#together so with our stuff combined we were able to get one. since we got akechi he agreed to let me have it !!!

[akechi-if-he-slayed]

akechi photo card !!!

[chirpingfromthebox]

My favorite bits from Minnesota's post-game press interviews after PHWL Finals Game 2

[You can find the entire interview here! Be sure to give them some views/likes/nice comments, because her channel is great.]

At the table were Nicole Hensley, Sophie Jaques, and Ken Klee.

First of all Nicole Hensley looks like she'd much rather be in bed than doing this press session. And I feel like that's the proper reaction to doing press interviews after playing an entire game of hockey.

Sophie Jaques, however, is utterly unfazed.

Anyways! Transcriptions of my favorite parts of the interviews under the break.

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REPORTER: What led to the goaltending change?

KEN KLEE: We have two great goalies so all year we’ve kinda rotated back and forth. Obviously Maddie got hot in the first round, so it was tough to take her out. But we knew we could go back to Nicole at any point and she would be ready to go. And she obviously played fantastic for us tonight. That was the benefit for me all year, is that I had two goalies that were always ready and able to go. I had 1a and 1b. I didn’t worry about who was in at the time. And certainly Nicole deserved another shot to get in there and she played great tonight.

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REPORTER: Sophie, just talk about this game, coming back against your old team.

[that’s not a question my dude…]

SOPHIE JAQUES: Yeah, it was definitely weird playing in here for the first time on a different team, but coming in here we knew we had to get one win on the road and I think we played really well today after coming back from Sunday’s game. And it was really fun.

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REPORTER: Coach and Nicole, if you guys could each kinda explain what you saw around the disallowed goal?

KEN KLEE: Well, I mean we all heard a whistle on the bench. It was definitely a whistle was blown, and then our players kinda stopped playing, then all a sudden we see the puck pop free and then get shot into the net. So that was kinda my take on it. And they said, ‘Yeah, we definitely blew the whistle long before the puck was even free to go into the net.’ So that was kinda what I saw, and that was the explanation I got.

NICOLE HENSLEY: Yeah, I didn’t see anything. I have no clue what happened, so...we’ll take it.

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REPORTER: Sophie, just talk about how you’ve been able to really acclimate yourself to the Minnesota team since being traded from Boston earlier this year.

[Once again, not a question. Maybe this is a common thing for the press to do, but I kinda hate the way it sounds.]

SOPHIE JAQUES: Yeah, it’s definitely been a lot of fun. All the players and coaching staff have been great at welcoming me in and I feel like I’ve been put in a position that plays to my strengths and has allowed me to succeed with the team so far.

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REPORTER: Sophie, any conversations with the players on Boston ahead of this game or ahead of the series?

[The first actual question to Sophie! Wanna guess which one of the 3 “questions” directed towards Sophie Jacques was from a woman and which ones were from men?]

SOPHIE JAQUES: [smiling] Not really. Like, I’ve talked to a few of my friends, but kinda just not talking about hockey as we’re gonna be enemies on the ice.

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REPORTER: Nicole, Ken was just talking about having this great tandem in Minnesota and Kelly Pannek actually talked a lot about the relationship that you and Maddie have. Can you just maybe speak a little bit to- or describe the relationship that you guys have as a tandem here?

NICOLE HENSLEY: Combined with Kelly there, we’re kinda the three musketeers and we do a lot of stuff together and we hang out all the time. I’ve spent a lot of time at Maddie’s house over the years and we’ve always been really close. Since, like 2017 I think, was the first time we played together. We’ve trained together for the past 3 years in Minnesota so we just kinda know how to bounce off each other and know what each other needs when they're in net to be successful. And try to help in any way we can. But at the same time we’re pushing each other all the time and I think it’s a really unique relationship that we’re really fortunate to have.

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REPORTER: How has this experience compared to your past playoff experience and this being the final? And also what does it mean to you guys to be going back home with the series tied?

SOPHIE JAQUES: I think the biggest difference has just been the competitiveness of every single game and the amount of travel. This is the most I’ve ever traveled for playoffs throughout my entire career. And it’s also been the longest series that I’ve ever played in before. So just making sure really prioritizing recovery. And then looking ahead we’re really excited to be back on home ice. I think we really succeed there, so I’m excited for it.

NICOLE HENSLEY: Yeah, I think we’re very used to playing one-and-done and every single game we play is kinda life or death, so it’s been a little bit of an adjustment. You get to go back and correct some things and come out the next day, so I think we’ve tried to use those things to our advantage and continue to do that going in front of our home crowd.

[kissingkiszka]

The Sweet Symphony - Chapter Nine: And So The Show Begins

Jake Kiszka x Reader

Words: 7.6k+

Summary: reader joins Jake and the rest of Greta Van Fleet as they embark on their opening night of tour.

CW: MDNI, 18+, SMUT, p in v, fluff, teasing, jealousy, drinking, degradation k!nk, pet names, praise k!nk, spank!ng, fighting, daddy k!nk, angry sex, orgasm denial, so much teasing, cursing, Jake is a sugar daddy fr

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Jake's POV

It was the opening day of the tour. I pulled into y/n's driveway, ready to leave for the tour at last. I beamed with eagerness, just ready to be on the road and get back to performing tonight. It was definitely way too early in the morning for me to be driving though.

I watched her front door for any sign of her for a few minutes, and then ultimately decided to just text her.

5:02 a.m.

Me: Hey baby, I'm outside.

5:03 a.m.

Y/N: Oh shit, sorry! I'll be out in a few.

5:02 a.m.

Me: Take your time.

I shoved my phone back into my pocket, and placed one hand on the steering wheel. I couldn't wait to get to travel and be on tour with her. It had been quite some time since I had last seen her, and my nerves were getting the best of me. It had also been quite a long time since I last touched her, but that was just one extra perk about being able to spend so much time with her on tour. We would have all the time in the world together to make up for all that missing time. Today was going to be a more relaxed and laid back day since all we had to do was move our stuff onto the tour bus and put on one hell of an opening night show tonight in none other than our own home city. No plane rides or long travels or anything like that.

I watch as she walks through the door. I hop out to greet her, making my way to meet her on the cobblestone pathway.

"Good morning baby. I see you got your beauty sleep." I give her a delicate peck on the cheek as I take her bags for her. I watch as an infectious smile breaks out across her face.

"Goodmorning Jake." She definitely looks tired as well. I hope she didn't have another restless night.

I made a quick dash to the car, opening the door to the passenger seat before she could beat me to it.

I slip her luggage into the trunk of my car and then we were off. Our journey on tour was just about to begin and we couldn't wait to see what lies ahead for us.

Y/N's POV

Jake was nothing but sweet to you this morning. You barely got any sleep last night, a combination of nerves and excitement keeping you up. It was evident in the dark circles around your bloodshot eyes, and you knew that Jake could very easily tell. However, the way he went about it made your heart flutter. He always knew what to say, even if what he was saying wasn't all true.

The drive over to Josh’s house was a short and smooth ride. You were all going to leave from his place to get settled in the tour bus. It had been a while since you had seen Jake, let alone the other boys.

Pulling into Josh's house, Jake turns to you before you get out of his car.

"Y/N?" He speaks up as he turns off the engine. "I just wanted to tell you, we are all so glad you decided to come along with us. Really." He places a comforting hand on your upper arm.

"I am so glad you asked me to come with you in the first place. I don't know why I ever doubted it for a second." You reply, placing one of your hands on top of his. You run your finger over his hand smoothly.

Suddenly, you see Danny running out of Josh's front door. He is quickly approaching the car and it doesn't take much longer until the attention of both of you is now directed at Danny.

"Danny?!" Jake said, getting out of his car and closing the door behind him. Of course, he didn't even give you a chance to open the door yourself before he was at the door to open it for you, just like always.

"He's here! It's really him! Y/N too! She came too!" Danny shouts, scooping us Jake into an embrace. He even manages to pick up Jake a few inches off the ground, him still not even coming close to Danny's towering height. He turns to you, his strong arms engulfing you in a tight embrace.

The Kiszka brothers were all attractive men. Danny wasn’t too far off either. All of them had such sharp facial features, and gorgeous hair. But your heart belonged to Jake, he was the most handsome man in the world to you.

"We all thought you'd be here last." He said, turning back to Jake and placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Sam isn't here yet?" Jake said with a sense of shock in his voice. "Sam is usually the first one!"

"Nope." Danny shook his head. "Josh."

Then, Sam came out of Josh’s garage, a few bags in his hands.

"Well, we're at Josh's house.” Jake stated, wrapping an arm around your waist.

"Nice observation!" He shouts to Jake while he begins to pile the bags onto the driveway.

"Hello to you too, Sammy!" He shouted back to Sam in a smart ass tone. He turns back to Danny. "Soooo..." confusion ran throughout Jake's voice.

"Luckily he gave me a key a while back. Let myself in, made some coffee. I made myself at home. That is, until he texted me, asking me to lug all his bags onto the driveway." He leaned in closer, his voice becoming a whisper. "So I just made Sam do it for me."

“Is Graham coming with us?” Jake asks with curiosity.

“Who knows. they’re joined at the hip by this point, so I’m counting on it.” Danny answers.

Sam, once again overhearing, says his piece. “They probably have separation anxiety at this rate!”

Danny shoots you and Jake a look, raising his eyebrows and shrugging. This seemed like a great group to be going on tour with and you couldn’t wait to further this journey.

As Sam continues to throw the bags onto the concrete, A car pulls into the driveway. Josh hops out and strolls over to the scene.

He greets you all with a hug and then turns back to the car. “Gray! C’mon! Come say hello!”

A man with plush, pushed back, dirty blonde waves, bright blue eyes, and some stubble steps out of the vehicle and approaches the group standing around in the driveway. He had a very clean and posh look to him.

“Graham!” Jake exclaims, walking over to the taller man. He pulls him into a tight embrace.

“Hello Jake, how've you been brother?” The man asks him.

“I’ve been doing great. Been up to some new things.” He replies, a bright smile on both of their faces. “And you?”

“Great. Josh and I are really doing well.”

“I’m so ecstatic for you, and my brother. You two are good together.” Jake runs a hand through his hair. You can tell he really means what he is saying. “Oh! Um- Graham. This is my,uh,my-”

“Im Y/N. It's nice to meet you. Role of hairdresser and well, moral support for Jake.” You interrupt to save Jake some embarrassment. You reach your hand out to shake his.

“Graham.” He reciprocates the hand shake. “Role of Josh’s boyfriend.” His cheeks turn pink at the mention of his love. “On the downlow, though.”

Your eyes lit up with happiness. You had only met Josh a few times, but you were truly happy for him.

Josh announced that he and Graham bought coffee for everyone and had a short speech about how thankful he was for everyone for being so helpful and how excited that he was about to embark on this tour.

Before you knew it, you were split with half in Jake’s car and half in Josh’s were driving to the tour bus. After the short ride filled with small talk and music, you were getting onto the tour bus with bags in hand excited for the journey ahead of you. You watch as Jake makes his way to the bunk.

“Looks like we're sharing this bad boy.” He pats the small bunk. “For the nights we sleep in there, at least. We usually just sleep in hotel rooms after shows.”

You contently smile and place your luggage in the small hallway, you weren’t even going to bother unpacking since the bus would be dropping you off at a hotel later that night anyways.

Josh decided it was time for everyone to disperse and come back before the show tonight. That meant you and Jake had a few hours to yourselves. He approaches you once Josh is done talking.

“You wanna head out?” he asked, sliding an arm around your waist. You can tell he already had a bit of an idea of what he had in mind. “We have some time before management wants us at the venue.”

“We have about-” You glance down to check the time on your phone. “About four hours? What do you have in mind?”

“Let me take you shopping. Let me spoil you as a sign of my gratitude. I want to spoil my woman.” He smirks.

You nod, his words creating a heat in your abdomen. “Sounds nice.” He kept calling you ‘my woman’ and ‘my girl’, but he hasn’t made any effort to actually make you his.

He slides on his flannel coat, puts his keys in his pocket, and grabs your hand. He was more than ready to do exactly what he wanted, and that was to spoil you.

At the mall, you were too shy to spend his money. A few items in a couple of windows had caught your eye, and Jake started to pick up on it.

“You wanna go in here?” He asked, snapping you from your gaze at the very expensive and revealing upscale top.

“If you want.” You shrug, nonchalantly. Obviously, you wanted the top, but you definitely didn't want Jake to spend his hard earned money on you.

He managed to spot the exact top and that you were eyeing up in the window.

“You’d look so…desirable. So…tempting.” His face became red, he was obviously imagining you wearing the top. “I’m buying it. For you.” He leaned in closer, his voice coming to a whisper. “And me.”

All you could do was blush. No man has ever done as much for you as Jake has, let alone give you a shopping spree. He decided he was going to pick out a full blown outfit for you, on top of the shirt he already picked up. He came back to you with a white miniskirt and a black faux leather corset top. You're unsure of the outfit, but would do anything to make him happy.

He saw the doubt in your face as he sent you off to the fitting rooms.

“What’s wrong, sweetheart?”

“I-just-I don’t think these will look good on me.”

He strokes your cheek and looks into your eyes. He knows you feel insecure.

“You're beautiful. hell, beautiful is an understatement. You always manage to leave me speechless.” His eyes glistened. “Nothing I can say can actually match the amount of beauty you have.”

You smile, a rosy tint coming across your cheeks. You grab the hangers out of his hands and turn into the fitting room. You opt not to show him the clothes, as you would rather have it be a surprise when you wear it out for the first time.

The next store, he buys you a tight black dress, one that you know will have him going crazy.

And then, you pass by a lingerie store. You wanted to go in to be a bit of a tease and you can’t help but notice Jake is avoiding it. It seems he doesn’t want to get all riled up just yet, with nowhere to go to release the steam.

Jake sees you approaching the store and realizes he’s made a terrible decision. But deep down he knows the outcome will be worth it.

“Jake…” you lightly tug on his arm.

“Yes baby?” He answers sweetly.

“Will you…pick out something for me. Something for you?” You whisper in his ear. All innocence you had prior to entering the shop was now gone.

His eyes go wide, you obviously caught him off guard. “Of course baby. Anything for you.”

“Thank you baby.” You rub his shoulder. “Pick out something you want to fuck me in…even better, pick out something you want to rip off of me before you fuck me.” You bite your lip as you look at him, his face and body language now filled with arousal.

His breath hitched in his throat. He doesn’t say a single word more before he’s turned around, browsing the racks for the perfect item. You knew he would imagine you in just about everything in the entire shop.

A few minutes later, he returned to you with a few sets. One was a velvet deep purple, almost a reddish color set. The other was just a plain black lace bodysuit.

You choose a burgundy set, the panties have bows tying the sides together and the bra has a big bow in the front. You turn to him to get his approval.

“Burgundy, again?” He asks, his eyes wide.

“Well, now I know it’s your favorite color.” You give him a smirk.

He picks up a pair of white mesh crotch less panties, tiny red hearts scattering all over the fabric. He holds up the panties and takes a step back. He’s admiring you while also proud of his choice.

“Don’t you think those are…a little…too crazy?” Picking them up and putting your fingers through the hole at the crotch. You grow nervous at his response.

“Oh baby, you clearly don’t know me too well.” He smirks. “But you’ll find out soon enough.”

He picks out a few more pieces and hands you all the lingerie and directs you to the fitting rooms. This time, he wants to see what each item looks like on your body that you’re trying on.

After a few moments, he calls out to you.

“You almost done in there?” He shouts through the curtain.

“Yes sweetheart, just making sure I look good enough for you to see me.” You tease.

You hear him chuckle to himself, he’s obviously getting riled up. You slowly pull back the curtain and lure him into the fitting room with you.

He doesn’t even have a chance to examine the burgundy set you have on before his eyes are wide and his hands are roaming your silhouette.

“Beautiful. As always.” His fingers dig into your waist as he pulls you into him. You feel his large growing bulge press up against your stomach. You give him begging eyes, filled with lust before you push him away. Teasing him in every way you can knowing he can’t do anything here.

“Y/N…” he softly whines. “Please baby, I need you. Right here, right now.”

“Jake we’re in public, this isn’t the place. Don’t you wanna see the rest of the outfits?”

“I do, but I’m going to want to take you right here. Don’t make me wait much longer, baby.” He pleads.

You lightly shove him out of the small room and continue to try on the sets. He ends up buying you every single set you tried on. He was urgent to take you home so he could fuck you senseless in the new sets he just bought, but first wanted to take you to other stores first.

“I want to buy you a new handbag…but we’ll have to put a rain check on that.” He tells you, he’s obviously about to bust through his tight jeans at any second.

“Awww…that’s just too bad. I really would’ve loved a new handbag.” You say innocently, but deep down you’re doing it just to be a tease. You love to egg him on.

He lets out a soft moan, his throbbing cock is very visible through his pants. He can’t help but fall victim to your innocent self. “Let’s go baby, let’s get you that handbag. And anything else you want.” He ultimately decides that your needs are greater than his current situation. He can deal with that later.

You never had a nice bag before. You’ve put a little bit of thought into what kind of bag you would want if you could ever get one. You always happened to love Dior, but were never able to afford anything for yourself.

“Dior.” You say quietly.

“Dior? Let’s go.” He replies, grabbing your hand and taking you in the direction of the Dior store.

As you entered the brightly lit designer store, Jake turned to you once more. “You see anything you like, you tell me. Got it?”

You give him a shy nod before heading over to a certain bag you had your eye on for a while now. It was a black saddle bag. You took a quick glance at the price tag. $4,400. Your eyes went wide and you let out a gasp.

Jake slid past you, his hands reaching for the bag. “Don’t look at that.” He examines the bag to make sure it has no blemishes. “Only top notch quality for my girl.”

“Jake-” You start to hesitate. “Am I really your girl? You keep calling me that bu-”

He cut you off. “I want to be able to call you mine. I want to make it official with you, but my life is going to be crazy right now with tour an’ all, but you'll always be my top priority. I’ll always call you mine, even if you’re truly not mine.” he shrugs, his eyes wishing they could just call you his, officially and forever. “I just want to spoil you. Who knows when the next time will be that I can do this with you? Is that such a bad thing..?” He questions, running two fingers over his mustache that’s growing in.

“Of course not.” You smile and lightly rub his shoulder. You really were thankful he was doing this for you. “I just wish we could make it official or..something.”

“We will. Sooner rather than later.” He affirms.

He takes the bag up to the register and then turns back to you. “You want anything else?” He points to a sunglass stand next to the register. “You want a pair?”

“No thank you.” You politely shake your head.

“Alright. We’ll save that for next time.” He smiles as he swipes his card, not even checking to see what the total is.

As you drive back to Josh’s house you begin to notice the silence in the car. Jake was focused on the road not really paying attention to you. You wondered if you did anything wrong. If it was out of place to ask him if you were “his girl”.

“Jake, are you okay? You’ve been a little quiet.” You place a hand on his thigh. Looking down at where your hand lies, you notice something protruding near your hand and you realize what was happening.

“Jakey, are you still riled up from earlier?” You tease slowly bringing your hands towards the bulge protruding from under his pants.

Before you can reach it a strong hand grabs you, stopping you in your tracks. “You know that was some stunt you pulled in the lingerie store. Teasing me knowing I’d want you, right then and there.”

Your hand was folded within his large hands. “You know I should punish you for that.”

“Well we really don’t have time to do that, the group is expecting us.” Feeling bold, knowing that there wasn’t much he could do while he drove.

He lets go of your hand, placing his hand back on the wheel. He glances at the clock on the dash.

“We have enough.”

“What?”

Before he could explain his thought he pulled off on the side of the road. It was beginning to get dark outside due to it getting towards the winter months. He parks the car behind a line of trees. “Get in the back.”

You sit there for a moment still confused at the situation.

“Are you not listening, Y/N? Get in the back.”

Before he could say something else you unbuckle and sit in the back, him doing the same.

“You think that was funny in the store, teasing me in the dressing room? Knowing that no matter what you said I couldn’t do anything about it. I think that deserves a punishment.”

Slightly turned on you smirk and begin to palm his bulge more making a moan escape from his mouth. Before you do anything more he grabs it and swiftly moves your body, your stomach laying against his thighs and ass in the air.

“You're gonna count to ten okay, can you do that for me baby?”

You nod your head, preparing for the impending hand that was going to be smacked on your ass.

Before you could even get the full thought out a loud smack was echoing throughout the car.

“FUCK!” You whimpered, It hurt like hell but felt so good.

“That didn’t sound like one darling. Let’s try again.”

The next slap was laid across your ass. Harder than last time.

“One.” You just barely managed to whine out.

“Come on baby louder” Followed by another slap.

“Two… AH, three!”

The last seven slaps were hard and loud. By the time it was over your ass was stinging, you could feel the heat radiating.

