truly calm attitude about it that’s making you envious. 

“It depends. Do you believe in fate?”

“What do you mean?”

“Do you believe our lives have been predetermined from before we were made? That, someone, decided who you’re supposed to be for the rest of your existence and that’s that?”

That’s a very specific question to ask to you… 

“No. I don’t believe in fate”

“Good. Me neither.”

“But you see it. The future, I mean.”

“I like to believe we are masters of our own destiny”

“That doesn’t really answer anything.”

“Well there’s a reason I didn’t call myself ‘The Answer’, you know?”

“Shut the fuck up” you laugh, unwrapping a candy bar. “I just came here to lie down, not to have a philosophical debate”. 

“You really aren’t going to ask me about your future? Everyone does.” Is he baiting you? You get the impression he knows a lot more about you just by looking. He knows too much about... everyone. You are just another speck of dust in a sea of information. 

“No. I won’t ask” you say pulling your mask above your mouth and taking a bite of candy. 

“Huh. That’s probably wise”

“Is it?”

“Yeah. Once I tell someone how their future will look like, then it’s set in stone for them and not even I can change it. I really don’t like doing it”

“But you would have.”

“Oh, I would. I do it, more than I probably should, you know for people who need it” 

“Do I look like I need it?”

He gives you a long look.

“No. I think you’ll be just fine without it. I mean, you won’t of course, but you will.”

“That’s both ambiguous and terrifying. How do you know the future’s not set in stone even before you look?”

“I really try not to think too hard about that. I think you didn’t want a debate?”

“Fine. I just want to relax” you say retreating and straightening an overturned sunbathing chair. “It’s been a shitty day”

The door to the staircase leading to the top opens, and Ortega comes in, in full suit. 

“Sidestep. I see you’ve made yourself comfortable up here. You know, Steel could have really used your help with all the angry civs though.” 

“Funny way of showing it. He said I wasn’t part of the team when you asked me to stay.”

“Yes but… well, you know he didn’t think you would actually walk away… he thought you wouldn’t listen and help anyways like you always do.”

“Well I guess we all learned something new from that experience, didn’t we?” 

“You just wanted to piss him off that badly?”

“Ugh… no… well, maybe I did, but you know I don’t do well with crowds with strong emotions, and I had more than my fair share today. I need some peace” 

“Fine. I understand… But just so you know, you did a darn good job in there”

“... a lot of the people who got killed might disagree” you point out.

“And a lot of people who lived will be thanking you. We saved them. You saved them. No one could have predicted how this would go”

“I could. I did” the Question states while looking at the analyzer he’s been fiddling with.

“What? You did? The only thing you did was call us! Why didn’t you say shit? A lot of executives died” Ortega points out.

“If I had told you, you would have saved them, and those are the ones who would have voted not to open the Archology to the civs, and we would be having a civil war right now. Thank me later”

“You let them die!”

“I didn’t do anything. You’re the ones with fighting powers, It was you who couldn’t rescue them, remember?”

“Wow. you really are full of shit” You interject.

“Look I lost my team to that monster ok? Could’ve lost the entire city too. I don’t like it but it’s how my stupid powers work, I’m not a fighter like you two, so give me a fucking break.”

“... fine” you say, too tired to argue with this jerk. 

“Good. Ashfall’s plan is working, pollution levels are coming down… I’ll go coordinate some stuff, If you’re staying here seek me out once it goes below 33% alright?”

“We don’t work for you!” you complain. 

“We’ll do it” Ortega interrupts you.

“Ugh. Whatever”

The Question nods and leaves, letting you two alone up here at the zenith of the Arcology. The monotonous beeps of the analyzer repeat intermittently over the strong winds.

“Funny guy” you comment

“Don’t get me started on that asshole.”

“I was just finished with him anyways.”

“So it’s working?” he says changing the subject and looking down at Sentinel and Ashfall working in the distance. 

“Seems like it” you answer.

“Nice to have some good news, finally,” he says approaching the edge. 

“Join me. Nothing compares to sunbathing under a toxic cloud with your suit on.” you offer.  

“Receding, toxic cloud you mean” he clarifies taking the chair next to you and laying over it. 

“Right. Receding” you snort. 

“Not going to lie. This is the biggest fucking mess I’ve ever been into since I got into the capes business”

“Same here” you agree. Nothing you did for the farm compares to this clusterfuck.

The aftermath wasn’t pretty. Not by a longshot.

Letting Catastrofiend into the core worked, as the beast consumed enough of the gas to allow the scientists to stabilize it somewhat, and turn the lights back on essential systems through the facility. The computers were toast, however, as Charon wiped all data and OS before erasing himself, commiting digital suicide upon it’s master’s death. Everything’s working on manual overrides right now. 

There was a big scare when the Fiend came out of the core’s container, glowing like it had the power of an evil purple sun ready to burn you all, but to everyone’s surprise, it didn’t survive long after saving performing its single heroic feat. The glow became blinding, and then it disappeared, only the echoes of its roars remaining as a reminder of its presence along with a pair of purple footprints. 

You caught a glimpse of your least favorite asshole, The Void, holding some sort of gun and hiding back into it’s cloaking device, walking away. Whatever it is he wanted, you’re sure he got it, and if your scans were to be trusted, he left the arcology immediately after that. 

Your work to convince the remaining executives to let the people in was much easier now that all the surviving scientists were focused on having the building not explode. They couldn’t afford combat on the outside when their tech was unreliable, and Reaper managed to remind them of their own mortality by dusting a couple of them. All it took was a small nudge on the mind of the deciding vote and the gates were reopened. 

“We lost Psychopathor” Ortega says laying down on a chair next to yours. “A lot of the crowd still backs him and he just got lost among them.” 

“We’ll get him next time” you reassure him. “We couldn’t fight him in the middle of this civilian mess anyways or it’ would be Halloween with Catastrofiend all over again”

“... Too soon man. Too soon” he says bending his arms and putting his hands behind his head, relaxing.

“Sorry.”

“You’re right. Not a damn thing we could do about old shitface, so It’s time to lie down and wait”

He stretches, crossing his legs as he looks up, just as you were doing earlier.

“They’re doing a fantastic job” you comment.

“Sentinel I had no doubts about, but Ashfall? He really came through working with those creepy scientists about the sand-whirlpool shenanigan”

“It was a good idea” you say peeking down. As the polluted air comes down into the landfill, it goes trough a series of sand walls of that Ashfall keeps raising, coming clean on the other side. Several trucks come in with sand refills while others take the polluted compounds away. 

“Good for him. His publicity wasn’t very good before this” 

“What about your publicity?” his mask looking your way

“My last publicity stunt with you guys was with Reaper and he turned to be a homicidal maniac so I’m thinking I’ll give that a pass from now on. Please don’t get me into that shit again?” 

“That’s fair” he concedes. 

 “... anyways… they stole a bunch of tec shit from the lower levels and left. Some sort of targeting device and many plasma weapon prototypes”

“We’ll get him” you repeat. 

A news helicopter flies by, taking pictures. It turns to take one of you two. Fuck. That’s tomorrow’s cover right there... 

“I know what you’re thinking… but we’re not going to be the top news tomorrow.” 

“No? Who is?” 

“I talked to my agents… Reaper, and The Fiend it is. Geni-Tech’s minimizing  company’s responsibility for the toxins and making them the focus.”

“They  kind of had a lot to do with it anyways”

“True…”

“That’s not what’s bothering you tough?”

“How do you know?” he asks turning towards you.

“It’s pretty obvious. What happened with Elyise?”

“... mierda. You’re good. You sure you can’t read my mind?”

“I can read Idiot easy enough. It’s my favorite language”

“... she left. I can’t find her. Didn’t want to talk to me”

“Understandable. Her mother just died for real this time”

“I just… I didn’t see another way... “

“That’s because there wasn’t.” 

“And now she’s going to hate me forever for it”

“Yup, pretty much” you add looking into the distance.

“Would you had done the same?”

“You’re asking me of all people?”

“Yeah. I want to know”

“Would I sacrifice a lab monster to save countless human lives…” Shit. That should be the farm’s motto. Would you sacrifice yourself to save lives? That’d be a better question.  “Yeah. I guess I would… Look, just because you do the right thing doesn’t mean people can’t hate you for it”

“Ha. The right thing…. What even is that”

“Good question,” you say closing your eyes. “So fucking tired”

“Me too. You should get those cuts checked...”

“Later. It’s just a scratch really. And you know I don’t like”

“Hospitals, yeah I know” 

“Good”

He doesn’t reply, and you both stay silent for the longest while, just listening to the wind as Sentinel keeps the small inverted tornado pulling the cloud into the landfill with Ashfall grounding the chemicals in it.

When you finally open your eyes again, the sky has shifted and there are large patches of open sky in the cloud. Checking your watch, you realize it’s been almost an hour since you sat down here. 

Ortega’s still next to you, so it was both of you who fell asleep. 

Since when are you so careless? Lowering your guard so much next to the Marshall’s a recipe for disaster. Standing up, you take a final look at the Sentinel’s work, and the deserted streets of the city below. 

“We should get back down” you add tapping Ortega’s shoulder.

“Eh… what’s the rush?” he asks looking up. 

“Air toxicity’s down 30%,” you say pointing at the analyzer the scientists gave you, your main reason for staying up here. “I’d bet GeniTech’s going to kick everyone out in minutes”

“Yeah… at gunpoint probably.”

You open the door, letting him in first and follow up to the elevator. He makes a call with his intercom to let The Question know. 

The floors of the Arcology are packed with people from Phoenix taking refuge from the cloud. Just as you see them, they can see you too inside the glass elevator. Without warning, they explode in a thunderous roar of...cheers?

There are some boos in it as well, possibly Psychopathor’s fans, but overall it’s just deafening hero worship. 

The kind Reaper talked about. The kind that makes more people take hero drugs. Focused on you and Ortega. You’re not sure how to feel about it anymore. 

The next few hours go really quickly, and you barely manage to say goodbye to the Rangers before leaving back for Los Diablos on the first bus you can get.  You need to get back to your place and rest for a couple of days while you heal up. You definitely lied to Ortega, Catastrofiend left a bit more than just a scratch and the wound is itching all over even after you disinfected it.

Being a hero is exhausting and you’re taking a brief small vacation while you consider what to do with the mess that your life’s become since you decided to mingle with the Rangers. 

__________ Somewhere, in a parking lot in Phoenix____________

“I’m sorry Dr. I couldn’t recover your disintegration gun” The Void states while studying the small weapon in his hand. “It wasn’t in their labs by the time I got there, and with all the city going upside down it was just impossible”

“Disappointing, but not unexpected. I thank you four your services anyways and…” 

“Dr. I’ll return my initial fee to you.”

“That’s not really necessary”

“I care about my reputation. I won’t  take  payment on something I failed to deliver.” 

“That is surprisingly refreshing to hear in this line of business. Very well Void.”

“Of course. Once again, I’m sorry”

He hung up, setting the gun back inside the briefcase, before calling another number, with the San Francisco area code upfront.

“Who are you? Who gave you this number?” a female voice asked. 

“They call me, The Void. And I know all the numbers” 

“That’s very unlikely. So you say your name is Void?”

“No, I’m not just ‘Void’.  There’s a THE before it. The. It’s ‘The’ Void, you hear me?!”

“Alright, alright, calm down you freak, I got it the first time.”

“And don’t you forget it”

“Whatever. What do you want THE VOID?” she made a point to pronounce it in a very passive-aggressive way.

“I need to arrange a meeting with Big Fire about a business proposal. I think I have something he could definitely find a use for” Void added looking at the shining red dot on the disintegration gun. 

“Big fire has a use for lots of things, but no time for everything. What am I supposed to say you’re offering that’ll make him call you back?”

“Oh he’ll call me back, you can bet on it.”

“I don’t like betting honey. Now speak or fuck off” 

“Well, you’re no fun. Ok, tell him I have… a fiend in a bottle,”

“A fiend in a … wait what does that mea-… “

Void hung up without answering, a smile on his lips as he closed the briefcase.

____________________________________________________

My Fanfics: https://chaniters.tumblr.com/post/181692759294/my-fanfiction-for-fallen-hero

DISCLAIMER: This is a work of fan fiction using characters and the setting of the Fallen Hero: Rebirth and upcoming Fallen Hero: Retribution games written by Malin Riden. I do not claim ownership of any characters from the Fallen Hero wold. These stories are a work of my imagination, and I do not ascribe them to the official story canon. These works are intended for entertainment outside the official storyline owned by the author. I am not profiting financially from the creation of these stories, and thank the author for her wonderful game/s, without which these works would not exist.

[iffeelscouldkill]

it only means there is no room for you to fall [Epilogue]

A/N: This is a follow-up to it only means there is no room for you to fall, my alternate post-episode-5/episode 6 Sana/Arkady/Violet fic that I wrote uh... last September, wow. It won’t make much sense if you haven’t read that, so go read that fic first!

Those of you who follow me on AO3, or who followed the fic on AO3, will know that I already wrote and posted an epilogue to this fic about a week and a half after it was written. But I never posted it to Tumblr. I liked it, but I also wasn’t that happy with it - there was too much “plot”, and not enough of the fluff and indulgence that I’d so enjoyed when writing the first fic. And I liked how the first fic ended, so I sort of wanted that to be a stand-alone on Tumblr, until I was happier with the epilogue.

I never intended to rewrite it - I was originally planning to write a follow-up fic or two in the same ‘verse, and figured that once those were written, I would post the epilogue to Tumblr first so that it made sense. However, I lost a bit of steam with the next fic in the series, so that didn’t quite happen.

Fast-forward to now, and... well, I’m sure I don’t need to spell out why I needed a dose of fluffiness and self-indulgence in my fic-writing life. So, I decided a couple of days ago to have another go with writing this epilogue, and see if I couldn’t write a version that I was happier with. Turns out I could! Here it is :D

---

The first thing that Sana is aware of when she wakes is that she’s very, very warm.

The second is that someone is playing with her hair, carding their fingers through the strands that have escaped from the loose plait she wears it in. It feels nice. Sana closes her eyes again.

A vague memory filters through the sleepy haze in her brain. Arkady and Violet hugging her. Arkady leading her into her room, pulling her down onto her bunk, wrapping her arms around her. Violet at her back. She realises that she can hear voices talking softly.

“...might wake up and decide that she can handle it without our help.” Violet’s voice. “She is the Captain, after all.”

A snort from Arkady on her other side. “You underestimate my willingness to flat-out pin her to this bunk until she admits that she can’t handle everything by herself.”

Sana cracks one eye open. “I’d like to see you try.”

She feels Violet jump behind her, but Arkady just smirks, unrepentant. She looks slightly softer-edged in the morning (well, Sana realises that she doesn’t really know for sure that it’s morning, it’s hard to tell on the ship), her normally carefully tamed hair in unruly tangles around her face. It’s a look Sana has only rarely had the privilege of seeing.

“How did you sleep?” asks Violet, and Sana turns to smile at her.

“Like a log. I hope I didn’t snore.”

Violet laughs. “I don’t think so. I would know if you did - I’m a pretty light sleeper. It comes from being a medic,” she adds by way of explanation.

Sana is about to say something else - ask what the time is, maybe - when a key part of the previous night suddenly comes back to her: Ricky Q’s smug voice on the other end of the line. His threats against her crew, and the rendezvous on Hafizah. Sana groans as her head starts to throb slightly.