“Don’t tease me like that again, got it?”

He leans forward, placing a soft kiss on your ass. “Now go back and sit in the front. Hope that ass of yours is ready for the hour ride to the hotel.”

The ride back was short and quiet. That was different from what you experienced with him before. But you liked it, it was sexy. Before you knew it you were back to the tour bus where you were met with Sam and Danny playing their guitars on the steps of the tour bus while Josh and Graham were sitting inside chatting about who knows what.

You got out of the car carefully and walked over to the guys, Jake not too far behind with bags in his hands.

“Oooo Dior. Jake really splurged on you, Y/N” Sam says in a sing-song manner. You haven’t really talked to him since the night of the release party, but things have gotten more casual between the two of you.

“Is that them?” Screamed Josh from inside the bus.

“Yeah.” Danny called back.

“Good, get them in here, it's time to leave.”

As you all hurd into the bus you begin to get comfortable and sit down on one of the two couches that were facing each other. You sit down rather fast, but are soon brought to the realization of what just happened moments before. Pain struck through your bottom and a hiss left your mouth.

“You okay Y/N?” Josh asks as he sits down at the couch in front of you.

“Yeah you okay, Y/N?” Jake asks in a concerned tone. Flashing you a smirk as he sits down next to you on the couch. Fuck him.

“Yeah I’m good. Just sat down weird I guess.” Coming up with the most random excuse but no one thought more of it, except Jake. He was staring at you and rubbing your thighs during the ride.

The hour went by seemingly fast. Lots of talk of what to expect for the tour, singing, and games. You got to get to know more about the other boys and they were all amazing. Such sweet caring guys who truly loved what they were doing in life.

As the tour bus pulled up to the hotel everyone filed out of the bus with their belongings. You were met with a tall man in a suit in the lobby. “Hello boys…and girl?”

Josh brings him into a hug and greets him. “Tom, this is Y/N our hair stylist for the shows. She’s going to be staying with us since she will also be a guest of one of our band mates.” Before elbowing Jake in the side.

“Hello Y/N, nice to meet you. I’m Tom, the boys' manager.” He held out a hand and you connected with his, giving it a firm shake.

“Nice to meet you.” You say with a smile. You all begin to grab your belongings and make your way into the lobby getting your keycards.

Jake brought you to the hotel room so you could drop off your stuff. You would be staying with him for the entirety of the tour, and you were looking forward to it.

As you sat your stuff down, and just then something came over you. You needed his touch. You begin to walk over to him and right as he begins to turn around you grab the sides of his face and bring him into a deep kiss.

He grabs your waist and deepens the kiss without a second thought. Your tongues battling each other for dominance. As you break away you take a look at him, absolutely infatuated by him. “That sure was something you just pulled in the car.”

“Yeah sorry if it was a bit much, I hope it was okay. Did I overstep?”

“No, no it was good. I haven’t experienced anything like that before. It was different.”

“I’m glad, well in that case, there will be more of that in the future.” He says with a smirk before pressing one last kiss into your lips before bringing you out of the room. Right after you leave you remembered your tools for tonight.

“Oh wait Jake, I forgot my hair tools.” You swipe your card in the door and quickly get in and grab your things. But before you left you grabbed one last thing, shoving it deep into your bag. You quickly join Jake back in the hallway before returning to the lobby. Seeing that everyone was there except for Josh.

“Perfect, only one more person. Can he ever be on time? Danny asked the group. Almost as if he had been summoned, Josh reveals himself from the elevator with his arms out by his sides, presenting himself as some kind of god.

“I am here everyone, don't you worry!” Josh announces his presence as the elevator doors swing open. Jake rolls his eyes. Everyone grabs their things to head out.

Back on the bus, you went driving another 25 minutes to get to the arena.

You put on the final touches of Josh’s hair, him being extra needy. It was no surprise he needed his hair to look perfect.

You find Jake strumming his guitar in the corner of the green room as a little warm up. You place your hand on his leg to help comfort any anxiety he has before the show.

He places his guitar behind him and clutches your hand in his.

“Good luck out there. I’ll be cheering from the wings.” You rub your hands over his bare chest.

“I’ll be counting on it. But don’t distract me.” He smirks at you, giving you a knowing look.

He grabs the back of your head and gently pulls you in for a kiss. Your lips intertwine together and a fire pools in your stomach.

Tom walks over as Jake brings you out of the kiss. “It’s time to go on, boys.” He snaps Jake out of his daydream.

“And so the show begins.” He pulls away, his eyes longing for you as he begins to make his way out of the room and onto the stage.

You decide this is the perfect opportunity to surprise Jake with something. You pull out the very black dress Jake had bought for you earlier that day and slip it on. He is going to go off the rails when he sees you in it. You hear the crowd going absolutely insane- the curtain must have fallen by now. You rush to the wing, making sure you have a good view of Jake. The Falling Sky was still being played and a few moments later, Graham was by your side listening to the music play with you.

“Y/N, I’m so glad I finally got to meet you. If only you knew how much Jake goes on about you.” He leans into your ear.

“Aw, Graham. That's so sweet of you.” You smile to yourself. “So, You and Josh, Eh?”

“Mhm.” He smiles. “We met in middle school. Liked him since the very day I saw him. Finally grew the balls to ask him to prom senior year.” He laughs. “Been in love ever since.”

“That's some true love.” You shoot him a warm smile. “Jake and I met-”

“At the record store. Trust me, I know. Jake never shuts up about it. Says the sun was shining just as bright as you were that day.”

“Josh is so lucky to have you.” You offer a friendly embrace.

“So is Jake.” He reciprocates the gesture. “I need to tell you, Jake is a special guy. He’s never clicked with a girl like this before. He once thought he would never find love, that was a really hard time for him. So, please, cherish him, like he deserves.”

You really appreciated what Graham was telling you. It truly was giving you more insight into your own relationship, somehow. You truly loved how Graham had known Jake all these years. You wanted to hear all the funny high school stories of him. But that could wait for another day.

“Thank you Graham. We aren’t official yet, but I can feel it happening.”

He nudges you softly in the arm and sends you a friendly wink. “I have a good feeling about it.”

“Me too.” You contently sigh as you turn your attention back to Jake. He’s staring you down, admiring your curvy figure. It got him heated to witness you wearing the dress he bought for you earlier that day.

Your attention was torn away from Jake when Graham was handing you a shot.

“Vodka?” You ask.

“Yes ma’am.”

You take the shot from him. “Just straight?”

“Yeah, well, Im gay.” He jokes.

You turn to focus back on Jake, not wanting to miss another second of him playing. To your surprise Jake was blowing a girl a kiss, and giving her a suggestive look.

You were surprised. You were just told all this information about Jake, how he doesn’t fall for women that often and easily, and love comes rare for him. but here he is, flirting with women on stage. In fact, all of them were doing it, and Graham didn’t seem to be bothered. So you just pushed it off for now. The weight rested on your chest for the remainder of the show.

During Danny’s drum solo, you turn to Graham once more.

“I'm so proud of them. I’ve only heard them play a few times but I'm more than impressed.”

“Me too”, tears welling in his eyes. “Especially Jake, this band was all his idea. Josh, he devoted his entire life to his brother's dream. Now that's dedication!” He laughed.

“Hey, a dream can really go a long way if you put your mind to it.” You tell him. “And I'm not surprised. Jake has some serious determination in him.”

After the boys made their way to the B-stage, they played a few songs, and then one you have never heard before. The small section was entirely acoustic and it was so intimate.

The small intimate set was over after just a few short songs and you notice they all grab a small bouquet of white roses. As Jake grabs his bouquet from a crew member, he begins to walk back to the main stage. Crowds of fans are all around them, reaching out just to get a small glimpse of their favorite band.

You watch closely as Jake hands a rose to one girl in particular, a beautiful girl to say the least. She looked the complete opposite of you, she was tall and thin, had her shiny blonde hair perfectly on display, her tan skin glistening under the stage lights, and her bright blue eyes brighter than the morning sky. She was everything you weren’t, and your heart sunk into your stomach at the interaction. You couldn’t help but be filled with jealousy at the sight. He shoots her a wink as his hands brush against hers, sending the jealousy in your stomach to fill your entire body.

You weren’t even with him? Why were you feeling this way? Graham didn’t seem to mind when Josh handed out roses, so why did you?

Graham sees the change in your demeanor. He can see the jealousy, it’s written all over your face. “You okay?”

“Yeah!” You could play a good poker face if the occasion called for it.

After the concert the boys made their way back to the dressing room. Jake couldn’t keep his eyes off you, and it was very obvious. He noticed you had on the dress he bought, that being one of many reasons he was staring.

Everyone had decided they wanted to celebrate by going to the bar. On the way, you sat next to Jake in the car ride over. You were particularly quiet, while he was still carrying out the adrenaline rush that the show had caused him.

Once you arrived at the bar, you all filed in one by one. Jake immediately ran over to the bar, two drinks in hand when he returned to you.

“Old fashioned, m’lady?” He did a little curtsey motion to present the drink to you.

“Hmm, thank you, sir.” You grabbed the drink from him and took a small sip.

After everyone got their drinks, they all came back together. You stood next to Danny and Josh, you hadn’t really had the opportunity to talk to them since this morning.

“Josh, the show was so great!” you took him by the shoulders and gently shook him.

“Did you see the crowd during Light My Love? They were swaying, holding up flags! It was the real deal!” He was beaming with pride. “I think sharing my truth was the best decision I made.” He softly smiles.

You listen delightedly, genuinely interested in what he is saying. “You and Graham are very cute together.” You politely chime in. “He compliments you perfectly.”

Josh gives you a grateful smile. “Thanks Y/N, same with you and Jake. The world just doesn’t know about Graham yet, so…” He puts a finger over his mouth as a signal to not share that information.

You reassure him with a nod, and as you open your mouth to speak, you get a notification on your phone. It was a text from Jake.

12:39 a.m.

Jake: You look so gorgeous. Just wait until I have you all to myself tonight ;)

You glance up to look at him, your eyes wide by the message you just read from him. He's looking straight at you with heavy eyelids, his eyes full of desire and lust. His wandering and suggestive eyes travel up and down your body.

12:40 a.m.

You: From the looks of it, I’m not the only person you wanted tonight.

Your finger glides around the screen before you press the send button. Your eyes shoot to his, trying to scope out his reaction. He buries his face in his phone as he reads the text from you. His brows furrowed and his lips turned downward. He looks back at you, a questioning look coming across his face.

The rest of the night you give him the cold shoulder, leaving him to wonder what he did wrong. Until you got back to the hotel, that is.

As you swipe the keycard you could feel Jake close behind you. He had been quiet the whole ride home and was confused by the situation. Were you overreacting? Was this normal? You were so new to this and didn’t know what to expect from this tour, but this sure wasn’t it.

As you lay your bags on the ground, trying to make a cut to the bathroom to shower before Jake could say something, you were grabbed by your wrist, spinning to face Jake.

“What was that text about Y/N? I didn’t even talk to anyone tonight.”

You were silent, not knowing what to say.

“Hello Y/N, what is wrong? I don’t know how to help if you don’t tell me.”

You twist your wrist around trying to loosen his grip for an escape, but he held strong.

“Why were you being so flirty to those girls in the audience? I thought I was ‘yours’.”

“You are, just not to the public. And what you saw is just the lifestyle. That’s how you act towards everyone when you’re in this industry.”

“So when Sam flirts with me, and I don’t even flirt back, you get mad, but when you flirt with a random girl in the audience it's okay?”

“Thats differ….”

“Different? I don’t think so Jake.”

“Listen, I know it's new to you, but you'll have to get used to it.”

You couldn’t help but roll your eyes and scoff. You didn’t understand how he was comfortable flirting with other girls and then continued to say that he was committed to you. You flung your wrist away and continued to the bathroom.

“I’m done talking to you for the night, you can say what you want but it’s not going to make me feel better about what happened.”

As you begin to shut the door, he stops you yet again by stepping in front of the door.

“I don’t like your attitude Y/N. Do you not remember what happened in the car a few hours ago?”

You stayed silent. Staring right at him deeply into his dark eyes. Not letting yourself crack from tension that was building between you. You could tell where this was starting to go, but wouldn’t let yourself break under pressure.

“Silent treatment. Okay.” He pauses for a moment, giving you one final moment to say something before things get crazy. You didn’t know how much longer the tension would build before someone made the first move.

“You know what? fine. I guess I’ll have to fuck the answer out of you.”

Before you knew it, you were met with Jake’s lips crashing against yours. You gave in and grabbed his waist pulling him in closer. Jake's hands slowly slid from the sides of your face to your hips and finally your ass. Grabbing it hard eliciting a whimper from your mouth. Fuck. You needed him.

“Oh would you look at that, you are able to make sounds. What do you want, baby? Just say it, that’s all you need to do.”

You could see the cockiness in his eyes, he knew he was making you crack. But you wouldn’t fall that easily. You stood there in silence not wanting to make any more gestures. Jake gives you one more look up and down before lifting you from the ground and carrying you to the bed. Laying you down on your back.

Jake stood standing in front of you, playing with the hem of your dress. “I think this should come off, don't you think?”

You laid in silence, screaming yes over and over in your head.

He began hiking up your dress so your lower half was exposed. Pulling your black panties down to your ankles before holding them tight in his hand.

“Someone wasn’t as mad as they led on, huh? What made you so wet baby? Did you like seeing me up there on stage? Or was me degrading you turning you on?”

You didn’t say a thing. There were so many things that turned you on. The way his fingers moved on the guitar. The way the sweat laid on his chest. The way he looked at you after the show. But you wouldn’t crack.

“You think you’re so fucking strong? We’ll see how long you can last before you say something. I reckon it won’t take much time.” He began to trace his finger up your slit, coming ever so close to your clit but stopping right before connection. He brought his finger up to your mouth.

“Open baby, taste how wet you are. How much of a slut you are for me.”

Holy shit, why was this so hot? You didn’t understand. You open your mouth just enough and before you knew it he shoved his whole finger in your mouth. Sucking on it as he pulled it out.

The smirk on his face said a thousand words. “Fuck baby, you’re such a good girl, you know that? A good girl would also talk to me. If you do that you won’t have to be teased, you don't want to go through that do you?”

Nothing.

“Okay, I see how it is.”

He brought his hands down to his belt, quickly undoing it and lowering his pants and boxers. He pulled you fast so your knees were at the edge of the bed. He flipped you onto your stomach, grabbing your hands and bringing them together on your back. You felt the leather from his belt being wrapped around your wrist and secured tightly from the buckle. He leaned down towards your ear whispering, “All you have to say is stop, okay baby?” You nod so he knows that you are okay with it, not wanting to joke about the consent. “But you also have to say if you want it baby.” With a smack on your ass you were flipped back around with your hands beneath you.

He grabbed a pillow, lifting you up and sliding it under your ass. Some pressure being lifted off your hands. You look down to him and see him bring his cock towards your slit. He begins to tease you, rubbing it up and down your center. With a couple more glides you were arching and biting your lips to hold your noises in.

“What's wrong baby, do you need something? Talk to me, what do you want?”

He continues to slide it up and down and begins to rub it against your clit.

“Fu-ck…” Damn it. You shut your mouth fast.

“What was that baby? You want my cock Y/N? Tell me you want it.”

He slides it down a little more reaching your entrance. He begins to push in, only getting to the tip, and pulling it right back out just to tease you. He continues to do it over and over again, you could only take so much. After the 8th or 9th time you couldn’t take it anymore.

“Please Jake, I need you. Fuck me, I need your cock in me.”

He leaned down to your ear. “Now was that so hard baby?”

Before you knew it he pounded into you. Not giving you any time to adjust he was quickly going in and out of you, hard. From all the foreplay you didn’t know how long you would last. His head swung back as you clenched the walls of your pussy around him.

“Fuck Y/N.” He groaned.

He lifted your hips up even more, getting a deeper angle. His moves were getting sloppy, but still hard and forceful. You were reaching towards your climax.

“Jake.. I’m gonna..”

“Not until you ask, ask me baby. Ask daddy for permission.”

“Jake, please let me cum.”

He continued pounding into you, you couldn’t hold it in much longer. He held so much power and from the look on his face he knew he did too.

“Go ahead baby, cum for me.”

With that you release around him. A wash of pleasure flowing over your body. Not too far after you climax, you feel him twitch within you and fill you with his warm fluids.

He falls onto you, breathing hard. He lays a kiss into your neck before getting up and lifting you up, undoing the belt around your wrist. He ran to the bathroom and cleaned you up before getting pjs from your bag.

You shake your arms out, still a little sore from the pressure of your body laying on them. He took off the rest of your dress and pulled your shirt over your head and helped you put the pants on.

You both stood and Jake pulled the sheets back on the bed. You got comfortable in the bed, still calming your breath from before. Jake sits and turns towards you.

“Listen Y/N, I am sorry it made you uncomfortable. I guess I never really noticed what I was doing. I don’t want you to think that I want anyone else but you. I will try to calm it down, okay?”

“Okay Jake, I’m sorry if I exaggerated. I’m just not used to it.”

“It��s okay, I’m gonna try to do better.”

He brings you in and kisses you. He turns off the lamp beside him and lays beside you. Bringing you into him. You felt a lot better after tonight. Being able to talk it out, after a lot of teasing and convincing. But you felt that tomorrow would be much better, and you would be able to enjoy the show without having to feel jealous.

Or so you thought.

Tag list:

@gretnavannfleet @theweightofjake

[askthefourhumanheroes]

Marcus: Hello? Is this thing on?

Solace: Can you...hear us?

Céline: Hey, I see something! I think we've connected!

Aster: And it only took us fifteen hours!

Marcus: ...I can't tell if that's sarcasm or genuine happiness.

Aster: Both!

Solace: ...

Céline: Guys! We can't get distracted again. Everyone can see us!

Marcus: Right. Sorry. Um, greetings, humans of this world! I am Marcus, and I —

Aster: C'mon, you don't need to be so formal! Humans of this weird world with no Pokemon, hiya! I'm Aster, the Fraxure who looks like he could kill you but is actually a cinnamon roll is Marcus, the Typhlosion who looks like she could kill you and actually could kill you is Solace, the Chikorita who looks like a cinnamon roll but could actually kill you is Céline, and the Delcatty who looks like a cinnamon roll and actually is a cinnamon roll is me, Aster!

Solace: I wouldn't call you a cinnamon roll by any means, Aster.

Céline: And I wouldn't say you look like one, either.

Aster: I'm just trying to lighten the mood a bit!

Marcus: Well, now that the mood is lightened, I'll describe what we're doing here. You see, Umbreon, Espeon, and Keldeo were fiddling around with some Magnagate stuff with the help of Hoopa, and by combining Entercards with a hoop portal, they were able to peek at a world without Pokemon. That's still the strangest thing to me. Even in the so-called human world, we still had Pokemon; they just weren't dominant like they are here.

Solace: The researchers...decided to establish communication with this...weird world, and since all four of us were once humans, we were volunteered to be the ones to communicate. I don't completely understand...this "tumblr" thing, but I think there's a way for you to ask us questions, and so we'll do our best to reply...and tell you about our world.

Céline: You can ask our friends questions too, if you want, but they probably won't be as active here as we are.

Aster: Now, I suppose we should introduce ourselves! The four of us are known to the Pokemon world as the Four Human Heroes, because we were all humans that were turned into Pokemon, and we all saved the world. I'm Aster, and I'm originally from the human world, specifically the Hoenn region, which is the best one. I'm also dead! Well, I died as a human, that is. Then my spirit became a Skitty, I met my partner, Charizard — well, he was Charmander then — and we got Rayquaza to blow up an incoming meteor that was causing all sorts of natural disasters. Not sure how a meteor can cause forest fires, but whatever.

Solace: I...am Solace, hailing from a future that didn't come. After an...accident — actually an attack — while crossing time, I was turned into a Cyndaquil. I joined Treecko, who's now called Sceptile, to form an exploration team, and together, we put the Time Gears into Temporal Tower...and stopped the planet's paralysis before it could begin.

Marcus: I'm Marcus! Unlike the other two, I can visit the human world whenever I want, and I can remember my past with perfect clarity. I'm from Unova, and I was selected by the Voice of Life to become an Axew, destroy the Bittercold, and save the Pokemon world. I couldn't have gotten this far without my partner, Dewott, and all my teammates back in Pokemon Paradise.

Céline: I'm Céline, and I lived in Kalos a long, long time ago. I was summoned to the Pokemon world to fight Dark Matter, but while Mew and I managed to destroy its physical form, we knew it would come back one day. In the present day, I came back as a young Chikorita, and Mew was reincarnated as my best friend Fennekin! This time, we managed to defeat Dark Matter for good — not by destroying it, but by accepting it. As of now, Fennekin and I are still working hard in the Expedition Society — much better than having to go to school!