“Sana?” Violet looks worried, reaching forward to brush strands of hair gently from her face. Sana realises that Violet had been the one playing with her hair when she woke up, and she takes a moment to delight in this tiny gesture of affection from the other woman, who had always seemed quite reserved in her interactions until now. They would brush past each other, sometimes, in the narrow kitchen, and Sana was often guilty of wanting to read too much into the touch of fingers as moonshine cups were passed around, or Violet’s gentle ministrations as she checked an injury. She’d always told herself she was wishing for the impossible. She’s now starting to realise that might not have been true.

“What is it, Sana?” Arkady asks her, tense, like she’s readying herself for a fight. Sana weighs her options. She knows that telling Arkady about Ricky Q and his blackmail will only make her angry, and she doesn’t want to puncture the little cocoon of warmth and calm that they’ve created for themselves. But she also knows that putting her best friend off won’t be well-received. Arkady will probably make good on her promise to pin Sana to the bunk until she opens up about what’s going on (Sana carefully doesn’t think about all the ways that image appeals to her).

Even as she hesitates, Arkady says, “Look, you know all that touchy-feely crap you pull the moment one of us freaking blinks wrong? You know that goes both ways, right? You can’t just... It isn’t right for you to always have our backs, and not let us have yours, too.”

There’s frustration in Arkady’s voice, but there’s an underlying hurt, too, and a hesitancy. Arkady isn’t used to voicing her innermost feelings, Sana knows, and she’s always quick to retreat defensively afterwards, like she’s afraid of being mocked for it. But Sana thinks that Arkady is more afraid that Sana might not trust her with this. That she doesn’t see their friendship (more than friendship? a part of Sana’s mind wonders) as a partnership of equals. Sana lets out a soft breath, fighting down the urge to pull Arkady to her in a crushing hug, which might not be well-received.

“Before I tell you both what’s been going on,” she begins, “Kady, I need you to promise me that you won’t... fly off the handle.”

Arkady eyes her suspiciously. “That depends on what it is you’re about to tell us, because I already really don’t like the sound of this.”

Sana sighs. “Just, promise to hear me out first? I need you to do that for me.” She levels Arkady with her best Captain’s stare, a mixture of sternness and warmth. It works on the whole crew, but particularly Arkady, who will often back down only when Sana levels it at her.

Sure enough, Arkady grumbles but subsides, her cheeks going pink. “All right. Whatever it is, I’ll wait until after you’re done telling it before I blow a gasket.”

Smiling slightly, Sana looks at Violet, whose expression is intent and serious, before she begins.

“Last night, not long after I got done fixing the temperature reg, I had a call from Campbell...”

She outlines the tense exchange with Campbell, his assurances about Red Gregor, and then her accusation, the argument and Campbell’s parting words. True to her word, Arkady doesn’t interrupt, though she frowns indignantly on Sana’s behalf a couple of times. As expected, however, when Sana gets to the second caller and reveals his identity, she explodes.

“What?! What do you mean, Ricky Q? How did that rat bastard even get your number?”

Sana gives her an amused look, but it’s tired. “I told you you’d be angry.”

“Did he hack us? No, he can’t have done,” Arkady says. “Goddamn it, I should have known he’d crawl back up out of the gutter somewhere-”

“Arkady,” Violet says quietly but firmly. She reaches across Sana and takes Arkady’s hand. “Remember what you promised. Let Sana tell it.”

Sana bites back a smile as Arkady goes pink, looking down at their entwined hands as if she can’t quite parse what she’s seeing. “I- fine, whatever,” Arkady stutters.

Violet looks serenely back at Sana. “Carry on, Captain.”

Sana presses her lips together with amusement, and files away the way that Violet says ‘Captain’ to turn over in her brain later, because right now she can’t give it the attention it deserves.

“He talked to the Fowleys, that’s how,” Sana says in reply to Arkady’s question. Arkady’s expression darkens, and darkens further as Sana recaps the conversation and Ricky’s threats.

“That bastard,” she hisses, and this time neither Sana nor Violet stops her.

Violet looks upset. “He said that someone on this ship has been informing to a middleman... but we haven’t had contact with anyone...”

“He’s lying,” Arkady says instantly. “He’s making it up to bait you. Sana, you can’t meet him, you don’t know what he’s gonna do.”

“He knew about Violet,” Sana points out, her voice quiet. “He knew things he never could have found out unless he had some kind of… source. I don’t know what it is,” she goes on, before Arkady can say anything else. “And I don’t believe it’s any of you. But I have to know how he got the intel.”

There’s silence for a few moments as they all contemplate the situation. Sana hates that they’re in this bind, that they have to bow to the whims of someone like Ricky Q because they can’t risk the alternative. And she resents the loss of what could have been a quiet, peaceful morning with her two favourite people if not for this whole mess. (Oh, who is she kidding - the Rumor has never even met “quiet” and “peaceful”).

“I don’t think you should go in without backup,” Violet says quietly. Sana looks at her in surprise, and Arkady does a double-take.

“Hey, that's my line!” she exclaims, mock indignant, but she’s looking at Violet with warm admiration. A tingling sensation spreads through Sana’s gut, and she takes a moment to appreciate the way these shared looks between Violet and Arkady no longer make her feel a stab of jealousy and loneliness; instead, she feels overwhelming affection for both of them.

Still, she shakes her head. “I said I would meet Ricky alone, and I will. I can handle him.”

“Yeah, but you don’t have to,” Arkady points out, practically vibrating with frustration. “You can’t seriously believe he’s going to play fair with his one. You don’t know what shit he’s planning to pull. He could be waiting at the rendezvous with an army of IGR agents!”

Sana shakes her head again. “No. However much of a scumbag Ricky Q might be, he has more to fear from the IGR than we do. He won’t have tipped them off. Listen,” she goes on quickly, “I’m going into this to get information out of Ricky, so I need him to have his guard down. He won’t, if you’re there. And no offence, but I don’t think you could restrain yourself from stabbing him in the gut if you saw him again.”

Arkady shrugs. “Not really sure I see the downside there.” Violet gives a little snort of amusement. Sana smirks slightly, but then becomes serious again.

“I know you’re worried,” Sana says gently. “But I’m still the Captain, and if Ricky is making threats against all of you, I can’t let that lie. It’s my job to make sure you’re all safe. And to make life a living, breathing hell for whoever dares to cross us.”

Arkady smirks and stretches languidly. “I love it when you talk scary,” she jokes, though there’s a spark of heat in her eyes that makes Sana think she’s not entirely joking.

Sana smiles and reaches for Arkady’s hand, lying on the bunk next to her, and twines their fingers together. She does the same with Violet’s hand on her other side. For all that the situation with Ricky Q is a mess, and it could go sideways on them in the worst way possible, she feels calmer than she has done in a while. And her headache has miraculously faded.

“So...” she says. “Is this the part where we talk about... this?”

She feels Arkady go tense, as she’s prone to doing whenever feelings enter the conversation, but to her credit, she doesn’t pull away. Violet is nodding.

“I think... maybe we should? Arkady and I... well, we kind of talked about how we wanted to uh...” Violet blushes bright pink, but forges on, “take care of you, because you always do it for us, and both of us... care a lot about you, and we wanted to show it. That’s why we came to your room, last night. Well, this morning, I guess. I’m not even sure what time it is.”

“I was wondering that, too,” Sana admits. “And speaking of which, I haven’t even thanked you both for-”

Arkady groans and buries her face in the bunk’s one pillow, which she has somehow managed to steal. “Oh my god, can we please skip the speech? You really don’t need to thank us for that. At all.”

Sana knows from years of experience that Arkady’s protesting is her way of saying ‘you’re welcome’, so she isn’t affronted. She shoves Arkady lightly on the shoulder. “It wasn’t going to be a speech. I just wanted to say thank you. That’s all.”

Arkady makes an inarticulate noise of disbelief, and Violet grins.

“And, so that we’re all on the same page about this...” Sana begins, feeling like the ball is in her court now. She’s suddenly unaccountably nervous. They spent the night in the same bed, and Violet has just said that she and Arkady “care a lot” about Sana and wanted to show it, which is pretty hard to misinterpret. But Sana also hasn��t felt about anyone the way she feels about Arkady and Violet. And living as they do in such close quarters, she can’t afford to get this wrong.

“Sana?” Arkady prompts her, and the note of nervousness in her voice is enough to spur Sana on.

“I care a lot about both of you too, and have done for some time,” she says, feeling her face warm with a blush. “As more than just friends,” she adds, to be absolutely clear. “I don’t really know how… dating… will work on the ship, especially not with everything else that’s happening right now - but if you’re willing to give it a try, then so am I.”

Violet nods vigorously. “Yes. I would really like that,” she says, with a heart-melting soft smile. “And, well, Brian and Krejjh seem to manage somehow, so we can probably make it work, too.”

She says it with a grin in her voice, and Sana knows she’s saying it at least partly for the inevitable reaction it will provoke from Arkady when she emphatically declares that their relationship is in no way going to be like Jeeter and Krejjh. There’s a pause as both she and Violet wait for that reaction, but weirdly, it doesn’t come. Sana looks round at Arkady, who is red-faced and fidgeting with the pillow cover.

“So, uh, Krejjh might... know about the three of us already. At least, they know that I have feelings for both of you.”

“Really? How?” Sana asks, and from the surprise on Violet’s face, she can tell this is news to her, too.

“They sorta... gave me a pep talk. Last night. Just before I ran into you in the kitchen,” Arkady adds to Violet.

Violet’s eyes widen. “I wondered what that announcement over the comms was about.”

Sana senses she might have missed quite a bit while she was dealing with the double crisis of Campbell and Ricky Q. She makes a mental note to ask for the full story later. “So, let me get this straight,” she says slowly, because she is absolutely not passing up the opportunity to rib Arkady about this. A lot.

“You took romantic advice from Krejjh? The same Krejjh who kept inviting us to dinner with Brian when he was trying to ask them out? That Krejjh?”

“Well, it worked, didn’t it?” Arkady shoots back, still red in the face. “Anyway, it wasn’t really advice, it was more like... encouragement. They suggested that you guys might be open to the possibility of a relationship involving... all three of us. And something about Dwarnian relationship norms. Apparently polyamorous relationships are pretty normal for them.”

“Huh,” says Violet, contemplatively. “So I guess it’s Krejjh we should be thanking, then.”

Sana smirks at Arkady. “You realise that Krejjh is going to be insufferable about this as soon as they realise we’re together.”

Arkady groans again and faceplants back into the pillow. “Don’t remind me.”

(Sure enough, when the three of them enter the kitchen in search of breakfast - well, lunch technically - about half an hour later, Krejjh’s squeal nearly ruptures their eardrums. “Crewman Jeeter, come look! They’re holding hands!”

“We can hear you,” Arkady complains, half-heartedly.) 

[mtvswatches]

Wynonna Earp 2x09 Forever Mine Nevermind

Click here for previous recaps!

Stray thoughts

1) The writers are actively trying to use Waverly to awaken the lesbian/bisexual in all their confused female viewers, right?

2) Wynonna just fucking did a backflip WHILE PREGNANT and then proceeded to high-five her unborn child, and here I am, eating pancakes and struggling to reach the remote that fell under my chair.

She’s quickly climbing up my favorite characters list, though.

3) Wynonna is not the only one interested in Doc’s ring, apparently.

And this old demon dude reminded me of the old demon dude from Buffy? You know, the one that sliced Dawn up in the tower? Same creepy old evil guy vibes.

4) Dolls just gave Rosita a gift card so that she can take Doc on a couple’s retreat or something? Weird way to get rid of the competition, but okay.

5) WYNONNA ASKED THE NIGHT OFF AND THE HOUSE TO HERSELF BECAUSE SHE INVITED DOC OVER FOR DINNER AND I MIGHT JUST DIE OF ALL THE FEELS.

6) They found The Creepster’s body, and I’ve never been so happy to see a carbonized corpse, hallelujah!

7) The Creepster’s sister is trying to make up excuses for his creepy, criminal behavior and Nicole is not having any of it but Waverly told her to stop... telling the truth? And I get that they’re not seeing eye to eye at the moment and I do not condone what Nicole did and I get that Waverly is trying to be respectful of the Creepster’s sister’s feelings, but… being dead does not erase all his wrongdoings and awful behavior, people do not automatically become saints once they die. If you were an awful person while you were alive, then you should be remembered as such. And the fact that his sister is trying to justify his behavior by saying that he loved Waverly “in his own way” is vile.

8) Doc bought the picture for Wynonna and the baby and I knew the old demon guy must have put some kind of glamour on him (or it?) because the painting did not look as creepy when he decided to buy it…

9) Wynonna made dinner for Doc and she’s feeding him and he’s pretending it’s tasty and this is everything I have ever wanted.

10) And the painting keeps changing…? Is it alive?

The freaking doll is straight-up staring at them. 

11) The cupboard just opened by itself when Wynonna said the third seal was Doc’s ring and I’m here wondering if it is just a coincidence or if some Paranormal Activity shit is about to go down. I’m hoping it is the latter, tbh.

12) Well, the reason Wynonna was trying to sweeten Doc up is that she wants his ring so that she can break it and release Clootie and release the demon that is WORSE than Clootie so that she can kill them both, while pregnant, I presume. Doc is less than excited, of course. And now the creepy doll is out of the painting and I’m 99% sure she’ll show up soon…

13) Rosita invited Waverly to the spa and this is definitely one of the scenes I’d seen a million times on my dash when I hadn’t watched the show. I’m trying to figure out why? Is it only because it’s two girls wearing bikinis in a hot tub? Or does something relevant to the plot or to the characters development happen here?

14) And yes, something creepy is watching both Waverly and Wynonna.

15) I’VE DIED AND GONE TO HEAVEN. THIS IS HEAVEN.

Wynonna is trying to convince Doc to willingly give up his ring so that she can destroy it and release both Clootie and the very, very scary unnamed demon, and he’s not having it. He believes destroying the ring would be his death sentence, and Wynonna argues that he’ll just be as mortal as any of them. Doc is truly terrified of dying, isn’t he? I guess the question is, does he love his agelessness more than he loves Wynonna…?

16) And now she called him selfish – which is kind of accurate, to be fair – but that’s not going to get you what you want, you impulsive doofus! He wants to leave but they can’t find the keys, and I’m 99% certain the little girl from the painting stole them. Yep.

17) Wynonna just stopped Doc from leaving by baby-bumping him????

18) Doc told Wynonna how he hid and listened to his dying mother cry and beg and pray every night until she died, and you kind of understand why he wants to hold on to life so much, right?

19) Waverly just texted Nicole…

WAVERLY: “Dear Control Freak. I will talk to you when I want to talk to you. Until then, have a nice life hurting the people that you love.”

And now I’m afraid something terrible will happen to Nicole which will make Waverly regret sending this text.

20) Oh. I get it now.

WTF Waverly! This is a million times worse than the text! Also, kind of love how Waverly got all hot and bothered with Rosita’s SCIENCE TALK. 

21) I TAKE IT BACK, THIS IS WORSE!!!

22) And now he says that he came back to save her from his sisters? WTF, Frosty Creepster!

23) By the way, IS ROSITA REALLY DEAD?!

24) Wynonna and Doc are arguing about the ring and they’re about to physically fight and this creepy doll is responsible, right?

25) Oh, shit, they weren’t dead, the creeper’s sisters were NOT DEAD!

The widows stole their faces?! I guess they probably wish they were dead. 

26) Ugh, Wynonna and Doc’s argument really escalated and she’s saying some awful stuff and now…

…which she said she would never do? I gotta believe it was the creepy doll’s influence.