Gengar: Kekeke! I'm here too!

Aster: Nobody invited you, Gengar.

Gengar: Send me lots of asks!

Solace: ...Get out.

(OOC: Hello! Welcome to my new askblog! While this does take place in the same 'verse as my fic, Tenacity, which means that Aster is the same Aster that Zinnia mentions in ORAS, I'm not really trying to get readers. I just want to have fun with my interpretations of the main characters from the four PMD games that are out globally. I do have some rules, however:

No NSFW asks. Anything inappropriate will be ignored.

Please don't spam. Spammed asks will be ignored.

Nothing bigoted.

No political questions. That'll just incite a flame war.

I reserve the right to answer/not answer any ask.

No Magical Anon asks, please.

I'll make more rules if I need to.

Update 1, 7/1/2023: RP asks/in-character asks from other askblogs are totally fine. Just wanted to clarify that.

The pictures I use are portraits from the PMD Sprite Repository. Special credit to Opalite, mucrush, and baronessfaron for what I used in this post.

I look forward to your asks!)

[friendsim2]

I think that having Amisia as the outsider creative against the system was not necessarily the best use of the character. I think having a character like charun would have been better as their art is more avant-garde and outsider. Also if you were going to have a system supported empire person vs a person in a more freedom artistic breaking the mold way a better comparison for two appositions on privilege and creation could be Nikhee moolah and vikare ratite. Both being engineers but with nikhee having easier access to resources and it being expected of indigos vs vikare where it’s going against what the empire wants or him and any materials he needs he has to scrape together and or make do.

(director/lead writer responding)

Interesting perspective here, and I see your points, although a couple things specific to our interpretation of the game world and also the setting-specific stuff we've interpolated from canon:

Charun, while definitely a more "outsider" artist in terms of how they do their trash stuff, is a lowblood who happened to get caught up in conscription. So Amisia has had the position of being allowed to be creative and finding the whole thing kind of stagnating as they realize in the last few years that what the Empire will allow them to do is always going to be limited by what the Empire will allow. I think parallels here might be something like the vibe in the indigo car in Act 2, where the indigo-bloods are just kind of sitting around having this pointless academic-esque discussion with Joey because what else are they going to do? They're almost at the top of the pyramid, but find little satisfaction in it. And we see that with other indigos as well - Galekh isn't satisfied with his role as an enforcer of the system, Zebruh isn't really happy with who he is despite his power over others.

I think your point about Nihkee is a good one, but there's a very specific (and as-yet-unrevealed, so obviously you wouldn't know about it) reason why she isn't in that role. There are hints at what's happening with her, although they do require doing a bit of digging around inside of Volume 10's hacking segment specifically. Might've put some hints inside Volume 9 as well, but all of it is completely optional content and it's still kinda vague, but you might be able to start to piece together what's going on. I suspect, given the topic, that this ask might've been sent after playing Volume 8 so I suppose you also wouldn't have seen stuff from Volume 10, lol.

While I see your point about Vikare, and the idea of resource allocation definitely fits in with his route in FS1, I would say that from his route we kind of get "aspiring engineer" since he hasn't actually, like, built a successful design or anything. He has dreams and aspirations, but the Empire provides absolutely no path for him to make them a reality, especially given he's a lowblood. We don't necessarily go into this in hyper-specific detail, and it isn't canon (since canon says basically nothing about military structure), but we developed some degree of hierarchy for how the Alternian conscripts are handled, similar to how IRL military structures work. So, as a bronze blood with no particular cultural exemptions (like what's going on with Chixie) who got recruited into the Fleet (unlike Skylla, who's infantry), Vikare is trained in a role that is a bit more survivable (unlike Marsti and the other rust blood pilots, who are considered more disposable). So he ends up as a transport pilot through a combination of aptitude and enthusiasm. Not an engineer, because that kind of technical role is reserved for teals who aren't in Legiscorpus and jades who are in the Fleet. Maybe a particularly talented gold blood but, yknow, bigotry.

Anyhooo, thanks for the ask - it was an interesting one to talk through.

Full disclosure - I'm kinda mixed on answering "you should've done it this way instead" type asks - not because I think it's bad form or mean-spirited to send them, but just because I think that the whole "respond to all criticism" thing is kind of a trap for creators. You're allowed to have different opinions about the world we created, or think decisions we made didn't fully land. Similarly, we may not agree with your interpretation or just not want to do things the way you would've done them - and I don't want folks to think that translates into somehow attacking you for your thoughts/opinions.

That being said, I think you made some interesting points about Alternian hierarchical structures that were interesting to talk about, especially since some of them tie into our particular take on how the Alternian military is organized that doesn't necessarily get spelled out completely in-game. Plus, the whole plot of this game was laid out pretty far in advance. And some small details have changed, but some stuff - including what's going on with Nihkee Moolah - has been decided a long time ago, even if you're not gonna find out about it until later.

[nocompromise-noregrets]

five good things

Time for one of these, I think.

I'm now off work for a week, hooray. I have no concrete plans except some studying and hopefully some writing, and a bit of touristing around town, possibly combined with lunch or a coffee with one of my longest-standing colleagues from job number one who retired yesterday and wants to get out of the way of the builders who will be starting to redo her bathroom on Monday, rather than months ago, as planned, when she'd be out of the way at work all day XD

I went in to job number one yesterday to make some hours up and tackle a particularly complicated task that needed some sustained concentration to get it done; I'd been intending to do it over Christmas but then managed to get the plague and didn't feel up to it, then didn't manage to do it on any of the weekends since then, so when Kate announced she was having a retirement do in our function room at the end of her last day I thought it was a good opportunity to get it done since it was on a Friday which is my non-working day these days. I got done everything I needed to do and also had a good long chat with Pauline, one of my other longstanding colleagues who's been volunteering with us since she retired nearly 20 years ago; I never see her any more because she comes in on Fridays when I'm not there, so it was really lovely to see her. I'm really going to miss Kate, as she's the last member of the team I first worked in back in 1997 to retire - but she's going to be coming back in and volunteering so hopefully we won't lose touch. I've known her (and Pauline, and Julie, our erstwhile manager who retired five years ago) more than half my life and they've all been so incredibly supportive over my career, but none more so than Kate. She's incredibly perceptive and understanding, kind to a fault, and I think she knows me better than I know myself (I am not at all self-analytical or perceptive or any of that stuff). We've been meaning to go for lunch for at least six years, since we haven't worked so closely together after the last restructure eight years ago, and never getting round to it, so I rather hope we can sort something out soon.

The retirement do was lovely - Kate's family were there (including her Oscar-winning son, for those of you who remember that particular excitement this time last year) and colleagues past and present, everyone brought some food, Kate gave us a quiz about herself to see how much attention we'd all been paying over the 36 years we'd variously known her (she started working with us in the autumn of 1987 - so ten years before I did) which was huge fun - my table won, enormously satisfyingly XD although we did have a bit of an advantage with both me and my work wife Helen as we both know her pretty well :D - and it was enormous fun, although I'm in huge denial that she's actually left. I went on to the pub with three former colleagues who I don't see nearly enough of, and wended my way home at the end of the night feeling warm and happy and generally rather good. I'll be getting my long-service award next year (25 years!!!) and I do feel rather as though it's about time I stepped into Kate, Pauline and Julie's very supportive shoes for our younger members of staff.

On Thursday I had a very productive online meeting for job number two, for a project that my predecessor handed on to me without really any guidance as to what I was going to do with it or how (he was very much a project manager and I am very much not, and I think he just expected me to be able to take it and run with it) - I'd had it on the back burner for several years as I just did not know what to do with it, but this year I feel like everything's coming together a bit and I got in touch with the academic who'd thought of it in the first place to say I was almost in a position to facilitate something, and she nearly bit my hands off XD we finally managed to get our schedules aligned on Thursday and she and a colleague and I got a bit of a plan together which is likely to involve me facilitating but not doing much else, which suits me absolutely fine.

Also for job number two I had an enquirer at location number two who wanted to come and look at the house's Catholic chapel registers for a history of the neighbouring village where he lives in a monastery because he is a Benedictine monk. I had never met a monk before, so I was completely intrigued, and he was really lovely - quite young, and very nerdy about history, so we hit it off very well, he found what he wanted in the registers, and then we went for a wander in the Anglican churchyard next to the house looking for gravestones for the family he was looking for. Dealing with enquiries and enquirers isn't my favourite part of the job, but it's always rather rewarding when someone finds what they wants and goes away happy.

Since those five were all work-related...I've done a bit of writing this week on two Femslash February prompts and a birthday fic for @lemurious in her Astronomer!Arwen 'verse, and it's been so nice to be back at it. I haven't felt much inspiration just lately and I've really missed it.

We're plotting fun things for Barduil Month in April over at @bi-widower-dads :D

We have a new boiler! We have heating! And a much better thermostat and more economical boiler and better radiator controls and everything is so much more comfortable. :D

It's nearly spring! Our daffodils have been out for weeks, and one of my peach trees has been in full bloom for about two weeks at this point, although the other one is still only thinking about putting buds out, which is a bit weird because normally they flower together - but the later one is in a shadier position so maybe that's got something to do with it.

I had a couple of nice walks round the docks to and from the garage where the TT was having a couple of things fixed, one first thing in the morning when everything was misty and the water was still as a millpond, and one late in the afternoon when the sun was just beginning to head for the horizon, and it reminded me how beautiful our little city is. I don't usually see the pretty bits, but I feel like I should make more effort to go up to the docks more regularly than once a year around my birthday, when we don't usually enjoy it because all the pubs are showing the Six Nations and the horse racing and we have no interest in either of them. Thinking we might go up during the week this year, instead of the weekend, when the rugby at least isn't on, although it's Gold Cup week so there's no escaping the horses. Still, there are a couple of new places opened now so maybe one of those doesn't have a TV. XD

I have some lovely Lumene skincare stuff again, having discovered that John Lewis sells it over here. It's just the nicest stuff, from Finland, all full of Nordic botanicals and things, and after a while where they weren't shipping to the UK, they are again now, plus I can also get it from John Lewis (I have clearly arrived among the middle-aged middle classes, I have a John Lewis online account now XD ), hooray.

It's nearly bike weather again! I might see if I can get him started up this week, as long as it's not too cold and/or wet.

I've been having so much fun with @mihrsuri RPing in-universe fandom drama in her Tudors OT3-'verse :D :D :D <333333

good lord, thirteen things. Not bad :D

As always, if anyone wants to take this idea and run with it, do feel free. Five (or more!) good things, no matter how big or small. A little bit of positivity in the midst of everything else.

[i-dream-of-twilight-sparkle]

((Note: This is Part 2 of 2 of a crossover story with a friend of mine's character that delves into a what if they were in the I Dream of Twilight Sparkle universe. Here is their twitter (However, must of course warn that you will find NSFW art here)

Chronologically, this falls 5 years after the defeat of Cozy, Tirek, and Chrysalis. And also 5 years before Earnest Empathetic Change begins.

Just like the story where Nova Spark met up with Geniequestria Starlight, this serves as a B-canon in that it's canon if you want it to be. But won't likely effect stuff outside this story. We brainstormed and wrote this together, while my friend did all the supporting art for this))

Sunset would be able to hear Nova and Fury gasp at their new appearance. 

Nova: (W-woah! We got more traits than expected! I think we look pretty good! And even though neither Fury or I am in control… I feel more powerful than ever! Look, even our cutie mark changed, remarkable! This is less assimilation and more of a fusion!) 

The senses that were now returned to Sunset for the first time in years, combined with their newfound magical power. It was as if they were a brand new pony!

Nova: (Hahaha! We're so happy for you, Sunset! I told you it was possible to make this work!) 

Nova beamed 

Nova: (Even… if I was on the verge of almost giving up. We pulled through in the end! Hah, place your bets, who will freak out first when they see us. Twilight or Starlight? My bet's on Twilight considering Starlight hasn't met us yet.)

Sunset didn't have much reason to doubt Nova as she mentioned it in their discussion within the mind. But to actually feel blood coursing through her veins again, real skin and flesh. It felt odd after being a spirit for so long. But it nonetheless felt great. There was one thing she had to do now...

Sunset walked on over to the section covering her death. Looked at the figures of her murderers, and conjured a five fingered hand. Flipping the bird at them.

Sunset: HA! Take that, you good for nothing flankholes! I'm back! Hahahahaha!

She knew it wasn't really them, and she thanks goodness it isn't. But it was satisfying nonetheless 

Both Nova and Fury were somewhat taken aback by Sunset's first action in their body, cursing out her murderers. But considering they got to feel her emotions and pain not too long ago, this was understandable. 

Fury: (Ha! You tell em! You can now come back and they NEVER will! Oh and Nova, I'm jumping in on that bet, Starlight will freak out first. I mean she'll actually get to hug her mom for the first time even if it's a different body. I think that holds more precedence.)

Sunset: (A bit of a correction there, Fury. Starlight was able to hug me as a spirit, but our first actual hug in real bodies will certainly be... something special.)

Fury chuckled

Fury: (Ah I see, well my point still stands though!)

Sunset herself begins to get a feel for the power. She shivers with the magic coursing through her body.

Sunset: Wow... how strong are we now...? I've felt what it's like to have power... but I could almost swear this dwarfs even my own power in my prime... You don't think... that this fusion made us a... half-spirit like Twilight. Not exactly a genie since the 'vessel' is you Nova, but still some of the same abilities. If it's true, we might have the ability to shift our backside into a ghostly tail and fly like that. Do you girls want to give that a try to test it out?

And if that works... even wishes might be on the table! 

Sunset does raise a good question about their power. It doesn't just feel like one was added to the other, rather it felt like it had multiplied! So it's no wonder why Nova had struggled to hold it in. Nova paces around in their mind to think. 

Nova: (I...suppose the process is far more in depth than we could have realized. This is new ground for all of us. I hadn't even thought we'd have magical power like this. But just look at our mane for example, it moves like Celestia or Luna's does! If we're half spirit in the technical sense... )

A wide grin comes across her face as Sunset is also putting things together. 

Nova: (It's a shame we don't get the attire but being an equivalent to a genie!? Hahaha! With spiritual power and potentially wish granting abilities!?! You think either of us are going to say no to some test runs?! Fury, you ready to show the world what we're capable of?)

Fury gives as big of a grin 

Fury: (Are you kidding? I'm more than ready, though just remember, it's ultimately up to Sunset as she's the one in control. But you can deal with that, can't you?) 

She asks in a teasing tone

Nova grumbles, knowing that the lack of control does usually bother her. 

Nova: (Hmph! I-I'll be fine! We can still feel all the power from within here so it's fine, especially with Sunset at the helm! I'm sure we uh… we'd be quite reckless with it. Though I won't lie, I do want to know what our maximum power is right now, this just feels incredible! Nothing like what we've ever felt before!) 

Sunset: If this works, I'll only do a quick fly through the museum. Don't want to freak out all of Sire's Hollow with a random pony they might not even recognize that it's me and/or Nova right away. But alright, let's try this...

Sunset takes a deep breath focusing some magic, something of a spiritual aura seems to surround them as they get to use the magic of a spirit for the first time. Sunset levitates off the ground, and mid-air she places her hindlegs parallel to each other.. She then gently moves them up and down, simulating a bit of a wave, soon her tail and the end of her hooves give way, starting to merge and stretch. Slowly moving up until it stops at just below their hips. A relaxing feeling washed over all three of them inside as they use their magic to defy gravity.

Sunset: Well, would you look at that! It worked!

Now... let's get going!

Sunset flies around the museum exhibits. Her life flashing before her eyes... in a literal sense. As she circles pass her life's memorabilia over and over again. 

Nova: That sounds reasonable, and there's more than enough space for a test flight. 

Both Nova and Fury seem excited to see if this will work, but what they didn't expect was that the magic Sunset was channeling would affect them within the mindscape! They gained an aura around them as well as Sunset used their magic. A blue one for Nova and a red one for Fury, they too began to levitate as the magic coursed through their body! 

Nova: (W-woah! Fury, we're flying!! And uh oooh, this actually doesn't feel too bad! Is this what it's like to be a spirit? The lack of hindlegs takes a moment to get used to but… I don't hate it!) 

Like Sunset was doing on the outside, Nova and Fury began to fly around inside their head.

Fury: (This is insane! I feel lighter than ever and yet so relaxed too. Look at our auras!)

Fury said in an amazed tone 

Fury: (Sunset, this is incredible, our body is holding up just fine too, yeah? Hey see if we can go through walls like you did!] 

Going past all of the exhibits once more, a thought popped into Nova's head 

Nova: (Hey, you think with the discoveries we make in the next few days, we'll have to add a new section to your museum? I mean these findings are going to be massive for all of Equestria! If this is what's happening to us, we may have just stumbled onto how ponies can use spirit magic for themselves!!)

Sunset stops herself to think about what Nova said.

Sunset: That seems like something we'd have to be careful with however. We can't just let EVERYPONY get a spirit inside them. They'd have to be trustworthy, on nearly the same level of making sure they'd be responsible like how genies of Saddle Arabia in the past vetted ponies that would use their power responsibly.

And even besides that, Dragon Tears are still rare. It's not even a 100% guarantee that a dragon who dies will drop one.

That said, I suppose I wouldn't mind an eventual ‘Sunset returns!��� section eventually. 

Nova: (Hmm… that's actually a fair point, if everypony had unfiltered access it could lead to the rise of a more powerful villain and we don't need any more of those. But it's still something worth looking into. From what I've been told about the other elements of harmony bearers for example. I believe the element of Honesty, Applejack, would find this to be beneficial. But as much as I don't want to admit it. We'd probably need to run this by Twilight to prevent spirit magic from getting into the wrong hooves. And also make sure with the summoned spirits that it's not a permanent revival either. I don't think there are many other ponies like us either that understand their own heads and mindspaces. It could get sticky fast....) 

She sounds disappointed at first but perks up moments later 

Nova: (But just imagine the possibilities!! And we're going to see her right now anyway so I guess we'll know how she feels soon enough.) 

As Nova suggests going through walls, Sunset remembered that she could touch the wall earlier when she was first trying out her new live body. She knows she'll probably crash if she flew into as she is now. Sunset's happy to be alive in some capacity but she's not looking forward to feeling pain again. And she should also be careful because this isn't her own body. However, with the power coursing through their veins. She thinks of another way. She charges her horn, enveloping herself as her opaqueness fades into transparency. THAT'S when she tries to go through a wall. And it works perfectly.

Sunset: It takes a bit of 'Going Ghost' first but we certainly can!

Nova and Fury internally brace for an impact, they do trust Sunset, but given that she's still getting used to a body and the fact that they weren't sure if this would work, they wanted to be careful. But they look in awe as Sunset cast a spell allowing them to phase through easily

Fury: (Watching Sunset in action like this it's incredible. I didn't even know such a spell existed. Look at that, you're still able to teach us new tricks and with our own body too!)

Nova: (I KNOW RIGHT?! Fury, we need to be sure to take note of all these spells! It doesn't matter if we will or won't be able to cast them ourselves when we separate but it's something to work towards! Hehehe actually… you wanna give the receptionist one more jolt before we head out, Sunset?)

Sunset giggles about spooking the receptionist again.

Sunset: As fun as that would be, I think I'll be nice and spare her another scare. It might even be worse since she might not even recognize us now. She's willing to forgive me... most of the time... but not if she doesn't recognize that I'm half of what's scaring her.

Sunset also flies back down onto the ground. Reverting the ghostly tail back to her and Nova's tail and hindlegs. Satisfied enough with that test.

Nova and Fury sigh, but Sunset is right. The receptionist didn't seem too fond of them already so to scare them now that they're unrecognizable seems like a poor choice. When Sunset undoes the magic that allowed her to fly, both Nova and Fury find themselves back to normal as well.

Nova: (Huh, that's interesting we've got our legs back. Fury, you're used to being in here more than I am. Is this normally what happens to you when I take on a new form?) 

Fury: (Kind of? Honestly, with Sunset in charge it feels different. Not bad, but just different.)

Sunset: Say I wonder when Twilight's coming ba-

As if on cue, a portal opens up not far from where Sunset was standing. Twilight has her eyes closed with a smile.

Twilight: I'm back Nova and Sunset! I checked on Spike and he's holding up pretty well, I'm so proud of my boy! What have you two be... en... up... to....?

She opened her eyes as the end of her sentence trailed off. Immediately, seeing not two ponies. But just one, her eyes widen as she can clearly tell there's both Sunset and Nova traits... And her right eye twitches....

Sunset: (Oh boy... incoming Twilighting!)

When Twilight pops back into the museum, Nova can't help but cheer that she's seemingly won her little bet. 