27) ROSITA SAVES THE DAY!

WTF!!!!!!

She’s been a revenant all along?!!!! Is that why Doc offered her protection when they first started working together? 

28) Dolls hung up on Jeremy because he was being annoying and Jeremy just threw himself in front of Dolls to save him from the Widow!

29) Oh, no, Doc just said he’s always known Wynonna would be the death of him and threw the ring at her and…

Phew, Wynonna shot the doll, but the things they said… they’re out there. And while they may have used the cop-out of saying it was the influence of the creepy doll, they basically admit that the doll might have brought those feelings to the surface but they were there, to begin with. Awkward, am I right? 

30) This is as close to an “I love you” as he’ll ever get, right?

WYNONNA: Doc, this is it's about something bigger than us.

DOC: The demon Clootie.

WYNONNA: Our baby. I mean, I need to do that on my own terms, but I promise I won't break the seal. Not until after. We we need a plan. But when that plan is in place, I will break it with you by my side.

DOC: Do you swear?

WYNONNA: I do.

Fuck, it’s almost as if he was proposing, isn’t it?

This show fucking plays with my emotions because I feel these two are not getting back together (I may or may not have seen gifs of Wynonna and Dolls as a couple... oops!) and yet they keep putting them in situations like this, and I feel like it’s baiting, you know? 

31) So…

She paralyzed him, told him she’d be his girl, and proceeded to… eat him? I’m not sure I understand what’s going on.

32) And the other sister seems to have figured out where the third seal is. Coolio.

33) I KNEW IT! Waverly thinks she’s half-revenant!

34) OH FUCK!

I knew that text meant Nicole would be in danger and Waverly would regret sending it! But why is the widow there??? That’s not where the third seal is, is it?

35) Fun episode, I really liked how the characters were paired up and sort of on adventures of their own but which are all connected to the main arc somehow. But it lacked the epicness of the previous episode, which is definitely one of my favorites so far. Of course, this one served to pave the way for the season finale as we quickly approach it. Can’t wait to watch the next one!

36) Hope you enjoyed my recap, and, as usual, if you’ve got this far, thank you for reading! If you enjoy my recaps and my blog, please consider supporting it on ko-fi.Thanks!

[sparklyjojos]

THE SAIMON FAMILY CASE recaps [5/13]

In which magic routines are explained and Kirigirisu tries his hand at solving the mysteries of the show.

--

The next morning, Ajiro and Kirigirisu have some time to kill before the show, so they take a walk through the famous Joue-ji Garden. Apparently Ajiro is interested in traditional gardens, which similarly to his interest in magic was jump-started when he visited the splendid grounds by the Saimon family’s residence. It’s interesting to see Ajiro’s another side—not just a hard-working boss, but a man appreciating beauty.

Looking at the temple’s five-storied pagoda, Kirigirisu thinks of one of his fellow detectives, whose real name is Gojuunotou Fudou (五重塔 不動, gojuunotou meaning a five-storied pagoda). No wonder the man prefers a slightly less weirder pseudonym Gotou Fudou.

Now that he thinks about it, there’s quite a lot of strangely named detectives in the Club, many using nicknames. [These detectives don’t matter that much in the overall plot, but the author’s note at the end of the book mentions they were in part inspired by all these cool ideas for detectives the fans keep sending him. Wholesome].

There’s Raiouji Rokenrou (雷王寺 路拳郎), his real name being Terada Ichijirou (寺田一次郎), that delinquent punkish detective we already met.

There’s Mikuruma Noritaka (御車 法隆), real name Gosha Noritaka (五車 法隆), whose reasoning method revolves around him convincing himself through self-hypnosis that he’s a genius and can solve anything, and who loves to think about cases while riding his bike at breakneck speed. (Apparently he and Raiouji love to go on rides together.)

There’s Yakushiji Saiten (薬師寺 祭天), actually Yakushiji Kinta (薬師寺 金太), who’s the kind of guy to spend half a day admiring himself in the mirror.

Together, these four—Gotou, Raiouji, Mikuruma and Yakushiji—make a fine team sometimes called the Young Four Heavenly Kings, or Young Shitennou (ヤング四天王).

And that’s just a few of the Club’s detectives. It’s… kind of weird how many strangely-named members the organization has. (Although some have more normal names, like Arito Tarou, a guy who doesn’t like our two main detectives all that much.)

Kirigirisu’s name is also extremely unusual, but to be fair, he doesn’t even know if it’s his real name. It may have well been a nickname. He wonders if having a weird name isn’t more likely to make someone a detective, considering that it may lead to bad experiences in childhood, or something. Maybe taking on nicknames reveals a desire to become someone you’re not?

Anyway… returning his thoughts to the upcoming show, Kirigirisu remembers yesterday evening’s conversation with Ajiro.

--

“Most tricks fall into one of three categories,” Ajiro said back then. “Production, vanish, transformation. You can demonstrate all three with a commonplace object like a cigarette.”

He let Kirigirisu take one more look at the trick with snapping the cigarette in half, but from another angle, revealing that no actual snapping occured, the cigarette was just cleverly half hidden in Ajiro’s hand. The trick was aided by acting out a forceful movement and making a tough face while “snapping”. The next part of the trick was playing catch ball with what seemed like a torn half, but was actually the intact cigarette. The illusion worked because Kirigirisu was already convinced that the snapping had occurred, and Ajiro’s hands moved too quickly for him to realize the truth.

While Kirigirisu understood the need for the rule about never showing the same trick twice to someone, he didn’t feel at all like learning the truth ruined the magic for him. On the contrary, he felt even more emotionally moved and fired up. He would compare that feeling to the catharsis caused by solving a tough case, that emotion of finally attaching a logical explanation to something that seemed unsolvable.

Seeing his enthusiasm made Ajiro even more eager to serve as a lecturer, so he quickly explained another trick. It looked like he was pushing the cigarette into his left fist using his right hand… but in actuality he just pretended to do it while hiding the object in his right hand, where Kirigirisu couldn’t see. Then it was simply a matter of keeping the Kirigirisu's eyes on the fist—in other words, making use of misdirection—which let Ajiro withdraw his right hand with the hidden cigarette and drop it onto his lap (an action magicians know simply as “lapping”).

Next, Ajiro showed the part of the routine where he seemed to be pointing to something invisible in the air and catching it. These movements were meant to misdirect attention; while Kirigirisu was looking at Ajiro's pointing and catching left hand, his right hand could do whatever it wanted without being seen—perform a so-called “secret move”. In this case, the secret move was picking up the cigarette from his lap and hiding it in his palm.

When Ajiro earlier demanded that Kirigirisu followed his movements, this too served as misdirection pulling attention away from the act of lapping.

That's all fine and well, but how could a lit cigarette have been hidden in his hand at the very beginning? Ajiro explained that while magicians usually use a "pull"—a metal tube slightly bigger than the cigarette in which it can be safely hidden—he used a simpler method called "the throwing vanish". He acted like he's throwing the cigarette towards his left hand, but it actually stayed in his right.

But how could he lap it without it giving off visible smoke? He didn't; instead he put it between his crossed legs under the low table, so smoke couldn't rise freely. This trick could only really work in a place like the inn where customers sat on the ground.

Okay, but if the cigarette never entered his left hand, why was there smoke rising from within it? Well, Ajiro simply moved the hidden-in-right-hand cigarette below his left fist, let the smoke rise up, and only then retreated his right hand, once the viewer's attention was firmly on the fist. He did something similar later when Kirigirisu was holding his hand closed. He retrieved the cigarette from its hiding place, then—moving his right hand fast enough that smoke would dissipate in the air fast and wouldn’t be seen—moved it under his fist, letting smoke rise.

That was the end of explanations, so Kirigirisu asked about Gensui's tricks from earlier. Did Ajiro understand the secrets behind them too?

"I do. The truth is, he showed me the same routine when we met for the first time. But it's still his secret, and besides, I wouldn't be able to explain and show it as well as he would. After we talk about the case tomorrow, maybe you'll have a chance to learn about it from him." That maybe doesn't sound optimistic, and seeing Kirigirisu's saddened face, Ajiro adds, "Gensui didn't actually tell me the method, you know. I studied some magic and figured it out by myself later. Maybe after the lecture I just gave you, you can try to uncover the secret yourself?"

Kirigirisu's detective brain attempts to figure it out.

There were eight or so individual illusions to Gensui's routine. Putting his card into Kirigirisu's hand out of nowhere. Having Kirigirisu's name already printed out despite not knowing him. Changing Kirigirisu's card into his own. Pulling Kirigirisu's card out of an empty pocket. Making an orange silk handkerchief appear. Turning it into a ball. Turning the ball into a mandarin orange. Somehow making half his card appear inside that orange.

How Gensui slipped him the card is unknown. He could have learned Kirigirisu's name beforehand from Ajiro, but Ajiro denied that he had told him. Besides, it's improbable that he would have the card printed so fast, unless he was ready to pay good money (it’s 1977 and word processors are only now beginning to crop up). Where Kirigirisu's card disappeared to was unknown, as Gensui couldn't exactly lap it, and a secret move was out of a question when Kirigirisu could see both his hands. Was it then hidden in some secret compartment inside his pocket? Or maybe the card he pulled out of there wasn't even the same one, but a copy he had received beforehand from Ajiro (who denied this as well). The silk handkerchief probably had been hidden somewhere, the problem was where. The transformations into a ball and an orange were mistifying, and finding the torn half of the card inside the orange truly seemed like pure magic.

Ajiro's demonstration should have given him a hint, but he still had no idea how to explain the routine. He kept thinking about it so hard he couldn't sleep well that night.

--

Before the show, the two detectives go to the employee area once more. While most the performers are hanging out talking in a group, there's no Gensui or his brother anywhere. Perhaps they prefer to stay out of sight to make sure no one spots both of them at once.

When they meet Gensui in his trailer house, he's wearing a tailcoat that matches his imposing figure much better than the staff jacket from yesterday. He makes that unemotional face again when others can see him, but as soon as the door closes behind them he's back to a gentle smile. (Both expressions look perfectly natural. Well, as a magician he's probably been learning acting since childhood.)

Ajiro tells him about his and Kirigirisu's conversation. Gensui listens closely, smiling the entire time, though at the same time he’s carefully regarding Kirigirisu with his eyes.

"I'm always happy to witness the birth of a new magician friend," he says finally. "If Souji approves of you, then I shall give you my trust as well. If it's not a problem, I could give you a lecture on yesterday's routine after the afternoon show…" Gensui's comforting smile almost seems like that of a Buddha statue surrounded by a halo of light.

Kirigirisu can't believe his own luck and immediately decides in his heart that he’s going to work his hardest on the case, as he can't possibly let this wonderful man come to harm.

"Actually, I had a great idea right now," Gensui adds. "I'd like you to take part in the show. Is that alright?"

“You’d like to… me…!”

“That’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, Kirigirisu,” Ajiro prodes him on.

“But… what would someone like me even do?”

“Please do not worry. It’s something even a child could do.” He explains some more and indeed, it’s something easy: Kirigirisu will be chosen from the audience to assist the performers and just has to follow the script.

“I promise you I will do my best, Mr. Soga!”

“I’m glad to hear it. Please call me Gensui… or Tensui, when people are watching.”

It’s amazing to think that if Kirigirisu made a different impression on Gensui, he’d never get to see this gentle, smiling side of him, just the emotionless imposing act. He has half the mind to shout “please call me Tarou!”, but it can’t get through his throat. (Tarou is a really common name. There’s that detective in the organization called Arito Tarou who always calls Kirigirisu “the fake Tarou”, and he doesn’t like to remember that.)

--

Later that morning, the two detectives finally enter the circus tent with other spectators.

Ajiro has a nostalgic look on his face; while a busy man, he always makes sure to see the family's show whenever it comes to Fukui prefecture near Kyoto. The last time he saw it was just that summer, in fact.

Kirigirisu looks around astounded, having never seen something like this before and already anticipating something marvelous. If a single cigarette was enough for such a wonderful show yesterday, how grand an illusion using that giant bell is going to be? It feels like entering a dream or another world altogether, or even like stepping outside his own body. (Which is maybe a good thing; Kirigirisu isn’t fully sure what his reasoning method is yet, but it seems to have something to do with thinking better when he relaxes and gets this sort of detached feeling.)

And so, the two detectives watch the wonderful magic show.  [The narration tells us that it was the very same show that was described earlier in details.]

It is unlike anything Kirigirisu has seen before, and his emotions are best described as similar to falling in love and going on a honeymoon. He is firmly set on doing his best to make Gensui happy, but still dreads the moment he will have to come on stage and anxiety almost gets the most of him (what if Gensui wanted him to catch that rose that didn’t land anywhere near him, what if he wanted him to recognize all these flags, oh God).

His turn comes when little Koyomi announces she’s going to pick one of the spectators by listing “random” personal attributes: someone who hasn’t brought any family along, who is a man in his forties, who does not wear glasses, who thinks his name is unusual, and who came to Yamaguchi from a prefecture far away.

Koyomi seems genuinely surprised when he says he came here all the way from Kyoto, making him wonder whether Gensui didn’t tell her the details, or whether she’s just a really good actor. He follows the previously agreed script (the drawing is just a normal circle, no, it’s the flag of Japan; now it’s a clock or a scale; let’s say it’s a clock). Asked for current time, he gives a half-scripted answer, pretending that his watch is a little early and telling Koyomi the current time plus five minutes (Gensui himself made sure his watch worked correctly beforehand).

Thankfully, everything goes well… though as soon as he sits down, Koyomi asks him to pick the next person, which was not a part of the plan, and he panics a little. It’s a strange feeling when a girl over thirty years your junior has to give you an encouraging look. It’s even stranger when a thousand and five hundred people are, if just for a moment, hanging onto your every word.

--

As soon as the guests leave the tent, another surprise awaits them. Where there should be just empty space, now stretches a vast flower field, their petals wet with rain. Ajiro explains that it’s trompe-l'œil, a painting technique that uses forced perspective to create the illusion of depth. Indeed, up close the flower field is clearly just a picture, a strangely deformed one at that. Just like many other illusions, this one works only as long as the spectators can’t take a closer look.

--

They meet with Gensui, who has apparently just changed from the black diving suit into the usual tailcoat. His hair is still a little wet. He thanks Kirigirisu for cooperation and is in turn thanked for such an amazing show.

“Well then, it’s time to keep my own promise,” Gensui says. “Let’s start the lecture on yesterday’s routine. First, how I was able to learn your name. It’s very simple—perhaps disappointingly so, for which you’ll have to forgive me. After Souji told me he would take a coworker along, I simply called the organization’s secretary and asked for your name.”

“I see… but you must have learned about it not even a day before we met. How did you manage to get a card printed out so fast?”

“The secret here is likewise very simple. All the cards weren’t printed at all, but handwritten by a talented member of my staff. All those giant signs you see around were made by them as well. As long as you have access to the right ink, it’s possible to make your handwriting look like print.”

“You said all the cards just now…” Kirigirisu is slowly starting to understand. Multiple cards. One had to say Tensui, another Gensui...

Gensui nods, then shows them how he prepared the orange. He takes a pre-torn half of a card that has I’m Soga Gensui written on it, rolls it up, then carefully inserts it inside the fruit by removing and replacing the stem. This is apparently a variation of a widely known illusion, Bill in Lemon.