Nova: (HAH I CALLED IT! YES! I love it when I'm right! She might try to undo this by the way, but....actually we're kind of on an even playing field with her now aren't we? Hehehehehe!! That look on her face, oh I will not be forgetting it any time soon! Oohh ooh Sunset, you should try acting like me, go along with the bit! I haven't told Twilight anything about this experiment so she probably thinks I'm still in charge. Just make sure to call her by her last name to be convincing!) 

Fury rolls her eyes, but she can't help but laugh along with Nova as well

Fury: (Alright alright, you win but who knows, Starlight could come in any second and we get the student teacher freakout!)

Twilight: WHAT THE ACTUAL HAY?! Nova! Did you just... ABSORB Sunset?!

As much as Nova was enjoying seeing Twilight's reaction. Sunset wasn't so sure it'd be a great idea, especially since Twilight could probably split them back potentially within seconds. 

Sunset: (No, Nova. If she thinks I'm you. She may split us before we have a second to react. I need to calm her down, say the truth, and say that you gave me control. Do you really want to have to perform that spell again so soon?)

Before Nova can even respond, Sunset gets straight to making sure Twilight doesn't act too quickly.

Sunset: Hold up, Twilight. We can explain! I'm in control right now, and Nova willingly let me do so...

Twilight just about had her horn charging, but as she hears Sunset's voice only. She drops it.

Twilight: Huh?! Really...?

Nova: (N-no… I don't think I'm even capable of doing it again so soon... you've got a good point…) 

She pouted like a filly who was just told that she couldn't have any dessert.

Fury patted Nova's back in understanding 

Fury: (It's a good thing we've got somepony responsible in charge for a change! Though to be fair… I would've pulled the same stunt heh. But this is better than getting blasted and having the magic ripped from us… which I'm sure would hurt like we couldn't even possibly imagine.)

Nova: (If we're telling her the truth anyway, tell her that this was something I was looking into. I knew she might get like this had I told her sooner so I kept it secret until I actually attempted it with you. In fact, it might be wise to tell her everything we just experienced here. The magical upgrade, the exchange of memories, thoughts and emotions. All of it. I know we'll get a lecture later but I think even Twilight will come to understand why we did what we did. And you can reassure her that I had no ill intent when doing this!)

Sunset: Twilight, I understand this seems quite sudden. But I promise some actual good can come from this, and Nova didn't do this for selfish reasons. Plus, you should know right away that this is not permanent. She didn't tell you that she could do this because she knew you wouldn't have allowed it. At least... not before hearing my perspective...

Twilight, you know I died very young. Too young for most ponies' sensibilities to understand. The heartbreak I had ever since I had to leave Firelight all alone to take care of a newborn baby all by himself... he didn't even know I died until I was summoned! He could have thought I literally ABANDONED him! You have no idea how lucky I am that he kept the faith, even after decades of nopony knowing my fate...

There was so much I wanted to do with my life still, and I had to face the music that it was never going to be... all because I got cocky and thought I could handle Cozy's family by myself... If I had gotten a forewarning about their intentions. I might have gotten backup guards or even let Princess Celestia accompany me, and I would most likely have lived up to this day. And Starlight would have never gone down the path she did when you fought her.

Obviously, me being in Nova's body won't give me what I've already missed. I'll never get to experience raising Starlight to adulthood, I'll never get to experience the joys of coming back home to my daughter's smiling face when she was only a filly. And I wasn't there to help tell her right from wrong and work together with Firelight to assure Starlight was set for a better future.

I owe you so much for filling in the void when you made her your student the first time around. You gave her what she needed most, and that's why you're the perfect older sister figure for her. You stepped in when I tragically couldn't.

While Spirit Summoning has helped rectify much of this. There are still... limitations to it. I can hug my daughter even as a spirit, but I cannot physically do much else. The only games I can play with her are board games where she or somepony else moves the pieces for me. I can't use magic as a spirit other than to fly through the air. As any other use of my spiritual power is only useful for the soul shield. Nova's spell allows me to live again, even for a short time. It will never be for longer than 3 days, and I won't be neglecting my eternal mission up in the soul shield.

And when I was merged into Nova's mind. We saw each other's memories... she saw some of the awful things I've seen and felt what it was like to die violently from a first person perspective. And I... saw how horrible her childhood was. And how I was one of the few bright spots in her young life. In a way... I think she needs me as much as I want to feel alive again even for just a short amount of time. She herself needs to know the love of a good mother... and I think I can give her that if you can give me the chance.

I promise I'll keep her in control, she'll listen to me. This was a mutual agreement too, she did not trick me and started absorbing me into her horn. I know you have some experience with being tricked, given Malakhar did that to genify you. This isn't that situation, imagine if Malakhar had been more straight with you. Maybe even brought up the fact how much it'd benefit you and Spike's relationship. That way Malakhar got to fulfill his grandfather's death wish, and you and Spike weigh your options before the genification and he even warns you that you'd be magically brought within the vessel. If you can think of this situation like that, you should fully understand what that means for the both of us.

Nova: (That's exactly why I wanted to do this in the first place. I don't think anypony would ever take this kind of risk, but if anypony deserved a second chance, it's you, Sunset. Can you tell Twilight… that I am sorry for not telling her. But I just wanted to help in my own way.) 

Fury: (Sure, it could be seen as some bits of our ego shining through as well, but we just can't help it when we get inspired heh.)

The mention of them needing a true sense of motherly love stuns them as they didn't expect Sunset to even offer such a thing. The two tatzls stammer in response.

Nova: (H-hey I'm not… not a foal anymore… b-but… I mean uh this w-was just for you! We weren't intending to dump our issues onto you…)

Fury: (A-and I know I made a bit of a joke in calling you mom earlier... But you're really ok with that...?) 

Both of their faces went completely red, it was a good thing only Sunset could see them right now. This praise for her spell, combined with a want to help them as much as she is already helping her. The two look at each other, still in a state of disbelief.

Nova: (I'm not going to turn her away either…)

Fury: (To be fair she saw our whole lives so… this is what we wanted. We just… didn't expect it to happen… heh…)

Twilight stands there, fully paying attention to Sunset’s words. She’s right about all of this, Sunset finally getting her chance to walk Equestria in a flesh and blood body, even noting how Sunset’s voice no longer echoed, Sunset able to use magic again, and so much more. She lowers head as she thinks it over. Raising her head back up with a smile.

Twilight: I… guess this is ok then… you are correct… if Malakhar had been much less misleading and let me and Spike weigh the options ourselves beforehand. Maybe we would have at least given it a shot, and the decision to stay a genie would have had much more time to think it through. I don’t know if I’m still a genie in that hypothetical situation, but it would have been more mutually beneficial. If that’s how you both see it, then I fully understand

Twilight puts a hoof on… she realizes she doesn’t even know what to call them!

Twilight: So…. wait… what do we even call you right now? Sunova? Sunspark? Nova Shimmer? Shimmerspark? Shiva?

Both mares were thankful to have Sunset in their corner right now. But what Twilight said did pose an interesting question for the trio. Would they need a new name?

Nova: (I hadn't even thought about it. We technically are a fusion right now but… we're all still individuals? Some of these names Sparkle came up with are pretty good, I've gotta save them for later.) 

She puts a hoof to her chin, trying to think of something that could work for the three of them. 

Nova: (I don't think a new name is a bad idea, it's not like we currently look like ourselves or Sunset. I do like Supernova though…)

Fury rolls her eyes 

Fury: (No, we're not going with that miss ego. I think something that reflects us and Sunset would work

What about... Sparkling Dawn? Radiant… no NO, nothing with that name. Uh, I kinda like Sunspark actually. But what do you think, Sunset? rock a new name in this form? or do we stick with what we've got cause I don't think Nova and I mind either way.)

Nova: (Sunspark does work for me too. Though I'm still gonna be partial to Supernova, given these powers! Novashine maybe? Eeeeh, we're always bad with naming conventions. This was so much easier when choosing our experiment names!)

Sunset: (Yeah... sorry, Nova. Supernova will only end up getting into your head... If you two are fine with Sunspark though. We can go by that for now, a name is just a name. If something better comes up later we can always choose that.

...Oh, and yes Fury. If you and Nova would accept me, I'd gladly be a foster mother for the both of you.)

Twilight, we'll go by one of your name suggestions of Sunspark for now.

Twilight nods, proceeding to reach her hoof to put it on Sunspark's shoulder

Twilight: Welcome back to the world of the living, Sunset... 

And Nova... if you can hear me from out here... while I'm still a bit upset that you didn't tell me about this... I appreciate what you're doing. Sunset's correct that I probably wouldn't have considered it from her point-of-view. This soul magic thing is all new magic for scientifically inclined ponies like us, we're still discovering new things about it almost every year. So pardon me if I might have been worried if there would be potential consequences. But this seems to be working out for the best. If there's any trouble the both of you get into though, please try to contact me immediately. I will do whatever is necessary to help. You got that?

Nova: (I suppose I'll have to save the 'Supernova' name for something else in the future… Sunspark is more than acceptable for the time being.) 

Nova lets out an exaggerated sigh. She knew full well that it probably would be shot down. Her expression changes immediately when Sunset agrees to be a foster mother in a sense to them. Both she and Fury hold each other, looking like they might cry again but hold it together.

Nova: (I-if you seriously mean that I...I...I...um... I hope it won't be too awkward if I c-call you m-m-m… mom or something! Or maybe I can just keep calling you Sunset or Ms. Shimmer or… Mmph!?)

Fury covers Nova's mouth with a hoof

Fury: (What she's trying to say is that we'd be more than happy to have you as our… our… m-mom... damn, I'm doing it too, heh… we're just not the best with handling emotions like this. Right Nova?) 

Nova nods meekly before wiping a tear of joy from her eye.

Nova: (We'll do our best to not let you down, that's a promise. And do tell Twilight that we're fully prepared to abort this whole thing if we feel any hint of danger. The last thing we want is for any harm to come to you. And tell her once this is all done I'll give her a full briefing on our findings as well as potential use for this spell with other spirits. I think it'll give her something to look forward to.)

Sunset: Nova says she'll release me if any complications come up. She also hopes that it'll provide an interesting report as Equestria slowly learns more and more about the nature of soul magic.

Twilight smiles

Twilight: That's good, then. But wow! I can't wait til' Starlight learns of th-

Once again as if on cue, Starlight arrives looking for her mother

Starlight: Mom? Are you in here? Dad said you and Twilight were giving a friend of hers a tour and I thought I'd... HUUUUUUUUUUH?!

Starlight stops herself, her mouth drops about as low as it can go. as she sees what clearly seems to be traits of her mother... attached to a pony that Starlight's only been acquainted with.

Sunset, still in full control of Sunspark grins awkwardly, putting a hoof behind her head with a sweatdrop. And she waves with the other hoof

Sunset: Er.... hi, honey?

Starlight stands still, one eye twitches much like Twilight did earlier...

And releases a piercing scream that echoes through the museum. 

Even within the confines of a mental space, Nova and Fury cover their ears from Starlight's scream. Fury does take this as an opportunity to gloat though.

Fury: (See? Told you we'd get the double freakout! Like teacher, like student! Though considering how fast Twilight was ready to blast us, maaaaaybe we should put up a shield now? We don't know your daughter too well but from what Twilight has told us, she's more quick to blast a perceived threat. Honestly, it makes me think we might get along pretty well!)

Nova: (Yeah but with her mother now a physical part of us, we might be on some thin ice for a bit. I wonder how many freakouts we'll be seeing today? You think Firelight is going to do the same?) 

She chuckles 

Nova: (But Fury's got a point, I really don't want to get blasted… though given our power would it really harm us… eeeh let's not do a stress test in here. I already promised the receptionist that I wouldn't do anything to the other exhibits. I'm not going to ask you to pretend to be me this time, let's just explain things again.)

At least Nova and Fury were learning their lesson this time around.

Sunset: (It's a good thing Stellar spared no expense for the extra-strength glass! Starlight might have broken all the glass in the exhibits closest to us!)

Nova wiped her forehead, quite glad she wouldn't be needing to pay for any repairs.

It takes some time, and some reassurances from both her mother and Twilight that everything will be just fine.

Starlight: Alright.... so if you can let me go process what you've just told me... Nova had some spell related to the Dragon's Tear, She asked my mom if she'd be willing to try it, she waited for an opportunity where Twilight wasn't in the room, But my mom did agree to go for it, and now she has full control of Nova's body... and as a result... in a sense... she's... alive... again....

Starlight felt conflicted, like Twilight she's still a little miffed that Nova didn't tell Twilight. At the same time though, her mother fully agreed to this. And... having gotten a full explanation now. The thought of having her mother in a physical body again was very enticing, even if the body is a little unfamiliar. And her mom was determined to help not just one, but two alter egos that have had terrible upbringings and/or done misdeeds... not too far from Starlight herself actually...

Starlight lowers her head.

Starlight: I see... and understand now... Heh, Nova... if we had properly met earlier... we'd probably have so much in common...  she helped you like she comforted me when I came clean to her about what I had done... and while it'll probably take some getting used to... I... wouldn't mind having some foster sisters around. Even if you're not exactly the first pony in here to have some form of sisterhood with...

She not so subtly refers to Twilight, given her goal in life is to not just become co-ruler. But actually be recognized as the successor to Luna as much as Twilight is the successor to Celestia. That includes the idea of two sister alicorns, even if in this case it won't be by blood. 

Nova: (Well she's got the gist of it, though I feel like maybe I could have explained my way to getting to this point rather than just waiting to ask for forgiveness…)

Fury: (Let's be real though, we would have tried it no matter what. I know you, Nova. It wouldn't be something you'd let go. Especially because of who we were doing it for.) 

The two share a laugh, Starlight surprising them by being so accepting of the situation, much like her mother was.

Nova: (I can't believe how kind you can all be, it's hard to grasp sometimes. I honestly don't know if we deserve this kindness but...I guess that comes with the territory of not trusting many others all these years. But still, I'll take this makeshift family over my blood related one any day of the week!

You tell our 'sis' that we'll be looking forward to actually forging a friendship but also a bit of a rivalry! I mean, Fury and I are the oldest ones compared to her or Twilight! I've been interested to see how our science and her magic stack up!)

Nova was getting more fired up about this as she spoke.

Nova: (Who knows? I might try to take a throne for myself! Haha! Princess of Science sounds like it's right up my alley! I can see it now!) 

It was obvious that she was joking but it was all in good fun for her. 

Fury: (Now that we're all caught up, why don't we spend some time outside huh? I'm sure we don't want to spend all three days in the museum! Besides, I'm sure your husband will want to see the new you!)

Sunset agrees that it may be time to get some fresh air.

Sunset: Twilight and Starlight, let's head back near Fi-Fi's place. Or... shall I say...

She turns to Starlight, while also hinting to Nova and Fury inside her head that she includes them in this too.

Sunset: Our home...

Starlight's eyes immediately watering, this was still a bit weird to her. But... if this was the only way for her mother to truly be back in full flesh and blood. She'd gladly take this over nothing at all. She approaches her mother, and gives her a big, tight hug the fusion of Sunset and Nova wastes no time returning the favor. As Sunset herself predicted, this was a very special hug. Twilight's eyes watering in pure happiness for both her student and Sunset. 

If there were any more doubts in their head about Sunset accepting this, they faded the moment she included them in calling her house their home too.

Nova: (C-come on, I just stopped crying! I d-don't show this much emotion in one day.)

Fury: (Maybe that's the problem, maybe you should give it a shot!)

Internally, Nova and Fury give Sunset their own hug while she hugs Starlight.

Nova: (I'll admit...this is really nice. Sunset… er m-mom was totally right in her prediction. But let's go! I want to see what our home is like!)

Twilight, Starlight, and Sunspark walk together out of the museum and head towards Starlight's old home. They can see Firelight near the front door, however, he wasn't alone. Sunburst and his parents were there as well. Sunset was surprised to see her brother Sunspot and his family here too. But figures that helps decrease the amount of times they have to explain what's happened. 

Nova and Fury having Sunset's memories within them now know Sunspot was a very helpful detective in many of Sunset's adventures. Spot wasn't in his name for nothing, though they also know how dedicated he was to his younger sister that he went on a decade-long trek around the world searching for any sign of her. He only found Sunset's horn in the end, which was how arguably the most macabre part of the museum got here.

As the three approach Firelight along with the Sunburst family. Their group waves a greeting to Twilight, Starlight, and.... 

Firelight: Whhhhhhhaaaaaa....?!

Along with Firelight's surprise, Sunburst's family's jaws dropped as they looked at Sunspark. Clearly recognizing traits of Sunset, but not understanding what this means yet. Sunset sighed.

Sunset: (Welp, time to explain things for the 3rd time in a row... we're going to have to be doing this a lot aren't we...)

Sunspot wasn't the only pony along with them, Stellar Flare was present as well along with one pony Nova did recognize prior to seeing all of Sunset's memories, Sunburst.

Nova: (Woah… that's your brother right? I wasn't expecting to see him here too! I mean… he DOES live here but like I didn't think he would have been here today… hmm he might not take what I did very well but at the same time, he might? Ugh, it's so weird to not be able to explain myself out there.)

Fury loomed over Nova with a wide grin

Fury: (Aaaaah, not so fun from this side is it? No trying to rip control away either you have to sit and accept what they have to say. No running from it, no trying to shut yourself away. This situation is not within your control! It's all a part of wanting to be accepted by them. But you know that already, because I know it.)

Nova pouts while Fury gives her a more playful hug

Fury: (Watching you squirm is just so fun for me, but don't you worry. I know that 'Momma Sunset' will handle it just fine! Speaking of which…)

She and Nova look outward to Sunset

Fury: (It may be for the best that we write this down, that way we don't have to keep repeating ourselves. Cause as fun as it is to watch ponies freak out, it's gonna get tiresome. Even if it is to be expected! Hey be glad we didn't grow wings with that magic boost! That would have been even more of a pain to explain to everypony! ...actually hold on, we may not have to explain ourselves this time, I think Sunburst is already figuring it out without an explanation.)

Sunburst, after picking his jaw up from the floor, circles around Sunspark, looking quite intrigued by their design.

Sunburst: This… should be impossible. You look like...no, it can't be. You're Nova correct? ...or are you… auntie Sunset? Who or what are you exactly?

Nova: (Eh he's close to getting it! Not surprising though. He's a smart one, I've seen some of his work, his understanding of magic theory is quite good) 

Sunspot turned towards his son

Sunspot: What?! You mean... my sister… has become a part of... this Nova pony...?

Firelight: Shimmy...?!

Sunburst: I… I don't know? Maybe? I've read some of her findings on genetic assimilation but this goes far beyond that!

He looked just as confused as everyone else there but at the same time, he was astounded by such potential.

Sunburst: What sort of thing did they do to even accomplish this feat? What kind of power did they tap into? I know Auntie was gifted, but I didn't think she could do that!

Stellar just puts a hoof on her cheek, she's half concerned, but also kind of intrigued. Just like how she's all about advancements of technology and civilization, new magic uses kind of excite her. She keeps quiet for now, she doesn't want to jump the magic spell just yet.

Sunspot: My gosh… I… wish Celestia was here to see this… she’d think this is incredible!

Twilight’s ears perk up, she thinks she may be able to arrange that. Then Sunspark puts a hoof on Twilight’s shoulder.

Sunset: Hold up, let me try something. Before you or Starlight showed up, there was something else we learned. If we’re correct… we may be able to do this ourselves.

Twilight went wide-eyed.

Twilight: Huh? Are you saying… you two might be able to grant wishes now? You’re not saying your fusion made you two into a genie, are you?`

Sunspark shakes her head.

Sunset: Nor really, although we may share a great amount of abilities. I was able to fly all around the museum by transforming our backside/lower half into a ghostly tail. But to really put it to the test, wishing power would give us an idea of what we’ve gained. Let us try to bring Celestia here. If it doesn’t work, you can do it after. We just have to find out what we’re really capable of right now.

Twilight nods, giving them the ok.

Sunset: (Nova, Fury, are you ready? We’re teleporting Celestia here all the way from wherever she is in Silver Shoals. That should be just about child’s play for our power if our hunch is correct. And Celestia can just be teleported back or use that portal gum to go back whenever she wants to. Alright?) 

Nova and Fury stood at attention within their mind, more eager to show off.

Nova: (It sounds like we're getting some doubts out there! I'm not about to pass up an opportunity to show up Twilight at her own game! Besides, this is an excellent test! We get to even show Celestia how far we've come!( 

As Sunset began to charge their magic, the spiritual auras formed around themselves both inside and outside. Nova's blue and Fury's red aura's being channeled into this more fiery looking spirit power. Their eyes began to glow as their horn sparkled, yet there was no strain on any of them, using the magic this way felt right, it flowed through them naturally. Soon enough the magic shot out in front of them forming a ball of light, when it dissipated, a very confused Celestia stood before them.

Celestia: Hm? Wha…?! T-Twilight? Starlight? Did you bring me here? A little heads up would have been appreciated…

She chuckled, not having noticed who brought her there yet.

Celestia: Everything looks fine to me, is something… the… matter....?" 

Her eyes finally locked with Sunspark, seeing the combination of assets, she was stunned. She took a step forward, her lip quivering as if she wanted to say something but couldn't get it out. But she seemed to understand who she was looking at even with their fused appearance.

Celestia: You… S-s-sunset? SUNSET!!

Sunspark looks up, as Sunset's voice confirms Celestia's thoughts.

Sunset: Hello, Princess...

Celestia had been retired for a few years by now, but Sunset still called her Princess more so affectionately than for courtesy around royalty these days. Sunspark also braces for a big hug from the Alicorn.

Meanwhile, Twilight was stunned that they had managed to perform wish magic. Twilight wasn't the only wish granter now. She lets Celestia have her moment to reunite with Sunset now that she's alive again in a sense. But Twilight's eager to know how this fusion seems to have given them powers on par with her. She wasn't upset with the idea, she knew as long as Sunset was in there they'd be responsible. But it was still so shocking to have somepony else on par with her now. 

And if Twilight was surprised, everypony else was even more so by the existence of another pony able to grant wishes. In Sunspot's thoughts, he was actually quite proud of her sister. Anytime Sunset is in control of Nova's body, she's on equal terms with Twilight. Even if it's not for any more than 3 days at a time, Sunset is tied with Twilight as the most potentially powerful ponies in the world. Though Twilight might still have something of an edge for now with many more years of experience with wish magic.

Twilight: Well, I guess we know who to count on should something end up disabling me in some fashion. Which I hope never happens, but having emergency heroes at our disposal is quite welcome!

Celestia gave a small chuckle before giving her a tight hug

Celestia: You know I don't go by that title anymore, it's just Celestia now. I know I've already hugged you as a spirit, but I haven't gotten to do it like this since before you left…

Sunset: Old habits die hard, Princess. Just because you don't rule any longer, doesn't mean you're no longer still the Princess I dedicated my life to.

Sunspark winks, before bowing

She pulled back for a moment to get a better look at her.

Celestia: And it seems our other student has had quite the influence on you. Or perhaps I should say it's the other way around? Nova, I know you can hear me in there. You were always one to try and push the boundaries of what you were capable of. I'm proud of you.

That one statement meant so much to the tatzls, Nova's eyes started to water.

Nova: (She… she's proud of us? REALLY?!)

Perhaps, it was some influence Nova still had over their body or it was possibly an involuntary response, but Sunspark's tail wagged excitedly when told that.

Sunburst along with everypony else were stunned by the power on display here. Such a long range teleportation without the use of portal gum or genie magic was no small task. He went up to Starlight and Twilight, wondering how they were feeling about all this

Sunburst: One of Equestria's greatest heroes, back in the world of the living! With you three working together, Equestria will be safer than ever! And we can have our family back together! Starlight, can you believe this? You can now have your mom here in more than just her spirit form!

Starlight nods towards her cousin's observation.

Starlight: It is definitely one of the best new developments in magic ever since we found out Spike could summon the dead in the first place!

Twilight: Admittedly, we also have Discord in our corner. But he's not always around when things happen, that said I have heard he's actually assisted more than he ever has. Sunset, it does seem like that talk that you, Starlight, and Fluttershy said some years back really got to him. He'll pull the occasional harmless prank on me, but otherwise he certainly has not pulled a stunt anywhere near close to bringing all those villains back since.

Sunset: That's good to hear... he really needed to stop bucking around and endangering Equestria just in his odd ways of testing your princesshood...

Starlight: Man, even if I ascend I'll be inferior to the both of you. I don't exactly intend on becoming a genie, and while I do love you very much, Mom so don't take this the wrong way. But I don't know if I want to share my body with you, it just sounds... weird to be honest. Heh, it'd probably confuse the heck out of Dad how to talk to us if we fused.

Firelight just about confirms that by imagining his wife in his daughter's body. That'd be pretty awkward regardless of how he approached them.

Twilight: Well, Starlight. If you really wanted to have a big boost with this. Maybe you could combine it with say Jinn? She'd even have multiple millennia of knowledge you'd get from her.

Starlight thinks about it, having the bubbly first ever genie have control of her body. However she's kind of afraid there'd be so many memories loaded into her head from somepony that lived so long she wonders if there'd even be room for her own memories.

Starlight: Eh... no thanks. If we run into a situation where somehow Twilight, and Nova are unable to do anything. I could portal gum to Malakhar and ask him to genify me as a pure emergency. And I'd go back to normal before the time limit goes up. I just don't think the genie life is for me, personally. Even if that simulation from way back felt really good... 

Celestia: It truly is good to have you back, even if it is only temporary. And I'm sure that dedication goes for the both of you

Nova may not be seen from the outside, but her face is a deep shade of red.

Fury: (I'd call that a yes!)

Nova: (S-shush!! So what? D-don't look too into it!)

She says, still trying to hide some emotions despite Sunset and especially Fury knowing how Nova actually feels.

When the conversation shifts over to how they can benefit from it. And the topic of Discord comes up as well as someone like Starlight trying this type of fusion. This perks Nova up a bit.

Nova: (You know if Discord is still causing you all some trouble, you could always send him our way. I've yet to catalog draconequus DNA and I'd love to examine him! That chaotic genetic structure must be out of this world~!

Also you may want to warn them about how precise the spell has to be to work. I mean I'm sure Starlight is far more capable than we are thanks to her raw potential that she's gained from you. But if somepony like the original genie were factored into this, that kind of multiplied power may be too much even for her... after what it took to get you in here I may need to rethink about trying this experiment with Twilight...)

Fury raises an eyebrow at this.

Fury: (Uh huh, and I'm sure you're still gonna try it anyway aren't you?)

Nova: (...I might…) 

Sunset chuckles about Starlight's hesitation of fusing with her.

Sunset: I perfectly understand, Starlight. I admit I am kinda curious what kind of power our raw talent together would be multiplied into. Like… Imagine if together we were more powerful then Twilight! But there's no need to unless Twilight were to somehow go rogue

Twilight gulped a little at that thought, she's certainly happy now that both Sunset and Starlight would never want to harm her.  And the thought of her going evil somehow has crossed her mind but she's stayed pure long enough to get this far.

Stellar Flare: Not to butt in... but you girls haven't even fully explained how this all came to be. Some of us are still in the dark about this!

Sunset realizes they haven't even gotten into explaining what happened in the Museum

Sunset: Oh oops! Yeah... sorry about that. We've already told everything to Twilight and Starlight. I guess we just didn't feel like explaining it the 3rd time in a row so quickly like that. But... it is important. So we'll do the honors and tell you all.

Once more, everything that went on inside the museum is explained from Nova's spell all the way to the mutual benefits for both Nova and Sunset. It's a lot to take in, but they manage to warm up to the idea well enough. Sunset can have a living body again which for some made it worth it by itself, Sunset's doing what she can to help a pony (or rather two) feel what a loving family can be like, and it's an all new aspect to soul magic that will have magic geeks like Twilight and Sunburst just gushing inside their minds about the possibilities in the future.

Nova: (I get where she's coming from but that's a shame, the power you two would have would dwarf ours right now! And as much as I don't like admitting that, it's a cold hard fact. But Twilight, evil? Ehhhh I don't see it… at least not by her own volition, she's way too much of a goody goody.) 

Sunburst nodded in agreement with his mother.

Sunburst: Yes please, we're dying to know how this is even possible! I have just so many questions on your current state of being! And the state of Nova within you too, is she locked away? Sleeping? Or is she right there and can hear us?

Celestia chimed in on that last question

Celestia: Nova's situation is a bit unique so I'm sure she can hear us, but I too would love to hear how this was attained.

As Sunset explained one more time, everypony who hadn't heard how it all worked were stunned in amazement. The remarks of adding Nova and Fury to their family in a sense does give some trepidation to those that haven't properly met her yet but they still seem open to the idea given that she was willing to give up her own body for the time being to even make this work.

Sunburst: Oh my goodness! If soul magic can be harnessed in that way, just imagine the possibilities. And ponies like myself who don't have the highest magical power… even we can be helpful too. B-but not only that, we can get closer than ever before to our late loved ones! And Nova, since I know you can now hear me in there, we have to exchange notes later. I want to hear everything, from how you even came up with the idea to its execution!

Celestia looked down at Sunspark with a smile.

Celestia: Even now you're still trying to help ponies when they need it the most, Sunset. Some things never change do they? I hope she's not giving you too much trouble in there. 

She gave the mare a playful wink.

Nova: (H-hey! We're being as good as we can be!)

Fury: (That's right! We're prime daughter material over here!)

Firelight: Well, Shimmy... I do admit I've always wanted Starlight to have at least one sister. And now between those two in your head, and how she and Twilight sometimes are... it's like she has 3 sisters now! Hehe, I better start thinking of more nicknames!

Starlight jokes and winks to Nova and Fury

Starlight: Oh gosh! If you weren't stuck with my mom in control I'd suggest you start running now. If you're going to be a part of this family, you're going to have to tolerate my father's nicknames!

Doesn't help that because Nova and Fury have Sunset's memories, they know that Starlight's nicknames were actual names he proposed to name Starlight before she was born.

Stellar meanwhile is about crying about just how heartwarming this is. So many joyful tears that it begins to make her nose run as she gets out a handkerchief and blows into it.

Stellar: My my, Nova you really put a lot of... plans into this. You really were meant to be a part of our family~

Sunburst about groaning on Stellar's mention of plans.

Sunspot: Sis, this is absolutely the most fantastic coming of events since I got to reunite with you when you were first summoned. Thankfully this time, it's a lot less bittersweet. Tell me when you want to go on an adventure like the good ol' times. I'd love to start spotting some dinosaur fossils with you again.

Sunspark smiles

Sunset: I'd love that, big bro! (Don't suppose you two in here are dinosaur fans?) 

Sunburst: Oh dear, I hope you're able to deal with the way mom plans things... (I actually feel sorry they can't defend themselves at the moment.)

Celestia: And I'll be sure to visit when you're all here as well! It'll warm my heart to not only see my former students getting along but seeing the family you've all become a part of.

Hearing all this, it was quite overwhelming to say the least, especially for Nova. This kind of warm acceptance by them all, it was very unfamiliar to the mare. It made her recoil but not out of disgust, just unfamiliarity to the feeling. Fury on the other hand couldn't help but laugh

Nova: (They're all so...eager about this. I would have thought they might see me as just some weird intruder or just someone butting into business that I should have no part in… This is what a normal family is like...? What have we just gotten ourselves into?)

Fury: (Boy, I've never been so glad to not have my own body. You can enjoy ALL of these family shenanigans for the two of us, Nova! I know how much love and attention you've wanted, now you're getting plenty of it!) 

Nova glared at her counterpart 

Nova: (I'll be sure they pick only the highest quality nickname for you… I may even have to give Firelight... or dad… ooh, that's going to take some getting used to. But I'll give him some suggestions for you! We've seen all of 'mom's' memories of him so we know his preferences!) 

The two tatzls look quite interested in the comment about dinosaurs.

Nova: (Of course I am, are you kidding!? They're massive creatures whose DNA I'd love to get my hooves on! N-not to try and revive the dinosaurs, I'm not that foolhardy. We know why that would be a TERRIBLE idea. But to harness it and maybe gain some dino traits? Absolutely! Plus it gives us a better idea of ancient Equestria! I mean you said that the cave ponies in the shield can talk now, with you coming back and forth we can uncover ancient secrets and species once lost to time!) 

Sunset on the outside mentions her next thing about dinosaurs mostly to her brother, but also mean to tell this to Nova and Fury

Sunset: Better yet, I can tell you I've actually seen many dinosaurs in the soul shield. All kinds of them, both predators and prey, admittedly you'd think that'd be awkward. But the meat eaters aren't evil even if they do kill prey. They were doing what they needed to survive. Animals like them and less sentient ones we know today have an easier time getting into the soul shield, as it's hard for a wild creature to be acting on actual malicious intent. 

And even just observing them up there, I think it's quite likely that Dinosaurs aren't just the ancestors of birds. Some of them went on to become the ancestors of dragons. And that's pretty important! Since we all know I'm back down here because of the Dragon Tears. We have so much to thank dinosaurs for now, don't we?

Nova: (You've gotten to see them!? Maybe we glossed past that memory of you in the shield but that's incredible! But it doesn't surprise me that they would not be deemed evil for following instinct. I think if that were the case, it would be far more cruel. And you bring up an interesting idea, dragons having a common ancestor in the dinosaurs doesn't sound too far fetched. Now if that truly is the case, I wonder if we could find an ancient form of dragon tears with dinosaur bones? We could have an entire treasure trove of them just waiting to be dug up!)

Fury chuckles

Fury: (Sounds like you've already got a family trip planned in mind. But remember we've got only 3 days to be like this, we shouldn't try and squeeze everything into this one trip for Sunse… mom. We can always plan ahead. I'm sure Sunspot will want to learn about us too, make sure we're on the up and up when we're separated.) 

Sunset: (Yeah there's so much to do, I've probably already overwhelmed myself with seeing everypony I'm familiar with. I'd still like to see Velvet again, or rather, Twilight's mother and of course my parents back in Silver Shoals. And then there's the other elements of Harmony who'd probably love to see us too.. I know we could have somepony wish them over just like with Celestia, but I think that's enough for today. We'll get to see any number of them on either the 2nd day, or the 3rd day.. I just wanna relax with our family for tonight, take things easy first.)

Sunset: So Starlight, now that I'm in a real body... what's the first activity you want to do?

Starlight thinks some stuff over, there's so much they could possibly do. But then she has a bit of an eureka moment, on the perfect, but also very chill and relaxing moment to start off.

Starlight: I'm... thinking some kite flying would be quite nice... I've shown you my kite flying... but I'd really like to see my mother actually able to pull kites herself again.

The rather mundane, but heartwarmingly simple task for their first activity together puts a smile on just about everypony's face.

Twilight: Heh, why don't we ALL fly kites!. If you don't have your own, just wish for one from me or Sunspark!

Suddenly a grumble is heard, coming from Sunspark. Sunspark putting a hoof on her chest.

Sunset: Ooooh... 

Starlight: Huh? What was that, Mom?

Sunset: Dang, it's been so long since I've felt like this...

Twilight: What? Like... is it the feeling as if butterflies were warming your heart or something like that?

Sunset: ...No, it's our stomach. I'm HUNGRY! Can we make this kite flying get-together a picnic too? Hehe

The group begins to chuckle and laugh. There's going to be a period where Sunset's getting used to bodily functions and senses again. The ponies knew that was going to take some adjustment. 

Nova: (U-uh maybe we'll just see how that all goes yeah? I'm uh...not good interacting with so many new ponies. Even if I'm not the one out there, this is still a whole lot for me to process. You should know we're only used to being around just a small group of ponies we trust. I'm not opposed to meeting all of them, but this is all so new for me. Honestly it's like… you remember how the grand galloping gala used to be and there were just so many ponies who wanted to talk to you and Celestia? It's like that! And I'm here just wanting to sit in the corner…)

Fury: (It is a bit much for us, but I think it's more the fact that you're also getting used to the lack of control. It's going to take some time. But this is a good lesson to learn I think!)

The mention of wanting to go fly kites and have a picnic too eases some of the tension and makes Nova laugh

Nova: (Flying kites? Heh sounds simple enough! Hey maybe we should conjure up some extra ones like we're also out there with you! It could give you some practice in using our tail! I mean we can conjure up some for ourselves here but I wanna be out there in… spirit… heheh

Oh and uh just a heads up but we can eat a TON. Though you don't have to...partake in our more peculiar eating habits. It'll be your first time having food in years so try to go slow with it. Last thing we need is to choke.)

Celestia: Oooh, if you're all going to have a picnic, I'd love to join you. Perhaps we can pick up some cakes along the way?

She licks her lips

Celestia: Now that I don't have to worry about any royal duties, I can indulge as much as I want! It'll be good to catch up with all of my students as well.

Firelight's just about in the most joyous tears in his life

Firelight: I... have been dreaming of this moment ever since I met you, Shimmy... me, you, our children, and however many of our family and friends... simply enjoying life together... 

I... N-nova... if you can hear me... I know I'm probably a stranger to you... but I can't thank you enough for doing this for my wife... you'll always be welcome into our family... feel free to come by Sire's Hollow sometime even when Shimmy's back up there protecting the planet. I wouldn't mind truly meeting my new daughter... or daughters from what I hear...

Sunset smiles

Sunset: D'awww... come here, Fi-Fi... 

Sunspark and Firelight go in for a heartwarming hug between a loving husband and wife 

The gesture made Nova sniffle a bit, she didn't know if there were any more tears to let out after the day they've had.

Nova: (You tell him I'll happily take him up on his offer. I'll have to explain how Fury and I work to him when I get the chance but it'll be nice to actually spend time with a father for once. Our relationship with our biological father is...well it's not as horrible as our biological mother but it's not like he'd ever be getting a 'world's greatest dad' mug anytime soon, he would've had to be around for that!)

Nova took a deep breath and calmed down. The hug from the outside definitely helped in that regard. The group on the outside all let out a collective 'awww' at the sight.

Though suddenly Sunspark’s eyes open with a bit of a smug smirk.

Sunset: (You know what I should do again, that I couldn't do as a spirit? I didn't have any real weight anymore that’s needed to get just the right leverage. You ready, Nova and Fury~. Though uh... also... let's make sure we conjure something soft for him to land on. I don't know if his bones are as strong as they once were)

Both Fury and Nova grinned as Sunset gave them a chance to do something they knew that all of them would appreciate.

Nova & Fury: (Suplex, suplex, SUPLEX, SUPLEX!!! Let's gooooo! ahahahaha!)

Sunspark conjured a large mattress with pillows as soft as clouds, and then proceeded to slam Firelight downward. It caught the group by surprise, though they've all visited the museum at least once. They knew this was Sunset and Firelight's ol’ 'tradition'

Firelight shrieked as he was being suplexed for the first time in so many years. Very thankful they had thought to give him a comfortable landing, he's quite older then he was in his prime. So no guarantees his bones would have held out. He's still a little dazed, but he smiles.

Firelight: This... is how I know you're truly back... Shimmy... a heh heh heh...

Sunspark beamed a grin as the rest of the group got their laughs in.

The group then proceeded to order some delicious food, and once they had their fill. All of them release a kite into the wind. Starlight's favorite activity ever since she was a filly, now being shared amongst friends and family. They hung out together until it got dark, many being teleported by either Twilight or Sunspark back home. Or staying in Sire's Hollow, Sunset getting to experience sleeping in a bed physically, sleeping in what was once both Firelight's and her bed once upon a time, and now was again for at least a little while, and actually falling asleep without being sent back up to the soul shield. She wondered if she'd even get to dream for the first time in forever....

As the first day went on, Nova got to learn more about the family she'd just become a part of. For the first time in years, she was genuinely looking forward to spending time with these new relatives and also making memories of her own. As the trio laid down both in the real world and in their mindscape. Nova and Fury snuggled up to Sunset.

Nova: (I hope this isn't too awkward that we get close like this. We can always pull back if need be. But… did you enjoy your first day back in a living body? I know it probably wasn't what you might think you'd be doing today. But I know I'm glad it worked out. I never thought that spending a day with family could be so… fun.)

Fury: (You can say that again. I may actually want to swap in and out when we come to visit on our own! And mom... remember if you do get tired during the day, one of us can always swap in for a bit. But we know you want to maximize all the time you get down here. Plus, we'll actually be able to share dreams while we're in here too! We probably should have brought that up earlier but it's good to know now. So Nova, you better have safe thoughts!)

Nova blushes from that last comment but it also raises a point that neither she or Fury had thought about.

Fury: (That reminds me… I hate to sour the moment but I hope you aren't expecting to um… you know… with Firelight.) 

Nova: (Yeah… yeah no… not with us still in here. He's nice and all but definitely not our type. And with us calling him dad now that's just... the cuddling is fine but…)

Sunset laughs and winks

Sunset: (No worries, you two. 'That' is one of the few things I was actually still able to do even as a spirit~. A little something special for those heartbroken by the death of those they married and/or dated.

Nova & Fury: (Oh thank Luna…)

The two let out a collective sigh of relief. The two then give Sunset one more hug before feeling the tiredness finally get to them.

Sunset: But before this conversation gets too awkward, I am very much enjoying this thus far. Thank you so much, Nova. You have my eternal gratitude.)