Next, Gensui repeats the first part of yesterday’s routine: he takes the intact card with I’m Soga Tensui on it, which seems to magically disappear in his hand, only to return when he gives Kirigirisu a handshake. Confused Kirigirisu passes the card to Ajiro, who also makes it disappear in his hand… but once Kirigirisu can take a look from another angle, he realizes that the card was just moved to the back of his hand.

“The act of hiding an object in your hand is what we call “palming”,” Ajiro explains. “This particular variation is known as the back palm.” He gives Kirigirisu a handshake and swiftly moves the card to its previous position, so it stays in Kirigirisu’s palm once he withdraws.

But what if the other person attempted to look at the back of his outstretched hand? This is also not a problem, as Ajiro demonstrates: one just has to move the card into another hidden position inside one’s palm. His moves are ridiculously fast. Even Gensui seems impressed.

Next question: how did Gensui change Kirigirisu’s card into his own just by moving his right hand over it? The truth is, that right hand had the Tensui card hidden in it using what’s called a “classic palm”. First, he inserted that hidden Tensui card underneath Kirigirisu’s card. Then he palmed Kirigirisu’s card and took it away, revealing the Tensui card underneath. This may be complicated, but Gensui’s skills made it seem like a single fluid move. With Kirigirisu’s card still palmed in his right hand, he then pretended to pull it out from the empty pocket.

The secrets really are so simple once you learn them, though they do require mastering the palming techniques. As Gensui points out, it’s not an easy feat to make your hand look naturally positioned while you’re secretly holding something with it. (Kirigirisu does wonder when busy Ajiro would have time to train something like that.)

Next question: okay, we know that the torn half of the Gensui card was hidden in the orange beforehand… but then why would its edge perfectly fit the Nice to meet you part from the Tensui card, the one that was torn in half with Kirigirisu watching? This also is very simple: because what Kirigirisu was handed was not one half of the Tensui card, but of the Gensui card.

The magician sneaked the remaining Nice to meet you fragment of Gensui into his hands together with the intact Tensui. Then he torn Tensui in half. The Nice to meet you fragment of Tensui was promptly palmed, and Kirigirisu took that sneaky little Nice to meet you fragment of Gensui instead.

This wasn’t the only thing the magician had kept palmed at the time, either: he was already holding the orange silk handkerchief in his right hand. After he lit the torn Tensui part on fire and let it burn to ashes, he simply let the silk fall out of its hiding place.

In order to magically transform the silk into the ball, Gensui then performed what’s known as a “switch”. He pretended to insert the handkerchief into his left fist, but what he actually put inside was a small orange ball, which had been previously palmed in his right hand along with the silk.

Transforming the ball into an orange was based on a similar switch. When the ball was thrown high in the air, Kirigirisu’s eyes naturally followed it, allowing Gensui to casually pull out the prepared orange out of his pocket. While holding it, Gensui caught the falling ball, palmed it, and presented just the orange to Kirigirisu.

With this, the entire routine is now explained.

Kirigirisu (whose eyes are shining with awe at this point) inspects the orange ball, which turns out to be very soft. According to Ajiro, it’s a Goshman sponge ball.

Gensui seems eager to show more magic, so he takes the ball from Kirigirisu, presses it with his finger, returns it… and the ball in Kirigirisu’s hands has magically divided into two, each somehow the original’s size.

“Sponge balls like this one are very popular, since they allow the magic to happen in the spectator’s own hands,” Ajiro explains. “Let me handle that for a bit, Kirigirisu.” He takes the two balls for just a second, puts them back into Kirigirisu’s hand, gently pushes his fist closed…

...and Kirigirisu realizes with a start that there is now a good ten sponge balls inside his own hand, so many he can’t even get a grip on them, resulting in them falling to the ground while he fumbles in complete shock.

“Wh… how… I...?!”

“Aw, Souji, how awful of you,” Gensui teases. “You overdid it and scared poor Kirigirisu into shock.”

“Awful of me? It’s your own fault that he’s in shock.” Ajiro finally takes mercy on dumbfounded Kirigirisu and explains what just happened. “You may want to remember what I’m going to tell you now, Kirigirisu: illusion is all about showing the audience impossible things. Since those things are impossible, they can’t have actually happened, it just looks like they did. You can solve the secret by process of elimination. Look at all the distinct processes that make up the effect, reject what must be impossible, and what remains in the end will lead you to the method.”

Like the classic process of elimination used in solving cases. Spurn by those words, Kirigirisu attempts to figure out the solution.

It was certainly impossible to divide a sponge ball into ten parts while still keeping the same size and texture. Therefore, the ten sponge balls had to have all existed from the beginning.

How could one make it seem like the sponge ball was multiplying? Since the effect was shown right after Gensui’s lecture, it probably had something to do with what he had said. Both Gensui and Ajiro took the objects into their own hands before returning them. Therefore… Gensui almost certainly had another sponge ball already palmed, and gave it to Kirigirisu together with the original. Perhaps the soft material allowed for easy compressing and hiding of even ten of them at once.

But why on earth would Ajiro randomly keep eight sponge balls on his person? That seemed improbable. If so...

“Boss, when did Gensui give you eight of these sponge balls?”

Gensui and Ajiro both look happy and proud hearing this.

“That is a very good question,” Ajiro says. “While Gensui was showing you the miraculous dividing sponge ball, he sent me a look and secretly passed eight more balls to me. That was enough for me to guess what he wanted me to do.” And so Ajiro became Gensui’s partner in crime, so to speak.

Once all the explanations are done, Gensui gives Kirigirisu a little challenge: to watch the evening show and using his new knowledge try guessing the secrets behind the illusions.

“But—I certainly won’t be able to see through something as amazing and polished as that show!”

“There’s no need to be humble. You are a capable detective. Even if an illusion isn’t quite the same thing as a murder case, wouldn’t you still be able to grasp the solution?”

“Speaking of murder cases,” Ajiro interrupts, “you wanted us to see the show before talking about the case at hand. Are the two connected?”

“They are,” Gensui admits with a serious expression.

“Then—then I’ll do my best to solve the show,” Kirigirisu decides. “Even if I’m not really confident I can do it.”

Sensing that the mood is getting too dark, Gensui announces he’s going to show them one last trick for now. This one he won’t explain yet in order to pique Kirigirisu’s curiosity for later.

“Unfortunately I don’t have playing cards with me right now, so I’ll make do with this,” Gensui says and gives Kirigirisu a familiar business card to inspect. Nice to meet you, I’m Soga Tensui. Nice to meet you, Kirigirisu Tarou. “There are countless variations of card magic. I hope I will have an opportunity to show you Paul Curry’s Out of This World one day, the illusion that the great magician Dai Vernon once called “the card trick of the century”. But today, instead of the flashy Out of This World, I want to show you its polar opposite I devised: Change The World. The simplest card magic possible, stripped of all unnecessary decorations, using only one card.”

“It’s been a few years since I’ve last seen it,” Ajiro says, visibly expecting something amazing to happen.

Gensui puts the card on his open left palm.

“Keep your eyes on it… it’s going to be over in a flash.” He reaches out with his right hand, then moves it fast as lightning, making it pass a good ten centimeters above the card. It really is over in a flash. The card was hidden from the detectives’ sight for just a split of a second, and yet… it has been transformed into Kirigirisu’s business card.

If you ask Kirigirisu, this entire day full of illusion seemed to Change the World for him.

And so, Ajiro and Kirigirisu prepare to watch the last show of the season.

Nobody could guess that it would end up being the Saimon family’s last public performance.

--

The evening show follows the same programme as the afternoon one. Using his new magic knowledge, Kirigirisu is able to figure out some things.

For example, the three Courtisanes couldn’t just produce their smoking pipes out of thin air—that was impossible—so they had to have them hidden somewhere. Knowing where to look now, Kirigirisu notices the moment they pull the pipes out of their long sleeves. When the Courtisanes throw the pipes in the air, he knows better than to follow the objects with his sight, and can easily see the women retrieving the umbrellas from their sleeves and opening them; it seems those umbrellas can be folded into a tiny size and loaded up their sleeves in large numbers. The umbrellas also have barely noticeable tiny pockets in them, where the confetti falls from when shaken. (It’s not really that Kirigirisu figures the solution out, as much as just knows where to look, and starts to understand why you shouldn’t show the same trick twice to the same person.) The umbrellas must also have some sort of a thin tube inside to pump water through, and strategic lighting creates the rainbows.

Tensui then shows up from inside the bell somehow. He couldn’t have hid inside beforehand, considering that the stagehands ring the bell at the beginning, and the resulting vibration and noise would render anyone inside deaf, if not kill them. If Tensui couldn’t appear from within the bell… then he must have appeared from below. Was there some sort of a hidden trap door in the floor, like in a kabuki theater?

Now that he thinks about it, is this newly appeared warrior actually Tensui, or maybe Gensui? Well, whichever brother it is, he is certainly "Soga Tensui" as far as the world at large is concerned.

How Tensui lights his left hand on fire without getting burned and how he disappears behind the big screen are mysteries Kirigirisu can’t solve. The two bells seemingly hitting each other and merging into one, which then disappears, just seem like pure magic; you can’t exactly palm a giant bell like a sponge ball.

The beginning of the mirror illusion is obviously just a pantomime that Tensui and Gensui are acting out. The problem is how one of them can get safely stabbed with a sword. The suddenly appearing glass pane in the frame can be easily explained if one notices a subtle change of lighting inside it. The frame probably has a similarly sized piece of glass attached on hinges at a 90 degree angle, so it can be moved to fit into the frame while the audience is distracted by the two warriors. Who moves the frame and how they do that, and how they manage to put a mirror inside later in half a second, is a mystery.

The flying bowtie is just baffling, as is Tensui’s manner of zooming off-stage without moving any of his limbs, or the way he appears from underneath that black cloth on the wooden cross that is kept above the ground at all times (although it is now obvious that what was inside was not a demon, but Tensui making the “horns” using his arms).

How the pictures on the origami doll box change remains a mystery, but the assistant appearing inside and Tensui’s switch with Kotensui can both be explained if they are able to enter and leave the box from below through a trap door… though the Tensui-Kotensui switch must require a lot of skill, considering how the tied hands under the cloth seem to move the entire time. Perhaps they perform the switch one hand at a time?

Kirigirisu already knows the secret behind Kotensui. It’s interesting how drastically the impression he gets changes now that he knows there’s a real boy inside, perfectly acting out stiff, jerky movements of a marionette.

Next comes the switch between adult Koyomi and little Koyomi; while tricky in execution, it can certainly be possible if the tunnel is placed over a trap door, and the big capes both Koyomis are wearing probably help hide the switch a little.

Kotensui’s walk in the air is actually way more impressive now that Kirigirisu knows it’s not actually a marionette. Even assuming the boy is lifted by means of invisible suspension cords, it wouldn’t explain how he walks through the tunnel without those cords catching on the ceiling.

The three members of the audience chosen by throwing a rose around turn out to really be random. It's fascinating how small Koyomi can ad-lib on the spot when talking with them. Maybe she's actually much older than she looks, who knows.

Next come the origami doves that grow twice in size when Koyomi blows on them. That seems impossible. And since it's impossible… Kirigirisu remembers Gensui's lecture and realizes that Koyomi probably performs a switch: the big doves she seems to inflate by blowing are distinct from the ones she and the spectators fold together. That would also explains how the inflated doves seem to grow little "legs".

How Koyomi's hat is able to make a paper dove disappear and a real one appear is still a mystery.

Kirigirisu already knows the outcome of the entire rock-paper-scissors routine and is a bit tempted to show stone against Kotensui's surprise scissors (which are easily made with a Magic Arm), but that wouldn't be fun, so in the end he shows paper like everyone else.

It's unknown how the Arm Guillotine doesn't cut through something in its upper hole. Later, the disembodied gloved hand (obviously fake) is thrown in the air and transforms into a dove… which is impossible. That glove had to already have the bird hidden inside somehow, and Koyomi just released it while pretending she's throwing the glove.

The Magic Hands act doesn't really have a secret involved, instead being a show of engineering and physical skill. Kirigirisu can't help but be deeply moved by the spectacle. A marionette performing dangerous acrobatics is one thing, but a small boy doing the same makes Kirigirisu develop sudden parental feelings, an urge to leap onto the stage and protect that little child somehow.

Next are the many tricks performed by the three girls and the clowns, all miraculous. How can the ribbons change into hula hoops? How can the hoops be linked together? When Kotensui drops the previously light globe, why does it hit the ground with a thud and doesn't bounce? And then there’s the floating, burning ball that zips all around and finally disappears when the clown catches it… at least Kirigirisu can guess that the cape covering the ball must be switched with an already prepared big flag of Japan at some point.

No idea about the secrets behind the next part: the clown pulling out red balls from within the flag, the girl turning them white, turning those balls into juggling pins using a tube, making the pins and balls switch colors, somehow stuffing all of them inside the tube. Then pouring seemingly infinite genuine beer out of an empty bottle and shaking candy out of a hat. Kirigirisu's confusion is amplified by the way these tricks are performed in quick succession, with lots of chaos on stage.

The man chosen through the flag quiz this time is a journalist, clearly different than the teacher from earlier, though he also chooses the flag of Japan. Once again Koyomi makes an intentional mistake, only to magically turn the Korean flags into Japanese ones. The flag card in her hand is probably switched when everyone's attention is on the giant card. But if she already has the Japan card prepared, then… does she know for certain that the spectator will always choose the flag of Japan? Neither man seemed like a planted stooge.

Next is the trick that Kirigirisu himself took part in, Watch & Sketch Control. The woman chosen instead of him gives very natural answers about the drawing (it's a ball, now it's a clock), then gives Koyomi the current time—which in the evening show is of course different: 6:54 PM. The next spectator chooses 3:00 as their favorite hour, and when the last spectator says stop, the magically moving drawn clock does stop on exactly 3:00.

A drawing starting to move is of course impossible. The only explanation Kirigirisu can think of is that what looks like a blank page actually has two white paper “clock hands” prepared beforehand, which—judging by the the way Koyomi supports the sketchbook with her arm behind it—can be moved by stealthily handling them from behind. Koyomi simply draws the arrows on top of these two prepared hands. This moment would always happen at around the same time into the show, so one could predict from what position the clock hands would begin their journey and set them beforehand.

In the same vein, Koyomi must then secretly set the right time on the real clock she has hidden behind the sketchbook, although how she knows when to stop without looking at the clock's face is anyone's guess. The circle was already red beforehand, and Koyomi just removes another piece of white paper that hides that color. All of this seems improbable considering the audience is able to examine the paper she used after the show… but only after the show. The staff can easily prepare a convincing fake in the meanwhile.

Finally, the "last illusion" from Koyomi. Kirigirisu suspects that the liquid inside the pitcher is not actually water, and that both the milk bottle and the wine glass aren’t as empty as they look, but a detailed explanation escapes him. Making a fish appear out of nowhere is impossible, so it must have been hidden somewhere.

Transforming a fish into a dragon is likewise impossible. The only explanation is that the giant writhing shadow isn’t actually a shadow, but a pre-recorded projection, and what seems like rain is delivered by a system of sprinklers. While everyone pays attention to the “dragon”, the stagehands quickly switch what’s behind the screen: the small tank to the giant tank, the plain black backdrop to the black-and-white funeral curtain. The projection trick would also help explain the earlier illusion with the warrior disappearing behind the screen.

While Koyomi and Kotensui hide under her umbrella, the clock on the table shows fast-forwarded time, probably with use of some timed mechanical device that Kirigirisu doesn’t know. The switch from little Koyomi to big Koyomi most likely uses the trapdoor again; the cape is held up in the air so that it acts as a “wall” that doesn’t let the audience notice the switch, the umbrella providing an additional shield. A trap door must be also how a chair magically shows up behind the umbrella set on the ground. The one thing a very convenient trap door does not explain is how adult Koyomi then disappears while sitting in a chair without visibly reaching the floor.

Kotensui’s acrobatic act—fully deserving its title of a Swing without a String—looks just plain terrifying now that Kirigirisu knows there’s an actual child in there. Just like before, Kotensui falls seemingly to his death, but is caught by Tensui and carried down to the stage. How Tensui performs Sea Walk and Sky Walk is not an easy mystery to solve, as expected of his signature acts.

Finally, the underwater escape. Watching the illusion a second time makes it painfully obvious that Tensui is just pretending to desperately struggle, but has it all under control. He gets out of the handcuffs and the chains with the same timing as before, swims around the cage searching for a way out in roughly the same manner, and just like before the Press Hammer seems to crush him at the end. How exactly he can get out of there in time and reappear in the auditorium, Kirigirisu can’t guess.

Though Kirigirisu managed to figure out some of the methods, the sheer number of remaining mysteries proves that magic really is an art full of secrets. When he and Ajiro leave the tent, they’re greeted by snow, swirling beautifully in the evening air like yet another wondrous illusion.

--

[>>>NEXT PART>>>]

[hopeless-starry-kingdom]

Murder at Hill House

Summary:Your friend hosts a murder mystery party and Tom thinks you’re the killer

“So we’re at a murder mystery party and I think you’re the killer”

Plot from the blog @dailyau and created by @bellgriffins :)

a/n:I started this probably in February and finally finished it lmaooo

It was that time of the year.Where your friend held her annual themed party.Last year the theme was The Roaring 20’s And it was safe to say everyone was Daisy and Gatsby.The year before that was superhero themed and to you went as the iconic Scarlett Witch.But this year,you were the most excited for.She was hosting a murder mystery party and you were very intrigued by the idea.And when you read your character,Amelia’s backstory you were so ready for this mystery

When you arrived at the house she had rented,it looked exactly like a mansion.It was creepy and old and you were so excited for it to start “Hey Y/N—I mean Amelia.Welcome”You snickered at your friend as she hugged you and welcomed you inside

“Catherine,this looks great.I’m so glad you came up with this idea”She hooked arms with you and led you into the living room where people were hanging out and having drinks “Me too.Okay,since every suspect is here,we’ll start.So let’s get in a circle and start reading our characters”

People started to go form a circle around the coffee table and everyone eyed the people in the circle,trying to get a feel of who would be the murderer

“Here’s the story.It was a late Friday night at the Hill House mansion.Mr.Douglas,the owner was getting ready for bed when suddenly the lights went out.He called for the maid,but no answer.He went to go investigate the cause but as he got to the top of the stairs,he fell.Or as the autopsy report says,he was pushed and feel to his death.Now the killer is in this room and it is your job to figure it out.We will go in a circle and read our characters and once we all read our characters out loud,everyone can have a chance and talk to each other and figure out the killer.Kelly will start”

And one by one,everyone in the circle began to read the card they were sent as their character.There was Kelly the nurse,Bill the butler,Caleb the chauffeur,Delilah the maid,Tristan and Terra the Estate and household managers,Daisy the cat sitter,Abigail the the chef,and finally the gorgeous boy with brown hair and brown eyes was the gardener,Brandon

“Y/N,you can read your character and than the fun will begin”Everyone turned to you and waited as you read out you character and where she was the night of the murder “My name is Amelia.I am the niece of Mr.Douglas and that night of the murder I was at home with with my boyfriend”You looked up and seen everyone’s face,you could tell they were very suspicious of you

“With that being said,good luck everyone.There will be clues scattered around so make sure you look out for them.Happy investigating”She winked before going straight to the bar

“Delilah” came up to you immediately with her top suspect card and started to interrogate you like there was no tomorrow.She then came to the conclusion that you didn’t kill Mr.Douglas.She left you to chat with the nurse and wonder who had done it.Her money was on the butler “Bill” because he lives there and it would be the perfect plot of murder.Her words.While yours was the chef “Abigail” because it said she wasn’t getting paid enough and when she asked for a raise,he said no.

“If he didn’t kill him,I might just have to ask him out after this”She winked at you and you both giggled because he was super attractive with blonde hair and blue eyes “Fuck it.Im gonna go talk to him”She set down her martini and fixed her self up “Wish me luck”

You laughed and took a look around the room.Eyeing up “Abigail” to see what she was doing and ready to ask her questions and look for clues.But as you finished your drink and was ready to go talk to her,a figure stood in front of you

“So do I have to call you Amelia this whole time while trying to interrogate you or may I get your real name,love”It was the same brown eyed cute boy from before.You bit your lip to repress a smile as he took a seat in front of you

“For now you can call me Amelia.If I tell you my real name then it would defeat the whole purpose of this game,Brandon”You emphasized his name and he chuckled with a shrug “Fair enough.But I’m gonna get to the chase,we’re at a murder mystery party and I think you’re the killer”

You raised you’re eyebrow at his statement.He was so bold with his wording and it made you laugh.You were not the killer. “Well I’ll have you know Brandon,I was with my boyfriend last night.We stood inside just about the whole time.Now you seem pretty suspicious yourself,garden boy”Brandon threw his head back and laughed at your last choice of words

“Now why do you think I killed him?”He raised his eyebrows at you as he took a sip of his drink “Well,cmon the gardener is a classic!Of course you killed him.I mean you said it yourself,he was letting you go”

“Okay,fine let’s make a bet”That intrigued you

“What kind of bet”

“If I guessed correctly and you are the killer you have to let me take you to dinner”You were taken back by his request and you felt the blush come to your cheeks but you nodded anyway “Okay and I If I win?”

“Whatever you want darling”He finished the last of his drink and left with a wink.You were stunned but felt the giddiness take over and you headed to the bar to ask the people there some questions.

About an hour later,you had narrowed it down to Abigail,Brandon,and Kelly.But now was the time to put in your vote.You looked at your three options and just as you were about to write down a name,Brandon caught your stare and sent a smirk your way.You rolled your eyes,smiling before writing down the name and folding it in your hand.

“Now the time has come,we will reveal who the killer is.Whoever wins gets a one-hundred dollar gift card to the Wine Bar”People started to cheer at the mention of free wine.You felt a body come closer to you and you looked up and seen Brandon

“Good luck”

“I don’t need it”

“3,2,1”The curtain dropped and a picture of Kelly was placed on the wall.You could see people visibly deflate,especially Brandon

“I solved it!”You cheered and everyone started clapping as you showed them your card “And we have a winner”Catherine handed you the gift card and gave you a hug before everyone started talking about how they had a feeling it was Kelly but wasn’t sure

“So I won”You smirked at the boy standing in front of you and he furrowed his eyebrows “But it wasn’t me.It was Kelly”

“Yeah,But you said whoever wins.You didn’t specifically say that it had to be you or me and that’s how we win”Tom mentally hit him self upside the head.He royally screwed up his chance of even getting to know you,he thought

“What’s your name”Tom was taken back but cleared his throat, “Tom”

“Well Tom,I’m Y/N”You were being bold and hoped it would pay off. “Why don’t you pick me up on Friday and we can cash out this gift card together”By then Tom’s eyes were coming out of his head and he was really surprised and realized he should probably answer

“Yes!”He coughed “Yes,Yeah.That-That sounds good.Amazing”You laughed at his stutter before nodding and grabbing a napkin and the pen you were holding and writing down your number and handing it to him

“Call me”And you walked to find your friend with a big smile on your face but when you turned back you couldn’t help the giggle escape your lips when you seen him,

“Jesus”Tom smiled and then laughed at your retreating figure,tucking the napkin in his pocket and fist bumping the air

[salmonthestoryteller]

All About Isobel

I’ll admit Isobel is my fav character.  I honestly didn’t expect that to happen.  She definitely wasn’t among my fav in the OG series, nor at the start of the book series. (Though, like RNM the book series version seems to be winning me over.)  Somewhere along the line, though, I was like - yah, nope, everybody else move a slot down, Isobel is claiming my top character spot.

If there’s one thing I love about Isobel it is how important Max and Michael are to her.  It seems to be why some people hate her.  To me, though, it’s one of the reasons I adore her character.  These are her brothers and if you hurt them she will end you.  The world can freakin’ burn, she is going to protect these two with all she has in her.

It isn’t surprising either, and I want to back up and look at her backstory first, especially with everything we learned in the last two episodes of the season.  So, yes, considering her plot involving both the Drifter and Noah, fair warning that some of the content may be triggering.

So there is at least two instances where Isobel is able to call out to Michael, one shared with Max, while completely unconscious.  We know Max and Isobel have their twin connection which Max describes as a “warm presence” with him all the time.  But the fact that she called to Michael twice shows that at some level she has to be telepathically connected to him as well.

They emerge from the pods at age seven, and are found by the highway.  From there they end up in a group home. Now, to my understanding a group home is not a foster family.  It is the modern day equivalent to an orphanage, with several adults looking after a group of children.  From there they are adopted by the Evans almost right away.  They still aren’t even speaking yet when they go with them. Max and their mother discuss the fact that it took them months to talk. And that when they did, they did so immediately with no trouble.  As if they’d been waiting to learn the whole language before speaking.

Michael, as we know, is left behind and doesn’t return to their lives until they are eleven.  However, Isobel probably could sense that he was missing the whole time.  She couldn’t say who was missing, because they hadn’t had words or names when they were separated.  She couldn’t say “Michael is missing” - she just knew someone was.  This is probably where Isobel’s fear of losing those she cares about first stems from.  An experience she couldn’t even fully explain at the time.

I have no doubt that when they found each other again at eleven, it was one of the best days of their lives to Isobel.  Because, to her, Michael is her brother. There’s no ifs in that to Isobel.  Michael says they aren’t family, Max tells Michael he isn’t his family in a moment of anger, but to Isobel the fact that Michael is her brother is indisputable. It’s plain fact.  It’s there in the way she treats him, in how she is willing to rely on him and trust him, and even how she speaks.  Not even the big statements like, “We’re a family.”  In small ways like how she refers to Max in 1x03 as “Our brother.”

Fast forward a few years.  (In 1x06 I thought it was their thirteenth birthday as it was 2004 and they are said to be 17 in 2008, but in 1x12 Max says Isobel was fourteen so I guess if their “birthday” was summer it's three years later?)  It seems like - compared to Max - Michael protected Isobel much more from the abuse he was suffering.  It doesn’t seem as if she has an understanding of just how bad things were.  The look on her face when he tells her the story of always going to Foster Homestead Ranch and his reasons why are further proof.  Isobel knew he wasn’t as lucky as them, but she was at a loss at how bad he truly had it.  How alone he truly felt.  Which I think was on purpose on Michael’s part.  It’s also why she’s probably closer to their mother than Max was.  She doesn’t seem to harbor the same resentment to their parents that Max felt for them not taking Michael in.  I think she’s closer to Ann because when she thinks she’s dying she tells Max, “We should call Mom.”  Not their parents. “Mom.”

However, Ann still says they both kept her at arms length to Max.  That they, not him but they, didn’t let her be a mom.  I don’t think this was true as much when they were younger.  I’m guessing the separation for Isobel and Ann occured when Isobel hit puberty.  Because - think about this for a moment - Isobel is an alien.  She knows this.  She knows she has powers others don’t.  That her biology isn’t quite the same. (Acetone, hello.)  And she had to go through puberty with not only no grown woman to talk to it about, but not even another girl her own age.  She couldn’t ask her mom if certain things happening were normal or not - because there was no way of knowing what was alien “normal.”  And if it turned out it wasn't human normal, and she brought it up she risked exposing them. Puberty is a pretty sucky thing already, and Isobel probably felt twice as isolated during it because she just damn didn’t know what was or wasn’t normal for their species.  In that Max and Michael at least had each other.  I doubt Isobel felt comfortable talking to her brothers about periods, cramps, etc.

And in the middle of this whole very isolating confusing time for her comes the Drifter.  It’s pretty clear what his intentions were when he grabbed her, though it is not made clear how far he got.  Isobel is still clothed, so I don’t think he raped her, but I have no doubt he touched her before Max and Michael got here.  And remember something else - Isobel is a telepath.  A telepath who they already knew could make others do things.  If she at all tried to touch the Drifter’s mind there’s no saying what was said in Mindspace to her.

Worse, this is when her telepathic scream brings her to Noah’s attention. Between the Drifter’s attack and witnessing Max kill him, Isobel shuts down.  The trauma is too much for her to handle, and she retreats inside her mind.  Noah takes the opportunity to connect to her that night, and he never lets go of that connection until his death.  Max said that she continued to have black outs after the attack, and Noah mentions how that allowed him to see through her eyes.  How soon he was able to start to use her body to move around is unclear.  And we are also unclear on what all influences Noah had on her otherwise.

Noah speaks of their connection several times.  We know he can control her actions when she is unconscious or withdrawn into her mind, but how deep did that connection run?  Max is concerned about Liz’s ability to consent when his mark is on her.  Noah has had his mind connected to Isobel’s since she was fourteen.  We cannot say how much that affected her - if she ever had complete autonomy after that night or if a part of her was always affected by Noah’s feelings and desires.

However, one thing is very much true - and that’s that after that night Isobel didn’t trust anyone who wasn’t Max or Michael for years.  There was never a time when the people around her weren’t listed as “potentially dangerous”.  We see that in how she reacts to everything, both in her teen years and even as an adult.  She kept everyone else at arms length.  Through barbs; through a mask of perfection.  The reason Isobel didn’t care about using her powers as a teen?

Because as long as other people were doing what she wanted she was safe.

This is someone who never feels safe.  Hasn’t been able to regain that feeling since that night in the desert.  The only place she felt remotely at ease was around Max and MIchael.  Isobel is clearly supposed to be the Queen Bee in high school, yet she goes to prom with her brothers.  Why?  Because Isobel didn't trust anyone else.  It’s why she kept withdrawing into herself and having blackouts as graduation approached.  If Max and Michael left - how was she ever going to feel safe? She had devoted her life to her brothers, because she knew she could trust them.  They would protect her, no matter what.  They’d already proven it.  Everybody else was suspect.

Only now her brother were becoming suspect.  If they were going to leave her to fend for herself, what did she have left? It’s clear from her lash out, “What am I supposed to do?” that Isobel had no plans right then for her future.  She doesn’t know what she’s going to do once Michael and Max leave - she never once mentions college herself.  And, actually, it seems her brothers have no idea either.  During the argument all Max says is “Live your life.”  There’s nothing there about anything Isobel might want or suggested she would do after graduation.  If Max and Michael had this argument, that line would have involved, “What are you talking about? You’re leaving for Albuquerque/You’re running off to Europe.”  For Isobel the best Max has to offer is “Live your life"?

This is actually where the fact that Roswell is supposed to be a small town probably plays a big part.  Because Isobel is the only girl among the three aliens.  It’s not surprising that in a small town Isobel’s lack of plans to go to college or pursue a career is never brought up.  The notion of girls staying home with the parents, working local jobs or simply getting married is still quite common.  From what we’ve seen, it’s actually what happens to Isobel after graduation, though that hasn’t completely been made clear yet.