Nova: (We've got more fun to be had. I… I couldn't have been able to do any of this if you hadn't inspired me as a filly so long ago. None of us can get that lost time back, but we can make new, better memories going forward.)

That night Sunset would have the first dream she's had since before her passing. She is surrounded by her friends and family… along with the two new additions to it.

Upon the beginning of the 2nd day, Sunset and Nova agreed that they'd spend a majority of the day in Canterlot. Where Sunset would see her childhood friend and Twilight's mother, Twilight Velvet. Velvet had already been pretty happy to see Sunset as a spirit, but as she learns about how she has the option of being in a real live body again. She is absolutely ecstatic. They were able to have plenty of talks when Sunset was only a spirit, but Velvet was nonetheless glad Sunset was lucky enough to have a kind enough pony to give her another chance at life even if only in short bursts.

Velvet also suggested if Sunset would like to join another MILF club meeting if a convenient date falls on a time where she's in Nova's body again. Nova at first not knowing what they were getting into, until both she and Fury get a sigh of relief that MILF means "Mothers In Lovely Families". Velvet also praises Nova for doing so much for her dear friend, also telling her that she does somewhat remember a little filly of what traits of Nova were still there in their form. And is proud of how they've progressed. 

Mentioning the school however did give Sunset an idea, a revisit to the School of Gifted Unicorns where they can see the next generation of well-skilled unicorns that hope to make a difference. While Sunset was still in control, it felt like Nova was at least for a short time was now in Sunset's shoes on that special day depicted in the photograph in the museum. Wondering if their visit drives a particular filly to strive for her dreams even when life gets rough.

Tons of nostalgic feelings overwhelmed both Sunset and Nova as they walked through the school's hallways. Each room they looked in carried some sort of memory for one or even both of them. Once they're satisfied with a return to the school. it's Nova who suggested the next place: her lab.

Nova was touched by the day's early activities, meeting Velvet again, going to an interestingly named MILF club, and seeing the school once more. Something Nova was a bit hesitant to do at first given that she hadn't stepped a hoof in it since being 'banished'. It all felt so much different, like a dark cloud had been lifted since then. Sunset even gave Nova some time back in control to help inspire some of the students as well.

Thanks to the memories she'd seen from Nova, Sunset knew how to get to the lab but she would find it still such a shock to see in an unassuming place as it had no noticeable entry. Once inside, they were met with an initially confused Morpha. Seeing her in memories was one thing but to see a slime pony up close fascinated Sunset. And likewise, Morpha was fascinated by Nova's new appearance. Once they explained what happened, Morpha was elated at what they accomplished. Not only showing off some of their own recent experiments, but allowing them to relax for a bit in her makeshift hot tub and display some of her own tricks as well. She did tease Nova and Fury about getting Sunset to be a surrogate mother to them, but she was more than happy. Also telling Sunset every little secret that she could about them, knowing that Nova and Fury had to be held in check. From their thoughts and feelings on some of the others like herself or Celestia and to experiments they've always wanted to run. But of course Sunset did know all of this already.

They'd also taken the opportunity to invite one more friend of Nova's over, the lamia, Sahara. Sunset would easily tell by her attire and unique magic what she truly is, but Sahara would wink at her, saying to keep that under wraps. Nova and Fury merely shrugged it off as Sahara being cryptic since she was known to do that. Sunset may also be able to tell that Nova and Sahara might have something going on between them but she also seemed like a giant flirt so it may be just reading too much into it. 

Through it all, Sunset could see how much these friends meant to Nova. And could appreciate how they were able to keep her stable. Sahara did invite Sunset over to her place at any time she wished. Suggesting that if she ever wanted to dance at her club she was more than welcome to. Something that got Nova blushing at the thought. While Fury fully encouraged it

Nova did float the idea of running an experiment while they were there but it had already gotten late to really start one. Morpha and Fury remind her of how she gets when really focuses on something and loses track of time. Nova did make a promise to Sunset that they would get to experiment someday in the future. 

Before they go to sleep before the final day, Nova decided to show Sunset her notes about the Dragon's Tear that would eventually lead to her discovering the spell that had fused them.

The notes Nova still had room for potential further study. Nova had already thought of questions to answer if the initial test had worked. Even with the more emotional side of herself that she'd been showing on the first day, that meticulous side of her never left either. There were even some candidates listed to see if she could get them to replicate what she did with Sunset but for a pegasus and an earth pony. With different accessory ideas to make it work. Most notably being the apple family as primary candidates for earth ponies. She also still had notes on what might happen if she were to try this with Twilight Sparkle, showing that the mare may have liked her more than she let on.

They made sure to get some rest as they wanted to get an early start for their final day together, taking the time to go to Silver Shoals and Ponyville.

Upon visiting Silver Shoals, they first went to see Celestia one more time. This time at their homes in retirement, and meeting up with Luna. Sunset of course had been seeing Luna a number of times as a spirit, with interesting discussions between the two in those 5 years though Celestia still held more of a special place in Sunset's heart. Though with Nova's memories, Sunset felt Nova's reverence for Luna in the past. So at the very least Sunset learned of something she had in common with Luna, both being figures that Nova looked up to.

Nova was more than happy to visit the former princesses, like Sunset did with Celestia, Nova had still referred to Luna with her title. But on top of that, seeing Celestia so happy to be with her student, it was like being a little filly again. The resentment she had once felt for Celestia had been gone for some time now but this joy with the both of them was something she never thought she could feel again.

After a delightful meeting with the former royals, Sunset had taken them to see her parents. They were a bit confused as to why or how a mare who vaguely resemble their daughter came to visit. Thankfully with Celestia and Luna there as well, they were able to fully explain the situation which resulted in another tearful reunion for their daughter. They too had seen Sunset as a spirit but to hold their daughter in their hooves again with a physical body was something they never thought would ever be possible again.

By the time lunch had rolled around, Sunset was now taking them to a place that made Nova a bit more nervous than the others, Ponyville. While she was already friends with Twilight, the rest of the elements she's not as familiar with. But this meeting was bound to happen with or without Sunset to help. 

Luckily for them, they didn't have to explain things over and over again since Twilight had briefed them about what had happened in Sire's Hollow. What followed was Pinkie giving a ‘Sunset is alive again (Sorta) Party’. Being rushed into a party was a bit uncomfortable for Nova, but thanks to Sunset having a fair bit of social skills given she was at her fair share of Grand Galloping Galas, she was able to get them through. 

Pinkie mostly hosted the festivities, and with a new pony in Ponyville. Pinkie made notes for the Sugarcube Corner basement about Sunset and Nova. The latter kind of surprised Pinkie has a fair bit of organized note-taking, even if it makes sense for her to keep track of everypony's likes and dislikes.

While there wasn't too much she had to say, Rainbow Dash thought this whole fusion thing was awesome especially when she was told that the spell ended up multiplying their power and they were about on equal level with even Twilight afterward.

Rarity was curious about the fused body, and quickly decided to make some measurements. Obviously, she was giving herself some notes for clothes for Sunspark. And maybe even Nova herself if she was interested.

The one Nova was most comfortable with was Fluttershy who shared their love of animals and/or creatures big and small.

Though perhaps the most interesting conversation came with Applejack. With the new spell able to put deceased ponies inside living ponies’ bodies. The subject quickly came to if Applejack, or anyone else in her family would like to have her mom and dad channeled into them at some point. Applejack loved her parents, though she wasn’t sure she wanted either one of them in her body. But she wondered if maybe Sugar Belle and Big Mac would be interested. That way the two of them were still in married Apple family bodies regardless. Applejack said she'll get back to them on that offer some other time. Wait until all related parties consent to the idea. 

After filling their bellies with Applejack's cooking and Pinkie's dessert. They decide before going to Sire's Hollow they'd make one last stop: the School of Friendship where Starlight worked as its headmare. It was after school hours, but it gave them an opportunity to see what both Twilight and Starlight had accomplished in the last 5 years with all the happy students of all kinds of species attending. When they finally saw Starlight, she was in her office talking with Ocellus. Continuing her studies about changelings, in which Nova was able to learn at least some of what Starlight's learned. This visit also served another purpose, they figured Starlight may want to be there when Sunset heads back out of Nova's body and back to the soul shield. And they thought it'd be appropriate to let her go back from Sire's Hollow. 

After the introduction to the other elements of harmony, Sunset had pushed Nova back into control so she could converse with them all. This kind of attention still made her a bit uneasy, but having Sunset reassure her as well as Fury always there to light a fire under her. It allowed her to truly get to understand these ponies more. Seeing facets of them that she would have never guessed from just observing them from afar. Ponyville wasn't a place that Nova visited often but she made a note to actually try doing so a bit more now. Some of the ideas proposed by Rarity, Fluttershy and the one she posed to Applejack interested her. But not only did she want to get to know all of them better, she was truly enamored with the Everfree Forest and the creatures it held. Even if she was told it's nowhere near as wild as it used to be.

Nova still had some trepidation over why a school of friendship needed to exist but it was much more clear to her now that it was making a difference in the world. Getting more information on the changelings would be something she'd want to continue discussing with Starlight once she learned more. Once the day's festivities were coming to a close, they had teleported back to Sire's Hollow.

Once there, all of Sunset's family were outside of the museum, waiting for them. Sunburst, Sunspot, Stellar Flare, and Firelight all came to see Sunset off. Nova and Fury were mentally preparing themselves to say goodbye to Sunset for now.

Nova: (So this is it huh? It really feels like these last 3 days just flew by! I do miss having full control over my body but… I am going to also miss having you in here with us too... I know this isn't the last time it'll happen but I can't help but feel a bit sad about it. I mean I definitely wasn't expecting to be taken into your family 3 days ago, that's for sure! Or to be calling you, mom, it still feels surreal.) 

Sunset: (Can't say I expected to be sucked into a horn either, that was the most surreal part for me, and it was... an interesting experience. I'd even say it felt kinda good, like an instant full-body massage almost, I suppose I truly know now what it's like for Twilight to go into her bottle.

Though I should also consider your end since it was a pretty difficult spell. Perhaps you should take notes on the cool-down between performing the spell and when it's safe to do it again without overdoing it. So we can get a good idea of when to plan our next one. Perhaps over time you'll get stronger and be able to do it more frequently, but please don't risk overheating your horn for my sake. Three days or less each time is leagues better then just being a spirit)

Nova: (Well it didn't feel too bad… until it started to. But these are kinks I'll have to work out. I'll be more prepared for next time now that I know what to expect! I'll have plenty of notes and results to show you the next time! 

Though...I'll for sure not try to cast anything high level for a while. Gonna be strange to be going back to slightly above average magic. But the next time you see me, I'll be more than capable of casting the spell! Besides, I've got a new 'sister' that I can't go falling too far behind from now! We also don't know what kind of strain, if any, your spirit may have so it's good that you go back up to the soul shield and properly recharge there too. Who knows, we could work towards finding a way to extend this 3 day limit!)

Fury: (I'll also make sure to do my own kind of training when I get control too. Thankfully we had no angry outbursts but you never know with this one.)

Nova: (Hey!)

Fury: (Heheh. I'll also be sure to keep this one in contact with the everypony, they've still got a bit to learn about us and vice versa. And I know we both want to spend some time with them… but for now I think we're getting close to the wire here…)

Fury let out a sigh. Both she and Nova gave Sunset one more internal hug before getting ready to cast the spell to unfuse.

Nova: (...are you ready to go, mom?)

Sunset teases

Sunset: (Someday soon you may technically have two new sisters to strive to compete with, even if you've technically already had matching her as a goal. Don't forget that Twilight's has occasionally served a purpose similar to an older sister to Starlight. I hope you have enough liquid in your body for the liquid pride I'm going to shed that day if we're there as a fusion for Starlight’s coronation!

Somehow this bit of information had slipped Nova's mind, this revelation put her in a state of disbelief.

Nova: (H-huh!? She's not your… but if she's like that to Starlight… so that means Twilight is technically my… WHAT?! GAAAAAH! How could I have missed such a crucial detail!? Oh great… now I know she's gonna have her fun calling me sis too. Uuugh, and I bet she's gonna make up some title like she does for her brother.)

She ruffles her mane in a frustrated manner, trying to look upset. But there's no hiding the small smile she has on her face. Fury looks over to Sunset with a smirk, knowing how Nova actually feels about this.

Nova: (And don't you worry, I'll make sure you're there for Starlight's ascension ceremony if it happens. But man, having to measure up to two alicorns and one being a genie on top of that? It's like trying to measure up to Celestia and Princess Luna all over again! Hahahah.... but I do like a good challenge, I am used to the odds being stacked against me. I guess as the more things change in this world, some things stay the same. But now I have even more of a reason to ascend in my own way!)

Sunset: (But yes Nova, I should get going now. I'll be sure to tell my extended family's spirits what's happened. I am a little afraid of getting a bit of jealousy from a fair share of spirits up there. But many are aware of my past and what I've done for the planet. And next time you see "meteor showers", there's a chance you could be seeing me up there.)

She nuzzles Nova, and says the three words Nova thought she'd never hear from a parent, blood or foster-wise.

Sunset: (I love you, Nova. I'm excited for all our future foster mother-daughter quality time.)

The last message from Sunset stunned both her and Fury. Neither of them had expected it, but once it was registered by them, both mares began to cry.

Nova: (Wha...you...really? D-damn it, and here I thought I wasn't going to cry again! I… I love you too, I always have.)

Fury: (W-we'll be sure to have plenty of ideas for more quality time, we swear!)

Even on the outside as everyone was waiting, Sunspark started to cry as well. Her horn began to flare up, encompassing her entire body, internally the magical auras of the three surrounded them. The ring on her horn sparked blue just like it had done when they had tried to pull her in. Slowly they could feel themselves coming apart, the magic separating from their body. In a brilliant sparkle of light, Sunset's spirit reformed on the outside while Nova's colors returned to normal.

Her mane no longer flowed like an alicorn's, their cutie mark returned to the spark that it once was. Though Nova did still feel some of the warmth that she felt when Sunset's magic merged with hers. Inside their mind, it grew a bit quieter as Sunset's presence was no longer there. 

Nova looked up at the spirit form of Sunset once more, after the last 3 days of seeing her in a 'physical' form inside her mind and in their reflection, it was a little strange to see her like this again, but they knew this is what was meant to be. 

Nova: Wait before you go... think we could have one last hug? I know I'd just phase through you but..

Sunset tilts her head and smiles.

Sunset: It's at least worth a shot, and we can at least try to make it look like we're hugging as best as possible.

The spirit floats on down to Nova's eye level and carefully places her hooves around Nova's neck in a position to preemptively prepare for part of her body to just phase through. Get as close as she can to making it look like a hug without too much of her spirit clipping through Nova's body.

But she gasps... as to her surprise... she feels something... the fur and body warmth of Nova's coat. Nova on her part can feel a sense of a surprising amount of comfortable warmth of a spirit too as Sunset's transparent hooves wrap around her in the same way she could do so with Starlight, Firelight, or anyone else in her family or were close friends.

While she was prepared to basically give the best kind of pretend hug she could. Nova's eyes shoot open as she realizes she's actually touching Sunset's spirit. She can't believe it, some tears start to fall from her eyes as she holds her tighter.

Nova: I... I'm not crazy right? I... I can actually feel you... like this... a-and you can feel me too?

Sunset holds on tight and thinks on this, ultimately giving Nova a warm smile

Sunset: ...Well, either... this is a nice unintentional benefit from your spell... since we were in the same body, we therefore shared blood and that was enough to trigger the condition of blood relation or... maybe it's more simple then that. Just a straight forward, sentimental connection we made in the past few days... to the point that even the cosmos are blessing your addition as a new family member. 

Perhaps... it may be best to theorize... that it's a little of both. A successful spell from a hard-working student like you, and a sign that we are truly family for the rest of time. 

Nova: That's... entirely plausible… heh, something to really look into then! Hahaha! But it sounds so cheesy too, mom!

Nova can't help but smile at this, if even the universe itself was accepting this, she didn't have any room to question it.

Nova: But that's not a bad thing… It means we really are family now, huh?

She did pull back from the hug, knowing that Sunset still had to leave, but she was comforted by the fact that she's truly part of something bigger.

Sunset waved one last time to Nova before focusing and shifting into her more comet-like form, zipping straight up into the atmosphere. A trail flying across the sky before it fades from view. Soon Sunset Shimmer was back to doing what she always did best in both life and death, doing her part to protect the world she loved.

Nova: (Bye, mom… and thank you)

Starlight puts a hoof around Nova's shoulder as she too watches Sunset return back up in her more comet-like form. 

Once the comet was out of sight. Starlight turned and smiled to her foster sister. The scientist returning the favor in solidarity.

Starlight: I'd like to thank you one more time for doing this, it really does mean a lot to me and my... I mean... our entire family.

Though I thought I'd give you a bit of good news. I've messaged Twilight recently, and she's gradually gotten curious if this spell of yours would work on half-spirits like her one day. How does that sound? You're one lucky scientist! 

Nova turns back to Starlight with a sad smile, removing the ring from her horn now that she would soon return the ring to the museum. Keeping in mind to make an entirely new one for the next time.

Nova: Hehe don't sweat it, it's gonna take some time for me to get used to being part of an actual family unit too. But I'll tell you what I told mom, I wanted to show my gratitude for everything she did for me when I was a filly. She was my inspiration through even my darkest days, and while she didn't know it then, she acted just as motherly to a filly like me.  And to be able to reunite her with everypony like this... 

I'm so glad I was able to pull it off. I know it's a strange way for us to properly meet, but hey I don't think either of us are strangers to weird things, huh? 

She chuckles as Starlight mentions the good news to her. This puts a sly grin on the tatzl's face.

Nova: Oh really~? Seems she and I are thinking alike then. Good thing I've already got some notes in mind to see how it would work. So tell me, sis, are you ready to do some science?~

[killjams-ocs]

Prologue - First Day

Summary: You just got to Star Cas and get some unexpected help with moving in

✦•······················•✦•······················•✦

It hasn’t been long since the funeral for Nagi has taken place, and you’re already moving into his old place and shop now. You never planned on moving to Star Cas in the first place, but after being left with the old potion shop in Nagi’s will, you felt it wouldn’t be right to not take it over. Considering how important his role as potion maker was in this town and as someone who was personally trained by Nagi himself, you felt like it wouldn’t take much to be able to fill that role that was left empty by his death.

You look over at the building before you. It was a combination of a shop and home. The home being on the second floor, above the actual shop area itself. The inside has been cleared out, clean for its new owner. As you looked through the front window of the shop and its dark insides, two people approach from the side and alert you of their presence.

“Ah, good to see you’re here early.” A tall man with white long hair in a low ponytail gives you a lazy wave.

“Good to finally meet you!” Besides the man was another person, a woman who was on the taller side as well with orange hair and bunny ears, “I’m Bree! This is Barrett” Bree gestures towards the man. “We were told to meet up with you to help with your move in.” Bree flexes towards you, proudly showing off her guns as a silent way to tell you she’s more than fit for the job.

“Oh-!” You piped up in surprise. “I really thought I was going to haver to do this all on my own!”

“No worries,” Barrett walks over to you and holds out his hand. “We wouldn’t let Nagi’s good friend all on their own now, would we?” You gladly shook his hand.

“Anyways, just tell what goes where and we’ll move it for ya!” Bree explains the strategy, seemingly excited to move your stuff for you.

“You sure about that?” You asked, “I don’t want to load all the work to you guys!” You didn’t want to feel rude on your first official day living here.

            “Its all good my friend” Barrett walks over to your wagon and takes out a box, “We practically booked our day off to help you out, plus you’ll need the rest after getting to Star Cas in the first place.” He did bring up a good point. The time to get here from your old town took a few good hours, and you barely got any sleep last night just to prepare for this at the last minute.

            “Well, it is true I am a bit tired…” You trailed off giving yourself a moment to think. “If you guys really insist on doing all the moving, I’m not gonna stop you.” Bree smiles at your words.

            “Alright! Let’s get to work then!” She takes one of the boxes from the wagon and brings it in before you could tell her where to put it in the first place.

            “Thank you so much you two” You smile towards them after an hour or two of bringing in your items and setting them in the right rooms. “I probably wouldn’t been able to do this all in the first place without your help”

            “Like I said, its all good” Barrett waves his hand as if this whole thing was never hassle in the first place.

            “Oh!” Bree suddenly remembers, “I got some stuff at my farm to bring over for you!” She points to the general location of where said farm is. “Something me and my family put together to help you settle in as you get yourself used to Star Cas”

            “You’re too kind!” You couldn’t help to feel a little spoiled right now.

            “Yeah, let me quickly get it-“And with that, Bree starts to sprint to her home to get your home warming gift.