One big thing did happen first, though. The murders.  Things change that night for Isobel in a very big way.  Until now Isobel has relied on her brother’s for protection.  After the cover up Isobel finds herself in a new role - One of protector.

To her, Michael may have killed Rosa, Jasmin, and Kate - but he is very much not to blame for it.  Think of the story Michael tells her.  He got into a fight and his hand was smashed.  He says he got drunk, but it's not like Michael could have gone to a hospital.  What is the only painkiller they have? Acetone.  To her, Michael was medicating himself because he had no way to receive the care he needed.  Then, drunk on the acetone, he ran into the other car and lost control of his powers.  He was drunk and in pain and alone and he lashed out to protect himself.  She may believe Michael killed them, but she doesn’t blame him.  If anything, she probably blames herself for blacking out and not being there when he needed her.

Then, a few days later, Max starts talking about telling Liz the truth.  Think about what this looks like from Isobel’s perspective.  Max is choosing some crush over Michael.  Michael, who buried the Drifter for him and kept his secret all these years.  He’s literally going to get Michael arrested, maybe even get them all killed if they find out what he is, because he cares about some girl more than their brother.  Is it any wonder she decides to go into Liz’s mind and tell her to stay away from Max?

However, I feel it's hinted at that Max kinda broke down after Liz left.  Isobel mentions something that sounds like a reference in a conversation with Michael in 1x02:

“Max is shutting me out. I thought maybe you could talk to him.  Something is wrong with him, Michael. And when that happened the last time, you were the only one he would open up to.”

I think seeing how using her powers on Liz affected Max really drove home what her powers were capable of to Isobel.  She’d never used her powers against her brothers in such a way.  I don’t think she ever used her powers to negatively affect those she cared about.  Others were free game, but anything that could hurt those she loved was off limits. And this is Max, her person as she calls him to Noah, and her using her powers has hurt him.  She tells Michael, “I don’t do that anymore.”   While it’s unclear when she stopped, my guess is that it was after she used them on Liz.

Then, while we can’t be certain how soon it happened, she met Noah.  She probably felt an instant trust in him because - hello - Noah was in her literal head.  She didn’t know why she felt safe with him, but he was the first person aside from Max and Michael who made her feel that way.  So she dated him, fell in love, got married.

All of this is disturbing enough, because essentially Noah has been grooming Isobel since she was fourteen and then he seeks her out physically and marries her once he gets out of the pod.  But what also bothers me is we don’t see any hint that Isobel is romantically with anyone else in the past.  She teases Max about Tess, Michael mentions dates limiting options, but Isobel is not shown with anyone.  The only feelings of desire Isobel experiences that we are shown is Noah’s for Rosa through her flashbacks, and her and Noah’s relationship.  There is literally nobody else that is even mentioned.  Every other character we get some mention of an ex or potential love interest, even Rosa.  But Isobel has only Noah.

Over the same time period, she witnessed Max and Michael’s friendship fall apart with no idea why.  She didn’t understand what was happening between them.  This was her family and now they were barely speaking.  She had her new position, though, and she wasn’t going to let them down.  She was going to be the one who was strong; the one who protected them and looked after them.  She devoted herself to that, and despite some bumps along the way, I don’t think she felt she failed at it.  She never knew Max was unhappy - he didn’t seem to show that to her after he got his act together.  She says as much to Noah in 1x03.  She thought Michael let his life fall apart because he’d killed three girls and couldn’t forget.  She tried to be there for him - she never cut him out of her life.  She had no idea how to make things better, but she made sure she was there if he needed her. We know this because Noah doesn’t just list Max when Isobel says she had something to take care of - he lists Michael too.

Then Liz comes back into town, and everything changes.  It’s little wonder she views Liz as a threat. Remember, Isobel never feels safe - everyone is a threat.  Liz most of all - Max almost turned on Michael and her for Liz once before.  Max was devastated after losing her the first time and now it's going to happen again. And while people like to say Isobel is overprotective and out of line for constantly lecturing Max about her - is she wrong?  Liz is using Max’s feelings because she’s searching for the truth, Liz does want revenge for Rosa. Liz's history doesn't look like someone she would trust with her brother's happiness. 

Isobel isn’t just using her powers for kicks.  She goes after Liz to protect her family.  She practices at Maria’s bar because she thinks she needs to strengthen her abilities.  If she fails - how will she ever keep Michael safe now that Liz knows an alien killed Rosa?  She isn’t thinking there’s some big secret to why Maria hates her - she probably thinks the reason is small and petty. She doesn’t know Maria.  Then everything becomes strange - because why did Rosa hate her?  Rosa was two years older than them - she was long gone from high school by the time Isobel would have been the head of Roswell High’s Mean Girls.  It makes no sense - she almost never  interacted with her.  Why would someone hate her she didn’t even know?

It’s no wonder the “truth” about the murders affects Isobel so deeply.  She’s spent ten years viewing the deaths as a terrible accident. Now they are murders - actual murders - that she herself committed.  And she doesn’t know why. She does know that for some reason Rosa hated her. But Rosa, Kate, and Jasmin weren't even a blip on her radar before the murders. Why would she suddenly kill them? She's spent her whole life afraid of others and now she can't even trust herself.

Then the flashbacks start after the cure. She has no reason to doubt them - they're her own memories. What's more is that they probably make sense to her.  There were probably days she was sick of the front she put on to keep others at a distance.  And here are these flashbacks saying she let down that guard with someone - with Rosa. And it seems like it was a wonderful thing - Rosa didn't let her down.  She was safe.  Maybe she even loved her? It's everything teen Isobel always wanted. She and Michael discuss it:

"I used to look in the sky when we were kids, and hope something up there would save me."

"I used to look around at the people of this town and hope for the same thing."

She feels invested in this now.  She had a close friend, the only truly close female friend she ever had as far as we see, maybe she even had a secret romance.  Then she finds out the horrifying truth that it was never her at all. She never had that friendship, and what's worse? Noah used her to attack an innocent girl. Just like she was attacked when she was fourteen. Only Rosa didn't have Max and Michael to save her.

Isobel's face off with Noah is painful because it truly is the worst betrayal imaginable.  Isobel doesn't let people close. Isobel doesn't trust. She did with Noah, when the truth is she never should have.  He was the one she should have been protecting herself from.

I am glad they gave us her final Mindscape conversation with Noah.  It may be a lie that she never loved him, but what truly mattered wasn't whether she loved him or not.  What mattered was facing him and letting him know he no longer had control of her.  She was done with him.

The season ends with Isobel exploding the picture frame with her mind. And while I'm excited to see her expand her powers, I am concerned for her in s2. The truth about Noah has already taken away one of her shelters. Losing Max? That is literally one of her greatest fears come to life.

In pursuit of feeling safe again - in protecting what she has left? There's really no saying what path Isobel might take.

[hamitome--imagines]

You, Me, and a Baby Makes Three

Thayne Jasperson x Reader

Modern rpf

Requested by @arosebloomsonbakerstreet

1-53: Guess who’s going to be a father?

Request: I have to make a request for a thayne x reader fic for the 'guess who's going to be a father?' prompt. Mostly since the thought of him finding out as a special announcement after a Hamilton performance sends my little fangirl heart into all states of squee! Bonus points if 'That Would Be Enough' is used in the announcement in some way. :D

A/N: So…I’m guessing this isn’t at all what was expected from this request. To be honest, this isn’t my initial plan for a plot. But I think this plot is fairly good. It fits with the request but in a different way. But since it goes in a unique direction, I hope this is still what you wanted from this request, even though it does stray from the request slightly. And I hope you all enjoy this imagine!

~~

Word Count: 6,779

If someone had asked you at the start of all this, you wouldn’t say you loved Thayne. Sure, he was nice and you liked him. You found him attractive and nice and funny. But you didn’t love him. There just wasn’t that kind of connection. But sometimes alcohol makes you think that there is a connection.

The whole cast of Hamilton was going out for drinks. It was a typical night out, jokes and memories made. And alcohol was consumed. As the night came to an end, your friends were varying levels of sobriety. You were a little tipsy and had drove over to the bar anyway. You needed to call a cab. “Hey, Thayne?” The cast member in question turned to look at you. “You wanna split the cost of an Uber?” The two of you lived fairly close to each other and this method had been used before.

“Yeah, sure.” He agreed with a bright smile. The two of you were driven to your apartment, where you exited. Thayne would often walk to his house from your house.

“You sure you wanna walk home? You can crash here.” You offered. Thayne pondered it. He checked the time on his phone.

“It is kinda late. I’ll crash on your couch if you don’t mind.” He said.

“Sure, come on in.” So you opened the door a let Thayne in. Still a little tipsy, you rummaged for blankets and pillows. You found some and walked them over to the couch. Thayne was already sprawled out on the couch, laid on his back with one arm draped over his face. “Asleep already?” You asked.

“Nah.” He replied, but didn’t move. You sat on the coffee table near the couch, pile of bedding sat on the table next to you. You reached out and ran your fingers through his hair. It was golden and soft under your fingers. Thayne hummed softly, enjoying the feeling on your fingers and a smiled pulled at his lips. “If you keep doing that, I will fall asleep.” He commented. So you withdrew you hand.

“Let’s at least get you a pillow and a blanket before you fall asleep.” You said. He groaned but sat up and turned so he was facing you, you idly noted the lack of space between you two now. He rubbed his eyes that raked a hand through his hair haphazardly. The result was his hair being tousled and sticking up in crazy ways. You laughed at the sight. “What?” He asked with a smile of his own.

“Nothing.” You answered with a smile. “But let me fix your hair.” So you reached up once more and gently smoothed the stray hairs back down. You continued running your fingers through his hair after you finished. How had you never noticed how soft it was? A heavy silence settled. Part of your told you to give him the bedding and retreat to your room. But the tipsy part of you, felt a connection. (Later your rational brain would realize there wasn’t one.) Thayne was merely staring at you, studying you with. The expression he wore was one you had never received from him before. Want? Desire? You couldn’t place it. But it was a good expression.

You slowly leaned in, and Thayne seemed to automatically move in to do the same. You cautiously pressed your lips to his. Thayne leaned in closer. You still had a hand threaded in his hair and you used it to pull him even closer. You pulled back way too quick for your liking. “You know, it seems like such a hassle to get out blankets and pillows when my bed is large enough for both of us.” You commented, you hands were toying with the edges of a jacket Thayne had one. He smiled.

“By all means, lead the way.” He said with a smirk. You rolled your eyes but stood and grabbed his hand. You lead him to your room and right to the bed. It wasn’t long before your found yourself laid on your back with Thayne hovering over you. “You sure?” He asked. You grinned and nodded.

—

You were not drunk enough last night to warrant the headache you had today. You were also cold. To try and warm up, your curled up a bit more. Then you realized exactly why you were cold. You didn’t have any clothes on. Great. A one-night-stand. You silently prayed that whoever it was had left once you finished. But you couldn’t remember bringing any stranger back to your place. You shifted, pulling lightly on the covers. The resisted, meaning that someone was still here. You had your back to them. So you took a deep breath and mentally prepared yourself to see who you slept with and to ask them to leave. You sat up and turned and your brain seemed to stop working.

Thayne was laying there. He was fast sleep. The covers were draped across his stomach and his torso was bare. He obviously wasn’t wearing a shirt and you could guess what it was like under the covers as well. His hair was sticking up wildly, whether from sleep or wild sex, you weren’t sure. But you had to resist the urge to reach out and fix it. The softness of his hair was the first memory of last night to resurface. It was quickly followed by the kissing. Which lead to everything else.

You had sex with Thayne Jasperson. “Holy shit.” You said. And accidentally said it loud enough to wake up the aforementioned person. Thayne grumbled and shifted, clearly waking up. You hurried to grab the blankets and pull them up to cover your chest. Thayne opened his eyes and looked to you. His confusion was obvious. He stared at you for a minute before his eyes widened and he sat up quickly.

“Shit.” He said, being cautious about keeping the blankets firmly covering his lap. “We had sex last night.”

“Yep.” You said, equally awkwardly. Neither of you knew exactly what to say next. “Look, can you like, close your eyes for a minute? I’m going to grab clothes and go get dressed in the bathroom. While I do that, you can find your clothes from last night.”

“I mean, do I really have to close my eyes? After last night?” He asked.

“Well no, but don’t make this more awkward than it needs to be.” You pleaded.

“Fair enough, I probably would’ve closed my eyes anyway.” He said. He closed his eyes and covered them with his hands for good measures. You quickly grabbed some under garments and a tee shirt and sweatpants. You slipped out of the room and went to close the door. You paused when it was open just a sliver. “Ok, I’m out. You can get dressed.” Then shut the door.

As you got dressed you thought the night over. Why did you kiss him? You liked Thayne, but not romantically and not sexually either. At least you didn’t think so. But apparently part of you wanted him in a romantic or sexual way. He was a good friend. And you wanted him to remain that way. But that seemed unlikely now. You exited the bathroom and walked over to your bedroom door and knocked lightly. “Yeah, I’m dressed. Come on in.” He was sitting on the bed, fully clothed except for his socks which he was pulling on. “So…what now?” He asked. WIth his socks fully pulled on, he reached up and ran his fingers through his hair, pushing it to the right.

“What do you wanna do?” You asked. You wanted to forget this ever happened, but you didn’t want to offend Thayne either. You didn’t even know how he felt about this.

“Honestly? It wasn’t bad.” He commented with a  smirk. It earned a tiny smile and amused eye roll from you. “But it isn’t worth fucking up our friendship. That is way more valuable to me.” He said with a small, sincere smile. You sighed in relief.

“I feel the same way. So…can we both pretend this never happened?”

“I can if you can.” He answered.

“Good. Then we tell no one and go about our lives like it never happened. What happened last night stays between the two of us.”

“Deal.” He said.

—

You and Thayne easily forgot about the whole situation. You fell back into routine and your friends were none the wiser. It was great. Until it wasn’t.

You tried to tell yourself not to freak out when your period was late. It wasn’t always on time, sometimes it was a day or two late. It happened. Then it was a week late. Now it was two weeks late. And you were so fucking worried. You left rehearsal rather quickly and went to a drug store to buy a test. Hell, you bought two just so you could be sure. After an agonizing two minute wait, the first test confirmed you were pregnant. That couldn’t be right. So you tried the other test. And after waiting another eternal two minutes, you had the same results.

You leaned back against the wall in the bathroom. Then you slid down until you were sitting on the floor. You were pregnant. And Thayne was the father. So much for forgetting it ever happened. The idea of an abortion popped into your head. But there was no way you could go through something like that and keep it from Thayne. He was your closest friend. And since he was your closest friend, he knew that you hadn’t slept with anyone else lately. At least not close enough for them to be the parent of the baby. Adoption was an option, but Thayne would have to agree to that too. And you’d be pregnant for nine months.

The show! You’d have to go on maternity leave and stop performing.

“Fuck.” You mumbled to no one in particular. This was a mess.

Thayne had a right to know. But for now, you wouldn’t tell anyone. There was no sign of you showing. The only reason you knew is because you missed your period. No one else should know that. You tossed the used tests and boxes in the plastic bag you received from the drug store and tossed them in the dumpster. If your friends came over, they didn’t need to see those in the trash.

At rehearsal the next day, you watched Thayne. Usually, you were amused by his antics and behaviors. Now you studied him and tried to see him as a dad. He was joking with Jazzy and Anthony. You knew he’d care for a kid. That was obvious. But could he raise one? Could you? Were the two of you remotely ready for the responsibility? You didn’t think so. But would Thayne be willing to give up his child? Would you?

You sighed. How were the two of you going to get through this? How were you going to tell Thayne? “You ok?” Thayne asked, walking over to you.

“Yeah.” You smiled but it didn’t reach your eyes. And Thayne, being your closest friend, noticed. He gave you a questioning stare. “I’m just thinking. That’s all.” Thayne sat down next to you.

“Need a second opinion or good listener?” He asked.

“Yeah. Are you going to point me in the right direction?” You teased with a smile.

Thayne gasped dramatically and put a hand in his chest in mock offense. “And here I was, trying to be nice and helpful.” You laughed at him. Typical Thayne. Typical concerned, friendly, funny, kind Thayne. He wasn’t a bad guy. There were worse people you could’ve slept with. After all, Thayne could be easy to love. But again, there was no connection between the two of you. Even though you kinda wished there was right now. “Seriously though.” Thayne said, pulling your attention back. “Do you need to vent or want advice?”

“No, I’m good.” You said.

“You sure? You seemed really lost in your head earlier.” He was so kind and so concerned.

“I’m ok, Thayne. I promise. But thank you.” You reached out and hugged him, and he reciprocated. He was so nice. And you were gonna end up testing the boundaries of that kindness when you told him you were pregnant. You just had to figure how when and how exactly you planned to do that.

—

Did you need to announce your pregnancy to someone if you weren’t dating or trying to have a child together? You didn’t really feel like you needed to, but you knew Thayne would like some cute announcement. But this wasn’t exactly the happy occasion that most pregnancies were. You and Thayne shouldn’t have slept together. You and Thayne weren’t trying to have a child. This whole things was a mess and an accident.

You were constantly lost in your thoughts and Thayne noticed. He was constantly asking if you were ok. And you were constantly telling him that you were. You constantly felt guilt at not telling him the truth. You were worried about this pregnancy. And Thayne needed to know about it.

Thayne found you after rehearsal one day. “Alright, you’re coming over tonight.” He announced.

“I am?”

“Yep. You’ve been moping around and lost in your thoughts for a couple weeks now. You don’t want to tell me about it, and that’s fine. You don’t have to. But I want you to come over and relax. Take your mind off of it for a night.” He instructed.

Absentmindedly, you placed your hand on your stomach. You couldn’t turn Thayne’s plans down. He would grow even more suspicious. “Alright, Thayne. Sounds like fun.” Thayne smiled brightly.

“We’ll head over to my place whenever you are ready to leave.” Thayne said happily. So you quickly packed up and followed Thayne outside. You rode the subway and were at Thayne’s house after a very short time. You immediately dropped onto Thayne’s couch. Thayne on the other hand ran to the kitchen. He emerged a few minutes later, carefully cradling and balancing a large amount of junk food and snacks in his arms. He dropped them on the coffee table in front of the couch. “Alright. Do we want beer, wine, or some mixed drinks?” He asked, starting to head back to the kitchen.

“Uhm…can we have water or soda?” You asked instead. Thayne stopped and turned to you. His expression was pure confusion. The two of you tended to at least have a few drinks when you got together. You never got drunk, but you always had something to drink. You needed to find an excuse quickly. “It’s just…last time we had drinks it didn’t end well.” You fumbled. It wasn’t the best excuse. However, you and Thayne avoided talking about that night. So you weren’t surprised when Thayne blushed and nodded before ducking back into the kitchen. He came back with some soda and water which he also deposited on the coffee table. “There we go.” He plopped down next to you. “Dumb Netflix movies?” You nodded.

So you and Thayne ate, talked, watched movies, made fun of dumb movies. At some point you wandered to Thayne’s room and retrieved a blanket. You sat back down and shared it with Thayne. When you yawned loudly, Thayne shifted so you were both lying on the couch sideways. He was behind you with an arm wrapped around your waist to keep you safely on the couch. This type of closeness wasn’t unusual for you two. However, you couldn’t help but think it was different now.

You both drifted off while you laid on the couch. At some point you both shifted. When Thayne woke up he was lying on his back on the couch You were more or less on top of him. He felt his cheeks heat and turn slightly pink, but he made no move to push you off. You were comfortable and sound asleep as well. He didn’t mind at all.

You had been so distant lately, stuck in your own mind. Thayne desperately wanted to know why. But you didn’t seem inclined to tell him, which was your right. He wouldn’t push you. However, you never kept anything significant secrets from him. It wasn’t that you told him everything, but you told him a lot of things. And anything that was this important, anything that kept you lost in thought, you shared with him. He would help you. So why not now?

Thayne absentmindedly toyed with the strands of your hair. His mind kept, unfortunately, drifting back to that night. You had been playing with his hair all night. He enjoyed it. He enjoyed it a lot. He had a crush on you for a while. But you clearly didn’t care about him that way, you were friends. So he never pushed it. But he felt damn guilty about that night. He felt like he took advantage of you. You were both drunk, or at least tipsy, so maybe both of you were to blame. But Thayne would continue to feel bad about it. And shortly after that night, you started to close off and keep something from him.

For now, he figured he better sleep. He didn’t want his thoughts to be swirling and churning like they so often ended up doing. Every time he thought to his feelings or that night, things got so confusing. So he decided to just close his eyes and sleep. He did, however, tighten his hold on you slightly, doing whatever he could to keep you close.

—

You watched from off-stage as Thayne climbed up on his literal soap box. You watched him perform with all his heart. He loved his job. You had decided that tonight you would tell him you were expecting. It’d be hard to keep it a secret much longer anyway. You performance ended, you took your final bows. Afterwards, back off-stage, you grabbed Thayne’s sleeve. “Hey, can we talk before once we’re out of costume?” You asked.

“Of course.” He said. Thayne changed quickly, and hurried to find you. Once he found you, you had already changed your clothes. You were pacing anxiously. “You ok?” Thayne asked as he walked in.

“Oh, sorta?” It sounded more like a question. “Can you shut the door behind you?” You asked.

“Sure.” Thayne replied and did just that. He went and sat on the couch in the room. “You seem really anxious, Y/N. You can tell me anything, and I know you know that. So what’s going on?” He asked.

You wanted to sit, but you had to be moving. You had too much energy to sit still. “I uh…I wanted to talk to you. I wanna start by saying that I’ve been meaning to talk to you for a while. I just, well I didn’t know how to bring this topic up.” You sighed and anxiously raked a hand through your hair. “You had every right to know what I’m about to tell you. I didn’t really mean to keep it from you, I just…”

Thayne stood up. “You just didn’t know how to tell me.” Thayne helpfully finished for you. You nodded. You were wringing your hands together now. Thayne stepped forward and held your hands in his, keeping you from wringing them. Instead you squeezed his hands. “Y/N, just tell me what’s going on. What have you been not telling me?” His voice was so kind and gentle. You mumbled out a response but Thayne couldn’t hear you. “What?” He asked.

You sighed. You fixed your eyes firmly on your shoes. “Thayne, I’m pregnant.” It was still soft, but Thayne definitely had to hear you. He took in a sharp breath. Then his grip on your hands went slack, your hands slipped out of his grip. You chanced a look up at him. He had taken a shocked step back from you and his expression was complete and utter shock. “I…I…I don’t even know what I’m trying to say. I guess, I’m sorry. For not telling you mostly. I didn’t know how and I’m sorry.” Thayne was staring at the ground now, looking like he was trying to understand what you had said to him. You on the other hand were waiting for him to say anything. He looked up at you. He looked confused, shocked, and, above all, hurt. “Fuck, I’m so fucking sorry.” You grabbed your things and hurried out of the room. Thayne didn’t even try to stop you.

—

You rushed out of the room. Thayne didn’t even know what he would stay to make you stay. He dropped back onto the couch. He knew that it was his child. You hadn’t slept with anyone else that he knew of. And with what you said, he deserved to know, it was pretty obvious what it meant.

Well, fuck. They fucked up. Thayne could handle being your friend. That was easy. But he couldn’t handle raising a kid with some strange sort of shared custody. He couldn’t possibly hope to be a father and have you be a mother but not be anything more. Then Thayne thought of something. Did you even want to keep the kid? It wasn’t up to Thayne, it was up to you what they did.

Why did they have sex? Why did you get into this mess? He wanted to raise that kid. But he wanted you to want that too. He wanted to raise the kid with you. Not alongside you. Not with shared custody or anything like that. He wanted to raise their kid with you. But what did you want?

Thayne sighed. The only way to handle this was to talk. A conversation that clearly neither of you were equipped for. Thayne only hoped he could convey exactly what he wanted. But he still had to figure out exactly what he wanted and how to explain it. He decided to walk to a nearby store and purchase chocolate. Then he got a cab and went to your house. He hesitantly knocked.

You opened the door. Your hair was wild and you eyes were red and wet. You had been crying. “Hey.” He said lamely. “Can I come in?” You hesitated. You wanted to slam the door in his face and lock him out until you calmed down. But damn, you needed to talk. You held the door open and let him in. You went to your couch and sat down, you wrapped yourself in a blanket and curled up. You tried to make yourself small and secure. Thayne reached into his bag and held out a chocolate bar with a smile.

You let out a small, surprised laugh. “Thanks. Always thoughtful.” You said with a smile.

“Of course.” He replied. He sat on the opposite side of the couch. He sat facing you, and sat with his legs criss-crossed like a child sits on the floor. “So…we gotta talk.”

“Yeah, I guess…” You toyed with the edge of the blanket. “Do you want an explanation for why I didn’t tell you or…”

Thayne dismissively waved a hand. “Nah. I understand why you waited to tell me. Why it was hard for you to tell me. But there is something I do want to know.” You stared at him, waiting for him to say exactly what that was. “What do you want to do about this?”

You blinked. You hadn’t actually expected this. You thought this would be screaming and fighting and defending your own points. But…Thayne was curious about your wants. “I…I don’t know, Thayne.”

“Ok…uhm…do you want to raise this child? Or…” He hesitated. “Do you want to put the kid up for adoption? Or…what other options are there?”

“Are we even ready to raise a child? Either of us?” You asked. Thayne hung his head. You assumed his was thinking, letting the truth of your statement sink in. However, he was dejected that this was a situation in which the two of you were separate. Neither of you were ready to raise a child, Thayne knew that. But what if you were a unified force?

“Maybe not.” Thayne agreed. “But…” Again he hesitated. “Look, if you don’t want to raise…our child, then I will.”

You stared at him with wide eyes. “You…You will?” You stuttered.

Thayne shrugged a smiled a little. “Yeah. It’s terrifying, sure. But that’s my kid. It was my actions that brought this kid into existence, so I’m partially responsible. And I’ve sorta always wanted to be a dad.” It was gonna break his heart to raise a child without you to help him, but it would have to be done.

“But…by that logic I’m also responsible too. I mean, obviously we’re both responsible. But all the duty shouldn’t fall on you.”

“I’m not saying that. I’m just will to accept that responsibility.” Thayne commented with a shrug.

“Thayne, I don’t want to get rid of this child.” You laid a hand on your stomach. “But I’m not sure I’m ready for one.”

“Me either, certainly not alone.” He said before he could stop himself. “What if we tried it together?”

“Like, shared custody?” You asked.

Thayne let out a frustrated noise and ran a hand through his hair. “Not…exactly. Something…more…” Thayne kept searching for the right way to phrase it. He didn’t want to come on too strong, but he wanted you to finally see his side of things. “Structured?” He ventured. You gave him a confused look, clearly not understanding him. “Fine, I’ll just say it then. A family.” He sighed. “You, me, and a baby makes three.” He shrugged.

“No.” You shook your head. Thayne tried not to let the way his heart shattered show. “Look, us working together might be the best solution. But we can’t be a family. I don’t want to be a family just because of this child. It will only make matters worse and end poorly in the future.”

“Oh.” Thayne squeaked out, realizing why you bluntly shot him down. “Y/N, I don’t want to…” He slowed. Well, time for the truth to come out. He took a deep breath. “I don’t want to have a family with you only because of this child. But that’s an unforeseen bonus.” He scooted closer to you. “I’ve uh, I’ve had a massive crush on you for a while. The night we slept together still bothers me. I mean, I sorta feel like I took advantage of you.”

“Thayne, we both consented to that. Albeit, we were slightly tipsy, but I think we were clear enough to know what we were getting into.”

“True, but I’ll still feel guilty.” He said with a small smile.

“Wait.” You stopped him from saying more. “You have a crush on me?”

Thayne’s smile grew. “Yeah. I know this is totally sudden. Have I really hid it that well?” He asked doubtfully. So you thought, really thought, about it.

“Wow.” You said in realization. “I’m dense.”

“Look, we got a few months here before our lives change forever. And I know that a few months isn’t enough time to know for sure whether we can make a relationship last. But it can give us a good idea of how well we work together. In the few months we have, can we maybe try dating, see how it goes? Maybe it will end horribly, then we can come up with a new plan. But, what if it ends wonderfully? Isn’t that worth trying? Give me a shot. Give us a shot at having a family.” He urged. His voice never changed from his soft and caring tone, except maybe sneaking a little pleading in there. He smirked. “That would be enough.” He sang.

You burst out laughing. You think Thayne’s smile at your laughter was the brightest smile you’d ever seen from him. “That’s better.” Thayne remarked about you laughing instead of moping. You smiled at Thayne and considered his offer. He always loved you. Did you always love him? You would’ve said no earlier. Thayne was trying not to fidget. “Look, Y/N, I don’t mean to pressure you. But I’d like to have some sort of answer.”

You smiled and leaned in and kissed him softly. It was much better than your tipsy kiss. Thayne practically melted into the kiss, and against you. His lips slipped into a smile even as you kissed. It caused a smile to pull at your lips as you pulled away. “Not that I didn’t really enjoy that, but should we slow things down?” Thayne asked.

“Thayne, we already spend time together in things that are practically dates. And we’ve also already slept together. I think kissing is just fine.” You reasoned.

“Well then, I’m not opposed to do it again.” He said with his bring smile. He captured your lips with his once more.

—

Thayne was overly ecstatic at the prospect of being a father. It wasn’t long before you started planning to announce to the cast that you were expecting. Thayne wanted it to be cute announcement. You pooled your paychecks and got a new place to live. Two bedrooms. Next you started looking into what furniture you needed for a child.

It wasn’t long before your relationship with Thayne became known among the cast. It was after a performance, the curtain fell and you gave Thayne a hug. That in itself wasn’t strange. But Thayne pulled back and kissed you soundly. You didn’t care you were at work with co-workers who were unaware of the development of your relationship. You melted into the embrace and returned the kiss willingly.

The two of you pulled apart as a low whistle sounded. You looked around Thayne and found a number of cast members (including Anthony who you suspected of whistling) staring at the two of you. There were a mix of surprised, suggestive, and questioning stares. “Uh, surprise?” You said. Luckily everyone was happy for the two of you. Shortly after was when the two of you moved into your new place together.

A few days later, Thayne found you sprawled out on the bed. “What’s wrong?” He asked. “We gotta get to work soon.”

“We need to tell the cast, Thayne.” You said, looking over at him but not sitting up on the bed.

“I know.” He said. He climbed on the bed and sat criss-cross right behind you. He re-situated both of you so your head was in his lap. “What brought this on today?” He asked, playing with your hair.

You gestured vaguely in the direction of your closet. “I have nothing to wear that doesn’t make it painfully obvious that I’m pregnant.” You complained. “I’m getting fat.”