            “Trust me when I say this.” Barrett says as you both watch the bunny girl run into the distance, “their fresh food is the best”

            “I can believe you on that” You replied, excited to get some kind of food in you after a long day of moving. “I have been to Star Cas a few times in the past to visit Nagi, but its been a good while since I last been here”

            “Oh, is that so?” Barrett questions. You nod your head.

            “Yeah,” You confirmed, “Nagi mostly visited my town for ingredients and other errands which is how I got to meet him in the first place.”

            “So, you’re Nagi?” You asked the light blue haired man. He nods.

            “Yep! I’ve heard of some unique flora in this area, so I decided to check to see if they can be any use to me and my potions.” You can’t help but to feel curious about what he was talking about.

            “Potions? You brew potions?” He nods again.

            “Not really a big deal, but its something that I really hold dear.” He opens his backpack and brings out a worn-down notebook and opens it to a random page. The pages are yellow, aged from constant use. There were a few years here and there, but not enough damaged to prove anything concerning.

            “There’s a lot going on with that notebook” You point it out as if he didn’t already know that.

            “Just something I’ve had for a good while now” Nagi points out. He quickly skims over the words and does a notable ‘ah’, as if he found something he was looking for. “Right here is a basic potion to help clean infections” You look over the ingredients and brewing method to bring it all together. “Its nothing too fancy, but a lot of doctors use this one to help with fresh cuts on the skin”

            “Wow!” Even if it was basic in his eyes, it was something completely new to you. “What else can you make?” Nagi smiles at your question and turns to another page.

            You smile at the memory that suddenly took place in your mind. That meeting with Nagi was many years ago, both of you still very young when it happened. It wasn’t long afterwards that Nagi would sometimes teach you a thing or two about his potion making skills as you were always willing to learn what he was doing.

            Without noticing, you started to cry.

            “Hey, you okay?” Barrett looks over at you with some concern, placing a hand on your shoulder bringing you back to reality and the now. You jumped a little from the sudden contact but steadied yourself not too long afterwards.

            “Nothing bad,” You bring a hand up to wipe away the few tears that streamed down your face. “Just thinking about Negi…”. Barrett takes a moment not to say anything before talking again.

            “I feel ya on that.” He sighs, “Nagi was a good person. Everyone liked him. Almost saw him as a son” He admits.

            “Sorry, I didn’t mean to bring the mood down” You apologized.

            “Its okay,” Barrett comforts you, “its still… a fresh wound for all of us who knew him” You shifted in your spot. “But,” he spoke again, “I’m sure we can all get through this together” Even with all the sudden sadness, you couldn’t help but to feel a little hope for the future.

            “Guys! I got the food basket!” Bree’s voice could be heard in the distance as he quickly made her way back to you two. Once in front of you, she gladly holds the large wicker basket full of colourful foods and fruits. There were also some animal products ranging from milk, cheese and eggs. You couldn’t help but to be overwhelmed by this gift.

            “That’s- a lot!” You couldn’t believe your eyes.

            “Yep! We made sure to make sure you had everything you needed!” Bree does a little laugh, proud of her family’s efforts to help you. You took the wicker basket, which had some weight to it to no one’s surprise considering the number of items in it. “You’re always welcome to swing by the farm if you need anything, our door is open to you!” she gives a nice hearty slap to your back, almost making you drop the basket, which quickly earns a small, but silly, ‘sorry’ from the taller woman.

            “Now, thankfully Nagi was able to keep this place in top shape, but if you ever find yourself in need of upgrades-“Barrett’s words suddenly stopped with Bree gave a slap to his back as well.

            “Come on old man, they just got here! No need to do a sales pitch” She scolded him with a friendly tone to her voice.

            “Just letting them know, that’s all” Barrett puts his hands up in defense about his actions. He then turns to you. “Aside from that, just let either one of us know if you need anything.”

            “Thanks again you two, I really mean it” You smiled.

            “It’s a ok!” Bree gave a thumbs up at you, “As much as I’ll love to stay here, I need to make sure my siblings get to bed on time. Ma and pops asked me to do so”

            “And I’ll be heading off too, this old man needs to get back home and make dinner” He pats your shoulder and gives it a nice firm squeeze. “Have a good night kid, and welcome to Star Cas”

            Barrett and Bree made their way to their homes as you set the wicker basket on the kitchen table. You took a piece of cheese to get something in you from the long day you’ve had. It was great.

            The next morning, you woke up and took a deep breath. Today was your first official day in Star Cas. You’ve already put the food away in the kitchen before heading to bed, just to have some kind of peace of mind knowing your morning self wouldn’t need to do it.

            Getting dressed and after having breakfast, you walked downstairs to the shop area of the building. The displays and shelves were empty, making the entire place a fresh slate for you. The counter with the cash register was near the back of the big room, and behind the counter was a door to another area.

            In the other room was where the magic, quite literally, happened. The big metal caldron with a fireplace below it was the main center piece of this room. Also cleaned out and ready for you. Aside from that, many shelves to store ingredients, bottles, potions and what not was lining the walls. The only thing really left behind was some dried herbs hanging from the wall.

            You walked over to said herbs and took a look at them. Purple like flowers and other things that were a deep dark green. Very dried at this point, but something you knew what to do with from the knowledge Nagi shared with you.

            You took out a notebook. The same one Nagi showed off to you when you first met. It was entrusted to you at some point before Nagi passed away. Flipping through the pages, you scanned for what these ingredients could be used for.

            Considering this is what you could only find in terms of what can be used, it wasn’t really enough to make anything sadly. You’ll have to go foraging for some plants to make anything. Closing the treasured notebook, you go back upstairs to place it in a small messenger bag to keep it close to you as you go out to explore Star Cas.

[taperwolf]

When I was browsing at a local thrift store, I came across something that I might have picked up — if I didn't already have one in storage somewhere.

This is the Sony Watchman FD-C290 TV/Radio alarm clock. It has an LED clock display, an AM/FM radio, and a tiny television. You'd expect something of this size to be a little LCD display, and ten or twenty years later you'd be right — but this little guy came out in the late 1980s, so those didn't exist. No, this thing has a CRT.

(This photo is taken from a teardown of the related FD-20 by experimental-engineering.co.uk .)

Now, the story of how I came to have one of these is a bit odd. My senior year in high school — 1993-4 — I got together with another guy in my class to do a science fair project. Now, we were in rural Wyoming, and it was pretty rare for even people in big cities to have access to the internet, but our bright idea was to build a virtual reality setup.

I'd picked up a book with a CD attached which included a software package called Rend386, which would display, in real time and on 80386 and 80486 PCs, very constrained virtual worlds. These were incredibly simple, of course; to my memory it was primitive-based, where you could define cubes, cylinders, and spheres, and combine those into more complex shapes, with a degree of animation and interactivity possible. I don't think there were hardware 3d graphics available yet at all in the PC world, so this was all running on incredibly overtaxed CPUs. But it did give a glimpse of what VR would become.

The software supported two bits of repurposed game hardware: the active 3d glasses Sega made for the Master System, and the Nintendo Power Glove. By some coincidence, those two items, and a couple of Sony Watchmans (one standalone and one in a clock radio), were standing dusty on the electronics shelf of the local Ben Franklin/Ace Hardware, and by further coincidence my mom worked there at the time; she talked her boss into discounting the stuff to be purchasable by our meager funds.

The glasses worked by blocking one eye, then the other, while you looked at a screen that showed the scene from each eye's viewpoint in synchrony. The PowerGlove worked by having bend sensors to detect your hand making a fist, and ultrasonic sensors to detect its position in 3d space. The book gave directions for building a circuit to interface the two to a PC, which my friend followed, since he was the one who knew how to solder. (I wouldn't learn until decades later.) And this all actually worked, most of the time — you could steer your avatar, rendered by a single floating hand, around the simple world via joystick, see everything in 3d, and pick up and drop designated objects by moving your hand into them and making a fist. Of course, the frame rate was terrible, and using the glasses cut that in half, but it was all pretty exciting at the time. One of the big demos was navigating around some objects and walking onto a Ferris wheel, which would lift you up in the air and everything.

The book had some stuff about getting two VGA cards to run on the same machine, in order to output the two stereo views at the same time, and to use expensive displays and optics to create a head-mounted display. But our quick-and-dirty plan was to take the VGA signal from the computer, convert that down to NTSC video and use an RF modulator to put it on a TV channel, and feed it into the two Watchmans, which we'd affix to the glasses, one attached over each eye; they'd both be showing both views, but you'd only be able to see the proper ones. Unfortunately, we ran out of time and technical skills, and the science fair hit when we were still displaying on a big CRT. We actually went to the state science fair with that project, though it didn't get much love from the judges there.

I inherited most of the equipment afterwards — my friend claimed the standalone Watchman — and I'm not entirely sure if I still have the PowerGlove or not. But I do have the clock radio. Somewhere.

[sodaliteskull]

SCREAMING okay so finishing the SIoC stuff has been my main focus for the last couple months, and it's felt like I haven't gotten anywhere due to fluctuation in the story count department.

(lol that and it's been a rough couple of months, let me tell you!)

The bulk of this thing was written by me and two of my closest friends, and we would invent new stuff for this setting both off and online. The down side to that was that we would make in-story references to stuff that we only ever talked about IRL, so going in and actually adding those story beats/characters/events/places and whatnot had me writing whole new stories for the project, and at one point that ballooned the 150 story count up to 165!

I have managed to get that back down to the 150 I started the year with, and that's because there were a bunch of places where I was able to move or combine things together for narrative cohesion, but then it made me feel like I'd gotten nowhere since that number, ultimately, didn't change!

But I've been keeping track of wordcount milestones as I made edits, and in February I'd breached 500,000 words. In September? 900,000. So I HAVE gotten a lot done, even if the story count doesn't reflect that!

As it stands, out of 150 stories, I have 21 left to finish in some capacity. The majority of them, since they were written in a forum RP style, rather than a proper prose style, just need inciting events or closing remarks, on top of the edits to make it read like a story rather than just a chain text thread.

We were also just writing stand alone stories for this thing, and I have the outline for one that I never actually got around to starting, so I will be able to polish that off pretty quickly.

Then there's going to be one story that will have to be fully reconstructed. We were using a free forum for all this stuff, and 3 of our threads were deleted for "violating community guidelines" (I just got a list of things that went against the guidelines, but not which ones we were infracting upon). I tried reaching out to see if there was a way to restore these threads, but was told that was out of the question. So one thread, if there was a story in there, is completely lost to time. The second thread, I have the story that is the direct sequel to the events that happened in it, so I was able to make a prologue in the sequel explaining the pertinent events that were lost when the thread got removed.

But the last thread, I only just remember bits and pieces of details, and am still waiting to hear back from my co-writers to see if they remember more (or just so happened to maybe save a copy somewhere, which I am not going to hold out hope for). It's honestly a little fitting, because the Silent Island of Crow started as a forum coding project that was kept on our school server, and that was always purged at the end of the year, so this is hardly the first time that stuff written on or about the Island has been lost! And in those original cases, I did up diary entries from one of my characters in order to explain the missing events, so I am probably just going to do that here.

I'm going to see about finishing off one of the incomplete stories tonight, which will just leave me with 20 to go, and then so long as I stick to complete one story every two days, I'll have this whole thing finished off by the end of the year!

And then NEXT YEAR I can focus on getting these all in chronological order, because having dozens of stories all being written at the same time is not great for having a cohesive continuity!

(what I need to finish is under the cut, mostly for my own reference)

Stories To Finish

Woods of Fantasy p2 - editing, opening and ending needed, as well as a proper title (30,140 words atm)

The Return - just an edit pass (27,227 words atm)

Creepy!!! - edit, opening and proper title needed (15,421 words atm)

The Islanders Go To School... At HOGWARTS! - Serena started this one back in the day, so she's going to be finishing it. I'll do an edit pass when done (10,627 words atm)

And So The Adventure Begins…AGAIN! - editing, opening, ending, and title (10,619 words atm)

R-A-B! - editing, opening, ending, title (10,230 words atm)

Oooo, Weapons!! p2 - edit, opening, ending, title (10,019 words atm)

The mountains to the North p1 - edit, opening, ending, title (9437 words atm)

Hurrah! The end is nigh! p2 - edit, opening, ending, title (8129 words atm)

Lookie lookie p3 - edit, opening, ending, title (8103 words atm)

Viking Problems - edit, opening, ending (6595 words atm)

Island Movies p2 - edit, opening, ending, title (4680 words atm)

Rebooted - edit, finish last quarter[third?] (4370 words atm)

The Winds of Change - edit, finish last quarter[third?] (4174 words atm)

New Years Eve-il - edit, finish last quarter (3649 words atm)

To Marenkes! - edit, finish last half (3119 words atm)

Pimpin's That Easy - edit, add conclusion (3114 words atm)

The Birth of Hobo Island - edit, add last two thirds (1774 words atm)

The Adventures Of Celery And Kumikke - Add in some of their journeys, then washing up on Hobo Island and meeting Rey, then taking the Hell Hawk off to figure out the prophecy they got (984 words atm)

Birthday BASH - story lost, rewrite as diary entry using remembered details (0 words atm)

Reality Bites - use outline to write story (0 words total)

Edits/Continuity Fixes I Know About

Wounds - add in segment where Ivanova leaves and Yanna goes after her, add in where Aatrin and Kesper went during the Emperor's growth spurt (7502 words atm)

When The Lonely Light Of Morning Comes - fix segment where it says Kesper is immortal, as he isn't (10,962 words atm)

The Feast - Islanders know what Katear-Enech look like, and how they destroyed themselves, but this was discussed IRL rather than in-story, so I'll need to add an explanation in (18,213 words atm)

Spring Cleaning - Yanna mentions shedding her wings previously, which was definitely another IRL thing that we didn't properly write about, either add something in here, or insert it into an earlier story (24,775 words atm)

[menaceoffandoms]

So, I saw a theory from @mumatsi and it reminded me of a theory I had before season 5 came out, so I wanna talk about it!

In the journey to the west, the Buddha says their are 4 celestial primates that exist within the world; the intelligent stone monkey (Sun Wukong), the red-buttocked baboon, the long armed gibbon and the six eared Macaque. As far as I'm aware, (all my knowledge about jttw comes from overly sarcastic productions, so I'm very much not an expert) Wukong never meets the other celestial primates during the journey. With only their names and vague powers being listed, the celestial monkies are perfect bases for characters in a cartoon. We've already seen the writers take advantage of this with Macaque, who is the only other celestial monkie we met in jttw. So it makes sense to me that the others would show up at some point.

My initial idea was that MK was the red-buttocked baboon, mainly cause their cited as having knowledge of ying and yang, an understanding of human affairs and the ability to avoid death and lengthen its life.

It just sorta fit in my mind at the time, but after season 5 I don't think it dose anymore.

MK is the harbinger of Chaos, a created by Nuwa with the express purpose of restoring the pillar of heaven and restarting the cycle of the world. MK's not meant to exist beyond that purpose, he only has a life because the Nine-headed serpent wakes him up early and brings him to Pigsy. He, and the stones, are made from the chaos beyond the world, unique to anything else in the world.

So therefore, MK can't be one of the 4 celestial primates, because he wasn't meant to really be a person to begin with. It's why none of the guardians or Nuwa ever call him by his name, or any name for that matter. It's really fucked up when you think about it actually.

I do think it would make sense for the other two celestial primates to show up later in the show, but I don't think season 6 would make sense for that and I don't think they'll be villains. Antagonists, maybe, but not big bad's about to end the world.

I feel like they'll show up sometime after Wukong and Macaque get their shit together, if they do at all, and that means we'd be look at post season 6 at minimum.

But, going back to mumatsi's idea, I do think whatever the "he" the Nine-headed serpent was referring to could have something to do with the celestial primates.

We already know Nuwa made MK and in jttw there is never a definitive reason why Wukong came to be, other than a combination of earthly and celestial energy creating him seemingly at random. But since they both came from the same stone egg, I think we can guess that Nuwa might have had a hand in Wukong being created.

No idea why, but that's a train of thought for later.

I mention this because I think "he" is another God, some opposite to Nuwa who thrives in chaos instead of rejecting it. Their is a Chaos God in Chinese myth named Hundun and I think he could be our best bet at who "he" is.

I don't know much about this deity, I literally just did a quick google search, but given the only evidence toward who this character could be is chaos and the Nine-headed serpents vague mention, I think its as plausible as anything else. At the very least, I'm confident "he" is a God of some kind.

With that idea in mind and the thought that Nuwa created MK, we could assume that Hundun had some part in making Macaque and that is who he got his power from.

It would explain how he was able to stop the Nine-headed serpent, seeing as he seems to have made his own connection with the chaos after "escaping the cave" as he said, but Macaque would have a stronger connection by being made of the stuff.

It could also explain Macaque's death, since chaos and madness go together quite well and the laughter we hear from him in Wukong's flashback sounds very crazy.

TLDR: I wanna know more about the mystic monkies and why the fuck they were made. Hundun is probably the big bad of season 6 giving he's a chaos god and is likely linked to Macaque just like MK is linked to Nuwa, meaning we could get villain Macaque again in season 6 if his madness in Wukong's flashback is any indication.

Basically, there's a lot of potential for drama and I have many, many questions that will likely never be answered.

Thank you for coming to my Ted talk.

[dreamsinfiction]

April 2024 recap (aka the month my social battery was truly spent)

Lol am already two months behind my recaps haha. It's okay, as long as it gets done, it's okay~

Highlights of April:

a. Got a better-than-expected PB 🥹 - Alhamdulillah! Honestly thought I was gonna get an average or get thrown under the bus with a lower than average PB since I already posted out of my previous dept. But yes, thankfully my efforts over the past year was (rightfully) recognised (because I was thrown a lot of shit in my last couple of months there hahaha)

b. Dad's birthday and impromptu Raya shopping - Brought the family to The White Label (before they closed the North Bridge Road outlet and reopened back at a Bugis hotel) for my dad's birthday and it was really nice seeing everyone enjoy a good meal out since it's so rare. TWL's food is really the best and the food didn't disappoint. The night also turned out to be an impromptu Raya shopping for the parents cos I convinced them to get matching baju with me and my sister. Getting older, it does make me feel warm inside when I was able to buy them the clothes that they want without worrying about the prices. Alhamdulillah for the little things truly.

The food was next level amazing gah.

c. Signed up for volunteering - This year I wanted to do more for the community and thought Ramadan was a good place to start. I did sign up with a volunteering organisation but I think it was oversubscribed and I didn't end up getting picked 😔. Need to be more intentional next year; maybe signing up with a smaller organisation will help my chances. If anyone knows of any lobang to volunteer for a meaningful cause, please let me know!

d. Raya! - This Raya was more meaningful for my family because my dad semi-reconciled with his siblings. It'll be too long to get into the reasons why they were fighting here but I'm just happy to see everyone trying to make nice as they get older. I guess it also helped that they have a common foe (maybe too strong a word but I can't wordsmith it right now) in my grandma and her very stubborn/toxic ways. They banded together and tried to manage her situation right. I really enjoyed visiting everyone and seeing how they're growing up (even though it's at the costs of my limited social battery hahaha)

Featuring a vary manja cat at Nek Muda's house heh.

e. Meeting up with Aunty Eny - Aunty Eny was here for Raya! And also for some medical check ups for Uncle Jim in the area. Even though we've not met up in a while (think the last time was early 2023) it still felt so easy and peaceful to chat and catch up. She also recently opened up a cafe back home in Glasgow so now my mom, sister and me are itching to go back and visit heh (summer 2025?😛)

f. IU in Singapore - OMG fangirl dream came trueeeee. I actually went to the concert alone (not a big deal for me, in fact I loved it more cos I could truly appreciate her music and bop along) in my baju kurung cos I came straight after visiting my cousin for Raya hahahaha. Also my seat was amazing like it was very near to the stage and I barely need to zoom for my videos. IU is amazing live - she's the same age as me but I don't know how she has the stamina to sing and perform for 3 hours straight with 2 encores?? K-pop concerts are putting Western concerts to shame hahaha. During the second encore, she straight up just asked the audience what song we wanted her to perform and she just sang it (to the horror of her live band quickly flipping thru their scores lol). Love it. Ngl, I did tear listening to her ballads which are my fave (Love Wins All, Through the Night)

g. Work stuff - Volunteered to do some extra CCAs! One was organising the monthly divisional meeting for the next quarter (Apr-Jun) + the quarterly HLS/teambonding activity. Doing it with Farah and I think our combination is the best - she comes with the wacky ideas and extroverted self while I help to rationalise everything/tone it down when needed and do the backstage stuff haha. I also volunteered to help out with the Volunteer Festival happening in July! Thought it would be good to have some brownie points on my appraisal this year and it seemed quite straightforward in terms of stakeholder management, ground ops, plus the location I volunteered for will be at Lot One hehe.