“Oh shush.” Thayne chided lightly. “You’re beautiful.” He leaned down and pressed a light kiss to the tip of your nose. Then he got off the bed and went to the closet. The next thing you knew, a shirt landed on your face. You sat up and looked at the shirt that was tossed your way. It was one of Thayne’s. “I think that should hide the evidence.” He said. He walked forward and leaned on the bed, one hand on either side of you. He leaned in and pressed a soft kiss to your lips. He pulled away after a moment, but stayed leaning in close. “Should we tell them today?” He asked.

You sighed. “Probably. I can get away with wearing your shirt for a day. But if I started doing that indefinitely it might get a little suspicious.” You quickly shed your pajama top and tossed Thayne’s shirt on. It was large enough to hide your growing stomach. The two of your headed to work, idling still trying to come up with an announcement. You hadn’t figured out how you planned to tell the crew yet. Thayne still wanted to have a big announcement but neither of you came up with one that wasn’t cliche and that would work well with the crew. So it seemed like you’d be winging it.

You walked into the theatre with a few people making comments about you wearing Thayne’s shirt. You stopped by your dressing room, depositing your things. “Lin first?” You asked Thayne.

“Sounds like a good place to start.” So the two of you went to Lin’s dressing room. It was just your luck that Chris and Jonathan happened to be in the dressing room talking to Lin. You looked at Thayne, silently asking if you should ask them to leave. He just shrugged. After all, they’d know soon enough anyway.

“So, uh, I…or I guess we having something to say.” You awkwardly started. Damn it, why hadn’t you planned something? Jonathan, damn him, was already smirking. It seemed he had already figured it out. Chris was calculating, probably figuring it out but also seeing an issue with the fact that the two of you hadn’t been together for long. Lin was merely looking at you, waiting for you to say what you needed. “Uhm…so…” You trailed off.

Thayne wrapped his arms around your torso. “Y/N is trying to say she’s pregnant.” He said bluntly.

“Uh, yeah. That.” You said, shocked at Thayne’s bluntness. Then again, he was excited about this.

“And Thayne is…?” Chris asked. You nodded.

Jonathan’s smirk never faltered. Lin’s expression grew equally as confused as Chris’s. “Wait. You guys have only been together for a few weeks…” The question hung in the air.

“Yeah…” Thayne trailed off.

“How far along are you?” Chris asked.

“Uh…more than a few weeks.” You offered hesitantly.

Lin and Chris shared a look. They looked back to Jonathan who merely shrugged. “When the hell did this happen?” Lin asked. They weren’t mad, just confused.

“Drinks night. About two months ago.” You said with a deep blush. A quick glance at Thayne showed he was also sporting a light blush as well. The three men were silent for a moment before Lin let out a surprised chuckle. The other two men let out chuckles in response then they were laughing. The tension immediately left the room and you and Thayne chuckled too.

“Told you.” Jonathan said after the laughing subsided.

“Huh?” Thayne said.

“Oh, I tried to tell these two that there was something going on between you two long before we were told.”

“Well, it wasn’t like we were dating or—” Jonathan silenced you as he held up a hand.

“You two wouldn’t have slept together if there wasn’t something there.” He said with certainty. Thayne shrugged, which you felt due to his arms still being around him.

“Do the rest of the cast know yet?” Lin asked.

“Nope.” You said.

“You guys are the first.” Thayne added. “Who’s next?” So the two of you continued through the rest of the cast. Anthony and Jasmine congratulated the two of you. Daveed and Oak drilled you like Lin, Chris, and Jonathan had. Pippa and Renee asked all sorts of questions like if you knew the gender yet. Leslie also merely offered a heartfelt congratulations. That left the ensemble members. “Should we track them down one at a time or tell them all at once?”

At this point you were ready for this announcing thing to be over. “All at once, please?” You answered.

“Of course.” Thayne pressed a kiss to your forehead as he sensed your annoyance. “Almost done.” He commented. He detoured to the snack table to get both of you a much needed chocolate fix. You found the assembled ensemble members. “We need to talk to you guys.” Thayne announced loud enough for you to gain the attention of all the members. They turned and looked at you. Thayne gave you a glance as well. You sighed, not knowing how to tell them. Thayne read your mood well. He stood behind you with his hands on your shoulders. “Basically…guess who’s going to be a father?” He asked with a smile. You shot him a look over your shoulder. “And I suppose I should add, guess who’s going to be a mother? Guess who’s going to be parents?” He amended.

The entire ensemble was excited. You had a lot of them ask you questions but eventually you and Thayne had to pull away. You hid away in your dressing room. You collapsed on the couch in the dressing room. “That was exhausting.” You said. Thayne sat down beside you. He leaned over and laid his head in your lap. You absentmindedly toyed with his hair, pleased you could freely do so now without worrying about what would happen in response to the action.

“I hate to break it to you, Y/N, but as soon as that kid is born then things will be even more exhausting.” He commented.

You sighed, that was true. “What are we gonna do when this little one gets here?” You asked rhetorically.

“Love them.” Thayne answered anyway. “We will give them all the love we can. That’s what good parents do and that’s what makes a family.”

—

-Ten Years Later-

You stared at the reception hall. Ten years. Hamilton premiered ten years ago. It was a reunion of sorts. Tomorrow there would be news reporters and performances. Today, there was a gather of former cast members. Like a class reunion, but better. Cast members and their families were all getting together today. It was shaping up to be a fun night.

You walked inside. Instantly you were greeted by noise. Then, Lin walked up to you. He was so famous now. But to you, he was still a dork who wrote a Tony Award winning musical about Alexander Hamilton. He was also still your friend. You noticed his two boys running around as well, playing with the other kids present. Lin greeted you with a hug, pointed you toward the free food being offered, and invited you to mingle around with your old friends. And that’s what you did.

Main cast and ensemble members. Nearly everyone was here. Everyone was commenting how ten years ago seemed so long, yet it passed in the blink of an eye. And you couldn’t agree more. So much had happened to you in ten years. You scanned the crowd once more for blonde hair and a blinding smile. You sighed again as you failed to see it. You knew why Thayne wasn’t here. But…you had hoped.

Instead, you focused on talking to those who showed up. After all, you hadn’t seen some of these people in ten years. You were talking to Jonathon Groff, catching up with him. Then, suddenly, “Mommy!” You spun as you saw your little girl running toward you. Riley had her dad’s hair color and his bright smile. You crouched and gave her a hug. “Hi, Jonathon.” She greeted happily. Jonathan smiled and waved in response.

“Sorry we’re so late.” Thayne said, walking in behind her. He pulled you into a kiss, you couldn’t help but smile against his lips. He pulled back with a smile of his own. “Traffic is awful. But, we made it.”

“Things went ok?” You asked.

“Yep.” He said with a smile. “Ren got his booster shots and is ready for kindergarten.” Thayne said and looked to the little boy who was holding his hand. Your son. Almost a spitting image of his father. Lin greeted Thayne and your kids both. They exchanged idle chatter for a brief moment. “Hey uh Lin, there’s free food right?” You and Lin both rolled your eyes thinking back to Thayne constantly raiding the snack table at Hamilton. But Lin pointed out the table anyway. Thayne put a hand on each of your children’s shoulders. “Come on, if we hurry then your mom can’t limit how many cookies we get.” The three of them ran off before you could say anything. You just shook your head and watched them with a fond smile.

A daughter and a son. A husband too. A family. Things with Thayne weren’t immediately perfect, and you had your fights too, every couple does. But they were perfect enough for the two of you. So yes, if you had been asked in the beginning of everything if you loved Thayne; the answer would’ve been no. But if you were asked now, if you loved Thayne; yes wouldn’t be enough to properly explain just how much you loved him.

[mage-cat]

A Fire to Beat Back the Dark, Chapter 3

Hey, I actually finished a multi-chapter fic! Admittedly by setting my sights low. Read on as I wrap up my plot threads enough that I can move on to other projects and wait for Season 3 of She-Ra to drop next month.

Link to the AO3 version through here.

Chapter 1 here ; Chapter 2 here.

This chapter below the cut ~1650 words

The first thing Catra was conscious of the next morning was Bow's voice. “It seems like a shame to wake them up.” Adora had made a very convincing argument that waking up to Shadow Weaver the night before made her nervous about sleeping alone.

“I know.” That was Glimmer. “This is cuter than I was expecting. I swear, when I first came in, I heard Catra purring.” As long as it was a favor to Adora, Catra would never have to admit how good it felt to be curled up next to her again.

Bow again. “Do you think she wakes up as jumpy as Adora?” That was new. If anything Adora had always been the heavier sleeper of the two of them. Though of course every cadet was trained to wake up quickly when necessary, and the Horde frequently claimed it was necessary even if it normally meant they were hurrying in order to wait for the proper officer to show up. Catra just liked feigning sleep as a form of information gathering.

“If she does, do you think her claws would do more damage than that knife wound Adora gave me her first week here?”

“They look so comfortable. I wonder if they used to do this a lot. When Adora said she wasn't used to sleeping alone, I just thought she meant alone in the room.”

Alright, that was enough. Catra stretched herself out until her face was even with Adora's. “Hey, Adora. Bow and Glimmer are going to keep speculating about us until you wake up.” She saw Adora's eyes slide open and noted that there was, in fact, a slight flinch as she adjusted to wakefulness that didn't used to be there. “Did you really shank Glimmer your first week here?”

“It really wasn't much more than a scratch,” Glimmer said, her face flushing.

Adora let out a sleepy grunt. “Turns out I don't sleep well alone. Don't knock to reflex too hard. It's part of what let us catch Shadow Weaver.”

She let the matter drop and sat up. “So, any plans I should know about today?”

The afternoon meeting the day before had quickly turned into a debriefing, slightly too polite for Catra to call it an interrogation. However briefly she had held any power in the Horde, even if she had been haphazardly piecing together the bits of the Force Captain orientation she had missed, she still had delivered more information about the Horde's inner workings than the Rebellion had had since before the first alliance had fallen apart. It had been embarrassing for Catra to see Queen Angella's expression harden as she had to admit that she had only just barely started to get a handle on the system of requisition orders and material sources that Shadow Weaver had been maintaining before her fall from Hordak's good graces, but everyone seemed more or less satisfied in the end. Now it was a matter of balancing preparation time for an attack on the Fright Zone against the time it would take for the information to become obsolete.

As soon as the sun had gone down and shortly after the other Princesses had headed back to their homelands to see to local matters, both Catra and Adora had been hit with just how little sleep they had gotten the night before. Best as Catra could now tell from the quality of the light, they had crashed early enough in the evening that the time they were now waking wasn't terribly late.

“Light Hope is expecting me for training today,” said Adora.

“We don't have anything really solid planned,” Glimmer said. “Just seeing to routine duties.”

“I'll follow you into the Whispering Woods for a bit, Adora, then activate my tracker in my badge. Scorpia's probably gotten worried by now. Unless she has explicit orders to be doing something else, she'll be looking for me. Best to give her something to find.”

“I'm staying with you until that's done. She may have the rest of the squad with her, and even if you're right about being able to win Scorpia over, I doubt Lonnie's opinion of you has changed that much.”

---

Adora and Catra sat among the roots of large tree near the Fright Zone edge of the Whispering Woods. Bow and Glimmer lurked somewhere nearby as back-up in case Scorpia did, in fact, have the whole of Adora's old squad with her.

Catra fingered in badge she was wearing. “This is what stopped me from following you the day you left, you know. Shadow Weaver didn't believe me when I said I didn't know where you had gone, and when I wasn't able to bring you back, she hauled me in front of Hordak. I thought something terrible was going to happen to me. Then he gave me your promotion and told Shadow Weaver off for ignoring my potential. I got my first taste of being out of your shadow. It was hard to think of giving that up.”

“It's kind of amazing how much evil we can ignore when we're told how good we are at it.” Adora thought for a beat. “I really never did see you as my sidekick.”

“Doesn't matter. Everyone else did, our squad, our trainers. Shadow Weaver was invested in it. The entire time I was Force Captain, she was very clear that the second you came back, I was going to be demoted in favor of you. It didn't matter what I did or what you did.”

“She's gone now. It's hard to really believe, but she's gone. Nothing but bad dreams.” Adora smirked. “Besides, I think it's safe to say that a walking torch doesn't have to worry about being in anyone's shadow.”

Catra felt a warm glow in her chest. “I guess you're right.”

Scoripia's voice began to reach them though the woods, calling for Catra. Adora hid behind the tree as Catra started to call out in response.

Once Scorpia was in view, she rushed up and drew Catra into a hug. “Catra! You're safe! I thought maybe you had gotten hurt or captured or something, but I should have known you could handle anything that happened.”

Catra squirmed her way out of the tight embrace, but she was smiling. “Sorry about that. I would have given you more warning before I left, but it wasn't safe for me to talk in the Fright Zone.” She glanced around to make sure Scorpia really was alone, her expression sobering. “Those old family legends, do they say what element the Black Garnet controlled?”

Scorpia looked puzzled at the shift in topic. “No, that's been forgotten.”

Catra held a handful of flames up for her to see. “What if I told you it was fire?”

“Oh wow,” Scorpia said softly. “I always knew you were something special, Wildcat.”

“I can't pretend to keep being Hordak's loyal soldier. I'm not that good a liar.” Catra doused the flames then removed the Force Captain's badge from her chest and held it up between two of her fingers. A red glow spread around the rim before the circuitry began to overheat and spark. Once it let out a small plume of smoke, she placed it in Scorpia's claw.

“Hordak can consider that my resignation. Tell him that if he wants Shadow Weaver on Beast Island so badly, he will have to take it up with the sorcerers on Mystacor. I won't be turning myself in to take her place. But don't tell him about me being tied to the Black Garnet. It may give him ideas.”

“Where will you go?”

“The Rebellion is willing to have me.” Adora, Bow, and Glimmer all appeared out from behind the trees. “And they're willing to listen to me when I vouch for you.”

Scorpia lowered her voice. “I told you I don't really get along with other Princesses.”

“Because of stuff your family did before you were born. That's messed up, but they admit that it's messed up, and they promise to give you a fair chance.” She put a hand on Scorpia's arm. “You're pure sunshine. You'll win them over faster than I will. I hope you won't leave me to be the only Princess at Bright Moon with a tail.”

Adora stepped closer. “The last Sh-Ra messed up a lot of things on Etheria. I'm trying to fix them. Our last clue pointed us to the Crimson Waste. What happened there may be what drove your ancestors out. I need to go there, and the land's rightful Princess could be helpful. We have to live with the mistakes of the people who came before us, but we don't have to keep repeating them.”

“What do you say?” Catra said. “Up for redeeming your family name?”

Scorpia bit her lip, making Catra wonder if there wasn't something that she hadn't known to take into account. She hoped it was just discomfort at being put on the spot.

“You don't have to answer now, but you'll be welcome when you come. Don't tell Entrapta about me and the Black Garnet either. She's too likely to slip something to Hordak if she thinks it's scientifically relevant. You could tell her that the Rebellion misses her though. Perfuma seems especially upset about how things went down. I don't want to break up the Best Pals Team any more than you do, but the Horde only exists to serve Hordak. If we want something for ourselves, we have to leave.”

“I understand.” Scorpia smiled softly. “I'll see you again soon, Wildcat. Stay safe until then.”

The rebels watched her as she retreated through the trees and back toward the Fright Zone.

“She has a thing for you. Like, a romantic thing,” said Bow.

“That's why she'll come to Bright Moon. She may even be able to talk Entrapta into coming with her. Either way, Hordak doesn't understand what he's up against now.”