Phew my April was super packed; how did I even go through all that and come out in one piece lol. Till the next recap! Which should be quite soon since I'm so far behind in writing them down hahaha.

[owlixx]

CoD Notes: Ghosts Beat

Yep, another whole game start to finish since my last notes.

Going in, I wanted to like this game. I was hoping it would be a real hidden gem. I knew this game had a bad reputation but a few staunch defenders and I was ready to keep my mind open. I ended up tolerating the game and agreeing that it is underrated, but I’m not head over heels for it.

Positives: I like the graphics, the feel of the guns, the UI. I like the idea of a story about a future war where the US is an underdog. I liked the space stuff and more sci fi elements. I liked playing as one character from start to finish and being told an actual story.

Negatives: first thing I noticed was no hot markers in the campaign. I prefer having them. Actually even before that was the bizarre opening cutscene where the Ghosts are first explained to be a military team who one time hid under some dead bodies and killed all but one guy who said they must be “ghosts”. No relation to Simon Riley Ghost aside from the name of the dog which seems bizarre. The next thing I noticed was how boring and samey a lot of the guns are. Half the guns that drop are the SCA and SA or something like that and I can’t tell them apart.

More negatives: The main thing wrong with this game for me personally is the nothing-plot combined with the goofy tryhard writing. Making the villain faction “all of South America banding together” seems odd but I’d have rather focused on that rather than focus so heavily on a guy who used to be a Ghost being the main villain. Rorke sucks as a character because the writers clearly want him to emulate villains they’ve seen in other, better fiction before but have no idea what makes him tick or what his motivations are. He seems to be upset that Elias dropped him, but any stereotypical military leader (as Rorke seemed to be in that flashback mission) would’ve told their squad to do the same thing. But that’s not the real issue. The issue is that he ALSO got supposedly tortured and brainwashed by the South American military offscreen and with zero proof of work of exploration of this concept. Which one is it? Is he brainwashed or betrayed? It would’ve been an amazing twist to have him reveal that they never did torture him, he just went along with all this of his own volition. But that would’ve ruined the other twist of our player character being teased at getting brainwashed right at the end, which is hilarious now knowing this game will never get a sequel.

More bad writing: it’s so funny that IW wanted to tell a more personal story this time but still didn’t want to make the player character speak or visible or do anything interesting, so they gave us a brother so that somebody here would actually be able to be seen interacting with our dad. It’s not a terrible way to accomplish what they were going for but it has the side effect of putting up a mirror and showing that there’s nothing in our reflection, so to speak. It’s one thing to have a silent player avatar in isolation but with our brother there, it makes our character feel weirdly mute by contrast.

The worst writing: the worst of it though is everything relating to the Ghosts. Maybe this is just because I had a mission crash and had to rewatch this one cutscene like four times, but the perfect example of this is the cutscene where Hesh (I think) talks about how “I’ve seen soldiers bury their dead before, but not like this”. BROOOOOO calm DOOWWWN. We are told that everything the Ghosts do is cool and good and awesome but then they just die and get captured like any other character. There’s literally nothing special about them. Rorke is obsessed with killing all the Ghosts but that’s just because they used to be his coworkers. That’s the only thing special about them. And the twist that our dad is the leader is painfully obvious because he won’t shut up about how cool and totally real they are. There is zero significance or weight to the player and our brother becoming Ghosts. They didn’t even have a little ceremony or anything.

Anyways, the last big negatives are the glitches and the signposting. I had a mission hard crash and make me start from the start of the whole level which isn’t a dealbreaker but isn’t great and hasn’t happened before. Then also I had to restart a checkpoint once because the helicopter I had to kill wouldn’t spawn in even though I could hear it and wandered the whole map trying to get it to trigger. And by “signposting”, I just mean that I got lost in this game more than any other CoD because of the lack of objective markers. They still have those tacky golden glowing objects to interact with though.

I did a tiny amount of multiplayer. Got the castle map, which I remember from being a kid but it was far too big to have any fun on. The whole “squad” concept is fascinating but ultimately feels a little flat. Why do I need 10 soldiers if the customization isn’t that deep? I am kind of happy to see currency return from BO1 but with contextual camo challenges that DONT require a million headshots before you can even start working on the rest, which I think even the later BO3 suffers from. “Field orders” are a fascinating weird addition that I think only make sense against bots, but also I love that bot matches can grant XP since it’s hard to find a regular match now. I just wish they had a separate set of challenges for facing bots.

Also played a little of extinction, including the DLC1 map that I had to get as part of the “gold edition”. Its…fine. I do appreciate them trying something new, and introducing meta progression. I would’ve played plenty as a kid but now it just lacks the nostalgia factor of other classic Treyarch zombies stuff, and it seems like an uphill battle for solo players. The DLC1 initial boss fight destroyed me and my one online companion which seemed unfair. I do also like the idea of the random challenges on each hive but they seem a little unbalanced.

[valvasor93]

Time’s haven’t changed that much

I just turned 30.

I’ve been married for almost two years.

We’ve been together for almost 9 years.

I graduated university in August of 2019.

I haven’t been able to get a job in over a year.

I have a very bad case of clinical depression.

I understand that every marriage has its problems. Couples fight but then move on, they learn from their mistakes and use the experience to get better.

I feel like this isn’t happening in my marriage. We’re stuck.

My depression has been an incredibly sore subject. I’ve been having suicidal thoughts, I have no motivation whatsoever to get out of bed (sometimes I get up at 4 pm), I feel like I don’t exist and sometimes like a bag of bones floating around, not living, just existing. But the worst part is that my husband doesn’t seem to understand what I need from him. I understand it must not be easy for him to deal with me and he has his own shit going on (a lot of family drama, really fucked up stuff). But I’m honestly not asking for a lot. I’m a very relaxed person, I don’t yell if he doesn’t clean the dishes or doesn’t put something away after using it. I honestly don’t care about that stuff, it’s minimal and it’s unnecessary to get angry about it. I don’t nag. Maybe all wives say that but I honestly try not to because I’ve seen how nagging can kill love and I am certainly not going to let that happen.

I had a dream, I don’t anymore, to become a famous architect known for organic design combined with sustainable architecture. Changing the world one building at a time. Yup, it sounds stupid and people say it all the time but I thought I was special. I thought I was going to make a difference, be a badass business woman who wouldn’t take shit from anyone. But no, I’m a housewife who can’t get a job. I do laundry, I clean the dishes, I make the bed. That’s it, I am nothing, I exist but barely.

Getting a job is difficult because I live in Colombia, architecture is a very tough business over here and organic architecture doesn’t exist. So the jobs I’ve had had nothing to do with what I love, but it’s money so I did them until I got fired. Since then, I sleep, eat, clean. This was my biggest fear in life! To become a housewife. There’s nothing wrong with it, I don’t judge women who choose that life, I just didn’t want that life for me.

But I fell in love. Instead of studying abroad and getting my masters I stayed in a country I hate and got married. I love my husband more than life itself but sometimes I regret getting married. I can’t live my dream, I can’t live in London and study organic architecture, I can’t travel whenever I want and do whatever I want. I can’t live in Spain and drink wine and dance all night.

This is such a fucking cliche, isn’t it?

A housewife who regrets getting married because she couldn’t fulfill her dreams.

I thought we (women) were done with that.

Ever since I met him, ever since our first date, I’ve told him “I am not going to live in Colombia for the rest of my life, my future isn’t here, I hate it here.” And he swore we weren’t going to. But it’s 9 years later, I’m extremely unhappy, I cry all the time, my husband doesn’t seem to have to patience to deal with me, hell, he doesn’t have to patience to talk to me. He has enough problems to deal with, stress from work, money problems, family drama and now his crazy wife wants attention? Apparently it’s too much to ask.

I can’t talk to my best friend (who doesn’t even feel like my best friend anymore, when I said my depression was severe he said “it wasn’t his problem”) because he lives in Spain and the time difference sucks.

I can’t talk to my second best friend because he is THE worst with feelings and trying to make me feel better.

I can’t talk to my husband because he’ll get frustrated or mad and say that I’m blaming him for everything when all I want is to have an honest conversation about how best to handle my situation.

Who do I talk to?

I can’t talk to my friends from college because I’m rich and they’re not and I feel like a spoiled little brat complaining for no fucking reason.

When I try to talk to my dad he just tells me everything is ok. That’s it. My dad is amazing but he’s terrified of feelings.

My dog won’t even cuddle me anymore.

My husband would rather lock himself in the bathroom and look at his phone for 30 minutes instead of talking to me. When I’m visibly crying he doesn’t seem to care, he just keeps looking at his phone. He looks at his phone when we’re out with family or friends and I’ve tried to ask him a thousand times to put it away, I think it’s extremely rude, but nothing.

I feel so alone, my heart hurts, I hide so I can cry.

My life is nothing. Everyone would miss me if I wasn’t here but they would get over it. I’m not special, I’m nothing.

[darlingpwease]

Kinda both, ig??? Happily spouseless and got no poison!

Aghhhh don't go saying stuff like that.

....now I feel guilty at the thought... <//333 /j

HAHA I'm glad you view them that way!! I just see them as, well, awkward lol.

Well it's not necessarily a 'conflict',, but as I've said before, ur one of my favorite authors. Ive been reading ur works for a while and only just recently started to send asks. Ig that u seeming to enjoy what I can send is just surreal??? Idk it's really hard to explain. I see ur works and am like "woah, they're so good!!", and the fact that I can have conversations with the person who makes those works is just so trippy /all pos I'm ngl I'm kinda rambling about it too (obviously) cuz I don't wanna come off as creepy/weird?????? But yeahhhajajsqoqka

Ur much more lovely tho, very charismatic <33

Ur so thoughtful, oml

AHH I thought u were just being considerate!! Ur very impressive Dove, I promise!! Very sweet, very sweet /gen

¿Ah, qué carajo? "ты умеешь звучать соблазнительно"?? Eso no es justo. Eso no es nada justo. ¿Entiendes? Eres tan astuto, querido. No puedes ir por ahí diciendo cosas así sin previo aviso. ¿Bien? Eres muy peligroso.... /hj /all pos tho /I promise

¿Y por qué no haces los dos? /t /hj Un querido tan encantador necesita ser tratado bien.

-panna cotta

... I'll assume it's /gen because you sound very cheerfull about it hehe <3

"no poison" mmmm of course dear of course /t

hehehe, I told you that I have my own ways <3

as you should!!! these works, they, they are almost our children in some distant sense??? we developed them together & saw how they grow and you want to leave me with them!!! leave us!!! leave our, uh, writebabies!!! [?] am I going to be a single parent??? /t /j

they're awkward and that's why they're cute. you were like a kitten; you know, the kind that you want to wrap in a jacket and take home <333 /pos /hj (maybe slightly /t)

you have no idea how strangely warm and alien-ish I feel reading this [/pos]; like, I know that some writers get such words, but I never thought of myself as the one to whom such a thing would be written,,,,, like, is this for me? did you write for me? you are writing about me?

'it's just surreal' hwhwhw lovely, I don't comprehend the concept that you write to me and share your ideas with me due to the fact that you like the things I wrote, because a couple of years ago I couldn't even imagine it </3 it still sounds like "not like my situation" even though our communication now is proof; just??? you're writing to me??? you love what I write??? I'm one of your favorite authors??? not a situation I can imagine myself in; if it was a "reader insert", I would not be able to imagine myself in the reader's place </333 /hj

my sweetest breadwinner, you wouldn't be creepy even if you found out where I live; it's okay, you're good, you're interesting and cute, and I assure you that this is the most important thing for me. the concepts of "weird/creepy" are blurred at the moment when we begin to communicate with each other as a writer with a reader and as like-minded people, so I'll tell you if something is creepy <3 you look rather very respectful and timid and that's okay, it's even charming, but definitely not creepy or weird. I am very pleased that you like me as a writer and you have been with me for a long time <333 mwah for oldie one♡

i– hhhhhhhhh nO I CAN'T YOU'RE SO SWEET HHHHHHHH I don't know how to express what I want to do with you </3333

/pos

mwmwmwmwmw,,,,,,, /pos

I mean, I'm already in the comfort zone, since you're the one who comes to me, so the least I can do is be friendly and confident. two scared cats is not the best combination for a first acquaintance, especially when it's not neutral territory, so I tried to look adequate for you — although I absolutely wasn't calm or confident that everything would be fine </3333 /gen

I'm just lucky that you turned out to be such an accommodating cutie /pos /hj

thank you my sweetest panna cotta,,,, I was worried that you would lose interest in me as I was not impressive or as bright as other writers — and rather too easily excited and talkative </3

I'm glad I looked more like "considerate" than that I was worried that wasn't tracking your mood and was acting too bossy </333

it looked very threatening without translation & tone indicators AHHHHHH </33333 /hj /neu

как будто это моя вина что ты иногда говоришь такие вещи от которых я хочу сказать тебе "да" неважно что ты предлагаешь. позволить тебе укусить меня??? до тех пор пока ты говоришь такие сладкие вещи ты можешь делать что угодно, ты слишком хорошенький и соблазнительный и я не вижу ни одной причины по которой должна отказываться или обдумывать почему я соглашаюсь, так что я сомневаюсь что это я опасна из нас двоих, если это ты тот кто обладает таким опасным шармом & таким серебряным языком <//333 /pos /affectionate

укусить и тут же поцеловать? но что если они нейтрализуют друг друга? я хочу чтобы ты был целованным за хорошее поведение и только потом укушенным когда вновь будешь вести себя так дразняще, но не оба <3 It will be too much even for you, мой хороший♡ /hj /t /pos

хм... я обращаюсь с тобой достаточно хорошо, не так ли? я имею ввиду, у тебя есть собственная коробка и личное пространство и я согласна целовать и кусать тебя за твое соответствующее этим действиям поведение! весьма справедливо, не так ли? может быть, я буду всегда держать тебя рядом со мной, но это малая цена, верно? просто чтобы убедиться что с такой милашкой как ты все будет хорошо<333 /pos /hj

[subbyfoxelf]

[theme park review] halloween horror nights 29 (2019)

this year’s halloween horror nights will be my third! it’s turned into a pretty awesome tradition for me and one of my partners. we went to halloween horror nights 29 in 2019 on our first date. and i just love that this was the case? it combines one of her biggest special interests (theme parks) with one of mine (halloween). how perfect is that?

2020’s was, of course, canceled due to the early stages of the covid-19 pandemic when the powers that be were pretending to actually try to prevent its spread. we went again in 2021 with her husband and our mutual partner (who is also my fiancx, it’s okay if you need to draw a diagram to follow this), and this year we decided to go again just the two of us because we had such a nice time together the first time.

anyway i’m a giant dork so i figured i’d share some review-shaped thoughts on the previous two before i leave for this year's.

we actually got to the park a bit early to check out diagon alley and ride gringotts before halloween horror nights actually started. obviously me and harry potter aren’t really friends anymore given j.k. rowling’s entire deal about people like me and my loved ones, but i gotta say as a theme park experience what i was able to see was pretty damn impressive. i just wish it were for literally any other franchise. but yeah we rode a pretty cool rollercoaster (it was tame enough for me, a noted rollercoaster wimp) and i tried butterbear which probably everyone needs to do at least once if they used to be fans of that benighted book series, and we got to see the dragon shoot fire out of its mouth so yeah now i never need to go back there again.

… unless i want to see the islands of adventure part of harry potter world at some point which, let’s be honest, i guess i might as well at some point. j.k. rowling fucking sucks and whatever love i once had for those books was totally sucked out of me like by a dementor’s kiss, but i like theme parks and the harry potter stuff at universal is just a kind of a historically amazing theme park experience, so i should probably check it out once and then never go back.

before you even get to any of the queues, one of the most readily-apparent changes for horror nights is that much of the walkable area of the park is divided into themed “scarezones” with outdoor sets & props, as well as costumed scare actors. despite my enthusiasm for the whole thing, i scare kinda easily so i was often hiding or half-hiding behind my partner (gaining partial cover, in d&d terms), and to my delight this seemed to encourage the scare actors to target me specifically, and obviously that’s kinda exactly what i wanted anyway so it worked out pretty well! (this also happened in the haunted houses, but idk, it seemed even more obvious in the scarezones!)

the first scare zone we encountered at the entrance to the horror nights event was zombieland: double tap, because i guess that was coming out shortly after horror nights? i saw zombieland in theaters with some friends in college and enjoyed it at the time but prior to rewatching it for this silly little review i hadn’t seen it again since, and i hadn’t seen the sequel at all, but i still really dug this scare zone. there were some burned out cars and whatnot to give you the feeling of walking around in a zombie apocalypse, and the scare actors were all covered in blood and zombie makeup and did a really great job scaring people. even though zombieland is hardly my go-to for zombie movies, it’s pretty hard to go wrong with zombies as a scare zone theme.

aside from the rob zombie one which i think we skipped, the other scarezones were all original concepts and i really enjoyed all of them! vikings undead was exactly what it says on the tin. viking zombies are like torturing bound prisoners and whatnot, and yeah obviously that super worked for me. the other two were the vanity ball where surgeon “artists” turn people into living works of art and the anarch-cade where a blacklit arcade was full of scare actors clad in neon-lit clothes and wielding neon-lit weapons.

all of these really added to the ambiance of the whole thing, and really made it feel like a much more complete experience instead of just like waiting in line for an hour or two, doing cool halloweeny stuff, and then walking through normal universal studios stuff to get to the next line and wait in line for another hour or two and do another cool halloween thing. especially since a lot of the queues went through hilariously non-halloweeny areas like the jimmy fallon race through new york or the curious george playground. we had a kick talking about how scary those sorts of things were gonna be while we were queuing through them.

of the licensed property haunted houses, stranger things was a pretty easy skip because it had huge lines and i loved the first season but lost interest after that. i don’t think we made it to the universal monsters one, which in retrospect i kind of regret but that’s okay!

we actually started with the ghostbusters one, and it was a really great warmup because it obviously wasn’t too scary or anything but they clearly put a lot of effort into it. it started strong with an awesome recreation of the library scene complete with moving books and even slime on some of the shelves that you could touch. again this wasn’t particularly scary but it was still a heck of a lot of fun.

as far as other licensed property houses, we also checked out the killer klowns from outer space one and the house of 1000 corpses one, mostly because i had seen both movies when i was doing a horror movie challenge on letterboxd. both of these houses… sure were haunted houses based on these two movies!

honestly my ulterior motive for wanting to check these out aside from familiarity was that both movies had a ton of bondage imagery and i figured that might be reflected in the houses, but it mostly wasn’t the case? but the killer klowns one in particular had quite a bit of obvious effort put into its production values and really did reflect some of the rather impressive set design of the movie. there were also some pretty cool effects with uv lights and blacklights, as well as some great jumpscares involving airhorns and sudden loud air jets, so that was awesome. also, both of them had fairly cool facades at the end of their queues, whereas the ghostbusters one was just kinda in a giant studio building with no real exterior decorations, so i guess that’s exactly one (1) thing they did better than that one.

but by far the actually scariest of the licensed property haunted houses was the one based on jordan peele’s us. either this one or ghostbusters was definitely my favorite of the licensed properties ones, though they’re super hard to compare since they were going for drastically different experiences. the scare actors in the us house were on point. like, i basically knew going in what one of the last scares was probably gonna be, and it was basically exactly that, but it still totally got me.

i learned that first year that the real stars of the haunted houses were the ones not based on any properties, though! the ones we experienced were:

nightingales: blood pit, where roman gladiatorial games have been attacked by a race of opportunistic predators that look like humanoid vultures. i loved that a good portion of this took place in the gladiators’ prison, but the scenery through the whole thing was just super impressive.

depths of fear, which is kind of like the aliens franchise but underwater, with fish-like parasitic monsters attacking an underwater base. i super love underwater settings, so this was for sure one of my favorites.

yeti: terror of the yukon, which i wasn’t super looking forward to since “you’re in the northern wilderness and there’s a yeti” didn’t really sound as exciting as the other scenarios but the execution on this was so phenomenal i ended up really enjoying it anyway. and a lot of the scares really got me! especially the ones where the scare actors waited until i had already passed and jumped out from behind me. and the “outdoor” portions were just super impressive.

graveyard games, where some kids defaced a graveyard and now the ghosts are hella pissed at them. you get a lot of imagery related to the backstory in the queue (once you got past the kids zone the line started in, that is, lmao). i don’t have as much to call out about this one as i did about the others, but it was another example of them just going all out with the design of the setting and the costumes and everything.

halloween has been my favorite holiday for the longest time, but i frequently found myself in the position of not really having anything to do on or around halloween, so i love that this has become a tradition for me & my partner. that first year is also just a really special memory, it was just really cool being there with her and like… killing time in line together and all that good gay stuff. i can’t wait to go back.